AK Knight

**Aaron "AK" Knight** is a contestant from *Australian Survivor* (2017) and *Australian Survivor: All Stars*.

AK started the game off playing aggressively, however, this only isolated himself from his tribe. However, he quickly realized this, and managed to use his position as a swing vote to dismantle the original majority alliance, and quickly taking control of the Samatau tribe. Despite leading Tara Pitt's "elimination", AK was reunited with her once he was swapped over to the Asaga tribe. With only Peter Conte left as an ally, and Tara having already exposed AK as a threat, AK was eliminated in a near-unanimous vote.

AK was labeled "the accountant" of his majority alliance in *All Stars*, originally consisting of Vakama's younger members and later recruiting Shonee Fairfax and Harry Hills after the tribe switch. AK was crucial in keeping his alliance unified even after a period of consistent losses, solidifying Harry's trust at Flick Egginton's blindside. AK and his allies would become the minority following the merge and, after fighting from the bottom, AK was eliminated at the final six after losing to Moana Hope in the "Trial by Fire" challenge.

## Profile

*Retrieved from 10play.com.au*

* All Stars

**Age:** 29
**Occupation:** Wedding DJ
**State:** South Australia
**Tribe:** Samatau
Wedding DJ and self-confessed reality television devotee, Aaron is ready to take on *Australian Survivor* and knows that sitting around idly is not the way to play. "I want to win and you can't win unless you make big moves.
I want to put into action some of the plays that I have been a fan of for years from watching the show, at least I hope to.
"I love how complex the game is and how many different layers of strategy there are to get to the end. I love that when you get to the end, you have to convince the people you voted out to vote for you to win," he said.
A mad sports fan, Aaron has been with his partner Bec for three years and tears up when thinking about their relationship. Aaron wants to make Bec and his parents proud and hopes to win so that he can buy them some luxuries and put money towards setting up his future family life.
After applying for series one of *Australian Survivor*, Aaron knew he had to try again for the second season.
"Ever since I started watching the US version, I have wanted to be on it. The minute the Aussie version started, I knew I needed to get on it. Last year was great and I was gunning for Evan, Nick and Phoebe as I thought they were real players and people I wanted to see do well."
Aaron used to be a fence installer and he believes his experience working in the heat and lifting heavy objects for up to 12 hours a day will prepare him well for island life. He has been training daily including weights, core training, balance and lots of swimming, which he admits is his physical weakness.
Using some "loose" morals to play the game, his biggest fear is coming second.

"I don't want to be here for the experience, I want to win."
**32, Wedding DJ — Season 2**
Anyone who watched Season 2 will remember AK as the sneakiest player on the island. And this time, he says it won't be any different."I feel more relaxed this time, but I don't regret anything I did last time – I played hard, I thought creatively and never gave up. I'm back this time but I haven't changed, I want to win, and I want to have some fun."
Following on from his infamous fake chicken Idol, AK is excited to play some big moves and keep his reputation as someone to keep an eye on! He hopes to make his long-term girlfriend, Bec, proud and the fan community with strong game play and memorable moments.
While he may not be changing his lovable villain ways, AK is going to change the way he plays with the other contestants saying; "I'm going to stroke the egos of everyone there. I'll treat everyone like they're a mate I haven't caught up with for a while. And then I'll strike."
AK continues to be a Wedding DJ when he's home in Adelaide and hopes to see some of his fellow South Australian contestants on the island; Nick from Season 1 and Henry from Season 2.

## Australian Survivor

### 2017

A superfan of the show, AK started the game with too much enthusiasm. He had individual and group discussions with everyone on Samatau. Though he developed a quick friendship with Jarrad, he began his awkward relationship with Tara when he tried to talk strategy with her while she was puking. AK also developed a rivalry with Adam when they both went looking for the Hidden Immunity Idol. AK secured the idol, and because Adam was also suspected of finding the idol, the tribe began to worry about him as well. AK would become a part of the new majority alliance that formed to take out Adam, leaving Kate, Tessa, and Mark H. on the bottom. Though AK was initially happy to "Pagong" the outsiders, he knew he was on the bottom of the alliance led by Locky who was close to Aimee and Tara. Despite a strong effort against powerhouses Henry and Mark W. in an endurance challenge, AK could not prevent a fourth consecutive Immunity Challenge loss for Samatau. Tara and Locky decided now was the time to strike against AK, but likewise AK was prepared to make a move. With the help of AK's first attempted alliance of Jarrad and Ziggy, outsider Tessa, and swing vote Peter, he succeeded in blindsiding Aimee on Day 13.

This move saw AK complete a roller coaster first two weeks ending up back in power, which made Tara furious and escalated the conflict between the two players. After a brief immunity win streak following four loses in a row, another Tribal Council loss appeared to give AK the opportunity to take out Tara once and for all. Not only was the Day 20 Tribal Council a surprise Double Elimination, but instead of Tara and Anneliese being voted out, they were swapped onto Asaga.

A second Tribe Switch put AK and Peter into a 5-2 minority on Asaga, where he was reunited with his archenemy Tara. AK knew the situation was dire but did everything in his power to get Tara voted out before himself. Unfortunately for AK, fellow strategist Luke knew how dangerous he was and held control with his allies Jericho, Sarah, and Odette. Tara joined them in voting out AK 4-2-1 on Day 28. Despite not making the merge, Jonathan praised AK at the Reunion Show for his gameplay.

* Challenge History
* Voting History

**^1** In "Episode 4", Tessa used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating AK's vote against her.
**^2** In "Episode 8", Samatau was subjected to a mock Tribal Council where the two players they voted out were switched to the other tribe.
**^3** In "Episode 11", after winning the Immunity Challenge on Day 26, Samatau was subjected to a Tribal Council where they would vote for one person to compete for a special reward.

### All Stars

AK got off to a better start this time around, successfully helping form a majority alliance consisting of Brooke Jowett, Flick Egginton, Locky Gilbert, Phoebe Timmins, Daisy Richardson, and David Genat despite AK and Locky's rivalry from their initial season. Though AK and Phoebe were viewed as a swing vote as Jericho Malabonga hoped to save himself, they stood their ground and helped vote out the former winner. Things got trickier when AK was blindsided by Daisy's elimination, a result of Mat Rogers's and David's secret scheming. Despite that road bump, AK proved to be helpful in challenges, particularly ones with throwing elements, but also impressively defeated ex-olympian Lydia Lassila in a one-on-one matchup.

AK stayed with his allies Brooke, Locky, and Flick after the Tribe Switch where they recruited former Mokuta outsiders Harry Hills and Shonee Fairfax. This is where AK's reputation as "the accountant" began to take shape as he lead his alliance in various split votes against players outside of the alliance, namely Abbey Holmes, Lydia, John Eastoe, and Mat. With just the Vakama alliance remaining on the tribe, the remaining group of six fought hard to make it to the merge with all of their numbers intact. An Immunity Challenge loss foiled those plans. AK contributed to Flick's blindside, solidifying Harry's trust in the process as he talked Harry out of using his advantage. When the merge came, the Vakama alliance hoped that they could flip David and Zach Kozyrski to their side. Instead, AK was blindsided as the Mokuta seven stuck together and voted out Locky.

AK's repeated attempts to break the alliance failed save for when Jacqui Patterson turned on Zach. Despite Jacqui's flip, she would be voted out next after Sharn Coombes urged AK and his allies not to go to rocks and promised she would work with them. Sharn immediately went back on that promise. Brooke and Shonee's Immunity Challenge performances meant that AK wasn't initially targeted, but once Brooke won immunity on Day 44, AK knew he was doomed. Despite the unfortunate situation, he still congratulated Brooke on her performances. AK was given one last lifeline when host Jonathan LaPaglia announced that if someone believed they were going home, they can participate in a firemaking challenge against another player unanimously chosen by the rest of the tribe. Brooke convinced them to choose Moana Hope, believing she was the least likely to beat AK. Moana ended up victorious, sending AK to the jury.

At Final Tribal Council, AK gave Sharn the option to either convince him to vote for her or pick one of four rocks. If she picked the right rock, AK would guarantee to vote for her. This referenced Sharn's skittishness concerning going to rocks at the final eight. Sharn declined AK's offer, and AK went on to vote for David to win.

#### Voting History

**^1** In "Episode 3", Mat used a Hidden Immunity Idol on Jacqui, negating AK's vote against her.
**^2** In "Episode 9", Mat used a Hidden Immunity Idol, negating AK's vote against him.
**^3** In "Episode 19", the vote ended with a 4-4 tie between Jacqui and Moana, forcing a revote. Nobody changed their vote on the revote, forcing a unanimous decision tiebreaker. AK changed his vote to Jacqui on the tiebreaker.
**^4** In "Episode 21", after the players cast their votes, Jonathan offered the final 6 players to not reveal the votes, should a player accept a "Trial by Fire" to stay in the game - failing the trial would eliminate the participating player. Upon accepting the trial, the other 5 players had to unanimously choose a challenger for the player participating in the "Trial by Fire" - who would not be at risk of elimination. AK accepted the offer, and the tribe chose Moana as his challenger. AK lost his trial and was eliminated.

## Post-Survivor

* AK attended the wedding of Mark Wales and Sam Gash on December 14, 2019.

## Redemption Island

### Days spent on Redemption Island:

4

* AK is the first man on *Australian Survivor* to find a Hidden Immunity Idol without any clues.
* AK is the first castaway on *Australian Survivor* to use a Hidden Immunity Idol for someone else. He used his Hidden Immunity Idol on Jarrad Seng.
* AK is the first castaway in *Australian Survivor* to use a Hidden Immunity Idol but not negate any votes.
* Despite being a member of the original Vakama tribe, AK wears a Mokuta buff in his cast photo for *All Stars*.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/BXUeFwun9gD/
2. ↑ https://10play.com.au/australian-survivor/participants/season-2/aaron/pa190708yxpcj
3. ↑ https://10play.com.au/australian-survivor/participants/season-5/ak/pa200203ugtbx
4. ↑ https://www.newidea.com.au/samantha-gash-and-mark-wales-our-survivor-wedding