Survivor: David vs. Goliath and Australian Survivor: Similarities continue

The two “underdog vs. favorite” Survivor seasons this year have had surprisingly familiar results. What does it tell us about the final two episodes of David vs. Goliath?

** This article will contain spoilers for Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders. **

For those who don’t know, Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders recently aired this summer. There was a lot of talk about how this season would be a precursor to Survivor: David vs. Goliath. Although there are a few significant differences in terms of rules and gameplay, it’s basically the same format. Even Russell Hantz took a stab at this version of Survivor in Champions vs. Contenders.

Both seasons faced a similar situation going into the merge, the Goliaths and the Champions both had a strong numbers advantage. However, the similarities haven’t stopped there. In the past two episodes, there have been two shocking parallels.

A long endurance challenge leading to the demise of a physical threat. In David vs. Goliath, that moment was none other than the epic five-hour and 30 minute battle between Christian and Alec. Christian’s outstanding victory allowed the remaining castaways to vote out the biggest physical threat of the season.

As for Champions vs. Contenders, Lydia Lassila, who is an Olympic gold medalist, proved to be an absolute challenge beast. The first Immunity Challenge after the merge brought a similar version to the classic Survivor challenge of clinging onto a pole until you drop. As expected, Lydia looked absolutely solid.

As castaways dropped out of the challenge, they began whispering to each other plans to vote her out if she lost immunity. After over four hours on a pole, Lydia slipped off giving Individual Immunity to Sharn Coombes. Lydia was then voted out just like Alec, removing the biggest physical threat of their respective seasons from the game.

Carl wasn’t the first person to be called the Godfather! Mat Rogers, a former Rugby star and alpha male of the Champions tribe was running the show after the merge on Australian Survivor. He helped his tribe form a tight alliance and dictated who was going to be voted out, similar to Carl from David vs. Goliath. He had so much control over his alliance members that the castaways in the minority began to call Mat the Godfather, and the name stuck!

What are the chances that two Survivor seasons that aired at almost the same time had a castaway given the exact same nickname. But wait, it gets even more similar! Both Carl and Mat were blindsided in epic Tribal Councils, both finishing in ninth place for their season. Also, Gabby who decided to gun for Carl, and Benji Wilson who dethroned Mat were both surprisingly blindsided in the next vote!

Needless to say, there has been interesting patterns between these two similarly themed Survivor seasons. The big question is whether or not they will end in the same way? In Champions vs. Contenders, the Champion tribe stuck together until they started turning on each other to take out the big threats. This left two players in the finals that played solid but flawed games compared to the rest of the competition.

That could very well be the same story in Survivor: David vs. Goliath. Christian, Nick and Davie have all been playing great games, and if any of them make it to the end, I can’t see them losing. The problem is that the other four castaways are aware of that fact too. If the David men aren’t able to win immunity when it counts, we could be looking at a Final Tribal made up of Kara, Angelina and Mike.

Whatever happens, it will be interesting to keep an eye on how Survivor: David vs. Goliath mirrors its Australian counterpart during the final stage of the season.