It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload the podcast.
Last week, don't I 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 Jesse Hansen, who is the latest eliminated cast away from Australian Survivor on Channel ten. This season has seen the competition tackling an age old debate Blood Versus Water, and when Jesse's brother asked him to join him on the twenty twenty
two series, it was a no brainer for the Survivor enthusiast. However, in one of the biggest moves of the game, Jesse's closest alliance, Sammy, not only blindsided him, which saw Jesse leave the competition, but the knife certainly twisted when Sammy also swindled his idol at the same time. What I expected today from Jesse was vengeance, but I was surprised
that he is leaving that kind of retaliation. For the latest Batman film, Jesse talks his relationship with Sammy, whether at now what he thinks will be the fate of his brother, and will also get a sneak peek behind the scenes from the aftermath of Blood Versus Water. So let's get started and bring Jesse in. I'd like to welcome Jesse Hanson to TV reload.
I actually personally had never thought of.
Applying previously on Australian Survivor.
It's on TV and it's open for for the world to scrutinine game time.
On Australian Survivor, it's cracks and the alliance exploded.
It was brutal and she was kind of nervous. Jesse is going to pay the price for his brother's misbehavior In the end. Survivor's a game of individual players.
Thirteenth person voted out of Blood versus Water. Jesse.
I never had a chance to really chat it out.
Hey, Jesse, how are you? I am good?
Thank you well, congratulations on your time an Australian Survivor. What was running through your mind watching the show back last night?
It was a roller coaster, to be honest, That's the best way I can describe to people what it's like, because you get the highs of the KFC reward challenge and how epic that was just having among on a good feed and then all of a sudden, I'm sitting there and my brother's slipping a clue into my back and I'm going, yes, we are on here, and so yeah, yesterday, Like even in the game, it was an incredible rollercoaster because I went from finding that idol to going Okay,
we might win this thing, to the next minute getting my torch snuffed. So it was an emotional rollercoaster, but it was really good because I got to share it last night with a lot of past players and a lot of the present players, and a lot of people were there to support me, So it was a really good night.
Have you had KFC since?
Actually I don't think I have had KFC since.
Next time you have it, you crash your car? Okay, great?
Yeah? Yeah, if something bad keeps happening afterwards, yeah, something wrong.
Avoid the two piece feet.
You know, it was probably the most brutal blind side in my mind, of the series, and your reaction was intense. Does it take a while to deal with the emotions that come off the back of an experience like Australian Survivor?
Yeah, it definitely. You know, you begin to I guess mentally and physically recover after the show, and then you know, you've got a bit of a period where you're back and it's not on TV, and then you know, you start to feel good and kind of move on, I guess, because you've had your experience, and then all of a sudden, bank it's on TV and it's open for the world to scrutinize.
And the wounds are open as well, and.
The wounds open up again, and you see little snippets of things that people said, and you know, watching last night where Sam's like thanks for the idol and little things like that, which kind of I guess they hurt.
But if you've got to have a good perspective and understand that we had our game and now we're watching it on TV, and in essence, those are two very different things, and so being able to separate the game from reality is really important to help ensure you keep those relationships and reasons why Sam and I were together last night and a lot of the players, you know, Josh and Jordan and stuff, all of us were together last night having a really good time because we understand
it's a game, and also I have to understand that it could have been Josh. We were celebrating exit the game last night. You know, if you're going to throw the punches, you got be prepared to take the punches. And I threw my fair share, so I'm willing to sit here and take it.
Can you just give us a little insight into some of those moments from last night where you are sitting there with Sammy. Was she holding your hand? Was she getting a drink so she could avoid you? Did she go to the bathroom?
Yeah? No, to be honest, we spent most of the night hugging watching it all fold because Sammy was nervous as well, because it was brutal. It was brutal, and she was kind of nervous for that to come out. And so I think both of us were there in a mutual kind of supportive role of I want to support her and I want to show people that we are fine, We are friends. It was a game, and I respect her move, and she wants to show as well that she really respected my game. And there was
a reason we worked so well together. And if it hadn't been blood versus water, and we'd been there by ourselves, then maybe we would have gone on a bit longer together. But the blood was stronger than water.
I love your perspective on it. But we'll send us some KFC this morning just in case.
Yes, we will.
Luck.
The thing for me was, did you think at the time that sam did use some serious mischief by taking your idol and then sending you home or do you think that's just what do you think that's just like the nature of the game.
Yeah, it's a really interesting discussion, I guess because myself I played with what I would say a pretty savage mindset, and that's definitely my approach going forward on the jury is to be quite judgmental of people's goat games or so. In essence, I respect players. I respect people that play, and people that take the opportunity and take the risks to win the game rather than sit there at the end, Because what are you doing if you're coming to sit
here at the end. There's that many people that would love this opportunity and so make the most of it. I guess I respect did that about her move and understood that there had to be a reason behind it. But yeah, definitely it wasn't easy, and trying to figure out why it happened and why she did decide to go with Jordan and Josh instead of me and my bro was hard because I never had a chance to really chat it out until after the game, so figuring out kind of what went down afterwards and out of
the game. I totally understand their reasoning, and if I was in their situation, I would have done the same thing.
I just want to throw, like, what is it something on the fire to keep this burning? But I when I was watching it felt like when she was taking the idol you know, oh, you can kind of see that, you know, maybe I'll take the idol back.
And all of that.
When I was watching that, I felt like she was doing you some mischief.
And I think, look, there's every opportunity, there's every chance she was And I knew that in the moment too, And that was like, I'm the one that handed the idol over to her, and that's a risk. But every decision I made was based on thirty days of relationships and information and information. In that moment, I knew that Sam's relationship Sam and my relationship was being strained because I was being pulled towards my brother and she was
being pulled towards Mark. So I knew there was what meanwhile, we're trying to pull off this massive move. In order for that to be pulled off, there has to be trust. So I figured, she's already seen I have the idol when I put it down the front of my pants. Yeah, you could just see it potentially. So I took the risk of showing her some trust, showing her some faith
to help me get it back into camp. And I guess if you understand how that works, you understand that you can't just take it because if I wanted it back, all I've got to do is say, hey, Sam, can I have my idol back in front of everyone? And then every night everyone knows she's got an idol and instantly she's a target and she's gone. So no one's kind of dumb enough to do that, if that makes sense. So I knew that.
Yeah, Unfortunately, I'm going to quickly interrupting here and just say that I basically smacked the television because I was like, so, you owe me a new television. But I just was like, no, we needs to ask it back because wouldn't you think though, yes, you would highlight the fact that you have the idol, but at least you'd still be in the game, Like, didn't you think it was a killer at that point?
So yeah, I could have asked for the idol back at tribal council if I wanted to, definitely, but I didn't want to because I didn't want to play it. Even if I had it, I wasn't going to play it because I knew I was coping boats. But I wanted to take that risk because if me and my brother had that idol in five votes time or in a little bit more time, we would have been able to use that to get ourselves to the end. We were going to be able to use that idol to win.
And in my mind, I'm trying to process, well, do I play this idol to survive another day? Or do I take the risk of keeping this idol in Sam's poker and getting it off her after tribal council to win this game? And for me, every decision I'd made, every risk I'd taken, especially through TRIBESWAP, I didn't play it. I didn't really play a calm game from blind citing Bennie than Kroc, then Bennie again, Like we came to win. I wasn't going to get scared now, so I wouldn't have played it.
Okay, we'll get a new TV. Why do you think this really frustrated me?
Why did they come for you over what they kept blaming was your brother's fault?
Like really frustrated me.
I know he had his immunity necklace, so you know, like he could so like they couldn't really come for him. But I mean they were talking about this for I felt like for it was leading up to that point for a while where they were sort of blaming him and then going for you, where I felt like your relationship as the kid and was a little bit stronger than your brothers with a lot of these people.
Yeah, so I think, from my understanding, some of the reasoning was behind the fact that they felt that I potentially was a little bit more strategic and was potentially a little bit more of the brains behind my relationship with my brother, and so that kind of left my brother as an easy number. So I think that was part of their reasoning, I guess, Yeah, include the fact that, yeah, he then won immunity, and yeah, I guess quite a number of factors I think which would have led to
the decision. And hopefully now my brother can prove him wrong and show a bit of fight and cause some damage.
Absolutely well, I hope he does. I mean, did you disbelieve that she wouldn't give the idol to your brother? Because immediately as you said to her, you'll give this to my brother. Right, I'm obviously misquoting this, but that's how it felt like for me. And then you straightaway went over and said she's got the idol. Was that because you did disbelieve that she was going to do she was just going to keep it.
All In that moment, I knew that because if it was me now, I wouldn't give the idol. If it was Sam and I was back seven Sam, I wouldn't
give the idol to Mark. But what I would do as I understood how the idol was acquired and my relationship with Sam, and understanding that now I've removed Sam, Mark's not as much of a threat, And so that's kind of what my thinking was with my brother was that, Okay, he's now not much of a threat compared to when we were a duo, So surely I would be able to pull on that relationship with Sam to go okay.
I helped get you to flip and day thirty, we did some epic things together, like let's have a bit of I don't know this unwritten sportsmanship. And people may question that because it is Survivor, but in the end, Survivor as a game of individual players, and Sam and I do have that respect as athletes, I guess, And so I was trying to pull on that to potentially get her and Mark to to use the idol to support my brother, to use it with my brother, to
not use it against him. I wanted that idol to still help my brother, and so that's kind of where my thinking was. I didn't expect them to give it to him because I probably wouldn't do it. So I just had to try, though, I had to try.
I just love your maturity. I'm like, just talking to you about this today. Maybe they need to change it to outlast outplay out smart kumbaya. You know, it's all good now, it's all good, but you know your team there really is this boys group, you know, and they smartly called it a committee, I think, you know, instead of calling it anything to masculine so people wouldn't come for them in.
This woke era.
But how fair has that committee really been over the last couple of episodes.
I think what's interesting is is really that majority started forming super early on in the game. So Mayan Sam's relationship and then and then Jordan's relationship in blood Og was was quite strong. And then on the other side you had Mark, my brother, and Josh who were really close as well. So we really had the foundations of a tight six kind of forming early on in the game.
And so what you saw through Tribe Swap was, Yeah, I guess the boys club kind of coming together and those four pulling in Dave as well as a number to fill in that majority. So I think it really just was a group of people that have a real mutual interest. It's quite rare for Survivor to see so many big boys make it that far through the game, and these big boys have watched enough Survivor to know that the big boys are targeted, So why not stay
together to avoid being targeted. Let's just hold the numbers and control the game. And so I think it's quite a counterintuitive move because going into Survivor, my brother and my understanding was don't play with the big boys. Don't play with the big boys, because you're going to get targeted. But there were just so many in this game that sticking together was the safest planning. And so yeah, now
you've got the committee, I guess. And I think it's interesting because it's not really happened ever in Survivor for this amount of big boys to be making it this far.
Well, they've been smart enough to sort of bring a couple of those girls into that group. Now, yeah, I wonder whether or not you think they're going to be the first to go though, do you think that the boys will then target those girls and try and keep that strength.
I think that now I've left the game and such a big change in the dynamics has happened, that they will want to settle things down a bit. There is still a little bit to go. There is still a bit of fat to trim, I guess. So I think if I was them, yeah, I'd definitely be trying to stay lower bit. Just vote a few of the easy numbers out before things get a bit too hectic, because if they start turning on each other, now, what you're going to have is all goats at the end, and no one really wants.
That survival, right, So it's still going to be careful about who is left in that final selection because you've got to have still people on side that respect your gameplay. So like even last night when there was the reference to dirty deals being made, shouldn't people try and avoid too many dirty deals to make sure that if they are in that final selection, that they are the person that gets picked.
Yeah. And I think what's interesting is the blood verse water just adds a whole different dynamics. So if you really backstab someone and then you may lose them and their loved ones vote in the jury, and so some of you, my example was an odd one. But for me personally, if she does make it to the end, I don't think there is that animosity there that may
prevent me from voting for her. But in certain situations, definitely that animosity might be there because the feelings are so much stronger, Your emotions are so much stronger, because you've got loved ones, and how could you turn on my loved ones? So it is interesting and it is a dynamic that we haven't seen before where you do really have to think about being an nice guy because bad guys won't win this game, because you won't get the votes, because there's too much emotion in this game.
Absolutely, and I guess I have to ask now, looking back at it, I want to know why you chose Survivor?
How did this opportunity come up?
Yeah?
How this opportunity come up? So? Yeah, me and my brother grew up watching Survivor and we just we've loved it and loved the game. And I actually personally had never thought of applying because it was just going to be too much sacrifice for me personally to take that amount of time out of my life. I didn't think I was really going to be able to do it.
And my brother had applied a couple of times and was close to getting on the previous season Brains Versus Braun, and then he got one lucky phone call where they asked if he had someone he might be willing to go on the show with. And I was like, then, go yes, because to get to go on with my brother, it was all going to be worth it. So then I got that opportunity, and so yeah, decided to go
on together. And I haven't looked back yet, like, yeah, my life's very much been on hold, and yeah, it's been a bit like really kind of an eight month process so far, really of a life changing eight months, but an incredibly beneficial, life changing eight months, and I'm so grateful for the experience. And yeah, I'd do it at the drop of a hat.
Again, I always say to people though, with reality television, it doesn't matter whatever happens on the show, everyone goes back to who they were, whether it's six months or two years. It's always a factory reset. We all go back to the exact same plan that we were on before we you know, lost our minds in an experience like this, So I mean, I've always been a weirdo who was obsessed with television, So I'm still a wido obsessed with television doing exactly what I would have been doing,
you know, had I not done Big Brother. So I think, you know, I will say to you, life will settle down and you will be able to, you know, have your normal life back fairly soon, once all of the once people stop sliding into your dams and asking you ridiculous questions. You did survive a very long time in the competition, you know, did you get used to the hunger and the conditions or were you slowly losing your mind at the end.
Personally, I think it was about day seven when we had the reward where Bluetribe got to come over and eat that cheese platter in front of us, but I got to see my brother, and that was really at the point where I realized in Survivor, you have to make the mental decision to not think about food because otherwise you are going to drive yourself up the wall and literally go crazy because there's nothing you can do about it. You have to tell yourself that this is reality.
There is no other option. You are going to starve. Your body is going to fall apart. That's okay, and you really have to focus on making that mental decision. And people watching at home may not understand how rough that is, because your body is literally shriveling. And you know, we saw somey faint the other day. We are annually
starving out there. We are genuinely falling apart. And you know, there'd be mornings where if I had sleeping with my arms on my chest, my arms would have lost circulation because my body just didn't have enough fuel to keep itself moving. And every opportunity you have to sit or lie down you're doing, you know, standing up is just too much work. So it's properly rough. And I think we're only just getting a snipper of it through the TV as well, because you know, it was forty plus
degrees as well, Like it is hot. You haven't brushed your teeth in so long. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty intense.
Yeah, the smell of people's breath, ooh, that sounds fun. How much weight did you lose though? Did you lose a lot of weight?
Yeah? So, I think I last I can't remember the official number. I think it was like nine point seven or something ki low, but for me that was pretty massive.
My body was well and truly cooked, and I think, yeah, we're throwing the challenge yesterday where I'm literally peeling my fingers off the rope, like because my muscles just didn't have enough energy to be able to move and they would just lock up, and like, yeah, it was really really hard and a real mental game to tell yourself that you're going to keep moving forward, this will end.
And for me personally, I actually started to try to look at it in a positive way and go, Okay, if I'm feeling this week, that's good because it means other people are feeling weak. I guess I kind of backed my own mental ability to push through the suffering more than others. And we saw Benny kind of crumble because of the food, and that started to mess with his mind. You let that mess with your mind, you end up getting sent home.
And I think if Ben comes back, he's like learned his lesson, shut up about complaining about the.
Food, build a bridge, get over it. Good luck.
I think he's only coming back if you're allowed four pizzas a day.
No longer called survive of my friend, you know, a completely different show, maybe something cann could be a part of as well.
Who do you think is going to win?
Yeah, well my brother. But apart from him, I think that Sammy is still really underestimated. I think that people don't understand just quite how strategue she is, even after last night, because the boys think that that was their move. The boys think that they pulled that off. It was it was Sammy. Sammy pulled that off. She was the only one spart enough to follow me go find the idol. She has a really good social game and a strategic
ability that I don't think many people are aware of. Plus, she's got by far the biggest resume now I've left the game, so no one's resume comes close to hers. So if she's sitting at the end against someone else, it's going to be a whitewash.
Yeah. Well, I'm looking forward to watching on the Tribal Council with the other two. I think that's going to be very exciting. But just before you go, one question I ask everyone who joins the podcast is what something from behind the scenes that we're as an audience did not see but we might appreciate that happened during your experience on a stray and survivor.
I would say, I mean probably most people would say this. I'm guessing and from what I heard from past players is similar to what they seem to say. But I would say that the genuine relationships we build out there are real. And when it's eleven PM and we're sitting around the campfire and we're telling stories, you know, some of those players they know more about my personal life and the things I've been through than some of my
lifelong friends. Because it's intense out there, and so you build such strong, incredible relationships with these people so quickly, and that's something that you don't quite get through the television. And why it hurts so much when someone like Sammy turns on you because we had such a connection, such a real life connection, and that hurts to stab someone you love in the back.
Yeah, you know, it's funny.
A big brother for me was ten years ago, so why the hell am I still talking about it? But my partner wants to leave our house when any of them come to stay because of the relationship that has been formed for these people, like they are almost like siblings, you know what I mean, like as in your ability to fight with them is like siblings, Like it could just something rubs you the wrong way and you'll go them.
But if anyone ever said a bad word about any of these people, you would cut them, you know what I mean, Like it's yeah.
You'd literally you'd be willing to do anything for them. And already there's been quite a few things where you know, people might have been struggling or something, and all of us would drop anything to help any one of them in any aspect of their life. And that's really cool, and that's really special, and not only with our own
Survivor group, but with all the past Survivor players. Now we have a really close family and a tight knit bond because it's where the only ones that have played, we're the only ones that know what it's actually like, and that's really special group to be a part of.
Well, I will continue to be watching so excited with this series. I think it's just been so much fun to watch. Thanks so much for taking the time to have this chat with me. Yeah, as I said earlier, looking forward to watching you on the Tribal Council and saying, you know what contributions will come from you from there.
Thanks very much. Really appreciate the chat.
It's a good chat. It was a good chat.