Tye

**Tye** (tyel3018#5988) placed 8th in Season 9.

Beginning the game well positioned on the Tovui Tribe, Tye would feel set up for success after confiding to production very often that he had pre-existing relationships in the game with Skylar and Ripple. This coupled with Tye often having a frequent negative attitude in confessionals earned him the ire of the viewers. Fortunately, Tye would see a positive trajectory in perception as she navigated the game, going from someone fans may have wanted out to an underdog, especially when said relationships respectably did not end up impacting much of the season. On the Tovui Tribe, Tye was able to secure an Extra Vote and be the singular player from this tribe not truly cursed. However, they would unfortunately wind up on Nu Tovui after the swap and be on the “flop tribe” yet again, but was once again able to establish strong enough social bonds to feel like the sole member that was not in danger of going home. After going to every Tribal Council but one pre-merge and surviving flips, quits, and idols, Tye would manage to claw his way to the merge optimistic about playing with Ripple. Unfortunately for Tye, it became quickly apparent that Ripple was the social queen bee of the season, leading them to vow to get her out before it's too late, respectably playing the game for themself. Also a hindrance to her game was the fact that being on the losing tribe so often pre-merge had left her with the least allies at the merge, as she met the least amount of people. This would immediately throw her vaguely to the bottom of the Saqa Tribe, with her position getting arguably worse when rumors of her having the Tovui Idol began to circulate. Being game savvy, Tye and Kyle were able to leverage this info as a tactic to scare the majority into splitting votes or avoiding targeting them easily. The duo was able to successfully pull off a show stopping blindside of Paris due to this (and largely thanks to James) when their Nu Tovui alliance with Dar pulled through. Feeling initially on the top and planning to use his Extra Vote with this voting bloc the following round, James would proceed to Safety Without Power following Kyle winning a clutch immunity that threw the entire round into disaster. Now lacking the numbers, Tye and Kyle would be forced to scramble, attempting to flip Denim onto their side unsuccessfully. Tye would proceed to give his Extra Vote to Kyle at this point, anticipating their only move may be to force a tie so that Kyle could cast two votes again in said tie. Miraculously for the duo, Ripple would be feeling paranoid and tired of trying to put her game into a shifty alliance’s hands and attempt to make her own move by allying with the duo. Believing Zheema to also be on their side, a new alliance was formed (also assuming Dar was still with them) to eliminate Robert due to being a goat and unwilling to work with them, freeing up a strategic spot with other players. Unbeknownst to Tye, Dar, Denim, and Zheema had formed a Final 3 alliance shortly after the immunity challenge due to seeing themselves as the goats, thinking that they needed everyone else out to stand a shot against each other. As such, Zheema and Dar were not ever intending to stick with this plan, dooming them despite Zheema’s usual flip flopping for much of the round. Their last hope was unknowingly Denim, who felt his name was out there and was completely cracked this round, but given that he’d already had some trust burnt with particularly Kyle, they had given up enticing him to flip at all. As such, Tye would be blindsided in a 4-3 vote when the other side stopped fearing he would play an idol largely in part due to Zheema’s two-timing. Tye would be remembered for her parting words upon being voted out, calling out the players that were perceived as goats to her and especially going in on Zheema for “wanting to be a sheep.”