Final Tribal Council

[clauderainsrm]

Let's welcome in the Jury... jenwithapen  bittyjane , megatronix , impoetry , n3m3sis43 ,
minikin25,wolfden , lawchicky819 , bsgsix , swirlsofpurple , eeyore_grrl , bleodswean , adoptedwriter , alycewilson murielle , and gunwithoutmusic - voted out at the last tribal council.

16 people that you had a hand in, directly or indirectly, voting out of this game. Their dreams of winning may have ended. But the power is now in their hands.

Here is how this is going to to work -

flipflop_diva and halfshellvenus  -You will both have the opportunity to make Opening Statements. You job is to convince these people WHY you should win.



Once BOTH of the finalists have made their opening statements, then the Jury will be able to ask their questions, as well as any follow ups they wish. This is in the modern, open-discussion model of tribal council, with the online twist. :)  They can ask anything they want. 


This will continue for a few days, or until the Jury is satisfied that they have enough information on which to base their decision.  At that point I will announce that it is time to vote. 







(Note- DW has been randomly hiding parts of the post - so if any of it vanishes, just keep going. You know if you are on the Jury or not. and if you are a finalist. I've tagged you. But DW has already erased a bunch of tags several times when I've tried to post this)               



***


If the two of you would like to make a final statement to the Jury, before the vote begins now would be the time to do so.  This is your last opportunity to address the Jury. 

Comments

Opening statement

[flipflop_diva]

Hi everyone! It’s so good to see you all. I am a little terrified going into this, but I am ready to answer as openly and honestly as I possibly can.

I think most everyone here knows I’m a huge Survivor fan. I watch a lot of TV in my life — I love TV — but it’s rare that I can remember exactly where I was and what I was doing the first time I watched something.

Survivor is that something. I was in my last week of my job just north of Boston, and I was preparing to move back to California for another job. I remember sitting on the couch in the living room of the house I was staying at and waiting for this crazy show about people stuck on an island together to start.

And then it came on. And I remember watching the boats, and I remember seeing Jeff Propst and his “16 people, 39 days, 1 Survivor.” And I was hooked.

Since that moment, I have watched 40 seasons of that show — a lot of them more than once — and through a lot of it, I’ve always wondered if I could do that, how I would do, could I get close to the end? I thought about what I would and would not do to win a million dollars. I thought about how I would play. But I always thought it was just a fantasy because I don’t want to be on TV and I would probably starve to death since I do not like fish and I do not want to eat bugs.

But then, last fall, Gary posted an announcement that Survivor Idol was coming, and I think I actually screamed out loud. I signed up as soon as I possibly could, and I was ready. This was my chance to play Survivor — with a little bit of Idol — and see how I would do.

I didn’t come into this game with a very detailed strategy, despite my Survivor preparation, because I wasn’t totally sure how things would go. But I had a few goals in mind — I wanted to have a good social game. I wanted to make sure I was participating in all the posts and that I was commenting to people’s entries and that I was helping my tribe as much as I could. I wanted to be a good competitor. I wanted to write the best entries I could every time and do my best to make them entertaining and enjoyable. And I wanted to use my Survivor skills where I could. I wanted to watch other people and see what I could learn. I wanted to use what I learned to help myself get further. And if I could, I wanted to form alliances.

The only thing I told myself I wouldn’t do was backstab anyone — I would never promise someone I would vote to keep them and turn around and vote them out. And I never did. The people I was loyal to, I remained loyal to the whole time.

But then the game started, and right away it was so much harder than I thought. We had to pick teams, and I kept waiting for my name to appear. And then there I was, second to last on my team.

It hurt a bit. I had just gotten done playing a full season of Idol so I thought people should know who I am. So I worried it was because they hated me or they hated my writing or some combination in between. And I worried that being so close to the bottom meant I would get voted out right away.

So I went straight to work. I tried to be the best resource for my tribe and best team player I could. I told everyone on my tribe that first week to make sure they asked people to vote for all of us and not just themselves, and we won the first challenge. And when we started losing after that since the other tribe caught on, I did my best to offer advice on what was coming next and what we should think about while voting.

I also made my first alliance then, with n3m3sis43, although we didn’t call it an alliance.

It was hard, though. We were losing and people were arguing and most people really didn’t want to strategize. And then there was a tribe swap, and I ended up on La Mina with four people from Asaga plus me — a place that, in real Survivor, is pretty much the end of the game for a lot of people.

Luckily, we never had to go to Tribal Council and instead two things happened to change the course of my game — gunwithoutmusic sent me a message saying just because I was Luzon, he didn’t necessarily want to vote me off and also I found a hidden immunity idol.

I had actually wanted to play with gunwithoutmusic before the game even started. I knew him from the last Idol season, and he had been one of my favorites then, and I knew he was a huge Survivor fan. I would have given anything, when this game started, to make an alliance of Luzon people and go in there and cause some damage. But besides n3m3sis43, gunwithoutmusic was the first person who wanted to talk Survivor with me and play Survivor, and I took advantage.

I wrote him back right away, and we kept messaging, and by the time the merge rolled around, we had an alliance.

This is getting long, so I don’t want to go into a play-by-play of what happened, but from that point on, we worked together. gunwithoutmusic had been working with bsgsix, so we officially formed a final three deal with her. And then when the awful week came that we lost her (thankfully just in game!), we ended up bringing in halfshellvenus and working with her.

I spent a lot of hours on this game — thinking about it and analyzing it and trying to read between the lines at Tribal Councils and figure out where the votes were coming from. I made an unofficial partnership with alycewilson, and we worked together too. I found another Idol — I had three at one point, but I never really needed to use them. I wrote my heart out on my entries, and even won Individual Immunity twice. And in the end, I ended up writing 19 entries in 17 days to hopefully get myself to the end.

This game was hard — I think all of you know that. And the closer it got to the end, the harder it got. The more time we spent together, the more entries we wrote, the more Tribal Councils we went to, people became more than tribemates and fellow competitors. They became friends. And voting them out, or watching them be voted out, got harder and harder and harder. Especially the weeks murielle and Alycewilson went home. Those were really painful.

I’m proud of the way I played, though, and I’m proud of myself for getting here. Back in the beginning, I wasn’t even sure I’d make the merge. And then after we did the chop challenge and people voted me for playing the most Survivor like game (that one was deserved!) and being the most likely to backstab people, I knew I had a huge target on myself that I needed to work around in order to make it further.

And I did, by doing the things I had promised myself I would do — I wrote the best entries I could, I tried to be the best fellow competitor I could be, and I worked with the people I was loyal to to get us all as far as was possible.

Would I have gotten this far without gunwithoutmusic and halfshellvenus? I don’t know. Probably not. But would they have gotten as far without me? Probably not either.

In the end, I signed up six months ago to play a game of Survivor, and I did, and I won’t apologize for that. I think I did a good job of it too. How good remains to be seen, but I welcome you all to ask me anything that you need to make a decision.

Thank you!

Re: Opening statement

[gunwithoutmusic]

As I said to halfshellvenus, I had such a blast playing the game with both of you! I'm really glad that I reached out to you when you ended up on La Mina because I do think that changed the whole course of the game for me. That was a good move on my part even if it was a little risky - you had a chance to kill my game and you decided to work with me instead.

I think this Jury vote is going to come down to "Survivor" vs. "Idol," which is really nothing less than I would expect from a Survivor game played by a bunch of Idol veterans. You and halfshell both played a good game, in different ways, and I don't know which way the Jury's going to swing.

I said it on halfshell's thread and I'll say it on yours, too - we promised each other our votes if one of us got the end and the other didn't, so you've got my vote, 100%. I hope you win, but I hope halfshell does, too. I'm actually glad that I already made a promise because otherwise, this would be a tough call. Good luck! :)

Re: Opening statement

[halfshellvenus]

This was a really impressive opening statement! And daunting! :D

Re: Opening statement

[bittyjane]

Just curious - how did you find hidden immunity idols? I wouldn't have even known where to begin to look.

Re: Opening statement

[alycewilson]

Sorry it took me so long to respond to this! I did enjoy being alliance partners with you; it helped to have another person to talk to about how the game was going and what to do about voting.

I've also been struck how often our minds go to the same place with prompts, even without discussing it. Your writing really stood out to me this season for all the right reasons.

[adoptedwriter]

You've played a great game, and I have enjoyed every entry! I have nothing negative to say.

[flipflop_diva]

Thank you so much! I had a lot of fun playing with you this season. I still think of your fork entry almost every time I open the silverware drawer to get utensils out — and now I try to make sure to grab the little guy in the back so he won't feel so lonely :)

Opening Statement

[halfshellvenus]

Hi, everyone! It's wonderful to have you all gathered here, and I hope everyone is doing well. It has been an incredibly hard year for all of us, some much more than others. There are several of you that I don't think we've seen or heard from in a very long time, and that makes me worry. I hope you and your families and loved ones have been all right over these last six months. <3

I'm excited and nervous to be here, which is pretty much how I've felt for this entire mini-season! I joined Idol at the beginning of Season 8, and have played every season since then. When I signed up for Idol:Survivor, I thought it would be a lot like other Idol seasons, maybe with a slightly different flavor. But it has been full of twists and turns I never anticipated, some fun, some not-so-fun. I haven't felt this unprepared since my first Idol season!

I was a huge "Survivor" fan when the TV show first aired, and I watched the first 10 seasons of it like it was an addiction. There were debates and discussions at home and around the office over the contestants, their choices, their successes and failures, the whole bit.

We were still watching after we had our first child. But after the second, it all suddenly became more challenging. Between the extra bedtime duties and our local CBS station shifting their Prime Time hours so that Survivor was on at 7:00 (and had to be recorded on the VCR), we wound up missing episodes and having trouble finding time to watch the ones we did have. Eventually, we just got out of the habit of watching it. Somehow, we never made it back.

So, a lot of what I knew about the Survivor TV show was pretty outdated, and there were other parts I'd forgotten (because that is also a thing). In an Idol setting, I honestly hadn't expected teams, and I was not at all prepared to be voting out members of my OWN team. Those are basic parts of Survivor, but they feel very weird when you're playing with old friends (half of them on the opposing team!), and explicitly voting people out is… ugh. That has absolutely been the hardest and most painful part of this whole game.

I know all of you understand exactly what I mean. It's bad enough in regular seasons when people you like are eliminated because their entries didn't get enough votes. But having to actively choose to send someone home is just excruciating. Even when they offer to sacrifice themselves (and my team had three brave people who did that, jenwithapen, minikin25, and megatronix), it's still hard, because you don't actually want them to leave! And it never got easier.

This was a more cut-throat game than I'd bargained for. I was caught by surprise that first week, when some Luzon team members solicited votes for their tribe alone. There was nothing wrong with that, I just wasn't prepared for that level of competitiveness right out of the gate. Maybe I should have been?

I spent most of this season playing this game more like "Idol" than "Survivor," as I'm sure a lot of you did. I tried to balance those two things, so that I didn't betray anyone or crush their feelings while improving my chances to move forward in the game. I hope I succeeded. I know that leaning more toward Idol than Survivor might have been annoying to some members of the Asaga tribe, and if so, I'm sorry. I tried to make this season as much of a good and fun experience for everyone as I could. That is always my Idol goal!

I've heard there are some rumors circulating about conspiracies or some other kinds of manipulations or betrayals? I hate to even bring that up, but I want to be as truthful and transparent with all of you as possible. I don't know what the details are, but I can unequivocally say that they are not true. I was truly surprised (and depressed) to learn that was even happening.

That isn't who I am. I think most of you know me better than that. I sure hope so. But if you have questions about any of it, please ask so we can clear things up.

I did have some alliances—I think a lot of us did, eventually, because it's very hard to last more than just a few weeks in Survivor without them. I talked a lot with bsgsix those first 3-4 weeks, but that wasn't an official alliance until maybe the 4th or 5th week, because alliances weren't really needed early on. The whole Asaga team was very talkative. We discussed everything— brainstorming over the prompts, polishing our entries (reviewing and giving feedback for those who were interested), and strategizing to get more votes. It was an awesome team and an awesome experience, all around!

By the time we went into the Individual Immunity challenges, I had an alliance with bsgsix and gunwithoutmusic. I thought that was a Top 3 alliance, but flipflop_diva appears to have had the same impression, except with herself as the 3rd person instead of me. \o?

gunwithoutmusic mentioned that he had been working with flipflop_diva, and suggested bringing her into our alliance, which made four people. We didn't always vote together, but we discussed voting and strategies. Then bsgsix was rushed to the hospital, a terrifying development that far outweighed anything happening in Idol itself. That was such a scary week, waiting and hoping for better news about her condition. It's still the aspect of this season that sticks out the strongest ffor me, and I'm just so thankful that she woke up and made it back home again.

After that, our alliance was just gunwithoutmusic, flipflop_diva, and me, and we did make it to the Top 3. The closer we got to the end, the more painful the voting became—as it did for everyone, I think. Casting votes for people you admire and think of as friends just feels awful, and I hate that the game was set up this way. It's how Survivor works, but it was gut-wrenching. This is a lovely and talented group of people, and I really enjoyed playing with all of you! Voting for adoptedwriter, murielle, and alycewilson was especially hard at the end. For Alyce—the Immunity Idol I had was a gift, and all three of the people in our alliance had Idols that could have been used at that point, so there was no better choice you could have made that would have changed the outcome. :(

We all thought the Jury would be voting on the Top 3 candidates, so the final immunity challenge was a complete shock. Holy cow—the last 2 ½ weeks of this season were insane. An entry every day, and then two entries a day? I thought for sure I'd be the first one out of that challenge. I'm the slowest writer of the three of us, and the deadlines all fell in the middle of the workday out here on the West Coast, first at 2pm and then 1pm. But cutting out sleep and overdoing it on chocolate can work wonders. I had ideas set up for weeks to come, to compensate for all the things that didn't want to be written when I needed them (because that is also a thing, especially for me).

I'm still boggling over the whole thing. 20 entries in 17 days—I never would have thought it was possible, and I'm still working my way out of that hamster-wheel of unrelenting stress. But it was the only way I was ever going to make it to the Final Two, and writing until my fingers fell off was an effort that only depended on my willingness to commit everything I had. It didn't require making decisions that would negatively affect other people—I just had to write the best I could in the time allowed. That's my comfort zone, even when it's hard and incredibly UNcomfortable!

For me, Idol is always primarily about the writing. Even inside this different flavor of Idol, the quality of the writing and of the Idol experience matter. My main strategy for this season, as with every season, was to write the best entries I could—across multiple forms and genres, finding whatever worked best for the moment. I wrote a lot of entries that I'm proud of this season, and more than that, as a group, we all wrote entries we can be proud of!

The best part of Idol isn't just an individual or even a team, it's the way the experience helps us to write things that amaze even ourselves. I spend hours and hours of time and effort each season to try to help that work for all of us, including this season, with all of its twists and quirks.

I played as much of the "Survivor" game as I felt I needed to here, but always with integrity and the desire to keep any promises I made and to preserve the dignity of the other players as much as possible. I hope you feel that I succeeded in that, and that I am worthy of your vote!

Please feel free to ask me anything that will help you make your final decision. I will answer as openly and honestly as I can.

Thank you all!

Re: Opening Statement

[adoptedwriter]

Well said! I have no questions or criticisms. It's been great writing with you!

Question

[swirlsofpurple]

Thank you both for sharing these lovely opening statements, they convey your points very evocatively. It's intriguing to hear the behind the scenes stuff, I'm always a bit oblivious when it comes to alliance stuff, but hearing the journey is so interesting. And thank you for sharing all of your entries, it certainly has been a wild ride!

Now for my question: Both of you have mentioned the 'Survivor' aspect and the 'Idol' aspect of the game. Do you think these two aspects should be given equal weight when considering the winner, or do you think one is more important that the other. If you think one is more important than the other, which one and why?

Re: Question

[flipflop_diva]

Thank you for your kind compliment! It really has been a crazy ride, hasn't it? I hope more people will share their behind the scenes stuff during the 'reunion show' post that Gary says he'll be posting at the very end. I love hearing all that kind of stuff too since I only know my part of it now!

As for your question, which is really interesting. My first instinct is to say, 'Yes, the Survivor part is more important, so everyone, please vote for that above all else!' but I think it's more complicated than that.

I know that everyone came into this game with their own expectations and their own ideas of how they wanted to play. I know a lot of people wanted to just play Idol and to deal with the twists and turns as they came up, but they didn't really want to embrace them. And I know other people did want to play Survivor and did want to strategize and did want to form alliances to whatever degree they felt comfortable with.

I think in the end that everyone is going to have to make their own decision as to which aspect is more important, but I do hope that people weigh the Survivor part of it. I think there is something to be said about embracing and playing the game that we all signed up to play, even if it's maybe something that someone didn't want to play themselves (although I also think that most people, especially of the ones who made it to the merge, did end up playing a little bit of Survivor. I'm not sure there is anyone who played straight Idol all the way through, but I obviously can't swear to that).

I hope that people do take both aspects into consideration when voting — we're all here first and foremost because we love writing, so I don't want people to discount the Idol part of it at all. That was the part that took the most time and effort and love, and sharing our entries with each other is always so rewarding. But I also hope people don't vote strictly on who they think the best writer is. I think this was a season of experiments and to play something a little different than straight Idol, and I hope that people remember that and look at the full picture.

So in the end, to actually answer the question, I would say that I personally lean a little more to the Survivor part since that is the game that Gary set up for us, but it's very close, and I won't begrudge anyone who wants to strictly vote on Idol alone. I hope they don't, but I understand if they do!

[murielle]

Hi!

Loved your statements! Loved playing with you! Love you for letting me be the forth Musketeer! Just love you!

Now, I'm going to throw a spanner in the works. (Gently tosses a rubber spanner toward the two finalists.)

You've each stated your case, and I appreciate your statements so much, but...

I would like each of you, flipflop_diva and Halfshellvenus, to tell the jury why we should NOT vote for you, but vote for your competitor instead.

Thank you. *Big Hugs*

[gunwithoutmusic]

Oooooooooh, good question! :)

[bsgsix]

Hi, everyone. Popping in briefly to say hello (I go to the hospital tonight for a 24-hour observation due to my newly-diagnosed Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and Narcolepsy with Cataplexy, so they basically get to watch me sleep and try out some new meds - and I can't take my laptop, ugh, lol!). But I wanted to ask my questions, even if I may not see the replies until very late Thursday or Friday. Time to be on Jury Duty!

First of all, CONGRATS to halfshellvenus and flipflop_diva! Two deserving writers, and two people who know how to play both Survivor and Idol. I'm happy to see you here. (Though I wish I could have joined you a bit longer, of course! But my happiness is sincere.) <3

As everyone knows, I'm not a Survivor person. I've still never seen the show, and though I've watched some clips - it just didn't interest me. So my questions may not be as hard-hitting as some questions from other members of the Jury, but I still want to ask them.

halfshellvenus, you and I were in an alliance (just the two of us) from pretty early on, despite my (at the time) secret alliance with gunwithoutmusic. Did you have the sense that I was working with someone else, and if so, did that bother you in any manner - especially since you were leader of Asaga, our original team? What did you think about alliances in this game in general - were they helpful, or, in the end, kind of confusing/something to make things harder on the remaining three players? In hindsight, do you regret any alliances you made?

flipflop_diva, you and I were ALSO in an alliance, but not until about a week or so before I went into a coma and just... missed out on the rest of the game. gunwithoutmusic brought you in since he had been chatting with you, and asked me if we could ALL be an alliance. In theory, this would have given us an alliance of four for probably quite some time had I stayed in - you, me, S, and K. How did you feel about the foursome alliance? How did you think that our particular alliance would do, and did you think that all of you would go to the final three? Were you concerned about how we all might vote if it came down to the four of us and we'd all promised to support one another? (I know it's hypothetical since I was sick and missed deadline, but I'm curious!)

For both halfshellvenus and flipflop_diva: This is a sore subject, but I have to ask it, especially because of what happened to me early in the game. Did either of you have targeted harassment or false rumors spread about you by other players? If so, did you take it as "game play" and "all in good fun" (ie, the spirit of competition of the game), or did you find it to be hurtful and petty? If you were harassed, DM'd, or targeted in this competition, would this deter you from playing a Survivor version of Idol again, or would you go for it a second time if offered? Or would you simply rather write in Idol and avoid some of the harassment that I think was a lot more - pointed (due to stress, I believe) in this specific game?

I can read comments but may not be able to reply until very late Thursday night/Friday, so - I wish you both the best, with all my love and support. I'll be reading when I can and continuing to pay attention to the responses here. Thank you BOTH for being quality writers AND quality human beings. I felt very supported by both of you in my absence, and appreciate that you both reached out with such kindness. That is something I'll be considering in my final vote, too - the fact that writing is paramount, but so, too, is the ability to be a good person and a friend who cares about others beyond the bounds of an online game. <3

[flipflop_diva]

(I go to the hospital tonight for a 24-hour observation due to my newly-diagnosed Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and Narcolepsy with Cataplexy, so they basically get to watch me sleep and try out some new meds

First of all, eeep!, that sounds so scary, and I hope they can figure something out to help. Second, I just want to say I am so, so, so happy you are able to be here with us (even if it can't be full time). That week you were in the coma was so scary, and I am super thankful and grateful that you are still here with us, and I hope you know that everything I've ever said to you, in public and in private, has been true.

But on to your questions that are really great questions!

you and I were ALSO in an alliance, but not until about a week or so before I went into a coma and just... missed out on the rest of the game. gunwithoutmusic brought you in since he had been chatting with you, and asked me if we could ALL be an alliance. In theory, this would have given us an alliance of four for probably quite some time had I stayed in - you, me, S, and K. How did you feel about the foursome alliance? How did you think that our particular alliance would do, and did you think that all of you would go to the final three? Were you concerned about how we all might vote if it came down to the four of us and we'd all promised to support one another? (I know it's hypothetical since I was sick and missed deadline, but I'm curious!)

I'll be super honest here and say it wasn't actually until today that I realized it was a four-person alliance. I think some of it is that I never directly talked to Karen until after we had lost you, but at the time, I thought it was Sean, you and me and then Karen was our fourth, but not as something official. Like obviously I knew she was voting with us and talking with us and wasn't going to go vote for me, but I didn't realize the extent until Karen talked in her opening statement this morning about how she took it the other way, with the three of you being the main alliance and me being fourth.

Not that this really matters now anyway, and I think if you had stayed in longer that we would have figured it out. As you said, it had only really been a week or two and we were still, even game wise, figuring out the best course of action.

I do think that if there were four of us that we would have had a good chance of making it far. Four is a huge number if everyone is voting together, and I did have idols to protect us if need be. Now what would have happened if we made it to the final four together? I have no idea! For me personally, at the time (before you had to drop out), I had promised Sean I would never vote for him and I promised you I wouldn't vote for you if I could help it, so I probably would have had to vote for Karen and she would have voted for me and then who knows! But honestly this was never really a concern since I didn't realize the true extent of what was happening.

Once you had to leave though, I was definitely not sure at all that the three of us (me, Sean, Karen) would make final three. Sean was a lot more confident than me! That was also the week of the chop challenge, and people on my own original tribe were chopping me and people were picking me to backstab people, and it was a scary couple weeks. I didn't know how things would go, and we had to come up with some new strategies to survive it.

By the time we got down to six, I thought we had a good chance of making final three together, but you never know what twist Gary will throw in or who will win immunity, so I was never a hundred percent confident until it happened.

I would have loved to have played longer with you though! I was having an amazing time getting to know you!

This is a sore subject, but I have to ask it, especially because of what happened to me early in the game. Did either of you have targeted harassment or false rumors spread about you by other players? If so, did you take it as "game play" and "all in good fun" (ie, the spirit of competition of the game), or did you find it to be hurtful and petty? If you were harassed, DM'd, or targeted in this competition, would this deter you from playing a Survivor version of Idol again, or would you go for it a second time if offered? Or would you simply rather write in Idol and avoid some of the harassment that I think was a lot more - pointed (due to stress, I believe) in this specific game?

I wasn't. Or if there were rumors, no one has mentioned them to me. I know there were rumors about Karen, though (not that I heard directly but from what she has told me).

I've said it a lot and I think everyone knows how much I love Survivor and how I did want to play a Survivor type game, but I do think there are lines that shouldn't be crossed, and lines that I personally would never cross - here and on real Survivor. And stuff like that is definitely one. It's just a game. There is no reason to be cruel to someone. Ever. And I'm sorry you (and Karen) had to deal with that stuff. It should never have happened.

If that had happened to me, it probably would have taken some of the fun out of the game, and I wouldn't blame someone who experienced that for not wanting to do this again. I can't really say what I would personally do because I don't know — but right now, for as much as I loved this game and it's been my favorite season of Idol, I don't even know if I'd sign up for season two. A lot of it was a lot harder than I ever expected. It was amazing, but it was hard. And that's without someone being directly cruel to me.

Thank you, though, for such a great comment, and I hope everything at the hospital goes well! <333 You, my friend, are a quality human being as well — one of the very best!

[bittyjane]

I appreciate reading the opening statements - thoughtful and insightful to be sure. It’s awesome to learn more about the journey you both have gone through. Is there anything either of you wish you would have done differently or would do differently if you could do it again?

[flipflop_diva]

Thank you so much! I was worried I was writing too much, so I'm glad that people appreciated it :)

I've thought a lot about this game the past few days and what could have gone differently or been different. Obviously I wish everyone had been healthy and life hadn't interfered and we could have seen what it would have been like if no one had to drop out. I also really wish (and I'm not just saying this because you asked the question) that we would have known uselesstinrelic wanted to drop before we started voting so you could have stayed in. That whole day was a mess, and I really had wanted you to stay.

I do think I probably could have fought harder for why you should have been the one to stay, but I didn't want to hurt people's feelings or stir up more drama than what was already stirred up. But ughhh that was awful.

Of course, of all the things I just said, I'm not really sure that anything I did could have made a difference. It definitely couldn't have kept people from getting sick, so in terms of actual moves I made and if I could do something different if I had another chance — There's not really any moves I made that I regret. After all, in the end, they got me here, which was my ultimate dream goal. But I do think if I had the chance that I would handle a couple things differently.

This game was a lot harder in some respects than I ever anticipated it to be. In the beginning, I just thought, 'Well, people get voted out of regular Idol every week, so how much harder could it be?' Obviously it turned out to be much harder. It was hard in the beginning when there weren't really reasons to vote people out, and it got even harder as we went along, even though I did try to use the polls and writing quality for most of my votes.

But by the time we got to the last few votes, it was downright painful. I knew I would never turn on my alliance, so the choice of who to vote out maybe wasn't as hard as it could have been, but actually voting was awful. I know every week that I survived gave me a boost of hope that maybe I could really do this, and I know that must have been true for other people as well, and taking that away from them .... just ughhh.

So during those weeks, we did try our hardest not to hurt anyone more than the game was already doing or cause unnecessary pain to anyone, but there are a few times I'm not sure I made the right choice. We did discuss it amongst ourselves (me, halfshell and gunwithoutmusic) and we knew it was better to keep our alliance a secret so we wouldn't get targeted, and we also decided as a group that it would be less painful for people to not know they were the ones going home, so they didn't have to sit through a whole Tribal Council with their fate already decided. But I'm not a hundred percent sure that was the best course of action, so if I had to do it again, I might have told Alyce and Murielle, especially, the truth before the vote reveal.

I did vote with Alyce that week she went out. I adore her and I loved working with her and I didn't want her to go at all and I just could not bring myself to actually vote against her. But I did know the three of us all had Idols and Murielle had won immunity, so even though I was trying to protect her, I don't know that I didn't just hurt her more, so I think if I could do it again I might just tell her the truth.

And finally, the one thing I definitely would do differently, is I would have told gunwithoutmusic that I was probably going to drop before I actually did during that final immunity challenge. I debated doing it, but I was worried about hurting him. I knew there was a good chance that halfshell would take me to the end. I would have taken gunwithoutmusic because I had a final two with him, so I knew dropping meant that was probably the end for him, and I was scared to tell him that and to cause that pain, so I didn't. But I really, really should have.

We've talked about it since then and we're all good (all three of us are good), but I want to be transparent and honest in my answers to questions, and that is definitely one thing I regret and would change for sure if I could.

My question

[minikin25]

First of all, I am wowed by the final challenge and congratulate you both on making it through that challenge.

My question is for both of you: which prompt was the hardest for you to write and why?

Re: My question

[flipflop_diva]

Thank you so much! That was definitely a challenge :)

The hardest prompt for me ... Part of me wants to say the open topic. Not the ones for the final immunity challenge, because those actually came easier, but the very first one we had. I struggled so hard with that, probably because it was actually the first open topic I've ever had to write. Usually, in other Idol seasons, I've been eliminated before we get to them!

But since that's not a prompt in the true sense of the word, I will say it was the 'Makin' Fire' one that led to the Final Three. I struggled with that one for a few reasons. First, it was the second time we had a 'Fire' prompt this season (since the very first prompt was 'Quest for Fire'), but also I was trying to stick to non-fiction at the time, and I didn't really have any stories where I personally made fire. I've been around a lot of fires and watched people make them, but that's not the same thing. And then third, most of the prompts usually have a literal meaning and then a not-so-literal meaning so you kind of end up with a few options, but I couldn't figure out another meaning for this except literally making fire! So I spent a lot of time struggling to figure something out!

I did end up doing a half-meta, half-non-fiction entry where I used the actual Survivor challenge mixed with some non-fiction memories about fires, and I thought the end result came out well, but ohhhhh I struggled to get there!

[alycewilson]

This question is for both finalists:

What percentage of your survival do you think depended on your writing, and what percentage depended upon voting strategy?

[flipflop_diva]

I saw this question last night before I accidentally fell asleep on the couch, and I've been thinking about it ever since then. On the surface, it seems like such a simple question, but I actually think it's really complex.

I do think the writing is a huge part — of this game and of surviving — and I tried to always give it my all. Even during the final immunity challenge when I was tired and wanted to just put out a 200-word essay on what I had for dinner that night, I didn't, and I put in the full effort to put out something that I was proud of (for the most part) and that could stand with all my other pieces during the season.

As for what part of my survival depended on writing, I'd like to think a lot. It's a little hard to know for sure because the only person who really knows how the votes went is Gary. Otherwise, there isn't really a way for anyone else to know who was maybe voting like this was a regular Idol season and who was voting strategically and how much those strategic votes affected the poll numbers. (I suppose in some ways that isn't different than any other season of Idol, except there were no contestant-only votes or a panel voting. It was just always a public vote.)

But if we go by the polls, since that's all we have, I do feel like I held my own in terms of writing. I was usually toward the upper half of the polls, and I won individual immunity twice. So for people who wanted to vote strictly based on Idol, I think that I would have made it far on just writing alone (hopefully, anyway).

And in terms of actually making it here right now, it was because I wrote so many days and so many entries during the final immunity challenge that halfshellvenus decided to take me to the end with her, so there, writing was the biggest difference.

At the same time, though, I know that having an alliance and having people to vote with also played a huge part. I think we tried to have a fair voting strategy and we tried to use the polls and our own preferences of quality as a guide for the most part, but the closer we got to the end, the more other things came into play.

I also know that if I hadn't had an alliance and people who weren't going to vote for me, I probably would have been gone long before, no matter where I was in the polls. I never made it a secret that I'm a huge Survivor fan and that I wanted to play Survivor, and I do think if I wasn't with gunwithoutmusic and halfshellvenus that at some point they would have come after me. Or maybe I would have tried to go after them first and would have succeeded or failed spectacularly. I don't know.

But I do know having people to work with did help a lot, and I think — I don't know for sure because I have no idea what all went on behind the scenes — that by the time we got close to the end, almost everyone had someone they were working with, whether it was every week or occasionally. People who operated solely on their own, I think were generally voted out earlier.

So I guess I will say, in terms of percentage, that writing for me was 66 percent of my survival, but having an alliance and coordinating votes was the other 34 percent. They are both important, though, and there is no way to know how one would have gone without the other, so in the end, I did need them both.

[wolfden]

Thank you both for your Opening Statements. That final Immunity Challenge was a lot and I am impressed you were both able to keep it up as long as you did.

Is there anything you regret about the way you played this season? Is there any one thing that you are most proud of?

[flipflop_diva]

Thank you so much!

I know this isn't a tricky question, but it's hard in some ways to answer because there are definitely a ton of moments from this game that I agonized over, at the time and still now, where I debated which would be the best choice and which wouldn't and what I should do, and each time, I had to pick the path I thought was best — for me to move forward in the game and for my alliance to move forward but also to ensure that I wasn't just hurting people for no reason.

So in that sense, I don't regret making the decisions I did, because I always tried to choose what I thought was best, but things are always clearer in hindsight. So I guess what I regret are mostly the things I mentioned to bittyjane that I would do differently — I would have told gunwithoutmusic I was dropping before I did so he knew, and I would have told alycewilson I had an alliance with gunwithoutmusic and halfshellvenus before she was voted out. The interactions I had with her were real, and I meant everything I ever said to her, but I do worry that keeping it a secret might have affected how she will look back on this game, and I hate that. I was trying to protect my alliance, but I think I could have done better, so I regret that I didn't.

Now what I'm most proud of — I'm actually proud of myself for a lot of things. Just navigating this game and making it here when I thought at the beginning I had no chance. I'm proud of finding a hidden immunity idol because that's such a Survivor dream moment! But I think what I'm most proud of is just making it through as much of that final immunity challenge as I did. That was really hard, especially mentally. And I was really, really tired after about 10 days, but I kept pushing and I'm glad that I did. I'm glad I got out the pieces that I did, and I'm glad that I proved to myself that I could do it for as long as I did. So I'm proud of that!

[lawchicky819]

OK, two part question from me:

1. Aside from BSGSix, who we all know was a fierce vote getter, who was your stiffest competition. Don't give me a lax answer like "everyone was great in their own way." Who was dangerous to you and why?

2. I want to see some accountability. What move did YOU pull off to get yourself further in the game. Again- don't tell me you formed an alliance and worked together. I want an instance where you stuck to your guns and said "this person needs to go," and then they went.

[flipflop_diva]

Ahhhh, I was wondering when you were going to show up with the tough questions :) So here we go.

1. For me, honestly, it was bleodswean. I was terrified of her getting to the Final Five, and then just winning immunity from there on out to get to the end. I didn't see any scenario in which she made it to the end and didn't win.

She's an amazing writer, and she is super popular with everyone (as evidenced by her being the first captain back when we were in tribes), and although I did not go back to double-check, I don't think she ever had a single vote against her in tribal council, which is a bit insane! (Or if she did, it was maybe one vote at the most.)

I was also worried, because she and murielle were the ones who took me out in the chop challenge, so I was always afraid she was going to come after me next, and I honestly had a ton of scenarios in my mind where I used my hidden immunity idols to get her out once the numbers were at a place where we could do that.

It obviously didn't come to that because she had to drop. And while I never want anyone to drop, and the reason she dropped was horrible and my heart went out to her, I would be lying if I said there wasn't a small game part of me that breathed a sigh of relief.

To me, I was more scared of her than of bsgsix. Bsgsix probably would have won every single immunity, but she also had her share of people who weren't her biggest fans. I think almost everyone was bleodswean's biggest fan!


2. I do think that forming an alliance got me a lot further in the game than I would have gotten if I tried to go it alone, so it was definitely one of my better moves. That and finding the idols, although I never actually needed them. But in terms of votes and sticking to my guns ... The first time was the very first vote of the Luzon tribe. No one knew how to vote and the idea to vote randomly (using a randomizer came up), and people all jumped on the idea. I was horrified. I would never vote randomly in Survivor! So I posted a looooong comment on why that was a bad idea. I don't know that I persuaded anyone, but I know that I didn't vote randomly, and in the end, the person with the lowest poll numbers that week did end up going. But the next time we had to go to tribal, I hurriedly made a post with a different way to vote, so luckily voting randomly was not brought up again.

I guess the other time would be final four. Not so much that we couldn't agree on who to vote out, but going into that challenge, I knew if I didn't win immunity and Murielle did that there was a good chance it would be me going home. I thought Murielle and halfshellvenus would vote for me (since halfshellvenus was closer to gunwithoutmusic), and I wasn't sure how tie-breakers or things might work. So I worked hard to make sure I won. I worked really hard on my entry and tried something new (half meta, half non-fiction) to hopefully get more votes, but I did, for the only time this season, ask one of the writing groups I'm in on LJ if they might vote for me. I don't know how many actually did since no one told me, but I did end up winning and securing not only my spot but the spot of my whole alliance in final three.

[megatronix]

Congratulations to halfshellvenus and flipflop_diva for being the two finalists! I’m happy for you both. (No questions from me, just wanted to say congrats)

[halfshellvenus]

Thank you so much, Meg!

I'm sure happy to see you here. You were one of the people who left earlier that we hadn't heard from in a while, and given how this year has gone, I worry that something serious might have happened. "Not" is exactly the kind of news I like hear! \o/

[impoetry]

Huge shoutout to our two amazing finalists as well as my fellow jury-mates. I've been trying to catch up on some of your incredible work this season, and now have fully read your opening statements. Thank you for being so open with the journey you've both taken to get here.

I think I'd like to know which comment to one of your posts moved you, shook you, or inspired you most and why?

[flipflop_diva]

Thank you so much for your kind words!

I've gotten so many nice comments from people on my entries this season, it made this a hard question! But overall, it was the comments to my entry for the "Touchy Subjects" prompt that mean the most to me. For that entry, I wrote about being born with a lazy eye and how that always made me feel really insecure. I talked most of all about one incident where one of my teachers actually pointed it out in front of everyone, and it was just really humiliating.

That entry was hard to write because it's something I don't normally talk about to anyone. It's still such a sore spot, and still a source of insecurity, that actually putting it out there was quite terrifying. The whole time I was writing that entry I kept wondering if I should just trash it and write about something else.

But after I did post it, the comments just touched me so much. Everyone was so supportive, and some were angry on my behalf. bleodswean's reaction was so passionate that it really meant a lot. I could tell from her words that she cared a lot, and that was really, really nice, and it touched me deeply.

But if I had to pick one comment that was the most moving, I think it would be gunwithoutmusic's. He talked about how my entry made him remember how he used to make fun of a girl in his class who had a lazy eye and how he felt ashamed thinking back on it. And not that I want my entries to make people feel bad about themselves, but when I wrote my entries this season, I was hoping that they would connect with people, either in a way that they could relate to or ones where maybe my take on something could shed new light. And his comment made me feel like I had succeeded in doing that, and it was a really nice thing to know. I've always thought that writing and other creative endeavors can change the world, but I've never felt like mine in particular have had that impact, but there was a small sense of it with that entry and that comment, and it was just really cool.

[alycewilson]

Another question for both finalists: What missteps or missed opportunities did you experience?

[flipflop_diva]

This is a surprisingly hard question!

I’m not really sure I would say I had any missteps game wise, although there were the more personal moments toward the end that I would probably do differently if I could. Namely telling gunwithoutmusic and telling you about my decisions before the votes happened. But I think in both cases, we are all good now and there aren’t any hard feelings (I hope!), so I’m very happy about that.

Otherwise, I think missteps are one of those things that I’ll find out once the votes are read. Then I’ll know if I should have done something else differently, although it depends how much people will be willing to share to know what those missteps are.

But for right now, every step I did take, in the end, got me here, which was the goal, so I can’t say they were wrong or they should have been done differently. I think that I played a good game — I tried hard to foster relationships and write strong entries and vote and play as fairly and honestly as I could in the situation we were in, and I always try to be a good person and a good competitor and a good friend, so I hope people saw all that.

Now, for missed opportunities, I think the one I’ve always sort of wondered about in the back of my mind is about our original Luzon tribe. Back when we were in tribes, I really, really did want to make an alliance with people from our tribe and go to the merge and then the end with them. I thought it would be great to form a group that stuck together and supported each other.

I even though about, once the merge was announced, making a post to our tribe and seeing what everyone thought about voting together from then on.

But then we ended up having the tie vote and everything sort of devolved into such a mess, and right after that, we reshuffled tribes and I was on a different one than the rest of you, and our tribe comm was deleted without a chance to really even say goodbye.

So with all that going on, plus just knowing that there were a lot of people on our tribe that were both very opposed to doing anything not out in the open and also just wanting to play an Idol game and not a Survivor game, I ended up not reaching out to anyone on Luzon. And then gunwithoutmusic messaged me, and I ended up talking to him and being in an alliance with him.

Obviously it worked out for me, but I do wonder what could have been if I had tried a little harder with our original tribe. I really loved everyone on there and wanted to work with them; it just felt like the odds were against us at the time, and I ended up going a different direction, but that whole thing is definitely one of my ‘could have beens’.

[alycewilson]

Forgive me for piling before you've had a chance to answer, but I'm going to have a busy afternoon and a busy Thursday, so I'm going to include my last questions in a few separate comments.

First, for both finalists: What was your overall strategy for the game, and how well did it work?

[flipflop_diva]

Funny enough, for as huge of a Survivor fan as I am, I didn't actually come into this game with a great overarching plan. Most of it was that, although I know Survivor super well, I wasn't really sure how this game in particular was going to work or how it was going to work with the people who were playing, so I kind of wanted to get a feel for that before forming any plan in particular.

But that said, I did have some ideas.
- I wanted to be the best possible tribe member I could be to Luzon and help out as much as possible, so hopefully people would want me to stay.
- I wanted to write the best entries I could possibly write and make sure to do high quality work every week.
- I wanted to be super excellent with my social game, which to me meant making sure I take the time to read and comment to everyone's entries and also making sure I participate in whatever posts Gary puts up.
- And I wanted to be open and adaptable to whatever came up and hopefully be able to use that to figure out a more solid plan in order to make it further.

I did think, before we started, that I would be okay with more deceptive forms of play if it came to that, since I always have thought that when it comes to Survivor, everything is fair. But I quickly realized that I didn't actually want to play that way and, for as much as I've joked in the past that I would stab someone in the back without hesitation for a million dollars, I did not actually want to stab anyone in the back at all, and especially not for an online writing competition. The fantasy ruthless Survivor player I had in my head of myself really is a fantasy player, and I'm actually pretty sure that I probably couldn't stab anyone in the back for a million dollars on real Survivor either. That's just not who I am, and that was quickly evident to me right away. Which is a good thing and I'm happy to know that about myself :)

So once I realized that, I also knew that I wanted to form relationships with people and be loyal to them and also just be as honest and open as I could within the constraints of the game. Meaning I tried very hard to never straight out lie to anyone, in comments or in private, though I did leave out info here and there and was purposely vague on other things. But that is more along the lines of what you said in another comment where it's more about not showing your hand. It wouldn't really have been a smart move to show up to Tribal Council and be like 'Here is my alliance! We're voting you out, [insert name here]!'

Overall, though, all those things above became the foundation of my strategy, and I think that having those things in place did help. I feel like I was a good resource for Luzon, and hopefully they all thought so, but it did work to not get me voted out right away. And I hope that by writing my best every week that it had a huge part in my making it so far — I did pretty well in the polls normally and I even won individual immunity twice. And when people were mostly voting on low votes or bad weeks, I don't think I was in danger that way ever.

The social game part ended up being my most favorite thing about this game. I loved Tribal Councils and interacting with everyone and just chatting and getting to know people, and I hope that people got a good sense of who I was in return. And my relationships I built made all the difference in the world because having other people to work with just changed the game completely for me.

And finally, being adaptable and open to change also served me well because it was the reason I was open to working with gunwithoutmusic when he contacted me and it was honestly the way he and I navigated so many of the votes. We would look at the comments in Tribal and other posts and try to read between the lines and get a feel for where people were going and then vote that way. And a lot of times, we had plans and then would scrap those plans a day later because of new information or whatnot and we'd come up with new plans. And especially the week that bsgsix got sick and we lost her, that was a huge jolt to our plans, but staying adaptable and willing to find a new plan meant we were able to get a solid alliance with halfshellvenus. And then the three of us did the same sort of thing the rest of the game.

So in the end, I think having a looser strategy instead of a super detailed one helped me out a lot. I fine-tuned things I would do and not do as we went along, and I learned a lot about myself along the way, so overall, it was definitely successful.

[alycewilson]

Another question for both finalists: What relationships were the most valuable to you in this game?

[flipflop_diva]

Absolutely, one hundred percent, without a doubt whatsoever, the most important relationships were the ones I formed with my alliances and the people I was most loyal to: gunwithoutmusic, bsgsix, halfshellvenus and you.

The four of you, and the friendship we developed along the way, is the best thing I am taking away from this game, no matter what happens with this vote, and I wouldn't trade it for the world. I feel like I have made four really good friends, and I hope our friendships last for years and years beyond the scope of Survivor or Idol or anything else having to do with this game.

Of course, the relationship we all had was important game wise, too — and in terms of game, the four of you were the most important because we trusted each other and were able to work together and vote together — but it's so far beyond just game by now.

I also really love the relationship I've built with other contestants too. I feel much closer to adoptedwriter and murielle than I did before the game started, and there are a ton of other people I feel like I have gotten to know better and hope to continue knowing better, but the four of you are the ones most valuable to my heart, and I wouldn't trade any of you for anything <3

[alycewilson]

And my final question for both finalists: If you found an Immunity Idol during the game, can you explain how you found it?

[megatronix]

oh this IS a good question, I never understood that part!

Closing Statement

[flipflop_diva]

First of all, I just want to thank everyone for being here and for asking so many amazing questions. It was really nice to see everyone again and to be able to talk to you all — it’s been so long for some of you, and I’ve missed everyone! Tribal Councils have always been one of my favorite parts of this game, and this one was no exception <3

Thank you also for all your questions! Some of them were a challenge to answer, and a lot of them really made me reflect on this game and how I played and how I wanted to play. Normally, once an Idol season is over, I don’t really think back much on it, so it was a nice change to get to do that — even if some of the questions made me want to pull my hair out :)

I know you all have a super hard decision in front of you, and I don’t envy you having to make it. I would never dream of telling anyone how to vote (though of course I hope you vote for me!), but I hope you all do take the entire game into consideration, no matter how you personally chose to play.

I don’t think anyone, not even halfshellvenus, would disagree that I played more of a Survivor game and she played more of an Idol game, though I think we both had a lot of elements of both. I did try my very best on all of my entries. There were a few weeks, when I knew my alliance had the numbers and I knew I had an idol, that I could have just half-assed something or wrote a funny haiku (“This is my entry, It took a long time to write, I hope you like it!”) and called it a day, but that would have been going against the entire spirit of the competition, and I don’t like to ever submit something that isn’t my best work, or as best as I can get it within the time frame.

Even on that final immunity challenge, when we had to write every day or twice a day, I wanted to put out my best work. I felt bad doing the poetry entry — not just because I feel like a poetry fraud but because it was only 400 words and that sort of felt like cheating since it wasn’t even half as long as my other entries. I know it wasn’t, but that’s just how my mind worked. And it’s also the reason I dropped when I did — sure, there were other things in consideration, but for the most part, I had an entry written that I wasn’t proud of and I didn’t want to post it.

So I did try to play an Idol game within the constraints of Survivor, in terms of making the writing important, but I also played a Survivor game. I made alliances and I strategized on votes and I found Idols and I won when I had to, and in the end, I made it here to sit next to halfshellvenus.

I’m proud of myself. I came into this game as an underdog — at least when looking at the tribe selection at the very beginning — and for a while, I wasn’t sure there was any path for me to get to the end. But I found one, and I made it work. And along the way, I wrote some entries I’m really proud of and, more importantly, I made some really, really good friends who mean more to me than any game ever could.

This whole experience has been like a dream come true for me, and it’s definitely my favorite Idol season I’ve ever been a part of. Being able to make the merge, and find an idol, and play an idol, and suffer through an endurance challenge, and make it here is the closest I will (probably) ever get to playing real Survivor, and that is more than okay, because I feel like I have played real Survivor now. And I’ve played it in a way that I feel good about — yes, there are a few things I would do differently if I had the chance, but for the most part, I played how I wanted. I was loyal, I was honest as I could be within the constraints of the game, and I did my very best with every aspect of the game every single day.

I appreciate so much all the work Gary has put into everything this season to make it as authentic to the Survivor experience as possible. And I appreciate so much all of you for being here and taking part in this crazy game — even though I know some of you were probably regretting it here and there throughout the process.

The only thing left now is to wait for you all to vote and then suffer through Gary’s torture of unveiling them. It would be the absolute best thing ever to be the winner of this amazing and torturous season that I feel was made for me, but that is up to you all.

Win or lose, I am glad I signed up, I’m glad I played, and I’m glad I got to play with you all. So thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, and I hope to see you all on the other side. Now go vote for me! :)

Closing Statement

[halfshellvenus]

It has been wonderful to get a chance to see and talk with all of you again! I know a few people didn't make it back, and I was really hoping we would hear from them. But almost everyone showed up and said hello, and it's so good to know that we're all still hanging in there—especially after this past year.

I want to thank you all for your wonderful questions, and for the time and consideration you put into them. They were perceptive, probing, hard-hitting, and thoughtful, and many of them were quite the challenge! I hope you feel I answered them as thoroughly as you'd hoped, and I really, REALLY appreciate your patience with how long all of this has taken me. This season (especially the past 5 weeks) paralleled a horrifically short-scheduled and high-priority work project that was only outmatched by the nightmare project five years ago, where everyone had to work weekends and so many people left the company that the exit door was practically spinning. :O

It'll be at least another week before I see any breathing room, so even this closing statement is running behind! And I do apologize for that. At this point, the period spanning the Final Immunity Challenge to the end of the final Tribal Council probably seems almost as long as the 13-month Covid-ternity we've all been living through. /o\

This has been an exciting and stressful mini-season, and very different from what most of us expected. Being divided into small teams gave us a chance to collaborate, strategize, cheer each other on, and to get closer to one another. That was awesome! Having to then choose a team member to send to Exile Island every time we lost in the polls was awful. :( Getting to play with such a talented group of writers was wonderful and inspiring! But having to eliminate them in order to further your own game was absolutely the worst and most painful part of this whole experience. :(

I was not fully prepared for what this Idol season would be like, but I adapted as the game evolved, as most of us did. Compared to flipflop_diva, I played more of an Idol game than a Survivor game. But I want to make sure you know that I definitely did both.

I worked to improve the Asaga team's chances for success in the early game, both by bringing in votes and encouraging other members to do the same, and by helping any interested team members polish their entries. I worked with alliances and made sure my group of allies made it to the Final Three. I wrote and wrote and WROTE and wrote for the Final Immunity challenge, despite being the underdog in that round because I write more slowly than gunwithoutmusic and flipflop_diva and I live on the West Coast (which put all of the deadlines in the middle of my workday).

Most of all… I persuaded flipflop_diva to drop out of the Final Immunity challenge with a proposal that guaranteed I would make it into the Final 2, and which was a win-win for her, because I also guaranteed I would take her with me. It wasn't her ideal Final 2, but it offered her the certainty of being there at the end. I think that was probably one of the most Survivor-like moves of the entire game! It was subtle enough that I'm not sure anyone even noticed it, but it was definitely in the spirit of what Survivor is meant to be. :)

My Idol game is one that is very familiar to all of you. Write the best entries you can, whatever it takes (even at the cost of sleep and healthy eating habits). Explore different forms and genres—if you could write a "pretty good" fiction entry for a prompt or a much better poem, choose the poem, even if you rarely write poetry entries! Read the other writers' entries and comment on them, enjoying and appreciating the authors' efforts and the parts that speak to you the most. Support and encourage the other players, to make the whole experience as enjoyable for everyone as possible. Basically, share the love! It's a big part of why we keep coming back, again and again. :)

I'm truly impressed with how much Gary was able to make this mini-season work so much like Survivor (right down to the hidden idols and the parchment-paper vote reveals)! It took a lot of work and creativity, and I hope it matched up with his vision for it. As hard as some parts of the game were to play (eliminations!), the game he built for us this season reflects a deep love of both Idol and of the Survivor concept that was one of Idol's original inspirations. Thanks, Gary, for your devotion and your generosity in sharing it with us all!

It has been a hard-fought game for all of us, but I want you all to know that it has been an honor to play this game with you, and to work with you and read your stories. We have all written some incredible things this season, and I'm thrilled that we all had that chance. :D

The only thing that would thrill me more is to win it all!

I know you're aware of how much I've played this game like Idol, but I think now you also know that I played more of the Survivor aspect of it than you might have thought. And all of it, always, with integrity and consideration for the other players' talents and emotions. This was a wonderful group of writers and people who deserved nothing less, and I hope I was able to make it clear to you how strongly I believe that.

You have a very difficult decision ahead of you now, and all I can do is sit back and cross my fingers and wait.

I hope that with how I've played and all that I've written—both here in this last Tribal Council and over the many entries for this season—you feel that I have earned your vote!

Thank you, everyone! ♥