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[Sandra Diaz-Twine]

May 12, 2012 15:35:36 GMT -5 Shawna Mitchell said:

If you want to talk about how "Chelsea's are ridiculous and way too far-fetched"... I assume you mean answers... then feel free to give examples. Otherwise you just look bitter. And, Sandra, I think it's obvious to anyone within the sound of your virtual voice that the reason you continue to strike out against me is because you're threatened and can't seem to articulate yourself without resorting to personal attacks and insults. It's kind of telling that so many people in this game have the same opinion of you...but I guess all those people are wrong and you're right.

You're trying to prove a point that I never brought up. It's obvious I was talking about the answers. I hope you feel smart about that to give yourself self-esteem. I love how you try to pick up fights with me, and "so many" people being 5 out of 27 is close to majority! Yay. I'm clearly threatened of your prowess that is making me laugh at you every time. I will now try not to do that anymore. You, on the other hand please try and be *threating* next time you try to appraoch me.

[Shawna Mitchell]

May 12, 2012 15:56:11 GMT -5 Candice Woodcock said:

Oh now I remember which episode it's from! I guess since I only watched it once and will never, ever, watch it again really damaged my memory of it.

[Candice Woodcock]

I'll never forget that episode.

[Semhar Tadesse]

Am I the only one having a really hard time deciding between Chelsea and Sydney? It's like they change so often! One answer makes me want to go for Sydney, the next one for Chels. Can we have co-winners, please?

[Shawna Mitchell]

They're both doing really well but for some reason Sydney just strikes me as less sincere and I am tired of the point she keeps making about the control she had over Mick and Tom. It seems to be the only thing she can stand on and I'd rather hear about the rest of the game, too.

Chelsea was strong throughout the whole game and the fact that she couldn't save Matt because Sydney had more besties doesn't invalidate that for me. I also like the boldness Chelsea seemed to play with.

I'm still on the fence, but leaning toward Chelsea.

[Chase Rice]

I agree Im having a really hard time. Im trying to look beyond the pre-game stuff since both of them did it, though IMO Sydney is the worst offender of the bunch in that department. So im just trying to think how they played outside of pre-relationships and I think Chelsea probably was stronger in that way. Chelsea had presence in the game and was viewed as a threat from nearly the start of the game whereas Sydney seemed to kinda hang back. I also feel like Chelsea played the "cleaner" game of the 2. Ive never liked when people lie for no reason and I really just dont get why Sydney voted to keep Matt and then voted Matt out in the tie breaker. It just seemed pretty pointless really, but honestly I think Sydneys only real 'mistake' in the game was assuming the jury would vote Matt over Chelsea.....No offense to Matt, but I never saw Matt as the stronger player with him/Chelsea and I dont think Matt would have won in the finals up against Chelsea and Sydney. I think he would have gotten votes and had a strong case, but I think Chelsea or Sydney would have still won. So Sydney really needed to take out Chelsea in the game at some point and I just dont know what she feels was lacking in Chelseas game over Matts game for her to assume she could beat Chelsea, but not beat Matt.

[Mike Chiesl]

I don't hold the fact that Sydney had more pre-existing realtionships against her. I hold it against everyone else for having the power to vote them out (or Sydney) and choosing not to.

To me Survivor is like pokwer and it is about playing the bestgme with cards you are dealt. Sydney was dealt a great hand at the start of the game, but she held that hand close to her without giving much away.

It seems to me that people in that alliance knew she had Tom and Mick wrapped around her finger, and if I was aware of that you sure as hell would have bet I would try to take them out sonner rather than later.

In my opinon Chelsea had the power to do so and chose not to.

Again it is like poker, Just because you are dealt the best hand doesn't mean you are going to win. You have to know how to play with the hand you have to win.

So what that means is, yes Sydney had a lot of relationships to help her (a great starting hand), but she used them as she was supposed to. She could have fucked it up, or someone with a shittier hand could have called her bluff (anyone else), but neither of those happened.

I personally think Sydney won with the best hand because she knew how to.

And there is the analagy of the day

[Shawna Mitchell]

But Mike, using your own logic, you were also one who could have gone against Sydney but didn't. I don't pretend to know the extent of your inner dealings but I do know you told me she kept you in the loop to a certain extent and that made you trust her. She has said she helped you out by keeping you in the game longer than the other Power Rangers but to me that's like throwing you scraps while she's eating filet mignon and expecting you to be grateful. It seems a bit condescending of her to say she granted you a longer life in the game when it still meant you were on the jury instead of in the finals. To me, jury is jury the only place that really counts is first.

[Mike Chiesl]

Yes that is true,

But the reasons she gave me for voting me out were valid. I lied to her about voting Tom and I told her I liked the person she wanted to target next. She no longer had use for me, and I would have tried to go after her but that wasn't possible since no one else really talked to me. The only people in that alliance I had options with making a move with where Sydney and Matt, as no one else came online since they didn't need to.

I said in my confessional how it sucked, because I thought Sydney was the strongest player in the game, but I couldn't take her out because the only person I could strategize with in that allince to get anyone out was Sydney. Hence my conundrum all merge.

The 4 of us power rangers stuck together the beginning of merge and we tried to get other people to join us but it wasn't happening. That was the time to make a move and people said it wasn't possible but it was. Steph and Savage should have tried to join us then. Like I had mentioned they had 7 votes since Sekou was a wild card and possibly self voting. If Savage and Steph voted with us that would have been 6 and if we had voted the person Sekou voted for (either being himself as a self vote, or his bootlist person) we would have tied it. We could at least tried to figure out through Steph who Sekou voted the last tribal when Cochran left and that was probably his bootlist and we could have voted that person. It was risky and a longshot but it was at least something. That is where I came up with the idea to vote Sekou in case he self voted, but that didn't happen.

I talked to Savage and Jay early in merge about trying to do something so we wouldn't be picked off, but nothing ever came from it. I didn't mention names as I didn't know who was closest with who, but I said we could try to get something going. No one would give me a straight answer nor seemed interested in working with me except for ...SYDNEY. I kind of gave up trying to get people on my side after the double tribal council as no one would reveal anything. I also tried with Tom, but that as I know now was a lost cause. No one else was really around to talk to about strategy except for Matt. That is when we kind of starting bonding a little but, but again, he was set in his group and no one was budging. Stephanie tried to get Tom about, but at the time she finally wanted to go against them we had already lost a lot of numbers to do so, so it was too late adn she went home.

Yes, I would have gotten rid of Sydney, but I didn't have the numbers or tools to do so. I wasn't indebted to her (we with both just kind of using each other and that was it and we both knew that), and if I could have I would have voted her out, but I realized after a few rounds that nothing was going to happen, so I just used my relationship with her to get me as far as I could. I knew all along she wasn't going to take me with her in her plans, but she was keeping me around. I was just hoping to pull out an immunity when my time was up but I didn't.

I don't owe her anything, our deal was to just keep each other as long as we could depending on whose alliance won out and that is what happened.

I just still feel she played the best, which is why I am saying this, not because she was talking to me and I feel I owe her.

The point is, hypothetically if a twist happened of some sort and that alliance couldnt vote together they would need other options. They all completely shut out the possibility of having ties with someone in the other alliance in case something did happen, or if they did have ties they didn't fight to make them stay to help them. An example would be Stephanie for Chelsea.

That is where I felt Sydney played better in that sense...was thinking about all options and had her self covered for any situation to come. I think other people could have been more vulnerable.

Hope that made sense.

[Shawna Mitchell]

Yeah, it definitely made sense. As I said previously, I thought you did a great job but it is nice to see you lay out what you were trying to do, lol.

[Matt Quinlan]

I don't really like Sydney's response to my question. I still think if you're going to blindside someone, it's best to just be done directly by "ripping off the band-aid" rather than gradually pulling it off by walking around it and offering false hope to me and Chelsea that it would re-tie or I'd stay. Gradually pulling it off didn't make Chelsea any less upset over what happened, and that was Sydney's goal in doing it. The tie and false hope on the re-vote still seems unnecessary to me.

[Shawna Mitchell]

Yeah I didn't get why she needed that extra time of the re-vote to work on Chelsea. Just seemed like an excuse for being a bitch.

[Mike Chiesl]

Yeah that is the only thing about Sydney's game I don't get (at least how she explained it. I could understand the move for different reasons, but not the one she gave)

[Matt Quinlan]

I'm curious how closing statements are going to work if everyone hasn't asked their questions soon. I think just Mick and Sandra are left? I haven't heard anything from Mick since he was voted out, but I know Sandra said she wanted to say something.

[Shawna Mitchell]

Well, I've heard enough to vote. Thanks to all of the jurors who asked questions in a timely manner to help others decide.