It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload the podcast last week. Don't welcome back guys to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris and on this podcast I go behind the scenes with the biggest players in television.
Yeah, great questions. The show's about the game. There's a lot of great television out there in Australia.
But I've also got to go behind the scenes with writers. The truth is, when I started writing it, it wasn't had nothing to do with the news and.
Casting agents they know from a casting point of view what they need.
And editors because that's what we do as editors where storytellers. Not to forget some incredible executive producers who are making some of the best TV in Australia. I have been on the program since the beginning and it's kind of in my DNA. So thanks for joining me each week and I hope the podcast continues to give you real
insight into the magic of television today. On the podcast, I have Michael Kroker from Australian Survivor, who's the ninth person to be eliminated from the Network ten series this year, The Global Phenomenon, produced by Enemol Shine Australia has had me hooked from day one, and I've been lucky enough to get some time with Mick appropriately nicknamed Kroc to discuss all the meth in mayhem from his time on
the show. The NRAL Queensland had joined the competition with his sister in law Chrissy, who has proven that while she might not be the biggest Australian Survivor superfan, she is definitely a super threat. We'll find out what Kroc thinks of Chrissy outlasting him, the aftermath of his mate's blindside, who he's still in touch with, and why the hell
is no one flushing Carn's idol. There's plenty more to come in the chat and without further ado, let's welcome astral And Survivor's scariest looking teddy Bear from Queensland to TV reload.
It is ruthless from the minute you get out on that show.
Rock it's a Survivor super fan.
I definitely wasn't holding back, but still you'll have to play the game. I'm disappointed in Ben. I thought that I had his back.
Maybe he can forgive it, but not forget.
You'll have to wait and see the football. I was trying to get low and get underneath him. I first subverted out of blood versus water. Crack. If we're going to flush the idol, let's flush it properly.
Hey mate, how are you?
I'm excellent. I thought I might have had a few nightmares last night. However, I had a good sleep and I've worken up feeling pretty good.
Well, congratulations on your time and survivor. It was such a big part of the game. How do you feel about it now?
I'm actually really proud. I had a plan to go in there, and you know, I got the feeling that I may have been a physical threat. So, knowing the game and loving the game, I knew that I had certain elements of strategy that I wanted to enact, but I didn't want to do that too early, because if I'm seen as a physical and strategic threat early, then obviously there's an extra target on my back. So I
was buying my time. I waited patiently. I enacted a couple of plans and unfortunately just couldn't execute them.
Is that to say that, you know, some of those earlier challenges where people were expecting you to just destroy people were you holding back at that point?
Oh, I know the ones against mar and the big fellas. He's just he's a monster. So yeah, he got the better of me. It was frustrating for me. Obviously, I don't like losing. I love competing, but it was fun. Like he's an x S A soldier, he's a trained killer, He's an absolute beast of a man and a machine, so it was fun coming up against him. I really love that challenge. But yeah, I definitely, I definitely wasn't
holding back. The only one I would say that maybe a little bit, was the first one where I came up against Chrissy, But I just I just wanted everyone to realize how fiercely competitive she was, and I think even if I tried a little bit harder, she still would have put up a really good fight.
Well, I'm glad you didn't have nightmares last night, but I've certainly had nightmares about him because watching the two of you in the water, it was literally like two crocodiles fighting and it was brutal.
It was it was fun. Then I would love to have done it on land, a bit of a wrestling and fight like that, But obviously, you know his military training, especially in the water. I saw him walking through the water just he was in he was in beast mode. You can tell that his balance and everything was really good. And myself as a football I was trying to get low and get underneath him, but the ground was just
too slippery. So yeah, his training definitely came in handy, and I think I can learn a lot a lot of lessons from what they've done in their past. And one thing I'm filthy about is I didn't actually get a chance to play with the big fellow. And you know, I've caught up with him a couple of times since, but he's just a great man. I'd love to hear more about his stories and his training and his mindset.
Well, they bring people back in survivors, so you just never know. So maybe that'll happen in future.
I could do it in a heartbeat. I would do it every day if I could.
Yeah, well I can imagine that you would. And well, look, let's cross that fingers that it does happen. You know, last night it really was brutal for you. How did it cope? Well, how did you cope finally getting to watch it play out on television?
I had a feeling I knew, I sort of knew what had happened. However, you know, I just I'm disappointed in Ben. I thought that, you know, obviously I had his back to the vote before I tried to flip the votes and get Michelle and caj on board to vote out Calm with his idol. I was never going to write down Ben's It's been my man since day one. And for me then to come to him with a plan to vote out the person that orchestrated the blindside on him, and for him to go and run straight
away and tell them to save himself was frustrating. A good quite easily go over.
Crops plan and play it safe, but right now, after being blindsided last night, I don't want to play it safe anymore.
And I get it's a bit of self preservation at the time, but I think it was just a little bit short sided on his behalf. And you know, I think if we had a focused on getting Bendor vote for Jesse and then getting Michelle in as well, then you know, it's a different game. But in saying that, I had a hidden community idol. When you're making big
moves and survive, especially this close to Merge. I noticed a few things of tribal I sort of brushed them off, and you know, at the end of the day, tell me if I play that idol, then I lived to fight another day.
Well, you should know about Sunday morning quarterbacking, you know, hindsight it's a beautiful thing, right.
Absolutely, Yeah, there's always away think back, but that's the game. You need to be so aware of everything that's happening. You need to absorb everything, and especially for me, once I knew that I was making that move on Jesse, I was focusing on how I was talking to people or how I was acting because I didn't want to receive as the one that was doing something shifty. So my focus was on myself and that went away from focusing on everyone else and what they were doing.
Where everyone today wants to know the answer to Chrissy's question, are you mad at her?
No, I'm not mad at Chrissie. I actually thought that, you know, once I saw the trailer and we chatted, I thought she knew about the throwing the challenge, But as it turns out, she didn't really know about it until on the mat, and she didn't think too much of it because she thought it was just going to be a straight play at Bennie. But for me, when you're throwing a challenge this supposed to merge, Benny was already on the bottom. He didn't have He only had
shay Over and the other tribes. So once you get to merge, he's only got that one extra number. So if I knew that was happening, then there'd be some red flags, you know, some alarms lumbell running in my head, and I may have been more alert. But yeah, I'm definitely not mad at Chrissy. And for her to not vote with me, I think as a testament to herself
as a person and a character. She's truly loyal. She built a really good relationship with Jesse, and we spoke about it on the day before the votes and said, you know, you don't actually have to vote with me. If you vote this way, you maintain your relationships and moving forward into the merge, then you've got that separation from me in terms of your gameplay. So you know, I'm just I'm proud that she's actually starting to learn and listen and play her own game.
If anything, I think somehow it's sort of endeared her even more to the people watching Blood versus Water has really shaken up the game. Do you think that you might have stayed in the competition longer had you played the game by yourself.
It's really hard to tell. Obviously. Survivor every day, every moment of every day is just a new challenge and you have to adapt. And this one thing that you find out there is you know, you might have a plan or you might think about what's going to happen in a challenge, but it's usually far away from the
truth as possible. So I actually enjoyed playing with Christy even when we weren't on the same try, Like waking up every morning going to the challenge, seeing her walking with a smile actually gave me that little bit of extra boost and confidence that she was doing well. So and the only joy of it was knowing that regardless at one stage, if we came together, I knew that
she had my back one hundred percent. So, yeah, if Chrissy wasn't there, then you just have to find your other people and make sure that you've got other people that you can trust as much as you can. Yeah.
Absolutely, you know, Chrissy is easily one of my personal favorites this year. I think that she is probably the biggest personality in the twenty twenty two competition. I wonder if having such a big personality is a risk in a show like Survivor.
I don't think Chrisy is so fun. We've seen she's such a good laugh. She's really like she's a mother. She's so nurturing, she gets everyone together, but she's also there's nobs about her. She tells it how is. We've seen a poker face. It's awful. She cannot hide emotion. I think it's not going to be the personality to gain, So it's going to be her inability to hide the emotions and you have a straight face when it comes to the point where she needs to vote someone off.
I hope that she can just get into an actress mode or something and realize that she needs to play the game and that is essentially to bend the truth or lives of people that she needs to at the time.
Well, I think that she could have easily been cast in something like Big Brother or other shows, you know, other reality shows that demonstrate where big personalities like that really shine. Was this the first TV show or TV opportunity that you both discussed together, Chrissy.
Actually, Christy and her partner Toby were on the block decades ago, I don't know how long ago, but they got to a point where, oh yeah, there was like eight couples and they had to compete, and four couples got through to the final spots, and unfortunately her and Toby missed out. So I think that was for me.
Once I realized that there was a bloodburst water theme, I was confident knowing that she is a character that it's not so much as she loves the limelight, but she's going to be comfortable around new people and new experiences. So I knew that that would be great for her. But I also knew that she was fiercely competitive, and I wanted her to test herself in an environment and that was so far out of her comfort zone because I knew she could do it, and I knew that
it would help in her day to day life. So her life is so structured, so routine. Everything from the minute she wakes up to the minute she goes to bed is planned, and that's just not for her. It's a whole family. So going into Survivor, you need to realize that that is impossible. You need to adapt and just go with the flow. And I really think that's going to be a life changing experience for her.
Do you think that like a show like Australian Survivor could be dangerous for people with relationships? I mean, all these people have gone into the show and the dynamics have been different couples, brothers and sisters, twins. You know, like there's just so many different established relationships. Could going on a show like this be dangerous? You know it has it been a rocky road for you, you know, in the aftermath of the show for Christian.
And I know you really brought us together. She knows that I'm solid. I've always got her back. I've always known that about her because her whole family is fiercely loyal, and I think just so we're so proud of each other in the way that we've played, I think that's really bonded us. It's also bonded the rest of our family because they saw that our relationship grew and they
were really tight since. Yeah, in saying that, you know, I think if you talk about it in the sense you are, it's only going to be an issue if you back stab your loved one. If Nina was the one that said, you know what, I want to get my mom out because I want to make a big play and I want to be seen as the big threat, then that might have been a different story. I don't think Sandra would have taken that very well.
Well, do we know if everyone's okay?
I think as long as the couples have had conversations leading in, and you know, Christy and I know we spoke about at one point in time, if we get to it, then we need to figure out what's going to be best for us at the end of the game. You know, if it came down to one of us having to vote each other out, then who was most likely to go further and win the sole survivors. Also, I think every couple, if you didn't have that conversation going in, then you're for.
For trouble therapy. You need therapy.
Yeah, definitely a bit of therapy after just sort of hug it out, whatever you need to do to move forward again. Survivor is such a roller coaster. It's you know, you go through this full gamut of emotions and having that on your mind as well can be really difficult, but at times you just need to cut the emotion. Realize that everywhere everyone that's out there sacrifice so much to be away from work, be away from their family.
You know, there's people away from their kids. Michelle and mel you know we saw I don't know if we saw it on there, but their father passed away a month before they went out there, so having to leave behind the rest of their family to deal with that grief. There's a lot of things that you sacrifice to chase your dream and go out there and compete. You've got to realize that you're out there for a reason, and some stays you're going to have to cut the emotion, no matter who you've bonded with.
I'm actually surprised we haven't seen as much from the twins, and there's a lot of people talking about it online. You know, why aren't we seeing enough? But one of the Moana, I think a couple of years back, you know, we really saw nothing of her halfway into the series. So don't you think it's a little bit less to do with people saying it's about race, and it's probably more to do with the overall way in which this game is going to play out.
Yeah, and I think we've heard a lot of the players say, you know, Michelle and Mell have been sitting back a little bit and waiting. I know that. You know, for myself been another few members of our original Red tribe. We were involving me in a lot of the discussions. She was tired with Sandra, you know, we saw that, and she has been semi influential in some of the votes, however, not proactive, and I think that's why a lot of the focus has been on the people that actually enact
those decisions. But in saying that, I don't know what happens for the rest of the season now, so they could come out firing it and start pulling triggers and making big moves and that's where they get all their out of time.
Well, I think it's funny because if you follow the commentary online, you know, Survivor fan base is just they're so passionate. They count the pieces to camera, they counting the confessionals.
Yeah, well I heard that when we were out there. We're talking about so apparently Hailey from last year to Queen of Australian Survivor had a spreadsheet of all of that sort of stuff. You know, who had airtime, who voted, who were had all this information and data, and obviously, as a researcher, she could compile all of that and understand what was happening at a different times of the game, so obviously, and it worked in her favor and she played one of the best games I think I've ever seen.
So I think it does help in some regard for me. If I was looking at all that sort of stuff, I would do my head in. I overthink too much at the best of times. So the less I thought about different things, the better it was for me. I could actually focus on what I needed to do.
And Karan is doing really well in the game. And it's clear to everyone watching the show that he's a big threat. But there's also a lot of discussion in the show that he is a big threat. But what has stopped people from trying to flash his idol with an attempt to boot him from the show and you know, get rid of the idol?
I don't know. We skirted around it, so once we had the tribes, we got over there. There's a lot of conversation about it. You flippantly throwing a couple of votes his way just for the hell of it. But one point where we found out they were going to vote for Bennie, I was like, why aren't we taking this seriously? Like, if we're going to flush the idol, let's flush it properly, and you do it as a blind side. Put the votes on carn he has no idea about it. You make him feel like it's all
on Benny. He goes home with a nightel in his pocket, and that's the ideal situation. So unfortunately, I thought I had Michelle and kJ on board for that vote, but unfortunately they didn't see it the same way.
Are you willowed to all talk to each other? Like, I mean, I don't necessarily know this, but you know, since production and you know, while the show's on TV, are all the castaways talking to each other during the airing of the show.
I think, So there's a WhatsApp group I think where they chat, and there's obviously a lot of people in Melvioun so I'm sure they catch up a bit. But yeah, I'm actually not too worried about that. I'm really enjoying watching the show. So obviously one episode is two or
potentially three days of our experience out there. So it's really nice to sit down and put some context around the conversations that they show and try and understand what happened in between and just give them an idea of what sort of things we were going through on a day to day basis. Yeah, for me, that's been really rewarding because it was a really difficult time for my family to be without me for however long it was. I think it has been about six weeks or something total,
four or five weeks total. So yeah, it was tough, but it's really rewarding now to have them join me in that experience.
And all of these alliances from what you know then, you know through the WhatsApp group. But do they reflecting or are they reflecting the alliances that happened and that were cultivated on the show or you know, have people been different away from the cameras or from the experience. I should probably.
Say no, I don't think so. I like I said, I don't read too much of that, but I think everyone and we heard it from Nina and Sandra, you know, their experience from the American Survivor is it is ruthless from the minute you get out on that show. After each other. They're trying to get people, they're trying to talk strategy, whereas Nina and Sandra at one point was like she thought we were joking. She thought we were convince her that we were really nice, but we're all
backstating in the background. But after a few days she realized that we genuinely enjoyed each other's company and we were really fun. We shared some great stories. Sandra shared a lot of her life as well, so I think it was nice for her to actually feel that and recognize that, you know, we are really good company. But then when it comes time to play the game, you actually need to play the game, and then it was
the same. I saw her go out tragically with that broken foot, but I think it hurt her more knowing that she had built so many genuine connections and that was I think that was the hardest thing for her. But I have no it is no doubt that she'll be back at some stage, and I'd love to see her back on our screens.
That's like what is it called, like the teaser for a sequel.
Absolutely, I've got no doubt that she'll be the first. So Mama win and Nina win one. Nina potentially wins it over here and goes to America, and then.
She has a child, and then that child grows up and then wins.
In correct, and it's just and then they start producing her and.
Their whole life is Survivor get a hobby. Yeah, how hard is it to avoid dropping spoilers? Because you know people want to know this. You know there's such a passion and a thirst out there from the community of Survivor fans and the media. You know, how hard has it been to avoid dropping any spoilers after being on the show? And have people been trying to have a crack at you, you know, sliding into your dms. I'll give you fifty dollars if you tell me you know
who goes next? How does that all played out for you?
Heaps of workmates? But I set the tone really earlier. I came back and my family obviously wanted to know everything happened and all the challenges and who did this and who did that? And I was like, honestly, let's unpack it when the show's ahead. I wanted them to enjoy the journey of watching it on TV and seeing it unfold. So for me, that was the starting point It just helped me realize that if I'm not telling my family about it, there's no way in the world
I'm going to tell anyone else. Makes it work and stuff asked, you know, who wins? What's this? What happens here? But I just I played football, so I say our heaps. It can cushion. I can't remember what happened. There was a long time ago, so it's pretty easy or flax when I've got that excuse.
Plead the fifth. You know, Twitter at times, Twitter at times has been pretty brutal, you know, and you came under final and we mentioned it a little bit earlier about comments about your ability through the challenges. You know, has that changed the way in which you see social media after this experience, I.
Haven't read any of it, so I'm not not overly concerned. I just I made my family proud, and all of them sort of said, you know, we're really happy with that you paid and had some friends who are the same, So you know, that's all that matters to.
Me and has endemols Shine really helped you out throughout this experience. How important is the trust between you and the creators of this show.
Yeah, I've had a great relationship every one of the crew from the start of the process to the back end of it. On the show, everyone has been so supportive and so welcoming and so helpful. So I'm extremely grateful for the experience. And you know, every one of those members of End of Malshine and Channel ten and everyone that's been a part of it, they have helped me me enjoy this experience as much as I can
and every second of it. So yeah, I can't thank all of them enough for allowing me the privilege of playing this wonderful game.
It was so good to watch. And my last question that I ask everyone on the podcast before they go, is you know what's something from behind the scenes that we're as an audience didn't see that we might appreciate that happened, you know, behind the scenes of your experience of Survivor.
I think it's just the bonds and how much fun we have, so especially with our og Red tribe. We didn't have fire for three nights, which we had no food, So you get to nighttime, you've got nothing else, you've got no distractions, You've just got your tribe mates around you and you get to know each other, so you share stories, you share experiences, you laugh, you cry, people
get vulnerable really quickly. So you build these deep emotional bonds, which I think that element of connection is really you know, you just don't see that in the show, you know, so you go to the challenge, you come back to camp, you don't really understand how tight you can get. And I remember watching Brains Braun's and they had the family letters and photos and it was in the game it was day seven, but on the shows like third episode,
and you know, everyone was really emotional. And I've always been as a fantasy by once the family start comes out, I'm a mess. I'm solving, I really really hug my heartstrings. So that one I was like, wow, this is really early. I don't understand why they're so emotional right now about it. And then you get out there and we got a family photo album on day seven I think it was when we won it day six or whatever it was.
We won our first reward and every one of us are just an emotional mess, you know, into not in a sad way, but just you know, tears of joy and happiness and remembrance of doesn't seem like it should affect you that much. But yeah, when you don't have contact with your family for even that short amount of time, it makes you realize how much you actually miss them and cherish them.
Well. I hate that sometimes on these shows when they bring that out early, because you think, oh god, as if, oh as if. You know, they've only been in there for eight days, and from my reality TV experience, it's
just everything is so much more heightened. People can tell you that before you go into the show and say, you know, you're probably going to react three times more in one direction than you normally would, and that's okay, But I guess it's not until you're in there that you realize that all of those emotions are heightened and they are authentic. What you are watching is authentic. You know, that is honestly how these people feel.
Absolutely, And it's one thing even in life, you know, once one person is vulnerable around you, you're more likely to be vulnerable around them. So you know, when you're in that tight knit group and you feel really comfortable sharing experiences, you know, we have people talk about experiences that they never actually shared it with anyone else before. So for them to come in and be comfortable talking about that makes us feel really comfortable and then we
can share our experiences. So especially as men, you know, you don't share much with other people, and myself, you know, bottle things up and try and deal with myself. But you know, you get to a point where something might come up and you express yourself in a way that you know people get around to support you. And yeah, it was good therapy. Yeah, my partner wish I could do a little bit more at home, but I'm getting there. I'm starting to work on it.
Yeah. Well, I just want to say thank you so much for being here on TV Reload today. But I thoroughly enjoyed watching you on Survive Australian Survivor this year. I think you did a fantastic job and I think you'll stay in the zeitgeist of Survivor fandom for quite a while. But yeah, congratulations on the whole thing. I was fantastic to watch.
Really appreciate it. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of the show.