[Jeff Probst]

14 remain

1-What in the holy hell did I just witness. With one of the most chaotic Councils maybe in Stranded history, are you any more comfortable with your position in this tribe now than you were before Council?

2-Walk me through your decision tonight and what you would have liked to have happened. Who would you like to work with going forward and were you surprised by the outcome?

3-As the tribes get smaller, are you anticipating a merge on the horizon? How will you react if you do not merge as soon as you are expecting to? With three vets going home in a row, does that impact your decisions going forward?

4-If there is a merge around the corner, what is your plan... do you link up with people on the other tribe or stick to the bonds you've made on this tribe?

[Michael]

About Last Night


Hello Everyone! Michael here. Let's have a talk.


I'm glad I could be apart of one of the craziest tribals in Stranded history! I think it's important to walk you through everything that happened that night and how it lead to the whisper panic of 2021.



The original vote was going to be very simple, Tai was the target and he was supposed to go home. Rocker was actually the original split vote option because Rocker has connections with Stephannie just like Tai does, but his are a bit weaker than Tai's connections.


Things went into a fucking tailspin when Tai was given immunity by Stephannie. But it started as a nervous laughter, because hey...we still have the challenge. right?


Well I have no idea if Allie is a fucking image robot or if Hope is an image idiot, but we lost-bad! This sent us all off into a huge panic.


I was reaching out to Jess, Alexis, Hope, Shamar and Aurora regarding the vote. Jess, Hope, and Aurora were all very unsure but started to lean towards Shamar. The reason for this is because Missy was threatened by Alexis.

I wanted to split votes, so I was going to have
Rocker and Alexis put Aurora,
Missy and Tai put Alexis
Jess, Myself, Hope, Aurora put Shamar
Shamar to Missy


I was very much ready to lose Shamar and continue with Jess, but then I guess Alexis had told Tai that her name was coming from Missy...and it got back to Missy. Miss said "Snitches get Stitches" to me. I took that as a threat and decided that she needed to be put down a peg. My last message was to Shamar about voting Missy.



Missy starts the tribal off by whispering and calling me a 'fake ass rat' and she's not wrong. I was really fake towards her. But I was worried that Missy was trying to either turn more votes for Alexis, or even worse- turn votes on me.


I wasn't okay with either option. At some point, if you're not able to stick your neck out for your friends and allies, you'll end up alone in this game. So I knew that I needed to make a big move to get rid of Missy while protecting Shamar and Alexis. Shamar was in the dark about everything so it'd be easy to play off his votes later.


Alexis said she was voting Missy, so I went to Shamar and told him to hold strong on Missy as well. I went to Rocker and told him that if he votes for Missy that we will be tight, Missy needed to go.


Rocker voted Missy.


Hope tried to change her vote, but her stoner ass was 2 minutes too late.



I spoke to Jessica about changing the vote to Missy, but she decided that then was the time to tell me about her idol and that she was too scared of Missy to make a play against her. Jessica is a fucking yappy, shaky, spineless chihuahua. Why wouldn't you even TRY to flush Missy's idol? we have the votes to flush it via split. Why doesn't that interest you?? Don't be an idiot. If Missy does have an idol, she needs to lose it. With my plan we hurt Missy either way.


I told Jessica to have her and Aurora switch the votes, I knew she wouldn't do it because Jess is chickenshit. I may sometimes play under the radar, but it's fucking worthless to be under the radar if you are ALWAYS under the radar.


The vote changed from Shamar to Missy and Missy went out, seemingly with an idol. Shamar none the wiser.



Missy was never on my side, so her going was good for me. I was nervous about the outcome, but I wasn't surprised. I knew I could count on at least four votes for Missy and that there'd be at least two for Shamar and two for Tai. I was happy my plan worked, even though it was on the fly.


Missy was my ideal outcome, I think even over Tai. Missy has more connections than Tai and is taken more seriously than him. This vote sealed the trust of Alexis and Shamar for me, it brought Rocker closer to me. Tai lost an ally, Jessica is clinging to me more than ever. The only person it really hurt my relationship with was Aurora, and that's going to be fixable.



I'm not sure if/when a merge will happen. everyone thinks it's going to happen tonight, but you NEVER know. I don't think the game is vets vs newbies at all. But I'm not opposed to weaponizing that mantra if it means I get what I want.



My plan going forward is to try and reconnect with Matt and see where his head is at. I want to drag Alexis, Rocker, and Shamar along as well. Jess is going to be following with me and Liz with Alexis. So it's important to keep the group together as we move forward.


I still see Stephannie, Allie, and Liz as my biggest threats come the merge, so I want to be able to handle them sooner rather than later.

[Michael]

Oh,


I'd like everyone to know. I plan for the Missy vote to be the most boring of the rest of the tribals.


Stay tuned!

[Michael]

My choice.



Jessica is under fire tonight. I have the option of trying to fight for her, or I can let her go.


If I choose to vote out Jess:
Pros
-It's what the tribe generally wants.
- it takes the pressure of having a partner off my back
-it's one less returning player
-it's less stress on me trying to calm her down every few hours

Cons
-Someone who is in my corner is gone
-I have less of a meat shield
-Tai is still in the damn game



Keeping Jess

Pros
-Someone who I know will not vote me out
-Could win the partner immunity
-She'd be an easy beat at the end
-I like her as a person



Cons
-The partner twist threatens me with Liz/Aurora/Allie and everyone else
-I need to calm Jess down every day
-She pisses people off all the time
-people don't trust her.


I need to think about my option here. I could perhaps force a tie if I really wanted to.



Bu I also need to think about what Hope and Aurora have going on behind the scenes, especially with Tai.

[Michael]

To make a long story short:


Tai is trash and not be trusted. I DO think at one point he was genuine about working with me, but it came at a price that I wasn't willing to pay.



Alexis came to me prior the merge about how Rocker/Hope/Aurora all were turning again Jess after the Missy tribal.


Rocker because Jess was cold to him

Hope because she was left in the dark


Aurora because I proved to her that Jess left her in the dark about the Missy vote.


Now I wanted Jess to take a social hit, but not THAT far.


So when Tai started getting these feelers out he came to me saying "oh Jess only makes a target on you!" which yes, is true.



But Tai has lied to me and others MULTIPLE times. I never believe anything he says.



While I do like Tai as a person, I can't fucking trust him for a moment in this game.

[Cochran]

Congrats on making the merge! Too bad no one gives a shit about you unless you make jury :)

Can you do me and the lurkers a solid and rank all the people left in the game?? You can rank them on any metric you want, idc.

Good luck out there!!

[Michael]

Ranking people on trust:


Matt
Alexis
Jessica
Aurora
Shamar
Rocker
Reynold
Sherri
Hope
Elizabeth
Stephannie
Allie
.
.
.
.
.
Tai



The only person really hard to place here was Elizabeth. She isn't directly coming after me yet, but she'll be hungry for that partner idol at some point.



I'll make you a new list every day over the weekend

[Loveita Adams]

Episode 10.5 – 14 Crackheads on Steroids

MERGE!!!!!! You made it!!!!! You’ve outplayed, outwitted, and outlasted 10 people in this game so far – congrats and keep it up! I’ve just got a few questions to tide you over for the weekend.

1. So first off, How are you feeling? Did you expect such a low-key day yesterday? How are you taking advantage of the simplicity?

2. What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned since merging into one tribe? Any new information cause you to re-evaluate your short or long term strategies?

3. How far forward are you looking now that you’ve made the merge? Are you more of the “one step at a time” type or the “plan out every detail” type? Is there anyone who you know you will NEVER work with (or NEVER betray)?

4. I’m a sucker for self-reflection – how do you think you’re doing? How do you think your competition sees you?

Can't wait to see your ranking lists continue this weekend!

[Michael]

Shamar is so behind in this damn game that he's JUST processed Hannah being voted out.


fucking hell.

[Michael]

Ranking people on my jury vote:


I would like to preface that this can change drastically, as we are only at the start of the merge. you never know what'll happen! But this ranking is right now and doesn't include myself. It's more of a ranking of how I'd vote for a winner if I was on jury.


Alexis
Stephannie
Sherri
Elizabeth
Matt
Aurora
Rocker
Reynold
Jessica
Allie
Hope
Tai
Shamar

[Michael]

Lovetia, I'd love to answer some of the questions you have for me!

I'm feeling great that I made the merge! It's a wonderful accomplishment that many people don't make, and I think I have really earned my spot here.


The most surprising thing I've learned since we've merged is how much I really knew about what was going on in the game. Nothing was new information to me, and I am very happy with all of the sources that I have.


I treat Survivor how I treat writing a paper. You want to do your research and come out with a rough outline of the events you want to happen. But you also need to make sure that you're able to make adjustments on the way. For example: I WANT to work with Aurora, but i'm not sure how that will look yet. A tribe of 14 people is just so large and unwieldy that it's very difficult to be the center of it and not get caught in the crosshairs.


What I really want to see happen this round is a Liz/Tai vote where one or both use and or lose their idols. Ideally, i'd like 5 or six votes on each Liz and Tai with a throwaway vote on Hope or Stephannie as well, just in case. I'm not sure if this is a possibility, but I want to work on it with Matt.



and here is the part I think most people are going to be looking for, and i'll either look great or i'll look like a total goober when I come back to this post in a month or so... my self reflection:



I think i'm doing very well in the game. I am positioned behind Jessica and Liz as my shields, with Matt on the other side being able to get intel on what the vote is. I have a strong trust or understanding in everyone but Hope, Allie, and Tai. Although I know i'm not on the top of the list for either Hope or Tai.


Alexis, Jess, and Matt tell me everything that they know about what's going on in the game and I don't think I pull too much light on myself when it comes to threats. If my name comes out of Tai's mouth, he'll look bad in front of Matt, Sherri, and Reynold. Rocker and Aurora are looking out for me if Liz decides to go rogue as well. I think what's most important to me is being able to keep all of my ears on the ground and keep getting information. I believe that I am one of the most well informed players of the game at the moment. I can totally be blindsided at any time, but that's why i'm always a fan of rogue votes to account for idol plays.

[Michael]

IMMUNITY WATCH

Hello, so my strategy for the immunity challenge is to watch the others and try and get a feel for how they do.
I'm logging everyone's post count to see if there are any suspicious jumps and what information I can gather from that.

post count change in the last 24 hours:
Michael: 3
Sherri: 1
Matt: 0
Shamar: 0
Alexis: 36
Reynold: 0
Allie: 4
Aurora: 1
Liz: 8
Jess: 119
Tai: 0
Stephannie: 36
Rocker 4
Hope: 1


What I can gather from this is that Jess, Steph, and Alexis have all at least been practicing for immunity

[Michael]

Sometimes I get bored.


I think i've convinced Alexis that I'm Australian, by exclusively telling her that i'm NOT Australian.

Elizabeth thinks I'm a spy from Tanzania, which is fucking mint.

Jessica thinks that I'm going to betray her- which i'm going to eventually. But she doesn't need to actually think that.



So hey, it's a good weekend.

[Michael]

Audience Participation


Hello, if someone could photoshop me a photo of a Chihuahua with Jessica's head, that'd be wonderful. I will be posting it here often.

[Michael]

Happy Valentines day!


I'm mostly practicing for the immunity challenge here! I have multiple tabs open and I want to see if it causes any lag when it comes to posting. Hope everyone is having a great day!

[Michael]

looks like I have some delay I'll need to work on

[Michael]

I've shut down a lot of my tabs, I want to see if that'll help with the post!

[Michael]

Sigh. Okay. so maybe I can only have one tab open?

[Michael]

Okay, well. Here I am after restarted my computer. maybe this'll fix something?

[Michael]

I guess not. I gotta figure this out..