Hi Charlie
I don't use facebook a lot, and really don't even remember "deleting" you as a friend. Did I ever have you added as a friend? I do not necessarily think this defines a relationship, and in some games It is a steategy to not have friends on your "friends list" as people automatically draw lines in the sand and make connections and assumptions that may not necessarily be there. I do know on another site I have a habit of "accidentally leaving groups" or "accidentally deleting people" by leaving my ipad open when I fall asleep at night, and rolling over or bumping it, and even going to grab it in the morning nd finding that I have left a group or deleted someone accidentally. Quite honesty I had no idea we were not friends. I am not sure how or why this is even relevant to the fact that I was 100% with you, and I demonstrated that in the way I did everything I could to keep both you and I safe from tribal right up until the point where Ci'ere attacked me fir it and you took his side. That was very telling as to where your loyalties lay. Why, if it bothered you so much, didn't you ask me about it before now?
Being paranoid wasn't an actuality, it was a perception. I like to keep a wall up, especially around people I don't know, in order to dig deeper and watch peoples reactions, usually peoples initial reactions tell me a lot about them and their true intentions. I am the sort of person who never really makes a final decision until I know what the potential fallout is going to be, and I weigh up my options carefully. To get information I usually have to push boundaries and people to get certain information, sometimes having to cross lines to get the information I need. People perceive this as paranoia I guess. The more questions you ask and the more you push the more people start to second guess you and wonder what you are thinking. By questioning your motives and decisions, was more about testing your relationships with others and then by questioning where they stand it creates a picture of where everyone stands, who they are most loyal to and how , if at all, I can create cracks in alliances and create opportunities to move forward in the game.
I am the first to admit I have issues with trusting people I don't know. That is a personal issue that I constantly am working on on a daily basis. I play games like these to work on developing reelationships with people and building trust. It is a steep learning curve as these games can and are brutal most of the time, but I persist because for every 10 times I may get screwed over by trusting the wrong person, there is always one person who does show me that I made the right choice trusting them. In this game I was pleasantly surprised as there were many people whom I put my trust in and they still had my back when the dust settled.
One thing I do take pride in, and have been told that it is rare in these games, I am honest and will say what I think or respond honestly, even if they don't necessarily like the answer or it isn't in their best interests. If someone asks me for my opionion I will give it. If I have an issue with someone or something, I will go to them and tell them, I don't expect everyone to agree with me, but at least if we are not on the same page, we can find some mutually beneficial middle ground moving forward, or if there is no mutually beneficial middle ground, then at least we both know where we stand and can move forward. I try not to dwell on shit, life is too short.
As for the Ci'ere boot, that was not planned. When he came at me for keeping you safe I was really shocked tbh. The more he came at me the more I realised that you him and Jon obviously had a f3 and I was at the bottom. It was at this point that I started talking to Bradley and we came to a mutually beneficial understanding that opened up the game for me. Almost everyone was willing to take him out, and I couldn't have done it if I had not taken the time to talk to most of the others in the game at one point or another.
I showed you loyalty many times before this, and always intended to stick with you. From the moment Bradley started bringing up our names, my one goal was to keep us both safe. When you attacked me after he left I knew that was no longer an option. You would probably still be in the game if it wasn't for your attack on me. There are pivital moments in a game, just because Ci'ere left at that point, didn't mean you were next, you created that chain of events by your reaction and subsequent attack on me. You were one person I would have liked to see go further in the game, but at the end of the day it just didn't pan out that way.
I really did enjoy getting to know you.
Seriously?!?
I do believe that a game isn't necessarily won by making big moves. Nothing can beat Jake's Idol of Burden play in my opinion but i did make moves behind the scenes.
It may have seemed that all I did was win immunity to keep myself safe, but in a game with so many good players, that in itself, is a big move. Everytime I won immunity I saved myself from going home, but the other side of that coin is the fact that the target on my back got bigger and bigger which meant I also had to step up my game behind the scenes.
I made sure that winning immunity challenges did not just benefit myslf but those I trusted as well, an example of this was when I won the chance to send someone to exile, giving them immunity from the vote and a chance at the Idol of Burden. I know certain people were very upset at this move, but it came down to the fact that both Charlie and I were the names floating around so I made sure that he was safe. Call that selfish if you will, but I was, at that time, aligned with him and I did what I had to to make sure he didn't go that week.
Another example was giving Tayne immunity when I won a challenge and was alredy safe. I had no alliance with Tayne at the time, but he was the only other one to play so I felt he deserved to be safe as well. This led to Tayne returning the favour later in the game, purely out of the blue, I had no idea he would do it, and I never asked him to, but I do appreciate it, thank you Tayne. This led to Tayne and I connecting and actually developing a better relationship in my eyes.
I think my biggest move was finding and playing the Ultimate Idol at f6. The only way to claim the idol was, in fact, to get at least half the tribe to post a phrase at tribal council. So not only did I have to solve clues to find the idol, I had to build relationships to get at least half the tribe onboard to claim it. I put my trust in many people to do that, and appreciate their trust in me to use it wisely at the right time.
I also believe that I played the game strategically and socially, by building relationsips with other players and making decisions based on where I felt I sat within an alliance each and every week. I made decisions based on what was my best option going forward and once I chose a side I remained loyal to that side.
An example of this is the vote, everyone thought it was personal and were willing to vote him out, but I already knew that Ci'ere, Charlie and Jon had a tight 3 so I saw no benefit in that for me. I also knew there were cracks in Bradley's alliance, therefore I took a chance on Bradley, knowing he had more than enough people aligned with him that he didn't really need me on side. I don't regret making that move and do believe it was the perfect time to change the game up. This move actually gave Bradley and I a chance to connect, although I do think we were on different pages, we worked together well in my eyes.
At the end of the day, I played the game for fun, had no expectations to make it to the end so had nothing to lose and everything to gain. I have challenged myself on all three levels, ventured outside my comfort zone, and am happy to say that I have met some really great people in this game and hopefully made some really great friends in the process.
Why do I deserve to win over Lilly and Alex?
I feel that I had the hardest road to the end, I had to constantly change my social game to fit the ever changing dynamics of the alliances. Yes I may have dominated the challenges, but many times it was because I was one of the few that turned up to challenges, which told me that most players were either trying to play utr or felt safe. I never felt like my position in the game was safe enough not to try and stay in the game. Even when I did not have immunity I still managed to stay in the game because I feel like I did make an effort to connect with people and always had something to offer.
I feel like I never underestimated any player in this game, therefore even when everyone was telling me how much you wanted me out, I still came to you and tried to forge an alliance with you, developing a personal relationship with you, and for many weeks I voted with. As it was mutually beneficial to boh of us to reach the end.
I believe I have worked hard to get to the final 3, I gave this game everything I had, playing the cards that were dealt, and making decisions based on what I felt was the best option to reach the end. Like you say, you can not win a game if you dont make it to the end. Every person in this game deserves to be here for one reason or another, I like to think that I have earnt the right to sit here by working hard, playing hard and sheer determination to beat the odds.
This is only my third .org game, I for one never expected to be here, and feel like this game really allowed me to get to know many of the players on a different level, be it that I tried to play this game for fun rather than to win, I feel a sense of acomplishment regardless of the final outcome.
I respected both Lilly and Alex for their openness with me, as well as the many other players who were willing to talk to me, both about game and real life stuff. At the end of the day I will also respect your decision to vote for whomever you feel played the best game.
At the end of the day, I came into this game not expecting to last very long, but wanting to do my best and just see what happened. I met a lot of great players, and feel like I got to know a majority of you not only as players but also as people behind the avatar. Each and every one of you were more than capable of making it to the end, it came down to timing, the moves made at each stage of the game and idol plays. I made it to the end with no idols, a handful of immunity wins, no votes cast against ,me, and the final key to my safety – the Ultimate Power Idol, which I could not have gotten without the help of some of you, willing to trust me to use it wisely. Thanks to all of the players who made this game a tough and hard fought one.
Good Luck to both Alex and Lilly.
I do feel like my social game carried me through this minefield of a game as well as my challenge wins. I did what I had to - to keep myself safe from tribal, as well as making sure I knew where the votes were going even if that meant making hard decisions or taking out someone who thought they had me onside to vote with them. At the end of the day I had to do what I felt was best for my game.
One of the best things to come out of all of this was getting to know many of the players better. Chelle, Jake and Tayne were part of the ANZAC alliance as well as Charlie. Once Charlie and Jake left I was able to make a deeper connection with Tayne and to some extent Chelle. I knew Chelle was with Bradley for most of the game, but I slowly built up their trust in me and made sure they were safe and included in decisions moving into the final stages of this game.
The point at which Ci’ere went home was a game changer, power switched, people started to realise that they had to make a choice, step up and play the game. I knew I was just another vote for Ci’ere, Charlie and Jon, and it was at this point that I realised that everyone was talking to everyone else, it was the perfect time to take out a big player and tbh people were willing to do it. Everyone seemed to be happy to vote “anyone but me”. The game really started to snowball from that point as people scrambled to find their place in the game. I feel like by this time I had a good grasp on who was with who and how to make sure that I was always voting in the majority.
My gameplay was simply to survive each week, winning immunity where I could, and for the most part many of the players were just cruising through the game, not too intent on winning immunity. Yes I did feel that I needed it to keep me safe as I knew that I had no real strong bonds with people in the game and I had a pretty good grasp on who trusted who, and who was working with who. I knew pretty much everyone had a connection with Bradley, so I figured I may as well jump on that bandwagon. Once Bradley and I started talking I felt like many more options opened up for me, especially when people started talking about what a big threat he was in this game. This is where the game got messy, people started talking more and votes started getting spread a lot more randomly.
During the pre-merge part of the game I took the time to get to know a fair few players individually, but apart from our #BeautyQueen alliance I had not really made any solid alliances going forward.
The merge was the first real test of alliances, with many people talking about bradley and his massive alliance who were all apparently targeting me because….. well I am not really sure, but rumour has it, Bradley was telling people that I did not want to be here due to “videogate” so he felt it pertinent to be the one to instigate my vote out, for my benefit apparently.
I should thank him, because many other alliances were formed from this, including the ANZAC alliance, and other alliances. I knew there were a lot of cross alliances and people were very open about being in more than one.
When we got to tribe swap we were lucky to have an even 4/4 split so both new tribes had a beauty majority. We got to merge by winning both immunities and inevitably keeping ourselves safe from tribal. It was really sad to see both TJ and AJ being removed from the game over a practical joke (that admittedly went a bit too far, but in all honesty who did not have a laugh at the time). I got on really well with both of them and was really disappointed to see them removed. I do think they would have had a really high chance of going deep into this game and even all the way. #BeautyQueensForever!
Coming into this game I had never met most of the players. I did know Greg from another website, but that was it. I was on the Beauty tribe, god knows why or how, but tbh once we got to talking we had a lot of laughs. We managed to make it through the first three weeks winning rewards and immunities which helped us all get to know each other better and build a stronger foundation. I was also lucky in that we seemed to have a few players from down under (later to be known as the ANZAC’s). This helped tremendously when it came to challenges as there was nearly always someone online.
Chelle - Pemon/Kapon/X
We started this game as beauties and finished this game together. We may not have always been in the same alliance, or on the same page, but when it counted, we came together. You were always on late at night to chat to, about life, kids and even career. Games have a funny way of bringing people together and creating new friendships. I wish you were sitting here in the f3 - we were soooo close. I couldn't have done this without you, thanks for having my back even though I know you were unsure at times if I really was on your side.
Tayne - Ouro/Pemon/X
Another ANZAC, you were very hit and miss with showing up, but when you were in the game you cracked me up. I loved chatting to you, and saw you more as a friend. Once Jake left we got to talking more and started working together to try and take this game by the B****. It is a shame you left when you did, we could have had an ANZAC f3 - so close but yet so far.
Bradley - Kapon/Kapon/X
Bradley, you were the guy that everyone was talking about from day one. You came out of the gates strong and never let up. Playing with you was like a rollercoaster ride. First everyone was talking about how you were painting a big target on my back and then when we did start a conversation we managed to come together to create a force to be reconned with. To be honest, once we actually got to talking I think we came to a mutually beneficial understanding about this game and I gained a new respect for you and your game play. Cudos to you for finding that mountain of idols, and for having a great social game to match. In the end you just got outplayed, not because you don't deserve to be in the final 3, but because you just had too many allies. I would have voted you to win in the end if I was to be completely honest. Great game.
Tata - Ouro/Pemon/X
I am sorry to say that you were either very UTR or extremely inactive. You seemed to only talk to Bradley, who was very protective of you and unfortunately that was a big red flag.
Jon - Pemon/Kopan/X
You were hard to read, you were with the ANZAC alliance, with Bradley and with the rebels, so I found it hard to know what direction you would go in. In the end you chose a side, but that side was short lived and left thier run too late to make a difference in this game.
Jake - Kapon/Pemon/X
You created the ANZAC alliance, you are a funny guy who really was loved by everyone. I would have loved to get to know you better, but you already had established relationships within the game that I knew could not be broken. Your carefree attitude to the game cracked me up over and over again, I will always remember the day you told me that I was in fact your #1 and tbh it didn't really phase me much to know that you had other allies who were probably number 1 as well. I really enjoyed our conversations and your idol play was phenomenal, especially since it wasn't your idol to start with. That was a pivotal point in the game and was hilarious to watch.
Charlie - Pemon/Kapon/X
We were on the same tribe the whole game, and it seemed that we were also on the same page. I always felt like I could tell you anything, talk about anything, and generally had fun with you throughout the pre-merge part of this game. You were open about being aligned with Bradley, and When we found out he was coming after us two in particular I made sure I always had your back and did what I could to make sure one or both of us were safe. You were my anchor, and I know at times that annoyed you, but you were in fact the one constant in my game that was always present and that I felt I could always rely on. I always pictured you getting to the end tbh.
Ci'ere - Ouro/Kapon/X
We met at tribe swap and you were one of the first to let us know about the big cross tribe alliance that Bradley spearheaded. You were a big player wanting to shake up the game and take him on which I admired because we had, it seemed at first, the same ideas and goals. You and I may have had our differences but it was mainly in our approach to getting the same results. I was 100% with you until I realised that although we both needed the game to change, your way and my way were not mutually beneficial, and at the end of the day would pan out completely differently.