Board Thread:Survivor: Antarctica (Season 17)/@comment-27600991-20160606223941

             Hello everyone! First off, big thanks to the hosts and players for making this an enjoyable season for me. Second, I would like to apologize in advance for this long speech. I will try to put a tl;dr in the end. Last, for an easier viewing, I would break down my game in to three parts: premerge, merge, and conclusion/td;dr (it’s still pretty long).



 Anyway, here’s the bulk of my game:



 Pre-merge    

             I came into this season fairly new to ORGs and so I only knew a couple of people (Nick and Toby). However, I did not see that as an advantage since I barely knew them before. Anyway, in Ferrar, just like majority of this game, I barely talked in the group chat. This has been my personality inside and outside of the game. To compensate for this, I made an effort to talk to people one-on-one. I tried hard to get to know people personally and find something in common with them. This range from Shiloh, who loves the book series A Song of Fire and Ice, to Toby and I’s mutual love for survivor. At this point, I did not seek out alliances yet I managed to get into the good graces of people. With that in mind, Toby made an alliance with me, Josh, and Uli. Our alliance stayed intact until the swap that moved Toby to Krill.

             Once the swap happened, I had a wakeup call when I was picked last. I was devastated of course, but in hindsight, I believe that that was my lucky break. Had I been swapped to Krill, I believe that I would face the same fate Toby and Rhiannon got. Anyway, I talked and formed bonds with Andrew, John, and Mihai, my new tribemates, while I remained in contact with Shiloh, Josh, and Uli. When we lost immunity, I found out that John is aligned with pretty much everyone in nuFerrar except myself and Shiloh is feeding him information. I compared notes with Josh and Mihai and thus begins our alliance that obviously made it to the end.



 Merge    

             I would like to preface this by saying that since this is where majority of the important stuff happened, I would break this down into my perspective and my moves at every vote out.



 Shiloh : Coming into the merge, I was nervous. The post swap vote-outs were basically tribal based with some exceptions. Original Ferrar entered the merge with 5 members against Krill’s 6. However, after the immunity challenge, it was obvious that Josh is going to be targeted because of his physical ability. His paranoia basically helped me make my flashiest game move which is playing the double vote that he gave me. Anyway, Shiloh, you were targeted because of your flip at the John vote.



 Ivan : At this point, Ferrar is now down 6-4 but I was no longer worried about tribal allegiances because of Ci’ere’s outburst. You see, Mihai and I were approached by Ci’ere, Andrew and Chrissa to form an alliance against Ivan. However, Ivan also approached me and he wants Ci’ere out. That doesn’t end there. Uli then wanted to take Marc out. So, Mihai, Josh, and I’s alliance remained in the middle to play both sides. The reason why this vote was very split was because of this. I have agreed to everyone’s ideas and led them to believe I was going to work with them. It was a very stressful vote and in the end our alliance decided to vote you, Ivan out because of your perceived threat status and your way of making people follow you.



 Uli : This vote is one of the straightforward ones but it is also one of my major moves. I knew Uli can be loyal to me but I also knew that he was unpredictable. Uli, this is why I voted you out. The Touchy Subjects challenge was another wake up call for me. I was planning to head to the end with Mihai and Josh but I found out the hard way that I was seen as a nonentity in this game. I waited for the right timing which I will talk about later.

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<p class="Body" style="line-height:200%"> Ci’ere : With Uli’s vote, I genuinely believed that Ci’ere, Andrew, Mihai, Josh, and I are the final five. However, I found out that Ci’ere and Andrew formed an alliance with the outsiders (Chrissa, Jamie, and Marc) to take our trio out. This is the point where I believed that this might be the end of our trio. So, I went to work. I have never talked to Jamie since the swap so I was careful not to make my motives obvious. I offered her a final three deal with Josh and basically badmouthed Mihai to make it seem like we’re not really that close. In the back of my mind, I was intending to keep this deal for real due to my standing in this game. Ci’ere, I may not get your vote tonight, but I hope you understand why I made that move.

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<p class="Body" style="line-height:200%"> Andrew : At final 7, Josh and I began comparing notes about Andrew and Mihai’s relationship. We believed that they were close and this was confirmed by Mihai in his Rites of Passage, a couple of days later. Anyway, Mihai wanted to vote for Chrissa and use his Mask of Restriction on her. His plan was to tell Andrew that he is going home. In reality, we’re voting for Chrissa. Mihai’s plan made me even more suspicious which is why I asked Jamie to vote for Andrew. Furthermore, I wanted Chrissa to remain in the game due to her perceived challenge weakness which is why I asked her to vote for Andrew. However, I was too late and she told me that she already voted for Mihai. The only person I could convince then was Josh. This is perfect timing to take out Mihai but again, it was too late. Jamie already voted and Chrissa’s vote won’t count so I decided to go ahead and take you, Andrew out. This is what I believe is my best move. I am basically protected on all sides after this vote and I have different deals that will allow me to get to the FTC.

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<p class="Body" style="line-height:200%"> Jamie : I was shocked and saddened by Jamie’s quit/evacuation. I loved each time we talked and I loved strategizing with her. On selfish note, my game took a bit hit due to her quit. I believed the final 6 was the perfect opportunity to take Mihai out. On a similar note, my plan was to take Josh out at 5 and go with Jamie and Chrissa to final 3. With Jamie’s quit, I was forced to remain with Josh and Mihai.

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<p class="Body" style="line-height:200%"> Chrissa : Not much happened at your elimination, Chrissa, since our trio already have the numbers advantage. I did not give up on my plan to take Josh and Mihai out. However, once again, my plan failed because Josh won immunity and Mihai has an idol. I stuck with them to get you out. Interestingly, this vote is the first time I ever received a vote in this game. I have managed to stay off the radar for 35 days.

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<p class="Body" style="line-height:200%"> Marc : After I won the immunity challenge, I felt like I was on top of the world. I had a bit more confidence to once again try to make a move. When I talked to you, Marc, I was honest. However, my alliance wanted you out so I stuck with them. Once again, not much happened at this vote except for my back-to-back wins.

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<p class="Body" style="line-height:200%"> Conclusion    

<p class="Body" style="line-height:200%">             The whole game, I played an under the radar type of gameplay. That doesn’t mean that I was clueless to what is happening around me. That doesn’t mean I was dragged to the end. I have managed to vote correctly at every single tribal council I have attended. I have avoided getting any votes until final 5 without an immunity win under my belt. For my physical game, I may not be the best, but I was consistent. I was always one of the top players in challenges and I also won crucial challenges. Socially, I did not create really strong bonds like my opponents here, but my social game was enough to avoid being a target at every vote.

<p class="Body" style="line-height:200%">             My game is far from perfect. My endgame plans were never accomplished but I knew how to recover. I knew when to play up my strengths and to downplay my weaknesses. I have a hard time taking in a group but I found that it was easier for me to talk to people one-on-one. Pre-merge, I performed in the middle in challenge so that I won’t be target in the merge. On the other hand, I tried my best to win challenges at the merge. Every single conversation I have had with each and everyone one of you was real. I didn’t fake anything I said to everyone. However, as we all know, this is still a game where you have to betray people to make it to the end. For those that I hurt, I am sincerely apologizing to you guys. I know that there’s a good chance I won’t win tonight, but I hope this speech shed some light on my game and why I deserve the title of Sole Survivor. Thank you. <ac_metadata title="Vote for JR"> </ac_metadata>