Guy Leech is the Sole Survivor of Celebrity Survivor Australia.
After being flipped on by former ally Gabrielle Richens, Guy found himself on the outs at the merge and was eliminated for his physical capability. However, he and Justin Melvey returned to the game on Day 21 and the two became allies. Guy helped convince Imogen Bailey and Nicolle Dickson to target frequent immunity winner David Oldfield rather than himself, allowing the pair to gain power in the game both physically and strategically. The two made it to Final Tribal Council, where Guy was criticised for his dishonesty and his prior elimination. Despite this, he won the season in a close 3-2 vote.
Profile[]
Retrieved from au.yahoo.com
Guy Leech is such a big fan of the Survivor concept that he's getting himself in knots.
"Your strengths are your weaknesses too," he says of competing on Celebrity Survivor. "It's the best reality show in that it's a game of everything. If you're too strong in one area, you'll be manipulated because of it. I'm sort of a talkative, confident person and I'm like, 'well is that going to get me voted off very quickly?' Then I think 'well my strength is going to be the physicality side of it'. So that's going to be good when I'm in the team at the start – if I can help them win some challenges – but then if I shine too much, are they going to be so paranoid about me that they vote me off?"
"I really don't know what strategy to take and it's silly because I've seen the show so much, I'm more confused about what I should do compared to if I hadn't watched it and just been myself!"
The 42-year-old is best known as a former Ironman legend. His titles include 1988 World Ironman Champion, three-time Coolangatta Gold Ironman champion and seven-time winner of the Uncle Toby's Ironman series. He has also represented Australia in surf life saving, marathon and stillwater swimming.
These days, he co-runs Ozpaddle, Australia's most comprehensive specialist paddling outfitters.
"I've come full circle since the days I used to compete," Guy says. "Now I train other people. I still get to keep fit and do what I used to love with the Ironman sport but now I get paid to do it! I'm happiest when I'm on the water. But now instead of focusing on me going quick and improving, I have fun training other people and seeing them lose weight and get in shape."
Nevertheless, Guy remains a fierce competitor.
"Winning is important to me but I know too well the problem with this whole game is that you can't expect anything. You're rolling the dice with what's going to happen – just being in the right alliance, picking your time to do certain things and it might just take one wrong comment at the wrong time to sway your chances. I'm competitive and I can't help it – that's why I'm so good at sport – but you've got to roll with the punches over there".
Guy's chosen charity is Ride Aid Inc.[1]
Celebrity Survivor Australia[]
Guy entered the game on the dominant Kakula tribe, his challenge strength being a major part of that. Furthermore, he quickly began forming many strong relationships with his tribe, particularly with Wayne Gardner. Guy was the de facto strategist of the original Kakula tribe, being the one to band the tribe together to vote out newcomer Ben Wynn due to his potential dominance in the late-game. Guy was an incredibly important figure on his tribe due to his contributions around camp, and was a big factor in Kakula's dominance early on. However, all this would change with the announcement of a tribe switch.
On Day 6, the tribes were switched, and Guy found himself remaining on Kakula with allies Wayne and Gabrielle Richens. Although seemingly remaining in the majority, Guy and Wayne did a poor job of ensuring Gabrielle she was a solid part of the alliance, especially given the animosity between Wayne and Gabrielle. Despite this, Kakula would once again prove to be the dominant tribe, winning two straight Immunity Challenges on Day 7 and Day 9. However, during this time the duo of Imogen Bailey and Nicolle Dickson began convincing Gabrielle to join forces with them. Thanks to Guy and Wayne's poor alliance management, the pair were shocked when Gabrielle flipped on them at tribal council on Day 11, blindsiding Wayne and shocking Guy in the process.
Thankfully for Guy, the tribes merged on Day 12, saving him from almost certain elimination should Kakula lose again. Unfortunately for Guy, he remained on the minority thanks to Gabrielle's flip, his only allies being the Moso-swapped members of David Oldfield and Elton Flatley. Guy won the Day 12 Reward Challenge and brought along Elton and Gabrielle to try and convince Gabrielle to return to their side; however, this had a negative side effect as it allowed David to attempt to disassociate from the alliance, painting Guy and Elton as the targets instead. Ultimately, Guy was voted out on Day 13 in a 5-2 vote.
Guy was given a chance to re-enter the game on Day 20, to which himself and Justin Melvey ended up winning. The two understood that, should they have any chance at winning the game, they would have to stick together, and so they formed a tight alliance. After Imogen won the Day 21 Immunity Challenge, Guy and Justin attempted to convince David to target Nicolle. However, David saw through the boys' plan, and so instead the boys approached the girls with the idea of voting off David. Fuelled by paranoia and misplaced trust in Justin, the girls agreed to the duo's plan, voting out David and causing a 2-2 split amongst the tribe.
Guy would end up winning the next reward, bringing along Justin and Imogen to attempt to take the easy route and convince her to vote out Nicolle. Imogen was not easily convinced, however, and so the boys instead had to rely on Guy winning the next individual immunity. Crucially, Guy ended up doing just that, ensuring that he would not be voted out should there be a deadlock tiebreaker. Using their combined Kakula and Moso knowledge, the boys figured that Nicolle had more past votes than Imogen, and so targeted her next. Justin and Nicolle ended up having the same number of past votes, therefore the jury decided who would be voted out. In support of Guy, the jury voted out Nicolle, placing the boys in the majority. At the final immunity challenge, Justin won his first immunity, and Guy cleverly told Imogen that neither of them should bother him whilst he's making his decision, ensuring Justin would not be tempted to flip on Guy. In the end, Justin's sole vote eliminated Imogen, bringing Guy to the end of the game.
On the Day 25 Final Tribal Council, Guy went in with plenty of support from the jury. Despite criticism from David about his deceptions and Elton on his almost week-long break from the game, Guy answered his questions well and was ultimately crowned Sole Survivor over Justin in a close 3-2 vote.
| Episode | Tribe Affiliation |
Challenge | Challenge Type | Sit-Out? | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kakula | Underwater Knot | Reward | No | Won |
| Pig Wrestling | Reward/Immunity | No | Won | ||
| 2 | Coconut Juice | Reward | No | Won | |
| Bislama Memory | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| 3 | Basket Stomp | Reward | No | Lost | |
| Prison Rescue | Immunity | No | Won | ||
| 4 | Human Thread | Reward | No | Won | |
| Plank Race | Immunity | No | Won | ||
| 5 | Passing Water | Reward | No | Lost | |
| Pack Race | Immunity | No | Lost | ||
| Tribes Merged, Day 12 | |||||
| 6 | Tanna | Conches Hunt | Reward | Won | |
| Step on Up | Immunity | Lost | |||
| Voted Out, Day 13 | |||||
| 10 | Tanna | Folklore / Flashback | Re-entry | Won | |
| Returned, Day 20 | |||||
| 10 | Tanna | Buggin' Out / Grapple Challenge | Immunity | Lost | |
| 11 | Raise the Roof | Reward | Won | ||
| Battle of Vanuatu | Immunity | Won | |||
| 12 | Raft Squats | Immunity | Lost | ||
| Sole Survivor, Day 25 | |||||
| Episode | Guy's Votes |
Voted Against Guy |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kakula Tribe Immune | |
| 2 | Ben | - |
| 3 | Kakula Tribe Immune | |
| 4 | Kakula Tribe Immune | |
| 5 | Imogen | - |
| 6 | Nicolle | David, Gabrielle, Imogen, Justin, Nicolle |
| Voted Out, Day 13 | ||
| Returned, Day 20 | ||
| 10 | David | David |
| 11 | Nicolle; Ineligible1 |
Individual Immunity |
| 12 | Ineligible | - |
| Jury Votes for Guy |
David, Elton, Gabrielle | |
| Sole Survivor, Day 25 | ||
^1 In "Episode 11", the vote ended with a 2-2 tie between Nicolle and Justin. As both castaways held the same amount of past votes, the tiebreaker was decided by the jury members David, Gabrielle, and Elton.
Post-Survivor[]
- In 2020, Guy was inducted into the Australian Survivor Hall of Fame.
Trivia[]
- Guy's luxury item was a sleep sheet.
- Guy and Justin Melvey are the first castaways on Australian Survivor to return after being voted out.
- Guy is the first castaway on Australian Survivor to be voted out and return to later become the Sole Survivor. He would later be followed by Hayley Leake in Brains v Brawn (2021).
References[]
| Preceded by Australian Survivor (2002)  Rob Dickson |
Sole Survivor Titleholder Celebrity Survivor Australia  Guy Leech |
Succeeded by Australian Survivor (2016)  Kristie Bennett |
| Celebrity Survivor Australia Castaways | |||||||||||
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