Australian Survivor: Blood v Water

***Australian Survivor: Blood v Water*** is the ninth season overall of *Australian Survivor* and seventh of the Network Ten incarnation .

## Production

Similar to *Brains v Brawn*, this season will be produced locally as the COVID-19 pandemic continued, with the same health protocols. Production stayed in Queensland, but the filming location was moved from Cloncurry to the Charters Towers region. Endemol Shine, the company that produces the series, received A$3.9 million through the Australian Federal Government's Location Incentive grant after filming *Brains v. Brawn* in the previous year, which heavily attributed to the series producing locally again.

## Twists/Changes

* **Blood v Water:** The castaways were pairs of loved ones competing against each other.
* **Import Castaway:** Two-time *Survivor (U.S.)* winner Sandra Diaz-Twine was invited to compete with her daughter Nina who was competing for the first time.
* **Returning Players:** Mark Wales and Sam Gash, who met in *Australian Survivor (2017)* and later married, returned as a competing pair. Additionally, Andy Meldrum from *Champions v Contenders (2019)* competed with his sister Kate.
* **Hidden Immunity Idol:** Multiple Hidden Immunity Idols were planted:
	+ A temporary idol was placed below Jonathan's podium where the voting urn was placed while reading the votes. Two copies of the same clue were hidden at the Water tribe camp. This idol was only usable at the first Tribal Council.
	+ A pair of idols, one for each tribe, was made available during the survivors' trip to the Survivor Shop on Day 3. The idols can be combined to form one "super-idol", which can be played after the votes have been read.
* **Mock Vote Tribal Council:** On Day 9, under the pretense that the Blood tribe voted a member out for losing the Immunity Challenge, they unknowingly sent the person "voted out" (Sophie) to the Water tribe instead to be its newest member.
* **Kidnapping:** On Day 22, the Water tribe lost the Immunity Challenge and went to Tribal. The 3 castaways who received votes were eligible for kidnap. The winners of the Immunity Challenge would then get the opportunity to vote to kidnap one member who was eligible to be kidnapped.
* **Fire-Making Elimination:** On Day 24, instead of a tribal Immunity Challenge, both tribes competed in an individual Immunity Challenge. At Tribal Council, instead of voting someone out of the game, both tribes voted one member into a firemaking challenge, with the loser being eliminated.
* **Purgatory:** On Days 32 to 35, the people voted out were not sent home but instead sent to Purgatory to face each other to earn their spot back into the game.
* **Safety Without Power:** This works different to the normal Safety Without Power, saving 3 other tribemates who will head back to camp and not cast a vote.
* **Expanded Jury and Final Three:** For the first time in *Australian Survivor*, the Final Tribal Council had three finalists face a 10-person Jury.

## Reception

This season was generally received somewhat well, though not as well as previous seasons bar the rigged *Brains v Brawn*. While the cast and the interactions between them had neutral to mixed opinion in response, there were still some interesting dynamics, and the pre-merge in particular was deemed good.

## Trivia

* This season marks the fourth season internationally to have pairs of loved ones as contestants, following *Blood vs. Water* and *San Juan del Sur* from the American version, and *Celebrity Doubles Showdown* from the Philippine version.
	+ Unlike the earlier iterations of the couples format, this season is the first to feature a pair of returning players instead of both being first time players, or one member being a returning player.
	+ This season however is the second internationally to feature a full pair of returning players with a familial relationship, following Rob and Amber Mariano.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/articles/second-qld-production-of-australian-survivor-to-inject--29-million-into-the-state.html
2. ↑ https://www.instagram.com/p/CZY7\_Q7BXUZ/