MORE THAN A BUDGIE SMUGGLER FULL OF SURVIVOR CHAT!

It's in the news today, but it was actually on TV Reload the podcast last week. They're right, 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.

I've worked in Telly for twenty years.

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.

We thought he'd be two to self aware. Well, in fact, exactly the opposite was true and he became the biggest character in the show.

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 the latest evicted castaway, Jordan Schmidt from Australian Survivor on Channel ten. Jordan has been playing the competition of Blood Versus Water with his cousin Josh and between the two of them, you'd be given for thinking they were unstoppable. Although they are cousins Jordan and Josh Boston that their relationship is

You're just going to go with the information you've got in the game.

Previously on Australian Survivor, and there's a lot of things happening that people aren't seeing in the show that you are driving us to make the decisions we're making.

Jordan, So how do you think this is going to play out?

And in Survivor, you know you can't have people floating around that are just causing chaos.

The six were and I still believe are very There.

Was a moment where we're just literally standing in the water and we're getting called for toxic masculinity.

Fifteen person hearted out of blood versus water.

Jordan, as long as you've got the relationships and you get to that third seat and you can pitch.

That's all the matters.

Hey mate, how are you?

Yeah? Gone good? Going good?

You know a bit of a hectic bonside last night, so just reliving that.

Well, I have to start off by saying congratulations on a very long thirty seven days in the competition. How long does it take to feel normal again after an experience like Australian Survivor, because rumor had it that you had probably one of the biggest body transformations being in the show.

It took a huge adjustment period coming back out.

Went in at ninety six kilos, came out at eighty three kilos, so it's thirty an kilo loss there. And it was actually scary to see when I come out of the show how much weighted loss because you don't see yourself and you don't know what you look like, but you can sort of feel your body being depleted. And then coming out my friends and family were like, oh wow, that's insane.

Look, I don't think I'm where eighty three gillos since I was like ten.

That was your way to birth? Yes, great, yes, yes.

That was my first first weight when I was born.

There is actually a really amazing clip that you can watch which is on ten play, and it does show your reaction when you're shown a mirror by the medic for the first time and the looks don't lie. So it's a great moment to watch. Have you seen that clip?

That was?

That was scary for me when I first just seen the scales I've never seen. I've played rugby my whole life and since I was seventeen, I don't think oh, probably since I was eighteen, I don't think I've been under ninety kilos just from playing rugby, and to see getting close to seventy heroes into the seventies was that was huge.

Well, I guess watching the show back allows for some second guessing. And you know you've just concluded watching your time in the show playing the competition, like I guess you're a part of the jury. Was there anything that you would have done differently now that you've seen it play back on the.

Telly, It's hard to say.

There's not much more you can do different like you're just going to go with the information you've got in the game and what's in front of you, and you.

Know what relationships you've built.

So you know, watching it back now would be easy to go, I would have done this or have done that.

You know, there's a lot of things happening that people.

Aren't seeing in the show that you know, are driving us to make the decisions we're making in terms of the second Idol, Like that's the main thing that everyone keeps talking about. Jordan had very loose lips for the whole game, so you know, he was very hard to trust. Sam and Mark were never did anything wrong by us, so you know, we felt like we were trying to stay with the with a safe bet until we got to that six and then that to me take each other's heads off.

Well, I guess that's kind of why Jordy got the nickname of the Joko.

Oh yeah, yeah, he was very erratic.

He's a good bloke though, but he's very erratic, and in Survivor, you know, you can't have people floating around that are just causing chaos.

Well, they say in life that you don't get second chances, but these days in the competition of Australian survivor. You probably could get a second chance. Is it a hard pill to swallow for you if you don't get a twist or a turn of fate?

I guess.

I guess the hardest part about is, you know, like we're getting down to what we were in the business end of it, and you know, for to send four players home, three of them come back and then one of them buyers advantage, it's pretty rough.

It's a rough way.

To go, you know, getting someone's been saved and then you get an advantage put on you as well.

It's probably one of the most savage ways to go I've ever seen. It's frustrating.

I think it is frustrating. I was frustrated. Look, I guess you know, moving on. I guess the majority in this competition this season has been extremely tight, and what I really want to know is did you have an idea of who in that top six would be the first to go?

We did have a game plan, you know, the original game plan was to send Shay Shaye Jordi, get rid of them, get out of the competition. You know, Shay's a challenge beach. She's a good player and you know, we were all big guys. We're not beating there in a final challenge, and we have to stand on something like, let's be really, let's get Let's get Shay out of there for that very reason. Plus she had a great story. You know. Jeordie was just Jordy like he was dominant,

We definitely did with Chrissy. So we just needed to get rid of the riff Raf and then just get to the point where we can get rid of one of those idols and then go on through to the end game.

I guess my point being that it was not you that I thought in that sort of male alliance that was formed you know, I didn't pick you as being the first out of that very strong click to go.

I have no idea what happened last night.

I thought they would have at least tried to split like maybe a two to two on myself and Sam, just to try and get rid of an idol. Then we go to Rocks anyway, That's how I would have done it, or I would have just loaded up, probably on Sam and then just put one on me. Anyway, So if she did pull an idol, I'm gone anyway. So I didn't get it. I didn't understand, like, I just didn't understand the play. But that's just me being biased because I'm gone. But you know, Jordy knew that

Oh absolutely, that makes any if that makes.

It, If that makes any sense, Like they could have got me anyway. I thought I thought it was a great advantage. I don't think it was. I don't think it was executed well. Like you've still got two hours of play, You've got Josh Christy and you've got Sam and Mark still there with two idols, I would have went for an idol first.

I reckon, I'll be your therapist right now and tell you that you're not always going to have things make sense in the game of Survivor.

Yeah, but even even me and Josh made a huge mistake.

You know, we should have given each other the necklace, Like I should have taken Josh's necklace when you're starving and you're tired.

We were so comfortable that once Josh walked out, it didn't dawn on me until he was gone. I'm like, oh shit, if.

Josh handed me the idol, Sam's got an idol. One of these guys are going home again. And I was like, oh, that's a potentially a five hundred thousand dollars sake.

That one like writing off a really expensive car.

That one's stung a little bit.

You know, Sammy gets a lot of flack publicly for her gameplay, But do you buy into the notion that it would be less criticized if Sammy was a male.

This is a touch of subject, this one, But I.

Don't actually know because I think we're getting we're copping it too, just from standing in the water having a conversation. There was a moment where we're just literally standing in the water and we're getting pulled for like a toxic masculinity. Like that's what's I see a lot of things online people talk about all of us.

I just don't bite back. I just leave it, let it flow. I think once you start to go at people, that's when it starts to get way more backlash. Like I've seen people writ shit about me the.

Whole time, and I'm just like, oh, I don't know you, I don't really care, but I've found it. When you start to bite back a bit, you cop it. But yeah, I think Sammy's in a bit of a firing line at the moment.

Well, I think reality TV can be quite triggering for people unnecessarily, you know, so people might be relating their own life to a certain situation where there is absolutely no context to it, and understanding the show as well as I do, I think that there could be a lot of people out there battling their own ideas on men in a male alliance. But at the end of the day, that's just the way that this season's played out, and I don't think any of those men toxic masculine men.

Yeah, And that's the thing, like it was.

This is why I always laugh about it, because we actually just got along really well. That was the main thing. Like all of us love sport. We loved like the same things. Our conversations were hilarious. Our most aid and show any most of our conversations were movie gues.

Yes, yeah, so were all.

Half of our conversations were probably the dumbest conversation join me here. Like we'll just be laying there quoting movies and just cracking up, laughing, and like we're like, oh, well, do you know what, Like why don't we all just get each other to merge and then we'll go for each other then, like everyone knows and survivor once you get to merge, the challenges it doesn't matter how strong

And I was pretty keen to battle it out with some of the some of those guys too.

You know, I'm very competitive, so you know, I wanted to go up against people like Shay. I wanted to against people like Mark. I would love to test myself against those guys. That's that was how I looked at it as well. But yeah, all that happens is if the big guys pick each other off, if there's one of you left in merger, you're going on first. So that's happens all the time. So well, let's go in together and have strength in numbers and let's let's take control of the game.

Well we kind of touched on this little before, but I thought watching you back your mates Mark and Sam at that point was really sweet, you know, believing that they didn't have two idols. Did you feel like you had no option because you worried what it might have looked like, it might have shown a slight dissension, or did you genuinely just not believe that there was two idols?

There was so much more happening, like it was.

Jordi got caught out in a lot of lies through the whole game, so like his word was more like the boy of Pride Wolf, so I was like, well, he's fully lying. And when Jesse got voted out, Jordi said something to me and Josh that was like stuck with us. It was like, I can't believe Jesse went home with his idol those exact words.

So Jesse went home with his idol. And then we trusted Mark and Sam because they backed us in to save Josh. And then Jordi says that. Then the very next day he says, Sam's got it. So there's three things we trust them. Jordi lies all the.

Time, and then Jesse is such a smart player that you cannot pitch him giving away an idol. So you've got all these things in your mind where it's like't be, like it just can't be. We found ourselves in a position where we're like, we could be snooky here because we need to hold a majority, because as soon as one of us go for each other, the singles automatically can swoop in and you know, take us all out.

It's gonna get interesting now. So like Juicy Dave, Pucy, Dave Bloody ol Man, I was talking to No, he's the man, he's good.

But you know, we had a plan with Dave and we said, mate, just stay tight. You know, there's four of us. We just got to get rid of the riff raff and then we'll go for those We'll go for those idols. But I think he just got a bit excited, jumped the gun and made a very not because I want to I wish I was still in the game, but I do think that could have been

One one one, see what happens. Then we're gonna go to Rocks anyway Sunday morning.

Quarterbacking though, which is always the problem in surviving you know you're always thinking, oh, do you know what? It's really amazing, like just bringing up Dave just then, and you know you could be a little bit cross with him. But the community behind Australian Survivor is super strong. How did the team behind this show help that strength? I mean, is there a way in which you guys are pushed into letting go of bad feelings?

It all depends on the person.

Like you know, we Me and Josh, you know we've been through you know, I've lost my dad, I've lost my brother. So the way I look at life is a lot different to like how other people do. And I've been raising sports, so you know, at game is a game. Like I'm always playing the player, not the person. So if men, you're playing Survivor, I'm playing against you as a character in Survivor.

I'm never going to judge you on who you are as a person. That's just how I am. Like even kJ last night, you know, I was She's absolutely smoked me. I should be filtered.

But you know, I shook her hand, gave Rack kiss and said, you know, we'll played. It's a game at the end of the day, and the end of the daytab someone in your back, Like so it's like, you just got to realize you're playing a game here. Sometimes things will upset you, but you know, it's just a part of it. And what I would say is like, if you can't, if you're not ready for that, don't don't.

Play the game. I played Big Brother like Survivor, so but it was back in the day where Big Brother was, you know, a personality fun show where a lot of the people that applied and were on the show just wanted to be there for this fun experience. And I'd go to bed every night being like, if I align

You know, yeah, yeah, what did.

You like better?

Do you like? Which game did you like better?

I don't know. I think that now I'm more programmed to liking this new format, so you know. And it's also, you know, it's kind of like if you win something, you can put that to bed. So like for me, the fact that the old big Brother's gone, I'm like, well that I've achieved that, so you know, yeah, that's an awesome let's do it. Let's do it in the modern version and the version that's more like Survivor. So anyway, we're going off on a tangent. We're not supposed to talk about.

That as we're interesting though.

Yeah, no, no, no, it is. It is you know, the way in which Shay sacrificed her letter for you guys. Did she know or would it have been sudden death to make a more selfish decision and have chosen her own personal letter?

No, not at all, Like we as much as it is a game, when something like that comes into the fold, like a letter or a video, you get sucked back into the real world. You actually start to get those emotions coming out, and you know, Shade just come back from four or four or five days in Purgatuel, and she was What people won't see is when she came back, it's like she lost a part of herself, like she

Really need to speak to someone.

And we were like, you know, Shay, just take yours, you know, And and for her to give it.

To us was it was amazing.

It showed her as a character, showed her humility and Shane, it was amazing from her, like she's a great person.

Yeah, those were the most emotional letters I've ever seen or can remember. Maybe it's remember in the history of letters from home, you know, because I particularly hate the messages from home. I don't mean to say that, because sometimes they're way too effusive, or you don't necessarily believe it, or it's hard to relate to because you know, not being in the experience, it feels like, well, hey, you saw those people thirty days ago. It's not like you

It's a double edged sword.

It's, you know, the greatest, one of the best things that survivor at this point, like you're in such a problem of state.

You're an animal. You're pretty much back to what you're born to do, you know what.

I mean, Like you're just a savage, like and then all of a sudden, something like this, even though it's thirty days, it does feel like thirty years. Like and you see your either your girlfriend's name, your partner's name,

We wouldn't have even known.

Until Josh got out about the baby reveal, and that just gave him another fire.

Was like, you know, I need to do this for my family. And then me and Josh they should have shown. They didn't show up, but we literally went off after that and we said let's bring it home, man, like we've got to get this for you, for your some so like or for your baby, like we're going to bring it home.

But yeah, definitely gave him extra drive, and I think it was it was a special moment, like to share that with him on Survivor.

And also, you know, the naisiest players in this series were sort of knocked out at the you know, very early on gameplay. You know, with a mix of players being left who haven't all necessarily made too many risky moves, do you think to win the twenty twenty two series you must be a little bit more stealth. We have sort of moved away from saying David, who did very well on the show years before, making all these really bold, dramatic, great television moments, do you think that you can't do

It's actually tricky. It's a very tricky likes it's an unconventional Survivor as well, because you've got a loved one there. So this is the emotion in this one's huge.

There's a lot of elements that aren't in conventional Survivors that add to add to everything. So if I start playing too bold, I put a target on Josh's back. If Josh starts doing silly stuff, there's.

A target on my back.

So you've got to be you need to find that happy medium in that middle ground as well. And also if you're only a couple of standing. You know, you're a target already, so you've sort of got to try and float through and build really strong relationships. But also I'm a firm believer in you know, it's not Australian unfortunately, the Eusie public is not voting for the winner. It's

He then came back joined a solid majority floated a little bit, made some solid moves, so made a couple and then ended up winning it. So he actually recorrected his whole path.

We watched that season like back to back, man, Josh to look at what he did.

Sitting at home with like you're reading glasses on and a chalkboard and uh, you know, rewatching old versions of the show and what happens if.

This I've been a little bit different, a little bit different, maybe a few lollies and then some beers watching it and then flicking in between the NRL as well.

Man, So yeah, we just need.

To see his journey how he recorrected, because to come back back to back and win it, Like I.

Wanted to see what he did.

And we were like everyone's like, oh, you needed moves, you need a resume, and like, well.

No, Dave had made one big move.

But he positions himself so well within a majority, you know, and then at the end just pumped everyone.

It's all about the pitch. If you can pitch well.

And you can bring up moves that people don't know about, that's all It's about, well.

Thinking of things playing out differently. I mean, Kj's advantage, So a pretty strategic gameplay. Had you been given that opportunity, how would you have used the advantage? Because I wouldn't have chosen it the way that she did. But I think it was very smart.

It's an interesting way to Yeah, there's a lot of things that have got to unfold.

I think it was for me. You know, we're all about neutralizing threats. So if I was to.

Play it, I probably would have I maybe would have kept Sam and Jordi there. I would have kept Sam, Jordy and maybe kJ there or someone just to neutralize the floaters and an idol, and then I would have put a bit of doubt in the mind and tried to go for an idol or because West case scenario, I know, you take a swing, you take an idol out, or you take out a big threat.

That's how I would have done it.

But that's just because Dave, Christy, Josh and myself were air tight, so you know, we had majority within the majority, so you know, we could have gone each way.

But yeah, I think at that point in time, I'll probably went that late.

As you walked away off to join tribal council, who do you think was going to win the competition? At that point. So before colluding with the others that are now in the tribal council with you, who is going to win this competition? What were you thinking at this time?

I was a bit nervous for Josh, you know, because we yeah, once I was gone and you know, we saw that majority shift, I was like, oh, I think Josh is in a bit of trouble. If there is talk this, well, they've got an idol. So I was like, you know, Josh has to win, has to keep winning now. And yeah, I was like, oh, you know, maybe Chris or Chrissy r Mark might bring it home.

Well. My last question to ask you before you go is something that ask everyone who joins the podcast. What's something from behind the scenes that we're as an audience might appreciate that we haven't seen or we didn't see, you know, from the makings of Survivor.

You know, you deal.

I think what you probably didn't see based on what's been shown is, you know, everyone in that game is an amazing person, and you know we.

Had some weird sam everyone, you know, they're all great people.

They're all playing the game, and you know, some people are getting painted in different lines. Some people aren't getting painted at all. So you know, I think it's crucial to remember, you know that these guys are people, and you know they're amazing people as well, and don't believe everything you see.

Well, you write a whole lot of nonsense on social media.

Yeah, it's again before you start shreading some people.

You know, these guys have you know, they've got family, they've got friends. You know, don't believe everything you see. You know there's some of these guys are humans. We're all humans, and you know that's everyone's everyone's amazing.

I just want to say thank you so much for your time. It was probably the longest inter interview I've done so far, but I just felt like there was so much to unpack. You were fantastic to watch the show, and I'm sure you could make a lot of money selling your speedos to the LGBT community that we're watching the show.

Oh man, you got to help me out. I need to I need to get that rolling.

So I don't know if you're going to make five hundred thousand dollars from it, but you know, we'll try and get close.

We'll get close, set we'll sort that out.

Amazing. Thanks so much for your time mate.

Please thanks Ben, Thanks buddy, have a good day, right