Zapatera

Zapatera is a tribe on Survivor: Redemption Island

The original tribe of eight were soon joined by Veteran and notorious Villain Russell Hantz and although the tribe enjoyed moderate success, they were disillusioned by Hantz' reputation and former tactics that eventually led to his elimination at the hands of the "Zapatera Six" after throwing a combined Reward/Immunity Challenge. Soon after, the majority alliance began to turn on one another. Their tribe color is purple.

Members

 * David Murphy, a defense attorney from West Hollywood, California.
 * Julie Wolfe, a firefighter from Oceanside, California.
 * Krista Klumpp, a Pharmaceutical Representative from Columbia, South Carolina.
 * Mike Chiesl, an Iraq War Veteran from Del Mar, California.
 * Ralph Kiser, a farmer from Lebanon, Virginia.
 * Russell Hantz, a returning contestant known for his devious lies and tricks.
 * Sarita White, a Visual Effects Producer from Santa Monica, California.
 * Stephanie Valencia, a waitress from Long Beach, California.
 * Steve Wright, a former NFL Player from Huntington Beach, California.

Tribe History
Upon learning that the villainous Russell Hantz will be part of their tribe, the majority of the new players became suspicious of him, despite he swore that he would not sabotage anybody and instead, he will lead the whole tribe to victory. With the knowledge of Hantz' notoriety, this caused a rift between Russell and the others. Knowing that his speech may not be enough to persuade the others, Russell once again aligned with the petite girls, this time, it was Stephanie Valencia and Krista Klumpp and tried to look for a Hidden Immunity Idol (unknown to them, it was already found by Ralph by accident), while the others formed a six-person alliance. Despite Russell's reputation becoming a tribe sickness, Russell led Zapatera to a strong beginning, winning the first two challenges.

However, the six-person alliance felt that Russell should be disposed of immediately. The alliance of Julie, David, Sarita, Mike, Ralph and Steve decided to purposefully lost the Day 8 Immunity Challenge to have an opportunity to vote Russell out. The planned worked, as the rival Ometepe (led by Russell's arch-rival Rob Mariano) won. Russell suspected that they had thrown the challenge, though the alliance tried to cover up their plan. After a heated first Tribal Council, the vote ended in a 3-way tie between Ralph (whose quirkiness aggravated Russell the most), Russell and Stephanie (the alliance decided to split their votes, as Ralph has yet to divulge his possession of the idol). After a revote, the majority became successful in eliminating Russell from the tribe, and sending him to Redemption Island. Though Russell vowed that he will return, he was eliminated because he lost the duel against its incumbent inhabitant, Ometepe's Matt Elrod.

Russell's ouster proved fatal to the tribe, as the purple tribe lost in two of the next three challenges. With this, the majority alliance eliminated the remnants of Russell's alliance, Krista and Stephanie, despite David's efforts to save the latter over alliance partner Sarita, who was weaker in challenges. This gesture made David the new outsider.

With Russell's alliance gone, the core alliance of six started to crumble, as Sarita clashed with David because he campaigned for her ouster, despite having an alliance with him. After losing yet again another challenge, Zapatera was torn between the flaky yet athletic David and the weak yet loyal Sarita. In the end, it was Sarita who was sent to Redemption Island.

The following day, the tribes convened at Redemption Island to witness the final pre-merge duel, where Matt prevailed once again. Immediately after his win, He and the eleven other contestants were merged into the new Murlonio tribe. They moved into a new beach for the merge.

Trivia

 * Zapatera is the first tribe to experience a three-way tie vote at Tribal Council.
 * No one from Zapatera was sent to Redemption Island and later returned to the game.
 * No one from Zapatera won an Immunity Challenge post merge.
 * This tribe had no unanimous votes.
 * This is the first tribe Russell Hantz was ever voted out from.
 * Zapatera is the seventh purple tribe.