Board Thread:Season 46 - Kariba/@comment-31148030-20180413203552/@comment-34704154-20180416215602

Hey Drew, thanks for this question I think it’s going to be really useful after all the squabbling that’s been going on so thank you for just giving me a chance to clarify my own game!

I’m going to first give each aspect of the game - strategic, social and physical - a mark out of ten for what I think, and then I will elaborate on why I gave myself those marks! I just want to make sure I communicate my meaning absolutely clear, and by doing this I will (hopefully!) make the justification more meaningful, hence the rating out of ten. By doing this I will also be ensuring I remain as focussed on my own game and as truthful as possible :)

Social: 5/10

Physical: 7/10

Strategic: 9/10

Social: So I’ll start with the worst aspect of my game, which was certainly the social element. Aside from leaving a bitter jury (I am unsure of how you feel thanks to your open-minded jury speech, but I know for example that Louise is bitter), I sometimes failed to secure deeper connections with people inside the game. I think this is particularly true with Dan; upon reflection I only really spoke to him in times of need, which wasn’t very often when we were only on a tribe together post-swap where we won every immunity. I also found it difficult to click with Kiley and Vincent, and was unable to penetrate people such as Becky’s top allegiances - this may have been down to social drawbacks. Despite this, there are certainly positives to my social game; most notably, the bond I created with Hals who, even though I betrayed her time and time again, I was able to reignite in the aftermath. Moreover, the restrictions of my social game never meant I was in the dark about a vote, implying that people did trust me enough to share this information with me. Therefore although there were key mistakes, it didn’t prove fatal in getting me here today; I just have to hope it won’t prove fatal in securing me the win, and hope my honesty and my other strengths are enough.

Physical: I feel I had a fairly solid physical game. Although I made some mistakes (like messing up the challenge back on Hwadze!) I’ve closed the game with the most challenge wins out of everyone across the entire season. Indeed, one of my most proud moments across the entire season was winning the Final Immunity Challenge as I knew I was the person people wanted out before final tribal council as mentioned in other responses! Moreover, winning immunity at final 9 over you was a key victory, as it enabled me to blindside you, showing how my physical game directly aided my strategic game. Even when I didn’t win, most of the time I came second, demonstrating a consistently strong physical display. Therefore although I didn’t appear a physical threat at the time, looking back on the season it is easy to see that my challenge skills were a key aid in securing my place here today.

Strategic: This was definitely the strongest aspect of my game. I’m taking your statement that you haven’t read anything about the season since getting voted out very literally, so sorry if I say things you already know! I believe that my strategic hold on the game is summarised by three main things: 1). I did not vote in the minority once, taking dominant roles in the Dan, Becky, Matthias and your own vote outs, showing that I was always aware of what was going on; 2). I received no votes against me, showing my ability to evade danger through a variety of means; and 3). I was in control of my own destiny at every single opportunity. My whole game from the start was an intricate act. Considering you’re an English major at heart, you must value the importance of language - I hope therefore you can appreciate just how important the language I used, such as excessive “xx” and “wuu2”s, was in creating a false perception of me. Whilst it may have alienated certain individuals, I think it strongly contributed to people seeing me merely as a number. This was a watertight strategy that lasted from the second the game began to sitting here today, which lay down a crucial backdrop for how I played the game. Whilst being perceived as the stupid goat, I could enact subtle tactics to assume control of my own security in this game. One of these would be sharing idol clues with my allies to gain their trust, and telling them incorrect guesses I had made for the idol, in order to give myself the greatest chance of finding it for myself. The start of the merge set off in the direction best for me, due in part to my support for voting out Dan - people may have considered me just a number, but being this number proved pivotal here, and again at the Matthias vote, as demonstrated by the messages Jake posted between him and Vincent on Dovile’s jury speech. Aside from this, I successfully initiated, alongside Louise, the vote on Becky which secured me a vote steal, giving me another advantage to give me further security. Moreover, my middle of the road, goat-like game was epitomised best when I found myself as the only person explicitly between the two sides of the tribe at f9, allowing me to vote you, a massive threat, out of this game with an idol, after deeming your reluctance to tell me about it a telling sign. With regards to my idol, I know you weren’t there so I’ll go through it now: at final 7, Vincent amongst others had entertained the thought of voting me out; this got back to me through links with e.g. Matthias, so I took matters into my own hands come final 6. I bluffed playing my idol publicly, meaning no-one voted against me here, even though they wanted to as Jake has alluded to previously. Then at final 5, of course, I actually had an idol, meaning I was safe again. Regarding the final immunity challenge, I had already researched the ‘Trials’ format of FICs and I knew I could pull it out the bag; this knowledge gave me the confidence to put my game on the line from final 7 onwards in such a gutsy way. I hope it is obvious, therefore, that my game was a carefully planned system, and one that was able to get me here today whilst controlling a number of votes. Despite this, I acknowledge that voting Dovile can be seen as goat-like, and ultimately wasn’t what I wanted; although I was one of a select few to know about her advantages and I felt it was necessary to not alienate myself from the rest of the tribe (I would have been an obvious target had I been in that minority), I admit the lack of conviction and control I had here. I believe there were more disastrous blindsides throughout the game, however, which I certainly evaded. Therefore I hope you can see that my score of 9 is justified, as my strategy over not only who was voted out, but also over myself not being voted out, was significant!

I really hope you can see that I have tried to be balanced here, by pointing out a great number of flaws with my game - since coming into this final tribal council I have tried to be nothing but honest and have always been ready to admit my mistakes. Despite this, I feel the strengths of my game that I have displayed here outweigh the drawbacks significantly. I do not want to claim that I controlled the whole game from start to finish - I definitely didn’t! But one thing I certainly feel I controlled throughout was my safety and my ability to survive, despite the target on my back throughout the late game.

So, in conclusion I’ll just sum up my story! I entered this game as a total newbie; I wasn’t even supposed to be playing in this game until I was drafted in last minute by a friend. Nevertheless, I did my research and implemented a very specific plan that fooled everyone about my intellect and capabilities, allowing me to slip below the radar. However, when the time called I took my game to a new level and navigated myself through a difficult course without a vote against me, dictating my own security at all times. As well as this, I was able to exercise influence over a majority of votes that were advantageous to me, as demonstrated by me voting out all my merge targets. At the start of the game, I was the joke character of the season, the Debbie Wanner! But from final 7 onwards? I was the target and threat that people just couldn’t get out, displaying a dramatic transformation. Therefore I really hope you can see through this character arc that I am worthy of your vote, Drew, and I thank you so much for the opportunity to be able to talk about just my game like this!

And my most fun moment! I really loved the pre-merge because it was so chill and I could really just enjoy getting to know a completely new group of people. The team challenges like the posting the animals one, although it turned out badly, brought a lot of people together in the most surreal of ways! From a personal view I think getting away with the idol bluff was the most satisfying, but I also enjoyed being able to obsess about Eurovision with Matthias, Dovile and Louise, and also introduce it to other people like Hals! It has been so much fun though the entire way and although it took over my life, I am so glad I did it!

Again, thanks Drew, and if this is my last jury response (I think it is!) then thank you for all the thought and attention you have hopefully given my game! Even if you don’t choose to vote me as your winner, I hope you can respect my game regardless, because even if you can’t it WAS wild!! But of course, I’d really love your votes and be able to win, it would be a true fairytale ending :)

Much love!! Will never forget this experience,

Roisin xx