TV/Series Discussion - Spoiler Central (Warning: lots of Australian Survivor spoilers, avoid if you are not up to date)

[Tamuhawk]

Finally a great episode to end the survivor week after 2 of the most boring episodes ever.

Australian Survivor History was made tonight. The first person in Australian Survivor history to go home with 2 idols in their pocket. However not the first person in Survivor History to do so. James Clement (not the afl player) from Survivor China Season 15 going home with 2 idols in his pocket at final 7 was worse off than Simon.

Having Cara & George basically wildcards attending tribal council should have spooked Simon enough to play the idol since merge was on the horizon.

However, Simon's dumbest move was not that he didn't play the idol. His actual dumbest move was telling Dani & Chelsea about it. There was absolutely no reason why he should have revealed it to them. You could argue he was trying to build trust, but that's such terrible gameplay revealing that you have so much power. Promising to use his 1 idol for them was probably enough trust tbh which would have been the better play.

Former Brawn basically giving control to the former Brains. Do not see why Dani flipped so early on Simon either as now they'll be going into merge down on numbers. Clearly numbers isn't one of her strong suits. Simon was also a great shield for her to use aswell and getting rid of her shield so early clearly bit her tonight as she's clearly now on the chopping block.

Queen Hayley is such a smart cookie. Kind of wish Dani went home. Would have been another great move by Hayley. She's playing a great game, being low profile and not being seen as the leader like players like Simon/Dani/Emmett. Building relationships with basically every one possible will get her far.

 

[Darkie]

I find it remarkable how easily people become overconfident on Survivor.

Being filmed talking about how strong a position you’re in is a huge red flag, that you won’t be in that position for very long!

 

[Tamuhawk]

Finally a great episode to end the survivor week after 2 of the most boring episodes ever.

Australian Survivor History was made tonight. The first person in Australian Survivor history to go home with 2 idols in their pocket. However not the first person in Survivor History to do so. James Clement (not the afl player) from Survivor China Season 15 going home with 2 idols in his pocket at final 7 was worse off than Simon.

Having Cara & George basically wildcards attending tribal council should have spooked Simon enough to play the idol since merge was on the horizon.

However, Simon's dumbest move was not that he didn't play the idol. His actual dumbest move was telling Dani & Chelsea about it. There was absolutely no reason why he should have revealed it to them. You could argue he was trying to build trust, but that's such terrible gameplay revealing that you have so much power. Promising to use his 1 idol for them was probably enough trust tbh which would have been the better play.

Former Brawn basically giving control to the former Brains. Do not see why Dani flipped so early on Simon either as now they'll be going into merge down on numbers. Clearly numbers isn't one of her strong suits. Simon was also a great shield for her to use aswell and getting rid of her shield so early clearly bit her tonight as she's clearly now on the chopping block.

Queen Hayley is such a smart cookie. Kind of wish Dani went home. Would have been another great move by Hayley. She's playing a great game, being low profile and not being seen as the leader like players like Simon/Dani/Emmett. Building relationships with basically every one possible will get her far.

Forgot there was another person who went out with 2 idols in their pocket. Kellee Kim from Survivor Season 39, ironically called Island of the Idols also went home with 2 idols in her pocket. Making Simon the 3rd player ever in Survivor History to go home with 2 idols.

 

[Tamuhawk]

I find it remarkable how easily people become overconfident on Survivor.

Being filmed talking about how strong a position you’re in is a huge red flag, that you won’t be in that position for very long!

Tony Vlachos (2 time winner including winners at war) was someone who was always paranoid about getting voted out and always on his feet, by looking for idols building spy shacks, spy bunkers and even a spy nest to spy on his fellow tribemates. Worked for him as he's won 2 out of the 3 seasons he played. People can learn a thing or two from him and be less overconfident.

 

[Herbie66]

Personally think Haley made a big mistake last night.

All she (they) needed to do was get George & Kara to vote for Dani.

Everyone else votes for Simon as agreeded/discussed , if Simon played his idol then Dani would have gone home with 2 votes , Simon was the only one who voted for Flick.

Now Dani knows 3 people voted for her , will make her angry , would have just been easier to say George & Kara were the only ones that voted for you (Dani) and then Haley (and the others) play dumb.

 

[Philzsay]

Personally think Haley made a big mistake last night.

All she (they) needed to do was get George & Kara to vote for Dani.

Everyone else votes for Simon as agreeded/discussed , if Simon played his idol then Dani would have gone home with 2 votes , Simon was the only one who voted for Flick.

Now Dani knows 3 people voted for her , will make her angry , would have just been easier to say George & Kara were the only ones that voted for you (Dani) and then Haley (and the others) play dumb.

Good point. I think though she would have considered it, but I reckon there is a risk on relying on George and Cara - I certainly wouldn't trust George. Probably need to have 3 in case G&C didn't do as asked to be more than their 2 votes.

 

[Darkie]

Some good points above.

I also thought it was interesting that the default plan was to get George and Cara voting alongside most of the tribe members for Simon.

That wasn’t really necessary (until the Dani backup option became part of the picture), and in my view significantly increase the likelihood of the blindside not working (eg Simon catching on to being personally at risk as the message was communicated to George and Cara/Simon getting the general sense that something wasn’t right and playing an idol for himself for insurance/George and Cara electing to reveal the plan to vote for Simon for whatever reason/George and Cara inadvertently doing so).

 

[Tamuhawk]

Good point. I think though she would have considered it, but I reckon there is a risk on relying on George and Cara - I certainly wouldn't trust George. Probably need to have 3 in case G&C didn't do as asked to be more than their 2 votes.

Yeah George is a loose cannon and Cara has proved she can't be trusted with her vote 🤣

 

[Ironhawk]

Finally caught up to date, just in time for the merge. It's been a better season than I expected after the first few episodes.

You can probably rule out at least half the remaining cast as the winner based on their content to date, but it's been enjoyable still. Still way too many obvious idols this season for my liking though.

I think the producers really wanted to keep George in at one point there. They knew he was likely to get voted out with the episode where he was only saved when Cara used her idol on George, that was the only episode where the eliminated contestant switched tribes. The next episode he was still favourite to get voted out, so they hid the idol at the challenge - he still couldn't get it, and was very lucky that Hayley flipped things when they lost. Might be reading too much into it, but seemed a bit coincidental.

Loved the Simon blindside, knew it was coming as I had been spoiled on it, but still well done to get it to stick.

 

[Ironhawk]

I didn't know you could pass your idol on to someone after you were voted out. I would have thought it would have happened a lot more if you could.

 

[Tamuhawk]

Another first in Survivor History tonight. (Someone can correct me if I'm wrong though). But I believe that's the first time in Survivor History that once someone has been voted out they've passed out their hidden immunity idol to someone still in the game. Always thought that wasn't allowed myself. Australian Survivor changing Survivor rules it seems. I'd imagine Jeff Probst would call that out asap if he was to see it in the US version.

King George has my respect tonight. Definitely playing it much better than when he first started off. Playing both sides is a risky move but also very rewarding in building trust... until you get caught lol. This move is the exact same move Golden God David from Allstarz did to Daisy and blindsided her when he told Mat Rogers the votes were going on Jacquie. Flick keeping her options open too and now with an idol will be one to watch out for. Hopefully she flips and makes a move or she'll just become a goat like Hayley mentioned.

 

[Darkie]

Another first in Survivor History tonight. (Someone can correct me if I'm wrong though). But I believe that's the first time in Survivor History that once someone has been voted out they've passed out their hidden immunity idol to someone still in the game. Always thought that wasn't allowed myself. Australian Survivor changing Survivor rules it seems. I'd imagine Jeff Probst would call that out asap if he was to see it in the US version.

King George has my respect tonight. Definitely playing it much better than when he first started off. Playing both sides is a risky move but also very rewarding in building trust... until you get caught lol. This move is the exact same move Golden God David from Allstarz did to Daisy and blindsided her when he told Mat Rogers the votes were going on Jacquie. Flick keeping her options open too and now with an idol will be one to watch out for. Hopefully she flips and makes a move or she'll just become a goat like Hayley mentioned.

The opportunity to pass the idol seemed to be facilitated by Wei asking for Rachel’s pants. I wonder if that was intentional on Wei’s part?

I like George’s move, and he nearly knocked out two idols with it, but I think he told far too many people about it. He could have just told Hayley and relied on her to convince her teammates, which she probably would have been able to do. The downside risk in what he is doing is enormous.

 

[Tamuhawk]

The opportunity to pass the idol seemed to be facilitated by Wei asking for Rachel’s pants. I wonder if that was intentional on Wei’s part?

I like George’s move, and he nearly knocked out two idols with it, but I think he told far too many people about it. He could have just told Hayley and relied on her to convince her teammates, which she probably would have been able to do. The downside risk in what he is doing is enormous.

I think Wai just really wanted the pants lol, don't think even Wai is smart enough to know that Kez was hiding an idol in Rachel's pants.

Yeah I agree with you, definitely was better to tell Hayley alone. But possibly due to having a time constraint or he possibly didn't have an opportunity to see Hayley by himself was probably why he did what he had to.

Another thing George could have done though to try to flush Kez' idol was to try to convince Kez to use her idol for Dani as most knew Hayley was gunning for Dani. Something along the lines of, "Great that you found tge idol. So if Hayley does guess correctly, you could use your idol for Dani as they're clearly targeting Dani" That would have been so much sweeter but almost impossible to have pulled off.

 

[Dazza]

Passing the idol shouldn’t be allowed, what a joke if it is, probably up to producers discretion, so they will let it slide, make up the rules as they go along

Hidden idol immunity’s, can they make it any obvious where they hide them, the Producers just want them to be found, explains why they will let the the passing of an idol go through to the keeper

 

[Ironhawk]

Passing the idol shouldn’t be allowed, what a joke if it is, probably up to producers discretion, so they will let it slide, make up the rules as they go along

Hidden idol immunity’s, can they make it any obvious where they hide them, the Producers just want them to be found, explains why they will let the the passing of an idol go through to the keeper

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1426869118846734340

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/nickiadanza/status/1426869118846734340

 

[ALT Account]

Yeah the idol handover definitely raised an eyebrow or two from long-time viewers of the show even if it's now technically legal.

Now that Paramount+ is finally available in Australia I've signed up and started rewatching classic seasons of the show. Season 20 Heroes and Villains really puts Australian Survivor to shame. I still enjoy watching the Australian version but it's definitely batting in the minor leagues in comparison. The way they drag out episodes does test my patience at times. Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing I guess.

Looking forward to Season 41 next month or Survivor 2.0 as it's being dubbed, with substantial changes to the format of the show:

https://insidesurvivor.com/jeff-probst-says-survivor-41-is-like-the-monster-in-a-horror-movie-50088

 

[Dazza]

Soon as George and Hayley, are voted out I will switch off the rest are planks

 

[Tamuhawk]

Definitely had an inkling that it was another non elimination episode. Didn't see the fire making challenge coming though. Definitely too much power given if it was 3 people voting let alone just the 1. Just glad Queen Hayley survived. Emmett & Dani definitely playing it well by keeping someone like Hayley as a shield/spy.

 

[Tamuhawk]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1426869118846734340

View: https://mobile.twitter.com/nickiadanza/status/1426869118846734340

Saw that, really not a fan of it though. Australian Survivor trying to do too much too soon. Need to keep it simple... having a final 3 should be it's first priority instead of these twists.

 

[Ironhawk]

I was hoping this was a non-elim episode as well, as having only a few people, let alone just one decide who goes at this point seems wrong. Hopefully they don't drag out the redemption rock part too long, and either Baden or the next voted out return on Sunday.