So Hunter left, it's final 8, and I do NOT trust anyone at this point but I'm ready to play the game and ultimately pick a side , the good thing is I have an extra immunity and I know I was going to be in an interesting position you have two sides , one side of 3 and the other side of 4 and it's a no-brainer for me that I was going to team up with Rita, Natalie and Nick for this vote. My goal was to dismantle one alliance back and forth, so I would just sit in a good position. So I go to Nick, Natalie and Rita and I tell them that I wouldn't mind for the 4 of us to work together.The night before the vote, Nick comes to me and proposes an idol bait strategy, which I was kinda skeptical at first because we would have to be very careful on how we handle things, but I agreed however I first wanted to see where Neal's head was at for this vote because he could possibly flip, so I proposed to Neal the idea to split Woo and Hope but he wasn't going for it, he insisted for Rita to go, so I didn't want to push it any further because we still need to put plan B into effect. So I just agreed and lied to him that Rita was indeed the right boot. The next thing, Nick is working hard on the split vote, and when both Woo and Hope tried talk to me about it, I just played it aLóng that I was willing to vote for Rita, and I think at some point I told Hope that my vote was IN meaning in my voting history , which it was, BUT in reality it was a vote for Hope and not Rita, my intention here is that I really wanted to make sure that me and Nick were voting differently because since they (both Woo and Hope) thought that I already voted for ~Rita~ therefore when Hope planned the split vote, I wasn't asked to switch my vote, and they thought Nick was going to vote for Nat, because otherwise it could have gone to hell. I felt bad lying to Hope about it and I reassured her that everything was going to be fine, but it was a game move that had to be done, but I have to give major props for Nick for coming up with this idea, because it worked out great.


F7


Once again, I was in an interesting position, and I felt for this round alone I was on top of the world. There are 2 groups of 3 , I could go to either sides but I had to look closely which side I was going to go with and analyze each pairs or trios very carefully.
You have Liz and Neal as a duo, and Rita & Nick who's another duo perhaps the most threatening ~jury wise~ , and you have Woo and Nat who I view them as potential DANGEROUS swing votes.

My objective was to target one of Nat and Woo preferably the person who I trust the least so that I would keep the threats (Nick & Rita)around to give me a bit of a shield, hence less attention on me.
I love Natalie, but I just did not get a good vibe from her, she wanted to turn on Rita and Nick next round which I'm not complaining because I was planning on doing it as well, but I felt scared if she were going to turn on me in the future and also Neal admitted to me that she was wanted a final 3 with himself and Liz, so I had to make sure this doesn't happen.

Then Neal came up to me and started campaigning for Nick to go, but I wasn't going to do that, I needed Nick to stick around for one more round , because I fully knew that both Neal and Nick would be gunning for each other for the next one because they barely talk, and I wouldn't have any immunity because my immunity was about to expire at f7 , so I was looking for some safety and also I made sure I had to solidify an alliance with him and Liz for a f3 even if I very well knew they promised Woo the same thing, gotta take any deals at this point because whichever's side I was about to pick, I was probably going to be at their mercy few rounds later, so I had to pick wisely.


F6


This is the round where I had to play very shady and I'm obviously not proud of it. It was 3 against 2 and I was in the middle. I was stuck with a decision whether to vote with Rita and Nick or go with Neal, Liz, and Woo. I told Nick and Rita that I would go for rocks for them and the reason why I did so was because I actually had in mind flipping but my target was Woo especially if I had that immunity, that would leave me in the middle between two pairs which is great. HOWEVER by doing so there's a gamble to it , because if I would let Nick and Rita too close to the end they could potentially win that Final 4 immunity and it's game over for my game, because I very well know that jury wise they will kick my butt. It was a hard decision, and although both Nick and Rita were expecting me to vote for Neal, I told them that I didn't want to make Woo uncomfortable which wasn't entirely true , I was willing to go to rocks if I felt it was necessary, but I didn't think it was worth the risk knowing we were so close to the final 3. I'm really sorry Nick, I know you deserved better, and I didn't like the way I treated you, but I was at least relieved that you ended up voting for me in return. Feel free to ask me anything in your own question, and I'll clarify



F5


The endurance round was a hell of a round, Rita was supposedly the next one to go, and of course there was a possibility where she could win it, and I could be in trouble which was worrisome, so I made sure that I at least pulled a decent effort in the challenge so that if she were to win it, Neal and Liz would want to boot Woo instead , because we would need all the strength we can get. Nonetheless, I still feel I would have been in trouble because whenever I tried to bring up "hey neal, liz F3 we're almost there" it didn't feel to me they were serious about it, and I had some ~deal~ with Woo which may have helped me for the final 4 but I don't know how willing or determined he was.

So Rita was the obvious boot and I remember she said something to me that it would be a game costing mistake if I were to hope that the jury would be bitter against Neal, because that could backfire and they could easily turn their opinion around, which I agree completely and I see the point she was making. However, one of many reasons why I was set on going to the end with Neal was because me and him were dragon partners for both portions of the game, so unlike others I didn't get to meet a variety of people because cross tribal communication was forbidden and I was stuck with Neal again, therefore me and him got to meet the same people, hence it would make sense for me to sit next to someone like him.



F4


This was a do or die round for me, I busted my butt for this challenge which was the most intense challenge I've ever done, I felt like it was some karma and I deserved it, because I may have screwed up with the vote at the F6, so I had to undo that mistake and if I had to practice doing these image tag puzzles for whole day, then so be it! :)


and..



booyah! I won, hard work paid off! and it felt so good <3
(okay not exactly Rachel, but yeah I couldn't find a gif of hers competing )

So at tribal I was left with a decision whether to vote for Woo or Neal, and although I said in my tribal council answer that I was going to vote for whoever I felt was going to benefit me in the end, well my real intention behind it was to show the jury that I was not one of Neal's ducks and never was, whether the vote was going to tie it or not, I was going to give Woo a chance for him to save himself.




So here I am sitting in the final 3 , very proud of myself!
I feel like I deserve to win because I tried to socialize with everyone the best that I could,
I wanted to be portrayed as someone pleasant, and ultimately it helped me from being targeted

Sure, my game was far from perfect and we all make mistakes, but I only got 1 vote cast against which technically, I wasn't suppose to receive in the first place but as I said earlier, I totally expected and deserved this vote.

Also, I poured my heart out into these challenges, won a couple of immunities, got voted as "nicest", frankly I think I would be a deserving winner.


So whether I walk out of this as a winner or not, I had a blast, it was a great experience, I wish my fellow finalists the best and good luck to each of you jurors for the decision you have to make, I look forward to your questions, statements, or.. grill? :P



Thank you everyone for reading this!
Rachel
xox