Survivor Oz Top 10 – Top 10 Alliances We Wish Happened

There's been more than a few alliances that never really got off the ground in the time since Survivor first went to air, as sometimes when it comes to alliances, the best laid plans just don't work out. This week our Californian Ozlet Ivan recounts his pick of alliances that could have been but weren't. What this may have meant for their respective seasons could be anyone's guess, but if these contestants teamed up, one thing is for sure -  it could have been explosive and changed the game. Read on for the 10 alliances we wish happened, and leave your comments on other alliances that you wish had come to fruition. 

As we all know, you can’t align with everyone (Russell Hantz and Sash Lenahan will try to argue with me on this, but that might be a big reason why they didn’t win). There’s been some possible alliances that looked interesting but never really got going for a variety of reasons. This is an opinion based list so I totally understand if your list is way different from mine. Here’s my criteria for “alliances that didn’t happen”

–An alliance where the members listed never completely voted together for more than a single tribal council and only voted together when they didn’t have the votes to get who they really wanted out.

Yeah it’s not as complicated as I expected it to be when I first began writing this list. Keep in my alliances that were pagonged either pre-merge (Cool Kids Alliance from Caramoan or Younger Guys alliance from Vanuatu) or post-merge (whatever alliance Lex had left at that point in All Stars or Savaii alliance from South Pacific) are not considered alliances that didn’t happen because they did vote together, they just weren’t successful.

10.Boston Rob, Coach, and Russell – Heroes vs. Villains

 

 

I know some people may cringe that this made the list and I sound like Jeff Probst because of this. But hear me out. All of these players were among the most talked about contestants of that season, have somewhat over-the-top personalities, get A LOT of confessionals, and have different styles and beliefs on how to play Survivor. Mainly this made the list because of a Final Tribal Council scenario between these 3. I feel every aspect of that scenario would be interesting: the speeches, the juror interactions, and the finalists would likely get in arguments with each other. And of course Jeff Probst would barely contain himself the entire time. However not only would they be unable to trust each other for 3 weeks let alone 39 days, the season overall would likely be diminished since they would have 95% of the airtime.

9.Coach and Ozzy – South Pacific

Again it’s mainly a battle of philosophies. I was hoping for more in-depth Ozzy and Coach interactions than what this season provided us with, but because this was their first time playing together and they were on separate tribes, I knew it wouldn’t be likely. Ultimately it was just two veterans trying to pagong each other and thinking they would win if their side pulled through but then Sophie managed to win. And if it wasn’t such a pagong based season I would imagine the jury would have a tough time voting for either of these two, granted for some less than ideal reasons because we know their social games leave something to be desired. It’s a thought I’m sure crossed a few minds when this season aired.

8.Kelly, Sean, Jenna, Gervase, and Colleen – Borneo

Because it was the first season, Borneo likely didn’t get the kinds of criticism many pagonging seasons tend to get these days. But this would’ve been a massive power shift that may have some positive effects on the Survivor legacy. It is hard to tell because we view Richard Hatch as an iconic winner and if this alliance did succeed, how would the outlook be if Kelly or Gervase was the winner and potentially a face of the franchise? Maybe the threat of this alliance happening could’ve threatened Richard, Sue, or Rudy a little more and add some more interesting scenarios to this season. While this is an interesting hypothetical, I’m not sure too many people wished Borneo panned out differently.

7. Coby, Stephenie, Gregg and Jenn -Palau

Coby was Stephenie’s one lifeline in the merge (well, I guess it was a merge by default) on Survivor Palau, but because Coby extended that opportunity that did put a target on his back and he was voted out. It didn’t help that some players like Janu or Caryn weren’t too open to strategizing, but imagine if Coby, Stephenie, Jenn, and Gregg did manage to turn the tables on Tom, Ian, and Katie. Probably would’ve made for a less predictable endgame, though I am happy with Tom Westman as a winner.

6.Francesca and Corinne – Caramoan

Unfortunately for Francesca, Corinne started hating Phillip too little too late to realize aligning with him just wasn’t going to work out. Had Corinne realized that sooner and for example pulled Malcolm with her to Francesca’s side, we’d be looking at a completely different game than the one where Stealth R Us ran rampant. It likely would’ve still ended in Favorites domination but Francesca’s legacy certainly wouldn’t have been as tragic, and Phillip wouldn’t have had the last laugh.

5.Sandra and the Heroes – Heroes vs. Villains

Based on my personality and how I think I would play the game, I ended up rooting for the Heroes this season and unfortunately they just couldn’t get things going and ended up causing their own demise (namely JT and Candice). So this had to be on the list, and I think this would’ve made for a more interesting endgame because Russell Parvati Danielle and/or Jerri (whoever survived the final 10 vote) would’ve been more panicky and create more drama, and Sandra would’ve still had a reasonable chance at making it to the end and potentially winning the game still. It could just be everyone trying to get to the end with Colby and Candice for an easy win but it could also be much more interesting and complicated than that.

 4. Jeremy and Josh – San Juan Del Sur

Yeah I could’ve used any two strategic players who butted heads as examples such as Rob and Jon and Matt and Colton, but Josh and Jeremy were definitely an interesting pair who played similar games and whose alliances happened to be predominantly of one gender (Jeremy having an all female alliance, Josh an all male alliance). They both ended up blindsided out of the game in the merge and simultaneously at that. Rob and John didn’t have a lot of warning signs that Vecepia and Neleh were actually decent players, but 25 seasons later maybe Jeremy and Josh should’ve been more wary of Baylor, Jaclyn, and John instead of relying on them as swing votes. Just a thought.

3. Boston Rob and Kathy – Marquesas

Unfortunately for Rob, his plan of the 3 original Maraamu and the 3 Rotu excluded from John’s alliance taking over the game eventually came to fruition but only after Rob was voted out. However Rob and Kathy did develop an interesting relationship in the short time they had together in the game that we got to learn more about in All Stars. Had John been voted out at final 10 and Rob, Kathy, Neleh, Paschal, Sean, and Vecepia reached the final 6 it would’ve been interesting to see how far Rob and Kathy’s alliance would work out, and if it didn’t, it certainly could’ve changed some outlooks in All Stars.

2. Cirie, Penner, Yau-Man, Ami, and Eliza – Micronesia

Going into the season, Cirie, Eliza, Yau-Man, and Penner were probably the most popular of the favorites, with some consideration for Ozzy and James. So you could imagine fans were devastated when Cirie voted out Yau-Man, two players people would’ve liked to have seen work together and I agree with that notion. It would’ve been interesting to see it work out. It may or may not have given Cirie a better chance of winning but I think the season as a whole would’ve benefited more from those personalities lasting longer.

1.Ciera, Caleb, Hayden, and Katie – Blood vs Water

I listed this as number 1 because I wanted for once the newer players to be able to win a half new half returning player season, and Blood vs Water was the best opportunity for that to happen! In the final 7 it was crystal clear Tyson, Gervase, and Monica were a tight group of 3, so it would’ve made sense for Hayden, Caleb, Ciera, and Katie to team up, but it didn’t happen and I was definitely bummed out. They would still have to navigate Tyson’s hidden immunity idol but if it worked out, not only would we have a different end to the season but fans and the Survivor crew alike would have a better opinion on these kinds of seasons. But now it seems like any future seasons formatted like this will be a surefire victory for a returning player.

Honorable mentions: Burton and Rupert with Morgan, Christy/Butch/Matt, Sean and Vecepia with General and Tammy, Jerri/Amber/Nick/Elisabeth/Rodger, Morgan/Brice/Jeremiah, Stephenie/Bobby Jon(in Guatemala), Matt and Zapatera, Zane and somebody from Matsing, Eliza and the fans post merge in Micronesia, the Exile Island alliance from Tocantins. 

What do you think of the top 10? Do you agree? Disagree? Is it in the wrong order or are there ones that didn’t make the top 10 that you feel should’ve? Leave a comment below to let us know your thoughts!

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