Aitu Four

The Aitu Four (short for Aitutaki Four) was a major alliance on Survivor: Cook Islands.

Created instantaneously by the mutiny of two tribe members, the foursome banded together against their rivals and with the revelation that de facto leader Yul Kwon had the Hidden Immunity Idol, they used his mindset alongside Ozzy Lusth's strength in challenges to improve their standing.

Mutiny
On Day 20, Candice Woodcock and Jonathan Penner both accepted the Mutiny offer and re-joined their original tribe, Rarotonga. That left Yul Kwon, Ozzy Lusth, Becky Lee, and Sundra Oakley as the last Aitutaki members. Rarotonga now had an 8-4 numbers advantage, so even one Immunity Challenge loss from Aitu would likely be fatal. The Aitu Four, however, proved that the numbers disadvantage didn't make them lose their hope, as they defeated Raro in all four remaining challenges. Raro voted out Brad Virata, Rebecca Borman and Jenny Guzon-Bae, the latter due to a twist that forced the losing tribe of the final tribal Immunity Challenge to vote out two people. With Raro now at a 5-4 advantage, the tribes merged into Aitutonga.

Surviving the Merge
Merging into the newly formed Aitutonga tribe, the "Aitu Four" was down a member to create a majority. Yul was targeted by the former Rarotonga members, so Yul came up with a plan involving his Hidden Immunity Idol he found on Exile Island. Yul approached Jonathan and shows him his idol, and told Jonathan that if he declines to flip, he will be targeted by the alliance and whoever the Rarotonga bloc voted for would have the idol used at him/her, eliminating Jonathan. Left with no real choice, Penner agreed to flip and suggested to target former Rarotonga member Nate instead. At Tribal Council, Nate and the other former Rarotonga members were shocked to find that Jonathan had switched alliances again, turning Rarotonga's target to Jonathan for his treachery. Rarotonga lost Candice at the next Tribal Council. Aitutaki, however made a deal with Rarotonga that they would blindside Jonathan at the next vote. The deal went through, eliminating Jonathan, but then Aitutaki finished Rarotonga off in the next Tribal Councils (with the help of Ozzy winning the next Immunity Challenges) eliminating Parvati and then Adam.

Turning on Each Other
After finishing the Rarotonga members off, the Aitutaki Four participated in the Rites of Passage before the final Immunity Challenge. But, before the challenge, Jeff announced that three of them would face a Jury of nine, a twist that would become the default in future seasons. Ozzy would end up winning the challenge, and with Yul's idol making him virtually safe in Tribal Council, Becky and Sundra has to fight for the last spot in the Final 3. Yul debated with Becky on blindsiding Sundra, but decided that a tiebreaker would be a fair settlement. At Tribal Council, Becky and Yul voted for Sundra and Sundra and Ozzy voted for Becky, where the two women faced off in an very long tiebreaker. After one whole hour of using flint to start a fire, neither of them succeeded, giving them matches to start the fire instead. After a short period of time, Sundra ran out of matches and watched while Becky burnt through her rope first and sent Sundra to the Jury, making her the ninth and final Jury member. Yul, Ozzy, and Becky became the members of the very first Final Three, with Sundra being the only Jury member among the Aitu Four.

Final Tribal Council
During the Final Tribal Council, Yul was praised for his strategy, while Ozzy was praised for his strength. Becky however was criticized for her perceived coattailing with Yul and her poor performance during the tiebreaker challenge. After the Jury votes were read, Yul was declared the 13th Sole Survivor in a close 5-4-0 vote against Ozzy, with Becky not receiving any votes.

Trivia

 * Ozzy Lusth was lined up for elimination before the Mutiny but when Jonathan Penner and Candice Cody flipped, the four stood strong all the way to the end.
 * The Foa Foa Four can be seen as a later version of Aitu Four, overcoming an 8-4 majority with physical and strategical play, as well as the Hidden Immunity Idol (although the mechanics on the usage of the idol was different in Foa Foa Four's season).
 * Also, the affiliations of both groups were part of their success in both cases.
 * The main difference between the two alliances is that the Aitu Four made it all the way to the Final Four, while the Foa Foa Four made it to the Final Five before voting out one of their own (due to their remaining enemy having immunity).