Post by kingdarnell on Aug 27, 2016 2:24:44 GMT -5
Hello everyone, first of all I want to thank Nick for hosting this great season, I want to congratulate Liz for defying the odds and get here, and to all the unique people that took part on this season, I truly had lots of fun in this one and I believe we all did a great job at making a compelling storyline so <3 you all.
I have to express disappointment in not doing the last challenge, I was just waiting on Nick’s "the challenge is up" on AIM, which he never sent. I literally found out the challenge was posted when it was over. I've been checking AIM for a day expecting for it, my mistake was not checking the board. So if you're coming into this FTC thinking I gave up, or that I'm lazy, your perception is completely wrong. I put a lot into this season without making it too obvious I was playing hard, I'm proud of the road that took me this far, but most importantly, I've had a huge determination to win for a long time and I will do my best in this FTC to show you all voting for me is worth it.
Tonight, and with this statement, I want to prove some people wrong. Some people who think I was just a pawn, someone's puppet, or just a number this season. I fought hard during the game to erase that perception and tonight I feel like I did enough to burn that down. I knew I was looked as an easy person to beat at the end but I personally NEVER believed that, that was complete BS to me but it didn’t necessarily hurt me because hey, I’m sitting here. I was able to create strong and good enough bonds with most people in this game, which helped me being in solid majorities all season and never in danger.
That’s what I’m most proud of, my ability to have good allies by my side, from my alliance and from outside my alliance, all of them trusted me enough to work closely with me and I was able to have a peripheral and complete view of the game, and with trust and knowledge came total control. Best part of everything? Most of you had NO idea I was playing that well behind the scenes.
The source of my game came from the influence I had, which I took advantage of. People wanted to work with me and cared for me, or at least I made sure they cared; I had a good relationship with Alecia, so when the first merge came, I was part of taking her name out of the picture for the first merge vote, and Yau-Man went. I made sure my allies saw I was opinionated and not just a follower, I made sure they took my opinion into consideration. So of course with the first merge also came my alliance with Jeff, Lindsey, Taj and Ken. All people I liked a lot and who I enjoyed: "The Icons Only".
Oh, the influence. I was an expert at influencing and changing people’s minds. That’s also how I helped Morgan get the target on Natalie, while she got the total blame for it, a conversation I had with Morgan pumped her enough to go to everybody and pitch the vote, I also had my conversations but it was mostly attributed to Morgan, so it basically burned her and not me. That’s exactly the game I think I played this season, subtle, but dangerous. I wanted to be able to clean my hands after every murder I took a part in, and leave as innocent.
The round Morgan left, I came online late and it baffled me big time that people didn’t bother to talk to me, and to me it just meant my position within my alliance wasn’t strong enough. There was a group chat for a reason. Something needed to change. I talk to Keith, he says he was told Malcolm’s name. I tell Keith I was told Liz’s name (Ken told me it was her last minute). Then Lindsey comes and explains the vote is secret. Too late. Oh well, I told Keith what was going on with detail because maybe my position within MY alliance wasn’t the best, maybe I needed new people to trust me. Thanks to ME, Liz survived that vote (I didn't know she had the idol). I stopped being mad, I forgave Taj, Ken and Lindsey because they apologized and had reasons for it, besides I was offline, I got over it. But when I got to talk to Jeff, it was just him questioning me about having the idol. Jeff’s clear allegiances belonged to Taj and Lindsey. I knew I was not high on his priority list… and you know what? I wanted power within my alliance. I wanted power all around but I would not get that if I didn’t have a good position within my alliance. I had a very strong thing with Ken, but otherwise my position was weak. I didn’t stay conformed, I wasn’t a follower, I turned it around. I had the balls to say I wanted Jeff out, and it happened. For some reason Ken took the heat for it, from Jeff even. I’m sorry Jeff, it truly wasn’t personal it was just something that helped me tremendously at the end of the day. Ken and Keith were super close to me, while my relevance grew for the remaining Icons Taj and Linds after you left. Malcolm began to trust me, too. It was the move that benefited DARNELL the most, and it completely paid off, the best part of it is it didn’t burn me at all. I influenced people, I was the one saying “I’m sorry but I want Jeff out” but I only took the pros of it, never the cons. Once again, I left innocent and rewarded with a strong four person alliance and two people on the outs that trusted me.
After that, I saw Taj as both, a very important ally, and a rival down the road. I knew her thing with Liz and Lindsey was going to be something I was going to deal with sooner or later, so I wanted Liz out. I, along Ken, pushed for Liz, even Lindsey pushed for Liz (for total opposite reasons). But Taj got her way and Malcolm, someone that could have worked with me against Taj, was the vote. But that was only another red flag for me. That round the plan was to tell everyone Keith was going and then the four remaining Icons would vote Malcolm. What you didn’t know is that I kept Keith as informed as I could because I knew I needed his trust to battle Taj’s arising, besides he was my friend and he trusted me and visceversa, so I told him absolutely everything.
I was loyal to my Icons/Beautifuks, we voted Malcolm, but my bond with Keith was strong enough that he kept the Malcolm vote secret from “his allies” Malcolm and Liz, and he even voted for Liz. I kept the power in numbers but I also had the help from the people “on the outs”. My dysfunctional alliance with Keith was born. He wanted to go final two with me, but I just couldn’t totally break my foursome alliance and actual final two with Ken. I got rid of Jeff to solidify my position, I was not going to be a flip flopper. But I did a perfect job at playing the middle. I had all my bases covered. DarNale happened, and thanks to it I knew how people were thinking and voting every single round, I had all the information there was, everyone else was always clueless on things but I knew everything with anticipation and detail.
By gaining Keith’s trust, I was able to get him on my side until the end if I wanted to. He wanted me in his final two, possibly everyone wanted me in their final two at that point and I was not considered a threat, which was perfect because I am a threat. But who was my real final two? Kenny. My best and biggest ally this whole game, I was as loyal as I could be to Kenny until the final four round. When Ken is targeted by Taj I just couldn’t let that happen, Liz pulls the fake idol and whether it was real or not, I wanted to finally make my move on Taj.
I was able to turn everyone, even Lindsey, agaisnt Taj. That’s where having Ken’s and Keith’s full trust came in handy, with Liz believing she was still Keith’s biggest ally, she was flipped by him to vote Taj. I was able to use Lindsey’s overly paranoid side to my advantage and created a scenario where she’d go home next round if she got rid of Ken. She believed it. I influenced her to let her closest ally go, and she also thought an alliance with me was the most benefitial to her game long term. I give props to Liz for her fake idol, but I mean… anyone that knows how to fake a screenshot would be able to do it, anyway. Oh I forgot to mention I knew even Liz would bring me here. Basically, I was in the final two no matter what after Taj left. I was possibly playing the hardest out of anyone, yet I was the “least threatening”. Guess tonight is the night perception finally stops being reality?
So I received no votes against me this season. Throughout the season but especially beginning the second merge, I was in a huge position of power, not only because of my alliance “The Icons Only”, but I also had pretty good relationships in Keith, Morgan and Alecia, while also keeping it healthy with Malcolm and Liz, so I never pissed those two off and it worked, because they never targeted me like they targeted Ken, Taj and Lindsey. I kept it cool with the people on the outs and with every single boot. I never got a single marked vote, and I was able to be in the majority of every single vote except the one involving the idol (and I caused the idol play anyway haha). I didn’t need immunities of any kind to keep myself in the game, I used my own social game to positon and maneuver myself throughout this journey, I made actual friends and had lots of fun, that was also part of my strategy.
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I just want to say this season was a loooong struggle for me with the “being loyal” thing. I wanted to prove myself I can be loyal and I think I did the best I could with the circumstances I was given. The issue is that I also wanted to win. I knew I could win, and being 100% loyal wasn't going to help me; my overall position improved after Jeff left, it had to be done, Taj was extremely vocal and a shot caller, very aggresive player, which I love, but I wanted things to go MY way, so she had to go and I made it happen. I was able to keep it simple and not being seen as a vocal threat, something she was unable to do. Keith, he was extremely likable, a perfect underdog and would be harder to beat but also and most importantly, I could not turn my back on my alliance because I didn’t need to. I had to let my friend go. Lindsey, delusional people think I was super close to her but we were just fine, she’s a cool and loyal lady, I would have let her go before Ken in many scenarios. When it comes to Ken, that was as hard as it is. I blame people saying how he’d beat us all because perception is reality and it really created that reality. I didn’t care at the beginning because I knew I was playing a good enough game, but then Lindsey and Liz made it almost tangible. I don’t know if I would have been in a really bad position tonight if I were sitting next to Ken, all I know is voting him out had to be done and that was the ideal timing, I would NOT have done it in any other circumstances before final four. That was the ideal time. I hope I was a good ally to you during this time Ken, I did my best to keep both of us safe and sound and it was great having someone I could trust one hundred percent.
I think being loyal in Survivor is something you need to do, but you need to know when it hurts your individual game, and when you need to be flexible and adapt. I honestly think I would make for a great winner and I’ve fought harder for it than you could imagine and I would be extremely happy to leave Perú with that title of Sole Survivor. But most importantly, I hope I can leave with your friendship and I will leave with a great experience.
Best of luck to Liz, my Kaoh Rong pre merge sister <3! Can’t wait to answer your questions guys and gals (most likely just guys but oh well<3). Be nice <333333
I have to express disappointment in not doing the last challenge, I was just waiting on Nick’s "the challenge is up" on AIM, which he never sent. I literally found out the challenge was posted when it was over. I've been checking AIM for a day expecting for it, my mistake was not checking the board. So if you're coming into this FTC thinking I gave up, or that I'm lazy, your perception is completely wrong. I put a lot into this season without making it too obvious I was playing hard, I'm proud of the road that took me this far, but most importantly, I've had a huge determination to win for a long time and I will do my best in this FTC to show you all voting for me is worth it.
Tonight, and with this statement, I want to prove some people wrong. Some people who think I was just a pawn, someone's puppet, or just a number this season. I fought hard during the game to erase that perception and tonight I feel like I did enough to burn that down. I knew I was looked as an easy person to beat at the end but I personally NEVER believed that, that was complete BS to me but it didn’t necessarily hurt me because hey, I’m sitting here. I was able to create strong and good enough bonds with most people in this game, which helped me being in solid majorities all season and never in danger.
The source of my game came from the influence I had, which I took advantage of. People wanted to work with me and cared for me, or at least I made sure they cared; I had a good relationship with Alecia, so when the first merge came, I was part of taking her name out of the picture for the first merge vote, and Yau-Man went. I made sure my allies saw I was opinionated and not just a follower, I made sure they took my opinion into consideration. So of course with the first merge also came my alliance with Jeff, Lindsey, Taj and Ken. All people I liked a lot and who I enjoyed: "The Icons Only".
Oh, the influence. I was an expert at influencing and changing people’s minds. That’s also how I helped Morgan get the target on Natalie, while she got the total blame for it, a conversation I had with Morgan pumped her enough to go to everybody and pitch the vote, I also had my conversations but it was mostly attributed to Morgan, so it basically burned her and not me. That’s exactly the game I think I played this season, subtle, but dangerous. I wanted to be able to clean my hands after every murder I took a part in, and leave as innocent.
The round Morgan left, I came online late and it baffled me big time that people didn’t bother to talk to me, and to me it just meant my position within my alliance wasn’t strong enough. There was a group chat for a reason. Something needed to change. I talk to Keith, he says he was told Malcolm’s name. I tell Keith I was told Liz’s name (Ken told me it was her last minute). Then Lindsey comes and explains the vote is secret. Too late. Oh well, I told Keith what was going on with detail because maybe my position within MY alliance wasn’t the best, maybe I needed new people to trust me. Thanks to ME, Liz survived that vote (I didn't know she had the idol). I stopped being mad, I forgave Taj, Ken and Lindsey because they apologized and had reasons for it, besides I was offline, I got over it. But when I got to talk to Jeff, it was just him questioning me about having the idol. Jeff’s clear allegiances belonged to Taj and Lindsey. I knew I was not high on his priority list… and you know what? I wanted power within my alliance. I wanted power all around but I would not get that if I didn’t have a good position within my alliance. I had a very strong thing with Ken, but otherwise my position was weak. I didn’t stay conformed, I wasn’t a follower, I turned it around. I had the balls to say I wanted Jeff out, and it happened. For some reason Ken took the heat for it, from Jeff even. I’m sorry Jeff, it truly wasn’t personal it was just something that helped me tremendously at the end of the day. Ken and Keith were super close to me, while my relevance grew for the remaining Icons Taj and Linds after you left. Malcolm began to trust me, too. It was the move that benefited DARNELL the most, and it completely paid off, the best part of it is it didn’t burn me at all. I influenced people, I was the one saying “I’m sorry but I want Jeff out” but I only took the pros of it, never the cons. Once again, I left innocent and rewarded with a strong four person alliance and two people on the outs that trusted me.
After that, I saw Taj as both, a very important ally, and a rival down the road. I knew her thing with Liz and Lindsey was going to be something I was going to deal with sooner or later, so I wanted Liz out. I, along Ken, pushed for Liz, even Lindsey pushed for Liz (for total opposite reasons). But Taj got her way and Malcolm, someone that could have worked with me against Taj, was the vote. But that was only another red flag for me. That round the plan was to tell everyone Keith was going and then the four remaining Icons would vote Malcolm. What you didn’t know is that I kept Keith as informed as I could because I knew I needed his trust to battle Taj’s arising, besides he was my friend and he trusted me and visceversa, so I told him absolutely everything.
I was loyal to my Icons/Beautifuks, we voted Malcolm, but my bond with Keith was strong enough that he kept the Malcolm vote secret from “his allies” Malcolm and Liz, and he even voted for Liz. I kept the power in numbers but I also had the help from the people “on the outs”. My dysfunctional alliance with Keith was born. He wanted to go final two with me, but I just couldn’t totally break my foursome alliance and actual final two with Ken. I got rid of Jeff to solidify my position, I was not going to be a flip flopper. But I did a perfect job at playing the middle. I had all my bases covered. DarNale happened, and thanks to it I knew how people were thinking and voting every single round, I had all the information there was, everyone else was always clueless on things but I knew everything with anticipation and detail.
By gaining Keith’s trust, I was able to get him on my side until the end if I wanted to. He wanted me in his final two, possibly everyone wanted me in their final two at that point and I was not considered a threat, which was perfect because I am a threat. But who was my real final two? Kenny. My best and biggest ally this whole game, I was as loyal as I could be to Kenny until the final four round. When Ken is targeted by Taj I just couldn’t let that happen, Liz pulls the fake idol and whether it was real or not, I wanted to finally make my move on Taj.
I was able to turn everyone, even Lindsey, agaisnt Taj. That’s where having Ken’s and Keith’s full trust came in handy, with Liz believing she was still Keith’s biggest ally, she was flipped by him to vote Taj. I was able to use Lindsey’s overly paranoid side to my advantage and created a scenario where she’d go home next round if she got rid of Ken. She believed it. I influenced her to let her closest ally go, and she also thought an alliance with me was the most benefitial to her game long term. I give props to Liz for her fake idol, but I mean… anyone that knows how to fake a screenshot would be able to do it, anyway. Oh I forgot to mention I knew even Liz would bring me here. Basically, I was in the final two no matter what after Taj left. I was possibly playing the hardest out of anyone, yet I was the “least threatening”. Guess tonight is the night perception finally stops being reality?
So I received no votes against me this season. Throughout the season but especially beginning the second merge, I was in a huge position of power, not only because of my alliance “The Icons Only”, but I also had pretty good relationships in Keith, Morgan and Alecia, while also keeping it healthy with Malcolm and Liz, so I never pissed those two off and it worked, because they never targeted me like they targeted Ken, Taj and Lindsey. I kept it cool with the people on the outs and with every single boot. I never got a single marked vote, and I was able to be in the majority of every single vote except the one involving the idol (and I caused the idol play anyway haha). I didn’t need immunities of any kind to keep myself in the game, I used my own social game to positon and maneuver myself throughout this journey, I made actual friends and had lots of fun, that was also part of my strategy.
I just want to say this season was a loooong struggle for me with the “being loyal” thing. I wanted to prove myself I can be loyal and I think I did the best I could with the circumstances I was given. The issue is that I also wanted to win. I knew I could win, and being 100% loyal wasn't going to help me; my overall position improved after Jeff left, it had to be done, Taj was extremely vocal and a shot caller, very aggresive player, which I love, but I wanted things to go MY way, so she had to go and I made it happen. I was able to keep it simple and not being seen as a vocal threat, something she was unable to do. Keith, he was extremely likable, a perfect underdog and would be harder to beat but also and most importantly, I could not turn my back on my alliance because I didn’t need to. I had to let my friend go. Lindsey, delusional people think I was super close to her but we were just fine, she’s a cool and loyal lady, I would have let her go before Ken in many scenarios. When it comes to Ken, that was as hard as it is. I blame people saying how he’d beat us all because perception is reality and it really created that reality. I didn’t care at the beginning because I knew I was playing a good enough game, but then Lindsey and Liz made it almost tangible. I don’t know if I would have been in a really bad position tonight if I were sitting next to Ken, all I know is voting him out had to be done and that was the ideal timing, I would NOT have done it in any other circumstances before final four. That was the ideal time. I hope I was a good ally to you during this time Ken, I did my best to keep both of us safe and sound and it was great having someone I could trust one hundred percent.
Best of luck to Liz, my Kaoh Rong pre merge sister <3! Can’t wait to answer your questions guys and gals (most likely just guys but oh well<3). Be nice <333333