Shonee Bowtell

**Shonee Bowtell** (formerly **Fairfax**) is a contestant from *Australian Survivor: Champions v Contenders* (2018), *Australian Survivor: All Stars* and *Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains*

A social powerhouse, Shonee played a vital role in many early Contenders voting decisions in *Champions v Contenders*. Alongside Fenella McGowan, Shonee made up one half of "Shonella", a formidable pairing who would later form a cross-tribal alliance with Brian Lake and Monika Radulovic at the merge, using their perceived position on the bottom to create chaos amongst the Champions. After a crucial error on Brian's part at the final six resulted in Fenella's elimination, Shonee flipped again to help Shane Gould in taking out Monika, only to have her own torch snuffed the very next Tribal Council.

Shonee returned for *All Stars* where she formed a close bond with Harry Hills and Nick Iadanza. After initially being voted into exile by her tribe, Shonee returned with a vendetta. Alongside Harry, Shonee flipped on her previous tribemates to join Locky Gilbert and his Vakama alliance. Come merge, however, the new Mokuta tribe proved impenetrable, resulting in Shonee's alliance slowly being picked off. After fellow former *Champions v Contenders* castaway Sharn Coombes backed out of a last minute plan to vote out David Genat at the final seven, Shonee saw her game come to an end for a second time, being eliminated in a close 4-3 vote.

As the first person to play *Australian Survivor* three times, Shonee returned as a Villain in *Heroes v Villains*. She immediately formed a close friendship with new player Liz Parnov and forged the unbreakable "Spice Girls" alliance with George Mladenov soon after, with the help of the producers' protection. Together, the triad strategically maneuvered through to the merge, and were given idols by the producers to ensure none of them were eliminated, ultimately to get George to the end. However, Shonee showed her hand too early and revealed her tight bond with Liz, alienating George and prompting him to blindside her with an idol in her pocket, punishing her for being naive enough to side with George and not eliminate him sooner. Shonee also became the second person in *Australian Survivor* to be voted out from the jury.

## Profile

*Retrieved from 10play.com.au*

* All Stars
* Heroes v Villains

**Age:** 26
**Occupation:** Pro-Skater's Wife
**State:** QLD
**Tribe:** Contenders​​​​​
From partying with The Rolling Stones to holidays in Paris, Shonee is not the typical *Survivor* player.
Married to a famous pro-skater, Shonee spends her life between London and Noosa where she is an HR assistant. With her husband Ben's success as a skater, Shonee is very keen to step out of his shadow and show the world what she's got.
"My husband's achievements are endless so this is my chance to shine and do something super cool for myself and contribute to our lives. I may just be a wife but I 100% believe I can outwit, outplay and outlast anyone you put me up against.
"My life doesn't allow me to have a traditional job so this is my chance to do something amazing and really shine! People are constantly talking to me about my husband's achievements, I want them to speak about mine."
Admitting she's very stubborn but loyal and fun, Shonee may not be used to the rough conditions *Survivor* will bring but she believes she can handle it once she's there.
Shonee thinks her strengths will come from the social game saying, "I already know I have a great social game and I can persuade people to give me what I want.

"I will be the best Sole Survivor because I am basically just a professional athlete's wife so when the other contestants hear this, I think they'll disregard me as a threat and that's when I will go in for the kill."
**27, Personal Assistant — Season 3**
As one part of the Shonella duo in Season 3, Shonee is back without her best mate Fenella but isn't going to let it slow her down.
The personal assistant from London who loves chilling on the beach and drinking margaritas is not afraid to get her hands dirty. After coming fourth in her season, Shonee is happy when people misjudge her.
"I was the last Contender standing and survived 17 Tribal Councils in my season! I am an All Star!"
With a plan to keep her alliances tight and work with the villains because as she says, "they're the ones you want to know what they're planning," Shonee will miss her husband Benny and real life luxuries while living on the island.
Known for being cheeky and having fun while playing, Shonee also won't listen to haters and believes she's got what it takes. "Why would I bother playing if I didn't think I could win! I almost won last time and that was my test run. Now I'm ready!"

Shonee says she'd use the prize money to help her family and put a deposit on a house and knows the moment she's most looking forward to – "Jonathan handing me a cheque for half a million dollars. It's go big or go home and I'm not going home."
One of a very few who has ever played the game three times is fan favourite and challenge beast, Shonee. In classic style, she says, "I am the first person to be invited to play *Australian Survivor* for the third time, so suck on that everyone who’s ever underestimated me."
Playing a total of 89 days across her two series, including her returnee as an All Star, Shonee has made it 4th and 7th previously but there's only one spot she wants this time and that's first. And while she would claim her challenge wins were based off taking one pilates class, this time she's more ready than ever to play.
"I'm more prepared than ever because now I actually exercise. I am hitting Pilates five to six times a week. I am so shocked that I am so into exercise. All those fit people that say, 'Exercise is good for your mental health!' are right. As much as it pains me to say it. I am more of an adult now since last time I played. I love having an empty washing basket. There’s no better feeling."

## Australian Survivor

### Champions v Contenders (2018)

Shonee was determined to prove herself given her upbringing and Template:Dab status. Immediately her social game was strong, appearing to have links with all three sub-alliances within the Contenders tribe. She was closest with Fenella McGowan, their friendship blossoming into a formidable partnership throughout the season. Together with Anita Berkett, they managed to successfully vote out players from the other two alliances through the first four Tribal Councils they attended. Though Anita would be blindsided by Heath Davies's Hidden Immunity Idol play on Day 20, the pair affectionately dubbed "Shonella" carried on and voted out rival Zach Kozyrski and outsider Paige Kerin in their remaining Tribal Councils prior to the tribe switch.

Shonee was dealt a bad hand in the switch as she and Tegan Gasior were outnumbered 6-2 by the original Template:Dab. Shonee was able to make some solid connections on that tribe, allowing her to vote out Jackie Glazier and then be ignored when the Champions reunited and voted out Tegan. This led to a merge where Shonee was one of just four Contenders left, and with Benji Wilson and Robbie Skibicki having contributed to Tegan and Heath's eliminations, Shonee's only true ally left was Fenella.

Fortunes began to change for Shonee when the Champions blindsided physical threat Lydia Lassila on Day 32. This gave Shonee an opportunity to round up the other outsiders to turn the tables on Mat Rogers and his core alliance. This occurred on Day 37 where Shonee, Fenella, Benji, Brian Lake, and Monika Radulovic joined forces, putting the game in their hands. Though Brian and Monika briefly flipped to get rid of Benji (despite Shonee using the Vote Steal on Sharn Coombes), the remaining four players stayed together long enough to vote out Steve Willis twice due to the "Dead Man Walking" twist, during which Shonee won her first individual Immunity Challenge on Day 40. This success was short-lived due to Brian's mistake in the split vote which meant three votes for Sharn were canceled, allowing Shane Gould to survive at Fenella's expense. Shonee was frustrated with Brian and formed a new alliance with Sharn and Shane (the "Sh" alliance, reflecting the secrecy as well as the first syllable of their names). This alliance successfully blindsided Monika and flushed Brian's idol on Day 46. Brian won the following Immunity Challenge, meaning Shonee had to re-align with Brian to save herself. She was not confident she could beat Sharn at a fire-making tiebreaker, so she tried to get Sharn to vote for Shane in order to vote out Shane. This 2-1-1 vote strategy failed and instead Shonee was voted out by that vote configuration on Day 47, becoming the 8th member of the jury.

At Final Tribal Council, Sharn's inability to effectively communicate her strategy and Shane's better than expected performance led to Shonee voting for who she considered the underdog, Shane, to win. That vote proved crucial as Shane won the title of Sole Survivor in a 5-4 vote.

#### Voting History

**^1** In "Episode 8", Heath used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Shonee's vote against him.
**^2** In "Episode 18", Shonee used a Vote Steal advantage on Sharn, allowing her to cast an additional vote in Sharn's place. Also, the vote ended with a 4-4 tie between Benji and Sharn, forcing a revote. Shonee did not change her vote on the revote.
**^3** In "Episode 19", rather than voting someone out, Koro Savu had to vote to give someone the status of Dead Man Walking. Shonee had won Individual Immunity and could not be voted to receive this status.
**^4** In "Episode 20", the vote ended with a 2-2-2 tie between Fenella, Sharn, and Steve W., forcing a revote. Shonee changed her vote to Steve W. on the revote.
**^5** In "Episode 21", Sharn used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Shonee's vote against her.

### All Stars

Shonee received a mixed reception of being underestimated and adored by her fellow Mokuta tribe members at the start of the season. Nick Iadanza and Harry Hills were the biggest fans of her gameplay, and the trio became the "Little Rascals" alliance. Despite them being perceived as some of the weaker members of the tribe, their collective efforts and Shonee's Hidden Immunity Idol play on Day 12 (which Shonee found underneath the water well) helped them eliminate Shane Gould, Michelle Dougan, and Henry Nicholson. Though Shonee was not performing particularly poorly, Abbey Holmes became relentless in targeting Shonee as Abbey's alliance consisted of the more athletic players. Though Abbey's alliance had the numbers to vote out Shonee on Day 14, the Exile Beach twist occurred which sent the top two vote earners (Shonee and her now frenemy Zach Kozyrski) to Exile Beach rather than eliminated from the game.

While on Exile Beach, Shonee and Zach surprised each other with how well they got along despite their awkward history. The tribe switch then occurred, which placed Shonee and her ally Harry in the middle of two major alliances: the Vakama alliance of Brooke Jowett, AK Knight, Locky Gilbert, and Flick Egginton, and Abbey's remaining athletic alliance with Lydia Lassila and John Eastoe. Shonee, Harry, and the other outsider Mat Rogers joined forces with original Vakama to Pagong Abbey's alliance. Though Shonee's challenge performances were solid and caught some attention, Vakama continued to lose, forcing them to vote out Mat since his allies were on Mokuta and the merge was approaching. Shonee and Harry became nervous because as original Mokuta members, they could become the next easiest targets. Harry found an advantage that allowed him to cancel a Tribal Council after the votes are cast but before they are read. Shonee encouraged Harry to use it, but AK convinced him not to. This gamble paid off as Flick was unanimously voted out. Their next dilemma came when Mokuta lost on Day 28. Harry did not give Nick the advantage, as Shonee and Harry did not want to risk themselves not making the merge.

Unfortunately for Shonee, Nick was unanimously voted out just before the merge. Following Locky's blindside on Day 30 (when Shonee won individual immunity), it was clear Shonee, Brooke, Harry, and AK were in the minority. Shonee put her social game on overdrive in order to find a crack, but while David Genat played along, he became increasingly wary of her threat level. Shonee managed to survive long enough for another game-changing twist to occur. Shonee won immunity again on Day 34, and due to another Exile twist, the top three vote earners at that Tribal Council and the following one would go to Exile Beach to compete in a series of challenges for a shot to return. As the majority Mokuta alliance split the vote between Brooke and AK, Shonee, Brooke, and AK targeted Moana Hope. Shonee was unable to secure immunity again on Day 36, forcing her to go to Exile Beach along with volunteer Zach and a disappointed Jacqui Patterson.

While on Exile again, Shonee immediately identified Jacqui as a person her alliance could flip to their side as she was not sent to Exile by choice. Shonee also capitalized on Jacqui's rivalry with Zach as he was perceived to be David's closest ally. Since Moana, Brooke, and Jacqui won their way back into the game, the Mokuta alliance split the vote between Shonee and AK. Thanks to Shonee successfully flipping Jacqui, Zach was voted out instead. With the alliances now with four members each, Shonee was prepared to go to rocks if necessary. However, David's immunity win and idol play on Tarzan Herlaar meant that the odds were not in Shonee's alliance's favor. As the only vulnerable player from the Mokuta alliance, Sharn Coombes pleaded to Shonee, AK, and Brooke to flip on Jacqui and assured them that she would flip to their side. Though they didn't completely trust Sharn, they decided it wasn't worth it to risk rocks so they voted for Jacqui in the unanimous decision tiebreaker. This risk did not pay off, and Brooke's immunity win on Day 42 sealed Shonee's fate as she was voted out that night, becoming the fifth member of the jury.

Once again, Shonee decided not to vote for Sharn to win, as not only did Sharn go back on her word, but she felt David played a much stronger game.

#### Voting History

**^1** In "Episode 5", Shonee used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating 5 votes against her.
**^2** In "Episode 6", Mokuta was subjected to a mock Tribal Council where the two players who received the most votes were sent to Exile Beach. Shonee received the most votes and was exiled until the Tribe Switch.
**^3** In "Episode 19", the vote ended with a 4-4 tie between Jacqui and Moana, forcing a revote. Nobody changed their vote on the revote, forcing a unanimous consensus tiebreaker. Shonee changed her vote to Jacqui on the tiebreaker.

### Heroes v Villains

Shonee returned for a third chance at the $500,000 prize in *Heroes v Villains*, where she embraced her assignment to the Template:Dab tribe. There, she reunited with past *Champions v Contenders* tribemate Stevie, who had been nursing a four-year-long grudge against her. She also immediately bonded with new player Liz Parnov, dubbing their relationship "Shiz". After the Villains lost their first Immunity Challenge, Shonee was worried that she might be on the chopping block, especially with Jackie and George Mladenov having been temporarily removed from the game after sustaining injuries at the challenge. After the votes were cast at Tribal Council, Jonathan LaPaglia announced that Jackie had been evacuated from the game, and it was unclear whether George would return to the game. He then offered the Villains the opportunity to leave the votes unread and return to camp as a group of ten, but despite Shonee's initial hesitation, the Villains unanimously agreed to read the votes. Fortunately, it was Anjali Rao who was the victim of the Villains' first vote.

The next day, George returned to his tribe, prompting Michael Warren and Simon Mee to target him. However, Shonee saw George's utility as a shield and decided to forge an alliance with him and Liz. The trio christened themselves the Spice Girls and went on to seize control of the Villains' power structure, disposing of Michael, Sarah Marschke, and Fraser Lack, all of whom had stood in opposition to George. The Spice Girls ruled until they were split up by the tribe switch. Before they parted ways, the Spice Girls enjoyed one last getaway when George won a retreat at the Survivor Auction, where Shonee found her second Hidden Immunity Idol in addition to one she had found earlier on the Villains beach.

Switched into a minority on the new Template:Dab tribe, Shonee's idol proved critical in preventing a deadlock with the former Heroes when she used it to save George from a 4-4 tie vote and blindside Paige Donald. Despite being on opposite tribes, Shonee and Liz openly whispered to each other during the post-switch challenges, exchanging valuable intel that prompted Shonee to pass Liz her remaining idol to save Liz and Jordie Hansen, who were in the minority on the new Villains tribe. Though Jordie was voted out, Shonee and George continued the Villains' stronghold on the new Heroes tribe when they threw the next challenge to eliminate Benjamin Law, thereby allowing Liz to survive until she received the chance to Template:Dab-twist to the Heroes, bringing the Spice Girls together again.

Early tensions between the Spice Girls emerged when Liz and Shonee campaigned to save Flick Palmateer over Matt Sharp, citing the potential inroads that she could provide with the remaining Heroes. Backed into a corner with Liz threatening to play her idol for Flick, George offered to compromise on eliminating Stevie instead, which placated "Shiz". This backfired with nearly fatal results when Flick reneged on Shiz and returned to her original Heroes Alliance at the merge; this alliance then decided to target Shonee first to weaken George. Fortunately, George managed to put together a seven-strong "Vigilantes" alliance that took control of the Fa'amolemole tribe and knocked out David Zaharakis, Flick, and Sam Webb in succession.

Now apparently at the top of the pecking order, Shonee and Liz contemplated their next move, affirming their loyalty to each other and that they would be happy to lose to each other in a Final Two. They also agreed to eliminate George at the final eight. Further consolidating her power, Shonee stumbled upon her third idol. However, a slip of the tongue betrayed the "Shiz" duo to George, tipping him off to the fact that he was on the bottom of the Spice Girls. When outsiders Nina Twine and Shaun Hampson lost the next Immunity Challenge, Liz and Shonee were oblivious to George's plan to strike against them. While "Shiz" stuck to the planned split vote between Nina and Shaun, George successfully turned the Vigilantes against Shonee, sending her home with her idol still in her possession. She finished in 9th place as the third member of the jury.

On Day 45, the final four were tasked to vote one person out of the jury. Predicting that Shonee would cast her jury vote for Liz, Gerry Geltch and Matt Sharp elected to eliminate Shonee from the jury, with George siding with the two men.

#### Voting History

**^1** In "Episode 14", Liz used a producer-given Hidden Immunity Idol on Shonee, negating 4 votes against her.

## Post-Survivor

* In 2021, Shonee divorced her husband, professional skateboarder Benny Fairfax. While her social media still indicated her ex-husband's surname, she formally reverted back to her birth surname, "Bowtell".
* In 2022, Shonee was inducted into the *Australian Survivor* Hall of Fame.

## Redemption Island

### Days spent on Redemption Island:

4

* Shonee is the highest-placing member of the original Template:Dab tribe.
* In the chyron of her confessionals in , Shonee's occupation was originally listed as "Pro-Skater's Wife" before being changed to "HR Assistant" partly into the season.
* Shonee is the youngest member of the original Mokuta tribe.
* Shonee is the first contestant on *Australian Survivor* to compete on three seasons.
	+ Shonee is the first contestant to be a part of three merged tribes, and the first contestant to be voted out three times.
* Shonee holds the record for most days lasted of any contestant in *Australian Survivor*, with 124 days survived across three seasons.
* Shonee is the first woman on *Australian Survivor* to find three Hidden Immunity Idols in one season.
	+ This ties the franchise record set by Kellee Kim on .
* Excluding Tribal Councils attended as a juror or spectator, Shonee has attended a record 47 Tribal Councils in her *Survivor* career.
* Shonee is the second woman in *Australian Survivor* to be voted out with an idol in her possession, after Kez McGee.
* Shonee is the second person in *Australian Survivor* to be removed from the jury, after Tessa O'Halloran.
	+ After her elimination, Shonee stated that she would have voted for Liz to win.

## References

1. ↑ https://10play.com.au/australian-survivor/participants/season-3/shonee/pa190317whd
2. ↑ https://10play.com.au/australian-survivor/participants/season-5/shonee/pa200203ckfbd
3. ↑ https://10play.com.au/australian-survivor/participants/season-8-heroes-v-villains/shonee/pa221221dbcjy
4. ↑ https://sodramaticonline.com/2022/02/15/shonee-jonathan-lapaglia-survivor-australia/
5. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CWkjmDuBSum/
6. ↑ https://theoznetworkpodcast.wordpress.com/2023/03/02/australian-survivor-hall-of-fame-2022-review/
7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcJI70oyNbI
8. ↑ https://youtu.be/oakHGzR42Ds