YOU get a target, and YOU get a target, and YOU get a target, and YOU get at target! EVERYBODY gets a target on their back!

Episode 21

• King Grub wiping papaya juice from his beard with the filthy shorts he’s been wearing for 43 days: disgusting.
• The first shot of the episode proper, a drone shot of the sky and foliage that spins around to reveal that we were actually looking at a reflection in a river: magnificent.
• It’s the foursome of Brian, Monika, and Shonella versus the two OG Champions Sharn and Shane. Sharn and Shane’s Plan A is to find an idol, which goes to show how desperate their Plan B (flip Shonella) is. The problem for Sharn and Shane is that while Shonella does need to turn on Brian, it’s in their best interest to take out one if not both of Sharn or Shane first.
• Whaddya know, Sharn finds an idol. Hopefully, it doesn’t fall out of her shorts when she brings it back to camp.
• The immunity challenge is the hang-from-a-beam challenge, but with a spindle mechanism and shaped like a hexagonal prism (like a pencil)  rather than a cylinder, to give it painful edges and ensure that the challenge doesn’t take hours and hours. This challenge should favor Monika and Shonella (didn’t somebody like Jennah-Louise or Brooke win it two seasons ago?). But amazingly, Grubby wins. Between this and his idol, he’s safe until Final 4 unless something goes really wrong.
• The majority will split the vote in case of an idol, then vote out Sharn on the revote. Simple. Foolproof. There’s even time to tan and nap before tribal council. What could go wrong?
• Sharn tells Shane about the idol, which is fine for Sharn but still leaves Shane in danger. Shane comes up with a pretty ingenious plan: talk somebody into a 3-2-1 vote against Sharn, which Sharn will then neutralize with the idol, sending home Fenella on Sharn and Shane’s two votes. What’s particularly great about this is that from the perspective of the other players, there’s absolutely nothing shady about Shane suddenly deciding to throw Sharn under the bus, given the circumstances.
• Brian didn’t seem to be swayed by Shane’s appeals, but then he floats the idea of piling all the votes on Sharn to his alliance. Shonella try to shut this down immediately, but do they have sufficient influence to talk him out of it?
• They do not. The 3-2-1 plus idol plan works perfectly, and Fenella breaks up the sausage party at Jury Villa.
• Noted without comment following a nauseating week in the real world: When the man in charge screwed up royally, a woman paid the price for it.

Episode 22

• I’m not sure I take this at face value, but back at camp Brian says he deliberately switched his vote, risking an idol play by Sharn, because he intends to bring Shane and Monika to the Final 3 (implying that protecting Shane was more important than getting rid of Sharn).
• The reward challenge is for a brand new Holden Commodore Tourer. Interestingly, the puzzle comes first in this challenge.
• It takes Brian forever to get his pole long and strong enough to insert it, but ultimately he finishes before the women do.
• Brian immediately tries to Yau-man Monika, whispering in her ear “Last two, if I win, that car is yours, okay?” Could you be more ambiguous, Grubby?
• Brian takes Monika on reward and not Shonee. I think that, as with his vote at the last tribal council, he’s doing the seemingly stupid thing for strategic reasons. He’s drawing votes onto himself so he can idol out someone. Probably Sharn.
• Brian is very overconfident in confessional. Thankfully, we get a confessional from Monika showing that her head is still in the game. In particular, she has a much better read on what the jury thinks of Brian than Brian does. Back at camp, the Shhh Alliance unsurprisingly comes together.
• Sharn utterly dominates the immunity challenge, followed closely by Shane. None of the other three can get a flame going at all. Something to bear in mind heading into Final 4.
• There’s so much happening in this meeting at the well between Brian and Shonee. Shonee is trying to reassure Brian that she’s still with him and Monica when in fact she’s flipped on them. But in reassuring Brian that they’re still a solid three, she sets off his radar: If they’re so solid, why isn’t Shane panicking? Did she or Sharn find an idol? Meanwhile, in addition to being on a fake idol hunt in the first place, Brian is also trying to fake out Shonee, since he’s evidently planning to idol her out (he has no alternative if he intends to take Shane and Monika to the end).
• Shonee tells Sharn that Brian’s wondering why Shane isn’t worried more, and Sharn passes the word on to Shane. This evidently gets Sharn to take another look at the now napping Brian and wonder why HE isn’t panicking, unless he has an idol. Shonee floats the idea of switching the vote to Monika.
• Surprisingly, Brian abandons his Final 3 plan and votes for Shane. I guess he really was worried about her having an idol. But the Shhh Alliance does, in fact, switch their votes to Monika, sending her out of the game.
• Just outstanding gameplay by them, and by Brian as well to be honest. And that’s why Monika was under-edited. She certainly punched above her weight, but in the end, she was only a pawn of some truly excellent players, even in her own boot.
• The jury still freakin’ hates Brian but are now warming up to Shonee. Fenella’s been talking her up at Jury Villa, I presume.