[Jeff Varner]

- Wed Dec 02, 2015 4:52:14 am #5447 Hello Artis, congrats on making it to the top 10!

Did that vote go as you were expecting? If not, why do you think it didn't?

How does Marissa leaving affect your game?

Is it time to start considering jury votes?

And as I always ask, please give me an update about how you feel about your status of your game and how you feel about your chances of winning.

[Artis]

- Wed Dec 02, 2015 6:50:42 am #5501 Did that vote go as you were expecting? If not, why do you think it didn't?

No it did not, and clearly it's because I'm not tight enough with any of the people in the group of 4 who blindsided Marissa to get any warning of it. It's either Shane/Kelly/Jenna/Gabe or Shane/Kelly/Jenna/Kimmi and I it would be very unfortunate if it were the former since I would think at this point Gabe would have enough faith in me to let me in on what was going on.

How does Marissa leaving affect your game?

It limits my options. Marissa wasn't my #1 ally or anything but she was a vote that I could have swayed and she was a good font of information. Now I have fewer allies to fact check against so I'll be playing in the dark more than ever.

Is it time to start considering jury votes?

Nah, I'll win the jury over if I make it to the end either way. No worries there.

And as I always ask, please give me an update about how you feel about your status of your game and how you feel about your chances of winning.

I think everything comes down to the next vote. If I can make my plan work then I will be in the perfect position to move deeper into the game and have high chances of winning. If I can't get the right people on board to do this then my chances will seriously plummet. We'll just have to wait and see.

[Jeff Probst]

- Wed Dec 02, 2015 7:07:18 am #5502

Is it time to start considering jury votes?

Nah, I'll win the jury over if I make it to the end either way. No worries there.

Okay Artis, I have to say something because this is a HUGE red flag. It's the kind of thing we expect from a new player, but something we would think a returning player would know doesn't work. There's literally a name for that in Stranded, we call it the "scooby doo reveal" where someone thinks that at the end of the game they can reveal that they were really the man behind the curtain the entire season. The problem is that it RARELY works. Not saying it wont work, just that I've seen MANY players fall victim to that kind of thinking. Mike and David in Namibia, both got runner up spots there in a 8-1 victory for Stephannie. Stranded is littered with redditers who have thought that way and lost.

I'm only saying this because I know you didn't make it very far in Nepal and maybe didn't get to learn that lesson like some of the other players.

It's very difficult to sway a jury in the end and convince them that you were always playing when they believe that you weren't. You heard Joe say it a few weeks ago "Perception is reality" in survivor. If the jury thinks you were a follower, it's incredibly difficult to prove them otherwise in the final 3 when the other 2 people will be saying the same thing.

I'm just saying, maybe consider building a resume NOW so that if you do end up in the final 3 you aren't one of the people getting no votes and looking back thinking "damn I should have played harder or given the jury some evidence of my game play"


Not saying this to get you to be OTT or ruin your game or anything, you do you, i'm just giving you the heads up because i don't think you got to experience that in your first game.

<3 good luck bro.

[Artis]

- Thu Dec 03, 2015 2:57:16 am #5591 I get what you're saying, and my comment wasn't meant as completely serious. Just a bit of false bravado there I guess. If I make it to the end it's definitely going to have to be with the right people. Sophie for example has too big of a resume for me to beat her in a FTC. I do, however, think that I can present a convincing enough argument that I could sway people on the fence between myself and most anyone else who hasn't stood out as especially exceptional. And I'm not really worrying about making a big move to pad out my resume right now because in all honesty I think the time I have left here is pretty limited. If the option presents itself I would turn this game on its head, but I think I've probably been dying a slow death for a couple days now. With this last vote I think I've lost my sense of the game and what everyone is thinking/planning and I simply am not communicating with the important people left in this game enough to recover unless something changes soon. If I can survive until the weekend then I'll have some time to recuperate and maybe build/rebuild relationships with people left in the game, but right now I'm just too tired to go at this with everything it needs and pursue the kinds of relationships I need to see me further.