Witches' Coven (alliance)

The Witches' Coven is an alliance formed in .
This small alliance was formed in an ad-hoc fashion relatively late in the game, quickly found itself in the extreme minority post-merge, and suffered the elimination of founding member Kass McQuillen only three days after its inception. Despite this, the alliance saw several moments of brilliance, most notably Kelley Wentworth's use of a Hidden Immunity Idol to blindside Andrew Savage. The "witches" overcame a dramatic numerical disadvantage to facilitate the elimination of several members of the majority Bayon Alliance (including Kelly Wiglesworth, Joe Anglim, and Stephen Fishbach), and it took a well-timed idol play from Bayon mastermind Jeremy Collins to force Ciera Eastin out of the game. Kelley was the longest-lived member of the alliance and posed a major threat to win the game before finally being voted out one day before the Final Tribal Council.
==Members==
			
===Affiliates===
	
==History==
===Inception===
The Coven was created on Day 16 when Ciera Eastin and Kass McQuillen became swing votes after the post-switch Ta Keo tribe lost immunity. Targeting either Spencer or Woo seemed to be the best move for the alliance. However, due to Savage and Woo's bond from the first swap, the alliance was worried that voting out Spencer would give Savage too much power. Despite their troubled past during their first season, Kass and Spencer made up. As a result, Kass, Ciera, Abi, and Spencer voted out Woo, blindsiding him.
===Troubled Waters===
The alliance became official at the merge on Day 17, as it gained Abi-Maria Gomes and Kelley Wentworth as two of only four remaining original Ta Keo members and lacking other options. Unfortunately, this also meant that Kass and Ciera were going to have to flip against their old Bayon tribemates, which put the foursome in a difficult situation. Having saved Spencer, they relied on him as well as his ability to obtain the loyalty of Joe and Keith to form a majority. After none of them could win immunity, they, especially Kass and Ciera, became the targets after flipping against the majority. In a last-ditch effort knowing Joe and Keith were solid with the Bayon alliance, the alliance tried to vote out Tasha with the help of Spencer, but in the end, they failed, and Kass was the one who paid the price. She was eliminated over Ciera in a split 6-4-2-1 vote.
===Idol Play===
With Kass gone and the numbers so out of their reach, the three remaining girls had to think of something else to stay in the game. Kelley had found a Hidden Immunity Idol at the very first Immunity Challenge on Day 3, but she had to find an optimal time to use it. None of the "Witches" were able to win immunity, as Joe continued winning. Initially, they realized that, once again, Ciera's name was up in the air. However, Kelley was also mentioned, as no one knew of the power she had. Fortunately for them, the opposite majority did not split the votes again and all voted for idol-holder Kelley. She made a major power move and played her Immunity Idol, negating the nine votes (a Survivor record) against her and sending Andrew Savage home, surprising everyone. 
===Bayon Blindside===
After showing the enemy the power they possessed, as well removing a key figure in the Bayon Alliance, Abi-Maria, Ciera, and Kelley knew that despite a few players freeing up, they were again on the bottom. They tried to sneak into the enemies' core and were able to find a temporary ally in Stephen, who recently became paranoid about how he was seen in the Witches' eyes, and if he was any possible target to them. He made himself too annoying but remained an ally nonetheless. Once again, they were not able to win immunity, but they were making a plan with their "voting bloc" to eliminate Kelly Wiglesworth. The new-foursome saw her as a very social and likable player with solid under-the-radar gameplay and a connection to Joe, and this was considered very threatening. On the other side, the scrambling Bayon alliance had Kelley and Ciera as targets, the former for her big move, and the latter for flipping at the merge. In the end, Wiglesworth was eliminated in a 6-3-2 vote, getting votes from the Witches, plus Stephen, Spencer, and Jeremy.
===Setbacks===
Once again, the Coven had been spared from the vote, but they were not aware that the enemy also had an idol in their possession. They still saw Fishbach as one of their own but did not contemplate him returning to the Bayon core. At the Immunity Challenge, the contestants were informed of a secret advantage that was going to be handed to someone at the exchange of losing any shot at immunity. Ultimately, none of the Witches dropped out, as they needed immunity more than anyone else, and Stephen ended up winning the advantage. Once again, Joe won immunity, leaving the alliance unsure of its future. Again, Ciera became the primary target of the Bayon alliance. They realized that Stephen was flipping back, and had enough votes to eliminate him and save themselves. However, Jeremy used an idol on Fishbach, negating the five votes against him, and it ended with Ciera going with three of the remaining five votes, with the other two votes going to Kimmi.
===Deflection===
Without Ciera, Abi-Maria, and Kelley were in their worst-case scenario, as they were targeted, in addition to and one of their "allies" flipping. They were still willing to fight to the end, and hope was still alive. Miraculously, the reward Folklore challenge involved a hidden clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol, and in a shocking end, Kelley ended up finding it and eventually, finding the idol at the bottom of Orkun's shelter. In a major shift of power, Joe ended up losing immunity to Spencer, which "spared" Abi-Maria and Kelley from being targeted, as they were relieved at being in a "safe" position again. Still, Abi-Maria became the new target of the scrambled Bayon core, as the Witches targeted Stephen for being a flipper. Stephen used his advantage at Tribal Council (revealed to be a Vote Steal) in a desperate attempt to try to stay in the game, against Joe, preventing him from voting and allowing Stephen able to vote twice. This plan failed however and the Coven, along with Spencer and Keith, blindsided Fishbach with four out of the nine votes.
===Taking Out the Threat===
After the fallout of Stephen's blindside, Kimmi thought about linking up with the Witches in order to potentially form an all-female alliance with Tasha to weed out the males. Kimmi opted to vote Joe out with the help of the other females. At the Loved Ones Challenge, Kelley won and brought Abi-Maria, Joe, Keith, Kimmi, and their respective loved ones to the barbecue reward, with a minor intention of lowering her target. This ended up being Kelley's round, as she also won immunity for the females, as the male immunity was soon to be granted to either Joe or Keith. Anticipating another Joe win, the unthinkable happened, and Keith won because Joe's blood pressure dropped, causing him to faint and to drop out of the challenge. Though Joe tried campaigning to stay in the game, his threat status ended up causing his downfall as everyone, excluding Keith, voted Joe out in a 6-1-1 vote.
===Girl Power?===
With Joe officially out of the game and the idea of a new all-female alliance growing intensely, Abi-Maria and Kelley continued to be targeted by the remnants of the once-dominant Bayon alliance. Jeremy and Spencer were reliant on Tasha and Kimmi to side with them over the women. After Keith won reward and took Kelley and Spencer, in addition to his sole vote for Tasha at the previous Tribal Council, he became the primary target of her. While at the reward, Spencer discussed with Kelley and Keith about voting out Tasha over Abi-Maria who he thought the three could control up until the Final Four. However, back at camp, Abi-Maria was roped into voting with Jeremy, Kimmi, and Tasha against Keith because of his threat status. Now knowing this, Abi-Maria thought she was going to the Final Three because of her being the "goat" within the remaining castaways. Neither Abi-Maria nor Kelley could secure immunity, yet Kelley felt safe because of her idol, and Abi-Maria put blind faith in her volatility, which she thought would carry her further. However, at Tribal Council, Abi-Maria's personality was what sealed her demise, as she was voted out in a 4-2-1 vote, leaving Kelley, and in extension, Keith, on the outside by themselves.
===An Omen Brought Upon===
Now Kelley, the last remaining witch, against a strong trio of Spencer, Jeremy, and Tasha, was deemed to be the next to go. Kimmi was aligned for the majority of the game with Spencer, Jeremy, and Tasha. However, she felt at the bottom of the alliance and her relationship with Kelley (from the girls' alliance) brought them closer. Kelley, Keith, and Kimmi created an alliance to target Jeremy, to flip the power of the game. Kimmi was to tell her former alliance to split the vote, so that when Kimmi flipped, Jeremy would leave in a 3-2-1 vote. However, suspicious of Kimmi, the three decided to vote together. At Tribal Council, Spencer was immune, and Kimmi flipped her vote to Jeremy with Kelley and Keith. The other side targeted Kelley, worrying about her winning in the end. Kelley was worried about being voted out and played her idol. Jeremy, triggered by Kelley's idol play, also played his own. When the votes were revealed, there were no counted votes, since both sides voted for a protected player. With that, everyone revoted, and Jeremy, Spencer, and Tasha voted against Kimmi for her betrayal. Kelley, Keith, and Kimmi voted for Tasha. The vote was deadlocked, and Jeremy, Keith, Kelley, and Spencer were given the opportunity to verbally agree on someone to vote out. Refusing to vote out Tasha, Jeremy and Spencer convinced Kelley to keep Keith over Kimmi. In the end, Kelley voted out Kimmi, leaving only her and Keith against Jeremy, Spencer, and Tasha.
===A Short Road Ahead===
With Kimmi gone, any plans of the alliance honing a majority went to waste as they were now in the minority once again. At the Immunity Challenge, Kelley won her second individual immunity, forcing the Bayon majority to target Keith instead. Though the end was near for Keith, Kelley constructed a fake Hidden Immunity Idol to lure Jeremy into voting with them by exposing his paranoia. While at camp, Jeremy noticed Keith messing with the idol and whispered to him to vote for Spencer with Kelley. At Tribal Council, Keith sent signals to Jeremy that he'd be using the idol to take out Spencer. However, he didn't use the idol, confusing Kelley and relieving the majority alliance. Keith ended up still being voted out in a 3-2 vote.
===The End===
As the last standing member of the alliance, Kelley was alone against the strong final three alliance. At the Immunity Challenge, it was vital for Kelley to win immunity to stay in the game. However, she was the first to drop her ball and lost immunity. With Jeremy winning immunity, Kelley saw that her only chance to stay in the game was to persuade Jeremy into thinking that Spencer was a bigger jury threat than her. She focused hard on persuading him, but Spencer, also worried about being voted out, rather rashly threatened Jeremy that if he were to be voted out, he would convince the jury to vote for Kelley to win, stating that her social and strategic game was flawless. Surprised by Spencer's antics, Kelley stated in the voting confessional that the vote she cast against him that night would be the last time he would write his name down. In the end, Jeremy voted out Kelley, ending the alliance. Kelley stayed true to her word being one of many jurors critical of Spencer's behavior and voting for Jeremy to win.
==Gallery==
Vo_kass.png|Kass voted out.
Vo_ciera.png|Ciera blindsided.
Vo_abi.jpg|Abi-Maria blindsided.
vo_kelley.jpg|Kelley voted out.
==Trivia==
* The name of the alliance was coined by Kimmi Kappenberg when she was an enemy of theirs.
* Between each Witch, two castaways were voted out.
** Andrew Savage and Kelly Wiglesworth, between Kass McQuillen and Ciera Eastin.
** Stephen Fishbach and Joe Anglim, between Ciera Eastin and Abi-Maria Gomes.
** Kimmi Kappenberg and Keith Nale, between Abi-Maria Gomes and Kelley Wentworth.
==References==
Category:Alliances
Category:Survivor: Cambodia
Category:Cambodia Alliances
Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Orkun Tribe
Category:Ta Keo Tribe