Board Thread:Survivor: Skye Islands (Season 12)/@comment-25270574-20151015213637

Even though it's a cliché to start off like this, I want to begin by thanking you all for a great season, thank you to a great hosting team and regardless of what goes down here in the end, I hope we can all end up on good terms and come out of this with some new friendships. My role tonight is to answer any questions, concerns and comments that those of you on the jury have about how I played this game. Please do not hold back, I want to make sure that I can give the best explanations that I can so that you can get the best possible understanding of my gameplay.

'''This is gonna be long as heck, but there are many of you who do not know my game very well. The following should give you an in-depth view of my game that will hopefully help you make your end decision.'''

Before I break the game down into a timeline of events, there's one key factor to my game that I need to make clear. I entered this game with the mindset that friends and allies must stay as two separate things. For anyone who has witnessed my gameplay in the past, they know that my struggle to differentiate between allies and friends has often been the reason I have never made it to the end. When I leave the game, it is usually at the hands of someone that I put a lot of trust into. I took this game as an opportunity to learn from that mistake, and here I am. I entered the game telling myself that making friends is great, but don't trust anyone but yourself to get you to the end.

This isn't to say that I did not make genuine friendships. Many of you would open up to me about your lives outside of the game, and I enjoyed those chats where we were just simply getting to know each other. There are a lot of great people from different walks of life in these games. There were a bunch of people that I considered friends in this game, but not allies. Perry, for example, was a great person to chat with about things unrelated to the game, but in the game there was not enough trust between us to be considered true allies. On the flipside, there were people in this game that only spoke to me about our plans for the game, but we never spoke enough about other things to be considered close friends. Joe would be an example of this, where he and I would talk about our plans for the game and nothing else. Even though we didn't have that personal connection time, he was an amazing ally to have. There were many allies who were also friends, where the game talk and personal talk were an even balance. This is how I would describe my relationship with Szymon, and with Evan. Finally, there were some of you who fluctuated between ally and friend throughout different stages of the game. Domonique was both an ally and a friend for most of the game, but at the end we ended up writing each other's names down. Nuno and Sarah were targeting me, but as the game ended we became allies and built a friendship. Throughout all of this chaos, I never once let myself get my friends confused with my allies, and that is why I am able to sit here in the end arguing my case. Please keep this in mind as I go through my perception of events and the actions i took throughout the game.

As the game began, I was thrilled to be placed on the Brains tribe. I did not ever intend on being a physical powerhouse in this season, but more of the person who sat in the back, making observations and building trust. Immediately I found myself in alliances with Perry, Szymon, Domonique, and Luke; and Miguel and I built a friendship. Aaron and Joe were the only people I didn't have good social bonds with at this point. This was essential for me because the game started at a busy point in my life. I moved 8 hours away for school during the first competition and I was juggling this game and Generations. I knew I was a good potential candidate to be the first boot. Because of the bonds I was forming though, along with Aaron expressing his desire to quit, I survived the first round.

The next time I was a target was when I did not submit and Torrin lost our second challenge. I knew my name was going to be thrown around, but I kept a lot of options open. I was certain that I would be kidnapped, even though I made sure to scramble around and get as much info from the tribe as I could before I was sent to Kilbride. When I returned from being kidnapped, I had a new ally in Wes and nobody upset with me about the vote because I wasn't a part of it. Szymon felt isolated by the rest of the tribe, but had no reason not to trust me. Most of the tribe welcomed me back with open arms. Most importantly, while nobody could confirm that I would have left that round, nobody can deny it either, and I used this to my advantage as the game progressed, as a viable reason why I'd flip on people I should be allied with.

When the tribes swapped, I pumped my game up a little higher, and got ready for opportunities to start making some moves. Tribal after tribal of unanimous votes is dull, boring, and predictable. It's a recipe for the powerhouses to stay on top and everyone else to realize they're screwed too late to save themselves. I wasn't about to make that mistake, but I needed to time my move right.

Voting out Boo was an easy decision, since he hadn't spoken to me and I had heard from Perry that he had expressed that he'd be willing to go after me. Obviously I want to take out anyone who might be a threat to my longetivity in the game. However, when the votes were revealed and my name wasn't shown once, it made me question my source of information. This is the moment when I stopped being a true ally to Perry, but instead observed him and began to use the information I was receiving to plan a move.

New Torrin won the next few rounds, and Kilbride was continuing the dull trend of unanimous votes. During this time, I noted that people on out tribe were typically listening to what Perry was saying. I kept making sure Perry was putting trust in me by kidnapping who he wanted to kidnap, agreeing with what he felt should happen when we lost next, etc. At the same time, Wes and I began discussing whether we should try and make a move against Perry when we had the chance. That chance came at the double tribal council. I knew with absolute certainty that I was safe for the round when Perry believed Nuno was the one leaking information about the split vote plan to Wes. I knew I was safe, we were almost definitely merging next round, and people were getting comfortable with the game, and Kilbride would be looking for someone to flip to them and even out the numbers. It was the perfect opportunity for me to vote against Perry, make a stand, and open myself up to many possibilities at the merge. I feel that my vote against Perry is what truly got the game started. People woke up and began to play the game for real instead of going with what they thought majority would do. I also helped plant a target firmly on Perry's back by simply voting against him.

After I lost one of my good allies in Wes, I got to work at the merge building bonds up with Evan and Alex, who I hadn't interacted with yet, and rekindling connections with Szymon, Domonique, and Joe. These people would remain some of my best allies for the rest of the game. They welcomed me with open arms and no doubt about where I stood, because they knew I was going after Perry and Perry would want to see me leave as soon as I could. I also tried to keep a bond up with Nuno, who I knew was low on the New Torrin totem pole and I felt I could work with. Unfortunately he did not believe me, and worked against me. Despite this, the fact that Luke had to remove himself from the game meant I was confident I would stay because there were more people who needed me than who wanted me out. The social connections I had worked hard to maintain kept me in the game and sent Zane to ponderosa.

The next round, I added a target onto Nuno's back, and he and Perry became the prime targets. With the teams twist, I was handed a free round as my allies and I worked to make sure both of them were eligible to be voted out. In the end, even though it meant directly lying to Perry, I did not write down Nuno's name because I felt that there was still a chance down the line that Nuno would truly work with me, whereas Perry was more likely to find a way to take me out once he got the chance.

At this point, I was starting to worry. We did have the target on Nuno still, and he was my main target, but I knew this was the stage where people will try to create new targets and stir the pot. Right on cue, Alex gives his immunity key thing to Nuno, pissing everyone off as we entered into the double tribal. Everyone was okay with going after the person who saved my main target! I was very happy that everyone was basically siding with me instead of the people out for my blood. We took out Sam after he leaked the plan to take me out, and even though they tried to idol me out, the social bonds I had ensured that Alex wasted his idol, Domonique used up one of her idols, and Sam left over me. It paved the way for everyone to vote out Alex, and we were at the final 7.

Once again, this was a stage where new targets form and big alliances crumble. Luckily for me, I was positioned in a unique spot. Evan approached me about taking out Domonique, and Domonique approached me about taking out Evan. Taking out Domonique was not an option after she won immunity, and once again she approached me asking if I wanted to vote out Evan. I told her truthfully that I could recognize Evan setting himself up to win, but I had no reason to take him out over Nuno, and I knew doing so would weaken every social connection i had worked on. At some point in the conversation, there was a shift and I felt like Domonique had something planned. After all, there was still an idol left in play. When tribal started, I waited for Domonique to play her idol on Nuno and make herself vulnerable. Seeing my name as part of the tie didn't phase me too much, because I was confident that I was less threatening to Domonique at that stage than Joe or Evan. Instead, I took this as an opportunity to build up both a friendship and an alliance with the only person left who I hadn't had much contact with: Sarah. Now that the last idol was played, forming alliances with Nuno and Sarah would be crucial. At the final 6, there was only one obstacle that could potentially cost me a spot at the end: Domonique had to go.

In the final 6 i got to work, campaigning against Domonique. The key person in this situation was Sarah. I proposed a deal to her that if she voted out Domonique - the biggest threat to win the game - that round, I would not write her name down for as long as I remained in the game. It's an offer that's hard to refuse at that stage, but Sarah had hesitated. In my mind, the only reason to pass that offer up would be if Domonique had something planned, so I wanted to make sure that the vote would not be for me. Sarah promised me she wouldn't write my name down that round, and I knew then that whatever Domonique was planning wouldn't be able to take me out. I voted with Szymon and Evan, and watched Domonique cancel a vote to take Szymon out. It sucked seeing one of my closest allies leave, but once it happened, I had a clear path to the final 3.

Taking Domonique out was something that everyone knew had to be done unless they wanted to get second place. Uniting to take her out was what solidified Sarah as my ally, Nuno as my ally, and Evan as my ally. I made sure that after this vote, I wouldn't be taken out at the final 4.

For me, the final 4 was the toughest round in the entire game. It had been in the back of my mind since the final 7 that Evan was a big threat to win, and his Rites of Passage listing his members of the Death Machine alliance as being most of the people I was closely aligned with made it clear that I would always lose to Evan. I didn't breathe a word of these thoughts to anyone except for my confessional chat, because it was risky and Evan is a worthy competitor who would fight to stay in this game. When he lost the final immunity challenge to Nuno, I struggled with the decision that I knew I had to make. I could've tied it and had him face off against Sarah, but Evan would most likely win and I couldn't have him in the final tribal council. So with a heavy heart I cast the vote that sent him home, and set Nuno, Sarah and I as the final 3.

Throughout this summary, you should note that I never talk about the competitions. I'm well aware that I didn't win anything on my own. That is because I did not treat immunity as something that I needed to stay in the game. I realized that if you start to win challenges, you will often find yourself relying on them to stay in the game, or you'll be out once the opportunity arises. There were times where I saw immunity as a bonus, but losing did not ever mean the end of the world in my eyes. Since I didn't have individual immunity at any point, I can say that I got myself to the end of the game because I played a great social and strategic game. I didn't have a key, or an idol, or a vote canceller to give me a second life. The double vote I won at the auction I got rid of as soon as I could, and even without it I would have survived the vote. I did not play a perfect game, I did not play a safe game. I put myself out there in the danger zone for the entire game, and because I was able to form the social bonds I needed and make the strategic decisions that I did, I am sitting here. This is why I was placed on the Brains tribe, and this is why I think I played an all-star worthy game.

Once again, thank you all for making this season enjoyable, intense, and exciting! Make the decision you feel is best. Thank you to the hosts for putting up with me in my confessional thread, and best of luck to Nuno and Sarah!! 