Maria

Tribe(s): Samburu, Boran, Moto Maji
Finish: Runner-Up/24
Days Lasted: 39

Maria is a contestant from *Survivor: Africa*.

## Survivor: Africa

Maria began *Survivor: Africa* originally on the red Samburu tribe, which was initally dysfunctional because she, Angelo, Victoria and Yvie all wanted the tribe run their way. Over the first few days, Maria and her closest ally Emily found themselves in an anti-Victoria alliance with Angelo, Ray, Ryan, Sarah and Yvie. When Samburu lost the first immunity challenge, this majority alliance eliminated Victoria. With their biggest target now gone, tension within the alliance grew to the point that Angelo and Yvie argued as they fought to be the new leader of the tribe. At Samburu's second tribal council, Maria and Emily remained loyal to Yvie by voting for Angelo but the tribe eliminated Yvie for being too confrontational. After being left in the minority, the girls were given new life when Angelo approached them with the idea of blindsiding Sarah. Maria voted with this plan when Samburu lost again, but Sarah caught wind of this plan and flipped the votes in order to eliminate Angelo. Both tribes were then told they would be attending a Double Tribal Council on Day 12, where Maria, Emily and Ray decided to tweak Angelo's last plan by targeting Ryan but Ray was eliminated.

At the tribe switch, Maria was switched to the Boran along with Colby, Curtis and Shelby where they joined original Boran players David, Ethan, Palesa, Sophie and Tom. Even though the original Samburu castaways agreed to vote as a united group, Maria worried about her position because she was not switched with her closest ally Emily. At the tribes first loss on Day 18, the original Samburu players voted for Palesa but Boran voted out Colby. When the tribes lost again on Day 22, Palesa and Tom approached Samburu with a plan to vote together to eliminate Ethan. Maria voted with Palesa and Tom because she saw this as an opportunity to make new connections, but Curtis and Shelby shared this plan with the rest of Boran and Tom was blindsided. When Maria made the merge on Day 25, the original Samburu castaways told her they needed to work together against the seven Borans. This angered Maria because Ryan and Sarah hadn't worked with her since the very first Samburu tribal council and voted out Emily, whilst Curtis and Shelby just flipped on her to eliminate Tom. Palesa then held a meeting with Samburu because she wanted to work with them and force a 6-6 tie at the first merged tribal council. As much as Maria wanted to work with Palesa, she shared this information with the rest of Boran because she wanted them to target Samburu. At tribal council, Maria voted with Boran and Palesa was made the first member of the jury.

With Maria an official member of the Boran Alliance, the group used their numbers advantage to split the votes between Curtis and Ryan but a tied vote occurred between Curtis and David, who Samburu voted for. Though Maria voted for Curtis during the revote, Ethan and Sophie switched their vote to eliminate David. Through a series of convoluted lies that Benji told Boran, the majority split their votes between Curtis and Sarah. This plan worked because Sharn saved herself with an idol and Sarah was voted out with the second highest number of votes. The Boran Alliance continued to work together and Shelby, Curtis and Ryan were consecutively voted out as Maria planned at the first merged tribal council. This brought Maria to the Final Six as an outsider amongst the trio of Benji, Sharn and Shonee, and the pair of Ethan and Sophie. After failing to win individual immunity, Maria held conversations with both of these groups and voted with Ethan, Sophie and an angry Sharn to blindside Benji. She then decided to vote with Sharn and Shonee to eliminate Sophie because the trio believed that Ethan and Sophie were the strongest pairing left in the game.

Maria guaranteed herself a place at the Final Three by winning the final individual immunity challenge. In deciding who to bring to the end, Maria wanted to bring Sharn because she didn't find her a strong opponent. She wasn't sure whether she wanted to bring Ethan or Shonee because Maria believed both players were likeable players with a good social game, but were weaker strategists. Maria ended up voting with Ethan and Sharn to eliminate Shonee. At the Final Tribal Council, Maria was met with disdain by the Samburu jurors but explained that her flipping was best for her game and she would've never made it to Day 39 if she continued working with them. Maria apologised to Palesa for turning on her, but said she didn't regret making that choice for her own game. She also mentioned how she won four of the last five individual immunity challenges to ensure her safety, despite feeling secure with her Boran allies. In the end, Maria couldn't convince enough of Samburu to vote for her and was awarded the title of Runner-Up after earning three of nine jury votes from Palesa, Sarah and Shonee.

## Trivia

* Maria holds the record for the most individual immunity challenge wins during *Survivor: Africa*, with four.
* Maria was the highest ranking member of the original Samburu tribe.