AJ

**AJ** (OrangeFlames#8024) placed 9th in Season 7 & 15th in Survivor Season 10.

Starting the game quiet but aware, AJ would find himself a comfortable position on the Bati Tribe. Despite the “Bati Curse” losing them 2 out of 3 challenges, AJ would benefit from having tribemates that put barely any effort into the game, giving a nice cushion for when the tribe flopped. At the swap, AJ was very “anti-Yalo” due to the OG Yalo tribe never losing and performing well, attempting to sow the seeds for a majority alliance of the non-Yalo on the tribe. However, AJ’s challenge luck vastly improved and the Nu Yalo tribe never had to go to Tribal Council. While this helped AJ’s game by advancing him forward, he also failed to make any lasting bonds or alliance from his time on this tribe which would negatively affect his game later on. At the merge, AJ’s “anti-Yalo” sentiment was matched by Brian, and the two attempted to form a “PapuBati” alliance to pagong the Yalo members. Additionally, AJ formed a very tight duo with Leo, often confessionaling about how the two of them were going to run the game. Unfortunately, the members of OG Papukeni did not reciprocate this feeling, and Brian was blindsided in the first vote of the merge. Now on the bottom, AJ’s lack of making bonds with the OG Yalo members as well as strengthening his bonds with the Papukeni members saw him left out of the plans for the next vote: a Nehemiah blindside. Now adopting an “anyone but me” strategy, AJ felt confident nonetheless that he could continue skating until a majority wanted to fracture. While this plan had potential, when tribe target Ron won immunity at the auction, AJ became the strongest backup plan due to being perceived as the closest to Ron that was not working with the majority. None of his “allies” in on this felt a strong enough bond to oppose this idea, though AJ was alerted at least of this and attempted to remain calm to push the target on to tribe outcast Roci instead. In the end, AJ was surprised to see that his Roci plan had failed, and was sent to the jury in a 5-3-1 vote. He is remembered for being very active in confessionals and stating many times that he was actively attempting to “do nothing” in the game until later, which proved to be his downfall.

Returning in Season 10 and very eager to prove himself as an All Star, AJ would begin the game well positioned on the Katibo Tribe. Placed onto the Brawn Tribe for his positive attitude when facing difficulties, AJ would be one of the more overtly social members of the tribe, landing him in the middle while Dylan and Ripple ran the tribe. He would form one sided rivalries with both Lucas and Felipe, confessionaling often about how much he needs them out. Ironically, the first vote would become a 1-1 tie between himself and Lucas when Felipe would surprise the Tribe with an idol, being saved due to Beetnorf using an Extra Vote to throw a vote. While “in danger” of being the first boot, AJ’s middle position and solid social game made it seem obvious who would stay in the tie, especially with Dylan considering AJ “a minion.” At Katibo’s following Tribal Council, AJ would tunnel vision onto Felipe for voting for him despite Ben pitching a plan to take control away from Dylan/Ripple; however, with Ripple quitting, this Tribal Council would be canceled much to AJ’s fury as Felipe survived yet again. At the swap, AJ would initially find himself “swap screwed” with a 5-3 split and winding up on a tribe with his S7 alumni Sage. However, Sage would be the only person that vehemently wanted AJ out, with the rest of the tribe wanting to keep him to keep the beef between the two alive. Because of this, AJ was actually the most well positioned OG Katibo; however, a series of mistakes and poor gameplay by AJ would see Sage get his way in the end. AJ was by and far the most loyal to OG Katibo out of the 3; while Ben and Beetnorf wanted the three to survive, the other two were a lot more likely to flip and give out information. This became apparent when AJ was caught in a lie a mere hour or two after the swap, allegedly citing that the first Katibo boot was unanimous and easy, while Ben spilled about the idol play to the same Totoka members. Being found easier to talk to and manipulate than Ben and Beetnorf, however, still saw most of Totoka willing to ignore AJ’s early blunders. The target began to shift onto Ben, as they felt he would be the least likely to have an advantage played on him or waste his Shot in the Dark given he (ironically) seemed the most open to flipping. However, Sage would be pushing hard for an AJ boot, unrelenting that AJ staying was good for none of their games. When AJ kept scrambling and spreading what he was hearing from various Totoka members, Sage would pounce at the opportunity to put that nail in his coffin when AJ specifically started leaking that he was aware Ben was a target (as some on the tribe like Katt and Suari were genuinely leaking him plans), making it obvious to the Totokas once and for all that he could not be trusted to hold information and would be a liability to work with moving forward. Additionally, some on that tribe felt that AJ in particular was making it obvious that OG Katibo was a unit sharing everything the Totoka told them, thus slowly seeming less like a fluid variable in their own games. As a last ditch effort to keep all of the OG Katibo safe rather than look out for his own game, AJ would pitch to them that they should all play their Shot in the Dark at Tribal and just hope that they all wind up safe, a 1/216 chance. While Beetnorf would agree (and ironically come up “safe”), Ben did not want to waste his Shot if he was not feeling in particular danger and was heavily weighing throwing a vote onto his allies to prove his loyalty to Totoka. In the end, AJ’s Shot would read “not safe,” sending him home in a 5-1 vote while he bitterly called out Sage for running the game and the others as sheep, much to their amusement. He is remembered for his immense confidence that his gut instinct was always right despite it arguably being 50/50, his struggle with lying and the morality of it, and his enthusiasm for the game of survivor.