Can reality TV stars be politicians in Australia? Survivor star King George thinks so

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George Mladenov’s aboriginal was formed erstwhile helium was 4 years old, and was handed a how-to-vote flyer by Paul Keating astatine the 1996 election. Here was a kid from Bankstown, the lad of Greek migrant cleaners, gazing up astatine different kid from Bankstown, the lad of a boilermaker who had go premier minister, and realising that helium could imagination big.

Like Keating, Mladenov joined the Australian Labor Party arsenic a teenager. Like Keating, helium learnt the creation of the governmental woody successful the cut-throat satellite of the NSW Right. Unlike Keating – but with Keating-esque swagger – helium discontinue authorities connected the cusp of moving for nationalist bureau to go a world tv star, applying the acheronian arts of enactment machinations to 2 seasons of the Lord of the Flies-inspired Survivor, successful which tired, hungry, soiled radical strategy against 1 different to triumph money.

Mladenov was an unexpected hit. He wasn’t the typically bronzed, small-target contestant. He was an enigma; strategical yet emotional, loyal yet ruthless, societal yet awkward, vain yet insecure. With his 50,000-odd Instagram followers and his world tv amusement acolytes, the self-proclaimed king of Bankstown’s personage vocation whitethorn present instrumentality much of a Donald Trumpian turn; he’s considering a caller tilt astatine politics, close backmost wherever it each began.

George Mladenov, the self-proclaimed king of Bankstown.

It’s a freezing winter’s time successful Sydney, and George Mladenov sits astatine an outdoor cafe wearing a short-sleeved garment and shorts. His lips are astir bluish from cold, and helium hasn’t touched the avocado toast successful beforehand of him. The 34-year-old seems to person go accustomed to hunger and carnal discomfort aft filming 2 bid of Survivor.

Mladenov archetypal appeared connected the 2021 play of the long-running world tv show, which was filmed successful the inland northbound Queensland municipality of Cloncurry aft COVID restrictions derailed plans to sprout successful Fiji. It was an acquisition that was, helium assures me, each spot arsenic physically unpleasant arsenic it looked.

“I’m firmly of the content that it was the astir difficult, condition-wise, Survivor play astir the satellite ever,” helium says. “The sheer vigor during the day, with nary formation to chill disconnected successful … and past the near-freezing and, immoderate nights, the existent freezing temperatures. You’ve got virtually a tiny occurrence and the apparel connected your back, past constricted nutrient rations, past not winning reward challenges. It takes a carnal and intelligence toll.”

It sounds awful. But Mladenov had been fascinated by Survivor since helium was a kid. He watched the American mentation religiously for years, applying the aforesaid strategical investigation to the tv amusement arsenic helium applied to his different youthful passion, politics. He talks astir the show’s eras, the improvement of its tactics, the varying sophistication of its players. For fans similar Mladenov, the fascination lies successful watching however societal animals interact astatine their astir raw.

George Mladenov, besides known arsenic “the cockroach of Bankstown”, kept viewers entertained successful the 2021 play of Survivor Australia.

He’d ticker illegally downloaded copies of the American amusement with his duplicate member for years, done schoolhouse (Bankstown’s De La Salle College, besides Keating’s alma mater) and Western Sydney University, wherever helium studied law.

Becoming the archetypal successful his household to be assemblage was a large accomplishment for his family, which had seen its stock of suffering. Mladenov’s paternal household is Greek Macedonian; aft WWII, his grandma was sent by Stalin to the Soviet Union. Mladenov’s begetter was calved a stateless national successful Uzbekistan, and yet brought to Australia by a comparative who’d emigrated present decades earlier.

I inquire if there’s overmuch trauma successful his father’s family. “They don’t deliberation astir that,” helium says. His parents cleaned houses and raised children and “that’s conscionable what they did”, helium says. “They were blessed with their lives.” His neighbours person akin stories. “When you’re from Bankstown, you person a antithetic consciousness of what’s important successful beingness and what’s a priority, and it keeps you grounded.”

Mladenov’s emotion of his location municipality drew him to politics. When helium talks astir Bankstown, helium doesn’t mean Canterbury-Bankstown, an uneasy confederation of 2 councils created by the changeable of a pen successful Macquarie Street. He means the aged Bankstown assembly district, stretching up to Villawood, down to Panania, and crossed to Lakemba.

He believes it needs advocates, arsenic demonstrated during the COVID lockdowns. “It was eye-opening – disappointing, to beryllium honest,” helium says, arsenic we sip java astatine hole-in-the-wall Chinchilla Xpress successful barren, bushed Bankstown Plaza, wherever there’s hardly immoderate shoppers astatine lunchtime connected Monday.

“It rammed location that we don’t person the level of societal infrastructure that different parts of Sydney have. The section assemblage deserves better; it conscionable deserves better. You tin ponder wherefore we don’t person those prime of beingness indicator level pieces of infrastructure … whether it’s owed to mediocre decision-making oregon mediocre leadership.”

He felt this mode arsenic a teen, too, truthful astatine property 15 Mladenov joined the section Labor Party “of my ain accord”, helium says. “Something not galore radical bash with the Labor Party, peculiarly – historically – successful this area.” He means that caller members are usually enticed to the enactment by different members, to boost their faction’s voting numbers.

He tried Young Labor, the way trodden by astir of the party’s palmy politicians (including a sizeable chunk of the NSW government’s beforehand bench) but didn’t similar it. It felt similar an hold of the Sydney University Labor Club, “which has radical that lone deliberation successful 1 definite way, and it’s not the mode radical deliberation successful south-west and occidental Sydney”.

After 1 peculiarly unpleasant experience, helium ne'er went backmost to the party’s younker branch. “Stupidly, naively astatine the clip … I started talking astir the authorities of the footpaths successful Bankstown,” helium says. “I privation to deity I retrieve who it was, but idiosyncratic from the Young Labor enforcement astatine the clip stood up and said, ‘nobody cares astir Bankstown’.”

Jonathan LaPaglia connected the acceptable of the Brains v Brawn bid of Australian Survivor, which was filmed successful Cloncurry, Queensland.

He focused connected the section branches, helped connected campaigns, and became president of the Bankstown Labor Party. An avid shot fan, helium was besides connected the committee of Bankstown City Football Club erstwhile it signed shot prodigy Mary Fowler, past 16, who has gone connected to beryllium a prima of Australian women’s soccer.

For respective years, helium worked arsenic an electorate serviceman for section MP Tania Mihailuk, who discontinue Labor earlier past year’s authorities election, aft sensationally claiming nether parliamentary privilege that past Canterbury-Bankstown Mayor Khal Asfour was furthering the interests of developers and “identities, successful peculiar [corrupt erstwhile Labor MP] Eddie Obeid” (Asfour was cleared of Mihailuk’s accusations by a assembly investigation, but withdrew from Labor’s precocious location ticket. He’s moving for assembly again).

Mladenov discontinue Labor astatine astir the aforesaid time. He says helium has nary contented with the party, and volition not travel Mihailuk to One Nation – “I’m precise delighted to archer you I’m … obscurity adjacent that enactment connected the governmental spectrum”. Politics was conscionable excessively large an impost connected his life. The enactment was unpaid and all-consuming. “It was astatine large idiosyncratic toll … and for not a batch of thanks. Just the accent progressive successful moving section branches, campaigning astatine each azygous election.”

Decision clip came for Mladenov successful 2021. He was assured being preselected for a harmless spot connected Labor’s summons for Canterbury-Bankstown council. And helium was offered Survivor. “I [thought], ‘Can I bash both? Can you spell connected a TV amusement and beryllium a real-life governmental candidate?’ [It’s] astir apt not going to fly. I decided to prioritise myself for the archetypal clip successful 10 years. I’m gladsome I did.”

Khal Asfour (left), Tania Mihailuk and Eddie Obeid.

Mladenov was the archetypal backroom governmental operative connected Australian Survivor (Nova Peris, erstwhile Olympian and senator, had been connected the personage version). He wasn’t large astatine the carnal challenges, but his years successful the NSW Right, arsenic good arsenic a passionateness for poker, gave him a tactical advantage.

He did not play the tiny people game. “What I detest is politicians who bash perfectly thing due to the fact that it lowers their menace level,” helium says. Historically, that attack had worked for winners of Australian Survivor too. “I didn’t play the cookie-cutter Survivor game. I had not waited my full beingness and done a planetary pandemic to spell connected Survivor and bash nothing.”

He harnessed his run experience, that quality to look astatine the authorities of play and enactment retired the steps required to get ahead, portion outmanoeuvring his opponent. “I would look astatine … the players arsenic chess pieces, and I would determination them successful a absorption that was unconventional.”

He knew that his comparative deficiency of brawn would marque his chap teammates spot small worth successful him, due to the fact that the mode to summation extortion from being evicted, and immoderate alleviation from the carnal privations, is winning Survivor’s challenges.

“But if I tin propulsion the wool disconnected the eyes of cardinal enablers, truthful they don’t conscionable worth spot and show astatine challenges, I’m going to beryllium idiosyncratic that has a grade of power implicit this game. And to bash that, I had to fundamentally determination 3 steps backwards, telling myself that if it works, I’ll determination 7 steps ahead.”

Another accomplishment helium was grateful to person honed implicit years of Bankstown subdivision meetings was gathering relationships. “You should ever enactment retired what people’s priorities and intentions are. When aggregate parties get a win, that’s the champion woody astatine that constituent successful time,” helium says. He thinks the connection manipulation has a atrocious rap. “What’s the quality betwixt manipulation and influence? Semantics.”

Mladenov came runner-up successful 2 Survivor seasons, and is enjoying personage life. He conscionable finished a circuit of the United States, successful which helium hosted Survivor viewing parties with different erstwhile contestant. He’s got 49,000 Instagram followers and is fashionable connected the tract Cameo, successful which helium records personalised video messages for $36. He nary longer has to put clip successful forging relationships successful Bankstown; radical who recognise him from tv locomotion up to him connected the street.

Which has got him thinking. The section authorities elections are successful September. Given his personage presumption arsenic the king of Bankstown, Mladenov doesn’t request a party’s apparatus to get his sanction into the community. Perhaps personage presumption and authorities are not mutually exclusive; conscionable look astatine Republicans Ronald Reagan, Arnold Schwarzenegger and, latterly, Donald Trump, for whom Celebrity Apprentice paved the mode to the presidency.

Local government, similar its authorities and national counterparts, is dominated by enactment politics. With little scrutiny than the different 2 levels, it tin besides beryllium dirtier; councils support the corruption watchdog busy, and Canterbury-Bankstown has contributed much than its just stock of scandals. Independents, who are little apt than enactment affiliate to beryllium utilizing it arsenic a stepping stone, tin often beryllium the astir effectual representatives.

“I’m not ruling retired moving arsenic an autarkic [for council],” Mladenov says. “I look astatine it similar this; erstwhile you get into politics, you marque a large sacrifice successful your idiosyncratic life. I’ve got until August 15 to determine whether I’m going to beryllium a campaigner oregon not. Would I get elected if I ran arsenic an autarkic astatine a section authorities election, with 3 counsellors getting elected for each ward? I deliberation I would.

“I deliberation a fewer radical find that frightening. For bully reason, they should.”

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