The last time we saw Australian Survivor‘s Johnny Eastoe, he was being eliminated from All Stars in early 2020. Now, Eastoe is returning to screens for Network Ten’s newest reality competition series, The Challenge Australia.
The show will pit 22 reality stars, ranging from MasterChef Australia to Married at First Sight and Ninja Warrior Australia against one another in a race to the finish line. Whoever wins The Challenge Australia will then go on to compete on The Challenge: Global Championship. There, they’ll go up against the winners of The Challenge: Argentina, The Challenge: USA, and The Challenge: UK in the hopes of becoming the first ever global winner.
Chatting to The Latch over the phone ahead of the show’s November 14 premiere, Eastoe said that he’s “excited to be back” on screens.
“Don’t ask me any questions about Survivor because I know bugger all about it, though!” he exclaimed with a laugh. “I barely know the seasons I was on, let alone the others! So don’t expect too much from me!”
Eastoe first won the hearts of Australian Survivor fans as the loveable larrakin of Survivor who enjoyed nudie runs on the beach with his mullet flying in the wind, as he pined for a pint and a Mexican parmigiana.
Since then? It’s “much of the same, mate!”, according to Eastoe.
“I live in Perth now but spend a lot of time in outback WA, still in the mines, just doin’ Johnny things, I guess!” he said, before adding that more recently, he spent seven months in Bali, which is where he prepared for The Challenge Australia.
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“When I found out I was going on The Challenge, I would’ve gone back to work at some point, but I thought, ‘bugger it, I’m in Indonesia, I may as well just do a bit of training, do a bit of boxing’, so in fashion true to myself, I’d get up every morning, I’d go to boxing, I’d go to the gym, and then I’d probably go and drink 10 beers in the afternoon, wake up in the morning and repeat that all over again, for a good six weeks,” he said.
“You’ve gotta burn some sort of energy!” he joked with a laugh. “It’s all about nutrition, isn’t it?! Balance, balance, I should say!”
After shaving his trademark mullet off for the World’s Greatest Shave earlier this year — it is not present on The Challenge Australia — we had to know: will the mullet be making a comeback in the future?
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“I’m f**kin’ trying!” he exclaimed. “It all grows on top for some reason, but the back doesn’t seem to grow! I don’t know if me hairdresser’s playing funny buggers or something like that, cuttin’ it off every time I go in, probably doin’ me a favour!”
He laughed. “I kinda want it back, but also, I like not lookin’ like a goose!” he admitted. “You marginalise the female population — I’ll give you a tip — when you look like that!”
Will Eastoe have what it takes to make it to the end of The Challenge Australia, or was his power in the mullet? Only time will tell. Until then…
The Challenge Australia premieres at 7.30pm on Monday, November 14, only on 10 and 10 Play on Demand.
Want more The Challenge Australia? Click here to read all our content, and check out the stories below:
- This Is What Brooke Jowett Has Been Up to Since Competing on ‘Australian Survivor: All Stars’
- We Finally Have a Premiere Date for ‘The Challenge Australia’
- Do They Have What it Takes? Meet the Entire Cast of ‘The Challenge Australia’
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