Mark Walsh

 is a contestant from Australian Survivor: Venezuela - Fates.

Profile

 * Name (Age): Sgt. Mark Walsh (48)
 * Tribe Designation: TBD
 * Current Residence: Hobart, TAS
 * Occupation: Gunsmith
 * Season 01 Contestant You Are Most Like: Obviously I'm going to say Nicole Thompson for oue shared military background, but my gameplay will be closer to Aaron Stanton's.

Mark is a former special forces commander for the Australian Army, leading missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. He served with the military for 23 years and special forces for the final twelve before retiring from active duty in 2015. Since then Mark has worked as a contractor gunsmith for the Australian Defence Force.

''I haven't got a tragic past or anything like that that forced me into the army. I was in my early twenties and my life was going nowhere, I couldn't hold a job, I couldn't keep a girlfriend, I had no desire to go to Uni, the Army was there and it was a solid pay checque.''

Since leaving the Army, Mark has returned to his home town of Hobart to spend time with his mother, sister and nephews.

''One thing you do miss while you're jumping out of aeroplanes and kicking ass in the middle of bumf__k, nowhere, is your family. I was on deployment when my old man died, I hadn't seen him in person for about three years. Y'know I've got a lot of regrets about that period of my life. So, these days I try and spend as much time with family as I can.''

Mark hopes that his years of Survival triaining will help him in the Survival aspect of the game, and his diplomacy training will help him with people.

''I'm naturally a person with very, very little patience, so stupid people and hopeless idiots aren't my favourite kinds of people, but I'm sure there will be one or two in the game. In SAS we are trained to deal with all kinds of stressful situations, including people we don't like so that should be okay. As far as shelter and fire go, I'm all over it, no dramas.''

Mark is currently single and not willing to rule out the possibility of love in the game of Survivor.

''Mate, if a hot babe wants to saddle up and ride out the game with me, who am I to turn her down? The wilderness is always better with company anyway.''

Trivia

 * Mark is the first male contestant to represent the state of Tasmania.