Interestingly in the Sharon Tharp interview, Coach says he *did* know about Devens and Christian being close.

So if that’s not a Coach hallucination/retcon (which is debatable) I think what it means is that I was overthinking and over-estimating their gameplay.

This is half-baked theory at best, I’d have to rewatch the season to see how much those four are openly connected.

If the honour crew do miss that tight connection, they may mistake Emily and/or Aubry as part of the bottom instead of being in a tight alliance.

So then Rick and Christian could be as being disconnected floaters, trying to play the majority as well as the bottom, instead of being a rival alliance

I had the same thought. It made a smidge more sense when the bottom was Tiff and Dee, but now it’s just odd

It makes me wonder how much the “honour and integrity” group realizes how tight the “middle people” are, when you see that woman demand Christian vote for Rick which viewers know won’t happen

This was a great episode. I loved your energetic recap of the season highlights in particular!

(Just fyi if you go to the rhap YouTube channel this ep doesn’t show up in the video list for me, though the 23 recap and all the exit interviews do. )

Using the fan vote as cover, Jeff doubled down on gimmicks with 50 and has been rewarded with a spike in ratings. If anything I expect the deterioration in game design to accelerate in 51 and beyond

Anyone who wants to see fun gameplay doesn’t have to wait for Jeff, *we* can just watch #survivorau

Because the jury didn’t prompt him to say it.

Caleb played a good game and it was highly entertaining game to watch… but the final tribal was absolutely not his forte. (To phrase it nicely)

#survivorau

Jokes aside, it’s been a riveting season of #survivorau

Unpredictable in a way that doesn’t feel like a cheap editing trick, a mix of strategy and good gameplay mixed with chaos and truly baffling decisions

Kudos to the cast and production for putting this all together it’s been an amazing ride

My favourite episode of #survivorau this season was that one where the player threw aside strategy and blindsided their closest ally.

This gives me hope in the future for the first time in what feels like forever. I didn’t expect any of the current crop of fascists to give up power peacefully.

I don’t think this will happen, and I’m not sure it would work with the jury because it’s so opposed to the theme of this season.

What if Loz makes the final 2 and uses the argument, “I didn’t make any ‘big moves’ but all the big moves made by others were stupid and self-destructive.”

Point to the long chain of people voting out their closest ally and then get quickly booted. I played smart instead of doing that!
#survivorau

It feels entirely reasonable that the players would respond to unpredictability by playing conservatively.

Why take a big risk a tribal today when we have so many trinkets and tribe splitting — which could leave you randomly vulnerable tomorrow?

Sigh.

You commented a bit on how live tribals aren’t a thing…

Maybe if Jeff spent less time meddling with the game via unpredictable twists he’d get his wish and see an actual live tribal from time to time. We got at least three in Australia this season alone!

This was a great episode, much like the previous two you’ve done in the off-season. The three of you make for a good team.

You’ve mentioned a few times that you get negative feedback about your tangents, but consider this the opposite: it’s a big part of what I enjoy in the pods. Cheers

It all depends on how entertaining the episodes are next week.

Right now I have a concern that we’ve lost all the people who are interesting to watch from a strategic and challenges perspective.

The rest here have chaos and social game, but can production build three good eps from that? Hope so!

And how was it even considered a “big move” when she just did the exact thing we’d expect the passengers to do

If she’d vote with the passengers (which does make sense) all that mattered was her vote. All her ritual humiliation of Keeley demonstrated was that Sally doesn’t understand the game

Maybe a double-jury-elim episode is coming next week?

His little speech didn’t do Brooke any favours, reinforcing to Keeley to stick with her flip.

But as a viewer it sure was cathartic to hear this said out loud because the underdogs thing has felt off for quite a while now.

Keeley’s stone-faced “yep” whisper to Brooke was just so perfect here

Producers must have been overjoyed that they could milk her confused chaos here, otherwise it could have been a very boring episode.

Oh that was pretty good, maybe should give SNLUK a chance.

They missed an opportunity to make a “it can’t be Sebastian it’s too obvious” joke though.

Agreed!

Not just because the outcome a surprise but because the actual vote was foreshadowed and explained — so the surprise doesn’t feel bad as a viewer. Superb job.

So many good quotes this episode, you nailed a bunch of them.

a woman is talking to another woman in a dark room with candles and the words `` it is known '' . Alt: a woman is talking to another woman in a dark room with candles and the words `` it is known '' .

It’s not a hot take for people who already knew

I can already hear you saying “some viewers say that all three got swap screwed, but was there more to it than that?”

And you’ve convinced me on similar arguments in the past… but it’ll be an uphill battle selling it on this freakshow of an episode.

Simon: [draws an extremely clear map]

Jackson: yes but where does it go?

Simon: …

It was a wild edit because the episode intro was so over the top postive and then the moment you reference here that was savage mockery.

A roller-coaster ride which I suppose is fitting for Simon’s game. #SurvivorAU

My stomach dropped when I saw the Keeley vote come up though.

Maybe *not* switching it up was her way of switching it up? Let’s try something new!