•••Game Overview•••

The first stages of this game were pretty straightforward for me strategically. I was luckily placed on a tribe with both people I knew I would get along with—such as Qaz, David, and Raul—as well as people who were strong enough to keep our tribe safe—most notably Joey. Being on such a dominant tribe early on was crucial for my game as it allowed me to make promises with almost everyone on my tribe without having to ultimately show my cards and break my word at Tribal Council. When we did end up going, however, my alliance was able to steer the vote toward one isolated target, ensuring even more time for me to keep my cards close to my chest. To say the least, I started off this game EXTREMELY lucky.

This swap inevitably happened, and I was seemingly in a horrible spot. I was placed on a tribe with Qaz, my closest ally, and we were outnumbered 3-2. La Flor had faced a huge deficit at this point, and it seemed obvious that they would want to stick together and keep their numbers strong. Qaz and I worked incredibly hard to flip the script on Emmett, taking him out 4-1 and gaining Andrei on our tribe, swapping the numbers 3-2 in our favor if we were ever forced to go back to Tribal. This spot was the beginning of The Boogiemen alliance, a Final Two that Qaz made when we were at Jinotega. We had always known that we were going to be each other's ride or die, but going through this together just solidified that even more and invigorated us to take over this game together. 

The two votes before and after the merge are what I would consider my low point of the game. I definitely burned some bridges with Joey and David by trying to control things on their tribe. Looking back, that was a horrible move on my part, and I should've just let Cody go. He wasn't a great ally to have anyways, but I let me emotions get the best of me. This is what I feel really turned the two of them against me and kept us from maintaining anything serious for the rest of the game. Joss left after Cody, which meant that I lost a very loyal ally. We merged at thirteen, and I seemed to still have the numbers under my control. Having initially trusted Joey and David unconditionally, I made the mistake of telling them who the rest of my alliance was voting for. Bad move #2. And when Will played his idol, nullifying all of our votes, I felt extremely vulnerable for the first time. I knew votes could be coming my way, but I decided to play my idol on Qaz anyways. I really should have kept the Jinotega idol for myself as I would eventually find another one and could've had two, but I was terrified of losing Qaz at that point. Not having him would have been absolutely terrible for my game as he was a vote magnet, my strategic partner, and best friend in the game. I made another mistake the next round by focusing all of my votes onto Joey, losing me Andrei directly after Connor, stripping me of an additional two loyal allies. All of this definitely hurt my game and gave me very little cards to work with moving forward. However, before the swap Joey decided to give me the Jinotega idol and I was also able to find the extra vote advantage, both of which would give me some leverage moving forward. My fake "idol cancelling" advantage was also something that I spread around in order to scare people into not trying to idol me out, something else that I consider a mistake. I feel like it ultimately just made a target of myself and never really emerged as a great idea or concept. Additionally, I publicly fought with Alex, completely letting my emotions get the best of me once again and painting a huge target on my back. I DEFINITELY did not play this game perfectly, and that showed during this section of the game more than anywhere. However, I do think that my adaptability was evident moving forward as I was eventually able to pick up the pieces of my game and start really emerging as a threat.

I realized at this point that I was playing messy and I needed to get my shit together, and that’s exactly what I feel that I did. The next round was incredible for my game as Joey—who was above and beyond one of the biggest threats in the game, physically, socially, and strategically—was voted out due to Ethan using his advantage to cancel the immunity challenge. Additionally, I made what I considered to be one of MY two biggest social plays of the game, patching things up with Alex and establishing him as a reliable ally for myself all the way until the Finale. A strong five-person alliance emerged consisting of myself, Raul, Qaz, Ethan, David and Alex, and for the next few votes we remained overall pretty solid. Winning immunity challenge after immunity challenge was a strategic move on my end in the sense that it both kept me safe and established myself as a constant factor for everyone’s games moving forward—since people were unable to vote me out and knew that I would be in each coming round, they had to adapt and agree to cooperate with me. After Alexander, a huge strategic threat, left at the final ten, I created alliances of some degree with almost everyone left in the game. I had Raul create a group chat with the two of us as well as Will and Keizo, my relationships with each of Ethan, Qaz, David, and Alex grew, and I created MULTIPLE sub-alliances within my final five in order to make everyone feel like they were at the top of the food chain and not susceptible to being voted out: Qaz and I had final threes with each of Ethan, Alex, and Raul and always knew we could count on them. Will, Keizo and I got along very well and would call for hours, and I feel like I did a decent job building bridges with these two, which would ultimately lead to Will sharing the idol clue with our alliance and subsequently me finding my second idol minutes after by using this same clue. I had to break my word to both Will and David after this, which was NOT fun for me to do, especially since I knew Will put his neck out for me and was the direct result of my new life line in the game. However, these were two of the people that I considered to be titans of the game, each having previously made huge moves and had significant control over went on in the game. I knew I could not beat either of them and that neither of them wanted to bring me to the end, and so for my sake it was necessary that they left.

The late stages of the game were very hard, as each of the last four eliminated people were people I adore very, very much. I did not have a set final three to be completely honest, as even though I knew I wanted to sit next to Qaz, the third spot was a bit more ambiguous. We eventually landed on Raul as our third out of circumstance, since both Ethan and Alex showed signs of potentially not wanting to take us to the end. Ethan and I are very good friends outside of this game, and turning on him was such a hard decision for me. Ultimately, I felt as if it were necessary as I was told that he wanted to break up Qaz, Raul, and myself, and even though I knew that he probably wouldn’t have turned on me until the very end, I felt that I had to protect Qaz and Raul in order to have the best chance in the end. I really do believe that each of the last four people voted out could have easily won the game, as could Qaz or Raul, but I felt that my best bet was sitting next to these two gentlemen. This is why I did whatever I could today in order to get us here, including lying to all of you, which I genuinely do feel very bad about and apologize for.

•••Closing Statement/Main Part since the rest is long as fuck sorry•••

I will be the first to admit that I did not play a perfect game. I made several bad moves that put me in jeopardy during the middle stages of the game. However, I do believe that my performances both during pre-jury and after Andrei’s elimination should be taken into consideration when you cast your votes tonight. I never once in this game hid in the background—I was a loud personality and target from the beginning, yet here I sit. Many of you may say that this target was made enlarged due to my immunity wins, but to that I say this: I was going to be a threat anyways, so my options were to be a threat or a safe threat—I just chose the safe route. I did NOT have an easy ride here—in fact, I worked my ass off to be where I am right now. When my alliance would share idol clues, I would be the one searching for HOURS, leading me to find an idol on my own AND an advantage. I was at every single challenge both pre and post-merge doing my absolute best, I was the one taking the heat for most of the decisions that the group made, I was the one mediating disputes in the alliance. All of these were crucial to my positioning throughout the merged game. Physically, I broke the record for immunity wins in this generation of Bigben’s Survivor, ultimately snagging five of the possible challenge wins. Socially, I was extremely flexible and was able to maneuver myself in such a way that I was able to very effectively align with people who I had previously fought with, plotted against, and even voted out. Additionally, I made it to the Final Three with NO VOTES cast against me whatsoever, and even though I was safe for half of merge, there were SEVERAL opportunities where you all could have gotten me out and chose not to. I used information (whether real or false, such as who was targeting who, something somebody said about someone else, or the idols I had) to generate social capital and convince people to work with me and consider what I had in mind as well as even generate enough trust for Joey to give me an idol directly and for Will to give me another one indirectly. I made real, GENUINE connections with almost all of you and tried to talk to all of you every day, which I believe made it difficult or even impossible for some of you to want to turn on me. Strategically, I contributed a lot to each alliance that I was in, was flexible and fluid with my decisions (such as my decision to establish Raul as the Boogiemen’s third on Finale Day) and was always looking for new ships to jump onto, and tactically knew when and how I needed to get each of you out. I voted in the majority every single time (unless you count the times that idols were played), knew who was going home every single round, and was oftentimes the first person in my alliance to throw out a name.

At the end of the day, although I did not play this game perfectly, but I played with the cards I was dealt, and I played HARD. Some people get to the end of the game through loyalty (i.e. Laurell), some get here by finding idols (i.e. Ben)—I knew that MY path to the end of the game was being aggressive and playing dirty, and that’s what I ultimately chose to do in order to get to this point. I won five immunity challenges, found two idols and an advantage, and never had a vote cast against me. I hope that through this questioning period we can clear up any grievances you may have with my game or even me as a person, and I hope that you will at least consider giving me your vote for the title of Sole Survivor. Thank you!

again I apologize for writing so much, I'm an English major and I love writing rippp

Hey jurors, thank you for a great game. I had fun coming back after a long hiatus and it reminded me why I missed these games so much. I will answer most of the gameplay related questions and not get into big details in my opening speech.

I came back to this site very rusty and needed to re figure out the ways to playing games. I quickly re found my ways and rolled with my experience. I came into the game with 2 ride or dies, Stoner and Brandon, as well as a decent connection with Joey and I knew David a bit. Other than that, I don’t believe I knew anyone. I got along well with Andrei well at the start and we formed a decent bond, as well as connections with Alex, Alexander, Raul and Joss. We won pretty well every time so not too much to talk about, other than the social bonds I developed.

When I swapped, me and Brandon made relationships with Connor and Ethan and we ended up surviving a vote where based on old tribal lines, we weren’t on the right side of the numbers. I then developed bonds with them.

Coming into the merge, I had good relationships with lots of people. Those then became broken by a fight between Brandon and Alex. I was then a part of the minority and needed to find a way to get back to the top. After losing Connor and Andrei, I had a role in every remaining vote off from then.

I voted Joey out due to us shifting away, after not receiving an idol and having opposite agendas. Alexander targeted me so I needed him out. Will was going after me and was a big threat. David I’ll admit I couldn’t save. Ethan came after me. Alex came after me. I was a target numerous times

I was a target nearly every vote for a reason, and survived every vote for a reason. I has 12 votes cast against me. I was a threat due to my strategic and social efforts.

Socially I had tight bonds with as many people as I could have, while keeping it subtle that I was trying to play both sides. Strategically I managed to survive plenty of votes where I was a target and I had a role in many votes.

I will answer questions in full honesty and give every detail. Thanks and ask away! I didn’t get into any details so ask away. I’m sorry if I hurt feelings, I did play aggressive.

Hey everyone! Don't really know how to begin this, never been on a final three so bare with me with this awfully written speech.

I think the best way to explain my gameplay would be to make a timeline of all the tribal councils and my decision making.

I do think myself as well as my fellow finalist had a sort of advantage as we all were clearly on the more active and physically better tribe, losing only 1 challenge before swapping into 3 tribes.

Once we hit swap there was a 4-1 Espada majority in one tribe, then unfortunately a 2-3 minority in mine, so I had to find out a way to make sure I stayed safe.

I managed to talk to Will, who I thought would be the person I could keep me safe. And sure enough I managed to get Joss as the vote, mainly using challenge performance as an excuse.

We then merged, and Espada had a significant majority over La Flor, however, two of my tribe mates Alex and Brandon had a bit of a u incident, a lot of scrambling happen myself included trying to find a footing around all this drama. The problem with this part of the game was that there was a lot of idols, you could even tell because of there's a lot of tribes including merge, and seeing how there was a fake idol twist, you can tell Ben would be generous with the idols.

What I am going with this is that I had to adapt, at this point the target was pinned at Will who was possibly the biggest threat from the other tribe. But yes he did play his idol and managed to stay, and the next person with the highest number of votes was Connor, who I had little connection with as we had just started to talk on merge, but I was glad it was a La Flor member leaving over an Espada member.

Additionally, at this point I decided to take matters into my own hand by making an alliance with who I thought were the two biggest names on the tribe besides Joey who was someone I could not trust st the moment, Will and Brandon, mainly trying to rebuild my bridge with Will if I ever needed to have it available for the future, while also forcing Brandon in a way closer to me rather than Qaz, although I know that wasn't actually going to happen, but y creating this alliance I gave myself the excuse of loyalty and ensured his vote as well as pinning any sort of blame for a Will vote on him, this also helped me create a bond with Keizo, even after the Will vote.

Then Joey became a target, which I was expecting sooner or later with almost everyone I think. Same story as Will, Joey used his idol except this time Andrei, who was a bit less talkative than the rest, got the rest of the votes.

With Joey having no idol or immunity, he ran out of options.

Then there was a lot of discussion over chats and people targeting myself as well as a lot of people I was working with at the time, and really I was just trying to shut it up before it was even considered further, and Alexander felt like the right vote to shut this down.

Same as Joey, a big threat Will with no immunity or idol had no options left.

It was around this point where everyone I was working with along with myself found ourself in a more defined and powerful position, having built trust in between all of us and having a considerable majority over the rest of the cast, David was threatening and found himself voted out.

The next two votes were during the finale, I think we can all agree that 5 people cannot make final 3, and unfortunately some cuts had to be made, of course people had all sorts of ideas on who to cut but I tried to wait and see who would try and strike first and from there strike back, and that explains Ethan and Alex being voted off, at least from my perspective.

Will was somebody I never spoke with, he never spoke with me so I thought he never wanted to bother, I don't think the game would have changed if we had talked though.

Keizo won 2 immunities in a row and had myself Brandon and Qaz rather worried, I had faulty internet and was playing on my phone the whole finale night so it was hard for me to try and win immunities, regardless, he lost immunity and we stayed together and voted him off.

A common theme during all of this season was that I never really possessed any immunity at all, but I still always voted on majority and had not a single vote cast for me in this season, I think this speaks of my gameplay and how I found myself with the right allies to survive.

I am not as mentally capable as most of you, but I still played to the best of my abilities, and I think it is worth considering voting me for me.

ok i'm gonna keep this short and sweet

qaz: you're getting 3rd adios

brandon: how can i in good conscience vote for someone who has forever ruined survivor reaction gifs for me with their 24/7 usage of them in every single fucking thread

raul: pick a number between 1 and 10

thanks bye

6

•••Joey•••

"how can i in good conscience vote for someone who has forever ruined survivor reaction gifs for me with their 24/7 usage of them in every single fucking thread"

--

Yeahhhh tbh I went overboard on them LOL they're good in moderation, but there was a point tonight when I was annoying even myself with them, yikes. I think that you should vote for me because even though my personality lowkey sucked at times, game respects game, and I would without question vote for you if you were in the end. I don't know how you actually feel about me, but I definitely respect you as a player and hope that you feel the same way. Don't hate the player, hate their Survivor gif usage.

thanks ladies good luck

My question for each of you, mainly to Brandon, this isn't gonna really effect because I'm voting Brandon so you can just give me your honest answer, why did you vote me off when I was most loyal to you and wanted you in the end with me?

Raul: Why did you cut me when I wanted you in the final 3 with me?

From Qaz's perspective I understand it sort of but my follow up question to all 3 of you, mainly Brandon and Qaz, is why was I such a big threat? I didn't really do much in this game, I'll be the first to admit, so why was I seen as this big threat?

Qaz, I think my biggest problem with you isn’t that you’re a bullshitter or that you lie constantly and unnecessarily, it’s that you’re blatantly awful at doing both of them.  The reason I would just stop replying to you half the time is that it was so painfully, excruciatingly obvious that everything you were telling me was crap and I honestly felt like every skype message I sent you was a complete and total waste of my time. Based on what I’ve seen in the Ponderosa chat, you just typed up an essay that (to be completely honest) nobody is going to care about.

Brandon, I think you definitely played a dominant game and misted a lot of people into not targeting you, because I was trying to figure out a way to get you out every single round.  That being said, I think it’s also fair to say that you skype-yelled and threatened (from a game perspective) a lot of the jurors at one point or another to get them to vote your way — do you believe that this is good jury management? Was it part of your strategy to not get voted out every round?

Raul, people on the jury may have a perception of you as “Brandon’s ally” rather than an individual.  What are some examples of things you may have done behind the scenes to further your own game and not just your alliance’s?

•••Alex•••

"why did you vote me off when I was most loyal to you and wanted you in the end with me?"

I originally wanted you in the end with me too, but I ultimately felt that taking Qaz and Raul was the best option for me for a few reasons. First, I know that even though you don't feel like you did much, you are a very intelligent player and it was at least possible that you would want to break us up (I know you probably wouldn't have turned on me, but Qaz going at any point was horrible for my game and so I had to protect him). Additionally, I saw you as a bigger jury threat than maybe you did. I have no doubt in my mind that you have the ability to eloquently explain your game to the jury—especially as a host who sees FTCs all the time—and would have given me a run for my money. Lastly, I didn't see you as a "sheep" as several of the decisions I made were decided WITH you, and I thought that one of the only ways for me to differentiate my game from yours was to be sitting here without you.

If I was going off of how I personally felt I would have taken you without a doubt, but I had to think strategically and had to think for myself. I do apologize for lying to you and betraying your trust, as that really was fucked up. I hope, though, that you can see the strategic move for what it was and separate that from our relationship outside of the game.

•••Will//Survivorfan37•••

"Brandon, I think you definitely played a dominant game and misted a lot of people into not targeting you, because I was trying to figure out a way to get you out every single round.  That being said, I think it’s also fair to say that you skype-yelled and threatened (from a game perspective) a lot of the jurors at one point or another to get them to vote your way — do you believe that this is good jury management? Was it part of your strategy to not get voted out every round?"

Yes, I do believe you are correct in saying that, and that's one of the main regrets I have in this game. A lot of the time it was "my way or the highway," and I know that rubbed a lot of you the wrong way. There are two main reasons why I acted this way. The first, and honestly lesser, part was strategy. The goal of constantly being aggressive and subsequently getting my way every tribal was to put the thought in people's minds that I had some sort of authority in this isolated tribe setting, that targeting me wouldn't work and it was best to go with what I wanted—essentially, this was a scare-tactic. I feel that this was effective as here I sit, no votes cast against me when I was calling a lot of shots and emerging as a huge physical threat.

The second and reason for this action was, I feel, the result of the passion that I had for the game. None of us our perfect, we all have flaws, and I am no exception, clearly. I REALLY wanted to make it here, and I let that show a lot of the time when I was being really aggressive in conversations. I'm an emotional person in general, and high-stress situations such as this game bring that out even more. I had a set idea for how I was going to achieve everything, and when things didn't go to plan I got frustrated—this is a character flaw I face in real life as well. This definitely was a hole in my game and may have isolated people a bit—probably David and Joey more than anyone—but I do believe that I largely made up for this with my social game. Will, we had a great time on call talking and getting to know each other, and I did this with almost everyone else as well on a regular basis. What I lacked in making people feel strategically valued was making them feel EMOTIONALLY valued, and I think that's another reason why I was able to maintain a lot of the loyalties I had all the way to this point.

Sad my game got cut so short but im glad to see all of my allies made it to the end so im happy with whoever wins.

I guess my question is for all 3 of you, as I wasnt here for the second half the game, all ive heard was biased opinions about the final 3 and salty views. Its funny how everyone was so like these 3 are the worst final f3 even though this jury was dumb enough to not band together but im happy for the dumbest jury in existence but ANYWHO. Out of the the 3 of you, who do you think did the most amount of work in order to get to the end?

lol