Episode 8 - well at least I made episode 8

[devon]

Surely this has to be it.

[devon]

Pretty cooked, looks like there will be a split vote between me and Jason.

I decided to be open about the fact that I don't have the idol so that if people decide they want Jason out over me, they'll know that they'll need to rally 5 votes (rather than be lazy about it and assume I'll idol him out). Still think I'm going, but I think it was the right call on my part.

On a broader level, I'm happy with how I've handled my decision points in the game. As crazy as my game has been, I was dealt a poor hand from the start and so I had to take drastic action to try and carve out a brighter future for myself. While my attempt to bring Sam into the fold at the swap didn't pan out, it was a bona fide attempt to carve out some agency for myself - and it's not like I had the option of waiting for other people to align with at merge (Brandon was already besties with Sam anyways, leaving only Torry). My pre-swap game led to me getting two legitimate allies in Elyse and Kristine, in a game where I probably shouldn't have had any. Being the merge boot was always going to be my fate if I played more passively. And even in this worst-case scenario timeline that I'm in, I Neo-from-the-Matrix'd my way out of a double merge tribal without immunity.

This is mostly for future me, because future me is going to be annoyed with this outcome, but current me has enough perspective to understand that I did everything I could have done for the most part.