After an absolutely wild and chaotic double tribal council in the previous episode that ended with Kass and Tommi having their torches snuffed, this instalment of Australia v The World is a much calmer and more predictable affair. With the final rapidly approaching, the remaining six are all thinking about how they can make it to the end, and with whom, and, unfortunately for Lisa, she isn’t in anyone’s endgame plans.
Returning to camp after a messy night of tribal action, Lisa goes on the defensive, telling Parvati that, regardless of what was said amid the non-stop whispering, she was never on board with the plan to blindside her. It’s not quite the whole truth, as although Lisa wanted to stay out of the vote to keep her hands clean, she was willing to let it go through and seemingly gave Tommi the stamp of approval.
Parvati isn’t quite sure whether to buy what Lisa is selling, but it doesn’t matter; she survived a potential blindside with both her advantages intact and came away with what could be a solid final four alliance. Not only does she still have her long-time ally Cirie, but now Luke and Janine are willing to commit to this Aussie/US cross-country foursome, clearing a path to the final four.
For Lisa, she realises she’s on the bottom, a position she’s never been in before, having won her previous season while always in control of the votes. She soaks up the usual ‘on the bottom tropes,’ including lonely walks on the beach, longing gazes from the shelter, and waiting until last to get her fix of rice. And she also adopts the fiery attitude of a player on the bottom, setting her sights on Luke.
Lisa tells Luke he’s the second biggest threat on the beach, arguing that no one will want to sit next to him at the end. Luke counters this by pointing out that he has been on the wrong side of the vote every tribal council until the last one. He also forces Lisa herself to admit she has no desire to take him to the end, so whatever she’s trying to get at isn’t changing his approach to the game.
It’s hard to say what Lisa is hoping to achieve here, other than perhaps goading Luke into getting frustrated and making a mistake. Regardless, whatever efforts she puts into Luke, it’s all for nought when he wins his second immunity necklace in a row. This win is made even sweeter for the King of the Jungle as it’s the infamous High Rollers challenge that he lost at the final four of Champions V Contenders that ultimately led to his elimination just a couple of days short of the final.
With an immunity necklace and an idol he’s kept secret all game, Luke is feeling mighty powerful. But maybe the power goes to his head, leading to a risky move that somehow ends up working. After Parvati bluffed her Knowledge is Power advantage at the last tribal, pretending it could be used after the votes are cast, Luke is worried she could pinch his idol when it comes time to use it. So, he approaches her with an offer.
Surprisingly, Luke tells Parvati he has an ido as a sign of commitment to their final three deal. The catch? He wants her to show that same commitment by tearing up the KIP advantage. They shake on it, but Parvati isn’t so quick to destroy the parchment. Luke then spends the afternoon following her around, saying he’d feel much more comfortable if she ripped it up before tribal. Feeling backed into a corner, Parvati ultimately tears the advantage in two and gives one-half to Luke.
It’s one of those stupid yet ballsy moves that actually pays off, as Luke effectively kills any chance of his idol being stolen. That is, if that’s how the rules work, does ripping up the parchment mean the advantage is totally void? Let’s say it got destroyed in the rain; that wouldn’t mean it couldn’t be used, right? So, who knows if Parvati is still allowed to use it even if she doesn’t physically have the whole parchment.
The other risk Luke takes here is Parvati telling everyone else he has an idol, forcing him to play it at the final five and then making him public enemy number one at the final four. As for Parvati, she must be feeling extremely confident with her idol and her numbers to give up another potential advantage in her arsenal willingly.
Maybe she’s right to be confident, because even though she doesn’t have the immunity necklace here, and with everyone knowing she has advantages, her name still doesn’t come up as a target, not even in an attempt to flush her idol. Instead, all eyes are on Lisa, and Lisa’s eyes are on, well, Cirie, but not to target her, to try and help propel her to a win.
Lisa is clearly a great person, and she played a really solid winning game in Survivor: New Zealand Season 2. But between her attempted quit in the last episode, her failed attempts to goad Luke, and her willingness to throw her own chances away for Cirie here, it hasn’t been the best couple of episodes for the Survivor superfan. In fact, it’s that superfandom that appears to blind her here, as she shows more passion and fight for Cirie’s game than her own.
As for Cirie, she likes Lisa, and, in an ideal world, wants to continue working with her, giving herself more options in the spiky endgame. So, when Lisa pitches voting out Janine to split up the strong Luke/Janine pairing, Cirie is more than willing to listen. Unfortunately, there just isn’t enough traction. Lisa burned any trust she had remaining with the others after the last tribal, and Cirie alone isn’t enough to save her.
In the end, Lisa is sent to the jury, with her all-time fave Cirie being one of the votes to send her there. She takes the vote-off in her stride, happy to check having her torch snuffed off her Survivor bucket list.
We started the week with the World tribe holding a firm majority, and now we’re going into tomorrow’s episode with the Aussies up 3 to 2 against the international players. Will it be Australia versus America in these last couple of episodes? Or will this Aussie/US alliance stick? And will we finally get some better Shontent? Time will tell.
Written by