If you thought a "survival expert" from the Northern Territory looked all too familiar on the new series of Survivor: Brain vs Brawn it's because contestant Andrew Ucles is a Dapto boy through and through.
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Currently in lockdown back home in the Illawarra, the 33-year-old adventurer and operator of Ucles Wild Tours spoke to the Mercury briefly and said he was excited about his upcoming television stardom.
The show promotes Ucles as being an "eccentric, passionate and curious Australian wildlife and survival expert" and has added him to the Brains tribe with 11 others who will go to war on 10 and 10 Play on demand from Sunday, July 18.
"Andrew hasn't just come face to face with some of the world's most dangerous animals, he's ventured to all corners of the globe to seek them out," states publicity material on Ucles.
The sixth Australian season of Survivor will be swapping the ocean breeze and palm trees for the outback of north-west Queensland, where 24 castaways will endure a unique set of challenges in Cloncurry.
Other contestants on the show include a big wave surfer, a Labor Party operative, a prison officer, an MMA fighter and an AFL player.
The outback is the perfect environment for the Bear Grylls of Horsley, whose rugged YouTube videos have clocked up millions of views with titles such as Catching Wild Rabbits Using Snakes and Catching Snakes on Roller Skates among his list of adventures.
Ucles once had a contract signed to star in a nine-episode series of wildlife surveillance missions, barehanded bush captures and smeared-in-guts survivalist experiments - with a 14-person production crew as well.
However, he contracted typhoid which took him four months to recover from and cost him the contract.
In 2019, Ucles got a step closer to fame, with the History Channel airing two episodes of Face the Beast starring himself and Brian Grossenbacher.
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