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:
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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.
To Buckley:
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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.
To Young Writer:
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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.
To Herman:
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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.
To Duke:
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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.
To Royal:
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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.
To Margot:
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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.
To Suzy:
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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.
To Madame:
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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.
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:
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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.
And finally Richie:
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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.
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!
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