Quote:
Originally Posted by gman06
Or Kass just loves to click buttons...
As discussed endlessly, Kass and I were very close out there. This was a women who was very insecure and LOVED attention at all times. Every outrageous story she told about picking bar fights, getting knocked up at 40, verbally abusing random people on the street, etc etc further illustrates that.
And unlike both Tasha and J'Tia who she heavily clashed with and both of whom need a ton of attention and reassurance themselves, I gave Kass all the attention in the world. I listened to every wild story, every complaint about missing her 5 year old daughter, every negative thought she had about everyone else on our tribe, like it was the most fascinating story every told.
You could doubt my social game or ability to come across authentic (a la Albert), but you would be heavily speculating and I would strongly disagree with you. Reading the first however many posts in this thread would give you a better feel for my ability to connect with others more than a few minutes of heavily-edited TV. And I am absurdly hypercritical of myself in all aspects of my life. The 20 minute drive home from Commerce and sometimes the next several hours/days is essentially a clockwork routine of me over-analyzing and then hating myself for several decisions I made that session, sometimes aloud. The joys of being a perfectionist...
So ya, I'd be lying if I said that her flipping on me was something that seemed plausible; further, it was also a choice that really crushed me even more than being voted off of a game I worked way too hard prepping for otherwise would. It's one thing to be hurt emotionally by a back stab (I didn't care about that). But for me, it hurt so much more that her decision couldn't be based on anything tangible whatsoever: logic, strategy, friendship, general like/dislike, whatever.
Some have argued that someone like Tasha needed to babysit Kass emotionally and constantly reassure her that she liked her best post-merge. Well, I can promise you I did exactly that every second out there. And while I will be the first to tell you my last TC was a trainwreck, my main focus there was to continue to let Kass know "I AM VOTING WITH YOU. YOU ARE MY BEST F***ING FRIEND." And although that burned a bridge with Tasha, I felt it was worth it at that moment.
If Kass votes the way all indications pointed to, no matter if/when there was a tribe swap, Spencer and I would be safe under every permutation, and I would have a strong ally who was latched onto me with 0 relationship w/ Spencer in Kass. It would set me up quite nicely to likely swap with at least one of them and allow us 2-3 a ton of different ways to latch onto the majority of our choosing both post swap and post merge. And unlike Spencer who I would likely (but not certainly) need to flip on in the endgame to lock up a W in FTC, Kass would be pure gold to bring to the end.
So what goes into Kass's decision making process? Obviously that is a pretty impossible question for me to answer, but screw it, I'll take a shot. How about: "What decision can I make right now that will give me the most attention when this airs on TV?"
But hey, the season isn't over yet. I'll let people decide for themselves in the coming week(s)...
As usual sorry again for not responding to individual questions.
Cliffs: Kass's decisions are made for attention. Yes, I still suck at survivor.
Thanks for this response Garrett. I decided to wait until the end of the season before commenting again in this thread. I've watched/listened to an unhealthy amount of Survivor coverage over the season and (despite the criticisms I've made here), I've come around to your view that your social game was decent, or (at worst) too early to be judged, and was (i) edited to look bad, and (ii) unfairly represented due to the randomness of Kass. The woman was delusional. Her exit interviews and confessionals showed such an astounding lack of self-awareness. Ultimately no logical conclusion should be drawn from her actions. Sick break being left relying on her in Ep 1 of your once in a lifetime Survivor shot.
Your RHAP exit interview was really good by the way, in another life you could have left the game with the same plaudits as Spencer. But I guess you know that.
More than anything, I was so disappointed as your early exit on the season (though I guess not as much as you). I remember loving a Podcast on Deuce Plays you did with Bart a few years ago re your ME run, and so when I heard you were on Survivor, I was really keen to see you crush.