So I’ve achieved something I’ve been longing for quite a while now. As pathetic as it sounds, I was determined to finally make another Finals and after endless tries, I managed to accomplish just that. I’ve always been taken out pre-merge or mid-merge for being too big of a “threat” so coming into this game, I wanted to try and avoid that label as much as possible. I don’t necessarily believe I achieved a “non-threatening” status in this game lol, but regardless, I’m still here in the Finals.

I’m going to focus most of my speech on the merge since that’s where most of the happenings occurred. But I will mention one connection from before the merge, and that is my connection with Rhys since I don’t believe I would have gotten here if it wasn’t for him, and I think he could say the same about me. I was aligned with Rhys since the first few minutes of this game, and I was never going to vote him out unless absolutely necessary. I would say the same thing about Troy but I got down to a point where I had no choice but to vote him, which I’ll discuss later.

One thing that put a target on my back was the connections I had in this game. I was tied with Rhys, Torsa and Troy, and there have been countless attempts to “split us up” (referring to me/Troy/Torsa). Had I not won the immunities I did, I’m sure I would have been targeted at many more Tribals.

A pivotal point was after the Torsa blindside, which changed the entire game for me and put me at my lowest point since I was arguably, “in control” before that. But I managed to get back on my feet and I wanted as many people as possible to think that they could trust me. The fact that ZachZ wanted Joe out gave me hope, and I knew we would have the numbers, along with Rhys, Troy + his pearl, to pull it off. But that didn’t stop me from considering other options. After ZachZ brought up the fact he wanted Rhys gone, I was suspicious of him ever since. That also put both Rhys and I in a position of power because we could have sided with either Joe or ZachZ. But regardless, we heavily controlled the vote. I feel like I played a great part in ensuring Rhys’s safety since I had reminded both Lincoln and Chris that ZachZ could not be trusted and that he was playing all sides, hoping they would vote with me. I feel that if it wasn’t for my constant lobbying, ZachZ would have been able to obtain the votes to get rid of Rhys. And I also constantly lobbied to ZachZ about why it was smart to keep Rhys for further rounds.

In the end I decided it was best for my game if Joe left before ZachZ because of three main reasons:
a) Both Azri and Chris were close with Joe, and I didn’t want to leave them 3 in the F7 together
b) I didn’t want to possibly upset Lincoln by lying to him and I felt that if I had kept Joe, Lincoln could have easily sided with him at that point
c) I felt as if ZachZ/Azri/Chris forming a F3 would have been far less likely than a Joe/Azri/Chris F3

The Joe vote was smart, even though it still put a target on my back. But after ZachZ had won next Immunity, and after I had learned Azri was never really with me, he became the next target. At this point, I owe it to whoever my 4th vote was (Chris or Lincoln), or else I would have been gone. But still, I felt that I did a good job in ensuring that they could trust me and getting them to think that I wanted to get rid of the “floaters” before the gameplayers (including Troy). I had to tell people the most desirable thing they could hear if I wanted to give myself a chance to reach the Final 6.

Final 6 was rather interesting. I knew there was a good chance the vote would be deadlocked at 3-3, and that’s just what happened. But the deal I had accepted and negotiated with from Lincoln is what advanced my game. It was a big risk, but it payed off. I had told Lincoln that I would vote Troy out in 5th, hoping he would side with me. But then Lincoln tells me that if I voted Troy out in 6th, he would vote ZachZ out in 5th, and go to F3 with myself and Rhys. His deal made perfect sense. He wanted to give himself a safety blanket, and it was a great move on his part.

I didn’t however blindly “follow orders”. I knew there was a chance Lincoln was trying to get me to throw my vote on Troy, so they could blindside me in a 3-2-1 vote, so I told Lincoln that I was down for his plan but that I would have to tie the vote 3-3 at first, just in case they were bullshitting me, and I would vote Troy out in the revote. I used the excuse that I would “never give me/Rhys a 2/3 chance of drawing a rock”, to justify my decision. I was looking out for my safety. I knew if I had tied it 3-3 initially, I would be 100% guaranteed a spot in the Final 5. If Lincoln/Zach/Chris voted for me, it would most likely get down to rocks, and I’d be safe. And if they did vote for Troy, I would vote for Troy in the revote and ensure my safety.

This is another spot where Rhys and I differed. Rhys never wanted to vote Troy out in the revote, but it was after my pleading that we could trust Lincoln that changed Rhys’s mind. But nevertheless, he was still skeptical. I didn’t share the same level of skepticism since I was rather confident with Lincoln that I could trust him. And it turned out… that I was right, with Chris and ZachZ going out in 4th and 5th places respectively.

Ian even mentioned in the season recap that I was perceived as a threat. Some of you may argue that I willingly put myself in a poor position by doing things which made me seem more threatening. I tried to strategize in a nonchalant manner, but I guess it’s just in my nature to “take control” of a situation. But as we see, every other person who played similarly, and that was a DIRECT threat, is on the Jury right now, while I’m sitting in the Final 3. You could say it was because of my immunity wins, which doesn’t require any great deal of strategy, but I still managed to dodge the bullets at two crucial Tribal Councils where I was close to being voted out. Many of you, unfortunately, couldn’t.