Austranded: Red Centre

https://youtu.be/oL39mli11w4

I recorded this earlier but forgot to post it

trying to go back to my roots of middle school state-level written composition but damn if it's not feeling impossible to think of 3 points to argue why my game was better than david's!

i feel like i had to drag my name through the mud to keep me safe and make it to the end, and now i feel like i'm going to have to work doubly as hard to make up for that and prove that the game i played was better than david's

maybe i'll use outwit, outplay, and outlast as my three points and just expand on each of them in the body of the statement on how i accomplished that

ok posting a draft here first and then i'ma read over it

Cowabunga!

I just want to start this off by saying that this has been a hell of a game and I have no doubt in my mind that this season will go down in history as one of the best. All of us (sans the handful at the beginning) really came to play and give it just one last shot at a game that we all love. On Day 0, Jonathan let us know that some of us were Legends, some All-stars, some Second Chancers, but that we all had one thing in common: a clean slate to create whatever persona and play whatever game we liked. I knew from the moment that I was asked back to play that I was going to give this season my 110% because it’s more than likely the last time I’ll ever get another chance to play, so I played as hard as I could from the get, and created a persona that was well liked, levelheaded, and willing to do whatever it took to get me to this spot – to plead my case in front of all of you as to why the game that I played is the most deserving of the win. The game of Survivor is based on 3 key factors, and those are how someone can outwit, outplay, and outlast all the others. I accomplished all 3 of those things through basing my strategy on adaptability, proving my worth in challenges on multiple occasions, and using my social skills to foster multiple layers of protection at any given moment.

Initially, I came into this game knowing that my key to success would mean that I would need to take a more analytical and strategic approach to the game than I have in the past. My strategy was simple, but difficult to execute: keep the heat off of me for as long as possible. Once the merge started, beginning with the Tessa vote, it became very clear to me that the culture of this game was going to be to locate who was the most threatening player at any given time, and take them out. Knowing this, that meant that the target on my back needed to stay as small as possible for the longest amount of time possible. I was able to do this mostly in part by having made strong bonds with really strong players, and using them as a shield to ultimately propel myself here into the finals. There a couple of key moments that I think this is obvious in. Namely, the Kylie vote, in which I intentionally voted in the minority in order to appear wholly loyal to the alliance of Kylie, David, Mat, Sarah, and me, and also making the conscious decision to strengthen a strong working relationship with both Tegan and Michelle. Another instance of me doing what I needed to do to minimize the target on my back was not withholding the knowledge I got from the first Mystery Box, and using it as a way to establish trust and loyalty with several members of our merged tribe. It’s no secret that on multiple occasions I voted in the minority, but it should be a testament that even with that being said, my strategy of coming off as a non-threatening presence in a sea of power players meant that I was never once in hot water up until the bitter end. I was adaptable every round that something I wasn't expecting happened, and adjusted accordingly. When Michelle was voted out and David and Mat lied to me, I played it up like I completely understood, and I did, but I knew that there was no chance after that for the three of us to continue the way that we had been, so whenever a clear opportunity to vote Mat out appeared, I ran with it. My strategy was also heavily controlled by the flow of information. My social play helped me provide information which gathered trust in who I gave it to, but conversely in a way that I was always getting information back at me that I could use however I wanted. It's also important to note that my strategy at the very end of the game was crucial as I was the one that planted the seed in David's brain that proved to him how strong of a player Sharn was, which I think ultimately led to her demise.

Additionally, I showed that I had what it took to help my tribe win challenges on multiple occasions and also secured individual immunity for myself twice; once at the Final 4 (which is arguably the most crucial challenge of my whole game), and another at the very beginning of the game. Not only that, but I was able to navigate the merge in a way where people knew I was skilled at challenges, but not in a way that ever made it seem like my winning would be a direct threat to their game. I do believe that if I had not won the immunity challenge at the final 4, it would have been me that left that round. David, Sharn, and Ben were all extremely close, and my persistence on Ben being a strategic and physical threat ultimately led to his demise, and my safety meant that Ben’s preferred target (me) was no longer an option. Sharn and David did not see Ben to be the jury threat that I perceived him as and so for that reason, if I hadn’t won then, I do believe that I would have been the next to go.

Most importantly, I think my strongest asset is my social game. From day 1, I knew that if I wanted a chance at winning, I needed to be as charming and likeable as possible. It is no secret that a huge key to this game is jury management and so I consistently had that in the back of my mind. I needed to navigate this game with burning as little bridges as possible and forging genuine, real relationships with any and everyone that I could. I think I was as successful at that as I could have been. Never did I sit back and let others do work for me on a social premise. I formed extremely close and intentional relationships with David, Mat, Sharn, Michelle, Tegan, Kylie, and Sarah, and never went a round without speaking to every possible person I could speak to. I do want you all to know that our conversations and small talk and all of that was and is very genuine and that is one of my favorite parts of playing these games, but also let it be known that in doing that, I knew that I was solidifying my position for longevity’s sake. Look at everyone that I listed that I had a close relationship with. These are all very strong social and strategic players that I knew would be much better to keep close to me than further away, and I did everything in my power to keep as many people as close to me as possible, and did it in a way where it never backfired or made me look like I was being extra cutthroat, although I was cutthroat in subtle ways. I ensured through my social game that if I actually ever was in danger, that I would know about it, and when I was actually in danger, I did know about it, and was able to say what I needed to say and rely on the connections that I had made to keep me safe.

In short, it’s important to realize the theme of the game – threats go home. To me, I was just as big of a threat than any of you, but I specifically used my gamesense and social power to keep the target consistently off of me round after round. I made moves in voting for Mat and intentionally voted outside of the majority during the Kylie vote in order to keep the flow of information steady from both angles so that I could make calculated moves going forward. I knew what information to give out and when to give it, and did a great job of making sure people perceived everyone else around me as a bigger threat to their game than I was, mostly due to the relationships that I had formed with them. Even when I was out of the loop or did not vote in the majority, my saving grace was the fact that I had important one on one bonds with the strongest players in the game. If you noticed, I didn’t ever receive a vote at tribal council, and never received a single answer in touchy subjects, and that was by design. David, on the other hand did, and received a majority of the negative answers. David’s game was much more cutthroat than mine and went about the game in a way he knew could be hurting people’s feelings. He burned people on multiple occasions in the name of the game but I think did not carefully consider enough the way that that makes the jury feel, whereas speaking to all of you at this point in the game was always something I had happening in the back of my mind and thus, I went about the game in a way that made sure that I myself was safe, but also that I wasn’t being careless, reckless, or overly risky. I know you guys will see the value in the type of game I played and reward it over the risky game that David played. I look forward to hearing from all of you and connecting after all of this is said and done.

blah im not gonna change anything about this im just gonna post it

grrrrrrrrr this is gonna be hard

but i have won from this position before

the only other game ive won actually ive won from this position so lets see if i can do it

i feel like the stranded world is against me and im needing to prove myself

like imagine being outplayed multiple votes and then trying to somehow defend yourself against the person that outplayed you in most of those (:

but when i read my statement back i do believe in what i said. i have played a good game and fought my way here for sure

I really enjoyed our interactions throughout our time together and I considered you my closest ally in the game. I was pretty hurt when you ignored me the entire tribal council I was voted out during, while you had told me prior "you will be fine!" I thought that was pretty poor jury management but maybe there was another motive or maybe you were just weak, idk. Feel free to shed some light on that. That's not my question for you but you can address it if you wish.

I want to make it clear to you, that I also considered you my closest ally in the game (once you had left, it was Michelle, which is my reasoning for my answer to Tessa), and I can't help but to feel a large part of indirect responsibility for your going. It had became apparent to Mat, David, Kylie, and Sarah that I was close with you, and I was hoping that they'd seen it as a way to benefit their own game through my providing of information on where your head was at, but I think they saw through that and since you were not also as close with them as you were with me, they decided you needed to go. I was still protected in that way even after you left, but it was not what I wanted to happen, and really kicked my ass into a different gear. I had mentioned to both you and Michelle multiple times that it would probably have been a good idea to get closer to that group (Mat, David, Kylie, and Sarah). Maybe it was because you didn't see yourself aligned with them or not but I fully believe that if there was a more working relationship established with these people that you wouldn't have left this round, and the dreams of us actually ending up together here at the end would be true.

Ever since we first met and started chatting, I can confidently say there was no one else in this game who I felt like I could actually talk like myself around and be no holds barred on a social or game level. We cracked each other up on multiple occasions and once we'd linked up, you brought me so much comfort and almost a safe haven for my own ideas and to speak on concerns or frustrations of the game. It really meant a lot to me when I'd mentioned watching a show and the first thing you did was pull it up and start watching it, and I think that's a testament to the pull we had on each other, and I knew as soon as you left that night and I'd voted you out, that you were really upset with me. I had no idea you were even receiving any number of votes once tribal had started. It had been mentioned but I was confident it was going to be on Ben or Mat that night, and I was willing to do whatever I had to do to make it happen, but I was told from pretty much every person that I'd reached out to very shortly before votes were due, that it was going to be you. That night I hadn't even voted up until the very last minute of voting and so I think my avoidance of telling you the vote was on you was my own denial of it being real. I didn't want to tell you it because it's not how I imagined things going, and I felt hurt and betrayed in the same ways that you probably feel hurt and betrayed by my voting for you. If I had known earlier, I would have undoubtedly stuck my neck out for you, because you being in the game with me was a part of every plan that I had envisioned. I am very, very sorry for not just shooting you a quick whisper before votes were read to let you know it was happening, and above all else, I hope that you understand this and don't hate me for it, and that we can actually be friends after this.

I have two questions for you both and they are pretty straight-forward and I don't want pandering. Nobody plays a perfect game, there is always room for improvement, so I'm curious what both of your thoughts are. Genuinely, what would you say was your biggest mistake in the game? How would the game be different if you hadn't made such a mistake? I'm looking for accountability, I'm looking for awareness, and I'm looking for a genuine answer.

There's a few reasons why I think this happened, but I think my biggest mistake in the game was going too hard for too long for Ben to leave. Ben was your bounty, and no that's not why I wanted him to go so bad, but around the time you had left, we had mentioned wanting to vote out Ben so that you would get your bounty. It never happened, and instead the opposite did. This planted the seed in my head that Ben was not someone that just lacked on a social front but it really put in to perspective that he was just as viable of a player than anyone in the merge, which I feel like more than proved itself, but in my wanting to gun for him so hard in pretty much every round from the Final 6 on, it kept me from realizing the other dynamics that were at play. Especially once the first attempt to take out Ben had failed, it told ME that Ben was an extremely strong player, when in fact I think it was Sharn pulling most of the strings. It kept me from realizing just how close David and Sharn were and kept me from realizing the decisions they would make in taking out Daisy. Through my insistence of wanting to get Ben out, David and Sharn both lied to me on repeat agreeing with me for how much of a threat Ben was. I knew as soon as Daisy left, though, that there was more to it than what they had been letting on, and it put me in a position where I had to play from an especially adverse position, one that would mean that I needed to come off weak versus strong in order to make it to the end, instead of a more aggressive approach. If I hadn't went for Ben from Final 6 onwards, I could have more carefully considered each individual left and made more specific decisions on how to get to the end, which would have included taking Sharn out earlier than she left.

My second question is to flip the script: what would you say was your opponent's greatest mistake in the game and why should it cost them the win?

David's greatest mistake was relying too closely on Mat, Sarah, and Kylie. I came into the game with Mat and Kylie specifically out of those 3. Sarah joined up with us at the merge after having met Mat, Kylie, and me on Arumbera 3.0. David trusted Mat, Kylie, Sarah, and me enough to put his own neck out on the line to vote for Tessa although it was completely unnecessary that he did that. David knew that Kylie had the advantage and was going to play it, so no matter what, Tessa was going to leave. In this way, he put himself in a much harder spot where he had to recover from broken words from before the merge with people that he had grown close to, and rely too heavily on that group. I had a similar situation obviously whenever I voted for Sharn instead of Kylie, knowing that Kylie was going to go, so that I could gather information from both sides and be in a much more solid and steady position. This means my biggest mistake is the opposite of David's. David's biggest mistake was breaking his word to too many people in the name of taking risks for his own benefit, instead of realizing the safest path taking the least amount of risks as the best way to go. His social game was not as strong as mine was, and relied too heavily on fate to get him to the end game than making sure he got there himself.