‘It’s going to be really spicy’: Survivor hopefuls share training tips before Samoa showdown

For 39-year-old pop culture fiend and cinema manager Eden Porter, being cast in the new series of Australian Survivor was the culmination of a decades-long dream. He has been a fan of the series since he was a 16-year-old high school student when the US version launched to immediate success in 2000. Porter has auditioned for the last eight Australian series, even applying for the US green card lottery in an attempt to get on the American show.

Australian Survivor: Titans v Rebels contestants Eden Porter (left) and Viola Jokudu.

“I am a super fan,” says Porter. “It has been a goal of mine to get on this show for more than half my life. I feel like Charlie Bucket in Willy Wonka. I got the golden ticket to Samoa, except it’s not chocolate, it’s coconut and rice.”

Porter could not have been chosen at a better time, with Australian Survivor riding a wave of global acclaim, boosted by the masterful gameplay of George Mladenov, better known as King George, in last year’s Heroes v Villains series. The New York Times included Australian Survivor in its round-up of the best TV episodes of 2023, saying: “American Survivor is still a delight, but this iteration currently wears the crown”.

The all-new cast of Australian Survivor: Titan v Rebels on location in Samoa.

Fellow Survivor contestant Viola Jokudu (who eagle-eyed television viewers might recognise as the receptionist from The Dog House Australia) agrees the local series is at a peak. “The last season was phenomenal,” says the 24-year-old powerlifter. “In Australian Survivor, the amount of strategy and gameplay and entertainment you get watching it is pretty unparalleled, especially the most recent seasons.”

Hosted again by Jonathan LaPaglia, the new season is tagged Titans v Rebels, with the titans comprising experts and overachievers, while the rebels play by their own rules. For Jokudu, being cast as a titan was flattering and intimidating.

Last year’s Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains was rated one the year’s best shows by The New York Times.

“Titans v Rebels, that is a very daunting title, right?” says Jokudu. “When they selected me to be a titan, I was like, ‘Oh my god, they think I’m this amazing person that has all these achievements.’ But when I really sat down to think about it, I was like, ‘wait a minute, I’m going to be on a team of 11 other people that have their own achievements that either parallel mine or are far greater. I’m going to be on a team with the absolute guns of the game’. It was daunting.”

Porter and Jokudu devised their own preparations before flying out to Samoa. For Porter, he was 3D printing puzzles to solve and building objects in his backyard to practise balancing on.

Jokudu had a much more pressing problem – she couldn’t swim. “When I heard that to be on the show you have to swim 200 metres, my soul left my body,” says Jokudu. She embarked on a two-week crash course to get up to speed, which involved waking at 5am to hit the swimming pool and falling asleep watching YouTube videos on how to tread water.

“I spent 23 years of my life not being able to swim, and then I found out that I need to in order to have this life-changing opportunity,” says Jokudu. “Seeing how much I wanted it and how much work I was willing to put in I was like, damn, I am a titan.”

Also notable in the new season is that there are no returning players, a casting decision many Survivor fans like because it levels the playing field. As Jokudu pithily explains, it turns the game from chess to checkers.

“All new player [seasons] are some of the best seasons because everyone’s on the same level,” says Porter. “There’s no, ‘I was on a season with this person before, so we’ve got a friendship outside the game.’ No one knows each other. We are literally 24 total strangers trying to navigate this world.”

Adds Jokudu: “It’s going to be really spicy. Looking back at some of the key moments, I’m like, I cannot wait to see the memes they make out of this.”

Australian Survivor: Titans v Rebels returns on Monday, January 29, at 7.30pm on Ten.

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