Ok, now that we have more time.  I definitely want Austyn/Nikki to go into more detail about the pre-merge.  Especially Nikki because of all those early tribals, but Austyn too as well.  Tribute the pre-mergers you interacted with, and state what you did strategically with them, and how their leaving effected your game. 

Also, Nikki, can you explain why you were so willing to flip at the one-day merge?  Tyler/Lexie believe it was because you correctly realize you had protection from them.

I liked all your responses to my first question

Detail = Good

Austyn - So, you answered my question by saying you took tiffany out because your bonds with the other 3 were stronger. However, if your bonds were as strong as you're making them out to be, why did you receive 4 votes that tribal? Why didn't they all just vote tiffany if your bonds were that strong?

Brandon - Honestly, I did enjoy talking to you this game. But, I feel like you did the most by trying to be super fake as you fucked everyone over. My main problem with you is the fact that you kept claiming you never wanted me out at f5 when that was a bold face LIE. You were already immune, you had nothing to lose. Why did you feel the need to be SO fake to every single person on the jury, especially knowing people like me/lq clearly are not going to respect that?

Nikki - I love you sm bitch. I really wish we had more trust in each other during these games, cause we could fuck shit up. Anyway, I know from my perspective you were a very strategic and social player. But, from certain jurors perspectives they are thinking/assuming you just didn't talk to many people. I just wanna let you spill how you were a strategic and social player, because I know you did talk to majority of people and knew what was going on most of the time.

Ok, now that we have more time.  I definitely want Austyn/Nikki to go into more detail about the pre-merge.  Especially Nikki because of all those early tribals, but Austyn too as well.  Tribute the pre-mergers you interacted with, and state what you did strategically with them, and how their leaving effected your game. 

Also, Nikki, can you explain why you were so willing to flip at the one-day merge?  Tyler/Lexie believe it was because you correctly realize you had protection from them.

Okay so pre-merge was a lot of gameplay I feel like on my end..compared to most players in the game. There were only 6 people on each tribe, which worried me because there was like no room to hide. I had bad relationships in the past with Brandon in Ian's survivor, so I thought he would be gunning for me. Luckily I formed bonds with Qaz, and Daniel off the bat and the Baikal 4 alliance was formed with me/Qaz/Brandon/Daniel. I also had great bonds with Julian, but he would've been a huge threat had it made it to merge. Originally when there was only 4 people left..I was set on voting for Brandon, because he wasn't much help to the tribe at all and me and Daniel thought he would be the best option to go. But Brandon was basically begging me for his life in this game...and I didn't want to force a tie and possibly go home that early, so I figured if I saved Brandon that tribal, he would have to be in debt to me later down the road. Which really helped me out when he played the idol for me and also voted for Tyler in F4 over me. I was extremely sad to see Daniel go since he was a close ally for me early on, but I already knew the risks if I decided to force a tie. My bonds with Qaz also grew over the course of being on OG Baikal..so we were like a lil cute Baikal trio.

During the swap, I was able to re-connect with Tyler (mind you Tyler and I were a F2 since like Day 1 and always talked even though we weren't on the same tribe until swap). Tyler had great connections with Lexie therefore I became closer to Lexie and we were able to connect really well inside the game and talk about fun things outside of the game. I also had Brandon on my tribe, and he was basically 100% loyal to me since I saved his ass.

To answer your second question, I wouldn't say I was "so willing" considering I voted for Logan the first time before the tie. But, when I saw the opportunity, I took it. I knew JB was well connected just considering the fact that he was a host. Hosts in games are high key kinda dangerous. He seemed to be a big player when it came to the Altai tribe as a whole. Also Qaz made the plan to take out Logan with our alliance with me/Brandon/LQ/Will/JB but it seemed super all of a sudden and I feel like Qaz just made the alliance for us, and I hadn't gotten enough one on one time with LQ/Will/JB to even trust them fully yet. I just feel like JB was soooo much more threatening and I knew he wouldn't be on jury so it couldn't really harm my end game in anyway. Plus Tyler and Lexie seemed just more trustworthy to me at the time. This kind of secured me a decent middle position going into the merge..until the whole fiasco with Noah (you) happened wanting Tyler out.

All— How are your games stronger than the other two?

KCObedencio
Austyn— How would you defend yourself on the negative idea being imposed that "austyn's getting to the end no matter what"? How could you prove to people that you werent playing a "safe" game?

I am going to tie these two things together because I think they do go hand in hand.

I believe that my game is stronger than both Nikki and Brandons because of the relationships I built throughout the game. Brandon and Nikki played a very similar game with Brandon as the one dictating things and Nikki coming across as being a follower of Brandon. That is a potential interpretation of her game. I understand that it may look like I was floating in the middle however if I was able to position myself in between two solid alliances with neither of them wanting to vote me out does that not equal good strategic and social gameplay? I was able to successfully pull off the middle and make sure I had people removing my name from the vote when it was brought up. I made sure I surrounded myself with people I trusted and people that would want me in the end.

Brandon did have a more difficult route because yes, his name was brought up. However, because his path was more difficult and he was brought up does that necessarily mean that he played a good game. I would argue that his name was brought up because of his social flaws in the game. His name was brought up because he was deemed untrustworthy and because he had large errors in his social gameplay and his strategy was not always sound. I would argue that myself whose name was not brought up once accounts for good game play and it is NOT because I was floating in the middle. It is because I built relationships with everyone where NO ONE wanted to say my name and vote me out. And if my name was brought up I knew I could rely on both Tyler and Will to shut it DOWN. and guess what they did that. That is a testimant to my relationships that I built. that I had people protecting me in certain situation however, they did not protect me the whole game. I had to protect myself pre merge when I was on an island by myself and things looked bleak. I had to protect myself once KC left and reallign myself. I had to protect myself once Will left and get back into the good graces of both Tyler and Lexie.

I would like to rebute the statement that I played a "safe game" the word I believe more adequately describes my game would be strategic and positional. I continued to maneuver into different groups and at times I did blend in. An example of that is the first merge vote I was coming off an idol play and did not want to be percieved as a threat so I told Tyler I'm fine with whatever name as I did not want to be the one tossing out a name for this vote. When I needed to I blended in the back and when I needed to I tossed out a name. I was able to strategically place myself to vote out the person that was the largest advisory to my game at said moment. If I played a truly safe game I would've gone to the end with Tyler and Lexie but I did not want to. I wanted to play a game that had my best interest in mind and I believe I did that.

KCObedencio
Austyn— How does your game differ and better from the first time you played aside from taking the best person to win to the end in your first season? What's your evolution story?

I mean overall, my last game I played team loyal all the way. I didn't bounce back and fourth between the middle I stuck to a side a rolled with them. This game was just the polar opposite I wanted to be a middle man. I wanted to bounce back and fourth and be in what I percieved to be a power position. Not only did I successfully do this but I also ultimately betrayed Tyler in the end. A move that I was brutal but necessary for me to even stand a shot at winning this game. I think I brought more of a social game than last time and I was MUCH more strategic I was focusing on one person's best interest and that was my own. Yes, it is incredibly selfish however, I played the nice guy, I played team loyal before and that did not get me the win. The only area I genuinely lacked was at competitions. I don't even know what to say half the time I was on mobile and I knew that wasn't my strong point coming in. I think I absolutely evolved as a player and as a person because I ultimately looked out for myself in the end instead of focusing on what was best for the alliance I was with at said time.

I am just out and at work right now So I will respond to LQ's question and touch on a couple things that Nikki and Brandon said in about an hour or so.

I will also respond to Tyler's follow up question when I return home as well.

Nikki - I love you sm bitch. I really wish we had more trust in each other during these games, cause we could fuck shit up. Anyway, I know from my perspective you were a very strategic and social player. But, from certain jurors perspectives they are thinking/assuming you just didn't talk to many people. I just wanna let you spill how you were a strategic and social player, because I know you did talk to majority of people and knew what was going on most of the time.

Ugh Tyler I fucking love you! Literally like my twin/other half. I also wish we could 100% trust each other, because it's likely me and you really could've made it to final 3. We were hella close! I'm glad you brought up the social + strategic aspect..because I feel like I've gotten a lot of questions about that. I think I genuinely did talk to as many people as I could to get by. Now, did I reach out to everyone all the time? No. Sometimes I didn't feel like I needed to. The only people I was never in a solid alliance with was Noah, KC and Logan..because I knew those were threats to my game...people who would NOT want me in the end with them. Why would I waste my time reaching out to people who probably don't want to play with me?

I talked to the people I genuinely trusted. I talked to Brandon/Qaz/Tyler/Lexie quite often either on call or not. I talked to LQ and Will quite a bit outside. But I already had alliances with all of them. I dunno if people wanted me to like spam their messages or something..but as I've said before, I didn't see it beneficial in reaching out to people that I knew I wanted to vote off. I had so many calls with Brandon and Tyler talking about strategy and such. I knew most of the time who was getting votes..but the times I didn't it was because Austyn usually was a wild card and no one ever knew how he was going to vote.

Honestly, looking back at my pms/receipts...if people and I didn't talk it's because the conversation died out or they didn't respond to me. Like I at least made effort to be messaging people. What people wanted to do with that was their decision. But I'm just gonna put it out there that no one can say I didn't at least have a conversation with everyone that's on jury. I just had more in depth relationships and connections with people I was working with. I was not going to be extra and form relationships with everyone..if that's not what you want to hear then I understand, but I was strategically vocal with the people that had my back.

" Brandon and Nikki played a very similar game with Brandon as the one dictating things and Nikki coming across as being a follower of Brandon."

"Not only did I successfully do this but I also ultimately betrayed Tyler in the end. "

I'm just so utterly confused...because 1) how did I follow Brandon to the end? As I explained earlier, I saved him first. I was playing the game and forming bonds Day 1, while I get that Brandon had a funeral..I was helping him out first. Also I voted for Brandon in the tribal that he played the idol? Like if he didn't win immunity in F5/4 I would've gladly voted him out. So don't mistake me for a follower because I was anything but that.

And you say you "betrayed" Tyler in the end..like we kind of all did that. It wasn't just your move, it was sort of the obvious vote. In your speeches you make it sound like voting out Tyler was the biggest and most creative move ever. Like yeah was taking Tyler out great for our games, yes...but it's something me and Brandon were already planning on doing love.

Austyn - I would like to know specifically from you why you were always trying to dip your toe in both sides but never fully cementing yourself in either! Was this strategy or do you think it’s because you were left out a lot

I was attempting to dip my toes into both sides of the alliances on purpose. There were only two instances where I was left out of a vote the entire post-merge. The first being Will playing the idol and KC ultimately falling. The second being Will being voted out. I wanted to gather as much information as possible and I was not left out of many of the votes. It was a deliberate strategy as I believed positioning myself in the middle was the best move I could make because this positions me to hear information because Tyler is feeding me info, Will is feeding me info, KC is feeding me info, Brandon is feeding me info. I was not left out of any vote the entire game and even when I had 4 votes cast against me I knew all four of those votes were coming. I wanted to remain in the middle because I had an idol post merge and wanted to play it the second I got uncomfortable or heard my name. The moment ultimately never arose because of the bonds I created on BOTH sides. I never viewed myself as low man on the totem pole on either side. I knew my connections and social savvy would allow me to adapt to any vote off that happened. Luckily I was able to vote in the majority for pretty near every vote I was a part of.

I didn't think it was necessary to fully cement myself till a side until the end game. Where I ultimately sided with Brandon/Nikki over Tyler/Lexie. This decision was purely strategical and not personal had I chosen to rock with Tyler/Lexie I can guarantee you that one of them would be sitting here potentially two, potentially all three of us. Nonetheless, I am not here to talk hypotheticals but at the end of the day I situated myself in the middle masterfully up until I ultimately had to pick a side.

To both Austyn and Nikki I would like to know in merge what moves you made that were originated by you and put into the game to benefit yourselves!

I think the largest move I made is choosing the Brandon/Nikki side over the Tyler/Lexie side in the end. I chose to go to the end with two people who in my opinion I stood a better chance against. I played my idol for myself and to ensure that I would've been safe, I followed it up by letting Brandon know that it was not the merge idol incase he found it and wanted to play. HAD I chosen the other side I would've bluffed that it was the merge idol and who knows what happens with his real idol. However, I cannot talk hypotheticals I can only talk about what happened. Choosing this side allows me to at least have a shot to win the game as opposed to getting MAYBE a couple votes with the other side.

Sorry they're not in chronological order. I missed the first part when I went back to reread. If you would like me elaborate or clarify anything please don't hesitate to ask. Or if you have any Q's keep them coming.

Austyn - So, you answered my question by saying you took tiffany out because your bonds with the other 3 were stronger. However, if your bonds were as strong as you're making them out to be, why did you receive 4 votes that tribal? Why didn't they all just vote tiffany if your bonds were that strong?

Obviously, them all voting for me doesn't look as though I had strong bonds. However, LQ immediatly messaged me saying she had Tiffany locked for the majority of that DC. Will messaged me apologizing immediately. Qaz reached out to me shortly after as well. At this point in the game there still very much was said "line in the sand" and I couldn't seem to shake it so I had to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Me saying my bonds were strong comes across with how none of them attempted to vote me out for the next 4 votes maybe MORE tbh? I think LQ floated my name around once (I THINK?) but I don't want to hit you with speculation I am only trying to state facts. The facts are they all vote for me there because of the line in the sand, because they were aware that I had strong relationships on the other side because yall were trying to throw a challenge to keep ME in the game. I survived the vote because of my idol and trust me I busted my ass off trying to get them to flip but in the end, I ultimately had my hands tied. Like I said above the strength of the bonds are reaffirmed later on in the game when I am able to actually work with them (Will/LQ moreso than Qaz) instead of having them working to actively try to eliminate me from the game.

"And you say you "betrayed" Tyler in the end..like we kind of all did that."

I am not trying to claim that as my "big" or a "creative" one move. All I am saying is I was placed in that middle situation there again because of my positioning throughout the entire game. Tyler voted AGAINST you I was ultimately once again placed in a power position to decide who goes home at that vote. Yes, it was 100% the obvious decision I am not disagreeing there but ultimately, I could have tied that vote and kept him in not you. Had I voted for you it would have gone to a three way rock draw. At that point you and Brandon did not hold the cards, unfortunately for both of you I did. I could've tied the vote I didn't. I'm not claiming it to be creative and I'm not saying I was the only one that voted him out but in THAT situation I had the power.

"Also I voted for Brandon in the tribal that he played the idol?"

1. You told me you knew Brandon had the idol before that vote and Brandon told me you knew he was playing it. So the way I look at it is that was a throw away vote. I understand you voted him but I'm pretty sure you knew where the votes were going to lie that tribal. Again, I'm not trying to speculate I'm just going based off of what I was told after that tribal because I was rather shocked when I found out you voted for him however, it looks like it was a work. This is a direct quote from Brandon about me questioning why you voted him "i told her i was playing it lmfao".

“Like most of his flips and votes didn't make sense. Yes, did he play a good middle game yeah...but like I just didn't see any connection to his moves actually benefiting his game“

Every single vote I made benefitted my game at said time. Each vote I made I thought over and it made the most sense for me at each time I will go through each one.

Bob - the choice was between Bob/Aiden and Bob was the name I initially suggested however we switched to Aiden because Bob was close with KC/Lexie. Tyler and I then discussed that we both would rather Bob because Aiden would be loyal to us throughout the rest. Final vote 4-3 Bob

JB - I tossed out JBs name before this and that is why he was the vote for our side. He would be easy enough to get the votes four and he played 4 times prior meaning he was well connected and I viewed those players as dangerous in this game because I wanted to be the most connected person. JB ended up going after the 7-7 split Tiff/Nikki swapped over.

Aiden - I voted Aiden out because I knew he was getting the votes and on the OFF chance that they were splitting I needed to lock in Aiden to guarantee that I would live to see another day and keep my idol in my pocket. Aiden goes 5-1

Tiffany - I’ve gone into this numerous times I don’t think I need to repeat myself. Tiffany constantly lied to me and would have never worked with me or voted for me in the jury. Tiffany goes 1-0

Logan - I told Tyler I was not going to make any waves this round because I did NOT want to be perceived as a threat this round. I knew if I didn’t make waves here and just went along with the vote. It came down to Tyler/Logan and at this point it made the most sense for me to keep Tyler in this game as he was telling me everything whereas Logan and I didn’t have the most interaction. It made sense to get rid of the person who I didn’t know where their head was at. 6-5 Logan

Qaz - I felt like Qaz was a bigger threat than Nikki at this point. KC and I wanted to vote Nikki because of our lack of connection but, Qaz did not which ultimately sealed his fate because if he was not willing to swing on Nikki it’s evident that he had some bonds that were MUCH stronger than his and mine were. Therefore Qaz had to go because he was a threat to my game 3-2 Qaz.

Noah - I didn’t vote you out and TBH at that point in the game I wanted Brandon to go instead of you. But I think that is rather irrelevant, I digress... I was aware Noah was being voted out as I was informed beforehand.

KC - I voted will because at this point he had done enough for me and I was loyal to KC over all the most. Unfortunately I had to vote out my pal Will who idoled out my pal KC. It was a shitty situation but I wanted to show my loyalty to Tyler/Lexie/KC. KC goes 4-0

Will - I voted Lexie. I viewed that Austyn/Lexie/Tyler trio as a sinking ship. And I wanted to abandon that ship and get in the good graces of the other side. I was not going to be someone who went down with the ship when there was a perfectly good life raft right next to me. (Weird analogy). My plan was for one of them to go and I would be able to reconnect with the other and hopefully be their person. Brandon had other plans. 3-2-2 Will.

LQ - I voted LQ because she was the biggest jury threat. At this point you look at the jury and whose vote is she not getting. I already told her I went about things poorly but, I do believe this was the best strategic move for me. LQ has this game on lock if they get by this vote. 3-2-1 LQ.

Lexie - Yet again I made my decision based off of overall popularity with the Jury. I knew who I wanted to go to the end with in this final and I knew if Lexie was there her likability puts her over and gives her the W. This was not random but the best strategic move for me. 3-0 Lexie

Tyler - I’ve gone over this one numerous times. We all know Tyler wins this game, he’s the biggest threat to EVERYONES game. 3-1 Tyler

If any of these votes or decisions don’t make sense to anyone or they’re confused please let me know and I’ll shed some more light on them. :)

So I've been struggling all day to find the words to say to the three of you. At this point I'm really at a loss for how to put everything to words, so I'm just gonna start talking and see where my fingers take me.

I guess I'll start with Austyn, as I feel like I have the least to say to you. I genuinely enjoyed being your ally, especially on og Sayan. When we swapped and everything went down with throwing the challenge that first time, I really thought that I fucked up our relationship and thoroughly burned that bridge, all for the sake of saving Brandon's skin. Looking back, I guess that really was the first nail in the coffin, since I really feel like after that point we never connected the same way. After that point, I felt like we were both taking different paths in the same direction - seemingly together but never actually together. And honestly, I was fine with it, and it seems like you were too. When it got to the point that you were actively targeting Tyler and I, I knew that there would be no fixing our relationship and I kinda gave up hope that we'd ever be able to fix it. And once again, I was fine with it. I don't really have any questions for you except this (which I'm not sure if it's been answered, and I truly don't care enough to check if it has): did you tell Will to play his idol when KC went?

So next I'll go to Nikki. Similarly to how I felt about Austyn, we really felt like we were taking different paths in the same direction. I really enjoyed talking to you every time we did, but we really never talked strategy. One of my bigger regrets in the game is not talking to you more and really trying to strategize with you. At the same time, it seemed like you never really tried to strategize with me. Looking back, I feel like it was just such a hard situation for us to work together, but I really feel like we could've meshed well as allies, especially since we were both so close to Tyler. I feel like you've justified your game well throughout this FTC, so I don't really have any questions right now. If I think of any between now and tomorrow evening, I'll make sure to ask.

So I don't really know what to say to you, Brandon. When I said I was with you 100%, I fucking meant it. One of the last things you told me was that you hate always being the bad guy and hurting the people you care about, but is that really the truth? If you hate doing something, why continue to do it? For the sake of winning an internet game? I genuinely saw you not as just an ally, but a true, genuine, friend. And not only did you break that friendship, to also then lie to me immediately after about trying to change your vote after they were due?  If you really wanted to save me, you would've played your idol on me. So do you really think I'm THAT fucking naive? I know I come off as someone who's nice but not that great at strategy or figuring out numbers, but I am by no means stupid, which you obviously think I am if you expected me to believe your bold face fucking lie. I was literally ready to lay down my game for you at MULTIPLE points in this game, I put MYSELF on the line SO many times for your sake, even going as far as going against my own fucking alliance to save your ass. And all for you to not only crush our friendship, but to top it all off with a shitty ass lie. You deserve every piece of criticism you've received up until this point, and whatever wrath the rest of the jury can conjure up over the next 24 hours. I hope ruining our friendship was worth you losing to a bitter jury.

Lexie

I did not know OR tell Will to play his idol. At that situation KC was the better person for me to work with and a much more beatable person for me in the long run so that’s why I made the decision to not spill the beans to Will. Had he not played his idol there’s a very real world where KC is here in the end with another OG Sayan member. I appreciate all the kind words you stated and nothing you said was false or untrue. At the beginning you were not only an incredible ally but also person for me in the game. I have many more kind words I could say about you because as a person you are hands down the nicest/most genuine in this game that I came across. And I think that’s confirmed by all three of us jurors having nothing but positive things to say about you.

I would just like to counter that remark from Brandon as this is the same shit you said to me when I was voted out... so was it me that was the hardest of Lexie cause right now Brandon you legit just look fake as fuck