Hello, final 3!
So, congratulations on making it this far and all that. I'm glad that despite not even reaching the merge I can say that I had some kind of relationship with each of you (not as close as most of the other jurors have, but still). However, my relatively early boot means I don't have a great grasp on what actually happened during the merge, but that's what we're going to find out today!
Let's start with...
James, like everybody said, you were probably the nicest guy in the game, but you know what they say, "nice guys finish last". That doesn't mean you're not getting my or anyone else's vote, of course, but you have an uphill battle, especially when it comes to justifying why it should be you and not Spencer.
Now, you've played a good game. You had a stable, unbreakable alliance with a clear leader in Spencer, and your "being the beta" strategy is one that can work in many situations. The alpha could be a jackass. Or the alpha could not reach the final 3. Unfortunately, neither of those actually happened and you're kind of stuck as the Spencer follower that didn't do enough to secure votes.
So, here are my questions:
1) If I remember correctly, you played a mutiny to escape from a certain doom back at Ki, and chose to join... Ozato. With Caleb, Eliza, Sydney and Kat. Why did you join a tribe where you were again at risk instead of going back to Spencer, Marisa and Jonny in Sakai?
2) We were in an alliance, the legendary and horribly named Kajafra Sydza, the one that epically blindsided Butch. I did appreciate your eagerness to work with us and even let us use your name as a decoy. When the merge came, however, you decided to work again with
Ki though. Did you ever consider staying with them?
3) Last one and the most straightforward: why should I vote you instead of Spencer? I don't really want to hear "well, he was kinda the snake calling the shots and I hid behind that" cause I already know, and that doesn't make me want to vote for you more.
I really really really REALLY want to vote for you. For selfish reasons, mostly, cause I do want to see a
Sakai win this, and also because I want to have voted against (at my last council) an eventual winner. We were good friends, alliance members, and we had a lot of fun until the awful swap that put us both at the Ki's mercy.
You manoeuvred masterfully through the cracks, surviving every vote, and that means you're kind of the underdog here. However, I don't know how much of that is your fault. So these are my questions:
1) What made you survive the council where I went home? What did you do that I didn't, and what did I do that you didn't?
2) I have the impression that Kat dragged you all the way from F8, but she came up short while you did not. Is that correct? Can you attribute yourself a single post-merge boot in some way?
3) What was your
Sakai preferred final 3? What combination of Caleb/Eliza/Jefra/Matty?/Brad????? did you want to go to the end with?
You'd be a deserving winner. I don't think you have it in the bag, but it'd be tough for me not to reward your game. Not just because we're timezone cousins. You were the most obvious threat for the entire game, yet here you are. You led your alliance, and nobody swayed a single bit. That's incredible.
Of course, you had mistakes. Jonny already pointed out that maybe Kat would be a better final 3 rival than Julia. And Marisa's timely idol also gave Kat and Julia a reason to flip. But all in all, you were arguably the best player of the season. I appreciate you telling me you were voting for me, too, knowing how risky that was. Which leads me to...
1) I read my ties with Sydney, Eliza and Kat were the reason I was chosen. Is that correct? Anything else that put Julia over me?
2) So, take your
Ki alliance with Jonny, Marisa, James and yourself, and give each of them a percentage that represents the input they had in the decision making. Here's the twist: you can't just say 25%/25%/25%/25%. Each of them must have a different rate of input. In essence, rank the members of your alliance in importance.
3) Being a bloody British you have an awful timezone just like I have. I guess we would agree on the disadvantages of that, but did you find any advantages to it?
Thank you all, and may the best one win!
