With the war between the returnees and the newbies heating up as we inch closer to the endgame, Ben was in a solid spot. Heading into Tribal Council, he and his merry band of newbies had a clear shot at Brooke. But in a last-minute switch, Ben's number one ally, Jackson, flipped the vote, taking out Ben.
Earlier in the game, Ben and Brooke had been unlikely allies, battling from the bottom to stay in the game, but as they got to merge, he found himself in a powerful position, leading the charge for revolution.
"I just had a sense that the returnees were always going to work together," Ben told 10. "There's no reason that they would want to work with a newbie over another returnee who understands how the game works better.
"I thought, this is going to happen one way or another; it may as well happen through a decision I make and not one that [Brooke] would make, which potentially might see me go home."
His rise to the top of the merge tribe painted a pretty big target on his back, but Ben had faith in his alliance. "I had a plan, going in, that I'd play to my values and stand by my people," Ben explained.
"I had such good relationships with all of them that I fully trusted them and, if that was my downfall -- playing to the kind of person I am in real life -- then so be it."
Knowing their backs were against the wall, the returnees tried to find any cracks in the newbies' alliance, working especially hard to flip Jackson, convincing him that this was the right time to make a big move. But it wasn't until he was holding the pen to parchment that it seemed Jackson had made his decision.
Getting a sense that his time was up, Ben almost immediately clicked that it was his number one who cast the deciding vote against him.
"When I put all the pieces together with how much time Jackson had spent talking to the returnees and Simon, I thought yeah, it's him that has flipped, which is why when I hugged him I said, 'You've got to do what you've got to do'."
Despite Jackson being the deciding vote that sent him packing, Ben said he never once second-guessed sitting next to Jackson at the final Tribal Council.
"I was 100 percent there with my boy, I was going to back him to the hills, but like I said, that's the nature of the beast.
"Everyone has their own way of playing, strategising, and no one person can have the same view," Ben continued. "I knew, going in, my values and gameplay wouldn't align with many players, if any, and Jackson just decided to go and get before he got got."
Emerging as a power player, Ben admitted that before landing on the beach, he barely had any understanding of how the game was played, and "kept forgetting" to watch any seasons for research.
"I'm very impulsive, especially if I don't take my medication," he laughed. "I ended up rolling in with nothing, and I was just learning on the fly.
"I was like, there are probably beds out there, they probably give us food behind the scenes," he continued. "I get there, and it's like... holy shit, we are living in the jungle. I'm pulling down banana leaves and using them as a bed, and I don't know if you know much about banana leaves, but they don't have much cushion!
"I just surrendered to it and enjoyed the experience for what it was," Ben added.
As he embraced his experience, Ben called his time on Australian Survivor "life-changing", adding that it was the first time in 28 years that he really felt like he loved himself.
"[It was] the first time I proved that little voice in my head wrong. I met some amazing, beautiful people and fell in love with the game. I was walking away from Tribals with enough adrenaline to stop a truck going, why am I just learning about this great game now?"
As for whether he'd ever go back and make another bed of banana leaves, Ben's already counting down the days for his next shot at the title of Sole Survivor.
"Get me out there! Inject that shit into my veins! That whole experience was epic. It's definitely something I would 100 percent do again!"
