Before I begin, I'd just like to ask that you all go into tonight with an open-mind and give each of us the opportunity to make our case before making your mind up. Whether I win or lose tonight, I would most appreciate you hearing me out.As most of you know, I am a Survivor superfan, a Survivor fanatic. This is probably the closest I will ever get to playing Survivor so it is the closest I will get to realizing a dream of mine. This has been very, very close to making that dream come true, to even play in this. Win, lose or draw, I just want to thank you all (hosts included) for the opportunity to be involved in something like this. It was a pleasure to play with you all. The competition was much tougher than I anticipated which made this game much more fun than I expected - so thank you again for that.
Being a fan of this game, I knew that I couldn't go into this game with a mapped out strategy and expect it to work. I had no formal strategy. I had no pre-determined agenda. I had no master plan. What I did have however was a gameplan that included a few things I wanted to ensure I did throughout the game - most important of which was to
be adaptable to everything: people, situations, alliances, the game in general - everything. I knew that I needed to adapt to every curveball this game could throw at me and I believe I did that very well. I knew I would have to lie and I was totally cool with it. I was willing to lie, cheat and steal to get to the end. I was willing to do whatever it took - that is, only if I felt it was
beneficial for me to do so. I wanted to play a very calculating, very cautiously aggressive and very methodical game, like a
Cesternino or a
Fairplay and I think I successfully did that. If I betrayed someone, I wanted to make sure I went back to the betrayed parties to contain the blast so it never blew up in my face - it never did. I had to betray several different alliances at various different times in this game and nobody ever tried to take a shot at me (that I know of) - not one single vote.
Throughout the game, I kept getting asked in my confessional: "what's the plan? what's next? how are you going to get to the end?" Each time I'd try to answer by figuring out what needed to happen in order to get me and my most trusted allies as deep into the game as I could - and then I'd change my mind or learn something new and I'd have to scrap the entire plan. I tried to take this game 'episode' by 'episode', while considering how the decisions I made would affect the rest of the game. I never wanted to have a rigid plan, I always wanted to keep my options open. I had to remain open-minded to every option, every stone was worth being turned. I had to continue to adapt or I'd be the one voted out. I always wanted to ensure I surround myself with people I could influence the most -- and I did that.
Another thing I wanted to make sure I did was to
ALWAYS be in the know about
everything. I wanted to make sure I knew the plans of those I was rolling with and those who were coming against me or my allies. I made sure to always always always appear open-minded to every move, to every pitch from the opposing side not only because I wanted to consider it as a potential move, but also to protect against it.
I was given every single idol clue in the game, by Papa Bear, by Lisa, by Hayden, by Angie, by anyone who got the clue. I was always trusted enough to be given the idol clues and in some cases, the method to solving them.
I was also always trusted enough such that I always knew who both sides were voting for and in most cases, who every single person in the game was voting for (minus the Hayden vote - I knew votes were coming in on him, just not that many..). In this game,
knowledge is power and I very much believe I was the
most connected and
most knowledgeable about our game, which would make me
the most powerful player in the game.
The final key pointer in my gameplan was that I wanted to ensure that I kept up with
everyone in the game. I wanted to have
a relationship with every single person in this game, to always have an
open line of communication with every single person in this game. I learned early in this game that every single person was valuable to the game, whether as a vote, as an ally or as someone to help me turn the tides in my favor. Too often in this game, I noticed people burning bridges with each other which only made things easier for me to use those burnt bridges to my advantage. Of course, I could only do this with people who were open to talking to me, so when someone showed no interest in working with me or talking to me in general, I didn't force it and the person who I thought was least likely to work with me went home. For everyone else, I kept up a working relationship so I always had my finger on every pulse in the game - or at least as many as I could - enough to make sure I knew what was going on at every step of this game.
I had to make sure that I knew what was going on from both sides, so I could formulate the best gameplan for myself and then try to influence both sides to take heat off of people I did not want out of the game and re-direct it onto people who I would prefer to be out of the game - and I think I did this more often than people realize. I never had any heat on me in the entire game. I never received a single vote cast against me in the entire game. I had an idol in my pocket for most of this game that I could change the course of the game with - but I never needed to. This game always went the direction I wanted it to (with the exception of Hayden leaving). I was never in any trouble. I believe I did myself a disservice by talking myself into such a non-threat and hyping myself down while hyping the threat level of everyone else up, even though
I believe I was crucial to this game and critical to how it played out, from start to finish.
Before I close this out, I think I should make sure I mention a few specific things:
--Very early in this game, I formed a pretty strong bond with Kimmi and we formed a final-2 deal that we stuck to throughout the game. We formed a 4-person alliance with two others that I had formed very strong bonds with while at Madhesi: Tina and Mad Dog. After being separated from my three closest allies at the tribe swap, I became pretty close with Debb and she effectively replaced Mad Dog in the alliance.
--When we hit the merge, Kimmi and I planned to work both alliances: me with the Rai/nuKirati alliance and Kimmi with the Kirati/nuMadhesi alliance. We planned to take out a few from each alliance until we could converge together and take over the game once and for all and take it to the end - which we did.
--Kimmi told me she had the Madhesi idol and unbeknownst to everyone I think, I had the Kirati idol - we had the two idols in the game and were working together closely as a pair. I tried to keep how close she and I were on the lowest of downlows as I could which seemed to work even better than I thought it might. One after another found themselves on the jury and here we are in the final-3. I remained very loyal to this alliance throughout the entire game.
I think I played a very integral part of this game. The person I wanted to go home went home every tribal council with the exception of Hayden and of course Debb falling victim to the idol orchestra.
I strongly believe that more than anybody else in this game, the decisions
I made directly affected the course of this game and consequently the outcome of this game. I turned out being loyal to my main alliance. I wasn't afraid to lie or try to manipulate other people to get what I wanted accomplished in this game. I wasn't afraid to make big or risky moves, to take homerun swings knowing full well I could strike out. I wasn't going to sit around and allow myself to get 10th place, I wanted to make it to the end. I wanted to win. I feel like I earned my place in this game, through what I believe was a very strong social and strategic game and a couple of immunity wins.
I believe I outplayed everyone in this game. I believe I outwitted everyone in this game. and I believe I should outlast every person in this game, the last one standing.
I fully admit to lying many times in this game but I completely intend to be completely honest here in this final tribal council. I own my game and standby what I had to do to get to this point. I'm very proud of how I played in this game and I am anxious to talk about it (could you tell?). I hope you guys hit me with your best shot because I'm ready for it.
I went through this entire game without getting a vote cast against me and I hope that trend ends tonight on finale night with me being crowned the winner of this season, as I feel I deserve.
by Jeff » Sat Dec 20, 2014 11:44:53 pm 