The Million Dollar Island Australia 2023 grand final saw the top 3 Chelsea Campbell, Brett Krause and Jordan Butler head to an arena to collect a share of one million dollars.
The development was surprising to many fans, who assumed that the winner of the Survivor-esque competition show would actually take home the lump sum of, well, a million dollars.
Turns out, it wasn’t just fans who expected the prize money to be bigger, Chelsea – who ended up taking high the highest amount of prize money at $110,000 – did too.
“We assumed it was for a million dollars! And you sit at home and you think ‘this is what I’d spend it on’ and it is excessive. You think ‘I’m going to get this, this and this,'” she said during an interview with Chattr after the final.
Chelsea revealed that going into the arena she knew she wouldn’t be competing for a million dollars, but was only made aware days before filming began.
“We found out a night before or two nights before we went on, when we were in the hotel in Malaysia. It was a bit of an ‘awww’ moment,” she reflected.
She said that while a million bucks certainly would have been nice, she left the show feeling happy and proud.
“By the end of it, I was standing in front of those boxes and I was asked what was a life-changing amount of money? I’d already secured ten thousand, and, to be honest, ten thousand is life-changing.
“The experience that I went on; testing my limits against the conditions, the friends I made out of it and being able to back myself and come out was a win already. You can’t put a price on experience so I was happy,” she added.
And, while Chelsea had grandiose plans for her possible seven-figure win, it turns out that she’ll be putting some of her $110,000 prize money towards something else unexpected.
“I recently got engaged to my partner Jordan, so some of the money will probably go towards a wedding.”
Why she chose Brett to join her in the Top 3 over Rachel
Chelsea was the richest person on the island in episode 12, which meant that she went straight through to the top three and didn’t have to compete in the final challenge. It also meant that she had to decide between Rachel and Brett about who would join her and Jordan in the final three.
Throughout the season viewers have heard Rachel’s heartbreaking story about her young son’s two-year battle with cancer. In the grand final, she revealed that he’s been in chemotherapy for “half of his life”.
Chelsea said that Rachel’s son’s health problems almost caused her to break her alliance with Brett and pick the mum of three.
“That was a really tough just challenge in itself, I was definitely emotionally tested there,” she said.
“Rachel spoke and said she’d ticked all the boxes and reached the goals that she’d set out coming on the show. I felt like she got what she wanted out of the show. And Brett, I respected his game from day one, being in the spotlight, multiple challenge wins and his sole purpose is the environment.”
“It was the toughest decision I’ve ever had to try and even start to compare their stories. But, Brett, I had an alliance with him,” she said.
How is Rachel’s son now?
Chelsea was happy to share a positive update about Rachel’s son’s health.
“Two or three weeks after we got back from the show he finished his last round of chemo and he’s doing really well!” She shared.
“They’ve just bought a camper van and their plan was to, you know, travel up and down the East Coast. They’ve gone up to Cairns and they’re driving back down to Brisbane in the campervan, so that was her wish to take her family on a holiday and she loves that her new job allows her to do that,” she added.
Stream Million Dollar Island on 7Plus.
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