Board Thread:Survivor 29: Hallasan/@comment-24215409-20180110021944/@comment-31430415-20180110180128

Hi Sam, thank you for your speech and I appreciate your honesty.

Pregame Relationships:

Before I list all of them in detail, I’m just going to say that I had 2 pregame connections that deeply affected the game (Jake and Cammy), and and Devon also had 2, both of which were his #1 or #2 ally during the game (Blake was his #1 the entire premerge, and Felipe and I were his top two allies throughout the merge). As much as he’s going to sit there and constantly recycle what the jury is saying to try and make me look bad, he benefited from just as many pregame connections as I did, and he benefited from MY pregame connections as well. If I don’t know Jake and Cammy, I don’t give him the information I gave him, and his entire game explanation about “I had ALL the info” goes completely down the drain.

Ally/Jose:  This didn’t affect the game. Jose didn’t vote Jake because he knew me like Jake is claiming. Jose and Jake are best friends, he’s not going to take the word of someone that he’s snaked repeatedly in ORGs (me) and has voted him out of two ORGs (also me) over his best friend purely because I knew him. He was insinuating to Devon that he wanted to keep him, Devon told me this, and I used that conversation to go to Jose and say “maybe we should keep Devon”, “I think he could be beneficial”, etc. and get him to vote Jake instead on the guise of me/Devon also doing it.

Jake/Jose:  I think their close friendship caused Jake to have an easier time on swap Jinan (until I mutinied over), but it didn’t really affect the game all that much since they both voted each other.

Cammy/Jose: Never met in the game, didn’t affect it.

Ally/Jake:  Because of our relationship pregame, he took me to the lake, which led me to get a mutiny. Without this, there’s a possibility (albeit slim, because I believe that whoever got the mutiny was using it and I beat both of their firemaking scores) that I die on Wonsan. Our pregame relationship affected the game in a large way because it gave me access to a lot of knowledge, like him bragging about turning Blake against Devon (which I told to Blake to save Devon), and telling me about his idol. It affected the way that I played the season because I knew a lot more than I would if we weren’t friends, but it didn’t affect the amount of information that I gave him. He was much more open to me than I was to him, I always kept my guard up when it came to game-related information and outright lied to him on multiple occasions, and I believe that disconnect between the way we treated our friendship within the game is a big reason why he’s so angry at me. He consistently used our pregame relationship and believed that we were ride or die because of it, and it was not mutual for me. I benefited SIGNIFICANTLY from this, but I’m also getting absolutely shit on by him in jury because of it, and this wasn’t something I feel like I could have avoided.

Jake/Cammy:  This one is … difficult. I’m not going to go into details on what happened between them because it’s not a single bit my business, but I don’t believe that Jake went after Cammy at final 7 purely because she knew about his idol. This relationship definitely affected the game. It affected my game specifically because I ended up having to pick a “side” within the game.

Ally/Cammy: Because she knew who I was, she was more open to connecting with me at merge and making me her “in” to the Jinan tribe in order to split up you and Dan. I think without our pregame relationship, Cammy is likely in a worse position at merge because she’s associated with the two of you and doesn’t have an easy way to save herself from that perception by coming to talk to me. I’m not sure what Felipe does this tribal if Cammy isn’t siding with Jinan in the Dan vote. But I believe that Cammy still would’ve tried to find a way to split up you and Dan even if it wasn’t as easy as running to me and spilling everything to me, so I’m not sure the merge round would have gone any differently honestly. This is all super hypothetical, but yeah. It had a huge impact on the game, clearly, and I’m not sure if Cammy and I develop the relationship that we did if she didn’t know me well enough to talk to me so extensively during the merge round.

<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">Ally/Zach: <span style="font-weight:400;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">We met in BBUK. I don’t think this affected the game at all, I was still shit socially with him at merge.

<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">Devon/Blake: <span style="font-weight:400;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;"> I genuinely don’t know if this connection affected the game at all. Blake was presently hosting Devon in DI at the start of the season, I’m not sure if that bond led into them having an easier social relationship, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Blake was Devon’s closest ally for a lot of the premerge.

<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">Devon/Felipe: <span style="font-weight:400;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;"> Maybe Devon/Felipe formed a solid bond within the game like Cammy and I did, but I find this hard to believe because their pregame relationship was a lot more solid than mine and Cammy’s. They had played an entire ORG together already and had gotten to know each other fairly well at the time of this game, whereas Cammy and I had very rarely spoken outside of group chats and were speaking in PMs regularly for the first time ever. So I think that their relationship was 100% based off of their pregame one, but like me, Devon didn’t put it ahead of the one he formed ingame with me just like I didn’t put any of my pregame relationships ahead of the one I formed ingame with him. Without this relationship I think Devon and I are both in a worse position because I relied on him a lot when it came to Felipe, just like he relied on the information that I was getting from Cammy and Jake. So it significantly impacted the game.

<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">Devon/Jose: <span style="font-weight:400;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">I believe this relationship impacted Jose’s vote on Jake at swap Jinan because I think Jose’s relationship with Devon was part of the reason he was so quick to flip to save him and vote Jake when I brought it up to him. However, even if Jose had voted Devon, it didn’t affect much and I don’t think it was a gamechanging pregame relationship.

<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">Max/Blake: <span style="font-weight:400;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">Close friends from before the game. This impacted the game because if they weren’t friends I don’t believe Blake would have put up any fight about voting the 1 person from Donnaeko off of our swap tribe, I never would’ve shown aggression towards him because of it, and there wouldn’t be that strain on Blake and I’s relationship.

<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">Louise/Zach: <span style="font-weight:400;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">I’m not sure if me, Louise, and Zach become the final 3 standing on Wonsan if the two of them don’t already know each other, but I’d like to think that we would because I enjoyed working with the two of them the most on that tribe and I think that connection would’ve developed regardless of whether or not they knew each other.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">I believe that’s all the pregame relationships, unless I forgot or wasn’t aware of some.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:700;text-decoration-line:underline;white-space:pre-wrap;">What I learned about jurors I wasn’t aligned with:

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">I’m not sure if this was supposed to mean everyone outside of Felipe/Devon/Cam, or just my allies, because I was allied at one point or another with everyone in the jury except you and Dan. To be safe, I’m going to just say stuff about everyone except Felipe/Devon/Cammy. I’m not sure what you mean by “boring facts” because I didn’t consider anything of the stuff I said in my response to Cammy boring.

<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">Dan: <span style="font-weight:400;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">I didn’t learn anything about Dan other than his cousin recently having a baby.

<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">Blake: <span style="font-weight:400;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;"> I don’t know how much of what he told me is private, but I learned some stuff about his brother and why he hasn’t seen Les Mis (I believe he’ll know what I’m referencing I just don’t know if it’s personal sdjksdjksd), I learned that he’s been deeply hurt in past games and it affected his ability to trust in this one (and clearly I’ve contributed to that now), I learned that he writes fanon, and that he absolutely despises Ben from HVHVH.

<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">Jake: <span style="font-weight:400;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;"> I learned a lot of personal stuff about Jake that I don’t feel comfortable writing here, and he’ll probably remember that.

<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">You: <span style="font-weight:400;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;"> I learned that we both tend to be picky eaters (you moreso than me), I learned that we have similar music taste, I learned that you love to sleep, I learned that we both hate extreme weather. I never learned anything super personal about you, but I learned that we hold very similar interests.

<span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-weight:700;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;">Zach: <span style="font-weight:400;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);font-variant-numeric:normal;font-variant-east-asian:normal;white-space:pre-wrap;"> I learned that Zach has FIIIIIIIIRE music taste, I learned that Jonathan Penner is his favorite Survivor player, I learned that he works multiple jobs while going to school, I learned that he’s better at Big Brother than Survivor but prefers Survivor, and I learned that he has a mild Parkinson’s disorder.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:700;text-decoration-line:underline;white-space:pre-wrap;">My endgame:

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">No, you absolutely are not wrong here. I believe my one big strategic failure was not telling Cammy to play her idol at 7. This one decision would’ve significantly improved my endgame. However, I genuinely don’t believe that I would be in a position where I wouldn’t have to do firemaking at final 4. Even if my final 3 with Devon/Zach had worked out and Felipe left at final 5, I think Cammy would still win immunity, and in that case I would want to vote Zach instead of Devon and I believe that Cammy would’ve voted with Zach and sent me to firemaking again regardless.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">I think you’re right in that the big reason that my game didn’t crumble due to the decision at f7 was Devon surviving final 5. If Devon goes at final 5, I get 4th and I think Cammy wins the game. And Devon came VERY close to getting 5th. Him and I were both talking to Cammy, and I believe I was sloppy in the way I handled that, but in the end she did agree to vote out Zach instead of Devon and I believe that essentially saved my game. I’m pretty sure that Felipe was going to vote with her regardless, but I might be wrong and he might’ve been saving Devon the whole time. I just know that he really wanted me out until he found out I had an idol.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:700;text-decoration-line:underline;white-space:pre-wrap;">If you started out on a different starting tribe, do you think you would have played differently:

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">Definitely. Because of the tribe I started on (and also the tribe I swapped to the next round), I went to almost every premerge tribal and I had to work incredibly hard because of this. If I had started with Wonsan and swapped to Donnaeko with you guys, I don’t think my game would’ve been as good as I believe it was, because I wouldn’t have had to constantly fight to stay alive. The premerge was a large and difficult part of my game, and if it goes differently for me I’m not sure if I form the strong connections on Jinan that I did.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:700;text-decoration-line:underline;white-space:pre-wrap;">What was your favorite moment from the season?

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">My favourite moment from the season was probably when it was down to just YEET on Wonsan. Despite being scary because there were only 3 of us, it was really nice to survive with the two people on that tribe I felt were the strongest, and I wish that the 3 of us had made merge together.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:700;text-decoration-line:underline;white-space:pre-wrap;">What is your opinion on chicken nuggets?

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">I love chicken nuggets but I’m also super picky about them!! I don’t like ones from certain restaurants (Burger King can get fucked) or ones that I make at home, and nothing compares to McDonalds ones with barbeque sauce. Yum.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:700;text-decoration-line:underline;white-space:pre-wrap;">What does winning this season mean to you?

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">Winning this season would mean that I’m not the bad player that I have the tendency to call myself frequently. Like Jake said, I never shut the fuck up about my POTS titles, and that’s because they’re all I feel like I have, and I know I shouldn’t feel this way, but it tends to just feel like I have consolation prizes because I can play a good game but never the best game. And I genuinely believe that I played the best game this time, and to receive recognition for that would mean more to me than I can explain. If I lose, I feel like it’s because people genuinely hate me as a person. And no matter how much I deserve it, it hurts.

<span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:11pt;font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">Thank you again for your speech and I apologize for how long it took for me to reply.