‘Women band together’: The AFL WAG and the surgeon taking on Survivor’s boys’ club
Two of the women vying to take out the title of Sole Survivor on the Brains v Brawn sequel of Australian Survivor could not be more different. One is an AFL WAG and business student who hopes it will springboard a media career. The other is an orthopaedic surgery registrar who needs the $500,000 prize to buy back her mother’s property in Sri Lanka, which was sold to put her through university. Both are on Team Brains.
“Being part of Survivor is an incredible experience,” says Dr Karin Gunatilake, after clocking off an almost 36-hour shift at Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital. “And I get to be completely selfish about what I want to do. There’s no caveat of being a good person and a good doctor.”
Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Karin Gunatilake is on the Brains team for the new season of Australian Survivor.
Logan Shine, wife of former Western Bulldogs defender Jason Johannisen, grew up watching the original US reality series, and applied unsuccessfully seven years ago.
“It was about fulfilling a dream,” says Shine. “But after going through the production side of everything, it’s opened up a window of possibility for me that has ignited a bit more passion in the entertainment industry.”
The Brains cast also includes an AI expert, a poker player, a witch, and a teacher. In the Brawn camp are an Olympic sprinter, a stonemason, an aviation firefighter, and a model.
For Shine, the biggest challenge was leaving five-year-old Lola and two-year-old Ziggy at home for the potentially months-long shoot in Samoa.
AFL WAG Logan Shine wants to use her appearance on Survivor to launch a media career.
“I quickly realised that, as much as I love them, if I wanted to go further in the game, then I had to put them at the back of my mind,” says Shine. “I would try to replay their voices in my head of what I would think they were saying right now. I know that I’d hear their voices saying, ‘Go, mummy!’”
Apart from their smarts, both contestants bring physical and strategic advantages to the ruthless game of manipulation and betrayal that sees blindsided “castaways” voted out at the Tribal Council ceremonies, presided over by host Jonathan LaPaglia.
Gunatilake plays rugby union on her days off from cracking bones in the operating theatre. And Shine grew up participating in family tournaments with her cousins, organised by her “really competitive” dad.
“We were in houses, and my dad had made custom cornhole boards with LED lights,” says Shine. “We did Amazing Race-style games where we had to go to find clues and do challenges. We did ping pong, kayaking, foot races, puzzles, card-stacking and strategy games, and silly ones like using chopsticks to move a skittle to a bowl … My dad always told me that if I could use my manipulation powers for good, I could rule the world.”
Brains teammates Dr Karin Gunatilake (left) and Logan Shine in Australian Survivor.
In the Survivor jungle, women tend to stick together – until they double-cross one another in the spirit of the game. Gunatilake points to US Survivor season 16 winner, Parvati Shallow, dubbed the “Black Widow”, for her corralling of women to outplay the men, and says it’s highly likely a woman will take out this season’s crown, despite a perceived disadvantage at the starter gun.
“Every season, the first one voted off is usually someone that’s seen as a weak link,” says Gunatilake. “Unfortunately, it often ends up being a female cast member. But that’s how the game is played. You kick off the weak, and then you gain tribal lines. But women band together. Is there a bit of a boys’ club? Absolutely.”
Says Shine: “Being a part of the Brains tribe, I was hopeful that there wasn’t going to be any gender politics. But sometimes things naturally fall that way. And sometimes you do have men that don’t love a strong woman. So I think there are things that come into play in our season that some women are going to absolutely love and some men are going to hate. But I think it’s going to be really interesting to see how that unfolds.”
Australian Survivor: Brains V Brawn II airs on Monday, February 17, at 7.30pm on Ten.
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