Now nearing the finale, Australian Survivor All Stars aired another three episodes this week. With only five people in the game after this week, the endgame is near.
Overall Thoughts (with Standout Contestant + Favorite Challenge)
At this point, I’m really not interested in the season anymore. There’s really nothing left that this season can do. It pains me to say this because I still like Australian Survivor and I was fearing that their first All Stars season would have the same fate as the US ones: the season has become boring and/or frustrating. Still, I wouldn’t say this is as bad as most of the US All Stars seasons. All Stars (Season 8) was hard to watch because of the bitterness while Cambodia (Season 31) and Game Changers (Season 34) became boring because of the endless amounts of time spend strategy and advantages. I’d like to keep this recap short, which is why I’m grouping sections together.
For me, David is carrying this season. While he hasn’t been as entertaining as he was in previous weeks, he can at least be funny to some extent each week. This week, he and Tarzan went streaking- which was funny to see as the rest of the tribe were trying to look away. As far as a favorite challenge, I liked the immunity challenge in Episode 20. In this challenge, contestants must hold themselves in an arch post for as long as they can. Last one stand won immunity, which ended up being Brooke.
Voted Off
In Episode 19, Jacqui Patterson became the 17th person voted out and the fourth member of the jury. This Tribal Council was an interesting one to watch as the votes were tied twice between Jacqui and Moana. In the result of a revote being tied, the tribe must come to a consensus on who will go. If they are unable to, the people in the tie are then immune. The remaining contestants will then go to a rock draw, in which the ill colored rock results in contestant’s elimination. In this scenario, the remaining Vakamas (AK, Brooke and Shonee) wanted to go to rocks. However if they were to do so, the three Vakamas and Sharn would be the only ones drawing rocks- meaning that there was a 75% chance that one of their alliance would be going. Sharn asked the Vakamas to switch to Jacqui with her, with Sharn promising she’d vote with them on the next vote. A decision was made and Jacqui was voted off. As to why Jacqui went, she had flipped on her alliance the week before- joining the Vakamas in voting out Zach. Her alliance were not happy about this nor could they trust her anymore.
In Episode 20, Shonee Fairfax became the 18th person voted out and the fifth member of the jury. While Sharn said she’d stick with the Vakamas, she instead went back with the Mokuta alliance and voted out Shonee. Shonee was one of the last Vakamas remaining. With Brooke having won immunity, Shonee was deemed more of a threat in challenges compared to AK. With that, she was voted off.
In Episode 21, AK Knight became the 19th person voted out and the sixth member of the jury after losing in a fire making challenge to Moana. Yes, you read that correct: there was another fire making challenge. After the votes were cast that night, Jonathan gave the contestants two choices: he could read the votes like he usually does or the people that feel vulnerable could have another shot in a fire making challenge. With Brooke having won immunity, this twist was clearly thrown in by production just to save AK and whatever was left of the Vakama alliance. AK volunteered along with Moana. Even without this twist, the votes revealed at the end of the episode showed that AK still would’ve been eliminated.
Final Thoughts + The Future of Survivor
It looks like we have two more weeks left of the season, with two episodes next week and then the finale the following week.
With the coronavirus pandemic in the news, I want to talk about the future of Survivor. In television, many have suspended production on different shows. Two weeks ago, it was announced that US Survivor would be postponing production on the 41st season of the show- which would’ve started in March. Filming will begin in May, which is when the filming of the winter/spring season begins. For Australian Survivor, it was announced beforehand that we would be getting two seasons in 2020- All Stars and then an all new players season. Just this week, it was announced by Network 10 that production on Season 6 will be postponed. It has also been confirmed that the jury votes will be read by Jonathan via Skype given that he’s in the US at this time. Hosting the reunion this season will be Bachelor Australia host Osher Gunsberg. This is all unfortunate and sadly, I wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t another season this year.
We’ll just have to wait and see what happens. I’ll see you all next week!
Australian Survivor All Stars Recap Week 8
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.