Murishca Nayar talks Survivor SA and how to market it in africa

0:00 Welcome back to the nullified Tech channel here on YouTube where we've got the TNT takes for you on Survivor I'm joined by a very special guest and former Survivor South Africa player she played in survives of Africa Philippines which is one of the most popular Seasons globally around the world Mariska how are you doing I think so welcome to the channel for the very first time hello hi thank you it's awesome to be here I'm excited very excited very excited to have you here obviously we had a former cast member of yours on the channel not that long ago to talk to us about Survivor South Africa and Tony and that was such a great chat so exactly yeah big shoes the full moon not only bestie yeah very happy I mean obviously we're on a WhatsApp chat and I put the message out there and I said any Survivor South African player that wants to chat about Survivor South Africa you know this is a passion project of mine I started a petition to get it picked up again and I'm hoping that we can get this thing back up off the ground and it's not looking great at the moment I know there's a lot of work going on behind the scenes but I'm very grateful

1:20 That you've reached that and you said you're happy to talk about it what's the feeling like from your end as a previous player sort of hearing the news you're a little bit more connected with the Survivor South African player community tell us a little bit about how the news have hurt yourself and other people that have played the game before yeah for me I mean just as a fan of Survivor it's disappointing because it's a show that is so inspiring I mean I wouldn't have played it if I wasn't really encouraged and motivated to do it and I knew that it could change my life in whatever aspect I wanted it to but also just as I keep telling people that I meet like when as an adult do you get to check out of your life really check out of your life like Survivor gives you that opportunity and to play games where you allowed to Lime in a plate and be another character it's so much fun and I and it's disappointing and sad because I would want I wouldn't want someone else to miss that opportunity and only Survivor gives you that chance to do that you know I remember laying out there day three and thinking like how did I choose this for myself because it was so but then every single day there was like a new lesson and so the tough thing about Survivor and this is why we throw them a bond with people that we've played with before we because we can never

2:40 Experience what we did on the island in the real life like that high cannot be accomplished and achieved so we will be constantly chasing a new high or something else like obviously in our life it's our lives are not just about Survivor at least for me it's not because pre-game it wasn't just about Survivor was a and I wanted something to change my life like radically I needed something to shake me out of my comfort zone and whether I was having a midlife crisis or whatever it was that soul for me so I would love more people hundreds more people in South Africa to get that opportunity to play and it's just a cool game to watch like as a viewer it's so much fun and so different to the other content that's out there it is I mean it's a reason that it's been out for more than I think 50 close to 60 Seasons globally actually a lot more than that if you even count in the non-english versions of the show you know like Survivor Romania Survivor turkey yeah like there's so many other countries Mexico you know India you wouldn't believe the countries that actually they're showing the I know I know I recently like I was surprised even France has one India and I'm

4:00 Like yeah it's shocking to me I only watched the Australian and the American and obviously the South African version I can't I don't even want to get into the other countries because I'm gonna have to go all the way back to like season one Etc and I just don't have the capacity and so I don't need to become even more addicted I'm not really addicted and you also need the you need subtitles for some of those shows that are not English they don't come out with subtitles otherwise I probably would dive into that as well if I if I could understand French or you know whatever languages they're bringing it out and that's the big thing but I wanted to come back to you talking about yes how it changed your life and you know going on this journey and it gave you everything that you wanted obviously you had the unfortunate experience of being someone that left the game earlier than what you should of that season you were in the Mindanao tribe you got swapped into I don't know if I'm going to pronounce this right the visayas tribe which was a very dysfunctional tribe Society difficult to sort of land in that tribe and find your way out of it with Tom and SHINee having a bit of a fight unless I'm not being happy with Tom what did you gain from this experience and you know what on that early stages of being in a good spot and Mindanao and going into a spot that wasn't so great and things might be not working out the way you wanted it to work out with your experience like I'm assuming you wanted to go all the way and win

5:20 The game yeah I mean that was the goal I remember in my early interviews I told them like you know you're gonna have to pull me out of the game you go with so much ambition and I was really like talking myself up with absolutely no idea but I just knew also innately that I if it's gonna get super hard I might want to leave and I've had to wrestle with that because on one side of my brain like I'm determined and I want to win and I can see myself in the end I remember I think it was day nine where I thought okay now I'm feeling it like now I've got my groove you know I'm not an extrovert so when I played the game and I remember like I think hour one with these strangers I just like felt myself recoiling and like becoming like just turtleing I was just like disappearing I was like around all of these loud personalities everyone wants to be heard one has their own idea of the game and how they want to play and what character they're going to be Etc and we're all a bit child shocked and then yeah I am trying to find my place so only on day nine did I really find my place and that's thanks to Tony and Martinez and Tevin and PK I discovered there is just

6:40 As in real life we're all just looking to be long and for acceptance and for someone to tell us you're doing a good job and like you fine you know that you likeable Etc so I in that game it's a bigger ideality because you are vying to be part of an alliance or to bond with people and for people to like you long enough to keep you in the game and not be the first one voted out that's like everyone's initial fear so yeah for me the thing that how it changed my life is it made me a lot more Brave I wasn't Brave before I thought I was but I was actually just choosing to do things I knew I was good at I was good at my job I was a good mother I'm a good wife I'm a good friend and it feels that seems very vanilla and basic now if I look back at it and I wasn't doing things that was outside of my comfort zone like I'm I remember in my interviews they told me you know you're going to be surrounded by people that have that have climb mountains and have done marathons and they're also like they are pushing the boundaries every day and you're just a marketing manager you're just a mom and I accepted that at the time and thought that sound a bit boring but in reality it's not I think I'm quite accomplished and I just chose to do

8:00 Things differently and I think what the game taught me is that level ground so we know when we're all starving when we all when our Comforts already moved when we're without our family we're all the same people so I saw a different side of myself I was I felt anxiety that I never felt in the real world because in the real world you can distract yourself you can you've got things to distract you as well so and out there it's like you raw you are stripped of everything and you just have to sit there and work out your thoughts and connect with people on a human and basic level without titles without let's go to this restaurant have a coffee let's do this you know with all of those distractions so taught me who I really am and that I do need people because along for a long time in my life I thought I'm strong enough I don't really need people I can choose who's in my circle and I can if I hate the job I can leave it and yeah I never realized that it's okay to need people you don't have to be strong all the time and super independent and just charge through life that you know I can still learn from

9:21 Others so that was my biggest takeaway okay so yeah that's interesting you mentioned that you know you get destroyed you don't have that thing that distracts you and that takes you away from your day-to-day life because that also comes down to when you play with these players I'm assuming that you create these way deeper bonds that you would do in real life because you spent maybe hanging up with friends a couple of hours a weekend with them but now you're spending 24 hours for nine days or however long it is with them and you're having very deep conversations out there that you probably wouldn't have with normal people in your everyday life because there's nothing else to do can you speak a little bit to some of the relationships that you sort of formed out there in the game and who you stall are in contact with today yeah exactly what you said you know out there you have to fast-check relationships I have to quickly tell them everything about my childhood any trauma that I've experienced because you want to bond and connect with someone and you connect based on relevance so the biggest yeah the greatest bonds that I made there was definitely Tony and that was because she was like my mama bear out there she was also she's very raw and honest and I like people like that I appreciate that so I think it was it was one of the nights when it was super dark and I woke up and I urgently needed to go to the bathroom which is the beach and I couldn't see

10:41 And I really thought I was like I woke up I thought I'm blind I am really I've somehow it's happened I'm blind this is the worst thing God could ever do because I'm already out here with these people and now I'm blind too so I had a moment of freak out moment because I've never been in such absolute Darkness and I got up and I was trying to find my way and Tony used to sleep at the end of our Banker on her own in a little makeshift boat by the fire and she stopped me and helped me and like guided me and she was she's just a selfless person and that's why she connects well with people because she really does care she wants to help you in any way she wants to understand you and so she help me find my place within the game because she's a big enough voice and she's she was already connected like from minute one she just connected with people I was just in my own world I was like just trying to like the reality of the game was sinking in for me I was like oh crap how am I gonna stand up am I gonna be you know all of the ideas that I had before the game and you kind of like you do come up with a game plan I mean no one's gonna play without a game plan and I had my own game plan I thought okay this is who I'm gonna be this is the type of character I want to be on TV and you

12:01 Know what are my gimmicks whatever what am I gonna say and all of that dissolves and you can't that's why I tell guys I don't want me to play you can never prepare for the game because you don't know who you're gonna play with you're just gonna have to adapt and go with the flow and make sure that you have fun in the process and that I am missed out on some of that fun I think if I'd stayed longer I would have had so much more fun but yeah the people that I bonded with was definitely Tony and then Tevin and PK they were like my younger brothers they just reminded me of my brothers at home and kind of the guys that I want my sons to become they were so funny and just so cute chanay I bonded with obviously once I moved to visayas and then Martinez was another big buddy for me like he reminded me so much of home we connected Faith wise and he's like a he's the type of Christian that's black and white so he's like he's a hectic krishnam I'm saved I'm a Christian too but I'm I know people enough to not Hammer them about really I like he's the type of person who just like say yeah you're gonna die and you'll go to hell because you did this and I'm not that kind of a person so I would have to soften him up quite

13:21 A bit like sometimes when he had his toddler Tantrums it's reminded me of being at home and needing to soothe my sons and like saying Joel you can't freak out like you're on TV too like just be normal guys it's like when no one's trying to get you and this is not real life acted in mind him all the time but yeah so those are the people that I connected with the most yeah it's good to hear you talk about Tony and maybe a little bit of that part that we didn't get to see off Tony out there on the beach because she alluded to some of the things that she did that maybe didn't make the final edit but a lot of those people that you mentioned they came back for a second time what was it like seeing people that you've played the game with play for a second time and then also seeing some of the online opinions and things like that you know maybe people had some strong opinions about Tony or you know Tevin not being able to make it to emerge what was it like this time sort of knowing these people that are out there that you feel a bit more protective I was a lot more protective and I really wanted them to do well obviously I was vying for the people that there am I on my season palesa I wanted her to do really well I would have loved to see valdner get a second chance at the game as well as chane because they are such good players and there was a lot of scenes that didn't make the cut and the two

14:41 Of them were always strategizing and that was surprising to me because I would often be in the game and like almost feel like this is my real world but they could separate the game from reality and understand that they're still in a game whereas I my game became my reality and so the struggles felt like big everything was Amplified and then when I watch it back I'm like why was I so annoyed with Tom like he wasn't that annoying but when you're in it's like oh it's major but yeah I was protective of them I was also very disappointed that PK didn't get to play the game that I know you can play and he's also just got so much of a personality that we didn't see like they also painted him to be one particular person and so we saw like one dimension of him but he's a lot more he's a lot funnier and cooler and just and warm is so warm and that's what I like most about him and just real and then Kevin as well I mean Tevin is a he's such a strong satishi player but is also a really good social player and he just makes good TV so I would have loved to see him play the game that he wanted to even in our season that he never got to because he

16:01 Also admits to like getting into a funk when Martinez left he said Martinez he said like ruined his game almost for him because he had plans to be a particular type of character and he is this person that you just can't understand that keeps shocking you in different ways and almost messes your game up and that's why I tell people don't over prepare because you can't and once you feel like your plan is not working out you then become you become emotionally attached to their plan and it's wrong because you need to be in the game you know so yeah I was I would have loved to see I mean Tony still did very well in the second season but I felt like she was badged a lot and people pre-gamed it was so obvious and it wasn't just because I know them but it was obvious that people had alliances prior to the game and you know that Tony's big in the online community too and that we played a game together where people were again pre-gaming and it's an online game guys like I was so shocked that they wanted us out like in the first round I think I was the first one to go actually and it was just because I was aligned to Tony and so I told her that was like they're acting on the wall there was the pre-game to the pre-game so yeah it was it was tough to see them not get to play

17:23 Their full game because there are such good characters and I and you started out saying that season six was the most memorable or and I really believe it I think that season six revives Survivor essay and it gave International viewers were suddenly they knew about Survivor sa and this is no offense to the ones they played before because they played amazing games too but the world finally started watching Survivor sa and that's thanks to season six which you know you were a part of so you can you can be very proud of the fact that you were a part of that season and you know one of the reasons so firstly why I want Survivor South Africa to come back you mentioned vanity bad didn't come back to play again I'd love to see him get a second chance out there if this if it does come back maybe we get a fans versus favorites there's a lot of great All-Stars that have not been able to play for a second time and I think Vander would be very high up on those list of players to come back I kind of forgot a little bit about Shane's game but as you gave her a lot of credit thinking back she was a strategic Force as well so someone that I wouldn't mind seeing come back and play the game but I think the biggest reason that this season was as popular as it was because of the ending of the season so spoiler in three seconds for those people that have not watched it because I'm gonna reveal the winner one

18:43 Two three get out of here Tom Swartz won the season Against All Odds and a lot of people who watched the edited show couldn't believe it and you even mentioned that out there you were annoyed with him at times what was it like knowing that he won the season when you know when it was revealed to you when you watched the season is there certain things you can Enlighten us to in regards to maybe why Tom was the ultimate winner things that we maybe didn't see about his character out there because we saw a lot of the things that he did to annoy people but why do you think he still ended up winning the season overall I think he won because he wasn't up against Wagner he wasn't up against a Tony someone else who could beat him he was up against Jon and she was not a favorite on the island so he made he's got this personality where he is larger than life and he's annoying but you feel for him because he is very he goes deep and he tells you about his childhood and what he's currently dealing with is so real and raw that you understand him so you understand that he's a bit like and says whatever he wants to and is maybe not the most PC person because he had a rough childhood and a difficult life and a tough life so

20:03 You make a you forgive him for you know his flaws that are obvious because ultimately he's just a better personality than a genre and that's why he won so people vote based on their heart and they focused on you know who was who was working hard and he was a hard worker like that man was always getting wood he was always starting to fish when I lived with him for the few days that I was he was he was always working and he would push others to work too I remember once he would tell me Minister could come help me I'm like why am I still helping you doing it while on your own like I don't understand why I need to help you but because he has just this mindset that we all need to do our part even though people of getting that blog on his own he just wants me to be busy too thank you so and this and that's where he annoyed me like this persistent father that was just like out of touch it made me feel like I was 14 and I was playing with my dad who wants to play Survival with their dad that is saying the wrong things that is inappropriately taking off his sarong and showing us himself in his undies not a good love so yeah I think that's what I think that's why he won is that ultimately he went against someone that they just did not lie and there was completely

21:23 In his favor I remember obviously when I got back after filming and I was trying to guess you know who's making it to the end Etc and then when I found out who was in the top like three I was so surprised but I just knew because I had that those few days with Tom that out of those three he was more likely to win based on the people that were in the jury they would definitely vote for Tom because like I said Tom connects with people you know even I knew even though I didn't like him and I only spent like five days with him I knew about his life because he would connect with you in that way he would want to know about you know what you went through he really cared and John was not that type of Personality she's fun and she is a comedian in her own right and in our own mind but she's not she doesn't go deep you don't get to know her she wants you to know who she projects to the world but you don't really get to know her you don't you don't go deep with her she's very surface yeah it's interesting observation I know that John is loved by certain parts of the online community who really you know rated her game very highly I was very happy about the Tom one at the end I thought him making

22:43 The move against Werner when he did was the right move for him even though it was a difficult move to make but if he made it to the end I think then it would have been able to win pretty easily or pretty handedly one of the reasons I wanted to bring you on and talk to you marushka is because your day-to-day job your professional life you know revolves around marketing you're a marketing manager I don't know if you still are but at the time when you came on to play Survivor you were a marketing manager and doing marketing you know that's I think one of the things where Survivor South Africa maybe could have had a little bit of help in regards to keeping this franchise Alive And in regards to letting all walks of life know in South Africa that Survivor South Africa exists a great example of this is even when I did my petition I think it's starting to become a lot more equal now is that we've had in the beginning a lot more Australians signed the petition than even South Africans signing the petition to get Survivor South Africa back on our screens which is not great you want to see South Africans really fight for this franchise that is ours it's great that the Australians are supporting us and we love all of the Australians I'm in Australia right now that are supporting the show and I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that survivors of Africa also is available on team play which is over here in Australia so you can watch it from here so a lot of people on this side if they didn't have Australian Survivor going on they'll watch survivors of Africa in the off season before their own season comes out so they're big supporters of survivors

24:03 Of Africa but it feels like we're doing a couple of things maybe not right in South Africa as someone that is in that marketing space who gets it what can Survivor South Africa do differently if they were to come back what would you suggest if you were the marketing manager I know that people like LaRue and certain people in Afrikaans they put a lot of effort in jumping on podcasts which we're very grateful for they're on Twitter on all these online things and they engage a lot but clearly there's still a couple of things probably that we could work on if the show does come back to get it out to a wider audience and how much is mnet as a channel I don't want to put you too much on the spot but how much is that maybe a limit so yeah I think the problem with Survivor is a I mean as someone who's watched Survivor since 2001 when the franchise started I did not watch Survivor sa until I got cast like i2d watch Seasons because and I've got m-net and I just wasn't I don't know I didn't I wasn't it wasn't appealing to me it wasn't out there and I think we do such a bad and apologize marketing NSA we wait almost like a month before to start do you know diving momentum and doing the Bold app and that's too late and you need to and kind of how we put the characters

25:24 Out there I think also in sa to be frank but most of the people that apply are not people of color so there's a lack of representation I mean I know people and I'm like I'm Indian and colored and I know so many people of my color that are less likely to play Survivor like they are not interested by the game they don't understand it they're not at seekers in that regard everything that Survivor represents his struggle and suffering and they feel like they've suffered enough like while they choose to go and live outside and not have the Comforts that we work our whole life to have so they can't relate to it so I think we need to make the we need to make the show a lot more relatable we need to do we need to follow the model of Idols essay where we have live auditions where we create this hype where we in every city interviewing so it makes it feel like yeah it makes it feel more relevant and more like all-encompassing and it's for everyone to join anyone you know regardless of your income level your age your background everyone's welcome to airport in audition for Survivor so I think that would create a nice hype nationally so that

26:44 We get this you know even if these pop their pop-up auditions in every city it makes brand awareness or like six people that make it to a certain points yeah I think I think even four people you know get those two people for one time and two for another like a man and a woman yes Ace was one of those contests yeah he was he was part of a he into this radio competition we I think he had to like stay outside at this billboard for like three days or sleep out there for however amount of time and by the way we as speaking of Ace is also one of my buddies that I met obviously posture we never got to play together and he's amazing and he definitely deserved to play a game because there was so much of his journey that just never made it like he told me I wasn't an idiot I wasn't just like digging holes I there was there was more to it there was like so we again saw like a character that he did not want to play he went out there his name is Adrian and he didn't wanted to play a character called s but with the camera as she showed was Adrian not ace he was setting himself up to be like a villain

28:04 And do crazy things and so that full story was not shown but I told him don't like don't knock the edit because that's still you that's who we like we like that guy that's softer like I remember on my tribe we didn't know Ace Mindanao and when we were looking at their tribe we were like we were trying to kind of guess who they are based on or what we kind of saw during challenges and we would always make fun that Ace was like the what is that guy that can do no wrong and people say like he can do not MacGyver the other one that wears a cat a cowboy hat Chuck Norris there we go we would say that even artists yeah we would make fun all the time and then Tevin it was more Tevin used to like mimic everyone's accent and he would come up with this weird funny Indian accent and pretend like his Ace and be there it was it was hilarious but I digress yeah how can they do it I think doing the idols model of auditions I think is a great way to put it out there I think making sure that there's more representation within the and also you know even people of color are here on Twitter a lot and myself and Stacy got like slaughtered about this they were like only people of

29:24 Color only the colored chicks quit and that bad stereotype needs to be fixed out there too it's not that like Stacy didn't quit she asked to be voted out there's a difference she still had the she still made it to Tribal Council you know quitting is when you just give up like I'm out she could have easily like she was wanting to go days before Tribal Council and she had the what am I gonna say is it the tenacity I don't know but she at least she stayed for the rest of us you know she could have easily given up before a challenge and we could have lost the challenge really badly but she still cared enough about it I've made still like okay guys just vote me out at Tribal Council then if we go to Tribal Council I'll push myself even though I don't want to be here I'm going to push myself to make it there she's also some someone that I feel like would have an amazing Redemption story because again there were facets of her that we didn't get to see she's such a physical player like she's crazy talented physically like she's a rugby player and yeah she's just she was just another she was on another level like I remember passing me on my back

30:44 Leaving me up I'm like oh why are we doing this because a lot of have you played sport and I couldn't relate to it and she was like get in the zone I guess because she's a sporty person so she's used to the team Dynamic she's really good at it she's so she's so tough it's such a touchy subject to begin with but I just wanted to say like stiffy who's my favorite Survivor South African female player of all time smash that if that was a thing and then also Meryl smashed it as well like both of them represented really well and went deep in both of their Seasons so I wasn't aware that was a thing but it's interesting you bring up the whole conversation around diversity because survivors of Africa is seen as one of the more diverse franchises out there if you compare it to like an Australian Survivor I think the Survivor us is starting to do a lot more in regards to that even though they are putting diverse people in their elderly I still sometimes feel like thought was they're not the diverse and I think you have to have both and everybody starts thinking in the same way on the new age of survivors of Africa but it's interesting that you bring that up I want you to elaborate a little bit more on that because obviously South Africa has got a very different demographic where 80 of the country and maybe even higher than 80 of the country is black and we probably don't have that many you know if you think about it that many black players that

32:04 Actually do play on Survivor South Africa yeah and it's just because of the marketing where they're marketing how they're marketing the faces that they show in the marketing it's still I remember the Billboards that were put out I think it was Rob season so Robin Nicole Kappa and they had like more blonde women on the billboard than anything else even though one of the blonde women left first but had this impression like that these people were probably gonna make it long in the game so Nicole obviously and Rob I think that Ted Leanne from That season of one of the Billboards and she was one of the first videos yeah it was the end it was Leanna Nicole on a billboard and Rob and I don't know who the other character was but it wasn't they could have shown you know the other characters that played and the other women of color they could have even added on there Steph was also in Etsy I think Steph was on the poster it wasn't it wasn't big in a country we are majority black they should have shown a black face or two yeah and I mean Rob bentelli was the biggest reason for that season he ended up dominating That season he had I think one of the best runs off any Survivor winner ever I love Dino as much as anybody else and I think there's a few people that will put a debate out there that Dino is

33:25 Also up there as one of the better winners but you know I think Rob represents the what franchise the franchise of Survivor South Africa should look like very well if you want to promote it within other communities especially in the Zulu Community or maybe some of the black communities then Rob could be a great representation of that so I don't know how much they still involve Rob in any of the marketing stuff because again someone like Dino because he is just so engaged like I think he's a great brand ambassador for Survivor but if you're trying to achieve that I think you need to pull someone like Rob back in and have more conversations with him about recruiting more people to play the game and I think that's what you're sort of getting at Mariska yeah for sure for sure I mean he's a great a representation of sa because he's mixed race also so he can speak for the he's I think it's off Zulu and half Austrian I think oh yeah there we go yeah so he's like a Trevor Noah and would be an amazing and someone to represent Survivor but beyond that beyond the these looks and his Heritage he's a great player like this I don't I made him off I met him at his reunion and he's just such a strategic and a smart player I was going to say he's very charismatic as well like you can immediately

34:45 Tell why he won when you have a conversation with him he is he's Charming he's a great Storyteller so yeah he will have that broad appeal definitely I think to use to show more of like Rob would be great okay so another player that would there would be an amazing Ambassador is a Felix because it looks like an everyday guy with his dad born and all and he represents the majority in sa he's a successful black man he's Charming he gets it so I think he would also be a cool ambassador to put out there if we wanna is saying get the show back on but I think the other solution for us watching Survivor essay again and having future seasons is that it needs to get connected to like a Netflix streaming service people just do not have the patience to wait for episodes anymore you know in this world we can binge like seven episodes of a season of any show so for us to actually wait every week for a show that doesn't exist anymore that's not as convenient I think social media has made us so impatient and this is why people are

36:05 Anxiety is because just their patience is never tested we never have to wait for anything see everything is instant and so now you're telling me I need to wait for the next episode next week I'm gonna forget I'm gonna get hooked on another show so I think giving them the option and they can make it work from an advertising perspective it's how you sell it that's how you picture I would love to join the team that goes out there day and appeals to corporates there are so many huge companies in ASA that can fund it okay money is not an option it's about who you're speaking to and how are you pitching it and if we if Survivor essay hopefully gets picked up by anaka Netflix there's still room for us to have ads you know we accept ads when we when we watch a podcast we can accept it when we're watching a streaming show and it's also about ad placement you know it doesn't have to be like oh this is an outsurance ad and it's an introduction it can just be subtly placed and I think Survivor us does it quite well I mean I watch it without ads so but in terms of like ad placement and like having oh you won this reward and it's sponsored by KFC I think it was actually odds they did it but they do it well where it's not where you don't feel ad is being pushed on you and they're trying to make it work we also suck in terms of how

37:25 We align with Brands and I see it from a marketing perspective it's like they're lazy about it like they force future life in there and it makes no sense for instance and I'm not bashing the brand but just if I was in the marketing team I would think of a more of a smoother way to integrate Brands into the show where it makes sense and it's not it doesn't feel like an ad detect from the show yeah so I wanted to add as well before I get into the brand stuff because you drop some really good things there fully endorse Felix love Felix you know his growth from his first season to a second season like you said he's like the everyday dad you know he's kind of like the dad bod he's devoted to his wife he's got a great family outside of it he's into rugby I mean does it get more South African than that you know it doesn't get more South African so he will appeal to so many people and then someone else that is absolutely loved by the online community and has got such a bright and sparkling personality as palesa you know palesa is another person that could really also push this brand forward if they utilize their star power that they have and I was just thinking while you were talking about Brands and brand placements it could even be like in rugby you have like the Emirates Stadium or certain things where it becomes sort of natural what if you had challenges where this is the Kathmandu

38:46 Reward challenge or the cat man do hold on for survival challenge or whatever the challenge is but you bring it into the challenges and I think from a brand and standpoint like you said there is like Kathmandu is a great like k-way in South Africa it's called k-way I'm thinking of the Australian and New Zealand brand but it's the same company k-way fits in really well and South Africa is such an outdoorsy country people love camping people love doing these outdoorsy things so I can't see why we can't pick up a couple of these outdoorsy Brands to also sponsor survivors of Africa and I'll let you add to that and then also think about this the channel itself I've come on a couple of times and said you know from what I'm hearing through the grapevine they've dropped other International franchises as well it sounds like mnet has gone through their own struggles right now I don't know the insides of it I know they've got a new CEO for multichoice that have taken over from the previous long-standing CEO there's a lot of things happening within multi-choice within mnet do you still think like moving forward in a country that has got some really big economical issues and high unemployment rates that paywall like Emirate which is an expensive paywall you know is the right place for a show such a Survivor to be on because Survivor in the US is on a free-to-air channel in Australia it's on a free to Air Channel maybe if it's on like a streaming platform like a prime Amazon where it's only 90 Rand a

40:06 Month versus I don't know how much internet costs now but I'm sure it's a lot more than that do you feel like that is another thing where maybe they should look for a better channel to have it on or a better streaming platform what's your sort of take on that yeah I agree with you I think that I mean in this and all of our all of our local TV stations have been struggling for years and it's not just since lockdown it's they are a lot more aware of it now yes and they have to be more conscious because they are struggling way more sure but and probably change of management Etc but yes no one's watching mnet it's and it's not just because of Survivor it's because the other shows are not great they've got a Content issue we don't have a lot of amazing locally produced shows and those that are really well done they move to Netflix like the Bloods and blood and water and some of the other newer ones that are coming out and I think a streaming service like Netflix would be a lot more accessible it's cheaper it's cheaper than DStv and believe me as someone who's driven past I know Township it is in essay I've had I've hosted events in those areas people will spend to watch Good TV so

41:26 These I mean we live in a country like Cape Town if you go past the Shacks there's a satellite on every Shack regardless of the situation even if people don't have running water and they are you know more than 12 people staying in one little space there's a satellite TV they'll make it happen they'll make it work and it's not a Wi-Fi issue or anything for in terms of streaming again people have Wi-Fi you can look at our social media stats to know that even the lower end of the market the mass Market are there they are present on all of those channels so moving to a streaming platform is way better than mnet is not a diverse Channel from a Content perspective it's not interesting to watch I mean yeah I'm the Survivor target audience and I don't watch internet outside of when it's on Survivor that's really interesting that you pointed that out and you know I've actually been in South Africa quite recently I went to go visit some family in July and landed in Cape Town and you're right like Shacks for those that are international listeners and viewers of this channel it's basically the township little houses that are bought there it's very impoverished areas but all of them still have satellites dishes which is

42:46 Basically what mnet is a satellite channel that people can watch these shows from so that's a very interesting point that you brought up and one of the other things I thought about we have been rumored that the next Australian Survivor season is going to be Titans versus Rebels which is a very interesting theme I had sort of from my side when I reacted to it I said I feel like they should do more to have an authentic Australian theme to get more Australians to watch Australian Survivor and to build on that so an Australia state of origin is a really big thing where Queensland plays Rugby League versus New South Wales and this is this big thing where the whole country stops to watch it so I see maybe like a state of origin with getting different people you know from different states taking each other on will get a wider Australian audience more engaged with Australian Survivor because they get about I don't know 700 000 to 800 000 people watching it in a country of like 30 40 million or 20 million plus so there is still a lot of room for them to get more people to watch it marry that first sight gets over a million that's the biggest reality TV show in Australia so they can still in my opinion beat Mario the first Side by also increasing their marketing when you think about Survivor South Africa is there like certain themes that survivors have could explore that maybe will get

44:06 The South African public talking where they're like wow we need to see this because this theme is coming out which is so authentic South African is there anything I know I'm putting you on the spot but is there anything that you think that they could do or Workshop there to maybe also get more eyeballs on the show yeah I think in South Africa the theme that would work would be like a blood versus water and people would love to see like family members play together I mean that would be very interesting for people you know if it's you and your love you and your partner or you and your mom or you and your son or whatever that may be I think that would be interesting for people to watch they're dynamic because in essay we are warm and we're about family so I think having that presence or family and that taste of how will you how will you play like who are you to strangers versus who are you to your family members you know are you going to be able to juggle that dynamic because most people like switch in between like you know you are one person at work another person with your group of buddies and then at home you are another person because we still care about how we respect our parents and how we show up to our family Etc so I think that there will be a challenge for many people playing the game because the game pushes

45:27 You and shows all sides of your personality and the things like you can't hide in the game the thing about Survivor the thing about Survivor is that it totally exposes you blood versus water I think is an interesting theme and you know especially in South Africa I feel like that family bonds that would like everything just this more intense in South Africa even just like a discussion around food if someone stole food on Camp with chappies that was like next level between Tyson Quran and Chappy's at Tribal Council which is why I like it because we're so Raw authentic with our reactions and the things that happen in Survivor so if your brother or your sister is out there or your loved one is out there I feel like some Africans were very passionate people it will make for very entertaining TV if someone was to backstab your brother like I thought an Australian Survivor people were way too okay with family members leaving the game and then like oh you know it was her dream to play but oh well you know I feel like some Africans wouldn't take that lying down if their brother or their sister got backstabbed them the game so it could be very entertaining I'm down just be a problem but I agree with you [Music] yeah so Mariska it's been a lot of fun talking to you I did say we were going to try and keep this as short as possible and I think we got quite a lot out of it is

46:47 There anything that you wanted to talk to the rest of or let people know about things that you're working on right now is there places where people can follow you or is there anything else you wanted to bring up about the safe Survivor South Africa campaign so I just wanted to reply to your last comment that you know the Australians took it quite well when they had like a blood versus water theme and they were okay for their family members to leave and you're 100 right like we would fight for a family member we're actually more likely to fight about our family than a stranger that's going to test us then that's going to push us so that's why I say it would be a cool Dynamic to witness because people are gonna fight people are gonna are gonna are gonna become a lot more entertaining when their family members involved and take it seriously like it would make people want to do things that are totally out of character if you see your loved one being attacked or insulted and I remember the early seasons of Survivor when I watched it back preparing obviously for my season I felt like we were so timid we were so quiet like there was no one like raging in America they are all about like in the beginning of Survivor you know the Good Seasons they were so out of character and crazy and doing

48:07 Foolish things like I mean chappie stealing food is not a new thing we saw it on Survivor us you know I just knew to the South African audience who hadn't watched the other seasons of the US but I think nothing that I've seen on Survivor it says truly shocked me I think outside of that eating the paper I think that was unique I hadn't seen any other Survivor player eating paper but yeah so I think the family thing would be totally cool definitely something we need to try yeah I think you're right I think that there is a lot that can still be explored on Survivor South Africa I think that there are some like just knowing and being tapped into the Survivor fandom Community there are some great players not tested yet obviously until they go out there and play the game that's a whole different story like you said Mariska you could have all the plans in the world go in there none of them work but I feel like there are some ambitious players out there that have not yet played the game and I really want to see them play the game I've made it very clear that you know if I was to ever you know sacrifice my career and what I'm doing at the moment it would be for survivors of Africa because I love the franchise it's my favorite franchise so if that opportunity ever came up I'd love to play the game myself I don't know how possible that would be not being in the country at the moment but who knows maybe in the future they'll have like locals versus expats there's all this whole thing about those people that left

49:27 The country you know one of those people that left the country played against the locals you know and I think that could be an interesting theme that people will get behind and they'll be shouting out before the locals to win we'd kind of be like the villains and the people who stayed in the country would be the Euros you know so I think that could be an interesting theme to explore and maybe that would be the one that I could then sort of slot into the mix but it's been so great Mariska talking to you about survivors of Africa I'm very appreciative of your time and jumping on And discussing this with us and hopefully in the future we get to talk some more Survivor you know now that we've sort of gotten you on the Channel Once I'm gonna definitely annoy you in the future like I do with Tony and the rest of them is there anything that you wanted people to know about anything you're working on Project wise any place people can follow you I'll also make sure to put links in the bottom of your Instagram and things like that no I think I love the idea of expats versus locals that would be amazing I think that's also a fight waiting to happen there will be a totally cool theme but outside of that I am on social media I am yeah I'm on social media and I'm hoping that Survivor Isa gets picked up again I'm don't overly promote myself I love talking all things Survivor is a so if you're interested we can connect sure happy to do that yeah Mariska it's been great

50:48 Talking to you please go check out all of mariska's Social Links I'll make sure to put it at the bottom even though she doesn't promote it I'll promote it a little bit for her on the channel also if you got to this point of the podcast thank you so much for watching it please consider subscribing we've just passed 2 000 subscribers with the help of the online fan Community very grateful for that we're now on our way to our next goal which is to get to 3 000 subscribers the bigger the channel get the more people we can invite to come on and hopefully in the future we'll have more official podcasts that we can do with players from other reality TV shows since we also cover traitors all of the franchises we cover Wheel of Time from Prime now here on the channel as well and array of other shows like The Amazing Race the challenge Etc and so forth and we didn't even get to talk about the challenge yet Mariska but I'm a book challenge fan I think that the challenge in the U.S is now surpassing Survivor as the premier reality TV show have you ever watched it and what's your thoughts about maybe having a challenge South Africa season in the future if you have watched it yeah I watched the last season where Sarah was on Tyson yep yeah that was amazing so ah yeah I would love the challenge to come to sa I think it would work really well kind of like Fear Factor was big in sa when it was on and

52:08 It's such a Pity that we don't have the longevity so yes Survivor may not be aiding on emit again but it was still a long-running reality series if you compared it to other reality shows picked up Jose so yeah the challenge is amazing challenge is it's a bit of like a combination of big brother and Survivor for me and not just because they pull from those characters but yeah so I think it would do it would do really well in sa it's a lot it's not as like strenuous as a Survivor so I think more people would want to enter it because they can see themselves you know outlasting and surviving a lot better than Survivor survivors like the hardest game that anyone can ever play definitely I definitely want to see you play the game even if you are living outside of sa I want everyone to experience Survivor because it was the most amazing experience of my life and changed me forever that's the reason why I wrote a book recently and a lot of the content was about Survivor and my experience there and I wouldn't have had the boldness to do that and I started my own company after I left Survivor I tested my own marketing chops without the backing of Big Brand and a big budget and I did that while

53:28 Yeah survivors changing and it's such a great talking point like I remind my husband every time I feel like a bit low or I feel like I'm not I'm not succeeding and then I'm like I remind him I actually got on a show like actually it actually happened for me you don't understand how to deal if this step was it was crazy even this game it's still like blows my mind the things that I did I overcame every single fear I was fearful of deep water I was fearful of living outdoors I was fearful of not even having body wash and all of these things I overcame on Survivor so that's amazing I wonder if you want to play Survivor I don't ever want the franchise to end and we deserve essay deserves to have the franchise continue that's amazing and what a way to end it please someone out there pick up Survivor South Africa it's an amazing franchise with so many loyal fans around the world let's make it a global show available on a streaming platform that can legally stream it to all different areas in the world that people can watch it thank you so much everybody for watching grab your torches head back to camp and we'll catch you guys next time