Zach:

Is it bad that I'm thinking about trying to flip the vote to Tyler at the last minute? Keith is my partner, so I don't wanna vote him. I don't really wanna vote Dino because he could be a number later on. Adam isn't down and Ben doesn't seem to be down for it either. It is what it is, but I'm trying to start to plan ahead. Just looks like I need to build on new relationships soon

Eric:

me talking with Zach about his own TC <3

and also painting Adam and Ben as a duo <3

--- Dino gets 11th ---

Keith:


hey sorry im late!!! ill give you my lil run down on whats gone down!

back to the immunity challenge, IM SO MAD AT MYSELF!
I literally told Tyler "we should both shoot or both do nothing" and he says "both catch" even tho its obvi the wrong decision. idk why I let myself cave like that :/ also wtf Tyler THAT WAS SO DUMB.....


After the challenge loss I suggested voting Dino to Tyler because Ben had already mentioned not loving him. Adam ended up quickly messaging Tyler that he was interested in voting Dino so we ran with that. Zach kinda seemed ok to just go along with the plan and it was a VERY easy and VERY quiet vote.

Getting Dino out was definitely worth losing. idk who would have went on the other tribe, but considering I haven't spoken a word to dino, theres no way he would have been useful at all come merge.

Now to this round, I'm SO happy I won immunity!!!

I never usually win immunities so i wanna go HARD lol. I'm expecting this vote to be the most chaotic yet, so I'll be able to push my agenda without any paranoia that I'm getting blindsided. The only person i've talked to so far about the vote is Johnny. He asked what I wanted and I suggested Sandy/Eric - two people i haven't spoken to and they have each other as friends.

but nothing official yet! more to come later im sure =]

Ben:

I'm feeling pretty good entering the merge.  There's a lot of people that I've made relationships which included Keith, Ryan, Tyler, Zach, Eric, Adam which leaves Sandy, Johnny or Rick as my target for tonight's vote.  This is a tricky situation cause Adam trusts Johnny but I know he's really good at challenges.  Also, I feel maybe I should keep Johnny cause he's a nice target in front of me.  Adam, Sandy, Johnny, and Rick will likely form together with Me, Keith, Ryan, and Eric as a foursome.  I'm pretty sure that we have Zach and Tyler on lockdown cause I have a great relationship with Zach and Tyler is close too Keith.  If that six can get together while keeping Adam safe that is my goal.  I'd love Adam to make it to the final five or final six but if he's friends with the Johnny crew he's going to be hard beat at the end.

Not to mention, there's a secret advantage out there.  KidA doesn't have it and I don't have it either.  I really need to figure out who everyone's partners are to narrow it down cause the advantage could be an extra vote, vote stealer or even one day tribes.  Maybe Adam is partners with Johnny that would be awful.  I'm worried that I could be targeted here so maybe I'll play my idol and get out Johnny but will see.

The target challenge pretty much gave me my ideal boot list and I need to find the merge idol too.

Zach:

Okay, so Keith is like the only one that talks from what I can tell. He says he keeps pushing the other side, which I feel like I have my side. I think that partner twist could of benefited me now. I hear the vote is sandy. Definitely keeping me in the loop now. I'm honestly just trying to get there with Eric and Ben because I like them a lot. Im trying to be more of a hero this game TBH, but if it meant turning on Ally's, I think I would. Anyways, that's thinking more into the game. Right now, ive gotta keep building relationships, and I think I could make it far, as long as I don't get voted out today.

--- Sandy gets 10th ---

Ryan:

OK, sorry I've been quiet for a little while, I started my Real Life Corporate Job on Monday so I have been busy with that. But now there's a lot to cover!

Dino goes home at the merge vote -- sucks to lose my duo partner for the advantage, but honestly we never spoke once, so that's fine by me.

Then, merge happens. A groupchat is made with Rick/Johnny/Me/Keith/Tyler. At the same time, I was talking to Ben, Eric, and Zach on the other side of the tribe, and there was definitely a conversation about whether or not to target Johnny. It's gotta happen at some point -- I think most people on this cast know that, regardless of how close they are with him. But we were unsure if we could get the votes to pull it off. I ran the idea by Keith, SORT OF, basically just mentioned that it was out there as an option, and Keith told me he talked to Johnny a lot. So, there's probably some sort of relationship there.

At the challenge, I was very happy to see myself avoiding shots for so long. Others have said that the challenge is not indicative of anything boot-list wise, and I sort of agree, but it still seemed like a vote of good confidence that people went so long without shooting at me. And though I didn't win, I was there in the last 3 with Ben and Keith, and I sort of guaranteed myself an idol clue by letting Keith have the win (and hopefully throwing people off the fact that Ben and I are close in this game).

After the challenge, there was a lot of scrambling. Zach came to me, and we made amends after the last game I played where he voted me out, which was important because it sounds like Zach and Ben are pretty close, and that could be an important relationship. I talked with Keith, too, and we basically figured out that IF the vote was going to split, we would be the swing votes. We thought that Rick/Johnny/Sandy/Adam/Tyler could be on one side and Eric/Ben/Zach on the other, with Tyler potentially switching as well (at this point, Tyler seems like a sort of wild card -- I think he trusts me, but I don't know how hard he is playing this game or who he has talked to the most).

At that point, it seemed like voting Johnny was not going to work out, with only a couple hours left until the votes were due. So, miraculously, at about the same time, both sides of the tribe decided to vote Sandy. This surprised me, because based on Ben's word, I thought Johnny and Sandy were together -- and maybe they were, maybe Sandy didn't care about going home and granted Johnny "permission" to vote her out, or maybe Ben was just wrong. Either way, I probably need to stop taking Ben's word as the Holy Grain of Information -- he is important for me, being so ingrained in the group game community and tengaged as a whole, but he might not always be right about connections across the tribe.

So, Sandy goes home 9-1. Everyone bides their time. But quickly there are fewer and fewer places to hide, and the real players are probably going to start feeling the claustrophobia. I think tonight, either the tribe could come together and send Zach home (another player who I think is on the outs, and even Ben said he didn't mind Zach going home if it came down to it), or there could finally be a split vote -- but now that Johnny has immunity, I'm not sure who that vote would be against.

I think at this point, Keith and I are key players. I'm always hesitant to say something like that, because it makes me sound self-important, but I see us as sitting somewhere in the middle of this tribe and having to start making some decisions of loyalty soon. I would like to stay loyal to Ben and Eric, but I know at this point, playing the middle, I run the risk of pissing off a lot of people. AND at the same time, I'm getting nervous as hell about idols -- I have no advantages, no idols, and I'm really relying on social connections to keep my name far away from the block. Once I start having to pick sides, I know that my name could come up, and I wo

[Rest cut off].

Keith:

I DONT FEEL MENTALLY STABLE ENOUGH FOR THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok so the OG plan was SO good. Rick was going after Ben and the plan was for me and Ryan to vote with that side & keep our "cover" because Ben was fine with using his idol to take out someone on that side.

BUT this all got fucked up when Ben and Rick started "aggressively???" talking?? they both say the other person was cocky so who fucking knows what kinda straight weirdo argument that was! But Rick got spooked that Ben has an idol, AND no longer trusted Ryan for the leak of Bens name ALL AT ONCE!!!!

so Rick decided to exclude ryan and change the vote to Zach. Rick knows hes getting votes & (similar to ben before) doesnt care because he has an idol!!!

im in such a weird place and IDK WHAT TO DO.
if i tell bens side rick has the idol they can easily vote out tyler
or i can keep silent and rick will idol himself & zach goes....but i think zach likes me???? but idk

Johnny, Rick and Tyler are voting Zach?
Ben, Eric, Ryan, Zach are voting Rick.

where does adam fall? Ben thinks he has adam which means theres already 5 on rick, BUT adam is suspected of being with johnny too. so if adam votes rick I can easily vote zach and hide myself in the minority, but if I do that and adam actually votes Zach than i flipped it and fucked it up.

shoot me.

Ryan:

Apparently it's a Survivor rule that whenever a GOOD ASS PLAN is set in motion, someone has to go and fuck it up. And this time, Ben fucked it up, and my game is going to suffer for it.

Basically, what I said in my last confessional about Keith and I playing the middle turned out to be totally true. Here are the two sides:

Tyler/Rick/Johnny/Me/Keith
Zach/Ben/Eric/Me/Keith

And nobody is sure where Adam lies in all this -- he has relationships with Ben, and I'm pretty sure he has relationships with Johnny. If I had to guess, I think he's with Johnny, but I'll get to that later.

Basically, the BRILLIANT plan was that Keith and I stick with Johnny's alliance and vote for Ben. Ben uses his idol, and Ben/Eric/Zach split the minority vote 2-1 in case Johnny panics and plays an idol on one of them. That way, BEST CASE SCENARIO, someone from Johnny's side goes home, Johnny flushes his idol, and Keith and I prove our 'loyalty' to Johnny so that we have an easier time setting him up for a blindside whenever he is vulnerable, ideally the next vote. It basically buys Keith and us more time to play the middle while keeping our actual alliance of Ben, Eric, and Zach totally safe. Smart, right?

But then, Ben has a temper tantrum while I'm offline and FUCKS up the vote. He basically reveals that someone has been leaking his name, which does two things:

1. Gets me effectively OUSTED from Johnny's alliance
2. Freaks out Johnny's alliance so they switch the vote onto Zach instead of Ben.

I'm figuring I got ousted from the alliance because Keith told me about the vote switching to Zach, not the alliance chat. In the alliance chat, Rick said to stick to Ben since people have locked in the vote. So, basically, they know there's a rat and pinned it on me -- which is TRUE, in all fairness, but Keith is also a rat! The one question that remains is, without me, they only have Rick/Tyler/Johnny/Keith... so they're either banking on me voting Ben (unlikely), making it a 4-3-1 vote, or (much more likely), they know they have Adam. Either way, I'm out of the picture in that group. Fine, but not how I wanted to make my exit.

From Ben's perspective, this is actually a great play because he keeps his idol and gets the votes OFF of him. It's not so great for Keith and I, because Ben basically forces our hand into jumping to his side THIS VOTE instead of NEXT VOTE. Of course, he hasn't said that's what he's doing directly, but Ben is too smart a player to not know exactly how this is playing out. I have to respect it, but I don't have to like it, and honestly it makes me question how far I want to go with him in this game -- he basically shut down a ton of my options.

There was a brief moment where I thought I could steer us back to that original, flawless, glamorous, everybody-wins plan, but if Johnny's alliance no longer trusts me and insist on voting Zach, it won't work. Ben certainly isn't going to play his idol on Zach.

So, instead, Keith and I make our move tonight and deal with the reckoning that comes afterwards -- but maybe the one upside is that they're already expecting me to flip, whereas they think Keith is with them for sure. Maybe all that animosity will fall on Keith and not me. I'm not sure, but I know one thing: the game is cracking open tonight, and things are going to get ugly.

Zach:

I feel like it may be my time. I can't really do anything, I kind of feel like I'm in scramble mode because litteraly no one is talking to me. Pretty much the only thing I can do is go message everyone. I honestly have nothing to lose, and this game is definitely a F2, well I think. It would only make sense with all the numbers. I have multiple final 2s, but not enough

With the name game, I've learned to never throw out a name. I'm talking with Johnny and im gonna try to avoid saying a name. I don't think he's close with Adam, and Adam isn't one of the 3, and I feel like it could be another consensus vote

Finally heard a name, me and Keith agreed on Tyler, it's just a matter of getting the votes together

Eric:

This cast is M e S S Y with a lowercase e because Eric is not the reason it's messy

I'm literally here vibing and everyone else is freaking out idgi

Eric, 2:46 PM
Ben is legit mental like is he okay

Rick messaged me saying that Ben screamed at him

Honestly I'm voting Tyler tonight

Ik Rick and Ben have idols so I'm gonna take out someone I haven't talked to all game

Eric, 2:58 PM
me @ Rick telling me he doesn't want to use the idol

I'll just tell him to like 5 mins before votes are due

Eric, 5:08 PM
Just clarifying

Wait hm

I vote Rick

bc if Ben isn't playing his idol, I don't want him going home

Eric, 5:14 PM
Wait should I take this opportunity to turn the tables on Tyler?

And get him out instead?

Wait just a few minutes. I'm sure Ben will freak out and want to change the plan

bc of what I'm about to tell him

Ugh wait

If I tell him about the idol, I have to admit that I gave him half

Okay fine I won't change this vote

--- Zach gets 9th ---

Keith:

I thinkkkk that vote worked out for me.........:S

I let Rick know that I was gonna vote him beforehand so that he wasn't shocked. If he really thinks im with him it makes sense, because I can get information from Ben and help blur the lines. Meanwhile ben's side is happy I voted with them and thinks im solid.

So for NOW I think ive continued to solidify my place in the middle but ooooo its a dangerous game to play. All it takes is the wrong information to be shared about me and I'm screwed. Ben's side would be MAD if they found out that I was aware of Rick's idol, because I could have diverted all the votes towards Tyler instead.

I definitely feel like ben, ryan, eric (and what would have been zach) was where I want to be - but I always feel like such a target and the answers to the touchy subjects kinda summed that up for me. For some reason I just imagine Johnny and Rick being MUCH bigger targets & keeping myself in that sweet middle spot seems a lot safer.

Keith:

Today has been incredibly confusing for me.

I thought I was ok with both sides both both sides have been INCREDIBLY quiet.
The "Rick side" just...never came up with a vote? Rick and Johnny apparently want Tyler out, but isnt Tyler confused af whats happening???
- Rick says that if it isnt Tyler its gonna be him, so I think him and Ben made some kinda deal?
- Johnny says he's fine to take Tyler out and then pull adam and rick together to go after Ben next..which does make sense to me.

the "Ben Side" ended up deciding on Johnny like hella last min. Eric was telling me earlier that Ben was down for Tyler and when Johnny was brought up Eric continued to push for Tyler...so idk what he really wants.

& Eric is kinda sketching me out in other ways too. Johnny said eric had earlier asked Rick to vote for me. That immediately made me think - oh fuck they're partners aren't they? Johnny confirmed that they are & that probs means Eric has an idol too??????? That would ALSO mean that Eric knew Rick was staying &  he was likely the rogue vote for Tyler. I had told our alliance the counter vote changed off Ben to Zach so Eric probably threw that vote in case Ben played the idol correctly. After the vote reveal Ben was on the hunt for who voted Tyler and NO ONE would admit to it...but Eric was like "whoever did it is smart".........

i dont THINK im getting votes today?? but idk :/ I don't want to vote Johnny if he stays but if he can go thatd be BOMB.

:/