The British Invasion

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

The British Invasion was an alliance from Survivor: The Congo.

A group of British models on the all-female *Survivor* season formed the aptly named British Invasion alliance. They became the majority on their original tribe after bringing in another player to their side. Despite losing one of their own before the merge, they joined forces with their adversaries in order to dismantle The Faction and enter the endgame in a position of power.

## History

### The Original Six

The pink Lunda tribe was formed on Day 1 of *Survivor: The Congo*. Over the course of the first 48 hours of the game, Alisha, Annaliese, Ashley, Catherine and Sophie formed a close relationship because of their shared histories as models from the United Kingdom. They unified their bond by creating The British Invasion alliance, though the girls were looking for an extra member in order to hold the majority on the tribe. The British Invasion gathered intel on the rest of their tribe members and eventually decided to include Helena into their alliance on Day 4. When Lunda lost their first immunity challenge on Day 9, The British Invasion eliminated Alex for being a social threat and physical liability.

When Lunda returned from tribal council, Sukhvinder expressed her frustration with The British Invasion and lashed out over losing her ally. In the lead up to the next immunity challenge, two separate clues to the Hidden Immunity Idol were located around the Lunda camp. Sukhvinder found one of these clues near the lake after confronting The British Invasion, whilst Annaliese found the second clue near Tree Mail. With her alliance distracting the rest of the tribe after the immunity challenge on Day 11, Annaliese claimed the idol as her own before Sukhvinder. This caused a huge confrontation back at camp because Sukhvinder believed that she was the only person with an idol clue, and therefore, the only person who could hold the idol. Sukhvinder only grew more upset when Alisha and Ashley aggressively defended Annaliese whilst her allies stayed quiet throughout the whole ordeal. This argument greatly affected Sukhvinder, to the point that she elected to quit the game when the tribes met together on Day 12.

### The Switch: Bemba

A Tribe Switch occurred on Day 12, where Alisha and Catherine from The British Invasion were switched to the green Bemba tribe with Erica. The girls appeared to be in the minority over original Bemba members Estelle, Kari, Priyanka and Rio, though Estelle assured the Lunda women that they were not a united front. Estelle told the trio that she was willing to flip to their side to split up Kari and Rio, who were considered a tight pair on the original Bemba tribe. Despite never working together, Alisha, Erica and Catherine agreed this was their best move going forward and leading into the merge. At their first loss on Day 15, Alisha, Erica, Estelle and Catherine had the numbers and Rio was voted out. The Bemba tribe returned to camp with Aliza, who was not assigned a tribe during the Tribe Switch and was instead sent to Exile Island. Alisha and Catherine were still confident in their new relationships with Erica and Estelle, but recognised that Aliza was a huge social and strategic threat. They also feared she found an idol or advantage during her time on exile, and were hoping to flush this out before the tribes merged. Despite this, the Bemba tribe won the following two immunity challenges.

### The Switch: Lunda

Meanwhile, Annaliese, Ashley and Sophie remained on the Lunda tribe with Helena and Sue. They were joined by Ilona and Lemon from the original Bemba tribe. Although they had no personal or strategic relationship with Sue, The British Invasion were confident they still held the majority because of their bond with Helena. When Lunda lost their first immunity challenge on Day 18, The British Invasion decided to vote for Lemon because she considered more calculated than the emotionally motivated Ilona. However, Ashley was blindsided when Sue convinced Helena to work with The Maple Leaves because she was clearly at the bottom of The British Invasion. Annaliese and Sophie were hurt that Helena turned her back on their alliance, though they were also upset that Sue correctly identified the power dynamics of their alliance. Although Lunda lost the next immunity challenge on Day 22, Annaliese revealed to Sophie that she had an idol. The pair worried The Maple Leaves would split votes between Annaliese and Sophie, though Sophie believed Annaliese should play her idol for herself. She cancelled all four votes from The Maple Leaves at tribal council, which meant Sue was voted out with the two votes from The British Invasion.

### The Merge

The British Invasion reunited when the tribes merged on Day 23 and began planning on their course of action as the majority alliance. Alisha and Catherine felt they had Erica and Estelle on their side because of their time on Bemba, but Annaliese and Sophie were left in the minority on their switched tribe. Their plan was to keep Erica and Estelle by their side for the first few votes, but they were so excited to be reunited that they socialised within their quartet. At the first merged tribal council, the alliance voted for Estelle but Aliza created a new alliance called The Faction that blindsided Ilona. The girls were upset they didn't reassure Erica or Estelle more, but Lemon and Priyanka suggested their alliances join forces against The Faction. This new group of six had the numbers at the next two tribal councils, where The British Invasion persuaded The Maple Leaves into voting out their allies turned enemies, Estelle and Erica.

### Internal Invasion

The British Invasion saw themselves as the most powerful alliance at the Final Nine. They were a tight alliance of four, but also formed an alliance of six with Lemon and Priyanka from The Maple Leaves. This group originally agreed to split their votes between Aliza and Helena at tribal council, with the intention of eliminating Helena at the revote. At tribal council, The British Invasion scared Helena into playing her idol and switched their votes to blindside Priyanka because they feared her and Lemon could flip to form a new majority with The Faction. The British Invasion returned to camp and reassured Lemon that she was a valued member of their alliance, and they sympathised that she had lost her entire alliance. The told Lemon they wanted to target Aliza at the next tribal council because she created The Faction, though Annaliese and Catherine voted for Kari in the event The Faction had an advantage or idol. When Aliza played her idol at tribal council, a tie occurred between Kari and Sophie. Lemon was feeling soured by Priyanka's blindside and decided to vote for Sophie at the revote. Alisha was also growing irritated with Sophie and felt that her elimination would solidify her position in the Final Three with Annaliese and Catherine. These two votes, in addition to the two votes from Aliza and Helena, meant that Sophie was blindsided at the revote.

### British Final Three

When the players returned to camp, Alisha and Lemon explained their reasons for eliminating Sophie. Annaliese and Catherine were upset they had lost an ally, but recognised it was in their best interest to still work with Alisha and Lemon because The British Invasion still had the numbers. Helena approached her original allies after Kari won the individual immunity challenge and explained that she was willing to work with them in order to get rid of Aliza, who was considered the biggest threat in the game. The British Invasion already planned on voting for Aliza, and had the numbers without Helena, but decided to bring her into this plan because they felt she could still be useful to their games. At tribal council, Alisha, Annaliese, Catherine, Helena and Lemon eliminated Aliza. Despite being a trio at the Final Six, Alisha, Annaliese and Catherine were confident that Helena and Lemon wanted to work with them to get rid of Kari as the last loyal member of The Faction. Kari was voted out at the next tribal council, but they were shocked that Annaliese received two votes. This solidified to the women that Helena and Lemon were not as trustworthy as they first thought, and any plans to bring them to the Final Three over a founder of The British Invasion were quickly dropped. Annaliese won the final two individual immunity challenges, and The British Invasion eliminated Helena and Lemon in quick succession.

At the Final Tribal Council, Catherine tried to highlight that she was a loyal member of The British Invasion who also protected herself by winning a number of individual immunity challenges. However, the jury felt that Catherine floated her way through the game and only made it to Day 39 because she merely followed plans that were made by her allies. Alisha explained how she entered the game knowing her emotions could be her downfall and, after arguing with Sukhvinder about the Lunda idol before she quit, wanted to play the rest of the game with more integrity and less confrontation. She also highlighted the fact that she was the only player to never receive votes at any tribal council. Although the jury respected Alisha's journey, many felt that she needed to take more risks once she reached the merge in order to prove she was deserving of the win.

Annaliese explained that her strategy was to use her social connections to gather as much information as possible in order to execute a plan. This began with her finding the Lunda idol, which was useful when she found herself in an underdog position with Sophie during the switch. Her goal during the merge was to keep The British Invasion united and protected, which led to her and Catherine switching their vote to Kari and force a tie on the night Sophie was voted out. Despite this switch not leading to Kari's elimination, the jury was impressed with Annaliese constantly thinking about moves she needed to make to ensure she and her alliance would advance in the game. Annaliese was ultimately awarded the title of Sole Survivor after earning eight of nine jury votes, with Helena being the sole vote for Alisha.

## Trivia

* The British Invasion holds the record for the alliance with the most failed split vote attempts, with two.