Australian Survivor – Sun, Oct 16 – more twisty twists

Well, this one’s pretty easy.

Sunday night Survivor recap
It seems like ages ago hat Brooke was voted off – that’s what happens when Channel Ten reduces our Survivor fix from three nights a week to two. Back at camp after the vote Sam knows he and Magic Matt are in trouble, as they weren’t in on the Brooke vote out. Can Sam mend his fractured relationship with previous BFF Lee? Perhaps once they are back at Ponderosa (aka the dreadfully named Jury Villa for our series) they can lift weights together and make each other protein shakes.


The next morning Flick does some sucking up to Matt to try and smooth things over in case she needs his vote and her version of sucking up involves telling him that she didn’t trust him. It doesn’t go down well. “It’s not just a game he tells her.”
Lee, Flick and El make a final three pledge and decide they will ditch Kristie when needed. It’s totes awks when Kristie then wanders up and they obviously change the conversation. Kristie knows they could be plotting against her. Please, Kristie – find an idol or sort something with Matt because I want you to win this thing.
“I’m just going to run to the dunny,” she tells the girls (yet another saying you won’t hear on US Survivor).
Kristie DOES start plotting with Matt – yay – but how are they going to make it work numbers wise? There is much sketching in the sand with a stick going on. But Flick and El have noticed she’s gone and go hunting. Matt and Kristie hurriedly scrub out their markings in the sand and it seems they have fooled El for now.


Lee, who has an obvious soft spot for Kristie (but not soft enough to shield enough from El and Flick) has a quiet chat to check she’s still on board but it’s hard to know how he feels.
She tells the camera: “I’ve been waiting my whole life pretty much to play and win this game.”
But Matt is right when he tells the camera that Lee and El are the Mum and Dad and Kristie and Flick are the daughters. Geez, Sam has changed his tune from the days of telling everyone they were snakes for talking strategy and targeting each other. He tells Flick – rightly – that if she makes final three with Lee and El they will pick each other, not her. Flick says she hasn’t thought about it but she must have – what else is there to do most of the time on the beach? Finally, we get to see Matt talking strategy and using his powers of persuasian on Flick.

Reward challenge time
Winner gets a spa stay and, hopefully, will get to choose someone to go with them so everyone else will be jealous and start plotting against them. The challenge is a mixture of of a memory game, digging for treasure and, of course, a puzzle. Lee is first one to the puzzle and Matt quickly catches up. It looks like the piles of sand on the table are making the pieces not quite fit but, after blowing the sand away, Matt wins. Who will go with him?
JLap says: “But you won’t find out who that is until tonight, at tribal council?”
In the words of the contestants: “Whaaaaat?”
Oh dear – another one of those twisty twists. Hope it’s more interesting than Exile Beach. And if Matt gets voted out and THEN gets his reward, that will suck.
The majority alliance decides to split the vote between Matt and Sam, in case there’s an idol. Since they are voting 2-2 this is a chance for either Kristie or Flick to flip because everyone knows Lee and El are strong contenders to win and they are a tight couple who would look beautiful doing ads for compression athletic wear together.

Tribal council
They arrive at tribal but it’s not really tribal – it’s the Survivor classic of “how well do you know your tribemates”. Correct answer means you get to smash boxes with an opponent’s name, potentially knocking them out of the challenge. So, we know already Kristie is going to win, right, because we heard Lee say earlier that she had never been on a single reward. Early in the days of Survivor this game tended to make it clear who was on the bottom of alliances and resulted in a lot of hurt feelings, but last time a version of it was played on “real” Survivor Jeff got so cranky with the contestants for not being cutthroat enough (Survivor San Juan Del Sur, where the majority alliance conspired to let Missy win, making for a boring challenge indeed. There’s a whole Reddit thread discussing whether this challenge is too “broken” to be used again here.).
The answers are based on surveys the contestants previously answered (and you have to pick what the group will say) and the answer to “Who most deserves to win Survivor?” was Sam. I guess it’s because he runs a charity. But no-one actually gets it right.
“Who least deserves to win?” The answer is Sam and only Lee gets it right. He smashes a Sam square.


“Who is playing the game more than anyone?” Flick. Four of them get it right.
“Who is flying under the radar?” El (agreed).
“Who is least likely to win the game?’ Sam. There are more questions but we don’t hear them all.
“Who is the most popular player?” Lee (no surprise).
“Who is the least popular player?” Kristie (ouch – poor Kristie – they regard her as an easy target).
“Who do you most want sitting next to you in the final two?” El.
“Who do you least want sitting next to you in the final two?” Sam.
“Who is most likely to blindside you?” Sam.
Oh no – Kristie’s squares are all chopped – guess she’s not going to the luxury spa with Matt.
“Who is the worst listener?” Sam. Flick is right so she gets to go on the spa date with Matt.


Poor Matt – he doesn’t even get to pick who goes on a spa date with him and he won the reward challenge. Luckily, there is a third spot and Flick picks Kristie. This should be interesting.
And then JLap tells Lee, Sam and El they are heading straight to Exile Beach, armed only with a flint. Does this mean we’ll get idol hunting this time? Depends how long they are there for in daylight I guess.


Next time: We see the spa reward winners living it up as they plot against the power couple. and Lee talking about his closest ally: “I have feelings for El inside this game.” Oooh! Will they be Australia’s answer to Rob and Amber (who now have four girls after romance bloomed on Survivor All-Stars).

Soooo, that was yet another episode where no-one went home … Come on, Channel 10. It’s Survivor – someone has to go.
Do we think Flick will really turn against Lee and El? Kristie is looking good to make it to the end and she’ll have a good pitch about being the underdog who made it through without a solid alliance.

Here are my answers to the questions – what would you put?
1 “Who most deserves to win Survivor?” Kristie
2 “Who least deserves to win?” Sam
3 “Who is playing the game more than anyone?” Flick.
4 “Who is flying under the radar?” El
5 “Who is least likely to win the game?” Flick
6 “Who is the most popular player?” Lee
7 “Who is the least popular player?” Sam
8 “Who do you most want sitting next to you in the final two?” Sam (for a goat)
9 “Who do you least want sitting next to you in the final two?” Lee (because he might win on sheer charisma).
10 “Who is most likely to blindside you?” Flick
11 “Who is the worst listener?” Matt (because he was clueless to the Brooke blindside).



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35 Comments

  1. Gee, hasn’t it felt like it’s been ages since the last episode? Now that it’s only two days a week. Maybe we’re just so close to the end, I’m getting antsy.

    Anyway, I loved Matt’s desperate scramble the morning after they stabbed Brooke. This is what you get for being a doofus. Still, even then, it’s likely to be three versus three (and Matt still thinks he and Flick are best friends. Seriously, Matt, get a clue, you idiot), which doesn’t bode well for tribal council.

    At least the show’s finally worth watching. At this point, everybody’s scattered, and trying desperately to out-plot and out-maneuver each other. It should make for an entertaining end-game, if nothing else.

    • I have a vague recollection that it’s final five, that he has to use his vote-veto power by. That’s even if a vote is happening tonight?

  2. Gee, the final part of the episode became “dump on Sam” night.

    So, the group consensus (shared amongst only six people) was that Sam is the most deserving to win the million … but also that he’s the least deserving? So I’d say that, in both instances, three of the team-mates voted for him, and the other three were split amongst the other five options.

    But Sam was also the tribemate that everybody *didn’t* want to be sitting next to, at the end. While El was the person that they did? So El isn’t as universally loved as she seems. I know Matt got a few critical responses, and didn’t Kristie win the catergory of least liked or least popular?

    I can’t imagine why they sent the remaining three to Exile Island afterwards, though. The first three are already staying in the hotel, so it’s not like they need to segregate the tribes (because they’re already pretty segregated) for alliance-forming-drama. What was the point?

  3. Thanks for the great recap Juz.
    Well that was underwhelming. I was dying to see who would go home tonight.
    Those answers were rather random. I felt so sorry for Kristie being the least popular, she looked really upset. And how can Sam be the most deserving & the least deserving? That doesn’t make sense.
    I laughed when Kristie said she was running to the dunny, when the Americans watch it they will wonder what the hell she is talking about.
    How awkward is Exile Island going to be? Lee & Sam have gone from being best mates & are now on the outs.
    I was hoping matt would pick Kristie because she gave him his letter that time but then it was taken out of his hands. I’m glad Flick picked her.

    My answers
    1 Kristie
    2 Flick
    3 Flick
    4 El
    5 Flick
    6 Lee
    7 Flick
    8 Flick
    9 Lee
    10 Flick
    11 Matt

  4. 1 “Who most deserves to win Survivor?”

    I get the reasoning for Kristie, but I actually kind of want to say Lee. He got in good with the alliance in charge, let them make the decisions until moving to break up the bad girls troika. Plus, he’s mostly played with integrity, was physically capable during the team element, and managed to keep Kristie more-or-less onside. That’s not terrible strategy.

    2 “Who least deserves to win?”

    Matt for being a moron.

    3 “Who is playing the game more than anyone?”

    Absolutely Flick.

    4 “Who is flying under the radar?”

    Actually, yeah, I’d agree with El.

    5 “Who is least likely to win the game?”

    I don’t see many people being forgiving of Flick when it all nuts out at the final tribal council. But I’ve been saying that for weeks now.

    6 “Who is the most popular player?

    Lee. That’s not even up for debate.

    7 “Who is the least popular player?”

    Of the remaining castaways, I’m gonna go with Matt.

    8 “Who do you most want sitting next to you in the final two?”

    Flick. Nobody likes her.

    9 “Who do you least want sitting next to you in the final two?”

    Yeah, that’s Lee. Because even I’d have trouble keeping my eyes off his abs and clingy black trunks (he was wearing a different pair again tonight).

    10 “Who is most likely to blindside you?”

    Flick. Sam tried to blindside Nick, but hasn’t Flick blindsided a whole *bunch* of people?

    11 “Who is the worst listener?”

    Matt’s been actively jamming his fingers in his own ears for weeks now, so yeah, I’d go with him.

  5. I’m trying to guess how the people on the jury would vote. Nick and JL would surely vote for gameplay, Kylie is a bit of a wildcard but may vote based on physical ability and supposed “honour”. And Sue … well, she wouldn’t vote for Flick, that’s for sure.

  6. I read somewhere that there is no live reunion show & they filmed 2 different endings at Samoa like they do with MasterChef. If that’s true I will be really disappointed. The live reunion show is the highlight where you can see what people think about what was said behind their backs. Would especially like to see Matts reaction to seeing how he was being played the whole time & how dumb he feels.

  7. Interesting episode, but disappointed no eviction…
    Thanks for the recap Juz, always entertaining…
    Im on the Kristie bandwagon, although she got so much air time tonight i had a feeling she was going home.
    Matt has been disappointing of late but heh, I am ok if he was to make the final 2..he seems to be the only one along with Kristie, that is actually a fan of the game.
    Where did you read anout no reunion show Carole? That will be a bummer, that is one of my fave bits…esp when you see them back to original weight and then some!
    Reckon there is an idol on Exile..? I bloody hope not…
    Hope there is a clue hidden in a napkin on Reward!

    • I read it on TV Tonight.
      I’m an hour behind here & I saw Kristie trending on Twitter & was worried she may have gone home. But I hoped it was because she blindsided Flick.

  8. Funny how the players answers to those questions are almost opposite to the viewers, as expressed in forums etc. They all seem to be still ignorant of how Flick has plotted behind their backs – she has advocated to eliminate every one of them at some point over the weeks. Maybe she is more deserving of winning if she has kept her true nature so well hidden.

    Had to laugh when JLap said “you need to agree who to take on the reward” and Flick immediately said “who will I choose?” – Matt had no say.

    There was 27 minutes of beach discussions at the beginning last night, a bit too much for my liking.

    Would love to see Lee find the idol. I think he is the only one who knows it is there. But if the other three find out that Lee, Sam and El went to exile beach, Flick will know immediately that the idol has been found.

    • You know, I hadn’t even thought about the idol tucked away somewhere at Exile Beach. I guess I was too scared of Flick and the cheerleader clique to disobey … 😉

      I hope Sam finds it. That’d force their hand, and Flick would have to go after El or Lee or Kristie.

      • What I’m wondering is if the sign with the instructions is still there? If it is, then all three could be looking, but if it is not, then only Lee knows that it was there before. Presumably he would either tell El and get her to help look, or find it himself and then use it for El. Considering last night’s narkiness between them, I can’t see him telling Sam if he didn’t have to. But then he would need to somehow persuade Sam and El to hide the fact that they had been to exile beach – bit hard, I think.

    • I was thinking the same thing. If she hadn’t picked Kristie I hope Matt would have spoken up & said he wanted to give it to her because she gave up her letter for him.

    • Yeah, i got bored with the 27 mins of beach discussion which i have learnt by now if they happen before the challenge, it usually means they won’t happen anyways. Thou i did notice Sam didn’t get much airtime.
      I hope Lee or El find the idol, the other one wins immunity, and then the use Lees advantage to really shake things up. But the only way they can use the idol well, is if Sam doesn’t know they have it (because i would assume he would go back and tell the others who has it).

  9. I liked the nervous look on Flick’s face when it came to the question, “Who is the biggest strategizer?”. It looked like she was worried about being outed.

  10. An episode of Survivor where no one is voted out?

    Are we watching a soap opera now? I hated that episode last night and have given up the last vested interest – dont care who wins. The losers are the Survivor fans given the level of machinations and padding on this show.

    • I thought it was a shit episode, too. Someone is supposed to go,right? Fail. It’s only on two nights a week, so make with the atmosphere.

      Instead the show fell flat on it’s arse because Mental Matty pulled of a victory and he’s a complete tosser, going nowhere in a hurry.

      Just left with a sour taste , regretting that I didn’t watch The Block. Sunday night shit sandwich.

      Thankfully SBS delivered quality with Deep Water.

  11. Thanks for the recap Juz.
    Note to AU Survivor! There is a reason US Survivor has been going on for 33 seasons, they haven’t mucked about with the format in 33 seasons as AU Survivor has done in one season! If it ain’t broken, why fix it?!

    1 “Who most deserves to win Survivor?” Lee
    2 “Who least deserves to win?” Matt
    3 “Who is playing the game more than anyone?” Flick.
    4 “Who is flying under the radar?” Kristie
    5 “Who is least likely to win the game?” Flick
    6 “Who is the most popular player?” Lee
    7 “Who is the least popular player?” Flick
    8 “Who do you most want sitting next to you in the final two?” Matt (hopefully no one will vote for him because he has been pretty stupid not listening etc).
    9 “Who do you least want sitting next to you in the final two?” Lee (too likeable).
    10 “Who is most likely to blindside you?” Flick
    11 “Who is the worst listener?” Matt because he has been clueless to everything so far…

  12. I love the way little square-peg Kristy does the happy dance “bwa aaa aa aah”, instead of bowing her head in remorse at having to get off her moral high horse to stab a rival.
    As JJ says, “Where did you think you were going? The beach?”

  13. thanks for the great recap Juz
    Going for Kristy FTW, will be interested to see how it all plays out considering I thought Brooke was going to win. At least Matt appears to be playing the game a bit more now.

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