Monday night’s tribal was rocked when a seemingly straightforward vote on Paulie went sideways as Myles played an advantage allowing him to steal a hidden immunity idol from another player.
Using the idol to grant Paulie safety, Myles and AJ blindsided the rest of the tribe by voting out PD.
“The predictable vote is never, ever the way it plays out,” PD told 10 Play following his elimination. “There’s always a twist, that’s the game and that’s why we love it. It’s a red flag if you’re too comfortable, and the game has a unique way of trying to wake you up.”
Having spent a majority of the game in a comfortable spot, firstly on Brawn and then still in a majority alliance on Brains 2.0 after the tribe swap, PD admitted to feeling quite comfortable in the early stages.
“You could always see someone in the tribe really scheming and over-playing, and it was noticed by people and they put big targets on themselves,” he explained. “I wasn’t doing that and I was connected to a steady bunch of people on both tribes, [so I was] reasonably comfortable. Or… as comfortable as you can be in the game of Survivor.
“I felt reasonably comfortable knowing there was always a bigger target that was being discussed.”
A lover of competition, PD’s game hit a snag during a reward challenge where he ruptured his bicep while wrestling with Kaelan for the chance to go to the Survivor spaghetti shack.
“I thought it was a bone break as soon as I did it. My initial thought was, that’s it, the game is over. Your dream has just been shattered in a split second,” he said.
“I would never walk out of the game, no matter how tough it was, I said that from the start. It’s just not in my DNA. I would stick it out no matter how difficult,” PD said. “When I did my arm, I did feel that there was a noticeable change in not being able to compete [in challenges] and I was thriving on the competition side of it.
“I loved doing the challenges… knowing I was doing well in challenges gave me an improved standing amongst the tribe I was competing for and when we were moving to individual challenges, I knew I’d be able to win some of those.”
While the injury did mitigate his threat level when it came to being a challenge beast, PD also said his inability to compete in challenges also put a target on his back.
“In the game of Survivor if you give anyone a reason to target you, they’ll take any opportunity they can get and an injury can be that.”
Making it to merge, PD said he and his closest ally Kristin had plans to work with Zara and Karin. Hopeful for the four’s future in the game, PD was initially optimistic about making it deep into the second part of the game.
“You can never count on anything with certainty in Survivor because my injury threw that into absolute chaos,” he added.
Walking into tribal council, PD said, “I was certain that a Paul would be going home. I just wasn’t sure if it would be Paulie or me.
“Paulie was the obvious target and was the name on many people’s lips but, when you start to think about the other conversations that have taken place and the twist that was played, it became apparent quite quickly that was how it was going to end,” he continued.
Looking back on his time in the game, PD said there were two major things he’d do differently.
“I’d avoid Kaelan in challenges and I’d not fight so aggressively for pasta,” he laughed.
“I played hard in challenges, I tried to play with a level of integrity and stick to the people I made commitments to, and that’s how I am and how I like to play the game,” PD continued. “I wouldn’t change that by any means.”
Australian Survivor Brains V Brawn II continues Monday - Tuesday at 7.30 pm and Sundays at 7pm on 10 and 10 Play
