Week 08

[kaysar]

I really would have liked to win this HoH, and I would have nominated Lane and Memphis to keep my connection with Hayley-Keith-Heaven and with Nick. Unfortunately, this wasn't a type of challenge that I'm very good at. I'm surprised I even managed to tie for second. Now I'm in a position where my fate depends on Nick. This round will tell me whether or not I can fully trust him.

Nick nominated Heaven and Keith, so he's honored his word so far. The plan we discussed was going after each other's allies without going after each other. However Nick's told me that he's going to be pressured into putting me up if one of them comes off the block. I don't want to be backdoored, which Nick might end up doing to avoid hurting his game, so I'm hoping that Keith picks me to play in veto and that I can win it. That way, I'll be able to control what happens and not have to fully depend on Nick here.

I'm going away this upcoming week for my sister's wedding. As of now, I don't own a laptop, but I should be able to keep up with the game on my phone a little each day.

[kaysar]

I really don't like how with this veto, we're teamed up with someone else and can't completely control our own fate. To make matters worse, I'm teamed up with someone who is hardly ever around. I guess it's a good thing that none of these teams are extremely active. I'll just do my best and see what happens.

[kaysar]

I'm multitasking while I'm doing this and keep copying over the tags incorrectly. I think it's only cost me $5 so far, so I'm fine. The issue is Allison isn't going to be on much at all, and I don't know if I can beat the combination of Hayley-Nick even if I post all 24 hours, which I'm considering. I'm just going to keep going but if it looks like a lost cause, I'll drop out and fall asleep.

I keep missing the Probate points, but I think I'll be on much more than Allison overall so I'm not that concerned about them at this early stage.

[kaysar]

Strategically in the challenge I'm just trying to collect as many points as I can and discourage the others from trying to beat me because they'll think it's a lost cause and give up. The only risk is that it could backfire and cause Allison to just give up as well or even try to sabotage my efforts to win PoV, and that could allow the other teams to work together. I'm most concerned about Hayley and Nick. But at this point I'm planning on doing twice as much effort as everyone and hoping that's enough to win the challenge. The less Hayley and Nick get on, the better.

[kaysar]

I think I'm going to win this veto a lot easier than I expected. I have no opposition right now. Even if Hayley signs on and convinces Nick to compete in the last 3 hours, my lead is probably large enough to stop that. I'm not sure if I overestimated how active people would be or if my strategy of establishing a large lead by staying up all night discouraged them. Regardless I feel like I'm going to win.

If I do win, I'm going to take advantage of the power that I have. It'll be the first time I won veto when I wasn't nominated, so I can have more creativity with my decision.

[kaysar]

My biggest fear is getting backdoored and not having a chance to play in veto. I'm thankful that Keith did select me to play because it gave me a chance to fight for my life.

I’m partially responsible for Keith being nominated because Nick and I compared notes at the end of last round and realized that Keith was telling us completely different stories during the vote. Whether Keith was lying or just generally confused, I still don’t know. I’ve seen evidence to show that Keith’s focus is split between too many things and he sometimes plays recklessly and makes careless mistakes without even knowing. That being said, the two of us have clicked for most of the game. I feel bad that I’m a little responsible for him going up, but he’s mostly to blame for telling inconsistent stories and getting caught in the process.

I've always been good in endurance challenges. I failed miserably at the last one that Memphis won because I had an unavoidable obligation, and the timestamps weren't showing up for me correctly when I tried to do part of it mobile. This challenge was much better because it was essentially endurance without the pressure. You could multitask and mess up, which hurt very little in the long run as long as you were scoring most of the points. What mattered was how many hours you could be available. I was able to go about my day almost normally and still sleep a little while still posting for over 22 hours out of 24.

I easily won the challenge. It’s surprising considering I was working with someone who was hardly around, but none of the other pairs did even close to enough work to match us. Lane and Memphis have potential, but they weren’t playing and I believe they’re just playing it safe because they know Nick won’t put them up even as a replacement. Hayley impressed me because she was close to perfect when she was here. If she could have repeated that effort all 24 hours, she would have won the challenge. I talked to her for a few hours in the competition, and I feel like we're still mostly on the same page. I also talked to Nick a lot of the night to try and reinforce our “The Defectors” alliance and then caught Keith a little near the end to see what he was thinking.

I wasn’t going to do the challenge almost 24 hours just to waste veto on easy nominations who are both people I like working with in the game. I want to use this veto to make a move and hopefully improve my chances of getting to the end. The logical move would be to infuriate Nick, Memphis, and Lane by saving Heaven. Heaven is the person who I think they want gone because she’s so good at challenges. Doing this would basically end my connection with Nick, but it still might be a good move to make because Nick loses his power next round anyway. I approached Heaven seeing what she thought and letting her know I was close to both her and Keith. She acted like her chances to stay were better than Keith’s chances to stay and suggested that I save Keith. This surprises me a little because I personally think Heaven’s gone against anyone if she stays on the block, but it makes my decision easier because I can strengthen my connection with Keith without isolating Heaven from me. Nick has said Hayley will be the replacement, so I think Heaven will get at least 3/5 votes and go home.

I’ll tell Nick I’m saving Keith just to hide our connection and throw people off by making them think Keith and I are the closest two, and I doubt he’ll be that mad because Keith isn’t his target anyway. Then next round I’m hoping that me, Keith, or Hayley can pull off HoH against Allison, Lane, and Memphis. I think Heaven leaving will hurt our chances at HoH, but Keith and I have been great at competitions in the past. The only issue is we’re both going away this week and will have more limited time.

[kaysar]

This round is absolutely crazy. Heaven staying with her special power actually creates a legitimate chance of my alliance overtaking the other side and making it to the end against Lane, Memphis, and Nick. The four of us will have the majority of numbers and are exchanging group messages with one another now.

At this point, I'm going to vote for Allison and hope she goes with my vote, Keith's vote, and Heaven's vote. It was always difficult to talk to her, and she's possibly working with the other side. I always thought she and Hayley would end up in finals, not nominated together at final 8.