Proud Noongar woman Kirby Bentley walks in many worlds. As well as making her mark as an Australian Survivor and Australian Rules football star, she spent seven years working in the remote, blistering heat of Western Australia’s Pilbara region. As a shotfirer for BHP, her gruelling days were spent filling holes with explosives and blasting the ground.
From the mines she transitioned to Melbourne, spending over four years as a construction rigger on the West Gate Tunnel. Sitting now in a warm hoodie inside her St Kilda apartment, Bentley recalls that her greatest challenge as an Aboriginal woman in those heavily male-dominated fields was building a genuine rapport with her coworkers.
Those tough workplace environments equipped her with cross-cultural communication skills she later leaned on during two seasons as the “rebel queen” of Survivor. Now, the same skills are conditioning her for the mental and physical demands of her upcoming debut on the third season of The Traitors Australia.
Bentley, who turned 40 in May, reflects openly on the dynamics of her career paths. In mining and construction, there are a “lot of old-school white men in positions that have never changed; they’ve always just expected [their rights] and it just ‘is’. I would ask them, ‘Could you please mentor me or offer me some advice?’, which lessens that threat level between us. When they take you under their wing, you can sort of go anywhere.”
Relatability became Bentley’s ultimate tool. She broke the ice with the old guard by asking simple questions: Are you married? What’s your family like? Do you have kids? What football team do you follow?
Growing up as a self-described tomboy in the small town of Mount Barker, 360 kilometres south of Perth, Bentley’s own fandom focused on the West Coast Eagles. She even cut her hair into a mullet to blend in with the local “footy nippers” until she was abruptly told that girls weren’t allowed to play.
Forced off the oval, she took up karate, earning a senior black belt, and excelled at netball, representing her state in the under-17 competition at just 14. Ever the trailblazer, she protested against traditional netball skirts until officials allowed her to wear “daggy” basketball shorts. Finally, refusing to accept the era’s sporting sexism, she launched her stellar Australian Rules football career in 2009, following her sister Ashleigh into the game.
Bentley quickly established herself as an elite athlete, becoming a priority draft pick for the Fremantle Dockers ahead of the inaugural AFLW season in 2017. She moved to Carlton for the 2019 season, her last as a player, but her impact extended past her playing days – she became a coach for the Western Bulldogs during the 2022 season.
In 2025, she was named the honouree for the Australian Football League Women’s Indigenous Round, while the Kirby Bentley Cup, an annual carnival for Indigenous female players aged between 13 and 15, has been created in recognition of her achievements.
When it comes to her culture and identity, Bentley has always been transparent. When she was just eight years old, her Noongar father Kelvin and mother Kelly taught her that the racist comments she overheard from schoolmates were merely children repeating the biases of their elders. “They told us [Bentley and her two sisters] about respect and being kind and sticking up for the smaller person,” she recalls.
Today, she uses her platform to spark vital conversations that advocate for women, Aboriginal people and the queer community alike. “I don’t want to walk and carry secrets any more,” she said in an interview last year. Speaking with Sunday Life, she says that while she has dated both men and women throughout her life, she feels a stronger attraction to women. And though she enjoys her single life in Melbourne, Bentley reveals that she was navigating homelessness not very long ago.
“I was trying to figure out where I needed to be,” she explains. “I converted my van into a camper, and I was living outside a gym in South Melbourne; the owner gave me the key so I could go and shower and do what I needed to do.”
This transitional period was spurred by a heavy relationship break-up. “I was heartbroken, and I was also stepping out of football,” she says. “When sport has been your entire life, you feel so lost. I didn’t know what I was going to do. I had no idea.
“I really sat in it. It was the first time I’d felt the heartbreak I imagine people feel when they lose someone. I was living in a van for a year and a half, maybe, until I got on my feet.”
When asked how single life has treated her over the past couple of years, her trademark warmth shines through. “It’s good because I can lean into that flirty side of me,” she says with a laugh. “I’m content. I have fun.”
Bentley’s fierce resilience and strategic streak were on full display during Australian Survivor: Titans v Rebels in 2024, where she fought her way to a fifth-place finish. She returned to the screen for Australia v The World, placing ninth after a dramatic blindside orchestrated by her close strategic ally, US reality legend Parvati Shallow.
Her remarkable grace in the face of elimination was forged on the football field. “I have always been someone [who believes] that the game should be left where it ends,” she nods.
“When it comes to Survivor, you are starting out with lies, deceit and manipulation – it’s not personal. It definitely is the athlete in me: I always want to sit at the end with the best player, so if I’m voted the winner, then I have the right to the crown. But if somebody can get you out and win the game, then they did the right thing.”
For Bentley, reality television is about far more than entertainment. She joined Survivor to showcase Indigenous people as “good, funny, welcoming” and capable of confidently navigating diverse spaces. Stepping into The Traitors serves the same purpose. “I sit back, I meet people organically and just let them see me personally, in a way – enough that they feel warm and protective but don’t feel intimidated or threatened.”
While the first two seasons of the Australian franchise were filmed at the historic Robertson Hotel in the NSW Southern Highlands, the third instalment brings major changes. Hosted by reality TV stalwart Gretel Killeen, production shifted to Castle Claremont, set among the rolling hills of Timaru on New Zealand’s South Island. It’s a venue that fits perfectly with the show’s gothic aesthetic.
Bentley’s fellow contestants feature a diverse mix of notable personalities including Olympic swimming gold medallist Shane Gould, Big Brother alumni Tully Smyth, comedian Rhys Nicholson, former Australian Idol judge Ian Dickson and contestant Cosima De Vito, MasterChef finalist Alvin Quah and Bachelor Australia contestant Keira Maguire.
“I absolutely adored Rhys,” says Bentley, who was yet to see the finished episodes at the time of our interview. “Tully was funny, too. I think Tully’s going to make incredible TV.”
When asked whose company she enjoyed the most, she smiles. “Keira! Keira and I, we took a little time to warm to each other – just naturally we’re more observers. She was funny, too.”
The competition, however, was gruelling. Bentley recalls a mission that required contestants to race along the edge of a cliff. “My lung capacity was just not ready and I was gassed,” she admits. “The missions, I felt, were a lot harder than in Survivor, where you’re playing with your tribe and you’ve got one common goal. With your Traitors missions, you’re trying to win money [together] but you’re still looking out for yourself and wary of everyone around you.”
While Bentley was filming away in New Zealand, her close friend, business partner and fellow footy player Leah Kaslar was managing Djookian, their renewable energy company. Entirely operated by five women, the venture actively targets carbon reduction by replacing traditional diesel generators with hybrid battery-inverter systems.
Meanwhile, Bentley’s been embracing her artistic side, a journey sparked in 2020 when she was asked to paint a teammate’s football boots. Her creative work hit a major milestone when she digitally designed the visual identity for the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) Indigenous Round. She titled the piece Moorditj Djookians, using the Noongar words for “deadly” and “sisters”. Reflecting on her youth, Bentley credits her paternal aunt, Rebecca, with preserving and passing down the family’s deep knowledge of the Noongar language.
Yet alongside this cultural pride lies profound family tragedy. In 2024, Bentley stood before a Senate inquiry investigating missing and murdered First Nations women to give heartbreaking evidence regarding her maternal aunt, Andrea Pickett, who was tragically murdered by her former husband in 2009.
“She was failed by the system,” Bentley stated clearly during the inquiry. “It was just disgusting. I saw my mum lose her sister, I saw my nan lose her daughter, I saw my cousins lose their parents … I was watching everyone fall apart from this horrific tragedy.”
Asked how this devastating loss impacted her outlook on life, Bentley takes a long view. “I think it puts a lot of things into perspective,” she notes. “That’s just one small example of a huge nationwide tragedy, and the failings of the system are still happening.”
Ultimately, when reflecting on her storied football career, Bentley doesn’t measure success in premiership cups or personal accolades. “Any of the sports I’ve played, it’s about the impact I’m able to leave on young Aboriginal girls,” she says.
“I think it’s so important that they can see what they can be. It’s not just playing the game. It’s more than that. What we bring – our intelligence, our humour – needs to be seen and celebrated.”
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
Styling: Nadene Duncan. Hair: Brad Mullins. Make-up: Heidi Scarlett King. Fashion assistant: Tanishka Pothiwala. Stockists: Cara Cashmere; Nique; Perri Cutten; Petite Grand; Zara.
The Traitors Australia season three premieres on Channel 10 on August 4.
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