★★★★★ 0/5

Liz wins Australian Survivor 2023

Pole-vaulter from Perth triumphs in Samoa over all other Heroes & Villains to take home the $500,000 prize.

24
Leave a comment

Two-time Pole Vault Olympian Liz Parnov has won Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains.

The 28 year old from Perth won the $500,000 prize, triumphing as the last woman standing and the sole original series ‘villain.’

It was a clean sweep in votes for the Russian born athlete, outwitting, outplaying and outlasting her competitors, Queensland lifeguard Matt Sharp and Queensland pilot Gerry Geltch.

She also won the punishing final challenge, a 4+ hour endurance test standing on some uncomfortable poles with spikes pushed into their back and crashing ocean waves adding to the gruelling final task.

The self proclaimed ‘King George’ Mladenov finished fourth after being voted out by his tribemates. After winning Immunity Liz strategised to vote out her biggest competition and exact revenge for the culling of friend Shonee from the game and later, the jury.

She pitched to the jury on her strategy of multiple alliances, immunity wins and elimination of George as her biggest rival. It was enough to win her all 7 jury votes in the pre-recorded ending, believed to be one of three shot in Samoa.

“From the Shonee blindside onwards I definitely thought George was a big player and I had to be really wary of his moves and what he was doing,” she said later. “It was always on my agenda to get rid of George just because I knew, with a player like him and all the moves he had made, if he got to the end and the Jury were basing their votes on gameplay, he would have definitely won.

“In the back of my mind, I always thought that I had to get rid of George but it was a matter of picking the perfect moment and the right time and… the rest is history.”

She added, “Winning individual immunity was just incredible,” she continued, “I never, ever thought in my wildest dreams I would do that. In particular, winning that reward with Shonee where we beat everyone else in that challenge where we held the blocks. I feel like that really showed me that I’ve got what it takes and I’ve got that grit and that determination.”

Host Jonathan LaPaglia also congratulated the cast for a thrilling series filmed by producers Endemol Shine Australia last year.

The 10 series has been challenged by Nine’s Married at First Sight but grew in numbers as it closed in on its finale, regularly voted by viewers second in the demos.

LaPaglia, ever-popular with fans, is also returning to acting, currently shooting Strife for Foxtel in Sydney.

24 Responses

  1. Not surprised Liz won after she voted George off. I would have loved to see George’s pitch as he was a better player this time around.

    Liz made her argument the best and poor Matt just fumbled over his answers or couldn’t come up with any and Gerry just didn’t have much.

  2. Whilst I love travelling, we are currently overseas and we missed the final 2 episodes. Thanks for the most extensive review of the finale, David!
    Like nearly everyone else who has already commented, we really wanted King George to win, (that tribal is the greatest tribal ever in any of the Survivor franchises), I’m glad it was Liz, who was a strong player in her own right. The best thing Liz did, in my opinion, is re-align with George after Shonee was evicted, not trying to get him out immediately, but biding her time.

  3. Survivor still undoubtedly the best Aussie reality show but this season wasn’t the show at it’s best, ruined largely by the episodes basically being George’s video diary of his time on the show at the expense of viewers getting tge insight of other players. Two non-elimination episodes in the final 6 stage was ridiculous too, especially with tge penultimate episode.

    Hopefully all newbies as promised next year too.

  4. Yep agree amazing season! Great casting and characters, loved the gameplay and although heroes team was boring until merge George/Shonnie but esp George gave us all the entertainment and moves we wanted to see, too bad George didn’t win because I’ve never seen a better player and in saying that I hope he returns in a few years time.

  5. A magnificent season. I was howling in disbelief when George was voted off coz it seemed like it could not happen. Ultimately, he was the most deserving but for the others to vote him off was absolutely the right move and of the three remaining, the best person won. Bravos all round to the cast and crew for possibly the best AusSurvivor yet!

  7. Best move ever. Wait till George could smell victory, then cut him down. Congrats on winning Liz, you deserve it. Pity Shonee was not there to cheer you on.

  8. Great series of Survivor overall and the right winner of the final three picked.
    A shame that the few episodes leading into the finale were a bit stale/predictable, but that comes down to there being new players who are a bit stubborn in their gameplay (I’m looking at you Gerry and Matt!). I think the producers/editors did a very good job at keeping it interesting in spite of the stubborn gameplay. Removing the jury member was definitely one of the best twists the show has done – unseen in the US series. Well done Ch 10!

      1. Ahhh yes – my bad. Completely forgot about that. Thanks for reminding me… Michele in S32 who went on to win convincingly knocked some guy off the jury.

  10. Throughout the season, I couldn’t stand George as a player, but I hoped he would manage to win, as he was the only player who actually made moves worthy of $500,000! Once he was voted out Fourth, I actually didn’t really want any of the Final Three to win, because, in my opinion they haven’t made any moves to deserve the win – they were all of George’s “pawns”.

    Overall, a fantastic season, one of my favorites! Looking forward to a season of all new players in 2024!

  11. It was obvious Liz won when George was voted out.

    George was the entertainment this season and the producers must be glad he made it this far because it would have been so lacklustre without him. For those saying it was an unbalanced edit I get it but if the other 3 gave the producers anything to work with it would have been included.

    Loved George burying Matt with his question. Yes it was a viable strategy to use George to get to the end and cut him before the final but it was never going to be a winning strategy.

      1. Yes camera time was ridiculous probably similar to what David the Golden God got in All Stars and to a lesser extent what Mark and Sam got last season.

        Liz articulated her gameplay well in the Final Tribal even if she didn’t really make many moves outside of George that had a positive impact on her game *cough* saving Flick which was rescued by George’s strategy at merge. But good on her she sold her game well and got the jury votes.

  13. Their best ever season, though they could’ve balanced George’s edit slightly, as it meant the rest of the final 5 were severely under-edited, particularly Liz once Shonee left. I do seriously question the lack of a reunion special (Nina even said last week she was in Oz) especially given how eventful the season was – George vs. Simon, the Cookie Idol, Liz & Shonee etc. Given how it was the first time a Twine made a jury, I did find it a tad disrespectful that they edited out her question – almost half of the jury (3 of 7) were edited out.

    As well as a reunion show, I would also love for them to return to old US Survivor and read the votes live in front of an audience, I’m not sure it’d make a difference, but the biggest issue with Oz Survivor is Sportsbet knows the winner weeks in advance – there will always be some a-hole who enjoys big-noting themselves, by spoiling the result for anyone that wishes to watch oblivious, so social media is always a minefield.

    1. While I wish they did show more of the jury questions, I am extremely glad they don’t do the whole 2-3 hour show back in Sydney. It just runs forever and is totally boring. Not even the US version does that anymore. Just count the votes and get on with it.

  14. I had been rooting for George or Shonee to win since I heard they were both returning this series. They have both been my favourite players of all time & was glad when they were in an alliance together but knew eventually they would probably have to turn on each other. George was savvy enough to realise Shonee & Liz would be gunning for him next & struck first. It wasn’t George’s vote that sent Shonee to the jury it was Matt’s 2 votes & Gerry’s vote. It didn’t matter who George voted for she was going. Don’t know why she is blaming him for that. I knew when Matt was struggling to name any big moves he made without George that they wouldn’t vote for him. Happy for Liz but really wanted George to win. He has played a fantastic game this time. He learnt from his mistakes last time.

  15. If George didn’t win, I was happy it was Liz. As soon as he stepped down from that final challenge, I knew Liz had won… it would be absolutely ridiculous if she’d taken him, he played arguably the greatest game of Survivor I’d ever seen.
    I have issues (as I do every year) with the final jury Q+A interaction… not helped by the whiff of anticlimax because the winner was just so obvious. Gerry pinning his entire pitch on how old he was and how socially excellent he was? Lol (Shaun calling him out was excellently hilarious). He was delusional to even think he played his own game… Simon foolishly but correctly called him a pawn which is exactly what he was. And Matt… has there ever been a weaker player in the finale before? Nice guys don’t finish first in survivor sorry. I was laughing so hard when George asked him to name a move he made and he couldn’t. It was always going to be the most one sided final vote ever when George was voted off. Great season!

    1. George’s Jury Villa episode is worth a watch – the perception of Gerry, even among the rest of the jury, was he was a pawn, but George said of the 3, Gerry had played the best game, followed by Liz. He did share Simon’s belief that Matt was his pawn though.

Leave a Reply