'I Hope They Regret Sending Me To Exile!': A Review Of Shonee's Savvy Survivor Playbook
After her trip to Exile Beach, Shonee has returned to camp with a renewed sense of focus towards her razor-sharp social game.
Her strength in Survivor is often underestimated as she breezes through every hurdle with a smile and a cheeky quip but underneath her cool demeanour there's a cunning strategy at play.
After a rough week, Shonee -- the cat with nine lives -- is clawing her way to the top with playful determination and her enemies have been stopped in their tracks.
The Season 3 player made it to fourth place in 2018 and her All Stars CV is already looking like she's on her way to blindsiding and bamboozling her way even further.
Survived Her First Threat At Tribal Council And Sent Henry Home
Things weren't looking great for our Dalmatian Queen after she began running out of options and missed out on that clue that was dangling just below her when she was on the bench during a reward challenge.
But a few days after, while everyone else on Mokuta was distracted by the delicious ice cream they'd won, Shonee spied a clue in a log that led her to lift a 70kg well to reveal a hidden immunity idol.
Shonee thought she was being extra careful by playing her immunity idol at the next tribal -- but it turned out to be exactly the right move, because, without that magical protection, it would have been her heading home instead of Henry.
Got Through A Night On Exile With Zach With A Smile On Her Face
After using her idol, it honestly looked like Shonee was heading straight back to the chopping block. She and Zach received the most votes from Mokuta but instead of getting the boot, they were shipped off for a night at Exile Beach.
With a renewed spring in her step, Shonee didn't let the cracks show and told JLP that she just had a lovely time at Exile and would highly recommend everyone booking a night themselves.
Landed On A Tribe Of Mokutans Who Tried To Get Rid Of Her Twice
While there's usually some kind of battle between Exiles, Shonee and Zach were allowed to re-join the All Stars population but things -- again -- looked dire for Shon who landed on Vakama 2.0 with four Mokutans who had attempted to send her home.
But the cat with nine lives doesn't get mad, she gets even and began working her social magic on the old Vakamans to shift the vote towards the physical threats who had tried unsuccessfully to give Shon the boot.
We saw Shonee floating in the ocean talking astrology with Brooke and her very charming and disarming strategy working like magic.
Orchestrated A Stunning Blindside On Abbey
After rallying Locky, Brooke, Flick and Harry, it still wasn't clear who was actually going to follow through on their promises. And while Shonee sighed a breath of relief that it all worked out, no-one was more surprised than Abbey when she became the sixth All Star to bid farewell to the game.
Got A Friendship Bracelet From The Godfather
You know you're sitting pretty when one of the most feared All Stars decides he's going to braid you a friendship bracelet -- an explicit expression of trust and admiration from the former NRL player.
We're yet to see if this will be the beginning of a beautiful alliance, but in the meantime, we're just glad that Shonee is getting showered with the gifts she deserves.
Another One Bites The Dust
Abbey's closest ally Lydia was next on Shonee's death list but things weren't that straightforward in making sure she was back on a plane to Australia.
After a massive tribal that saw both Mokuta and Vakama voting to remove someone from their fold, the outcome was out of Shonee's hands as Lydia and Phoebe were sent to a fire-making challenge.
Lydia looked cool, calm and collected as she spent more time than Phoebe building up her kindling but Phoebs managed to weather the wind and get a roaring fire going first.
The only worry here is that whenever a player seems a little bit too comfortable, they inevitably fly way to close to the sun and get burnt.
But with three strikes against her, Shonee the cat still has a good six lives up her sleeve.
