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Australian Survivor season one cast reunite

Cast from Australian Survivor 2002 returned to Whalers Way, near Port Lincoln on the weekend.

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L to R: Craig Abbott, Naomi Russell, Lincoln Howes, Deborah Peart, Sciona Browne & Lance Brooks.

In 2002 the very first Australian Survivor, filmed at Whalers Way, near Port Lincoln, aired on Nine and last weekend a group of original cast members and the host Lincoln Howes returned to the site for the first time since the filming of the show.

Howes was joined by runner-up Sciona Browne, Lance Brooks, Craig Abbott, Naomi Russell & Deborah Peart as part of a reunion weekend hosted by Australian Survivor history podcast Australian Survivor Archives.

 

The group ventured out to the original filming location where they visited the original tribe camps of Kadina, Tipara and merge tribe Aurora. They also visited the site of tribal council as well as the famous windmill that was used heavily in promotion for the series, and was also the site of their water reserves. Other sites visited included challenge locations, the rocks where the tribes would venture for food and the cave where both tribes famously tracked down a hive of bees to varying success.

Miraculously there were still remnants of the show 21 years later, with fire pits at the tribe camps still there, pieces of the tribal council set, tree mail at Kadina, shells used for eating and even a boat that the Aurora camp used for shelter.

 

Browne, who lost 2-5 to the late Rob Dickson at the final tribal council, described the experience as an emotional one.

“It’s surreal (being here) and incredibly emotional,” she told Australian Survivor Archives host Ben Waterworth. “We were out here in fairly tough conditions. At the time it was the coldest summer for 30 years. I think we did it tough compared to the other Survivors around the world. To come back now after all this time…all of this stuff has come rushing back for me. I felt very emotional this morning when we got to the gate before we drove in thinking of Rob in particular as he and I were very close through the whole journey of Australian Survivor. It’s hard to put it into words. For me it has been such a privilege and beyond my wildest expectations. I expected to come out here and it would just be a look around at things we did in our past. But it’s been much more heartfelt for me.”

Host Howes also agreed it was an amazing trip down memory lane.

“When you stand in the position you were standing in 20 odd years ago and all of it floods back to you, it kind of gets to you. It really does.”

An official reunion function was held the night before, where tributes were shown to both Dickson and cast member Tim Duggan, who have passed away since the show aired, as well as a series of video messages from other cast members who weren’t able to attend the weekend.

The Nine version of Australian Survivor aired in 2002. Another version aired on Channel Seven in 2006, Celebrity Survivor, before the franchise switched to Channel 10 in 2016 where it has remained since.

A new season begins in January.

Interviews with original cast members will air this Friday at Australian Survivor Archives Podcast

5 Responses

  2. I remember it as being quite good at the time, but i think the producers underestimated the brutal weather in that part of the world, not the idyllic warm island locations of most Survivors. It was still one of the very first ‘reality’ shows produced in this country, so a big learning curve I assume

  3. This is actually a nice reminder that despite how poorly a show might be received (and remembered), the people who made it invested a lot into it and should be rightly proud of what they did.

  4. Golly gosh this series was woefully produced.
    I remember there being a challenge where they just had to give up and have no winner as the wind was blowing a gale.
    It was like no thought has been put into it.

  5. Great article David! Even though this season definitely wasn’t Australian Survivor at its best, it was still kinda cool watching it as a kid. The winner also played a good game given the circumstances.

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