Core Four

**Highest Placing Member**: Jon (Winner/19)

The Core Four (sometimes referred to as the 'Ulong Alliance') was an alliance from Survivor: Palau.

After targeting the alpha male duo on their tribe, the Core Four completely dominated a physically weak tribe. However, hidden agendas within the four created mistrust going into the merge where betrayal continued as the tribe dwindled.

## History

### Origins

After noticing that Marco and Ricardo formed a tight partnership, an alliance of four containing Jaclyn, Jon, Wyatt and Xenia was formed. At Ulong's first tribal council on Day 3, this group had the majority and they voted together to send Ricardo home. Jon and Jaclyn during this time began to flirt and solidified their own Final Two deal within the Core Four. At the following reward challenge, the two tribes competed to win Sienta who was not selected by either Gabriel or Natalie as the leaders of Koror and Ulong respectively. Again on a tribe of nine, the alliance of four agreed to bring Sienta with them in order to have a solid majority. When Ulong lost for the second time, this majority alliance voted out Marco in order to completely decimate the alpha male duo.

### The Core Four

With their biggest targets now out of the game, the Ulong Alliance now had their sights set on the trio of girls. Sienta, in an attempt to demonstrate her value within the group, suggested the group vote for Amalia. The original alliance of four however were more concerned with Helen because she was the more outspoken of the three girls. When Ulong lost for the third time in a row, the alliance appeased Sienta by telling her they were voting for Amalia when in fact they voted out Helen. The Core Four could sense Sienta disassociating from their alliance, but they didn't care because they still had the numbers on this tribe of seven. A Double Tribal Council occurred on Day 10, where the Core Four had the numbers and got rid of Natalie.

After never straying from her alliance for the first ten days, Xenia wanted to make a big move and ensure she was in a leadership position within her alliance. Xenia agreed to work with the outsiders to eliminate Wyatt. This was unbeknownst to the rest of the Core Four, who voted for Sienta at the next tribal council and when Sienta failed to follow Xenia's plan, she was voted out. This failed move exposed Xenia within the Core Four and she was forced to do some damage control. Whilst the tribe won the following two immunity challenges, Xenia told Jon and Jaclyn that Amalia was the mastermind of the failed plan and she was only following what she thought was the numbers. Wyatt was suspicious and refused to trust Xenia. When Ulong lost again on Day 19, Xenia voted with Jon and Jaclyn to eliminate alleged mastermind Amalia.

### New Tribe, New Allies

When the tribes merged on Day 20, it appeared that the Core Four were in the minority compared to the six members of the original Koror tribe. However, Katie was unhappy with her standings on Koror and agreed to work with the Core Four. Katie worked with them at the first merged tribal council and Koror member Zach was made the first member of the jury, followed by Lora on Day 24. Up until this point in the game, a Hidden Immunity Idol had not been considered within the votes. However, the Core Four were concerned that someone on Koror was in possession of one and decided to split the votes. With Dalton flipping, the larger alliance on the surface agreed to vote for Gabriel. However, Jon, Jaclyn, Heron and Xenia used the numbers in their favour and Dalton was instead eliminated.

With only seven castaways left in the game, the Core Four were in the majority. As the only other Koror member they weren't working with, they voted out Gabriel at the following tribal council. Jon and Jaclyn, after denying they were a power couple to Koror, decided that now was the time for them to prove they were one. They decided to work with Heron and Katie at the next vote rather than Xenia and Wyatt. At tribal council, the Core Four agreed to vote for Heron. However, Jon and Jaclyn with the help of Katie and Heron blindsided Wyatt. Xenia felt betrayed by this move after she was previously berated for considering flipping on the Core Four and refused to speak to either Jon or Jaclyn.

### The Endgame

With their plan now executed, Jon and Jaclyn were wary of the relationship between Katie and Heron because a tie would occur if they brought the pair to the Final Four. Katie assured the pair she wasn't inseparable to Heron and voted with Jon and Jaclyn to eliminate her at their next tribal council. As a united group of three, Jon, Jaclyn and Katie then voted out Xenia at the Final Four. When Jaclyn won the final individual immunity challenge, she decided to eliminate Katie because she promised to take Jon to the end.

At the Final Tribal Council, Jon and Jaclyn were praised for making it to the end together despite being viewed as a power couple by Koror from the merge. Some of the jury appreciated that Jaclyn protected herself by winning three individual immunity challenges, but Jon was viewed as the bigger strategist between the two. In the end, Jaclyn received three votes from Zach, Lora and Heron and became Runner-Up but Jon received five jury votes from Dalton, Gabriel, Katie, Wyatt and Xenia and was awarded the title of Sole Survivor.

## Trivia

* Jon was the only member of the Core Four to not return for *Micronesia* and be apart of the Palau Alliance.