Australian Survivor: Redemption has only just begun, but it’s already picking up speed. With four returning players against an all-newbie cast, their odds don’t seem too good at first glance. However, they are returnees for a reason, and this episode demonstrated why they, especially Mark, earned yet another shot at the game.
It’s day 3 on Barren beach, and the tribe is struggling without a proper shelter, fire, and food. Brooke has her sights upon finding a hidden immunity idol thanks to the intel she got from Lyndl at the last challenge, but she’s unable to find it, seeing as she’s never alone.
Johnson, who was a finalist on Big Brother Australia, is shown to have formed an alliance with Sally and Ben. As a veteran, Mark recognises Johnson’s gameplay and aligns himself with Faith and Keeley, much as he did back on his OG season with Viola and Valeria. Later, Mark and Brooke finally connect, and both admit they want to work together in the long run.
At night, Brooke tells Mark she knows where the idol is, and as they dig together under the flag, they find it. Joyous at their accomplishment, Brooke is ready to exchange idols with Lyndl.
Meanwhile, at the Bounty camp, everyone is enjoying their time at the island and is seen playing games to pass the time. However, Dirty Harry is up to his old tricks and secretly meets up with Simon at night for strat-chats, while also setting his sights upon targeting Lottie, as she was the one who previously spearheaded the unanimous vote against Daniel. For her part, Lottie is aware of who Harry is and mentions he’s not being as stealthy as he thinks.
At the reward challenge, both tribes compete to earn a trip to the Survivor Shop and get supplies for their camp. After a tough water challenge, the Barren tribe is ultimately successful and decides to send Blanche and Ben on the shopping spree. For their four options, Ben and Blanche choose wisely: a flint, a gigantic fish, a much-needed tarp, and a box of veggies.
While the Barren tribe is finally gathering its bearings, Cat expresses the ultimate forbidden words on Survivor: that if she went out, she would like it to be through a blindside. Perhaps Cat was too delirious due to hunger, but everyone knows those words are a curse, right? Only time will tell, but for someone who played The Traitors, too, this seems to be an egregious mistake.
Next, a fierce battle ensues between Barren and Bounty for immunity, where even though they were neck-and-neck at a point, Bounty earns their moniker by sending the Barren tribe to their first Tribal Council. Brooke and Lyndl are subtly successful in communicating that they have each other’s idols, but aren’t able to exchange them yet.
Back at the Barren camp, Cat commits another Survivor cardinal sin by expressing excitement at the prospect of returning to Tribal. Multiple strategy talks ensue, where Don and Johnson become the primary targets. Johnson and his crew want to target Don, while Mark rallies his own troops against Johnson and even calls him a Temu Habibi (since Mark previously played with the OG Habibi, Feras).
Cat wants to do her own plan and starts to stir the fires of chaos by telling Sally her name was thrown out by Faith, who, alongside Mark, has already gotten too much power too early in the game. Cat also reveals to Tez that Ben and Johnson are using his name as a ruse and that Faith is being duplicitous.
She then goes to Brooke and tells her that Faith is running the game and is going after her for being a returnee player. Brooke warns Mark about Cat, which makes Mark wary as he knows Cat’s gameplay style from The Traitors.
At Tribal Council, the tribe discusses whether five days are enough time to decide who they want to play with and who isn’t trustworthy. For Mark, Samoa is haunted, as the voices of dead allies whisper in his ear about his past mistakes.
Tribal becomes interesting when Tez confronts Ben about throwing his name around, which Ben denies. Cat intervenes and backs up Tez, saying Johnson and Ben were indeed considering Tez as a backup plan, and adds that they want to go after people who, according to them, aren’t playing the game, such as Tez and Keeley.
Johnson visibly fidgets in an effort to do damage control. Keeley and Don put the “throw Johnson under the bus” party in overload by expressing their discontent towards him and his overbearing demeanour. Frustrated, Johnson tells Cat she threw him into the fire, while Cat quips he did it to himself.
Mark then takes Keeley to the side and reveals he wants to go after Cat. Keeley tells Brooke and Faith about the plan, while Mark fills Don, Caleb, and Tez in as well. Brooke expresses that she still wants to go after Johnson, while Cat scrambles in her seat to see where the votes are.
Ultimately, the vote comes down to 7-2-2-1 for Cat, Don, Johnson, and Sally, respectively, leaving Cat wanting to seek redemption elsewhere after being the first person voted out of her tribe and second overall. Just before leaving the Tribal Council area, Mark acknowledges that despite getting his way, he now has a gigantic target on his back.
The battle for redemption is just beginning, and though the returnee players have been spared so far, they aren’t out of the woods yet. Reckoning is coming after Mark, and the idol exchange between Brooke and Lyndl is fast approaching, so stay tuned, everyone.
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