Ano

**Ano** was a contestant of SurviVARs: Wildemount.

## **Profile**

**Discord:** penguin\_mango

**Gender:** any

**Timezone:** MST

These rankings are getting harder, and not easier… This feels almost like a five-way tie to me. Ano was such a highlight this season. They were so lovable from start to finish, even if the other players in the game weren’t giving them the respect they (or their game) deserved. Ano had the odds stacked against them right off the bat. They started off on the cursed Lionette tribe, which should’ve been a death sentence like it was for all of the others. They were on the bottom, but had a good relationship with Danger so this kept them safe at the beginning. When Shaun swapped with Famine, Ano had a way out at the first Tribal Council they attended. Famine was the outsider, and Ano was able to scrape by as she was sent home. Ano’s relationship to Danger was key for their early game, and they were told about the Parent Trap alliance. This confirmed that Ano was outside of the power center, but that they had enough of a relationship with that power center to keep themselves safe for now.

When they swapped onto Tealeaf, they found themselves with only Deadpool from their OG tribe. This was not the best spot for them, because Deadpool was far from a reliable ally. Deadpool was less active than Ano, so it looked like they would be the first target, but then Ano would be truly alone. Things started looking up when Sparky’s Skull card lost half of the tribe their votes, and Ano and Deadpool somehow managed to keep theirs. Aowyn and Roman were the other two, and Ano and Deadpool quickly strategized to trick the other pair into voting for Sparky while they voted for Aowyn. If this worked, Aowyn wouldn’t have been able to vote in a revote, and they could send her home 2-1. Unfortunately, the other pair had the same idea and threw their votes onto Deadpool. Ano was now in the hot seat, as they were the only one defending Deadpool on the tribe. Roman and Aowyn pushed hard to get Ano to flip, and they ultimately agreed to it. Ano survived, but at the cost of their only ally going home. Ano was left on the bottom, with only the empty promises of Roman and Aowyn to comfort them.

Ano survived to see another swap, where Shaun and Lars were switched with Orange and Jake. Ano was still on the bottom alongside Bella and Sparky, but Ano was doing everything they could to stay afloat. When they hit the double tribal, Ano was in a pretty bad spot, but had a chance to win immunity and protect themselves. They came in clutch in the Puzzle Gauntlet, winning immunity as well as the right to draw from the Deck of Many Things. Ano drew exactly what they would need: the almighty Crab Tank. Ano, knowing that they were already treading water, told their tribe the truth about what they earned. With Ano off the table, Bella was sent home as a consensus target. Ano had scraped through to the merge despite the odds being stacked against them.

Ano was not only on the bottom of the power structure, but now they had an advantage that people wanted to flush. Every challenge was a matter of life or death, and Ano brought out their inner challenge beast. Ano was able to steal a shit ton of gold in the arena challenge, earning themselves immunity alongside Riley. Sindira was sent home since Ano was off the table, leaving Shaun as the only other Lionette still standing. After the next challenge, with Ano vulnerable, Dongoosh threw out their name and campaigned to flush Ano’s advantage. Once twelve hours passed and it couldn’t be used, a plan was floated around to split the vote between Ano and Shaun. This could have been the end of the road, but Shaun imploded into a storm of paranoia and auction spreadsheets, sealing his own fate and saving Ano once again. Keep in mind, Ano wasn’t doing anything sketchy or aggressive in all of this. They just weren’t being included, and had no power relationships. Things looked bleak, and not by any fault of Ano’s.

Ano was target #1 now, but they managed to pull out another clutch immunity win against Victoria’s google form Dungeon Crawl. This sent the tribe into a mad scramble, with no more consensus targets to fall back on. People teased a plan to flush Sparky’s idol, but this crumbled as people argued over who the real target would be. Finally, after all this time, Ano found themselves in an alliance that genuinely had their back. Ano, Roman, Sparky, and Aowyn bounced different ideas around, but once they heard that Orange had been pushing Roman, that’s where their votes landed. Roman’s idol sent Orange home, and Ano found themselves on the right side of the numbers in a pivotal vote. Aowyn was starting to see Ano as a very close ally of hers, and formed an alliance to explain to Ano and Jake what had just gone down.

At this point, Touchy Subjects revealed that most of the tribe saw Ano as a goat. This was not very fair to how much Ano had done in order to survive, but certainly helped mitigate their threat level. Ano lost this challenge, and they decided almost immediately that they would use their SWOP to get as far away from Tribal as they could. Jake had won immunity, so Ano’s new alliance decided that Ano would take him with him to eliminate one player from the opposition that couldn’t be targeted. Ano and Jake partied it up on the ocean floor while the world burned above them, and they returned to find Dongoosh’s desecrated corpse and two immunity idols burned beside him.

Ano suddenly went from the bottom to the top. Sparky won the challenge (although Ano was just barely behind him) but Ano was still in a great spot. With no more SWOP their threat level had plummeted, and Roman and Sparky had only elevated theirs by playing the prior two rounds so well. Ano and Aowyn, who had been in the core alliance of four that determined those votes, were in a tricky spot. They could either stay with this power duo, or flip and join Jake, Riley, and Flower to send Roman packing. Aowyn and Ano decided to make the hard choice and flip on Roman, sending her to the jury.

Sparky saw how much power Ano was suddenly wielding, and recognized that they had a strong underdog narrative that could be deadly at FTC. Sparky began campaigning to get Ano sent home, but nobody else seemed to be biting. In the What Do You Meme challenge, Flower made a caption claiming that Ano wasn’t playing strategically, which was far from the truth. This turned Ano off from working with Flower, and also lit a fire under Ano to prove how hard they could play. Ano started to push that Flower could be a target, which Sparky leaked back to Flower in the hopes that he could flip it back onto Ano. At this point though, Ano went back to Aowyn and Jake with the info that Flower was throwing Jake’s name around. Ano, Jake, Riley, and Aowyn formed a plan to vote for Flower, not knowing that Riley had given Flower her idol in an attempt to get Aowyn sent home. When Aowyn started to pick up on bad vibes, she begged for Ano and Jake to help split the vote between Flower and Sparky. Ano was nervous to do this, but ultimately decided to trust Aowyn, and thank the lord that they did. This thwarted Flower and Sparky’s secret plan to take out Jake with Riley’s idol, and Ano, Riley, and Aowyn were able to send Sparky home on the revote.

Once again, Ano won immunity, and once again they were in a position of power. Flower was the biggest threat in the game, but he wasn’t going down without a fight. Ano had a strong relationship with Aowyn, but Flower pointed out that Aowyn and Jake would never flip on each other at F4, meaning Ano and Riley would be screwed if they both survived to see that. Ano decided that it was best for their game to send Jake home, knowing that Flower had a lower chance of winning F4 immunity. Riley went along with this, breaking up Aowyn and Jake for good. At the F4, Ano made a deal with Flower and Aowyn to go to the end together, but when Riley won immunity they were forced to flip on Flower. Flower sent Ano a vote on his way out to ruin his “perfect game.”

Ano hadn’t just survived… they had made it to FTC, and with a real shot to win. I know it’s hard to be a zero vote finalist, but this doesn’t mean that Ano’s game wasn’t incredible. They overcame incredible odds, and then had a lot of control in the endgame when it mattered most. They were a swing vote that sent home massive threats like Roman, Sparky, Jake, and Flower, and had core relationships with players like Aowyn that helped make this happen. They played the cleanest game of all three finalists, while Riley and Aowyn’s games were more aggressive but had more holes. Ano didn’t get any votes to win, but they are by no means a goat. They walked away with the Underdog award by a mile, and also earned nominations for Hero, Best Duo (alongside Aowyn), and was this close to winning Fan Favorite in an incredibly competitive pool. Ano was the heart and soul of this season, and spec lounge always had their back. It was hard to watch Ano get beaten down so hard time and time again when they were playing such a great UTR game. It was an absolute pleasure to host Ano, and this season just wouldn’t have been the same without them.

### **Nominations**

**Hero**

Ano is a swell individual all around, and they were easily one of the protagonists of this season. They started off on a rough spot before the merge, but the spec lounge was always on their side. Ano had a very humble approach to the game, and even when they were making hard choices like flipping on Jake at the Final Five they were still doing so with so much love and respect. They were super loyal to (most of) their allies, and was a very reliable number towards the end for the people they were aligned with. They made it to the end with a clean and honorable game, and even if they didn’t walk away with the win they deserve recognition for how they chose to approach this game.

**Best Duo (With Aowyn)**

Ano and Aowyn didn’t start this game as a duo, but they sure ended it as one. I can’t pinpoint exactly where this pair began, but once they were locked in together, there was no separating them. They voted together through the majority of the merge, and this pair was instrumental in the masterful split plan that thwarted Flower’s scheme to eliminate Jake at the F6. Aowyn wasn’t willing to vote for Jake at the F5, so Ano’s flip was the only place they really diverged throughout the merge. At F4, it looked like these two were inseparable, meaning that Riley and Flower were really in the hot seat. Sure enough, Ano and Aowyn stuck together to the very end, duking it out at FTC like all duos always hope they can. While neither of them won in the end, it was so great to watch them run so much of the endgame together and go as afar as they could.

**Best Move (Orange's Blindside)**

This round was so chaotic, and I think it might have been the longest recap of the season. So many plans came and went, and I only want to go so far in detail here (mostly because I don’t have time to crack this egg open again), but it pretty much ended with everyone wanting to pile the votes into Sparky and see someone get idoled out. Everyone wanted a different final target, so the social dynamics at play were wild. Everyone was leaking everything, and everyone wanted to get their way here. After two easy votes at the start of the merge, this was where the dam broke. Ultimately, Sparky somehow ended up receiving 0 votes, and Roman perfectly read the situation in order to play her idol and send the most socially powerful player (Orange) home. The best move of the round looks like Roman’s idol play, but so much was happening behind the scenes that it’s hard to say that anyone really played this round poorly. Everyone was on top of their game, everyone was working overtime to get their plan in place, and it was the start of the best merge game this ORG has seen.

**Best Move (The Jake Betrayal)**

This is a classic Survivor moment, and despite its simplicity it really stood out as a defining moment of the season. Ano and Riley had both been loyal to Jake for pretty much the entire game, and Jake was a beloved player who seemed poised to make it to the end and very possibly win it all. When people finally recognized this, it left Aowyn, Ano, and Riley with a heartbreaking choice. They could either keep Jake (who they all loved) but essentially hand him the win, or cut the biggest threat and sever that relationship in order to give themselves a better shot at the end. Aowyn made her choice to stand by Jake, while Ano decided to vote against him. Riley’s choice was the hardest of all, though. When she voted out Jake, she voted out her best friend in the game. This hurt her almost as much as it hurt him. For days, she wondered whether this was the right move, but I think we can definitively say that it was based on how the season ended. Jake’s sacrifice was the move that allowed Riley to win it all, and it proved how badly she wanted to go all the way. It was a hard move, but it was the right one.

**Fan Favorite**

It seemed like half of the spec lounge was here to watch Ano and cheer them on, and it’s no surprise to see why. Ano was a fairly Under the Radar player for a lot of the game, and their genuine and sincere personality matched this style of play perfectly. They’re chill, down to earth, and very easy to love. Players like this become even more lovable when they take on the role of the underdog like Ano was forced to, because everyone is watching with bated breath to see how they survive rough situations one after the other. It was hard, because this cast wasn’t always on Ano’s side, and they really had to fight the perception that they were a goat. I hope Ano knows how incredible of a human they are, which is exactly why they were nominated for this award. It was a joy to host Ano this season, and we’re all so happy that they made FTC and we never had to watch the game without them in it.

### **Awarded**

**Underdog**

Ano is the underdog archetype that is the most fun to watch. They’re one of those players that, from the spec lounge, it’s obvious to see how well they’re playing the game, but then the rest of the cast just can’t see it for whatever reason. Ano was never trying to pull any shady moves, yet they weren’t always trusted. Ano was a very loyal ally, yet nobody wanted to align with them. Ano was on the chopping block as a potential name basically from the beginning to the end, so it is a testament to their skill as a player that they made FTC. They were one challenge win away from tying Victoria for the most wins in a season, and a lot of these wins happened exactly when Ano would’ve been sent packing otherwise. They received the perfect advantage from the DOMT that they needed to save themselves, extending their stay a bit further. Then, they were finally deep enough in the game to rely on the few allies they had, and avoid a target despite their in-game resume of achievements. By no means should Ano have made the end based on how they were seen by the cast early on in the season, but they pulled it off. The spec lounge never stopped rooting for them, and we’re so happy to have seen Ano succeed here.

**Best Move (The Dongoosh Clusterfuck)**

This move was chaos incarnate, and there was certainly a lot of BS involved here. Yet, looking at it closely, a lot of people played this round really well. Jake played his advantage at the perfect time, and wound up winning immunity because of it. Ano was very smart to use their SWOP and remove Jake from the game, leaving their alliance with a lot of control. Riley was able to save her idol thanks to her relationship with Flower, who was able to use his mimic idol thanks to his relationship with Orange. Flower and Riley expertly navigated Roman’s Throne card that allowed her see parchments, changing Riley’s vote (and Aowyn’s, since Flower had lost his vote to the mimic idol) at the last second to prevent Roman from knowing they were trying to blindside her and Sparky. Roman easily got Sparky to play his idol after seeing them change their votes, a testament to her social game with Sparky. Roman threw a rogue vote onto Riley in order to cover for an idol play (which was a good read even if she threw it into the wrong direction). Only two votes counted in this Tribal Council despite 8 players being in the game, and this was a testament to everyone having good reads, playing advantages at the perfect time, and all moving optimally to try to outplay each other. Dongoosh was the ultimate casualty, and it was heartbreaking to see, but this was still top notch gameplay across the board.