Board Thread:Survivor: Sumbawa (Season 19)/@comment-27761891-20160831034232

Honestly, did anyone expect to see me here in the end? No one. Okay then I’m not going crazy, because I sure as hell never thought I’d be here.

First things first, thank you so much to the hosts for hosting such an amazing season. Despite the up’s and down’s of this game, y’all did an amazing job. Everyone in the game, thank you all for playing with me and making this one hell of a game. Everyone was on their A-game, and it honestly made this experience so much better.

So I don’t really know how a good FTC goes, but I’ll lay down my game for you on a nice mat, and you can ask me if you need any more information, and I will be very willing to give it to you.

I’ll split this up into each phase of the game for easier reading, and I would summarize it at the end of each phase, but I think you really need to read the long version. Sorry ‘bout that. X.X

Anarchy Phase
Honestly, the start of the game was a mess for me. I had some early connections with people like Ash and Zak and had some previously formed friendships with Ty and Lex and Dani, but they were nothing noteworthy (we were simply in a similar friend group, but we hadn’t interacted 1-on-1 really; this would all change as the season progressed).

I relied very heavily on Ash and Zak for the first couple of votes. People were a little quiet and didn’t share much, but Ash and Zak had a little influence in everyone, so I knew that they were very useful to my game in the sense that they would keep my name out of people’s mouths and they would also tell me how the vote seemed to be going. I also genuinely liked them. They were both very sweet people who seemed genuinely concerned for me as a person, and I love to create real relationships like that in games. It’s always nice to just have a shoulder to cry on inside and outside of the game. I did have other friendships in the game (Patrick, Ty mainly).

With these friendships, though, came the realization that Ash and Zak had the most powerful pull in this game, and I knew this would be a long-term threat to me. At the 5th tribal council of the Anarchy stage, I pulled off my first BIG move (although there are some people that have argued me on this, but I’ll show you how it was a big move).

During the auction in this round, I had mentioned to Ty what Ash and Zak had bid on items because they trusted me with that information. Initially, Ty told me his reasoning behind it was just so that he wouldn’t try and outbid them, but then we had discussed doing a big move, and Ty shared some of his money with Lex so that she could outbid Ash on her items. That was him doing that, yes, but this proves very useful to the vote that I then had to orchestrate.

At this vote, were Ash and Zak, Dani, Lex, Jess, Andy, Aromal, and myself. I knew that this would be my best chance of going against this alliance that seemed to be forming with Ash as the head, and so I decided to actually go through with a big, messy plan to eliminate her. Using my item that I got from the auction as leverage, I was able to get a plan going with Dani and Lex to use some of their items to then give us the advantage. At this point, I had told Aromal and Jess, two people that I felt were swings but didn’t want to risk, that I was voting for Lex with them. Dani had done the same, but she was more apprehensive due to her closeness with Jess and how she felt lying to Jess would mess things up in the game. Ash, Zak, and Andy had to be left in the dark simply because the three of them were close, and Ash was obviously the target. I had suggested a split between me and Lex simply due to idol talk and paranoia about Ty giving his idol to Lex. People were sketch of this suggestion, so I made sure to push the fact that Ty didn’t even have the idol (which, at this point, I REALLY thought Josephine had the real one).

I asked Lex to use her one vote negation on herself and then asked Dani to use her vote steal on Zak, so we had went from a disadvantage in that vote of 5-3 to the vote working in our favor against Ash in 4-3 vote. Ash called it lucky, which it honestly was. We got lucky that we got such good items. But we pulled off a HUGE blindside. I did some damage control, but it ultimately was only needed with Andy and Zak. Aromal and Jess were more understanding about the situation I was in. Zak and I had agreed that we should just talk merely friendship stuff and no more game, but it didn’t stop us from talking a little bit more game.

Unfortunately, there was a small group that rallied for me and Lex to become “captains” with Andy as the third. Lucky for me and Lex, Andy chose to make the teams and we weren’t TOO screwed on some of the tribes. Lex’s tribe was a bunch of allies. My tribe was just Dani, but I felt that I could patch things up with Jess enough to fix anything between the two of them. And I thought Will would be fine by himself since he was playing both sides.

Tribal Phase
Once the tribal phase had started, I already had blood on my hands, and I was really ready to start playing the game. We were lucky enough to be such a strong tribe in challenges, as we only lost one of the immunity challenges in the tribal phase. But, OH BOY, that tribal was a messy one which I, again, had a leading hand in making work.

Not really knowing where PJ’s head was at, I assumed him to be working with Zak, simply because Zak had been very confident of his spot in the game (with Jess also promising to not vote him off). However, he didn’t expect the “Idol Guessin” alliance to start up. Using my decent connections with Jess and Dani (and their mended relationship) and Jess’ double agent status, we found out their target: Dani. I was paranoid that they might be lying to Jess, but I also didn’t think so. I was able to trust this more simply due to the fact that Jess had told me that they had said that Dani was more of a liability to their game, and that I would be more willing to vote for one of them (namely Zak) without ripping too much into them.

Jess had told them she was voting for PJ, but I think that they assumed it would probably go to a tie or they thought they had a strong sway over Jess’ vote, so it wouldn’t matter in the end, as long as she didn’t vote with us. Keeping her word, she did indeed vote for PJ, but she did it knowingly. She knew that Dani and I would be playing the item I gave to Dani on her so that she could negate 2 votes against her, and make it a 2-1-0 vote. It worked and with that, I had another big blindside under my belt. Obviously, I didn’t do it myself, but I do think that I was the one able to mastermind it.

Another big thing that happened during this phase was the creation of a more solid alliance with Dani. Although having Jess was nice, I felt that I could just personally trust Dani more. This would bite me in the butt later on, but for a long time, it was very useful to my game. Dani and I would share information and share jokes with each other. Dani had been a nice “replacement” to Zak/Ash. She was a strong player, and she had close connections with people I wish I could have been close with (Will, Jess, Ty).

The final big thing during the tribal phase was my idol find. I was lucky enough to be working with Jess and Dani to search for the idol, and I was even luckier to have found the idol myself. Zoe Zanidakis. I made sure to keep a separate spreadsheet to myself in case Jess or Dani would mention a guess they made to me without the other knowing. Once I got the idol, I became super paranoid, so I hid another idol at Colleen Haskell, somewhere I KNEW Jess was going to guess. In a previous game I played, a close friend (s/o to Kyle) blindsided me because he thought that the idol presented me with too much power in the game. I wasn’t going to share it with Dani or Jess, but in the end, I realized that Dani was apart of my long-term plan, and that Jess was not necessarily (although as time passed, I grew REALLY close to Jess and wanted to spill everything to her, but I held back). I told Dani, and, once we got the merge, I would tell the four that were apart of my long-term game plan, “The Sumbawacat Dolls.” This group consisted of our supposed final 5: Lex, Dani, Ty, Linus, and myself. It was a powerhouse group, and we had allies in Josh and Jess, too, leaving us with a massive 7-person alliance going into the merge.

Merged Phase
My merge was probably the worst part of my game for me. Not because I became weaker as a player, but I simply became more emotional and started playing with my heart on my sleeve. This was bad for my game, and it ended up with me being called a bully, an asshole, a homophone (which is funny because I like penis!), and many more names. I also threw back some names, which was wrong of me, but it was all things I did in the heat of the moment.

One big moment for me in this phase was actually the PJ vote. It wasn’t necessarily a big move in the game because PJ was on the outs, but it was more-so the events surrounding his vote that stood out as a big moment for me. Josephine had been spreading information around that Jess was attempting to pull off a blindside against me. This information was given to CJ, but he had shared it with Josephine. I came out in a big public thing, calling Josephine out for this. We had a little… fight… but unlike the other fights that she had been a part of with Lex and, later on, Jess, mine had no name calling. I stated facts in a harsh manner, yes, but I never called her… certain words that would be found offensive. Josephine, I apologize for this. I shouldn’t have butt my head into this conversation. I am still hurt about what you had said after you were voted out, but… we’ll get to that later.

Now about this vote. I had told PJ that I was voting for Jess and that I’d try and get one other person in on this. PJ, that was half-true. Now you know that I had no intentions on saving you, and I’m sorry about this. You were a great person to talk to, but I found it a little sketch that you just started re-talking to me once I called Josephine out. I’m sorry, bro, but in the end, I did vote with you. I would later blame this vote on Josh simply because I didn’t want Jess to think that I was against her (which, at this point, was the LAST thing I wanted to do).

Come final 8, we have an easy vote once Josephine loses, but it becomes very difficult when she drags each and every one of us into the group. However, Josephine, I will say that you got VERY personal, and although the viewers might see it as a moment of power, I found it to be quite gross. You called me a homophobe because I’m friends with Lex, who used a word that she then APOLOGIZED for using. I get that it might’ve seem forced, but Lex meant it when she apologized. Also, another point I wish to make: you called me out for only calling you out when my friends were around. Well… why did you only call me out (and my friends out) right as you were leaving? Seems a little cowardly. I’m sorry, but it just bothered me so much over the last few weeks. Also, I’d like to point out that if you made it to the end, you most likely would’ve won. That probably would’ve meant my own elimination, but I you were the underdog, and your entire journey was fun to watch.

Final 7… AHHH FINAL 7. This was a mess. Linus, Ty, and I had promised each other a final 3, and I felt very confident in it. I was a little sketchy of Linus simply because we had just started talking, but I felt confident in it nevertheless. The three of us had plotted against Dani at this point, recognizing her as an immediate threat to win the game simply because she had pissed people off the least. Dani, I promise you we didn’t target you because you were the social butterfly, but it was just because I wasn’t sure what kind of threat you would pose at the end when Josephine seemed to hate you the least. Then, I hear that Linus told you everything, and that you, him, Jess, and Josh (who was much closer with Ty which is why he spilled) were planning to blindside me. I had suspected Dani had the idol, and when Josh mentioned the Dani had “something up her sleeve,” I knew something was up. Unfortunately, with Linus being immune (although I wanted to vote him out for being a rat), and Dani having an idol, I had to vote out Jess. Jess, I am honestly… I hurt so much. The two of us had become close during our time in the game, and the ONLY reason I never told you about the idol was because I didn’t know how to after some time with you thinking you had the real one. And I knew you and Dani were closer than you and me, so all of this just scared me. I’m so SO sorry, Jess. I love you.

With plan #1 to blindside me in the garbage, I knew I had to beat Linus in immunity to get him out so that I could go to the end with the people I wanted to (Ty and Lex were the 2 I most wanted to go with, but I would’ve been equally as okay going with Josh, who I had grown close with). I realized now that I stood NO chance with Dani and Linus at the end unless I slandered their games, which I was not about to do (but after what happened after Josh’s vote out, it might need to happen). And with the reveal of ANOTHER idol being hidden, I was so scared. Linus wins immunity, again. Great. Means Dani probably gets the idol, right? Well, Linus comes to talk to us (me and Ty) and says that he’ll vote with us. GREAT! Something working in my favor. But then I get sketchy vibes (as did Ty, I believe) when the entirety of the call was me and Ty talking, and Linus being pretty quiet.

Of course, we know we have to split the vote, so Josh and I throw our votes at Lex, not expecting her to also be the target of Dani and Linus. Honestly, I thought that they would throw their votes at me, and it would cause a 2-2-0 tie, which, if Josh didn’t flip in the revote, he would’ve automatically been eliminated, so I would have 100% gone home in that scenario. I also flirted with the idea of asking Ty to play the idol on me, but I kept telling him and then saying, “Nevermind.” I wanted him to be safe, and it turned out for the better when we were both safe anyway.

Also, Linus claimed that I had been a bully to him and an asshole to people in the game during his idol play. I apologize for being an asshole, but I had only really ever been an asshole to him and Josephine, simply because I felt betrayed by him lying to me and Ty. If you felt that I was this way with you, though, let me know. I had changed a lot in the period of this game, and I’m very sorry for how I acted or treated any of you.

At the final 5, the new hopeful final 3 of me, Ty, and Josh was created and we either went for Linus if he lost immunity (and simply because he was a strong challenge competitor) or Dani. They tried to get Josh to flip, but… that didn’t work, again. Another failed blindside of me/Ty. Dani, I’m sorry that you were so targeted, but you really were playing a good winner game. I love you, and I hope you aren’t too upset with me.

Josh, not going to lie buddy, it was either you or Linus at the final 4, and I think you both kinda saw it coming. Ty had a day 1 deal with me, and Linus had seen you as the bigger threat to him at the end (I’m sorry, but this was very funny to me because, in your own words, you are a talking Lex). I love you, bud, and I’m not going to really campaign too hard for your vote since you seem to have it decided.

Finally, one little comment I want to make. Linus has called Ty and I goats, which is honestly the FUNNIEST thing I’ve heard this entire game. In order for one to be a goat, they wouldn’t be able to make big moves. I’m pretty sure I just outlined you what I did in this game.

Conclusion
Honestly, I sit here in front of you today fully expecting to be murdered. Like I know that all you will probably come and attack me for being an asshole and for blindsiding you. Ash did that already, though, so I really ask of you all to not take it too rough on me or the other 2, especially if you’re going to make it personal like she did. I get I made mistakes on my way here, but I played a game, and I’d like to say I played a pretty damn good one.

Do you really want to give the win to someone who had to immunity fuck, in his own words, his way to the end? Someone who would’ve been voted off multiple times had he not won immunity (and not for his threat as a player, just for his threat in challenges)?

Do you also want to give the win to someone who held so much power for absolutely no reason?

I get that these people are your friends, and I hope that I can call some of you friends, too, but I want you to pick the winner based on how they played the game, and I know that if you were as big a fan of Survivor as I am, you would want to see that, too.

Thank you all so much for your time, and I hope that some of you vote for me.

-Brian 