Australian Survivor: Champions v Contenders

Ross Clarke-Jones sued Australian Survivor after a rope failed

A rope gave way during an Australian Survivor: Champions v Contenders challenge on 30 May 2019, and Ross Clarke-Jones was medically evacuated after 28 days. In May 2020 he filed a negligence claim against Endemol Shine Australia in the Supreme Court of Victoria. It settled before any hearing, with no ruling on liability.

Confirmed The injury, the filing and the settlement are documented. No court ruled on liability, and the settlement terms were never made public.

Australian Survivor: Champions v Contenders Confirmed

What the record shows

  • Confirmed A rope gave way during a challenge on 30 May 2019 and Clarke-Jones was medically evacuated from Australian Survivor: Champions v Contenders after 28 days in the game.
  • Confirmed The reported injury was a syndesmosis disruption to the right ankle, plus bruising and lacerations to the left leg. No located source describes a shattered or broken ankle.
  • Confirmed Endemol Shine Australia said at the time that a technical fault occurred during a challenge, that Clarke-Jones suffered ankle ligament disruption, and that he was given immediate medical attention onsite.
  • Confirmed He filed a negligence claim against Endemol Shine Australia in the Supreme Court of Victoria in May 2020, seeking medical expenses, past and future loss of earnings from his professional surfing career, and the lost opportunity at the $500,000 prize.
  • Disputed Clarke-Jones alleged in the claim that the rope was not properly secured. Endemol Shine Australia described the cause as a technical fault. No court tested either account.
  • Confirmed The claim was settled before it reached a Supreme Court hearing. There was no admission of liability and no judicial finding of negligence.
  • Unverified The settlement amount is unknown. No settlement deed, consent order, case number or exact settlement date has been located, and the figure of roughly $150,000 that circulates online traces to a single surfing blog that could not be retrieved.

What happened on day 28

Ross Clarke-Jones is a big-wave surfer, cast as a Champion on the 2019 season of Australian Survivor: Champions v Contenders. He was 28 days into the game on 30 May 2019 when a rope he was using during a challenge gave way. He was treated at the site and then medically evacuated. His season ended there.

Endemol Shine Australia, which produces the series, issued a statement at the time. It said that during a challenge "there was a technical fault and Ross suffered ankle ligament disruption", and that he was given immediate medical attention onsite. That wording matters later. A technical fault and a negligent one are not the same claim, and the difference is exactly what the civil case was about.

The injury was ligament damage, not a shattered ankle

Fan write-ups often say he shattered his ankle. Contemporaneous reporting does not say that. What was reported is a syndesmosis disruption to the right ankle, which is damage to the ligaments that bind the two lower leg bones together above the joint, along with bruising and lacerations to the left leg. His claim also reported anxiety and depression afterwards.

The distinction is worth holding onto. A syndesmosis injury is serious for anyone whose living depends on standing on a moving board, and it is still a different medical event from a fracture. Repeating the shattered-ankle version repeats something no source supports.

What the claim actually asked for

He filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria in May 2020, a year after the injury. The action was for negligence against Endemol Shine Australia, and Clarke-Jones alleged that the rope was not properly secured.

The damages sought were itemised: medical expenses, past and future loss of earnings from his professional surfing career, and the lost opportunity to win the $500,000 prize. The filing described him as totally incapacitated. All of that is what a plaintiff asserts in a pleading. A pleading is a set of allegations, not a set of findings, and none of it was ever proved in court.

A settlement is not a finding

The claim never reached a Supreme Court hearing. It settled. That became public in October 2024, in reporting on a separate injury claim brought against the same production company by another Australian Survivor contestant, Jackie Glazier. Her lawyer, Aki Munir, had previously acted for Clarke-Jones in a similar case, and that case settled before it reached the Supreme Court.

So the record stops short of the thing people assume. No court found Endemol Shine Australia negligent. The company did not admit negligence. No damages were awarded, because there was no judgment to award them in. A settlement ends a dispute without deciding who was right, and parties settle for many reasons, including the cost and time of running a trial.

The number nobody can verify

A figure of roughly $150,000 circulates alongside this story. It should not be repeated as fact. It traces back to a single surfing blog that could not be retrieved, and no settlement deed, consent order, payment record or case number turned up in Supreme Court of Victoria materials or Australian legal databases. Searches under his full name returned no judgment, discontinuance or consent order at all.

The honest summary is short. He was hurt when a rope failed, he sued the production company, the case settled, and the terms are private.

Questions people ask

Did Ross Clarke-Jones sue Australian Survivor?
He sued the production company, Endemol Shine Australia. The negligence claim was filed in the Supreme Court of Victoria in May 2020, a year after a challenge rope gave way and he was medically evacuated.
What injury did Ross Clarke-Jones suffer on Survivor?
A syndesmosis disruption to his right ankle, which is ligament damage, plus bruising and lacerations to his left leg. No located report describes a shattered or broken ankle. His claim also reported anxiety and depression.
How much did Ross Clarke-Jones receive in the settlement?
Unknown. The claim settled before a hearing and the terms were never made public. A figure of about $150,000 circulates online but traces to a single blog post that could not be retrieved, so no amount can be verified.
Was Endemol Shine Australia found negligent?
No. There was no hearing, no judgment and no admission of liability. The company described the incident as a technical fault. A settlement ends a case without a court deciding who was at fault.
How far into the season was Ross Clarke-Jones when he was evacuated?
28 days. He was competing on Australian Survivor: Champions v Contenders when the rope gave way on 30 May 2019, and he left on medical grounds rather than by a vote.

Sources

Checked on 2026-07-26. If something here is wrong or out of date, we want to know: get in touch.