CRYPT
BOTH OF YOU: In this series, you've both made it to FTC before. What have you done differently this time to navigate this cast of All-Stars and make a return trip?

So coming into this game, I knew I had to take more of a dominant position in the game and in my alliances, which is something I failed to do in Riola. In Riola, I mainly stuck to my 5 person alliance, never explored any alternate moves or routes, and just played very safely. I knew coming into this game that this all had to change to ensure that I could win this season.
I believe this change occurred right away, where I tried bonding with everyone on my original tribe, even though we never lost. The main example is with you, Crypt, as I thought you would never work with me after I hadn't worked with you all of Riola. However, I was able to solidify a very close bond with you very early on, as well as with people like Ryan, Washed and Logan. These bonds also helped me gain vital information, such as you (Crypt) trusting me with telling me you had the idol, which I sadly then had to use against you at the final 7. But it was in these bonds that I was able to gain all of your trust which leads into the next point...
Playing more dominant. In Riola, I basically fell into my alliance and then played comfortably there. I knew I couldn't do that this season. The second swap Chisei lost I went to work using the bonds I had been working on building up to form a majority alliance. I literally thought I was screwed on swap Chisei, so I worked my butt off forming the alliance of me, Crypt, Ryan, Vincent, Logan and Cameron. As I had bonded with you all and you all trusted me, you all believed me when I said that the other three (Nopalito, Billy and Pietro) were apart of some larger alliance that would take control of the game if we didn't vote together THAT vote. I single handedly messaged most of you to form this alliance, and put the thoughts in your mind that the others were all together. This caused me to form our alliance of 6, which then would come to pick up Aria and Rubes come merge.
These bonds that I grew with other also helped me in my sub alliance, both with my alliance of 6 (me, Aria, Rubes, Crypt, Cameron, Ryan) and my final three alliance with Aria and Rubes. I knew that all of these people would never turn on me or write my name down, which may sound cocky, but I think the votes speak for themselves. It would've been easy for one of them to flip on me at F12 and get me out premerge, but they all trusted me and wanted to work with me moving forward.
Sorry for the long answer, but I really think my game evolved for the better this game. I was able to make very very solid bonds this season which saw ME be the one who created these alliances and literally hand pick who I wanted to be in each one. And it was because of these bonds that the people in these alliances wanted to work with me instead of recognize my threat level and turn against me.

CRYPT

PEYTON: In your speech, you said you didn't want people to vote based on "preconceived notions from other seasons." If this is true, then why did you decide to vote me out when I was with you since the beginning and have consistently been loyal since the beginning of our first season together? You watched me play that game and stick with a sinking ship rather than flipping. Was that not enough to convince you that I'd stay loyal this time?

When I decided to vote you out it was entirely based on your stellar performance this season, and not based on our prior season. I knew you were loyal to me, and I was loyal to you too, literally up to the day I voted you out, which when you read my confessionals, will show you how sad and upset I was when I voted you out, because you're one of the most loyal allies I've ever played with and I had so much fun working with you. However, as I said, your game was absolutely stellar this season, and I knew with your idol and your bonds with Vincent and Cameron that it was super risky taking you any farther, which is why I had to take you out when I had the opportunity. I was also super concerned because you were catching on to my alliance and bond with Aria and Rubes, and I had to side with them over you, because I knew the two of them would 100% never turn on me, while I was worried that you would turn on me eventually and side with Cameron and Vincent. I knew you were loyal to me the entire game, and I love and appreciate you for that. And I really hope you don't take me voting you out personally, because I really loved working with you and we really crushed a lot of the game. But you just played exceptionally and had situated yourself perfectly in the game that I had to break my loyalty to you to advance my game and make a move against a huge player.

LOGAN
I only have one question for you both. Compare each juror to a real Survivor player, prefer US but, fine with Australian and WHY. Whoever does the best job gets my vote.

Rubes - Cirie Fields (Micronesia) - a ROBBED ICON. This should come as no shock. When I formed my final 3 alliance with Aria and Rubes, we were all under the assumption that this would be a final 3. The exact same thing happened to Micronesia, where a final 2 has caused both Rubes and Cirie to be taken out prematurely. Rubes was also fiercely loyal, just like Cirie, justifying this comparison.

Vincent - Jonny Fairplay (Pearl Islands) - Vincent and Jonny Fairplay both like stirring up trouble and causing chaos, which is simultaneously fun but also stressful to play with. Vincent made up fake idol screenshots, held on to his fake idols to have fun with them, lied about when he could use his legacy advantage, and countless other mischievous things. This compares to Fairplay because he had fun stirring the pot as well, and lied that his grandma died. I think both of their roles as jokesters and fabricators of the truth makes this comparison pretty good.

Cameron - Alison Raybould (David v. Goliath) - I'm comparing Cameron to Alison because they were both a little quiet during the game, but also a force to be reckoned with. They were both very loyal to those they were with and always super competitive and fun to work with! I also feel like both of their games and threat level increased the longer the game went on and after they survived a few votes with their name written down.

Pietro - Peih-Gee Law (China) - Pietro, like Peih-Gee in China, played flawless social and strategic games, even when the numbers were against them. Peih-Gee was able to be the last remaining member of her alliance and was still able to dictate a few votes despite being in the minority. This is similar to Pietro as he outlived his alliance and also was a key player in both the F7 and F6 votes.

Crypt - Victoria Baamonde (Edge of Extinction) - Victoria, like Crypt, played very solid strategic and social games. Crypt was well aligned with everyone, especially by the end of the game, and had a massive say in a lot of things that occurred in the game. They were both taken out because people recognized the threat they possessed and that they were likely shoo in for the wins if they made it to the end.

Logan - Kass McQuillen (Cagayan) - This is more for the actions that you did in the game rather than being "Chaos Kass." In Cagayan, Kass flipped on her alliance at the Final 13. This parallels you, as you attempted to flip on your alliance at the Final 12 and take me out here. The only difference is that Kass was successful, while you weren't. However, the result was kind of the same. This is because both you and Kass lost the trust of your original alliance after the flip, yet, you were both still able to survive a few more votes despite this new distrust.

Livingston - Michaela Bradshaw (Millennials v. Gen X) - I'm comparing Livingston to Michaela from MvG because they both played very strong premerge and were also very vocal. Livingston was vocal when calling me a rat in the main chat (hehe). He also was a huge force on swap Kemono and was on the right side of the numbers. This parallels Michaela, because she was a powerful force in the game at the beginning of MvG and was also very vocal towards everyone on her tribe.

Josh - Eliza Orlins (Micronesia) - I'm comparing Josh to Eliza because they were basically both screwed come the merge/swap. Eliza in Micronesia went into the merge with no numbers, causing her to be taken out 8-2 at the merge vote. Josh got unlucky in the temporary tribes, being placed with everyone not aligned with him, causing him to be taken out in a 4-1 vote. These two are comparable because of the way they were taken out and because they both struggled to get numbers on their side.

Ryan - Andrew Savage (Cambodia) - I'm comparing Ryan to Savage in Cambodia because both were apart of a major alliance but were taken out early in the merge due to advantages. Ryan was only taken out because Crypt's vote was stolen and Vincent self voted. Had Ryan survived this vote, he likely would've made a deep run, as he was in the majority alliance and was well connected. This is similar to Savage, as he was idled out, but was also in a very good position within the majority alliance.

If you don't like who I compared you to, pretend I said Parvati Shallow :)

Okay I think that's it for now!! If anyone has anymore questions or I missed anything I'll make sure to check back frequently tomorrow!! And if anything doesn't make sense or you need clarification please let me know, my brain goes downhill the longer I stay awake :)

Hey guys. Congrats on beeing the final 2, I wish I was there. My questions are:

BOTH: Tell me one thing that you did, that you feel like your opponent didn’t or failed to do.

PEYTON: I told you that if you were in the final 2 against Aria you would lose, you had more than one opportunity to take her out but you decided not to. And I can guarantee that if you were in the end with anyone except Aria, you would win by a landslide. Why were you so scared? You said you knew that Aria was gonna take you to the end no matter what, but dont you think that you decided not to take any risks and thats why you will probably lose?

ARIA: I tried to take you out so many times. I told everyone at final 11 that you would win this game, but still you managed to have people fighting for your life so hard even though this would make them lose your game. Only thing I wanted to know is how you decided to change your vote to Cameron last minute at F6?? I thought I was doing such a good job pretending I was a loyal ally.

ARIA: I tried to take you out so many times. I told everyone at final 11 that you would win this game, but still you managed to have people fighting for your life so hard even though this would make them lose your game. Only thing I wanted to know is how you decided to change your vote to Cameron last minute at F6?? I thought I was doing such a good job pretending I was a loyal ally.

Pietro ❤️❤️

There were 3 things that tipped me. First, was when you immediately suggested the split vote right after the challenge. It seemed too ready.

Then, after Peyton told me Vincent was after me complicity, you told me that Vincent told you, he was voting you. That wasn’t how Vincent had been playing the game. He wasn’t straight forward about anything so the fact you said he told you, seemed fishy.

Lastly, Vincent told Peyton he was “switching” his vote to Pietro. However, when I called Vincent out for coming after me, he said “huh. So Peyton is leaking.” I knew he wouldn’t tell Peyton what he was actually doing

So in the end, I went with the safe vote. I was hoping you were being truthful, but there were too many things that had tipped me off.

I will do lists when I have time later tonight!

BOTH: Tell me one thing that you did, that you feel like your opponent didn’t or failed to do.

I believe I played a tougher and more gritty game. I was in the firing line a lot just bc of my reputation and not anything I particularly did or said. I didn’t have a bunch of friends just put in the game that I could start an alliance with.

I took the shots at me head on, ultimately, getting rid of everyone who was against me, I.e. majority of the cast.😂

Lastly, although I didn’t have as many conversations with everyone, I do feel I had a better read on people. Peyton was too trusting with people such as TJ and Vincent who were actively going against me, but Peyton didn’t believe they would make the move. However, they did and almost cost the game. He also said it was up to me if I thought Pietro was voting with us in the F6. I trusted my gut and the conversations I did have. They led me here.

just wanna say congrats to both of y’all :)

knew you could do it peyton 😉

aria pls answer my question:

rank every person who reached merge and you 2 finalists on power ranking based on threat level from top to the bottom (who played the best game and who was playing worse from your own point of view)

rank every person who reached merge and you 2 finalists on power ranking based on threat level from top to the bottom (who played the best game and who was playing worse from your own point of view)

Aria
Crypt
Peyton
Pietro
Vincent
Rubes
Cameron
Logan
Ryan
Nik
Livingston
TJ
Josh

That would be my order!

PIETRO

BOTH: Tell me one thing that you did, that you feel like your opponent didn’t or failed to do.

I feel like one thing that I did that Aria didn't was create alliances that were beneficial for me. As I've stated, I was the one who formed the main 8 person alliance and it was me that was creating bonds with everyone to ensure that they were loyal me and to the alliance. This is also true with my smaller 6 person alliance and my final 3, all of which were created by me.
Aria fell into all of these alliances because of her relationship with me. She was never the one going out of her comfort zone and creating alliances. Instead, she waited for me to form the alliances and just sat back and let other people make moves in these alliances.
I also think this contributed to why she was targeted so much because she wasn't well connected with everyone, making her an "easy" target because she didn't have the bonds that I had, and was also a prior winner.
Well, I'm a prior runner up, and I was still able to navigate the game with 0 votes against me in the jury phase of the game, because I had bonded with everyone and had connected myself well enough where I knew there were countless people who would never write my name down.
By creating my alliances myself, this enabled me to ensure that people I trusted and people I knew wouldn't vote for me stayed in the game. This helped strengthen my position and also helped ensure that I would be sitting in the end. Meanwhile, Aria mostly sat back and let me take the front seat in choosing alliances and who went home. Which I think is a huge flaw in her game.

rank every person who reached merge and you 2 finalists on power ranking based on threat level from top to the bottom (who played the best game and who was playing worse from your own point of view)

Aria
Crypt
Peyton
Pietro
Vincent
Rubes
Cameron
Logan
Ryan
Nik
Livingston
TJ
Josh

That would be my order!

Can you say why i was placed on the fifth place?

PEYTON: I told you that if you were in the final 2 against Aria you would lose, you had more than one opportunity to take her out but you decided not to. And I can guarantee that if you were in the end with anyone except Aria, you would win by a landslide. Why were you so scared? You said you knew that Aria was gonna take you to the end no matter what, but dont you think that you decided not to take any risks and thats why you will probably lose?

I wasn't scared. I was logical. You said it yourself, I knew that Aria was going to take me to the end. I knew that you, Vincent, and Cameron were not going to, especially considering all three of you didn't tell me about the plan to vote out Aria until after it happened. That proved to me that I was just an expendable number to you three and that I would've been taken out at the exact next vote.
I also told you when you said that I was going to lose to Aria that I didn't think she played a better game than me. And I still stand by that statement. I believe Aria did a good job at avoiding being narrowly voted out, but that was all because of alliances that I had a say in creating. I feel like a lot of people are just looking at the fact that she won before and survived 27 votes, when I was a prior runner up and was able to make it all the way to the end WHILE making moves and playing hard. I didn't sit back, I took control of the game.
And I did take risks in the game. I decided to take out one of my closest ally's, Crypt, at the final 7. That was a huge risk for my game because I knew he had my back the entire game. Yet, I did it because I knew that he could beat me at the end of the game because of how well he played and because of how well he situated himself in the game. If I wasn't down to vote Crypt, I didn't have to, and someone else could've gone. However, I decided to take the risk and send Crypt home, thinking it would help bolster my argument at final tribal, and also send home the biggest threat in the game, in my eyes, even though he was aligned with me throughout the entire game.
Just because I kept Aria in doesn't make me scared and doesn't make it look like I didn't take risks. I did what made sense for my game. I took multiple risks in the game, as in blindsiding Crypt and also drawing rocks with a singular other person. I didn't play scared because at the final 15 I literally formed a massive majority alliance from scratch to ensure that I was in control of the game. It was a huge risk reaching out to everybody and basically telling them that I was creating this alliance. Yet, I was still able to make it to the end of the game because of this alliance and the bonds that I created from it, despite putting myself at the head of it. This all proves that I didn't play a scared game and that I did take risks.

And I know I'm not really allowed to ask questions, but since Pietro was so keen on his belief that I didn't take risks, what risks did Aria take in the game? Because she never went to rocks. And she didn't front a major alliance or have a main move to call her own, which would prove she played a risky game?

Compare each juror to a real Survivor player, prefer US but, fine with Australian and WHY. Whoever does the best job gets my vote.

Ryan - Ozzy Lusth - Micronesia

I say this bc I believe had they both made it further into a merge, they would have done a lot of damage. Similar to Ozzy, Ryan was in a majority alliance, only to have people in that alliance turn on him like Vincent did.

Josh - Kelly Shinn - Nicaragua

As far as my game was concerned, I never really spoke to Josh. I knew he and his alliance were voting me and I rarely saw him at challenges. Giving him the purple Kelly edit for me 🤷🏼‍♀️

Livingston - NaOnka Mixon - Nicaragua

Similar to Josh, I didn’t speak to Livingston much. However, he was very strong in challenges and more vocal than Josh similar to NaOnka compared to Kelly.

Logan - Matthew Von Ertfelda - The Amazon

Both great at the game, but keep their cards very close their chest. It made people wonder where you actually stood! You’ve both won 2nd as well!

Crypt - Jon Misch - San Juan Del Sur

Very strong competitors who would have no problem winning if they had made FTC. It took a blindside from a person you trusted to get you out and not play an idol. Great social and physical skills!

Pietro - Reed Kelley - San Juan Del Sur

Pietro is a sneaky little devil like Reed! They were both major underdogs when the merge began, but continued to fight by telling both sides at the time he was with them, while simultaneously trying to make a big move. Definitely deserved better!

Cameron - Michael Skupin - Philippines

I pick this strictly on game comparison. I think both had social bonds that would help take them far into the game. However, they both had opportunities to take out major threats to the game and didn’t pull the trigger.

Vincent - Rob Cesternino - The Amazon

Both were pretty sneaky and had some control during the game. However, people started to catch on to all the tricks and chaos and it would all catch up to them. Great game players!

Rubes - Jerri Manthey - Heroes vs Villains

Icon. I love Rubes so much. Outspoken and always willing to say it like it is. Much like Jerri, their pre-merge games were entertaining and solid. However, when merge came, both kinda just asked what the vote was and went that way. They also share an immunity win and will always be remembered as a great ❤️