Post by Jessica on Apr 4, 2013 1:45:47 GMT -5
I wish that Morgan had used a different quote for my memorial rites (my quote about fox hunting comes to mind), because I think that this one mistakenly gives the impression that I'm okay with how things turned out.
Fact of the matter is, I'm not. If it had been a routine elimination, then I would be fine with it. But the fact of the matter is that there were some "issues" with the way that the challenge was handled, and, all politicking aside, that's what really got me ejected. From the second I got my necklace taken away, I knew that it was coming, and I tried like hell to tell myself that because of the extenuating circumstances it didn't matter, and there's no shame in having a literal act of God screw you over, but the fact of the matter is I'm not over it. I'm still angry, and I'm still hurt, and a very large part of me hates the fact that it could so easily have been me standing up there.
But, since that's not really your guys' fault, I'm going to try my level best not to take it out on you. I am angry, but I am not bitter. I'm mad at the circumstances, not at any of you. You guys did all make it here, and you deserve credit for that.
That being said, nice guys finish fifth. I spent the entire game being nice despite all of the crap that was flung my way, and since this is the end of it all, I think I'd rather take a stab at being honest. If I think you did something stupid, I'm going to tell you I think it was stupid. Not to insult you or demean your game, but because from my perspective that's how it genuinely comes across.
Perry - Gah! I knew you weren't nearly as dumb as you were pretending to be, but there was never a good time to eliminate you. But, beyond that, I don't really have anything negative to say. While others might deride you for hiding behind the continent-sized target on my back, I can't really say that you should have done anything different. You waited around until the other power players were out of the way, then you backstabbed me. It's a textbook play, and it got you to the finals. And, honestly, I think if you'd tried to act earlier you'd have gotten shut down. Every other significant threat was being picked off, and it simply wasn't smart to go on the offensive earlier than you did. So even though you're essentially to blame for me getting the boot, I don't have any hard feelings towards you.
Vincent - Can't really say the same, my friend. While I don't actively dislike you, I find myself completely bewildered by your actions. As you said in your opening statement, you wanted everyone to see you as a UTR player who didn't do much. Well, mission accomplished. You definitely did achieve that, by dint of actually being a UTR player who didn't do much. If I'm completely honest, everything that you claim to have done, it seems like Luca and Perry have done it, and better.
I mean, yes, you made multiple alliances, but I'm not really sure what you expected to gain from that, except for a really great reason for a lot of jurors not to vote for you. Purposely putting yourself in a spot where you have to betray multiple people is never a good idea. Jurors occasionally forgive that sort of thing, but only if you're demonstrably the best player in the finals. Besides, it's a little hard to buy that you had any control over all of your allies, since by your own admission you couldn't convince them to vote the way that you wanted. Since you somehow kept managing to vote in the majority, despite the fact that nobody seemed to do what you wanted when you wanted to do it, it's a bit hard to believe that you weren't a follower or a sidekick.
And, yeah, you weren't much of a target, but pretty much every single person on this jury will attest to the fact that your alliances had nothing to do with that. You weren't targeted because everybody else was better than you. Hannah was a strategic threat. Stephenie was a social threat. Quincy was a social threat. Gloria was a numbers threat. Beau was a threat because he was so hardcore Napa. Wyatt was a threat because he was close to Tess. Tess was a social and challenge threat. I was some kind of threat for reasons I don't quite understand. Yvette's voteoff... yeah, maybe that one might not have been for threat reasons, I can't claim to know why you did that one, but I pretty much guarantee you that she and Luca voted for Perry instead of you because he was much more threatening in front of a jury.
And another thing - what the heck was your "You should have listened to me!!!" vote supposed to mean anyway? By your own admission you were trying to vote me off long before that point, and voting for Perry was kind of the dictionary definition of listening to you, since that was what you had told me you were doing. If anything, I probably should have listened to Tess.
Luca - Ohhhh, Luca.
I feel like I'm in the presence of a very slick used car salesman. And you've certainly charmed everybody else - I'd be completely surprised if you lost this game.
That being said, I feel like when it comes to me, you've been spewing more grade-A BS than a fertilizer factory.
Let's start with your vote for me. "As much as this hurts you, I promise you it hurts me more."
Tell you what, Luca. You go join a game. Spend some serious time crafting an alternate persona so that nobody will know how threatening you are, and rehearse for a while to make it believable. Be forced to step up as the leader of your tribe anyway, because the only alternative is going to judgment every single round. Then get a gamelong curse, after which the host openly proclaims to the entire cast that they'll get great prizes if they vote you out. Get targetted five hundred times. Get yelled and sworn at a lot. Get betrayed by people you thought you could trust, several times. Win a challenge, despite the host screwing up your puzzle, then have your Immunity taken away because the host screwed up the times. Then have someone you thought you could trust spend an hour telling you not to worry because you're completely safe, and that they totally value you as a friend and ally and would never vote you out, then turn right around and stab you in the back - despite your mutual ally repeatedly trying to change his mind.
Once you've done that, you come right back and tell me that that was less painful than betraying me. And if it honestly is, well, don't worry about it, you can go cry into a big bag of your prize money.
And then there's this, from your memorial walk: "I can't thank you enough for being an amazing ally and friend while I've been out here."
Oh, for Morgan's sake. You probably could have thanked me enough by not voting for me, or at least respecting me enough to be honest about it. I would have understood, because I had a feeling it was coming anyway, but instead you chose to have a nice long talk about how awesome it was that we were going to go to the finals together and how you had my back and you valued our alliance so much and omg we both love Yellowcard and I'm so excited to do memorial rites!
So you just led me on, and then voted me out, and for some reason you expect that because you keep talking about how it so was hard for you that it suddenly makes that all okay. That's not how it works, Luca. If you actually felt that bad, or if you actually valued me as a friend or ally, if any of that actually meant anything to you, you would have been honest with me. It's pretty obvious that whatever we had was worth far less to you than this win.
All of that being said, I'm not mad at you. You did what you did because it was the best move for you, and the friendship was simply less important. And that's fine with me. Even though I wouldn't have made the same choice (and didn't, when given the opportunity to vote you off at 11), I can respect the fact that you did.
I just wish you'd respect me enough to stop pretending that our friendship was this big meaningful thing when it obviously wasn't.
==========
My vote is still up in the air right now, because I feel like Luca has this thing won, and I can't decide if I feel like voting rationally or emotionally, or sympathetically. If I vote rationally, I'll vote for Luca. If I vote emotionally, then screw Luca, and I vote for Perry. If I vote sympathetically, I'll vote for Vincent.
If I'm honest, I'm not interested in hearing justifications. Feel free to make a big long post arguing whatever I've said about your strategies, but unless you deem it critically important, I wouldn't bother taking that risk. I don't generally form opinions without good reason, and anyway if I have a negative opinion of your gameplay or your actions, telling me how wrong I am probably isn't going to make me feel less negative.
So, I would like for you guys to please do the following. It probably won't influence my final decision, but it'd be interesting:
Rank the jurors 1-9 in terms of how well you think they played, and rank them again in terms of how much they deserved to win. Feel free to include reasons, but you don't have to.
Then dedicate a song to each of us, and the final three. I need some new music to listen to. (Note: Luca, if you try to cheap out and give me a Yellowcard song, you instantly lose my vote.)
Good luck, all three of you, and may the best man win.
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