Australian Survivor season 3

Australian Survivor (Season 3)

Company type	Television series season
Industry	Reality television
Founded	August 21, 2016 (2016-08-21)
Headquarters	Australia
Area served	Australia
Key people	Jonathan LaPaglia (host)
Products	Reality competition television show
Parent	Network Ten

The third installment of Australian Survivor, announced by Ten in November 2015, represents the franchise's third Australian adaptation of the global reality competition series Survivor. This marks the second season to feature everyday contestants rather than celebrities and is the first to be broadcast on Network Ten. The original season aired on the Nine Network in 2002, followed by a celebrity edition in 2006 on the Seven Network. With this season, Australian Survivor becomes one of the rare Australian programs to have been shown across all three primary commercial television networks.

Filming took place in Samoa from May through July 2016, with the series debuting on 21 August 2016 on Network Ten. Actor Jonathan LaPaglia served as host for the season, which included 24 participants competing over a span of 55 days for a grand prize of A$500,000. Ultimately, Kristie Bennett earned the title "Sole Survivor," securing victory against former professional cricketer Lee Carseldine by an 8–1 vote from the jury.

Concept

Following the non-renewal of Australian Celebrity Survivor by Seven Network, a third season appeared unlikely. Nonetheless, in August 2013, Survivor creator Charlie Parsons disclosed that production rights for Australian Survivor had been acquired by an unnamed company intending to pitch the show to Australian broadcasters.

On 19 November 2015, Network Ten revealed at their upfront presentation a revival of Australian Survivor scheduled for mid to late 2016, with production handled by Endemol Shine Australia in partnership with Castaway Television.

Innovations

This season incorporated features from international versions such as: hidden immunity idols, which can negate votes cast against a contestant during Tribal Council; the option to prevent another contestant’s vote during the Survivor Auction; and Exile Beach, where certain players were temporarily isolated with limited survival resources.

Casting

Following the 2015 announcement, casting was opened to Australian citizens or permanent residents aged 18 and over who were capable swimmers. The initial week saw over 5,000 applications, growing to 7,500 by year’s end. By the February deadline, submissions reached a total of 15,000—the largest number ever received for a Network Ten reality program.

Filming and production

Rumors surfaced as early as March that filming would occur in Samoa, which was officially confirmed on 9 May during a radio interview with LaPaglia on the Hamish & Andy program. Production was conducted on Upolu Island, previously used for four seasons of the American version of Survivor: Samoa, Heroes vs. Villains, South Pacific, and One World. The crew comprised approximately 250 Australians and at least 180 Samoan locals, including Trent Pattison, who had experience as a challenge producer for both the American edition and Ten's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!.

Broadcast

Australian Survivor originally premiered with two episodes per week, airing Sundays and Mondays at 7:30pm. Following the debut week, a third episode was introduced on Tuesdays at 7:30pm to increase viewership and enhance Network Ten's Tuesday lineup, which had previously experienced low ratings with programs such as Modern Family and Life in Pieces.

In addition to the main broadcast, a supplementary nine-part web series named The Jury Villa was made available on tenplay. Inspired by the American series' Ponderosa, this companion show chronicles the final nine eliminated contestants as they become members of the Tribal Council Jury, engaging with one another and reflecting on the game. Episodes commenced after the airing of episode 17 and were released following each subsequent main episode.

Promotion

The season’s principal sponsors comprised Hungry Jack's, AHM Health Insurance, and Holden.

Contestants

The competition started with 24 participants divided into three tribes of eight, each named after Samoan beaches: Aganoa, Saanapu, and Vavau. On Day 12, a unique Tribal Council vote resulted in two players swapping between Saanapu and Vavau tribes, each bringing along an additional tribe member. After securing victory in a reward challenge on Day 19, Saanapu restructured the remaining 18 players into two tribes of nine, leading to the dissolution of Aganoa. On Day 29, following an immunity win by Saanapu, they sent a representative to "abduct" a member from Vavau to join their tribe.

The final merge occurred on Day 32 when the remaining 13 contestants combined into a single tribe called Fia Fia, a Samoan term meaning "celebration." The ultimate group of 11 included two finalists alongside nine jury members responsible for determining the "Sole Survivor" and grand prize recipient.

List of Australian Survivor season 3 contestants

Contestant	Original tribe	Swapped tribe	Dissolved tribe	Post-kidnap tribe	Merged tribe	Finish
Template:Sortname 59, Sunshine Coast, QLD	Template:Stribe					Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 36, Melbourne, VIC	Template:Stribe					Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 30, Melbourne, VIC	Template:Stribe					Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 62, Canberra, ACT	Template:Stribe					Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 44, Cairns, QLD	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe				Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 33, Sydney, NSW	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe				Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 28, Melbourne, VIC	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe			Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 26, Perth, WA	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe			Template:Sort

(Additional contestants omitted for brevity.)

Upcoming participations

Phoebe Timmons, Nick Iadanza, Brooke Jowett, Felicity "Flick" Egginton, and Lee Carseldine all took part in Australian Survivor: All Stars during 2020. Meanwhile, Sam Webb competed in Australian Survivor: Heroes V Villains in 2023.

Beyond the Survivor franchise, Brooke Jowett appeared on The Challenge: Australia in 2022. Additionally, Matt Tarrant was a contestant on the tenth season of Australia's Got Talent that same year.

Season overview

The competition began with three tribes consisting of eight members each, where dominant alliances quickly formed. On Saanapu, Flick and Brooke aligned with Sam, Matt, and Conner. Vavau’s principal alliance included Craig, Andrew, Sue, and Jennah-Louise. In Aganoa, Evan partnered with Phoebe, Rohan, Lee, and El; however, a conflict surrounding an idol clue caused Evan’s group to turn against him.

On Day 12, a Fake Double Tribal Council resulted in Conner and Nick being voted out; instead of elimination, they swapped tribes and brought Sam and Tegan along. On Day 19, after winning a Reward Challenge, Saanapu gained the power to choose which tribe to remain on. They opted to stay on Saanapu and selected Sam, El, and Lee for their challenge capabilities alongside Jennah-Louise with plans to vote her out. Following the tribe swap, Saanapu dominated the challenges while Phoebe’s idol plays ousted Vavau’s strongest players Rohan and Craig. After sparing Kristie in a staged Tribal Council, Brooke further weakened Vavau by recruiting Sue to Saanapu. Phoebe was eliminated next; the tribes merged when thirteen players remained.

The original Saanapu alliance—Flick, Brooke, Matt, and Sam—systematically removed post-swap Vavau members and outsiders until only seven remained. Flick then perceived Brooke as a threat and shifted allegiance to Lee, El, and Kristie to vote her out. Although El and Lee shared a strong bond, Flick and Kristie refused to flip back and eliminated Sam and Matt. Flick attempted to force a tiebreaker but was subsequently voted off. Kristie won the Final Immunity Challenge despite having no prior individual wins and chose to eliminate El. At the Final Tribal Council, Kristie’s underdog narrative combined with her floater gameplay secured her eight of nine jury votes to claim the title of "Sole Survivor."

Tribal phase (Day 1–31)

Episode		Challenge winner(s)		Eliminated	Finish
No.	Air date	Reward	Immunity
1	21 August 2016	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	1st voted out Day 2
		Template:Stribe
2	22 August 2016	colspan="2" Template:Stribe	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	2nd voted out Day 5
		colspan="2" Template:Stribe
3	28 August 2016	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	3rd voted out Day 8
		Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe
4	29 August 2016	None	Template:Stribe	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	Quit Day 10
			Template:Stribe
5	30 August 2016	Template:Stribe	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	No elimination on Day 12 due to a vote to exchange tribe members.
		Template:Stribe
6	4 September 2016	None	Template:Stribe	rowspan="2" Template:Stribe	4th voted out Day 14
			Template:Stribe

When multiple tribes or contestants win reward or immunity challenges together, winners are listed alphabetically or by finishing order; those invited are shown in brackets.

Additional notes

Episodes

{{Episode table | background=#000000 |overall= |season = |title= |aux1= |aux1T=Timeline |airdate= |episodes= Template:Episode list/sublist Template:Episode list/sublist Template:Episode list/sublist Template:Episode list/sublist Template:Episode list/sublist Template:Episode list/sublist Template:Episode list/sublist

Voting history

Tribal phase (Days 1–31)

				Initial Tribes				Tribe Swap Vote				Switched Tribes			Disbanded Tribes				Kidnap	Post-Kidnap
Episode #				1	2	3	4	5				6	7		9	10	11	12	13	14
Day #				2	5	8	10	12				14	17		21	23	25	27	29	31
Eliminated				Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe

Individual phase (Days 32–55)

					Merged Tribe
Episode #					15	16	17	18	19	20	21	23		24	25	26
Day # 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 colspan="2"|49 51 53 54
Eliminated					Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe
Vote					6–4–1–1–1	6–2–0	8–3	7–3	5–4	5–3	4–3	2–2–1	4–0	3–1–1	3–1	1–0

Final vote
#26│26 |- !Day #			55 |- !Finalist Template:Stribe│fiafia│Lee Template:Stribe│fiafia│Kristie |- !Vote			colspan="3" Template:Stribe│fiafia│8–1 |- !Juror	Vote |- align="left" Template:Stribe│fiafia│El Template:Stribe│fiafia│Lee align="left" Template:Stribe│fiafia│Flick Template:Stribe│fiafia│Kristie align="left" Template:Stribe│fiafia│Matt Template:Stribe│fiafia│Kristie align="left" Template:Stribe│fiafia│Sam Template:Stribe│fiafia│Kristie align="left" Template:Stribe│fiafia│Brooke Template:Stribe│fiafia│Kristie align="left" Template:Stribe│fiafia│Jennah-Louise Template:Stribe│fiafia│Kristie align="left" Template:Stribe│fiafia│Sue Template:Stribe│fiafia│Kristie align="left" Template:Stribe│fiafia│Kylie Template:Stribe│fiafia│Kristie align="left" Template:Stribe│fiafia│Nick Template:Stribe│giafaia │Kristie

Notes

Ratings

The ratings figures provided by OzTAM represent audience measurements from Australia's five major metropolitan areas: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.

Australian Survivor Season 3 viewership statistics, encompassing both overnight and timeshift audiences.

Week	Episode	Broadcast date	Broadcast time	Overnight ratings		Timeshift ratings			Source
				Viewership	Position	Timeshift Viewership	Combined Viewership	Position
1	1	21 August 2016	Sunday 7:30pm	783,000	6	74,000	857,000	5
				784,000	5	62,000	848,000	6
	2	22 August 2016	Monday 7:30pm	734,000	14	90,000	823,000	12
2	3	28 August 2016	Sunday 7:30pm	662,000	9	84,000	746,000	9
	4	29 August 2016	Monday 7:30pm	677,000	18	92,000	769,000	16
	5	30 August 2016	Tuesday 7:30pm	728,000	12	122,000	850,000	11

Notes