EXCLUSIVE: Shonee Bowtell opens up about her stint on Survivor: Australia V The World.

Australian Survivor's JLP / Shonee Bowtell.

Shonee Bowtell reveals why she felt ‘sick to [her] core’ when asked to appear on Survivor: Australia V The World. Photos: Channel 10

Those who are selected to compete on Australian Survivor are lucky enough to play the game once, let alone multiple times. For Shonee Bowtell, however, her appearance on Survivor: Australia V The World marks her fourth stint on the reality show, and extends her record for the most days lasted by any Aussie contestant.

Yet while the fan favourite instantly said ‘yes’ when asked to return for All Stars in 2020 and Heroes V Villains in 2023, it was a much more difficult decision this time around. She tells Yahoo Lifestyle that she received the offer for Australia V The World when her son, Vally, was just four months old.

“I felt sick to my core,” she shares about the phone call from producers. “I was actually on holiday in Bali, and I was just like, ‘Oh my goodness’. It was very sickening.”

Shonee says that although it was “definitely very challenging” being away from her son, the fact that the season was taking place over just 16 days compared to the typical 47 to 55 made it much easier to accept the offer.

“I really wanted to play, because when is Australia V The World going to happen again?” she remarks. “And also, it’s like a short, sharp season. So I wouldn’t have been able to play a full season, but a quick one on a global scale, I couldn’t say no.

“I think the fact that it was a shorter game, you’re thinking faster and more things are happening, because you’re not there for the long haul. You’re not going, ‘Oh my god, it’s day one and I’ve got 50 days to go’. It’s like, you’re there, and everything was just moving so fast. So I definitely think that helped.”

Survivor: Australia v The World's Shonee Bowtell.

Shonee Bowtell is competing for her fourth time. Photo: Channel 10

Long before they were both cast on Survivor: Australia V The World, fans had drawn comparisons to Shonee and US Survivor legend Parvati Shallow, who won the game in 2008 and has now played five times.

Shonee admits she hasn’t seen every season of the American franchise, but she knew who the ‘Black Widow’ was thanks to the show’s online community.

“As soon as I saw Parvati, I was like, ‘Wow, she’s actually here’,” she recalls. “And in the past, I have been compared to Parvati, so she was definitely someone that I was super excited to see on the mat. She was like, ‘Hi Shonee’, and I was like, she’s done her homework!”

Meanwhile, Parvati tells Yahoo Lifestyle that she also became aware of Shonee through the show’s fanbase and fell in love with her while watching Heroes V Villains.

“A lot of the fans who watch US Survivor also watch Australian Survivor, and they will send me comments and DMs and memes of Shonee saying she’s like me, so she’s my Down Under counterpart,” she details. “I was like, who is this girl? I gotta find out more, she sounds fun.

“I’m a girl’s girl. Especially when it comes to Survivor, I always want to make a girls’ alliance, and I always want to have fun. And Shonee just seemed like she also could keep it light and fun, but also play the game and be strategic and smart. I love that kind of vibe. I want someone who’s not going to be too intense and exhausting.”

As for her Australian co-stars, this season sees Shonee reunited with David Genat and George Mladenov – both of whom voted her out on previous seasons.

“I definitely went in with something in mind,” she teases. “You don’t forget a blindside, so when I saw them, I was like, ‘Ooh hello!’.”

She adds that she had only spoken with Sarah Tilleke “a couple of times” on social media and had never met Janine Allis or Kirby Bentley, so felt unsure about her place in the tribe.

“I was looking around the tribe, and I was seeing that Luke [Toki] is very well connected with basically every single person on the tribe, and then Kirby is a real-life friend of Luke. Obviously, Janine and Sarah are both friends with Luke; Sarah and David are friends outside of the show, and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’ve got two people here that I know, but they both voted me out. But that’s ok, we can work around it’,” she says.