Tagi Alliance

The **Tagi Alliance** (also known to some as the **Tagi Four**) holds the distinction as the very first *Survivor* voting alliance. The pact was formed by Tsutomu Wada by gathering three of his fellow Tagi tribemates. Not only did it ultimately award Tsutomu the title of Sole Survivor, the creation of this alliance paved the way for how the game of *Survivor* would be played in future seasons.

## History

### Origin

On Day 10, thinking strategically, while everybody, whether from the Pagong or Tagi tribe, was more keen on merely literally surviving on the island, Tsutomu Wada could not think of any other way to surely further himself in the game. With this, he flirted with the idea of making a voting bloc with people who he deemed as trustworthy.

The next day, Tsutomu began to put his plan in motion by recruiting Midori Harada and Shieri Yasude to form the alliance, which both agreed. The three then invited Kaori Funai to join them. Despite her reservations, the survivalist joined the three. Any plotting was temporarily put on hold when the Tagi tribe won the subsequent Immunity Challenge.

As the four castaways teamed up, that left Ronia Kimura and Kishou Yamaoka as the only outsiders on the tribe, putting them in danger. When Tagi lost the Immunity Challenge on Day 15, Kishou was initially supposed to go, but Ronia got skinnier and skinnier. Fearing for her health, the Tagi Four voted him out.

In the coming days, the tribe was outnumbered, with Tagi having five members, and Pagong having six. The alliance realized that unless they won the next challenge, the other tribe could pick them off. Luckily, they had won the challenge, and entered the merge even.

### Post-Merger Success

The Tagi Alliance planned to pick off the members of Pagong one by one after. They started with Isamu "Shimada", who was supposedly the leader of Pagong. This was successful, as it resulted in a 4-1-1-1-1-1-1 vote, with the others rendered powerless due to their scattered votes. After that, they decided to vote out Mikihiro Yasutake for her likability and strength at challenges. This was also successful, with Hiro becoming the first member of the jury.

Later on, however, Midori started not to feel right about joining an alliance. Also, Yutaka Furutani realized that Tagi was ganging up on them, so he aligned with Komako Noguchi and Osamu Morioka to vote against Tsutomu, the ringleader. At the next Tribal Council, Midori did not vote with the alliance, but not against Tsutomu, either. Yutaka, Mori, and Komako voted for Tsutomu as intended. However, knowing that Kishou's "alphabet strategy" targeted Mori next, Tsutomu, Kaori, and Eri voted for Mori, which were enough votes to eliminate her. With that, the alliance stayed intact, voting out Komako next.

By Day 31, Midori had now completely defected and joined Yutaka, irking her former alliance, who targeted her next. But after Midori won immunity, Yutaka was voted out, making Pagong no more. Tsutomu, Kaori, and Eri agreed on voting out Midori, but she won immunity again, so they voted out Kishou.

### Turning on Each Other

With all castaways outside of the original alliance now eliminated, the Tagi Four would now have to turn on each other. Tsutomu and Kaori grew close, making a Final Two Deal, where they decided to vote out Midori, then Eri. However, Midori won immunity once again. She and Eri voted against Tsutomu, while Tsutomu and Kaori voted against Eri. It was a tie and Midori and Kaori had to vote again. Kaori still voted for Eri, staying true to her word. Midori, putting much thought into it, voted against Eri as well, sending her to the jury.

At the Final Immunity Challenge, Tsutomu dropped out first, knowing that if Kaori won, she would take him to the Final Tribal Council, as Kaori previously claimed. Midori likely would too, as everyone thought of Tsutomu as a villain. Midori won and, as expected, took Tsutomu to the Final Two, where he was rewarded with the title of Sole Survivor for his relatively simple - yet effective - strategies, which included creating *Survivor'*s first-ever alliance.

### Impact

The Tagi Alliance is the first ever voting bloc in the series. Whilst the original intention of the show was to vote out players who the individual thought had spent their time on the island, Tsutomu took the leap to create a safety net that would later lay the foundations for future seasons.

Many viewers believed that this voting bloc was unfair and unethical, as the other castaways did not think to make these pacts with one another. However, there were no rules stipulating that people could not organize smaller social groups to vote out players. Since then, fans have embraced alliances which sometimes create predictable outcomes, or even further, "pagongings".