
On tonight’s finale of Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders, Shane Gould was voted the Survivor winner.
With five votes to four, the Australian Olympic champion was crowned Sole Survivor by her fellow contestants, defeating criminal barrister Sharn Coombes to take home $500,000.
In the game of reality TV competitions, there can only be one winner. One person goes home victorious, the other, empty handed.
From what we’ve seen from past seasons of Survivor, it’s always a floater who takes home the half a million dollars. A quiet player who wasn’t physically strong in challenges and didn’t always do a lot around camp, but shielded themselves with louder, fiercer competitors.
But this season was different.
What a moment ????
Stick around, the Reunion is up next! #SurvivorAU pic.twitter.com/i52W40pu3l
— Australian Survivor (@Survivor_AU) October 9, 2018
Instead, we were given two very different, but equally strong and impressive women, neither of whom flew under the radar.
Neither Shane nor Sharn were ever the most physical players. In her whole 51 days, 61-year-old Shane never won a single reward or immunity challenge.
But not once did the Olympic legend use her age as an excuse not to contribute, and although her moves were played discreetly in the background, she was instrumental in sending home some of her games toughest threats.