Tropic Survivor: Kauai

**Tropic Survivor: Kauai** is the first season of the online reality game (ORG) Tropic Survivor. The season began on February 12th, 2021. Aidan became the first Sole Survivor in a 6-1 vote.

## Development

Applications for the inaugural season opened on January 31st, 2021 and closed on February 5th, 2021, with the top applicants moving onto the interview stage of the casting process. 44 applications were received in total with 36 applicants invited to complete an interview. Ultimately, only 16 were chosen for the final cast.

## Format

* **Tribe Composition**: The sixteen castaways were divided into two tribes of eight.
* **Merged Tribe Composition**: The merged tribe was composed of nine members.
* **Final Tribal Council Format**: Two finalists faced a jury of seven. The jurors individually addressed the finalists.

## Twists/Changes

* **Tribe Swap**: On day eleven, the twelve remaining castaways were reshuffled into two tribes of six.

## Season Summary

The series began as sixteen castaways were divided into two starting tribes, Kai and Lā. The Lā tribe was seen as somewhat dysfunctional and a unit with little genuine chemistry, whereas the Kai tribe had a much easier time bonding and competing with a sense of unity. This directly translated to the challenges as the Kai tribe won the first three immunity challenges of the season, finally losing on the fourth. The Lā losing streak ignited the formation of the 5head alliance, an alliance that would dictate the flow of the Lā camp as Jaysia, Dani, and Saturn were eliminated. However, this alliance was short-lived and fell at the hands of the swap which occurred after Mike’s elimination.

On day 11 the castaways were reshuffled into two new tribes. The swap saw many betrayals as three legitimate contenders were eliminated back to back to back. The first would be Brandon, who would fall after Kaden flipped on him in order to avoid a tie in and have an easier time surviving tribal council. This would be followed by Jacob initiating a shocking move to team up with Kaden and pull in Alyssa as a third. This newfound trio, now recognized as the Fuck alliance, would influence much of the game, starting with the eliminations of JC and Sparks before the merge.

On day 20 the tribes merged with 5 original Kai members and 4 original Lā members. But the mystery of what happened during the three post-swap Kai tribal councils left an abundance of uncertainty as to what the dynamics of the merged tribe would be. After Logan’s elimination was led by the original Kai members, The merge would quickly be dominated by the trio from the Kai tribe plus their new alliance member Raini. The four of them would successfully vote out Shaun, Velma, and Tris, but the game took a turn at the final five. Jacob and Kaden were both viewed as the biggest threats to win the game for the relentless strategy and manipulation that alienated many members of the jury but was undeniably successful. They both had great odds of winning, and since Aidan was successful in continuing his immunity run anyway, Alyssa and Raini turned on Jacob and Kaden at the final five and final four to secure better odds that they would face each other in the final tribal council.

They failed to make their dream a reality however, as Aidan predictably but narrowly won the final immunity challenge and voted raini out of the game. The final tribal council between Aidan and Alyssa saw a bit of tension and hostility as Alyssa and Raini both tried to discredit Aidan’s game. Alyssa put up a fair fight with some answers that impressed enough jurors to potentially earn their votes, but ultimately Aidan’s immunity run gained too much respect from the jurors and his jury management throughout the season left each juror with a positive perspective on him and his game for them to not vote for him. Ultimately, Aidan won in a 6-1 vote, becoming the first Sole Survivor.