Board Thread:Survivor: Chile (Season 7)/@comment-1775521-20150429181728

Hey everyone! I have never been sitting at Final Tribal Council as anything other than a jury member before. Though I have never written a speech pleading my own case, me being a juror has made me realize what I like in a speech, and that’s not a boring ten page monologue. I will try to keep this short and simple, while getting my points across.

Three things define whether or not a finalist is worthy of a win or not. These three things are their physical ability, social ability, and strategic ability. I believe each of these aspects are prevalent in my game.  

I will start with my physical game, because that honestly is easiest to explain. Though this season was full of huge physical threats, I was the only person to win more than two individual challenges, all of which happened to be in a row. Not to mention I came in first in every trial for the Final Immunity Challenge. Even in challenges I lost, I tried. There was never a time I didn’t submit because it’s really against my character. I definitely think that without those three challenge wins, I would not be here right now, so the physical aspect of my game really benefitted me.  

My strategic game was a rollercoaster all season, and I admit that. Right out of the gate, I was a MESS. I was so nervous of being a returnee flop, and of being targeted simply for being a returnee on the 703. This caused me to unnecessarily scramble and try to make big moves early on. After almost sending my own ass out of the game, I finally stabilized. I made my way into a majority, but was still wary of one person in particular, Alf. Getting Alf out was a huge stress relief because premerge, I saw him as my biggest competitor the entire time. I was finally in a good spot, in a clear majority that I felt I was high on the totem pole of. Then the mutiny occurred and once again I was in the minority, and lost my closest ally. Then I made the merge and ended up voting in the majority, only to then vote in the minority immediately after. I tried to lay low behind bigger targets, being both Tyler’s, Jessy, and Heather, so even though I was actually playing this game, my name came up less than the others. Two moves that I believe I can definitely be credited for are Evan’s vote, as I told Ali that he was handing out idol clues from Cerro, meaning he must have the idol, which Ali then reported back to the double Patos alliance, and the second move is the split vote at the final six. I have a few failed moves, but I won’t get into that. 

Finally, my social game. This may be the strongest part of my game. Though I am not the type to befriend everyone and carry on conversation with the whole cast, I believe that what I say is effective. I was able to talk my way out of being targeted multiple times premerge, and I’m pretty sure the only reason the mutineers and Evan didn’t vote me out of post-mutiny Cerro is because they liked me most. My largest social prowess came at the merge with Tyler P. Throughout the premerge, Tyler and I did not exactly see eye-to-eye and he was left out of the plan to vote out Alf. After finding out he was mutinying, however, I took it as an opportunity to make amends. I told him that I understand why he is mutinying and that the way he was being treated was not something I condone. I didn’t think he believed this at the time, but when we merged and I approached him with the idea of making a final two pact, he was all in. This bond is what caused him to save me at the final 8, this bond is what kept him loyal to me and the post-mutiny Cerros, and this bond is why I tried so hard in the immunities at the end. I wanted to avenge him and Cerro as TP, Evan, and I were the only Cerros to make the merge. The other aspect of my social game that allowed me to make it far is how I presented myself as the swing vote to the other side. They felt as though I was at the bottom, and always came to me with the idea of flipping. This is a way that kept my name from being written down because they felt as though they needed my vote, and didn’t want to risk voting me out.

<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:'TimesNewRoman';color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">In closing, I just want to say that even though I may not have played perfectly, I believe that the game I played bested my fellow finalist, and that is why I am more deserving of the title of Sole Survivor. I’m ready for questions and will answer anything you guys throw at me. Thanks for a great season!

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