Coming into Australian Survivor: All Stars, David Genat looked like he'd have one of the biggest targets on his back. His style of play is fresh in the mind of all those returning for another shot at the half a million Australian Dollar prize, so the 'Golden God' was always going to have to pull off some incredible moves if he was to make it through his first few days in Fiji unscathed.
Fortunately, David would quickly find himself in a majority alliance within his tribe, which allowed him to get through his first trip to tribal this season without too much drama. Realising that this is one of the fastest-moving games in reality television however, he quickly concocted a plan with the man he deemed to be leading his tribe's minority alliance: Mat Rogers.
Props must go to Mat, who recognised the game simmering away in his fellow competitor (and member of opposing tribe Mokuta), Henry Nicholson and used it to his own advantage. He easily convinced Henry to hand over the Immunity Idol he had plucked from a tree at the first Tribal Council of the season, using it at the last opportunity and setting in motion one of the most shocking eliminations and blindsides in the show's global history.
It would have been very easy for Henry to keep the idol to himself and let it expire, but Mat managed to form an alliance and bond with him across tribal lines, which will be interesting to see evolve and change should the pair make it to any tribe swaps or the eventual merge.
The person pulling all of the strings in the background, however? David.
Following his elimination from Season 6, in which Daisy was a part of a group who saw him sent packing with an Immunity Idol in his pocket, David was out for revenge. Whilst Daisy was a part of his majority alliance on their new All Stars tribe, the supermodel had a score to settle. He wanted her to feel exactly how he felt when he was blindsided, but realised that the only way to do this would be to put his acting chops to the test, forming a secret alliance with Mat whilst presenting the image of a simmering rivalry to the rest of the players.
So, when David found an opportunity to leak the name of the person his alliance were targeting to Mat, he allowed the 'Godfather' to correctly play the Immunity Idol for his friend Jacqui Patterson, saving her from elimination. The four votes that then came Daisy's way from the minority alliance would be enough to take her out of the game, giving David his first big blindside of the season without leaving any visible blood on his hands.
There was almost a spanner thrown into the works, when Brooke - also a part of the majority alliance - found an Immunity Idol. David decided he wanted this idol to be flushed straight away so that it could go back into play and potentially work its way into his own pocket, so he played the paranoid player on the outs, encouraging Brooke without outwardly asking her, to play the idol for him. This was a master stroke of genius.
With so many layers to this incredible move, David has to be heralded as one of the best that has ever played Survivor. Whether he can make it to the end and put his case to the Jury remains to be seen - this is a long and chaotic game - but if he does, expect plenty of those sitting on the Jury to respect his calculations and put his name down on the winning parchment.
Australian Survivor: All Stars continues Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays on Channel 10.
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