Liz Parnov - Australian Survivor - Winner

It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload.

The podcast Last Deep Airline.

Welcome back to TV Reload.

My name is Benjamin Norris and this is your podcast to get all the inside goss on the popular TV shows you may be watching from around the world. Undeniably, our TV sets are a major part of our home entertainment and very little is known about how our favorite shows get made. So each episode I find guests that want to dive just that little bit deeper into the shows they're currently making, so that you can hear all their exclusive stories and gain access to the biggest names

Hello, thank you.

How hard has it been to keep this a secret for this long? I mean, there has been so much interest in this particular series of Australian Survivor. This must have been pretty hard to keep under your hat.

Well, No, I literally didn't find out until yesterday afternoon. So yesterday we found out and then we watched the episode and that was that. So there was no secret to keep. I think the biggest secret was just not telling anyone where I went missing for six weeks.

That was my secret.

I mean, come on, like, after you'd seen those pictures, I'm pretty sure that you were walking around spending that money in your head.

No, no, no, I literally found out yesterday, so it was all news to me, which was just so good. It was so nice just to have that moment yesterday with everyone to celebrate and actually like feel those emotions in real life.

It kept it quite organic, which was sweet.

I wish I was a fly on the wall for that interaction. Now were you all together when you found out?

Yeah, we were, we were. It was really nice.

What did they say? Like, what were the others doing? Was there any tears? Was there any tantrums? Was there any surprises? No?

Everyone was super kind.

I obviously was a blubbering mess like I have been through the whole damn season.

Just crying all the time.

I was actually watching the episode this morning on my phone because I felt like last night, like it was just so much was going on and I just couldn't really concentrate, and so like, I put it on my phone this morning and I was watching it back and started crying again. So I feel like there's gonna be a lot more tears to come over the next week.

If there was an extended version of the season, it would just be a whole lot about takes of you standing around the beach crying.

Is that right, standing at the beach crying, or like giving someone a salty side eye or licking a machete or something like that.

Yeah.

I loved that about you though, because I just thought you were being so authentic throughout the game. And I mean, authenticity is the secret key to winning these sorts of shows. So SIDEI or resting bitch face, it all worked in your favor.

Yeah.

That was the one thing I really wanted to do going on Survivor was just to stay true to who I am in the real world. And the best feedback I got from all friends and family watching the season was that I've literally been the exact same person, which is all I wanted, and I'm so glad that my true personality was portrayed and showed and everyone seemed to really like it.

I mean, I got a few comments saying.

Oh, she bitches and she moans and this and that, but whatever, I'm the winner.

Well, you outwitted, outplayed and outlasted George, who is being celebrated as one of the best Australian Survivor players of all time.

How does that feel?

Yeah, I mean, George is a phenomenal player. Everyone knows that, and he is so deserving of all of his accolades because he is a true testament to what Survivor is. But I took George down. And that's the thing. I'm a sneaky little lady. I feel like, you know, George and I obviously played really close together and we had a strong alliance. But I always knew that if I was to be sitting at the end of George, I

A lot of people were saying that, you know, even if George was there, you would still get quite a lot of votes. I think it might have even been a tighter finale had we seen the two of you there. I don't know if everyone would have voted for George.

It's hard because obviously when we're out there, we don't hear or see what the jury's saying, so.

We're kind of going off okay, gameplay personality, you know.

I knew that George had obviously rub people up the wrong way, so that was kind of in my favor. But I also knew that if the jury, which was stacked with the Turning players, were voting based off gameplay, then George would have it. So it wasn't a risk I was willing to take to sit next to George at the end.

What was your reaction to seeing him write down your name and giving you that message?

By that point, I was crying, So I have to be honest and say I didn't hear it, but I did hear that he had some lovely words to share, and he's just a sweetheart, and we formed a really beautiful friendship and one that I think is going to last a really long time.

And I have so much respect for him. He taught me so much about the.

Game, and it was a real honor working with George on this season of Survival.

Could you have made it this far in the competition and to have had this opportunity to win without George?

I mean a.

Great question, and it's hard to say, but I think I could have done it on my own.

Like I'm a strong woman.

I can figure it out, and I will get there one way or another, whether that be with George or that be with Shannie. I mean, I think it was just fate and really just luck. I suppose that I formed two genuine friendships with two really strong players that taught me so much. If they weren't there, could things have been different?

Perhaps? But could it would have should out? Who knows?

Who do you think actually taught you the most in regards to winning this competition, Shannie, Geordie or George, Because there's a lot of people who could really be claiming to be your mentor at the moment.

I personally tried to take a little bit from everyone that I interacted with that I knew was a great player, Returning players that had obviously played the game before and they had the experience. I felt like I just wanted to be a sponge and just take little things from everyone and then make it my own. So I wouldn't put it down to one mentor in particular. I'd say that I was kind of a sponge and I just absorbed all the knowledge and made it my own.

Well, you gave the best speech by a country mile, leaving Matt and Jerry to come off, in my mind and in my opinion, looking a little silly.

The pitch is really really difficult, and by that point in the game you were just a shell of a human. So I can tell you going into that pitch that I honestly felt like I had lacked out.

Because I was just so nervous. I was so exhausted by the whole thing.

Watching last night was the first time I actually remembered what I'd said because it was just so nerve wracked king I just word vomited when it came to my turn. But watching back, I am super proud of my pitch and it got really great feedback, and Jerry and Matt also did a great job, but I think mine was just a little bit stronger, a.

Little bit stronger. Give yourself some credit.

I mean, is it fair to say that they might have made it to the end with absolutely zero resume. I mean, what was the point to get all the way to the end if they didn't really have anything to put forward.

Yeah, look, I mean you can definitely look at it that way, and that's one angle. But I think as well, there is merit in getting to the end no matter how you get there, Like it's no easy feet, whether you are at the forefront of the alliance or you're playing with your other alliance members. I think getting to the end of Survivor is amazing, and I think you just need to own however you get there. Like if I was Jerry or Matt, I would be like, yeah, I sat behind George and I'm here and you're not.

So you know.

One thing I noticed that was really clever in the way in which you did your pitch was it was clever to see you name people in a positive light during your speech. It was almost like watching someone play Mario or Sonic the Hedgehog. You just were going along collecting the coins, you know, for us as a hero, it was like, you know, it was that something you chose to do on purpose, to make sure that you interacted with certain people, making sure that you would win

Absolutely, I think it's really important when you get to that pitch to pay your respects to all the other players, and for me in particular, like I mentioned earlier, I learned so many things from so many players and so many moves from other players, So I think it's important to include them, make them feel important and make them feel heard and known, because everyone wants to feel that way, and that would help me get their vote.

You know, it's interesting.

I wanted to ask whether or not that was the order that the pitch has happened. Was that did you go first and then that was the order that we saw on television or did they move the order around last.

Yeah. No, that's a good point.

So I went last, and whilst sitting through Jerry's and Matt's pitch.

I just looked into the fire and I just tried to block everything out.

I just kept reciting my pitch in my mind because I didn't want to get thrown or kind of put off track as to because I knew what I wanted to say, and I wanted to really be convincing and strong and solid, and I didn't want to wait for that.

So I was last, and I.

Suppose that probably worked in my favor as well.

My biggest problem with the finale was not being able to see you not have this reunion with Shannie. Like you know, I was so invested in your relationship with Shannie. I was originally invested in the spy skirls, but I just thought the two two of you girls were amazing. And was that a big mistake on behalf of the producers? You know that the audience missed out on having that moment to see you guys being reunited.

I think it was just a part of the story. I mean, it wasn't targeted that Shawnee was to go and for us to not have a reunion. I think Shannie. Unfortunately, Shannie just got voted off and so we couldn't have that moment. But we've connected since then and we've had our moment off camera and we're still really really good friends. And I don't think it was anything wrong by the producers. It was just a part of the story in the whole picture.

Where was she though?

Has she had already been put on a plane a couple of days before, I mean, where was Shawnie?

Yeah, she was gone, Sane was born.

Oh my gosh, I saw Shannie back in Australia, which is really sweet.

What does your friendship look like with Shannie these days? You did say that you've been able to catch up and have that moment, But the show, you know, was made quite a while ago.

So are you guys in constant contact. How has the friendship evolved?

Yeah, So Shannie made a visit to per which was really sweet. We had a week.

Together and then we talk on the phone. We text every other day, so we're super close and we keep in touch.

You know.

I also felt the burn when George got rid of Shannie, Like I still feel like that's a moment in the show that it actually really had impacted me. How was that for you at the time, and how were you able to dig deep to go back to this alliance with George without letting him know that you really had been well and truly pissed off by that move.

Yeah, I feel like in the game Survivor, you need to just let things go and get on with it, because if you get caught up in a moment, you're done. So I knew that I had to put my feelings aside and get back on track and mend that relationship with George because I knew that I had to use him in my game, and I knew that I needed

I want to take you to task on one thing, though maybe you've got a better answer for this. But you know, in that final pitch, you know, you mentioned that George had missed you and Shannie conspiring against him, which I don't think was necessarily true, because he did notice that you two were conspiring against him, and that was the reason why he got rid of Shannie.

I wasn't aware, so watching back, I only realized that George actually did hear about Shannie and I. Whilst watching I had no idea that actually out there he did, so that.

Was news to me.

And watching back, obviously George had overheard about the shi alliance and unfortunately that was how I'm doing.

What did that feel like?

Did you think, oh, that makes more sense now and you know, of course George did that. Was that was there a little bit more forgiving to his move now that you knew that he'd overheard some stuff?

Yeah, I feel like watching back and seeing all the other conversations and the whispers and what people overheard and didn't overhear, it really puts it into context more so I can understand why George made that move. But at the same time, George had his own relationships on the side, you know, him, Matt and Jerry were so solid, and.

Seannie and I were just the same on the other side.

So I get it, But I also feel like it still wasn't necessary, you.

Know, watching it back, was there anything because you were just mentioning this that particularly shocked you and has annoyed you. I mean, the POV of the viewer is different to that of a castaway on the beach. Surely you've seen some stuff now that you think, well, that makes me think very differently of you.

I mean, there's definitely been moments like say, on the other tribe, or when someone's off in the jungle having a whisper to one another, where you're like, oh, okay, this was said interesting, and then you can kind of put the pieces together in your mind a bit better. But I'm really thankful. I feel like I had a great edit and I came across really well, and yeah, I have nothing to complain about. I loved it.

Was it more impressive to you to be a newbian to beat all these returning players or was it more important to you to be a villain and to beat the heroes.

It was definitely more impressive to me to be outplaying the returnees, because I feel like going into Survivor with no experience is super challenging and a real shock to the system because it's definitely a lot more difficult than what it looks like on your screens. And so knowing that these returning players had that experience, I thought, Okay, right, this is going to be really tough because they know

I liked that last night you said that Survivor has changed your life. You know, does this game change you forever in the way you socialize with people in the real world. I mean, I can't imagine how doing something so hectic is this has impacted your life. But now that you've had some time to sit with that, you know, how did Survivor change your life?

Yeah?

I think it really really put me out of my comfort zone. And I'm quite an introvert in the real world world. I have my people and I'm happy with that. So going into a game where you literally don't know anyone and you have to be social, you have to have a social game, you have to actually get to know people. That really brought me out of my shell.

That would be the biggest takeaway for me.

It's just like that self growth of like becoming a stronger woman and more confident and yeah, just not shying away from putting myself out there for opportunities.

I love that for you.

I think that's great, you know, I think it's quite amazing, quite lovely to hear. How long did it take for you to shake this game? I mean when you return to the real world. Did take you a long time to sort of go back to normal life?

Yeah?

It just it honestly felt like such a blur. I feel like when I got back, I went straight into work for a few weeks, it was a time of the past because I was just so consumed of what I was doing.

And then as the ads started coming out.

I was like, oh, yes, this is happening, Like I almost forgot about it for a hot minute. But I feel like it'll leave its mark on me always, like deep within what I've achieved and what I've done.

I'm so proud.

But life goes on and it's onto the next thing, and you just got to keep moving forward.

Something I ask everybody who joins the podcast, what's something from behind the scenes, something that we didn't see that we won't see, kind of like a behind the scenes secret of Australian Survivor that fans might be really excited to know.

I was always extremely excited about food, because I'm a hungry girl and I eat a lot in the real world, so I was really struggling with the food.

I lost about ten kilos at one point, and.

I recall we'd have about a handful in the morning and in the night of rice if we could get a fire going.

So to me, being someone that was a.

Professional athlete and ate like a it was a really really big cut in food and really really hard to wrap my head around.

And all I thought about the whole time was eating. And so when those food challenges came around.

And I was blessed with digging into something, I was over the moon, which might not have come across on TV, but we were all so excited when the food challenges were there because we were all starving.

You know, I imagine and I've heard before that you know you do get check ups with the like ametic that's there, you know, I have to challenges.

Every day that you do a challenge, they do a quick check up.

Is that how you knew that you'd lost so much weight, that you were down ten kilos because at one point of the game, it was a check up that they revealed that I think just at.

The end when I got out, and then I jumped from the scales and I saw what my body weight was. That kind of told me where I was at and how much weight I had lost. But yes, there's a medic checking in on you to make sure all your vitals are good and you're not about to cark it out there.

But it was post game where I realized that I.

Was skin and bone, and watching back, I was skin and bone.

Did you put the ten kilos back on straight away?

Yes?

My god, it did not take me long at all. I will tell you what.

Just one week and it's all back on.

Another question I've been asking everyone that's joined the podcast this season is would you ever return? An interesting question for you being a winner. You know, we've had previous winners that have returned, and then we've got winners that don't want to return, like PM Miranda. You know it's probably early days to really even answer this question fairly, but you know, would you ever return to the Survivor universe?

I think, in this given moment right now, I just really want to enjoy this time and this win and just like sit in it for a bit. Ask me in a year or two, and I think I'll say yes, I would love to come back and give it another go. It would be nice to see a returning winner win twice, because we haven't seen that.

Yet, so you never know, have you spent any of this money? By the way, everyone's going to do. You know what's so weird was that, you know, when I won Big Brother, the only question I got from the media the next day, because interviews on radio was so sure, was you know, how are you going to spend the money?

The same thing I'll say to you is, I literally don't know. I feel like I'm still shocked and just like, what the hell's going on? But as I've also said to everyone this morning, I want to be smart, I want to invest, I want to kind of get something going for my future, maybe take a holiday. Honestly, nothing crazy, But it's not about the money. It's about the journey and the win and the self development and just the whole experience for me.

If by any chance you spend any of that money taking Seannie on a holiday, then the rest I'm speaking on behalf of the rest of Australia.

We just want to see photos, Okay, easy, Thanks.

Liz, Thank you so much. Can I just have absolutely loved watching you this season. You were so fantastic right from the start, and so many of my friends everybody has been celebrating you every night last night, so what an amazing opportunity for me to chat to you today and unpack this.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.