As soon as she stepped foot on the Australian Survivor 2025 beach, Laura Noonan made it clear that her fellow castaways should call her by her last name.
While there was a package played where the OG Brawn member spoke about her family being well-known in the Mornington Penisula, she told Chattr in an exclusive interview that there was a deeper reason behind why she made the choice to be known as Noonan.
She referred to a recent interview with Survivor US host Jeff Probst, in which he stated that “the majority” of the best Survivor players are men, a comment that frustrated Survivor US winner Parvati Shallow.
“I can see why she got annoyed; it was this whole narrative that male players get the accolade of getting called by their last name; it’s a term of endearment,” Noonan told Chattr.
“It’s like, ‘You’re so cool that this is your nickname, and that’s why I thought, ‘You know what I’m going to take control here. I’m gonna force you to call me by my last name.'”
“So now I already have that connotation, I’m going to be a good player because I go by Noonan.
Noonan on how real-world gender bias translates to Survivor
Noonan told Chattr that she thinks that gender doesn’t determine the skills required to win Survivor. However, she believes that strong women on the show are received differently by the audience.
“I think Survivor is a neutral playing ground for gender, but unfortunately, we still live in a world where gender bias is very much a real thing.
“I could lie, be two-faced, steal and cheat and then be called a bully and a gas-lighter, but a man does it, and it’s great gameplay.
“I knew that that was the preconceived notion before going into Survivor, and that’s why I said, ‘I’m Noonan. I go by my last name, and I’m going to be a strategic woman, and we’ll see how it plays out.'”
Noonan believes a female contestant could win Australian Survivor 2025
With Noonan out of the running for the title of Sole Survivor 2025, there are seven women left in the game, and Noonan believes that one of them can take home the win.
“It’s Logan [Johannisen],” she said. “When Logan plays, you can see her heart in her moves, but what she doesn’t show you is how smart she is. She’s very logical and very aware that her emotions run her life, but that doesn’t dictate what Survivor decision she’s going to make.
“I think she is a queen of queens, and we should all we should all bear down to Miss Logan. She’s doing incredibly well.”
Well, we already know that Logan had a secret alliance with AJ, so we can’t wait to see what other moves she’ll whip out.
Stream Australian Survivor 2025 Sundays – Tuesdays on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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