The Popular's

**Highest Ranking Member**:Blake (Runner-Up/18)

The Popular's was an alliance from Survivor: Vanuatu.

The lack of starting tribes for the first four days of this game meant that a large alliance of young, athletic players was formed in order to gain control of the game. This group lost their allies through the formation of starting tribes, and continued in a downward spiral entering the merge.

## History

### Origins

The eighteen castaways on Day 1 of *Survivor: Vanuatu* were not divided into starting tribes. Instead, everyone competed in an individual immunity challenge where a male and female castaway would be immune at tribal council. A large alliance of younger players was formed, who called themselves The Popular's. This popular alliance included Ashley, Blake, Brittany, Dolly, Kieron, Lacey and Louise, where they became the majority that eliminated Clarence at the first tribal council. The Popular's sensed that two tribes would soon form, and decided to bring in reinforcements so they would remain in the majority regardless of their tribe affiliation. At the second tribal council, the Popular's brought in Jenny and Jeremy from The Quiet Achievers as well as Angus, Frankie, Jorge in order to eliminate Keisha.

### Tribal Phase

The tribes were finally established on Day 4, where Angus, Ashley, Blake, Brittany and Louise from the Popular's were placed on the yellow Yasur tribe along with Frankie, Lacey and Maxwell. Louise felt like she was in a powerful position, which was further supported by her finding a Hidden Immunity Idol. At the tribes first loss on Day 7, the Popular's had the numbers and they eliminated their affiliate Frankie. The plan at their second consecutive loss was to blindside Louise because they felt like she was a heavy strategist. Lacey, who was currently in the minority, caught wind of this plan and told Louise that they should make a move, to which Louise revealed her idol to Lacey. At tribal council, the Popular's voted for Louise but she played her idol. With the only two votes that counted from the pair, Brittany was blindsided.

### The Merge

After winning the following three immunity challenges, Lopevi and Yasur merged into the orange Alinta tribe. Lacey convinced Angus, Ashley and Blake that they could not trust Louise because of her idol play, so this group of Popular's joined forces with Jenny and Jeremy in order to trim the fat off their alliance and the tribe. At the first merged tribal council, this group of six had the numbers and they eliminated Yasur outsider Maxwell. The Popular's agreed to go after Louise at the following vote, but Ashley flipped to work with Louise and the Quiet Achievers in order to blindside Angus because of his status as a physical threat.

Louise remained a huge threat in the game, but thankfully found the merged idol so she could make some more damage. The Popular's once again wanted to get rid of Louise, and Lacey then shared this information with her. However, Lacey didn't know that Louise had made amends with the Popular's and they voted together in order to blindside Lacey. The Popular's numbered continued to dwindle, but Ashley and Blake in particular had a strong relationship with the Quiet Achievers. In order to protect their relationship and break the pairing of Dolly and Louise, Ashley and Blake worked with the rival alliance to blindside Dolly.

### The Endgame

With six castaways left in the game, Ashley and Blake were the only remaining players who were apart of The Popular's. This was also in conjunction with Louise, who was affiliated with the alliance but felt like she couldn't fully trust them. Despite this, the trio convinced Patricia to work with them in order to split the relationship between Jenny and Jeremy. With the power on their side, the Popular's continued their majority to eliminate Patricia before Ashley and Blake turned on Louise at the Final Four.

After winning the final individual immunity challenge, Blake was torn whether to remain loyal to his closest ally Ashley and potentially lose the jury vote or not. Blake ultimately thought that the jury would think he and Ashley played too similar games, and voted her out in order to win against Jenny whom he perceived as physically and strategically weaker. This move proved to be his downfall however, because the jury considered Jenny the better strategic player and physical threat despite her age. Blake, as a member of The Popular's, lost the Final Tribal Council against Jenny from The Quiet Achievers.