Bel

**Bel** (mrscellophane#9671) is the Runner-Up of Season 4 & Season 5.

A very UTR player, Bel decided early on in the Moli Tribe that she wanted to play an almost solely social game. This proved fruitful, as her endearing personality saw her well positioned with most of her OG Tribe as well as her swapped tribe. Luckily for her, neither of these tribes went to Tribal Council so she was able to make the merge unscathed whilst building these bonds. After a blindside at the first merged Tribal Council, Bel was brought into a new majority alliance “The Jackson 5” that would run much of the merge game. While her social heavy game was extremely successful within the majority, those outside of it saw themselves getting little to no conversation from Bel. Despite this, her social game with those she did talk to was strong enough that she cut a clear path to the F3 for herself early on. Behind closed doors, Bel was also very strategic. However, she rarely displayed actions that reflected this, often citing that she doesn’t particularly mind who goes or being afraid that acting upon her instincts would betray friendships. She was often wary of Dangan’s lies, but chose to believe him because of their in-game friendship. At the Final 4, Bel won immunity by a single point and was furious at Dangan due to his needless lying that he was not trying at all. Due to this, she rallied the tribe against him and was gearing up for a blindside. However, she made a fatal mistake in the final hours of Tribal Council and relented, fearing damaging their friendship yet again. At the Final Tribal Council, Bel was initially praised by most of the jury and favored by them due to her very impressive social game. However, some in the minority poked holes in this persona, stating that she hardly gave them the time of day. Flustered, Bel’s answers were viewed more and more as “bad,” and she slowly lost a lot of her favor. This was heightened when she struggled to name a single move that she made in the season beyond being in an alliance, as well as her back and forth “attacking” of Dangan due to his own answers about herself. Traumatized and broken down, Bel was all but defeated as she sensed that the jury was losing their respect for her game, honestly stating to them that she cared more about making friends than winning the game. In the end, this sincerity and her in-game friendships built saw her the Runner-Up in a 5-2-1 vote, with the jury rewarding Dangan for his much more “move heavy” game. She is remembered for her bright personality as well as her strong desire to leave the game with friendships.

Returning in Season 5, Bel initially expressed interest in playing a similar game but with making a move or two on the Gata Tribe. Her pleasant social game once again saw her a part of many alliances in Gata, where she was very well positioned. However, a tribe swap saw her as the only OG Gata on a new tribe, whose lack of communication with her made it apparent she would be the first to go. Because of this, Bel impressively won some of their tribal immunity challenges single-handedly to ensure that she could continue to scrape by. This was fruitful, as the second swap found her with an old ally and new as she was put into a position of power. Despite feeling keeping Dumb was best for her game initially and having the social power to send Izzy out instead, Bel relented to sending her ally out in favor of the relatively quiet Izzy. Their relationship being semi nonexistent would become a theme throughout the season, with Bel often pondering over Izzy’s mysterious game. At the merge, she was reunited with all of the Season 4 alumni and sought to form an alliance with them. However, Dex was annoying everyone on the tribe and Suari made clear that he was not down for this type of alliance, leaving her core group as Plaus and Tayy. She also was a part of the OG Gata 5 alliance, but did not strategize as much in this chat. Unfortunately for Bel, Tayy would be targeted immediately after Dex to nerf her own social game, and Plaus would follow later after a double elimination. This left her on the outs for the rest of the game; while they seemed to have a cordial relationship, Bel often talked about how dry and boring they were to her. In contrast, some of the other players expressed that they felt Bel gave them nothing as well. For much of the merge after it became apparent to many that she might not be playing as strong of a social game as her prior season, Bel was under fire solely for her ability to win immunity challenges. As perhaps THE biggest comp beast in the 1-5 season history, she was feared for being able to take up a spot someone else could have. Despite this, she was able to find a decent “underdog alliance” with Suari and Harry, as well as form a decent and lowkey duo with Suari. She was able to consistently avoid elimination due to the majority alliance being cracked and making paranoid moves, until at the Final 7 tied vote Will decided to attempt to make a Final 3 deal and keep her name out of mouths. She accepted this on the surface, but secretly was prepared to vote out Will the second she was presented with the plan to do so. As such, Will made a crucial mistake of flipping the tribe onto Harry instead of Bel when both were not immune. At the Final 5, while not immune, she was safe from the vote as Will was a much bigger target. Bel proceeded to then get a perfect score yet again on the Final Immunity, to the shock of no one. Bel was presented with a moral dilemma at this point; should she give her closest ally Suari a chance at fire, despite him being a decent UTR threat? Feeling she learned from her prior season as well as doubting if Izzy did much of anything, she broke the news to a heartbroken Suari that she would be writing his name with the other two. Unbeknownst to her, Izzy was also a very big UTR threat that had much experience presenting her game to a Jury. At the Final Tribal Council, Bel’s game was critiqued for seeming very passive. The Jury felt her opening and answers to their questions were merely stating what happened, proving that she was more of a passenger than director of the game. Bel was frustrated, feeling as though she did make moves but knowing pitching her game to a Jury was not her strong suit. She tried her best, and to her credit many in the Jury enjoyed her and wanted her to win if for nothing more than her commitment to the game surpassing the other finalists. However, Bel would ultimately become the Runner-Up for a second time in a row in a 7-3-0 vote when Izzy was able to better own her game as well as provide examples of agency within the game. She is remembered for her challenge dominance as well as her pleasant personality, being one of the more dedicated players of the season.