Hi everyone! This was my first survivor group game and I was very happy for it to be hosted by the amazing Chris <3. I
am really open to questions and think I worked very hard all game to get in this position. I hope you guys take the time to read of all this I put a lot of effort into this game and dont plan on stopping here.
My starter tribe consisted of some friends and some not-so friends. I consider myself good friends with Jamal and knew we could trust each other. Tristan was someone who I've really enjoyed playing a few games with before, and I knew that he is a very loyal person and was excited to play with him. Elian and I have played a few games together and are usually solid with each other. I know and like Cierra, although our relationship was a lot rockier when the season started and had 0 actual trust with her, we agreed to start the game chill with each other. James is someone who usually has dislike towards me and vice versa, but I think I convinced him we could work together in this game. Julian and I didn't really speak, but we were on good terms due to mutual connections. There were two people on my tribe who I had no idea existed before this game: Alex and Julio. Alex and I spoke and had enjoyable conversations but nothing really serious, and then ended up swapped away for a little. Julio on the other hand, became a very close ally and friend.
When it came to talking game, plans for the future, who was going to go home and when. I by far had those conversations the most with Tristan and Julio. In a way I feel like I mainly put us together, I decided to put my full trust in the two people whose biggest quality I knew about them was loyalty, and constantly would mention to them how the other was one of my closest allies. I still left my options open to be with anybody, but I had the best conversations with them early on. Then all of a sudden, we get the perfect swap. Somehow it is Julio Tristan and I, with Sydney and Jamie. This was the best-case scenario for all 3 of us. It cemented our gameplan and our f3 and I feel like we set the season. One thing I was sad about was I never really got to make use of these connections I tried to play around with in the beginning. Cierra and James quitting early on was somewhat beneficial in a way I viewed them as obstacles in my game and wanted to overcome them. Not getting to reconnect with Eilian was devasting because I would have loved to see what they had to offer this game, but no where near game ending.
How could I forget about the double tribal. It was actually the only tribal I had to attend in the premerge. This tribal actually really set the tone for the entire rest of the game for me. I discussed with Julio and Tristan on the best plan, a little more with Tristan because I felt he had more control over Sydney and Jamie. Tristan is discussing with me between Julian or Haris and I told him that I would rather Julian go, as I knew Hare could be a valuable number for me. Julio did like Julian and was down to keep him in the game, but he decided to stay on board with us and go through with this. It doesn't take long for Sydney and Jamie to get on board with that, mostly due to Tristan. It was difficult for me to want to form deep connections with Sydney and Jamie during this time, as I knew I wouldn't want them a part of my game long term and didn't want to form something that would last. At the same time as all of this, I am heavily talking with Jamal. He is telling me about this 50/50 idol and how he wants to vote Julian with us, he was telling me 85% truth, so I still had trust in him but still believed in Julio Tristan and I.
Then we get another swap, and I am away from Tristan and Julio. I see that I am with Jamal and John, I am back with and talking with Alex again, and I start to form a little relationship with Harry. Jamal again tells me about another advantage, the selfless idol, an idol he can only play for someone else. I felt secure on that tribe and thought that if we lost Kris would have left easily. We ended up winning the challenge and being safe until the merge, where I got to reconnect with Julio and Tristan and acting thankful l I was back with them and that I was in danger on the other tribe.
Once we merge, I feel it starts pretty easy going. I have my tightest loyalties to Julio and Tristan, who have been working on controlling Sydney and Jamie, and now I have had time to work closer with Alex, John, Harry, and Jamal and am in a position where they wouldn't want to come for me. Again, when it finally comes time for me to vote again it feels very similar. Tristan and I discuss Kris or John, and of course I wanted to keep John at the game at that point. Julio and I have discussed our relationship with John. Very good friend, good player, but someone who will backstab. We decide to keep him close to us as possible and open that up to a f3, even tho neither us had intentions to take him there at that time. It seemed Kris didn't have any connections worth putting up a fight against that and he left pretty easy.
Then we get the auction, where thankfully I win immunity for the double elimination tribal happening soon. This is where I begin finally talking game with Haris. We exchange how glad we are to see each other and finally get to play together since we are good friends. He tells me about the power he won, the ability to steal the necklace. I continue to talk and work with him and it is concluded he doesn't feel like taking the necklace from me. Thankfully Julio is also safe, so all I had to do was protect Tristan. Everyones names got bounced around, and the plan I wanted was to split the votes between Harry and Alex. I am hearing the other side is thinking of voting Jamie, which makes me feel great as I still see Jamie as one of my weakest connections in the game. Needing back ups and back ups of names made this very difficult. I am hearing people push for Jamal and Haris and I am unsure of what I can do to make sure everything goes how I want. After Sydney becomes safe, and I am hearing that she will also be keeping Jamie safe. I got more panicked realizing I am going to lose some strong allies. I try my best to see how the votes are going and split as much as possible, with me and Tristan only being two people and Julio not being able to vote, we manage to get votes on Harry and Alex but alas with a huge amount of advantages played at the tribal it was no use, I had to say goodbye to Haris and Jamal. It was blow to my game, but not a major one.
Now time for my worst nightmare.. the rock draw. I was very disappointed in myself for allowing this to happen. I spent a while trying to think all the ways the vote would go and how to prevent this. Again, Tristan, Julio and I talked to everyone we could and compared notes on what everyone was doing. We are deciding between Harry and Alex. With Alex having a public idol and a public close relationship with Harry.. It made this very difficult. Due to Lies and obsession, like Syndey saying they were voting Alex just end up casting their vote for Harry, who we would have still voted out with her, Jamie being obsessed with getting rid of John, and John not being truthful about who he ended up casting his vote for, the worst happened. Tristan getting rocked out was devasting and undeserved. He played this game HARD and someone who could have earned the title of sole survivor. I am very glad to be able to call him a close ally this season. After this happened I severed my connection with Alex and Harry and knew I became a target in their eyes, and had to begin anew. My game had to change drastically.
One thing that I want to discuss that made this tribal and honestly this game a little ridiculous was the constant target of Jamie from the other side. To me, Jamie was either doing what Tristan or Sydney said most of the time, and no one else had a strong connection with her. The other side being worried about Jamie, while my sides biggest worry is Jamie flipping to them, made this game a lot more easy to control. This by extension also goes to Sydney, the other side was also very worried about her, while I was worried her and Jamie as a pair would go against me. I also viewed Sydney as a much more of a social and physical threat than Jamie, and knew she had to go. I know after the rock draw I blew up, mostly because I saw my true goal of the season ending before my eyes. I know that if we managed to get rid of Harry or Alex here, Julio Tristan and I would have been the final three. We had everything planned out and relationships everywhere, I dont think anything could have stopped us.During my blowup, I decide to confide in Harry. I realize I was a little wrong to view him as a threat to get people on his side rather than viewing him as someone I could use to get rid of numbers on my side. Syndey and I rarely talked, and when we did it turned out they weren't being honest, so I pleaded to Harry and focused on his personal vendetta to ensure Julio and I would live another day. I was able to secure my own safety after that with another immunity win. I know I really needed this and I took the time I had with it to ensure I had strong connections moving forward. I had to talk to John a lot for this tribal, because he was still stuck on voting Jamie. Julio and I didn't want to upset John and not give him what he wanted, but I convinced John it was best for now to let Harry be happy and get rid of Sydney, who was also a huge immunity threat, and promised him Jamie would go next.
I did complete my promise, but not with a little delay. John wins immunity this round which leaves the question.. who is Jamie going to vote for? Julio and I still are thinking of everything we can to come out of another tribal as smooth as possible, and it seems to be working again. At this point, I have not talked to Jamie in forever, but I start to hear about her secret plan, which is voting Harry. At this point its too little too late, I have deals to protect Harry and deals with John that Jamie is next. I still of course have to play the game and make sure Jamie feels comfortable and somehow doesn't flip anything on me. It succeeded and the "HUGE" target of Jamie was finally eliminated.
Now here is another sad story. It is the final 5, and Julio and prepare for the worst, especially when we see Alex wins immunity. I felt a little confident Alex had the chance to be the next to go if I played some cards right. At this point I feel terrible and can't bring myself to speak to Harry at this moment. John, Julio and I were the makeshift final 3 after Tristan was eliminated, so that left Harry as my only option. It turns out Julio ended up not even voting Harry with me.. which I was very shocked by. I would have voted with him no matter what as I wanted to do everything he could to protect him. I am very proud that I formed such a strong relationship with someone I knew nothing of before this game. Julio was an amazing alliance member and I am crushed he is not sitting here alongside me. Again here John proved to be the backstabber we knew was in him, and I was very thankful it wasn't to me. I think this showed a lot about my game, how I had just as much control as Julio, but managed to keep myself lowkey enough to when it came down to it, he was voted out over me, even when he played a lot harder that round.
Now.. my decision at the final four. This was something that I did have to think very hard about but I am still happy with my decision. I viewed Alex and John both as threats to win. Alex was someone very rootable and an underdog, while John played smart and is a strong competitor. A lot of factors played into this decision. A huge one being Alex not talking to me at all in the final days.. I know these games aren't the most serious things in the world, but I am here to play survivor. I love seeing the drive in people fighting to stay, and I respect that. John did a lot to talk to me about keeping him, and that's something that I really wanted to see in someone making the finale. That, tied with my long time friendship with him, and feelings that his game isn't necessarily superior, lead to my decision to give him a chance to make it here, as I would hope someone would do for me.
Overall, I think I played a very strong game. I knew my tight connections early on and used them well to get things to go my way. I made it here WITHOUT A SINGLE ADVANTAGE AND WITHOUT A SINGLE VOTE CAST AGAINST ME. Everything I did in this game was to keep me and my allies safe. I played with every connection I had and made new ones when I saw fit. I constantly made sure I was never at risk of being voted out. I feel a lot of people played right into our hands, including the other finalists. This was an AMAZING season and I enjoy everyone in this cast. Another thank you to Chris and Spinner for this season. I view my first survivor group game as a success, and hope you guys respect me enough to vote me. I outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted the best I could. Best of luck to Harry and John. <3