Okay y'all, now after that brief interlude, now for the full SPEECH on why I should be crowned Sole Survivor! Just a warning, I am an English major so although I promised myself I would try to condense it down, it is likely this will be a long ramble anyway so :3
So way back when, nearly 4 years ago, I decided to return to TG because I was a bored high schooler and dearly loved Survivor. I linked up with my former best friend at the time, Gaiaphagee, and he convinced me to apply for a game called Big Ben's Blood vs Water as his partner, and I instantly fell in love. The hosting, the people, the VL, everything was so much fun and made me feel so happy I came to the site. And then the dreaded happened: I got flung out in the final pre-merge boot after my alliance member forgot to vote, sending me into a 2-2-2 revote where I was harpooned. I was so devastated, but I had hope that maybe one day I could return! And I did, two seasons later! Where I was promptly Purple Rocked out with an idol in my pocket at Final 10. Well two bad seasons doesn't define anything though right? I would win...hopefully one day. A year or so later, I was then invited to Heroes vs Villains, where despite my best efforts, I was the runner-up. At that point, I just figured I was cursed to never win the series I cared so much about, and mentally retired.
But then, a year or so and 16 seasons later, Benjamin asked me if I would consider playing Last Chances. And a part of me was like "Why bother? I will never come as close as I did in HvV, and I don't want to embarrass myself." but then I figured "Why the fuck not Christian?" I was just finishing up my student teaching, I needed a fun distraction! So I decided to take the leap, and then was promptly revealed as castaway #32 on this exciting journey...
[now that the background has been set]
And so here we are! A month or so later, I have made the FTC seemingly against all the odds. I'm not going to talk about what an amazing player I am, because quite frankly, I didn't get to be the player I would've liked to this season. There were so many moves I would've loved to have been apart of, but that's just not how the cookie crumbled. When I was beginning of where I wanted to start with this speech, I decided to just look up the definition of what a survivor even is, and here's what I found via lovely Google dot com
a person who survives, especially a person remaining alive after an event in which others have died.
the remainder of a group of people or things.
a person who copes well with difficulties in their life.
And honestly, I feel like all of these definitions epitomize what I've gone through in this game. I started this game more than twenty tribal councils ago in the minority. I rarely, if ever, had the luxury of being in a solid majority alliance besides after like 2 votes in the third swap where even that was a miracle in itself. I was supposed to go home for 30th if not for Andrew self voting. Countless people told my alliance mates that they would refuse to flip until I was gone. I fought day in and day out to secure my place in this game one more day at a time. I saw every single ally I ever had get voted out while I could do nothing about it. I may not have been able to make flashy moves, but what I did at the end was SURVIVE.
I survived my entire alliance going home round after round, I survived through winning a record number of challenges, I survived through searching for the idols I needed in order to give me a cushion when I did lose the challenges. And at the end of the day, I am proud of that no matter what. The person who everyone wanted to go home, the person who literally had people so scared of him that they would sabotage their games just for a CHANCE at sending me home, that's who sitting here right now.
I was the person who despite the bad luck in rock draws, tribe swaps, still managed to fight through for all of those who weren't able to. I believe that is why I deserve to be the sole survivor tonight, because at the end of the day, I survived through thick and thin. My road wasn't easy, but I still made it here against the odds, and I believe that is worthy of the win tonight.