So I am going to end this tribal council how we were asked to start it: with a brief statement. However, since brief is being defined as a fourteen minute video, I'm going to make my closing statement "brief" as well.
As some of you know, my bachelor's degree is in Political Science, so we have a tendency to check the information we have been given, especially when it comes to voting, as baseless propaganda tends to pop up. I just couldn't shake that habit when reading through some of Stan's answers so I would like to share some fact checking with you all so that your vote being well informed. I posted most of my answers to your questions before he did so he was able to respond them, so I hope you'll allow me to do the same in my closing statement. Then I'll do a summary of my game from my viewpoint rather than his, finish up with some final thoughts, then cross my fingers that you'll cast a vote for me to win. This is going to be a really lengthy post and I hope you will consider everything I say just as much as Stan's novels in all of your threads. Ready, set, go!
_____________________________________________________________________
1. Being an underdog
|
| I probably had the hardest road to get to the end. |
|
| I see a lot of Shirin's game in mine. She's the total underdog in Worlds Apart and yet she knows the game very well...She's the underdog with three guaranteed votes in the jury. At this point, if she makes it to the end, I have no doubt that she will win Worlds Apart and everyone loves a true underdog story. |
|
| I'm on there because I was targetted many times and was the underdog. |
Let's make this really clear: Stan is, in no way, an underdog. I believe an underdog is someone that has been put in a tough situation because of the actions of those around them. In this game, I would say Gabe is truly the only underdog. Stan started this game in the majority of his tribe, he was in the majority of Regina as well. He had a target on his back because he had a bad reputation with others in the game because he tended to play ORGs as a villain in the past, combined with his actions in jeopardizing other peoples game pre-merge. Once the merge hit, he was AGAIN in the majority from the onset, along with weak connections to the Baratheons that would have helped him had a different pair been in the Red Wedding. He can claim ownership about being big target to others in the game, but he went through the first nineteen days of this game not having to worry about his place in the game, and it was only when he messed up and put HIMSELF in danger at the Red Wedding that he had to worry about his safety. His alienation of other people was part of the reason he was targeted, something that is his fault, not a matter of circumstance. He put all of his eggs into one basket when he saw that he was in the majority at the beginning of the merge and that majority ended up not being as secure as he had banked on. He had the opportunity to try and make things happen with anyone in the game, but he was inadequate in laying the foundation with most of the players that he wasn't aligned with at the merge, making it impossible for him to have any footing after the final nine. Because he thought his game was going to be won by sticking to that alliance, it was poor planning on his part because he was a sitting duck for the remainder of the game. Again, that's on him, not a matter of circumstance. As much as the underdog rhetoric sounds nice and is a good platform to go off of with this FTC, I would use a critical lens before saying he's an underdog.
2. His social game
|
| I didn't have the social connections that Ben did, admittedly. Frankly, it's because I didn't have the time to...I got home at like 7:00pm from working out doing Crossfit after the hospital, I checked my AIM, my allies told me I'm targetted, I had some dinner and got right to work. I worked every angle with Josh and Sagar. I strategized with Ben. I talked to the other side to see where they're at...It's easy to say that you put 2000% of your time when this game was to appease your boredom in rural Thailand, but it's even more difficult to play this game and use 100% of your available time amidst the insanity and long hours of medicine and STILL get to where I'm at in this game. |
|
| As much as I would've loved to endlessly chat with you and Grant till the wee hours of the morning about life, Worlds Apart and the game, I was at times too exhausted and usually had to wake up at 5:00am the next morning to get to the hospital. I also couldn't talk during the day because I was running around the wards. |
|
| However, I would like to point out that my social game with my allies was very strong. I talked to Tina about life daily. I had such a strong connection with Sagar. Josh and I strategized all the time and he would tell me about all his plans. Benny and I snapchatted each other and talked about Thailand when we got the chance. |
So... was he busy or was a conscious choice to neglect half the players in the game? Because from what I am reading, he's talking from both sides of his mouth on this one. On one side, he is claiming that he is incredibly busy. With my time zone difference and teaching when it's evening in the states, barring small breaks in class and my lunch, I was able to socialize from the hours of 7pm-8:30pm, 12am-1am, and 4am-12pm EST(when nearly nobody was online). So I am confused on how I was able to make quality connections with nine people in 2.5 hours while he had around five hours a day, not including the time he talked during work (which, from 1st hand experience, would often be full conversations), and could only solidly connect with four people in the game. Yet on the other side, he is also claiming that he played a very strong social game with his allies. Well... that was his choice to put his time and energy into his allies rather than knowing that this game is based on social connections and that every person has the power to help him in this game. So, I'm still confused... busy or neglectful?
|
| By me sticking to my side and not really having strong social connections with say you, Brian and Gabe, it further reassured my place in my alliance and it strengthened my position in it. |
This makes me believe that it was a conscious decision rather than lack of time. When it comes down to it, Stan admits he had around 4-5 hours each evening that he actively put 100% into the game. Yet he also admits that his social game was lacking, despite having ample time to cultivate relationships with everyone left in the game, and claiming he played a very strong social game with the four people he trusted. He certainly had much less time than I did, and I was able to do it. As a 13 year veteran of Survivor, I would think he knows a strategy of neglecting social connections is not the best thing to do, especially since the game is so reliant on social connections. As soon as things didn't work out with his alliance of six, that flaw in his game was exposed, yet he still didn't put in the effort to cultivate connection with everyone. To me, that is sloppy gameplay, not an inconvenience of lacking the time to connect with others.
3. Loyalty
One of the main parts of Stan's stance on why he should win is because he played a loyal game to all of his allies. He deserves credit because he was a very good ally to have in this game. However, as mentioned above, I think that loyalty also stems from his comfort level being too high that his final six alliance would get him to the end of the game along with his neglectful social game. He had no other choice than to be loyal. I respect his loyalty in this game, and it helped me dearly throughout the merge, but I hope that if you are considering voting for Stan based off his loyalty, you will also take a look at how I also maintained a loyal game while also ensuring I felt like I was in control.
I knew that one of the main things I would be chastised for was having a hand in voting out each person on the jury. It's something that I deserve because it was the decision that I made to play an individualistic game rather than sticking to a group of people. However, where I have to throw up some red flags is that Stan is trying to paint me as disloyal. Yes, I lied quite a few time in this game and I was shifty in my gameplay. However, there wasn't a day in this game where I disregarded the loyalty I had to the person I wanted to get to the end with. From round one until he betrayed my trust, it was Luke. When that happened, I made Stan that person (and I did luck out by being preemptive and asking Stan for a F2 to ease him into the F3 plan with Luke a day prior to asking Luke about the plan). I knew that with my position in the game and the game that I wanted to play, I could only honor loyalty to one person. Any more than that would be counteractive to my individual game and more suitable for ensuring the success of an alliance. I knew that by keeping one person safe with the game I was playing, I was able to do what was best for my game in each round while also ensuring the safety of the other person.
Stan, having such strong connections with four people, could not have done this. Had he made it to the end of the game as he intended, he would not be able to claim this clean and loyal game because he would be setting himself up to vote out three of those loyalties that he held so dear to him. In addition, we know that he wasn't going to fall on the sword for any of his allies if faced with that situation. He lucked out by not having to show his colors because all his allies were blindsided. With statements like this:
|
| I had no choice in this game but to stick to my allies and I think I did a pretty good job at it because as long as it ain't me, I'm alright with and hopefully I can still walk out of here with my torch still lit when it's all said and done. |
it makes me question the strength of his loyalty. If not the strength, then the degree to which he was loyal compared to what he is painting at this final tribal council. He did share conversations throughout the game that his close allies had with other people to deflect attention from himself. That's setting them up for danger, not their protection. An "anyone but me" strategy contradicts a strategy of loyalty. There's a reason Sandra was put on the Villains tribe in HvV.
When I made my opening statement, I was very clear that I wanted to play this game loyal with a person who could act as my shield. I was not going to put them in immediate danger with any decisions that I made and I would work my hardest to get to the end of the game with that person. However, I also owned up to the fact that I tried to enlarge the game that each of my F2 allies were playing compared to my own, in case something unexpected happened and we were suddenly targeted. It seems like Stan was doing this as well. Difference being that I am taking ownership of the game that I played, both the positives and the negatives, while I believe that Stan is trying to spin the game that he played to look as sympathetic as possible to make up for his lack of substantive gameplay.
|
I would've stuck with Josh and Tina and Sagar, it's true.
But Josh and I would want to work with you and Philip too.
I promised Tina Final 3 and Saggy Final 2,
Josh and I would have been stuck between the two sides too. |
Yeah, not so sympathetic. So Stan has spent this entire FTC lambasting me for being on the fence between two sides when, if the game went the way that he wanted, he would be the one sitting on the fence at the most crucial point in the game... I smell some hypocrisy! It is very easy to vilify a game where loyalty was kept to oneself to oneself and one other person, doing anything in their power to ensure their safety. However, when you go ahead and do that and then admit that you would have ideally liked to do the SAME. EXACT. THING., then that is some baby back bullshit.
_____________________________________________________________________
I came into this game knowing my weakness was my inability to critically look at players in a game, usually taking people at face value rather than being skeptical. It's why I don't have that good a reputation for being an ORG player. Coming into this, my strategy was to use my social prowess and be much more critical of the people in this game. I think being at the end shows that I knew my weaknesses and adapted well. Lemme break it down round by round so you can see how I got here.
Rounds 1-3 - Made strong connections with all of my tribe mates, despite the tribe being inactive (other than myself, Luke, and Tina). Being active essentially was all I needed to get through. Connected well with both Luke and Tina, aligning with both, and establishing Luke as my definite #1 person in the game.
Rounds 4-5 - I used One World as an opportunity to connect well with every person in the game. I still don't know how I did it, but I was able to have meaningful conversations with everyone except for Grant, as we weren't online at the same time. I also foresaw the tribe swap coming and sent Phil a Raven Mail, anonymously saying that he has a friend on Stark. It opened to door to working with him, someone I know has a good history of being in control of ORGs from the beginning to the end.
I also entertained Josh's proposal of creating a six man alliance at that point with the goal of eliminating the Lannisters. I agreed to it but knew it was bogus as soon as Eleanor was voted out of the first Regina TC. At the same time, Annette, Phil, Luke, and I formed the Krackheads alliance to ensure our safety until the merge. I was admittedly on autopilot during these rounds because I was on holiday on an island with poor data reception.
Round 6 - I won the immunity challenge during the Red Wedding by posting for eleven hours after spending the last 23 hours awake traveling home, mostly because I had been gone for a round and a half and didn't want to be vulnerable after being MIA. Josh turned on Baratheon and created a six person alliance with him, Stan, Sagar, Tina, Luke, and I. This was his third attempt at a six person alliance since One World, and I only agreed to it because it would take out the powerful Baratheon alliance. When the vote was Annette v. Stan, I immediately knew I was voting Annette because she had the potential to slay the game (Stan did not play a role in swaying me). Annette goes home.
It was immediately after Annette being voted out that I first wrote a confessional about needing to leave #Yates in the next two rounds. Whether they were going to go after Stark or go after Brymmdreng (I knew this because Sagar was least invested in any strategic talks this game), I knew I wasn't winning the game with them.
For the second vote, #AllAboutThatYates (6 person alliance) skyped and talked through who should go. Josh immediately wants Grant out and everyone agreed initially. I didn't, because Grant was established as being on the outs in Baratheon and it made no sense to keep him in the game over someone who could rally a comeback. I IMed Luke on the skype call and told him voting Grant was stupid and voting Phil would make sure the alliance would not have any cracks. Luke, eager as he is, agrees and immediately throws Phil's name out in the skype call. Josh audibly hesitates and there was a group "yaaaaaaa... maybe." I groan on the inside, then make a full sales pitch for Phil leaving, which everyone agrees to.
It was before the Phil vote being made public that I connected well and cultivated my relationships with Brian and Gabe, solidifying my decision to flip the following round
Round 7 - This immunity challenge exposed alliances. This was hazardous to me because I had painted myself as being lost in the game and following the lead of others. A dice roll had decided Stan and I were winning immunity, blowing up any argument that I was a loner. I made the decision to tell Brian about #Yates. At that point, I offer him a final three with me and Luke, knowing we had to flip sides this round, and to also diffuse the backlash from the challenge. I suggest to Luke that we need to take out Tina this round to make sure that we aren't Baratheon'd and he agrees. Grant and Brian quickly agree and a tentative F5 deal is made, but Gabe doesn't come online before I had to go to bed (approx. 5 hours before TC votes are due) and makes me nervous. Luckily someone got the info to him and Tina is sent home.
Round 8 - I left for my new year's holiday the first day of this round. During my 15 hours of travel, I formulate the plan that's been talked about during this FTC that was revealed by Luke. Before sharing my plan with Luke, I make a straight F2 deal with Stan that was intended just to help smooth his transition into a F3 with me and Luke and ensure my safety until F2 with both if they both went with the plan. Sagar won immunity before I told Luke the plan, switching my plan and making Josh my first target. Luke is apprehensive about the plan when I tell him but begrudgingly agrees.
I do two things to see whether or not Luke is going to stick with me. I tell him and everyone in the game that I would be hiking and have no wi-fi for the next two days, making them think I was going to be MIA for the vote. Turn off my phone for the day but come back online that evening, throwing everyone off, and coming into a shitshow stemming from Luke exposing my plan. Rather than go on the offensive, I confront him alone about this. In the time I was gone, he had gone behind my back and gotten Brian/Grant/Gabe to revert their vote from Josh (which was agreed on in the tribe chat) to Stan. I assume he did this with confidence, believing that I wouldn't be back online before the vote to be able to do anything. I confront him about leaking the convo and about switching the vote back to Stan, and gave him the opportunity to gain my trust again by agreeing to vote out Josh. He refuses, forcing the tie. Had he agreed, Josh would have left that round; Stan helped in exposing Luke to me but his actions didn't cause me to vote for Luke.
During this, I am honest with Brian/Gabe/Grant about Luke betraying my trust, angling this vote to be one about Luke betraying me rather than me betraying the five person alliance. I also am the one that Grant leaked the information about him wanting to get to the end of the game and not letting his game be ruined by roulette. I knew Luke would be gone not soon after the tie had been announced.
Round 9 - Still on vacation this entire round. I have positioned myself as the swing vote at the final seven. Failed at the immunity challenge since I had to do it on a hostel computer. Sagar is my target this round to take out the person I had connected with least strategically. This is reinforced when Josh/Stan/Sagar want to vote out Gabe, who I didn't want leaving yet because of his conflicts with Stan. It also strengthened the trust with Grant/Gabe/Brian by staying loyal to them.
Round 10 - What I did this round was reliant on the immunity challenge. If Gabe/Grant/Brian won, then there was a 66% chance I would be either out of the game or in the minority because of roulette. 33% chance if I/Stan/Josh won. I set up the tie vote before the IC results, and was completely locked in when I saw I won the immunity. Had Gabe, Grant, or Brian won, I would have stayed loyal to them because going against them would put me in more immediate danger. Josh and Gabe have the blowup in the Blast Chat, which made me want to keep him in the game. I message Grant and at the mere suggestion of voting out Brian because of how threatening he would be at FTC, he goes completely for it. I didn't like how quickly he was willing to flip. When Stan said the same thing, I went for it and switch the script from Brian to Grant.
Instead of being content with 4-2, I wanted to make sure that if Grant talked to Brian, it didn't show that I was the one that initially fed him to Grant. So I reach out to Brian that night as well and let him know that Grant was planning on voting him, complete with sharing the conversation Grant and I had. Brian is convinced and I am happy that loose end is tied. Grant is voted out.
Round 11 - I am again positioned in the middle, but know I can't go to the end with Gabe or Brian due to their likability with the jury. Gabe is angry because I didn't loop him into the previous vote, him having heard of the switch from Brian. Stan somehow implicated himself as the liar about the vote, saving me from potentially losing Gabe's trust. This was the live round. As I wake up, Josh skypes me and lays out that he needs to go to the end with me. I keep him on the skype call for both of the rounds to make sure he doesn't do anything to negatively affect me.
Gabe narrowly wins immunity, which was a godsend because I really wanted Brian gone this round to keep the friction between Gabe and the other two boys alive to the bitter end. I am honest with Gabe and Brian about the vote, and Brian is voted out.
Round 12 - Final 4 also happens that night, and the only thing I needed to happen was Gabe losing immunity. I knew at this point that I had an uphill battle regardless of who was in the final three. While I may have made it easier with Gabe in the F3, he would be much more difficult to beat than Stan or Josh. Josh and Stan had both alienated as many people with their actions in the game as I had so it felt like more level playing field to me. Stan wins the challenge and Gabe is voted out 3-1.
Round 13 - I come into final three with a strong feeling that I need to win immunity to make it to the end. This is confirmed when we get the live round going, I ask Josh to skype through it like we did the round prior and he says he's on camera for a skype game he is in. I knew that wasn't true because Stan was on Skype (which he doesn't really do unless he is skyping for this game), and knew the deck was stacked against me. I end up winning the immunity challenge, which was about who knew what the other players in the game had said in their confessional. Another reason why connecting with everyone is so important! As Stan has since revealed, he was throwing the challenge and actively helping Josh with this challenge, so I knew the other players in this game better than both Stan and Josh combined.
I knew immediately when I won that I was bringing Stan to the end. As much as Josh pissed off other jurors with his actions, I was sticking to my strategy of honoring my loyalty. It has made this tribal council more contentious, for sure, but I carved my path this entire game with one other person and I wasn't changing up the game now that it was convenient.
Round 14 - You're writing an entry on the FTC? Yup. I came into this FTC knowing that I would have plenty of explaining to do for my actions. I knew I would be looked at as being disloyal and heartless, knowing I had to showed that the game that I played was neither, but rather loyal to a sole individual and that my decisions were logical rather than heartless, allowing myself the most mobility in this game. I promised myself that I was going to be succinct with my answers. Since Stan gave novels for all of his responses, I altered with this closing statement to be able to give everyone a more comprehensive perspective of what happened this game and this FTC. I also didn't want to pander the jury. I didn't want to insult the intelligence of you all by writing paragraphs about all the great times each of us had with one another, because that in itself is a propaganda tactic to curry favor. I am letting my connections with each person that I established during the game stand on their own. I believe that I accomplished all of that with my responses.
_____________________________________________________________________
When I came into this game, I hadn't played an ORG in 2.5 years. I was out of touch about how to handle myself to perform well. I used the strengths that I knew (ability to socialize, challenge strength) while being aware of my past weaknesses (inability to look critically at other players & inability to see the game as a game and vote out people I liked). I approached the game differently than I had ever done before (playing the game individualistically rather than sticking to an alliance), just as Stan had. I ensured my safety in the present while also giving myself control in the future. I connected with each person I had a chance to play with genuinely, just as happy to learn about each others lives as I was to talk about the game. I gave my all in every challenge, ultimately winning five of them. I played a sound game in all aspects, and I am proud of the effort I have put in.
I hope that when the game is over, my game is not simply labeled as being "flippy." Being a flipper tends to have a negative connotation that is used mostly for players who flip for the wrong reason or have their flipping be their downfall (John Fincher in Samoa, Cochran in South Pacific). I knew the risk in playing a game where I switched sides as much as I did, but I had the awareness to know that I being loyal to either side would not get me to the end, meaning the best option for me round after round was to adapt and work with the other side. I flipped to gain power at the expense of the power in numbers that the two established sides had. The risk that came with switching sides was mitigated by the fact that I was so well connected socially with every person in this game. I had a comprehensive picture of what was going on in this game, which helped me decide when to eliminate each person at the best time. I think it is a testament to my game that I played that I was never seriously considered as a target at any tribal council that I attended and was the only person to vote in the majority for each TC I went to. It wasn't the prettiest game to play on my end, but I hope that as you are all reading this, you can respect why it was the game I needed to play and that you agree that I did it well enough to be awarded the title of Sole Survivor.
Wowza. I think that's about it. It's been about forty days on this wild roller coaster and I have nothing be thanks to give for being a part of it. This came at the best time in my life, being in Thailand, as it got me through the last month and a half here. I am leaving this game with some really special connections with everyone in this game. Thank you all for playing this game for me; it was you all that made it so enjoyable day in and day out to play, even when I wanted to pull my hair out! Thank you to the gaggle of hosts for putting together an amazing season and for allowing me to come back from the past (S5: Back to the Future, represent!) and play Chronicles one more time. Thank you to the viewers for sticking through and allowing our chaos to be your entertainment.
I am going to leave you with a nice parallel that came to me while preparing for this FTC. As most of you know, I was in the first season of Chronicles, where I played from England/Spain. I only made it a couple rounds in the game because I was unable to handle playing the game with the time difference and my traveling. I came into this season of Chronicles almost exactly three years from when the first season of Chronicles began. This season, I was again abroad, was dealing with an even more substantial time difference, and had even more travel during the game planned. Despite that, I went from being an early pre-merge boot to making it to the final two. I am proud of the growth I've made since I came into this series and I hope that a win in this game would bring my Chronicles journey full circle.
Again, thank you all for this adventure. Good luck to Stan with this vote, it's been fun being able to play this game until the end with you! Good luck to the jury, especially. I hope you see past the jury pandering and propaganda and vote for the person that you truly believed played the best game. Let's wrap this puppy up!
