While summer isn’t officially over yet (thank you February), the TV schedule is starting to heat up as all the major broadcasters have each debuted new seasons of their major primetime entertainment brands. This includes Channel 10 which has recently premiered Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villians, the first time this format has run on the Australian version of the long-running entertainment franchise.
See Also: Australian Survivor: Heroes V Villains: Everything you need to know
To discuss the new series, Mediaweek caught up with long-time Australian Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia to discuss the show’s new format and its return to Samoa.
When asked what has kept him coming back to host the show since 2016, LaPaglia said that it is the game’s unpredictability, which always manages to keep him surprised.
“I love that players inventively interpret the rules and the twists and the advantages that we throw at them and navigate the game in a fresh way. That’s really the success of the show because it’s just unpredictable. You never know how it’s going to play out. I love that as a host, and as a viewer.”
What to expect from Australian Survivor: Heros v Villains
When summarising what viewers can expect from the new season, LaPaglia said that there will be lots of elements to the gameplay that viewers haven’t seen before.
“It is the level of inventive gameplay this year – that may be because of the number of returnees that we have. We also have some twists that turned out really well. That’s really the big difference this season. It’s fast-paced, they’re really swinging for the fences. Big moves, big people making big moves and taking big falls. It certainly was an entertaining season to shoot and I’m hoping that it cuts together that way.”
How JLP approaches Heros v Villians
When asked how he approaches the two tribes (Heros and Villians), and if there are any differences in his approach, LaPaglia said that he tries to keep things as fair as possible.
“I try to treat everyone the same. Heroes versus Villains is another theme that we’ve chosen that offers a narrative by which to tell the story. The game is still the game, and I’m still the host of it. This season is more about the player’s style of gameplay rather than a physical attribute like Brains versus Brawn or past accomplishments like Champions versus Contenders. This is a theme that everyone understands, it’s an age-old theme that we all identify with: good versus evil, heroes versus villains. It makes for an easy narrative.”
Australian Survivor – Heroes
Australian Survivor: Heros v Villains will also see the return of several former contestants creating a mix of new returning players. LaPaglia said that this only had a minimal impact on his interactions with cast members, which also only lasted a few days.
“I tried to treat them like day one. Having said that, I have a history with the returnees and I think that comes out in any cheeky exchanges that we might have, because they have a past and I like to be cheeky with them, and they like to be cheeky with me. That’s really the difference, and that’s probably in the first few days. Once that dies away, and I get to know everyone, it feels like it’s a pretty level playing field from that point.”
Australian Survivor going back to Samoa
When asked about the show returning to an international location for the first time since the Covid-19 pandemic, LaPaglia said that while filming in Australia was a great experience, Australian Survivor has now gone back to its roots.
“Most of us who were fans of the show and have been watching this show for a long time, we’ve grown up with it being set in the tropics – so there was less of a need this season to explain the location, like when we shot in the outback. It’s a bit like putting on your favourite shoes, it just kind of feels right. The audience will appreciate that.
“That’s not taking anything away from the scene we did in Australia, they were great unto themselves as well and offered a great contrast. The tropics and Survivor, it just feels right. Samoa, in terms of production, is smaller, it’s remote, and it has limited infrastructure. It can be challenging at times, it’s a big complicated show to make. If you don’t have the infrastructure available, it becomes tricky.
“Australia has more infrastructure available than Samoa. On some level, it was a bit easier from that point of view. The distances that we had to travel between locations were a problem in Australia, so we don’t have that problem so much this season.”
Villain Tribe
How the show has changed
When asked how the show has evolved since he hosted Channel 10’s first version of the series in 2016, LaPaglia said that one of the main ways that the gameplay has changed involves the idea of mateship.
“Mateship is clearly part of the Aussie social fabric. It was definitely present when we first started Australian Survivor, but mateship makes it difficult to play a game where the premise is voting out one of your mates every second night. It kind of bogged down the gameplay, and the players quickly recognised that. That’s not to say that mateship has disappeared, I just don’t think it is anywhere near as common as it was. Now it’s much more about the aggressive blindsides, which is great because the game moves at a much faster pace now and it’s much more unpredictable. It makes for fun TV.”