"Australian Survivor" 2024: Episodes 1-3 Quiz

Answer: Titans vs Rebels

"Australian Survivor" is based on the American reality show "Survivor", which, at the time this season of "Australian Survivor" aired, had televised 45 seasons.

The Australian version has some major differences: It is usually longer around 47 days compared with 26 for the parent show. The number of contestants is usually 24 not 18 and the number of episodes per season is greater, usually 24 episodes shown three times per week.

This was the fourth season set in Samoa, eclipsing the three seasons shot in Fiji The Australian show's cinematography is always superb, showing the beauty of the setting.

"Australian Survivor" is fond of these apparently dichotomous subtitles though from the description offered by host Jonathan LaPaglia in the introductory episode there appeared to be some overlap in this season's choices - The tribes had been chosen based on outlook to life - The Titans were a group of young people who had been successful in their life, leaders in fact, whereas the rebels had been known to have led, well a rebellious life ("rule breakers, mavericks, thrill seekers").

The show began with the Titans hanging off a battered Cargo boat looking toward their new island home when three dinghies with the rebels drew level. It looked like a scene from a watery "Mad Max - Fury Road". The hype, tension, and rivalry had begun.

(Author's note. This is the 11th season of "Australian Survivor". However, the 10 Network insists on calling it the ninth season. This was because the first two seasons were shown on rival networks and the 10 Network does not recognise these two seasons. To prevent ambiguity, this author will refer to this season as "Australian Survivor" 2024).

Answer: Creating a fire big enough to burn through a flag at the top of a 20-foot wooden totem

After the introductions by JLP, some initial whoop-whooping and sizing out the other teams, the first challenge got underway - to win fire for the team with nothing for the loser. The challenge was to make a fire underneath a 20-foot-high totem that was a cross between the "Wicker Man" and Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man. At the top of the totem was the team flag. The first team to burn their flag won fire. The firewood was loaded on a barge some distance out from the beach. The contestants had to retrieve what they believed to be enough wood to make a big enough fire and then use a knife and flint to make sparks and fire. From the start, the Rebels went about the task in an orderly and efficient way, whilst the Titans were disorganised. JLP commented, "Perhaps there are too many captains."

The Rebels won the challenge easily. Both teams were dispatched to their respective beaches one with fire and one without.

Answer: Two people cuddling at night when sleeping

All "Survivor" franchises feature frequent interviews by unseen interviewers with contestants. Those with big personalities seem to be chosen first. So Day Two began with Feras (Rebel tribe) who described himself as not a "big, dumb Arab" but he demonstrated in this interview he was a 'player' With a smile as wide as the screen and as bright as the Rebels' fire, Feras bemoaned that it is not the lack of food that was the main issue but the discomfort of not being able to sleep. By necessity, the tribemates have to sleep closely together in a team-made shelter. However, Feras was non-plussed by how closely some people slept. He made hilarious observations that Sarah and Tobias "had a little sandwich", while Alex and Peta "had a very naughty sandwich", a "comfortable" sandwich. According to Feras, a first-day sandwich should be an "innocent sandwich".

With this interview, Feras endeared himself to the audience and his ability to 'read' other tribe mates signalled him as a serious player.

Answer: Hauling a 120kg ball around a course to knock over three pins at the end of the course

"Australian Survivor" always seems to have big physical challenges in the early part of the season and this was no exception. Teams had to drag a 120 kg ball (not exactly spherical) around and over obstacles before lifting it up to a ramp so it could be rolled down to knock over three giant pins. The Titans, with some really strong members, did not do as well as the smaller Rebels who worked collegiately and smartly to win the challenge.

This sent the Titans to the first Tribal Council.

Answer: Frankie

Frankie, Jaden and Nathan were the 'muscle' of the Titans' tribe. Because Jess put Frankie's name to Nathan as a person to oust, Nathan went straight back to Frankie and she and Nathan decided that Jess should be the one to go as, according to Nathan Jess was "on the scrap heap", and a "nothing". Frankie and Nathan then did the rounds telling the others how to vote. When Nathan offered to 'carry' Kitty and Caroline, they did well not to roll their eyes at him but they were clearly not impressed by this 'generous' gesture. Having told everybody how to vote, and their job done, they went for a swim with their sidekick Jaden. Most of the rest of the tribe were not impressed with being told what to do. So they scrambled.

At Tribal Council the 'Power Trio' were very comfortable with where they believed they sat in the tribe hierarchy and indeed the first four of the first five votes read out were for Jess. However, the next seven votes were for Frankie. She was blindsided, much to the shock of Nathan and Jaden. (The only person outside the power trio who voted for Jess was Winna). Frankie and Nathan broke the cardinal rule of "Survivor" - You do not take away other tribe mates' autonomy, in Australia especially, where autonomy to make your own decisions is not only respected, it is expected.

Eden the cinema manager, appeared to be quick with movie quotes: When he voted, he talked to the camera about Frankie, "You're an absolute terminator, but tonight it's hasta la vista, baby." Indeed.

Answer: Eden and Mark manipulating outcomes behind the scenes

It was Jess who mentioned Frankie's name first as the person to be voted at the first tribal council but it was Mark and Eden who did all the work to make it happen. Nevertheless, Mark and Eden were all in favour of Jess taking the credit as it took the heat off them. It was Eden who came up with the term "Invisible hand". The "hand" also had a role in the second ousting as well.

Answer: Pizza and burgers

The tug-of-war challenge had a crate as the centrepiece. Each round featured an unseen prize for the tribe that won that particular round. There were four rounds with the prizes being a tarpaulin, fishing gear, and bananas - all won by the Titans. The Rebels' sole win was chocolate biscuits with marshmallows. The Titans won 3-1. Cue Eden with the (appropriate) movie quote: "Are you not entertained?" from "Gladiator" (2000).

Back at Camp, Winna, chomping on a banana found something hard in his piece of fruit - it was a scroll telling him where he could find an immunity idol. Winna played it cool, woke up the next morning first, and realised he had an idol to find so went and retrieved it without much effort.

Answer: Tossing coconuts into another team's basket until they could no longer keep it suspended

Another physical challenge. Tribemates had to traverse an obstacle course then had to work as a team to get dozens of coconuts down an overhead chute and then toss them into the other team's basket which was held aloft by two tribemates. The Rebels came from behind and won sending the Titans back to Tribal Council.

The Invisible Hand plotted for Jess to put out a name so that they could conspire to oust her. They did not know that Nathan had put Eden's name forward as Nathan suspected Eden was behind Frankie's dismissal. Jess, eager to be accepted by Nathan, takes Eden's name back to the others. Mark then scurries around the others to flip the vote onto Jess. When Eden found out he scrambled with the others to make sure he wasn't going to be voted out by getting the others to split the vote to protect him (in case an idol was played).

At the Tribal Council, Eden revealed that he was being targeted which cued Nathan to find out more about his mate Frankie's blindside, questioning Jess. In what is seen as poor "Survivor" play, Jess reveals it was she who brought up Frankie's name (Yes, she did but that was all she did but took credit for Frankie being voted out) but then she revealed to Eden that it was her who put his name out there before Tribal Council.

When it was time to vote, Eden got one vote (from Jess). The other ten votes went 6-4 to Jess over Nathan. Mark and Eden's plan worked according to their script. Another blindside plus enough votes for Nathan to reduce his confidence. Two Tribal Councils, two blindsides.

Answer: A plan was hatched to throw an immunity challenge to get to Tribal Council to vote one of them off

The Cuddle Club was Alex, Peta, Sarah, and Tobias (Rebels) because of their close sleeping arrangements. They believed they were part of the majority and believed most of the tribe was part of their alliance. They were annoyed with Kelli because of her exuberant personality, and also annoyed with Raymond because he was caught looking for an immunity idol (!) and he had an immature persona. These four key members talked about throwing a challenge to enable them to go to Tribal Council to vote one of them off. Peta became more confident she and her alliance (smaller than she thought - most of the rest of the tribe were unaligned at that stage) were controlling the game. This became more apparent when Peta found an idol without really trying near the well.

Before the immunity challenge, the Titans won the reward challenge which was a watery wrestling match between opposing tribemates. The reward was a selection of canned food which was disappointing for the Titans but they were pragmatic enough to eat the food anyway.

At the immunity challenge, which involved dragging a heavy sled around to be able to pick up puzzle pieces, it was clear that some of the Rebels were not trying but not everyone was in on the plan (which says something about the size of the so-called majority alliance) and those that did not know exerted themselves to maximum capacity. In the end, the Titans who led by a long margin for most of the challenge, nearly shot themselves in the foot as the Rebels' two puzzle solvers did not know about throwing the challenge and nearly caught up. The Cuddle Club had their desired result - They were going to Tribal Council to vote an 'unwanted' member off their tribe. (Cue the ominous music.)

Answer: An immunity idol was played

In "Australian Survivor," there is usually only one idol in play for each tribe at any given time. During episode 3, Winna had found one on the Titans' beach and Peta held the Rebels' idol (but only Alex knew about it).

Peta started orchestrating the expulsion of Kelli at the upcoming Tribal Council. She was confident she was controlling the tribe and most of the others acquiesced when she told them how to vote. In case Kelli had an idol, a refinement was made to split the vote and give Raymond three votes in case either of them had an idol (Peta should have realised she had the one Rebels' idol in play). However, Kirby correctly saw Peta's confidence as arrogance and so with some assistance from Feras, she orchestrated a plan to vote out Peta. Feras was instrumental as he coached Kelli on how to behave as if she was about to be voted out. Also at Tribal Council he cleverly reasoned that if anyone had an idol it would be unwise to play it so early. Peta, who was not without some inkling that 'something was not quite right' appeared from the TV edit, to take some comfort from this, and indeed did not play her idol. The vote went Peta-6, Kelli-3, Raymond -3. (The splitting of the Kelli vote cost Peta her place.) Kirby took her strategy a step further - As she knew there were enough votes to vote out Peta she voted for Kelli to prove to the Cuddle Club, that she did not betray them. (Dangerous game - playing both sides.)

So on this season of "Australian Survivor," there have been three tribal councils at this point with three blindsides. Only in Australia.

Peta, orchestrating a plan to purposefully oust one of her own teammates, broke several "Survivor" 'rules':
1. Confidence in your alliance is over-confidence and it will be perceived as arrogance by others
2. Never throw a challenge to get to Tribal Council. You cannot control outcomes at TC
3. Never go home with an idol in your pocket
4. Your alliance is neither as big or as tight as you think it is

Even in the closing credits interview, Peta had not grasped what had happened as she said that "The minorities had risen up" to vote her out. No Peta, the majority voted you out. Your majority alliance never existed. It was a minority.