Brian's hurrrr

[brian]

Hi finalists <3 Congrats on the finals, I think you all played very well and very dynamically, so I'm so proud of each of you!

However, I do have a few questions before I cast my vote. I want to speak my mind so each of you have a fair shot at how to appeal for my vote.

Let me start with Brenda. I LOVE U. I think of the finalists- you played the most dynamically, you played the most with your back against the wall, and you played the BIGGEST. However, biggest doesn't necessarily mean BEST, because I feel you were in danger a few times which isn't the most careful way to play. In comparison, you could say you played as BIG as Natalie from the recent season of Survivor, however, unlike Natalie, you were also viewed as a big threat and had votes against you. No one ever put Natalie's back against the wall and she held the power in your hand. I guess my question to you is, how do you think you played the best game? If you want to use the Natalie comparison, be my guest lol, but this is totally up to you. <3 Good luck!

Moving onto SEAN! I love you too Sean! I feel that I OWE you my vote. I think you had the biggest hand in saving me in the pre merge round, and you didn't make me feel like I owed you, nor did you give off a condescending persona when I had to appeal to you for your vote, it was just there. I thank you for that, and I wish you the best of luck in the game. I'm telling you right now, I WANT to vote for you. I want you to win this game, and I want you to appeal to me now. I know it's a bit hypocritical of me to ask you to appeal to me for my vote when during the game, I asked you once and it was there. I want that to be the case, but I want to make sure I'm making the right decision. How do you deserve to win over both Brenda and RC? Why should you win the game? Are you the best winner? Halp me halp u.

Finally onto RC. I adore you actually. I don't think we ever got the chance to work together in this game, but you better believe if I had stayed that I would have tried harder to! I think of the finalists, yours is possibly both the most underrated AND the most overrated, depending on who you're asking. Being that I never really got to play with you, I have no opinion. I'll be honest with you- my only perception of your game is that you played underneath Jay because I didn't know you pre merge and I didn't know you after I was gone, but from the vibe I got as people came into Jury, that's what I felt. In my eyes, you proved that by remaining loyal to him in the Final 4 TC. If you had voted him out, your vote would stand an even higher chance of being mine. But in my opinion, by voting to keep him at 4 proves you were just fine losing to him, and I want a winner who wants nothing more than to win! So, my question to you is - how bad do you want to win? What would you have been willing to do in order to win? And WHY do you deserve to win over your finalists? I guess a secondary question is, what did you do in this game without Jay?

Sorry if my questions seemed a little harsh, but I'm honestly not sure how I'm voting right now and I want to vote for the right person. Good luck to you all - and congrats again! <3
& If you have anything else to say to me to influence my vote, go for it.

[brian]

OH! And note** to RC - I wasn't able to watch most of your video. :-\ I hate to be that person, but I'm on vacation with family so most of my time has been spent with them with some time on my phone here and there, but I got some time for the CPU and watched some of it but spent the rest writing this lol. If you could give me a spark notes version of your game, that'd be great, but I'll be honest w/ you - the most weight of my vote will come down to the questions above, so don't worry about it too much, just try to include it in your answer.

AND NOTE TO ALL OF YOUS - don't worry about HUGE in depth responses, just looking for general and examples. Gotta see what y'all did. <3 kk GL again!

[brenda]

Hey Brian! Thank you! I agree that I definitely had the most dynamic game of the finalists and made the biggest moves. I was playing to win from the get-go, and I really think I deserve that. If what sets me apart from playing the "best" game is that I had my back against the wall some, and that I received two votes, well... I think an exciting winner has to have her back against the wall at least a little! She has to be a clear threat, but has to be able to maneuver her way around being eliminated for being such. And my two votes were cancelled out by my idol, so technically I have no votes against me. I'm proud of that fact, as no one else in this season can say that.

I'll use the Natalie comparison a little, because premerge we were very similar. We both were smart and made connections we knew we needed, we said what we needed to say to get by, and we positioned ourselves so that we wouldn't be leaving any time soon. Premerge was easy for the both of us, because we ensured we were well fit to last. I am also like Natalie in that I played BIG when I needed to. And I also lost my closest ally early into merge, which could've heralded in my demise soon after, but, like Natalie, I made sure to adjust myself and fit myself in where I needed.

The difference in mine and Natalie's games it that I was a much more prominent threat earlier in merge. Natalie could've been made a target after the Alec vote and Jon votes, but the only time she was ever possibly in danger was at the final four, and we saw that that wasn't the case then either. However, because I was a more visible presence, I became a target. Once everyone found out about my idol, though, I was able to use that as a safety shield. No one was going to vote me and risk me idoling them out, and besides, if anyone talked about voting me, I heard the plan minutes later. I always knew who was talking about me, and I had my idol ready to go. The only time I couldn't have protected myself was the final five round, but I was confident that the only person who may vote for me in that grouping was Sean, and he didn't. So, with my back against the wall, I always had safety or a way to fight away my target. And when I had no safety... I still did. I may have been a big target, but that should be seen as an accomplishment for me making it to the end with a target all merge.

[rc]

Hi  Brian!
I wish we could have worked together too, we never seemed to be online the same time.  I'll get right to it - I did NOT follow Jay or play in his shadow.  I was loyal to the people I gave my word to.  When we merged my people were Silas and Jay, I was open with them both about everything, when I found out information that I thought affected them or our game I told them.  And I believe they shared important information with me as well.  Being a goat is blindly following someone, allowing them to control your entire game and I DID not let Jay or anyone control my game.  I WANTED to get to the end of the game with the people I gave my loyalties too.  I wanted to be sitting next to Silas and Jay and I focused my game around getting myself and them to the end.  At final 6 Bob, Brenda Jay and I were deciding between voting out Morgan or Sean.  Jay REALLY preferred Morgan, but I wanted to keep Sean because he and I were already sort of working together and he benefited my game more.  A few hours before the vote Jay messaged ME and told me to just decide and he would vote with me, so I chose to vote out Morgan. If I was his blind little follower (or duck if you use Sean's animal name for me) I would have voted Sean out and done what Jay preferred.  And when it comes to not voting him out at F4, I think it would have made me look worse to the jury - I'm loyal to someone the entire game and then I screw them over in the end - no thank you!  And I honestly felt like I could beat Jay.  IMO I played harder and more strategic from start to finish.  I looked forward to going against him in the F3, I didn't realize everyone viewed me as his follower.  But in saying this, I also cheer for my friends, I WANT to win, I PLAYED to win but if I was sitting next to Jay and he won I would be happy because he is my friend.  And I feel the exact same way about Brenda and Sean, I do not know them as well but I like them both, I really want to win this game but I will be excited for them if they end up winning. 

What did I do without Jay - I formed a solid alliance the beginning of the game with Silas, Jamie, Ian and picked up Ethan and I led the votes against 2 of the biggest players Vee & Heidi. In the merge I developed my own connections with Bob, Brenda and Sean, we also strategized and talked through things. When I was torn between Morgan & Courtney my decision to tie it was not JUST about getting Jays approval - I also wanted to discuss things with Sean because we just started working together and I didn't want to blindside him with switching my vote. I value the people I give my loyalty too, I know that making moves behind allies backs never end well. But towards the end everyone had their person - Sean had Morgan, Brenda had Bob and I had Jay, none of us wanted our person to leave. But I worked on my relationships with everyone (well not Morgan we just never got to that point) so that if I lost Jay I would still have options moving forward. My game didn't soley rely on my relationship with Jay, filling him in and having him with me just benefited my game the best because I knew I could 100% trust him.



As for my personal game moves, if you read my responses to Malcolm and Savage that will give you a good overview.  I can share more details if you would like me too expand on anything. 

[Sean]

How do you deserve to win over both Brenda and RC? Why should you win the game? Are you the best winner? 

I deserve to win because i had a much harder road. Brenda's and RC's games are highly based off their loyalties to Jay. Let's face it, Morgan was target #1 which really made no sense. Once I started upping my game and voicing that Jay was actual the biggest threat, his game was in a lot more danger. Brenda and RC had an easy road because Jay was a target before them. And if we take a look at these loyalties between RC and Jay and Brenda and Jay what do we see? Sure, its because Jay never lied to them... but WHY did Jay never lie to them? Because he knew them outside of this game. I never had that. I didn't have that with really anyone. I didn't have that unbreakable loyalty due to outside friendships. My unbreakable loyalty was with Morgan who i've never played with before. My social game created that bond. My social game with Bob middle-merge (bob who i've never met before) created (i think?) an unbreakable alliance. At least from his side, granted i broke that alliance but that was strictly to save myself. 

I should win the game because i fought harder, had a tougher road, and was the biggest underdog of this whole thing. I didn't rely on past relationships, challenge wins, or idols to get me here. 

Am i the best winner? Well Brian that really depends on the perceptions of the Jury. Some respect challenge wins more than social gameplay. Some respect cold-hearted strategy more so than social game. I'm not toally sure i can answer that. What i can answer, is that i'd be a GOOD winner. I think all three of us would be, but i would represent a winner who never gave up and clawed his way up to the top

[brenda]

You keep shaming mine and RC's games for being loyal to Jay. You keep calling us his goats or his ducks. And I know why you're clinging to that.. It's all you really have to use against us. You know you were thought of as Morgan's vote until the round she left, and you know RC and i were both prominent figures. You're stuck on us only being loyal to him because we knew him outside the game, yet you fail to realize that this is an all stars game. Everyone came in with past relationships. And you're allowed to use those to your advantage. If vee had survived to the swap you would have aligned with her based on you being together before. By this point you've ran the Jay thing into the ground. Give it a rest, please.

[Sean]

And im saying you had that and I didn't.

i dont really care if i was seen as Morgans vote. I purposefully made moves WITHOUT her. I think it was final 8 or maybe final 7 i tried to rally silas and bob against Jay. but silas sort of disappeared so i had to rely on morgan at that time. you keeping saying i did NOTHING and call me a sloth, so you can 'clinge to that' but i know i didnt just sit around and fucking sleep. I DID make plans, as i've said granted they did not work. But i was working just as hard as you.

[Sean]

And if Vee did make it here, damn right i would be working with her. But i would make the smart game move and eliminate her before she gets to finals, cause i know that bitch is a big threat. something both you 'big game move makers' failed to do. Granted you did vote him at f4, only because he 'lied' to you which was a move i started on. Jay mentioned i did not convince him and RC, however i remember at the beginning of that round RC basically informed me that it was most likely going to be me. I then kicked it into gear and threw out a bunch of reasons for why Bob should go over me. That he would vote Jay at f4 and tie it with Brenda, and i would not. (clearly a lie)

So, there's that.

[brenda]

Working hard and getting things accomplished > working hard with nothing to show for it. I'm not clinging to you being a sloth. Im capable of showing how my game was powerful and multi-faceted. I can show why I should win without downplaying you and RC. That's the difference between us Sean. In order for you to look even slightly good, you have to make others like bad. I look good without bringing anyone down.

[Sean]

So calling me a sloth isn't bringing me down? mmkay

[brian]

omg awkies

Anyways thanks for your answers guys. <3
I'm gonna definitely take them all into consideration. I have a tough vote ahead of me.

Good luck to all three of ya's! <3