What if...Africa

The Decision

Survivor: Africa features more even more history. We have our first tied challenge (since countback is still a stalemate), our first tribe swap (though not a modern swap), the first season without a straight pagonging, and our first final tribal to not end in a 4-3 vote. There are a few honorable mentions for me in this season that I thought would be intriguing to explore the aftermath of but did not eventually make the cut. However, writing about Clarence not stepping off of the challenge at the Final 10 would lead to his vote-off later and a pagonging, and Teresa not voting for Lex would lead to even more of a pagonging. So, I think the best compromise is to allow the Lex and Kelly dynamic to unfold while simultaneously completely changing the course of the game at the Final 9 vote. So, without further ado, what if...Brandon voted for Lex at the Final 9 instead of Kelly?

The Outcome

So, the most obvious outcome is at the Final 9, in which Samburu somehow combines forces and votes all together with Kelly to blindside Lex:

Kelly --> Lex

Lex --> Kelly

Teresa --> Lex

Frank --> Lex

Kim P --> Lex

Ethan --> Kelly

Kim J --> Kelly

Tom --> Kelly

Brandon --> Lex

And in a 5-4 vote, original Samburu evens the playing field with original Boran, though the dynamics are not quite as simple as the merged teribes of the first two seasons. However, in Episode 10, despite being willing to vote with Teresa and especially Frank of the older branch of original Samburu, tensions continue to rise between the generations. The tribes sit at 4-4, but Kelly does not want to side with original Boran and Brandon and Frank are unwilling to work together. Brandon and Frank win the reward challenge and get the chance to bond, but are still hesitant to form a deal and continue to work on opposing sides. Tom wins the Episode 10 immunity challenge and ensures he is safe from the chaotic tribal council to come:

Kelly --> Frank

Frank --> Brandon

Brandon --> Frank

Kim J --> Brandon

Kim P --> Frank

Ethan --> Brandon

Tom --> Brandon

Teresa --> Brandon

Since Tom and Frank bond and Lex and Kim Johnson had been on a tribe with Frank and Teresa, the original Borans side with the original older Samburu tribe to take out Brandon in a 5-3 vote, giving the old Samburu and core Boran alliance the numbers. The Brandon blindside leaves Kim Powers as the only young Samburu member left, and Kelly remains in the middle and an easy target. However, Frank begins to become intolerable for the tribe. Ethan wins the immunity necklace and the tribe has to decide between the dangerous middle in Kelly and whether they can stand Frank:

Frank --> Kelly

Kim P --> Frank

Kim J --> Frank

Ethan --> Frank

Tom --> Frank

Kelly --> Frank

Teresa --> Frank

And in a 6-1 vote just like in the show Frank goes home, leaving Boran with a 4-2 majority and core Boran with half of the members. Tom wins the Episode 12 immunity challenge and the Boran three have to decide where to put their votes, but the main question is whether the three in the minority can get an alliance together in time for tribal council:

Kelly --> Ethan

Teresa --> Ethan

Tom --> Kelly

Ethan --> Kelly

Kim J --> Kelly

Kim P --> Ethan

The minority is able to get an alliance together but on the revote Kim Powers and Teresa flip knowing that Kelly is going home on a countback nonetheless:

Teresa --> Kelly

Tom --> Kelly

Kim P --> Kelly

Kim P --> Kelly

Meaning that by Episode 13 the Boran three have the majority at Final 5. Ethan wins immunity and the Boran three have to choose who to send home from the minority. Teresa and Kim Powers make pleas with Tom to flip but he utlimately holds steady with his alliance to the Final 4:

Teresa --> Kim J

Ethan --> Kim P

Kim J --> Kim P

Kim P --> Kim J

Tom --> Kim P

And Teresa is the outsider at the Final 4. However, Teresa pitches to Kim Johnson that she is the clear outsider in the Boran three and that Tom and Ethan are the clear pair, and Kim Johnson wins her first immunity of the season and becomes the clear swing vote between the Ethan and Tom alliance and Teresa:

Ethan --> Teresa

Teresa --> Ethan

Tom --> Teresa

Kim J --> Ethan

And Kim Johnson flips on her alliance, holding steady on the revote as she realizes her odds of winning are much lower if Teresa goes home:

Tom --> Teresa

Kim J --> Ethan

And in firemaking the survivalist and athletic Ethan eliminates Teresa from the game to send himself to the Final 3. Kim Johnson wins the Final 3 immunity challenge and now has to vote between Tom and Ethan and choose who to sit next to at Final Tribal Council:

Kim J --> Tom

Kim Johnson was very close with Ethan and votes out Tom, saying that she would rather sit next to Ethan even if he was going to be harder to beat than Tom, who she viewed as mysoginistic. At an identical Final Tribal Council to real life, Ethan still botches both Brandon and Kim Powers's votes, and at the live show Jeff reads the votes:

Brandon --> Kim J

Tom --> Ethan

Lex --> Ethan

Kim P --> Kim J

Kelly --> Ethan

Frank --> Ethan

Teresa --> Ethan

The winner of Survivor: Africa...Ethan! Yes, those are the exact same votes as written down on parchment. I think part of the magic of the merge of Survivor: Africa is that the alliance dynamics were so fluid that the solid Borans can still make it all the way, even without Lex. Frank and Brandon's dynamic completely blows up Samburu post-merge and the early young vs. old rivalry from the tribe makes it almost impossible for any minority alliance to stop Ethan, Tom, and Kim Johnson from steamrolling to the end. Kim Johnson's immunity run to end Survivor: Africa also makes it very difficult to see any changes to the endgame of the season other than Lex's exclusion due to the what if... of the experiment. Overall, I think that the fact that the season ended the same way speaks to how underrated of a season Survivor: Africa was, and we got to focus a lot more on Boran's underdog story in this version. However, I think things should change once we get to Survivor: Marquesas and the first upended alliance in Survivor history.