Galang Alliance

The Galang Alliance (also known as the Galang Five pre-Merge) was the majority alliance of the original Galang tribe in. The alliance consisted of Aras Baskauskas, Gervase Peterson, Monica Culpepper, Tina Wesson and Tyson Apostol. A sub-alliance, consisting of Gervase and Tyson, was known as The Coconut Bandits.

The alliance was notable for seizing early control in the Galang tribe with a "no-strategy" strategy, alienating Colton Cumbie. The alliance also fostered support from the remaining members of the tribe, with both Kat Edorsson and Laura Morett believing they were a part of the group.

During the Merge, the alliance (primarily Aras) recruited Katie Collins (Tina's daughter) and Vytas Baskauskas (Aras' brother). However, The Coconut Bandits faction decided to renege with the alliance, recruiting the other post-Tribe Swap Tadhana (except Aras) with Laura M. (who recently returned from Redemption Island to join the Merge) and Monica (the other Galang Alliance member without a Loved One still in the game) to make a counter alliance against Aras, leaving Aras, Tina and their loved ones as each others' allies (collectively called Aras' Couples Alliance).

Creation
The alliance was created by Aras Baskauskas (although it was more of a mutual formation) when he, Gervase Peterson, Monica Culpepper, Tina Wesson and Tyson Apostol meet in their tribe camp's well on Day 5 to talk about Colton Cumbie's behavior at camp, stirring trouble and trying to pit everyone against each other but him. Seeing they have a common target and goal of monitoring Colton's deceptions, Aras suggested that the five form an official alliance. They sealed it off with a pact saying "Don't say anything!".

The Coconut Bandits
After a few days, Gervase and Tyson became close. They formed a tighter bond with each other, staying within the alliance of course, and sneaking away from an oblivious tribe, they began to steal coconuts from the trees the tribe had found, hence the name of their sub-alliance.

Colton Quits
Feeling that he is all alone in the tribe, Colton finally decided to quit in Day 7 on the Redemption Island arena. After the duel John Cody (who won first place) won a Hidden Immunity Idol clue which he decided to give to Monica (possibly to put a target on her like what happened to him with Monica's husband, Brad Culpepper). Monica, however unprecedentedly decided to burn it to the flaming urn, not even reading what is inside of it, which she did again at the next Redemption Island duel (when John Cody again won a duel).

Double Laur-iat
The alliance wasn't able to test its loyalty as Galang won three Immunity Challenges after the alliance was formed. However, on Day 13 Galang finally lost an Immunity Challenge, testing the alliance. The alliance decided whether to vote out Laura Boneham (who was originally from Tadhana and was voted out, but switched with Rupert Boneham putting her to Galang and made her an automatic outsider) or Laura Morett (a returning player who is not part of the alliance). At first they wanted Laura B. to be voted out as it would be an "easy vote" as she is not originally from the tribe, but Aras suggested that an "easy vote" is not the smartest vote, and elected to vote out Laura M. instead to have a chance to beat Brad, in which his elimination could keep Monica on the alliance's side. At Tribal Council, the alliance finally decided to keep Laura B. and voted out Laura M. instead, voting her out unanimously 7-1 blindside.

The Threat of the Baskauskas
After Laura M. was voted out, Aras was concerned that Laura M. would talk bad about him after seemingly betraying her. At the Redemption Island duel the next day, Laura M. won first place, and decided to give Aras' brother, Vytas Baskauskas an idol clue to the to possibly make him a target. Vytas eventually burns it to the fire like what Monica did when she received clues from Redemption Island before, however. The next day, The "Coconut Bandits" - Gervase and Tyson - figured out that they need to eliminate Aras as he is a threat, and decided to really keep each other's backs. After the duel, Jeff Probst announced that they would all be switching tribes. The Tribe Switch randomly puts all of the male castaways except Vytas on Tadhana, while all female castaways except Ciera Eastin (Laura M.'s daughter) on Galang - meaning that alliance members Tina and Monica are separated from alliance members Aras, Gervase and Tyson.

At Tadhana, the number of returnees and loved ones were equal. At Galang, the women bonded a connection and seemingly made an alliance, putting Vytas at the outside. Tadhana won the Immunity Challenge, sending Galang to the next Tribal Council. With Vytas at the outside, he is seemingly the person targeted to be voted out.

Galang Girls
Tina Wesson and Monica Culpepper, along with outsiders Laura Boneham and Kat Edorsson stayed on Galang where they were joined by original Tadhana members Katie Collins and Vytas Baskauskas. The five girls quickly formed a bond, and formed an sub-alliance of women on the tribe, leaving the lone male Vytas on the outs. When the new Galang lost the next immunity challenge, it seemed like Vytas was doomed to Redemption Island. However, he was saved when Kat decided to target Monica instead for her perceived overstrategizing, which alerted Tina to give the information to Monica. With that, Monica wanted to vote out Kat as she is a threat to her, although Tina said that she would still want to eliminate Vytas, although at the same time thinking about voting out Kat due to doubts of loyalty.

At Tribal Council, Kat said that she wanted to be loyal, but Monica said that she felt uneasy with Kat telling everyone she should be voted out. Eventually, Monica's wish of having Kat be eliminated was fulfilled by the tribe, voting her out instead of Vytas in a unanimous 5-1 vote. Kat would be permanently eliminated from the game at the next Duel.

With the four remaining women of the tribe seemingly fixed on the idea of sticking together and eliminating Vytas, it seemed like his tribe had to win immunity in order to be safe. However, Vytas was saved once again when Laura B. publicly confessed to Vytas that the women created an alliance and they were going to vote him out if they lose the next immunity challenge. This led to the target being switched to her for being "unpredictable" and a "wild card".

Galang lost the next immunity challenge, and Vytas was spared once again when Laura B. was blindsided in a 4-1 vote.

Over at Tadhana
Tyson Apostol, Aras Baskauskas, and Gervase Peterson were sent to Tadhana where they met original Tadhana tribe members Caleb Bankston, Ciera Eastin, and Hayden Moss. Tyson and Gervase schemed to vote out fellow alliance member Aras after he set up Laura M.'s blindside and took on a "dictator" position. This did not happen because the new Tadhana won the Day 16 Immunity Challenge, sending Galang to Tribal Council. Over there, former alliance enemy Kat Edorsson was voted out and sent to Redemption Island. The alliance encouraged Kat to win the duel so they could comfort her boyfriend, Hayden. Sadly, Kat lost the duel and after an emotional goodbye, Kat left Blood vs Water. Though the tribe saw this as unfortunate, especially Hayden, Tyson decided to execute a plan to vote out Aras. He made a final five deal with his ally Gervase and original Tadhana members Caleb, Ciera, and Hayden. Tyson and Gervase were ready to blindside Aras and the next Tribal Council, but Tadhana won the final tribal Immunity Challenge on Day 19. The tribe got the reward of a southern feast. Tyson ceased to talk with his new alliance due to Aras being at the reward with them, but Tyson was extremely confident he could vote out Aras and Vytas.

Of Bandits and Baskauskas
After the Tribal Council were Laura B. was eliminated, Tina said to fellow alliance member Monica that the remaining Galang members left would be the Final 5, but would be #5 in the alliance. Monica was unsure about this, and considered options if someone would offer her a better deal. Meanwhile at Tadhana, Aras thinks of joining with the members of Galang at the Merge, while Tyson thinks of aligning with the current members of Tadhana without Aras.

At Day 19, it was announced that whoever won the Redemption Island duel would also return to the game. Laura M. won, which returned her back to game. After her return, it was announced the tribes would Merge. While Galang Five has only 5 members out 11 (not enough of the majority), the alliance decided to recruit Vytas and Katie to create a 7-person majority. Aras devised a split vote plan between Laura M. and Ciera (were Aras, Gervase, Tyson and Vytas vote against Laura M. while Katie, Monica and Tina vote against Ciera). Katie, while originally being loosely aligned with Ciera agreed to the plan of voting her out.

Meanwhile, Tyson was trying to recruit castaways against Aras, and hoping that Gervase would be loyal to him. Tyson also found a Hidden Immunity Idol (using the clue given to the the tribe by Caleb). After Monica told Tyson about Tina's plan of only bringing her until only the Top 5, he proposed a Final Three deal to her to vote with him.

At Tribal Council, there was talk of Loved One couples (two pairs of which are in the alliance) aligning with each other and their possibilities as swing votes. At the vote, the two pairs of the alliance went with the plan, but Tyson's mutiny was a success, voting out Aras in a 7-2-2 vote.

Trivia

 * None of the members of this alliance played with each other in a previous season.