Board Thread:Season 44: Costa Rica/@comment-6702096-20171216061844

Never thought I would be writing a Main ORG jury speech, but here we are...

Hello, finalists! First off, congratulations to each of you for reaching the end of what looked to be a very hectic season. You should be proud of that accomplishment. However, the winner of this hectic season is still quite unclear.

The thing about this final three is that, each of you have reasons why you should win, and reasons why you shouldn't. As much as there are strengths to each of your games, there are also very obvious weaknesses, and those weaknesses need to be addressed by us since they were not addressed by any of you. In my mind, a good finalist needs to present all sides of themselves, and I'm not sure I'm getting the full picture from any of you. So as of now, my vote is completely undecided and after reading the speeches you've set forth, you all have an equal shot of getting my vote.

As evidenced by your speeches, you each have very different, but effective games, so you three need to work hard to convince us why your game was the best one. I'm going to address each of you individually by not only addressing what I think was strong about your game, but also picking out both sections of your speech and aspects of your game I thought were questionable or lackluster. Then I'm going to give two questions and whoever best answers them gets my vote. Going alphabetically, let's start with...

JOANNA

Joanna, your speech was fairly solid. I think you did a pretty good job of explaining your strategy and actions in the game. I think that of the three finalists sitting here, you may have arguably played the best social game. Now, maybe my opinion isn't as informed since I didn't last as long in the game as others did. However, the discrepancies that the jurors feel with Ryan's and Morgan's social games (which I will get to later) aren't there with you. And I think it's because you did a good job at maintaining your position in the game and using the connections you built to do that. As you stated in your speech, you came back into the game with no real alliances, no trust, and no power. Despite that, you integrated and found your footing; you managed to secure yourself a spot within the majority and keep yourself there for a large portion of the post-merge game, and even make some strategic plays in the process. Not to mention, you've now made it to the end a second time, and for all of those things, I applaud you and think you deserve kudos.

However, your speech also addressed some things that made me question your game. I'm going to be honest, you were the top contender for my vote prior to Final Tribal Council, but now that speeches have been posted and the jurors have reflected upon your game, I don't have a top contender anymore.

The first thing that stood out to me was when you stated that your goal coming back into the game was to get revenge on Zak and Willow. As I stated above, you did make strategic plays with those votes as well as with Layla's. But you're not really explaining the strategic sense in those decisions. It's no question that once someone votes you out, you want to get them back for it, we've ALL had that feeling with someone, so I'm not necessarily blaming you for feeling vengeful. However, I think with vengeful moves should also at least come some strategic gain. If you had said "I voted Zak and Willow because I didn't have an incentive to trust them after they had voted me out previously," then that is strategically sound decision making. But the fact you're claiming to only have wanted them out for revenge purposes makes your strategic game somewhat confusing.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The other thing about the revenge aspect of your game is that, with a vengeful mindset also comes a little bit of a lack of self-awareness. People usually act in this fashion if they feel they've been unnecessarily wronged. It's my understanding, however, that the reasons you were voted out following the first tribe swap is because you were inactive for all of the challenge and most of Tribal Council that round. And, in Zak's and Willow's defense, they tried to turn the vote on August, but it was too late to do that, so voting anyone else would not have made much sense for them. Sure, they lied to you, and it's okay to feel hurt by it, but it's apart of the game. Everyone lies even if it appears to not make much sense, so this is not really a foreign concept. The point is, if you are going to come back into the game intending on enacting some sort of the revenge, then feel free, but you should be more understanding of the situation and that the reason you were voted out before should not entirely be pinned on Zak and Willow.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The other thing about your speech that stood out to me is that there were a lot of instances where you came off as cocky and as though you're above the rest of us. The examples I noticed were when you referred to yourself as an experienced Survivor player when addressing Layla, when you called voting out Willow one of the happiest moments in your Survivor career, referring to yourself as a big threat when addressing Conor, telling Conor that he couldn't vote you out because he didn't have the power to, berating Hesh for lying to you, saying you aren't afraid of Ryan and that you're far better than him, and suggesting that people either stay by your side or they get voted out. This all shows a lack of humility, being humble when explaining your strengths works more in your favor than a display of arrogance. I always say when referring to a finalist’s speech: confidence, not cockiness. While I respect that you’re confident in your game, you’re also being cocky as well.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Onto aspects of your game that go beyond your speech. This first thing stems back from even before the first time you were voted out. There were times where I felt your personality was a bit forced, as in, the nice girl image you presented yourself as at times felt fake and like you were overcompensating. The way you would talk to people made your true intentions in the game wildly unclear to me. I guess my interactions with you did not always feel genuine.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The next thing is, obviously, you were voted out once before. Sadly, that is a knock against you because whereas you had the fortune of being voted back into the game, Ryan and Morgan have had to work all game to further themselves towards the end; you’ve only had to do that for the second half of it.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The next thing is, I got wind from quite a few jury members that you had been telling people once Willow was voted out that you were intending on just coasting to the end. That also makes me question your strategic gameplay, because the first few merge votes did show that you are capable of pulling some strings. So it’s unclear to me and a few others why you decided after Willow’s boot to simply follow others and coast to the end, especially when after that point, there were still quite a lot of votes to get through.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The final thing I want to address about you is, I don’t understand the logic in keeping Ryan over Hesh. By choosing to vote Hesh out instead of Ryan, you’re underestimating your competition, which is not wise of you to do. Ryan is arguably your biggest obstacle that could prevent you from winning this season, and if you had voted Ryan and gone to the end with Morgan and Hesh, you would have been the odds-on favorite to win. Sorry to say it, but Hesh and Morgan were widely considered to be the goats. I firmly believe by choosing to keep Ryan, you could potentially be costing yourself the victory.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">That is all I have to say about your game, Joanna, so onto the next finalist…

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">MORGAN

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Morgan, I have to say, of all of the speeches, your speech was the most impressive to me (maybe because it was the longest, but either way, my opinion stands). You detailed each and every vote and what role you played in them, and overall made a pretty strong case. I’m mainly impressed because admittedly, I was heading into Final Tribal Council thinking you did not stand a chance at my vote, but now, you stand a legitimate chance and just as much of a chance as the other two finalists. You may have also arguably played the best strategic game, given that you positioned yourself in the majority of pretty much every vote during the merge, as well as making some fairly impressive moves. It’s also worth noting that you won the most crucial challenge of the season, so I respect all of those things.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">However, as with Joanna, you had moments in your speech that had me questioning just how well you played the game. Despite the fact that your speech highly boosted your chances of getting my vote, there are still things about your speech and your game that I would like to reflect upon.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Firstly, you stated in your speech that throughout the season, you only received one vote at the final five, and given the confidence with which you stated it, you seem to be under the impression that it’s because of your stellar gameplay. From my perspective, you only received one vote because you were never really a threat to win the game. It was kind of well-known from the moment we merged that the easiest people to beat at the end would be you and Hesh. So I think this statement may show a bit of overconfidence on your end.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The second thing is probably what I found the most frustration with reading your speech; there were two instances where you described your moves in the game as being executed “successfully and flawlessly.” Again, this shows you to be overconfident. You don’t seem to be regarding the fact that these “flawless” plans could have backfired, you’re speaking as though you knew for certain that these plans would work from the moment that you conceived them in your head. So while I respect the confidence, I think you’re also being cocky at the same time.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The next thing is definitely the one aspect of your game and your speech that you are going to be receiving the most criticism for; your social game. You claimed in your speech that you had a strong social game and that it allowed for you to get people to trust you. Now, I know that you probably already know where I’m going with this due to having read the other jury speeches posted before this one, but I will reiterate it once more; your social game was the worst of the three finalists. We found it quite difficult to keep a conversation with you, and it caused us to feel uncertain of you for a large portion of the game, which contradicts your claim that people trusted you because of your social game. It seems to me that people only clinged to you because they didn’t think of you as any threat to their game or their chances of winning. You also got a tad defensive in response to Zak’s speech, which tells me you aren’t fully owning up to what could be a lackluster social game, and in the same answer you gave to Zak, suggested that communication is a two-way street and that we’re just as much to blame as you are. Here’s the thing, I don’t get that argument. We’re on the jury because we lost the game, and that could be a result of flaws in our social games. You, on the other hand, made it to the end and have a shot to win knowing that your social game wasn’t great. If we lost partly because of that, why shouldn’t you as well? I just think you need to own up more to the fact that your strategic game far surpasses your social game, because unfortunately for you, that is the consensus over here on the jury.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Next, I don’t particularly understand why you believe outlining your physical prowess in other ORGs and throwing challenges means you had a great physical game in this season. Your game in other ORGs does not factor into this one, and the point of throwing challenges is that you don’t have a great physical game so people don’t vote you out for it. If you had said instead that you prevented yourself from being a physical threat by throwing challenges, that would have made your case even stronger. But instead, you’re saying that you have a strong physical game despite throwing a bunch of challenges.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The last thing about your speech that alarmed me was when you stated Hesh would be the clear winner in the end. Allow me to clarify; that is entirely wrong. Nothing against Hesh personally, he’s a cool guy, but as far as this game goes, he was probably not going to get anyone’s vote in the end. So that tells me one of two things; it either tells me one, that you aren’t very keen in perception and fail to recognize who was a threat and who wasn’t, or two, that you’re an asskisser. I’m leaning more towards the latter. I believe if you truly thought Hesh was a massive threat to win, you would have voted him out and there would have been no tiebreaker. So I just kind of don’t understand what you were going for by saying that.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Now regarding things not addressed in your speech, the first thing I want to touch upon is the Legacy Advantage. I don’t think this is a major knock against your game, to me it’s very miniscule. However I just wanted to note you saying that you don’t believe it had any use to you. Maybe it’s just me, but if you’re underestimating the power of an advantage in the game, especially because they aren’t really easy to come by, it shows a sign of overconfidence (apologies if my repeated use of that word is annoying, but in case it’s unclear my biggest qualm is your supposed overconfidence in several aspects).

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The last thing about your game I’m gonna address is that, it is very commonly stated among the jury that you spill secrets like it’s your job. Supposedly any piece of information you had, you spread to someone. If that is even half-true, that shows a bit of flimsy gameplay and that you don’t make your decisions carefully about what you tell people like you say you do.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">That’s all the comments I have on your game, Morgan. So that leaves…

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">RYAN

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Ryan, I told Joanna that she may have played the best social game of the three and Morgan that he may have played the best strategic game of the three. But I think the reason you stand out and have been a strong contender to win is because of the three finalists, you probably have the most well-rounded game. You had a good balance of both the strategic and social components of the game, not to mention having the most impressive physical game. You adapted accordingly once all your allies were being picked off, and you also went made it through the merge despite being a threat the whole way through. You did have your key moves as well, so I think that is a great resume to have coming into a Final Tribal Council. You should feel accomplished for that.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">However, that also means that in my eyes, both your social and strategic games were not as impressive as the social game of Joanna or the strategic game of Morgan. It wasn’t the worst, but it was not the best either, at least in my opinion, and I think that also shines through with your opening statement. I think your speech was pretty underwhelming, just a bunch of general comments about your game, and probably the worst speech of the three. I know you said to Nadine that you don’t like writing novels for speeches, but it gave off the impression that you weren’t putting as much effort into your case to win as Joanna and Morgan. That’s just my first criticism.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The first thing in your speech I want to note is the fact that, as we know, you were left in the dark at the merge vote. You didn’t know everything that was happening that round, especially that I would be the one going home. I think that shows a lack of game awareness and a lack of trust. Yes, it is impressive when someone fumbles but can recover from it, but recovery is only necessary when a flaw in your game has been exposed.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The only other thing in your speech I want to note (since it was pretty short) is that you are putting a lot of emphasis on the physical aspect. You’re emphasizing your challenge prowess as though that was the main component in you still being in the game. To me, when you have to rely heavily on your physical game, that shows a lack in your ability to let your social and strategic games save you.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">As far as things beyond your speech go, there are elements of your behavior that are affecting your chances of winning. The first element being, some people on the jury think your behavior at times could be condescending or douchey. The other being, you would whine a lot, which shows a sign of weakness. Again, I can’t make an informed opinion on you since I wasn’t in the game for very long and since you and I were never super close. But a lot of jurors have said these things and in all honesty, it wouldn’t surprise me if these things were accurate.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">The last thing about your game I want to address is the perception that you rely on “meta-gaming.” Don’t get me wrong, I think pre-existing relationships do play a part in ORGs nowadays because if two people trusted each other immensely prior to an ORG, there’s no real reason they wouldn’t trust each other now. So I don’t necessarily have an issue with putting Zak and Willow together, especially considering they actually were together. The problem I have with this aspect of your game is that it’s my understanding that people thought Nadine and I had a pre-existing relationship because of you. We did not. We have mutual friends, but Nadine and I did not know each other at all prior to this season. I’m also aware that this may be inaccurate, but inaccuracy will be addressed in my questions.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">That’s all the comments I have about your game, Ryan. So now I have some other comments and questions…

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">I want to note that none of these critiques are meant to be personal, and I hope you don’t take it as such or get offended by them. This is strictly a game based perspective from someone trying to figure out who the best winner in my eyes would be, considering all three of you would be a decent winner. So with that in mind, here are my questions for each of you:

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">1. Analyze the critiques individually given to each of you. If you believe something I’ve said is accurate, address the part of your game you believe contributed to that perception being made. If you believe something is inaccurate, explain why you feel that way.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">2. Why, despite the obvious flaws in your game, should you be awarded the title of Sole Survivor over the other two?

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Whoever can answer those questions the best will get my vote, so please be specific and thorough.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Arial;color:#3a3a3a;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Finally, I would like to thank the hosts for giving me a second chance, considering I never thought I would get a second chance on the Main ORG, as well as the contestants for making this season worthwhile.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:11pt;margin-bottom:11pt;"> That’s all, so good luck, and may the best player win. <ac_metadata title="CJ&#039;s Jury Speech"> </ac_metadata>