Episode 08

What's the plan for this round? Who are your biggest threats to take out?

What do you think your odds are of making the endgame with the current alliance setup in the tribe? Who would you want to see be there with you?

Who would you want to see be there with you?

Yes I am very interested in this part. From last round;

On top of that, I don't think any original Guatuso member will win up against any original Chorotega member in the final 3. I just don't see it happening.

So where does that leave your endgame plans? Who do you want to end up beside and why?

The plan right now is to vote out Jolanda. This all happened very late last night between Tom and I. I tried to make a move to get all the Guatuso members back together, which worked, but the problem is that we're now down 6/5. Our best option would be to take out a former Chorotegan without the Chorotegans realizing that the Guatusos are all back together, and then when the numbers are 5/5, we use either my idol or Chad's idol to take the lead.

Anyways, I wanted to get Tom to agree to voting Gregg out, but he felt that he couldn't swing enough of the Chorotegans to agree to it because Jolanda wanted to keep Gregg, and he was worried about a Jolanda/Ibe/Kim/Chad/Ami counter alliance. (Little did he know that Ami and Chad wouldn't do that because we're all hopefully sticking together, but obviously I couldn't tell him that).

Anyways, I used that as an opportunity to convince Tom to take out Jolanda. If he was so worried that she would form a counter alliance and on top of the fact that she wouldn't agree to voting out Gregg, this means that she's obviously a threat to us, so why not take her out now? He seemed to agree, so right now he thinks that Chad will play his idol while we all vote for Jolanda. So Jolanda will be gone and Chad's idol will be flushed.

The problem with Chad's idol is that Chad really actually might play it. I'm trying to convince him not to, but he really does have a reason to be worried. Last night's challenge clearly showed that Chad was on the bottom, so he's really worried about that. He's also worried that he'll be blindsided because for all he knows, I just trying to make sure he DOESN'T play the idol. So if he plays it, that would suck, because I really doubt he's going home.

Anyways, Tom is worried about Chris. Chris kind of freaked out last night and told Caryn she was going, which everyone found out about, and he messed with Jolanda to see if he could really trust her. both of those were a bad idea, because apparently last night Jolanda started a campaign to boot Chris. She tried to pull all the Chorotegans together to do it. So Chris will probably get some votes tonight...

I really hope Tom isn't messing with me, because if he was, this would be the perfect time to boot me. I really don't want to play my idol, but I told Tom that i was playing just to make sure he isn't messing with me. If he genuinely thinks I'm playing it, he would try to swing the vote the other way (unless he really truly is with us in voting out Jolanda, which I hope he is.)

Regardless, if Jolanda goes, Guatuso will easily take back control. I can string Tom along and make him think that he's still aligning with me, but in reality, I'm just using him to take out all of Chorotega.

I'm turning on Tom not because I don't like him or that I don't trust him much (I do still trust him, but I'm naturally paranoid and skeptical, so I want to be cautious), but I really don't believe I can beat him in the Final 3. If the F3 consists of me, him, and someone else that we would probably take as a goat, there would be no way I would get many votes from the Chorotegans on the jury. Bobby Jon, Jolanda, Ibe, Gregg, and Kim would all easily vote for him over me. I would probably get Chris's vote, and maybe Ami and Lisa's, but I don't think Chad would vote for me. Caryn is a wild card because she didn't connect with anyone and she'll be on the Jury for so long, so maybe she'll vote based on gameplay, but who knows.

But yeah, I don't think I can beat Tom, and I want to win this thing. That's why I'm secretly making a move against him. And I would like to take Chris and Lisa to the end with me.

Nobody in their right mind would vote for Lisa to win. She's in the same boat as Caryn, albeit a little more lucky. I hate to play the goat game, but it's my best shot at winning.

Chris would also be tough to vote for. Tom doesn't trust him much, and Jolanda/Ibe have basically turned against him too. I may be mistaken, but I think I can get the most votes this way. I just have to use Tom properly and dispose of him when I no longer need him.

Basically, I have to survive tonight and make sure everyone from Guatuso stays. If not, I'll have to reevaluate. I hope that Tom pulls through. Jolanda needs to go. If that happens, I have all of Guatuso on my side, plus Tom and Bobby Jon thinking they're still with Chris and I, and they would totally not expect all of Guatuso to be sticking together.

I'm also worried about next Sunday, because I'll have to miss tribal council and the immunity challenge. Which means I need to win immunity on Thursday, because if I'm not around for tribal ora challenge (I'll be gone from Friday to Monday morning), everyone could easily strategize against me and take me out.

I also have a question- since I'll miss Sunday's tribal, and if I'm not immune, can I pre-play my idol? Or does it have to be played in the 5 minutes between the vote deadline and vote reveal, or can I play it before I leave to guarantee that I'm safe?

I also have a question- since I'll miss Sunday's tribal, and if I'm not immune, can I pre-play my idol? Or does it have to be played in the 5 minutes between the vote deadline and vote reveal, or can I play it before I leave to guarantee that I'm safe?

Again, Jeff to confirm this, but as far as I am aware, yes you can do that - just state as much alongside your pre-vote in your voting thread. I have seen it happen in Stranded before.