Stranded in Sri Lanka

Ryan,

Here you can address the jury with your question or statement. You should keep it to one post that they can reply to. Try to include all of your questions/statement in this post and save any rebuttals or further questioning for the live council on Sunday.

Please do not ask the final three to go down any long lists, keep in mind that each question takes a very long time to properly answer and asking too much can be tedious.

The floor is now yours! Please post your questions/statements before Saturday at 8c/9e.

Simone
I wasn't one of your close allies on original Bambarun? What was your game plan had Roark been voted out at final 8? Did you want your team of Patrick/Cole/Kim/You to make it to the final 4? Or were you planning to chop one or more off before then? Also, what sets you apart from Kim?

Kim
What was your game plan had Roark been voted out at final 8? Did you want your team of Patrick/Cole/Simone/You to make it to the final 4? Or were you planning to chop one or more off before then? Also, what sets you apart from Simone?

Christina
I love seeing strong social games. I think the social aspect is what this game is all about. However, you talked trash about me and my game, and called me a puppy constantly. You tried making me look like a fool multiple times. Most of the time it seemed to be in an effort to get me to flip. Why would I want to play with someone who has shown no respect for me the entire game? And why should I vote for them?

Remember how we talked about how the game likes to shape narratives? Even if they might not really be true. At the start of the game Cole and Patrick were both my number ones on Bambarun. That was mainly because the three of us were always around at the same times and I always had a constant flow of conversation going with each of them. I think you can agree that at the start of the game our conversation was a little bit more broken and it didn't flow as much as it did when we met each other again at the merge. We made an assumption that you, Ali and Chrissy were also a threesome at that time just because you all seemed to be around at the same times and the way you all talked about each other and liking each other. I remember Chrissy showing up late and working her way in and I remember you distinctly saying you really liked her and wanted to work with her. I still think at that time you were finding your feet in the game and so was I. We had the main alliance of all the actives but then within that active group came the layers and boundaries you'd naturally distinguish. Like Cole, Patrick and I were convinced you three were together so if it did come down to the six of us... we'd have to think of a plan in order to get our threesome in the majority over yours etc.. Plus... there was nothing else to talk about on our original tribe so it was only natural we'd theorise every possible outcome and situation. In reality you all may have not been together or super tight but imagination can run wild especially in the early stages of the game when we don't know each other. That's mainly the gist of what I went through on original Bambarun.

The Ryan at met at the merge was so much more vastly different than the one I knew on Bambarun. You'd come into your own, you were so much more talkative and it helped we were around more at the same time and managed to get good flows of conversation going. I admit I was still keeping you at arms length because I was unsure given we had been apart for so long. The more and more we chatted the more and more our boundaries came down and when we shared everything that Ali was leaking between us, is when we started to go all in with each other.

Before the F8 vote we had talked about riding it out with Patrick and Cole and getting to four and then tying it against them. I was also the sandwich meat in between Cole and Patrick and had good relationship with both of them and a F3, so I had options there. I had the option with Kim as well as we were both tight. I always like to set myself up with options so if something backfired, there was option B... C... until there was no options eft. Then Kim and I also had a deal with Christina in case she continued to win the immunities and hold onto the idol. As the game got smaller obviously I would weigh up my options and obviously peoples perspectives on who threats were and all that would weigh in on my mind. It was kind of a round by round basis for me but at the core I am a loyal person or at least as loyal as this game will allow me to be lol.

As for what sets me apart from Kim... once again... sandwich meat. At the F6 you had no intentions of working with Kim and Kim had no intentions of working with you. You literally told me no one would work with you at that point. I was the bridge between you and Kim and with the knowledge of your extra vote I was able to convince Kim to make the move with us to vote out Roark given my strong relationship with her. I was the bridge and was able to use my relationship with the two of you to bring you together and vote together which benefited me as you were both people I was working with separately. Sure, I never had the visibility that Kim had by getting called a threat but if it wasn't for me in this game I think it's clear Kim wouldn't have had that protection and she would have been taken out faster than you can blink. Especially after Cole and Patrick left. You could have easily told Roark and Matt about your extra vote and gone for Kim but I managed to keep the people I needed in this game by getting them to vote together. In the Cole/Patrick/Kim foursome I had strong one on one bonds with each of them that went way back to our first swap and first tribe. Cole told Patrick and I about your extra vote but Kim was left out so I was always kept informed and to a higher importance in the alliance than her. Kim and I made all the exact same moves in this game but she's just getting more of the credit because she just edged me out in the live aspect of the game. While I had to put all my effort into the social relationships. While I think Kim and I both played good social games with hers being more visible by what it seems, I edged her out strategically.

If there's anything I can elaborate on let me know. But I had so much fun playing out the merge with you Ryan. You actually really surprised me and I never thought this would have been your journey from those first few days. Remember to own the villain. I know it may seem hard while you're still in this game but you'll look back and realise from an outside perspective how amazing it was. Don't take it to heart! Win or lose thanks a lot!

What was your game plan had Roark been voted out at final 8? Did you want your team of Patrick/Cole/Simone/You to make it to the final 4? Or were you planning to chop one or more off before then? Also, what sets you apart from Simone?

If Roark went out at the Final 8, my plan was to get one of you/Christina/Matt out next. At the time, my thought was that I wanted you to go at Final 7 because I knew you were close to Patrick and Cole and I wanted to ensure Patrick was with me all the way. I didn't want them to have an option of flipping with you and going to the Final 3 as a trio. At Final 6, I wanted Cole out. I'll discuss this more in Chrissy's post, but I firmly believe Cole was playing this game a lot better than most people thought looking from the outside in.

I mentioned in one of my previous answers that I wanted to be with people who were going to be loyal to me and take me to the end and I did not believe that Cole would have done that. In addition to that, back on the swapped Bambarun, Bill had told me that Cole had given him a 'secret friendship idol' and Cole specifically called me out in his statement to Bill saying "God knows Kim doesn't need an idol." It was at that moment I knew that I did not want to go to the end of this game with Cole. Although I realized it was likely a tribunal task, Cole used the task to make me look like the threat and forge a relationship with Bill who was my closest ally. I knew then that Cole was playing to win this game and that he would have a good chance if he made it to the end.

However, I also mentioned that one of my biggest things was to keep my friends close and my enemies closer and that is why I was so close with Cole. Obviously, we got along very well and he's an awesome dude, but I saw him as my main competition. I needed to be close with him so that I knew what was going on in his head and as soon as I detected something off with him, I would make my move. That move was obviously planned at the Final 6, but fortunately, things solved themselves out at the Final 8. Now I would have gone to rocks for Cole at the Final 8 don't get me wrong because I needed to ensure that the three of Patrick/Simone/I were not just obliterated after I voted Cole out. My ideal Final 4 scenario was Patrick/Simone/Matt/myself because Matt had no/little relationship with Patrick/Simone compared to Roark/you and I honesty felt that Simone/Patrick would have brought me to the Final 3 if I lost the final challenge and Matt would have targeted one of them over myself if they were still upset at me for voting Cole out.

If you were successfully voted out at the Final 7, my plan was to use the relationships I had made with Roark/Matt/Christina to vote Cole out at the Final 6 (in hindsight, this was before I knew he had an idol). I then would have rationalized to Simone/Patrick why I voted Cole out and hopefully move forward with them. However, like I keep saying, I wanted options in this game and so if Simone/Patrick weren't able to forgive me/work with me after voting out Cole, I could have just moved forward with Roark/Matt/Christina.

As for what sets me apart from Simone, I believe that I had more social connections across the merge tribe than she did. As much as people like to talk about the tight group of 4 that was Simone/Patrick/Cole/myself, I believe she relied on those two for most of the merge whereas I was out maintaining connections with you/Matt/Roark/Julie, etc. to keep my options open. Y'all complain about the tight group of four we had, but at the same time, it was a solid group that was working. It's easy to say how tight we were, but understanding the actual dynamics of the group, there was no way the four of us were going to all be in the Final 4 whether it was Cole/myself that acted first (presumably Cole as evidenced by the rock draw). In addition, Cole was obviously holding onto that idol in secret for something and I doubt it was to keep the group of four together (otherwise he would have played it at the rock draw vote). Once our group splintered, Simone was more limited to Patrick/Cole/potentially you whereas I could have really expanded to anyone left in the game at that point.