NewsBite

Survivor contestant Simon Black explains bizarre behaviour during his final episode

Confused by Simon’s bizarre behaviour in last night’s Survivor episode? That’s because there was one thing viewers didn’t get to see.

Nick BondNick Bond
@bondnickbond
2 min read
September 4, 2019 - 11:35AM
Australian Survivor: Simon keeps on digging

Many viewers were infuriated during Tuesday’s episode of Australian Survivor when champ Simon Black appeared to waste his final day in the game randomly digging holes around camp.

Black had just clawed his way back into the game having previously been banished to exile beach, and scrambled to find a hidden immunity idol before he was voted out for good.

Simon just kept on digging.
Simon just kept on digging.

“You know, I’m in a very dicey position in this game right now. So I’ve just been digging hole after hole, trying to find the idol underground,” he said.

Black’s bizarre method of searching had fans puzzled — why exert so much time and effort randomly digging holes when immunity idols are usually found overground, hidden in the nearby jungle?

But speaking to news.com.au today, Black explained that there was a method to his madness — it just didn’t make the episode’s final edit.

The directive to dig for an idol came from a clue Black had found — a clue, it turns out, that mischievous returning player Luke Toki had earlier found and used to find an idol for himself.

The clue was then rendered worthless, but Toki placed it back in the jungle in the hopes someone else would find it.

RELATED: Viewers fume over Survivor controversy

RELATED: Survivor evictee’s shocking admission

“He did it just to create some chaos in the game, I think,” said Black.

It worked.

“I spent a lot of time digging holes … literally 24 hours, through the night. I became quite paranoid that people were trying to follow me to keep an eye on me, so I snuck out of camp at night in the pouring rain to dig holes,” he confessed.

Simon felt like an ‘idiot’ when he eventually discovered he’d been duped.
Simon felt like an ‘idiot’ when he eventually discovered he’d been duped.

It wasn’t until Black was eliminated from the game and at Jury Villa that he discovered he’d been following the direction of a useless clue during his final day of frantic digging.

“I felt pretty embarrassed — I thought, ‘You idiot.’ But I really grew to love the game and I didn’t want to go anywhere, so I was desperate to find an idol.”

Black says there was another key aspect of his final day at camp lost in the editing mix. Despite appearances, he didn’t totally ignore his tribemates in favour of digging holes.

“Although they didn't really show it, I tried pretty hard to get some people to change their alliance and their mindset … but it didn’t work out.”

Black was certainly this season’s quiet achiever, lasting a whopping 42 days in the game without ever taking up much of a focus on-screen — much to the frustration of some viewers:

He insists that, despite what viewers may have seen, he was a lively presence at camp.

“My mates have been ribbing me about my lack of speaking on the show, but I guarantee I was speaking as much as anyone out there — I just didn’t get a lot of airtime. I was certainly in the background a lot, wasn’t I? For whatever reason it was edited that way and I didn’t speak a whole lot, unfortunately.”

Australian Survivor airs next week 7:30pm Monday and Tuesday on Ten

Add your comment to this story

To join the conversation, please Don't have an account? Register

Join the conversation, you are commenting as Logout

More related stories

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/reality-tv/australian-survivor/survivor-contestant-simon-black-explains-bizarre-behaviour-during-his-final-episode/news-story/7450d46893b66b9142200dcce53825c0