Board Thread:Season 53 - Galápagos/@comment-38369021-20190613171248/@comment-38878628-20190613180729

Nora, I seriously love you so much and I did find our relationship to be the one that evolved the most. Although we often never agreed with one another's moves and goals, we respected one another and that led me to trust you a lot more throughout the game. You became one of my closest allies too after Kat left and we had deep and genuine conversations. It's very true and I would agree that my social game was beyond what people expected, but that's one of the biggest reasons I'm here now, through my capability to adapt to my messy situations and establish real, genuine connections with others. This allowed me to form new voting blocks and allies throughout the game and protect myself moving forward into the merge. Pre-merge, I was a mess. We all clearly can see that, but that's how I've grown and learned to play a better game. My strategy coming in was messy and honestly, I probably would have voted myself out too if I were everyone in pre-merge. I was so excited and ready to play, but I didn't understand the depth of strategy and social skills that came with this game. I adapted quickly, recovered from my mistakes, and worked my ass off to make it to the FTC. This wasn't an easy feat whatsoever. But I am proud of the evolution of my game and feel it represents the season's theme perfectly.

"I’m wondering if some moves you made have been made consciously or just took place after you spreaded randomly infos like you used to do."

The moves I made were all based on the current situation of the game and where I stood with everyone. Basically, everything was a conscious decision and it took a lot to mend relationships and build trust with certain people. I went from being the target on multiple people's agenda to becoming their best friends. Specifically Anthony and Kat. One of moves this game was flipping the first merge vote from Michael to Dwayne. It wasn't easy, but I knew I had just been put into a bad position in the game when Dwayne blindsided me at the pre-merge vote. I didn't have any close allies at this point and I knew I'd be sitting in the passenger seat if I followed their votes. I took this as an opportunity to make a move and gain some footing back into the game as a player who wasn't afraid to make moves. I took the information and informed Michael and Anthony, who then became my closest allies. We worked together to bring in Jake and Lynn, which in turn put me into a solid majority group. I had just flipped my game from being on the bottom of the bunch to being the leader of a whole new game. As well, after Michael and Anthony were taken out, I knew the information I had been given about people would be necessary to use to my advantage. Everyone was throwing out people's names and ideas, which I would then take and manipulate that and send it to their targets. This allowed people to lose trust in one another and focus on taking out one another. I sat back and let the fireworks explode at F6, even though I knew I was a possible target, I had to ensure my safety and save my own ass. In the end, nothing was simply luck, rather everything I said and did in the merge was conscious. I was ready to play hard and get blood on my hands.

"Tell me if you’re still on that state of mind or if you want the title of sole survivor now"

I absolutely want to win this game! I wouldn't have joined if that wasn't my ultimate goal. Of course the aspect of socializing, meeting new people, and challenges al sounds fun, my ultimate goal was to win. I didn't want you to think I was playing too hard and that was part of my strategy to act like I didn't care at some points. Yeah, had I been voted out early on, I would have understood because it's a game. However, I was never in a position to give up and lay down dead. I worked hard to ensure I wasn't the vote and that showed as I only received a vote from Lynn at F5 and Thomas/Dani at F4. Up until that point, my name had been thrown around everywhere and every tribal basically. Yet I managed to keep myself out of the votes and avoid having my name written down until the F5. I came to play hard, have fun, and make new friends. I did all of that, but now it's time to win this game. I busted my ass off this season and as a first timer, I'm so damn proud of myself regardless. I feel like I represented this season's theme and may have been the underdog, but now's my time to shine and fight for this win.

Thank you Nora, for pushing me and challenging me in this game. You made this game so much more fun and exciting, even when we were against one another. You were precious and I love you so much. Thank you <3