The fifth season of Australian Survivor, also known as Australian Survivor: Champions V Contenders, is a television series based on the international reality competition franchise Survivor. It is the third season to air on Network Ten and was hosted by Jonathan LaPaglia and filmed in the Fijian community of Savusavu.

The season featured 24 contestants divided into two tribes: "Champions", composed of twelve high-achievers who excelled in their fields, and "Contenders", composed of twelve everyday Australians. The season premiered on 1 August 2018, and concluded on 9 October 2018, where Shane Gould was named the winner over Sharn Coombes in a 5–4 vote, winning the grand prize of A$500,000 and title of Sole Survivor.

Contestants

The 24 contestants were divided into two tribes based on celebrity status: "Champions," composed of 12 people who have received accolades and fame for their exceptional work in their given fields, and "Contenders," composed of 12 non-celebrities. Among the Champions were Russell Hantz, a three-time contestant on the American Survivor series (having competed on seasons 19, 20 and 22; this was the first series of Australian Survivor of the CBS era Network Ten since the December 2017 acquisition), The Biggest Loser trainer Steve "Commando" Willis, and Olympic gold medalists Lydia Lassila and Shane Gould. The Contenders included Benji Wilson, brother of Australian Survivor 2017 contestant Anneliese Wilson, and Zach Kozyrski, who appeared as a Gladiator in the 2008 revival of Gladiators.

+List of Australian Survivor season 5 contestantsContestantOriginal tribeSwitched tribeMerged tribeFinish35, Brisbane, QLD45, Dayton, Texas, USAUS: Samoa, US: Heroes V Villains, & US: Redemption Island36, Sydney, NSWFormer Special Forces commando58, Sydney, NSW28, Perth, WA30, Melbourne, VICAFLW player50, Sunshine Coast, QLDDay 2139, Perth, WA24, Adelaide, SA44, Melbourne, VICWorld Series poker player32, Derby, WA33, Brisbane, QLD36, Melbourne, VICOlympic freestyle skier rowspan="12" 26, Adelaide, SA26, Brisbane, QLDAstrophysicist42, Gold Coast, QLDFormer dual-code rugby footballer26, Melbourne, VIC42, Sydney, NSWFitness specialist 33, Melbourne, VIC27, Sydney, NSWMiss Universe Australia 201526, Tewantin, QLD36, Caroline Springs, VICFormer AFL footballer41, Melbourne, VICCriminal barrister61, Bicheno, TASOlympic swimmer

Notes

Future appearances Moana Hope, Zach Kozyrski, Lydia Lassila, Mat Rogers, Shonee Fairfax, Sharn Coombes and Shane Gould competed in Australian Survivor: All Stars. In 2023, Fairfax, now using her maiden name of Bowtell, Jackie Glazier and Steve Khouw competed as villains in Australian Survivor: Heroes V Villains. In 2025, Bowtell competed on Survivor: Australia v The World.

Outside of Survivor, Rogers competed on the second season of The Summit in 2024. In 2026, Gould competed on the third season of The Traitors.

Season summary

The 24 contestants were divided into two tribes. The Contenders, representing everyday Australians, faced off against the Champions, high achievers in their respective fields. Brian, Jackie, Monika, and Shane were initially outsiders at the Champions tribe. Meanwhile, at the Contenders tribe, Benji took strategic control of the tribe, and three pairs emerged: Benji & Robbie, Fenella & Shonee, and Heath & Tegan (the latter of whom re-entered the game from Exile Beach after getting blindsided by Benji). The Champions dominated challenges until a tribe swap sent Shonee and Tegan to the Champions and Lydia, Monika, & Sharn to the Contenders. Benji and Robbie worked with their new Champions tribemates, while the Contenders on the new Champions tribe tried, but failed, to infiltrate the majority.

The merge occurred with 12 players left; though most of the Champions wanted to pick off the rest of the Contenders, Mat and Shane were threatened by Lydia's challenge prowess and blindsided her before Robbie was eliminated. Having lost his closest ally, Benji overthrew the majority to blindside Mat before his own elimination followed. The pairs of Brian & Monika and Fenella & Shonee realigned against Sharn; she played an idol, and Brian's paranoia led to him deviating from their alliance's split-vote plan in order to vote out Fenella. Shonee sought revenge by eliminating Brian's own closest ally Monika, but Brian's victory in the final four immunity challenge led to Shane and Sharn voting out Shonee. Sharn then voted Brian out after winning final immunity, staying true to her final two deal with Shane.

Despite being the more strategically and physically dominant of the two, Sharn was criticized for being unlikeable and preaching loyalty despite playing both sides and failing to save her closest ally Mat. Shane, however, despite being less aggressive, was commended for her grace, likeability, underdog status and work ethic despite her advanced age. She won the votes from the female jurors Fenella, Monika and Shonee, plus Mat and Brian to narrowly win the title of Sole Survivor.

+Tribal phase (Day 1–30)EpisodeChallenge winner(s)EliminatedFinishNo.Air dateRewardImmunity11 August 2018 1st voted outDay 222 August 20182nd voted outDay 536 August 20183rd voted outDay 847 August 20184th voted outDay 1158 August 20185th voted outDay 13 69 August 2018 rowspan=3 rowspan=3 6th voted outDay 16 713 August 2018 None7th voted outExiledDay 18 814 August 20188th voted outExiledDay 20 920 August 2018 Nonerowspan="2" Lost Exile DuelDay 21 9th voted outDay 221021 August 201810th voted outDay 241127 August 2018 None11th voted outDay 261228 August 201812th voted outDay 28133 September 2018None13th voted outDay 30

+Individual phase (Day 31–50)EpisodeChallenge winner(s)EliminatedFinishNo.Air dateRewardImmunity144 September 2018 SurvivorAuction14th voted outDay 321510 September 2018 None15th voted out1st jury memberDay 331611 September 201816th voted out2nd jury memberDay 351717 September 2018 None17th voted out3rd jury memberDay 371818 September 201818th voted out4th jury memberDay 391924 September 2018NoneNo elimination on Day 40 due toDead Man Walking vote.2025 September 201819th voted out5th jury memberDay 42211 October 2018None20th voted out6th jury memberDay 44222 October 201821st voted out7th jury memberDay 46238 October 2018None22nd voted out8th jury memberDay 47249 October 201823rd voted out9th jury memberDay 49Final voteRunner-upDay 50Sole SurvivorDay 50

In the case of multiple tribes or castaways who win reward or immunity, they are listed in order of finish, or alphabetically where it was a team effort; where one castaway won and invited others, the invitees are in brackets.

Notes

Episodes

Voting history

Tribal Phase (Day 1-30) Original tribesExile TwistOriginal tribesSwitched tribesEpisode #12345678910111213Day #2581113161820212224262830EliminatedVotesVoterVotealign="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" align="left"

Individual phase (Day 31–50)

Merged tribeEpisode #1415161718192021222324Day #3233353739404244464749Eliminatedcolspan=2 colspan=2 Votecolspan=2 colspan=2 VoterVotealign="left" colspan="2" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="3" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" colspan="2" align="left" colspan="2" colspan=3 align="left" colspan="2" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left"

Final voteEpisode #24Day #50FinalistVotecolspan="3" JurorVotealign="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left" align="left"

Notes

Reception Ratings Ratings data is from OzTAM and represents the viewership from the 5 largest Australian metropolitan centres (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide). WkEp Air date Timeslot Source Viewers Rank Viewers Rank Viewers Rank 1 11 August 2018 716,000 6 63,000 7 779,000 6 22 August 2018 615,000 7 105,000 1 721,000 6 2 36 August 2018 592,000 14 88,000 4 680,000 13 4 609,000 12 106,000 2 715,000 11 58 August 2018 620,000 11 103,000 5 724,000 8 69 August 2018 664,000 7 135,000 1 799,000 5 3 713 August 2018 651,000 15 77,000 4 727,000 11 814 August 2018 634,000 10 122,000 2 755,000 7 4 920 August 2018 666,000 11 53,000 5 719,000 11 1021 August 2018 661,000 10 106,000 2 767,000 8 5 1127 August 2018 674,000 12 80,000 4 755,000 12 1228 August 2018 667,000 8 121,000 2 788,000 6 6 133 September 2018 640,000 13 83,000 4 724,000 13 144 September 2018 668,000 9 124,000 2 792,000 8 7 1510 September 2018 654,000 11 62,000 6 716,000 11 1611 September 2018 664,000 8 100,000 2 763,000 7 8 1717 September 2018 732,000 10 66,000 6 798,000 9 1818 September 2018 654,000 9 107,000 3 761,000 8 9 1924 September 2018 627,000 13 68,000 4 696,000 11 2025 September 2018 696,000 8 111,000 2 808,000 7 10 211 October 2018 645,000 9 78,000 4 727,000 8 222 October 2018 732,000 7 97,000 5 829,000 8 11 238 October 2018 793,000 6 58,000 6 851,000 6 249 October 2018 862,000 5 52,000 12 914,000 5 877,000 4 45,000 13 922,000 4 R 609,000 11 58,000 11 667,000 13 Notes

References

External links