Australian Stranded: Bhutan

Australian Stranded: Bhutan is the 5th edition of the Australian Stranded Franchise, it featured 16 new castaways from Survivor: Thailand, Survivor: Amazon, and Survivor: Pearl Islands initially not split into tribes, instead the tribes were split by Matthew von Ertfelda and Rob Cesternino after winning the first challenge.

Contestants
^ Savage played a Hidden Immunity Idol that nullified 5 votes cast against him. When he was voted out, it was a 2-2 tie and he was voted out with a tiebreaker vote.
 * The Total Votes is the number of votes a castaway has received during Tribal Councils where the castaway is eligible to be voted out of the game. It does not include the votes received during the final Tribal Council.

The game
~The tribes had not yet been split, and this first challenge was for the right to pick and choose the tribes. Ghandia had been completely inactive for the last week and a half of the game and was booted by the moderators as opposed to Langur going to tribal council.

^Savage played an idol, causing 5 votes against him not to count.

Episode 1

 * Individual Reward Challenge (Puzzle): A race to complete one of two puzzles, which when complete, relate to Bhutan (A Map of Bhutan, and the Bhutanese Flag), the first 2 people to solve the 2 different puzzles win the challenge and the right to pick their tribe and its members.
 * Winners: Matthew (Drukyul), Rob (Langur)

The castaways began their adventure in Bhutan, Where Jeff Probst greeted them, and left them with no explanation as to their tribes or the twists of the game. As the castaways joined the general discussion there were both early bonds and early arguments, the main of which being over the shelter. Savage initially buillt a shelter to boost moral, but soon after Rupert built a far grander, more opulent shelter, beckoning people to abandon the shelter Savage built to join his. Rob was the first to join Savage's shelter praising it for having a 'Mini-Bar' and jabbed at Rupert claiming his shelter to be 'Flood-Prone' while Rupert retaliated by claiming his shelter had "naive topless waitresses" and further persuaded people by stealing the tribes shoes and bribing them to join his shelter and be given their shoes in repayment, and from that point the castaways began to show their allegience early. Deena, Brian and Helen went to Ruperts shelter while Matthew, Shi-Ann, Rob, Fairplay and Sandra vied for Savage's, Jenna and Heidi did not make a choice as to which shelter while Robb, Lill and Ghandia were inactive for the entire discussion. The castaways then proceeded to joke about the Tribal Selections being done via who's shelter. Ghandia joined the fray much later in the day and immediately claimed to have a Hidden Immunity Idol, and was generally abrasive to any castaway she talked to, and berated Rob and Sandra for being 'Camera Whores'.

At the challenge the castaways discovered it would be an individual challenge where they would have to solve one of two puzzles. Matthew was the first to respond and completed the 'Map of Bhutan' puzzle incredibly quickly taking only 8 minutes. Both Rupert and Sandra attempted submitting the Flag puzzle at the 10 and 13 minute marks respectively but were unsuccesful, then at the 15 minute mark Rob succesfully completed the 'Flag of Bhutan' puzzle and joined Matthew as the 2nd winner of the challenge. It was then that Kenny revealed that as the winners of the challenge, Matthew and Rob would be picking which tribe they were on, as well as alternating picks on their tribe-mates.

Matthew chose the Drukyul tribe (wearing Black) and chose Rupert as his first tribe-mate, leaving Rob with the Langur tribe (wearing Gold) where he chose Savage, as his first tribe-mate clearly wishing for the shelter argument to continue. Following this, Matthew picked (In Order): Sandra, Deena, Brian, Shii-Ann, Helen and Lill, while Rob picked: Jenna, Heidi, Butch, Fairplay, Robb and Ghandia. The tribes then head off to their new homes. Before the first Immunity Challenge, the players were confronted with the option of Mutiny, where for 5 minutes before the challenge, the first person (and only the first) to declare their desire to mutiny to the other tribe would be allowed to swap to the that tribe, however be unable to participate in this challenge. the offer was ultimately ignored, and the challenge commenced.
 * Tribal Immunity Challenge (Quiz): Tribes would answer various trivia on Bhutan in 1 on 1 face-offs,where the loser was eilminated from the quiz. Each tribe would elect their first member, and all subsequent members would be chosen by the other tribe. The last tribe to have a contestant still in the challenge wins immunity.
 * Winners: Langur

At the challenge, 6 members from each tribe showed up. Langur elected Jenna and Drukyul elected Rupert as their first answerers. Jenna quickly eliminated Rupert and Shii-Ann but upon mis-reading and incorrectly answering the question was eliminated by Deena, who elected Butch from the Langur tribe. Butch got on a hot streak and subsequently eliminated Deena, Brian, Matthew and Sandra, winning the challenge for Langur.

At Drukyul, there was little discussion as Lill was deemed inactive and was an obvious boot target, however, an early alliance of Rupert and Sandra had formed with outlying ties to Brian, Matthew, Deena and Shii-Ann. In the end, Lill was voted out unanimously 7-0.

Episode 2
Before this challenge the tribes were once again offered a 5 minute window in which they were allowed to Mutiny if they chose. This was realised to be a recurring option at every challenge.
 * Tribal Immunity Challenge (Speed): Kenny would post 3 pictures of a wicker ball with a red, yellow and black number written on it at completely random intervals. The first contestant to re-post each of the unique balls would win 1,2 or 3 points for their tribe inversely based on it being the first, second or third unique ball. First tribe to 25 points wins immunity.
 * Winners: Langur

With no mutineers the challenge began with only 3 Langur tribe members able to participate, those being Rob, Savage and Heidi, facing off against Matthew, Brian and Helen. In the first round, Savage, Rob and Heidi returned all 3 balls before any of the Drukyul competitors, scoring 6 points. That trend continued for 3 consecutive rounds making the score 24--0. In the last round, Savage scored 3 more points, winning the challenge for Langur, although had the total points for the round been tallied, Matthew scored 2 and Rob scored 1 point leaving the final score at 28-2.

Within Langur, a core alliance of 5 had formed between Jenna, Heidi, Savage, Rob and Butch, who had a planned cushion of Ghandia and Robb and Fairplay to vote for should they lose a future immunity

At Drukyul, Helen had voiced her request to be voted out as the game was 'not what she had expected' and she too was voted out in a unanimous 6-0 vote

Episode 3
With the mutiny option once again ignored, the challenge was announced to be the dreaded 24-hour counting challenge. Both tribes were counting from 9pm until 1am although Drukyul went offline until 7am whereas Langur had at least 2 people online all through the night hours. During the day, Drukyul put in a huge effort while Langur slowed down considerably. During the score announcement it was revealed that while Drukyul posted perfectly, there was a lot of dispute over whether Langur made a mistake. With the count being at 3377 for Drukyul and 5064 for Langur, Drukyul prayed for a mistake with the Langur count, however, it was revealed that there were no mistakes with the Langur count and Drukyul were once again sent to tribal council.
 * Tribal Immunity Challenge (Counting): Given a 24 hour period, the tribes were to count as high as they could with no 1 person being allowed to count two consecutive numbers.
 * Winners: Langur

The Fab 5 Alliance within Langur made a plan to start branching out to Fairplay and Robb, with the men appeasing Fairplay while the women appeased Robb so as to keep both loyal to the tribe and to ensure neither mutinied. Meanwhile, Heidi and Fairplay started talking and making a secret side-connection unbeknownst to any other tribe members.

Drukyul, growing frustrated with their consecutive losses, had initially planned to oust Shii-Ann due to her being deemed less trust-worthy than the other 5 members, however, Deena's poor challenge performance ended up being her downfall and she was blindsided in a 5-1 vote.

Episode 4
Once again, no one from either tribe mutinied and the tribes strategised as to their combination and who their Codebreaker would be. Matt was elected from Drukyul and Savage from Langur.
 * Tribal Immunity Challenge (Mastermind): Each tribe would select a 'secret code' composing of a 5 colour combination from a total of 8 colours. Each tribe would also elect a Codebreaker responsible for guessing the other tribes 'secret code'. The first tribe to correctly guess the other tribes combination wins immunity.
 * Winners: Langur


 * In Round 1, Savage guessed 3 of the colours correctly, while only 1 was in the correct position, whereas Matt guess 2 correct colours, with 0 in the correct position.


 * Round 2 Both tribes had 3 correct colours, with 1 in the right position.


 * Round 3 saw a huge turn of events as Savage only guessed 3 correct colours, 2 in the right position while Matt correctly guess 4 colours, with all 4 in the right position.

At Langur, Savage being in a pseudo mediator position between the two inner-factions of the Fab 5 of Butch and Rob, and Jenna and Heidi had offered both a Final 3 alliance. Meanwhile, Rob had started talking to Fairplay about a secret Final 2 alliance that Fairplay agreed to, as he had done with Heidi.
 * Round 4 became the final round as Savage's next guess correctly identified all 5 correct colours in the correct position, winning the 4th straight challenge in a row for Langur

After losing their fourth straight immunity challenge, Drukyul were disheartened at being guaranteed down in the numbers coming an assumed merge at 10. Rupert and Sandra continued to become the power-alliance within Drukyul and controlled the vote, where Brian and Shii-Ann were left voting Rupert and Sandra respectively while the remaining three of Rupert, Sandra and Matthew voted out Shii-Ann, blindsiding her and Brian.

Episode 5
After arriving at the challenge, both tribes were shocked when they discovered it would be a double elimination, and both tribes would be sent to tribal council, and were shocked even further when Sandra, a former Drukyul, decided to take the mutiny offer and switch to Langur, where she was given a Hidden Immunity Idol Clue.
 * Individual Immunity Challenge (Puzzle): A race to complete a puzzle depicting the Bhutanese Emblem. the first person on each tribe to correctly solve the puzzle wins immunity.
 * Winners: Matthew (Drukyul), Savage (Langur)

After Sandra's colours has changed, the contestants competed in a redux of the very first challenge they competed in. Matthew and Savage ultimately were crowned victorious and both tribes headed to tribal council the following night where Matthew, the only eligible vote on Drukyul due to their only being 3 members left, voted out Rupert. The surprises were not over for the Langur tribe however, as after a full day of strategising, despite Ghandia's inactivity, Sandra, who was slated to be voted out was spared as the hosts booted Ghandia from the game due to her breaching the inactivity rule. During this time, Jenna accidentally sent a PM to Rob, intended for Heidi that made Rob wary of her instantly relaying information he said directly to Heidi.

At Drukyul, With Matthew immune, Rupert and Brian were forced against each other, vying for Matthew to vote for the other. While Rupert argued that they were in a tight alliance from the beginning and he should respect that, Brian argued that Rupert was untrustworthy using the Shii-Ann blindside as proof, and Matthew was swayed to vote out Rupert in a 2-1 vote.

Episode 6
Contestants were informed of a 'special challenge' coming up, and upon arriving to the challenge (The Temple), it was announced that the tribes had now merged and would immediately begin the Temple challenge, and that there would be temptations along the way..
 * Individual Immunity Challenge (Solitary): Now Merged, all 10 contestants would be trapped in a Temple without access to Personal Messages or any kind of private communication for up to 24 hours. One can opt to leave the temple at any time (regaining access to the other boards and the ability to PM), however the last person left in the temple would win immunity. If there were 2 or more people left in the temple at the time limit, the most recent person to exit the temple would win immunity.
 * Winner: Jenna

Within the first 20 minutes of the challenge, both Sandra and Brian had exitted the Temple. After a few hours, a bribe was offered, in the form of a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol, to everybody who exitted the temple in the next 10 minutes, which Butch and Fairplay accepted. It was announced soon after that Savage had been caught cheating (sending PM's after the challenge had started) and was subsequently eliminated from the challenge and his PM rights had been stripped for two rounds (including the current one).

The remaining 5 of Jenna, Heidi, Matthew, Rob and Robb remained in the temple through the night and well into the next day. At midday, another bribe was offered, this time it was a huge advantage in the following immunity challenge, however, their were technical difficulties and no one accepted (or was able to accept) the bribe. Jenna, Heidi and Rob began to discuss a "plan" that they had come up with prior to the challenge that "ensured a Langur victory" and soon after, once Robb re-appeared online at 5pm after an extended absence since the start of the challenge, dropped out with Heidi "according to the plan", leaving Jenna, Matthew and Rob to duke it out for the remining 3 hours.

Jenna and Rob debated over who would remain in the temple as Jenna leaving and Rob staying was the original plan (and 100% guaranteed Matthew could not win as long as whoever remained in the temple stayed there to the end), however Jenna stalled for time by trying to get the hosts to offer the challenge advantage that was 'unable to be gotten earlier' according to Jenna. Ultimately the hosts chose not to respond and Jenna left the temple with an hour remaining. Rob and Matthew simply talked for the remaining hour, neither leaving the Temple, securing immunity for Jenna.

Tensions were high at tribal council as Rob and Matthew had not been given any time to strategise with their fellow castaways and were considerably out of the loop and there was a frantic scrambling trying to secure votes among Langur especially considering there were rumours of the lower-end Langurs Robb and Fairplay flipping, and with Savage's vote unable to be secured due to his penalty and also the threat of a hidden immunity idol. The foursome of Jenna, Heidi, Butch and Rob all voted for Brian deciding not to trust either Robb or Fairplay however, Rob, considering Fairplay a closer ally than the other 3, informed him of the vote against Brian. The large amount of variables split the Langur vote with Savage voting for Sandra, Robb voting for Matthew, Rob receiving 3 votes from the former Drukyuls (including Sandra) while the rest of the Langurs voting for Brian, making him the first member of the jury in a 5-3-1-1 vote.

Episode 7
Tensions were high after the previous tribal council, but things died down severely due to a 2 full days break. Rob, Butch and Fairplay played the middle men between the groups of Matthew and Sandra, and the foursome of Jenna, Heidi, Robb and Savage. Since Savage was unable to privately convene with the other members of the tribe, Rob and Butch pretended to be on side with getting rid of Sandra, with a split vote for Matthew in case of an idol, however, Rob and Butch were aligning with outcasts Sandra and Matthew with the help of Fairplay to gain a numbers majority.
 * Individual Immunity Challenge (Speed): A version of Musical Chairs, the host would post a series of numbered pictures (one less than the number of contestants left in the round) and the contestants must re-post one of the unique pictures and if you missed out on posting a unique picture, you were eliminated from the round. Last player left standing wins immunity.
 * Winner: Fairplay

At the challenge, the hosts revealed that the immunity challenge was optional, and in return for sitting out, you were rewarded with a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol. No-one however, took this deal. The challenge was announced, and everyone except Robb and Sandra were competing. The challenge started off with Savage losing out on the first round by posting a picture other people had posted already 3 separate times and ultimately missing out on the cut. Jenna then Matthew were the next two out, followed by Heidi then Rob, leaving Fairplay and Butch in the final round where Fairplay pulled out the win.

At tribal council, some of the former Langur's thought the plan was to split the vote between Matthew and Sandra in case on an idol, however Rob, Butch and Fairplay succeeded in blindsiding Jenna with the help of Sandra and Matthew in a 5-2-2 vote.

Episode 8
Now at the Final 8, Savage's pm-ban had been lifted and he questioned the actions of the former Langur's who had voted for Jenna the previous night. All the meanwhile, a connection had been built between Robb and Heidi, the latter of whom felt betrayed by the ousting of her supposedly close ally Jenna.
 * Individual Immunity Challenge (Money-Counting): Contestants were supplied with pictures of all the noted currency in Bhutan, ngultrum. Each round the host would give a specific amount of ngultrum, that the contestants had to re-post using the images given. If a contestant was the last to respond correctly, or was the first to incorrectly respond, they were eliminated from the challenge. Last player left standing wins immunity
 * Winner: Matthew

At the challenge, the offer to sit-out of the challenge in return for a Hidden Immunity Idol clue returned, however the offer was not taken. During the challenge, Robb, Sandra, Butch, Rob, Heidi and Savage all dropped one after the other, and in the final round, Matthew edged out Fairplay to win immunity.

At this point, Heidi and Robb and Fairplay decided to vote together with Sandra and Matt to oust Rob or Butch for their actions, however, Matthew and Fairplay had reservations about the those two, so the vote settled on Savage as a compromise. Fairplay decided to make a play for Savage's jury vote behind his alliance's back, by going to Savage and telling him that 'he(Savage) was going next, and there was nothing Fairplay could do about it' (given that Sandra, Heidi, Matt and Robb were voting for Savage, with Matt having immunity). Unbeknownst to Fairplay, Savage had a Hidden Immunity Idol, and given that he was tipped off by Failplay, he played the idol, ensuring that Robb went home, 2-1-0.

Episode 9
Although they still technically had the numbers, the foursome of Heidi, Fairplay, Sandra and Matthew were worried of each others loyalty. Meanwhile, Rob and Savage were trying to rebuild old Langur lines. Butch had a mental breakdown and started acting strangely, posting irrational Game Of Thrones themed novelettes explaining his actions. However, the foursome had decided to regroup and vote out Savage, leading Rob and Savage to believe that Matthew was the next vote.
 * Individual Immunity Challenge (Find-A-Word): Contestants were given a find-a-word puzzle, however, 3 of the words they had to 'find' would not be in the find-a-word. These words when arranged in alphabetical order formed a password that unlocked a hidden board and immunity.
 * Winner: Savage

At the challenge, the same offer for a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol was ignored, and a find-a-word was given as the challenge, where Savage was the victor, throwing a hatched into the plans of the foursome.

As Tribal Council approached, Heidi and Fairplay continued to abate Savage and Rob's pleas to take out Matthew, while Rob had cut his ties with Sandra and Matthew due to their voting for Savage last Tribal Council without telling him. The foursome stuck together throughout the vote and decided instead to oust Rob due to Savage's immunity in a 4-2-1 vote

Episode 10
With loyalties being proved by the foursome of Heidi, Fairplay, Sandra and Matthew successfully ousting Rob, the plan was to finally vote out Savage as he was deemed the most threatening.
 * Individual Immunity Challenge (Mazes): Each contestant was supplied with a Maze with various letters strewn about it's corridors, and via solving the maze, the path taken would reveal the password necessary to move onto the next maze. The first contestant to solve the third maze's password wins immunity.
 * Winner: Matthew

Before the challenge started, Fairplay opted to sit out of the challenge in exchange for a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol as he would not be able to stay for the challenge regardless. In the first round of the challenge, both Sandra and Savage were eliminated due to neither correctly solving the maze in over an hour. In the second round, Heidi was eliminated, and in the last round, Matthew won another immunity challenge.

At the vote, the foursome still deemed Savage too much of a threat to continue in the game, but for fear of an idol they split the vote between him and Butch (Who each voted for separate people) 2-2-1-1. Matthew, being the immunity holder, retained the rights to break the tie, and cast his vote for Savage who was officially ousted in a 2(+1)-2-1-1 vote.

Episode 11
The foursome of Heidi, Fairplay, Sandra and Matthew showed no signs of breaking, although Heidi made an agreement separately with Sandra and Fairplay to go to Final 3 together, while Sandra had also been determined to stick to her Drukyul partner Matt for the long haul.
 * Individual Immunity Challenge (Déjà vu): Contestants would compete in a gauntlet of previous challenges. The first contestant to finish all stages of the chalenge wins immunity.
 * Winner: Matthew

At the challenge, nobody sat out for the idol clue despite this coming tribal council being the last opportunity to use the idol which was still unfound at this point (unbeknownst to any of them). After the long gauntlet of phases making up the challenge, Matthew emerged victorious and won his 3rd immunity challenge.

Due to Matthew being immune, and Butch being on the outs of the foursome, Butch was eliminated in a 4-1 vote.

Episode 12
Now down to the Final 4 consisting of the foursome that had worked together since the Final 8, it was now official that despite all odds, an original Drukyul was going to make the Final Tribal Council.
 * Individual Immunity Challenge (Puzzle Endurance): The four remaining contestants were given the pictures of every single contesant in the entire competition from both possible tribe colours, as well as loser and jury and merge avatars. Each avatar was split into 4 pictures. Contestants must post, in boot order, the completed avatar for each contestant on a pre-determined schedule, starting at 5 minute intervals, and eventually reaching 1 minute intervals. If the wrong avatar is posted, or the avatar is incomplete, or the post is not in sync with the schedule, that contestant is eliminated.
 * Winner: Matthew

In the immunity challenge, Sandra, Fairplay and Heidi were all eliminated before they completed the first set of avatars, securing Matthew a spot at the Final Tribal Council.

Matthew was firm in not voting for Sandra, which meant that it came down to Fairplay or Heidi to be booted, and while both scrambled for why they were either a good person to take to the end or why they deserved the spot, in the end Fairplay was voted out in a 3-1 vote.

Episode 13 and Reunion
Now that the final 3 had been decided, Heidi, Sandra and Matthew spent the day planning and preparing their jury speeches.

At the Final tribal council, Heidi outlined the struggles she faced with her superficial luxuries being left behind and her personal growth throughout the experience and further explained her decisions to side with Fairplay, Sandra and Matthew in order to exact revenge on Rob and Butch. She also apologised to Savage for the lies she told him and the way she treated him in the rounds leading up to and the day he was booted.

Matthew brought to light his strategy of lying low and winning challenges, and noted that Drukyul's consistant failure perhaps helped him in the long run. He also made sure to point out that he "did not believe he had ridden the coat-tails of either Heidi or Sandra."

Sandra adopted Butch's adventure-style novelette format to explain her journey throughout the game and to explain why she had done what she had done as well as share her perspective of events starting from the mutiny, bringing to light what she was able to control in the game, and how her social connections had helped in the forging of the foursome which ended up making the final 4.

Jenna as the first juror, stated that her vote was "Heidi's to lose" but in good spirit wished to give Sandra and Matthew a chance to plea their case. Matt was berated for not being talkative and seemed more like a robot than a person and was simply a vote that was used by Rupert pre-merge and Sandra post-merge. Sandra was accused of being 'lucked into her position' through various events that were perceived as more chance than skill, highlighting the moderators decision to save Ghandia over letting Langur boot Sandra and was additionally criticised for a 'self-defeatist attitude'. Jenna apologised to Heidi for the accidental PM she had sent to Rob that had damaged both of their games, Jenna also praised Heidi's determination to adapt her game to changing circumstances, and additionally made not of Heidi's strategy of using a over-bearing persona to seem like less of a threat. She ended with the question of: "How did you Outwit, Outplay and Outlast everyone else in this game?"

Matthew responded by noting his alliances with Sandra and Rupert being key as well as his challenge performances, also noting that Outlasting from a 3-7 deficit at the merge was a huge accomplishment.

Sandra pointed out her superior strategic game although she criticised herself for her challenge performances, but noted that it was balanced by superior social and strategic game.

Heidi made note of her unthreatening strategic demeanour, the fact that she was never "really" a target for the vote and claimed that by making the final 3, she had answered the 'outlast' question.

Savage was the next juror, and he demeaned Sandra's position in the game, claiming that she "wouldn't be winning this game as the jury doesn't respect her game at all", furthermore he backed up his reasoning with a claim that "If it wasn't for a huge stroke of luck with the hosts making a last minute decision to eject Ghandia, you(Sandra) would've gone home in 11th place.". Savage refused to ask Sandra a question, saying it would be 'irrelevant' to do so. Savage continued on to attack the gameplay of Matthew and, while respecting his physical game, couldn't respect the fact that Matthew did not make any decisions and was seen as a follower to Sandra. He asked Matthew why he should win this game over Heidi, when she made decisions to further herself and Matthew didn't. Savage applauded Heidi's bold determination to get to the end of the game, and furthermore her ability to find a power position after close ally Jenna was voted out. Although he questioned as to whether there were moves and lies that were unnecessary, and why he should vote for someone who was disloyal.

Sandra obliged to not responding to Savage's question, however shared her sentiment to share a beer after the proceedings.