Episode 14

[Holly Hoffman]

We're down to the final 9, the end is in sight and all you have to do is reach out and grab it... well almost.

What's your plan now after such a crazy tribal council? What moves do you feel you still need to make?

Time for a little reflection. What do you think has helped you get this far in the game?

[Rudy]

Irony: my relationship with Paloma and Cirie was the nail in Brenda's coffin. Their votes against Sarah proved such.

[Rudy]

I won't take complete credit of Brenda going home. It wasn't an offensive measure on my part that sent her packing, but a defensive one in terms of select people like Paloma, Cirie and Gina not wanting to vote against me. I'm proud of myself right now.

[Rudy]

Well it looks like someone got froggy and leaped out the pot of boiling water before it was too late. That person was Sarah. In one of the biggest moves this season, Sarah gave her necklace to Naonka, ensuring the safety of Naonka/Willard/Teresa all at once. Considering that I was the next logical target, people shifted towards me, but my relationship with Cirie and Paloma helped to split the vote, sending king pin Brenda home.

Because I don't have a relationship with Sarah, I don't quite understand her motivations. I don't think she was very high up in the hierarchy, so it makes sense for her to turn if that's true, but she didn't appear to think of that. She seemed to just get off on the fact that she was causing chaos and mayhem. Is that what she wants for her game? Is she simply a lunatic? Let me check something really quick:

No matter, Sarah pulled off a huge move that will garner her attention this round. Last time someone pulled off something similarly crazy they were voted off the very next round.

I sense that at this point my connections are very dispersed throughout the tribe. I've strengthened the bond with Teresa and Naonka, separately. I explained to Teresa that I had to distance myself from them in order to make the connections I have now to propel me to the end game. I also have separate end game alliances with all of Paloma, Cirie and Gina. It's hard to really imagine considering I didn't propose any of those alliances. That being said, I've now found myself in a position to actually influence who goes home next, and my sights are set squarely on one of Frank, Sarah or Willard. They're miscellaneous players in my game and don't offer much of any tangible value to me.

[Rudy]

I'm finding myself in somewhat of a swing vote position. My allies, Paloma and Cirie are solid with Frank. I don't know where Gina fits into this equation and what she wants to do, but I'm getting pushed into a F5 alliance of Paloma/Frank/Cirie/Gina. This seems like a good idea at first. There's the potential for 3 Exiles to team up as well as the potential for Cirie/Paloma/me to team up as well, but something tells me that Frank has more pull in that scenario than I'd like to believe. He's been partners with Gina forever; he has a tight relationship with Cirie; Paloma is wanting me to "forgive" Frank and they've all been in the majority alliance since merge began. All signs point to it not being as much of a cake walk as I'd like it to be in that scenario.

Additionally, Paloma and Gina both have idols. I want them to burn them. I know I can't beat Teresa in the end of the game, but I don't know if I have it in me to actually write her name down, so in a twisted way, it'd be better if they idoled her out for me. #loopholes If I can eliminate Frank tonight, that would put even more pressure on Paloma/Gina and finally get them to use their idols to retain the majority.

The wildcard becomes Willard. No one has mentioned him except for guess who, me. He's a strong competitor and someone I'm never going to be able to work with. He's slipping through the cracks, and his vote becomes more important with every single TC we attend as the numbers dwindle. The worst case scenario would be Paloma/Gina/Frank/Cirie picking his vote up and taking out Teresa or Sarah without my influence. If that happened, I'd have no choice but to concede to the aforementioned alliance that I'm being pushed in.

[Rudy]

What's your plan now after such a crazy tribal council? What moves do you feel you still need to make?

Time for a little reflection. What do you think has helped you get this far in the game?

My plan now is to strengthen the alliances I've already made. I've been watering these seeds for quite some time, and the fruits of my labor payed off ten fold last night when Paloma and Cirie chose to not cast their votes against me. That's a true testament to my ability to survive. I'll admit, I haven't been able to outplay many people this season. I was voted out first from Degei, but brought back as an exile where I had to really work my social game in order to remain off the rock bottom of the totem pole. Because of those social skills, I was able to outlast Cirie and ingratiate myself in the tribe to the point where I wasn't going anywhere any time soon.

The only time I took major control of my fate in this game is when I switched onto NuDegei. This is where I outplayed many, but the mutiny twist combined with unnecessary paranoia from Mia/Patricia once again put me in a position where I had to really fight to ingratiate myself into the good graces of the current power players. NuNuTuruwaka was the time for me to make those bonds, and those bonds were made. It wasn't enough to propel me into majorit post-merge, but it was always enough to ensure that I didn't get sent packing.

So yes, I'm proud of the fact that despite being out of a position of influence, I've been able to survive and make pivotal social bonds with individual players that kept me here in the game. I haven't been able to become part of a majority alliance, but I haven't needed to, because this game is so fluid. Now, I need to make moves that actively eliminates those players whom I haven't made a connection with, and those people are Sarah/Frank/Willard. If one of those 3 leave tonight, I will have considered tonight successful for my game long term.

[Rudy]

Naonka throwing me under the bus. I think I want her out now. She runs her mouth too much