Dara Women's Alliance

The Dara Women's Alliance is the majority alliance of the tribe in .
In opposition to the rising machismo on the Dara tribe, Cydney Gillon rallied the women of Dara to blindside Nick Maiorano, drawing a line in the sand that defined the rest of the season. Though the women strategically cannibalized each other, the core alliance of Cydney and Aubry Bracco remained in control throughout the season until the final four. The alliance eventually produced the season's winner, Michele Fitzgerald.
==Members==
		
		
===Affiliates===
==History==
===Cydney's Paranoia===
After seeing Nick Maiorano confront Julia Sokolowski at Dara camp, Cydney Gillon decides that he may be too full of himself, and sets out to snap him back into reality. After Nick loses the Immunity Challenge and tries to broker a deal with powerless Aubry Bracco, Cydney pulls Aubry and Debbie Wanner aside with the intention of inviting them into an all-female alliance while the gender division was still even. She then meets up with Julia and Michele Fitzgerald, and tells them of Aubry and Debbie's acceptance of the invitation. The Beauty girls become the swing votes at Dara's first Tribal Council and weigh their options: to make a big move, or to shield themselves from Kyle Jason's wrath. Ultimately, the girls, along with Joe del Campo, pile their votes on Nick and blindside him.
===The Russell Hantz Approach===
After Nick's blindside, Jason and Scot Pollard decide to spite the women by hiding tools from the camp. They take the machete and ax and hide it in a grassfield a distance from the campsite, and Scot proceeds to extinguish the fire with the camp's water after seeing the women succeed despite the men's sabotage. At the Reward Challenge, a clear divide is seen between the three men and the all-female alliance, but Julia decides to join the men's team, and the foursome eventually pulled out a victory. Julia contemplates flipping to the men's side, and intends to take them as goats to the Final Tribal Council for an easier victory.
===The Women Debate===
Interpreting Julia's joining of the men's team as a sign of mutiny, Aubry debates with the women as to whether they should consider blindsiding her at the next vote to keep her from working with the men. Debbie defends Julia's decision, stating that it was little more than a human desire for the reward. Aubry is concerned by Debbie's naivete, and when Julia wins immunity, considers blindsiding her.
===Stick with the Plan!===
Aubry grumbles that her sole plan, to blindside Julia, had "gone out the window". Fearing that Julia might act as a spy for the men and be delivering sensitive information, she discusses with Cydney the prospect of reducing the alliance from five members to four with Debbie's blindside. Aubry believes that she has Joe under her thumb, and Cydney is confident that she has a tight relationship with Michele. However, Joe rejects the plan to eliminate Debbie, and Aubry, Cydney, and Michele are forced to work with the enemy. Julia is pulled aside for the idea, which she considers.
At Tribal Council, the threat of an idol play lurks when Jason and Tai Trang reveal their individual possession of an Hidden Immunity Idol a la the Three Amigos. The women's alliance is thrown for a loop and seemingly decides to go with the "original plan" to vote Scot out. Whispers abound at an intense Tribal Council. After the votes were cast, Jason passes his idol to Tai in the event that a super idol had to be played. The super idol did not come into effect, however, as Debbie was blindsided by her own allies.
===Tai's Decision===
The three men celebrate the women's cannibalization of Debbie, as they confidently rejoice in their newly obtained power position. Tai returns his idol to Jason, and the women and Joe scramble to ensure that the alliance was still alive. Even though the men's target, Cydney, is still in the game, they remain cocky and believe that she will be taken out at the next Tribal Council. Scot approaches Aubry with a proposal for peace - if she flips to the men to eliminate Cydney, then the men will stop their war path. Aubry refuses the proposal, but she does not express this to the men.
The next day, the castaways compete for a reward. Tai ends up winning an advantage with its power unknown to the rest of the tribe. This gives the women an extra incentive to draw Tai into the bloc. Aubry decides to empathize with Tai's situation, and states that she finds both their games similar in that they were in a subordinate position to the more controlling personalities. Tai felt that Aubry had a good heart, but was conflicted between sticking with the men for an easier route to the victory, or flipping to the women to stay true to his morals.
At the Immunity Challenge, Aubry and Cydney put up a display of endurance when they compete against Jason. However, Jason wins out and apparently secures his alliance another cycle in the game. The three men plot against the women, but decide to switch their target to Aubry, who was more of a strategic mastermind than Cydney was. Tai is aggravated that he does not have a say in who stays and who goes, and this becomes an even greater factor in his flip. Meanwhile, Julia plots with the men and states that she will get the women to vote against Tai to execute Aubry's blindside. Aubry approaches Tai once again with the proposal, and urges him to vote against Scot. She then informs her alliance to vote against Scot, with Michele keeping the alliance's options open with a Tai vote, and Julia being kept out of the loop.
===Withdraw Troops===
The tribe enters Tribal Council with the results up in the air, and with Tai in the swing position. Unbeknownst to the women, Jason had passed his idol to Scot before the proceedings and the men count on Tai to create a super idol to advance the men forward. The women split their votes between Scot and Tai, and Scot and Jason vote against Aubry as part of their plan. Tai flips, however, by voting against Scot. He seals the latter's fate and officially joins the women's alliance when he withdraws the idol from him. Scot is blindsided with Jason's idol in his hand. The tribe heads back to camp with Julia and Jason on the outs.
===A Woman Scorned===
Michele is disappointed to have been left out of the loop, and believes that she has fallen to the bottom of the totem pole. In order to keep her options open, she decides to discuss plans with Jason and Julia, who eventually plan to recruit Cydney over to their group. The pair decides that they would prefer to see Tai go, due to his recent betrayal and for his likability which made him a jury threat.
Meanwhile, Aubry, Cydney, and Michele enjoy a feast at a nearby island, and the triad mend the fence. Michele feels validated when Aubry and Cydney reaffirm her position in the alliance. The threesome also decide that Tai would only be used as a pawn to take out Jason, and that he had to be taken out so that he does not make the Final Tribal Council, where they believe he will garner the most jury votes. When the three women return to camp, Jason and Julia pull Cydney and Michele aside to give them their plan to blindside Tai to flush the idol and the advantage.
===Tough Decisions===
The Immunity Challenge culminates with Michele winning, and Julia losing a crucial challenge. The alliance congregates, and decides to switch the vote from Jason to Julia in order to take out a major threat who would look good in front of a jury because of her neutrality, in addition to her wide range of skills in challenges. Michele is upset by the decision, as it meant taking out her closest friend and ally in the game. To keep Jason and Julia from scrambling, Cydney and Michele convince their alliance that they will put up the facade of agreeing with their plan to vote against Tai. Tai is visibly unhappy with his name being thrown up in the air, but he keeps silent. Jason and Julia approach Cydney and Michele one last time, and the two girls find themselves to be the swing votes. They have a one-on-one discussion on what would be the best move for their game, and consider the moral implications of betraying either group.
At Tribal Council, Tai considers playing his idol in order to protect himself, but Aubry convinces him to keep it, and it turns out to be the correct move. Michele makes the difficult play and joins her alliance in voting Julia off to prove her allegiance. Jason is left as the man on the very bottom of the tribe.
===Last Enemy Remaining===
With Julia gone, Jason was now all alone against the powerful alliance of five. After returning to camp, Jason talked to Cydney about targeting Aubry and Tai, as he believed they were huge threats. Meanwhile, Tai realized that Michele was a looming threat to win because of the fact that she had no enemies on the jury, thus causing him to target her. He immediately told Aubry of the realization and discussed blindsiding Michele. She initially agreed to the revelation, though later thought it over. At the Reward Challenge, Jason, Michele, and Tai won the challenge. On the trip, Jason's positive attitude strengthened Tai's resolve to eliminate Michele. At the Immunity Challenge it came down to Cydney and Jason but ultimately Cydney emerged victorious. Back at camp, Tai talked to his allies in the water about voting out Michele. Cydney was skeptical of the plan and right after told Michele of her being targeted. Aubry pondered over voting out the easy vote in Jason or agreeing to Tai's plan of voting out Michele. Before Tribal Council, Tai told Jason to vote for Michele. At Tribal Council, Tai used his advantage to vote against Michele twice, but the rest of his alliance abandoned his plan and sent Jason to the jury in a 4-2-1 vote.
===The Final Five===
After Tribal Council, the final five comprised entirely of members from the alliance. Tai felt betrayed by Aubry, who he thought was the only person he could trust in the game, resulting in him wasting his Extra Vote and gaining an enemy in Michele. Dara erupts into a war of words as Tai attempts to speak his way out of trouble, but with Michele shutting him down, he has been put on the bottom of the totem pole.
The next day, the final five competed in the Reward Challenge, 5x5, for a trip to a Survivor spa. After Joe emerges victorious, he picks Aubry to join him on reward. He then allows Aubry to choose another castaway to join the pair on his behalf; she picks Cydney. Michele is alarmed by this, and sees this as a sign that her safety in the alliance may be fleeting. Thus, while Aubry, Cydney, and Joe were out on a reward, Michele took the time to reconcile her broken relationship with Tai. The two discuss their differences and eventually find themselves tighter than they were before. They agree to work together to take each other to the end. Tai believes that Aubry should go next.
After Aubry returns, she heads off with Tai to carry out damage control. Tai feels that she has done her part in mending their relationship, and Aubry takes the chance to throw Cydney - a threat in her eyes - under the bus. Cydney notices Aubry and Tai returning from the jungle, and notices something amiss. She is concerned that Aubry may be plotting against her. Michele and Cydney work out a deal, leaving Tai as the swing between them, and Aubry and Joe.
===Monkey Wrench===
Later in the day, Joe expresses concern with his personal health. He had been feeling constipated ever since the spa reward, and felt that he was retaining urine. Dr. Joe Rowles was called down, and he administered drugs to help Joe cope with the pain. Initially this worked, but Joe suffered a relapse and the pain was greater than before. The tightly knit alliance laments the possibility of a third evacuation, and prepares for the worst. The five commiserate in front of a gorgeous sunset. 
On Night 34, Dr. Joe was called down to assess Joe's condition, with Jeff Probst by his side in the event that a medical evacuation was imminent. Dr Joe decided that there was too much risk involved with keeping Joe in the game, and did not want him to suffer kidney damage as a result of a burst bladder. Jeff officiates the evacuation, and the alliance emotionally bids their most loyal member farewell.
With effect of Joe's evacuation, two factions had been created in the final four, with Michele and Cydney on one side, and Tai and Aubry on the other.
===The Final Four===
Aubry wins the next Reward Challenge and opts to bring Cydney for the feast she had won. While they enjoy their meal, Michele and Tai decide to commit to their pact to vote together at the next Tribal Council.
After the meal, Aubry and Cydney decide to reel Tai's vote in. Tai agrees, but the threesome's plan to vote Michele off is thwarted when she wins the Final Immunity Challenge in a come from behind. 
Consequently, Aubry and Cydney consider flipping from Tai to join forces with Michele to bring the three girls to the finals. However, Aubry has second thoughts and scrambles for a deal with Tai. He accepts the offer, while Cydney and Michele stay tight. At the Day 37 Tribal Council, Cydney and Michele cast their votes for Aubry, and Aubry and Tai vote against Cydney. Jeff offers a revote, but Michele and Tai choose not to budge, forcing a fire-making tiebreaker between the two women. Aubry wins out, thus emotionally eliminating Cydney.
===No More Alliances===
On Day 38, a grim atmosphere set over the final three. Tai feared that the season would end with a Final Two, and that there was another Immunity Challenge to be fought. Michele reads Tree Mail, and Tai's fears are confirmed: there was another challenge. However, Jeff revealed that it was a Reward Challenge for the right to remove a juror, and not an Immunity Challenge. The Final Three are ecstatic to have made it to the end. Michele wins the challenge.
Aubry pleads to Michele in the hopes that she would keep her closest allies Neal and Joe on the jury. She throws Scot under the bus, believing that the victim of Tai's biggest move would vote for him to win. Tai retaliates when the Final Three congratulate at the shelter by throwing Neal under the bus for his silver tongue. Ultimately, Michele decides to vote Neal out of the jury.
On Day 39, the Final Three enjoy the ceremonial breakfast and gasp when they see their emaciated bodies. Aubry, Michele, and Tai then head to Final Tribal Council.
===And the Winner Is...===
At Final Tribal Council, the jurors praised Michele's social game while chastizing Tai for his fickle gameplay. They also credited Aubry for her skill to pioneer the game-changing alliance, but ultimately awarded the title of Sole Survivor to Michele due to her sociable nature.
==Gallery==
Vo debbie kr.jpg|Debbie blindsided.
Vo_julia_kr.jpg|Julia voted out.
JoeMedEvac.jpg|Joe evacuated.
Vo_cydney.jpg|Cydney voted out.
SurvivorKaohRongFinalTribalCouncil.jpg|Aubry and Michele at the Final Tribal Council with Tai.
Michelewins.jpg|Michele is the Sole Survivor of .
==Trivia==
* Neal Gottlieb is the only member of the Chan Loh tribe to make the merge but not join the alliance, as he was evacuated before its formation.
* Stephen Fishbach gave the nickname "Cochran's Dream Girls" to the alliance in the Survivor Know-It-All's podcast on Rob Has a Podcast, based on one of quotes of Aubry Bracco referring to herself as one.
==References==
Category:Alliances
Category:Survivor: Kaôh Rōng
Category:Kaôh Rōng Alliances
Category:Survivor (U.S.)
Category:Dara Tribe