In general terms, an alliance is an agreement/friendship between two or more teams/persons, created to reach common goals.
On Endurance[]
Alliances are made on Endurance for several reasons: it's not only to have friends to support a team/player, but to advance the participating parties to the finale, which involves, at times, picking off any teams they deem threatening for their chances of winning. Most, if not all alliances, have became friends during their tenure on the show, and some became enemies with anyone outside the alliance or wanting them to get kicked off.
In other cases, however, alliances are made to avoid elimination, like the Yellow-Orange Alliance in the final four (E3). Orange was allied with Gray and Purple for the entire game and were rivals against Yellow. However, Gray and Purple were so close that neither would send each other to temple. Thus if either won, Orange would have likely been sent to temple despite their relative friendship.
After a certain point in the game, an alliance member may make a strategic move that puts an alliance member at risk of elimination to ensure the self-preservation of the team who made that move. This would generally occur near the end of the season. One example is from Endurance 2 where, after Green won the final 4 temple mission, decided to send Brown (with whom they were allied with for the entire game) to temple as the only mission after this was another temple mission and only the winner of that was safe from temple. Brown and Green though made it to the final 2. Another example was in Endurance Tehachapi were after Purple won the final endurance mission, they decided to give the samadhi to their allies, Green, as Purple felt they were the strongest team and only the winning team of the following temple mission was safe. Neither team though won the temple mission and thus only Purple made it to the finale.
Endurance Alliances[]
Endurance[]
- Red-Yellow--earliest alliance of Endurance, which lasted until the final three, based around Ashley and Sabrina's friendship. Sabrina though at times considered going against Red when Ashley started becoming vocal about targeting Blue.
- Gray-Yellow-Red--the second known alliance created in Endurance History, but lasted a short time, as Gray would be the first team eliminated.
- The Brotherhood (Blue, Purple, Orange, Green [specifically the guys of the teams])--made to fight the Gray-Yellow-Red alliance, but ended when Blue gave Orange the Samadhi in Tilt, the same episode it was formed. Blue eventually betrayed the other teams and joined their rivals.
- Red-Yellow-Blue--alliance among the three strongest teams. Formed after the breakup of the Brotherhood. Ashley though did eventually want to target Blue due their strength and pieces but never got a chance to do so.
- Green-Orange--made to go against the Red-Yellow-Blue Alliance as the last teams of the Brotherhood.
- Yellow-Green--Sabrina's temporary alliance with Lana.
Endurance 2[]
- Green-Yellow-Brown--made between the three females of the group as a friendship, as well as being the two teams which supported the Brown Team's return. Christa from Blue was also initially part of the alliance (in contrast to her partner Scooter who strongly opposed Brown and Yellow) but were targeted by them shortly after Red's elimination due to fear of Scooter.
- Purple-Red-Orange-Gray--a relatively loose alliance against GYB, along with Scooter. They were against Max and Jenna's arrival. It was revealed in Gray's elimination note though Purple tried to downplay it.
- Purple-Gray-Orange--in Gray's departing letter, this was mentioned, although Annie explained this as being only "an agreement to work together". However, that same letter encouraged the other teams to "send Tyler home!", and this was another alliance to last a short time, as Purple would handicap Orange with the first Samadhi that season.
- Blue-Red-Gray--a possible alliance among the first three teams eliminated, based primarily on the friendship of Blue and Red.
- Green-Purple--a possibly secret alliance between the two teams, based on Annie and Mike's friendship, despite Keetin targeting the latter team. This lasted until the final 4 when Green decided to send Purple with Brown since those were their strongest competitors and only the winner of the next temple mission was sae from temple.
- Purple-Brown--a temporary alliance between the two strongest teams. This proved to be short lived as Brown sent Purple to temple with Blue and Brown became a primary target of Purple afterwords.
Endurance 3: Hawaii[]
- Purple-Red-Orange-Gray (also known as PROG)--the main alliance of the season, trying to pick off the Yellow Team
- Green-Yellow-Brown--between friends to go against PROG. Vanetta though maintained a close friendship with Nicole on Orange.
- Blue-Orange--mainly a friendship between Antonio and Demian, although Blue didn't make any official alliances prior to their elimination.
- Red-Brown--mainly a friendship between Kareem and Tom.
- Brown-Orange--mainly a friendship between Vanetta and Nicole
- Yellow-Brown-Orange--secret alliance against Purple and Gray. Subsequently exposed, and Yellow was punished for it.
- Purple-Gray--a sub-alliance of PROG, mainly a friendship between the two teams.This included a pact where if one got eliminated at temple, they would give their pieces to the other team. It would also later cause a wedge with Orange since they knew by the time of the final 4 that if either won the final 4 temple mission, Orange would be sent along with Yellow.
- Gray-Orange--a sub-alliance of PROG, mainly a friendship between the two teams
- Red-Purple--a sub-alliance of PROG, mainly a friendship between the two teams. This may have been a bit one-sided as Purple choose to send Red instead of Orange to temple.
- Green-Yellow--a friendship between the two teams, particularly when several of the others teams started to target Yellow.
- Yellow-Orange--a desperation alliance between the two teams because of Purple and Gray's friendship in the final four. Nicole though sought to once again ally with Gray after they came back from temple.
Endurance: Tehachapi[]
- Various alliances formed prior to the first endurance mission though it was so rampant that it seemed that everyone was in alliance and Daniella could not remember who was in hers.
- Purple-Green--mainly between Jonathan and Isaac as a friendship, but is a strong alliance on its own right. Chris from Yellow was also close to both Jonathan and Isaac.
- Gray-Blue--an alliance which was exposed early in the game, putting the two teams in danger. Orange, specifically Michael, initially had ties with this alliance but turned on them when the other teams did as well.
- Yellow-Green-Purple-Red--made between the four teams to go against the Gray-Blue alliance
- Green-Red--mainly a friendship between Jeszie and Erika. While Jeszie didn't want to target Red, Isaac did in order to help Purple and Blue which led to conflict between.
- Red-Orange--mainly a friendship between the two teams, although they did plan on forming an official alliance during the final five in response to the closeness of the other 3 teams.
- Green-Blue--mainly a friendship between Isaac and Amelia though Shea seemed loyal as well. Appeared primarily during the final 5 onwards, after Blue's initial allies, Gray, were eliminated. Jeszie though wanted Blue gone.
Endurance: High Sierras[]
- Purple-Red-Orange-Green--the major alliance of E5, controlled everything
- Yellow-Blue-Gray--a possible alliance among the targets of PROG. Blue though did turn on Gray following the team switch.
- Purple-Green--a sub-alliance of PROG, mainly a friendship between the two teams
- Red-Purple--a sub-alliance of PROG, mainly a friendship between the two teams
- Green-Red--a sub-alliance of PROG, mainly a friendship between the two teams
- Red-Orange--a sub-alliance of PROG, mainly a friendship between the two teams
- Yellow-Gray--a friendship between the two teams
- Yellow-Blue--a friendship between the two teams
Endurance: Fiji[]
- Orange-Green--the main, but secret alliance. Also involved the Red Team for a period of time though Orange and Green did plan to eventually turn against them which is what happened in the final 4.