Ignorance is bliss for the soon-to-be-betrayed captain, Sam Wallace.
Ignorance is bliss for the soon-to-be-betrayed captain, Sam Wallace.
The women of team Kahu pulled off their long talked about coup on Celebrity Treasure Island tonight, stripping controversial Hits breakfast host Sam Wallace of his captaincy.
A unique challenge gave the girls the cover they needed to strike as conditions of the game included the losing team being forced to choose a new captain.
"There's one thing this is hanging on, and I think you guys know what it is," Ryan said to her team mates, actress Jodie Rimmer and international reality star Lily McManus. "We have to lose today's challenge."
Two of these people are playing to lose.
Speaking to the cameras later, a scheming, smiling Ryan said, "we don't want to be running into war to deliberately lose... but no one's getting hurt here, we're all just playing a game."
The challenge that sealed Wallace's fate was a race through the mud, transporting water in a leaky bucket.
The treasonous team members were quick to scheme a way to throw the game which would clear the way to revolution.
"If you ever turn the tap when we go to run off, just leave it on," Ryan instructed Rimmer. "If we run out of water in that thing [the water tower], we're gonna have no water."
For her part Rimmer said, "I can trip in the mud," while Ryan suggested, "we just need to drag".
Sure enough, as Wallace and his Olympian teammate Eric Murray raced and pushed it to the limit, Ryan and Rimmer lagged behind, flapped about and hung back at the water tower pulling on the pump handle long after the boys had started running back to the goal.
But in the end, it was Wallace himself who sealed his own downfall with a slip in the mud ultimately losing them enough water for Team Mako to take the lead.
As team Mako's flag was hoisted into the air signalling their victory, Ryan feigned shock while while Rimmer utilised her famous acting chops, throwing her head back and her arms to the sky in a masterful display of upset.
Talking to the cameras later Rimmer admitted; "I feel terrible for throwing a challenge. But this is the bigger picture. I don't want to be going back to New Zealand tonight."
After losing the challenge Sam strides towards his destiny while Shannon tries to hide her 'mwahaha's'...
For his part, Wallace was accepting of his fate saying, "well it had to happen... I've pretty much written the handbook for how not to be a captain in this game. I'm quite ready to let it go - it's been a terrible run."
Afterwards, Team Kahu took a vote for a new captain and while the girls knew Ryan would be in, what they weren't expecting was that the boys were actually on the same wavelength and contributed to her victory, resulting in a unanimous vote in her favour.
Coup complete, Shannon Ryan stands tall as Team Kahu's new captain.
With women in power on both teams, it could be a whole new game.
Celebrity Treasure Island airs Sundays at 7pm and Mondays and Tuesdays at 7.30pm on TVNZ 2.
