Survival a cinch in Gould’s book

SHANE Gould says being a bit older than the average contestant gave her the winning advantage on the reality TV series Australian Survivor.

And she plans to use the $500,000 in prize money to build her dream home at Bicheno on Tasmania’s East Coast, the town that has been her home for the past decade.

While the younger Survivor competitors had a slight physical advantage, the Olympic swimming legend was still fit enough to hold her own for most challenges — and also wise enough to know when to pull back and play a more intellectual game instead.

“I still swim every day and in the lead-up to Survivor I started doing some additional training to make sure I would be as fit as possible,” the 61year-old said.

“I knew I wouldn’t be capable of being the strongest but knew I could be a reliable team member and I was prepared to do all the strategising and negotiations I needed to do as well.”

And once the series had been shot in Fiji and she had returned home to Bicheno, she was thrilled with the level of community support as the contest unfolded on TV.

“Nobody knew I was going on the show until the official announcement. I kept it very quiet,” she said.

“But, when I came back and it was broadcast, I had loads of people supporting me in Bi- cheno, particularly saying how well I played in the last episode. So, it was nice to share that with people and have a good laugh.”

For more on Shane Gould’s decision to settle in Tasmania, her plans, and her definitive response to the myth of her being a recluse, read the full interview in TasWeekend, inside today’s paper.