Board Thread:Survivor 29: Hallasan/@comment-31430415-20180109025202

- Introduction -



Hello everyone!! First of all, I just want to say congratulations to Devon for getting to this point, and thank you to him, everyone else on the cast, and the amazing hosts for this super enjoyable season.

I believe that I deserve to be the Sole Survivor of Hallasan because I played a very well rounded game; I strategically planned my path to the end in a way that would give me the best chance of winning, I worked hard socially to keep up strong bonds with my allies, and I was a top competition performer on my tribes pre-merge as well as won 2 immunities post-merge. I'm going to explain my thought process as the game went on, because this game was very extensive for me, as I attended nearly every tribal council and voted out everyone in the season other than 2 people. I apologize if my speech is lengthy because of this.



- Jinan -

After joining the game slightly late due to being a replacement, I immediately got to work on Jinan trying to form connections so I wouldn’t be left out because of it. I formed lasting bonds with several people on Jinan, including Blake, Devon, and Felipe. These starting bonds would prove to be incredibly valuable both post-mutiny and during the merge.

- Wonsan -

Swapping onto Wonsan, my original Jinan tribe had a 3-2 majority. However, Louise and I quickly developed a bond with Zach, and we formed an alliance called YEET, and as you all know, we became the last 3 standing on our tribe. Jake on Jinan chose me and Max to go to the lake with him that round, and I was lucky enough to receive the ability to mutiny. Max left the lake first, and then I used this opportunity to speak with Jake, align with him, and form an in-game bond with him, because that was likely the tribe I was going to be mutinying to should we lose immunity. Through talking to him, I learned that Devon was on the outs, which was upsetting to me because Devon was my closest ally on Jinan. We parted, and then my tribe, unfortunately, lost immunity again. I’m not actually 100% sure if I would have been at risk that round, but I chose to use my mutiny regardless. This was because of a couple reasons-- Zach and Louise were friends from prior to the game, and I didn’t feel like taking the risk; and I didn’t want to end up losing again on a tribe of 2 and have to go to firemaking myself. If I did that, I was also risking being dissolved and reshuffled onto Donnaeko, where I would be in a much worse position than I would be on Jinan. It just made sense for me to mutiny over to where I felt I could gain footing and secure my position.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">- Jinan (Reprise) -

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Once I mutinied over to Jinan, I started talking to everyone and getting information on the dynamics of the tribe. Everyone on the tribe was very open to talking to me, and I quickly managed to figured out who was close with who, who was likely the next target (it was indeed Devon), etc. My main task at hand was to save Devon. He was the person I was most loyal to on that tribe, and I wanted to make sure that he stayed in. Jake had been working really hard on getting Blake to distrust Devon, and was open to me about this, so I used that information to undo his progress and get Blake back on my side and working with Devon and I again, because those were the two people I trusted the most at that point and I was hoping to create a solid bond between the 3 of us. Through this, we formed an alliance called Ladies’ Night.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">While the tribe swap was in progress, Jake and I had begun to discuss the idol, and he shared his list of locations to search with me immediately prior to finding the idol and telling me about it, further strengthening the bond that we had been developing since I mutinied.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">At the vote before merge, Blake threw a vote on me because he didn’t want to vote his friend out. I forgave him, but this definitely had me starting to doubt him as an ally. I voiced these concerns to Devon, both so he would know that he was my #1 and so he would begin to think the same thoughts about Blake.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">- Merge -

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">As soon as the tribes merged, I approached Cammy and we began talking. I was worried about what had just happened with Blake, and wanted to make sure my options were as open as possible. My focus at this point was to keep strengthening the bonds I had created pre-merge with the Jinan boys as well as Zach, and focus on creating a new one with Cammy, as she had made it immediately clear to me that there was a fracture within the group of her/Sam/Dan.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">During the merge vote, Blake begun to sketch me out more than when he already had pre-merge, due to his blind trust in Daniel. It was at this point that I recognized that this wasn’t going to end up being good for my game, and started to worry about how I could manage it without hurting our growing friendship. Because of this, it wasn’t terribly upsetting for me when Blake chose to ask to be voted out the next round. Because of him quitting, I didn’t have to go back on my deals with him/worry about affecting the friendship I felt was developing between us, and I’m glad that it never got to that point for us.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Throughout all of this, I had been strengthening my bond with Jake, and at some point we decided to Skype call together. This Skype call is a significant reason why I chose to turn on him when I did. Whenever he talked game, it became jokes about cutting me, and at one point he messaged Zach saying that he wanted me out as a joke while on call with me, and it just got way too weird and sketchy. He had also gotten close to Sam, who I didn’t have a positive game relationship with and who I wanted out sooner rather than later. His relationship with Cammy was strained, and he decided he wanted her out that tribal because she knew about his idol. I agreed to go along with it, and then Cammy and I decided that this would be an appropriate time to blindside him instead. I approached Devon about a potential final 4 alliance of me/him/Cammy/Felipe, and he was down for it and got Felipe on board. With this, Lil Shits was formed, and we successfully blindsided Jake with his idol in his pocket. During the vote, Cammy also revealed to me that she had the Donnaeko idol, and she asked if she should be playing it because she knew she was getting votes. Ultimately, we both decided she didn’t need to idol herself, and our bond became much stronger due to that trust.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">After getting an idol clue from Cammy, I found the merge idol almost immediately, which I told Cammy about. At this point, we decided that it was time to vote out Sam, since she was no longer immune and we knew there was no risk that she had an idol. Sam did try to convince me otherwise because I was a large target once she was gone, and she made very good points, but ultimately I decided that Cammy was a big enough threat that I thought I could manage it with just her in. I also knew that Devon was loyal, so with my idol at 5 I was realistically in a pretty decent position even with Sam gone. My only concern at this point was when to get rid of Cammy; I knew that she couldn’t leave at 5 because she had her idol, and her making an immunity run was a real threat. At this point, I decided that the risk was worth it, and went along with the Sam vote. This was also the first real merge vote where I was genuine with Zach about where I was voting, because I wasn’t afraid of an idol anymore and was hoping to fix our connection.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">F5 was absolutely my weakest point in the game. My ideal f3 at this point was myself, Devon, and Zach, and we formed that alliance this round. However, Cammy won immunity due to her advantage and she planned to use her idol on Felipe, so I had to make the unfortunate choice to vote out Zach. This wasn’t something I wanted to do at all, but I knew that out of him and Devon, Devon was much more likely to vote with me the next round.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">Final 4 onwards were very straightforward; Cammy remained my greatest competition, and when she turned on me at final 4, I was lucky enough that my strong bond with Devon came through and he put it to firemaking for me against Felipe. After that, it was about winning final immunity, which I succeeded in.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:700;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">- Conclusion -

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">I believe that I deserve to win because I was constantly planning ahead and readjusting to forge my own path through the game that would get me where I needed to be--here. Because I attended almost every tribal council, I was playing the game hard and constantly from the very beginning. I had people who were loyal to me when I needed it the most, I was aware of where all the idols in the game were before they were played so they couldn’t throw too bad of a wrench in my game, and I won two critical immunities. My weakest point was absolutely at final 5, but I recovered easily and I was able to make it to this point despite that.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre;white-space:pre-wrap;">I believe that I played the best game, and I hope that I’m able to show that to you guys. I’m looking forward to hearing your speeches and answering your questions. <ac_metadata title="Ally&#039;s Opening Statement!"> </ac_metadata>