Curly - "Gera, we started out on Malahat together and we had a good rapport as you said. I was very grateful that you saved me at final 17, and I was looking to have you as an ally to go deep with. I was excited for us to be reunited at merge, but our relationship pretty much fell flat. At final 12 it got around to me that you had told the Haiti 5 you had me ‘wrapped around your finger’. It my eyes that sort of breaks the cardinal social game rule, if you’re going to say something about someone it can’t get back to them. It did pretty much immediately. From there on out we just went back and forth pretending to work with each other, from both of our ends. I felt pretty jaded and it was just an unfortunate end to our game relationship, for 6 or so rounds of us just pretending we’re fine and going to link up. So, I cannot speak for your other relationships, but I feel you didn’t manage mine very well in the end. I knew you what you had said, but you didn’t know that I knew (to my knowledge). That said you got to the end, so clearly you didn’t really need me. My question to you is, can you give light on another relationship outwith the Haiti 5 that you managed more effectively?"

Hi Curly! Honestly, at merge where the whole of the Haiti alliance was still in play, there was just not a lot we could do together. We had other people and I just couldn't give you the same leeway you gave me in terms of having your back because I knew you would want Jake or Nick gone soon enough. I regret making that comment, but in the moment I thought you considered yourself beholden to me. There was no reason for me to mention that to anybody else because it wasn't like you had any intentions of joining up with the Haiti 5, so it was just more of a personal thing. It was still early merge and I figured you'd be willing to get out someone like Tony or even Scott next because of what I told you early in the game.

To your question, I think I managed my game relationship with JJ and my personal relationship with Ryan better than I did yours. For JJ, it was simple because he was mostly not connected to a certain side. We talked about deals we wanted to make and it allowed us both to slide by for a while unscathed. I was blindsided by him getting voted out, and things could've been different with this game if he had stayed. You on the other hand were just too dangerous because of your connections to Ethan/Ryan/Yung. It was also easy to manage my personal relationship with Ryan because we had a lot in common. We didn't talk much game but I also felt like we didn't need to. Of course he was a dangerous player and I didn't intend on really working with him, which is why it was mostly a personal relationship (which admittedly did wither as the game went on). In the end, I did have to string you along and then attempt to target you because we soon got to a point where we had to go after each other and each other's allies. I do apologize for making you feel badly, and I will absolutely own up to not managing our relationship well, but I do think it got me further in the game and I may not be sitting here if it wasn't for your involvement in my game.

JB, we really did not talk much in this game. But I would be a hypocrite to hold that against you, because that went on my end too. My issue is that me not talking game to you was a reactive decision. I was pretty off-put by your public chat shenanigans, and that you would essentially air anything out. After the second time (around final 12?), I made the decision that I would never give you any game information or intel (that I wouldn’t be comfortable sharing with the entire tribe). So in that sense, I feel like your strategy essentially ensured we would have no game relationship. At least, that’s how I came to the decision on my end. On top of that I did find the whole spectacle to be very patronising at times. It did not make me want to keep you, so I need you to articulate how this result of your strategy was actually beneficial to your game rather than a hindrance.

Thanks Curly. Playing the way I did was more of a benefit than a hindrance for a few reasons.

1. I think my behavior, though risky and patronizing, put me in a more positive light. I could be totally off about this. I'll find out tonight. But I didn't want to make it to the end and be seen as someone who just sat around and followed the leader. I wanted to create chaos and build reasons why I was a strong player. I also think this helped people push targets on people who might have wanted me out (Brendan, Scott, Tony).

2. I was taking a risk with this strategy. I was possibly building this bigger target on my back only to get voted out. However, what I noticed was the more I was public with my antics, the less people would want me out either because a) they wanted to keep me or b) they thought I was no longer a jury threat. So while I was building this target, I was actually shrinking it while also making people believe I was someone they could possibly beat in the end.

3. For all the work I did in the main chat on the surface, I matched it behind the scenes. Once I lost the numbers, you could sense I was getting quieter in the main chat because I was playing hard behind the scenes and it worked, so while I saw it working, I didn't see a reason to change because I was always banking on the fortunes coming back in my favor because JJ was promising a flip back to our side eventually. Even though you didn't want to keep me, I never was voted for after Haiti lost the numbers, so I figured I diminished my threat level enough with my bombastic behavior, built my social connections enough, or some combination of both, which is why I think it helped me get to where I am.

@Curly
Abel, you and I didn’t talk very much at the beginning of the merge but I feel we developed a decent rapport around the final 8. I see you as a pretty well-rounded player, who did very well socially especially. Can you describe the ongoings with the Haiti chat in the early merge (Brendan vote to Yung vote) in terms of who actually drove the votes and decisions, as well as your personal role in these votes? I’m curious to know what was happening on the Haiti side during this time.

I’m going to start off by apologizing for not connecting with you earlier than we did because I honestly feel like we would’ve worked really together. But on to the Haiti 5 chat, the Haiti 5 chat was created formed mainly due to the fact that Scott grouped us all together and we knew that there would be a target on all of our backs because 5 is a pretty big group. I don’t think there even would have been a Haiti 5 if it wasn’t for Scott so thanks Scott ❤️. Although we weren’t planning on all working together beforehand, surprisingly we were pretty much on the same page whenever we decided who we were going to target. The only person I did not want to target out of the Haiti 5 was Ryan, and the only person that noticed me protecting him every chance I could get was Jake. It was pretty much a group consensus to vote out brendan since no one in the game trusted him and he wasn’t one of us. However, I remember Jake especially pushing for Scott to go since Scott threw his name out, which was another close to unanimous vote.  For the next vote, I remember me specifically pushing for Yung to go not only because he was a former winner,  but because he was playing an amazing game at the time. This was also when we all scrambled to JJ and tried to get him to flip, which worked and led to Tony getting rocked out. As for the next vote, we initially planned on voting Ethan for being a huge threat, but then we thought Ethan would use an idol on himself so we switched to Ryan. But me being me, switched the vote to Yung which led to Yung getting voted out 6-1-1-1-1.

https://ibb.co/cY6dppF

Thanks all for your well thought-out answers. Whether 1st or 3rd, you beat the rest of us so remember that. Best wishes and good game