Clara Souza

**Clara Souza** is the Sole Survivor of *Survivor 25*.

Initially an outside of the majority Pemuja tribe, Clara's position put her in danger of becoming the first boot, but her ability to sway Jalen Bailey and Malayiah Howard gave her a second chance in the game. At the swap, Clara integrated herself in multiple alliances that would take her to the merge. At the merge, Clara continued to influence multiple vote outs while using her social bonds to keep the target off of her and reclaim power after losing control for two votes. With the power back in Clara's control along with her allies being her strongest relationships, Clara was able to reach Final Tribal Council. After sitting next to the juror's perceptive notion of her "puppy dogs", Clara was given tons of credit for her ability to be a top dog in the game, which would earn her the title of Sole Survivor in a 6-3-0 vote over Phenix and Sammie.

## Profile

**Age:** 25

**Current Residence:** Los Angeles, Ca.

**Occupation:** Dancer

## Survivor

Clara was a member of the Pemuja tribe, consisting of fans of the show. Clara started the game on the outside of a Fan's majority alliance alongside Danica Boiko, Francine Lamb and Talon Rowe, but due to the Fan's ability to win challenge, they were able to survive for the first seven days of the game.

When the Fans lost their first immunity challenge on Day 8, the majority alliance set their target on Clara as the first easy target. Realizing that she would become the first voted out, Clara went to work to rally the support of the fellow minority members in the tribe. Clara, Danica and Francine agreed that Alex would be their best option to target in order to survive. Holding nothing back Clara tried to plant seeds of doubts with Jalen Bailey and Malayiah Howard. At Tribal Council, Clara managed to flip the power to her side to blindside Alex Montilla. However, after Vinh's evacuation sped up the pace of the game, the tribes were surprised by a tribe swap on Day 10.

Clara remained on the Pemuja tribe alongside original tribe members Adrianna, Phenix Hernandez and Talon Rowe. Immediately playing in the reward and immunity challenge, the new Pemuja tribe dominated and earned immunity. Wanting a fresh start, Clara wanted to make an all-girls alliance with Adrianna, Kasey Portero and Sammie Woodside that would have half of the votes on their tribe. Shortly after the formation of the new alliance, Clara was included in an alliance with Adrianna, Phenix, Sammie and Talon to keep the original Fans together with Sammie who was willing to work with the fans. During this time, Clara became very close with Phenix despite their opposition in the early days of the game. Her alliance's loyalties were not tested until they lost their first immunity challenge on Day 17. Clara was in a protected position with her allies in the tribe that she decided to sit back and let her Adrianna and Sammie spearhead Patrick Palicio vote off. Following their only Tribal Council, the Pemuja won the final immunity challenge before the merge.

The two tribes came together on Day 20 as the Alyak Tribe. The Pemuja tribe had the number advantage against the Berhala tribe in a 7 to 5 ratio. Clara felt threatened by Kenza Bannani considering her the most strategic player in the opposing alliance. Clara informed her alliances that Kenza would be the best option for them to target. At Tribal Council, the vote went Clara's way and Kenza was voted out. Coming out of Tribal Council with the vote going accordingly, Clara set her sights on Molan Bai considering her the next biggest threat to their alliance. When Molan failed to win immunity, Clara believed her alliance had the votes to take her out of the game. However, unaware to her, Kasey and Talon would flip to the Swapped Berhala Alliance's side to blindside Ben Dubois. With the power shifting away from her, Clara felt worried that she would be their next target, luckily for her, Clara won the following individual immunity challenge. Completely suspecting Talon as the flipper, Clara was unaware to the other flip vote, and wouldn't suspect Kasey when she reaffirmed her loyalty to her. At Tribal Council, Clara was left out of the vote when Adrianna was voted out.

On Day 30, Clara returned from the immunity challenge without immunity. Needing to secure her safety, Clara attempted to offer an olive branch to Molan by an alliance consisting of Kasey, Phenix and Sammie along with the two of them. Clara and Sammie felt that their key to flipping the votes back in their favor would be by targeting Ziya. Clara was able to convince Kasey and Phenix to vote in her favor. At Tribal Council, Clara's plan worked when Ziya became voted out in a 6-3 vote. With no one expecting the vote to work in their favor, Clara scrambled during the second vote of the Double Elimination to come up with Francine as the next target, opposed to Molan. With Jax Nicholson flipping to their side as well, Clara convinced her alliance and Jax to vote Francine out. Returning from Tribal Council, back in the power position from the start of the merge, Clara reevaluated her strategy to keep her in power.

On Day 33 when Kasey started to push for Talon to be the next target rather than Molan. Clara caught on quickly that Kasey was the person playing in the middle of the game. Despite her suspicions, Clara didn't have enough time to convince her allies that Kasey was the mole in their alliance. In the end, Clara went with Kasey's plan to vote out Talon. After Tribal Council, Clara was relieved to know that Sammie became aware of Kasey's antics as well. However, Sammie believed Kasey should go home after Molan. With the tribe turning against Kasey, their plans were halted when she won immunity, forcing Clara to change her target to Jax instead of Molan, believing Molan was more predictable and loyal than Jax. At Tribal Council, Jax was voted out thanks to Clara's push. When Kasey won the following immunity challenge, Clara was left no choice but to target Molan as the only option left besides her two allies. The only obstacle in Clara's way of Final Tribal Council was Kasey winning the immunity challenge. Luckily for her, Phenix won the final immunity challenge allowing Clara to keep her allies together to vote out Kasey one day short of Final Tribal Council.

At the Final Tribal Council, Clara listened to her fellow allies to be criticized by the jurors. When the jurors spoke with Clara, they were impressed by her influence over the alliance to target multiple members on the jury without becoming a major target for them. Clara was considered the big dog sitting next to her baby puppies. Despite Phenix's attempt to prove his independence from Clara, his speech was not enough to sway enough votes. The jury awared Clara the title of Sole Survivor over Phenix and Sammie in a 6-3-0 vote.

## Trivia

* Clara is the first bisexual woman to win the game.
* Clara is the first first-time contestant to defeat a returning player at the Final Tribal Council.