The first few cast members of the new season of Australian Survivor: Brains Vs. Brawn have been revealed via the iconic first look trailer, and we’ve been obsessing over every detail, from the location to the other big name players, like Gavin Wanganeen and Felicity ‘Flick’ Palmateer.
Today, we’re getting to know award-winning author Wai Chim, who has promised she’ll be a “be a very resilient player”.
“I’m going to make the best strategic decision in any given moment,” she said, and tbh we absolutely love that for her.
So, what’s her deal? Well, Chim is the author of 2019 YA novel The Surprising Power of a Good Dumpling, as well as a number of children’s titles.
Originally born and raised in New York City, Chim moved to Australia in 2006 “to enjoy the sun and to pursue her passion for writing”, according to her website.
Passionate about reading from a young age, the author would sneak books into bed with her at night. Speaking mostly Cantonese with her parents, books were one of the ways she would absorb western culture.
She even started writing her first book — about a “daddy chicken” — when she was just five years old. It was three pages long — and mostly pictures — but the story must’ve stuck with her. Two decades later, Chim’s first book, Chook Chook was published.
Looking at her Goodreads page, we got some insight into her work ethic and creative process, and we suspect we’ll see these qualities at play on the show as well.
When writing about how she deals with writers block, Chim said that it can be “useful to take a step back and reexamine the elements of my story – a bit like they do on TV crime shows.”
“Usually things aren’t working because some elements need to be rearranged or I just haven’t found the solution yet,” she wrote, and to be honest, doesn’t that sound like a great strategy for a puzzle challenge that’s not going well?
As for her advice to aspiring writers, Chim wrote: “Stop dreaming and get to it. Work hard. Really really really hard.” We feel like that’s a pretty important part of being on Survivor, too!
Chim doesn’t just write, though. She also works as a digital producer, copywriter and digital creative, and in her spare time she enjoys cooking and hanging out with her cat. Hopefully those cooking skills will come in handy around the Survivor campsite!
Interestingly, on April 15, Chim posted on her Twitter and Instagram that she was taking a break from social media to “[work] on a personal project for a few weeks”, so it’s safe to assume that’s when production on the show began.
Australian Survivor: Brains Vs. Brawn will premiere on 10 and 10Play soon.
