[Joaquin Souberbielle]

Congratulations on surviving the first night! And no tribal until Sunday...but there is still work to be done.

1. First Impressions - we all have 'em. Who were you excited to see when you got on the beach? Who were you not excited to see? Who did you have no idea existed?

2. More First Impressions - after a night of socializing, who has impressed you? Who do you want to work with? Who do you absolutely not want to work with?

3. Opening Twist - were there any intros from the other tribes' dossier that stood out to you? And do you have any plans for your newly-minted tribe member?

[Garrett]

I survived the first night?! What an impressive feat

1. The two people I was most excited to see were Hannah and Tai! You can group Tai into the "people who I was surprised exists" category too because I literally can't believe you all managed to bring him back. Like, I don't remember too much about him but I remember the night I went he voted for me and I voted for him along with Spencer. So I guess there's a bit of revenge possibility, but to be fair I would have voted out Socotra Garrett too, so no hard feelings lol
Like I mentioned in my pre-season confessional, Aurora, Liz, Stephanie, and Jess all have bad blood with me. I've screwed all four of them in the infamous Rematch 11: Last Chance Kitchen, and I screwed three of them again in Excursion 1: No Subtitle Provided. So there's a lot of folks out here who want my head on a pole, but I think it's going well so far. A lot of people seem to want a do-over, which is never a bad thing as far as I'm concerned.
As for the other five players, I was okay with Jed and Wardog and Rocker, and I didn't really have an opinion on Stephannie or Missy, though as a fan I was just so happy to see Missy and Liz reunited again

2. I hesitate to call this a group of all-stars, because it's probably closer to no-stars, but we do all play like people who have done this before. That's really really good for me, because as you know I've got like massive Stranded ADHD and every ten seconds I break out into a cold sweat with half a dozen diabolical schemes which I'm just itching to implement... so thank goodness this season doesn't have the usual 'tell me about yourself' socializing, and instead we are more focused on alliances, strategy, and targets from the get-go. Even still, I literally can't describe how much I want to just call somebody out publicly for fun, or blow up a game or two. But I know that fun Garrett for two days will result inevitably with me as the first boot, and I don't want to disappoint anyone. If I can lay low at least until swap, then you'll all get more fun Garrett for a longer period of time. Can I lay low that long? No, no, no I can not!! Woo keeps sitting me down as a therapist and giving me breathing exercises so that I don't flip out. I'll attach a picture from our last session:



So yeah, so far so good. I've got two potential alliances that I'm forming: one with Aurora, Hannah, Jed, Jessica, and Tai, and another (which I've deemed the Drunk Conductor Alliance since it's a massive train wreck) that contains Missy, Rocker, both Stephs, and Wardog. Eddie is a nonentity so far, and technically the DC Alliance hasn't come into fruition yet, so I'd break down the tribe as a group of 6 and then a whole lotta 1s. We'll probably all come to a consensus for the first boot though, which is looking to be Missy unfortunately - I really want her to go far since she's super entertaining and I want this season to be the best of all time, but also if I go hard to save her I'd screw myself up in the long run, plus she doesn't seem to be as active as I was hoping/expecting.

3. Dude, not at all. The dossiers were pretty similar, which is maybe the case for our tribe too but I thought more would do like I did with the Keurig King, and we'd have some cross-tribal chatter. I want to ask Eddie more about the tribe's reaction to that, because I'm worried they all wrote it off completely and nobody is considering throwing :/
Or, maybe, they're 1000% on board and just want to keep me over here for intel!! Yeah, let's hope lol
I don't have any plans for Eddie but I would love to get some info out of him. But like Wardog said there's probably nothing to tell so far, and Eddie/Liz will get nothing but burned by this. I'm really rooting for Liz to survive and be this massive underdog, since that's always fun to watch.
But overall the dossier twist is still just beginning as far as I'm concerned. I predict there will be a few more times where they come up, and lots more strategy to be had. I only hope I'm around long enough to see what...

[Loveita Adams]

The weasel was a good touch.

[Garrett]

Wowww I do not remember the openings of Socotra or Revenge being this boring

You know who's been getting on my nerves though? Missy! I keep trying to give her a chance to push the vote on someone else, but she is entirely unwilling to say a name. Like I know good players tend to play that way, but, lol, none of us out here are good players - so let's all be a little more open.

You know what I think - it's the twist. We've all been designated "Losers at War", and with that comes an unrelenting desire to prove ourselves. It's making players like Wardog, Missy, Steph, Stephannie, and me play much more grounded early games. Which I suppose makes sense (I can't get mad at anyone for playing the same game as I am), but I feel bad for the viewers. One of my three goals going into the season was to make it the most entertaining season in Stranded history. And so far I feel like I'm failing. There hasn't been a single public call-out, fight, or drama of any kind. Even this coin twist, which should cause drama, is falling into the same boring distribution that we saw last season (and we'll probably see it on the other tribe too). Ughhh I know I need to play it cool, but it's like I've got two weights on other side of a balance beam; they're strategy, and entertainment; and I feel I'm giving way too much weight to strategy. I want to entertain!!! Ughhhh, I really don't know what to do.

[Garrett]

You know what, I had three goals coming into the season, and you better believe I'm completing one of them tonight.

My three goals were:
1. Make this the most entertaining season in Stranded history
2. Find an idol
3. Win

Guess which one I'm going for

Yeah, I'm going to find an idol if it's the last thing I do. I've set an alarm for 1:30 am tomorrow, at which point I will work until the crack of dawn to find it. Already, I've entered in every proper noun on all Tuamotus Wikipedia pages, as well as every bird species, mythological figure, and all 100 atolls of the Tuamotus. But I know that if I'm going to 0-clue this, I'll need to enter more than just the 400 passwords I've tried so far.

At 1:30, I won't have to worry about people being online and spotting me in the idol thread, which has kept me from going all-out thus far. It might take an hour, maybe two, maybe ten, but I am going to be successful.

And, since I want to make this entertaining, I'll send live updates of my half-asleep struggle all night long. You should know that I'm a crazy dreamer, so when I get pulled out of my dreams by an unexpected 1:30 alarm, it'll put me on one of two paths. Either I'll be so out of it that I'll send a bunch of messages to people which I won't remember the next morning, or strangely enough, I'll be incredibly productive. Hopefully it'll be the latter option tonight, but I guess part of the fun is the uncertainty

Tune in at 1:30 CST to see Garrett find the first idol of his Stranded career! It's gonna be a good one.

[Garrett]

Wow, Eddie is such a nice guy. I really feel bad about giving him all the rules only to then turn around and blindside him. But, if he's going to go home no matter what, I'd love to get his coins (and maybe convince him to send me his idol before tribal )

[Garrett]

Alright, I'm up an hour earlier than expected. That gives me another hour to hunt. You know, I've had premonitions before, and I think I might be having one now. Basically, I woke up, and the first thought on my mind for no reason at all was the Stranded in Tanzania tribal where Christian went home. I don't know why - what a weird thing to think about, but I don't know, it felt important somehow. And then it hit me. All this time, I've been using Tuamotus to guide my search. The Tuamotus Wiki page, Tuamotus travel guides, Tuamotus-only links. When all along, I should have focused on French Polynesia!

Thank you Christian for being French. When I find the idol tonight, I'll name it after you ;)

[Garrett]

Over an hour and 230 guesses in, and nothing so far. I'm going to make a few fake group chats in the Chat Rooms to amuse myself and then it's back to work.

[Garrett]

Still no luck

I think it's been over 2 hours now but I've lost track. I know I've made over 500 guesses so far, and I bet that's pretty terrible. Also, I didn't expect this to hurt so much. My neck hurts, my wrist hurts, my eyes and head really hurt, but most of all my pocket hurts because it doesn't have an idol in it. So let's keep going.

[Dean]

Thank you Christian for being French. When I find the idol tonight, I'll name it after you ;)

pas moi?

[Garrett]

I'll name the second idol I find after you ;)

[Garrett]

:((( I hate to give up, but it's been three hours and I've run out of guesses. It sucks because I feel like I've been so close so many times but just never quite got it. Oh well, I'm still determined to find it, but just maybe not tonight after all.

If there's one bright side, I now know way more about Tuamotus than any human being ever needs to know about Tuamotus, so if I'm ever on Jeopardy and one of the categories is Tuamotus Trivialities, I am set!!

[Garrett]

DAY 3

You know, I was about to start off this confessional and say that things are going great - Big Hero Six is completely trustworthy, and I might even have a chance to get both Eddie's idol and coins out of this first vote.

But... is it just me or is something fishy going on? I like to use the 'who's online' feature a lot because it allows me to see when someone is looking for an idol, or whatnot. So, this morning, I'm refreshing it every so often, and I notice that Jessica is composing a private message. That's interesting, I think to myself, she's probably about to send our group something...

but then she doesn't. And then Jed is composing a private message, and she's viewing one. And I'm still sent nothing. And then I see Hannah composing a message, and Jed and Jessica both viewing one. Am I crazy, or is there an alliance without me?

Now look - my gut is telling me to make a public callout thread, just to clear the air a bit. But I cannot do that. I have got to play this cool, even though every part of me is anxious and afraid. Furthermore, there's only three people. And they all are members of Big Hero Six. More likely than not, they're talking about moves further down the line. They're probably trying to determine the right time for the three of them to jump ship. What they're probably not discussing is how to blindside Garrett in the first vote.

So, I think I need to just keep an eye on this, but not do anything drastic yet Today I should just focus on my other, less dangerous but just as exciting plan to manipulate Eddie into giving me his idol. I'm naming that Operation T-Bird after an event which, if I remember correctly, happened back in Stranded in Mongolia(?). Basically I seem to recall T-Bird convincing Ethan or someone naïve to give her his idol. And look, as villainous as this would be (I mean, I've been many things in Stranded but I've never been truly evil - probably the most dastardly thing I've done was scamming Josh and Tanner out of coins in Excursion), at least if I pull this move off, I'm in good company.

So that's day three for you. Getting an idol or two, and desperately fighting every urge to blow up whatever tf is going on in Jed, Jessica, and Hannah's private DMs.

[Cochran]

What's up man?

I'm rooting for you.

[Garrett]

Dude Cochran?! Long time no see dude

Man, I will make you so proud. Already we've got some two-timers out here trying to rile me up, but I am a mature, subdued individual now, so I'm biting my tongue until it falls off. Hope you're doing well, and I look forward to joining you in the Winners Circle!

[Garrett]

This has been the longest weekend of my lifeeeee. Honestly I wish I was over on the Fans tribe with Liz, because then I wouldn’t have to be walking on eggshells so much. It’s like these people (and by these people, I emphasize Jessica, who claims she’s not telling people not to trust me but Eddie’s clearly heard that from somebody!) are so sure I’ll do something crazy, that my very silence has convinced them that I’ve got something up my sleeves! And I really don’t! I’m really on my best behavior - it’s a maddening reputation, and I’m telling you right now it’s only a matter of time before these eggshells crack.

Here’s my biggest worry: if Jessica (or maybe even Aurora or Stephanie, but they’re giving me more of a chance) makes it to the swap, she will taint my image to every single Fan over there. And then, just like that, I won’t be able to win. I can’t overcome this perception. The only thing I can do is lose the perception entirely.

Soooo, I think I need to blindside Jess. I know, I know, by blindsiding her then that’s actually proving her distrust to be right... but, dude, it’s a cycle. I can’t prove I’m trustworthy if everyone will always think I’m untrustworthy, and everyone will always think I’m untrustworthy unless I break my trust with Jess. I can’t even convey what’s going through my head right now: so many worries, so many questions, so many plans that are begging to be unleashed; I feel like Melinda with her mannequins, when what I want to convey is the Melinda that won.

So, I need to give up on the Eddie idol plan. The more I push for that, the more I push him away. We just need to vote him out tonight, and preferably win the immunity. But if we lose, I might need to get to work on a blindside. I hate to do it because I like Jess, but I asked her straight up if she could every *truly* believe I’ve changed, and she said no. I can’t play with people who inherently think I’m dangerous.

But of course Jess isn’t my only worry. Stephanie, Aurora, Jed, and Hannah all have the same perception if I had to guess. And, if my suspicions are right, both the Survivor Will guy and Aaron’s brother are playing this season too, and they might have preconceived notions also. I guess I don’t know for sure that they’re playing, but my gut says at least one of them is, and looking at the dossiers they could be numbers 5 (Will) and 6 (Lil Aaron).

Anyway, those are just some of the dozens and dozens of thoughts racing through my head at the moment! It’s such a scary game... but, I’m a big fan of growth arcs, so hopefully this is the beginning of my rise to confidence, safety, and security.

[Garrett]

Ooh side note, I love the Excursion badge! Now I just need my draft psychic one

[Garrett]

What can I say about Stephanie without getting too riled up? She's just such a rude person. In the Discord, in Rematch, Excursion, and now Tuamotus. I tell her she should post something in the tribe chat, and then she does, and then she tells me to SHUSH?? Like, admittedly, I should've given her more time, but everyone says this about Steph, so it's not like this is some first occurrence. And was the all-caps necessary?

What a loser. Can't wait to move her up ahead of Missy, Jessica, and every other person on the tribe for my hit list. And when I vote her out, you best believe "SHUSH" will cap off that vote