Hey there players, hosts & viewers alike!!! First of all I'd just like to say thank you for all helping to make this season be as much of an adventure as it's been. It's truly been exciting and I've loved every second of it.
My speech today is going to be divided into 3 parts - outwit, outplay & outlast.
Outwit will be discussing my strategic-game and social-game; how I went about outwitting the competition and forming strong bonds/alliances.
Outplay will be me talking about everything physical! How much effort I put into the challenges, how many challenges I threw, if I was nervous at all about being seen as a threat, etc.
Finally, Outlast will be just me reminiscing on the game and explaining how I went about getting this far in the game. You guys will find out just how much blood, sweat and tears truly went into this adventure for me.
First of all...
OUTWIT:
On the original Njovu tribe, right off the bat I began socialising with everybody and I did a very good job keeping the team spirit and motivation up for the challenges. I spoke to Andrew & Nick the most, and I formed strong alliances and close bonds with both of them. I spoke to Charlie & Daniel as much as I could too and bonded with both of them, as well.
Immediately, the most remarkable castaway on our tribe was clearly Avory. Eccentric, hilarious, but secretly a lot more intelligent than he was letting on. His one issue was that he overplayed too hard, too fast. He added Andrew & I to an alliance named, 'The Axis: Secret Meetings'. Here, he proposed the plan of us being a core 3 alliance. Andrew & I both agreed, but in PMs we were both discussing how shady it was. Avory suggested the idea of Nick joining as a fourth member, leaving Charlie & Daniel in the minority.
However, I really didn't trust Avory. He grew on me a lot later on, but at this point in time I viewed him as smart, a hard player and the sort of person I'd rather pick off in one of the first few votes rather than keeping them to trouble me later on. Also, I trusted Daniel & Charlie a lot more than him. Nick & Andrew both agreed with me here, which left us in the middle.
I proposed a plan to Nick: I told him that we have 2 options. We could go with just booting Avory unanimously, or we could stick with Avory for a vote and boot Charlie/Daniel and if we lost again after that, then we could blindside Avory. As I felt a lot safer with Charlie/Daniel, I stated that I'd be more comfortable with voting Avory off. Nick agreed with me and we shook on it.
In my opinion, I played a very strong game on Njovu 1.0; I spoke to everybody, kept a very, very tight bond with both Nick & Andrew whilst also speaking to Avory, Charlie & Daniel a lot. I helped a ton in challenges and was good with helping the tribe stay motivated, too. Had we lost immunity, I really strongly doubt that I would've been voted-out.
When the tribes swapped, a lot changed - I had one of the two things with everybody in Mkango 2.0: a) a friendship with them from before the game began or b) an alliance/bond with them before the swap. Avory & Nick fell into B, whilst Asa, Austin, Patrick & Charlie all fell into A. This meant that no matter what I did, if we lost immunity, I'd have to backstab somebody. At this point, I really couldn't figure out a good plan to avoid getting a shit-ton of blood on my hands. In the end, I decided that my smartest move would just be to stick under-the-radar until the merge and allow my close ally Nick to do my dirty work for me for a little. I still socialised often and performed very well in the challenges, I just decided to take a chill-pill strategy-wise, and it ended up benefiting me as Mkango 2.0 merged without a single loss and I had no blood on my hands whatsoever; just the very strong social-bonds I created with people like Patrick, Austin & Asa.
This is when the merge hit. Things began to become more hectic; there was talk of forming a Mkango 2.0 alliance, there was discussion about making a more aloof alliance regardless of post-swap tribe, there was mention of a plan for OG Njovu to stick together, etc. I made sure to maintain a very strong connection and/or alliance with a lot of people - I made an effort to speak to Jake & Charlie a lot, I spoke to Asa daily and we had a deal to get to the end together, Austin & I were also very close at the time; I trusted him and he trusted me, I was working with Andrew pre-swap and I even hit Avory, Cornelius & Hannah up sometimes. Another intelligent move that I made is that I made sure I had a VERY tight bond with Patrick; I knew I could trust him, he was a good shield for if I got in danger and he had the Tempest and said that he was going to use it to save me if I got the majority of the votes. I wanted to work with Patrick for awhile. It was a guaranteed vote to keep me every round, and a guarantee that I was safe up until f7 because he was going to use that Tempest on me if I did get voted-out, which is an extremely powerful tool to have. The Axis chat began to spark up more after Austin won the first immunity. Avory would commonly throw out rather intellectually intelligent strategic plans to Andrew & I. This did threaten me a lot. I could tell that Avory was a clever guy and I didn't want someone like that in the game - I wanted to blindside Avory right from the get-go, and this was my perfect chance to finally execute the move. I knew that Avory wasn't seen as too likeable, so I manipulated this in my favor. It began when I went to Asa and told her about how Avory was referring to her as a pawn to the Axis' plans; an easy boot when we hit the final 5. I proposed the idea of blindsiding Avory to her, and she was quick to agree. Avory's name had already been brought up by a few other people as a possible boot, so I knew this move wouldn't all that crazy and difficult to pull off. Avory had the game figured out. As I said, he had a burning desire to take it by the nuts and win and I think had he not been blindsided 8-4 that vote, he could've pulled it off.
After the Avory boot, I felt insane. I made it through the vote 100% on the majority and completely unscaved. I did feel pretty darn bad for backstabbing the guy, as it was a complete blindside and he really didn't see it coming, but it had to be done. He was thinking very fast and playing the game pretty well. At this point, things truly were smooth sailing. I had the trust of over half of the people left in the game, I wasn't an immediate target and I was 100% on the majority of things. I wasn't going home at this point or any point in the near future, truly. I did a fantastic job at fixing myself into a great position on the tribe.
Andrew voted on the minority last vote and he was generally viewed as a strategic-threat, so he was looking like the biggest target to go home this time around, as long as he lost immunity. I worked my ass off and invested around 2 hours into Color in an attempt to beat Andrew. Knowing how intelligent the guy is, I knew that this was the sorta challenge he'd win - so, I knew that I needed to really put a lot of work into this to defeat him. However, ultimately, it was a tie between Asa & I, resulting in a tie-breaker where I won immunity. Andrew scrambled hard for Hannah to be voted-out, but ultimately it was to no use as the observant Andrew was booted with 7 votes to his name.
The following round is when the game really began to shift and mold. This is the infamous round where I put fucking hours into that stupid immunity, Patrick played the Tempest, Daniel was saved and where Jake was voted-out. This truly brought Patrick, Austin, Daniel & I together as a group and we ended up becoming an alliance - 'Viva La Resistance'. I loved this alliance a lot, but I wanted Asa in there too. I knew I could 100% trust Asa and she basically voted whoever I asked her to every vote. So, I came up with a plan to tell Viva La Resistance that I'll tell Asa the vote is for Hannah, and if she actually votes for Hannah then we know we can trust her and keep her 'til f5. I knew that Asa would 100% vote the name I gave her, so I knew this'd have an 100% chance of working. Obviously, I told Asa to vote for Hannah, and she did so which gained her the trust of Viva La Resistance, which was perfect for me. What I wanted was a final 3 alliance of Daniel, Asa & I. I knew I could trust both of them and I felt like I could probably take both on in the FTC. The Viva La Resistance alliance was still fresh though, so I just wanted to wait a little longer before making any new deals. But, I knew that when the time was right, I'd want to form that alliance with Daniel & Asa. I couldn't just stick with Viva. I needed to think ahead.
After I lost immunity for the first time in two rounds and Patrick & Asa won, Cornelius was unanimously voted-out. This vote actually made me feel particularly bad, as I like Cornelius a lot, but I couldn't just vote to keep him and put myself in a 7-2 minority. It was too risky. If you're reading this, Cornelius; I'm sorry, and I hope that we can be friends after this.
The next round went smoothly; Daniel won immunity and the duo of Nick & Hannah were clearly on the minority. Viva basically had to pick between voting Nick out or voting Hannah out, Daniel pushing for Hannah and Patrick pushing for Nick. Ultimately, we decided on Hannah, viewing her as a bigger strategic and social-threat than Nick. This resulted in Hannah's 6-2 boot, Nick voting with her.
During these rounds, I was basically figuring out in my mind how I wanted this to go. Ultimately, I wanted a final 3 consisting of Asa, Daniel & I. That was a given. I love Patrick a ton, but he was a huge threat. He'd have to go sometime. This is when I was approached with the idea of blindsiding Patrick. I was 50/50 on it. Patrick had an idol; that was no secret to anyone. The dilemma for me really was in the choice of whether I tell Patrick to use his idol to potentially blindside one of the larger threats in the game whilst also flushing his idol or if I should just go along with the plan of voting for Patrick. Ultimately, with a lot of faith in my bonds with Daniel & Asa, I decided that I wanted to tell Patrick to use the idol so we could blindside Nick/Austin at the F7 vote then take the remaining one out at F6 where at F5, Daniel, Asa & I could take Patrick out and then ride it out until F3 together. However, unfortunately for my little plan, Charlie instead beat me to it and used the exact same idea I had in mind - telling Patrick to idol and boot Austin out. Fortunately for me, however - my extremely strongly forged bond with Patrick held up and Patrick trusted me over Charlie, telling Austin & I to write Charlie. Unfortunately I didn't get to flush Patrick's idol, but I managed to keep a grip on Patrick's trust and also successfully keep Daniel, Asa & I safe. All we needed to do is make it through one more vote safely and we would have a majority of the vote on our side.
At this point, I decided it was about time to make the me/Daniel/Asa F3 official. I approached both of them individually, and both agreed to the alliance. This was perfect for me. I had the two people that I had confidence in beating at the end and also a ton of trust in with me in a F3 alliance. It was literally a dream-come-true.
The F6 round was one of the most interesting. Once again, just like the Charlie vote, there was a plan going around to blindside Patrick (who still had an idol). However, being the sneaky arse I am, I told Patrick to use his idol so that we could vote Nick off 3-0. Had Patrick used that idol, this would've worked perfectly for me. Nick goes 3-0 F6, Patrick goes 3-2 F5, Austin deactivates (RIP ;_;) F4 and then my plan of being in the F3 with Daniel & Asa works out. Unfortunately, Patrick did not use his idol, causing a 3-3 tie. This frustrated me. I really, really wanted to save Patrick, but I knew that it wouldn't be worth it. He would have been guaranteed F4 and I know that he's pretty good at challenges and he'd 100% win a FTC. However, I promised him I wouldn't write his name down, so I did still vote for Nick, but Asa, Daniel & Austin all voted for Patrick and Patrick was taken out 3-1. It sucked a lot to see him go; he brought a ton to the season.
At the F5, I once again won immunity. This basically meant that Asa, Daniel & I had to pick between Nick & Austin to go home. I was originally thinking Nick... However, I began to switch to Austin, knowing that he's very good at challenges. After ultimately deciding that Austin could probably win the FIC, I told Daniel & Asa to write him and they both did that, taking him out unanimously.
At the F4, everything was set up perfectly. I had no votes against my name, I was ready to go to the finals with Asa & Daniel, but the worst thing possible happened - Nick won the FIC. This forced me to scramble ridiculously hard. I knew Nick would write my name down. I HAD to make sure that Asa & Daniel voted for each other to make it a 2-1-1. I was originally undecided on who to take out between Asa & Daniel, but I decided to stay true to Asa as we had a deal right from the beginning of the merge and Asa actually wants me to win this game over herself. I couldn't backstab her after all that she's done for me.
Ultimately, through impressively convincing Daniel to vote for Asa over me, Daniel was sent packing 2-1-1, leading us to where we are now - Nick, Asa & I. All three of us have played well, but I truly believe that I've played the best game. I think I definitely outwitted the best of this F3. I was literally only a target at the F4, I was always filled in on the vote, I earned the trust of a ton of people, I backstabbed and lied when I had to and if I was lying about all of my accomplishments, I wouldn't be sitting in the F3 right now with 4 immunity-wins and 1 mere vote against me (least of the season). Thank you for reading.
P.S. I also came up with the plan of staging a conversation with Austin where we both talk about how we trust Patrick just to make him feel safer, as I didn't want him panic-playing the Tempest. Oops!
OUTPLAY:
This one will be a lot shorter than Outwit, but it'll still be interesting...
Before Tempest, I had always thrown immunities unless I needed them. I had always downplayed my skills in every challenge I competed in. However, here, I wanted to try a new strategy. I wanted to try giving it my all, and boy, I did that.
Pre-merge, I put so much fucking effort into helping my tribe win challenges, and it clearly paid off as I didn't once attend tribal pre-merge. I did a great job at raising team-spirits and pre-merge I started playing for my tribe rather than as an individual, which is how I always played in the past.
Once the merge hit, I think did a great job knowing what to throw and what not to throw. I won 2 immunities in a row - Color and that posting challenge - but then threw the next. I wanted to test out my loyalties. I wanted to test my alliances and bonds and see if people would actually write my name down after I've asserted myself as such a huge threat in challenges and also strategically. So, I abstained from the challenge... And my loyalties held true to me, as Cornelius was unanimously voted-out. This is when I figured out that I was truly in the clear. I knew that I just needed to expand on my game with a majority alliance (which ended up becoming Viva la Resistance) and a core alliance (Asa, Daniel & I) and I'd be in a fantastic position, and I wasn't wrong at all.
I threw a lot of challenges from this point on, but when I did try, I won. One of the hardest challenges for me was Trolololol. I put literally h o u r s into trying to win this thing on my slow fucking iPad. It was so damn hard, but it just goes to show how much passion and love I have for this game. I never gave up.
I also put 5 damn hours in that stupid Soccer challenge. No joke.
After winning 4 immunities and putting as much effort into challenges as I did pre-merge... I think it's safe to say that I outplayed the best!
OUTLAST:
And now, this is where I am. Outlast. A lot of people would say outlasting just means making day 39, but in my opinion, it means a lot more - it means HOW you make day 39. What obstacles did you overcome? How many times were you in risk of voting out? How many people did you backstab? And, most importantly, did you have fun doing it...?
THAT is how I define outlast. I have outlasted the best. I controlled multiple votes in the merge, was only a target once, put so much of my fucking time into some of these challenges, got only 1 vote against me, made some extremely strong bonds with a lot of you guys, and I just generally put a ton of effort and passion into this.
Sure, I love both Nick & Asa, but Asa even admits herself that she did basically anything I told her to do, and Nick was a target multiple times before the F4 and was 100% going home had he lost the FIC. I was never truly in a pickle, unlike Nick. I always made sure that I was in a good position and that I was keeping myself safe.
I think that I outwitted the best.
I think that I outplayed the best.
And I think that I outlasted the best.
Whether I deserve to win or not is up to you - the Jury. :) I'm looking forward to seeing your questions for me!!!
