A Sunshine Coast dad and small business owner who refused to let go of a 25-year dream appears on the new series of Survivor, which aired last night.
Ben Bylett, of Mount Coolum, has been wanting to have a shot at the show since watching the first season of Survivor US, which aired in 2000.
“I knew even back then that I wanted to have a crack at testing myself out in the elements playing the world’s best game,” Ben said.
“Fast forward to Australian Survivor starting 10 years ago, I jumped straight into applying and after many, many attempts, persistence paid off and off to Samoa I went.”
Ben makes up part of the Brawn team in Survivor: Brains Versus Brawn II, filmed in Samoa.
He said he always enjoyed challenges, whether it be fishing adventures, free-diving or boxing.
“I love to put myself right outside my comfort zone and reap the rewards of challenging myself in difficult situations,” he said.
“Survivor was the challenge of a lifetime, so far out of my comfort zone, while also being a huge challenge just to get on the show.”
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A stonemason who runs Sunshine Living Tile and Stone with his wife Crystal, he said some pre-planning had been involved in getting away to filming but his family, including three teenage children, had backed him.
“My wife and family were totally sick of me saying, ‘I’m going on Survivor one day’,” he said.
“They all knew it was a dream of mine so they have been massive in supporting me the whole way.”
He said he made it on to the show after many attempts by simply being himself.
“This time I was totally relaxed, had fun with it, and I was purely the best version of myself throughout the application process,” he said.
“For anyone wanting to get on the show, I would say just be yourself but have loads of fun while doing it. Show them who you really are and what makes you unique.”
Although he keeps himself in mental and physical shape with boxing, surfing, breathwork and adventures, Ben still found Survivor “a beast” which “challenges you to your core”.
He said the challenges in the show were “even more insane in real life” and anyone who thought Survivor wasn’t tough had never played the game.
Samoa’s cold, wet nights were the toughest part of the show for him.
“When you think of Samoa you think of hot tropical islands, lazing about in the sun … but in reality Samoa is a brutal landscape with rain most nights that soaks you to the bone, along with every article of clothing you have, and near zero direct sunlight in the jungle to dry things off,” he said.
“I had some of the coldest, most miserable nights of my life out there with next to no sleeping, while eating hardly any food for energy. Survivor is not for the faint-hearted that’s for sure.”
Ben said the “epic” comradery between contestants, despite the competitiveness between them, was the best part of the show, and he has caught up with some of them since filming.
“All the castmates were from such different walks of life. You would never get to meet such a diverse group of people in the real world, but every single one of my castmates had that ‘go for it’ attitude – a true bunch of adventure seekers and I’m so glad to have met them,” he said.
Ben did not want to give too much away about the series but said it was “all guns blazing” from the start and only got more exciting.
Ben is not the only Sunshine Coast resident competing on this series of Survivor: Kaelan Lockhart, a PhD student, of Warana, found it useful training before an attempt to become the first Australia to ski the length of Norway in winter.
