Cara Atchison is one half of the best duo to have come out of this season of Australian Survivor, and she reveals that her and George Mladenov had each other’s backs in more ways than one.
WATCH BELOW: Australian Survivor 2021: Cara’s Backstory
In an exclusive chat with New Idea, Cara shines a light on some unaired moments from the show, including a very close-call involving fire, a duffle bag, and the ‘King of Bankstown’ himself.
“It was so cold one night and it was in Brains 2.0,” Cara sets the scene.
“It was Gerald, George and myself sleeping and I was in the middle, and my head was so close to the fire – I was literally a foot away,” Cara recalls.
“And some of the embers – when I was asleep – some of the embers went on my duffle bag and George was up and awake and he goes ‘Cara! Cara! Cara! Wake up! Your hair’s on fire! Your hair’s on fire!’ and I’m like ‘what!?’.”
It was around two or three in the morning, it was a dark night, everyone was tired and hungry, as Cara explains, which is why it took a moment for her to realise that she was not actually on fire – but it was just her duffle bag.
“I jumped up and my bag was actually on fire and George was like ‘I saved your life! I saved your life!’ which is probably kind of true,” she laughs.
The whole ordeal, one that Cara looks back at with humour, wasn’t caught on camera, because the cameraman had accidentally forgotten to hit record.
“He [the cameraman] was looking, watching the whole thing through the camera but he hadn’t pressed record,” she says.
Fire antics aside, George was Cara’s closest ally on the show, and the two held strong for almost the entire season, but eventually had to place their votes on one another as the game neared its end.
It wasn’t an easy decision for Cara, who explains how hard it was to turn on her friend, even though she knew it would have to happen eventually.
“I actually didn’t sleep that night before; I knew what I had to do but it was just really tough,” the 47-year-old says.
“It was always a gentleman’s agreement at that point,” she says. “It’s just one of those things when you’re both standing there, and you both know you have to do it. It just got to that point in the game.”
The two of them were like fire and ice – pun intended – where Cara felt as though she was the “cool water” to George’s hot-headedness.
“He’s constantly thinking and I was kind of like a bit calmer,” she tells us. “We trusted each other implicitly and I think that’s the key.”
George was even the one who gave Cara the nickname ‘Duchess of Double Bay’, a title to match his own self-proclaimed title as the ‘King of Bankstown’.
“It was a bit tongue in cheek because I’m a hard worker, I don’t mind getting my hands dirty at all, and I was fully dirty in the end,” she laughs.
The mum-of-three also expresses feelings of gratitude and happiness for being able to make it all the way to the top four – a sentiment she shares with several other Survivor alumni.
Others who came fourth in the game include season three’s Shonee Fairfax and Brooke Jowett, season four’s Luke Toki, season one’s Felicity ‘Flick’ Henry, and season two’s Michelle Dougan – all of which starred in the show’s All Stars season together.
“They are amazing, amazing people and I’ve actually been chatting to Luke – I’ve actually been chatting to all of them – behind the scenes because once you’re in the Survivor family, it really is a different feeling,” Cara says.
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