The third season of Australian Survivor kicked off with a bang this week, and one of the people responsible for that explosive start was Matt Dyson, whose Tribal Council performance immediately earned him a spot in the pantheon of the all-time great Survivor meltdowns.
Inside Survivor caught up with the Queensland traffic cop to find out the strategy behind his Tribal Council blow-up, why he named Zach as the “Kingpin,” and whether he truly believes the women are not playing the game.
1) Hey Matt. Did you have a strategy behind calling people out at Tribal Council or was it just because you thought you were going home and wanted to leave with a bang?
I knew going into tribal council only two names would be getting written down, mine and Stevie’s. I was in big trouble and there was a high chance of Stevie playing an idol as he had been looking for it extensively for 2 days. If he played an idol my game was done, plus I felt there was still a high chance I would be leaving even if an idol wasn’t played as the Bromance alliance knew they could control Stevie more than they could control me. I felt by calling the Bromance alliance out in front of everyone, it might wake a few people up and they would realise the big boys are becoming a massive threat already and it would be in their best interests to keep me to help dissolve the Bromance alliance in later tribal councils.
2) Why do you think your tribemates ultimately decided to boot you instead of Steve? And who do you hold most responsible?
Paige confirmed when voting for me that the plan all along was to vote me out, so it shows it didn’t have anything to do with what I said at tribal. The bros in the tribe knew I wasn’t going to crawl after them like they are used to people doing and I just didn’t have enough time in the game to build strong bonds with the females. I would have loved to have got to know Fenella, Shonee and Anita more and I think we would have worked well together but they were playing a different strategy early on and 2 days just wasn’t enough time to get something going with them. I pointed out Zach as the Kingpin of the tribe, and hopefully, me calling him out will put a massive target on his back.
3) What did you see that made you believe Zach was the Kingpin of the “bro alliance”?
Zach has the ability to tell people what they want to hear, make them believe he is your best friend and has your best interests at heart and make you think he is just a nice guy wanting to have fun. I didn’t believe it for a second.
4) Did you really not think any of the girls were playing the game? Or was that a scare tactic?
Tegan is playing the game extremely hard but in a social way. She is a smart girl and I give her a lot of credit and think she will do extremely well this season. She is my pick to be the last Contender standing. Anita, Shonee and Fenella were in an alliance but were playing an under the radar strategy, which is great early on if you don’t want to be noticed. But my statement about it being time to play the game was to those 3 ladies who I felt needed to start playing a more aggressive game to ensure they don’t get picked off by the Bromance alliance.
5) As a Survivor superfan, it must have been quite a moment when you saw Russell Hantz stroll onto the beach. What was your reaction to seeing Russell?
I’m a massive Russell Hantz fan and was the first one to point him out as the Champions were walking along to beach to the tribe mats at the start of the game. I was so disappointed that I would be playing against him and not with him, and if I had the chance to swap tribes, I would have in a heartbeat. I know we would have worked well together and given this game a massive shakeup.
6) Do you have any regrets or things you wish you’d have done differently?
If you have regrets then it means you were too scared to make a move and that was never going to be me. I knew 2 hours before tribal I was in trouble and I took a gamble and looked for an idol. Unfortunately, I didn’t find it and was voted off, but I gave myself a chance and I’m happy to live with that decision. It’s better than regretting not looking for it and being voted out anyway.
Stay tuned to Inside Survivor for Alice Barelli’s recap of Episode 2 coming later today! Also, Aussie Power Rankings will return over the weekend.
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Matt, I hope you read this comment. If you do please stop calling women females, it’s degrading and dehumanising. It’s descriptive word not a noun. Every single non-male human on your tribe was an adult woman. The word for a group of adult female humans is women not females. You’ve repeated it in this interview which makes me think you thinks it’s ok to use. It isn’t.
Sincerely yours
A Woman.
[…] Australian Survivor will be back Monday 6 August at 7.30pm AEST – and Dylan Vidal will be on hand to recap everything that goes down, down under. Also, Aussie Power Rankings will return this week with an incredible line-up of former Australian Survivor castaways. Meanwhile, check out Austin Smith’s recap of Episode 1 and our exit interview with first boot Matt Dyson. […]
[…] Season 3 has come and gone in spectacular fashion with two strategically aggressive gameplayers in Matt Dyson and Russell Hantz seeing their games unceremoniously ended in a self-implosion resulting from an […]