Australian Survivor has returned to Aussie shores for filming in 2021, after years of the show being set in overseas locations.
Past seasons have seen castaways endure challenges with the idyllic beaches of Fiji or Samoa in the background.
Now, with the coronavirus pandemic restricting international travel, the show has returned to Australia to film for the first time in over a decade.
Australian Survivor 2021 is set in outback of Australia, in Cloncurry.
(Credit: Instagram)The first ever season of Australian Survivor was filmed in South Australia, but 2021’s Brains V Brawn season was shot in far north Queensland.
Cloncurry sits 770 kilometres west of Townsville and over 1,700 kilometres from the nearest capital city, Brisbane.
Known for its brutal climate, the town holds the record for the highest temperature ever recorded in Australia: an intense 53.1°C.
But at night temperatures can plummet into the single digits, a fact the new Survivor cast quickly learned.
“It’s a harsher environment – the temperatures are just so extreme,” host Jonathan LaPaglia told TV WEEK exclusively.
“When we first got there, the temperature during the day was close to 40 degrees. An hour out in that just melts your brain – you can’t think anymore, you’re nauseous and it’s really, really tough.”
“But towards the end of the season, the temperature switched and at night it was getting down to six or seven degrees. That was a whole new challenge.”
Swapping sandy shores and crystal-clear waters for the vast, unforgiving Aussie outback, the castaways will face very different conditions in this year’s location.
They’ll also have to deal with the other creatures that inhabit Cloncurry’s vast landscape of red dirt and rocks.
“There was a lot of wildlife that could kill you: snakes, spiders, crocodiles,” Jonathan told TV WEEK.
Host Jonathan LaPaglia revealed snakes were common sights during filming in Far North Queensland.
(Credit: Instagram)“Snake wranglers were constantly finding snakes in their camp, the tribal [council] and at challenges.”
Last year’s season of Survivor was shot in in the middle of the South Pacific in Savusavu, on Fiji’s northern island.
Seasons three and four were shot in nearby in Upolu, Samoa and season two was filmed in Efate in the Shefa Province of Vanuatu.
Before that, South Australia was chosen as the location for the first season, and seeing Survivor return to Aussie soil will no doubt stir nostalgia for long-time fans.
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