Russell's Zapatera Alliance

Russell's Zapatera Alliance is an alliance that was formed during Survivor: Redemption Island. Despite being led by one of the show's most notorious characters, the alliance was quickly targeted and ultimately eliminated before the merge.

Russell Works His Magic
When Jeff Probst announced both Russell Hantz and Rob Mariano will be playing along side the new castaways, the new castaways were polarized by Russell's notorious reputation. However, Stephanie Valencia was excited to see Russell, viewing him as a one way ticket to the Final Three. Russell joined the Zapatera tribe and immediately proceeded with his "Dumb girl alliance strategy" alligning with Stephanie and later Krista Klumpp on Day 4, charming them with promises of the Final Three.

Suspicions build up at Zapatera
While Russell worked his magic over the two girls, the other members of Zapatera suspected Russell was up to his old tricks, despite promising the tribe that he wasn't. The other six's suspicions were raised further when Russell, Stephanie, and Krista kept wandering off to look for the Hidden Immunity Idol. The six created an alliance, with one common goal of getting rid of Russell.

Zapatera Throws The Challenge
With the Hidden Immunity Idol in Ralph Kiser's possession and having a two member lead over the Ometepe tribe, the Zapatera Six purposely threw the Immunity Challenge in order to get rid of Russell and stop him from gaining momentum in the game. Russell was fully aware that his tribe threw the challenge, and began to scramble before Tribal Council.

Orchestrating A Blindside to Foil The Plan
After the challenge, Russell tried to sway Julie Wolfe to join his alliance in voting for Ralph, promising to take her to the final four. Russell's appeal gave Julie a dilemma. She didn't want to betray her original alliance, but also realized that she could go from a guaranteed sixth to a guaranteed fourth with Russell.

A Blindside Backfires
However when it came to Tribal Council, Julie stayed loyal to the Zapatera Six, helping them split their votes between Russell and Stephanie in case Russell had found the idol. Russell's alliance still voted for Ralph, forcing a 3-3-3 tie between Russell, Stephanie, and Ralph. In the revote, the Zapatera Six (now knowing that Russell did not have an idol in his possession), voted out the show's most notorious villain, sending him to Redemption Island.

The Super-Villain Goes Down
Upon arriving at Redemption Island, Russell vowed to have revenge on his old tribe by "first winning Redemption Island, get back into the game and then kicking their asses". However, he lost his first duel against Matt Elrod, permanently eliminating from the competition. Before leaving, An emotional Russell revealed the Zapatera tribe's alliances and leaders to the Ometepe tribe members present at the duel. He also revealed that Ralph had an idol, which he tried to deny.

Plotting Mutiny
With Russell eliminated, Krista and Stephanie alienated themselves from the rest of the Zapatera tribe, knowing that they'd be next to leave should their tribe lose again. Later at the Redemption Island duel, Krista and Stephanie declared to Rob that if they made the merge, they would join his alliance. Following Zapatera's next loss, the girls tried to vote out Steve Wright for his performance during the challenge, but the Zapatara Six stuck together and voted out Krista 6-2. She would later go on to lose to Matt at Redemption Island.

Dissolution
Now completely alone, Stephanie cut off most communication with her tribe. However, she eventually found an ally in David Murphy and the two plotted to vote off Sarita White. Unfortunately, they couldn't convince any more of the Zapatera Six to vote with them, and thus, Stephanie was voted out 5-2 at the next Tribal Council and would later be eliminated at Redemption Island.