I’M VOTING FOR SYDNEY

congrats to the other two though I guess

GUIGI IS THE TRUE WINNER

Sydney played this game really well despite a lot of inactivity.

He was forced into a corner much like I was and had to play from ONE ANGLE but he was able to correctly identify who was in the middle and buddy up to them so that he was protected by the other side (hence why the middle people told Mike to play his idol on Sydney). Will would constantly protect Sydney which allowed for Sydney to assume a goat status even though he had friends in the jury. I was trying to do the same thing but I couldn’t garner the trust rhat Sydney was able to from people like Jacob and Chris and Will.

Not to mention how much HARDER it was for Sydney to get here. The middle people (AKA Will and Jacob) literally spike like 3 words to me because they let the other cast members do the heavy lifting. Mike played idols so the numbers remained even and Lexie/Dylan quit after our side swindled in numbers. Sydney has to fight from the bottom up while the other two sat back and let everyone else play the game. And I know all Sydney did was be loyal but loyalty is no easy feat. Being loyal to mike and Newz got my ass voted out but Sydney stayed and I think that deserves the crown for all winners!

Hello jury! I'll keep my opening speech short -

I didn’t know what to expect when I accepted the call for All Winners, but was prepared for the worst. I started off really lucky and did not have to attend many tribal councils during the premerge. Even though I didn’t, I made sure to have a decent enough relationship with my tribe mates so that if I did attend one that I would be safe. At the tribals that I did attend, I tried for easy votes on those who I didn’t have a strong connection with.

Despite it being slow and relatively inactive at the merge, I was able to put myself in the middle and had a say as to who was going at most votes. The inactivity, the quits, and the fast pace ending made it a weird season, but I made the best out of the cards that were dealt. I wasn’t able to fully develop playing the middle due to the sudden medevacs, but I made sure that I was in a position that I would not be targeted even without immunity. 

My main alliances at the merge was with Stoner and Jacob, and Eric (separately) and we (Stoner, Jacob, and I) were able to decide a majority of the votes. I knew how the votes were going at every tribal and was able to vote correctly each time, except at Eric’s boot.

I wanted my endgame to be surrounded by people who would never vote me out so I would protect them whenever I could. I made it to the f3 having never received a vote at tribal (please change it at this FTC and vote for me to win!)

Feel free to ask me any questions!

Heya jury! It's late so sorry if this is like rambling and not coherent thoughts at times

Coming into this game I did not have the most bigben's survivor experience! I'd only played one season which I obvs won seeing as I am on the all winners season, so I was excited to get another opportunity after having to turn down some other seasons due to scheduling conflicts.

I'd never really looked at who the rest of the winners were, but after the cast reveal I realized I could actually do well this season! Premerge I mostly avoided tribal until the last few rounds but developed the relationships and bonds that got me through the game.

Despite the weird turn this merge took midway through, I believe that I played the best overall game out of the 3 finalists.

Physically, Ben said in my writeup that I'd managed to downplay my challenge ability in my original season, so I knew that was not going to happen again! My reputation precedes me, so I showed up to compete and I won 3 post-merge immunities along with the pre-merge double tribal immunity.

Socially, I believe I was the glue of our "side". Stoner, Will and I came together at the Final 12, and that was my dream three because I knew both were with me over the other. Both would worry about the other flipping, or not going to rocks, or whatever, but I knew both were loyal to me, and therefore loyal to each other. I also feel that I was the glue between those 2 and Dylan/Lexie once merge got going. There were times when each group was nervous about the other, most notably during the Fast Forward after Eric's untimely demise, but I was on call with Dylan and Lexie trying to keep them calm and making sure that our remaining 5 would all vote together even though they were sketched out about the Guigi vote getting leaked. I knew that I was in a position where if people flipped I would either know about it ahead of time or I would not be the one flipped on. I also tried to maintain good enough relationships with others like Newz and Mike, even Joey I got along with!

Strategically, those of us in the "middle" made a lot of our moves together, I'll be the first to admit that. But my idol is what kickstarted most of that. I was able to use that to bring the 3 of us together while also taking out a big player in the process. At merge, my relationships helped get the exact alliance of 6 that I wanted together. In the first merge vote when Eric was in danger, I helped rally the troops to take out a big player in Mike and protect someone I was loyal to in Eric. And when that failed, it became beneficial to keep the "pairs" in to target each other, so the targets switched to players like Sydney and David. The one move I did not make was voting Stoner out, I knew Will was doing it but I did not do it myself for reasons I am happy to elaborate on if anyone cares to know!

I am looking forward to your questions and would appreciate any votes!

GL Sydney and Will :)

Congratulations Final 3, you should be happy that you guys are going to be the final Final 3 for Big Ben's ever. If I am being honest, it's not an exciting/ideal Final 3 for the end of the era, but you did all get here, so great job on that.

In regard to where I am voting tonight, frankly, I'm between two of you.

Sydney, as much as I like you as a person, your game does not merit being the final winner of Big Ben's survivor so, tonight, you will not be getting a vote from me. If you do win, well, enjoy it.

Jacob and Will:

You two have the opportunity to earn my vote to become the ultimate winner. However, I'm still very much undecided between the two of you, mainly because the games were so similar.

You both are good physical players (which was a given), but I felt like you lacked in both the strategic and the social aspect of the game.

Socially, neither of you initiated a conversation with me (ever), and then when we would speak, they wouldn't last long. It never felt like we had much of a social bond (even though there was trust), and it always just felt very game related.

Strategically, it never felt like you guys ever came up with a plan on your own. It was always a group effort, which was fine, but you guys never had an opinion. You both would agree on moves, but you would never give your input. As a result, it never felt like you guys contributed anything on your own except for your votes.

My questions to you both are:
1) To show how social you guys were, are you capable of giving ONE personal detail about each person on the jury? Try to make it as personal as you can (to certain limits).
2) To show the strategic side of your games, can you name who your preferred boot list of the merge would have been? And your reasonings?

I just want you both to show me that you put as much effort into this game as some of us did. I don't want you to rely on your physical game to give you the win. I'm looking for as much of a well-rounded winner as possible. I wish you both the best of luck, and you both know I love both of you.

Hi I'll be posting my speech/questions later!

Social: The social game is always the weaker aspect of my game. Whenever I speak to people it is often only regarding the game, and not personal things. I don’t really open up to many people irl so I guess it translates online! I missed out on a lot of talks due to not being on the same tribe or not attending tribals with many individuals, not that it is an excuse!

Jojo - can’t really think of a personal fact, so I will say this instead - I’m sorry that I was a bad friend to you, but I had to do what I had to
Eric - nothing new stands out to me from the conversations we’ve had since the season started, but in general when we do talk non game related things, it is often about television
David - just started college
Mike - loves calling Jojo, Jojo Sephora
Newz - enjoys jalapeño kettle chip
Stoner - we didn’t really talk about personal things to each other, besides that we enjoy eating LOL, so instead I will say sorry for being unloyal to you in the end but have enjoyed working with you

Strategic: I’m gonna make this list after 9th cause this is the game that was missing. My goal at the finale was to have Jacob, Stoner, Sydney, and I at the f4. I always try my best to not be the person in charge and to always keep my target level as low as possible. Due to the weird pacing of this season and the unexpected events I don’t feel like I was able to fully take on the position of the “driver”

8th - Lexie, I didn’t want either side have too much power, and this would have been the best moment for me to flip, and I felt it was more likely people would take you further than take Dylan
7th - Newz, I didn’t want you and Mike to get too far together and I promised him I’d vote you out before him so this is where you go!
6th - Mike, you played a hard game and could have easily swayed over jury votes and I would have tried to not let you get any further
5th - Dylan, also played an overall good game, and was better at comps than Stoner so couldn’t risk letting you get to 4 even though it would have been easier to get the votes on you at 4 than on Stoner
4th - Stoner,  you had a really good social game and would have won easily over me. I had thought Jacob or I could have easily beaten you in any challenges so I would have saved you for 4 instead of earlier, but you proved me wrong

2/6 votes received.

SYDNEY- I’ll address you when you post a speech if you post one haha. Good luck!

WILL- Hey!! It was so fun working with you this season but I need some clarification on your game. You willingly say your social game lacks and you have trouble developing bonds with people. You also say you try to not be in the driver position and call the shots. That leaves me to think you relied on physical game this season, and you did not win that much. So if you admittingly have a weak social game and strategic game, and did not win many challenges, why do you deserve my vote? Don’t take this as an attack, I’m just basing it off of what you have said so far. Good luck!

JACOB- Thank you for working with me! It’s always fun. I do agree you were the glue in a sense. I was always worried about Will or Lexie flipping, Lexie and Dylan and Will expressed concern to you about me flipping. You were the one making sure no one flipped so I give you credit. It seemed in our alliance you were in the best spot in terms of everyone else trusting you more than the others. Do you think that is enough to get you the win? What happens if you DIDNT try so hard to keep us all together?

Oh and Good luck Jacob! Forgot to say that lol

Social:
Yeah I could’ve def been better at initiating convos sry! Between being on vacation when the game started, work, and holidays a lot of times people would message me and I would just respond whenever I was online! Not that that’s an excuse!!

Joey - Loves being home for winter break, knows how to make an exit
Eric - Sad about Friends being taken off Netflix rip
David - Is a proactive and organized person for finding out everyone’s votes about merge and finals!
Mike - Played board games with his fam on Christmas
Newz - Learned a lot about his job and what he’s been up to because it’s been a while since we’ve crossed paths!
Stoner - Went to his brother’s concerts, his brother raps about anti-addiction and is 4 years clean

I feel like in a cast like this with a lot of people who have been on tengaged for a while I did allow myself to overlook actually getting to know people better since I’d played with most people on this cast before, but hopefully the reconnections made in this game last beyond it!  Also 2 of my best social relationships in the game that I did pretty much build from scratch walked out the door for 8th and 7th!

Strategic:
It’s hard to really say what would’ve happened for sure in our actual timeline if the double quit didn’t happen! But going all the way back to f11 and having no quits or idol plays, In an ideal world my bootlist would be as follows
11th: Mike - Seeing as this is what I tried to actually accomplish, I would’ve preferred it to happen haha. Would’ve taken a big player out of the game!
10th: Sydney - The person most vocal about targeting me personally, and again what I actually voted to do this actual round! Voting Sydney would not have been the smartest move in terms of taking a threat out, but it would’ve benefitted my position in the game more than others.
9th: David - Again this is what my side actually did this round, it benefitted my 3 because David was closer to Dylan and Lexie than us.
8th: Jojo - At this point would’ve been the person I had the least relationship with, wasn’t on my “side”, would’ve had lots of jury support already.
7th: Eric - I don’t know if this would’ve worked out, but at this point I would’ve tried to get my 3 and Newz to target you because I felt like you were in the position I wanted to be in. With you gone I felt that I would be the closest to Dylan and Lexie in addition to Stoner and Will.
6th: Newz -At this point I would’ve gone back to Dylan and Lexie and taken Newz out because that way I would be perfectly positioned in the middle and set for the endgame.
5th: Lexie - Personally I was closer to Dylan, would’ve tried to take Lexie out here.
4th: Dylan - Last person standing between me and my ideal final 3

JACOB- Thank you for working with me! It’s always fun. I do agree you were the glue in a sense. I was always worried about Will or Lexie flipping, Lexie and Dylan and Will expressed concern to you about me flipping. You were the one making sure no one flipped so I give you credit. It seemed in our alliance you were in the best spot in terms of everyone else trusting you more than the others. Do you think that is enough to get you the win? What happens if you DIDNT try so hard to keep us all together?

I do think that’s enough to get me the win. There wasn’t really a plan or a decision made from Final 12 on that I was not involved in or informed of, even when I was a target from others I knew I was not going to be flipped on. The gameplay may not have been exciting to watch all the time, but I believe it was solid.

If I didn’t try to keep us together I think I still would’ve been fine in the short term. If you targeted Lexie or Lexie actually voted for you I still would’ve been safe and think I had some wiggle room. It’s hard to really make predictions haha because the double quit throws things off and the gameplay of the season fell off a bit. But I think I had enough relationships and options that I could’ve survived the downfall of the group, whether it was the group of 6 when Eric was in, or the group of 5 once he left.

Hey guys!

Congrats on making it to the F3. In general, my vote is very much in the air.

While I would like to make a giant speech about each of you, I really can't lol. This is cause all 3 of you really didn't talk to me personally much. I will just write some generic statements tho.

Will and Jacob: I'm gonna put you both in the same category. It never felt like either of you played really strong social or strategic games. I'd like to see you guys show moves you did on your own tonight or something that stood you out over the other two finalists.

Sydney: We've been allies the whole game and you know I love you but straight up, your inactivity this season makes it tough to vote for you. I need some proof of an actual game you played.

I'll ask a three simple questions for all three of you:

1. What was one thing your fellow finalists did better than you?

2. Why should your fellow finalists lose? I'm not saying this for you to then say "they should lose cause I did ___ better". The more you go after a finalist, the better.

3. I haven't played many games with either of you so figured this would also be a fun question. What surprised you the most about me as a player and/or person? While some ass-kissing is always appreciated, I'd like honest answers.

Good luck!

3/6 votes received.

WILL- Hey!! It was so fun working with you this season but I need some clarification on your game. You willingly say your social game lacks and you have trouble developing bonds with people. You also say you try to not be in the driver position and call the shots. That leaves me to think you relied on physical game this season, and you did not win that much. So if you admittingly have a weak social game and strategic game, and did not win many challenges, why do you deserve my vote? Don’t take this as an attack, I’m just basing it off of what you have said so far. Good luck!

I was a very active tribe member in many of the challenges in the premerge that lead me to safety. I did consider throwing some of these so that I could start playing more in the premerge and gaining more trust, but I ended up not doing this. I was able to win 1 individual immunity in the merge, and tried my best in the rest but I never really felt like I needed to win them.

I think my social game lacks in personal bonds, but I had game-relationships that kept me safe. I was able to keep my name off from both sides. And when I say driver seat, I mean the one directly leading the vote. I never felt in any immediate danger so I didn’t want to unnecessarily stir the pot. I would tell Mike who I wouldn’t vote and had them vote how I wanted them to, however this never came to fruition due to the quits.

I think I deserve your vote because I was in the position I think you wanted to be. I was able to pick which side I wanted to be on at whichever vote, but not get any votes casted against me. I voted correctly at every tribal (minus Eric's tribal) and I was the one who was able to vote you out, who I saw as the biggest threat in the f4