Fifty & Fab

Go ahead and judge me. I am used to it. I love being the underdog and nothing motivates me more. For the last 833 weeks* I have exercised a minimum of 5 times a week. Two mottos that I have set myself are….

Never miss more than two days in a row
And ALWAYS exercise on a Monday morning

I do love a challenge and most months I have something on the go:

Squat Challenge which is 57 Squats per day for all of March to help raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

1 Minute Plank in Pink Challenge for April for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Push Up Challenge which is 3,249 push-ups in June and pushing for better mental health for all Australians.

Dry July for people suffering from Cancer.

Fred’s Big Run which is to run 100km in August for the Fred Hollows Foundation.

Steptember in September to do 10,000 steps per day for people with Cerebral Palsy.

Movember in November…not really, but menopause may change that eligibility,

Christmas in December which can be a challenge!

When I set myself a challenge there is no way in hell that I won’t complete it. Am such a stubborn bugger. I set myself a bucket list to do in my 40’s and I now have one in my 50’s. One example is to donate plasma 10 times a year for 10 years. Another obvious example is the fact that I keep applying for Australian Survivor. I will not give up.

The outdoors with lack of sleep and lack of food is almost not worth mentioning. I am a country girl and am fascinated with mother nature. Survivor is the ultimate social experiment and am 100% committed to testing my own limits but also embracing every element of the game. I once went to rural Indonesia (no, not the luxury of Bali) for a 2 week Girl Guide camp. I was only 12 years old, and instead of shying away from the harshness and threats, I embraced them and more. My childhood was tainted with some trauma, so I have learnt from a very early age to seize every opportunity. I take nothing for granted, and honestly I feel like I am living my life for another 11 year old girl who lost her life right in front of me when I was of a similar age. I am Surviving for me and her both.

* That is the exact number of weeks since I submitted my first Survivor application.

What people are saying

_“During 10 years of hanging around Survivor online fans communities, I met a thousand superfans. Hundreds of them talked about how they are trying to get on their country’s version of Survivor (notably, not so popular by now – Nick Wilson from US S37 & 40). But there’s only one of them who i believe is ready to bring the game the world had never seen before. Shelley Gross. Younger players will expect a mother figure for them. They won’t get it. They will get a passionate competitor who will outsmart the smartest of nerds and “outsocialize” the biggest social butterflies. Shelley’s strategic and out of the box thinking guarantees that at every situation during the game – she will run all the possible scenarios of what to do in her head and then discuss some of these scenarios with few lucky players who will manage to win her trust. By casting her you won’t get a floater who is just listening to other people’s orders. You will get a player who will fix Australia’s opinion on middle age woman on Survivor. (Even if i doubt she will play that card. She will be Shelley, and not “middle age woman named Shelley”. If you get the difference).

Cast this wholesome human being and let the world to enjoy the beautiful game she will bring.

_“As a fellow fan of 20+ years I identified with the passion you have for the Survivor format, and clearly that history has served you well in shaping the player you became in this :fan You always had the ability to discern the moves you could currently make and those you’d have to gradually work towards, an enviable skill in a setting where so many overestimate themselves. You took advantage of being underestimated to strike at the exact right time, but were also sure to stress your credentials as a matter of principle. A personal highlight is your Match Game success right after letting it be known you felt dismissed as a competitor :<3 By endgame it seemed you were exactly where you needed to be, and it took a most unexpected scenario to cause your loss. A game very well played.

“You were incredible from start to finish, from those awesome first confessionals to that last-minute Hayley vote swap that sent you out, and every moment in between. You were perceptive enough to realise you were towards the bottom of Tien, and capable enough socially and strategically to reposition to become a power player come the merge, playing the middle like it was easy! Seeing that relationship with Dani break down when it did was a shame, because I think you could have made a great case as a winner if that Final 5 round just went a little differently. You were a great presence in Ponderosa as well. Superb game!

“So much of this season was your story, narrated wonderfully in even your most rambling of confessionals :wub and it’s only to your credit that the other players (and lurkers too) had no idea! P-) You correctly pegged your position on Tien based on how the Kez plan reached you and wasted no time in forging new bonds to dismantle every obstacle, and chose the timing yourself in delaying the Joey vote and striking when you did. Even allowing Hau to hold the numbers was dangerous but not deadly, until things soured between you and Dani/Hayley – but we love Survivor all the more for being able to turn around on us like that, so it only underscores how difficult it is to ride the middle, and how masterfully you did so for as long as you did ????

“You definitely were one of the narrators of this game, and you played a great under the radar game where I don’t think anyone other than Dani realized just how well you were playing. Unfortunately that may have been your downfall as she made sure that people would realize just how involved you were. What a strange way to go out though, and I don’t think you even realize how close it was to not have happened, and if you survived that vote there was a strong possibility you could have gone all the way. If there’s one piece of advice I’d give for future it would be to not neglect any of your chats even if the other party neglects you :<3

“The beauty of her game was that she was a player who was juggling multiple options throughout and actually ended up in a position to execute those plans in multiple directions, which is something I really admire as someone who can’t always walk the walk successfully in ORGs. She was the only one on the right side of every vote from Final 9 through Final 6, and in a character sense if she wasn’t going to end up winning it was fitting she left as the final victim of one of the most intense weeks of play the franchise has had.

Badges Of Honour