Telling People What They Want To Hear/Confessionals

Day 19
"barbarossa"

- So we didn't end up swapping or merging which is meh, But Zaddy Karsten survived even if he voted Jake!! So we got a hero challenge which is kind of sus why its at this point compared to earlier. Which is why im volunteering because if something happens I want to know. and if it is a challenge and we lose im confident I can stay with Elmo Ethan and Hunter!

"barbarossa"

- "Wow...okay wow, let's just stop for a moment here.

Anita left. Anita, not Karsten. So, shit is changing. Shit is different than I thought it was.

I think it is safe to say that Yousef, Lex and Su are probably gonna be a tight group of three. They've been together through two swaps, while Yousef and Lex have been together the whole time. It's kind of like Ethan and I in a sense. Does that mean they won't go for each other eventually? I don't know, but I don't think I wanna be on the bottom of a group like that

I don't know where Karsten and Jake's heads are gonna be after this. I like them both, but they may not be happy with us not throwing the challenges for them or something. Maybe they've bonded well with the people on the other side. My plan is if I make merge to be as blunt as I can be with them, and hopefully they can be blunt to me back.

This is if we lose immunity of course. If we win again, pretty sure one of those two is leaving"

Day 20
Nothing of note occurred.

Day 21
"barbarossa"

- "Gather round kids it's that time of the game again. Yup, it's TRIBAL TIME!!!

This tribal seems like it could be simple. I'm part of a majority group with Ethan, Bradley and Elmo. So it comes down to Andrea, Natalia and Nick.

Usually at this point, I'd want a big threat out. I'd want them the fuck out of here, I don't want to see them go any farther...but I don't think that will work for this game.

If Andrea or Natalia leaves, the other one will most likely go running into the welcoming arms of Su/Lex/Yousef. If we spare both of them, they may like us, hopefully more specifically me, enough that they won't try to get me out, or even better, want to form an alliance.

So that leaves Nick, and here's why he's the best to go...he doesn't talk! You don't know where his head's at, you don't know who he really wants to align with, so he's unpredictable. Frankly, I like my web of possibilities to be cleaner. So yeah, if we can make Nick work, that will spectacular "

"cheng"

- "I won tribal immunity when I needed it most. Thank god I was against Bradley, who's not the best at challenges. I wanted the hero challenge to be me because if I lost and therefore got voted out, I wanted it to be my fault and not because someone else blows.

Bradley and I exchanged some information about how the tribe dynamics are, and I'm hoping the merge follows this tribal. I think i'm at a medium threat level, but much lower than Ethan/Elmo/Hunter/Yousef, which is kind of where I want to be right now. Hoping all the try hards turn on each other and i'm there to clean up."

"barbarossa"

- "So like... Cheng booting Anita over Karsten is hella sus... I rly wanna know whats up with that. I don't know why Su would agree to that because like... She would have stayed loyal to him and I? I feel like Yousef is building an army over there and that's hella scary! I hope that I'm still in his good graces because I don't want to face his wrath haha.

We also seemed to lost the challenge which sucks but might be also a good thing. Everyone so far seems to agree to vote out Nick, who is the most inactive from the tribe. I feel like if we didn't get him out now, he could potentially make it far in the merge so getting him out is great! Woo! Also, I am kinda in the middle with Bradley and we are working with Natalia + Andrea AND Hunter + Ethan so by default Nick is the odd man out.

I am in a position that I am very unfamiliar with. I am not usually in the middle but I feel like thanks to my strong connections, people want to work with me. At the end of the day I will have to make a decision which side I am going with but at the minute I'm trying to delay and keep myself in the middle for as long as I can. Hopefully Bradley will stay with me because being in the middle alone is much much harder than being there alone.

I am currently contemplating whether to approach Ethan and/or Hunter about the 24h madness advantages and their OG tribe's idol. I feel like they have both of those things and it would be very good if I knew who had what. They could maybe get sus that I found their idol and put the pieces together and think I have the Cheng idol and I definitely do not want that.... so tbh I don't know what I am doing!

I feel like I need to embrace being a villain in this season because that's the way it seems like it's going for me. I am not comfortable with it, but I am willing to play that role if that's what I need to do."

"barbarossa"

- "I ended up not being the ""Hero"" in the immunity challenge for two reasons. 1) I have a really good excuse that I have not been at home for these last few days, and 2) I actually wouldn't mind losing the challenge, because I want to test these tribal loyalties at least one time before heading into the (POSSIBLE) merge. I know Bradley has been wanting to get Nick out for a while now, ever since old Cheng basically. I was against taking him out back then, but Nick has REALLY dropped the ball. He has gone almost completely mute and hasn't really made any effort to talk to me, and if I am to believe the others, he hasn't talked to them either. And if I am going to be voting to keep players in this game, having people that reply to your messages at least once a day seems like the better option for me. As much as I hate to say it, I think Nick has to go tonight. It really didn't have to be this way, but I just can't change the perception that literally everyone else has about him (including myself) overnight, I'm not a miracle worker. Sorry my cool new zealander friend :(

Everyone right now is thinking that the merge is going to happen in the next round, or at the very least, some form of twist is going to come out of the ocean like a Kracken and maybe bring people back, or delay the merge until the final 10, since this is a smaller season in terms of # of castaways, I wouldn't be shocked to see a smaller merge.

To me this vote seems simple, and I know I'm being a little paranoid, but that's a good way to be in Survivor... just as long as the other players don't see the full extent of it. Which I think I am hiding from them well. I'm pretty good at just freaking out in confessionals and my host chat and keeping it there. What screwed me in Ret was the fact I never explicitly stated my intentions going further into the game, which is what lead Bryce to betray me thinking I wouldn't stick with him, so I am making damn sure that the alliance of Bradley/Hunter/Elmo/Myself knows I am committed to going into the end game with them, along with the tribe as a whole (sans Nick) that I am committed to being Barbarossa 3.0 strong! Am I actually? That depends on what happens in this game. I never want to be pinned in a corner and have my options completely tied down, because that's how you play yourself out of the game, and I'm hoping I can avoid that for as long as possible. I am also making sure to play up not only how committed I am to our tribe, but that it's a great idea to keep me into a merge because sure, I will be a threat, but I will be a threat working for and in front of you! I've been casually selling myself as a meat shield to Elmo/Andrea on the down low, just in case for some wild and crazy reason that Elmo/Andrea/Bradley/Natalia/Nick have some secret alliance that I don't know about. And worst case, they take out Hunter instead of me.

Do I think the odds of that happening are strong? Not particularly, But you can never be too sure who's siding with who, especially if they were on a tribe together before this. Hopefully I am telling people what they want to hear, so that I can make this merge, and join that elite group of players who have made the merge each time they played! This smaller goal on the way to my dream of winning this game is slowly but surely is happening! It honestly just feels so surreal to have made it this far already, I feel just honoured that each day I wake up I get to keep playing Survivor, and I get to keep pursuing my dream, and I hope that I am playing well enough to make it to the next stage of this game. This game is crazy in the best way!"

"barbarossa"

- "So it's Day 21 and Barbarossa 3.0 is going to tribal council. It has been a while for me and I'm glad, but I have to test my loyalties once again. This new tribe is a cluster-f*ck of new, old, and older relationships and I give weight to all of them differently. I have Elmo who I met at the most recent swap and I think he is a cool Finnish dude I'd like to keep around. I have Bradley, Ethan, and Hunter who all voted with me and against Katie when Cheng 2.0 went to tribal. And then I have Natalia and Andrea who I was in a four-person alliance with but could quite possibly be the 4th since they all had time to bond while I was by myself on Cheng.

Up until this point I have been playing rather UTR. I haven't brought much attention to myself and I contribute to challenges, but that's about it. For me, this is how I had to start the game because there were some MASSIVE personalities with their NNN and their JSDJSJSJ so I really had to take a big step back, be present but not loud and be friendly but not overbearing. I could carry this strategy into the merge, but I don't want to be another boring UTR player. I want to be the one who makes the erratic moves, the daring maneuvers, and the bold plans. It's time to emerge from my cocoon and start playing more aggressively.

So going into this vote, everyone has been completely laissez faire. Its 2 hours before the votes are due and no one has even mentioned names, let alone talked to one another about the vote. I find myself in real life being in these situations and I think it is often why I emerge as a leader, not because I want to be but because I have the balls to make something happen. If I was a real housewife my catchphrase would be ""if you want something done well, do it yourself"". Going into this vote, I want to keep Elmo and Ethan based on my relationships with them. I also want to stay in Yousef's and Lex's good books so axing a OG Calico member is probably not in my best interest. Ideally, that would mean Bradley or Hunter would be the next out. Bradley just competed in and lost the hero challenge, so it isn't a difficult case to make but I have been with him through two swaps.. more time than I have spent with Yousef and Lex. Hunter, however, has been with Ethan for a significant period and if I did go with Hunter I could be damaging one of my closest relationships in this game. I always have the option of decreasing the threat of an OG Calico force come the merge and turning the vote on Andrea or Natalia. A lot of variables are coming into play for this vote, so more chatting will have to be had and the vote will likely be right up to the deadline."

"barbarossa"

- Ok I think I'm going, everyone is just ghosting me and the vote is in 1.5 hours...

"barbarossa"

- "Ok Facebook decided to show me the messages I was getting, so I'm back in the game. Everyone is being so wishy-washy about the vote so I decided to target Bradley - when people ask, I've said something along the lines of ""I've heard Bradley's name thrown around but iddddkkk"". But I've been throwing it around. Literally just me.

Quite possibly everyone is actually gunning for me, but judging that everyone has said that they haven't been approached about the vote, I'm going to hazard a guess that its probably the truth."

"barbarossa"

- I wanna get some confessionals in incase I go but... can people stop with the "it's so hard voting people out." Bitch, we signed up for this. I came here to play hard and everyone seems far too timid to make any strategic play or even mention someones name. I don't want to be painted as a threat or a villain purely based on the fact that I want to make moves but this cast seems so adamant on sticking to this morality and group-think dynamic. Very soon the merge will come and we will be playing as individuals. We need to start thinking like that and playing to get to the end, not playing to get voted out when people collectively think it's your time to go. SMH.