Celebrity Survivor Australia

***Celebrity Survivor Australia***, also referred to as ***Celebrity Survivor: Vanuatu***, is the first and only season of the Seven Network incarnation, and the second season overall of the Australian reality show *Australian Survivor*.

Filmed in Vanuatu, this instalment features well-known Australian personalities competing for $100,000 on behalf of their nominated charity. A regular contestant, former S.A.S. serviceman Ben Wynn, joined the season as a reward for the winning tribe as a fully fledged cast member. This season also holds the distinction for having every player voted out of the game.

## Production & Development

### Conception

In 2006, Nine Network held the rights to screen the American edition of *Survivor* and the licence to produce a local a local edition of *Survivor*, which resulted in Nine's 2002 edition of *Australian Survivor*. However, the Seven Network found a loophole in their contract and obtained the rights to produce *Australian Celebrity Survivor*, as Castaway Television views the *Celebrity Survivor* format as a different format from the regular format. Castaway Television, who produced Nine's series, was again involved in the production of this second Australian season of *Survivor.*

### Filming and development

The show was filmed on the island of Éfaté in Vanuatu, which was used for the 9th season of the American series Survivor: Vanuatu and the 6th season of the french Survivor franchise *Koh-Lanta*. Production of the series took place over twenty-five days, from late May to early June 2006, with promotional advertising beginning in July. The executive producer of *Celebrity Survivor* was David Mason, who also produces other shows on the Seven Network, such as *Medical Emergency* and *The Mole Australia*

### Promotion

Before the series began, Dickson and a few of the *Celebrity Survivor* contestants appeared on the Seven Network's breakfast news show, *Sunrise*, to promote the series. This paralleled what occurs in the American version, when the show is promoted on *The Early Show*, the Australian owned breakfast news program, and what happened during the Nine Network's *Australian Survivor* venture, when the series was featured on the early morning show, *Today* and *A Current Affair*. Amber Petty and Nicolle Dickson, also appeared in television commercials for Olay Total Effects, which were broadcast during the series.

## Twists

* **Celebrity Cast:** This season featured 12 Australian celebrities. The Sole Survivor would win AUD$100,000 for a charity of their choice.
* **Tribe Composition:** The castaways are divided into tribes of six based on gender: Kakula was originally composed of all men and Moso was originally composed of all women. Later on Day 1, Gabrielle Richens and Justin Melvey entered the game on the Kakula and Moso tribes, respectively, making them the sole representatives of their genders on their tribes.
* **Extra Tribe Member:** For the combined Reward/Immunity Challenge in the first episode, it was revealed that the winning tribe would receive an extra tribe member in the form of Ben Wynn, an ex-S.A.S. soldier and survival expert. As a result, Ben became the only castaway this season to not be a celebrity nor be competing for charity.
* **Self Vote:** The castaways were able to vote against themselves.
* **Tribe Switch:** On Day 6, a tribe switch occurred, mixing the final ten into two tribes of five.
* **Re-entry:** In Episode 10, the three remaining contestants watched on as the four players voted out after the merge then competed for two places back in the game, with those who did not return taking two of the five seats on the jury. The two players who won their places back in the game, Guy and Justin, would go on to be the eventual finalists.
* **Jury Tiebreaker:** In Episode 11 a tiebreaker occurred between Justin and Nicolle Dickson. When the re-vote ended in a tie past votes came into account. Both castaways had the same amount of past votes so the jury had to decide who would be eliminated. The jury unanimously eliminated Nicolle.

## Survivors

11 Australian celebrities were selected to compete, divided initially into two tribes later joined by Ben, a jungle survival expert as a reward after the first Immunity Challenge.

## Season Summary

### Final Tribal Council

 Finalists
 Votes
 Nicolle
 David
 Gabrielle
 Elton

## Trivia

* This is the first *Australian Survivor* season not to include a reunion.

## Links

### References

1. ↑ As Ben entered the game late and is not an Australian celebrity, he had no nominated charity.