Board Thread:Season 37 - Archetypes/@comment-24114312-20161211222210

Hello jury! Firstly I just want to say thank you to the hosts and thank you to the players as well — I’m really happy that this will be the season I leave with and I just want to thank everyone who had a part in it! I also want to apologise that this is very long and like an essay, I have a lot to say! (Writing this at the end: If jurors want a shorter one then just comment at the bottom and I’ll provide one but I wanted to express everything I’ve been feeling and the words just sort of… flowed. So yeah here’s the speech)

Pre-merge:

Okay, now onto the speech. When joining the game, I knew I’d be a really big target. I had 3 people in the game who had voted me out in my previous season (Mihai, Molly and Charley) and my reputation isn’t very good here, so I knew people would be wary of me from the start. To combat that, I tried to form a group with people that I gelled with right off the bat, primarily Jared and Alexa, and then also Ash. Just to add something here, me and Jared were NOT a duo and we did not have a pre-made — any relationship that we have now was formed off of this game because before the game, we actually disliked each other. We had mutual friends, but any time I’d spoken to Jared, we’d both not liked each other. Anyway, that alliance plan obviously blew up and by Day 2, the whole of Hizoku was against me and Jared — however, that was no fault of mine. To the best of my knowledge, Alexa decided to blow that up because she thought me and Jared were close friends and like I said, that wasn’t the case, so I don’t know what I could’ve done to prevent that blow up from happening.

After the blow up of those plans, I found myself on the bottom of Hizoku (which is how it pretty much remained the whole time), and started to campaign to people that I thought would flip, which were primarily Ash and Matt. Uli and me never spoke game, and I was told that Alexa was adamant in getting me out, and so those seemed like the smartest two to go to. With Ash, I kept it much more personal and emotional because I thought that she seemed like out of the two, the sort of player who was much more likely to play with emotions and then with Matt, I kept it very strategic and numerical because I perceived him as being someone who voted solely on numbers. Based on what Matt and Ash have both told me, it seemed to work and if Hizoku went to TC, then Jared would’ve gone over me. However, we didn’t go to TC pre-merge, and a BIG part of that was due to my challenge efforts (helped by Ash as well).

Then the swap came along and I found myself with 4 rebels and 2 underdogs. Obviously, having been at the bottom of Hizoku since Day 2, I flipped with Jared and formed relationships with Ally and Brett. Ally was wary of me due to our past experiences, but through my social game I managed to mend that relationship. That tribe only went to TC once, and Matt would’ve gone but he mutinied, leaving Uli as the only viable option. Also, during this portion of the game, me and Alexa reconciled and decided to work together in the future, and I genuinely wanted to do that but it never quite panned out.

Come the second tribe swap and I was with my previous tribe (Ally, Brett, Jared) as well as Sora, Alexa and Hunter. I was really happy for this swap because I thought that for sure, I could work with most people on this tribe. When the individual immunity came around, the plan was to vote out Hunter but he won, leaving me with two real options: vote out Alexa, who had been against me but we’d realigned and decided to put everything behind us, or vote out Ally, who I thought would be against me in the future. Jared came to me with the idea of voting out Ally due to how good she was socially and how me and Jared would always be bigger targets than her, and Alexa confirmed it was the right choice by telling me that Ally spoke to her on Day 1, telling her to get me out ASAP. After that, I went out campaigning and made sure the votes were on Ally to go. I campaigned to Sora, who wanted to back-out last minute, as well as to Brett who also had expressed doubts. Sure enough, even though it really suited no one’s game at this point apart from mine and Alexa’s, Ally went AND she left with an idol and without my campaigning, that blindside wouldn’t have come into fruition.

Merge:

The merge came next and I won individual immunity for the first round, so I didn’t have to worry about leaving, but I wouldn’t have left anyway had I lost. I got told this round that many people were making lots of alliances and targeting me in them, such as Alexa and Hunter, so at that point I was pretty angry that even after I saved Alexa, she still didn’t want to work with me. I was also angry due to hearing that I’d been targeted on other tribes, and it was bottled up for ages because I could never address the issue. Anyway, for the vote, the plan was to vote out Charley and split it on Charley and Hunter, which I didn’t object to and followed along with as at this point, same as the pre-merge, I had minimal power. I will admit that though, that at this vote I made the one true bad move that I made throughout the game — the parchment at this tribal. It was a build up of anger, but I definitely shouldn’t have done it. I was angry for the fact that I’d been targeted since the start and no matter what I did, people did not like me or want to work with me, and I was angry that many people’s impressions of me had been altered (which Claire stated had happened to her — although she did tell me she wanted to give me a chance so ty for that Claire <3), which meant that I had no options come the merge. The parchment was wrong though, and I own up to that, and truly hope it doesn’t affect votes tonight. HOWEVER, I do believe that parchment was my worst move in the game (which didn’t even affect the votes), and I believe that Brett has made significant worse strategic decisions in regards to vote outs — voting out Sora at Final 9 made no sense to him, as Sora was loyal to him. Same with Ally, and same with Emile. Even keeping me at Final 5 made no sense. Brett engineered a really bad position for himself which isn’t justified by him reaching FTC; the only reason he’s here is BECAUSE of those moves, which is why I wanted to keep him till FTC over Claire, because I truly believe that if this jury isn’t bitter then they’ll see that Brett’s game wasn’t as great as it’s been made out to be. If my worst decision was notes on a parchment, and Brett’s was actual strategic votes, then I can sit here and say that my gameplay was superior.

Anyway, the final 10 vote came around and I was supposed to go this round, but Hunter voted too early. While many of the jurors may justify not voting me because of this, the same thing happened on my side of the vote which would’ve prevented me going: I could sense something was up and tried so hard to get me, Chris, Claire, Jared and Emile to all vote on the same page. I asked Jared if he’d change his vote to Hunter, and he had voted too early, and I made sure Chris told Claire to vote Hunter (because I had to sleep), but she had already voted too. If EVERYONE had both waited though, the vote would’ve been 5 on Hunter, 4 on me and 1 on Emile (Sora voting Emile), and so Hunter leaves then. The argument that people voted too early therefore makes no sense, because if we apply that for everyone that TC then I would’ve survived! Regardless, Emile going was sad because he was definitely someone that I envisioned myself working with, and so I continued on into the final 8 without power.

At the Sora vote, I told Chris that he was going and this enabled me to work with him going into the future. While I partially did it because we were friends, I also knew that by telling him (if he left) I’d guarantee his jury vote if I made FTC. He didn’t leave anyway, and Sora left with an idol which was a great move for everyone who made it — minus Brett. Here is a crucial reason as to why I believe I should win over Brett: the move made absolutely no strategic sense to do at that vote. Sora was loyal to Brett over pretty much everyone. Brett had just as much control as Sora did at that current point too. By voting Sora, he gave up an ally and an idol (which he’d already done with Ally!). Voting Sora out made absolutely NO sense for Brett, and sure enough, he found himself in the minority the next vote he was in. In my opinion, a huge strategic blunder like that shouldn’t be rewarded. I’m not saying he should never have voted out Sora, but voting Sora out at that point in time left him without any control and in the minority. Before this vote, he was in the driving position and like he even addressed in his speech — he had complete control. Yet he threw it away.

For the Ash vote, this was really the beginning of where I started to take ownership and actually gain control for the first time. The plan was Brett, but he used the Rishiri item he got, and so we were left with a choice of Ash, Hunter or Alexa. Everyone wanted Hunter, but I kept pushing for Ash and sure enough, she went. My reasoning was that I honestly thought me and Ash would never be able to work together and I knew she was coming after me, and for that reason I wanted her to go over Hunter. It made no sense for me to vote out Hunter, who I could theoretically see myself voting with if I had to in the future, over someone who I perceived to really strongly want me gone. Also, Ash: I’m sorry that I thought you did the GIF deletion! Alexa has told me it was her and she did it to drive us apart and it worked, although we did have more issues than that between us :P. Regardless though, I do owe you an apology for that.

Once Ash was gone, I set my sights on getting rid of Alexa, but everyone refused so I settled for Hunter. Hunter, I know you’re mad at me for not telling you that you were going, but I knew that you were voting me and so I saw no reason why I should have to tell you. Moreover, if I did tell you then I would’ve potentially gone had you played an idol, so I’m still not sure why you’re mad that I didn’t tell you when it made no sense for me to. Also at this TC, Brett voted me (which is important, and I’ll cover in 2 paragraphs time).

For the final 6, we had Chris and Claire, Jared and I, Brett and Alexa; pretty much 3 duos. The plan was to vote out Brett, but if Chris was kept in any longer then he would’ve won. This vote was really hard for me because Chris had protected me the whole game, including this very vote. However, he was by far the biggest threat to be physically, strategically and socially, and I genuinely believe that had he survived in another round, he would’ve won. He could’ve easily won both the F5 and F4 immunities, and had Brett gone then I wouldn’t have had anyone to make the move with. Claire was loyal to Chris and Alexa had wanted me dead for ages. Moreover, Chris was planning on voting out Jared at F5 so I would’ve been fucked at F4. Therefore, Chris, I truly don’t understand why you’re so bitter against me! You said I was making the wrong strategic move, and yet that’s been proven to not be the case. If I had kept you in you 100% would’ve won the last 2 immunities, and I probably would have placed 4th… by being bitter, you’re basically telling me that you expected me to just let you win and let me place 4th? I’m sure I’ll hear more about it in your jury speech but I don’t see how you can be angry that I made the right move for my game and actually got myself a seat here. Regardless, I believe the biggest move of the entire game was made at this TC, and I believe that I made it by voting out Chris. Although Brett pitched the idea, it was my vote that truly was the deciding vote and the one that determined who was going.

Going onto when Alexa was eliminated, this was the closest I ever came to elimination. However, I’d been hyping up for days how much the jury disliked me and how I could never win, and I thought that it’d be the only way Brett would consider keeping me over Jared. Me and Jared also put plans into motion to make it seem like we were somewhat against each other — Jared told Brett that he would vote me out at Final 4 and I told Brett that I would vote Jared out whenever he wanted, as long as it kept me in the game (sorry Jared for not telling you that lol). I definitely judged it right, and had managed to turn around someone who, at Final 7, had stated that I would ‘definitely win at FTC’ to believe that I was hated (and I somewhat think I am disliked, but I don’t think the jury is actually that bitter because it’s full of All-Stars, and so it really shouldn’t be). Sure enough, Brett voted out someone that he could easily have beaten at the Final Immunity Challenge and in my opinion, he made the WRONG move here. It made no sense to keep a solid duo like me and Jared in, and it made no sense to keep an immunity threat such as myself in, but this Tribal proves that even without immunity, I could manoeuvre a way to keep myself in through speaking to the right people, making the right pitches and forming the right bonds.

Come Final 4, I won FIC and Claire left. The reason Claire left is because she was so good socially, and she is the antithesis of me. She’s calm, not very good at challenges, great socially, under-the-radar. I knew that I stood more chance probably, against someone who was more similar to me like Brett, because I truly believed Claire would’ve easily won this season had she been in FTC. I knew she was close to Ash, Chris was rooting for her, Alexa and her were very close, and she was close to Emile. Immediately there, she could have had 4 votes.

So yeah, that’s my game summarised.

Why I Deserve To Win:

Okay so I’ve (lengthily) summarised my game, now onto the main points of why you should vote for me:

1) Target — I was a target from DAY 1, I know that expression is used a lot but it’s the truth in regards to me this game. Pretty much by Day 2, my whole tribe wanted me gone and then throughout the merge, I was consistently targeted. However, I managed to survive the WHOLE 39 days despite having this target. Unlike Brett, I wasn’t lucky enough to chill throughout the pre-merge, instead I was fighting right from the first episode and have continued to fight all the way to the end. Moreover, the reason I was fighting from the start wasn’t even my fault, it was due to a misconception about me and Jared. Sure, I also had help from immunities in keeping me here, but I survived without them too — there was a 3 TC long stretch in which I never had immunity and really should have gone, but I survived every time due to my strategic and social gameplay. I also fought HARD for those immunities, and don't believe they should be counted against me. I truly believe though, Brett had it easy in this game and never had to really fight for anything, whereas I had 2 season-long rivalries with people (which I did attempt to resolve), had many people dislike me and target me, and yet I still made it here.

2) Misconceptions — People think I relied solely on challenges and items this season, which Alexa told me about a week ago. It’s simply not the case: had Hizoku gone to TC then Jared would’ve left over me, meaning I could’ve afforded a loss. After that, I might have even been able to survive another, who knows. So the tribal immunity argument doesn’t make sense. As for at the merge, immunity helped me a lot but again, they weren’t needed. For the first merge tribal council, I was safe regardless of immunity. As for the tribal Sora left in, the votes weren’t there to get rid of me then either. For the Ash vote also, I wasn’t going if I lost. I then lost 3 challenges in a row and survived EVERY time, despite getting votes at 2 of them. And last TC when I won, even if I hadn’t and Brett had, I still would’ve been here. As for items, I used a vote steal (which I didn’t need to — I was safe regardless), and had an idol played on me (once again, was not needed). So I didn’t NEED the items that I gained. Therefore, the argument that I relied on immunities and items is unfounded. I may have won them, but I certainly didn’t NEED them, and my gameplay was much more than just immunities and idols.

I also don’t even see why immunity is considered a bad thing? I fought HARD for every immunity I earned and even if I would’ve gone had I lost (which isn’t even the case), immunities are a part of the game which you can factor into your gameplay. I don’t see why I should be penalised for being good at challenges, when every single person in the game WANTS immunity.

3) Strategic moves — For a lot of the game, I never really had any power (which makes it even more shocking that I made it this far). However, when I did, I managed to use it effectively and do moves which actually benefitted me. Voting out Ash, Chris and Alexa were all moves which benefitted me way more than anyone else, and they were my moves. Ash and Alexa both wanted me gone right from early on, and voting them out gave me more options going forward. As for Chris, he was by far the biggest threat left and I managed to judge it correctly that I would be safe even without his help.

4) Archetypes — Relating it back to the season, I feel like my game truly embodies every aspect of the season. Underdog: I’ve been an underdog ever since the first day; the likelihood of me making it was minimal. And yet I’ve fought the whole game and earned myself a spot here. I truly believe it was not in anyone’s plan really to see me get here, and yet I’m still standing here strong at Final Tribal. Rebel: I flipped at the swap on Uli/Matt, and once again at F6 on Chris, and those moves definitely contributed hugely to me being able to sit here. Leader: I’ve been a leader in regards to me and Jared the whole game, but since F6 I do feel like I led the game and decided who would be sitting here. I truly think I had the options at F6 to hold whichever F3 I chose, and I believe I chose the only one which gives me any shot of winning.

Thank you, and if you have any questions then please ask! 