Hello jury members, I’ll try to keep this somewhat short since I doubt this speech will have too much of an influence, your jury questions are likely what actually matters now but without further ado, here we go.
Starting off in the game I felt like there was pressure on my shoulders already. I was coming into the game as a prejury flop vet who seriously needed redemption. Plus in addition to that, I was the only Suitman Survivor winner in the season. Idk how many people know this but it’s kind of a tradition for winners to win SBB seasons and I had to carry on the torch. I knew I had to play more effectively to try and at least make jury and preferably win the entire game.
I admit, prejury wasn’t exactly a highlight of my game. At that point I was focusing on how I could make it to the jury only. I stuck with the alliance of the vets and Barney for cover. I realized that I was essentially entirely safe in the group because the other vets were much more threatening than me, especially Stuart and Anthony who were painting huge targets on themselves by back to back HoH wins. I mostly rode with them (Trying to build a few other connections with people like Romeo along the way) and voted in the majority every single time until the triple eviction. After the final nominees were locked that day I realized it was time to start actually playing the game. I wasn’t going to win by hiding in the shadow of Anthony the entire game so I took my first shot against him by trying to rally the house to save Brien. Although the plan didn’t work out in the end due to key vote Robby not voting, I still think that move was an overall success for my game. It allowed me to build the connections with everyone in the game on all sides of the house. Specifically with Maddy who ended up being my #1 in the game. Nobody except Anthony and possibly Logan wanted to target me at that point in time.
Besides the first two days of jury, I started to take over this game. The first day Barney took out James which wasn’t optimal but I needed to go with the flow there due to the chaos I created the previous day. The second day of jury Anthony won the secret HoH and took his shot at me and failed when I won my first competition of the season, a veto crucial to my survival. Unfortunately I saw my ally Robby that day. After that the game went nearly entirely as I planned. Maddy won HoH at the final 9. Here is where I got revenge on Anthony since one of his “allies” took a shot at him and took him out, it proves that my social game was solid at this point with people wanting to keep me around despite being enemies at the start. After the final 9, I either won or threw every single HoH from there on to make people do my dirty work for me. Final 8 Kasey won the HoH after I gave her all the answers to the competition. She took out Barney who was someone who I wasn’t certain where they stood in the game due his association with Anthony. After that I won the final 7 HoH since it was an instant week. Although I didn’t really have a need for it, the veto was always a plan B for me if something went awry and I wasn’t taking that risk. I ended up targeting the two floaters in the house in order to not break any connections I had in the house at that point. Final 6 was probably the most hectic day for me. I gave Stuart the HoH by telling him the answers every round and to say the least things didn’t go to plan. He wanted to take out Maddy there but I knew I could not lose Maddy at the final 6. I planned for him to be the final 5 HoH to keep me safe so I could go for the final 4 HoH. Although Kasey was my true target that week, Romeo leaving wasn’t the end of the world considering he was a competition threat when he tried. Side note: Sorry for lying to you Romeo but I hope you understand why I evicted you, Logan posed no threat to winning the final 5 HoH and if you won my plans would have been messed up. So with Romeo gone I the final 5 arrive. Like usual I threw the HoH to Maddy, telling him the answers and making sure I only submit after he did. Maddy nominated both Stuart and Kasey to ensure that I would not be renominated since the chance that Logan was going to win the veto was negligible. I admit Logan going wasn’t my original plan and since he was a goat that I could have gone to the end with. Considering my options, I saw Stuart as the biggest goat left out of the final 4 and realized it would probably be best for me to take him to the end. I had already dragged him this far by keeping him safe and throwing comps to him, I might as well drag him the rest of the way. Final was definitely a hard day specifically because my target left, who was Maddy. I don’t know how many people realize how close Maddy and I became throughout the jury phase. It absolutely killed me to use the veto on Stuart because I knew I giving my closest ally a death sentence. However I realized it was the best move for my game. There was no way in hell Stuart would be taking Kasey to the end since that would be absolute suicide. Plus as much as I wanted to trust Maddy, I don’t know if he would have taken me to the final 2 if he won the final HoH so I had to make my move there. Final 3 HoH I won Part 1, helped Stuart to win Part 2, and Stuart even gave up at the final part to give me HoH. Was that a smart move, hell no. Why would you ever give up the final 3 HoH? I mean sure it worked out for him in the end but I don’t see any benefit to throwing that competition, if anything it makes people lose respect in you.
Were there mistakes in my game, definitely. I can’t claim Stuart was a sheep or else I would be lying. I recognize my game was quite messy and trial and error in some parts but overall I believe I am much more deserving of winning this over Stuart. I started to make moves in the game before I was down to only a single option like Stuart. I controlled who had power when Stuart had to work with who got into power. I could have gotten to the end without Stuart, but without me Stuart would have been screwed.
I was nominated a total of 1 single time by Anthony and I think that proves how well I maneuvered the game. While my comp wins (3 HoHs, 3 PoVs) did help with that, I didn’t have to rely on them. The fact that I survived both the final 6 and the final 5 without winning a comp both go to prove that I made the right connections and strategic decisions to survive. Get understand I had to cut a few people unexpectedly which may have hurt some people but I still hope you guys can respect the game that I’ve played.