Stranded with Allies

Hey everyone, hope you’re all doing well!
First I want to thank the hosts to dedicate their time for this game. This was indeed a stressful journey for all of us and despite what happened between all of us whether it was a conflict or whatever, we should all remind ourselves that this is just a game, and we were all here to have a good time and we should all be proud of ourselves for being selected as AllStars!

What I’m about to say is going to be a bit long, and I apologize in advance. I did my best to avoid a recap but I do think it’s quite necessary in my case considering UTR gameplay can be a bit of a mystery to some. Therefore, I’ll mention few key points here and there that contributed as to why I am sitting here and deserving of the title, so with that being said let’s get started!





So as we all know, I came into this game without a partner and unlike most of you I didn’t really have the privilege to have someone that I can freely discuss strategy with. I mean sure, I may have had immunity for the first round, and I was getting along quite well with my tribemates but I was really looking forward to have a partner in this game that I could have relied on. Again, sure.. for some of you we’ve crossed path and worked together for a good chunk of this game, but deep down I always knew that I wasn’t really anyone’s #1 ally.
On the bright side of things, being a lone-wolf in this game wasn’t so bad. It definitely had its advantages and disadvantages. For example, being without a partner It definitely gave me an advantage over the other pairs because solos weren’t viewed as a threat which was great for the first portion of this game. However, I think it came to a point where I was viewed as someone’s extra vote or an additional number to an alliance, and this happened to be my main struggle in this game. I had to fight this perception that I was some mindless follower, and of course it’s not very easy when you’re this introverted quiet person and you’re surrounded with OTT players that have this thirst for control! Not going to lie, making myself heard wasn’t an easy task, and at times a lot of my ideas were kinda shut down, and I didn’t really have any say in things which was fine because main goal here wasn’t to be in control or lead an army against another alliance. I wanted to improve my relationships with people, what I’ve failed to do in my previous seasons, and essentially being on good terms with everyone making sure that my name wasn’t going to be brought up at tribal, and I think I’ve managed to do that pretty well, I didn’t get a single vote cast against me and during the merge a lot of people came up to me saying that my name was always in the clear.

Also, coming in this game, I knew I wasn’t going to be someone who would excel in challenges, nor had this amazing skill to find idols/prizes and perform great moves. Therefore, I had to be aware of my strengths and rely on the cards that I have which was to play an UTR game and befriended people who were in power. Those people could have been a powerful alliance (Indo crew), idol holders, and indestructible pair (Tammy & Heidi, Dan & Sierra) you name it, I think that’s what played a factor as to why I am sitting here.

Pre-merge

Back in Pohnpei, I really liked my tribe. Me and Dan hit it off really well and he was someone I was afraid I was going to clash with initially, but we turned out to be great allies. Sierra and Ozzy were other favourites of mine, they both were very personable and I enjoyed my time with them. However..Ozzy was going to be someone I would consider in this game as my biggest rival and someone I had to keep an eye on because I knew he was going to be this player to watch out for. I got along with Nate as well, but he was someone who I was a bit warry of because I knew he had the first idol, and he happened to be quite close to Dan and Sierra, and also to Ozzy. I did stumble upon few interesting stuff when I was lurking Suriname & Faroe so, I knew what to expect from these two especially when it came down to idols! Luckily for our tribe, we didn’t really had to go to tribal because we had 2 default boots, and even though there was a blindside set in motion for Jessica to go, I always made sure that I was in good terms with Ozzy and Mookie because considering there was a swap, I didn’t want neither of them to be upset at me.

We then swapped, and myself, Ozzy and Dan remained on Pohnpei (2.0) There was an idol in our camp and I knew Ozzy found it, and this is where my relationship with Ozzy strengthened a bit. Our first vote was between Cass and Heidi , and there was a big alliance which consisted of the Indo +Naurus and I was part of it. I was in a good position in this tribe, I had Dan, Ozzy from Pohnpei and I was on good terms with Rocky, Drew who I knew without a doubt they wouldn’t have put my name down. My goal was to be in good terms with those in power, and those people were Dan and Ozzy: the leader and the idol holder.

We swapped again, and I ended up being in Saipan with again Ozzy and Dan but only this time..I really wasn’t in a majority, and it was kinda quiet, not a lot of people were ON.. in fact my inbox was really empty, it was just bizarre. I didn’t get a good vibe in terms of ~safety~ , but I was hoping that if I had to go to tribal I would have been at least safe. I noticed Ozzy did maneuvered himself in a good position with the former Saipans, and as soon the skype leak was posted. I immediately went to him and told him that If he found the idol, that he can tell me about it and I would have been happy. He denied it but I knew he was lying. My intention here was to build some trust with him and I think it worked, because the next round he came clean about finding the idol and my name was brought up by the former Saipan and he deflected it . Luckily here again we won every challenge, and we didn’t have to go tribal and I was very happy about it because I was scared about the possibility of losing Dan or myself.

Early Merge

At the merge, I felt very confident about my position in the game. I can sense there was going to be a clear division between the Indo crew +Naurus and those who were against the Indonesia alliance. So I really had to take some precaution here in case I were to find myself in a minority in the next round or two (which it did!). So, I tried to get in touch with everyone and I remember the first round of the merge , I went to Tammy and proposed a deal that we should look out for each other. Me and her weren’t really close back in Saipan, but we understood each other in terms of playing this game without being too OTT. We had similarities and we both weren’t playing to become this big character in this game, which is why I felt that she’d be the ideal person from the opposite alliance to reached out too. I think Rich came out to me for a deal but I didn’t really bank on it considering there were a lot of people that were out to get him and I didn’t really want to go against a majority and I don’t know how serious he was.

The round Drew got voted out, it was very obvious to me that Ozzy was going to play his idol, and I think he even hinted that I wasn’t really helping my game by sticking with the Indo crew, and I fully understood that but I had no intention of flipping on them , I trusted the people that I was with and I didn’t really see any advantage of flipping the script. Therefore, I stood by my alliance and next thing you know my side happened to be in the minority, but I wasn’t really stressed out about it. I mean usually whenever I’m on the wrong side of numbers, I’ll get worried but because I felt quite confident about my position in the game, and the work I’ve put since the merge on some people, I was a bit optimistic about my chances that I was going to survive those next few eliminations.

Once Dan and Rocky left which I was very sad about, me and Sierra grew closer and this is where she actually shined and took control of the next few rounds. I believe it was around the Final 9, the idol was already found by Nate and myself and Sierra were discussing our next plan of action because something needed to happen.
The good thing was that, we both started having a lot of options. People were turning on each other, the boys (Nate/Ozzy/Penner) weren’t really happy with the idea that Tammy and Heidi were holding on to their necklaces, and you had the girls Tammy and Heidi who wanted to flush the idol right away with the help of my vote and Sierra &Sugar as well. I remember making a suggestion to Sierra that targeting Val would probably be our best option here because those two sides will still be gunning for one another which could serve us as a shield for the time being. Sierra agreed or had the same thought and she went and spearheaded the Val vote and the Pohnpei left overs which were myself, Sierra Ozzy and Nate were once reunited, but I didn’t really have too much faith in it because it was obvious that those boys were hiding about the idol.
Meanwhile, there was another alliance that was solidified between myself, Penner, Sierra and Sugar called the Sleeper Cell alliance which was created by Penner. I had much faith in this one because I do believe Penner’s intentions were good and he wasn’t going to scumbag the 3 of us, at least not me.

Once Val went, the idol became the main worry for everyone in the game and with the help of Heidi and Tammy and our sleeper cell alliance we were able to blindside Nate. Speaking of idols, I knew exactly who had the idols. People came to me with their suspicions, but I caught them at the right time and it was very easy to see who had them with the online feature, and one thing that I picked up which was hilarious is once Heidi and Tammy had their necklaces, mostly the boys were concerned about their necklaces but in return they’ve never mentioned the word “idol” to me , so that kinda tells me you probably knew who had it, so it was quite telling that you either were the idol holder or you were probably covering for that person lol

Then next round was a bit complicated, in our minds the four of us (sleeper cell) thought that we would have had the numbers to take out Heidi 4-3. There’s been some talks about the possibility if Heidi were to win immunity who should we target next? Some people suggested Tammy because it made sense safety-wise for the 4 of us (sleeper cell alliance) we wouldn’t have as much option for the next vote. However, I was beginning to fear Ozzy and his relationship with Sierra and Heidi. I didn’t really know where he’d fit in this equation, crafty players for me personally are a top priority in this game. You don’t know what they’re thinking or what they’re capable of , hence they’re a big fear of mine, you can’t let them survive for too long especially if they’re the biggest contenders to win this game. Therefore, I tried to put the votes on Ozzy instead , and myself and Penner were trying to save Tammy. This is where I actually had to go behind Sierra a bit, because she didn’t really want to do that, because it would have worked her against her, and I felt bad but at that point, obviously she and Ozzy were the biggest threat left in the game and considering they were probably close it made me worried. If I had to sit next to either of them, they would have annihilated me in front of a jury.
Then it came down to the vote and surprise! an extra vote was played and we had to go to rocks. It did crossed my mind whether or not I should have just not went with it and vote Sugar, but as soon as I realized Ozzy’s name was going to be in the pool for the rock draw, I had to go for it. Unfortunately, Sierra ended up leaving and I felt bad but honestly not going to lie it benefited me a bit, even though she was a jury threat and I still wanted her in the game over few people, because I knew she had my back, but I didn’t really have to worry about the possibility of turning on her.

F6 and onwards

From a gameplay perspective , this is where things finally got interesting for me . There was only 3 of us left that I could depend on (Sugar and Penner) but I was still in good terms with Tammy despite her lying to me last round about the extra vote. I pitched a concern in our Sleeper Cell alliance that Ozzy needed to go and maybe Tammy will sway to our side, because I can tell Tammy wanted to vote for Ozzy but the problem is NO ONE wanted to put themselves in a minority position.. and it was quite funny because both Heidi and Tammy were already in the minority since according to Penner, I knew Ozzy was willing to flip.

Penner really pushed for the idea that we vote Heidi out, and I told him that maybe we should vote for Ozzy and not risk a chance and vote 3-2-1 or if it’s 3-3 we can use that ammo against him during the revote that he was willing to flip. I then told both Sugar and Penner the main risk that if Heidi were to go, Tammy would have been immune and if Ozzy were to win immunity next round , one of us 3 would have to go. Neither Penner nor Sugar were concerned, in fact , Penner insisted that we should just stick with the plan and that next round we had to make sure that Ozzy doesn’t win. I agreed with it.. but that wasn’t good for me. I wasn’t going to risk my safety in this game for someone who I was suspicious from the very start. So, I hit Tammy up, and I wanted to see who she and Heidi were voting, she told me it was Sugar and I made sure that I left out the detail that Ozzy was considering flipping because it would have complicated things and I’m scared if Tammy would have ran back to Heidi and then without a doubt Heidi would have confronted Ozzy, and it would have ended horribly.
Therefore, I just waited for tribal, but it was clear as day that I was going to vote for Sugar and as soon as Ozzy publicly told the girls during tribal that he was considering of voting Heidi out and he didn’t want to go to rocks. It was like.. there’s my shot! I can finally expose him and in the end Sugar ended up leaving 4-2 which I felt really bad about it, but it was the correct move for me.

The following round which was technically the second half of the double , I went to the girls and I pitched the idea that we should vote for Ozzy next assuming he doesn’t win immunity because we couldn’t let him getting near the end. My main fear was that he was going to be one immunity away from winning the whole game, and that was a big risk. Tammy was on board but It took a lot of convincing for Heidi to vote for Ozzy, but she didn’t really had much choice here considering the boys were targeting her.

I guess you could say that there was a risk of letting a PAIR getting through the final 4 and I was fully aware of the consequences. However, knowing that I played this game under the radar, sometimes I felt like I needed some backup evidence, because sure I could just sit here and tell you guys that I played well but I’ve got nothing to prove, and voting Ozzy out was the move, or should I say evidence on paper that I needed to show to the jurors and even the hosts, that I wasn’t just this follower and I gave a damn about my position in this game and more importantly I cared about winning.

Next round, with the four of us left including a duo. I knew I had to work hard for that immunity and I managed to win. I was left with a decision whether to take one of the girls out or vote out Penner. Honestly, after looking back on the votes and predicting where they will fall. I believed it was in my best interest vote out Penner because he had a lot of votes and although he told me he had issues with some of the jurors. I couldn’t just bank on a bitter jury, and which is why I do believe that my chances were better going with Tammy and Heidi, and it was something that I had in mind for a while.

Why am I deserving?

So here I am , sitting at the final 3. I think I played well, it was definitely some journey! The biggest obstacle that I had to struggled with was the pressure to build a mark for myself in this game. Round by round, there were times which I felt hopeless and even at tribal I was asked so many questions about what was my role in here, and those things messes up with your confidence and your mind because I was always worried of how people perceived me, but in the end I never gave up, I was determined to do well.

I’ve built key relationships with those who were in power that helped me in this game.
I didn’t need to depend on prizes or challenges to get myself further, and throughout the merge I was always in a much better position than those who were also in the minority which speaks volume that I was someone ~likable~, and on top of that I got zero vote cast against me.

For some of you our conversations may have limited on gameplay others on small talks, but nonetheless, I did put the effort in every conversation, engaging in small talks whether it was gameplay, personal life, or survivor lol I tried my best to reach out to each one of you.

Overall, I’m pretty proud of myself, I finally found my footing in this game, and sure it may have taken a long time, and I've always described myself as a late bloomer, but in the end it was a strong finish and I’m very happy! I’ve played this game 3 times, went from a pre-juror, a juror and now a finalist, I can’t complain really

Thank you everyone for reading this, I apologize again for the length, and I look forward to your questions!