Flower

**Flower** was a contestant of SurviVARs: Wildemount and SurviVARs: Four Nations.

## **Profile**

**Discord:** flower

**Gender:** he/him

**Timezone:** EST

## **Survivor**

* S7 - Wildemount
* S8 - Four Nations

**Player Ranking (3rd)**

The legend himself! Flower was a great player from start to finish (with maybe a slight stumble from power in the early merge) and wound up being this season’s final boss. He very nearly won it all, and did so while being wildly entertaining to watch. He and Orange were on top of the Clay Tribe from day dot, and immediately showed his social prowess. Sparky shared the idol clue with him, even though Flower fumbled the hunt and didn’t find it. Not that he needed it, though, because when Clay lost the first immunity challenge, Flower was in a seat of power and Akicita was sent home as a unanimous vote thanks to her inactivity. Clay won the next immunity challenge (despite Flower being decimated by Shaun in Survivor trivia) and handed Sparky a card from the Deck of Many Things.

When they swapped, Flower ended up in a great spot. He ended up with Riley and Orange, and had decent relationships with both. Flower was starting to grow frustrated with Lavinia and Sindira for being inactive, so when the tribes started trying to pair up he was predisposed to work with OG Brenatto over Lionette, despite Brenatto having a pretty big numbers advantage (which got even bigger after Deadpool was sent home at the Thanos tribal). After losing the next challenge, OG Clay wound up as the swing votes between Brenatto and Lionette, and ultimately decided to side with Brenatto to blindside Danger. Flower had two easy targets left in Sindira and Lavinia, so his game was on cruise control.

When the second swap saw Orange and Jake swapped with Lars and Shaun, Flower was only slightly worse off (since he was pretty close with Orange). He remained in the social center of the tribe alongside Riley and Dongoosh, and Shaun and Lars were desperate for safety so they were easy numbers to scoop up against Sindira and Lavinia. When they lost the next challenge, Lavinia was sent home pretty easily. The double tribal wasn’t quite so easy, because Sindira walked away with Individual Immunity and Flower lost his primary target. Riley tried talking to Flower about a Dongoosh blindside, and while both parties seemed willing, neither fully trusted the other enough to commit to the plan. They both settled on the consensus boot in Lars instead.

Flower was in an excellent spot going into the merge. He was in alliances left and right, was constantly being fed information from all sides, and seemed to have his hands in every plan. Flower was finally able to send Sindira home as the merge boot, and his social game was unparalleled. When one of his closest allies, Orange, drew the Knight card at the auction, he was pretty much handed the clues to a cursed hidden immunity idol that had full power but cost him his vote. It took a while to activate, but he didn’t need it at the Shaun boot as he was safe as could be.

Then, out of nowhere (and for reasons I don’t quite get) Flower’s social standing plummeted during the chaotic Orange boot. He fell towards the bottom of trust rankings, and when shit hit the fan his name was one of the ones thrown out. He personally wanted to target Jake while forcing Sparky to flush his public idol (while Jake was gunning for Flower) but couldn’t get any traction on this. The newly formed alliance of Roman, Ano, Sparky, and Aowyn planned on piling votes onto Flower with Jake’s help, but this plan changed in an instant too. For a moment there was a fake split vote between Flower and Sparky (so that this new quartet could come out on top of a plurality vote) but then Orange began to push Roman a bit too aggressively and he became the new target. Flower, Jake, Orange, and Riley all worked together to try to blindside Roman, and Riley even used her extra vote. Roman had a secret idol, however, so Flower lost a close ally in Orange while receiving a sole vote from Dongoosh, who still thought the fake split vote was happening.

Orange was sent home, but not before he was able to give Flower the clues to his planted Mimic Idol. He had barely escaped the vote (since Roman’s target was on him until 20 minutes before Tribal), but now he had a chance to recover. He shared his new idol with Riley, and the two began to strategize a way to use it against the new power duo of Roman and Sparky. Roman had told Flower about her Throne card (allowing to see two votes when cast) which meant they needed to be careful. When Sparky pushed a Dongoosh vote, they agreed to go along with it, roping in Aowyn to cast two votes against Dongoosh (since Flower lost his vote to the Mimic Idol). Then at the last minute they switched to Roman, not knowing that her card let her know if the votes changed, which clued her into their treachery and allowed Sparky to play his idol on her. In response, Flower played his Mimic Idol on Riley, earning him his vote back. Since Jake and Ano were crabbing it up, and Flower didn’t have his vote, the only votes eligible (since Riley and Roman both idoled) were a single vote for Dongoosh and then Sparky. Aowyn was the swing vote on the revote, and used her power to send Dongoosh home.

Flower had his vote back, and Riley still had an idol that she could use to protect him (which only Flower knew about). Roman and Sparky were gunning for him, but they no longer had any advantages to save themselves. When Sparky won immunity, it seemed like Roman’s fate was sealed. Flower wound up catching one vote from Sparky, and Jake got a rogue vote from Roman, but all of the others piled onto Roman to eliminate a massive threat. Now, though, Sparky and Flower were seen as the two biggest threats remaining.

The final six round was arguably the most important of the season, and every player was looking for their optimal move. For Flower, this meant eliminating Jake while keeping Sparky alive as a shield. Riley was looking at Aowyn, and came to Flower with a plan to give him her idol so that he could idol himself and they could send Aowyn packing with Sparky’s help. This was exactly the opening that Flower needed, so the moment he got her idol he ran to Sparky and the two conspired to vote out Jake. They thought that all four votes would be on Flower, but they were surprised to see Jake and Ano cast their votes against Sparky as a split in case of shenanigans. Flower used Riley’s idol to save himself, but now he was fully exposed. Aowyn flipped on the revote, sending Sparky home, but not before Flower and Riley destroyed each other in the Tribal Council chat and aired each other’s dirty laundry for all to see. Even though Flower was honest about Riley’s advantages here, a lot of people believed her fake testimony over his, and Flower was in a tough spot again.

At the final five, Flower was easily the biggest threat remaining in the game, and continued his challenge flop era with the Ability Score Gauntlet. Flower wasn’t going to go down easy, so he made the only pitch that he could. He told Ano and Riley that Jake and Aowyn were inseparable (a true fact) and that they would be an insurmountable obstacle if they both made it to the final four. Ano flipped onto Jake pretty easily, and Riley wound up flipping as well in spite of all the bad blood that had bubbled up between her and Flower. Jake was sent home, and Flower was only one challenge away from winning the whole game.

Flower’s game had been squeaky clean with only a few minor blunders, and almost everyone on the jury had him on the top of their winner rankings. He had a final three deal with Ano and Aowyn, meaning that all he needed in order to win the game was for Riley to lose individual immunity. Unfortunately for him, she didn’t. With Riley immune, Flower knew there was nothing he could do. Ano and Aowyn would never flip on each other in a million years. Riley could’ve sent Flower to firemaking, but instead she did what was best for her game and sent him to the jury as this season’s fallen angel. Before he left, he gave Riley all the advice she needed in order to clutch the FTC, and this allowed her to give a damn good speech and sweep the jury 6-2-0.

Flower was a champion of the season, and walked away with the well-deserved POTG award. He was socially and strategically dominant, even though he was often laughably bad at challenges, and straight up DNF’ed more than any other alumni I can recall. That was part of his charm, though. Flower didn’t take anybody’s shit, and had a winning personality that makes it easy to see why he was so socially solid. He was one of the best strategists in a season full of them, and always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else. He came this close to winning the whole game, and for this he deserves mad props. At the reunion, he earned nominations for Villain of the season and Best Duo (alongside his home girl Riley), and his flip against Jake was rewarded with a nomination for Best Move. Flower was at the center of this season’s gameplay, and survived a wild merge game despite being consistently on the chopping block and having a few VERY close calls. This season wouldn’t have been the same without Flower, and he should be so incredibly proud of how much he accomplished.

### **Nominations**

**Villain**

Flower was not a mean player, but they definitely fit the role of a villain. It was hilarious reading his savage confessional takes, and he was always willing to speak his mind and rip into the people he was working around. For most of the game he was a loyal ally and a huge social presence, but towards the end he started really playing to win. It may not have been the right choice, but you can’t deny that his decision to use Riley’s idol for evil and then flip the vote onto Jake was as cutthroat as they come. Had it worked, it would’ve gone down as one of the biggest betrayals in SurviVARS. Hell, even though it didn’t work, it’s probably still one of the biggest betrayals. This choice almost entirely destroyed his relationship with his #1, Riley, which shows just how dastardly it was. Between Flower’s willingness to make brutal moves and his lovably mean confessionals, Flower is definitely up there as one of the more villainous characters of the season.

**Best Duo (With Riley)**

This duo certainly had its ups and downs. They started on OG tribes together, and quickly hit off. They swapped together every time, meaning they never spent a day apart in this game. In the merge, they voted together at every tribal council, except for when Flower lost his vote and forced him to play his idol (which he played on Riley) in order to get it back. Riley then returned the favor by transferring her own idol over to him, which led to the biggest bump in their journey as Flower tried to flip on Riley and eliminate Jake. That round went poorly for both of them, and for a second it looked like their relationship might not recover. Then, they got back together at F5, before Riley was forced to vote Flower out at F4 if she wanted any shot at winning the game. Flower proved how much he cared for Riley by giving her all the FTC advice he could on his way out, helping her to prepare her stunning FTC speech that ultimately won her the game. These two played by each other, for each other, and occasionally against each other, and their journey was one that really defined the season.

**Best Move (The Jake Betrayal)**

This is a classic Survivor moment, and despite its simplicity it really stood out as a defining moment of the season. Ano and Riley had both been loyal to Jake for pretty much the entire game, and Jake was a beloved player who seemed poised to make it to the end and very possibly win it all. When people finally recognized this, it left Aowyn, Ano, and Riley with a heartbreaking choice. They could either keep Jake (who they all loved) but essentially hand him the win, or cut the biggest threat and sever that relationship in order to give themselves a better shot at the end. Aowyn made her choice to stand by Jake, while Ano decided to vote against him. Riley’s choice was the hardest of all, though. When she voted out Jake, she voted out her best friend in the game. This hurt her almost as much as it hurt him. For days, she wondered whether this was the right move, but I think we can definitively say that it was based on how the season ended. Jake’s sacrifice was the move that allowed Riley to win it all, and it proved how badly she wanted to go all the way. It was a hard move, but it was the right one.

### **Awarded**

**Best Move (The Dongoosh Clusterfuck)**

This move was chaos incarnate, and there was certainly a lot of BS involved here. Yet, looking at it closely, a lot of people played this round really well. Jake played his advantage at the perfect time, and wound up winning immunity because of it. Ano was very smart to use their SWOP and remove Jake from the game, leaving their alliance with a lot of control. Riley was able to save her idol thanks to her relationship with Flower, who was able to use his mimic idol thanks to his relationship with Orange. Flower and Riley expertly navigated Roman’s Throne card that allowed her see parchments, changing Riley’s vote (and Aowyn’s, since Flower had lost his vote to the mimic idol) at the last second to prevent Roman from knowing they were trying to blindside her and Sparky. Roman easily got Sparky to play his idol after seeing them change their votes, a testament to her social game with Sparky. Roman threw a rogue vote onto Riley in order to cover for an idol play (which was a good read even if she threw it into the wrong direction). Only two votes counted in this Tribal Council despite 8 players being in the game, and this was a testament to everyone having good reads, playing advantages at the perfect time, and all moving optimally to try to outplay each other. Dongoosh was the ultimate casualty, and it was heartbreaking to see, but this was still top notch gameplay across the board.

**Player of the Game**

Flower was socially and strategically a dominant player from the very beginning of the season. For the entire pre-merge, he was consistently at the top of trust rankings, which is even more impressive since he was consistently on tribes with other social legends like Orange and Sparky. Flower had a lot of power in the pre-merge, but he turned a new page at the merge. His stock dropped a bit at the start, and he found himself towards the bottom of trust rankings and influence. He was an expert at playing his relationships methodically and utilizing them at key moments to change the game. He used the Mimic Idol from Orange at a perfect time to save hie #1, Riley, and the pair became a real power couple in the late merge. It was at Final Six when Flower flipped on Riley while she simultaneously flipped on him, seemingly sealing both of their fates. It’s a testament to Flower’s social and strategic skill that he wasn’t booted afterwards, despite never holding immunity. He convinced Ano and Riley to flip on Jake, and then was only one challenge away from winning the whole game. It’s always painful to get so close to the end and lose, but Flower should only feel proud of his game, because it’s one of the best that SurviVARS has seen.