Brandon, I think you bring up a lot of good points in your speech to me. I agree with you. I think, by far, my biggest flaw in this game was my social game. Coming into this final tribal council, I wasn't able to see that because I was unconscious of it. Now, after all of the jury's comments, yeah. I completely understand where everyone is coming from and I know that my biggest mistakes and regrets all stem from my shortcomings in the social department.
Just as an aside, you're completely right. It took me a while to take a deep breath and put my ego in check, but everything you just said is 100% true. I took you out because you were a huge threat to beat me. Period. Full stop. But, the way I went through with it was out of the game. What I saw as me having fun and being ridiculous, you saw as a personal attack, and that is completely understandable. And, once again, if you wanna message me and we can talk it through, I welcome that. Because I don't plan on leaving tengaged after this game and I really do wanna keep my friends that I had coming into this game. So, I'm sorry. And I hope we can still be friends.
But otherwise, you, Brandon, are throwing me a bone and giving me a chance to redeem myself, and you didn't have to do that. I wouldn't have expected you to do that after the way I treated you. And I do intend to take that bone so long as you'll continue to hold it out for me.
I did not play anywhere near close a perfect game. Every single person on the jury DID in fact do things better than I did. Some of them exponentially better, and some of them not.
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[Dan] - Dwipeouts no matter the series or game, I've always seen dedicated and always completely active and playing. His commitment to games is a great asset to have, and from my experience always having the balls to make moves or rifts in the game. This commitment to being active clearly was better than mine as I would indeed throw challenges in order to appear weak, and you've clearly stated that was also a flaw of mine.
[Clair] - A headstrong and ferocious player. But additionally completely kind and loyal. Rarely telling any lies in the game & always sticking to her guns. Whether that be keeping strong and being vocal of her targets (I.E Brandon) or and having a solid footing and grounded in reality. I admire her loyalty, it's something that I lacked in the game, and hurt me in the long-run, having players feeling slighted against me now.
[Qaz] - He's a well-known player in the Group Game Community, always seeming to be a cunning player when he dedicates himself. With a skill, I have tried countless times to master, but seemingly never can- his under the radar game-play. It's a very undervalued talent, that takes awareness of player's positioning's in the game to master and I applaud him for achieving something, I never can.
[Natasha] - With no prior knowledge to her coming into the game, she immediately won me over in our first conversation. She kept it calm and relaxing, not jumping into game-talk or strategy like others would fairly early. Quickly winning over my trust in the game. As the player 'Most Untrustworthy' I was the complete opposite of her game. I completely understand why she's regarded as the best winner of Gen II.
[Brandon] - I don't think there's nothing this guy did better than me. Fuck him. Okay, I'm obviously kidding. I think to a lesser-extent I modeled my game after how you play this season. You're overall a force to be reckoned with, saying just one aspect of your personality/game would be an understatement since I regard you as one of the best all around players. And I'm not saying this to kiss your ass, it's the truth. And I know you know that, as much as me! One of the things you have over me, is your complete ability to win over whoever you sat next to. Literally. No one could've beaten you at FTC. I'm trying to ponder a hypothetical scenario you lose the jury vote and I don't think I can even think of a realistic one.
[Ethan] - One area is where I lacked was talking to Ethan, I believe I didn't speak to him as much, or one on one like I did with others in the game. Which is completely a fault of mine. However, he was a strong candidate in Individual Immunity Challenges, and was highly regarded as a threat, with many players, including I being nervous of his ability to maneuver himself into good positions and avoid being on the chopping block for a majority of the game. Which, I had many more struggles my name coming up many times and being nearly eliminated.
[Erik] - A genuinely likable guy, there's really nothing bad you could say about Erik, while everyone else has some fault. He was adamant and headstrong about who he targeted, with an absolutely justifiable cause: *looks at the pedophile* and with a strong social game, no matter what "resume" he had, he'd be a high candidate for winning at a majority of Final Tribal Council's.
[Brady] - I admire Brady's audacity to open and vocal about moves, who is a threat in the game, and who he needs to take down yet still surviving until the finale. Receiving a total of 19 votes against him this season, and still surviving towards the end. His endurance in the game was impeccable and throughout this, even though we've had our differences he's another friend of mine outside the game.
[Tyler] - I've commented previously on this and it stands here too. Tyler has a FIRE for the game, you can just overall tell. Showing up to the majority of challenges, when he's in AUSTRALIA in a far timezone, which put him at a disadvantage. Yet still winning Individual Immunities and having an extremely strong presence in the game. The passion was 100% there, and I believe his story through-out the season was iconic, with many different ups and downs, and always having the drive to make a move. I think you could argue that his overcoming his timezone disadvantage was probably better than me in my regard. In which he kicked ass from that position.
[Keizo] - One of the most likable, if not THE most likable of the game. When players regarded him as a "saint" that's completely correct, from talking on call with him I have absolutely nothing but praises for Mr. Foxy_Piplup, a great conversationalist and someone that should rack in many jury votes, because I believe I'd vote Keizo myself. He was that goddamn nice and likeable, in which if he wins, he completely deserves it. Where as, I left people feeling animosity when they were voted out.
[Jesse] - I'm going to be honest, this one was a hard one to write. It's hard to pinpoint where Jesse excelled, from just being above me or other players in the game. He pissed a ton of people off, and the entire pedophile thing doesn't help his case. But, I know for a fact the relationships he did garner, he had some people in the game completely trusting him and blindsided from some actions of him turning on them and played a very strong double-agent game towards the finale and final 6/7. Where I was a constant target.