To both finalists, please explain more about your alliances. Did you start them? How did you operate within them? Did you come across any moral or stratigic dilemmas with them?
Good question, scattered! I'll get right to it.
When the game first kicked off, I knew that immediately I wanted to work with Hermes, seeing as he was my coach allllllll the way back in BB6, a full six seasons ago. He was one of the most helpful people to me that season, and fun fact, it was my first ever season in PBB! He suggested that we both work together, and I obviously agreed. So, we got to talking, and then Hermes brought up the idea of creating a bigger alliance. I'm a firm believer in
never wanting to be the one who creates the alliance, because I feel like that the person who proposes the alliance and creates it can be potentially screwed over if the alliance is to shatter.
Anyways, Hermes and I were thinking of people to include in the alliance, and we decided on Draskk. The three of us were able to make it far and dominate for a good portion of the game. A little bit later down the line, Mars approached us with an alliance. He wanted to essentially work with us and take out people he saw threatening (Anna and Draskk to name a few). This quickly became a sticky situation for me, and as you said, I was faced with not only a strategic dilemma but a moral one as well. I tried my hardest to appease both Mars and Draskk, which was definitely not an easy thing to do. At this point of the game, I had to keep my cards tightly to my chest, whilst giving enough information away to avoid raising suspicion.
Eventually, the time came where Hermes and I couldn't trust either of them, and we knew we had to flip on the both of them. At this point, Hermes and I had been juggling the piñata back and forth, unsure to whether it would be good or bad. However, we were taking that risk; a calculated risk, may I add. And in the end, it gave me the title of HOH! With this HOH, I knew I couldn't mess around. Even though I felt bad for doing it, I knew it had to be done, so I nominated Mars and Jabber. Once Mars vetoed himself, I saw the window open to take out Draskk, and I took it. Then, Draskk was evicted 2-1. The week following, Hermes and I were targeting Mars, but... he walked. So yeah, I hope that helped you get inside my head a little with how I operated in my alliances, and how I was able to weave in between them!
Great question, scattered!
Congrats for Final 2:
Jabber: How did you find your way in working and strong alliances as a new player?
Flour: How did you manage to change your playstyle so drastically during this season?
Thanks for the question!
I was able to change my playstyle drastically during the season due to a lot of factors. As I've stated, I wanted to play a sort of "under the radar" type of game, but I also wanted to maintain a good position in the house and have some sort of say in what happened throughout the game. Right off the bat, I didn't feel safe when Ephe won HOH. So naturally, I gunned for the Safety Suite competition. Afterwards, I knew that I needed to lay low, because if I continued to allow myself to win competitions, then I'd just be targeted consistently for it.
So, I laid low, which I could say was a gameplan that I was able to enact successfully. Three weeks later, I happened to be in the lead for HOH, and I 100% wanted it. I wanted to evict Anna, mostly because I heard that she wanted to nominate me back in Week 2. I don't know how much truth there was to it, but I wasn't taking any risks. I won HOH, but unsuccessfully got her out, so I took out Brave instead.
After this week, I was ready to lay low again and slip past the following week, but I wasn't able to do that. When Anna won HOH, I was obviously nervous and stressed out. I got nominated and
knew that I needed to win the Power of Veto, which I did! At this point in the game, my playstyle had shifted from playing under the radar, to playing more of a strategic and calculated game. A prime example of this was when I was willing to risk it all in the instant eviction and I sacrificed a lot just to win the HOH and take the shot at Anna.
Thanks for asking!
Hey guys! I know I gave you my congratulations when I left yesterday, but I wanted to say it again: congrats on making it to the final two! I have my questions prepared for you both.
For Jabber, what was the main reason you decided to go for Anna during the double eviction? Initially you had Flour and Sen on the block, before you switched Flour out to target Anna. At that point in the game myself, Flour and Sen were connected and that left you and Anna on the outside. Taking Anna meant you wouldn't be able to compete in the HOH, and you'd have all three of us targeting you next. So my question to you is this: how did you decide to take Anna out of the game in what looked like an on-the-fly decision during the double eviction? How did you rationalize the decision? I just want to understand, because from my perspective the decision seemed bad for your game.
For Flour, you've certainly played a strong game, and I know that because I played alongside you all this time! You made plenty of moves that were strong and calculated: taking out Brave, Draskk and Anna (the first time) were all big moves that you made on your HOHs, and that's very impressive! But for all those moves that look strong there's one that confuses me, I want to ask this: why did you choose to evict Sen at the final four? I'm not bitter about it, but it caught me by surprise since we'd discussed voting Jabber out all week up to that point, and I'd love to see if there was a deeper reason behind the decision.
I'm looking forward to your answers, good luck guys!
Hey Hermes, good question that I do have a deeper reasoning for!
So, I was fully on board with the plan to vote out Jabber that week, I was honest about that bit. However, I started thinking. I went into the vote considering voting out Senkun, and if you were able to read my DR, you would see how back and forth I was and how much of a mess I was. I knew that Sen and you were much closer than I was to Sen, but with Jabber, at least I could walk in to the final 3 knowing I'd have more of a chance being taken to the final two had Jabber won the final HOH. With Sen, I didn't have that same comforting feeling.
You brought up a good point about when I asked them who'd they take to the final two, and how you said that they would both lie to me since I was the only voter that week. I obviously knew this, and even after you said it, I needed to ensure that I was taken to the final two regardless. Jabber had more competition wins than Sen, and no hard feelings at all, but I knew that Jabber would have a better chance at beating you in the final HOH competition. I knew that I really did not have a chance at winning against you, because your resume was just too good compared to mine. So, by keeping Jabber, you would go after him in the final three, and he was more than likely to go after you in the final three as well... meaning, I'd stay untouched and guarantee myself a spot in the final two.
Was it my biggest mistake this season? It could very well be, I guess we'll see once the jury votes are revealed! But at the time, I viewed it as another calculated risk that I needed to take.
(sorry if these answers were all over the place, it's pretty late and im going to bed right after i send this.)
Anyways, thank you for the question!