Final Tribal Council

[Rudy Boesch]

why did you never tried to communicate with me?
To be honest, you were never in any of my alliances and therefore I never felt the need to talk game or strategy with you. Could I have talked to you about other things? Sure, but I never did, and that is my fault.

rank the jury members from 1 to 9 [1 being best and 9 being worst] on gameplay and compare them to a survivor from the show. Explain.
1. Robb. Compared to: Brian Brian Heidik, Survivor: Thailand. Both Robb and Brian were, in my opinion, the master strategists of their season and both knew how to get into people's minds and pretty much get them to believe anything that they said.

2. Gary. Compared to: Colby Donaldson. Survivor Austrailian Outback. Like Colby, Gary was friendly and got along with pretty much everyone, but at the same time, he did tell it like it was and let it be known when someone was bullshitting. A very social person and he knew how to use this to get him further in the game.

3. Amber. Compared to: Jenna Morasca, Survivor: Amazon. Amber is so the polar opposite of her namesake. The real Amber was sweet and naive, while this game Amber is as smart, and not to mention, willy woman. She knows how the game should be played and above all, is a huge challenge threat. Also like Jenna, she can talk sweet to you and have you believing that you will go to the end with you while at the same time she has a knife behind her back.

4. Keith. Compared to: Hunter Ellis. Survivor: Marquesas. Like Hunter, Keith was screwed over by some well meaning fellow players. Strong in challenges and in strategy, he very well had made it to the end if he had not been done in by a "knucklehead"

5. Kathy, Compared to: Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien, Survivor Marquesas. Kathy is almost completely like her namesake. She is fiercely loyal and not to mention very protective of her alliance mates and friends.

6. Dan K. Compared to: Yao Man Chan. Survivor: Fiji. Since I did not know much about you Dan, I have to go on what I do know, that you lay down your torch for Eliza, and to me, that means sacrifice. Yao Man is the epitome of sacrifice on Survivor. Yao was betrayed by his "friend", but since you had to leave so soon, I can't compare much about your gameplay.

7. Eliza. Compared to: Heidi Strobel. Survivor: Amazon. Since I never did get to know Eliza, I do not have much to base this one. Other than both were Survivor hotties and from what little I have heard about Eliza, a pretty strong player.

8. Matty. Compared to: Jon "Fairplay" Dalton. Survivor: Pearl Islands. Like Fairplay, Matty caused some friction in the game and for the most part did not get along with their respective hosts. I have nothing else to base it on as I did not talk much to Matty

9. Tina. Compared to: Amber Brkich Mariano, Survivor: Australian Outback. Both Amber and Tina are sweet, trusting people and I love them both, I really do, but to be honest, neither of them really knew how to play the game. instead relying on others to get them as far as they did. I still say the smartest move Amber made was to latch onto Rob.
Both, what did you think of my decision to lay down my torch for Eliza.
I understand why you did it actually. You were leaving for an extended amount of time and it seemed to be the right thing to do to give your spot to someone who was going to stay in the game longer. Whether you and Eliza had something else going, I have no idea.

what colour are my eyes? [My eyes, not Dan's eyes]
I really have no idea. But if I had to guess, I would say green

Both, who didn't eat their rice?

It was me. I just could not do it. I was hungry, but my rice dinner te night before gave me just a bad case of diarrhea that I could not face another portion of the stuff.

which player deserves to win the most besides you two?
I would have to say Robb. He played a very good game both socially and strategically and he, more than anyone else deserves to be up here.

say which three jury members don't deserve their spots here. You can't say why. You HAVE TO say three jury members. [Not following the rules means no vote]
Matty
Tina
Eliza

why did the chicken cross the road?
You see, this particular chicken had not seen a hen in a VERY long time, so when he was walking down this road one day, he looked across it and saw a very hot chick on the other side. So that is why he crossed it, so the egg would not be the only one that got laid.

who are you rooting for in the new Tocantins season and explain why you are rooting for them. [You have to choose someone, not doing so means no vote]
That would be Jerry. As a former soldier myself, I have to root for a fellow soldier. There is also the fact that he is a sergeant, which means that he is used to a leadership position and if he is a good sergeant, he will also know how to follow orders.

[Amber Brkich]

Congrats Rudy and Rob!

I was voted out early and really have no idea how either of you played the game. I really don't care either. Rudy for some reason you don't seem to like me and always go after me. I heard it was your idea to vote me out. I love to play the game and was very disappointed that you would target me like that. There were inactive people and people that didn't want to play the game. They should have been targeted first. Because of that you won't be getting my vote.

Rob we were in that alliance, I was really hurt that everyone in my alliance and my old tribe caved and voted me out! You were the only one that came to be and told me I was being voted out. Thank you very much! I'm glad to see you manipulated you way to the end. You did what we all wanted to do, Outwit, Outplay and Outlast us all! Congrats! I was sooo glad that you got Kathy and Gary out! Man you rock!

Congrats and thanks Dennis and Ray for hosting!

Hugs,
Amber!

[Robb Zbacnik]

Hey you two! Congrats on making it to the final two...no matter how you look at it, you accomplished what everyone was trying to accomplish, so you guys played the best out of all of us.

The thing that makes this game interesting is that its easy to play a brilliant game on accident. So my vote is going to be based on purpose. Who had a better idea of what they were doing the whole time.

I believe in the Survivor motto: Outwit, Outplay, Outlast. Obviously both of you have done an equal job of outlasting so far, so I'm going to focus on the Outwit and Outplay parts.

Outwit
For each tribal council following the merge, I want you to fill out the following
Your target:
Reason:
Did this change after the challenge? To who?
Reason for new target (if necessary)
If you ended up voting against your target, how many people did you personally convince to vote with you?
If you ended up voting against someone other than your target, why did you?

Outplay
I consider outplay to refer to the challenges. Obviously the results are there for me to look at, so in this section, please tell me exactly which challenges you either threw (and why) or were not able to compete in (and why).

IMPORTANT
Keep your answers concisce. I want no more than a sentence, (maybe two) for each of your answers. Like I said, I am looking for purpose, and in my opinion, if you can't state clearly your intentions/actions in a single sentence for each of the things I am having you answer, it would appear that you don't have a clear idea of why you did certain things.

All that being said, good luck to the both of you, don't lie because we jurors are comparing notes and will know, and no matter what kind of crap everyone throws at you, you both played better than they did!

[Ian]

Because of that you won't be getting my vote.

Now people, keep your vote secretive. Another infraction of the rules and we might have to look for replacement jurors at loser lodge.

[Rudy Boesch]

Jan 20, 2009 1:58:55 GMT -5 Amber Brkich said:

Congrats Rudy and Rob!

I was voted out early and really have no idea how either of you played the game. I really don't care either. Rudy for some reason you don't seem to like me and always go after me. I heard it was your idea to vote me out. I love to play the game and was very disappointed that you would target me like that. There were inactive people and people that didn't want to play the game. They should have been targeted first. Because of that you won't be getting my vote.

Rob we were in that alliance, I was really hurt that everyone in my alliance and my old tribe caved and voted me out! You were the only one that came to be and told me I was being voted out. Thank you very much! I'm glad to see you manipulated you way to the end. You did what we all wanted to do, Outwit, Outplay and Outlast us all! Congrats! I was sooo glad that you got Kathy and Gary out! Man you rock!

Congrats and thanks Dennis and Ray for hosting!

Hugs,
Amber!

Amber, even though I don't have your vote. I would like to respond to your statement please.

You are right, at the time that you were voted off there were in actives and people who did not want to be there. I knew that. What I also knew is that you are a very strong player and downright dangerous when it came to challenges, especially individual ones. I saw the chance to get rid of a threatening player while I had the chance, before you went on an immunity run, and I took it. In other words, I was playing the game. It was never about you personally, I have nothing but respect about you, and yes, you and I have had our differences personally, but that vote was only about getting a strong player out while I could.

Thank you, and good luck with your vote. though it is already made

[Eliza Orlins]

Congrats on both making it to the finale, one so more than the other.

Rob, you played with the majority for alot of the game and whilst I understand it got you to where you are - it doesn't show me why you're a deserving winner when you went along with other people's decisions.

Rudy, I haven't seen one move that you've made maybe it was because you were quiet but this is also a social game and without socialising - you don't win votes. So I also have reservations as to why you would be a deserving winner.

QUESTIONS.
Rudy - who didn't you really get to talk with in the game? I'm not saying you're the only one who didn't talk because conversation goes both ways but it seems as if it was easier for you to not talk to me because you were voting me off earlier anyway. If you could do it differently - would you have made more of an effort to get to know me?

Rob - We've played together in a game before and we were really, really good friends in it. You kept saying sorry about voting for me the first time and promised to stick together/allign from there on. But then you did go against me and vote for me anyway. Why do you deserve my vote when you lied to me when you could have just said "I'm sticking with the majority?"

Well you never responded to my PM yesterday so I said I'd go along with the majority sorry.

and just because I didn't respond to a Pm? O.o

To both of you
Name 3 positive things about the other person.
Name 3 negative things about the other person.
What jury member do u think doesnt deserve to be on the jury?

[Rudy Boesch]

Rudy - who didn't you really get to talk with in the game? I'm not saying you're the only one who didn't talk because conversation goes both ways but it seems as if it was easier for you to not talk to me because you were voting me off earlier anyway. If you could do it differently - would you have made more of an effort to get to know me?

There were a few people who I never did talk to to. You, Matty, and Dan K. Like you said, conversation goes both ways, but I could have made a better effort to talk to you. We did have a mini PM conversation the first round after the merge the round that Amber went, and you even offered to bring our two alliances together. As it is, I did not take you up on that (obviously) and then stopped talking to you before voting you off. One of the many reasons I was an ass in this game. All I can say is that I am sorry.


Name 3 positive things about the other person.
Rob is:
Very loyal
More social
Honorable

Name 3 negative things about the other person.
Rob is:
Needs some work on strategy
Not as good at challenges
sometimes too trusting

What jury member do u think doesnt deserve to be on the jury?
While every one of you have earned your jury spot in some way, I am going to have to pick Amber, and only because of her statement to the two of us. It is fine to have your mind made up before even questioning, but only moderately. But to come out and just tell someone that..I don't agree with. I did not even agree with Sue's speech to Richard. I am sorry Amber, but thats just how I feel about it. I gave you my reasoning behind your vote out in my answer to you, so I will not repeat it here. So that would be my answer.

Thank you Eliza, and good luck with your vote.

[Dan Kay]

Thanks for your answers Rudy, I'll wait for Rob's

[Rudy Boesch]

For each tribal council following the merge, I want you to fill out the following
Round eight:
Your target:Amber
Reason:She was a threat both to me and in challenges
Did this change after the challenge? To who? No
Reason for new target (if necessary)N/A
If you ended up voting against your target, how many people did you personally convince to vote with you?Three to four I believe
If you ended up voting against someone other than your target, why did you?N/A

Round nine:
Your target:Matty
Reason:I had not talked to him much and he was outside of my alliance
Did this change after the challenge? To who? No
Reason for new target (if necessary)N/A
If you ended up voting against your target, how many people did you personally convince to vote with you?Personally, no one
If you ended up voting against someone other than your target, why did you?N/A

Round ten;
Your target:Eliza
Reason:She was a huge threat and outside of my alliance. Plus I had not talked to her all that much
Did this change after the challenge? To who? Yes Dan
Reason for new target (if necessary)Dan wanted to go.
If you ended up voting against your target, how many people did you personally convince to vote with you?There was really no need to convince anyone. He wanted to go.
If you ended up voting against someone other than your target, why did you?N/A

Round eleven:
Your target:Dan
Reason:Again, he wanted to go
Did this change after the challenge? To who? No
Reason for new target (if necessary)N/A
If you ended up voting against your target, how many people did you personally convince to vote with you?There was no need to.
If you ended up voting against someone other than your target, why did you?N/A

Round twelve
Your target:No one. This was when I was gone and out of the loop
Reason:N/A
Did this change after the challenge? To who? Yes to Tina
Reason for new target (if necessary)I had heard that it was either me or her, so I deflected all of the heat to her.
If you ended up voting against your target, how many people did you personally convince to vote with you?
If you ended up voting against someone other than your target, why did you?to save my own ass

Round thirteen:
Your target:Gary
Reason:I was looking to the jury at this point, and knew that he would kill me if it came to me and him.
Did this change after the challenge? To who? Yes, after much thought, to Keith
Reason for new target (if necessary)My gut feeling and loyalty to Gary
If you ended up voting against your target, how many people did you personally convince to vote with you?
If you ended up voting against someone other than your target, why did you?Loyalty to Gary and desire to get further in the game

Round fourteen:
Your target:Gary
Reason:He came to me and said that he was voting for me since he heard that I was plotting against him in the previous round. I did the same.

Did this change after the challenge? To who? No
Reason for new target (if necessary)N/A
If you ended up voting against your target, how many people did you personally convince to vote with you?None
If you ended up voting against someone other than your target, why did you?N/A

Round fifteen:
Your target:Gary
Reason:I was hoping that he did not win immunity as again, I saw him as a huge challenge and jury threat. Even though we made ammeds before this round.
Did this change after the challenge? To who? No
Reason for new target (if necessary)N/A
If you ended up voting against your target, how many people did you personally convince to vote with you?one
If you ended up voting against someone other than your target, why did you?N/A

Round Sixteen:
Your target:Robb
Reason:When I won the final challenge, I admit that I thought that I would get killed by you in front of the jury
Did this change after the challenge? To who? No
Reason for new target (if necessary)N/A
If you ended up voting against your target, how many people did you personally convince to vote with you?N/A
If you ended up voting against someone other than your target, why did you?N/A

Outplay
I consider outplay to refer to the challenges. Obviously the results are there for me to look at, so in this section, please tell me exactly which challenges you either threw (and why) or were not able to compete in (and why).

Challenge 1: Could not do it due to work and school obligations.

Challenge 4: Sat out

Challenge 9: I was feeling safe, so I threw the challenge (stupidly). that and I really did not have time.

Challenge 11: Studying for finals, and actually forgot about it for a bit!

Challenge 12: I was back home and had no internet at the time

Challenge 14: Spotty internet. Actually tried the challenge but gave up in frustration.

All of the rest I competed it.

Thanks for your question Robb, and good luck.

[Matty Whitmore]

I think I'm a juror???

Well, as I was the best player in this game, once I got out I didn't really pay much attention to the game. I will however say that I already know who I'm voting for, and unless the other one can completely change my mind that's set in stone.

Rob, you told me that my final words are what lead to getting Eliza out after me. I'd like to know if that was true! Cause if so then I'm verrrrry glad I could help you out!

Rob, you were my main ally and honestly I don't know if you were loyal to me or not but it doesn't matter to me in the slightest. You're a good guy, and in my opinion have controlled this game for a LONG time. You overcame opposition, and in my opinion have had a MUCH tougher road getting to the finals than Rudy has. So that makes you more attractive from a voting standpoint.

Rudy, I know nothing about you. Nothing. And that's a problem, because even I knew that Robb was good at challenges and Rob was completely owning in the social and mental game. I haven't heard of what you've done. So please, tell me what you've done the whole game! I want to know everything! What are the things you're most proud of in the game? Also, I'd like you to tell me why I should NOT vote for you. Why don't you deserve to win this game? and if you give me "Oh I do deserve to win" you'll be losing my vote.

Rob, I'd like you to tell the jury all the moves you've odne that you're proud of. Because in the jury house I posted how you were the master of this game and how the most MASTERFUL part of it all was that they still didn't even know it! Even AFTER they'd gotten booted! So please make your case! Own up to all the moves you made that got YOU to the final two!

[Rudy Boesch]

Rudy, I know nothing about you. Nothing. And that's a problem, because even I knew that Robb was good at challenges and Rob was completely owning in the social and mental game. I haven't heard of what you've done. So please, tell me what you've done the whole game! I want to know everything! What are the things you're most proud of in the game? Also, I'd like you to tell me why I should NOT vote for you. Why don't you deserve to win this game? and if you give me "Oh I do deserve to win" you'll be losing my vote.

Well, before the merge, I admit, things were pretty boring. I participated in challenges, talked to a few tribemates, and was lucky enough to never have to go to tribal before the merge. I was friendly with a few people, and even had a few "watch your back" agrements wtih a few people...like Kathy,Gary and Tina. This was a new tactic for me as I am usually in an alliance within the first two days of a game. But while it was new, it was something that I wanted to try. After the merge, things started to heat up. I solidified my relationship with Gary and Kathy and it became my first official alliance. The first round after the merge I pushed hard to get Amber out of the game as I knew what kind of player that she is and knew that if she stayed in the game much longer, she would be a threat to not only me, but everyone else. So I used that info to rally to get her out, and it obviously worked. Things settled down for a few more rounds, and during that time I worked on solidifying my alliance with Gary and Kathy. It was also during this time that Keith came to me with an offer. For him, me and Kathy to get together and work to get out Gary. If not that round, but in the near future. Now I liked Gary, still do, so I was a bit hesitant at first, but gave in eventually, thinking that I could sort things out later, if that time ever did come. It eventually did come and it was Gary and Keith on the block. I could choose to stick with my new alliance of Keith and Kathy or could vote with Gary and Kathy and get Keith from the game. As I have said before, I was going to vote with Keith, but something just told me that that was the wrong move, and I felt some loyalty to Gary, so I ended up turning on Keith and voted him out.

There was also the round that Tina went. Now this is the part of the game where I could not be around as much as I wanted to due to the fact that I was traveling and spending time with family during the holidays, etc...So when I finally did get a somewhat stable internet connection, I found out hours before the vote that it was either me or Tina going home. Now I could have tried and deflected the vote to someone else, but I only saw that I wanted to win, so I worked with Gary and Robb along with Kathy and we sent Tina home. During the final four, I told Gary that I would be voting Rob with him and Rob and Robb would be voting for him. This would have made it a 2-2 tie, but I had lied to Gar and did in fact vote for him that round, though it was harder to do so that round than the round before when he had told me that he was voting for me.

The moment I am most proud of is the final three. I had a gut feeling that neither one of the other two would have taken me with them had they won, so I knew that I needed to win that final challenge to have any kind of chance. So over the three days that the challenge took place, I worked my ass off working on that challenge and was lucky enough to have won it. Now I was in control again and (obviously) chose to take Rob with me. I am proud of that, but I am also proud of the way that I worked my way out of trouble during times when I could not be around the game as much. I was in trouble, and could not communicate as much as I would have liked, but I still managed to hang in there, and stay away from any major trouble.

Why don't I deserve to be here? Well, I have played this game differently than I usually do. Usually I am a lot more social, and try to never lie unless I have to. In this game, I did lie, and there were times when I lied and did not have to. I did not like the way I played and as Keith said, I was a tool, and I admit that. Even though it got me to the final two, I do not think I will play that way again. I was not as social as Rob and perhaps he made a few more moves than me. Keeping that in mind, it could be said that it was only luck that I am even sitting here. So to sum it up, I do not deserve to be here because I played a dirtier than average game and was not nearly social enough. Those are also pretty good reasons why you should not vote for me over Rob.

Thank you Matty, and I hope that I have changed your mind.

[Rob Mariano]

Jan 19, 2009 12:21:53 GMT -5 Tina Wesson said:

Razzle-dazzle me.. kiss up...beg...write me a poem... sing .. dance.. whatever you feel you need to do to get my vote Best BS'r wins...maybe.

Hey Tina it's great to see you again! You are such a great friend of mine and I will never forget all the great discussions we've had together. I figured I would take this opportunity to wow you and the rest of this jury by pointing out all the cool little tidbits that I've learned about you over the years:

-You have the artistic talent of a two year old, lol.
-You live in Albuquerque, New Mexico. However, you've also lived in Michigan, Nevada, and Missouri and you grew up in Nebraska. -
Your favorite movies are Fried Green Tomatoes and the American President.
-Some of your “buddies” from online in general are Ben, Becky, Joel, Ray, Matt (madtiger), Dustin, Jawa, Cindi, Rich, Eric and me.
-You are recently married. You and your husband, Eddie, have been married for about a few years now and you had your honeymoon in Vegas.
-You love pikachu.
-Your favorite type of food to eat is Chinese.
-You love to drink diet pepsi.
-Your husband, Eddie, is a Vietnam War hero from Philly.
-You always carry your cell phone on you at all times.
-I think you currently work at Verizon and used to work in the customer call service center…you got promoted about a year ago to a management position after having been there just a little over a year. Some of the jobs you've had in your career are... working with asphalt sales, you had a job at Sears, you've been a drug and rehab counselor and you worked in a casino in las vegas.
-You love cats and you have a cat I believe named Tabitha whos an Ocicat.
-Your dad passed away a few years ago after living a long life of 85 years.
-Some of your hobbies are playing golf and going to pogo.com.
-You love playing spades.
-You go by the nickname asphalt princess because you sold asphalt equipment in a male dominated industry.
-You love Girl Scout cookies!
-You used to be a girl scout.
-You are a big fan of Willie Nelson's music
-You've gone on just on 2-3 hours of sleep for one day on more than one occasion!
-Your astrological zodiac sign is Cancer

[Tina Wesson]

;D I'm satisfied with the responses from the 2 R's

[Rob Mariano]

Jan 19, 2009 19:48:52 GMT -5 Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien said:

Congrats guys for a game well-played! I have played with both of you before in at least one game but not as closely as I have in this game. That has been a real pleasure. Both of you are great competitors and have your own different style of playing with your own special strengths.
Rob you always tried to find time to chat and I really enjoyed these chats and getting to know you better this game. Toward the end of the game you did try to work with me but there was no way I could obligate myself to another person and go against the alliances I already had even if it meant risking being voted out. You are a good player and you made the game more enjoyable.

My questions are for both of you.

1. List all the strategic moves you made in this game.
2. What voting decisions did you influence and why did you target that particular person?
3. What risks did you take in the game that forced you out of your comfort zone?

The best of luck to both of you!

1 & 2.

My first strategic move came back on my original tribe when I aligned with Tina and Rudy. I figured forming an alliance of 3 in a tribe of 5 people was a great way to ensure out safety. Fortunately, my tribe won every challenge and it didnt matter cuz we never had to go tribal council anyway.

Then we had a twist and I stayed on the Miraflores Tribe but it now contained my girl Amber and my boys Keith and Matty. I immediately bonded with both of them and Keith offered me a final 3 with him and Amber which I immediately acceted and Matty offered me a final 2 which I gladly accepted as well. Those were strategic decisions that I made because I didnt know when we would actually have to go to tribal council or what other twists may take place before then so I figured I might as well make whatever alliances I needed to make to ensure my safety. Those strategic decisions paid instant dividends because as luck would have it we never lost a challenge until after another twist had taken place and Ace was put on our tribe. Being as close as I was to Matty, Keith and Amber it made the tribal council a no brainer and we voted Ace off unanimously. I personally wanted him gone because he had caused alot of trouble for me in another game and I remembered him as being a real snake.

My next strategic decision came after the next twist, when I was put on a tribe with Amber,Keith,Matty,Sherea and Tina. We had to go to tribal council and I made the decision that Sherea was the most expendable to me at the time. I had a good final 3 in place with Keith and Amber and I also had a final 2 with Matty and a final 2 with Tina. As much as I liked Sherea, I didnt have any firm alliance in place with her and she wasnt very active at the time so I decided that it benefitted me the most to vote her out.

Now it was merge/jury time and all hell broke loose. My entire tribe of Amber, Keith, Matty, Tina and I were all aligned going into the merge and the plan was to vote for Eliza together but then all of a sudden we realized who Eliza really was. For some reason she had a different AIM screen name listed in the signup section so nobody from our tribe recognized her and she just happened to be the target that round because we figured none of us could influence her vote at all. Then Eliza suddenly IMed me before the vote and told me that she was someone who had helped me out in a prior game before. At the same time, my boy Matty sent me a PM saying that he changed his mind and he wanted to vote Amber out of the game. All this really made my head spin but I kept the presence of mind to tell Eliza that she had nothing to worry about, agreeing not to vote for her and immediately going back to my alliance of Keith, Tina and Amber PMing them all ABORT so they would know not to vote Eliza and draw immediate suspicion for the upcoming rounds. I knew that no matter what I did I could not keep Amber in the game because without Matty's vote we were in the minority and now that I knew who Eliza was I wanted to keep her around anyway. So I made the strategic decision to tell Amber that unfortunately we didnt have the votes to keep her in the game and I voted for her along with every other player in the game. I believe this decision really helped keep me and most of my allies under the radar and that is part of the reason I got as far as I did.

After Amber left the game, it seemed pretty clear to me that the former Monterrico tribe of Dan,Eliza,Gary, Kathy, Robb and Rudy Boesch had some sort of alliance and that I needed to do whatever it took to break it up but I also needed to wait until I had the numbers to do it. Keith came to me and said now that Amber was gone he was thinking that we should bring Tina into our final 3 plans. This was perfect for me because I already had seperate final 2 deals with Tina and Matty so I felt really comfortable forming a final 3 with Keith and Tina. Matty talked to me about voting Kathy out that round and I would've loved to be able to pull that off because Matty was a much closer ally to me and Kathy was a huge threat, but Eliza told me she was voting for Matty and I knew my vote couldnt help him so I made the decision to vote for Matty since I knew he was leaving anyway and it wasnt quite time yet to make my big power moves in this game.

After Matty left I was in the final 9 and the numbers were a bit more managable because all it would take is 5 votes to actually give us majority. I already had my close allies Keith and Tina and we only needed to add 2 more people so I agreed to join forces with Rudy and Kathy and eventually Robb as well so I agreed to vote for Eliza. Eliza had PMed me asking to vote for Tina but Tina was my closest ally in the game and there was no way I could afford to send Tina packing. I made the strategic decision to vote for Eliza eventhough I loved her based on our past gaming history I didnt feel like I had a rock solid alliance with her in this particular game so I figured voting her was in my best interest because it would keep my core alliance of Keith and Tina in tact.

In the final 8 Keith informed me that Dan had gone on vacation. I exploited the opportunity by telling everyone I spoke to that round how the upcoming vote would really be a no brainer because Dan is away on vacation so it wouldnt be fair to vote for anyone else. This strategy worked as Dan was voted out in a unanimous vote and he voted for me that round. I am glad that I made the strategic decision to take Dan out before his vote for me wouldve done some serious damage. I knew he was the one person who made the merge that I never had a chance to bond with so it was only a matter of time before we were going to target eachother.

The following round I was away on vacation myself in Mexico but I brought my laptop with me and made every effort I could to communicate with everyone. Unfortunately, Keith and Tina told me they believed that our alliance with Rudy and Kathy had been short-lived and no longer existent. Basically our only chance to keep our alliance in tact was for the 3 of us to vote for Rudy and hope that Rudy would self vote. I did not like this idea at all because I knew Rudy cared enough about the game not to self vote and I believed that we needed Rudy on our side and if we were to vote him we would lose his trust. Somehow I managed to convince Keith and Tina without even realizing I had convinced them so they actually voted for Gary that round and I voted for Rudy thinking that we all needed to vote the same way. Unfortunately, it didnt matter how Tina, Keith and I voted that round because Gary, Robb, Rudy and Kathy had already formed a final 4 deal and they were able to vote Tina out because they had the majority.

After Tina left me I was basically down to only having Keith left out of all the allies I entered the merge with. Although I had made meaningful bonds with Robb, Gary, Kathy and Rudy, I was not formally aligned with any of them yet at this point. So I talked to my boy Keith and we decided that the best thing for us to do was to hope that Rudy and Kathy see Gary as their biggest threat and agree to vote him out so thats who we voted for. I discussed a bunch of ideas with Keith about what we could say to Rudy and then we did everything we could to try to convince Rudy to vote for Gary with us. We came so close but at the last minute Rudy and Kathy changed their minds and voted Keith out at tribal council.

When I entered the final 5, I had absolutely no allies remaining and it was me against the world. You, Robb, Gary, Rudy had what appeared to be an unbreakable alliance and I appeared to be a sitting duck just waiting to get the PM from Gary saying its your time to go this round. Fortunately, Rudy sent Keith a PM right before TC telling him that he was voting him out and Keith sent me a bunch of PMs and AIM convos that he had with Rudy and you plottting to get rid of Gary. In the final 5, I made the strategic decision to show these conversations and PMs to Robb and Gary because Keith told me that you and Rudy could not be trusted after what you did to him. I geniunely trusted Keith and I knew he was looking out for my best interests so I took these convos to Robb and Gary and Robb told me he was so glad I came to him because he was planning to IM me himself. Robb wanted to vote you out but Gary didnt want to. That was when Robb and I made the strategic decision to convince Gary I would be willing to vote for Rudy with him, knowing that you were voting for me and Rudy was voting for Gary. This way Robb and I could vote you out without even having majority in a 2-1-1-1 shocking blindside. If I made the decision to vote for anyone other than you that round I believe you would've won the game and I wouldn't be sitting here today.

The following round, Gary asked me what I thought about the ucoming vote and I said I figured it would be either me or Rudy going next and he responded by telling me that he decided to vote me out cuz I was his biggest personal threat. As soon as I heard this I focused all my efforts for the next 18 hours on making sure that Robb and Rudy realized Gary was unbeatable and he was a much bigger jury threat than I am. I made seperate final 2 deals with Robb and Rudy and I did everything I could possibly do to make them feel comfortable with me. Once I did that I decided to blindside Gary and not take any chances that he would convince Robb or Rudy to vote with him one last time for old times sake. This was a big strategic move I made because it enabled me to further break up a close knit alliance that had been together long before I was ever in the picture.

3.

I took alot of risks throughout this game such as voting for Rudy the round that Tina was voted out strictly out of blind loyalty to Tina. I knew that I would need to work with Rudy down the road in order to survive but I took the risk that he wouldnt hold that particular round against me later in the game and it paid off because Rudy understood it was just a gameplay decision and Im glad I didnt have to vote for Tina cuz she's a great friend.

Similarly, the following round I was unwilling to vote for Keith so I took a risk and voted for Gary eventhough Keith and I didnt think that Rudy and Kathy were going to keep their words to us and vote for Gary. I knew that Gary was a big time power player and there was a good chance he'd want revenge against me for voting him but I took the risk anyway because Keith was my last remaining ally at the time.

The biggest risk I took all game was the round that I voted you out. I knew that you had definately voted for me and there was a chance that Gary had as well so the safe thing for me to do would've been to vote Gary out with Robb and Rudy. However, I wanted to take the risk and vote for you because I knew that you had a final 2 deal with Gary and another final 2 deal with Rudy so this was the last opportunity I would have to take you out for the remainder of the game.

I also took a big risk when I blindsided Gary the following Tribal Council. I could have easily been the one to go that round but I put my trust in Robb and Rudy and it paid off. It seems pretty clear from Gary's jury question that my decision hurt his feelings though and that wasnt my intention. It looks like that risk may not have paid off too well but only time will tell.

[Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien]

Thanks Rudy & Rob for taking the time to answer my questions. It has been a pleasure playing with both of you. You were part of the reason the game has been so much fun. Good luck to ya!