Australian Survivor 2017 Episode 10 Review: Shopping For Allies
Idol mania sweeps through the camp, Kent opens a beachfront shop, and Ben earns a compliment from JLP! It’s time for Tristan Kelly to recap Episode 10 of Australian Survivor…
Although twists can sometimes introduce a dubious element of luck into the game of Survivor, they generally make a habit of allowing the great players to emerge from the pack of pretenders. The abilities of a player to capitalise on good fortune and to turn misfortune into strategic opportunity are paramount to their chances of winning the game. Episode 10 of Australian Survivor explores the changing fortunes of two twist participants (Henry and Anneliese), in addition to introducing an innovative ‘shop-keeper’ strategy, courtesy of Kent. These are the moments that matter…
Post Tribal Wash Up
At Asaga, Luke is basking in the glory of orchestrating Jacqui’s defeat, whilst simultaneously fantasising about seeing Henry’s shocked face at the next challenge. Michelle is excited to be “flipping the game on its head” whilst poor old Kent is devastated to have lost most of his “currency in the game.” After dodging the easy vote bullet, Anneliese and Tara are almost acting as if they’re running the show by throwing in their two cents worth to the anti Kent/sulky loser convo… There’s a fine line between tribal integration and alienation, so the intruding power couple still need to tread extremely carefully if they want to remain safe at the next vote. Tensions surrounding work ethic/uselessness also seem to be rising between Michelle and Kent, setting up yet another potential showdown at Tribal Council. Michelle, as always, is confident of coming out on top.
“This is Survivor – play hard or go home…” – Michelle
Over at Samatau, the happy days continue with everyone entering resort relaxation mode – including a romantic pair of strolling crabs! Ben’s airtime continues to increase – it’s now the longest he’s ever been away from home, and he’s grateful that no one has “been a dick” to him yet. He seems to be fitting in far more successfully at his new tribe, confirming that he made the right decision to leave Asaga. He proceeds to work on his social game with Jarrad by pledging his willingness to vote out Henry in exchange for a position in the majority alliance.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do… If they’re gunning for him, it’s stupid to try and shake the boat.” – Ben
I wouldn’t normally advocate jumping into a pre-formed alliance as a sixth member, but in this case I think it’s sensible play from Ben. A final merge is rapidly approaching, and there is a high probability that a majority of 7 will be required to initially take control of the game. Teaming up with Jarrad’s crew now will go close to securing him a coveted merge position, and also allow him plenty of time to develop the personal relationships that will be required to infiltrate the group even further. In contrast, Henry is falling into the arrogant trap, and invites the wrath of the Australian Survivor Gods by claiming that he’s in “one hundred percent control” and “on track” to wining this game. He is set up perfectly for a rude awakening.
Ice Cream Surprise
As Asaga enter the challenge arena sans Jacqui, the veil of invincibility covering Henry’s face is instantly lifted… That’s what happens when you deliberately surrender a numbers advantage! Luke is beaming, Tara is as smug as ever, and Locky is thrilled to see his two main allies still in the game – his reaction should sound alarm bells to the original Asagians that they could be setting themselves up to fall victim to a minority power trio post merge.
The challenge involves pushing heavy wooden carts, setting up a weird palm tree pulley system, and solving an intimidating vertical puzzle. The reward is tailored to Dr. Tessa’s wishes, involving a day out at the Survivor Ice Cream Parlour! Poor old Kent has to sit out for medical reasons, and then the challenge is on… Samatau race to an imposing lead, but as is often the case, the trailing Asaga eventually get their act together and storm through for another victory. The most significant moment however, occurs when ‘Awkward’ Ben finally earns a complement from JLP by saying that “you don’t come on Survivor to eat…” “That’s the attitude Ben!” Ben must be stoked that he’s starting to be recognised as an actual member of the cast.
At the ice cream parlour, it’s gluttony galore as lactose intolerant Jericho foolishly throws back his weight in cream – what is the boy thinking!? As Anneliese chomps down on a cone she is delighted to find a clue (to a clue) land in her mouth – I love this as a hiding spot! She smoothly takes a glimpse at the note, which points her in the direction of a legitimate idol clue hidden in an exposed palm tree. High risk, high reward. Taking advantage of everyone’s post binge fatigue, Anneliese heads over to search for the clue, disguising her intent by simultaneously stripping the tree for fire fuel – smart move. The clue reveals the exact location of an immunity idol that will be hidden at the next challenge – a classic anxiety inducing scenario.
Recognising the difficulty of the task ahead, Anneliese makes a huge move to secretly recruit Sarah as an ally by sharing the knowledge of the idol location… Although risky (Sarah could snaffle the idol for herself), I think that this is a sensational tactical move from Anneliese that elevates her several places up the pecking order. She has correctly calculated Sarah’s position as a central swing vote, and recognises the damage that they could inflict together as allies – the rest of the competition should be terrified!
Crisis Control
Henry ponders the fact that his game has turned “a bit ugly” and blames his Asagian allies for falling apart without him – it has become quite evident that he really didn’t think through the mathematical consequences of switching tribes. He handed his biggest threat Luke a golden opportunity to flip the game, and only has himself to blame for Jacqui’s elimination. Meanwhile AK is revelling in the acquisition of knowledge regarding Asagian alliances, extracting every last detail out of a wide open Ben. A unique post merge scenario is starting to develop, in which all strategic alliances will be laid out on the sand like a hand of open misere. The outsiders and serial swing voters will likely be the key to gaining a strong majority.
Henry realises that his plan to gain control of both tribes has severely backfired, so he decides to work his charm in order to leapfrog Ben at the supposed bottom of the tribe. He hosts a self invented gameshow down on the beach, collecting plenty of lols in the process along with multiple compliments for boosting camp morale. AK is starting to feel a little bit intimidated…
“Henry is extremely smooth and he’s a good looking rooster – he’s the healthier version of me…” – AK
The problem however, is that AK and Tessa know exactly what his intentions are, so encourage him along in order to highlight his smooth, hard playing ways to the rest of their alliance. At this point, the idol that is slowly burning a hole in his pocket is his only hope of scraping through to the merge.
“Henry is super fun, I enjoyed it so much – and it made me really think that Henry has to go…” – Tessa
Immunity Blowout
There’s a bit of ice cream/tribe swap chat, and then AK has the cheek to make JLP walk over to him to collect the idol: “You know that only happens once…” Some great banter ensues before the challenge gets underway. It basically involves manoeuvring a number of discs across an obstacle cause (consisting of an overhead tangled rope, a barrel roll, and a sliding chute) before releasing a key to unlock the pieces of a table top puzzle. Due to her status as a puzzle tycoon, Anneliese is forced to volunteer for the end stage, meaning she has to place all of her trust in Sarah to grab the idol on her way through the course.
Unfortunatley, Asaga completely freak out, stalling on the opening stage as Samatau cruise through the entire challenge en route to a devastating victory – an absolute disaster for Anneliese! However, like all good players do, she manages to keep her cool, and takes advantage of Samatau’s celebrations to ‘sulk’ on the chest where the idol is hidden. It’s a smooth piece of improvisation that works a charm – Anneliese has played superbly in this episode! Meanwhile Henry is up to his own antics, sneakily handing Jericho what looks to be a clue to another idol. This exchange is not followed up on during the episode so we’ll have to wait until tonight to find out if the clue is real or fake, and what it all means. All in all, this blowout challenge was oozing with idol subtext!
The Saddest Shop in Samoa
Back at camp, Anneliese shares her idol find with Sarah, who reaffirms her desire to form a long term alliance together, whilst Luke is feeling “as safe as houses” and can’t wait for another TC. The real hero of this segment however, is Kent and his hilarious ‘shop keeper’ strategy:
“My plan this afternoon is to not go running for votes – I’m going to open my little shop… And people can come into my shop, and I’m not going to ask them to vote, I’m just going to tell them a story…” – Kent
Oh Kent, it’s too soon for you to go! It takes a while for him to attract any customers but eventually they start to trickle through… Tara is the first to arrive, armed with a plan to vote out Michelle in order to keep the tribe strong. Although this would be fantastic for Kent, it would be a major mistake for Tara – she’s only just joined a new majority alliance and should be harbouring trust in them up until the merge. Her tendency to flip so easily is exactly why everyone should be targeting her now. Luke isn’t too impressed…
“The real Asaga is whoever’s Asaga with me – I’m the real Asaga! So if you want to jump on my train, then you’re the real Asaga…” – Luke
In contrast, Sarah is right to be tempted by some of Kent’s produce, and mulls over the option of rejoining his side with a long term view to take out the Sesame Street power couple. I think a better move for Sarah at this point would be to take out Tara, which would allow her to maintain a central position with Anneliese in-between the opposing crews of Kent/Odette and Luke/Jericho/Michelle. The more options open to her the better. Anyway, as we head to Tribal, sadly it looks like Kent’s days are numbered, with only a slight chance of a Michelle surprise. Kent’s shop is closed for business.
Strength in Numbers
Not too much goes down at TC tonight – mainly an analysis of the challenge disaster, and a ‘camp life’ war between Kent and Michelle. JLP then poses the core question of “do you think it’s better to have a tribe that’s strong, or a tribe that gets along?” It’s amazing how Kent’s best chance of survival now hinges on his strength in challenges – what a turnaround! JLP commends Kent on his cryptic comments (“I think Michelle has probably brought a knife to a gun fight…”) before going on to talk about “shifting sands”, but unfortunately, the result seems set in stone. Michelle offers a warning to flippers (i.e. Tara) before the votes are cast… It’s one to Odette, two to Michelle, and five to Kent, sending the innovative shopkeeper home as the second victim of Henry’s swap-gate…
I gave Kent zero chance of winning preseason and thought he would be an insufferable first boot, but he managed to surprise everyone by becoming one of the most entertaining characters of the season. Had it not been for Henry’s brain fade I think he would have made it deep into this game… Unfortunately his lack of social leverage with the younger crew was always going to make it tough for him to break into a new alliance. However, he certainly still earns my respect for playing a solid game, and for capping it all off with a great marriage proposal!
What did you think of Kent’s performance? Let me know in the comments below… Tonight we’ll get to see exactly what Henry passed on to Jericho at the immunity challenge, and the ‘super idol’ finally makes its debut. We can’t wait to discover what power it holds!
Make sure you check out the progress of our Australian Survivor Power Rankings battle against Season 1 veteran Conner Bethune and don’t forget to follow Jeremy Gorniak’s live twitter feed during every episode @TTHSau.
If you’ve missed any of my other episode reviews, you can catch up on all the action here. See you after tonight’s episode!
Tristan Kelly is a 28 year old ex-doctor turned writer, based in Perth, Western Australia. During his final year of medical school he famously watched and analysed every available episode of Survivor (all 368 of them at the time), probably making him more qualified as a Survivor commentator than he ever was a doctor. In between writing and editing short films, he now spends most of his time organising various schemes, and fantasising about one day winning the game.