[Dean Kowalski]

Well, that was quite a night. Let's go over a few things shall we?

1. On Survivor, there usually is one big twist for each season. What would you think the twist is for this season of Stranded? In general, how often do you enjoy these type of big twists you see on TV?
2. Prisoner's Dilemma, a Stranded classic. How do you feel about Lindsey catching that immunity first? Do you wish that someone else grabbed it or waited longer for it, or are you fine with how the challenge went?
3. For a bit of a calmer on the last question, who in this game do you enjoy non-game talks with? To just shoot the shit with and bond personally, or for entertainment.

[Tyler]

 

1. On Survivor, there usually is one big twist for each season. What would you think the twist is for this season of Stranded? In general, how often do you enjoy these type of big twists you see on TV?

Oh gosh, I did not even realize I should be thinking about what Stranded's big twist is. Although, come to think of it, it *has* been a suspiciously twist-free game so far... My first thought is it is something Greek-related. Of course, when I think of Rhodes, I think of the *Colossus* so maybe the twist has something to do with a big statue? Guarding a harbor? There has to be a colossus reference at some point, right? God, I hope it's not a coloss-eum or something where you have to do battle one on one. The way people have been able to time their posts TO THE SECOND has me feeling like I am not going to be a challenge threat AT ALL. Which might be good I think. Although Hali did tell me once she thought I was challenge strength at Mauso. It made me feel good at the time, but you know you don't want to be *too* threatening at the merge. I really don't know where I fall on the threat range. I don't *think* anyone is particularly threatened by Tyler yet. This is good.

These big TV twists sometimes sound better on paper--the medallion of power comes to mind--the super idol is another. The smash the hourglass twist or whatever it was last season. The Rob and Sandra hang out in a hut all season twist. I remember thinking the Ghost Island twist would be cool, but I cannot remember a signature thing about that twist. Anyway, you get my point. 

It may be an unpopular opinion, but I didn't hate the redemption island or edge of extinction or blood vs water twists. I didn't always love how the twists played out (RIP Matt Elrod), but sometimes the twist added something new to the strategy--I'm looking at you Blood vs Water and the redemption arena. F YOU BRAD CULPEPPER! Watching players try to navigate a brand new strategy can be very interesting. Especially if they fail a couple times... that seems like something Stranded might do...

If Stranded is about to unleash some wild new twist on us--I am....cautiously optimistic. Optimistic that whatever it is, it is fair, interesting, and hopefully adds something unique to the strategy... 


2. Prisoner's Dilemma, a Stranded classic. How do you feel about Lindsey catching that immunity first? Do you wish that someone else grabbed it or waited longer for it, or are you fine with how the challenge went?

Well, at first I thought I wanted Will to win, because if he was immune then I didn't care who went over there. Even Lindsey. And when Lindsey won by posting at the exact second, I thought for sure, as Will did, that Will was going home. Even Brad said "way to throw Will under the bus Lindsey" and then Will had a bit of a meltdown and started posting about what a snake Lindsey was, and how she was targeting Shirin. I don't know how much of this was for show or what because Will then walked it back and said he was sorry and somehow he is still in this game! I have no idea what happened over there. Did Lindsey have an idol and use it on Will? Is that even possible? I mean, the fact that the night ended in Tiffany going home and not Will (or Lindsey) has me feeling some kind of way :)


3. For a bit of a calmer on the last question, who in this game do you enjoy non-game talks with? To just shoot the shit with and bond personally, or for entertainment.

Shirin has been my home girl since the beginning so we talk the most non-game I'd say. That's pretty much all I talked with Genie before we made an alliance. Ricard has been fun to chat with. Even Hali has been enjoyable to talk non-game with. Carolyn is quickly becoming invisible like Rodney...


NEW ALLIANCE?

so I chatted with Shirin tonight and long story short, we ended up on the same page where we thought it might be a good idea to reach out to Ricard and Genie and see how they felt about a secret 4-some alliance. Now that we are getting closer to a merge and we still have Rodney in this game, there is a part of me that would rather focus on gaining the larger trust of people who are actually playing the game vs those who aren't. Sure, Rodney is a former Mausolus member, but he is not playing the game. He is just taking up space and I don't feel like I can trust him to do anything. My hope is that *maybe* we can gain Ricard and Genie's trust for the long game by forming an alliance with both of them now, before we actually have to vote. I mean, if I was either of them, nothing would make me happier than a secret alliance of 4 on this 7 person tribe. My *hope* is that the loyalty will grow from here. There is still a lot of game to play but we can at least get rid of Rodney as a 4-some if we have to. If we don't have to then it is a secret alliance we don't have to reveal yet, and how does that not benefit all of us right now? I could very definitely be making a *HUGE* mistake by considering this option, buuut, it's kind of the option I *want* to take. Today it feels like having every option open is most ideal for the merge. I know on some level what to expect from the Mausolus bunch. And even though I have a *clue* from the info that Ricard has shared in particular what to expect from the Kameiros bunch, that expectation is basically chaos.

So I am just going to trust my instinct. My instinct is telling me to try to have every possible bridge available and I think the Genie and Ricard bridge with Shirin is the last and possibly most significant bridge to build before we merge. I think the best way to approach it actually is through Genie. I think I am going to ask Genie how he feels about working with Shirin and Ricard, and assuming he will be all about it, ask his opinion on the best way to approach it with Ricard. I think it will feel good to Genie if he thinks he and I are the core of this group... I should ask him how he feels about Shirin... and tell him we were talking last night and that we thought it would be smart the 4 of us to have a secret agreement to keep each other safe for as long as we are on Kameiros 2 and hopefully beyond... I could be naive AF with this idea. Or maybe it saves my game at some point. These are the choices that will be easy to look back on LATER and be like *Oh yeah, big mistake here Tyler. You should have just played it cool and laid back with your easy tribe but instead you tried to get cute with the enemy and allowed them to learn your allegiances. This could easily be that turning point. Or this could be the point that I point to in front of the jury and say--I made this choice today and it was exactly the right choice because the Genie-Ricard alliance grew into an evergreen information factory that kept me and Shirin in the know enough to straddle both tribes weeding out their bigger targets. Or maybe this amounts to nothing--the alliance doesn't hold and we all recoil to our original tribes at merge and stay there until...? This is the fun part of Survivor right? You never know what's going to happen tomorrow. But the bottom line is the only strategy I really know is to try to have everyone on my side. And I am doing my best to try to walk away from this tribe with more friends and allies than I started with--and tbh I started with quite a few! I know I can't be everyone's friend forever, so I am distancing myself from Rodney, and perhaps in some ways from Carolyn--actually scratch that. It's not so much that I am *distancing* myself from them as I am not going to sit around *expecting* Carolyn and Rodney to show up, have a conversation with me, and have my back or the tribe's back as a whole. I don't know what game they are playing but it *seems* like it is "sit back and do as little as possible and see how far that get me." And I think the problem is that strategy is WORKING for them. I'm over here obsessing, and they are barely even here, and the wild yet wonderful thing about this game, is their lack of participation can actually make them *more* desirable to keep around. It's not right though. Like at least on the *real* show everyone is competing equally and participating equally and it's all up to them how much they talk--but I don't think Rodney...and to be fair Carolyn as well...are participating equally. So anyway, that's why I'm branching out, baby! May the odds be ever in my favor.