The Way the Fruit Fell/Confessionals

Day 7
"rubicante"

- Vincent going home is definitely less than ideal for my game. I had a good thing going with him and Lex and so the fact that he’s gone just limits my options slightly more, and I’m all for trying to keep my fingers in every pie for as long as I can. It also puts the brakes on this cross tribal alliance zach wanted to form, especially since Zach voted against Vincent last night. He claims to be mad about it now, but even if it wasn’t his intention for Vincent to leave, he still didn’t put any effort into saving him which makes him equally culpable to the crime. Either way, my guard is now up a little bit more, and I’ll be looking for a new Vincent soon. The issue is, he filled the smart person role within the game. If he’s no longer that, I have to roll with this dumbass front even harder, otherwise people will start to realise I’m the smart one, and couple that up with people liking me and vibing with me and the fact I’m always immune, and I’ve got an elimination coming my way very soon.

"rubicante"

- It kind of sucks sitting out because I know I probably could've done decent in this challenge but life happens and I probably wouldn't perform as well as I'd hoped. It feels really good hearing the tribe support me, kinda like we're a little family.

In terms of the twist of individual immunity, I personally think it would be foolish for anyone to go for that. Granted, I don't know the dynamics of the other two tribes so hey, maybe someone needs it to really get rid of someone or wants their tribe burned down who knows.

Oh yeah, Vincent gave me a garnet. I'm not too sure on why because I don't believe I've talked to him as much as he's talked to others, but I appreciate it. I wanna say it's because we both like SNL but who really knows but him and the hosts. We don't know what these garnets have in store for us so I can't get my hopes too high up, but essentially I'm the richest person in the game right now. Try to tax me, suckers.

"alichino"

- I legit hate Pomme Pomme right now. Why does it always have to crap out just when I'm getting on a roll? It's unfair.

"rubicante"

- Honestly at this point it's just a running gag for me that I haven't messaged Aaron M yet. That's my excuse at least. Not sure what his excuse is for me lol. If I somehow get swapped onto a tribe with him though I will do my best to approach but I can guarantee that it'll be awkward.

"malacoda"

- https://youtu.be/WFOFctx8row

"alichino"

- Liz REALLY wants Liam out man, she's considering throwing the challenge. Which, I'll have you know I've got no fucking problem doing. Challenges mean nothing to me when I'm in the majority. Thats the entire reason Shane is gone, so I can be in the definite majority, not 4th or 5th. I need to be 1st. However, I cant let people know that shit. Somebody throwing a challenge is a death sentence with most people. I'm definitely gonna try this challenge because I need people on the other tribes to know I can do well in them for their own nefarious purposes. As long as I'm included in shit I don't care what happens.

"rubicante"

- Vincent went home last night, 6-1. This was my preferred result, but Zach is PISSED about it. Can't figure out why, but my guess is those two were close. Alas, that is but the gameth, Zachariah. Vincent was a nice bloke though, so I hope he had fun.

Almost immediately after this tribal, a five-man coalition between the three tribes is formed: myself, Zach, Lex, Sam and AJ. Zach and I seem to be a duo and Zach is keen on using Lex as a meatshield for a while, which on paper is a pretty good strategy. Zach, AJ and myself are united by a certain rankdown we did and Sam is close to me, yet I can't bring myself to trust Lex at the moment. Am I blinded by vengeance? Probably, but meh.

It's time for the ring of greed! This challenge is a doozy - a flash game, but you can choose to go for individual immunity! I entertain this idea for like, two seconds, before realising how fucking stupid I'd have to be to even try it. That's certainly a way to make yourself a target. AJ agrees, and before long the entire tribe has pledged to go for tribal immunity. A smart choice, because anyone who goes for individual immunity will be taken down swiftly and justly.

Brian and myself finally accept our loss and find a third in a mutual ally, Chloe. Chloe is an absolute queen so I'm more than happy to field a trio with her and Bri, and we are effectively knighted the Queens of Josephine. Pretty twattish name, but I've got another alliance with AJ called, and I quote, the Addo-Carr Cum Chuggers. Go figure.

This challenge is marred with technical difficulty, and before long we switch flash games. This is a pity, because I had JUST gotten a really good score with the first game before having to move on. Alas, we'll see how this goes.

Day 8
"rubicante"

- Well, I guess our streak couldn't have gone on forever. Lexi, Isaac and I have decided that we should take out Aaron tonight. We all agreed that he does not talk to us too much so we don't feel particularly torn about him going. Lexi said she's good with AJ and Chloe. AJ I'm good with too so I know I can rely on his vote. Chloe is a bit iffy for me because we just don't talk too much, but for Lexi's sake I know we can work together and hopefully that'll bring us closer too. Brian I'm sure will just be fine that it isn't him. Not sure what we'll tell Aaron. I'd want to be honest straight up but I don't know if I can risk that. If this vote goes smoothly then I will probably be in a very good position of power on this tribe, and that's not something that usually happens when I play these games lol

"rubicante"

- So finally attending a tribal again after the first overly large one. I'm obviously not excited to be back at tribal, but Aaron A does appear to be a clear target after he didn't submit anything ? I'm kind of confused? He was messaging me earlier in the day about how it was frustrating him and now he's gone and got himself a 0. What happened? If he doesn't manage to give answers soon then this very well could be his final day in the game. Which ya I'm sad about, I think he could be useful to keep around but like as long as it ain't me I can't really complain.

On the topic of the challenge and complaining though it's so ratchet that my entire tribe submitted for the tribe but we still lost by like a fucking lot. You know the tribe is shit at the challenge when I'm the one that's ended up with the highest score on the tribe, which is half the score of the person who did best overall. Which I think should mean I am safe, at least for this round and possibly next if I can keep on pretending that I'm vaguely okay at challenges, or okay enough that I'm useful.

I should have gone for individual just for my own peace of mind but I didn't want to come across as snakey this early on as tempting as it would be. I know I would have been safe for this round but it would have shown that I wasn't trustworthy, especially after we had all agreed to submit for the tribe. I didn't want to have to leave myself in that position because it does just feel dumb.

I have an alliance with Brian and Isaac which I'm praying will help me get through this round and next if we go to tribal again, I'm assuming there will be another swap maybe after this tribal or the next because the tribes are very much starting to go down in numbers. I didn't actually realise how quickly we were losing people until now. This game is moving so fast.

Idk where to go from this, I'm mad at Aaron A and I'm confused about the scoring. Were people trying to throw to get someone out or were they all genuinely horrific?

"rubicante"

- trust list:

1. Brian

2. Liam

3. Andrew

4. Hesh

5. Zach

6. Isaac

7. Tommy

8. Joe

9. AJ

10.Isiah

11. Ian

12. Lexi

13. Aaron M

14. Sam

15. Lora

16. Lex

17. Elizabeth

18. Aaron A

"rubicante"

- I’m honestly not particularly upset about the loss. While I like everyone on the tribe a lot, I think it was important for us to eventually lose at least one challenge in order to be able to vote someone off, just so we don’t hit a swap with no proven loyalty to each other and completely implode. I think - because of that - tribal tonight should be relatively beneficial to my game and I should be able to see who comes to talk to me and who I can work with lategame based just on the interactions here. Should be fun.

"rubicante"

- Actually somewhat surprisingly, it was Lora who first approached me after tribal and hit me with a ‘I like you a lot, I’ve got your back and I’ll stick with you’ proposal. I love that on so many levels, because Lora is a bit of a sleeper pick for an ally. A lot of people have dismissed her from then conversations I’ve had and not a whole lot of people are talking much game with her. That makes her someone I would absolutely love to work with because she doesn’t have as many immediate options as, say, a Lexi or Isaac who I think talk to everyone constantly. They’re basically my three I want to work with anyway though. We’re the four most active and most consistently successful contributors to the tribe (aside from me not trying in this challenge, sorry lol) and so we can operate under a tribe strong mantra, even though - in reality - it’s just my crew I want to keep around. So, I’ll absolutely take Lora up on her offer of working together, and I’m excited to see where things go from here.

"rubicante"

- I would say Aaron and Lora came into this phase of the game with relatively similar perceptions towards them from the rest of the cast. Both were a little less active and social that the rest of us, both were liked but not to the point of having anyone’s diehard loyalty, and both were in a similar spot in the hierarchy. In fact, Lora had her name thrown around as a legitimate target the first round we were here, and while I definitely wouldn’t have gone for it, it was up there as an option. That was where they immediately split, however. Lora’s stock exponentially grew since she was great in challenges, active amongst the tribe, good to talk to and most importantly of all: proactive in playing the game and talking strategy with people. Aaron missed the boat on that completely, and that’s why he’s on the outs now. Not because of a mishap in a challenge score. He didn’t do enough to get himself up off the floor. Now he’s trying to get saved by someone, but isn’t trying to save himself, and it’s just more of the same issue that put him on the bottom in the first place. I really would consider working with Aaron, but I’m not sticking my neck out on the line for him. He needs to do it for himself and be willing to throw out a name or pull together the votes to stay, or it’s not worth my time. Even after excessive prompting to do so, he’s still given me nothing, so I really don’t know what he expects me to do for him, and he’s almost definitely going to be leaving the game now.

"malacoda"

- So, we won immunity! I'm really glad, I didn't want to have to go through the anxieties of tribal again so soon. I'm really not surprised that everyone decided to go for Tribal Immunity, considering the fact that it'd basically be in-game suicide. It would have been nice to have some people put targets on their backs though, although I guess it isn't something I should have expected considering we're all supposed to be All-Stars.

"malacoda"

- So we won immunity and so did lex that’s good. Vibing with the tribe but I don’t really like them except Zach who according to lex tried to start a 6 way three tribal alliance without me and having Vinnie in it with lex and Sam and Aaron and someone else I forget. Either Zach was trying to separate from me a bit or I’m not as close with him as i thought. It’s good to know because Zach didn’t tell me and lex did. So I’m aware of that. I’m really vibing with Chloe and AJ on that tribe. Hope they stay safe. I’ve kept tabs with Lora as well. Lex and Sam staying strong over there too. I feel like I’m in a good spot, especially with a possible swap coming at 18.

"malacoda"

- Zach and Sam whom I consider close allies are in a multi tribe alliance without me... I’m not a fan... I’m not a fan at all... I would’ve been fine if they told me about it, but they didn’t, so it’s noted

"alichino"

- Well, I must say, it was certainly nice to get back from Boston to see we had won. I guess we didn’t have to worry about our losing possibilities after all.

"alichino"

- Commentary on the social politics and strategy of Survivor 4 Throwing a challenge To throw or not to throw? That is the question. Throwing a challenge, if acting alone, is much easier than winning it. It's actually one of the few things you can be pretty sure to not fuck up too much. On an individual scale, it can help maintain a non-threatening image when it comes to challenges which, down the round, may buy you one more round because "we can get him next round". But if it is organized, i.e. premerge, it becomes much more complicated. You have to convince allies and you have to not be too obvious. However, if a challenge was thrown and you were in on it. Chances are, things are going to go your way come tribal council since your allies have already made a deposit on the plan. There are, however, a few drawbacks. The first one being that unless your target is completely ostracized, its allies will not show you mercy if the tables are turned on you at some point. The second one is that this can make people on your tribe fidgety, "am I next?". You do not want to make people believe they might be next on your pecking order. The third one being that the other tribe, if they figured out the scheme, now have a pretty clear idea of your tribe's dynamics. They already know the cracks and who is very unlikely to turn on each other. That is never a good look and, for those reasons, I would recommend to generally not throw a challenge premerge in an organized fashion if you know the vote will be divided.

"malacoda"

- Gonna be more brief this time around cause the round was very uneventful and will mostly be recaps from last round sorry bout it ive been afk for most of the weekend and the dynamics have mostly stagnated since a swap is being anticipated after this vote

Goin back to last round, obv the winds changed from Andrew to Vinnie after my conf. It kinda really pissed me off esp since the rationale held literally 0 weight. I am by far the most consistently bad challenge performer on our tribe (sans the broken flash game but im not gonna consider that a positive for my challenge game perse), so when the rationale of keeping the tribe strong is what stuck i wasnt about it. Especially since Hesh told me about a Hesh-Joe-Tommy-Isaiah group, it deffo looks to me like Joe's game is to take under his wing a bunch of lesser social players, probably as goats. Obv its waaaay too early to call either Andrew nor Tommy a goat, but if theyre against Joe at the end i feel like its a pretty obvious choice. I still dont actually know if that group ever got made, but i know isaiah seemed adamant to vote me out personally so i dont think itll result in my boot, and if need be i feel like i could prooooobably pull andrew to take out tommy or joe if i become the next boot. This is always a very scary part of the game for me - if i can make it to a swap i can usually make it til mid merge or so - but i always get very very worried about the early game cause i dont have much to bring to the table beyond social game and early connections.

I wanted to tell Vinnie before results he was going home but the homie Hesh advised against it. I can get a tendency to get more emotional in games when the boot seems like a braindead one, but I really just gotta step back and realize that Vinne was simply not putting in as much trusting work with the others as he did with Hesh and I, which prob says more about Hesh and I's game than anyone else.

Speaking of if Hesh played this way in his OG season I am genuinely confused as to how he was an early boot. Dude is killing it in the social factor and I am very glad to be working with him.

Lex hit me up about the group of myself, him, sam, aj and isaac (and formerly vinnie) and we just solidified that group. Im really glad to be in an alliance with these people because i think sam, lex, and very likely aj will become targets before i do, leaving only isaac in that group to REALLY pay attention to. I know the dude is grindin it out on the social game and hes got a super good grasp of relationships, making him another good person to have not gunning for me. Lex has also opened WAY up with me, much more than i even saw in Anni. Dude makes really bonkers jokes now and we even had a pretty deep talk about personal growth and gratitude and shit. Hes a really good kid, and I sincerely hope his Shane boot and generally aggressive playstyle dont bite him in the ass too early.

Sam and I are probably gonna tell hesh about the group and tell him their moves and shit but I didnt bring him in cause i wanted to reduce any kind of duo perception the two of us may have (although itll deffo be concrete after a swap).

Isaac told me the boots probably gonna be an easy aaron boot due to his inability to submit properly for the challenge, and probably activity level. aarons a great kid and it sucks to see him go, but this is a really good vote for me. Aaron is one of the people left that I dont have any real connections with, and I know he really loves AJ and would have been a solid number for him should a civil war break out. Im assuming Lora's activity level skyrocketed because she was in talks to be an easy boot earlier in the game, but now she seems to have got her footing, at least moreso than aaron. I deffo think the majority on that tribe is AJ, Isaac, Chloe and either Brian or Lexi based on how I know they play and make chat with me personally, but that obv could be totally off.

I also messaged Sam "Yo u up uh sooooo uuuuuuuu hookup uh hookup uuuuuuuuuuuuhuuu" while I was half asleep this morning and had no recollection of doing so when i got back on discord which is always fun. Very glad to say that his immediate response was to ask if I was ok. Good homie. Its crazy to say cause hes one of the only people on this cast i think could truly beat me in a finale situation but at this point im actually so down to go with him to final tribal i legit dont even care i just gel w the dude waaaay too well

I dont really have any exciting takeways from this round, as i said pretty uneventful, but I do feel a bit more comfortable than i did on day 6 which is always a big plus i guess!

"rubicante"

- Ouchie.

Alichino and Malacoda kicked our asses, and they kicked our asses hard. 1000000 and 800000 to our measly 400000, which bruises the ego a touch. I contributed a solid quarter of our score, which I'm comfortable with - it shouldn't be me tonight. I'm stunned by AJ completely flopping, as he's usually a challenge beast. But the biggest shock is Aaron A, who scores... 0. How? Before long, he explains that he did submit, but apparently not properly. I pity him a bit, because it's an honest mistake - at the same time however, the hosts have warned us to submit properly before.

Anyways, Rubicante faces our first tribal and I'm gutted. I wasn't kidding when I said I genuinely like all of these people - none of them are particularly someone I WANT to get out of here. Sadly, the target seems to be on Aaron due to the score mishap, and I don't really have anything to argue that with. Nobody else has made a faux pas like that, and nobody has a particularly big target due to strategy. I think Aaron realises this too, and I genuinely do feel quite awful about it. Pre-merge tribals are never fun.