Episode 15

[Jeff Probst]

Well, how does it feel... Final 3!!!

Cmon celebrate. Tell us all that you learned in the game, any regrets you may have, if you would do it again, what you're not looking forward to in the final tribal council, who you're most afraid of, who you think will vote for you. What your gameplan is going into it... everything!

Also, I need you to do two things for me. First I want you to pre-write your opening speech to the jury for Final Tribal Council so all you have to do is copy and paste and everything moves quickly, since it usually runs long. Second, I need you to vote for which of the other members of the final 3 you want to win in the event that there is a tie.

Good luck and CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!!!

[Gabriel]

YES.

OH MY GOD.

I'll do this in a little bit. I just got home.

Oh my GOSH.

[Brenda Lowe]

Also Fallen Comrades and do the hosts!

And of course keep us updated in here as you go through FTC, and your real reactions to each Juror (if you are holding anything back in the main thread). What's your thoughts right now on your chances at each Juror's vote?

[Gabriel]

Oh my gosh. It's seriously so surreal to have made it here. I honestly never thought that I would make it. I had a hope that I would make it far but never in a million years would I think that I would have a shot at winning this game. I learned so much in this game. I learned that I could do what I never thought I could, that you can play with your heart and still be very good at this game, and things like putting 6 hours into a challenge doesn't pay off if you don't pay attention.

I would completely do this again. If this is a potential invitation to all stars... sign me up! I'm not looking forward to any potential bashing of my game. I know it's coming, but I don't take criticism very well. At all. I'm most afraid of what Sarah is going to say. I'm not sure who will vote for me. I'd like to think I have a shot at everyone's if I work hard enough!

My opening statement will be in the next post.

[Gabriel]

Hi, jury!

This is seriously so surreal. I think we've all played a game that we'll never forget, and even though you guys are there and I'm here, we can mutually say this experience has been great. We've all had ups and downs, every one of us, and I know that a lot of you might be upset at any decisions I've made, but I just want to clarify why I made those and then we can go from there. This might all seem like a big Scooby Doo reveal or something, but hopefully after explaining everything, you'll see why it needed to be.

I'd like to start off by saying that every single tribal council I went to, I voted in the majority. I think that's a testament to me knowing what was going on in the game at all times, despite me acting like I didn't. The result of tribal council was usually dependent on Patricia and I's vote. My focus was to stay in a really risky spot in the middle of two alliances, so that I could decide who I wanted gone and run with it. The whole time we were juggling two alliances, I tried to maintain trust with each of them, and I think I was pretty successful in that.

In the beginning of the game, my goal was to stay social. My application said it, I said it in my confessionals, everything. All I wanted to do was to be well liked by the tribe and remain a good competitor. I think I was okay at that. On day 1, I got alliance offers from a ton of people. John, Peter, Sean, Patricia, Gina, Sarah... Really, most of the tribe liked me, if not all, so I was successful in that. Nothing really major happened premerge. Getting to the merge wasn't too much of a challenge.

The real struggle began at the merge. Kim J's boot was something that wasn't worth freaking out about. She wasn't an advocate to keep me, she seemed to be like a big threat, and everyone seemed to want her out. It wasn't a big deal. The big deals came with boots like Clarence, Vecepia, and Kim P. Patricia and I flipped on each of the votes and gave excellent reasons after to maintain trust. We were in a spot where everyone wanted us in and we could decide what we wanted to do. That was, until Patricia's name got bigger and bigger and she became someone that needed to leave. I'd been using her as a shield while I maintained power, and at the final 7, I booted her.

I used her as a way to get me further, but still have power, and then I got rid of her when I knew that I could play by myself and still have power. It was incredibly hard to get rid of her, but something that I repeatedly told Lindsey and Linda was to play smart, not with your heart, and that's what I was doing then. I knew it was something that I could own up to doing and then prove to people that I could play by myself.

I tried to create this idea that I was weak while maintaining the power to make big decisions, execute them, and still be fine afterwards. It was my idea to have Linda and Lindsey in the final 3, I was the one that brought up Lindsey voting out Gina, I was the one that broke off my final 3 with Linda and Lex for greener grasses, and I got here by myself. I honestly think every move I made in this game was in my best interest, I just made it seem like it wasn't for a bit. Call it a Scooby-Doo reveal or whatever you want, but I couldn't exactly tell everyone that I was playing everyone by being in the middle of two alliances.

I hope that I didn't offend anyone by voting them out. Especially Patricia, Lex, and Sarah. Sarah, I hope I didn't offend you because what I did was in the best interest for my game. Same with Patricia, and Lex. Yes, Sarah, we didn't have the best relationship when it got to you leaving, but what I did was absolutely nothing personal. You were a very strong player, and if I wanted any shot at winning, I couldn't have you there. I couldn't have Sean, Patricia, Lex, or Gina there either. There were points in this game where my legs wobbled when I stood up because I was so into all of it, and I'd hate for people to be mad at me for something that I did to get me to where I am.

I'm looking forward to all of your questions, and hopefully I don't get drilled too much.

[Gabriel]

And this is to you hosts.

I hope that the game that I've played and the performance that I've given has been up to your standards. I'm not sure how much you guys liked me or disliked me or what you thought of my game, but I hope I didn't disappoint anyone in that I did. I didn't want to be a dud or anything, and a lot of the time I felt like I was because it really didn't seem like anyone had any faith in me. I play to win but I also play to be entertaining, and all I hope is through all of my flamboyant lispy talking, that you guys were entertained and happy with the game I played.

[Gabriel]

Hi, jury!

This is seriously so surreal. I think we've all played a game that we'll never forget, and even though you guys are there and I'm here, we can mutually say this experience has been great. We've all had ups and downs, every one of us, and I know that a lot of you might be upset at any decisions I've made, but I just want to clarify why I made those and then we can go from there. This might all seem like a big Scooby Doo reveal or something, but hopefully after explaining everything, you'll see why it needed to be.

I'd like to start off by saying that every single tribal council I went to, I voted in the majority. I think that's a testament to me knowing what was going on in the game at all times, despite me acting like I didn't. The result of tribal council was usually dependent on Patricia and I's vote. My focus was to stay in a really risky spot in the middle of two alliances, so that I could decide who I wanted gone and run with it. The whole time we were juggling two alliances, I tried to maintain trust with each of them, and I think I was pretty successful in that.

In the beginning of the game, my goal was to stay social. My application said it, I said it in my confessionals, everything. All I wanted to do was to be well liked by the tribe and remain a good competitor. I think I was okay at that. On day 1, I got alliance offers from a ton of people. John, Peter, Sean, Patricia, Gina, Sarah, Vecepia, General... Really, most of the tribe liked me, if not all, so I was successful in that. Nothing really major happened premerge. Getting to the merge wasn't too much of a challenge.

The real struggle began at the merge. Kim J's boot was something that wasn't worth freaking out about. She wasn't an advocate to keep me, she seemed to be like a big threat, and everyone seemed to want her out. It wasn't a big deal. The big deals came with boots like Clarence, Vecepia, and Kim P. Patricia and I flipped on each of the votes and gave excellent reasons after to maintain trust. We were in a spot where everyone wanted us in and we could decide what we wanted to do. That was, until Patricia's name got bigger and bigger and she became someone that needed to leave. I'd been using her as a shield while I maintained power, and at the final 7, I booted her.

I used her as a way to get me further, but still have power, and then I got rid of her when I knew that I could play by myself and still have power. It was incredibly hard to get rid of her, but something that I repeatedly told Lindsey and Linda was to play smart, not with your heart, and that's what I was doing then. I knew it was something that I could own up to doing and then prove to people that I could play by myself.

I tried to create this idea that I was weak while maintaining the power to make big decisions, execute them, and still be fine afterwards. It was my idea to have Linda and Lindsey in the final 3, I was the one that brought up Lindsey voting out Gina, I was the one that broke off my final 3 with Linda and Lex for greener grasses, and I got here by myself. I honestly think every move I made in this game was in my best interest, I just made it seem like it wasn't for a bit. Call it a Scooby-Doo reveal or whatever you want, but I couldn't exactly tell everyone that I was playing everyone by being in the middle of two alliances.

I hope that I didn't offend anyone by voting them out. Especially Patricia, Lex, and Sarah. Sarah, I hope I didn't offend you because what I did was in the best interest for my game. Same with Patricia, and Lex. Yes, Sarah, we didn't have the best relationship when it got to you leaving, but what I did was absolutely nothing personal. You were a very strong player, and if I wanted any shot at winning, I couldn't have you there. I couldn't have Sean, Patricia, Lex, or Gina there either. There were points in this game where my legs wobbled when I stood up because I was so into all of it, and I'd hate for people to be mad at me for something that I did to get me to where I am.

In a wrap up, yes, I was under the radar, but that was my goal. Some people play under the radar because they don't have the skill to play and be really visible, but I knew in this game, with big personalities, that they'd get targetted. See: Patricia. See: Sean. See: Sarah. See: Lex. They all were great players but they were too visible. I have confidence that I'm a great player as well, I just was smart enough to know that I couldn't be too out there. I needed to make sure I communicated regularly with people but didn't make waves. And that's exactly what I did. I went this entire game with 1 vote cast against me, and it was at the final 4. Linda and Lindsey both received multiple votes, if I'm not mistaken. I played well enough to maintain power, never be in anyone's sights to the point where I was a target at tribal council (until the final 4), and I picked the final 3. I was the one that messaged Lindsey and told her that I wanted to have her and Linda in the finals. I was the one that told her she needed to boot Gina off, and I got myself to the finals.

I'm looking forward to all of your questions, and hopefully I don't get drilled too much.

[Jeff Probst]

lol is there a tl;dr version of this?

[Gabriel]

I guess I can make one.
Should I use it instead?

Hi, jury!

This game has been an absolute blast. I have a lot to say but not a lot of time to say it so I'll try to keep it simple. I was the threat to win this game. I stayed hidden behind people while maintaining power, kept in touch with everyone, voted in the majority every single round, and made people think I didn't know what was going on.

For the premerge portion of the game, the key was to be an asset in challenges but not to make too big of a name for yourself. If you stayed social and kept people liking you, you'd be just fine. And that's what I did. On day 1, I was in an alliance with everyone at one point until John and Peter alienated themselves. When the merge came, Kim Johnson was a go to easy vote, especially for the first merge vote, but after that, Patricia and I played both sides of two alliances. On one, you had Vecepia, Sean, Lex, Linda, and Clarence. And on the other, Lindsey, Sarah, Kim Powers, and Gina. We played both sides on Clarence's vote, Kim Powers' vote, and Vecepia's vote. Patricia was much more vocal in what was going down but the people who were voted out would not have been voted out if it weren't for me. So every move Patricia made, I did too, but I didn't make a target whilst doing it. Which is why Patricia was the prime shield. At the final 7, I knew it was time for me to step out from behind Patricia and play my own game. I'd had the power to boot whoever I was wanting to while Patricia was in the game, and it was time to let people know I could stay in the game without her. So Patricia left in a 6-1 vote, and I was on my own. Sean was the next target, and that was an easy target. He was someone that made a huge name for himself in the swap and from there on out, was someone that would be easy to boot when it came down to it. At the final 5, I had set myself in a position where I could've got to the final 3 no matter which way the votes went. On one side, I was with Lex and Linda, knowing good and well that Lex had every intention on taking me. And on the other, I had Lindsey and Gina, where Lindsey seemed to be an advocate in taking me to the end. No matter what happened, it seemed that I was going to make the finals.

Then, before Lex left, I proposed the final 3 that I'd been thinking about for a little while. Linda, Lindsey, and me. Gina was seen as someone that would sweep the jury. So was Lex. I was the one that messaged Lindsey about this final 3 and I was the one that let her know why she had to let Gina go. I got the exact final 3 that I wanted, and every other person I wanted gone, left.

Call it a Scooby Doo reveal, call it what you want, but I did what I had to do to get where I am and I did it the way I wanted. Whether you guys want to reward someone that had a knack of panicking and then admitting what she did was wrong afterwards, or rewarding someone that seemed to be clueless in a lot of votes and voted in the minority multiple times, that's up to you. I am the only one in the final 3 that is capable of saying I voted for each of you to leave, and that's exactly why I should get the win. I played multiple sides, kept the target off of me, made people trust me, and only had one vote cast against me the entire game. Through the 89 votes I saw through the game, only one was cast towards me, and I really think that's a testament to the game I played.

[Gabriel]

Seems I just rewrote what I said.

TL;DR.

Whether you guys want to reward someone that had a knack of panicking and then admitting what she did was wrong afterwards, or rewarding someone that seemed to be clueless in a lot of votes and voted in the minority multiple times, that's up to you. I am the only one in the final 3 that is capable of saying I voted for each of you to leave, and that's exactly why I should get the win. I played multiple sides, kept the target off of me, made people trust me, and only had one vote cast against me the entire game. Through the 89 votes I saw through the game, only one was cast towards me, and I really think that's a testament to the game I played. I proved to people that I could play on my own, I played smart by using Patricia as a shield, and I feel I'm completely deserving of the win.

[Gabriel]

It's over, guys.

Wow.

[Gabriel]

Really don't think I'm winning this.

Lindsey should win fairly unanimously, probably.

I just reread my closing statement, and I made so many typos. Ugh.

[Brenda Lowe]

One last vid before reveal maybe??

How did you find the Jury in general? Any questions catch you off guard? How does the Jury perception of the finalists match up with what you hoped for when you planned this F3?

[Gabriel]

http://youtu.be/rhn2aUTNjcQ

[Holly Hoffman]

Good Luck Gabe

[Gabriel]

Thanks, Holly.

[Brenda Lowe]