Post by Sam Robertson on Oct 31, 2014 9:51:28 GMT -5
Hey you lot! It's nice to have a platform to talk to some of you again and it's scary of sorts to talk to the others. I want to start out by saying that I'm grateful to be here and I never imagined I would be seated here in the finals. I came into the game after not playing for years and I can say this is a different breed in 2014. The game was more complex and calculating than anything in 2005 and 2006. A large thank you to Kat and Shir for casting me and giving me a chance knowing that I was in a different timezone and my availability was going to be noticeably limited. You took a chance on me and I hope I didn't disappoint.
On my availability I want to say that I know my social game was not up to par with most of you and my F2 opponent. As many of you are aware I live in Manchester and that's hours ahead of the EST and even more than PST. It was hard reaching most of you and it became difficult when my work load was heavy. But I think having a strong social game is just 1 of 3 ways to play the game. The other ways are through competitions and the other through strategy. I did well in the competition aspect and think it's half of the reason I'm sitting here. I won the right competitions to save myself in the latter portion of the game but I won in the early stages to show I was a worthy ally who could help others make moves.
My strategic game was hitching my wagon to the right people. Many of you can say that I was inactive and never spoke but I did something right to never be nominated until the F4 yeah? I was brought into the first alliance of the season by Brian but still had good ties with Neda and Sofia who were out of the alliance. Zach was in the same position as me and this allowed us to grow close and make the move together by jumping from the sinking ship Brian created to another alliance that had people we favored more. In turn that ended up being a sinking ship of its own XD but you can't play the game without taking some risks. Sofia always says how she played this game taking risks but she wasn't alone in that. I took risks too. I was involved in many of the decisions she was involved in.
I know there might be a bundle of grudges held against me and I understand that. I never went after anyone viciously in the game and treated everything as if it were only game. The moves I made such as flipping alliances, evicting Brian and Neda and getting in Brittany and Mike's good graces were all moves I thought benefited me in the long run. I know I can sit here and say that despite making those moves against some of you I treated every one of you with a modicum of respect and never went out of my way to insult any of you as individuals. I don't think Sofia can say the same for herself. I was able to separate personal feelings from game decisions and I did it for what I thought was best for me instead of for show.