Sage

**Sage** (Savage Sage#8390) is the Runner-Up of Season 7 & placed 7th in Survivor Season 10.

Initially a quiet character on Papukeni, Sage spent much of the premerge UTR and making small bonds. He would have a bit of a safety net on top of this, as he quickly found the Papukeni Hidden Immunity idol. At the swap, Sage would be near INV as with the entire Nu Yalo Tribe, as they did not need to try on the new tribe due to not losing any challenges. At the merge, however, Sage’s game ramped up 100% as he was instantly exposed in Captaincy as having the best social game by far, being very noticeably higher than everyone else on the trust rankings. While set up for an early to mid merge burnout due to this, Sage messily pleaded with his tribemates that he had no idea how this happened, that they were his only number ones, etc. This was very effective and pulled the wool back over their eyes, with all but Roci now blinded to Sage pulling the strings for many rounds to come. Sage was partially or totally responsible for the departure of every player at the merge minus Leo. On the Brian vote, Sage was the most active in gaining numbers and making clear to people the votes would be swinging this way to ensure his bonds with the Yalos, which his OG Papukeni did not have minus Nehemiah, stayed intact. At the Nehemiah vote, Sage was once again particularly influential and one of the more vocal people behind a Nehmiah blindside being good, namely because this left the Yalo votes once again more dependent on him than other Papukeni. When Ron won immunity, it was deemed mostly by Sage that AJ was the next biggest threat due to a middling game, and a vote that would hold up his alliances without exposing himself too much. At the Survivor Auction, Sage was also able to secure himself a second Hidden Immunity Idol, making him by far and definitively the most dangerous player in the game. It was at this point in the game that Sage, despite having immeasurable power, began to make a few mistakes in the game that would be costly later on. Due to knowing he was such a powerful player and feeling it obvious, Sage occaisonally spoke of the other players along the lines of “dumb” for not realizing something so obvious. Additionally, when Roci played her SWOP suspiciously close to when Nikki voiced not wanting Roci out, Sage went on the warpath against Nikki and instantly flipped the votes on her for being “sus,” blindsiding someone who would be a very bitter juror attempting to poison the jury against him when he did not necessarily need to at that time. Sage would then go on to dictate the Roci vote, and guarantee himself the Final 4 due to still possessing two idols, one of which he used to make a move on jury threat Jesse. At this stage in the game, it was very clear that Sage was completely and entirely running the game, with many people urging the tribe to get him out before it was too late… even though it already was! At the Final 5, Sage’s end game plans were slightly foiled by Kiri using advantages to get Leo out of the game, but he was not pressed as he felt his game should beat anyone left. At the Final 4, Sage secured a clutch immunity win and guaranteed himself a spot in the Final 3, feeling very confident that he was going to win due to the rest of the tribe pretty much letting him dictate the entire merge. However, at the Final Tribal Council, Sage was blasted by the Jury for lacking Jury management and saying “questionable things,” despite these same players being okay with said things while in the game themselves. It became clear to Sage that he had partially failed a crucial aspect of the game, while also that some on the Jury were just completely bitter that they were voted out by him despite being complacent with the power he possessed while actively in the game. Additionally, the Jury was very hungry the entire game to see Sage give them any crumbs of his game or plans at Tribal Councils, but Sage opted instead to fake sass production for asking him questions and give very non-answer answers, while he didn’t fully commit to being a villain as well. This left him in a sort of morally gray area that was stale to many Jurors, further souring their perceptions that he may just be a cocky person. Finally, some in the Jury thought Sage played unimpressive considering he “needed idols,” despite Sage answering extremely well that you need social skills to even play these successfully… and he made it to the literal final rounds he could use them. Seeing all of this negativity humbled Sage, who went on to apologize for most things and state that he felt his back was up against the wall the entire game given how dominantly he played, and that he may have thought too much of the other contestants to assume they’d feel the same during the game. This won some Jurors over, and now made them have a very strong debate on their hands; do they award someone who played flashily and dominantly but failed to really establish a character or genuine seeming social bonds, or someone who navigated all the chaos while still having a threat level? In the end, an extremely close vote favored the latter, controversially rendering Sage as the Runner-Up of the season in a 4-3-1 vote despite the entire Jury being aware that he was behind almost every single move.

Placed on the Beauty Tribe in Season 10 for his cult like leadership of allies in his prior season, Sage would begin the season a bit rocky. Disliked by several of his allies, namely Katt, Sage had his work cut out for him when several tribemates seemed to imply via confessional he had an ego. Whether this was because of his wiki entry for Season 7 or genuine behavior, Sage would change perceptions slowly to become a trusted and core member of Totoka. Unlike his last season, Sage was in his "peace and love" era this season, refusing to play a backstabby game and intending to be a ride or die for his allies. This would cause some friction in particular with Dangan later in the game, who was looking forward to playing with ultra villain Sage and was taken aback at Sage's unwillingness to ally with another notorious villain. Despite being a constant target due to his reputation, Sage's new approach to the game saw him carried deep into the merge. While set to potentially keep thriving and make a more heroic endgame with his allies, Sage's game would fall apart when Dangan won immunity and Anthony would use SWP, removing two major targets. Dangan would make a show of this Tribal Council, when at the last minute he implored Denim to use an idol if he had one due to the rumor circulating for rounds that he could possess one, telling him Sage and his allies were lying to him. Denim took Dangan's warning and played an idol, negating 4 votes against himself and sending a slightly bitter Sage to the jury with 3 votes. He is remembered for his several alliances related to the Spice Girls from Australian Survivor, as he wanted to be "naughty" as Shonee said despite playing this particular season very heroic.