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  1. Wait, so, Brian’s now claiming that voting out Fenella was actually part of his devious master plan?

    Okay, sure. Here’s the thing about “Survivor”. I don’t know whether I trust him. Was voting out Fenella actually the plan, or is he just changing the narrative (“It was totally on purpose!”) to make himself seem like a master player?

  2. How does Jonathon deliver lines like “Brian’s finding it hard to keep his pole up” with a straight face ?

    • I was just going to ask, do you think someone writes that dialogue for Jonathon, or does he make it up as he goes?

    • I was kind pissed off that jonathon was telling them all how the other competitors were playing, especially in the final immunity challenge…

      • Me too, especially as Brian and Shonee clearly had no idea and were trying so hard to see. Even so, Shonee was careful not to pass on to Brian any tiny inkling she got.

    • Loved hearing the mockery in Shane and Sharn’s giggling with her. You could almost see it written on their foreheads: “To win this game, I will even giggle like a hyena…”

    • I find her deeply unappealing. Yet I suppose I should admire her game play, as she seems definitely able to pick the right moment, and has aligned herself to some unappealing characters like Benji and Brian and jumped ship at the right time. Yet I find her so painful I would have to vote her off! I enjoyed Fenella – but Shonee – not so much.

  3. So I just finished a marathon read, catching up on last night’s comments.
    Brian winning the car tonight has just solidified that he won’t win even if he’s there at the end. There wasn’t much chance anyway but those that dislike him will see him as well and truly rewarded and that with all the makes gone that he had an advantage at challenges (though much as I dislike him he is quite good at puzzles not just strength challenges).
    As a woman not in her first flush of youth I am definitely team Shane.

      • After Brian’s relieved himself in the car a few times, it wont be worth much, either.

        Must be tough being The Wife Of Brian.

        • Brian blew his nose on his banana leaf plate with rice on it, then resumed eating. That makes Benji look like he studied at the Australian Institute of Etiquette.

          • Everyone’s talking about that part, but I missed it completely. I think I’m quite glad for that.

            Damn it, what is with these people?

          • Brian also wiped his face with the shorts he’d been wearing after he’d eaten some paw paw. I think he’s ready for MKR next year….

            I missed banana leaf boogie as well. Tomorrow , I won’t. He trumps Benji with that., maybe?

          • That was so gross I thought I mustn’t have seen it properly but apparently he really is that unaware of behavioural (and hygiene) norms.

          • The camera holds these people prisoner for 55 days. Everyone does embarrassing things at times. It’s just that most of us don’t have a camera waiting to capture the moment. This is actually a fairly bland cast, specially since the last few eliminations, so they have to work with something.

        • … and yet he offers the car to Monika as a bribe. Will she want it after he has had possession for more than a day?

          • “Happy to take the car, Brian, but you’re providing the gallon of disinfectant first.”

          • I doubt if they are allowed to offer bribes for votes. Brian probably thought he couldn’t be heard.

  4. That immunity challenge was hilarious. The three players who’ve done nothing, around camp for 46 days, were the ones who had no clue how to build a fire.

    The vote should be interesting tonight. Brian’s got an idol (and I’d be shocked if he didn’t play it), Sharn is immune, and there’s no way Brian is gonna knife Monika, or Shane/Sharn knifing Shonee.

    • If I was cynical, I’d almost think the producers earmarked that challenge to get Shane or Sharn through to the finals. It was obvious even before it started that the other three wouldn’t even get a look in, apart from sheer dumb luck.

      • That’s a point, but we’ve seen challenges like that heaps of times over the history of the franchise (and having it towards the end of the game does test how many skills the players have picked up).

        No, the most cynical thing was Sharn miraculously finding an idol on Monday night. That was embarrassingly obvious, and that’s the reason I hope she doesn’t win.

        • Yup, we have seen it a lot. Which makes it even more embarrassing that Brian / Shonee / Monika haven’t practised their fire-making skills over the last 45 days. Plus the other challenges they re-do over and over again. Practise them at home before you leave for Fiji!

          Even that girl Bi on David vs Goliath was saying how she learnt how to weave palm fronds from youtube.

      • It was about time that they had a challenge that wasn’t purely based on physical ability – overdue I think.

  5. If Brian does go tonight, which he probably won’t, Jury Villa would be great to watch. Matt and Steve really seem to have a dislike of Brian that goes beyond the game.

  6. Okay, for the first time I have to concede that Shonnee was pretty cluey tonight, kudos to her.
    Oooh and isn’t Brian put out that they dared to lie to him – hypocrite much?

    • There’s something about Brian I just don’t like. When he’s upset he gets a look on his face that hints at violence under the surface.

    • Yeah, credit where credit’s due. Shonee came up with a good plan tonight. And she was savvy enough to realise that Brian was too confident. Switching the vote to Monika made perfect sense (the look on her face suggested that she really did have no idea). And they flushed out Brian’s idol.

      Meanwhile, Brian is screwed come Monday night.

      I am looking forward to Brian arriving in the jury villa, because yeah, the other champions really seem to hate his guts.

      • When Brian gets to the Villa, he’ll go from being king to being king hit.

        Great , rivetting TC, will see the rest tomorrow. Brian should have pretended to be desperately looking for idols, instead of sleeping like a cat who’d got the cream. The idle had the idol.

      • Time will tell. I think she was better having zBrian next to her at final 2, but then again, if he had the pick, he would have taken Monika because he thought he could beat her.

      • Why is Shonee getting the credit for coming up with the plan? It was Sharn who looked at Brian lying on the beach and thought it looked a bit odd. Shonee and Shane just agreed when it was pointed out to them.

        But kudos to all three of them for holding their nerve. The temptation to doubt their actions must have been huge.

          • That happened before Sharn realised that Brian was too comfortable. So, yes, Shonee told Sharn and Shane that Shane needed to act more worried. But then later Sharn suggested that Brian must have an idol, and maybe they should go for Monika instead.

        • I thought it was Shonee who suggested it would be the safe option to vote out Monika , however I’m always only half watching so I could be wrong.

  7. Monika made more sense than Shonee. She was thinking ahead to who was the better optionto sit beside in the final two. By aligning herself with Shane and Sharne, Shonee has now put hsrself up against two potential jury winners.

    • That was funny, Daisy. Both Monika and Brian sitting at the reward challenge thinking they had it made because none of the jury would vote for the other.

      If they had both made it, the jury would have all abstained from the vote.

      • They probably would’ve voted Monika, just to *spite* Brian. I could see that happening.

        Of course, it would’ve made for some hilarious jury confessionals.

    • Uh huh. I guess there have been enough winners in the US seasons where the jury wasn’t so much voting for them as AGAINST the other choices sitting next to them.

      • The Americans are very different in their choices. They like the really devious ones and give them credit for being sneaky.

          • Michele Fitzgerald winning over Aubrey was a travesty, and absolutely ruined the season for me. Scot was so bitter.

            I think Mat and Steve will be the same. They won’t vote according to who played the game best because they’re both quite sanctimonious and hypocritical.

  8. So glad to see a fire challenge. If they did a gross food challenge my happiness would be complete. Windsong is right; car winner never wins the whole shebang. It curses them and they don’t make it to the end, or if they do it just makes their opponent look like an underdog. Early victims were Colby and Lex. You can read more at http://survivor.wikia.com/wiki/Car_Curse

    • We haven’t seen the memory challenge that looks like a puppet show yet. Maybe we won’t because of the paddle-to-America one, which still favoured the physical athletes.

  9. Shane and Sharn both gladly threw Lydia under the bus for 1/2 million bucks, so perhaps they will ditch each other to take the more beatable Shonee to final 2.

    Why oh why aren’t they doing like theUS Survivors and thinking smart by keeping Brian. He would never win the jury votes

    • Totally agree with you daisy…i think shane and sharn could have well had that conversation about ditching each other at the end….taking Brian to the end is a guaranteed winning move!

    • Well, let’s see. There are only 2 jury members (Mat and Steve) who seem dead set against Brian as the winner. I think the 3 contenders (Robbie, Benji, Fenella) MIGHT vote Brian, plus he now has Monika on there too.

      His best bet would be to put Shane then Shonee on the jury next and sit next to Sharn to get a 50-50 chance of winning. And even that will be a stretch. He’s burned his bridges with most of the players now.

      • I just don’t see Brian pulling any votess beyond Monika’s. Mat and Steve woudn’t vote for him, he screwed Fenella over, and Shane and Sharn don’t like him (even Shonee conspired against him last night).

        Maybe Robbie, Benji or Sam, but even that’s a stretch. They were all eliminated before Brian really stepped up, so they’ve got no appreciation for his game.

        Sharn and Shane are the ones I *wouldn’t* want to be sitting next to at the jury. So I think Shonee and Brian’s best bet is each other.

        • You’re probably right.

          Both Shonee and Fenella didn’t like Sharn (although they didn’t really say why) but Benji and by association Robbie, were aligned with her during the first tribe swap so Sharn might get at least 2 votes there.

          I think Benji would vote Shonee though, they were pretty tight for a lot of the game which means that Shonee would have Robbie’s vote too. And definitely Fenella’s. So, that’s 3 right there plus she’d pick up Mat and Steve’s votes for an extra 2 because Brian.

          Meh, I guess what I’m saying is that Brian can only really count on Monika’s vote. He’ll lose either way.

    • True daisy but I think from their perspective their chances of getting to the end increased with getting rid of he or Monika last night. Shane’s chances increase because Brian is still there because he will still want to ditch Sharn.

  10. Looking at the poll here, the two least popular are Brian then Shonee, so each of them should want to take the other, not Shane or Sharn who will be seen to be stronger players and who have more Champ buddies on the jury.

  11. Man the editing in this Australian series is doing my head in, i think from the ads this week indicating Monica was the queen etc and then tonight giving her so much camera time at the beginning really gave it away to me she was a goner…
    I think i do prefer the more subtle editing of the US. Version…plus this season goes way to long..
    Well played shonee on tonight, but yes it was a bit of the ‘devil you know than the devil you dont’ with her decision tonight…she jumped on the very popular wagon…wonder if she will now jump back to brian, knowing how much he is disliked…well played to her if she does
    I am happy with the final 4’now….sharn has been my favourite since day 1 so hoping she beings it home…a lot of people think she is too forthright but heh, I’m a bit like that, so go get em girl!
    Shane i think is a bit of a sentimental favourite and i agree, she has been very entertaining and have enjoyed how much she has liked playing the game
    Brian is a bit of a pig, but has been very dominant in challenges …
    I hope they have a reunion special as would like to hear more of things we didnt see

    • I prefer the pacing etc of the Aus show, and find the US version difficult to watch now.

      But on the point of editing, anybody note the blooper during the fire challenge? Well after Sharn’s bucket had risen up to the rope, they then jumped back to showing the lazy three, with Sharn’s burning bucket on the ground between them.

      I am also certain that they frequently duplicate the same facial expressions at TCs. There is a clear intention to make the contestants show the emotion that fits the chosen narrative. It is often clear when they pan out on the next shot and the person has their head turned in a completely different direction.

  12. I have to admit that Brian convinced me last night that his action was deliberate. It is clear he is a good actor, and now I don’t know if TC was a great performance or whether it was back at camp.

    When Shane said “I’ve done everything else, now I have to act…” (paraphrased) I was a bit worried that she would be a ham at it. But once again she was very subtle. No excessive words, no tears, just well-measured facial expressions of resignation and gentle words of regret.

    Certainly the promo now seems to indicate that all bets are off and all are considering getting rid of anyone. I keep remembering, though, that the rules for the finals have changed each season and there is no guarantee of how many will be in the final, or whether it is done by vote or fire-making. I would love to see fire-making, as I think it is fairer and more relevant to “surviving”. And I can’t believe that, in this day, anybody…anybody would go on Survivor without having studied and practiced fire-making. And then done enough of it on the beach to keep the skills going. For that alone, you deserve to be eliminated.

    • I’m guessing that it’ll be a final 3 (which I hate) judging from there only being two episodes left.

      And yes, Shane is so restrained with her acting – so calm and measured in her actions. And she’s kept up in the challenges, no one can accuse her of not being a threat to win immunity. Plus she’s a work horse around camp. I really really hope she takes the whole thing out. What a worthy winner.

      • Not necessarily. There have been finales in the past which have been really long episodes, so you can eliminate the third-last person in the first hour, and then the second hour leads up to the jury vote.

        And I’m sure the last two seasons have come down to a final 2.

  13. Well we saw from that challenge who’s been lazy at camp. Not knowing how to make fire after all that time was a big mistake. Thank God Brian didn’t win AGAIN. It’s funny he commented on Shane being too calm when he was being calm himself & gave himself away. Let’s hope he doesn’t win immunity next time now.

  14. On the jury being vocal, or making facial expressions; it gives away how they will vote at the end so I think they shouldn’t be allowed. If they do, they should be excluded from voting.

    • Steve was totally silent last night, so maybe he was spoken to about his behaviour the night before. Last night it was Benji who was whispering and commenting.

      • But they mentioned in jury villa that both Shonee and Brian had winked in the jury’s general direction. You’d think that banning communication would work both ways, because that just lends itself to another, “I’ll give you the car if you vote for me at the end” pitch.

        • I think I read somewhere that their contracts explicitly say bribery is a no-no which makes it even more surprising that they aired that little scene between Brian and Monika.

  15. Just listened to Ryan’s Brink of Reality podcast with Mon, in which she reveals she did Honours in Psych. She says some interesting stuff

    • So she’s actually smarter than she’s been portrayed? She was pretty invisible for most of the game and then edited to be so wishy washy in the last few episodes before her boot.

      I’ve been listening to Nick Iadanza’s recap podcasts on RHAP. He’s had some good guests on, mainly ex-contestants from past Australian Survivor seasons. I’ve gotten quite a few good insights on the mechanics of the game that way.

        • He is, isn’t he? I really liked one of the podcasts recently with Shannon Gaitz. I even looked her up because she was so quick on the draw, and found out she’s been podcasting about Survivor South Africa. Makes me want to watch that season but not quite sure where I can access it.

  16. So, who suggested going Monika instead of Brian. I rewatched the section, and here is what happened:
    1. Brian (B) knows he needs to look desperate so he fakes going to look for an idol but sleeps under the tree instead.
    2. B and Shonee (Shee) talk at the well and Shee works to convince B that she is still with him. They strongly agree that neither Shane (Shn) or Sharn (Shr) have an idol. Brian tells Shee that he thinks Shn is too calm.
    3. Next scene: Shee calls Shr over to tell her that B is suspicious of Shn’s calmness. They don’t talk about what needs to happen. Shr goes to Shn and tells her to be more worried. Shn has a “I am worried” conversation with Monika (M). Then Shn goes to B and does the same, tells him “no hard feelings” for him voting her out.
    4. B is lying on the beach. Both Shee and Shr are wandering around the camp and casting suspicious glances at him.
    5. Voiceover from Shr: “our current plan is to vote B out but he is too calm and collected before TC. It is giving me concern.” To Shee, Shr says “All afternoon I have been thinking he has been acting strange, too blase.” Shee agrees and says “do you think we should go M instead?”
    6. Voiceover from Shr: “Even though we want to get rid of B, it might be safer if we vote M”. Shee nods and agrees, but says she is nervous about it.

    So, after watching it again, I can’t tell who was the instigator. From what we saw, I would have to say that Shee and Shr came to the same conclusion simultaneously. What did impress me the second time around was how little dialogue was needed between the three women – they immediately understood every twist and what needed to be done, without further discussion.

    What I would like to know is, who (out of the three) was most convinced that B must have an idol, and gave the other two the backbone to take the risk?

  17. So it’s daylight savings now so us poor bastards in Qld will have to be careful on twitter not to get spoilers.

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