The word ‘blindside’ is thrown around a lot in this game. And much like the Oscar winning film of 2009, Simon was brilliantly blindsided by his Brawn Tribe after they deliberately threw an Immunity Challenge, sending him packing with not one, but two Immunity Idols in his pocket. A first for Australian Survivor.
Dani’s plan had always been to get close to the alpha, Simon, and then blindside him when the timing was right. With the sense of merge in the air, Dani knew she had to take Simon out before he became an unstoppable force.
At the Reward, both Tribes were tasked to row out to collect rings from two pontoons. When a tribe had all their rings, they had to make their way back to shore and attempt to land them on a series of paddles. After faltering early, Brains took the lead with Emmett landing ring after ring on the hooks and winning Reward. Treated to seven minutes of sweet, sweet heaven at the Survivor Candy Store, the Brains gorged on the candy buffet reward, and Cara managed to find herself an extra sweet advantage.
To win Immunity, Tribes had to stand on a beam, whilst pulling a rope to suspend the same disk. One at a time, each member of the Tribe worked their way down to balance a ball on the disk. Dani led the charge in creating blunder after blunder (with Simon none the wiser), whilst Brains slowly and carefully placed six balls down on their disk to secure Immunity.
Before the Tribes returned camp, Cara interrupted and cashed in her advantage found at the Survivor Candy Store. She was now attending the Brawns’ Tribal Council, with George in tow. Everyone was shook!
Simon seized the opportunity to finally take out Flick who had flipped on him in the past, and convinced the Tribe that she would be a threat if she made merge and teamed up with Gerald and Kez. Knowing she was in Simon’s firing line, Flick ran off and pretended to look for an Idol. Simon joined to keep an eye on her, which left the rest of the Tribe to plot his demise.
With the stage set at Tribal Council, Baden tried to sneakily tell Cara and George the vote. Simon overheard and called out Baden for talking to George and Cara. Had Baden blown the secret mission and forced Simon to play one of his two Idols?
Jonathan asked if anyone had an Immunity Idol, but none were presented. Simon’s name was drawn out of the urn over and over and in disbelief, was forced to exit the game.
