On Tuesday night, Briana was the second person voted out of Australian Survivor: Blood V Water. After ruffling feathers in the first Tribal Council of the season, Briana was an easy target.
“I think one of my mistakes was definitely helping people before I helped myself,” she told 10 play following her elimination.
During the first Tribal, when Jonathan asked her about tribe strength Briana admitted that her tribemate Chrissy may have let them down in the Immunity Challenge.
“We were gunning for Andy ultimately to go but, I didn’t want to put all the votes on one person especially knowing there were Idols in play,” Briana explained. “I did want to make it clear that Chrissy was also in contention so that she would definitely have to flush the Idol. Once she had the Idol and it was obvious she would play it for herself, all the votes went on Andy.”
But the damage had been done, and throwing Chrissy’s name into the fray caused her tribe to see Briana as a strategist and a threat, making her the easy target for the following Tribal.
“I went hard and I didn’t need to,” Briana continued. “I stuck my neck out to make sure Chrissy would play the Idol for herself when I might not have needed to.” Similarly, Briana stuck more than her neck out when she attempted to help Shay grab the hidden Idol at Tribal, attempting to block Chrissy’s path.
“I had Shay’s back in the end more than she ever had mine… I could have let her fight her own battles.
“I think my worst fear was to be a boring player, or too passive, just because I love big players. they’re always my favourites to watch.”
Briana entered the game alongside her dad, Dave, who was the person who originally introduced her to Survivor.
“I have been a Survivor fan for a very long time, it was actually my dad who got me into watching the US series when I was in my tweens and I remember watching it then and thinking this is the most epic thing ever,” she said.
“I think I made the agreement with myself that one day it would be me up there competing and, little did I know, I’d also be competing with my dad.”
As fans of the franchise, Briana and her dad were aware that there was a high chance they wouldn’t be on the same tribe, so they constructed a ‘sock code’ to communicate at trials.
“We knew we had to keep it simple because a few people had other codes and they did fudge it up talking between tribes… we wanted something subtle, that wasn’t obvious we were communicating.
“So two socks up: you’re all good, one sock up, one sock down: you’ve got an Idol, two socks down: you’re on the bottom. Dad’s socks don’t change the first couple of days. Mine do."
