During her first two times in the game of Survivor, Sandra Diaz-Twine went on to become the Sole Survivor. Then, when she returned for Game Changers and Winners at War, she reached Tribe Swap and at Day 16 was voted out.
An expert in the game, the Queen was wary as she approached Day 16 in Australian Survivor: Blood V Water.
Sandra struck gold when she and daughter Nina were put onto the same tribe when the Survivors dropped their buffs on Sunday. Now reunited with her closest ally Nina, who had retained most of her alliance from the original Blue tribe, Sandra felt in safe hands.
But ultimately it was her own daughter who struck the final blow to Sandra’s curse when she wrote down her own mother’s name in a brutal blindside that saw the Queen once again bow to Day 16.
As Jordie rallied the Red tribe to make a move against the Queen, the tribe were anxious on how to approach Nina, to even include her at all as they made moves against her mum.
Despite earlier saying she would “never write her name down”, during Tribal Council Nina could smell the blindside in the air, and realised she had no choice but to vote with her alliance to strengthen her position in the new Red tribe.
It’s one of the most brutal illustrations of just how complicated the Blood V Water twist has made the game, forcing loved ones to turn on each other to strengthen their own position in the game.
“You always tell me to stick with the majority,” Nina said, holding up her vote for Sandra, “and unfortunately it looks like the majority’s coming after you. I wish we could have played together longer.”
For Sandra, a veteran and legend of the game of Survivor, being voted out was still a source of pride, as she collected her torch she told her tribe, “I’ve played for 166 consecutive days, no one can take that away from me.
“And I appreciate being able to play the game I love in Australia, so thank you very much.”
Queen stays queen!
Australian Survivor: Blood V Water continues Sunday - Tuesday at 7.30 on Network 10 and 10 play on demand