Hey, members of the jury. Sit tight and listen up, this is going to be a long speech. Most of you here were probably not expecting to be sitting on the jury after the merge voting for 1/3 fans, especially if you were a favorite. My goal for all of you here today is to understand the strategy of my game, why I did the things I did, and why I deserve the title of Sole Survivor. I understand if you don't want to vote for me because you thought my game was worse than the other two contestants, but if you don't want to vote for me as a result of a personal vendetta, that's just disrespecting the game and ultimately your vote in itself. You were given the power to choose the winner because you were all excellent players in the game, don't let that go to waste. In the end, its your decision on how to vote though, that's just my advice to you. But here I go with my gameplay.

From the very beginning, I couldn't have been more excited to be a fan on this series. I watched last season, and I wanted to see how my style of play would intertwine with Joshie's devious mind, Maddy's unique strategy, and of course, the challenge beast that was Corey. From the start of the game, I kept myself safe by creating a power five in the fans, and I felt relatively secure in the first few tribals. The frustrating thing was we kept losing, and people kept quitting, and to be honest, at one point I thought we would all be gone before the merge. Then came the tribe swap. Sweet old Riga. This is where I really got to talking to corey, and I found myself really liking him. Alex, Bryce, Corey and I decided emily would be voted out first, and to be honest, I had no idea where my loyalty would lie next tribal. Good thing I never had to find out.

Everything was pretty chill up until the merge, where things got heated to say the least. As I pretty much expected, a fan got voted out at the first tribal council, and with the fans down 7-4, I fully expected to get pagonged. Except the favorites got hungry for blood. And they got hungry fast. The original plan was to vote out Mike, but the favs chose Michael to get the boot instead. This was when you could feel the momentum shift in the game. Sadly, before I got to play with him, joshie was voted out in a cold blindside. Fans were only down 5-4 now, and this is when the game got intense. I barely escaped elimination when maddy when home, and unbelievably, the fans were tied 4-4 with the favs. I knew Sally was a popular target, and once I scrounged up enough votes to get her out, the fans had made a full turn-around from our original hopeless position. I stood in good position to go far in the game if I played it right. Max was the target to go next, but Mike started to try and play the game too hard, and so he had to be voted out, and the fans were tied with the favorites 3-3 again.

At this point, I made a decision. I wanted to take Alex and Prado to the finals with me. Of the six remaining, they were the two who I considered the biggest "floaters" left, and I felt like I could beat them in the end. However, I didn't let the other people in the F6 know that. I made final 2 deals with prado, corey, bryce, and alex, fully knowing I would have to break two and piss people off, but also knowing these deals would maintain my safety in the game. Lucky for me, max self-voted in the final 6, and the final five seemed in my control. The part of my game I regret on a personal level, but not as far as my strategy was voting out corey. He would've without a doubt won the jury, and he was a giant competiton threat. Ultimately, while it felt bad morally, I had to do it in order to further my game and increase my chance of winning.

The finale got messy, real fast. After Bryce lost immunity, I knew I had to vote for him. His strength in the early portion of the game and his lack of angering people made him an easy choice for winner. Prado voted with me, and Alex decided he couldn't betray his ally at the very end of the game. It came down to a tiebreaker challenge, which Bryce won to secure himself a spot in the finals. I also pissed off Prado during this point in time, and he swore he wouldn’t vote for me, no matter what I said in the FTC. I respect his decision, but overreacting over one comment? Not something I would do.

So I’ve basically covered how I got here, but now I want to tell you guys why I did what I did. Towards the beginning of my game, I wanted to play like a hero. I wanted to be the one everyone liked and I wanted to try and piss the least amount of people off with my moves. But towards the end, I got power-crazy. I wanted to be evil. That’s not how you get jury votes, but I was in control of the game. It might not have been the prettiest, but I fought my way here, and most importantly, I made it to the end. I might have played a little dirty, but no one caught on quite fast enough to take me out. That’s why I did what I did. Not necessarily to win the most jury votes, but to make it to the end. I accomplished that.
Here’s why I should be crowned Sole Survivor. Quite simply, I played a better, more involved game than the two people sitting next to me. When Bryce was gone for three days during a crucial stage of the game, he essentially was a sitting duck, an automatic self-vote, and he really had to rely on others to keep him safe. I know this sounds hypocritical, considering I was absent for an extended period of time, but Bryce was inactive for the turning point of the game, and he kind of “woke back up” in a better situation than he had gone to sleep in. As for Alex, he really did nothing to get here besides do what he was told. While loyalty is a great quality to have in a friend, it doesn’t show any willingness to take risks in the game of Survivor. Alex prided himself on his loyal game, but yet, he let Bryce and I take the target off his back, as he was considered the last fan that needed to be rid of as he was the weakest. I took risks. I backstabbed people. I played with my mind and let my heart come second. And yes jury, I’m sorry to say, but I outlasted all of you sitting up there. So reflect on the massive load of information I just gave you all. Ask me questions. Make an informed decision, instead of one based on personal grudges or a lack of caring about who wins. Good luck to Alex and Bryce, and thank you all for taking the time to read this.

*swoons over Ryan's speech writing skills*

Hello Jury. I would like to start off by saying that I will be called a "floater" throughout this entire Final Tribal Council, but read my speech before making your final decision.
I may of been quiet throughout the game, but I was observant. My strategy going into this game was to pull a Sandra Diaz style gameplay (The only two time winner of survivor,) of "As long as it ain't me." Pre-merge was a difficult point in the game, as the majority within the fans was not clear. I tryed to stick with who I felt I could trust, and kept myself safe until the tribe swap. At the swap, I formed an alliance with Bryce, Ryan, and Corey. I truly felt a close bond with Bryce and Ryan so I planned to never vote them out, as long as I felt they wouldn't vote me out either. I pretty much stuck it out and voted to make sure I was safe throughout the entire game. I Secured myself into a spot where I never had to rely on someone else's votes. I kept myself off the radar on purpose, and as you can all see, it worked. I won two immunity challenges, which is more than Ryan can say...weakest, yeah. And I never had to use any sort of hidden immunity idol to save myself. Nearing the end of the game, I knew that I was going to stick it out with Bryce and Ryan, but Ryan felt the need to randomly turn on the fans. He even wanted to vote out Bryce over Corey, just because he was afraid Bryce would beat him in the finals. I never followed what I was told, both sides would come to me and I carefully analyzed the best move for me in the game, and went with it. I'm basically being attacked for not flip flopping between two alliances throughout the game, which I personally believed wasn't needed, and I ended this game with both a seat at final tribal council AND my integrity in tact. That's more than some people can say. Good luck Bryce and Ryan, and may the best man win.

you're not a loud to post questions yet

mickle, read the first post on this page and follow the directions

I’m going to come right out and say it. I deserve to win this game. I’m not going to waste my time trying to suck up to people, or trying to say what people WANT to hear. In this speech, and in my answers, I’m going to be as blunt as possible. Because we’ve gotten past the point where flowery words and empty phrases pull weight in this game. I’m going to tell you why I deserve to win the title of Sole Survivor sitting next to the two people beside me.

(Okay, this part is long. I went through each decision I made in this game, because I feel like each is a piece of a puzzle that makes up why I deserve to win. I understand if you guys think it’s excessive, so if you already feel like you understand WHAT I did in this game and how I made the decisions that I made, then you can go straight to the “WHY”, which I’ll put in a separate post by itself)

First off, I took control very early on in this game. My strategy early on was to take up the “Power Player” position on the Fans tribe. I recognized that Cole was an incredible strategic player, and so Jake and I pulled together a majority alliance of Myself, Jake, Cameron, Jette, Mike, and Ray to take him out in the first blindside of the season. After this, Jake had to quit due to home issues, and Ray became too much of a liability to keep around. After Ethan quit, we had our tribe swap.

That’s really where I got to know Ryan and Alex. They were in the minority for the first vote, but after the initial numbers flop, we got to talking strategy. Thankfully, we had the numbers and eliminated Emmy, who was both a fan and weak in challenges. We didn’t lose again until merge, and this is where I really started playing the game on the level I finished it with.

The fans were down 5-7. Corey approached me and told me that I should vote for Jette, and that the Favorites were splitting the votes. I had two options… I could either vote for a fellow fan and get in good with the numbers, or I gather up the Fans and cast 5 votes against a Favorite. I knew if I did the latter, then we’d still be in the minority the next round.

I feel like this shows a pivotal part of my gameplay. Not only did I know when to make moves, (starting the next round), I knew when to NOT make moves. By telling the rest of the fans to give in and vote for Jette, who had unfortunately kind of given up on the game after his failed idol play, I made sure that I wasn’t going to be an initial target of the Favorites. Had I made a power move to save Jette, I would have been immediately voted for afterwards.

The next round, Josh approached me with a deal to blindside Michael. THIS was what I was waiting for. I had heard from Corey that pre-merge, the strategizing was crazy on the Favorites tribe. I was waiting for cracks to show, and as soon as they did I took advantage of it. I was the one who gathered up the Fans votes, and with our four person voting block, we all got past another round. After that, Corey played his idol on Maddy, which meant that Josh got eliminated. I legitimately felt bad for that, because to the best of my knowledge, it was Sally who was getting targeted that round. Had I known that they were voting for Josh, I would have told him. That was the only round where I was consciously unaware of the dynamics of the votes.

I was the one who targeted Maddy the next round. I got the fans to vote for her, and luckily, our four votes were enough. After that, there were 4 fans and four favorites left. Corey approached us and told us about a plan to eliminate Sally. I felt bad because Sally had helped us in previous rounds, but here was another crack in the Favorites alliance. And if worst came to worst and Corey was trying to play us, I knew that Sally had self-voted last round. At the very worst it would be a tie, but chances were likely that Corey would flip or she would self-vote. She self-voted, and the fans finally got majority.

Next comes an area of the game which was completely outside of my control, to no fault of my own. I had a family reunion at a lodge, and I was TOLD that the lodge had wifi. If I had known that it didn’t, I would have made prior arrangements. Unfortunately for me, I was out for a round and Mike was eliminated. I felt like this was a stupid move made by my fellow Fans, because it put us back at 3-3. This was another situation like Jette’s where it would have been smarter to NOT make the power play and to wait another round. Had I been online, I would have done everything in my power to save Mike for another round to guarantee our majority.

After that, the fans got lucky and recovered from the Mike vote when Max self-voted, leading to a final five where Corey and Prado were voted out. And now we’re in the final three!

THE WHY

So that was details of how I played the game. Now why do I deserve to win?? Because every decision I made, I made for myself. I effectively controlled a four person voting block. Sure, everybody had their own say… but I was the one who was talking to the Favorites for deals. I was the one who made the final calls on who to eliminate. I’m not saying that I dictated everything, but every final decision ended up correlating with exactly what I wanted. I was the one who said, “Hey guys, Josh is offering us a free round if we vote for Michael. Let’s do it!” I was the one who said, “Guys, this vote it simple. We have to eliminate Maddy, she’s too big of a threat”. I was the one who said, “We have to target Corey 100% no matter what once it comes to the final five.” Every other fan played their role in the alliance, but I was the trigger puller.

I knew when to make moves, and I knew when to not make moves. I had more information and more ACCESS to information than the two people sitting next to me. And if there’s any idea that this season proves, it’s that the most powerful thing in this game is INFORMATION. Not numbers. If numbers was the most powerful thing in this game, it’d be an all-favorite final three. But information tells you what the numbers are, how to get the numbers, and how to flip the numbers. I took advantage of every opportunity that came to me, and I knew how to utilize each one to my fullest advantage. Without me, that four person voting block would NOT have worked out. I deserve to win this game, I deserve your jury votes, and I’m not going to apologize for that. I’m sorry if people were legitimately hurt by anything I said in this game, but on a strategy level, I stand by EVERY decision I made, because each one was carefully constructed to me getting here right now. 

I’m open to all questions.

First off, I'd like to say congratulations anyone who gets to the end is deserving no matter how you get there I am content because this time around I'm leaving as a fav, not a fan I'd also like to say if Josh wasn't such a vindictive bitter idiot all the favs who merged could of at least made final 7, so you guys got lucky in that aspect :P xx

I will make statements then a question,

Wang, congrats you seem so passionate but the I'm not basing my vote because how passionate you are, I want to know what is the biggest move YOU instigated your self were you got the votes to get someone out.

Alex, you floated but what a good floater does is make connections with the jury so they fell you respected them, you never mailed me not even a simple ' Hey'  I want you to give your opinion of my game play.

Bryce, congrats I know you were one of the most active out of anyone in this cast however I made no opinion of you :s my question is if you were to go back what would you have done differently?

If I could go back, I would have gotten to know more people better. The very thing which worked in my favor, (Having such a divide with Fans vs Favorites really helped that four person voting block), also set up some pretty visible social barriers. Even if it wasn't for strategy, I would have talked to You, Prado, and Max more. The fact that we were on opposite sides for the whole game made that difficult, but I would have worked harder at "breaking the ice"

i'll take a shot at this jury thing now

First off, I'd like to congratulate ryan, alex, and bryce for making it to the end. Making it this far in the game is no easy task, so you're all winners in my book. Not only that, but your passionate speeches make me glad that three "real fans" made it to the final 3, because it shows you all really do love this game, which I respect more than anything.

I want to talk to the jury now. Guys, we may be pissed that we're out, I'm not exactly pleased to be here (especially after the random vote), but if we don't vote for the most deserving player, we ruin this game. Taking personal preference in this game over deciding who deserves this game doesn't allow you to win, it just takes the win away from a good player. So put that into consideration tonight.