The second Survivor Australia 2024 Tribal Council was one for the books, as Jonathan LaPaglia put it: “if that was a simple vote, I can’t wait for a hard one!”
We saw Eden enter Tribal completely flustered about having his name thrown around, while Jayden and Nathan were out for blood after the previous elimination of their mate Frankie.
But, it was Jess who pulled the most stunning moves at the firepit; she took responsibility for voting out Frankie, a move that would most certainly get a target pinned on her back by the ‘physical alliance’.
However, during an interview with Chattr, Jess revealed exactly why she owned up to Frankie’s eviction, and explained that she was backed into a corner by the other tribe mates in a scene viewers didn’t see.
“There’s a little bit more to that than comes across,” she said. “Before I do own up for Frankie’s eviction, Viola has actually yelled at me for putting her name up.”
Jess explained that the tribe was collectively speaking about the fact that a lot of names were in the mix to be voted off at the second Tribal Council. She said things took a sudden turn when she said she’d heard two names but had “thought of one consistently”.
“She [Viola] turns to me and just accuses me of lying and being a hypocrite. And this doesn’t make the edit because there are no videos of me ever saying that. It comes really out of left field, so someone lied to her about that.”
“Val was also thinking I’d done that as well. And I tell her the truth, and exactly where my conversations have been.”
Jess said once she started telling the truth, she felt like she couldn’t cover anything else, or it would invalidate the honest things she’d already cleared up.
“By the time that second person making accusations comes around, which is Nathan, of course, I’m going to say, “Yes I did that and I own that”. If I start lying, then Viola will think maybe I did do that and that will completely take away any truth that I’ve said.
“Then Eden said well you said mine [his name], and I said, “Yeah I did!”. So I’m fighting fires on every side,” she laughed.
Jess thought her tribemates might value her honesty
At that point, Jess said that her strategy to stay in the game was to pitch honesty and hope that her fellow castaways would appreciate her trustworthiness.
“I’ve started this integrity, truth-telling front by being over the top transparent about myself without throwing anyone under the bus, maybe they will see value in having a tribemate around that told you their thinking about as opposed to someone who lied to you.
“I pretty much make that pitch, that this is the decision you will now make, what do you value in a tribe mate? Someone who you know where they stand because they’ll tell you.”
Unfortunately for Jess, her tribemates didn’t lap up her pitch and she was voted out with one vote to Eden, four votes to Nathan and five votes to her.
Jess doubles down that it was her who put together the plan to vote out Frankie
In episode two of Survivor, viewers see Mark take credit for floating the idea of Frankie’s elimination, which was successful at the first Tribal.
However, in episode one, it is Jess who heads to Eden and Mark and suggests voting out one of the strong physical three, Nathan, Jess or Jayden.
Jess stands firm that it was her idea, not Mark’s, to get rid of Frankie.
“I definitely took it to Mark and Eden and I knew that they’d think it was their idea if it ever came down to talking about resumes they would pull it up as one of their own,” she said.
The doctor said that she specifically sought out Mark to get him on board with the plan.
“Mark, I knew he had a lot of influence over other players, so pitching to them and getting them on board was my way of enforcing that. I thought that I could get the tribe on side with the vote that I wanted without having to go and show everybody that that’s what I’m doing. I could get other people to do that convincing for me.”
Stream Survivor Australia 2024 Sundays – Tuesdays at 7:30pm on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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