Heroes

Heroes was a tribe on Survivor: Heroes vs Villains

Composed of ten previous contestants of Survivor who played valiantly or honestly, or to a degree earning them a "heroic" connotation. The tribe, although physically much stronger on paper, struggled with several injuries, lack of teamwork and their inability to solve puzzles. Although they merged evenly, the use of hidden immunity idols and their proning to not listening to villain defector Sandra Diaz-Twine destroyed their chance of success.

Members

 * Sugar Kiper, notable for successfully voting the "bad people" out of her season, but received no Jury votes, making her popular to fans, but not to her cast mates.
 * Stephenie LaGrossa was considered to be one of the show's most athletic female castaways. Most notable for outlasting her entire tribe in Palau.
 * Cirie Fields, became a fan favorite in Panama and Micronesia. Most notable because she entered her first season with zero camping experience and being the "girl on the couch," but soon learned to make fire and catch fish on her own, and later became as one of the show's most strategic players.
 * Tom Westman, known for leading his tribe to the first challenge sweep in Survivor history.
 * James Clement returned for a third time since China and Micronesia. Most notable for having a very large body frame. He returned to redeem himself from his infamous elimination in China (having two Hidden Immunity Idols, but didn't use either), which he failed to fulfill because he was medically-evacuated from Micronesia for an infected finger.
 * J.T. Thomas, the winner of Tocantins. Most notable for being the likable, yet duplicitous farm boy. Due to his charm, he won all seven jury votes.
 * Amanda Kimmel, playing for a third time since China and Micronesia. She was most notable for making it in Day 39 in both of her seasons, but lost both times for not answering the Jury's questions adequately.
 * Candice Woodcock, competing for a second time since Cook Islands. Most notable for the infamous mutiny twist in her season. She returned to her original tribe Raro to be with her former tribe mates Adam and Parvati.
 * Rupert Boneham, was one of the shows most popular players ever, returning for a third time since Pearl Islands and All-Stars. He also won the fan favorite award (known as "America's Tribal Council"), winning a million dollars, even though not technically won the competition. Most notable for his beard, stealing shoes in Pearl Islands and his signature victory cry.
 * Colby Donaldson, returning for a third time since The Australian Outback and All-Stars. He accepted the offer to compete again to redeem himself from his flat performance in All-Stars. He was considered as Survivor's first Hero. He was also famous for his love-hate relationship with former tribemate Jerri (who made revenge by voting him out in All-Stars).

Tribe History
The Heroes tribe was initially seen as the physically stronger tribe compared to the more strategy-laden Villains tribe. Of its ten members, all male members are physically able, in contrast to the more older, slower male members of the Villains. The team's females are also more athletic in comparison to their counterparts. As seen in the first Reward Challenge, the Heroes proved to be a powerhouse, winning the first challenge of the season, but not before leaving the challenge area with injuries and other mishaps, such as Stephenie LaGrossa's shoulder dislocation, Rupert Boneham's fractured toe and Sugar Kiper's topless finish. Additionally, Colby Donaldson, who historically became one of the show's strongest male contestants, was questioned because of his poor performance, being shamefully defeated by Coach Wade. In true heroic fashion, the Heroes immediately worked once they arrived at camp, creating a study shelter within hours. Despite this, egos shortly emerged, when Rupert tried to create fire using their flint, only to use up most of its magnesium. While the rest of the males created rules on consuming the tribe's enormous plantain/banana supply. Unknown to many, J.T. Thomas started to work on strategy by making conflicting alliances with Tom and James.

At the Day 3 Immunity Challenge, the Heroes gained a healthy lead, but faltered at the puzzle-making segment. This gave the Villains ample time to catch up, and eventually win the challenge. At their first Tribal Council, Sugar was unanimously voted out for her weak physique and emotional breakdown at the challenge.

Puzzle-solving would become more problematic for the Heroes. At the Day 6 Reward/Immunity challenge, the tribe collected the giant puzzle cubes first, but Stephenie and James bickered on the puzzle-building part, unwittingly giving the Villains their second consecutive win. After the loss, James stormed at camp because of communication improprieties, mostly blaming Stephenie for the loss. As Tribal Council looms, it became apparent that the tribe was torn between three alliances, Amanda, James, J.T., and Rupert, Colby, Stephenie and Tom, with both groups vying for Cirie and Candice's support. After a fiery Tribal Council, Cirie and Candice joined Rupert's alliance, sending Stephenie home. After the vote, James apologized for his brutish demeanor, stating that he just wanted the tribe to start winning. After having a bonding moment by catching their escaped chickens, the Heroes' morale was boosted, destroying the Villains in an 8-0 blowout win at the Day 8 Reward/Immunity Challenge, which required pure brawn. Despite this, James was still mean-spirited as ever, hurling his padded bag to Randy Bailey as he plummets to the mud. This stirred controversy between the two warring tribes.

The Heroes' lack of cohesion caused dissension within the tribe. After learning the existence of a Hidden Immunity Idol, the tribe scrambled to find it. Ultimately, Tom succeeded, knowing that his possession of the idol might save him and Colby from the majority alliance. With Tom having the idol, the majority agreed to split their votes between Tom and Colby to effectively eliminate one of them and waste whatever advantage the idol can provide.

The tribe's disunity reflected on subsequent challenges, losing at the next two. At their third Tribal Council, even Jeff castigated the tribe for honoring alliances despite their losing streak. In the end, Tom used his Hidden Immunity Idol, and much to the tribe's surprise, J.T. switched his vote to Cirie (whom Colby and Tom voted, and J.T.'s biggest threat), sending her home. At the Day 13 Reward Challenge, James was badly injured during the infamous Shmergen Brawl Reward Challenge, leaving him a bad knee. James's injury proved disastrous for the Heroes, losing the next Immunity Challenge that required communication skills and puzzle building. Unfortunately for Tom, his usage of the idol just prevented the inevitable, with him going home next. Isolated from the dominant alliance, Colby was left alone, with little hope, while his challenge performances were not getting any better.

During the double elimination twist on Day 15, the tribes competed for individual immunity, with Candice being successful. She was pitted against the winner from the Villains for a feast to be enjoyed at rival team's Tribal Council, who happened to become the most physically able of the Villains, Rob Mariano. She lost by a small amount of time. With their roster about to go down to five, the majority alliance realized that James' injury and rash behavior was too obvious to ignore, and was unanimously voted out.

After James' exit, the five remaining Heroes had tremendous odds to overcome, being outnumbered by the Villains, 8-5. Knowing that he had to prove that keeping him was not a mistake, Colby led the tribe to a blowout win at the next Reward Challenge, winning them a feast. During the reward, the Heroes discovered a clue to another Hidden Immunity Idol hidden at their camp. Not wanting to ruin momentum, all five members agreed to find it together so they can use it against the Villains after the merge. The Heroes then went on winning the next Immunity Challenge, which ironically has a puzzle component, much to their delight.

While the Heroes continue to win more challenges, J.T. returned from his devious antics, looking for the Hidden Immunity Idol for his own self-interest (in which he was successful). This gesture irked Amanda and Candice, with both agreeing that the Alabaman is not trustworthy. Despite this, the Heroes won five of the next six challenges.

From this point forward, the five Heroes had noticed that the rival tribe's male members continue to dwindle (Russell Hantz was the only male Villain left), while all five females remained. The blue tribe had assumed that the tribe was controlled by an all-female alliance, led by Parvati Shallow (the same strategy which made her won Survivor: Micronesia). J.T. even signaled Russell that the Heroes are ready to help him if he needed to (unknown to them, the Villains' majority alliance was actually Russell, Parvati, Danielle DiLorenzo and Jerri Manthey).

J.T. concocted a bold move that could "save" Russell. He planned to give Russell their tribe's Hidden Immunity Idol at the next Immunity Challenge in order to protect him from the next vote and gain his loyalty post-merger, hoping he would use it to eliminate Parvati. While Amanda and Candice became unsure, the tribe agreed to the plan anyway. After the Heroes won the Day 24 Immunity Challenge, Colby gave a note (with the idol inside) to Russell, while the rest of the Villains congratulated the Heroes for their win.

On Day 25, the Heroes welcomed the Villains at their camp for the merger. The merged tribe stayed at the Heroes' camp for the duration of the game, on the account of the abundance of food.

Trivia

 * When Stephenie returned in Survivor: Guatemala with a more devious game play, giving her more of villain-edit. But the producers took more credit in her stint in Palau and thought that she have to return as a Hero where she belonged.
 * Of the ten Heroes, six tribemates (Stephenie, Colby, Sugar, Amanda, JT, and Tom) had all made the Final Tribal Council once prior to their appearence on the season.