[Jeff Probst]

This is Heather's Final Tribal Council Thread.

All other Jurors should remain in their own threads. 

Heather, you have until Sunday at 8c/9e to post your statements/questions to the Final 2. Remember not to take up too much of their time as they have 8 other jurors to get to. Please no listing or questions requiring novels for answers. You should post all of your statements/questions in your opening post in this thread, keeping follow-ups to a necessary minimum, or congratulatory thank you/nothing further.

[Heather]

Hey Guys! Congratulations on making it to the end! It’s no easy feat! It’s clear you both have a lot of free time. Given everything that has happened and been revealed, you both have an equal opportunity to win my vote with how you answer the individual question I have come up with for each of you.

Abraham, I think you played a phenomenal game but you berated and attacked me for voting for you to be eliminated despite you also betraying several of your own allies.  Similarly, you’ve attacked other members of the jury for showcasing any autonomy that didn’t coincide with whatever your set plan had been for any given round. You’ve also exhibited/employed abhorrent tactics to further your game, most frequently, weaponizing your anxiety against us to deflect from your own dastardly behavior. I view this as poor jury management and I believe jury management to be one of the most important elements of this game. 

My question for Abraham is why should I look past your less than respectable qualities, poor temperament, and downright horrible characteristics as well as your poor jury management and vote for you to win? 

Xander, I don’t have strong feelings about you one way or the other which makes me hesitant in giving you a vote to win. I’m not sure you deserve it. I don’t believe you played a game on the same level as Abraham and, despite the revelation of the stoner alliance, I still view you as a pawn of Abraham’s, lacking any sort of power in the game. It seems like you had the quietest voice in that alliance and lacked the charisma, social skills, and leadership qualities held by the other two members. It also appears like you're being slightly forgetful about elements of your own game. You’ve stated that the jury had no clue about you and Evvie’s alliance yet you informed me early on that you ‘absolutely loved’ Evvie which is why I never voiced my dislike of her to you during our faux alliance. 

 My question for Xander is what makes you a more deserving winner than Abraham despite your game being nowhere near as good or meticulously crafted as his whilst also lacking in good jury management? 

Thank you both for your time and answers. 

[Abraham]

Hey Heather.

Oof, thanks for the tough question - not surprised it would be coming from you. You're right, my game is in no way perfect. In order to play such a dominant game, I had to be a little more cutthroat, manipulative, and conniving compared to the rest of you. I came into this game knowing that my anxiety would be my downfall. I think you actually pointed it out to me on your way out of the game. I did try my best to manage it, but it's a real thing I deal with. On top of my anxiety, I'm also insanely competitive, which is maybe why you felt berated or attacked by me. And for that, I do apologize for.

That being said, I didn't focus as much on jury management as other players did as I wanted my game to speak volumes without having to schmooze everyone before sending them out. For example, the night Sara left, Xander voted for Leslie, even though it was an emotional choice and knew what the plan was supposed to be. For all of my strongest allies, I put my emotions aside and voted for them myself. I put pen to paper and made those tough decisions as I needed to for the betterment of my game. It may have come off as abhorrent tactics or dastardly behavior, but I did it all for the sake of the game.

For why you should look past all of the bad and give me your vote...actually, you shouldn't look past it. I want to be honest with how I played and not dance around or try to give an excuse for why I played like I did. I want you to look at all of these horrible characteristics - how I was paranoid, dominating, abhorrent, and at times aggressive; and in taking a look at these horrible characteristics, how did a player like me make it to the end? I had to take all of my strengths and weaknesses and use them in a way that would help me get through this game. When I was incredibly anxious, I was real and told everyone, in order to gauge their feelings about their own position in this game. I thought opening up about how I was truly feeling would make others feel that they could share their own feelings of insecurity. You could call it manipulative, or weaponized anxiety. But for me, those were true feelings, and it was honestly how I bonded with people. In feelings of shared anxiety.

I know you're a fan of Big Brother, so you're most likely familiar with characters such as Dr. Will Kirby, or Mike Boogie. I used everything in my arsenal, whether it was a positive trait or negative trait, and was able to weave it into a complete game that got me to the end. In addition to everything negative you mentioned, I also used all my positive strengths - a strong social game, strategic acumen, research abilities, technical background, etc. I put all the good and bad together to play a compelling game that was in a sense, me. It was myself. All my insecurities, my confidences, my weaknesses, my strengths. I'm not a perfect person, but I did try extremely hard to play as good of a game as I could.

I hope that answers all your questions and feel free to ask follow-up if I missed something.

[Heather]

Abraham, I'm glad you appreciate my tough questions since I'm just getting started. 

I would like to preface this next question by stating that as a queer woman, I would never engage in gossip or anything salacious surrounding someone’s sexuality or gender identity. As someone who decided not to disclose their sexual identity or anything really personal about my actual life in fear of that information being a topic of conversation, I understand that these matters can be sensitive. 

That being stated, I need you to answer my next question honestly for me to determine whether or not I should vote for you.

You must be aware that jury members talk in Ponderosa and that we’ve been comparing notes on the different stories and versions of events you’ve shared with all of us. A recent topic of conversation with your former ally, Evvie, joining the jury is the spat that occurred between you two and the narrative surrounding it. 

You touch on this situation in your opening statement and in Sara’s thread but I was unsatisfied with your answer and I’ll explain why I need you to further elaborate. 

I was initially told you were upset with Evvie for disclosing your personal information, specifically, you being LGBTQ, to me and Shan. This was news to me as, for the record, Evvie never shared anything personal that you told her to me. In spite of Evvie’s many faults, I don’t believe they are the type of person to do such a thing nor did she ever exhibit those sort of qualities to me. 

However, it has recently come to light that you were actually upset with Evvie in regards to something purely game related but spread the narrative to other members of Ancha (most notably Sara) that Evvie disclosed you being LGBTQ+ to the ‘girls alliance,’ which, again, never happened, and that was the reason you were so upset and were having thoughts of quitting the game. 

My question for you is simple: Did you purposely lie about Evvie telling Shan and I personal information about yourself in order to cover for your upset/paranoia over your game possibly being exposed and to further your own relations with the other members of Ancha? If so, how do you justify this behavior and do you not view that as going too far especially if this is a sensitive topic for you?Again, as someone who shared the bare minimum about my life with you guys, I understand being upset about someone you think is a friend/ally spreading personal information. However, I cannot understand lying about a friend/ally spreading personal information and I would like to gain a better understanding of where your head is regarding this situation. 

Thank you for your time. 

[Xander]

Hey Heather, thanks for the question! 

Honestly, I don't have strong feelings about you either. You and I didn't really work together too much until after the “in crowd” competition. You said at Tribal council how I was going to be disposed of as soon as my alliance was done with me. Your intuition knew something was off and I applaud you for that cause not many did. You just had the wrong person in mind. That comment should have been targeted at Deshawn. As for the details around Evvie and I’s alliance. I expressed my love for Evvie as a person to you, yes, but I never revealed we were a day one F2. But I will totally acknowledge that there are aspects of the game I am forgetting about or interpreting. 

 To answer your question,  My game had to be more adaptable and reflexive than his. I wasn't a challenge beast and didn't have the security of knowing I had an idol(s) in my pocket. I had to work harder socially which is much more subjective than challenge wins. I would consider my inclusion in the stoner alliance being a revelation to you, as being a successful game move. I also challenge your saying that I lack charisma compared to Abe and Evvie. Had I lacked charisma, I wouldn't have been able to successfully sell my “on the outs” role. Abe and I played different games and both of us are reaping the consequences. But don't sell me short Heather


Saying i don't have strong feelings about you isn't exactly true. You were damn funny this entire game. You creating Malibooboo was one of the funniest parts of this whole experience. Thank you for the laughs

[Abraham]

Hey Heather.

This was a little misconstrued. This only involved me, Evvie, and Shan. I never used your name or involved you in this. What happened was, in a conversation with Shan, I heard that Evvie was actually closest with Shan and forming a F2 and in turn, I thought that information about me being LGBT was being shared as something to be used game wise. We ended up hashing it out and Evvie explained that this was never the case and that Shan didn't hear that information from Evvie either. Before hearing from Evvie, I confided in Sara because I felt close to her and was just looking for reassurance. It was not a lie or done for game reasons. It was something that legitimately happened to me. Your name wasn't involved in this situation and I'm not sure how this involved a girls alliance in any way but it was just between Me, Evvie and Shan. It was not a lie and not for game reasons. I was legitimately worried for my own well being with this information leaking outside the game.

[Heather]

Xander, 


Thank you for answering my question and I’m glad I was able to make you laugh.


My next question is how do you interpret Abraham choosing to take you to the finale over Evvie? Do you believe it’s because he has a closer bond with you than her, or, is it because he views a victory over you as a slam dunk whereas it would be more difficult against Evvie? 



Are you hoping that the jury’s dislike of Abraham sways us in your favor as you implied at the Day 26 Tribal Council even if it means we think less of you as a player or do you genuinely believe your style of gameplay will trump his in the end? Does how you win matter or is a win a win?

[Heather]

Hey Heather.

This was a little misconstrued. This only involved me, Evvie, and Shan. I never used your name or involved you in this. What happened was, in a conversation with Shan, I heard that Evvie was actually closest with Shan and forming a F2 and in turn, I thought that information about me being LGBT was being shared as something to be used game wise. We ended up hashing it out and Evvie explained that this was never the case and that Shan didn't hear that information from Evvie either. Before hearing from Evvie, I confided in Sara because I felt close to her and was just looking for reassurance. It was not a lie or done for game reasons. It was something that legitimately happened to me. Your name wasn't involved in this situation and I'm not sure how this involved a girls alliance in any way but it was just between Me, Evvie and Shan. It was not a lie and not for game reasons. I was legitimately worried for my own well being with this information leaking outside the game.

Sara stated in his episode 3 confessional, and I’m unsure if I’m allowed to directly quote so I’ll paraphrase, that:


Evvie ‘burned’ Sara’s gay kings one of which being you. Sara says you and Evvie had a deep conversation about being LGBT and Evvie ‘took that info and fed it back to Heather and Shan’


My question is why was Sara led to believe that Evvie shared personal information about you to me and Shan if what you’re stating is the truth? Are you stating that he misinterpreted your conversation in his confessional or did you throw out the possibility of this occurring to him in one of your fits of paranoia? Or, are you saying that Sara’s lying altogether?


I agree with you. I literally have nothing to do with the Day 7 fiasco which is why I’m confused as to how my name can even be mentioned in any capacity. 


I can overlook everything that has occurred in this game as, honestly, most of it is funny in hindsight. However, I can not overlook there ever being a narrative that I was gossiping about someone’s personal matters/sexuality. That’s inexcusable as it is a very sensitive topic for me. 

[Xander]

Heathers bringing those receipts!  

I stand by what I said on Day 26 and think it is still relevant. Abe really burned a lot of people. Reading his statements in this and other threads does make me question how authentic or sincere some of the moments between him and I were.  

But I am not naive enough to think he wanted me here just because he liked me as a person. I think he does view me as being an easier target, he has even mentioned as much and hopefully that arrogance will be his undoing.  

I appreciate that you're bringing these questions into a philosophical territory. Does the end ever justify the means? It's hard to definitively say. I think a win is nice but the way you go about getting it is just as important. I don't think I played a squeaky clean game so i can't throw too many stones lest my glass house come crashing down. 

 The jury's vote will always be thru the lens of their experience. We aren't computers whose behavior can be predicted. People have different game styles that are seen as more valuable to some than others. Hopefully my style speaks to some. 

[Abraham]

I honestly don't know how your name came up. I think what happened was, is I was telling Sara about this issue where Shan told me Evvie had been feeding her information and then I told Sara that it's possible Evvie was giving information to the possible girl's alliance. Not that Evvie was specifically telling you and Shan about the LGBT thing. It was all regarding me being worried Evvie was taking my personal information and using it for game purposes. This situation should have never even involved you or Sara. It should have just been me, Shan, and Evvie. We squashed the issue fairly quickly as well and it wasn't brought up again. I'm as confused as you are about the whole thing and i do apologize that your name came up in some way. However, this should have only involved the people it did involve and you're right that my paranoia got Sara involved when it shouldn't have. But there is in no way a narrative that you were gossiping about my sexuality in any way and your name is only linked to this through the possibility of an alliance with Evvie and Shan, who this whole issue involved. I'm sorry you were thrown into this situation by association but that was never any intention on anyone's part, I'm sure of it. Like I've said before, this went beyond the game and was something real that happened. However, I don't think it should have any sway on your voting decision as until you brought it up, I had no idea you were involved.

[Heather]

Abraham,

Thank you for answering and explaining. I just wanted to make sure that there was never a narrative that I would do such a thing and I apologize if I came off a bit hostile or ‘intense’ in my questioning but it’s a sensitive topic for me. I’m glad you were able to clarify. 

I’m regards to everything else that occurred, it’s none of my concern but I’m glad you were able to continue in the game. 

Thank you again.