Road Trip: Down Under

Road Trip: Down Under is the eleventh season of the travel reality competition show devised by SJ productions. The show follows a group of individuals travelling around in a select number of recreational vehicles (RVs) from a starting point to a finishing point across a predetermined route. At each city/town pit-stop, the group compete in either an individual or team-based immunity challenge to win the role of 'tour leader'. The worst performing individual in each challenge is put up for 'repatriation', along with another individual of the tour leader's choosing. Everyone other than the three stated cast a vote in the deliberation for who they wish to repatriate, with the individual receiving the most votes kicked-off the road trip. When only two road trippers remain, a jury consisting of the last seven eliminated players vote for who they wish to win the £50,000 prize. The series is hosted by Big Brother UK alumni Lincoln Mackenzie (Season 1 & All-Stars) and Sinead McGrath (Season 2 & All-Stars).

This season began at Sydney, Australia and ended in Melbourne, Australia. The season exclusively travelled throughout Australia, encompassing a total of twelve locations. The winner of the season was ???, defeating ??? in a unanimous 7-0 vote to become Champion of the Road Trip. This marked the first time a unanimous vote for a winner occured in Road Trip.

Voting History
Key
 * This person won the challenge and became the tour leader.
 * This person was safe during the episode and cast a vote for who to eliminate.
 * This person was safe during the episode but did not cast a vote for who to eliminate.
 * This person originally nominated for repatriation, but was made immune with a lifesaver.
 * This person finished last in the challenge and was therefore automatically nominated for repatriation and remained on the road trip.
 * This person was nominated by the tour leader for repatriation and remained on the road trip.
 * This person finished last in the daily challenge and ultimately eliminated in the repatriation vote.
 * This person was nominated by the tour leader and ultimately eliminated in the repatriation vote.
 * This person voluntarily quit the road trip.

Game Summary
^¹ The vote between Arthur and Hadia initially ended in a 6-3 result in favour of repatriating Arthur. However, Hadia was forced to quit the game due to injury, negating the result and sending her home. ^² Joshua originally finished in last place and was nominated. However, he used his lifesaver, leaving next-lowest performer Emily as the re-nomination.

^³ Tour Leader Arthur initially nominated Goran. However, Goran used his lifesaver, leaving Emily as the re-nomination.

^⁴ Group 1 was picked by team captain Erinn. She selected Afia and Ingrid. ^⁵ Group 2 was led by team captain Goran. He selected Emily and Khaled.

^ Group 3 (un-listed) was picked by team captain Arthur. He selected Joshua and Lewis.

Episode #1 - Hello, Sydney
On a private luxury yacht in the middle of Sydney harbour, thirteen brand new road trippers assemble to begin the adventure of a lifetime Down Under. Lincoln and Sinead appear before the contestants, receiving a rapturous round of applause as they enter and make their introductory greetings. With no challenge or tours scheduled for the first day, the players are given the opportunity to remain aboard the yacht for the remainder of the afternoon and evening, where they are provided with an open bar and an assortment of foods in order to make their ‘welcome party’ more comfortable. Everybody quickly breaks off in order to socialise, doing their best to speak to as many people as possible in order to make a positive first impression. Irish PE teacher Róisín is shown spending time to youngest road tripper Lucy, surprising Róisín who hadn’t expected the Cornish native to be just nineteen years old. Lucy confesses to Róisín that she is “a Road Trip superfan” who has “been desperate to apply since the very first season”. Róisín appears pleased that Lucy has been able to check the first item off her Road Trip ‘to do’ list by making the cast, telling the teenager that she ‘hopes the experience can fulfil all her expectations’. Throughout much of the first few hours, self-confessed ‘Scottish Kylie superfan’ Anton ensures to give a moment of his time to the other twelve individuals around him, knowing the importance of a positive first impression in making everlasting bonds that will enable him to survive deep into the game. In a confessional, Anton seems optimistic that his socialising has gone well, rhetorically asking “who doesn’t love a theatrically gay and charismatic Scot sporadically singing ‘All the Lovers’ without request?”. Anton’s ‘sing-along’ jokey attitude plays well with both the women and the men during the welcome meeting, finding his antics have helped break the ice and boost everybody’s moods and ultimately their perceptions of him. Spotting Anton’s popularity increasing, Marcus decides to adopt similar tactics in order to raise his own stock with the others by putting his bar skills to the test, making everybody unique cocktails on request alongside showboating some ‘flair’ tricks. Like Anton, the group see value and appreciation to Marcus’ efforts, easily leaving the two men as the most popular players by the end of the first night. Towards midnight, the yacht docks so that the players may disembark and travel via minibus back to their overnight hotel, having been informed that they’ll be receiving their staple RVs in the morning.

The next morning, players are given a wakeup call of 7:00am in order to have them down at the RVs with time to spare. A majority of the players manage to get themselves and their belongings down and into the respective RVs within thirty-minutes, although some others lag behind and leave the group stalled. After drinking heavily during the welcome party, Joseph, Marcus and Róisín are all noted to be absent still as the time reaches 7:40am, leaving the others pondering what is taking them so long. Róisín eventually comes down, apologising as she takes her spot in the second RV alongside Ella, June, Ossie and Scruggs. Sitting together, oldest players June and Scruggs listen to younger member of the group Ossie as he quietly rants about Róisín’s ‘rudeness’ for being so late. June and Scruggs both vocalise an agreement to Ossie’s assessment, with June claiming that she’ll happily “have words” with the trio to keep them from exhibiting such a disregard for everyone’s time again. Scruggs goes on to admit that he ‘already doesn’t like Róisín’, finding her demeanour to be similar to “a lot of lazy young women in Australia”. Joseph soon joins the second RV around five minutes later, laughing as he enters and apologises for “oversleeping”. Unable to bite her tongue, June calmly and somewhat politely scolds Joseph for ‘laughing’ as he apologises, asking him if he truly doesn’t care that he’s held the group for fifteen minutes and risked them missing their first group appointment. Although still apologising, Joseph tries to defend his actions as “a one off”, mentioning in a confessional that “it isn’t a surprise the old British lady is going to be the party pooper of the tour”. At 8:00am, a frustrated Lincoln heads upstairs to find any sight of Marcus (who had been sharing a room with Joseph), angrily demanding that he “hurry” upon finding that Marcus is still packing the remainder of his things. Over forty-minutes late, Marcus eventually is able to board one of the RVs, failing to sincerely apologise to anybody for his actions. All positivity formed towards Marcus the night before quickly diminishes, with multiple players shown slating him in their confessionals, notably vocalised by Ossie brandishing him “a jerk who clearly couldn’t give two tosses that he made us late”.

Despite the delay, the group are able to eventually arrive for their tour of Sydney’s famous Royal Botanical Garden; a 74-acre heritage-listed garden that has existed in Sydney since 1816. Although a one hour tour had been planned, the players are informed that their guide is only available for thirty-additional minutes due to their late arrival, leaving the group free time to look around and find information for themselves. Frustrated due to Marcus’ actions, Ethan decides to approach the bartender in order to voice his disapproval and suggest that Marcus give the group a sincere apology over lunch ‘for his own good’. Rather than accept Ethan’s suggestion, Marcus becomes extremely defensive, questioning in his confessional “why a twenty-year old student feels he can step up to (him)”. Ethan quickly senses Marcus’ opposition to any advice on his behaviour, causing friction in tone between the pair as their discussion is cut short. Ethan declares in a confessional “I’m not a confrontational person, I hate it. But, I wanted to be assertive about how we as a group felt, and if Marcus doesn’t want to listen then really it moves the rest of us up one spot.” More positively, June spends her time at the Botanical Garden’s deeply enthralled with the variety of plants, also taking the time to talk fondly about her reasons for coming on Road Trip; an obsession with soap opera ‘Neighbours’, a cancelled honeymoon to the country due to her husbands “near self-amputation with a chainsaw”, and her life being centred around her ‘almost grown’ teenage children back home. June’s personable and kind aura causes everybody to establish warm feelings towards her, viewing her as an asset for their enjoyment and comfort moving forward in the game. Despite her ‘motherly’ appearance, June reveals in a confessional that she regards herself to be ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’. The mother of four privately exposes herself as formally being a regional Welsh champion of swimming, earning silver in a UK-wide contest during her prime. However, after abandoning her sporting career for motherhood and family life, June laments that her ‘mum-bod’ is unlikely to reveal her still apt swimming proficiency; a secret she is choosing to keep hidden for the time being.

Once the entire group has eaten lunch at the Botanical Gardens, they board their RVs and drive to the most iconic landmark found in the entirety of Australia; the Sydney Opera House. There, the players join Lincoln and Sinead who confirm that their first daily challenge will be taking place inside the world-famous building. One by one, each player will enter and watch an operatic performance by a single soprano, with the soprano singing single verses from five different pieces back to back. During the performance, each player will be given a folder that contains the lyrics to fifteen different operatic pieces, with their goal being to determine which five pieces are being sung and in what order. However, none of the pieces (nor the singing) are in English, and instead will consist of performances in French, German, Italian, Latin and Spanish. The player to finish the task in the fastest time will be declared the winner, earning themselves a ‘Golden Fob Lifesaver’ good until the final five, whilst the slowest performer will automatically be nominated for the first repatriation. Each player takes their turn on the task, with several easily struggling due to their inability to distinguish the languages or find any phonetic matches on their list of lyrics. Girls Hannah, Hattie and Tiara are all shown individually struggling, with Tiara declaring that she ‘should’ve paid more attention in Modern Language classes’. Similarly, Ossie also is shown to have no hope in differentiating what he is hearing, guessing several times before finally getting the right combination and order. Unlike the foursome, some other players are shown excelling through the task, with ‘semi-opera-fan’ June recognising two of the five pieces immediately, and Kylie Minogue superfan Anton claiming that “having a German and a Spanish ex has never been more useful”. After all thirteen have competed, Lincoln and Sinead gather the group in the auditorium to read out the results. Hannah is announced to have finished in the slowest time behind Tiara, automatically leaving her vulnerable to be the first booted from the road trip. Lincoln then announces that Anton and June were the fastest pair of the day, but that overall Anton was able to narrowly beat out his competitor and claim victory, giving him the first ‘Golden Fob Lifesaver’ of the season. The players congratulate Anton on his win, also supplying their condolences towards Hannah whilst also being secretly glad to have momentarily been spared her fate. Finished with their events for the day, the players begin getting ready for a night around Sydney to talk through the results. However, a sudden argument is shown to break out between Róisín and Scruggs out of nowhere, with Róisín claiming to have overheard Scruggs saying that ‘he wishes she was nominated over Hannah’. Scruggs owns the comment, reiterating his disdain towards Róisín for her behaviour earlier that morning. As the pair continue to raise in their aggression and anger towards one another, the opera house security are shown intervening, pushing the camera crew and players out of the vicinity before things get out of hand.

Episode #2 - Bye and Byron Bay
Immediately following the last episode, Róisín and Scruggs continue their argument after being escorted outside the opera house, with everybody appearing still confused as to how the argument had begun. Not wanting to see such an escalated argument on the second evening, the group quickly separate Róisín and Scruggs, hoping to keep them apart for the remainder of the night. Róisín is taken to one side by Anton and Hattie, both of whom tell her that Scruggs ‘was completely out of line’, evidently believing him to be the greater aggressor in the situation. Anton admits to the ladies that if he were able to nominate somebody for repatriation, that he “wouldn’t hesitate to pick Scruggs” after the argument, offering Róisín his support if they come to blows again. Hattie responds by calling this mindset “a bit of a waste”, going on to ridicule Scruggs’ intelligence as “minimal… like half those inbred Aussie outback types”. Hattie’s crude remarks are overheard by some others, namely Tiara and June. The two women stand with Ethan as the group walk towards a dinner-venue, telling him what it was that they overheard Hattie say. Tiara goes on to expose that she had heard Hattie using “less than politically correct terms” hours earlier, with Ethan and June confessing a lack of surprise due to the “stuck up snobby vibe” that Hattie has supposedly been giving off. The trio admit to believing that Hattie won’t last long into the tour, particularly as they assume they are not the only three already turning against her. Throughout the rest of the evening, the group enjoy their first sit-down meal together, doing their best to talk through the night’s argument and challenge. Not wanting to end the night with continued hostility, the group encourage a calmed down Scruggs and Róisín to take a moment alone to discuss their differences, hoping that it’ll promote peace for the foreseeable future. Róisín and Scruggs take up the offer, heading to a quieter area outside the restaurant in order to speak together, where they quickly come to an understanding that their ‘feud’ would serve neither of them well. Instead, Scruggs assures Róisín that he has no issue with Hannah being the individual currently nominated, citing a desire to vote her out due to finding that she “isn’t making an effort” like the other eleven players. Róisín voices her appreciation towards Scruggs for this, agreeing that Hannah equally has made no effort towards her during their time, and that unless things ‘significantly change’ she too would be willing to see that she leaves the game first.

The next morning, the players arise early in order to undertake an eight hour journey to the beachside town Byron Bay. On the journey, younger player Lucy is shown talking to June, with both ladies bonding over their adoration for a multitude of television shows. Lucy begins theorising to June about what the next daily challenge could be, suggesting that her beliefs are it will involve ‘beach or water sports’ due to the location now being known. June remains silent on her swimming prowess, instead quickly agreeing with Lucy’s perceptions. Lucy goes on to tell June that her deepest fear would be to leave the game first, knowing that to avoid this she simply has to prevent herself falling into last place in the next daily challenge. June does her best to calm Lucy’s paranoia and nerves, being aware that her young age will make the experience more emotionally demanding than it will be for others. In the other RV, Tiara and Joseph play a game of dominoes together to pass the time, with Tiara mentioning that she is a ‘household champion’ at the game. Although Joseph doesn’t seem particularly enthralled by the game, the pair appear to get along during their conversation, where Joseph opens up about his mixed Australian and Chinese heritage. Tiara is able to relate to his experience, admitting that she wishes she was more in touch with her family’s Kittitian background. The pair further laugh about being told they ‘act white’ (or other bigoted terms that imply they are not in touch with their non-white backgrounds), finding that much of the bigotry they have faced in life has been internalised from ‘others that look like them’. In his confessional, Joseph laments that “Tiara is told she acts ‘white’ because she’s well spoken, dresses smartly and is from a wealthy successful family… I’m told I’m not Chinese enough because I sucked in school, and I can’t cook for s**t… so, maybe if that mentality translates here I’ll have a better shot at winning in the end based on history”.

Just after midday, the players arrive at Byron Bay where they park-up beside the sea front. After changing into their bathing suits, the thirteen players join Lincoln and Sinead on the beach where they’re given information pertaining to their next daily challenge. One at a time, each player will be given five minutes to swim out along a course, collecting a key from a buoy stationed at the end. The player must then swim back and use their key to unlock a chest filled with letter puzzles pieces, determining that in order these pieces will spell out ‘SECOND DAILY WINNER’. The individual with the fastest time as usual will be declared the winner and earn themselves the second of two ‘Golden Fob Lifesavers’, whilst the slowest time will automatically face Hannah in the first repatriation of the season. All the players take their turns competing, with the challenge being the first indication of June’s strong physicality and stamina in the water, speeding through the course and returning to her puzzle in one of the fastest times recorded. Similarly, several other women are shown speeding through the swimming portion of the challenge, also utilising their problem solving skills to lock in a quicker time. On the other end of the spectrum, Hattie is shown floundering in the water for some time, clearly having a poor ability to swim against a light tide, whilst Joseph ends up over swimming and veering out of the course, costing him time as he panics and momentarily drops and loses his key. In the end, first challenge runner-up June is able to come out on top the second time around, placing comfortably higher than other strong finishers Lucy, Róisín and Tiara to become the first female winner of a ‘Golden Fob Lifesaver’. The group unite in giving June a round of applause, clearly happy for the well-liked middle aged woman to best them all despite their misconceptions as to how she would be as a performer. Sinead then announces that Joseph has narrowly finished in last place over Hattie, with his over-swimming, losing the key and failing to decipher the puzzle quickly all adding up to give him the single worst time of the day. Hannah and Joseph glumly stand side by side as they are told they’ll be given just one hour to campaign for their safety before somebody becomes the first person repatriated from the tour.

Remaining on Byron Beach, the players split up to enjoy the weather and local beach bars, also utilising their time to determine who between the two nominees they’ll be voting to send home. Despite no longer facing the probability of going home, Lucy continues her vocalisation of ‘fearing being the first one out’, having little to no social awareness as to how her words are impacting on Hannah and Joseph. As she talks further, the entire group become irritated by Lucy’s personality, with Joseph privately noting it “has less to do with age and more to do with the fact she’s f**king annoying”. Reasoning that he has nothing to lose and having had enough of Lucy’s behaviour, Anton decides to pull Lucy to one side and scold her for her language, telling her that she is “acting rather callous and bratty” about the situation. Stunned to hear this, Lucy tries to reason with Anton that she was talking about her ‘own’ fear of leaving first, to which Anton plainly tells her that “it isn’t a unique fear, sweetie. Every single person who ever has played and ever will play this game has that exact fear, and nobody needs you to rub it in minutes before they have to start pleading for their safety…”. Anton storms off after scolding the nineteen year old, settling down with others to grab a drink as he affirms he’ll “say no more on childish behaviour”. In her confessional, Lucy tearily seems confused by Anton’s reaction, ironically further increasing her paranoia that she may not be so comfortable in the game she is desperate to play. Elsewhere, both nominees are shown to be talking around to find the support needed to remain in the game. Joseph appears concerned that his ‘rude’ behaviour after arriving late could cost him, knowing that several players are reeling for an opportunity to take a swipe at him. Alternatively, Hannah’s more passive and introverted personality worries both her and others, confused if she is naturally this way or simply doesn’t feel at ease with the group she has been placed in. At the vote, the eligible players gather around to cast their key-fobs for who they’d like to repatriate, with the result comfortably eliminating Hannah in a 7-2 vote after only Ella and Ossie voted against Joseph. Hannah silently accepts her fate, hugging everybody goodbye as she blames her early departure on ‘not opening up enough’. Relieved to have survived, Joseph promises to make it up to each and every person who kept him around, secretly knowing that such a feat would undoubtedly be impossible.

Episode #3 - Foul Play at the Buffet
The morning after Hannah’s repatriation, the group are woken early yet again to begin a two hour drive from Byron Bay to the nearby city of Brisbane. On the journey, Róisín, Lucy and Marcus sit together and discuss their mutual ‘rocky start’ that they each feel they’ve had during the journey so far. The trio laugh about the fact they’ve already ‘blown it’ with first impressions, with Marcus and Lucy in particular both believing that they are likely candidates to be booted if they’re unable to fix their social standing or win the next daily challenge. Róisín proposes to the pair that they make an agreement not to nominate one another should they win, further going on to suggest that if anybody else brings up any of their names as options that they work together to “dissuade and put the target on someone else”. Marcus and Lucy both eagerly agree to the proposal, feeling more confident that moving forward they’ll stand a better chance at surviving in spite of rocky beginnings. Arriving in Brisbane, the players head together to a local restaurant for brunch, having been told to eat their fill before participating in their next daily challenge. Taking advantage of the restaurant’s ‘open buffet’, Róisín is heard joking that “you don’t have to tell June twice” (concerning ‘eating your full’), gesturing to June’s hefty portions on her plate. This remark immediately causes backlash from Ossie, calling Róisín “a bitch” for the remark, clearly finding no humour in her food/weight-related joke aimed towards oldest woman June. After also becoming aware of the joke, June also speaks up against Róisín’s ‘sense of humour’, finding it unnecessarily rude, particularly after June points out that Róisín is “no lean bean (herself)”. The threesome continue arguing back and forth, with it becoming adamantly clear that Róisín has managed to irritate two further players in the game against her. Ultimately, Marcus intervenes in the conflict by telling Ossie to “cool off on the attitude”, finding it “pretty out of order” that he would label Róisín ‘a bitch’ for “a stupid joke”. Ossie plainly tells Marcus to “stay out of it”, continuing his disdain towards two of the ‘latecomers’ from the first day. In a confessional, Ossie reiterates his intent to see Marcus or Róisín leave the game next, citing his disliking of ‘rudeness’ as being paramount as to why he voted to eliminate Joseph over Hannah at the first repatriation, despite knowing the majority would do the opposite. Alternatively, Róisín is shown in her confessional putting her heads in her hands for “putting (her) foot in it” with the badly received joke. Róisín continues by announcing a realisation that “half of these people hate me… especially Ossie, June and Scruggs”, knowing that she will need to make peace with or eliminate this trio if she has any hope of remaining in the game. Róisín finishes her confessional by theorising “my mam is totally autistic, like diagnosed by her teachers and everything… like functioning autistic… so, maybe I’m half autistic and this process will be my diagnosis?”.

After a not-so-relaxing lunch, the players are given free time to explore Brisbane before regathering later for their next daily challenge. Having not spent so much time together, Ella and Joseph are seen walking around shops together, with the latter assuring Ella that there are “no hard feelings” on his part that she had been one of the two votes to repatriate him from the game. Ella explains that whilst she and Hannah were not ‘best friends’, that she felt a sense of loyalty to her after the pair shared a room on the first night; a sentiment that Joseph ‘completely understands’. The twosome are shown to continue getting along as they talk through much of their free time alone, with Ella laughing and blushing after she is asked in a confessional if she ‘has a crush’ on Joseph, asserting that “there’ll be no leg spreading during Road Trip on (her) part”. Nevertheless, when asked the same question, Joseph similarly laughs, but refuses to rule out “a friendship with Ella becoming an alliance with Ella becoming a fling with Ella”. Eventually, the pair are joined by Joseph’s first night roommate and fellow latecomer Marcus, who jokingly comments on the ‘chemistry’ between the pair. Once Marcus’ comments are brushed aside, the trio begin discussing the ‘targets’ for the next repatriation, worried that any of them could easily be cast aside after seeing the same happen so easily to Hannah. Ella brings up that Hattie would be a viable candidate to target in a ‘group consensus’ exposing that she had heard from others that Hattie has regularly been making ‘bigoted’ remarks about nationalities and other minority groups. Disgusted by what they’re being told, both Joseph and Marcus tell Ella that they’d be more than willing to see Hattie exposed and eliminated next, whilst additionally feeling more comfortable that somebody outside their ‘bonds’ is perhaps taking more heat than them.

Once their free time is up, the twelve road trippers head together to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary; a sanctuary that holds a variety of native Australian species, including koalas, kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, wombats and assorted reptiles. The group join Lincoln and Sinead for a tour of the complex, with each player given an opportunity to momentarily hold and take a photo with one of the sanctuary’s many koalas. Upon finishing the tour, the players head to an indoor area where they’re told they’ll be participating in their next daily challenge. Quite simply, each player will be going from ‘the soft to the scaly’, being forced to retrieve eight ‘stars’ (that have been screwed in) from a tank that contains fifteen medium-sized pythons. The players are assured that none of the snakes involved in the task are poisonous, but that they still must exhibit “caution and sensibility” when handling them in participation. Due to the challenge paying homage to popular Australian-hosted reality television franchise ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’, Lincoln and Sinead reveal that the challenge will be hosted by ‘the thinking man’s Angelina Jolie’ herself; Julia Morris. All twelve players laugh and cheer as Julia enters, although some later confess to having been confused as to who she was. Julia explains to the players that they will each be given five minutes to retrieve all eight stars, with the person to retrieve the least stars automatically facing repatriation, and the individual who retrieves the most being declared the winner. In the event of any tied scores, the time the players take will be taken into account. Several players are shown possessing a major fear of snakes, tepidly approaching the task and losing time as a result. First challenge winner Anton continuously screams as his hand enters the tank, clearly struggling with the reality of handling any of the snakes. Similarly, Ella and Ossie both talk about snakes being ‘big fears’ for them, although the latter uses his fear to propel himself to unscrew his stars even faster. Julia laughs as she watches self-described ‘outback overlord’ Scruggs take on the task, detailing no fear or concern as he calms moves the snakes out the way, confessing that he has “handled bigger snakes in (his) time” (a sentiment that Sinead is heard relating to). After all twelve contestants have competed, Julia reveals that Scruggs was able to come out on top to claim the daily win over runner-up Ossie, giving him the right to nominate a player of his choosing to face repatriation. Of the bottom finishers, Julia names previous winner Anton as having fallen into last place after only getting one star in the five minutes. Not wanting to risk his neck this early on, Anton hands his lifesaver over to Sinead, making him immune and leaving Julia to declare that as the next-lowest finishers either Ella or Hattie (at two stars each) will take his place. Due to being slower, Ella is left automatically nominated, causing her to begin silently hoping that Scruggs will nominate somebody she can easily survive against. In a confessional, Scruggs claims that his first instinct had been to nominate ‘enemy’ Róisín due to their conflict. However, he goes on to note that the two had ‘made some peace’ and that ‘as a man of his word, he’ll honour it’, resulting in Scruggs selecting ‘irritant’ Lucy to be his nominee. Lucy immediately begins tearing up as she is nominated, doing her best to not completely break down and wail in front of the entire group. Lincoln tells both women that they’ll have an hour to campaign for their safety before regathering outside by the sanctuary entrance to discover which of them will be the second person to leave the road trip.

Lucy is shown quickly walking away from the group as they are dismissed, with fellow-nominee Ella following her to give her some comfort as she sobs into her hands. Watching the girls walk off, Anton is seen rolling his eyes and exclaiming “she is so annoying… grow the hell up. It’s supposed to be her favourite show yet she doesn’t seem to understand the concept of it at all”, with others visibly nodding in agreement. Behind the challenge building, Ella spends time alone with Lucy to ensure that she is okay, reminding her not to take the game personally and instead fight for her safety as “it isn’t over until Lincoln and Sinead say it is”. In her confessional, Ella claims that whilst she could have taken advantage of the situation by letting Lucy go off alone and sulk, that she “couldn’t just see someone go off like that when they need to be shown some compassion”. Lucy voices her appreciation towards Ella, admitting that she won’t be able to say a bad thing about her in the campaigning, but rather will hope that people “don’t see (her) as a threat”. The girls hug as they wish one another luck before heading over to begin their final forty-five minutes of strategy. Ella is shown approaching Joseph and Marcus for assistance with her campaigning, hoping with their two votes that she will already be off to a solid start in reaching the five needed to remain in the game. Elsewhere, Lucy speaks with Róisín in hope that they’ll continue looking out for one another, with Róisín agreeing to stick to her earlier word, believing that Marcus will also honour their agreement. Additionally, Lucy’s vulnerability is shown to sway players such as June, noting that she’d feel “tremendous guilt” contributing to ending Lucy’s time on Road Trip. In the end, the players regather by the sanctuary entrance where those eligible cast their key-fobs for who they’d like to leave the game, again decisively coming to a 6-3 vote to repatriate Lucy from the game. Lucy once again breaks down in tears, mumbling that it ”can’t be happening” as she refuses to accept her time on her favourite show has already come to an end after just four days. Rather than say her goodbyes properly, Lucy only hugs Ella, June, Róisín and Marcus goodbye (falsely assuming that Marcus had voted to keep her and being unaware that the third vote was in fact from Ossie). Anton and others are shown hugging Ella, clearly glad to be rid of Lucy and her paranoia, viewing her attitude on exit as proof they made the right decision. As the players exit the sanctuary and head back to the RVs, Anton is heard jokingly exclaiming that he “would’ve held onto the lifesaver if (he) knew Lucy was going up”.

Episode #4 - Surf and Turf
The final eleven road trippers begin their two hour journey further north to the coastal area of the Shire of Noosa. During the drive, Róisín is heard defending recently repatriated player Lucy, calling the attitudes and comments against her “borderline malicious and a bit too high-school for (her) liking”. Not appreciating Róisín’s supposed attempts to label individuals ‘malicious’, Anton vocalises his irritation towards her mindset, requesting that Róisín “give everyone examples” as to how such an observation was reached. Róisín happily specifies her comment as being aimed partially towards himself, thinking that “as a grown man, it felt at times you had a bit of an issue with a nineteen year old girl”. Anton raises his voice, calling Róisín “delusional for trying to act like nineteen is a child… if you’re nineteen and you’re annoying you deserve to be told, because nobody needs to act so immature at that age”. In a confessional, Róisín continues to smear Anton, noting her beliefs that “Lucy was probably autistic… that was my observation as someone who has autism in my family. So, for Anton to not recognise this and make these bullying remarks; I don’t like it at all.” The pair are prevented from arguing any further, with Scruggs shouting for everybody to “shut the hell up”. Sitting next to Anton, June is quietly heard telling him that whilst she agrees there needed to be more compassion towards Lucy, that she doesn’t appreciate “Róisín’s attempts at defiling people’s characters on national television”, calling her “a cold and calculated individual” for this. Anton thanks June for seeing the same ‘reality’ that he sees around Róisín, hoping that moving forward they can work together to oust her from the game along with the rest of the ‘annoying players’. In the other RV, ‘outsider’ Hattie is seen laughing and talking to tour hunk Ossie, clearly flirting with him as she hears his stereotypical ‘Aussie surfer’ tales. In a confessional, Ossie claims to not mind Hattie flirting with him, admitting that it has been a while since he’s “seen any action”. However, he goes on to point out that connecting himself too closely to Hattie could be problematic, particularly as there are quite a few individuals on the tour feeling less than positive towards her. Nevertheless, Ossie entertains Hattie’s advances for the remainder of the journey, with Hattie hoping that getting in with Ossie will ultimately benefit her long-term in the process.

Upon arriving in Noosa, the players disembark their RVs and head to a local beachfront where they’re given free time to enjoy the sun, sea, sand and assortment of beach bars. Feeling somewhat sorry for Róisín after her argument with Anton, Ethan joins the Irish teacher in the water, beginning a conversation about her jealousy towards his naturally more tanned skin. After small talk, Ethan voices his appreciation towards Róisín ‘keeping it real’ with her approach to the game, finding it sad that as someone who speaks her mind that she will be demonised by other players. Róisín tells Ethan that she’ll “never be someone who just conforms for the sake of conforming”, and that “winning the game isn’t worth selling your soul or acting like a bully”. Quietly, Ethan confesses to Róisín that he had been the victim of relentless bullying through much of his high-school, and that his biggest fear was a repeat of these events in a ‘pressure cooker environment’ such as Road Trip. Feeling protective, Róisín hugs Ethan as they soak together in the shallow waters, assuring him that “there’ll be no bullying whilst I’m still on the trip… so, keep me around and you’ll be grand”, jokingly sending him a wink and a nudge after delivery. Over by one of the beach bars, Hattie continues trying to better her position in the game, this time by approaching previous daily winner Scruggs and asking him for his viewpoint on individuals in danger moving forward. Scruggs tells Hattie that he theorises that “one of the rudes” (Joseph, Marcus and Róisín) or ‘quieter members’ Ella, Ethan and Tiara will be at risk, assuring Hattie that she could survive well into the game if she ‘works alongside the right people’. Hoping to get involved in what she suspects is an alliance consisting of Anton, June, Ossie and Scruggs, Hattie pledges to ‘vote however she’s needed’, giving Scruggs confidence in his confessional that “the power remains in the hands of those of us who have shown we can win these challenges”.

Crashing the party, Lincoln and Sinead arrive on the beach to gather the eleven players together for their next daily challenge. For their challenge, each player will board a surfboard and stand upright, with the surfboards connected via a wire leading back to the shore to ensure that they don’t float away. The aim of the challenge is simply to be the last player stood on their surfboard, with anybody who falls off or places a part of their body on the surfboard other than their feet being eliminated. All eleven players take their position, knowing that the first individual to fall will automatically face the next repatriation. With the tide somewhat steady, the players realise that the first portion of the challenge will solely be about personal balance and positioning. Despite the lack of motion, Ethan, Hattie and Marcus are all shown with wobbly knees, with the fear of falling causing their wobbles to become even more severe. After just ninety-seconds, Hattie falls screaming from her surfboard face first into the sea, with Ethan jumping off seconds later after having the assurance that somebody else would fall first. Wobbler Marcus joins the pair seconds later, swimming in and taking his spot next to them beside Lincoln and Sinead on the beach. Six minutes into the challenge, only five players remain after Scruggs, Tiara and Ella join the eliminated players on the beach, having fallen from their surfboards in a variety of fashions. Scruggs begins vocally calling June “a bit of a threat” loudly as he notes the forty-six year old performing well in yet another challenge, jokingly calling for “a group consensus to remove a threat” should she fail to win. Joseph is the next to fall at the ten minute mark after the motion of the waves begins to pick up, causing Róisín to join him in the water a mere thirty-seconds later. Hattie and Scruggs watch on happily as they see Anton, June and Ossie as the final three, with the latter in particular confident that his ‘alliance’ will be retaining power. Anton fails to win his second daily challenge as he falls in third place, leaving a showdown between regional swimming champion June and leisurely surfer Ossie. In the end, the game sees a brand new daily winner as Ossie snatches victory from June after she bends her knees too low and falls sideways into the ocean, hugging him as they reach the shore and congratulating her friend on his victory. Ossie is told by Lincoln and Sinead to name his nominee to face flirting friend Hattie in repatriation, wanting to select somebody he feels would leave the game over her and benefit his position more with their exit. Unsurprisingly, Ossie chooses to nominate Róisín in this position, citing his reasons as “lots of drama and friction around Róisín, and our own personal issues that I think we’ve had with each other”. Despite Ossie’s confidence, Róisín scoffs and rhetorically asks others “Issues? I didn’t realise I had issues with him. To be honest I forget his name if it wasn’t for them saying it” as she takes her spot beside Hattie. Sinead tells the girls that they’ll be given an hour to campaign for their survival, before regathering and finding out which of them will be the third person to leave the tour.

Although the players believe that the conversations will solely be around repatriating either Hattie or Róisín, June is heard quickly pulling Scruggs to one side to scold him for his behaviour during the challenge. June points out to Scruggs that whilst his comments may have been jokes, that it “definitely put ideas into peoples heads because they’ll be looking at those of us who won as threats”. Refusing to take accountability, Scruggs tells June that she is overreacting, reminding her that nobody outside ‘the four of them’ has won a challenge. However, June points out to Scruggs that “they don’t need to win for one of us to be nominated… one of us just has to lose, which happened to Anton”. The pair end the conversation without Scruggs offering an apology, with his assurances to June failing to alleviate her anger, illustrated by her referring to him as “an idiot I’m unfortunately tethered to right now” in her confessional. Elsewhere, the other players are shown to begin their efforts at determining how the votes will go, with a lot of talk centring around Róisín being a ‘bigger threat’ than Hattie in challenges, and also a bigger causer of conflict due to her audacious personality. Ossie appears confident as Anton, June and Scruggs let it be known that their votes will be going towards Róisín, believing that if they keep ‘unlikeable’ Hattie that they’ll keep an extra vote for themselves in the game. Nevertheless, Róisín continues to fight hard to find the votes needed to survive, particularly seeking support off Marcus after the two had made a deal the previous day. Marcus begins speaking to soft-alliance members Ella and Joseph, voicing his hope that they could somehow turn the vote onto Hattie after her remarks have ‘upset’ players behind the scenes. The trio agree that trying to save Róisín and turning the tide on those who’ve held the power may be the best thing, but go on to admit they worry that ‘floaters’ Ethan and Tiara will simply vote with whoever appears to have more power. Róisín tells the trio that she believes she can ‘reach’ Ethan, leading her to once again have a one on one with the now youngest member of the tour. Ethan tells Róisín that he’d personally rather see her remain in the game, but that he’d not be willing to cause a tie that hands the power back to Ossie, viewing this as “throwing (himself) to the lions” in a failed move. With the hour up, the eleven players regather on the beach and listen as Hattie and Róisín give their final pleas as to why they should remain in the game. Before the group can vote, Joseph requests a moment to speak, receiving permission to do so from Lincoln. Joseph uses this moment to call out Hattie and her ‘remarks’, with much of what he says being censored due to containing supposed ‘slurs’ and ‘jokes’ that Hattie has made towards Australians, Asians, Black individuals and the LGBTQ+ community. Joseph tells the group that they “cannot in good conscience keep someone in the game who is so vehemently against the diversity and inclusion that Road Trip claims to represent”. Hattie quickly fires back a response to Joseph, calling his accusations completely untrue (despite several players shown nodding along in confirmation to his speech), and labelling him “a disgusting person for trying to slander me just because you’re worried about where you stand in the game”. Not liking the ugly direction of the argument, Lincoln intervenes and tells the players that it’s time to vote, giving those eligible the chance to place their key-fobs in for who they’d like to repatriate from the game. In a shocking result, the ‘non-winning’ side are shown to successfully turn the tables and eliminate Hattie in a 5-3 result, with Joseph and Ethan’s last-minute efforts swaying Tiara to give them a majority. Róisín jumps in the air repeatedly in excitement, running over and hugging those who she knows have spared her neck. Alternatively, Hattie takes a moment to let the result sink in, eventually scolding Joseph as “repulsive” before saying her goodbyes to a select few players. The final ten players eventually return to the RVs to sleep overnight, with the foursome of Anton, June, Ossie and Scruggs now realising that the power and the game has been turned against them despite their four consecutive wins.

Episode #5 - Top to Bottom, Bottom to Top
Immediately following Hattie’s repatriation, the members of the ‘winning’ alliance begin to display paranoia and concern that they are now a minority of four against the other six players in the game. Anton is seen pulling Ethan to one side outside the RVs, plainly asking him “What happened? What changed?” after he had been lead to believe that Ethan and Tiara were both firmly in the camp of voting Róisín out. Ethan confesses to Anton that he felt much closer to Róisín than he did Hattie, telling Anton that he “won’t apologise or explain (himself) for doing what is best for his game”. Wanting to pacify and appease Ethan, Anton plays the result off as calmly as he can, assuring Ethan that he ‘completely understands’ and cannot fault him for doing what he felt was the smartest thing. Anton then seeks assurance from Ethan that he isn’t now in a minority, worrying that this result could “be a sign that (he’s) totally screwed”; a scenario that Ethan claims isn’t accurate. In his confessional, Ethan notes that whilst the six players voted together, there still lacks an official ‘alliance’ between them, but that he suspects there will be a continuation of reducing the numbers of the ‘winning’ alliance. Similarly, June is seen having an almost identical conversation with Ella, wanting to know when and how the vote had changed from Róisín to Hattie. Ella tells June that there had been fear of ‘alliances’ in the game, and that combined with the almost universal disliking towards Hattie, that it made it an environment where keeping Róisín felt like the smarter option. June lies to Ella that there “was definitely not an alliance that (she) was a part of”, leaving Ella to reassure her that “people still really like (her)” and she shouldn’t take the vote as anything more than being bad for Hattie and Ossie.

The next morning, the remaining players board the RVs and drive to the coastal town of River Heads, where they then catch a ferry to Fraser Island; a protected World Heritage Site with a varied biodiversity that has been inhabited for at least the last 5,000 years. On the journey, Anton is seen continuing his paranoid attempts at saving himself and shifting the blame elsewhere, this time by speaking privately to Róisín and Marcus, telling the pair that he believes “a lot of the paranoia and confusion about supposed alliances is all coming from Ossie… he has bad energy and really had it in for (Róisín) and definitely was the person drawing an unnecessary line”. Pleased to see division already amongst the foursome, Róisín and Marcus humour Anton by joining in on the Ossie slander, identifying that they’d both like to see him repatriated from the game next. In a confessional, Róisín mentions that she doesn’t “really have it in (her) heart to forgive Ossie, because he shot at me a few times and he keeps missing… I hope he won’t be so lucky”. Róisín tells Anton that if he wants to ensure his safety that she’d recommends he make it known that Ossie would also be his target, and ultimately “avoid any association with Scruggs and June”, who Róisín also claims “aren’t looking too secure right now”. Aboard the ferry, the players are quickly served a packed lunch, giving them time to eat and drink before arriving on Fraser Island and compete in their next daily challenge. Over lunch, Ella entertains the group with tales from her university, utilising humour and relatability to have the group warm to her further. In her confessional, Ella claims to believe that Hattie’s elimination is ‘a clear turning point’ for those without power to take control of the game, now feeling confident that she and others could become ‘heavy hitters’ going into the tour’s second-half. With the group all feeling more positively towards Ella by the end of the lunch, she begins to hold more self-belief that she could become “a bit of a Road Trip legend”. Also over lunch, Ethan approaches Marcus to make sure that both men are ‘on better terms’ after they had argued several days prior. Marcus guarantees Ethan that they’re “bread and butter” moving forward, a comment that initially confuses Ethan until he realises it means complimentary of each other. Marcus reminds Ethan that they were able to vote together at the previous repatriation, voicing his want of continuing “the six of us voting together to make sure the other four don’t get any of their influence back”.

Just after midday, the remaining players join Lincoln and Sinead on one of the beaches of Fraser Island, eager to hear what will be their next daily challenge will entail. Lincoln explains to the players that they’ll be taking on a ‘scavenger hunt’ type challenge, with each player expected to find an assortment of tokens across the island, and the individual to find all five tokens in the fastest time being crowned the winner. However, each token is hidden in the islands varied locations; beachfront, shallow creeks, mangrove swamps, jungle, and ‘champagne pools’. Players are randomly paired up and draw for starting positions, with each pair running at the same time towards one another (eventually crossing) and finishing at opposite locations. As the players compete, the group are shown to be tested on their ability to read maps, use a compass and ultimately solve riddles to determine the next location of their required token. Róisín is shown performing extremely well, running through the challenge in a determined fashion in order to retain her newfound ‘safety’ in the game, and also wanting to earn the right to nominate to put Ossie or Scruggs up for repatriation. Similarly, allies Ella and Joseph also are shown whizzing through the scavenger hunt, passing their ‘pair’ rivals Marcus and Ossie respectively, both of whom look lost as they traverse the island terrain. Repeated top performer June is also yet again shown to be in a strong position as she finishes the hunt in one of the fastest times of the day, knowing that with a target firmly on her back that she’ll need to do all she can to remain deep into the game. Despite fearing for their safety, both Anton and Scruggs are shown getting deeply lost in the challenge, with Scruggs particularly finding issue after he misplaces his compass within the mangrove swamp, spending ten minutes fruitlessly feeling around the swampy waters for his needed tool. Once all ten have competed, Sinead regathers the players in the shade of the beachfront, reading out that Ella and Róisín have finished as the top two of the day, and that Ossie and Scruggs have alternatively both fallen to the bottom of the pack. Lincoln then names Ella as having won her first daily challenge, giving her the right to nominate a player of her choosing to face Scruggs – who is announced to have finished with the slowest time. Without hesitation, Ella steps up and declares that her nominee will be done “in the interest of what is fairest and what feels best for (her) game based on the last vote”, selecting Ossie to go head-to-head with ally Scruggs in a continuation of the ‘winning alliance’s’ decimation.

Knowing that one of them will certainly be leaving the game, ‘allies’ Ossie and Scruggs wish one another luck before separating to begin their campaigns, knowing that they’ve only been given an hour before one of them becomes the final pre-jury repatriation of the season. Ossie is seen spending time with closest ally June, who openly tells Ossie that they “cannot afford to lose (him) as a member” of their alliance, whilst Scruggs is “completely expendable” due to “a lack of strategic intellect”. Alternatively, Scruggs seeks support outside his initial alliance, believing that anger and fear of Ossie is greater than that held towards him, giving him the best chance of survival amongst those he had initially aimed to send home. Much of Scruggs’ attention is centred around ‘rival’ Róisín, with whom he has since made peace following their argument on the second night. Róisín tells Scruggs that she fully intends to vote to repatriate Ossie, displaying confidence that she can get a majority of others to do the same. Róisín honours her claim, spending time talking to ally Marcus and other voters to promote the belief that Ossie is the greatest threat of his side, and that they cannot squander the opportunity to vote him out of the game. Swing voters Ethan and Tiara are later shown talking yet again, having formulated a close bond and trust with one another since the start of the game. Tiara is seen ushering Joseph over to join them, wanting to suggest a three person alliance between him, Ethan and herself to reach the end stage of the game. Both boys naturally agree to the proposal, with Joseph keeping quiet about his own deals with Ella and Marcus. The trio spend time talking through the vote, knowing that June seems the most interested in saving Ossie, whilst Róisín is leading the charge for those to keep Scruggs due to being ‘a lesser threat’. Tiara confesses to boys that she dislikes the idea Róisín has gone “from someone at the bottom who needed us, to thinking that she can call the shots”, believing that once again they can turn the vote and remind her that “she can quite as easily find herself in trouble very soon”. Ethan and Joseph laugh at Tiara’s theatrical speech, not telling Tiara that they both in fact like and trust Róisín as a player. Sensing that the boys may not totally be on board with her pitch, Tiara reminds the men that they are “probably going to stop driving north and start heading westward towards the Outback… the place where Scruggs is familiar and will thrive above the rest of us”, whereas Ossie is “quickly coming out of his element if we leave cities and beaches behind”. In his confessional, Ethan talks about the vote being “a lot of ifs and buts”, uncertain whether his trust and friendship with Róisín and Tiara can be mutually inclusive facets of his game. He goes on to admit that he has yet to make up his mind on the vote, once again seeking to stick to a majority and then “deal with whatever the fallout, and try to make sure that Róisín or Tiara isn’t too angry at how it went”. At sunset, the players reconvene on the beachfront where Ossie and Scruggs give their last minute pleas, similarly talking about trust and loyalty, as well as trying to play down their own ‘threat level’. In the end, Tiara and June get their way after the group strip Róisín of her sense of control, repatriating less social and strategic Scruggs in a 5-2 vote after only Marcus joined Róisín in casting his vote against Ossie. Ossie breathes a sigh of relief as he hugs his former ally goodbye, glad to know that he remains in the battle to go head to head with rival Róisín, who is seen stoically trying to run through numbers in her own mind to determine who flipped on her plan. The remaining nine players all reboard their ferry as they wave goodbye to Scruggs, slowly abandoning him upon Fraser Island as they return to the mainland.

Episode #7 - Savouring the Advantage
Overnight, the remaining nine players recuperate and sleep in the RVs as they’re supplied drivers to take them on the fifteen-hour journey north towards the coastal town of Tully. Midway on the journey, Joseph sits up screaming, seemingly having a night terror as he mumbles about ‘naked rats crawling on his body’. Those around Joseph do their best to calm him down and get him back to sleep, trying not to laugh too hard as he quietly drifts back off into sleep. After getting Joseph back to sleep, Anton and Marcus quietly talk together as they remain the only two individuals awake in their RV. Marcus tells Anton that the last result has left him ‘concerned and confused’, having expected Anton to be one of the other votes that would’ve sent Ossie home over Scruggs. Anton tells Marcus that he “went with the numbers”, going as far to warn Marcus that “there’s a group of people playing this a lot harder than any of us realised”. Marcus appears to be in agreement that the pair of them are unlikely considered power players in the game at this stage, suggesting that they do what they can to change this in the coming rounds. Anton smiles at Marcus’ suggestion, talking in his confessional about “worming (his) way back into this game” and distancing himself from the doomed ‘winning alliance’. The next morning, the other RV hosts a conversation between early-risers Ethan, Róisín and Tiara, with Ethan gathering the women to talk through the previous vote. Citing both women as his closest allies and friends in the game, Ethan hopes that the open dialogue will encourage Róisín and Tiara to work together rather than apart, and seemingly prevent Róisín from taking being left out of the Scruggs vote to heart. Róisín tells both Ethan and Tiara that she “doesn’t understand why (they) lied”, concerned that “Ossie could easily win another challenge and send (her) packing”. Tiara deflects on Róisín’s point by telling her that Scruggs equally would’ve targeted her in the game, promising that “Ossie isn’t sticking around any longer than one or two more rounds”. After thirty-minutes, Róisín appears to be more accepting of Ethan and Tiara’s reasoning, but continues to secretly hold her guard up to prevent being lied to yet again.

Arriving in Tully, the players note that the town is much quieter than the other urban areas they’ve visited thus far, leaving their ‘free time’ extremely free of options. Despite having suspected that his ‘talk’ went well, Ethan is quietly pulled to one side by ally Tiara, who quickly goes on a tirade about his actions in ‘forcing’ the two of them to sit down with Róisín. Tiara continues by telling Ethan that “just because you’re close with Róisín doesn’t mean I have to be close with Róisín… I have people I’m close with that you’re not, and it feels like you’re trying to play my game for me”. Defending himself, Ethan tells Tiara that he had simply hoped to bring the two individuals he is closest to together, not having intended to presume that Tiara would be forced to work with Róisín too closely. Clearly still annoyed, Tiara demands that in the future Ethan ‘consults her before he does something so brazen’. Ethan stands confused as Tiara storms off, pondering whether his closest ally may in fact be on a bit of a power trip of her own after successfully turning the vote on Scruggs at the last repatriation. Feeling alone, Ethan goes to join Róisín as the pair walk around Tully’s small main street together, with Ethan asking Róisín how she would feel about working with Tiara and him long term in order to gage her response to their earlier chat. Róisín tells Ethan that she is “happy to just survive another day on the journey”, claiming that whilst she isn’t particularly close to Tiara that her trust in Ethan acts as “a good enough reference about her character and trustfulness”. Róisín then changes the conversation to question Ethan on his opinions of Marcus, having felt distance between herself and her ally after the two of them were left out of the Scruggs vote. Róisín tells Ethan that she perceives Marcus to be panicking and trying to avoid any association to her, clearly assuming that he believes she is “a sinking ship that he doesn’t want to be tied to”. Ethan laughs at this remark, telling Róisín that he and Marcus haven’t particularly got along, but that he had been told by him that “he was interested in sticking to the six” and to eliminate Anton, June and Ossie next. As the pair talk, they watch Marcus spending more time talking with Anton around Tully, clearly witnessing his attempts at changing up his own social dynamics in the game. Róisín asserts to Ethan that “I don’t forgive a turncoat… I think it’s the most cowardly trait someone can have”, theatrically dusting off her hands to symbolise that she has lost some trust in Marcus as a player.

Just after midday, the players head towards Tully’s famous ‘Golden Gumboot’ statue; depicting a frog holing onto the side of a boot, which was awarded to Tully for being ‘the wettest town of Australia’. Lincoln and Sinead explain to the players that mimicking the frog, they’ll each be given a miniaturised replica of the ‘Golden Gumboot’, holding onto their boot for as long as possible, with the last person standing being crowned the daily winner, and the first person to fall automatically facing repatriation. The players each take their position, holding onto their narrow handles and footrests on their boot structures, hoping to not be one of the first ones dropping out of the competition. Minutes in, oldest remaining player June begins to tire and wobble, clearly struggling with the endurance aspect of the challenge. For the first time in her Road Trip journey, June’s struggle causes her to slip, leaving her vulnerable and automatically nominated. To make the challenge more difficult and ‘honour’ Tully’s heavy rainfall, the players are doused by an overhead rain machine, causing the boots and grips to become slippery. Ethan falls almost seconds after getting wet, leaving him nervous as he realises he is now second from the bottom to an individual who possesses a ‘Golden Fob Lifesaver’. Over the next three minutes, Ella, Marcus and Tiara all fall from their boots, leaving just four to battle it out for the win. Anton eventually falls in fourth place, having been unable to get his feet back on their rest after momentarily stretching his legs. Outsider and group target Ossie then dramatically falls out of nowhere, leaving him frustrated as he watches non-allies Joseph and Róisín go head-to-head. After forty-eight minutes, Róisín is able to outlast Joseph who ungracefully falls sideways from his boot and into a nearby bush, giving Róisín the right to nominate somebody to face repatriation. As the group congratulate Róisín, June is seen frantically pulling her to one side, whispering about strategy privately in the few seconds they have before a decision must be made. June quietly asks Róisín who she’ll be nominating, theorising that Róisín will be nominating her closest ally Ossie. Róisín confirms to June that she’ll be nominating Ossie, then asking her if she’ll predictably use her lifesaver to avoid facing-off against her friend. June then asks Róisín “do you think he’d stay again?”, receiving a confident headshake from Róisín, leaving June carefully considering her next move. As Róisín publicly announces Ossie as her nomination, June stuns the entire group as she tells Lincoln and Sinead that she’ll “be holding onto the lifesaver”, taking a gamble that Ossie’s large target would make using the lifesaver redundant this round. Sinead tells the two nominees that they’ll be given an hour to campaign, before one of them becomes the next player repatriated and equally the first member of the jury.

In the fallout of the nominations, Ossie appears perplexed as to why his ally chose to not use her lifesaver and instead to face him in the repatriation, hearing from June first-hand that she assumes given his poor position that he will be the one going home, hoping to keep the lifesaver for herself several rounds longer. In his confessional, Ossie claims that this “poor strategy from June” could give him the opening he needs, leaving him able to push a narrative that removing June would in term flush a lifesaver from the game. However, Ossie finds difficulty in that both Anton and Marcus are vocal about intending to vote him out on this occasion, knowing that they need just one more vote to cause a tie and leave the power in Róisín’s hands. June spends her campaign assuring individuals that her retaining the lifesaver would not detract from their chances of success, noting that she can use the lifesaver “for anyone in the game” and not just herself. Moreover, June’s role as ‘motherly figure’ on the tour is played up to her advantage, hoping that her likeability will see her through to the final eight unscathed after a monumental risk. Wanting to mend things with ally Ethan, Tiara pulls her friend to one side to apologise for her earlier outburst, telling him that she has thought it over and come to the conclusion that ‘he wasn’t trying to undermine her’. Ethan appears pleased that Tiara has come to her senses, reiterating that whilst he is close to Róisín, that he would still like to go to the end of the game with Tiara by his side due to their night two alliance. Tiara and Ethan are seen hugging it out, once again on good terms moving forward in the game. The pair then spend time deliberating the vote, both voicing that they undoubtedly feel closer to June, but ponder whether keeping the lifesaver in the game could eventually be their undoing. The twosome spend time discussing this matter with June, wanting to ensure that if they help save her that her loyalty will be towards them rather than others when the six inevitably turn on each other. Additionally, Tiara goes and spends time talking to Róisín after further encouragement from Ethan, hoping to prove that they are willing to work together for the greater good and re-establish a group for the latter half of the game. Róisín happily accepts this proposal from Tiara, feeling much more confident with the reassurance that her target will finally be the one headed home, and that she has new allies in Ethan and Tiara to replace the other allies who have since distanced themselves from her. Unsurprisingly, an immovable target and June’s superior social game see Ossie repatriated in a 5-1 result, with Joseph being left alone in voting for June in what he felt was ‘a missed opportunity’ to even the playing field. Ossie shakes his head as the result is announced, calling the players “a bunch of dumb dumbs” for leaving June and the lifesaver in play. Nevertheless, Ossie hugs friend June goodbye, wishing her luck and hoping that she’ll be able to go on to claim victory over the other seven. After Ossie departs, the final eight return to their RVs, pondering whether their inability to flush a lifesaver will go down as one of the worst moves in Road Trip history.