It’s been a wild season of Australian Survivor: Blood Vs Water, and it all came to an end tonight when the Jury crowned Mark Wales the Sole Survivor and winner of the $500,000 prize money.
KJ Austin was eliminated last night, leaving Mark, Shayelle Lajoie, Josh Millgate and Chrissy Zaremba to battle it out in the finale.
Going into the final Immunity Challenge of the season, the final four were all given the opportunity to speak to their loved ones in emotional phone calls.
Chrissy and Mark were able to speak to their respective children, Josh was able to speak to his fiancée and tell her that he found out about her pregnancy during a reward challenge the week earlier, and Shay was able to speak to her father, and her partner Ben Watson, who was eliminated earlier in the season.
The final Immunity Challenge was an epic test of endurance, which saw the Castaways stuck in a planking position, over a river, at an increasingly horizontal angle as they moved down the pegs.
Chrissy was first out, followed by Josh, leaving a showdown between Shay and Mark, which Shay — who has been notoriously good at endurance challenges throughout the season — won with ease.
This left the remaining three to turn on their alliance with one another in order to fight it out for the remaining two spots at the Final Tribal Council of the season.
Josh approached Mark with a plan to vote out Chrissy, but Mark wanted to target Josh, which he did, successfully.
The votes came down to three on Josh, one on Chrissy, with Josh being eliminated.
After Josh’s elimination, the Final Three, Mark, Shay and Chrissy all reminisced about their time on the season and had some emotional chats before heading to the Final Tribal Council.
Mark went first, and made an impressive pitch to the jury.
“When I walked onto the sands of Samoa four years ago, I met the love of my life, Samantha,” he began, looking at Sam. “We didn’t want to be the couple who came back and blew it.”
Mark said that “the strategy that [he] came up with was to win,” noting that it “sounds simple, but it was really hard to execute”.
Mark then detailed all of his strategic moves, beginning with targeting Andy Meldrum in the very first episode, through to when he chose not to reunite with Sam when it came time to swap tribes, and then down to the decision to vote Josh out at the last tribal council.
“I’m sure it still stings but I’m still your mate,” he told Josh.
“There’s no doubt this has been an incredible season. The only thing left to do now is to read the votes. A moment like this should be shared with the people you love the most,” said Jonathan LaPaglia.
They then brought in the families of the Final Three, including Mark’s dad and step mum.
Unable to make it to the Final Tribal Council, they also played a video from Sam’s mum and Mark’s step mum, who was with the couple’s son, Harry.
“Harry wants to say I love you daddy I love you mummy,” adding that she “wasn’t surprised Mark had done so well”.
“He’s a champion,” she added.
And as it turned out, nothing could’ve been more true, with Mark securing every single Jury vote in the end.
Miss the episode and want to catch up? Australian Survivor: Blood Vs Water is streaming now, only on 10 Play.
