GINDIN Tribe: JURY VOTE IS IN

[Autumn]

Everybody gets started, using their own strategies for building the base. Some going for height immediately, some building a large solid base, different structures.

Maple Leafs immediately runs into trouble, his first level collapsing. He has to start over while the others have theirs started. Everyone seems to have a good idea of how they're going to build, no puzzling over what to do.

[Autumn]

Darth and Chesapeake both watch as their next level crumbles. Deosn't take the whole thing down but they have to start over on that portion.

Thomkal is steady, growing the height of his tower. Maple Leafs makes up for his initial struggle, is now going along with a good structure.

[Autumn]

This is where it starts to get tricky, adding cards makes the whole structure shift a bit. Everyone struggles here, Darth Vilus the only one having some luck. He and Thomkal have theirs a couple levels high, the two others still struggling to get that second level built.

[Autumn]

Darth isn't slowing down. He's onto his third level, having to reach up pretty high now, placing carefully. Thomkal has another collapse, he's getting frustrated now.

Maple Leafs and Chesapeake struggling to get the cards to stand up themselves, adapting to the higher stages. Darth now has the lead to himself.

[Autumn]

Maple Leafs collects himself, carefully puts together his next level. Darth getting a bit cocky, climbing up a rung and knocking his top level down. Thomkal and Chesapeake still making no progress.

[Autumn]

Darth is onto this fourth level, getting about half way there. Thomkal and Maple Leafs both get their third levels solid and try to catch up. Chesapeake is not having good lucky, tries to get another level up but his collapses back down to the first level.

[Thomkal]

oh man this isn't looking too good...

[Autumn]

Chesapeake finally gets a strategy taht works for him, moving slower, he's building steadily now. He's up to his second level, third and on.

Darth is not losing steam, he's got his fifth and then sixth levels together, having to cimb up the rungs now, hanging on with one hand while he places a card.

Maple Leafs not having any luck, he can see the others springing ahead, not focusing on his own work I think. Thomkal gets a fourth level up after a bit of struggle.

[Autumn]

Darth gets his seventh up. Now it's getting tricky. He's high up on the rungs, the fatigue starts kicking in, having to climb up and down, his hand shaking a bit. He knocks down his attempts at an eighth level. not much further to go though, probably two more levels.

Thomkal is stalled there at four. He doesn't look fatigued, but not being careful placing those. YOu have to be gentle, not natural to a fighter I guess.

Maple Leafs and Chesapeake both plugging away now. I think Maple Leafs was listening to me, focusing just on his level now, he puts together his fourth and fifth. Chesapeake is up to five levels too, he's had quite a run here, one level after another.

[Autumn]

Maple Leafs gets another level together. He's up to six, almost cuaght up with Darth. Darth is struggling here, feeling the pressure I think. It's hard up there, hanging onto the platform, and so easy to knock th whole thing over.

Thomkal gets another level up. Chesapeake knocks over his attempt at his next level.

[Autumn]

We're close to the top now. A lot at stake if you bump your tower, everyone's trying to go slow, but they're eyeing Darth up there in the lead. He puts together another level - it looks like he's almost there if he can get one more level together.

Thomkal puts another one together, still a a little ways below Darth. Maple is stalled there, can't get the cards to stand up. Chesapeake is right there with Thomkal, trying to catch up with Darth.

[Autumn]

Darth almost has it, but his hand is trembling and he knocks down what he had put together. Thomkal is showing no fatigue, he puts together his seventh level, a bit closer to Darth.

Chesapeake too, keeps up with Thomkal, they're both right behind Darth. Maple Leafs struggles again, seeing the others pull ahead, knocks his level over.

[Autumn]

The pressure is on and people are buckling. A lot of shaky hands, trembling legs up there. This is high up in the air, so close to the end. Everybody just dropping their cards, trying not to knock over the whole thing. Maple Leafs is the only one who keeps his together! He catches up with Thomkal and Chesapeake, everybody just a bit behind Darth who can't seem to get that final bit done.

[Thomkal]

<---urges Maple and Chesapeake along, trying to keep their spirits up.

[Maple Leafs]

<-- "accidentally" falls off ladder, right through Darth's tower.

[Thomkal]

heh

[Autumn]

Thomkal fumbles his next level, not getting it done under pressure. Maple Leafs almost knocks down the whole thing, has to snatch his card back. Thomkal almost has it, almost caught up with ... no, it falls down.

Darth is trying to go slow, the whole tower is swaying as he touches it. Slowly figuring out somethign that will hold up.

[Thomkal]

Autumn, get back here and finish this!

[Autumn]

Thomkal has caught up with Darth! He's showing no trouble hanging on to the ladder so high, stretching out his arm. Everybody else is showing fatigue, scared to place their cards on such a tippy structure.

[Autumn]

Maple Leafs gets another together to catch up as well. It's a three person race now.

[Autumn]

Thomkal can't get this last level together. He and Darth are eyeing each other, but each one is struggling, not having any luck. darth looks fatigued. Thomkal just can't find a way to get the pieces together.

Maple Leafs is storming up from behind them. Cool as a cucumber, he gets the last pieces together and passes both of the others. Is it tall enough?

Yes! Maple Leafs has it!

MAPLE LEAFS WINS THE CHALLENGE

[Autumn]

Wow.

[Thomkal]

woohoo Maple Leafs!

[Autumn]

Maple Leafs has the immunity necklace. He cannot be voted for tonight, unless he passes the necklace.

The rest of you, one will be joining the jury tonight, to vote on the final Survivor out of the last three contestants. Tribal Council will be at 10:30 EST tonight, please submit your votes before then.

[chesapeake]

Congrats, Maple Leafs. I thought I'd be a factor in this challenge. Alas!

Darth, you took a great run at this. Wouldn't that have been something to see?

[Autumn]

Come on in and get your torches, guys. Let's bring in the jury, SnDvls, Danny, Hoopsguy, Racer and Heybrad.

This is the last tribal council. Maple Leafs, by winning today's challenge, has gotten immunity and guaranteed himself a spot in the final three. Tonight's vote will determine who joins him, and who joins the jury as its final member. Tomorrow the jury will then vote on the final Survivor.

[Autumn]

Maple Leafs, by winning immunity you've given yourself the deciding vote here. How do you choose who should make the final three and who should stay behind?

[Maple Leafs]

It's pretty simple. I've had an alliance since the very beginning. The goal was to make it through to final three, and we did it.

[Autumn]

Making the final three is good, but it's not winning the game. Are you confident that you can win over the jury? Or are you just satisfied to make it that far?

[Maple Leafs]

I think I can make a very good case to the jury tomorrow, and then it will be in their hands. Making it this far without winning the whole game would be an enormous disappointment.

[Poli]

Originally Posted by Autumn

Come on in and get your torches, guys. Let's bring in the jury, SnDvls, Danny, Hoopsguy, Racer and Heybrad.

This is the last tribal council. Maple Leafs, by winning today's challenge, has gotten immunity and guaranteed himself a spot in the final three. Tonight's vote will determine who joins him, and who joins the jury as its final member. Tomorrow the jury will then vote on the final Survivor.

Boo! I want a final two!

[Racer]

Originally Posted by Poli

Boo! I want a final two!

+1

[Autumn]

It's not unknown for an alliance to be broken at a crucial moment. How sure are the other two that they're not going to be the ones going home tonight?

[Thomkal]

You can never be sure until you read the names on the papers Jeff...er Autumn, but based on our conversations the past couple days in particular, I feel that the alliance will survive

[Autumn]

No immunity idol can be played at this tribal council. Your votes have been cast. Why don't we go ahead and read them.

[Autumn]

The first vote cast is for ...

Darth Vilus

[Autumn]

The second vote cast is for ...

Darth Vilus

[Autumn]

The third vote cast is for ...

Thomkal

[Autumn]

The fourth vote cast, and the final member of our jury, is ...

Darth Vilus

[Autumn]

Darth, come put out your torch.

The tribe has spoken.

[Thomkal]

<---high-fives his alliance members

[Racer]

Is it okay to post our final tribal questions now and can we ask each contestant more then one question?

[Autumn]

We have a final three. There will be no more challenges. Tomorrow night at Tribal Council the jury will select the winner, the sole survivor, to take the million dollar prize.

From now until 10:30 tomorrow night, the thread will be open for questions from the jury members (and only the jury members). Jury members may ask as many questions as they would like, and the remaining contests are encouraged to respond - these will help the jury determine who to vote for. Jury votes will be in by 10:30 tomorrow and the results read.

[Racer]

Sweet.

[Maple Leafs]

<-- high-fives Thomkal, waits until his back is turned, then makes thumb-and-pinky finger "He's an alcoholic" motion at jury when he's not looking.

[Racer]

Sorry for writing a book, but I want to make sure I vote for the right person.

Chesapeake, ML, and Thomkal – congrats on making the final 3. I am not at all bitter but I do hope my questions are tough. I am leaning towards voting for one of you, but I will change who I vote for if one of you have a great final tribal council performance. I have two questions for one of you and three questions for two of you.

Chesapeake,

My first question is in regards to how you responded to the plan I proposed to you when there were nine left. I was clearly playing to win and the only way my alliance was ever going to become the power alliance is if we waited until there were eight left to use the idol.

Why didn't you lie to me and say that the villagers were planning on splitting their votes and you would go with us to vote out Hoops? You could have then had the villagers switch their vote to me and avoid the possibility of someone on your tribe being taken out by my idol.

Instead, you told me you couldn't vote with us. After that I actually considered pushing SnDvls and Danny to switch their vote from Hoops to you because to quote Boston Rob and Russell, “If you're not with me, you're against me.” So again, please tell me why you decided to somewhat tell me the truth when in my opinion it would have been a far better play to lie.

Finally, I want to know if you have anything to say to Brad. It doesn't bother me one bit that you strung him along. However, I think just about everyone on the jury would agree that you turned on him before he turned on you because you never had any intention on taking him to the final 3 whereas he did even if he did technically vote for you before you voted for him.

Maple Leafs,

When there were six players left, I proposed a plan to you, Heybrad, and DV. Neither you or DV ever bothered to get back to me so I expected to be voted out 4-2 or 5-1. My question is why didn't you tell me you were with me even though you had no intention of going with me?

Had DV told me he was on board before tribal council, I would have told him to switch his vote to Chesapeake and split the vote 3-3 since we never got a response from you. Had the tiebreaker been the purple rock scenario, your alliance would have only had a 33.3% chance of having the majority with five left. Again, why didn't you ensure that everyone in your alliance make it to the final five by simply telling me you were on board with the plan?

Finally, tell me what you did to make yourself an important member of your alliance and not someone that could have easily been replaced by anyone on the jury.

Thomkal,

Unless you blow me away with your answers, I'm not going to vote for you. From what I can tell, you just road coattails and let Chesapeake do all the work. Tell me why I'm wrong and convince me that you were an under the radar mastermind ala Amanda in Survivor China.

Moving on, you ignored Heybrad, Danny, SnDvls, and I while we were in the game. Tell me why anyone on the jury should vote for someone who ignored two-thirds of the jury over someone who got their hands dirty like Chesapeake.

Maple Leafs and Thomkal,

Part of the game is being able to read the jury and know who's a threat to win and who has little or no chance. Why did you choose to take Chesapeake to the final three over Darth Villus? I understand Chesapeake was part of your alliance, but in my opinion he is a far greater threat to win the jury vote then DV. I am probably voting for him and I know of at least one other person on the jury that is probably voting for Ches as well.

DV had zero chance of getting my vote because quite honestly I am a bitter he didn't align with Heybrad and I when in my opinion it would have been in his best interest to do so. I know of at least one villager who probably wasn't going to vote for him either and I would guess he probably wasn't going to get Danny's or SnDvl's votes either.

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

<---high-fives his alliance members

Back at you, big guy!

[hoopsguy]

I'm disappointed that I have to vote for one of you three backstabbers. Convince me why you should be the backstabber that I vote for over the other two.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Racer

When there were six players left, I proposed a plan to you, Heybrad, and DV. Neither you or DV ever bothered to get back to me so I expected to be voted out 4-2 or 5-1. My question is why didn't you tell me you were with me even though you had no intention of going with me?

Had DV told me he was on board before tribal council, I would have told him to switch his vote to Chesapeake and split the vote 3-3 since we never got a response from you. Had the tiebreaker been the purple rock scenario, your alliance would have only had a 33.3% chance of having the majority with five left. Again, why didn't you ensure that everyone in your alliance make it to the final five by simply telling me you were on board with the plan?

Good question.

The short answer is that part of my strategy was to avoid telling any flat-out lies. That wasn't any sort of ethical choice; I just figured that it was a bad strategy because it would poison a jury against me. I certainly did some deception and misleading, but I never told the sort of point-blank lie you're suggesting.

The longer answer is that I never considered a purple rock scenario. I assumed that a tie would be settled by firemaking, or some other sort of head-to-head challenge between the two who were tied. I knew there was some risk of a 3-3 vote that would see chesapeake or Thomkal put in jeopardy, and I was OK with taking that risk. At this point you guys didn't know I was in a solid alliance with them, so if it came to that and one of them was voted out I'd still be in good shape.

But I didn't think it would come to that. I gambled that by staying quiet we'd end up with a 3-2-1 vote. And I was right.

Originally Posted by Racer

Finally, tell me what you did to make yourself an important member of your alliance and not someone that could have easily been replaced by anyone on the jury.

Well, for one thing I was the only one of this alliance who could actually win an immunity challenge when we needed it.

Beyond that, the three of us had a lot of behind-the-scenes strategizing, as you can imagine, and chesapeake and I took the lead in that. I don't think it's fair to say that Thomkal was riding coat-tails, but he was definitely less active in that area.

Here was my key role in the alliance: staying hidden. Everyone figured out that Thomkal and chesapeake were part of an alliance pretty quickly. But it took a while for people to see that I was with them. Staying hidden is easy if you're not doing anything, but not so much when pulling strings. If everyone had figured it out earlier, it probably ends up being a very different game, and all three of us are probably on the jury right now.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

I'm disappointed that I have to vote for one of you three backstabbers. Convince me why you should be the backstabber that I vote for over the other two.

Well, as far as the backstabbing goes, I wasn't part of it. I voted for Darth that night.

That said, I knew it was coming and I wasn't happy about it. Voting you out was the only decision in the game that really divided chesapeake, Thomkal and I. They were terrified of you, for some reason, and wanted you out as soon as possible (even pre-merge). I thought that voting you out was a strategic mistake, and I still do. It put us in a situation where we had an alliance of three in a tribe of six. That was dumb, and we made ourselves vulnerable when we didn't need to.

All of that isn't to say that I wouldn't have blindsided you at some point. I'll be honest, I was willing to blindside anybody if I needed to and I'm actually kind of disappointed I didn't get to be part of one. But I didn't see any reason to target you until we were down to four or five, which is why I argued hard against the decision. I just lost that argument.