[Jeff Probst]

Congratulations, you have made the final 8!! You have outlasted 2/3 of this cast You started this game playing against players who had not made it as far as you have in their previous season, and here you are! You're entering the final week of the game, where legends are born, and games are destroyed. So let's get to it.

1. To move forward, we must look at the past. Reflecting on your season thus far, how has your experience been? What moves are you most proud of, are there any mistakes you've made? What are they? How would you like to be remembered when it's all said and done?

2. The dreaded slambook challenge. You know it well... I think the most can be learned from this challenge more than any other. Numbers was a pecking order, but this was the consensus... how you are perceived. Furthermore, you got to see what other people thought the most answers would be. You also saw who was the most out of touch and the most in tune with the tribe. The person who scored the least overall ended up going home... What did you learn about yourself in this challenge? What was the most surprising answer to you, and did you learn about where people stand based on their answers? Do you think the answers to this question will change the perceived threat level of others? IE: If someone was labeled the most threatening, does that label itself make it more true?

3. We spoke about threats vs. goats last week, and this week someone labeled a 'final 3 goat' in the challenge went home. The thing about goats is that everyone wants to sit with them in the final 3, but only 1 person can. The more threatening a player, generally, the more likely they are to go home. Which leaves all the "threats" sitting on the jury voting for the least threatening person sitting against two goats. Who do you see as a "goat" that might be taking up a final 3 spot that you could be sitting in? If you are the goat, what will you do between now and the final 3 to change that perception with the jury?

4. An explosive Tribal Council and also somewhat exposing Tribal Council. Did you learn anything new from the public fight and call-outs you didn't know going into Council? Talk me through your reactions as it happened. How did your reaction in-the-moment impact the jury's opinion of you, if at all? Is there a benefit to getting into public arguments at Council? A detriment?

5. One of the final opportunities to spend StrandedCoin arose in a Steal a Vote advantage, which Hope won. How does this impact your strategy as we advance? Are there new strategic options that could be gained from this advantage entering the game?

Finally, good luck!!! You are now in the end game and join a family of Stranded Alumni that are all watching and will look back on this season for years to come. Give it your all! The game started with 12 people looking for a second chance to right the wrongs they experienced last time. Don't leave with regrets; finish strong in your last week.

-Probst

[Michael]

Jessica is fucking horrible at this game.



Jess:
When did I tell you about the Aurora plan.. I looked through our messages and saw nothing
.

Michael
It's easy to tell when you're up to something Jess. It's why I had so much trust in you
.

Jessica
But I didn't say anything. That's the only reason I got so mad. You knew me better than anyone here and you used that to lie about my loyalty
.

Michael
Jess, I REALLY don't think you should be trying to make some grand stand about your loyalty when I said that in the middle of you trying to backstab me.
.

Jessica
Okay, that's fair. So we're both at fault here

[Michael]

1. To move forward, we must look at the past. Reflecting on your season thus far, how has your experience been? What moves are you most proud of, are there any mistakes you've made? What are they? How would you like to be remembered when it's all said and done?

I've had an amazing time so far. I've had some of the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. Stranded has been such a wonderfully stressful experience and I have been loving my time here. I am most proud of my Chelsea Strategy, My Hannah flip, my Tai Lies campaign, The Missy boot, and how I handled myself during the Aurora Tribal Council. I've made mistakes too, which i'm also proud of and I own them fully. I didn't handle Jessica, Aurora, or Alexis very well.


I'd like to be remembered as a strong player who always took his shot and didn't let any chances pass him by. Someone who is an Anti-Villain, where I did evil things for the benefit of my friends. Someone who really cared about the game and who just wanted to have fun.

2. The dreaded slambook challenge. You know it well... I think the most can be learned from this challenge more than any other. Numbers was a pecking order, but this was the consensus... how you are perceived. Furthermore, you got to see what other people thought the most answers would be. You also saw who was the most out of touch and the most in tune with the tribe. The person who scored the least overall ended up going home... What did you learn about yourself in this challenge? What was the most surprising answer to you, and did you learn about where people stand based on their answers? Do you think the answers to this question will change the perceived threat level of others? IE: If someone was labeled the most threatening, does that label itself make it more true?

I LOVE the Slambook challenge! It was so validating that people saw me as All Stars material, and that people actually took me as a threat in the game. I knew that my name was on the block that whole day since Matt had leaked the Jess, Alexis, Shamar, and Hope alliance. I didn't know Aurora was involved, but that's a whole different story.

I wasn't surprised by most of the answers, because I feel like I've always had a good pulse on the situation at camp. It doesn't mean I always have control, but I know how everyone thinks and feels about each other. It made that challenge very simple for me. While I believe a lot of people don't know or are unaware of how they are looked at. I think the only real surprise is how much Aurora is hated by everyone. Jess is a fucking emotional wreck and while Aurora is a bitch, I can understand a bitch. I have a tough time understanding Jess and her constant need for attention and reassurance.


I don't think it really changes anything of a threat level for Alexis and I, but I think it really helped out Sherri who wasn't named at all.

3. We spoke about threats vs. goats last week, and this week someone labeled a 'final 3 goat' in the challenge went home. The thing about goats is that everyone wants to sit with them in the final 3, but only 1 person can. The more threatening a player, generally, the more likely they are to go home. Which leaves all the "threats" sitting on the jury voting for the least threatening person sitting against two goats. Who do you see as a "goat" that might be taking up a final 3 spot that you could be sitting in? If you are the goat, what will you do between now and the final 3 to change that perception with the jury?

I'm not a goat. At all. I am many things in this game. To quote Meredith Brooks:

I'm a Bitch
I'm a tease
I'm a goddess on my knees
When you hurt
When you suffer
I'm your angel undercover
I've been Numb
I'm revived
Can't say I'm not alive
You know I wouldn't want it any other way.

If I make it to the end, I win. I think all 7 other players are goats to me. Alexis is my only real threat and since Aurora called me out like that, I think it's given me more power with the jury.

4. An explosive Tribal Council and also somewhat exposing Tribal Council. Did you learn anything new from the public fight and call-outs you didn't know going into Council? Talk me through your reactions as it happened. How did your reaction in-the-moment impact the jury's opinion of you, if at all? Is there a benefit to getting into public arguments at Council? A detriment?

haha! I had NO idea that Aurora was involved in the attempted blindside of myself! She was the only thing that really shocked me. The funny thing is, at no point was I ever going after her. I wanted her in my final three plans and at the time I was very earnest about giving her my challenge immunity idol.


I was very quickly able to throw Jess's name under the bus to get under her skin. It was worth it to see her cry and scramble to try and fix everything. Today I was able to go further with it and push her down with Alexis.

I think the Jury is going to at least open their eyes to me and see me as an actual player and not a coattail rider. It was solid proof to someone like Allie that I am an active player who is moving. If I were to make a recovery from tribal, I think it would be very respected.



I wanted to cover the fact of what my plan was with the Challenge Idol and the Partner Idol. Originally what I wanted to do was use my partner idol on myself, use the challenge idol on Aurora and send everyone else into a panic. I decided against that because I was getting too fake of vibes from Aurora. But the more important reason is that if I used up both idols, Aurora and I would still be in the minority, I'd have no idols, AND her loyalty to me would have been in question. So I'd much rather take my chances and have a safe two rounds and try to change things in that time. I could also possibly go on a win streak or benefit from Matt's Hidden Immunity idol down the line.


I made the right choice.

5. One of the final opportunities to spend StrandedCoin arose in a Steal a Vote advantage, which Hope won. How does this impact your strategy as we advance? Are there new strategic options that could be gained from this advantage entering the game?

I think one of my WORST takes this season has been Hope. I've seen Hope as a weaker player, but here she is, running things now. I'm kind of proud of her in the way. I do think that the fear of her advantage is something that people should take note of.

[Michael]

I'm not giving up.



I took a pretty hard hit during the Aurora tribal.

I've found myself as public enemy number one.


I'm not out, I have time. I still have my partner idol and that is going to save me. A lot can change in 2 rounds.


My current strategy is to play possum. I can't look like I'm so major threat. I need to look weak and more importantly I need to look like I'm available to for votes. At some point, people are going to realize that they need me.


I've spoken to Alexis and I told her that she's fucked without me. I am the only person that stands in the way from her being the next target. If she wants to survive, she'll need me to do it.

I'm trying to be nice to Jessica, but she's so terrible at this game that she thinks that she won't be goat anymore. Which is a fucking joke.


Jess's ONLY chance at winning the game was thrown out of the door once she voted out Aurora.
Sherri, Myself, Alexis, Stephannie, Matt, and Hope would all kick her ass in a final three.


for some reasons Jess thinks she can show up at the final 8, after spending three weeks crying , making bad calls, and simping me.

let's see where this takes me.

[Michael]

The Erik Motivation



Hello again.


I wanted to talk a bit about my personal motivations in the game.



I spoke in a confessional a long time ago that I was very much an old school ORG player. (2002-2007ish). I think one of my biggest concerns about playing Stranded was that I was worried that I'd play too passively or that I wouldn't really know how to handle all of the different advantages and twists that ORGs of my generation didn't really deal too much with. A lot of the way ORGs are done now are full of people who want to "make big moves" while I was always used to more social dynamics and staying within your alliance. Of course, there were still flips, twists, and backstabs...But I feel as if the rate of those things would have been very different.



When the game began I wanted to play the game in the way that it used to be played. I wanted a good "old school" game. I made my social bonds with many people, and I was put into 'The Buffet' alliance with Liz, Matt, Sherri, Matt, Shamar, Reynold and Alexis. I fully believed that Laura would be the first boot due to her inactivity. I spent a few days getting close with those not in the alliance as well, such as Brandon and Erik.


Erik was someone I really liked, and while I knew he wasn't a part of the big buffet, I didn't think the buffet was going to be anything more than a first tribal alliance. On the night of the first tribal, Erik brought up Liz's name to Shamar. Shamar told the chat and everything was a hard flip onto Erik. I tried my hardest to make the vote Hope or Laura. I really wanted to save Erik. But there was too much on him at that point, I felt like I had no agency or control in the choice.


I hated that feeling.


Hated it.


I decided at that point that I didn't want someone else to control my actions in the game. I wouldn't let myself be passive, I wanted to take a major role in what happened. I joined Stranded to have fun. I didn't join to just sit back and have others make the choices for me. I'd rather lose while being able to say I had a say in everything I did, instead of win for doing nothing and just sitting around and being the least hated.



Turning the vote from Aurora to Hannah was from my Erik motivation.

Poisoning the well of Tai with #TaiLies was from my Erik motivation

Not letting Missy or Jess push me around, leading to the Missy vote out was from my Erik motivation



But the merge happened, and I got overwhelmed and scared again. 14 players and so much was going on. I felt like I didn't have control again. Hope and Alexis changed the vote to Reynold just moments before tribal started. I lost my agency again.


Which is why I had to focus again and remember my Erik motivation.


I was not going to lose my sense of control and agency again.

I started to talk about Allie being a threat.

Tai's name had been destroyed by me, and his life in the game ended directly because of that.

My Erik Motivation made me look at Alexis has having too many allies that I had no say with. Which is why I turned it on Rocker.

My Erik Motivation made me want to go after Liz, because I didn't trust Liz to not go after me for the partner idol.


In the end, my need for control has caught up with me when Aurora was sick of my shit. Aurora, Jess, Hope, and Alexis had it out for me.



But my story isn't over. I am not out yet. I have damage that I can do.




I am happy to have my Erik Motivation. It has made me very happy with how I've played my game. I'm not a goat and I have control over my own fate. If that's first or seventh. I wrote my own story.

[Michael]

my game in a nutshell.

[Michael]

Just created the black widow brigade alliance chat, no reason but for the girls to freak out on who could be involved with it.