Zarak:

Why didn't you choose me?

Do you think that if you took me that you wouldn't make it?

Who did you vote each time?

Gregory:

Would you have taken me if you won?

What was your strategy?

If there's an All Stars, who would you work with again?

This is a question for both of you.. Other than ride stronger players coattails then just cut them lose what have you actually contributed to the game? I don't think either of you deserve to be here but either way congratulations.

Zarak might post something new when he wakes up, but I agreed to post this for him.

[4:32:54 AM] TheRealSlimShady: Congratulations to my fellow finalist Gregory/Dryice/Waddles/any other name you had during this game. This was a really hard fought game and everyone who made merge deserved to be there! (well apart from Dara). My gameplay was to make it to the end  while never being a target. I didn’t want to put an unnecessary target on my back at all during this game and I wanted to make it to the end with the fewest votes possible. In the end, I managed to go most of the game without being considered a threat, some of you may believe I floated, but hopefully after you read this speech I can convince you otherwise.
On the very first day of looking at my tribe, I noticed a familiar name, Mearl. I knew the guy was an adept game player and having him as an ally would surely boost my chances of surviving in the game. I messaged him and he had remembered me from before. The both of us formed a solid 2 alliance. Since we didn’t have to go any tribals pre-merge, I went into merge trusting only Mearl as an ally, I tried previously to start conversations with Dara,Bobby,Jabbar,Nattie and Mariah. But of these 5 the only I could actually talk strategy with was Mariah , while Bobby and Dara completely ignored me, Jabbar and Nattie did respond for a little while, but before I could bring out anytalks of strategy they stopped responding. This caused me to be incredibly cautious of my tribe mates. Once we made merge I was hoping to flip over to the other side, but I did not want to message either of the two myself in order to not put a target on myself. Luckily, Mearl had a connection with Eliot, This bond allowed me and Mearl to flip and in a clusterfuck of a tribal council we took out who we believed to be the strongest physical competitor on the other side out, Jabbar, however both of us did not campaign for more votes against him to keep the target off ourselves. After Jabbar there was Bobby, which was the only easy vote made the whole game for me. It was at this point I formed a plan for the end, One of the Emeute next, then nattie who was a challenge threat, then Eliot who would win no matter who he was against, then Mearl and finally Mariah, as I felt I had a better chance against Gregory in the end than anyone else in the cast.After that, Mearl and I both brought up the same strategy of flipping on our current alliance as both Nick and Eliot were confirmed winners if they made Final Two and we didn’t want to risk them convincing someone else to vote with them, we then flipped back to Nattie and Mariah causing the elimination of Nick. We successfully flipped back to Eliot and Greg in order to take out Nattie who was a strong physical competitor. Then came a problem in my plan, Eliot had won immunity, I needed to speed things up a little in betraying my closest ally, I didn’t want to at an final five position as I knew it would put a target on my back, but If I didn’t take him out this tribal, id have to take eliot out next tribal, and then we’d be in the final three, and he could win that challenge. So I campaigned against Mearl and caused his elimination. Eliot went next for being a jury threat and I made the Final three. At this point I realized that I probably needed immunity and I busted my ass for it. I had not participated in previous immunity challenges in order to keep the target off my back as I didn’t want to be labelled as an immunity threat. After winning the final immunity, I decided to vote out Mariah as she played a brilliant game, also, she did tell us that Nick and Mearl thought that she was playing the best game which scared me a little, in the end I decided to vote her out and take Gregory to the end.
I just want to remind everyone that I made it to the end with the least number of votes (1) I also was the only person in this whole cast to vote in the majority at tribal council every single time I went to one.

I think I'll just answer your questions and if there's anything I want to add then I will.
Mariah:
Would you have taken me if you won?: If I was voting solely strategically, I probably would've went with Zarak, but if I did get the choice, I would probably decide to bring you to the end with me.

What was your strategy?: I think this is a pretty flawed strategy but I tried to get a positive connection with just about everybody in the merge. I made an alliance of 5 that got Bobby out, but after Nick got out, the members stuck together, but I don't think it was the same alliance. I think I had everyone in the final 4's trust, I'm not sure how much though, because I convinced Elliott to vote Zarak and everyone else voted Elliott. You can ask me any more questions you have about my gameplay.

If there's an All Stars, who would you work with again?: If I could, you again. I felt like I could trust you the most except for the tribal where Mearl got eliminated, so I think it could benefit both of us. I have more reasons, but I can't think of them right now.

I want to mention that I was planning to get out Mearl before Elliott won that immunity. I'm not sure if this will help with my chances, but I just wanted to mention this.

No questions being asked.

Zarak, you did not speak to me once really, so you do not get my vote.

Gregory, you get my vote because I know you, and you had the decency to talk to me. I hope you win

Nattie: I don't feel like I necessarily rode coattails, but I followed some people when I felt it made the most sense. I didn't keep my loyalty to a particular player the whole game, I just based my vote on who I felt trusted me more, would possibly take me to the end if they had a choice, and who wasn't a threat. I know Mariah was a threat and didn't trust me during Mearl's elimination, or at least I think she didn't, but I think I tried my best to play my own game.

Nick: Thanks. :) I never expected talking to be the reason for a vote. :P

I really, really don't see why people thought I would win.  If you two rode coattails, I sure as heck did too.
You both lose points for misspelling my name, btw.

As NJ said, DryIce, I talked to more...RealSlim kept more to himself.  That certainly leans my vote a certain way.

And don't think you convinced me to vote for Zarak, Gregory...I simply had more faith in Mariah, so I was voting him over her...and I didn't get back on after you gave the immunity, not that it mattered -- though it would have been a vote for you in that case.

Zarak:  Don't mistake getting to FTC without votes equals good gameplay...just means that you were considered less of a threat.  Consider Sugar from S17 of the CBS survivor.

Gregory...I think you played a better game of the two of you.  So Zarak...you need to convince me otherwise.  What did you do, that Gregory DIDN'T?  Simple question

Zarak: Now that your in the finals, do you think that people will ACTUALLY vote for you? Do you see why I said you were picking the winner of the game?

Gregory: When we were still in the tribe status, if we had gone to tribal all these times, what do you think the order would have been?

Mariah: I honestly don't know who would get out unless there were some inactives. I know Dara wouldn't have lasted the merge, but I guess it would depend on who was making alliances and who people felt they wouldn't worry about playing in the merge and who they felt wasn't contributing to the tribe enough. Other than that, I have no idea.

Gregory, Zarak... congratulations on making it to the end of this game.

Zarak- I knew I was going to get a lot of credit for the moves we made together, but the truth is we seemed to be on the same page and have the same ideas when it came to votes for a while. However, I felt you relied on my connections with everyone to get you further in the game. So I must say my back is kinda sore, since my social game was carrying you for so long and then I found a nice shiny knife in it. Though I'd like to say you continued to play a strong strategical game and are the only person here to cast a vote against every jury member when they walked out the door, which is impressive.

Gregory- I had pegged you as a threat early in merge but instead of taking you out I decided to work with you. I think you are a good player, but I think it took you a while to actually start playing this game. I don't blame you for turning on me, it was your best move as I had planned to send you out that night and you succeeded so congratulations on that. However, I think you lucky to survive the first couple tribals post merge before you really were able to find a place in the game, where Zarak had some control the whole time... but I think you were a better social player then he was.

Mearl's Analysis:
So basically here is what I see.
Zarak- better strategical player, voted everybody out that left, never was in any true danger... but hid behind me
Dry- Better social player, worked everybody to some extent and put himself in a position where both zarak and mariah would've taken him to final 2... however didn't have control of his own fate for a good portion of this game.

So I have two questions for both of you. I will only read the first 30 words of answers to each because I hate long answers, so keep them condensed.

So why the hell should I vote for you?
Do you agree or disagree with my analysis? What do you see differently, explain why you played that way.

My Game:

I worked with everyone on my tribe BUT Dara. Opps.

I want you to tell me what BOTH OF YOUR plans were... I made one with Mearl.

Our Plan:

Eliminate:
Nattie
Elliot
Gregory
Zarak

Me and Him F2..... opps....

ANYWAYS, what were your plans because I know you have them ;)

Mearl: I agree with your analysis. I didn't have control over the game but I think I helped with votes a little bit, so the beginning of the merge I didn't play the best game, but I think the closer I got to the end, the more I got people to trust me. I think there's a possibility I could've gotten through this without a single vote if I worded my answer at the tribal you got out. So, if you vote Zarak I completely understand.

Mariah: Oops?