Conor Curran Interview: The Challenge Australia

0:01 Connor welcome to the nullified Tech Channel on YouTube and also streaming on Spotify and all the other places that you can get your audio podcasts from how you doing Connor I'm actually really good thank you for having me Chris I'm currently bunkered up in England doing some work so a bit colder than what I'm used to but it's we're getting through it yeah so early morning start for you on that side then when we're recording this early morning start which is fine because the jet lag has it gone so I was awake anyway yeah how long are you sort of planning on staying on that side of the world yeah about a couple of weeks for work and then my partner who's also called Chris comes over and we are we have a wedding that we've got to get to oh great well great Synergy to start with this podcast here then as well you know obviously we I've been a fan of your work I always follow your Instagram we spoke about it beforehand for those that don't know where to find Connor go check out creamy confusion on Instagram the if you're a foodie there's a lot out there for you to really get into I'm not a foodie like you know how can you change somebody like me have you come across people that are not a foodie and they just eat to survive I a lot of my friends they like you which is quite scary but I always think that my Instagram you don't have to actually cook it I think a lot of it is just aesthetic and calming so

1:21 It's you know it comes from a queer base which I think I'm very proud of it's like I'm a queer-based foodie and cocktail maker and now traveler so it really is becoming something for everyone hopefully so it's more of a lifestyle and not just food particularly because people are like you they food is fuel for some people I don't get it but it's fine well listen you come from this completely different world you've been on Master Chef in Australia another show obviously not being a foodie I haven't sort of watched that myself so I had no idea what to expect when you were selected for the challenge how did these Two Worlds Collide yeah I don't think there's any in anyone's draft picks at the start at the start of the challenge which is fair I wasn't in mine I there's a lovely producer called Skye and essentially Skye I think just saw something in me and she reached out and I think I was one of the first batch that kind of got picked and I just kept saying No this really isn't for me like I don't train and I know that's probably surprising to people but I've never trained and I was like I don't do this and I never watched a show so I went in completely blank and but I'll speak to a mate about it he was like if you said no to my chef all those years ago because of you didn't think you could do it you wouldn't be here so you know I was like 100 so we'll go on and we'll see what happens and it turned out to be a lot better than I thought it would be so the

2:41 Lesson for everybody out there that's considering going on a reality TV show such as this is just take the chance because you never know where it's going to lead at the end of the day right Connor definitely or yeah and definitely know who you are first I think I was lucky I was 27 when I went a Master Chef I had a good grounding my friendships haven't changed my life hasn't changed so definitely like the kids who do it at 18 to 22 I'm just like God I'm maybe wait a little bit but you know also each of the road and go off this and all that and the reality TV Circle in Australia seems to be a pretty tight and close-knit one I'm sure you've seen your fair share of people going in there where the fame does actually end up getting to their head and then they're off on their own thing afterwards yeah definitely I am I'm not really part of that Circle which I think was a bit hard going on a show like The Marshall of kids don't really go to the same events as you know the other reality show kids I guess so for me it's just a different circle like and that was the most interesting part was you know meeting people from that Circle because you know the master of kids just go to like foodie events I guess and the other guys get to go like I don't know it's just different stuff but yeah it's very fascinating it does go to some people's heads and that's fine but you know you have to stay humble like I think we have to remind ourselves we are literally just influencers on this stupid little app that can disappear tomorrow so you know being humble is

4:01 Always a pretty good start I reckon no I agree with you 100 so when you went out there it looked like you formed a really good friendship very quickly with Brooke Jarrett I mean she was your first partner on the show as well did you know anything about her were you a Survivor fan before you went out there how did you guys sort of gravitate to each other I'm a big Survivor Australia fan but I'm sorry Survivor us fan not Australia this is actually the first Australia season I've ever watched the one currently happening Villas and it's what a start like it's amazing So and I've now watched Brook joward's previous Seasons but she knew who I was because her partner is a massive foodie and we sat next each other on the plane going over to Argentina and for some reason we just looked at each other and I was like you're my person and she was like you're my person and I think that's something that I was very good at maybe it didn't seem that obvious at the start but creating alliances and kind of telling someone that you are you know if I give some of my word that was it and I was really lucky like I didn't really care if I made the end or not I was more concerned with making sure that Brooke made the end because that to me was she wanted it so much more than I did so I was like if I can take the Heat and make sure that she gets to the end that was something I was very prepared to do are you shocked that Brooke didn't end up going to the challenge World Championship because I think a lot of fans have been absolutely shocked by the fact that she didn't end up on the show but yet the winner

5:21 And the runner-up for the UK there so you would have thought Australia would have a winner and a runner-up as well there was a lot at head but she was asked and I think she's pretty happy now pregnant so she had very good reasons to why she did not want to go I guess yeah sad for defense but I mean from a personal standpoint she seems to be doing extremely well she's on talking tribal this season as well yeah for Survivor so it's not like she's you know out of work she's got enough to do at the moment and she's doing a good job she's fine she's busy her new home out in country Victoria she's absolutely one of the most gorgeous people ever so I'm sure when she goes back to any of these shows which I think she'll have that itch because she hasn't got that win yet I'm sure the fans will get a Brooke Jarrett on TV moment again I feel confident in it yeah so I mean I don't have direct contact with her so I'll just throw it out that you can tell her that if they ever come asking her to go and do a Survivor Wolf's Collide type of season she should be out there the fans want to see her represent Australia for sure you know and if it's not on the challenge maybe Survivor will be that show definitely she's like a knowledge book of information when it comes to how to play games like that and it was great having her right next to me the whole time because you're I was absorbing so much and I think you know she was really good at being like be quiet now be louder now she really the Survivor kids well maybe not Johnny but she certainly she's

6:41 Certainly understood Dynamics and social dynamics and it was really like it was brilliant to watch firsthand interesting because for us the fans watching the show it seemed like you had a natural ability to be strategic and be in the right conversations at the right time and ride that middle ground you know you were kind of like the swing within the house where you could go back and forth between alliances early on obviously later on you had to choose your side why do you believe you naturally just gravitated towards the gameplay that was involved because it's not like you had this experience in playing these types of games coming into it I worked in Hospitality my whole life and I think that had a big thing to do with it I've always been watching people so you know as a waiter and a restaurant manager all I do is watch people and so I think I'm very socially intelligent I'm definitely not book smart I did terribly at school but my social intelligence is really high and I think because I'm not afraid to say what I am like I was happy to tell people I was weak I was happy to play any of the narratives that they wanted to put Place upon me because my I don't have an ego I think that was a massive part was just being aware that you're not the greatest thing to ever happen and you know sometimes you need to sell other people's Egos and figure that out but at the start I was targeted very have targeted very heavily because of this idea that I was weak and if you watch the elimination order it went gay man episode two gay man episode three and then

8:01 They try to get rid of gay man episode four the problem is they didn't really take into account how good I was going to be at any kind of variation of challenge that maybe wasn't just strength it's interesting you bring that up you know you did extremely well at elimination she won two eliminations to stay in the game as well they try to get you in there and I feel like that type of you know sort of dog in you that you need to be able to win those eliminations you either have it or you don't like where do you think that comes from like you know having that ability to win against people that maybe no one would have thought you'd be able to I have a very stubborn man I think my partner would say I'm very I had a very clear reason for being there my being there was to prove that queer people were just as strong as our straight counterparts and I think if you give me a reason and especially because I was targeted those first two episodes I became almost like I saw red I just was like I need to eliminate every single person that came for me and it became bigger than winning the thing you know I won the moment I got rid of every person I needed to get rid of that was the moment I won and so there is just something in me that I'm like if I'm gonna do something I'm gonna I've got to be the best at it and it's not a healthy way of going about life but it works really well in a show like The Challenge I guess no 100 you know you

9:22 Mentioned me that you know there was a lot of people coming for you early on and the words that you were a snake was thrown out there quite a lot like almost like you were backstabbing people and for me it was very confusing because the only thing I saw as a viewer was you getting targeted and you trying to cut checks and deals to try and stay in the game so you know can you elaborate a little bit maybe more why you feel like you just didn't get along with the Ryan's and the bedroom Alliance of this world because it seemed like there was this Rift and instead of going after the battery Alliance from the start you were Public Enemy Number One yeah there's look there's a lot of social and there's a lot within that to why that happened that I there's no time to go into but I think the main thing was I don't think that they could place me in a box and they just couldn't figure me out and I don't think people like that and I was very well it was a game and I think people really truly came for a holiday at the start and I was like this is a game like I want to play the game like me and Brooke were like you know excited to come and do that and a lot of people didn't really want to do that so you know I think me just playing the game was like well he's a snake he's making all these deals and it wasn't me making deals it was me being like who wants to work with me because I would like to get to the end I've got a very clear reason to be here and then a lot of people didn't like that you know I say what I think and as you watch with the show trust me if I was a snake at any moment they would have cut it

10:42 Over something they would have used it they really when video we are constantly filmed so I was waiting I was like I'm sure I've said something along the lines but you know I'm just not everyone's cup of tea but the good thing about that is if you do like me you really do love me and if you don't you're really proud which sounds like a problem in a game like that but it honestly made it easy for me to go great these are my people and these aren't my people yeah so you ended up working obviously with Brooke and you ended up working with a lot of the battery Alliance Conrad came to your defense at one point in the game as well and there was a fight scene or it looked like it was going to turn into a fight between him and Ryan you know how what sort of gravitated you towards the battery Alliance and you know I think there was some I guess things for us there that we didn't fully understand that it was a birthday of someone they tried to go out there was this fight happening can you elaborate a little bit on maybe some of the things we didn't see as fans in that spot yeah definitely look there's a lot that happened that didn't get shown it honestly could have been each episode could have been a final five episode Arc it was there was so much happening I think what happened was everyone was happy for that kind of Alliance to come for me because they were kind of safe if that makes sense but what ended up happening was I got paired with Megan and then I got paired with Brittany and then I got Kiki and then I went back to me again and then I went back to Kiki so

12:02 My a big chunk of my game was being played with Bachelor girls from that specific Alliance so it was a really natural thing and then what kind of happened was I think when I me and Megan got through that elimination I think that side saw another side of me and they really just kind of came to my defense and they weren't particularly happy with the treatment that I was receiving from particular people and they'll go ah Connor's not the issue this other group is the issue I was very confused as a viewer watching this where I felt like the edit wanted us to make us feel bad for the bedroom Alliance but all I saw was poor gameplay throughout and then crying wolf afterwards and I just couldn't understand it and I felt like there's a reason that the audience felt disconnected to what was happening because you know viewership numbers weren't the greatest on the challenge Australia and you know at the last I think the last episode had something like 11 000 viewers like they watched the last one which is a shame because you know I feel like the two winners were very worthy and I was very happy for both Troy and Kiki who ended up winning obviously I would have loved for Brooke to win as well or yourself to do better in their finale as well but I really felt like it was a pretty good outcome and by the end of the season the last two episodes I felt was two of the best episodes and a lot of people gave up on the show before we even got there what's your thoughts about the way that the show was edited and you know what do you feel like they could have done

13:22 Differently maybe to keep people more interested in the show I think when you start creating storylines that aren't there you it comes across unfortunately and general credit for the show in terms of you only have we only had 45 minutes to cram it in I think that was a major issue because I think that would have been really great over a two episode Arc or Survivor you really get to flesh things out per episode whereas I don't think that we got the chance and there was so much more happening that would have really clarified to the viewer why these things are happening and then to maybe try to give the bedroom Lions this hero thing when you know you can see them talking [ __ ] about me behind my back all the time and I never went to that level I was happy to go you know you're my competition but I never talked like ill about everyone that's not really my style so it was hard to really make me a villa what I wasn't doing anything particularly Villages but you know yeah according to the show like I'm happy to be like I am exactly who I am and I'm proud of everything I did on that show like extremely proud yeah I think when you try to cram a storyline that's not there it just becomes really confusing because the bedroom lines wasn't the week underdogs they were the ones who thought they were running the game from the start and if you want to talk about underdogs it was truly like me and Brooke from day one and so it was yeah it was it was a weird editing choice but that's the show's choice and they can only

14:42 Use what we say and they did yeah and for anybody who listens to this podcast because you never know if there's a production team member that will ever come back and listen to some of these old challenge interviews the reason I asked this question and the reason the criticism is out there is from a point of love for the show like I love the challenge I watch all the seasons over in the US I watched I wanted to challenge Australia to be the next big thing and I still want the challenge Australia to get another opportunity so if it does like I would hope that we would look at a few of these things and another criticism that I had was that potentially I felt like there wasn't enough game players out there like you were a game player I was impressed by you I was impressed by Brooke you were loved online like I mean when I told people on angel cake entertainment's patreon which he's probably the biggest challenge YouTuber out there people were very excited that you were going to come on the channel to talk to me because they loved what you brought to the show so you know I would love for you to go out there and get another opportunity so if the if the opportunity ever came out you know and if you could go to the challenge again would you accept it again having put yourself through all this trauma once could you do it to yourself again for my own mental safety I don't think I would do the challenge Australia again I think I think you know when you do it right the first time you don't need to really go back I guess but there's also like that you know each I

16:02 Am like I love doing TV and if the US one maybe came knocking it's such a bigger kind of like you know set and people and it would just be like a little like bucket listing for me to do but in saying that I would also be happy if I never did it again you know like I love the fact that I went I did it I've proved the point and aim to prove I'm not a die-hard challenge fan but I think what upset me coming out of the show and then maybe not you know happening the way it was like we're really proud of it I became like this Die Hard challenge fan as I was doing it if that makes sense I was like oh my God this is incredible how lucky and speaking of Troy who's a massive fan and even speaking to Emily apart who's a massive fan it was like this thing is bigger than I ever considered it to be and I really I hope the fans understand how much I respected the game very quickly I was like this is cool and I want to respect what this game is and absolutely give it my all and I'm really happy that I maybe got to show that you could do like physical and social and gameplay and all that kind of stuff because like as you said a lot of the other guys didn't want to they wanted it to be we are big boys and we get to the end and I was like well I'm not a big boy I want to get to the end so how do I make that happen so yeah well you know I don't know if you saw the latest season of The Challenge at all but the challenge 38 that just finished filming and showed

17:23 Over in the US had someone that very similar to you came into the show not as the most athletic person from the start and you know had a really good social game really good strategic game and as Seasons progressed I think it was the sixth season he's just won a championship because he's continued to you know refine his game he added a little bit of a physical element but he's still not the biggest boy out there he's still not the fittest guy out there but his smarts has gotten him to the end and has made him win the show so it shows that different people can get to the end and win it which is what I like watching it because you don't want to see the same winner over and overtake at every season no and that's why I love the challenges you know I thought there was every it sounds done but I thought every challenge I could win you know that was my mentality going into it and then to win three of the nine challenges you know it's not something that anyone would have called you know Troy one forward he gets a lot of Portage but I won three you know and he's been training his whole life for it so I think for me it was really incredible to be able to like okay how can I with my body beat all these people at once and I think that's a really good thing the challenge does is like there is Ultimate equalizers in every single one and you know you can't see my brain but I know how good it is so you know that's kind of like a blessing in the in Disguise as well you know if you don't look they're very physical it can work in your favor sometimes another reason I'm extremely sad Conor is because we had a host that was unique you know we've not had someone

18:43 Like bryony before they were extremely good at what they did right and sadly I don't think that they're going to get the credit on the international stage now that they deserve because of the performance that they had out there what was your thoughts on bryony and how they handled the whole season oh they are incredible that like it's and you know we're all very like the queer Community down here is all very connected there's not a it's not a massive bunch of queer influencers and content creators so just it was so cool just I mean I think I think there's massive props to Sky the producer Skye was really big about having an incredibly diverse cast and like people can say what they want to say about the cast I think there was maybe a future many Bachelor people and not enough Survivor people like I think there was definitely we there was the balance was a bit off I think on shows and experience or whatnot but when it came to personalities and who was there it was it was honestly like they cut out so many funny moments from the show because it we didn't stop laughing half the time they were entertaining people and I think Sky really chose queer leading people she chose people from all walks of life which was incredible because it created Division and it was you know she was really big about promoting queer faces and you know having a queer show and bryony being the face of that like I

20:03 Know it meant a lot to a lot of people and I wish it if it did have the traction it would have meant to a lot more to a lot more other people so I'm sure that they're gonna do great you know no matter what they do I think Brian will eventually be huge just because Brian is writing yeah again I always say that someone either has it or they don't have it and I do think bryony does have that star factor to what they brought to the show and that they were like a lot of people enjoyed what they brought to the show so I do think we'll see more of bryony in the future and you bring up the a good point in regards to some of these fun interactions and things that were out on the show because I remember the very opening episode where you know you had people running around jumping in the pool and just mingling and having a good time and then it kind of seemed to get very serious and dark and the show kind of focused on that more than probably some of those fun moments which if you look at why Australian Survivor does so well is that it does have the strategy it does have the serious stuff but then it always has that light-hearted moments as well which Australians really appreciate hmm yeah and again there's so many great moments you know like I think in a certain way it is special because it means that we just have them to ourselves and particularly when I particularly when sorry when we as a group Collective got rid of the back are the bedroom Alliance it really became this really like funny house for a

21:23 Couple like there was no issues for like the last week or so and it really was just all of us having a laugh the whole time and yeah it's I agree I love the things with Survivor like even Johnny's a great like example to why he's remembered Survivor purely from Mexican tacos and like there's like things that each person has on Survivor that the viewer goes ah I connect with that and then I think that would have been really great because and they like they're so funny like Conrad's one of the funniest people I think I've ever met in my entire life but you wouldn't know it from watching the show and so you know the stuff like that like I got a great story arc I was featured quite heavily and I look at Conrad and Conrad story arc I think was just as impressive as mine but it wasn't really highlighted and that's what happens with 45 minute episodes I guess yeah were you we touched on it a little bit in the beginning were you surprised to see the likes of a grant go to the show over in the world championship and in Emily being the two people that were from the bedroom Alliance were you shocked to see that they were chosen above some of the other contestants that potentially outplayed them in the first season for me personally I'll just throw my own thoughts in there Emily I wasn't as surprised by because I actually thought she could have done well in a different season if she connected with different people from the start and you know sadly you're you know Guilty By Association when you've got yourself in that Alliance that didn't have much gameplay it was always going to go downhill

22:43 For her and she would have to win her way to the end game but Grant especially for me was quite shocking to see him go there but he's done really well in the first couple of episodes he's won I think for the men in the first episode he was the outright MVP that's what they call these international players that have gone there he was the winner for the men and he also won the first daily so you know shockingly he's turning around and he's doing a lot better than there than what he did in Australia yeah I was look I was shocked I not to say I'd like up myself but I truly thought I was in the mix to get asked personally so I thought it was going to be between myself and Kieran and I thought that I maybe had a better chance just because of my house play and like I just I think I was going to be more all-rounded but then on the other hand I think the it's a whole Step Up the World Series I'm very sure and I'm sure that you know training and having actual solid strength will come into the play so on the other hand I wasn't surprised Emily I wasn't Emily is an insane player like watching her run the challenges like she's the perfect person to take over none of this surprised me but I think Brad I think a few people were shocked but then on the other hand grants really divisive and his great TV and he says what he thinks and so he does have all the makings and to see him win a daily doesn't surprise me at all I don't think he's a great person but the man will not give up like he is as stubborn as me we're very similar

24:04 Where maybe this you know two sides of the same coin unfortunately so none of this surprises me that he's doing well yeah it's one of the immovable object meets the Unstoppable force or something like that yeah very much that energy you know the perfect will maybe we're perfect partners and then in the current world where great enemies so you know maybe we end up coming back and it's you know fover's phone who knows that's exactly what I was going to say they do challenge rival season so you know be careful putting it out there in The Ether because you never know you might get the production calling you and Grant to be future rivals on one of the U.S Seasons and I listen sadistically I would pay to see that oh no I think you know I obviously have my issues with Ryan which are separate but the thing with Grant is you know Grant never really went below the ballot so I really like my rivalry with Grant it was so upfront in the house it was like I don't like you and I don't like you and sweet I can't wait to take you out and I love that I think me and him were just like frothing because we're both just like sure we're gunning for each other and so I you know I think it you know we kind of maybe pushed each other as far as we got you know sometimes you need a rival to just really keep you going and I think he in a weird way got me to the finale because I was like until

25:24 I get rid of him I'm not going home and then you know two episodes later it's a finale So yeah thank God he was there in a weird way yeah we just saw that an Australian Survivor with King George and Simon going head-to-head having this rivalry throughout the season and it's been I think one of the most entertaining things about the show and has kept all of us entertained and tuning in every week to see well Simon finally become the king Slayer or will George finally cut him if there's a lot of similarities between the Simon George and me and Grant you know you've got that kind of like you know not as physical queer outspoken boy which I feel like I see a lot of myself in George and I would love to play Survivor one day hopefully with or against George but it was fascinating watching it going there's that like Beefcake brute Simon and that Dynamic and it seems really like intended it is but it's like you kind of need you know what are you without your enemy almost yeah 100 I think they're another two people that I could see on a rival season at some stage down the line I think would be hilarious or put George and Simon together for the Amazing Race Australia I think that'd be very funny as well to see what yourself and or yourself and Grant you know I love the Rivalry Dynamics but one of the things that have really shocked me about Grant while we're on the subject is that you know one of the things he really didn't do too well The Challenge Australia was

26:44 That he wasn't good at working with partners and it was that famous you know deliberation where you said well I don't really care you know which person I need to work with because he was trying to say certain people were weak in the game and you were like I'll work with anyone out there which was a strength to your game it seems like he took notes from you after the season because he is now a better partner to the people that he's working with in the game like Janae now is benefiting from maybe you giving him lessons in the challenge Australia oh I'm sure he wouldn't say it that way but I love I love it Eddie I love it any kind of universe that I've maybe changed Grant life in some way yeah I think I think that was really I think the bedroom Alliance didn't really like how intelligent I was because I was able to shut down you know I had to keep my line strong I was like they were trying to find an inn and I was like I'm gonna make sure that this is impenetrable and that my team knows that whatever he's saying I'm just going to go not [ __ ] and I had the evidence to back it up at that point I'd run with one with Cyril and one with Megan and one with Brittany I'd run with all these people that he deemed weak because he saw them weak and you know I understood that feeling because they all saw me this week and I was like there's no such thing as weak in this house you know there's two partners and a lot of the boys were just running away from their partner and being like I'll do this myself and I was like you have a very fully functioning human being right next to you who could

28:04 Just help you yeah and it's sadly something we've seen in the history of the challenge in the U.S sometimes happen as well where some of the main you know I'm a very big defender of alpha men because in the sense that you know you need both you need the strong men out there as well like let's not just break them all down but when you're out there and you're being The Stereotype that's when I have a problem with it's like listen don't be The Stereotype don't be the guy that's just gonna say I do it my way because I'm the alpha and I'm not going to listen to the person next to me that's when I've got a problem with it and I think that as long as you find that balance we do need you know those types of men out there as well just find the balance and understand that it is a team game definitely I think as well with that with each girl that each girl is different so it's all about approaching hql I think Grant works on like a like a construction site maybe he doesn't chat to a lot of girls he's got a wife now so whereas I like I'd worked with girls my entire life in Hospitality I'd work with so many different kind of girls and the thing that excited me was like coming and going you know what kind of partner are you what kind of person are you and I think me and Kiki are the perfect example like I went to the bus challenge all wrong with her and I didn't understand what she needed from me and then we turned it around in the elimination and me and Kiki have a very connected history in the challenge now because I really went in wrong with her and I almost like did a grant and just wanted to do it myself and stuffed it all up but

29:24 You know you have to turn around go okay what does this person need and I'm glad he's turned it around because honestly if you just work with your partner that's half the game yeah I've not recognized Grand on this season so far I've watched episode four yet but you know things could still change it's still early days you know but I was gonna say Kiki you mentioned Kiki and having been in that elimination with her and winning it now Kiki obviously is representing the challenge Australia as the winner for the for the females out there she was my number one draft pick actually going into the season as well because I really enjoyed Kiki I like people who prove me wrong and I looked at Kiki and I was like I got her she's the ditzy girl she's gonna be the batchy girl she's only gonna be there for the love and drama and I had her wrong she's a game player can you talk a little bit about how you think Kiki would do in the season such as this now playing with the big leagues Kiki is one of the smartest people I've ever come across in my entire life like I think me and Kiki really resonated with each other because I think a lot we were both those underdogs that made it to the finale and I think the edit kind of showed that and so there was a lot of respect there and but the thing about Kiki which I understood as well was we just did not know how to give up and that's something that you throw us at a wall 300 times we'll just keep getting up and going again and she has that ability so if you have that ability and nothing breaks you that's the thing about the challenge the challenge house isn't about the challenges or that kind of

30:45 Stuff it's the day-to-day the challenge is just getting through it and so Kiki has this evanescent kind of like and I don't think this word but she's very like very like easy to get along with and chatty and she almost defuses situations before they become things so who house play was brilliant and I underestimated her I thought she'd be gone within the first two weeks and it's she's a great first draft pick because people might I don't know she got put into elimination on the first episode but she's good enough to kind of bounce back from that and not hold it against someone and you've got to be very malleable in the challenge house so if she doesn't win she'll make finale in my head for sure and I don't know the results I haven't asked anyone and I just I can't see Kiki not making the finale yeah I think her being out there with the back issues that she had pushing through the pain that's when I was like this girl is at a different level she's maybe not coming in as an Olympic Athlete but she's got the mindset of an Olympic Athlete which is you get to the Finish Line no matter what which I think like you said that is the biggest thing but you brought something up about you know getting through the day-to-day in between daily challenges what do Challengers do during the day do you guys get Netflix do you have anything to keep you occupied in there or is it literally just you sit there and train or talk to each other well the first couple of

32:05 Weeks I was just part of drama apparently it was just drama upon drought like I was just I think I just literally cried in the house the first two weeks so that's how I spent the first two weeks and then you know there's kind of a pool table we weirdly enough me and Ryan ended up creating a Bocce game and becoming very close botchy passes before everything went sour so they got us botchy there's a pool you work out I guess we don't want to work out too hard and then eventually I started just cooking pasta six hours of the day as a strategic thing because if I was making pasta I wasn't in any drama and if you watch episode 5 episode 5 onwards I'm not really in any drama because I'm just making pasta I was going to say well if you're if you're sort of out there and you're staying out of it and you know you were sort of isolating yourself from all the drama in the house and people were coming at you and maybe people around you were sort of thinking well Connor's not a threat right now because he's kind of you know going back into his Corner was that a bit of strategy as well or was it really you just you were in a bad spot because of the things that were being said and thrown your way in the game but the thing about me is you know I've got one brain which is like my emotional brain but I've always got a ticking brain behind me going sweet what can I do and I was really I made a massive effort that no matter what happened to me I'd wake up every day and say good morning to everyone and that was a big part of my strategy

33:25 Because I knew things would turn and I think MasterChef really taught me that I did really well at the start and I went home quite early and the ones who didn't do well the start they made the end so I always it doesn't matter what happens in the first week I kept telling myself it's like things can turn on a dime and so it was all about doing little small things you know maybe cooking someone breakfast maybe just making sure that people know that I'm there and I'm absorbing this energy and so when Emily reacted so bad to Ryan and sugar getting put in at episode five everyone had this really great thing to base it off because I got sent in an episode four and I hugged Emma Troy and I said no issue happy to go in I understand it's part of the game and then to have that juxtapose against their reaction that was strategy I was like I knew that if I reacted accordingly and I come back that's going to put me in really good stead so you know and that's part of what Brook J taught me Brook J was like very good at being like things can turn in a second you just keep being yourself and they did eventually yeah well I'm sort of interested to know you know obviously you were in the spot and were quite down because of a lot of the things that happened behind the scenes which you know it's heartbreaking to hear that you would be in that spot but I feel like this is something that is not unique to yourself and probably has happened on other challenge Seasons with other people as well because you've seen a

34:45 Lot of reality TV when you're out of the numbers people almost it's this mob mentality like no one should talk to Conor because he is targeted or he's marked to be in the eliminations next you know what if you learned from this about yourself that you will take into a future season if you were to go to play somewhere say in the challenge us or whatever Seasons may come up or survive in the future because I feel like a lot of reality TV might you might get to that spot again you know where you're going to feel like you don't have anyone and you know people are ganging up on you so what if you learned about yourself and how would you approach the game differently if you were to get out there again yeah it's a hard one because I think the way that I approached it made me get to the finale because it was you know the way it worked I don't know I do think that maybe I would be Less open about my thoughts to everyone all the time I'm very much like what would happen was I'd be like oh you know that person didn't do that today but it's fine and then that would be whispered along the house and be like Connor's bitching about you so I'd be more aware of that and maybe a bit quieter to start but also in saying that I don't want to change who I am I like who I am and so if I like who I am and I go home episode one I'm okay with that you know I don't want to change anything and I wouldn't change anything you know and the best part about what I think is like no matter what happens it's not like Survivor you can't get blindsided and go home so if someone puts me into elimination and I kept telling people if you put me to elimination I'm sending you home I'm not

36:05 Leaving and no one believed me so you know I've got that secondary gear I know in my head where I'm like if I have to fight for it like you know I'm even if it is strength I'm not going to leave any stone unturned so yeah I'm not going to change anything I'm just gonna you know go in guns blazing probably again and [ __ ] it all up listen at least you'll be entertaining if you do go out being yourself because I felt like you were one of the more entertaining parts of the show so I guess the obvious question is would you go out there you mentioned the us as something you'd be interested maybe doing the challenge us you've mentioned Australian Survivor you know I guess it just depends on what comes around but would you be interested in going out and playing One of These reality TV shows in the future again yeah I'd love to do Australian Survivor I think I the mole and Survivor are probably my two favorite shows so I just love the I love the number side of it I love the Alliance side I love how you can work everything in your favor like I have high functioning anxiety so it's almost the perfect show for me because I didn't really sleep on the challenge for 40 days and so I know in that in my heart and Brooke's also being someone who's like you would do very well at Survivor because the challenges are just a lot of the time determination and the challenges I did well on the challenge are actually more Survivor style challenges so yeah I would love to if they're listening I would love to do Amazing Race you know I

37:25 I'm open to everything I've maybe got a five year more window where maybe young enough and fit enough so we'll see what comes hey they do the challenge now with people that are I think 50 like they are like people that are 50 that go to the all-star season so it's like the veteran edition of The Challenge I don't know if I would want to put my body through it at that age but you know there's a few people that are still hanging in there so you never know you might have a lot more than what you thought no I'm 30 now and I woke up on my 30th in absolute pain so I think age has crept up on me very quickly so you get things like ibuprofen just take it with you know and hit a couple before you go on to the dailies actually my if anyone goes to the challenge my technique was one can of Coke Zero and one banana before a challenge and it worked an absolute treat yeah I mean what potassium right you got to get that banana you know going and it helps with any kind of muscle cramps or anything like that you could get what was the final like for you know you got through all the dailies the final is normally so different compared to the rest of the seasons and you know I guess the rest of the dailies throughout the season so what was that like for you going into that because it had a lot more running in it I think than any of the other daily stuff that you guys did it was May there is not enough words to it I still don't know how I did it and I tell you I there I it was just pure adrenaline by the end

38:45 I think the last finale kind of annoyed me because there wasn't a lot of equalizers for me to balance it up and a lot of it came down to the strength of the of the boy partner and so even the Barrel challenge you know the girls just couldn't move those barrels you know so it really came down to the three boys and you know and it was heartbreaking because I had proven myself and then you know the puzzle me and Brittany smashed so quickly and caught up and I was like kind of assuming each section would have like a numbers or a food eating which I would have been perfect for or so I was kind of annoyed at the finale I was like there is so much physicalness and I can't really show off my brain power but then in saying that you know I looked back down I was like I still do not know how I moved that car and credited Kiki because it's the hardest thing I'll ever do and it was truly 25 hours it was truly 100ks of running it was seriously it was 50 it was plus 50k is a bike for me it was I don't think people understand just start running for 25 hours and moving things and don't stop and you'll understand what it feels like I guess yeah I mean I love obstacle course races I do 45 kilometer obstacle course races 24 is my favorite distance like I don't like going above that to be honest so when you tell me 50K and plus I'm like I get it's it's not easy especially

40:06 You know you mentioned you trained by going to London beforehand and working on your socializing and you did maybe a couple of weeks before you went out to go play The Challenge have you I guess changed anything and how you would prepare for another season are you training a little bit more now because you were on the show or was it pretty much just back to your normal lifestyle it's back to my normal lifestyle I am I look and in saying this I don't want to Discount the fact that I do go to the gym about four to five times a week normally like I've always I was like a state swimmer when I was growing up like I used to Captain softball like karate I used to do a lot of basketball a lot of Fitness things so I have that base in my body but like when you're going up a ninja gets like a ninja warrior and like an ex Army vet in Kieran it was the conditioning in them that I just could not compete with like the boys their bounce back was just insane and it became so evident on the barrel child challenge that I was like I've never worked my core before it just became like clear that I'd never done that before and you know so it's I think if I went back obviously I would train a lot differently but I think part of part of me is that I don't look like I am going to be good at things so I don't know it's one of those hard ones like I did it but I wish I had more of a physical base for the finale not for anything else though yeah

41:27 So you've got Troy out there as well you've mentioned him a few times what's your thoughts on Troy going into the world championship do you think he could be a sleeper again because it did look like a lot of people underestimated him because of his size on the challenge Australia and I've Got a Feeling maybe going up against some of these Legends of the game you know the USA players do you think he's got an opportunity to sneak by what do you think of his game going into it to be clear no one underestimated Troy in our season it maybe came across like that Troy got very lucky that the bedroom Reliance was so horrible that he became it did it didn't become about winning for me anymore and I didn't care as long as it wasn't them you know so when Troy and myself and Kieran got to the end for the boys I was like I'm happy with whoever wins because these are two genuinely incredible people and Troy will be great Troy is very good at being malleable but the thing that with being malleable is you don't want to come across as a kiss ass and you don't want to be sucking up to too many people so I think that would be my advice to him because he's a very smart person he's very well-rounded but this is a different League the World Cup so he might get by any size on this one actually as like he might be underestimated but he's a very good genuine person and that is always helpful so I do see him getting very

42:47 Far I see I see him and Kiki getting very far and I feel like maybe granted M's mouths might get them into trouble along the way yeah that elimination between Conrad and Troy like I have seen many eliminations in my life off the challenge and I tell you what that's the top five top ten elimination what was it like being out there seeing these two boys go at it I was me I it truly went for 50 minutes the first one and the second round went for over an hour it was like a car crash you could not look away but we were all on the thing just kind of like peeking through our hands going and then I think 20 minutes in Kieran looks with me with like tears in his eyes pretty much going thank you so much for not putting me into this because we were like me and Kira were like there is no chance we could have won this it was incredible it was incredible and I think that's the thing that like annoyed me with the Grant and Ryan elimination that you know they just didn't go for it and you know Conrad and Troy shook hands were like we're still mates let's do this and it was the respect for the game I think a lot of us really appreciated at that point because we had really like given into the process and but being there was just the sounds of the thud like they didn't have enough minutes in the show to show how many times Conrad

44:07 Just dropped Troy and you could see at one point just Conrad was starting to get concerned that he was hurting him yeah it was this weird thing of like he kept oh I just yeah it was it was it was yeah it was insane to see Troy take it out because a lot of the times like I come from Karate I've got a karate background I've competed at a pretty decent level in karate as well and there is a reason that there is white classes in those types of things because it does matter if you're going up against somebody that's like 20 or 30k is heavier than you I still don't know how he wanted to be honest and it's just that technique that he had yeah it was it was brilliant and so what people didn't see in the house as well was Troy wasn't really working out every day he just was he was like I'm gonna trust my conditioning strength wise but what he would do was he would do grip exercises so he would do about an hour of grip exercises per day and I thought it was the funniest thing in the world I was like when is that going to become important mate like this guy has no idea what he's doing and then when that happens I was like oh my God like you just don't realize how important grip is just generally with everything you're doing strength wise he's a very smart man and how he beat Conrad I will never know I don't think any of us will ever understand still it's interesting we just won the

45:28 World Championship saw personally my favorite challenge player of all time is Wes Bergman love him you know and he came back this season and he's working with Zara who's the runner-up for the UK yeah and he said to her my lesson to you for this season as you see all these guys and girls going out there lifting weights don't do that you know you need to have already done the weightlifting before you came out here just work in your conditioning just run a lot while you're out here because that's all that's going to matter by the time you get to the finals so it's interesting how everybody's got these different conditioning things that they do out there and it's a good point because what can you train for when you're already on the show you know you're there well funny enough I feel like I did like a mini training for myself I was in the house I think I had a very unorthodox Training Method like I was doing a lot of balancing on Rands and pieces of furniture a lot of running arounds in a circle like a lot of things that I thought would come up there was even a day where I hid all the bocce balls over the house and then had to find them and finish up that I created for myself as everyone watched on like what is he effing doing so you know me and Troy I think we're the kings of kind of unorthodox workouts and when all the boys just went into the gym like there is video footage of me being in the gym it's a very shady Cliff of me trying to lift weights but there was you know you do have to do a little bit if you don't have it but like as you said if you don't have it before you end the

46:48 House you're not winning there's you just you're not winning Before I Let You Go what was it like being in Argentina would you go back to Argentina do you do you have like any memories that you get to go do anything outside of the challenge or was it pretty much you fly in do the challenge and stride back well I initially thought that I was going to get eliminated around episode three or four so in my head I was like I'm gonna go production was incredible they're like you just tell us the date you want to fly back home and you can go and explore Argentina after so I was like sweet I'll get like at least two weeks in Argentina what is it apparently was making the finale I was like [ __ ] like there's no time so it was really great the top eight did two did three days together in Argentina when we finished filming and we loved it we just explored business eras together and all just had a laugh and just obviously we knew the winner so we were just celebrating them and it was three of my favorite days like it was really nice and production was incredible every Saturday they would take us out somewhere and they would just like go have drinks here's this booked out Beach Bar and like they were incredible they production was so sweet and the argentinians that worked on the house absolute shout out to them because they are truly the heroes of 22 of us knocking on the door and asking for Coke Zeros at weird times so yeah I have a lot of love for Argentina for sure yeah did you get any like

48:08 Do you when you travel get like food Inspirations from being in these different places do you pick up things that you now use in your day-to-day yeah definitely oh my God so there was there's this lemon cake this Argentinian lemon cake that we're trying to recreate and I wish they brought the lemon cake storyline into the show because we were all eating so much lemon cake that we were all like losing weight around us but gaining like pot bellies and so this lemon cake I'm obsessed with that I still can't make it so that's probably the most obsessed and to the point where on episode eight we're trying to go underneath all the things that I got stuck unfortunately because of my gut and that was a common issue with all the boys because of all the lemon cakes we were eating so we got fed very well I don't know what the Americans say about the food but the food was incredible that sounds that sounds incredible you know like I said I'm not a foodie but I do like a good cheesecake so I can understand that if I was out there and they had good cheesecake I probably would have been in trouble as well I would have walked out of that with a little bit more weight than what I went in to the show with but hey it's been great Connor talking to you about the season you know is there anything you'd like to shout out let viewers know about or listeners what are you up to currently where can they follow you we've already mentioned creamy confusion as the Instagram channels the other platforms that people can sort of follow what you're doing next yeah I'm

49:28 Creamy underscore confusion on every platform as it turns out no one had taken it for so many obvious reasons so yeah if you want to follow me I'm there it's you know I just kind of tick along with life now creating content and you know I don't try to sell anything to anyone that's amazing so what is your content that you currently do is it basically culinary type of food yeah yes I do I do Greek leaning food recipes I'm famously Greek the Greek what was the Irish name on MasterChef so a lot of Greek recipes a lot of cocktail recipes I'm a trained bartender from my years in hospital and we're now starting to do a lot of travel jobs I have a lot of our queer jobs as well so you know if you're part of that Community there's a lot of cool stuff we do there and yeah there's a just a bit of everything a bit of lifestyle and it's just kind of like I'm a I like to think I'm a multi-faceted human you know I'm someone who can go do Master Chef and then go and dominate a game like the challenge so you know imagine everything in between is pretty much on my Instagram watch out Australian Survivor that's where Connor's gonna head down next you know King George step aside but Connor it's been great talking to you I hope we get to talk again in the future I feel like we could have done this for a lot longer