Australian Survivor 2017 Episode 19 Review: The Wrong Prescription
As the end game approaches the desire to take out #bignames is starting to cloud the judgement of good players; Tristan Kelly analyses a frustrating 19th Episode of Australian Survivor.
If I didn’t have a dragon fruit margarita in my hand right now I don’t know how I would be able to contain the rage I feel for some of the horrendous moves that went down during Sunday night’s episode of Australian Survivor. Not only did I lose one of my faves and early frontrunners for the win, but it happened in a way that detracted from the games of the people who voted her out. Some of these players need to realise that every single person out there is either a threat to win, or a threat to take their seat at Final Tribal – if the big strategic players are on your side, why not work with them right up until the point that it would make logical sense for them to take you out themselves? The way this game is heading, the players who have been continually discounted as the less deserving easy votes (Tara, Locky, Peter, and to an extent Michelle) are almost at the point where they can dictate the remainder of the game en route to an unlikely victory. Luke my friend, you have unfortunately just signed your own death warrant.
Unfortunately my reviews for this week won’t be as detailed as usual due to a combination of high blood cocktail levels and shaky Vietnamese internet connections, but in any case, here are the moments that matter from Episode 19 of Australian Survivor!
Fighting For Credit
In the wake of Henry’s epic blindside, each member of the champagne alliance is fighting to claim credit for the big move… Michelle thinks it was all up to her, Tessa takes a slightly more humble approach, Sarah is happy to share the spoils with Jericho, Peter doesn’t get a mention, and Luke once again rambles on about mounting another stuffed head on his trophy wall. I’m not sure how comfortable I’d feel about going around to Luke’s place for dinner – it sounds like it might be a bit of a creepy torture den. Meanwhile Locky is sad about losing his best bro, and Tara is just happy to still be alive. Impressively she manages to deduce that she probably wasn’t included in the plan due to the fact that she most likely would have ratted everyone out to Henry and Locky. I don’t know what weird version of Survivor Tara is playing, but I’ll have to give her a small amount of credit on this occasion for at least displaying a small degree of self awareness.
Locky and Tara also seem to have been taking their spooning to the next level – forget Mark & Sam, and Henry & Jacqui, these two ‘misfits’ have been the most dangerous power couple of the entire season… If they’re not split up soon we could be heading towards a preposterous final two scenario. My final point for this segment is that the claiming of credit for Henry’s blindside is basically irrelevant at this point in the game… To win each player just needs to be able to articulate at FTC how it was the best move for them to make at that particular moment and how it was able to successfully contribute to their individual winner’s journey. I worry that an imminent fight for power between the more capable players is going to spoil the quality of the end game by allowing the less skilled competitors to sneak through the cracks.
The Spy Shack Returns
One of the many things I am loving about this season of Australian Survivor is how open the strategy talks are becoming between players and rival alliances. Ziggy perhaps wins the best play of this episode by honestly outlining her perception of the current tribal dynamic i.e. four pairs and a single. She claims that the four duos consist of Locky & Tara, Peter & Tessa, Luke & Jericho, and Sarah & Michelle, before presenting an argument as to why she should be brought in as the 5th member of a double couple alliance. It’s a logical pitch that should buy Ziggy at least an extra tribal or two regardless of whether she wins immunity.
Further working in Ziggy’s favour is the fact that during a one-on-one conversation with Tessa about the potential to target Jericho, Luke is conveniently hiding in his spy shack “like a creep” listening in to the juicy strategy session. Now in fairness to Tessa, the entire conversation seems to be led by Ziggy, but due to the cruelness of Survivor, just by allowing herself to be isolated with an opponent of a newly formed alliance, Tessa provides enough ammo for a controlling player like Luke to doubt her intentions moving forward. He of course now wants her “gooooone.” The best course of action for Tessa and Peter following Henry’s blindside in my opinion would have been to completely freeze out the outsiders for one more vote to solidify loyalty with Luke and co, before readjusting their strategic motivations at the following tribal.
#AllGirlsAlliance (Kind Of)
For the first time since the preseason, the infamous all girls alliance is finally discussed as a legitimate strategic option moving forward – and this one takes the cake… All girls plus Peter minus Tara. I love it! It makes sense for a lot of these players as well – break up the Locky/Tara and Luke/Jericho power couples and eliminate a couple of challenge threats in the process. Unfortunately, Michelle is worried that her closest ally Sarah is “taking the game in directions that she doesn’t want to go” and urges the other girls and Peter to be cautious of her motives. As brilliant as Sarah’s game has been up until this point I fear that she is completely underestimating the increasing power of Michelle, and if she doesn’t allow her to steer the ship for a couple of votes, Sarah may soon find that her seven weeks of excellence may all have been for nought.
A Quick Note On Immunity
A classic hold your idol on a progressively bigger pole whilst battling the windy elements sort of immunity challenge today. Obviously Ziggy wins; with an idol in her pocket she should be top 7 bound at least now, but realistically would have to do something pretty stupid not to make it to the final five. However, as the days progress, these players are starting to make some pretty questionable decisions… None more so than Luke’s last minute brain fade to hatch a plan with Jericho (and then Sarah) to take advantage of a split vote to eliminate Tessa – and in doing so alienate Michelle and hand the majority to a gaggle of outsiders. More on the maths of this scenario coming up next.
A Poorly Timed Move
Entering tonight’s tribal it appears that there are 4 possible options… One, the champagne alliance splits the votes between Tara and Locky, sending one of them home in an easy and sensible manner. Two, the all-girls-plus-Peter-alliance pulls a swifty on either Luke or Jericho (which would be pulling the trigger slightly too soon in my opinion)… Three, the original Samatau crew get back to together to take out Luke/Jericho (which is never going to work due to the Tara/Tessa feud)… Or four, Luke, Jericho and Sarah sacrifice their stability in the game by taking out a threat (Tessa) in an extreme case of premature elimination. Here is my pictorial representation of the current state of play.
As you can see, the Asaga Four are in an extremely strong position, but In order for them to control the game they need Peter and Tessa to work with them for at least the next vote or two – and at this point they have no reason not to… Within the champagne alliance Peter and Tessa would both give themselves a good chance of swaying Michelle and Sarah to vote out Luke as a major threat at the final 6, and also by entertaining the possibility of the all-girls-minus-Tara alliance, Sarah offers them an additional route to the final four/five. There is just no logical reason for them to defect at this stage. In fact it makes sense for almost every single player to eliminate Locky at this point in the game – the longer he stays alive the greater his chances are of stealing a FTC seat through winning immunities and bringing Tara along with him for the ride.
However, Luke wants to make a move for the sake of it and takes advantage of the fact that Tara and Locky will be throwing 2 votes onto Sarah, whilst Michelle, Tessa, Peter, and Ziggy will be splitting 2 votes each onto Tara and Locky… As a result all Luke needs is a minority of three to eliminate Tessa, and as we all know by now this is exactly what happens. In an extremely poorly timed moved, Dr. Tessa is robbed of her claims for the win in a 3-2-2-2 chaotic split vote. The consequences of this stupid decision are enormous:
- After being excluded from the decision making process, Michelle now has no reason to work with Luke, Jericho and Sarah. Furthermore due to her emotional style of gameplay that Tessa so astutely exploited in the previous episode, she will be out for immediate vengeance.
- Without his backup ally in Tessa, Peter becomes isolated on the bottom of the former champagne alliance so he also has no reason to work with Luke and co.
- Eliminating Tessa won’t gain Luke any respect from the jury due to the fact that it has worsened his position in the game.
- Alarm bells should have been ringing for Sarah when she was approached last minute by Luke and Jericho to vote out Tessa – clearly neither of them has any intention to take her to the final two, so why not just cast her deciding vote for Locky and continue to progress through the game with open options?
- Splitting votes is ALWAYS dangerous – opens the door for sneaky minority swings. Tara clearly didn’t have an idol, and Ziggy would have had a good idea that Locky didn’t either. I would prefer to stack the votes on one person and take the 1/6 in gamble that you’ll be sent home if that person happens to play an unlikely idol.
- Luke, Sarah, and Jericho have spoiled a damn good thing and now find themselves in the minority. As always, Tara and Locky are the big winners.
Rant over.
Well played Dr. Tessa – a true fighter that was in with a genuine shot to win. Recovered well from her mistakes, formed what should have been a match winning alliance, and couldn’t really counteract her ousting due to it being a seemingly illogical move for each of her allies. The only thing that might have saved her would have been pandering to Luke a bit more after the Henry vote in order to make him think that he was fully dictating the subsequent votes. I look forward to a probing jury speech – doctors tend to enjoy exposing cracks in other people’s knowledge through a ruthless line of questioning. I still hold a glimmer of hope for Sarah, but at this stage I think my money is now on Michelle.
Was voting out Dr. Tessa the biggest mistake of the game so far? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, or chat with us on Facebook and Twitter… Stay tuned over the next couple of hours as I attempt to to smash out another disgruntled rant about the events of Episode 20 – as you’ve probably already guessed, yet another one of my favourite’s is about to land a seat on the jury.
More Australian Survivor Coverage at TTHS:
Season 1 veteran Conner Bethune charges ahead of Tristan and Gorny in Round 8 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! Stay tuned for more stripped back Vietnamese coverage as we head into the penultimate week of Australian Survivor 2017!
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.