Nothing has changed to my knowledge and I still want Mearl out.

I'm bored. I want my tribe to lose. I want to blindside Mearl. I want to do SOMETHING. Why is my tribe so good? Normally I love being on the dominant tribe, but when Mearl is around and when I joined this game partially for shits and giggles? Blagh.

Maybe we'll throw the next one.

Should have thrown the last one. Oh well.

Jeremy says he has gotten Joe and Shadi on board for voting out Mearl.

It will probably be unanimous.

lol. i thought mearl was supposed to be good at these games.

I'm acting naive and undecided and making him think it's his idea, when I was doing as much as I could to spearhead it from before the first Tribal Council, lol.

[5:44:49 PM] Russ: Hey
[5:44:56 PM] Joeker: Whats up Russ
[5:44:57 PM] Russ: We have not really talked much game yet despite being on the same kickass tribe :P
[5:45:26 PM] Joeker: We talked a bit during the keith vote if you wanna count that :P
[5:45:54 PM] Russ: Haha we did, but only a bit and that was a unanimous vote anyway. (Well.. almost unanimous, but whatever, I don't know or care who the 1 was)
[5:46:35 PM] Russ: Have you thought about how you might vote if we lose again?
Since we were on the same page before and I'm not sure what might go down if we lose -- since we've won so many there hasn't been much talking (that I've been involved in, at least..)
[5:47:42 PM] Joeker: Do you trust Mearl?
[5:48:29 PM] Russ: Hmm
I would ideally like to?
But he and I have been against each other in at least one other game -- maybe two -- and I know he has won multiple and is a pretty hardcore schemer
So I don't know whether I can. I'm undecided
[5:49:04 PM] Joeker: I'm not feeling real comfortable around him tbh
[5:49:12 PM] Joeker: Since like you said he's a hardcore schemer
[5:49:38 PM] Russ: It definitely would feel safer if he were gone, since going forward he'd be a bigger threat than.. just about anyone
[5:50:00 PM] Joeker: If you want to vote him out I'd be on board with that
[5:50:06 PM] Joeker: if we went to tribal
[5:50:09 PM] Russ: Though it's also unnerving to take him out since I don't know whether votes would be there
And he approached me saying "oh hey we could work together this time instead of against each other"... but then also never messaged me again lol
[5:50:16 PM] Russ: I'd be down for it if votes are there, if we lose
[5:51:20 PM] Joeker: I'm sure people know he's a threat that needs to be dealt with at this point
[5:53:12 PM] Joeker: i mean idk if anyone tried making a flag so if we go to tribal we can strike there before merl gets worse in the long run
[5:53:37 PM] Russ: Not gonna lie I haven't worked on a flag either -- I'm not great at flag challenges in general and didn't have many ideas other than, like, a plate of olives or some shit.
[5:53:46 PM] Russ: It would be good to take him out before a swap since lord knows who he'd be loyal to if things got mixed up
[5:53:46 PM] Joeker: I suck at flag challenges
[5:53:55 PM] Russ: He is definitely a threat -- have you talked to anyone else or do you feel confident numbers would be there?

And meanwhile, Jeremy is telling Joe that I trust Joe, and Joe is telling me Jeremy wants him gone...

Joe is already voting out Mearl -- I'm just talking to Joe to make him think he's more powerful than he is so that he'll stay more loyal to me later on.

I might vote for Alex again. But I really, REALLY want to actually cast a vote against Mearl before the game is over. So I might not.

Convo with Spinner & Zimdelinvasor:

SPINNER:
So what's up with tribal guys? Who are we targeting?

ZIMDELINVASOR:
What I have been hearing is that people are targeting Mearl, actually.
He made like.. a fuckton of alliances outside of just the one with us.
A majority of the votes are definitely going his way so I'm going that way as well. He's been super sketch and can't be trusted.
But he doesn't know it's coming, I don't think.

SPINNER:
Yeah I knew about that I was just waiting til he turned on me to share information with everyone LOL. But someone got him first so that's fine. He's pretty shady and he tried playing too hard too quick. But you can't do that to all winners...
-----
Doesn't mean we can't work together tho.

ZIMDELINVASOR:
It seems like he's talked to like... half the tribe... or more haha. So yeah it was a matter of time before it started getting around. That kind of play really, really isn't going to work on a tribe like this.
I agree, though, we definitely can and should still work together since we talked to each other openly here. Even if Mearl's an overplaying dildo, doesn't mean you and I can't work together going forward, for sure.

SPINNER:
I know you're a smart guy and I know you know survivor inside and out and I feel like that's a good ally to have so definitely going forward we just need to continue to communicate with each other.

ZIMDELINVASOR:
And, unlike Mearl, I'm able to be both smart and straightforward :P Since I'm really not about much bullshitting and deceit in these games, if only because I'm scared I'll get caught in lies or whatever. So if I say I'll work with someone, I mean it, and I'm definitely down for working with you.

SPINNER:
Sounds good man. Hopefully we won't have to go to tribal anytime soon, tho.

ZIMDELINVASOR:
I agree for sure.
I am a little wary about this vote. Just that people might be lying to me and blindsiding me instead of Mearl or something, based on one or two messages I've gotten that seem a little... off. But I hope people get that I'm way more straightforward and less conniving than he is.

SPINNER:
I'm pretty sure you have been associated with him by people. But unless they're playing both of us, Mearl is leaving.

ZIMDELINVASOR:
I've wanted him out for a while so that'd be a silly association to make.. I just didn't go for it until we actually lost a thing.
But that's good, then. You seem sincere with it and so do a sufficient number of others.
I just tend to worry more than I should

if for some reason mearl DOESN'T go home and i'm getting blindsided then this is the stupidest fucking cast ever

like not because mearl is a threat or whatever but because from a storyline standpoint... why would you not take him out? the huge ~THREAT~ overplaying hilariously poorly and going home right away is perfect and anyone who stands in the way of such a glorious beginning is a fucking idiot

marginally uncertain about the outcome...

i messaged colts saying "mearl has been targeting you; i'm voting for him"

literally RIGHT WHEN colts responded -- like, 18 seconds later, looking at timestamps -- joeker skyped me saying "did colts respond yet"
like RIGHT afterwards within 20 seconds... so they're obviously been talking

my alliance's skype chat has gone quiet which is surprising with how much they all apparently wanted to vote out mearl

colts's message to me was saying he'll vote any way i tell him to, which... seems like a blatant lie since it's so extreme

mearl acted to me like he's totally apathetic about who he votes for which shows he's being dishonest with me -- which i /knew/ he was, but before it was a "mearl is trying to use me" dishonesty.. here, it seems like a "mearl doesn't care how i vote" dishonesty, i.e. mearl is voting for me

there are lots of fishy things in people's interactions with me that they don't think i'm picking up on, but i am

so if i do go home, i won't be blindsided at all

but like, everyone has TOLD me they're voting mearl and i've acted like i'm cool with all of them, so.. if they /are/ voting for me, there's not really anything i can do to stop it?? other than accuse them of planning to vote for me and then if i AM wrong, i look paranoid and stupid, and like.. how would i even go about that? trying to convince people to vote for mearl when they've already acted like they're doing so? that'd just be awkward. like
"hey russ im voting for mearl"
"okay but here's why you should vote for MEARL instead"
"...what"

so i mean right now, just based on the little signals i'm picking up, i think they're probably voting for me and i'm probably going home, so if i do, it's not a blindside at all

but if they are voting for mearl and i was just paranoid, then good

Spinner tells me that people have associated me with Mearl.

Pretty fucking stupid since I've wanted Mearl out 5ever. But then again I wasn't really open about it. Was playing up too much that I was loyal to him, since I didn't know how many numbers he had.

Whatever. I'm voting him out this round so that'll kill that association.

And as long as my group of 5 is legit and knows I'm legit with them, we're fine. And since Spinner told me that, he didn't make the association, either.

So maybe Joe or Shandi or Colts did? But Shandi hasn't bothered saying one word to me so I don't give a fuck what he thinks. Joe thinks he convinced me to vote out Mearl so I doubt he links us. And Colts.... how did Colts win a season?

Yeah, I'm not concerned.

Long as my core group of five is being sincere, we're fine. We have a majority after this vote.

But, again, the chat has been quiet today.

Eh. Odds are after Mearl goes we'll win every challenge until the inevitable swap.

Once Mearl goes there's nobody on this tribe I have a problem with so then I can try to gung-ho push WINNERS TO THE END to get a repeat winner. If other people in my alliance separately push it, others should get on board, too.

i hate that i want so badly to have a direct involvement in mearl going home

because i really WANT to vote for alex

oh well

there'll be future opportunities i'm sure

Well, I wish that that vote had happened a few days ago, when it would have been more climactic... but this is fine, too. I mean, I wish it had played out earlier, but on principle, it's still entertaining how this big bad "threat" completely fucking bombed right off the bat because he thought nobody else would talk to each other. Someone else mentioned to me that Mearl must not have realized he was playing with winners, but frankly, I don't know that that kind of strategy would work with literally any group; I don't think he realized he was playing with human beings with brains. Like... approaching eight of the other nine people on the tribe for an alliance and thinking nobody will find out? Do you really think nobody at all strategized before you got to them? Lord.

Alright, well, I'm happy he's gone. That removes a variable.

Now my focus is on encouraging tribe unity.

If we lose again, I want Chastain out, for no other reason than the fact that a friend outisde the game told me to get Chastain out because he doesn't like Chastain. That is my entire basis.

I'll probably just vote for Alex again, though.

People want Colts out. Looks like a tribe swap coming up soon, Joe and Shadi are together, this will placate them in the event of a swap rather than blindsiding one of them and then the other is pissed off.

Could backfire if there's one more round before a swap, we lose, and we gotta vote out one of Joe and Shadi, but eh, it's the flip of a coin. And Colts is useless so I don't care. He's overstayed his welcome.

We have a majority, so I'll probably vote for Alex.

So apparently, Colts self-voted. Jesus; HOW did he win a season?

This means that Alex feels confident Colts voted for him at the first Tribal Council. On one hand, it's funny that he's wrong. On the other hand, it's not as fun as if there were two non-Jeff votes and Alex was sitting here wondering who else voted for him out of the players still in. Could have caused some dissent or something. Oh well. Wasn't meant to be.

[7:24:19 PM] ?Alexander?: Okay so who isn't getting the fucking memo about who to vote out
[7:24:22 PM] ?Alexander?: Because Colts self-voted

Well now it's getting more entertaining.

Not much has changed.

Core alliance is still me, Eddie, Alex, Jeremy, Jarrod.

Side alliance is me, Alex, Jeremy, and Joe.

Shadi is going to be voted out.

I am probably going to vote for Alex to see what happens.

1) How does it feel to merge?
Expected. I've been in a majority on the tribe from the very beginning. It would have been fucking weird if I didn't make the merge.
I just hope that this means I've made jury.

2) Alliances?
Alex is my closest ally. Everyone from our tribe but Joe has been in a 5-person group, then Alex, Jeremy, Joe, and I are in a 4-person group to keep Joe loyal.

3) Thougts on the even merging numbers?
Annoying. I don't know how that happened.

4) Thoughts on the remainder of the cast?
Everyone from the other tribe is interchangeable to me.

5) Current strategy?
Get past this first vote.

6) Anything Else?
I'm gonna mess stuff up if we get a majority.
Jeremy needs to go.
But first I gotta get past this first vote.