Dave

**Dave** (dave cactus#7174) is the Sole Survivor of Season 2 & placed 14th in Survivor Season 10.

A quiet character for much of the season, Dave decided on OG Matanisiga that he wanted to play an UTR game. This held true, as he was very passive for much of the pre-merge and merge, strategically attempting to rely on his social game to keep him around and in contact with most of the players. Dave also exhibited consistently good reads on the game, notably clocking a lie from Basil about their vote when most of the other players were fooled. Despite this, there was a common sentiment that Dave was both a goat and a jury threat simultaneously due to his very UTR play style and ability to flip, thus he was a constant option to vote out for an “easy vote” that also took out a sleeper threat. In the end, though, the goat side of this saw Dave carried through much of the game based on his social outreach to all players. Despite promising late game moves early on, Dave began to be a completely passive player from around the F8 onward when he admitted that he checked out from the game and was waiting to be voted out. Nevertheless, Dave made it to the F4 firemaking challenge, where he again stated he was throwing the challenge because “there was no way he would beat Gabriel.” Much to his shock, he indeed beat Gabriel and found himself a spot in the F3, which he surprisingly seemed dismayed at due to having more work ahead of him. In the end, his honest answers and choice not to embellish upon his game as well as the jury’s distaste for the other two finalists saw Dave winning the game in a 6-1-1 vote, rewarding Dave’s smart choice to play a small game in a season of very big characters.

Returning in Season 10, Dave was determined to prove he was more than just an UTR winner that floated to a crown. Placed onto the Beauty Tribe for his social win in Season 2, Dave would find himself initially toward the bottom of the Totoka Tribe. Ready to have fun this season to keep from being bored, Dave would form a tight bond with outsider Jackson and attempt to rally the numbers for a blindside on the actual majority, preferably on Suari or Danny (despite the latter not being a true part of the majority). He would also spend much of his early game with Jackson priming the Totoka Tribe against fellow winner Dangan, fearing his game prowess as well as wanting to be the only winner left standing as soon as possible. When the Totoka Tribe narrowly lost its only immunity challenge pre-swap, Jackson appeared to be an obvious boot due to being inactive for almost the entire game. However, Dave would still attempt to rally the troops for a big move; this would initially backfire, as word got around camp and forced Dave to play nice and vote with the majority in hopes his game was not sunk. At the swap, Dave would remain with all of the Totoka OGs minus Danny, giving him the perfect opportunity to repair his relationships with them to the fullest extent. Upon losing immunity, this new tribe wanted to play it safe and target the minority of OG Katibo; Dave was a part of the faction wanting to keep AJ in the game, but relented when Sage went above and beyond to catch all of AJ’s lies and red flags in action. Dave would then make it to the mergatory round, losing immunity and being one of seven players eligible to go home in a massive 14 person Tribal Council. Dave immediately went to work attempting to sabotage Denim’s game when it came to light that Denim was close with Dangan, another attempt at undercutting the other winner’s game. Sage would love this idea and run with it, and the two initially strong-armed the entire vote for the early hours of the round, as most players wanted to take a backseat and just vote in the majority no matter who. Dave’s game began to unravel, however, when the next day he began to speculate that Denim was too well aligned and that Beetnorf would be a safer back up, and spiraled to his tribe to change the vote both he and Sage had already strongly armed them into. This would piss off and annoy many of his alliance at both him and Sage, most notably Suari who immediately went to the other side of the vote to pledge his allegiance. Despite making many sub alliances, Dave would only successfully flip Anthony and Ben, resulting in a 7-7 perfect tribe split. Although he made a presumably fake alliance with Dangan and Anthony (whom he wanted out fast), Dangan did not buy this alliance and would be a key figure in destroying Dave’s game completely. When Katt spilled to Dangan about Dave and Sage having tunnel vision on him, Dangan would not let this slide and decided to play very aggressively, citing he’d rather have fun and go out swinging than be like the many players in the round complacent with whoever is the boot. He would be a key factor in guaranteeing the votes onto Dave, but would draw up short when he began to realize due to Anthony and Ben’s either direct or inferred admission to flipping, he would at best tie the vote. It was then that Dylan dropped a well timed nugget of knowledge to Dangan- he found a Hidden Immunity Idol, and considered Beetnorf a vote in his pocket. Having cultivated a close working relationship with Dylan, Dangan tripled down on his manipulation tactics, priming Dylan into playing his idol to keep an ally and send Dave packing, at this point having a vendetta for perceiving Dave as shortsighted for wanting the only other winner out early. This worked, as Dylan historically was not afraid of big moves, though he would go on to give Beetnorf his idol to play for himself to keep himself shielded a bit. This all would happen a mere 20 minutes up to a single minute before Tribal Council, leading to one of the most thrilling boots in seasons. In the end, Dave would find himself blindsided with 7 votes against him after Beetnorf pulled out Dylan’s idol, calling this a “flop move” as he became the final prejuror. He is remembered for arguably succeeding at his goal of setting out to prove he was not an UTR flop, as while he did still flop it was much more entertaining to see him play an aggressive and self motivated game.