[Jeff Probst]

This is Aurora'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 Aurora. In-fighting amongst the Final 3 should be reserved for the Live Final Tribal Council on Sunday.

Aurora, 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 9 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.

[Aurora]

Hi All,

The other jurors asked many of the questions I was interested in, so I’m just going to focus on one topic: jury management. I found many of the things said at the final tribals and opening statements surprising, at least to me, if you are pandering for the votes of these lovely people at Ponderosa.

My vote is up in the air. Please answer these honestly, without fluff or rose-colored glasses. The more real you are, the more I’ll respect you as I cast my vote.
The following questions are for ALL of you:

Gillian, Michelle, and Charlie,

1. What has been your jury management strategy?

2. Do you want my vote? Do you think you realistically can get it?

3. If you think you can get my vote, what makes you think you deserve it over the other finalists? In your answer, please name at least one thing about our interactions/mutual gameplay/conversations that you can point to in support of your argument.

[Michelle]

Dear Aurora,

I know you don’t want fluff, so we can talk about this later, but I do really want to talk to you about my decision to vote you off. I want to do it after you cast your vote though, so that you know what I’m saying is the truth and not just pandering. You don’t owe me a chance to explain what happened, but I hope you will give me one anyway because I truly care about you.
Now onto your questions:

1. What has been your jury management strategy?

My strategy has been to try and be as honest as possible with people. I come from a Mennonite upbringing, where women are expected to be humble and not take credit for things or talk themselves up, so selling myself is not something I am comfortable with. I am trying to fight against that ingrained instinct, and not apologize for my game or downplay the things I believe I have achieved. Some of my answers come across as condescending to me, and to be honest I’m not sure if it’s because they actually are condescending, or because I’m not used to seeing myself stand up for my accomplishments without apology. But I am responding to the questions jury members ask in the same way that I would want to see a woman answering questions if I were watching a show like Survivor: owning her game, being honest about her motives and strategies, and above all being unapologetic about the power she holds that got her there.

2. Do you want my vote? Do you think you realistically can get it?

I do want your vote, Aurora, and I think I can get it. Coming in to today, I didn’t think I could, I’ll be honest. Putting myself in your shoes, I didn’t know if I could overcome my bitterness at being betrayed by a close ally. And if the time to vote comes and you can’t vote for me, that’s not on you, that’s on me. But answering jury members’ questions today has validated my game to myself in so many amazing ways, and given me a confidence in my game and in myself that I didn’t have even two days ago.

3. If you think you can get my vote, what makes you think you deserve it over the other finalists? In your answer, please name at least one thing about our interactions/mutual gameplay/conversations that you can point to in support of your argument.

You have a different perspective of my game than almost anyone else except Lauren, because you saw how I was in the early days versus how I am now. Pre-swap, and even early merge, I was constantly going to you for validation, reassurance, and emotional support. That must have been an exhausting role for you, but you took it in stride and were always there when I was having a panic attack. I don’t think anyone else saw that side of me, not even Lauren or Reem.
I hope that you see the ways that I have grown since the beginning of the game, from needing to be calmed by you multiple times a day to being able to defend myself coherently in front of ten people who I had a hand in voting out. I’m not sure that the other two finalists have as big of a growth arc, or if they do, I’m not sure that you were as big a part of their growth arc as you were part of mine.

I will respect whatever decision you make, and look forward to talk with you once this whole thing is over!

[Gillian]

Hi All,

The other jurors asked many of the questions I was interested in, so I’m just going to focus on one topic: jury management. I found many of the things said at the final tribals and opening statements surprising, at least to me, if you are pandering for the votes of these lovely people at Ponderosa.

My vote is up in the air. Please answer these honestly, without fluff or rose-colored glasses. The more real you are, the more I’ll respect you as I cast my vote.
The following questions are for ALL of you:

Gillian, Michelle, and Charlie,

1. What has been your jury management strategy?
jury management was to take out big threats and yet still have a shot at getting that persons vote!!! based on who i thought i could still get a vote from even if i did vote them out!!! I tried to play nice and when i had to cut someone as they were a threat then they could see that was my thought process and still hopefully vote for me not just cause i was nice but because i tried to play a fairly clean and honest game!!! I also figured my closest allies would see how hard i worked and reward me with a vote!!!

2. Do you want my vote? Do you think you realistically can get it?
I would love your vote. I think I could get your vote based on what I have done in the game. If you look over the other jurors questions and my answers i think u will see that i in fact actually did play the game and i wasnt a goat and peoples perception was off. If i were trying to play as a goat i would own that shit!!! I was not a goat, I just played out of the spotlight and then took my shots when it was time!!! when i had had enough and said ok this is done!!!

3. If you think you can get my vote, what makes you think you deserve it over the other finalists? In your answer, please name at least one thing about our interactions/mutual gameplay/conversations that you can point to in support of your argument.
I know we butted heads but i thought we came to an understanding at merge. The jaq vote where u asked me to vote reem knowing that i was being targeted by jaq, how could i really just say yes to that, i did lie to u but i was lied to prior and the fact that I was not on the Aurora bandwagon and just doing whatever i was being pushed to do should say a lot. but when i heard she was after me i said to reem i want jaq out. and i proceeded to let that take its course!!! as for u trying to take out reem we had already talked prior and i told u i trusted reem so the fact u thought i would vote her seems kinda silly. BUt I did play my own game and we were not the best of griends and typically on the opposite side of things however when merge happened and susie said u were with her i was like ok bet!!! If susie had gotten u to be loyal i was willing to work with u. and on your vote i was pushing eric!!! and u agreed but neither of us voted eric!! so this is a 2 way street. we both did what we had to do!!! I wish we could of worked together and been closer but it just didnt seem to be in the stars!!!

[Charlie]

My jury management strategy was to create personal connections that superseded the game, which I think I was very successful at in the latter portion of the game, so that people’s warm feelings towards me as a person would balance out my lies. But I didn’t get to implement this strategy early on in the merge partially because I was in Mexico and struggling to keep up with the game and honestly because I wasn’t really thinking about the jury yet which I clearly should have been. Coming into FTC I knew that if I had any chance at getting early merge boot votes it was going to be them wanting to award my game more than the others.

Hell yes I want your vote and honestly I think despite us playing the game together for two seconds I do have a chance here. I played a game that you wouldn’t have known about anyway until now because I kept my cards in my own hands and didn’t show them to anyone — a strategy that got me here.

I can’t point out anything about us playing together Aurora because we didn’t. Never on the same tribe and you were the first real merge vote. I don’t think we said much more than hi how are you and then you asked me about my vote and I lied about it. I had multiple alliances coming into merge and you were a part of none of them.

But I think hiding my intentions and misrepresenting my place in the game are what makes me deserve the win over the others since I used this strategy to mask the physical and strategic capabilities that I later utilized to tear through the end of the game. If I had been more forthcoming with my abilities and intentions I would have been chopped down like all the other perceived threats. I withheld in challenges and avoided credit in the beginning, but I played the strongest game in the end where it counted the most. And that’s why I think I still stand a chance at getting your vote.