Boost Juice founder Janine Allis approached Australian Survivor as she would any major challenge: by making sure she had the right preparation then facing down her fears.
Allis flew to Fiji a full 24 hours before any of the other contestants in this season of ‘Champions v Contenders’ to learn as she much as she could from the locals.
By the time the 53-year-old was settled in camp she knew how to build a shelter, catch a fish and crack open a coconut.
‘That obsessive compulsive definitely came out,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
‘I think one of the things I was staggered at was how many people didn’t prepare in Survivor.’
Allis has revealed what goes on behind the scenes of the program from contestants going to the toilet in front of each other before challenges to her own cancer scare.
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Boost Juice founder Janine Allis approached Australian Survivor as she would any major challenge: making sure she had the right preparation then facing her fears. Allis flew to Fiji a full 24 hours before any of the other contestants in this season of ‘Champions v Contenders’
By the time Allis (left) was settled in the Survivor camp she knew how to build a shelter, catch a fish and crack open a coconut. ‘I think one of the things I was staggered at was how many people didn’t prepare in Survivor,’ she told Daily Mail Australia in an exclusive interview
Nothing Allis did could fully prepare her for the harsh realities of what lay ahead on Survivor, whether the cameras were rolling or not.
‘You know this is not a reality TV show – this is a documentary,’ she said.
‘They didn’t make it easy. They said basically, “You know what you’ve signed up for, off you go honey”.
‘Coming back at night when the cameras are off, it was one light, you were stumbling over rocks and roots and holes and it was pretty full-on.’
Allis’s closest ally has been fellow ‘Champion’ and 46-year-old actor Pia Miranda, the star of the 1999 film Looking For Alibrandi.
‘Pia was my go-to,’ Allis said. ‘She was my snuggle buddy, my blanket, my person that kept me sane.
‘I think you need that one person in the business of Survivor. You do need that one person to keep your moral compass strong so definitely Pia was that for me.’
Allis’s closest ally on the program has been fellow ‘Champion’ and 46-year-old actor Pia Miranda (centre). ‘Pia was my go-to,’ Allis (right) said. ‘She was my snuggle buddy, my blanket, my person that kept me sane. ‘I think you need that one person in the business of Survivor’
Nothing Allis (left) did could fully prepare her for the realities of what lay ahead on Survivor, whether the cameras were rolling or not. ‘You know this is not a reality TV show – this is a documentary. They said basically, “You know what you’ve signed up for, off you go honey”‘
Allis has previously spoken of the unpleasant physical side effects all contestants suffered due to the Survivor diet, including diarrhoea, ‘farting and burping’.
‘Yep, all that,’ she said. ‘All of the above. But, you know, you do things in there that you just wouldn’t.
‘Everyone before challenges we all had a nervous wee and there was probably 12 of us – behind trees, behind bushes, standing next to each other.
Someone had their willy out on a tree, I was squatting. You just didn’t care. No one cared
‘Someone had their willy out on a tree, I was squatting. You just didn’t care. No one cared.
‘I mean the amount of conversations I had with Pia with my pants down, squatting next to her while she was doing the same thing, was too many to count.’
Allis lost so much weight during the show she thought she felt a lump in her breast – only to realise it was a rib.
She dropped 6 kilograms from her already small frame during her time in Fiji and became painfully thin.
‘I went in lean,’ Allis said. ‘I didn’t go in skinny. I haven’t got much meat on me anyway but I nearly vanished I got so skinny.
‘I definitely lost too much weight. I just had little pin legs and stick arms.
Allis increased her exercise regime and her training program even included guidance from a former member of an elite United States military unit. The yoga fanatic and mother-of-four who began Boost Juice at her kitchen bench believed all that work had given her advantage
‘I was so skinny that I felt my breast and I thought I had a lump but it was actually a rib because I just had nothing. All I could feel was bone. It was horrible.’
Before Allis left her Melbourne home for Savusavu – ‘the hidden paradise of Fiji’ – she had begun tuning her mind and body.
The yoga fanatic increased her exercise regime and her training program even included guidance from a former member of an elite United States military unit.
I was so skinny that I felt my breast and I thought I had a lump but it was actually a rib because I just had nothing
‘I got a guy called Paul Taylor who’s an ex-Navy SEAL to come and just basically do some other fitness type programs and also some mental work,’ she said.
‘I did as much research as I could on materials that actually kept you warm, dried quickly and aired, which was merino wool.
‘I got to the island 24 hours before everyone else and got a local to show me the materials in the area.
‘How to do huts, how to open coconuts, how to fish, so, yeah, I went in with my hand on my heart saying there’s nothing more I could have done.’
The mother-of-four, who began Boost Juice at her kitchen bench with no experience of running a business, believed all that work had given her advantage.
‘I find fear an incredible motivator and if you weren’t fearful of the experience of Survivor then shame on you,’ Allis said. But the business powerhouse said all that preparation only went so far. ‘At the end of the day once you get in there you go, here we go, and we’re on a ride’
‘I find fear an incredible motivator and if you weren’t fearful of the experience of Survivor then shame on you.’
But two months after returning from Fiji the business woman said all that preparation only went so far.
‘At the end of the day once you get in there you go, here we go, and we’re on a ride.’
Allis, who hates being being cold and wet, said there was no behind-the-scenes coddling of Survivor contestants – no one was offered an umbrella when there was a sudden downpour.
‘Probably the worst of it was two o’clock in the morning, storms coming in, rain… you’re wet and I hate being cold.’
‘So for me it was being cold and being wet through and not having anything dry to change into. I really struggled with that.’
Sleep was not a particular problem.
‘I remember rocking up and looking at literally the dirt where we hadn’t even built anything and I went right, OK, I’m going to be sleeping there tonight… ‘
‘And you just lay down in the dirt and you close your eyes and you do get some sort of sleep.
‘But I must admit a few weeks in I was sleeping a good eight hours. It was bizarre.’
The meagre rations also did not really trouble Allis.
‘The food was fine,’ she said. ‘The food didn’t bother me.
‘I mean 90 per cent of the conversations around camp was about food. I was hungry but not starving.
‘In actual fact it’s amazing how creative you can be with salt water, coconut, papaya, banana, you know you can actually create some combinations.’
Allis compared what she needed to eat with former AFL footballer and Megan Gale’s partner Shaun Hampson, who is 201cm (6′ 7″) tall.
‘I think being a slighter woman, my calorie intake requirements were probably less than someone like Shaun who probably needs about 4,000 calories a day just to get through.
Allis (second from left) said Survivor was about outwitting your opponents and that everyone lied but that should not be considered cheating. ‘I think Jonathan, the host, said lying with Survivor is like beach to the sand. ‘You know you’ve got to at some point tell a porky pie… ‘
‘Me, I can do 1,400. And to reduce it down to 800 or less that’s OK, I can cope with that.’
‘And I think the other thing with humans is we adapt so quickly. It’s a great experiment on humans.’
‘The food component wasn’t a big deal but I really missed different flavours.’
Allis did not have to think when asked what she missed even more than tasty food. ‘Definitely missed the family,’ she said. ‘You definitely do miss that.’
‘In the back of my mind I knew there was a start, middle and end and being a start middle and end you knew that at some point it was going to conclude. I’m a very practical person.
‘But you know I was having an adventure, I was meeting new people, I was developing relationships.
‘Every second day or every day they created a playground for me to nearly kill myself on. So it was fun.’
Allis (right) lost so much weight during Australian Survivor the show she thought she felt a lump in her breast – only to realise it was a rib. She dropped 6 kg from her already small frame
Allis said Survivor was about outwitting your opponents and that everyone lied but that should not be considered cheating.
‘Oh, mate, it’s Survivor. I think Jonathan, the host, said lying with Survivor is like beach to the sand.
‘You know you’ve got to at some point tell a porky pie to actually get to the next level.
‘But for me I had my no go zones – I had my people that I would never have lied to.’
Allis’s other main allies have been retired AFL champion Simon Black, WAFL star Abbey Holmes, international model David Genat and previous Survivor contestant Luke Toki.
‘We actually had a plan – and you’ll have to find out whether it worked or not – that we would get to the top five and then all bets were off,’ Allis said.
‘And obviously the Survivor gods definitely throw things into the mix that really muck up your plans but hey, that’s Survivor.’
Allis’s latest project is a campaign to help small business owners understand what makes their enterprise unique and how to use that to their advantage.
She has collaborated with leading local marketing material producer Vistaprint Australia to launch a promotion called ‘Why Factor’.
Survivor Australia: Champions v Contenders, hosted by Jonathan LaPaglia, screens at 7.30pm Sunday to Tuesday on the Ten Network.
Allis’s main allies have been actor Pia Miranda, retired AFL champion Simon Black, WAFL star Abbey Holmes, international model David Genat and previous Survivor contestant Luke Toki
