Kemperboyd is here to pinch hit this week’s Australian Survivor coverage. She is enjoying it a hell of a lot more than the Kiwi version she suffered through earlier this year.
Episode 10
Last week the twisty nature of Australian Survivor resurfaced and we got a big twist. Jacqui’s game was right royally fuckd when Henry decided to swap. It’s annoying because AK played himself from a bad position into a great position and a big old tribe swap has put him in a very different position. Now back at Asaga tribe Kent has spat his dummy and is being a prick to Michelle, this is not quality gameplay to make people dislike you.
Over at Samatau Ben has a very long confessional and conversation with Jarrad about getting rid of Henry. This is very worrying as he’s never spoken this many words in a row before. He also doesn’t think Henry has the idol Henry has.
Henry is a cocky one who made a big mistake and his downfall will be glorious to watch. Seeing him discover Jacqui was voted out was an absolute thing of beauty. The editors this season have given us some beautiful moments of schadenfreude from Annaliese’s “how could this get any worse” in the voting confessional being followed up by Ziggy shouting “ANNALIESE” as she voted for her to Henry’s “It will take me to the end” followed by him seeing the path crumble; the editors are on point with quick moments of comeuppance that fill me with joy as a viewer. He complained he set things up and they don’t know how to play ;but Henry you are forgetting what is best for you can’t be best for the rest of your tribe.
Annaliese gets a clue to a clue at the reward and is about as subtle as Adam was frantically searching the island for the idol when she goes up to get it. Literally her whole tribe notices. Good job Annaliese! Annaliese should pull a Wentworth but unlike Wentworth (and Jeremy) she asks Sarah for help.
Henry sets up a quiz for his tribe and everyone enjoys it so much that AK and Tessa automatically see he is a huge threat.
The challenge is entirely now about Annaliese or Sarah getting the idol from the 2nd to last station. Annaliese has slightly screwed herself by absolutely destroying the reward challenge puzzle to a point they will surely want to put her on another puzzle again. She takes up her position at the puzzle station with Kent leaving the idol for Sarah to grab but Asaga never even get to that stage (the physical advantage Samatau have is huge) but Annaliese does a good job of sitting on the crate looking dejected and grabbing the idol. In the aftermath Henry gives Jericho a clue but I seem to have missed what it is, how he got it or if it was real.
Kent has decided to get rid of Michelle, Tara and Kent decide to get rid of her. Luke is not having it at all. I would like to describe to you the depths to which I do not like Luke. He’s a complete moron, a knob and thinks he’s smart. So far, he’s playing well but I think he’s so dumb that he’ll be easy picking later. Anyway, Sarah thinks about going with Kent and voting out Michelle.
At Tribal Michelle’s top looks like she’s got an immunity necklace on, this is an interesting play, to try and trick people into thinking she is immune even when she isn’t. Kent goes home.
Episode 11
We start over on Asaga where Luke is catching sharks and Michelle comments he’s like a greengrocer. Michelle, love, that isn’t like a greengrocer, they specifically bring fruit and veg.
Turns out the Jericho got a fake clue from Henry, Henry’s reasoning seems off. He thinks that giving Jericho a wild goose chase will make Jericho trust him when I think it could just make Jericho seem a bit shifty in his tribe.
Odette has two confessionals within 10 minutes and we finally learn about her, this can only mean bad things for Odette. Odette and Luke find comfort items from home at tree mail and Luke reads the tree mail clue like Luke hasn’t read out loud since he was 13 in English class. Still everyone starts crying; It’s easy to forget that these players are 25 days in and they aren’t even halfway done with the game and the separation from family.
We see some really hard stories; Odette lost her mum at 14 and Henry lost his 6 weeks before the beginning of the game which I can’t imagine doing. To be serious for a minute I didn’t feel like I existed in the world for probably 3 months after my dad died. I was in a haze of grief and anger and I could barely function in my job to a point I took the first thing I could and moved home after living away 3 months after he died. I have huge respect for Henry doing something like this so soon after losing his mother after such a long battle with illness.
Anyway, back to the snark. Before the challenge Samatau pull a Hunahpu, trading everything they won at previous challenges for a new flint. It’s a shitty deal. Don’t offer everything up front. Ask JLP what he wants to take and see if he leaves you something!
The challenge is not for immunity but the chance to vote for someone to compete for “the ultimate advantage”. I’m out on whatever it could be, anything more powerful than a regular idol is too powerful for the game of Survivor in my mind. There is a reason idols got weakened after Yul and that’s because it’s a red carpet to final 4.
The challenge is whatever but I am really enjoying that AK gets owned by Annaliese again in a puzzle. Samatau win in the end because Henry is almost a Reynolds level of throwing things at things competitor.
At tribal JLP reminds everyone that it’s just “an opportunity to get the ultimate reward”. He then deflects questions from the tribe about what it means. Ben mentions the possibility of a super idol. Locky tries to sell himself as the strongest competitor; for the rest of the tribe better no one gets the reward than Locky gets it.
Ziggy is selected and gets a map. Off to the mangroves she goes. For my mind Ziggy was the best bet without knowing the task at hand; she’s athletic, smart and trustworthy to her alliance.
The super-idol is way too powerful; being both able to cancel the use of an immunity idol and a regular immunity idol. I find this level of power too much to give to a single player. I found the fact the editors deciding to show us the time interesting. Clearly watching someone walk through a swamp to find something with only the light of her torch makes it very hard to tell timescales; to me the time on the screen made the drama very manufactured. But after about 5 hours of searching she found it and now Ziggy is a big player in the game. I’m looking forward to seeing what she decides to tell her tribe and her alliance in particular.
How are we all feeling about this amount of power existing in the game? It obviously still has to be played properly. How do we feel about AK not being the one sent? Was it a decision that shows that although he’s up top in the alliance the others don’t 100% trust him? Or was it just sensible not knowing what the task was to send someone athletic?
