After years of hypothetical fan casts and a whole year of waiting for this season to even air, Australia v The World is finally here in its short, expedited glory featuring fourteen global threats competing on the world stage for a quarter of a million dollars (and a unique win with a bit of an asterisk depending on who you ask). In traditional Survivor AU fashion, the opening to the season is cinematic gold as we meet our seven Aussies: fan favorite Shonee, King George of Bankstown, golden god David, king of the jungle Luke, godmother Janine, rebellious Kirby, and strategic second chancer Sarah. And meeting them in battle are seven international legends: two time winner Tony, black widow Parvati, and Cirie, best to never win, representing the USA, cunning superfan Lisa from New Zealand, total powerhouse Rob from South Africa, triple threat Kass from Quebec, and wolf in sheep’s clothing Tommi from Finland.
And what better way to pit these factions against each other than with an opening reward challenge? In one on one duels, Rob, Cirie, Kass, and Lisa win a locked mystery box, blankets, coffee and tea, and champagne for the World Tribe, while George, Kirby, and Luke win flint, a fruit basket, and a tarp for the Aussies. And just in case you thought this wasn’t going to be a fast paced game from the jump, David reaches out to Rob in the first round to cement a beefcake alliance between two dominant winners, one that would have them leaking info across tribe lines to set up their mutual endgame.
Day one on the World Tribe sees introductions go down and early alliances crop up. Parv and Cirie are an obvious pairing as the Black Widow reunion, and while they don’t fully trust Tony to not be a loose cannon again, they have to trust him for now so the three US players aren’t picked off first. Meanwhile, Rob calls it like he sees it: the Americans gotta go before they dominate this tribe. Kass and Tommi are total outliers with nowhere else to go, but superfan Lisa finds herself in the middle as she’s starstruck by THE Cirie Fields, her favorite player of all time and the one who inspired her own victory. Promising Lisa her loyalty, Cirie pitches a long term alliance with zero betrayal all the way to the end, and now we have a swing vote to keep track of.
But Parvati’s willing to blur some international lines too. If she can’t flex her social muscles with her fellow Americans without raising eyebrows, she can definitely flex them with Rob. Two charming strategists and challenge beasts with gorgeous eyes that draw people in and set them up for the kill. A match made in Survivor heaven if there ever was one. And to sweeten the deal, Parvati spills some info about her and David playing Deal or No Deal Island together before this season filmed, hoping to set up a long term alliance between three power players come merge. But while Parvati is confident she can play with and outplay him, Rob’s not slacking here. He knows how Parv plays, and that old school Black Widow routine isn’t going to work on the puppet master. He’s sticking with the International alliance and promises an American will be gone first.
On the Aussie Tribe, the lines in the sand are clear and cut deep. Luke and David might as well have picked this tribe themselves given Sarah and Janine are here as built in allies from past seasons, and Kirby even knows Luke from before they even played the game if you’ve followed outside the game material. That leaves George and Shonee on the bottom, and while George would love to reunite his Heroes vs Villains Spice Girls alliance and squash some beef, Shonee’s here for revenge and shuts that down completely. She’s taking down the king once and for all, and her first step is lowering her threat level to hide amongst these other legends, keeping her game low key and secretive without getting into any obvious pairs that would need to be broken up. And seeing Kirby as one of the more isolated members, she approaches her for a clean slate alliance. It’s not a great position, but it’s better than nothing.
As for George, he’s got his own machinations in mind. David is the only winner on this tribe if not the most notable player on the cast from an Australian perspective. So yeah, he’s a little worried about his legacy getting in the way even with the numbers on his side. Slaying a king is cool, but slaying a god is even better. But George proposes a buffer alliance of himself, David, and Luke meant to shield them all at the merge, naming it The Power Bottoms. David agrees… but completely laughs it off with Luke once George departs. He’s a winner. George isn’t. So George ain’t shielding him from anything, and David, arrogantly or not, feels a bit insulted by it. If this is the Survivor Olympics, David’s the Usain Bolt and George is Raygun flopping around on the floor making a fool of himself.
As day two rolls around, it’s Parvati’s birthday, and she’s so close to breaking the record for days played if she can survive these early days. She wants that immunity win bad, but it won’t come easy… or at all. Because with communication issues plaguing the World Tribe, immunity falls into Aussie hands, and with World heading to Tribal, Rob’s confident in his four person anti-US alliance with Cirie as his primary target to keep the tribe strong. So confident in fact that he’s willing to just chat with the other tribe and ask for a key to that mystery box. But moods shift back at camp when Rob tries to bring Parvati in on the plan and she’s totally not receptive. She’s not just going to snipe her number one out of the game first like that, and definitely not because Rob told her to. And so with Parv going against his wishes and refusing his offer, Rob changes the target to her instead and brings it up to Cirie and Tony, aiming to get a unanimous vote going.
But while Rob’s dictatorial gameplay can work on a cast of clueless newbies who don’t know who they’re dealing with, a cast of legends is another story. Cirie “agrees” to go along with the majority, but just as Parv wouldn’t turn on her, she’s not turning on Parv either. And with Lisa in her pocket, Cirie’s got a secret weapon to turn this game around for the Americans. As it turns out, Lisa’s totally fine with cutting Rob here. He’s calling the shots so openly and pulling strings in plain sight, and there’s no way he can keep every promise he’s made so far. Plus Cirie is Lisa’s idol, and she’d much rather work with her than just play Rob’s game for two weeks and hand him a free second win that could be hers instead.
Meanwhile, Parvati susses out the blindside coming her way and spins her own web in the tribe, recruiting Kass for this Black Widows 2.0 alliance of sorts. Tony doesn’t need to hear anything more than Rob’s name to get onboard with this plan, and even Tommi’s debating between Parv and Rob for the vote. With just a few conversations, the tide shifts from Rob’s control to Parvati and Cirie’s control, but the real power is in Lisa’s hands tonight as Tommi and Kass will follow her lead. She can either vote out Parvati to become Cirie’s number one and weaken the US faction… or she can vote out Rob to open the floor to more voices but risk handing the game to the Americans.
At Tribal, it’s an all out slugfest between Parvati and Rob as key information spills into the open. Parvati calls out Rob for trying to blindside her and control everyone like a tyrant, and Rob claps back by revealing her DONDI secret to the whole tribe, predicting she’ll sell them all out to work with David at the merge. But Parv is quick with the comebacks, spoiling her DONDI season to everyone’s chagrin and reminding everyone that Rob’s been chatting with David in the open since they walked in, so it’s a bit hypocritical to call Parvati out for anything here.
But in the end, this Parvati and Rob war ends with the Zulu King being dethroned in a unanimous vote, and Rob’s so blindsided that he voted for Cirie thinking he could afford a split vote in case Parvati played an idol. A sad day for the Survivor South Africa fans out there to see their sole rep as the first boot, but his style of play just wasn’t going to work against a high caliber cast that couldn’t be told what to do. Not to mention this vote was sealed the second Lisa met Cirie and gave the Americans a fourth vote for free. But Rob’s still one of the best to ever do it, and this lackluster showing shouldn’t dampen his legacy.
Was this the best episode of all time as was promised? No. Not really. It still had the typical AU editing woes (god forbid we see Sarah speak on camera I guess), but it WAS a lot of fun though! The novelty of seeing so many global icons on one season, even if it’s basically a short exhibition game, is something we fans have wanted for almost ten years, and it’s finally here with a cast worthy of the hype. The biggest players are here to play bigger than ever, international question marks are here to cement a legacy on the global stage, and the whole world is watching it unfold in the first global Survivor event. So let’s hope the rest of this season delivers one hell of a game and a deserving global champion to cap it off.
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