BEN and SCOTT will cast two jury votes from their Auction's Secret Advantage.

Hello jurors! So proud to be sitting in the final three of this landmark Heroes vs. Villains season.

During the pregame of this season, I could tell I had an amazing position on my tribe. I had Patrick who I had played my original season with, I had LQ, who I am very close to, and Ben who had just run deep in JRBB with me. Those were three connections that right at the start I wanted to flourish. I spoke a lot with Cole and Jack, and we made a group of four that included LQ. This four was VERY important to the villain's story early on, as we were able to protect LQ while she was on another tribe (which I'll get to a bit more later).

I started off on an AMAZING foot in this game, being a part of the Warawara tribe. We won every challenge during the four tribe portion. While there, I made connections with deeper connections with Cole, Nathan, and Jack. I knew that I was fine if we were to ever go to a tribal pre-merge, because I had painted Red as someone who was untrustworthy.

During the Patrick boot at the third tribal, it was clear we were going to be seeing LQ go. She had let Cole, Jack, and myself know she was clearly on the bottom, and as I'm close with her out of the game, I knew we had to go into overdrive. The three of us were planting seeds to Nathan who had the Twisted Necklace, that it could be used on LQ. In return - she would vote out his nemesis in Ben. The true villain she is, she lied and cut Patrick there instead.

That was the only tribal the villains faced during the four-tribe portion. We were pretty dominant, but that's not to say there weren't fractures in our 9. Seth and Scott had bad blood with LQ, Ben and Nathan had a rivalry, and I had faked up this thing with Red. We were a disjointed tribe that got lucky with our competition prowess. When the Fast Forward hit, and we had a double tribal, it was a simple plan to vote Red out. I was able to talk to Jack and warn him that if an idol got played on Red, I would go - and we planted two votes on Scott to counteract Red and Seth's votes on me. The vote was 5-2-2 and Red went out, with a split vote executed perfectly.

Putting these votes on Scott was also extremely strategic - I knew he would think LQ had done it, therefore widening the gap between them, and keeping rivalries going, amd making sure they didn't include me.

We hit the merge and I was in an amazing position. I had my final four alliance with Cole, Jack, and LQ, I had my close connection to Ben, and I felt like I had both from the past, as well as in this game, a good connection with Nathan. I also had a connection to Brady from the Heroes. Brady and I have known each other since sixth grade. We went to school together. I knew that, while I wouldn't be able to control him - he would always keep my name out of people's mouths, and would let me know if I was in danger. He was a hero, and I a villain - and I used that to my advantage going forward.

When LQ went home - it was the kick in the ass I needed. The game was REALLY beginning, and I needed to stop thinking I had everything in my hand. I was in the bottom with Cole, Jack, and Ben. We needed to do SOMETHING about it.

At the auction, I made it clear that I was NOT with Seth. I blocked him from being able to vote for me. I made sure he wouldn't play in the next immunity challenge. I then got a letter from home (hugs Matt Barnish) and finally - I got the Aruban Vacation. While I knew i wasn't in IMMEDIATE danger, and could have saved this for a future tribal, I put a move on my resume. I told Ben that he needed to use his advantage (which he had told me about the round prior) and that I would save both Cole and Jack. This further insulated myself with Jack and Cole, and I proved my trust in them. With Ben still at tribal and immune, he took revenge on Nathan and sided with the heroes to get him out.

Final ten tribal was crazy. I wanted to take my shot at Seth since I hadn't the round prior. Seth also made it clear he would be after me. I was able to pull in Brady to vote with Cole, Jack, myself, and Ben. Or so I thought. Ben hadn't voted with us here, and had instead threw a vote on Brady. I can't quite remember why, BUT it almost ruined a lot for us. The vote tied 4-4-2-0(1) (Cole had played an idol on himself.) There were eight votes in the revote. Rubes had come online and Brady told me that Rubes would be upset if Seth went - and I realized. Brady was closer in this game to Rubes then he was to me. While I spoke to him and got this information, Cole had spoken to Vanessa and convinced her to flip and vote with us, and it ended up putting us to ROCKS. I think all of us were shocked. Cole and I hadn't communicated so I didn't know Vanessa was flipping, and he didnt know Brady was flipping BACK. But it worked out for us. The rocks sent Scott home, who was super close with Seth in the game. It got out one of his numbers.

With Vanessa flipping to work with us, it gave us a solid five, and we were in the final nine. That was majority - and to ensure we could keep Vanessa with us, I figured we could see what she wanted. When we talked, she mentioned Rubes, and after my conversation with Brady during the revote - I knew I needed to do it. Rubes was someone who hadn't upset anybody, and someone who had wont the game before. A serious threat to win if they made it farther. Plus - they came for me back in season three and I kind of wanted revenge ;P. Ultimately though? I needed her gone to get more transparency from Brady when it came to votes. Our five stuck, and voted Rubes. They went, simple. (Love you Rubes, but you know it had to be done - your social game is actually IMPECCABLE.)

Final eight - touchy subjects. This challenge really got Jackson paranoid. He saw people had answered him as "getting second place" and "not deserving to be there". I felt bad. He wanted a move of his own, because he felt he would lose against Cole or I. That move was taking out Ben. He was definitely on my radar as needing to go before we made FTC, as he has won before and played a physically and socially dominant game - BUT we couldn't fuck up our numbers. We had just gotten our four to eight. We stick together, we make it to four. Cole and I were extremely nervous about the idol, and so I had told Sameed all day that the vote was Seth, who we were voting, and had planned to last minute start telling him I was hearing his name. I knew that Sameed, Seth, and Vanessa were voting for me. I also knew that Brady WOULDN'T vote me, and that they would NEVER expect us to vote out Brady, as our connection was known by most. It was the move that needed to be done. Jack, Cole and Ben agree. We get to tribal, and Seth plays an idol... on SAMEED. That was a success. Nobody had voted for Sameed. We got our vote through! Right? Nope. Jack threw a vote onto Ben, knowing that Brady was, and I think hoping someone else would too? Regardless, the vote tied 3-3-2 between myself and Brady. Vanessa and Jack had spoken and decided to keep me, so it was fine. I was safe, Brady was going. But Jack voted me. He knew I wouldn't go, but he wanted chaos. His way to the end from now on was gonna be playing like a real villain. Unluckily for him - the rocks weren't on his side. AAAAAND - he went home.

Here is where I had to play differently. Instead of now playing offense, I started with defense. I made sure the vote wasn't me, while still trying to convince Vanessa and Brady to vote the other way. Cole went here in a 4-3 vote, because Brady was kind of sick of him, and I think Sameed had convinced her he was going to flip on her. While I voted for Brady again, I told him before the vote that I voted Cole. I'm not sure if he believed me, but I needed to try and make sure that I wasn't fucked moving forward. He stated over and over he wouldn't vote for me and if I broke that twice and he knew, he might vote for me.

At 6, Sameed won immunity. Ben was the obvious target. I knew he would go here, but I had to plant seeds to Brady and Vanessa that I wanted Seth out. In this time Vanessa came to me asking if I wanted to go to final three with her and Sameed. I agreed - (while still voting out Seth) and Ben went home.

We hit final five. If this final three was real? I was in a great spot. If not, I was screwed. But I had been able to convince Sameed and Vanessa that Seth was the biggest threat to win the game using quotes from people previously voted out who were on the jury. with Sameed winning another immunity, Brady told me that he was voting Vanessa, and that they had told him they were voting for me. I took the risk and voted for Seth, and sent him home in a 3-1-1 vote.

I won the final four immunity. I wanted Sameed to go here. I told Brady to vote for Sameed, or else he would go home. He decided to vote for Vanessa, and he went home 2-1-1. After I had fucked him over so hard, he had still shown me loyalty and I couldn't be that final knife in his back AGAIN.

So - that's my game! I think I deserve to win because I was in a lot of the strategic conversations, and making a lot of the decisions throughout. I also made a huge move at the final 11 of making sure my entire final four was safe, and seeing the seven turn on each other was delightful. Those votes really showed who was with who, and it was kind of a wake up call to Brady that the OTHER villains didn't have his back. But that I did.

I made sure that votes weren't on me, and if they were? I was aware of it and easily knew how to circumvent going home. I also won immunity when it was necessary. The round Scott went home, my name was out there, so I went and won the next immunity. At final four, I knew there was a strong chance if I didn't win that immunity I would be going to fire. I didn't want that and busted my ASS to win that immunity, beating Sameed by seconds.

I came into this game as a villain, and I played it like a villain. BUT - I also gave undying loyalty to people, and I never broke it. I think I played a game deserving of a win. Please award me with it. If you have any questions - I would love to hear them, thank you for this season, it was a wild ride!

Final Speech:

Hey jury,

This was a WILD/CRAZY/COMPETITIVE season. This is my second survivor group game and it was exciting start to finish! I would like to firstly thank Jeremy for having me. Now, the fun stuff. Right from the start of the game I was a target because I was playing with Yung and as everyone knows, we are a couple. Although we didn’t want to play the game together, we were forced to in order to survive. When Rubes won immunity and gave it to Brady and Brady used the heroes advantage on Rubes, I knew I had to vote out Yung in order to keep myself in the game. I knew Sameed would vote with me and tried to make the vote at least a tie in case Rubes and Brady voted me. I worked with Sameed who was one of my best allies who went to rocks for me in order for us to have a chance at merge.

I had to rely on my social game as I wasn’t good at winning competitions. I formed a lot of genuine bonds with people and loved getting to know everyone. I played the most strategic and social game I could to get me to the end.

In the merge, I wanted to give myself the best chance to go further with the other three heroes as we were outnumbered. I needed villains to start going first. Right at first merge vote when I heard Lequisha had said my name, I went in with an alliance of Me/Seth/Nathan/Scott/Sameed/Brady/Rubes in order to vote out Lequisha who I didn’t have a lot of trust with yet. The next vote had to be Nathan because he made multiple plans that day (one involved voting me) and we didn’t form a lot of trust yet. I also thought he was a big threat to go far in the game.

One of my biggest moves I made was flipping on the vote that got Rubes out. While it was hard to do, she had an excellent pre-merge game and everyone thought was a front-runner to win. After rubes left, I was put in a position of playing both sides and often became the swing vote which gave me more options to go further. Another big move was deciding to vote Cole out who I was allies with but he was too close to Ben and did well with immunities. I didn’t want to give the villains side full control so I tried to balance both sides and get the votes on people I needed out. Ben was really good at challenges and I didn’t think I could beat him which is why I had to vote him out. I also thought he could of went on an immunity run which would have gave him more control in the game. I thought Seth played a really good game and knew I couldn’t take him to finals. Many people went after him and failed so I couldn’t chance taking him any farther. He’s also how I found out who had the hidden immunity idol as he told me and Sameed he had it. Brady had an incredibly good game through my perspective. People went after him often and he kept finding ways to stay which is ultimately why I had to vote him out.

Overall, I was in the majority of every vote (except rock draws which tied) and did the best I could to get myself here. I also received many votes against throughout the game and was able to make it!

I had so much fun playing this game with everyone and I know I've played a deserving game. I wish the other two finalist good luck.

Congrats to all 3 finalists!

All:  I'm sure all of you played great, but not perfect games.  Please each of you tell me your biggest regret of this season.

Good luck to you all.  I will be casting my jury votes for the same person and I am undecided at this point, so I want honesty in your answers!

hey Scott! glad to play with you again! my biggest regret was the final twelve. I was complacent and thought that me and my allies were fine and that people were going to just listen. That lost me LQ. But it kicked me back to the reality of the game and from that point forward, I wasn't just checking in, but putting in effort when talking to others about votes.

gbpackXLVchamps
Congrats to all 3 finalists!

All:  I'm sure all of you played great, but not perfect games.  Please each of you tell me your biggest regret of this season.

Hey Scott. Thanks for your question.

I would say my biggest regret would be changing my vote in the tie vote in the second fast forward. It was between Barbra and Jack and originally I voted Jack (as he wasn't a main alliance for me) but in the revote I switched the Barbra to avoid rocks. I still needed Barbra in the game as he was a target that people wanted out and as an ally to me, but luckily someone else flipped their vote (don't know who) and it tied again but that still lead to a rock draw and is what got you out of the game. I was working with you at the time and didn't want you voted out so I was worried that could of hurt my game. Thanks for your question.

Hey finalists! Congrats on making it to the FTC that means you did what the rest of us couldn’t do!

Vanessa I have no question for you because you won’t be receiving my vote.

Moving on...

Adam, you played a very strong game I will give you that and I think you are a worthy winner. I think taking me out was very smart for your game and helped you a lot (even if I was planning on going to the end with you). The one thing that is putting me off voting for you is how you blatantly lied to my face even after I was given evidence of you saying you wanted me out like you continued to lie even after I called you out on it and knew lol. What was the reason as to why you couldn’t just be honest and say you had been saying to vote for me when I knew the vote was me so it didn’t matter anymore?

Sameed: Hi king! I don’t really have much of a question for you personally but I just want to know what went through your head brining Paulette to the f3 over Seth when to me it seems very obvious that Paulette is most likely going to win against you and Vanessa? It just doesn’t add up in my head can you please explain this a little more?

Rubes, I had kept the charade up because honestly? I didn't know where the idol was. I knew that myself, Ben, Cole, and Jack DIDN'T have it, and I was worried that if it had been played on you, one of them would go. So i tried to dissuade you to maybe make you think the vote would go somewhere else so that if an idol had been played, it wouldn't be played on you, but maybe on Vanessa.

Hi jurors! First of all I want to congratulate Vanessa and Adam for making it this far because it definitely was not an easy task to get here.

Now jurors, as you may know how tough this season was. We were all on this season for a reason, the game was harder, the players were on a higher playing field and wasn’t just an ordinary season.

-PRE MERGE-
I started off the season with connecting with everyone on the heroes tribe and saw myself in a great position. Our hero tribes split into 2 on Day 1 and I saw myself with Yung, Vanessa, Kevin, and Meggie. —The Macuramia tribe. I instantly connected with Vanessa and formed a genuine bond where I thought to myself, this is someone I see myself sitting at the end with. My ride or die. I connected with Yung and Kevin and saw them as potential allies when we would eventually merge back to the one hero tribe. Unfortunately we lost the first challenge, and had to vote one of our own off. What we thought was an easy vote, Meggie, who was inactive at the time would be an easy first vote off. Then Kevin and I came to a realization that we had a whole ass couple on our tribe. I do admit it did come into a shock for me but I thought I could use this to my advantage. Kevin was pushing for a Yung blindside, and although that would’ve been great entertainment, it was not the best move for me. I’ve built such a great bond with Vanessa, that would’ve been broken had I voted Yung off. I thought to myself and took advantage of the couple by using them as a shield. As long as they’re here, I’m safe. They’ll be the targets once we merge back, not me. It turned out to be just like that and worked very well in my favor. I kept Kevin out of the loop and ultimately decided not to tell him I’m voting Meggie out as I knew he would be the target if we were to lose again, and once again not me! Once Kevin got out, we merged back. Once we merged back I knew both of the hero tribes would be tight among their group so we had to act quick since we were outnumbered 4-3. I knew Zee was someone who could vote with us but unfortunately he was voted off early in the game. However, I saw a crack and that was Logan. He was on the bottom of the Cas Ariba and was someone I easily managed to flip to my side. We voted Nick off, who is notorious for his strategy, and went from there. Next vote, long story short, Logan turned on us, we went to rocks, he was voted off. Next vote, couple was broken apart, Yung voted off. It was saddening to lose an ally but it only made me and Vanessas relationship even stronger. Now to the juicy part.. the MERGE.

   - MERGE -
After going to so many tribals during the pre merge portion of the game, what was left of the heroes were Rubes, Brady, Vanessa and I. Our 4 compared to the Villains 8. Although Rubes and Brady were on opposites side from Vanessa and I, we thought it’d be best to come together as we were outnumbered. I think us heroes did a great job of portraying how divided we were as we not one had a simple vote when we were a team. Coming into merge, I made sure to build connections with most of the villains. I reconnected with Seth, coming into the game both of us were  definitely on each other’s target list but decided it would be dumb to targets each other as their was a clear villain core alliance consisting of LeQuisha, Adam, Ben, Cole and Jack. I connected with Scott and Nathan who I saw myself working with long term. Following the first immunity challenge, us 4 heroes and Scott, Seth and Nathan came together to form a 7 and vote one of the people from the core alliance off. I connected with Cole and Ben who I was from familiar with from preexisting games. I allowed myself to be in a position where even when our 7 falls down, I’d have other options. After the brutal LeQuisha tribal, the auction did not go according to plan. It came to the point where one of the seven had to be voted off. The three heroes and Ben were voting Nathan, and the three villains (Nathan, Scott, and Seth) were voting Brady. It was a decision that I contemplated on often, but after discussing with Vanessa my closest ally, I ultimately decided to go ahead and vote Nathan out and keep the hero tribe intact.

- FINAL EIGHT to the Finale -
With Cole winning immunity, I knew I was in trouble. Luckily I helped Barbra find an idol as I did not have any guesses left. I knew it was possible for it to go to a revote or potentially rocks this tribal. Jack and Brady were voting Ben. I wanted to vote Adam off here and Brady refused to vote him off so I knew I had to something here that could still take out a villain without taking Ben off, as I felt like Ben and I had a mutual understanding, since we weren’t on the same side, we did try to keep each other safe up to a point. I knew Ben was not honest about voting with Adam, Vanessa and I. We lied to him last tribal so why would he be so willing to vote with us?it made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. Jack and Brady were adamant about getting Ben out as Brady was fed up with the villains and Jack felt like a goat and wanted to leave a mark in this game by getting Ben out. So I saw a 3-3-2 happening. I came to Seth and told him to use the idol on me just in case knowing that him or Brady was most likely getting voted. I’d like to point out that Adam had no influence here and us not knowing that they’d vote Brady was a lie as Cole was wanting a Brady vote and Ben approached me with a proposal to get Brady out, which was obviously a move that I’m not willing to make. Anyway back to the story, I knew it was very much possible for a tie so I had Seth use an idol on me to protect myself that tribal knowing something will definitely spark at tribal. Some of you may argue, why I couldn’t have I just voted Ben out? Personally it would’ve been the wrong move at the wrong time simply because Ben was not after me as much as he was coming after Seth and Brady. That tribal, Seth ends up using an idol on me, 3-3-2 happens just like I expected. I thought here I could convince Jack to vote out Adam which unfortunately was not the case, but I was also fine with it going to rocks. I saw this tribal as a make or break it situation. If it goes in my favor, I’m sitting in the final 3. If it doesn’t, I’m one of the next 3 boots. Fortunately for me, Jack went home and we were down to 7. Now here, Ben won immunity and I saw this as a perfect opportunity to get out Cole. Cole another strong contender to win this game, was pretty much up since 11 pm yesterday doing the endurance so him not making to the final 5 was crucial for me as he would’ve 100% won that immunity. Cole is out 4-3, and now we’re down to 6. I win my first individual immunity of the season which I was really proud of as this was the immunity that lost me the game the first time and went home getting placed 6th. So it was a great feeling to win the immunity and earn my spot to the Final 5. Here I had to get Ben out as he was the most obvious immunity threat, and there wouldn’t be another opportunity to get him out, I love you Ben but you got to admit you would’ve won this game haha. It’s now final 5 and I knew I had to make another bold move here. I won my second individual immunity in a row. Seth is someone who would’ve won the game as he was targeted since the beginning of dawn of this game and sitting with him in the final 3 would’ve been absolutely idiotic. After losing his allies in pre merge and early merge, he effortlessly made it so far and managed to survive vote after vote. Vanessa and I knew what we had to do and that was to vote him off. This was a move that saddened me but it literally had to be done. Final 4, What was a close match up, I lose to Adam and he wins individual immunity. Now here I could’ve easily voted Vanessa off as she has made little to no waves with the jury, but she was someone I was with since Day 1 and my hero side decided it was Brady’s time.

I’m definitely really proud of the game I’ve played, it was a complete 360 from the first time, I made the moves when they were needed to be and I maneuvered through this game by putting myself in a position where I’d know I’d be sitting here at the final 3. I think I was an excellent representation of a survivor winner especially the theme of Heroes vs Villains. While my intentions were somewhat villainous, my loyalty to the people I was really with was truly heroic. I feel like there’s SO many questions I can answer and feel like I could’ve put a lot more depth in my speech. So please ask away!! Ask me anything and I’ll answer 100% truthfully. Good luck Adam and Vanessa :)

Hey Scott! Thank you for asking this question because it is indeed true! No one’s game is perfect and I think that’s the beauty of survivor. Every game has a flaw but we learn from it and come back from it. We’ve seen this been done this many times on Survivor. I’d say my biggest mistake was not voting with you and Seth, and voting Nathan off instead of Brady. It made this game much more difficult and I could’ve had a clearer path to victory. I never knew what Brady was capable of doing every round because he was so unpredictable. I was so caught up in the idea of staying hero strong it hurt me more than it benefitted me.

@Sameed

I don’t have a question for you but tbh your speech was off putting. All I was looking for was you coming clean and saying you were a villain because you absolutely were in this game and you tried to play up your loyalty to people when that was 100 percent bullshit. You will never be a true hero in my eyes.

Hello finalists.

Paulette.
I guess I either underestimated your game or you’re fluffing it up. I hope it is not the latter. I wanted to work with you since the start, I really did, but it just seemed like after I voted with my friend Red against you, you were distant and seemed like you wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. My question for you is...would you have socialized with me more had I not voted you?

Vanessa.
Girl, I enjoyed playing and working with you. I thought you seemed very genuine and also very smart. You and Sameed left a bad taste in my mouth, though, when you blindsided me. I would have understood if it was because of idol fear, but those expire at final 6. I respect honesty above all else. I believe I told you that when we met at the beginning. My question for you is; Why didn’t you tell me if you were aware of how to be on my good side?

Sameed....
I don’t know where to start. I had you blocked before this game and yet we bonded and worked very well together. You backstabbed me very badly I feel. I truly think that your decision to jump the gun and vote me out instead of Paulette at Final 5 is your biggest mistake, but that is just my opinion. I have two questions for you.
Why didn’t you tell me?
Do you regret anything in this game?

Good luck Paulette, Vanessa & Sameed. And thank you.

Sameed: Tbh like you were full of shit this season. I don’t even know like why I bothered half the time with you but I just physically can’t give you my vote tonight.

Vanessa: Tbh you’re not a hero either like you’re probs the biggest rat in this game. You were literally all over the place with playing both sides and that’s why I never really trusted you 100 percent.

So tell me why you’re villainous ways deserve you the win.

Adam: I said this to you in Skype but I think you were very lucky to have me in here. I knew how badly you wanted this game and even tho you stupidly voted me out twice, I still didn’t think about voting you out and I never did. However, I saw the same side here that I sometimes saw in real life and that was your bossy side. Obviously you’re the person I want to vote for most tonight but you were kinda a little bitch at times when things didn’t go your way so would you feel this description of mine is accurate. Why or why not?

Hey Seth! I will say that was a fault in my game was not talking to you as much come late game. I think I became distant after you voted me because it was an easy excuse to target you. Once that wave blew over, we did talk a little, but neither of us had been honest with each other. Going forward after that, neither of us really reached out to the other, and I think it was just that we both knew we were on opposite sides of the game at that point and anything we said, wouldn't be truthful or beneficial to the other. I didn't want to waste your time, especially when I knew in these fast forward, quick rounds at the end that speaking with people who would potentially vote with me was more important.

I think all in all, it came to a point where it was clear that I had my centralized group and if I played too messy by acting like I was with everyone, it would only taint myself to the jury. There wasn't a reason for me to fake it all up. I've learned from the past that doesn't win you the game and I didn't want to make those same mistakes again. Thank you for the question though, and it was nice reconnecting with you after all this time <3

BarbraStreisand

I agree that I should of told you how I was voting, it was partially lack of time with so many conversations I was having but also because I was nervous you could flip the vote. After the Rubes vote, I honestly wasn't sure where you fully stood with me because I never told you and Sameed and that was merely so the vote didn't change. I took a risk because I thought you had a good game and that you could win immunity later on and then I wouldn't be able to take a shot and you could win. Thanks for your question!