Hey guys, it's Stephanie here, ready to prove to you all why I deserve the crown in this epic all-winners season and to claim the Stranded title for the second time!
My journey in this series began six years ago when I became the Sole Survivor in Namibia and I felt I'd gotten everything out of the experience I could ever want so the idea of making a return wasn't especially appealing to me. However, this theme was one I just couldn't turn down when the opportunity arose and I think we're all super proud to be a part of the winner's circle of a series of 30+ seasons and 13+ years so it seemed the perfect celebration amongst the best of the best. I knew it'd be an entirely different calibre of cast altogether given everyone has already proven their ability to win, but I put specific focus on a few of my own strengths to ensure I'd be a contender here, and effectively excelled at these to make it to the final three.
~Social~
This particular aspect was the foundation of my game and opened many doors for me, and I got to work right from the jump on Munin, establishing key alliances with the majority of the tribe. Catalie, Courtney, Cristina, Joaquin, Loveita, Melinda, Russell and Val were all people I felt super solid about working with for the game ahead and evidently that was reciprocated overall as by the end of round three, just before the swap, I ranked 2nd/10 in the social ranking of this tribe. After we voted off Kim Spradlin that round, she even called me out for being a "sleeper threat" alongside Loveita and Melinda, which I felt only brought me even closer to those two girls given we now had that stigma upon us, and Loveita and I had both just topped the ranking together.
By the time the swap came around, I had an easy majority with Catalie, Courtney, and Val on Fenrir, and despite having to kill off one of our own alliance just before the merge and Val having an idol she made known she would be playing, I was still able to form a strong trio with Catalie and Val going into the merge, to eliminate Courtney, despite her trying to put the hit on me.
Even though my timezone made it tricky for me to be here in full every single night, I still did everything I could to make up ground around the clock with any late night dwellers (Cassandra, Kim, Loveita etc.), any early birds in the morning (Melinda's one who comes to mind) and then obviously the other international players in Cristina/Penner I was able to strategize with and get to know in general on a personal level when the rest of you were all fast asleep <3 Even someone like Jeff who I only had two rounds with I felt I was able to foster a social relationship with and our impersonations of the pre-jury ahead of the merge challenge really broke the ice between us.
I used my social game to make people want to work with me and
not target me, see a viable path forward with me and a need for me in their games and I think I achieved that by never being a genuine target to leave by receiving more than a single vote at a Tribal Council (I only received four total, three times by Cass and once by Courtney), whereas Russell and Yve both made themselves into easy targets in the early merge especially and didn't have as many available options as I did. I was able to find the perfect balance where people were wanting to work with me and include me in their circles without deeming me as too much of a threat to their games where they'd need to eliminate me down the line.
~Strategy~
My strategic game also had many depths to it which I'd like to showcase. Munin had the 8-6 numbers advantage at the merge and I was obviously feeling pretty good about my position within that hierarchy given my ranking just before the swap, being in a trio with Cat and Val, and knowing I had great relationships with Joaquin/Russell and Cristina/Loveita/Melinda. If anything I felt like after Val left that Catalie and I were firmly in the middle of those two factions within the Munin hierarchy which I could use to my benefit as one would always need my vote to strike against the other.
However, I knew this game was never going to be strictly Munin vs. Fenrir, and to solidify my cross-tribal connections I formed a four with myself and Catalie, as well as Kim and Tammy, to combine our two pairs. I knew I needed something solid as I was coming into the merge without Fenrir connections due to the swap dynamic. We agreed that we might not necessarily always vote together as we had somewhat conflicting allegiances and outright flipping too early could be detrimental, but we'd keep the target off each other from afar and see what opportunities open up down the road. I also knew with idols and whatnot floating around this would keep me out of the line of fire.
After Cass had voted me as her contingency plan at final eleven, I had very lengthy conversations with both her and Penner over the weekend as we tried to work through that, and an alliance of me, them, Cat and Joaquin was thrown around, and eyes were on the Joaquin/Russell/Tammy trio with a desire to break them up before they became too powerful.
The alliance itself didn't hold up as Joaquin caught wind of his name being thrown out there and Catalie heard Penner had leaked its existence to Kim and Loveita. I knew I wanted a Fenrir gone the first vote as I wanted to avoid any possibility of the five Fenrir voting together at nine if we gave them a majority, so Penner was the first target given all the drama that happened that afternoon, and then Loveita and I had planned ahead of time to flip to the remaining Fenrir at nine and blindside Joaquin, telling Joaquin/Russell to vote Tammy in case of an idol play so she was idolled out and not one of us, and the trio was still split up regardless, which is how it played out.
~Agency~
I think another strong selling point to my game and my case to win over my fellow finalists is my agency, positioning and ability to make my own vote one that was sought after.
After I'd voted Joaquin at final nine, I knew it was a risk that'd still pay off as he'd idol out Tammy and not me and I'd still be in a position where he'd have to work me back on his side in the aftermath. He even told me at this point he saw myself as being in the best position in the game. I knew he and Russell were growing concerns of me being aligned with Cass, Kim and Loveita and I was definitely playing that angle up to them while Cat, Joaquin and Russ still sought my vote as the four of us had been aligned since the beginning of the merge, and I worked that middle ground to my advantage.
I also knew that Joaquin and Loveita were more at odds with each other than he and I were so wasn't worried he'd come for me, in addition to me proving to Cass and Kim that I was legit about working and voting with them by putting Joaquin's name down alongside them, to keep that angle open too in terms of voting together moving forward. Plus, despite voting Yve at eight, I was still in a position where she still wanted to work and vote with me and not target me in the aftermath.
I knew Catalie and I were seen as a pair and obviously we were, but I was always making my own moves which put myself in the best position first and foremost, even if they weren't to her benefit. I was very much willing to vote separately from her if need be, which was evident at the final seven when I flipped on the tribal lines to vote against Munin and with the three Fenrir to take out Joaquin, as I knew the threat of him winning out to the end through challenge wins or idol plays was looming and I was very confident I'd have a viable path to the end even with him out of the way.
I was positioned to stay in the game despite Cass' attempts to vote me out at six and five and I firmly believe I was going to be safe at four regardless of winning immunity or not, but felt compelled to go all out in the challenge regardless because I just wanted it that badly to earn my spot here.
~Closing~
I survived sixteen Tribal Councils total, and in terms of swap numbers at the merge, myself, Cat and Val quickly just became myself and Cat from NuFenrir, but I made it here all the same. I never had a problem playing with OG Fenrir and worked hard forging cross-tribal relationships at the merge, making myself approachable for moves so they'd work with me, while also solidifying the initial strong relationships I already had with Munin since our first tribe at the beginning where I was fully ingrained in the inner circle.
I believe this is an area I greatly excelled at over Russell who copped ire at the start of the merge and had a bunch of votes thrown his way from either tribe in back-to-back Tribal Councils. I was never in genuine danger of leaving and had my name written down far less times than my two opponents who were easy names to throw around at the start of the merge especially for one reason or another.
So vote Stephanie for Victory in Stranded for Victory! It would mean everything to me to win this series for a second time and I do believe my effort in the final immunity challenge is a testament to my fight and determination to pull this out, as I'll continue to display in my responses to whatever questions you wish to ask of me.
Thanks guys, best of luck to Russell and Yve and look forward to getting this show on the road!