Australian Survivor season 5

Australian Survivor: Champions V Contenders
Company type	Television season
Industry	Reality television
Founded	August 1, 2018; 8 years ago
Headquarters	Savusavu, Fiji
Parent	Network Ten
Website	10play.com.au/australian-survivor

The fifth installment of Australian Survivor, named Australian Survivor: Champions V Contenders, belongs to the global reality competition series Survivor. This marks the third season broadcast on Network Ten, with Jonathan LaPaglia as host, and was filmed in Savusavu, Fiji.

This edition showcased 24 participants divided into two groups: the "Champions," made up of twelve distinguished individuals celebrated for their achievements, and the "Contenders," comprising twelve everyday Australians. The season debuted on 1 August 2018 and wrapped up on 9 October 2018. Shane Gould emerged victorious against Sharn Coombes in a close 5–4 jury vote, earning the A$500,000 prize and the title of Sole Survivor.

Significantly, this season was the first to air after CBS acquired Network Ten in December 2017, introducing elements from CBS's American Survivor All-Stars into the Australian adaptation.

Contestants

The group of 24 players was separated based on fame: the "Champions" included prominent personalities such as three-time American Survivor participant Russell Hantz, The Biggest Loser coach Steve "Commando" Willis, and Olympic gold medalists Lydia Lassila and Shane Gould. The "Contenders" tribe consisted of non-celebrities including Benji Wilson, sibling of a former contestant, and Zach Kozyrski, a past Gladiator competitor.

List of *Australian Survivor* season 5 contestants
Contestant	Original tribe	Finish
Template:Sortname 35, Brisbane, QLD	Template:Stribe	Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 45, Dayton, USA US Survivor seasons 19, 20 & 22	Template:Stribe	Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 36, Sydney, NSW Former Special Forces commando	Template:Stribe	Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 58, Sydney, NSW	Template:Stribe	Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 28, Perth, WA	Template:Stribe	Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 30, Melbourne, VIC AFLW player	Template:Stribe	Template:Sort
Template:Sortname 50, Sunshine Coast, QLD	Template:Stribe	Template:Sort

Future appearances

Several contestants including Moana Hope, Zach Kozyrski, Lydia Lassila, Mat Rogers, Shonee Fairfax, Sharn Coombes, and Shane Gould returned for Australian Survivor: All Stars. In 2023, Fairfax (now Bowtell), Jackie Glazier, and Steve Khouw featured as antagonists in Australian Survivor: Heroes V Villains. Bowtell made another comeback in Survivor: Australia v The World scheduled for 2025.

Beyond the realm of Survivor, Mat Rogers took part in the second season of The Summit in 2024.

Season overview

The competition began with 24 participants divided into two groups: the Contenders, representing everyday Australians, and the Champions, composed of accomplished individuals. Within the Champions tribe, Brian, Jackie, Monika, and Shane initially found themselves on the fringes. On the Contenders side, Benji took a strategic leadership role, forming three significant alliances: Benji & Robbie, Fenella & Shonee, and Heath & Tegan (the latter returning from Exile Beach following a surprise elimination). The Champions tribe excelled in early challenges until a tribe shuffle occurred, resulting in Shonee and Tegan joining the Champions and Lydia, Monika, and Sharn moving to the Contenders. Benji and Robbie adapted by aligning with their new Champions teammates; however, the Contenders who shifted to the Champions tribe were unable to secure a majority alliance.

When the tribes merged with 12 contestants left, most Champions targeted the Contenders. Yet Mat and Shane viewed Lydia's physical ability as a threat and orchestrated her blindside before Robbie was voted out. Benji then disrupted the dominant alliance by voting out Mat but was himself eliminated shortly after. The pairs Brian & Monika and Fenella & Shonee united against Sharn, who successfully utilized an immunity idol. Brian’s increasing suspicion caused him to abandon their planned split vote aimed at Fenella’s elimination. In response, Shonee retaliated by voting out Monika. At final four, Brian won immunity; Shane and Sharn joined forces to vote out Shonee. After securing final immunity, Sharn honored her agreement with Shane by voting Brian off.

Sharn was recognized for her strategic prowess but faced criticism for perceived unlikability and disloyalty. Conversely, Shane earned praise for her graciousness, amiability, underdog spirit, and strong work ethic despite her age. She ultimately secured victory by narrowly winning the Sole Survivor title with support from female jurors alongside Mat’s and Brian’s votes.

Template:Stribe Ninth eliminated
Day 22

Tribal phase (Day 1–30)
Episode		Challenge winner(s)		Eliminated	Placement
No.	Air date	Reward	Immunity	Eliminated	Placement
1	1 August 2018	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	First eliminated Day 2
2	2 August 2018	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Second eliminated Day 5
3	6 August 2018	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Third eliminated Day 8
4	7 August 2018	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Fourth eliminated Day 11
5	8 August 2018	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe	Fifth eliminated Day 13
6	9 August 2018	Template:Stribe	rowspan=3 Template:Stribe	rowspan=3 Template:Stribe	Sixth eliminated Day 16
		Template:Stribe
		Template:Stribe
7	13 August 2018	null	Template:Stribe	Template:Stribe Seventh eliminated Exiled Day 18
8 14 August 2018 Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Eighth eliminated Exiled Day 20
9 rowspan=2 \|20 August 2018 rowspan=2 \|None rowspan=2 Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Lost Exile Duel Day 21
	10 21 August 2018 Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Tenth eliminated Day 24
11 27 August 2018 None Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Eleventh eliminated Day 26
12 28 August 2018 Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Twelfth eliminated Day 28
13 3 September 2018 None Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Thirteenth eliminated Day 30

+ Individual phase (Day 31–50)

14th eliminated
Day 32 |- ! 15 |10 September 2018 | None |

15th eliminated
First jury member
Day 33 |- ! #16 16 11 September 2018 |

{{ stribe  korosavu  Mat  [Fenella,
 Sharn] }} |

16th eliminated
Second jury member
Day 35 |- ! #17 17 17 September 2018 |

None |

17th eliminated
Third jury member
Day 37 |- ! #18 18 18 September 2018 |

{{ stribe korosavu Brian,
Monika,
Shane,
Sharn }} |

18th eliminated
Fourth jury member
Day39 |- ! #19 1924 September 2018 |

None |

No elimination on Day40 due to Dead Man Walking vote.|- ! #20 2025 September 2018 |
{{ stribe korosavu Brian,
Shane,
Sharn }} |

19th eliminated
Fifth jury member
Day42 |- ! #21 211 October 2018 |

None |

20th eliminated
Sixth jury member
Day44 |- ! #22 222 October 2018 |

{{ str ibe korosavu Brian [Monika]}} |

21st eliminated
Seventh jury member
Day46 |- ! #23 238 October 2018 |

None |

22nd eliminated
Eighth jury member
Day47 |- ! #24 249 October 2018 |

None |

23rd eliminated
Ninth jury member
Day49 |- bgcolor = "darkgray" colspan = "2"| |- ! colspan = "2"| Final vote |- |- Runner-up Day50 |- Sole Survivor Day50 |-}

When there are multiple winners or team efforts, winners are ordered by finishing position or alphabetically; invitees are shown in brackets.

Notes

Episodes

{{Episode table | background=#00AD35 |overall= |season= |title= |aux1= |aux1T=Timeline |airdate= |episodes=

Voting history

Tribal Phase (Days 1–30)

	Initial tribes							Exile Twist^{[lower-alpha 1]}			Initial tribes		Switched tribes
Episode #	1	2		3	4	5	6	7	8	9		10	11	12^{[lower-alpha 2]}		13
Day #	2	5		8	11	13	16	18	20	21	22	24	26	28		30
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	'Tegan'	'Tegan'	'Heath'

Individual Phase (Days 31–50)

	Merged tribe
Episode #	14	15	16	17	18	19^{[lower-alpha 3]}	20	21	22	23	24
Day # 32 33 35 37 colspan=3 39 40 colspan=3 42 44 46 47 49
Eliminated Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Template:Stribe colspan=2 Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Template:Stribe colspan=2 Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Template:Stribe Template:Stribe
Vote 9–3 9–1–1 8–2 5–4 4–4 (tie) 5–1 4–3 2–2–2 (tie) 3–1–0 2–1–0 (idol played) 3–2 2–1–1 1–0

Brian Sharn Shonee Shane Monika Shane Fenella Shane Steve W. Sharn Benji Sharn Mat Shane Samuel Sharn Robbie Sharn

Final vote
Episode #	24
Day #	50
Finalist Template:Stribe Template:Stribe
Vote 5–4
Juror !Vote

Ratings

Audience measurement figures from OzTAM represent viewing statistics in Australia's five major metropolitan areas: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.

Week	Episode	Air date	Timeslot	Overnight ratings		Consolidated ratings		Total ratings		Source

Notes

External links

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