Post by Anthony Robinson on May 8, 2012 17:32:28 GMT -5
Hey guys,
How are you all doing? Wow here we are, Final Tribal Council. I had a great time playing this game with you all and getting to know you all. I'm thrilled to be here and to sit next to YauMan, who's been a great ally and friend during the game.
Coming into this game, no one really knew what to expect. The huge tribe made strategizing and forming alliances really difficult, so I chose to take things round by round and just be as social as possible. I talked to each and every player in this game (except for Colton and Sash) and tried to get to know everyone a little bit better, without aggressively trying to form alliances. During the first couple of rounds my goal was to see who I could trust and to make people trust me. I gave my all in the challenges, and after winning two in a row I lost the third. That's when it became obvious to me that Jen and YauMan were doing a lot of work to keep me safe and to keep me in the loop when I missed group chats during the evenings when I couldn't be on. That's also when, in my mind, the threesome Trinity consisting of Jen, YauMan, and myself was taking shape. At the same time I had a strong bond with Penner, and some looser ties with others like Angie, Shawna, Kenny, and Courtney. I felt that they were the ones who wouldn't go after me once I lost immunity in the pre-merge stage.
Trinity did a lot of discussing and planning together, and all three of us worked hard to get us so far. I was the strong force in challenges, keeping immunity out of other people's hands, YauMan had a lot of connections and tried to steer people away from voting Jen or myself, and Jen did a lot of strategizing and got her hands dirty at times. We had each others backs and usually told each other everything, that is, almost everything.
One thing I kept for myself was my close bond with Penner that lasted until like Final 8. I never intended on having multiple things going on at the same time, but Penner, YauMan, and Jen all made me feel part of their games in their own way. I kept both options open for as long as possible, I cared a lot for both parties, and I never really wanted to make a choice. However, the auction and me using a vote nullifier caused some friction between Penner and myself. In that same round YauMan had ensured me that he was going to take me to the Final 2, and I knew for a fact that he was going to stick with that. I ultimately chose YauMan's side, and with our Final 2 deal I've always had some extra security going into the Final 7/6/5 rounds when I wasn't immune.
Summarizing, I'd like to point out that I wasn't just safe because of my challenge wins. I also had very strong bonds with people and I put my faith in the people who would keep me in the game whenever I would lose immunity. I fought really hard in challenges, but never relied just on challenges. It paid off, and now I'm here, looking forward to your questions and comments.
Last but not least, a HUGE thanks to Amanda, Parvati, DD, and Erik for hosting this amazing game. It's been the best ORG experience I've had and I enjoyed every bit of it. Special thanks to Erik for introducing me to this series a while ago <3
Anthony
