Vanessa's Revenge

[vanessa]

Just kidding ..I have no hard feelings. In fact I am glad to see you both here but that doesn't mean I am going to make this a cake walk.


Congratulations on making Final Two. I am not 100% certain of how I am going to vote yet, I thought I was, but to be fair I am going to put a lot of weight into how these questions are answered. You were both very different players from my perspective, but the fact is you are both here and deserve kudos for outlasting the rest of us. Good luck with these and may the best player win .




Zach :

Loved you since our first chat and am not surprised to see you sitting here. In fact I predicted it during majority rules when you and I picked each other ( I beat you on that one..lol ) You have a well rounded game that balances the social, strategic and comp aspects equally but I want to know where you feel your weaknesses are. I saw a few areas where you made some small blunders that might have cost you my vote had you been up against Michael, who I loved 100% and had no qualms against giving my vote to. I know that you and he were very close allies throughout this game and was a bit surprised that you chose to take Penny to the end over him. Was this because you feel you have a better chance at wining against her ? If so do you feel that bringing a weaker player, over being loyal to an ally is a good strategy that should be rewarded ?

Also please make a list of all your various alliances , F2 deals and those that were formalized with group chats so I can see the extent of your social / strategic game and how it was intertwined. I am interested to see how much you really were involved with Team Canada , or if that was just perception since you chose to vote with them on my eviction. I have to say that was one area that could have cost you my vote had you been against Michael, and not because you voted me out, because in fact, THAT WAS MY IDEA since it would help conceal that you were working with the frozen alliance , but you refused and said it was too late to hide that fact ,then voted me out without giving me a heads-up. I wasn't upset for myself since I was pretty sure I was leaving but I thought it was a shitty thing to do to Michael since he was the only person ( other than myself ) that didn't get the memo . Was that an oversight too or was that strategic ? Were you setting him up to be the biggest target all along ? Please be honest because I am not sure how it will effect my vote, I may think hell that was a brilliant move...........or not.


That's it Zach. I look forward to seeing your answers and good luck.



Penny For Your Thoughts..I mean "SHOTS"


Penny I didn't get to talk to you until the game was pretty well underway so you were one of my early targets as an inactive..but good for you for making it all the way. I wasn't alone in this perception so it begs the question, Was your under the radar role at the beginning of the game a strategy or were you having real life issues that kept you from being online early on ? Also this middle of the road game that you played got you to the end and huge props for that but I am still left wondering a lot about you . I do know that during the first few weeks almost everyone I spoke to, including Zach was hoping to win HOH and nominate you as an easy target, so I can't help but think it is a bit fortuitous that you made it this far. I want to give you a chance to enlighten the non-believers . Tell us where you outplayed your opponent and for that matter lets have a ranked list of your allies too. ( hint : I am big on loyalty )

That's it Penny. I am really interested in your answers because my vote is not by any means locked in. Good Luck.

[Zach]

Heya Vanessa! I gotta say you are obviously a prophet in some variety considering the majority rules answer . I remember that you answering that was what spurned me to finally ask you about forming an alliance, because I wanted to solidify something ~official~ instead of us just being close.

“You have a well rounded game that balances the social, strategic and comp aspects equally but I want to know where you feel your weaknesses are."

I think my biggest weakness has basically been outlined in a few of the previous posts. While I think I played a good game, it certainly was not a flashy one. If I was next to an Aisha or possibly a Michael I feel like I would be getting a lot of flak for hiding behind allies throughout the game. If I could pick any other weakness, it would probably be the inability to connect with people up to a certain point. I would have casual chit chat but there were some people I simply could not get super close to. Penny nommed me because I didn’t have a close relationship with her, which makes perfect sense from an HoH perspective.
Also I couldn't win unless my back was against the way towards the end of the game. 

“I know that you and he [Michael] were very close allies throughout this game and was a bit surprised that you chose to take Penny to the end over him. Was this because you feel you have a better chance at wining against her ?”

100% the reason why I took Penny over Michael was that I believed I stood a better chance against her than him in the end. I DID think I would stand a chance against Michael, especially after being able to plead my case and such, but I didn’t want to risk it especially with someone like yourself who would be a guaranteed vote for him if I took him rather than a probable vote for me if I took Penny.

"If so do you feel that bringing a weaker player, over being loyal to an ally is a good strategy that should be rewarded ?"

I certainly don’t think I should be PENALIZED for bringing a weaker player over a stronger ally that’s for sure. In the end this is all a game and in the game you need to know when you can possibly be beat, and find a way to avoid that. It would be like if I was playing Monopoly with a friend and he landed on my Boardwalk with a hotel on it and I decided to not have him pay rent. I had the game on lock if I made him pay up, but if I do that because I felt bad about making him lose, then I would open up the possibility for me to become bankrupt on one of his properties. It simply wasn’t worth the risk, especially after playing this game for so long and being so invested (also doesn’t help that he was disloyal in voting out Aisha and wanting to eventually get rid of me).

Also please make a list of all your various alliances , F2 deals and those that were formalized with group chats so I can see the extent of your social / strategic game and how it was intertwined.

My only official group chats were with the Frozen 5 and the “idk some alliance chat” with you and Michael. There was a Team Canada chat but it was rarely used and I wasn’t very involved in it. I mainly had wanted to keep Team Canada as a backup plan had any of my other alliances shattered or they were in power. I also had an alliance with Gerry, Audrey, and Kevin but we never got to get it off the ground because the entire house just about wanted Gerry out.

As far as F2s go I had an obvious one with Aisha. I offered Michael one towards the start of the game (well he asked me first) and at F4. I’m pretty sure we had an F2 when I first offered an alliance with you (even though I figured you were a bit closer to Michael). J-Mac and I actually had an F2 towards the start of the game. Also offered an F2 with Pilar when the Frozen 5 ship looked sunk. FINALLY I had a really good relationship with Godfrey but that wasn’t an official F2 or anything. Aka it was a fkn mess.

“I have to say that was one area that could have cost you my vote had you been against Michael, and not because you voted me out, because in fact, THAT WAS MY IDEA since it would help conceal that you were working with the frozen alliance , but you refused and said it was too late to hide that fact ,then voted me out without giving me a heads-up. I wasn't upset for myself since I was pretty sure I was leaving but I thought it was a shitty thing to do to Michael since he was the only person ( other than myself ) that didn't get the memo . Was that an oversight too or was that strategic ?”

S2g it was simply an oversight not to tell you and Michael I was 100% voting for you. Strategically I don’t think there was any reason to have NOT told you, especially after you said yourself that I could. Michael was away and I THINK I was busy around that time so I wasn’t on AIM as much? But I don’t want to be giving out lame excuses like that.

“Were you setting him up to be the biggest target all along ?”

Lol, I wish I had the strategic foresight to do this. I DID know that a result of him voting to keep you might make him a target over Aisha or I, but that wasn’t purposefully done or anything and I figured the target was already there because of his beef with Pilar.

Well I think that's everything, if you want me to speak about anything else just lmk!

[vanessa]

Thanks Zach. Great Job and I can't say I am surprised. Good Luck

[Penny]

Penny I didn't get to talk to you until the game was pretty well underway so you were one of my early targets as an inactive..but good for you for making it all the way. I wasn't alone in this perception so it begs the question, Was your under the radar role at the beginning of the game a strategy or were you having real life issues that kept you from being online early on ? Also this middle of the road game that you played got you to the end and huge props for that but I am still left wondering a lot about you . I do know that during the first few weeks almost everyone I spoke to, including Zach was hoping to win HOH and nominate you as an easy target, so I can't help but think it is a bit fortuitous that you made it this far. I want to give you a chance to enlighten the non-believers . Tell us where you outplayed your opponent and for that matter lets have a ranked list of your allies too. ( hint : I am big on loyalty )

I think it's a combination of both. In real life, I'm a full-time student while holding down a part-time job and involvement in miscellaneous campus activities. I would often be online at odd times during the day and later at night, but early evenings, the prime time for ORGs, often found me doing other things. I did try to fly under the radar by playing up the "party girl" persona, but I was also unable to be around as much as I would have liked to have been.



In the early rounds, I was not aware that so many people wanted to target me for inactivity, but I am not surprised. I think it is fortuitous that I managed to survive until the mid-game, when I got to really start playing, but I also think that luck plays a huge part in anyone's game. For instance, it could be said of a likable winner that they were lucky to play with a cast that so admired their personality type, or you could say of a Survivor winner who gets to FTC on an immunity run that it was lucky the challenges played to their strengths. Luck is an inherent part of the game, and I am fortunate that it was on my side.



I've outlined my overal strategy numerous times throughout these threads, so I will just point to some specific examples where I outplayed my opponents:



- During the week of Adam's eviction, I played both sides successfully enough to go from initial nominee to tiebreaker vote by the end of the week. Additionally, throughout the game, I did not receive a single vote for eviction. Survival is a key part of playing this game, and survive, I did.



- My game and Pilar's game were very closely tied throughout, but even though my aims were often the same as hers (work with Team Canada, target Aisha, etc.), she was the one to take the fall. The social game is an important part of the game, and in being viewed as less of a target than her, I outplayed her.



- I was a contender in competitions, including winning both Knight Moves and Missing Link, two very classic Big Brother competitions. In a literal sense, I outplayed my competition many times.



- When it was absolutely critical, I seized power and evicted Aisha. Aisha could have very easily won this game, but by winning HoH and convincing Michael of her danger, I forced her eviction, successfully outplaying the biggest threat in the house.

- At all times in the game, I had options. Whether they were true in their claims or not, every week I was here I had a number of people wanting to work with me, whether that was through individual bonds in the early game, Team Australia, or Team Canada. This is a perfect tie-in to why I will not be able to answer your question asking me to provide a ranked list of allies, and though this answer will probably cost me your vote, it is the honest answer. I did not play a loyal game. I had options everywhere I turned, and I was willing to cut those options when the situation called for it. My focus was on getting myself to the end, so when it became clear that people were targetting me (in the case of Jackie), or when it became clear that I had a longer shelf life with people who were targetting a specific player (in the case of Adam and, unfortunately, you, Vanessa), I voted as such. My allegiance changed each round. There was some risk associated with this - I'm surprised that no one ever came after me for being unreliable, but in the end, I think it paid off. I outplayed my opponents by always having someone to work with going forward. Was it pretty? No. But did it work? Yes. If your vote is based strictly on loyalty, then I can't say that I'm the girl who deserves it, but if your vote is based on which player outplayed the others, I think my game deserves your attention.

Thanks for the questions Vanessa, and sorry it took me so long to respond!

[vanessa]

Thanks Penny. You did well. I know you are very busy and good luck.