Samburu Alliance

**Highest Ranked**: Ryan (7/24)

The Samburu Alliance (originally known as the 'Anti-Victoria Alliance') was an alliance from Survivor: Africa.

Although this alliance was originally founded based on a common enemy, their elimination caused a shift in dynamics on the Samburu tribe. The second iteration of the alliance struggled to maintain power throughout the tribe switch, and were systematically eliminated once the tribes merged.

## History

### Anti-Victoria Origins

The red Samburu tribe was formed on Day 1 of *Survivor: Africa*. Samburu was initially a very dysfunctional tribe because various boisterous personalities, namely Angelo, Maria, Victoria and Yvie, wanted to assert themselves as the leader. Angelo, Maria and Yvie created a majority alliance with Emily, Ray, Ryan and Sarah with the intention of taking out Victoria, who believed she was best fit to lead the tribe because of her military background. When Samburu lost the first immunity challenge on Day 3, this alliance had the numbers to eliminate Victoria.

### New Leadership

The shared hatred that bonded the original Anti-Victoria Alliance started to crumble once their core target was voted out, though Yvie grew annoyed once Angelo starting assigning roles within the tribe. When Samburu lost again on Day 8, Angelo, Ryan and Sarah created a new majority with Colby, Curtis, Lance and Shelby in order to eliminate Yvie. Angelo thought he was in the strongest position on Samburu because he had flipped between the two alliances over the course of the first week of the game. However, Angelo was also felt threatened by his closest allies Ryan and Sarah who shared this feat with him. His plans to throw the pair under the bus were soon exposed, so Ryan and Sarah used their relationships to turn the majority of Samburu against Angelo when they lost again on Day 10. On Day 12, both tribes were told they would be voting someone out as part of a Double Tribal Council. The Samburu Alliance once again held the majority, where they voted out Ray.

### The Switch: Samburu

At the tribe switch on Day 13, Lance, Ryan and Sarah from the Samburu Alliance remained on Samburu with Emily. They were joined by Benji, Fenella, Heath, Sharn and Shonee, who held the majority on this new tribe. Ryan and Sarah worked with Emily as part of the Anti-Victoria Alliance and were hoping she would work with them again in order to attempt to overthrow the Boran majority. After losing their first challenge together, the Samburu Alliance were unsure who they wanted to target. Their luck turned for the better when Benji approached them with a plan to blindside Fenella at tribal council, which they agreed to follow. When Samburu lost again on Day 16, Emily ensured her own safety by winning the individual immunity challenge but the Boran Alliance worked together to eliminate Lance. This cemented the Samburu Alliance of Emily, Ryan and Sarah in the minority, where Emily was voted out when Samburu lost again on Day 20. Ryan and Sarah were looking for ways to break the bonds of the Boran Alliance, though their reprise only came when Samburu lost on Day 24 and Benji told them to vote for Heath. Sarah considered telling Heath about this blindside, but didn't in order to avoid painting a target on her back.

### The Switch: Boran

Meanwhile, Samburu Alliance members Colby, Curtis and Shelby were switched to the Boran tribe with Maria. They joined David, Ethan, Palesa, Sophie and Tom from the original Boran tribe. The Samburu Alliance convinced Maria it was in their best interest to work together as a united front against their rivals. At their first loss on Day 18, the Samburu Alliance attempted to turn the original Boran players on Palesa but they eliminated Colby for already winning two pre-merge individual immunity challenges. After Boran lost the challenge on Day 22, Palesa and Tom approached the Samburu Alliance with the prospect of blindsiding an original Boran player. However, Curtis and Shelby wanted to cause chaos amongst the Boran players and relayed this information to David, Ethan and Sophie. At tribal council, Curtis and Shelby worked with the trio to blindside Tom.

### The Merge

The only original Samburu players left in the game, Curtis, Maria, Ryan, Sarah and Shelby, reunited when the tribes merged at the Final Twelve on Day 25. Despite having a numbers disadvantage over the original Boran players, Palesa felt she had a strong relationship with Maria from the tribe switch and was willing to vote for Ethan in order to force a tie. Although the Samburu Alliance and Palesa voted for Ethan at tribal council, Maria shared this plan with the Boran Alliance and voted with them to eliminate Palesa. The Samburu Alliance felt dejected by Maria's betrayal and the fact they had no idols to save themselves from getting systematically voted out. The alliance voted for David at tribal council, and were surprised when a 4-4-3 tie occurred because the Boran Alliance split their votes between Curtis and Ryan. At the revote, Ryan, Sarah and Shelby voted for David and he was voted out after Ethan and Sophie switched their votes.

### Their Downfall

The remaining four members of the Samburu Alliance were excited that Ethan and Sophie changed their votes to eliminate David, though they still worried about being a group of four on this tribe of ten. In the lead up to the next tribal council, Benji told the Samburu Alliance Sharn had an idol but he was willing to vote with them for Sharn. Ryan and Sarah were suspicious he was playing them, but thought that it was their best chance of survival because of their minority position. Sharn played her idol at tribal council, which cancelled all five votes from Benji and the Samburu Alliance. Sarah was voted out with the second highest number of votes because the Boran Alliance split their votes between her and Curtis. This move kept the Samburu Alliance in the minority, leading to Shelby and Curtis being voted out at the next two tribal councils. As the sole member of the Samburu Alliance, Ryan tried to question the Boran Alliance on their next moves as an alliance. She wanted to work with Ethan, Maria and Sophie in voting for Shonee in order to weaken Benji and Sharn. At tribal council, Ethan and Sophie voted with Ryan for Shonee. However, the Samburu Alliance ceased to exist because Maria pledged her allegiance to the Boran Alliance and Ryan was voted out.