Alliance

An alliance is a group of people loyal to each other in the game of . These small social groups strategize together to manipulate the outcome of the upcoming Tribal Council and eventually the endgame.

Conception
Alliances were invented in by Richard Hatch, stating that a player will find it almost impossible to win without a tight group of people. With this thought, he concocted a close relationship with Rudy Boesch, Kelly Wiglesworth, and Susan Hawk. The four united themselves as the first Survivor voting alliance. The strategy became effective, making Dirk Been their first victim. The plan became even more devastating after the merge, resulting in the successive elimination of every single member of the rival Pagong tribe (when Pagong failed to coordinate their votes) as well as the only person from their tribe that was not part of the alliance, Sean Kenniff. The foursome went on as the final four castaways, eventually and inevitably having to turn on each other at said point.

Influence on Survivor
Alliances have greatly influenced Survivor since the concept was created as they were significantly powerful in voting. They have become a fundamental of strategy that even players who do not consider themselves strategic implement. However, making an alliance hasn't always guaranteed success, as many alliances have broken apart prematurely due to issues such as trust and tribe switches. Despite those roadblocks, alliances tend to be very helpful in getting players farther in the game, as the majority of Sole Survivors have been in powerful alliances and all Sole Survivors have been in an alliance at some point.