Soliantu

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Soliantu was the name given to the merged tribe of Survivor: Marquesas. Named by Kathy and Boston Rob, it meant "Sacred allegiance to the sun." The tribe's color was magenta.

Members

Original Members

• "Boston Rob" Mariano
• John Carroll
• Zoe Zanidakis
• Tammy Leitner
• Robert "General" DeCanio
• Sean Rector
• Paschal English
• Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien
• Neleh Dennis
• Vecepia Towery

Tribe History

Shortly after the merge, Soliantu was a group of three alliances, the original Maraamu alliance of Rob, Sean, and Vecepia, the switched Maraamu alliance of Kathy, Neleh, and Paschal, and the Rotu 4 alliance of John, Tammy, Zoe, and Robert. Kathy and Rob also had a secret alliance that they had made at the merge meeting.

The three original Maraamu members, outnumbered 7-3 by original Rotu members, tried to convince Neleh, Kathy, and Paschal that they would be voted out after Maraamu was gone. Paschal did not believe them and stayed true to John's alliance. Kathy, however, decided to join them after Rob tricked Zoe into revealing that Kathy was first in the pecking order, and she tried to convince Neleh and Paschal to form an alliance with them. Once again, Paschal decided to stay with John. Knowing that she was in trouble, Kathy won the first individual immunity challenge, and Rob was voted out instead.

It appeared now that Sean, Vecepia, and Kathy were all in trouble and would be picked off one by one. At the next reward challenge, Kathy won once again and enjoyed a trip away from camp. Meanwhile, Sean and Vecepia tried unsuccessfully to change Paschal and Neleh's minds about their alliance with John. The second immunity challenge proved to be a turning point in the game as it revealed the Rotu 4 alliance's voting plans. John, Tammy, Zoe, and Robert worked together to eliminate Sean, Kathy, Vecepia, Neleh, and Paschal before taking each other out, with Tammy taking immunity. This ended Paschal and Neleh's alliance with the Rotu 4, and in one of the largest power shifts in Survivor history, they voted with the Maraamu alliance to take out John who was seen as his alliance's leader.

The remaining Rotu allies were eliminated by the new alliance, with Zoe going first, then Tammy and finally Robert. With the Rotu 4 gone, Sean was voted out by his alliance due to being lazy and complaining. Vecepia, the last original Maraamu member, was planned to be the next to leave, but won immunity, causing Kathy to form an alliance with her and leading to a tie in votes between Kathy and Neleh. Since they could not come to a unanimous decision on who to vote for, the Soliantu members turned to drawing rocks and Paschal drew the purple rock and was eliminated with no votes against him for the entire game.

At the final immunity challenge, Vecepia dropped out first, leading to a showdown between Kathy and Neleh. Neleh mentioned that her breasts were falling out of her shirt and distracted Kathy causing her to fall off. Immune from the vote, Neleh betrayed her alliance with Kathy and voted her out.

The jury at the last tribal council was very critical of Vecepia's alliance flipping and Neleh's betrayal of the Rotu 4. Neleh earned the votes of Kathy, Paschal, and Zoe, while Vecepia earned Sean, John, Tammy, and Robert's votes to become the Sole Survivor of Marquesas.

Trivia

• With the exception of Koror in Survivor: Palau, Soliantu has the largest original tribe to be in it. Rotu outnumbered Maraamu 7-3 going into the merge.
• This was the first time an underdog tribe was able to overcome the odds and do well after a merge.
• The shift in alliance power from the Rotu 4 to the five outsiders still remains one of the largest shifts of power in Survivor history.