Australian Survivor going back to Champions vs. Contenders once more

Considering the local and international success with Champions vs. Contenders this year, Australian Survivor is doubling down next season on the same theme.

If your name is not Brian Lake, Russell Hantz or Zach Kozyrski, it’s hard not to come out on the other end of Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders looking back positively. The season provided great underdog stories mixed in with personal character growth and the underdog versus the expected winners editing excellence to weave a wonderful narrative over dozens of hours.

For Australian audiences, it also brought a ton of popular local celebrities of varying levels of fame together to compete with regular members of the public in a format that didn’t feel like a watered down game. The difference in physicality with a bunch of athletes taking out regular Joe Schmos one after another made the pre-merge a bit rote near the end, but it picked up well in the second half.

The Ten Network seems to really dig the audience feedback, both critically and with ratings, at the network announced on Twitter today that Australian Survivor will return next year with yet another Champions vs. Contenders kind of season. Considering this season brought a former player from the US show, I wonder if they’ll try to bring another back in 2019.

Additionally, Channel 10 announced that Australia will now have the option to subscribe to 10 All Access; a digital streaming service that combines the Australian network’s programming with that of parent company CBS. This means that Survivor seasons from the US will be available to those who live in Australia while also enjoying their country’s version of the game.

Due to international Survivor rights restrictions, CBS All Access will likely never get the opposite treatment stateside. Banijay Group purchased the rights to Castaway Television Productions last year, although at least for Canadians they can apply to the US show starting this year.