Post by LJ McKanas on Jul 29, 2014 5:39:27 GMT
Howdy all! First off I would like to thank Aras and Jeremiah for hosting a wonderful game and each of the contestants that was part of this game! It was fun from start to finish and I couldn't have been happier to be here at the end. I'm going to try and make this brief but please humor me while I recount the experience I have had and how I got here at the end.
From the get-go I knew how important it was to establish relationships so I talked to as many people as I could before tribes were even formed. I hit it off right away with a few people namely, Yul, Jay, Brenda, Brian, and Candice. When tribes were picked I was happy to see that Brian and Brenda were there since I enjoyed talking to them but I didn't stop there and started talking to everyone else on the tribe. I then connected with Teresa, Katie, Stephanie, Cody and basically attempted to talk to everyone on the tribe. If they knew I was active and talking to them then they will not think I was inactive or not around. I did my best to participate in every challenge and give my all but our tribe was struck with a lot of inactivity which meant we were going to tribal council almost every round. I knew that in order for me to get through each round I needed an alliance so I aligned with Teresa and Brian and then Stephanie to an extent. With us having the majority on our tribe I avoided being the target as we pushed to get rid of the inactives on our tribe.
When the tribe swap/split happened I couldn't have been in a much better tribe but with my fellow alliance mates T-bird and Brian with us having majority in our tribe of five, even if we went to tribal council we always had the numbers that we need. We survived this short-lived phase as we prepared for the merge which was daunting considering we were outnumbered 5 to 7 but Sabrina wasn't around so she had to go which dwindled our number disadvantage to 4. I then tried and rekindled my connection with Yul and kept talking to Jay which was going to be key later on down the road.
Brian then told me that Yul was proposing this alliance of 7 between me, him, Tbird, Kass, Candice, Yul, and Austin. I reluctantly agreed to this even though knowing how there are 4 former Ares and 3 of us former Athena but this alliance meant we were able to skip by without being the targets. This alliance was responsible for voting out Julie and Todd. Tbird approached me later in the merge that she had found the immunity idol and I thought she already shared this with Brian so I was excited that we have an insurance should it get down to just us 7. But somewhere between the vote off of Julie and Todd. Tbird was blindsided, I was as shocked as she was and I knew that this alliance was not gonna work for me.
After Tbird's blindside, Yul approached me and told me that Tbird's blindside was all Brian's doing and that he was closely working with Kass than anyone else. This made me start to get suspicious with Brian but I never told him that I knew about it. I still pretended to be on Brian's good side because I didn't want to be his prime target down the road but don't get me wrong I loved Brian because he was one of the few people I could talk with on a personal level. I then agreed to a final 3 alliance with Austin and Yul only for this alliance to be broken when the larger group decided to blindside Austin. At this point, Yul and I needed a miracle to somehow turn the tables against Brian and Kass. When I approached Katie after just having written her name down the previous round, I was surprised that she wanted to vote with us and that she was willing to vote Brian if we wanted to. This became the turning point for the game to me as I established a final 2 deal with Katie and put set into motion Brian's blindside. With the help of Jay's bootlist, we were successful in doing so and I thought we were already in the clear into getting to the finals. When Jay was sadly eliminated for inactivity, there was still some worry of how Katie was going to be unpredictable which confirmed Yul and I's suspicions when she decided to join forces with Kass and Candice to vote out Yul. As shocked as I was that Yul was voted out, I was also glad Katie was sort of protecting me and that I was not the target for the round. I knew then at final 4, that my only chance of getting into the finals was to win that final immunity because as I see it either it ties with me against Candice or Katie would have just easily joined them and vote me out especially since the final immunity was just between Kass and me, since Katie left at the last minute and Candice wasn't around.
After my win, Kass approached me and asked me if there was a way that she could stay even if it meant she would vote Candice out. This gave me an idea to ensure that Kass went home so I told Katie to convince Kass we were voting out Candice hence the 2-1-1 vote that occurred.
To sum it all up, I believe I have done all I could to deserve to win this game. I was socially adaptable and thought out all the possible moves I could make without making myself a target as I evidenced by my Tribal Council history where I never received a single vote against me. I've always participated in the challenges and won the most important one to ensure my place in the final round. I've tried my best to keep my word to those I give it to and break it when I knew they weren't completely being honest with me anymore. I've played this game with all the integrity I could muster, the dedication that I have shown, and the passion that I have for Survivor. I don't believe I have done any wrong against any of you in the jury except for Brian which I hope he can understand considering he was no longer looking out for me at that point. I've fought my way to get here and I do hope you guys see that I did my best and there is nothing more that I could want than to win this game by rewarding me with your votes. Should you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them as honestly as I could. If you are still reading at this point. I thank you for hearing me out and once again I look forward to your questions
From the get-go I knew how important it was to establish relationships so I talked to as many people as I could before tribes were even formed. I hit it off right away with a few people namely, Yul, Jay, Brenda, Brian, and Candice. When tribes were picked I was happy to see that Brian and Brenda were there since I enjoyed talking to them but I didn't stop there and started talking to everyone else on the tribe. I then connected with Teresa, Katie, Stephanie, Cody and basically attempted to talk to everyone on the tribe. If they knew I was active and talking to them then they will not think I was inactive or not around. I did my best to participate in every challenge and give my all but our tribe was struck with a lot of inactivity which meant we were going to tribal council almost every round. I knew that in order for me to get through each round I needed an alliance so I aligned with Teresa and Brian and then Stephanie to an extent. With us having the majority on our tribe I avoided being the target as we pushed to get rid of the inactives on our tribe.
When the tribe swap/split happened I couldn't have been in a much better tribe but with my fellow alliance mates T-bird and Brian with us having majority in our tribe of five, even if we went to tribal council we always had the numbers that we need. We survived this short-lived phase as we prepared for the merge which was daunting considering we were outnumbered 5 to 7 but Sabrina wasn't around so she had to go which dwindled our number disadvantage to 4. I then tried and rekindled my connection with Yul and kept talking to Jay which was going to be key later on down the road.
Brian then told me that Yul was proposing this alliance of 7 between me, him, Tbird, Kass, Candice, Yul, and Austin. I reluctantly agreed to this even though knowing how there are 4 former Ares and 3 of us former Athena but this alliance meant we were able to skip by without being the targets. This alliance was responsible for voting out Julie and Todd. Tbird approached me later in the merge that she had found the immunity idol and I thought she already shared this with Brian so I was excited that we have an insurance should it get down to just us 7. But somewhere between the vote off of Julie and Todd. Tbird was blindsided, I was as shocked as she was and I knew that this alliance was not gonna work for me.
After Tbird's blindside, Yul approached me and told me that Tbird's blindside was all Brian's doing and that he was closely working with Kass than anyone else. This made me start to get suspicious with Brian but I never told him that I knew about it. I still pretended to be on Brian's good side because I didn't want to be his prime target down the road but don't get me wrong I loved Brian because he was one of the few people I could talk with on a personal level. I then agreed to a final 3 alliance with Austin and Yul only for this alliance to be broken when the larger group decided to blindside Austin. At this point, Yul and I needed a miracle to somehow turn the tables against Brian and Kass. When I approached Katie after just having written her name down the previous round, I was surprised that she wanted to vote with us and that she was willing to vote Brian if we wanted to. This became the turning point for the game to me as I established a final 2 deal with Katie and put set into motion Brian's blindside. With the help of Jay's bootlist, we were successful in doing so and I thought we were already in the clear into getting to the finals. When Jay was sadly eliminated for inactivity, there was still some worry of how Katie was going to be unpredictable which confirmed Yul and I's suspicions when she decided to join forces with Kass and Candice to vote out Yul. As shocked as I was that Yul was voted out, I was also glad Katie was sort of protecting me and that I was not the target for the round. I knew then at final 4, that my only chance of getting into the finals was to win that final immunity because as I see it either it ties with me against Candice or Katie would have just easily joined them and vote me out especially since the final immunity was just between Kass and me, since Katie left at the last minute and Candice wasn't around.
After my win, Kass approached me and asked me if there was a way that she could stay even if it meant she would vote Candice out. This gave me an idea to ensure that Kass went home so I told Katie to convince Kass we were voting out Candice hence the 2-1-1 vote that occurred.
To sum it all up, I believe I have done all I could to deserve to win this game. I was socially adaptable and thought out all the possible moves I could make without making myself a target as I evidenced by my Tribal Council history where I never received a single vote against me. I've always participated in the challenges and won the most important one to ensure my place in the final round. I've tried my best to keep my word to those I give it to and break it when I knew they weren't completely being honest with me anymore. I've played this game with all the integrity I could muster, the dedication that I have shown, and the passion that I have for Survivor. I don't believe I have done any wrong against any of you in the jury except for Brian which I hope he can understand considering he was no longer looking out for me at that point. I've fought my way to get here and I do hope you guys see that I did my best and there is nothing more that I could want than to win this game by rewarding me with your votes. Should you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them as honestly as I could. If you are still reading at this point. I thank you for hearing me out and once again I look forward to your questions
