Year 15 Confessional

[Ryan]

I spent the time between TC 14a and 14b out of town. I'd learned that Jamie was booted (which sucks, cause I wanted to scheme with her) and expected Stacy to be the next to go. Lo and behold, Stacy pulled through and Lew got the second vote, which was highly surprising. Just when you think you know what is going on at Xavante, those curveballs get thrown at you.

After the votes, the merge requirements dropped to as low a point as they ever could. Only one person from each tribe needed to agree. In the Bajau camp, everybody was actually discussing why it would be smart NOT to merge, which I found a little baffling. Both Will and myself wouldn't be able to attend the challenge, and we'd be fooling ourselves if we thought we could beat the stronger tribe again. A Bajau loss, I'm pretty sure, would have sent me packing. Besides, if we were preaching tribal loyalty, why would we give Xavante a chance to oust their defectors? Not only was staying on Bajau clearly the bad choice for me, it was also the bad choice for them, I thought. So I went ahead and cast our sole vote to merge. And Xavante latched on. The way the votes went proved highly advantageous. It established me as the clear outsider of the tribe, which is a role I've been playing to some success this entire game, really.

[Ryan]

I wasn't around much until lafter the challenge. Mark won, and it was a challenge I probably could have won if I was around, but it's better that I hide my immunity strength if people don't already see me as a cahllenge whore. I'm safe anyway. The bigger news of the challenge was Lexie's return.

Luck is an enormous factor in this game, and ever since I snuck my way out of Lisu, the dice have been rolling in my favor. What are the odds that both of the returning outcasts were booted for conspiring with me? It's like the Survivor gods came down and said, "Here Ryan, have a couple second chances." And thankfully, Lexie has expressed interest in working with me again, despite playing up her wild card status to the Xavantes.

The simple story of this vote is that Bajau and Xavante are sticking together, voting for Matt O. and Kevin, respectively. But it's much more complicated than that. There are going to be so many stray votes this round that you won't believe your eyes. The Bajau strategy revolves around swinging one vote to our side while keeping everything intact. Kevin has been hounding Jen, Tori, and Stacy, and I've claimed to be doing the same, but I really haven't been putting any heart into it. I'm just trying to maintain my place as the outsider.

Also, the news is that Lexie won't be voting with the Bajaus either. This must be so rough for Kevin. This has been a sinking ship for him ever since we merged. And it's basically my fault, too, and I regret letting the sharks get him like this, but saving his butt really isn't good for my game plan.

As far as my gameplan goes, there are a lot of options. At first, I flirted with the idea of Bajau actually sticking together, but as this vote has gone along, it's become more and more clear that that won't be occuring. So I've got backup plans. As soon as I talked with Stacy post-merge, she told me that she had a plan to get us to the end. And maybe this is dumb of me, but Stacy is the one player I truly trust in this game. She's just got a history of being nothing but honest that I don't ever think she won't be. So if she's playing me, kudos, Stacy. You pulled the wool over my eyes quite nicely.

In any case, she talked to me about working with the rest of the Ovambos and picking everybody else off. That would leave us with me, her, Matt O, Tyler, and Jen. I told her that Lexie could prove to be a useful ally in this sort of plan as well, but that she should be wary of Matt O. and Tyler. She OK'ed Lexie's inclusion, giving us a good path to final three if we choose to take it. I briefly mentioned to Lexie that such a plan was coming together, but didn't get to fill her in on all of the details. Needless to say, she was thrilled about the idea of such an alliance, but wanted the underdog alliance to include the Zazas instead. And to be honest, I agreed with her.

So after that, I began talking to Mark. This was definately the first time we spoke post-merge. I mentioned my outsider status on Bajau and talked about how Lexie is in a similar place and he practically suggested a final five group of the Zazas plus me and Lexie on his own. He came out and told me straight up that she and I were last in teh Bajau pecking order. I think he wanted it just as much as I did, which is always a good sign. This plan wouldn't neccessarily include Stacy, but if the Bajaus get picked off then the Ovambos, she'll make final seven at least, which gives us a whole new playbook.

I fired off a PM to Lexie outlining our options. If the Pagonging of Bajau continues as planned, then I really do believe that this is my game to lose. The lucky outcast trio of myself, Lexie, and Stacy could really do this. We just have to make it seem as if we aren't together. So I'm voting with Bajau, Stacy is voting with Xavante (or something to that effect), and Lexie... who knows how she's voting. In any case, the seeds have been planted.

This marks the first time in this game that I can actually envision myself winning. But of course, we've got to get through this vote first. Kevin should go, but there will be weird votes. Matt O. claims Jen is voting for him. Kevin claims Matt D. is voting for Stacy in order to show no allegiance to Bajau. Still a long way to go.

Optimistic, though. I'm glad I've got a few rounds at least where I don't have to feel threatened.