Jake- you seemed to fly under the radar. I donât know much about your game other than that youâre a nice guy. I told you Tyler might be able to steal votes from you, so please tell me What differentiates your game from his?
Also, just because I donât know much of your game: What was your strategy? Did you spearhead any moves in this game? I just want to be a little more clear on your gameplay.
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Thanks Harry, I'd love to go into detail about my gameplay a bit. At the beginning of this game I was in an alliance with Noelle, Tyler, and you on the Failures tribe. This was the foundation of my game as it helped me establish relationships with you and Tyler whom I didn't know before this game. My other big allies in this game were Franz and Zach. Seeing Franz on the cast was kind of a sigh of relief, I feel like I can completely trust him. Zach was trickier, as he and I have always been very friendly to each other but never really played anything together, so a bit of trust had to be built there.
The first few votes were pretty easy with the help of an early alliance. When we swapped tribes, you were easily able to get Josh to vote with us so I figured you had him in your pocket and that I probably had to be cautious with you because you were going to be a social threat. When we merged, a lot of folks (myself included) wanted to get a big physical threat out. My relationship with Rob was rocky based on a past game and my relationship with Zach was still blooming at this time. I was trying to build something with both of these guys so that no matter who stayed, I would hopefully have someone else in my corner. It was decided to split the votes between Rob and Zach so that if Rob played an idol, a big threat would still go home. I actually voted for Zach to leave at this tribal council as part of this split, but I still believe I made a decision here that helped my game in the long run. I knew Noelle was going to play her advantage to try to get the votes on Zach. Rob told me earlier in the day that he voted for Alex, and I tossed around all day whether or not to tell him to switch his vote to Zach, which would have created a tie, and I think Zach would have easily gone home in a revote. Ultimately I didn't say anything and let the vote for Rob go through, which I do think was best for my game.
After this tribal, I told one of the only flat out lies I had to tell in this game, by telling Zach I voted for Rob. This helped keep Zach's eyes off of me and allowed us to continue building a relationship. At this time in the game, Noelle and Zach seemed like they wanted to go for each other, which was great for my game of "anyone but me". Tyler & I were excluded from the conversations about the next vote for Noelle to leave because we were both close with her. This actually worked out in my favor because I believe it helped Tyler feel more connected to me. Around this time I had to start sort of playing middle man for Tyler and Franz. Tyler felt betrayed by Harry and Franz during the Noelle vote, but I did my best to minimize Franz's involvement and keep the heat on Harry. I thought with Noelle gone I could be in big trouble, but the last few eliminations are where I as able to maneuver the best, take risks that paid off, and call some of the shots.
With the Tribal Hourglass I was put on a tribe with Josh, Rodolph, and Zach with Josh being immune. I could tell based on my conversations with Tyler that Rodolph was probably the person he was closest with besides me. Knowing that after these tribals we would be down to 6 players, I did not feel comfortable letting Tyler have both me and Rodolph at F6, when MY goal was always to go to the end with Franz. Additionally, Rodolph and I hadn't spoken as much and I had a much better relationship with Zach at this point. I was confident that Zach wouldn't vote against me; Rodolph told me he was voting for Zach, but my conversation with Josh made me think maybe Josh and Rodolph were actually voting for me, which is why I played my idol. My suspicions were half right as Josh did vote for me. I think my decision to take Rodolph out instead of Zach is one of the big reasons I made it to this FTC, as Rodolph would have always chosen Tyler over me and Zach staying created an excellent shield.
With some luck, Tyler survived rocks at his tribal council and we arrived at Final 6. I won the Touchy Subjects immunity in a sweep, which I do think shows I had my finger on the pulse of this game pretty well. I tried to get the ball rolling to get you, Harry, out because I thought you were a huge threat to win the game if you made it to the end. I realized that Zach had his sights set on Tyler and realized this was going to be the end of the line for Zach and I working together. Franz, Tyler, and I thought we had a plan to get you out during this round, and planned to do Zach next, but ultimately you and Josh succeeded in getting the votes on Zach first. This was when the last puzzle pieces fell together for me.
Zach, another huge threat to win was now gone and I didn't have to get his blood on my hands. I felt like I now had majority at Final 5, because although Tyler and Franz now wanted to go after each other, I knew neither of them would go after me, and that I could probably get them to go after you and Josh instead. Franz won F5 immunity which I think saved his life at this tribal, because I believe you and Josh perhaps could have convinced Tyler to vote Franz out here. I had been wanting to vote you for a few rounds now Harry, and I was able to convince Franz to target you instead of Tyler during this tribal, even though I do think Franz really wanted to go for Tyler instead. I didn't want Tyler going here because it would leave you and Josh as a duo at F4 which would have been too dangerous.
When we made it to F4 and Tyler won immunity I was relieved. I basically wanted anyone but Josh to win this one, because I thought he could have been a threat for jury votes especially after getting Zach eliminated by correctly playing an advantage. I swore to Tyler up and down that if this game had a F2 instead of a F3 I would take him so that he would vote Josh with me instead of Franz. This helped manipulate things to go my way yet again even though it was a fib. Tyler, I love you!! But my goal was always to go to the end with Franz, not only for pearsonal reasons, but he also had a more blood on his hands.
So to directly answer your question Harry, my strategy was to build relationships and use them to make sure nobody was looking my way at tribal council. I did this by making people feel like they could trust me and also choosing to keep some bigger targets around as a shield. I believe I pulled the puppet strings during the last two eliminations in the game which helped ensure that I was going into a F3 with two people who would take me to a F2 if that had been the case.