After a brief tribe swap, Australian Survivor is now in the merge portion of the game. While there was an episode with the swapped tribes, it still goes with the theme of this week: the individual game. No longer do you have to worry about a tribe mate slowing you down. You have to look out for yourself. With this in mind, contestants will want to target the stronger people and/or any threats that could win the game. With Week 6, this was certainly the case.
Overall Thoughts
I enjoyed these last two episodes. While Episode 13 was a shorter episode, I thought it was still intriguing. In fact, I found some of it to be funny. In the beginning of the episode, the Champions were out in the jungle looking for food. Mat spotted a beehive far up a tree, filled with combs of honey. Along with tribe mates Brian and Steve, an attempt was made to get the money. This was done by building a fire, which would create smoke that would get the bees away from the hive. In the end, Steve had created a huge fire- which was able to knock the slightly charcoaled beehive down. I was laughing throughout the whole scene. This goes to show how desperate contestants get for food after living on the island for so long. If it means burning down a jungle just to get some honey, they just might go for it.
In Episode 14, the tribes were merged into one tribe of twelve. Looking over the people left, I feel like I know most of the people who are left. This is rarely ever the case in the recent US seasons, as there are usually a good four or five people we don’t know. In the case of AU, we know a good majority of the twelve left. Merge episodes are usually fun to watch as we get to have an idea as to how the game will play out for the rest of the season.
Stand Out Contestants
With the tribes now merged, I could just pick one contestant a week. Despite the original tribe ratio, I will try and continue picking a favorite from each of the original tribes.
With the Contenders, there are only four remaining. For me, Fenella and Shonee have been delivering the goods in terms of entertainment. Fenella has always been a favorite of mine: she’s wonderfully quirky and often gives some of the funniest confessionals. Shonee has also provided for some of the entertainment. In Episode 13, Shonee expressed her boredom from being on the Champions tribe. The men on the Champions tribe were seen having pointless conversations, while cutting to shots of Shonee rolling her eyes. The icing on the cake was Shonee commenting that her tribe mates were so boring, she would rather be watching Antique Roadshow. Along with talking crap about Robbie and Benji, these two ladies make for great TV.
As for the Champions, Shane has really shined this week. The 60 year old former Olympic swimming champion was portrayed before as this kooky older lady on the outs. As the weeks passed by, Shane started to show more confidence in her gameplay- starting to form bonds with other people. This week, she plotted to blindside fellow champion Lydia– who had been unstoppable in the challenges thus far. Not only did she pull the blindside off but she started her scheming right there at the challenge with the other people who fell out of the immunity challenge- which was an endurance challenge.
Favorite Challenge
My favorite challenge this week, hands down, was the Survivor Auction. Of all of the challenges the franchise has had, the Survivor Auction is my absolute favorite. It may not exactly be a competitive challenge but the reason why I love it so much is because it makes for good comedy and character moments. In the Survivor auction, the host will offer items up for bidding. Each contestant is given $500 to use. With each item, bidding is done in increments of $20. Some items might be covered, which could lead to a contestant getting stuck with something gross or back from camp. The auction ends without warning so players are encouraged to bid on something. Sadly, the US version doesn’t do the Auction anymore- as it was more or less broken by idols and advantages. Luckily, the challenge is alive and kicking in the international versions.
Voted Off
Two people were voted off this week and both for similar reasons.
In Episode 13, Heath Davies was voted out of the Contenders tribe. Standing at some 7 feet, Heath was one of strongest contestants in the game. However, he already had a target painted on his back earlier in the game given his bond with Tegan. Even though Heath was voted off during the pre merge portion of the game, the contestants were well aware that a merge could happen soon. Had Heath made the merge, he would’ve been a threat in the challenges.
In Episode 14, Lydia Lassila was the first person voted out of the new Koro Savu tribe. As previously stated, Lydia is one of the strongest contestants from this season. Given her career as a Olympic skier, she was a beast in the challenges. She came very close to the first individual immunity and when she didn’t, her tribe took the chance to vote her out while they could. Everyone voted for Lydia except for Benji and Robbie.
Final Thoughts
With the tribes now merged, this should make for a fun post merge. The preview shown at the end of Episode 14 had host Jonathan LaPaglia telling viewers to get ready for what’s being called the greatest post merge portion in the history of Australian Survivor. That’s some high praise there. We’ll just have to wait and see.
See you all next week!
next: PCB Australian Survivor Recap Week 7
I'm a writer/journalist with a passion for music and pop culture. Having graduated from King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA in 2014, I've been looking for a platform in which I can share my passions. Since 2009, I've been posting to my own blog- The Walrus' Music Blog- via Blogger. I'm also the author of two self-published books, "The Camp: Stories from the Summer" and "The College: Stories from King's." Together, the two books cover the story of my life from 2004 to 2014. I've been lucky enough to interview several of my favorite musicians over the years and go to concerts from time to time. I'm also very devoted to the CBS reality TV show Survivor, which I started watching in 2002 when its fourth season started. I currently live in New Jersey.