Hello Jury!

I understand I have a ~steep~ uphill battle in convincing you all why I played a winning game that I can say I'm proud of. I’ll go into detail on the moves I made this season because, oh boy was it a ride, but please don’t hesitate to question anything. I haven’t made a FTC in YEARS so I’ve been waiting for this moment for a while, here it is ☺️

PRE-SWAP - Immediately I noticed my starting tribe was stacked with strategic players like Ty, X, Rohan, Tim, and others. I knew that I had to start working on day 1 to ensure I didn't become an early target, especially since I had a shaky history with X and Ty to begin with. However, I started on the right foot with both of them, then I began charming the rest of my tribemates up with good first impressions by (1) having meaningful conversations which led to meaningful connections, but also (2) by showing my competitive side in Immunity Challenges. I found the most flames for my tribe, off the bat, which was strategy to show everyone that I was ready to do anything it took to bring the tribe to victory. Not only did I want to give the good impression that I was the person to work with, but I was also the person to keep around for comps. Sadly, my efforts didnt stop us from going to Tribal again, and again lmao but I was giving, or trying to

AlsoI found the Evimero Idol on day 2 without any clues, just straight up going ham through friends lists cus I wanted power, and maybe a Parvati moment later. I do want to give props to Liam who helped me secure it since it was a “Friend Idol.” That meant I had to transfer it to someone immediately after finding it. However, that person could transfer it right back to me, which Liam did, and from this point on he became my #1 ally. Trusting Liam with this valuable information and riding this entire game out showed I was able to pick the right person/people to trust, which I think is important when trying to survive.

*Alliances at this Point* – “Threesome” (lol) with Jay & Rohan, and a 5 person alliance with Ty/Liam/Rohan/Jay, + having tight bonds with folks individually.

POST-SWAP - On Epizo, my game really began to take off after creating more connections with my new tribemates, eventually meeting some of my favorite people in this game like Yung, Ryan, and Nopalito and being able to stay with Jay! Also I had the comfort of having an idol in my pocket, and securing an Advantage Dilemma right before the swap too. I became closest to Ryan after we bonded over those early tribe vs tribe challenges. He was killing it so much that he discovered a strategy for the first immunity challenge which ensured our win, but sadly resulted in Rohan's demise at the hands of kings Ty/Ravioli/Paul/Tony, which I figured was going to happen.

I knew Liam was in trouble so I used my advantage as I wasn’t going to risk losing another close ally and number. Personally, I think playing the Mutiny Ticket the way that I did was a huge move for me, as I was convinced Liam would have been voted out that round had Evimero went to tribal with him there. I knew Paul/Ty/Ravioli/Tony were working together in some capacity, so I needed them to lose a number if I was going to have a shot against them at the merge. Its true, y’all had me ~shook to the core~ and I figured it was only time til yall got me if I didn’t come at you all as hard as I did 😔 Its all game at the end of the day!

*Alliances at this Point* – 5 person alliance with Jay/Ryan/Yung/Liam. 3 person alliance with Yung/Tris.

MERGE - I knew my route to the end was most likely going to be with Ryan, Yung, Liam, Jay, and Tris. I needed numbers to stand a chance against what I perceived as a foursome of Tony, Ty, Ravioli, and Nopalito and I knew trying to outplay them was notttt going to be easy. It was confirmed it wasn’t when Jay was voted out.

From this point forward I knew I had to turn my social game up to an absolute TEN and stop at nothing til I was convinced I could trust Yung, Ryan, and Liam equally. This of course allowed me to form genuine friendships with them as well! I incorporated strategy into these bonds by first telling Yung and Ryan about my idol before the Auction. Ryan, in turn, told me about him finding the Epizo idol (legend) as well!! This was sort of a breath of fresh air for the three of us as we had ~just~ voted in minority so we needed a sense of hope, and surely we got it! We went into the auction with great attitudes and we got the advantages we needed to avoid getting the short end of the stick! I will say, I was playing that auction ruthlessly for a reason. I needed the other side to use up their money, and with luck on my side, I was able to secure my first immunity win by bidding on the right item.

Eventually, I went on to finding my second idol, again with no clue, and although I didn’t play either of them at a pivotal time, or have my Parvati moment as I had hoped, I worked hard and was successful in finding power when I felt most vulnerable. I stayed a step ahead of my torch getting snuffed as best as I could by being equally social and strategic. I won three challenges when I needed safety the most and outplayed even my most loyal allies til the very bitter end of this game.

Lastly, one thing I wish I would've managed better is drawing the line in the sand against Ty, Tony and Ravioli by Mutinying Liam. After I did that, I felt that no matter how hard I could've tried to get on yalls good side, I knew there was always going to be a disconnect between us so i knew my only hope at outplaying yall was to get in even better with the folks I was already playing with. I thought, as long as my allies wouldn't turn their backs on me, I could ride this thing til the end, and surely I was able to do that. It also helped that Liam would leak y’all’s vote plan to me and allowed me some insight whether playing my idol would be useful or not. Anyway, my social game was very strong, I believe I could've lost this Final Immunity Challenge today and both Liam and Ryan would've brought me over each other.

Thank you jury for listening to my argument and reading this far if you did 💗 And If something from my speech came off as offensive i didnt have the intension to do that, pls forgive me! I am ready for any questions now

Liam couldn’t log onto tengaged at moment with his tight schedule so he asked me to post his speech here.

Speech:
I don’t have a lot of time to write a through speech I wish I did. I’m currently in another state at a tournament. So I’m going to keep it short I’ll be in my hotel room tonight where I’ll be able to answer any questions you guys have.

I feel like I’m getting perceived as being a goat and I want to prove to you I was. My plan coming in was play into my goat role, I’m an ugly avatar and yellow belt on teengaged and hardly know how it actually works. This was my first teengaged game but I’ve played plenty of survivor games on other platforms where I felt I had equal experience. I’m not going to break my game down vote by but I’m going to leave my key points of the impact I made during these points of the game and believe why I’m here.

Original tribe
- Some of you may know I got sent to the first dilemma, I shared it with some of my tribe mates such as jay, and Tim to build up some trust. I left out that the double tribal council was a social competition in case I ever needed it and I ended up winning guaranteeing my place in the final 12 and it happened to be my only immunity win
- I knew about Julio’s idol it was a half, and I personally felt the best move for me was to give it back to him and that way in his mind I would not betray him with being honest in my intentions
- My closest allies the very few days happened to be Tim and Jay, but Tim went home and I didn’t know about it partially because I was associated with him and partly because of outside circumstances I was hardly on Skype at all
- After Tim’s vote in bonded me and ty very close together and it was honestly a blessing in disguise because ty was the reason I was able to get into both sides later down the road and make my own decisions that benefited my game
Swap
- Immediately it seemed Tony/Zach were a tight power duo and due to Tys connection with Zach he was able to bring me into the fold of things, Rohan wanted rocks this round. Me and him had a working relationship on the last tribe but ultimately I felt he was far more closer to jay and Julio and no use to my game and voting with Tony/Zach here would develop some trust moving forward
- I knew about julios swap advantage and he swapped me due to be worried if we lost again, I think it would’ve been Paul but it was great getting the safety here either way

Merge
-I saw myself in being in 2 separate alliances, the 2 swapped tribes and I was the middle man, and once my name was thrown out my both Jay and Yung I wanted no part with them, although they later changed there opinions it showed to me that me and Jay were officially not working together. I saw that he was playing so under the radar and due to the mistrust I saw him as my biggest threat this vote and I wanted to take him out. I hinted to Ryan a little before this vote about it as well & was okay with it, it seemed
-So I feel like a lot of what’s going to be asked was why would I flip back to this side? I felt jay was a key player, I trusted Ryan and Julio immensely. I also trusted Ty on his side of things but ultimately if I choose the other side I feel like I lost to every single one of them. And I didn’t have any power in the tony/napilito/Zach/ty group or power that benefited my position
-this was the vote where I flipped on Napilito, we were “working” together but he definitely had his allies and I had mine and it’s what forced us to work together, I actually wanted to take out Tony this vote I saw him as a huge strategic threat by the way he spoke to people, and articulated his words to always get information. Me and him had a final 2, it obviously wasn’t real on my part I’m not sure if it was but I figured he had the idol (was thinking he had the og one from lord), and I wanted to take out his close ally napilito, who I felt we were never working long term anyway
-This is the rounds where I felt I needed to tell each side exactly what they wanted to hear. I weighed out the pros and cons and was never glued to any of them I was thinking what’s going to give me the best chance to win. The final 7 tony blindside was the biggest move on my opinion, I had to lie and pretend I was nonchalant about this when in reality I was nervous as hell. Tony kept saying some statements on how he was nervous and I did my best to reassure him. Ryan definitely helped in this blindside as well when we had a fake alliance with tony this round to take out the biggest threat
- final 6, I’m not going to lie my ideal person to take out here was Yung. I contemplated voting him and trying to get somebody to flip in the revote. But I just didn’t think it was worth the risk and it likely would’ve ruined my game. As long as Julio and Ryan stayed on my side getting past this vote I would’ve been safe regardless. This is where I definitely tanked Ty’s game flipping on this revote. I felt very bad as we were closely working together but it was a selfish decision and going with his route I likely would not be here right now.
- Final 5 I wanted to take out Yung here, Julio told me about his second idol conviently the morning of tribal. And I felt Ryan was my better chance in a final 2 situation over ty, and possibly over Julio. This is where I reassured and repositioned myself and by talking with them we discussed it would be all of our benefits for a final 3 and I agree. I had to cut ty here because of those reasons.
- Final 4 when Yung narrowly lost that immunity it wasn’t as of an easy 3-1 as it may sound. I knew Ryan had been close with him this entire season and Julio told me he was considering both options i felt like it was my best possible move to lay out all the cards on why I should stay strategically, it’s likely he knew that already but I think it’s where it’s where I secured myself into not going into a fire making with Yung
- Final 3 I lucked out with Julio winning this, because to my surprise Ryan said he would’ve cut me. I had a pre-pitched on why I didn’t think it was smart just in case but ultimately Julio won and took me and here we are

I think the reasons why I’m here is I was strategically and socially savvy enough to make the best possible decisions for my game. When I’m playing survivor I don’t like to be looked at as the biggest threat I prefer to put on a little more of a goofy dumb act so I can get underestimated and make these types of moves. I played hard and I don’t regret a move I’ve made because it’s why I’m here. I think there’s going to be arguments here that I’m only here because I’m the biggest goat. And to the jurors thinking that and read this speech I would like to ask why you think that if you do have these thoughts. Anyways I’d like to thank Brady and his production members for making this run smoothly, and everyone in the season the jurors, prejurors and my competitor Julio for making this such an awesome season!

So, it seems like Liam had a much better read on the game based on speeches. But, feel free to prove me wrong

My question's for Julio:

What was your winning game move that makes you deserve the win over Liam?
It seems like you stated a lot that a big move was swapping Liam, but Liam was never going because I was protecting him with my life. I told Zach if he was voting Liam next then I was pulling rocks for Rohan, which was the reason why I made that move.

Tell me why I should vote for you when you got mad and didnt associate with me for the rest of the game because I voted ROHAN. To me, this was awful jury management. I wanted to work with you, and then you got mad I didnt tell you what i was doing even tho you never asked me.

Now, there's word around town you know how to use that dumb bot to find idols and I am kind of inclined to believe it, considering you found two idols with no clues.

My question's for Liam:

You ripped my heart out and threw it away. I basically laid on the floor begging everyone to work with you because you remind me of my little brother so I had a lot of love for you.

Now, what is your favorite Doja Cat song?
Why did you string me along at 5 instead of just telling me you were voting me?

Hello Finalists and I want to congrat you both on making it to Final 2 beating out 14 other people to get here and that is something you both should be proud of.

Here I am struggling so much on who to vote for since your both close friends of mine in this game but my vote is always open as what you say tonight in tribal and answering everybody's questions will determine my vote.

My Question will be for the both of you and I want to bring some positive energy to this tribal and ask

- Why Do You Think The Person Next To You Deserves To Win?

Hey, ladies!! It's Nopalito!! First off, congratulations on making it to the F2. Must be an honor to do what 14 of us couldn't. I have some breaking news for y'all tho... many of us in the jury don't wanna vote for either of y'all. In fact, we're struggling to vote for either cos there were better winner choices out there, such as Zach, Tylor, Yung, Ryan, Tony, Jay... just to name a few...

But anyway, you made F2, so let me get into my questions... might make it easier for me to write any of y'alls name tonight on a parchment...

Hey y’all !

My questions for now are:

What was your biggest mistake/regret in the game ?

What do you have to say for the supposed importance of jury management and how do you think you handled jury management this game ?

xx

Julio, you and I are fellow Mexicans. We kinda bonded very well, very fast, but after hearing from some ppl and getting to know you better, you seemed really messy, really intense, terrible social game and approach to people... never made it clear where ur head was at or what exactly you were doing in the game... some other aspects to ur game could be:

- Bad social game. You stepping it at merge still sucked, many jurors can attest to it.
- Accused of cheating to find idols. And you made sure that after you couldn't play any idols, you had easy people to beat (Ryan and Liam) to secure ur spot...
- Terrible insight... it's clear you didn't know much of what actually was happening in the game.
- Did you really say your biggest move was the mutiny ticket on Liam when he was not in danger premerge?? Chiiiileeeeee... anyway...
- YOU TOOK LIAM TO F2!!!!! Claiming you wouldn't drag someone like him to the end cos it wouldn't get the jury's respect... and YOU STILL DID LMAO

My question to you is: Can you admit your social game actually sucked and you cheated in the game even with no idol clues? And if so, do you think that makes you a worthy winner?

Now onto Liam... you were pretty much a Tris 2.0. I didn't see you as a 'goat' or 'sheep' (such despicable terms), but I did think of you as 'dead weight'. We did talk and bonded, but it was pretty clear you and I had no intention of taking each other that far. Some other points to your game:

- You did try at challenges but didn't win any, aside from a social one (kinda good tho).
- Were a massive flip-flop, you drove a lot of ppl insane cos we weren't sure where ur head was at.
- You screwed for our group the way the auction went.
- You were stoned most tribals, so I needed to rely on other people to convince you to vote with us...
- You were up Ty and Zach's @ss, which lowkey I'm kinda jealous, but that's besides the point... lol

My question to you is: At the auction, you got to talk with last season's winner and get tips. Did you learn anything and, if so, did you apply it in ur strategy (other than flip-flopping)? And given that you made the F2, do you think the investment was worth it?

Good luck to you both, conspiring bishes!! :)

I will get to answering y’all’s questions individually, but one common topic Im seeing is being accused of cheating to find idols, which is 1000% false.

Brady can attest to this: I told him the amount of hours I spent looking for the Evimero idol which was around 6 hrs. At merge I wasn’t lucky enough to find the first idol but I was lucky enough to find the rehidden one. Again, I spent hours looking for that as well.

Shitting on my social game is fine but overlooking my commitment in finding idols  I don’t think is fair, as I really put in the work in finding those

Now, what is your favorite Doja Cat song?
Why did you string me along at 5 instead of just telling me you were voting me?

Has to be boss bitch of course lol. And at final 5 I felt that if I told you I was voting you earlier on in the day there would be enough time for you to make a plea against me having nothing to lose. You basically did this anyway with Yung and Ryan and I was a little concerned with Ryan. It was hard to figure out if his true loyalty was with Yung Julio or me and if it was with Yung and I told you earlier on in the day it could’ve ended my game. I didn’t want to lie to you again, but I also felt I had to wait and break the news so that’s why as I wasn’t 100% confident in Ryan and felt I needed to withhold the news until I got a better read on him. If I felt like he was voting me I probably would’ve pitched to you in an attempt to stay, also in this game and in real life I feel I can’t make a definitive decision in the moment until I have as much information as possible.

My Question will be for the both of you and I want to bring some positive energy to this tribal and ask

- Why Do You Think The Person Next To You Deserves To Win?

Julio deserves to win for his physical game. He found 2 idols probably searching harder then anybody and didn’t need either of them. He used his idol in the right time of telling you since you told him about yours. That gave him more knowledge to work around this season, and make smarter moves not having to be concerned about it. He won this final immunity challenge and overall was consistently active and that’s not something I can say at certain points.

@Ty

What was your winning game move that makes you deserve the win over Liam?

Again, I do think my Mutiny Ticket was the biggest move for me but not because I allegedly saved Liam. Playing that mutiny ticket and announcing it in my tribes chat first, before doing it was more impactful, I think It showed I was ready to be the Ice Queen to my alliance by drawing the line in the sand against you and Ravioli and the people I thought you were going to be aligning with.

I think doing that brought people closer to me like Yung, Ryan, Jay, Tris and Liam. Essentially, I ~showed~ them where my head was at and who i was planning to work with

What was your biggest mistake/regret in the game ?

I think moves wise I don’t regret any decisions. However I do regret not attempting to be more active. There was points mostly at premerge where I’m exhausted after classes, practice, work all day and there were days where I just didn’t have the energy talking to people. So I wish I was on where I could’ve had more genuine conversations and got to know you all more on a personal level.

Liam skipping my questions... okay.

Julio, I want a move that wasn't the mutiny ticket because i dont think that changed anything

(Cont. for @Ty)

Technically you were more upset at me for mutinying Liam because you thought I had “fucked you.”

I used the Rohan thing as an excuse to play the victim card back at you but my entire intention at playing the Mutiny Ticket was to mess up yours and Ravs game by putting you both in a vulnerable position. I knew y’all had to be separated before merge and I had to do something about it