Tiebreaker

A **tiebreaker** is a situation where two or more individuals share the same amount of votes at Tribal Council, with no other person receiving a higher amount. In this event, several instances may occur and have occurred over the course of the series.

## Current rules

### Pre-Final Four

In the event of a tie prior to the final four Tribal Council, a second round of voting will take place where all tied contestants will not vote, and the non-tied contestants may only choose between the tied contestants. Whoever receives the highest amount of votes will be voted out. Hidden Immunity Idols and Extra Vote advantages cannot be played at revotes, but depending on the specifics of the advantage, their effects may carry over into the revote.

If the revote does not break the tie, the host may declare a deadlocked vote, after which he will allow the non-tied players to openly discuss who should be eliminated in front of the tied players and the jury. The decision has to be unanimous; otherwise, the tied players will be rendered immune, subjecting the non-immune, non-tied contestants to a lottery of rocks. The contestant with the odd-coloured rock will be eliminated from the game instead. Any player barred from voting due to a twist would not be allowed to take part in the unanimous decision, but can still be allowed to take part in the discussion and would still be eligible to draw rocks.

If there is a deadlocked tie between three or more players, and one or more players are unanimously agreed upon to *not* be eliminated, then they will join the non-tied players in the discussion between the remaining tied players. If no consensus can be reached, then any players that joined the discussion would also draw rocks as well, along with the initial non-immune, non-tied players. If the revote breaks only part of the tie and the host and the host declares a deadlocked vote, only those contestants tied at the revote are considered to be tied. However, in practice, a deadlock will not be declared in this scenario.

If all but two contestants are immune, and those two contestants are tied, no rock draw would occur as nobody would be eligible to draw rocks. In this instance, the two tied contestants would compete in a fire-making challenge. It is unknown what would happen if more than two players are tied in this situation.

If all but one contestant is either immune or tied, no rock draw would occur as only one person would be eligible to draw rocks. That person would be automatically eliminated.

### Final Four (Vote)

If a 2-2 tie vote occurs at the final four Tribal Council, there will be no official revote and the two tied contestants will compete in a fire-making challenge, where the winner stays and the loser is eliminated.

### Null Votes

If a null vote (i.e. a vote where none of the votes cast count, possibly due to multiple Hidden Immunity Idols negating all votes) occurs, a vote restart would occur.

All of those who had gained individual immunity (e.g. those with the Immunity Necklace and the ones who played idols) during the regular vote are individually immune; this immunity cannot be passed before the restarted vote. This is a fully restarted vote with the non-immune contestants *not* considered "tied", so the non-immune contestants would remain eligible to vote; however, it is believed that idols and advantages cannot be played at a restarted vote. In the event that a restarted vote ties, it is treated the same as any other tie, even if everyone eligible to receive votes at the restart is part of the tie.

If there are only two eligible targets during a restart, those targets will be ineligible to vote, as they can only vote against each other. If there is only one eligible target during a restart, they are automatically eliminated, as they are the only person who can receive votes.

As of *Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains*, a null vote has never occurred.

### Jury Vote Tiebreaker

A Jury Vote Tiebreaker has never occurred in *Australian Survivor*, therefore it is not known what the rules for this scenario are.

## Former Rules

In *Australian Survivor* (2002) and *Celebrity Survivor Australia*, if there is a deadlocked tie, the castaway with more previous votes against them is eliminated. Votes cast at revotes are not counted as part of the previous votes tiebreaker. If none of those who are tied have previous votes against them, or if all of those who are tied have the same number of previous votes against them, the jury would vote to eliminate, as seen in the latter season.

## Tiebreaker History

### *Australian Survivor* (2002)

In Episode 11, Jane Dalton and Joel Betts were locked at 3-3. At the revote, nobody changed their vote and so it ended 2-2. Since Jane received 4 prior Tribal Council votes to Joel's 0, Jane was eliminated.

### *Celebrity Survivor Australia*

In Episode 11, Justin Melvey and Nicolle Dickson were locked at 2-2. Since they both received 4 prior Tribal Council votes, the jury was asked to vote to eliminate one of the two. Nicolle was eliminated with a 3-0 vote.

### *Australian Survivor* (2016)

1. In Episode 5, both losing tribes, Saanapu and Vavau, were subjected to a mock vote where the person voted out from each tribe would be switched to the other losing tribe, and each person voted out would bring one tribemate along to swap. Vavau's vote was locked at 3-3 between Conner Bethune and Flick Egginton, and the revote was tied 2-2, so Connor was chosen by consensus.
2. In Episode 7, Vavau voted, with Nick Iadanza and Tegan Haining being locked at 2-2. If it were not for Kylie Evans playing a Hidden Immunity Idol, it would have been a 2-2-2 three-way tie. On the revote, Tegan was unanimously voted off 4-0.
3. In Episode 23, Matt Tarrant and Sam Webb were locked at 2-2, with the other vote going to El Rowland. Sam was unable to vote due to Lee Carseldine using his vote stopper advantage on him. On the revote, Sam was unanimously voted off 4-0.

### *Australian Survivor* (2017)

1. In Episode 1, Asaga voted, and Joan Caballero and Kent Nelson were locked at 6-6. On the revote, Joan was voted off 7-3.
2. In Episode 8, Samatau were subjected to a mock vote where the two people they voted out would join Asaga. They would be briefly exiled until the next day, where Asaga will choose two members to join Samatau. The first vote was locked at 3-3-2 between AK Knight, Tara Pitt and Locky Gilbert. On the revote, Tara was voted off 5-1.
3. The second mock vote of Episode 8 resulted in a 3-3-1 split between Anneliese Wilson, Locky Gilbert and AK Knight. On the revote, Anneliese was unanimously voted off 5-0.
4. In Episode 25, Jericho Malabonga and Michelle Dougan were locked at 2-2. On the revote, Peter Conte and Tara Pitt did not change their vote, again voting for Jericho and Michelle respectively. Therefore, a fire-making challenge was used to determine who would finish fourth. Jericho's fire cut the string above it first, so Michelle was eliminated.

### *Australian Survivor: Champions v Contenders* (2018)

1. In Episode 2, Champions voted, and Jackie Glazier and Russell Hantz were locked at 4-4-2-2. On the revote, Russell was voted off 9-1.
2. In Episode 18, Benji Wilson and Sharn Coombes were locked at 4-4. On the revote, Benji was voted off 5-1.
3. In Episode 20, Fenella McGowan, Sharn Coombes and Steve Willis were locked at 2-2-2. On the revote, Steve was voted off 3-1-0 (the other vote went to Fenella).

### *Australian Survivor: Champions v Contenders* (2019)

1. In Episode 10, Champions voted, and Hannah Pentreath and Shaun Hampson were locked at 2-2-1 (David Genat negated 3 votes with a Hidden Immunity Idol). On the revote, Hannah was voted off 4-2.
2. In Episode 12, Contenders (2019) voted, and Matt Farrelly and Pia Miranda were locked at 2-2 (Harry Hills negated 3 votes with a Hidden Immunity Idol). On the revote, Matt was voted off 5-1.
3. In Episode 17, Abbey Holmes and John Eastoe were locked at 4-4-1, with Harry Hills receiving the other vote. On the revote, John was voted off 4-3.

### *Australian Survivor: All Stars*

1. In Episode 11, Mokuta voted, and Moana Hope and Phoebe Timmins were locked at 5-5. The tie was forced by Nick Iadanza, who used his extra vote advantage to place a second vote on Moana. On the revote, Phoebe was voted off 5-2.
2. In Episode 17, the three people with the highest number of votes would be sent to Exile Beach and join the three who were already there, with the six of them to compete in a series of challenges to earn their place back in the game. The vote was split 2-2-1-1 between Jacqui Patterson, Shonee Bowtell, David Genat and Zach Kozyrski. Since David and Zach were tied for third, a revote occurred, with only Sharn Coombes and Mark Herlaar being eligible to vote, the only two that did not receive voted for the first vote. On the revote, Zach was voted off to Exile Beach 2-0.
3. In Episode 19, Jacqui Patterson and Moana Hope were locked at 4-4. On the revote, they were locked at 3-3 since nobody changed their vote. If no consensus could be reached, rocks would be drawn among those not immune. Sharn told the minority alliance that if they voted out Jacqui, she would join them, forming a new group of four and potentially take over the game. Hesitantly, the minority three changed their vote, sending Jacqui out of the game by consensus.

### *Australian Survivor: Brains v Brawn*

1. In Episode 4, Brawn voted, and Benny Burdo and Simon Mee were locked at 5-5. On the revote, Benny was voted off 6-2.
2. In Episode 6, Brains voted, and Cara Atchison and Georgia Ray were locked at 3-3. Cara played a Hidden Immunity Idol for George Mladenov, negating 4 votes, with the idol being given by the producers to unfairly support George's and Cara's games. On the revote, Cara was voted off 6-2, but she was sent to the Brains tribe, unbeknown to Brains, again to unfairly support George's and Cara's games.
3. In Episode 21, Cara Atchison, Dani Beale and Flick Palmateer were locked at 2-2-2. On the revote, Dani was unanimously voted off 3-0.

### *Australian Survivor: Blood v Water*

1. In Episode 21, David Goodchild and Jordie Hansen were locked at 2-2, with Mark Wales negating 3 votes with a Hidden Immunity Idol. On the revote, David was voted off 4-1.
2. In Episode 23, Josh Millgate and KJ Austin were were locked at 2-2-1, with Mark Wales receiving the other vote. On the revote, KJ was voted off 2-1.

### *Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains*

1. In Episode 10, Villains voted, and Jordie Hansen and Sam Webb were locked at 4-4. On the revote, Jordie was voted off 5-1.
2. In Episode 21, Nina Twine and Simon Mee were locked at 3-3. On the revote, Simon was unanimously voted off 4-0.