LAURA - AUSTRALIAN SURVIVOR WEEK 5 - NETWORK 10

It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload, the podcast Last Weep That Light. Hey guys, welcome back to TV Reload. I want to thank you for clicking and downloading on today's episode with Laura, the latest eliminated Australian Survivor player, who I'm going to say I have been, I had been, I should say, really

Thank you.

Did you approach the audition process by saying I am a white Witch and this is what I'm going to bring to the show, Like, how did that work? Yeah?

Yeah, in my audition video that's the first thing I said. But I'm a witch. I read taro, I read ours, I read palms. I wanted to use a word that would be a little bit polarizing, but also a word that's been used against women for a really long time, a word that has a negative connotation against women that I can like change the narrative, which is people that just view the world a different way. But for women in the past, that was here and it was used

There's something really powerful in reclaiming titles that have been associated incorrectly for so long. You know. I noticed that in Melbourne with Pofdorf. My mum from a different generation, was like, no, that's a negative and I was like, no, Mum, We've reclaimed that, you know, And I think that's something that you were trying. That's what you're getting at Ryan.

Oh, for sure. And it's so interesting.

As soon as you know the cast got released, that stigma came straight back and it's the first thing anybody could say was, you know, all of these negative things about being a witch and the negative connotations that had in history are still very much alive today. And I really like that I can change the narrative of what a witch can look like, what a witch can sound like, and we're just people that view the world in a

You would have had to have been really happy with your introduction, Like when they showed your bio video. I remember, you know, the storyline was happening, and then it was like, you know, I'm a white witch and just I don't know. I was like, yes, queen, like yeah, so here for this.

Thank you.

I was really scared that I would come across kookie and that I'll come across kind of crazy.

But I loved that actually my reads.

Were making other people look cookie and crazy because the way that they presented it was like, this is the right kind of intuition, and my reads on people were accurate, and so I really liked the way the story was told was that my intuition was true and it was I wasn't cookie and I wasn't crazy.

You know, I kind of wanted it. I kind of felt like it was going to be used more. I mean sort of see your intuition working well and you were on the money when it came to reading some people's personalities. Did you think it was going to be shown more on the show, like what was happening in Fiji at the time, were you still doing what you were doing in the original episodes where you were reading people and a bit more.

I was, yes, I did lots of like palm readings and or readings for people. I talked about it kind of enough, and when I found the information that I eventually told Zara, you know, I was talking about my manifesting.

I constantly was talking about my reads of people.

But I understood for the story how it presented the character and then grew and I wasn't always this heart led, intuition based person. That I could show my strategy mind and I could show how I really wanted to play with the game. So I was really happy with how my intuition was shown on the show. It was shown and then it was acknowledged and it was understood, and then I could grow.

You were put into a bit of a bind though a couple of times, and Zara's name is linked to that. It's funny that you're talking about an intuition, because you might have trusted her a little bit more than you should have. But the thing that really surprised me about your personality was that you did trust your instinct that you thought you could bond with this woman she let

Thank you.

Zara and I have a great relationship. We get along so well, and on Brain's two point zero, we were not joking when we said the bronze weren't talking to us for a good amount of time, like it was just Zara and I in the shelter talking for days. And I feel like I really got to know her. And what I didn't anticipate when I told her the information was that she would have.

The same reaction that I had, which was get me off here.

Self preservation just kicked in and we both just were doing everything we could to get out of there. And she's a lawyer. She just did a better job at pitching her case. She has a law degree. Sorry, and I think that I should have realized that she was going to have the same instinct that I did, but I saw her more as the level headed one between us, so I thought that we'd be able to talk it through. But in that moment, I was just thinking about myself.

If that makes.

Sense, it makes sense. The only thing was that I was curious about how when did a dawn on you that you were going to be blindsided? Because I mean, you were blindsided. I don't know if the audience felt like you were blindsided, but yeah, you definitely.

I was absolutely blindsided. I think the plan on Logan and I had been in works for a lot longer than what was shown. Clearly, we were this big target duo all the way from the beginning of Tribe Swap. The plan sorry, it had been on us for a really long time, and so the narrative that was constantly pushed to me was that they wanted to get rid of AJ and Miles, and then Miles did that crazy thing, and this is just adding to the wanting to get

Was being fed to me.

You can see in my brain last night, I'm trying to count the numbers, trying to figure out have I done enough not to be the split? Can I can't now convince Logan out of playing her idol? Can I convince her to play it?

For me?

I was well and truly blindsided. And that's the props to the people around me for not only lying to me in the scramble in the moment, but for three weeks beforehand.

It does make me wonder whether or not Logan would be next to our list, or is she going to go after another duo? You know what I mean? Like I feel like she's on a wall path to separate people who almost think that there'd be damage left behind with Logan. Hmm, so maybe it's best to just nip her next. What would you foresee happening?

As soon as I left, I thought, Okay, I think the Logan needs to join the bottom of another duo and become a desperate number for another duo because she's lost her number and now everybody else is outnumbered. There are all two votes and she's now one. So I think she needs to do a poorly and plead to another duo to become the bottom of that group. That's what my instinct would tell me that she would probably do.

That's what I would do. If Logan had left and I.

Had stayed, I probably would have tried to plead my case to someone saved me the way that you know Mile saved Paulie, and.

Use me, you know, before I move away from the tribal council completely. The comments online about you not acknowledging the people as you walk past, a lot of people thought that that was a choice. Do you regret that,

I think in the moment, I was just well and truly blindsided. And you can see me looking left and right, trying to talk to my allies, so my so called allies as to who they voted for, and I really I didn't understand how that had happened. So I was I was angry, I was annoyed, and I don't regret not hugging each and every single one of them because I didn't want to. In the moment, they just burnt me. I hugged Logan clearly because you know we're together, but

I will turned around because you know JLP announced that you were the first person you know, on the on the jury, and I was like, I said to my partner, did he just say that she's the first person? I was like yes. I was like so excited about you being there because I felt like, if anyone in this season has enough information to really size up what everyone else has been doing on this chaotic season, it is you. You know, you have been burnt by people, but you're

Yes, I'm a very understanding person. I understood in the moment why Kuren told Logan to play a idol. It made total sense to me. It made total sense to me why Zara did what she did. It all makes logical sense, even if it doesn't benefit me. So I was so proud to be the first member of the jury and to make sure that everybody that comes in after me isn't going to vote for the soul survivor in the end with any bias or anything that you know they've done to them in the game. This is

The vote in the end of who wins Soul Survivor.

I like idea, if you're moving, welcoming everyone, you know, you get to be controlling a narrative, and the person who makes it first does get the opportunity to one by one collect everyone yes and control a narrative. If you're smart, is it fair to say that the things that you probably frustrate you and eliminate you from the show by the time you get to the jury become the things that you have to then celebrate.

Of course, of course.

Being blindsided is a great way to go out, but it also allows me to understand that this is a game and that everything that happens in it is going is leading up to, you know, a final Soul Survivor. It's all the things that happen to you are the things that make somebody else's game great, you know, And we have to understand.

As a jury that it actually.

Has nothing to do with us, and this is all a narrative that someone's going to say back that they were able to get me out, that my name is on their resume, and I have to separate my emotional feelings from that to understand that that's a really good move, that that's a good move for them, and if they can explain it back to me as to why it's a good move for them, then they have my boat.

I don't know if I can get you on speed, my friend, but I could deal with you in my life, like I think, I saw it on the show and I see it in you now. I think that you have a really strong understanding of people, but I think you have a malleable way of understanding your own emotions as well, And that's highly intelligent behavior and would be super amazing to have for your friends.

Thank you. I really appreciate that. That's really really kind I go.

Into every interaction, every friendship with the best intentions and always trying to support the people around me, So I really appreciate that that you can see that that that got represented. That's really kind of you to say thank you.

Do you think that Logan and Zara a little bit too feisty this season? There's that kind of feeling that those two are probably surviving because of that feisty nature, but some people have come on the exit interviews and said that Logan can be quite difficult and if she didn't like you, she really didn't like you. And I think some people have sort of alluded to the same thing that Zara, What is your read on those two girls.

I think that being a woman playing Survivor is a really interesting thing because you can be strong and you can be opinionated, but that doesn't as a fan, that can be seen as feisty, and that can be seen as mean, and we are just doing our best. We all have one goal out there and that self preservation. That is to get to the end. And it's their strong mentality has gotten them where they are right now, which is just further.

In the game than you know, everybody else, so I think. But however they are.

Trying to survive is working for them. There's such a negative connotation to the word feisty. I love feisty women. I love strong women. I love bossy women because they know exactly what they want. There's a difference between being bossy and being a dickhead. And I think that I love women who are not afraid to go after what they want. And if there's any place in the whole world,

Five hundred thousand dollars.

What did I say?

I think you said five hundred dollars.

Five hundred thousand dollars.

But yeah, imagine playing this game four five hundred dollars. Do you think people? Absolutely not. You know that this season is quite messy, and I would say this is one of the messyc since we've seen in a while. Even watching the show last night, I was thinking to myself, I didn't even know who I'm going for anymore. I don't even know who the who is winning anymore. I'm like, everyone's a hot mess except for Miles, and he's a bit He could be a little bit unlikable at times.

Sure, I think this season is coming across a little bit messy because we all have very deep and rich connections to each other. I think that this cast has bonded so well and so from what I've heard, more than other casts, and I think that we all just have really great connections to each other in bizarre, weird ways. How Aj and Kate are such great friends is fascinating to me, and we kind of Zara and I we're quite close.

So I think that these really phenomenal, bizarre relationships can't get shown in you know, three episodes a week, So it's coming across as people are working with random people, but you're not seeing that three hour conversation where they've for life.

And I think that we are very close as a cast, and that's now coming across as everyone's working with everyone and no one really knows what they're working with because at the time, we had such special connections to each and every person that there were many paths forward for a lot of people.

It does seem like for me, it's shaping up for a season about the Jungle Rat. How is it that someone who could be so I don't know what the right word is for it, but like so obviously villainous and so obviously in control of their game and maybe a little bit smarter than everyone. Why is that person still in the game, as.

Miles says, well, well the jungle rat does is the jungle rat survives. I think that that's funny that you say that, because Miles's name has been written down more than anybody else in this entire season so far. I think that he has the jungle rats found a way to kind of scurry through, to always push a bigger target in front of himself.

That's worked for him up until now. I think that.

He he's formed connections with everybody in different ways as a malleable number.

People did for him what he did for Pauli, which is.

Recognized that he is a number that people can use, and he's just done a good job of always being.

So far on the bottom that is no longer a threat.

Is he someone that you would be friends within the real world?

I adore Miles and we have hung out a lot.

He is.

What we have in common is our love for survivor. We talk about survivor constantly. I love the way that he thinks about the world, which is from a hyperlogical place, which I don't always and so I rely on friends like him to remind me that we're on this big, floating rock.

And yeah, He's a great person.

Someone I never ever would have met outside of this game, but someone that is very a great friend.

I just want to ask you, because you're such a Survivor fan, who's your favorite strand Survivor player. That's a really good question, you know, Like from a Survivor fan to another, I'm like, I just want to know.

Myles and I really bonded over our love for Eden from Titans Versus Rebels. We thought that he played the game in a similar way that we wanted to, which was hyperlogical but also with a lot of varying social tactics. I really adore Eden as a player. I think that he was gone before his time and he could have done extremely well who else.

He's also a really lovely person in real life. I met him many times. I also loved his fan service of you know, the Gladiator references instead of rude to his movie, buff movie, something so intoxicating about his time.

Yeah, he was true to who he was.

He was an obvious fan out there and used it to his advantage. I think at every turn in Eden's game, he was doing the right thing, and that's a hard thing to say for any Survivor player. I don't know many other Survivor players that were always doing the right thing. Even Queen Hayley was voted out and got a chance to come back. So I think that Eden probably has played one of the best games in terms of always being on the right side of what was happening.

Yeah, I no, I agree. You know, I'm running out of time and I wanted to do like just a couple just I will just ask one question to recoup the week, because we are talking about three episodes, so I get the luxury of talking to you about this week's episodes. You know, it's really interesting the way that PD left the series, because it looked to me it felt like he needed to go because of his accident, but somehow it was turned into a TV moment within

I understand where that comes from. I throughout PD's name because he was positioned so well.

All of the brawn two point zero.

Brains in AJ, Karen, and Logan all wanted to work with Kristin and PD was Kristen's buddy, so without any work, PD came into a majority.

He was absolutely so well positioned.

All of the brain two point zeros in Morgan and Kate wanted and Jesse wanted to work with PD. He was so cushy and because of his injury, he wasn't a threat to anyone for winning any individual immunity. So he was the perfect person to take to the end because he couldn't win so like and I couldn't win any individual immunities. I mean, so I thought that he was a really good buddy to break up first, because he was playing a brilliant game. He was always on

It did seem like he was going to be a boring exit, that's what all I could see. I was like, Oh, he's going to have to go because he's hurt himself, and then ended up being the best tribal council this season. I mean, from my opinion, I'm not saying it was the best tribal council. But it certainly was like a moment, do you know what I mean?

It was And in the moment, it was a moment or what is happening?

And at the time as it was happening, it kind of didn't make sense to me.

But when we landed back on the beach, it made total sense to me.

While why Miles would do that and save poorly because it made sense for Miles to get out PD for the same reasons it made sense for me to get out PD. Sure, and Miles just had the advantage to do it. I just didn't have the numbers. The reason I back down is because I didn't have the numbers. I didn't have that advantage. I mean, there were only three votes in the end on PD, so I didn't have the numbers to continue with that plan. But it made total sense to me why it happened like that.

What's like?

It was a whirlwind of an experience and shocking in the moment, I can promise you that I.

Thought he should have taken Logans, like Logans was more hidden, you know what I mean, Like I thought, you know, made more sense to go for it. Maybe he didn't truly believe she had it. I don't know.

I yeah, I think that in moment, you can see how easy it was to get a whole tribe against Logan and I it was no convincing, but it took a lot of convincing to get people onto PD, which shows just how well positioned PD was. So I understand why he took Christen's and went for PD instead of taking Logans, because as you can see, it was quite easy to take logans.

Anyway, Before you go, the last question ask everyone is what is something from behind the scenes, something we might not have got a chance to see. And this is always a hard one because with a strain and survivor, we really don't want to give away anything, you know what I mean. Like, so I wanted to ask you which tribal council for you in real time was the most challenging.

I think that.

Of course, when I told Zara my information and then we both had to picture as to why we wanted to go over to the other side. That was challenging on a personal level of you know, I don't think I can out talk.

This amazing woman.

I think that Also the tribal council where Max went home, I had fought all afternoon for Max to stick with the brains and he just didn't want to work with Miles. And if I had known about his idol, I know I could have sent one of the Brauns home on one vote. That was a really hard afternoon for me personally, because I was fighting so hard to keep myles in line, to get Zara to stick with me, to get Max not to flip to.

The Braunze, to make sure my name didn't come up, which didn't.

All three other Brains' names came up except for mine that afternoon, So I really that afternoon was full of work. I did not stop talking the entire time, trying to convince people. And if only they I'd known about Max's idol. That tribal council was shocking, and at that tribal council I realized just how in the firing line I could have been.

I didn't expect Max to go.

Home, No, I do, really, And what a disappointing thing for him to go home with these little Whilst you may not have won this series, much like Eden, I think you have slipped into a fan favorites category by being authentically yourself and being good television. I think you lived up to the idea of getting cast on Survivor and doing a good job, but also transcending to the audience. So I think that's a congratulations.

Thank you.

I really appreciate that that's here, That's the real dream come true. That's all you can ask as a Survivor fan is that the other fans recognized that you did the best that you could.

So thank you. I really appreciate that. That means a lot.

You think you don't want to waste it if you get there, you know what, right, Yeah, may.

As well make some good TV and may as well just do everything that you can go guns blazing.

So thank you. I really appreciate that. That really means a lot.

I just never forget me screaming at my TV when you were doing the challenge and they you know, you just had this thing happen Mazzara and she yelled at off. So you've been telling everyone you know, and I was just like.

Oh, I said back to that, I said, no, they made their own opinions. They formed their own opinions on what happened last night. I didn't have to say anything. Yeah, winning that pass start was that was a really cool moment.

It was good TV. You enjoy chatting to the Survivor universe because I guarantee you they're all much like me, very excited to have a chance to talk to you today, and good luck with it.

Thank you so much, you're so so lovely to chat.

That's really great. I'll tell my brother's partner Holly that I've spoken to you.

Please please tell her to introduce yourself if she sees me down the streets.

If you're walking down the street, amazing, look after yourself, Take care well.