Australian Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia has just finished filming two seasons of the show for 2025, and fans — both locally and internationally — are waiting with bated breath for them to drop.
The first season to be released will be Australian Survivor 2025: Brain v Brawn II, which premieres on February 17. Ahead of the premiere, fan groups, Reddit threats, and social media accounts are speculating on what will happen this season, which can be attributed to the massive success of Australian Survivor in recent years.
Recently, the New York Times even included Australian Survivor in a list of the best TV episodes for 2023. The article blurb stated that our homegrown version “has been outplaying the US version for a while now”.
So, what makes Australian Survivor so gripping? Jonathan told Chattr in an interview that he believes it’s because Australian producers are sticking to what made the show successful in the first place.
“The US show has really evolved over the years, pushing the boundaries. Some of it worked really well, some not so much,” he told Chattr.
“Personally, I like the push to try new stuff, but I’m guessing some in the audience feel otherwise. We produce a show that is a little more old school.”
Indeed, Survivor US has undergone some major changes in recent years. In 2020, the Winners at War season was released, which is known as the last season of “old-school” Survivor.
Australian Survivor has stuck to the “old-school” format
The New Era (otherwise known as new-school) of Survivor US kicked off in Season 41, and it involves more mental challenges than physical challenges. Plus, the length of time the castaways compete for dropped from 39 days to 26 days.
However, Australian Survivor films for a whopping 47 days and has pretty much stuck to the same format since the franchise’s beginning.
“I’m all for the evolution of the game, so I love new-school players. But I’m also an old-school dude who was introduced to Survivor with all the great old-school players. So I really love both,” Jonathan told Chattr.
Australian Survivor 2025: Brain v Brawn II will put the mental vs physical strength concept to the test. The season is made up of two tribes: one stacked with physically fit plays and the other made up of… geniuses. So, which quality does Jonathan think is more important to have as a player?
“I think it helps to have a bit of both, and good players typically do. But Survivor is a social game heavily rooted in strategy, so in the end, brains will earn you the crown.”
Is that a spoiler? Surely not!
Australian Survivor 2025: Brains v Brawn II premieres on February 17 on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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