[Jeff Probst]

This is Aurora's Final Tribal Council Thread.

All other Jurors should remain in their own threads. Final 3, remember... this is not for you to address each other, but to talk to Aurora. In-fighting amongst the Final 3 should be reserved for the Live Final Tribal Council on Sunday.

Aurora, you have until Saturday at 8c/9e to post your statements/questions to the Final 3. Remember not to take up too much of their time as they have 10 other jurors to get to. Please no listing or questions requiring novels for answers. You should post all of your statements/questions in your opening post in this thread. There is a live Final Council on Sunday where you will get to address everyone live about the statements they have made as well ask follow-ups.

[Aurora]

I'm just sitting here watching the 6th worst season of survivor according to RHAP--World's Apart. Don't worry, I won't ask you to pick a collar color and justify it to me.

As most everyone else has already said, congratulations! This is a marathon, not a sprint, and all three of you have put in a LOT of time and effort to get this far. I'm genuinely impressed with each of you.

Okay. So let's take this opportunity to look back at my demise:



Well, well well. I am quite popular! Normally, I'd be flattered, but you all know this wasn't a flattering moment for me. In fact, this was an embarrassing moment. So, naturally, I thought we should focus on it in FTC. Let's take a look at some of your responses:

1. Michael - You selected me as the biggest goat and the player that does not deserve to be in the game. Amazingly, these were the least offensive answers.

2. Sherri - You selected me as the player that does not deserve to be in the game and the player you hope to never interact with again after the game. Ouch.

3. Matt - You selected me the biggest goat, the player that does not deserve to be in the game, the player with the most enemies in the jury, the player you hope to never interact with again after the game, the player most likely to stab you in the back, and the player who mistakenly thinks they are in control of the game. Wowza! It's amazing I'm still even speaking to you, yet here we are.

Based on the aforementioned responses, you may disagree with this, but I would argue that am not, in fact, an idiot. I am well aware that this challenge is meant to stir the pot. It is meant to create tension and liven the game for the lurkers. In fact, this challenge came just one day after the hosts started prodding the cast with hot irons, telling the iconic and somewhat threatening tale of Courtney and the Scooby-Doo Reveal. Sneaky, sneaky (but effective).

I also realize that you have to pick someone. For example, I picked Alexis to "never interact with again after the game" because she wasn't present at the challenge, and I was trying to minimize hurt feelings. Beyond that, exposing your answers publically made you think and act strategically. It's a messy, unfair game; I get that. But excellent for lurker ratings!

So, here is my question for each of you:

What the fuck?

Seriously, though, explain why you selected me for each answer that you did. I'm not looking for apologies. I am just asking what was the strategic or personal impetus for selecting the answers you did.

I look forward to seeing you both at FTC tomorrow. I have a frontrunner, but I am by no means set on a vote. I think there are a lot of inconsistencies in your responses to individuals when compared to your opening statements. If you'll allow this goat to leave you with one piece of advice, I would be prepared to address those differences. Remember, each of us is reading your answer to the other. And we talk. As you defend yourself to one person, be wary of throwing another under the bus or twisting the truth in your favor.

I will note, lastly, that the two biggest goats--Shamar and I--were the only two to correctly select one of you three for "Who is most likely to win the game." Wierd.

[Michael]

1. Michael - You selected me as the biggest goat and the player that does not deserve to be in the game. Amazingly, these were the least offensive answers.

What the fuck?

Seriously, though, explain why you selected me for each answer that you did. I'm not looking for apologies. I am just asking what was the strategic or personal impetus for selecting the answers you did

I'd like to start off that for my personal answers. I never answered your name once in the whole quiz.


As for why I selected you for Biggest Goat and Player that didn't deserve to be in the game as the public answers, it's because I knew I was in danger and I also knew it was the right answer. While it wasn't my personal opinion, I knew what people were saying about you. I know you felt it too because you'd brought up the goat part a few times to me prior to that.


I was in a bit danger that night and knew that the earth was crumbling around me, so I didn't have the luxury to try and play nice with my answers. I apologize that I hurt your feelings. I never meant to do that. But my back was up against a corner and I needed to find a way to save myself.

[Sherri]

Hey Aurora! So firstly, let's focus on my selection of you as the person who does not deserve to be in the game. Obviously I was really trying to win this challenge since I hadn't won one yet, so I was being as strategic as possible with my answers. You'll notice that I did not answer you as either of the answers to the first question about goats. I voted two people I thought other people might pick but I did not select you. When you did end up being the right answer to that question, I reevaluated some of my future answers to try and be more in line with what the group was thinking. So then when Jeff asked who doesn't deserve to be here, I thought the answer most likely was going to be one of the votes that was answered for the first question. I ended up picking you over Shamar because I felt Shamar had more allies around at that point so the group would end up going with you.

As for the person you hope to never interact with, I thought that was the most brutal question. The others were pretty game related and this felt personal. I've said it before but I've been genuine about wanting to catch up with all of you post-game. And as you said yourself, you have to pick someone. For me, it all came down to strategy again and you had unfortunately been picked for some of the less than great answers (goat, undeserving), so felt like people might have picked you for this again. I'm sorry that it was such a difficult round for you with all of that and then your eventual boot.

I look forward to seeing you tomorrow for further questions!

[Matt]

Hi Aurora. I first want to apologize for calling you a 'gamebot' on the merge parchment. At the time we knew very little about each other and it was my justification for voting you. As the merge went on I was really excited to get to talk to you more and learn things personally. I was committed to working with you and Michael but then things seemed to blow up without my involvement and I took Michael's side because I had been with him since day 1 and I was surprised you turned your back on the deal. I understood why you did it, you were always thinking (cue the round before with you almost not wanting to vote Liz).

In terms of your question:
Matt - You selected me the biggest goat, the player that does not deserve to be in the game, the player with the most enemies in the jury, the player you hope to never interact with again after the game, the player most likely to stab you in the back, and the player who mistakenly thinks they are in control of the game. Wowza! It's amazing I'm still even speaking to you, yet here we are. Based on the aforementioned responses, you may disagree with this, but I would argue that am not, in fact, an idiot. I am well aware that this challenge is meant to stir the pot. It is meant to create tension and liven the game for the lurkers. In fact, this challenge came just one day after the hosts started prodding the cast with hot irons, telling the iconic and somewhat threatening tale of Courtney and the Scooby-Doo Reveal. Sneaky, sneaky (but effective). I also realize that you have to pick someone. For example, I picked Alexis to "never interact with again after the game" because she wasn't present at the challenge, and I was trying to minimize hurt feelings. Beyond that, exposing your answers publically made you think and act strategically. It's a messy, unfair game; I get that. But excellent for lurker ratings! So, here is my question for each of you: What the fuck? Seriously, though, explain why you selected me for each answer that you did. I'm not looking for apologies. I am just asking what was the strategic or personal impetus for selecting the answers you did.

Okay so for context this entire round I was like wow at the amount people were overplaying and so I kind of sat back and observed how people were lying so it would help me in future rounds. I'm not trying to say that from an arrogant position or a holier-than-thou position. Just from a good grief position at what was going on. At the start of the round I wanted me you Michael Sherri Stephannie to hook up and boot somebody that we could agree on but it wasn't in the cards. So as the day went on I just bought into Hope's narrative about you and Michael playing all sides and making end game plans without me (even though I never shared our F3 with others I was sketched out by what was going on that round and was like okay I guess Aurora isn't being genuine about this). The plan was to boot you if you lost immunity so I kind of loaded all the shit answers onto you to also try to appease Hope and Alexis who were both spearheading this plan even though I was sketched the fuck out by both of them this round at this point (at least in my perspective, I could have the details wrong obviously! Limited information channels that are noisy and leaky). My answers were strategic so that I appeared more trustworthy to Hope in particular so she would think I was in her back pocket for future rounds. Like I said in my OS, this was a kind of important read because Hope went on to shift some of her plans based on the challenge answers (that's at least what she told me).

Biggest goat: I put you so I wouldn't have to put someone else like Shamar who I envisioned being in the game longer. I voted Jessica because I was the least involved with her.
Not deserving to be in the game: I put you here because I didn't want to rock the boat with other players who would be left.
Player never to interact with again: It was just convenient for me to put you here for moving forward in the game.
Player most likely to stab you in the back: I put this one because it seemed relevant based on you going back on our F3 deal so early in the game.
Player who thinks they are in control: I wanted to put Hope but I put you instead because I thought Hope would flip out and I wanted to be in the game with her for more rounds for strategy reasons.

Clearly I had horrific jury management with these questions. I felt a bit justified based off you going behind my back that round strategically. In no way was this meant to be a personal attack. I actually really like you personally even if you don't like me and that's why I was kind of taken aback by how the round unfolded over the day. It seemed like a missed opportunity.

[Aurora]

Thanks to all three of you. The question I asked was a little bit of an "I WANT YOU TO TAKE OUT YOUR TEETH DAWN." But I got the short end of that challenge, so I felt justified to use it for a bit of humor for my fans (BROSKI NATION!). And in the end, the way you responded really did help me in my decision-making. Looking forward to this evening.

And yes, Tai is right. I made up the lie about him suggesting an all-newbie alliance so y'all would target him before me. Who'da thunk?