Hybrid Alliance

**Highest Placing Member**: Ika (4/18)

The Hybrid Alliance was an alliance from Survivor: Mamanuca Islands.

Two sets of alliances from both iterations of the Soko and Yawa tribes united when the tribes merged in order to formed a blended alliance. However, they never took control of any post-merge votes because too many players were only loosely associated.

## History

### The Yawa Trio

The red Yawa tribe was formed on Day 1 of *Survivor: Mamanuca Islands*. Ika's strategy on this tribe of six was to develop close relationships with as many people as possible rather than worry with creating larger alliances. She developed tight partnerships with Elena and Jose over the course of the first three days, where it was agreed they would gain intel on the trio of Chanelle, Kieran and Tom. Though Elena was successful in her flirting attempts with the boys, Ika's failure forced her to change her strategy. Whilst Yawa won all three immunity challenges they had together, Ika secretly found the tribes Hidden Immunity Idol.

### A Pair on Soko

At the tribe switch on Day 9, Ika and Elena were switched to the yellow Soko tribe. Upon her arrival to the Soko camp, Ika found the tribes idol in the same position in was hidden back on Yawa. The girls noticed that Karlos was the swing vote amongst his Soko alliance and tried to get him on their side. Prior to their first immunity challenge, Ika and Elena were confident that Karlos would vote with them. At their first tribal council however, original Soko player Isabelle from Levu anonymously played her vote blocker against Elena. At tribal council, Ika still voted for Justin as planned but Karlos worked with the Soko men to eliminate Elena.

Ika felt isolated on Soko because her closest ally was gone, but she was confident by the fact that she had two idols in her pocket. When the tribe lost the following immunity challenge, the Soko boys decided to tell Ika they were going to vote for her. Ika kept this facade through tribal council, until she played one idol. This gave her the power to choose who she wanted gone and Ika decided to eliminate Justin because she felt like Karlos would still be open to working with her.

### The Hybrid Begins

Meanwhile, Jose remained on Yawa along with Kieran and Tom. Rather than align with outsiders Bill and Neda, Jose decided the Yawa Men were more predictable allies. After winning their first two immunity challenges together, Yawa lost for the first time on Day 16. The Yawa Men weren't sure whether they wanted to vote for Bill or Neda. However, their decision was made when Neda threw Bill under the bus to the Yawa Men by revealing her idol. At tribal council, Neda voted with the men to eliminate Bill.

Ika and Jose then reunited when the tribes merged at the Final Twelve. Ika explained to Jose that she was on the bottom of Soko, whereas Jose assured her they would be safe because of the new majority he had formed over on Yawa. Jose told Ika that he made a tight alliance with Neda and she would bring in Karlos and Will, the same people who Ika hoped would work with her during the switch. The Soko Men assured Ika that they would be loyal to this new Hybrid Alliance of Soko and Yawa players. Their first plan of action was to vote for Levu Five member Deborah with Kieran and Tom, but a tie occurred between Deborah and Will when Kieran and Tom switched their vote to Raph. At the revote, Chanelle convinced Kieran and Tom to work against the Hybrid Alliance and Will was voted out.

### Ika and Jose

Despite having lost one of their own, the Hybrid Alliance felt like they could convince the Levu Five to work with them and get rid of Kieran. However, Neda flipped to work with the Levu Five by herself and Karlos was blindsided. By the Final Ten, Kieran and Tom decided to work with the Hybrid Alliance to at least force a tie between them and the Levu Five. The plan was for the alliance to vote for Deborah, but Neda still worked with the Levu Five in order to eliminate Kieran and Tom at the next two tribal councils. Ika was becoming frustrated that Neda had more connections than her because she flipped to the Levu Five early in the merge. The girls targeted each other and tried to get the Levu Five on their side. The Levu Five ultimately decided Neda was much more threatening because of her connections and she was voted out.

The Final Seven consisted of Ika and Jose against the Levu Five. However, the pair had a secret weapon in Ika's second idol from the pre-merge. Ika was convinced that she would be targeted by the Levu Five and successfully played her idol at tribal council. Ika and Jose then used their two votes to eliminate Chanelle, who had an idol in her pocket. Cracks within the Levu Alliance only grew with Chanelle out of the picture. Isabelle and Raph were worried they would be sidelined by Deborah and Hannah because they were sisters. Ika and Jose used this knowledge and formed a plan for these four players to vote against Hannah. Though Ika told Jose to vote for Raph as a backup, Hannah was blindsided in a 3-2-1 vote.

After Chanelle was eliminated, Jose returned to camp and found her rehidden idol which could be used until the Final Five. With only five castaways remaining, Jose wanted to ensure both he and Ika would make the Final Four. Though he wanted to play his own idol on himself, Jose played his idol on Ika because he thought the Levu Alliance would be more threatened by her. This idol play failed as Levu actually voted to eliminate Jose. The Hybrid Alliance was dismantled completed when Ika was eliminated on Day 38 after she failed to win the final individual immunity challenge.