Farmer hopes to win Survivor
A DARLING Downs farmer hopes to make his grandchildren proud by winning Australian Survivor.
Mark Herlaar, 51, is one of 24 intrepid contestants who volunteered to be marooned on a Samoan island for up to 55 days on Channel 10’s reality show.
Stranded in a rugged tropical paradise, Mark and his fellow castaways will be deprived of basic comforts and faced with torrential rain and intense humidity as they navigate strategic and cunning game play.
The winner will walk away with $500,000 in prize money.
“For my grandkids to sit there and see Poppy on television and be like ‘That’s my Poppy’, I want to win it for that,” he said.
As well as keeping fit through his work as a lime farmer, Mr Herlaar also prepared for the hardships of the show by travelling to Vanuatu where he and his son built a grass hut and ate coconuts for two days.
“We roughed it but I don’t know how I’m going to do it for 55 days,” he said. “I don’t like sleeping on the ground.”
While his word is his bond, the family man is willing to adapt to Survivor’s strategic game play.
“My word is my bond and I teach my children and grandchildren that and we never break that. But this is a game,” he said.
“The door to the universe is wide open so I will jump in and see where I land. I have every faith in myself to do it. I don’t know how but I will do it.”
Australian Survivor is filming in Samoa and will air “soon” on Ten.
❝ I don’t know how I’m going to do it for 55 days. — Mark Herlaar