Natalie's Minions

**Highest Placing Member**:Laura (Second Runner-Up/18)

Natalie's Minions (also known as the 'Minions Alliance') was an alliance from Survivor: New Zealand.

This alliance gained traction at the tribe switch, where Natalie created a coalition that was based on fear and control. After cutting a threat at their only loss, the alliance crumbled at the merge because they lacked trust and unity.

## Members

     Godfrey (3-24)
 Enemies

## History

### Pre-Formation

The red Mana tribe was formed on Day 1 of *Survivor: New Zealand*, where Clay, Esther and Jessie were ostracised from the majority of the tribe because they were labelled as oddballs. This gave the other six castaways the majority on Mana, which included Evelyn, Godfrey, Hughie, Laura, Natalie and Ryan. After winning the first two immunity challenges as a tribe, Mana lost for the first time on Day 8. The majority of six were weighing up their options when considering which oddball to go after. Clay was considered a valuable physical asset because he ensured the tribe won two immunity challenges, but they were didn't think it was smart to keep him through a potential tribe switch or merge. At their first tribal council, the majority of six work together and Clay was voted out.

The alliances choice to cut Clay proved to be to their detriment because Mana lost the following immunity challenge. The majority was split between voting for either Esther or Jessie, not knowing that Jessie had just found the tribes Hidden Immunity Idol. Natalie was also considering flipping on the alliance and creating her own majority, but didn't think she had enough solid connections to led a group and make a move. Not wanting to make the same mistake as the previous vote, they decided to divert their attention to Esther who was physically weaker than Jessie. This led to Esther's elimination at tribal council.

### Origins on Tapu

On Day 10, the Final Fourteen castaways were split between the Mana and Tapu tribes. Godfrey, Jessie, Laura and Natalie from the original Mana tribe were switched to Tapu, where they joined original Tapu members Ellis, Lateysha and Russell. Natalie felt confident that she had strong relationships with Godfrey and Laura after working with them from the beginning of the game. She also spoke with the rest of the tribe and manipulated them in believing that the original Mana castaways had a majority. Natalie openly told Jessie the original Tapu members that they had to either become one of her allies or her alliance would pick them off. Every single player followed out of fear, but Ellis refused and thought Natalie was using unfair tactics. When Tapu lost their first immunity challenge as a tribe, Natalie and her new alliance (whom she deemed as her 'Minions') unanimously eliminated Ellis.

### A Minion Pagonging

After winning two immunity challenges, Natalie's Minions on the entire Tapu tribe then made the merge at the Final Eleven. Natalie was sure that her alliance was in the majority, but feared that Laura would jump ship because she had strong relationships with Hughie and Ryan from the original Mana tribe. Leading up to the first merged tribal council, Laura told Natalie and her minions that the rival Mana Alliance would be voting for Jessie, which prompted Jessie to play her idol. The alliance originally agreed to vote for Jayne, but Natalie also convinced them to split the votes between Jayne and Russell. This meant that after Jessie played her idol, Russell was voted out.

The Mana Alliance weren't sure who revealed to the Minions that they would be voting for Jessie, but were confident it was either Alex or Laura. Natalie saw this as a perfect opportunity to create a new majority with the pair, but kept this as a secondary alliance from the Minions Alliance. At tribal, the Minions voted for Ryan, Natalie and her new allies voted for Jayne but the Mana Alliance still had the numbers and Lateysha became the second member of the jury. Natalie started to notice that her control was being threatened because of the close relationship between Jessie and Godfrey. Natalie's Minions became members of the minority after Alex and Laura flipped back to work with the Mana Alliance, forcing Natalie to make a decision. At tribal, Natalie decided to vote with the majority in order to eliminate Godfrey. This only gave the minority more power, leading to Jessie's elimination on Day 27.

### All Natalie, No Minions

Natalie had lost all her minions by the Final Seven, but still had a lot of fight left in her. Of the remaining castaways left in the game, she felt closest to Laura. After Hughie won a voting advantage at the reward challenge, the pair tried to get Alex to work with them and vote Hughie out. However, Laura and Natalie were placed in the minority after Hughie used his advantage to steal Alex's vote at tribal council. The Mana Alliance remained in the majority and they eliminated Natalie, officially ending Natalie's Minions.