Top Five baby! Can anybody stop David? Can Brooke Holloway her way to a win? Can Sharn botch Final Tribal Council again? Let’s find out!

Episode 22 (Assistant Dragon Slayer)

• Like US Survivor, filming of the next Australian Survivor season has been postponed. There are still (increasingly unlikely) scenarios in which US Survivor can film seasons 41 and 42 this year, but the turnaround time for Australian Survivor is so tight (it typically starts filming in early May and begins airing in late July/early August) that I think this week is the last Australian Survivor we’ll get for a good long while.
• There is some good news, though: David and Brooke were my first two picks in the pre-season draft. Everything’s coming up Milhouse!
• On to the episode. There must be some mistake—David isn’t giving the pre-credits confessional. Sharn gloats about still being in the game and having the power to decide who she wants to go to the end with. True as far as it goes, but….
• Sharn says she has changed her mind about blindsiding David and now actually wants to take him to the end. She says she’ll tell the jury that taking David to the end was her biggest move. I have so many questions….
• My take on Sharn is that she’s fighting the last battle. I think that in her mind, she lost the jury vote (by one vote) because there was a Mat-shaped hole in her loyalty argument. Thus, all she needs to do is get to the end while staying completely loyal and voila, she wins

Do. Something. Sharn.

• Tarzan says out loud what we already knew: He doesn’t give a damn about winning and wants to hand David the AU$500,000. Moana also for some damn reason wants to finish the Pagonging of Vakama but at least is making contingency plans and makes a final two deal with Brooke.
• Brooke beast-modes the immunity challenge again! The Loyal 4 is no more!
• Brooke’s fifth immunity challenge win is the most in Australian Survivor history, and ties her with Colby, Tom, Terry, Ozzy, Mike Holloway, and Brad Culpepper. Fine. Brooke’s individual immunity win in the combined tribal council pre-merge episode doesn’t count.
• David, Sharn, and Moana huddle up and reluctantly decide to blindside Tarzan. Um, what other decision were that three going to make?
• Sharn (correctly as it turns out) realizes that David could be thinking about idoling her out if everybody votes Tarzan by playing his idol for him (I’m guessing that Tarzan has previously vowed not to vote for Moana, so by process of elimination everyone knows he’s voting Sharn). She clues Moana in and they approach Brooke to get her to vote for David. Brooke thinks it’s a straight-up David blindside because she doesn’t know that he has an idol. In reality, the three women will in effect split their votes 2-1 between Tarzan and David, sending whom whoever isn’t protected by the idol. However, even this won’t work if David plays his idol for Tarzan and also switches his vote to Sharn.
• Tarzan hasn’t completely checked out: He notes to David that if he goes home, David’s only path to the end is to win the remaining two immunity challenges.
• David plays the idol for himself. Namaste, Tarzan. He seems like a genuinely wonderful human being and was a great TV presence in his own way, but good God, Lemon, it is such a drag having an inert carbon rod in the end-game, especially as a pocket vote for the front-runner.

Episode 23 (Blurry Denzel)

• Brooke is up first talking about the ongoing story line of her beasting immunity challenges and how that is her only way of survival. It’s a far different position than when she was apart of Pretty Cookies running a lot of the game. Her being someone who can say she made connections early to  get far and adjust to a challenge monster late only makes her multi dimensional game more dangerous. Sometimes the majority will use the last of the others to help get rid of threats on their own side with similar games. No way that can  be done with Brooke.
• Brooke is disappointed that front runner David was not blindsided, though that would’ve been quite the feat with it being idol expiration day. She mentions how Sharn can not be trusted after turning her back on something called a “trust vote” Sharn is playing the already difficult game of being in the swing position badly. She is promising the world just to take it away last second. It’s a delicate line  to come across as someone who is open to change while maintaining credibility when you close the door. Perhaps Sharn should’ve been more upfront about her own self interest. Have them sell her the moon and the stars. Be open to a deal but the deal has to be gold. Sharn is taking all the risk, the people with their backs against the wall have nothing to lose.If they can’t pitch a good enough move then it’s on them. Don’t put the blame on yourself by being overly agreeable. Don’t try to be the pleaser as much and be the shark.
• We get some content from David about he is playing this game for his family. He needs the money to provide. It’s a basic story but helps humanize the Golden God. It’s too bad we had too much attention on David throughout the season. I understand if people are just numb to any David confessional at this point.
• The immunity challenge turned into the Brooke vs David show as they were three sections ahead the so called competition. David sneaks out the win in the end, effectively ending Brooke’s game. He also gets the bonus of being the one to stomp out his biggest threat. His already shining game just gets even more miles ahead from that so called competition.
• Brooke is talking though and Sharn is showing that she is listening. Brooke doesn’t trust her because that would be insanity at this point. Brooke tries to appeal to Moana that cutting Sharn would be best for Mo’s game. A basically guaranteed spot in the final two. Mo talks in confessional about being proud of her game with how she aligned with people you never expected her to. She comes across as high on her game, higher than I am. She might be thinking that taking the sure spot in the final two where she can go over all of her accolades to jury will be the way to go. It’s not. Mo needs Sharn to remain in the game more than anyone. She is drawing dead without her.
• At tribal Brooke throws Sharn under the bus. This endgame has looked so bad for Sharn. I think she has a very good chance of being in the final two again, which is legit impressive. Playing 100 days of this game without going home is something to be celebrated. She will not win this though
• Mo does not flip and Brooke is sent home. A valiant effort that falls short. This seems to be the biggest obstacle that was preventing a David win though thanks to how the show has presented this season, I never believed Brooke would be his downfall. Throughout the season I’ve been awaiting the golden god downfall but now I really hope he wins. I never thought that playing so much in the first part of the game was a winning move in this marathon. David is proving me wrong. Let’s see if he finishes the job.