The sixth Australian Survivor Tribal Council saw the first blindside of the season, as well as a shocking “jungle rat” comment thrown Myles Kuah‘s way by Max Wills.
After the Brains Tribe lost the Immunity Challenge, former member Rich Hughes passed the advantage he’d received to Max, which stipulated that the recipient could send two tribemates back to camp before voting took place.
Max sent Laura Darras and Karin Gunatilake back and believed he was voting with Zara Callianiotis, Ally Kettle and Logan Johannisen to get Myles out. However, Zara flipped and Ally had her torch snuffed by Jonathan LaPaglia.
Prior to the vote reveal, Max made it clear that Myles was his target and called him a “little, snickering, lying jungle rat” during Tribal — a comment that has had fans up in arms on social media.
What did fans say about Max’s ‘jungle rat’ comment?
Fans were quick to defend Myles over the comment, with one viewer calling Max’s comment “derogatory”.
“‘Jungle rat’ Is a derogatory term, and Max should have it slapped out of his arrogant and ignorant mouth,” user Cliffton Hill Rat wrote on X.
Meanwhile, a Reddit user said that calling Myles, who is of Southeast Asian descent, a ‘jungle rat’ is enforcing negative stereotypes.
“As an Asian person who grew up in Australia where these types of comments were often made as “jokes” by friends, I think it’s really important to keep calling them out,” they wrote.
“I just think that Myles being called a rat and the implication that he is a pest that needs to be wiped out is so casually racist, and it’s really gross to me,” they continued. “There are huge implications in that metaphor.”
What did Myles say about the Jungle Rat nickname?
Following the online backlash Max received for his comment, Myle’s took to Twitter to clarify that he happily agreed to the nickname.
“For the record, Max is a big fan and understands how cool a survivor nickname is. He asked me permission to call me the jungle rat, to which I said fuck yes. Lovely human, but also missed graduation,” he wrote.
Myles’ graduation reference is referring to an alliance he has with Karin, Kaelen, Zara and AJ called The Graduates. Will Myles pass Australian Survivor 2025 with flying colours? We can’t wait to find out!
Australian Survivor airs at 7pm on Sundays and 7:30pm on Mondays and Tuesdays on Channel 10 and 10Play.
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