Board Thread:Big Brother 9/@comment-28366015-20190513010905/@comment-31988991-20190513113940

Heyy Liam,

Unfortunately, as you said, in games we never seem to be able to align. This time around I didn’t start that game not wanting to work with you. I was very open to it and only concluded that I didn’t see potential in us as long term allies when our conversations would end and either die off fast or end completely for more than a day. This would have been fine had you been by yourself and I had time to form a bond with you in this game, however early on it seemed clear that there was already a majority with you, Matt, Chelsea and Jake was forming. This was a majority I felt on the outs with, especially since none of those people were players I connected to or rather felt like they did not see me as an ally despite my efforts.

I will admit that I was not straightforward with you. That round I was set on voting you if I could, however I was unsure that if the majority wasn’t there, if I would still vote you or not. When I was sure, going back to our pms I felt like it would have been odd for me to randomly tell you I was voting you out. Last time we talked about the vote I said that I couldn’t promise you my vote but I will see how the day develops, and you didn’t really campaign to 'me 'to stay so I felt like had I told you I was voting you out you would have felt more bitter about it. I don’t feel I was disingenuous when I did talk about the vote, but I could have told you that you didn’t have my vote before the end of that day at least which I am sorry about.

In Terms of challenges, I am someone who doesn’t believe that a comp win = automatic power nor do I think you need a comp win to have impact on the game. There is strategy to winning comps, especially PoVs, however that is not the only way to have an impact on the game nor to stay safe. The biggest part of Big Brother is social game, as far as I understand anyways. There was no point in time I really needed to, and everyone who did win comps left or were targeted. This however, doesn’t mean I had no impact on the game. It just means I didn’t have a flashy game nor a game that was too in the light. Despite that I still made it to the end with my own strengths. I was the only one in the final 3 who was never in any real danger. Not because I did nothing, not just because I wasn’t a comp threat, but because I strategical ensured that my social bonds were strong enough to have all my bases covered but at the same time, the connections I made were genuine.

To answer your question: '''If you had won an HoH competition, what thought processes would you have gone through in deciding nominees? '''

My thought process would have been as such:

Who does not have my back? Who will turn on me given the chance? Who has connections to the people I want as allies?

My first priorities would definitely have been to kill any potential majorities from springing up, any possible alliances my allies might try to branch into (which is part of the reason I pushed for you to leave so hard; to weaken Kon and Karth’s chances of allying with a side I was not a part of  and to give any potential allies less room to ever need to turn on me). If there was someone I was close to and I knew was close to other people; for example Ana to Matt, I would have found a way to ensure that Ana had less and less people to trust over me.

Later on in the game, I set up a goal. Me and Karth at the end and after the twist Myself, Karth and Kon. To get to that end goal I planned to take out in order; Matt, Chelsea, Tia and then Jake. I would have nominated in a way to make that happen. Karth was the one person who was last on my list of nominations since I knew he and I saw eye to eye on most rounds, and even if we weren’t I knew I had a chance to convince him to vote the way I felt was right, but I wouldn’t be too close minded as to ignore his thoughts as well.

Late game my thought process was how to get myself to the end with the best possible chances of winning, ensure there was no room in anyone’s mind to nominate me and make the end with at least one of my allies. Of course I say this last part in retrospect but it would have been the same either way; find the best possible pathway to the end (through boot order) and get it done.

What was your biggest social impact?

My biggest social impact was my entire game. Why do I say this? From day 1 there was only a small window where I slacked off or lacked in my social game (During the round Taylor quit I dipped in social due to the impact of her leaving. She was a close ally of mine and someone I saw as a friend over the course of the game). There is not one player that can say my social was bad and even the players who didn’t see me as an ally, knew that my social was the most impactful one in the game. As I’ve said before, there was not one round (other than final 4) where I was in any risk of going home. My social made it so. Within the group of Matt, Jake, Ana and Chelsea, Ana: despite not voting with me, she would have still turned on them over me. Tia did not nominate me, kept me safe, because my social bond with her was strong enough to make it so. Eve saw me as one of if not her top allies, Taylor saw me as her top ally, Karth saw me as his top ally, I am unsure about Jenna but I believe at least, from our conversations, that she connected with me, even with JT I was able to have at least a conversation or two. That is more than half the players in the game who would have had my back had they being HoH, won PoV or had I been on the block. Later game I also made a small bond with Jake after keeping him in the game during the Matt/Jake nomination and because of this he would not have nominated me during the endgame and I solidified this with my choice of voting Chelsea over Kon, knowing that with Chelsea in the game there was a chance I would be nominated/made a renom.

If I were to say something more specific though; I would say the end game I had the most social impact. From week 7 onwards I was in a position to vote either which way I wanted. Had I wanted Jake out over Matt, it would have happened. The vote was 3-1. Had Karth and I flipped to vote Jake out, we could have. Karth in fact did have these sort of thoughts about this round however at the time this was the best course of action to make the end. He was the biggest physical threat at the time other than Tia, and the only one who actively went after me, so I felt it best to take him out first. Next round, Chelsea vs Kon. The vote was 3-0 however Jake was open to voting Kon if he could save Chelsea, so had I wanted to, I could have voted Kon out with Jake, but I didn’t because I knew that with Chelsea in the game, the chances of me getting nominated were substantially higher than with Kon in the end game.

I hope I was able to answer your question and even better, show you that my game is worthy of credit and respect even if you don’t end up voting for me to win.