Australian Survivor: Brains v Brawn II

Australian Survivor: Brains v Brawn II
Season Information
Version	Australia
Season No.	10
Filming Location	Upolu, Samoa
Filming Dates	July 18, 2024 - September 2, 2024
Season Run	February 17, 2025 - April 14, 2025
No. of Episodes	24
No. of Days	47
No. of Castaways	24
Winner	Myles Kuah
Runner(s)-Up	Kaelan Lockhart
Tribes	Brains Brawn Malosi
Prize for Winner	AU$500,000
Cast
Season Chronology
Previous	Titans v Rebels
Next	Australia v The World

Australian Survivor: Brains v Brawn II is the tenth season of the Network Ten incarnation of the competitive reality TV show Australian Survivor. It is the second season to employ the theme, following the 2021 season.

The Brains v Brawn rematch followed a familiar course, as the new group of Brains outclassed their Brawn rivals for the majority of the game. Although the Brains faced internal fractures, the five-person faction known as the Graduates Alliance held a stranglehold over the merged tribe in spite of their frequent strategic differences, eventually making up the whole final four. After 47 days, Myles Kuah defeated Kaelan Lockhart in a 7-1 jury vote to become the Sole Survivor.

Production

In May 2024, Paramount's Senior Vice President of Content & Programming Daniel Monaghan confirmed that the spring 2025 season of Australian Survivor would see the return of the Brains v Brawn tribe division theme first seen in the 2021 season. The season filmed in July 2024. The season title was formally announced on May 17, 2024. On September 17, 2024, Paramount Plus New Zealand confirmed the season would be titled "Brains v Brawn II". It is set to air in 2025 and will be followed by Australia v The World.

Twists/Changes

• Brains v Brawn: Like in the 2021 edition, the castaways are sorted into tribes based on their most prominent attribute, intelligence (Brains) or strength (Brawn).
• Hidden Immunity Idol: In addition to idols hidden at each tribe's camp, two idols were hidden at the Day 19 Immunity Challenge, where they had to be retrieved in plain sight.
• Mock Vote: On Day 12, instead of an elimination vote, the tribe that attended Tribal Council would vote to permanently send one member to the opposing tribe. Additionally, on Day 23, a scroll was left at the camp of the tribe that lost the Immunity Challenge, giving its finder information that the person voted out would be instead sent to the other tribe.
• Safety Without Power: The castaway "voted out" at the mock vote on Day 12 was given a scroll; this was revealed to be an advantage allowing the holder to send two people back to camp before the vote at the next Tribal Council, regardless of which tribe attended.
• Tribe Switch: On Day 15, a tribe switch occurred, shuffling the final 18 into two new tribes.
• Knowledge is Power: Following the Day 24 Reward Challenge, an advantage was hidden at the winning tribe's camp. This allowed the holder to ask another at Tribal Council if they have an idol. If the target had an idol in their possession, they had to give it to them; otherwise, the advantage was rendered null.
• Barren v Bounty: On Day 33, the players were subjected to a special Mock Vote where the merged tribe was separated into two groups until after the next Immunity Challenge, with the winner earning Immunity for their whole group. The Barren tribe is sent to a new camp, with no food supplies and no shelter. The Bounty tribe will return to the Malosi camp, get breakfast the next morning, and an advantage for the next Immunity Challenge. The winner of the Immunity Challenge on Day 33 was automatically sent to the Bounty tribe and got to choose one person to join them. Then, the tribe voted, with the two players receiving the most votes being sent to the Barren tribe, and the remaining six drawing rocks to decide where everyone else goes.
  • Limited Voting Options: The Barren and Bounty tribes competed in the next Immunity Challenge as teams, with every member of the winning tribe being immune at Tribal Council.
• Final Two and Eight-Person Jury: Two finalists faced a jury of eight.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation					Finish	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Post-Swap Tribe	Switched Tribe	Second Post- Swap Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Candy Rule 26, Sydney, NSW Model	Brawn					1st Voted Out Day 2	5
	Indy Saleh 45, Townsville, QLD Business Development Manager	Brains					2nd Voted Out Day 5	10
	Zen Heaton 21, Gold Coast, QLD Hip Hop Artist	Brawn					Evacuated Day 7	0
	Kent Miller-Randle 53, Melbourne, VIC Business Mogul	Brains					3rd Voted Out Day 7	8
	Nash Gendo 36, Sydney, NSW Salesman	Brawn					4th Voted Out Day 9	10
	Ally Kettle 31, Brisbane, QLD AI Expert	Brains	Brains				5th Voted Out Day 14	4
	Rich Hughes 38, Melbourne, VIC Film Director	Brains	Brawn	Brawn			6th Voted Out Day 16	7
	Ursula Rose 35, Canberra, ACT Powerlifter	Brawn	Brawn	Brawn			7th Voted Out Day 18	12
	Max Wills 28, Gold Coast, QLD Primary School Teacher	Brains	Brains	Brains			8th Voted Out Day 19	4
	Laura Noonan 27, Melbourne, VIC Footy Fanatic	Brawn	Brawn	Brawn			9th Voted Out Day 21	5
	Ben Bylett 45, Sunshine Coast, QLD Stonemason	Brawn	Brawn	Brains	Brains		Quit Day 25	0
	Jesse Noonan 33, Gold Coast, QLD Pro Skater	Brawn	Brawn	Brains	Brains	Malosi	10th Voted Out Day 28	6
	PD Dee 49, Rockdale, NSW Football Head Coach	Brawn	Brawn	Brains	Brains		11th Voted Out Day 29	3
	Laura Darras 25, Melbourne, VIC Witch	Brains	Brains	Brains	Brains		12th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 31	3
	Paulie Michael 36, Sydney, NSW Paramedic	Brawn	Brawn	Brawn	Brawn		13th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 35	21
	Karin Gunatilake 30, Mildura, VIC Doctor	Brains	Brains	Brawn	Brawn		14th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 37	5
	Logan Johannisen 27, Melbourne, VIC AFL Wag	Brains	Brains	Brawn	Brawn		15th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 39	21
	Kristin Alston 43, Sydney, NSW Aviation Fire Fighter	Brawn	Brawn	Brawn	Brawn		16th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 41	5
	Morgan Mitchell 29, Melbourne, VIC Olympic Sprinter	Brawn	Brawn	Brains	Brains		17th Voted Out1 Day 43	5
	Kate Gloufchis 26, Melbourne, VIC Dancer/DJ	Brawn	Brawn	Brains	Brains		18th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 44	3
	Zara Callianiotis 43, Brisbane, QLD PTA Vice President	Brains	Brains	Brains	Brawn		19th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 45	15
	AJ Antonios 35, Sydney, NSW Poker Champion	Brains	Brains	Brawn	Brawn		20th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 46	6
	Kaelan Lockhart 27, Brisbane, QLD PhD Student	Brains	Brains	Brawn	Brawn		Runner-Up	1
	Myles Kuah 24, Sydney, NSW Financial Analyst	Brains	Brains	Brains	Brains		Sole Survivor	24
Notes: ^1 After being voted out, Morgan elected to go home instead of serving on the jury.

Season Summary

Episode		Air Date	Challenges		Eliminated (vote)	Finish	Ratings
			Reward	Immunity
1	"Premiere"	February 17, 2025	Brawn	Brains	Candy (5-4-0)1	1st Voted Out Day 2
2	"The Praying Mantis"	February 18, 2025	Brains	Brawn	Indy (10-2)	2nd Voted Out Day 5
3	"Stoic"	February 19, 2025	Brawn	Brawn	Zen (no vote)	Evacuated Day 7
					Kent (8-3)	3rd Voted Out Day 7
4	"Perplexed Dimension"	February 23, 2025	Brains	Brains	Nash (7-2-1)	4th Voted Out Day 9
5	"Bomb Squad!"	February 24, 2025	Brawn	Brawn	Rich (9-1)3	Sent to Brawn Day 12
			[Ally]2
6	"The Pest Problem"	February 25, 2025	Brawn	Brawn	Ally (4-3)	5th Voted Out Day 14
7	"A Date with JLP"	March 2, 2025	Brawn	Brains	Rich (7-1-1)	6th Voted Out Day 16
8	"Maggot in the Rice"	March 3, 2025	None	Brains	Ursula (6-2)	7th Voted Out Day 18
9	"Hostages"	March 4, 2025	None	Brawn	Max (4-1-0)1	8th Voted Out Day 19
10	"The Vault"	March 9, 2025	Brains	Brains	Noonan (2-0-0)1	9th Voted Out Day 21
11	"The Strong-Arm"	March 10, 2025	None	Brawn	Zara (4-2-2)3	Sent to Brawn Day 23
12	"Just What the Doctor Ordered"	March 11, 2025	Brains	Brains	Ben (no vote)	Quit Day 25
13	"Vengeance"	March 16, 2025	Kate [AJ, Kristin, Logan, Morgan, Paulie, Zara]	Logan	Jesse (6-5-2)	10th Voted Out Day 28
14	"The Buddy System"	March 17, 2025	None	Kaelan	PD (3-0)1	11th Voted Out Day 29
15	"The Rat King"	March 18, 2025	AJ, Karin, Kate, Kristin, Myles, Paulie	Kaelan	Laura (3-2-0)1	12th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 31
16	"Pickled"	March 23, 2025	Survivor Auction	Kate [Morgan]	Paulie (4-3-3)4,5	Sent to Barren Day 33
					Logan (5-3)4
17	"G-R-I-M"	March 24, 2025	None	AJ, Karin, Kate, Morgan, Zara	Paulie (3-1-1-0)1	13th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 35
18	"Operation: Shut Your Pie Hole"	March 25, 2025	AJ, Kristin [Kaelan, Logan]	Kaelan	Karin (5-3-1)	14th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 37
19	"The Magic Number"	March 30, 2025	Kristin [Logan, Morgan]	Kaelan	Logan (4-4); (3-3); (6-0)5,6,7	15th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 39
20	"The Reaper Is Coming"	March 31, 2025	None	Kaelan	Kristin (4-3)	16th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 41
21	"House of Cards"	April 6, 2025	None	Kaelan	Morgan (4-2)	17th Voted Out8 Day 43
				Kate
22	"Polarising the Outcome"	April 7, 2025	None	Zara	Kate (2-1-1-0)1	18th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 44
23	"Fired Up!"	April 13, 2025	None	Myles	Zara (3-1)	19th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 45
24	"Go With Your Heart"	April 14, 2025	None	Kaelan	AJ (1-0)	20th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 46
			Jury Vote		Kaelan (7-1)	Runner-Up
					Myles (7-1)	Sole Survivor
Notes: ^1 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^2 Brawn was instructed to invite a castaway from Brains on their reward. ^3 In a surprise twist, instead of voting out players, Brains would vote for one person to be swapped to Brawn. The player voted out swapped to Brawn. ^4 Instead of voting a castaway out of the game, the Malosi tribe voted to send castaways to Barren. The 2 players with the most votes would be sent. ^5 Tribal Council resulted in a tie. Per Australian Survivor rules, a revote was held where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those involved in the tie. ^6 Per Australian Survivor rules, in case of a deadlocked vote, the non-immune players would have an open discussion to eliminate one of the tied players. If no consensus is reached, the non-immune castaways would be forced to draw rocks. ^7 By consensus, Logan was eliminated. ^8 After being voted out, Morgan elected to go home instead of serving on the jury.

Voting History

		Original Tribes						Post- Swap Tribes	Switched Tribes					Second Post- Swap Tribes	Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3		4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16		17	18	19			20	21	22	23	24
Voted Out		Candy	Indy	Zen	Kent	Nash	Mock Vote	Ally	Rich	Ursula	Max	Noonan	Mock Vote	Ben	Jesse	PD	Laura	Mock Vote Tie	Mock Vote	Paulie	Karin	Tie	Deadlock	Logan	Kristin	Morgan	Kate	Zara	AJ	Kaelan	Myles
Vote		5-4-01	10-2	No vote2	8-3	7-2-1	9-13	4-3	7-1-1	6-2	4-1-01	2-0-01	4-2-23	No vote5	6-5-2	3-01	3-2-01	4-3-36,7	5-36	3-1-1-01	5-3-1	4-47	3-38	6-09	4-3	4-2	2-1-1-01	3-1	1-010	7-1
►►►►	Myles	—	Indy	—	Kent	—	Rich	Ally	—	—	Kate	—	Zara	—	Paulie	PD	Logan	Paulie	Logan	Kristin	Karin	Logan	Logan	Logan	Kristin	Morgan	AJ	Zara	None	Jury Vote
►►►►	Kaelan	—	Indy	—	Myles	—	Rich	Ally	Rich	Ursula	—	Paulie	—	—	Jesse	Paulie	Laura	Logan	Logan	Paulie	Karin	Logan	Logan	Logan	Kristin	Morgan	Myles	Zara	AJ
►►►►	AJ	—	Indy	—	Kent	—	Rich	Ally	Rich	Ursula	—	Paulie	—	—	Paulie	PD	Laura	Paulie	None	Myles	Karin	Logan	Logan	Logan	Kristin	Morgan	Kate	Zara	None		Myles
►►►►	Zara	—	Indy	—	Kent	—	Rich	Ally	—	—	Myles	—	Myles	—	Jesse	Paulie	Logan	Paulie	Logan	Myles	Myles	Logan	None	None	Kristin	Morgan	Kate	AJ			Myles
►►►►	Kate	Candy	—	—	—	Nash	—	—	—	—	Max	—	Laura	—	Jesse	Paulie	Logan	Logan	Logan	Myles	Zara	Zara	Zara	Logan	Myles	Myles	Kaelan				Myles
►►►►	Morgan	Candy	—	—	—	Nash	—	—	—	—	Max	—	Laura	—	Jesse	Paulie	Logan	Logan	Logan	Myles	Zara	Zara	Zara	Logan	Myles	Myles
►►►►	Kristin	Candy	—	—	—	Nash	—	—	Rich	Noonan	—	Noonan	—	—	Paulie	Paulie	Logan	Paulie	AJ	Paulie	Karin	Zara	Zara	Logan	Myles					Kaelan
►►►►	Logan	—	Indy	—	Kent	—	Rich	Myles	Rich	Ursula	—	Paulie	—	—	Jesse	Paulie	AJ	AJ	None	Paulie	Karin	Zara	None	Voted Out							Myles
►►►►	Karin	—	Indy	—	Kent	—	Rich	None4	Rich	Ursula	—	Paulie	—	—	Jesse	Paulie	Logan	AJ	AJ	Myles	Zara										Myles
►►►►	Paulie	Ursula	—	—	—	Nash	—	—	Rich	Ursula	—	Noonan	—	—	Zara	PD	Laura	AJ	AJ	Logan											Myles
►►►►	Laura	—	Indy	—	Kent	—	Rich	None4	—	—	Myles	—	Myles	—	Paulie	Paulie	AJ														Myles
►►►►	PD	Nash	—	—	—	Nash	—	—	—	—	Myles	—	Zara	—	Paulie	Paulie
►►►►	Jesse	Ursula	—	—	—	Ursula	—	—	—	—	Max	—	Zara	—	Zara
►►►	Ben	Ursula	—	—	—	Nash	—	—	—	—	Max	—	Zara	Quit
►►	Noonan	Ursula	—	—	—	Ursula	—	—	Rich	Ursula	—	AJ
►►	Max	—	Indy	—	Kent	—	Rich	Myles	—	—	Myles
►►	Ursula	Candy	—	—	—	Nash	—	—	Noonan	Noonan
►►	Rich	—	Indy	—	Myles	—	Max	—	Logan
►	Ally	—	Indy	—	Kent	—	Rich	Myles
	Nash	Candy	—	—	—	Morgan
	Kent	—	Myles	—	Myles
	Zen	Nash	—	Evacuated
	Indy	—	Myles
	Candy	Nash
Notes: ^1 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^2 Zen was medically evacuated over his fractured finger. No vote occurred for his removal. ^3 The castaway voted out would be switched to the opposite tribe. ^4 This castaway used the Safety without Power advantage, allowing them to leave Tribal Council without voting. ^5 Ben elected to quit the game for undisclosed reasons. No vote occurred for his removal. ^6 Instead of voting a castaway out of the game, the Malosi tribe voted to send castaways to Barren. The 2 players with the most votes would be sent. ^7 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Australian Survivor rules, the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those involved in the tie. ^8 Per Australian Survivor rules, in the event of a deadlock tie, the non-immune players would have an open discussion to eliminate one of the tied players. If no consensus is reached, the non-immune players will have to draw rocks, with the player who draws the odd-colored rock being eliminated. ^9 By consensus, Logan was eliminated. ^10 AJ and Myles did not vote as they could only vote for each other. By virtue of winning the Final Immunity Challenge, only Kaelan voted.

Trivia

• Like its predecessor Brains v Brawn (2021):
  • Both the lowest-placing and highest-placing contestants on the original Brawn tribe are women.
  • The tribes merged on Day 26.
  • One of the jury members is a woman named Laura from the Brains tribe, who was the third member of the merged tribe eliminated at Tribal Council and happened to be eliminated directly because an idol was played.
  • Both finalists were original Brains members.
  • An original Brains member received seven jury votes and won.
• Brains v Brawn II is the first Australian Survivor season to have no women competing in the season finale. It is also the first season where everyone competing in the finale is the same gender, and the first season with an all-male final three.
  • It is the first Network 10 season with an all-male Final Two.
  • It is the second Network 10 season where both finalists are the same gender, after Champions v Contenders (2018).
• Brains v Brawn II is the first season of Australian Survivor where a deadlocked tie was possible at Final Tribal Council, given that a Final Two faced an even number of jurors. However, it should be noted that the jury would have had 9 members had Morgan not elected to go home.
  • Across English-language franchise, this is the ninth time that this has been possible, after Survivor: Cook Islands, Fiji, Micronesia, Samoa, Nicaragua, Redemption Island, South Pacific, and One World. This is the second time this has been possible with a Final Two, after Survivor: Micronesia.
• Brains v Brawn II is the first season of Australian Survivor since its predecessor Brains v Brawn (2021) not to have a unanimous jury vote.
• Brains v Brawn II is the first season in all versions to have the first successful use of the Knowledge is Power Advantage.