Episode 02

[Mia Galeotalanza]

Hello, I'm Mia Galeotalanza from Stranded in Costa Rica!

You'll be seeing a lot of me here, but you'll also see some of the other hosts, Jeff, Brenda, Carl, Penny, Kim, and Holly around as well! My main focus here will be on the Tamanaco Tribe, so talk to me! Most of us are all-stars of the series who have been through it all, so if you have any questions about how the game is played, feel free to PM us and we'll do our best to answer - that's why we are here. Other than that, our duties will basically be to interview you in your confessional here, trying to get into your head and get some insight as to why you may be making certain moves. We will also be handling challenges, tribal council, and tribal council questioning.

Each round, we'll start by asking some introductory questions, and I just want to ask that you answer in complete statements. Oftentimes, we'll turn the seasons into fanfics using these stories, and we will be actively blogging on each episode, and it's easier to do so if we have real quotes and complete thoughts as opposed to simple yes or no answers. We hope you keep up with your confessionals daily during the week as a way to vent and discuss the events of that day. Just try your best to give us insight into what you're thinking or planning as the game progresses, and right now, as we're about to embark. You'll appreciate being able to go back after the show and really see where your head was at certain points in the game, and so will your fellow cast mates!

So here we go......

How do you feel coming into the game so late?

Do you think you have a shot?

What do you make of your tribemates?

How do you feel that the character of Lex fits you?

[Brenda Lowe]

Latecomers have won before you know, twice in the past six Seasons the winner was a day-late replacement - you can do this!

Obviously there's some disadvantages to being tardy to the party, but what advantages can you put to use here with this unique situation?

[Lex]

I was replying to Episode 1 but realized there was this thread just now, so I'll answer both questions. Here's what I wrote for Ep. 1:
--

Hey!
Sorry, the first Lex ended up leaving because he had to deal with some important events in his life. I'm the replacement for him and am still learning the ropes.

Is there an overview of some sort of every aspect to this game that I could read:
Also, here are the questions and answers:

How confident are you going into this game that you will win?
Hmm. This is tough to answer. I think I'm at a disadvantage since I entered the game late and have not had as much time as everybody else to create alliances and strategize. I'm not too confident I will win but I think (or hope) I will make it to the merge.

What are your opinions of your fellow tribemates?
I can't really answer this one yet. Big M is being very friendly to me amongst everyone else.

What is your strategy and approach to the game?
I want to be likeable but not too likeable, good at challenges but not great at challenges (maybe sandbag) and useful but not too useful that I'm dangerous. In my opinion a lot of the winners are the players who are not the major threats but are often flying right under the radar of the major threats.
Something similar to Sandra's play in Pearl Islands, or Cochran's play in Caramoan is what I'm aiming for.

How do you feel the rep of Lex fits you? Will you adjust your game to fit the rep, or just play as you would regardless?
I haven't seen an episode with Lex in it yet, so I can't speak for this.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming "leader" vote? Is this position something you find yourself interested in, or is leadership not for you? What do you make of who will eventually become leader?
N/A
--

How do you feel coming into the game so late?
I'm more glad to play then disappointed I'm late haha. While it's a disadvantage for sure to be late, I already am receiving messages saying I'm the swing vote and am in a position of power, so I'm more excited now than I was writing my answers above this. Maybe the supposed disadvantage with being late isn't as existent this time since the former Lex was already doing a lot of work.

Do you think you have a shot?
At winning? Yes. Maybe not as much as one of the players who have been here from day 1 however.

What do you make of your tribemates?
Like I said above, Big Tom is being very friendly with me. Also Mia.

How do you feel that the character of Lex fits you?
N/A

[Brenda Lowe]

Hmm let me try help you with the overview - are you a fan of the show Survivor? If you are it'll be a lot easier to explain :D

[Brenda Lowe]

Oh derp, I just read the rest of your post. Give me a half hour to finish cooking here, and I'll write you up an intro to Stranded thingie. For astarters make sure you read these two threads;

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3

&

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2

for info and tips, and have a read over the rules here (and sign em :P )

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=22

[Lex]

Yes, I am indeed a fan of Survivor. I'm starting to get the hang of these forums a lot more and everything makes more sense now haha. I don't think I really need much explaining other than anything you think I might not know coming into this game from watching the television series, such as an explanation of how the Hidden Immunity Idol works in this game.

Also, is there a way to change the time zone on the forum? It's one hour ahead of my timezone.

[Jeff Probst]

Yes, I am indeed a fan of Survivor. I'm starting to get the hang of these forums a lot more and everything makes more sense now haha. I don't think I really need much explaining other than anything you think I might not know coming into this game from watching the television series, such as an explanation of how the Hidden Immunity Idol works in this game.

Also, is there a way to change the time zone on the forum? It's one hour ahead of my timezone.

Go into Settings at the top in the banner and then go to Board Preferences and at the bottom youll see "my timezone.

[Lex]

Right now the web and forums say it's 2:42 CST, and I live in a CST time zone (Saskatchewan) and it's 1:42 because there's no daylight savings time here. Is there a way to set it one hour back/remove daylight savings time?
That probably means I should subtract one hour from every time zone that's in CST, as well? (e.g. Tribal is at 7 pm my time instead of 8?)

[Lex]

^^ thanks didn't see that before.
And I was once a forum moderator so I understand for the most part how to use the forums (BBcode, posting imgs, etc.)

[Brenda Lowe]

Regarding idols that may or may not be in the game, you know as much / little as anyone else :P

Challenges take place over at the Ruins board (look for the hyperlink above Tribal Councils) and if you go over there now you will see how last night's challenge panned out - and it'll give you a chance to familiarise yourself with how challenges work online.

Also make sure you take note of Treemail, another thing you will only find over at the Ruins board.


Here at Tamanaco forum / beach, you can see the main public threads are the equivalent of the hut/beach area, where everyone can post and read. Private messaging is where you talk one-on-one with people, so again, make sure you give that the attention it deserves. And in here is where you rant and rave and give us your inner thoughts :P

That oughtta about cover it. The game itself runs for approx four weeks - nothing live on Fridays or Saturdays but Sunday through Thursday are fair game (not every single night, there are scattered break nights). Typically our schedule runs like, challenge tonight, a day to scheme, then TC for the losing tribe out of that challenge a day later, followed by the next challenge straight after. Not always though! Consider tonight is a challenge followed straight away by TC for the losing tribe.

Of course there may be double nights, tribal shuffles, auctions, mutiny's or w/e twists get thrown in there as events too. just make sure you follow the treemail for exactly when you need to be here.


Um what else - post-game we'll open up the entire board. We have fivish hosts reading all confessionals and snooping on your PMs and we have a running blog that you can read afterwards. We also have a busy Lurker Lounge made up of players from past Seasons also sizing you up - think of them like the audience.

Anything else specific you need info on?

[Jeff Probst]

Okay great!

Hope you are getting accustomed to the tribe well. What are your impressions so far?

[Brenda Lowe]

Oh one other thingie I just noticed you doing, you don't need to quote every PM to answer it. If you look down the bottom of the screen of any particular PM chain, you can scroll back through the entire conversation

[Lex]

Quoting PMs is just a habit of mine, haha.

@Jeff - There's actually a lot more going on than I knew when I wrote the answers above. It looks like there's two people who are completely unaware of what is going on - and those two people were the ones I was talking to earlier today! It looks like Diane is getting voted off in a 6-1-1 (+ my vote) vote as soon as we lose the next challenge, and Tom right after (although the Tom vote I'm unsure of - I assume it's happening because Tom is on the outs of the tribe right now). So far for my tribe mates:
Diane - friendly, talkative but is known to be doing too much strategizing.
Tom - He had a strong alliance with old Lex but I'd rather not ally with him for a couple reasons. He's unaware of the situation that everybody else is aware of, and he seems really lazy/makes a lot of spelling/punctuation/capitalizing errors in our messages.
Kim (leader) - Short, straight and to the point. I don't think she's good to ally with either.
Lindsey - friendly, someone I want to talk to more.
Everyone else I don't have a good enough impression of yet to speak about.

[Jeff Probst]

So if Diane being voted off is a foregone conclusion, is it safe to assume that there is already a bigger alliance in place calling the shots? Did your impressions of Diane match what you were told of her by the others?

[Lex]

From what I know, it looks like our tribe is attempting to band together and pick off the dangerous/strategizing players unanimously, which makes it hard to ally with someone without getting backstabbed myself.
Diane was the first to message me and I can see why my tribe wants to vote her off - she's been very talkative and planning a lot of moves and Kim (the leader) told me Diane has been offering many different alliances to different players. While to me she seemed very friendly it could also be a cover-up for her to gain the majority.