We've had our fair share of liars and schemers throughout Survivor's history, and this season is no different. While there's a bunch of eager Champions and Contenders putting their game face on, the past few weeks have seen one particular player take control of the game with his smooth-talking, constant manipulation and Oscar-worthy performances.
David. The king of strategy, ego and comebacks.
From Day One, David has been cut-throat; using godly charm and flirtation to break up alliances and form his own. Abbey was the first to fall under his spell, jumping ship on her Sports Alliance to join David's Alliance.
On top of this, David has obtained not one Immunity Idol, but two - all within the first 3 weeks.
How did he get them, you ask? The first one was acquired in perhaps the most dishonest way possible - by creating a FAKE idol and swapping it for Shaun's real idol, without Shaun noticing. Even though we want to dislike David for being so mean, we can't help but think that was an awesome power play.
On top of that, David sweet-talked himself out of a really bad situation. When the tribes split, the old Champions were outnumbered 2-7, so David and Luke found a crack in the Contender's alliance and negotiated a way to stay safe WITH both his and Luke's idols tucked away. If that isn't hardcore strategy, we don't know what is!
I gotta agree, it is a bit like Jordan & LeBron taking on high school kids 😏 #SurvivorAU
— Jonathan LaPaglia (@JLa_Paglia) August 6, 2019
Alas, David's lies caught up with him (specifically the fake idol lie) when Shaun joined their tribe. Resulting in both David and Luke losing their idols in a heated Tribal Council that put them back on the bottom.
David plays his Idol. Did he have to? #SurvivorAU #OMGTribal pic.twitter.com/SstPM1NrKI
— Australian Survivor (@Survivor_AU) August 12, 2019
But he has a weird way of ALWAYS floating back to the top. Every. Time.
David found another Idol during a private screening of family videos, where he put on the waterworks in front of his tribe so they wouldn't get suspicious, and is now back in the game.
Now David isn't Season 4's only sneaky snake. We have two boys who fabricated their life story in order to 'fit in' and remain low-key.
Good old golf blogger, Andy, is a real-life super-fan who knows what he's doing and isn't afraid to step on peoples' toes. In a game where few can be trusted, Shaun and Sarah learnt that the hard way after Andy back-stabbed, lied and manipulated a bunch of situations in order to remain on top.
Then there's Harry, the 'father' of a made-up 3-year-old son named Oscar. He is not afraid to stir the pot (especially during Tribal Councils) and point fingers at big threats (looking at you Janine). Avoiding two eliminations, the 'villain' of the Contenders Tribe is ready to get his hands dirty in order to stay in the game.
Looks like Dirty Harry came out to play tonight, whoops? #SurvivorAU pic.twitter.com/jq8i8KbuvF
— Australian Survivor (@Survivor_AU) August 11, 2019
But who was the David of previous seasons? Does he have any competition for the title of 'Most Devious'?
Benji from Season 3 was pretty badass, and he made some serious power moves. Remember that time he betrayed his closest ally by voting him out?
Last but not least, Luke Toki, aka Snoopy Lukey from Season 2 (and Dave's closest ally in Season 4) is definitely David's toughest competition when it comes to the most devious. This is mostly thanks to his constant creepin', and time spent in his famous spy shack.
These two though... #SurvivorAU pic.twitter.com/8hbgMzrxqU
— Australian Survivor (@Survivor_AU) August 6, 2019
So where does David sit on the trickery scale? We think he's definitely sitting right at the top. But lets hope he doesn't let it go to his head.
