Episode 10: The Rise of the Crest Feather
Crest Feather - A type of semiplume feather with a long rachis with barbs on either side, that often presents as a prominent tuft on the crown and (or through) the neck and upper back. In some species the position of the crest is a threat signal that can be used to predict behaviour. In Steller's jays, for example, a raised crest indicates a likelihood of attack, and a lowered crest indicates a likelihood of retreat.
Day 21 - Afternoon
When I signed on this afternoon, I was lucky to find just Xander and Evvie online. This was the perfect time for a Spiral Stoners meeting and so we jumped in the group chat. This was also to make Xander feel better as he's been feeling a little left out in the planning process. Especially since I've gotten closer with Deshawn lately and started working on more long term plans for the end. We were having a great time just talking about weed, shrooms, LSD, etc. when of course we got some scary news. It looks like Leslie is finally ramping up her game and has asked Evvie if she's interested in a F3 alliance with her and Shan. Her plan also includes working with Heather and JR to vote out me in a vote of 5 to 3. Welp, that's probably the worst thing that could happen. Our entire plan hinged on the idea that no one would realize there's already a tight four trying to get past the F8 tribal.
We immediately started work shopping ideas. The first idea, of course, was to talk to Shan and make sure she wouldn't vote me out. We have to make sure that she votes with us and doesn't entertain the idea of a F3 with Leslie and Evvie. The next idea from Evvie was to get JR or Heather on board to vote with us. There's no way those two are going to want to work with me. Especially when they spent the last tribal talking about how keeping me is a terrible idea and they're all following orders. I mean, true, but I don't want anyone to figure that out! So we were really left with our only option, which is to believe Shan wouldn't falter from us. Which kind of sucks because she would be going home for voting incorrectly. Oh well, it's once again time to put my social game to the ultimate test.
Day 21 - Immunity Challenge
That challenge was a doozy! Did you have any particular strategy for Survival Sequences? How’d that work out for you?
Oh man, I fucked up big time. I had a whole strategy ready to rock that challenge too and I guess my heart was beating too fast and I was just way too nervous that I gave Jeff the wrong answer. I was probably faster than Deshawn to answer as well, but still, I was completely wrong. I spent the rest of the challenge working JR as he was knocked out shortly after me and I had to work on him like my life depended on it. And it really did, especially if that Leslie plan was coming to fruition.
I explained to JR that I'm probably gone tonight and he felt the same way. I sold him the idea that if we're both such huge threats to people, why don't we just work together? JR was trying to sell the idea of voting Deshawn, but I told him I just couldn't do it. I explained that if we wanted to meet in the middle by voting an Ancha, we could do Heather. Surprisingly he agreed. Perfect. Now I just had to pour my heart out to him about how I wouldn't vote for him. It seemed like he was being sincere about this idea as he was really worried about leaving tonight. So now we had JR voting for Heather. All there was left to do was see the results of the challenge.
Day 21 - Post Challenge / Pre Tribal Council
...And Shan won. Motherfucker. So our plan is trashed and we only have 20 minutes or so to figure things out before IMs turn off. I quickly pushed the Heather idea as it was the most simple way to get through the vote. This way JR would be voting with us like he thought he would be and we could quickly push the vote idea on Shan before she realized there were any other options. Let's hope things go well because there's not a lot of other options! At least I know I'm not going because my F4 will go to rocks for me.
Day 21 - Post Tribal Council
Oh my god. I can't believe tribal went so well. I was just refreshing and once again thinking about my goodbye speech. And then the results...holy shit 7-1 Heather-Leslie. That is absolutely insane and I was NOT expecting that at all.
Was voting out Heather YOUR idea, or did you go along for some reason? If it wasn’t your preference, why did you go along with it?
YES. That was MY idea and MY idea alone. I orchestrated it, planned it, worked on it harder than I ever could within a 30 minute timeframe. And I am so incredibly happy with it. It secures my F3 with Evvie and Xander, and it also secures the F4 with Deshawn. This was such a pivotal move on such a non-pivotal player and it couldn't have gone any better. Well, except if Shan went home.
Do you have any true ride or dies at this point? Do you think you’re theirs? Who thinks you’re loyal to them, but you’re not?
Oh you guys know exactly who my ride or die are. It's never going to change from this point on and I want to apologize to Evvie and Xander when they read this. This game always makes me anxious and paranoid and I was always worried they were gonna cut me in some way. But now I think what we've built is unbreakable. We're currently just celebrating in our group chat talking about drugs, Pokemon and puppies. I love these guys and regardless of what happens, I think I've made friends for life.
Who do you think is the biggest threat to your torch right now? What will you do about that?
Shan, 100%. She's such a huge challenge threat and I think I'm going to have a rough time getting her out if she wins again next week. JR is also a worry. I really need to start winning some immunities if I want to target these big players. Getting Deshawn out at F4 is also going to be a huge problem. We're putting a strong challenge threat right at the end to defeat and it could come back to bite us. I wonder if I could get the group to vote Deshawn out at 5 and have Leslie come to F4 with us. The problem is, Evvie plays with a lot of emotion and she might have a problem breaking that F4 agreement.
Who do you think is most likely to give a bitter jury speech?
Sara. 100%. She keeps disliking all my comments in the tribal council thread and it's clear she's pretty bitter. But it's nice to see that Heather is also bitter to Evvie now, so there is some fairness to this. Really, if you're a fan of this game, I don't think you should give that super bitter speech. But if you do, and you hear a good well-formed answer from the person you're asking, you should consider voting for them.
Have you made any big moves so far this season? What were they?
I orchestrated: the Jaime vote, the Erik vote, the Sara blindside, and the Heather vote. I'm the one who brought the Spiral Stoners together. I'm the one who made a relationship with Sara, Shan, and Deshawn that got us here. I was able to convince JR to make a dumb move and vote Heather instead of me. I researched every single night since this game began to prepare for the challenges and carried Ancha through the pre-merge. Every big game this season has either been me, or involved me in some way. And I couldn't be happier with how I've been playing.
What would your fellow tribemates find the most surprising to learn about you?
Probably how hard I've been playing this entire time. I'm really excited for them to read my confessionals and see how much effort I've been putting in every single day. I hope reading my confessionals will help them understand my game even better than my Final Tribal Council speech can. And if I don't do my FTC justice, that's okay. My confessionals will speak for themselves and I've enjoyed writing down all of my thoughts, emotions, ideas, etc. for people to see. I'm here for the ride...but winning wouldn't be bad either!
That's all for tonight! I'm sure things will once again ramp up tomorrow, but I'm going to turn in early for once and just enjoy a night off. Lots more game to play and share with all of you. Until next time!
