After ages of waiting for this season to even air, the finale of the ultimate Survivor showdown has arrived. Two Australians. Two Americans. Legacies on the line. History to be made. One person left to vote out. One champion to crown. For Parvati, this is about redemption for her loss in Heroes vs Villains. For Cirie, it’s her chance to finally reach the final Tribal and pitch a case to a jury. For Luke, he’s fought from the bottom yet again and longs to make the end after being 2019’s fallen angel. For Janine, it’s about weighing her options between betrayal and loyalty, knowing she can pitch a good case at the end.
But between the final four and that Final Tribal is one last challenge, and in true Australian Survivor fashion, it’s a gnarly endurance challenge blending some of the awful torture devices of seasons past. Nowhere to find comfort and nowhere to hide. 30 minutes in and Cirie is the first to fall. No surprises there unfortunately. At the one hour mark, JLP ups the difficulty a notch and takes out Janine. Fittingly, it’s all down to Parvati and Luke, the two obvious threats left who played idols for each other, cut deals, and fought to get this far from opposite sides of the power structure. But Luke’s against an endurance legend here, and after one final transition, a totally unfazed Parvati totally smokes him to take the final immunity, securing her spot at the end for a record breaking third time in her career.
We could just skip to the end and give Parv her check now since this has been her season from the beginning, but how we actually get there still has some intrigue. With Parv immune, Janine has a choice to make tonight: betray Luke and become the sole Aussie left at the end… or force a tiebreaker between Luke and Cirie for that final spot. Parvati pushes hard for Cirie to survive unanimously because if there’s a tiebreaker, Cirie’s getting fourth place again without some divine intervention. It’s in Janine’s best interest to take Luke out because at least she’d have a shot at the Aussie votes against two Americans. Against Luke though? She might as well take the night off and accept her no votes finish.
With everyone making their pitches to Janine like they’re on Shark Tank, the case is clear. Luke might not have played a dominant strategic game, but he’s won multiple challenges, he’s fought to the end on the bottom, and he’s the last man standing against a ton of capable women. Quite the story he’s got. But Janine’s weighing loyalty into this equation too. She was there watching Luke fall just short in 2019, and she’s been his ride or die five years later, and that’s a tough bond to break. It’d be the heartfelt choice, but would doom her chances of winning on the spot. But then again, she’s rich and probably isn’t winning anyways, so why not let her friend get a chance this time? Janine actually promises Cirie she’ll vote Luke out though, but only the parchment will tell.
And lo and behold, the parchment says Cirie. Thanks, Janine. Way to get her hopes up for no reason right before sending her to the jury, I guess. Nobody can even pretend Cirie has a shot here. She couldn’t make that fire 20 years ago, she couldn’t make it a week ago, and she didn’t really practice today. But she does manage to get a flame going this time! Unfortunately it’s just barely not enough to beat Luke even as he struggles throughout the entire challenge, and off to the jury she goes yet again. Always a fallen angel, never a finalist. Story of her life. And still, after five seasons… yet to be voted out with a simple majority vote. Best to never win indeed, but maybe that’ll change in a few months.
But finally, we reach Day 16. Parvati’s devastated by Cirie’s close shave elimination, but it’s not the time for moping with Final Tribal on the horizon. She’s played a near perfect game with challenge wins, strategic dominance, and a clean record of nobody voting against her despite her threat level. All as one of the most infamous winners worldwide. But she still has two opponents left to devour. Luke got a miracle second chance in the name of loyalty, and he’s finally scrapped his way to the end after two heartbreaking boots. Janine played the godmother game again, backstabbing when needed but playing loyal to her mafia family. Will Parv be the victim of another pissed off jury? Will Luke’s last man standing narrative steal the win? Will Janine’s public speaking expertise skyrocket her to the top?
First up is opening statements. Janine admits she wants the title, not the money, and her strategy was picking the right people. Coming into the merge, the Aussies flopped hard, but Janine pivoted and adapted to lead Kirby’s boot, securing a new majority that got to the final four. At that point, she took Luke to the end as her “biggest move” and remained loyal in a game full of betrayal. As for Luke, he recounts his long Survivor story, from being cast on 2017 to learning how to outwit, outplay, and finally outlast this season. He found an idol, recruited Janine as a ride or die that kept him all the way to the end, and overcame every hurdle in his way, making a world tour to keep all options open in the endgame. And as his greatest move, he got frontrunner Parvati to tear up her Knowledge is Power. And finally, it’s Parv’s turn to drop the mic. Survivor’s been a 20 year journey for her, and to cap her story off with her best game yet on the world stage is euphoric. She came in as a huge target, reconnected with Cirie, found an idol, found Knowledge is Power thanks to Luke’s mistake, and then used her arsenal of powers and skills to gather her troops and march to the final three unopposed. Even if she ripped up her advantage, she still used it effectively to bluff Kass into sending herself home.
When the jury gets the chance to bite back, Lisa kicks it off by asking what makes Luke love Survivor. Luke adores the survival aspects and having fun. Simple and easy. Next. Cirie asks Parvati why she was so distraught over Cirie’s elimination, and Parvati just wanted to rewrite history and sit at the end like they could’ve in Micronesia. Tommi calls out Parvati for her wishy-washy attitude towards him, wondering why she never tried to play with him directly. Ultimately, Parv’s game was Woman Strong, World Strong, but not Tommi Strong. Nothing personal. Luke wanted to work with Tommi though, but Luke preached Aussie Strong so much that Tommi couldn’t and still doesn’t believe it. However, Luke would’ve worked with the Internationals if himself and Shonee hadn’t been left out to dry on spa day. That’s when Luke and Janine officially cut that tie.
Things heat up further as Kass straight up asks Parvati which votes she’s getting tonight. Parv says she would’ve voted for Kass if their positions were switched since they were both powerful women who see the game the same way. Cirie and Lisa were in her alliance from the beginning, so their votes are probably secure too. And then there’s Kirky, who Parvati totally glazes. Despite Parvati betraying her, perhaps there’s still a lot of respect there from one power player to another. Sarah steps in to get feisty though, blaming Janine for the collapse of the Aussie coalition by pitting Sarah and Kirby against each other. Janine spirals a bit and tries deflecting, realizing she can’t pitch Aussie Strong and cutthroat godmother at the same time. So much for that amazing Final Tribal performance we were promised.
Shonee gives Luke a softball question to explain his game more, and he once again tries pitching the Knowledge as Power debacle as his crowning achievement, only for Parv to swoop in and cut him down. Luke may have played big there, but Parv had total safety at five and didn’t mind scrapping her advantage as long as it benefited her in the long run. Not to mention she got Luke to reveal his idol unprompted because he was that spooked. Kirby wraps it up by saying she wanted to stand next to Parv at the end, but clearly that didn’t pan out. But did Parvati ever want that too or was she just getting played? While Parv believed Kirby and wanted that dynamic duo to be legit, she already had a solid alliance that wanted Kirby gone. She debated blowing up her game to save her, but couldn’t risk ruining her positioning even if it stung to send Kirby packing. It was a moment of adaptation among chaos, one part of Parv’s somehow flawless game against the odds.
Congratulations, Parvati Shallow! As basically everyone expected heading into tonight, we have another two-time winner on our hands. By a 6-1-0 vote (would be a true perfect game if not for Sarah’s Luke vote), Parvati is a world champion now. 15 years since her close loss to Sandra, she’s claimed a win in Samoa, cemented her legacy with one last game, her best game even, and brought her story full circle in dominant fashion against some of the most capable opponents possible. Well deserved and earned, and if this is how she officially retires, what a way to go out.
So… was the season all it was hyped up to be? Kind of. It was certainly entertaining to see so many iconic faces on one season, but that was the unfortunate case for a lot of them: we only saw them. This was by no means the worst edited AU season, but seeing so many people underedited while Parvati got a colossal edit in almost every episode was a bit overkill for my tastes. Bringing in obscure players like Tommi, Kass, and Lisa only to give them scraps reeks of wasted potential, and the lopsided edit took a lot of tension out of the actual results since the ending was so telegraphed even in the premiere.
It was a fun novelty season for sure, but between the editing woes, lower stakes, and a somewhat dull endgame tainted by an attempted quit and some people making lackluster moves near the end, it did leave something to be desired. And I suppose there’s always going to be a big asterisk next to a 16 day season with 14 players no matter how iconic the cast is. Not to mention the dark cloud of JLP’s firing looms large over this season, and it did get a little annoying how often the season insisted upon itself.
Still, the season was worth the wait for sure! It could’ve been better, but it sure could’ve been a lot worse, both in casting and its outcome. It was a love letter to the entire franchise, a fan fiction come to life after almost a decade of fans begging for something of the sort, and a coronation for one of the game’s biggest stars after a series of brutal losses both in the game and outside it. We’ll probably get AU v World 2 someday (assuming the show doesn’t die a painful death after the host swap), so the bar has been set pretty high. I don’t know if they could ever get a cast this stacked again, especially on the Aussie’s side, but I’d love to see them try. More days, more people if possible. Go bigger. Take what worked about this season and trim up the issues with a better editing job and less wacky twists, and then we might have a truly elite season on our hands… even if I don’t know if they could top a dominant Parvati win as an ending.
Written by