Australian Survivor: Kate falls when Nick plays his hidden immunity idol
After Conner's departure, normally sunny Kate fretted her time would be next. However, used a stick-and-sand illustration to show Lee and Sam where they sat on the Saanapu pyramid of power and rallied to form a "Good Guys" alliance to take out Nick.
Kylie, however, used her swing position to tell Brooke what was happening, which forced Brooke and Flick to call a meeting to get Sam in particular back in line.
Yet Kate laid out a blistering argument during tribal council for those in the middle of the pack to "have the balls to vote for who you want to vote for." While some answered her call, Nick played his idol to neutralise the threat and Kate saw her time in the game end.
Who spoke to Kate Campbell, a 28-year-old financial analyst from Perth, about becoming the thirteenth person to leave Australian Survivor.
Q: Wow, that was a strong set of tribal speeches. How good did it feel to put the power trio of women on notice?
A: It felt really good. I knew if I was going down, I wanted to go down with a huge bang and I think I did that last night. My goal was to walk out of that show with my integrity still intact and I feel I did that with my gameplay, how I treated others and how I walked out of there. I felt I walked out a winner, with or without the $500,000.
Q: Do you think Nick planned to play his idol?
A: I suspected he might play it all along, as much as he tried to be hush-hush around camp. There's only so much you can do without people overhearing, so I think Kylie was a big contributor in running away to Brooke and unfortunately ratting me out.
Q: Did you expect her to do that?
A: No! The first time I knew of that was literally last night when I watched it! So yeah, I was completely unaware that both Lee and Kylie had voted for me.
Q: You disagreed with Kylie when she said a person's position in a hierarchy could change. Do you understand Kylie's position?
A: I still think it's very foolish. I was ready to work with Kylie. I understood she was at the bottom and so was I and I figured if we could just rally the numbers, we could flip the game on its head. Unfortunately, people were just too scared to leave their alliance.
Q: Were they scared because they just hadn't gone to tribal council for so long?
A: Definitely. They just hadn't played the game yet. When we came across, I was game-ready, I had been to, what, seven or eight tribals and survived the cannibalisation of my entire tribe to be final three, only to come across the merge and be right at the bottom.
Q: We didn't see anyone talk to Jennah-Louise on Day 35. Was she one of the suppressed ones you were talking about at tribal council?
A: Definitely one of the suppressed I was referring to. We did try to reach out to her but no one on that team, including old tribe members, would deal with us, so it was really hard to break up that alliance. The ones at the bottom clung on like if they clung on to the majority, they would make it through, when really that was the time they needed to take action, when Conner and I were there. They were sitting ducks and that's why last night I drew the pyramid with the hierarchy and how it was going to go down if no one made a move.
Q: Were you stunned that Sam was stunned when you drew that pyramid for him?
A: [Laughs] I'm glad I woke him up. Both Lee and Sam were never there as strategic players, so I just needed to show them what was going to go down and that you guys need to make a change and start playing this game.
Q: Are you happy at least that the idol was flushed?
A: It was good to see the idol get flushed. I wish it had gotten flushed while still in his pocket and he ended up going home last night, but my aim was to take Nick down and if I go down, make sure to set him up to go down next time.
Q: Tactically, even if Flick, Brooke and El were running a show, would it have been better for them to give lip service in welcoming Vavau?
A: It was really disheartening going over there and no one would even talk to Conner or myself. They wouldn't even make eye contact sometimes. It was really frustrating because even though it's a game, you should still be able to treat people like humans.
Q: Do you have respect for the game Brooke and Flick are playing or is it too Mean Girls for you?
A: Ah look, it's a game for half a million dollars, so you've gotta play how you've gotta play and that was their strategic game, so I've got no hard feelings towards them. They were playing hard and that's what they did.
Q: We saw your underarm bump earlier in the game. How did that heal?
A: Well it was actually so large, I got a second infection out there, which was operated on two days later, so I had, I guess, two candle wicks going under my arm at a time, which was extremely painful and extremely gross! After a while, they finally did heal up, so I've got a nice little scar under my arm to remind me of my experience. It's another scar to add to the collection.
Q: Was it hard to leave the game after 35 days?
A: I did find it quite difficult when I got back. It was quite busy and very fast-paced, and extremely cold, so I actually ended up going to Bali for a month just to chill out and get the island holiday I really needed. When I went home, I think I spent about $100 on different types of cheese and a really expensive bottle of wine, but my taste buds were so accustomed to nothing that the wine ended up tasting like battery acid and the cheese was just so rich, my stomach couldn't handle it. It was a sad moment! But I made sure I got accustomed to that taste again.
Q: Would you play this again?
A: Ooh, that's a very good question. I'm of two minds about that. Some days yes, some days no. Maybe ask me in a year's time!