Final Tribal Council

[GREG]

I was asked for my thoughts on the Final 2 and the final tribal council.

Sean - Glad to see that he survived after I was taken out. But he was extremely lucky. He probably would have been voted out before Tom, had he not lucked out by picking a better order of who sent in their surveys. He would have been voted out before Matt, had he not lucked out and picked my number first in the Battleship game. He would have been voted out before me, had he not lucked out by me misspelling stupid SYNECDOCHE!!!!!!! Had he not lucked out on those challenges, I'm pretty certain I would be in his spot. But he still played a good enough game to win in a lot of people's eyes.

Lisi - She placed herself in a good position. She had a strong alliance that was willing to stick with her, no matter how hard I tried to get rid of her. Of course, EVERYTHING I predicted about her came true, so Matt, Candice and Deena all were given a shot to take her out, they all failed and they are all now jurors. Honestly that is very impressive. You were able to get people to stick to you, now matter how illogical it was.


To be perfectly honest, just like with every other tribal council, my vote is up in the air. You would think that I would automatically side with Sean, because we were loyal to each other. But I can't say at this point that he played a better game. My vote will probably come down to the answers I hear at Tribal.

I have a bad feeling this will turn into one of those pseudo-dramatic final juries, where they will just be mad and yell and start fights and make each other look to be fools. I hate that. This game isn't about us anymore, jurors. It is about the final 2. Make your statement, ask your question and be done. Don't try to make this about you.

[GREG]

this is just for me to put my comments/questions for the finals. I want to have a series of them, so this is just to jot them down as I come up with them...

To both of you, I must say congratulations. You played excellent games. You each played a unique style and it has got you to where all of us jurors wish we were. In previous games when I've made jury, I've typically voted for who I was most loyal to throughout the game. If that were the case tonight, I would absolutely vote Sean. However, I am not convinced that he played the better game, so I refuse to just throw him my vote because we worked together during the game. So just as in most of the tribal councils I've attended, I have no idea who I will vote for.

So for each of you, I will give positive and negative comments about your gameplay and ask each of you a specific question. Then I have 7 general questions that I want you both to answer.

Sean - you were an extremely loyal player to your alliances throughout the game. That is a commendable trait. You were obviously also a beast at the challenges. That is impressive as well, because if you are too good at challenges, you will instantly become a target. You knew when to lay low in the challenges, and when to shine. You played a smart game by voting with the majority at times although you personally felt it wasn't the best move. You definitely didn't want to upset people.

Unfortunately a lot of people see you as one-dimensional. That is never a good thing. You were quiet and under-the-radar. People will see you as a follower. Without living with each other day-in and day-out, it can be difficult to prove your strategic accomplishments in games like this. I also think that you are only here because of luck. There are at least 3 challenges that you won solely on luck. Had you lost any of those challenges, you would have been voted out of the game. You were lucky on the survey challenge because: a) I came up with the idea of us 3 putting the same answers, and b) you happened to guess the order of submission better. You were lucky on the Battleship challenge because, well that was a luck-based challenge. You happened to go first and you hit my target first. My first guess hit Matt's boat, so had I gone first, you likely would have taken him out and your first guess wouldn't have been mine. And seeing how you and he shared a space, I would have taken you out before you took me out. You were lucky on the movie clip challenge. You were lucky that I misspelled Synecdoche. Had I spelled that correctly, I would have won that challenge.

You definitely played a great game, as you've made it to the finals, but it could have been better.


So Sean, my specific question for you is:

Would you have stayed true to our F2 alliance, no matter what? And had you and I actually made it to F2, who do you think would have won and why?


Lisi - I knew as soon as I joined your tribe that you would be my stiffest competition. I lobbied quite hard to get you out every chance I had. I wanted Deena and Crystal to vote you out. I wanted Matt to switch on you. I asked Candice to vote you out. I threw every piece of logic their way to prove why they needed to vote you out. I KNEW that if they didn't, you would be in the position you are in. But for whatever reason, they remained loyal to you. That to me is quite amazing, and I truly commend you on it. You were in a very safe position for most of the game, and that can be difficult to attain.

However, I think you played too safe of a game. I realize you are in the finals and I'm not, so I have no right to judge your strategy. You got to the merge with numbers (or at worst 4-4) and you almost stopped playing for several rounds. I don't see any strategy involved there. And when your defense against Sean is your strategic dominance, this isn't a good thing. I just think that you could have gained some more respect from the jury if you would have taken a few more chances. As Lil stated in the jury house, this isn't a game for real money. You might as well take some risks. If you lose, not a big deal. There will be another game you can sign up for next week. You also let you mouth get you in trouble at times. I know that I called out Matthew for being an idiot and voting with you 3 girls, but you jumped in and turned that into a Greg vs Lisi argument. You didn't seem to be playing a long-term game by upsetting future jurors. And while I praised you for your ability to keep your alliance together, I think you were lucky to some degree. You were lucky that Matthew didn't play to win as he was willing to be the 4th member of a 3-person alliance. And you were lucky to have 2 people so willing to stick to you.

You definitely played a great game, as you've made it to the finals, but it could have been better.


So Lisi, my specific question for you is:

Was there any offer that someone could have made to you to break up your girls' alliance before F4, when you had to vote each other out?


And now the 7 general questions:

1. I know that I was lucky to have made it as far as I did in the game, so I believe luck is an important aspect to the game. But considering what I've already said, how much of a factor should luck be in deciding the winner?

2. I am the first to admit that I played a TERRIBLE game. I had no alliances until Sean asked for an F2 (which I think was right before I switched spots with Lil and Matt). I honestly felt I would be voted out at every tribal council I attended (except the 1 time I was immune). I was seen as inactive and insignificant (last picked during 1 tribal shuffle and voted least valuable by my tribe). I knew I had NO chance of getting jury votes once merge hit unless I just threw caution to the wind. Had you been in my position at merge, what would you have done differently?

3. Before the jury started commenting and asking questions, how did you think each juror would vote? Has your opinion changed any, and what do you now think will be each juror's vote?

4. Is there a such thing as a perfect strategy in Survivor, and how could you have changed your gameplay to match that strategy?

5. If you switched places with the person you're facing now, do you believe you would deserve to win? By that, I mean Sean, if you had played the exact same game as Lisi (strong alliance with Deena and Candice, "coasted" to the finals, outspoken, etc) would you deserve to win over yourself with the strategy you used (one-dimensional, challenge threat, underdog, etc). Vice versa for Lisi.

6. What would you consider to be the turning point of the season?

7. If you found out the identity of another player this season, how would you use that to your advantage? As a follow-up, who do you think each juror's imdb identity is?