The winner of the "who deserves to win Survivor" poll was BRYAN. Ben was in the lead, but I took away all the votes from accounts that had been created within the last week (and there were a few, Ben). Although I didn't specify you couldn't do that... this was supposed to be an "America's Favorite" vote and not a vote-for-yourself-10-times vote.
The winner of the "fan favorite" vote was also BRYAN. Actually, it was a tie between Ben and Bryan, but I, again, took out the votes that had been from accounts created within the last week. For a long while it was a 4 way tie between Drew, Maggie, KJ, and Andii.
Good job to all those involved in this season. Therese and I had a good time watching it all unravel. Confessionals will be unscreened throughout the week next week. Looking forward to your remarks on that.
Also - I'm not sure if we ever pointed this out but had anyone figured out that RAIN was mine and Therese's zip codes you would have won a Hidden Immunity idol. We never gave any clues that there was another HI out there... we thought maybe you guys would dig a little deeper on how we came up with that number. I guess y'all assumed we just random.org'ed it.
We are still waiting on TWO MORE VOTES... Maggie and KJ. You have until tomorrow at 6PM to send in your votes. They were due today at 6PM. If we don't have them by tomorrow we'll press on with the winner of this season!!!
To our FINAL TRIBAL COUNCIL. Tonight the power will switch over to the Jurors and they will decide who will become the Sole Survivor of Gobi Desert. Like past Tribal Councils, the Jury members will use the provided parchment and vote FOR a winner by posting the parchment as a comment (screened) to this post. Remember, you are voting FOR a winner. You are NOT voting someone out.
Bryan has chosen to use his power of voiding a Juror's vote but we will not reveal whose vote he's chosen until results are posted so please make sure that you all vote.
There has been a lot of talk about how great of a game player that Ben was this season (most of it from his own mouth), but I would like to point out how full of himself that he really is. His main strategy was forming an alliance of five to beat an alliance of four. Yes, it truly takes a mastermind to figure out that five is bigger than four. Amazing. Being able to count should give him the win. Also, his goal was to get him and Drew to the end. He had three chances for him or his amazing, super awesome alliance that should go down in history to win an immunity challenge and take me out of the game. Each time resulted in his failure. Repeatedly failing to get rid of your biggest competition should also give you the win. Ben also like to point out that I relied on a group of four as my "ticket to the end" as some sort of negative. I fail to see how that is any different than relying on his group of five. Never once did he deviate from that plan until he decided to stab KJ in the back.
I think that I played a strong game from start to finish and am deserving of your vote to win this game. I helped lead my tribe that included a quitter and an inactive player through the tribal portion of the game without losing a challenge. I wasn't forced to make multiple alliances because my ass was on the line because I kept losing, like having to get rid of Andii who Ben admits would have been valued much more than Donna. Things didn't work out for me once I realized that KJ was not on my side but this was not when I started playing the game according to Ben. This was when I kicked my game into overdrive. The master of all alliances has criticized me for not talking to the "real leaders" of his alliance. Well, I would like to say that this so-called master failed to identify the "real threats" in my group. If he would have kept Nick around instead of voting him out as public enemy number one, I would probably be giving him my vote to win this game right now. This is not a knock against Nick but I do not think that he would have been able to defy the odds like I did. I was outnumbered by enemies by 5-1. yet four of them are sitting on the jury right now and I am still standing. I tried every way I could think of to keep myself safe but when the doors were all slammed in my face the only path that was open to me was winning immunity so I had to take it. It was arguably the hardest path to the finals because so much of it was out of my control. It just so happened that the challenges towards the end of the game were all things that I could excel at and did.
So in closing, I would like to ask the jury to give their vote to the person who is more deserving of the win. Should the person whose strategy was "five is bigger than four" win this game or the person who fought tooth and nail when everything was stacked against him? I think this is a no-brainer. It was a blast playing this game with everyone and I would love to play again with any of you in the future!
Well after months of playing, it all comes down to this. Your vote to decide who wins this game. I've said it at the beginning of this process, I said it in my answers and I'll say it again: I'm the one who deserves your vote based on gameplay, overall strategy and outlasting everyone else. In essence the true meaning in a game of Survivor: Outplay, Outwit & Outlast. And I easilly still stand by my entire game, my answers and everything else about it.
I'll say this again too: this is a game. We all signed up to play this, we all knew that it would be tough and we all wanted the same thing: to win. In the end, only one person can win, and that one person should be the person who came into this game with one aim and that was to win. Not at all costs, because I can proudly say that I played a game in wihch I kept options open while at the same time remaining true and loyal to those I made promises with. I didn't backstab everyone at every cost, and I didn't switch around willy nilly and try and save myself when I knew the cards were down. I played two moves ahead of everyone else in this game and always thought about the ramifications based on potential moves, and this ultimately succeeded in getting me to the end. I had the numbers, I had the options, I had the survival skills and I had the strategy. All I need to complete that is to have your vote to win this game.
Did I lie in this game? Of course I did. Did I go against my word to some people? Of course I did. Did I piss people off? Of course I did. But anyone who plays a game like this will tick each of those boxes off too. Be it on purpose, or be it by accident. I do however stand by my loyalty card in the fact that even when I went against somebody who I had some form of word with, I would straight up tell them to their face they were going, or at least seek out them before hand to try and explain before they would go. Clearly this amounts to shit when people obviously can't move on from a move and take things just a tad too seriously, acting like I cheated on them with another woman or killed their child or something, but that's obviously down to an individuals personality. I think numerous times in this jury process we have seen their true colours be shown, and really, it's something that makes me laugh at just how deranged an individual can get in a game like this.
I would also like to add that not once did I receive a vote in this game, I came from a tribe that was essentially on it's way to being extinct in the first few challenges and also competed on the other side of the world in a complete different time zone to you guys. So while for the most part you all enjoyed a night time challenge time and social spree, I would generally have to change my days around to ensure I was here for challenges, social time and other aspects of the game. I think this only adds to the overall fact that this is a game I deserve to win and a game which should be based on gameplay and ability, not on who made you get butthurt the least. Look at who is sitting in front of you and really think hard who you are actually voting for and the reason you should choose a winner.
I thank you all for the opportunity of playing this game with you. No matter if you finished in 15th or 3rd, you have each brought your own personality to this game and a season that I think won't be forgotten in a long time.
It's now all down to you to decide who should receive the true title of the Sole Survivor of the Gobi Desert, and make sure that the person sitting here in the final two who has that honorary title gets the official one.
From Benfail to Sole Survivor. It's a true Hollywod story in itself!
P.S: Both my nipples were less hairy and also had sex appeal and I do think too that my singing capabilities to Lady GaGa should get me a bonus point/vote, just saying....
Now that I've*finally* approved Maggie's jury questions we're running a tad behind on schedule. No worries, though! Ben & Bryan, you both have until tomorrow night at 9PM EST to answer Maggie's question, touch base on any other jury questions if you so choose, and post your Closing Statement. At 9PM I'll post the Final Tribal Council. Information on how to vote and when votes are due by will be included in the FTC post. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them here. Also, if you would still like the chat log from the F4 IC I will personally e-mail you as I've given up all hope on getting this posted. I just don't have the patience to reformat it.
First of all I would like to apologize for being so late at posting these questions, I have been very busy the past few weeks with getting ready to move and what not, I haven't really had a whole lot of time to catch up with everything on Live Journal.
So congrats to Bryan & Ben for doing something the rest of us couldn't do! I think making it to the final 2 is an amazing accomplishment, and I wish I could be sitting in one of your seats! I think both of you deserve to win this game for many reasons, you are both very strong players! A lot of my questions have already been answered because of previous questions that were asked, but I will give it a go! :)
BRYAN & BEN: - Were you honest to me throughout the entire game? If not what weren't you honest about? - If you could pick another person to be sitting next to right now, who would it be? Why? - Who would you label the "Weakest" and "Strongest" this season? Why? and anyone who makes me a video singing some kinda lady gaga song will really get some bonus points with me! :)
Congrats Ben and Bryan! Good job making the Final 2. Bryan you were the underdog and without winning immunity and using your idol you would have been voted out. Ben you had a good alliance that got you to the Finals. Without the help of Drew, Jamie and KJ, you may have not made the Finals.
Bryan I would like to know why you didn't ask me to join you until all your allies were gone and you were in dire need of help?
Ben I would like to know why you didn't include me in your alliance and why was I the most expendable person?
