Board Thread:Survivor 26: Chaos/@comment-25638795-20170827041012/@comment-25638795-20170827174026

JohnBatman wrote: Thank you for the words, Eve! I did really trust you, you were nice to me, you always seemed to be straight with me and obviously our 6-person alliance was kind of cut short with an idol so that was disappointing.

I really only have one thing I'd talk about here - I did make more moves for myself! I haven't been as flashy as other players this season, that's definitely true. But I got behind certain alliances or certain votes which honestly played a really big reason as to why I'm here. I think I played a really big part in sending David and Aras home, for example, and I tried to pull myself out of the gutter more than once - one example of this would be when I approached Jake about a Final 3 with him, myself, and Emily.

If anything, instead of making the flashiest moves, the biggest strategically-oriented characteristic of my game was trying to keep as many options on the table for myself as possible. thank you! i tried to be honest always and tell you exactly what i had in mind to try and at least get you to see things from my perspective in the game. i was really saddened about the nic/jake flip but at the same time you were the only one out of the people i expected to vote with us to tell me beforehand it was going to happen and for that i wasn't so mad at you specifically. you proved your loyalty in the jake vote, which i sadly wasn't around afterwards to be able to work with you.

and i totally agree you made moves for yourself! you didn't seem to take orders from anyone and instead stayed in the middle and avoided a spot where you were put up as a target. i think your social game was really strong throughout the entire game and more so at the beginning of merge when you befriended everyone, including the spice hoes that very much wanted out your other allies. that is not to say you didn't stay open-minded about other possibilities and you really did pave your way to the final by making smart decisions for yourself, so congratulations on that! Gwux wrote: Hey Eve, so this was a pleasant surprise to open and read. I was expecting to get snatched hard lol. Thank you, I agree with and appreciate your articulation of my game.

Anyway, even though you said you’re pretty sure you’re voting Luca I may as well pitch a case for myself haha. You stated to both of us that you were impressed at how we each avoided being targeted week after week. I think I had a lot more working against me to avoid the target, some of it out of my control as I detailed in my speeches – Luca didn’t do anything to warrant being target (I’m not saying he #didnothingallgame), he just played UTR, which is respectable and clean gameplay but perhaps less of an achievement than what I accomplished. I had a self-vote that could easily have been capitalised on and an unwarranted perception of being a “challenge beast”.

On another point, everyone was well aware that Luca was in “the middle” and that Wendy had made a chat with him and Aras, but Luca wasn’t included in the Spice Hoes alliance picture made by Kyle and displayed no signs of turning on us (other than the Jake vote when you left, which was more of an apparently unanimous tribe vote). So it was effective jury management for sure but he didn’t like have to display his loyalty to your side / jump between sides for vote offs and then seamlessly escape our radars as a target, so there wasn’t really a reason to target him once you all left side by side. That’s not trying to like drag Luca, it’s like justifying why I didn’t associate him with the Spice Hoes as much, because the one time he tried to vote off someone on our side (Jake) everyone else who didn’t know about the idol was seemingly doing it as well.

I hope that a game that is “more out there” but not OTT Chaotic, like mine, will be rewarded in a season like Chaos, but I guess really depends on what you value in a player and that’s not up to me to decide. Thanks again for the positive comments about my game. hi! i tried to be really open-minded with my speech and talk about everyone's strengths and weaknesses, at least those that i'm aware of. you definitely played a really good game and for that reason i give you due respect! you did have a harder time avoiding being a target than luca, that's true. you worked things out in your favour despite the self-vote and being labelled as a cheater which is very impressive. your gameplay, as well as jake's, were a lot more flashy and chaotic i'd say, and that is definitely a reason why i'm considering voting either of you too. also―thought i'd mention that whilst i don't think your social game was very good pre-merge, you did majorly improve it after the merge and got emily on your side during the mikey/kyle tie and befriending nic was a really, really smart move since it completely got rid of the possibility of you being a target.

i was not aware that luca was playing the middle, instead i thought he was flipping to my side upon having realized david and jake were both threats, david being an incredible social player and challenge beast as well as having 2 idols on their side (david's and emily's). luca did play a great under-the-radar game and went unseen during the spice hoes extermination where he kind of jumped ship just in time to side back with jake and emily, leaving you alone. you easily a big part in a lot of the votes, as did luca, so for me i think it'd be between you and him if i were to go off of strategy. i'm still not really sure who i'm voting since right now i see all of you as worthy winners so i'll probably have to go and read other jurors' speeches.