Episode 09: The Allopreening of the Phrygilus Four
Allopreening - A form of social grooming among birds, in which one bird preens another or a pair does so mutually. At times it may be used to redirect or sublimate aggression, such as one bird assuming a solicitation posture to indicate its non-aggression and invite allopreening by the aggressive individual.
Phrygilus - Phrygilus is a genus of mainly Andean seed-eating tanagers commonly known as sierra finches. Phrygilos means finch in Ancient Greek. Traditionally classified in the bunting and American sparrow family Emberizidae, more recent studies have shown them to belong in the Thraupidae.
Day 20 - Post Tribal Council
WHEEEEW HOLY FUCK. You guys saw that too right? Fucking bullets just whizzed past my head there. I am so lucky that my relationships held up tonight. That was definitely a test of my social game. The amount of work JR was putting into getting me out was insane and I really did think tonight was going to be my last night. Sara was really pissed with me on the way out and gave some bible quotes. First of all, cringe. Second of all, Xander made a comment about how the person doing bible quotes also felt it necessary to say 'no homo' all the time in conversation. Fitting end to Sara I suppose.
I tried to probe Heather a bit and see what her big idea was about voting for me. It's funny that it boiled down to 'she's playing for 6th or 7th and needs to change it up. Alright you go Glen Coco...but you're still gonna end up in 6th or 7th. I really don't understand what kind of game she's playing. She still hasn't made any worthwhile connections and now decides to play her game when it's basically too late. So I guess Leslie is the new replacement for Heather and Heather can join JR in the Kallpa Cabana
The In Crowd is always a fun challenge... for us lurkers, anyway. It can show how some people on this tribe are truly perceived. Were there any shocking revelations or any predictable results when you saw the list, or when seeing anyone's answer for a particular question?
Oh I'm sure you guys loved seeing us all scramble and get heated after that challenge. It went pretty predictable but the nicest thing was seeing Evvie, Xander, and Myself as the most trusted. That was exactly our plan for this entire game and it's so great that's how we were perceived. I knew Sara was going to be incredibly mad after this challenge as I saw it coming from a mile away that people would see her as the one controlling the game - because I'm the one who has been making them perceive it that way! I KNEW my plan of calling her Master Sara and saying things like 'What Sara says, goes.' would work to manipulate everyone. Something hilarious was Heather seeing me as the goat of the game while every single person saw her as the goat. Beautiful. I also did a write up of this challenge last confessional thread so you can check more thoughts out
here.
After the challenge, it seemed like things got pretty spicy in the IMs for everyone. Can you recap it and tell us what went down and how you felt about it?
Oh man, spicy is definitely a way to describe it. JR winning immunity really caused a lot of shit stirring, and I have to admit, I was caught in a few of my own lies. But I think I did a good job recovering after tonight's tribal results. Once again, I think I have a good write up of this
here.
Do you think trust is starting to change in anyone? Any allies becoming enemies, any enemies becoming allies? Or are things the same as it was days ago?
I think what's happening is, things are starting to come out as they truly were all along. The F4 of Evvie/Xander/Deshawn/Myself is safe and we have managed to trick Shan into believing she's with us for the long haul. My trust in the same people hasn't changed too much (maybe that I can trust Evvie and Shan a little more than previously thought) but I think this past tribal has showed me that I've definitely put in the work to have people trust me when they really shouldn't.
Funny enough, the relationship that's really changed is for JR. Heather has now flipped to working with him and voted for me tonight, which means she's definitely not going to work with me anymore. Alternatively, Leslie ended up voting with us to knock out Sara and it really showed that we can trust her in some capacity. JR even messaged me after tribal saying that I bested him and he didn't think all his closest relationships wouldn't stick with him. How many times do I gotta say it? IMMUNITY FADES, RELATIONSHIPS ARE FOREVER. I'm cool with us losing Heather. Bye girl. We have Leslie now who is 10 times better.
Finally, how are you feeling after tribal council? Who did you vote for and why? Any regrets? Love or hate the whispering? Leave no detail behind!
Accomplished. I proved that the relationships I've been building have actually meant something to people and I was able to survive a pivotal vote for our group. Any one of them would have made a great move by flipping on me and I was already planning my goodbye message. Nothing mean, just that I was excited to talk to them all after the game was over and that I'm happy my anxiety can finally rest. I ended up voting for Sara which I guess I didn't need to, and I could have probably been like Xander who voted Leslie to appease Sara on the jury. However, that's not the kind of game I'm playing. I want to make sure everyone knows I was correct on every single vote. I didn't waiver from the plans. I didn't try to get sympathy or allow someone else to dictate my route. Of course Sara gave me her cringe Catholic Sky Daddy lines and left being super bitter with me. But I'd like to think a jury of huge fans won't be bitter. (Even though I said I would be bitter to JR if he made it to the end...woops).
The whispering bugs me like crazy man. I hate it so much and all it does is make people think you're not as solid as originally thought. I'm never going to be that person who has to whisper during tribal to get something done. I want to show stability to the people who play with me and not have them waiver on my trust. As you saw JR today, trying super hard to get Shan, Xander, and Leslie to flip. It doesn't solve anything and it didn't work. The only one who that shit worked on is Heather, the First of Her Name, Queen Goat of Stranded, Queen of the Flippers, and Lover of Dick and Steak.
Day 20 - Post Tribal Council (con't.)
Another thing I wanted to mention before I get to the alliance graph of the round. I talked to Evvie, Xander, and Deshawn after tribal just to debrief and figure out what happened. Of course like I said above, it came out that Xander had voted for Leslie. Xander said that it was just because he couldn't vote between Sara and I and figured it wouldn't matter where his vote went. Alright, whatever you say dude. That's definitely worrisome that he would do something like that. My only hope is that it wasn't some kind of signal to the others that voted for me that he would be interested in something next round. I'm hoping that our next vote for Shan makes him happier with the situation and gets us back on track for our F4 and F3 plan.
Speaking of the next vote, Shan, Evvie came up with a brilliant plan. We know that Leslie is close to Shan and there's a risk she wouldn't vote her out. So our plan is to tell Shan and Leslie two different targets. This way if JR and Heather vote together, our solid 4 is the largest group, and Shan goes home with a vote of 4-2-1-1. It's so genius and I really hope we are able to pull it off tomorrow. The only worry is that someone in our 4 waivers in some way, or Shan and Leslie get wind of the plan. If we are able to pull this off and get to F7, our 4 can sweep for the rest of the game.
This next round is going to be even bigger than this last one. The game is only going to ramp up from here. Wish me luck, I'm gonna need it for this one.
