Foa Foa Four

The Foa Foa Four is an alliance from

Although small in number compared to their rivals, the foursome led by Russell Hantz used his ownership of the Hidden Immunity Idol and his ability to seduce weaker members of Galu into voting with him only to have the four eliminate them soon after. The once paltry alliance of four secured their place in the game for successfully pitting the Galu members to each other, making way for their subsequent domination at the end of the season.

Pre-Merge
Although not created until after the elimination of Liz Kim due to their low numbers, Russell had previously been working with Natalie White and other women from the tribe (forging the Dumb Girls Alliance) and all but Natalie were eliminated from this original voting bloc, he also chose to keep tribe leader Mick Trimming and Jaison Robinson as they were aware of his true profession as an Oil Company Owner.

Keep Hope Alive
With Russell being the holder of a Hidden Immunity Idol, the eight members of Galu attempted to eliminate him at the first opportunity. Despite not winning the first challenge, Galu leader Laura Morett heard that Erik Cardona was over-strategizing thanks in part to Natalie subtly placing this information to the other women. At the time, Galu employed a dangerous "all in this together" strategy in order to scare the Foa Foa Foursome and in an ironic twist of fate, Russell played his Idol and was shocked to learn that nobody had voted against him, as Erik was blindsided by his former tribemates.

Now without his Idol, Galu intended for Russell to be the next person voted off.

Seducing Shambo
Prior to the merge, Shambo Waters had been selected as an observer at Foa Foa and this gave her the opportunity to speak with her competition. Making it evidently clear she was unhappy with Galu, Russell offered her a chance to shake up the game by joining their alliance (unbeknownst to her actual role as just another vote) at the merge, this deal followed through.

After locating another Idol without the aid of a clue, Russell approached Shambo and stated that his next target was Laura. Shambo was on-board with this idea, but the alliance's plans were halted due to Laura's second individual win. The alliance then opted to instead target one of her closest friends in the game, either Monica Padilla or Kelly Sharbaugh. Galu, under the assumption that Russell did not have another Idol, decided to throw their numbers towards him in what they would assume would be an easy vote. However, Russell shocked his rivals and even garnered approval from the Jury (which only included Cardona at the time) as he played another Hidden Immunity Idol, eliminating Kelly.

Downfall of Galu
Knowing that Russell had taken out one of Laura's closest alliance mates, a curious John Fincher approached the alliance and wanted to join as their sixth, thus giving them a majority over the remaining ten members under the condition that after the elimination of intended target (Laura) that somebody from Foa Foa would be eliminated (thus still giving the alliance majority). Russell agreed to these terms, although he chose to not disclose this additional term to anybody else.

At the next Tribal Council there was a tie in votes between Natalie and Laura with John voting for the intended Galu target Natalie. At the re-vote, John then switched his vote over to Laura after the rest of Galu stated that they would go to rocks. Following Laura's elimination, John returned to Russell to keep his side of the deal which Russell turned on and promptly began eliminating the remaining Galu, including John and Shambo.

The Brett Effect and Turning on One Another
A quiet personality, Brett Clouser was regarded as the alliance's biggest threat, although he never really showed his true colors until very deep in the game and became a prime candidate to receive all the Jury votes regardless of performance or not.

When he became a target by the alliance, Brett began to win Individual Immunities, and Russell had to begin working a different angle by turning Jaison and Mick against one another by telling conflicting stories. At this point, Natalie was deemed by Russell as a coattail rider and he felt that this would be reflected upon at the Final Tribal Council. With Jaison and Mick at the agreement that they would vote one another, Russell and Natalie chose to eliminate Jaison, becoming the only Foa Foa member to join the Jury.

At the Final Four Immunity, Russell defeated Brett and at Tribal Council, he ordered Mick and Natalie to vote against him as they had a better shot with each other instead of him. With his word as law, Natalie and Mick eliminated the final Galu and the remaining three went to the Final Tribal Council to face their peers.

Impact
Similar to the Aitu Four, the Foa Foa Four quickly went from underdogs to going in complete control thanks in part to the Hidden Immunity Idol and their ability to come across members of Galu who were looking to improve their own personal game.