Nicola

Survivor: Australia
Tribe(s): Saanapu, Vavau, Fia Fia
Finish: 7/20
Days Lasted: 33

Nicola is a contestant from *Survivor: Australia*.

## Survivor: Australia

Nicola was originally placed on the blue Saanapu tribe of *Survivor: Australia*. She formed a tight alliance of four early on, which included with James, Coleen and Jamie. Kristie was the swing vote as the older group saw the younger ones were using her. When Saanapu lost the first immunity challenge, the older group targeted Flick and told Kristie. At tribal, Nicola voted for Flick but the majority of the tribe felt James was too old that it could become a liability and he was voted out. Following the vote, Coleen and Nicola jumped off the sinking ship of their alliance and joined the majority of six, Lee, Kristie, Sam, Matt, Brooke and Flick, leaving Jamie as the outcast. When Saanapu lost the second time in a row, the majority of eight got rid of Jamie.

Wanting to ensure they weren't at the bottom of the alliance, Coleen and Nicola talked to Kristie about forming a separate alliance. Although she was aligned with Lee, Kristie agreed and gave Nicola new hope. Saanapu lost their third challenge in a row, where the trio of girls planned on targeting Flick once again. This attempt was a failure, but the alliance was spared when Lee was voted out. The tribe won the following immunity challenge but were told that a Double Tribal Council on Day 12 was to occur. Nicola voted for Flick, as she thought the rest of her alliance would, but was blindsided at tribal council when Saanapu unanimously voted her out. This vote came with a twist however because Nicola was switched to the other tribe and got to bring along a player of her choice. She chose Kristie, and the pair were now members of Vavau.

Nicola and Kristie were extremely worried that they would become the first targets from the rest of Vavau, but it appeared that cracks within Vavau were too fractured. Rohan and Phoebe were a close couple and created an alliance of four with Nicola and Kristie. The Saanapu duo agreed that they were to play as passively as possible on this tribe to make the merge and hopefully have options but as little enemies as possible. When Vavau lost their first immunity challenge as a new tribe, Rohan and Phoebe encouraged the girls to vote for Craig. They voted for him at tribal council, where Phoebe played her Hidden Immunity Idol for extra reassurance. Sue was at the bottom of the tribe, but talked to the rest of the tribe and was brought into the alliance as a fifth number for the time being. Vavau lost another challenge, where the five voted out Stacy who was less useful to the alliance.

Surprised by how easy it was for Vavau to turn on each other, Nicola and Kristie were given another opportunity when Sue offered another alliance of four with them, her and Nick, whom she felt sorry for after she ditched him. This angered Phoebe and Rohan, but Nicola decided it was healthy for Vavau to target each other and keep the Saanapu girls to a fairly low profile. Vavau won the next immunity challenge, but lost on Day 21. Nicola and her new alliance voted for Phoebe, but she played her second idol. With only two votes that counted from Phoebe and Rohan, Sue was voted out, keeping Nicola and Kristie safe for another day and the blame put solely on Sue and Nick.

On Day 22, the two tribes merged. Nicola and Kristie felt that they were the swing votes of the tribe because the two tribal alliances had five members; Saanapu with Matt, Coleen, Sam, Flick and Brooke and Vavau with Calum, JL, Nick, Phoebe and Rohan. At the first merged tribal council, Nicola and Kristie ultimately chose that Saanapu was a much stronger group and should be split as soon as possible, eliminating Coleen with the rest of Vavau. When talk around camp was putting blame on Calum and his ever growing threatening status, the Vavau Alliance rolled with it to ensure their safety by blindsiding him at the following tribal. This plan to get rid of Calum was concocted by Phoebe and Rohan and once the rest of the tribe figured this out, their pairing became extra threatening. The Saanapu Four, JL, Kristie and Nicola didn't want this duo to stay together for much longer and blindsided him at the following vote. Nicola and the rest of the tribe then unanimously voted out Nick, who was seen as the least useful and more of a loose cannon for lacking strong connections and alliances.

With a split of 4-4 between the Saanapu Four and the post-switch Vavau members, Nicola and Kristie were forced to decide whether to stay loyal to Vavau or make a more individual move with Saanapu. They ultimately felt that overthrowing Saanapu was of peak importance and voted with JL and Phoebe for Flick. However, Flick played her idol and with votes counting only from Saanapu, Phoebe was voted out. Nicola and Kristie knew that they were alone because of JL's passive gameplay and were only hoping that the Saanapu Four would target her first. At tribal, the pair voted for Sam but Saanapu saw Nicola as a larger threat than JL and she was voted out. At the Final Tribal Council, Nicola voted for Kristie to win the title of Sole Survivor.

## Trivia

* Nicola was contacted to compete on Survivor: Island of the Idols, but declined.
	+ She was also shortlisted for *Cloncurry*, but was ultimately not selected.