Board Thread:Season 53 - Galápagos/@comment-39112745-20190614170139/@comment-38878628-20190615072953

Michael, dude...I really wanted us to be sitting here together with Anthony. That was my end goal after saving you, but not everything went our way and here we are. You were such a great dude and I loved talking game with you. Your energy and enthusiasm about the game made it so much more fun and exciting! I've worked hard to get here and you clearly see that I've evolved as a player throughout the whole season. I'm very impressed with your gameplay as a first timer too and I think you were someone everyone was worried about and that's the reason everyone wanted you gone. Be proud dude!

In your video, you mentioned how I was your public enemy target pre-merge and that connects with what Anthony and Kat wanted too (still waiting to see who else comes forward about wanting to take me out too), but regardless it shows I went from being so many people's main target to their ride or die in the game. I know I played my ass off way too hard pre-merge and that put me in that position, but my recovery worked well and got me here.

"What was your plan going into the merge and did you succeed in it?"

I went into the merge feeling hopeless, honestly. My mentor and ride or die, Kat, had just been eliminated in a blindside and I had no real connections with anyone else. I originally wanted to have Kat and Jasmine as a solid 3 person group, but that clearly went down the drain. I had to think of something quick and once I heard my name and Nora's names be thrown out at the first vote, I knew I had to sit back and take the pilot's seat since I believed it was either myself or Nora going home. Once she left, my real plan of action for the merge came to me and that was genuinely to take it vote by vote. In pre-merge I had focused on F8, F7, F6, and even F3 deals with people...which was a mess. I hadn't even made the merge yet and I was way ahead of myself. My focus turned to ensuring each vote that my number one, myself, was safe from each vote. In turn, it proved to be effective as I never received a single vote until the F5 from Lynn and F4 from Thomas and Dani. When everyone wanted me gone and saw me as a threat, I managed to socialize and strategically work my way out of every single vote. I had to work my ass off socially with everyone throughout the remainder of the game and do so much damage control. My plan was working. I made genuine connections with you and Anthony, rekindled my entire relationship with Nora, Laura was asking me who to vote and for advice, & Lynn and Jake wanted to form a F3 with me. I had my bases covered, all while I'd try and keep connections with Thomas and Dani too. I maneuvered my way through every vote and here I am, sitting at the FTC. I am so damn proud of myself, but I have to give credit to Kat for mentoring me pre-merge and teaching me about the game. I took her advice and formed my new gameplay. And yes, I would say I did succeed in my plan coming into the merge. Although you think my moves were all Plan B and falling apart, which is true at some points, I knew I had to put an effort into every single Tribal Council to try my best to save certain people, specifically you and Anthony. The vote at F8 was supposed to be Thomas going home, but Nora flipped on our plan and that was a good move for her game at the time. She told Lynn and Jake about the plan, which then led to your demise in the game. That 4-2-2 vote plan would have worked, but other people have their own agendas and I can't force anyone to do anything, but I did try my hardest to keep you and Anthony in the game and came up with as many possible scenarios as a I could.

"Who are the people you trusted and what did they do to earn your trust?"

It honestly depends on the situation, mainly because my relationships with people often changed frequently throughout the game.

At the pre-merge, I trusted Damien, Tania, and Kat, but they all got sent packing. They all gave me so much information early on in the game and we worked really well together in every challenge. They always listened to me with my busy schedule and helped me when they could, so I trusted them a lot. At the merge, my trust was never 100% with anyone. I loved you and Anthony so much, but even then I figured I could be blindsided at any moment. I gained your guy's trust actually, after telling you about the vote to take you out and knew we could be a solid group of 3 moving forward. Nora had earned a bit of trust from me before your vote off, but once that happened, she lost almost all of my trust. I knew I needed her to make it further in the game, but I couldn't share as much with her. She promised me she'd never vote for me and in return, I offered the same deal. Up until I heard she was throwing my name out at the F6 TC. Otherwise, I didn't trust many other people, as I knew my relationships with them weren't as strong as my connections with the people I mentioned above.

Thank you for allowing me to play the game with you and make some fun memories! You were such a sweet guy and I hope we'll stay in touch much longer and can chat about more reality TV shows and what not! I never got to hear much about basketball from you, so we'll need to talk about that and your love for it too. Otherwise, thank you again for a fun season!