Everything you need to know about Australian Survivor, Brains V Brawn II

Poker Champion, AJ is a super fan of the game and plans to use his knowledge of strategy and deception to make his way to Sole Survivor.

“I want to be remembered as the best Survivor player ever. Not, not just in Australia. I really want to be the most fun, entertaining, strategic, everything”

However, his downfall could be the weather and camp conditions: “The hardest part about Survivor for me will be sleeping outdoors. I’m used to really nice accommodation generally, so sleeping outdoors is going to be a little bit tough.”

Ally is an AI Expert who has made her mark on a historically male-dominated industry. Despite working in the fast-paced tech world, she resides in a small North Queensland town with her pet rescue kangaroo.

She isn’t intimidated by the bulging muscles over on the Brawns tribe: “My fighting word to the Brawns is you can have all the muscle in the world but if you don’t know how to use the muscle in your head? No hope, brother.”

Ben is a Stonemason from the Sunshine Coast who loves taking a risk and having some adventure.

“My life motto is just say yes, give it a go, dive into the deep end and take risks. I’m a huge risk-taker in life and will be in Survivor. Anything I’ve done in life that’s had huge rewards has made me nervous. I’m out of my comfort zone coming onto Survivor and I’m excited about it!”

As the father of three teenagers, he believes this gives him an edge and the ability to get the truth out of his fellow survivors: “We’ve got a real problem with chocolate thieves in our house so it’s a bit of a game in my house to find out who took it. I interrogate the kids and always get the answers.”

A country girl and model from Western Australia, Candy had zero qualms about coming on the show.

“As a model, you must put up with a lot of stuff or else you won’t get hired again. You can be mentally and physically tired, getting accidentally pinned by a tailor or someone burns you with a curling wand, you just get on with it. And that’s what I’ll do on Survivor.”

Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see her in action for long as fellow tribemate Nash immediately targeted Candy on day one. He found a hidden immunity idol around camp mere minutes after they returned from losing the first elimination challenge. This lent him some power which he used to push his fellow Brawn tribe members to vote Candy off the tribe.

Indy is a Business Development Manager by day and a comedian by night — and is always competitive.

“On a scale of one to crazy competitive, I’m probably psycho. Extremely competitive. I don’t actually want to be. I’d really like to be less competitive. But when it comes to this game, I am so excited and ready to play”

In the second episode of the season, Indy was offended that the other women in her tribe didn’t include her in their alliance from the beginning. Despite them eventually agreeing to have her join, she continued to feel put out. And so, she told Rich that the girls were planning on voting him out of the tribe. Rich assumed she was lying and relayed her story to the girls. It all came out in tribal and nearly the entire tribe voted Indy out. Clearly, her competitive mindset wasn’t a good enough match for her tribe mates.

If you’ve ever wondered what an Australian Tony Hawke might look like, then tune in this season. Jesse is a pro skater who runs his own skateboarding business which aims to teach people of all abilities and disabilities how to skate.

“That’s a big passion and focus of ours, to make skateboarding inclusive and accessible for everyone.”

The father of one (with a second on the way) is keen to have a laugh with his fellow tribemates and have a good time this season:

“I want to make the tribe laugh… I want to take the edge out of situations to get people more relaxed and chilled. And then I want to make some moves and be a little cheeky.”

Kaelan is a PhD student who is building and using AI drones to map vegetation in Antarctica. As he grew up surfing, playing rugby, and even at one point being a professional stand-up paddleboarder (who knew that was a thing?), he could pass as a Brawn tribe member. However, he plans to use this to his advantage in the game:

“People often misconceive me based on my appearance and the way I talk. If I’m with the Brawn tribe, I’m going to be talking about footy and sport, and then with the Brain tribe, I can talk about literature, get a bit deeper.”

Karin is a doctor working in orthopaedic surgery, who believes she can transfer her experience working crazy long hours with no sleep and no food to Survivor.

“I’m here on Survivor to break bones. I don’t want to put things back together. I’m not the good doctor anymore”

If she becomes Sole Survivor and wins the $500,000 prize money, she plans to buy back her parent’s property in Sri Lanka as they had to sell it to pay for her uni fees.

Kate is a Melbourne-based DJ and dancer, who suffers from OCD which can be physically and mentally challenging. She may be small in stature but she is strong in mind:

“My perception of Brawn is my mental strength. It sometimes takes me 10 goes to pick up a drink or sitting down on my bed can sometimes take me a whole hour. But I push through, and I won’t let it stop me.”

It has been a dream for business mogul Kent to be on Australian Survivor. He has been a grand for 25 years, since its first inception and has applied every single year since it arrived in Australia.

“I’ve been in love with the show for 25 years. I even met Mark Burnett and Jeff Probst [presenters on the American version of the show] last year. I thanked Mark for the show and how much it meant to me and my eyes welled up.”

Kent believes his business savvy and negotiation skills will help him in Australian Survivor. However, it appears he was too confident in his abilities.

In the third episode of the season, the other Brains tribe members blindsided Kent. They didn’t like his sneaky tactics including burning his fellow tribe member’s hat and blaming it on Myles. He admitted his bizarre move to everyone at tribal council. It appears they didn’t want to keep his energy around the camp.

Aviation Fire Fighter from Sydney, Kristin is used to performing under pressure and plans to bring her skills to the show.

“I’ll be utilising many of my workplace skills. Knowing how to relate to people, knowing how to act on my feet, working under pressure and just being physical.”

Laura is a self-described witch who claims to know how to manifest what she wants through spellwork, magic, and 250 crystals.

From day one on camp, she used her witchy intuition to see who she could work with and formed the all-women “coven” alliance.

“I read people’s energies and see your aura by seeing little colours above people’s heads that tell me what they’re thinking, what they’re feeling and how they are handling any given situation. It’s a skill I’ll be using out here for sure!”

Logan is a self-described “WAG”, but says there is more to her than her husband, Western Bulldogs player Jason Johannisen.

“There are three different parts of me. There’s the WAG wife, the mum and then there’s Logan and Logan doesn’t get enough attention. I’m ready for it to be Logan’s time.”

She says that she wants to use her social skills to be a “smiling assassin”, like Pia Miranda who won season six, and lure her allies in with a false sense of security before betraying and blindsiding them.

A primary school teacher from the Gold Coast, Max is a super-fan of the show who has been watching it since he was a child himself.

“I know this game, I’ve been watching with my Dad since I was a kid. People might think I’m always joking around but I’m calculated and I will be out here. I put this fun energy out for a reason and to bring up tribe morale but the truth is I’m five steps ahead of everyone.”

You might recognise Morgan as an Olympian! She has been a sprinter since 2021 and has raced in three World Championships, two Commonwealth Games and two Olympics. She was one of only a couple of athletes who was able to compete in both the 400m and 800m races at the Olympics.

No doubt, she will be using her athletics training to bring her far in this competition!

Financial Analyst Myles is the epitome of a Brains tribe member. He loves his statistics, but he also has a secret flex:

“But something you wouldn’t know about me is I’m a pole dancer. It’s one of my hobbies that I like to do and it’s just something totally out of left field that people don’t think of.”

His pole-dancing could come in handing in any of the balancing or core-related challenges. Could Myles be a secret challenge beast?

Salesman Nash plans to use his people’s skills and confidence to be successful with social gameplay.

“I’m going to be very hard to read. I mean when I’m always smiling, you’re not gonna tell whether I’m part of your alliance or not. I’m just gonna be telling you what you want to hear and with my confidence and with my charm you’re gonna believe everything I say.”

He loves to cause drama which has already made him a target at tribal council.

Learning support officer and self-described “Footy Fanatic”, Nonnan is keen to make an impact on Australian Survivor.

“For a long time, Survivor has been my identity – the Noonan that’s obsessed with Survivor. People would joke about it and now sitting here, who’s laughing now? I’m the one who is here and it’s brilliant! I want to be remembered as the fun-loving, over-the-top, girl obsessed with Survivor.”

Paramedic Paulie is not fazed by the pressure of tribal council or the challenges. However, being a Sydneysider, he’s more concerned about sleeping in the outdoors:

“I’m a city boy. I like my city stuff. I go on vacation, but I’ve never lived in an environment like this! I’ve slept on a beach a few times, sure that’s cute but this is going to be hard.”

Sydneysider PD is a brewery salesman and head coast of an NPL football team. PD actually played for Australia in the National Soccer League, before his coaching years.

Although he says he will miss his family (and his dog), he is keen to use his coaching skills to lead his tribemates to victory:

“I’ve always got plan A and plan B. Now, plan A is our game plan, but plan B is to do plan A even better. So, we aren’t gonna lose.”

Film director Rich is ready to make big moves on this year’s season of Australian Survivor.

“I’ve been told I stir the pot my whole life and sometimes I don’t even know I’m doing it. I don’t mean to, but it happens. I’ll be doing that on the beaches. Life’s more fun when you stir the pot a little bit.”

There are many definitions of strength, and Ursula hits all accounts. She is a mum of two girls, is a fitness and nutrition coach, and is a powerlifter. She is definitely someone you want on your tribe for the challenges!

However, she did say “The easiest part of the game will be stabbing people in the back.”

The stay-at-home mum of three describes herself as “the CEO of my household.” The Brisbanite has three degrees (in political science, law, and economics), is a qualified solicitor and financial planner, is the current vice president of the PTA, and was a cheerleader for the Broncos and the Bullets! She also loves a marathon. She could be the perfect mix of brains and brawn!

A hip-hop artist from the Gold Coast, Zen is the youngest contestant on this year’s season of Australian Survivor.

He was ready to make big moves and connect with nature, unfortunately, the Survivor Gods did not smile on him. During the reward challenge on the third episode of the series, Zen fractured a finger. After being examined by the medical team, he was pulled from the season.

Maybe he could come back in a future season? Only if he brings his purple velvet pants with him!