Board Thread:Season 35: Mount Olympus/@comment-2114961-20181017074651

Yknow. I WAS gonna make a deep, thought provoking, and compelling speech. This is my first (and let’s be honest probably ONLY) Final Tribal Council I’ve ever made it to as a finalist and I wanted to be able to convey to you jury my game and how, while it may seem UTR and meaningless on the surface; that I fought JUST as hard as all of you and worked hard to get here, and was by NO means just a stepping stone for someone else’s victory. And believe it or not, it takes longer than a day for me to do all of that. Especially when you’re busy job hunting and entertaining a guest all day and therefore couldn’t sit down long enough to collect my thoughts and write a speech down. So I apologize if that offends most of you somehow, but I would have hoped that I would be given a chance and not dismissed outright because of some slight tardiness. That said. I’m not here to make excuses, blame other people, or go into an expletive laden tirade like I’ve shamefully done in the past. Don’t get me wrong, I’m hurt and angry as of the time I’m writing this, but where has that gotten anyone? SO all I can do now is attempt to salvage what “30+ hours” of being unable to write has destroyed of my reputation, and hopefully I can make yall understand that my game is a game worth voting for.

So, premerge. Premerge always plays both a major and minor role in an overall game. And I’m sure we’re all aware that I had some MAJOR trials and tribulations to fight through during the premerge. Being in a situation where I knew/was good friends with fraction of the cast, I made it my mission to do the opposite of what I’ve done in the past, and focus on people I DIDN’T know. Primarily my fellow Mytikas. I made strong allies and friends with a majority of my team, particularly Charlie Trey and yes, Cammy. After that, I did my best to talk to everyone else, since this was one world afterall. I always get overwhelmed in giant cast seasons, but I believe I managed to at least get a good START with alot of people. However, sadly alot of the people I made initial connections with went home early, such as Matt Jack and Aston. So with that I would attempt to expand my reaches even more…...but then everything changed when the Scammy attacked.

Sammy sadly got his way and did ALOT of major harm to my game. Once the swap happened, Sam wasted NO time making me and my supposed “Premade” public enemy number one And because of that alot of my time was spent both COMBATING that and trying to salvage my reputation at the same time. In that time, I found a saving grace within people like Malik, whom admittedly I was very loyal and trustworthy to; Brian, who I was starting to want to work with after the fallout of the rockdraw and saw as a friend; and Nicole, who would spend countless mornings and nights being adorable and hilarious with me.. This Premade Narrative inevitably put a target on my back and this was my first major moment of the season. Now I won’t lie and say I had a major hand in the vote (hell I didn’t even know that I was getting backstabbed until my OG Mytikas realized we were being conned) but upon figuring out what was happening I did what I had to do, saved my ass, and upon learning the truth behind the vote, I worked into high gear to make sure shit like that would never happen again. I gathered the people I knew I could trust from that vote, Charlie and Cammy, reconciled with Malik and Nicole, and had we lost again, I’m confident the vote would have gone my way.

Now going into merge, I lost Liam, all due to a last minute decision that was out of my control. But going into merge the narrative was clear. Liz vs Brian. This had been boiling up all season so I knew it would be the primary focus early on. So with that in mind, I started to plan and strategize with as much as I could with what would end up being the ever changing “sides” and “allegiances” of the merge.

Seriously, merge is where things kinda got trippy for me and I had to work HARD to adapt. During the first vote, I had basically decided that I was team Brian. Team Liz had barely spoken to me, and while I liked the people on her side, we weren’t as close socially. Then CHAOS ensued as people started scrambling and deals started getting made. Team Liz, desperate for a seventh, scrambled and particularly worked their best cases with me. While I never talked to Liz sadly, me Charlie were Ryan were close do to our time on the tribes, so they were the primary ones. But at the end of the day, I stuck to my guns, and pretty much knowing Emily was likely to evac out realized the stress I was putting myself through wasn’t worth it in the long wrong. But that didn’t stop the narrative from sticking, and people continued to flip and flop. But despite the CONSTANT flipping and scrambling, I kept myself with the people I KNOW I could trust and began to integrate myself more with the “other side” namely Ben and Jerry, whom I slowly realized most likely had an ice cream themed duo of some kind, as no matter what they seemed to protect each other or at least vote together.

That was honestly probs the hardest part for me. Knowing who’s motives were true and who’s were false. And who’s agenda contradicted mine. Which brings me to RYAN’S vote. With Liz gone and Brian’s tragic blindside, I knew there’d be a power vacuum And who better to suck up said vacuum then someone alot of us realized was playing the middle for a long time. Once the round started, I almost immediately knew he would have to go. Not only was he strong, but while we had a semi-alliance going, I knew I couldn’t trust him. Why? Well because I had on good authority that he pretty much ORCHESTRATED my almost vote off. Which, not even mad at, it was a good plan and put you in a pretty good power position, but if you were curious why we never seemed to click, that’s why. SO from there, I formed what was probably my FAVORITE achievement of the game: The Power Trio. Consisting of myself, Malik and yes, CAMMY! The three of us actually super clicked during the premerge, and by swap we had an underlying thing going on that was mutual with all three of us, so once we knew where everyone else was, we formed our group and made our first #BigMove. It was easier than I’d thought it’d be, with The Ice Cream Bros (Ben and Jerry’s ;) ) being convinced by us. And with Ryan gone, it left yet another vacuum and a chance for us to break up the other duos within the cast.

Sadly, they got to us first. Now I’ll full on admit. I was NOT present this round as my birthday was around this time and I was unable to fully scope out the situation, but in an epic blindside, Malik went home and I was CRUSHED, one of my main allies, yet again taken out over someone I considered a much bigger threat (sorry Ben :c, I’d say don’t hate me but it sounds like you do already..) So with Malik gone, Cammy being the only one I could FULLY trust, and my hands tied, pretty much went from 100% to 120%! It was at this point that I felt more comfortable talking to people I hadn’t had full on game conversations with, such as Konrad, whom I had talked to here or there, but could never get a read on until I actually just, talked to the guy person to person; and Louise, who I would later find out was only distant with me do to a preconceived notion she had about the Brian vote that was through no fault of her own; and finally Jerry. We had a good thing going on Mytikas, but by swap we seemed to have distanced, and by merge it was clear we were never purely on the same side as each other, which made it hard for me to connect with him, as I was never sure what the right thing to say to him was. At the same time, I knew that if I was gonna make it farther, I had to break up what was essentially the strongest duo left at that point. Which is why Ben became the target YET again.

I really should apologize if you were offended by the constant targeting Ben, It was clear that from the Great Kakalos War that you had strong connections with alot of people, and that with you gone, I’d have more leeway with players like Konrad and Jerry. Now this vote is where I think my ability to social the FUCK out of people really shined. I spent a solid TWO hours talking to Konrad maybe?? Just to convince him to turn and vote with us for the benefit of both our games. At this point I made a GREAT rapport with him and hoped it would carry through with the vote, thankfully it did, and with the help of Louise and Nicole who we managed to convince as well, I got more votes somehow and Ben left.

Which brings us to F7 and where the game got REALLY real. So at this point, if I had to say I had a plan of some kind, it was probs keep Cammy (who at the time i figured was in about the same boat as I was and that we were on EQUAL playing fields) nurture my friendships with Nicole and Konrad (whom I thought were kind of wandering souls at this point) and create an easy path to the end…. Things didn’t work that way. As far as Jerry’s idol out, we all pretty much know the story. We all underestimated Nicole’s game and threat level, and after a night of some HARDCORE convincing, she became the target, but of COURSE she would be the only one capable of navigating that yikes of a maze, and Jerry became the victim sadly :(. It was hard, but we had to accept it and move on. With that, we get the biggest blindside of the game, Konrad’s medevac, and it was a SUPER hard blow cause i really did enjoy him throughout the latter half of the game and saw him as a great ally to have. Had he not left, the vote most likely would have stayed the same, as we still knew Nicole was a threat and acted accordingly. (I’m really sorry gurl, love you <3)

From there I BEASTED that F4 challenge all 4 damn days it took my first Individual Immunity win in YEARS. And DAMN was it sweet. And I’m sure most of you consider this the turning point of my game. SO I feel like this is the time to be frank and honest about the misconception that seems to be going around. I. Am Not. Nor would I EVER be. Cammy or ANYONE else's goat! I made my decision based purely on two things. 1. Who could I trust enough that no matter the outcome, I’d be where I am today. A shallow thing I know, but if you've been where I’ve been MULTIPLE times over, you’d understand. But most importantly 2. Who did I genuinely feel like I had a chance against at the end/who gave me the best win condition. After that i figured I’d luck out and win FIC for once, which didn’t happen sadly.

Now look I know it’s gonna sound stupid, and maybe it was, but In my mind, Louise had just as much of a chance as Cammy, AND the narrative that I had in my mind was that me and Cammy were BOTH the secret underdog Duo that preserved through all the craziness this season threw at us, and that if it came down to it, my Social game and hopefully even a bit of my Strategic game would edge me ahead. Now if yall wanna slam me for being stupid or call that pure fantasy, that’s your prerogative. But that was the story I wanted to convey to you guys at the start of this, and it saddens me that I’m already at such a bad start and wasn’t to early able to hit that point home.

Which actually brings me to my obligatory TL;DR/wrap up. If you want a reason to vote for me, what I just said is it. I PERSEVERED. I didn’t “ride coattails”, the LAST thing I am is a coattail rider. I adapted to the situation each round gave me, and unfortunately, the crazy shenanigans going around, and the unclear SEVERELY blurred lines and allegiances that seemed to switch or go deeper with each passing round made it extremely hard to keep 100% up with sometimes, or know who to trust/talk to at times. Hell it even forced me to make an ACTUAL. DIGITAL. FLOW CHART on PowerPoint to keep up with during the merge! And when I needed to make something happen, I DID. I may not have made the most optimal path towards the end, but my options led me to where I am and I am DAMN proud of it, and I know that my effort, my strategy, and my friendships are worthy of winning this game, and being seen as just as credible a player as anyone else that have faced the trials of Greece and it’s grueling torture. Cause at the end of the day, I made things happen when I had to, and despite the multiple attempts on my life, I SURVIVED. I achieved my dream and REDEEMED myself from the failures of the past and now all I pray for is that you give me a chance, judge me fairly, and allow me to further show you that I have a game worthy of the win!!

Thank you for reading, i know it was kind of vague and gamebotty, but the detail I wanted to put into this sorta went out the window with my emotions once I knew I was in a time crunch, so please please PLEASE if there’s anything you want me to go into deeper detail about, let me know in your speeches and I will be EXCRUCIATINGLY blunt and detailed. And if you made a speech before I got the chance to post this, please notify the hosts to notify me if you choose to revise it so I may answer you ~properly~ Until this, let’s get this FTC rolling FOR REALSIES!  