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)               



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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

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! :)