Annaliese

Tribe(s): Lunda, Nguvu
Finish: Sole Survivor/20
Days Lasted: 39

Annaliese is a contestant from *Survivor: The Congo*.

## Survivor: The Congo

Annaliese began *Survivor: The Congo* originally on the pink Lunda tribe. From the early stages of the game, Annaliese formed a close bond with Alisha, Ashley, Catherine and Sophie because of their shared histories as models from the United Kingdom. Whilst Lunda won the first two immunity challenges of the season, Annaliese’s group created the aptly named The British Invasion alliance. The girls also bonded with Helena and brought her into their alliance in order to form the majority on the tribe. When Lunda lost for the first time on Day 9, The British Invasion voted out Alex because they were a social threat and physical liability, which caused their ally Sukhvinder to isolate herself. On Day 11, Annaliese found a clue that the Hidden Immunity Idol would be hidden at the next immunity challenge. Despite successfully finding the idol, Annaliese and the rest of The British Invasion returned to camp and fought with Sukhvinder, who claimed that Annaliese had stolen the idol because she also found its clue.

This confrontation caused Sukhvinder to quit the game when the two tribes met together for a surprise announcement on Day 12. A tribe switch occurred following her departure, where Annaliese remained on Lunda with Ashley, Helena, Sophie and Sue whilst being joined by Ilona and Lemon from the rival Bemba tribe. The original Lunda members had the majority on this new tribe, though it was clear to The British Invasion that Sue was going to work with Ilona and Lemon instead. This still gave Annaliese and the rest of her alliance a 4-3 majority on Lunda. When the tribe lost their first challenge together on Day 18, The British Invasion decided to vote for Lemon. At tribal council however, Ashley was blindsided because Helena flipped to work with Ilona, Lemon and Sue. This left Annaliese and Sophie on the bottom of Lunda. Although it seemed clear either player would be voted out when Lunda lost the following immunity challenge, Annaliese played her idol at tribal council and Sue was voted out with the only two votes that counted from the pair.

Annaliese made the merge on Day 23, where she and Sophie were reunited with Alisha and Catherine from The British Invasion. However, they were clearly down in numbers after many of their former allies had turned against them. The alliance voted for Estelle at the first merged tribal council, but a faction was formed against them and The Maple Leaves in order to eliminate Ilona. With only eleven players remaining, The British Invasion retaliated against this attack by forming a majority of six with Lemon and Priyanka from The Maple Leaves. This alliance worked together at the following two tribal councils, where they eliminated Estelle and Erica. On Day 30, the majority planned to split their votes between Aliza and Helena in case either player found an idol. However, Annaliese and the rest of The British Invasion worried about Lemon and Priyanka potentially flipping on them to create a new majority with The Faction. At tribal council, Helena played her idol but the girls switched their vote to Priyanka and she was voted out.

When Nguvu returned to camp, Lemon expressed that she was upset over losing her closest ally whilst assuring The British Invasion she was a loyal ally. The girls decided to continue working with Lemon by splitting the votes between Aliza and Kari. Aliza stole Sophie’s vote and played her idol at tribal council, which caused a 2-2 tie between Kari and Sophie. Catherine voted for Kari at the revote in order to protect Sophie, but she was eliminated after Alisha and Lemon switched their vote. The British Invasion had lost a member, but were the most cohesive alliance left in the game. They voted out Aliza on Day 35 for masterminding Sophie’s elimination, following shortly by Kari. The three remaining members of The British Invasion held the majority at the Final Five, where they eliminated their allies Helena and Lemon in order to reach the Final Three together.

At the Final Tribal Council, Annaliese explained that her strategy was to use her social connections to gather as much information as possible in order to execute every 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 forcing 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 from Aliza, Estelle, Erica, Ilona, Kari, Lemon, Priyanka and Sophie.

## Trivia

* Annaliese and Catherine hold the record for the most individual immunity wins during *The Congo*, with three.
* Annaliese is currently the only woman to start the game on a pink tribe and win the game.
* She is the second Black woman to win *Survivor*, following Jen.