Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains

***Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains*** is the tenth season overall of *Australian Survivor* and eighth of the Network Ten incarnation*.*

Using a modified execution of the tribe division theme introduced in the American season of the same name, the season was won by Villain Liz Parnov in a unanimous jury vote over Heroes Gerry Geltch and Matt Sharp.

## Production

According to *Australian Survivor* Executive Producer David Forster, it was decided prior to the casting process that the season would not feature a cast of all returnees, owing to a lack of suitable returning players. Instead, the season was cast with the half-returnee, half-newbie format in mind. Believing that there was more value in mixing the returning players with the first-time players, Production decided against a Fans vs. Favorites format as employed in previous *Survivor (U.S.)* seasons, resulting in the mixed tribal divisions.

## Twists/Changes

* **Heroes v Villains:** Castaways were divided into tribes based on how they see themselves playing the game or, in the case of returnees, how they played the game in the past, either as Heroes or Villains.
	+ **Returning Players:** 11 out of the 24 castaways were returnees.
* **Pandora's Urn:** After a contestant was permanently evacuated from the game on Day 2 while their tribe attended Tribal Council, the tribe was given the choice to leave the votes unread and return to camp without someone being voted out or, if there was a unanimous agreement, to allow the votes to be read and have an elimination occur as usual.
* **Hidden Immunity Idol**
	+ **Planted Fake Hidden Immunity Idol:** A fake idol was planted in the cookie jar that was given to the tribe that won the Day 6 Reward Challenge, and in the other tribe's rice container. As confirmed in episode 12, this fake idol was a clue to the real idol hidden on the tribe camp.
* **Mock Vote:** A non-elimination twist occurred at three of this season's Tribal Councils.
	+ **48-Hour Mission:** After losing the Immunity Challenge on Day 12, the Heroes had to vote one member to be sent to join the Villains. If that person survives until Day 14, they will be given the option of staying with the Villains or rejoining the Heroes.
	+ **Mutiny:** On Day 25, the tribe that lost the Immunity Challenge was given the opportunity to mutiny to the other tribe; however, only one person was allowed to mutiny. Each member made their decisions in private in the voting booth, leaving the voting parchment blank if they did not want to mutiny, or writing their own name down if they wanted to take the offer. If only one person chose to mutiny, they would automatically switch to the other tribe; if multiple people chose to mutiny, those people would draw rocks to decide who would mutiny; if no one chose to mutiny, the whole tribe would draw rocks to make a decision.
	+ **Survivor Isolation:** On Day 41, after the votes were cast at Tribal Council, Jonathan revealed that there would be no elimination. Instead, the two players who received the most votes would be sent into *Survivor* isolation, living in exile away from the rest of their tribe. They will have to fend for themselves, and will eat only whatever is offered by their tribemates. They will also not be able to compete in the next Immunity Challenge. If they survive the next Tribal Council, they will leave isolation.
* **Tribe Switch:** On Day 18, a tribe shuffle occurred, dividing the final sixteen castaways evenly into the new Heroes and Villains tribes.
* **Leave Merge Feast:** On Day 28, the members of the merged tribe were given the opportunity to leave the merge feast and return to camp to hunt for a newly planted Hidden Immunity Idol.
* **Juror Removal:** On Day 45, the final four contestants voted to eliminate one member of the jury. Additionally, they would compete in a Reward Challenge where the winner would receive an extra vote in the decision.
* **Final Three:** This season featured a Final Tribal Council with three finalists facing a seven-person jury.
* **Reformatted Final Tribal Council:** While each jury member was given the opportunity to speak individually, an open forum was held to ensure a more insightful rapport between the jury and finalists.

## Reception

This season was plagued by many of the same issues that made *Brains v Brawn* a bad season. Like with that season, the producers helped George through the game, single-handedly getting him to tribe swap both times, successfully fooling a large portion of the fanbase into thinking he is a good player and that his status and legacy were fairly earned. As it was two seasons prior, positive reviews were given only by those naive enough to miss the blatant rigging in George's favour, as well as ignore the low quality of gameplay. These reviews were given based off the presumption that the idols and advantages given to him were all coincidences, and therefore see him as a much better player than he actually is.

## Trivia

* *Australian Survivor* (2017) is the only previous Network Ten season to not be represented on the cast of *Heroes v Villains*.
* Both starting tribes won an equal number of tribal challenges.
* *Heroes v Villains* has the smallest jury of any Network Ten season, with only seven jurors present at the Final Tribal Council.
* *Heroes v Villains* is the first season where every finalist is a first-time player and every juror is a returning player.
* *Heroes v Villains* is the second consecutive season where a resident of Perth, Western Australia won the season against two residents of Queensland who finished as co-runners-up.
* Like the American version,
	+ *Heroes v Villains* was filmed in Samoa.
	+ A member of the Twine family was a contestant.
	+ *Heroes v Villains* is the first season in the series to feature a contestant playing for the third time.
	+ The tribes merged with half of the cast remaining.
	+ Two Hidden Immunity Idols were played at the final ten Tribal Council; one of these idols was played on a Twine, negating zero votes.
	+ There were five Heroes on the jury.
	+ The Sole Survivor was a female Villain.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.truedorktimes.com/sau8/calendar.htm
2. ↑ https://twitter.com/Survivor\_AU/status/1635536238840012800
3. ↑ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/interview-australian-survivor-executive-producer-david/id1579904169?i=1000606763520
4. ↑ https://robhasawebsite.com/survivorau-hvv-george-mladenov-deep-dive/ (3:01:00)
5. ↑ https://robhasawebsite.com/survivorau-hvv-george-mladenov-deep-dive/ (2:04:00)