Kaelan Lockhart officially took the top spot in the Survivor Hall of Fame after bagging seven Immunity Challenge wins, surpassing the previous record of five.
Kaelan not only has the most wins in the Australian Survivor franchise, but he also holds the world record for the most triumphs in a single season worldwide.
However, despite his remarkable results, Kaelan told Chattr that he was actually throwing challenges at the start of the season so that he could fly under the radar and avoid getting a target put on his back.
“The one that Logan [Johannisen] won with the balls — the balance part is pretty much stand-up paddleboarding. I probably could have just told the balls what to do there,” the pro-stand-up paddleboarder explained.
“I just wanted to not do so well in any challenges that resembled the final challenge,” he explained.
“So if I could make Logan see me as I can’t balance, I can’t stand on poles. I would try to try to get off those pretty soon. Anything with balance, I was trying to try to throw off.”
Of course, Kaelan was gracious about his fellow castmates’ victories, acknowledging that even though he held back in some challenges, it didn’t guarantee he would win more.
“They would probably beat me anyway, but there’s some I definitely could have gone a bit harder in.”
Kaelan played down his puzzle skills in Immunity Challenges
Kaelan was dubbed a Challenge Beast on Australian Survivor 2025, and he aptly adjuted his nickname to Challenge Enthusiast to lower his threat level. Every Survivor challenge involves mental or physical skills, and some require applying both.
While Kaelan’s physical strength was plain to see, the PhD student told Chattr that he also tried to play down his intellect.
In episode 18, contestants participated in a three-stage Immunity Challenge that involved balancing on a barrel, crossing a beam, and solving a puzzle. Kaelan had a clear lead by the puzzle leg but appeared to be taking his time on the challenge.
As host Jonathan LaPaglia was narrating to the group what each contestant was doing, Kaelan told the host: “Hey, don’t tell them where I’m at; don’t tell them I’m doing well. I don’t want them to know I’m good at puzzles,” suggesting that he was purposely trying to slow down the challenge.
“Even when I was winning challenges, I was trying to show weaknesses in different aspects,” he explained of the moment.
“So on that challenge itself, when there was the balance beam, I jumped off it like three times or something. And then when I got ahead, I thought, nobody can see me behind this wall. I’ll get the puzzle done and disassemble it, and then I’ll finish it when people come over.
“Even Myles [Kuah] said to me that he thought I absolutely sucked at puzzles, and he couldn’t wait to go up against me in the puzzle. So it worked. Every challenge, I was trying to make it appear that I wasn’t so good at some part of it.”
Kaelan added that he wishes he had mentioned his actions at that particular challenge at the final Tribal Council.
“I didn’t think of it!” He said. “Maybe I could have gotten JLP on it and brought him into the final pitch. It would have been fun.”
The strategy behind Kaelan’s attempt to lower his threat level
Any Survivor fan will know that it’s seriously impressive for a Challenge Beast of Kaelan’s calibre to make it to the final Tribal Council and not be picked off by the other contestants as a threat.
Kaelan said that his constant awareness of his threat level and his ability to manage it were strategies in themselves.
“Everything I was doing, it was quite measured,” he explained. “Even fishing — early on, people told me that in previous seasons, no one had gone out fishing or snorkelling because they were scared they’d be talked about.
“And I thought, that’s perfect. If I go out there, how innocent do I look? In every conversation I’d have people trying to explain the game of Survivor to me, and I’d be trying to act like I needed help to understand that.
“So, there were just little things, even though they were not strategic, as in making big moves. I was always trying to influence people in different ways.”
Kaelan is currently skiing the entire length of Norway to raise money for the charity Cottage by the Sea, which helps underprivileged kids. You can donate to his cause here.
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