Day 32 - Final Tribal Council

[Sean]

So that first challenge lasting so long was the Hosts fault?

Correction: Kim/Sarah's fault.

[Lex]

[Kim P]

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[Gina]

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[Kim P]

[Vecepia]

[Gabriel]

I'm going to give you each a paragraph of my opinion of you, and I really want you guys to correct me if I'm wrong. Furthermore, I want you guys to answer the questions of the paragraph in depth.

Gabe, first of all, congratulations on making it to the end. I'm impressed by the game you played, because it seems as though you had a calm, civil, and consistent approach to this game: something a lot of people did not do. However, it is very unlikely you will be receiving my vote. Lindsey and Linda have an advantage because they both know me a LOT better then I know you. Our relationship is nonexistent. That doesn't really bug me - sometimes, we don't have the ability to talk or we don't have the advantage of being on the same tribe premerge. What does bug me is the fact that you never tried to get to know me. I sent you several mails the night I was leaving, and you sent me literally one response to them: you said that you will talk to me later about the game. Later never came, Gabe. You left me hanging, and eventually, I left the game. As the other jurors joined me, and especially recently, I have come to realize that I'm not the only person that feels this way about you. 5/9ths of this jury has admitted to you hardly talking to them. The rest of the jury is nearly convinced that you played a stellar game, which brings me to my question. Explain how the way you played your game is worthy of the win? Gabe, my vote isn't finalized, but you need to REALLY convince me that you played a GREAT game despite your socially unacceptable approach to a majority of this jury. Thank you, and congrats.

Kim, I really am sorry that you feel I didn't make an effort, and a lot of that has to do with my intentions of the round that you left. Yes, I can admit that later never came, and that is partially my fault, but I honestly could not risk getting close to someone that was going to have the boot. You can ask Linda and Lindsey, I repeatedly told them to play smart, not with my heart, and I knew that you were someone that I was going to get extremely close to. I saw a lot of Patricia in you. The way you spoke and the way you joked around was something that was very appealing, and if our conversation had went longer, I knew it was going to hurt my game.

Along with that, the first two rounds of the merge were very busy rounds for me. Not in the game, but in general. I had plans for a lot of the time, leading me to miss the first immunity challenge, and most of the vote. I can sincerely apologize for the feelings that you and most of the jury have against me not making an effort to get close to you, but knowing that I'm an extremely emotional person, I couldn't let myself do that. I had to do what was in my best interest, and there were times where I couldn't stand up because I'd voted someone I cared for out of this game. See: Patricia. See: Lex.

I'm not 100% sure if you will read all of the opening statements or not, but I am sure and can say in confidence that the game I played was great. Think about it. Was I never a target because I was playing bad? It might seem like that, but I voted for every single person in the majority out. I was never blindsided in this game, I never had a target until the final 4, and I played intelligently, instead of emotionally. I honestly could not risk getting close to people or else my game would've been destroyed. The people that put themselves out there and got close with people the most are the people that are in the jury. People like you, Patricia, Sean, Gina, Lex... They're all people who played an impeccable social game and it ended up hurting them. I couldn't risk doing that and it hurting me.

[Lex]

[Linda]

To take your two points. I'm sorry that neither you or the jury seems to respect my game, but I will still do my best to answer your questions

First, being the in-general gameplay. I covered most of it in my opening paragraph, but to summarize, my game was based on intelligent adaptability. I made moves when it was necessary, not sooner, or for the sake of making them. Voting out Frank was something a panicked person might do at the first TC on nuTamanaco, but that would have been terrible from a numbers perspective. Getting rid of him vote 2 got rid of a major threat AND formed a two Mariche/two Tamanaco alliance. This also meant that my moves didn't put a huge target on my back, because I wasn't over the top with them in the same fashion many of the actual jurors were(Patricia being the biggest example). As far as comparing myself to Gabe and Lindsey, I do think I was more communicative than Gabe(as you mentioned, a lot of people said he didn't communicate much with them). He says he made moves, and he did, but for the first half of the game he didn't just use Patricia as a shield, he used her as the main part of his alliance. Given he wasn't communicating fantastically with everyone, if Patricia wasn't doing the hard work, it just wouldn't have happened. As far as Lindsey, both of us played similar games where we played both with our heads and our hearts. We both had large panic moments However, my panic plays did not end up affecting the game at all, whereas Lindsey almost saved Sean, which very well could have spelt the end of any chances she had of winning. She is lucky Gina procrastinated on playing her idol more than anything else. She also continued to lie to people when there was no reason to. i.e. when I found out she wasn't on my side like I thought she was, she continued to try and milk it. That is an easy way to lose friends and hurt your game because people will not trust you.

Second, on your vote off. I would loved to have kept you. I actually did a little push with Lindsey but when it became clear it wasn't going to happen, I wasn't going to risk being seen as a loose cannon. Not to mention, we had one day between merge and that vote, a day in which I worked up to AND during the vote off. I didn't exactly have much time to make a move that would only have slight dividends and possibly large consequences for me.

[Linda]

As far as my doubts, yes they existed. I am not a very self-confident person by nature. I often am paranoid about making mistakes even when I logically know I am not, and I do get into a defeated attitude for a bit when things do go wrong. However, I never let it get me to the point where I did stop playing the game. It was something that hindered me, yet I still was able to move past it to reach the end.

[Jeff Probst]

Just an FYI If the person looks like they have disappeared it could just be because they have timed out if they are posting something long. (The activity monitor times out after 10 minutes)

[Gabriel]

Sorry to the jurors. We all have a lot to say to explain ourselves, and we all want to make ourselves look as best as we can. I'm trying to keep it concise but honest, but I think we all have fears that if one of our opponents outwrite us length wise, we're not going to get their vote. So apologies for all the word vomit we're spitting out.

[Gina]

Sorry to the jurors. We all have a lot to say to explain ourselves, and we all want to make ourselves look as best as we can. I'm trying to keep it concise but honest, but I think we all have fears that if one of our opponents outwrite us length wise, we're not going to get their vote. So apologies for all the word vomit we're spitting out.

[Vecepia]

Sorry to the jurors. We all have a lot to say to explain ourselves, and we all want to make ourselves look as best as we can. I'm trying to keep it concise but honest, but I think we all have fears that if one of our opponents outwrite us length wise, we're not going to get their vote. So apologies for all the word vomit we're spitting out.

[Lindsey]

Thank you, Kim, for your kind words. They mean a lot to me.

My answers to your first and second question go hand in hand. But to preface this, I need to answer the beginning of your second question: I was both a social player AND a manipulator. They went hand in hand. By reaching out to people and building social bonds with them, I earned their trust. It is difficult to manipulate people without earning their trust first. As I chatted people, I was always taking everything in... Who they liked. Who they were aligned with. Who they saw as a threat. I mentally filed away every piece of information so that I could use it to my advantage. I believe it was Boston Rob who coined the idea that to get people to do what you want, you must make it make sense from their point of view. By forming the bonds to know what other people's POV was, I was able to manipulate that. In my eyes I was more of a villain due to my ability to separate emotions from game.

[Jeff Probst]

Okay thirty minutes later and we have 1 juror down!

8 more to go!

Okay, next up is the incomparable Clarence Black.

[Kim J]

Sorry for being late. You all answered great, and because of that, I won't be changing my early vote.

Gabe, I wish I got to know you better, and I like the fact that you had a good early-impression of me. If my story didn't match up with a few other people in this jury, I think I would actually consider changing my vote. sadly, I'm not.

Gontrats again you three. I'll let Clarence step up

[Gabriel]

:(

[Clarence]

If you could answer these questions within just a few short sentences, it would really help me make my decision.

I think I can honestly say that out of the entire jury, I'm the only one who doesn't want to vote for a single one of you. I'm the only one who hasn't even remotely made my mind up for who I'll be voting for tonight. As horrible of a player as I was, and I was horrible, I had all three of you pegged as final 3 goats, along with Vecepia, who I would have personally wanted to take to the end at the merge. I think Gina got hosed and none of you deserve to be in the final three. Prove me wrong, and I'll vote for you. My perception is far different from yours.


Gabriel: I felt that you slept the first half of the game, especially during the tribe swap. You seemed to never be online, missed challenges, didn't compete, and missed tribal councils as well. More than just a few. Was that part of your strategy or did you just not care about this/not want to be here? What alliances did you think i had, if any, throughout the game?

Linda: Basically, all I really want to know, did you/Frank throw that competition where you screwed up 3 or so times and caused us to lose when you knew you were safe? Or were you just that inept that day when the rest of us were so on point to win it? What alliances did you think i had, if any, throughout the game?

Lindsey: You should have taken more time to get to know me, or to impress upon me why you were trustworthy. I don't feel you did enough to win this game, and at the same time I can't say I feel the others did any better. If I can say anything, you at least wanted to take out the threats. That is something. Why should I vote for you? What did you do that the other two didn't do as well? What alliances did you think i had, if any, throughout the game?

<33

[Linda]

We did not throw that competition. I was quite honestly incompetent at that challenge. I will not hide from that. I know that it pissed you off. I believe you had "alliances" with lots of people. For instance, I know there was something with you, Lex, Kim J, and Frank, and I also know that nearly every member of nuMariche said you tried to form an alliance with them. At the same time, I saw you as loyal to absolutely no one, and you honestly didn't pull it off well, as you came off very fake to everyone.