Oh, Lord. I can’t believe I’m here. Let me just start by thanking the host for inviting me to play and for hosting a really amazing and memorable game. I would also like to thank the cast for being so active and so fun to play with. I think we had one self vote the whole game out of 20 people and one person kind of request to be voted out. That’s rare now a day. With that said, I expect no mercy from any of you.
I promised myself that if I ever got to the finals tribal in this game that I would not mention me never getting to a final tribal ever. I’ve been at it for over six years and I feel like I need to mention it in order to explain why I made some of the moves I made. Also, I plan on keeping this quick because I tend to drag on.
From day one, my game face was on. I knew that I got tired of losing and really wanted to do something about that. And in this game, it all came together for me. I took each and every one of my losses and learned from them as well as took notes from the people I admired as winners (Caligula [Mike] included- shameless plug
) I also noticed all of weaknesses and tried to turn them into strengths while also toning my strengths down and using them to compliment my overall game. For example, I tend to have a great social game, but I toned it down for this game. I chose who I told dick jokes to and who I want flirted with and who I shared things with. I wasn’t overly (or overbearingly) social like I normally am and I tried to present myself as a unique asset to everyone. In past games, I am normally the novelty joke player that no one really takes seriously and is sort of just funny there. Instead of demanding respect from everyone, I chose who I needed to respect me and chose who I needed to tell jokes to and chose who got all of me. My biggest weakness was two things: aligning with the wrong people and challenges. I made sure to make the right alliances and I did and I aligned with someone who could win immunities for me (or my cause) and ensure that our opponents did not win those challenges. It was a Yul-Ozzy thing. Yul crunched numbers and Ozzy won challenges. I’ll explain the alliance thing in a moment. This is really the jury’s moment and I hope you can ask me what you need to know. But just know that I know it looks like I road coattails, but it is SO far from that. I knew everything that was going on at every moment with every person and I knew when people wanted to blindside me and when people were laughing at me thinking what a big joke I was. No matter what happens, this is my first final TC and I am so proud that I can actually get there.
With that said, I do want to mention three big moments in the game were for me. A lot of what I did happened WAY early on.
The BIGGEST game changer for me was aligning with Tim (Caesar). I am a little perceptive and I knew that he was going to be the power player everyone came in this game to be. I think a lot of people wanted make majorities and sit on the throne (lol) and just be this huge power player. Out of 19 people, I thought that Tim would be the best one suited for that IF he had the opportunity. So, I got to Tim before anyone else did and made friends instantly with him and got him to trust me. I then saw people starting to gravitate towards him like I expected. We were friends starting at the Abe Lincoln vote and our alliance was solidified. I knew he would be unbeatable at challenges and that we would basically do most of the dirty work. I am NOT a power player or challenge whore or any of those things typical ORGers become to win games and I never will be that. I just can’t be that type of player. I am little more subtle I’d to think. But I knew that Tim was and I needed to be as close to him as possible and secure that asset before anyone else did. As a result, we became best of friends. I feel like I’m a manager, agent or coach and Tim was my best employee, star talent or best player. That’s how I feel that alliance worked. I saw what needed to be fixed or let Tim have his way and just sent him out to do it. Tim probably would have done what he did anyway as far as power plays go, but I knew I could utilize (NOT CONTROL) him the best. But, Tim was not enough; we needed more people and I needed to give him more allies to strengthen his power in the game.
So the NEXT game changer for me was forming the Wang (Mike)/Jackson/Caesar alliance. I befriended Mike early on and once Caesar was in the picture, I got those two to work together. At the time, they were the two most hated players and I knew no one would suspect me of working with them. I feel like I could befriend a vote here and there for our cause, but like I expected, people started to really trust Tim. When people would start to guess who the bad asses were in the game, Wang and Caesar’s name always came up and never mines. I needed to get that alliance on autopilot ASAP and I feel like I did that once we voted out Alexander which for me, was the only big vote I pushed for and needed before I could go back to being unsuspected.
The last huge move for me was getting Smoke (Matt) on board as security. One Matt was all of a sudden into the game, he came to me and said let’s do this. I don’t know what other priorities he may have had, but he fell onto my lap and then formed a final 4 with Churchill (Eric) and the rest that were in that final 4. So yet again, I needed to get to him before anyone else did and I think, at least from what I was led to believe, did.
My whole philosophy in the game was that if I was going to make an alliance, make one and make it count. If I was going to backstab, do it once and make it count. If I was going to do anything big, just do it once and make it count. Tim and I made the perfect team and I feel like that was the perfect alliance for me and it worked out. We were 100% together even if we didn’t always see eye to eye. He has truly become one of my best friends and I know some people were really upset that I was chosen over them. But, if I lose to him, it truly is an honor. But, I REALLY hope you give me your vote.
Well, that wasn’t as short as I wanted it to be, but I feel like I can kill a lot of coattail speculation by specifically talking about what my game was. Thank you for your time and here we go.
<3 JackSOB