Jeff Probst wrote:Well, that was an eventful council...
Are you concerned about your position in the tribe? Do you feel as though you are in a position to make any kind of impact on the game or are you biding your time waiting for the right moment?
That tribal I was like. FML Sarah stole the glory for my idol play.... but actually, not really? I mean I still saved Lisa who should be a fantastic ally for me moving forward. That was the GOAL of that idol play, and to make sure it wasn't wasted. I lost Katie which SUCKS but the downfall of Katie is that she probably would brutally backstab me later, and we're also a known pair, much like Cochran and Ralph. Right now it kind of looks like all of my allies have been voted out, I look a bit like a solitary player and that is much less threatening as we go down the line than a duo, or a trio. It definitely means I have less votes on hand should I need someone to fall back on, but at the same time it forces me to keep my options open and try to work with everyone.
So I could just be "next to go" in a lot of people's minds, and if that's the case and I don't win immunity, I don't know what I am supposed to do about it. But if I can keep up with everyone and seek out openings and maintain these alliances with lots of people it could help me get pretty far so long as I keep my head down.
Like right now take
Mia. Cochran doesn't like her, and by extension Ralph doesn't like her since they vote together. Mia has "apparent" friends in Jolanda, Ken and Sarah. She looks like she's close to people. Mia also has the bigger personality, and from what I can tell speaks less to people outside of her immediate circle.
She looks like she's in a much better position than I am once numbers start dropping so I can see people looking at her before they look at me, but this is still just speculation (I could be next on the jury for all I know).
Sarah. She has friends in Carter, Cochran and Ralph now by default and likely Chad as well. She's looking pretty well-liked. However, she also just made a big move - or at least she painted it as a big move. She stopped Lisa controlling the whole vote (or so she thinks) and she claimed her majesty in public. Sarah's got her claimable move now, people are going to look at her.
Ken. Very quiet, tight with Jolanda and Mia, has ties to Lisa as well, people are going to watch him. Reputation for being kind of inactive, doesn't talk too much. Right now Ken probably doesn't look threatening at all. If he gets taken out it'll probably be because people have ties to everyone else and he is the leftover.
Jolanda. Well-liked, I don't know if she's even particularly well-connected but she was not even considered for the last vote. She'll be dangerous I imagine.
Chad. The social butterfly it seems. Close with EVERYONE. The only other person to really acknowledge this was Katie. Right now i am trying to stick close enough to him that he doesn't finger me and have everyone turn on me, but he seems like he'd be the oe player it's most difficult to get rid of.
Debb. I don't know what's up with her. I want to keep her close but she's being a bit ~not around~ which is a pain in the ass. She is super shifty on Lisa though and it's scary to think about, I need to try and keep Lisa here so I need to convince her to keep her too, maybe through Carter.
Carter. Carter and Debb are more of a duo in this. Debb makes this more obvious than Carter does as well, but it's clear they consider each other a duo of votes at least. Carter I am trying to play up the ~we're on the same wavelength~ type of thing. I've been doing it since we met up on Hiva Oa, really trying to take advantage of me watching him as a host in Nepal, and I KNOW it's tentative at best but I am gonna keep on keepin' on, the longer he hears it and the more I vote with him, the more comfortable he is gonna feel with me.
Cochran + Ralph. Okay they're a twofer I mean they're a block of two. They're not going to split, and everyone knows it. So right now, you want them because that's a two-person block that can mean the difference between majority and minority. But soon enough they're going to be "THE DUO. SPLIT THEM UP" and I need to be ready for when that happens and have other avenues.
LISAWhat a journey, right? I pretty much didn't want her near me to start, the trust was 0, -100000 even, like I argued with Ted about nearly every single day and when I used my idol the first time I felt like I'd WASTED it. Even till recently I wasn't sure but Ted leaving has really bonded us I think, like we realised that like it or not we are together in this, we've both been trashed publicly, targeted and turned on, and we both know the other will try to help them. I've gone out of my way twice to save her, and what I like is that nobody left in the game but her knows about it. People don't know the extent of our relationship right now and we can seriously use that to our advantage.
-----
What I am enjoying about my game right now is that as far as I can tell, while I am probably considered a more ~known~ player since I've been a host, my accomplishments in the game as I would call them are most attributed to other people. So I know I've done x, y, z moves and have a tangible story to sell but to everyone else? I am Ashley, I've just been here, survived some votes. All my KNOWN allies have been voted out. I am willing to acknowledge when they leave because so far aside from Katie they've all been pre-jury - I am losing my support network pre-jury, I am not a massive threat at this stage (or at least I don't think they should see me as such).
Inb4 next boot but that's what I'm thinking about it anyway. Trying to be positive at least.
Moving forward I am trying to encourage people like Carter and Ralph and Cochran to start thinking about pulling Lisa into a vote ~before the other side gets her~ and this is where I mention that her and Ken seem to be starting to like each other again - which is probably aided by the fact that I encouraged Ken to make up with her. Stuff like that, I don't want to seem like I am pushing alliances, but if I can casually get involved in these relationships, if they develop I have a better chance of being included when the time comes to make decisions about votes.
---
In terms of impact on the game, I've already had a decent impact, not the biggest or anything but I've helped shape this game I'd say. Two people have been idol'd out - one fantastically, and the other in a dramatic way which wasn't really ideal but whatever. Try and take the silver linings. Who else can say they've been the cause of that in this game? Sarah can be chuffed about forcing the tie on Katie and that was a very good move for Sarah to make against Katie - kudos to her, but it's not like she ~changed the game~ or anything. We'll have to see how her relationships progress though.
I am gonna make a graphic about how I think relationships are looking between people. It'll be interesting later to see how right/wrong I am, but it'll be a good way to kind of keep track.
P.s. where is the bloody idol clue? It's TWO rounds in! Like have you done some CC shit and hidden clues weirdly or something? If you're doing it the normal way there are NO idols at this point - it could be that Frank is busy trying to make an uncrackable clue lmfao and it's hella delayed but idk...