Confessionals

I can't quite believe I am playing again haha. I have to admit that when I signed up for this I had had a few glasses of wine, but I don't regret it - how could I turn down an opportunity to be in Robbie's last ever game lol.

When I first saw my tribe I absolutely shat myself haha. Quite a few big names and very few people I really felt like I could trust. My absence from the boards has made me forget who I could trust totally if I am honest, but the few people I would have sided with right off the bat (e.g. CaptainJimmy) were on the other tribes. Closer inspection proved to more fruitful though:

sweet_solitude99 - was in BettisBoy Vanuatu I believe, my first ever game, and she was one of the few women I really liked. I would really like to work with her again, but she is yet to reply to my messages.
kyogre123 - we've semi-worked together in various mystery games and I have admiration for him, but I know he's a big name so I'm not sure what to do about it.
JB_is_awesome - I 'mentored' him in Dino's Liechtenstein so we chatted a little, but we're not close. We have been in lots of games together, but I know him to be rather sneaky. Very unsure of how to proceed here.
punkrockprincess07 - Jessica was also in my first ever game and absoutely destroyed me. I would love to work with her though, if she would be up for it.
Spooky33 - I have lost track of how many games Spooky and I have been in together and we have never alligned. I don't see that changing now haha, and if I am honest I would say that he is my first target because I don't feel like there is any connection between us. He's a big name though so ditching him will be hard.
StraightLoonz - I know very little about this guy, which makes me a little wary. Allie or enemy?
DanaShelbyChancey - Approached her because she seems newish (compared to some of the others anyway). She seems a little out of it, but I kind of like that. I'm thinking potential allie lol.
Arik2745 - I cannot for the life of me remember if Arik and I fell out or if we worked well together in the past. Something tells me that both may be true. I haven't approached him yet because of this uncertainty.
Case36 - Not a clue about this lady, but I think she may be gone next anyway, so not sure whether to bother getting to know her :p

All in all I feel OK about this game at the minute. I retired from playing because I couldn't spare the time and that is still vry much true, so I don't have high hopes for my chances of winning. I'd like to go as far as possible though, and I think if I make merge I may have a chance of making jury because people will see my partial inactivity as unthreatening. I guess only time will tell.

Glad to have you back Stevie! Good luck!

Haha thanks man. I don't have particularly high hopes for myself :p

Well 3 rounds have come and gone and I'm still here so I am doing better than I had expected. I actually like my tribe a lot. We're active for the most part and we're honest with each other - I wonder how long that will last once the less active people are voted out though.
I don't have any proper allies to speak of. I've mentioned briefly to Jessica, Henry and JB that I'll watch their back if they watch mine, but there is no formal arrangement in place. If it were up to me I would side with Justin, Jessica, Arik and Henry, but I don't know whether to bring it up yet.
Dana and Case are beginning to do my head in though - they struggle with even the simplest task. They ask really obvious questions, even when the answer is written in plain English on the thread, and have difficulty understanding the most basic of rules. It's a little frustrating.

I don't know if my tribe don't talk about alliances or just don't talk about them with me. It makes me nervous haha. I don't think my vote against Case helped me if I'm honest. I promised JB I wouldn't vote for him so I voted against Case. I didn't know he'd do the same and persuade Arik to as well. Now it looks as though I was part of a flip attempt
Who can I trust?! lol

We've just merged! I am very scared haha. I was just starting to feel kind of comfortable in our tribe, but now we're all mixed in together. John messaged me a few rounds ago asking if we wanted to combine with tribe Zwanzig to eliminate the Esreem guys once we merged, but he has now been voted out. I don't know whether to message Esreem and see if they want to eliminate the old Zwanzig members - I think they are probably the most dangerous now that we have merged...

Never drink wine before strategising. If anyone were to ask me my number one tip for new players - that would be it!
I've had a couple of glasses tonight and it is making it impossible to form a rational idea in my head

I've been thinking about my future here, and I am 99% sure that it doesn't involve the old Vingt tribe. I am pretty sure that they are keeping me around because I currently vote with them, but I think when it gets a bit further on I will be the first in their group of expendables (followed closely by Case, etc.). We are quickly losing favour with the other tribes too and if rumours are to be believed and Lindsay goes tonight - I really hope she doesn't cause she's such a sweetheart - then I think all bets are going to be off.

Cindy has offered me an alternative deal, but I don't know how much I can trust her either. It's so difficult lol. She's shown me messages from Arik saying that he doesn't trust me, and that I've lied about my vote before in this game - which I haven't. I'm seriously considering jumping from this sinking ship before I'm either pushed or I go down with it.

I may as well do a little cast round up, it helps to focus my thoughts God knows I need to, this many players in a merge = clusterfuck.

Alrmw29 - Kathy approached me saying that she wanted to work with me and wanted me to trust her, but that she didn't think I ever would because of stuff that has happened in the past. She's right to an extent, in that I will never want to go to the finals with her in this game, but that's not because I don't trust her, it's because she will win if she makes it there. Kathy is one of the people who wins by reputation. She has played brilliantly in some games and so people think she plays brilliantly in every game. I have seen her win against people who outplayed her by a country mile lol. I do not understand why no-one is mentioning her name to go home soon! I can only assume she is working the social angle - good work pet!
Arik2745 - I like Arik and I really wanted to work with him in this game, but from what I have heard it doesn't seem as though he has factored me in to his plans, so I'm going to have to find alternative routes if I can.
CaptainJimmy18 - I really like Jimmy I'd love to go to the end with him, but I need to get a bit deeper in first. He's never going to agree to work with me right off the bat.
Case36 - I knew so little about Case coming into this, but I managed to work out that she is a) pretty inactive and b) incredibly disloyal. She is never ever ever going to win, but she will sure as hell pop up about 5 minutes before you think you've got it in the bag to shit on your parade. I wanted her gone in the tribe stages and I really wish we had ditched her before now. I'm 99% sure she flipped on the first vote.
EnnJaySee_84 - I don't dislike Neil as much as other people seem to, but I can't afford to work with him. We've spoken a little and I've had to pretend I am potentially willing to go with him, but I think that would be suicide. He actually does remarkably well for someone who is so publically berated lol.
Fusioncode - no comment as I know nothing at all about this person.
Gizmo44 - Lacey is a cool girl and we've started speaking more in the last few votes. I need to put more work in here before I can decide anything.
homecomingguardking - Mark added me on skype at merge, but before we had a chance to talk at all I was told to vote for him and was then told he was trying to get people to vote for me. Someone that plan switched to Dana, but as the vote showed if it had stayed me I would be gone now. Not entirely sure what made him target me though considering I'm not a big name and we've never spoke.
imsexyniknowit - Cindy has really stepped up her conversations with me and is either completely genuine in her offers, or is playing me like a fiddle. I'm almost inclined to believe the second option sadly lol. She has offered me a F3 deal (she wants it with either Lacey or Jimmy) and I've told her I am down, but I need to look more into it before I genuinely commit to anything. My fate in the next couple of votes depends entirely on this girl I think. If she is screwing with me then I'll be gone tonight haha.
kyogre123 - Henry is a complete enigma to me. I like him and respect him a lot as a player, but I don't think he would say the same about me. If I am honest I think this entire game he has been stringing me along, giving me just enough info so that I feel involved, but never volunteering anything that wasn't totally necessary. I think if we properly committed to an alliance at the beginning of a game sometime then we could work really well together. I don't think this game is it though lol.
LadyJ47 - I haven't spoken to Lady at all in this game and I haven't really heard her name mentioned at all. For such a big name to go unnoticed it either means she is not that invested or she is playing a cracking UTR game.
Mikey_Elite - I want to like Mikey a lot, but his sass just isn't my style lol. I'm really glad he stayed over Matty though because I was absolutely disgusted at the way he spoke to Mikey. I think if he made finals he would win for comedy alone. He reminds me a lot of classic old school players like Angie.
nuStevieMc - well this guy is just fantastic, I hope he wins
punkrockprincess07 - Jess is a lot like Henry for me in this game. I like her and respect her, but I don't think I've ever really been considered as a viable option for her endgame. That sadly makes her someone I need to compete against instead of with.
RobsFilm_89 - see Fusioncode. I have heard he doesn't want to be playing though... I hope that isn't true, because he could have quite easily taken himself out instead of crapping on Lindsay lol.
tom_delonge_ava - I have seen tom play, but I don't think I have ever actually played with him. I know he is a challenge beast, which means he needs to go lol. We also got off on the complete wrong foot. He was apparently accusing me of turning on Vingt at the first merge tribal, without ever having spoken to me. When I called him on it he backpedalled faster than I've ever seen before haha.

Well that's my completely honest round up. I don't know how much use it will do me, I'm starting to think that I might just be in over my head here lol. A lot of good players with very different strategies makes it almost impossible to read what will happen next. Wish me luck!

Oh My Goodness, the game is shifting in all directions lol. One minute I feel like I'm safe and have some back-up, the next minute the rug is pulled out from under me.

In the last vote I basically lied to everyone lol. Except my old Vingt tribe - the very people I had decided to go against lol. I told Cindy I was voting for Jess, I told Lacey that I wasn't voting for her. I'm just a mess lol. I really want to see some of the inactive go home - Fusion, Rob, Case - but I think they'll target one of the old Vingt again.

I'm going to have to start playing like Sandra - as long as it ain't me going home I'm OK with it.

So Arik got voted out last TC and it's a bit of a blow. He's a good guy and it was nice having a bit of a buffer - him and Henry divert a lot of attention from the rest of us. I was staying with a friend last night so couldn't hang around to discuss the vote. I specifically asked Henry/Arik to let me know who was going home, but neither messaged me. Jimmy and Cindy did though telling me that it was Arik. I didn't want that so I voted for the last person we had discussed - Case. I later see a skype conversation saying they were going for Mikey, but I didn't see it in time. Kathy also ended up messaging me saying it was either Mikey or Arik, but again I had already had to vote. Frustrating. And I feel bad for Arik.

I really need to start thinking a bit more strategically though. I need to pick a side to run with and solidfy some allies. There are still 12 of us though so it's still quite difficult sorting out any sort of majority and making any sort of proper move. I'm worried though that if I leave it much later it will be impossible.

Part of me worries that tribe Zwanzig is stil intact from the merge, but then another part of me thinks that won't be a problem once we reach top 10 cause none of them particularly trust each other.

Ideally I'd like to get a group together of Cindy, Jimmy, Henry, Tom and Lacey, with some others thrown in for numbers, but I don't really see those guys all working together. Basically though I think that Kathy and Haley need to go, and soon, cause I can see them riding this to the end and winning. I'm talking with Rob now and he wants Cindy/Jimmy gone cause he sees them as being in control of Esreem. I know Cindy has an idol, so it might be worth steering the vote towards her and then getting her to save herself and take out one of the threats.

OK I am going for a move tonight. I've put the wheels in motion on a potential vote out for Kathy. It will either be the making of me or it will send me home haha.

So that turned out to be a complete bust
I am genuinely struggling to understand the mentality here.
So there were supposed to be 6 votes against Kathy (me, Lacey, Mikey, Mark, Henry and Tom) + potentially Rob which would have made 7. In the end there turned out to be just me. Great. It seems as though the Esreem 3 turne against me and tried to have me voted out cause there were 4 votes against me. It ended up costing Mark his game. I do not understand at all. Henry and Tom bailed on the plan because it became clear to them that Lacey et al. were stringing us along. I cannot understand why they backtracked - what did they have to gain?

I'm also now becoming more and more concerned that no Zwanzing have gone home and despite all the protestations from the old members that they are not close, it seems that there is definitely still something going on.

It's all a bit ridiculous though. Noone is willing to make any sort of move against anyone in any sort of power. People are concentrating so much on perceived threats like PRP, Arik, Henry, that they are completely blind to the fact that there are still genuine threats in this game. It's like we're all lining up to be sent to Ponderosa haha. I guess I just have to wait my turn now.

I was about 2 minutes/1 argument away from quitting when I went off skype last night lol. This game is so messed up! There are too many big names about, all of whom have so much history with each other that it makes strategising and coming up with any new plan very difficult.

I have also gotten myself into a very tangled little web if I am honest.
I speak to Cindy/Jimmy a lot and I really do trust them, but I don't agree with their battle plan so I find it very difficult to vote with them. I keep making excuses as to why I haven't gone with their plan, but I know they are starting to wear a little thin for Jimmy.
I've also been talking to Tom a lot recently and I he has managed to pull off a plan or two that I like so I have been going along with him. I think he is only working with me while I am useful though, so I don't think I should feel too bad should the time come when I have to vote against him. That said, he has his head screwed on properly and he seems to want me around for now, so I'm reluctant to burn that bridge.
I obviously also talk to Henry cause we're the only remaining proper Vingt members. I know for a fact that I am going to have to vote him out pretty soon and that is going to suck.
The problem is that all of the people I talk to refuse to talk to each other lol. It means that I am going to piss someone off in the very near future. I genuinely don't know who is best to go with though lol.
I have come to the conclusion that I am probably not going to win even if I make F3 though :(The only real move I have tried ot make failed miserably and everyone else seems to be playing better than I am. I am so scattered haha.

My mind is absolutely shagged right now. Last night I got a group chat going with Cindy, Jimmy, Henry and Tom. The goal was to vote out Kathy and everyone seemed on board. I go offline for a bit and when I come back it seems like all hell has broken loose. Henry says that Tom has a F3 deal with Kathy and Haley and has told them everything about our plan. Cindy confirms that Kathy and Haley know about the plan and believes Henry because in the past Kathy/Haley has been reluctant to vote Tom out. I speak to Tom this morning and he claims to have no idea about all of this. I am so sick of being lied to lol.

My mind says that Tom must be lying and that he has been working against me this whole time. My gut tells me though that it's Henry who is lying. I've always suspected there might be something going on with Henry and Kathy and this is the second vote against her that he has scuppered. The first one got blamed on the Esreem 3 telling Kathy. I'm just wondering if this is history repeating itself.

The problem now becomes what to do about votes cause I'm pretty sure everyone will be voting Tom...

This game is so much more hassle than it is worth. Everybody up in here is absolutely crazy!

Cindy has absolutely proved that she can be trusted 100%, which is fantastic. I knew there was something about her that I liked. She gave me her idol because she was worried she might get blindsided at the last vote, and then told me to keep it for us to use later I've just started talking to Mikey too and he's nice.

I'm wondering whether me strategising anymore is even worth it. So many people here are content to play for others to get to the end that it makes making a move almost impossible. I'm actually tempted to find a way to go to the end with Kathy cause I think she is fucked with getting jury votes haha. Mikey has basically told me that everyone thinks I am a complete follower too, so I think I have about as much chance of winning as a pig in a beauty contest.

I have finally accepted my fate lol. When I started this game I thought I might last a vote or two, but I have actually managed to make it to F9 and I'm on the jury so I have absolutely surpassed my expectations.

I've had a look at the final week schedule and I am away from Tues-Friday so I would be able to vote, but not compete in challenges. I'd rather I go at this point and leave Cindy and Mikey with a fighting chance of going a bit further than one of them get voted out only for me to not be able to commit and carry through. Cindy has some ideas about the using her idol, etc. and if they can work then that is great, but if not, then I'm OK with that too

Well I have voted Tom tonight. He and I chatted and he talked about how he like me and wanted to help me, and I kind of believed him, but it all became a bit irrelevant really. It was highlighted to me that he is the centre of the game really, the element tying the other players together as a unit. He's also lied to me quite a bit, but hidden it under a shiny veneer of truth, which is a very clever thing to do lol.

I have used Cindy's idol on myself to negate all of the votes against me. It was her idea and she wanted me to do it. I really hope that they have voted for me though cause it would suck to have wasted it and for them to have blindsided Mikey or Cindy herself. I almost wish she hadn't wanted to use it on me cause then she would still have it and I would be out of this mind fuck lol.

As predicted they knew about the idol plan and Mikey went home. Plus now the idol is gone. I don't understand why Cindy keeps believing what they tell her? At this point though I'm basically just playing to get her to the finals. I have absolutely no chance of winning this game, even if I make it to the end - my play has been all over the place so I'm really not sure how I would justify it to a jury.

I feel like every day I write a mini little goodbye post and then every day I somehow find myself holding on. The vote is apparently for Haley tonight, but I have been told that I have to vote Kathy. No idea what the logic behind that one is, but I'm doing as I am told.