Barney Andersen

***Barney*** was a castaway on Essential Survivor: Anarchy. He later returned for Essential Survivor: Peru

## Anarchy

If there’s one word for Barney’s game, it’s smart. He put an amazing level of thought into every single thing he did, so even though it didn’t work out, he definitely showed his skills as a player. From the get-go, Barney tried to make connections with several people and take full advantage of the Anarchy theme. He did a good job, and started to assemble his army - specifically aligning himself with Mink, Zebeem, Raini, and later Jess. He found not one but two Hidden Immunity Idols (in part due to knowing the system from Visionary Survivor).

Barney lost the initial challenge - a weakness that was fairly common in his game - and had already made the social connections to target whoever he wanted to target. He was able to sway the tribe to make Dom, Parker, and Tal the targets, because he hadn’t made connections with them. When Parker lied about having an idol, Barney clocked his duo with Tal, and considered splitting the vote on them. However, he and his allies ultimately decided against it and chose to go with Dom, the safe vote. Barney also began to target Joseph here.

Going into the second episode, Barney didn’t strive to win the challenge, preferring to vote someone out over safety. He found out an alliance led by Joseph comprised of the people immune in the first round, and connected with Kam by using that information and telling her about his idol. Going into the vote, Barney noted that Lauren, Cillian, and Joseph were starting to look shady. When Lauren began to indicate that the trio was targeting Elle, Barney rallied his numbers to take out Cillian, while planting seeds about Joseph being a good next target and leaving Lauren on the outs.

While he slightly burned Lauren by doing this, Barney made a stronger connection with Elle over the vote. He tried to recruit allies for the purpose of sending home Joseph, including Finley, and gamed the challenge to optimize the chances of Joseph going. Barney played a role in convincing Finley to not tie the vote, but the odds of that occurring were low anyway. Once she was onboard, the tribe sent home Joseph with few short-term issues…however, Lauren and Jayla started to catch onto how Jess and Barney had cut Joseph.

With his nemesis gone, Barney started to go under-the-radar the following round. He preferred Jayla to be the boot anyway, and when Jess and Charles came up with a plan to get rid of her, he was thrilled to go along with it. Barney solidified his alliances with Finley and Elle by making a trio with them, and noted Charles and Zebeem going under the radar. Jayla went, and that was that, though Jayla publicly called out him, Jess, and Finley.

Come the tribe swap, Barney was swapped onto a tribe with Mink, Raini, Charles Kam, Tal, and Parker. He started to be seen as a target, and his gameplay began to derail. Barney was with his steadfast allies in Mink and Raini, and needed Charles or Kam as his fourth against the Tal-Parker duo. Tal and Barney started to get into public fights, and Charles and Kam became the swing votes. Despite Tal’s calling out Kam, they both flipped to the Tal-Parker duo and voted for Barney. Barney wisely decided to use his idol here and take out Tal, and used his second idol on Charles, hoping to foster trust with him.

Barney began to regain some footing the next round, when Kam (seemed to) flip back to Barney’s side. Regardless of whether or not he did, Parker unexpectedly quit the game. After that, Barney gunned for challenge wins, recognizing his threat level. He also tried to take note of duos in the game. In the last pre-merge boot of the game, Barney lost immunity and went to tribal with Mink, Raini, Kam, and Charles. While it should’ve seemed like a straightforward vote with Barney’s trio choosing who went home between Charles and Kam, it was anything but. Kam flipped Raini to her side and the two decided to target Charles, with Barney pushing them that way. However, he and Mink snaked Kam by voting for her, rendering Kam and Charles tied 2-2-1. Now controlling the majority, Barney and Mink chose Kam to go between the two, with Raini joining in. Come the merge, Barney prayed for an idol or immunity win. He found neither, but tried to spill information regarding Kam to win trust. Barney put together a bold plan with his original numbers - Mink, Raini, Charles, and Zebeem - and pushed for Mink to play an idol and Charles to play an extra vote for him. He then went to Jess and tried to be straightforward with her, bluntly her out for spreading his name. He even tried to recruit Elle and split the votes between himself and Charles. However, everything fell apart for Barney when recognized the usual dead silence before tribal. Mink didn’t deliver the idol for him, the split vote didn’t happen, Charles didn’t use his extra vote for him, and Barney was eliminated by a vote of 7-3, with only Mink and Charles voting with him.

## Peru

Barney started the game off strong on the Inti tribe, and was well set up to make a deep run. He quickly became a strong social player and good confessionalist, and was not in any danger on OG Inti. He was well-connected and liked.

When Inti lost the 3rd challenge of the season, Barney was not in favor of Raini leaving, as they were an ally of his, but smartly laid low and didn’t do much to push his agenda, while others such as Contessa and Lindsay pushed hard on making a move against a power player, and Kristin’s name was floated. In the end, the vote settled on Raini as an inactive, and Barney voted with the majority.

Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, Barney’s activity took a massive hit after tribal, and he ended up quitting the game. His quit was for completely understandable and fair reasons, and everyone wished him the best as he departed in 17th place.

## Voting History

 Lost The Plot
 Boot Bingo
 Fakey McGee
 Barney