[Jonathan LaPaglia]

Jarrad and David,

You have come as far as you can in this game on your own. The power now shifts from the two of you to the jury of your peers. 11 people, you had a hand in voting out. You will now turn around and ask them to vote for you to win.

Here you can leave your Opening Statements to the jury. You have 24 hours to post them here. You cannot add to or edit your opening speeches so please draft them up separately and copy/paste after edits.

Your deadline is 8c/9e tomorrow (Friday the 13th).
Good luck!

[David]

Friday the 13th eh?

Hmmmmmmmmm

[Jarrad]

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.

[David]

G'day members of the jury.

Day 29, but it feels more like Day 50. Coming into a game with all returning players, I was pretty confident that this season would be full of dynamic gameplay, big surprises, power shifts, and ultimately would be an emotional roller coaster ride. Being prepared for this, it still lived far past my expectations. I am truly grateful to the hosts and production team for allowing me to give this crazy ride one more go. It probably sounds a bit contrived, but I am also thankful to each of you. Not only for the relationships and the connections we have created, but also for making this season a battle for the ages. I know that I have played a game full of betrayal, deceit, risk, and have gotten a lot of blood on my hands. I've made mistakes, and have burned bridges along the way.


With that being said though, I feel strongly that I played a very active role in the direction and outcome of this season. I want to be open and honest about the fact that my game was by design. From Day 1, I told myself that I needed to play a fearless game. If I was going to get to the end, I wanted to do it in a Bold way, and be willing to take big risks when the time was right. This is something I want to flesh out more with my responses to each of you, but I also don't want to write a novel for you to each start with. I'm going to highlight a few key factors of my game, briefly talk about the 3 Big O's (Easy now not orgasms, Outwit Outlast Outplay), then leave the floor open to you all for me to get into more detail with my responses.

Talking about risk, one of the biggest risks I took this season was the Tessa vote. I caught a significant amount of heat for this move, but it set a strong tone for for the remainder of the merge. We had a lot of POWERFUL social/strategic players in the merge phase. Having spent time with Imanpa in the past, as well as the new relationships formed during the swap, I had a bird's eye view to what I saw to be a dangerous nexus of power forming. I felt like Tessa and Tegan were setting themselves up to dominate the game. Even though I wouldn't be their immediate target, I would have handcuffed my ability to control the power down the line if I didn't take the first shot. I believe from this vote, I was able to leverage the perception that everyone was really mad at me. My target got so big, that I think some people felt I could be dealt with later, or wouldn't pose a big risk at the end with a mad jury, I leaned into this as much as I could.


I think a key factor to my game was my awareness. What I just spoke about is one critical moment where I was able to use my awareness of the tribe and the game to win the Touchy Subject immunity, while guessing myself for most of the negative responses. I was able to turn a bad thing (displeasure others had towards me) into a benefit for my game both in that challenge, and in terms of the perception that I leaned into like I previously stated. I was also very aware of the inter-personal dynamics during the majority of the merge, and used them to put myself in an optimal position to go deep into the game. After Kylie left, I was able to rebuild my relationship with Sharn to the point that we had an agreement to be transparent with one another. I doubled down on trying to control the narrative, and pushed for Tegan to be taken out even though they were probably the most well connected player in the game. Touchy subjects helped get the ball rolling, but I am confident that if Sharn and I didn't push hard for Tegan to leave that round, it wouldn't have happened. Tegan had already voted for me previously, so in my eyes this was better for me than anyone else. Sharn had a significant amount of control and awareness about things, probably to an even further extent than myself. But I was able to recognize that, and use a lot of the information she developed to strengthen my personal game. This allowed me to make even more informed decisions than I had before, such as taking Michelle out when I knew her and Jarrad spoke about taking me out, and had a F3 with Sharn, or eliminating Daisy after Sharn made it clear that Daisy was talking finals with her, but not with me, to secure myself a spot in top 3 with nobody coming after me in F4. That was a terrible run-on sentence.


Even though I played a risky game, I was the opposite of careless, constantly re-evaluating my situation and the dynamics of the game around each corner. When I needed to take more of a back seat approach I was willing to do that. My swap experience is a great example of that. After being ranked the highest on our first swap tribe, Sharn obtained and used the power to introduce another swap. This put me in a tribe where I had only met 2 of the members previously. Instead of being reckless and unnecessarily risky, I was able to strengthen my relationship with Sharn and Baden, which helped to leverage a better position on the tribe. I was also able to create just enough doubt about me holding loyalty to people from the other side, which I think helped initially to create a perception that I was low man on the totem pole.

One huge part of this season that was a main focus of mine as well was the currency system. I have never played with any type of currency in the past, and I assume the same goes for most of us. I knew that whoever was able to use the economy within the game to their benefit the most was likely going to have a good chance to win the game. From the moment we got the first idol clues, I told myself that I would save my coins for when I needed them the most, and that the longer I could hold onto them, the more likely I would be to succeed in the end game. I never spent a single coin in this game until the moment when Sarah was buying the bounty idol. The second the previous tribal ended, I sent her coins to top her up as a means of solidifying our trust, and so I knew whatever was in the most expensive box wouldnt be used against me. Mat and I had already made an agreement not to go for the bounties, but if I could have any access or knowledge of the contents of them without buying a bounty myself, it was a win win. I continued to hold onto my coins, and began to gain more as certain people were being voted out of the game. I was in the Final 5 with 75 coins to my name, but had not been fully honest with anyone about how many I truly had, including Sharn. The argument could be made that I did not need the challenge advantages towards the end game, but it was just as important to keep them out of anyone else's hands. I set myself up (with some help from many of you!) to control the economy within the game this season, and prevent anyone else from being able to cut my end game run short because of it.

I have a lot more to talk about, but I will leave it there for now and dive into these 3 O's


Outwit - This was a long game, but I think outwitting the competition was most important for the end-game. After Mat left, I knew that the perception would be "David lost control of the narrative". While I saw a path to the end regardless, I needed to outwit the rest of the F5 in order to regain control of the narrative. I faked to Ben and Sharn that I had an extra vote, which never existed. I wanted to paint a picture, without saying it, that it was in their best interest to vote with me that round. However, going into tribal, everyone wanted someone else out. You can read back on that tribal, people were pretty public with what they wanted, Ben and Jarrad wanted each-other gone, Sharn didn't care but had spent a lot of time talking about getting Ben or Jarrad out due to challenges. This set the stage for me to change the vote to Daisy at tribal, and still have the majority without ever having an extra vote. Everyone was talking as if Daisy was going to be taken to the end no matter what, and that was a roadblock lowering my chances of sitting here. I regained control of the narrative at F5 during that tribal, and set myself up to be safe no matter which of the 4 of us won.

Outlast - I got voted for at the first tribal council I attended on Imanpa. Since then, I have fought my fuckin ass off to keep myself in the game, and I've taken my fate into my own hands whenever I could. I played a really heavy role in a lot of success in tribal challenges, but most importantly was able to secure the most Individual Immunity challenge victories at critical moments in this game. I've never seen myself as a "comp beast" or whatever the kids call it, but I was able to keep myself safe in the game on my own volition, winning mostly challenges involving being perceptive to the dynamics of the game, understanding the jurors, and being aware of the events that occurred this season. I didn't just win luck or skill challenges, I put my money where my mouth was and proved my understanding with my performances.

Outplay - Rather than flesh out how I feel I outplayed the members of the jury, I'd instead like to discuss how I outplayed Jarrad. During the merge specifically, I was responsible for taking out some of the biggest threats of this season. Some of the biggest moves that needed to be made, such as the Tessa vote, the Tegan vote, the Michelle vote, the Sharn vote, I was either directly responsible or played a heavy hand in deciding. I voted outside of the majority multiple times, like when Kylie left, or when Ben idoled Sarah out. Jarrad on the other hand was more often than not out of the loop for key decisions. He held strong social relationships, but they weren't strong enough for him to be able to influence the decisions that he wanted. He came to me earlier in the merge, and expressed displeasure with a lack of agency in the game. He didn't feel like people would see him as having been involved or being a decision maker. But nothing was done about it. He was able to take Mat out while I was gone, but that was a move Sharn constructed. Jarrad also set his sights on Ben from the middle of the merge, and was rigid about it to the point where the only time he was able to finally get Ben out was at F4 when Sharn beat him in the firemaking. I was able to control the last few rounds of the game in great part because Jarrad didn't falter his focus from Ben. It was as if he was Ahab and Ben was the White Whale. I was more fluid and adaptable to the game, which allowed me to consistently pull off the moves that benefited me personally.


This season has been interconnected like none I have ever played before. I didn't think even a few months ago that returning to play one last time was something I would consider. Hats off to a phenomenal season. It has been such a dynamic adventure, one that regardless of the outcome, I am going to look back on fondly for the rest of my life.

There are so many variables, situations and decisions that have occurred which I would like to discuss further. I look forward to shedding some light on my perspective of this crazy season. I truly feel like I would be a deserving winner of our season, one that would represent the game appropriately. Thank you