I’ll post a speech later tonight when I can.

Hello jurors!

Man, has this been an uphill battle for me. I have had to fight my way through numerous tribal councils in this game, and somehow I have made it here today. I've had the time of my life playing this game and you guys sure made it fun to play.

Coming into this game as a returnee, a winner, and the partner of tashi, I knew I was going to have a target on my back for winning this game. I made sure to get straight down to business and caught up with Harry, who I've worked with in the past, and the two of us made a cross tribe alliance with our partners, where we coached ourselves through the pre-merge and made sure we all made it to the merge.

I knew that I had a lot of bad blood in this game, and I made sure that I patched any of that up with the people on my tribe. That included Ryan, Logan, Josh, Nicky, and Barbra. I instantly grew into a power position, putting myself in the middle of two groups. I was added to alliances and was given options for the pre-merge, and ultimately I felt like I would do best benefiting from working with Logan, Josh, Chris, and Yandere. I knew that the likes of Ryan, Barbra, Anthony, and Nicky would be hard to play with in this game and they had my alliance (Tina, Tashi, Harry) on their radar. I knew that Chris had a similar mindset as me and I pulled him aside and began plotting for the Seth blindside.

After the blindside, I made sure that Anthony and I were still good and covered my tracks in order to protect me going forward. When the tribe swap came around, I was lucky enough to have a solid majority on my tribe. Of course this is where my distrust with Logan starting brewing as I became paranoid throughout the next three vote outs of Corey, Sharon, and Tyler. I made sure that my alliance avoided any possible idols and got the three people on the outs eliminated. As much as I wanted to get rid of Logan at one of these tribal councils, I didn't want to have Corey, Sharon, or Tyler left to mess up my game.

Going into the merge I had a strong alliance (Tina, Tashi, Harry, Myself) and I had side alliances with the likes of Logan and Josh. I won the first immunity, the only immunity I won, because I wanted to see how the sides were going to form. I had beef with X before this game and I knew it wasn't going to be able to be saved, so I helped push the idea of voting X along and he left. This was about the time that I knew that Logan and I would split ways and I needed to find a pair to gain a majority in this game. Ultimately I looked between Josh/Leanna and Chris/Mearl. I had good connections with both and I felt it could go either way. Mearl approached me with the idea of forming an alliance and instantly I was on board because I felt that my relationships with Josh and Leanna were not as strong as say Chris and Mearl. So, I convinced Mearl to start an alliance with him, his partner, my partner, me, and then harry and tina to gain a majority. And so the Night Club was formed. It all was perfectly set, almost as if the red carpet was laid out for me to go to the end.

Tashi getting medically evacuated put a dent in my plans. I knew it was going to be a hard fought effort to gain myself back into a good spot in this game. The next few tribal councils were definitely a dark part of my game, but I kept fighting nonetheless. I do not regret playing my idol during the fast forward. I realized that I had a 33% chance at regaining majority in this game and I went for it. I guessed wrong, but I had the guts to take a chance and see what happens.

Instantly after the fast forward occurred I started talking to people. Latisha and Logan had their minds dead set against me, so I worked on Josh and Leanna. During this round it occurred to me that Josh and Leanna were not as close as they would seem, and that Leanna was being held back by Josh. I tried making something work with Josh, but he declined the offers and wouldn't accept anything until "next tribal council". This indicated that he wasn't willing to make a move. I had to vote out Josh and ultimately this is where I started playing harder. I jumped on the opportunity to make a connection with Leanna.

Leanna was alone, she wasn't a huge threat, and I felt like if I wanted to get out my adversaries in this game, she was my best bet. I already had bonds with Stoner and Harry, so I knew that I had my back covered. And even though I was constantly targeted for being a threat to win this game, I was able to convince people to go my way and vote out others over me. The whole idol situation worried me, so I made sure that I covered my ass from being idoled out and threw Yandere's name around. I knew Logan would never play an idol on Yandere, and I was right. I successfully got Yandere out who, to this point, showed he was not open to working with me.

That left me with two others that had both made it clear they were gunning for me. I knew that I had Leanna working with me, and that she would take me over Chris or Harry. Chris and Harry both also wanted to take me farther in the game. Harry and I both came together and threw out the idea of splitting votes, and we pushed it until Chris accepted it. I had to trust that nobody would backstab me and once again, nobody did. I was close to getting voted out in the revote but I convinced people to vote Latisha.

At this point Chris was winning immunity after immunity and I knew my chances were getting slimmer and slimmer. Luckily, Logan had used his idol last round, so I was able to push him as a vote and get him out of this game. Logan was a threat and in order for me to win this game, I needed him on the jury and not in one of these spots here. Then came final four and I was in a sticky position. I was on my way out the door, but both Leanna and Harry decided to give me a chance at fire and I fought for my chance to the final tribal council.

I have received a total of 22 votes in this game, counting revotes, and I have fought my way from the bottom to the top not relying on immunity wins but my social and strategic gameplay. Some people may see receiving 0 votes as a big accomplishment, but I believe that the fact that I was able to overcome so many obstacles and votes this season shows the prowess I have as a player. I did also come pretty close in some of the challenges, reflecting that I was competing as well. I played hard in the pre-merge to ensure that I was in a good position come merge, and even after losing three of my closest allies, I stayed in this game even though I was constantly told I was the biggest threat left in the game. I tried to make connections with people in this cast and I truly did enjoy playing with everyone here. This has been a great season and I definitely think this is a good way to end it off. I'll be answering any and all questions.

Hi guys! Thank you to Ben for hosting and the jury for being part of this journey. Congrats to Chris & Patrick for also making f3. I’ll explain my journey is this game and be open to any questions you guys may have for me.

I came into this game with a big target on my back. Being a player who has made it to day 39 twice previously in BigBen’s Survivor , I knew I’d be a big target in the eyes of some people. However, I managed to maneuver my way to Day 39 for a 3rd time, making me the only person in BigBen’s Survivor history to play 3 times and make FTC each time (meaning I’ve never been voted out). Each time I’ve played, I’ve played a different game, yet I’ve proven that I have the ability to maneuver my way into the power position.

At the beginning of the game, Tina & I formed an alliance with Tashi & Patrick. On top of that, Leanna & I made a deal across tribes to look out for each other’s partners. I also formed bonds with several people on my tribe including Ryan, Stoner, & Anthony. At the first tribal, I made sure that the majority of the votes were on Ty, while also throwing votes onto Logan in the event of an idol play. The next round I was dealt my first big blow of the season when Ryan quit. I knew from that moment that this game was going to be an uphill battle. At this point, I managed to fend off danger by blindsiding Barbra, who attempted to target me. At the swap, I solidified an alliance with Tashi, Patrick, Logan, & Josh. I also managed to infiltrate the minority alliance of Tyler, Corey, & Sharon, convincing them that I was willing to flip. By doing this, I managed to keep my alliance safe by giving the minority a false sense of security to prevent possible idol plays from Corey & Sharon.

At the merge, I made new allies and had new struggles. When Tashi was medically evacuated, I was no longer in a safe position. When it became clear that Josh & Leanna were no longer on my side, I was willing to risk going to rocks, but I lost my partner (Tina) in the process. After Mearl was eliminated in the fast forward, things were looking pretty hopeless for me. Half an hour before f8 tribal, I became suspicious that I was the target when Josh told me to self-vote. In order to save myself, I convinced Logan to flip on Josh. I was nearly convinced I was going home, yet I managed to pull off a huge move at the last minute.

The next round, despite the fact that I had just blindsided Josh, I was able to convince Leann to side with me. Everyone viewed Yandere as a goat, yet I knew Leanna wanted to target him for several rounds. Voting out Yandere was a win because it weakened Logan’s numbers. At f6, there was a clear 4-2 division, so I led a split vote on Logan & Latisha because they still had their idol. I even made sure to tell Leanna to vote for Logan to avoid a potential problem with her not wanting to vote for Latisha. At this point, Leanna told me about her idol. I practically guaranteed my spot in f3 by informing Patrick that Chris was conspiring against him, preventing that close bond from potentially screwing me over.This meant that I was aware of all the variables heading into the vote.The revote was contentious, as both Stoner & Leanna were interested in voting out Patrick, yet I appeased Latisha’s request to leave by making sure they both voted her out, in order to avoid an accidental rock draw. Voting out Logan at f5 was a no-brainer as he was a clear strategic threat. At final 4, the obvious move would’ve been to vote out Patrick, yet Leanna wanted to do a fire-making challenge. Leanna was confident in her ability to win, so I chose not to break the tie. It was a win-win situation as I allowed Leanna an opportunity to pad her resume, and I gave Patrick a chance to fight. Either way, this move shows that I was in control of the endgame, as the others had to rely on me if they wanted to make f3.

I did not play the flashiest game nor the most physical, yet I always managed to keep myself safe. I used my social skills and strategic awareness to establish the necessary bonds and turn people against each other.

Sorry for the length of this statement, but I wanted you all to know the extent of my gameplay. I’m open to answering any questions you may have.

**VIDEO SPEECH**



there is a written speech below as well that says similar stuff. Didn’t know if you’d rather read a book or watch a movie :P sorry for the length

************

Hello jury! It’s been a long, intense game. Going to try and keep this brief and go into more detail with my answers to your questions.

I have a little backstory, irrelevant to how the game turned out, but crucial to my “story”. With the end of Ben’s series nearing us, I know this was my last opportunity to finally prove I can finish what I started 6 years ago. I don’t play tengaged often, and I definitely don’t take games serious anymore. Unless it’s a Bingo21 game or BigBen1996 game. I’ve been saying that for a while before this season even started. This is my 5th time playing and I’ve come up short every time. I hope my speech can show you guys how hard I worked to get here and how bad I want to take home the win. Thanks for hearing me out.

***

My game was centered around adaptability. For example, the last tribal before merge I got my only 2 votes all season. After tribal Latisha told me she voted me because “Mearl and me were too powerful together.” Leanna also voted differently than the alliance we had because she didn’t know who to trust out of Mearl and X.

Despite these hiccups, I put it aside and was willing to move forward. The next round I worked with Latisha and Leanna, and worked with them on several occasions throughout the merge. I was adaptable and willing to work with people who went against or after me.

After x left in a unified vote, tisha got med evac, and I lost my closest ally in Mearl, my game took a turning point.

By this point I had a alliance chat with Logan and Latisha. I was talking to them a lot, really trying to solidify something there. I needed something to budge. We talked a lot and a plan formed to flush josh’s idol. It worked and we got the biggest threat out of this game. Sorry Josh. I know we were playing a game of cat and mouse but my dude, too were by far the biggest threat this season. I honestly think if we did not take you out, you would have won this season.

At final 7 I pushed hard for Yandere to go. I had my 2 alliances with Harry/Patrick and Logan/Latisha. I also had a 1 on 1 thing with Leanna. I was hoping to keep those relationships in tact as long as possible. I didn’t want to vote Logan or Latisha and risk an idol play. Then they would just come after me hard. Leanna, Latisha, Logan, and Yandere were wanting to vote for Patrick but that was a huge no for my game. If Patrick left, that would leave me and Harry extremely vulnerable at F6. The next day Leanna agreed to vote out Yandere which was crucial.

During the finale a 2-2-2 split plan was formed, to get around Logan/Latisha’s idol. My plan was to flush the idol, and if they had 2 idols, Patrick would be the casualty.

At final 5 I voted Logan. He was a huge threat left, having made moves and saving himself last round. Plus lots of friends on jury. Plus, I was under the impression both Patrick and Leanna wanted to take me to finals. I don’t think logan would’ve taken me to finals.

At final 4 I beat Patrick in a close finish. Leanna wanted to put herself in FMC to give Pat a shot. Harry then caused a tie. I then campaigned publicly in skype tribe chat trying to push Harry to revote Patrick. This was by far, the hardest vote for me but it had to be done. Patrick has been by my side for a long time now.

I won 5 of the last 6 individual challenges.

I’ve had only 2 votes against me all season which happened the tribal Anthony left. One of the people who voted me, Latisha, became an ally of mine after that. The other person who voted me went home that night.

I’ve Idol hunted religiously, hours every night just to find nothing.

I had people tell me straight up “I don’t want to work with you, you’re a threat” and then convince them to work with me the next round.

I do NOT think I’m the best player this season. I don’t think I’ve played the best game this season. Out of the finalists though, I do think I have put in a tremendous amount of work and dedication and have played damn hard this entire season. From Josh’s boot to now, I’ve put in the most effort in changing the game up. I won’t say Harry and Patrick did nothing, I’m sure they were talking to everyone too. But in our F3 chat, I was the person talking the most, throwing out ideas, making plans. I don’t think the moves that were made against Josh, Yandere, Logan, and Latisha would’ve been made without me. I spent hours talking to logan, Latisha, josh, and Leanna trying to find cracks. I pushed to turn the alliance against each other.

I think I’ve been vocal in my moves, adaptable, and willing to take risks. I did what I had to do and I hope you can reward it. I’m sorry if you feel betrayed or hurt but hopefully outside the game we’re cool. I had a lot of personal talks and they were real and genuine. But we all had the same goal. Make it to the end and win. I really, really fuckin’ want this lol. Don’t vote me cause of that though. Vote me cause of my game.

2/8 votes received

Stoner, you do know there is such a thing as winning too much. My question for you is had you not won every single immunity challenge in the finale, do you think you would still be here in the final 3, why or why not.
Harry, out of you 3 some of the jurors believe your the least deserving since you hid behind big targets. My question for you is simple. What do you bring to the table that the other finalists didn't bring, besides votes against?
Patrick, you seemed to have 9 lives in this game. My question for you is what was your biggest regret in the game.

To all 3 finalists, compare each juror to a real CBS Survivor player and why.
The person that does the best in both parts gets my vote

Well well well, you three I wanted you guys out and told everyone to get you out and not be tempted by the apple and just stick to the flow warning of this and look what happened

My vote will go to Patrick or stoner, Harry you showed very little respect to me and saying things like bye bitch is just rude, plus I don’t care for your game, you’re a longshot to get my vote.

My question

What was my downfall in the game?

What was my downfall in the game?

I really think the downfall of your game was that you were in a power position. You had a majority and your majority had not gone through 3 losses in a row compared to the likes of Harry, Stoner, and I. I really think the trio of us losing Tashi, Tina, and Mearl made us stronger because we wanted to fight harder and we were always on edge about the votes. We had motivation and closeness. I don't think you had a strong enough alliance to support you in this game and those cracks showed at the final 8 tribal council.

I do think if someone from your alliance goes in rocks and you are put in the minority, then our alliance would start crumbling and turning on each other. I don't think not playing your idol was a downfall, because you could've easily been targeted the next vote, or the next vote. I think that once you were put in a power position and everybody noticed that, they wanted to take you down.

LOGAN

Stoner, you do know there is such a thing as winning too much. My question for you is had you not won every single immunity challenge in the finale, do you think you would still be here in the final 3, why or why not.

Hey Logan! Yes I do think there is such thing as relying on immunity though I don’t think I did that. As for if I’d make it here, I’m not sure. But if I got voted out for say 8th, I don’t think Patrick or Harry make it here either. I think the last few tribals happened because I was pushing all these plans

After mearl left, I spent hours talking to you and latisha. I pushed hard to get josh out of the game and I don’t think josh would be out without me. That was not a easy vote to get done. You and latisha were not cool with it at first.

Next round I talk a lot to leanna, doing damage control. She was deadset in voting Patrick. I convinced her eventually to do yandere. Another huge move as it gave Harry me and Patrick enough votes to cause a tie.

So I’m not sure if I would be here had I not win the last few challenges. But I honestly don’t think Patrick or Harry would be here if I got voted out.

Patrick, you seemed to have 9 lives in this game. My question for you is what was your biggest regret in the game.

I definitely regret not being more proactive against voting you out during the swap phase. This was a big section where I grew extremely paranoid of you pulling something over on me, and I do believe I should've seen that as a sign. I knew Tyler might be willing to work with me on the way to merge and allowing you to enter merge with connections was a fault of mine. I didn't realize how much you would advocate for my vote out until merge came around, but I should've known and tried to stop it when I had the numbers.

JOSH

What was my downfall in the game?

Hey josh! I don’t think you had a downfall. You didn’t really do anything wrong besides not playing the idol. The round you left, Patrick was going home. I spent HOURS campaigning to latisha and Logan to get you out. I campaigned, pushed, and went balls to the wall. It worked. If I didn’t campaign, I don’t think you go home. I think Patrick goes home and you make finals.

Harry, out of you 3 some of the jurors believe your the least deserving since you hid behind big targets. My question for you is simple. What do you bring to the table that the other finalists didn't bring, besides votes against?

I brought a level-head. Things weren’t easy in this game, but I managed to keep composure and thing logically. I wasn’t hiding behind bigger threats, I was using them to get my way in votes and prevent myself from getting voted out. As long as Patrick & Chris were here, I wasn’t gonna be the biggest target. My strategy wasn’t to be the biggest threat, it was to build the bonds I needed and make the necessary moves to be sitting here in the end. I’ve played games, where I’ve been the biggest threat, but I’d rather be underestimated than not even get a chance to win in the end. I knew what I had to do at every phase of this game, and I did it. That same awareness can’t be said for the other finalists.

Chris had several outbursts when challenges weren’t going his way. Chris’ outbursts on top of his challenge wins made him an even bigger target, and it shows that he lacks awareness of how others perceived him.

Patrick may have looked he was in control, yet he would not be here without me. He was incredibly paranoid for the majority of the season, and I was the voice of reason keeping him collected. During the swap, Patrick was incredibly worried that Logan would flip on us, and I had to constantly reassure him that Logan wouldn’t flip. At the final 10, when we heard that Josh was scheming to vote out Patrick, Patrick wanted to confront Josh, but I convinced him to remain calm so we could make a counter-move. At the fast forward, Patrick was paranoid that he was going, and he wasted his idol. This was the peak of his paranoia. I knew that Mearl was going from my conversations with Leanna, and I told him not to play the idol as we were safe for at least one more vote. However, he didn’t listen. Paranoia that goes uncontrolled is a weakness. Without me to reign him in, Patrick would’ve made several more blunders that would’ve had even worse consequences for his game.

My game awareness enabled to be in control of our alliance, as I knew what was going to happen at every point in the game and how myself and everyone else was being perceived. Neither of Patrick & Chris had that same awareness.

Harry I only had one one “outburst” at the challenge where second runner up and runner up are clearly different haha. Besides that, I never really had “outbursts”

Congrats to the final 3.

You guys rebounded nicely after my sad departure and that was no easy task.

Let’s talk about turning points, the moments of triumph. There are two points that seem to be crucial that led you three to be here instead of sitting on the jury. I want to know what role you played in making the following turning points happen. Survivor boils down to being a game where you convince other people to willingly make bad decisions for themselves so I want to hear how you contributed. I want specifics on how much you said and what you said or did that contributed to these moves.

1. Flipping Latisha and Logan to blindside Josh

Stoner states he talked to them a lot that day
Harry said he talked talked to them last minute
Pat says he just wanted Josh our so jumped on board with the plan (the weakest of the 3 in regards to this move)

Give me more details. Am I wrong?

2. Leanna joining you guys and splitting final 6 votes

You all take some credit for this. Want to know more

Also a side note Harry you have a hard time earning my vote. You called final 4 a win-win to the But it is a loss-lose in my mind. Tying that vote kept a bigger threat in the final 3 AND if Leanna stayed you allowed her to pad her resume... that’s NOT optimal in any way. Vote out the bigger threat or don’t allow someone to make a better case for themself. You weren’t in control you just weren’t the target. A 3-1 vote shows control but your move seems to show buffonery. Tell me why I’m wrong because I see this as time when people are convinced to do something dumb for their game.

Also negative points to whoever believes Leanna had a real idol. Obvious ploy.

MEARL PART 1

Flipping Latisha/Logan:

I don’t want to sound too confident, but this move I do take a lot of credit for, a solid 90% of the credit. I was having talks with josh/Leanna and Logan/Latisha individually, trying to plant seeds. I said stuff like “other duo is coming after you” “the other duo wants to be the last pair with an idol.” Etc. I made deals to vote Patrick and Harry next if the duos went after each other.

Josh told me he wants to make a move next round, but that’s too late for me. I wanted to make a move that round. So I told logan and Latisha josh was planning a move. I called Logan on Skype and we talked a lot. I talked to Latisha a lot 1 on 1 regarding it. We had a alliance called “plot twist”. I think my solidifying that alliance, getting in the duos heads, and trying to turn them against each other was massive to that round. That was the biggest move of the game and I don’t think Patrick and Harry pull it off without me.

I updated patrick and harry, left out the parts I didn’t want them to know. They were happy to let me do the dirty work and lie.