I will mail the jury tomororw

Good night

Jury,

I hope you can see how good of a game I played.  From the start, there were only two active players on the original Drake tribe, myself and Maxwell.  A natural alliance formed.  We worked together with Timothy through the first stage of the game.  Then we switched tribes and had some interesting stuff happen that led to Maxwell getting voted out and all of a sudden I was mostly alone.  I had Timothy as an ally but he was so hit or miss with his activity that it was hard to tell sometimes.  All in all though, I managed to get the Drake hidden idol (which I never had to play).  So, I found myself in need of new allies.  I talked with JD, Eliott and David and began putting votes together to protect myself.  I orchestrated the blindside of Riley.  Riley, I am really so sorry but my stance in this game was keeping this game in my hands.  If you had three idols, the game wasn't in my hands so I talked to JD and David and Timothy and made it happen.  I hope you don't hold that against me. 

I played what I would consider a fairly error free game.  I managed to elude the vote with 7 and 8 people left, even with my advantage in the final four immunity that would make me a target.  I did this by continuing to utilize the alliances I had formed with David, JD and Eliott.  Then, I continued my trend of keeping the game in my hands by winning the final three immunity challenges.  By keeping the game in my hands, I was able to keep the game in my own hands and I didn't have to rely on trusting people (which we all know can be difficult in this game.) 

All in all, this game was full of twists and turns and I feel that I navigated those the best by continuing to build relationships and win challenges.  Most of all though, I was able to strategize a way to make sure that I wasn't the target when I didn't have immunity.  That is what truly made me the best player in this game.  Had I not done that, I would have been voted out in 7th or 8th place.

I am open to any and all questions and I will hopefully dissolve and confusion you may have.

Congrats to you Elliott......And you Eric for doing what 14 other people couldn't do.
It's very obvious for who I am voting tonight but I still want to give my statements and have you answer some questions.

Elliot- You were active, dedicated and loyal to your allies (I think) in this game. You manipulated all the rest and played Eric well enough to have him take you to final 2 and possibly make the worst move in Survivor history. I enjoyed watching the snake crawl up a players leg, slowing working his victims ear and whispering what to do. You WERE the greatest player in this game and I think you deserve to win. I hope all other juror's would see that. I don't want to ask you a question instead, I want you to bash Eric's game as much as you can and tell me all the reason's he doesn't deserve the win.

Eric- You were also dedicated to this game but you believe you played a better one than anyone else and that is your first mistake. You were so Conceited of yourself telling me why you deserved to win and all that when there was a shining Victor already in the winner's seat. You were the Guy that let the snake slither up his arm and tell him what to do. My question for you tonight is 1.) What strategic moves did you ACTUALLY do in this game? because I see none. 2.) Are your apologies to me trying to gain you my vote?

JD,

The biggest strategic move was voting out Riley.  She had three idols and I knew that would make a problem for me later in the game.  I knew if we waited too long, we wouldn't be able to pull it off so I orchestrated the blindside that vote.  You were actually the very first person I messaged to help vote her out so the fact that you claim not to see any strategy is puzzling to me.  Further, I built relationships with you, with Eliott, with David, with Timothy to make sure I wouldn't be voted out if I didn't win immunity.  From there, I basically orchestrated the order in which people were voted out.  Everyone asked me who to vote out.  I threw out all of the ideas for who to vote out.  I was the strategy and I ran this game.  Then there was strategy in taking Eliott to the final 2.  First off, I wouldn't lose his vote, which I guess I have lost your vote anyway so I guess the vote issue is really a moot point.  Further though, it truly came down to how I wanted to present myself to the jury.  I said it before I will say it again, I would rather lose as a hero then win as a villain.  You and I never had a final 2 arrangement.  Eliott made me a deal so I took it.  I will say that had you made me the deal instead, I would have taken it and taken you to the final 2.

2.  I really truly am sorry for how it went down.  I was hoping you wouldn't feel bitter but I can absolutely understand where it comes from.  I hope that we can friends post this game because I really enjoyed working with you.  In my ideal situation, I wouldn't have had to play this game the way I did and I would've been able to play more under the radar and then I wouldn't have needed the final immunity to feel like I had a chance to make it to the finals.  But, that's how this game went so it was how I played it.  It was absolutely nothing personal, it was purely strategic and I hope that it worked out.

How the heck were you a hero if you blindsided Riley and controlled the votes and orchestrated vote outs and all that. You contradict yourself saying you are a hero when a hero is someone who is truthful, and loyal. You blindsided someone who didn't see it coming- that's a villainous move. You taking up a deal that was put to you on the table, makes you nothing more than a slime. You took the first deal you got and had no strategy behind it.

I never made any commitment to Riley though that's the thing.  We talked, she said she had the idols, so I made a move.  I never lied to her.  I never lied to anyone in this game.  I never told someone they were safe when they were getting voted out.  I don't think I am contradicting myself at all.  I think you are simply being a bitter juror.

And, for the record, if my game play was seen by the jury as villainous, then so be it.  However, I do not personally see it that way.  We all have opinions on things like these.  Mine happens to be that I played this game heroically.  If there are other jury members that feel I was villainous in the way I played this game, please say so.  If there are, then maybe JD has some merit to his claims.  If there aren't, then maybe I have some merit in my claims.

I think you are simply being a bitter juror-

Can you really blame me? Honestly? I'm done talking with you and I'm done with this game. Anything I try to say to you, you'll just disagree on it. Obviously because you want to win this game. I get it. I honestly don't think they will see it as villainous but I hope they do. Even if you weren't a villain you made the most ill-advised moves at times. The final deal with Elliott is a major thing in this game. You took the only thing that guaranteed you immunity right off the bat. I COULDNT OFFER YOU THAT. I wasn't in the final round so I there was no possible way to even say I would bring you to final 2. And that's the reason you voted me off? Clearly you should have seen that you would be better off with me.
I hope the jury see's the arrogance and your behavior to compulsively say you are right all the time. You are sticking up for your game but to say you played the perfect game without any flaws is very debatable and not true.  You self voted once and I don't believe Elliot has. Before you come back at me lashing out on your gameplay I would like to here him speak.

All I will say about my self vote is that it was from the first challenge, I was waiting to make my selection until I saw more of the selections but I wound up sleeping late or having to work late or something...I don't remember which one it was for certain but it wasn't like I just said screw it I'm not gonna do it

First off, apologizes for missing out on the excitement of the first part of this FTC...as the challenge concluded around 10:20pm, and I had/have to leave for work around 5am this morning, I really needed to hit bed.  More on that, surprisingly, later.

This has been quite an interesting game.  Pre-merge, there were a lot of players who just didn't seem involved in the game, by design or problem.  When the merge hit, I was mainly working with Riley, who I'd been on the same tribe with all game, and partners with from the beginning, as well as Yogi, and to some degree Eric.  Riley went out right after merge, apparently due in part to Eric -- I, however, was surprised by this.  I then knew I was in trouble, though, so I spoke to Eric more, who was already working with JD...the three of us starting working closely together.  From there, Yogi went out, which was not my most honourable play -- he was an ally, though I did give him fair warning he was the main target.  Ben and Jackson were two I'd never spoken with, so I had no problems with them.  David's medevac was surprising, though a good thing, because I would have pushed for him to be next.  David:  you were fun, and interesting, but you had a lot of trouble in the challenges, and you were actually considered as a target many times pre-merge due to that.  Timothy didn't show to F4, so easy vote there.

All in all, I didn't do all the planning...Eric did that.  But once I lost Riley, I got my game on, and made sure I was not on the block.  Wasn't hard to do...talk to a few people here or there, show myself as a powerfulish competitior.

Final immunity challenge...sorry host, but there were some technical difficulties.  The first half had an issue that part of the challenge had been forgotten, so it had to be made up on the fly...this led to an equalizing point, and an error in a question.  It also caused a faily lengthy delay...about 7-8 minutes, according to my mail timelogs.  By the time that Eric and I got to the second part, it was late.  I was tired, and I was grumpy about that first part.  I got to the question part about a minute 40 faster than Eric (I hopped to his thread when I finished mine, to see where I stood)...and then waited for the host...and waited, and waited.  After I had been sitting 5 minutes, and Eric 3:30 or so, I knew I couldn't wait much longer...I should have been in bed, and personal issues (i.e., wife) required my prescence elsewhere.  With no idea how much longer we would be waiting, I made the offer to Eric that I would forfeit if he voted JD out.  It was a cowardly move, to be honest.  Had he not accepted, if Leo sent both at the same time, it would be anyone's game...or his, as I would be gone.  He agreed about the time that I finally got my set of questions -- and I felt that as the deal had been struck, it should be honoured.  I answered the questions, then gave him the answers and handed him that victory.  Did he need it?  No, to be honest.  I would have taken him over JD, partly due to the fact that I had been working with him longer than JD, and partly to go full circle with JD from something outside this game.  But he took it, which leaned JD toward voting for me.  That is what happened with last night's challenge.  You can see from our forums, I did post the lock combo a minute or so earlier, so I would likely have won, had I not made the deal.  Not sure why our discussion of the deal was removed, though.

Finally, challenges.  If you look at the five individual challenges, Eric did win 3 -- but I also have had 3 immunites since merge, though one was granted to me by my partner Riley.  And had I not bailed on the final challenge, I would have taken that one as well...challenge-wise, he and I were very evenly matched, I believe. 

Did Eric play a good game?   Yes, obviously.  He made it here, he got partners far along, and he didn't have to dirty his hands too much.  But he did some.  Orchestrating Riley's blindside due to Riley's idols; taking me instead of JD to the finals...he probably would have had an easier time with JD, even losing my vote.  My hands have stayed directly clean...I didn't do the dirty work at any point, which is both a strength and a weakness.  How you all will see it is completely up to you.

Ready for any questions you may have...but answers will have to come after I get a break at work.

I would just like to point out that I actually won four immunities.  I believe Eliott has forgotten about the auction where I bought myself immunity.  So while he had immunity from that challenge, he only had it because somebody gave it to him.  I earned mine that challenge.

I hold by my statement.  Of the five individual immunities, you won the auction, the final, and the spam.  I won the karma search and the touchy subjects.  Thus, you won three, and I got three, including the one given to me in auction.

i also won at final 6 when we had to make the pearl islands tribute

Alright.
I have jury questions.

Eric - There is no doubt in my mind, you have my vote. You are, like, the only person who I have really trusted in this game. So, don't worry. Also, had you not blindsided me, I would have won this game. Well, there is always fan favorite haha...

Eli - You voted me out just because I got your idol. Did you even THINK for a minute that I would have given you that idol? Now I just have the best souvenirs this game can offer and it's all your fault. You PURPOSEFULLY flushed the idols so you could win. but this isn't happening honey.

JD - Personally, you had the best social game here. If I did not have any idols, would you have tried to blindside another person in my place?