Hey everyone! It's good to see you all again. First off, shout out to my family and friends back home, hope we gave you guys a lot to talk about and I apologize for anything that embarassed you that I did on the feeds. Thanks is in order to LukeGeorge Chen for being awesome hosts, and always looking so fresh when we would see you in the DR casting our votes. Thanks to BB ORG for picking me to spend the summer with some truly amazing people.
I'd be lying if you asked me at the start of the summer if I expected to be here today. When we first walked in the door to the house, there were several faces that I recognized, and I didn't know how I would necessarily fit in with those who are strangers to me. I didn't know how much my reputation in previous games would come into play, whether I would be seen as a target right away or not. So taking the mindset that this is a marathon game, not a sprint, I was going to take things one day a time.
Initially my plan was to lay low with the plotting and scheming, but try to talk with as many people as I could to get a gage on who didn't get along, who did, who didn't seem interested in talking with me, who was playing pool together or lifting weights in the back yard, who was more content to mole away in the HoH room, lock themselves in the DR to talk to LukeGeorge Chen, or who was raiding the kitchen. I was then going to weigh my options as to whom I thought I could work with the best, keeping mutual interests and goals in mind, and to divide and conquer the side of the house that I didn't think I would be able to work with. I tried to keep multiple options open, while never wavering from what I thought was my best chance to be safe each week.
I tried hard in every competition I was eligible to participate in. There were times, however, when not winning was the better choice. I didn't want to be perceived as a competition beast too early, but turn it on when it counted the most. I wanted to win what I could when it was appropriate to do so, and try like hell to get sent to the back room to get my hands on whatever it contained.
Speaking of which, I also had an agreement with Tung from Day 1, in order to find the treasure the back room held, in return for him sending me, I would pass along the clues. Along the way, Zanna was an ally in working for this goal too. We shared the clues as we got them, and not knowing the limitation of the Platinum Power of Veto being only the person holding it could use it, and only for him/herself, we worked together to find it. Knowing the power it had, I wanted that blicky for myself, because I knew that eventually, once the opposite side of the house was gone, it would be the only thing that could guarantee safety.It's probably not a shock to most of you that I considered Jessy to be my number one ally from the start, after all we did spend a lot of time on the hammock, and we probably didn't do a great job at keeping the showmance under wraps. When she left, I was pretty angry because 1. No one gets between me and my girl!! and 2. I didn't see it coming, and it made me question whether or not Zanna was working with people that weren't in our alliance (probably should've mentioned that Jessy and I were working with him as well as Tung). From that point on I didn't feel so bad about withholding a crucial part of a clue that allowed me to find the PPOV.
Whenever I won HoH, I looked at things from different perspectives relative to the point in the game that I won. I never made a nomination without thinking of the fallout that could happen. My view of being the HoH is that I was there to make a decision that the house wanted. Being in a majority alliance for much of the first part of the game, our interests aligned. I won only 2 POVs, but the most important one was last week. I won 3 HoHs, but the most important one, the one so that I would be sure to be sitting here, was one I feel like I needed to win the most. I didn't come this far to have my game rest in the hands of others-I wanted to be in control of my fate.
So. Here we are. I am not going to sit here and say I'm the best BB ORG player since Luke or Sharky. I don't think I'm the best strategist in the house, or the best comp player or the most social of butterflies. What I do think is that I used a combination of these aspects to be the most well rounded player in the house this summer. I was able to get along with most of you, diffuse situations that could've cost me, and did what I thought was necessary to get farther. I know each of you will most likely have different criteria on which you will use to determine your vote. I'd love it if you would vote for me, but however you do, I will respect your decision. If you are undecided, please give me the opportunity to make up your mind for you. It's time to be an open book, so turn to a page and quiz me on the contents.
It's been a crazy, stressful, and above all fun summer hanging out with you all. And Jessy boo, see you on the other side of the door!
Apreesh!