“We just focus on making a great TV show. That’s all we do. Everything else is just noise, and it doesn’t change a single thing about what we do at all. It really is just noise.”
That’s how Ciaran Flannery, Paramount+/Ten Executive Producer, frames the chatter around the hosting change on Australian Survivor as the franchise returns with its latest instalment, Survivor: Redemption.
For Ten, the brief is simple: protect a critical pillar of the schedule while evolving it for the long term.
“It’s been a hugely successful show for us. It’s a critical part of our schedule, and we believe it will be for many years to come,” Flannery told Mediaweek.
“So we just work with Endemol Shine Australia, who are, of course, our production partners on the show, and we just focus on the creative and on making a fantastic TV show.”
Why me worry?
Fronting the new season is David Genat (pronounced ‘Je-Ney’, as this writer quickly and embarrassingly found out), a two-time contestant and former winner who now steps into the hosting role.
Genat told Mediaweek that if there was any noise, he tuned it out.
“I am generally a pretty positive person, and I’ve felt negativity from TV before. I was a villain, and I know how quickly it turns, and when things are good, like people come around, and I’m so confident they’re going to watch the show and be happy.”
Genat added that he doesn’t buy into the noise that can swirl around a hosting change, arguing that when you’re in the public eye and everyone has a say, you simply can’t take that on board.
Instead, he believes you have to do the best work you’ve done, be proud of what you’ve made and trust that if you’re putting out something quality, people will come with you.
“If you’re making something quality and you’re putting it out there, they’re going to jump on,” he said.
Flannery is equally bullish on the appointment.
“We’ve got a former winner (in Genat), and we’re on season 12 now. So, we’ve only had 11 winners of that show. So, he’s one of 11. So, there’s only a very small alumni of players who can speak with the authority that he can on this game.”
“It’s exceptionally rare for former players to be the host of the show, and even more so someone who’s won it.”
Ciaran Flannery. Source: Paramount+/ Ten
A mentor, not a referee
Genat sees the role as more than reading votes at Tribal Council.
“Well, look, I think my position as the host now, I can come in and be a bit of a mentor for the players, and it just, it changes the perspective of the host,” he said.
“It’s never really happened before where someone has hosted Survivor, you get so much insight into the game as a player that you can’t be told about.”
“I think being able to come at it from that perspective allowed me to facilitate harder and bigger gameplay,” he said.
He’s even sought counsel from the US Survivor alumni.
“I talked to a number of people, and asked them things like, when you were playing, what would you have liked the host to have done in this big moment to help facilitate that better for you.”
“I took a lot of what they said on board, and I think it just gave me some really good insights into the game.”
“I’m not impacting their gameplay, but I’m just like helping them get it out there, like if I’m the poker dealer, I’d give them the card when they said hit,” he said.
Redemption without reinvention
Survivor: Redemption will see 24 castaways compete across 45 days for $500,000 and the title of Sole Survivor.
“A big part of going into this year was picking a theme that we thought would really, really resonate at this point in the show’s evolution,” Flannery explained.
“We’ve got Survivor Redemption. It’s a very powerful name. It’s a powerful concept, and every single player who’s coming into the series is coming in with something to prove.”
Returning players include Brooke Jowett, Harry Hills, Simon Mee and Mark Warnock, joined by reality alumni including Big Brother’s Johnson Ashak and The Traitors New Zealand contestant Cat Hooker.
For a format now in its 12th season, the trick is incremental change.
“You can also go too far in trying to change things with a legacy show,” Flannery admitted.
“For example, if you play around with it too much, then for sure, people won’t be happy. But equally, you don’t want to let it go stale. So every year, it’s about every year finding small steps, those little things you can do without completely changing the format.”
Flannery believes they’ve struck that balance.
“I’ve seen the whole series now. It’s genuinely phenomenal. I have no qualms in saying I think this is probably the best series we’ve done since Champions versus Contenders back when David won it.”
Genat agreed: “We have got the best season of Australian Survivor on our hands right here.”
A scene from Survivor. Source: Paramount+/Network 10
Casting as the secret sauce
Both point to casting as the engine room.
“I think we have really exceptional casting for one,” Genat said. “They are exceptional people who are doing this.”
Flannery echoes the sentiment, framing Redemption as a return to core Survivor instincts, grounded in gameplay and character rather than gimmick.
With a former winner at the helm and a theme built on second chances, Ten is making a confident play: block out the noise, back the format, and let Redemption speak for itself.