Matty McLean collapsed following a gruelling physical challenge. Photo / TVNZ
Matty McLean collapsed following a gruelling physical challenge. Photo / TVNZ
The pointy end of the game has well and truly kicked off, with two empty beds at camp following last night’s dramatic double elimination.
Susan Devoy admits she’s ungrateful for her two mystery rocks, so Lance Savali decides to steal them, and she honestly doesn’t care and begs him to keep them. It feels like when you intentionally leave your crappy car unlocked on a dodgy street with the keys in the ignition. Bye bye Ford Festiva.
At the charity challenge it’s extreme yoga with a painful twist, and Art Green is at home on a shakti mat instantly. But it’s Lana Searle who takes home the win for The Cake Detectives, who make sure every child has a birthday cake in New Zealand.
Searle, Joe Cotton and Alex King decide that they need to get rid of either powerhouse Green or Savali next, and that they will help Dave Wardie win the next challenge. The plan is to make him put the two men up for elimination and therefore get rid of one.
But Wardie loves his new bestie Green too much and immediately tells Green the plan, which he quickly shares with Savali.
Savali screams with joy at the thought of his fellow castaways finally playing the game. He immediately calls them out and starts causing mayhem, interviewing them with a fake microphone, and everyone starts lying live on LanceTV.
King finds out that Wardie has done her dirty and she’s furious, but Wardie basically wrote the bro code and has already started weaving himself and Green friendship bracelets, so he’s forced to fess up.
Before Wardie can even add beads to Green’s new arm accessory, it’s face-off time, and there’s a lot to fight for, with pizza for three up for three and the power to put two players up for elimination.
Players have to balance a disk on a plate they are pushing, using only their feet to keep it up.
Art Green was right, life is a gym. Photo / TVNZ
But in the middle of the gruelling challenge, fatigue sets in for some players. Matty McLean stands up following his disk falling and he appears light-headed, declaring that he feels nauseous.
He then grabs on to host Bree Tomasel, who calls for help from the medical team before McLean faints in her arms. He is helped to the ground and it’s clear he’s not in a good way, with his entire body going limp.
“You’re okay. You’re fine. I’ve got ya. I had ya. You just fainted. It’s okay,” Tomasel reassures her pal McLean, whose side she didn’t leave through the ordeal.
This woman is a goddamn national treasure.
“None of us dropped. But he did. The Holy Ghost dropped him,” laughs Savali after finding out that McLean’s okay and absolutely nobody else let their board drop to check on him.
Despite a triumphant effort from Searle, she drops, and Green and Savali know what their plan is. Green drops out of the challenge knowing full well that his boy Savali isn’t going to put him up.
Savali reveals to Searle he’s putting King up as “she’s dead to me”, but one person who isn’t dead to him is McLean, who is enjoying the pizza date that Savali gifted him, Green and Devoy.
Savali was willing to give up his pizza for his pals but is desperate to chat with them, so he sneaks in on the date.
He suggests putting Jane Yee up against King, but back at camp Yee is having none of it, suggesting that they had an alliance and this isn’t how things work. But her tone changes once at the elimination arena and she decides to prove her alliance to Savali, asking him to put her in so that she can beat King.
He’s thrilled with the news that Yee has fallen under his spell and is desperate to prove her allegiance.
The challenge is balance and puzzle-based, with the two women trying to stack their animal cutouts as high as possible. Yee quickly gets some height and it looks like King might be nearing the end of her game until Yee’s stack crumbles, King’s crumbles and it’s anyone’s game.
Just as it appears time is not on King’s side, with Yee’s tower the only one remaining standing, King chucks a few blocks on top of each other for fun and Yee’s tower crumbles in the final second.
Alex King managed to pull off a shock win in the elimination battle. Photo / TVNZ
It’s honestly just terrible luck, as Yee is sent home, Savali’s plan is foiled and we know that it’s all about to go down at camp as King declares, “I’m back!”
But Yee takes home $10,000 for her charity Autism New Zealand, gifts Devoy her stone of power and walks away with some pals for life.
Savali is filthy at the result, but his plan remains the same - get King out of camp.
