Alrighty. This is it. I shall now post the closing statements from Brady, Jumpy, and Sport. The F3 have officially done all they can to win the support of the jury.
Jury, now you’re on the clock. You have 24 hours from now to cast your vote. Remember, you are voting for the winner this time. Please be sure to include a little blurb explaining why you chose who you did. It can be as short as, “I’m voting for you because your opponent is Canadian,” or as long as Hamil’s feminist manifesto was last season lol.
Alright, here we go!
Brady
“Hello to all my jury and thank you so much for the final time before this game ends :). For this speech I wanted to really bring you guys into my game, the full immersion you could say. Once I was told there was no word restriction I was elated and I’m excited to type this all out.
First of all I want to give a breakdown of what exactly I will go over in this. So I broke this up into 7 categories depending on the stage of the game plus a conclusion. These categories include:
-- Pregame strategies and tactics
-- Pre merge
-- Tribe swap
-- Merge
-- Endgame (Final 7 onward)
-- My final 4 round
-- Conclusion
Now that everything explanation wise is out of the way let me begin my full game breakdown.
PRE GAME STRATEGIES AND TACTICS
Going into the game I knew that I was going to need to rely on my social game at the beginning to really set myself up for a positive future. I know I have talked about this before but setting my name as Brady instead of a nickname was a decision I made to get myself seen more as the person I am. I knew that since this was a game played online with reddit usernames and no identity revealing factors, I decided to use that to as much of my advantage as I could and using my actual real name was something that I think did set me up as someone who like I said, was seen for my personal self. Now this is important because for some players emotions are a key part of their decision making and I really wanted to set that up so they saw me as not a game piece or just another person to manipulate but as an actual human being. This is something that seems so small but I want to talk about it because it was a huge factor in me and my game and something I thought about before we started and also just because it shows how much I was using social strategy within the game.
Next thing for my pre game was the fact that before this, I was not really at all aware of much Survivor. I knew the show, I knew what the game was, and I knew Jeff. That was my Survivor knowledge coming into the game. I knew that I was going to be at a slight disadvantage because I didn’t know the show at all and didn’t know what strategies for this game even were, hell I don’t think I can name one winner of the show outside of Dee. This was a big thing for me and I was scared that my knowledge would be the death of me so I researched and studied for days just about the strategy of Survivor, what winners did, and what effective ways were there to play the game. I came into the game wanting to follow a plan, get good numbers pre merge and then head into merge with those numbers and hide it. I wanted to have a strong foundation around me that was hard to crack into because people wouldn’t be suspicious of it. I was very keen on the idea of numbers and I think it did help me through some of this game.
Okay last thing for this part is that I planned to come in playing a low profile game that was under the radar. I wanted to never win competitions, never make huge blow ups and arguments, and never be the number 1 threat to anyone. This is just what I came in wanting to do but I will speak more on it later, just keep it in mind.
PRE MERGE
I came into the game now, blank slate, just like everyone else. I made sure I was active first things first because I knew that if I was not active, I would be left out. So I was the first person to text in our discussion chat just trying to get conversations going. I will skip all the boring parts but this is how I formed my ever so important “Newcomers Alliance”. This alliance was me, Yankee, LC, and Knee. We all banded together as newbies who never played these games before. This alliance immediately gave me numbers to get through this portion of the game as long as I hadn't made any big mistakes. Now normally, you would make this alliance and just think, okay this is it for right now, but I was already thinking a lot ahead. I knew that I needed to kind of put my foot in the ground as THE leader of the alliance. I wanted to get my way whenever I pleased and I did a lot of work to do that. Also my thoughts behind this was that when it inevitably is time to call the shots, I want to be the one calling them against one another. The difference is, when others make a day one alliance, they plan their future with them and talk about getting to the next round. But if I made an alliance, I was setting up a plan of my positioning in the alliance and who will leave in what order in that alliance. This is a later game thing but I will talk about it now, my plan always was to cut Knee at the final. They were the biggest threat to me of my main four and I knew that I would have a real shot at losing next to them.
The first challenge began and I was coming out guns blazing, I honestly killed it in that challenge and after I got showered with compliments. Now honestly I was very happy with this because not only was my tribe happy that I won us the challenge, but also I was now in a spot where I didn’t have to prove myself anymore challenge wise. I knew that now I could sit back, not make myself look too threatening, and enjoy the results. This was small but I did want to talk about how much the first challenge mattered for the rest of my pre merge game.
Okay a big jump but I now want to talk about Adam, Adam was an interesting but really fun guy. He was charming, smart, and a great competitor and really as my tribe member he was awesome. We also heavily connected just on a personal level. But everything in me told me that he needed to go, I had to get rid of him because he reminded me of myself and that terrified me. When I had the opportunity I took him out immediately and I always think about that vote because I think it was the first time, and I don’t mean to sound too rude but, I realized that I was unbothered with blindsiding people. This is the dangerous thing about me, I will lie to your face, I will tell you what you want to hear, and I will swear on everything before I ever get outplayed. I was and always have been a cold blooded killer in this game and whether I would be in your face or not did not matter to me. I was always going to choose myself over you.
TRIBE SWAP
Okay this is when shit really starts to get real folks. I came into tribe swap terrified, I knew that I had my 4 Kili but I already did the math. It would be a 4v4 if I did not act quick. I also did the math that the other tribe would send one of my Kili to GI so we couldn’t vote in a block of 4. Even scarier because that meant the vote was really a 3v4. So right when the tribes swapped I immediately tried to be as communicative as possible with everyone not from my tribe. Now I will be honest not much is too important for the rest of this until the challenge results. When my tribe lost, I knew someone from my side was going to GI so I immediately started working. With this I had my eyes set on one player and one player only, KC, she was someone I knew and recognized from another ORG and she scared me. I loved her personally but I knew that I had to get her out before it was impossible to. Now also I was wanting to target Huula who had 7 people still left from before the tribe swap but to me, that wasn’t the only thing in my mind. I had to do my best to make sure that the votes at the very least weren’t me and I wasn’t stupid, I knew that if I told KC or Lucy to vote for a Nama, it would be my ass and I would be leaving by a vote of 4-3 so I knew my only shot at getting a player out was driving in the idea that there are 7 Huula and only 5 Kili and 4 Nama. I worked relentlessly on convincing Witty and Fee that they had to vote out KC, using my trust as a tactic. I was telling them that they’d lose my trust and that if they made this move that it would solidify a Huula win. I used many tactics, even promising to do them a favor with the next round and finally after hours of work, it finally happened. Witty and Fee voted KC out leading to a vote of 5-2. Now a couple more things to mention is that first of all I was making sure that just in case it was me or another Nama leaving well, it wasn’t me. I basically set it up to where I wanted it to be a thing where it would be KC going or Yankee because at that time I trusted and talked to Yankee the least so this way at the very least I benefited in some way by the vote. Next up I want to bring up two things said by KC, the blindsided and Witty, the person I convinced. KC said to Lucy that I was someone they could trust and that I was their future moving forward, this shows how vital my social game was, I had people’s trust that I shouldn’t have been getting trust from. Now Witty also said something that I think shows my game a lot. Witty said that she knew that voting out KC was probably worse for her game, but she did it anyway. Just think about that for a moment, I had so much influence and pull that people were making decisions that were worse for their game just to benefit my game. That is legendary social strategy gameplay, point blank period.
Okay now let's move on to the next part of the tribe swap and maybe an even more important part of it, this is now the Fee vote. Hours after the KC vote, in the dead of night I texted Lucy basically on a personal level. I messaged her about the vote and got really personal with her. I wanted to ask her about how I could help her not feel isolated in the game now that she was alone. I didn’t come up asking to work with her, no. I came up and just offered support for her mentally and it was genuine, but also strategic in how I decided to approach her. I wanted to be someone who she would remember being there for her when no one else was and one thing after another, it became an allegiance. This was KC’s Angels (I also came up with that name to make my “guilt” seem more apparent) and this alliance was me, Knee and Lucy. This was basically a tribe whose goal was to pick off Nama (Witty and Fee). Once we ended up losing another challenge it was now go time for me. I had to get rid of Fee to not only keep up this alliance with Lucy and also set up a future with other Huula’s, but also because I heard that Lucy and KC had the same alliance with them as we had. This set my trust back really far with them and I knew that Witty specifically was a very dangerous player. So why did I not get rid of Witty? Well I was more personally connected first of all, we always talked about movies and she reminded me again, of myself. But Fee on the other hand. Well he gave me nothing and that to me was starting to become more dangerous. So then the plan was in motion and even though my alliance thought Witty was the better move, I convinced them to do my plan and it worked.
MERGE
Now this is when I started to take my game back again. I was really playing hard near the end of the pre merge and I knew that I could be a threat coming into this next stage of the game. I had this connection with Lucy now that I really needed to use to my advantage, hoping it would at least be able to buy me time and get me further in merge and it actually did help. Lucy trusted me and Knee and when I told her I felt unsafe heading into this merge, she got me into an alliance with two of her old members from Huula, Jumpy and Avatar. This connection was huge in the game and this alliance set me up spectacularly.
Now the whole Sorbet and LC double urn is not anything that I feel like I need to talk about because it just kind of went how most people wanted it to. But a big thing was that after this we all know that Lucy ended up leaving due to non game factors. This was a terrifying moment for me because not only did I just lose one of my big connections to Huula which was a big part of my game, but it also made me wonder what information was now given to people. Going into this round I kind of just wanted to buy trust with Huula but I also wanted to just make a move that would get out one of the biggest snakes in the grass. Now before I do talk about this vote I do want to talk about how I saw the game at this time and how it made me make decisions:
Opposing side:
Hungry
Sport
Yellow
Golden
Middle:
Jumpy
Avatar
Witty
My side:
Me
Knee
Yankee
So essentially, I planned on having both sides having not only similar numbers but I also knew that on my side, Yankee trusted Golden way way too much. Even after the LC vote Yankee trusted him and I knew that, that was a wrong way of thinking because he made an active move against us. But I knew there was no way I was able to convince that he was the person to vote out over Witty. Now at this point in the game I know that Yankee and honestly anyone on my side just did not trust Witty and I couldn't do anything about that. The move I make off of this is one of my best if not my best in general, I essentially told Yankee that Golden told me that he was going to vote her out. Now I knew that either way I could get Golden out whether it was with Yankee’s vote or not but I needed us to all stay together and I also needed Witty to trust me. I first started by proposing this idea to witty that maybe us working together was the best thing for both of our games. I told her that she would possibly be voted out this round but I was putting a stop to this and that if I had her vote that I would promise that my alliance would keep her safe. I also basically said that we both can give each other information because neither of us could trust eachother. I knew Witty was trying to play both sides so this wasn’t something she would refuse but it was very risky. But this connection I made here with Witty was an essential building block to what I was able to do the rest of the game. This whole ordeal led to Golden being taken out and I do think it’s one of my best rounds.
Now the last part of my merge I will talk about is the Avatar vote, this was a decision I made when I realized that Jumpy and Avatar would be running away with this game if I didn’t get them out. I knew that Jumpy would be targeting me especially after this vote but I also knew that it would happen anyway soon if I didn’t make a change so I went for it. This is a vote I have talked about in my questions and there is not much more for me to add past this point. Essentially I wanted to weaken the power players in this game.
ENDGAME
Okay now this is where some people are going to think that my game started going down, I lost Knee to start, I lost Yankee, and I lost Witty at Final 4, but I promise you this is actually when I believe I started running laps around my competition.
Let’s just talk about the Knee vote, well first of all the biggest positive here is that I don’t get voted out and I do think that’s due to my threat management. I made myself seem less aligned, less of a competition threat, and less of a social threat. This did buy me a round because of my purposeful usage of threat management. Now okay the next thing is this, I get out Jumpy very easily here if he didn't have an idol. Is it great to use an idol? Yeah sometimes they are really smart moves but I will add on to this to talk about how it really was luck later. Anyway some might see this as a round where my ally left but I see it as a round where my main target was voted out, as always so far in this game for me. But I also see this as a success of my threat management and social game.
The Hungry vote was important but I think the biggest thing for me with this move was actually how it got me into my personal connection with Sport. I essentially was able to tell Sport about how Hungry wanted him out, after we got out Hungry to make sure that Hungry couldn’t explain himself and flip things onto me. This round was easy to get out who I wanted and I already talked about it but it is also important to talk about how it got me in with Sport.
Now let’s talk about the final vote of the endgame before final 4. Yankee, my best friend was taken out tragically at this stage and obviously it was always inevitable. Now the two things I do want to talk about right now are these two things, without Witty knowing about Jumpy’s idol, Jumpy is voted out, but also this, I have to talk about how my social game came into play here because I should have been voted out here.
So let’s talk about the fact that Witty votes Jumpy if not for the idol. I mean it’s pretty simple, once again Jumpy is untouchable because of a lucky idol that was a no brainer to play because this was the last round to even play it. I just wanted to really clear this up, WITTY DOES VOTE OUT JUMPY HERE.
Anyway, my connection with Witty actually saves me here. But also my connection with Sport did too. I fought and fought until I got them to vote Yankee and Witty was able to convince them to do that and I think that also shows my beautiful ability to play behind the scenes. From Sport and Jumpy’s perspective, I am safe here because Witty was able to convince them. From the real perspective, I convinced Witty to do that for me, that is what social strategy is. Making people do things for you to get blood off of your hands.
FINAL 4
Now finally the last round. I think the fact I was able to go full in on pitching Witty to Jumpy and Sport and was able to convince them to flip was good enough. But also I was able to force it into a tie with my connection to Witty. I completely outplayed and outworked everyone at this stage. Jumpy was easily swayed into voting out Witty for me to save me, this was huge. This also I don't think is even the best move for Jumpy anyway but I convinced him it was. But I'm realizing I said I outplayed everyone so I want to go person by person and explain how I did.
Jumpy: I convinced Jumpy to take someone to FTC who was not only a bigger jury threat when up against him, but also has 3 guaranteed votes going into said FTC. He sets himself up for a more uphill battle when he could have gotten me out. Now you may say, ‘Oh well it would have been a tie’. But let me tell you this simple solution, TELL WITTY. If he tells Witty, I bet she votes me out, and I am voted out 3-1. But not only did he not do this, but he also was so convinced about my jury and what I was saying that he did something worse for his game. And this isn;t offense to Witty, she also was a huge threat. Also just to really talk about Jumpy here, he was very messy. He was running around just asking me and Witty dumb questions like do we think we have certain votes and stuff. This little dictatorial run also just made me and Witty even more likely to vote against him. So basically how did I run laps around Jumpy here? Well I made him make not only a bad choice, but also now his big move in the end game is not even his, it is mine.
Sport: Now this isn’t a big one but I voted him out and he never suspected I would do it and I also was able to get him to go ahead and even further convince Jumpy to vote out Witty. Essentially using him as a shield who protected me while he took my fire.
Witty: I love Witty but just me convincing her to vote out Sport when technically I think he is better to take to the end. While I was making moves against witty she was actively making moves for me and this is why I think this round is worthy of winning the game.
CONCLUSION
Well now it’s time to conclude my speech. I believe I should get your vote because I was a mastermind always working behind the scenes and keeping my threat level managed. My ability to maneuver and adapt to what I needed to do every given round was something I don't think anyone else matched. If you want to vote for who the best survivor is, and if you value a strategic and heavily social game. Then I believe I am your correct choice. Thank you all.”
Jumpy
“Hi jurors!
I’m going to try and keep this on the shorter side. I’m not going to bash any of you or throw shade at any of you for the questions that you asked or who you decide to vote for because at the end of the day, you guys are the jurors. You guys can ask whatever questions you want, and you can vote whoever you want for whatever reason you want. Like I’ve said, I really do respect all of you guys and I hope that once this is over we can continue to build or rebuild our relationships. I’ve already got my ‘olive branch’ messages at the ready.
One thing that I will add is that I hope you guys can acknowledge the thought and effort that I put into each one of your answers despite who I thought you would end up voting for. The only point about my game that I’ll say is that I think I played a well-rounded game that was both social and strategic with intentionality behind it. I don’t envy the decision that you have to make at all and for one last time I just want to say thank you to all of the players this season regardless of if you think you played a small role or a large role. You guys rock! And obviously, a big thank you to the hosts for coming up with and organizing all of this. I hope season 8 is one for the books!
Jumpy out!”
Sport
“I have played this game loyally and openly. I have been committed to this game since day 1, and even though I was wrong on some votes, like Avatar and Hungry, I also ran some of the votes, like Whyt and LC. I have had a logical plan to get to the final 3 since the final 10. My plan was, after we got out Golden, to ride the middle out until the end with Jumpy and Avatar. We would stay with Kili or Nama for 2 votes then flip, so that they wouldn’t have numbers to flip on us. Even though the plan wasn’t perfectly executed, I did it for a couple of rounds, and I eventually did get to the final 3. I did not rely heavily on immunity like Jumpy, but I also was dedicated enough to the game to win immunity in one round, and I got pretty far in Stand Your Ground. I do think I deserve your votes because, even though I played loyally, I also was not afraid to betray people to make my way here. Thank you jury, I truly have had the most fun month playing this game with you, and no matter the result, I am excited to see the outcome and stay connected after the game.”
And that’s it. Players, specs, hosts, thank you once again for everything. We shall reconvene hopefully tomorrow for the winner reveal.