Tsutomu Wada

Tsutomu Wada is the Sole Survivor of Survivor REM: Borneo, and one of the consistent contestants on Survivor: REM. He has 14th casting priority.

While known for his arrogance, nudity, superb fishing skills, and unlikely friendship with Kaori Funai in *Borneo*, Tsutomu is best known for creating the series' first-ever alliance, known as the Tagi Alliance, a voting bloc that controlled the game and helped define *Survivor* gameplay, as his strategy became a template for how the game would be played in subsequent years. He ultimately became the first Sole Survivor in a close 4-3 jury vote.

## Career

### Borneo

Tsutomu Wada competed in the inaugural season of *Survivor*, which would later come to be known as *Survivor: Borneo*. He was placed on the orange Tagi tribe, where his outspoken and somewhat arrogant nature rubbed his tribemates the wrong way. Tsutomu's arrogance became clear over the next few days, such as claiming on Day 1 that he had already won the game and being unhelpful around camp. After losing the first Immunity Challenge, Tsutomu speculated that he was in danger of being voted out due to his arrogance. He decided to target Ryujirou Yoshioka for being the weakest link. However, the tribe voted out Renjiro Hatanaka instead as he had cost the tribe the challenge the day before.

The next day, Tsutomu attempted to catch fish with Midori Harada and Shieri Yasude, however, they were unsuccessful. In a confessional, Tsutomu expressed his desire to get to know Ryuji better, as he had voted for him at the previous Tribal Council and revealed that Ryuji believed Kaori Funai was the one who voted for him. After revealing he was gay to the rest of the tribe, Tsutomu was scared to tell Kaori, as he thought Kaori was homophobic. However, after telling her, Tsutomu was surprised to learn that Kaori was perfectly fine with it and even referred to Tsutomu as one of the nicest people she had ever met. During an unaired Reward Challenge, Tsutomu was the designated weight bearer for Tagi. He lost the challenge to Annaisha Hattori of Pagong. However, they managed to win the subsequent Immunity Challenge on Day 6.

After winning fishing gear at the next Reward Challenge, Tsutomu revealed his proficiency at fishing, catching a stingray and fish for his tribe, causing some envy from Kishou Yamaoka. Tsutomu's fishing ability increased his position in the tribe, with many of his tribemates praising his ability. Tagi once again lost the Immunity Challenge on Day 9, sending them back to Tribal Council. Tsutomu again targeted Ryuji for his weakness. This time, he got his way, as Ryuji was voted out in a 5-2 vote. Tsutomu then formed *Survivor*'s first alliance on Day 10 between himself, Midori, Kaori, and Eri. Although acknowledging having an alliance was sneaky, Tsutomu deemed it necessary to ensure his survival for the next few rounds. Tsutomu expressed confidence about this alliance, saying that if they stuck together, they would be unstoppable. Things began well for the alliance as Tagi was able to win the next Immunity Challenge.

The tribe later became annoyed at Ronia Kimura and Kishou's failed attempts at catching fish as they were wasting time instead of working. Tsutomu revealed another skill of his by performing better than anyone else with the slingshot the tribe needed for the next challenge. Despite his accuracy though, Tagi was unable to win the Reward Challenge on Day 14. At camp, Tsutomu found a snake, and despite knowing its lethal consequences, decided to play with it. After losing the following Immunity Challenge, Tsutomu planned with his alliance about whether they should vote out Ronia or Kishou. Although they initially decided on voting for Kishou, after seeing how weak Ronia had become, they changed their votes and Ronia became the Tagi Alliance's first victim. After successfully ousting Ronia, Tsutomu became confident that he was in control of the game. The tribe started thinking about the merge and decided that winning the next Immunity Challenge was crucial in order to go into the merge with even numbers. Around camp, Tsutomu decided to start walking around naked, which both amused and irked his tribe. The Tagi tribe managed to win immunity on Day 18, which meant they would go into the merge against Pagong tied with 5 members each.

After merging into the Rattana tribe on Day 20, Tsutomu's alliance had a decision to make: either vote out the former Pagong members or Kishou, the only Tagi member not in the alliance. Tsutomu expressed his surprise at Kishou and Isamu "Shimada"'s unwillingness to form an alliance, calling it sheer stupidity. Tsutomu bonded well with his new tribemates, learning how to play cards from Komako Noguchi and bonding with Mikihiro Yasutake. He was also excited when he learned that he was still the only person in the tribe who knew how to fish. At the first Tribal Council of the merged tribe, Tsutomu's alliance decided to target Shimada, as he was seen as the leader of Pagong. After an unexpected 4-1-1-1-1-1-1 vote, Shimada was voted out.

The following day, the tribe began to realize how good of a position Tsutomu had put himself in. As he was the only person able to fish, if the tribe voted him out, they would not eat anything other than rice. Tsutomu and Hiro continued to get to know each other, with both thinking the other one was overconfident and neither knowing whether they should trust the other one. The Tagi Alliance noticed how threatening Hiro could become if she stuck around and voted her out at their next Tribal Council on Day 24. Tsutomu and Eri celebrated their position in the game, but became weary of Midori's wavering trust in the alliance. After Kaori accidentally overcooked Tsutomu's fish, he decided to stop fishing for a few days so the tribe would appreciate it when he did catch fish. This backfired slightly as Yutaka Furutani became annoyed at Tsutomu's attitude. This was further made worse when some other members of the tribe managed to catch fish by themselves, rendering Tsutomu useless. The former Pagong members became aware of Tsutomu's alliance and formed their own counter alliance. Tsutomu then celebrated his birthday on Day 27 by walking around naked. This annoyed several members of the tribe which caused Tsutomu to put his clothes back on. Tsutomu continued to notice Midori distancing herself from the alliance and began to wonder if she would flip on him if she got the chance. Although the counter alliance targeted Tsutomu, his own alliance stuck together, and Tsutomu barely made it through the next Tribal Council where the alliance piggy-backed off Kishou's alphabet voting strategy to vote out Osamu Morioka.

After surviving the last Tribal Council, Tsutomu became delighted and considered stopping catching fish until all of the ex-Pagong members were voted out. Midori and Eri planned on eliminating Tsutomu at the final three and revealed that they never truly trusted him. Tsutomu won the Immunity Challenge on Day 29, keeping him safe going into an uncertain Tribal Council. Midori officially left the alliance and considered joining the ex-Pagong members. Kishou also became uncertain with his former Tagi tribemates. However, the Tagi Alliance stayed strong once again to vote out Komako. On Day 32, Tsutomu joined Kishou on a reward and got to eat breakfast on a yacht. Kishou's father, Jim, was also on the ship and gave all of the remaining contestants a care package from their loved ones back home. At the next Immunity Challenge, Tsutomu annoyed his tribemates by singing "99 Bottles of Beer", in hopes of throwing his tribemates off balance. He, however, did not make it halfway through his song before falling off the plank. Back at the beach, the alliance, sans Midori, discussed voting her out due to her untrustworthiness. However, Midori managed to win immunity, forcing them to vote out the last Pagong member remaining, Yutaka.

The next day, Tsutomu and Kaori further solidified their alliance, saying that they would never vote against each other and planned on voting out Midori next. However, Midori managed to win immunity again, forcing them to vote out Kishou, the only person left to never be part of the alliance. Now, with nowhere left to turn, the alliance was finally forced to turn on itself. On Day 37, the final four reflected on how far they had come, commenting on how much weight they have all lost and the effect the game has had on their bodies. That night, Midori continued her immunity streak, which put Tsutomu in hot water. Although Tsutomu and Kaori voted against Eri, Midori joined Eri in voting against Tsutomu. After both Tsutomu and Eri pleaded their case on why they should stay, Midori changed her vote, eliminating Eri and saving Tsutomu.

Host Jeff Probst woke the remaining three castaways up early the next day to partake in their Rites of Passage and Final Immunity Challenge. After reflecting on all of the castaways who had been voted out before them, Tsutomu, Midori, and Kaori began their Final Immunity Challenge. After two and a half hours, Tsutomu came to the conclusion that both Midori and Kaori would take him to the Final Two. Because of this, Tsutomu stepped down, eliminating himself from the challenge. Tsutomu's prediction proved right as Midori voted out Kaori, bring Tsutomu to the Final Tribal Council. On Day 39, the two finalists reflected on how far they had come. Both Tsutomu and Midori prepared for the questions they would be asked by the jury. After burning down their camp, the finalists headed to their Final Tribal Council.

During his opening speech, Tsutomu argued that he had played the best game. After being questioned by Komako, Tsutomu admitted that if he could change one thing about his game, he would put less trust in the other contestants. Mori asked the finalists who they would want to see in the Final Two instead of them; Tsutomu chose Hiro and Kaori. Yutaka asked Tsutomu what character traits got him to the end. Tsutomu answered "observation" which confused Yutaka as he had not got to know anyone very well. Hiro asked the two finalists to pick a number between one and ten; Tsutomu chose seven. However, Hiro later revealed that the numbers had no impact on her vote and that she had already made up his mind about who to vote for. Kishou admitted that he loved Tsutomu's "Fat Naked Fag" strategy. During Eri's speech, she called Tsutomu whiny and a loser in life. However, Eri also compared him to a snake and Midori to a rat. She finished her speech by lamenting that the jury should let the game end the way nature intended, for the snake to eat the rat. In the end, Tsutomu received the votes of all of the ex-Tagi members and Hiro, granting him the title of Sole Survivor in a 4-3 vote.

#### *Voting History:*

**^1**  In "The Final Four", the vote ended with a 2-2 tie between Tsutomu and Eri, forcing a revote. On the revote, Tsutomu did not receive any votes to be eliminated.