With just four players remaining, on Monday night old alliances were tested as Raymond and Feras proved loyal to the end while Mark and Caroline continued their saga of on-again, off-again allies.

Facing a deadlock tie, Caroline and Ray each received two votes and had to go head-to-head in a fire-making challenge to determine who would be the third player to make it to the finale and sit alongside Feras and Mark in the final days.

Unfortunately for Raymond, Caroline was the picture of calm as she built a small fire quickly winning her way into the finale.

“Caroline has a fire pit at home,” Raymond told 10 Play, “she was very, very good at [building fire]/ It’s been very hard to accept I was so close to winning the title of Sole Survivor.

“Honestly, even though I was so close, I wasn’t thinking about it at the time,” Ray continued. “I was just looking forward to a hamburger.”

Getting into Survivor during COVID, Ray began watching the US season but, after watching Australian Survivor: Heroes V Villains, was interested in applying and seeing how far he could get in the process.

“Before you know it you’re actually out there playing! It’s like nothing you’ve ever experienced,” he said. “When you’re out there, there are so many twists, turns, so many things you’re trying to get a handle on but there are aspects you can’t control, certain people you can’t control.

“It’s mainly a game of adapting, a game of working out everyone else’s best interest. My approach… even though it looks like I’m not doing too much, I’m on top of it.”

Early on, Ray was one of the players on the Rebels tribe who was earmarked as an easy target by Peta and the cuddle crew alliance. “The good thing about a cast like Survivor is there is a lot of multiculturalism, a lot of people that have been on the outs in society and in certain things.

“When somebody like Peta was going to people saying, ‘Hey this guy’s a bit weird I want to get him out’, people who have been on the other side of bullying are not going to take that all that well so, early on I was pretty good.”

In fact, Peta wanting to vote out Ray put a major target on her own back, and she was blindsided at the Rebels’ first Tribal after her alliance tried to throw an immunity challenge.

After that, Ray forged a strong alliance with players like Aileen, Garrick and, of course, Feras. But throughout the season Ray’s name would often come up in votes, largely due to his alliance and close relationship with such powerful and strategic players.

“There’s a reason why I’m one vote off the record of votes ever put against someone in Australian Survivor history,” Ray said. “There’s a reason I have the highest percentage of votes all season. I knew what was going on at all times.

“Whenever I attempted to do anything it usually would work as well… I think I knew what was going on the most out of everyone,” he continued.

One of the extraordinary moves that Ray attempted — which worked — was the use of his ultimate advantage, found in the popcorn he purchased during the Survivor Auction. To work, Ray needed everyone in the tribe to write his name down, then his advantage would activate and his one vote would override the majority. But if just one person wrote someone else’s name down, Ray would have been voted out.

In order to convince the tribe he wanted to leave, Ray spent a lot of time laying face down in the sand, refusing food and water for days. But the risk paid off, and the entire tribe — thinking they were acting in his best interest — wrote his name down, allowing him to pull off the perfect blindside.

“Basically I was dead and, for the next five days after the move, I had no energy as well. It was a big risk for a big reward.

“I don’t think something like that would work in another series but this hasn’t been like any other series,” he added. “There’s so much chaos, confusing, flip-flopping and, in a season where you can’t predict anything, the stupidest move of all time might actually pay off.”

Using his advantage to vote out Valeria, Ray explained was payback for being thrown under the bus by Mark and Alex when he flipped to vote with them the Tribal Council before. Some fans questioned why Ray didn’t use the advantage to blindside a massive player and threat like Kirby — or even blindside his number one.

“I really like Kirby, I really like Feras and if I’m not going to win this game, I really want them to win the game. I’m really close with these people, and they’re great ambassadors for their backgrounds as well,” Ray explained.

“Feras was going to be loyal to me 100 percent. We were very loyal,” he continued. “On top of that, everyone is out there for different reasons — some are out there for clout, some to play the best game ever.

“Feras was always going to be out there to represent his community. He spoke about his community the same way Kirby did, they’re both amazing people.”

Calling it an honour to represent the “nerdy guy who likes Survivor” demographic, Ray had to consider if he could see himself returning to the game.

“Survivor is a game of a million little things. That’s what I learned while playing out there, that’s the important thing about a game like that.

“I probably would, but I don’t think I can play the same game anywhere near as well as I did. I think I’m going to be an early boot… I wish I could play the game 100 times. I’d love to go out there and do something like that again just to see if it was actually skill or if it was luck. I’d like to learn that within myself.

“It’s been one of the best seasons, I’m so grateful I got that opportunity, and to bring a little bit of that cherry on top to a season that is this jam-packed full of great moments. It’s unbelievable.”

Don't miss the Australian Survivor: Titans V Rebels grand finale, on Tuesday, March 19 at 7.30 on 10 and 10 Play!