[Jeff Probst]

This is Stephannie'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 Stephannie. In-fighting amongst the Final 3 should be reserved for the Live Final Tribal Council on Sunday.

Stephannie, 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.

[Stephannie]

Hello, finalists! Whatever happens, this is a great ending. Y'all did well. Each of you fought hard for nearly twenty rounds, and I'm not going to question anyone's agency. I'm not going to lambast any of you for being "a follower," or a goat, or anything like that. Additionally, I had to work late yesterday - what else is new - and some jurors have already touched on what I would have asked.

No matter. TikTok has brought me through many long slogs: it has turned easy days into long ones too, with its sheer power of distraction. Why did I download that app in the new year? A mistake tbh. But as an homage to my newfound addiction of 2021, today's question will be lighthearted. I will simply ask y'all to react to a TikTok. Before we get into that, however, I'll address the three of you. Feel free to respond with as much detail as you'd like, or as little as you feel is necessary! Totally up to you.

Matt

First of all, I get it! I understand your motivations at Final Five. Honestly? Your Opening Statement was great in some places: I was prepared to grill you a bit harshly, but you've softened my outlook on Wednesday night and our relationship overall. That said, there's many shades to you and I worry I'm not seeing them all clearly.

At tribals, you rarely posted a goodbye message. You addressed this in your opener and I can't challenge your reality. I believe your justification. It still hurt though, when I went back to read my boot thread and you had nothing to say. The vote didn't matter because I understood the decision from your perspective. But we played so much of the game together, and that night felt cold.

I'll push back on a few things, actually. You appealed to me emotionally throughout the game. Which is fine and great, because that's also how I approach things and it's what I'm receptive to. But there's now a disconnect between what I experienced, and the presentation I'm seeing in this FTC.

Things like wanting to outlast the opposing alliance for personal reasons because they left us out of the whispering at F14. Things like needing Hope out so strongly at F6. Things like leaving sassy comments on your votes. So I'll just be upfront and clear about this: my biggest struggle right now is viewing your game holistically. Those moments, among others and many positive ones too, felt authentic to me. But you're pitching a strategic approach and that you separated game from personal, which has disoriented me a little bit.

Michael

So I love the petty behavior and the fighting. Folks find you condescending, and I understand why, but I also love it because I can tell it's all in good fun. You know what? I was ~The Villain~ of my original season according to Probst, and I spent years in denial about that. Sorry. I shouldn't be meta about this current season before it ends because that's a bit tacky, but yeah. You have nothing to worry about with me when it comes to drama, and I told you that in-game too. Even if it feels like some of the theatrics were "for the cameras" and the best villains are the delusional ones, I still respect it and I love how much of a shit-stirrer you've been throughout.

Believe it or not, while Sherri and Matt were closer allies strategically... I feel like I connected with you more on a personal level. And I will always love the morning crew!

I thought we had a great relationship early on, and I would have always been down for working together closely. I told you last week too that I never stopped viewing you as an ally. You had better relationships of your own, and that's fine. That's just the reality of the game. You're not out-of-contention for my vote at all, but I feel a bit insignificant to your game after reading your speech. Or that you think I wanted you around and didn't target you because of some sort of manipulation, when in reality I just liked you on a personal level and always had. Please don't take this as an invitation or an excuse to kiss ass. I don't want that, lol. I'm just going over how I'm feeling in this moment.

Sherri

This will probably be the shortest! When it comes to the Opening Statements, yours was the most consistent when it comes to... comparing the Sherri I knew throughout, to the FTC presentation here. I think you've played a great game, though I know I'm going to be biased because you're the only one in that F5 who didn't vote me out.

I feel like there's always going to be a critique, for both of us, about letting Matt get his way at F6. Because we both talked it out and figured Hope was telling the truth. I know you've been grilled about that in a few of these questions already and have had time to respond to that! So I won't harp on it here, and for me it's not a big factor, but if you felt like touching any more on not necessarily being "in control" in those moments then go ahead! Forcing the tie on Matt/Michael so that they couldn't sit here and claim to have controlled the end-game was great though btw, lol

With the two guys I gave them more to respond to. Sorry about that! I feel like we played so much of the game together, I don't really have any lingering questions or issues right now. But in the sake of fairness feel free to respond with whatever you'd like if you feel the need! Because I gave Matt and Michael points to go off of. If there's anything you wish someone's asked by now, etc.

The Question

I don't know what it is about this TikTok, but I could watch it on loop hundreds of times without getting tired of it. There's no better time to force media onto someone than when they need your vote! So here it is:

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMe2gmpcM/

Yes it's from January but I'm still obsessed, and so is TikTok. These bad bitches live in my mind. The trend is to duet the video and put an image for each woman, so like, "guessing their phone cases" or "guessing their coffee order" or "guessing their sexuality" etc. So I'll ask y'all do to that here! But with players from our season. Associate a player in the game to each woman in that TikTok, and yes you can answer yourself or your fellow finalists if you want! And if would be more fun if you kept it to the merge onward, but if any woman screams someone from the pre-jury then go ahead I won't penalize you!

come here girl:
come to the back:
VIP:
drinks on me:
twerking with:
look at those hips:
make me smile:

DON'T GIVE ANY EXPLANATIONS JUST POST THE NAMES AND LET IT BE DONE

And I had a lot to say I guess, but believe it or not my vote is still up for grabs! Keep fighting, y'all. This is a great Final 3 and the jury is super passionate so keep the answers coming and good luck.

[Michael]

You know what? I was ~The Villain~ of my original season according to Probst,

what are you trying to say here?

Kidding, of course. I own my moves and I certainly understand why some people may view me as the villain of the season. That's fair. But I prefer to view myself as the Anti-Villain of the season. I believe I made many strong moves specifically to help my friends and those who always showed loyalty and friendship to me. Even if those moves would occasionally be a bit dark or villainous.

Believe it or not, while Sherri and Matt were closer allies strategically... I feel like I connected with you more on a personal level. And I will always love the morning crew!

I loved The Morning Crew! You always made my workday so much better. It's funny, because I always really liked talking to you and I think we clicked very quickly. I always referred to you as dangerously social because everyone always liked you, and you were very close to being the person to lead the newbie alliance on the first swapped Pukaroa tribe and take Aurora out without even being in the alliance chat!

but I feel a bit insignificant to your game after reading your speech. Or that you think I wanted you around and didn't target you because of some sort of manipulation, when in reality I just liked you on a personal level and always had. Please don't take this as an invitation or an excuse to kiss ass. I don't want that, lol. I'm just going over how I'm feeling in this moment.

I don't think we ever manipulated each other in the game-because I don't think we really needed to try and mess with each other- and we were very real with each other until the final five vote when you were telling me to vote Jess and I obviously voted for you. I think overall we had a very Ross and Rachel "will they or won't they finally get together?" kind of vibe, and while we definitely hooked up a few times during the season, I think we both lost out on never making anything official. I never saw you as a direct threat to me until the end game and I feel like you were the same way. All of our morning chats were never about manipulation or me trying to worm my way in with you, they were just honest and fun conversations.


No matter if I was doing well or if I was hated, you were always there to talk to, and I GREATLY appreciate that, and I hope we'll be able to continue doing that after the season independent of how you vote on jury. But...I hope you're able to take a look at all of the passion, commitment, fun, and excitement that I put into this game and consider voting for me!



To answer your Tik Tok Question:

come here girl: Jessica
come to the back: Matt
VIP: Alexis
drinks on me: Hope
twerking with: Tai
look at those hips: Rocker
make me smile: Stephannie



and as they often say in that small Canadian High School, "Whatever it takes, I know I can make it through!"

[Sherri]

Hey Steph! Happy to see you here and thriving and thank you for all the lovely words. Again, as I said with Alexis, it's probably a better thing that you don't have as much to say to me lol. But we were close so you did see my game and know what I was all about and what we were doing. I will definitely use this chance to talk a bit more about the control though because I think that was important for me in the endgame.

While we did ultimately side with Matt there and let him get his way, I don't think that diminishes the control we had during that round. In fact, I think we had the most control that round because ultimately the pair of us could have sided with the boys or sided with the girls. Both of those sides were going at it and throwing words back and forth. I know it was all pretty chaotic and the pair of us had to kind of find the calm sanctuary to think things through. And we did, like I've mentioned, really go through everything. We compared notes, gave our insight and tried to figure out A) who was telling the truth and B) what we should ultimately do that round. I did feel that you were almost leaning on voting with Hope there so I'm sorry if I pushed you in the other direction too hard. That was probably a better option for you but as I've mentioned, my endgame was going to be a bit tricky either way lol.

Anyway, I just want to reiterate that even if my endgame wasn't perfect, I still held a good amount of control in the game. Even when it came to the F4 because with my challenge win, I feel like I held a lot of power. As the likely favourite to take that out, I was really surprised Michael and Matt didn't work harder to at least talk about options and try and get me onside. If I was going to win the challenge anyway, why not approach me and see what I was thinking? I understand maybe there wasn't full trust there but when it's the F4 and you're so close then I don't see harm in trying. But yes, I did ultimately hold the power to force that tie since I easily could have joined up with them against Jessica. I may not have always had control in this game but I definitely did not give it up easily!

Now to this ever important question! I'm glad you had tiktok to get you through those shitty work days lol this video was so fun and random but here we go.

come here girl: Aurora
come to the back: Hope
VIP: Stephannie
drinks on me: Tai
twerking with: Alexis
look at those hips: Michael
make me smile: Reynold

[Matt]

Matt. First of all, I get it! I understand your motivations at Final Five. Honestly? Your Opening Statement was great in some places: I was prepared to grill you a bit harshly, but you've softened my outlook on Wednesday night and our relationship overall. That said, there's many shades to you and I worry I'm not seeing them all clearly. At tribals, you rarely posted a goodbye message. You addressed this in your opener and I can't challenge your reality. I believe your justification. It still hurt though, when I went back to read my boot thread and you had nothing to say. The vote didn't matter because I understood the decision from your perspective. But we played so much of the game together, and that night felt cold. I'll push back on a few things, actually. You appealed to me emotionally throughout the game. Which is fine and great, because that's also how I approach things and it's what I'm receptive to. But there's now a disconnect between what I experienced, and the presentation I'm seeing in this FTC. Things like wanting to outlast the opposing alliance for personal reasons because they left us out of the whispering at F14. Things like needing Hope out so strongly at F6. Things like leaving sassy comments on your votes. So I'll just be upfront and clear about this: my biggest struggle right now is viewing your game holistically. Those moments, among others and many positive ones too, felt authentic to me. But you're pitching a strategic approach and that you separated game from personal, which has disoriented me a little bit.

Thanks Steph, I appreciate the opportunity to clarify here. I first want to say I'm sorry for the way your vote went down. It was gross and the reason I didn't tell you that I was voting you is because I didn't want you and Sherri to scramble with Jessica or even you go to Michael and try to get Jessica out. I didn't want you in the F4 because I didn't want to go to F3 with you and Sherri both, and Sherri was immune. I also didn't want to go up against you in a tiebreaker at F4 (I thought Michael would always vote with me at F4 so I figured a tie breaker might be coming). You probably figured all this out logically already.

In any event, I'm not super black and white in terms of my identity and that's also something you picked up on by saying that there are many shades to me. I definitely was a gamebot in my decisions but I also am human and things hurt. I was authentic to you in our conversations. I missed you when you were gone. And so I separated the game from the personal but that doesn't mean it didn't hurt. When I said I tried to separate the personal from the game in my OS, I meant separating voting off somebody I really liked vs. somebody who I needed to get rid of to advance my own game.

But I think what you're talking about is things that did seem to affect me personally and drive my game decisions. I guess I would retort that to me these things fall under the competitive atmosphere of playing a game and how I get really heated in the moment about certain things from a game perspective. The instances you talk about are definitely data on that front. I did feel like I was at high school that first F14 round with all the whispering and not being included. That lit a fire under me to be more 'on' in the rounds to come and also gave me more awareness about how things were going with dynamics and relationships. So in that sense the whispers that made me angry from a competitive standpoint also fueled me gamewise. It wasn't like I was like omg these people are horrible people and they are making me cry at bed at night off screen. No it was more like these people are really playing the game and I'm angry I'm not doing as well as them and I need to do better and I'm embarrassing myself. I did really want Hope out at F6 because I was exhausted. But again it was more game exhaustion than I'm personally exhausted and going to bed when I get offline. Also at the F6 I was never going to vote for Michael and I didn't think Jessica was an option; you also weren't an option... so Hope it was (also based on her being unreliable). I hope this helps clarify where I was coming from but looking forward to follow-up period if not. If you're asking if I'm human and if the conversations we had were genuine the answer is yes. I think instances of where we talked about personal feelings a lot were my job interviews, our work, and our sentimentality about Nintendo and other topics, just like how our weekends and days were going. But I did the best I could to separate how I was personally feeling from the game I was playing and the competitive game feelings that brought up in me.

On to your question:
come here girl: Jessica
come to the back: Hope
VIP: Alexis
drinks on me: Tai
twerking with: Shamar
look at those hips: Liz
make me smile: Stephannie

[Stephannie]

Three great answers! Thanks, y'all. And best of luck tonight!

I'm really glad I got to play with each of you.