Australian Survivor: Brains v Brawn (2021)

Australian Survivor: Brains v Brawn (2021)
Season Information
Version	Australia
Season No.	6
Filming Location	Cloncurry, Queensland, Australia
Filming Dates	April 24, 2021 - June 10, 2021
Season Run	July 18, 2021 - September 12, 2021
No. of Episodes	24
No. of Days	48
No. of Castaways	24
Winner	Hayley Leake
Runner(s)-Up	George Mladenov
Tribes	Brains Brawn Fire
Prize for Winner	AU$500,000
Viewership (in Millions)	0.75
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	All Stars
Next	Blood v Water

Australian Survivor: Brains v Brawn is the sixth season of the Network Ten incarnation of the competitive reality TV show Australian Survivor.

After 48 days, Hayley Leake defeated George Mladenov in a 7-2 jury vote to become the Sole Survivor. To date, four castaways from Brains v Brawn (Flick Palmateer, George Mladenov, Hayley Leake, and Simon Mee) have returned for a future season.

Production

The season was originally planned to be filmed back-to-back with All Stars in Savusavu, Fiji, but production was called off due to the travel restrictions imposed in Fiji due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season was instead produced locally in the outback in Cloncurry, Queensland one year later.

The Brains v Brawn theme was later reused in an upcoming season of Australian Survivor filmed in July 2024.

Twists/Changes

• Brains v Brawn: As the theme implies, the castaways are sorted into tribes based on their most prominent attribute of each castaway, intelligence or strength.
• Shorter Game: This season lasted for 48 days, two days less than the previous three seasons.
• Safety Without Power: At the first Tribal Council, the castaway holding this advantage can send themselves and 5 other tribemates back to camp before the vote, granting them immunity at the cost of their vote.
• Hidden Immunity Idol: A Hidden Immunity Idol for each tribe is hidden at each camp.
  • Idol Hidden at Challenge Site: On Day 16, a public idol was put into play at the site of the Immunity Challenge. Jonathan announced the existence of this idol to all remaining castaways, giving them the opportunity to break away to find the idol instead of helping their tribes with the challenge.
  • Secret Hidden Immunity Idol: A clue is hidden at camp, leading the castaway to a key; that key will allow the castaway to unlock a secret compartment at Tribal Council which contains a Hidden Immunity Idol. Once unlocked, the castaway writes the name of the person they want to use it for on the back of the idol and places it in the urn, allowing the idol to be played anonymously.
  • Idol Transfer Rules: Continuing from the rules set in Australian Survivor: All Stars, an idol can be transferred to another player after its holder is voted out.
• Mock Vote: On Day 14, under the pretense that the Brains tribe voted a member out for losing the Immunity Challenge, they unknowingly sent the person "voted out" (Cara) to the Brawn tribe instead to be its newest member.
• Double Tribal Council: On Day 19, the two tribes competed for individual immunity, with two members of each tribe being immune from that night's vote. Each tribe would then vote out one member. As a final twist, the four Immunity Challenge winners were tasked to unanimously decide which of the two contestants that were voted out to permanently eliminate. If they could not come to a consensus, those two contestants would compete in a fire-making challenge to determine the elimination.
• VIP Ticket: At the Survivor candy shop reward on Day 24, an advantage was hidden that allowed its holder to send two members of the tribe that won the Immunity Challenge to attend and vote at the losers' Tribal Council, without being eligible to receive votes themselves.
• Merge: For the first time since Australian Survivor (2016), the merged phase of the game commenced with thirteen players left in the game.
• Unilateral Vote: At the Day 29 Immunity Challenge, the castaways were told three people had a chance to win individual immunity, and only those three would be eligible to vote someone out. At Tribal Council, instead of all three of the castaways casting votes as expected, they competed in a fire-making challenge, with the winner casting the sole vote to eliminate.
• Redemption Rock: On Day 29 and 30, the person voted out will not be sent home but will be sent to Redemption Rock to face each other to earn their spot back into the game.
• Limited Voting Options: At the Day 35 Immunity Challenge, the castaways were told the first five to complete the challenge would be safe, while the four contestants who did not complete the challenge would be the only people eligible to receive votes at the next Tribal Council.
• Save Scroll: On Day 39, four urns were placed at Tribal Council, one of which contained a "Save" scroll. The contestants voted out at each Tribal Council would select one urn to break, and if they found the "Save" scroll, they would return to the game. The twist is over once the Scroll has been found.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation				Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Post-Swap Tribe	Switched Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Phil Ferguson 28, Melbourne, VIC Artist	Brains				1st Voted Out Day 2	5
	Janelle Durso 43, Townsville, QLD Cleaner	Brawn				2nd Voted Out Day 5	7
	Gavin Wanganeen 48, Adelaide, SA AFL Legend	Brawn				3rd Voted Out Day 7	6
	Benny Burdo 38, Los Angeles, CA Entrepreneur	Brawn				4th Voted Out Day 9	11
	Mitch Shaw 33, Brisbane, QLD Doctor	Brains				5th Voted Out Day 12	6
	Joey McCann 35, Sydney, NSW Head of Partnerships	Brains	Brains			6th Voted Out Day 16	5
	Daini Tuiqere 26, Sydney, NSW Personal Trainer	Brawn	Brawn	Brains		7th Voted Out Day 18	3
	Shannon Lawson 30, Sydney, NSW Model	Brawn	Brawn	Brawn		8th Voted Out Day 19	14
	Georgia Ray 35, Noosaville, QLD Forensic Psychologist	Brains	Brains	Brains		9th Voted Out Day 21	7
	Rachel Downie 50, Buderim, QLD Teacher/Businesswoman	Brains	Brains	Brains		10th Voted Out Day 23	6
	Simon Mee 31, Brisbane, QLD Carpenter	Brawn	Brawn	Brawn		11th Voted Out Day 25	13
	Kez McGee 25, Busselton, WA Bodybuilder	Brawn	Brawn	Brains	Fire	12th Voted Out Day 27	9
	Chelsea Hackett 22, Gold Coast, QLD MMA Fighter	Brawn	Brawn	Brawn		Evacuated Day 31	2
	Baden Cooke 42, Melbourne, VIC Ex-Pro Cyclist	Brains	Brains	Brawn		Eliminated1 1st Jury Member Day 31	1
	Gerald Youles 26, Kilcoy, QLD Champion Wood Chopper	Brawn	Brawn	Brains		13th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 33	5
	Laura Wells 36, Sydney, NSW Environmental Advocate	Brains	Brains	Brains		14th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 35	21
	Emmett Pugh 31, Perth, WA Health Coach	Brawn	Brawn	Brains		15th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 37	8
	Andrew Ucles 33, Alice Springs, NT Survival Expert	Brains	Brains	Brawn		16th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 39	5
	Dani Beale 34, Sydney, NSW Corrections Officer	Brawn	Brawn	Brawn		17th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 43	13
	Wai Chim 38, Sydney, NSW Author	Brains	Brains	Brawn		18th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 44	3
	Cara Atchison 47, Sydney, NSW Real Estate Agent	Brains	Brawn	Brains		19th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 45	19
	Flick Palmateer 28, Margaret River, WA Big Wave Surfer	Brawn	Brawn	Brawn		20th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 47	12
	George Mladenov 31, Sydney, NSW Public Servant	Brains	Brains	Brains		Runner-Up	13
	Hayley Leake 31, Sydney, NSW Pain Researcher	Brains	Brains	Brawn		Sent to Redemption Rock1 Day 30 Sole Survivor	11

Notes:
^1 Baden and Hayley were voted out and sent to Redemption Rock, where they competed in a challenge to re-enter the game.

Season Summary

Episode	Air Date	Challenges		Eliminated (Vote)	Finish	Ratings
		Reward	Immunity
1	July 18, 2021	Brawn	Brawn	Phil (5-1)	1st Voted Out Day 2
2	July 19, 2021	Brawn	Brains	Janelle (7-4-1)	2nd Voted Out Day 5
3	July 20, 2021	Brawn	Brains	Gavin (6-0)1	3rd Voted Out Day 7
4	July 25, 2021	Brawn	Brains	Benny (5-5; 6-2)2	4th Voted Out Day 9
5	July 26, 2021	Brawn	Brawn	Mitch (6-4-0)1	5th Voted Out Day 12
6	July 27, 2021	Brawn	Brawn	Cara (3-3-0; 6-2)2,4	Sent to Brawn Day 14
		[Joey]3
7	August 1, 2021	Brains	Brawn	Joey (5-3-1)	6th Voted Out Day 16
8	August 2, 2021	None	Brawn	Daini (3-2-1-0)1	7th Voted Out Day 18
9	August 3, 2021	Andrew5		Laura (5-2; 4-0)6	Saved Day 19
		Wai5
		Emmett5		Shannon (6-2-1; 4-0)6	8th Voted Out Day 19
		Rachel5
10	August 8, 2021	Brains	Brawn	Georgia (5-3)	9th Voted Out Day 21
11	August 9, 2021	None	Brawn	Rachel (3-2-2)	10th Voted Out Day 23
12	August 10, 2021	Brains	Brains	Simon (6-3-1)	11th Voted Out Day 25
13	August 15, 2021	None7	Emmett	Kez (4-1-0)1	12th Voted Out Day 27
14	August 16, 2021	None	Emmett	Baden (1-0)8	Sent to Redemption Rock9 Day 29
			Andrew
			Dani
15	August 17, 2021	None	Emmett	Hayley (9-1)	Sent to Redemption Rock9 Day 30
				Chelsea (no vote)	Evacuated Day 31
				Baden (no vote)	Eliminated 1st Jury Member Day 31
16	August 22, 2021	Dani, Flick, Gerald, Laura, Wai	Andrew	Gerald (5-4-0)1	13th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 33
17	August 23, 2021	Andrew5		Laura (1-0)1	14th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 35
			Hayley
			Emmett
			Flick
			George
18	August 24, 2021	Dani [Andrew, Emmett, Flick]	Hayley	Emmett (4-3-1)	15th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 37
19	August 29, 2021	Dani, Flick, Wai [Cara]10	Hayley	Andrew (4-2-1)	16th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 39
20	August 30, 2021	None	Dani	Flick (4-2)11	Saved by Urn12 Day 41
21	August 31, 2021	Dani [Flick, Hayley]	Wai	Dani (2-2-2; 3-0-0)2	17th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 43
22	September 5, 2021	None	Hayley	Wai (2-1-0)1	18th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 44
23	September 6, 2021	None	Flick	Cara (2-1-1)	19th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 45
24	September 12, 2021	None	Hayley	Flick (1-0)	20th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 47
		Jury Vote		George (7-2)	Runner-Up
				Hayley (7-2)	Sole Survivor
Notes: ^1 A Hidden Immunity Idol was used, negating all votes against the user. ^2 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote would commence. ^3 The Brawn tribe was told to invite a castaway from the Brains tribe on their reward. They chose Joey. ^4 In a surprise twist, instead of voting out players, the Brains tribe unknowingly voted for one person to be swapped to Brawn. Cara was "voted out" and swapped to Brawn. ^5 Combined Reward/Immunity challenge. ^6 Both Brains and Brawn attended Tribal Council on Day 19. After a person had been voted out by their respective tribes, the four Immune players had to unanimously decide who to eliminate Laura was saved, eliminating Shannon. ^7 Each player was given the right to pick their merge feast meal upon completion of the challenge; there was no designated winner. ^8 At the Immunity Challenge, it was revealed that the three winners would also be the only contestants who would have an opportunity to vote at Tribal. At Tribal, it was revealed that only one winner would vote and that the winners would have to participate in a fire-making duel to determine who would vote. ^9 The last two people voted out (Baden and Hayley) were sent to Redemption Rock, where they would compete for a chance to re-enter the game. ^10 This person sat out of the Reward Challenge, and correctly chose the winning team, allowing them to go on the reward. ^11 A Hidden Immunity Idol was used, but no votes were cast against its user. ^12 On Days 39 and 41, the voted out castaway could return to the game if they found a Save Scroll in a selection of four urns. Flick found the scroll, allowing her to remain in the game.

Voting History

		Original Tribes								Post-Swap Tribes	Switched Tribes							Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4		5	6		7	8	9			10	11	12	13	14	15		16	17	18	19	20	21		22	23	24
Voted Out		Phil	Janelle	Gavin	Tie	Benny	Mitch	Tie	Mock Vote	Joey	Daini	Laura	Shannon	Shannon	Georgia	Rachel	Simon	Kez	Baden	Hayley	Chelsea	Gerald	Laura	Emmett	Andrew	Flick	Tie	Dani	Wai	Cara	Flick	George	Hayley
Vote		5-1	7-4-1	6-02	5-53	6-2	6-4-02	3-3-02,3	6-24	5-3-1	3-2-1-02	5-2	6-2-1	4-05	5-3	3-2-2	6-3-17	4-1-02	1-08	9-1	No vote9	5-4-02	1-02	4-3-1	4-2-1	4-2-011,12	2-2-23	3-0-0	2-1-02	2-1-1	1-013	7-2
►►►	Hayley	Phil	—	—	—		Mitch	George	Cara	Joey	—	—	Shannon	—	—	—	Dani	Kez	None	Andrew		Gerald	Cara	Emmett	Andrew	Flick	Flick	Dani	Flick	Cara	Flick	Jury Vote
►►►	George	None1	—	—	—		Laura	Georgia	Georgia	Joey	Georgia	Laura	—	—	Georgia	Rachel	Simon	Laura	None	Hayley	—	Gerald	Cara	Emmett	Andrew	Flick	Dani	Dani	Wai	Cara	None
►►►	Flick	—	Janelle	Gavin	Simon	Simon	—	—		—	—	—	Chelsea	—	—	—	Simon	Laura	None	Hayley	—	Dani	Cara	George	George	George	Cara	None	George	Hayley	None		Hayley
►►►	Cara	None1	—	—	—		Laura	Georgia	None	—	Laura	Laura	—	—	Georgia	Laura	Simon	Laura	None	Hayley	—	Dani	Laura	Emmett	Andrew	Flick	Flick	None	Wai	George		George
►►►	Wai	None1	—	—	—		Laura	George	Cara	Joey	—	—	Shannon	Shannon	—	—	Simon	Kez	None	Hayley	—	Gerald	Cara	Emmett	Andrew	Flick	Dani	Dani	Flick				Hayley
►►►	Dani	—	Shannon	Kez	Benny	Benny	—	—		—	—	—	Shannon	—	—	—	Simon	Laura	Baden	Hayley	—	Emmett	Cara	Cara	George	George	Cara	None					Hayley
►►►	Andrew	Phil	—	—	—		Mitch	Cara	Cara	George	—	—	Shannon	Shannon	—	—	Dani	Kez	None	Hayley	—	Gerald	Cara	George	Flick								Hayley
																							Cara10
►►►	Emmett	—	Shannon	Kez	Benny	Benny	—	—		—	Rachel	Laura	—	Shannon	Georgia	Rachel	—	Laura	None	Hayley	—	Dani	Cara	George									Hayley
►►►	Laura	Phil	—	—	—		Mitch	Cara	Cara	Wai	Daini	Cara		Saved	Cara	Emmett	—	Dani	None	Hayley	—	Gerald	Cara									George
►►►	Gerald	—	Janelle	Gavin	Simon	Simon	—	—		—	Rachel	Laura	—	—	Georgia	Rachel	—	Laura	None	Hayley	—	Dani											Hayley
►►►	Baden	None1	—	—	—		Laura	Georgia	Georgia	Joey	—	—	Flick	—	—	—	Dani	Kez	None		Eliminated												Hayley
►►►	Chelsea	—	Shannon	Kez	Benny	Benny	—	—		—	—	—	Shannon	—	—	—	Simon	Laura	None	Exempt6	Evacuated
►►►	Kez	—	Janelle	Gavin	Simon	Benny	—	—		—	Georgia	Laura	—	—	Georgia	Laura	—	Laura
►►	Simon	—	Shannon	Kez	Benny	None	—	—		—	—	—	Shannon	—	—	—	Flick
►►	Rachel	None1	—	—	—		Mitch	George	Cara	Joey	Daini	Cara	—	Shannon	Cara	Emmett
►►	Georgia	None1	—	—	—		Mitch	George	None	George	Daini	Exempt6			Cara
►►	Shannon	—	Janelle	Gavin	Simon	Benny	—	—		—	—	—	Chelsea	Voted Out
►►	Daini	—	Janelle	Gavin	Benny	Benny	—	—		—	Rachel
►	Joey	Phil	—	—	—		Mitch	Cara	Cara	George
	Mitch	Phil	—	—	—		George
	Benny	—	Janelle	Gavin	Simon	None
	Gavin	—	Janelle	Kez
	Janelle	—	Emmett
	Phil	Hayley
Notes: ^1 George played an advantage, allowing him to send himself and five other castaways back to camp without voting. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against the user. ^3 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Australian Survivor rules, a revote was held where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those involved in the tie. ^4 In a surprise twist, instead of a regular vote, the Brains tribe unknowingly voted for one member to be swapped to Brawn. Cara was "voted out" and swapped to Brawn. ^5 Both Brains and Brawn attended Tribal Council on Day 19. After a person had been voted out by their respective tribes, the four immune players had to unanimously agree on whom to eliminate. They unanimously agreed to eliminate Shannon. ^6 This castaway missed Tribal Council due to medical intervention by production, but was not yet deemed unable to continue in the game. As they could not attend Tribal Council, they could not vote, nor be voted out. ^7 Cara found an advantage that allowed her to select two members of the winning tribe to vote at the losing tribe's Tribal Council. She selected herself and George. ^8 Only the three people who won the Immunity Challenge would have the chance to compete in a fire-making challenge at Tribal Council for the right to cast the sole vote. Dani won the fire-making challenge and cast the sole vote to eliminate. ^9 Chelsea was evacuated due to illness. No vote occurred for her removal and she would not be apart of the jury. ^10 This castaway played an Extra Vote advantage, allowing them to vote twice at Tribal Council. ^11 On Days 39 and 40, the castaway who was voted out could return to the game if they found a Save Scroll in a selection of four urns. Flick found the scroll, allowing her to remain in the game. ^12 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played; however, no votes were cast against its user. ^13 Flick and George did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Hayley voted.

Trivia

• Brains v Brawn marks the second time Australian Survivor filmed locally, following the first season in 2002, which was filmed in Port Lincoln, South Australia.
• Brains v Brawn contains the most LGBT contestants of any season, with 5 (Dani, Flick, George, Phil, and Rachel).
  • Brains v Brawn is the first season in Australian Survivor to cast a non-binary contestant.
• The chyrons shown during the transition screens between tribes display the local temperature.