Jeff Probst wrote:Whelp you did it! Final 3!
Let me know your thoughts on the other finalists, your journey thus far, if you think you have a good shot at winning and how you feel about the jurors.
CONGRATS!!!!!
Thanks Jeffy! I can't believe I'm here, but as I said in my last confessional, I think I have a good story to tell on how I got here. I started the game as a replacement for someone else and, honestly, I wasn't sure how much time and energy I'd have to devote to the game because of the short notice. After being on a tribe that was doing well in challenges right off the bat, I felt more motivated to play. The game itself was fun and the fact that everyone took it seriously made it that much better.
There was the unfortunate time where I was away for a couple of challenges because I was travelling, and when I was able to fully come back and play, I found myself at the bottom of the pack. I was literally one vote away from going home. But what I had to my advantage, and what I've always had on my side when I play these kinds of games, is my social skills. I don't win individual immunities, I know that. Despite giving it my all, I crack under pressure and make mistakes. As some of my fellow contestants have said throughout the seasons, you can't count on immunities to get you through to next week. Often, the challenges are based a little bit on luck, so I knew I had to do whatever I could to win people over to my side.
First, I harnessed the allies I had made before the merge: namely Jess, Nate, Cass and CiCi and convinced them that I was less of a threat than Steph. It wasn't hard to do. People will often take the less vocal option because they appear to be less of a threat and that was when I knew my plan. Jeff had said it all along at tribal: Just don't be the "next big threat". So I did what Sandra Diaz-Twine is so famous for doing and constantly pitched someone else as the Threat of the Week.
After Steph, we had hoped to target CiCi because of her infamous ability to stir drama in every direction she could, but when she won immunity we knew we had to target someone else. Flicka seemed our best option. She had previously found the hidden immunity Idol, she had a strong alliance with Rocky (or so we all thought), and she would likely join CiCi's "Island of Misfit Toys" given that CiCi seemed to want to spare her, so we needed to do something to stop that from happening. I got to know Flicka right before the vote and felt really bad about that decision because she seemed sweet and like she just got the short end of the stick, but I still felt like it was the best decision at the time to make sure the power stayed with my alliance.
The week after, Cass won immunity and that was our chance to vote out CiCi. She saw it as a blindside, but I really don't think it was. Almost everyone in the game recognized that she was difficult to play with. She stirred drama and made it hard to trust her and to know who else we could trust. If I wanted my alliance to stick together long enough for me to get deeper into the game, I knew we had to cut CiCi off while we still could. Like I said, she had the potential to team up with those who were on the outside of my alliance and make the tides turn.
A week later was when the true blindsides began. Jessica and I both knew that Cass was at the head of our alliance. She commanded all the attention and that was dangerous. We led the charge together to get rid of her and, as Jeff said at tribal, it wasn't difficult to make vocal players look like threats. As I said, my constant worry was that I would be perceived as the "next big threat", but I made sure to pitch others as more dangerous. Everyone was still watching Jessica's every move and people were beginning to take notice of Candice as the most likely person to win given that she had connections to everyone. It was perhaps no surprise then that I decided to pair of with these two girls. Aside from getting along with them really well, I knew that as long as I could do whatever I could to keep them in, I wasn't the biggest threat left in the game. I would only ever be a backup to them, at most.
After Cass, we all turned our attention back to the so-called "Misfits" and took out Lil. It had to be done eventually and the reason it worked well right after Cass was because a lot of our alliance was worried about us "imploding" and eating each other alive before any of us got to the Final 3. There would be plenty of time for that.
The week after was the epic Jessica blindside which, in my opinion, wasn't a blindside at all. Jessica, Candice and I had been talking about it and knew that it was likely coming and that Penner and Nate were not longer on our side. I stuck by Jessica and Candice instead of flipping because, like I said, I wanted to keep them both in for as long as I could to keep the heat off me. I also knew that the jury resented one or both of them, so sitting beside them at the end wouldn't be all that bad.
Admittedly, I blew up at Nate during that Tribal Council, but I actually found a way to work it in my favour. After surviving another close shave myself, I knew Penner and Nate would now be in a power struggle to be seen as the mastermind behind the Jessica elimination. I pitched the idea to both of them that if they made it to the FTC together, they would split the vote of people who wanted Jessica gone and that simply would not work if they hoped to win.
Penner bought that story hook, line and sinker and by the time tribal rolled around, he thought it was his idea and we were all voting Nate. Candice and I were safe for another week and with Candice around, I still wasn't the biggest threat. I also began pitching Rocky as a threat, which wasn't hard to do. He had won several immunities and had, what seemed like "guaranteed votes" on the jury. I knew from experience that no votes on the jury are guaranteed and it's disrespectful to those people to believe otherwise, but I knew I could potentially convince people of that.
So after losing Rebecca, who Penner hoped to carry to the end as fodder in the FTC, I needed to make sure that the final vote would be between only Rocky and Candice. That way, if one of them won immunity, the other would go home. When Candice won the advantage, I was sure she'd win immunity and Rocky would be going home, but then Penner stole it out from under her nose and the decision was in my hands. Like I said at tribal, it came down to who I thought would be most likely to vote for me if I put them on the jury (Candice) and who I thought I could potentially beat in the FTC (Rocky). Moreover, I didn't want to risk a tie because I knew, on a revote, Penner wouldn't change his mind and then we'd likely go to drawing rocks or something equally crazy. I didn't want to risk going home after working so hard to get to the Final 3, so voting Candice was, I believe, the best decision for my game. It hurt, because I liked her, but I genuinely think I would have lost to her. She had some great points - that she betrayed many people to get to the Final 3, but she also made some great decisions and survived with her closest ally, who she carried early in the game, against some unthinkable odds. I couldn't beat that kind of story.
So now, I look like the underdog who helped orchestrate some crazy decisions and keep the target off me without ever having immunity to help me along. I played a purely social game and during in the last vote of the season, my name wasn't even an option. Why was that? Is it because all three of them underestimated me as a threat at the FTC? Maybe. So I intend to prove them wrong. I'm a lawyer and I've got a case to win, that's all it is to me. Put forth the indisputable evidence and let the jury decide. Penner may look like a mastermind, but he played my game. I was the backup to Jessica, so how did the vote suddenly turn to Nate? I told Penner it was what he needed to do. Maybe Nate really doesn't think I'm a goat, but if that's the perception some people have, I intend to show them that I was anything but. This jury will be nasty, but I think I can handle it. I think Penner will be my biggest competition. He played a good game. Based on the jury's reaction to Rocky having "guaranteed votes", I doubt he'll win. He'll probably get a vote or two just because people are fond of him, but he didn't make the kinds of decisions that Penner and I made to take ourselves from the bottom of the group to the top. I just need to convince people that the decisions I made were harder, better, faster, stronger.
Now it's time to draft my opening remarks.
by Jeff Probst » Tue Sep 08, 2015 9:38:24 pm 
