This is my opening statement, bro!
May 31, 2015 20:19:12 GMT -5
Grant Mattos and Colin Guinn like this
Post by Joaquin Souberbielle on May 31, 2015 20:19:12 GMT -5
First of all I want to thank Katia, Audrey, the PWs and everyone who played for making this a very enjoyable experience.
So before I get to everything that happened throughout the game, I want to clear some things. Did I lied? Yeah. Did I backstabbed? Absolutely. But unfortunately that's what you have to do to win this game. You have to put feelings aside and get down to business. But every relationship I formed in this game was genuine and it wasn't just to advance in the game. Did luck played a factor in me being sitting here? For sure, I probably wouldn't be sitting here if Colin hadn't asked us to vote for him. But that doesn't change the fact that I was in control in pretty much every tribal council I attended except for the rounds Priya and Ian left.
Parnu
At the beginning of this game, my main priority was showing that I was an asset on challenges and creating solid bonds with at least one or two people on my tribe. The first person I talked to in this game was Grant, and even though the whole caveman schtick kinda annoyed me at first, we became close really quick and we told each other everything that was happening in the game. I also started talking with Kat and we instantly clicked. After Morgan left, I tried making an alliance of 5 between me, Grant, Kat, GinaMarie and Robbie incase we had to go to tribal again. That didn't really go anywhere because we had to get rid of Robbie for being inactive, plus the swap separated us and we didn't have a chance to talk 'til the merge. Apart from my relationships with Kat and Grant, during my stay on Parnu I also formed decent relationships with GM and Cochran.
NuViljandi
When we swapped I honestly thought I was fucked, but I was so wrong about that. I quickly found myself in a power position. I had Kat and Cochran from my old tribe, plus Ian, Jen and Lisi made me offers to work with them. On one side there was the Rakvere people (Ian, Jen) and on the other side there was the Viljandi people (Lisi, Frederique and Fatima) and us from Parnu were the swing votes. The first vote was an easy one, Rupert went home unanimously for not showing up at the challenge.
When I first got to camp my goal was to figure out the password for the Hidden Immunity Idol, and I cracked it in less than 30 minutes, but the idol was already gone. I started suspecting that Lisi or Fred had it so I decided to spread idol paranoia around. That was one of the reasons why I decided to go with Ian and Jen, because to be honest I was scared of the idol, plus they had less people so we would have more room to breathe in case we had to go to more tribals (which is exactly what ended up happening). I told Lisi to vote for Fatima, which she reluctantly agreed, but the real target was her. It was supposed to be 5 votes for Lisi, 2 votes for Fatima and one vote for whoever Fatima voted for, but when results came up it was a tie between me and Lisi. Turns out Ian flipped on us and forced a tie. During the revote, no one changed their votes, and when we had to draw rocks it was Ian who drew the purple rock (poetic justice if you ask me).
During the following rounds it was pretty much a pagonging of the Viljandi tribe. Meanwhile I kept developing my relationships with Kat and Cochran and I became really close with Jen. By default us four ended up making an alliance. During the last tribal council on our swapped tribe there were only us four left and we had to take out one of our own. Kat and I were not voting for each other, so we pretty much had to decidewhether to take Jen or Cochran with us. I felt like Cochran was getting a little too close with Kat, so I was pushing for Kat to vote for him. Plus I knew Jen was closer to me than she was to Kat.
Merge
Final 10 - I knew that me, Jen and Kat were gonne be targets #1 come the merge, so the plan was to try to get Sean on our side, since it seemed like he was on the outs, and maybe try to reunite with Grant, GM and Priya. Nikki started getting crazy during this round, so she was an easy target. She started throwing around deals to everyone and spreading some lies which was a total dealbreaker. Fortunately, we got Grant and Sean to vote with us and Colin ended up voting for the wrong person, so Nikki was sent packing.
Final 9 - this round was a fucking mess. This is when the whole Kat vs. Jen feud started, and I was stuck in the middle. The target at first was Priya, which I was kinda responsible for because I started spreading fear that she may have had the Parnu idol since she was the only one to to get a clue. But then Kat threw Cyndi's name as a possible target too and Jen got pissed because Kat didn't consulted it with her. I was torn between siding with Jen to vote for Priya (which was what I wanted because I always thought Priya was one scary girl) or to side with Kat to take out Cyndi. Ultimately, I ended up voting for Cyndi because I thought that was where the votes were gonna fall, but boy was I wrong.
Final 8 - During this round I gained a double vote at the auction, but I also won a self-vote at that tribal. It was pretty clear that Kat, Grant and I were fucked, and since I had that penalty vote the logical thing was to vote for me, but Jen took the target off my back and put it on Kat instead. I decided to use my double vote on this round not only to make sure we had the numbers, but also so I wasn't looked as a threat in the future. Turns out Grant got Sean to vote with us, so we didn't really needed the extra vote anyways and GM was voted out. Around this time I also started getting closer and closer to Colin, which really helped me in the future.
Final 7 - Since the Priya vote I knew Jen didn't trust me like before, but during this round is when things went south with us. I lashed out on her because I felt like she was being really bossy and every chance she got she would tell me how I messed up for choosing Kat over her. I don't regret what I said, only the way I said it. All I wanted was to take things off my chest. This round was the one where the abort botton was used, saving Cyndi from elimination. On the redux, I made sure that I won that immunity just so we could get Jen out of the game. Everyone wanted her out of the game, so it wasn't that hard convincing everyone to vote for her.
Final 6 - I still don't know exactly what happened during this round. Me, Grant and Kat all voted for Cyndi, while Colin and Cyndi tried getting Grant to vote for Kat. Sean missed yet another tribal so he was removed from the game. So basically Cyndi was saved once again from going home.
Final 5- the plan at first was to take Grant out because he was a huge threat, then take Kat out at final 4 since she wasn't threatening in challenges. He tried to play dumb a lot of times, but I knew that was all an act, plus he had a lot of friends at the jury, so he needed to go. Kat was already on board and I was sure I could have gotten Colin and Cyndi on board too. But then Grant ended up winning immunity, so plans had to change. That's when I brought up the plan to vote out Kat to Colin and Cyndi, which they accepted. When I woke up the next day I find out that Grant and Kat already knew about the plan and that Grant was voting for me. Cyndi and Colin told me that Grant was voting for me, so I knew they were being honest with me and weren't gonna stab me in the back. As much as I loved Kat, she needed to go if I wanted a shot at the end.
Final 4 - my mission during this round was basically to make sure Grant didn't win immunity. The round before I made a promise to Colin that I wasn't writing his name down and he wasn't writing mine either, but I didn't want to take my chances. When Grant won immunity, Colin asked us to vote him out since he felt like me and Cyndi deserved to be here over him. I obviously didn't want to do it since I love the kid, but that's what he wanted so I granted him his wish. If Grant hadn't won immunity, I'm 99% sure the final 3 would have been me, Colin and Cyndi.
I know this was way too long, but I wanted to cover as much as I could. I feel like I was a triple threat; a beast at challenges (not as much as Jen though), and I played a great social and strategic game. I alligned myself with the biggest threats in the game (Kat, Jen, Grant) but I still had a mind of my own. I knew I had to take them out eventually, which I succeeded in doing except for Grant since he went on an immunity run at the end. I was never a target during the merge, only receiving one vote from Grant at the final 5.
I'n anxious to see what you guys have to say and I'll answer your questions with complete honesty.
