Australian Survivor: Champion vs. Contenders finale recap – The final mistake

Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders has been an exciting combination of masterful gameplay and idiotic mistakes. The finale was no different.

Coming into the final two episodes of Australian Survivor: Champion vs. Contenders, it felt like any of the four remaining finalists could win… except for Shane. The first episode started out with confessionals from each of the Final Four, stating their case for the title.

That morning, Brian and Sharn retrieve tree mail together and are faced with a mild twist. There’s a hearty breakfast up for grabs, and the two Champions get to decide if they want to have it for themselves or share it amongst the four of them. In order for them to share it, they both have to agree on it.

Typical to Brian’s character, he decides to have the food for himself, while Sharn votes to share. So Brian ends up getting the entire breakfast, not regretting his actions.

The Immunity Challenge was based on an excellent American Survivor idea. The castaways use a pole to grip onto a small wooden bowl and try to maneuver it through a metal maze balanced on a spring. The first person to stack twelve of these bowls on top of the metal structure and have it stand for three seconds wins immunity.

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Brian got out to an early lead, with Shane close behind. When Brian placed his twelfth bowl, his stack lasted one second before tumbling. The same thing happened with Shane and Shonee when they got to that point. Sharn was going slow and steady and had a chance to win after the others lost their towers, but her stack was too unsteady and fell over.

The second time building his stack, Brian mastered the technique. He developed another strong lead, took his time, and had a steady tower of 12 bowls! This gave him his fourth Individual Immunity win of the season!

That left Shonee and Brian wanting to vote out Sharn, but that would simply end in a tie vote. Everyone knew that Shonee had no shot at a tiebreaker fire-making challenge. The only way for Shonee to survive the night was by getting either Shane or Sharn to vote with her. Despite her persuasive efforts, she couldn’t split up the loyal pair and was sent to the jury. Props to Shonee, though, for at least attempting to get three votes on Shane instead of simply settling for a tie.

That brings us to the final Immunity Challenge of the Australian Survivor season. Before they began, the final three were greeted by their families; Sharn by her husband and three children, Shane by her husband and Brian by his wife and two kids. The reuniting of loved ones provided a tear-jerking moment, especially when we got to see Brian, the villain of the game get emotional. The spouses got the opportunity to cheer on their loved ones during their final battle.

The fight for the last Individual Immunity had the similar ideology of final challenges in the early days of US Survivor. It involved standing on a pole with somewhat narrow perches while keeping two hands on an idol which was mounted on top of the poles. The last person to keep both hands on their idol wins immunity.

After an hour and eighteen minutes, Shane dropped out of the running. Sharn still looked solid, while Brian was struggling. He even took the opportunity to get into Sharn’s head, trying to convince her that taking Shane to the end doesn’t make sense. After battling it out for two hours and fifteen minutes, Brian subconsciously removed his right hand from the idol to take off his hat, disqualifying him from the challenge. Sharn wins her fourth Individual Immunity!

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Not only was this Australian Survivor challenge anticlimactic, but it also lacked creativity and competitiveness. There’s a reason why US Survivor got rid of this type of challenge over ten years ago! Nevertheless, Sharn earned the win.

The edit took us basically straight to Tribal Council, giving Shane and Brian their chance to convince Sharn to take them to the final two. Shane’s pitch was one of loyalty and friendship, while Brian played the “bring the best to the end” card. Sharn’s close relationship with Shane won out, sending an embittered Brian to the jury. The following night brought the dramatic Final Tribal Council.

A major theme coming into the night was how Sharn, someone who addresses a jury on a regular basis, would totally destroy anyone she was up against. Shane went first, and her speech was quite eloquent showcasing her big plays, social skills, and her loyalty. Then Sharn delivered a brilliant pitch, proclaiming her loyalty and explaining how she was a social mastermind, which enabled her to survive so many close calls. If only Sharn kept up that firey approach throughout the night!

Now it was the jury’s turn to speak. The format was similar to US Survivor since season 34: Game Changers.  So instead of everyone having their own prepared speech, it’s more casual allowing the jury to throw out a question or statement at any time. Sharn’s downfall all started when she mentioned that she knew about Matt’s name being thrown out.

Eventually, Brian jumped on Sharn’s statement, asking her if she told Matt that his name was being brought up. That begged the question, why is Sharn petitioning loyalty when she broke Matt’s trust? Instead of stressing her superior gameplay, Sharn had several clumsy responses still trying to champion her loyalty. This put Sharn in the doghouse, even when Sam emphasized Sharn’s active gameplay.

While Sharn was ruining her game with her thoughtless responses, Shane rose to the occasion. When Shonee was criticizing Shane for not having any personal conversations with her, Shane stunned her by knowing where she lives throughout the year and what she does. Her genuine responses highlighting her respect for Shonee and Fenella were very key moments that won her their votes.

In addition, Sam and Brian asked Shane two impactful questions regarding who played the more loyal game. Although a jury should never base an entire vote on who was more loyal, Sharn’s self-proclaimed loyalty made it easy pickings for Brian to point out her lies. Despite Sharn out playing her fellow finalist in terms of physical ability and strategic moves, her lack of awareness during final tribal lost her the game.

The final vote was five for Shane, and four for Sharn. Shane received votes from Shonee, Fenella, Brian, Monika, and Matt in order to claim the title of Sole Australian Survivor.

Did Sharn play the better overall game? Probably. However, Shane outperformed her during Final Tribal, and she also played a deceptively good social game, even being the brains behind some of the biggest moves including the Lydia vote. So congratulations to Shane Gould who played a great game and deserved to win Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders. At the age of 61, Shane Gould is the oldest person to ever to win any version of Survivor!