Ben

**Ben** (Ben2303#9667) placed 4th in Season 4 & 4th in Survivor Season 10.

A quiet and strategic mind, Ben started his game off on the Jaina Tribe well by building strong friendships. He formed the dominant “Banana Bandits” alliance with Giuli and Chloe, formed a very strong and lasting duo with Giuli, and also had a strong side relationship with Plaus. This relationship with Plaus in particular was crucial in mitigating a disastrous idol play that would rip the Bandits apart. The Bandits unfortunately lost Chloe from an ill fated tribe swap, but the well-balanced duo of Giuli and Ben made the merge with hardly a vote against them. At the merge, an initial blindside by Jackson saw the duo drawn into a new majority alliance, The Jackson 5. The duo would continue to prosper, Giuli being a strong shield for Ben due to being a lot more social while Ben’s strategic mind could reel her chaotic tendencies in on occasion. However, Ben’s lack of social game with the minority and being overshadowed by strong social players in the Jackson 5 slowly saw him become someone labeled as a goat, which was revealed to him in the Touchy Subjects challenge. Seeking to make a move to prove the other players wrong, Ben got very close to pulling off a blindside on power player Dangan but could not secure just one crucial vote for the plan to follow through. Following this and thanks to Dangan’s constant gaslighting that the minority was unflappably against the Jackson 5, Ben decided to coast for the rest of the game feeling suddenly now that his resume actually was decent enough as is plus he could claim Dangan’s head at the F4. He was the most skeptical of the Jackson 5 about Dangan’s infamous “steal a vote anonymously” lie, and though he relented, kept Dangan clocked as someone not to keep in the end. With his ideal boot order from the F5 on being Dex then Dangan, Ben would not get his way either time when Giuli was blindsided by Dangan himself. At the F4, he was very torn between Dex’s underdog story and Dangan’s overt threat level, but was ultimately swayed into the direction he was already leaning (Dangan) when Bel approached him for a blindside. However, Dangan was able to successfully dismantle the opposition against him, changing both Bel and Dex’s votes and blindsiding a disappointed Ben in a 3-1 vote just one round short of the finale. He is remembered for his overuse of cowboy emojis, which hilariously caused social friction toward him within the game.

Placed on the Brawn Tribe in Season 10 due to being remembered for his sister winning him immunity, Ben would be well positioned on the Katibo Tribe. On the outs only for a few days, Ben would appeal to Dylan's ego initially which let him into the majority, while also fostering a very strong relationship with Beetnorf. As the game progressed, Ben would play an impressive UTR game, often being in the position to directly influence who went home due to his clever use of leaking info from all sides of the game. He would be Dangan's #1 informant for much of the game, allowing Dangan to make the flashy and spectacular moves that he did at times. Despite this, he would be seen as a goat by most of the game and was underappreciated by all but Dangan. Despite Dangan seeing his genuine threat level, they would form a surprisingly close duo at the end game despite hating each other at the end of Season 4. This would be in large part due to their compatible strategic minds as well as Ben souring to much of the other players that acted like Dangan was the spawn of Satan, feeling some of the things they said about him were unnecessary attacks on his character. Due to this strong bond, Ben would eventually be willing to give up his game for Dangan and was willing to tie the vote at the Final 4 and let Dangan go to fire. At the Final 4, he seemingly lost all steam despite an impressive game, and even though Dangan was willing to let Ben go to fire, asked to be voted out unanimously. The tribe agreed, and Ben happily joined the jury to campaign for his new friend and his day 1 ally Beetnorf. He is remembered for being absolutely positive Anthony was the biggest possible goat in the game, despite Anthony having overwhelming jury favor.