Logan Saunders recaps the twentieth episode of Week 9 of Australian Survivor featuring charades of all sorts.
Australian Survivor: It Is All an Act
EPISODE 20
Previously on Aussie Survivor: Having worked to get Henry out of the game, Luke was on the hunt for his next target. With Tessa in his sights, Luke recruited his old tribemates Jericho and Sarah but crucially did not include his ally, Michelle. In the most divided Tribal Council yet, the vote was split between four Survivors. To Michelle’s shock, Luke’s alliance got its way.
Eight are left; who will be voted out tonight?
NIGHT 42
TARA: A smorgasbord of names!
It’s a target buffet!
Everyone gets together to figure out who voted for who. The votes were confirmed.
SARAH: Michelle is pretty upset that I didn’t tell her to vote Tessa tonight.
What? Michelle? No.
MICHELLE: I’m livid. They just betrayed one of their core four. Particularly when there’s eight people left. Do the math.
It’s like the Atari Jaguar.
We see Michelle and Luke bicker at night.
LUKE: It all changed.
MICHELLE: No, I asked you if were writing down Tessa’s name two minutes before and you said no.
My god. Could Samatau really have the upper hand right now? And how the hell are we divided between original tribal lines after everything that has happened over the past forty-two days?
Intro time.
Ziggy Locky
Michelle Peter Sarah
Luke Jericho Tara
DAY 43
SARAH: I really like eating cold rice.
Ah, good ol’ el arroz frio. Gourmet meal.
Everyone once again remarks how few players remain.
LUKE: The four of us have been picking Samatau members one by one. Me, Jericho, Sarah, Michelle.
Well, three.
Luke acknowledges the splinter with Michelle.
SARAH: Are you all right, Mich?
(MICHELLE shrugs.)
Michelle is stumped why the core four would do something silly after being together for forty-two days.
MICHELLE: Nobody is going to believe anyone.
SARAH: You don’t even trust us.
MICHELLE: Right now? No.
Ouch.
SARAH: But Mich, don’t let the emotion from last night affect our plan.
That’s convenient
MICHELLE: It has done more damage to both of your games than if you had decided to keep her.
Yikes. This is officially a core three. Granted it is the day after the vote, but still.
Locky realizes Ziggy was the other vote against him. He knows Ziggy has targeted him multiple times but knows Samatau has to unite anyway to go after Asaga. There are no other options.
Locky and Tara are going to combine with Ziggy and Petey. No, for real this time. No really, they are.
Locky asks Ziggy if Petey will trust him. This is followed by Locky pointing out Petey has written his name down three or four times in the game. Hilarious.
Locky pleads to Petey just to get through one or two moves together then target each other.
Petey tells us that this agreement is honest this time–he has to align with Locky temporarily just to have a chance at winning this game.
Their goal is to go 4-4 and use it to lure Michelle onto their side.
So much for Sarah being the double agent. Sarah may have picked a side at the worst possible time.
INDIVIDUAL REWARD CHALLENGE #3
Michelle says alliances have changed up again and admits to being blindsided.
JLP: Sarah and Ziggy, are you two wearing the same outfit to mess with me?
Man, they do look a lot alike. They will morph into one super-being.
In today’s challenge, they will be in two teams of four and compete in Survivor Charades. What?
One team will memorize a sequence of animals then act out that sequence to another teammate. First person who guesses the sequence correctly scores a point for their team.
The reward is fruit, vegetables, and K-MOTHERF–KIN-F-C! KFC! Popcorn chicken, chicken nuggets, salad (for Luke), soft drinks, beach cricket, and picnic blanket.
LOCKY: I think I can get there before anyone can get me.
It’d probably involve him losing his shorts in the process.
PETEY: The idea of missing out on this makes me want to crumble to the floor.
KFC loves Petey right now.
ORANGE TEAM: LOCKY-ZIGGY-SARAH-LUKE
PURPLE TEAM: MICHELLE-PETEY-JERICHO-TARA
ROUND 1: Ziggy and Petey shall act it out.
Crab-Octopus-Squid-Chicken-Grasshopper
Ziggy acts out a Parvati–er, I mean a crab. This is hilarious.
JLP: She’s even on the ground! Lots of crazy stuff from Peter. Hahahhaaha.
Hey, nobody has done Survivor charades before.
Ziggy has been on the ground for her second animal for a while. Petey keeps acting like a monkey.
Michelle takes a guess. It’s correct.
ORANGE: 0
PURPLE: 1
Locky and Michelle are next to act. Sarah and Jericho guess.
Sarah takes a guess. It’s wrong.
Jericho makes a switch. He has it. 2-0.
ORANGE: 0
PURPLE: 2
Sarah acting. Luke guessing. Jericho acting. Tara guessing.
Jericho miming; Sarah moonwalking.
ORANGE: 0
PURPLE: 3
Tara acting. Petey guessing.
Luke acting. Ziggy guessing.
Tara is having a seizure. JLP laughs at Petey’s confusion.
ORANGE: 1
PURPLE: 3
Luke really wants that salad.
Petey acting. Michelle guessing.
Ziggy acting. Locky guessing.
The round is over very fast in the edit.
ORANGE: 2
PURPLE: 3
Michelle and Locky are acting. Sarah and Jericho are guessing. Or is it Ziggy?
It is another quick clip as we see Michelle supposedly run back because she forgot a symbol.
Locky and Sarah quickly score a point.
ORANGE: 3
PURPLE: 4
It is match point.
Jericho is acting while Tara guesses; Sarah is acting while Luke guesses.
Lots of hopping. It reminds me of Tessa when she tries to keep warm.
JLP says Sarah is on Jericho’s tail as both of them are miming tails.
Sarah forgets the last symbol. Luckily Jericho remembers. Tara submits her guess. It’s wrong.
Sarah has the symbol and Luke guesses it correctly. Challenge over.
Orange wins KFC. From 3-0 lead to 4-3 defeat. It’s like the Red Sox and Yankees in ’04…or is it ’03? Sorry, Mixed Martial Arts is the only athletic competition I follow.
LOCKY: Boy has got to eat!
DAY 43 – REWARD BEACH
Luke and Locky sprint towards the “KFC Feast”.
ZIGGY: The smell was so incredible. It was like I had never eaten chicken before. It was like heaven in my mouth.
LUKE: I have been dreaming of chicken…it was like an explosion of happiness. I had a rainbow in my mouth.
SARAH: Who wins four in a row? Four in a row? There are no words. There are no words.
No words. Just charades and symbols.
Sarah knows this group of four could prove to be a massive potential for an alliance. Everyone reminisces over their comeback. Luke licks his fingers.
LUKE: Now it’s time to make a new alliance!
Yes, alliances are more finger lickin’ good than KFC.
Luke comes up with an idea.
LUKE: All say a name at the same time as to who would be easy to vote out.
Everyone counts to three.
LUKE: Peter.
LOCKY: Jericho.
ZIGGY: Jericho.
SARAH: Petey.
Odd. Asaga wants a Samatau member out and Samatau wants an Asaga member out. We’re deadlocked!
LUKE: My boy. We haven’t turned each other on once.
It takes a lot more cookies and salad to turn Luke on, me thinks.
Luke contemplates sacrificing a name from Asaga to Samatau may gain trust for him and Sarah.
SARAH: I’d be even okay with Michelle.
LOCKY: I’d go Michelle if you’re willing to compromise.
SARAH: Michelle is -really- angry with me…Her ego has bit her.
Luke mocks Michelle’s double agent-turned-wildcard behaviour in a confessional.
LUKE: Sarah decided to throw Michelle’s name out there. So I’ll even go forward with it cause I don’t know what Michelle is doing. She’s craaaazy. Michelle is a wildcard now. We created a wildcard.
Ziggy says they should all write down Michelle’s name with “#KFC” on parchment and lick their fingers as she walks out. Yikes.
SARAH: It looks like the Survivor gods are finally looking out for me.
Do Survivor gods play both sides of the overworld, though?
Sarah remarks that the rewards are the birthplace of new alliances.
SARAH: This is my potential ticket to the end.
Until the next reward.
We see half a second of their beach cricket game. If only KFC sponsoured the bats.
DAY 44
Sarah shows off her belly to Jericho. Did she get pregnant on the reward?
Ziggy gives us her thoughts on this new alliance.
ZIGGY: The popcorn chicken alliance is totally fake.
The alliance is as fake…as, well, KFC’s popcorn chicken.
Tara is surprised to hear from Ziggy that Luke and Sarah are going after Michelle. She assumes it is a plan to trick Samatau into voting Michelle while Asaga goes for one of them.
Ziggy is going with her gut and will attempt to pull in Michelle. I really thought Popcorn Chicken Alliance.
We fast forward to Ziggy and Michelle washing pots in the water.
MICHELLE: Tonight’s the night. I prefer to vote with you guys.
Well, that’s direct.
MICHELLE (to ZIGGY): It’s a case of voting one of them out or be voted out. I’m not voting with them tonight and that’s payback.
My god. Don’t mess with Michelle in this game.
Michelle sums up the first three stages of Survivor.
First stage: Play house nicely.
Second stage: Kick out the biggest threats.
Final stage: Backstab the right people.
Between all of this we see clips of Jericho laughing really hard in an over-the-top manner as he talks about KFC with Sarah. It’s such a goofy visual for such a serious confessional.
Locky whistles Peter over like he is a pet golden retriever or Big Bird. He has to take the subway just like everyone else, Locky. You make him sick.
LOCKY (to MICHELLE): Because Sarah’s writing your name down cause you’re getting too cocky.
MICHELLE (the most screwed up face ever): Are you…for real?
I haven’t seen anybody react like that since Nelly’s fans asked if they could get free tickets to the next show.
Locky and Ziggy repeat that now is the time to break up the group of three.
Jericho is with Sarah and Luke. He perfectly reads what Michelle, Locky, and Ziggy are talking about in the jungle.
JERICHO: They are telling Michelle we are voting her…We need a Plan B now.
SARAH: I need to get the immunity necklace. A lot is riding on this one.
That tune for Asaga changed awfully quick since eating some popcorn chicken.
INDIVIDUAL IMMUNITY CHALLENGE #4
It is time for another challenge. Everyone stands on a small platform in a swamp. JLP asks Sarah about food and being down to the nittiest of gritties.
Ziggy hops into the water and hands back the snakeskin talisman.
For today’s challenge, they will square off one-on-one in a log rolling competition. First person to fall in is out of the challenge.
Two more rounds of play and we have our next talisman winner.
JLP: We draw for matchups and we get this thing rollin’.
Literally. -_-
QUARTERFINAL #1 – SARAH VS. LUKE
If only Steve or Bob were here. They are both in log rolling leagues.
Eventually, both start moving and fall into the water simultaneously. They review the tape and it’s declared a draw. Luke takes off his shirt before the rematch.
His shirtless decision proves to be the right move as he sprints until Sarah falls into the water one second before he does. Sarah will regret keeping her clothes on. Lesson learned.
QUARTERFINAL #2 – ZIGGY VS. PETEY
Ziggy lacks balance and nearly falls over. The log rolls more and Petey casually hops off.
QUARTERFINAL #3 – MICHELLE VS. “BIG BOY” LOCKY
LOCKY: Big boys go hard, Michelle.
That is how they roll.
It’s not even close. Michelle falls and Locky merely edges off the log and hops onto the platform without getting wet. Big boys like to stay dry.
QUARTERFINAL #4 – JERICHO VS. TARA
Jericho starts laughing for no sane reason.
Jericho manipulates the log a little bit. Tara is off and splashes Jericho after she is in.
SEMIFINAL #1 – JERICHO VS. LUKE
Both make very slight movements. I bet they wished they were at opposite ends of the bracket.
Luke is reacting to Jericho’s movements. Then Jericho wobbles. It keeps going. Jericho jumps off in a Luigi Blast from Super Smash Bros. pose into the water. Luke advances.
SEMIFINAL #2 – LOCKY VS. ZIGGY
Ziggy faces the opposite way from Locky. She does almost nothing and falls into the water. Locky stays dry again.
Locky and Luke have a fake catfight on the platform. It was funny for about two seconds.
FINAL – LOCKY VS. LUKE
JLP: Because it’s for immunity, it’ll be best-of-three!
EVERYONE ELSE: Ohhhhhhhhhh.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t all log roll challenges in Survivor US always best-of-three? Otherwise, it’s a very short challenge for the contestants.
Luke takes charge of the log as Locky finally gets wet. Luke plays for match point.
Locky is in control this time. Luke has no choice but to react. Eventually, he loses his balance. Locky does high knees as he jumps into the water. It all comes down to the final point.
The log moves at a very slow pace. Both try to make quick surprise movements but it doesn’t work. Locky picks up the pace and Luke has to sprint like he is on a treadmill. It becomes too much as he falls and Locky scissor kicks it into the water.
Locky wins the snakeskin talisman. Tessa proceeds to yell at her TV.
Another mediocre mid-merge immunity challenge is in the books.
Sarah is aiming to knock out her former #1 ally Michelle.
DAY 44
Ziggy says Samatau and Michelle are eliminating Sarah.
MICHELLE: She is the biggest floater.
What’s the difference between a floater and a double agent?
MICHELLE: Maybe she fooled the people early on but the last eight people aren’t idiots. It’s quite insulting.
Ziggy is paranoid in confessionals. She goes straight to Jericho.
ZIGGY: Are you writing my name down?
JERICHO: They haven’t talked to me yet. All I’ve heard this morning is Michelle.
Jericho goes on to tell us that Michelle or Sarah will be voted out.
MICHELLE: The plan had you asked me three days ago would have been the hardest thing ever, but it’s actually very very simple.
The words “simple vote” have become taboo by this point.
Luke and Jericho make one last plea to Michelle.
JERICHO: You know the saddest part, Michelle? We had something strong.
MICHELLE: But you killed it! But you broke it!
Poor Jericho.
LUKE: We’re going to get through to Michelle tonight.
In the words of Prosecutor Sahdmahdi, I think Luke has to accept this and move on.
Michelle is paranoid that Sarah, Luke, and Jericho could pull in somebody else to make it 4-4.
SARAH: All of my eggs are in the Chicken Alliance basket.
And that chicken alliance has already been admitted by both Locky and Ziggy that the chicken alliance is fake. It may as well be Tofu Alliance.
Sarah joins everyone in the jungle. Like, all eight are in the jungle standing together strategizing. It’s odd.
Later on in the day, Sarah talks to Locky about grabbing him to vote out Michelle. She says they have only bonded over the past two days.
LOCKY: Sarah is preaching a powerful alliance to go through with the most powerful people. I totally agree with it …We totally let too many floaters get through and they’ll band together to get us out because they can’t beat us.
Michelle is the floater but not Sarah? When the hell did these labels swap?
Sarah assumes it is now 4-4. She enters the jungle with Jericho and Tara. Sarah is on the brink of begging both of them to vote out Michelle. They now summon Locky and Luke into the jungle with them.
TARA (subtitled): Are youse on board with Michelle?
Youse? Youse? Youse?! Editors love a good chuckle.
SARAH: If it pans out, I’ll feel really positive about the future.
MICHELLE: I think I’ve got the majority but there is a strong possibility that my game could be ending tonight.
Oddly enough, Locky and Tara are the floaters deciding this vote. The probability of this 4-4 split is running high. At least we have it down to two contestants rather than a whopping four for this Tribal Council.
TRIBAL COUNCIL #21
(JOAN)-(ADAM)-(KATE)-(MARK H)-(AIMEE)-(SAMANTHA)-(MARK W)-(tara)-(anneliese)-(JACQUI)-(KENT)-(AK)-(BEN)-(ODETTE)-(JARRAD)-(ANNELIESE)-(HENRY)-(TESSA)
X
(JERICHO)-(*LOCKY*)-(LUKE)-(MICHELLE)-(PETEY)-(SARAH)-(TARA)-(ZIGGY)
JLP wants to know why half of the tribe received votes at the last Tribal Council.
JLP: Do you think anybody knew who was going home last night?
SARAH: No, I don’t think so.
Michelle proceeds to call out Luke, Jericho, and Sarah to work together as a three rather than as a four after six weeks.
Sarah jumps in and says Michelle was left out but not because she was a target. Michelle now believes too much doubt has been created.
SARAH: I do believe emotions got in the way and make it too hard to talk to that person.
JERICHO: Acting on emotion is not something we should all be doing cause there’s a bigger picture.
MICHELLE: Emotions are completely out of it for me but I’m going to do what I can stay in this game.
This is awkward.
MICHELLE: [Jericho] spoke to me. Explained it.
SARAH: We all tried to explain it.
MICHELLE: I had conversations with Luke and Jericho about it.
TARA: Ouch.
Sarah thinks Michelle trusts her the least out of the three now (which is odd now considering just three days ago Sarah was the person Michelle trusted the most).
MICHELLE: It’s like a bad ex-boyfriend. Do you go back or find something new?
Tara says she didn’t blame anyone for throwing her name out at the last vote. Michelle thinks everyone is trying way too hard to make a big move to impress the jury.
Sarah thinks people will attempt to take people to the end who aren’t as big of game players.
JLP asks Jericho what the vote will be about.
JERICHO: You don’t save the drowning cat because you’ll likely drown with it.
There’s always some sort of morbid imagery with Jericho. Hilarious.
It’s time to vote. What a transition.
SARAH: Mish <3
MICHELLE: Sarah. Every action has a consequence.
Spoken like a true nanny.
JLP: If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and they want to play it, now would be the time to do so.
Oh come on, nobody is playing–
ZIGGY: Yes, please. I’m not gonna risk it.
Ziggy presents her idol. Sarah is stunned.
PETEY: I think you should play it for Michelle.
ZIGGY: I’m gonna play it for myself.
(HENRY shakes his head.)
PETEY: I told you Ziggy. Play it for Michelle.
MICHELLE: It’s okay.
OMG Michelle is so emotional!
FIRST VOTE: Mish <3
SECOND VOTE: Sarah
THIRD VOTE: SARAH
FOURTH VOTE: SARAH
Sarah looks like she is going to jump off a bridge.
FIFTH VOTE: SARAH
SIXTH VOTE: SARAH
She is out and three idols that did nothing along with it. Smuff.
Sarah is in high spirits as she is eliminated.
LOCKY: How’s Pete? Play it for Michelle?
Wow. Other than the fake Anneliese TC and Odette’s elimination, we’ve got a unanimous vote. I don’t blame for Ziggy playing an idol–the “simple vote” is way too suspicious based on the events of the past forty-two days.
Next Time on Aussie Survivor: Tara makes her move. Targeting the biggest threat in the game. And old friends become foes.
Sarah thinks she was eliminated because she was the best and everyone wants Michelle in Final Two.
LOCKY (voting Sarah): You’re a big game player but too many lies, I think.
There goes that theory in half a second. Sarah thinks Luke has what it takes to win even though he is clearly the next target. Reminds me of the Kate and Tarzan predictions when they were voted out.
LUKE (voting Sarah): You’re taking all the blame for me breaking that champagne alliance. As long as it’s not me.
***
In the previous round, Ziggy said she was alone in a game with four other pairs. Everyone in the game perceived Michelle and Sarah as a pair. On paper, they were the perfect duo–Michelle was very good at being non-threatening and being a ‘vote up for grabs’ as she utilized her social manipulation to work with everyone in the game, and Sarah was good at socially getting along with everyone and making her position predictable for everyone else.
They couldn’t trust her per se, but they could trust her motives.
Once Sarah ditched Michelle because she couldn’t trust her to go along with a vote, that vital piece of protection went away as Sarah was alone. It was a freakin’ unanimous vote. You think Luke and Jericho are going to go out of their way to protect you? Not a chance. There is no way Luke or Jericho would stick their hand into a bag of rocks for Michelle. Maybe if the bag contained cookies you might be able to tempt Jericho, but no, not with rocks.
***
The casual fans are hilarious right now.
FANS: Oh my god! I can’t believe Henry didn’t play his idol! Dumbest move ever!
***A FEW DAYS LATER***
FANS: Oh my god! I can’t believe Ziggy played her idol after a series of unprecedented blindsides and a 3-2-2-2 vote that nobody was expecting! Dumbest move ever!
***
When in the world did Michelle get labelled as an emotional voter? I mean, if she votes you out because you lied to her and didn’t trust her with key information to move the alliance forward, she might be voting you out because of distrust. Distrust is not equivalent to her hating your guts. Distrust is equivalent to somebody finding a different combination of people who want to work with her and pounce forward together.
I know Sarah took some heat for saying she was eliminated because she was the best player out there in her final words. Something tells me she has been blown away by the episodes and realizes how much she was telegraphing her duplicity throughout the game, and how many people felt they had no choice but to play for her vote to get somebody else out.
Then labelling many of the other players as floaters? When votes go from 7-5 to 8-3 to 6-4 to 3-2-2-2 to 7-1, correct me if I am wrong but isn’t EVERYONE floating?
***
Repeat after me: Nobody has control of this game. It is completely wide open. The preview is already teasing that Tara is going after Locky. Samatau’s bond is temporary–it’s the equivalent of FDR, Stalin, and Churchill signing agreements with their fingers crossed behind their backs. To borrow some words from Jericho, a war is about to start.
***
So why does nobody have control?
- a) Because nobody has been 150 to 200 percent stubborn since the merge. Even Luke and Jericho played along with the Sarah vote. The King of the Jungle learned after the whole Mark W. debacle to not be too aggressive with who to target.
- b) Nobody can quite figure out who the goat is. Everybody is playing hard. Nobody is going out of there way to be an asshole. Nobody is flailing about daily. Nobody has expressed a desire to quit. Nobody has been “more strategic” than the other. Nobody has been able to figure out the correct combination of players to take into a Final Two, Final Three, or even Final Four situation because nobody can measure who has loyalty to who in this game.
That is why this game has rarely had such a thing be referred to as a simple vote.
I know Michelle, Tara, Locky, Petey, and Ziggy have been in the bottom five in terms of popularity since the start of the merge online and maybe even before that, but if that’s what you consider to be the bottom five for this season…then things ain’t so bad.
***
I wish there were more fun moments shown. I know the voting and shifting of alliances has been so prevalent and unprecedented this season that editors have no choice but to dedicate a good chunk of time to it, but I do want to see more non-strategic stuff going on. The charades challenge was a good example of it.
***
I hope the individual immunity challenges start getting good again. Seriously.
