Maku Maku is the merged tribe of Mana and Nuku from Survivor: Game Changers. Their tribe color is yellow.
Members[]
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Tribe History[]
The tribes entered the merge on Day 19 originally in three factions: the united Nuku tribe (consisting of Andrea Boehlke, Debbie Wanner, Ozzy Lusth, Sarah Lacina, Tai Trang, and Zeke Smith) having recently endured an emotional Tribal Council, particularly for Zeke (who shortly after the merge came out as transgender to the rest of the merge tribe members); the post-swap Mana tribe majority (consisting of Aubry Bracco, Brad Culpepper, Cirie Fields, Sierra Dawn Thomas, and Troyzan Robertson); and the outsiders from said tribe Hali Ford and Michaela Bradshaw. Host Jeff Probst presented the castaways with a dilemma at the merge feast: two players must volunteer to sit out of the feast so that everyone else could enjoy it. Brad and Tai volunteered, and the rest of the tribe displayed their gratitude. The thirteen survivors moved to the old Mana camp.[1]
Though 11 players had their targets set on Hali and Michaela, two new groups emerged. One alliance, the Power Six contained Brad, Debbie, Sierra, Tai, and Troyzan, who wanted to keep Hali. The other, the Tavua Alliance, consisted of Andrea, Aubry, Cirie, Ozzy, Sarah, and Zeke (though Sarah had allegiances to both alliances), and preferred to keep Michaela, particularly after Cirie bonded with her. Ultimately the Tavua Alliance got their way at the initial vote, sending Hali to the jury.
However, from that point on, a series of blindsides would ensue in no small part to Sarah's flipping. At the next vote, she joined the Power Six in blindsiding Ozzy for being the biggest physical threat on Day 24 after he narrowly lost to Tai in the Immunity Challenge, with Debbie using her Extra Vote to help ensure that their alliance had the majority. The following round of voting saw Debbie go on a power trip, which angered many of her tribemates, particularly Andrea and Aubry. They wished to target Debbie, but this would not only mean Sarah flipping again (after receiving word that Sierra wanted to go to the final three with her) but also Andrea and Zeke reconciling after Zeke targeted Andrea and Andrea voted for Zeke at the previous Tribal Council. Ultimately, Debbie was voted out 6-5 after alienating Sarah with her power trip, causing her to flip back to the Tavua Alliance. Despite Sarah's flipping, her social game had Sierra and Zeke believing that she was tight with them, only for them to be the next two eliminated. In that period, Sarah obtained a Vote Steal and a Legacy Advantage that Sierra willed to her after being voted out.
Following Sierra's departure and Tai's alienation from Brad and Troyzan, it appeared to be a clear 6-2 divide in the final eight. However, Sarah's theatrics at the previous Tribal Council to obtain the Legacy Advantage from Sierra, as well as Andrea's rising threat status, added to the temptation for the alliance to turn on each other. Meanwhile, tensions also rose between Brad and Michaela, as Brad took offense to Michaela saying that he should catch fish to stay in the game. Aubry won the next Immunity Challenge on Day 33, but unfortunately for her, a simple vote against Brad turned into a blindside at Andrea's expense in which Aubry was left out of. This proved to be a costly mistake by the Tavua Alliance as Brad would win the remaining Immunity Challenges.
Leading up to the next Tribal Council on Day 35, Tai expressed to Aubry that he wanted to target Sarah. Aubry relayed this to Cirie, who then informed Sarah. Sarah, however, was skeptical of Tai's betrayal, but gave her Vote Steal advantage to Cirie just minutes before they departed for Tribal Council as a sign of trust. At Tribal Council, Cirie attempted to play the Vote Steal to take away Tai's vote and save Sarah. However, Sarah revealed that the advantage was "non-transferable", which Cirie was not able to realize due to not having had enough time to read the rules before they left camp. Confusion thus ensued, with Sarah taking back her Vote Steal from Cirie and conspiring with Brad and Troyzan to target Michaela. She then used the Vote Steal to take Tai's vote, ensuring that they had the majority of the votes to send Michaela to the jury.
After returning to camp, Cirie immediately employed damage control, convincing Sarah that Tai was at fault for the debacle for playing both sides, and that she had Sarah's best interests at heart. The following day, Brad gave Tai an ultimatum that he would play one of his Hidden Immunity Idols at the next vote and give Brad the second one. Tai refused, and with Sarah firmly with Brad and Troyzan, the final six appeared to be locked in a 3-3 power struggle. It was ultimately resolved by "Advantagegeddon", more specifically the simultaneous use of three idols to keep Aubry, Tai, and Troyzan safe, and the Legacy Advantage to keep Sarah safe. With Brad holding individual immunity, Cirie's fourth attempt at the title of Sole Survivor would fall three days short even though she did not receive any votes that night.
Cirie's elimination put Aubry and Tai at Sarah's mercy for the rest of the game. On Day 37, Aubry pitched to Sarah that her chances of getting to the end would improve if Troyzan was no longer in the game, as he and Brad were the two tightest players remaining. Sarah however was content to take her chances, and the trio sent Aubry to the jury. The mostly one-sided conflict between Brad and Tai remained strong, even to the point where Brad considered little other strategic option besides targeting Tai, which played into Sarah's hands. On Day 38, with Brad immune for the fifth time in six Tribal Councils after winning the Final Immunity Challenge, Tai attempted the same move Aubry suggested in taking out Troyzan. Although Sarah was worried about the possibility of her receiving two votes, her trust in Brad and Troyzan was rewarded and she joined them in taking out Tai to complete the jury.
At the Final Tribal Council, Michaela and Zeke were vocal supporters of Sarah's hardcore strategic gameplay, whereas Debbie and Ozzy praised Brad's more honest and physical approach. Troyzan was largely ignored as he was perceived as following Brad's coattails for the entire post merge. As the night went on, Sarah's criticisms for abusing friendships to further herself would be overshadowed by how Brad treated Michaela and Tai, as well as his lack of strategic ideas once Sierra was voted out. Brad received three votes from Debbie, Ozzy, and Sierra but the rest of the jury awarded Sarah the seven votes she needed to become the Sole Survivor of Survivor: Game Changers.
| Episode | Challenge | Challenge Type | Winner | Eliminated (vote) |
Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | Keep on Your Toes | Immunity | Andrea | Hali (7-4-2) |
8th Voted Out 1st Jury Member Day 21 |
| New School | Reward | Andrea, Debbie, Ozzy, Tai, Troyzan, Zeke |
Ozzy (7-4-1-1) |
9th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member Day 24 | |
| Get a Grip | Immunity | Tai | |||
| 8 | O-Black Water | Reward | Andrea, Aubry, Brad, Debbie, Sierra |
Debbie (6-5) |
10th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 26 |
| Got a Hunch | Immunity | Troyzan | |||
| 9 | Angry Chair | Reward | Andrea, Aubry, Brad, Sarah, Zeke |
Zeke (5-3-2) |
11th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 29 |
| High Step and Stack | Immunity | Andrea | |||
| 10 | Full Tilt Boogey | Reward | Andrea, Aubry, Brad [Cirie, Sarah] |
Sierra (6-3) |
12th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 32 |
| Can't Buoy Me Love | Immunity | Brad | |||
| 11 | Teeter Tower | Immunity | Aubry | Andrea (6-2) |
13th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 33 |
| Vertigo | Immunity | Brad | Michaela (4-2-1) |
14th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 35 | |
| 12 | Maybe I'm A Maze | Reward/Immunity | Brad [Sarah, Troyzan]1 |
Cirie (0-0-0; default)2 |
Eliminated 8th Jury Member Day 36 |
| Spoon Man | Immunity | Brad | Aubry (4-1) |
15th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 37 | |
| Final Four-titude | Immunity | Brad | Tai (3-1) |
16th Voted Out 10th Jury Member Day 38 | |
| Jury Vote | Troyzan (7-3-0) |
Second Runner-Up | |||
| Brad (7-3-0) |
Runner-Up | ||||
| Sarah (7-3-0) |
Sole Survivor | ||||
| Notes: ^1 The winner of the Immunity Challenge shared the reward with two of their tribemates.
^2 All votes cast were negated, causing a null vote. Per the rules of Survivor, a vote restart would have occurred in any other circumstance. However, since Cirie was the only castaway eligible to receive votes for the vote restart, she was eliminated by default. | |||||
| Merged Tribe | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | |||||||||
| Voted Out |  Hali |
 Ozzy |
 Debbie |
 Zeke |
 Sierra |
 Andrea |
 Michaela |
Null |  Cirie |
 Aubry |
 Tai |
 Troyzan |
 Brad |
 Sarah | |
| Vote | 7-4-2 | 7-4-1-11 | 6-5 | 5-3-2 | 6-3 | 6-2 | 4-2-12 | 0-0-03 | Default | 4-1 | 3-1 | 7-3-0 | |||
| ►►► | Sarah | Michaela | Ozzy | Debbie | Zeke | Sierra | Andrea | Michaela | — | Aubry | Tai | Jury Vote | |||
| Michaela | |||||||||||||||
| ►►► | Brad | Hali | Ozzy | Andrea | Tai | Andrea | Andrea | Michaela | — | Aubry | Tai | ||||
| ►►► | Troyzan | Hali | Ozzy | Andrea | Tai | Andrea | Andrea | Michaela | — | Aubry | Tai | ||||
| ►►► | Tai | Hali | Ozzy | Andrea | Sierra | Sierra | Andrea | None | — | Aubry | Troyzan | Sarah | |||
| ►►► | Aubry | Hali | Zeke | Debbie | Zeke | Sierra | Brad | Tai | — | Troyzan | Sarah | ||||
| ►►► | Cirie | Michaela | Sierra | Debbie | Zeke | Sierra | Andrea | Aubry | Eliminated | Sarah | |||||
| ►►► | Michaela | Zeke | Zeke | Debbie | Zeke | Sierra | Andrea | Tai | Sarah | ||||||
| ►►► | Andrea | Michaela | Zeke | Debbie | Zeke | Sierra | Brad | Sarah | |||||||
| ►►► | Sierra | Hali | Ozzy | Andrea | Tai | Andrea | Brad | ||||||||
| ►►► | Zeke | Michaela | Aubry | Debbie | Sierra | Sarah | |||||||||
| ►►► | Debbie | Hali | Ozzy | Andrea | Brad | ||||||||||
| Ozzy | |||||||||||||||
| ►►► | Ozzy | Hali | Zeke | Brad | |||||||||||
| ►►► | Hali | Zeke | Sarah | ||||||||||||
| Notes: ^1 An Extra Vote advantage was used, allowing a castaway to vote twice at Tribal Council.
^2 A castaway used a Vote Steal advantage, allowing them to steal another castaway's vote to vote twice at Tribal Council. ^3 All votes cast were negated, causing a null vote. Per the rules of Survivor, a vote restart would have occurred in any other circumstance. However, since Cirie was the only castaway eligible to receive votes for the vote restart, she was eliminated by default. | |||||||||||||||
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The tribe flag was designed by Hali.[2]
- Maku Maku is the only merged tribe which Ciera Eastin, Tony Vlachos, Malcolm Freberg, and J.T. Thomas was not a part of in the seasons that they competed in.
- The first three people voted out of this tribe would be jury members in the same positions as in one of their previous seasons:
- Hali was the first member of the jury in Survivor: Worlds Apart.
- Ozzy was the second member of the jury in Survivor: Micronesia.
- Debbie was the third member of the jury in Survivor: Kaôh Rōng.
- Maku Maku is the first merged tribe to have two African-American women.
References[]