Jonathan LaPaglia has addressed the burning question that many Survivor Australia superfans have had for years: are the non-elimination tribal councils rigged so that producers can keep in their favourites?
Last night’s episode saw the final six attend tribal council, with word around camp suggesting that Nina, Simon, Gerri or George could be the contestants on the chopping block. However, at the ceremony, host Jonathan LaPaglia told them that no one would be eliminated. Instead, the two contestants with the highest eviction votes would head to a private camp and only return for the next tribal council.
Nina, who is the daughter of two-time Survivor America winner Sandy, and Gerri were sent off to the private camp, with many fans questioning if the non-elimation round is only bought into play when producers want to keep certain players in the game.
Turns out, LaPaglia (unsurprisingly) said that non-elims are set before producers know who could be up for elimination.
“That may be true of other shows. There’s always online chatter when we have a twist and someone says ‘They saved you because they like you’ or he’s controversial or whatever,” he told TV Tonight.
He added, “But the honest truth is our game is so big and so tight, that the schedule just doesn’t have that latitude. We can’t pull things up to try and save someone.
“If we’ve got someone that goes to, you know, Redemption Rock, or whatever we call it for that for that season, that’s already been in the works before we even started the game. It’s just the way it folds.”
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“But the audience are always suspicious, which I understand. But there really is no room in the schedule to make those kinds of decisions. I mean, we are shooting every single day. There’s just no way we can move stuff around.”
For more on this topic, follow the Reality TV Observer.
