Episode 10

Another blindside. Will the pattern continue after tonight?

Is tonight's majority votes the group that you want to stick with? Do you think they want to stick with you?

Will your relationship with tonight's minority voters (and their trust in you) play a factor in the rest of the game before FTC? Is it worth salvaging, or better to keep your distance?

So that didn't quite work to the tie plan you expected - but does that end result still work for you? Have you any fear that voting in the minority / playing up to jurors could hurt your standing with last night's new majority?

Is the new heat your UTR style is attracting starting to catch up on you?

I expect the majority of the votes from now on to be blindsides. Everybody is paranoid that the targeted person will find out and somehow flip the script, not to mention there is still an idol out there waiting to be played.

My plan to force a tie didn't work out, and in hindsight it was a mistake to try to get Chad to vote for Lisa. It wasn't worth the risk given that it ultimately wouldn't have changed the outcome. I have worked my ass off after the vote to reassure everybody that I voted how I told them I would. I told Ibrehem and Gregg the truth that I voted with them for Lisa. I told Tom, Kim, Ami, and Mia the lie that I voted with them for Jolanda. I told Chad that I had been tricked into voting for Lisa and that I was clearly on the outs like he is. The crazy thing about this is that they all seem to believe me!

Naturally, the other players have talked to each other and have noticed some discrepancies in my story. Firstly, Chad has told some people that I had tried to get him to vote for Lisa. I acted outraged at this 'lie', and said that Chad must have been the fourth vote for Lisa and is trying to run a smear campaign against me. Chad is the perfect scapegoat for me to deflect any unwanted attention onto. He isn't trusted by anybody, whereas I have historically been seen as a very trustworthy player. Secondly, Kim told Ibrehem what I told her - that I had voted for Jolanda. I was able to explain to Ibrehem that I lied to Kim in order to keep her thinking I was on her side, because she is currently considering flipping back to original Chorotega (without Tom).

It hasn't been easy playing everyone like this, but I have them all convinced that I proved myself to them with this last vote. However, I am not going to get myself into this position again in the future. I need to begin to step out of the shadows, and I would eventually be caught in a lie that I couldn't talk my way out of anyway. This one was too close for comfort.

Despite being told by Chad, whom I consider to be an independent party in the game, that he has never heard my name come up as a target and that he has only heard people say good things about me, I am increasingly concerned that I will be seen as a dangerous under-the-radar style of player. I don't mind being "forgotten" in challenges and at Tribal so much as I mind that jurors might "forget" to vote for me if I make it to the end. I am well aware that Jeff was thinking of me in the discussion he led about the "Scooby Doo reveal" and it made me reevaluate how well such a strategy might be received by a jury. It is now the second half of the game and I'm due for a revamped style of play. Expect to see me speaking up more in public discussions and not being quite such a shady character.

Here's a quick rundown of my remaining opponents:

Ami: She was upset at me for blindsiding Chris, but since she believes I voted for Jolanda this round there is no bad blood. I don't think she completely trusts me though. Voted as the juror's favourite, I don't want to sit next to her at the end.

Chad: Useful for me to keep around for a while longer. He is seen as untrustworthy and a free agent in the game. He is very honest with me, but also tells others what I have told him in confidence. Is likely to vote with me as long as he can be reassured he'll be voting with the majority.

Gregg: Feels defeated after the Jolanda blindside. Even began talking about what he will do as a juror. After giving him hope that Kim might flip back his head seems to be back in the game. Loathes Tom. Loves me. Very possibly the next person to go home.

Ibrehem: Fiercely loyal to me now that Jolanda is gone. He dislikes original Guatuso, distrusts Tom and Kim while aware that he probably needs one or both of them to survive, and is only cautiously trusting of Gregg given their history on NuGuatuso.

Kim: A snake in the grass. She flipped with Tom, but acts as though she immediately regrets it. Quite possibly a beacon of hope for Ibrehem and Gregg. My vote for most likely to win. Very smart and probably the person most suspicious of my activities.

Lisa: A waste of space. A puppet. It's no surprise she was voted as worthless in challenges and most easily controlled. She is playing so far under-the-radar that I don't think she even knows what she has been doing. Likely to be loyal to Ami and Mia until the end. An ideal final 3 goat.

Mia: I don't trust her at all. Known for her supposedly "All-Stars" worthy outspokenness, she doesn't have a whole lot of social game going on. I think she is incapable of higher level strategy, but might be lucky enough to get to the end by being part of the right alliance.

Tom: Thinks of me as his right-hand-man, while Mia is his right-hand-woman. I genuinely like the guy and have enjoyed playing the game with him from the start, but the power has gone to his head. As I predicted from the beginning, people are starting to see him as a big threat. I have used him as shield to hide behind, but the time is fast approaching for me to throw the shield to the ground and expose myself to some slings and arrows. The challenge exposed him as most trustworthy, in control of the game, and likely to win. I have been able to use this to plant some seeds of doubts about keeping him around into people's minds.

I managed to (jokingly) stir up some controversy over the order Ami posted the avatars. For a bit of fun here is my ideal, not predicted, finishing order, from winner to ninth place:

Oh my, what a nice chunky one to log in to.

So drawing from that, and this new tack you're intending on taking, who would you like to end up beside in the finals most, and is that a realistic target? If no on that then who do you think it is possible to get to the end with, yet still win outright.

Curse your timing!

To answer in more detail than 9 pictures...

I would like to be in the finals with Ibrehem and Gregg. It would force the Guatuso jurors to vote for a Chorotega player, I would likely have made better personal relationships with more of the jurors, and my path to the end would have been quite distinct to those two who share much of the same story. It will be a difficult final three to pull off unless we can all survive the next couple of votes, which seems unlikely at this point.

A more realistic final three that I would stand a chance of winning against would be maybe Chad and Tom? I don't see many people voting for Chad, so it would probably be a close vote between me and Tom. I would expect that Tom would have pissed off more people than I, but his open style of game play might be more recognisable or respected than mine.

It's really difficult to thinks so far ahead, when even my next few moves aren't clear. That's not to say I haven't been working on my jury management as I go though.

Kim is ready to vote out Mia along with me, Ibe, and Gregg, as long as we get confirmation from Chad that he's on board too. I really hope this works! If not Gregg will be going home.