Top Ten Redeemed Starting Tribes Post Merge

Sometimes a tribe does poorly before the merge, but is able to turn things around after the merge. When this happens, the originally poorly performing tribe could be considered redeemed in a way. What are the best tribes to have turned things around after the merge? Well, I might as well tell you.

#10 Fang (Gabon): Okay, so this one wasn’t an entire change that went all the way to the win. But due to what some may call sheer dumb luck and others called rigged via the second tribe swap, the Fang tribe, specifically the second swapped one, did a whole lot better after the merge. They may not have won the game in the end, but it did improve for a lot of them.

#9 Jaburu (Amazon): This isn’t that much of a notable one given the randomness of eliminations after the merge happened. But they did enter into the merge with less numbers yet still were able to pick off some of the opposing tribe and then produced the first ever landslide winner of the series.

#8 Luzon (Cagayan): When the season started out, it seemed as if the brains tribe was really the dumb tribe and it suffered from various infighting and lost half of its members within the first four tribal councils. Somehow, the other half of the tribe comprised half of the players who made it to the final six of the game and even though they didn’t come out from behind and win, they still proved a force to be reckoned with as the game went on.

#7 Tagi (Borneo): While it seems that the two tribes were evenly matched before the merge, there were enough problems to think that this was the tribe doing worse. However, after the merge, this tribe dominated so much that the other tribe went down in infamy as one that just couldn’t stick together. This shows how a group of people can stick together and pick off the other tribe one by one even though there were fractures in this tribe’s alliance.

#6 Ogakor (Australia): Amber said it best we she wondered why the tribe was always losing. This tribe may have had an advantage over the other tribes as they were able to enter the merge with even numbers after the other tribe had a member pulled from the game. They were also able to get out the exact right member due to tie-breaker rules that they knew and the other tribe didn’t. Even while picking off various members of their own tribe, they were still able to enter the final three as a whole and succeed even while losing a lot before the merge happened.

#5 Matsing (Philippines): This tribe was so bad and pathetic, losing every challenge it competed in and getting dissolved as a result. And yet, the two people who remained from it came back together after the merge and helped the other alliances turn on each other while staying together as a whole until the final four tore them apart. But for those two people to outlast every member of another tribe and one of them to win is a true accomplishment.

#4 Ravu (Fiji): It wasn’t entirely this tribe’s fault that it drew the short end of the stick by losing the first challenge which got it the worst camp and the other tribe got a luxury camp instead. This caused it to lose all but one challenge in the future and nearly all of its members compared to the others. Yet after the merge, another core group of two from this tribe stuck together until breaking up at the final four. It can be hard to think of a tribe that had it worse yet could still produce the winner of the season.

#3 Maraamu (Marquesas): While not the first tribe to lose a lot before the merge, it was the first tribe to have a significant losing streak, losing a then record number of consecutive challenges and only winning after a tribe swap happened. Indeed, no member of this tribe wasn’t at one point on the other tribe by the time the merge happened, a feat that I think was only repeated once. But, everyone who was a member of this tribe managed to band together against the alliance in the game and get them voted out of the game. Then a member of the tribe won the game and that was cool too.

#2 Jalapao (Tocantins): Things seemed grim for this tribe heading into the merge with the other tribe having a majority and then losing a member due to medical evacuation. Ultimately, the other tribe soon turned on each other and was soon the minority itself with this tribe turning out on top.

What could the number 1 choice be? Well, with the theme of those tribes that did poorly before the merge and then turning things around after the merge, only one tribe really stands out above the rest and there could be no other choice to top this list.

#1 Foa Foa (Samoa): This tribe sucked a lot before the merge due to Russell Hantz sabotaging it. But his influence over the game didn’t end when the tribes merged. He formed an alliance with those from his old tribe and was able to get the other tribe to turn on themselves. By the time they realized what had happened, it was too late and the tribe that entered with only four people were all left by the finale even though eight people were against them at the time of the merge.

Well, that’s my next top ten and I should work on more in the future. Or I can do other posts. Just know that you will probably not be seeing any posts about Survivor: Gabon this summer, although things could change and possibly will. Whatever happens, be sure to check out this blog for your weekly dose of Survivor that you won’t see on TV right now. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.