Nick Iadanza

**Nicholas "Nick" Iadanza** is a contestant from *Australian Survivor* (2016) and *Australian Survivor: All Stars*.

A lifelong superfan of *Survivor*, Nick started his game in *2016* on Vavau tribe. After choosing a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol over a bag of beans, Nick was pegged as a snake early on, resulting in his early vote out during the mock vote, after which he was sent to the Saanapu tribe. Once the merge hit, Nick stuck with the majority Saanapu Alliance and found an idol soon after. Believing that he was still not to be trusted, Sam Webb turned on Nick, forcing him to play his idol at the following Tribal Council. Despite trying to get back into their good graces, Nick's alliance let Sam have his wish and voted him out.

Returning for *All Stars*, Nick aligned with Harry Hills and Shonee Fairfax to form the "Little Rascals," a forceful minority alliance on Mokuta. After being seperated from both Harry and Shonee at the tribe swap, Nick aligned with Phoebe Timmins, but she was sent home at their first Tribal Council. Left on the bottom, Nick attempted to work with David Genat as a last ditch effort to stay in the game, but was eliminated unanimously one day before the merge.

## Profile

*Retrieved from 10play.com.au*

* All Stars

**Age:** 28
**Occupation:** High School Teacher
**State:** SA
There are *Survivor* super fans and then there is 28-year-old Nick. A high school English teacher from Adelaide, he has watched every episode of every series of the US version multiple times. Nick even had a *Survivor*-themed 21st birthday party.
Admitting he was a "blubbering mess" when he was told he would be a castaway, Nick says: "My goal is simply to win, at all costs. In every day life you don't betray people, you don't end people's dreams, you don't snatch a huge sum of money from their hands and stuff it in your own pocket. But that's what *Survivor* is all about."
"I'm waiting to pull the trigger. That's what makes a good castaway – someone who will pull the trigger and when the recoil hits you, you are ready to pull the trigger again." Knowing it will be a whole new game competing, compared to watching it from his couch, Nick says one of the highlights of the whole experience will be watching it on television with his family and he hopes to make them proud.
"I have had *Survivor* nights for years with my fiancé, sisters and dad. We always watch together and cheer on our favourites, so it will be that times 1,000 when I am playing. We have a group chat where we discuss strategy and even have *Survivor* fantasy polls every season. My whole family are huge fans."

Nick wants to do it for his mother who passed away a few years ago. *Survivor* was their weekly ritual and he says: "I would sit at my Mum's feet in the lounge room and she would tell me how good I would be at the challenges, even though we both knew I was a skinny little runt. So I am doing it for me, but I am also doing it for her."
**31, School Teacher — Season 1**
In the real world, Nick is a sweet school teacher and new dad. But in Australian Survivor, he is the original snake and villain from the first season.
Acknowledging his role in the series, Nick said: "I'm Nick the snake. I know that and I love it. I'm a loud mouth and I think I was one of the few real players in the first season, who wanted to play."
Leaving a new born baby at home was the biggest challenge Nick faced in coming back. But, the chance to return as an All Star was too good for this superfan to ignore. "I have a baby daughter and I am leaving her. I feel like a terrible father because I might miss so many milestones. But it's all for her, she needs that $500k! I ticked off so many things on my Australian Survivor Bucket List last time, but I couldn't not do it.
"I have to get that huge trophy blindside. I have to win Individual Immunity. I have to make good alliances and most importantly, I need to make it to a single digit placement – hopefully one!"

## Australian Survivor

### 2016

Arguably the biggest fan of *Survivor* on his season, Nick was eager to play the game. However, he was excluded from Vavau's majority alliance of Sue Clarke, Craig I'Anson, Andrew Torrens, and Jennah-Louise Salkeld. When posed with a moral dilemma, Nick chose the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol over the bag of beans. He was unable to locate the idol and he became known as a snake for not choosing the option that would've helped the tribe. When Vavau attended their first Tribal Council, the Vavau alliance and Barry Lea were able to vote out Nick. However, the vote turned out to be a surprise tribe switch that sent Nick to Saanapu. Nick also had the option to bring over a tribe member and he chose his closest ally, Tegan Haining. Now in a 4-2 minority on Saanapu, Nick tried to ingratiate himself with the new majority. Nick was the initial target of Flick Egginton, Brooke Jowett, and Matt Tarrant but his challenge performances had them reconsider. Nick and Tegan targeted the Saanapu outsider Kylie Evans, but not only did Kylie contribute to the 2-2 split vote but she played her idol, meaning Nick and Tegan were the only revote options. Original Saanapu spared Nick at Tegan's expense.

Nick's fortunes changed slightly when Saanapu won the following challenge, giving his tribe the ability to choose four members of either of the two losing tribes. Though three of those selections in El Rowland, Lee Carseldine, and Sam Webb became close to the core Saanapu alliance, Jennah-Louise was now the next target if Saanapu were to lose. Saanapu severely outmatched Vavau physically and swept the rest of the challenges, allowing Nick to get to the merge. However, Nick continued to be targeted as the outsiders of the Saanapu stronghold tried to get the target off of themselves. Sam and Lee especially began to perpetuate Nick's "snake status", to the point where Nick was eventually voted out for good this time on Day 37 though he became the first member of the jury.

As impressed as Nick was in Kristie Bennett was at explaining her game at Final Tribal Council, he was equally critical of Lee for using "the moral high ground" as a facade in which Lee excused himself of his deceitful behavior while Nick and other players were accused of being snakes. Nick helped Kristie become the Sole Survivor by an 8-1 vote.

#### Voting History

**^1** In "Episode 5", Vavau and Saanapu were subjected to a joint and mock Tribal Council where the players they voted out were switched to the other tribe. Nick ultimately received enough votes to be swapped to the other tribe.
**^2** In "Episode 7", Kylie used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating Nick's vote against her. Also, the vote ended with a 2-2-0 tie between Nick and Tegan, forcing a revote. On the revote, Nick did not receive any votes to be eliminated.
**^3** In "Episode 16", Nick used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating 4 votes against him.

### All Stars

Coming into this season, Nick embraced his reputation as the original snake of *Australian Survivor* while acknowledging that later players have become even bigger snakes. Nick quickly developed a strong friendship with Harry Hills and Shonee Fairfax, calling the latter the funniest person and a great social player. Nick's attempts to align with Henry Nicholson proved frustrating as Henry's urges to make a big move countered Nick's strategy of forming stronger social bonds first. It came to a point where Nick began actively targeting Henry, only successfully getting Henry out with help from Shonee's Hidden Immunity Idol. However, Henry's exit left the "Little Rascals" alliance of Nick, Shonee, and Harry vulnerable. The athlete alliance led by Abbey Holmes had the numbers to take out Shonee on Day 14, though Zach Kozyrski was eager to make a move. Nick tried to use Zach's proposition to make Zach seem untrustworthy to the other athletes so they could vote him out together and unify the tribe. Abbey's fixation on Shonee did not change though, but due to a twist, both Zach and Shonee were sent to Exile Beach that night at Tribal Council.

Though Shonee returned to the game the next day for the Tribe Switch, Nick ended up on Mokuta in the minority as well as separated from his two closest allies. Phoebe Timmins helped Nick find an Extra Vote advantage, boosting his confidence in a tricky situation. This iteration of Mokuta would win the majority of Immunity Challenges thanks in part to Nick's puzzle skills. However, at Mokuta's first Tribal Council, Nick's plan to vote out rival alliance leader Moana Hope was unsuccessful as the rest of the tribe split their votes between Phoebe and Nick. Phoebe only survived due to a twist allowing her to stay in the game after beating Lydia Lassila in a fire-making challenge. A cake reward yielded an idol clue, which Phoebe found before Nick could access the reward (resulting in him destroying the remaining cakes fruitlessly). Still trusting David Genat, Phoebe told the idol clue to David. Nick and Phoebe hoped to work with David, Sharn Coombes, and Lee Carseldine and use Nick's Extra Vote to take out Moana. Unfortunately for them, David was actually working with Moana and found the idol Phoebe told him about. This caused the plan to fail and Phoebe was voted out.

At this point, Nick was just hoping to make the merge to reconnect with his allies on Vakama. After Mokuta lost the final pre-merge Immunity Challenge on Day 28, Harry considered using his advantage which would allow the user to cancel a Tribal Council. Not knowing whether it would force a merge or restart the round, Harry decided against giving the advantage to Nick, meaning Nick had to find another way to survive the Tribal Council. While Nick lobbied for Zach to be voted out to capitalize on his friction with Jacqui Patterson, David was fixated on getting Nick out because of his affiliation with Phoebe. Sharn and Lee did not want Nick to go, but ultimately went with the majority and contributed to Nick's unanimous vote out.

#### Voting History

**^1** 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.
**^2** In "Episode 11", Nick used an Extra Vote advantage, allowing him to vote twice at Tribal Council. Also, the vote ended with a 5-5 tie between Moana and Phoebe, forcing a revote. Nick did not change his vote on the revote.

## Post-Survivor

* Nick appeared on the season recap podcast episode for *Rob Has a Podcast*'s coverage of *Australian Survivor* (2016). Most notably, he provided some insight as to what led the jury to vote for Kristie Bennett to win.
* In 2018, it was revealed that Nick is expecting his first child with his wife, Christine. They welcomed their daughter, Paloma Eleonora Iadanza, on December 15, 2018.
* Nick, along with nineteen other former *Survivor* (U.S.), *Australian Survivor*, *Survivor South Africa*, and *Survivor New Zealand* contestants, competed in the second *Survivor*-themed mini-competition of *Sequester* on June 20, 2020. He made it to the seventeenth and final round, finishing as the winner against Stephen Fishbach in a 4-3 vote.

## Tribal Council

### Total votes received:

25

* Nick is the youngest man of the original Vavau tribe.
* Nick received at least one vote at every Tribal Council he attended in *2016*.
* Nick is the highest placing man of the original Vavau tribe and the only one who made it to the merge.
* Nick is the first man on *Australian Survivor* play a Hidden Immunity Idol.
	+ Nick is the first castaway in *Australian Survivor* to use a Hidden Immunity Idol but not receive a majority of the votes.
* Nick is the first castaway on the *Network Ten* incarnation of *Australian Survivor* to become a member of the jury.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Bi\_eg-VgqIz/
2. ↑ https://10play.com.au/australian-survivor/participants/season-1/nick/pa191010sptjx
3. ↑ https://10play.com.au/australian-survivor/participants/season-5/nick/pa200203yrpih
4. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/Brq\_LokDC9K/
5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNMcwCWh1Bg