SURVIVOR: F.A.N. ISLAND PART 4- TRISTA VS. MGH!!!!

[Shy Guy]

my favourite part is playing the game, and just having fun with it. i would get *so* excited when i saw i had a new PM and it was all game plan, because the whole strategizing part is what makes it so exciting.

but the strategizing would also be my least favourite, cause when you got into it as deep as i did, you found yourself thinking of scenarios that might happen, so you would want to plan for that, just in case. i did get a little paranoid, as silly as it sounds.

[pegasuswarrior]

Jun 25, 2011 12:43:17 GMT -5 Jazzman said:

Can I step in and present my side? Havin been a part of a shotty challenge and twist in the previous game made me a little more sympathetic to Jonathan. Do I feel like I deserved to win that bit, yes. Do I feel wrong in giving him a second chance, maybe I do now, but then I felt fine. Also, we won that challenge anyway, so isn't kinda a moot point

I just wanted to clarify. My bad, I didn't mean the question as an attack on Bergman or anything. I promise, it was just a nit-picky question I wanted to use "psychologically" in the interview process. The question was totally about MGH in that situation, not Bergman. I was trying to choose a sorta controversial topic to see how MGH would answer it. (I just thought that was part of the jury interview process.)

I will talk a little more about the game after the vote. Because I'll tell you all how I saw the game play out and who I was loyal to and such.

[ritt works hard fo da chickens]

So I guess I'm up. A lot of my questions have already been answered. The first game I played minimalist and just flew under the radar and tried to learn how a game like Survivor would play out on a forum. I learned a lot, but apparently not enough. I still had an idea that there would be a code of ethics, and I blame myself for that. I always wanted to send a tell to members on the other tribe but thought that would be against the spirit of the game. Meanwhile both of you guys were doing it the entire time. Still not sure if I think that's in the spirit of the game but it got you here so kudos I guess to you.

I kind of want to come out with a full reveal and kind of want to hold some stuff back, but I do want you both to know that your great game playing was complemented by so many pieces falling into place for you. I can't believe how few people saw this coming. The first person I contacted in this game was not MGH though, it was Pegasus. I knew I would need someone whom I could disclose everything to because I was in a precarious position from the start. If anyone was smart they would know that I was Sweet's path to the finals last game and in the final 3 and on Sweet's team so I was a real threat to anyone who paid attention to that. If however, nobody new that they would also not realize how dangerous both Trista & MGH could be so I would be at their whim. I next reached out to Sweet, because I knew you guys, wisely wouldn't trust him to get within sniffing distance of a jury again. I shored up with MGH as a group of three that was a threat to the rest of the tribe with Sweet and never really mentioned Pegasus to them so that my heat wouldn't rub off.

I had an excellent PM set up ready to send to everyone in WIN that ended up deleted on the vote that sent Sweet home. That vote was going to send MGH, I was sure of it. Then the twist and I am off Sweet's tribe and Sweet is voted out from under me. If I had been more devious and less paranoid I would have exposed your plans to the rest of WIN anyway, but again I thought that wasn't how it would work in real survivor so I wished Pegasus good luck and was off on my own.

I wasn't going to go down easy though, so I sent one tell to whom I deemed most vulnerable on FAN. With Sweet out I needed a new final 3 scenario right quick. However, Jonathan never responded so I followed up with a tell to Trista. When she told me to vote out Jonathan it was bittersweet but just to me. Again my plans fell apart.

By the time the merge rolled around I knew you guys had kept the most loyal and least likely to see the truth people around. I think only one other person had a clue beyond Peg. Before I could find another weak link or nervous player I was out, but I had made it to the jury as Trista had told me she would try to do.

So here I stand and I really only got here because of Trista, unless it was MGH who told her to keep me around, honestly its hard to tell the two of you apart in the shaping of schemes.

So after that long rant my questions:
1. When you were given the chance to draft a player from the other team who decided on me and why?

2. If that vote had instead been a straight vote and WIN had the majority AND had voted out MGH or one of his loyal lapdogs instead of Sweet how do you think the rest of the game would have played out?

3. How would you set up things different if you had run this game?

4. This game has been your game the entire time, even when it got edgy s*** just fell into place. I am amazed at how good you guys worked everything and quite impressed. That being said THIS this part of the game is our part. The left behinds and not quite good enoughs and the back stabbeds time for redemption. I honestly don't know how to vote because as I said in this game it was hard to tell where MGH started and where Trista ended. You know this is the part that has the potential to get ugly with you. Earlier someone on this jury who seemed quite put off by how you played them and couldn't distinguish between you two either and didn't even want to try decided on a different system. He said just pick a number. Neither of you would do that. I find it quite ironic that you would take a principle stand on THAT issue. Do you guys honestly think at this point that anyone is going to believe you played with some code of principle? You were sending tells across tribal lines all game if I understand right. My final question, did either of you decide how anything would play out on the other persons tribe?

[MGH]

*looks a little taken aback*

Listen man, you can call it principle, ethics, dumb pride, whatever. I don't think I played some god's gift to Survivor kind of game. I do think I played well enough to win, or at least have a shot at it. I'm proud of the job I did for 39 days, and definitely proud enough to stand up for it. He can choose to vote whichever way he wants, but he's doing it after he hears what I promised to tell him the night I voted him off. I owed him that much. Now let Berg vote out of anger, respect, game play, whatever. Just not because of a random number.

As for the question that accompanied those comments, I can answer it right now.

As for your first question, I did. That night was really nuts after the twist was dropped. Originally they were going to "take" me and I was happily going to go, but then right before Trista sent word I suddenly realized that if I went we would not have had the numbers to execute our plan to take out SNS. So I called an audible and said they should take you. She said she had realized the same thing, and the rest was history. Trista asked me for advice on who she should target a couple of times back in the tribal game. So yeah, I made one decision, and at least had my fingerprints on a couple of others on the F.A.N. side.

However, to answer your second question, had the vote gone differently and I gotten blind sided I think we're getting ready right now to crown SNS as a two time champion. If he was back in the individual game again after the merge, I think he wins. That's exactly why I knew I had to eliminate him as soon as I knew I had the numbers to be safe in the aftermath.

As far as how would I set up things differently if I was running the game .. probably not much. I mean I have my own unique ideas for challenges and immunity idols and what not, but I'd be following the same frame work that Gus did. I prefer a more straight up, old school 7 jury, 2 finalists game.

[Jonathan Michaels]

Meanwhile, in the jungle, Jonathan listens.

And waits.

[ritt works hard fo da chickens]

Mr. Richlen may I ask a couple follow up questions?

[Gus Richlen: Ruffian]

Go ahea

[Shy Guy]

1. When you were given the chance to draft a player from the other team who decided on me and why?

MGH did not decide this, as much as he wants you to believe. when we originally thought having him join us as soon as we could, the better, i also realized that the numbers to vote off SNS would be off, and he'd likely stay around. you were suggested ritt, to keep the numbers to vote SNS off, but MGH did not convince us to do that, as the tribe figured it out beforehand.

2. If that vote had instead been a straight vote and WIN had the majority AND had voted out MGH or one of his loyal lapdogs instead of Sweet how do you think the rest of the game would have played out?

completely different. i probably wouldn't be here as WIN would have the advantage because MGH would be gone, and the final two would probably have been you and SNS.

3. How would you set up things different if you had run this game?

i don't think i would do it too differently, though i would avoid trivia like challenges because everyone just uses google for that anyways, and would get the same answers, unless they were tough questions like what Herr Hund had given out. other than that, i think the game was run quite well by gus.

4. Do you guys honestly think at this point that anyone is going to believe you played with some code of principle? You were sending tells across tribal lines all game if I understand right. My final question, did either of you decide how anything would play out on the other persons tribe?

things weren't "decided" for the other persons tribe, as much as they were discussed and planned out. when it came to who our "final 6" would be, we went through tons of deliberations and discussions as to who the final 6 would be, but in the end, the decision on who the two other people were for us to bring were decided upon ourselves.

as far as playing with a "code of principal" is concerned, i really don't care if people think i played with one or not because i just did whatever it took for me to get to the final two, and it worked. again, MGH and i didn't scheme and put all this thought into planning how the game should go, just to come down to it picking a number between 1 and 1 million. that's just purely berg being bitter that he was blindsided.



off note PS: sorry for taking so long to reply to your question ritt, i hope this didn't screw up your follow up questions!

[ritt works hard fo da chickens]

No worries, I myself have been a bit busy this weekend and I thank you both for your honesty and disclosure.

I know my first questions came off sounding a bit bitter and I want you to know I am not bitter. I do think you both are great players. I am a bit disappointed. You guys are great players and are great allies to have in a game of survivor. I don't think you played that game though. We all know how Survivor goes and although duplicating it on a message board would be damn hard I think its the spirit of the game that can be captured and was quite well in the first one. In this game however, things like the tribal split at the start and even the immunity challenges were kinda moot points. They were cosmetic effects to the game you guys played. The tribe of MGH/Trista was more important to the both of you than the tribes of FAN or WIN and as long as the other people played a game where it was WIN vs. FAN you guys were valuable assets in those wars. However I fear if another game were to occur for the both of you to play it would be wisest for a team to Russel you out from the start rather than use your strengths, which would be a sad turn of events.

When you guys have pointed out your accomplishments in this game neither of you spoke of how your teams did. It was most about the big scheme in which the teams you ended up on didn't matter as long as you could make it to the merge and really based on your play skills you should make it to the merge. I fully expected you guys to ally at the merge. I kinda in my paranoid survivor brain thought you might be in cahoots before the merge but only mentioned it as a possibility to Pegasus and immediately felt kinda bad I would accuse you guys of going to those lengths. That was my mistake.

So I guess my final questions are what do you guys believe the point of tribes is in this game and what do you make of each of your pre-merge tribes?

Again thank you for your honesty and good luck to you both.

[MGH]

Well I want to make sure I haven't been coming off like Russell Hantz here. I am most definitely not trying to imply that I think I got here just by my ideas and game play. This goes for anyone who wins this game. You had to have someone to help you at some point or another. I know without (in no particular order) you, SNS, Spartan, Toates, Trista, Berg, and Alex, I never would have made it to where I am now. We were either allies, on the same page, working together, or at least something at some point that assisted me to being fortunate enough to sit here.

As for not mentioning the success of the tribe up until this point, I just don't see the overall point of bringing it up. Now that it's 1 on 1 at the end, it's about the individuals. The game becomes about individuals the second the merge happens. I'm proud that W.I.N did so well that it took a surprise twist just before the merge to nearly even the numbers. Even then we were still riding strong. My answer to Pegasus about that immunity challenge should tell you that I cared about the tribal game. I was here for every challenge, PMing guys from our team trying to help them out, working hard to make sure we won. You're right, getting to the end with Trista was my #1 goal. But no one can ever accuse me of not caring about the W.I.N. tribe. My performances and team work in those challenges should represent that strongly enough. I mean, of all people you should know Ritt, when I want to keep a strong team from my tribe going until the very end, I'm a pretty good piece of the puzzle to have around.

It wasn't in my plans to go with our tribe until the finish, but had it been, I know we would have done it. If you eliminate the plotting and scheming and just look at the challenges and how we worked together, W.I.N was an incredibly cohesive and polished unit. So as far as what I thought of my pre-merge tribe - we had an amazing group and had the cards been different and the script been flipped, I believe whether it was me sitting here or not, someone from W.I.N. would be ready to walk away with the million.

(this is in a way going to ruin the kayfabe of what we're doing here, but I do want to point it out. When All-Star seasons of Survivor have been played, people have come in to it with pre-existing relationships that were set in place well before the merge of that game itself. It isn't inconceivable that were this a real game, Trista and I could have been sending signals to one another as to who to vote out (happened in Survivor Africa), or passed information or idols to one another during challenges (happened in Vanuatu and HvV), or had an alliance ready to go immediately, regardless of Tribal split (All-Stars; HvH). I understand the point Ritt is making entirely, but it isn't so impossible.)

[Shy Guy]

the point of the tribes for this game is to help you. if you're going to play survivor, i think you should play to win (while having fun, obviously), but at the same time, you need to help your tribe to almost prove why you should win. during challenges, i believe i was a valuable asset to the FAN tribe, which didn't matter because we lost most of the challenges, but it also showed "hey, she's helping out the tribe, we should keep her." tribes are there to benefit *you*. if you're going to be a strong member of the tribe, then you're going to be strong going into the merge. to get to that point though, someone needs to grab the tribe and shake them. every tribe needs a leader, or else it won't be a cohesive group, and i believe i was that leader for my original alliance.

[Triple H buried SnS]

*Ears are warm/ringing/itching alot.*

FYI: Will comment after votes are turned in, but don't feel it appropriate until then.

[Gus Richlen: Ruffian]

BB, I think you're next up.

[Brainbustaaah!]

*Stands, sighing*

...do I want to address you two? Yes. Can I say what I really feel? No. Why? Because I know at the end of the day, this is a game...but you two...well played.

You followed the Survivor ethos closer than I've seen in a long time: you manipulated your allies and enemies, and discarded them the moment they became a threat. The only reason I lasted to the Final Four was that I won Immunity, and the only reason Trista lasted past that Tribal Council was Street Spartan being the sacrificial lamb. I was one of the guys that legitimately believed the sweet-talking that MGH put me through. When I found out I was getting stabbed in the back, I...God.

Okay, question time:

1) MGH. How far had you initially planned on letting me ride before dropping me like a rock?

2) Trista. Was there any point in time where you considered turning on MGH and booting him for someone else?

3) Both of you. Was there ever a point during the game you felt like things weren't going according to plan?

4) Also both of you. If the other hadn't made it for some reason or another, who would you rather be up against right now?

[MGH]

If we're just going by the original 3-3 plan and the order in which it was laid out, you would be slated to go 7th or 8th. Not surprisingly in this game though, things got shifted around. SNS got voted out earlier than I had planned on, Pegasus emerged as a legitimate strategical threat, and you won immunity as well. If things had gone just solely by the book and I hadn't had to call any audibles, the merge was supposed to look like this:

3-3: Trista/Spartan/Toates & Me/Bergman/Alex.

You, SNS, and Ritt would have been the other three in the merge tribe that we needed to vote out before final six. You were going to go the night Toates went out, but trista and Spartan changed their minds so I rolled with it. Then you won immunity, and I'll admit it, I got a bit nervous. You asked if there was a point where I feared things weren't going our way? It was after you won that immunity at Final 5. Never mind taking someone like Spartan who I think could sweep me in a Finals, but if I ended up having to go to the end with someone from the old W.I.N. tribe who could sit beside me and be everything I wasn't in the game? I may as well have written you the check myself. You remember the play I tried to make after you won immunity. That should tell you the amount of seriousness I paid to you as a legit threat to win this game. Aside from that, the only other time I felt insecure and didn't feel like I was on the right track was when I began getting suspicious about Bergman. That frightened me.

This last question is tricky. It kind of contradicts what I just said, but if I had to think of someone to be sitting beside right now it would probably have been Alex. The biggest concern with her is how well she got along with everyone and how strong of a social game she played. As far as making strong power moves in the game and being a strategical planner though, I feel like I could sit here and argue my body of work strongly against hers over the course of the game and have a real claim to being the winner. I feel as though I can do that here as well in my current situation, but with her it might have been a little easier. But I can't be certain of that either. This game is funny sometimes.

[Shy Guy]

2) Trista. Was there any point in time where you considered turning on MGH and booting him for someone else?

this actually crossed my mind a lot. once we merged, and with the exception of having to share an immunity with you, the only people who won immunity were me and MGH. in my eyes, that's huge. so yeah, anytime i had immunity, kicking MGH off definitely crossed my mind. one time we were just talking about the game and how well things were going, and he made a point in saying that we can't bring anyone else but each other to the final two, because of how we played the game. if MGH brought spartan, or if i won the last immunity and i brought spartan, or alex, or shit man, if i brought you? we'd be done. the other person would have totally won. bringing each other was all we had when it came to an even, and hopefully challenging final vote for the jury. we made the exact same moves, and planned those moves. i'm hoping it is a tough vote for everyone to make, because we both played so well.

3) Both of you. Was there ever a point during the game you felt like things weren't going according to plan?

being in the FAN tribe and constantly getting our asses kick in the challenges. that *sucked*. berg flip flopping, again, for what seemed like no apparent reason. and finding out madhack was trying to get rid of me with you, BB. everything went according to plan eventually. the whole thing with MGH trying to get you to give up immunity, that obviously didn't go to plan, but at the same time it was so far out there and such a slight chance for it to work, i didn't really count on it to work. again, maybe they didn't go to plan as we had hoped, but things eventually worked out, and that's why we're here now.

4) Also both of you. If the other hadn't made it for some reason or another, who would you rather be up against right now?

this question is kind of hard to answer because i didn't win final immunity, so i didn't really have to think about who i would bring to the final. i would have loved to see alex up here, and spartan as well, but in the end i'd rather go up against MGH than anyone, only because of what i said earlier about how we played the exact same game.

[Toates Madhackrviper]

k am I good to go here?

[MGH]

Unless BB had a follow up, I believe the floor is yours.

[Gus Richlen: Ruffian]

If BB is done, then yeah, go ahead, but I actually have a question or two that I feel like I need to ask after you're done, but before the final vote.

[Toates Madhackrviper]

So I decided I wanted to do something a little special for my jury question. So I decided to tape a [two part] video jury question as I did for another Survivor game that just ended at my survivor board!

I actually have only one official question [for Trista only too] and the rest is sorta just soapboxing, rambling, and general comments because I do that kind of thing. I'd love for you to listen to it all but if you just want to skip to your question Trista that I understand. Also MGH there's no question for you bit if I say anything you think deserves responding to go ahead. Also a few things in these videos sound kinda silly now based on a few things I've read at this FTC because I recorded this like right after it was revealed who MGH had eliminated.

So anyway here's the first video... I'm not sure the rules for number of youtube videos for a post so I'll post the other half in a separate post.