Top Ten Alliances

Well, it’s time for another top ten of mine. This time, I’m going with the best alliances in Survivor history. There are different qualifications about them that gets them a place on this list. I will get to that shortly. Plus, there are tons of good alliances that I won’t mention because I feel that they had to do something good enough to earn their place on this list. Before we get any further, I’d like to mention that with any of my top tens, they can easily become outdated when new seasons come along. As always, these lists will only contain information from the seasons that have aired at the moment that I posted this. I feel that I should state this fact just in case anyone wonders why the list is the way that it is. To better understand my thoughts, I will now post the rules regarding these alliances and how they would earn a spot on this list of mine.

Rule 1- I’m only including alliances that were successful in some way, shape, or form. While the three amigos was a great alliance, since they were still eliminated fairly easily, then they will not be part of the list. Rule 2- This goes in part with the first rule, but I’m only going with one alliance per season. That’s still pretty good for a top ten, but I thought that I would mention it. Rule 3- Alliances that succeeded due to dumb luck, such as the Chuay Ghaun five or the Solana alliance, are not worthy of the list. I may actually break that rule, but I still think that it’s a good rule. Rule 4- Alliances that succeeded in the game too easily, such as the Chapera alliance or the Koror alliance, are also not worthy of the list. I mean, the Koror alliance faced virtually no opposition and were forced to turn on each other pretty quickly. Are they even worthy of being called an alliance? Rule 5- While this is another rule that I might break once, I don’t think that it’s fair to have alliances that picked off their own members. I’m talking, of course, about alliance that did that before they were the only ones left in the game. Although, since there were some successful alliance that did that, then I might have to at least give an honorable mention to some that did that. In fact, I’ll get to the honorable mentions right now.

Okay, I’ll now mention different alliances from the seasons of Survivor that could have been on a different version of this list, but won’t be on mine. The Boran alliance from Africa was a good example of a successful alliance. They made the others turn on themselves and they wound up becoming the last ones left in the game. But I don’t want to put them on the actual list because I feel that others have done more than them. I also won’t put the Ogakor alliance on the list because they could have done more and gotten further as a group than they did. Now while every successful alliance probably turns on themselves at some point, they shouldn’t have to do that unless they are the only ones left in the game and there’s nobody left in the game not in that alliance. Now I can’t remember all the great alliances from season to season, but I’ve already mentioned some that I thought could work under different rules, but aren’t worthy of the list. Anyways, back to the honorable mentions. The Fei Long alliance was pretty good, but I don’t find them as memorable for some odd reason. Russell’s Villains alliance worked well both premerge and postmerge, but they failed to get rid of the threat not in it that won the game. It could have worked better, but it did not. Now, I will get to the actual list.

#10 Fulcrum Alliance (Philippines): The twenty-fifth season had the craziest alliances in the show’s history, I think. And one of them was more brilliant at using the other ones while also fighting against them than the others were. Consisting of Michael and Lisa, this alliance broke off of the Tandang alliance and made it to day 39 together. They used the other alliances while also fighting against those same alliances. However, unlike the other alliances from this list, the winner was not from it. They messed up at the final five and the lack of a final two that season prevented them from winning against a hero from Matsing. But they still respectfully earn the spot of number ten on this list.

#9 Final Four Alliance (Vanuatu): This alliance was one of, if not the most, boldest names for an alliance. Who would call themselves the final four alliance? Would they really be so ballsy as to actually call themselves that and become the final four? Who was in this alliance? I’ll tell you. This alliance consisted of Chris, Eliza, Twila, and Scout. If you remember the final four of Vanuatu, then you’ll know that’s who was in it. All four of them called themselves the final four alliance and they actually managed to become the final four. That’s remarkable in and of itself. Now I can’t remember most about this alliance other than the fact that it worked, but I felt they were worthy of being on the list.

#8 Stealth R Us (Caramoan): This alliance was named after another one from a previous season. During Redemption Island, the Stealth R Us alliance got along far too easily by hailing to its master. But in Caramoan, the alliance was much more interesting. Once they reached the merge, they had serious opposition from the Three Amigos. (Why the Spanglish? Am I the only one who doesn’t understand that phrase? For goodness sakes, just call yourselves the three friends or tres amigos. I really hope that someone can explain that to me, since it doesn’t make sense to me.) While they lost their leader, they still went far, despite not getting rid of the competition they could have at better times. They helped make that season the great thing that it actually is.

#7 Salani Alliance (One World): An all male alliance has never worked on Survivor. I don’t know if it ever will, but I hope so. But an all female alliance has succeeded before. And from another underrated season, we have the Salani alliance. They were definitely helped by the pure stupidity of the men that season (men are much dumber than women), but they did great things themselves. The way they controlled the game was pretty good. They got rid of everyone they could have and were the final three left in the game of quite an interesting season.

#6 The Family (South Pacific): A lot of people (including me) hated the South Pacific season. But, I still think that the successful alliance from this season is worthy of its place on the list. Even if this is the only alliance that could have also been a cult, the people were brainwashed into succeeding against other threats in the game. John ignored all logic (such as the odds of their side having to draw was higher on the other side and he’d get to go to Redemption Island to potentially win his way back into the game) by flipping on his old alliance (which isn’t as dumb a move as people think, actually, because he would have been screwed either way and his old tribe treated him like complete crap, a dumber move that probably caused him to flip) and taking control of the game. Things could have easily turned sour for them, but they pulled through and made it to the end of the game.

#5 Outsiders Alliance (Marquesas): This alliance is worthy of the list as it wasn’t originally even in the majority. Actually, it was, but only when they released they had to band together. For being the first minority alliance to take out the majority alliance, they are worthy of a place on this list. They knew they had to band together and they did. And they became the final five instead of the next five voted out. Just knowing when to band together was good enough for them to succeed.

#4 Foa Foa Four (Samoa): When you enter the merge with half the members of the opposing tribe, then you’d think your time in the game is done for. But, you can form an alliance and see what can be done. And this alliance worked to break apart the opposing tribe so much that they made it pretty far in the game. In fact, it wasn’t until the finale where we saw only one member of this alliance get eliminated. They got the other players to turn on themselves and thus deserve their spot on this list.

#3 Black Widow Brigade (Micronesia): The first successful women’s alliance worked so brilliantly at eliminating the mostly dumb men that you couldn’t tell what was happening. They got the men to turn on each other without people even knowing what was happening. They lured Ozzy into a false sense of security and then blindsided him. After thinking a fake idol was real, you wouldn’t think that you’d make dumb decisions with a real idol. But, that’s what happened with Jason. Poor Erik was even dumber when he gave up the immunity necklace only to be voted out by them. They worked brilliantly and had great powers in the game. They managed to do what no group of women had done before them.

#2 Aitu Four (Cook Islands): Okay, let’s say that you are comfortable on a tribe of six facing against another tribe of six. Then, a twist comes along and two of your members decide to join the other tribe. Now there are just four of you against eight of them. And yet, your alliance of underdogs wind up ruling the game and become the final four. Now doing that isn’t easy. But winning every challenge until the merge helps get that done. They never had to turn on each other until the finale. Even so, they made it there intact and that’s something worth putting here.

Okay, so you might be wondering what I have listed as the best alliance in Survivor history. Well, I may disagree with some of my own choices here. A lot of the earlier seasons are missing. But, I’m hoping that you think that I’ve missed only one on the list so far. Only one other alliance is worthy of the list. It deserves the top spot on the list for many reasons. It succeeded in getting rid of all the players before they had to turn on themselves. It wasn’t a perfect alliance because none of them are. But it worked better than any alliance since then. It worked, and that’s all that matters when it comes to alliances. It earns the number one spot as it was the very first alliance.

#1 Tagi Alliance (Borneo): Created by power player and first winner, Richard Hatch, this alliance not existing would create a completely different and far less interesting Survivor than the show is today. It was created to get rid of all other players and it worked. You can’t say no one tried to fight them. But by the time that they existence was known, then it was far too late to get rid of it. Even though a member of it left it, they still stayed together until the finale. I believe that this alliance has worked better than any other alliance on the show. It makes sense too. Feel free to disagree, but this is my number one. This is the best alliance in Survivor history.

Well, I hope that you liked the list. These ten alliances are what I consider to be the ten best in Survivor history. Sorry that there wasn’t much from the earlier seasons of the show. I know that I can’t remember every alliance, good or bad. But these are the ones that I think are the best. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.