‘Going to Rocks’ is almost a mythical term for Australian Survivor — it has nearly happened a bunch of times, but the castaways have always managed to make a decision before threatening their own games.
But, history may be about to be made, because the trailer for the Australian Survivor 2025 Tribal Council that airs on March 30 has teased that the remaining eight cast members will have their fate decided in a game of Rocks.
“I love Rocks, and I love the threat of Rocks. I love the mechanic as a whole,” Myles Kuah told Chattr ahead of the spicy episode.
But what does Going to Rocks mean? We explain exactly how the Survivor gameplay works.
How does Going to Rocks work on Survivor?
Going to Rocks is a tiebreaker method that is utilised when there’s a gridlock on votes at Tribal Council. So, at the current point in the Australian Survivor 2025 game, it could mean that four votes are placed on one person, and four on another.
If this happens, the two players who received the votes will have their voting power removed, and the other contestants will go to a re-vote.
If a decision can’t be made, and there’s another tie, the contestants who received the votes are automatically safe, and the other contestants are sent to Rocks.
This means that those contestants will all blindly draw a rock out of a bag, and whoever pulls the odd-coloured rock is eliminated from the game.
What does Myles think about Going to Rocks?
Ahead of the upcoming Tribal, Myles — who appears to be the Mastermind behind getting to a Rocks scenario — spoke to Chattr about his thoughts on the gameplay. The financial analyst said that, based on past seasons, the Final 8 is usually where battle lines are drawn between players.
“Final eight is a classic Rocks kind of episode because at that stage, you’re solidifying your idea of what you want as your end game going forward,” he explained.
“I think it’s brilliant, the [dynamic between] the people who are targeted and the people who are safe. Everyone is incentivized to flip, to save their own game; it’s a kind of prisoner’s dilemma situation.”
Myles said that while leaving on Rocks would make history on Australian Survivor, he wouldn’t be happy to leave his fate up to luck.
“Would I like to go home on Rocks? I don’t think I would. It’s a two-sided thing, right? On one hand, it’s nice because it’s like, ‘Oh, you didn’t get voted out, it was pure chance.'”
“But on the other hand, it being pure chance also sucks because it’s all like, ‘Oh, imagine if that percentage chance hadn’t hit?'”
“But generally speaking, I love Rocks as a concept. I love episodes where Rocks are involved and so it’s fun. It’s exciting.”
Has Going to Rocks ever happened on Survivor?
While it hasn’t happened on Australian Survivor yet, it has happened on the US iteration.
It happened during Survivor: Marquesas (Season 4), Survivor: Blood vs. Water (Season 27) and Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X (Season 33).
It *almost* happened in Australian Survivor All Stars, which saw AK Knight, Brooke Jowett and Shonee Bowtell flip their votes to Jacqui Patterson, sending her packing.
The 2024 season saw another potential Rocks scenario, with a split vote between Eden Porter and Raymond Chaney, but Jaden Laing flipped his vote and Eden was sent home.
“Going to Rocks for the first time in Australian Survivor history, it would have been one of the craziest tribal councils of all time,” Eden told Chattr at the time.
Don’t mind us, we’re just here gearing up for what could be one of the best Australian Survivor episodes ever!
Stream Australian Survivor 2025 Sundays – Mondays on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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