I'm keeping this brief as I can because I am so ready for this entire game to just be done with. So I won't be upset over short answers as long as it actually answers the questions I give you. That being said, onto my actual questions.

Stan

Stan I got to know you a bit after Yates was created but clearly not as much as Ben. I mean you tried which is good but I mean after I voted out Tina you did nothing but just passively aggresively rag on me. Which I mean is understandable, I was trying to vote you out but it was because of that behavior (and the behavior of Josh and Ben) I really started to hate you three and delivered back your flippant behavior. So its tough for me to vote for you because I don't like you. Luckily for you I'll be voting for the person who played the best game and had the biggest grip on how the game really played out. So on to your questions.

1) I didn't watch your video because I don't want to waste 14 minutes of my life on that shit. Give me a maximum of 3 paragraphs describing your game play. One for each stage of the game (pre-swap, post-swap, merge)

2) Who would you have taken to the F3 if you had won immunity?

3) According to Josh you two were aligned in a different game but you backstabbed him and went on to win said game. But it seemed to me that Josh was incredibly loyal to you in this game despite this. He even (apparently) told you pretty quickly when I made the sleep deprived mistake of telling Josh about Ben's attempt to vote him out. When did that relationship with Josh develop and how did you use his loyalty to further yourself in the game?

4) To me it seemed as if you misted Ben pretty well on the fact that you were disliked by everybody and that he would have easily won against you over JOSH of all people? Was this an actual plan of yours and you were working over Ben or did you just attach yourself to Ben like a parasite and ride his coattails to the end?

Ben

Oh Ben. The icon of betrayal. Let me make it clear. These questions need to be answered for me to vote for you at all. Right now Stan has my vote but you COULD win it here if you give me a stellar FTC and Stan tanks this. So good luck with that.

1) Was the plan you proposed to me at the F8 with the boot order of Josh > Brian > Gabe > Sagar > Grant to a F3 of you, Stan, and I your real plan? If so why was that your plan and was that plan not to set yourself up to be easily taken to the F2 given the fact Stan and I never really became close? If this was not your plan, what was your plan and why did you lie to me?

2) "Flippers Never Win". Tell me why that is incorrect in the context of this game.

3) I feel as if when you brought the plan to eliminate Josh and take Stan to the F3 you were betraying me because I felt as if you were just setting yourself up for an easy F3. So despite you saying that I betrayed you first, I felt betrayed because to me, you were only thinking of YOU making the Finals, not US making the Finals. Hell, was I even the person you wanted to take to the Final 2 in the first place? And don't give me that crap about you thought it was going to be a F3 because we both knew it wasn't going to be one.

4) Why in the ever living FUCK did you not take Josh?! If you had taken him, you would have won, hands down no questiosn asked. Or at the VERY least you would have gotten my vote no problem. I wouldn't have even needed to ask any questions! I would have just posted a really short blurb and voted for you. Tell me your reasoning behind bringing Stan and why it was 100% your desicion and not because he manipulated you into doing it.

Hey Luke! First of all, I would like to apologize for the "passive-aggressive ragging" at the Final 8. As I said in my opening statement video, it was purely strategy and had nothing to do with you as a person. In fact, I think you're a great guy. After the whole Yates thing was formed, I was genuine when I said I really do like you and that we should get to know each other more. However, the move at the Final 8 was purely strategy on my part. I knew you wanted nothing to do with me in this game and there was an inevitable tie between the two of us and your side wasn't flipping and my side wasn't flipping either. So what I did was to openly expose your game by getting snippets of conversation that I got from Benny and sending it to Sagar, Josh and even Gabe, who turned back to you. I knew that once I released this information, red flags would be raised about your game. Then I called you out and let everyone know about it too. Whether or not it was the jugular that turned people against you, it definitely deflected some of the attention and the target off me. Furthermore, the confrontation you had with Ben ensured that Ben was fully on my side and that I had 4 votes at the Final 8, enough for at least a tie, and a roulette which would guarantee my safety. You were a huge threat to win it all and that's why I did what I had to do. I had to preserve myself because I knew votes were going my way so I did anything and everything I could to stay in this game.

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1) I didn't watch your video because I don't want to waste 14 minutes of my life on that shit. Give me a maximum of 3 paragraphs describing your game play. One for each stage of the game (pre-swap, post-swap, merge)

Pre-Swap

I tried to form an alliance with Gabe at the start and simultaneously, Loren and Sagar formed a 3 person alliance with me. Loren was also in an alliance with Gabe and Frank and he ultimately decided to vote Frank off first.

Post-Swap

I formed a Final 3 alliance with Josh and Tina at Regina and a separate Final 2 with Josh and Eleanor was unanimously voted out. I knew Josh was close to Brian and Grant, so that would keep me safe for a couple of votes. When Loren tried to turn on me, I called him out on it and everyone including my newly formed Final 3 turned on Loren and voted him out.

Merge

(I took some excerpts from my opening statement)

I think a big part of my game post-merge was my loyalty to my allies. I understand that it may not have been the most flashy of games, but that's how the cards fell. I made sure that these four people that I invested my trust in (Sagar, Josh, Ben and Tina) would not turn their backs on me. At some point in the game, I knew that I likely won't be working with Grant, Gabe and Brian as they were on the complete other side, so my best move was to cultivate these relationships with all the people I had on my side and made sure that I was their #1. More importantly, when shit went down post-merge, I gave each of them my 100% trust and was open to them about every aspect of my game. Josh and Sagar knew that I was working closely with Ben at the Final 8. I made Ben feel absolutely secure about where I stood with him and never showed any signs of distrust. He also knew I was with Josh and Sagar. I knew Ben was not going to flip on me at any point because he sacrificed his alliance with you to save me. And when Ben flipped on Sagar, I could have easily campaigned to get him out, but instead I went back to him and showed him even more trust so that when he does flip the next time, he won't flip on me. I placed myself right smack dab next to Ben the whole time so he knew I was with him 100% and he would never flip on me. He could've flipped on my allies, but he would never have flipped on me. Although I was a big target immediately when the merge hit, I made subtle but effective moves to diffuse the target off me and deflect it over to my opponent at that vote. What I did was I openly exposed people's games to the rest of the players to take the heat off me. It was nothing personal, but I had no choice. During the Annette vote, I knew Ben and Luke were on the fence. So with ammunition from Josh, I showed Ben and Luke snippets of conversation between Josh and Annette in which Annette revealed to Josh that Ben and Luke were targets. Much to Josh's chagrin I had exposed his game to the other side, but this benefited my game because it got you and Ben to flip and form The Yates Alliance. At the Final 8, I needed to expose your game to take the attention away from me and entice people to flip. Moving forward, I had this little thing going on with Brian in which we tried to deflect votes away from each other as much as we can. In the Final 6, when Grant had turned on Brian right after the immunity challenge, I was the one who suggested to Benny to blindside Grant instead. Brian was better for my game than Grant because Grant was closer to Josh and Ben whereas I knew Brian had no ties with Josh and if the time came, having Brian in the game would benefit my game more than Josh's or Ben's.

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2) Who would you have taken to the F3 if you had won immunity?

Josh. He was my original Final 2 and I knew that I would have a way better chance at winning against him than Ben.

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3) According to Josh you two were aligned in a different game but you backstabbed him and went on to win said game. But it seemed to me that Josh was incredibly loyal to you in this game despite this. He even (apparently) told you pretty quickly when I made the sleep deprived mistake of telling Josh about Ben's attempt to vote him out. When did that relationship with Josh develop and how did you use his loyalty to further yourself in the game?

Yes, you're right. I came fresh off a game with Josh on another board. Through that, I got to know Josh pretty well and it worked to my advantage. There are two sides of Josh, the incredibly loyal side and the queen bitchy idgaf schemer. In the other game that we played in, I formed an early alliance with him, but I quickly saw some shade in him as he targetted me and made many alliances behind my back. It was kinda like what had happened between him and Baratheon in this one. I sensed that I wasn't part of his long term plans, so when I managed to get the numbers, I went ahead and blindsided him and his #1 ally. One thing I commended about Josh's game then was his extreme loyalty to that #1 ally to the point where he jeopardized his game severely and ended up getting voted out. So we patched things up after that game ended and once Chronicles happened, I wanted to be his #1 ally because I know he is very loyal and would do everything for his #1. Our relationship in this game turned 180 degrees as he protected me in every crucial vote. He protected me at Regina when Loren came at me, he protected me and rallied up the Yates Alliance at the Final 11 and in every subsequent vote, he made sure that we were both safe. On my end, I was 100% honest with him and protected him too in return. Having Josh as an ally was very important to my game because not only did I have someone who had my best interest, but he was also a conduit of information. In essence, I knew exactly what was going on with his dealings with you and Grant because he would tell me. Strategically, I knew I wasn't going to be trusted by the other side of the house, so I put all my eggs in Ben, Josh, Sagar and Tina's basket and made sure I nurtured those social relationships I had so they would never pen my name down and carry me to the end, which is exactly what had happened.

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4) To me it seemed as if you misted Ben pretty well on the fact that you were disliked by everybody and that he would have easily won against you over JOSH of all people? Was this an actual plan of yours and you were working over Ben or did you just attach yourself to Ben like a parasite and ride his coattails to the end?

I'm not going to lie and say that this was a part of a great plan that I had, because there was no such thing. I would also say that I wasn't simply a parasite that rode Ben's coattails to the end. I think throughout the game, the hand that was dealt to me was very different from what you and Ben and even Josh had. The three of you were intricately involved in everyone's games and you had options while I was the cockroach on the wall that everyone kept taking a shot at with their left slipper. I had no options in this game but stick to the people that I trusted and trusted me in return. It didn't make sense for me to flip and flop like Ben did because say I blindsided Tina or Sagar in favor of Gabe, Brian, you and Grant, I would surely be the next to go with no one having my back. So in essence, I had to play the way I did and I relied on the people I was working with. Yeah Ben flipped and I had no control in what he did or who he decided to turn on. But I would like to believe that I had enough control over Ben to confidently say that Ben would not flip on me. I made sure that Ben knew I was on his side. As I said earlier, I positioned myself to be as close to him as possible, so when he decided to flip, he won't ever flip on me. We strategized, I honored his wishes, I let him do his thing... as long as it ain't me. Just like its name suggests, Survivor is a game of survival and that's exactly what I had to do each and every round since the Final 15. I think I fostered strong enough relationships with enough people that everyone wanted to keep me and I made subtle moves to get certain people out like Annette, you and Grant. And when the time came when Ben had one final chance to take one more shot at the cockroach, he didn't. So in finality, I must have done something right to get here and hopefully you guys can appreciate my end of the journey.

Thank you for the questions Luke and I hope we get to chat it up when the game is over and all of this shit is behind us.

Thank you for answering Stan and I'll post a few follow up questions after Ben posts his answers. If Ben doesn't post his answers though then welp.

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1) Was the plan you proposed to me at the F8 with the boot order of Josh > Brian > Gabe > Sagar > Grant to a F3 of you, Stan, and I your real plan? If so why was that your plan and was that plan not to set yourself up to be easily taken to the F2 given the fact Stan and I never really became close? If this was not your plan, what was your plan and why did you lie to me?

That plan was 100% real and the end goal was to end up in a final three, knowing I would be brought to the final two. You were correct from the very moment you threw up a red flag about my plan about that being the reasoning behind it. The position we were in at the final eight made it very hard for me to put faith in getting past the final five if we stuck with Gabe/Brian/Grant. Just as I had done the previous round with you, I was looking to the future and planning ahead. I wanted to give us better odds of being in the majority each round.

Taking out Sagar at the final eight was my original plan but he won immunity so that changed to Josh. Taking out Josh would have removed a person Stan was close to so he was more dependent on the F3 deal, while also ensuring we could flip back the next round. Voting out Brian at the final seven was because he had the best social game of the three and would have the best chance of helping construct something to get rid of the flippers. Final 6 would be Gabe, because he would be furious at Brian leaving and I wouldn't want him in the game since he seemed too loyal to want to work with people that had crossed him. Sagar would go at the final five, to ensure he didn't force a 2-2 tie at the final four. Then Grant would go last.

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2) "Flippers Never Win". Tell me why that is incorrect in the context of this game.

I think that's wrong because you can all clearly tell that I played the game. Whereas Stan was kind of on autopilot for most of the merge, taking a backseat to stronger players, I never left the driver's seat. I approached each round knowing who I wanted to go home and knowing that I would do anything to accomplish that. Usually, that meant working with the other side of the game after I had just burned them. Logic would say "fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me" but I was able to maneuver between both sides with little resistance.

I knew after you were voted out that I was in a great position. I could choose between two sides that could get me to the final four. Unfortunately for me, that is where my game would end in either scenario. That's why I started flipping regularly. Taking out Sagar at the final seven took out the person I spoke about strategy least to. Taking out Grant at final six made sure that I was the only person that was strategizing with both sides of the game. Taking out Brian at five made sure that the #1 jury threat was gone, and taking out Gabe at four took away the #2 jury threat.

The reason that flips happened so often is because I never felt secure in an established alliance. No matter what part of the game, I had the perspective that I was on the bottom of established alliances and needed to take matters into my own hands to pave a road to the end of the game for me. At the final nine, I felt like I was the first to go if we stuck with the six person alliance (Tina was solid with the other three and I was a bigger challenge threat). At the final eight, it was clear as day that we'd probably go fifth and fourth if we stuck with Brian/Gabe/Grant. It was apparent that Stan/Sagar/Josh were close as were Grant/Brian/Gabe at the final seven, meaning I would be at the bottom there. Flipping to chisel away at established pairings is the best thing someone can do when they aren't secure in a group. That's why I made a habit of doing it.

I think it's a testament to my game play that I was able to play the game that I played after you shared my chat with people in the game. It was out in the open that I wanted to work with Stan and that I planned on flipping multiple times. You would think that would be a red flag for people to go after me because flippers are dangerous. Yet, even though people knew that's what I was going to do, I wasn't taken out and was able to follow through on the plan I intended.

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3) I feel as if when you brought the plan to eliminate Josh and take Stan to the F3 you were betraying me because I felt as if you were just setting yourself up for an easy F3. So despite you saying that I betrayed you first, I felt betrayed because to me, you were only thinking of YOU making the Finals, not US making the Finals. Hell, was I even the person you wanted to take to the Final 2 in the first place? And don't give me that crap about you thought it was going to be a F3 because we both knew it wasn't going to be one.

My first loyalty was always to you. That didn't change with me creating this plan. Yes, the plan would have made things easy for me at the end of the game if things happened the way I wanted them to, but I never intended to betray you whatsoever. Just as I said in round one, I wanted me and you in the final two, no questions asked. Working with Stan was just a backup plan that would have locked up me getting to the finals if he won the final IC.

I understand why you feel like it was a betrayal. I was doing something that was furthering my individual game. What it didn't do is jeopardize your gameplay at all. Had things happened as I proposed, you'd be in the final two more than likely. I never intended to betray you because putting 100% loyalty into one person was a key part of my strategy from the beginning.

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4) Why in the ever living FUCK did you not take Josh?! If you had taken him, you would have won, hands down no questiosn asked. Or at the VERY least you would have gotten my vote no problem. I wouldn't have even needed to ask any questions! I would have just posted a really short blurb and voted for you. Tell me your reasoning behind bringing Stan and why it was 100% your decision and not because he manipulated you into doing it.

With the game that I played, it is real easy to define it as flipping, and because flipping is synonymous with deceit, being called deceitful would not be surprising. I hope that when the game ends, everyone can look at my confessionals and realize that I played a loyal game. Sure, I had to lie to many people to stay loyal to one person, but I stayed loyal to one person from day one to the final two. Had the final eight not happened as it did, I would want to be at the end of the game with you. It would not be the smartest game move to make since we would have made similar strategic moves, but I would do it because I gave you my full loyalty. The same applies to Stan. I know that I probably would have won the game against Josh, but I am not going to take the easy way out at the cost of betraying my loyalty.

Alright last question and its only for Stan. According to Ben he would have attempted to take us to the Final 3 together. I know you've preached how loyal you are but looking at the proposed plan, would you have gone along with it or would you have attemepted to take one of us out?

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Alright last question and its only for Stan. According to Ben he would have attempted to take us to the Final 3 together. I know you've preached how loyal you are but looking at the proposed plan, would you have gone along with it or would you have attemepted to take one of us out?

I think we're on the same boat on this one. I was so confused as to why Ben decided to form this alliance of three. We weren't really that close and he had a Final 2 with the both of us even before this "alliance" was suggested. Chronologically, he said that he wanted me at the end before he suggested this alliance to you because I remember asking Ben many times how he was planning on saving me. I'm not going to lie to you, had we pushed through with this alliance, I would have been skeptical at the very least. I know you and Ben were power players and likely had a Final 2 alliance in place. But at that time, I really had no choice and I took every single deal that was offered to me.

Yes, I've been preaching how loyal I was, but I think a lot of it had to do with deep connections that I've developed with my allies from pre-merge. I was really attached on a personal level with Sagar, Tina and Josh and I knew that they were fully on my side no matter what. I'm going to be completely honest with you and say that I don't think I would've been as comfortable with this alliance of 3 as I would be with my original allies, so I don't think I would have honored it to the end. I probably would've rode with it to get Brian/Gabe/Grant out, but I don't think that was what you wanted. I didn't think you would honor it either (and I was right, you sold it out immediately) as this was Ben's little plan in his best strategic interest, and I don't blame you for doing so. Just like Yates was, it would have been a poorly constructed alliance because our dynamic admittedly wasn't the strongest with each other. It made sense for Benny, but it didn't make sense for the two of us. You did what you had to do and called BS on that and I agree. But on my end, I knew that if there was an altercation between you and Ben, Ben would never vote with you and instead vote against you and I capitalized on that and even propagated it to ensure that Ben was my 4th vote to ultimately force a tie against you and ensure my safety in a possible Roulette.

Well! I guess that covers that then. I'll have to look everything over again before I vote but either way the cards fall, good luck to the both of you and may the best man win. You can lock this thread up hosts.