Board Thread:Season 21 - Salvation/@comment-5001881-20141203230400/@comment-24776269-20141204011046

Tyler,

I want to say that I have been completely honest with you. I've never lied to you and I didn't lie in my speech. I have not been a floater. I may have pulled back the reins at times and let others do the dirty work, but I have never been a floater. Why does Steve get the reputation of being a mastermind when he lays low, and I don't? I played a much better social game than he did, the exception being when I told Jino I'd vote with him and then I voted him out at Final 4.

I can definitely name 5 strategic things I've done in this game.

1. I made new friends early on. That seems like a simple truth, but it is a truth nonetheless. I got close to Perry early on, and I'm certain that's what got me through the pre-merge.

2. I adapted to survive when you were voted out. After we teamed up, I thought it was going to be you and me to the end of time. But then you were blindsided and I had to regroup. So I teamed up with George and managed to get where I am now. I convinced him to trust me and that saved my life in this game.

3. I survived the first Esjan vote, despite basically working alone. Nathan and Mikey both wanted either me or Alex gone, so I made sure it wasn't me who went home. If we had had another Tribal, I was a goner for sure. But I worked with what I was given and made it out alive.

4. I worked with you to blindside Perry. When we saw the time had come to eliminate Perry, I helped you crunch the numbers to figure out the best time to strike, and we made our move when we had numbers. I played a significant role in that blindside.

5. I turned my attempt to quit into an opportunity to change the game. I had a heart-to-heart with myself and realized I would regret quitting. I had a moment of weakness. I was kicking myself for admitting it to the other players. Then I realized: if I don't want to quit, why not use this to my advantage? I told my allies that I had a change of heart and they voted out Trace in a huge blindside. I took what would have been a major negative and turned it into a positive. I considered quitting, yes. But I didn't quit.

As for your challenge, it has been accepted and completed.

Here are the answers to your original questions:

1. You should vote for me personally because I was loyal to you from the very beginning. I hope that our connection, combined with the effort I put into this jury answer, will help you see that I deserve your vote.

2. You shouldn't vote for Steve because he played a similar game to mine, and frankly I played it better. More challenge submissions and a more under-the-radar social game, sure. But was his game really better?

You shouldn't vote for George because he stabbed so many backs you'd think it was a 2-for-1 sale at Macy's on steak knifes on Black Friday.

3. The three people I'd choose to take our place would be you, Jino, and Mitchell. That would have been a powerful Final Three. You have strategic prowess, Mitchell is a beast in challenges, and Jino plays a fantastic game from a pure survival standpoint. In that situation, it would have been incredibly difficult to choose, but I would vote Jino for being an all-around amazing competitor.