The Foa Foa Four is an alliance on Survivor: Samoa.
Made up of the four remaining Foa Foa tribe members after the merge, they were able to go against the odds by manipulating members of the Galu Alliance into eliminating one of their own and also making its weaker members switch allegiances to them, eventually having all of the finalists come from their alliance.
Members[]
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Affiliates[]
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History[]
Pre-merge[]
Although not created until after the elimination of Liz Kim due to their low numbers, Russell Hantz had previously been working with Natalie White and other women from the tribe (forging the "Dumb Girls Alliance"), and all but Natalie were eliminated from this original voting bloc, as he chose to keep Tribe Leader Mick Trimming and Jaison Robinson, as they were aware of his true profession as an oil company owner. Also since the start of the game, Russell had been forging alliances with every member of his tribe, but never truly cemented any loyalties until the days approaching the merge.
Outnumbered[]
When the tribes merged into the Aiga tribe on Day 19, the alliance was greatly outnumbered 4 to 8. With Russell being the holder of a Hidden Immunity Idol, the Galu Alliance attempted to eliminate him at the first opportunity. Despite none of the alliance members winning immunity, Natalie tried to convince the Galu Alliance (especially its women) that Erik Cardona was over-strategizing. At Tribal Council, Russell played the idol, but Natalie's subtle suggestions were successful, with the rival alliance choosing to eliminate Erik instead. Later on, Russell found another idol and told Shambo Waters (who was an outsider of Galu) that they would target Laura Morett, with Shambo revealing to him that he would be the rival alliance's next target. However, Laura won immunity, so the alliance opted to eliminate one of Laura's closest allies, Kelly Sharbaugh, instead. At the next Tribal Council, Galu all voted against Russell under the assumption that he did not have another idol. However, with the help of Shambo's information, Russell shocked the rival alliance as he played another idol, negating seven votes against him, eliminating Kelly in a 4-0 vote.
Domination[]
Knowing that Russell had taken out one of Laura's closest allies, a curious John Fincher from the rival alliance approached the alliance and wanted to join as a member (after Shambo declared that she would vote against Laura after Mick won the next Immunity Challenge, thus joining the alliance), under the condition that after that somebody from Foa Foa would be eliminated next after Laura. Russell agreed to these terms, although he chose to not disclose this additional term to anybody else.
At Tribal Council, there was a tie in votes between Laura and Natalie, with John voting against intended Galu Alliance target Natalie. At the re-vote, however, John then switched his vote over to Laura after the rest of Galu stated that they would force a purple rock tiebreaker if needed, voting out Laura in a 5-3 vote. Following Laura's elimination, John returned to Russell to keep his side of the deal. However, Russell turned against the deal, and the alliance (except for Shambo), with the Galu Alliance's loyal members voting against John too, John was voted out 7-1-1. Dave Ball was then voted out at the next Tribal Council unanimously.
The Brett Effect[]
Brett Clouser was regarded as the alliance's biggest threat, although he never really showed his true colors until very deep in the game and became a prime candidate to receive all the jury votes due to his overall social game, likeability, late challenge run while against the odds, and most of all what was becoming an almost entirely Galu jury.
After Dave was eliminated, he became a target. However, he won immunity, making Monica Padilla the next target. Brett voted with Monica, but the alliance stuck together and voted her out 5-2. Brett again won the next Immunity Challenge, forcing the alliance to turn on each other, with Shambo - the only former Galu in the alliance - being voted out unanimously. When Brett won his third straight Immunity Challenge, Russell told Natalie that she would be going home if Brett won immunity, but changed his mind after Brett's immunity win, mainly due to seeing Jaison quitting during the challenge, growing physically weak, and being seen as unable to help defeat and get rid of Brett in future challenges. Russell tried to get Jaison and Mick to go against one another by telling conflicting stories to get each to target the other. At this point, Natalie was deemed by Russell as a coattail rider and he felt that this would be reflected upon at the Final Tribal Council. With Jaison and Mick at the agreement that they would vote one another, Russell and Natalie chose to eliminate Jaison, making him the only Foa Foa jury member.
At the Final Immunity Challenge, Brett's miracle run came to end, as Russell won the challenge. Russell had falsely and needlessly promised Brett that he would take him to the Final Three if Russell won immunity. However, after the win, Russell would in fact now consider it, overconfident in his jury chances, and saying that he wanted to win against the toughest opponent. He would ask Brett if he could build fire as Russell pondered whether he should consider forcing a tie and fire-making challenge against Mick. Mick became paranoid about being voted out, and both he and Natalie pleaded Russell to not allow the highly likeable Brett into the finals with two of them, warning Russell that all three of them had a solid chance against each other, but none against Brett. At Tribal Council, Russell went along with his core alliance, and the Foa Foa Four finally eliminated all of the members of the Galu Alliance, voting out Brett unanimously.
Beware of the Quiet Ones[]
The jury - made up of Galu Alliance members, Galu turned Foa Foa Alliance members John and Shambo, and lone Foa Foa jury member Jaison - voted to choose who would be the Sole Survivor. Mick was castigated for being a bad leader in Foa Foa, evident in their tribal losses, and doing virtually nothing in the game either strategically or socially, while Russell was castigated for his very unethical game. Natalie, a quiet figure in the alliance, was praised for her social game, with Erik arguing that her tremendous social game, and quiet strategic smarts, was equally as dangerous as Russell's bold strategic game. Erik, as the final juror concluded that up against delusional self-entitlement (pointing at Mick) and arrogance (pointing at Russell), the person who seemed least worthy, was probably the most worthy. He promised Natalie that she had his vote and said he hoped she would get four more. With that, Natalie garnered all of the loyal members of the Galu Alliance's votes and Jaison's vote, while Russell only earned John and Shambo's votes, making Natalie the Sole Survivor in a 7-2-0 jury vote.
Trivia[]
- Jaison Robinson is the only original member of this alliance to be on the jury.
- He is also the only original member to be outlasted by a former member of Galu.
Gallery[]
