Tonight, Art Green gives a masterclass in playing games.
Tonight, Art Green gives a masterclass in playing games.
Review by Jenni Mortimer
Jenni Mortimer, Lifestyle and Travel Editor (audience) for New Zealand's Herald, is passionate about telling stories and providing a place to escape for kiwis in amongst the hard news.
The final six have woken up on Treasure Island and “something’s different”, suggests Matty McLean. Dave Wardie agrees, declaring, “I can feel it in my waters”.
And they aren’t wrong, as Lana Searle starts planning to uncover her hidden stones of power with the help of McLean. Searle suggests they are her stones, but McLean isn’t so sure. “Maybe if I find one, I just keep it to myself?” he schemes.
Before any more alliances can be broken, it’s charity challenge time and flip cup is on the cards. Queen (Dame) Susan Devoy doesn’t know what flip cup is, and she’s honestly just sick of listening to other people - aren’t we all - so she decides to start the game herself.
Dame Susan's attempt to cheat at flip cup backfires in tonight's episode.
Devoy decides to cheat and absolutely nobody stops her, but Savali is good at absolutely everything and takes home $5000 for the Heart Foundation in the last-ever charity challenge. That means Savali walks away with $15,000 for the Heart Foundation, a charity very close to his own heart, as Savali suffers from supraventricular tachycardia.
Back at camp, Savali spots a small brown bag that appears to be one of the stones of power hidden around camp. He shuffles Devoy’s bed over and uses it as a prop to shimmy himself up a pole and grab it - it’s a power move if ever we saw one.
Then, like the royal family on Boxing Day, the hunt is on, with McLean finding the next one and Art Green missing everything due to a toilet stop.
“Bad time to take a dump,” says Green as Devoy finds the final bag and Searle gets nothing after leaving her hunt too late.
But it’s not all bad news, as Searle soon finds out that she was left King’s stone of power, and before she can celebrate, she’s off to the face-off to compete for the power in this game.
Emotions are high as it’s revealed this is the last face-off, and even we feel a little sad that the end is coming for our favourite top six ever.
The challenge is called “tipsy tables”, and the vibe is Dr Rudi’s on a Saturday night - and much like Rudi’s, absolutely nobody is going home tonight.
McLean is close to taking the challenge before his blocks collapse and King of the Island Green takes the win. It’s a beautiful thing to watch, and we stand and shout at our screens, “Long live the King!”
Green wins a muesli bar and a secret scroll that holds some information that will help him in his final battle. But will he share it with Savali, or is this when he decides to rule alone?
Before he can wrap his hungry hands around the muesli bar, McLean interrupts and decides now is the time to play the advantage he’s held on to.
The advantage means he can steal a reward, and he declares that this is the one he wants. He goes halves on the muesli bar with Green, but will he keep his advantage to himself? No, no, he will not.
McLean has stolen the power to choose someone to sit out to the battle, losing the chance to win and choose the pairing that will go into the final.
Is Lance about to betray McLean?
In a baffling twist, he shares his advantage with Savali and suggests the two get paired together until the end. But Savali reveals he doesn’t want the same as McLean suggests it’s Green, fuelled by only half a muesli bar, who should be sat out.
Savali dishes the tea to Green and the duo comes up with a master plan in which Green must fake a sicky and seem weak so that McLean doesn’t sit him out. The six-foot-four gang are thrilled with this plan, and giggle on their way back to camp.
Green sticks with the master plan and decides he needs to lie down, and it works a treat. “Art does not look good,” says McLean, who is the first person ever to mutter that sentence.
The medic even turns up at camp to check on Green, and we admire Green’s commitment. McLean suggests that Green maybe isn’t sat out given how he is feeling. Savali is thrilled by this news, knowing that their plan has worked.
Green is "not well". Green is lying.
But will the plan work? Luck is on Green’s side, as McLean buys the entire thing and decides to sit out Dave Wardie, who admits he is good at chess – the game of the evening.
Green suddenly feels amazing, but not as amazing as Wardie, who is stoked to be called a “challenge beast” by McLean. He’s on such a high that he truly doesn’t care he’s been left out.
Savali is first out, followed by Searle, McLean, Devoy, and Green is - of course - the winner. This means that McLean’s stolen advantage was useless and he knows he has been played by Green, but can he sense that Savali was behind it?
The fate of the game is left in the hands of Green, and this power is set to change everything. Or is it?
Treasure Island Fans v Faves airs at 7.30pm on TVNZ 2 Monday - Wednesday and on TVNZ+
