Huyopa

**Highest Placing Member**: Aisha (Sole Survivor/20)

Huyopa was the merged tribe from Survivor: San Juan Del Sur.

With a clear majority from the tribe switch, returning players were forced to turn on each other and break close friendships in order to survive deeper in the game. Their tribe colour was teal.

## Tribe History

The teal Huyopa tribe was formed on Day 19 of *Survivor: San Juan Del Sur*. Despite their disagreements, Domenic and Vanessa made amends at the merge with the intention of eliminating all members from the original Hunahpu tribe. This meant that the majority alliance from post switch Hunahpu containing Aisha, Domenic, Liam, Travis and Vanessa united with their allies on Coyopa, Katrina and Marina. Aisha and Travis still had their connection to Leo, Priya and Ryan from the original Hunahpu tribe, though the pair agreed they were a significantly weaker alliance to align with. Joel and Lina, as outsiders of both allies, formed a friendship and began to hatch a plan to overthrow the majority. They spoke with Leo, Priya and Ryan where it was agreed that Domenic was one of the biggest threats left in the game and he needed to be eliminated immediately. This group of five voted for him at tribal council, but the majority of seven eliminated Leo for being a likeable player and physical threat.

Though Domenic and Liam were well connected within the tribe, Aisha and Travis were concerned they could easily get the numbers to turn against them. They voiced this to Vanessa and she decided to speak up about this in order to earn power for herself and gain trust within her alliance. The original Coyopa allies from the majority agreed it would be easiest to vote for Lina at this vote, though Vanessa's campaign against Katrina forced Domenic and Liam to decide who they would remain loyal to. At the vote, the outsiders vote for Aisha, the twins vote for Lina as agreed but Domenic and Liam flip with the numbers to blindside Katrina. Marina was angry that her sister was voted out, and blamed Vanessa for this move even though it was encouraged by Aisha and Travis, and Domenic and Liam were responsible for flipping. She tried to speak with the minority to vote for Vanessa and at least tie the votes. Though they agreed, Joel and Lina weren't willing to go to rocks for Marina and told their alliance this. They also spoke to Vanessa and said that her named was being thrown around by Marina, which upset her. At tribal council, Marina voted alone for Vanessa, the minority voted for Liam and the majority alliance eliminated Marina.

    With their second options completely gone from the game, Domenic and Liam form a Final Two deal to the end. They decide to bring along Vanessa when creating a Final Three deal because they believe she will be considered a floater with the jury in the end. The boys think it is important to split up Aisha and Travis now before they become too strong of a pair and threaten their own survival. They approach Priya and Ryan who are seemingly at the bottom of the minority alliance. In response, Aisha and Travis align with Joel and Lina from the minority in order to target Priya when she flipped. This was unsuccessful, and Domenic and Liam's new majority eliminated Travis. Despite being in the minority, the strong alliance of three with Joel, Lina and Ryan wanted to flip the game in their favour. They approached Domenic and Liam with the intention of blindsiding Priya. Their plan is unsucessful, and the Hunahpu alliance of Aisha, Domenic, Liam and Vanessa along with Priya hold the power to eliminate Ryan, Joel and Lina in quick succession.

With only five castaways remaining in the game, the alliance of three with Domenic, Liam and Vanessa planned on targeting Priya at the next tribal council. However, Vanessa was concerned that if Aisha won the final immunity challenge, she would be targeted. In response, Vanessa aligned with Aisha and Priya where they blindsided Liam. The girls all agreed to take each other to the end, where it was contingent on Domenic getting voting out at tribal council. When he won individual immunity however, Vanessa ran back to Domenic and they decided who to take to the end. They felt that Priya had too many friends on the jury and Aisha wasn't responsible for enough big moves, and Priya became the final member of the jury.

At the Final Tribal Council, Vanessa was praised for taking her game in her own hands but was heavily criticised for flipping between alliances too often and not forming genuine bonds. Domenic was praised for making it to the end two appearances in a row, though many felt that he played much more conservatively this time around, hiding behind his relationships too often and burning bridges unnecessarily. Aisha was praised for playing an under the radar game with her closest ally Travis, and finding ways to align with the bigger threats once he was gone. In the end, Domenic earned two jury votes from Joel and Liam, Vanessa earned two jury votes from Katrina and Marina and Aisha was awarded the title of Sole Survivor after winning the votes from Leo, Lina, Priya, Ryan and Travis.

## Trivia

* Huyopa is the first teal merged tribe, and the first teal tribe overall, in *Survivor* history.
* Huyopa is the first of many merged tribes where its name is a combination of pre-merge tribes.