Day 35 - Final Tribal Council

[Gina]

BRENDA
"Follow-up to Gina, and then I'll shut up :x How come Cirie didn't come along with you that night then if that was the plan? "

My memory of this round is a little hazy, I'll admit. Cirie can feel to correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe she had already pre-voted and I didn't need that vote to eliminate you. This round was the result of a lot of pent-up frustration at my alliance, mostly Frank, dictating the votes. Even go back and look at the tribal council, when it becomes evident that things are going to be flipped around, Frank thinks its him.

I knew Cirie wouldn't take it personally if the game changed while she was away, because this move still left her, Rudy and I alive and now in control. If I thought that doing something like this would have pissed off someone I wanted to work long-term with, I wouldn't have done it. But I knew it wouldn't.

[Gina]

SARAH

Sarah, if I have to beg to earn your vote then give it to someone else. I don't give a fuck. You want to call me a rat? That's fine. What I saw in you was someone who was so addicted to winning the Sprint Player of the Season award (Sorry, that was always going to Teresa) that you stopped making rational moves.Your desperate need for attention was your downfall, just like it was in Venezuela.

[Gina]

TERESA

I'm sorry, it's not my fault that the hosts decided to have an exiles twist. What were we supposed to do after we returned, roll over and accept our fate as goats? It's not my fault we aligned and made it to the end. This was the only way any of the three of us would have had a shot, so get over it. If you want to point your fingers at someone point them at the people who made the decision to have this twist in the first place, but I'm not going to sit here and listen to you bitch about it because we all decided to give ourselves a shot to win. None of us were okay with being your goat, Frank's goat, or anyone elses goat so we took this game by the hilt and owned it. Sorrynotsorry.


1. Teresa – Jonathan Penner (Cook Islands). You both are incredibly charming, have incredible presence, and a way of talking to people that time after time convinces them to keep you around even when it is clearly in their best interest to eliminate you, because you're such a threat. You also both seem to lose your cool a bit when you're back into the corner and try and over-talk or or over-strategize and it becomes obvious you're nervous.

2. Frank – Jean Robert Bellande. Frank and Jean-Robert both fancy themselves master strategists, and they are. But they aren't as good as they think they are. They can both be either incredibly charming or incredibly rude depending on the mood you catch them in. Both were a bit of a joke at first, until you found out just how smart they are (sorry I'm a big JR fan Ok)

3. Brenda – Rob Cesternino (All-Stars). Coming into this game both had almost insurmountably large targets on their backs, and both were the first boot from their tribe. Fortunately for Brenda, she had the chance to come back into the game. Both Rob C and Brenda are funny, can hold conversations with pretty much anyone, and can play the hell out of this game.

4. Taj – Colby Donaldson (HvV). I noted this way, way back when we first started together on Masilaca, but I could tell that Taj, like Colby, was just tired of the game. Like Rudy said, I'm not sure if this is related to real life stuff or not, but she just didn't seem to have it in her. It seemed like a chore for her to be here, but the opportunity was too good to turn down. Still, both made it far despite big targets.

5. Paloma – Lisa Welchel. Paloma and Lisa were both easily the kindest, sweetest people in their respective games, but both had a wicked strategic mind when they needed to and both are sharp as a tack. They both used their relationships to their benefit, and played under the radar enough to go relatively unnoticed in the early merge but strategically enough to get into a good endgame alliance.

6. Willard – Jane Bright. Hear me out on this. Much like Willard's hatred of Rudy came to dominate how he voted, how he acted, his entire public persona, so too did Jane's hatred of Marty come to dominate her votes and actions. One of the highlights of this season was watching Willard and Rudy bicker and fight down to nearly the very end, and although Jane is neither as clever nor as entertaining as Willard, it was the closest feud I could think of to capture their magic.

7. Gregg – Greg Buis. I may be biased, but I think both of these two are fucking hilarious. I never got how people could be annoyed by Gregg, I'm not even sure what it is exactly about him that makes me laugh but nearly every time he posted something it was gold. Same with Greg Buis. One of the joys of watching Borneo again is watching Greg do his weird little thing. You never knew if he was serious, or if he even knew what the word serious meant. Gregg is a little more game-minded than Greg Buis, but I think its a pretty apt comparison.

8. Sarah – Jim Rice. Sarah, like Jim, is hopelessly addicted to overplaying herself out of the game. Like Jim, Sarah has a tendency to lash out against those she feels betrayed her or players she simply doesn't like. That said, they are both entertaining players to watch, and it was fun playing with someone twice whose actions I just couldn't predict, especially in a game where I felt pretty in control both times I played.

9. Naonka – Naonka Mixon. OTTN5, Vicious, sort-of quit. Like Survivor Naonka, if Stranded Naonka didn't like you then god help you because she's going to tear you a new asshole. Stranded Nay played a better game, I think, because while she wasn't really in control after the merge, she sold her free-agent status very well. In terms of gameplay these two aren't really that similar because Survivor Naonka was pretty in the loop for most of the game, but in terms of personality they are quite close.

2. I said "You're like the cat with 20 lives. This is a long time coming, and that is a testament to your gameplay. I don't think anyone here is as respected or as feared as you are. Let's call it even, and I'll see you on the other side. " I guess you could call this strategic in that I wanted you to know it was from me (let's call it even), but really this was a genuine message of true admiration for how you played. I went through the entire pre-merge wondering how you survived the vote time after time after time- then when you were on my tribe again, I got it. I seriously think if we hadn't voted you out when we did you probably would have won this game. Anyway, I guess my vote message was a combination of strategy and emotion.


3.
Taj- You were lazy and tired in this game, but I seriously appreciate the talks we had and the encouragement you gave me about my real-life situation. It was very much appreciated and I took it all to heart.
Brenda- For someone so socially perceptive you sure had a hard time figuring out why you were booted in the first place.
Naonka- Your explosive, negative personality is the kind I hate in real life, but I admired that you knew you were on the bottom and offered up your vote as one that could turn the game around.
Teresa- You played undoubtedly the best game out here, but your ego is out of fucking control. For someone who was so gracious in defeat initially I'm shocked you're so bitter now.
Gregg- I personally think you're hilarious. It was hard to ever include you in my plans though because you just did whatever you wanted and your end of strategy talk just sounded forced.
Willard- For a legend you played the under the radar game very well, and used your feud with Rudy to actually take the target off your back quite successfully. I personally struggled to see what you had done to earn the title of 'legend', though.
Frank- You're clearly very, very assertive and you know what you want and I really admire that, but you also seem like someone who wasn't told 'no' very much as a child.
Paloma- You're the single nicest player in this game, but I'm not sure if it's you or a persona. You use your reputation and your kindness to your advantage and I think it has the potential to really hurt people.
Sarah- Your brand of crazy is right at home here at Stranded, and it brings a welcome sense of fun uncertainty to the game dynamics. The negative part of this sentence is... you're seriously insane.

[Naonka]

[Sarah]

Thanks, Gina. I'm so glad you've shown me how not to win Stranded! Thank you!

[Teresa]

Cool, just waiting for Cirie's answers.

[Gina]

Thanks, Gina. I'm so glad you've shown me how not to win Stranded! Thank you!

[Cirie]

Cool, just waiting for Cirie's answers.

Teresa, I just got out of class and working on my answer now.

[Cirie]

BRENDA
"Follow-up to Gina, and then I'll shut up :x How come Cirie didn't come along with you that night then if that was the plan? "

My memory of this round is a little hazy, I'll admit. Cirie can feel to correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe she had already pre-voted and I didn't need that vote to eliminate you. This round was the result of a lot of pent-up frustration at my alliance, mostly Frank, dictating the votes. Even go back and look at the tribal council, when it becomes evident that things are going to be flipped around, Frank thinks its him.

I knew Cirie wouldn't take it personally if the game changed while she was away, because this move still left her, Rudy and I alive and now in control. If I thought that doing something like this would have pissed off someone I wanted to work long-term with, I wouldn't have done it. But I knew it wouldn't.

From my memory, I placed a prevote that round but I was still able to make it before tribal council. Nobody informed me of a plan to give Naonka an immunity necklace and vote you out. Everyone validated to me the plan to vote out Naonka. Another plan could have existed, but if so, I was out of it-- When Sarah did play the immunity necklace, I knew that you would be going home. The writing was on the wall. However, I REFUSED to vote for you, because I thought it was detrimental to my interest. It would have been a self-inflicting move.

I was very frustrated at your elimination, because it reduced my plausible endgame combinations from three to just one. I did feel that you were going to be difficult to beat, because you presented yourself as such a figurehead in your alliance. But, I still wanted to keep you around as long as possible in order to have a little bit of "exile insurance. It was such a risky move to get you out at the final ten, because we were left vulnerable. Frank only needed to win one immunity challenge at the final four and all of our plans would have went to waste!

[Cirie]

Teresa, I’m going to try to answer question #1 and #3 at once. If you need a more substantive answer, please let me know.

1) Teresa: I would compare your game play to a much more sociable version of Russell Hantz. You were a force of nature in this game! You were constantly in a disadvantaged position, yet fought your way to the final seven with sheer will power and determination. You weren’t afraid to use any tactics to get there, including intimidation, deception, and aggression. I think you played an almost a flawless game with one big exception: You had a blind spot over Willard. He was constantly positioned as your swing vote and you could never get the majority, because you were targeting the one vote you actually needed.

2) Frank: I would compare Frank’s game play to Chris Daugherty. Nobody really wanted to bring Frank to the end of this game, but he was still comfortable in his position within his alliance. Like Chris, he managed to align with goats and weak challenge performers. As a result, he planned out a clear path to victory and it just required a few crucial immunity challenge wins. He almost pulled it off too! Frank’s biggest strength was that he was an assertive and rational strategist. But, he was also selfish. He would sometimes pursue his own interests over the detriment of the collective interest, which is actually counter-intuitive if you consider game theory.

3) Paloma: Paloma reminded me of a much more strategic version of Rodger Bingham. She presented a friendly, affable personality. Even when she was outside of major alliances, everyone wanted to keep her around due to her general good nature. I didn’t want to vote Paloma out until I ABSOLUTELY needed to for my long-term plan. I also heard that Paloma was willing to quit this game in order to let Frank continue, because she thought that he would have a better chance in the final immunity challenge. That move reminded me of Rodger’s decision to go before Elizabeth in his season. Paloma’s biggest strength was that she was always approachable and you were able to talk to her about anything. Her weakness might be that she was always battling a perception problem—She was cutthroat in certain occasions and the nicest person on others. I think some of her competitors found that to be disingenuous.

4) Willard: Willard’s game play is analogous to Sophie Clarke. He’s a savvy strategist and easily the most underestimated player in this game. Willard didn’t need to make any big moves, because he already placed himself in an optimal position. Similar to how Sophie aligned with Coach, Willard found Gina and myself. He recognized that we were calling the shots and he was fine with that, because he could beat us in a final three scenario. Willard’s best move was probably holding his tongue whenever I left him in the dark. I voted Mia, Patricia, and John against his wishes, but he rolled with it and continued working with me. His biggest weakness in this game is that he didn’t push hard enough to preemptively combat the use of hidden immunity idols. Rudy and I weren’t going anywhere and he was essentially eliminated by default.

5) Brenda: She might not like the comparison, but Brenda’s game play reminded me a lot of Aaron Reisberger. She’s a strong player and a figurehead to her alliance. She probably would have lasted a lot longer if it wasn’t for some extraneous circumstances. Finally, she made a big contribution to my alliance and got the ball rolling. Even though she was eliminated, her alliance made it to the end. Her biggest strength is that she’s a methodical and deliberate strategist. She never jumped to any quick judgments and considered every alternative. Her biggest mistake was probably her actions during the Gregg tribal council, because it alienated some of her allies.

6) Sarah: Sarah will probably not like this comparison either, but I would compare her to Sugar Kiper. (This isn’t based on their personalities, but rather their outlook in this game.) I don’t think Sugar or Sarah’s primary goal was to actually win the series—but rather create the most entertaining and exciting season for the production, competitors, and audience. Unfortunately, it’s hard to predict players who aren’t necessarily making rational moves and a lot of people didn’t trust her. I’m impressed by Sarah’s ability to thrive in anarchy, but I needed a controlled, boring playing field in order to have any chance in this game. So Strength? Most entertaining player to watch. Weakness? She was too unpredictable to work with.

7) Naonka: I would compare Naonka to Abi-Maria Gomez. I think a lot of the players found her to be difficult to talk to, because she was honest to a fault and occasionally passive aggressive. While it was sometimes difficult for me to hear what she had to say—it was always fair and truthful. She was a perceptive player and she was right about a lot of things. She just happened to be on the wrong side of numbers. Naonka’s biggest strength was her candidness. I could always go to her for an honest assessment of the other players or potential alliances. Her weakness was probably the fact that she was willing to burn bridges far too quickly. I wanted to at least explore options of working with her, but she wanted nothing to do with me after the Taj vote.

8) Taj. Straight-up, I do not have a fair assessment of Taj. We first met during the merge and I didn’t talk to her a whole lot before she was voted out. I think I could compare her to Alex Bell. She was here for the experience, but didn’t have that fighting edge. For example, at the final twelve, she told me that she would be okay being voted out and was happy to make the jury. That’s not exactly what you want to tell one of your swing votes and it reminded me of Alex’s admissions in Survivor Amazon. Taj’s biggest strength for me is that she was always open and friendly. Her biggest weakness is that she never really advocated for her alliance’s interests. Even if she wasn’t playing to win, she should have fought harder for the sake of her allies.

NEW RANKINGS!

A) Gregg. That’s right-- I’m putting Gregg aside and in his own ranking. I think he was playing this game on a completely different level and it would be unfair to compare his game play to ours. It would be like comparing apples and oranges. Gregg personally reminded me of Greg Buis. If there was a coconut phone in this game, he would be calling it. He knew the parameters of this game, but he was fine toying with it and playing outside the bounds. I’m pretty sure that he just liked to flip the vote and throw misdirection votes out of his own amusement—I knew that he was an unpredictable player and the only way that I could stay safe was working in tandem with him. And you know what? Working with him was the most fun I ever had in this game. It was a BLAST! Gregg’s real weakness is that he didn’t adjust his strategy going into the merge. It’s fine being a reckless and crazy vote in a small tribe, but it’s much more difficult to pull off in a tribe of 12.

[Teresa]

That works just waiting for your vote reasoning during the round I left and why you wrote that as if it was strategic, emotional or what. A paragraph and then I'm set, thanks.

[Cirie]

2. In the votes left to me during my departure explain to me what your vote reasoning said (I'm pretty sure I know whose was what but I want confirmation) and explain to me why you wrote that reasoning. Was it strategic? Was it emotional? Etc.

I voted for you and my reasoning was ""Don't worry-- I'm sure you will win the Sprint Player of the Season award!" Obviously, it was intended to be a fun comment, but it encapsulated my feelings about your gameplay. Speaking as an older player, nobody remembers who won my original seasons. But, people still remember and talk about the more aggressive players. You've cemented your spot in the Stranded History Books!

[Cirie]

That works just waiting for your vote reasoning during the round I left and why you wrote that as if it was strategic, emotional or what. A paragraph and then I'm set, thanks.

When you say vote reasoning, do you mean my actual comment in tribal council or my actual reasoning? Because, I could go into both.

[Teresa]

That works just waiting for your vote reasoning during the round I left and why you wrote that as if it was strategic, emotional or what. A paragraph and then I'm set, thanks.

When you say vote reasoning, do you mean my actual comment in tribal council or my actual reasoning? Because, I could go into both.

Both.

[Cirie]

Okay, you have my tribal council vote reasoning. Now, here's my actual reasoning... My decision to vote for you was completely strategic. As much as I've enjoyed our relationship inside the game and all of our conversations, the vote was not an emotional one for me. I knew that we would talk again in a week and my emotional state is a little more stable than that, haha.

You were the only person in the final 7 that I didn't have a final 4 commitment with. You were also the biggest challenge and jury threat in this game. Since you were primarily in a numbers disadvantage, none of the jurors could really harbor any ill will for your decisions. You were just fighting to survive. It would have been suicidal for me to take you to the final three.

With that said, I was genuine about my interest in flushing out one of the idols and I was hoping that you could gather up the votes. I was frustrated when you shifted the target to Willard, because I needed him for my long-term game.

[Teresa]

I wasn't the one who shifted from Paloma to Willard - that's all I will say. But thanks ladies.

[Naonka]

Hello losers. Really, that's what all 3 of you should be called. I feel like we have stellar players in the jury like Teresa while we have a really undesirable final 3. I will be honest, as always, and say that the jury is not pleased with any of you 3. So to whoever wins, don't think you were like the most deserving. We just probably saw some potential in you being half the player that some of these jurors are. I really don't care for this final 3 and sure as hell don't want to write a speech. But because I appreciate Poody I'm doing my duty as a juror and calling it a day. I tried writing a speech and realized there's just nothing I have to say to any of you. Call Rudy delusional? We all know that. Call Cirie a goat? We all know that. Call Gina invisible? We all know that. We get to the point. Moving on. Next season if there's one after Poody considers canceling this because Legends turned out to be a joke.

Now, let me clear up. I'm not bitter that you 3 are at the end. The problem is for the most part in this game you 3 didn't do much of anything. It just so happens the actual players were taking each other out and they all forgot about you 3.

I can't think of any reasons why any of you deserve my vote. Not to mention that your jury rankings is way off. I know I can't say much about the merge because I admit that I lost interest to some extent but before the merge I probably did double of what any of you did in this merge.

Good luck.

[Rudy]

Thanks Naonka for the luck. I know I need it!

[Gina]

All I can say, Naonka, is that the idea of you calling any of the three of us bad players is so hilariously ironic that it needs no further comment.

[Cirie]

Everyone is the hero of their own story. Thanks for sharing your take Naonka.

[Rudy]

Award for shadiest remarks of the Finale: Cirie, with a close 2nd by Gina.

So, yeah-- I'm a little goody two-shoes-- If you have an issue with my "shtick," it actually means that you have an issue with my personality. And that's okay. We would probably never meet outside of this game since our personalities are so different, so I'm happy that we had a chance to talk here!

All I can say, Naonka, is that the idea of you calling any of the three of us bad players is so hilariously ironic that it needs no further comment.

I need to catch up!

[Gina]

Everyone is the hero of their own story. Thanks for sharing your take Naonka.

[Rudy]

I'm ready for more questions!

[Jeff Probst]

Who's up next.

We've done Taj, Gregg, Brenda, Naonka, Teresa, and Sarah... That leaves: Willard, Paloma and Frank. Willard you're up my boy!

[Frank]

Hi guys, since I'm the final Juror, Jeff allowed me to give you the last twist of the game. Are you ready for this?

Your beloved Exile is back. You will now vote one person to Exile where they will stay forever, the votes for them tonight will not count and they may not return to Stranded in the future. You have 5 minutes from this post to make your vote publicly. Good luck.










































Nope.
You all go to exile. Nobody wins. Good night!
























Nope

First of all, Cirie wanted to vote Rudy out the night Gregg left, she made a big case about it. So don't tell me you had this all planned out. Second of all, the exile twist isn't why you are disappointing finalists, you have obsessed over it too much. Brenda was an exile and she was the biggest threat in the game.

Rudy You admittedly relied on people carrying you and dumb luck to get here. My question is, do you think this game would've turned out any different if you were replaced with a scarecrow? Also, anything you regret not doing?

Gina Almost didn't see you there. You really sucked at making me believe you're my ally. You either can't lie to save your life or didn't bother. You gave away the most out of this Final 3, and almost cost you guys the game had I agreed with Paloma to vote Rudy at F6. Lucky for you I wanted to take my chances with the challenges so I had to take Willie out. What did you do that Cirie didn't do better?

Cirie You know I think you played pretty well CONSIDERING your company, but your grave mistakes were also not PMing me enough to make me believe in you as an ally. If the situation was any different and I had a different plan other than the challenges one, maybe it could've cost you. Paloma did carry you a lot this game, she talked so highly of you that it made no sense to try to take you out or she would've went all emotional and irrational. I was gonna asking you something else but you answered it, so, same thing goes for you as for Gina, tell me what you did better than her?