**ETHAN GETS 7TH**

Brandon (brandonrichie) Confessional EP:14 (Finale Episode)

Looking back at this season, I am so happy with my performance. I came into the game with a huge target  on my back, but I was able to turn that into a good thing. I was incredibly lucky to start on such a strong tribe. We were able to win challenge after challenge, leaving me in a position where I could make alliances with everyone and not have to break my word to anyone. Qaz, Raul, Joey, Andrei, and David were all people that constantly came to me with information, allowing me to maintain my power position in the game. I also made it my mission to connect with people on the other tribe. Ethan, Cody, Stoner, and Keizo were all people I had early bonds with, which I knew could come in handy if we ever swapped.

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 managed 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. This was really the beginning of The Boogiemen, the alliance that would come to dominate the season. 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 number and goat. We merged at thirteen, and I seemed to still have the numbers under my control. Still trusting Joey and David, I made the mistake of telling them who the rest of my people were voting for. Bad move #2. Joey gave an idol to Will, nullifying all of our votes, and for the first time I felt extremely vulnerable. I knew votes could be coming my way, but I decided to play my idol on Qaz anyways. Bad move #3. 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 my vote magnet, 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 two loyal numbers and goats. All of this definitely hurt my game and gave me very little cards to work with moving forward. However, this is when I found my first idol and advantage of the game, which would give me some leverage moving forward. My fake "idol cancelling" advantage was also something that I spread around, which I believe was decent at scaring people into making big idol plays, but ultimately was not as effective as I would have hoped.

Brandon (brandonrichie) Confessional EP:14 (Finale Episode)

From here I was able to pick up the pieces of my game and really come into my true form. I dominated for the next four rounds, dictating who went home and who voted for who. I had an alliance with every person left in the game, won immunity challenge after immunity challenge, used my social skills to turn my biggest rivals (Alex, Will, and Keizo) into loyal numbers, and even found another idol thanks to the clue that Will shared with me. If I wasn't already seen as a huge threat before, I definitely was at this point. Four challenge wins, no votes cast against me, an advantage AND an idol all left me in the position to be the frontrunner for the finale. Picking up from Vanessa Rousso's notion of needing "reasons" to vote people out, I was able to vote off people I had previous established loyalty to in Alexander, Will, David, and now Ethan in such a way that got little blood on my hands. How can people be upset when they were taken out for actions that THEY had done? The people who brought me information (Raul, Keizo, Alex, Qaz, and Ethan) all were kept close by being regularly fed information by me (such as knowledge about my idol and advantage as well as things others had said), keeping them in this cycle of knowing that I was the biggest threat but not wanting to do anything about it because they felt like I was their #1. Continuously winning immunity challenges also helped me establish my position as dictator as I became a huge power source and authority figure as I was unable to be targeted. Since people couldn't target me, they oftentimes had to just do what I wanted them to do, which was perfect for my positioning moving forward.

Now, coming into the finale, since I've been able to eliminate almost all of my opposition, I've set myself up in such a way that it's almost impossible to get me out before the final four. I have a very high chance of making it to the end, but there is still the possibility that I can be dethroned, meaning I need to be extremely cautious of how I handle this last night of gameplay. I have put so much into this game—I've created very strong social relationships, won challenges, called most of the shots, looked for idols and advantages for hours, and I really think that this is my time. I want this so badly. For me the crown is about REDEMPTION—the title of Sole Survivor is everything, and I am going to do everything in my power to get it. This game for me has been about pushing my own socio-political and motivational limits. I have done more in this game than anyone else—I got the ingredients for the cake, baked it, and now I want to eat it too. I want my Survivor fairy-tale ending, and I'm ready to do whatever it takes to see that happen. 

agoIlikebugs
I hope Gaia or will wins
16 days 7 hours ago

Thanks Ray you a real one

Rip me but nobody would've liked to make a damn move so I couldn't do nothing

You were epic Yandere!

Yes yandere rap battles are epic as well least I wasn't gone first

21 days 22 hours agobigben1996
Watermelondrea (TheEclipse) Confessional EP:1

"i plan on making it to the end with survivorfan37 and nothing is going to stop me bye"

Mark applied for my survivor, I sincerely regret voting him out now

I was 100% team qaz and Joey all the way

^queen

Team Ethan and Brandon all the way