Closing Speech - Draft

[Oracle]

Hey Jury,

It's been a ruff couple of days, and you have all really drilled down to the heart of the matter. I've taken the time to read the forums and fully come to understand things as presented my opponents and the thoughts of the jury through their questions.

At this point I think I've highlighted a number of things in my intro speech, and through my explanations from all of you when you asked me to elaborate further. I believe I've been as absolutely thorough as I possibly can be.

Because of the format of this FTC, Gustave, myself and Richie were all not allowed to know what we were all saying, and we also aren't allowed to individually go through and make comments. In addition, we will not get a chance to respond to whatever is said in these final speeches. I have some thoughts that came up as I saw questioning happen and I want to address a few things as this is my only opportunity to both clarify what I've read and offer my thoughts on those or defend my own actions. Were there are more "debate" oriented FTC, I would have liked a discussion to either prove or disprove the points I am about to address, but that is not the FTC we are at:

Gustave:

Spoiler

Here are some quotes from Gustave and how I either agree with them or feel like I should provide more insight:

Opening Speech Notes:

Buckley's medevac came at a very opportune time for me; if we had gone to tribal with 11 players, my core group of {me, Oracle, Suzy, Duke, Herman} could well have been picked off.

I don't recall forming a group with these people until final 9. So I question how this was a "core group" when I wasn't being either included in it, or it hadn't formed yet.

But a tie happened due to Richie spreading a lie: he told Suzy that Margot had thrown her name out, thus getting Suzy to flip onto Madame; Oracle followed suit because he didn't want to risk his relations with Suzy and Richie.

I think there is a mistype here, Suzy is someone I didn't want to risk my relations with, however I think I was trying to ultimately bond more with Herman than Richie at this point? Perhaps there was a disconnect and from Gustave's perspective he thought I was trying to get closer to Richie than Herman, but I think I made it pretty clear in group and private messages I was more concerned about keeping things good with Suzy and Herman. In addition, I did tell Duke ahead of time (which Duke did confirm in the Richie boards) and made the active decision with Duke to put my vote on Madame rather than outright sending Writer home. To say I followed suit isn't an accurate description of what happened from my perspective at this point. However, Gustave wouldn't know that since that is something Duke and I kept very close to our chests. After telling Gustave his name was coming up earlier in the round, he freaked out and started throwing out Writer and Royal as options to pull off a vote split with, which I know was understood by multiple people. This almost bit me in the ass and I got off on a lucky break. This is why I made the decision to talk to Duke earlier so we could figure out what made the most sense. I didn't inform Gustave that Writer wasn't outright going until minutes before the deadline. Just wanted to clarify that.

But during the revote, Richie's attempt to save Writer failed as Suzy and Oracle saw through his manipulation and switched.

This is an accurate representation and something I want to bring up later at the end of this speech.

Madame voted with me, thus avoiding a tie. The reason for that, as I figured out, was that she had made a final 3 deal with Suzy and Oracle.

This is also an accurate statement which again is probably one of the moves I feel personally proud worked out.

What happened is that Richie idoled me, 'saving' me from the vote and eliminating Suzy. In exchange for his 'generosity,' I agreed to not vote against him next time. This whole scenario, of course, was completely artificial - Oracle only voted me because Richie claimed he was dead-set to vote me, and he only said that to create a chance to score some style points. Natalie Anderson idoling Jaclyn at F5 in S29 was outstanding because it was actually meaningful - this wasn't. At our F4, had Richie not won, I would have voted him out, promises be damned, because I think he's my strongest competition; he would have been steamed about it, but I'm not here to hide from confrontation anymore - not after Peter and Young Writer. But he did win, and so the next biggest threat, Madame, was removed.

This is an extremely accurate representation of how this round played out and I think Madame and Suzy would agree also. Richie did in fact go gung ho on getting out Gustave and Madame actually expressed frustrations with this during the final 4 with me privately, saying if she knew what Richie actually wanted, she would have been willing to consider voting Suzy. Richie could not vote Madame at this point, so his only options were myself, Suzy and Gustave. In fairness, not knowing an idol might get played, I did offer to vote in solidarity with Gustave this round as I was under the impression that Richie, Suzy and Madame were all voting him out. Gustave declined this and to add to that, at multiple points in the game he let me know "if it makes more sense to cut me, you can do that." There were some dark times we had in this game, and it's possible it was just the thing said after a ruff round, but it was a statement made on multiple occasions to me and I think actually he said it in one of our group chats at one point.

Gustave's conversations with Young Writer:

Funnily enough for two players who were archenemies for a long time, Richie and Oracle had pretty similar styles in my book. Both of them were more on the side of 'using' people, rather than 'working with' them; Richie was a bit more audacious and flexible, while Oracle was more loyal. They were both willing to try to get people to act clearly against their own self-interest using lies or bad-faith arguments. Overall they were more cold and sharp.

This feels like a contradiction to me. How can I be both using people and loyal? I can only think of one specific moment I asked someone to vote against their self-interest, aside from that I don't believe I ever forced anyone to specifically do anything. Did I suggest to people at some point a vote option? Absolutely, but you all were in the group chats with me. If I thought I had something to add or spoke up to express something I was feeling or asking to be considered, I did that. I tried to hear people out and took their considerations into account. I also understand there was a period of time where I was cold and sharp, but it has been acknowledged that I made real efforts to, and succeeded in adapting change to how I was acting in the game. I also had some pretty deep conversations with you all that I feel were from a place of genuinely wanting to get to know you all better.

There is another contradiction I feel that was made between this thread and the one to Peter. In Writer's thread, Gustave claims to have wanted to treat people with respect and playing true to himself. But then in Peter's thread (and I think Royal's too?) to say that he was fake with certain people. If I were a juror, I would have seen this and asked about it because there feels like a contradiction in being respectful and being fake.

This next quote is actually from Duke to Gustave and not something Gustave said that I just want to take a moment to address:

It does feel like you are treating people like people where others are treating people like pieces. I want to say thank you for that, and you're very much still in the running for my vote for that reason.

Duke I absolutely adored you this game, and I think I've been very clear on that matter. I helped out when you struggled in the earlier stages of OG Ivanhoe. I helped introduce and start the alliance between you, Margot and Madame to help keep us in good socially with others, but also because I specifically knew that you like to be approached, rather than do the approaching. I have had the utmost respect for you this game and I don't think I ever once treated you like a piece. I just hope you don't feel I have personally treated you like a piece. I very much care about you and the bond we created and shared. I want us to continue to be friends even after this game. If you feel that I have treated you that way, I am truly sorry. Ear droop.

In Gustave's conversation with Madame:

Margot vote: this one I made it clear to everyone that I wasn't going to flip. I'm not going to BS here though, clearly it was the final 3 deal from Suzy that was mainly responsible for your flip.

So earlier Gustave had acknowledged that it was a final 3 deal with Suzy and myself. However I am omitted in this particular passage, perhaps as a typo? I'm going to assume it was a typo because Gustave acknowledged I was part of that earlier.

Suzy vote: here I was glad to 'accept' terms from an immune Richie to allow him to get revenge. Ultimately I survived because, even though I'd been wanting Richie out for ages, he still would have rather had me around than out. I think that's a credit to my social game.

This passage confuses me a little bit. Mainly because Richie didn't want to go to the end with us for a good chunk of the game. However Richie expressed to me that he was livid with Suzy and Madame for flipping at f6 and wanted more or less to just vote them out after. It's possible that was the reasoning and justification he gave, but given Royal's post about you not being as social with people and me having bad people/jury management, perhaps he just thought he could beat us? It would make more sense for him to take out Suzy and Madame because they betrayed him and they were both more likely to win the game.

This quote was from Buckley to Gustave:

give me the impression that you're pretty genuine - an impression that I'm missing a bit from the other two finalists so far. You've got a good shot at my vote!

Oh. I thought I was being pretty genuine and open to wanting to work with you, but because of the quit I didn't get the opportunity to. My art to someone was a tribute to you and I thought maybe that was showing my genuine enjoyment of our chats. If that wasn't seen that way or you felt I was being fake with you because we bark at each other, then I owe you an apology for not being more clear that I liked and wanted to work with you Buckley.

This is a quote from Gustave to Margot:

Suzy was both a great ally and a shield in the end..

At final 6, Suzy was not going to go to rocks and made that clear to me in private. That meant that unless one of Madame or Margot was willing to flip that it would have been you or me going that round, and based on chats, your name was the one suggested more until later on when Richie opted to flip it onto me for, in his own words, "because you are a bigger threat than Gustave." Up until that point, making a final 3 deal with Suzy and Madame, I think Suzy was potentially open to voting with the others for you to avoid going to rocks. Like Suzy said to you, there were times in this game where she specifically opted to save you, but she didn't have to. And it was only because somehow by a miracle that Madame wanted to vote Margot, that you weren't the one voted out that round.

[close]

[Oracle]

Spoiler

Richie:

Opening Speech:

Cementing this alliance was the path that would lead to my desired endgame of a final three with Suzy and Madame, with Royal's offramp at final seven proving I had no split loyalties.  The fact that I couldn't achieve this endgame was even more difficult for me than the loss of Writer in the early merge.

So you are actively saying your plan was to go to the end with two people who slayed this game socially above everyone else who played? Like Royal even pointed out in his post how Suzy and Madame were viewed more favorably at this point, so if you went with them you'd almost certainly be facing a loss at this point. The logic feels flawed here from where I am sitting.

The final six vote is the center of gravity around which the finale you see in front of you orbits.  After being left in the dark by my closest allies on the Margot blindside, the final three I desired was no longer congruent with the cardinal rule of playing to win.

So it took them blindsiding you to recognize that you needed to play to win? Again, there's just something not adding up to me with these statements. For someone people call the most strategic I would be a skeptical juror at this point with these arguments you are making, which is kind of actually mind blowing to me for reasons I'm going to state below.

At no point was my game wholly reliant on winning an immunity challenge.

At final 8, everyone wanted you out. At final 6, everyone wanted you out. At final 5, everyone wanted you out. At final 4, everyone wanted you out. Did you have an idol to negate one of the first three times? Absolutely. But to sit here and say your game wasn't wholly reliant on winning immunity challenges is something I know you personally feared and you expressed as much to me privately when I suggested Margot at 6. So while it's a nice thing to say, I think statements by Madame, Gustave and myself at various points in all of the FTCs confirm this is not an accurate statement at all.

At four I had a deal with M. Gustave to vote with me in the event I lost the immunity challenge in exchange for my promise to vote for him as a juror if I were to lose fire making.  This deal was made when I revealed that I would play the idol on him, but was independent of that decision.  The idol play was a move which dictated the elimination and which I was able to accomplish by influencing the decision of the majority to target Gustave.

(and later)

My philosophy with idols is that it is almost never the right move to tell anyone about them.  Idols are in a class of their own when it comes to items and advantages.  The best and most optimal use of an idol is always to guarantee passage from 5 to 4 if one can make it that far without needing it earlier, and it is best done with an idol nobody sees coming.  The only way to guarantee that is by keeping the secret completely.

So I'm going to burst this bubble and state that prior to the results of final 4, Gustave mentioned to me in private he would seriously have to consider voting you out if you had lost this. His statement in his FTC forums proves this was his true line of thinking.

In addition, I had to vote for Madame, Suzy or Gustave that round because you were immune. You couldn't vote Madame because of the rings which I knew about because Madame told me that. Suzy and Madame both had reasons to consider voting out Gustave that round. Did you give me a long paragraph or two about why voting Gustave made sense even though I asked if that's what you actually wanted? Absolutely. So sure, you "got us to target" Gustave and then played an idol to negate the votes.

I already know that Madame would have been open to considering Suzy if you had said that and I had already mentioned to Gustave that I'd have been willing to vote with him in solidarity if he asked me to (which he didn't).

So then what you did is lie about what you actually wanted, and then played an idol so you could have a flashy move on your resume for the jury. Gustave's description of how this round played out as I stated earlier is absolutely accurate and this was a wholly unnecessary move for you to make. You just wanted your idol not to go to waste since you couldn't play it on yourself due to being immune. Plus you needed the Suzy elimination on your record as your move, and you didn't know if you could trust Madame or me to make that vote, even though Madame was clearly open to it at the very least. Long story short, if that's the perception you have about how the round played out, that's fine, but it was so transparent in that you wanted something similar to Natalie Anderson, but what you were left with was you creating your own scenario that you then yourself negated. Sure it was very flashy, but wholly unnecessary as Gustave pointed out at his FTC.

Richie to Madame:

Oracle would be in a better position if they had voted with you.  Oracle could be losing votes to Gustave at this FTC that they would win against the two of us, and you and I are more likely to compete for some of the same votes than either one of us was going to be competing with either of them.  Even if they put you into a fire making challenge against Gustave and you lost it Oracle would have something better to say about the last round, because then they would have gone against what I wanted.  I controlled Oracle's vote at four. I did it by using the long suffering and dysfunctional Horsemen chat as soon as the votes for Margot were read to say that if I won immunity at four I would vote with both of them, then repeating that after I won the immunity at five, then again before the challenge at four, and again after I won it.  I made it seem inevitable, because I didn't want them thinking through other options and taking away any of my agency over the last vote.

Let me start with the list of inaccuracies with this:

1. How would I be in a better position if I voted to keep one of the best social players in this game? I know a tie doesn't mean she would have won, but even Madame has acknowledged that it was the correct move for all three of us to vote you out.

2. I chose to be real with Madame about what I was doing that round and why it made sense for me specifically to do so.

3. And then we get to the point that gets under my skin the most. "I controlled Oracle's vote at four". Okay so first off, you hadn't controlled anything about me since f10 and my flip in that round and me constantly saying "let's do Richie if he loses" to people should be sufficient proof of that, I said it to multiple people so at this point that's kind of a moot point since I put my opinion out there. The fact you think you controlled anything about me specifically especially at that point is almost insulting. The fact of the matter is that you won immunity. I don't see why voting Gustave, who was perceived not to have been as social with others, makes logical sense over making the correct move of voting out Madame at that point? This whole game you have put me beneath others, you sold out the information I specifically told to you in confidence because I trusted you to basically everyone else in this game, and you did everything in your power to paint me out as an awful person to anyone who would listen. I broke free of the leash you had on me at final 10 when I figured out your game and after that never again let you "control" me. I will say you certainly know how to get a rise out of people because I'm somewhere between laughing at the absurdity and extremely insulted that you think I don't have the brains to make the correct decision on my own when push comes to shove. Gustave and Madame have both said they would have voted you out at 4 if you lost.

4. It's like you think Gustave and I were stupid or something. We constantly thought through all options every round. We didn't always arrive at the same conclusion, but the arrogant nature of the tone of this just shows that maybe your perception of how people were was way off. Maybe you underestimated the both of us because clearly two people specifically stated that Gustave's and even my approach to this FTC were better and they did not shy away from saying that directly.

Richie to Royal:

Up to the final ten my preferred F3 was with Suzy and Young Writer.  After ten, Madame D. took over the spot that Young Writer occupied thanks to your gift of the Team Zissou Rings we wore together.  It didn't happen because from the resolution of the final six vote onward I judged it to have become an unwinnable scenario for me.  Gustave and Oracle are a pair of players I liked my odds of winning against for a few reasons.  My being in the FTC at all defeats their strategic goal to take me out for three quarters or more of the merge.  I got the better of them.

So your whole strategy was to go with a preferred pair in which at least one of them had a guaranteed chance to beat you? Suzy was far and by far playing a better social game than you or me. Madame was playing an incredible social game throughout the whole thing. So the fact that it took you until final 6 to decide "oh wait maybe I have a better shot of beating Gustave and Oracle" is suspicious and doesn't make logical sense to me. This is something, were I on the jury I would have definitely asked you about.

However, I will give you one point in your favor. Yes, it is true that Gustave and I, and really for the record others in this game, wanted to take you out. And yes you did "get the better of us" but it's not in the way you think. If you had not won those 4 immunities, you would have at least highly been considered to be voted out. So congratulations Richie, you did win challenges that got you to the end and in that way, you did "get the better" of us. I acknowledge that. You defeated Margot, Madame, Suzy, Myself, and Gustave for 3 challenges in a row, which is highly impressive and I gave you a lot of kudos because you did. It's a skill I wish I had and I cannot do, I tried and was unable to beat you at final 4 despite a close race. It was good. But the way you phrase this sounds like you strategically outmaneuvered us, when, in reality, pretty much everyone wanted you gone for almost 6 rounds in a row. You got a lucky break that Royal offered himself up as an easy vote at final 7 because with Margot immune, who do you think Gustave comes after then in that round?

Finally they are both, and Oracle is in particular, unlikely to have become jury votes in my favor if they were eliminated.

So this is something I said I would address later, and here it is. You have made a number of assumptions about me this game and this by far is one of those things I think you overthought. I have regularly praised you for how you played this game strategically and there were times where I straight up said "Well, I guess Richie just won the game." So if you thought there was no way I'd potentially vote for you at the end, then I think you really overthought it because in general I would prefer to hear out the finalists and make my own non biased agenda. Was I against you in this game, in the words of Sandra Diaz-Twin "I'm against you." But that doesn't mean I don't recognize a game that I might vote for if there is one. However, based on your responses at this tribal, I'd have some serious doubts and see some glaring contradictions in what you are saying versus what actually happened.

Your conversation with Royal continues on where you state that I should not get Royal's vote because "Oracle didn't respect your game." or earlier when you gave your preferred options of who to sit next to at the end with some other conversations you had. Wouldn't that make me the logical person to want to sit next to at the end? Your strategic game had moments of brilliance, but I've found holes after reading everything you've said.

If there is one thing I 100% agree with your assessment on based on your FTC, it's the following excerpt you gave to Herman:

You can see now that was because I was individually closer to Suzy and Writer than I was to Oracle. 

Yes. That is absolutely 100% true. You made that clear when you used me and then planned to discard me later, which is part of what made my decision to flip so much easier, which you spent a chunk of the last 15 minutes begging me not to after Suzy leaked to you (we were both in those conversations since you send it to both of us). It was clear I was never going to be part of your cool kids club and that in order to even fucking be at this FTC, I had to stand up for myself and break away. Sorry if that wasn't playing the master plan Richie game, but you didn't actually value me anyways, so I guess that is all a moot point except to say that yes, you decided by choice not to be close to me and then lauded me for opting to break free from your leash.

[close]

I can't sit here and say I played a perfect game. It had flaws and I was clearly very bad at articulating my true feelings and at times was at fault for being non-commital. But as has been acknowledged by later juror members, I took the words Royal gave me to heart. I applied them and put them forward. I have made many lengthy comments on the matter and people have acknowledged that I changed and evolved into the player that currently sits in front of you. I am more up front with my feelings and emotions.

If I have hurt any of you personally, I am truly sorry. I can't fix the hurt I did, however I did apply what I learned when I learned it and put it forward. I sit next to two opponents who have put forth cases as to why they should earn your vote. I feel I have put my own case forward why I feel I should be considered as someone who has been humbled by this game and feels should be considered for a vote based on the growth and transformation I showed.

As stated in my opener, you are all a smart bunch of people and I know you will make the right choice here.

I have given each of you compliments, and stated things about the journey we took together this game and I thank you all for helping me to evolve my own way of thinking because without you that wouldn't have been possible.

[Oracle]

Attempt #2

Hello Jurors!

What an informative 72 hours that was. You've shared your thoughts and I've now reviewed my opponent's arguments. I'll start by recapping my time with you all.

To Peter:

Spoiler

It sounds like you're RNGing your vote and I hope that your RNG prefers pugs, dog wink. Peter asked me to direct others to his thread because he liked the addendum to my opening speech. Go check it out!

I appreciate that you shake things up. It's part of what inspired me at f10 to stop playing other's games.

[close]

To Buckley:

Spoiler

I know we did the barking thing and it was fun. But I saw something you posted to Gustave I'd like to address:

...give me the impression that you're pretty genuine - an impression that I'm missing a bit from the other two finalists so far.

I've been open in saying that I wanted to connect with and get to know you. You quitting affected me. My art drawing in the f10 challenge was dedicated to you. If you feel I've been disingenuous with you, I'm really sorry.

And I know this was earlier in the FTC, so it's paw-sible that you made this comment and things changed later. If that didn't come across because I was being silly and barking, then that's on me for prioritizing having fun with other doggos. I hope you feel that I connected with you.

I appreciate that you took care of yourself. That's more important than an online game. I wish I'd been more real with myself about what I could handle. That's something I respect.

[close]

To Young Writer:

Spoiler

Thank you. To have a conversation that we should have earlier and both of us admitting where we went wrong, I haven't had a moment like this in a game before and I felt heard. I hope you felt heard and can see I'm not the same Oracle who voted you out. I wish I handled our relationship better to ease some of your "wtf?", and that's on me. The new me recognizes where I went wrong. But thank you so much for hearing me out. It took a lot, I applaud you for it.

Even if you don't end up voting me, the fact you were even willing to consider it is surreal to me. It means that in spite of everything we broke a barrier together.

I appreciate that you went to bat for your friends. When you were sticking up for them, it meant that you valued your connections. It gave me confidence to stick up for people who had my back.

[close]

To Herman:

Spoiler

You expressed that you didn't feel valued by people. No one wants to feel like that. I personally don't think I tossed you aside. If Suzy was around, both myself and Gustave were open to picking a different target. I hope you don't feel devalued by me, and if you did you have my apologies. It's tough to play this game.

Something I appreciate about you came up during FTC. You expressed how people made you feel. I went through a similar transformation myself around f7 and it's something I'm still learning to accept. It's okay not to be okay and being open about how you feel is valid. You are valid Herman. If you felt less than that with me, I'm sorry.

[close]

To Duke:

Spoiler

I very much appreciated you, stuck up for you, and stood by you. I valued your input and in turn you got my real thoughts. I made no effort to hide how I felt about you. However in a post to Gustave:

It does feel like you are treating people like people where others are treating people like pieces. I want to say thank you for that...


I've had time to do self-reflection and if I did anything to dishonor the friendship you and I built, then I feel terrible. You're my friend Duke. I want to keep being your friend. I was devastated when you left. The fact you always believed I could make it here made me tear up. I hope you are in a better place. I want to talk to you after this game and support you.

[close]

To Royal:

Spoiler

I want to thank you for the post at f7. I did things that upset people and that caused frustration. I can't undo the damage I did, however I applied what you said, and took it to heart. Change starts with me. People acknowledged the change I made as a result.

According to Richie, I "didn't respect your game". I acted in a way that ruined any chance you and I had to work together. I want to be clear that I do respect you because you called things like you saw it. You're very perceptive and you helped me change. I appreciate what you helped me realize more than I can put into words.

[close]

To Margot:

Spoiler

For the damage I did to our relationship, I'm sorry Margot. For awhile you and I worked well together. Our threat/non-threat alternating plan was a great place to see eye to eye. You're a worthy competitor. Eventually, we both voted for each other, but the fact you appreciated what I did and acknowledged that I made an effort to change means a lot to me.

I look forward to having more of that "non-game" talk we wanted to have. You're a lovely person and I learned a lot from your interactions with others. I will apply some of what you did in the future because it's pretty powerful.

[close]

To Suzy:

Spoiler

I adore you Suzy. I'm so happy we broke down barriers and got past initial hurdles. You were an important person for me to connect with and our big moves came at the final 10 revote flip and the final 6 deal with Madame.

But beyond that, you are a lovely person to talk to and interact with. You are incredibly kind to those you meet and have a big heart. I respect and admire how you play. I hope you enjoyed working with me and getting to know me as much as I did with you. That was all real between us and I'm so appreciative of our journey together.

[close]

To Madame:

Spoiler

You taught me a lot in this game. I know I was frustrating for you to deal with and for that, I'm sorry. I've acknowledged that, but I also know you know that I changed. You saw how I started being more up front and treating people more respectfully. I hope that you didn't think our entire time together was frustrating though. I loved sharing music and talking about your really fun job where your pug loving was considered scandalous!

Your ability to forgive people is not something I'm going to forget. It's something I appreciate about how you approached this game.

[close]

There are a couple points brought up by my opposition that I haven't had the ability to address due to the format of this FTC. I'll be listing a few pros and cons:

Gustave:

Spoiler

Pros: I think your outlook on the game was more accurate from my perspective. What I appreciated about what you were saying was the Richie/Idol scenario at final 5. You highlighted why the idol play was just a flashy move by Richie for the jury and wholly unnecessary. He could have just said what he wanted and likely the result would've changed. I appreciate that you outlined your journey and how you conducted yourself. I struggled fitting mine into 2000 words, and it was jury members who helped give me a platform to elaborate further.

Cons: There are times where you say you were trying to be genuine and yourself, and other times you said you were being fake. I think this is evidenced in the Peter and Writer threads. Were I on jury, I would ask you if you choosing who to be genuine with and who were you being fake to was strategic or happenstance. You answered that to Writer, but it would've been interesting to press this further with others.

[close]

And finally Richie:

Spoiler

Pro: There are two things I liked about your FTC. First, you acknowledge to Herman why things wouldn't have worked out because you weren't close to me. Given you didn't value me, that is an honest statement from you. Second, you say at one point you "got us". There is an inaccuracy in that particular statement, but yes, you did win 3 challenges in a row to defeat myself, Gustave, Suzy, Madame and Margot to secure yourself a finale spot which is exactly what you needed to do. In that sense, you "got us".

Con: First, you stated in your opening speech "At no point was my game wholly reliant on winning an immunity challenge." So this isn't true because at f8, f6, f5, and f4 you needed to win immunity as everyone told me that you would be the target. In private, you admitted once Margot left you needed to win (though not at 5 as we now know, just at 4). Since you had the idol, you would've been safe at one of 8, 6 or 5, but you've now seen Madame and Gustave both say they would vote you out if you lost at 4. So that's not true.

You said to Madame that you "controlled my vote at final 4". I'm pretty sure everyone from f8 on knew that I wanted you out. What I learned in the f10 revote changed my perspective and I broke free of your leash. From that point, my game contrasted yours. I pushed against your plans to go for Margot at 8. I pushed against your plans at 6 to go for Gustave. I was clear with my lack of knowledge about rings and idols, that you needed to win the last two immunities to be at the end.

Let me be even more clear, I am a human being (pug), capable of knowing what decisions to make. At the f4, it made zero sense for me to vote out Gustave because he wasn't as social as Madame, and Madame has acknowledged this particular decision was the correct one for all of us. I told Madame my own independent thoughts as to why voting her made sense for me at f4, and no amount of horsemen reborn bullshit "controlled" me to that conclusion.

"I didn't want them thinking through other options." Well looking at our FTCs, that failed. So then it's a very weird statement because it's arrogant like somehow Gustave and I aren't capable players able to make our own decisions, to which I believe we have shown we are.

[close]

I wish the above could be a debate, but in this format I have to leave it there.

I've acknowledged I didn't play a perfect game. I addressed those who I did not do a good job with. I had a transformative experience that changed who I am, and what I'm about. I think my game should be considered for votes because it represents that no one is perfect and represents a journey of change. Along the way we all struggled and stumbled. However, despite the quits that altered my game, despite the challenges I frustratingly lost, and despite getting criticisms that humbled me, I picked myself back up and challenged my own issues. I'm proud I never gave up and that I got to experience this game with all of you. It is an honor to be here. I respect whatever decision you all make.

Please take care of yourselves. This was a long, hard, ruff game. We are all still valid and we all matter. Thank you for this journey and I can't wait to be able to enjoy you all post-game.

Until then, please enjoy this doggo:



See you soon folks!