[Joaquin Souberbielle]

Congratulations! You've made it to the Final 18 and the second swap!

You're probably busy socializing with your new tribemates, but when you get a chance, answer these questions! Or don't!

1. So yeah, we swapped tribes. Who are you excited to see? Who do you hate to see?

2. At this point, there are nine new players in the game and nine returnees, and even split. Do you see the game as returnee vs. newbie or have the lines blurred?

3. Do the partnerships play a role in your voting strategy, at this point? Are you trying to split up partnerships, leverage them for votes, or not really thinking about it?

[Loveita Adams]

One more question for you! Your partner is on the same tribe as you now. Do you think this benefits or hurts your game?

[Michael]

One more question for you! Your partner is on the same tribe as you now. Do you think this benefits or hurts your game?

I want to answer this question first.


We believe that we are the only partner set on this tribe. I think it puts us at a great advantage if we know how to use it properly. I believe that since Jessica is trying to protect me for her own benefit if she ever gets freaked out about me and my friendships, she'd go after Alexis. If Alexis ever got worried and tried to backstab me, she'd go after Jessica and not me since she knows i'm loyal to her. I think the partner twist gives me options and also gives me meat shields to hide behind.

[Michael]

We are a quarter through the game and on our second swap. Let's talk about the remaining players

Alexis
-Alexis is my second closest ally in the game, after Matt. But she has recently been a bit scared of me and it shows that she doesn't trust me as much as she should. I'm not playing her but I feel like she thinks I am. She went to Matt yesterday about how I was freaking her out about wanted to vote out Tai or Rocker if we lost the challenge. She didn't want to save Aurora at all. I am worried about her relationship with Tai and Rocker. But I think she is the person I trust the second most after Matt. Sadly, I see that forecast going down depending on out next vote and how we handle it. My current goal is to try and make sure I can keep the relationship strong with her. I know that I am still in her priorities of alliances and allies, so I'm not discounting her. I also know that I need to keep my own paranoia in check as well.


Allie
-Allie is a very smart woman. But she has such a gamebot brain. I haven't seen her in a week prior to the first swap, but it was always really hard to connect with her because she never wanted to make it personal and wanted to keep everything game-y. I fear that she's a person who'll easily backstab or betray me so I don't really have strong plans to keep her around. Hope does seem to have some gameplay with her, and Laura likely does as well. She is someone who is really high on my radar to watch out for. If/When we merge together, I don't want to deal with her for very long because the longer she's in the game the less likely I know what she'll do.

Aurora
-I like Aurora. But what I love about Aurora is that she doesn't seem to be playing her own game. She's really focused on listening to me, Jess, and Allie. I am very much a fan of when she listens to me. She has no idea that she was most likely the person who was going to be voted out if we lost the challenge before the switch- When Stephanie went out. I debated on telling her this, but I decided not to for now because I want her to think that I was always going to save her. Even though I was very likely going to cut her last night if I needed to. Moving forward, she seems like a very good goat. I just need to make sure that she sticks with me over Jess, Liz, and Allie. It'll be hard to sever the bond that Aurora has with them, so I will need to try and think of a way to get rid of Allie and Liz, while also cornering Aurora to stay with me.



Elizabeth
Elizabeth is my biggest threat to win the game. She is strongly aligned with Jess, Alexis, Jed, Hope, Allie, Missy, and Aurora. I need to find a way to get rid of Liz around early merge if I can. But her relationship with Alexis and Jessica direct impacts my relationship with Alexis and Jessica. She either needs to be blindsided on Pukaroa, while i'm not there or she I need to find a way to take her out early/mid merge without anyone putting it on me. I feel like Jessica may turn on her if it meant we get the idol, but she'd much rather turn on Alexis.


Hope
-Hope is a wildcard in a more positive sense. On OG Pukaroa she made an alliance of herself, Liz, Matt, and Alexis. Both Matt and Alexis told me about it (which is why i'm not so trusting of Liz) She currently is loyal to Liz, Allie, Laura, and Jessica. But with Jessica here I may be able to bond with her a bit. It'll have to be a slow process, because I don't want to scare her off. But I think she's someone I can work with in the future.


Jed
I have never met Jed. But I know he's a strong player and a bit of a whiner if the Hot Tamale challenge has anything to show. I believe that Jed is someone that I don't have too much trust in while I look from afar. He was easily able to backstab Stephanie, so there is no reason why he wouldn't do it anyone else. He is a very situational player for me to work with, but I feel uncomfortable about doing it.



Jessica
In a week, I've had so many ups and downs with Jessica when it comes to respect and trust that it's insane. When I got her as a partner, I was so excited! I admittedly came on too strong, but I really couldn't hide my emotions about it. I had been given a lucky swap draw at the time and I got the partner that I wanted. Jessica originally came at me friendly, but then got super nervous about talking to me. She is a terrible liar and wasn't good at hiding her true feelings about me at the time. I believe on Tuesday she told me that Shamar's partner had the idol, and then on Wednesday she said that she didn't know who Shamar's partner was. She had also gotten pretty forceful with me trying to dictate my game. She apologized on Thursday and things are much better now. She's my number three ally at the moment behind Matt and Alexis, but I have more trust in her than I do with Alexis. It changes all the time. I fully believe that I need to use my own agency, which is something that Alexis has criticized me for regarding the Tai/Aurora situation. But I have been playing my own game, and that includes busting up the Liz/Jed/Jess alliance from the inside and getting rid of them if I need to. Aurora is a very useful tool because she puts so much trust in me, while Tai doesn't. I am playing my own game, but sometimes that means you need to play possum and build connections before you can strike.


Laura
Laura is very much a non entity and non factor in this game. My only fear about her is that she's an extra vote for Allie. While she'd be ideal for a final three situation, I don't know if that's something i'd be able to pull off with her. I don't think I see much use for her.


Matt
My top ally and a true friend. He's a great guy. I worry about him being on Pukaroa while i'm on Te Poto. He doesn't look to be in a good position, and I don't mind throwing a challenge if I need to. I'm not sure it'll come to that. I really hope it doesn't. I want to go far with him, even if it ends up hurting my game.


Missy
I really enjoy that Missy knows I listened to the podcast and knew who she was. I think that made her feel a bit intimidated by me. I used that to my advantage when talking to her about growth and change. I have no idea if it's actually true, but I'd much rather have her see me as someone that views her as stable. A good thing about Missy is that she's always a viable decoy for me and a carrot to put in front of Liz and Jessica if I need to. That is what makes her valuable to me. She's always an option to vote out and many people would be behind it. I did enjoy our first conversation together, but I'm not sure how sincere she is.


Reynold
Reynold is playing a lot better than I think most people give him credit for. I believe that he's under he radar, but a lot of people want to work with him. He's a nice guy and a good asset to have. I hope he's able to survive on the other tribe, because he's someone i'd love to reconnect with.


Rocker
I like Rocker, but I'm VERY wary of him. I don't think he feels a connection between us, which means that I shouldn't trust him. I do know that he's close to Alexis, Tai, and Stephannie. But I think that's all he has. He seems like a good person, and it's possible that our needs will collide at some point in this game, but I don't know if we will ever work closely together.


Shamar
The black sheep of the OG Pukaroa 2.0 group. I can't believe we made an alliance of everyone but him. Then felt bad, so we included him! I think it was a good call because it keeps Shamar feeling close to us. He seems like he can be a bit chaotic and paranoid. (relatable). But I think he is another person I can work with and easily cut down the line without a problem. I just need to keep my relationship up with him.

Sherri
Sherri is interesting. I feel like we are both playing pretty good games, but we only graze each other game wise. She took a huge hit yesterday with Stephanie being blindsided. I feel like she is Puka strong, but also very open to working with Tai and Stephannie. She is one person who I can see defecting if it suits her needs. My job is to make sure that it doesn't suit her needs to leave me.


Stephannie
If Elizabeth is my biggest strategic threat, Stephannie is my biggest social and competition threat. She's a comp beast and when we were on Pukaroa 2.0 EVERYONE liked her and wanted to save her. She was able to ease into an alliance that she wasn't even in! She was going to control he Aurora vote! She's really good and I am watching out for her. I can't have her go far in the game. She's too good.


Tai
Mr. Pos-TAI. I like him, but he's such a trouble maker. I don't take him seriously as a viable ally because he's just not a trustworthy person. I have a feeling he won't be around too much longer since Jess/Aurora/Missy/Hope are all looking at him to vote out. I'm not really against it at all.

Wardog
I haven't met the guy. I guess he's loyal with Liz's crew. I know he's spoken about the habit of imploding alliances he is apart of. I don't want much to do with him.

[Michael]

I would like everyone to know that this is where I release my paranoid thoughts, so I don't go act on them like a crazy person.


It's important to release your crazy somewhere. That's why if you read things and I seem super paranoid, i'm using the confessionals as a place to vent and clear my head. Try to figure out what reality is.


That being said, did anyone else see the conversation where Matt asked if I was a top or a bottom last night? Obviously I can only date Stranded Alumni now, but dating someone from my own cast? Seems tacky.

[Michael]

Over the past few days I've been gently hinting to Alexis that i'm Australian. I'm not Australian I'm just a bit bored and like messing with her.


Although I can do a pretty okay Ja'mie King impression.

[Michael]

Oldest School Gamer.


Hey everyone, I guess I should talk a little about myself.


I’m 31 years old and I was 12 when I played my first ORG. It was during Africa because I was online looking up Murder In Small Town X information, but ended up finding ORGS, and the season was called “Not Just Another Survivor.” The big twist was that the third challenge, one tribe would be completely eliminated, and that’s how my first experience ended. I ended up joining egamecentral and played in popular ORGs by kymkyhgq (who did the first anonymous org games) and he’d produce episodes after the season was over for everyone to watch. I played in three of his seasons and they were one of the best experiences I had. That’s where I met a future survivor who later went on to play in Guatemala!



Back in 2003, I played in a summer long game called ‘Eden Falls’ (there is still an urban dictionary page on it!) it Mafia/werewolf style game. It was so much fun getting to hang out with the large group. I know one person went into survivor casting and other went on to play survivor in MvGx.


I ended up leaving in late 2006/early 2007 because I was getting ready for college.



When this Stranded opportunity came up, it reminded me so much of the high quality Kymkyhgq games and I knew I wanted to be apart of it!


My biggest motivation in playing is nostalgic, but also because I wanted that sense of community and adventure again. Games back then really focused on relationships, so that’s how I know how to play. But I need to try and remember that these aren’t old schoolers, I’m the one who needs to adapt.

[Michael]

I'd rather lose anyway



I hate that we won. I really hate that we won. It sound so counter intuitive, but some of my strongest friendships and allies are on the other tribe and I have no say in what's happening over there. I really wanted to lose this challenge.



I'll be upset if Sherri or Reynold leave, because I like them both as people and I know I can work with them in the future. I feel like Sherri is less likely to stick by me, but I do think she wouldn't turn on me for a long time. Reynold I think would go far with me if he had the chance.


I will be devastated if Matt leaves tonight. He is my best friend and someone I can put all of my trust in. Alexis always gets skiddish, While Matt has always been a solid friend and ally to me. If he goes I'll shed a tear like I did for Erik.



I'm hoping that Stephannie is the one voted out tonight. She is SO likable and social. She's a huge threat to me. Wardog or Jed would be fine options as well, because I don't have any relationship with them and my game is strongly based on relationships.


an Allie or Laura boot would be nice too, but it'd make me feel uneasy about what's going on over there, as Allie is famous for playing too strongly and Laura is a nonfactor.



Liz would be an interesting boot. If she goes it really wraps Alexis and Jessica closer to me, since they have no where to run.



My mouth is watering to see the results!