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Monica Padilla
 | | Reputation: 2 | | Group: | Merge | | Posts: | 1,523 | | Joined: | Sep 19, 2015 |
| Post #1: 5th Nov 2015 10:11 PM | |
Sorry ive beeb awat for the night will get unto it | | |
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Monica Padilla
| | Reputation: 2 | | Group: | Merge | | Posts: | 1,523 | | Joined: | Sep 19, 2015 |
| Post #2: 5th Nov 2015 11:53 PM | |
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My queen of the dead, I felt like we had a great relationship while in the game. I FEVERISHLY feel that Colton made quite a few mistakes in this game with his idol, and one of them was not using it on you. I think that you weren't to blame for your own boot, and instead, you had some allies who couldn't stand up to the obvious.
However, that doesn't get rid of the negatives from your game. When you reentered, you weren't very political. You focused on challenge wins, and blasting the alliance still in the game for being a cult. While I want you to win, I'm not entirely sold that you deserve the win strategically. You accomplished something Rodney and Mookie didn't though: You have a good relationship with a large amount of this jury.
It's tough, I want you to win. As someone who struggled with re-entering the game, I think you KILLED your opportunity to relive and re-thrive. Was it enough though? |
I think as someone who also came back from the dead, I think you're in the best position to understand what it's like to be back into the game and being cornered by a majority alliance. I mean, you suffered from the exact same thing, and you were sent right back to the dead for the second time. I re-entered the game when the majority alliance was even more in power than when you came back. I don't think I killed my opportunity to relive, and I'll get into it with your questions!
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| I want you to sell me on it. I want you to tell me "No Lembo, I deserve to win strategically, and here's why". Here are your questions. |
I'll get into it as I answer your questions. :) Mostly #3 and #4.
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| 1) I, just like you, re-entered the game after losing. Please tell me your mindset when you re-entered the game. What was your strategy, your internal dilemmas, and your issues with the players still left in the game? |
My mindset when I was back into the game was bittersweet. On one hand, I was completely pissed off that I had to play the game again with people that had already voted me out. I mean, if I came back into the game and you, Amber, and Colton had actually been able to bounce back, Oh my god, that would have been exciting, I WOULD have been happy to come back, but with the same majority alliance still intact, it was sad. On the other hand, I was relieved that I wasn't official dead, and I actually stand a chance in continuing to survive! This is a bit like when you have a car crash. FUCK IT HURTS NOOO AAAAAAAA. But you're still happy that you're alive, no?
My initial strategy was to change the sweetheart perception that people had in me. I already had a massive target on my back for being a challenge threat, and a snake had been drawn on one of the votes against me. So I was probably seen as a strategic threat at some point or another. On top of that, with so little blood on my hands, I could be seen as a jury threat too. ENOUGH. Enough is enough. I have enough treat labels on my back, do I really need more? As much as being abrasive is not enough to win you the game, I didn't want to just be so sweet to everyone, and when comes the time I lose a challenge, for having absolutely nothing to battle with. What would I say? Oh I'm nice to everyone and I have no blood on my hands, please keep me? If I lose an immunity, I could value that I have no chance to win the game, and that I messed up my chance to come back in the game. But losing an immunity never happened to me, so I can't sit there and convince you that it could actually work. I didn't have to launch any "major" scramble of a last-case-scenario.
My internal dilemma was not knowing who to really work with. On one hand, I had Rodney who would never be straight-forward and would always deflect the responsibility of everything on others. I think you probably know where I'm coming from with that, I think you posted a conversation that reflects exactly how talking with Rodney felt like. I also had Mookie and Daniel who were barely thinking about their own individual relationships, and would only be using "gang mentality" on me. They refused to talk at all and would respond in a really cold way. I mean, even Daniel for example, would basically just brag about how he was voting the right way one hundred percent of the time, sabotage my challenges, cut the conversation for studying and never come back, I mean the list goes on and on. Anything I would say would be reported back to their alliance too. Brice was more honest though, he gave me an insight on the votes that I didn't have with the others. So I felt like it was in my best interest to work him over the others, but at the same time, I knew that I couldn't stick with just him. So I've always had internal dilemmas my entire time as to who do I really stick with. This is when you come to the realization that : You are by yourself. If I could have done anything to change that, it should have been done way before I get voted out, because at the point I returned in the game, the damages were already done.
My issues with the players left in the game were their level of naiveness. They were naively trusting eachother, and none of them would wake up until their day of elimination. I think that even if I could read their confessionals, and threw everyone under the bus, they would still stick together. (I'm exaggerating here, I admit.) I was no use to them, so they thought.
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| 2) Give me one or two names that you wanted out of this merge when you re-entered the game, and tell me why you wanted them out. |
I wish I could give you five names, but I guess I'm limited to two. ;)
It's very difficult to stick to two names by the way, because I sincerely wanted them all gone. And being somebody who is opened to work with anyone at anytime, it's hard to bring up two names without looking contradictory.
I would say that Brice & Rodney were two people I wanted out because Brice had this in the bag, and because Rodney was too difficult to work with, but it's not like others were easy to work with either... lol. That's what I'm talking about when I say it's hard to stick with two names.
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| 3) I'm sorry if you answered this already, but please give me your proudest achievement when you re-entered the game that ISN'T a challenge win. |
I'm going to cut this question in two parts, if you don't mind. I'll begin by answering your actual question, which is an achievement that doesn't have to do with my challenges win, then on the next part, I'll talk to you about my challenges wins.
PART ONE : I think my proudest achievement since my return in the game is the final four. It might sound banal to your ears because there were already two votes in place against Brice, but I was still the decision maker when it came to that. If I decided to vote with Brice, based on challenges record, I'm pretty sure that Brice was going to beat Rodney. He didn't even know how to actually move images, that speaks by itself. I could have gone with my emotions, and eliminate Rodney, because I had targeted him on final five, he annoyed me with his bullshit, and just because I felt so much more close on a personal level with Brice, but I went with my head on that one, as much as I really was sooo tempted to just say "fuck it I'll vote Rodney, bring it on hahahaah".
PART TWO : I don't think we should minimize my challenge wins. Some people are making fun of it, saying that "oh monica just knows how to move that mouse faster hahaha". Um not really. If you look closely, I didn't JUST got a bit faster, I crushed them. None of them had even gotten their last bag when I raised my flag on the last challenge. The sudden death tie-breaker, I almost had the DOUBLE of what Mookie did. On final five, in the exception of Brice, I finished DOUBLE faster than the others. And I'll tell you why : It has nothing to do with the speed of my freaking mouse.
It has to do with one, my determination to win the game, and PRACTICE. Yes, PRACTICE. Have these people even practiced, or just not enough? Before the final five challenge, I took a sneek peak into the last seasons boards, and I realized that oh shit, we haven't had that memory challenge yet. CRAP I didn't take note of ANYTHING since day one! So two days before, I studied the board to take notes in the event the boards would be shut down. I literally had 36 hours left to do that, and I finished it at time. Since my notes were recent, I ended up not even needing it. I knew a lot of scores by heart, I knew who sat out from which challenges, etc. So when came the challenge, THAT is why I killed it.
For the final immunity challenge, it was PRACTICE, AGAIN. I didn't just wait for the host to post the challenge and think of a strategy. I already had my hamster spinning on my head : What is he going to throw at us? I look at the previous seasons, OH, this is it. How can I go the fastest possible on each types of tasks? So I practiced different methods, until I found the ones that were convenient to me. When it came to the images puzzle, I had practice with the last two seasons' puzzles. I saved SEVERAL minutes because I knew what mistakes not to repeat, and which way was the faster. I had already counted the amount of letters in the logo in case it would come up again this season, 53. I already knew by HEART that 24 was the score of NuDivinita on Against Time, and I just tried a bunch of numbers for the third clue.
I'm not saying it's a reason itself for me to win, but I just want to point out, that I didn't win because I got a superman mouse and that I'm a robot. No, I was PREPARED. The only things these guys were prepared for was to shout in the groupchat that Monica was next to go.
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| 4) Sell to me that you deserve to win strategically. |
I appreciate that you are asking a question where I can actually sell myself a little better. I'll begin by giving you a little narrative of my game, so you can understand on a strategic level why there are certain moves I did not make in this game, and in the end, I'll bring up my points on why I should win strategically. I'm also not the best narrator in the World, so please bear with me on that!
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I began the game in a tribe filled with prejury returnees. Me included. If I was going to get 20th, or 19th again, it was going to be so humiliating, that I seriously priorized NOT getting such a horrible rank. We were sent to tribal council right away. We didn't even get to actually have a team-work challenge. This is why I tried my hardest at the first challenge, because if your name gets thrown on a first tribal council, you are fucked. So mission accomplished, I won immunity, and I was safe. Now came a decision, though. I really thought that voting Fairplay out was going to be the tribe's smartest move, because his performance at the challenge was really poor. We had no idea we were going to swap right away, so at the time, I was thinking for having a strong tribe and not go to tribal council. This is when people have decided that it's Angie. That shocked me. It came out of nowhere, and it raised major red flags to me. I tried to reason a few people into voting for Fairplay so we could have better challenge strength, but that's not what people wanted. People told me not to rock the boat, and to stop campaigning for her. What am I going to do on Day One? Would it seriously be that strategic of me to just keep going and make a fool of myself so I get 19th again? NO. This is why I let it go. I'm not playing kamikaze on day one. THAT is strategic. Going the other way, would be stupid. I made sure to get on Angie's good side as well, just in case I follow her on Isla Muertos, an alliance could be easier. I also got the information from Ami, that Brianna was going on the other tribe. In case I end up next on that island, I tried to reach that bitch. But that bitch was not around. We will all figure out why later : She's inactive. *shrugs*
The next round, we were announced that we had a captain challenge. I didn't even get to participate, because I was at work. So Brice and JT were the captains. Since the first vote was very shady to me on the Muertos tribe, that's when I reached Ami and Brice and asked them to pick me first ASAP and that I did not feel good with my previous tribe. They picked me, and we ended up with an undefeatable tribe. I also asked so that Fairplay does NOT get picked on our tribe. Seriously, I had JUST targeted him, and I'm going to end up on a tribe with him? No way. I wanted to start with fresh new people. During that tribe, we haven't had to make any decisions because we remained undefeatable. And we had ANOTHER tribe swap after that. This time, I became a captain.
This time, however, the captain would only pick ONE person, and it would become a chain of people that pick each other. Mookie picked Brice first, and that's when I had my own decision to make. And seriously, a decision like this shouldn't be taken lightly. This is what could keep you dead or alive. Instead of picking someone who is visibly a strong player, I decided to pick Sherri. That probably made you question yourself when I picked her, well, that was a strategic pick. We hadn't talk THAT much before, and it's only after that that we became closer friends, by the way. I thought that she was probably less involved in conversations because she was less around than the others, so I thought she would be somebody I could get on my side easier, but on the flipside, I also viewed as a potential shield in the event I end up with a bad tribe. She wasn't so good at challenges, and she wasn't always around. That was my strategical thinking when I made that decision. It is on that tribe that I got closer to Sherri, Rodney, and Ami. When it was Fairplay's time to go, I agreed with that. He was already targeting Sherri, and I had grown close to Sherri by now. Also, he was scrambling to all the other player, BUT WHO? But me! This shouldn't be a concern short-term, but long-term, I viewed that as a signal that I didn't sit well in Fairplay's book. And it was no surprise to me, so I sent my vote against him. At that point, he was also one of the very few people that I didn't have a good relationship with on Isla Muertos. (the potential people that could be there).
Just before the merge, we had a double tribal council. The challenge was "puppet masters". This is one moment I truly wish I could participate, because this could really have gone differently. I was at work, and I couldn't even talk to anyone, and my ropes were cutting itself. I think I could post like once, and it was off the time because wifi at job is horrible. (Not whining atm, but just so you understand that yes, I would totally have tried to hint a different approach to that challenge if I could.) I would definitely have tried to convince people into cutting Vytas' ropes, but it was out of my power. Him winning immunity fucked the vote, big time, and we knew that Carolyn threw that to him. That's why I never approached Vytas to vote out Mama. I knew that Rodney was close to these two, and they were already gunning for Ami. I argued with Rodney for a long time to eliminate Mama, but he didn't want to. That's when it came down to Sherri. She didn't want to keep Ami, she wanted to keep Carolyn.
Now you're going to say that I should have tried to convince Sherri into making 3v3? Right? That's... cray. Way to commit suicide I would say. First of all, we would be pulling rocks, and Vytas has the immunity I remind you. And second of all, on the previous round, when Sherri threw a vote on Vytas in case of an idol, she was already blabbing it to Rodney. She picked him to be on her tribe first... And the list went on about how much Sherri's mouth worried me when it came to information. Before we could even finalize any plan, Sherri was already telling Rodney everything, and Rodney would run back to me and be "did Sherri just say this?" And even though I trusted Sherri to be with me, I really didn't trust her mouth when it came to information. That's why I didn't mess around to try and get her vote to force an unprobably purple rock win.
When you look back, that could have been a good move, if that paid off, but I felt like this is a vote that could VERY easily have flipped on me, especially when I was only back in the last hour to the deadline because of work. (Sorry for bringing up work so many times, but it did impact me at a few moments and I just want to make sure that you put yourself in my head for a moment). When it was official that Ami was going, I spilled the beans to her. I didn't want to take the blame for that, and I still wanted to work with her if she were to come back into the game. That's when we merged, and it was announced that you, Lembo, were coming back into the game.
When Sherri went home unanimously, that's when lines got drawn. Ami had told me that before she goes, she left good words about me to Amber and Colton, so immediately got to them, and I think the bonding was quicker than I thought it would be. When I talked to Colton, this is when I realized that we were facing a possible six-person alliance, because he thought that the vote was weird too, or so he said. And this is one of the things that Rodney has benefited from by the way. The fact that he hasn't been on a tribal council with Brice/Lue/Mookie... Those last three could easily be pinned together based on the tribals they had, but Rodney had never really been "tested" with these three. And as much as it was my mistake to think that it was a 3/3 alliance, you NEED a tribal council to happen to know where the people fit. That's why Rodney turned into a swing vote, actually.
You, Amber, Colton, and me, we were four votes, and all we needed was one. I had tried to warn Rodney that Brice was going to use Amber and Colton against him and his allies once me/lembo are gone, but obviously that wasn't the argument that would do it. So I went to work while Amber and Colton were supposed to be talking into Rodney... one of the most stressing shift ever, because while I was working, people were finalizing my departure.. and I finally came back an hour before tribal! Only to find out that Amber and Colton are backing out and acting weird with me. Rodney was faking that he tried everything and it was Colton's fault and he didn't want to flip, even though I felt like that was just bullshit. The only person who all of a sudden wanted to vote with me was Carolyn. When I told her I would vote for Vytas to throw a vote away, she was all on board with that. She said let's stir some shit. I IMed you right away : Someone is voting Vytas, let's send some votes on him (maybe a little more detailed than that...)! I wasn't going to throw Carolyn's name already and lose her vote, I observed that nobody even bait for that. You just all stood still, watching your armclock as my minutes are running out. :( Even Amber wasn't telling me I was going! But that's okay, this game is about second chances, and I'm not done with this, I felt like I just had a temporary and dangerous exile. I mean, if they vote out a physical threat, they should know that they're very likely to come back to haunt them, I guess. Shame on them. Had they waited just one vote longer, I would probably have arrived at a worst timing. They sent me to an island where two of my friends were. Of course I was going to connect with one of them and take over. ;)
When I arrived, Sherri was already gone, and I was with JT and Ami. I already had an alliance with Ami, but she was a major physical threat, and that scared the hell out of me. On the other hand, JT had a horrible record of challenge performance. At first sight, it sounds like if I want to have a chance at coming back, I need to get rid of my physical competition, Ami. But I didn't think that way, I felt like having a strong duo on that island was going to be the best strategic move. That's how Angie and Jenn have survived so long, and we were going to repeat that. I won the first duel, so I had to make that decision of voting JT out. When you came next on the island, I sucked MAJORLY on that duel. I seriously SUCKED. There was no way in hell I was winning it. This is a moment when I didn't have an immunity to protect myself. And my previous decision might have just saved my ass. Ami voted you out. Had I voted out Ami, I was going to get stuck with you and JT, and you previously had an alliance, and I was a strong competition to you when it was physical! I really felt like I could have been in major double trouble if it wasn't for the decision I had made on the previous judgement.
And Bam. The final duel ... already! And this is when I won my place back in the game, for a second chance. I don't want to play "Pete and Repeat are on a boat", I think I've spoken about my return in the game in Question #1-2-3. :)
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One thing that I understand about this game is that the jury is THE most important element EVER. You can have dictated the entire game if you want (reference to Hantz), but if you don't have a jury to back you up, you SUCK. I think I took that in consideration from the very beginning when they announced Isla Muertos. I didn't bullshit the people that were going home, I not only told them, but I also "maintained an alliance" with them, see where that got me. I had Ami to back me up on Isla Muertos, I could have a jury to back me up tonight as well, which is one of the most important tribal council of the game.
If you think that just because I needed the last three immunity challenges that I am not deserving to win this game, that's wrong. Immunities are PART of survivor. You should know that if you want to outsmart someone who's comp whoring their way to the end, then you should probably do a better job at burning their reputation and put blood on their hands, rather than keep pushing them up the wall and being "hahahahaha, you are going homeeeee nexxxttt" "hahaha you won't know who the vote isssss" and use a gang mentality like that, which ends up with the comp whore getting no blood on their hands and throwing another win in their face each time. I didn't play for a GANG, I played for ME. And I think that when you play for YOU, that's already more strategic than playing for other people.
I hope that's enough substance for you, I mean... it's not like I can reinvent the game either, and nobody is perfect in this game! ;)
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| 1) I want to hear your FTC strategy with every juror. Tell me how you approached each one. Also tell me, if you were to win, whose votes would you get and why. |
 I don't think I have her vote on lock, based on what Vytas has said, but at the same time, that's her vote, and I think at the end of the day, she's going to make her own decision. She already knows what she needs to know about me, so I don't see how I could push it any further for her to vote for me. I've been one of the very few people who have actually been genuine with her on her way out.
 I was viewing JT as the wildcard of the jury, I'm not entirely sure how close he was to Mookie and Rodney, so I didn't have a specific approach with him. I think my approach could be influenced based on whatever question or statements that he's posting.
 My approach with you was to give you what you're expecting from me. And I hope my answers were interesting.
 My approach with Colton is yet to be determined because he hasn't posted his question yet. I did want to make sure, however, that he knows I had the intention of being loyal to our alliance and I wasn't just sketching around.
 I think my approach with her is the same as Sherri. I wanted to make sure she knows I was genuine with her, because I don't feel like I need to "push it any further" to get her vote.
 I made sure to give her what she wanted from us. Carolyn loves stirring the pot.
 She knows what she needs to know about me, and I know in the back of my mind that she does and I am not questionning that.
 Oh geez. This is my least likely vote I'm going to get, if I have any. That's how I feel. What keeps him from voting for me is the fact that he's friends with the other two, and we haven't had that much talks together. Hopefully something happens where he gets pissed at the other two, but I'm not seeing that happening.
 He made it clear that he would NOT vote for me. So instead of just letting it, I made sure to comment, and I made SURE to state that it would be interesting for a juror to actually come up with a serious question, and you just did it. Hopefully he's going to like my responses better here.
 My approach with him was one, give him the props he deserves, two, give him the rational reasons of my vote against him, three, give him what he needs from me to vote for me, which is a better insight on my social game.
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I think if I am going to win, I would need six votes, and with Daniel and Vytas out of the equation, I can only allow two more people to vote against me. Apparently Sherri thinks I went too far with my N-words (based on what Vytas said), so if I did lose her, along with Brice who started tribal council implying he wouldn't vote for me, I'm going to say that it's all in the hands of the other six.
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| 2) I want you each to tell me about how your strategy would change depending on the potential people who could've came back from the dead. List each contestant who could've returned from the dead (at the round Monica returned) and explain how they could've changed the game for you. So for example, explain how Sherri returning would've changed your game, then JT, until you get all the way down to Ami. |
Um. If I don't return, my strategy is that... I'm a juror! LOL. But that's a fun question, so I'll respond "what if Lembo did not return on the first final duel".
If Angie returned, I think that would be a major wildcard moment. I think it would be easier to get her on my side since I had been the only one to try to keep her on Day One, (and despite what Vytas say that I didn't do anything to keep her it's bullshit, so many people told me to calm down my tits on that vote that I almost crossed a freaking line on that one, and even Angie just told me to let it go). I think a lot of people would have tried to come to her, just because she's fresh. Maybe I would also have had some more information on the game? So I think it would have depended on however Angie would want to play and what people were going to approach her with.
If JT returned, I think that it would be a repeat of the same story, just with JT in your shoes, and you in JT's shoes. You two were viewed as a pair, so when it comes to position in the game, you would probably end up in the same places. But... thinking about it, maybe JT could have made it a few rounds later because he wasn't a major challenge threat. But that's only hypothetical.
If Ami returned, hell the game would be so different. First, she knew about Colton's idol. I think she would have had tried to get that idol to be used for something. ;) Hypothetical again...
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| 3) Finally, tell me your favorite memory about each jury member. |
Sherri : Every moments with her were golden. So I'll say the first funny moment when she comes at the end of a challenge : I'M READY TO START THE CHALLENGE!
JT : In the beginning of the game when we kept missing each other : HI! HI! HI! HI! But we could never really get a conversation going. This is our only funny moment because we haven't talked much, and the rest were kind of game-related.
Lembo : When I thought you were pregnant for real... *facepalm*
Colton : When we talked about what turns us on. :-X
Ami : When we realized what Monami meant!
Carolyn : When she voted Vytas with me, it made me feel like less crap. I was soo secretly emotional about my elimination, she made it so much easier to take.
Amber : When we were in a groupchat and having panick attacks on that auction. "RODNEY JUST OUTBID YOU. GOOOO" or... just how damn quick we got on the same page in almost just one conversation!
Daniel : When he thought we were on the same tribe but we weren't.
Vytas : When we dropped the hate for each other.
Brice : When wehe wrote that story for the challenge! And that ridiculous and funny puppet. :P
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