After the major Faith blindside last week, Australian Survivor enters the merge to begin the next phase, and taking down the big dogs is still the name of the game. On one side, we have the surviving returnees, Brooke, Mark, and Simon, each with their own relationships, and on the other, a growing resistance, led by Lottie. But who will land the first shot?
The episode begins with Keeley and Mark talking things out after the Faith blindside. Keeley tells Mark she respects the move, but secretly, she’s itching at the chance to regain the upper hand. But any thought of turning on Mark is put on the back burner once David reveals the tribes are now merged. At the precarious first merge vote, it’s often better the devils you know than the devils you don’t.
Sally is also pumped after the Faith vote, mostly because it saved her own bacon. Things get even better for Sal when she wins the first individual reward challenge and snags herself a brand new car. This is the momentum she needs, and she’s ready to emerge from Keeley and Mark’s shadows and begin making new allies on the merged tribe.
One of those potential new allies is Lottie, who has been firmly at the bottom since the Aisha blindside. Lottie came into this game hot, quickly cementing herself as the social centerpiece of the OG Bounty tribe and getting her way in several early votes. She’s lost that control in recent episodes, and her edit became much quieter, too. But as the tribe enjoys a merge feast, Lottie sees opportunities for new friendships, quickly seeking out Sally and also letting Mark know how much she respects his game.
Meanwhile, Mark, Brooke, and Simon gather for a late-night chat, committing to work together as the three returnees. Mark nicknames them the Boomerangs (not the Billie Eilish variety) because they always come back. With each of them having their own connections to the newbies, the hope is that they can keep on top of all the information and use it to protect and propel each other further into the game.
The initial plan is for the Beauty and the Beasts alliance (Brooke, Loz, Simon, Ben, and Jackson) to scoop up Keeley and Mark, giving them seven votes, a majority in the 13-person merge. Simon reckons it’s best to pick off the stragglers, such as a Blanche or Caleb, underdogs who could cause chaos down the road.
Elsewhere, Lottie aims her sights at Jackson, the pro wrestler she’s been wanting to piledrive out of the game for weeks. She’s still tight with Camron and Blanche, but needs a lot more numbers to take control. Unfortunately for Lottie, her reads on who she can trust here are completely off. It’s a shame, as Lottie was one of the most perceptive players early on, but the Aisha blindside really knocked her off course.
Lottie still thinks she can trust Loz and Simon, but they’re both now committed to the Beauty and the Beasts alliance. Loz is a little more conflicted than Simon, and she at least appears to consider voting for Jackson. The same goes for Sally and Richard, who, on the surface, seem to be down for making a splash and taking out Jackson. Sally, especially, says she’s tired of following orders from Keeley and Mark.
After Brooke wins the first individual immunity challenge of the merge (something she’s done in every season she’s played, as Richard the stat man points out), the target switches from Blanche/Caleb to Lottie. And it’s Keeley pushing the agenda once again. She correctly identifies Lottie as the leader of the resistance and the player most capable of mounting an attack. So, she individually pitches to Simon and Mark, gets them on board, and then lets them do the legwork (mostly Mark).
Lottie is entirely unaware that the tide is shifting against her and continues to prepare a split vote on Jackson and Ben. But she doesn’t have the numbers. For all of Sally’s talk of wanting to split away from Keeley and Mark, she ultimately falls in line and votes with them. Similarly, Richard, who is friends with everyone, sticks with the majority.
In the end, only Caleb, Cameron, and Blanche vote with Lottie, with Ben copping the majority of their votes and only Lottie voting for Jackson. Cameron senses something is off at tribal, but it’s too late to do anything about it, and Lottie is sent home with the other nine votes.
I’m sad to see Lottie go, as I thought she was a very strong player with the potential to become an all-time great. Sadly, she never found her footing again after the Aisha blindside and perhaps let herself become too laser-focused on taking out Jackson. And so, we lose yet another big player, and that might have set the tone for a hard-fought post-merge.
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