I’ll be honest, I’ve been absolutely puzzled – at sea, if you will – as to why Australian Survivor concluded last night without the customary live Survivor finale, where Jonathan LaPaglia yoinks the urn of final votes away from Tribal Council, montages through space and time, and arrives in a TV studio back here in Australia to read the votes out; the winner revealed to the viewing public at the same time as the cast.
An insane decision, I thought. Tasking the entire cast with hanging onto the secret of who won for months. Flying everyone back home to Australia to pretend like they know absolutely nothing, and expecting that result to miraculously never leak. Why would they do that? Why would they commit to shooting a full season of Survivor at 100% production values and then pull their punch right at the end?
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Then, like a damned Immunity Torch sprung back to life, it hit me: They didn’t do the live finale because that would require the entire jury to be present in-studio. Which they couldn’t do, because the entire jury isn’t in Australia right now.
Specifically: Harry isn’t in Australia right now.
Harry is in Fiji, filming Australian Survivor: All Stars. They couldn’t shoot the ending live, because they knew he wouldn’t be able to be there for it. He’s already back in the jungle.
The All Stars series was announced “officially” last night following the conclusion of this year’s season finale, but the reality is it’s been in the works for quite some time.
When it became apparent to production crews just how good this season of Survivor would be, Channel Ten reportedly bosses made the decision to rush a new season into production. Host Jonathan LaPaglia sneakily revealed that his work schedule featured two seasons of Survivor filming in 2019 in an interview with News.com.au that mysteriously removed the offending quote not long after publishing it in July.
Given the wet season in Fiji lasts from December through til April, it’s heavily speculated that All Stars is actually being shot as we speak. That’s had weight added to it thanks to the Australian Survivor Instagram account, whose bio is now promising that All Stars will arrive in “early 2020,” not midway through the year like the current season.
But the plot thickens further: Every jury member voted out has been given media duty the following day. All of them, except Harry.
Baden has been paraded around media circles this morning, including an appearance on Studio 10.
Pia Miranda took out this year’s title of Sole Survivor, but how’s runner-up Baden doing now? He joins us to unpack the massive #SurvivorAU finale! 🔥 #Studio10 pic.twitter.com/ZFdJLd7nXP
— Studio 10 (@Studio10au) September 18, 2019
Pia meanwhile has spoken to a raft of media organisations, including me, right here, at PEDESTRIAN.TV. And I can sure as hell confirm that wasn’t an International number she phoned in from either.
Harry though? A ghost. Absolutely nowhere to be found. Not a peep from him anywhere. Which is very odd at bare minimum.
Lastly, there’s the biggest tell-tale sign of all: Harry’s Instagram.
The last time Harry posted a candid photo on his account was back in early August. Since then it’s been nothing but memes. Memes someone else could quite easily have been posting to fulfil a social media contractual obligation to the current season. The attached captions do little more than promote the show with a very Social Media Department-feeling gag alongside.
Other players like Luke, John, Abbey, David, Shaun, Janine, and even Ross have been flat out posting Instagram stories over the past twelve hours showing either behind-the-scenes titbits or candid shots of them watching the finale.
On Harry’s account? Nothing. Not a peep.
Because Harry’s not in control of the account right now.
Harry’s back in Fiji, shooting All Stars.
That’s my theory, and I’m sticking to it.
