1. After a unanimous vote, do you think you can trust all the same people this round or do you have alliance shifts in mind?
I feel pretty good with where I'm at. I'm in good with pretty much everyone in some capacity, and I feel *really* good about enough people that I don't think I can be taken out this round. At this point my more serious alliances are:
The Core Four: Joaquin, Loveita, Courtney, Melinda
AuStranded Trio: Joaquin, Val, Russ
Alcoholics Anonymous: Joaquin & Cristina
Hot People Only: Joaquin & Catalie
That kinda leaves Stephanie and Kim as the two I haven't exactly firmed anything super solid with yet. And that doesn't mean I'm ignoring them or haven't talked strategy - I actually talk to Steph a
lot. It's just not quite on the same level. So going into this round, while things can change, getting rid of one of these two is probably optimal for keeping the rest of my alliances intact and unaware of each other.
You may be reading this and be thinking - didn't you hate Catalie and Cristina like, a day or two ago? And you're right. But I got to know both of them a lot better today (Catalie made a serious effort with me, and I made a serious effort with Cristina after being petty about her relationship with Loveita). Cristina's got more personality than I gave her credit for - we got into drugs/booze and she started going OFF about how Catalie wasn't showing up. And Catalie is obviously super interesting in her own right and has her own history, I think it was just a matter of her getting online. I'm not gonna be her #1 ever but it's still a useful relationship to have.
2. Are you trying to set yourself up for future swaps? Prepare for merge game?Just taking it vote by vote or something else? Lay out your future plans for us.
I think I'm definitely playing a longer-term game, but not quite as conservatively as I did in AuStranded. In AuStranded I basically was trying to get a working relationship with everyone, solid enough to get me to the merge and nothing more - and then start working my magic then. As I've been playing here, I've noticed the quality of player here is so high there's not really a whole ton of breathing room. Mookie let his guard down socially after the first night and Loveita (and others, she just springboarded the idea) squeezed in and all of a sudden it was an unanimous boot. If I'm not really proactive socially about covering my bases, I'll be gone. At the same time, I'm not trying to dictate every vote like I was in Turks. I think that's just not super sustainable in an environment like this where it's really hard to hide your game.
So, to answer your question - definitely taking it vote to vote, with an eye for trying to have my bases covered and be in a working relationship for a swap. I'll want to keep the relationships I have and combine them with preexisting ones that would come into play in a swap. My total stab at the schedule (knowing that this is three weeks and not the usual four) is - another dual boot tomorrow night (either half of each tribe will be immune, or it'll be a prisoner's dilemma type deal within the tribe). Then swap into three tribes of six, and have two or three dual boots (only one tribe wins immunity) and merge on Thursday at 12/14, and have a usual two-week merge.
3. Is there paranoia or speculation about whether the idol is found yet? Why or why not? How has your search been?
I've honestly looked for the idol for like ten minutes. I only even noticed the clue was posted like 12 hours after the fact. I looked to see if there were any obvious answers and there weren't so it's been pretty nonchalant. The one to keep an eye on is Stephanie since she apparently found like five idols in Namibia. It hasn't been a concern for voting yet.
