New Episode 5: #vengeance

[Joaquin]

No one is throwing at me in this challenge LOL. Sierra and Sierra Dawn (who Sierra has calmed down) want to eliminate Fabio or Na'Onka this round so they're throwing at them. Fabio and Na'Onka are throwing back at those two as well as Steph. Matty isn't throwing and at the moment neither am I. Steph "randomizing" it bothers me because I can obviously get hit but more importantly I don't think it's random at all. She may still want to target Matty or I and intends to make sure neither of us are immune. We'll see but right now the only other person with 0 points is Steph. I can't hit her until she "randomly" hits me though because that could start a war but a little retaliation shouldn't do anything. I want this immunity badly and I want to be able to go to Treasure Trove again. It shouldn't matter too much if I do lose though because Sierra Dawn is not winning immunity and that's really all that matters. Strategically, voting out Brandon was best because it avoids a tie at F6 thanks to my vote switcher but I felt shitty doing it the way I did because I was convinced I was voting Sierra Dawn out and switched last minute. I'm gonna make up for that this round. Step 1 is to win the challenge, step 2 is to find some good stuff (hopefully the idol) on Treasure Trove, and step 3 is to take out Sierra Dawn. It should be easy but it never seems to be which is why I want immunity.

[Joaquin]

Ok time for a long update! So last round it was clear to me that Sierra Dawn had to go. I wanted her out at F7 for a while not and originally pushed it back to 8 because she was spreading my name around and stuff but ultimately I panicked and switched to Brandon which was smarter because I guaranteed there would be no tie at 6 (thanks to my vote switcher) even if Steph flips. So I started to set things in motion before the challenge. Nay and Fabio were obviously down because it kept them in the game and they had tried to vote her out the round before. The goal of the round was going to be to convince Matty. Something that annoys me about Matty is that he struggles to play a game that he can be proud of. He admitted going into the round that it was best for his game to take out Sierra Dawn this round. She spread his name around with mine, is ultimately loyal to Sierra and Steph (her ideal F3 she's announced multiple times) over either of us, and is a HUGE threat to win for the pure fact that it would be "comical." The issue is that he is very close to Sierra outside of these games which is great but he has trouble separating that from the actual game. Instead of doing what’s best for his game, he was heavily leaning towards voting out Nay because “Sierra would be mad if he voted out Sierra Dawn.” It’s understandable for her to be mad because she is very close to Sierra Dawn (and I think has intentions to go to the end with her but I’ll get into that in a minute) but for him to go out of his way to not only keep her in the game but HER ALLIES in just so she won’t get mad when it’s best for his game to boot them is a little ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong. I love Sierra and I consider her a really great friend but I can separate an online game from a friendship and that’s something Matty seems to have trouble doing sometimes.

Anyway, we go into the challenge and one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen happens. Matty and I are unscathed for the first half of the challenge. Sierra and Sierra Dawn are throwing at Nay and Fabio (who they assume will be the targets) and Nay and Fabio are throwing at Sierra and Sierra Dawn (who they assume will be the targets. Meanwhile, Matty and I skate by untouched. Ahhhh the benefits of playing the middle. Then something that really pissed me off for a few reasons happened. Steph started throwing at Matty and I saying she was using random.org to pick targets. Call it paranoia but I don’t think there was anything random about it. I think she sees exactly what we’re doing in the middle and I think she knows that we’re huge threats. She not as in trouble as the other four potentially are because she’s a goat at this point so she can see what we’re doing. It’s kinda like in Big Brother All Stars how no one can see what Chilltown is doing because they like Chilltown and are too focused on everyone else and keeping themselves safe. Meanwhile, Chicken George (the All Star always taken as a joke) is the only one who figures out exactly what Will and Boogie are doing and says so but of course no one listens. I feel like that’s what Steph is doing right now. She knows she’s safe, a goat, and all the other stuff Chicken George was so she can just sit back, analyze the game, and see exactly what I (and Matty to a degree) am doing. Anyway, she starts hitting me, I just hit back a few times and keep the score even, and eventually win on a technicality that makes it so that I took 0 hits. LOL what a perfect ending.

Now came the Treasure Trove decision. Basically, I wasn’t taking Steph or Sierra Dawn for obvious reasons. I was taking Matty. My three choices for the second spot were Sierra, Fabio, and Nay. Taking Fabio would be a huge risk because it would raise a lot of flags and, quite frankly, I don’t really trust him enough atm to have powers. So I ruled him out. Now, I can take Nay under the guise of “paying her back” but I don’t really want her getting powers tbh lol. I also don’t want Sierra to think ANYTHING at all is out of the ordinary. With some of my plans, she needs to think I’m 100% on her side, especially if I was taking out Sierra Dawn this round. There was a chance she got the idol which could’ve been dangerous but I took the risk. Nay seemed a little pissed but laughed it off later and said she was just playing up her character. She didn’t tell me her guesses until after Sierra Dawn went but at least now I can rule them out. Plus, all of the guesses I’ve taken at it, Fabio’s guesses, and then Matty’s and Sierra’s. I have to be close unless I was right the first time and it’s 11th voted out and not 11th place in which case no one is getting it anyway lol.

The rest of the round was dedicated to tribal. With 3 votes on Sierra Dawn, I had to convince Matty to vote for her to ensure that we had a majority. I need my vote switcher for F6 regardless of what I decide to do because it makes me the guaranteed swing vote either way so I had to keep it, meaning Matty had to vote for SD. It was a long conversation that lasted for a very long time. Basically, I’ve been a BIT too forward with my plans to him and he knows that I don’t intend to go to the end with Sierra. I know I can’t beat her because she’s been the biggest target all game. If she gets to the end, she wins handily. And the problem with that comes back to him not being able to separate friendships from games. He knows that he can’t beat her either but doesn’t want to be in any way responsible for her going. By voting out SD, he leaves the door open for me to take her out next round and knows that is what he is doing. So I argue a bunch of other things and this is what he keeps coming back to. He knows both Sierras going is best for his game but refuses to betray her. So I only see one option left. I basically make a deal with him. I promised that if he voted out Sierra Dawn, I wouldn’t vote out Sierra at F6. He obviously liked that but also knows I lie in these games. A LOT. And so he very fairly didn’t trust me. But I explained it like this. It’s like Schrodinger’s Cat. You put a cat in a box with a sealed vile of poison set to release at any time. Until you open the box, you really don’t know if the cat is dead or alive. I can make Matty all the promises in the world but until he opens the box next round, he won’t know if I’m telling the truth or not. But he does know that he isn’t directly responsible anymore. I basically added a plate of cookies to Schrodinger’s Cat. He put the cat in the box for a half hour in exchange for a plate of cookies. He took a gamble for a good reward (Sierra Dawn going) and could very well walk away with the cookies and his cat but he won’t know until that half hour is up. Until we open the box.

That pretty much convinced and though he was still debating up until the deadline his mind seemed fairly made up the whole time and it was just a matter of actually writing her name down. Anyways, I decided earlier in the day on Sunday to talk to Sierra about my decision. It’d be silly to blindside her with it. So I go into the group chat with her and Matty and ask if we’re all squared away on the vote. Now Sierra is well aware that I was not happy at all about what had happened with Sierra Dawn over the past two rounds (me being targeted and Ian going instead of Brandon). She asks if it’s Nay and I say that I thought it was SD. Now I knew she would do this. She refuses to vote against Sierra Dawn because they’re friends. I think it goes a little beyond that because it also burns a jury vote and gets rid of her safety net (which she needs because she doesn’t trust me). Which is fine. I’m not asking her too. Just be fine with Matty and I doing it. Of course, she sulks for a little while and pretty much ignores me rather than just talking about it. When we do talk about it, we both make very logical points on both ends and everything makes perfect sense. She doesn’t want to vote SD because it would be bad for her game. Understandable. The problem is that she wants me to vote for Nay which I’m just not going to do because that’s bad for my game. Ultimately, we finally accepted what was obvious from the start. We’re not going to be voting together this round. Matty becomes the swing vote and makes a little speech that makes it clear he is leaning towards SD. I talk to him a little more privately to ensure it and figure it should all be good. Sierra has ignored me since which is fine. It sucks that it has to be her reaction but it is what it is. Matty was still hesitant the rest of the night up until the deadline. But I just keep reassuring him and ultimately let him make his decision but tell him to at least let me know so I can use my vote switcher if I have to. I think it helped him decide that way he did because he wanted me to save my switcher.

Sierra Dawn talked to me at one point but I pretty much just evaded her with “well Sierra wants to vote for Nay” and “ok” when she tells me her plan, never agreeing to what she wants to do. Of course, she accepts it and ends out convo after 5 minutes because the only convos we ever really have are the 5 minute ones before votes to reaffirm what’s gonna happen. And my plan goes off without a hitch! SD goes. She seemed to take it really well too which is always nice to see tbh. I respect her a lot for going out that way.

Anyways, that’s the round. Wait, what’s that? You want to know what’s in the box? Ok, ok, I’ll tell you. But don’t tell Matty. You see, what Matty didn’t realize is that there is a hole at the bottom of the box. A small hole, but big enough for a cat. When Matty wasn’t looking, I swapped the cat out with a lone picture. A truly terrifying picture that Matty should never lay his eyes on. A picture so horrible that Matty won’t be able to take it. You see when that half hour is up, he would have had his cookies and he’ll still have his cat, but none of it will be worth it when he sees that picture. When the F6 tribal council rolls around, he’ll open the box but he won’t find Sierra dead or alive. The risk of Schrodinger’s Cat is never worth it. You gamble with way worse than you ever imagine. Because, you see, he won’t find the cat in the box at all. All he’ll find is this:

[Joaquin]

UGHHHHH! That was supposed to be posted last round when I originally talked to Matty and decided to do this. It was too perfect to alter lol so just read it as if it was posted at the end of last round. I will say that when I decided to vote out Matty this round (during last round when I promised him I wouldn't vote out Sierra), I wasn't sure if I'd actually have the balls to do it but with Sierra winning immunity (and NOT TAKING ME TO THE TROVE), I really have little choice. So yay to dramatic confessionals being fulfilled!

[Sierra]

savage

[Sierra]

I like the dramatic flair though

[Steph]

i guaranteed there would be no tie at 6

honestly your downfall arc is beautiful