Episode 12

[Holly Hoffman]

I don't think we could have had a more shocking night. Two blindsides in one night, that's sure to put everyone a little on edge.

Do you think you have a safe run to the finals now we're getting closer to the end?

How confident are you that you can impress the jury and ultimately gain their votes?

This is the last round an idol can be played. Do you think there are any idols out there? Are you worried about them at all?

[Lindsey]

I don't think we could have had a more shocking night. Two blindsides in one night, that's sure to put everyone a little on edge.

Hehe well I don't really think Sarah was very blindsided. Everyone knew she was going. But it was an intense crazy vote nonetheless - I had to swear up and down and north and south to Lex and Sean that it would be Patricia next and even told them they could hold me to it with their jury votes should it be applicable. I truly wonder if Pat saw it coming. If she didn't before TC, I'm sure my answers and Gina's tipped her off a bit. She played a little *too* hard. But you know what, for once I don't feel frustrated or flustered coming out of TC. It's a great feeling to know things finally went exactly how I planned, at least for one night.

Do you think you have a safe run to the finals now we're getting closer to the end?

Um... No, not in the slightest. People have been consistently targeting me for a while now and I seriously feel like my name comes up almost every round. People notice that Gina and I are tight and that is NOT good. Especially since I've always been a bigger target than she has. Her name literally almost never comes up. My prospects are not very bright. This round is very intense and right now it looks like it could be a purple rock, so congrats hosts on #ratings! Gabe thinks I want a final 3 of me/him/Gina and the other three being as tight as they are should be enough incentive for him to force a tie. It's imperative that Gina plays her idol correctly this round.

How confident are you that you can impress the jury and ultimately gain their votes?

This is a mixed bag for me right now tbh. I don't think I've played an exceptional game by any means. I've taken some risks. Some have failed, some have succeeded. I think I've been generally middle of the road so far. I don't see a jury voting for me at the end.

HOWEVER, there is one thing I have going for me: I don't believe I've actively pissed anyone off. Well if anyone has been pissed at me, it isn't very justified. I didn't vote for Kim J or Kim P, Vecepia and Patricia voted for me when I voted for them and Sarah voted for me before I voted for her. The only person who could possibly be mad (well at least have a legit reason for it) is Clarence, but I don't think he's like that and I don't have reason to think he'd be mad at me in particular. If we have a bitter jury, I could benefit.

This is the last round an idol can be played. Do you think there are any idols out there? Are you worried about them at all?

Gina has the Mariche idol, according to her. I mean, I'm her closest ally, I don't see why she'd lie to me about it. I don't THINK there are any other idols out there but I'm still worried anyways.

[Lindsey]

Sean wants Gabriel out next and then said he wants to vote out Lex and Linda to go to f3 with myself and Gina. There are two issues with this:
1. I don't see him voting out Lex and Linda over myself and Gina at f5, even if he does realize Lex is a threat
2. Even if he is telling the truth, why the fuck would I want to go to f3 with Gina (who I'd split votes with) and Sean (arguably the biggest jury threat and best player here)? Yeah, no.

Gina is working on Linda and thinks that Linda is truthful about wanting to work with us. Linda acknowledges how big of a threat Sean is and she dropped a hint to me that old relationships don't really matter and you really have to start thinking about who's sitting next to you at the end and who your best shot is against. So I'm kinda with Gina believing that Linda might be with us. Linda does think I'm a jury threat, though. However Lex/Sean are the two biggest jury threats IMO and if Linda sides with us, we take out Sean at this vote and Lex at the next one, leaving Gina and I in our ideal final four of Lindsey/Gina/Gabe/Linda with, preferably, a choice as to which one we go to F3 with.

The end game is starting to take form. The Patricia blindside is the beginning of the end.

[Lindsey]

This is quickly turning into a hot ass mess. Everyone has a different target because everyone perceives the feelings of the jury differently and who they believe is a jury threat. Craziness

[Lindsey]

Just wondering but is there some kind of forum we'll get to see after the game where the hosts have been discussing the game and all of its events? You hosts have like hundreds of posts and I know you post in everyone's confessionals but I don't think all of them can possibly be from there hehe. I just wonder what the hosts as the evil overseers have been thinking.

[Holly Hoffman]

There's an admin board where we do planning, assessed applications pre-game. There is a blog forum that the hosts have been updating sporadically throughout the game which I believe will be viewable at the end of the game. We have also been discussing the game with the lurkers in their forum.

So there will be plenty of places to read what people thought of the game, when it's all over.

Until then, this game is still live.

How important do you think ensuring Patricia joined the jury tonight was? Could it have waited another round or would that have made things worse for you?

[Lindsey]

Omg that's so awesome. You know I've gushed about this a billion times already but I seriously was not expecting this experience to be so amazing and so intensive and interactive. I've played other ORGs before but nothing compares to this, seriously. The quality of the hosting, the awesomeness of the anonymity (friendships influencing ORGs is never fun - I think this game is a true assessment of you as a player, and I love it), the beauty of the graphics, etc. All of it has seriously been surreal. Thank you guys so much, I know this is "only" some game I'm playing online and maybe I sound stupid but I don't really care, this is something I've loved doing, and thanks for casting me and letting me be a part of it. It's not something I'll soon forget.

I think Patricia leaving tonight was extremely important. Especially for me - I think it might have benefited me more than anyone else here simply because she was coming for my weave hardcore over the past 24 hours. I definitely did not want to wait another round or another minute to get rid of her. Voting her out was imperative. I think her voting for me on her way out justifies that.

[Holly Hoffman]

Omg that's so awesome. You know I've gushed about this a billion times already but I seriously was not expecting this experience to be so amazing and so intensive and interactive. I've played other ORGs before but nothing compares to this, seriously. The quality of the hosting, the awesomeness of the anonymity (friendships influencing ORGs is never fun - I think this game is a true assessment of you as a player, and I love it), the beauty of the graphics, etc. All of it has seriously been surreal. Thank you guys so much, I know this is "only" some game I'm playing online and maybe I sound stupid but I don't really care, this is something I've loved doing, and thanks for casting me and letting me be a part of it. It's not something I'll soon forget.

This whole paragraph

Sometimes I feel sorry for people who have Stranded as their first ever ORG. Talk about setting the bar high!

Tell me a little about how you have changed over the course of the merge. I remember not too long ago you were certain that it was you going home and yet here you are at the final 6!

[Lindsey]

This whole paragraph

Sometimes I feel sorry for people who have Stranded as their first ever ORG. Talk about setting the bar high!

Tell me a little about how you have changed over the course of the merge. I remember not too long ago you were certain that it was you going home and yet here you are at the final 6!

Hehe I've been doing ORGs for like 3 years now and seriously this is the best one. I mean, I won this really epic and crazy Survivor game that had 22 players to begin with and 4 different purple rocks, and even that doesn't really compare to this imo.

I think I've become more honest, actually! I'm not going to lie: the good position that I lucked into during the last two Tribal Councils was really a lot of just that - luck. But I felt like it was some good karma coming my way after being completely blindsided during the F10 and F9 Tribals as well as being confused during the F11 one. These past two votes I was completely honest to the people I hadn't worked with much before (Lex/Linda/Sean) and it paid off because right now I seem to have earned their trust. In particular, Lex is really going out of his way for me for whatever reason and I really appreciate it. The other four have really caught onto Gina and I being as tight as we are which is shitty for us because they want to vote for us and Lex clued me into it and he wants Gina to go and not me.

Gina going might not actually be terrible for my game because given the course of this game, as soon as you're on top, you immediately sink to the bottom of the barrel. If my closest ally got voted out, people would probably view me as less of a threat. HOWEVER, this doesn't have to happen. Right now I'm pushing really hard for everyone to vote Sean because he's a massive threat and would shit on all of us in a jury vote. They're blind if they don't realize that. He's also great at challenges and amazingly manipulative. However best case scenario is one of Gina or I winning immunity. If we do, the idol gets played on the other one and we're in he clear another round.

[Lindsey]

Bear with me here and feel free to laugh but here is my best guess at how the votes have gone down so far!

[Brenda Lowe]

*points and laughs*

Meanwhile, tonight is quickly approaching. Tell me more about this hot mess of different people's assessments of who is the bigger Jury threats. Who exactly is looking to boot who?

Also I am quite intrigued with your relationship with Gina. You mention her as your #1 ally and your ideal F4 of you and her - along with a "choice" of Gabe & Linda to take to F3. Would you ever consider turning on Gina? Can you beat her at the end and is there advantages to seeing he in Ponderosa instead of sitting across from you at FTC?

Also you've highlighted that the other players look to you two as a pair. What incentive then for the likes of Linda or Gabe to go to the point where you two are tight and they are outside of that? Do you assume Sean and Lex such big targets that it's more important to take them out than break you two up in your opponent's eyes?

Also this idol. How does one play it correctly? What is the plan there?

[Lindsey]

*points and laughs*

Meanwhile, tonight is quickly approaching. Tell me more about this hot mess of different people's assessments of who is the bigger Jury threats. Who exactly is looking to boot who?

Also I am quite intrigued with your relationship with Gina. You mention her as your #1 ally and your ideal F4 of you and her - along with a "choice" of Gabe & Linda to take to F3. Would you ever consider turning on Gina? Can you beat her at the end and is there advantages to seeing he in Ponderosa instead of sitting across from you at FTC?

Also you've highlighted that the other players look to you two as a pair. What incentive then for the likes of Linda or Gabe to go to the point where you two are tight and they are outside of that? Do you assume Sean and Lex such big targets that it's more important to take them out than break you two up in your opponent's eyes?

Also this idol. How does one play it correctly? What is the plan there?

Linda thinks she'd get swept against Sean and Lex (she's probably right).
Lex thinks Gina and Sean are jury threats.
Gina thinks Lex and Sean are jury threats.
Gabe thinks Lex and Sean are jury threats.
Sean thinks Lex and Gabe are jury threats.
Everyone outside of myself and Gina thinks that we need to be broken up.
Here's how it looks right now: everyone is telling me that they are on board with booting Sean. However Lex told Sean that so the milage may vary. I don't think I believe that he'd vote out Sean so easily after all this time. Lex and Gabe want to vote each other off if Sean wins immunity (that's what they're telling me - again, I don't buy it). Basically this is the first time all game where everyone is literally telling everyone else exactly what they want to hear and it makes finding out their true intentions impossible.

My relationship with Gina IS interesting. From a personal perspective, I would feel very rewarded emotionally if we would make final 3 together simply because she's one of the very few people I feel has been honest with me in this game and it'd be great to sit at the end with her. From a practical perspective... No, it'd probably be better to have her on the jury. From the point of view of "Lindsey winning the game", the best case scenario would be Gina leaving in a vote that I had no hand in. That way, we wouldn't be splitting votes in the final 3 (like I suspect we would if we got there together) and I also wouldn't have backstabbed her so I could probably count on her jury vote. So yeah, the options are: we get there together or other people vote her out without my help.

I'm saying that final 4 with Gabe and Linda is just an idealistic scenario. In no respect do I believe it will actually happen. I really think that one of myself or Gina will be sitting in the final 3 and the other will get voted out before then because the other people do realize we are a voting block and tight voting blocks no matter how small are dangerous this late in the game. Gabe and Linda's incentive would be based on two pillars:
1. Sean and Lex are easily the two biggest jury threats.
2. Gina and I would likely split from the same votes at FTC because we've made a lot of the same moves. Their individuality would give them a distinction over the two of us and a better shot at picking up more votes.

The idol... it all depends on who wins immunity. If one of us two does, it's easy: we play it on the one of us who didn't win the challenge. If not, it becomes more complicated and more of a best guess scenario as to who other people might be voting for. Fingers crossed?

[Lindsey]

Oh gosh. Sean is trying to cut a last minute deal with Gina and I to vote out Lex and... I don't think it's a very bad idea because Linda/Lex are closer to Gabe than we thought. We shall see...

[Lindsey]

I LITERALLY DO NOT TRUST ANYONE. fuck this round I'm going home

[Mia Galeotalanza]

Oh gosh. Sean is trying to cut a last minute deal with Gina and I to vote out Lex and... I don't think it's a very bad idea because Linda/Lex are closer to Gabe than we thought. We shall see...

Keep us posted!

[Lindsey]

Everyone is leaking every plan to every other person in the game. This is ridiculous

[Lindsey]

OMG I DID IT!!!! Crying <3

[Mia Galeotalanza]

You're safe! So, going into the vote, what's the plan?

[Lindsey]

Gina and I have a choice between Lex or Sean. Our two biggest threats. I'm leaning towards Lex right now...

[Lindsey]

NVM leaning back towards voting out Sean. If we vote out Lex then a scorned Linda/Gabe will unite with Sean and go to f3 where he wins. NO THANKS.