Warning: The article contains spoilers for the season finale of “Australian Survivor: Blood V Water”!
On April 4, the 10-person jury of “Australian Survivor” voted unanimously to award the $500,000 grand prize to Mark Wales. Co-runners-up Shay Lajoie and Chrissy Zaremba both received zero votes. Host Jonathan LaPaglia live-tweeted the finale, and he suspects Shay’s poor jury management is part of the reason why she failed to earn a single vote. “Damn….the JURY were clearly not happy with SHAY’s self appointed 8/10 for game play….but adding an extra half point was the salt in the wound,” he wrote.
Damn….the JURY were clearly not happy with SHAY’s self appointed 8/10 for game play….but adding an extra half point was the salt in the wound 😬 #SurvivorAU
— Jonathan LaPaglia (@JLa_Paglia) April 4, 2022
SEE How to watch ‘Survivor 42’
Jonathan is referring to Shay’s response to a jury question from Michelle Chiang, who asked how Shay would rank her game play on a scale from 1 to 10. “I want to give it an 8,” Shay declared. “And I know that people are gonna say, oh, you didn’t orchestrate these massive blindsides, but I made it to this Final 3 spot. I fought from the bottom. It isn’t comfortable and easy to make moves from the position that I was in and you don’t really have the numbers.” She then added, “I’m actually gonna give myself an extra half a point — I’m gonna go up to 8.5. All of you guys obviously wanted to be sitting here right now, and I did something right.”
As Shay spoke, the camera caught the reactions of various jury members who were rolling their eyes (Jesse Hansen), scrunching their faces (Sam Gash) or tilting their heads (Jordie Hansen). The best reaction by far was from David Goodchild, whose facial expression simply read, “Ouch.”
To be fair to Shay, she indeed played from the bottom for most of this “Blood V Water” cycle. She was frequently targeted by the other players for elimination, and never had the numbers to make a big move. Shay was even voted out on Day 32, only to return to the game a short time later thanks to the Purgatory twist. By her own words, she only made it to the finale thanks to winning multiple immunity necklaces at the right time.
Not every “Australian Survivor” fan agrees with Jonathan’s assessment of Shay’s jury management. Debbie writes, “Shay had the best resume! Voted out, came back, won rewards, won immunities, was on the bottom of the pack, fought her way back. Didn’t LIE. Didn’t have hidden idol or her partner at merge. Didn’t need to blindside anyone.” Adan Veho notes, “Probably doesn’t matter. She’s an inspiration to women full stop.” And Trini Lee raved, “A strong woman backing herself. The eyerollers can go fall off the bleachers! Go Shay!”
Speaking about the ultimate winner, Jonathan tweeted, “Congratulations MARK you made the most of your second chance and waged a helluva battle to become………….. SOLE SURVIVOR BLOOD vs WATER!!!” This was Mark’s second time playing the Aussie reality TV show after initially being voted out early during the 2017 installment. That season was when Mark first met his future wife, and future mother of his child, Sam.
Congratulations MARK you made the most of your second chance and waged a helluva battle to become………….. SOLE SURVIVOR BLOOD vs WATER!!! 🤜🏻💥🤛🏻 #SurvivorAU
— Jonathan LaPaglia (@JLa_Paglia) April 4, 2022
Vote in our poll below to let us know who YOU think deserved to win the game. Even though “Australian Survivor” is over, you can still watch the current American version, “Survivor 42,” every Wednesday night on CBS.
SEE exclusive predictions: Who will win ‘Survivor’?
Be sure to make your predictions to influence our reality TV racetrack odds. You can keep changing your predictions until just before the next episode airs on CBS. You’ll compete to win eternal bragging rights and a spot on our “Survivor” leaderboard. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our reality TV forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
I cant believe Shay didnt get one vote, didnt anyone on the jury see what an amazing athlete she is. From my lounge it looked like the whole jury was swayed by a master manipulator.
I was not impressed with the way Shay was treated especially by Chrissy, was it racism perhaps or was it that strong independent women freak people out. In my opinion she played a hard and honest game.
Shay came from an impossible position to make it to the final. Should have won easily.
As a US viewer of every US season, all I can say is Shay was the most deserving winner of Sole Survivor I have ever seen. Hard for me to fathom the jury’s mindset. 8/10? She played a 10/10 game. I have no doubt any US jury would have voted her the winner, no contest.
Mark and Sam played a great game. All the others but Shay were not very smart and should have gotten all the returnees out as soon as possible. Shay played an amazing game with the deck she was dealt. Looks like she got it stuck to her, like Xander did in American Survivor. Shay should have won.
Go Team Shay! Your grace, strength and determination speaks for itself. For Women in general.
Mark Wales is an undeserving winner! Not happy with the result at all. Survivor Australia did not deliver on good overcoming bad. Period.
Shay lejole didn’t win Australia survivor blood vs water, because of the colour of her skin. It’s pure racism at it’s best… she was voted out than she bounced back! than bow, she is in top 3 wow. That’s a survivor.