Lex's Kinder, Gentler Question Thread

[lexvandenberghe]

Hello, ladies. Congratulations on making it to the end of the game. It's an amazing accomplishment.

DENISE:

First off, ignore the rest of these jealous bitches. They would all trade places with you in a heartbeat. Making it to the final two is always something to be proud of, and if this is indeed your first ORG, then it's even more impressive.

This is my second ORG, and I'm trying to learn a lesson each time I play. I hope the lesson you learn from this game is to take a little more charge in your game. Always remember, perception is reality. That's why Kelly would have lost to Natalie, because the perception was that Natalie was the dominant member of that duo, the JT to Kelly's Stephen. And the perception of you is, I'm sorry to say, that you were happy to be led to the end just so you can say you made the final two. In essence, you played a perfect 38-day game. But Survivor goes for a 39th day.

I would just like to gently rebut your assertion that Kidd ignored your overtures to join up with us. I cannot speak to your schedule. Maybe Charlie was a bit hard to get a hold of, but I do know that I was on AIM pretty much every evening, and Alina damn near never signed off. The only thing I can think of to support your claim is that maybe you just tried talking to Malcolm and he ignored you. Malcolm was dead set on voting you out first at the merge, and the only reason you survived that vote to make it to the end is that Alina and I wouldn't consider you for the first vote. Quite honestly, we had bigger fish to fry, plus we thought we could use you as leverage at the F7 vote to get rid of Ed. So you see, it wasn't any real skill that saved you, it was caprice. And that moment was probably what led to Kidd's downfall.

So, in conclusion, be proud of your game. Own your game. But don't embellish your game. My question to you is this. What lesson will you take from this game to apply to future ORGs?

KELLY:

You took a major gamble at F4, and it worked out. Kudos. You took an even bigger gamble letting Ed stay in the game as long as you did. You and I had a long conversation before the F7 vote, and, to be honest, I was being entirely self-serving. I was trying to say whatever the hell I could to stay in the game just a little bit longer. But I was completely honest, and ultimately right, that if Ed made it to the end he had the win in a headlock. I made you an offer to flip on Kidd if you kept me over Ed. My question to you is this. How seriously did you consider my offer, and if Ed had made FTC, how much would you regret not accepting?

Thank you both. I await your answers with baited breath.

[Kelly Goldsmith]

Hi Lex!

To answer your question, the option that you presented to me at F7 was something that I only very briefly mulled over, just because my M.O. in the game up until that point was to at least take every single scenario into consideration. I'm glad that you approached me and I'm sorry that I probably didn't appear to be very receptive to it, but I didn't want to make any promises that I couldn't keep.

I liked having options for sure but, ultimately, I really knew that it was not in my best interest to make a move like that so soon after what occurred the previous round. Taking out Edgardo, who was perceived as playing the best game at that point, was obviously an attractive option and it would have been a pretty huge move, but I had to choose my battles wisely. If I had gotten rid of Edgardo and worked with you instead, I'd basically be trading one obvious jury threat as an ally for another not-so-obvious jury threat as an ally (and I'm sure you can agree that a not-so-obvious jury threat is a LOT more dangerous to keep around than obvious one). At that point, I figured that making F2 with any of the three remaining Kidds in the game would result in the same fate as making F2 with Edgardo: a pretty obvious 2nd place for me, mostly because of the fact that being in a F2 with a Kidd meant that I would have to convince 3 other Kidds on the jury that they shouldn't vote for someone they've been working with since Day 1. I'm not sure how well that would have gone. And on top of that, by working with the Kidds, I'd be royally pissing off the people I was already aligned with (not that I didn't end up doing that anyway, but I think voting Edgardo out literally one round after he basically saved my game would have been atrocious jury management). I can only hope that Ed wasn't as mad at me when he got voted out at F5 as he would have been if I had made that move with you at F7; otherwise this whole point is moot.

Yes, I was absolutely aware that keeping Ed around in the game was a huge risk; after I saw the results of the Majority Rules challenge, I never entertained the idea of going head-to-head with Edgardo in the F2 ever again. BUT I also felt confident that the opportunity to take out Edgardo would present itself at F5 or F4, and it eventually did. He was built up to be such a huge threat by the growing jury that I wasn't the only one chomping at the bit to vote him out. I knew that if Alina won the F5 immunity challenge, I wouldn't even have to go to Natalie or Denise to make the case for voting Ed out; they would come to me with the same idea.

But yes, if Ed did end up making FTC, that would have been a complete and utter failure on my part. But I don't think I would regret not accepting your offer for the reasons I outlined above, mainly because I think I would have lost to you or any other Kidd as well. I felt comfortable in keeping Ed around for that long because even though he was good at challenges, he hadn't done anything that would suggest that he would somehow win 3 in a row at the very end to make it to the FTC without any opposition. And I knew that even if he had somehow won one or two of them, I still would have had Denise's support in voting him out at F4 or F3 just because I had already convinced her at that point that her best shot of winning was against me (which was obviously true). And if he had won all 3 at the end, then I think my biggest failure would have been a failure to anticipate how good he would be at end-game challenges and also a failure on my part to beat him at them. But I think I have shown that I didn't fail at either of those things.