Queensland Police Officer Matt became the first person eliminated from Australian Survivor: Champions vs. Contenders.
The 35-year-old was voted off by his Contender tribesmen after delivering a lengthy ‘rant’ during tribal council. His speech was found to be controversial among viewers, who struggled to follow some of the comments made.
Matt is sticking to his guns, however, saying he has ‘no regrets’ over how he played the game. Click through to read our interview with the eliminated contestant!
TV WEEK: How does it feel to be the first contestant eliminated from Australian Survivor 2018?
Matt: It’s definitely not what I had planned going in to the game, but, look to be honest I walked out of there with my head held high. I didn’t have any regrets. I went in there saying I was going to play hard, and then the chips didn’t fall my way, and I got dealt a bit of a bad hand. I tried to make the most of what I had and it didn’t work out unfortunately, but what can you do?
Matt lost his cool during his first (and last ) Australian Survivor tribal council.
Early on in the episode, you were keeping a close eye on Steve K. Were you concerned about him not being a team player?
Right from the start, five minutes in to the game, he was looking for an idol. I think that’s got to be a record! I’ve watched every season and I don’t remember a person ever looking for an idol literally first thing. We hadn’t even all had a chat and he was already looking.
Me being a police officer, I mean, everyone else was oblivious to what he was doing because they were all cheering and focused on [the challenge], but of course me being the sort of person I am, I’m always keeping my on people who are up to no good. I could clearly see what Stevie was doing, and that’s when I alerted other people. Unfortunately that kind of killed the relationship with Stevie early on.
You were also concerned about how the other men in the tribe were ‘grouping up’ and you mentioned a bromance at tribal council. What concerned you so much about that alliance?
Obviously we had the Stevie issue straight up and that was a shame that happened. I wish he didn’t go that hard, that early, because no one could have predicted what happened next. Within the first hour or two those guys – what I ended up calling the bromance alliance [Benji, Rob, Zach and Heath] – just clicked immediately. They latched on to each other. You could see they had so much in common, like if I heard one more conversation about keto diets or protein… it was literally doing my head in. I certainly wasn’t going to be in on those sorts of conversations. You could clearly see they were loving each other’s company, they went everywhere together. I’d already had a run-in with Stevie, and he was running off looking for idols, so it made it hard for me to get in with the guys. Stevie and I ended up being the odd ones out.
Tegan was a very smart player, she realised just as quick as I did that the bromance alliance had formed. She wasn’t going to latch on to me, she was going where the numbers were. She got in with the guys, she was in just as thick with them. I actually called her out at the tribal council, which wasn’t shown unfortunately. They had the numbers.
Do you think that the ‘bromance alliance’, as you’ve called it, will be trouble for the other contenders?
Yeah and that’s exactly why I said ‘it’s time to start playing the game, ladies.’ It wasn’t aimed at Tegan because she was already playing the game hard. It was aimed at three people: Fenella, Shonee and Anita.
They were tight, and they were playing a completely under-the-radar alliance. They were waiting for people to come up to them, whereas the guys were being a bit more open. I knew the girls had that little alliance going, but you can only do that with so many people and if they leave it too long, they’ll be outnumbered and it will be too late.
My parting comment was to say ‘it’s time to start playing the game now, before you’re outnumbered.’ I wanted those guys out too, I would have loved to see Zach go home first, I would have voted for him in a second. But I didn’t have numbers, I had no one. I had no pull in that tribe.
It was clear your comment offended the women, though. Do you have any regrets over what you said or anything you might have said differently?
Like I said, it wasn’t to all the women. It didn’t show that conversation I had with Tegan, the comment was just to those three girls. All I’m saying to them is ‘yes, you’re flying under the radar, but don’t do that for too long. While you have some numbers, use them, or these guys will outnumber you and it’s going to be too late.’
I want to see these girls succeed. I think they’re good characters, I think they could go far. I don’t want to sit back for the rest of the season and see the bromance alliance get to the end. That’s gonna be boring.
Who do you think has what it takes to win Australian Survivor?
I think Tegan. She’s the smartest out of everyone there. She knows what she’s doing socially. Definitely Tegan, she’s got the skills to manoeuvre between alliances throughout the whole season. She can use the guys while she needs them, and then when it’s time for them to go, I think she can get back in with the girls. I think if a contender is going to win, it will be Tegan at the end.
Australian Survivor airs Wednesday and Thursday, 7:30pm on Network Ten.
