Australian Survivor 2017 Episode 17 Review: Flushing Trumps
A hilarious reunion of the midnight cookie club, Anneliese gets blamed for everything, and Captain Locky showcases his acting chops; Tristan Kelly analyses a superb 17th episode of Australian Survivor…
Another night of Survivor, another bitter pill of disappointment to swallow thanks to one of my favourite players… The obsession of some players to make #bigmoves just for the sake of them is so frustrating. Yes, big moves are a crucial component of building a case to win, but there is no point in making them if someone else has the potential to steal the credit from the jury and send you packing as a result. Episode 17 of Australian Survivor is all about idol timing and power management. In addition, the cookie crew gets back together, Anneliese is accused of being a jam thief, and Locky implements the ‘I’m just a dumb jock’ strategy. These are the moments that matter!
Post Tribal Scrambling
When your crew accuses you of doing something sneaky, why not just follow Shaggy’s advice and say ‘it wasn’t you’? As the Asatoa 11 return from tribal council, Peter, Tessa, and Ziggy immediately begin their search to expose the Jarrad voting rats. They’re quickly able to account for Henry’s and Michelle’s votes, but the identity of the final traitor remains a toss-up between Locky and Anneliese. In a cunning move that I wasn’t expecting from Locky, he cooly denies the act of betrayal and effectively throws Anneliese under the bus for a crime that she didn’t commit. Tessa and co are highly skeptical of his actions but an air of doubt remains in their minds, so the move can therefore be considered a success. I’m starting to wonder if it’s possible that Locky could actually be a strategic mastermind…
“My gameplay up until now was just to be a number, be great around camp, be good in challenges… I just want to be out here creating havoc and keeping everyone on their toes…” – Locky
One thing I’m still perplexed about is why Anneliese decided to vote with the Samatau Four in the first place, when all of her closer connections (Henry, Locky, Sarah, Tara) had decided to vote for Jarrad… I guess the second swap back to Samatua completely changed the dynamic of her game – or for some reason Henry decided to keep her out of the loop (maybe in fear of her playing the idol for Jarrad). Either way, she now finds herself in a pretty big pickle…
The Sweetest Soul
The next morning Anneliese devises a plan with Peter to bring in Sarah and Michelle to help vote out Locky, but it seems to be a slightly ambitious move. You could argue that it would make sense for Michelle to flip back, in turn enabling her to move up yet another single step to the outside of a majority of 6 instead of a majority of 7. However, for Sarah, the only real benefit at this point would be to slightly weaken the position of both Henry and Tara – but she’ll have plenty of opportunity to do that later in the game when the numbers are smaller. So basically, if Anneliese is targeted during this episode her only real option for survival will be to play her hidden idol – which should work a treat given that Ziggy is on her side and they have enough numbers to counteract a split vote.
Meanwhile, in a hilarious scene of convoluted deception, Henry finally provides the climax to the Jericho clue passing saga by staging a fake search for his already found idol. As soon as Jericho is looking away he slips it into a convenient hiding spot and stages the act of discovering it for the first time. Henry’s lies are ridiculous but somehow they all seem to be paying off! His degree of control over this game should not be underestimated. Poor old Jericho buys the lie but is extremely frustrated due to not being able to find it himself over the past 10 days.
“Henry was always the golden child that was supposed to get everything – and he puts out his hand and he gets gold… I put my hand out, I get dirt…” – Jericho
The final quote award for this segment goes to Anneliese for her astute comments about Locky’s strategic motivations.
“I feel like Locky’s been playing this really easy going ‘I’m just a dumb jock’ game, and he’s at the merge and he is super excited – he just wants to create chaos…” – Anneliese
‘I’m just a dumb jock’, ‘Find the dickhead’ – there are so many innovative strategy terms coming out of this season! Kent’s beachside shop still takes the cake though…
The Midnight Supper Club Returns!
On Night 37 Jericho decides to enter adorable mode…
“Henry and Luke are two of my favourite friends in this game – they are so cheeky!” – Jericho
Whilst everyone else is sleeping, the three friends decide to devour the remaining rations of jam and sugar at the long awaited reunion of the midnight supper club. It’s so great to see the old cookie crew back together! The next morning they participate in a hilarious witch hunt led by Captain Locky to find the culprit – a highlight of which is Jericho’s rendition of ‘Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar’. He truly has embraced this strange Survivor persona to the max. The editors also join the party by presenting a brilliant crab representation of the three jam thieves.
Shortly afterwards, Henry logically makes the pitch to Locky about voting out Anneliese – he’s concerned that their final three deal is a farce after she didn’t vote with them at the last Tribal. So it seems as though it was a deliberate decision by Anneliese to go against them – strange move. Henry then gets the all important Sarah on side, who savagely throws Anneliese under the bus as the most likely jam thief. Poor old Anneliese is getting blamed for everything this episode! Henry gleefully allows the accusations to snowball into a guilty sentence, providing a classic example of how well executed sabotage can be a great tool in Survivor. Meanwhile Ziggy is contemplating whether she should stick with the people who have been loyal to her for the entire game, or instead bring out the super idol and flip to a tangled web of players who have pretty much all betrayed her at some point. Seems like a pretty simple choice to me…
Balls will Roll
During a brief convo about the current climate of food politics, JLP learns that there’s a jam thief in his midst, prompting him to release the heartiest laugh of all time: “I’ll let you guys work that one out…” The challenge itself is a classic three round progressive battle involving chucking hooks, untangling ropes, and rolling balls. In a shocking outcome, Ziggy fails to progress past the first stage, kindly opening the door for the others to have a rare shot at winning. Henry proves to be the star of the show, easily winning the MVP award for his bash and crash approach to the rope course (that shows absolutely no regard for his own body). This unconventional strategy provides him with the confidence to out-ball Jericho and Luke in the final stage of the challenge en route to claiming his first individual immunity necklace. Anneliese sets up the imminent tribal council by declaring it to be a life or death moment for her game – it’s either her or Locky tonight. Once again, the Asaga Four move one step closer to controlling the majority – everything is falling nicely into place for them.
A Waste of Acting Talent
Henry’s starting to feel powerful again, and rightfully so… Possessing the immunity necklace on top of a hidden idol is the dream scenario – it would do wonders for reducing game related anxiety levels. Everyone appears to be on board with Henry’s plan to vote out Anneliese, but he still needs to develop a strategy to counteract her idol. Locky then answers my earlier question about whether or not he is in fact a strategic mastermind, by channelling his inner Destiny’s Child in reference to whose name should be put forward as the decoy/secondary vote: “Say mine… Say my name… Everyone say my name.” I’ll let you decide if the answer to my question is yes or no… If you’re still undecided, he then goes on to lament how his name is on the chopping block even though that he was the one to basically put it out there in the first place. None of this really matters through because he’s developed a master plan to address the Anneliese idol conundrum…
“I kind of act scared, she gives me the idol, she goes home – and I’m sitting pretty with an idol…” – Locky
He makes the game sound so easy – what a maverick! The attempted implementation of this plan plays out in a hilarious scene of acting involving himself and Anneliese. She sums up the situation beautifully in the following quote:
“So Locky and I are playing this weird game this evening where we’re both pretending that we don’t know that the other person is coming after each other… It’s all rubbish, we both know each other’s lying, I think it was a waste of our time…” – Anneliese
Great confessionals from Anneliese this episode. She immediately tells Tessa and Peter about the ploy, and reassures them that thanks to her idol they can easily eliminate Locky with 4 votes (including one from Ziggy), regardless of whether the other seven vote unanimously or down a 4-3 split (which would be incredibly risky). Unfortunately Ziggy is starting to entertain other ideas, and is keen to keep Locky in the game as a physical shield. Although her reasoning is logical and there’s a possibility that her power trio alliance with Henry and Locky could eventuate into something, crossing sides at this point just doesn’t seem like a good long term move. In reality, Ziggy is more of a physical shield for the boys than the other way round, plus they’ve already expressed a desire to knock her out, and betrayed her at the very last tribal council! Ziggy thinks she holds all of the power entering tonight’s tribal, but really Henry is playing her like a fiddle in order to flush a whole lot of trumps out of the game.
#BigMovesAren’tAlwaysGoodMoves
Jarrad enters the arena as the first member of the jury, making sure to direct everyone’s attention to his freshly washed hair in a beautiful flicking back demonstration. JLP wants to get to the bottom of the jam thief saga which results in a few laughs before Sarah fondly points at Luke (he can get away with anything), and Jericho implies that the accused culprit (poor old Anneliese) will possibly be going home as a result. Michelle talks about shifting lines in the sand, Locky is mildly concerned, Ziggy is basing her vote on who’s the biggest threat to her game, and Henry has identified a flipper. “Not the F-word” chimes in Tara.
JLP hasn’t heard any chat about idols for a while… Tara thinks the immunity neklace is the only one out there, Michelle passionately refutes her claim, and Ziggy discusses the danger of wasting an idol by playing it too soon or being voted out with one still in your pocket. However, she suggests that tonight is the night to make a move…
“I think every tribal council is an opportunity to make a move and if those opportunities present themselves, people have to take (them) I suppose… – Ziggy
Not making a move can be just as big as making a move Ziggy – don’t waste your chance to impress the jury later in the game by taking out a major threat like Henry… If Ziggy plays the super idol tonight, Henry will be awarded all of the credit, she will be viewed as an even bigger threat, and she will mobilise Peter and Tessa to fight for a new majority at the next tribal. Ultimately, she would be abandoning her position at the top of a slight minority of four (that has the potential to take control of the game over the next two votes if she can play her idols correctly) to instead become the third wheel of a power couple within a convoluted group of 8… It’s just not good maths.
Henry’s comments as he writes down Anneliese’s name sums up the whole situation nicely…
“You didn’t vote with me last time, so you’ve got to go now… So if the plan that I put in place works, you go home, your idol goes home, Ziggy’s power goes, and it will taste sweeter than the (jam) I had last night…” – Henry
Before the votes are read, in what would normally be a perfectly timed move, Anneliese plays her idol to seemingly book Locky a seat on the jury bench – but it might not be over yet… Don’t do it Ziggy, don’t do it Ziggy, don’t do it Ziggy, don’t do it Ziggy… NO! She does it…
“Jonathan, I’d like to play the super idol please…” – Ziggy
Devo. At least she’s polite about it, but it’s just not a good move. I’m sorry Ziggs, you’ve just been crossed off my favourites list. JLP reads out six straight Anneliese votes (all spelt in a slight different way) which is enough to send my top ranked player of the week home. It’s a heartbreaking result for Anneliese who becomes the first person in Survivor history to play an idol correctly but still go home. There’s nothing more she could have done except for not voting against Luke at the previous tribal. Overall a pretty impressive performance from Anneliese and I look forward to seeing her work as a member of the jury.
A shocked Peter rounds out this episode by whispering in Tessa’s ear: “It’s just me and you now…” Never give up underdogs – there’s always hope.
My heart rate doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon – another fantastic episode! Was Ziggy’s decision to play the super idol the most foolish move of the game so far? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or chat with us on Facebook and Twitter… Coming up next it’s time for the iconic Survivor auction as the season continues to pick up pace towards the end game. I can’t wait to see how it all plays out!
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.