Zach's 'All Stars' Plan Is To Be A Meerkat, Not An Alpha Wolf
Zach Kozyrski said he's conscious of playing a very different game of 'Survivor' this time around.
During Season 3, Zach received heated backlash -- from his tribe and viewers -- after he said that the only challenge the Contender women would succeed at was washing dishes.
Zach's behaviour during his first 'Survivor' appearance saw his tribe divided in half with teammates including Shonee, Paige and Fenella openly calling him out.
In returning to 'Australian Survivor' for All Stars, Zach was placed right back on a tribe with Shonee -- but the personal trainer from WA has said he's trying to be a different player than he was during Season 3.
This week, Zach confided to the cameras that he wanted to elevate his self-described status as a "top dog" challenge beast to include a more nuanced approach to his social game.
"This is All Stars baby, and I'm not going to be like that this time around," he said.
"I don't want to go in playing the same game because it didn't work for me last time," he added, saying he needs to "diversify".
"I don't want to be the alpha-wolf challenge beast, I want to be a social animal like a meerkat or a flamingo," he said, reflecting that meerkats are "social AF".
Zach didn't specifically acknowledge the comments that landed him in trouble during Season 3 but told 10 daily ahead of 'All Stars' that he's been attempting to learn from his mistakes.
"My social game wasn't that great last time I played so I had some social training with some friends of mine," he said.
Zach approached a few of his female friends to form a focus group that zeroed in on his understanding of gender equality, with the personal trainer describing the sessions comprised of "discussions and me running past jokes, and then them saying, 'no, we don't say that!'"
This week, Zach was shown attempting to form more personal relationships with the women on his tribe and while scrubbing pots with Shonee, she joked "if only Paige could see us now".
Whether his words and actions are a genuine attempt to learn from his problematic past, or a gameplay strategy, is still yet to be seen.
