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?

[Rudy]

I DON'T know how the vote went down.


I'm basically a lurker in a game that I'm actively participating in. #LurkerStatus

[Rudy]

I'm the last person to learn of key information all the time. It's astonishing how out of the loop and I am, yet I'm still here somehow. It's hard to tell if people really want me here, because they want me or if I'm just a disposable tool in everyone's back pocket.

The last TC that I went to was supposed to be me leaving, but Brenda really saved my neck and switched things up. At the same time, she made a tremendous amount of enemies. This puts me in an awkward position, because I want to return my loyalty to Brenda. I really am a good person. People who do nice things to me, I want to return the favor. However, the jackals smell the fear on Brenda, and they're salivating at the chance to take her out. I really want to figure out a way to keep her in the game, but it's going to be a hard situation.

I'm lambasting Paloma for not having my back the way I had her's. We had jut got done sharing our Christian faith outside of the game, and the same day, she stabs me in the back. I'm so appalled and disappointed in everyone. All of Brenda, Paloma, Frank and Gina are screaming at the top of their lungs about how much they tried to get me to stay over Gregg, yet if this is the case, it would have been simple considering they are 4/7 of the majority alliance. Well after the circus show that was last night, Brenda basically demolished her own majority alliance and things are shifting faster than the speed of light!

The entire tribe is completely fractured. People are targeting Sarah, Teresa, Brenda and even Paloma. I've gotten a F3 offer from both Gina and Cirie. The one I'm taking seriously is Gina's, because I do trust her a lot. Our relationship is concrete. Cirie plans on laying out a crap ton of information for me to process. She wants me to keep it just between us. Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Cirie and I haven't had a legit relationship post-merge, so it's hard to automatically just have trust in her when she's done me no favors in getting rid of Taj.

It's weird. I feel like one of the least deceitful people in this game, and it's such a strange feeling, considering that it's not like me to wear my heart on my sleeves in this manner. I'm usually more calculating and downright nasty to people, but I don't wanna be that way or be known as that. Regardless of what happens and how my game is perceived, I'm going to be proud of how I played and how I treated other human beings. Now I'm just drifting onto this piece of wood in the turbulent ocean, hoping that I somehow make it to the lighthouse that is the end of this game.

[Jeff Probst]

Are we ever going to see a return of King Rudy or is this a new Rudy that we haven't seen since maybe Bolivia?

[Rudy]

I don't know. Maybe the stars are aligning. Hitsuzen aka the concept of inevitability. I feel like I'm currently paying homage to Bolivia Rudy instead of King Rudy. I was new to ORGs. I was naive. I was silly. Too trusting, but still somehow had a killer instinct to get near the end of the game. Both times, I was sent packing right before the FTC, but I want this time to be different. Rudy has evolved since then. If I'm simply a bumbling idiot in a tank full of piranhas, then so be it. I want to be proud of the way I play this game no matter what placement I get. Karma recycles, and I want it to come back to me in a good way.

[Rudy]

~~~~~~~~~~French Cuisine~
Despite being a non-threatening disenfranchised player, ass hats like Frank have the nerve to call me a "floater" and target me for the next vote. I honestly don't get it. People like him and Sarah feel so safe under Brenda's wing. Maybe they truly believe they're really going to the end together all hunky dory, and they're attempting to get rid of miscellaneous players like me. Maybe they're threatened by the fact that Brenda and a select few others put in motion to last-minute flip the vote to save me. I don't know, but it's becoming increasingly annoying always being up to go home.

That being said, constantly being a boot target actually takes a lot of stress out of the game for me. Ironically, I'm not as paranoid about going home, because I know for a fact that it's a high likelihood of such happening regardless of what I do. Because of that, I can actually focus my energy on people who matter to me right now. I don't talk to 2/9 of my other tribe mates. Additionally, I don't have any concrete allegiance to another 3/9 players. So yes, that's 5 people that may not be too upset if I leave the game. Instead, I'm catering to a very small amount of people: Cirie, Gina, Paloma and Brenda, all in different ways, to hopefully propel me into some type of long-term safety. I get the sense that I'm somewhat successful so far.

But for the other 5 people or at least some of them, I find it very disheartening how safe they feel in the game. When you're on the bottom, you know what real fear of being voted out means. Hell, I've already been voted off in this game, so I surely know how it feels. Some people like Willard, Sarah and Frank are sitting so comfortably in this game right now. I'm a guppie in a tank full of piranhas and frogs, and what they don't realize is that they're in a pot of cold water that's slowly being boiled. They won't even know it until they're served on the plates of Brenda & Paloma with a side of Cajun french fries & coleslaw, and hopefully, I'm there to have a bite of it too.