Hi jury! Heads up, I’m not exactly sure what direction my speech will go in as I’ve never had to type one for a 40-player season, but we will see how it goes and hope for the best. I was considering doing format by format, but actually you guys don’t want that I KNOW that, so will try not to be too draining but still get across my key points of information.
Coming into this season I had a massive target on my back. I was perceived as a massive target right off the back, based on my record - particularly in Flop Nation, well.. *only* Flop Nation as my Suitvivor and SBB are generally less than impressive! A thing which kicked my target up a level right off the back was - and I do believe this to be the case - being ranked #1 in the day 1 ranks. Out of 40 people, that was something which showed I was going to be a target due to my comp and social ability, them being the primary reasons for being ranked where I was.
For the most part of the game I was able to play a loyal game and get by rounds, as I ensured my relationships with other players were strong enough to the point I would not be in any danger of leaving until the point I put myself there - which DID occur, but not until later on. Every round there was a teams challenge where we had to pair up - take Double Cross and Gauntlet/ I Love Money, for example - people were requesting me to pick them / be their partner, or I was a first choice pick for people. I don’t use that to gloat, I use that to display that I did have that target of being a powerful player throughout the game, but it was never “James is such a target let’s get him it”, it was always “I want James on my team”, which then combines my use of social and physical game.
The Duel hit me hardest as a format, as I had a tight relationship with all 3 victims: Chloe, Evan, Will I.. I felt bad for IceBeast though that wasn’t exactly my control, took responsibility for Evan’s exit, and then Chloe’s just hurt a lot due to my relationship with her, whilst it WAS a good move to split us up, it still twisted my game. However, when I lost these allies, *that* was the moment it hit me that the person I had to value the most was myself and I had to ensure I was doing what would help ME see tomorrow.
The Genius took out some allies, though I again take responsibility for being a contributing factor at times, but it was Big Brother which woke me up again. After my failure to backdoor Mike, I ended up nominated with Anthony. With full respect to Anthony I DIDN’T feel at risk as such, as I knew I had the relationships to survive. Do I possibly regret having Kelly veto me instead of Anthony? Maybe, but there was no guarantee of my safety if Anthony was vetoed, unfortunately.
Raven I had the advantage from the start of more lives, and I was able to survive that unscathed - not too much detail to say here, and don't want to make this longer than it currently is.
Survivor. Coming into it I knew I had some numbers, I felt comfortable with Christian, Kelly and Sagar. I was aware Mike had allegedly made an F3 with all 4 of the other players, 2 in one and 2 in the other, which confirmed the likelihood since Big Brother it would be a him vs I thing. The rock-draw DID go in my favour as Julian was a vote against me, though I still felt BAD as being rocked-out after 45 days is rough. F5 had Mike leave, and finally Sagar left at F4.
I knew going with Christian and Kelly to the end was going to be the best for my game, each for an individual reason. Christian seemingly hadn’t DONE too much in the game. YES he went until F4 without a LOW, but looking back it’s hard to pinpoint a specific move Christian made. Kelly on the other hand was certainly flashier, but I knew I had Kelly’s allegiance that he wasn’t going to write my name down, and also I knew would get behind a specific move I wanted to make at any given time - bar backdooring Mike which was a ‘numbers thing’.
I feel that I deserve to represent Suitman Season 100 because I wasn’t afraid to play strategically, at times YES snake-like, but it all ensured no more than 1 person was properly targeting me before Survivor. Come Survivor, that total peaked at 2. This was the case despite having the most ‘HIGHs’ on my chart the entire game (a fair few more than any other player). I made big moves, or at least ATTEMPTED them. It’s better to have tried and failed than to have never tried at all. I was able to attempt moves whenever I liked as I knew I had the numbers to either a) back me up when I DID the move, or b) back me up if the player I tried making a move on then later returned that favour.
I earned my spot here by having a solid combination of a social, physical and strategic game, committing daily to this game, I valued my allies and others to ensure it wasn’t all about ME, because despite it being an individual game that wouldn’t have gotten me far. I was a member of teams who frequently won, the strongest (by placement) Crystal Maze team, and proved my worth on every team I was on throughout every format, whether it be a partnership or a bigger-group team.
Regardless of if we ended positively or negatively, I truly enjoyed playing with all of the cast, and am satisfied knowing I made an effort to talk to everyone (bar a few purged players in Crystal Maze), conveying my social game.
Am I a predictable winner? Perhaps. Am I a boring winner? Probably. Am I a deserved winner? Positive.
Cheers to Shawn for hosting and to people for reading this, happy to answer any and all questions. Good luck to Christian and Kelly. GG!