The ninth episode of “Australian Survivor: Blood V Water” began with 17 players still left in the game: eight on the Blue (Water) tribe (after Sophie Cachia was eliminated) and nine on the Red (Blood) tribe. So who became the next castaway to have their torch snuffed by host Jonathan LaPaglia? Below, read our “Australian Survivor: Blood V Water” Episode 9 recap, which aired February 15, 2022 on Network 10 and 10play on demand. (Also check out our recaps for Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7 and Episode 8.)
After the recent tribe swap, the new Blue tribe consists of: Michelle Chiang, Jesse Hansen, Khanh Ong, Ben Watson, Samantha “Sam” Gash, Kate “KJ” Austin, Christina “Chrissy” Zaremba and Michael “Croc” Crocker.
And the new Red tribe castaways are: Amy Ong, David Goodchild, Shayelle “Shay” Lajoie, Jordie Hansen, Melissa “Mel” Chiang, Alanna “Nina” Twine, Jordan Schmidt, Josh Millgate and Mark Wales.
SEE How to watch ‘Australian Survivor: Blood V Water’
1. Day 19.
A tearful KJ says tribal council last night was “heartbreaking” because her little sister Sophie went home. “It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” she admits about voting for her. She hopes Sophie understands and will forgive her. Sam now worries what kind of relationship she’ll have with KJ going forward. Chrissy and Sam talk about making Khanh “scared” so he’ll play his idol, but they are considering voting out KJ or Michelle if they lose.
2. Meet Josh.
At the Red camp, the players compare all of their bug bites. Amy, Jordan and David realize they are the only three original Red people, with the other six being original Blue members. Now that cousins Josh and Jordan are playing together, Josh finally gets some screen time on the show! He is hoping to “take control” of the game at the right time. Josh brings Nina into his tight group, with Nina saying she’s “happy to be Josh’s number two for now.”
3. Reward challenge.
When the tribes meet, Red discovers that Sophie has been eliminated. “I think I’m off the Christmas card list,” KJ jokes. For this challenge, players face off one-on-one on a pontoon. The first person to knock off the opposing castaway with an enormous pole wins a point. The tribe that gets three points first will win yummy fish and chips. The first match-up is Mark & Jordie vs. Croc & Jesse, with Red prevailing. Next up is Mel & Shay vs. Chrissy & Sam, with Blue earning a point. The third battle is Josh & Amy vs. Ben & KJ, with Red scoring. Now it’s Joran & Josh vs. Croc & Khanh, with Red winning the point and the reward.
SEE Everything to know about ‘Australian Survivor: Blood V Water’
4. Fish and chips.
The Red team celebrates a well-earned victory by devouring their fish and chips reward. Josh has his sights set on Mel going home next, saying she’s not as physically fit as the rest of the tribe. Over at the Blue camp, Chrissy is bummed she didn’t win the reward. She is missing her kids at home and admits to being “tired” physically, mentally and emotionally. Khanh realizes this is the “lowest” he’s ever seen the morale around camp, particularly with Ben. He throws Ben’s name out to Sam, who seems on board with getting him out.
5. Immunity challenge.
In this competition, the teams have to use long poles to carry spools through a trip obstacle and stack them on top of each other. The first tribe to stack all eight spools, one member at a time, wins immunity. Midway through, Jordan bumps into the obstacle and nearly loses the stack, and the stack officially falls when he puts his spool on top. That gives Blue a huge six-spool advantage; it would take a major disaster for them to lose. Croc places the seventh spool and gives the pole to Ben, putting the final pressure on him. Ben arrives back without hitting the obstacle, giving Blue the immunity win.
6. Scrambling.
Jordan feels vulnerable for two reasons: he lost the challenge for his team and he’s outnumbered in terms of original tribal lines. Josh once again throws out Mel’s name. Nina and Shay are on the same page, as is Mark. When Jordan tells Amy the vote is on Mel, she decides to turn things around and target Jordan, who she’s been with since day one. She rallies some votes, but needs Shay to be the tiebreaker. Shay shakes up the game even further when she spills the beans to Josh about Amy’s plan to split up the cousins. “If you come for me or my cousin, we’ll make you pay pretty quickly,” Josh declares. Did Amy just shoot herself in the foot? Finally, Nina can’t decide whether she wants to vote out Jordan or Amy, but respects Amy’s “big move” regardless.
7. Tribal council.
At tribal, Josh defends Jordan based on his past performances. David does the same for Amy, saying she’s a strong competitor. Amy vocalizes the fact that you should always be making moves and taking risks. Mel wants people to remember that the merge is coming up and who might be a threat at that time. The nine players vote and Jonathan reads them one by one: Jordan, Amy, Amy, Mel, Mel, Amy, Amy, Amy — that’s enough. Amy is completely blindsided. “Tell Khanh I love him,” she says as her torch is snuffed.
