Stephanie's Jury Duty

[Stephanie Valencia]

Hello Guys, remember me?!! I want to congratulate the both of you om making it to the end in this crazy ass game. Kudos! 

Danielle, it's so incredibly hard for me to give you my vote. Although I was one of the few people you did get to exchange a few words with, i never saw your game at all. I remember our days on NSYNC when Dolly made that alliance chat with me, you, herself and Erik, and how you never made the effort to see that through. I never took the alliance seriously because you didn't show that you even care. Also, I can't help but laugh that you mentioned in your opening statement that you knew that Alexis and Malcolm were going to flip way before it even happened, like that was a huge move for you. I think it's fair to say that EVERYONE in the game expected them to flip. JFP, Lindsey and Myself kept going back and forth whether to use the idol that round because we were expecting a flip from them at anytime. So, you didn't have special powers by knowing they were going to flip boo. I honestly think that your real life issues were your downfall in the game. This game is about 80% social, and 20% strategic, and I must say you failed miserably in both. I came here with my mind 100% made up who I'm going to vote for. However I'm still required to go hard on you, because there might be other jurors still undecided on their votes and maybe you could gain some votes from my question.

My question to you is, you pry yourself on being self aware, i want you to list 2 strategic mistakes you made in this game(note: there were a lot of them, but i expect you to list the 2 most crucial mistakes you made), and why you think they were mistakes. Also explain what you would have done differently to correct those mistakes.


Malcolm, you filthy animal! You really hurt me the most in this game, and I know it's only a game and I don't hold anything against you, but we are all still people. What hurts me the most about how the game ended is the fact that you and i had so many personal conversations that i don't even want to go into details with. You were never a threat to me in this game at all. I was going to target Alexis, because I never had a genuine relationship with her. But YOU had a personal relationship with Lindsey and I and you stabbed us so hard. I'm still bleeding tbh. Like I said, it was a game move, and i respect that. I just felt like you could have taken a different route like Alexis did where you didn't hurt people on a personal Level. I understand tho. Alexis was your key ally, and you were looking out for her.

My question to you is, had it been Alexis in final 3 instead of JFP, would you have still brought Danielle to the end? I'm just curious

[Malcolm]

I genuinely enjoyed our convos, Steph, and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt you on a personal level. My rationale was that if you truly did like me as a person and cared about our friendship lasting way past just this game, you were hopefully going to respect my decision to go against you guys as purely a game move. Thinking about it that way made it easier for me to realize that I had to play my game, and not the Steph/Lindsey game. Whether I was betraying your trust at Final 8 or Final 3, it was inevitable that I was going to have to go after you and other people you had influence over, regardless of how well we connected. You were going to win this whole thing and I had to take measures to stop that.

Just don't think for a second that I don't care about the time we spent together.

My question to you is, had it been Alexis in final 3 instead of JFP, would you have still brought Danielle to the end? I'm just curious

I without a doubt would have brought Danielle to the end. Despite me being loyal and fighting for Alexis’s survival all season long, I was always hoping to eliminate her on my own terms. And Alex knew very well that I wasn't going to pull a Woo with her, she was able to identify that early on. Timing is everything in Survivor and at a certain point loyalty for a player that can potentially beat you at FTC needs to be cut loose because otherwise, you are playing against your win-con. I wouldn't be playing this game if I wasn't trying to win it, and letting my emotions take over like that by bringing a strong player to the end should rightfully cost me the game.

[Stephanie Valencia]

Thanks Malcolm! You played an amazing game, and you should be extremely proud of yourself. I also really enjoyed our conversations, and I respect your decision, and looking back i think you made the right moves throughout this game. Good luck answering the rest of the jury questions. Peace!

[danielle]

Oct 19, 2015 3:37:53 GMT Stephanie Valencia said:

Also, I can't help but laugh that you mentioned in your opening statement that you knew that Alexis and Malcolm were going to flip way before it even happened, like that was a huge move for you. I think it's fair to say that EVERYONE in the game expected them to flip. JFP, Lindsey and Myself kept going back and forth whether to use the idol that round because we were expecting a flip from them at anytime. So, you didn't have special powers by knowing they were going to flip boo. 

I knew they were going to flip from the moment Dolly went home, and I knew exactly when it would happen, and I made sure they couldn't flip back by getting my boys to realize how easily the two of them could flip-flop to the end. By your own statement you guys knew it like about three rounds after I did. So unless you were immediately expecting it the moment they helped you, I'd say I had "special powers", but whatever floats your boat. 

My question to you is, you pry yourself on being self aware, i want you to list 2 strategic mistakes you made in this game(note: there were a lot of them, but i expect you to list the 2 most crucial mistakes you made), and why you think they were mistakes. Also explain what you would have done differently to correct those mistakes.

Well, I think your question is predicated on the idea that my strategy was to 1) be the best at everything  2) win the game decisively  3) impress the jury with my moves.

That was not my strategy. In no particular order, my goals were this: 1) get Alexis out  2) use my goat powers to avoid getting targeted  3) give the game a deserving winner, and  4) get Fairplay sent home. All of those things happened more or less when and how I wanted them to, so I think I didn't make many mistakes with regards to my own personal strategy for the game. 

The biggest mistakes I made in terms of the traditional "win the game by being the jury's hero" scenario were the combo fail at final four, in which I not only let an unbeatable opponent get to the finals, but also backstabbed my closest ally for no visible gain. I think that was a mistake because it more or less completely cemented my defeat against the jury, but I've already explained in Sean's thread why I made that decision and why I don't regard it as a failure, since it did help achieve my own personal goals. If I was going to do that one differently, I would vote for Malcolm, let fire decide things without getting any blood on my hands, or I would blueball myself and choose to dominate Blokus so we could vote out Fairplay. Fun!

The other biggest one would be my hilariously one-sided campaign against Alexis, which basically screwed up a huge portion of the late game. Not only did that basically foist all the blame for everything Malexis did onto just Alexis and let Malcolm get off scot free, but it ensured that Alexis would probably never vote for me, got you idoled out because we tried to make the move way too soon, stood to alienate me from Malcolm and lose his loyalty all together, denied me the chance to go to the finals with LJ and Fairplay, who I could have potentially beaten if I had been playing at anywhere near full capacity, etc etc etc. If I hadn't embarked on my insane stupid one-man hate crusade against her, the entire game would have looked completely different, and I would probably have been even more boring than I wound up being, but it's safe to say I would have done less things wrong. I think it was a mistake because all the reasons I already said, but if I was going to do that one differently... well, I would have to be a different person. I can very honestly say that there's literally no way that I, being who I am, would ever not have started that feud and relentlessly pursued it to completion no matter how stupid and insane it got by the end. 

Thanks for the questions, that was fun.