Much of the pre-merge was dominated by Tina and Boston Rob's opposing alliances. Everyone else either fell victim to their schemes or voted to ensure Tina/Rob were weakened by the time the merge finally came around. Before the tribe swap, Tina led her alliance with her most loyal ally Richard and Boston Rob led his alliance with his most loyal ally, Danni. Kim and Tony were targeted early by Tina's alliance and subsequently voted out and eliminated at Redemption Island. Natalie W, Aras, and Vecepia became early targets of Boston Rob's alliance leading to their early exits from the game. When the tribe swap occurred, Tina and Boston Rob slowly lost their footing in the game. Two new alliances formed on the New Samburu tribe (Denise/Todd/Fabio/Jenna) and on the New Pagong tribe (Parvati/Sandra/Earl/Natalie A). These two new alliances worked to make sure Tina and Boston Rob would not also dominate the post-merge. Finally swapped onto the same tribe (New Timbira), Tina and Boston Rob were granted the chance to take the other out. In one of his major flips this season, Yul sided with Tina and Ethan to take out Boston Rob. Unfortunately for them, Boston Rob was able to utilize Redemption Island to make it to the merge. Even more grim for Tina's game, the New Pagong alliance took out her closest ally, Richard, and he later was unable to win the final Redemption Island duel. Tina also lost Ethan before the merge, leaving her with little to no allies. She sided with the New Samburu alliance at the merge, but it was all for not as pre-swap allies Parvati and Boston Rob realigned to take out Tina and the New Samburu alliance. But the ladies of the New Pagong alliance were not to be trusted and when they felt the moment was right, they voted Boston Rob off and sent him to jury. When it seemed that either Tina or Boston Rob would dominate the entire game, the New Pagong alliance and outsiders Yul and Jenna have outlasted them both.
Sandra - playing a similar game to her first two seasons, she has managed to stay under the radar for majority of the game. Briefly a target of Tina before the tribe swap, she was able to pass the target off to seemingly bigger threats. Joining the New Pagong alliance has been one of her best strategic decisions this season as well as deciding to take out Boston Rob at F8, someone she originally wanted to work with again. As the final tribal council draws nearer, everyone is wary to take her anything farther because of how well she does with the juries.
Yul - he had a more erratic, imperfect game this time around. He flipped from alliance to alliance to whichever suited his game needs at the time. He betrayed Boston Rob pre-merge and then later betrayed Tina at the merge, in effect ruining several other castaways' games. He has solidified a final three deal with Earl and Natalie A believing his more active game has a better chance to sway the jury in his favor over the other two.
Jenna - an underdog and outsider from Day 1, she and her closest ally Fabio were targets of Tina and Richard's alliance in the original Samburu tribe. Luck was in her favor when the tribe swap happened, separating her from those who wanted to vote her out. She was able to form a new alliance with Denise and Todd which helped her survive longer post-swap. At the merge, her alliance was decimated Tina/Todd/Denise were voted out in quick succession. She returned to underdog status once again as the last of her alliance. She had to rely on an idol and social game play to get this far. No one left wants her in the final three because of this.
Earl - he stayed under the radar before the swap and later joined the game's most dominant alliance (New Pagong) after. Once he made the merge, he made it a point to play all sides and be on good terms with those he knew would be joining the jury. He made deals and broke them along his way to the final five. Having solidified his final three deal with Yul and Natalie A, he's got his game figured out, ready to turn on former ally Sandra like he did with Parvati.
Natalie A - while a close ally of Tina pre-swap, she plotted Tina's vote out early on knowing the Survivor legend could play a dominant strategic and social game. Initially wanting to work with her at the merge, she got her wishes and convinced Yul to also turn against Tina, effectively having her voted out. Having already been voted out pre-merge by her New Pagong alliance and returned via Redemption Island, Natalie also has two immunity wins to her Survivor resume. She has the three major aspects of Survivor down (Outwit, Outplay, Outlast) and is excelling even in the final five with her final three deal with Earl and Yul.
No one has an easy path to victory as there a two more immunity challenges, two more tribal councils, and one final hidden immunity is still in play.
Who do you think will win? Find out today! (I'm currently writing the finale posts)
Here's where everything is at leading into the finale:
(One of the final five found the last idol on Day 32)
Final Placing:
22nd - Sophie - STOKES2009 (Eliminated Day 1/Lost Duel 1, Day 4)
21st - Kim - bamold1999 (Voted Out Day 3/Lost Duel 1, Day 4)
20th - Tom - Phenomanimal (Eliminated Day 1/Lost Duel 2, Day 7)
19th - Aras - VoLcOmVaNs (Voted Out Day 8/Lost Duel 3, Day 9)
18th - Tony - finklestein123 (Voted Out Day 6/Lost Duel 4, Day 11)
17th - Natalie W - Thumper91 (Voted Out Day 3/Lost Duel 5, Day 14)
16th - Vecepia - Diva1 (Voted Out Day 10/Lost Duel 6, Day 16)
15th - JT - BbDamian (Voted Out Day 17/Lost Duel 7, Day 18)
14th - Ethan - sprtsgy1989 (Voted Out Day 19/Lost Duel 8, Day 20)
13th - Richard - smuguy2012 (Voted Out Day 13/Lost Duel 8, Day 20)
12th - Tina - sjsoccer88 (Voted Out Day 22/Juror 1)
11th - Todd - JesseM (Voted Out Day 25/Juror 2)
10th - Denise - Jenna2010 (Voted Out Day 27/Juror 3)
9th - Danni - SexyTex (Voted Out Day 30/Juror 4)
8th - Boston Rob - unkown (Voted Out Day 30/Juror 5)
7th - Fabio - nickgqc (Voted Out Day 33/Juror 6)
6th - Parvati - Elvira (Voted Out Day 36/Juror 7)
