I think Poirot's done a really good job with the jury questioning. I do feel bad that I revealed that I pursued a final 3 with Lucifer and Leon, I hope Poirot doesn't feel too bad about that, but like, he would have beaten me? And I think he knows it? This may be performative to an extent, not unlike JT and Stephen, who I referenced. Like yeah, you know, it's fuckin great to be the dude in a duo who would win, it's not such great shakes to be the other guy. Ugh I hate that I can't reference specific previous experience here because I had a pretty specific idea of how I would get to the end and it involved specifically not being out in front like Poirot (who wasn't out in front, we had Jake and Judy in front of us). Judy (and specifically her winning immunity) was really the wildcard that fucked that up. I'm still not sure we could get the votes on her the round that I left, it'd probably hinge on Leon in retrospect, but I think the argument for getting Jake out to Leon probably works to get Judy out? It's academic at this point.

As for other moments of manipulation, I was probably manipulated a bit by M. Briscoe. I was certainly planning to take 'im to F4 at least, and zen from 4 on I think eet becomes an individual game, and you 'ave to expect people to do what ees best for zem. I don't know what M. Briscoe's plans for me were, but if 'e was making explicit F3 deals zat did not include me, zen eet seems like 'e 'ad a more clearly crystallized plan to cut me eventually whereas pour moi, if I 'ad ze choice I knew zat I would always do what I thought was optimal, but emotionally I really wanted to set eet up so zat taking 'im was ze optimal choice. I don't know ze full extent of 'is plans, though. I'll be curious to talk more about eet with 'im after ze game. Similar to you, I knew ze type of person 'e was, and zat 'e would always 'ave to play to win, but I really really wanted us to find a way to make eet regardless.

FWIW, I definitely wanted to be at F4 with you as well, but it was clear when we talked about those long-term plans that we were both trying to set up a situation where we'd each have the best chances of making it to the end and winning, and frankly I didn't think I could beat you. We played similar games except you played way way better. I knew you were sincere in wanting to sit next to me, but JT is always going to be happy sitting next to Stephen, you know? Anyway, I'm eager to talk about this when all is said and done, it was a real joy playing this game with you.

Also can I just say zat I missed both of you, Mlle Hopps and M. Briscoe? You are such opposite people eet ees hilarious to me, like ze leetle devil and leetle angel on my shoulder. Trying to be in an alliance with both of you was such a delight.

Hahaha I'm reluctant to speculate who's the devil and who's the angel, I enjoyed our time immensely though. I truly can't wait until this is all said and done and we can talk BB Allstars 2, but I don't want to derail TC. Week 2 should be very interesting for the game.

I wanted Poirot to not mention working on it with you and I wanted it to be just me and Poirot working on it. At that point I saw the alliance as being SVU only. That is ultimately why I worked out what it was alone and tried to hold it close to my chest.

But I was SVU? The fact that we worked on that together made me feel much closer to you.

edit: also Scruff justifiably hated me as you know from jury chat, and he also didn't even believe what he said, I don't know why that would have affected your plan, but I think we've seen the game pretty differently for a while

For Lucifer, I just wanted to address this part of your speech:

Rounds 15 on were where I think I got more control in the game and put together a better performance. I thought Lennie going home in round 15 was important for me, because I knew we weren't on particularly good terms at the time and it set me up to go deep. The next two rounds the bigger challenge threats went- in particular, the round 16 vote would've been impossible without me beating Judy- I knew it was important to get them out if I was going to win immunity these last few rounds and fully guarantee my spot at the end. Obviously the one blemish here is round 18, but I was still safe during that important vote thanks to my challenge performance. I think during these rounds I exhibited a little bit more control over the game, my status as a low-profile player paid off and my devotion to my allies worked out. I think it shows some dynamism.

The thing is, after I left, I just assumed that it just went without saying that Judy or Penelope would go at 6, and if the remaining member of that pair was vulnerable at 5, they'd be voted out next. So like we've got 2 rounds at 6 and 5 where basically everyone in the game was on roughly the same page other than those being targeted, and then at 4 the one person you didn't want to go home went home. I'm not really seeing how this is particularly dynamic or exhibited more control over the game, aside from having immunity at 4 and 3. I'm not trying to grill you or anything here, but do you have a different view of those rounds?

So Poirot's in the final 2 and I have to admit, my vote is virtually set. It's not even that I don't think Lucifer couldn't put forth a deserving case, but if he does, he'll probably have to win without my vote. Not because I have anything against him, or think he's intrinsically undeserving, just that if there's anyone who would unquestionably have my vote at the end, it's Poirot.