I am currently not home, but once I get there I'll make my opening statement. I promise it'll be up by the end of the night. Sorry for the hold up in advance.

Going into this game, I really didn't think I had much of a chance to get anywhere near the end, especially with all winners ripe in everyone's mind and me already winning both series. Not only that, I had little to no relationships with any members of the cast. On my tribe, I only knew Richard Brewster, and we were on shaky ground to say the least. All of this, combined with a soon to be vacation made me know I had to play a lowkey game, where I would try to exchange loyalty with stronger players to get me further, then come the merge I could try to make some magic as I tend to.

Now I must preface any gameplay notes I go on by saying I played VERY messy and I fully acknowledge that. In the beginning though, I had played a very consistent game. Keeping relationships with Dana, Hufus, James, Kamani, and Andrew to try to make sure I was covered on a lot of different sides. I tried my best to keep the people I liked from targeting each other, trying to keep a lowkey game. I think it was telling of my game that once Jake attempted to take a shot at me, he was voted out unanimously, his own alliance telling me about what his plans were. The dynamics quickly shifted, as the tribe split down the middle, and I took Dana/Hufus/Absol/James's side, going to rocks to secure my loyalty. This loyalty kept Absol/Dana/I together to make merge.

However my game began to get messy. This should be prefaced by saying that Ethan had given me info that he had the idol and gave it to Ian on the first day of this game. I used this later in the game to try to save my own ass come the merge, in a huge mistake of telling Brandon about it after I only told Richard Brewster all game. He spread this around and it really made me have to lay low. I do think it wasn't the WORST game move from my PoV, as I was highly targeted, but it ended up making it hard for me to really be able to do much after that vote.

With me outing Ian had an idol and that ending up getting completely around the other side, I tried my best to keep the group together worried my ship could be sunk soon. We voted out Andrea, and then Brandon attempted to take me out. He had actually told Hufus/Eric/I a plan to vote out Ray, but we knew it was BS, and as much as I wanted to work with him, it was clear we could not, and were forced to vote each other.

It soon became obvious that Absol/Dana were planning something different than being loyal, as they were telling me how they couldn't trust Hufus and Eric and deflected when Ray or Joey's names were uttered. I felt as though Absol/Dana were a clear pair, and I had to reach out more to Hufus. I had told him my worries, and revealed that Absol wanted to take a shot at him when he told me that Ray/JoJo/Kasey would vote out anyone he would suggest. We took the shot, and I think this is an underrated move of mine because Hufus was seen as the swing vote but it was really a decision between the two of us, with me pushing for Absol to go. I believe this was the best move for me because it kept the blood off of me, let me get closer to Eric/Ian by saving them with Hufus, and although Dana had a lot of control, I felt like that was fine because he would not want to take a shot at me.

This let Dana take the reigns as a swing, which made me feel as though he didn't trust me fully. Had he told me about his plans ahead of time and not been as quiet I truly would have gone to the end with him, but he began to play extremely shady. The final point that I felt I couldn't trust him was when he made Hufus, myself, and him, our alleged final 3, go to rocks so he could save Joey. Ray jumped on this opportunity to take a shot at Dana, and I went along with it as we assured each other a final 3 deal after not getting to play the game together. I will say, I don't think this was the best decision for me, but Ian and I were not getting good vibes from Dana, and he had flipped on us many times before while Ray actually seemed genuine in his attempts to get out Dana. This ended up getting me in a final 4 where I was able to not receive votes thanks to my deal with Ray, and get a spot in the final 3.

Overall I played a game where I tried to be as loyal as possible, only taking shots at my allies when they betrayed me first because I didn't want to stick out. This, and my close relationships with key players got me the opportunity to influence a lot of decisions to go my way without getting too much blood on my hands, and I think at the end of the day I played the best hand I was dealt in this game.

I'm kinda rushing right now and about to go out so if you need anything clarified just ask, I'll answer as soon as I can.

Hellooo Jury Members!

I cannot believe that I'm actually a member of the final 3!? Coming into this season and taking a quick view at the cast, instantly my mind told me that I hadn't had a god damn chance in the world of making it this far, but I actually did it! Now I have to admit - I am very nervous for this Final Tribal Council because honestly? I have no idea what everyone's perspective is about me as a player, but hopefully, after tonight, I'll be able to fully explain myself in a way that's presentable as a plausible winner and someone who indeed did try their very best to make it to this stage.

There was a lot of moments in this game that I truly felt as if my game was over and to my surprise tribal after tribal, I was never the one whose torch ended up getting snuffed! Now I have to admit; I am not by any means a mastermind or some crazy master manipulator. That has never been my narrative, and it simply will never be; I admit I don't have the ability to play games like that and I never have! Coming into this season, I knew if I wanted to stand a chance of making it far; I had to remain under the radar and present myself as a non-threat. I had to offer myself as someone people could always take under their wing and someone people could rely on.

I believe that out of everyone in this final three - I played the most consistent game and was not messy whatsoever. For the entire game up until the final five, I always made it extremely clear who I was voting for and who I was voting with. After the first merge vote, It became evident who I needed to work both with and against at the time; To be quite honest with you at the time I honestly did believe and want the chat I made with Dylan, Hufus, Eric, JT, Dana & I to work out and become the final 6. Only moments after I made the chat though, I simply knew that wasn't going to happen. People had expressed concerns and doubts about each other in the alliance to me, and I knew eventually there was going to be some flips later down on the line whether I agreed or thought it was a smart play. Knowing this, I had to strengthen my relationship with everyone in the six to make sure that if a flip did happen, I wouldn't be the one being turned on. I will admit, my entire gameplay can be considered a bit laid back and at times playing like this allowed me to become complacent, but I genuinely do believe that this was my best route of playing this game to make it to the final three. Had I played any other way, I genuinely don't believe I had a slight chance of making it as far as I did. I truly believe that every vote I casted at the time in each round of this game made logical sense to me at the moment and to better my chances of making it further into the game. Again, I'll repeat myself saying I know I'm not some mastermind or whatnot, and shoot I know I didn't play a perfect game at all either, but I believe I played one that played up to my strengths and increased my chances of making it by tribal to tribal. I'd like to thank everyone including the hosts for being apart of such an exciting season and it truly is such an honor to be here sitting it in final 3.

I'll be answering any questions, Dylan and Ray; Good Luck!

anyways

It wouldn't be right if I didn't start this off by thanking the hosts, especially Ben for bringing me back and giving me the chance to play again. Also shoutout to all 23 of you who were part of this season, it was really fun and regardless of the outcome I think we can all agree that this was a great season throughout.

Now we all have a job to get to tonight, so let me get started with my opening statement.

Honestly, this game was very difficult the whole way through. I came into the game with a huge target on my back having played both series before and having won them both. I knew I'd be someone who would stand out and people would be wanting to target, but I tried to embrace that fully. I could of chosen the route of sitting back and being quiet, but who knows how far that would have gotten me. I started making moves from the start, with the help of some others on my tribe I managed to get Ethan out who I viewed as one of the biggest threats to my game. This is when I essentially created the "SE7EN" alliance who I am grateful for the most part stuck together. We had each other's back and despite some people calling it my cult, I saw it as a group of people who promised loyalty to each other and wanted to go far together. This is a huge part of my strategic and social game because I managed to put myself in a good position from the start while still trying to maintain relationships with the people in minority on my side. Even with someone in the cast mailing people on my tribe to get me out and trying to expose who I was close to and who I was targeting (shoutout to Turney for that).

I quickly knew after that I had to do damage control as people in my alliance had already seen me as the biggest threat, not to mention everyone else in the game. Most of the time I was the voice of reason in my alliance and made sure my alliance wouldn't freak out or be scared of idols because you have to be ballsy in the game and make big moves even if there's a chance they could backfire. However, I will say that I stepped back when needed be because I didn't want to seem like I wanted to control every vote and was the only person getting a say because that would just have ended up with the result of the alliance flipping on me. So once we got to the swap I was doing pretty well for myself as I had 2 other people from my alliance with me while still trying to build relationships with those who weren't in my alliance. We never lost a challenge and I was safely able to make the merge. Unfortunately we did lose two people from my original alliance knocking us down to 5.

At the merge is when things started to get more tricky and I realized the power was not always going to be in my hands so I had to play a way more flexible and adaptable game in order to survive. I build strong relationships with Absol and Richard who were on the other side and would be able to minimize my target on the other side. Me and Absol bonded over realizing who were the people playing the middle and had connections with people on our opposing sides that didn't include us. We revealed a lot of information to each other and were able to form a chat consisting of myself, Richard, Joey and Absol. While also getting involved in a Final 3 with Kasey and Andrea to ensure that I wasn't at the bottom of the alliance of 5 that we had going. I think one of the moves I made that was a miss but showed how flexible I was, was definitely during the first merge vote. Turney who dislikes me and voiced trying to get me out and make me a target was someone who one of my close allies was working with. Even though it would've been great for my game to see Turney go since he wants nothing to do with me, we decided to bring him in as our 6th vote and I decided to not play personally, but more strategically as it would be better for my game down the line. Turney still went, but I had relationships with people on both sides so I just had to keep trying to target those who wanted me out and realized how big of a threat I was. People on my side kept leaving back to back to back. At one point it came down to Me/Kasey/Joey and at that point I knew I had to get people from the other side to flip in order to survive. With massive help from Joey (shoutout to him who I think played a great game) we were able to get Absol out because we caught on to what he was doing. Absol was in the power position and our games were at his fate. So we got Hufus on our side for that round and blinsded Absol. I knew this would greatly affect my relationship with Richard so I gave him a heads up, which was smart on my end because it still kept him close with me and he helped me a vast amount in the following tribal.

[PART 1/3]

Richard was just blindsided by a huge part of his alliance so instead of trying to vote him out next I convinced Joey and Kasey that our best bet was to align with him as he would be the swing vote we needed to get someone from the opposing alliance out. We targeted Eric, which wasn't my ideal target, but someone who Richard would be willing to vote and it kept me safe that round. I honestly hated doing that because I feel like Eric had my back to an extent, way more than I felt comfortable with Dylan and Hufus at that round. However, I knew that Richard would now be the power player moving forward and that I could trust he would keep me safe for the next few rounds. As expected, Richard flipped the following round and we lost Kasey. However, he came back to our side and voted Ian with us which went to rocks and saved both Me & Joey and Hufus was rocked out.

Now this point of the game I think is where I made one of my best moves. I went to Dylan who I knew was my only chance at some protection of what remained on the other side because Ian was giving me the vibe that he didn't really want to work with me in the game and at one point straight up told me that he didn't think we'd be able to work together. I told Dylan how big of targets we were and that our best bet of either of us winning was sitting next to each other. I did this because not only was it true, but because had I lost Final 5 immunity I knew that I'd need one of Dylan or Ian on my side to survive. I had a feeling Joey/Richard were getting close and would probably want to be sitting next to each other instead of me. So at final 5 after I did lose immunity I could count on Dylan to keep me safe and essentially he voted for Richard over me. Joey and Dana had voted for me, but with my brilliant plan the night before to go to Dylan and pretty much lay everything out we came to an agreement that we wouldn't vote for each other and would look out for each other in the finale.

Finally, I won the Final 4 immunity which I don't think I necessarily had to win because Dylan seemed more comfortable sitting next to me in the Final 3 in comparison to Joey and Joey had promised me that he would not vote for me at the Final 4. I let it go to a tie in order to remain loyal to someone who I have been loyal to all game, Joey and for the most part did have my back in return.

I think what sums up my game the most is how transparent and visible it was. Everyone I knew I was a big target and I didn't try to hide that, but instead I embraced it and tried to minimize it. Everyone knew where I stood and who had my loyalties, instead of trying to hide it I kept my word to the people I was with and offered new deals and alliances to the people that could help me for that certain round and get me to the next day. I took this game day by day and I believed I played it to my best ability in every aspect.

[PART 2/3]

I was social because I had good bonds with the people I formed bonds with. Sure I had some enemies and targets in the game, but it wasn't a secret and I think that helped me a lot. I played a strong strategic game because I took it one day at a time and wasn't afraid to be flexible and work with people who had previously just voted me off because I realized a huge theme this season was the shift in power every round. And I was physical as I competed hard in all the challenges I played with and pulled off 3 individual wins, which all I didn't need, but definitely came in handy. This game definitely has a luck aspect to it which I took advantage of whenever I had the opportunity to.

I stayed loyal and true to those who had my word and despite being called out very early in the game as huge threat who has won before I managed to make it to the end. Not to sound condescending but I am very proud that I was able to make finals again, allowing myself to never be voted off in either series after playing for my second time.

Finally, I'm confident in my game and proud of the way I got here because I gave it my all. For any questions that any member of the jury has feel free to ask and I'll answer honestly and with integrity.

Best of luck to Ian and Dylan I feel you both played good in your own ways as well.

Hello final three, congratulations for making it to this point. Although I wish I was there instead of you, I commend your games and your ability to do what the other 21 of us could not.

That being said, my question for you all is simple: If this season went to a final 2, who would you sit next to if you won the final immunity and why?

That being said, my question for you all is simple: If this season went to a final 2, who would you sit next to if you won the final immunity and why?

I would take Ian, I was more loyal to him when it comes down to it, plus him and I had played similar games but I feel like I played a bit better, while Ray and I played with very different people.

Hi everyone! I would actually like to start off by apologizing to each of you, the rest of the cast, and the hosts for my activity this season. I definitely should have reconsidered accepting the invite as I knew this game would be taking place during a very busy portion of my life, but when BigBen calls, I always have to answer. I wish that I would have put in more of an effort to make an impact on this season—I feel that this would have provided a more competitive climate for each of us, which is exactly what we all enjoy about games like this.

My vote tonight is going to be based on something that it never has been before: relationships. I have played in Ben's series five times now, and it was only until my third and fourth times playing that I finally understood the value of treating other people with respect, and that's what ultimately got me a win in Nicaragua. I think that there are huge flaws with each of your social games. Each of you did things that rubbed people the wrong way and have deterred us from wanting to write any of your names down. Three words: bad. jury. management. Regardless, I applaud you all on making it this far. I have just a few questions for each of you. And, in advance, these may be a bit tough, but I am just doing my job to select the best person to vote for tonight, and I hope you will respect that.

Ray - You know I adore you, but you are not guaranteed my vote. I just want to make that very clear up front.

You and I hit it off from the very beginning of the game. We talked often about our lives, and I was even a person that you oftentimes confided in about your issues with other members of our alliance. I want to know how genuine this relationship was. I don't want you to tell me what I think I want to hear—I want to know how you truly felt about me as an ally and as a friend, and, in addition, how far you were willing to go with me.

Finally, how do you justify your dictator behavior in our alliance? Oftentimes if the group was set on something you would completely blow up and cause a scene because it wasn't what you wanted to do. This really rubbed each of our alliance members the wrong way. You really were not someone that was well-regarded amongst us—there were so many instances in which people would come to me, who was frequently and for whatever reason the mediator of our group, and tell me that they could not stand working with you and wanted to take you out. If it weren't for me and others putting up with this for so long, you would have been targeted much, much sooner and would likely not be sitting here tonight. Was this you being an emotional player, was this you being entitled, or was it something else that we the jury did not get a chance to understand throughout the season?

Dylan - I commend you on playing a fabulous game this season. We came into this season with a strong relationship and I wanted to go far with you, but, when I heard my name was on the chopping block, I knew that I had to make an effort to underhand you. It obviously didn't pan out, and that is why you are sitting here at Final Tribal Council and I am here on the jury. From you I would like a little more transparency in terms of your willingness to betray. It is such a copout thing for you to say that the only reason you voted me out was because I was lying to you when we both know that you were voting me regardless. This is your chance to be straight up with me: what did our relationship mean to you in the game, and did you use emotional manipulation (acting like someone's friend only to win an online game) to get you to this point?

Ian - My question for you will be very, very short. Why should I vote for you when you did not respond to me ONCE after I attempted to vote you out? Did you not know I was coming to the jury and would have a say in who wins, or did you simply not care enough or respect me enough to give me the time of day to provide a response?

Thank you in advance, and I am wishing the best of luck to each of the three of you. I will be voting for whoever answers my question the best.

That being said, my question for you all is simple: If this season went to a final 2, who would you sit next to if you won the final immunity and why?

I think I would have chosen to sit next to Dylan, we're both former winners and I think that would put us both on even playing fields incase anyone on the jury would see that as reason to vote for someone who hasn't won before. Also I feel like I connected more with Dylan this game and I did make a deal with him and it helped me make Final 4 so at the time I feel like I would have chosen to sit next to Dylan. We played very different games, but both had the same goal. Ian and I didn't talk much, not my fault as I did reach out, but essentially because of that I didn't feel like I owed him anything.

You and I hit it off from the very beginning of the game. We talked often about our lives, and I was even a person that you oftentimes confided in about your issues with other members of our alliance. I want to know how genuine this relationship was. I don't want you to tell me what I think I want to hear—I want to know how you truly felt about me as an ally and as a friend, and, in addition, how far you were willing to go with me.

At the start of the game the more and more I got to know you the safer I felt with you. I wanted to go far with you even considering going to the end with you because not only did I feel you were good for my game, but I genuinely liked talking to you and having you as an ally. Your presence in the game was very much needed for me because I could confide in you with a lot of things and just vent whenever I needed to. However, there did come a point in the game where I became very paranoid of you and how you were playing. I realized that maybe You & Joey had gotten closer and I couldn't confide on you like I thought I could before. You had strong connections on the other side and at one point I thought you were playing the best social game. You dropped down on my totem pole and I didn't want to go with you to the end at the point you got voted off. I stopped trusting you as much as I did once the merge hit I would say. I wouldn't have taken you to the end, but had you not gone when you did I would've fought for a Final 4 of Me/You/Joey/Kasey with you being the one I trusted the least in that group. I think you were smart and most likely didn't want to be in the end with me. So I would say our relationship was genuine and every time we talked I was true and honest with you, but after the merge is when I realized I didn't want to be in the end with you.

Finally, how do you justify your dictator behavior in our alliance? Oftentimes if the group was set on something you would completely blow up and cause a scene because it wasn't what you wanted to do. This really rubbed each of our alliance members the wrong way. You really were not someone that was well-regarded amongst us—there were so many instances in which people would come to me, who was frequently and for whatever reason the mediator of our group, and tell me that they could not stand working with you and wanted to take you out. If it weren't for me and others putting up with this for so long, you would have been targeted much, much sooner and would likely not be sitting here tonight. Was this you being an emotional player, was this you being entitled, or was it something else that we the jury did not get a chance to understand throughout the season?

Like I mentioned in my speech many times I would try to hold my tongue and not seem too demanding because I didn't want you guys to hate me or think I was crazy. However, I did have my moments were I wanted things to go my way. I noticed you and Kasey were close with Hufus who I saw a threat to my game so there was times where I voiced that I wanted him to go. I knew I was being entitled and wanted things to go my way, but I was nervous that later down the road you guys would flip on me because of it. I also was very self aware that this was pissing people off because people would come to me as well and tell me to cool it because others were getting annoyed. After that I calmed myself down even more and just started being more civil and agreeing to whatever was brought up unless I thought it would be detrimental to my game. I don't think I was emotional, I just wanted the right game moves for myself to happen, I would say it was more so me being entitled and wanting things to go my way. However, I was never too worried about it causing the alliance to flip on me because people within the alliance would give me a heads up to calm down because my bonds with everyone in the alliance was strong enough to make them put up with my entitlement like you mentioned. And because of this I also went out of my way to get close with Kasey and Andrea even having a final 3 with them on the side. I hope that answered your question.

That being said, my question for you all is simple: If this season went to a final 2, who would you sit next to if you won the final immunity and why?

Hm, This is a diffcult one because I would have good reason to vote both of them out if it came to this. But I would say if it was a final 2 and I did win final immunity I probably would've ended up taking Dylan I suppose, he and I were pretty loyal to each other I'd say so I'd have to respect that. There would be the option of voting him out and making a "big move" I suppose but ruining that loyalty would've contradicted everything I tried to do this season.