Australian Survivor 2017 Episode 16 Review: Merging Chaos
An incredible season gets even better as the merge hits our screens; Tristan Kelly analyses all of the chaotic moves, mistakes, and excited reactions from Episode 16 of Australian Survivor…
Every decision and mistake in Survivor has a consequence – those treacherous gods of the game have extraordinarily long memories, and enjoy nothing more than inflicting drawn out and convoluted punishments upon unsuspecting victims. The mistake doesn’t even have to be of the individuals own doing – in the game of Survivor, association is often grounds enough for culpability. The true champions of this game are able to consistently influence the moves of their opponents for personal gain, without having their allies realise that they are mistakenly falling into a losing trap. Boston Rob’s domination of Season 22 is a classic example of this concept – his victory depended on being able dictate a large majority alliance without any of the fringe members realising that they were on the bottom. It is just as crucial to implement risk minimisation strategies for the potential moves and mistakes of your supposed allies as it is for those of your enemies…
In Episode 16 of Australian Survivor we witness the games of several players descend into turmoil after a past group mistake is compounded by some serious individual errors… The long awaited merge is upon us and chaos is in the air – these are the moments that matter!
Post Tribal Wash Up
The Asaga Four return home after Odette’s blindside and pledge their allegiance to each other as a unified entity on the eve of a potential merge. Jericho is excited for the chance to live out a classic Aussie underdog story, Sarah correctly predicts that Samatau will be itching to turn on each other after not going to tribal for so long, and Luke rambles on about the four of them being “killers”. The next morning Sarah leads a pre-merge strategy sesh, encouraging the other three to exploit their pre-exisiting bonds to Henry, Locky, and Michelle, in order to gain valuable information about Samatau’s voting intentions. What is so intelligent about this subtle move from Sarah is that it sets up the opportunity for her to frame any potential scheming sessions with opposition players to the Asaga Four as simple information gathering missions. Theoretically, this should buy her some extra time to continue to play both sides without being perceived as an untrustworthy threat. As always, I love her work.
At Samatau, Jarrad talks about being able to envisage his path to the end now that he is ‘comfortably’ positioned towards the top of a majority alliance… Have these people learnt nothing from Survivor folklore? Why must they insist on cursing themselves!? He’s concerned about the budding relationship between Locky and Henry, and wants to be the one to take out the game’s biggest strategic threat. In consultation with Dr. Tessa, he formulates a Locky management plan in order to reduce the possibility of him flipping over to Henry’s old Asaga crew at the merge. At this point, Tessa’s analysis of the matter is faultless…
“I’m always worried about Locky and where he sits within this alliance… He is somebody who thrives on attention, who likes to be in charge – he’s somebody with an ego that needs to be watered… So it’s important for him to feel like he’s not at the bottom, and to feel like he has control.” – Tessa
If only she had been that wise a little bit later in the episode, I wouldn’t have to be so disappointed – but more on that later…
The Pendulum of Love
As the tribes march towards the challenge arena, an ominous crow is holding court and JLP is looking deadly serious – something is clearly about to go down. Jericho talks about the unrepairable position of the Asaga tribe before the inspirational speech from JLP begins – Asaga and Samatau are no more, drop your buffs, it’s merge time baby! The anticipatory reactions from everyone before JLP even starts to speak are adorable – I love this group of players! They all appreciate the significance of reaching the milestone and look ready to evolve the game to a higher level. In the midst of the pandemonium, Locky complements Tara on how “amazing” she looks, Jericho throws in a few more war references, Jono declares “may the best player win”, and then it’s straight on to the first individual reward challenge.
Each player is required to swing a rope repetitively around a wooden frame on top of which rests a glass bottle. The last person to smash their bottle to the ground wins – it’s yet another unique and engaging challenge design! The reward is a tantalising offer of a ‘merge rejuvenation package…’ A chance to get clean from top to toe with a bonus three course dinner – but that’s not all… Within each glass bottle is a highly coveted letter from home that only the winner will get to read – it’s time for a few feelings! Now as awesome as this reward is, there is no way that I would try to win it, or realistically any other for the rest of the season – individual reward victories always come at the cost of a potentially game wrecking decision. Although that’s easy to say from the relative comfort of my beanbag with a wine in hand.
Anyway, after about 90 minutes Tessa eventually outlasts Jericho to win the challenge before Jono predictably offers her the choice to give up the entire reward in return for everyone getting to read their letters. Let’s be honest, it’s not a choice – Tessa has just been stooged out of a three course meal! In fact I have my suspicions that Jono forgot to call the caterers and was just trying to cover his tracks… For a moment everyone pretends that they won’t care if Tessa takes the selfish option, but obviously she accepts so that we can be treated to a moving group letter reading session. Peter expresses his gratitude by adoringly offering to carry her bags home. He’s a classy guy.
Check out Peter’s article about the Australian Survivor Cast’s views towards Marriage Equality.
Touching moments all round from the castaways as they share their letters from home with special mention to the stories of Peter, Henry, and Luke. Fairfax Media’s Karl Quinn would do well to watch these sort of segments before accusing Survivor of presenting “bastard behaviour as entertainment” that is apparently cause enough for all of us to stand up and “fear for the future.” I know that article was written about a month ago, but it still makes me livid!
The Chaos Begins
The post merge scrambling begins with the emergence of three key match-ups: Tessa vs Tara, Jarrad vs Henry, and Henry vs Ziggy. Tessa continues the self cursing trend by talking about how comfortable she feels within the Samatau 8, but then partially redeems herself by coming out with another great Tara/Locky quote:
“The thing about Tara is that she doesn’t seem to have any sort of self awareness, and I’m very conscious of her relationship with Locky… Tara just idolises him and a guy like Locky loves to be idolised… For the moment I’m willing to put my trust in him, keeping my friends close and my Tara’s closer…” – Tessa
I fear that the four remaining members of the AK alliance are going to be torn apart over the coming episodes – it makes little sense to trust Locky when they have clearly positioned him on the fringe of their alliance for most of the game. There’s no benefit for him to stick around with them when he can potentially form a smaller majority by crossing over to realign with his closest ally in the game. This is a point that is clearly not lost on Henry, as he gets to work on reconnecting with his old pal Jericho in order to take out Ziggy. At the same time Jarrad is trying to convince Ziggy that the time is right to target Henry, but unfortunately for them, Henry appears to be tapping into their conversation from a quasi spy shack in the nearby foliage – you’ve got to keep an eye on your surroundings guys!
Luke isn’t impressed by the invasion of “squatters” to his Asagian Empire, so sends Sarah over to work on the recruitment of Michelle. Sarah makes a compelling case for her to jump straight back into a top four scenario with her and the Sesame Street duo, but in a strange turn of events Michelle seems content with her position on the bottom of the Samatau 8:
“Why would I want to walk away from Samatau where the majority lies? I’m not that dumb…” – Michelle
Why wouldn’t you!?
This Is What You Want
The new tribe name of ‘Asatoa’ is revealed before Jono reclaims the tribal idol ‘Boom Boom’ from the hands of Anneliese, and proceeds to dramatically unveil the stylish new individual immunity necklace: “This is what you want!” This moment is always one of my favourite milestones of each season – it provides ample opportunity for plenty of oohing and aahing… The first challenge is a beauty – the last person to remain suspended between two rails in a plank position wins. Before the battle commences Jono tells everyone the incredible news that the next person voted out will become the first member of the jury – cue another adorable group celebration…
JLP’s banter is top notch during this segment, in particular his great reference to the challenge being “right up Henry’s alley” due to him being a “yoga master” – I love it when the host participates in other people’s lies. The final stages come down to a battle between Tessa, Henry, and Ziggy, but as expected the olympian cruises through for another victory without showing any sign of struggle. Jericho leads us into the next segment with yet another obscure war reference – this time about royal knights and warriors. He’s one strange dude.
A Critical Error
Jericho’s plan for survival is simple: recruit Henry, Locky, and Michelle to save the Asaga four. On the basis of numbers it makes sense for all three of them to switch – it would narrow their majority from 8 to 7 in addition to creating a range of fluid internal connections that could be vital to their future progression in the game. Henry is obviously on board, but Michelle and Locky will take significantly more convincing. However, fortunately for Jericho, most of the work is done for him by Jarrad and Tessa…
The first nail is hammered into the coffin when Jarrad pitches the Henry plan to Locky… When you’re only holding a person in an alliance by framing it as a ‘strong 8’, it is incredibly risky to turn on that pledge at the first opportunity – particularly when it concerns an ally of the fringe dweller in question. Henry can wait a vote or two – the way the various alliance links fall, Luke is the safest option to target at this point. To her credit, this is exactly what Tessa realises, prompting her to convince everyone to change their vote. However, Locky is still torn between playing the loyal game with Samatau, or joining Henry, Tara and co to vote out Jarrad.
Jarrad tries to safeguard his position by building a facade of allegiance to Jericho, and coming up with a great code of underlining their votes at tribal in order to gain intel about each other’s trustworthiness. I love the innovation. Despite all the cross scrambling and increased airtime from Jarrad and Tessa, at this point it still seems probable that Luke will be the one going home – but then comes the devastating sequence of poor managerial decisions and fatal mistakes… The core Samatau Four foolishly separate from the group for a private discussion which results in Michelle feeling alienated from the alliance. When they return, Michelle confronts Tessa about not being included in their conversations, and in less than a minute Tessa basically destroys all of her good work from the previous 35 days:
“It is a bit of a like, last on… It’s ’cause you were the last in…” – Tessa
Nooooo Tessa – you’re so much better than that! Never, ever, ever make the integral fringe dweller feel as though they are on the bottom. Michelle now has no reason to stick with Samatau, and Dr. Tessa in my opinion has lost her claim for the win. A critical error surrounding such a fundamental principle of the game is almost unforgivable – she will need to do something extraordinary moving forward to have any chance of redeeming herself. Jarrad, Peter, and Ziggy must also accept responsibility for this error – along with Tessa the four of them should never have allowed this situation to occur. It’s safe at this point to notch the episode down as a win for the Asaga minority.
Underlining Fear
Luke suggests that tonight’s tribal is the “start of something new”, Locky and Henry talk about the concept of building trust, and Peter stresses the importance of making decisions based on gut reaction. Michelle then presents a red flag to Samatau that the decision of who to vote for has become murkier over the last 24 hours – meaning it’s time for them to start scrambling… Jarrad is confused: “It’s all a bit funny right now…” Tessa’s heart is racing, and Michelle is hatching plans through whispers in the back row. This is exactly why they needed to vote Michelle out over Ben when they had the chance – she is a highly skilled tribal council performer who will prove to be the downfall of multiple players in this game. Luke is suspiciously quiet throughout the discussions which does not bode well for my long haired friend – it doesn’t take much for a strong game to unravel… The votes are read: three for Luke, four for Jarrad, another couple each, smug look from Tara, and then the decisive seventh blow, sending Jarrad home in a 7-5 #blindside. Adding to the devastation is the underlined Jarrad voted from the devilish Cookie Monster – an absolutely savage move.
Jarrad exits the arena classily, and in a tremendous display of insight presents an accurate summary of all the major events and mistakes that led to his downfall. I would love to have seen the man with the best hair on the island go deeper in this game – he has all the makings of a very good player, but unfortunately just made a couple of subtle managerial errors.
I need a stiff drink to calm myself down from that episode – let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or chat with us on Facebook and Twitter… Coming up next it looks like AK’s old crew go searching for a rat, and Ziggy thinks about playing her super idol. It’s going to be one crazy ride to the final tribal council – this game is still anyone’s for the taking!
More Australian Survivor Coverage at TTHS:
Season 1 veteran Conner Bethune reclaims the lead over Tristan and Gorny in Round 7 of the Australian Survivor Power Rankings Championship…
Jeremy Gorniak live tweets every episode @TTHSau.
Plus our regular in depth reviews of every episode!
Thanks so much for reading! I’ll see you after the next episode for more Survivor analysis, frustration venting, and general strategic 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.