By Abbey Cannan
A forensic psychologist from Noosa is using her profession to play the most mentally calculated game Australian Survivor has ever seen.
Although Georgia Ray, 35, may seem like the girl-next-door, she’s spent years delving into the mindset of Australia’s most devious criminals and will use her razor-sharp judgement to profile her Tribe mates on the hit TV series.
The mum-of-two grew up in Noosa and has been itching to get onto the series to test her skills.
“I actually applied the traditional way a few years ago and the first time I was meant to go on Survivor, a week out from filming I broke my foot. So unfortunately that dream wasn’t realised and then I got another opportunity and I grabbed it with two hands,“ she said.
“It’s the ultimate test and ultimate psychological game in my opinion and I really wanted to put everything I know as a psychologist into application in the most challenging way possible.“
Georgia, who has been a forensic psychologist for 13 years, said she had always been fascinated by human behaviour.
“I’ve always been interested in how the mind works. especially deviant behaviour and understanding why criminals do what they do and why humans behave in certain ways,“ she said.
“As a forensic psychologist, you’re trained in psychological profiling, and profiling involves understanding people’s personalities and traits and you use that to then predict their behaviour. So that came in handy quite a lot in the game of Survivor.“
She said the audience could expect to see her playing up her girl-next-door persona on the show.
“I’m really taking the strategy to a level that is more psychological than probably anyone has ever seen before.“
Given that it’s not a world she usually operates in, Georgia found her first time filming a television show very fascinating.
“I found it really interesting how everything works behind the scenes of a really big and exciting TV show,“ she said.
“I’ll be watching alongside the rest of the nation for the first time so I’m very nervous but excited.
“It’s all positive in my eyes, whatever goes down. You don’t go on the game of Survivor if you can’t handle the twists and turns of reality TV.“
Her two young children are just as excited to watch their mum on screen.
“I grew up in Noosa, I went to school here at Good Shepherd and then I went to Sunshine Coast Grammar. I moved to Sydney for about 10 years and moved back with my children to have them go to school here,“ she said.
“The last few weeks they’ve been asking every single day, ’Is it on tonight?’
“I hope I represent Noosa well because I am a proud Noosa girl and I hope people enjoy watching the show.“
The season premiered on Sunday 18 July at 7.30pm on 10 and 10 Play on demand, where the two tribes began their war to settle the age-old question: brains or brawn?
Watch Australian Survivor to see if Georgia will successfully outwit, outplay and outlast, to claim the title of sole survivor 2021.
