[James]

It was the third day lol. There were a lot of people working together. By that time the pairs of Michelle/Paul and Hali/Mike were already working together. I mean there might not have been as much as when you wanted but it wasn't like we were just chillin lol. 

That's just... pre-gaming though?

Hali and Mike and you and Michelle were chill/buddies pre-season.

That's not any actual gameplay happening in the game. I didn't expect the pre-gaming to so strongly dominate the game.

[Mike]

 No, my totem pole is still rather accurate. Only reason you got the boot was for making the move too early againt Paul from what I can gather. I've said it myself, these hierarchies are very fluid. Voce still being in the game doesn't negate my totem pole. I think Sydney was my only misread in the game because I was being fed so much different info regarding the Morgan boot. 

Also I'm not saying she is but if Steph is positioning herself with two goats (Voce and Syd) then more power to her. She knows she wouldn't win against the majority of us in F2 so that's the perfect strategy. 

I broke it down (and roasted you for doing a horizontal totem pole you asshole) and compared. The way I saw the game, which still stands up is something like...

Michelle
Paul
Hali
Mike
Steph
Voce
Rodney
Sydney

That's what I think I put. Michelle has so much more power than I think people realize. Everyone I talked to said the same thing - they tell Michelle everything and get nothing back in return. Paul was next because of our foursome but down a peg because I don't think he was managing threat level accordingly. Hali next because she has made some good social moves (her relationship with Steph in particular), I'm right in the middle because that's how I felt - I knew I didn't have as much control as I thought but still felt well connected, I think you had me third. Steph, at the point of the game you made the totem pole, was where I have her now (but she might be higher now) because people only seemed interested in keeping her around because she was a heat magnet for you. It benefited everyone to keep her because everyone made it seem like she was always your focus. Voce didn't even start playing til right before you left. Not a good social game from him and then he picked it up. Rodney is Rodney. And then for the Morgan boot, Sydney didn't actually do anything other than show up - it was Paul's fault Morgan got booted. I was ready to take Syd out there.

Bro that's not true at all. You came to me telling me how icky you felt about James targeting Sydney after what happened to her. No reason to lie now. 

LOL dude I will settle on equal blame at best. I was ready to save Morgan but you were the one who convinced me to do it. I set the table, you served the meal.

[Paul]

It was the third day lol. There were a lot of people working together. By that time the pairs of Michelle/Paul and Hali/Mike were already working together. I mean there might not have been as much as when you wanted but it wasn't like we were just chillin lol. 

That's just... pre-gaming though?

Hali and Mike and you and Michelle were chill/buddies pre-season.

That's not any actual gameplay happening in the game. I didn't expect the pre-gaming to so strongly dominate the game.

But we saw you as a threat and worked together to get you out? It's not like we were sitting on our asses. Like I made it farther then you did lol. Critique all you want but what I did got me further and what you did, didn't. Plain and simple. But to imply that I wasn't in those chats working my ass off with my social game and trying to weave stories, fail as I did, is a bit pretentious. 

[James]

But yeah, holy shit it seems like I clearly overplayed this game way too hard from the get go. I was out here playing Stranded Mykonos and half of these people were on vacation at Mykonos LOL. Truly shocked at how little gaming/alliance work actually went down. 

Yeah that's what did you in man and that's part of my game too. You overplayed the same way I did last season, I could just see the small subtle social things you were doing that I did, how you were pushing things through etc. and that's when I took the photo, mixed it with being uncomfortable with the Sydney boot and suddenly everyone was like "James IS being a dictator...I'm so glad you said something!". From there at the Morgan boot, when you won immunity it was supposed to be you which I'm sure you figured out. I was ready to just give up Sydney but then Paul argued something to the effect of "If we boot Morgan we only make James mad vs. if we boot Sydney we get Rodney and Voce mad (might have been another name in there too)". Morgan leaving when she did was not good for my game at all BUT I leveraged you as an enemy for better social standing.

The funny thing is that Morgan had a bad feeling heading into that TC (no one talked to her, big no no in Survivor guys come on, y'all need to talk with everyone) and almost did play her advantage which would have ultimately got rid of Sydney I guess since that's where the few votes went.

[Paul]

I broke it down (and roasted you for doing a horizontal totem pole you asshole) and compared. The way I saw the game, which still stands up is something like...

Michelle
Paul
Hali
Mike
Steph
Voce
Rodney
Sydney

That's what I think I put. Michelle has so much more power than I think people realize. Everyone I talked to said the same thing - they tell Michelle everything and get nothing back in return. Paul was next because of our foursome but down a peg because I don't think he was managing threat level accordingly. Hali next because she has made some good social moves (her relationship with Steph in particular), I'm right in the middle because that's how I felt - I knew I didn't have as much control as I thought but still felt well connected, I think you had me third. Steph, at the point of the game you made the totem pole, was where I have her now (but she might be higher now) because people only seemed interested in keeping her around because she was a heat magnet for you. It benefited everyone to keep her because everyone made it seem like she was always your focus. Voce didn't even start playing til right before you left. Not a good social game from him and then he picked it up. Rodney is Rodney. And then for the Morgan boot, Sydney didn't actually do anything other than show up - it was Paul's fault Morgan got booted. I was ready to take Syd out there.

Bro that's not true at all. You came to me telling me how icky you felt about James targeting Sydney after what happened to her. No reason to lie now. 

LOL dude I will settle on equal blame at best. I was ready to save Morgan but you were the one who convinced me to do it. I set the table, you served the meal.

Okay man. I mean you did that multiple times. Saying how personal you felt about the stephanie thing. That was your move, trying to make people connect with you on a personal level to feel safe. It's a move, not one I would make, but it is. Hey man it's a game. But don't deny that's totally what you did. you painted James to be a bully. 

[Mike]

It was the third day lol. There were a lot of people working together. By that time the pairs of Michelle/Paul and Hali/Mike were already working together. I mean there might not have been as much as when you wanted but it wasn't like we were just chillin lol. 

That's just... pre-gaming though?

Hali and Mike and you and Michelle were chill/buddies pre-season.

That's not any actual gameplay happening in the game. I didn't expect the pre-gaming to so strongly dominate the game.

So that's another thing - Hali and I? Not that close. We don't speak at all outside of the game. We just fell back in with each other because we both liked each other last game. I think that's what I personally LOVED about this season - the history having an impact. The Cold War between you Steph and Morgan just waiting to happen. Paul and Michelle finding each other each over their mutually bad experience last time out. Hali and I reconnecting and trying to avoid blindsiding our primary ally right away only to do it again. Those dynamics from 40 coming back around in this season was so cool.

[James]

Someone is gonna have to spell it out for me because last season, sure, I get why I got the King/dictator moniker (the way I created my initial alliance was terrible) but I just find it hilarious that that mindset somehow still prevailed this season. I did absolutely nothing to give off that impression lmao. If someone is too afraid to speak up about their opinions then that's on them.

[Paul]

Someone is gonna have to spell it out for me because last season, sure, I get why I got the King/dictator moniker (the way I created my initial alliance was terrible) but I just find it hilarious that that mindset somehow still prevailed this season. I did absolutely nothing to give off that impression lmao. If someone is too afraid to speak up about their opinions then that's on them.

You didn't but it was used against you.

[Paul]

Like you selling to me that I shouldn't be worried that I heard the alliance last: I just told them that you oversold it and it was weird. 
Or you coming to me having already talked to someone always about the plan: that got turned into "James is really trying to pull the strings but make it seem like he isn't"

You weren't necessarily doing anything wrong but once a name was out there, things were twisted to make you seem more of a threat. 

[James]

It was the third day lol. There were a lot of people working together. By that time the pairs of Michelle/Paul and Hali/Mike were already working together. I mean there might not have been as much as when you wanted but it wasn't like we were just chillin lol. 

That's just... pre-gaming though?

Hali and Mike and you and Michelle were chill/buddies pre-season.

That's not any actual gameplay happening in the game. I didn't expect the pre-gaming to so strongly dominate the game.

But we saw you as a threat and worked together to get you out? It's not like we were sitting on our asses. Like I made it farther then you did lol. Critique all you want but what I did got me further and what you did, didn't. Plain and simple. But to imply that I wasn't in those chats working my ass off with my social game and trying to weave stories, fail as I did, is a bit pretentious. 

Judging purely on ranking is a bit too narrow thinking and linear. Not saying I played a perfect game (far from it, hence why I got 9th place in the Losers season lmao). Get the big threat out isn't something revolutionary though that's what I'm saying. I was ready for some crazy overcorrections this season since this was the season of second chances. I know when I went from Isolated to Stranded I overcorrected hard (to use your comparison of rankings, F3 to... a pre merge boot (5273672th place or whatever that was in Stranded 40 with a million people lol). 

And if we really want to get semantic, I didn't do a whole lot of anything myself. First vote was an inactive, second vote was some crazy pre-game stuff that went down and then my game was pretty much game, set and match from that point on so might as well go out in a blaze of glory and it worked. Not to the extent I wanted to piss you all off, but at least for one round.

[Paul]

That's just... pre-gaming though?

Hali and Mike and you and Michelle were chill/buddies pre-season.

That's not any actual gameplay happening in the game. I didn't expect the pre-gaming to so strongly dominate the game.

But we saw you as a threat and worked together to get you out? It's not like we were sitting on our asses. Like I made it farther then you did lol. Critique all you want but what I did got me further and what you did, didn't. Plain and simple. But to imply that I wasn't in those chats working my ass off with my social game and trying to weave stories, fail as I did, is a bit pretentious. 

Judging purely on ranking is a bit too narrow thinking and linear. Not saying I played a perfect game (far from it, hence why I got 9th place in the Losers season lmao). Get the big threat out isn't something revolutionary though that's what I'm saying. I was ready for some crazy overcorrections this season since this was the season of second chances. I know when I went from Isolated to Stranded I overcorrected hard (to use your comparison of rankings, F3 to... a pre merge boot (5273672th place or whatever that was in Stranded 40 with a million people lol). 

And if we really want to get semantic, I didn't do a whole lot of anything myself. First vote was an inactive, second vote was some crazy pre-game stuff that went down and then my game was pretty much game, set and match from that point on so might as well go out in a blaze of glory and it worked. Not to the extent I wanted to piss you all off, but at least for one round.

All I'm saying is the insinuation that we were just chilling is incorrect. That's all. We all got here, we all made mistakes. No need to bring people down any further. Maybe that's not your intention but that's how it is coming across. 

[Mike]

Bro that's not true at all. You came to me telling me how icky you felt about James targeting Sydney after what happened to her. No reason to lie now. 

LOL dude I will settle on equal blame at best. I was ready to save Morgan but you were the one who convinced me to do it. I set the table, you served the meal.

Okay man. I mean you did that multiple times. Saying how personal you felt about the stephanie thing. That was your move, trying to make people connect with you on a personal level to feel safe. It's a move, not one I would make, but it is. Hey man it's a game. But don't deny that's totally what you did. you painted James to be a bully. 

I get that criticism, exploiting personal feelings and I take it in stride, you're right. I even knew when doing the Stephanie thing tonight (which is true by the way, the girl is taking the game hard...you can just tell) that it was like "yeah...this one isn't my best moves". I wouldn't say my intent was to paint James as a bully, but a dictator. If it come off as trying to paint him as a bully I want to apologize because that wasn't the intent. The line between the two can be thin I guess but I don't want to ever be like "He's a bully!". As I recall it, and I could be misremembering, I approached you, talked about how he was dictating the game and that Sydney going next made me uncomfortable...which was true. But I did see the opportunity in using his play style against him there. I remember a specific moment in the post challenge scramble where everyone was losing their minds and you were genuinely my voice of clarity. I credit you with the Morgan move because I was ready to vote for Sydney after all that and you just laid it out really succinctly to the point where I felt like you essentially laid out the dynamics you thought were out work and how Morgan leaving would affect them vs. Sydney and I agreed. Maybe that wasn't your intent but that was how I interpreted it and went with it.

[James]

It was the third day lol. There were a lot of people working together. By that time the pairs of Michelle/Paul and Hali/Mike were already working together. I mean there might not have been as much as when you wanted but it wasn't like we were just chillin lol. 

That's just... pre-gaming though?

Hali and Mike and you and Michelle were chill/buddies pre-season.

That's not any actual gameplay happening in the game. I didn't expect the pre-gaming to so strongly dominate the game.

So that's another thing - Hali and I? Not that close. We don't speak at all outside of the game. We just fell back in with each other because we both liked each other last game. I think that's what I personally LOVED about this season - the history having an impact. The Cold War between you Steph and Morgan just waiting to happen. Paul and Michelle finding each other each over their mutually bad experience last time out. Hali and I reconnecting and trying to avoid blindsiding our primary ally right away only to do it again. Those dynamics from 40 coming back around in this season was so cool.

Don't get me wrong, not saying you're all best buddies and were right hand man's at each other's weddings lmao. All I was saying was that those pre-existing relationships re-emerged in this season.

One of the many reasons I don't like returning player seasons in Survivor (Parker's Hot Take #1629726273), too much pre-gaming and not enough of a clean slate for my liking and it inches the game ever so slightly away from what I would consider to be true Survivor.

[Paul]

LOL dude I will settle on equal blame at best. I was ready to save Morgan but you were the one who convinced me to do it. I set the table, you served the meal.

Okay man. I mean you did that multiple times. Saying how personal you felt about the stephanie thing. That was your move, trying to make people connect with you on a personal level to feel safe. It's a move, not one I would make, but it is. Hey man it's a game. But don't deny that's totally what you did. you painted James to be a bully. 

I get that criticism, exploiting personal feelings and I take it in stride, you're right. I even knew when doing the Stephanie thing tonight (which is true by the way, the girl is taking the game hard...you can just tell) that it was like "yeah...this one isn't my best moves". I wouldn't say my intent was to paint James as a bully, but a dictator. If it come off as trying to paint him as a bully I want to apologize because that wasn't the intent. The line between the two can be thin I guess but I don't want to ever be like "He's a bully!". As I recall it, and I could be misremembering, I approached you, talked about how he was dictating the game and that Sydney going next made me uncomfortable...which was true. But I did see the opportunity in using his play style against him there. I remember a specific moment in the post challenge scramble where everyone was losing their minds and you were genuinely my voice of clarity. I credit you with the Morgan move because I was ready to vote for Sydney after all that and you just laid it out really succinctly to the point where I felt like you essentially laid out the dynamics you thought were out work and how Morgan leaving would affect them vs. Sydney and I agreed. Maybe that wasn't your intent but that was how I interpreted it and went with it.

I apologize I didn't mean actual bully. I meant dictator like you said. I wasn't saying I didn't either it was just your earlier statement of "morgan is paul's fault" is true but it's also because it hurt james which is something we both were trying to make happen. That's all I meant. Mike definitely never disparaged James in any actual way. 

[James]

Well props to you Mike for painting me as a dictator, truly don't understand what exact examples you used as persuasion but it worked lmao. I guess it didn't take much to get Steph on board THAT train lol.

You'll see in my confessionals, I literally practiced so many challenges from the past seasons (and studied the ideal way to win them, i had plugins and everythint installed ready to go) and I was ready to go on a comp winning spree. The MINUTE I saw the NUMB3R5 challenge I was like... fuck, the one challenge where everyone else can impact my performance. Time to go to work with Photoshop lmaoo.

[James]

And I'm like 99% sure Voce woke up and actually started to play once I went was because I scared the shit out of him in DM's lmao. I laid it on THICK that he was a dead man walking after I was gone.

[Mike]

Okay man. I mean you did that multiple times. Saying how personal you felt about the stephanie thing. That was your move, trying to make people connect with you on a personal level to feel safe. It's a move, not one I would make, but it is. Hey man it's a game. But don't deny that's totally what you did. you painted James to be a bully. 

I get that criticism, exploiting personal feelings and I take it in stride, you're right. I even knew when doing the Stephanie thing tonight (which is true by the way, the girl is taking the game hard...you can just tell) that it was like "yeah...this one isn't my best moves". I wouldn't say my intent was to paint James as a bully, but a dictator. If it come off as trying to paint him as a bully I want to apologize because that wasn't the intent. The line between the two can be thin I guess but I don't want to ever be like "He's a bully!". As I recall it, and I could be misremembering, I approached you, talked about how he was dictating the game and that Sydney going next made me uncomfortable...which was true. But I did see the opportunity in using his play style against him there. I remember a specific moment in the post challenge scramble where everyone was losing their minds and you were genuinely my voice of clarity. I credit you with the Morgan move because I was ready to vote for Sydney after all that and you just laid it out really succinctly to the point where I felt like you essentially laid out the dynamics you thought were out work and how Morgan leaving would affect them vs. Sydney and I agreed. Maybe that wasn't your intent but that was how I interpreted it and went with it.

I apologize I didn't mean actual bully. I meant dictator like you said. I wasn't saying I didn't either it was just your earlier statement of "morgan is paul's fault" is true but it's also because it hurt james which is something we both were trying to make happen. That's all I meant. Mike definitely never disparaged James in any actual way. 

Other than starting the photo rumour that torched his game LOL

But you're right, I over generalized in saying Morgan was Paul's fault. I meant it more as "It was Paul who convinced me to vote Morgan at the moment when I had to choose between Sydney and Morgan - so I credit him with the Morgan blindside being successful and as his move". I gave you credit for completing the move, even though I may have been the one to kickstart the move indirectly. I think that's even how I described it in my confessional. Morgan was an "indirect kill" for me. 

[Paul]

LOL dude I will settle on equal blame at best. I was ready to save Morgan but you were the one who convinced me to do it. I set the table, you served the meal.

Okay man. I mean you did that multiple times. Saying how personal you felt about the stephanie thing. That was your move, trying to make people connect with you on a personal level to feel safe. It's a move, not one I would make, but it is. Hey man it's a game. But don't deny that's totally what you did. you painted James to be a bully. 

I get that criticism, exploiting personal feelings and I take it in stride, you're right. 

The one thing I will say about this though. Let me preface this with two things. 1. I don't think this is actually what you were doing. and 2. It's not like I expected us to do weekly zoom calls haha. But anyway, what I will say is: for the sake of other people's mental health. There are ways to exploit emotional feelings without bringing in deeply personal things. Like you saying, "because of that convo we had I just feel so close to you". Referring to a convo where I unloaded some deep shit on you. Turning that around to make me feel close to you can be a bit messy and leave people feeling a bit fucked with. You're gonna get fucked with in these games but it doesn't have to be like that. You just as easily could have connected our love for nerdy shit and called us nerd bros. But referring back to our deep convo as a reason why you wouldn't make a move against me is, in my opinion, a bit much. I still have much love for you, this comes from a good place. Just felt like it needed said. 

[Paul]

Well props to you Mike for painting me as a dictator, truly don't understand what exact examples you used as persuasion but it worked lmao. I guess it didn't take much to get Steph on board THAT train lol.

You'll see in my confessionals, I literally practiced so many challenges from the past seasons (and studied the ideal way to win them, i had plugins and everythint installed ready to go) and I was ready to go on a comp winning spree. The MINUTE I saw the NUMB3R5 challenge I was like... fuck, the one challenge where everyone else can impact my performance. Time to go to work with Photoshop lmaoo.

You even messaged me saying, "As long as it is not the numbers challenge" right before lol

[James]

Okay man. I mean you did that multiple times. Saying how personal you felt about the stephanie thing. That was your move, trying to make people connect with you on a personal level to feel safe. It's a move, not one I would make, but it is. Hey man it's a game. But don't deny that's totally what you did. you painted James to be a bully. 

I get that criticism, exploiting personal feelings and I take it in stride, you're right. I even knew when doing the Stephanie thing tonight (which is true by the way, the girl is taking the game hard...you can just tell) that it was like "yeah...this one isn't my best moves". I wouldn't say my intent was to paint James as a bully, but a dictator. If it come off as trying to paint him as a bully I want to apologize because that wasn't the intent. The line between the two can be thin I guess but I don't want to ever be like "He's a bully!". As I recall it, and I could be misremembering, I approached you, talked about how he was dictating the game and that Sydney going next made me uncomfortable...which was true. But I did see the opportunity in using his play style against him there. I remember a specific moment in the post challenge scramble where everyone was losing their minds and you were genuinely my voice of clarity. I credit you with the Morgan move because I was ready to vote for Sydney after all that and you just laid it out really succinctly to the point where I felt like you essentially laid out the dynamics you thought were out work and how Morgan leaving would affect them vs. Sydney and I agreed. Maybe that wasn't your intent but that was how I interpreted it and went with it.

I apologize I didn't mean actual bully. I meant dictator like you said. I wasn't saying I didn't either it was just your earlier statement of "morgan is paul's fault" is true but it's also because it hurt james which is something we both were trying to make happen. That's all I meant. Mike definitely never disparaged James in any actual way. 

Oh yeah, I also want to make it clear in jury too now that there's no way you all can doubt me. The King and Queen Duo was never a thing. That Morgan vote truly didn't hurt me in the game in the way you all were anticipating. I don't think I would have necessarily ever voted for her but we weren't playing "together" per say.

I think Morgan and I maybe talked game once the entire season lol. Most of our DM's were mostly just banter lmao.