First, I just want to thank all of you guys for being a part of this experience with me. You all played such a big part in this game for me and I wouldn't have wanted to play this with anyone else. I understand that I did lie and hurt a lot of you guys, but I think Todd Herzog sums up my mindset really well.
Todd Herzog wrote:The main thing I can ask for tonight is that you can see the difference between my strategic game and the relations I actually built with you. Because the relations on a personal level; honest and real. The game level, the strategic level, is what I came here to do. I knew coming into the game that I wasn’t the most physical, but I knew that I could be the most strategic. And if I did that, I could get here.
I knew that I wouldn't be able to be the best at the challenges and that I would have to rely on strategy to get me to where I am now. And that did mean going back on my word, but like Todd says, my relationships with you guys were 100% true and real. I just knew that I had to set them aside for me to achieve the ultimate goal of this whole thing, winning the game.
My strategy coming into this game was to get in with as many people as I could, assess the situation, and then make a decision on which way was my best path. Last time I played stranded I was a follower, I didn't connect with everyone, and was an easy first boot come merge time. I could not have that happen again. So this time I wanted to pave my own way to the end, gun for threats when they became apparent, and try to set myself up so that at Final Tribal I would walk away with the win. I think I did a pretty good job of doing exactly that.
Limici
In Stranded in Namibia®, we had 4 or 5 inactives in the game. So I had a few freebee rounds to get my footing. Here in Portugal everyone was here to play, so my game had to start right away. After the first weekend, I was in both of the majority alliances on Limici, in addition to being in the Namibian Threesome of Semhar, Ralph, and I. (good job Coby for picking up on that one
) The namibian three was my strongest alliance going into the swap.The Swap + NuBracari
I wasn't too worried about the swap because me and my loved one, Vytas, had been working with my partner Katie and her loved one Coby, in addition to Ralph and his loved one John. I felt like I was in a good position no madder where I ended up.
As soon as we hit the Bracari beach, Kim talked to me about voting peter off. If she could drop him that quick why couldn't she do the same to me? Her making that decision got her booted the next tribal, and also started an alliance between Vytas, Marissa, and Myself. The next vote out was on peter, and I was given the option to go with him and John to vote out Vytas. I chose to stay strong and with a little help from Ibe the three of us rode Bracari out to the merge.
Narbasi
Once the merge hit I rekindled old flames and again found myself in the middle of the two power alliances (Tapoli+marissa and NuLimici). The caryn boot was my best option because it wouldn't stir up too much between the alliances, because even though Caryn was from Tapoli, it didn't seem like she was a part of there crew. That vote was when the threats really started to show themselves, and the game really picked up pace. The next vote I voted for Becky for two main reasons. One, She was the leader of the Limici Crew, and an overall huge threat. And Two, Skinny Ryan warned me that if someone had crossed Becky, she had a way about gathering the troops to get you right back for doing so. I knew that if I went against Becky it had to be on her boot. Then comes the one vote all game that I wasn't on the right side of, Ralphs boot. I was told that ralph was the boot literally 5 minutes before tribal, and even though I tried to get it back onto shawn/rachel it was just too late. That was when I realized that marissa was the most powerful person left in the game. Not only did she have Ibe and Rachel pretty much wrapped around her finger, she had close ties to me and Vytas, and ALREADY a very compelling case to give her the win. Thats why she had to be targeted next. She did have the amulet, and played it, so Rachel went home. The game was back in my court again. I could've chosen to try and target Marissa the next tribal, but Coby's friends on the Jury were starting to add up, and he also was the first person to (openly) figure out the game that I was playing. I didn't need more targets on myself, so I was fine with giving him the boot.
The Home Stretch
It was F6 and Marissa had to go next, She was still an extremely powerful force and it was getting to close to the end of the game. You can tell how good her game was by the fact that she got Semhar, A person who I was in an alliance since Old Limici, to vote against me. Luckily for me, Vytas and I had talked about if one of us won immunity, he would play the Idol he found on whoever wasn't immune. I don't think either of us thought we would get enough votes, but Thank you Vytas all the same. With Marissa gone, the next biggest threat was Semhar. Semhar didn't make anyone mad, and had a good amount of friends on the Jury. Also, even though we were close, she did vote for me the round previous, and I was pretty sure she would do it again. Now that she was gone, The Curse of Men losing Stranded was finally broken. I honestly was completely set on booting shawn at the F4 Tribal, but of course Shawn won immunity. Me and Vytas had talked about Ibe being a boot option tribals and tribals ago, but like my voting comment said, I couldn't just sit back and let him go on and still tell myself that I did everything I could to win. I knew I had a better chance against Ibe and Shawn than Vytas and shawn. Also, by saving Ibe I figured I was in his good graces JUST INCASE we had a Final 2 (Thank you Coby for planting that seed in my brain). I knew Ibe would take me, so once I saw immunity I knew that I was set for the F2.
And here we are. I think I played the game to the best of my ability. Always giving myself options, and choosing the path that I thought would bring me to the Final Tribal with the best chance to win the game. I played aggressive when I had to, sat back when i had to, and played my fucking heart out. I'm really excited to answer your guys questions, and try and back up my game during the wring outs I know I deserve from a few of you guys. No madder what happens, Just know that I had a blast playing with all of you guys, and I do hope that most of you are willing to still be my friends at the end of all of this
And to Ibe, May the best man win!
