Post by Stephanie Valencia on Apr 11, 2013 14:04:07 GMT -5
I hated this Immunity Challenge. I hated that we had to openly attack other tribes and show our cross-tribe allegiances. I hated that I was being ordered around from before the challenge even started. I hated that I was reprimanded for not following other people's instructions. I hated that nobody asked me for my input but just assumed I'd do what I was told. Every single person that competed in this last challenge pissed me right off. Except—unexpectedly enough—for Eddie. My experience in this last round revolved around four key interactions, and I'll save Eddie's for last, since it's the only one that didn't make me want to vacuum out my own eyeballs.
Minutes before the challenge started, Laura asked me if I wanted to work with her and Tingbani to target Nyonni. I stared at my computer, mouth agape, completely dumbfounded. Is this girl fucking stupid?
I voted off Adam for admittedly selfish reasons but there were larger game reasons that justified his elimination. The original Nyonni still hadn't lost any players while Saayazu and Tingbani had each lost two. It would be a potentially game-threatening risk for everyone to let the original Nyonni continue on (possibly to the merge) with all seven members still around. Laura understood this. She knew that associating herself with her former tribemates would make her a huge target. But instead of learning from Adam's elimination and distancing herself from the new Tingbani…she proposes working with them?! Nothing like confirming the already obvious and making even clearer the fact that your allegiance lies with your former tribemates. What an idiot. And what's worse is that once she realized what an idiot move she had made—because, like her allies on Tingbani, she targetted Rob—she suddenly decides to jump on the bandwagon and target Tingbani too. Talk about missing the boat. Laura already sealed her own fate this round, and honestly, going AWOL in the middle of a challenge because things aren't going your way…not the best way to keep yourself safe in a potential Tribal Council situation. She basically wrote her name on all of our parchments for us.
Rob seriously got on my nerves during the challenge. He was an utter dictator, commanding everyone on his tribe and then thinking that he could do the same with mine. Um, I don't think so. Yes, we're allies. Yes, we're working towards a common goal. And yes, I stupidly told him in a moment of bad judgment that he was "the boss" but goddammit, let me worry about my own tribe and you worry about yours. Would you believe that he reprimanded me the first time I attacked Marcus? He reprimanded me! I had no intention of just lying down and handing the victory to Nyonni. It was my understanding that we were eliminating Tingbani and then it was fair game. Once Tingbani looked weak enough, I turned my attention to Nyonni. Doesn't that seem like a perfectly logical thing to do? Apparently not. Rob upbraided me for "confusing everybody" and putting him in the awkward position of having to explain my actions to them. Listen, Rob. We may be working together but I don't answer to you. And if your tribemates think that you have me on lock and are responsible for my behaviour, that's something you'll have to work out on your own. I couldn't give a fuck if the rest of your tribe is confused because my goal isn't to save them from Tribal Council. My goal is to save myself and my tribe. I was honestly so annoyed and upset. Does Rob just think I'm his lackey? His obedient little bitch that runs around and does what he orders and talks to the people he wants me to? Guess what, Rob. I'm my own bitch and nobody fucking tells me what to do.
In all seriousness, though; I was really pissed with Rob. I told him how I felt and he said he understood where I was coming from, but that doesn't make it okay. I'm looking for him to try to make amends with me. You know, maybe an apology or at least something a little bit less noncommittal than, "Yeah, I get where you're coming from." This is becoming a recurring theme: guys who get close to me and then pull away when I start to assert my independence. Men are idiots.
Taking a somewhat different path from Rob was Brenda, who flat-out asked me to throw the challenge. Once again, I was dumbfounded. How could someone expect me to willingly lose an Immunity Challenge and face Tribal Council yet again? Especially Brenda, who knows how competitive and die-hard I am about winning. That said, I realize throwing a challenge is occasionally the wise thing to do…and I'm not even particularly worried about being voted off if we lose…but it's an awfully tall order to ask of someone who isn't even on your tribe, don't you think? I understand why Brenda asked. She's on a tribe with four former Saayazu members and those boys are going to stick together no matter what. Sure, Natalie would be the easy target and Brenda would be safe. But what happens if they go to Tribal Council again after that? Either Brenda or Corinne would be the one to go and I can't risk that. I need Corinne and especially Brenda around for the long haul. So I ultimately decided to throw in the towel, use a Boulder Toss against Tingbani, and take myself out of the challenge for five hours, during which time I was eliminated from the competition. It was probably the hardest thing I've had to do so far in this game. I would have stayed up all night with Eddie and worked my ass off for the win, and it's frustrating because we had such an amazing opportunity to win Immunity this time around, but I chose to make the smarter long-term move and ensure that Brenda, Corinne, and Natalie are safe. Why Natalie? Because Brenda is grooming her to be a post-merge ally and so it's my job to keep her as safe as I can.
Finally, Eddie really proved his worth in this challenge. I'm playing a bit of an emotional game with him in order to win his trust. I wanted him to feel like he was in peril of being voted off so that he'd really show me that he was an asset to our tribe. And I used the events of this Immunity Challenge to my advantage as best as I could to continue what I started last round. Eddie absolutely carried Saayazu in this challenge and I was awed by his commitment and hard work. I praised him consistently (which is something that will continue during Tribal Council) and sort of turned the tables; after I was eliminated from the challenge, I messaged him to apologize for not being as effective a partner this time around as he was. I told him that I absolutely owed him one and that I would pay him back for being such a team player. My goal is to really bring Eddie as close to me as possible. I'm not sure how the tribes will stand after this double Tribal Council—I'm predicting that the three tribes will become two tribes of seven—but I'm considering proposing a longer-term deal to Eddie. My hope is that he'll appreciate me as an ally and will be one more number in my corner as we get further along in the game.
Minutes before the challenge started, Laura asked me if I wanted to work with her and Tingbani to target Nyonni. I stared at my computer, mouth agape, completely dumbfounded. Is this girl fucking stupid?
I voted off Adam for admittedly selfish reasons but there were larger game reasons that justified his elimination. The original Nyonni still hadn't lost any players while Saayazu and Tingbani had each lost two. It would be a potentially game-threatening risk for everyone to let the original Nyonni continue on (possibly to the merge) with all seven members still around. Laura understood this. She knew that associating herself with her former tribemates would make her a huge target. But instead of learning from Adam's elimination and distancing herself from the new Tingbani…she proposes working with them?! Nothing like confirming the already obvious and making even clearer the fact that your allegiance lies with your former tribemates. What an idiot. And what's worse is that once she realized what an idiot move she had made—because, like her allies on Tingbani, she targetted Rob—she suddenly decides to jump on the bandwagon and target Tingbani too. Talk about missing the boat. Laura already sealed her own fate this round, and honestly, going AWOL in the middle of a challenge because things aren't going your way…not the best way to keep yourself safe in a potential Tribal Council situation. She basically wrote her name on all of our parchments for us.
Rob seriously got on my nerves during the challenge. He was an utter dictator, commanding everyone on his tribe and then thinking that he could do the same with mine. Um, I don't think so. Yes, we're allies. Yes, we're working towards a common goal. And yes, I stupidly told him in a moment of bad judgment that he was "the boss" but goddammit, let me worry about my own tribe and you worry about yours. Would you believe that he reprimanded me the first time I attacked Marcus? He reprimanded me! I had no intention of just lying down and handing the victory to Nyonni. It was my understanding that we were eliminating Tingbani and then it was fair game. Once Tingbani looked weak enough, I turned my attention to Nyonni. Doesn't that seem like a perfectly logical thing to do? Apparently not. Rob upbraided me for "confusing everybody" and putting him in the awkward position of having to explain my actions to them. Listen, Rob. We may be working together but I don't answer to you. And if your tribemates think that you have me on lock and are responsible for my behaviour, that's something you'll have to work out on your own. I couldn't give a fuck if the rest of your tribe is confused because my goal isn't to save them from Tribal Council. My goal is to save myself and my tribe. I was honestly so annoyed and upset. Does Rob just think I'm his lackey? His obedient little bitch that runs around and does what he orders and talks to the people he wants me to? Guess what, Rob. I'm my own bitch and nobody fucking tells me what to do.
In all seriousness, though; I was really pissed with Rob. I told him how I felt and he said he understood where I was coming from, but that doesn't make it okay. I'm looking for him to try to make amends with me. You know, maybe an apology or at least something a little bit less noncommittal than, "Yeah, I get where you're coming from." This is becoming a recurring theme: guys who get close to me and then pull away when I start to assert my independence. Men are idiots.
Taking a somewhat different path from Rob was Brenda, who flat-out asked me to throw the challenge. Once again, I was dumbfounded. How could someone expect me to willingly lose an Immunity Challenge and face Tribal Council yet again? Especially Brenda, who knows how competitive and die-hard I am about winning. That said, I realize throwing a challenge is occasionally the wise thing to do…and I'm not even particularly worried about being voted off if we lose…but it's an awfully tall order to ask of someone who isn't even on your tribe, don't you think? I understand why Brenda asked. She's on a tribe with four former Saayazu members and those boys are going to stick together no matter what. Sure, Natalie would be the easy target and Brenda would be safe. But what happens if they go to Tribal Council again after that? Either Brenda or Corinne would be the one to go and I can't risk that. I need Corinne and especially Brenda around for the long haul. So I ultimately decided to throw in the towel, use a Boulder Toss against Tingbani, and take myself out of the challenge for five hours, during which time I was eliminated from the competition. It was probably the hardest thing I've had to do so far in this game. I would have stayed up all night with Eddie and worked my ass off for the win, and it's frustrating because we had such an amazing opportunity to win Immunity this time around, but I chose to make the smarter long-term move and ensure that Brenda, Corinne, and Natalie are safe. Why Natalie? Because Brenda is grooming her to be a post-merge ally and so it's my job to keep her as safe as I can.
Finally, Eddie really proved his worth in this challenge. I'm playing a bit of an emotional game with him in order to win his trust. I wanted him to feel like he was in peril of being voted off so that he'd really show me that he was an asset to our tribe. And I used the events of this Immunity Challenge to my advantage as best as I could to continue what I started last round. Eddie absolutely carried Saayazu in this challenge and I was awed by his commitment and hard work. I praised him consistently (which is something that will continue during Tribal Council) and sort of turned the tables; after I was eliminated from the challenge, I messaged him to apologize for not being as effective a partner this time around as he was. I told him that I absolutely owed him one and that I would pay him back for being such a team player. My goal is to really bring Eddie as close to me as possible. I'm not sure how the tribes will stand after this double Tribal Council—I'm predicting that the three tribes will become two tribes of seven—but I'm considering proposing a longer-term deal to Eddie. My hope is that he'll appreciate me as an ally and will be one more number in my corner as we get further along in the game.
