“It feels good to be back,” Australian Survivor: Brains Vs. Brawn host Jonathan LaPaglia told POPSUGAR Australia ahead of the July 18 premiere. “We were out of action for quite a while, so it’s nice to be able to get back to it.”
With COVID-related production delays and a location shift from Fiji to Australia, Australian Survivor is back with a new season that promises to be one of the most challenging yet.
“In some ways, it was even harder than the trailer makes it look,” JLP said. “It was brutal.”
With the whole production team having to travel on unpaved roads for three-to-four hours a day between filming locations–in blistering heat, no less–JLP said that it “really took its toll” filming seven days a week.
“From a production point of view, it was tough, but the contestants, it was even harder; you’ve got that blistering temperature, you’ve got the wildlife that can kill you, snakes, spiders, crocodiles, and then there’s the lack of food,” he explained.
“They don’t have the coconuts, the papayas, the fish that they had in the tropical locations,” he said, “So all of those things create an environment that’s much more difficult and adds another layer to the show”.
The new location also means that the challenges have been adapted, and viewers should expect less of the water and strength challenges that have been so integral to Australian Survivor in the past. The new theme has also seen the challenge department rejig the challenges to ensure each tribe has a fair go.
“Well there is a dam, so we do have a water location, but we had to adapt to the environment,” JLP explained. “There are more land-based challenges, but I think they were cognisant this year in terms of not making them so one-sided, so reliant on strength like past seasons.
“I think the challenge department was terrific this season, they came up with a lot of really creative ideas,” he said.
As for his favourite challenge of the season, we’ll have to wait a little while to see it. A post-merge challenge that comes about two-thirds of the way through the season, JLP described it as “quite simple but really brutal”.
“The contestants have to run up a hill in the blistering heat to retrieve bunches of puzzle pieces,” he shared. “There are nine bunches of puzzle pieces, so that’s nine times that they need to run up and down this hill to collect their puzzle pieces and then complete the puzzle at the end. It’s a pretty epic challenge.”
Of course, we had to know which players to keep an eye on this season, and JLP had three to watch.
“Hayley is a little under the radar initially but she really comes into her own,” he said, adding the Dani is “a bit like that” also.
When it comes to playing a big game like winner David Genat did in All Stars, JLP said to keep an eye on George.
“George is big and bold right out of the gate, but he’s kind of fearless which is also very fun to watch,” he said. “He’s very clever, too. There was some pretty sophisticated gameplay from him and some pretty ballsy moves so he’s definitely one to watch.”
Finally, anyone who’s seen Australian Survivor before knows that JLP loves a bit of innuendo in his challenge commentary, and he told us we should cherish the jokes we get because he’s “toned it down a bit” this year.
“But they’re in there, you know I can’t help myself!” he exclaimed with a laugh.
We can’t wait!
Australian Survivor: Brains Vs Brawn premieres this Sunday, July 18 on Network 10 and 10 Play on-demand.
