Survivor is back! With three super popular versions of the show, you might think the premiere episodes could lose a little bit of their luster. They’re not as unique or spread apart. But you would be wrong. Survivor premieres are always exciting, they always get the…blood pumping.
This season is Australia’s first attempt at the Blood vs. Water theme, marking the third overall, when you factor in the two U.S. seasons. There’s a little bit of a twist, as there are a few returning players. Mark and Sam from season 2/2017 are back, having gotten married since their first season. And Andy from season 4/2019 also returns, playing with his sister. And then there’s one more, the crème de la crème. The queen herself. Sandra. Diaz. Twine. She ventures into the Land Down Under playing with her daughter Nina.
Marooning
Okay, so it’s not really a marooning, but whatever. The beginning of the game. JLP, Mr. Biceps himself, welcomes in the players, sans two. After some brief pleasantries, a frigging helicopter comes in, bringing Sandra and Nina into the game. It’s absolutely wild, and I would expect nothing less from Australian Survivor. And while the theatrics are welcome, a part of me wishes they had just brought her in the same as any other player. If Brains V Brawn taught us anything, it’s that you can’t count on the Aussie players to know anything about the game. If they don’t know Sandra, that’s on them.
JLP drops the “bomb”that the loved ones are going to play against each other. The players act surprised and dejected, but that’s how it works? Maybe production asked/told them to play it up? But really, what did they expect?
How incredibly on brand it is for the tribes to literally be named Blood and Water. So fitting, after last season’s merge tribe being named the Fire tribe.
Reward Challenge
For the opening reward challenge, the players go up against their loved one. They race down a giant slide into the water, and battle for a ring. The first to have one hand on the ring and one hand on their tribe pole wins a point. First tribe to three points wins. They’re playing for a pretty sizable reward. They arrive at camp to a blazing fire, extra firewood, flint, and some comfy seating.
Production could not have planned this any better. It’s 2-2, and of course it comes down to Sandra vs Nina. Sandra famously isn’t good at challenges, actively trying to sit out as many as she possibly can. But still. Having the crown jewel of the season in such a high profile spot right off the bat was perfect.
Camps
Blood
No matter what, Sandra is going to be the big story for as long as she’s in this game. She’s obviously the biggest threat in the game until she’s gone. The other players know that, but Sandra is also fully aware. Even being such a clear threat, she’s still at such an advantage. She’s both won and lost as a returning player. She knows what she’s doing. She knows how to act and what to look for in the other players’ actions. Winning the game is going to be a huge uphill battle, but she’s not the Queen for nothing.
Water
Andy is maybe already in a tough spot. Everyone knows Andy from his first time out, when he lied from Day 1 about his job. The other players might be on high alert for Andy, who already was a little wary of how his social game might hold up.
Mark starts off basically in the exact same way as he did his first around, gathering intelligence. This is super valuable, but he needs to be sure not to go full robot mode. He’s already doing the right thing by letting Andy take the leader role. How a returning player adjusts their game the second time can speak volumes to how far they can potentially go. Andy maybe hasn’t learned too much, but Mark? He just might have made the right adjustments.
Shay gets the first big moment in the game, finding a clue to an immunity idol. It’s hidden at Tribal Council, on the front of JLP’s podium. The clue also states it’s not the only clue, marking a race to the finish to get the idol first. Chrissy finds the second clue. Good lord Chrissy is going to be fun to watch this season. She goes straight from reading the clue to saying she’s not sure what Tribal Council is, she “doesn’t think it’s where we’re staying now” to immediately knowing this is “huge for my game.” Simply incredible stuff.
Immunity Challenge
The Water tribe arrives at the challenge with an injured Alex. He hurt his back on the literal walk into the challenge. He says he doesn’t think he’ll be able to participate in the challenge.
The first immunity challenge is classic Australian Survivor, all physical, no puzzle. The tribes carry a heavy battering ram over a ramp, then using the ram to smash a series of walls. They use the ram as a ladder to climb up and over a tower. The challenge finishes with two players throwing hammers to smash targets. With Alex sitting out for the Water tribe, Kate sits out for Blood.
The Water tribe gets stuck on the second wall, giving Blood a huge time advantage. They don’t let it go to waste, winning the challenge before Water can even throw their first hammer.
Pre-Tribal
Andy wants to target Alex, and his thinking makes sense. Alex seems to be a fit, strong enough guy. Having his ability to even participate in challenges in question definitely hurts the tribe. He seems to be rallying numbers. Shay and Sophie want Chrissy as the backup, but Nina doesn’t like that. Having Sandra as a mom, she comes into the game with more knowledge than maybe any other first time player ever. She gets to work on going after Andy. She doesn’t trust Andy and doesn’t see herself working with him. And that means Andy needs to go.
She starts with Mark, and through their conversation, she gets Mark to suggest Andy without having to do it herself. She quickly pulls numbers together. Maybe Survivor skill is a genetic thing, because she knows exactly what to do and how to do it.
Tribal Council
The players enter the Tribal Council set, and neither Shay nor Chrissy seems to make much of a concerted effort to find the idol. This is one of the huge problems with this idol. It gives a massive advantage to whoever walks into Tribal first. Sure, maybe they need to locate its exact spot, but it couldn’t have been that hard. A symbol on the podium of blood and water. Seems like that would stand out. But anyway, Chrissy manages to beat out Shay for the idol. But there’s more.
Apparently the idol was only good for this first Tribal Council. The Australian Survivor Instagram posted this full shot of the clue.
That’s a massive piece of information to leave the audience in the dark about. That little detail can and does drastically affect how the players view and use the idol. Keeping that from the audience intentionally leaves out crucial insight into how the players think and strategize. But still, after last season’s complete failure on the twist and advantage side of things, I’ll happily take this for episode one.
Onto the actual Tribal business, it’s the usual first Tribal stuff. Everyone’s a little guarded, talking about obvious surface level things. It is what it is. And because of course it does, Nina’s plan comes to fruition sending Andy home first. The odd thing here, though, is Alex’s vote. Even though the group saved him, they seemingly kept him in the dark, as he threw a single vote Briana’s way. As always, it will be interesting to see if this stray vote comes back to bite him.
But overall, what a super strong first episode. It hit all the beats you want out of a premiere. As a bonus, it just a pure delight seeing Sandra, and a pleasant surprise seeing Nina work just like her mother. How can you not root for her the rest of the way? I’m tempted to make her my winner pick, but it still feels too unlikely. Luckily though, this is Australian Survivor, so I don’t have to make my pick until after the third episode.
Episode 2
Back at the Water camp, Briana has some damage control to do after going after Chrissy. And that was an odd choice. Literally everyone had just seen Chrissy pick up an idol. Chrissy, Shay, and Briana had all read the note, meaning they knew the idol was only good for that Tribal Council, meaning Chrissy was going to play it for herself. Briana making digs at Chrissy’s expense just dug herself an unnecessarily deep hole. Briana tries to mend those fences with Chrissy, but Chrissy’s not having it.
Reward Challenge
Two members of each tribe face off, starting in a cage in the water. They race to get out of the cage to grab their tribe flag. They can stop each other from getting out any way they can. They’re playing for fishing gear and comfort items.
The Water tribe wins in a 4-0 route. JLP gives them a choice with the reward. They can keep both parts, or give one part to the Blood tribe, keeping the other. They decide to keep the fishing gear, giving the comfort items to the Blood tribe.
Water
Briana is on the hunt for an idol or clue or something, openly digging through the fishing gear, hoping to find something. It’s a good thought, but HORRIBLE execution. She doesn’t even try to hide it, doing it in front of the entire tribe. I get that you know you’re in danger, but come on. You’ve got to show some restraint.
Blood
Kate is worried that Andy’s elimination leaves her on the outs. And it kind of does. The rest of the tribe is worried Andy’s style of gameplay rubbed off on her, and they know that kind of player is hard to play with. And with her automatic connection to the other tribe gone, there’s one more reason to get rid of her. But on the flip side of that, she has no automatic connection. You can use that to your advantage to draw her in. Like so many things in Survivor, it’s a double edged sword.
Immunity Challenge
The tribes drag three barrels over a series of hurdles. They next collect three more barrels, before maneuvering all six through obstacles, and up a tower. They roll them down the other side to knock down targets.
Blood manages to pull out the win again, sending Water to back to back Tribal Councils.
Pre-Tribal
Briana knows she’s in trouble, and Chrissy is also worried about where she stands. Briana knows going after Chrissy is her best bet, both short and long term. She already put Chrissy’s name out there, might as well keep rolling with it. And Chrissy is the main one beating the drum to vote out Briana. Getting rid of Chrissy might lower the heat on Briana. But Briana is getting stonewalled left and right. Nobody is telling her anything. Which is weird. You need to give the target a name. Make them feel comfortable, so they maybe won’t go off looking for an idol, which is exactly what she and and Shay start doing.
Shay finds something high up in a tree. But she and Bri struggle to get it down. It’s on a hook so it’s very up in the air as to who can get it. The rest of the tribe plays it very cool, not making any effort to take it from her. Khanh takes it and gives it to Shay, to at least make sure Briana doesn’t officially have it. Khanh wants to try to get Shay to flip on Briana, or at least convince her to not play the idol. But it shouldn’t matter. There’s a very clear 9-2 split in the tribe. Five votes on Briana, four on Shay. Done. Idol doesn’t matter. Or even split with Briana and Chrissy. But knowing Australian Survivor, it wouldn’t exactly be shocking to see a 9-2 vote, with Briana still going home.
Tribal Council
Shay does not play her idol, the correct decision, but Briana is still voted out 9-2. Because Mark decided to vote for Chrissy? They didn’t show us Mark’s words at the voting urn, so we’ll have to wait until next episode to see if we get any clarification. The most logical thing I can come up with is that he was guarding against some unknown twist or other idol coming in and blowing everything up. It is Australian Survivor, after all, so you never know.
Shay holding the idol was the easy choice, but you still have to give her credit. A lot of players might get caught up in the “let’s make a big move” part of the game. But let’s say she plays her idol for Briana, what happens? Well, if they split the vote, there’s a decent chance the vote blows back on her. Then let’s say the idol works and Chrissy goes home. Shay and Bri are still in an 8-2 minority. Sure, you can always hope and pray for a swap or something. But more than likely, you’re just delaying the inevitable. And it’s still so early in the game. This is when you can turn on allies with little to no blowback, no worries about being labeled a flipper, or being called disloyal. And it shows a willingness to work with the larger group, so maybe she won’t be marked as an immediate target. Plus now she’s got an idol. Yeah, everyone knows about it, but she still has it.
Episode 3
Khanh starts making some inroads with Mark, eyeing him as a potential long-term partner. Mark is in. From day dot (love me Australian slang), Mark has been actively trying to avoid a leadership-type position. Khanh has put himself at the forefront of the tribe, so he makes sense to Mark as someone to align with.
Over on the Blood tribe, Sandra is just biding her time, trying to lay low and blend in. She sees how the typical Australian game differs from her own, and knows she needs to hide her true game for the time being. But she’s the Queen, she’ll be ready to pounce when the moment is right.
Reward Challenge
One player swims a rope out to a pair of pontoons loaded with sand bags. Once the rope is hooked on, the rest of the tribe pulls the pontoons back to shore to unload the sand bags. The bags are carried through a series of obstacles, where they finish by building a pyramid with the sand bags. Someone climbs the pyramid to light a flame.
They’re playing for a trip to Survivor Store House. You can be sure there will be a twist there. Only a couple players can go, or they’ll get to choose someone from the losing tribe to accompany them.
The Blood tribe wins, and they get to choose one person to go to the store on their behalf. They choose David. He gets to choose one person from the Water tribe to join him, and he picks Khanh.
Survivor Store
David gets the choice to choose three items for his tribe or two for his tribe, allowing Khanh to take one for Water. Any advantages found won’t count towards as an item.
They find an immunity idol, with a twist, of course. They each get an idol. But if they manage to hold the idols, and they come back together, the two halves form a super idol, which is just the worst. I hate super idols Using them involves no strategy whatsoever, and it’s way too powerful. Just look at Yul in Cook Islands! But the shared aspect at least adds a little bit of intrigue to it. But I don’t think I’ll ever support a super idol’s inclusion in the game.
David decides not to give Khanh an item, even after Khanh offers information in exchange for one. But Khanh ends up telling David why Briana went home anyway. David ends up taking the fishing net, a jar of nuts, and some beef jerky.
Water
Upon returning to camp, Khanh tells the tribe he didn’t come back with anything, but you can tell they’re not fully buying it. He knew that was going to be the case, so he shows them his idol, though he hides the broken half so that it looks completely normal. At least at first blush, it appears the tribe takes him at his word.
Blood
David shows the tribe the items he brought back. He says he didn’t find an idol, but he’s not sure if Khanh did. Sandra doesn’t believe his story, and thinks he probably has an idol or advantage.
Immunity Challenge
The tribes race through hurdles in a mud pit, and chop down to large logs. The first log makes a bridge, with the second being used as a ladder to climb a tower. Once everyone is up and over to the other side, the unravel a chain to move a chest of blocks to their tribe mat. They use the blocks to spell two words, while balancing the blocks on a giant seesaw.
The “spell something with blocks on a wobbly platform” has become a staple in immunity challenges, and it typically always delivers. And the different shows keep finding ways to tweak it here and there, and this was a really fun way to put it together.
It’s a tight challenge, with both tribes getting the end at about the same time, but Water whips through it, winning their first immunity challenge.
Pre-Tribal
Sandra’s first Tribal Council. This is the first true test for how she’s doing in the game. Her threat level is obvious; the reasons to vote her out first are countless. But, it’s far from a done deal. She’s had time to bond with her tribe, and to let other cracks or rivalries form. Other players may have outed themselves as threats. There’s always room to work, and for someone like Sandra, she doesn’t need much room to pull something off.
David petitions the tribe to target Sandra. They plan a split with Kate as the backup option. Of course, Sandra’s no dummy. She knows she has work to do. Ben comes to Sandra, telling her David was putting her name out there. So they start working on a counter plan to go after David. I’m all for seeing Sandra make a deep run in the game, but when someone – in this case, Ben – says, “I’m gonna go with my gut and trust Sandra” I’m not sure you can trust that guy to do well in Survivor. If you know about Sandra, what makes you think you can trust her? But I suppose that speaks to just how good she is at this game.
Tribal Council
Aside from the end result, Tribal could not have gone better for Sandra. Dave puts both of his feet fully in his mouth, inexplicably accusing Sam of forming a plan against him. This not only gets Sam riled up, but really turns the entire tribe against him. His idol couldn’t have come at a better time, as he negated 8 votes against him. Kate, the original Plan B, is the collateral damage, voted out 3-1. Sam said in the voting confessional she hoped it was David, but threw her vote to Sandra as a safety play in case both David and Kate had an idol.
David is in a real tough spot now. He went from a position of relative safety to one where he’s clearly on the outs. And he played the idol he kept secret. Keeping an idol to yourself isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But it’s one thing to not volunteer the information. It’s another to outright lie about it. And even another to make somewhat theatrical deal of the whole thing. That being said, it is still Survivor, and you’re never fully out until your torch is snuffed. But he’s got a tough hill to climb.
Wrap-Up
What an opening week! Australian Survivor has gifted fans another dynamite cast, fun challenges, and the Blood V Water theme is factoring into the game in interesting ways without overpowering the narrative.
I’d like to think this first week shows production learned from their mistakes from last season. But whatever their reasoning, it was beyond great to see such little emphasis on advantages and twists early in the game. It is a little idol-heavy through three episodes, so we’ll see where that goes. And with the introduction of a super idol in only episode three, it does make me a little nervous for what’s to come. But that’s a future problem (maybe). For now, I’m just going to enjoy the fact production is (mostly) putting the game solely in the players’ hands.
Oh, and Sandra survived! And Nina lived up to the hype, she’s clearly her mother’s daughter. And of course the Aussies are acquitting themselves just fine, as you would expect.
Sam and Mark have clearly learned from their first time out, and by all accounts are better players. Khanh is feisty and devilish, and is going to be a riot for however long he lasts. All this, plus the fact that several players still haven’t gotten much air time yet, makes making a winner pick that much harder.
I really want to pick either Sandra or Nina. But I just don’t can’t see it happening. If others are already talking about Sandra as the massive threat she is, I just think there’s too much work to do, especially in a 47 day game. And I fear Nina could be collateral damage just for being Sandra’s daughter. But you couldn’t ask for a better story than Nina winning. I’ll be rooting for her, but I can’t officially predict her to win.
So screw it, I’m gonna go with Mark. Returning players have such an advantage, but nobody seems to be focusing on Mark as a returning player. You also don’t see the stereotypical alpha male win Australian Survivor. Yes, David won All-Stars, but that’s one of the greatest Survivor games we’ve ever seen. Dave’s a legend; that’s an outlier. So sure, let’s say Mark, why not.
See ya next week!
P.S. I still might get some podcast coverage out for this season. It’s in the works, and will likely be sporadic at best. But hopefully I’ll be able to get at least a few episodes out during the season.
