First competing on the 2017 season of Australian Survivor, Sarah Tilleke returned for Survivor: Australia V The World, hoping to address what she perceived to be flaws in her original game.

"In my wildest dreams as a child who loved Survivor, I could have never thought this up," Sarah told 10. "To play for a second time and to have the World tribe with all those iconic OG Survivor players was something I didn't think was even possible.

"To be involved in that, truly, it could have been disastrous. I could have played the worst game ever, and I still would have had an amazing time because it was such an epic season," she continued.

Hoping to play an "evolved" version of the game she played back in 2017, Sarah wanted to show that she had developed as a player.

"I was really trying to correct any reputation I had from the previous time that I played, which was that I was flip-floppy and not trustworthy. I was trying to publicly state, at least in the beginning, and to build collateral or trust, that I'd have a ride-or-die and play loyally to a particular player," Sarah explained.

"That didn't work out so much as planned... I think, as with many of the players, it's very hard for a tiger to change its stripes."

And while her friendship with David from the real world, or her history with players like Luke and Janine, went back years and years, Sarah set her sights on Kirby, and the two agreed to work closely together.

"What really appealed to me about Kirby is that she seemed to be a player who worked really well with a ride-or-die partnership, and I was drawn to Kirby. I wanted to be in a partnership because I really wanted to collaborate on strategy and dominate as a pair.

That agreement lasted right up until the Aussie tribe went to their first tribal council, where Kirby made the push to blindside David. Feeling like she was being forced to vote for her friend, Sarah felt less like she was part of a collaboration and more like she was being brought in as a number.

"My intention going into the game became really convoluted after that first vote," Sarah said. "The plan changed and that was dictated to me at tribal, and I had to make a really split, uncomfortable decision -- essentially between my number one and number two -- and I didn't appreciate that."

From then on, a fracture between the two ride-or-dies became a gulf, and as the tribes merged into one, the instability of the Aussie tribe was too easily exploited by the World tribe.

"You could really sense how solid they were," Sarah said, "they were not giving away anything. They were locked in, and we came in pretty fractured."

But Sarah also explained that there are certain rules of Survivor, one being that if tribes merge with equal numbers, it's imperative to stay strong and maintain dominance on that first vote.

"They were obviously cognizant of that and not prepared to lose that first vote," she continued. "I thought the Aussie tribe was on the same page in that respect. We wanted to put aside our individual preferences and gain dominance, which is why Luke and I were pedalling that 'Aussie strong' approach."

Feeling so secure in her place on the tribe, Sarah said she even dropped out of the immunity challenge earlier than she needed to, more worried about missing out on conversations happening on the sidelines.

"I really did trust Luke and Janine, so I had divulged that I was after Kirby quite early -- after that [Dave] vote, I had told them I was going to come for Kirby. But I thought they'd keep that information to themselves and not give that back to Kirby."

And while Sarah felt Kirby pulling away from her and their alliance, she assumed it was just down to the shift in their vibes after the Dave vote; she had no idea that Janine had outed her plans to come after Kirby.

"I was aware I was in a bit of trouble in that sense, but going into that first merge vote, I thought the obvious and sensible thing to do was to stay Aussie strong."

Meanwhile, the fracture between Sarah and Kirby was exactly what the World tribe needed to exploit and gain the upper hand when it came to the first merge vote.

Seeing her name pulled from the urn, Sarah said she immediately realised that her torch was about to be snuffed.

"I was completely blindsided, which, as a Survivor fan, it's quite thrilling. A normal person may find it hurtful, but it's part of the game. Obviously we all want to win but, if you're not prepared to get voted off, you're likely not prepared to play."

Sarah also joked that it was probably a blessing in disguise that she was voted out early in the merge. "I'm not glad that I was voted off early, but it's maybe for the best. I would have been so fan-girly, and I would have been played like a fiddle by Parvati and Cirie.

"I had a conversation with myself going into the game like, they're just people, and I was so devastated not to get to play with Tony. As soon as I was on the beach with them, I was like, 'This is so crazy!' and I was completely fan-girling.

"It was completely strange and completely surreal, but it's so hard to walk away from this experience anything but grateful. Even if, strategically, it was a bit challenging, the gratitude is so easy to walk away from this game with."

Survivor: Australia V The World continues Sundays at 7pm and Monday - Tuesday at 7.30pm on 10