Phillip's Questions

[Carlos Bernard]

Not sure if he wanted me to post them or not but he posted them in the jury thread so i'll post them here.

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Hello there Final 3! Congratulations to all 3 of you, regardless of what the other jurors say, you each played great though very different games. I am unlike other jurors in that I don't like pointless questions like compare everyone to an animal or color or movie or a song or a symbol and god knows the list goes on and from what I have answered and witnessed in playing these games. I only care about one thing when making my decision and that is your gameplay and in that respect I am very different than the average juror.


For example:




REASONS TO VOTE FOR:

- she killed a rat




REASONS TO VOTE FOR:

- Found 3 Idols, 2 of which with no clues
- Manipulated every vote of every Tribal Council he attended
- Flipped John and Shambo to his side to get the numbers
- Won immunity when needed tp get out Brett, found an idol when needed to blindside Kelly


The winner seems pretty obvious to me. ANYWAY, the point is that I don't care what you had to do in this game I don't take it personally. Jimmy and Joel gave me the signals looking back on it and I should have played my Hii but I got overconfident. It's my fault I'm here so no one needs to kiss my ass or sugarcoat their answers, I am looking for honestly, strategy and gameplay moves.

ONTO THE QUESTIONS







Matty, the way I see your game is that you are sitting here in the Final 3 for winning tons of immunities. That's not entirely a bad thing, immunity is part of the game and several survivor winners have won by virtue of going on immunity runs. The thing is Matty that seems to be the only thing going for you. You got the challenge game down real good, but your social game and strategic game is very disappointing. You mentioned in the Final TC thread that you didn't talk to Julie or Jenna, not sure which, about a vote since Final 7. You had ample opportunities to make power moves in this game, even after I left. You and Joel are 2 sides of the same coin. With Jimmy betraying me, you could have gone and taken out the power players with Gillian and NaOnka and taken yourself and Joel to the Final 4. You wasted your precious triple to ensure Chet leaving, which was not necessary and you decided to stay loyal to people who had went against you before the merge and would have voted you out the very instant you didn't have that necklace. Here are my questions for you:


1. What strategic moves did you make in this game to keep yourself off the chopping block besides win immunities?

2. Why did you waste a triple vote on Chet and remain in an alliance that you were on the bottom of? Did you not know where you stood?




















Jimmy, your opening is a bit dissappointing. You make it sound a bit like you did whatever Julie wanted you to do and you did it for Julie. Did she offer sexual favors in return? You'll get a chance to rectify that. I do like that you admit you turned on people that would have taken you all the way. You know Anthony was a total pawn and NaOnka was a big threat and probably would have left had she not been immune. Had you stuck with me, it would likely be me, you and Gillian in the finals. So really, you were in a great position either way probably going to the finals either way. I do feel like the decision you picked put you in a lot more danger than had you stuck with me, at the Final 9 you were a potential target for double eviction, and 6 and 5 you were close to eviction and you dodged the purple rock. Had you stuck with me, you would have gone to the finals without so much danger and without the jury hating your guts.

My questions to you


1. Obviously I need to ask, why did you choose to betray me and go with Julie? You clearly chose her over me, you know her outside this game?

2. You say in your opening you made a lot of big moves and blindsides. Besides me, can you be more specific and explain what your role was in every vote that occured after I was out.

3. What distinguishes your gameplay from Julie?























Julie, you are definitely the front runner in my vote. You had an excellent way of making allies and gaining people's trust. It seemed like you had everyone under mind control. You said in your opening I was after you, I was actually after Jenna because of her triple vote not you. I couldn't tell you because I knew you had an alliance with her, among many other people who you had under your spell. Lex you had on speed dial, You had Jenna's private real AIM, Jimmy seems to be your slave to your dirty work, Sarah you gained after warning her about Joel and Joel and Matty were hypnotized to stick with you despite you going against them pre-merge and them being both total pawns in your game.

Wow, I never had a chance of breaking that up no wonder I died trying. You even manipulated Jenna into voting off her buddy Joel in the Final 5 over Jimmy and then get her out in the Final 4 because she was your biggest jury threat

My questions to you:

1. Similar to Jimmy, after my departure how did you influence every vote up to the Final 3?

2. What did Jimmy tell you when I left and how did you unify all those people to get me out of the game?

3. Had Matty never won an immunity challenge, Would he be in the Final 3 still? If not, who would you have tried to get sitting with you and Jimmy in the end?




By the way, I did not doctor those conversations I posted, that was a pretty sneaky thing to say!




Feel free to respond to my comments in addition to the questions. Good luck to the 3 of you.

[Jimmy Johnson]

1. Obviously I need to ask, why did you choose to betray me and go with Julie? You clearly chose her over me, you know her outside this game?

Yes I do know her from outside of the game. She's a very good friend of mine who I knew I could trust until the end. I knew she would stick her neck out for me. She gambled on a purple rock to save me. I chose her over you because she didn't turn on her own. You did. You targeted Julie and I knew then I couldn't go with any of you anymore. I had to play for me not for us. I couldn't be the Matty to your Jenna.

2. You say in your opening you made a lot of big moves and blindsides. Besides me, can you be more specific and explain what your role was in every vote that occured after I was out.

I heard that Sarah wanted me out at double eviction. At the time, me and Sarah were talking going to the end together until I heard about this. It was supposed to be Gillian and Na at this point. When I heard Sarah wanted me gone, I talked to Sarah and had her vote Na and Gillian. And had Na vote for Gillian and Sarah. I talked to Julie and Joel and asked Julie to talk to Jenna to get them to vote for Sarah and Na. Unfortunately for me, Anthony got sick and couldn't go any further. Na survived that tribal thanks to this.

The next tribal was a lot more smooth. I talked to Joel and Julie. And we had to decide between Gillian or Na. We decided on Na being more of a puzzle or trivia threat and got rid of her next.

This is the crazy tribal. Me, Joel, and Julie had a deal that whoever won immunity didn't matter as long as Matty didn't. Matty had won 2 straight challenges and I wanted him gone so he couldn't win his way into the finals. Jenna had no knowledge of this because she believed it was her, Julie, me, and Matty in a final 4 deal. In reality, I wanted to take Joel instead of Matty. Matty had won 2 straight challenges and I wanted him gone so he couldn't win his way into the finals. In the end however, Joel voted with Matty and Jenna to vote me out. To my surprise, I was able to convince Gillian her only chance in this game was to final 3 with me and Julie. We all 3 voted Jenna. They revoted and kept them the same. Unfortunately, Gillian got purple rocked and our luck had run out...or had it?

In this tribal, Julie convinced Jenna to take me instead of Joel to the final 4. Maybe that Joel was a bigger challenge threat? I don't know for sure. I convinced Jenna that the vote wasn't her. (Apparently she was scared of Joel or Matty flipping. I had tried them both with no luck.) I told her what she needed to hear and to my surprise me and julie both got throught that tribal.

The last tribal was a HUGE shocker to me. I still don't fully understand why Matty and Jenna didn't vote the same. I was expecting to play and win a tie-breaker. I don't know if Matty decided he didn't want to take Jenna or if they just failed to communicate the vote. Either way I appreciate it.

3. What distinguishes your gameplay from Julie?

I don't see how me and Julie's gameplay is similiar. Sure we both were taking each other to the end. We both played great social games which is more than I can say for some people. But we both got there completely different ways. While I was plotting post merge, she was trying to get there. While everyone liked her for the majority of the game, I'm pretty sure I made a lot of people hate me. Her tribe turned on her. I turned on my tribe. I guess we sort of had a good cop, bad cop routine.

[Phillip Sheppard]

Sept 7, 2011 20:22:15 GMT -5 Jimmy Johnson said:

1. Obviously I need to ask, why did you choose to betray me and go with Julie? You clearly chose her over me, you know her outside this game?

Yes I do know her from outside of the game. She's a very good friend of mine who I knew I could trust until the end. I knew she would stick her neck out for me. She gambled on a purple rock to save me. I chose her over you because she didn't turn on her own. You did. You targeted Julie and I knew then I couldn't go with any of you anymore. I had to play for me not for us. I couldn't be the Matty to your Jenna.

2. You say in your opening you made a lot of big moves and blindsides. Besides me, can you be more specific and explain what your role was in every vote that occured after I was out.

I heard that Sarah wanted me out at double eviction. At the time, me and Sarah were talking going to the end together until I heard about this. It was supposed to be Gillian and Na at this point. When I heard Sarah wanted me gone, I talked to Sarah and had her vote Na and Gillian. And had Na vote for Gillian and Sarah. I talked to Julie and Joel and asked Julie to talk to Jenna to get them to vote for Sarah and Na. Unfortunately for me, Anthony got sick and couldn't go any further. Na survived that tribal thanks to this.

The next tribal was a lot more smooth. I talked to Joel and Julie. And we had to decide between Gillian or Na. We decided on Na being more of a puzzle or trivia threat and got rid of her next.

This is the crazy tribal. Me, Joel, and Julie had a deal that whoever won immunity didn't matter as long as Matty didn't. Matty had won 2 straight challenges and I wanted him gone so he couldn't win his way into the finals. Jenna had no knowledge of this because she believed it was her, Julie, me, and Matty in a final 4 deal. In reality, I wanted to take Joel instead of Matty. Matty had won 2 straight challenges and I wanted him gone so he couldn't win his way into the finals. In the end however, Joel voted with Matty and Jenna to vote me out. To my surprise, I was able to convince Gillian her only chance in this game was to final 3 with me and Julie. We all 3 voted Jenna. They revoted and kept them the same. Unfortunately, Gillian got purple rocked and our luck had run out...or had it?

In this tribal, Julie convinced Jenna to take me instead of Joel to the final 4. Maybe that Joel was a bigger challenge threat? I don't know for sure. I convinced Jenna that the vote wasn't her. (Apparently she was scared of Joel or Matty flipping. I had tried them both with no luck.) I told her what she needed to hear and to my surprise me and julie both got throught that tribal.

The last tribal was a HUGE shocker to me. I still don't fully understand why Matty and Jenna didn't vote the same. I was expecting to play and win a tie-breaker. I don't know if Matty decided he didn't want to take Jenna or if they just failed to communicate the vote. Either way I appreciate it.

3. What distinguishes your gameplay from Julie?

I don't see how me and Julie's gameplay is similiar. Sure we both were taking each other to the end. We both played great social games which is more than I can say for some people. But we both got there completely different ways. While I was plotting post merge, she was trying to get there. While everyone liked her for the majority of the game, I'm pretty sure I made a lot of people hate me. Her tribe turned on her. I turned on my tribe. I guess we sort of had a good cop, bad cop routine.

Thanks Jimmy, I am satisfied with your answers. Good Luck!

[Matty Whitmore]

Hey Phillip,

1. What strategic moves did you make in this game to keep yourself off the chopping block besides win immunities?

For the first half of the game, I really downplayed how strong of a player I was in terms of challenges, the social aspect of the game, and the strategic aspect of the game. At that point, it’s not so much what I did, but what I intentionally didn’t do: I didn’t over-do myself in the immunity challenges (like Julie); I didn’t discuss any deals or alliances with anyone; and I just didn’t bring attention to myself like so many other players did (like Jimmy)… At the merge, the alliance between Jenna, Jimmy and Julie was called out pretty quickly, and Jimmy’s reputation for being a liar and a backstabber made him a permanent target for the remainder of the game. And even though no one ever had the numbers to break that alliance up, I think everyone was aware of what was going on.

For the second half of the game, though, I honestly didn’t care about keeping myself off the chopping block. I wasn’t playing the game to make it to the Finals, I was playing the game to win. Go big or go home! Julie prides herself on the fact that she only received 1 vote this entire game, but I’m proud of the votes I received at the Final 6 Tribal Council. In Survivor, votes are like battle scars... If you come home with clean armour, it just means you weren’t fighting hard enough. Getting those 3 votes just goes to shows that I played the game, and wasn’t just sitting back using Jimmy as a shield.

But from the merge onward, I wasn’t really thinking “What should I do to get to the Final 3?” Instead, all of my decisions were based on the question “If I’m in the Final 3, what decision should I make now to separate myself from the others and put myself in the best position possible to win the jury’s votes?” And that meant: a) putting myself in the Final 3 with 2 people who had similar strategies (like Jimmy and Julie who did everything together, or Jenna and Joel who both turned on their alliance), b) being honest about how I was voting and not getting caught up in lies, and c) voting the way I wanted to vote, and not just going along with the majority.


2. Why did you waste a triple vote on Chet and remain in an alliance that you were on the bottom of? Did you not know where you stood?

First, I don’t feel like I wasted the Triple Vote. When I won the Triple Vote at Outcast Island, I wanted to get rid of it. I had a pretty good feeling that everyone that won a competition at Outcast Island received the same prize, and it was only a matter of time before people would start putting two and two together and want to take me out. I mean, Phillip, even you said in your question to Julie: “You said in your opening I was after you, I was actually after Jenna because of her triple vote not you.” The longer I kept my Triple Vote, the bigger the target it would put on my back. And as I’ve said, my strategy from the start was to make sure I stayed out of the spotlight.

Secondly, I think it was a pretty good time for me to use the Triple Vote. On Klimbono, a couple people were plotting to vote for me that round. Joel tried to shift the target to Sarah, but then she was sent to Outcast Island which put me in the spotlight again. Hindsight 20/20, did I need to play the Triple Vote that round? No, I would have been safe either way. But it guaranteed me a spot on the jury; it gave me a chance to get rid of it (along with the target on my back for having it) without pissing anyone off; and no offence, but at least I got to play my reward before I was blindsided… zzzzzing! Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

As for your other question, I'm not exactly sure what you mean. I was never in an alliance at that point in the game, and therefore was never at the bottom of an alliance. Of course I knew it was risky not to be in an alliance at that stage, but my goal from the start was to make it as far as I could without making any deals, and I figured if I could make it to the finals, it was a feat that would separate me from whoever else was sitting beside me in the Final 3.


And since you said we could address your comments…

In your comments to Julie:
I couldn't tell you because I knew you had an alliance with her, among many other people who you had under your spell. Lex you had on speed dial, You had Jenna's private real AIM, Jimmy seems to be your slave to your dirty work, Sarah you gained after warning her about Joel and Joel and Matty were hypnotized to stick with you despite you going against them pre-merge and them being both total pawns in your game.

Just want to make it clear, I was NEVER Julie’s pawn. Ever. That title belongs to Jimmy, if anyone, but I think he was actually more of an equal... Like a two-headed snake.

But I hardly ever talked to Julie this entire game, and I think we only voted the same way twice since the game began... Even that was more of a fluke than anything else because one of those times I didn’t know how she was voting. I was never anyone’s pawn in this game, and I certainly wasn’t hypnotized by Jimmy or Julie. I have wanted them out since the Final 7, and I voted for one or the other of them 5 of the 7 times that we went to Tribal Council since the merge. I guess it just wasn’t in the cards for them to be voted out... But a pawn, I ain't.


Matty, the way I see your game is that you are sitting here in the Final 3 for winning tons of immunities. That's not entirely a bad thing, immunity is part of the game and several survivor winners have won by virtue of going on immunity runs. The thing is Matty that seems to be the only thing going for you. You got the challenge game down real good, but your social game and strategic game is very disappointing.

You are right that I did win a lot of immunity challenges, especially near the end of the game. However, it definitely wasn't the only thing I had going for me. I have been in quite a few of these online reality games now, and what I have noticed is that a lot of people play the game the same way. It seems like everyone makes one or two close allies that they put all of their trust in and plan to stay loyal to them until the end (sometimes the plan changes, but more often than not, the main alliance sticks it out to the end). Want proof? Just look at Jimmy and Julie. They came into the game knowing each other, lured a couple people in to form a larger alliance, and then backstabbed them when they didn’t need them anymore. Did it work? Sure. But give me 10 minutes and I can find you 5 other games where the Final 2 used the same “strategy”.

Anyway, every game that I have been in has ended like that, so when I applied for this game I wanted to try a really unique strategy of not making any deals or alliances. Instead, I focused on building a few personal relationships with people, and I was really banking on the fact that those people would want to keep me around because they saw me as a friend and as someone they could trust, not because of some deal we had agreed to as strangers in Week 1. The 2 people I hit things off with were Jenna and Joel. Jenna seemed like a very genuine person, and she striked me as the kind of person that plays with her heart. And Joel seemed like someone who loves the game of Survivor. From challenges to the social aspect, he just wanted to play the game. I knew those were 2 people that I could relate with, so I kept in touch with Joel pretty regularly, and when Jenna was online, we had some pretty meaningful conversations.

I’ll be honest, though, I never expected my relationships to help me out in this game as much as they did. In Week 6, some people were starting to plot against me, and I believe Joel tried to shift the target to Sarah… Of course Sarah was sent to Outcast Island, and the target might have been shifting back to me, but the fact is he took the spotlight off me that round, and because of that we were able to flip the vote to Chet. I didn’t even get a single vote that round. At the Final 6 (apparently 6 wasn’t a lucky number for me), Jimmy, Julie and Gillian were targeting me. At that point, I still didn’t have an alliance with Jenna or Joel, so they easily could have stuck with their original alliance and voted me out… but they didn’t. Even in the tie-breaker, Joel could have switched his vote, but he put his own safety on the line to keep me around.

So Phillip, I might not have had any traditional “alliances” with people like Jimmy and Julie did, but I certainly had a strong social game. For me, a social game doesn’t mean talking to everyone and telling them how to vote; it means making the right kind of relationships with the right people that will benefit you in the game. I came into this game not knowing a single person, but 2 people were willing to put their own safety on the line in order to save me. And I think that says a lot.


You mentioned in the Final TC thread that you didn't talk to Julie or Jenna, not sure which, about a vote since Final 7.

Correct, and it was Julie that I didn’t talk to. Julie messaged me once, maybe twice, while we were on Klimbono, and then I messaged her once or twice after the merge. The fact is, I knew she had alliances with Jenna and Jimmy, and nothing I could say or do was going to break through her existing loyalties. She was pretty complacent about her spot in the game, and I had no intentions of working with her or Jimmy because we had different agendas.


You had ample opportunities to make power moves in this game, even after I left. You and Joel are 2 sides of the same coin. With Jimmy betraying me, you could have gone and taken out the power players with Gillian and NaOnka and taken yourself and Joel to the Final 4.

I don’t even know where to start with everything that’s wrong with this one. After the Tribal Council where Sarah was voted out, Na Onka told everyone that she would “100% be voting for Jimmy Johnson at the next Tribal Council.” Until that point, I had never really thought about teaming up with Na Onka because we had never been on a tribe together and we had never talked to each other. But when Na Onka said she was voting for Jimmy, I thought it might be worth a shot.

Gillian messaged Joel, Na Onka and me, and suggested that we should vote together to take out the power alliance. I told Gillian I was on board, and I was all set to vote for Jimmy. Unfortunately, when I talked to Joel about it to see if he was on board, I got one of his beat-around-the-bush responses, so I knew that he wasn’t about to turn on the power alliance. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized the plan was actually to vote for Jenna (who I had been building a relationship with and felt pretty good about my position with her). And I found out that someone had already gone to Jenna and told her she was the target, and that she had decided to use her Triple Vote.

So, I was actually on board with teaming up with Gillian and Na Onka to vote out Jimmy (as Na Onka had said in her speech at Tribal Council), but when I learned that the target had been moved to Jenna, and that the vote would have been 6-3 with Na Onka leaving anyway, there was no way I was going to ruin my relationship with Jenna to make a power move that was destined to fail.

For the next 2 rounds, I let everyone know that I was voting for Jimmy, but unfortunately by then Gillian had decided to align with Jimmy and Julie, so again we just didn’t have the numbers.



Thanks for the questions, Phillip, and good luck with your decision!

[Phillip Sheppard]

Sept 8, 2011 0:30:34 GMT -5 Matty Whitmore said:

Hey Phillip,

1. What strategic moves did you make in this game to keep yourself off the chopping block besides win immunities?

For the first half of the game, I really downplayed how strong of a player I was in terms of challenges, the social aspect of the game, and the strategic aspect of the game. At that point, it’s not so much what I did, but what I intentionally didn’t do: I didn’t over-do myself in the immunity challenges (like Julie); I didn’t discuss any deals or alliances with anyone; and I just didn’t bring attention to myself like so many other players did (like Jimmy)… At the merge, the alliance between Jenna, Jimmy and Julie was called out pretty quickly, and Jimmy’s reputation for being a liar and a backstabber made him a permanent target for the remainder of the game. And even though no one ever had the numbers to break that alliance up, I think everyone was aware of what was going on.

For the second half of the game, though, I honestly didn’t care about keeping myself off the chopping block. I wasn’t playing the game to make it to the Finals, I was playing the game to win. Go big or go home! Julie prides herself on the fact that she only received 1 vote this entire game, but I’m proud of the votes I received at the Final 6 Tribal Council. In Survivor, votes are like battle scars... If you come home with clean armour, it just means you weren’t fighting hard enough. Getting those 3 votes just goes to shows that I played the game, and wasn’t just sitting back using Jimmy as a shield.

But from the merge onward, I wasn’t really thinking “What should I do to get to the Final 3?” Instead, all of my decisions were based on the question “If I’m in the Final 3, what decision should I make now to separate myself from the others and put myself in the best position possible to win the jury’s votes?” And that meant: a) putting myself in the Final 3 with 2 people who had similar strategies (like Jimmy and Julie who did everything together, or Jenna and Joel who both turned on their alliance), b) being honest about how I was voting and not getting caught up in lies, and c) voting the way I wanted to vote, and not just going along with the majority.


2. Why did you waste a triple vote on Chet and remain in an alliance that you were on the bottom of? Did you not know where you stood?

First, I don’t feel like I wasted the Triple Vote. When I won the Triple Vote at Outcast Island, I wanted to get rid of it. I had a pretty good feeling that everyone that won a competition at Outcast Island received the same prize, and it was only a matter of time before people would start putting two and two together and want to take me out. I mean, Phillip, even you said in your question to Julie: “You said in your opening I was after you, I was actually after Jenna because of her triple vote not you.” The longer I kept my Triple Vote, the bigger the target it would put on my back. And as I’ve said, my strategy from the start was to make sure I stayed out of the spotlight.

Secondly, I think it was a pretty good time for me to use the Triple Vote. On Klimbono, a couple people were plotting to vote for me that round. Joel tried to shift the target to Sarah, but then she was sent to Outcast Island which put me in the spotlight again. Hindsight 20/20, did I need to play the Triple Vote that round? No, I would have been safe either way. But it guaranteed me a spot on the jury; it gave me a chance to get rid of it (along with the target on my back for having it) without pissing anyone off; and no offence, but at least I got to play my reward before I was blindsided… zzzzzing! Sorry, couldn’t help myself.

As for your other question, I'm not exactly sure what you mean. I was never in an alliance at that point in the game, and therefore was never at the bottom of an alliance. Of course I knew it was risky not to be in an alliance at that stage, but my goal from the start was to make it as far as I could without making any deals, and I figured if I could make it to the finals, it was a feat that would separate me from whoever else was sitting beside me in the Final 3.


And since you said we could address your comments…

In your comments to Julie:
I couldn't tell you because I knew you had an alliance with her, among many other people who you had under your spell. Lex you had on speed dial, You had Jenna's private real AIM, Jimmy seems to be your slave to your dirty work, Sarah you gained after warning her about Joel and Joel and Matty were hypnotized to stick with you despite you going against them pre-merge and them being both total pawns in your game.

Just want to make it clear, I was NEVER Julie’s pawn. Ever. That title belongs to Jimmy, if anyone, but I think he was actually more of an equal... Like a two-headed snake.

But I hardly ever talked to Julie this entire game, and I think we only voted the same way twice since the game began... Even that was more of a fluke than anything else because one of those times I didn’t know how she was voting. I was never anyone’s pawn in this game, and I certainly wasn’t hypnotized by Jimmy or Julie. I have wanted them out since the Final 7, and I voted for one or the other of them 5 of the 7 times that we went to Tribal Council since the merge. I guess it just wasn’t in the cards for them to be voted out... But a pawn, I ain't.


Matty, the way I see your game is that you are sitting here in the Final 3 for winning tons of immunities. That's not entirely a bad thing, immunity is part of the game and several survivor winners have won by virtue of going on immunity runs. The thing is Matty that seems to be the only thing going for you. You got the challenge game down real good, but your social game and strategic game is very disappointing.

You are right that I did win a lot of immunity challenges, especially near the end of the game. However, it definitely wasn't the only thing I had going for me. I have been in quite a few of these online reality games now, and what I have noticed is that a lot of people play the game the same way. It seems like everyone makes one or two close allies that they put all of their trust in and plan to stay loyal to them until the end (sometimes the plan changes, but more often than not, the main alliance sticks it out to the end). Want proof? Just look at Jimmy and Julie. They came into the game knowing each other, lured a couple people in to form a larger alliance, and then backstabbed them when they didn’t need them anymore. Did it work? Sure. But give me 10 minutes and I can find you 5 other games where the Final 2 used the same “strategy”.

Anyway, every game that I have been in has ended like that, so when I applied for this game I wanted to try a really unique strategy of not making any deals or alliances. Instead, I focused on building a few personal relationships with people, and I was really banking on the fact that those people would want to keep me around because they saw me as a friend and as someone they could trust, not because of some deal we had agreed to as strangers in Week 1. The 2 people I hit things off with were Jenna and Joel. Jenna seemed like a very genuine person, and she striked me as the kind of person that plays with her heart. And Joel seemed like someone who loves the game of Survivor. From challenges to the social aspect, he just wanted to play the game. I knew those were 2 people that I could relate with, so I kept in touch with Joel pretty regularly, and when Jenna was online, we had some pretty meaningful conversations.

I’ll be honest, though, I never expected my relationships to help me out in this game as much as they did. In Week 6, some people were starting to plot against me, and I believe Joel tried to shift the target to Sarah… Of course Sarah was sent to Outcast Island, and the target might have been shifting back to me, but the fact is he took the spotlight off me that round, and because of that we were able to flip the vote to Chet. I didn’t even get a single vote that round. At the Final 6 (apparently 6 wasn’t a lucky number for me), Jimmy, Julie and Gillian were targeting me. At that point, I still didn’t have an alliance with Jenna or Joel, so they easily could have stuck with their original alliance and voted me out… but they didn’t. Even in the tie-breaker, Joel could have switched his vote, but he put his own safety on the line to keep me around.

So Phillip, I might not have had any traditional “alliances” with people like Jimmy and Julie did, but I certainly had a strong social game. For me, a social game doesn’t mean talking to everyone and telling them how to vote; it means making the right kind of relationships with the right people that will benefit you in the game. I came into this game not knowing a single person, but 2 people were willing to put their own safety on the line in order to save me. And I think that says a lot.


You mentioned in the Final TC thread that you didn't talk to Julie or Jenna, not sure which, about a vote since Final 7.

Correct, and it was Julie that I didn’t talk to. Julie messaged me once, maybe twice, while we were on Klimbono, and then I messaged her once or twice after the merge. The fact is, I knew she had alliances with Jenna and Jimmy, and nothing I could say or do was going to break through her existing loyalties. She was pretty complacent about her spot in the game, and I had no intentions of working with her or Jimmy because we had different agendas.


You had ample opportunities to make power moves in this game, even after I left. You and Joel are 2 sides of the same coin. With Jimmy betraying me, you could have gone and taken out the power players with Gillian and NaOnka and taken yourself and Joel to the Final 4.

I don’t even know where to start with everything that’s wrong with this one. After the Tribal Council where Sarah was voted out, Na Onka told everyone that she would “100% be voting for Jimmy Johnson at the next Tribal Council.” Until that point, I had never really thought about teaming up with Na Onka because we had never been on a tribe together and we had never talked to each other. But when Na Onka said she was voting for Jimmy, I thought it might be worth a shot.

Gillian messaged Joel, Na Onka and me, and suggested that we should vote together to take out the power alliance. I told Gillian I was on board, and I was all set to vote for Jimmy. Unfortunately, when I talked to Joel about it to see if he was on board, I got one of his beat-around-the-bush responses, so I knew that he wasn’t about to turn on the power alliance. It wasn’t until the next day that I realized the plan was actually to vote for Jenna (who I had been building a relationship with and felt pretty good about my position with her). And I found out that someone had already gone to Jenna and told her she was the target, and that she had decided to use her Triple Vote.

So, I was actually on board with teaming up with Gillian and Na Onka to vote out Jimmy (as Na Onka had said in her speech at Tribal Council), but when I learned that the target had been moved to Jenna, and that the vote would have been 6-3 with Na Onka leaving anyway, there was no way I was going to ruin my relationship with Jenna to make a power move that was destined to fail.

For the next 2 rounds, I let everyone know that I was voting for Jimmy, but unfortunately by then Gillian had decided to align with Jimmy and Julie, so again we just didn’t have the numbers.



Thanks for the questions, Phillip, and good luck with your decision!

Excellent responses Matty and great opening by the way. I was not aware that you had tried to team up against the J alliance. Unfortunately Joel has no spine and was never willing to make a move and was just complacent with being a 6th or 5th place jury member like I predicted. Your strategy is unconventional but it was effective, I deem it the UTRCWF strategy ( Under The Radar Challenge Whore Floater). I have to admit I have never seen that combination of play styles mixed together so its pretty unique. We never talked much strategy during the game and it was my impression that you were like Joel except you could win immunities but you show you have a lot more going for you and had tried to make moves. Had Joel been game enough to play with you, you could have gone Final 4 with him and maybe even final 3 together without too much conflict. But you fought hard to make it here and definitely earned your spot in the finals. Good Luck!

[Julie Berry]

1. Similar to Jimmy, after my departure how did you influence every vote up to the Final 3?
Every vote, Jenna and I talked, Joel and I talked and Jimmy and I talked. If it wasn't going the way I wanted, then I would have to scramble some and sometimes show convo's to prove my point, or whatever. It went as follows:

Anthony - I didn't influence this vote because Anthony was useful to me.
Sarah - Sarah said she was "so grateful" for saving her from the tribal council when Joel was going to send her packing, and yet she turned on me, so It really wasn't that hard to get her out.
NaOnka - She wasn't a part of our alliance after merge at all, so it was her turn.
Gillian - I did not influence this vote. It went to purple rock, which I did not want. But, I had given my word that I would NOT vote Jimmy, so we chanced it. Perfect scenerio would have been Joel picking the purple rock that round.
Joel - Jenna had been promising to vote Joel since the first tribal that I was on Klimbono, so it was time. She had refused to vote him the previous TC, so she said she voted him to prove I could trust her.
Jenna - This again, was supposed to be a tie so that Jenna and Jimmy (my two allies) could duke it out. Matty voted me, so Jenna was voted out with Jimmy and my vote alone.


2. What did Jimmy tell you when I left and how did you unify all those people to get me out of the game?
I don't recall Jimmy telling me anything after you left.
Getting the votes for you was easy really. You slipped that were after me and i found out. So, Jimmy and I talked and then I talked to Jenna and Joel. Joel nullified your vote and we knew you had an arsenal of goodies to use, we kept it really quiet, so you would leave with them all intact. First vote after merge, it really wasn't very hard


3. Had Matty never won an immunity challenge, Would he be in the Final 3 still? If not, who would you have tried to get sitting with you and Jimmy in the end?

In my opinion, Matty would not have made it to the end had he not won the immunity challenges he won. He was on my radar to get out as soon as possible because of the alliance he had with Jenna and her refusal to vote for him.

Who would i have tried to get sitting here with Jimmy and I in the end? Well, that's a tough question... I think Chet or Gillian. Chet because he really was a badass and we went from insulting one another to being friends and I tried to keep him. Has his job not gotten in the way, he would have done well in this game I think.
Gillian because like me, she was an underdog and tried EVERYTHING she could think of to get with the majority vote. She was incredibly determined.

I wouldn't bring you Philip, because you were an excellent player and in order to beat you I would have had to exhaust mahself


I know you didn't doctor the convos, but i had to do some backpeddling! LOL


Matty was aligned with myself, Jenna, and Jimmy from before the merge.. just FYI

[Julie Berry]

Response to
I was not aware that you had tried to team up against the J alliance.

Matty was part of the alliance from the beginning. Jenna and I each picked one person we trusted and it was us 4 from before merge. I didn't' talk to Matty much because Jenna always told me what Matty had said or how he was voting. If he was against us at all, I never had any inkling of it and Jenna did a really good job of lying about it.


Additional comments: I played a very strong game socially. When i was transplanted to Klimbono, i was able to convince Joel to let me win immunity so I would be safe. In the first challenge, I was able to convince Chet to post one last time and then him go to bed, so I was able to post a TON for out tribe. When Sara was at risk, I was able to get Lantwan to send her to Outcast Island to keep her safe and also getting Sydney out in the process. When Gillian was the underdog, I convinced her to align with Jimmy and myself for her protection, which if not for the purple rock, she would have lasted longer. So, when Matty says, votes are like battle scars? Well... You can play the game and not get any votes, and truly be a great social player.

I am very proud of our alliance. We dominated this game and while everyone knew the alliance existed, it never was broken up, so in my mind, that's a good job.

Thanks for your question Philip, if you need any clarification, let me know

[Phillip Sheppard]

How did you and Jimmy find out I had an arsenal of goodies?! I only told Gillian and NaOnka. Did one of them slip? how the hell could you guys have known that or did you find out after I was voted off. This is all news to me

[Jimmy Johnson]

How did you and Jimmy find out I had an arsenal of goodies?! I only told Gillian and NaOnka. Did one of them slip? how the hell could you guys have known that or did you find out after I was voted off. This is all news to me
NaOnka told me she didn't win anything. I knew Joel had the double null votes. I know Julie and I didn't have anything. Julie asked Jenna about the powers. No one saw any. It was fairly obvious that you or Gillian had some of them. We figured you were better connected socially than Gillian so we got you out. Gillian confirmed after the fact during her angry rant that you had a bag of goodies. We had a pretty big web going right after merge.

[Phillip Sheppard]

Great deductive reasoning there. There aren't any Natalie Whites or Tennerelli type players in this Final 3. You guys aren't making this decision easy. Good luck and I hope the other jurors consider the entire game not just a single vote or a comparison question in their decision.


I still cant under stand after how Chet and Joel got votes on KlimBono that you all still stuck together like you did, I give up on trying to understand Joel there's no point.

[Julie Berry]

I didn't want Chet gone, like i said, he and I had reached a place where we could have worked nicely together and I trusted him, however, he was a target and poof! was gone. Joel on the other hand, I pushed to vote off however, I found out later that Jenna was secretly aligned with him and wouldn't hear of it. She kept telling me she would use her double vote and we could take him out whenever we needed to, but until then he would vote with us.. Well, he was telling me and Jimmy he was with us and not Jenna, so I was leary. Since Matty voted with Jenna, we had a hard time getting the votes for him. We tried to get Jenna to vote Joel on the vote that ended up in PURPLE ROCK. I felt strongly enough about the vote that I was willing to risk the purple rock, as was Joel because ultimately, his refusal to vote Matty with Jimmy and I is what convinced me and Jenna was working him as well as Matty and I was outnumbered. That is when Gillians and I became better friends and she agreed to do what she could to help us get out Joel or Matty. Unfortunately the purple rock didnt' like Gillian. I still to this day wish Joel had picked #2 and gone home. He hadn't been able to make a strategic game play other than to vote with Jenna since then. Even when Jimmy or I would point out the obvious... that Matty was winning comps and we should "take him out" first chance we get.. he still was "on the fence".. "couldn't decide".. "was scared of getting to the finals".. "couldn't commit"... seriously???

There is no understanding Joel and the way he made game decisions... None.... Sarah made him an easy target from the beginning, he should have been gone. Period...

[Julie Berry]

Yeah.. what Jimmy said about your arsenal. We talked at length about "goodies" and who had what. Since I was able to talk to everyone on Klimbono and find out what they had and Jimmy had the scoop on Lantwan, we pretty much had figured out who had what just by thinking out loud together. Gillian did spill the beans after you were gone. Of course, we didn't let it slip to Gillian's or NaOnka that you were the target, knowing they would protect you, by letting you know and you would have used one of your little treasures. I loved our talks in the game and was really SHOCKED when i heard you were gunning for me because you thought people liked me too much when i was surviving TC's. You would have been a force to reckon with, that is for sure! <3

[Gillian Larson]

lol Matty just so you know you knew from the beginning that Jenna was the target since I explicitly stated it in the PM, so don't pull this "Oh I didn't know so I was on board at first"

[Anthony Robinson]

Sept 9, 2011 0:57:34 GMT -5 Julie Berry said:

1. Similar to Jimmy, after my departure how did you influence every vote up to the Final 3?
Every vote, Jenna and I talked, Joel and I talked and Jimmy and I talked. If it wasn't going the way I wanted, then I would have to scramble some and sometimes show convo's to prove my point, or whatever. It went as follows:

Anthony - I didn't influence this vote because Anthony was useful to me.
Sarah - Sarah said she was "so grateful" for saving her from the tribal council when Joel was going to send her packing, and yet she turned on me, so It really wasn't that hard to get her out.
NaOnka - She wasn't a part of our alliance after merge at all, so it was her turn.
Gillian - I did not influence this vote. It went to purple rock, which I did not want. But, I had given my word that I would NOT vote Jimmy, so we chanced it. Perfect scenerio would have been Joel picking the purple rock that round.
Joel - Jenna had been promising to vote Joel since the first tribal that I was on Klimbono, so it was time. She had refused to vote him the previous TC, so she said she voted him to prove I could trust her.
Jenna - This again, was supposed to be a tie so that Jenna and Jimmy (my two allies) could duke it out. Matty voted me, so Jenna was voted out with Jimmy and my vote alone.


2. What did Jimmy tell you when I left and how did you unify all those people to get me out of the game?
I don't recall Jimmy telling me anything after you left.
Getting the votes for you was easy really. You slipped that were after me and i found out. So, Jimmy and I talked and then I talked to Jenna and Joel. Joel nullified your vote and we knew you had an arsenal of goodies to use, we kept it really quiet, so you would leave with them all intact. First vote after merge, it really wasn't very hard


3. Had Matty never won an immunity challenge, Would he be in the Final 3 still? If not, who would you have tried to get sitting with you and Jimmy in the end?

In my opinion, Matty would not have made it to the end had he not won the immunity challenges he won. He was on my radar to get out as soon as possible because of the alliance he had with Jenna and her refusal to vote for him.

Who would i have tried to get sitting here with Jimmy and I in the end? Well, that's a tough question... I think Chet or Gillian. Chet because he really was a badass and we went from insulting one another to being friends and I tried to keep him. Has his job not gotten in the way, he would have done well in this game I think.
Gillian because like me, she was an underdog and tried EVERYTHING she could think of to get with the majority vote. She was incredibly determined.

I wouldn't bring you Philip, because you were an excellent player and in order to beat you I would have had to exhaust mahself


I know you didn't doctor the convos, but i had to do some backpeddling! LOL


Matty was aligned with myself, Jenna, and Jimmy from before the merge.. just FYI

Juila is something you dont say at tribail council one thing you dont say sweet

[Matty Whitmore]

Sept 9, 2011 0:57:34 GMT -5 Julie Berry said:

Matty was aligned with myself, Jenna, and Jimmy from before the merge.. just FYI

That's total bullshit, Julie, and I hope the jury can see that. Jenna and I had talked a few times on Klimbono, but I never had any alliances or deals with her at that point. She was just someone that I liked talking to and she was pretty open and honest with me so I felt I could trust her. When Sarah called out Joel, I talked to Jenna to find out where she stood. We agreed that Joel was a strong person to keep on our tribe, so we started pulling votes together to eliminate Chet instead. We worked together that round, but it was a one-time collaboration. We talked a lot about personal stuff after that, and a little about our thoughts on the game, but we never made any deals to keep each other safe or take each other to the Finals. The only time I did that was after Jenna and Joel turned on you and Jimmy, and that's when I made my first deal with them and promised Jenna and Joel that I would never vote for them after that.

As for you and Jimmy, I talked with you maybe 3 or 4 times the entire game, and maybe twice it was about how you were voting... But I never made any alliances with you. And as Jimmy will admit, I didn't even say a word to him until the Final 6 when we were both in the tie vote. I never had any interest in working with either of you, and I sure as hell didn't make an alliance with you.

Your story just doesn't make sense. I voted against your majority pretty much every round since the Final 9 (except the round where Na Onka was voted out). And I told Jimmy a few times that I was voting for him, so I didn't even hide the fact that I wasn't working with you. If we were aligned, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that you or Jimmy would have said something about it before now. You two never shied away from drama, and if your supposed ally betrayed you by voting against you 5 weeks in a row, you sure as hell wouldn't have sat there quietly without saying a word. Case in point: Look at your reaction when Jenna turned on you, or when Joel told you he was switching his tie-breaker vote. You made a scene when both of those allies went against you once. So do you really expect people to believe you sat back and didn't say anything when I voted against Jimmy 4 times -- if I was really your ally?