Double trouble
After meeting on the set of Australian Survivor, Mark Wales and Sam Gash returned to the game together. Siobhan Duck catches up with the couple ahead of the Blood v Water series finale
The couple who plays together stays together – even if that means keeping secrets, sharing your bedroom with a bunch of unwashed strangers and getting embroiled in heated arguments on national television.
As Survivor superfans and veterans of the reality TV juggernaut, Mark Wales and Sam Gash knew what was in store for them on Channel 10’s Blood v Water season.
They felt confident their relationship was strong enough for a second tilt at the $500,000 cash prize and the title of Ultimate Survivor.
Heading into finals week, only Wales remains in the game competing against Shay Lajoie, KJ Austin, Josh Millgate and Chrissy Zaremba. Gash, voted out the week earlier, now sits on the jury so Wales’ fate rests, in part, with her should he secure a spot in the final three.
The pair say they never planned to both make it to the end. When they lay in bed at night plotting their strategies ahead of filming, Gash realised their best bet for winning was for one of them on the jury to make their partner’s case.
Whatever the outcome, they have no regrets about returning to Survivor or how hard they played.
“It’s helpful if you know what your partner’s been through,” Wales explains.
“It was hard later on, when you have to watch your arguments on TV. That bit is not so fun. “
“It’s not great when Australia sees you having a fight,” Gash adds.
“But that fight actually reflects the fact that Mark and I feel safe in our relationship that we can voice our opinions.”
Endurance athlete Gash and former soldier Wales met when they both appeared on Australian Survivor in 2017.
is not the most obviously romantic of settings. But Gash says, once you have played Survivor, its easy to understand why people fall in love in between meals of rice and beans and pushing themselves to their physical limits.
“You’re spending 24/7 with people, sleeping on the ground together,” she says.
“You’ve got no technology so you’re just looking at the stars and connecting. Now that I have lived it twice, I can see why people connect on a very deep level during the show and afterwards.”
Their close alliance in 2017 made them targets from other players, but Gash says it wasn’t exactly love at first sight.
“The first time I saw him I was like, ‘What is this guy doing wearing hiking boots, a leather jacket and jeans on an island?’,” she laughs.
It was only later in the game that Gash realised there was more to Wales than his towering height and confusing fashion choices.
“I just remember looking at Mark (he is quite an introvert) and he was often on his own, but there was a real confidence and calmness to who he was,” she recalls of their time in Samoa.
“And I thought to myself: ‘I’ve got to spend more time with that guy’. And it was just a gradual build. And, thank you to the Survivor gods, they voted him off straight after me. I got a message on my LinkedIn saying: ‘Hey gorgeous, I am booted off!’
“And we have pretty much been together every day since.”
That inappropriate biker jacket became Wales’ trademark and – perhaps against his better judgment – he’s been wearing it in the searing heat of the outback this season.
“There were a couple of times I nearly went down from wearing that jacket during a trial,” he laughs.
“It’s my brand and I told my business partners that I was going to risk life and limb by wearing it all through the show.”
The couple’s second chance at the game they love meant leaving behind their young son Harry.
“It was hard because you have to forecast for the potential that you’ll both last to merge – which actually became the reality – which would mean being away for two months,” Gash explains.
“You have to think: ‘What’s the impact of that [on Harry]?’
“I think that weighed heavily on us… It’s influenced the way that we play the game because for us, we view this not as a holiday, not as an experience, but as a job that had a very clear objective that we tried to work towards.
“So probably we are going to be more daring because the goal was to try and win that thing.”
With Harry in the back of their minds, Gash and Wales were prepared to do whatever it took to get ahead.
That cutthroat approach provoked a social media backlash. Wales was targeted for being part of the “boys club” which described the female competitors as weak, and for dominating Gash.
Watching the show back together, Wales admits he cringed at times because he sounded so harsh.
“What you have to remember is when you go to have a strategy conversation behind a bush, you’ve got probably 60 seconds,” he says.
“You don’t have time for pleasantries so it’s pretty direct and sometimes could seem abrasive.”
Gash also believes Wales’ military background played a part in how he reacted to stressful situations.
“He was a soldier in wartorn environments – chaos and conflict everywhere – where a more autocratic, very simple line of communication is used,” she explains.
“But I think people get nervous when they see and maybe 6’ 3” guy being a little bit non-compromising with a 4’ 11” woman. It can make people feel uncomfortable and make judgments about our relationship.”
Gash also copped criticism.
One of her more daring moves – to blindside her strongest ally, Jesse, and commandeer his immunity idol – also saw her labelled “immoral” and a “thief”.
For what it’s worth, both Gash and Wales are proud of her controversial move.
“This was normally the sort of move that people are craving,” Gash says.
“It’s what Survivor is all about. You’ve got to manipulate and twist people around and it’s a big play to have someone trust you so much that they hand you an idol.”
Australian Survivor: Blood v Water comes to a close this Sunday and Monday, 7.30pm, 10