Thank you finalists, thank you jury, thank you everyone. This has been one of, if not the best Survivor season 703 has had. You guys deserve this. It's been a hell of a long 39 days, but a very entertaining season nonetheless.

Ok, settle down, it's time


Once again, Thank you everyone, the hosts enjoyed this season (FOR THE MOST PART LOL SOMETIMES Y'ALL WERE TRIFLING). Let's get to it! There's 3 Catarinas sitting here but only ONE can win


Tonight, Sim, Nick & Nathaniel, you WANT to see you name on the parchment. These are votes to win Survivor: San Marcos!!

Now for the last time, I will reveal the votes.


First vote...

Nathaniel!

Nick!

Sim!

That's one vote Nathaniel, one vote Nick, one vote Sim!

Nathaniel! 2 votes Nathaniel!

Nick. 2 votes Nick!

Nathaniel!

Nick! We are tied, 3 votes Nick, 3 votes Nathaniel, 1 vote Sim...2 votes left!

Nick! One...Vote....Left!

THE WINNER OF SURVIVOR: SAN MARCOS!!!!

NICK!

^ The hosts who are proud of Nick

Congratulations Nick, you are the 22nd Sole Survivor of 703. You have officially won Survivor: San Marcos in a 5-3-1 vote! Shoutout to us hosts who put up with yall, the contestants who made this season what it was, and tune into Survivor: El Salvador who is in the Final 14! Goodnight!

http://youtu.be/PytB8MrP2Rk

I apolgize at how awfully long this is, if you watch it all you're a trooper but I dont expect anyone to so here is the time stamps lmao!

Nathaniel statement 1:35

Sim statement 6:09

Nick statement 13:38

Nathaniel question 16:50

Nick question 18:16

Sim question 21:35

Sim and Nick question 23:58

I know this isn't something usually done in FTCs, but I feel like I just need to do this. I ask all Jurors to please read this before they decide who to vote for, or actually just read it anyway, because I feel like this needs to be said.

Here's the thing. I feel like this FTC is such a big mess of misinformation. No, that's not the exact word I mean, but I can't find any better ways for it. The basis of it all boils down to the fact that so much of this FTC just is... Wrong. I don't really know how to start, and this will be a bit jumpy, because I'm just gonna let my thoughts out about everything that's been going on. It will probably just be random statements made by everyone, that I think are outright wrong, and I'm gonna end it with things that people seem to ignore completely.

First off, the claim that I'm bitter? This has been mentioned multiple times, and in all honesty, I'm just confused. When was I ever bitter? I mentioned Canada in my speech as a joke - I even posted it to people (aka the hosts) before posting it, with the ":P" I use when I try to joke. It's a thing I usually say to people I talk to, and I guess it's an inside joke, but it's because it hurt me a lot when it happened, but I'm over it. As for being a bitter Juror, have I ever been that? Yes. Two years ago, in my third ORG, I was blindsided as the final Juror by a person I trusted a lot. I said some quite bad things to him in my speech (granted, I wrote it pretty much almost immediately after being voted out), but in the end, I voted for him to win anyway. Why? He'd played the best game. Am I biased towards my friends as a Juror? Usually, yes, I suppose I am. I've been convinced to vote for others though, and I'd like to remind everyone of the fact that this was YEARS ago - I've played 5 ORGs the last year, and I haven't been a bitter Juror in a single one of them. Had I been voted out as the Final Juror this time, would I have voted Chris? Yes. But not because of bitterness, like Nick claims, but rather because I believe Chris played the best game out of everyone this season, like I've said all season long. Am I bitter in the way that I didn't wanna work with people that tried to vote me out? Well, I worked with Chris and Claudia despite that, and I didn't work with the Quetzals because it was obvious they didn't trust me, so doing that would've been stupid.

Now that that's over, let me get into the next thing. This isn't something anyone said, but it's something extremely overlooked - the pre-merge. It's no news to everyone that Catarina won the first 3 immunities, but why was that? Well, a big part of it that I feel is extremely overlooked this season is... Me. I took charge as a leader figure when it came to challenges on Original Catarina. I was the reason we were the only tribe to post who was doing what in that first challenge. I immediately asked who was good at what, kept a list active in the chat, made sure everyone got their say. I was the only person from Catarina to win a trial at that challenge too, not that that matters, but still. I think I was an important part in the pre-swap, as evidenced by the fact that our second challenge loss (the first was because Quetzal all somehow got amazing scores (really, guys, how did you do that? XD )) was because I was the only person who could do the challenge for sure, and the others were gonna discuss a sit-out, and that, despite the fact that I reminded them multiple times, the others didn't even discuss it overnight, and all went to sleep, and forgot to post a sit-out, leaving me to sitting out an dus to losing (we probably would've anyway, but I think that's worth noticing). "Even pre-merge on the original Catarina, people were always worried about Nathaniel because he came off sneaky." This was something Nick recently said too, in Renz' speech. I just wanted to point out that Brian and Hannah both had me as the person they were "liking" the most upon leaving (well, Brian had Hannah higher than me, but still), and I doubt Sim thought so since we were actually really close pre-swap (even though he might disagree with that now, since he and Nick have been super anti-me this whole FTC), so I think this is subtle manipulation of trying to make me look worse than I was.

Now, the swap. I think this part is HUGELY overlooked. The swap was supposed to be my doom. I was swapped into a tribe of 4 Quetzals, and 2 Tacanas. The others came straight into a majority - or well, at least Sim did. Nick, Austin and Rhi got Brandon to join, and good work on that from them, because I think doing the opposite might've been smarter for him in the long run, but seeing as how Nick almost was voted out that tribal, did he really connect that well with the Tacanas? I did mistakes too, but I at least owe up to them, while I think Nick has omitted this completely from his answers. Then we have Sim, who literally just jumped into a majority. Sure, he built good enough social bonds not to get Idoled out, same with Nick, but I don't think that was anything compared to what I had to do. Especially after the Ryan tribal, it made so much sense to vote me out. Especially with the anti-returnee thing going on, I should've been a goner. But I worked hard to build connections with people, to make them trust me, to have them not vote me out. People say my social game sucked, but if it did, how did I survive that tribal? I wasn't that good enough to be kept for my challenge strength, and with the merge coming soon, that should've actually been all the more reason to vote me out. I formed strong connections with people I'd never met before (other than Jenna, whom I had hosted once and said 10 words to or something, Chris, whom I had sent a "good luck" to when he was playing in main ORG's Sri Lanka, and Elmo, whom I had wished good luck to during the Wikia Wars challenge - because despite playing and making the FTC together with Renz before, I had never actually talked to him). I even talked to Andrew and got info about the Tacana things from him (which I got from Chris too), and I managed to get at least both Elmo and Shea to want to save me. I think I had to work a lot harder than both Nick and Sim did during the swap, and showed that I had a better social game than people have been saying all FTC, and I think it actually got me into a rather good position at the merge. I used things I learnt at the swap to my advantage at the merge - like the Catarina Idol. I knew someone from our original tribe had found it, and by warning Austin he’d go if he didn’t have the Idol, he revealed to us that he had found it. Hadn’t he done that, I’d’ve revealed my Idol and played it, but this way, I got to keep my own Idol for another round, and I think small, subtle things I did like that are completely overlooked in this FTC.

Another thing I think is overlooked is timezones, and the thing largely connected to it that is language. Playing as a European, or Asian for that matter, is hard. You’re always ahead of everything, you stay up late and lose sleep only to be able to hang onto the game, and it affects the social game a lot too. Elmo, Renz, Rhi, Claudia and I are the Jury/merge people that aren’t American (or Canadian). That’s 5/13. And amongst us, Renz is 8 hours or so away from me, and for my time to become Claudia’s, just change the A or P before the M to the opposite. And, well, Elmo and Rhi both went home before the F10, which means the closest people to me were 6 hours away. It’s a thing Americans can’t get (unless they play in Rockstar or something, where a majority of the players is from another part of the world), but it’s one that affects the game a lot. Of course I can’t talk to people as much as others did when I only have a span of 2 hours a day when it’s possible for me to. It also affected the game in a thing I noticed most rounds - challenges and tribals almost always happened around 3 AM my time, which meant I couldn’t do anything early on or late into rounds. The Austin vote for example. I was approached by CC to take out Austin. That happened while I was asleep, worrying about being voted off - that was the Renz vote, so I was sure I was going home when I went to sleep. Of course I couldn’t have been the one that approached them about it instead - I would’ve had to do that before tribal results were up for a tribal I was sure I was going home in. Speaking of the Austin vote, just wanted to mention a small thing about it that people seem to have overlooked. Nick (and Sim) claim the Jenna vote to be one of their biggest moves, and I agree that they took the right decision, but I think people forget how that vote was set up to happen by me, the tribal before. I could’ve easily voted off Chris with Shea and the Catarinas, but that would’ve put me in a 5-2 majority, and I probably would’ve been blindsided the vote after. Instead, I realised that Nick and Sim never would risk voting me off, risking a F6 with rocks as the best outcome, and one of them going home as the other one. That was a big part in my decision to get rid of Austin, but people just seem to glance that over. Back to topic. Another last thing regarding timezones - it was also a disadvantage in challenges. Mainly one - the “catch the star” one. Not complaining, but merely pointing out that of the stars posted, they were all spread out evenly, with the exception of a 7-hour pause where no were posted - during the sleeping time for EST people, which all hosts (except Felix) are. But yeah, that’s just an example of other times timezones can matter a lot more than it appears. As for language, do you have any idea how hard it is to talk your second language all the time? You forget words, and have to think before you say anything, and it’s so much easier to be misunderstood. Elmo and Renz I’m sure can confirm that even if you, like me, have been speaking (read as: typing) English for years, it’s still nothing compared to someone who has it as their mothertounge.

Also, speaking of Shea, I managed to get a person willing to quit for me. I love Shea, and I know a lot of you dislike him, but I think it says something when I had a player I knew would give up their game for mine, and managed to get them far. I knew I’d make the F3 already at the F6. Shea had already talked to me about quitting for my sake, and no way was Chris or Claudia making it to the end. And since, going back to the F8, I knew Nick and Sim couldn’t risk voting off Shea or myself at the F7, I put myself at the F8(!) in a place where the FTC was something extremely likely for me to make. Sim said about me “He was the one watching things happen after Final 7.”, and I agree. I watched things happen, because from there they went down almost exactly how I expected them to (only with Shea getting 6th instead of 4th), so I had no reason to change anything. People don’t get how my mind was running all game, thinking about what others would do, how others would think, running hundreds of scenarios in my head all the time - in school, while walking, in the shower, while trying to sleep. I feel like my strategy hasn’t had a time to shine at all this FTC, and I know this may come off as whining or whatever, but that’s just how I feel.

Now to the next thing (and I’m gonna touch upon this when I answer Chris’ speech as well) - me being a villain. Did I ever “blow up” in the tribe chat? Yes, I did do that two times, once at the F4 because I couldn’t believe Nick and Sim were considering taking Chris to the end, and once at the final whatever (pretty sure it was F9), when I tried to make the Quetzals distrust CC, which obviously failed, but was worth a try. Does that make me a villain? No, I don’t think so. Especially not when you consider the people that played in this season. This cast has been so mean-spirited in a way. Always talking about people behind their backs, laughing at them, having fun saying bad things about people. I thought this was just Nick/Sim/Austin/Jenna, since those were the only ones I saw with my own eyes, but now I know at least Claudia did it too, and probably other people as well. And, personally, I think talking about others behind their backs is something more villainous than most things. The only people I talked about like that were Nick and Sim, to Claudia at the F5, because I was so frustrated that they wanted to allow Chris to get to the F4 (which, from what I thought, would be a flash game, an endurance thing, a creativity challenge, a luck-based one, a mind/strategy game, and possibly a puzzle - of those, the only one I was sure would come up that didn’t was the endurance, and had it been there, I think Chris would’ve won the FIC and with it the game, so I think my fears were justified), but other than that, I said my “XD”s and “Yeah”s, feeling bad inside for taking part in such a discussion - I hate talking bad about people, especially behind their backs, and in a season like this where everyone did that, I can’t see how me not doing it makes me a villain (note: I don’t think talking about others behind their backs as amusement is something wrong to do, I just feel bad doing it myself). Furthermore, I was loyal and honest to everyone that was loyal and honest to me, and the only person I turned on was Austin, and there I used the fact that CC told me he’d been after me for a while as a scapegoat to justify that reasoning. I worked hard to get my alliance to the end, and I think I got all of us there. Yes, Sim and Nick did do a lot of the late-merge decisions, but they couldn’t have done that if I didn’t help us get there with the Elmo and Brandon tribals (I think the Elmo tribal was the most influential one of the entire game, and shouldn’t be underestimated), and although I do have to give Sim credit for the messy Renz vote, I don’t think you can just dismiss all I did for our alliance. Also, I hated voting people out whereas others were happy doing so, and I don’t think villains feel bad for voting people out and heroes celebrate it (but that might be just me).

Not much left now. However, I think something that needs to be said is how nobody wanted me at the end. Nick and Sim both said they didn’t really want to go with me to the end, yet I’m still here. I wanted to go with both SIm and Nick to the end (I really wanted Shea and Sim (I saw Sim and Nick as interchangeable, but I was closer to Sim), but I knew Shea wasn’t gonna get there, because he’d told me he didn’t wanna make the end since he feared people would just trash him if he did and he didn’t want that), and that happened. I voted correctly every single time but the F5, and even then, I think taking Chris to the FIC over Claudia was a risky move, although I agree that that is debatable. Furthermore, everyone wanted me out! Everyone wanted me gone, but I’ve survived despite that, and now I’m here - I think that deserves some credit.

I know you’re probably getting tired, so I’ll end it with this final thing: Nick and Sim saying I got here because I relied on others. Firstly, it is completely impossible to get to the end without relying on others unless you win every single immunity challenge/make up for the times not won by playing Idols every one of those times. Sim relied on Nick to get here. Nick relied on Sim to get here. We all three relied on Austin, and Rhi, and Shea, and others. I think that if anything, I was the one who got us into a majority position with my Idols, and although I don’t want my game to be seen as just that, I do think they played a significant role in all three of us getting here. Furthermore, I think getting Shea was something that mattered a lot too. Without me, it would’ve been Austin, Nick and Sim against 5 Quetzals and 3 Tacanas. That’s not too good odds. I think we all relied on others to get here, and I might’ve relied on the most people, but I think if anything that disproves my “bad social game” - why would people keep me around if I was so bad socially that nobody trusted me?

Anyway, sorry for this long post. I hope you’ve read through it - and if you have, thank you. You can think whatever you want to after this - if you wanna vote Nick because you connected the best to him or Sim because you think he made good strategic decisions, be my guest, I won’t judge you. I know this might be seen as desperation or whatever, but I just needed to let it out somewhere, and not have it on my mind all the time. I just hope I’ve cleared up some misconceptions, and if I’ve made even one person look at things only somewhat differently, I’ll be happy. If anyone wants to reply to this with, well, anything, feel free to do so. I don’t wanna start a fight, and I hope things can be discussed in a calm way. Anyway, thanks again for reading through this, and I hope you all have a great day!

F3, huge congrats to you all, great game. Honestly, ponderosa has been so fucking hilarious that I’m not even mad about anything. 

I do want to say: toward the end of the game we all made a lot of assumptions about who would win, threats were made about who would get who’s jury votes,  but I’m letting you know now that this jury is spread entirely across the board. This is anyone’s game and I doubt any of the three of you will finish with no jury votes which I think is awesome. So yes Sim, we are reading every single word you write.

I’ve struggled with what to ask, because these jurors have snatched just about every single question that could ever be thought of. Imma just say hello to you all, maybe ask a few specific things then a couple of general things at the end. (These are in a random order, my vote is tbh availible). 

Sim –

Honestly I think you’re extremely intelligent and soooo eloquent, the way you write would be borderline orgasmic if only I agreed with a little more of the content.

We didn’t really talk a whole lot and when we did it was only about the game, so writing this made me realise we basically know nothing about each other. I want to apologise for this and legit hope we can actually get to know eachother after the game. Obviously to most people this would make it a little harder to vote for you, but I’m not basing a vote on something that is just as much my fault.

I definitely want to clarify what Shea said in his speech about you and I. I love you but you were sooo frustrating to (attempt to) work with. Like I really wanted us to make something happen but you were vague af. Our conversations were mostly just us chucking Nathaniel, Chris and Shea under the bus but it never really went anywhere – partially my fault I get that but tbh I feel like most of the time you talked to me was when you thought you were going to be voting me out soon. Also when I ask you to let me know how you decide to vote, I generally don’t mean hours AFTER the voting deadline. (Especially at f5 where there’s no idols, everyone has already told me you’re voting me out, I see you online for hours yet you choose to ignore my messages but whatever.)

In your final message to me you said “you probably think it’s a big mistake” etc etc. Hell no I don’t. In my opinion from and including final 7 you/Nick chose the perfect boot order, so honestly huge well done to you guys. We had also planned to vote your ass out at final 6 so congrats on snatching that immunity right when you needed it, and for a strong game in challenges.

1.     1..In your speeches you and Nick have kind of both claimed responsibility for these final decisions, so can you briefly clarify who actually gave what suggestions, who convinced who, or what was mutual in deciding who would go home in these final stages. 

2.     2.  You talked a lot to me about being paranoid, but what was the moment you actually felt most in danger?

Nick –

Being honest, for most of the game a lot of us saw you as just kinda there. I’d heard you have a big reputation but it didn’t seem like you were living up to it. HOWEVER from final 7 onward you woke tf up and kicked ass. Although they obviously didn’t go the way I wanted them to, literally every decision you/Sim made from that point onward was perfect imo. You're an awesome person and I tbh didn't even realise to what extent I considered you a friend til you were voting me out. BUT it's kind of annoying in your speech to hear you imply doubt that this jury can do it's job. 

I want to know a couple of things from you, and I really want an honest answer even if it’s not the one you think I want to hear.

1.   1.   When you promised me you definitely wouldn’t write my name down if Nathaniel won F5 immunity and that me, you and Sim would be a great final 3, how much did you actually mean this at the time you said it?

2.  2-F5, after my hours of begging and annoying you and you saying 30 mins before the deadline that you were still completely undecided, how true actually was this? 

Nathaniel –

Huge thank you for sticking your neck out for me at the end of this game. Also to clarify what Austin said, honestly about 75% of The Truth was the actual truth, and the parts that weren’t were mostly Chris’s shitty and suspicious looking F3 offers ;).

Some jurors believe you’re a bitter person, which I really don’t agree with. Chris and I made about four attempts to blindside you, and (overlooking that one little blowup in the main chat), each time you were gracious af, would say something like “You guys are amazing XD” and then attempted to rebuild the relationship with us. It also annoys me when people say you're only at the end because of idols, when Nick and Sim are also only there because of your idols. 

1.    1.   Did you vote with me so that I wouldn’t beat you for most votes against you in the season? ;) 

2.    2.   When the three of us agreed to vote Sim at final 5, were you serious about that and would you have gone through with it had Chris not been a little bitch?

      More Questions lmao

Honestly at this point I’m kind of pitying you guys for the amount of questions you have to answer, so feel free to just give short answers for the following.

1.       What was your most enjoyable moment in the game?

2.       What was the most difficult moment for you personally?

3.       What was the moment where luck was a determining factor in your survival in the game?

4.       Can you write a quick list of how you expect each juror to vote?

5.       Will you be joining the jury on our reunion skype call in the near future?

I’m sad af that this amazing experience is just about over, and I couldn’t have asked for a better game to have lost my wikia virginity to. Jury & final 3, you bitches are messy af and I love you all, and thank you hosts for an amazing season. 

Hi finalists. ?

Now, I'm not even gonna lie. I was hyped for the FTC, seeing clearly amazing players get to the end, where we could tell what they did to get to the end. But here we're left with three people who have been either UTR, or non-existent to the point where we or I'm not even sure what you did to survive this game. Hopefully two of you can open my eyes to this, because one of you I can kinda see your game already. But I'd still like to hear from all of you, because I've decided to be open and listen to what all of you have to say. And one of you needs some serious explaining to do when the game ends. Also, as the first merge boot, I need my mind refreshed on what the three of you did to get to this point, if you can so kindly help me. ?

I will be going in ABC order, starting with Nathaniel.

Nathaniel

---

Hi bud, aka Thanipoo. You were one of the people I wanted to reach out to once merge hit. If I'm not mistaken you told me you were thinking about flipping on Catarina, but I think it's clear at this point that was just a ruse to allure me from distrusting you. I already saw your game, so I could've cared less. Anyway, after rereading your speech (I'm rereading everyone's tbh so I can answer a bit better) I have a couple of questions for you. BTW YOU STOLE THAT IDOL FROM ME THE FIRST ROUND I ALMOST HAD IT AMOGNAEGNAGNAW

You seem to have a pretty good strategic, a great physical, and an ok social game. But here's my questions:

1. Why were you so against Tacana? This is news to me. Why exactly did you think we were threats to your game? Wouldn't have been smarter to gun for Quetzal because of the numbers?
2. Were you serious about flipping on Catarina, or were you just saying that to make me feel safe?
3. If there was anyone you prefer to be sitting next to you instead of Sim and Nick, who would it be, and why? (Merge/Jury members only)
4. Can you rank the jury members and finalists from best to worst strategist, and also rank by who you like the most and why? You don't have to do the second one but that'd be a bonus for me.
5. Is there anything you regret?

Next, I will be going to Nick.

Nick

---

Nick, Nick, Nick. You are the one I need the MOST from to possibly get my vote. Like you need a lot of explaining to do. I came in this also feeling kinda relived you were in this game with me, and it ended up with regret. You are the one person I didn't see anything from. Like you were so transparent, that I have no clue exactly what you did, so I need to reread your speech.. -reads- Well this is what I have to say: Your social is kinda null-ed to me. Because of the simple fact that you DID NOT talk to me!!! There's no vouch from my part. You gave no effort to speak to me. The only reason we started talking is because Austin told me you wanted to voted me out at the tribal were Ryan eventually was the one going. I talked to you because I kinda find it funny you claim to be my friend, but never once approached me prior and "was closer to Ryan" as Austin says. Kinda my fault too we didn't talk, but at least I INITIATED the conversation. But after you doing that, I felt very betrayed by you, and couldn't trust you again. Because you've done this three times. So yea, when I said we weren't friends anymore, I meant that at the time. But I apologize for that and would like to take that back, because it was a rude thing to say. Which is why I'm open to talking once the game is over. ?

Also, it is very easy to be "woke" and vote with majority every single time. Just because you voted with majority, doesn't make it any better. Now if you initiated some of those votes, bonus points, otherwise..I can't say.

Now, what I DO respect, is the fact of how careful you were the entire game. You didn't get into any huge explosive fights(unless ours counts), and you stayed quiet most of the time. But it's hard to back up if there wasn't much of a physical or apparently no moves you made to back that up, other than I think the Shea vote you said? Either way, time for you questions:

1. What were at least two moves you made? Also, did you make them alone, or be the leader of it, or was it neutral with you and other people?
2. Do you consider yourself Austin and Sim's pawn, or do you think they were more of your pawns, or do you think you guys were equal? And why do you think that?
3. Why did you not reach out to me? Was it your plan to never speak to me?
4. If you would've talked to me before hand, do you think we could've worked out an alliance? And if so, how loyal would you have planned to be in it?
5. Is there anything you regret?

And last, but certainly not least, I will be addressing you. Sim!

Sim

---

Hi Sim! ? You were someone I didn't know prior to playing, but I'm honestly glad to have met you, and you are pretty cool ngl. I see you had a bit of physical going, somewhat of a social(some jurors are complaining, but ours was fine), and I feel you had to have had a good strategic. However, again it's kind of hard to see because I didn't get to know you well enough before I left, and I kinda vowed to not work with Catarina anymore, so I realize it's kinda my fault that I was out of the loop on this. So I'm going to read your speech to refresh my mind. -Reads- I honestly feel it is very impressive to be in the Final 3, despite all and I mean ALL of the preexisting relationships on your tribe, and to somehow get around all that is kinda amazing tbh(Now I kinda see even more of what B was saying smh).

I don't exactly know what you connecting with Brandon had to do with connecting with me and Claudia unless you mean you didn't wanna piss us off, but I just feel it wasn't that hard to hit us up :/ Also, thank you for understanding my anger in the very last pre merge tribe. If I could take back my actions at that tribal, I totally would have. I just felt that tribal was personal, so I was highly offended. It kinda seems like you were out of the loop for a bit. So, I'm going to need to ask you some questions:

1. What were at least two moves you made? Also, did you make them alone, or be the leader of it, or was it neutral with you and other people?
2. If you could have anyone sitting next to you instead of Nathaniel and Nick, who would it be, and why?
3. List each Juror as an Artist, or a song that you know, and tell me why.
4. (Bonus)Use three words to describe the final 12, and include yourself
5. Is there anything you regret?

And with that guys, thanks for listening to my jury speech! I had an amazing time with you guys, this will go down in history as one of my personal favorite games, thanks to all the people I played with this season for making this season amazing, as well as the hosts! Couldn't have asked for better or worse. I can see myself talking to a lot of you, including pre merge! I love you all, and until then ~

Malik, signing out.

First of all, I would like to thank the hosts for giving birth and nurturing arguably one of the best seasons in 703. I would like to thank all the players who made this journey a blast. As for the final three, congratulations! Also, fasten your seatbelts. This is going to be quite a long ride.

I came into this game being viewed as an anti-returnee, and it’s not that I was against returnees, I just thought it would be smarter to not let you guys go deep into the game. That blinded me from working with you guys, but I was right, because look who’s sitting there now.

In my honest opinion, I am a little disappointed with this final three because I feel like none of you guys had the full package to actually win this game. Maybe you do excel at one of the major attributes of the game, but to some of us, it wasn’t enough.

I have a lot of questions, some of them may seem random, but if you satisfy me with your answers, you’re definitely getting my vote.

I don’t have a bone to pick with anyone, and instead of being bitchy, I’m going to try to be fun. The bitch In me have had enough at Ponderosa.

I sort of have a mantra in this game, which is: If I were to choose between making things happen or watching things happen, I would always choose the former. I tried many times, but I failed.

You’re probably thinking: “Why the fuck did he bring up his mantra? What is he trying to point out?”

Well, I brought it up because I want to give you an idea of what kind of game I truly respect, so among you three, whoever “made things happen” the most is partly getting my vote. Partly because I have a lot of questions still, and they could change my mind. I’m not saying that it’s bad when you “watch things happen” because it’s good too, some people could respect that. But there’s three of you, so I had to come up with another category, and the only thing I could think of is a person who “had no idea what’s happening.” YAY!

PART I

I’ll be addressing you one by one to try to make this as organized as possible. React to what I’ll say, idgaf, but please, do answer my questions because they’re the one I’m going to base my decision on whether I need to change my vote or not.

Nathaniel (Made things happen)

The Swede; the beast; the second coming of Christ. I liked the rivalry I had with you in this game, and I’m so glad that it wasn’t one-sided.

Pros: Among the finalists, your game is what I could respect the most. You won immunities, and you played idols. Had you not played those idols, the three of you wouldn’t be sitting there right now, so I hate the fact that some people are belittling the power that idols have.

Cons: In this game, I could almost say that you were like Russell. There were times when you were cocky, and I feel like you had poor jury management because of your mediocre social game, and there’s a possibility that you would lose to the other two because of it.

FTC Speech Analysis and Questions:

Everything you said was so on point, so I’ll just proceed to the questions which aren’t really too related with your speech.

1.   I have heard that you’re a very bitter juror. If you’re sitting in the jury right now, give me an example of the things that you would be bitter about have you been voted out at F4.

2.   Let’s say there was a time in the game where you really need me to align with you. How are you going to convince me to trust you despite of the rivalry that we have?

3.   I never wanted to bring this up, but I just think I had to because some people are discrediting you for your moves. What are some of the ideas that other people brought up to you that you wouldn’t have thought of by yourself?

4.   Do you agree with me that you made things happen? If not, who do you think between Sim and Nick mostly made things happen?

Sim (Watched things happen)

Pokémon trainers unite! Will your journey be like Ash’s or will you have a taste of victory in this very treacherous league called Survivor: San Marcos?

Pros: Rarely talks, but very pleasant to talk to.

Cons: Rarely talks, and there have been occasions where I heard you talked down to some people. Ironic, because Nick said in his speech that the two of you have been talked down to in his speech. I was like whaaaaat?

FTC Speech Analysis and Questions:

1.   You said you spent a lot of time being apologetic about your moves. Uhmmmm… What moves??? And why do you think is the reason why you were apologetic about em?

2.   You said people are quick to give you the blame, and not credit. From what I heard, you talked down to some of the people, you reply three days late, etc. Is that the blame part? If not, what is? And what should we give you credit for?

3.   Based on your speech, I feel like you just went along with the flow despite claiming that you made those decisions without other people’s influence. How can you defend that when you’ve been voting correctly with people who I felt made those decisions that you just went along with?

4.   How can you differentiate an under-the-radar-game from an I-didn’t-do-shit-game? Did you play a support role in the game? What is the difference between a support role and a follower?

5.   What percentage was strategic and what percentage was personal when it came to talking to people?

6.   WHY DIDN’T YOU GET RID OF NATHANIEL?!

7.   Do you agree with me that you watched things happen? If not, who do you think between Nathaniel and Nick mostly watched things happen?

Nick (Had no idea what’s happening)

WHERE WERE YOU?

Pros: I feel like you’re the one who didn’t build a lot of bridges with people, so voting them out didn’t require you to burn a lot of bridges. Less talk, less mistakes; less moves, less of a threat.

Cons: Your pros prevented you from establishing a good social game, maybe it’s just me, but from what I heard, it isn’t just me. This lack of communication makes you a stranger to some of us, and who wants to give the stranger the title for Sole Survivor, right?

FTC Speech Analysis and Questions:

1.   I don’t really appreciate how you opened your speech. I feel like the fact that you think the concept of FTC is a waste of time is disrespectful and makes you undeserving, because if you won’t take time – or as you put it, if you won’t WASTE YOUR TIME just to read and answer my questions, I definitely won’t be voting for you. I am set on voting for someone, honestly, but good, insightful FTC answers can change my decision. We’re not closeminded.

2.   You said in your speech that you did not have to rely on idols to help keep yourself alive, and instead, you played to survive. You’re wrong with the former. You had to rely on idols, not your own, but Nathaniel’s. Had Nathaniel not played that idol for Shea (or Arianna whatever ya'll prefer) and himself, it would have been an entirely different final 3. My question is how did you play to survive? From my view, you did nothing, so I really want you to expand on the biggest factor of your gameplay that you relied on.

'3.   Compare your social game with Nathaniel’s and Sim’s, how would you defend that you had the best social game among the three of you?

4.   Tell me more about yourself, because I barely got to know you in this game. Who are you? What makes you mad? What makes you happy? What do you live for? Did you not talk to me as much as you claim you talked to others because you didn’t need me for your game?

5.   WHY DIDN’T YOU GET RID OF NATHANIEL?!

6.   Did you agree with me that you had no idea what’s happening majority of the game? If not, who do you think between Sim and Nathaniel mostly had no idea what’s happening majority of the time?

PART III

Now, onto the fun part. The more insightful your answers are, the more you’ll be able to convince me to vote for you. The Survivor: San Marcos Finals Exam may determine who will be the valedictorian of the batch, and it begins now!

A. PHYSICAL

1. What is your definition of a great physical game?

2. Do you consider yourself a physical player?

3. Which is more risky: winning challenges or not winning?

B. SOCIAL

1. What is the most memorable conversation that you had with me?

2. If you could rate your social game with 0 being the lowest, and 5 being the highest, how would you rate yourself?

3. Which is more risky: having multiple connections or having less connections in game?

C. STRATEGIC

1. What is the most effective strategy moving forward (Pre-swap, post-swap, and post-merge)? “I played under the radar” is the easy way out, so don’t give me that BS.

2. Name the biggest move you made in this game. No more than one, please.

3. Basing on the composition of the members of the jury (if you had a good social game, you would know the answer) what do you think is the kind of strategy that the majority of us would respect the most?

D. KISSASSERY (LOL. OR YOUR SEMI-AWARENESS OF THE GUY WHO WAS VOTED OUT AT F9)

1. What is my best attribute in the game?

2. What is my biggest flaw in the game?

3. What made you want/not want to work with me?

E. GAME AWARNESS

1A. If you could vote out one of the final three, who would it be and why?

1B. If you replace that finalist with one of the members of the jury, who would you choose and why?

2. Who is your biggest ally this season and how did that alliance/partnership/bloc help you get to the end?

3. Who is your biggest adversary this season and how did that rivalry help you move forward in the game?

4. Roast yourself, please. No less than 50 words, thanks!

5. Why do the other two finalists deserve the title more than you do?

F. BONUS ACTIVITIES

1. Rank all the players of the season from 1-21 based on their gameplay.

2. Brains, Brawns, Beauty: Divide the 21 castaways into three groups of 7 based on those attributes.

3. Heroes, Villains, Neutrals: Divide the 21 castaways into three groups of 7 based on those attributes.

4. Rank all the members of the jury and finalists ffrom 1 to 13, with 1 being the greatest leader and 13 being the biggest follower.

Answer diligently. That’s all. Thank you very much! PEACE!

HELLO FINAL 3! Congratulations on making it to day 39! The nine remaining jury members all envy the position that the three of you are in today, and for that you should feel proud of yourselves! 

The three of you are players that came into this game looking to redeem yourselves from your first experience, so I have tremendous respect for yall and the amount of work that it took you guys to be sitting here. The three of you have strong physical games, providing worth to your tribes as well as to yourselves individually. The three of you also had strong strategic games, whether they were aggressive or passive is besides the point, because you all were strategic enough to find yourself in the position that you're in.

So that leads me to the third, and in my opinion the most important aspect of the game, which is the social game. Who I don't vote for tonight is going to be heavily based on your social game towards me individually, as well as towards the rest of the jury. I've spent quite a bit of time in Ponderosa and through many discussions with my fellow jury members, I've come to find out that each of you three had great social games with certain members of the jury, and completely trash social games with other members. 

Nathaniel:

I don't really have much to ask you tonight, which is unfortunate. On one hand, I completely respect the aggressive manner of your gameplay and I understand strategically why you made certain decisions. On the other hand, of the three finalist you had by far the worst social game from my perspective. I would try and begin conversations with you and you would reply with a one word answer and shut it down. I understand that our line of communication is a two way street and that I could've tried harder, but I mainly want to know these questions from you.

Why didn't you try harder to garner a relationship with me, did you feel that I was disposable to you and that you didn't need a relationship with me to win? I saw no attempt from you to try and get to know me outside or inside of the game and from the perspective of a jury member, that is just sad. 

No matter what happens I don't have any hard feelings towards you outside of the game and congrats on your accomplishments!

Nick:

Congrats on making it to the final three! Before I ask my questions, I just want to let you know that I completely respect your gameplay as well, so just know that the last thing I see you and Sim as are goats. You're social game of the three finalist was in the middle, you did attempt to get to know me and you did make me feel like I could trust you... for a minute lol. My vote is still up in the air between you and Sim, so be sure to explain as much of your game as possible to me in these questions!

I want you to let me know what you believe some of your weaknesses were in this game and how you were able to either remedy or overcome those challenges? 

Your social game with me was just fine, but some of the other jury members believe that you're social game was trash and that you were a passive player, tell me and the rest of the jury why that isn't the case?

Also along with the last question, I want you to explain to the jury why you believe playing the way you did was a more optimal strategy than the way the other two finalists played this game?

Sim: 

Some people on this jury refer to you as a goat, some say that you've done absolutely nothing, some say you're the most unlikely of the final 3 to win the game. I don't believe any of that. 

You might be the most deserving player up here...

What I saw was a guy who got swapped fucked twice before, and that you knew that you had to do whatever it took to get to the end this time. I noticed that you worked a lot harder this time to make social bonds, you got in good with a lot of your tribemates preswap and that helped you find a position well sheilded behind them. Your fellow alliance members trusted you, and they kept you around because they saw value in your relationship with them. You're position was becoming even better the further and further this game went along, Your alliance gained more and more momentum at the merge, and your relationships with people were strong enough to the point where you never were seen as a target towards the end of the game! I don't believe that you fell into a great position, I believe that you worked for the best utr position in the game, and you earned it.

I plead to the jury that the game isn't always about who made the flashiest moves or who made the most aggressive plays to get to the end, but rather how well they were able to preserve their own lives in the game and how well they are able to maneuver through the dynamics of the game. I believe that Sim and Nick did a much better job of preserving their own lives in the game, building trust with the right people, and maneuvering through the dynamics, and so please consider all three finalists as serious contenders before making your decision.

I think of the three finalists, your social game from my perspective was the best, because I felt that you were sincerely trying to get to know me during the game, and I can really appreciate that aspect of your gameplay.

I want you to answer a few questions for me as well.

I also want to know what you believe your weaknesses are in the game and how you were able to overcome or remedy those challenges?

Tell me an aspect of your game that you did better than both Nick and Nathaniel and explain why you did it better? 

Also some jury members believe that you and Nick played too similar of a game to differenciate between the two, so explain how you're game was seperate from, and better than Nick's?

CONGRATS TO YOU ALL ONCE AGAIN AND GOOD LUCK! 

Well, congratulations on making final 3 guys, and early congratulations to one of you who is about to steal the win that should rightfully be mine.

Anyways, I hold no resentment towards any of you, nor did I really follow much of the game since I'd have no clue what's going on, so instead of questions....

LET'S PLAY A GAME OR TWO.

Now that Shea done goofed and got himself removed from the jury, there are 9 jurors that you must play a game with, I will give you categories below this, and you must asign a character from each category to bestow onto a juror and why (y) (Yes, this is me trying to boost my own ego.)

So your categories are:

1) Game of Thrones Characters

2) Glee Characters

3) Muppets (I s2g, if you give me Miss Piggy you lose my vote)

4) Desperate Housewives Characters

5) Total Drama Characters

And yeah, thats pretty much it from me, best of luck to the three of you, the person who gives the answers closest to what I'm looking for gets my vote (:

Hello everyone, first off I'd like to say congratulations to the finalists doing what we were unable to do and make the FTC (Which btw, think it's awesome that the final 3 is Catarina, even if I'm not there lmfao) Anyway, let's get straight into this, firstly I'm gonna start out with Nathaniel.

Nathaniel, I'm going to be honest, while reading your speech, I saw a lot of you still being unaware of a lot of things going on in the game around you, and I think that awareness is a very important aspect of this game, and your speech makes me think that you weren't very aware of everything going on around you in this game at certain points. The first thing I noticed, and probably the least important, is that you said your name probably came up on Catarina and your social bonds kept you safe which I definitely don't agree with, you should know Brian was the target because of all the previous connections he had on other tribes, and Hannah was targeted because she threw herself under the bus for Brian, social bonds had nothing to do with you staying, not a very important point, but a point nonetheless. Next thing I noticed is you talking about the chat called "The Truth" which I've now been informed of while in ponderosa, and I've also been told most things in that chat weren't actually the truth, which from your speech makes me believe that you still believe those lies, then once I came to you and confessed I'd been targeted you tried to make it look like you hadn't known and it was 100% transparent, if you're going to lie and act clueless, don't make it obvious, in my opinion not being able to lie is a sign of a weak game in survivor, then lastly when you confronted me with the questions I told you the complete truth, and I still don't think you believe me on that either. Lastly, you think my boot was a blindside, which is extremely false, I had literally the entire day to prepare for my boot knowing that I was probably going early on in the day, at the end of the day close to the deadline my phone was on 3% and Jenna was thinking of possibly tying the vote on you but Sim didn't trust her and told us that we should trust you more, at that point I didn't trust you at all and I only went along with what Sim said because my phone was dead and I wanted a 5% chance rather than a 0% if I would've gotten a self vote, so my vote-off was not a blindside. Overall Nathaniel, I don't think you were very self aware during this game. Buuut I'm not quite over yet, another huge issue I have with you is you're quite a bitter player, the fact you OPENLY and SHAMELESSLY admit that you are still bitter over a Canada blindside that happened 20 months ago, almost two YEARS? If you are this bitter, why should we as the jury not vote the same way as you've conveyed you feel in other orgs, because I'm sure that you would've been bitter sitting here on the jury if you were to have been voted out. Granted, I'm not bitter at all over my boot, I had an amazing time in this game and I'm happy about everything, but I'm genuinely curious as to why if you're this bitter, why we shouldn't vote bitterly towards you? Also, Shea said multiple times you were more of his goat than he was yours, how do you respond to that ?

Now onto Sim. Sim, in this game I had a ton of fun getting to know you and becoming good friends with you, I'm not gonna lie you're really gonna have to fight for this if you want it, as of right now, my vote is probably between you and Nick. A lot of people have said that you haven't done much to anything at all, and I don't want to believe them, and I want you to prove them wrong, so my task for you is to explain to the jury why you are a contender to win, what things you did that set you apart from the other two, I really don't want you to be counted out of this because I know this means a lot to you, so fight for this and tell everyone why you deserve to win.

So that leaves me with Nick, Nick, coming into this season I was worried when I saw you on the cast, because as you know as well as most people, we don't necessarily have the best track record working together in orgs, but in San Marcos I wanted to put that all behind us, and I honestly think that's one of the best decisions I made in this game, I not only found a great ally in this game, but also a great friend that I hope to stay in touch with even after this game, for us to go from being like mortal enemies to basically being a really tight duo throughout the entirety of San Marcos, I'm really glad we decided to put everything behind us in this org because it made the experience 10x better. From speeches alone, I'm leaning towards you, but there are still people that need persuading and I want you to make those people want to vote for you, I personally think you played a great game, so detail 3 of the biggest moves you made in this game, and tell why your game was better than Sim and Nathaniel's.

Sorry if any parts of this were too long, but good luck to the 3 of you and congratulations again! Whether people are mad that you are the final 3 or think you don't deserve to win that doesn't change that you all are here and we aren't, so good job to all of you guys.

Firstly, HUGE shout out to an awesome hosting team for this amazing and record-breaking survivor season!

Secondly, I do not hold ill will against anyone of you. I'm extremely proud of all three of you for making it so far. Good Job! I'm going to adress each juror in alphabetical order and ask questions at the end.  Oh, and my vote is 100% up for grabs so GOOD LUCK! 

Nathaniel: You have played pretty solid overall game! I'm going to admit, I wasn't really happy when you blindsided me with that idol especially because four hours prior you messaged me by saying that you want to keep working with me. Oh, and I also want to say that I was one of the people who campaigned for you to stay as well. Regardless of that, you have played your idols wisely and used them to get rid of threats and keep your alliance safe, so good job on that!

Nick: I think we connected immediately on the merge, sadly it's kinda hard for me to describe your game because we only played two rounds together but I saw you as a UTR threat whose tactic was to use bigger targets as a shield and you did that very well!

Sim: Sim, honestly you were so lovely and sweet person to me through out the little time we talked, similarly to Nick I mostly saw you as UTR threat. At first, it was a little hard to approach you and (sadly) we started talking very late. 

Credits to both Nick and Sim for only having 4 votes cast against you, that's an achievement. Good job :)

So for the Questions!!

Nathaniel:

 What is your biggest mistake in the game? (and how do you wish you would have handled it)

  Who was the biggest threat for you in this game? 

Nick:

What was your best move in this game and why?

Sim: 

What is your Dream Final 3 and why?

Nick & Sim

Both of you, please explain to me how your games differ from each other's  (i.e. what did you do better/worse than the other)

All 3 Finalists:

1. If it was a Final two and you were the final juror, who would you vote and why?

2. Why should you get specifically my vote?

3. Compare each jurors' and finalists' games (and personality if you want to) to a real survivor player and give explantion why you chose that survivor player.

Finally, feel free to say anything even if its not related to questions I asked. As previously mentioned, I  have no idea who am I voting!

Okay you three. I'm gonna start this off by saying congrats. No matter how any of us here feel (myself included) you did what the rest of us couldn't do. You made it to the final 3 and you can all be proud of yourselves for doing that. So Nat, Nick, Goat lets begin. 

I'm going to address you in order of who I am least likely to vote for to most likley. And suprisingly the order is Goat, Nat, Nick.  So Nick you have my vote right now, lets see if that changes.

So Goat. I have a confession. I fucking love Natalie White, I love how people shit on her all the time despite her solid gameplay. Her social game was truly top notch and a wonder to behold. Some people here on this jury compare you to her. That Goat is truly a fucking insult to Natalie White. You were useless, you were difficult to talk to, and overall just rode Nick's coattails. I had this whole speech planned out where I was going to talk about how arrogant and just an overall dick you were to several people but why waste the time and energy on the 3rd place finalist? 

QUESTIONS FOR GOAT

I have nothing to ask you. I would rather ask Shea for life advice then hear about your game.

Nat: I am very proud of you and I cant believe you're sitting in the final 3! Major props to you man I am truly happy for you. As you know Nat I was voted the biggest villain of the final 8. But I don't think I deserve the title. Your game was brutal at times and you were not afraid to hold back when you were upset. I respect that a lot, I love a good villian. However everytime you blew up in the tribe chat you would immediately appologize and try to make yourself seem like a good guy. That was a pretty major flaw in your game, for example the time you tried to call me out in the tribe chat for playing both sides just made you look bad in the long run. Thats the only real issue I have with your game so here are your questions.

QUESTIONS FOR NAT

1. I want you to talk about your blowups in the tribe chat because you had a few. And I want you to tell me how they hurt your game or helped it.

2. Do you agree with me that you were the biggest Villain? If not who do you think was?

Nick: If I am 100% honest there was no way I would have voted for you once I left the game. I felt hurt and I blamed you. But then I realized you made the smartest possible decision you could have made. Voting for me was the right call and I am proud of you for doing it. I've been thinking a lot about our time in the game and you were always there to talk about a move or just shoot shit. I believe you controlled Goat this entire merge and are responsible for him sitting in the final three. I am proud of you and I have some questions

QUESTIONS FOR NICK

1. Talk about your cotrol over Goat and the times you decided how he would vote.

2. I want to talk about why you chose Nat over me.

QUESTIONS FOR NAT AND NICK

1. I want you to pick three jurors (One must be Shea) and just tell them off a little bit for things they did in this game that you disagreed with.

2. What was your favourite moment of the season other then making final 3?

3. Do you feel proud about your second chance?

Thanks to the hosts and everyone whos followed this season! Also on behalf of the jury thank you Nick for getting Shea removed. You are truly a saint.

Hey Final Three. Congratuatlions. This is gonna be pretty short because frankly I'm tired of hearing people speak and I just want this to be done with. I think your games speak volumes for themselves. With that said, Nick, You didn't do anything from my perception. If the jury can rip into me for their perception of my game, I can vote based off of my perception of yours. I see you as a non-entity.

Sim, You were a bit of a smartass and had a cockier attitude than even me. You talked down to me and you were a huge source of me feeling the need to just exude as much confidence as I can. I'm not the only one who noticed it, so did Claudia. I give what i'm given and you gave me a bad attitude. Your game was okay and if you win, congratulations, good job, but you're not getting my vote.

Nathaniel, You are the most down to earth, sweet, and loving person I've met with my short time in this community. In an experience I regret ever having and the disdain I hold to the people I've met within this game, you were truly what saves the experience for me. You played an amazing game, and you're an amazing person. I feel truly honored to cast my vote for you to win this game, You deserve it. You made a promise to me when I and you damn well fufilled it. That's all.

Hey guys, I feel like I’ve spent a lot of this game being apologetic about my moves, but I stand by them because they’ve gotten me this far. I don’t mean to sound arrogant / harsh, but I think people have been quick to give me the blame, but not any of the credit. For a majority of this merge, I found myself in a position of power, and when you’re the one making decisions, people can get upset at you, but I was trying to ensure that whatever happens I’d be in the same power position the following tribal council. My game may seem passive, but I went with the flow until I had the power to create my own flow. I was constantly in a swing vote position, and always used the information I was being provided to set up a better future for myself in the long-run. 

I’ll just go over my game, and hopefully provide some insight into the decisions I made, and the thought process I had while making them. 

Catarina was a pretty harmonious tribe, and although I was oblivious to a lot of preexisting friendships, I found myself building solid relationships/alliances that it didn’t matter. I got on well with all of Austin, Rhi, Nathaniel and Nick from the get-go, and this was the unofficial alliance that stuck. Brian/Hannah sorta isolated themselves by throwing out Rhi’s name, and they got the intention that I would help them, and when they found out that I wouldn’t the tables sort of turned on me, but I had trust in my alliance, who proved trustworthy in both of Catarina’s tribal councils. 

Tribe Swap time!! I was extremely nervous as I’ve been swap-fucked in both ORGs I have ever played prior, and I was preparing myself for that possibility again, so I was very pleasantly surprised to get through it. My time NuTacana was short-lived, and strange, because I was forced to assimilate into whatever tribal dynamic was formed without me, and although I enjoyed connecting with Brandon, this limited my ability to bond with Malik/Claudia as we were pitted against each other. 

Merge time!! This seems to be a season of firsts for me, as this was also my first merge! I had no idea how this season would turn out, it seemed as if Tacana and Catarina were sort of against each other at this point, and despite being the most numerous tribe, Quetzal was a swing vote. Malik’s name was brought up, and although it may have felt personal, it was mostly because it was obvious he was mad at all of us that voted him out earlier. However, it became obvious that Quetzal had chose Tacana, but Austin had revealed his idol, and the game took a turn. 

The following tribal council the agenda changed, and I remember talking to Chris/Claudia about how threatening Quetzal’s numbers had become, and how one of them had to go next. As tribal rolled around, Shea’s name was brought up, most likely because he was responsible for leaking Austin’s name. This seemed ideal at first, with the anyone-but-me(or-my-alliance) mentality, but I always like to look ahead in this game, and it became clear that Claudia/Chris would hold all the power the following round. There would be two sides of 4 Quetzals/Catarina, and when Nathaniel revealed his idol, it seemed more advantageous to save Shea who would flip due to being indebted to us for saving him. At this point, we deliberated about which Quetzal should go, and it seemed as if anyone but Elmo was fine. As the conversation continued, it seemed as if everyone had grown close to Elmo in some way, because he was just an all around amazing person. This was when we realized he was a threat. Even though he had expressed interests in working with all of us individually, we moved past short-term concerns and saw him as an end-game threat. On top of that, he most likely found the original Quetzal idol, which was still to come out, and the best way to get rid of that potential idol that Elmo probably had was a blindside. It was hard but it had to be done. 

The next two rounds were a bit of a clusterfuck. This was around the time that Nathaniel was first considered the beast, and it was also the first time he was vulnerable. Chris/Claudia had come up with a plan to split between Brandon/Renz. At this point I didn’t trust either of them, so I took it with a grain of salt, but I figured the worst case scenario was Nathaniel leaving. Yes, I had a gut feeling about it, because Austin was insisting on trusting them, but Austin and I had already discussed what a threat Nathaniel became by that point, so I figured he might’ve been in on it as well. As it turns out, I was right, but Nathaniel had played his idol, so I suppose it didn’t matter. The following round was even more insane, because these past few votes were dominated by idols, and having been screwed over by my idol clue from the auction, I knew I had to find it. Unfortunately Claudia beat me to it, and she told Austin, which got back to the Catarina + Shea alliance. At first, it was best to dispose of this idol while we could, and just take out Claudia, but when Austin found out she was actually playing it, a few of us had already voted, and by splitting our votes we threw away our majority. It was extremely frustrating, but Shea felt so bad he was threatening to quit, and somehow he went to the tribal chat begging people to vote him out instead, which somehow led to them voting for me? I honestly cannot get a grasp on what actually happened during that tribal, but I had survived, and although we were beginning to connect, we were still against each other, so I was happy when Renz had left.

The next vote was really the only time I was actually out of the loop. At this point I had considered Austin a bigger threat than Nathaniel, and me and Nick had been plotting this Catarina-blindside for a while, so with a safe majority it would’ve been easier to achieve, however it seemed as if other people had that idea before me, which kinda derailed that whole idea. I figured Austin was a threat due to his relationship with Claudia, but I trusted him more than Nathaniel at that point, but I was also afraid that Claudia wouldn’t want to vote him out later, so it was all about timing. However, Chris/Claudia had probably grown tired of these potential voting out Nathaniel plans, and used him to take out Austin. Touche. Losing Austin wasn’t the end of the world, and I was more sad on a personal level as we had become friends, but now me and Nick were in a minority, however this set up a power position for what would be my most powerful time in the game. 

At this point Chris/Claudia were finally ready to take out Nathaniel, and Nathaniel/Shea wanted to vote out Jenna. I believed both sides, so here was my logic. As much as I had grown close to Jenna as a potential ally, I knew she was close to Chris/Claudia. Although they weren't as much of a trio, I will say that it was more to weaken Tacana. I knew Nathaniel/Shea could easily realign with Chris/Claudia, but it wouldn't have been for very long, and if I had voted out Nathaniel Shea wouldn't have forgiven me, and I doubt Chris/Claudia would want to work with me and Nick together, and would've easily chose Nick over me. On the other hand, Nathaniel/Shea, as mad as I was, decided that it would be smart to knock the other side down a number, and keep Nathaniel as a meat shield, because I knew that it was becoming clear who was considered a jury threat, and who was not, and in which order. (This was edited a bit but I urge you to go read my answer in Jenna's speech for more clarification).

The finale has been quite the wild ride, and props to Claudia’s secret advantage, it started off wilder than I anticipated. At this point, taking out Nathaniel had become somewhat of a main priority, but splitting was more appealing because Chris had Ellis, and although I was sure it wouldn’t do anything, better safe than sorry. When all was said and done, I figured that Chris and Claudia would finally want to take out Nathaniel, but it started to feel like whenever I offered it, it wasn’t convenient for them. Our timings never aligned, and Shea was practically begging to be voted out, so I reluctantly voted him out, and figured out that Nathaniel was being kept as some sort of meat shield. I will openly admit that I wanted to take Shea to the end as I figured he was easier to beat, but I assumed that with him gone people felt the same way about me, which was disheartening but I was ready to own that and control how the rest of the game turned out. 

At this point of the game, one thing I constantly heard was “person A or person B would beat you in a landslide”. As annoying as this was, I used this to my advantage. I knew how I was perceived in this final 5, and how Nick and I were treated as goats, so I knew that it was my choice who was going to FTC and who was not. Nathaniel had won immunity, just like I warned Chris/Claudia the round earlier, and although Nat threatened to vote me out if I didn’t vote for Chris, who he considered a competition threat, Claudia was voted out for being a social threat. She was going to beat us all, and Nick and I knew we would be deciding between Chris/Nathaniel on who to take to Final Tribal Council, and it was an easier decision to make, with Empress Claudia out of the picture. 

Now I know people assume that Nathaniel must have been some big strategic threat for convincing me (and Nick) to take him to Final Tribal Council, just like saving Chris over Claudia was somehow him convincing me (and Nick) was also a great feat of strategy, but I want to make it clear. Every decision I’ve made in this game has been my own. I haven’t been convinced by anyone, and I honest to god did what I saw was in my best interest moving forward. Hell I barely even talked to Nathaniel on Day 38.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, my game wasn’t full of flashy idol plays or flash-game high scores but I used that to my advantage, because I was never a prime target. I wasn’t threatening in the ways Austin and Nathaniel were, so they made great meat shields, and it put me in a constant swing-vote position. I’m just looking to be recognized for my own decisions, because whenever I saved someone it was me looking out for myself. Even though I've been closely aligned with Nick the whole way through, I believe that I've played an individual game that just happened to benefit the both of us. On top of all of that, I was constantly aware of what was happening in the game, even when I was being lied to. This hyperawareness allowed me to constantly plan what happened in the game, whether an idol helped or hurt my own goals in the game, I worked around idols in general, and tried to play a game based on information / trust. 

Finally, just to pay tribute to the almighty Jaclyn, or even the supreme Kristie, I made moves when I needed to, and didn't make uncessary moves that would've just made me a threat down the line. I had a few close calls without idols or white pearls in a dodgy season, but I played with the cards I was dealt, and it worked out so I hope you guys can respect the decisions I've made, although selfish at times, it's an individual game so I guess that's all we can do haha. 

And with that, I want to commend all of the hosts and players who have contributed to what I think will be remembered as an amazing season. It’s been quite the long 2 month journey, and aside from all the hair loss, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. It’s been fun, and I think everyone should be proud of how they played, and I want to wish Nick and Nathaniel good luck :)

Hello all~ I wanted to start differently tonight and just say this point blank, in my opinion the whole idea and concept of Final Tribal Council is such a farce. I feel like a majority of the time we’re all just wasting our times here, whether we like to admit it or not, most of the time even before FTC we know exactly who we’re voting for, and our speeches and your questions don’t even matter in that decision making. If there’s a front runner, some may have decided their vote already, and some may be in denial or may even up in the air. But if you’re not that person whose been praised the entire game, why would people listen to you in a speech? Well, there maybe is a clear front runner here who we’ve all heard throughout the entire game what kind of a massive threat they were, and then there’s two others here who have been talked down to a majority of the game, and have been told basically that they were goats and that they really can’t win. So while I’m not sure what good it may do, my one job here is to shed light on things that happened this season that may not be as it appears, so regardless of how you feel about me before or after this speech, I hope you give it a read.

Coming into this game I kept telling myself one thing, and that was to stay out of the drama. In Socotra, my biggest downfall came from the fact that I had a big mouth and wanted to fight with people when I could and whenever I could, and it didn’t help that everyone else on that season wanted to fight whenever they could too haha. But this was my second chance, I realized that and knew that I had to keep my damn mouth shut, even if my tongue was severely bleeding a lot because of it this season. I tend to play games similarly, but seeing that was one thing I knew I had to change in how I was approaching this season as well, I realized I needed to adjust to a completely new strategy for me. Everyone plays this game with three main core aspects in mind, the areas of physical, social and strategic games. This may be true, but I don't think those are exactly the three aspects I used to navigate my way through the game, and relied my game on three different aspects that were strongly in place throughout my game:

1st Social: Since I was coming into this game not trying to make enemies, the opposite of that is obviously making friends. The difference between me and others is that I would never message people just regarding the vote. I made sure that each and every round I would check in with people from here and there just to chat. It seriously worked in my favor much more then just a game level, because I honestly believe I made a lot of friends through this game. There are so many people from this cast that I would actually consider good friends because of the conversations I had with people here. There's not a single person I dislike and I can see myself keeping in touch with a lot of you, which is highly unusual for me since I usually end up loathing my cast near the end.

My social game is what helped me navigate my way throughout the game strategically as well. Since I was able to develop actual relationship with people, people trusted me. I was able to use these social relationships and develop them strategic gain. This helped me be able to gather information because I was open to sharing my own information if I knew I could trust them as well. I was able to make genuine relationships with people that a number of people wanted to keep me around not only because they may have believed I would vote their way or was a number for them, or even because they believed they could beat me when the time came, but also because people may have genuinely liked me as well. Even out of myself and Sim, I feel like I had a more proactive role in securing our spots for future votes and dealing with the relationship side of our partnership. During the final 6 tribal, when it came down to only me, Nathaniel and Shea being eligible to vote for I was hearing that I was going to be the target. Nathaniel was a good shield for people and was at that point to all of us, being idol’d so it was either myself or Shea, and Shea was a clear goat so I should’ve been the obvious one to go. However, Shea ended up being so disliked and mistrusted, to the point where that level combined with the fear of him being taken to the end as a goat over anyone, that he was actually voted off over me. That was concrete proof that people actually saw me as someone who they wanted to move forward with in the game, again whether or not its because they believed they could beat me or because they liked me, its the reason I’m still here.

2nd: Consciousness I feel like throughout this game, there was never a time when I was "unconscious", but rather "woke". If you look through my voting history, there were only three times this season I didn't vote for the person who left, and all three of those times there was an idol played. Austin's elimination, Rhi's elimination and Shea's elimination. Those were the only three times I didn't vote correctly, and even then I still knew they were all going home beforehand, with the exception for Rhi. Once all the votes were locked at the Austin vote, I was told before results were up, because people were threatened by Austin and not me and wanted to work with me in the future, simply because Austin played an idol and I didn’t. We both had a large part of control for the entire pre-merge of the game of our tribes, and were a close duo throughout this game. And during Shea's elimination I only voted for Nathaniel as a safety precaution that, so that I knew for sure I was not going home in the event of Nathaniel pulling something crazy to save him. Which brings me to last aspect.

3rd: Caution Another issue that I encountered in Socotra was not being careful enough. This season, every round I made sure to be more calculated in all my moves, so that if someone was leaving I wouldn't become the target for the next round because of it. This was always a concern of mine since I never obviously wanted to be targeted so I wanted my foresight to be a big factor in my game. I was able to use Nathaniel and Austin as my shields coming into the merge because I knew people would go for them over me for their flashy games compared to my more reserved ones. Even once Austin left, I knew Claudia, Chris and Nathaniel would all be targeted over me since they were all obviously bigger threats, and had the perception of myself as a sheep help me in the case of why not to target me over them. That's why I wanted to keep people like that around, so the target was off my back and on there's. This caused the big threats to target each other, leaving me in multiple swing vote positions. Claudia's elimination, Chris's elimination and Jenna's elimination were all times where I believe I was the one who officially decided who was the one leaving, I never let anyone dictate my vote or decide for me, I made my own decisions throughout this entire game.

In Survivor, there’s one goal: get to the end. And out of everyone on this cast, I feel like not only did I have the best endgame set up, but I also had the best game to survive. Almost every round in this game my vote was necessary and crucial to someone, I voted differently many rounds of this game and yet I was never a target. No one looked at me because they all assumed they could easily beat me. This game isn’t about who played the best idol or won the challenge or even lied the best, at the end of the day it’s about surviving, and my whole game basically prevented anyone from stopping that. This is Survivor, the object is to do your best to survive and get to the end, and I feel like I did this exceptionally better then pretty much everyone from this season. I survived so many crazy vote flips, idol plays and blindsides, and I’m still standing because my game got me there and the work I put in to it.

Lastly, I just wanted to say that as the great Kristie from Australian Survivor said, “You don’t need to have a flashy game to be a good player”. Yes, this game has been played really hard by not just us three, but by everyone. This game had so many different idol plays and items it was extremely hard to keep up. I only had one item the entire time, which was my light pearl, it definitely helped me but I wouldn’t say it saved me. I did not have to rely on idols to help keep me alive, instead I played to survive. Heck, I did not even have to rely on immunities since I was only immune once and it was at final 4, and even then I had a situation with two people who were voting each other indefinitely so I wasn’t even in danger there.

So to end this on a positive note, thank you to all the fabulous hosts for hosting such an amazing season! This cast and twists was iconic, so thank you for helping us all participate on this rollercoaster of a season. Also, thank you to the jurors and perjurors for participating in this season because honestly we were all crazy. So with all this being said, I hope you guys have heard me out and are open to voting for me to be the winner of this game, and I look forward to your questions and actually being able to talk to a lot of you again.

Hi, Nathaniel here, and this is my FTC speech for San Marcos. Just wanna start by saying sorry for posting this so late - have been unable to post it until now. Also, thanks to all seven of the hosts for hosting this season! We might’ve not always seen eye to eye on all things, but you’ve been awesome and have handled most things really well. I’d also like to thank Dani for making the season’s mangas. And finally, thanks to everyone who’s played in this season. From Grant to me, Nick and Sim, all of us have helped making this season what it’s been - and what it’s been is one of the best seasons on 703. It’s been an insane game, with so many good players in it, and I’m so glad I got to experience it all. Anyway, I’m gonna try to make this short and not clogg it up with lots of small details, so if you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask in your speeches - I’ll gladly answer!

So, let’s start from the beginning?

Over 20 months ago, I was invited to play on 703, and I gladly accepted! 703 is a major ORG, and playing in it was something I’d wanted to do for quite a while. And so, my 703 journey begun… And ended horribly in a blindside I’m still not over.

But then, over a year later, I was asked if I wanted to continue that journey - with a fresh, new start. I was originally planning to take a break from ORGs completely, but you don’t get to return to 703 every day, so I accepted, thinking it’d fit well as a final season of mine. A while later, the game begun. I was playing with a handful of people I’d met before, quite a lot of faces I’d seen around, and a few people I’d never heard of before. On my tribe, the only person I knew since before was Hannah, and partially Rhi, but I talked to everyone, and grew fond of them all too. I grew especially close to Sim, and we promised to take each other to the merge we’d missed out in our original seasons. I also reformed by old bond with Hannah, got to learn Rhi a lot better, and talked to Austin too. I didn’t talk as much to Nick and Brian, but I kept a good bond with both of them. I also, right after we’d gotten our first Idol clue, found the Idols of Quetzal and Tacana. Catarina’s was lost to me though. I shared my findings of the Quetzal Idol with others in case anyone would swap there and to build trust, but kept the Tacana one to myself, to not seem too threatening (finding two Idols but not the third would’ve been seen as unlikely by people), since the Idol had been found anyway (the puzzle had been solved). Catarina was a very strong tribe, winning the first three challenges, which I’d say I helped quite a bit in, but then a loss came. I was, by that time, in an alliance with Sim, Austin and Nick, with Rhi as a proposed extra number. I think you all know what happened during this tribal and the next one (feel free to ask if you wanna know more in detail), but to make a long story short, my name probably came up as an option, but my social bonds kept me safe, and in the following Hannah tribal, almost everyone wanted her out and going against everyone when there was nothing I could do anyway would’ve just been stupid.

Then came a swap! I was the sole Catarina to remain on my tribe, and I immediately got to work. I knew it’d be tempting to get me out, especially when Ryan had been voted out and Sim gave Catarina at Tacana a majority, so I immediately told everyone on my new tribe about how I’d been on the bottom of my old one, and probably would’ve gone if we hadn’t swapped (which wasn’t a lie, really). I did lie about feeling extremely happy to finally be gone from my old tribe though, because everyone on there was amazing. I also wanted to get to know the people on my new tribe, and I talked a lot to Elmo and Chris especially, and also talked quite a lot to Shea and Jenna. Renz and I had bad timezones, and Andrew was always kinda… Gone. When we lost, everyone told me not to worry and that Andrew would go due to his inactive tendencies, and we all knew Ryan had the Tacana Idol too, so we’d be safe. Speaking of Idols, the Catarina one was already gone - Elmo found its location right after the swap and solved the puzzle, but it was already gone (I was told all of this by Shea, not Elmo, which made me start to think Elmo perhaps didn’t trust me all that much (he did tell me about it later though, right before the merge)). That also made me assume someone from original Catarina had found it. Anyway, once again thanks to the bonds I’d built, I was spared elimination, and Andrew went instead (which is a bit ironic, because I later went on to vote out every single person from that tribe come merge). We won the challenge after that too, and Rhi was Idoled out by Claudia (just a fun fact: Andrew had said that Ryan gave Claudia his Idol before the rocks, so I thought that was the one played until the F5, where I learnt Ryan actually was voted out with his Idol, and Claudia had found the rehidden version of it. How things go sometimes…)

Then we merged! I was so, so, so, so happy - making the merge (and Jury) had been my main goal all season, and actually making it was… I still don’t have words for it. I quickly found the merged Idol too, and also won the first immunity challenge! Things were looking really good for me, and furthermore, I was connected to both my original and swapped tribes, although I soon realised where the people I could really trust were. I wanted Quetzal and Catarina to go together and take out Tacana, because I feared they’d rule the game, but of course, neither side wants that, and the war began. From Shea, I learned that Quetzal were voting Austin, while all of them had told me Malik was a fine vote. I also learned from him that Quetzal wanted to go for me at our swapped tribes, but that he’d kept me safe. I then realised my original tribe were the people I could trust. I asked Austin/Nick/Sim if they had the Catarina Idol, since I knew it’d been found, and Austin revealed he’d found it. I told him what Shea had told me, and Austin got confirmation from Claudia that he’d be getting votes. Due to Malik’s blowup before the merge, the others really wanted him gone, thinking we could get Chris and Claudia with us if he was gone, so I reluctantly agreed on voting out Malik (I wanted to go for Brandon due to his challenge strength, combined with the fact that I knew him the worst of the Quetzals), which we did. Next vote, I was immune again. Claudia and Chris approached us, claiming they wanted to side with us (next vote), but that they’d vote out Shea with the Quetzals to not make them suspicious. I knew that Shea was loyal to us, and had given up his chances with Quetzal to help us, so I thought about playing the Idol on him. I knew that Chris and Claudia probably would side with us for one vote if Shea left, but would then turn on us at the final 9 (or do the reverse). Either way, they’d control the game, which I did not want. With Shea staying, we’d have a solid 5, and I also knew that I owed it to Shea. As for who to Idol out, I realised one player was playing an amazing social game. Nick, Sim and Austin all wanted to go for Brandon or Renz, due to Renz being a liar, Brandon flipping back to Quetzal from them, and they all also thought Jenna was incredibly boring to talk to, while they thought Elmo was a great guy they could talk to all day. I, too, loved talking to Elmo and considered to be closer to him than to any other Quetzal (sans Shea), but when they said that I realised Elmo was someone that could connect to everyone, who nobody would want gone, and who could make it to the end very easily due to the great person he was. I pointed that out to the others, and they agreed that Elmo had to go. He was also the one most likely to have the Quetzal Idol (I remembered how he’d found the Catarina one so fast), so there was that too. The plan worked, and Elmo left. Next vote, Chris and Claudia came to us, saying they wanted to side with us. We agreed to a vote split plan, between Brandon and Renz, in case of Idols. I felt incredibly uncomfortable though, and talking to Shea, he too said he didn’t trust Chris and Claudia. Doing the math, I saw no reason for them to vote with us, since it’d give Catarina + Shea a solid 5, while them tricking us and taking one of us out would bring it down to a 5-4 instead, advantage to Quetzal + Tacana. Austin was very adamant to trust the two though, and I realised I couldn’t change things. What I did do, however, was to tell them Shea hadn’t liked the plan, and was voting Chris. Why? Well, the votes would be sending Renz home if things stayed the way they were, and I thought Brandon was much more of a threat with his challenge abilities. Renz was seen as the Quetzal leader, but a leader without anyone to lead is just an ordinary player. I convinced my fellow Catarinas to have Austin change vote to Brandon (much due to the fact that there also was a 50% chance he had the secret advantage from the auction, since Shea and I both had failed to get it, and the only other person available to have gotten it was Claudia). Oh, I also found the merged Idol almost immediately after it was rehidden, so I had that thing too. Nobody knew about it though. I decided to play it due to the paranoia I felt, combined with the fact that Shea’s perception skills are amazing, and I trusted his word a lot, and it turned out to be the right call, as Brandon was sent home after 6 votes against me were negated.

The next vote was by far my luckiest moment in the game. We had a majority, and we knew Chris and Claudia were sneaky, so we thought it would be an easy vote. But… Then we messed up. Claudia found the rehidden Idol, and told Austin, setting off crazy thoughts in our alliance. We decided to vote for Claudia, to remove the Idol, but then we got word that she actually was playing it on herself. We quickly swapped target to Renz, but by that time, Shea and Austin had already voted, and our majority was doomed - and I was sure I was about to go home. The most emotional moment of the season then followed, where Shea said he wanted to quit for me, and it went so far that I actually began crying (which I never do). However, Shea then did something great: he went to the tribe chat, and told people to vote for him instead, to confuse everyone. I thought it wouldn’t work at all, in all honesty, and went to sleep expecting to wake up as a 9th placer. But somehow, they had split their votes too, accidently, and Renz, who I considered to be my main rival, was sent home in an insane 3-2-2-2 vote. I was overjoyed, and expected the rest of the season to go easier and less messy. Oh, how wrong I was.

The next vote, I was approached by Chris and Claudia. They told me what I called “The Truth” - the fact that my alliance wanted me gone. More specifically, Austin. They told me that he had tried to indirectly get me out the last two votes. He knew about Chris and Claudia not being with us during the vote split, and that the plan indeed was to get me out, and him being so adamant on trusting CC (Chris and Claudia) made that make quite a bit of sense. They also said last vote was messed up deliberately, and that I only stayed because Quetzal + Tacana screwed by accident up too. I dunno if this was true or not, but it seemed to make sense. I also figured that Austin/Nick/Sim would probably try to vote out me and Shea at the F5, and I did not want that to happen. Luckily, CC said they wanted Austin gone due to his threatening nature, and the fact that he had close relationships with most people in the game. Personally, I was especially afraid of his relationship with Claudia, and he had also performed really great at almost all challenges, AND he had found an Idol, and all that, combined with the fact that me/Shea/Nick/Sim would still be more people than Jenna/Chris/Claudia if Austin went, made me go along with it. Austin did indeed go home, with me/Chris/Claudia/Shea/Jenna voting for him, and since he was the first person I truly blindsided (I’d say Elmo, but he at least knew we were on opposite sides), I felt incredibly bad for doing it. I actually hated voting out almost everyone (except Renz, since it was victory in a way, to beat my rival, and Chris, since it was him or me, and we both were fine with voting for each other), and voting people out is one of my least favourite things in the game. Ugh. That’s the downside with getting to know people.

Anyway, next vote was quite easy, probably the most straight-forward one of all merge votes. Shea and I didn’t trust CC, and went back to Sim and Nick. We decided to vote for Jenna, since Claudia had her Idol (and she played it too), and Chris had Ellis, who everyone suspected to be an Idol. It worked, and Jenna went home. I really thought things would calm down now, but Chris and Claudia disagreed. Shea warned us about the power, but we didn’t believe him, and thought it was a ruse by Chris and Claudia to take one of us out. Apparantly it wasn’t though, and we ended up in a revote between me, Nick “White Pearl” City, and Shea. Shea didn’t want to vote for me, and publically announced voting for Nick. As for me, I thought for sure that it was the end of the road now. But, somehow, CC didn’t agree. I talked to them, and told them how Nick, SIm and Shea would vote them out if they left, while with me, they at least had a chance. They thought so too, and saved me. I also talked to Nick and Sim, trying to get them to save me, and Sim voted Shea too. Shea leaving was horrible - he was the person I was closest to by far, my best ally, and the person that had kept me grounded throughout the entire merge. He asked me to vote him out, and I granted his wish, but I hated doing it, and I swore I’d try to win for him.

Final 5. Sim and Nick wanted Claudia gone for being a FTC threat, Chris and Claudia wanted each other gone, and I wanted Chris gone, since I knew that two things: firstly, I had a strong feeling Chris staying would ruin my chances of winning the FIC (which also happened, through his Prisoner’s DIlemma answers). Secondly, Sim and Nick wouldn’t even consider voting me out if Claudia stayed, whereas Chris is an amazing talker, and I knew there was a chance he could convince them to take him to the end over me. Nick and Sim decided to let Chris stay though, and I voted incorrectly for the first and only time all season, by voting with Claudia (who’s such a funny and amazing person, and I hated seeing her go). Final 4, Nick won immunity. We all knew it was Chris or me, and I tried to reason why I thought they should vote out Chris. I gave some good reasons (him having his whole alliance on the Jury) and some less good ones (the fact that he’s a non-returnee) that Sim agreed on, and some he didn’t comment on (like the fact that Chris is an amazing talker, and the fact that despite Claudia playing more flashy than him, he was a vital part in all their moves too). Nick and Sim decided to vote out Chris (who I, personally, think played the best out of everyone this season), and I made it to the FTC.

Did I say short? Eh, 3k words is nothing. I need to sleep though, so I’ll be very short in the upcoming summary of my game (compared to everyone else’s):

I played 2 Idols, beaten only by Claudia’s 3, but I negated most total votes with my two, 12 beating Claudia’s 11.

I won most challenges (tied with Chris), and most individual ones.

I received the most votes out of everyone this season, proving how big of a target I was, and everyone wanted me out all season long, yet I managed to make it here.

I voted correctly the most times, only voting incorrectly at the Claudia vote - nobody else did that (except the first few boots of the season).

Finally, I controlled two votes (Elmo, by playing the Idol and naming him as the target, and Brandon, by once again playing an Idol and have the target swapped to him from Renz), and I was involved in all other merge votes, except the Claudia one - and quite heavily in most of them too.

I survived through the use of my social (pre-merge and late merge), physical (merge and F5) and strategic game (my Idol plays, amongst others), and I truly do think I’ve played the best game out of me, Sim and Nick. I won’t attack their games whatsoever, because they’ve played great too, but I hope I’ve convinced you why I played better than they did.

That’s all from me! Sorry for making the ending so short - please, please ask me questions, so I can explain things further!

And with that, the season’s almost over. I’ve laughed, I’ve cried, of both happiness and sadness, I’ve cheered, and I’ve felt despair. This has been an amazing journey, and I’m glad to have been able to share it with you. Thank you all for this season, and good luck voting! That’s all from me! This has been the final tribal council speech from Nathaniel. The Swede, signing out.

We'll now bring in the members of the Jury: Rhiannon, Malik, Elmo, Brandon, Renz, Austin, Jenna, Shea, Claudia & Chris, voted out at the last Tribal Council.

---

Nathaniel, Nick & Sim, congratulations on doing what eighteen of your fellow competitors couldn't do, make it to the end of this game. Now the power shifts to the jury. Here's how Final Tribal will work:

*You will each post a vote for me speech, "Vote for _____!"

*Then the jury will make their own threads entitled "_____'s Jury Speech"

You will answer their questions and then they will vote on who should win this game.

---

You three have 24 hours to put up your speeches, so you have until 8:15 PM EST on February 7th. If your speech is not up by then, be forewarned, the jury will move forward without it. Good luck!

First Vote....

Chris.

Nathaniel.

Chris.

Seventeenth person voted out of Survivor: San Marcos & the final member of our jury.......

Chris.

Chris, the tribe has spoken. It's time for you to go.

---

And there it is. The last Tacana and the last non-returning player gone. It's just you three now, but while you've been the controllers of your fates in this game, that changes now. Final tribal council is next, and the power shifts to the jury. These ten people will decide which of you will be the Sole Survivor. Get ready, this hasn't been an easy season and I don't see that changing any time soon. Good luck.

---

We will now bring out the members of our jury. Rhiannon, Malik, Elmo, Brandon, Renz, Austin, Jenna, Shea, and Claudia, voted out at the last tribal council.

---

Before we vote, there are some questions I would like to ask all of you.

• Nathaniel: Are you worried about tonight?

• Chris: Are you scared the three former Catarina may vote you out as the lone Tacana?

• Nick: Congratulations on winning final immunity! Is it a shock that you won the most important challenge of the game?

• Sim: Do you think you have a shot at winning?

---

We ask that you write your votes down on the parchment below:

---

Please send your vote in by 11:35 PM EST, February 5th (24 hours from now) to your personal confessional chat.

The results are in!!! Before we get to the results, let's meet the judges for the buffs! From Survivor: Mongolia and Resurgence...





Bryce! From Survivor: Tokelau and Sumbawa...





Dani! From Survivor: Chile and Skye Islands...





Evan! Now let's get onto the results! For Trial #1, the winner with 5 years is...
















































































































Nick! Nick leads with 5 points, Sim with 3 points, Chris with 1 point, and Nathaniel with 0 points. Now, the winner of Trial #2 with a perfect score of 18 is...
















































































































Sim! Nick and Sim are tied with 8 points, Chris with 4 point, and Nathaniel with 0 points. Now, the winner of Trial #3 with a perfect score of 63/90 is...
















































































































Nathaniel! Nick still leads with 11 points, with Sim in 2nd with 9 points, Nathaniel in 3rd with 5 points, and Chris in last with 4 points. Now to the final Trial. The winner of Trial #4 with 7,259,240 is...
















































































































Chris! Nick still leads with 11 points, with Sim in 2nd with 10 points, Chris in 3rd with 9 points, and Nathaniel in last with 8 points, which means...

Nick!

Congratulations Nick, you are safe from Tribal tonight and have a guaranteed spot in the final three! You will get a chance to plead your case in front of the jury on Day 39!

Yaknad

As for the rest of you, one of you will become the 17th person voted out and the 10th and final member of the jury. Head on out, I'll see you at Tribal.

Nathaniel, I'll take that back! For the last time this season, immunity will be back up for grabs.

Let's get to the challenge!

---

Today, you'll be competing in the San Marcos Trials!

These trials are designed to test how badly you want a spot in the final three and the title of Sole Survivor. For each trial, you'll get points depending on how well you do. First place will get 5 points, second place will get 3 points, third place will get 1 point, and fourth place will get no points.

Trial 1: Prisoner's Dilemma

You've all committed crimes together - Nathaniel/Chris, Nathaniel/Nick, Nathaniel/Sim, Chris/Nick, Sim/Chris, Sim/Nick. You've got two options: you can either sell out your accomplice, or you can walk free. If you both sell each other out, you get 5 years in prison. If neither one of you sells the other out, you get two years in prison. If one of you sells the other out and the other doesn't, the one who sold their partner out will get 0 years while the one who didn't sell out their partner will get 3 years.

To make it clearer: submit whether or not you want to sell out the other members of the Final Four. You may not share answers for this part of the challenge!

Person with the least amount of jail time gets the most points.

Trial 2: Scattergories

In this game, you will be given a list of categories, and you will have to name something that fits in that category and starts with the letter that we assign. If you have the same thing for a category as someone else, you do not get a point. The person with the most points will win this trial!

The letter that will be used is E.

Here is the list of categories.

1. Breakfast Food
2. Country
3. Iowan Town
4. Alcoholic Drink
5. Restaurant Chain
6. Country Singer
7. 80s Song Title
8. Video Game
9. Reality Show
10. Holiday
11. Cereal
12. Book Series
13. Items Found in the Bathroom
14. School Subject
15. Fruit
16. Color
17. Dessert
18. Disease

Trial 3: Buff Maker

You will create a merge buff for your tribe! It will be judged on creativity, effort & fluidity on a scale of 1-10!

Trial 4: Sunny Day Sky

You will be playing the flash game, Sunny Day Sky! The person with the highest score will earn the most points!

---

You have 72 hours to turn in everything to your confessional chats by 10 PM EST February 4th!

AND FOR THE FINAL TIME.....