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Mike Snell wins I Will Survive

28 year old performer Mike Snell has won TEN's talent quest, pocketing $250,000 cash.

28 year old Victorian performer Mike Snell has won TEN’s talent quest I Will Survive, scoring a $250,000 cash prize plus agent representation in the US and a showcase opportunity on Broadway.

Snell defeated finalists Tom Sharah and former Hi-5 member Nathan Foley.

“This is by far the most exhilarating, proudest moment of my life. I feel like a new performer. I feel like a new person. I’ve got this power and this belief in my own creative skills,” he said.

Despite the whopping cash prize, he misses out on a chance to play the role of Tick on stage with the Broadway cast -the prize was withdrawn after the New York season ended, before an episode had ever hit the screen.

The finale saw performances of the title tune  Le Poisson Rouge nightclub, clad in drag outfits designed by Tim Chappel for Priscilla: Queen of the Desert.

After Nathan Foley was eliminated Tom and Mike were given 24 hours to put together a four minute solo piece at Broadway’s historic Hudson Theatre, before Stephan Elliott, Jason Donovan and guest judge Paula Abdul.

Mike performed Peter Allen’s Not The Boy Next Door combined with Man In The Mirror, while Tom sang Let Me Be Your Star from Smash with a segue into I’ve Got The Music In Me.

Mike Snell is currently starring as Kyle, the UPS guy, in Legally Blonde at the Sydney Lyric Theatre.

I Will Survive almost didn’t live up to its name for TEN, with disastrous ratings making it an expensive exercise. TEN Chief Programmer Beverley McGarvey confirmed it would not be returning.

18 Responses

  1. Congrats to Mike. Tom was awesome, Nathan amazing.. and such a talented group overall. If only Ten had stuck with the 2x1hr episodes per week. The last few eps were gutted.. such a shame. I also hope it’s replayed in its entirety. I’m sure there would be many who would like to see what they missed. Such a waste putting it up again X f*ctor. I really enjoyed the UK shows ‘How do you solve a problem like Maria?’, ‘Any Dream will Do’ and ‘I’d do Anything’ shown here on UKTV with Graham Norton hosting. Very happy Ten commissioned it.. as Seven and Nine only aim for the Lowest Common Denominator.. fast food tv.

  2. Always thought Mike was a stand out and so glad he won! I thought the show was great overall, although the editing in recent weeks when they had to combine two episodes into one was far too rushed. Good on Channel 10 for trying something new and sticking with it, even if the ratings were disastrous. And of course there was never gonna be a second season since the prize was meant to do with Priscilla.

  3. What a pathetic finale last night.
    It was so rushed I was really dissapointed.
    This show was treated very badly by TEN.

    Congratulation’s to Mike Snell.

  4. Good on Ten having the courage to keep this in a prime-time slot, even though it kept losing viewers… was a show I wasn’t expecting to watch for the whole series. Would have liked to see Nathan win though.

  5. I think anyone with knowledge of show business and theatre (as opposed to rubbish reality talent shows like X Factor)would have enjoyed aspects of the show overall. It was, however, a flawed concept from the beginning and was never , even if wildly successful, ever likely to have a second season.

    The sheer fact that the whole idea was muted by the fact that “Priscilla”had closed on Broadway made the exercise largely redundant, yet it had some great performances and great locations and production numbers.
    Channel Ten threw it away in an appaling timeslot and the sloppy editing of the final episode (not even a montage of Tom’s work)was disgraceful. If ten wanted to recoup on its expensive investment a little it would re run it in its entirety (not edited) late night and release it on DVD in time fo Mardi Gras (but that would take some creative thinking)

    The worst aspect was the idea has killed the (good)idea of a reality casting show, to cast a lead in a forthcoming musical that has proved so successful in UK and the States. This was sort of supposed to be in the same veign, but never worked as there was no show. One day someone may realise a casting show for a production that IS going to happen , can rate well.

  6. MJ, wasn’t this “original concept” taken from the UK’s series of shows featuring Andrew Lloyd Webber (“I’d Do Anything”, etc)? Good on Channel 10 for sticking with this show, but they must be relieved it’s finally over.

  7. @The Moops: I saw the last few minutes of the show and I also thought it was a very abrupt ending and we were off to NCIS before we knew it. Maybe Ten were so embarrassed by the show they just wanted to wrap it up as low key as they could.

  8. What a delightful, wonderful show…..it deserved a much bigger audience. I totally applaud Ten for being brave enough to go with an original concept. I’m sure the Roast Chook Network would never have gone there – sticking with just the bland, the dull and the ordinary.

    What makes a good television show- are big rating numbers the only yard stick? Yes, this is a business and ratings are the measure of how many people are watching, which in turn leads to revenue….but is this the only way to decide if a show is well made, entertaining or successful?

    We could all name a number of ‘successful’ shows with enormous ratings and have little substance, quality or production values.

  9. what a painfully bad show….just utter crap. Deserved to fail…..Murdoch has damaged or destroyed ever company he has head…if it wasnt for his father he would be unemployable

  10. When was the last time TEN ran a promo for this show in primetime? I actually thought it wasn’t on anymore. Will they have the winner on The Project tonight? That’s another reason why Seven scores. Promotion, promotion, promotion, cross-promotion, news-beatup-promotion, etc. etc.

  11. Did anyone find the way they announced the winner anti-climactic and abrupt? It was “and the winner is Mike Snell”. Cue shocked looks and a couple of sentences from the winner. The End. Absolutely bizarre, no commiserating with the runner-up, no judges comments saying what they based their decision on, etc. Ten weeks for such a dud ending, just terrible. Congrats to the guy that won, he was very good, but jeez.

  12. I actually thought Mike performed well last night I told his story a little better than Tom, which was the challenge. However Tom has that star quality that draws you in, he is captivating, It’s rare to see. I hope to see more of Tom on the entertainment circuit in the future. I seriously believe that if Ch10 had not placed it up against X-Factor it would have rated a lot better.

  13. The best performer actually won….congrats to Stephan and Jason for the choice. Even though it rated miserably I enjoyed it. And thanks for putting this up David.

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