User blog comment:MightyUke416/Survivor: Djibouti - Ultra Mighty JTS/@comment-26910098-20180217211244/@comment-26485526-20180217222738

Raul had a very interesting path through the season, to say the least. He was initially a bit of an outcast as he came into the game as an overweight, dorky, nonathletic guy with bad fashion sense. Soon however, he was pulled into a 4 person alliance by Sergio that also included Heidi and Imani to oppose the other alliance of 4, which included Zabrina, Logan, Brenda, and Daisy. Raul and Daisy however both contributed to Khor Angar losing the first challenge, leading them to be the targets of their respective oppsing alliances. Patric however, was caught over-playing and accused Imani of having the idol at Tribal. Patric also said that he and Errol would vote for Imani, which Errol didn't agree to before hand. Patric's game spiraled out of control at that Tribal, with Imani proposing a truce to Daisy's alliance so that they could vote for Patric as the easy vote. Patric was then sent home 9-1 with neither Raul or Daisy (the original targets) receiving a vote (Patric voted for Imani).

Raul screwed up in the next immunity challenge as well, and was targeted yet again. It looked as though Raul was going out as Errol had grown close to Daisy due to both of them having Native American heritage. Sergio and Heidi however, promised Zabrina a final 3 deal and convinced her that Daisy would be more loyal to Errol than her, which caused Zabrina to flip on her alliance and spare Raul.

Safe into the majority, Raul made it to the swap. Zabrina's flip sparked a rivalry between her and Logan, both of whom Raul was stuck with on the new Halhal. Logan wanted to put their differences aside, and he and Raul targeted Eve. Zabrina however, got along well initally with both Ashleigh and Eve, and ended up venting about Logan to the former (who informed Eve about what happened). Eve then convinced Zabrina that Logan just wanted her vote, and Logan was sent home 3-2. Since this put Raul in the minority, Raul pledged his alliance to Eve if she would help him stay over Zabrina. Zabrina and Ashleigh soon became really close friends, which Eve noticed. Believing that Raul would be loyal, and also thinking that Ashleigh would choose Zabrina over her, Eve put her foot down and refused to vote Raul out, making Ashleigh choose between voting out Zabrina or drawing rocks. Ashleigh chose to vote out Zabrina.

Come the merge, the five original Khor Angars wanted to get back together. Initially, Jaxon and Ashleigh came up with a plan to blindside Eve, which was passed down to some original Khor Angars but Raul refused to vote Eve due to his loyalty for her, and pushed for a different target. Eve initially wanted Ashleigh out due to the former conspiring against her, but Jaxon and Adam had the vote flipped to Errol, who was eliminated 8-3. From there, Raul was comfortable in the majority, although he did find an idol after receiving a clue during the reward in episode 10. After Thurman's evacuation and Imani's immunity win, Eve in particular didn't feel comfortable not splitting, and had her and Raul put their votes on Jaxon at tribal. When the votes tied between Eve and Jaxon (since Imani did play an idol on Jomel, confirming Eve's suspicions), Eve and especially Raul, passionately argued that Jaxon was pulling the strings and dominating the game. This led to "free agents" Imani and Jomel voting with them to send Jaxon home 5-2 (Heidi and Sergio also voted for Jaxon).

After the merge, Raul & Eve were a solid duo, although Raul purposefully stayed in the background and allowed the more vocal Eve to be seen as the leader. When the two couples (Raul/Eve; Sergio/Heidi) were targeted at the final 6, everyone expected that Eve would be the person between her and Raul to have an idol. As such, Raul shocked everyone by playing his idol and negating the two votes against him. However, Heidi also played her idol, forcing a 0-0 vote. Since Sergio won immunity, Eve was eliminated 4-2, with only Raul voting alongside her against Jomel.

After Jomel won immunity at the final 5, Heidi & Sergio tried to paint Raul as someone who was severely underestimated from the beginning and a huge jury threat, but Raul & Jomel both were able to convince Adam to vote out Sergio due to his showmance with Heidi. After Heidi won final immunity, Raul was spared again due to Jomel's massive underdog story.

At the FTC, Raul tried to argue that it was his strategy to be underestimated so that he could fly under the radar to get to the end. Even still however, some jurors chastised him for riding Eve's coat-tails, citing his blatant refusal to vote him out after the merge. Luckily for Raul, his idol play in particular was enough to see that he indeed was severely underestimated. Further, he also had a much stronger social game than Heidi as Raul was seen as goofy and friendly, while some jurors viewed Heidi as a bit cold and stand-offish. As such, he earned the votes of Jomel, Eve, Jaxon, Thurman, and Errol, winning him the game.