[Jeff Probst]

This is Nick's Final Tribal Council Thread.

All other Jurors should remain in their own threads. Final 3, remember... this is not for you to address each other, but to talk to Nick. In-fighting amongst the Final 3 should be reserved for the Live Final Tribal Council on Sunday.

Nick, you have until Saturday at 8c/9e to post your statements/questions to the Final 3. Remember not to take up too much of their time as they have 7 other jurors to get to. Please no listing or questions requiring novels for answers. You should post all of your statements/questions in your opening post in this thread. There is a live Final Council on Sunday where you will get to address everyone live about the statements they have made as well ask follow-ups.

[Nick]

I want to say before I begin my speech that the word of the day and theme of this speech is “Underestimation”.

I feel like I was severely underestimated in this game. You know, I came in wanting to play a hard game, and I feel like I accomplished that. I flipped, and flipped, and flipped again and though it did work out for me, I’d never felt so alone playing a game in my life. You know, I came into Ponderosa with people congratulating me on a job well done however, those connections were never there. Some people in this game had great connections and worked together until the bitter end, and they grew from it. I came into Ponderosa as I played the game: Alone. Maybe it's my age or my insecurities, but I really wanted people to commend my personality and heart. But I had people tell me that I was “never online” and no one could ever have a conversation with me that wasn’t on a game level. And so tonight, what I really want you all to do is connect with me. I need you to give me that connection that my chaotic and untrustworthy personality never gave me, and tell why my strategic spirit should vote for you in the end.

And so, before I give my individual questions and statements, I want you to also remember this. This jury is definitely a sad and washed-up bunch. They’re going to rip your game apart because a lot of them never got their chance to shine. They’re going to call you “boring” and “undeserving” but remember, they’re worse than you. A lot of them got robbed of a chance to play, and so when they call you these things just remind yourself that they played a worse game then you and they’re hypocrites because what they have to say is from a bitter point-of-view. I don’t take too much issue with who is in this final 3, and I congratulate you all on doing something I could not do, and I’m happy that I can admit to myself that I got played.

Anyway, here are some individual statements/questions:

Jack - You definitely have to do the most amount here tonight to justify that I give you my vote. We never really had anything. I mean the sad fact is that we never talked, I tried to communicate with you but you never replied back, and towards the end of the game I think I only spoke to you about twice. In my eyes, you were always in Aaron’s back pocket and no matter what, you were never going to vote against him. In my eyes while I played this game, you were the person everyone wanted to take to the end to beat, and you kind of accepted that role. And so, what I want you to do tonight is tell me why I’m wrong. Give me one instance where you played your own game and not Aarons and tell me why I should vote for someone I really never got to talk to.

Aaron - I am extremely impressed with how you made it to the end of the game. You got fucked over by me, I managed to trust you again, and after all I have done to you, you managed to strike me with poetic justice and take me out of this game. I commend you for that, and you really played this game well. However, the one thing that I do want to see more of is your heart. So I have like 2-3 questions for you to answer (sorry). I want you to tell me if you could give yourself any ideal final 3, who would it be and why. Also, tell me one person in the entire game you loved working with the most and expand on that relationship. I also want you to expand on my elimination a bit more because some of what happened is still unclear and I want to know if my demise came from me calling you out at tribal, or if either way I was going to go home.

Kara - Queen Kara. I was so mad because you're definitely one of my favorite people I had the pleasure to work with. I was always rooting for you to go far and when I arrived at Ponderosa, I was upset to find that people did not like you and the way you played the game. I always had a high level of respect for you, and if voting tonight was a popularity contest you would easily have my vote. I felt like you were underestimated, and I think you played a game comparative to Aaron. And so, to reinforce my view on you and to remind the jury of what a great player you are, please tell me one move that was totally strategic. A lot of people were turned off by how you did the Alison vote and I thought it was a bit emotional for you to go after Jack on my vote-off. And so, please tell me a moment in the game that had strategic value and why it proves that I should vote for you not just because I like you as a person, but also because you are a very strategic player.

That’s all, I’m very expected to hear your responses and I wish you all the best of luck.

[Nick]

TL;DR

Jack - I think you were a goat and you rode Aaron's coattails, prove me wrong.

Aaron - Give me your ideal final 3 and one person you loved working with the most. Also expand on my demise.

Kara - Give me a move that was purely strategic and why I should vote you on the basis of good strategy.

[Kara]

Kara - Queen Kara. I was so mad because you're definitely one of my favorite people I had the pleasure to work with. I was always rooting for you to go far and when I arrived at Ponderosa, I was upset to find that people did not like you and the way you played the game. I always had a high level of respect for you, and if voting tonight was a popularity contest you would easily have my vote. I felt like you were underestimated, and I think you played a game comparative to Aaron. And so, to reinforce my view on you and to remind the jury of what a great player you are, please tell me one move that was totally strategic. A lot of people were turned off by how you did the Alison vote and I thought it was a bit emotional for you to go after Jack on my vote-off. And so, please tell me a moment in the game that had strategic value and why it proves that I should vote for you not just because I like you as a person, but also because you are a very strategic player.

Nick!! Congrats on a great game man, and thank you for saying nice things about me. Ponderosa wasn't a fan clearly

For your question, I'll travel back a bit to Nyiri and the earlier days of the game and more specifically the vote to get Davie out.

After the Lyrsa vote- Christian was very much on the outs due to his inactivity, but whenever Christian was on and I got the chance to speak with him, I felt a much better bond than I did with some of the guys on the tribe (Dan, Carl, Davie) and had also suspected that there was a guys alliance going on that you and john could've possibly been apart of outside of the James Dean alliance I had formed- which i planted the seeds of with both Jessica and Alison as this would have left the girls outnumbered. I had a choice this round before the swap, vote out Christian- someone who could be a vote on my side or push for a Davie vote, someone who I didn’t exactly click with and someone who I suspected was working against me- so that week I pushed for his vote out after Jessica and I had discussed the idea of it and ended up managing to have the whole tribe vote him out unanimously over Christian which by far put me in the best spot at the swap. I also forced it into Christian's head that I was his “guardian angel” and saved him from being voted off- which I may have done but nonetheless, I made Christian to feel like he owed me, which was purely strategic here.

As for I emotions-I 100% had them, not even going to bullshit. I liked you, I didn't like Jack because he flipped on me then leaked vote plans so I wanted to vote for him but everyone was convinced on goating him and I didn't want to vote you out- knew you were a threat so was okay with the vote happening and just voted jack because he constantly avoided talking to me because he knew he was being shady and I simply didn't see the risk in burning a vote on him.

[Aaron]

Well Nick first and foremost, I think "underestimation" is the last thing I did for your game. The other two people sitting next to me, as well as a few other people on that jury will tell you that besides John, I was the MOST afraid of you. Your demise began as soon as John was eliminated. I put the train in motion to vote you out that night, and as far as I was concerned, you were a goner. Lucky for you at that point, you won the immunity, and Alison was the one to go- much to Kara's chagrin (as you remember, she tried unsuccessfully to flip the votes against Tommy that night). So, following Alison's eviction, I made sure my numbers were in line again to take you out the next night. Kara, again, tried to prevent the vote from happening, but we got it done. Your challenge prowess as well as your blunt honesty made you an extremely trusted and liked player. I, unfortunately, didn't have the luxury of playing that way, and knew if I was in a final with you, you would win.

The first part of your question was who would have been my ideal Final 3, and I believe that answer, with all things accounted for, would have been Dean and Carl. Although my end game was full of lies, almost exclusively lies, my game up to Top 10 was honest. I trusted the people I worked with, and I intended to take that to the end, even if it was to my own detriment. I trusted Dean literally with everything I had in this game, and there wasn't anything that would have prevented me from taking him to the final 3 with me. Carl was also someone I trusted fully, and the trust he gave me (really us, *cough cough*) was something I would have 100% rewarded in the end.

The second part of your question was who was someone I enjoyed playing with the most. I won't blow up Dean's ego anymore, because he knows damn well he'd be in this discussion, so I will talk about my relationship with Tommy. Tommy was my original #1 on Miombo. Ride or die. When he flipped during the merge, it was gutting. I immediately reached out to him the next day for an explanation and he couldn't provide one. I told him I would talk to the rest of the alliance and get us back on the same page, he kindly rejected. I felt at that point my game could have potentially been over. But, as I alluded to during my opening statement, I went to work. And when Tommy realized I was going to make it out of the gauntlet, he reached back out. From that point on, we made a pact to finish this game together. I formulated the game plan, and he followed it to a tee. Like a Head Coach feeding a play to his Quarterback. Not only did we connect on the game level, but I truly viewed him as a friend (and still do). It wasn't until I knew I had control of the game that I had to start considering what to do. Obviously my inner self was conflicted between the game, and my friendship, but I knew there was no chance I could win with him next to me, so I did what I had to do.

With all of that being said, I hope I was able to answer your questions. I have the utmost respect and admiration for you Nicky boy, and glad we got to play a nice chunk of this game together. I do feel you and I formed a friendship as well, and I hope following all of this I can continue to hear about the craziness going on at school.

Cheers.

[Jack]

Nick, it’s true that in the last week of this game, I pretty much played lock-step with Aaron. This was because I did feel a strong personal relationship with him and also because our vision for the end week was very similar. As I mentioned in my opening, I started as an outsider and the consequences of the swap meant, for as nice as my Poroto tribe was, I had my back against the wall until the merge. That’s the first time I truly felt like I had the chance to make a move for myself, and I flipped. You did too, and I had a feeling that you might based off the small chat we did have, and I knew then that my flip was really going to be even more horrendous if you did. We were flippers passing in the night. And you kept doing it, you’re right. At times it devastated me, but it was beautiful to watch! I’m going to talk a little more about playing for myself in my response to Carl.

Also, I did vote against Aaron! I threw a vote at him the night Dean went home. I knew that if Dean, my #1 ally went home, I was likely going to be targeted next by the girls. That vote was an attempt to show them that I wasn’t going after them in case I had to beg for my life.

Even when I agreed with Aaron, my strategic mind was constantly working. Before the F6 Tribal, I actually thought of a scenario that would have been absolutely perfect for Alison, Kara, and you to pull off. If you three had forced a tie with me, Aaron, and Tommy - and if that tie had gone to rocks, you and Kara would have been safe via immunity, Alison and Tommy would have been safe as a result of the deadlock, and only Aaron and I would draw rocks. It would have put me and Aaron in an excruciating position to either flip on Tommy or to draw rocks. I brought this to Aaron's attention and we agreed to force the tie, but flip on the revote to protect ourselves.

From here on out, treat this like a buffet - take what you want, leave the rest.

I’m sorry that you felt alone in this game. I really wish we would have talked more. Guess what? Fifteen years ago, when I was 18, I played these online Survivor games. (I have never felt so old in my life as I just did typing that sentence.) I actually started when I was just a bit younger. I was a closeted gay kid in a small town that wanted to win something because I felt like a loser. And for a while, it was the most freeing thing in the world. I kept playing as I started college, missed most of my orientation week, missed a day of classes because I was so tired staying up all night to win an immunity challenge. When I finally won my first game, I remember looking up to tell someone, and there was no one to tell. I hadn’t made any friends yet. And honest to god, I have not played a game like Stranded since then, until now.

Now, I’m sure that our life experiences are very different and you have your own reasons for playing a game like this. I’m sharing all this with you now because, I don’t know, it’s just, for me - the things you wanted, the connections, the respect for wearing your heart on your sleeve - I wanted those things too. And I never got them from these games, not in any meaningful way. I don’t mean for this to scare you off from these games - they can be so fun and you are so good at them, clearly. But because you remind me of myself a bit, I hope you don’t mind this old man rambling.

By the way, a few weeks later I joined an improv comedy club. Scariest thing I’ve ever done! Fifteen years later, they’re still my best friends. You’re young and you’ve got the world at your feet, Nick. When you’re done conquering virtual worlds, be sure to go make a splash in the real one too, because that’s where people are going to appreciate you and everything you bring to the table.

[Nick]

Thank you to all of you for your great responses, my vote will not be decided until tonight when I get to throw some more pressure on each of you ;)

But one thing is for sure you each are great competitors and so regardless of my vote, I'm happy with any one of you winning.