Episode 13

[Holly Hoffman]

Ok, that was up there as one of the most dramatic tribal councils I have witnessed in Stranded.

What happened? Even I'm shocked and I'm not even playing!

How did that vote go down? How do the voting lines influence how this game will go? What's your next step?

[Cirie]

Well, Gregg went home due a rule technicality! I'm looking at you, Probst! The dude hates my guts!

[Cirie]

I’m battling a huge perception problem right now! I think a lot of players are underestimating my abilities due to my poor performance at the beginning. (I’m sure many people plan to bring me to the end as a goat.) However, I’ve turned my game around and nobody has paid attention! I think most people are relying on an antiquated narrative that doesn’t really fit how I’m actually playing this game. Nobody is stopping to reassess my game play under new circumstances.

John accused me of being “brainwashed” when I was working with Teresa and Naonka. Teresa and Naonka accused me of the exact same thing when I started working with other players. In reality, I’m a self-interested, rational player who is making the best possible decisions for my own game. I’m upset that people are insulting my intelligence by portraying me as a weak, feeble-minded player. I’m not used to that all-- I’m a highly ranked third-year law student at a top 20 law school! Trust me, I’m not an idiot!

This game has become difficult for me! I’m no longer having a good time due to the poor sportsmanship of the other players. I just can’t relate to some of these people. Like, how can they get so invested in an online game? Some players counted to the thousands in order to win an endurance immunity challenge! That’s not normal. That’s literally in the absolute extreme of antisocial, neurotic behavior. Do you know what I did during that time? I was busy having an actual life. I worked at my school and then saw my significant other for a romantic night. I genuinely pity some of these people who think counting to the thousands should be an actual priority.

Teresa and Naonka have been berating me the last few days for my decisions in this game. I’m not sure if insulting your competitors is the best way to persuade them to flip. In particular, I’m really disappointed at Naonka—She’s acting like a complete bitch. She’s so apathetic towards me. She’s upset that I didn’t fully disclose my plans with her prior to Taj’s vote. Really? Like, really really? SHE VOTED ME OUT OF THIS GAME and now she wants to talk about trust issues? Meanwhile, all I did was vote one of her friends. That’s so self-righteous and hypocritical. She just didn’t get her way and now she’s going to throw a bitch fit about it.

[Cirie]

What is your strategy to make it to the end?

I’m surprised that so many of my competitors think that my game decisions are a mystery. I think they’re pretty straightforward to anyone paying actually attention. When I was almost eliminated from this game, I formed two new objectives: 1. Align with the other exiles 2. Eliminate my former Turukawa tribe mates. I think I’ve been making great strides on both objectives.

I have been working with Gina and Brenda in the last few rounds and recently proposed an alliance with Rudy. Working with these players present some of the only viable options for me to win this game. This isn’t some impulse. My decision to work with them was carefully considered rounds ago. I want to win this game. There’s no point in conceding a winning position in order to just coast near the finals. I’m too busy outside of this game just to “hang around” with my alliance and let someone else call the shots.

I personally believe that the jury will have a negative perception towards the exiles. They will think that we’re less deserving of the win, because we have already been voted out of this game. That’s not a fair perception, but it’s out there—The only way to combat that perception is for three of the four exiles to be the final three. Everyone else is fair target for me.

A lot of people want Brenda out of this game, but I’m going to try to protect her for as long as possible. Teresa and Naonka seem to be proposing her as a target. And I'm getting a little nervous-- This cast seems to be filled with a lot of adrenaline junkies who enjoy to blindside! They can’t help themselves even if it’s not in our best interests. It only takes a few players to flip. I know a lot of people recognize Brenda as a threat, but my alliance’s ability to remove her doesn't significantly change after this round. Everyone within our group seems to be on the same page about that, so there's no reason to force the subject now. Let’s start removing some of the other pieces from the table.

What happened? Even I'm shocked and I'm not even playing!

The last tribal council was a complete cluster-fuck. I hated seeing Gregg go so early into the merge and he was an absolute pleasure to play with. My initial impressions of him were completely wrong. I think he’s just a fun, whacky guy who did so many things in this game for his own amusement rather than any real strategy. For example, I think he liked to throw out misdirection votes and flip the game just to see how people would react. I thought the easiest way to control that kind of unpredictability was to work in tandem with him. But, other people felt that he needed to go!

Paloma and I needed to place our votes in advance. Paloma was caught in a horrible storm and I had an evening class. Frank was the only player online at the time, so we discussed the vote with him. Paloma initially wanted to vote out Teresa, while Frank wanted to vote out Gregg. The compromise became Rudy, because he was connected with both Teresa and Gregg.

So, Paloma and I placed our prevotes for Rudy. In the event that Rudy won immunity, Gregg was my vote. We did tell Frank that he could override our votes if the majority wanted to go with someone else. I finally got out of class and witnessed the tribal council. Frank alluded to going with “Plan B” so I changed my vote to Gregg and five votes was enough. The tragedy of this whole thing is that Gregg was eliminated due to a game technicality. I switched my vote to Rudy at the last moment, but I missed the time limit by a few minutes. (I think Gregg is going to be really bummed when he finds that out!) I really have no idea if Gregg's departing words to me was genuine or another aspect of his whacky sense of humor!

I think the decision to boot Gregg by Frank/Gina/Brenda was pretty brilliant for their position, because it closes up so many opportunities for the rest of us. Without Gregg, the original Turukawa tribe and nunuDegei can’t reunite at the final 10 to hold a majority. There are very few possible coalitions that can challenge this base now. It was a good move, but my issue is how they did it. They didn’t provide any real notice and alienated their other allies in the process. I also think Sarah/Frank/Gina/Brenda/Paloma may have a solid final five alliance in this game. My concern is that Brenda and Gina may not genuinely want to keep the exiles in this game and they're only using it now to keep me in line. I could be like Dr. Sean. They could have leaped on my “alphabet strategy” (in this case, keeping the exiles) and used it to obtain a majority.