Board Thread:Season 30 - Svalbard/@comment-24407701-20160127071700/@comment-27299215-20160127175326

QUESTION:  Why do you deserve to be sat in the F2 over any of us jurors who played the game with our hearts and give me a ten reasons why your gameplay was stronger than Tatianna's?

Before I answer these two questions, I am going to address the three major points you made in your speech about me (the two things that annoyed you, and then my gameplay), as I feel that addressing these first will give more background to my answers to your questions, as well as more insight to my game.

The first things is the argument I had with the Retribution cast. While I understand that you feel it was nothing major, I will honestly admit that I made a mistake with that post. I genuinely thought that it wasn't going to cause a big deal and at worst someone was going to reply that overlapping seasons is a common thing (I honestly did not know this as this was my first time ever playing this type of ORG). I was shocked at how many people replied to it, and how some people took it one step further and got personal. I personally feel that my biggest mistake of the game, was actually not walking away from this argument, as it casted some really negative light on the season that overshadowed some really good tribal councils and some exceptional gameplay from the lot of us. I don't know what kind of reception our season is going to get, but I do think that everyone that made the top 10 (everyone here and Marco) deserve to get lauded for their strong game play resulting in a lot of unpredictable tribal councils.

The second thing I want to address, and this is the more important one because I know there are a lot of people wanting an explanation on this, was me practically accusing the hosts of rigging the game for Tatianna. Now being completely honest, I did not think her having the power was a rig. Its survivor, and in survivor there will be powers and twists. The part of the power that agitated me was the fact that Tatianna had the ability to use this game changing power at the final 4. In the real life Survivor, it has been 15 seasons since an idol has been used at final 4, and (while I am new to orgs, I am a diehard survivor fan) one time I saw an interview/ podcast with Jeff, Parvati, and Long Island Rob discussing idol plays, and one question was why was the idol only allowed to be used up to the final 5/ final 6, and Probst said that it was unfair to the cast and that it basically creates a big brother f4 pov scenario, in which the pov winner, or in our case idol winner gets to send home someone. While this wasn't exactly the case here, due to the ability to replay immunity, Tatianna's main goal was to have Brett exit in fourth place, and now that Brett's immunity is gone, all she needed was for me or Thomas to win it. Little did she know, my plan was to eliminate Thomas basically from the start of that challenge.

More specifically though, why I made the rigging accusation in my speech. After the power was used, Brett and I had a long talk, and throughout the talk we both realized how unfair it was for a power to be used at final 4, especially the longevity of it (taking immunity away from Brett), eventually I confronted the hosts about this and one of them literally said in the public tribe chat (so both Thomas, Brett, and Tatianna saw this), that they had made a mistake. This just seriously moved me the wrong way. To be honest, I wasn't the one being screwed over by the power, in fact, I knew I was in no danger of going home that day. If Thomas won the replay challenge, Brett would get fourth, and if Brett won, Thomas would get fourth. But I was just really agitated that after almost two months of playing this game, one of the players was literally going to be given a second chance (Brett, Thomas, and I had already voted to eliminate her) at the final 4, and that Brett, who in my opinion played a better game than both Tatianna and I (I know I shouldn't be confessing this, but he deserves the credit) had just basically been shot in the foot due to this twist being played at the final 4. Had it been used any time earlier, it would have affected the game, but it wouldn't have ruined his game.

Now onto my gameplay. You described my gameplay as a mess, and while to many extents you can categorize it, I said at the very start of the game in my confessionals, that my game play was going to be one that other players couldn't read and predict, and because of that I was able to avoid being a target all the way up to top 9 (while making pre merge moves like orchestrating Eva's elimination and making sure that no one flipped on Johnny in the Aren vote), and then starting at the top 8, make moves that would have a huge impact on the game. As for me being inactive, and I know for a fact that this needs to be addressed because if I was on the jury, I would definitely be questioning me on this, my answer is that I was never inactive. While I will confessed that I missed the first challenge due to work (most of you guys know I like to be the last person to submit, I got called in last minute that day and never had a chance to submit), I intentionally did not send in the second challenge. Now I know that sounds bad, so please let me explain. After not submitting the first challenge, I realized that I had put a target on my back, so I came up with a plan. Forgoes the second challenge, talk to only one or two people, and then at f9, apologize to everyone fore being inactive and promise that if they give you support, you will support them. For some of you guys, this was enough, for others not so much. In fact while the worst move of my game was my argument with the Retribution chat, my second worst move was even trying to socialize with Rhiannon, she wanted none of it and saw right through me, however I used this to my advantage as it allowed me to choose a side, your side to be more precise, which targeted Rhi. After your elimination (if you only you had that Idol!), while some people were surprised by the votes, there wasn't I single vote I didn't see coming. That's not saying I was responsible for all of them, in fact I tried to convince Brandon to keep Johnny, but Brett had already casted his vote, so instead for the first time all game, I thought long term and voted for Tatianna. After that I knew exactly what the votes were going to be, and with the exception of final 3 (in which I couldn't vote), the player I voted for was eliminated.



<span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Now to answer your first question, why I deserve to be in the final two over you guys is almost a double edge sword question. I will not bad talk any of your gameplay in comparison to mine, because I don't think any of you guys did bad in gameplay (ok maybe voting Johnny out was a bad move by some of you, he would have been loyal). I will say that I didn't play with my heart, I played with my brain. I did moves that didn't just put me in the best position for the next day, but put me in the best position for the day after that. I was constantly saying to myself "If this move keeps me safe today, but not tomorrow, it is not a good move." I didn't aim to make moves to entertain people, and I didn't aim to make moves to hurt the hearts that everyone played on. In fact when I voted Thomas out I was upfront with him about it, and I only betrayed one person the entire game.

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Ten Reasons why my gameplay was stronger than Tatianna's

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">1) I made it to the end being an independent player. After Wouter left there was no one in the cast that I could truly trust with my life, on the other hand Tatianna his behind Rhiannon all the way until final 6, and then hid behind Thomas until the final 4. <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">2) Knowing the Johnny was going to be voted out at final 7, I made plan. The plan was that Rhiannon would be voted out at f6, and then the final 5 and final 4 would consist of splitting up the two duos in my eyes, which where brandon/brett and tatianna/thomas. Brandon was voted out in 5th place, Tatianna was voted out in 4th, and when Tatianna stayed due to the power, Thomas was voted out in her place. <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">3) As much as I loved Brandon, I am completely responsible for him not winning this game. If I didn't vote him out at final 5, he would have easily made it to the final 3, and being the challenge threat that he was, probably would have won the Svalbard trials and the game. <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">4) Out of the two pre merge tribals I was involved in, I am responsible for one of the votes (Eva), and ensured that no one would flip on Johnny in the Aren vote. <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">5) I was never sent to the floating glacier or the "spa." I never had a chance to win the power, nor did I ever have the Chace to win an advantage in immunity. Tatianna was sent in by her allies three times.  <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">6) After the power was used, I won the replay immunity to ensure that I would go to the finals. I knew that Brett and Tatianna would never take each other. <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">7) After being of Rhiannon's hit list for days, I managed to outlast her and start my plans to make a run for the finals. These plans succeeded. <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">8) This one builds on number 1. Tatianna his behind her allies, I had to convince everyone not to target me. I played dumb, I honestly played the fool, but it was I needed to do. <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">9) I used the fights I participated to my advantage. While the fights did put a larger target on me (which leads me back to #8 where I had to convince everyone not to vote for me), they also put a larger target on those who I fought with.  <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">10) I was never voted out, or more accurately, if I had the power instead of Tatianna, I would have never had to use it. My social skills, while sometimes negative, where good enough to convince almost all of you to not write my name down for elimination after Bas' elimination.  <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin:0in0in0.0001pt;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;border:1ptnonewindowtext;padding:0in;">I know this might be long, but I think this was the best way to answer your two questions as well as explain my gameplay. <span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">

<p style="margin:12pt0in;line-height:16.5pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Helvetica,sans-serif;">Thank you.