User:Hollandaisecraver/Sophie Clarke

Sophie Clarke (born 10 July, 1989) is an American healthcare consultant and television personality, best known for her appearances on Survivor: South Pacific (2011), which she won, and Survivor: Winners at War (2020).

South Pacific
Main article: Survivor: South Pacific

A medical student at the time of filming, Clarke was cast into the nine-person Upolu Tribe. Known for her blunt nature, both in confessionals and directly towards other tribemates, she quickly expressed doubts about the arrival of returning player Benjamin "Coach" Wade, due to his established, eccentric personality. However, Clarke would soon join his newfound alliance, the Family, along with Brendan Hantz, Albert Destrade, and Rick Nelson. Despite Clarke not being as bonded by common religious beliefs as the rest of her alliance, the Family stuck together throughout the pre-merge. Joined by fellow castaway Edna Ma, they avoided elimination by voting off Upolu outsiders Stacey Powell, Christine Shields Markoski, and Mikayla Wingle. At the Tribal Council where Shields Markoski was voted out, Clarke received one elimination vote from Powell. During the pre-merge, Clarke played an especially under-the-radar game, forging closer bonds with Wade and Destrade and collectively finding a hidden immunity idol, which they chose to hide from Hantz and Nelson.

With opposing tribe Savaii's leader, Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth, returning to the game due to the Redemption Island twist, the tribes came into the merge with six players each. The Family successfully convinced Savaii outsider John Cochran to flip to their side, subsequently eliminating Lusth in a 6-4 re-vote. Up in numbers, the Upolu alliance systematically eliminated the remnants of the Savaii tribe, before voting out Cochran and Ma. During this period, Clarke notably kept Destrade from turning on their alliance, often catching him scheming against her, and won two individual immunity challenges.

At the final five, Hantz, the biggest target left, won individual immunity. Knowing Lusth was likely returning from Redemption Island again, Clarke convinced Wade that blindsiding the physically fit Hantz would give the remaining Upolu members the best chance of eliminating Lusth before he returned to the game, by sending Hantz himself to Redemption Island. After giving away the immunity necklace to protect Destrade, Hantz was eliminated in a 3-2 vote, with Clarke receiving two votes. Lusth then returned to the game following his win at Redemption Island, permanently eliminating Hantz. Following the next immunity challenge, which Lusth won, the trio was forced to blindside Nelson, with Clarke again receiving two votes. At the final four, and with Lusth in an easy position to win the game should he win immunity again, Clarke narrowly defeated him in the final immunity challenge. Destrade, Wade, and Clarke then voted him out unanimously, permanently eliminating him from the game.

At the Final Tribal Council, all three finalists received criticism from the jury. While Clarke was called out for her blunt nature, she was praised for her self-awareness and winning several immunity challenges. Filling her canteen with alcohol shortly before the ceremony began, Clarke also openly criticised the gameplay of her fellow finalists, pointing out Wade's religious hypocrisy despite his desire to remain loyal. She would eventually be crowned the title of Sole Survivor in a 6-3-0 vote against Wade and Destrade, respectively, receiving votes to win from Lusth, Hantz, Whitney Duncan, Jim Rice, Dawn Meehan, and Keith Tollefson.

Winners at War
Main article: Survivor: Winners at War

Clarke would later be brought back, along with 19 other winners, for the show's 40th season. Initially part of the Dakal tribe, Clarke played a more socially and strategically aggressive game, quickly aligning with Yul Kwon, whom she used as "nerd-shield" to lower her own threat level. Also roping in Nick Wilson and Wendell Holland, other one-time Dakal players who had socially disconnected from the player community following their wins, Clarke played the middle on Dakal after their loss in the second immunity challenge. The alliance was ultimately able to eliminate Amber Mariano, whose husband, Rob, was deemed a threat on the opposing Sele tribe.

The next day, after finding an immunity idol that could only be activated if shared with another person, Kim Spradlin-Wolfe chose to give half of her idol to Clarke, deeming her trustworthy. Despite being uneasy at Spradlin-Wolfe's strategic reputation, Clarke eventually returned the idol half back to her. After her tribe eventually lost the day 11 immunity challenge, Clarke elected to target Tyson Apostol, another player deemed threatening, and successfully voted him out.

When the tribes expanded from two to three the following day, Clarke, along with Dakal tribemate Sarah Lacina, were swapped to the newly-created Yara Tribe. Caught in a five-person tribe with three former members of Sele, including Rob Mariano, Clarke immediately found an immunity idol on the island, sharing half with Lacina, and targeted Rob, whose imposing camp attitude had alienated former Sele tribemates Adam Klein and Ben Driebergen. Communicating their plan with the other Sele members, Clarke and Lacina successfully flipped Driebergen and Klein to unanimously eliminate Rob Mariano.

Winning the subsequent two immunity challenges, the four-person Yara tribe remained intact, though Clarke's ally, Kwon, would eventually be voted out on the newly swapped Sele tribe. Kwon would gift her a Fire Token following his elimination, shortly before the merge. As the tribes merged into the Koru tribe, Sophie immediately joined the new majority alliance, alongside Lacina, Spradlin-Wolfe, Denise Stapley, Tony Vlachos, Jeremy Collins, Driebergen, and Klein. Despite Wilson's alienation from the tribe making him a prime target to be voted out, Clarke successfully spearheaded Holland's elimination instead, fearing his newfound connections with Collins.

After voting out Klein the following episode, the tribe fractured in half, with a coalition, led by Collins, targeting Clarke, and the others, including Clarke, attempting to vote out Collins. After using the Safety Without Power to gain immunity in exchange for not voting, Collins left his allies down in numbers 5-4. Comfortably in control of the votes, Clarke instead voted out Apostol, who had earned re-entry into the game following his win at the Edge of Extinction. With more solid numbers, Clarke again attempted to target Collins, splitting the votes between him and Michele Fitzgerald in case one of them played an idol. Fearing his own ally, Lacina, was getting too close to Clarke, Vlachos attempted to gather enough votes to blindside Clarke. With her idol remaining unused, Clarke was voted out in a 4-3-2 vote, receiving votes from Vlachos, Wilson, Fitzgerald, and Collins. She chose to gift each of her two Fire Tokens to Lacina and Spradlin-Wolfe.

Following her elimination, Clarke awaited a chance to return to the game on the Edge of Extinction, subsequently winning two more Fire Tokens and spending them on a jar of peanut butter. After losing the re-entry challenge to Natalie Anderson, Clarke was permanently eliminated from the game and finished in 10th place, joining the jury in voting for a winner. In spite of an illness that prevented her from witnessing the final four elimination on Day 38, Clarke was present for the Final Tribal Council on Day 39. She voted for Vlachos to win the game, who was crowned the winner after defeating Anderson and Fitzgerald in a 12-4-0 vote.

Reception
Initial reactions to Clarke's win were lukewarm. While many praised her for correctly anticipating the criticism Wade and Destrade would receive for their gameplay, others perceived Wade to have had superior gameplay. In a 2017 fan poll conducted by Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly, Clarke ranked 25th out of the show's first 35 winners, with Ross stating that "Sophie did a better job than people gave her credit for. Coach Wade was the victim of a bitter jury, but he brought that on himself by forming religious and social bonds that were so close that anyone could have predicted the blowback".

Clarke experienced a surge in popularity during her appearance on Winners at War, which many attributed to her more aggressive and visible gameplay. At the time of her elimination, Clarke had emerged as a frontrunner to win the game, also earning some of the strongest fan support of the season. Her win on South Pacific was also retrospectively praised, with many specifically targeting her ability to adapt to a primarily masculine alliance.

Personal life
A medical student at the time of her first appearance, Clarke graduated as a medical doctor in 2017, using the winning money to pay off her student debts. She now works as a business consultant for healthcare companies and currently resides in Santa Monica, California. In 2019, she married Robert Shady and has since had two children. Clarke's father is journalist and author Thurston Clarke. Prior to completing her medical degree, she also majored in Economics and can speak Russian.