Australian Survivor has returned for its tenth season in 2025 with the second edition of “Brains V Brawn II”. Here’s everything that happened last night on Australian Survivor.
If you are looking for more details on the survivors or the show itself, check out our guide here.
Warning: spoilers below!
Episode 24, Go With Your Gut
The finale is here Survivor fans. It’s the first Australian Survivor to only have men and the first to have three castaways all from the same original tribe.
This season has been brought with rumours, injuries, and lots of dramatic antics and big, bold moves. So here we are with the last three standing: AJ, Myles, and Kaelan.
Kaelan downplayed his physical game until merge and became everyone’s best friend by serving up fresh fish, coconuts, and good vibes to his tribemates and subtly making moves in the background. Oh, and he also has made Survivor history with the most immunity challenges won.
And Myles, the Jungle Rat, he has played from the bottom more often than not; he has found and correctly used four idols, has had plenty of advantages, and made big moves. However, his downfall is his social game. He has a lot of enemies on the jury.
AJ is the master manipulator who has kept Kaelan on side as his shield since day one. He believes the only way he can lose the game is if Myles wins immunity today.
Final Immunity Challenge
It’s a Survivor classic: standing on pegs. The castaways have to stand on two wooden pegs using bamboo trunks as support. At regular intervals, they will have to move to even narrower pegs at varying heights until only one is left standing. The person who wins the challenge gets to decide who goes with them to the final.
Before we get to the challenge, JLP brings in their loved ones. For Myles, it’s his best friend Ollie. For AJ, it’s his best friend Nabil. And for Kaelan, it’s his mother, Lydia. The friends and family definitely give the castaways a boost.
The challenge is not the most entertaining to watch. Myles is uncomfortable the entire time (although he puts his pole-dancing skills to good use to shift positions). Kaelan is locked and loaded from the start. He speaks once to his mum, saying that he won’t talk, he’s just going to focus. AJ constantly tries to throw off the other two. He claims not to be in pain, he laughs and chats openly with Kaelan’s mum about how great he is. He has never been great at endurance challenges, so either he’s been lying about his skills all the time, or he’s putting on a strong poker face for the final challenge.
Everyone makes the first and second transitions. However, Myles reaches his breaking point. He is audibly in pain, and after 2 hours and 25 minutes, he steps off the pegs. Potentially ending his Survivor journey.
Then, it’s a showdown between the record-breaking challenge beast and the master manipulator. AJ promises Kaelan that he’s going to take him to the final two — seemingly to incentivise Kaelan to drop.
They have two minutes to make the final transition. Kaelan takes his time, with Myles coaching him from the sidelines, and makes the transition. AJ easily makes it (thanks to his long limbs). AJ tries to convince Kaelan to drop, but he ignores him yet again.
Unfortunately for the poker master, he slips, falls off the pegs and hands Kaelan the immunity necklace after three hours. Kaelan lifts and carries Kaelan over to the bench, and the three guys embrace.
Kaelan now has a big choice to make, it’s a lot for one of the most loyal castaways the show has ever seen. He breaks down when JLP asks him how he’s feeling. It’s not an easy decision for him to make.
Final Tribal Council
Kaelan is struggling with this decision. Both Myles and AJ pitch to him. Myles has sympathy for Kaelan as he knows that Kaelan doesn’t want to decide between his two best friends in the game. He also points out how strong AJ’s resume is, and AJ responds that Kaelan should vote with his heart (a clear manipulation). Both Myles and AJ poke holes in each other’s resumes.
It all gets too much for Kaelan, so he does something unexpected and asks the two guys to join him for a quick sidebar chat. He admits that he doesn’t know what to do and asks them to essentially decide for him. They refuse and say that whoever he chooses, they will back him.
In the end, Kaelan chooses the rival he has a better chance to beat: Myles. Making AJ is the final member of the jury.
Who is the Sole Survivor of the season?
Final day on beautiful Samoa! Myles and Kaelan start the day with a delicious feast on the beach. Readying themselves for a grilling from the jury.
And the jury doesn’t hold back. After making their individual pitches (Myles had great moves, great strategy, and great idol uses, but faltered in his social game; Kaelan with his stronger social game, subtle strategy, and physical prowess), the jury finally had the power to ask questions.
In lieu of asking a question, AJ called both their pitches delusional and pointed out the flaws in their respective gameplay. Logan asked what they would do differently (Kaelan said nothing, Myles said he would have maybe thought about the consequences of his big moves in relation to his social ties).
Despite Kaelan playing with his heart, the jury finds his strategy lacking. In the end, the votes are 7-1 to Myles (Kristen being the sole vote for Kaelan).
Myles is Sole Survivor!
JLP put it best in his Instagram post:
“Myles you overly strategizing, pole dancing, hidden immunity idol finding, kooky outfit wearing, dastardly scheming, chaos loving, bomb throwing, idol stealing, crazy game playing, odds defying, foggy glasses wearing, cheeky grinning, Beckham goal kicking, madman of a player! You literally left nothing on the field.”
So that’s it for this season of Australian Survivor. But that’s not it for the year. There’s another season coming up: Australian Survivor: Australia V The World. Find everything you need to know about it here (including returning favourites David Genat).
Episode 23, Fired Up!
We are down to the final four! The postgraduates have made it…and now it’s time to see the alliance officially break up.
The episode opens with Zara explaining why she decided to vote Kate out (her biggest competition in the game). She also lays it out to the remaining players why they shouldn’t vote for her next. She says that she effectively “saved” AJ and Kaelan. AJ is confused by Myles’ play. They both know they are each other’s biggest rival. Kaelan and AJ have a chat where Kaelan says that they don’t really owe Zara anything, so voting for her is fair game.
AJ lays some tough truths on Myles. He shares that Zara doesn’t “respect” his game and views him as a “child”, and Kaelan doesn’t trust him. Therefore, AJ believes that Kaelan and Zara would take him to the final two. He is aiming for Myles at the next vote.
However, AJ and Myles have the best resumes. Kaelan has won a record amount of individual immunity challenges, but hasn’t made any moves. Zara has won one individual immunity and made arguably two big moves (swiping Laura’s advantage and voting out Kate). Why would either of them voluntarily pit themselves against AJ or Myles? We shall see…
However, Zara says to AJ that if Myles wins immunity, then they should be comfortable with voting out Kaelan. Despite that, AJ doesn’t want to. Meaning Zara is vulnerable.
Myles admits to the camera that he no longer trusts Zara as she blew up his game last night. But he also recognises that AJ can’t be trusted either. He and Kaelan have a chat, and Kaelan says they could work together. But can he trust him?
Immunity Challenge
Back to a classic obstacle course tonight! The course was broken up into three stages. Each of the survivors is locked to a rope that has been twisted around a structure. They have to unravel the rope (that they are attached to) and release enough rope in order to reach a key to unlock themselves. Next, they have to throw sandbags at a spindle. Once it falls, they have to twist off foot tiles, which they will use to climb a ramp. Finally, they have to roll balls on a balancing table and land them in small divets surrounded by holes. If a ball drops, then they have to start again from scratch.
A tricky course with lots of moving parts that really evens out the playing field for the remaining four players.
Myles whipped through the first stage and quickly had a comfortable lead on the rest. Kaelan was right on his tail. AJ wasn’t too far behind, but Zara faltered at the throwing section. Although he had a nice lead, it took some time for Myles to work out the balancing table. However, he gave himself quiet pep talks throughout (“It’s Jungle Rate time baby”) and scored his first individual immunity, guaranteeing a spot in the final three!
Tribal Council
Obviously, Myles winning the challenge threw out Zara and AJ’s plan to vote out Myles in retaliation for voting for AJ.
Zara quickly realises that she either has to vote with Myles for AJ or somehow convince AJ to vote for Kaelan. Otherwise, she’s either out or will have to make fire at tribal council.
rest of her time practising building fire. As if she and Myles vote for AJ and the other two for her, that is the only outcome.
However, when we actually get down to the votes, it turns out that Myles was playing her all day. He could not work with her going forward and so he chose to flip on her and vote her out.
Zara is the seventh member of the jury and there are only three people left!
The finale is on Monday night at 7.30pm on Channel 10 or afterwards on demand at 10play.
Episode 22, “Polarising the Outcome”
Here we are, at the final six. Kate is the last OG Brawn member standing. And the postgraduates appear to be standing strong…or do they? Although he was aiming at Kaelan the night before, Myles has switched gears and reveals to Zara his new target…AJ.
AJ is his biggest threat among the remaining survivors. Only AJ has a resume which could beat Myles’. He tells Zara as he knows that his only chance to get to the final two is to keep her on side. As Zara could win the final challenge and take him with her to the final. Myles also mentions resumes, and Zara realises that her own resume needs some padding. A move on AJ would definitely help that.
However, they want the move to be a total blindside. They agree that they should say that Kate is who they are voting for. However, Myles slips to AJ that he was planning on voting for Kaelan at the last tribal council. And so, AJ and Kaelan are convinced that Myles is aiming for Kaelan. Not realising that AJ is actually his target.
Kaelan and AJ decide that they should put votes on Myles and send him home to protect Kaelan. AJ wants to bring Kaelan to the final two as he knows he could beat him with his resume.
Immunity Challenge
Another balance challenge tonight. Survivors have to hook two blocks on the ends of a pole and carry that bar while they walk through a trip obstacle. Then place the blocks on a platform (without using their hands). The first survivor to stack twelve blocks on top of one another wins individual immunity.
AJ has trouble with the challenge due to his height. Zara takes the slow and steady route, concentrating on balancing a straight stack. Kaelan fumbles at the start, but nearly makes it. Unfortunately, his stack falls on the tenth block. Kate was the first in the lead, however, her stack was far too wobbly, and so gravity made quick work of her efforts. Myles also takes the slow and steady route. He takes the lead until it falls while he’s placing his final block.
Then it’s Zara in the lead. She successfully lands her final block and makes her way back, scoring her first individual immunity.
Tribal Council
After her immunity win, Zara speaks with Myles to confirm their plan to vote for AJ is still happening. Myles confirms, and they go have chats with the rest of the tribe.
Kate confirms she’s voting for Kaelan (her challenge threat). Myles is voting for AJ. Kaelan says he’s voting for Myles. And AJ is voting for Kate. Zara realises, after all their chats, that she actually has the power in this vote. She can decide to stick with Myles and vote for his biggest threat, AJ, or go rogue and vote for Kate, who is her biggest threat. Voting for Kate could be seen as a “safe move” for Zara (safe and boring) to the jury. Tonight is her last opportunity to make a big move against her allies that she can use in her resume (if she makes it to the final).
It is also Myles’s last opportunity to play his idol. This additional factor isn’t really brought up too much.AJ recognises that it could be a way for MYles to ensure that Kaelan is sent home. However, Myles confirms to the camera that he’s going to use his idol to protect himself (just in case AJ does anything sneaky).
When they get to tribal council, JLP reveals that Morgan has decided to leave the game and go home. Therefore, the jury will be made up of nine people, not ten.
Despite all the scheming and chatting back at camp. The viewers at home (and updating their thoughts on Reddit) only cared about where Zara would place her vote. Would she play it safe and vote for Kate, or build her resume and take out a major player and vote for AJ? In the end, she wanted to guarantee she would be the endurance champion and vote out her competition. And so, Kate’s torch is snuffed and she becomes the latest member of the jury.
However, AJ immediately realises that he was Myles’s target. So will he retaliate and vote out his bestie? OR is Zara on the chopping block because of her endurance skills? Find out on Sunday night.
Tune into the next episode at 7.00pm Sunday on Channel 10 or afterwards on demand at 10play.
Episode 21, “House of Cards”
Those of us who adore reward challenges were initially sulking on Sunday night as the production skipped it tonight and went straight into an immunity challenge…or so we thought…
The episode opened with plenty of strat-chat and cracks starting to show in the postgraduates. Myles makes it clear to Zara that if Kaelan doesn’t win immunity at the next challenge that they should break the alliance and target him. Morgan and Myles agree to work together if Kaelan loses. He has no interest in taking Kaeland and AJ to the end as they could potentially beat him against the jury. Zara also agrees to vote on Kaelan if he loses immunity.
However, the back-up is Kate. Zara has been gunning for Kate for a while, but her alliance has never agreed to go forward with it before tonight. The only obstacle to getting her is AJ, with whom she has become very close.
Immunity Challenge
Kaelan described this challenge well: “Uh oh, balls.”
As aforementioned, there was no reward challenge tonight. Instead, we headed straight into an immunity challenge.
The tribe started in the water. They have to make their way through various obstacles, collecting balls along the way. Once they have them all, they will use a long pole to push them up a ramp and into a net. Along the pole, there are further challenges: there’s a ramp, a section where the railing falls away and a section where there’s no platform. The first one to three balls in their net wins immunity.
As it was a water challenge, Kaelan immediately had the lead. If he wins, he will be the first Australian contestant to win six individual immunity idochallenges.
He takes an early lead, but the pole proves tricky to master. Surprisingly, Myles figures out the challenge quickly and closes the gap. It comes down to a showdown between Myles and Kaelan. Fortunately for the “Challenge Enthusiast”, Kaelan wins immunity and makes an Australian Survivor record! Inadvertently spoiling Myles’ plan to vote Kaelan out. And potentially sending Kate or Morgan home.
Tribal Council
After the challenge, Kate and Morgan see the writing on the wall. The easy move for the tribe to make is to vote out one of them.
Zara, in particular, wants to get Kate out because Kate is her direct threat in the game. AJ tries to convince Kate to vote for Morgan (her closest ally) to tip the votes to send Morgan home. She bursts into tears as she feels like she can’t vote for her closest ally, which means she is going home. AJ tries to awkwardly comfort her. He switches gears and tries to convince Kaelan to vote for Morgan. He points out that Kaelan is likely on Myles’s hit list. This pitch definitely sways Kaelan. Interestingly, Kaelan mentions they could vote for Myles, which AJ immediately puts down.
However, when they speak to Zara, any mention of voting for Morgan instead of Kate, she will not budge. Not even when Kaeland points out that he’s fairly sure (and correct) that Myles has a hidden immunity idol.
Kate and Morgan have a chat on the beach and promise not to vote for one another. They decide to vote for Myles. Kate speaks with Kaelan about their plan and points out that even though he’s a challenge beast, he has no moves on his resume if he makes it to the final three. He is definitely interested.
However, when they get to Tribal Council, a spanner is thrown into the works! There is a second immunity challenge!
The survivors (except Kaelan) have to balance on a beam and stack a house of cards on a platform they are holding up by a rope. A challenge that requires balance and patience.
Someone who has buckets of that is Kate. She wins immunity, ruining the postgraduates’ plan to vote her out. She and Morgan try to sway the dial towards Myles. Unfortunately for Morgan, they stay strong, and Morgan becomes the sixth member of the jury.
Tune into the next episode at 7.30pm Monday on Channel 10 or afterwards on demand at 10play.
Episode 20, “The Reaper Is Coming”
After the previous night’s episode, battle lines are clearly drawn in the tribe. It’s the strong four of Zara, AJ, Kaelan, and Myles (aka The Post-Graduates) versus the Brawns, Kristen, Morgan, and Kate. The current plan for the graduates is to stick together until final four, and then Myles plans for them to vote out Zara. Kaelan suggests Kristen for the next vote and says that they tell the Brawns nothing.
Unbeknownst to him, Kristen is targeting Kaelan. He has revealed himself to be a challenge beast, and additionally, she has deduced that he is playing a better game than many realise. He’s a lot of people’s final three person, so if they cut him out and it mixes the game up for everyone. In order to do that, they need Zara on their side. Zara, for her part, is aware that the guys won’t want her in their final three as she is an endurance threat. So it all depends on whether Kaelan can score individual immunity…if not, it could spell the end of his game.
Immunity Challenge
Another endurance challenge in tonight’s episode. Each of the survivors has to hang off a ledge, which gets progressively steeper. The last person hanging on wins immunity. About halfway through the challenge, they added an extra level of difficulty: water. A hose turned on, which showered the survivors with cold water as they were hanging on.
Everyone makes it past the first stage. After the ramp got steeper, after about 10 minutes, AJ was the first to drop. Following the second stage, after about 20 minutes in, it started raining, making the ramp slippery. Myles called it quits after that. Then the hose was turned on. Kate then dropped after 28 minutes. Zara followed and then Morgan. Again, it was a showdown between Kristen and Kaelan. After 30 minutes, the ledge gets even steeper. Kristen knows she needs it to get Kaelan out. However, unfortunately, she loses her grip, slips and hands Kaelan the win. Kaelan now has five individual immunity wins, on par with the Australian Survivor record.
Tribal Council
The graduates decide to stay four strong, vote on Kristen, and not say anything to the Brawn ladies. However, AJ is concerned that one of the Brawn women will have an idol. He pitches that they split the vote to stay safe. However, Myles overrules him and enacts the KISS method: Keep It Simple Stupid. AJ’s squirming worries Zara.
Kristen speaks with Zara and suggests that she vote with the Brawn women for AJ (who has a great resume with lots of moves under his belt). Zara doesn’t bite, but is interested when Kristen floats Myles. However, she’s aware that making a move could make her a target and jeopardise her position. That being said, Zara hasn’t made a lot of moves yet…besides commandeering Laura’s advantage.
AJ goes behind his alliance’s back and speaks with Kate and Morgan. He doesn’t reveal the plan to them, but he does attempt to hint at what the plan is. That completely frustrates Morgan and confuses Kate. He speaks with Zara about what he’s trying to do, which annoys her as he is again trying to change votes right before tribal council. She knows she can’t trust AJ and Myles… but will that be enough to get her to flip?
When they get to Tribal Council, it’s unclear which way the votes are going to go.
At one point, Kate pulls Zara aside to pitch that she votes with the Brawn girls on Myles. Unbeknownst to them, Myles has an idol. Morgan and Myles also have a showdown where she voices her frustration that Myles didn’t even consider listening or working with the Brawn alliance. The rumblings and not-so-secret chats do look like they rattle him (or at least that is how the edit makes it look).
Even though it looked like it would make sense for Zara to slay the jungle rat, in the end, the votes landed on Kristen. Four on her and three on Myles. He still has his idol and is safe for another night. Whereas Kristen is the fifth member of the jury.
Tune into the next episode at 7pm Sunday on Channel 10 or afterwards on demand at 10play.
Episode 19, The Magic Number
Zara opens the episode, reeling from the aftermath of her alliance voting out her ride or die Karin. However, she understands that as a duo, they held too much power. While chatting to the rest of the tribe about the move, Logan takes credit for the tribe voting off Karin. This shocks AJ as he believes it was his move…even though Kaelan suggested it to him. I guess it won’t matter until they need it for a resume.
The next day, Kristen tries to repair the damage caused by her turning on the tribe (and Karin revealing it at Tribal Council). Kaelan and AJ say to her face that they are fine, but they no longer trust her. Time will tell if her Berry alliance with Kaelan, AJ, and Logan will prevail.
Zara feels a bit of a loss right now, so she chats with Myles as he has the most experience with being at the bottom of the tribe. Together with AJ and Kaelan, they decide to restart the Graduates alliance, which they rename “The Postgraduates”.
Reward Challenge
For the Reward challenges, the survivors had to balance on a platform in the water. At regular intervals, they would have to shift to narrower and higher up footholds. The last person left standing wins the reward. Which was what? A night away at the “Ikea Better Sleep Retreat”, complete with a hot shower, champagne, and shepherd’s pie.
At first, it seemed like this could be Kaelan’s challenge to lose, as he’s a paddleboard champion. AJ lasted less than a minute. Myles and Kaelan (surprisingly) fall off while making the third transition. Morgan falls off soon after. After 25 minutes, the remaining four started making the transition to the final position. However, Zara and Kate fall off almost immediately after moving to the top position. So then it was down to Kristen and Logan. Finally, Logan drops, so Kristen wins!
Kristen chooses for Morgan and Logan to join her at the retreat. Her decision solidifies the newly rejoined Graduates alliance, who decide at camp that they should vote for Logan. Also, Myles does the impossible and finds his fourth hidden immunity idol! An Australian Survivor record! This impresses AJ and incites his jealousy.
Over at the Ikea retreat, after washing weeks of mud out of their hair and sipping on champers and indulging in some comforting shepherd’s pie, the three women chat about who they should aim for. They settle on Zara as she’s still a big threat both socially and in challenges.
So if both sides stay strong, we are on track for a tie-vote at Tribal Council.
Immunity Challenge
For the Immunity Challenge today, the tribe was split into two teams of four. One member of each team is bound and tied to a rope. They must be carried by the rest of the tribe firstly through a bamboo wall, then over and under poles around which the rope is wrapped around and then finally the team has to hoist them onto a higher platform with a net, and they have to roll or be pushed across the net. The first team to get to the end moves to the next stage of the challenge. This second stage has the four remaining survivors throw sandbags at an idol. The first to knock off their idol wins individual immunity.
The first team is AJ, Morgan, Logan, and Zara (who is bound and tied). The second team is Kaeland, Myles, Kristen, and Kate (who is bound and tied). After struggling at first, the second team quickly made their way through the obstacle course. At one point, it really looked like AJ was throwing the challenge. As his alliance are now targeting Logan, it makes sense he would allow his team to fall behind.
The second team makes it to the idols. It became a showdown between Myles and Kaelan, but it was Kaelan who knocked his idol off first. Winning him individual immunity for the fourth time!
Tribal Council
When they return to the campsite, both groups solidify their votes. Logan and her alliance of Kristen, Kate, and Morgan decide to vote for Zara but claim to be splitting on Morgan and Kate. The graduates, meanwhile, plan to vote for Logan and claim they are splitting on Morgan and Kate. They recognise that it could be a four-four split, but decide that even if they do tie, they will go to rocks for each other. If you’re curious about what rocks are, it’s what happens when the tribe cannot decide on a unanimous vote for one person; the two people on the chopping block are safe, and the rest of the tribe pulls rocks to see who stays and who goes.
At Tribal Council, it happens as the graduates foresaw. It comes down to four votes on Logan and four on Zara. The two women have to plead their case to the tribe. However, as the graduates have already decided they will go to rocks, Logan realises that the vote will never be unanimous to vote for Zara. And so, Logan tells her alliance it’s okay and accepts that the tribe is voting her off to save themselves from going to rocks.
Thus, Logan becomes the fourth member of the jury.
Episode 18, Operation: Shut Your Pie Hole
Whoever names these episodes is having a great time. However, I would have campaigned for “The Jungle Panther“.
Finally, we are getting some gameplay from Kaelan, who has thus far spent his time keeping his head down, playing dumb, using AJ as a shield, and bringing people coconuts. The episode begins with the tribe discussing the events of Tribal Council, specifically Myles pulling out an idol, surprising his various alliances. However, AJ is again being blamed for the shift in tactics. Karin is getting tired of AJ and Myles running things around camp and changing plans before tribal without consulting her. Maybe she will finally stop talking about maybe getting AJ out next time and bite the bullet tonight?
Kaelan shares to camera that despite having three close allies (Myles, AJ, and Kristen), none of them really know his gameplay. He has successfully kept himself under the radar. Although he was part of the decision to vote out Myles the episode before, he plays it off to Myles that he was just a number, and it shocked him.
Kaelan is worried mostly about Karin, as he keeps saying “she’s too smart,” and thus the biggest risk to his game. He warns AJ that Karin is concerned about his alliance with Kate and Morgan, sowing the secret seeds of discord in the hopes that AJ will see this as an opportunity to vote out a big player. Of course, AJ falls for it and takes the suggestion and convinces himself that it was his idea. Brilliant.
Karin has no idea that Kaelan is secretly working against her. She sees him as a tight ally. Although Kaelan said that she is gunning for AJ, she’s actually aiming for Kate this episode as she’s a social and physical threat. Zara and Kristen are on board.
Zara shares that plan with AJ, who tells Kate and then suggests that Kate and Morgan join him in voting for Karin.
Reward Challenge
Surprise mid-week reward challenge. The tribe had to work in pairs to balance blocks on a curved platform held up by a rope, which the survivors had to hold onto. Once all the blocks are placed, the duo have to tie their ropes to a post and then knock their blocks like dominoes. The first team to successfully knock their dominoes wins the reward. What’s the prize? A spit roast lamb with all the trimmings and plenty of vino.
The tribe draws rocks to choose places. Logan drew the odd rock, so she has to sit out. The pairs are: Kaelan and Morgan, AJ and Kristen, Karin and Myles, and Zara and Kate. After a few goes, AJ and Kristen win the reward. They are allowed to bring two others with them. They choose Logan (as she helped AJ during the challenge) and Kaelan (as he hasn’t had as many rewards as the rest).
Kaelan is keen to use this opportunity to further his game. Coincidentally, Logan suggests starting a new alliance with the four of them, bringing in Kate and Morgan and then voting for Karin. She shares that Karin did tell her to use her idol (something that AJ suspected) and doesn’t want Karin to control her anymore. The four create a new alliance which they dub The Berries, after the cranberry juice they enjoyed at the feast.
Immunity Challenge
In a refreshing turn, the challenge tonight is a nice obstacle course over three stages. First, the survivors have to “barrel walk” (basically walk on a barrel and roll it at the same time) across a track and then attempt to land three sandbags on top of the barrel. The first five people to complete this move onto the second stage, where they have to land a monkey fist and walk across a beam. And the first three who do this continue to the third and final stage, where they go over a ramp and solve a puzzle. The first person to do so wins immunity and is safe from the vote tonight.
Immediately, Kaelan pulls ahead in the challenge. He, Logan, AJ, Morgan, and Kristen make it past the barrel walk to the monkey toss.
Kaelan is the first to land and pulls ahead to the puzzle stage. The monkey toss proves difficult for the rest, giving Kaelan a nice lead. At one stage, as JLP is commenting on Kaelan’s process, he whispers to JLP and asks him not to share how well he is doing (presumably to keep his smarts under wraps for as long as possible) and to wait for the tribe to catch up. Surprisingly, JLP giggles and agrees.
AJ and Morgan move onto the puzzle stage, but by the time they do, Kaelan only has to place a couple more pieces and wins individual immunity for the third time.
Tribal Council
Back at camp, Kaelan is confident he has massaged the right people (aka AJ) to ensure Karin is sent home. The Berry alliance are planning a three-way split vote: three on Karin, three on Zara, and three on Kate; there would be a revote, and then Karin would go home. Karin is equally confident that there is going to be a split vote on Kate and Morgan, and Kate will be sent home. She is only worried about AJ. However, no one is thinking about the Rat King.
Myles is left out of conversations and starts to put a new strategy out there. He puts forward Zara’s name to Logan. Which she knows would ruin the Berry alliance’s three-way split vote plan. They regroup to put more votes on Karin so there wouldn’t be a revote. To do that, Kristen has to vote for Karin. However, she actually wants Zara to be voted out. She could keep quiet and decide who goes, or tell her to try and make a move.
Kristen is a loyal player and tells her. Karin freaks out and starts talking about finally making a move.
At Tribal Council, she does something that feels unprecedented. Karin pauses proceedings, calls out that she knows the tribe is gunning for her and brings Kaelan, Logan, Kristen, and Zara into a private “chat “sidebar” and tells Zara that there’s a split on them. She suggests a “Russian Roulette” and pitches to them that if their five votes go to someone else on the tribe (so, AJ, Morgan, Kate, or Myles) and if they play an idol, she is voted off. However, the sidebar group don’t seem to go for her plan.
When the sidebar comes back, Karin says she believes AJ came up with the plan to vote her out (teehee Kaelan). Kristen then outs herself, which surprises no one (she’s a very honest player).
It doesn’t go Karin’s way; she cops the most votes and becomes the third member of the Jury.
Tune in to see what happens next on Sunday 7pm on Channel 10 or stream on 10Play.
Episode 17, G-R-I-M
As this episode title suggests, this episode was grim. Specifically for the Barren tribe. To catch you up, on the previous night’s episode, the Malosi tribe was split into two new tribes. The new Bounty tribe includes Kate, Morgan, Zara, Karin, and AJ. The new Barren tribe has Paulie, Logan, Kristen, Myles and Kaelan.
Barren gets nothing, a new tribe with no fire, food, or shelter. Whereas, Bounty gets everything: they get to stay at the camp and have a cooked breakfast in the morning and an advantage at the immunity challenge. Whoever wins that challenge wins immunity for their new tribe. From then, the tribe come back together and vote someone off from the losing tribe.
The episode opened on the Barren tribe’s new shelterless, fireless, foodless camp. At one point the camera shows the tribe huddling together under a tree as rain pours down at night. They get no sleep. Energy is very low and production even amps it up with a grey colour grade or decreased contrast so everything looks grey and grim and depressing.
Paulie is having a terrible time in this episode. His tribe voted him out, he missed out on talking to his family, and now he’s been sent to the Barren tribe. He appears to spend most of his time in the episode away from the rest of his tribemates. Logan’s spirits are also very low, she feels betrayed by everyone. Kaelan tries in vain to lift everyone’s spirits with coconuts. Kristen joins him in trying to lift spirits. Myles is starting to get overconfident in his position.
Whereas on the Bounty tribe things are bright, and sunny, with a cooked breakfast complete with fresh herbs. However, things are not as blissful as it appears. Zara and Karin had planned to blindside Morgan in the previous episode. In a hilarious edit, the Australian Survivor producers show that Morgan and Kate have the exact same plan and grievances as Karin and Zara. They eventually come together. Karin replies to Kate’s suggestion with “I will accept this rose.”
The women plan to vote out Myles. Kate worries the plan could ruin her alliance with AJ, so she confides in him. He appears at first to go along with it…for now.
Unbeknownst to everyone on the Bounty tribe, over on the Barren sid , Kaelan, Kristen, Logan, and Paulie also agree to put their votes on Myles if they lose the challenge. He believes the vote will either be on Logan or Paulie and so continues feeling very safe in his self-assigned role of “Rat King”.
Immunity Challenge
Another return of a classic Survivor challenge. Survivors must cling onto a pole with tiny footholds and at intervals must move to smaller footholds. The last person hanging on wins immunity for their tribe. As the Bounty tribe had an advantage in this challenge, Barren had to start on the middle footholds.
As the challenge begins, Morgan chooses to start in the middle as she doesn’t love heights. Logan drops first, Kaelan drops soon after and then Morgan follows. Karin is next to go down — she also doesn’t love heights. After Bounty transitions to the middle section, AJ opts out. Kristen also reaches her limit. After 30 minutes, Myles drops leaving Barren’s chances up to Paulie.
Things appear to move Paulie’s way as they transition to the final section. Kate and Zara finally start to struggle a bit. After 40 minutes Kate starts to visibly shake all over. Zara won’t let her give up. Unfortunately from the sweat and exhaustion, Paulie slips off giving Bounty the win and saving them from elimination.
Tribal Council
After the challenge, AJ makes it clear to the viewers at home that he’s playing both sides. Karin is suspicious that AJ is willing to vote out his closest ally. She wants to “dictate” the vote and tells Kaelan and Kristen to vote for Paulie and everyone else to vote for Myles.
AJ tells Myles that they are targeting him so he should use his idol to save himself and have some conversations to decide who he wants to target. Myles starts strategising. He confesses that he has an idol Logan and Paulie and tells them both to vote for Kristen. Myles says he’s keen on voting her off as she has connections with everyone, except him.
Unfortunately for Myles, AJ is not on board with his plan as he thinks he can “work Kristen”. However, Paulie is concerned. He talks with Kaelan and Kristen who tell Paulie that the tribe is splitting the vote on him. Paulie is livid. He wants the tribe to change the vote to someone else. Although, he doesn’t share that Myles has an idol. Maybe if he had, the tribe would have changed their votes. Kristen even gives him an opportunity to after Logan tells her that Myles has an idol and is gunning for her. If he had, Kristen probably would have switched her vote to someone else.
When it finally comes to the Tribal Council, Myles reveals he has an idol after the votes are cast to the surprise of his graduates alliance. In the end, Myles cops the most votes at five (which do not count), Logan gets one vote (from Paulie), Kristen gets one vote (from Myles) Paulie gets three (courtesy of Kaelan, Kristen, and AJ). Meaning that Myles’ plan didn’t work as Logan and Paulie voted for one another. And so, Paulie is sent to the Jury Villa leaving behind a tribe with scattered alliances.
Tune in to see the fall-out on Tuesday 7.30pm on Channel 10 or stream on 10Play.
Episode 16, “Pickled”
If anyone is curious what you receive when you arrive at the Jury’s Villa, check out Australian Survivor’s behind-the-scenes post on Instagram to see Laura’s reaction.
Back on the beach, Laura starts the episode by saying that she’s feeling “flat”. No one is sure whether Karin did warn her. AJ is suspicious, and Kaelan points out they have been chatting a lot, including at the Tribal Council. Kaelan is worried that Karin is too smart, so her position on the graduate’s alliances could be faltering.
The next morning Laura has a heart-to-heart with many people on the tribe. She reveals that she can’t see the line between friendship and alliances, so feels that the tribe has betrayed her personally. Karin plans to use her dejection to her advantage in the game. Especially as AJ is getting very close with Morgan and Kate and potentially setting up a new alliance that doesn’t include her. Myles lets her know that he’d be keen to break up that burgeoning new alliance as it would help his end-game as he believes he could beat Karin in an endurance challenge. However, AJ and Kaeland are plotting to vote out Karin before she votes them out. Both Myles and Kaelan ask Karin and AJ respectively to keep them out of the limelight so it doesn’t blow back on them.
Reward Challenge
The return of a classic Survivor gambit, but with a twist. Tonight’s episode saw the return of the Survivor Auction. However, instead of bidding money, the survivors were presented with two covered dishes and had to call heads or tails as JLP flipped a coin. If the survivor calls the correct head or tails, they get to pick which one to reveal which they can either keep or swap for the other covered dish. If they get it wrong they have to choose without seeing what it is.
There are plenty of notable dishes and some not so notable, such as a coconut, a bowl of rice, and a loaf of bread.
Paulie wins his coin toss which reveals a phone so he can call home. He surprisingly discards for what could potentially be food. Unfortunately for him, it’s a solitary pickle. Later on, Logan also wins a call home which she takes. She’s been having a difficult time, so calling her husband makes her day.
Kate reveals an advantage which she accepts that allows her to steal anyone else’s winning dish. Kristen follows her and scores a lasagne and a beer which Kate immediately steals.
Immunity Challenge
Tonight’s immunity challenge is a deceptively simple one. The survivors have to stand on one leg while balancing a ball on a platform with their other leg. It requires a lot of balance and strong hip flexors.
Many drop out quickly until it is just Kate and Logan who remain. Logan knows that she needs it to survive the next Tribal Council. After 55 minutes into the challenge, Kate asks if they can make it harder. JLP suggests hands on their heads. The women agree. If they take their hands off, they are out. They continue for a further 25 minutes.
That is until, unfortunately, Logan spots a spider on her foot. She attempts to blow it off but while readjusting she loses balance and her ball drops, winning Kate individual immunity to Logan and Karin’s dismay.
Tribal Council
It should be a straightforward vote tonight. Logan is on the bottom and no one really wants to work with her. No one except Karin. But many on the tribe don’t like when things are simple. Karin is keen to maybe vote for Morgan or Kate (which she can’t do now Kate has immunity), Kaelan and AJ are mulling over voting for Karin, Myles is averse to “boring” votes, and Logan wants to save herself.
Many conversations are had. Myles, AJ, and Karin decide on a 5-3-2 split vote on Morgan, Paulie, and Logan respectively. However, AJ is planning on voting Karin and Myles is keen to vote for Logan to prevent Karin from building a voting block. AJ wants to make sure that Logan is going home. So, he chats with Kristen and Zara about how he would prefer Logan — they are under the impression that Morgan is the vote. Zara immediately tells Karin who is annoyed that yet again AJ has changed the vote right before Tribal Council and her vote is being dictated to her and she has no time to retaliate. Myles is also annoyed as they had a nice blindside planned, but AJ revealed it.
However, there is an unexpected twist (tonight’s episode had many): it’s a non-elimination Tribal Council.
Instead of voting someone out, the tribe is going to be divided again into two tribes, at least until the next immunity challenge. Whoever wins that challenge wins the challenge for the entire new tribe and is safe from the next Tribal Council.
One tribe, the Bounty tribe will return to the same camp with a nice breakfast in the morning, and score an advantage in the next immunity challenge. The second tribe will be the Barren tribe. They will have no shelter and no food.
As Kate has individual immunity, she is automatically on the Bounty tribe. And she can choose one person to join her. Then the tribe has to vote for who they want to go on the Barren tribe. The two people with the most votes get sent there. The rest of the tribe will draw rocks from a bag. Whoever picks a white rock goes to Barren and whoever picks a black rock goes to Bounty.
Kate chooses her closest ally, Morgan. The rest of the tribe scrambles to strategise on who to vote out. On the initial tally, Paulie cops the most votes. However, AJ and Logan tie for second place. So, there’s a re-vote. On the revote, it’s close, but Logan gets sent to Barren.
The final tribemates are:
- Bounty: Kate, Morgan, Zara, Karin, AJ
- Barren: Paulie, Logan, Kaelan, Kristen, and Myles
Just as it’s announced, it starts to rain meaning it should be a difficult night ahead for the new Barren tribe. Tomorrow is bound to be spicy. Tune in at 7.30pm on Channel 10 or stream on 10Play.
Episode 15, “The Rat King”
The survivors are no longer going home…from now on, whoever is voted out of the tribe joins the jury!
The episode begins with the tribe dealing with the fallout of Myles’ advantage play and PD being sent home. Logan is furious. Specifically at AJ for “burning” her yet again.
However, both AJ and Myles are gleeful with how it has all played out. Myles shares that he has another immunity idol and the guys spend the night giggling about the possibilities.
The next day Paulie has a “new lease on life”. After Myles saving him last night, he pledges his allegiance. After most of the tribe gunning for him the night before, everyone seems to be focusing on Myles and AJ to target next. So Myles is working on getting his alliance of The Graduates (Zara, Karin, Kaelan, Myles, and AJ) back together, with the bonus number of Paulie.
However, while AJ believes it’s the best play, he knows that he is still in Karin’s bad books. He attempts to smooth it over with her. She agrees to stay in the alliance, but in reality, she is sick of being told what to do by the guys. It might be time for her to work on getting one of them out next…
Reward Challenge
There was a reward challenge last night!
The task itself was simple enough. The tribe is split into two teams, in pairs they have to grab a ball from one side of the arena and bring it back to their side then attempt to throw it into a basket. Oh, but they are in the water. And they are tied together. The first team to three wins the reward.
What’s the reward? An American feast! Think milkshakes, mac and cheese, burgers and more!
AJ, Myles, Paulie, Karin, Kristen, and Kate are on the blue team. Laura, Morgan, Kaelan, Logan, and Zara are on the red team. No injuries in this episode. AJ flexes his basketball skills which helps clinch the win for the blue team.
While enjoying the All-American feast, AJ instigates a strat-chat. Despite some pushback from Myles, Myles then divulges that Logan has an idol and that he would like to get her out of the tribe.
Immunity Challenge
It’s the return of a classic Australian Survivor challenge: holding yourself under a grate placed in the water as the water levels slowly rise. The last person in the water wins immunity. It’s not a fun challenge, it is a test not just of patience, but also a test of your nerves.
For most of the task, Myles was keeping himself and the rest of the tribemates distracted with silly jokes and commentary — even impersonating JLP at one point!
After an hour and ten minutes, it was down to just Karin and Kaelan. Despite being under for a really (quite worryingly) long time, Karin pulled out. So Kaelan again won individual immunity!
After giving Kaelan his immunity necklace, JLP shared that the next person who is voted out by the tribe won’t be sent home, they will become the first member of the jury!
Tribal Council
Logan wants AJ to go home and split the vote with Myles in case he has an idol. Myles wants Logan to go home and split the votes on Laura in case Logan uses her idol.
AJ and Myles appear to have the numbers, but they have annoyed most people in the tribe and this is a great opportunity to vote them out. Karin recognises this and is keen to nudge Logan to use her idol so that AJ could be sent to the jury. Whatever happens, the buddy system will truly be breaking up.
Come Tribal Council, Karin does whisper to Logan to use her idol to save herself. Logan and Laura immediately start panicking and ask Zara and a couple of others if they voted for Logan. Because of Karin’s warning, Logan uses her idol to save herself.
In the end, Myles doesn’t use his idol. However, thanks to Karin, Logan does use her idol. The votes are counted and Laura cops the most votes. She and Logan feel absolutely betrayed. Laura refuses to hug anyone (except Logan) goodbye. It’s hard to believe she will be able to remain impartial on the jury…only time will tell.
Watch episode 15 here.
Episode 14, “The Buddy System”
There were a lot of chats and scheming in this episode, which is surprising as everyone seems to be gunning for Paulie. Many tribemates pointed out that the tribe had started to pair off. AJ with Myles, Laura with Logan, Morgan with Kate, Kristen with PD, Karin with Zara…but Paulie doesn’t have a buddy. But by the way, no one seems to have paired up with Kaelan, who is still keeping his head down and serving up coconuts. Whereas, Paulie is on the outs with the tribe. He is well aware that he is in a precarious position and seems to have accepted that he’s the next vote.
Kaelan let it slip to AJ that Logan has an idol, something that she hasn’t shared with him. He tells Myles who then shares that he has an advantage which allows him to steal an idol at Tribal Council. They are beside themselves with glee at the possibilities for their gameplay.
No one knows about Myles’ advantage, few people know about Logan’s idol, and everyone knows about Kristen’s. Both AJ and Myles have all the information and are keen to start making big moves!
Immunity Challenge
There was no Reward Challenge today, so we are straight into the survivors competing for individual immunity. Another balance and strength challenge, and yet another challenge which PD has to sit out. Begging the question again if this will make him an easy vote or the ideal shield.
The survivors had to stand on platforms and pull down on a bar which is holding a spool. If the spool drops you’re out. The last person standing wins individual immunity.
The challenge definitely favoured survivors with upper body strength. “This is not Pilates,” Logan said at one point.
Everyone thought this would be Paulie’s challenge as he is fairly strong and needs the security of the immunity idol. Unfortunately, he loses focus and his spool just falls off. Leaving Paulie exposed. After Paulie drops out, many others drop out. Until it is a showdown between Kaelan and Kristen.
Ultimately, Kristen’s spool starts moving and drops, meaning Kaelan wins immunity.
Tribal Council
Back at the beach, the tribe agrees to dump their votes on Paulie. It’s an easy vote. However, AJ is keen to potentially blindside Logan to flush her idol. And, surprisingly, Laura starts scheming to vote off PD. He was part of an alliance that wanted to vote her off. Plus, she recognises that he will never work with her.
So, she chats with Myles who appears interested. Then speaks with Kate and Morgan, who are also on board. However, when she chats with Logan, she is furious. She is sick of not being able to push a name and of “being dictated to.” Laura immediately backs down, but Myles is still keen to make a move, especially one that doesn’t include voting off Paulie as he sees him as beneficial to his strategy.
With a few people breaking off to have chats and everyone worried about the split vote, PD speaks with Kristen. She promises to play her idol to save him if they feel like PD is in danger.
Myles is frustrated with the players, who appear to vote with their emotions and are not playing the game. And so, he hatches a plan.
When it comes to counting the votes at Tribal Council, Myles reveals his advantage to the shock of the tribe (and AJ’s glee). Instead of stealing Logan’s idol (as they aren’t 100 per cent sure she has one, although why wouldn’t they trust Kaelan?), Myles decides to take Kristen’s. Now leaving PD exposed.
The viewers at home had no idea, but it appears that AJ and Myles had planned this, as both voted for PD. Paulie also voted for him, so PD was the victim of Myles’ advantage. Now Myles can take credit for the move, stealing a move from Laura. A great addition to his resume…
Episode 13, “Vengence”
Merge time! This season is just flying by, it’s already time for merge. When two tribes become one! The new name, suggested by PD, is Malosi, which means strong in Samoan. When it comes down to fewer players, that’s generally when people stop being sent home after being eliminated after Tribal Council and instead become part of the Jury, who ultimately determine who becomes Sole Survivor. We still have one player too many, so whoever is sent home tonight is sent home…
After buffs are dropped and hugs are shared, the new tribe embarks on everyone’s favourite part of merge: individual challenges! Instead of a tribe winning, everyone is out for themselves.
The episode began with the tribes both arriving at the challenge, and they could clearly see that the tribe merge was happening. Let’s get into the challenges.
Reward Challenge
Starting off strong with a classic endurance challenge. Survivors had to hang from a rope, gripping it with their arms and legs. When one person drops, it affects everyone (as they are all on the same rope). The last person left dangling wins the reward!
What’s the reward, you ask? An exclusive cocktail party and the winner can choose the “guest list”, a perfect opportunity to make new relationships and start scheming (and enjoy a couple of cocktails).
Although a simple concept, people start dropping fairly fast. AJ uses his position next to Kate to start building a relationship and charming her. While Laura and Karin use the opportunity to catch up on what has been happening in each other’s tribes.
Eventually, it’s just Kate, Logan, and Zara left hanging. Zara and Logan pitch that they will drop if Kate agrees to take them to the cocktail party. She readily accepts.
Kate keeps her word and brings the ladies along to cocktails. Also on the invite are AJ (his charms worked), Paulie (so she can find out what happened on his tribe), Morgan (her closest ally in the game), and Kristen (her old tribe mate).
After the group enjoys their cocktails, Logan has a chat with Zara and Laura about how she’s determined to vote out AJ and that if they don’t vote with her, she will believe they are against her. She’s happy to wait until the next vote but wants to get him before he gets her. Laura and Zara attempt to smooth over their issues from when Zara “hijacked” Laura’s advantage. Logan makes it clear to the camera that she doesn’t trust Zara, even calling her cruel. So Zara is on Logan’s hit-list…
Immunity Challenge
PD was excused from the challenge due to his arm injury. So he’s on track to be a big shield or voting number in the game going forward, as it’s unlikely he’ll be able to engage in many of the challenges.
The survivors had to balance on a see-saw while attempting to balance balls on a platform. The last person left standing wins individual immunity.
It proved to have a tricky learning curve, but the paddleboarder (Kaelan), skateboarder (Jesse), and Pilates-lover (Logan), appeared to have it in their stride. Soon, it was just Logan and Jesse and Pilates won out over skateboarding! Logan is the first person to win individual immunity!
Tribal Council
As is normal after merge, voting lines and alliances are hard to track. Jesse and Paulie are keen to stay original Brawn-strong and vote for an OG-Brain, namely Logan. The “Girls Gone Wild” alliance of Kate, Morgan, Zara, and Laura pitches Jesse’s name (their plan from the last Tribal Council they went to). AJ attempts to scrounge votes for Paulie, who he is adamant to get out. Kristen, PD, and Myles appear keen to join him in that vote.
Myles is keeping his idol-stealing advantage under wraps; no one mentions Kristen’s idol, and it’s unclear who knows about Logan’s immunity idol. So, even as the contestants were heading to Tribal Council, it was anyone’s guess who would be voted out. A toss up between Paulie and Jesse.
It ended up being a close call. Zara, as she expected, copped two votes (from Paulie and Jesse); Paulie, as he very much did not expect, got five votes; but in the end, it was Jesse, who was completely blindsided, who received the most votes at six. He and Paulie had no idea that the OG-Brawn-strong alliance was broken. This means that Paulie is now on the bottom, yet again.
Episode 12, “Just What The Doctored Ordered”
The return of mid-week reward challenges! This episode had more shocking twists and turns beyond the gameplay itself. Let’s get into it.
So, Zara is back with her alliance, who welcomed her back with open arms. She immediately clocked the tension in the tribe and knows AJ has been up to things with his “hostages plan”. and went on a fact-finding mission. Karin lets her frustration with AJ be known to her, despite him butting in on her chats with Zara.
Back on the Brains tribe, Laura is furious that Zara “hijacked” her advantage. The advantage didn’t only mess up her gameplay, but it also ruined Kate and Morgan’s plan to vote out Jesse. So, Kate attempts to smooth things over with Jesse, who hints that he feels like something is up in the OG Brawn alliance…we shall see if those cracks become fissures.
Whereas Myles is embracing his “Jungle Rat” moniker. Finally comfortable with his position at the bottom of the new Brains tribe, he uses their lack of interest to scurry away and locate a hidden immunity idol!
Reward Challenge
As mentioned above, there was a reward challenge in this episode! It was a fun challenge on the surface, but there was an awful accident which changed the course of the game.
One-on-one survivors from each tribe slide down a massive water slide, pick up a ring and wrestle one another to hook the ring on their tribe’s column. The first tribe to hook the ring three times wins the reward. And what’s the reward from this episode? A trip to The Survivor Spaghetti Shack, all the pasta they could eat.
Brawn wins first; Brains wins second. On the third round, Kaelan went up for Brawn, taking on PD for Brains. An epic wrestle took place until…PD took a bad fall, and we all heard a large snap and a roar from PD. Viewer discretion is advised:
The challenge was halted while PD was examined by the medical team and JLP, who has a medical background. We rarely get to see what happens with the medical team, so that was an interesting break in the fourth wall. They determined that his arm wasn’t broken, but they were concerned about whether he had torn his bicep.
They took him away for further examination, and the tribes had to continue the challenge. Before he left, JD and Kaelan shared a sweet moment, like true sportsmen, where PD said it was all good.
In the end, the Brains tribe won and went to all they could eat pasta heaven. It was the classic reward where tribe members could only go in one at a time, and everyone leaves a mess.
Myles was the only one to find a clue to an idol but misread “check the shelter” for “check the shelves.” Luckily, when they got back to camp, he still found it anyway! It was an advantage. It stipulates that at tribal council after people have voted, he can present the advantage to JLP and accuse someone of having a hidden idol. If he’s correct, he can keep that idol for himself.
Immunity Challenge
First up, PD is back! He was cleared for continuing in the game, and he decided to keep going! He will have to be excused from certain challenges, including this one.
Teamwork was the name of the game in tonight’s episode. The tribe members had to stand on a beam and pull on a rope that was holding up a disc on which they would attempt to balance ten cubes stacked on top of each other. It called for balance, communication, and precision.
After a few frustrating attempts, Brains was successful, sending Brawn back to the tribal council.
Tribal Council
Ahead of the council, Paulie was doing his best to hustle to shift the vote away from him. However, there has to be a split, and AJ is on the outs with many in his tribe, and everyone is afraid of Laura and Logan making it to merge (which is believed to be this coming Sunday). AJ is fine with copping votes. Zara warns AJ in her strongest “mum voice” not to do anything crazy — “no hostages” is repeated a couple of times.
Paulie is no fool; he is aware of the cracks and knows there are opportunities, so he attempts to exploit them. First up is Karin. She is keen to worry AJ, so her plan is to make the vote a 3-4 split on Paulie and AJ and not 6-1. Paulie pleads his case of an alliance come merge. Next is Kristen. She has an idol. He promises that if she uses her idol to save him, they could be part of a huge alliance come merge. She doesn’t seem so keen to use it to save Paulie.
AJ starts thinking that something is up because Paulie is too chill around camp. So, he starts scheming to vote out Logan.
However, it’s anyone’s guess how the vote would have played out!
When they arrived at Tribal Council, JLP immediately let them know that there wasn’t going to be an elimination as a player had left the game.
Who left? To everyone’s surprise, it was Ben. All JLP said on the show was that Ben “decided to leave the game.”
However, Ben clarified what happened in a video posted to his Instagram account. In one of the earlier challenges, he tore a calf muscle. It wasn’t shown on the show, besides him sporting a calf bandage in subsequent episodes. It turns out that was just the beginning of his troubles. He also shared that after moving to the Brains and sleeping in a puddle for many nights, he contracted pneumonia and is still recovering six months later.
During the hoop challenge in this episode, he said he “retweaked” his calf injury and noticed afterwards that he couldn’t catch his breath and his heart was racing. The Survivor medical team evacuated him. He also shared that he went onto the show with Ross River Virus and chipped a tooth.
“Survivor is no joke,” he quipped.
He hasn’t closed the door on his Survivor journey, he’s keen to return for his unfinished business.
Episode 11, “The Strong-Arm”
If your favourite part of Australian Survivor is the challenges, then tonight was definitely a disappointing episode for you. It was a weekday episode, so there was no reward challenge, and the new Brains tribe arguably threw the challenge in a matter of minutes. Like maybe two minutes. The fastest challenge I have ever watched.
The episode opened on the new Brawn tribe as AJ tried to plead his case and again attempted to claim that he didn’t throw out Logan’s name to Noonan and Paulie…even though he did. He is a good liar, but unfortunately, no one trusts him anymore. Karin no longer wants to work with AJ after he revealed his hidden immunity idol. At one point, she even says his actions have potentially blown “up the alliance completely.”
Paulie takes his opportunity and gives an impassioned pitch for the former Brains to flip on AJ and “replace” him with Paulie. He has a few people on his line…let’s see if he can reel them in.
Over on the new Brains tribe, Morgan and Kate are finally starting to play Survivor. They haven’t really had the opportunity as they have missed a lot of tribal councils and haven’t had to scheme. Since the tribe swap, they have been part of a strong alliance. However, now they are a bit sick of the status quo and the guys calling the shots. Instead, they approach Zara and Laura to start a secret women-only alliance, which they call “Girls Gone Wild.”
Immunity Challenge
As mentioned, this Immunity Challenge was a quick one. The tribe members had to (as a team) hold up a trough filled with water with a long pole. The last tribe to hold up the trough wins.
However, quite quickly into the challenge, Laura mentioned that it was getting heavier too fast. Interestingly, the edit made it appear that Ben was loosening his grip. Soon, the trough emptied on top of them. It lasted less than five minutes.
If they did throw the challenge, viewers are over it. Throwing a challenge once or twice for strategy is totally acceptable, however, we are getting to a point of unsportsmanlike behaviour.
Tribal Council
Once the new Brains return to camp, they start strategising. Myles, Laura, and Zara got idol-hunting while the former Brawn alliance went to the well to chat. The OG-Brawns decide to put the vote on Laura but split the vote on Myles. Kate and Morgan offer to speak with Laura and Zara to convince them to vote for Myles, but unbeknownst to their alliance, they plan to flip and vote Jesse out.
They speak with Laura and Zara, and Laura immediately starts panicking. She doesn’t want to cop any votes at all. However, her strong alliance with Logan and Karin on the other tribe make her a threat to come merge. Zara and Kate try to keep Laura calm, but the constant chats make the guys nervous, and they discuss flipping on their alliance by convincing Myles to vote for Laura (not much of a flip, to be honest). He agrees, but he is actually with Laura and Zara.
However, before they get to Tribal Council, Laura finds an advantage! It stipulates that whoever cops the most votes at Tribal Council won’t be sent home, instead, they will be sent to the new Brawn tribe. Laura is beyond thrilled as it means she could reunite with her old alliance. She shows Zara, who initially is mad that her game is at risk. But then sees it as an opportunity to save herself.
At Tribal Council, Zara strongarms Laura, who reveals the advantage to the tribe. Laura volunteers herself and pitches why it is a benefit to the strong five alliance. Myles and Zara also pitch themselves. Morgan and Kate aren’t keen to send Zara or Myles because of their alliance with AJ. However, Jesse and Ben believe that reuniting Laura with Logan is riskier. So, Zara gets the most votes and heads to safety at the new Brawn tribe and into the arms of her old alliance.
Laura is fuming. If she makes it to merge, Zara will be on her hit list.
Australian Survivor: Brains V Brawn II continues Monday-Tuesday at 7.30pm and Sundays at 7pm on Channel 10 and 10play.com.
Episode 10, “The Vault”
Reward challenges are back on this Sunday episode! After episode 9, there are five idols in play… and we may see some make a resurgence at tonight’s tribal council.
Starting over at the new Brains tribe, Myles is firmly at the bottom, saying that everyone in his former alliance is now playing for themselves, realising that the OG Brains voted for him and Max went home. Everyone on the tribe agrees that AJ has thrown the OG Brains “under the bus”. If Zara and Laura don’t make it to merge, they have very little chance of making it as Sole Survivor.
Over on the new Brawn tribe, AJ is going around having conversations with everyone and saying to the camera that he’s in charge and has all the power. He is very dismissive of his current alliance but also plans to use the OG Brawns as “puppets.” When having a chat with Noonan, AJ suggests Logan as the next vote (because of her relationship with Laura on the other tribe) or Paulie, her closest ally.
Reward Challenge
Hurrah for reward challenges! This week’s reward is a classic chicken parmi/parmaz and beer at The Survivor Pub. To win, each tribe nominates a player to go head to head to attempt to knock off two idols from the other tribe: one a pedestal and one being carried by the player. The first tribe to score three points wins the reward.
After some worthwhile match-ups, it was a close one, but the new Brains tribe clinched it and went to the pub.
Immunity Challenge
There is only one word to describe this challenge: frustrating.
Was it a tricky challenge? Somewhat. Did the survivors try their best? Absolutely not. At least, not all of them did.
A classic obstacle challenge, it looks like the Brains and Brawn tribes were both in it to win it. Brains was lagging a bit at the beginning but quickly caught up, and Brawn showed surprising strength and team worth, particularly from Noonan, who gave it her all and rolled her ankle in the effort.
The final part of the challenge was a simple task of throwing three balls into three baskets. Brains put up their top thrower (in more ways than one, more on that to come), Ben, and Brawn put up their “leader”, AJ.
It became clear that both Ben and AJ were throwing the challenges, because they literally said it to each other. The two men had a conversation about it while their tribes were yelling at them to throw. I will say that if Ben was truly throwing, he is a better shot than anyone realises, as he hit the rim of the basket “like twenty times” like seven times. Maybe he wasn’t throwing but was trying to save face.
At one point, even JLP was frustrated with both men and threatened to send both tribes to tribal council and vote out two people.
Eventually, Ben landed his third ball, sending Brawn back to tribal council. Before they headed off, Ben denied he was throwing the challenge, gaslighting everyone, and throwing AJ further under the bus. If the two end up surviving until the merge, it could be an interesting showdown…
Tribal Council
No way around it; the tribe are not happy with AJ. No one more so than Noonan, who is now unable to look for an idol or have secret chats thanks to her busted ankle.
Noonan shares the chat that she had with AJ to everyone, revealing that he planned to put Logan on the chopping block. He denies it. They have words, and Logan is mad that her name is out there. However, Kaelan convinces her and Karin that it’s too early to vote out AJ as he’s a good shield. If they get to merge, he shrewdly points out that other survivors would see him as a threat and target him. They agree to hold… for now.
AJ tries to disregard the bad feelings about camp and says the vote is on Paulie…when Paulie rocks up and asks what is happening. AJ admits that they are splitting on Paulie. Furthermore, when they are counting out votes in the group, Kaelan points out that AJ is counting incorrectly, accidentally revealing that Paulie is the real target.
So, Noonan and Logan are mad at AJ, Paulie is worried his name came out (and hints that AJ is a snake), and everyone has forgotten that Kristen has an idol. In addition to hers, Paulie and AJ both have secret idols which they haven’t revealed to anyone (even their alliance members).
When we get to tribal council, all the armchair experts on Reddit and Instagram are suggesting scenarios and predicting how many idols and revotes we may see tonight.
After voting, Paulie reveals his idol and plays it to save himself. AJ immediately panics and takes out his own — to the shock of his alliance Kaelan, Logan, and Karin. Noonan spots it and tries to convince him that no one voted for him. It nearly works. But he plays to save himself.
In the end, Paulie nabs four votes, AJ gets one (from Noonan), and Noonan gets two (from her own former Brawn tribe members). So, Noonan goes home and leaves behind a very tempestuous tribe.
Australian Survivor: Brains V Brawn II continues Monday-Tuesday at 7.30pm and Sundays at 7pm on Channel 10 and 10play.com.
Episode nine: “Hostages”
No reward challenge again tonight.
We are getting closer and closer to merge, so the strat chat is amplifying amongst both tribes. AJ is positively gleeful with his supposed master plan of “Taking Hostages”. However, despite what he believes to be his great observational skills, his own tribe mates (the OG Brains) are getting tired of his antics and do not agree with his plan. They have very astutely realised that if his “plan” is successful, then their alliance and former tribe mates from Brains will be burned.
After his antics at tribal council, Logan is making it her mission to get AJ out. Kristen is 100 per cent on board with her and does not trust AJ at all. She puts up with him trying to charm her while they are washing in the sea. Apparently, he is not able to understand that she is just playing along with him, even though he lied and sent her ally Ursula home the night before.
Over on the Brains tribe, Myles is still going hard with the strat chat and really wearing out the ears of the OG Brawns. Max is loving his new tribe and the opportunity he has to get rid of his “jungle rat” rival, Myles. He is positively giddy as his circumstances, although it doesn’t appear that he realises that if he’s part of the new OG Brawn alliance, he’s at the bottom.
Immunity Challenge
This challenge was honestly frustrating to watch. Ahead of the action, AJ revealed his “master plan” to the other tribe. Shocking his OG Brains, Zara and Laura and dumbfounding the other Brains members, including Jesse, who called him “delusional”. Despite this, Ben was clearly interested in throwing so that his alliance could get rid of some of the OG Brains ahead of merge.
So, onto the challenge itself.
The two tribes had to race to unload heavy sandbags from a canoe loaded with puzzle pieces. Once free of sandbags, the tribe has to drag the canoe up the shore and unload the plank puzzle pieces and put the puzzle together. Once successful, each of the tribe members has to land a ball on a high platform. The first tribe to land all their balls is saved from elimination.
Seems straightforward enough — or as straightforward as Survivor challenges can be! However, immediately, it is clear that Ben and other OG Brawns are throwing the challenge. Ben actually tells his alliance to slow down and pretend not to carry the heavy canoe. Despite their actions, Laura and Myles rally and Myles nearly single-handedly gets the tribe to the puzzle section.
With the new Brawn tribe ahead, the puzzle begins to be revealed. They quickly realise it says, “One of the sandbags contains an idol”. Zara yells to Laura, and she races back to the sandbags to find it. Jesse on her heels. Myles keeps pushing ahead with Max (of all people). Ben, Morgan and the other Brawns abandon the puzzle to find the idol. At this point, Brawn has solved the puzzle and moved on to throwing their balls. Once they land their balls, each member runs to the water to find the idol. Soon, it is only Karin who hasn’t landed her ball. Kristen finds the idol in the water, and now they are just waiting on Karin for them to win.
Myles closes the gap with the puzzle and runs to the water to get his tribe to come back. They ignore him, but the Survivor gods were clearly listening, as he looks down and lo and behold, the idol is floating in the water by his feet. Distraught, his tribe return to the challenge, and it looks like they may even win. Finally, Karin lands her ball, sending Brains to tribal council.
Tribal Council
Now that Myles has an idol, it has complicated things on the new Brains tribe. Laura tries to get Max and the rest of the OG Brains to work together and use Myles’ idol to their advantage. Max will not listen and goes straight to the OG Brawns and suggests they split the vote on Myles and Zara, hoping that Myles will play it for Zara. Jesse is keen, but the OG Brawns already have a plan. They already decided to confuse by not saying who they are splitting the vote with Myles on, but are planning to blindside Max and flush the idol.
Max shares that he is voting for Myles with Laura, who panics and talks to Zara. Both of them decide to vote for Myles and convince him to use his idol to save Zara. No one knows about Max’s idol; he manages to keep it secret and plans to use it for himself if he senses anything awry at tribal council.
At tribal council, the OG Brawns don’t give too much away. Max makes it very clear that he is gunning for Myles and switching to the OG Brawns.
Before the votes are read out, Myles plays his idol. He uses it to save himself. When JLP reads out the votes, it seems like Myles played it correctly as he nabs four votes. He votes for Kate. But then, the OG Brawn’s plan is revealed (to the shock of the OG Brains). Max gets the most votes and goes home with his idol in his pocket.
Australian Survivor: Brains V Brawn II continues Monday-Tuesday at 7.30pm and Sundays at 7pm on Channel 10 and 10play.com.
Episode eight: “A Maggot In The Rice”
No reward challenge in this episode!
It opens on the new Brains tribe, with Ben finally having enough of the shoddy shelter and pulling together a team to fix it up. A team building exercise that would normally help build relationships. However, Myles put his best strategy foot forward and started coming on way too strong. Leading the rest of his former Brains tribe to warn him that he’s putting himself on the chopping block and to go easy on the “strat-chat”. The former-Brawns tribe are very tight and not likely to let Myles into their alliance.
Over on the Brains tribe, Ursula has put herself on the bottom of the ladder. She simply does not trust Paulie and especially Noonan. After going rogue and solely voting for Noonan during last night’s tribal, relations between the two women are at an all-time low. AJ attempts to play all sides and build up his power. Kristen, Noonan, and Paulie all speak with him separately to set up “secret” alliances. However, he’s only truly loyal to him (and the OG Brains).
And so, onto the challenges:
Immunity Challenge:
We have another balance challenge today! Survivors will have to balance on a wall of numbered pegs. Two throwers from each tribe will attempt to knock off a coconut from a wall of coconuts with corresponding numbers. Once they do, the pegs are pulled out, and eventually, survivors will not have any pegs left to stand on. The last tribe standing wins.
Ben and PD were the Brains throwers (no surprise) and made quick work of knocking off coconuts. AJ and Noonan were up for Brawn and were less lucky. AJ used the downtime between throws to attempt to convince Ben and PD to throw the game so that they could go to tribal and vote out the OG Brains on their new Brains tribe — to the bafflement of viewers.
Despite a standout effort from Paulie on the Brawn tribe, who was incredibly hanging on by one peg for a few rounds, he dropped sending Brawn back to the tribal council.
Tribal Council
Ahead of the tribal council, the Brains tribe were scrambling. AJ flexed his best “poker face” and tried to play all sides to blindside one of the former-Brawn members. Karin suggests Paulie — despite his stellar effort at the elimination challenge — but he wants Ursula. He immediately goes to Paulie and Noonan and suggests Ursula. Kaelan agrees with Karin that Paulie is the better choice.
Paulie speaks with Ursula and suggests being a strong four and voting out one of the former Brains. Ursula suggests Karin. Noonan and Kristen join them, and Paulie does his best relationship management to try to get Noonan and Ursula on the same page. However, as soon as they finish chatting, Noonan blabs to Karin. Cue major scrambling and chats around the camp, and suddenly it’s back to Paulie and Ursula on the bottom, but really it’s anyone’s guess who could be going.
AJ comes up with a plan he calls “Taking the Hostages”, where he encourages the other tribe to throw challenges and vote out his former tribe mates — his plan isn’t well received by anyone, as he would be burning bridges on both tribes. He gleefully shares his master plan at tribal, and at one point, it looks like the tribe might turn on him.
However, when the votes are tallied, it’s Ursula who gets the most votes. And so the former Brawn tribe member makes her goodbyes. Paulie and his idol live on for another day.
Australian Survivor: Brains V Brawn II continues Monday-Tuesday at 7.30pm and Sundays at 7pm on Channel 10 and 10play.com.
Episode seven: “A Date with JLP”
The episode began with the Brains tribe members Laura and Karin eagerly awaiting their tribe’s return from the tribal council to see who survived this complete mess-around that was Max’s gameplay. They were somewhat surprised (maybe not Karin) to see that Ally had been knocked out.
Logan called Max out for blindsiding his new alliance (of herself and Laura), but when they counted the votes, they realised something was up. Unfortunately for them, they did not realise that another alliance had been formed, led by Myles, with Kaelan, Karin, Zara, and AJ. Dubbed “The Graduates”, they planned to vote Ally out. So, to keep their alliance under wraps, Zara feigned confusion. In fairness to her, everyone was confused.
Onto the challenges.
The challenges:
The reward challenge was a little less exciting today: triple-decker sandwiches. More exciting for the survivors and viewers at home: Tribe Swap!
It feels like it’s coming a little earlier than usual, but here we are!
Karin responded to the news with “Not happy Jan.” She had just manoeuvred a clear majority in her tribe.
The new tribes are drawn:
New Brains: Ben, Laura, PD, Kate, Morgan, Myles, Zara, Jesse, and Max.
New Brawn: Ursula, Kaelan, Rich, AJ, Logan, Noonan, Paulie, Kristen, and Karin.
Reward challenge:
So, to the reward challenge. One by one, two survivors (one from each side) had to wade or swim out to a platform in the water’s shallows and memorise a sequence of symbols. Once memorised, race back to shore and attempt to recreate the sequence. If you are wrong, you have to swim back! The first tribe to three points wins the reward.
First up was Laura for Brains versus Kaelan for Brawn. Putting his best brawn face on, Kaelan whipped out a perfect butterfly stroke and smashed the round. First point to Brawn.
Next up was Rich for Brawn and Zara for Brains. Rich was quicker and scores for Brawn.
Next was Ursula for Brawn and Kate for Brains. Both were really quick on memorising. However, both made mistakes and had to go back into the water. Ursula was correct on the second try.
Brawn wins the reward!
Immunity Challenge:
A mixture of teamwork and strength today. Tribes first had to unravel a heavy chest tangled in ropes to free a key. Once the key was free, they had to unlock the chests. Then, carry the chests under a low rope obstacle and then push them up a ramp. Once landed, they could open the chest and then push tokens up a wall using only a very long stick. It required a lot of teamwork and communication. In the end, Brains prevailed, sending Brawn to the tribal council.
Tribal Council
Ursula was not able to accept that Noonan was part of her alliance. Despite everyone telling her that Noonan was working with her, she did not trust her and broke old-Brawn lines and was the sole vote for Noonan. Everyone else blindsided Rich, who thought they were blindsiding Logan. AJ’s idol lives for another day.
Check in for the next episode!
Australian Survivor: Brains V Brawn II continues Monday-Tuesday at 7.30pm and Sundays at 7pm on Channel 10 and 10play.com.
