As things wind down on this season of Australian Survivor, the excitement is only ramping up. Lat night, we saw challenge beast Emmett Pugh have his torch snuffed by JLP after a close-call tribal council that nearly saw George defeated.
However, Emmett remained in good spirits, telling the camera post-elimination that he understood the move, and hoped to go down in Survivor history as “one of the greatest plant-based Superman challenge beasts ever.”
Emmett, a fitness and health coach from Western Australia, spoke often about his ‘plant-based Superman’ ways on the show, which is a mindset he has cultivated for himself within his work that proved advantageous on the show.
While Emmett will remain on our screens as the fourth jury member, he took the time to chat to WHO about the experience of Survivor, and why he probably wouldn’t do it again.
How are you feeling after last night’s episode?
I feel great. I feel like it was a good way to go out, I had a bloody good crack and won plenty of challenges, which is what I went there to do. I had a real life-changing moment of transitioning from being selfish to selfless and learning to work with people who I thought were also deserving winners … I’ve really grown a lot from the whole experience. I’m feeling blessed.
What was your inspiration to go on Survivor?
Yeah, I’ve always been a fan of Survivor, but I’ve also always been into pushing myself to my greatest potential and pushing myself to the limit. I thought, after doing a few crazy endurance events, why not have a crack at the world’s greatest game?
Did you do anything to prepare yourself for the show?
Yeah, I did. I’ve been in health, fitness, and coaching and stuff like that, so I built myself a bit of a 28-day challenge to prepare for the Survivor experience, and I’ve put up on my Instagram an application for the 28-day challenge that I used to get ready for Survivor. So, if anyone out there wants to train like a Superman and pretend they’re preparing for Survivor, I’ve got the coaching program for them! [laughs]
Was it what you expected?
I didn’t go into it with any expectations, but I guess a way to reframe that would be that it was the most traumatic and life-changing experience of my life [laughs].
You’re well known for your great focus in challenges, with Jonathan LaPaglia even calling you a ‘Zen master’. What went through your head during the endurance challenges?
I’ve been working on my ‘Superman mindset’ for a long time. It’s an art form of being able to calm your mind, breathe, calm your body, relax, switch off, and access a flow state. It’s a state of peak performance where time slows down, things move slower, you pay more attention to the small movements, and it’s a mindset that you can put yourself into. That’s come from years of practice. It all starts with self-awareness, your thoughts, feelings, and emotions, and then practicing how to maintain cool and calm in crazy situations. That’s what it means to be a Superman.
After your elimination, you said you hoped Hayley would go on to win, and that you’d found Wai inspiring. Has that stayed the same watching it back?
Oh, for sure. Anyone that isn’t inspired by Wai going on national television, going to battle out with a bunch of bloody survivors when she’s not a very confident swimmer … I think she showed the most heart out of anyone. And although she may not have been a challenge beast, I think that she would have inspired a lot of people just to her personal courage, and I really admire her for that, because that was my intention going into the show as well – to inspire people to become the greatest versions of themselves.
And Hayley’s amazing! She’s a really genuine, awesome person, she’s got a great social game. She’s good in challenges, she’s a physical player … which I respect, too. And her social game is next level – she is a Survivor superfan, she knows the game inside and out, she’s ten steps ahead of everyone else, so I think that she is by far the most well-rounded Survivor contestant, and I think she is by far the \.
Would you come back to Survivor for All Stars or a second chance?
Mate, I would have to be getting a lot more money! [laughs] They’d have to pay me a lot of money to go back into that bloody torture chamber of an experience. I’ve definitely ticked it off my bucket list … but at the moment I’m just enjoying my beautiful life here in Margaret River.
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