He may have been a pro in the MasterChef Australia kitchen, but Conor Curran admits that competing on new reality TV show, The Challenge, has been a steep learning curve.
The 28-year-old says that while MasterChef is known for friendly rivalry where contestants help one another out, The Challenge is fiercely competitive, with heated clashes and plenty of personal drama making it a far cry from the cooking show.
"It was a 180 from what I knew reality TV to be," Curran tells Refinery29 Australia. "I came from a very positive show that's very supportive, while a lot of the other guys [The Challenge contestants] have done drama-based shows," they explain, referring to The Bachelor and Married At First Sight, for example.
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"I really went in on day one thinking everyone's going to be best friends," they continue. "I was very sadly mistaken, and it was a real wake-up call to the other side of reality TV."
Observing the contrast has made Curran "really appreciate MasterChef and that environment so much more", but he doesn't dispute that there's a place on Australian TV for drama-filled reality shows.
In fact, he teases that there may be moments where he gets caught up in the drama as strategy and personal politics comes into play.
"I'm very strong in the way I present myself and who I am, and while a lot of people love that, a lot of people don't. And what comes with that is really great division," he says.
"So for me, I was really able to sort through the group quite quickly and decide who I wanted to align myself with and who I didn't want to align myself with. With that comes confrontation, but I'm really happy with the way I held myself because I can only control my actions."
Curran initially said no to appearing on The Challenge several times, but then eventually decided to give it a go for a very personal reason. Being a queer person who loves to cook, Curran decided to ignore their initial qualms that they wouldn't succeed on the competitive show, and instead use it as an opportunity to advocate for queer representation on TV.
"When I kind of thought about it, and I knew I had the chance to get another queer person on TV, for me, that was really big," he reflects. "And that was the thing that I got the most out of MasterChef — just how important representation was and how much it meant to so many people to just see me being there authentically. So if I had the chance to do that again, I couldn't say no."
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Not only does Curran want to see an increase in LGBTQIA+ representation on screen, but also diversity in the way people from the community are portrayed. In this instance, he wanted to show that queer people can have strength without having to look a certain way.
"I wanted to prove that queer people are strong," he says. "I'm not muscly or any of these physical specimen-esque things, but what I do have is a lot of strength and heart from within.
"I wanted to prove that queer people could be strong without being ripped because growing up, I didn't see any queer people on TV who are athletic.
"So if I could be athletic on screen with a little bit of charm, running around and doing it for my community, I thought, well, that doesn't get seen very often."
Strength is certainly tested on the Channel 10 show, where an algorithm will randomly pair contestants to compete in a series of gruelling physical contests.
Hosted by Brihony Dawson, The Challenge stars some of the biggest personalities from our favourite dating, talent and competition shows such as Married At First Sight, The Bachelor, Big Brother, Survivor, Love Island and MasterChef Australia.
The goal is to win daily challenges and avoid being eliminated by their opponents.
The cast of The Challenge includes: The Bachelor's Brittany Hockley, Australia's Got Talent's Jack Vidgen, MAFS Season 6 star Cyrell Paule, MAFS Season 5 contestant Ryan Gallagher, The Bachelorette's Brooke Blurton, ex Bachelorette contestant Ciarran Stott, Australian Survivor stars Brooke Jowett and Johnny Eastoe, swimmer and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! contestant Emily Seebohm, I'm A Celeb star David Subritzky, The Bachelorette's Konrad Bien-Stephen, pro boxer Billy Dib, actor and influencer Suzan Mutesi, Ninja Warrior's Troy Cullen, pro boxer Sugar Neekz Johnson, Big Brother's Marley Biyendolo, The Bachelor's Megan Marx, Jessica Brody and Kiki Morris, MasterChef Australia star Conor Curran, and Love Island's Audrey Kanongara and Grant Crapp.
The Challenge airs on Monday and Tuesday at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10 Play.
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