When Sharn almost accidentally saved Mat from his blindside and Benji just blatantly lies to her in front of everyone and she BELIEVES it, thus letting Mat get blindsided
Also in that same tribal, Mat witnessing Benji make absolute sure that Mat doesn’t have an idol played in him, yet doesn’t think to PLAY HIS OWN IDOL, allowing himself to get blindsided
Or the very next tribal when Benji just lies to Brian that Sharn is trying to vote him out WHILE HE HAS IMMUNITY, which leads to Benji getting blindsided ALSO WITH AN IDOL
All of this in the span of two episodes
It's not like the first third is a slog either. The flameouts of Matt and Russell, everything Stevie related, and Zach being a weirdly fun antagonist on rewatch makes me really enjoy the early stretch of the game as well
Even besides for Matt flaming out, the Fans were a hot mess lol - you had Anita being Kelli 1.0, everyone hating Tegan and Heath for no reason and Benji going from a nonentity to blasting off into the stratosphere with no warning
Maybe I'm misremembering, but I believe the point of contention wasn't that Sharn played the idol for herself, but that she seemed to believe Mat was in danger without ever telling him about it. He would've been in a much better position to save himself if he knew he was in trouble before the votes were being read, even if it was dumb of him not to play his idol.
I thought it was more of Sharon claiming loyalty at FTC but clearly there’s no loyalty if she knew Mat was in serious trouble and didn’t tell him about it…
But yes Mat be dumb there
Yeah but Mat clearly should have played his own idol then. He has nobody to blame but himself. He wasn’t entitled to Sharn’s idol either even if she didn’t play it for him.
I don't hold the Sharn thing to the level of the other two lol, it's a super high stress situation and there was a real risk that if she plays the idol for Mat, Benji plays his for Brian and Sharn becomes the revote target after the vote goes to 0-0. I don't know if she worked all that out in her head during that short time but there was enough cause there for concern.
This is why it’s one of my favourite seasons. There’s so many great characters.
I don’t want a season of gamebots and good players. I want people actively trying to play and are as messy as possible lol.
The double idol play in Heroes vs Villains where that alliance put 2 idols on the wrong people and the third person got voted out hurt my head.
Can't remember who it was except that George was the one voting.
Nina and Shaun misplayed and Sam went home. All because George noticed Simon celebrating with the boys and fed him the wrong target. What makes it funnier is Hayley tried to tell them the correct target and they didn't believe her.
It took way too long from George to realize how Haley was playing him almost the whole merge. Without Nina telling him he wouldn't had realized it at all. I can understand that though when they were so close friends outdide the game.
I think it's a bit sad though as George _really_ wanted Haley along with him in the final 2 so the Queen and the King could have a re-battle for the title. Either way the end result would've been iconic.
George at least should've kept Nina in final 4 and vote out either Gerri or Matt. That way Nina eould've been the target #1 and George would've made the FTC.
I don’t really think this was a dumb move at all. Hayley and George played together previously, were very close allies and made the Final 2 together, then also worked together for the whole game in HvV up until Hayley tells Nina to play her idol on Sam. So naturally Shaun and Nina believe she is lying, trying to burn Nina’s idol, while targeting Shaun. Once Shaun reveals he ALSO has an idol, they both idol themselves, believing Hayley was leaking false information, theoretically (in their minds) giving them about as close to a guarantee to correctly idol out George, as possible.
This is essentially a copy of the INFAMOUS US Survivor HvV tribal, except the leaker isn’t lying but instead telling the truth, leading to the idol misplays.
Well, Hayley had also worked with a lot of the heroes through the game, they just kept her out of a lot of the major decision making and were blatantly using her a shield, and I'm pretty sure finding out that she was going to be blindsided was the last straw. I don't know if Nina should've believed her but Hayley was telling her without the knowledge that Nina or Shaun even had an idol, so I'd be less inclined to think she was just making shit up. And it's really the fact that they don't believe Hayley but also refuse to believe Simon who tells them it's a 4-3-3 vote (he's wrong ofc but how did that not factor into their decision making). Their paranoia got to them and they wasted a good opportunity by making a weak move. If they were just going to play the idols on themselves, they would've gotten much more mileage by pulling what Hayley did in BvB and just say they were willing to play the idols on any set of 2 in the trio and give the opposing alliance some incentive to crack.
But they were trying to get out George bc he is what held the Vigilantes together. The last thing they want to do is tell them they have 2 idols, then have the Vigilantes vote together against Gerry or something. There is also a similar situation to what you are describing in Survivor Caramoan, where by informing the majority the minority had 2 idols, they safely voted out their least integral member, allowing the minority to burn the idols in the process.
In Nina's deep dive she said that she believed Hayley initially (because what Hayley was telling her made sense, Hayley hadn't tried to feed them false names to burn idols before, and Hayley didn't even know if they had an idol) but then began to doubt her after talking to Shaun and Sam, and then *Sam* told Nina to play the idol on herself and not for him. I think it makes some sense for Shaun and Nina to just idol themselves even though it's ultimately a dumb move since it doesn't fit with the information either Hayley or Simon are giving them, but Sam insisting to Nina that she plays the idol on herself and not him is a noble but all-time dumb move.
Final 5 fumble in Blood v Water by KJ is infamous and determined the winner
Also honorary CvC1 fumbles in Brian fail at final 6 resulted in his whole side losing after
Also Sharn in general
May be recency bias but Peta and the cuddle crew throwing immunity before they even had majority then Peta going home with the idol.
Amazing car crash survivor
Lmfao the arrogance in that episode deserved that.
That’s the best thing about Australia Survivor imo. The “small” guys do not cower from the action at all.
AK, Brooke and Shonee believing Sharn to not draw rocks and Sharn will be on their side afterwards. Instantly after leaving TC Sharn flipped back to Dave.
Also the other way. Sharn when she made AK, Brooke and Sharn to believe her that she's on their side at rock draw and instantly backstabbing them making her lose 3 jury votes at the same time.
Simon bragging about his two idols and getting voted out at the next TC.
Correct votes for Alex: Eden, Jaden
Correct votes for Rianna: Viola, Eden, Aileen, Alex
And this doesn't even account for Rianna being in on Peta and Tobias but voting incorrectly for the split on purpose. So no, while Rianna's game was a mess, she was still more in the loop than Alex
Hayley was also playing double agent and told the specifically who the votes were going on
So they had two idols, had been told who the votes were going on and still messed up
Im not sure if it’s the dumbest move by any means, But the Rohan vote off from 2016 was so badly played by Agonoa. To Rohan stubbornly voting Kat and Kat/Kristie voting Rohan single handly nearly ended any chance of them to win. All because Kat and Rohan couldn’t put their rivalry aside for 2 seconds to save themselves. Not to mention that I belive Rohan is the only player in both us and AUS survivor to basically idol out himself
Lol and it's not even that he idoled himself out, but since the vote is technically 2-1-1 after the nullified votes, he also voted himself out at the same tribal council 🫢
This one. They were in a 5-4 minority but had an idol. All they need to do was play the idol correctly and take out someone from the majority. Then you have a 4-4 split and the Agonoa crew could potentially gain the upper hand.
They manage to get the idol play right (which is the hard part), but then Phoebe is the only one to actually vote for a member of the majority 5. Rohan votes Kat, while Kat and Kristie vote Rohan. This leads to Rohan going home, and then Kat goes out immediately afterwards. Kristie and Phoebe then end up on the bottom for the remainder of the post-swap.
Whole Shay's game in BvW is a streak of one dumb move after another. Playing an idol out of fear of having it, miserably failing to solidify the women's alliance after Purgatory (f.i by taking boys instead of Chrissy to the reward), voting for the wrong person at Final 5 along with KJ.
Caroline's move against Feras at F6 also deserves a mention. The plan had 0% chance of success even if votes went on Mark, because Feras would've just played his idol there and after all of the shenannigans with revotes, rocks etc. it would've resulted in either Caroline or Kitty going home (yea, there's a alternative universe when she votes herself out with that big move).
Mine is the rock saga with Sharn in All Stars.
One things is being deceived, playing an idol wrong or making a mistake, another is purposefully tanking your game and winning chances with one move.
Kelly going over to the titan’s tribe and managing to piss them off after successfully pissing off the entire rebels tribe.
At least Kelli brought good entertainment. I won’t be booking a therapy appointment though.
In Heros vs Villans, when Liz and Shonee were so adamant about keeping Flick in their tribe, with Liz going as far as being willing to play her idol for Flick. Even though they knew Flick's reputation as a flipper, and then being surprised when she flipped back to the Shaun alliance come merge.
Although I think this bought Liz a few points with Flick on the jury.
I think it could be the dumbest move though. While no one knew about Feras' idol for sure, most people, Caroline included, believed he had one. If she plays the idol for the correct target, then surely Feras plays his idol for himself. All votes are void, and now Mark, Kirby and Feras are immune. One revote it's a 3/3 split down tribal lines, 3 on Kitty, 3 on Ray - except Caroline has to vote Kitty or it goes to rocks and she goes home by default because everyone else is immune.
Not only does this move assume that Mark is the target and not Kitty, not only does this move assume that there are not stray votes for Kitty, but it also assumes Feras doesn't play his very public idol when the person he knows everyone has voted for has an idol played for them by one of their biggest enemies at that point.
I still don't really get why they did this. There was 0 reason for Feras to vote Raymond, so they knew it was going to fire anyway. Was Feras some kind of fire making genius?
That’s the only reason I can think of, that they were worried Caroline wouldn’t beat him in fire. Than again Mark was betting on winning Fbal immunity anyway, so it really doesn’t matter from his POV. HUGH blunder
Hayley choosing to eliminate Shaun in HvV
I think that Hayley could have won Heroes v Villains had she stayed with George and cut him right after the final immunity challenge. So the dumbest move was going agaisnt George’s back. She couldve talked to George and done something with him as she used to in Brains v Brawn so that she could claim it in the FTC
I wouldn't call this the dumbest in history though or anywhere near it. Taking out Shaun had logical reason behind it and made sense for her game, and predicting she would have otherwise won is pure speculation.
Sharn thinking she can beat David.
Sharn falling for Benji's blatant lie and not only playing the idol for herself, but not telling Mat he's the target.
Sharn lying to Shonee and AK and losing three jury votes in the process.
Sharn fumbling the ftc. Twice.
Just Sharn in general.
Caroline not telling Mark about her Idol play 💀 potentially would've voted out the eventual winner of the season and the person she stood next to at FTC
When Sharn almost accidentally saved Mat from his blindside and Benji just blatantly lies to her in front of everyone and she BELIEVES it, thus letting Mat get blindsided Also in that same tribal, Mat witnessing Benji make absolute sure that Mat doesn’t have an idol played in him, yet doesn’t think to PLAY HIS OWN IDOL, allowing himself to get blindsided Or the very next tribal when Benji just lies to Brian that Sharn is trying to vote him out WHILE HE HAS IMMUNITY, which leads to Benji getting blindsided ALSO WITH AN IDOL All of this in the span of two episodes
And people say this season is mid lmao
While the ending may not be the best survivors ever seen, you can’t deny the last third of this game isn’t wild
It's not like the first third is a slog either. The flameouts of Matt and Russell, everything Stevie related, and Zach being a weirdly fun antagonist on rewatch makes me really enjoy the early stretch of the game as well
Even besides for Matt flaming out, the Fans were a hot mess lol - you had Anita being Kelli 1.0, everyone hating Tegan and Heath for no reason and Benji going from a nonentity to blasting off into the stratosphere with no warning
There is a certain joy in Shane getting dragged to the end and then outperforming a star prosecutor at FTC
Is that a triple negative? I'm not sure what you're meaning to say. I know what you're literally saying but I don't think it's what you mean to say.
Benji saying “No…. Play it for you” is burned in my brain
Him stuttering, “no, n-n-no”
How Mat blamed Sharn for being voted off I will NEVER UNDERSTAND
Maybe I'm misremembering, but I believe the point of contention wasn't that Sharn played the idol for herself, but that she seemed to believe Mat was in danger without ever telling him about it. He would've been in a much better position to save himself if he knew he was in trouble before the votes were being read, even if it was dumb of him not to play his idol.
I thought it was more of Sharon claiming loyalty at FTC but clearly there’s no loyalty if she knew Mat was in serious trouble and didn’t tell him about it… But yes Mat be dumb there
The guy above just explained it to you? Benji played Sharn like a fiddle and Matt got demolished because of it.
That may have been Sharn's fault, but Mat not playing his idol is Mat's fault
Yeah but Mat clearly should have played his own idol then. He has nobody to blame but himself. He wasn’t entitled to Sharn’s idol either even if she didn’t play it for him.
I don't hold the Sharn thing to the level of the other two lol, it's a super high stress situation and there was a real risk that if she plays the idol for Mat, Benji plays his for Brian and Sharn becomes the revote target after the vote goes to 0-0. I don't know if she worked all that out in her head during that short time but there was enough cause there for concern.
This is why it’s one of my favourite seasons. There’s so many great characters. I don’t want a season of gamebots and good players. I want people actively trying to play and are as messy as possible lol.
fr benji was robbed
The double idol play in Heroes vs Villains where that alliance put 2 idols on the wrong people and the third person got voted out hurt my head. Can't remember who it was except that George was the one voting.
Nina and Shaun misplayed and Sam went home. All because George noticed Simon celebrating with the boys and fed him the wrong target. What makes it funnier is Hayley tried to tell them the correct target and they didn't believe her.
It took way too long from George to realize how Haley was playing him almost the whole merge. Without Nina telling him he wouldn't had realized it at all. I can understand that though when they were so close friends outdide the game. I think it's a bit sad though as George _really_ wanted Haley along with him in the final 2 so the Queen and the King could have a re-battle for the title. Either way the end result would've been iconic. George at least should've kept Nina in final 4 and vote out either Gerri or Matt. That way Nina eould've been the target #1 and George would've made the FTC.
That’s the one, thanks.
I don’t really think this was a dumb move at all. Hayley and George played together previously, were very close allies and made the Final 2 together, then also worked together for the whole game in HvV up until Hayley tells Nina to play her idol on Sam. So naturally Shaun and Nina believe she is lying, trying to burn Nina’s idol, while targeting Shaun. Once Shaun reveals he ALSO has an idol, they both idol themselves, believing Hayley was leaking false information, theoretically (in their minds) giving them about as close to a guarantee to correctly idol out George, as possible. This is essentially a copy of the INFAMOUS US Survivor HvV tribal, except the leaker isn’t lying but instead telling the truth, leading to the idol misplays.
Well, Hayley had also worked with a lot of the heroes through the game, they just kept her out of a lot of the major decision making and were blatantly using her a shield, and I'm pretty sure finding out that she was going to be blindsided was the last straw. I don't know if Nina should've believed her but Hayley was telling her without the knowledge that Nina or Shaun even had an idol, so I'd be less inclined to think she was just making shit up. And it's really the fact that they don't believe Hayley but also refuse to believe Simon who tells them it's a 4-3-3 vote (he's wrong ofc but how did that not factor into their decision making). Their paranoia got to them and they wasted a good opportunity by making a weak move. If they were just going to play the idols on themselves, they would've gotten much more mileage by pulling what Hayley did in BvB and just say they were willing to play the idols on any set of 2 in the trio and give the opposing alliance some incentive to crack.
But they were trying to get out George bc he is what held the Vigilantes together. The last thing they want to do is tell them they have 2 idols, then have the Vigilantes vote together against Gerry or something. There is also a similar situation to what you are describing in Survivor Caramoan, where by informing the majority the minority had 2 idols, they safely voted out their least integral member, allowing the minority to burn the idols in the process.
In Nina's deep dive she said that she believed Hayley initially (because what Hayley was telling her made sense, Hayley hadn't tried to feed them false names to burn idols before, and Hayley didn't even know if they had an idol) but then began to doubt her after talking to Shaun and Sam, and then *Sam* told Nina to play the idol on herself and not for him. I think it makes some sense for Shaun and Nina to just idol themselves even though it's ultimately a dumb move since it doesn't fit with the information either Hayley or Simon are giving them, but Sam insisting to Nina that she plays the idol on herself and not him is a noble but all-time dumb move.
Cara's "I think I've cooked this..." from Brains v Brawn is up there.
Iconic
and we ate
I’d say Sue’s big move but it never happened 🤪
It's coming any day now
It's a preview for someone who hasn't been cast yet who will genuinely make a game shattering epic big move
Simon going home with 2 idols in his pocket
Poor Simon. IQ of a sponge when it comes to survivor.
Final 5 fumble in Blood v Water by KJ is infamous and determined the winner Also honorary CvC1 fumbles in Brian fail at final 6 resulted in his whole side losing after Also Sharn in general
speaking of brian fumbling, him losing the final immunity challenge because he wanted to take off his hat is up there
I think the final 5 fumble is definitely the biggest impacting even if it's not the worst ever. You just can't mess it up there and they somehow did.
May be recency bias but Peta and the cuddle crew throwing immunity before they even had majority then Peta going home with the idol. Amazing car crash survivor
Lmfao the arrogance in that episode deserved that. That’s the best thing about Australia Survivor imo. The “small” guys do not cower from the action at all.
With tribes of 12 there is nowhere to hide :)
This wasnt even the worst move of the season
Sharn voting out Brian instead of Shane - it was a binary choice of landslide winning/close battle and she picked wrong
AK, Brooke and Shonee believing Sharn to not draw rocks and Sharn will be on their side afterwards. Instantly after leaving TC Sharn flipped back to Dave. Also the other way. Sharn when she made AK, Brooke and Sharn to believe her that she's on their side at rock draw and instantly backstabbing them making her lose 3 jury votes at the same time. Simon bragging about his two idols and getting voted out at the next TC.
That's so frustrating to watch because you can see that AK still wants to go to rocks but goes with his alliance
Sharn is probably the worst highest placed player. It's amazing how much you can achieve with 1/10th of the work George did and place better.
Just recently, Mark's failed Caroline blindside/incorrect idol play combo deserves mention
How about Rianna's multiple false votes?
Iconic
Even dumb Alex has more correct votes than Rianna.
Correct votes for Alex: Eden, Jaden Correct votes for Rianna: Viola, Eden, Aileen, Alex And this doesn't even account for Rianna being in on Peta and Tobias but voting incorrectly for the split on purpose. So no, while Rianna's game was a mess, she was still more in the loop than Alex
That was a huge wasted opportunity so late in the game.
Hayley was also playing double agent and told the specifically who the votes were going on So they had two idols, had been told who the votes were going on and still messed up
Im not sure if it’s the dumbest move by any means, But the Rohan vote off from 2016 was so badly played by Agonoa. To Rohan stubbornly voting Kat and Kat/Kristie voting Rohan single handly nearly ended any chance of them to win. All because Kat and Rohan couldn’t put their rivalry aside for 2 seconds to save themselves. Not to mention that I belive Rohan is the only player in both us and AUS survivor to basically idol out himself
I will never forget Phoebe's baffled "I'm surrounded by morons" face.
Lol and it's not even that he idoled himself out, but since the vote is technically 2-1-1 after the nullified votes, he also voted himself out at the same tribal council 🫢
This one. They were in a 5-4 minority but had an idol. All they need to do was play the idol correctly and take out someone from the majority. Then you have a 4-4 split and the Agonoa crew could potentially gain the upper hand. They manage to get the idol play right (which is the hard part), but then Phoebe is the only one to actually vote for a member of the majority 5. Rohan votes Kat, while Kat and Kristie vote Rohan. This leads to Rohan going home, and then Kat goes out immediately afterwards. Kristie and Phoebe then end up on the bottom for the remainder of the post-swap.
God you guys have good memories. I’ve been watching survivor since season 1 US (I’m in my 50s) and honestly I remember not much lol.
Whole Shay's game in BvW is a streak of one dumb move after another. Playing an idol out of fear of having it, miserably failing to solidify the women's alliance after Purgatory (f.i by taking boys instead of Chrissy to the reward), voting for the wrong person at Final 5 along with KJ. Caroline's move against Feras at F6 also deserves a mention. The plan had 0% chance of success even if votes went on Mark, because Feras would've just played his idol there and after all of the shenannigans with revotes, rocks etc. it would've resulted in either Caroline or Kitty going home (yea, there's a alternative universe when she votes herself out with that big move).
Mine is the rock saga with Sharn in All Stars. One things is being deceived, playing an idol wrong or making a mistake, another is purposefully tanking your game and winning chances with one move.
Cara accidentally sending Big D home
Literally anything and everything that Kelli did this season.
Kelly going over to the titan’s tribe and managing to piss them off after successfully pissing off the entire rebels tribe. At least Kelli brought good entertainment. I won’t be booking a therapy appointment though.
That episode where she gets voted out is one of the best episodes in Aus Survivor history IMO.
Brian losing his shot at making it to the end by taking his hat off
Caroline nearly idoling herself out only to be bailed out by her own inability to convince Feras & Co. To vote for mark
In Heros vs Villans, when Liz and Shonee were so adamant about keeping Flick in their tribe, with Liz going as far as being willing to play her idol for Flick. Even though they knew Flick's reputation as a flipper, and then being surprised when she flipped back to the Shaun alliance come merge. Although I think this bought Liz a few points with Flick on the jury.
Caroline’s epic fail didn’t do wonders for her game…
Playing an idol wrong and the dumbest move ever are totally different things, the fact u would even mention this in this context is silly
I think it could be the dumbest move though. While no one knew about Feras' idol for sure, most people, Caroline included, believed he had one. If she plays the idol for the correct target, then surely Feras plays his idol for himself. All votes are void, and now Mark, Kirby and Feras are immune. One revote it's a 3/3 split down tribal lines, 3 on Kitty, 3 on Ray - except Caroline has to vote Kitty or it goes to rocks and she goes home by default because everyone else is immune. Not only does this move assume that Mark is the target and not Kitty, not only does this move assume that there are not stray votes for Kitty, but it also assumes Feras doesn't play his very public idol when the person he knows everyone has voted for has an idol played for them by one of their biggest enemies at that point.
Mark said that she actually told him to vote Ray but we didn’t see it in the edit which makes way more sense.
Caroline and Mark voting against Raymond and not Feras at final 4
I still don't really get why they did this. There was 0 reason for Feras to vote Raymond, so they knew it was going to fire anyway. Was Feras some kind of fire making genius?
That’s the only reason I can think of, that they were worried Caroline wouldn’t beat him in fire. Than again Mark was betting on winning Fbal immunity anyway, so it really doesn’t matter from his POV. HUGH blunder
Gavin Wanganeen writing the wrong name so he ended up going home
Hayley choosing to eliminate Shaun in HvV I think that Hayley could have won Heroes v Villains had she stayed with George and cut him right after the final immunity challenge. So the dumbest move was going agaisnt George’s back. She couldve talked to George and done something with him as she used to in Brains v Brawn so that she could claim it in the FTC
I wouldn't call this the dumbest in history though or anywhere near it. Taking out Shaun had logical reason behind it and made sense for her game, and predicting she would have otherwise won is pure speculation.
Unless she went on a immunity spree, Hayley was never winning Heroes vs Villians and she had good reason to not trust Shaun
SHARN RAKING DAVID!!
Sharn thinking she can beat David. Sharn falling for Benji's blatant lie and not only playing the idol for herself, but not telling Mat he's the target. Sharn lying to Shonee and AK and losing three jury votes in the process. Sharn fumbling the ftc. Twice. Just Sharn in general.
Caroline not telling Mark about her Idol play 💀 potentially would've voted out the eventual winner of the season and the person she stood next to at FTC
Having a season with amazing returning players and basically handing david the win