Survivor 43's Sami Layadi played a strategic game where he allied with multiple sides. He used this strategy from day 1 when he built relationships with every member of his tribe, Baka. On one side, he was with Elie Scott and Jeanine Zheng; on the other, he was with Owen Knight and Mike Gabler. Sami was able to continue this strategy after the merge, but the constant switching week by week made Sami lose his credibility as an ally.
After the merge, Sami kept his relationships with his former Baka tribe members, but he quickly built new ones to strengthen his game. His decision to play multiple sides was pivotal at the point of the game where Jesse Lopez and Cody Assenmacher flipped. With the addition of Sami, a massive seven-person alliance was formed, which succeeded in eliminating threats. Then, Sami successfully switched sides when presented with an opportunity during a two-tribal council twist. In an interview with EW, Sami discussed his decision to play multiple sides and how that contributed to his elimination.
Sami Controlled His Survivor Game With Strategic Alliances
When asked about his multiple alliances, Sami said, "I truly felt like I had a relationship with every single person in that game. And that's something that I thought I did really well out there." Although Sami flipped against his allies Owen and Noelle Lambert, they continued to work with him. His neutral position was pivotal for his game because it allowed him to switch between sides depending on the situation. In addition, Sami's allies kept him in the loop about votes up until the elimination of Noelle, who also had strategic gameplay.
Although Sami's elimination is partially due to players seeing him as a physical threat, it is more due to his inability to settle on a side. Sami admitted, "I got way too caught up in my own lies and in my own way that I was playing the game." Flipping between the two sides worked out early on in the merge, but it came to a point where he needed to decide on a group. In the end, Sami played both sides for too long, thus making his allies lose trust in him.
Sami based his Survivor game on his ability to gain allies who trusted him for what ended up being the majority of the game. Throughout the season, Sami controlled his game by strategically maneuvering between alliances to avoid being mentioned for elimination. However, other Survivor 43 players became aware of Sami's strategy and marked him as a threat to their game. Sami knew he was going next and went down fighting using his Shot in The Dark, which viewers can appreciate.
Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.
Source: EW