Australian Survivor Blood vs Water: Briana voted out

Her brother, infamous returning playing Andy Meldrum, had fancied himself as an “ultimate Survivor villain” – but he lasted just one episode during his second season in the game. He was ousted in a blindside engineered by tribemate Nina, daughter of two-time US Survivor winner Sandra Diaz.

Separated from him at the start of the game, his sister Kate only found out at the next challenge, when the opposing tribe approached – with her brother absent.

Kate’s face fell as she registered the news her biggest ally had been booted out first.

“It’s hard. It hurts. It’s all hard, Jonathan, but we know what we signed up for and that’s how the game goes,” she told host Jonathan LaPaglia.

It’s been this season’s biggest twist so far, with contestants reeling after they were split from their loved ones into two opposing teams. Now, not only are they largely cut off from their loved one until merge, they also have no power over whether that person is voted out.

Later on in Tuesday’s episode, 26-year-old Queenslander Briana became the second person voted off Survivor this season. She had entered the game with her father, David.

Briana boasted that she was close with “a lot of people” on her tribe and was regarded as a “valued player” during Tribal Council – which earned some puzzled looks from those conspiring to vote her out.

“I actually saw that coming… dammit,” she said after she was voted out. “I’m a pretty assertive person, and I think I was a little too ‘guns blazing’. Stay in there, dad! Do it for me, please.”

Survivor finished in the middle of the pack during Monday night’s commercial TV ratings battle, beaten by the premiere of Married At First Sight on Nine – but ahead of The Voice: Generations on Seven.

Australian Survivor: Blood Vs Water airs 7:30pm Sundays to Wednesdays on Ten.