Board Thread:Season 12 - All-Stars/@comment-5051226-20140216193701/@comment-11497002-20140217014641

Hi Andrei, I want to push the game aside for a moment and speak to you one-on-one. The way the Final 5 Tribal played out I had two options: vote for you or vote for Gerda. Too easy. Strategically, I have a far better chance of getting from final 4 to 3 working with you than I do with Gerda. Personally, I like you far more than I like Gerda. You weren't just an ally to me in the game, you were a friend. Morally, you deserved to be in the final far more than Gerda. So I was never voting for you at that first vote. At the revote though my hands were pretty much tied. Taylor wouldn't vote for Gerda because she saved him (even though she only did that to gain back respect) and Lloyd was never going to vote for Gerda. I tried to sway Lloyd but there really wasn't anything I or anyone could do. So yes, I took advantage of the situation and made Gerda publicly promise not to vote for Lloyd or I in exchange for me keeping her. But it wasn't just "oh well, looks like Andrei's going". It was me balancing my strategic side with my emotional side and as much as I appreciated your friendship I had to do what was best for me. When I voted you out, I didn't think "I've just lost a jury vote", I thought "I've just lost a friend". For you to be able to forgive me means a lot.

To answer your questions:

Go through the 3 most crucial moves you think you've made, and tell me what your thought process behind those moves was, what conversations you had leading you to these moves, and who knew that you were going for these moves.

I think unilateral is a fairly accurate word to describe how I generally played this game. You can have all the alliances you want but at the end of the day you've got to do what's best for you. Perhaps I seemed spontaneous or wishy-washy to people but that's because I wasn't just riding one alliance out to the end. Every round I was re-evaluating my position in the game, seeing what had changed and making adjustments where necessary. I did make a lot of individual decisions and moves and I think that shows I wasn't just playing the game I was playing MY game. So to the three moves I think best served me throughout the game.

The first was early on and that was keeping you over Kevin at Tambo's second Tribal Council. Before Lloyd and Gerda had even gone to Tribal I was already looking ahead in this game and setting myself up, creating options and making sure I had the best shot at making it far. You and Ash voted for Kevin. Kevin and Taylor voted for you. I had the deciding vote on who was going home. The safe short-term option would have been to vote you out. Kevin, Taylor and I had formed an alliance, and they were wary of Ash and she would have been a relatively easy boot had we lost again. But I wasn't just thinking short-term. Like I said in my speech, Ash had connections and going with her meant I had access to those connections. She wanted you and me to go with her so for that to work I had to keep you around. This was a decision I had to make on my own. It was still very early in the game and I had to trust myself to make the right decision. Both sides thought I was voting with them. In the end it came down to me thinking Taylor would still trust me even if I voted out Kevin, and that you and Ash would support me. The two of us hadn't spoken a great deal by then but there was something about you that made me trust and like you. I think it was a good move because the four of us came together as a really strong tribe, whereas there would have been division if I'd gone the other way. And I was right to trust you because you had my back and I knew you'd keep me safe throughout the merge.

My second move I'd highlight is allying with Lloyd after being swapped to Mpilo. None of the others had really approached him so I saw a great opportunity to cement a strong alliance between the two of us. I kept our alliance hidden from the rest of the tribe and it's our secret alliance that allowed me to remain in control of the Mpilo tribe through three Tribal Councils in a row. I had a core alliance between myself and Hunter, and between myself and Lloyd. No one knew about that. I was able to be the connection between Hunter and Lloyd and the three of us essentially ran the tribe. I was the base side to our alliance triangle and it meant I could keep Hunter and Lloyd together and on my side. I told them both individually 'we just keep running this and if the tribe gets down to three then it's you and me'. It also meant I could keep all votes away from me through a circular voting system. At Alejandro's elimination, I told Lloyd 'Alejandro's trying to get Jhet to vote against you. You and I have got to go with Hunter and Henry and get Alejandro out'. And I told Hunter 'Alejandro wants you gone. You get Henry on board, I'll get Lloyd and let's get him out'. At Henry's elimination I told Jhet we were voting for Lloyd, and I told Henry we were voting for Jhet, keeping the votes off me while Hunter, Lloyd and I voted out Henry. At Hunter's elimination, I told him it would be Jhet this round and he and I would vote Lloyd next, I told Jhet it was definitely Lloyd this time, and Lloyd and I voted out Hunter. When people say I was never in danger and I was never a threat, this is the reason why. I was never in danger because I kept myself out of danger. People didn't vote for me because I made sure they didn't. Every round I knew who was getting votes and I made sure none of those votes were for me. I didn't get a single vote until the final Tribal on Day 38. That's not luck. That's strategy and social skills.

The final move I'll highlight is Adam's elimination. Up until this point I had total control over my individual game. Voting out Adam allowed me to take that to the next level and take control of THE game at the end, ensuring my place in the finals. At Final 9 I suggested to Taylor we vote out Adam. I secretly had Uli. And I knew Taylor had Zac. So you, me, Taylor, Zac and Uli could have voted out Adam, but Taylor backed out of it. I still wanted to go ahead with it so I approached Gerard to replace Taylor's spot and approached Zac to see if he would still be up for it. At this point Zac was still close to Taylor and he told Taylor about the plan. So I had to abandon it for that round. At final 8 I won a hidden immunity idol at the auction and kept it secret from everyone. I knew it could be the secret weapon I needed to pull off what I wanted to do. Taylor again suggested we vote Adam and then backed out of it again. I thought: he's going to do this every round. He doesn't want Adam gone. If I want Adam gone then it's up to me. I made sure Uli and Zac were still voting for Adam. I could have still idoled him out with just my vote but I didn't want to be the only person going against the group. Zac's and Uli's vote meant I could go against the group, get rid of Adam and still have two people targeted ahead of me. No one knew I had the idol. No one knew I was going to play it. That was solely my decision. I idoled out Adam because it meant you, Taylor and Lloyd lost an ally and would therefore be more loyal to me. It created an us vs. them mentality in Zac and Uli with both considering me on their side. It meant I would be in final five and the only person not on my side was Gerda. I think that idoling out Adam at final seven was the perfect time to do so, and I think the way I went about it made it almost impossible for me to be voted out for the rest of the game. It placed me right in the centre: me with Uli and Zac; me with you and Taylor; me with Lloyd. I've said my game was all about creating options and idoling out Adam gave me great options.

Now that I'm out, do you find it more convenient to be against Lloyd and Gerda, or would you have preferred to be sitting here with other people?

It depends whether I examine that emotionally or strategically. I keep saying it but I always wanted options. I never had a cemented 'ideal' final three in my head because I had to play the best game for me, and that meant focusing on getting myself to final three, not me and two other people. So I focused on playing the best game I could. I didn't concern myself much with jury threats. I was out there to do my best and I think I did that. The way I played this game doesn't change based on who is here next to me. I didn't want to take two people to the end and just have played better than them. If I win I want it to be based on my merits, not on just being the 'least worst'. I decided to play as well as I could and regardless of who I was up against, if I had played better than them hopefully I would be rewarded. And when it comes down to it, taking people to the end you can beat doesn't mean anything if you're not there to beat them. My only goal was to make it to the end. I'm up against two former winners. I didn't take the easy way out. I want to fight for this and earn it. And I hope now I can prove I deserved it.

Certainly there were people I wanted in the final with me based off personal feelings and emotions. I loved my Tambo tribe and if we could have done a final four of you, me, Taylor and Ash I would have loved that, regardless of who won. When I said I wanted to go to the end with you guys I meant that. After Ash was eliminated and I had started connecting with Lloyd, he replaced Ash's spot (even though Ash is irreplaceable). I have a lot of emotional investment in this game and while I did play somewhat villainously I am not a villainous person. If I could have reached a final four with you, me, Taylor and Lloyd, and known I could have reached the final from there I most probably would have done that. I'd be happy to have made it through the entire game with any of you three but I also have to think strategically and I doubt I would have won against you. It's obvious from juror's questions and comments that one of my flaws is my likeability. You worry if people like you but you would have destroyed almost anyone in a final.

Thank you for playing this game with me Andrei, and thank you for not hating me. You truly are a wonderful, gorgeous person.