Before I start on my speech, I just want to say that no matter what happens, I had an amazing time playing this season, and I’m glad I was able to meet a lot of you. I have had a lot of personal issues the past few months, and this game was my way of taking my mind off of everything that's been happening. I apologize for the long speech, but I like to be very thorough in explaining my game and why I deserve to win.
On day one, coming into this, I didn't know anyone on my tribe. The only people that I even remotely knew were all on the other tribe. Honey, Tris, and Drew were all people who I came into the game knowing or at least recognizing. The two that really stood out to me where Tyler and La Orda. La Orda played my Big Brother game about 1 ½ years ago. Tyler, on the other hand, is somebody who I played with in the past. Despite our history though, here we are sitting in the final two together. I think that in itself shows that no matter what happens in any past game, we shouldn't be bitter towards each other, and I think the same thing applies when you're casting your vote. Some of you, I might not have talked to much. Some of you, I might have turned on for my own game. No matter what our history may be, I just ask that you read both of our speeches and all of the answers to any questions you guys may ask, vote for who you think deserves to win, and above all don't be a bitter jury.
Because I didn't know anyone, I started making connections on my tribe. One of the first things that happened was while I was talking with Matt, he mentioned he had been talking with Abel, so the three of us formed an alliance called RAM. Brenden had told our tribe after going in the sanctuary that he got a Dead Idol, which was supposedly a fake idol that became a real idol if it was not used by merge. Later on, we became close, and he told me that it wasn't a dead Idol and that it was actually an extra clue to the hidden immunity idol which I had already found. What I didn't consider is that he could have found the idol and made up a clue for the idol. That’s exactly what happened. I went and told my RAM alliance what Brendan had told me about his extra clue.
Shortly after, The Fire Four was made between Myself, Matt, Abel, and Brenden. We made a plan for the four of us to go in the sanctuary, if at all possible, so that we would have control of the advantages in the game. Abel went in the sanctuary and got the disadvantage of not being able to vote at his next tribal. I went in and got my Safety without Power advantage. Matt went in under very interesting circumstances and got a Vote Steal. Rodrigo wanted to go to the sanctuary as well, and so I did what I thought I had to do to get Matt into the sanctuary. I suggested that I do a random.org to see who would go into the sanctuary, and we did just that. However, the first time I randomized it, Rodrigo was at the top of the list, so I randomized it again so that I could get a screenshot with Matt at the top of the list, and I could send Matt into the sanctuary. That was not a personal move, but that was a game move because I knew that we could control the sanctuary and that would be a good first step to controlling this game.
My tribe won challenge after challenge after challenge and before too long, the original Menkaure tribe only had 4 people on it. We anticipated a tribe swap, so going into it The Fire Four made a six person alliance with Elian and Rodrigo which we called The Sexy Six. After the swap, I was on a tribe with two other members of The Sexy Six alliance. In that tribe, our numbers were 3-3, but because Abel couldn't vote, we needed to make a plan at that tribal. Matt gave Able his Steal a Vote so that Abel could use it and be able to vote. That gave us the numbers to vote out Drew. That decision was made because I had a relationship with Tyler and La Orda had a relationship with Matt, so we planned to use those relationships moving forward into the merge.
Merge didn’t come quite as quickly as we thought it would, and we were surprised with the double tribal council. The last person that I wanted to win that immunity challenge was La Orda because of the situation that I was in, and I did not want to have to choose between Tyler and my tribe that early. Fortunately, Tyler won that individual immunity, and we ended up voting out La Orda.
Finally, the merge came, as did the survivor auction. The Fire Four mentioned not wanting Tyler to get anything crazy at the auction, and I tried to save my money as much as possible. Tyler bid 500 on a covered item, and I made the decision not to bid against him because I figured that I could show him that I wanted to work with him and be able to show him that I helped him get something that could help his game. That turned out not to be the case, as it was just a bag of poo, which is even worse than a stick, which I've seen in auctions before. All I ended up getting was an immunity ticket to compete in the immunity challenge that followed, and Rodrigo won that immunity. The Sexy Six considered splitting the votes between Tyler and Buttercup, but we found out that Elian leaked the plan. The Fire Four agreed to vote out Tyler and that we couldn't trust Elian anymore. I did not want to vote out Tyler, but I did not know what I could do in that moment. I strongly considered giving my Safety without Power advantage to Tyler, but that would not have been good for my game because The Fire Four knew about my advantage. They knew it was mine, and they would have instantly known that I turned on them. I would have become the next target in the minority, so instead what I did was tell Tyler the truth when he asked if I had heard about the vote about 2 hours before tribal. I felt like I owed it to him to tell him the truth, and I voted for him in that tribal so that I could stay loyal to my alliance. A lot of things happened at that tribal. Buttercup, Tyler, and Matt all played real idols while myself and Abel both played fake idols. I was convinced that my idol was the real idol because even though Brenden came to me at some point, and told me when he actually found the idol, and we discovered that I found it before him, Matt did not come to me. His Idol was a complete surprise. Brenden would have been voted out at that tribal, but he surprised all of us when he played a Super Idol that he had gotten into sanctuary that nobody knew about. There ended up being no valid votes in that tribal, and there was a revote. Abel, Myself, and Elien were all able to be voted out, so The Fire Four that was able to vote voted out Elien.
Matt won the next immunity challenge, and Tyler pitched an alliance to Abel and I separately. Since I myself had already been considering working with Tyler, I went and talked to Abel, and one thing we both agreed on was that Brenden was acting a little shady. First, he didn't tell us about the Super Idol, and lied not only to the tribe, but to me. He gave us two separate stories just to hide a Super Idol. Secondly, when we were talking about who got what advantage before the crazy tribal, he never once spoke up about his advantage that he got at the auction, which I only realized he had after Abel came to me and mentioned it. I love Brenden as a person, and I do want to remain friends with him, but Abel and I made a move and flipped to vote out Brenden. We did not tell Matt that we were voting out Brendan because we didn't want to risk the advantage being played. Matt was blindsided along with Brenden, but Abel and I were able to do damage control and stick with Matt. As a sign of trust, during that round, I told Tyler about my Safety without Power advantage. Because we had just blindsided Matt and we needed to keep him trusting us, and the fact that Buttercup was a major jury threat in that she gave an idol to Tyler, from what I heard, and was a major underdog, we voted with Matt and voted out Buttercup.
Now we come to today. Because I had my Safety without Power advantage, and it was the last chance to use it, I did not see the need to try to win immunity. I could have done better, but I didn't put my full effort in it. Going into the final five tribal, I used my Safety without Power on myself. Little did I know, however, that a blindside on Abel was taking place behind my back. I wasn't sure who was getting voted out, but this was the last thing I expected honestly. Abel got voted out, and I was left in the dark. Matt won the next immunity competition, and almost as if we were In sync, Tyler and Matt both came to me saying they would vote out Rodrigo, and I was thinking the same exact thing. I was convinced that both Matt and Tyler would bring me to final two given the opportunity, so I wanted to vote Rodrigo out because I had no relationship with him and had heard that the jury loves him. The final immunity competition was probably the most important, and even though I didn't feel like I had to win, I probably could have easily been blindsided by either of the two of them. Like I said earlier, I did not want to have to make the decision between Matt and Tyler. I feel the need to explain that in a previous game I turned on Tyler and voted him out, and we hadn't talked since. I just felt like I couldn't do that to him again. I couldn't blindside him again, and I know that seems weird because I've clearly turned on people in this game, but I saw this is my chance to repair my relationship with Tyler and to become friends again.
Lastly, I want to say that, unless I am mistaken, nobody in this game ever cast a vote against me. I made it to the final two with zero votes cast against me. I feel like that is a huge accomplishment that should be rewarded. Another point I would like to make is that outside of Abel's blindside, every single tribal that I was a part of, I knew who was going home. That includes the crazy tribal where everyone played idols because before the revote, I knew Elian was going. Every single one of those tribal councils I knew what was going to happen. I made moves when I felt that they were necessary, and even though Tyler was in danger and fought his way to the end, I also fought my way to the end socially, and I did it without any votes cast against me.
I wish Tyler the best of luck. May the best player win. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have to ask me and I'll try and answer them to the best of my ability. Thanks Mrkk for hosting this game. I had an amazing time with everyone.
