Filmed: May 29-30, 2018 | Aired: August 28, 2018
- Ep. 12 Reward challenge: Shockingly, a challenge based purely on forearm strength and/or strength-to-body-weight ratio ends with the muscle-bound new Contenders winning.
- Ep. 12 idol: Benji finally wades over to the camp-adjacent island at 3 a.m., gets the idol.
- Ep. 12 Immunity challenge: Somehow, Sam blows a lead on a simple puzzle, and the Champions lose.
- Ep. 12 voted out: Tegan, 3-2-2 over Brian and Shonee, respectively. But wait! The Contenders can still save her! ... Nope, she's still out, in a 5-2 confirmation vote by the Contenders.
Episode 12 scoring notes
- Using "Splash Back" as a 1-v-1 series of bouts for the reward challenge was... underwhelming. It's sort of the inverse of turning "When It Rains" into a team challenge. There's marginal strategy in trying to game the matchups such that your team ends up with a secret advantage (saving Lydia seemed like a good move, except they didn't need to use her). But as challenges go, it's a pretty purely strength-based one, which is fairly uninteresting. Also, half the case didn't have to compete. Ugh.
- But that's not even as disappointing as the "Send/Save" vote at Tribal. Yes, it made contextual sense for Benji and Robbie to keep Tegan voted out (although it's unlikely to pay off long-term for them), but it was such a potentially interesting twist that it was a shame it fell flat. It's always more interesting to thwart an opposing tribe's intentions for purely chaos purposes. But nope, not with these guys. (But as always, only the first-round votes count for VFB purposes.)
Vote count:
- Tegan received 3 votes, from Mat, Shane, and Steve (voted out, 3-2-2).
- Brian received 2 votes, from Shonee and Tegan.
- Shonee received 2 votes, from Sam and Brian.
Send/Save vote count:
- Send received 5 votes, from Benji, Robbie, Lydia, Monika, and Sharn (Tegan still voted out, 5-2).
- Save received 2 votes, from Fenella and Heath.