I DONT WANT TO OVERPLAY!/Confessionals

Day 25
"sparrow"

- "So Lex was the merge boot, but not without any consequences. I was the one that pitched the whole ""Lex is suspicious plan"" to Hunter, and god bless that man, but he went OFF and made sure it was Lex that went home. I was honestly ready to let Karsten go, but Hunter made damn sure that didn't happen. It sucks for Hunter, because Andrea and Elmo (that I know of so far) are a little, to VERY upset with him, and I'm downplaying it to them of how much Lex wanted gone, and how what Hunter did wasn't right, but I make sure to say its repairable. I believe Hunter took a lot of the heat for essentially was my move, which is a mixed bag for my game. Me and Hunter are really close, and I hate to see him get a target on his back, but he screwed his chances up pretty bad. He burned a LOT of social capital to get that plan to go through, but I think it will be worth it. This makes Yousef have less people that he can rely on, which is good for me, since he is so dang smart and persuasive.

I am basically in full damage control right now for Hunter's actions, but all in all, I would say its a net positive for me since I don't seem to be taking a lot of the heat for it. I just have to really lay low right now, and try and extinguish these burning bridges that Hunter set on fire."

"sparrow"

- yayyyy hello guys sorry I haven't confessed in a hot minute! I think my threat level has effectively plummeted after I got a ZERO on 2 truths and a lie as well as not being on at all last Tribal due to hanging out with my gf and just voting how people told me. Which like maybe that's not the best gameplay but right now I am content with not being seen as a big threat because I want the others to take each other out. Elmo and Yousef are probably my closest allies but Yousef is starting to go a little paranoid and act weird, and when I told Elmo I would never vote him out he said "OMG thanks!" and then changed the topic...so...yeah. Right now the people I find most trustworthy are probably Andrea and Natalia. They're great, they're quiet, and they're not big threats like me. I want the three of us to be able to go far. I also am HATING this auction happening, there's already 10000 advantages and everyone is scared of them and with this auction everyone is just going to let Hunter walk all over them and past them. I want to get something good in this auction and push for hunter to go next because each round we put off taking him out out of fear is another round closer to the million for him, and he's way too good to let him get much closer. Jake or Karsten might be next too because Jake barely talks and everyone gets a bad vibe from Karsten, but like if I can shift it to Hunter I 100% will

"sparrow"

- "So this is an interesting situation after tribal.

Lex leaves, this is great. Someone who I wasn't really close with and was possibly working against me is gone, cool. Now comes the tough part.

I think I may have upset Elmo, Nat and Andrea, and rightfully so. They did spend time with Lex more than I did, and they wanted Karsten.

But I had to get aggressive. People just wanted to stick with the majority, and were only putting their concerns out, and I'M NOT HERE TO PLAY ""Let's all be happy together"". I'm here to play Survivor, so yeah I got aggressive and pushed for what I wanted.

Now comes the interesting part. Apparently, Lex wasn't really after me and Karsten threw my name out, at least originally. Now, this may seem like ""Oh Karsten just played Hunter"" but no, I got what I wanted, and now Karsten looks bad. I don't have to do anything this round, because people don't like Karsten and want him out. So, if I just stay back, be nice and act like I was played because I was paranoid, and that I feel awful for how rough I was, I could be sitting pretty well.

Finally, FINALLY we are playing Survivor, and it's oh so lovely :)"Hunter

"sparrow"

- "I've spent all day going to everyone in the ""Sun"" alliance (Me/Hunter/Andrea/Natalia/Bradley) basically apologizing for Hunter, and disagreeing with his actions. Its not JUST strategy, I actually do feel genuinely bad that they felt hurt by his actions, and I hope that we can move past it as an alliance. Or at the very least they take it out on him, not me.

As of now, the ""Sun"" alliance is the one that I want to go further to the end of this game with. Maybe Su as well, he's pretty fun to be around. Which probably means other people find him really fun to be around, so I have to keep a mental note of his threat level moving forward.

Also on a random note, WOW someone was really upset with the Lex vote by writing ""They will pay"" on it. If I had to guess right now, I think it was probably Yousef, just because after the vote he seemed perfectly fine with it, which is very suspicious since he was his #1 ally and basically the player he had under his thumb since the beginning of the game. Just seemed a little odd with how quickly he cut bait."

Day 26
"sparrow"

- "It's been a while since my last confessional. Work is piling up at uni, so it's been kind of rough trying to balance that, the game, then day to day life and whatever else needs to get done each week. I'm still here, though! I'll recap some important events.

On the final swap tribe, I knew it was extremely important to solidify something to keep me safe ASAP, and so I pushed for an alliance of myself, Yousef, and Su. Su, myself, and Sofianita also aligned, but Sofianita was kind of doing her own thing. Liam sucked at one of my best challenge things after stealing it from me and locking that in for no reason, and then followed that up with trying to target me after he lost his part badly. It was kind of funny, though. Liam left because of the ties I made and the paranoia that he or Karsten could have one of the items that I do, the vote nullifier.

After this, the vote seemed to be on Karsten, and he was struggling to stay safe, first targeting Yousef, then myself. Sofianita began talking to Su trying to get him to flip on us, but for some reason he came to myself and Yousef with this information and said Sofianita was nuts. For me, I knew Hunter was sketched out by Karsten already, and Sofianita is super UTR. Thus, I pushed hard for Sofianita to leave, regardless of what Su's motivations were for throwing her under the bus. She threw a fit for an hour and then was finally kicked out of the chat, womp womp.

Karsten was still on the chopping block to leave next, but he won the challenge for the tribe, and thus he was able to make the merge. Despite him voting for me twice in a row, this doesn't bother me too much. People make a common mistake in refusing to work with someone at merge just because they once voted for them on a small tribe. Our relationship is not superb or anything, but it seems that we at least agree that there's no reason to try voting for each other right now.

I was the first (to my knowledge) to bring up Alexander's name during the first merge round. I felt pretty safe doing so because he didn't seem to have a good relationship with anyone aside from Yousef. They also threw out Su early on, and I was okay with this as well because I don't trust Su that much if he'd turn on Sofianita so quickly despite her trusting him. Su's name quickly died out though, and was replaced with Hunter, then Karsten once nobody wanted to vote for Hunter yet. Hunter himself has remained very obviously trying to play UTR, and it's been getting a bit on my nerves. He kind of refuses to say a name or anything until one is said first, despite him being the one to bring up the vote. I know why he's doing it, but it definitely puts him lower on my trust ranking.

So, the options were: Alexander has an idol played on him (Perhaps by Yousef, who I think has the Calico idol), then Hunter or Su or Karsten leaves and an idol is burned. Or, Alexander just leaves, I got out a threat to my game, and Yousef loses an ally, thus boosting my own value to him. The second option came true, and so now that's one less person who will be pushing for me to go soon. Others on the list: Natalia, Andrea, Karsten. I am pretty much aligned with everyone else, and so right now my job is just to primarily juggle my relationships in such a way that nobody sees how well connected I've made myself, and the secondary goal is to take out people on my hit list. In the second half of the merge we'll figure out who we can win against from the pool of people left over, if I make it there lol.

For now, I am just making sure people SEE me being active and at least attempting to be somewhat social despite my busy schedule. I don't know how long it'll last, but so far it seems that I'm doing alright in this merge. I also think people will be underestimating me challenge-wise, since I sucked so badly at most of the pre-merge challenges. But give me a jigsaw puzzle? I'll slap it to next Thursday. For now, though, I'll probably just keep throwing until I feel unsafe. "

"sparrow"

- 420 Bong Blazer Strikes Again? But Your Boy Still Lives

Day 27
"sparrow"

- "WELL HELLO THERE! I forgot to do one last round so this will be an extensive one, saddle up! OKAY SO!!!!!!!!!!! Merge vote. I wanted out Karsten because he didn't have a lot of great connections with people and I wanted to keep the sides (hunter, ethan jake vs su yousef, etc the sides arent actually that clear) unanimous as long as possible but then hunter starts pushing for lex HARDCORE which throws a wrench in my plan! Voting out Lex is so much worse for my game (I think) then votin out Karsten. Andrea, Natalia and I still have the opportunity to get out Karsten if we want to by a 6-5 vote but we all know that it's not ideal. For reference, there was an alliance made with all of the 3.0 Chengs, that includes Bradley, Andrea, Natalia, Ethan, Hunter and myself. We wanted to keep that group going, because it would provide safety for next round, everyone was a little on edge about Hunter though lol.

Fast forward to this tribal! I WON IMMUNITY!!!!!!!! IM SAFE!!!!!!!!!!! I've been saying this whole season how I want to keep threats in but honestly I don't think taking Hunter out now would be horrible for me, I LOVE the guy, he's awesome to talk to but im v scared of his advantages and clearly hes very good at pushing his agenda as seen last tribal. The easy vote seems yet again to be Karsten, I don't think that he has connected with people very well and people don't trust him.

This vote could still change like 10 times this tribal so I'm just happy that it can't be me. The 6 of me, Bradley, Natalia, Yousef, Andrea and Su might be voting for Hunter which would be a HUGE move but I'm not sure how down Andrea is with that vote, I feel like everyone else would be good with that plan. Also another reason why I'm down with this plan is because I feel like Bradley would get bigger backlash from voting out Hunter than I would. He is more connected to Hunter/Ethan/Jake than I am so they're probably going to be mad to him over me. But who knows?

I'm gonna go thru the cast and give my ~cast assessment~

Andrea: She's dead ass playing a pretty good UTR game. She's definitely vvv dangerous down the line, I don't know if people have picked up on how well she has connected with all of Cheng and Calico. There's also something I don't trust about her.. I can't pin point what it is but it's there.... it's something... I also think that she doesn't completely trust me but I could be wrong. I love her as a person and she's one of my friends coming in so voting her out would be pretty hard but I think I have to do it at some point

Bradley: He's the one that has surprised me the most. He's very good at playing the middle and I'm glad that I am close to him because working in the middle is much easier when there's two people. I feel like he's more strategic oriented while I am more relationship oriented in my playstyle though. He says that he trusts me the most though but I don't think he would bring me to the end and I honestly feel similarly because we have played very similar games. BUT ITS FINAL 10, STUFF CHANGE!

Ethan: He is pretty likable guy and he has good wits too, after the tribal he came to me apologizing of Hunter's behavior which was super smart of him. I think his downside could be that he isn't the most connected? I also have no idea how he would react if Hunter was gone :X so it's scary idk what would happen. He's pretty good in comps too so he'd be a threat moving forward and that's something I'm going to need, people who will be targeted before I am!!!

Hunter: He is so lovely like I really enjoy talking to him, he doesn't really hit me up though :/ He's v busy with Work/School/Karate (imagine having a real life i cant relate). He is also so dangerous because of supposed advantages he probably has... I think he'd be a loyal ally but I think that he'd cut me at 5 or something and I'm not here to settle at 5th tbhhhh. I also feel like if we were to vote out Ethan over Hunter, he'd be hella mad and not talk to me but idk, he's a strong strategist so maybe he would see it as a good move. I really hope I can remain friends with him even if I'm voting him out....

Jake: Jake is the funniest person in this cast, I love talking to him because I crack up a smile everytime and the conversations I have with him just seem super natural and like not forced at all. He is a lil inactiveish and doesn't really talk to people and I have no game relationship with him so I don't know where is head is at, at the moment I don't think he's really a threat though but this man has multiple wins to his name so it would be foolish to count him out

Natalia: Ugh Natalia queen, I hope I have a correct read on her LOL, she's like amazing duo to have this game because she seems so truthful, easy to talk to, she's v sound strategically tbh I thought she was lying when she said that she was a newbie. I feel like she's being honest about wanting to take me to the end. Honestly if she turned out to be like a snake legend, hats off to her because she would have played me very well, she's probably the person I trust the most at the moment.

Su: Su <3 He's amazing because we both see the game similarly, we haven't been AS close as we were before because we were on different tribes and we now have different connections with people but I feel like he's still truthful to me and I defo want to go to f3 with him too at least at the moment. I don't know how he would handle taking out other big threats in our supposed alliance (like Andrea or Yousef) but I guess we have to wait and I see.. His picture/gif game is awesome as well. He's the person I trust 2nd most at the moment

Yousef: Yousef is so good at reading people it scares me.. He literally called out my position and called me Demika lmao, I mean its not a secret that I have relationships with nearly everyone but still!!! I feel like he might take a shot at me at like... f7-6? So I might have to try to get him out before that... The problem is that he has integrated himself SO well with Andrea/Natalia/Su so I am not sure how I'm ever going to get a majority on him until like super late game. I hope that he gets more paranoid though because I think that's his only big downside.

ANYWAY!! This was a lot. I feel like I'm in an okay situation and I DONT WANT TO OVERPLAY! I still think I'd be in a good position if I vote out Hunter this tribal, I know that after that I definitely need to go after some lower threats like Jake or something because If all of the big threats go from f10 to f7 then I get like 5th lmao. I am here to play big, but also smart, you don't have to do big moves to play big.

"

"sparrow"

- "I am in a bit of a pickle. ~who has the cheng idol do u think elmo jake or bradley look theres 3 options we tell everyone we wont do hunter and do karsten we blindside hunter OR. we tell hunter hes 100% getting votes, to flush his advantages. we tell him elmo and brad are behind it. We vote out one of them and flush advantages on both sides~ This is my thoughts talking to Natalia The only two people I trust rn are Natalia and Yousef

Tribe Lineup: Yousef Natalia Andrea

Su

Karsten (#) Elmo Bradley Jake (#)

Ethan Hunter

more later

They want Hunter out but i just want Karsten out"

"sparrow"

- "Here we are on day 27, Elmo just won immunity, Congrats for him, that was genuinely a hard challenge, and he beasted it. Now we are moving onto the vote. Right now the ""Sun"" alliance (Me/Hunter/Elmo/Bradley/Natalia/Andrea) have all agreed that it's Karsten leaving tonight. Which kinda sucks honestly. I knew it was coming, because that was the deal from last vote. However, everyone agreed to it a little too quickly, and without much discussion. Makes me a little suspicious. I'm going to try and see if Natalia and Andrea are trying to plot something against Hunter. I got his permission to throw him under the bus and act like i'm being sketched out by his actions recently, and see if they will let me know if any ""true"" plan is being made.

Right now, I see Yousef/Su & Bradley & Jake & Natalia/Andrea & myself/Hunter as pairs, however Natalia/Andrea as the people who are playing the middle expertly. Everyone wants them on their side, and they are in good with everyone. They are in the Sun alliance, and they are pretty tight with the outsiders of Yousef/Su, so I can easily see those 4 teaming up as some sort of strikeforce to take over this game should they get the numbers. I'm trying to subtly warn Bradley/Elmo that as much as I love them, and Nat/Andrea are on our side for now, we have to be careful because it's in their best interest to NOT take the ""Heeb"" alliance (Me/Hunter/Elmo/Bradley) far in this game.

So much is going on. I just want to make sure I'm not being lied to."

"sparrow"

- There is a demon on Earth and her name is Rhi

"sparrow"

- "I'm struggling hard right now, because I don't know where to go from here.

This round the vote seems to clearly be Karsten, but what does this mean for the next round? I'm sure Natalia and maybe Elmo and Andrea have some kind of bond with Yousef. Jake may have this as well.

Next round would be an ideal time to swing, but if word gets out, Yousef idols himself and then I'm probably gone. So is Natalia and Andrea actually with us? Andrea I think may be more committed because of past history with Yousef, but I don't know about Natalia. She may want to stick in the middle.

Su is someone who I would love to reel in as an extra number, but I think he may be bonded to Yousef pretty well.

I just feel like Yousef has his hands in many baskets, and the first shot has to work or he'll never leave.

Next round may need to be a complicated plan, even maybe using Ethan's idol. This is really rough and I don't know what to think right now..."

"sparrow"

- "There might be a solution to my confusion! Hopefully this pans out.

Coming into the merge I wanted to find someone of the three I hadn't met (Su/Yousef/Lex) to make a sort of hidden partnership with. Fill each other in on what they know, and make sure no one comes after us. Basically blow up plans to protect each other.

I was originally planning to do this with Lex, since we were both Canadian, and both had a, if a bit weak, connection through Canadienne. But that clearly DID NOT pan out so...moving on!

Anyways, I'm trying to talk more to Su, hoping to get something going, and he proposes THE EXACT THING I'M LOOKING FOR!!! I didn't have to do any work or convincing!

I hoping this isn't bullshit, but it's smart for Su and smart for me.

This could be my protection from any kind of plans to fuck me over. Hopefully this works out well :)"

"sparrow"

- "As of now, unless im being horrifically lied to, I think the vote is going to be Karsten. It seems like it's going to be another unanimous vote (I'm boring, I know) but I have tried my damnedest to keep him here as long as he did. In our first vote on Barbarossa, it was between Anabel and Karsten, I pushed to keep Karsten. When it was Katie vs Karsten, I pushed to keep Karsten, and Katie went home. Hell, even when it was Lex vs Karsten, that was hell to do, but we kept Karsten. This man just can't seem to keep himself out of the line of fire. I wanted to bring him further, he is just NOT communicating with the people he needs to, to survive. I've told him to talk to barbarossa 3.0 (aka the ""Sun"" alliance of Me/Hunter/Andrea/Natalia/Bradley/Elmo) and he really isn't talking to them. Andrea, Natalia, and Elmo are all sus of him, because he just refuses to talk game with them, and I don't get it. Karsten is such a cool dude, and we get along so well, I just don't understand why he's so selectively mute. It super sucks to see him leave, but there is honestly nothing I can do to keep him, short of giving him my idol, but I just don't think its worth being a social outcast, to keep the one player everyone doesn't want around. Karsten when you read this, I hope you know how much I didn't want this to happen, but I had no choice. I feel awful for keeping him in the dark because he doesn't deserve this, but it's the game of survivor, and we're full sail ahead at this point.

It's time for... ""Ethan's Perspective On The Game!"" This is the part of my confessional where I make random, paranoid conjectures about where I think everyone is standing right now. So currently, there is the Yousef/Su pair who are pretty tight. There is the pair of Andrea/Natalia who have a lot of power currently and are in good with literally everyone on the tribe (except Karsten, hence why they want him out). There is the ""HEEB"" alliance which is Hunter/Ethan(me)/Elmo/Bradley, and we're a tight 4 I think (more on that later) and Jake is also in another alliance, just sub out Elmo for Jake. SO Right now, I think Andrea/Natalia/Elmo are basically playing both sides right now, and are tight with Yousef and Su. I think those 3 actually have a lot of power. I can easily see that bloc of 3 start to pendulum back and forth, taking out a person from one side, then the other. The reason I think this, is because they all expressed very vocal concerns about NOT wanting to vote out Lex, rather than Karsten at the first merge vote. I feel as if they wanted to keep their options open, and taking someone out from the trio of Lex/Yousef/Su wasn't in their best interest. Thank god Hunter took my plan and went crazy aggressive to get what we wanted. After this vote, it will confirm my suspicion that those 3 are playing the middle if they suggest going after Jake (the only person who isn't solidly in either side) instead of the Yousef/Su duo. (SIDENOTE: Elmo may not be apart of this middle group, it could just be Natalia/Andrea, but I'm assuming the worst and grouping him in with them). If that happens, then I will need to bust out my idol to get back the numbers. TO WRAP THIS LONG ASS CONFESSIONAL UP: IT sucks I can't keep Karsten, because he isn't talking to any of my allies to make it worth sticking my neck out to save him, even if I am paranoid about the ""middle 3"" potentially flip flopping. I just see me alienating more allies than I would gain. So for now, I hope this vote goes off without a hitch. Thank you for listening to my TED talk."

"sparrow"

- So things are looking pretty good for me this Tribal, my name hasn't been out there again I hope, and it seems like a big blindside on Hunter is lining up. I didn't even have to do a ton of work, some seeds I planted sprouted, and Brad/Elmo weren't on the fence and were totally down to take him out. The plan also spread to people outside of the original group but hopefully no one leaks and we can keep this as quiet and even as possible. Hunter is a huge threat and if he leaves that would open up the doors for me in the future and it could also be a big move that I helped put into action. It also hopefully convinces Brad and Elmo to stick with people like me, Yousef, Natalia, and Andrea for good. We'll see what happens, Hunter does probably have lots of advantages so maybe this will be crazy, but I hope it works out alright!

"sparrow"

- "im so NERVOUS but i found the idol this round and im feeling pretty good about that. after lex left i need to make more moves for myself that benefit me instead of going with what everyone wants. elmo and bradley were snakey this round and concocted a plan to oust hunter but next round i'm going to keep my eye on that if i live.

2 idols makes you fucking paranoid. if i die this round i die. goodbye.

lex was robbed."

"sparrow"

- Can't Find It? I'm Here To Help