Episode 09

[Stephanie Valencia]

Well that was an almost unanimous decision to start off the merge!

Other than Caryn, do you know who was the second vote for Rachel?

What do you make of Ibe playing his idol?

At this point who is your next target?

Are you thinking about the end game at all or simply taking things round by round?

[Becky]

Oh my god, hi Stephanie!! I know...right? It's funny because when it seemed like the decision to vote out Rachel was unanimous, people panicked because how can we ALL possibly be on the same page, so when it switched to Caryn....me and Ralph were like "Oh my god, this is Rachel all over again!" But it worked out for the best. Basically, what this vote came down to was a few things but mainly Caryn was just untrustworthy. I'm sure she's popular with all of you guys because she's "entertaining," and I won't deny I did laugh at some of the shit she said/did, but I think in the long-run, it just wasn't worth keeping her in. I had an intense discussion about it with Ibe and I knew he'd back Rachel because that's his friend but we just talked about all the small shit Caryn lied about and Caryn is good at trying to start drama. Unfortunately, that's not great gameplay. Maybe she's better suited for a Bad Girls Club ORG or something. Not Stranded.



But the BIGGEST advantage for me with Caryn going was it isolated Shawn to the point where he sort of has to work with Ralph and I (or Marissa) and it completely took Vytas out of the running for the talismannnn!!! So now Vytas either has to win immunity, or play his idol when he loses. We have Vytas right where we want him and I know it's easy for people to want to keep him in the game if he's alone and use him, but he's crazy too. He is a hot head and he's arrogant for all the wrong reasons. On top of that, he's just a little whiny bitch and I can't wait to see him gone. Him trying to target me is a joke, and the fact that Cochran is spilling everything to me is just so amazing. I have no idea how Cochran was in his season...I heard he was very UTR but smart (help me out Namibia hosts!!!! Did you like him?) but Cochran seems to really like me and so that only works in my favor. If Cochran thinks it's better to keep Becky Lee around over Vytas, you will see zero complaints from me. In fact, Cochran is already talking about flushing Vytas' idol and I didn't have to push that. He knows that his association with Vytas reflects poorly on him, and I'll continue to remind him of that until we get this shitty yoga drug addict the hell out Portugal.



Shawn was the second vote for Rachel. We all know that because Shawn and Caryn were loved ones. I think Coby even called that out during tribal? Oh my god, speaking of, Coby during tribal and his paranoia rant was hilarious. We told you how we were voting gurl, stop being so dramatic. But Coby is so adorable and in some weird way, I do feel like he wants to ride this out with Semhar? He'll obviously want to take her to the finals over me (assuming it's a F2), but I can worry about that later. Ibe playing his idol was stupid...like wtf? I get being paranoid, but I told him not to play it. Trust me, Ibe! So now we're without that and it could have been a very powerful tool. Ugh. So now I don't have Katie or Ibe's idols to work with? Just kill me now.



As for my ~end game~, girl, it needs to be done one round at a time. Long term plans don't work out, especially because there is such a mix of people here, all with different agendas. However, I'm juggling a few different things. I feel like I'm in good positions with almost everyone, except Vytas obviously. And then me and Marissa/Rachel are probably not super close. That will take time, but I can count on Coby/Semhar for now. I can count on Ibe for now. I can count on Cochran for now. and I think I can count on Ralph/Shawn for now. So...I dunno, that's almost like everyone? I just need to figure out how to reconcile my alliances so they line up in a more linear fashion because there's so much overlap, it's ridiculous. I said coming into this merge that I wanted options and I wanted to be able to pick and choose from round to round instead of staying solid with one alliance, and I definitely have that. Obviously, there's a ton of overlap, but I feel pretty good right now....much better without Caryn here and I feel like I have the social connections to take me deeper into the game and I don't have to worry as much as I was today! Wish me luck!!!

[Becky]

Also, I am totally blaming this vote change to Caryn on Vytas when it comes to Shawn so Shawn isn't mega pissed people voted to split his connection up. Because it would be hella easy for those two to team up right now, and we don't need that. We need Shawn on our side, more importantly mine so if he thinks Vytas was behind this (which he wasn't), then hopefully they don't reunite or some stupid shit. And I also sent Vytas some bullshit PM apologizing for us not getting off on the right food and told him Caryn told me he was relentlessly targeting me. But I definitely know he was, but if I can just use Caryn as a scapegoat for that to get him off my back, it's bonus points for me!

[Brenda Lowe]

Who would you go to the end with if you had free pick here Becky?

[Becky]

You people and your end-game questions. </3 It will change a million times before the finale depending on who becomes a threat to win over these next few councils, but I think I'd be OK with going to the end with Semhar.....because I feel like she won't get any respect? I'd also love to be able to challenge Ibrehem, but I feel like he's one of those people who would get votes just because he's a nice guy even if I poke a million and one holes in his strategy. Caryn, Marissa, Rachel, Vytas would definitely vote for him, and he'd need just one more. Plus, I think I can get him to vote for me to win if I put him on the jury, so not him. Cochran will be too much of a threat. So yeah, Semhar.



As for tonight, I think we might be going with a Marissa boot? I think if Vytas loses, we need to flush his idol. We just can't keep that in the game, but it seems like a few of the taslismans people want to gun for each other, and I've heard Ralph, Shawn, Ibe and Marissa's names all mentioned this afternoon. I would say boot Rachel because she's the least offensive option at this point, but the thing is that we need to put an end to the talisman twists because the more we prolong that, the more it gives people immunity and more than one person having immunity as our numbers go smaller....yeah, no thanks. Plus God forbid Vytas go on some immunity run and we'd have two taslimans + an idol? Please no. So that twist needs to end, preferably tonight. Between the four of them, Marissa is the better strategic option. I think Marissa is the smartest of the four, and I think she'd be willing to work with Vytas whereas Ibe will be more solidly with me in that case. Shawn/Ralph don't like Vytas and beyond that, I do think Shawn/Ralph are loyal to me so of course I'd much rather keep them here. I love Marissa, but she knows what she's doing and therefore, she's more dangerous than someone like Rachel. Plus, I don't want to give the newbies any shot at having a majority because I think they are way more inclined to stick together.

[Becky]

I feel like I needed that immunity! Ugh!

I don't even know with this vote either because people were in a panic before the vote again, and everyone was doing some stupid shit like Ralph promising people he was voting Coby lol. IDEK what is going on there and we probably won't even be getting PMs back in time for me to sort through things. Pray for me, ya'll cause this could be my last night in Portugal. D: