The Core Four

**Highest Ranked**: Sam (Winner)

The Core Four (also known as the 'Saanapu Four' or the 'Saanapu Alliance') was an alliance from Survivor: Australia.

A large majority alliance was initially established on the original Saanapu tribe. However, the real alliance was between four castaways who found themselves in the minority when the tribes merged. They eventually exploited the bonds with their rivals before turning on each other.

## History

### The Original Six

The blue Saanapu tribe was formed on Day 1 of *Survivor: Australia* where the younger, more athletic and more social players quickly formed a tight group of six. Though Kristie and Lee from within this group formed a Final Two deal, the other four players considered themselves The Core Four of the alliance and the tribe itself. The Core Four included Brooke, Flick, Matt and Sam, which only grew in power when Brooke and Flick secretly found the tribes Hidden Immunity Idol together. When Saanapu lost the first immunity challenge on Day 3, the alliance of six had the majority to eliminate James as the oldest member of the tribe and the biggest challenge liability.

### The Core Four

Following James' elimination, Coleen and Nicola threw their only other ally Jamie under the bus to the Saanapu Alliance. This annoyed Kristie and Lee because it appeared that they were being replaced by Coleen and Nicola. When Sanaapu lost the second immunity challenge, the alliance agreed to unanimously eliminate Jamie. However, Kristie and Lee voted for Nicola as part of a split vote plan in the event that Jamie had an idol. At tribal council, no idol was played and Jamie was still voted out. Saanapu was now only comprised of the larger Saanapu Alliance, which meant that smaller alliances now became more important. Though Kristie and Lee managed to connect with Coleen and Nicola, Lee wanted to still work with the Core Four and threw Kristie under the bus. After losing the third immunity challenge in a row, the Core Four told Lee they would be voting for Kristie. This rogue vote gave the Core Four the majority and they blindsided Lee.

The Core Four decided to continue building their relationship with Kristie after Lee's elimination because they needed the numbers and felt she was less powerful alone. After an immunity challenge win, both tribes were told on Day 12 they would be voting someone out as part of a Double Tribal Council twist. The Core Four and Kristie targeted Nicola because she was stronger and more social than Coleen, which led to her unanimous elimination. In a shocking twist however, Nicola would be switched to the rival Vavau tribe and could bring a Saanapu castaway with her. She chose Kristie, which the Core Four appreciated because it meant they were not separated. Saanapu was joined by Calum, who was voted out by Vavau as well as his picks, Jennah-Louise (who often went by JL) and Jessica. At Saanapu's only loss as a new tribe on Day 19, the original five Saanapu castaways worked together in order to eliminate Jessica.

### The Merge

When the Final Twelve merged into one tribe on Day 22, the Core Four thought they had the majority with Coleeen, Kristie and Nicola. However, Kristie and Nicola developed new relationships with the Vavau Alliance during the tribe switch and were no longer interested in working with their original Saanapu allies. At the first merged tribal council, the alliance targeted Rohan but the Vavau Alliance found themselves in the majority and eliminated Coleen. The Core Four still set their sights on Rohan because he was athletic and appeared to have a tight partnership with Phoebe, who they learned had play two idols during the pre-merge. Though they voted for Rohan again on Day 25, the Vavau Alliance still had the numbers and luckily decided to blindside their own ally Calum.

The Core Four were relentless in their pursuit against Rohan, but felt defeated because they were in the minority. Members of the Vavau Alliance shared personal bonds with Brooke, who was considered the most social member of her core alliance. This allowed Brooke to keep a close relationship with Kristie and Nicola from the original Saanapu tribe, as well as JL whom she had met during the tribe switch. These three girls started speaking to Brooke about future plans, which all required the Vavau Alliance to lose its strength in numbers. Brooke managed to use these relationships to bring the girls to the Core Four alliance, where Rohan was finally voted out. This move left Nick and Phoebe out of the loop amongst the rest of the tribe. The Core Four wanted to vote for Phoebe because of her close connection to Rohan, but the Vavau girls were only willing to sacrifice Nick. The alliance agreed it was in their best interest to appease the girls for the time being and Nick was unanimously voted out.

By the Final Eight, the Vavau Alliance realised that their willingness to turn on their own allies had given the Core Four a numbers advantage. With the tribe split right down the middle, Brooke used her relationship with Kristie to find out that their rivals were going to vote for Flick at tribal council. Brooke relayed this information to her closest ally and the pair agreed to use the idol they found together earlier in the game. Flick played her idol to give the Core Four the majority and Phoebe was voted out with the only votes that counted. On a tribe of seven now, the Core Four could dictate which Vavau member they wanted gone. They ultimately decided that Nicola was least useful and most against them, which led to her elimination.

### Blindsides

With only JL and Kristie left, the Core Four thought they had an easy path to the end and would be guaranteed to get to the Final Four. However, Matt felt insecure with his position in the alliance. He noticed that Brooke and Flick were the unofficial leaders of their alliance, and they were closely attached to Sam for being more athletic and charismatic. On Day 35, the Core Four agreed they would be targeting JL. At tribal council, the votes ended up tying between JL and Flick when Matt flipped. When no one switched their vote at the revote, JL and Flick became immune with Kristie, who won individual immunity and the remaining castaways were forced to draw rocks. To the joy of the Core Four, Matt drew on the odd rock and was eliminated from the game.

Though Matt had detracted from the alliance, the Core Four (now a Core Three) solidified their relationship by creating a Final Three pact to the end. The plan was for the alliance to vote for JL next because they were more threatened by her than Kristie in front of the jury. However, Flick won individual immunity and wanted to strike against her closest ally Brooke in order to build her resume. Though Brooke and Sam voted for JL, Flick brought in JL and Kristie to blindside Brooke. Despite this, Flick continued her friendship with Sam because she thought she could easily beat him in the end. After win the final individual immunity challenge, Flick encouraged Kristie and Sam to vote out JL and she was made the final member of the jury.

In the end, Flick explained that her plan was to control the game with her closest ally Brooke but cut her at the end to ensure she would be victorious. However, the jury didn't respect her villainous betrayals and she received zero votes to win. The jury considered Sam an extremely charismatic player who used his social game to ensure he was never the target despite being a physical threat. He was also given credit for staying loyal to the Core Four and was given the title of Sole Survivor in a 6-3-0 vote.