Caleb Exit Interview | Australian Survivor: Redemption - Winner | Ep 24 | Beyond Tribal

In this episode of Beyond Reality: Beyond Tribal, long-time Australian Survivor producer Hayley Ferguson sits down with the winner of Australian Survivor: Redemption - Caleb.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:15

Hi, I'm Hayley Ferguson and this is Beyond Reality. I've spent the past decade working as a producer on Australian Survivor. And now I'm taking you Beyond Tribal. I'll be chatting with the players from Australian Survivor Redemption as they leave the game unpacking their strategy, their downfall, and their story beyond the vote. This is beyond reality. Hi Caleb. Hello, Haley. How are you? I'm good, but the real question is, how are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:42

That's a hard question. I'm on Cloud9. I don't even know what's going on right now. I'm just, yeah, ecstatic to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Congratulations on winning Australian Survivor Redemption. How did it feel to be announced as the winner in front of a live audience?

SPEAKER_01 0:59

It's certainly something that you just can't top. You know, like to get some closure after a grueling six months of going back and forth in your mind, did you make it? Did I not? Um, you know, I thought I was gonna get a blind side within a blind side. Um, so to take the win is yeah, probably pretty amazing. So I'm I'm so happy.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Like you said, this was filmed months ago, and you obviously made it all the way to the end and found out that the winner would be announced back in Australia. What has that weight been like with that uncertainty, I guess, hanging over the season?

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Yeah, it's been look, it's been tough. I um, you know, I remember like while standing in those pegs, I was trying to crunch numbers about like where the votes would go. And I I I just didn't know. I I really didn't know. And I think it's you know, it's it as much as it was hard with the people not wanting to tell me who they voted for, it also makes it exciting because like do we all want to know straight away? Like, you know, there's been so many final pitches or like final two where everyone knows who's gonna win, right? Where I didn't really want to just always take the easy route. Like my game was it was hard the whole time being there. So, like, may as well go out on another hard note, you know what I mean? And like, if I wanna be the best, I wanted to beat the best, you know what I mean? I wanted to beat the best of the returnees. I didn't just want to take the you know, an easy route, maybe with Loz. I wanted to actually give myself a fight. So it was um, that's why I did it.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

It was such an incredible final tribal, uh, it was a great matchup. How confident were you after the tribal council walking away? How confident were you that you had the win?

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Not at all. I think my pitch was so bad, right? Like, I really dropped the ball, and like if it wasn't for people like Mark and Loz and like even Keely carried me through my pitch. I know Sally helped me a bit, and I think Cam one day said, like, you know, well then claim that. Um there's no way I would have made it, right? Like, I just I just wasn't claiming any moves. I just played such a secretive game, my brain just couldn't switch to now playing an open game, and like I can't brag to all of their faces about how I got them out because like I felt bad for them, you know what I mean? Like I've I I was suffering with like imposter syndrome, like I don't deserve to be sitting here. You guys are the big players, you know what I mean? And um, and so they're like Caleb, you need to start like, but I also like with Laws, the last thing I wanted to do was burn her that way and then rub salt in the wound, being like, Yeah, I got out Laws, blah blah. And she's like, Caleb, it's okay. You need to tell the people that, and like her telling me that, it was like, you know, I'm it's it's okay, I can stop being sorry because I've been sorry all night, walking up and down the beach, being like, What have I done? What have I done? And then she's like, It's okay, Caleb. I understand. Like, I want you to claim it so you can have that move, and that was a pivotal point for me as well.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

I think you're being a little hard on yourself in terms of your pitch, but you did go up against Jackson, who is a showman. He is a very good speaker. He is. Was there part of you that was intimidated by going up against Jackson at Final Tribal?

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Not before he started talking. I've never been intimidated by Jackson, right? Like, he has come at me the whole game and every single shot has missed, right? And I just thought, like, I don't want him to be able to say that he could have beaten me if I like if we got to the end together. I don't want him to walk around Sydney going, yeah, I would have smashed him, right? So that's why I was like, Yeah, I'm taking him to the end. It's not even a question, right? And then he starts talking, and then like he didn't have many moves. I think he had like one solid move, but somehow he spoke for like half an hour and it sounded amazing. And I was just going further down, down, down in this hole, and I was going, like, you know, fair to him. He's uh got a better pitch, but I think, yeah, I brought it back in the end somehow.

SPEAKER_00 5:24

Well, you won, so. Your rivalry with Jackson has really been like a defining part of this season, and it was so incredible that you took him to the end. I guess can you talk through that rivalry from where it started and how it sort of evolved throughout the game?

SPEAKER_01 5:48

Honestly, like, you know, the day I dressed up as Harry, like, I never come from a malicious intent, right? Ever. That was meant to just be funny. And I remember Keely backing me out, being like, Caleb, that'd be so funny if you do it. Like in her like mono change, you should really do it, Caleb. I'm like, oh, don't do it. And they hated it, right? They really took offense to it. And um, I was like, at that tribal council, when he called me out, I I couldn't believe it, but like I could tell that it was real, I could tell that he was genuinely annoyed, and he's just like, I felt like it came from a place where he was like, This guy looks like easy to belittle and like you know, get on top of me, but he didn't know, he didn't know me, right? And so he just never was able to really snuff me, you know what I mean? And I think that, yeah, it just became this big heated rivalry where he kept trying to shoot shots at me, but they never landed.

SPEAKER_00 6:43

So well, Jackson told me he set up that rivalry because he felt like you could handle it.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Oh, that's good. I could handle it, it was a bit, it was a surprise, but like I I did handle it, and um, it made for some awesome moments.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Yeah, I mean the bluffing challenge was a highlight for me. Me too. I want to talk about the final tribal council. Obviously, you had Mark and Loz advocating for you. How did it feel to have them advocating for you and urging you to own your game? I mean, Loz showed you a lot of grace in that moment.

SPEAKER_01 7:23

Yeah, look, it was uh it was a game changer. I um I they could see me struggling out there, right? And then Jackson starts saying stuff that, like, you know, he was saying, I played a great, you know, double agent game and I pretty much got Mark out. Mark's like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, no. Caleb, I know what you did. You need to start like, you know, emphasizing on how you did it, right? And like, yeah, they they just told me like to, you know, claim a bit more of my my game because like I was just breezing through it. I wasn't really explaining to anyone like the mechanics of how I did it. And um and I look, man, it it goes to show my social game, like people, you know, really had me in their corner, which is pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Why do you think you I guess struggled to own your game in that moment?

SPEAKER_01 8:17

Look, I just Because I can't I it might come from like you know, a humble place. Like when I got out of Redemption Beach, right? When I won my way out of Redemption Island or whatever it was, I the first thing that I said when I got back to camp was I'm sorry I'm not Keely, right? Because like I know that no one wants to see this big show pony gloating person, right? So in my pitch, I was just like, yeah, I'm gonna be as fun and you know, like I I just couldn't differentiate from like having such a hidden game to making that switch and like you know being so open about it and bragging about all my moves. I just I couldn't really do it. And then once I realized like, yeah, this is kind of what I need to do, I started like bringing it back, but it was yeah, it was something that I was struggling with.

SPEAKER_00 9:06

I think that's an Australian quality as well. You know, as Australians, we find it hard to talk ourselves up.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

Yeah, yeah, it's not a bad thing to not be able to really, you know, talk yourself up because you want your actions to do the talking, right? I've always been really big on like if I walk the walk, I don't have to do the talking, right? And so when it com time came to talk the talk, I was like, oh geez, this is harder than I expected. But um, I remember saying in my pitch, like, you know, a big part of survivor is being able to talk the talk as well. And you know, if you fall short there, well then you fall short in the game. So you've got to be versatile, you've got to be good at everything, which is not easy because you're thrown everything in that game. It's like it's like life juiced up on steroids, you know what I mean? And um there's gonna be stuff that you're good at in Survivor, and there's gonna be stuff that you really struggle at.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

Well, you won six votes to three. Were there any votes that surprised you?

SPEAKER_01 10:07

Look, I think Keely surprised me. Like, you know, her voting for me.

SPEAKER_00 10:12

I mean, she wanted you out for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Whole game. And I never knew that, right? I never knew Keely was gunning for me the way she did. I guess she respected game. I don't know. But like she, yeah. We were chatting like every night, and she's like, I think you're really safe, Caleb. You're in like a really good place. And I'm like, you know, you too, Keely, I think you're doing great. And then I watch every episode of her saying she needs to get me out. But like she just said that we had very different ideas of what Soul Survivor meant for each other. Um, and I achieved mine, you know, I achieved my idea of what Soul Survivor was, and I that's how I got a vote, which I think is pretty beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 10:54

Yeah, and I want to talk about that relationship with Mark because obviously that has been a really crucial part of your game. What do you think Mark saw in you in those early days that perhaps others didn't see? A number.

SPEAKER_01 11:08

Right? Mark held his hand out to me. Like that's what you're gonna do, right? You're gonna try and get good bonds with everyone that you could possibly can. But as that started to evolve, he started seeing a character there. He started seeing there's a bit more to Caleb than just the loud mouth, you know what I mean? And then we started growing in actual friendship, and I he started teaching me how to play Survivor. He's my survivor coach, right? And then it got to the point where like I would literally, you know, meet up with him at nighttime and just tell him the truth. Like, this is who's gunning for you, this is what's going on. At the same time, I'm also waiting to strike, you know what I mean? I'm waiting for the right time, but I was honest with him till the day I got him out of the game, and I think um, you know, you need that. I was honest with Loz, and look what happened. We became a power couple. Me and Mark were a very undercover power couple. Some people saw that, like Faith and Keighley wanted to get me out of the game because they saw how I was with Mark, and I think that's just testimony to you know, honesty is a great policy because it really elevates you to become a power couple. When you're not lying to each other, you guys are dominating, and I think that's a real important aspect to Survivor.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Yeah, absolutely. In the game, we saw different sides to you. We saw Caleb of Chaos, this sort of big character, and then I think we saw a softer side of you at the final tribal council, and you obviously had that softer side because you had such great relationships with the jury. Yeah. Who is the real Caleb and and what are you like in your everyday life?

SPEAKER_01 12:52

Look, I Caleb chaos comes out when I am excited, okay? I am always the loudest person in the room when I'm happy. And but I'm also, you know, I'm a calculated person, but I I can just feel the energy that people give off, and I can just match that. And I think that, you know, a lot of people saw my heart out there because like my heart was always on my sleeve. Look, my edit they they Australian Survivor show the game rather than the human, right? And my game was Caleb Chaos, so that's what we got. We got Caleb Chaos on our screens 98% of the time. But when I wasn't Caleb Chaos, I was, you know, a a very genuine, virtue uh, you know, caring person that would really listen to people and you know give my true heart advice and all that kind of stuff. And if I wasn't that person, I would have nobody wants Caleb Chaos around 24-7. I don't want that Caleb around 24-7, it's too much for me. Right? But everyone understood that, you know, the chaos comes from an innocent, you know, joyful boy at the end of the day. It doesn't, it's it's yeah, it's just it's who I am, but um, I'm glad that you could still see there was more to me than just like a chaotic idiot, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 14:14

I think we definitely saw there was more to you than that. There was a lot of talk about the concept of passengers this season, and I want to know how much did that label bother you, and was it something that actually fueled you to want to take out the win even more?

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Look, I I never really even processed the word passenger because look what Survivor is it's outwit, outplay, and outlast. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, you gotta make moves, but you've also got to play in the shadows as a passenger for little sections of the time, right? Let the big players implode on themselves, okay? And look, I was passenger when I needed to be, and I was literally steering the ship when I needed to. And look, everything that was said out there gave me feel for my fire. Every every time that faith put me down, it lit a fire in my belly. Every time Jackson called me out in front of people, it lit a fire in my belly. Every time I was left out of votes, it would put a fire in me to play harder and play harder. And they made me into a player that became unbeatable. You know what I mean? So call me a passenger, call me whatever you want. You're only setting yourself up for demise because you're creating someone who's gonna become a hellbent on getting you out. I became hellbent on beating them all. So look, I yeah, I never really cared being called a passenger because I knew I wasn't, you know. I knew I wasn't just like you have a look. I was playing a very Caleb game the whole time. And when Loz me and Loz finally became a duo, that's when like we became a power couple because we just started telling each other the truth, and yeah, it was it couldn't have came at a better time, me and Laws. So I don't know. Uh call me a passenger all you want. I passenged my way to the winning hello.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

And what's your relationship like with Jackson now? How would you describe it? Well, I mean, we're good.

SPEAKER_01 16:15

Like, I think when he realized that he couldn't beat me, he's just like, well, I'll be friends with him, right? Like, and um at the end of the game, like when we come out, we we became mates. Like, we I remember one night we were staying in a villa and we drank every single cocktail on the menu, right? And we're just like, let's start at the start and let's just go down, and we just became we just became buddies, and it was it was funny as so yeah, no, I take my hat off to him. He's a good bloke.

SPEAKER_00 16:42

I think that's great. I mean, you are going to share this experience forever, and I think, you know, it would be great to see you in round two.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

I'd love I'd love to play again, and there's so many moves that I didn't even get to do. So, like, yeah, channel 10, call me.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

So, how does$500,000 change things for you? And what's the first thing you're gonna do with the money?

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Well, I've got a mortgage of 200 grand, so I'm gonna pay that off, right? Because like having an income where you don't have to pay a mortgage is massive. I'd obviously love to invest some, right? Because you need money to make money, but I've always wanted to do some like massive big things with my life, you know. I've always wanted to summit big mountains. I know I can. I literally know I can, and there's like still animals out there that I still find out like I had no idea that they existed. And like I've always loved, right, um, the unloved kind of animals, like the creepy crawlies, the animals that could just nail me hard as. And like I feel like it's my purpose to show that to the world, you know what I mean? So, like, with a bit of money, I can go to like Madagascar, which has like the most amount of animals that are just native to that one tiny island, and um, you know, like I want to go out to the Pacific Ocean and film with the giant Pacific octopus because it's like freaky as. Like, imagine that, like, wrapping around you, like, I don't know, now I have the opportunity to do stuff like that. So I'm just gonna have so much fun, right? I'm just gonna, yeah, make these hectic videos and like, you know, go around the world and see things, like go to Peru and see like ancient stuff and go to the pyramids and whatever. Like, the world's my oyster now. Survivor has literally allowed me to have the world in my palm, and it's up to me to claim it. So I'm so ready.

SPEAKER_00 18:36

I love that. You mean you take care of the boring stuff like the mortgage, and then you can have some fun with it.

SPEAKER_01 18:41

That's it, that's it. Like, you know, I'll I'll be smart, I'll be crazy, and I'll be cautious. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 18:48

How does winning Survivor change the way you see yourself?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

It's funny because like I knew as a kid I was this guy, but then with the pressures of life, with the the loop you get thrown for as being a teenager and a young adult, you know how hard it is. You start losing a bit of faith in yourself. Like the dream you had as a kid sometimes can get a bit snuffed when you're an adult. And Survivor has just completely shown me that I still am the same guy, I still have the same burning passion for life, and it's just completely solidified my you know, my opportunity to be the Caleb that I always knew I could be. So yeah, um Survivor has really just brought that out.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

That's amazing. I'm glad that you've got that sort of self-belief from this experience that it's reminded you of what you're capable of.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:45

In terms of your survivor win, how would you like to be remembered?

SPEAKER_01 19:49

I would just like to be remembered as someone that's gonna be really hard to copy, right? But also a guy, your average Aussie neighbor, right? I want boys to look at me and go, like, you know, that's like a mate that I went to school with. I'm not some masterclass of a person. I was just true to myself, right? And you can do it too. Anyone can literally win Survivor if you have the right, you know, if you make the right decisions. And, you know, I just want to be someone who we can all relate to because we all know someone like me, and you know, don't ever give up on like don't ever think that it takes, you know, an athlete or someone that's studied for years to get all this information. No, you can literally achieve anything like I did, you know what I mean? And I was just your average guy from the neighborhood, so yeah, I just want someone to see the human side of me that we can all relate to, you know what I mean? So, yeah, I just want to be remembered by someone that came from nothing and became someone that is, yeah, soul survivor.

SPEAKER_00 20:57

I'd love to get some quick fire questions. Who was your favorite person in the game?

SPEAKER_01 21:03

I'm gonna say maybe Los. Yeah, I'm gonna say Los. She was so so genuine, and I just needed Loz there.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Who had the most annoying habit and what was it?

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Look, I love Simon, but his speeches, seriously, like how many speeches can you do, man? I think like his habit of you know, pep talking us when a pep talk doesn't need to happen. That was uh I would rather stand on pegs.

SPEAKER_00 21:29

What was your proudest moment of the game?

SPEAKER_01 21:32

Oh man, I have so many. I think being the quickest to light my string on fire in like some people say like that's the quickest even in American survivor history. So like I think that is my greatest moment. I mean, like, even just like taking the whole tribe down to the beach for crab hunts, it never made air, but like, you know, it was just something just getting out of like the game for a little while and just enjoying being where we are. Not being paranoid in paradise, being happy in paradise was such like a beautiful time. Catching the fish with my bare hands. But yeah, I think maybe you know, lighting that fire and staying in the final three was and pegs. It's got so many, but yeah, let's go with.

SPEAKER_00 22:14

Most embarrassing moment of your game.

SPEAKER_01 22:17

I think, you know, like being confident about knowing where things are gonna go. And then I I remember when I got left out oh the Don vote, right? I got left out of the Don vote and I came back and I just I was so angry and I'm like, you all bloody lied to me, blah blah and I just made a fool of myself. You know what I mean? And I had to go around to everyone in the morning and be like, you know, that I'm sorry about last night. I was an idiot, you know. I think that's always embarrassing when you just you you know you you really show your immature side and make people not be able to trust ya. Like they can't trust the guy who's just gonna, you know, look like an idiot the next day. So like I think things like that, but like it takes a lot to embarrass me. I mean, look what I I do so many embarrassing things.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

What song sums up your time on Survivor? You should probably leave by Chris Stapleton.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Um, I had a moment, right, when we were walking to a challenge and Don was behind me. We weren't allowed to talk, no one's allowed to talk in off-camera times, and he starts singing this song by Chris Stapleton, you know. Um, you should, you know, uh finish your one and you should probably leave. I just started crying by myself. Like it was such an emotional time at the start of Baron, right? Because like we were just starving and so wet and tired, and the vibes were so bad, it was so hard, and then that song of like trying to get someone to leave, it was just all too much. And um I listened to that song today and it takes me back to Barron, and it's like, wow, that was a powerful moment.

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Would you ever play Survivor again?

SPEAKER_01 23:56

Oh, a million times. I'll play Survivor tomorrow, I'll play as much as they'll take me back. Let's go.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Survivor a hundred times, let's go. If you could be on any other reality show, what would you be on?

SPEAKER_01 24:08

I want to do the amazing race. The amazing race has always been something. I want to do it with Loz. Me and Loz are like, look, we were perfect on Survivor. Let's do Amazing Race, you know. I would love to do traders. Um, basically, like, I'm down to do anything, you know. I really just, yeah, I wanna I want to continue. Like, this is such a wild, amazing time. I've got so much to share, so much to give to the public.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

What celebrity would you want to see play Australian Survivor?

SPEAKER_01 24:37

Bear Grills. He's the Survivor King. Oh like uh as far as Aussie celeb. Um, what's the guy's name who Russell Coit? Um, he was on Kathy.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Oh, Glenn Robbins.

SPEAKER_01 24:51

Yeah, Glenn Robbins, he's a legend! I'd love to watch him on Survivor.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Describe your Survivor legacy in three words. Hard to kill. Thank you so much, Caleb. You have been such a unique character this season. You know, I love that we got to see you in your element, uh, you know, out on the water on your raft. Yeah, uh. We forgot about the raft!

SPEAKER_01 25:15

That was such a crazy moment. Loved it. That was like up there. Oh, that might have been better than burning the string. That was so fun. That was so fun.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Yeah, it was just really fun to watch you play this game and really learn to love the game out there.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Yeah, yeah. Nah, I did. I fell in love with it. I really did. And um, yeah, it was such an amazing experience that I'm gonna, you know, cherish forever.

SPEAKER_00 25:38

Well, congratulations again and enjoy spending that half a mil.

SPEAKER_01 25:42

I will.

SPEAKER_00 25:44

This is beyond reality.