Australian Survivor: Brains v. Brawn: Who has left the island?

Playing her way through to the final four, Zara’s plan to take home the win was shaken after Myles scored his first immunity idol.

With their allegiance scattered, the remaining contestants could not decide on a unanimous voting plan; however, after flipping his vote at the last minute, Myles voted to take AJ, Kaelan, and himself through to the final three.

After saving herself from elimination, thanks to a surprise second immunity challenge, Kate’s position as a strategic game player quickly made her a major target, with Zara dubbing her her main competition.

With another immunity idol in the mix, Myles voted to save himself, and while the votes may have been scattered across the remaining contestants, Kate’s two votes were enough to make her the latest member of the Survivor jury.

Heading towards the finale, the remainder of the Graduates alliance had their targets scattered, with Kaelan and Morgan being the most prominent threats.

Despite Kate attempting to pull off a classic blindside, Kaelan’s record-breaking sixth immunity win meant that the tribe quickly had to change tactics, with Morgan receiving four of the six votes.

With the tribal numbers dwindling, Kristin’s fellow contestant Zara took the reins of her Graduates alliance in an attempt to vote her out of the tribe.

After a tense strategy chat during tribal council, it was unclear whether Zara would flip on her alliances, however, she stuck with her original plan – making Kristin the latest member of the Survivor jury.

While her social power may have carried her through the game’s early stages, Logan soon found herself in the firing line after her alliance with Kaelen took a turn after he received individual immunity.

“I could see the way Kaelen wasn’t approaching me as much. He’s got an obvious tell in that we where he’s generally very avoidant of conversations he doesn’t want to have,” she told Ten.

With new alliances forming, Logan sadly didn’t have the people power needed to save her from the tribal vote.

Despite thinking her alliance was rock solid, Karin discovered that she would soon be going home just minutes before they headed into tribal council.

“That was 30 seconds before we went to tribal. I had that much preparation of internal bulls*** before we went,” she told Ten, adding that she quickly flipped her gameplay strategy.

Sadly, her tactic fell short to Kristin and Logan’s plan, making Karin the latest Survivor contestant to join the jury.

Ahead of his elimination, Paulie had already caught wind that his name may soon be on the chopping block.

“I really felt a sense of peace waiting for those votes to come out. I felt like I could breathe again… I didn’t have to fight anymore with these nine people who really just weren’t on my side.”

While the tribe may have spoken, his time in the game was far from over, with Paulie being announced as the second member of the Survivor jury.

Although he may have ruled the game with his alliance in the early stages, Jesse’s lack of Survivor gameplay knowledge quickly led him into a false sense of security.

“I’m not a superfan, and I didn’t really fully understand what I was getting myself into in a way,” he told Ten, adding, “I was just winging it day by day, and I think that made it harder in general.”

While he may have made some new friends on the island, the ruthless nature of the game quickly came into play, with the tribe voting to send Jesse home.

Despite the strength of the Coven, Laura’s game began to unravel following the tribal merge, with the move seeing the OG Brains now in the minority.

While her tribe may have voted for her to leave the island, Laura was granted a lifeline in a classic Survivor twist when she was announced as the first member of this year’s jury.

“I’m so proud to be Queen of the Jury. It provides a whole different type of power, watching tribal council from a third-party perspective,” she told Ten.

As Team Brawn’s resident challenge beast, Paul ‘PD’ Dee’s game was soon in jeopardy after he ruptured his bicep during a wrestling challenge.

While he may have been sidelined for the physical tasks, PD’s lack of activity quickly made him a target, with PD telling Ten, “In the game of Survivor, if you give anyone a reason to target you, they’ll take any opportunity they can get and an injury can be that.”

Sadly for PD, his tribe took advantage of his injury and voted to send him home.

After making her big move against Ursula early in the game, Noonan quickly became a target among the Brawn tribe.

With tensions starting to bubble in camp, Paulie suddenly cut his alliance with Noonan ahead of the tribal council – a move he believed could backfire.

Playing his immunity idol following their vote, Paulie managed to save his place in the competition for another week, with Noonan being eliminated.

Despite making allegiances in Team Brains, following a sudden tribe swap, Max quickly found his name on the chopping block.

With his social game and strategy showing their strength during Ally’s elimination, his plans to rally his ‘Bomb Squad’ were quickly foiled after rival Myles discovered an idol.

Although Max also had an immunity trick up his sleeve, his decision not to play his hand saw him voted from the island.

After putting her brawn to the test in a wrestling challenge, Ursula’s successful performance quickly won over her tribemates.

Despite delivering a great result for Team Brawn, not everyone on the island was convinced, with Ursula’s fellow tribemate Noonan rallying to vote her out of the competition.

“Noonan had written my name down every single tribal council prior to that, so my only gut feeling going into that tribal council was, well, she’s done it before… she’s going to do it again,” she told Ten, adding that the football fan “had it out for me from day one.”

While most of the tribe was looking to form new alliances, Nash maintained his search for an immunity idol – becoming the earliest person to find a hidden idol in Survivor Australia history.

After playing his idol in the first tribal council, Nash attempted to tap into the classic Survivor mind games by tricking Team Brawn into thinking he had a second idol up his sleeve.

Sadly for Nash, his bluff quickly became a blunder, with the tribe voting him off the island.

While being on Team Brains may have its advantages, being on the receiving end of some cleverly orchestrated blindsides is one major downside of this calculating tribe.

Despite the entire tribe being aware that Max possessed an advantage, he still managed to pull off a major blindside – voting to save Laura and Karin rather than himself and AJ in an attempt to vote out Myles.

Although he may have tried to pull some big moves, the newly-formed Coven alliance still possessed the majority, with Ally ending up on the receiving end of their group vote.

Survivor Australia challenges are notorious for being physically challenging, and after facing off against the Brains tribe, Zen, unfortunately, suffered an injury to his hand that brought a premature end to his game.

“I’ve been with the medical team all day, and I’ve fractured my finger, but it’s all the way down to the bone so I have to be in a cast … and they’ve actually pulled me from the game,” he told the camera.

With Laura putting her witchy magic to work to form her alliance, ‘The Coven’ of Team Brains quickly teamed up to put their plan into action, and with the talk of blindsides galore swirling around the tribe, Indy was keen to keep her name off the chopping block.

Despite trying to break into the alliance by revealing the Coven’s plan to blindside Rich, her deception was exposed during the tribal council. With tensions high, Team Brains rallied together to vote Indy out of the tribe.

For Survivor super-fan Candy, her time on the island was short-lived, with the model becoming the first tribemate to fall victim to the franchise’s trademark blindside.

After discovering a hidden immunity idol on his first day in camp, Nash quickly got to work rallying Team Brawn against Candy, telling his new tribe, “I haven’t connected with her, and I just don’t think she’s anyone I can align with moving forward.”

While he may not have managed to have the entire tribe on his side, Nash was still able to rally a majority, making Candy the first contestant to be eliminated.