Congratulations on surviving the Merge Round

It looks like you have taken the upper hand - what are the next steps?

Where do Dan & Ted fit into your plans?

Any second thoughts about Erin & Penny's capabilities?

I have a question about your gameplay in general. Your quiet demeaner has served you well to get you to this point, but are you concerned with the start of the jury that it may hinder you in their eyes should you make the end?

The next vote, along with figuring out how to control the idol situation, are my priorities right now. I feel like if we can maintain the numbers and send one of Christy/Joanna/Rob home next vote, we can almost solidify ourselves against a possible idol being played in the future. It would be preferable if we find a method to trick the opposition into playing the idol next vote and wasting it. That's something I'll sleep on tonight, but when I wake up, Helen will have already sent me 20 paragraphs detailing the whole situation.

I want Ted long-term in this game. Like legit, now that I know it's going to be a final 3, I want him in there with me. Dan is questionable because he has no loyalty to me but talks to Erin and Penny all the time and helped us for their own sake. Combining this question, with Jeff's, I'm extremely concerned right now that my invisible presence in this game will result in me having an absolutely awful jury perception. So I'm taking that into consideration, and it possibly means I'll want to take out Helen and Rob sooner than expected and bring a Dan and Ted with me to the final 3. I was recruited for Brian for a reason, and I'm ready to make moves. I can also go to the final three and again use the whole "shield" justification and explain how my under-the-radar game was smarter than the people who I was up against and how I had access to all of their information and was in the most powerful position in the game. Because I think that I am, and I have dirt from everyone that can be used against anyone else. Especially Helen. I'm not 100% sure yet what my angle is though. If I don't get idoled out and make final 7, my main thought will be jury perception, and I'll take some risks to get there. Promise.

I also want to give a big kudos to Erin and Penny for actually recruiting Dan successfully and making a good, helpful strategic decision. Essentially all of Helen and I's discussions with Rob went to waste, and Helen and I ended up just recruiting Ted while Erin and Penny recruited Daniel and got the detailed voting plan which essentially was more helpful than anything. I think I was the first person to make contact with Ted though about voting for Shawna and used it to switch the vote into her favor. So I make moves too. But yeah, Erin and Penny deserve credit.

Damn, that's like.. all my future questions answered aswell.

Have you any idea where, if any the Asteria idol might be?
Give me a pros/cons list of booting each of Christy/Joanna/Rob next.

Before I say anything else, I want to state that this is what I wake up to from Helen. While I'm having a relaxing night of sleep, she is extensively going over details with everything about our future plans. I feel like she wants me and Ted in the final three because she thinks that she can beat us both, though, and unfortunately she might be right.

Do you believe she is making other plans aswell? Ones that don't involve you?

Are you making ones that don't involve her?

If you were assessing your game play from the outside looking in, how would you grade yourself and what do you think you need to adjust (if anything)?

I wouldn't rate myself that high, honestly. I'll answer questions after everything settles down, but this has not been one of my better examples of a game to date even though I still 100% believe that I can make end-game and win.

Penny has come up with a ridiculous plan with good intentions right now, but it is driving Helen insane because Helen wants control and it is also driving me insane to some extent to sit here between two opposing allies (Helen and Erin/Penny) who are fighting for control of the game. Even Erin realizes the plan that Penny is making is flawed. It won't work. And my part and Helen's part in the plan? "Do nothing and watch." Yay for putting our entire fates in the hands of two other players. It's awful.

Something really ugly is about to happen with Helen as a result of her anger, and I'm toying with the idea of disassociating with her so I don't go down with her. I don't think I can yet because she, of course, now controls Ted to a deeper degree than I do, and Ted is key for my game. So I'll let Helen self-destruct and see what happens. I'm trying to calm her, but it won't work probably.

I do believe that Helen is, like, legit closest to me over anyone. However I'm sure she is approaching people in her negotiations saying "Brian thinks that I'm his #2" but it's actually you to like Penny, possibly Ted, and others trying to give them the same impression. But I think she'll want to go to the final three with me because we've been together from the start and she thinks she can beat me. Why betray your original alliance when you're probably perceived better than them? I'm sure she'd sell me out to survive, but I think that Helen's a lot more loyal to me than I am to her and more loyal to me than she is to anyone else. If the vote comes down to her versus, like, Daniel, I would possibly be a surprising switch to make a majority for her to go. It depends on the point too because I need Helen's help for now to make sure Erin/Penny don't get too strong. Although I think she's going to make that worse by continuously disagreeing with them, which I told her. But she has a different philosophy, which I disagree with.


Yes, every single day in my head, I'm making plans that don't involve Helen. I can't possibly implement them yet. There are too many people, too many variables, and thus too many risks. I think that these next two rounds are going to be chaotic-y messes, and I could easily be randomly idoled out. So I'm playing the good guy role to Helen saying things about how I don't want to betray my original alliance with her and Penny to bring Ted in, trying to play up the Helios 4 with Erin/Helen/Penny and am all "Helios to the end!" with the original 5 of us. Am I this loyal guy? Absolutely no way. I was cast as Brian for a reason, and the blindsides are going to come. If not, I'll be idoled out and forgotten to pretty much everyone, and that'll be sad.


I'd say B-. That might be a little high. I've said this before, but my presence is invisible and I am playing such a follower role right now that it's crazy. I actually bet you that Erin and Penny are rolling their eyes at half of Helen's comments and also saying things like, "Brian is such a follower of Helen!" to themselves. Obviously I need to kill this perception. I need less people in the game and more free time on my schedule to fix that perception. And then it's just a matter of sending out some test messages to see who relays what back to who, and if I find I can trust someone, I'll confide EVERYTHING in them and set things going in a new direction. Daniel may be that person.