Heath Chick is back to recap the burger eating and idol playing that took place in episode seven of Australian Survivor.
After the elimination of Barry last night, I was looking forward to Episode 7 of Australian Survivor turning a corner, away from integrity and honesty, and towards the Survivor mantra of Outwit, Outplay, and Outlast.
According to Jennah-Louise, Barry was the heart and soul of the tribe, but his lack of gameplay was a strategic liability, and he had to go. That’s good news for Conner and Sam. They survive another night, but they are still on the outer at Vavau.
Another trying to find some cracks from the outer is Nick over at Saanapu. He’s still going with the “friendly camp helper” strategy with the girls impressed with his crab catching abilities. Or so it seems. “It’s been great, but you can never trust Nick in this game,” explains Brooke. “I knew since day one; he’s a snake.”
It seems that Nick’s days are numbered, but he’s not going down without some good old fashioned scrambling. Nick comes up with a genius (standard) strategy to split the votes and flush out Kylie’s idol. Matt entertains the idea and seems attracted to the fact that Nick is willing to play the game. While Nick is playing a strategic game, Tegan is pushing the social game as she spends some time rubbing sand in her face with Flick. It’s good for the skin apparently. It’s a girl thing I guess. I don’t pretend to understand, but they plan to bottle and sell the sand all around the world and become bazillionaires. Brilliant.
While the girls are bonding, the only thing bonding with Kate is a nasty looking boil that has appeared under her armpit. Eeeeek! More on that later.
A reward challenge is on, and Aganoa appears on camera for the first time in the episode, relieving Twitter fears that they had all died of starvation. Let’s hope they are hungry, though, as the reward is a smorgasbord of greasy goodness from subtle sponsors, Hungry Jacks.
It’s a barrel challenge – walking, rolling, balancing and positioning of barrels through a course, before a winner is crowned when a sandbag is tossed onto each of the three standing barrels at the end of the challenge.
Andrew is the sit out for Vavau as Aganoa jump to an early lead. Kylie gets rolling, and Saanapu jumps back ahead to get to the sandbag throw first. Matt and Flick are throwing for Saanapu, and they land two of the three bags before Vavau land two of their own. All the while, Lee is looking frustrated, waiting for his Aganoa teammates to reach the final stage of the challenge to allow him to unleash his lethal left arm. Matt launches a sandbag high into the air, and it lands sweetly for Saanapu to grab the win and the buffet of burgers.
Second prize is a Junior Whopper burger each, which clearly doesn’t motivate Sue as she manages to throw a sandbag over her head backwards in the completely wrong direction. Lee finally gets a chance to throw, and Aganoa is gaining ground, but Kate nails the winner for Vavau to leave Aganoa to go back to camp empty-handed.
“Boo rice. Yay burgers!” exclaims Nick as we get to watch the winners devour their spoils while Aganoa deals with yet another loss. Lee, in particular, is struggling to cope and even sheds a tear when he talks about missing his family back home.
Aganoa looks to regroup for the immunity challenge, and they are suited perfectly by the test of strength that is about to unfold. One member of the tribe is perched on a stand hanging over the water, avoiding a drenching only by the strength of their tribe who must hold onto the attached rope. However, the catch is that one only person will be holding the rope at a time, and once they are too exhausted to continue, they are out of the challenge.
No surprise that Sue is sitting out for Vavau, while Brooke, El, and Jennah-Louise are the light weights suspended over the water. It’s Nick, Rohan and Craig starting things off on the ropes. In an impressive display of strength, Nick matches it with the big boys and holds the rope for over 25 minutes before passing to Tegan. She holds it for a good 25 seconds before Kylie takes over. Soon enough, Kylie passes to Flick and Saanapu know they are in deep trouble. Rohan goes a good 40 minutes before he handballs to Lee, while Flick gives the rope to Matt who is the last hope for Saanapu. Craig finally relents after 50 minutes with Sam taking his place, but it’s just a matter of time before Matt lets the rope slip for the final time. Saanapu will head to Tribal Council as Vavau and Aganoa celebrate a rather easy joint victory.
Meanwhile, host Jonathan LaPaglia has been eyeing off Kate’s armpits and has spotted her new friend. Medical is called to check out the boil. We’ve seen contestants removed from the game for similar problems in the US season of Survivor, so it’s surprising to see the medical team decide on a quick-fire procedure to drain the boil on the spot. Kate can continue, but her boil is eliminated from the game.
It’s time to scramble at Saanapu with Nick convincing Tegan that he’s voting for Kylie. Flick and Brooke butter up Kylie and tell her that they need Nick out of the game. Kylie’s not buying it as she contemplates using her idol tonight. Matt doesn’t want Nick to be the one to go as it appears that Nick’s split might be the plan. Tegan fixes her hair in the reflection of the snorkelling goggles, and it’s off to Tribal we go!
At Tribal Council, Nick talks of his David versus Goliath battle in the challenge, rather ironically selling his physical strengths. Kylie is asked about her idol and she explains that showing it last week was a “precision decision” designed to show her honesty in the game. Right…that baby is getting flushed tonight for sure.
It’s time to vote, and this could go any way. Kylie gives another uplifting speech and plays her idol, which appears to be the right decision when two votes are thrown her way. But yet another Tribal shock is delivered as Nick and Tegan also cop two votes each for a three-way tie!
With Kylie safe, there is a revote, and rather surprisingly, it’s unanimous for Tegan to go! Survivor purists rejoice as Nick is somehow spared once again. Interestingly it’s revealed that Brooke and Flick both voted Nick before switching to Tegan at the revote in what appears to be a pre-planned move.
Perhaps more will be revealed next episode where we’ve also been teased with a merge to two tribes! I look forward to seeing how that unfolds!
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sad for tegan 🙁
Stop giving spoiler on the icon of the article 🙁