Road Trip: Down Under

Road Trip: Down Under	Road Trip: Down Under
 	
Season 	11
Genre 	Reality competition
Winner 	Ethan Banks
Runner-up 	Tiara Johnson
Episodes 	11
Countries Visited 	1
Cities Visited 	12
Starting Point 	Sydney, Australia
Finishing Point 	Melbourne, Australia
Production 	Production
Season Aired 	June, 2022
Chronology 	Chronology
Previous Season 	Rookies vs. Redeemers
Next Season 	All-Stars II
Road Trip: Down Under is the eleventh season of the travel reality competition show devised by SJ productions. The show follows a group of individuals travelling around in a select number of recreational vehicles (RVs) from a starting point to a finishing point across a predetermined route. At each city/town pit-stop, the group compete in either an individual or team-based immunity challenge to win the role of 'tour leader'. The worst performing individual in each challenge is put up for 'repatriation', along with another individual of the tour leader's choosing. Everyone other than the three stated cast a vote in the deliberation for who they wish to repatriate, with the individual receiving the most votes kicked-off the road trip. When only two road trippers remain, a jury consisting of the last seven eliminated players vote for who they wish to win the £100,000 prize. The series is hosted by Big Brother UK alumni Lincoln Mackenzie (Season 1 & All-Stars) and Sinead McGrath (Season 2 & All-Stars).
This season began at Sydney, Australia and ended in Melbourne, Australia. The season exclusively travelled throughout Australia, encompassing a total of twelve locations. The winner of the season was Ethan Banks, defeating Tiara Johnson in a unanimous 7-0 vote to become Champion of the Road Trip. This marked the first time a unanimous vote for a winner occured in Road Trip.
==Road Trippers==
			
				
			
Name 	Age	Hometown 	Result
Ethan Banks 	20 	Brighton, England 	Winner
Tiara Johnson 	27 	Ayelsbury, England 	Runner-up
June Davies 	46 	Aberdyfi, Wales 	3rd place
Ella Harding 	21 	Bath, England 	4th place
Joseph Keng 	26 	Melbourne, Australia 	5th place
Róisín Deegan 	28 	Naas, Ireland 	6th place
Anton McDonald 	27 	Edinburgh, Scotland 	7th place
Marcus Robinson 	26 	Leeds, England 	8th place
Oscar "Ossie" Wells 	24 	Canberra, Australia 	9th place
Erwin "Scruggs" Harris	51 	Alice Springs, Australia	10th place
Hattie Yvonne Hartman 	29 	London, England 	11th place
Lucy James 	19 	Cornwall, England 	12th place
Hannah Campbell 	25 	Laguna Beach, USA 	13th place
==Voting History==
Ep # 	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	11 	11 	11
Location 	Sydney	Byron Bay	Brisbane	Noosa 	FraserIsland	Tully	Cairns	AliceSprings	Uluru 	Coober Pedy	Adelaide	Melbourne	Melbourne	Melbourne
Eliminated	none 	Hannah 	Lucy 	Hattie	Scruggs 	Ossie	Marcus	Anton 	Róisín	Joseph 	Ella 	June 	Tiara 	Ethan
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Ethan 	SAFE 	Hannah 	Lucy 	Hattie	Scruggs 	Ossie	Marcus	NOM 	Joseph	Joseph 	Ella 	NOM 	Winner 	Winner
Tiara 	SAFE 	Hannah 	Lucy 	Hattie	Scruggs 	Ossie	Marcus	Anton 	Róisín	Joseph 	NOM 	June 	Runner-up	Runner-up
June 	SAFE 	WIN 	Ella 	Róisín	Scruggs 	NOM 	NOM 	Ethan 	WIN 	WIN 	WIN 	ELIM 	— 	Ethan
Ella 	SAFE 	Joseph 	NOM 	Hattie	WIN 	Ossie	NOM 	WIN 	Róisín	NOM 	ELIM 	 	— 	Ethan
Joseph 	SAFE 	NOM 	Lucy 	Hattie	Scruggs 	June 	NOM 	Anton 	NOM 	ELIM 	 	 	— 	Ethan
Róisín 	SAFE 	Hannah 	Ella 	NOM 	Ossie 	WIN 	Joseph	Anton 	ELIM 	 	 	 	— 	Ethan
Anton 	WIN 	SAFE 	Lucy 	Róisín	Scruggs 	Ossie	Joseph	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	— 	Ethan
Marcus 	SAFE 	Hannah 	Lucy 	Hattie	Ossie 	Ossie	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	— 	Ethan
Ossie 	SAFE 	Joseph 	Ella 	WIN 	NOM 	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	 	— 	Ethan
Scruggs 	SAFE 	Hannah 	WIN 	Róisín	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Hattie 	SAFE 	Hannah 	Lucy 	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Lucy 	SAFE 	Hannah 	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Hannah 	NOM 	ELIM 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Key
: This person won the challenge and became the tour leader.
: This person was safe during the episode and cast a vote for who to eliminate.
: This person was safe during the episode but did not cast a vote for who to eliminate.
: This person originally nominated for repatriation, but was made immune with a lifesaver.
: This person finished last in the challenge and was therefore automatically nominated for repatriation and remained on the road trip.
: This person was nominated by the tour leader for repatriation and remained on the road trip.
: This person finished last in the daily challenge and ultimately eliminated in the repatriation vote.
: This person was nominated by the tour leader and ultimately eliminated in the repatriation vote.
: This person voluntarily quit the road trip.
==Game Summary==
# 	Episode title 	Destination 	Tour Leader	Last Place	Nominated	Eliminated	Vote
1 	"Hello, Sydney" 	Sydney, Australia 	Anton 	Hannah 	none 	none 	none
2 	"Bye and Byron Bay" 	Byron Bay, Australia 	June 	Joseph 	none 	Hannah 	7-2
3 	"Foul Play at the Buffet" 	Brisbane, Australia 	Scruggs 	Ella¹ 	Lucy 	Lucy 	6-3
4 	"Surf and Turf" 	Noosa, Australia 	Ossie 	Hattie 	Róisín 	Hattie 	5-3
5 	"Top to Bottom, Bottom to Top" 	Fraser Island, Australia	Ella 	Scruggs 	Ossie 	Scruggs 	5-2
6 	"Savouring the Advantage" 	Tully, Australia 	Róisín 	June 	Ossie 	Ossie 	5-1
7 	"Bucket, Send Me Home" 	Cairns, Australia 	Team 1² 	Team 2³ 	none 	Marcus 	2-2⁴
8 	"Hoppity Hop" 	Alice Springs, Australia	Ella 	Anton 	Ethan 	Anton 	3-1
9 	"An Immovable Rock" 	Uluru, Australia 	June 	Joseph 	Róisín 	Róisín 	2-1
10	"A Bunch of Slabs" 	Coober Pedy, Australia 	June 	Ella⁵ 	Joseph 	Joseph 	2-0
11	"It's Nice, It's Different, It's Unusual"	Adelaide, Australia 	June 	Ella 	Tiara 	Ella 	1-0
11	"It's Nice, It's Different, It's Unusual"	Melbourne, Australia 	Tiara 	Ethan,June	none 	June 	1-0
11	"It's Nice, It's Different, It's Unusual"	Melbourne, Australia 	Jury Vote 	Jury Vote 	Jury Vote	Tiara 	7-0
11	"It's Nice, It's Different, It's Unusual"	Melbourne, Australia 	Jury Vote 	Jury Vote 	Jury Vote	Ethan 	7-0
^¹ Anton originally finished in last place and was nominated. However, he used his lifesaver, leaving next-lowest performer Ella as the re-nomination.
^² Group 1 was picked by team captain Ethan. He selected Tiara, Róisín and Anton.
^³ Group 2 was picked by team captain Ella. She selected Joseph, June and Marcus.
^⁴ The vote ended in a 2-2 tie between Joseph and Marcus. The winning team was forced to deliberate until they agreed to eliminate someone; choosing Marcus.
^⁵ Tiara originally finished in last place and was nominated. However, June used her lifesaver on her, leaving next-lowest performer Ella as the re-nomination.
==Episodes==
===Episode #1 - Hello, Sydney===
On a private luxury yacht in the middle of Sydney harbour, thirteen brand new road trippers assemble to begin the adventure of a lifetime Down Under. Lincoln and Sinead appear before the contestants, receiving a rapturous round of applause as they enter and make their introductory greetings. With no challenge or tours scheduled for the first day, the players are given the opportunity to remain aboard the yacht for the remainder of the afternoon and evening, where they are provided with an open bar and an assortment of foods in order to make their ‘welcome party’ more comfortable. Everybody quickly breaks off in order to socialise, doing their best to speak to as many people as possible in order to make a positive first impression. Irish PE teacher Róisín is shown spending time to youngest road tripper Lucy, surprising Róisín who hadn’t expected the Cornish native to be just nineteen years old. Lucy confesses to Róisín that she is “a Road Trip superfan” who has “been desperate to apply since the very first season”. Róisín appears pleased that Lucy has been able to check the first item off her Road Trip ‘to do’ list by making the cast, telling the teenager that she ‘hopes the experience can fulfil all her expectations’. Throughout much of the first few hours, self-confessed ‘Scottish Kylie superfan’ Anton ensures to give a moment of his time to the other twelve individuals around him, knowing the importance of a positive first impression in making everlasting bonds that will enable him to survive deep into the game. In a confessional, Anton seems optimistic that his socialising has gone well, rhetorically asking “who doesn’t love a theatrically gay and charismatic Scot sporadically singing ‘All the Lovers’ without request?”. Anton’s ‘sing-along’ jokey attitude plays well with both the women and the men during the welcome meeting, finding his antics have helped break the ice and boost everybody’s moods and ultimately their perceptions of him. Spotting Anton’s popularity increasing, Marcus decides to adopt similar tactics in order to raise his own stock with the others by putting his bar skills to the test, making everybody unique cocktails on request alongside showboating some ‘flair’ tricks. Like Anton, the group see value and appreciation to Marcus’ efforts, easily leaving the two men as the most popular players by the end of the first night. Towards midnight, the yacht docks so that the players may disembark and travel via minibus back to their overnight hotel, having been informed that they’ll be receiving their staple RVs in the morning.
The next morning, players are given a wakeup call of 7:00am in order to have them down at the RVs with time to spare. A majority of the players manage to get themselves and their belongings down and into the respective RVs within thirty-minutes, although some others lag behind and leave the group stalled. After drinking heavily during the welcome party, Joseph, Marcus and Róisín are all noted to be absent still as the time reaches 7:40am, leaving the others pondering what is taking them so long. Róisín eventually comes down, apologising as she takes her spot in the second RV alongside Ella, June, Ossie and Scruggs. Sitting together, oldest players June and Scruggs listen to younger member of the group Ossie as he quietly rants about Róisín’s ‘rudeness’ for being so late. June and Scruggs both vocalise an agreement to Ossie’s assessment, with June claiming that she’ll happily “have words” with the trio to keep them from exhibiting such a disregard for everyone’s time again. Scruggs goes on to admit that he ‘already doesn’t like Róisín’, finding her demeanour to be similar to “a lot of lazy young women in Australia”. Joseph soon joins the second RV around five minutes later, laughing as he enters and apologises for “oversleeping”. Unable to bite her tongue, June calmly and somewhat politely scolds Joseph for ‘laughing’ as he apologises, asking him if he truly doesn’t care that he’s held the group for fifteen minutes and risked them missing their first group appointment. Although still apologising, Joseph tries to defend his actions as “a one off”, mentioning in a confessional that “it isn’t a surprise the old British lady is going to be the party pooper of the tour”. At 8:00am, a frustrated Lincoln heads upstairs to find any sight of Marcus (who had been sharing a room with Joseph), angrily demanding that he “hurry” upon finding that Marcus is still packing the remainder of his things. Over forty-minutes late, Marcus eventually is able to board one of the RVs, failing to sincerely apologise to anybody for his actions. All positivity formed towards Marcus the night before quickly diminishes, with multiple players shown slating him in their confessionals, notably vocalised by Ossie brandishing him “a jerk who clearly couldn’t give two tosses that he made us late”.
Despite the delay, the group are able to eventually arrive for their tour of Sydney’s famous Royal Botanical Garden; a 74-acre heritage-listed garden that has existed in Sydney since 1816. Although a one hour tour had been planned, the players are informed that their guide is only available for thirty-additional minutes due to their late arrival, leaving the group free time to look around and find information for themselves. Frustrated due to Marcus’ actions, Ethan decides to approach the bartender in order to voice his disapproval and suggest that Marcus give the group a sincere apology over lunch ‘for his own good’. Rather than accept Ethan’s suggestion, Marcus becomes extremely defensive, questioning in his confessional “why a twenty-year old student feels he can step up to (him)”. Ethan quickly senses Marcus’ opposition to any advice on his behaviour, causing friction in tone between the pair as their discussion is cut short. Ethan declares in a confessional “I’m not a confrontational person, I hate it. But, I wanted to be assertive about how we as a group felt, and if Marcus doesn’t want to listen then really it moves the rest of us up one spot.” More positively, June spends her time at the Botanical Garden’s deeply enthralled with the variety of plants, also taking the time to talk fondly about her reasons for coming on Road Trip; an obsession with soap opera ‘Neighbours’, a cancelled honeymoon to the country due to her husbands “near self-amputation with a chainsaw”, and her life being centred around her ‘almost grown’ teenage children back home. June’s personable and kind aura causes everybody to establish warm feelings towards her, viewing her as an asset for their enjoyment and comfort moving forward in the game. Despite her ‘motherly’ appearance, June reveals in a confessional that she regards herself to be ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’. The mother of four privately exposes herself as formally being a regional Welsh champion of swimming, earning silver in a UK-wide contest during her prime. However, after abandoning her sporting career for motherhood and family life, June laments that her ‘mum-bod’ is unlikely to reveal her still apt swimming proficiency; a secret she is choosing to keep hidden for the time being.
Once the entire group has eaten lunch at the Botanical Gardens, they board their RVs and drive to the most iconic landmark found in the entirety of Australia; the Sydney Opera House. There, the players join Lincoln and Sinead who confirm that their first daily challenge will be taking place inside the world-famous building. One by one, each player will enter and watch an operatic performance by a single soprano, with the soprano singing single verses from five different pieces back to back. During the performance, each player will be given a folder that contains the lyrics to fifteen different operatic pieces, with their goal being to determine which five pieces are being sung and in what order. However, none of the pieces (nor the singing) are in English, and instead will consist of performances in French, German, Italian, Latin and Spanish. The player to finish the task in the fastest time will be declared the winner, earning themselves a ‘Golden Fob Lifesaver’ good until the final five, whilst the slowest performer will automatically be nominated for the first repatriation. Each player takes their turn on the task, with several easily struggling due to their inability to distinguish the languages or find any phonetic matches on their list of lyrics. Girls Hannah, Hattie and Tiara are all shown individually struggling, with Tiara declaring that she ‘should’ve paid more attention in Modern Language classes’. Similarly, Ossie also is shown to have no hope in differentiating what he is hearing, guessing several times before finally getting the right combination and order. Unlike the foursome, some other players are shown excelling through the task, with ‘semi-opera-fan’ June recognising two of the five pieces immediately, and Kylie Minogue superfan Anton claiming that “having a German and a Spanish ex has never been more useful”. After all thirteen have competed, Lincoln and Sinead gather the group in the auditorium to read out the results. Hannah is announced to have finished in the slowest time behind Tiara, automatically leaving her vulnerable to be the first booted from the road trip. Lincoln then announces that Anton and June were the fastest pair of the day, but that overall Anton was able to narrowly beat out his competitor and claim victory, giving him the first ‘Golden Fob Lifesaver’ of the season. The players congratulate Anton on his win, also supplying their condolences towards Hannah whilst also being secretly glad to have momentarily been spared her fate. Finished with their events for the day, the players begin getting ready for a night around Sydney to talk through the results. However, a sudden argument is shown to break out between Róisín and Scruggs out of nowhere, with Róisín claiming to have overheard Scruggs saying that ‘he wishes she was nominated over Hannah’. Scruggs owns the comment, reiterating his disdain towards Róisín for her behaviour earlier that morning. As the pair continue to raise in their aggression and anger towards one another, the opera house security are shown intervening, pushing the camera crew and players out of the vicinity before things get out of hand.
===Episode #2 - Bye and Byron Bay===
Immediately following the last episode, Róisín and Scruggs continue their argument after being escorted outside the opera house, with everybody appearing still confused as to how the argument had begun. Not wanting to see such an escalated argument on the second evening, the group quickly separate Róisín and Scruggs, hoping to keep them apart for the remainder of the night. Róisín is taken to one side by Anton and Hattie, both of whom tell her that Scruggs ‘was completely out of line’, evidently believing him to be the greater aggressor in the situation. Anton admits to the ladies that if he were able to nominate somebody for repatriation, that he “wouldn’t hesitate to pick Scruggs” after the argument, offering Róisín his support if they come to blows again. Hattie responds by calling this mindset “a bit of a waste”, going on to ridicule Scruggs’ intelligence as “minimal… like half those inbred Aussie outback types”. Hattie’s crude remarks are overheard by some others, namely Tiara and June. The two women stand with Ethan as the group walk towards a dinner-venue, telling him what it was that they overheard Hattie say. Tiara goes on to expose that she had heard Hattie using “less than politically correct terms” hours earlier, with Ethan and June confessing a lack of surprise due to the “stuck up snobby vibe” that Hattie has supposedly been giving off. The trio admit to believing that Hattie won’t last long into the tour, particularly as they assume they are not the only three already turning against her. Throughout the rest of the evening, the group enjoy their first sit-down meal together, doing their best to talk through the night’s argument and challenge. Not wanting to end the night with continued hostility, the group encourage a calmed down Scruggs and Róisín to take a moment alone to discuss their differences, hoping that it’ll promote peace for the foreseeable future. Róisín and Scruggs take up the offer, heading to a quieter area outside the restaurant in order to speak together, where they quickly come to an understanding that their ‘feud’ would serve neither of them well. Instead, Scruggs assures Róisín that he has no issue with Hannah being the individual currently nominated, citing a desire to vote her out due to finding that she “isn’t making an effort” like the other eleven players. Róisín voices her appreciation towards Scruggs for this, agreeing that Hannah equally has made no effort towards her during their time, and that unless things ‘significantly change’ she too would be willing to see that she leaves the game first.
The next morning, the players arise early in order to undertake an eight hour journey to the beachside town Byron Bay. On the journey, younger player Lucy is shown talking to June, with both ladies bonding over their adoration for a multitude of television shows. Lucy begins theorising to June about what the next daily challenge could be, suggesting that her beliefs are it will involve ‘beach or water sports’ due to the location now being known. June remains silent on her swimming prowess, instead quickly agreeing with Lucy’s perceptions. Lucy goes on to tell June that her deepest fear would be to leave the game first, knowing that to avoid this she simply has to prevent herself falling into last place in the next daily challenge. June does her best to calm Lucy’s paranoia and nerves, being aware that her young age will make the experience more emotionally demanding than it will be for others. In the other RV, Tiara and Joseph play a game of dominoes together to pass the time, with Tiara mentioning that she is a ‘household champion’ at the game. Although Joseph doesn’t seem particularly enthralled by the game, the pair appear to get along during their conversation, where Joseph opens up about his mixed Australian and Chinese heritage. Tiara is able to relate to his experience, admitting that she wishes she was more in touch with her family’s Kittitian background. The pair further laugh about being told they ‘act white’ (or other bigoted terms that imply they are not in touch with their non-white backgrounds), finding that much of the bigotry they have faced in life has been internalised from ‘others that look like them’. In his confessional, Joseph laments that “Tiara is told she acts ‘white’ because she’s well spoken, dresses smartly and is from a wealthy successful family… I’m told I’m not Chinese enough because I sucked in school, and I can’t cook for s**t… so, maybe if that mentality translates here I’ll have a better shot at winning in the end based on history”.
Just after midday, the players arrive at Byron Bay where they park-up beside the sea front. After changing into their bathing suits, the thirteen players join Lincoln and Sinead on the beach where they’re given information pertaining to their next daily challenge. One at a time, each player will be given five minutes to swim out along a course, collecting a key from a buoy stationed at the end. The player must then swim back and use their key to unlock a chest filled with letter puzzles pieces, determining that in order these pieces will spell out ‘SECOND DAILY WINNER’. The individual with the fastest time as usual will be declared the winner and earn themselves the second of two ‘Golden Fob Lifesavers’, whilst the slowest time will automatically face Hannah in the first repatriation of the season. All the players take their turns competing, with the challenge being the first indication of June’s strong physicality and stamina in the water, speeding through the course and returning to her puzzle in one of the fastest times recorded. Similarly, several other women are shown speeding through the swimming portion of the challenge, also utilising their problem solving skills to lock in a quicker time. On the other end of the spectrum, Hattie is shown floundering in the water for some time, clearly having a poor ability to swim against a light tide, whilst Joseph ends up over swimming and veering out of the course, costing him time as he panics and momentarily drops and loses his key. In the end, first challenge runner-up June is able to come out on top the second time around, placing comfortably higher than other strong finishers Lucy, Róisín and Tiara to become the first female winner of a ‘Golden Fob Lifesaver’. The group unite in giving June a round of applause, clearly happy for the well-liked middle aged woman to best them all despite their misconceptions as to how she would be as a performer. Sinead then announces that Joseph has narrowly finished in last place over Hattie, with his over-swimming, losing the key and failing to decipher the puzzle quickly all adding up to give him the single worst time of the day. Hannah and Joseph glumly stand side by side as they are told they’ll be given just one hour to campaign for their safety before somebody becomes the first person repatriated from the tour.
Remaining on Byron Beach, the players split up to enjoy the weather and local beach bars, also utilising their time to determine who between the two nominees they’ll be voting to send home. Despite no longer facing the probability of going home, Lucy continues her vocalisation of ‘fearing being the first one out’, having little to no social awareness as to how her words are impacting on Hannah and Joseph. As she talks further, the entire group become irritated by Lucy’s personality, with Joseph privately noting it “has less to do with age and more to do with the fact she’s f**king annoying”. Reasoning that he has nothing to lose and having had enough of Lucy’s behaviour, Anton decides to pull Lucy to one side and scold her for her language, telling her that she is “acting rather callous and bratty” about the situation. Stunned to hear this, Lucy tries to reason with Anton that she was talking about her ‘own’ fear of leaving first, to which Anton plainly tells her that “it isn’t a unique fear, sweetie. Every single person who ever has played and ever will play this game has that exact fear, and nobody needs you to rub it in minutes before they have to start pleading for their safety…”. Anton storms off after scolding the nineteen year old, settling down with others to grab a drink as he affirms he’ll “say no more on childish behaviour”. In her confessional, Lucy tearily seems confused by Anton’s reaction, ironically further increasing her paranoia that she may not be so comfortable in the game she is desperate to play. Elsewhere, both nominees are shown to be talking around to find the support needed to remain in the game. Joseph appears concerned that his ‘rude’ behaviour after arriving late could cost him, knowing that several players are reeling for an opportunity to take a swipe at him. Alternatively, Hannah’s more passive and introverted personality worries both her and others, confused if she is naturally this way or simply doesn’t feel at ease with the group she has been placed in. At the vote, the eligible players gather around to cast their key-fobs for who they’d like to repatriate, with the result comfortably eliminating Hannah in a 7-2 vote after only Ella and Ossie voted against Joseph. Hannah silently accepts her fate, hugging everybody goodbye as she blames her early departure on ‘not opening up enough’. Relieved to have survived, Joseph promises to make it up to each and every person who kept him around, secretly knowing that such a feat would undoubtedly be impossible.
===Episode #3 - Foul Play at the Buffet===
The morning after Hannah’s repatriation, the group are woken early yet again to begin a two hour drive from Byron Bay to the nearby city of Brisbane. On the journey, Róisín, Lucy and Marcus sit together and discuss their mutual ‘rocky start’ that they each feel they’ve had during the journey so far. The trio laugh about the fact they’ve already ‘blown it’ with first impressions, with Marcus and Lucy in particular both believing that they are likely candidates to be booted if they’re unable to fix their social standing or win the next daily challenge. Róisín proposes to the pair that they make an agreement not to nominate one another should they win, further going on to suggest that if anybody else brings up any of their names as options that they work together to “dissuade and put the target on someone else”. Marcus and Lucy both eagerly agree to the proposal, feeling more confident that moving forward they’ll stand a better chance at surviving in spite of rocky beginnings. Arriving in Brisbane, the players head together to a local restaurant for brunch, having been told to eat their fill before participating in their next daily challenge. Taking advantage of the restaurant’s ‘open buffet’, Róisín is heard joking that “you don’t have to tell June twice” (concerning ‘eating your full’), gesturing to June’s hefty portions on her plate. This remark immediately causes backlash from Ossie, calling Róisín “a bitch” for the remark, clearly finding no humour in her food/weight-related joke aimed towards oldest woman June. After also becoming aware of the joke, June also speaks up against Róisín’s ‘sense of humour’, finding it unnecessarily rude, particularly after June points out that Róisín is “no lean bean (herself)”. The threesome continue arguing back and forth, with it becoming adamantly clear that Róisín has managed to irritate two further players in the game against her. Ultimately, Marcus intervenes in the conflict by telling Ossie to “cool off on the attitude”, finding it “pretty out of order” that he would label Róisín ‘a bitch’ for “a stupid joke”. Ossie plainly tells Marcus to “stay out of it”, continuing his disdain towards two of the ‘latecomers’ from the first day. In a confessional, Ossie reiterates his intent to see Marcus or Róisín leave the game next, citing his disliking of ‘rudeness’ as being paramount as to why he voted to eliminate Joseph over Hannah at the first repatriation, despite knowing the majority would do the opposite. Alternatively, Róisín is shown in her confessional putting her heads in her hands for “putting (her) foot in it” with the badly received joke. Róisín continues by announcing a realisation that “half of these people hate me… especially Ossie, June and Scruggs”, knowing that she will need to make peace with or eliminate this trio if she has any hope of remaining in the game. Róisín finishes her confessional by theorising “my mam is totally autistic, like diagnosed by her teachers and everything… like functioning autistic… so, maybe I’m half autistic and this process will be my diagnosis?”.
After a not-so-relaxing lunch, the players are given free time to explore Brisbane before regathering later for their next daily challenge. Having not spent so much time together, Ella and Joseph are seen walking around shops together, with the latter assuring Ella that there are “no hard feelings” on his part that she had been one of the two votes to repatriate him from the game. Ella explains that whilst she and Hannah were not ‘best friends’, that she felt a sense of loyalty to her after the pair shared a room on the first night; a sentiment that Joseph ‘completely understands’. The twosome are shown to continue getting along as they talk through much of their free time alone, with Ella laughing and blushing after she is asked in a confessional if she ‘has a crush’ on Joseph, asserting that “there’ll be no leg spreading during Road Trip on (her) part”. Nevertheless, when asked the same question, Joseph similarly laughs, but refuses to rule out “a friendship with Ella becoming an alliance with Ella becoming a fling with Ella”. Eventually, the pair are joined by Joseph’s first night roommate and fellow latecomer Marcus, who jokingly comments on the ‘chemistry’ between the pair. Once Marcus’ comments are brushed aside, the trio begin discussing the ‘targets’ for the next repatriation, worried that any of them could easily be cast aside after seeing the same happen so easily to Hannah. Ella brings up that Hattie would be a viable candidate to target in a ‘group consensus’ exposing that she had heard from others that Hattie has regularly been making ‘bigoted’ remarks about nationalities and other minority groups. Disgusted by what they’re being told, both Joseph and Marcus tell Ella that they’d be more than willing to see Hattie exposed and eliminated next, whilst additionally feeling more comfortable that somebody outside their ‘bonds’ is perhaps taking more heat than them.
Once their free time is up, the twelve road trippers head together to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary; a sanctuary that holds a variety of native Australian species, including koalas, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, wombats and assorted reptiles. The group join Lincoln and Sinead for a tour of the complex, with each player given an opportunity to momentarily hold and take a photo with one of the sanctuary’s many koalas. Upon finishing the tour, the players head to an indoor area where they’re told they’ll be participating in their next daily challenge. Quite simply, each player will be going from ‘the soft to the scaly’, being forced to retrieve eight ‘stars’ (that have been screwed in) from a tank that contains fifteen medium-sized pythons. The players are assured that none of the snakes involved in the task are poisonous, but that they still must exhibit “caution and sensibility” when handling them in participation. Due to the challenge paying homage to popular Australian-hosted reality television franchise ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’, Lincoln and Sinead reveal that the challenge will be hosted by ‘the thinking man’s Angelina Jolie’ herself; Julia Morris. All twelve players laugh and cheer as Julia enters, although some later confess to having been confused as to who she was. Julia explains to the players that they will each be given five minutes to retrieve all eight stars, with the person to retrieve the least stars automatically facing repatriation, and the individual who retrieves the most being declared the winner. In the event of any tied scores, the time the players take will be taken into account. Several players are shown possessing a major fear of snakes, tepidly approaching the task and losing time as a result. First challenge winner Anton continuously screams as his hand enters the tank, clearly struggling with the reality of handling any of the snakes. Similarly, Ella and Ossie both talk about snakes being ‘big fears’ for them, although the latter uses his fear to propel himself to unscrew his stars even faster. Julia laughs as she watches self-described ‘outback overlord’ Scruggs take on the task, detailing no fear or concern as he calms moves the snakes out the way, confessing that he has “handled bigger snakes in (his) time” (a sentiment that Sinead is heard relating to). After all twelve contestants have competed, Julia reveals that Scruggs was able to come out on top to claim the daily win over runner-up Ossie, giving him the right to nominate a player of his choosing to face repatriation. Of the bottom finishers, Julia names previous winner Anton as having fallen into last place after only getting one star in the five minutes. Not wanting to risk his neck this early on, Anton hands his lifesaver over to Sinead, making him immune and leaving Julia to declare that as the next-lowest finishers either Ella or Hattie (at two stars each) will take his place. Due to being slower, Ella is left automatically nominated, causing her to begin silently hoping that Scruggs will nominate somebody she can easily survive against. In a confessional, Scruggs claims that his first instinct had been to nominate ‘enemy’ Róisín due to their conflict. However, he goes on to note that the two had ‘made some peace’ and that ‘as a man of his word, he’ll honour it’, resulting in Scruggs selecting ‘irritant’ Lucy to be his nominee. Lucy immediately begins tearing up as she is nominated, doing her best to not completely break down and wail in front of the entire group. Lincoln tells both women that they’ll have an hour to campaign for their safety before regathering outside by the sanctuary entrance to discover which of them will be the second person to leave the road trip.
Lucy is shown quickly walking away from the group as they are dismissed, with fellow-nominee Ella following her to give her some comfort as she sobs into her hands. Watching the girls walk off, Anton is seen rolling his eyes and exclaiming “she is so annoying… grow the hell up. It’s supposed to be her favourite show yet she doesn’t seem to understand the concept of it at all”, with others visibly nodding in agreement. Behind the challenge building, Ella spends time alone with Lucy to ensure that she is okay, reminding her not to take the game personally and instead fight for her safety as “it isn’t over until Lincoln and Sinead say it is”. In her confessional, Ella claims that whilst she could have taken advantage of the situation by letting Lucy go off alone and sulk, that she “couldn’t just see someone go off like that when they need to be shown some compassion”. Lucy voices her appreciation towards Ella, admitting that she won’t be able to say a bad thing about her in the campaigning, but rather will hope that people “don’t see (her) as a threat”. The girls hug as they wish one another luck before heading over to begin their final forty-five minutes of strategy. Ella is shown approaching Joseph and Marcus for assistance with her campaigning, hoping with their two votes that she will already be off to a solid start in reaching the five needed to remain in the game. Elsewhere, Lucy speaks with Róisín in hope that they’ll continue looking out for one another, with Róisín agreeing to stick to her earlier word, believing that Marcus will also honour their agreement. Additionally, Lucy’s vulnerability is shown to sway players such as June, noting that she’d feel “tremendous guilt” contributing to ending Lucy’s time on Road Trip. In the end, the players regather by the sanctuary entrance where those eligible cast their key-fobs for who they’d like to leave the game, again decisively coming to a 6-3 vote to repatriate Lucy from the game. Lucy once again breaks down in tears, mumbling that it ”can’t be happening” as she refuses to accept her time on her favourite show has already come to an end after just four days. Rather than say her goodbyes properly, Lucy only hugs Ella, June, Róisín and Marcus goodbye (falsely assuming that Marcus had voted to keep her and being unaware that the third vote was in fact from Ossie). Anton and others are shown hugging Ella, clearly glad to be rid of Lucy and her paranoia, viewing her attitude on exit as proof they made the right decision. As the players exit the sanctuary and head back to the RVs, Anton is heard jokingly exclaiming that he “would’ve held onto the lifesaver if (he) knew Lucy was going up”.
===Episode #4 - Surf and Turf===
The final eleven road trippers begin their two hour journey further north to the coastal area of the Shire of Noosa. During the drive, Róisín is heard defending recently repatriated player Lucy, calling the attitudes and comments against her “borderline malicious and a bit too high-school for (her) liking”. Not appreciating Róisín’s supposed attempts to label individuals ‘malicious’, Anton vocalises his irritation towards her mindset, requesting that Róisín “give everyone examples” as to how such an observation was reached. Róisín happily specifies her comment as being aimed partially towards himself, thinking that “as a grown man, it felt at times you had a bit of an issue with a nineteen year old girl”. Anton raises his voice, calling Róisín “delusional for trying to act like nineteen is a child… if you’re nineteen and you’re annoying you deserve to be told, because nobody needs to act so immature at that age”. In a confessional, Róisín continues to smear Anton, noting her beliefs that “Lucy was probably autistic… that was my observation as someone who has autism in my family. So, for Anton to not recognise this and make these bullying remarks; I don’t like it at all.” The pair are prevented from arguing any further, with Scruggs shouting for everybody to “shut the hell up”. Sitting next to Anton, June is quietly heard telling him that whilst she agrees there needed to be more compassion towards Lucy, that she doesn’t appreciate “Róisín’s attempts at defiling people’s characters on national television”, calling her “a cold and calculated individual” for this. Anton thanks June for seeing the same ‘reality’ that he sees around Róisín, hoping that moving forward they can work together to oust her from the game along with the rest of the ‘annoying players’. In the other RV, ‘outsider’ Hattie is seen laughing and talking to tour hunk Ossie, clearly flirting with him as she hears his stereotypical ‘Aussie surfer’ tales. In a confessional, Ossie claims to not mind Hattie flirting with him, admitting that it has been a while since he’s “seen any action”. However, he goes on to point out that connecting himself too closely to Hattie could be problematic, particularly as there are quite a few individuals on the tour feeling less than positive towards her. Nevertheless, Ossie entertains Hattie’s advances for the remainder of the journey, with Hattie hoping that getting in with Ossie will ultimately benefit her long-term in the process.
Upon arriving in Noosa, the players disembark their RVs and head to a local beachfront where they’re given free time to enjoy the sun, sea, sand and assortment of beach bars. Feeling somewhat sorry for Róisín after her argument with Anton, Ethan joins the Irish teacher in the water, beginning a conversation about her jealousy towards his naturally more tanned skin. After small talk, Ethan voices his appreciation towards Róisín ‘keeping it real’ with her approach to the game, finding it sad that as someone who speaks her mind that she will be demonised by other players. Róisín tells Ethan that she’ll “never be someone who just conforms for the sake of conforming”, and that “winning the game isn’t worth selling your soul or acting like a bully”. Quietly, Ethan confesses to Róisín that he had been the victim of relentless bullying through much of his high-school, and that his biggest fear was a repeat of these events in a ‘pressure cooker environment’ such as Road Trip. Feeling protective, Róisín hugs Ethan as they soak together in the shallow waters, assuring him that “there’ll be no bullying whilst I’m still on the trip… so, keep me around and you’ll be grand”, jokingly sending him a wink and a nudge after delivery. Over by one of the beach bars, Hattie continues trying to better her position in the game, this time by approaching previous daily winner Scruggs and asking him for his viewpoint on individuals in danger moving forward. Scruggs tells Hattie that he theorises that “one of the rudes” (Joseph, Marcus and Róisín) or ‘quieter members’ Ella, Ethan and Tiara will be at risk, assuring Hattie that she could survive well into the game if she ‘works alongside the right people’. Hoping to get involved in what she suspects is an alliance consisting of Anton, June, Ossie and Scruggs, Hattie pledges to ‘vote however she’s needed’, giving Scruggs confidence in his confessional that “the power remains in the hands of those of us who have shown we can win these challenges”.
Crashing the party, Lincoln and Sinead arrive on the beach to gather the eleven players together for their next daily challenge. For their challenge, each player will board a surfboard and stand upright, with the surfboards connected via a wire leading back to the shore to ensure that they don’t float away. The aim of the challenge is simply to be the last player stood on their surfboard, with anybody who falls off or places a part of their body on the surfboard other than their feet being eliminated. All eleven players take their position, knowing that the first individual to fall will automatically face the next repatriation. With the tide somewhat steady, the players realise that the first portion of the challenge will solely be about personal balance and positioning. Despite the lack of motion, Ethan, Hattie and Marcus are all shown with wobbly knees, with the fear of falling causing their wobbles to become even more severe. After just ninety-seconds, Hattie falls screaming from her surfboard face first into the sea, with Ethan jumping off seconds later after having the assurance that somebody else would fall first. Wobbler Marcus joins the pair seconds later, swimming in and taking his spot next to them beside Lincoln and Sinead on the beach. Six minutes into the challenge, only five players remain after Scruggs, Tiara and Ella join the eliminated players on the beach, having fallen from their surfboards in a variety of fashions. Scruggs begins vocally calling June “a bit of a threat” loudly as he notes the forty-six year old performing well in yet another challenge, jokingly calling for “a group consensus to remove a threat” should she fail to win. Joseph is the next to fall at the ten minute mark after the motion of the waves begins to pick up, causing Róisín to join him in the water a mere thirty-seconds later. Hattie and Scruggs watch on happily as they see Anton, June and Ossie as the final three, with the latter in particular confident that his ‘alliance’ will be retaining power. Anton fails to win his second daily challenge as he falls in third place, leaving a showdown between regional swimming champion June and leisurely surfer Ossie. In the end, the game sees a brand new daily winner as Ossie snatches victory from June after she bends her knees too low and falls sideways into the ocean, hugging him as they reach the shore and congratulating her friend on his victory. Ossie is told by Lincoln and Sinead to name his nominee to face flirting friend Hattie in repatriation, wanting to select somebody he feels would leave the game over her and benefit his position more with their exit. Unsurprisingly, Ossie chooses to nominate Róisín in this position, citing his reasons as “lots of drama and friction around Róisín, and our own personal issues that I think we’ve had with each other”. Despite Ossie’s confidence, Róisín scoffs and rhetorically asks others “Issues? I didn’t realise I had issues with him. To be honest I forget his name if it wasn’t for them saying it” as she takes her spot beside Hattie. Sinead tells the girls that they’ll be given an hour to campaign for their survival, before regathering and finding out which of them will be the third person to leave the tour.
Although the players believe that the conversations will solely be around repatriating either Hattie or Róisín, June is heard quickly pulling Scruggs to one side to scold him for his behaviour during the challenge. June points out to Scruggs that whilst his comments may have been jokes, that it “definitely put ideas into peoples heads because they’ll be looking at those of us who won as threats”. Refusing to take accountability, Scruggs tells June that she is overreacting, reminding her that nobody outside ‘the four of them’ has won a challenge. However, June points out to Scruggs that “they don’t need to win for one of us to be nominated… one of us just has to lose, which happened to Anton”. The pair end the conversation without Scruggs offering an apology, with his assurances to June failing to alleviate her anger, illustrated by her referring to him as “an idiot I’m unfortunately tethered to right now” in her confessional. Elsewhere, the other players are shown to begin their efforts at determining how the votes will go, with a lot of talk centring around Róisín being a ‘bigger threat’ than Hattie in challenges, and also a bigger causer of conflict due to her audacious personality. Ossie appears confident as Anton, June and Scruggs let it be known that their votes will be going towards Róisín, believing that if they keep ‘unlikeable’ Hattie that they’ll keep an extra vote for themselves in the game. Nevertheless, Róisín continues to fight hard to find the votes needed to survive, particularly seeking support off Marcus after the two had made a deal the previous day. Marcus begins speaking to soft-alliance members Ella and Joseph, voicing his hope that they could somehow turn the vote onto Hattie after her remarks have ‘upset’ players behind the scenes. The trio agree that trying to save Róisín and turning the tide on those who’ve held the power may be the best thing, but go on to admit they worry that ‘floaters’ Ethan and Tiara will simply vote with whoever appears to have more power. Róisín tells the trio that she believes she can ‘reach’ Ethan, leading her to once again have a one on one with the now youngest member of the tour. Ethan tells Róisín that he’d personally rather see her remain in the game, but that he’d not be willing to cause a tie that hands the power back to Ossie, viewing this as “throwing (himself) to the lions” in a failed move. With the hour up, the eleven players regather on the beach and listen as Hattie and Róisín give their final pleas as to why they should remain in the game. Before the group can vote, Joseph requests a moment to speak, receiving permission to do so from Lincoln. Joseph uses this moment to call out Hattie and her ‘remarks’, with much of what he says being censored due to containing supposed ‘slurs’ and ‘jokes’ that Hattie has made towards Australians, Asians, Black individuals and the LGBTQ+ community. Joseph tells the group that they “cannot in good conscience keep someone in the game who is so vehemently against the diversity and inclusion that Road Trip claims to represent”. Hattie quickly fires back a response to Joseph, calling his accusations completely untrue (despite several players shown nodding along in confirmation to his speech), and labelling him “a disgusting person for trying to slander me just because you’re worried about where you stand in the game”. Not liking the ugly direction of the argument, Lincoln intervenes and tells the players that it’s time to vote, giving those eligible the chance to place their key-fobs in for who they’d like to repatriate from the game. In a shocking result, the ‘non-winning’ side are shown to successfully turn the tables and eliminate Hattie in a 5-3 result, with Joseph and Ethan’s last-minute efforts swaying Tiara to give them a majority. Róisín jumps in the air repeatedly in excitement, running over and hugging those who she knows have spared her neck. Alternatively, Hattie takes a moment to let the result sink in, eventually scolding Joseph as “repulsive” before saying her goodbyes to a select few players. The final ten players eventually return to the RVs to sleep overnight, with the foursome of Anton, June, Ossie and Scruggs now realising that the power and the game has been turned against them despite their four consecutive wins.
===Episode #5 - Top to Bottom, Bottom to Top===
Immediately following Hattie’s repatriation, the members of the ‘winning’ alliance begin to display paranoia and concern that they are now a minority of four against the other six players in the game. Anton is seen pulling Ethan to one side outside the RVs, plainly asking him “What happened? What changed?” after he had been lead to believe that Ethan and Tiara were both firmly in the camp of voting Róisín out. Ethan confesses to Anton that he felt much closer to Róisín than he did Hattie, telling Anton that he “won’t apologise or explain (himself) for doing what is best for his game”. Wanting to pacify and appease Ethan, Anton plays the result off as calmly as he can, assuring Ethan that he ‘completely understands’ and cannot fault him for doing what he felt was the smartest thing. Anton then seeks assurance from Ethan that he isn’t now in a minority, worrying that this result could “be a sign that (he’s) totally screwed”; a scenario that Ethan claims isn’t accurate. In his confessional, Ethan notes that whilst the six players voted together, there still lacks an official ‘alliance’ between them, but that he suspects there will be a continuation of reducing the numbers of the ‘winning’ alliance. Similarly, June is seen having an almost identical conversation with Ella, wanting to know when and how the vote had changed from Róisín to Hattie. Ella tells June that there had been fear of ‘alliances’ in the game, and that combined with the almost universal disliking towards Hattie, that it made it an environment where keeping Róisín felt like the smarter option. June lies to Ella that there “was definitely not an alliance that (she) was a part of”, leaving Ella to reassure her that “people still really like (her)” and she shouldn’t take the vote as anything more than being bad for Hattie and Ossie.
The next morning, the remaining players board the RVs and drive to the coastal town of River Heads, where they then catch a ferry to Fraser Island; a protected World Heritage Site with a varied biodiversity that has been inhabited for at least the last 5,000 years. On the journey, Anton is seen continuing his paranoid attempts at saving himself and shifting the blame elsewhere, this time by speaking privately to Róisín and Marcus, telling the pair that he believes “a lot of the paranoia and confusion about supposed alliances is all coming from Ossie… he has bad energy and really had it in for (Róisín) and definitely was the person drawing an unnecessary line”. Pleased to see division already amongst the foursome, Róisín and Marcus humour Anton by joining in on the Ossie slander, identifying that they’d both like to see him repatriated from the game next. In a confessional, Róisín mentions that she doesn’t “really have it in (her) heart to forgive Ossie, because he shot at me a few times and he keeps missing… I hope he won’t be so lucky”. Róisín tells Anton that if he wants to ensure his safety that she’d recommends he make it known that Ossie would also be his target, and ultimately “avoid any association with Scruggs and June”, who Róisín also claims “aren’t looking too secure right now”. Aboard the ferry, the players are quickly served a packed lunch, giving them time to eat and drink before arriving on Fraser Island and compete in their next daily challenge. Over lunch, Ella entertains the group with tales from her university, utilising humour and relatability to have the group warm to her further. In her confessional, Ella claims to believe that Hattie’s elimination is ‘a clear turning point’ for those without power to take control of the game, now feeling confident that she and others could become ‘heavy hitters’ going into the tour’s second-half. With the group all feeling more positively towards Ella by the end of the lunch, she begins to hold more self-belief that she could become “a bit of a Road Trip legend”. Also over lunch, Ethan approaches Marcus to make sure that both men are ‘on better terms’ after they had argued several days prior. Marcus guarantees Ethan that they’re “bread and butter” moving forward, a comment that initially confuses Ethan until he realises it means complimentary of each other. Marcus reminds Ethan that they were able to vote together at the previous repatriation, voicing his want of continuing “the six of us voting together to make sure the other four don’t get any of their influence back”.
Just after midday, the remaining players join Lincoln and Sinead on one of the beaches of Fraser Island, eager to hear what will be their next daily challenge will entail. Lincoln explains to the players that they’ll be taking on a ‘scavenger hunt’ type challenge, with each player expected to find an assortment of tokens across the island, and the individual to find all five tokens in the fastest time being crowned the winner. However, each token is hidden in the islands varied locations; beachfront, shallow creeks, mangrove swamps, jungle, and ‘champagne pools’. Players are randomly paired up and draw for starting positions, with each pair running at the same time towards one another (eventually crossing) and finishing at opposite locations. As the players compete, the group are shown to be tested on their ability to read maps, use a compass and ultimately solve riddles to determine the next location of their required token. Róisín is shown performing extremely well, running through the challenge in a determined fashion in order to retain her newfound ‘safety’ in the game, and also wanting to earn the right to nominate to put Ossie or Scruggs up for repatriation. Similarly, allies Ella and Joseph also are shown whizzing through the scavenger hunt, passing their ‘pair’ rivals Marcus and Ossie respectively, both of whom look lost as they traverse the island terrain. Repeated top performer June is also yet again shown to be in a strong position as she finishes the hunt in one of the fastest times of the day, knowing that with a target firmly on her back that she’ll need to do all she can to remain deep into the game. Despite fearing for their safety, both Anton and Scruggs are shown getting deeply lost in the challenge, with Scruggs particularly finding issue after he misplaces his compass within the mangrove swamp, spending ten minutes fruitlessly feeling around the swampy waters for his needed tool. Once all ten have competed, Sinead regathers the players in the shade of the beachfront, reading out that Ella and Róisín have finished as the top two of the day, and that Ossie and Scruggs have alternatively both fallen to the bottom of the pack. Lincoln then names Ella as having won her first daily challenge, giving her the right to nominate a player of her choosing to face Scruggs – who is announced to have finished with the slowest time. Without hesitation, Ella steps up and declares that her nominee will be done “in the interest of what is fairest and what feels best for (her) game based on the last vote”, selecting Ossie to go head-to-head with ally Scruggs in a continuation of the ‘winning alliance’s’ decimation.
Knowing that one of them will certainly be leaving the game, ‘allies’ Ossie and Scruggs wish one another luck before separating to begin their campaigns, knowing that they’ve only been given an hour before one of them becomes the final pre-jury repatriation of the season. Ossie is seen spending time with closest ally June, who openly tells Ossie that they “cannot afford to lose (him) as a member” of their alliance, whilst Scruggs is “completely expendable” due to “a lack of strategic intellect”. Alternatively, Scruggs seeks support outside his initial alliance, believing that anger and fear of Ossie is greater than that held towards him, giving him the best chance of survival amongst those he had initially aimed to send home. Much of Scruggs’ attention is centred around ‘rival’ Róisín, with whom he has since made peace following their argument on the second night. Róisín tells Scruggs that she fully intends to vote to repatriate Ossie, displaying confidence that she can get a majority of others to do the same. Róisín honours her claim, spending time talking to ally Marcus and other voters to promote the belief that Ossie is the greatest threat of his side, and that they cannot squander the opportunity to vote him out of the game. Swing voters Ethan and Tiara are later shown talking yet again, having formulated a close bond and trust with one another since the start of the game. Tiara is seen ushering Joseph over to join them, wanting to suggest a three person alliance between him, Ethan and herself to reach the end stage of the game. Both boys naturally agree to the proposal, with Joseph keeping quiet about his own deals with Ella and Marcus. The trio spend time talking through the vote, knowing that June seems the most interested in saving Ossie, whilst Róisín is leading the charge for those to keep Scruggs due to being ‘a lesser threat’. Tiara confesses to boys that she dislikes the idea Róisín has gone “from someone at the bottom who needed us, to thinking that she can call the shots”, believing that once again they can turn the vote and remind her that “she can quite as easily find herself in trouble very soon”. Ethan and Joseph laugh at Tiara’s theatrical speech, not telling Tiara that they both in fact like and trust Róisín as a player. Sensing that the boys may not totally be on board with her pitch, Tiara reminds the men that they are “probably going to stop driving north and start heading westward towards the Outback… the place where Scruggs is familiar and will thrive above the rest of us”, whereas Ossie is “quickly coming out of his element if we leave cities and beaches behind”. In his confessional, Ethan talks about the vote being “a lot of ifs and buts”, uncertain whether his trust and friendship with Róisín and Tiara can be mutually inclusive facets of his game. He goes on to admit that he has yet to make up his mind on the vote, once again seeking to stick to a majority and then “deal with whatever the fallout, and try to make sure that Róisín or Tiara isn’t too angry at how it went”. At sunset, the players reconvene on the beachfront where Ossie and Scruggs give their last minute pleas, similarly talking about trust and loyalty, as well as trying to play down their own ‘threat level’. In the end, Tiara and June get their way after the group strip Róisín of her sense of control, repatriating less social and strategic Scruggs in a 5-2 vote after only Marcus joined Róisín in casting his vote against Ossie. Ossie breathes a sigh of relief as he hugs his former ally goodbye, glad to know that he remains in the battle to go head to head with rival Róisín, who is seen stoically trying to run through numbers in her own mind to determine who flipped on her plan. The remaining nine players all reboard their ferry as they wave goodbye to Scruggs, slowly abandoning him upon Fraser Island as they return to the mainland.
===Episode #7 - Savouring the Advantage===
Overnight, the remaining nine players recuperate and sleep in the RVs as they’re supplied drivers to take them on the fifteen-hour journey north towards the coastal town of Tully. Midway on the journey, Joseph sits up screaming, seemingly having a night terror as he mumbles about ‘naked rats crawling on his body’. Those around Joseph do their best to calm him down and get him back to sleep, trying not to laugh too hard as he quietly drifts back off into sleep. After getting Joseph back to sleep, Anton and Marcus quietly talk together as they remain the only two individuals awake in their RV. Marcus tells Anton that the last result has left him ‘concerned and confused’, having expected Anton to be one of the other votes that would’ve sent Ossie home over Scruggs. Anton tells Marcus that he “went with the numbers”, going as far to warn Marcus that “there’s a group of people playing this a lot harder than any of us realised”. Marcus appears to be in agreement that the pair of them are unlikely considered power players in the game at this stage, suggesting that they do what they can to change this in the coming rounds. Anton smiles at Marcus’ suggestion, talking in his confessional about “worming (his) way back into this game” and distancing himself from the doomed ‘winning alliance’. The next morning, the other RV hosts a conversation between early-risers Ethan, Róisín and Tiara, with Ethan gathering the women to talk through the previous vote. Citing both women as his closest allies and friends in the game, Ethan hopes that the open dialogue will encourage Róisín and Tiara to work together rather than apart, and seemingly prevent Róisín from taking being left out of the Scruggs vote to heart. Róisín tells both Ethan and Tiara that she “doesn’t understand why (they) lied”, concerned that “Ossie could easily win another challenge and send (her) packing”. Tiara deflects on Róisín’s point by telling her that Scruggs equally would’ve targeted her in the game, promising that “Ossie isn’t sticking around any longer than one or two more rounds”. After thirty-minutes, Róisín appears to be more accepting of Ethan and Tiara’s reasoning, but continues to secretly hold her guard up to prevent being lied to yet again.
Arriving in Tully, the players note that the town is much quieter than the other urban areas they’ve visited thus far, leaving their ‘free time’ extremely free of options. Despite having suspected that his ‘talk’ went well, Ethan is quietly pulled to one side by ally Tiara, who quickly goes on a tirade about his actions in ‘forcing’ the two of them to sit down with Róisín. Tiara continues by telling Ethan that “just because you’re close with Róisín doesn’t mean I have to be close with Róisín… I have people I’m close with that you’re not, and it feels like you’re trying to play my game for me”. Defending himself, Ethan tells Tiara that he had simply hoped to bring the two individuals he is closest to together, not having intended to presume that Tiara would be forced to work with Róisín too closely. Clearly still annoyed, Tiara demands that in the future Ethan ‘consults her before he does something so brazen’. Ethan stands confused as Tiara storms off, pondering whether his closest ally may in fact be on a bit of a power trip of her own after successfully turning the vote on Scruggs at the last repatriation. Feeling alone, Ethan goes to join Róisín as the pair walk around Tully’s small main street together, with Ethan asking Róisín how she would feel about working with Tiara and him long term in order to gage her response to their earlier chat. Róisín tells Ethan that she is “happy to just survive another day on the journey”, claiming that whilst she isn’t particularly close to Tiara that her trust in Ethan acts as “a good enough reference about her character and trustfulness”. Róisín then changes the conversation to question Ethan on his opinions of Marcus, having felt distance between herself and her ally after the two of them were left out of the Scruggs vote. Róisín tells Ethan that she perceives Marcus to be panicking and trying to avoid any association to her, clearly assuming that he believes she is “a sinking ship that he doesn’t want to be tied to”. Ethan laughs at this remark, telling Róisín that he and Marcus haven’t particularly got along, but that he had been told by him that “he was interested in sticking to the six” and to eliminate Anton, June and Ossie next. As the pair talk, they watch Marcus spending more time talking with Anton around Tully, clearly witnessing his attempts at changing up his own social dynamics in the game. Róisín asserts to Ethan that “I don’t forgive a turncoat… I think it’s the most cowardly trait someone can have”, theatrically dusting off her hands to symbolise that she has lost some trust in Marcus as a player.
Just after midday, the players head towards Tully’s famous ‘Golden Gumboot’ statue; depicting a frog holing onto the side of a boot, which was awarded to Tully for being ‘the wettest town of Australia’. Lincoln and Sinead explain to the players that mimicking the frog, they’ll each be given a miniaturised replica of the ‘Golden Gumboot’, holding onto their boot for as long as possible, with the last person standing being crowned the daily winner, and the first person to fall automatically facing repatriation. The players each take their position, holding onto their narrow handles and footrests on their boot structures, hoping to not be one of the first ones dropping out of the competition. Minutes in, oldest remaining player June begins to tire and wobble, clearly struggling with the endurance aspect of the challenge. For the first time in her Road Trip journey, June’s struggle causes her to slip, leaving her vulnerable and automatically nominated. To make the challenge more difficult and ‘honour’ Tully’s heavy rainfall, the players are doused by an overhead rain machine, causing the boots and grips to become slippery. Ethan falls almost seconds after getting wet, leaving him nervous as he realises he is now second from the bottom to an individual who possesses a ‘Golden Fob Lifesaver’. Over the next three minutes, Ella, Marcus and Tiara all fall from their boots, leaving just four to battle it out for the win. Anton eventually falls in fourth place, having been unable to get his feet back on their rest after momentarily stretching his legs. Outsider and group target Ossie then dramatically falls out of nowhere, leaving him frustrated as he watches non-allies Joseph and Róisín go head-to-head. After forty-eight minutes, Róisín is able to outlast Joseph who ungracefully falls sideways from his boot and into a nearby bush, giving Róisín the right to nominate somebody to face repatriation. As the group congratulate Róisín, June is seen frantically pulling her to one side, whispering about strategy privately in the few seconds they have before a decision must be made. June quietly asks Róisín who she’ll be nominating, theorising that Róisín will be nominating her closest ally Ossie. Róisín confirms to June that she’ll be nominating Ossie, then asking her if she’ll predictably use her lifesaver to avoid facing-off against her friend. June then asks Róisín “do you think he’d stay again?”, receiving a confident headshake from Róisín, leaving June carefully considering her next move. As Róisín publicly announces Ossie as her nomination, June stuns the entire group as she tells Lincoln and Sinead that she’ll “be holding onto the lifesaver”, taking a gamble that Ossie’s large target would make using the lifesaver redundant this round. Sinead tells the two nominees that they’ll be given an hour to campaign, before one of them becomes the next player repatriated and equally the first member of the jury.
In the fallout of the nominations, Ossie appears perplexed as to why his ally chose to not use her lifesaver and instead to face him in the repatriation, hearing from June first-hand that she assumes given his poor position that he will be the one going home, hoping to keep the lifesaver for herself several rounds longer. In his confessional, Ossie claims that this “poor strategy from June” could give him the opening he needs, leaving him able to push a narrative that removing June would in term flush a lifesaver from the game. However, Ossie finds difficulty in that both Anton and Marcus are vocal about intending to vote him out on this occasion, knowing that they need just one more vote to cause a tie and leave the power in Róisín’s hands. June spends her campaign assuring individuals that her retaining the lifesaver would not detract from their chances of success, noting that she can use the lifesaver “for anyone in the game” and not just herself. Moreover, June’s role as ‘motherly figure’ on the tour is played up to her advantage, hoping that her likeability will see her through to the final eight unscathed after a monumental risk. Wanting to mend things with ally Ethan, Tiara pulls her friend to one side to apologise for her earlier outburst, telling him that she has thought it over and come to the conclusion that ‘he wasn’t trying to undermine her’. Ethan appears pleased that Tiara has come to her senses, reiterating that whilst he is close to Róisín, that he would still like to go to the end of the game with Tiara by his side due to their night two alliance. Tiara and Ethan are seen hugging it out, once again on good terms moving forward in the game. The pair then spend time deliberating the vote, both voicing that they undoubtedly feel closer to June, but ponder whether keeping the lifesaver in the game could eventually be their undoing. The twosome spend time discussing this matter with June, wanting to ensure that if they help save her that her loyalty will be towards them rather than others when the six inevitably turn on each other. Additionally, Tiara goes and spends time talking to Róisín after further encouragement from Ethan, hoping to prove that they are willing to work together for the greater good and re-establish a group for the latter half of the game. Róisín happily accepts this proposal from Tiara, feeling much more confident with the reassurance that her target will finally be the one headed home, and that she has new allies in Ethan and Tiara to replace the other allies who have since distanced themselves from her. Unsurprisingly, an immovable target and June’s superior social game see Ossie repatriated in a 5-1 result, with Joseph being left alone in voting for June in what he felt was ‘a missed opportunity’ to even the playing field. Ossie shakes his head as the result is announced, calling the players “a bunch of dumb dumbs” for leaving June and the lifesaver in play. Nevertheless, Ossie hugs friend June goodbye, wishing her luck and hoping that she’ll be able to go on to claim victory over the other seven. After Ossie departs, the final eight return to their RVs, pondering whether their inability to flush a lifesaver will go down as one of the worst moves in Road Trip history.
===Episode #8 - Bucket, Send Me Home===
The morning after Ossie’s repatriation, the remaining eight players begin a two hour drive to the tropical city of Cairns in Queensland. Róisín is shown in a confessional to be celebrating the fact that her nemesis Ossie has left the game, calling him “the kind of person who has skated through life because of his ‘looks’… and I say ‘looks’ like this because I personally didn’t see them. He was a bit Ken doll surfer boy undercover homo for my taste…”. In the second RV, Joseph and Tiara sit at the back together to talk following the previous nights results, leaving Ethan and Ella sat up front driving. Joseph explains to Tiara that he strongly believes the group made “a seriously stupid mistake” keeping June in the game, uncertain why Ethan and Tiara pushed so heavily to remove Ossie when “he could’ve been sent home at any point… and June now can use that lifesaver and screw any of our games up”. Tiara tries to explain to Joseph that it ‘isn’t an issue’ that June still has the lifesaver, believing that they can keep the target on Anton to flush the lifesaver at the next opportunity. Rather than accept this, Joseph doubles down on his beliefs that the group and Tiara in particular are “playing this dumb”, ending the conversation by informing her “don’t come crying to me or anyone else looking for votes to stay if you find yourself up there next”. Tiara coldly assures Joseph she’ll ‘be fine’, mentioning in a confessional that his attitude over the matter has irritated her, particularly as he “isn’t smart enough to work out that Ethan and I are keeping June and the lifesaver here for our benefit… not his”. In the other RV, once allies Anton and June sit together alone to talk about their perceptions that they are both still in danger following the consecutive eliminations of Scruggs and Ossie. June tells Anton that she is sure she’ll likely have to use the lifesaver soon, hoping that one of them can once again win a daily challenge and turn the tables, leaving them deliberating how they can interject themselves into the dynamics of the other six players. The duo end up agreeing that there is likely a split between Ethan, Tiara & Róisín, and Ella, Joseph & Marcus, and that this split could prove to be ideal when the power shifts yet again.
Upon arriving in Cairns, the players are given a short few hours to explore the coastal region, further socialising as they await word from Lincoln and Sinead on their next daily challenge. Not wanting to continue any bad blood between them, Tiara approaches Joseph to clear the air on their earlier argument, explaining that she understands his concerns, but that she hadn’t appreciated the feeling that he was solely blaming her for June’s survival. Joseph acknowledges that he may have “miscommunicated how (he) was feeling”, reassuring Tiara that he doesn’t believe she was the only individual with any influence. In this moment, Joseph accidentally lets slip that his ally Ella had implied that Tiara was “the most passionate about saving June”, a sentiment that irritates Tiara, who begins to feel that Ella was ‘stirring the pot’ against her for a future power move. Tiara explains to Joseph that “Ella was just as happy to keep June when the two of us spoke”, leaving Joseph questioning who to believe as the unsolid six person group begins to collapse in on itself due to mistrust. Sometime later, the players are led to Cairns Esplanade Lagoon; a public outdoor saltwater lagoon/swimming pool that will act as the location for the next daily challenge. Sinead explains to the players that today they’ll be split into two teams of four, with the winning team solely having the decision on who to eliminate from the losing foursome. In order to determine the teams, Lincoln supplies each player with a ‘witchetty grub’; a wood-eating moth larvae that acts as an edible delicacy amongst Aboriginal Australians. The first two players to successfully eat and swallow a single grub will be given the power to pick their teams, which could be the difference between surviving and losing the challenge. Skinny Ethan is surprisingly the first to finish, having swallowed his grub whole without hesitation, shortly joined by Ella who narrowly beats out Anton for the second captain position. First to select, Ethan happily chooses friend and closest confidant Tiara to join his team, whilst Ella does the same by selecting Joseph. Ethan then adds Róisín, being her closest ally and also seeing the value in her strong physical performances in challenges. Ella then picks June of the remaining three, surprising the others as she declares that she is seeking to have “as strong a team as possible”. Ethan closes his team off by taking Anton, leaving unpicked Marcus to join Ella’s team by default.
With the two teams decided, Lincoln tells the players that for their daily challenge they’ll be racing up and down the lagoon in designated sections (one per player), collecting buckets of water from an overhead fountain, before taking their buckets and passing them off to the next player in the corresponding section. The final player in each team’s sequence must pour the contents of their bucket into a group tube, with the first team to completely fill their tube and retrieve the key within being crowned the daily winners. Róisín and Marcus are shown starting the water collecting for their teams, lifting the heaviest loads of their teams as they run through the shallow water and pass the bucket onto the next player, trying their best to spill as little as possible during the process. Róisín is shown excelling at her role, spilling far less than Marcus as she gets the bucket over to Ethan, who unfortunately sets his team back as he slips with the bucket on two occasions, losing all their water both times. Similarly, Team 2 finds issues as June (their finisher) continuously pours the bucket too quickly, losing a lot of water to spillage rather than getting it all into the tube. As the challenge goes on, it becomes clear that Róisín’s dominance and a strong performance from Anton and Tiara keep Team 1 far ahead of their competitors, none of whom do particularly well as they fail to get a single full bucket through the course. As a result, Team 1 easily reaches victory as Tiara yanks the key from the top of their tube, leaving herself, Anton, Ethan and Róisín in charge of who to repatriate from the losing team. Lincoln and Sinead call over a glum and wet losing team of Ella, Joseph, June and Marcus, asking June if she’ll be using her lifesaver to spare herself from potential elimination. Shockingly, June yet again declines to use her lifesaver after receiving a reassuring headshake from Tiara and Ethan, confidently telling the group that she ‘likes her chances’ to remain nominated.
Straight after June’s decision, Joseph is seen yet again irritated by her lack of using the lifesaver, quickly deciphering that she likely has a deal with Ethan and Tiara to use the lifesaver to their benefit. Joseph pulls Tiara to one side, angrily questioning her why she had shaken her head to June, which Tiara denies, suggesting that her headshake was simply “astonishment that June has such guts”. Joseph laughs irritated, telling Tiara “stop winding me up and thinking you’re throwing up a smokescreen”. Tiara then scowls, asking Joseph if he has forgotten that he is nominated and she holds twenty-five percent of the votes, leading Joseph to candidly tell her “vote me out then, and I promise you I’ll make sure everyone knows you’re the biggest liar here”. In a confessional, Joseph claims to not care about saving himself, vowing never to bow down and ‘kiss ass’ to remain in the game. Elsewhere, Tiara talks in a confessional about ‘Joseph completely losing the plot’, admitting that his outburst has left her feeling that sending him home would be the best thing for her game. Ethan begins spending his afternoon talking to each of the four nominees, wanting to have one on ones with each of them before determining where his vote will be going, particularly as he views the importance of “making sure everyone feels positively about you when they’re potentially on their way out of the game”. Equally, Ethan has the same one on one conversations with the others on the winning team, promising to hear everyone’s inputs and give everyone a fair shot to have their voice heard in this critical round. Ethan’s diplomatic and likeable approach appears to pay off, revealing that he has increased his standing unanimously in the group and used the victory to his advantage. The four winning players sit together to discuss the vote, with Ethan and Tiara quickly ruling out June as an option, something that Anton is happy to subscribe to, despite Róisín’s initial confusion. With June now safe by default, the players then determine that they’ll be sending one of Ella, Joseph or Marcus home, noting that the threesome have formed a little group by themselves in the past few rounds. Despite losing her closeness to Marcus, Róisín tells the others that she would preferably like to see him remain in the game, and instead pushes Joseph as an ‘easy’ vote for the four of them. Happy to agree, Anton also announces that he would rather see Marcus remain, leaving Joseph as the individual that he believes he has the least connection to. Tiara then joins the pair in agreeing to send Joseph home, citing her argument with him that happened a mere thirty minutes earlier. Not liking the direction of the conversation, Ethan is shown in a confessional mentioning that he would want to see Marcus leave the game due to their troubled past, not viewing Joseph as someone who is an immediate threat to his game. However, Ethan worries as he fails to sway Anton or Róisín, and doesn’t see much sway coming from Tiara. Despite this, Ethan pulls Tiara to one side before the vote, telling her that to keep Marcus in would be strengthening Róisín’s hand rather than their own, and “go against everything we’re trying to build by keeping June around in this game”. Miraculously, Ethan finds that his last minute pitching and fear peddling that Róisín would become a greater threat by Marcus’ survival is shown to have won ally Tiara over, leaving the result tied 2-2 as the winning team failed to reach a majority between Joseph and Marcus. Although Ella and June both breathe a sigh of relief, Lincoln explains that if the winning foursome cannot reach a verdict, that they will lose their immunity and draw key-fobs along with the players not involved in the tie, leaving it down to lottery to determine which of the six of them would leave the game in eighth place. Not wanting to risk his safety, Anton panics and begins asking Ethan and Tiara if they’d consider changing, discovering fast that the pair are willing to coldly bluff and declare that they'll not be changing their votes. Róisín begins to try and campaign for Marcus’ survival by telling the group she isn’t changing, only to be blocked off as Anton joins Ethan and Tiara to give a new majority for sending Marcus home. Marcus nods as his fate is declared, hugging the others goodbye before departing the area with his belongings. The final seven are left walking back to their now singular RV, with Róisín ready to explode after being bamboozled by those she had assumed were her closest allies.
===Episode #8 - Hoppity Hop===
The final seven players return to the remaining RV, finding that all their belongings have been moved inside as they spend the remainder of the journey in a singular vehicle. Not wasting any time before confronting Ethan and Tiara on the vote change, Róisín openly calls the pair out, detailing that they had agreed to vote for Joseph in what was supposed to be an ‘easy decision’. Tiara speaks up immediately in response, telling Róisín that her mind had changed at the final moment and that “there wasn’t time to let you or Anton know before the vote”. Róisín audibly laughs at this response, asking Tiara bluntly if she believes her to be stupid, requesting that she and Ethan “play a little more honestly if you claim to be looking out for my interest… have the decency to be transparent or at least own that you’re gigantic liars after the vote”. Tiara rebuffs Róisín’s label of being ‘liars’, reiterating that “we would’ve told you the plan changed if there was time, but there simply wasn’t anything left on the clock”. In a confessional, Róisín talks about feeling betrayed by both Ethan and Tiara, going further by claiming that “Tiara is exactly the sort of person I had worried she was from the start. Pompous, stuck-up, rich girl whose only reasons for being anywhere was that she managed to slip out of the right minge thirty-years ago”. Similarly, Tiara shows disdain towards Róisín in what appears to be a return of their mutual mistrust towards one another, remarking that the post-repatriation fight has solidified in her mind that “Róisín is no longer a part of the group… she’s on her own”. Feeling equally as annoyed, Anton speaks to Ethan about his irritation at how the vote was handled, questioning if both he and Róisín are “expendable” in their eyes, particularly after feeling that neither of their says would matter in the end once the tie had been forced. Ethan tries to repair his standing and trust with Anton, but it becomes clear that Anton is refusing to fully accept Ethan’s word any further, with the conversation and tone between the two men souring as it goes on. Anton sarcastically tells Ethan “it’s nice to know you have my back still, and that we can keep working together without any issues! Thanks for everything, pal”, before storming off into the RV. Ethan is shown in his confessional worrying that the bold move to force the tie and oust Marcus could have lost his alliance with Róisín and ultimately made an enemy out of Anton, leaving him doubting whether keeping Joseph was worth the risk.
In the early hours of the morning, the players are left to sleep around the RV as they’re provided with a driver who begins taking the group from Cairns to the Australian Outback. Prior to departing on the twenty-four hour drive to the town of Alice Springs, the players are given supplies of food and drinks to keep them going throughout their journey, having been made aware that regular stops will not be an occurrence as they move through the vast and barren deserts of Australia. As boredom begins to set in, Róisín is shown whispering to the camera that “in revenge for the last vote… I’ve been farting a lot because of all the junk food we’ve been living off… and sort of wafting it towards Tiara because she’s sitting on the bunk below me. Small stinky victories…” before shrugging and laughing at her behaviour. Below, Anton and Tiara are shown deep in conversation as they lightly fan the air, with Tiara seeking to repair her relationship with Anton after hearing of his anger from Ethan. Anton explains to Tiara that he would still ideally like to go to the end of the game with herself, Ethan, June and Róisín, explaining that he doesn’t have qualms voting Joseph out yet again at the next repatriation. Tiara claims to be ‘overjoyed’ to hear this, promoting the idea that it is for their own benefit to continue working together against the partnership of Ella and Joseph. Despite his words, Anton explains in his confessional that he “can practically see the bulls**t coming out of Tiara’s mouth”, not wanting to enclose himself into a deal with somebody who has already broken his trust. Taking advantage of a brief moment alone at the back of the RV together, Anton tells Ella of Ethan and Tiara’s endgame plan, believing that they “need to get together and halt them in their tracks”. Ella excitedly hugs Anton after his remarks, enthusiastically explaining that she has “been dying to break those two apart”, knowing that they have ridden the middle and that now “we can flip this whole game on its head”. The pair slyly shake hands before any of the others see, promising to tell Joseph and June respectively of their plans before they reach Alice Springs.
After a gruelling twenty-four hour journey, the players arrive in Alice Springs and quickly gain access to some communal showers and changing quarters, bringing much relief after their confinement to the inside of their RV. Ella, June and Tiara wash together as they talk about their thoughts for the upcoming daily challenge, assuming that tasks will become more difficult now that they’re stripping away from urban and coastal areas. June jokingly voices her hopes that there’ll be lake swimming challenges, teasing the girls as she ‘predicts’ they may wrestle with crocodiles and alligators in an upcoming task. Tiara voices her confession of an extreme fear of crocodiles, particularly after she had hesitantly left her crocodile-skin shoes and handbags at home in fear that “they would attract real ones that might smell their dead relative on my feet”. Prior to leaving the showers, Ella asks both girls if they have thought about nominations, spontaneously offering them safety should she win if they’re both able to do the same, a deal that June and Tiara happily subscribe to, all having had other targets in mind headed into the next repatriation. Having showered, the final seven players join Lincoln and Sinead at the Alice Springs Kangaroo Sanctuary, receiving a short tour and opportunity to interact with the many rescued adult and baby kangaroos that call the sanctuary its home. With the tour finished, the players are then instructed to each get dressed into a makeshift kangaroo costume, which forces the players legs to be tied together so that their only means of moving is a stereotypical kangaroo ‘hop’. Each competitor is told they must follow an obstacle course around the open area of the sanctuary, collecting stuffed ‘baby roos’ on their way to place in their pouch. The player to retrieve all their ‘baby roos’ and complete the course in the fastest time will be crowned the winner, whilst the slowest player will automatically face repatriation and risk leaving the game that afternoon. Women Ella, June and Tiara all give the strongest performances of the day in the task, being the only players not to fall on any occasion through the hopping obstacle course, giving them a strong time advantage over the other players as they make their way to the finish line. Alternatively, Anton and Róisín both continuously fall over, with Róisín also losing a lot of time as she drops one of her ‘baby roos’ and is forced to hop back along the course to retrieve it before she can check herself in. Upon finishing, Lincoln announces that despite her blunder, that Róisín has finished above Anton and spared herself from automatically facing repatriation. Meanwhile, Ella is declared to have narrowly beaten Tiara’s time, giving her the win and the power to nominate somebody to face-off against Anton. Ella is shown in her confessional admitting that she had almost gone back on her word and nominated Tiara, believing her to be one of the biggest strategic threats in the group. However, she chooses to avoid any controversy around that decision, instead narrowing her choices down to Ethan and Róisín. In the end, Ella picks Ethan as Tiara’s closest ally and one of the ‘bigger threats’ in the group, confident that she can get the votes needed to send him home. Nominees Anton and Ethan both look to ally June to see what her final decision on the lifesaver will be, leaving the oldest contestant flustered as she refuses to pick between her allies and ultimately endanger herself, yet again holding onto the lifesaver as she moves onto the top six.
Anton and Ethan both remain silent for a moment following the confirmation from Sinead that they’ll have just an hour to campaign to save themselves and remain in the game, both questioning why June chose to leave both nominated in facing the repatriation. The men are shown wishing one another luck before splitting up and approaching those eligible to cast their votes, knowing they’ll need three of the four voters on side in order to prevent a tie and handing the power back over to daily winner Ella. Confident that he already has Tiara’s vote, Ethan approaches ally Róisín in hope that she will still remain on his side despite a turbulent forty-eight hours, pulling her for a chat in order to hear out her current thought process. Róisín openly tells Ethan that she isn’t settled on her decision, currently being of the opinion that Anton is “a more open and honest player” than Ethan is being. Ethan tells Róisín that he hasn’t wavered from his desire to bring both herself and Tiara to the final three, reminding Róisín that he is “one of the only people who consistently had your back when others were ready to send you home”. The pair are then joined by Ella, who comes to apologise to Ethan for making him her nominee, explaining that she “needed to put somebody up who I legitimately think is a threat, and keep my word to those I’ve given it to”. Ethan thanks Ella for her explanation, claiming to have “no hard feelings” towards her. Róisín then boldly asks Ella if she was “the backup nominee” in case Ethan wasn’t eligible, to which Ella admits that she “had been one of (her) considerations”. This comment triggers Róisín’s paranoia despite the appreciated honesty, leaving her questioning as to whom Ella has been giving her word to amongst the other players. For much of the remaining deliberations, Ethan and Tiara attempt to push the vote onto Anton for being ‘resilient’ as a player and somebody who has now become an underdog, reminding others that he likely has two secured votes on the jury already should he reach the end. Alternatively, Anton and Ella are shown heavily relying on Joseph and June to at worst cause a tie, giving Ella the right to break it by eliminating Ethan and breaking-up the Ethan and Tiara partnership. Despite Róisín’s position being speculative, Anton tells his new foursome that “we can get this done with or without her… and she’ll realise that and be a smart girl when casting her vote”. However, even though Anton appears optimistic, critical voter Joseph is shown speaking to ally Ella about his mistrust of the Scottish underdog, telling Ella that he ‘prefers Ethan and doesn’t like the idea of keeping Anton and June both in the game when she still has the lifesaver’. Ella appears dumbfounded by Joseph’s change of heart, reminding him that their endgame rests heavily on their ability to send Ethan home and work alongside Anton and June. Even so, Joseph continues to tell Ella that “we’re being idiots if we think that going to the end with Anton and June is somehow going to be an easier win than Ethan and Tiara… especially when neither of them can win a competition on their own”. Ella begins to shut down Joseph’s spinning thoughts, harshly telling him “don’t f**k this up for both of us… we’ve got this locked in and just leave it at that”. Prior to the vote, Joseph is shown to continue his internal conflict over what to do, not appreciating that he must work alongside Anton in a plan devised by Ella, and additionally not having trust in the individual who had initially voted to send him home at the last repatriation. As the sun begins to set over the outback, the seven players gather around the key-holder beside Lincoln and Sinead, with the eligible players casting their votes one at a time for either Anton or Ethan to leave the game. In a 3-1 result, Anton is blindsided from the game after both Joseph and Róisín are swayed by their preference towards Ethan, additionally not having confidence that Anton is the right person for them to work alongside in the latter stage of the game. A surprised Anton hugs friend and ally June goodbye, telling her “I hope holding onto that (lifesaver) and letting me go will prove worth it…”, before turning and quickly saying his goodbye to the other five players. After Anton departs for the jury house, Ella is seen scowling at ally Joseph, brushing off his attempt at a reassuring backrub as she mutters that he’s “ruined this for (them)”. 
===Episode #9 - An Immovable Rock===
Minutes after Anton’s shock repatriation, the final six players return to the RV to debrief on the afternoons events, with conversations starting to take place as the group sit around and begin eating food delivered to them from a local café. Joseph speaks up in front of the entire group to explain his reasoning for sending Anton home, particularly reiterating his belief that “none of us would want to sit next to Anton at the end, and I think we’d have been fools to keep him in this game and think we’d have a better shot with him competing in the next challenge”. Róisín visibly nods as Joseph talks, speaking up in support of his decision to spare Ethan and send Anton home, similarly stating “I like Anton a lot, but I just felt that the reality was he’d never prioritise me over say June… and he’s already tried to vote me out once in this game, and once is enough really to know that we’ll never be each other’s rock”. In a confessional, Ethan is shown laughing at Joseph and Róisín’s belief of ‘one vote and you’re done’, pointing out that Róisín had voted against Joseph just two rounds prior, exposing that whilst their logic is flawed that he’s “grateful because its what helped keep me here”. Frustrated at her allies betrayal, Ella is pulled to one side by Ethan and June as they both notice her remaining particularly quiet throughout their evening meal. Ella vents to the pair that she’s “totally flabbergasted and pissed at Joseph” for his decision to send Anton home, tearfully apologising to Ethan as she declares “I’m sorry to say it Ethan but you were meant to be the one to go, and now you didn’t and I look like a total f**king idiot because Joseph won’t use his brain”. Ethan offers Ella a hug despite her move against him failing, once again telling her that he holds no anger towards herself or June for their decision to try and send him home. As the pair hug, June explains that they’re “all old and mature enough to know how this game works… we have to vote one another out and that’s that… if anybody takes it to heart then that is a problem to carry on their own”. Ella expresses her appreciation to the pair for their comforting words, receiving further confidence as they reassure her that ‘in no way does the last result guarantee you’re the next to go’. In spite of this, Ethan speaks in his confessional about firmly having Ella as his next target, admitting that even though Joseph had helped save him that “one of the two of them needs to go next so I can keep going to the final four with Róisín, Tiara and June”.
The next morning, the players drive six hours from Alice Springs to Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park; a protected area of Australia’s Northern Territory that is home to the famous sandstone formation Uluru Rock. Arriving at midday, the players immediately begin a four hour trek around Uluru Rock, accompanied by Lincoln, Sinead and a local outback guide to provide them with an overview of the lands history, particularly surrounding the spiritual importance of Uluru for the native Aboriginal peoples of Australia. During the hike, Ella and Joseph are seen talking through their difficulties that arose from the latter’s decision to go against the plan to oust Ethan. Seemingly on better terms, Ella reminds Joseph that they cannot expect to survive the next repatriation unless they’re able to infiltrate the other players, posing that it will be difficult given that Ethan, Tiara, Róisín and June appear to be a foursome in their own right. Brazenly, Joseph gets Róisín to join the pair as they stand further back from the others during the hike, openly asking her if she would consider forming a group alongside them to send Tiara or June home from the game next. Róisín cautiously tells both that she’d be more than happy to do so, having been particularly concerned by Tiara’s loyalty in the last few rounds. The threesome quickly separate as they re-join the others, keeping quiet on their frantic plan to carefully oust Tiara and June despite the lifesaver still being in play. Breaking halfway, the players stop and are treated to an Australian barbecue in the shadows of Uluru, giving everybody time to rest prior to competing in their next daily challenge. Wanting to pry into the likelihood of the lifesaver making an appearance, Róisín spends much of her lunch bonding with June, tepidly asking if June would use the lifesaver if she were to find herself nominated. June plainly tells Róisín that she is going to use the lifesaver if need be this round, reminding her that she only has two more rounds to use it before it expires and becomes void. Not liking the closeness of the two women’s conversation, Joseph pulls Róisín to one side to ask her ‘not to spook June into thinking something is up before the results are known’. Róisín responds by telling Joseph that its important for them to know of her intentions before nominations, particularly as they wouldn’t want to ensure that the final result doesn’t include any of their ‘new trio’. Agreeing, Joseph admits that either of them or Ella losing the challenge ‘would be a disaster’, with there being an almost impossible chance of all of their survivals in this instance, regardless of who ultimately wins the challenge. 
After lunch, the players are joined by members of the local Anangu people, who begin reading out instructions for the next daily challenge. Each participant will be provided with a small board on which to produce some Anangu inspired artwork, which can be created by utilising an assortment of paint, rocks and coloured sand provided to each player. The individual judged to have the best piece will be declared the winner, whilst the worst piece will leave that individual automatically facing the next repatriation. The group are shown four unique pieces of Anangu artwork to act as inspiration, but are firmly told not to copy these pieces as it will be deemed plagiarism. During the challenge, Joseph admits that art was never his forte, reminiscing on being kicked out of art classes at school after purposely pouring paint on another child’s work after they “made fun of (his) drawing”. Oppositely, the other five contestants all appear to be enjoying themselves in the task, with June in particular discussing her adoration for “grabbing a paintbrush and paper and heading out to the hills and seaside to just sketch and stroke away… I mean, stroke my paint brush of course!” The six players are each given ninety minutes to produce their artwork before handing it over to the Anangu judges for presentation, hoping that they’ve done enough to impress the local experts. Almost immediately, the judges hold up Joseph’s piece which they note is ‘a poor imitation of one of the example pieces’, easily selecting it as the worst entry and leaving Joseph automatically nominated for repatriation. Ella and Róisín are seen looking at one another in irritation, both realising that despite Joseph’s assertion that none of them can finish last, that he has managed to put in a shoddy entry and potentially screw up their entire plan. The judges positively review all five of the other pieces, eventually coming to a decision that June’s is the strongest entry and thus provide June with her second daily win and give her the right to nominate somebody to go head to head with Joseph in the next vote. After congratulating June, Lincoln requests that she immediately name her nominee, to which she wastes little time in selecting Róisín, citing her as “a fierce competitor, one of the biggest threats in these challenges, and just somebody who is an immovable obstruction in my path to reach the final two”. Róisín scoffs and rolls her eyes as she is announced as the nominee, telling Lincoln and Sinead that “this proves it… this proves that whatever deal she has with Ethan and Tiara… I was never meant to be a part of that, and as soon as they can throw me to the rubbish tip; they do”. Sinead then explains to the group that they’ll continue the remaining eighty minutes of their hike back to the starting point of the Uluru trek, with this portion of the trek being the final opportunity for Joseph and Róisín to seek the votes needed to remain in the game beyond sunset.
The final six players begin the trek back, with Róisín and Ella both complaining mutually about their irritation towards Joseph ‘screwing up their plans’, coldly responding as he apologises to them for his shoddy artwork and attempts to copy the example despite being told not to prior to the competition. In a confessional, Ella claims that whilst Joseph still remains her closest ally and somebody that she would rather sit next to at the final two over Róisín, that she isn’t certain reaching the end with him will be possible “because of the continuous, nonsensical and never-ending braindead decisions that Joseph chooses to make”. In line with this, Ella privately tells Róisín that her vote is ‘up for grabs’, and that she wouldn’t close herself off at this stage to say she is definitely voting to save Joseph. Finding this news promising, Róisín begins speaking with former close friend and ally Ethan, elatedly hearing that he too is more than happy to vote to send Joseph home. Róisín’s mood continues to rise as Ethan tells her that he is confident that Tiara would willingly vote for Joseph to leave the game and “make it unanimous” due to the fights that she has had with Joseph in the previous rounds. Despite this, Joseph is seen campaigning to both Ethan and Tiara for their votes, reminding them that Róisín is one of the strongest physical performers in the game, and that she is more likely to win daily challenges and ‘derail their plans’ than he would be. Ethan and Tiara are shown talking after their conversations with Joseph and Róisín, with the pair quickly disagreeing as Ethan voices his desire to send Joseph home, whilst Tiara ponders whether keeping a threat over ‘somebody who loses challenges easily’ is a good strategy. In her confessional, Tiara mentions that she is aware of Ethan and Róisín’s closeness, not certain how keeping Róisín in would truly serve to benefit her own game, but instead strengthen Ethan and “give him more avenues to reach the final two should he think I’m too big of a threat to sit next to”. Tiara voices these concerns directly to Ethan, receiving his immediate guarantee that he would vote Róisín out over her if they both found themselves nominated. With Tiara remaining conflicted, Ethan begins visibly pleading with his ally to save Róisín, becoming erratic and nervous that he may be unable to save Róisín as he had so promised her minutes earlier in their conversation. As the trek comes to an end, Joseph and Róisín stand side by side as the three eligible players place their key-fobs into the holder for who they’d like to leave the game, with both nominees unsure where the result will be going thanks to Ethan and Tiara’s elusiveness. The vote is tied 1-1 after Ella and Ethan choose to stand by their allies, leaving Tiara’s vote as the decider in who will become the fourth member of the jury. In the end, Tiara betrays ally Ethan by going against his wishes and eliminating Róisín from the game, believing that by doing so she is ousting a threat and forcing Ethan into a position where he has no choice but to remain by her side until the end of the game. Róisín nods acceptingly, having anticipated at the last moment that the outcome wouldn’t be positive after her fate was left in Tiara’s hands. Ethan tearfully hugs his friend goodbye, quietly apologising as he declares he had ‘tried his best’ to save her, to which Róisín raises an eyebrow and responds that she’ll “be the judge of that”. Róisín says her goodbyes to both Ella and Joseph, wishing the pair luck as they go head to head with the opposing trio in the last stage of the game, knowing that it’ll be an uphill battle for them as June maintains control of the lifesaver. The final five gather inside the RV, waving out the windows to Róisín as they drive away from the shadows of Uluru Rock.
===Episode #10 - A Bunch of Slabs===
The day after Róisín’s repatriation, the remaining five players are shown having been driven overnight from Uluru to the town of Coober Pedy in South Australia. As the first two awake, June and Tiara sit together by the table as they each drink a morning tea, discussing the fallout of the last repatriation, and in particular Ethan’s response to losing Róisín as an ally. June tells Tiara that whilst they have certainly lost some trust with Ethan, that she is confident he will remain loyal to the two of them against Ella and Joseph, believing that it would be “completely idiotic to go against our plan at this late stage”. Tiara agrees, confident that sending Róisín home has ultimately left Ethan as somebody without options, believing he “isn’t stupid enough to throw his trust into Ella and Joseph”. Additionally, June reminds Tiara that this is the final round in which she can use her lifesaver, meaning that she has the ability to ensure that at least one of them will be voting in the next repatriation. Furthermore, June notes that if they can produce the winner of the daily challenge from their trio, it gives them “total control as to who leaves this game next… and ideally that person will be Joseph”. The two women toast their lukewarm cups of tea, trying not to wake the others as they do so. Not satisfied allowing the three to two split to fester, Tiara manages to pull Ella on her own later on in the journey, quietly explaining to her that for her benefit she should consider ‘distancing herself from Joseph’ and locking into an ‘all-girls final three deal with herself and June’. Ella nods as Tiara speaks, clearly having worried that Joseph would be a detriment to her own game at this stage. Although Ella is shown accepting the offer, she is then shown in confessional explaining that having two options is her best case scenario to propel herself further in the game, aware that if she can win power this round that she’ll be able to ‘send Ethan home’, but additionally would need to rely on Joseph avoiding finding himself nominated yet again. The two girls shake hands, seemingly faking their friendliness in hope that they are deterring the other from directly targeting them in the next repatriation.
After arriving in Coober Pedy, the players are escorted to underground motels that have been dug into the rock formations and ground in order to shield people from the extremely high temperatures throughout the summer months. Each individual is given an opportunity to freshen up and rest for several hours, eager to keep their strength up for the next daily challenge. Hours later, the players are given an underground local lunch, finding the process amusing as Joseph compares it to ‘a Star Wars hut’. The group are soon interrupted by Lincoln and Sinead, who transport them a short distance to a nearby underground jewellery store connected to an abandoned ‘old timer’ mine. Lincoln explains that the mine had been used to retrieve valuable opal that could then be turned into fashionable jewellery and sold at high profit. Ella and June excitedly look through the store, with Ethan and Joseph less enthusiastically walking around. Strangely, Tiara is heard loudly noting that “a lot of these necklaces look a bit… haggard? I have a few opal pieces at home and they’re much finer cuts… but I don’t imagine the price margin is as lucrative here for locals and tourists?”. Tiara’s remarks irritate both the group and the owners of the store, clearly finding them tone deaf and rude in delivery, once again reinforcing the belief that Tiara is ‘too stuck up for her own good’. Having had enough of her behaviour, Joseph decides to call Tiara out yet again, questioning “why are you even here if you’ve got so many nice things and don’t even need the money? It can’t have been to make friends surely… judging by how you irritate the hell out of people”. Joseph’s blunt attack leaves Tiara scathing, resulting in her responding by in turn attacking his character, calling him out on being “the least liked person in the entire group right now”, going on to scold him for “ruining (his) own chances as well as Ella’s”. Tiara eventually begins to exit the store during the argument, turning around and declaring that Joseph should “do the decent thing as a grown man and just quit to save yourself the embarrassment… I’m sure Ella would thank you for it too”. With Tiara gone, Joseph continues ranting about his ‘hatred’ towards her, rhetorically asking the entire group “is she only here to be dragged to the final two so anyone can beat her?”.
The four players, Lincoln and Sinead eventually join a shaded Tiara outside who has been sipping on an ice tea from a local vendor, with Sinead beginning to explain to the group that they’ll now be taking part in their next daily challenge. Each player is provided with sun-protective gear and a miners pickaxe along with identical slabs of rock that contain ‘replica spheres of opal’. All five players are said to have the opal in the exact same positions, with the goal simply being to retrieve all five spheres of ‘replica opal’ and clean them off in the correct fashion for collection. The first individual to do this correctly will be declared the daily winner, whilst the last will automatically face repatriation and risk leaving the game in fifth place. The players begin frantically digging with their pickaxes in the blazing sun, facing reminders to stay hydrated with an assortment of drinks onsite. Joseph initially takes the lead due to his strength advantage, with Ethan and June just behind as both tactically hit their slabs of rock to ensure maximum breakage. Eventually, Joseph’s ‘power through’ tactic comes back to haunt him as he begins to suffer heat exhaustion, resulting in him taking a fifteen minute break in the shade as he douses himself with ice cold water and dry heaves into his own lap. During this worrying episode, Ethan and June begin to pull ahead, with Tiara lagging severely in last place as she makes little progress in breaking apart her slab. After an exhausting forty-five minutes, June is seen to be in the lead with four of her five ‘replica opals’ obtained, whilst both Ethan and Joseph have just three each. June is eventually able to retrieve her final sphere, taking all five over to the washing barrel where she begins to clean and polish them off for delivery. Noting June in front, Tiara is seen almost quitting the challenge, clearly feeling confident enough to fall into last place at this stage. The mining judge positively accepts June’s submissions, declaring that she has won her second consecutive daily challenge and guaranteeing herself a spot in the final four. Over the next twenty minutes, both Ethan and Joseph check-in, followed by Ella over forty minutes later. Tiara remains sat in the shade as Ella finishes, with her lack of effort and trying once again rubbing certain individuals the wrong way in what they regard to be ‘arrogant behaviour’. Lincoln announces that Tiara has therefore automatically found herself nominated for repatriation, somewhat scolding her lack of effort despite her claims that she was ‘simply too hot to work’. Sinead then asks challenge winner June both for the name of her nominee to face Tiara, as well as whether or not she’d want to use her ‘Golden Fob Lifesaver’ at this final opportunity, or keep it as a souvenir. June stands before the other four players, explaining that she is “glad to be able to have held onto the lifesaver this long… and also glad to be able to use it to help a friend out today”, offering it over to Tiara and thus leaving her immune for the round. An expectant Tiara hugs June, ignoring the eyerolls from Ella and Joseph as the latter mumbles “what a sham” for all to hear. Sinead explains that with Tiara now immune, Ella will automatically face repatriation as the next lowest finisher in the challenge. Following from this, June predicably nominates target Joseph to face-off against his ally, explaining that it is all to ensure she gets the result “that benefits (her) game”.
Ella and Joseph hold hands and hug as they wish one another luck, knowing that they have just one hour before one of them becomes the next person to leave the game after a failed uphill battle. Joseph happily tells Ella that he is “pretty sure they’re voting (him) out”, loudly claiming that “as much as Tiara and June are manipulative liars, I don’t think either of those clowns could stand to spend another twenty-four hours with me”. June whispers to Tiara to ‘ignore’ Joseph, believing that it is nothing more than ‘the final efforts of a pending juror to rattle the cage’. Despite June’s words, Tiara heads off alone inside an underground bathroom where she is soon joined by friend and ally Ethan, who offers her a hug and tries to comfort her as she begins to tear up. Tiara seeks affirmation from Ethan that she ‘isn’t a bad person’, unsure why Joseph feels the need to ‘continuously attack her’. Ethan does his best to put Tiara’s mind to rest, explaining that they “need to understand that he's on high emotions right now, and whatever he’s feeling… valid or not… is going to be said”. He goes on to tell his ally that she should follow June’s advice to ignore the jabs, and instead focus on celebrating that as a trio they have managed to ensure they make up seventy-five percent of the final four. Elsewhere, Ella and Joseph sit together and talk as they watch the sunset over Coober Pedy, agreeing that they both made vital mistakes through their time on the road trip, with Joseph in particular apologising for his decisions that have certainly led to their demise. Ella assures Joseph that she ‘forgives’ any errors, laughing that for one of them “it isn’t completely over yet”, holding onto a tiny amount of optimism that a comeback isn’t out of reach. Once the hour is up, the players gather around to begin voting for either Ella or Joseph to leave the game. As expected, Joseph is announced to have been repatriated in a 2-0 vote, choosing to only hug Ella goodbye before offering harsh words to the others as he retrieves his belongings from the underground motel, particularly aiming venom towards June and Tiara, referring to them as “the witch and the bitch” as he is driven away in a taxi to be sequestered with the rest of the jury. Ella awkwardly offers her thanks to the trio for choosing to keep her in the game, receiving clumsy hugs and congratulations in return. Lincoln and Sinead inform the final four that having made it to this late stage, only two daily challenges now stand between them and the end of the game, leaving everything to play for in the quest to become Champion of the Road Trip.
===Episode #11 - It's Nice, It's Different, It's Unusual===
In the final days of the road trip, the remaining four players are driven overnight from Coober Pedy towards the southern coastal city of Adelaide, which will act as the penultimate stop on their adventure. Despite the drama that occurred in the previous round, the final foursome try to remain in high spirits so to not end their journey on a sad note. Ella does her best to remain integrated with the other three players in spite of knowing that she will almost certainly be the next sent home unless she is able to win the next daily challenge. Arriving in Adelaide in the early hours of the afternoon, the players are transported after lunch towards Adelaide Central Market; a market that has existed since 1869 to provide the Australian public with fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and many other premium produce. There, the players are greeted by Lincoln and Sinead, congratulating the players on reaching this near endgame point of the road trip. Sinead informs the players that within the market they will participate in their next daily challenge, which will entail them purchasing an assortment of items by a specific weight. However, the catch is that all items listed will be written in the Aboriginal Kaurna language, leaving it up to the players to decipher which item is which. Moreover, players are told that vendors have been instructed that they may not use weighing scales, and instead must estimate how much of each item they will need based on average weight listings on each product. The players will earn points based on accuracy of product, accuracy of weight and ultimately scaled on time, with these three areas being combined to determine a winner and a loser of the challenge. Knowing that one sole individual will have the right to vote in this challenge, all four players appreciate the importance of winning and earning their own spot in the final three.
One by one, each player is given time in the market to complete their challenge after being sent forth in a randomly generated order. First to compete Ella is seen struggling with the task, nervously asking vendors if any can translate the items on the shopping list. After being laughed at by the confused vendors, Ella begins to take word of mouth from other random shoppers as to what the items likely pertain to be, resulting in her guessing based on available weights and multiplications. Next up, Tiara takes a more direct approach in working out the list, asking every individual in sight to help her work out the items and then where in the market she can find them. Third to compete, June quickly races out of the market, explaining as she does so that “nothing in the rules said we had to stay in there the whole time”. Looking around, June locates an individual who is willing to lend her their phone, searching up translations for each item and writing them down on her list before racing back inside and making her purchases. Finally, Ethan equally seems overwhelmed, finding that he too receives little help off the vendors as he tepidly walks around the marketplace. In the end, Ethan is able to find another local who helps him with some items, noting that they had by chance taught in a local Aboriginal community and thus could identify several of the items. All four players regather after competing, waiting as Lincoln and Sinead weigh-up and tally all their items. Lincoln reveals that in “a distant first place”, that June has managed to make Road Trip history with a third consecutive win, bringing her total this season up to four. The players all applaud June for her victory, once again realising that looks can be deceiving as the oldest woman of the cast puts them to shame in the competitions. Alternatively, Lincoln then announces that the other three players all performed ‘equally badly’, with Ella ultimately having the worst combined time, identification of items and weights, leaving her automatically nominated and vulnerable. A dejected Ella stands silently in acceptance as she watches June openly deliberate with Ethan and Tiara as to which of them should be ‘nominated’, realising that this is mostly a ‘stand-in’ rather than a literal potential boot. In the end, June selects Tiara to be nominated over Ethan, claiming that she ‘knows Tiara will understand’. Very little deliberation takes place, with Ella simply pitching to Ethan that she ‘thinks Tiara and June are less popular with other jurors at times and maybe they both know this’, worrying that he could be the next target once she is out of the game. Tiara then tells Ethan that the two of them have worked together throughout the entire game, with their final three plan with June being in fruition for much of their time during the road trip, and that to betray this now would be “a really poor decision on (his) part”. Choosing to remain loyal to his allies, Ethan’s key-fob is quickly revealed to bear Ella’s name, eliminating her from the game and leaving the alliance of three to move together to the final day. Remaining optimistic, Ella hugs all three of the others goodbye, wishing them luck as she claims that she “doesn’t need an explanation” as to why she had to leave. After waving Ella goodbye, the trio listen as Lincoln and Sinead advise they rest-up in the RV overnight, explaining that they’ll be undergoing another long journey to their final destination city where one of the three of them will become the next Champion of the Road Trip.
Yet again, the remaining players are driven eight hours in the early hours of the morning from Adelaide to the city of Melbourne, with each player explaining on the journey that they ‘cannot wait for travelling to be done’ after a gruelling last few days. On the drive, each player is shown in a confessional explaining their thoughts headed into this final day, with all three particularly emotional to know that their adventure will soon come to an end. Tiara explains that she perceives herself to be “the strategist” of those left in the game, arguing that she is the individual who made the most calls as to who should be eliminated in the second half, and in particular credits herself with maintaining the alliance between herself, Ethan and June. Similarly, Ethan too believes he is to credit for the alliance, but instead is shown talking about his superior “social bonds” with other players, noting that unlike Tiara and June he largely avoided conflict during his time on the road trip, hoping that this will set him apart should he reach the final two. Finally, June unsurprisingly spends time talking about having “one of the most dominant physical performances of any player in Road Trip”, feeling that she has not only made her family and herself proud, but also “positively represented all the older women and mums out there who have been led to believe that they can’t do something like this”. June goes on to explain that she is unsure who between Ethan and Tiara that she would take with her to the final two, believing both have positive and negative attributes to sit beside at the end. However, she appears confident in her own ability to beat either, particularly thanks to having several friends on the jury and a “rollercoaster journey where (she) experienced playing from the top and playing from the bottom”. In Melbourne, the final three head to ArtVo; a self-guided gallery of optical-illusion murals that has become a popular attraction for both locals and tourists. After having an opportunity to take some humorous photos, the players gather on three laid out stools opposite a stern looking Lincoln and Sinead, prepared to face their final daily challenge of the season. All three are told they’ll now be taking on a trivia-based final challenge, with questions ranging from the road trip as a whole, locations, activities and other contestants. The final three are to write their answers on boards secretly before revealing, with every correct answer earning one point. After ten questions, the individual with the most points will win a spot in the final two and determine who will be joining them, and who will ultimately end their journey as the final juror. Ethan easily and surprisingly falls into last place, scoring only five out of his ten questions correctly, nervously blaming a ‘bad memory’ as he sees his fate completely leave his own hands. Between the two women, June’s winning streak finally comes to an end as she scores seven points to Tiara’s eight, leaving the heiress as the winner of the challenge. Both Ethan and June are given an opportunity to plead their cases to Tiara, trying their best to convince her that they are the correct opponent to sit next to at the final two. Ethan tells Tiara that they have “had an agreement to go together to the end since day two”, explaining that he’d “struggle to forgive (her) if (she) went against that at this final stage”, additionally highlighting June’s underdog status and challenge wins as being “a clear loss” to sit with at the end. On the other hand, June explains to Tiara that she believes the two of them to be “a closer battle” than if she were to take Ethan, reminding Tiara of words stated by some jurors on their exit about his likeability versus theirs. Moreover, June voices fear that Ethan and Tiara are “harder to distinguish” due to their partnership, leaving it a greater unknown as to how the jury will respond to them if they sat together. After a few minutes of consideration, Tiara announces that she has chosen to repatriate June, naming her as “too big of a threat, and the most deserving person of the win” out of the three of them, believing that it would be “braindead” to sit with her at the final two. A disappointed June sighs and nods, remaining composed as she hugs both Ethan and Tiara goodbye, holding back her tears until she exits the gallery. Lincoln and Sinead congratulate the final two, telling them that they will remain in the gallery as they eat a final meal, soon being joined by the seven jurors that will determine who is more worthy of being crowned champion.
The dominant duo sit together as the jury of seven (Ossie, Marcus, Anton, Róisín, Joseph, Ella and June) enter to sit opposite them. The jury as a collective body is allowed to question or make statements to Ethan and Tiara whilst they pitch their case as to why they should be given the win. For Ethan, a large portion of the jury credit his superior social game, commenting that he very rarely found himself ‘disliked’ by others on the tour, and that he would often do his best to keep strong social connections with those both inside and outside his alliance. Ella, June and Róisín in particular speak highly of Ethan in this moment, with Ella claiming to be uncertain why during the whole process that she was “the only person ever willing to take a shot at (Ethan)”, calling him “the obvious threat” on his side of the game. For Tiara, some of the jury are willing to admit that she evidently ‘has a strategic mind’, although many shut down her perceptions that she was the ‘leader’ of her alliance, particularly as Róisín notes “any strategic conversations we had on ‘our side’ was largely through Ethan”, regarding Tiara as “just as much of a tag-along as (she) was”. Joseph then speaks up to voice his disliking of Tiara, calling her “spoiled, bratty, self-centred, unlikeable and a general horror to spend the last few weeks travelling alongside”. Joseph promises Tiara that she “won’t be getting (his) vote”, as he would regard it “a travesty if we as a jury not only reward someone who doesn’t need the money, but has no redeeming characteristics that would make them deserving of it". Focusing on Ethan, Ossie and Marcus negatively critique his ‘passive’ attitude at times, also claiming that they both found he could be ‘fake’ and hide behind his ‘niceness’. Ethan responds by telling both men that he is by no means fake, explaining that he had never professed to like either, illuminating to the fact that it was his move to send Marcus home to strengthen his own position. However, Ossie then points out that whilst Marcus was ousted to strengthen Ethan, that a “more key move” came when Tiara was able to oust Róisín from the game, leaving Ethan with less options than she had for a final two. Tiara tries to capitalise off this statement, believing that Róisín’s elimination was ‘a turning point’ for her to control the last few days of the game. However, June and Ethan are both heard questioning this, claiming that they worked as a group and likely couldn’t have achieved their victories without June’s multiple daily wins and successful handling of the lifesaver. Finally, quieter juror Anton announces that he still remains undecided, wanting to know from Ethan if he would have taken Róisín, June or Tiara to the final two in his ‘ideal ending’. Ethan quickly answers that he would have ‘never taken June’ as he is certain she would beat most of them, and that between Róisín and Tiara he had little preference, confidently declaring “I think my game and the way others perceived me would hold up against either… but, I think at the time my heart and head were telling me go with Róisín because I know if I lost the game to her… that I’d lose to someone who would have as big of a life improvement from the money as I would”. After questions and statements, each juror is then instructed to place a key-fob with either ‘Ethan’ or ‘Tiara’ into the holder, corresponding to who they want to win the game. Lincoln and Sinead alternate on drawing the final votes of the season, with the first three votes all being from Ethan as he wins the support of Róisín, Ella and Joseph. For the first time in Road Trip, the fourth vote belonging to June is drawn and supplies Ethan with victory, revealing that he had earned the votes of all seven of the jurors in a clean sweep unanimous result. Ethan is swamped by the jurors as they congratulate him on his win, awkwardly leaving Tiara on the side as she earns the distinction of being the first person to reach the end and receive no jury votes to win. Not wanting to isolate his friend, Ethan hugs Tiara, commending her on her game and assuring her that he “couldn’t have enjoyed the experience without (her)”. Lincoln and Sinead begin to leave the art gallery as the players celebrate, pausing as they pass a mural containing an array of stars. Lincoln takes a quick snapshot of the mural, smiling as he follows Sinead out the door.