Survivor Champions

Injury turns fatal for Survivor’s Sonette

Mortuary Attendant Sonette Myburgh (40) meekly stumbled out of M-Net’s Survivor South Africa: Champions this week after an injury turned her into a liability for her tribe.

An unanimous vote at Tribal Council made her the eighth person to be sent home from the desolate island in the South China Sea, leaving captain Mark Fish and the underdogs of Utara with just 6 players, as opposed to the 8 in Corne Krige’s strong Selatan.

Sonette’s injury, sustained when the Utara shelter’s pole fell on her legs during a storm, made it hard for her to run and keep up with her tribe mates – with one slip costing Utara outright victory in this week’s Reward Challenge. Her alliance members, convening after the devastating Immunity Challenge defeat to Selatan, told her straight out that she would be the next to go.

She considered playing the Hidden Immunity Idol, but then decided to sacrifice her desire to become the next Ultimate Survivor for the benefit of the tribe.

In her exit interview on the island Sonette explained: “I know I’m going to see myself and think: ‘you stupid girl, why did you do that?’ But I knew that they needed strength in the tribe. I respect that. I didn’t have any hard feelings towards anybody. I hope that somebody from Utara gets to win this.”

This week’s Reward Challenge saw the teams testing their memory and team work skills as they dashed through the jungle, tethered to each other in a race, to retrieve totems which would win them fruit rewards. Each tribe claimed two wins, with one shared after a video review called one leg, a draw.

With full stomachs and renewed vigour after sampling Rambutan, Honeydew Melon, Watermelon, Dragon Fruit and Pineapple, the tribes reconvened to fight for Immunity. The challenge also depended on teamwork, with all members of the tribe required to gather at specific stations before the next stage of the game could commence. The final station saw tribe members catapulting coconuts to break tiles, to keep their tribe together for at least another night. Solly, who sat out the Reward Challenge for Selatan, was the hero once more, winning them a challenge that they’d led throughout.

While Utara moved to eliminate one of their own, life at Selatan saw the tribe mates considering where it had all gone wrong for Gena, voted off last week despite them having smuggled a Hidden Immunity Idol to her after the tribe shuffle. Zavion declared Survivor “a numbers game” while Altaaf told Solly that he was glad things had played out with “the honest, good people” staying in the game.

Survivor South Africa: Champions is broadcast on M-Net on Sundays at 17:30, with a repeat on M-Net Series Zone on Saturdays at 13:00.