Australian Survivor 2017 Episode 11 Review: Fire In The Mangroves

Gifts from home, the ‘ultimate reward’, and a creepy night spent wading through the mangroves; it’s time for Tristan Kelly to analyse an extremely unusual eleventh episode of Australian Survivor…

Survivor is a relentless 24 hour a day marathon game; every single decision a player makes, every word they utter (or withhold), and every single look they make, can impact upon their chances of winning.  Although tonight’s episode results in a Tribal Council where no one is eliminated, it still manages to test the strength of established alliances and to alter the trajectories of some individual players’ games. In addition, we’re treated to the first ‘loved ones’ teaser of the season, a cryptic night in the mangroves with JLP, and a shocking confession from Luke. These are the moments that matter…

Post Tribal Wash Up

At Asaga, Luke is going through the motions after Kent’s straightforward departure – I get the feeling he’ll try to make things ‘interesting’ soon by targeting one of his own… Odette is having a tough time coming to terms with the isolation of being on the bottom, and Michelle is gloating about being able to pick off the crumbling rival alliance members “one by one.” It is rarely quite that simple in this game… The next morning, Luke heads off on a ‘providing’ mission, successfully usurping Locky in the process to claim the title of ‘Shark Hunter’ (Luke’s haul is bigger that Locky’s according to Tara)… However, the joy of the moment is sadly short lived; in a moment of madness, Luke shockingly angers the Australian Survivor Gods by confessing to the most unconscionable act on the island…

CRAB MURDER!

Mate. Hunt whatever you like, but don’t go messing with the crab society – we’ve seen enough of them this season to know that they clearly run this island! If I was Luke I’d be sleeping with one eye open for the rest of the game in fear of a revenge attack…

Over at Samatau, the fire has gone out, the flint is dead, and Locky is “hangry…” Judging by the quality of Locky’s quotes in this segment , the malnutrition is clearly having an effect on his brain: “Like as much as rice and that fuels you – it just doesn’t…” Genius. Meanwhile, AK is reclining like a Chesire Cat, loving the frustration that is creeping into Locky’s game:

“I need to irritate him, so I’m sitting back… And I’m hoping that eventually he snaps at me, and that will show my alliance that he is not someone that you want to move forward with…” – AK

AK basically then heads over to heckle/bully Locky by providing him with an endless stream of annoying backseat advice about fire making. I almost feel sorry for Locky in this scene, but it’s just so hilarious to watch.

Back at Asaga we finally get the somewhat anticlimactic pay-off to the Henry/Jericho clue exchange at the last challenge… Jericho is spotted by Luke sprinting across the beach with a machete, before he embarks on a frantic hunt for an idol. Unbeknown to Jericho he’s been sent on a fool’s errand by Henry (the clue is from the idol he’s already found), in an attempt to build trust for an upcoming reunion post merge. There’s a high chance that this move will just end up with Jericho suspecting that Henry has the idol when he is unable to find it himself. I’m not yet convinced that it was a worthwhile manoeuvre, but it will ultimately depend on how Henry manages the situation when (if) they’re reunited.

Gifts from Home

It’s time for everyone to flush out their tear ducts as the castaways are treated to their first round of love for the season. The scene is set up nicely by Luke who had been empathising with Odette about missing her son – an honest moment that could also serve as a brilliant strategic move from Luke to win Odette’s trust post merge. On a side-note, he also seems to have acquired a fantastic new hat… Anyway, Asaga basically bond over an emotionally charged gift sharing ceremony which reveals some key elements of backstory for each player… Anneliese also takes home the award for best gift on the tribe with her outrageous looking t-shirt. At Samatau, AK gets an honourable mention for his “heart attack jar”, but Ben wins hands down for being gifted a Thomas The Tank Engine toy – even his family is making fun of him! The outright star of the segment however, is Henry who reveals to the camera his motivation for playing for the game:

“I haven’t revealed to anyone that my mum passed away six weeks before coming out here… I made a promise with her that I’d win this game if I got on…” – Henry

Credit to him for his resilience and determination. It might sound callous, but from a gameplay point of view, Henry knows that he really only has three options to choose from regarding this sensitive piece of information… One: withhold it from everyone and use the grief as motivation. Two: share it now and have a target placed on his back (Adam’s victory is still fresh in everyone’s mind). Or three: work it into his Final Tribal case if the situation calls for it…

Just like Jeff Probst, I’m a big fan of the ‘loved ones’ milestones as they tend to clarify the emotional motivation for why you’re out there (or want to be out there) playing this incredible game. If you make it to the letters/gifts stage you’re doing well, if you make it to the visit, you’ve almost won! I’m sure that every past and prospective player has fantasised to some degree about being involved in both of these events – it’s all about the love.

The Ultimate Reward

Henry is injected with another dose of regret when he sees that his second closest ally Kent has been eliminated – his decision to swap tribes could still go down as one of the worst moves of all time. JLP heckles Samatau about bringing what seems to be their whole camp to the challenge, before Locky proposes a deal to hand back all of their rewards in exchange for another piece of flint. JLP’s level of smugness/disdain is admirable, but ultimately the deal is a fair one so he’s unable to be too harsh. The whole affair still brings back great memories of Jeff Probst ransacking the belongings of various tribes back in the day… Anyway, today’s challenge involves jumping off a platform to grab dangling sets of keys, swimming them back to shore to unlock a block puzzle, and then throwing bags at the completed structure to smash it down. JLP then announces that today’s challenge will be a “little different” with the winning tribe being sent to Tribal to vote for a chance to obtain the ‘ultimate reward’. The cryptic clues begin.

Samatau race to an early lead thanks to Michelle’s uselessness and Ziggy’s olympic swimming skills, before Anneliese leads a comeback by once again schooling AK in the puzzle department. I’m surprised that JLP doesn’t pedantically demand that they straighten the puzzle before the throwing begins, but he redeems himself by offering some great banter about Tara and Jericho’s weak arms. Fuelled by the power of Thomas The Tank Engine, Ben emerges as the unlikely hero for Samatau, making up rapid ground to bring home the win. As we head to the next stage, AK offers a contender for the nerdiest line of the season (mostly due to the way he says it):

 “Winning this is huge – I want the ultimate reward.” – AK

Speculative Tension

Back at camp, after an arduous struggle, Locky experiences the happiest moment of his Survivor career by finally getting fire back into his life! He now has rice in his belly and is “ready to go”… He might not be the greatest strategic player, but in a strange way, I’m starting to really enjoy Locky as a character. Meanwhile, AK wastes no time in starting the scheming/speculation, as he tries to decide which member of his alliance would be the best to vote for if only one person is allowed to compete for the reward. The general consensus is a toss-up between Tessa and Ziggy, although Locky makes a hilarious case as to why he would be the best choice – you’re dreaming mate! If I was in the majority alliance I would be suggesting a game of rock-papers-scissors amongst the five to decide – the discussions surrounding sending one person over another have the potential to derail an entire alliance. Interesting times ahead.

 A Cryptic Date

There are some great shots of the misty jungle at night to set up tonight’s mysterious Tribal Council… JLP is looking extremely smug as he welcomes Samatau to his cryptic gathering.  What follows is basically a game of 20 questions: we find out that the ultimate reward will not come easily, that the player sent on the mission to retrieve it will not be returning that night, but that it also has nothing to do with the other tribe. I’m loving JLP’s work in this segment – I’m starting to wonder if the ultimate reward will just be a night out in the presence of his rugged charming self… AK talks about how important it is that the chosen “champion” is trustworthy enough to share the reward with the rest of the alliance, before Locky reveals that he’s worked out the riddle: “I know what it is… A night on exile. I’m very physical, so I’m happy to go…” Poor old Locky – he just can’t understand why he’s not the top dog anymore! In the end, the decision is made pretty easily, and Ziggy “the bloody olympian” is nominated as the chosen one.

The rest of the tribe is sent home leaving Ziggy alone at Tribal with JLP – I can’t decide if this scenario is a terrifying nightmare or a tantalising dream. He hands her a map to the mangroves where she has until sunrise to search for the ultimate reward: a game changing ‘super idol’. In addition to acting as a regular immunity idol, the super idol has a second individual feature that can be used to cancel the power of another idol that is played at the same TC. A completely unprecedented tool that adds another layer of strategy to this already complex game – I love it. The fact that Ziggy was chosen for this expedition shows the power she already holds within her tribe, but the way in which she handles the advantage will make or break her entire game. Her claims for a win seem to increase every episode.

Now I know a lot of people weren’t too keen on the content of this episode, and I tend to agree that going to Tribal Council to decide the outcome was probably unnecessary. However, for myself, the atmospheric shots of Ziggy wading through the mangroves all night made it completely worthwhile. The twist was executed fairly and I feel that this episode in general acts as a nice prelude for the next stage of the competition. I’m probably more excited to see what happens on Sunday night than I have been all season!

I would love to hear your thoughts on the super idol twist, as well as on this episode in general… Join the discussion in the comments below, or chat with us on Facebook and Twitter… Next week the game is set to be shaken up once again by what looks to be a traditional tribe swap – perfect timing for Henry! As always, we can’t wait to see how it plays out.

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 missed any of the action from Sunday night, you can catch up by reading my Review of Episode 10: Shopping For Allies. See you later in the week for more power rankings, episode reviews, and general Survivor banter!

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.