Board Thread:Season 30 - Svalbard/@comment-27281906-20160128032634/@comment-27162441-20160128044715

"I  wasn't so shocked about Tyler voting against me, but I didn't expect for you to turn on me Tatianna. You buttered me up, you wanted to see where my head was at, and that the Bi Polar Bears were going final 3 strong to the end. You didn't bother to tell me that you were voting me out, that was one way you could have earned my vote. I didn't have a magical Midnight Sun to save me, and you obviously knew that judging who played it. The question for both of you is I want to you to explain why voting me out at that time was the most beneficial move for your games. I wanna hear details of your thought processes during the final 5 and the more information the better. If there were other points in the game where I was targeted you can mention those as well."

Once Rhiannon was gone, that move helped push us together as a unit and with Brett on our side, it seemed like the end game was perfect. Me, you, and Brett would walk hand in hand to the final 3 and that would be that, but then I thought: what happens then? If I go to the final 3 up against two players who performed better in competitions, were more genuine, and were more likeable, I began to question whether it was the right decision to make. I felt like sticking with the Bi-Polar Bears was going to be too risky for me as I didn't see myself beating you and Brett in the end. While one of you could have taken me, I would've been viewed as the goat and would've gotten roasted by the jury.

When it came to making a decision, having the Midnight Sun was my insurance policy because I knew that by voting for you, I'd likely lose Brett's trust and end up on my own, but I felt that it was something I needed to do. I didn't want to rest until the end, I wanted to make moves to better my odds and have more on my resume if I made it to final tribal. While I really liked you and thought you were fun to be around, I knew that I didn't have a leg to stand on up against you, so that's why I voted for you when I did.

The only other time I considered voting for you was when I turned on Alietta. Brett and I had a breakthrough, we both spoke to Rhiannon and Thomas, and we set out to work as a unit against Ali. Unfortunately for us, Alietta won immunity and we wanted to go after her closest ally, and that's where your name came up. She convinced the others that she had an idol, so again the plan changed and Wouter was voted out instead.

 "You say that timing was your best asset, I personally believe your best tool in the game was luck. Throughout the game luck was in your favor, every tribe swap went in your favor and you found an amazing superpower that completely changed the course of the game. It's okay to say that you relied on luck to win, but admit that a lot of the reason you made it so far was because the nature of the game went in your favor. You compare yourself to Amber Mariano, so you should credit luck in your game."

I was incredibly lucky in this game and I am very grateful for things turning out the way it did. The reasons why I didn't bring that up at first is because I wanted to focus more on the moves I made outside of being lucky. I didn't want to immediately credit luck because I didn't want to delegitimize the game that I played and if I started off thanking the stars, me making it this far would've been viewed as a fluke. Another reason why I didn't want to bring it up was because of the witch hunt Tyler started after I played the Midnight Sun and even used it as a tactic in his jury speech. I took it as an attack on my game in a personal way because when he made those accusations, it really struck a chord with me. I didn't want to give him a leverage over me like that, and I knew that he would use it.

I did compare myself to Amber for that reason. In her final tribal, we was asked to give one word that described her game, and she said luck. When I watched All-Stars when the game started, I really studied how she carried herself in the game and took pointers from her game.

"The vote may be closer than you think, just make sure you really give me thorough answers for my questions."

I want to clarify that when I chose to go to the end with Tyler, I didn't think that I was gonna clean house. I feel I stand a better chance against Tyler, but under not circumstances do I feel like it's a done deal. It's really sinking in that people aren't satisfied with my answers and that's eating me up inside. When I made my opening statement, I started something and re-wrote because it always sounded so pageant-y and felt like I wasn't speaking from the heart. While some of my answers were considered short, that does NOT mean that I'm lazy and winging it. I wanted to be straight to be point and lay everything out in the open rather than serving everybody a heap of word salad. I'm giving it my all in these answers and I'm planning things that I want to say, and if they are considered too short for some people or unsatisfying, I've apologized for that already. I try to be very concise with my choice of words, while also trying to give an accurate depiction of how I played this game.

"When did you find the Midnight Sun, what was your merge plan before you found it and how did it change once you found it?"

I found the Midnight Sun on episode 10 when Rhiannon sent me to the Glacier. When I found that, I guaranteed to never tell a soul about it and use it only when I absolutely needed to. I didn't want to suddenly become sloppy because I had it, as I had no idea what it was going to do until I played it.

My merge plan prior to finding it was to start playing more out in the open while still managing my allegiances to the likes of you, Brett, Thomas, Rhiannon, and Alietta. Things were running smoothly until cracks started to form from within, so I had to start going after the people that had my back at that point.

After finding the Midnight Sun, I did not let it change my strategy or my game I was currently playing. I didn't want to suddenly arise suspicion in the chat so it was in my best interest to leave it as a secret. The only difference was knowing that it was an insurance policy, but I did not let change my game until it was necessary.

"Was part of the reason you voted me out because you knew you were protected by the Midnight sun, or did the Midnight Sun not come into play during my blindside?"

At the final 5, I really did view you as a threat after you had won two straight immunity competitions and could see that you didn't have the bad blood on your hands compared to people left in the game. I kept up the charade of being loyal to you and Brett because I wanted to make that move without making it dramatic and causing a rift between us. Once I played that vote, I knew that I'd be singled out and that I'd have to survive on my own. By making that decision, I wanted to open the jury's eyes a bit and show that I may have been underestimated and that there was more to me than what they previously expected.

"Address how luck did or did not play a role in your road to the final 2."

Without a doubt in my mind, I was the absolute luckiest player on this season. I was lucky with the tribe swaps, I was lucky with my Midnight Sun find, and I was lucky that people enjoyed my sense of humor and were entertained by me. I was always aware that I had the luck of the Irish by my side and it was obvious to everyone else as well, but when it comes to selling myself in final tribal, I wanted to focus on the times where luck didn't come in to play and I took big risks. Hell, the majority of the votes I casted in the merge period were complete risks, especially when I was betraying someone. I believed that it would be more appropriate to draw attention to the moves I made.

"On a lighter note, in your opinion who should the six people on the Survivor Svalbard DVD cover be and why?"

Alietta, Brett, and Rhiannon all deserve a spot on the cover because each one of them took the reigns of the season and were by far the best of the best this season. These three represented a clash of the titans, so with that they are all worthy of being on the cover. The next person worthy of a cover spot is you because you showed that it's possible to go far in this game and potentially win without tearing the others apart to get there. You were the ultimate hero in this season and will be remembered as such, so a cover spot must be granted to you.

Finally, while you may not respect the game that I played or the game that Tyler played, the winner must be on the cover of a season. While we aren't the most popular contestants, the person who wins still accomplished the goal of outwitting, outplaying, and outlasting everyone else to call themselves the sole survivor.

"Since my favorite pastime is gambling, pick a number between 1 and 30. You pick the right number, you get my vote regardless. Since luck is such an important factor in the game I thought that I would allow luck to play a part in the decision."

While I am going to pick a number, I still want to make a closing statement before you cast your vote. I know that my answers are coming across as boring or disappointing, but I don't want that to overshadow the passion I had while playing this! I'm hoping you can value the quality over quantity and see me as someone that truly gave it all to make it this far. Tyler may be making good answers, but that shouldn't distract from the blatant disrespect he showed to the game, to the hosts, and to the community. I know that I'm no angel, and the jurors have every reason to feel the way that they feel, so my last plea is that you really think long and hard about who is the most deserving between the two of us. That's all. I'll leave it at that.

The number that I'm going to pick is 19. I enjoyed playing with you, Brandon.