Landing on Titans beach on day one, midwife Caroline Courtis was living out her superfan fantasy. Thrilled to have made it onto the beach at all, she had her strategy already sorted.

"Going into the game, my strategy was actually to align myself with the younger guys," she told 10 Play. "That was my strategy, and then when it came to a couple of days later and we were deciding on that first boot... when [Nathan] came up to me and Frankie came up to me individually and were like... 'We'll take you through to the merge'. I thought... f**k off!

"I'm going to get myself to merge, I'll do everything in my power to get myself to merge," Caroline continued. "I'm a very determined person and I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to be that first boot, and at least make it to the tribe swap and merge."

That determination paid off as Caroline found herself surrounded by like-minded superfans like Eden, Mark, and Charles. The newly minted Middle-Aged Mafia made their first hit, and from there Caroline's pre-swap game took off.

From there she made bold moves, directed and misdirected votes, thrived post-swap, made it to the merge, found an Idol, dominated a fire-making challenge and sat next to Feras in the final Tribal. Truly a superfan's dream bucket list. Looking back, she highlighted a few favourite moments from her time in the game.

"I had been practising fire at home for weeks before I went out there," Caroline admitted. "Even before I knew I was getting on the show, I was practising. I knew I could start and maintain a fire out there no problems."

She also revealed that Feras had told Raymond to start practising making fire the day before. "I knew I was going to beat him, but nobody else knew that because there were so many other people out there who wanted to do it... I did not start a fire out there at all so nobody knew my fire-starting capabilities until I did that for the challenge."

Then, on day 33, another favourite moment occurred: finding a hidden Immunity Idol.

"I found it on my own, with no clue. That was like one of the most exciting moments," she said. Describing the lush jungle like a tableau of mythical creatures, Caroline had been "keeping an eye" on certain trees throughout the game.

"You knew to look out for prominent signs in the foliage and trees. I just thought, okay if there's not one there now there might be at another point."

But during Alex's explosive final Tribal, he called out Caroline, accusing her of having "done nothing" in the game so far.

"He didn't know me before the tribe swap, he didn't know what it took for me to get through that first boot and to get a really strong alliance," Caroline explained. "Alex had the cuddle crew, but that's all he had! He wasn't planning ahead, and I wish I made that more clear.

"But then it was up to me to prove what I had done pre-merge and I had done so much. Even Feras didn't know what I had done pre-merge. Those players towards the end had no idea what I had done," she said.

"That's why in the final Tribal Council... I had to really explain what I had done in my pre-merge game to show them how that led to my post-merge game, and how I did come into my own because I had to fall back on those relationships that I had formed."

Heading into the final Tribal Council, Caroline knew she had a long, difficult day ahead of her.

"It was probably one of the hardest things I've ever, ever done in my life," she admitted. "You don't get a lot of time to prepare for that final Tribal, obviously I had been planning things in my head but it's still an overwhelming experience.

"As a midwife, I am in really high-stress situations so I look like I'm calm and serene - same as I did in that fire challenge - but inside, my mind is going crazy, my heart is beating out of my chest, my stomach is going crazy. But I've got to be calm.

"Final Tribal was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. Do I wish it went better? Obviously," she said. During the finale, it was revealed that Feras received a unanimous vote from the jury to crown him Sole Survivor.

"I thought I would get one vote, maybe two, and that was in Mark and Kitty. When I saw that final vote being read out last night, that was hard. That was really hard."

Much of her heartbreak at the vote reveal is knowing that Kitty and Mark, in particular, were aware of how much she put into the game.

"Am I disappointed in them? No, they had to do what they needed to do to reward that final Sole Survivor. I take nothing away from Feras," Caroline said. "I am so, so happy for him because it's going to change his life in a great way."

Watching the season back, Caroline said it's filled her with pride to see everything she accomplished.

"Unless you've been out there, nobody is going to know how hard it is out there. What it's like living in those conditions, the crazy rain, the crazy heat. There's the food -- the lack of it -- and not being able to speak to your loved ones, then you've got to keep positive every single day.

"You've got to wake up in the morning and be like, I'm going to embrace this day, this is going to be a great day no matter what happens," she continued.

"That's how I did it. I [was] so happy out there... my experience was amazing and I will be forever grateful."

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