Bemba

**Highest Placing Member**: Lemon (4/20)

Bemba was a tribe from Survivor: The Congo.

Despite being physically weaker than its rivals, the Bemba tribe had more fluid relationships and was more willing to take strategic risks at every tribal council they attended. Their tribe colour was green.

## Tribe History

The green Bemba tribe was formed on Day 1 of *Survivor: The Congo*. A number of key relationships were formed during the early stages of the game. Da'Vonne, Kari and Rio formed a Final Three deal as the only black women on Bemba, though Kari and Rio additionally built a close alliance with Jeana. Ilona, Lemon and Priyanka were another trio that formed during this time, which left Aliza, Estelle and Janelle floating in the middle of the tribe. Aliza and Estelle ended up deciding to work with Ilona, Lemon and Priyanka, although the rest of the tribe was trying to split up this trio. When Bemba lost their first immunity challenge of the season, Da'Vonne wanted her allies to vote for Janelle, Jeana wanted the girls to target Lemon but the five Maple Leaves voted out Da'Vonne.

When Bemba lost the following immunity challenge, Aliza, Ilona, Janelle, Lemon and Priyanka wanted to split the votes between Estelle and Jeana. Although Estelle, Jeana and Rio were planning on voting for Aliza, Kari decided to vote for Estelle with the majority alliance in order to keep her close connection with Jeana and Rio. This split vote caused a 3-3-3 tie between Aliza, Estelle and Jeana, where the majority alliance stayed together to eliminate Jeana at the revote. The morning after tribal council, Aliza recognised she needed personal power because she was not apart of the core groups on Bemba. She found a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol that would be hidden at the following immunity challenge, which she successfully found. Meanwhile, Kari and Rio were becoming frustrated they lost two allies over their failed attempts to overthrow the majority alliance. However, they began to recognise that Ilona was being replaced by Janelle in her core trio with Lemon and Priyanka. The girls saw this as an opportunity to draw in Aliza (who now held an idol in her pocket), Estelle and Ilona, who were keen to make a big move against Janelle. When Bemba lost the immunity challenge on Day 11, Janelle, Lemon and Priyanka voted for Kari but the rest of the tribe worked together to blindside Janelle.

The two tribes then met together for a surprise announcement on Day 12, where Sukhvinder from the rival Lunda tribe elected to quit the game because she was not enjoying her *Survivor* experience. A tribe switched occurred following her departure, where Estelle, Kari, Priyanka and Rio remained on Bemba. They were joined by Alisha, Catherine and Erica from the original Lunda tribe, whilst Aliza was sent to Exile Island because she did not receive a buff for either tribe. Although the original Bemba women held the majority on this new tribe, it was clear that Priyanka, Kari and Rio had no interest working with each other. Kari and Rio explained to the original Lunda players that Priyanka should be voted out because she was well connected to Ilona and Lemon, whereas they were two votes with no allegiances to anyone else. Estelle bonded with the Lunda women, where she was vocal in wanting to separate Kari and Rio from each other in addition to separating Priyanka from her trio. When Bemba lost their first immunity challenge as a new tribe, Priyanka voted for Catherine, Kari and Rio voted for Priyanka but Estelle and the rest of Lunda had the majority to eliminate Rio.

The Bemba returned to camp from tribal council with Aliza, who managed to obtain a Vote Steal during her time on Exile. Aliza's plan for this new tribe was to build new relationships that would ensure she would enter the merge with solid connections throughout the cast. She already had a working relationship with Estelle, Kari and Priyanka from the original Bemba tribe, but also managed to form a close bond with Erica. During one conversation by the lake, Erica revealed the dynamics of the original Lunda tribe to Aliza. In particular, Erica explained that Alisha, Annaliese, Ashley, Catherine, Helena and Sophie were aligned as The British Invasion alliance. Aliza stored this information for a later date because Bemba won the following two immunity challenges before the tribes eventually merged on Day 23.

## Trivia

* Bemba and Lunda are the second and third tribes in *Survivor* history to only comprise of female castaways, following Penang from *Survivor: Malaysia*.