The Late Show with Jeffy K

[Jeff Kent]

Hi guys,

I don't have much to say really. First off thank you to the hosts. I was pleasantly surprised with how well hosted this game was and it thoroughly deserves a bigger reputation. I would say the best challenges I have ever had to compete in as I found almost every single one to be fairly unique and fun. Also both of you as hosts were very competent and active. Fantastic game and one of the best series around.

On to the final two. Congratulations on both of you making it. This isn't the most competitive final two but I can definitely say a deserving winner will come out of this game and I believe that is most important.

Chris you played a good game and I think the removing of me was impeccable timing. As a move I think it only benefited yourself and Zane. Perhaps Laura but I think, given Ashley, she would have had made it further. Nonetheless it was a very good move. At the risk of sounding arrogant/self-indulgent, I think it was easily your best move of the game. In terms of the game, I think that was perhaps the most you were tested. That isn't a fault in your game by any means, the opposite even, but I would have liked to see you tested a bit more.

One thing that was extremely odd, to me, was voting Allie out. From that point on your game life was entirely in Ashley's hands and had she wanted you gone, you would have gone. So I wondered what was your logic behind this decision. It is pretty clear to see F6 and F5, the two crucial rounds, you just handed Ashley the power. If it wasn't clear, I would like this explained as it is strange to me.

Zane... well buddy. I don't really have too many compliments for you unfortunately. I struggle to recall any bright spots and out of respect to you, I won't rip apart your game. I do hope in my questions, you can prove me wrong and I would be disappointed - but pleasantly surprised - if I was so blind in this game. A lot of things I heard you say or believe during the game often didn't occur or weren't even real. I heard that I wanted you gone when I left, people did ask me but I said no that wasn't going to happen. The pregame rumour... All and all it sums to you being fairly easily to manipulate albeit by very good and experienced players in Allie and Laura (well atleast I know Allie is experienced). Once again, this is just my view and you may be able to prove me wrong below.


To Zane;

- When did you/your brother discover each other? How did it change your game?
- Would you have made it this far without your brother? Why/why not?
- Why did you play a better game than Chris? This is the question to change my vote. If you want it, you need to convince me with this one.

To Chris;

- Do you think if this was a "real game" and no prior relationships (and you and Zane aren't related), this F2 would be the same? If not, what significant differences would have happened? And I guess in this question it should be answered the degree of importance Zane had to your game.
- Do you think it was wrong of you to convince (EDIT: or perhaps it is better to say, happily accept) Ashley to quit at F3, rather than at F4, therefore preventing Laura a chance at an endurance challenge she was very likely to win?
- Can you list your 3 best and 3 worse moves in this game?


Cheers and good luck to both.

[Chris Daugherty]

Chris you played a good game and I think the removing of me was impeccable timing. As a move I think it only benefited yourself and Zane. Perhaps Laura but I think, given Ashley, she would have had made it further. Nonetheless it was a very good move. At the risk of sounding arrogant/self-indulgent, I think it was easily your best move of the game. In terms of the game, I think that was perhaps the most you were tested. That isn't a fault in your game by any means, the opposite even, but I would have liked to see you tested a bit more.

One thing that was extremely odd, to me, was voting Allie out. From that point on your game life was entirely in Ashley's hands and had she wanted you gone, you would have gone. So I wondered what was your logic behind this decision. It is pretty clear to see F6 and F5, the two crucial rounds, you just handed Ashley the power. If it wasn't clear, I would like this explained as it is strange to me.


I'm glad both you and Allie brought up the giving Ashley power thing because that was a huuuge part of my game. I can't really stress that enough. I talked about that a ton in my confessional. Here's my reasoning:

I had it mapped out during the Tarzan vote that I wanted you gone next, and Allie afterwards. Everything that I was doing at the time was setting up so that I would be able to pull both of those off. After voting you out, there was no way that I was gonna continue with that alliance of four with Allie/Laura, because that wouldn't have ended well with me, so Allie left.

What this meant was, Zane and I had just betrayed everyone in the game in two votes. Obviously, there would be consequences to that, so I had to continue to set myself up for the fallout.

Right after voting Jeff out, I worked veryyy very hard on smoothing things over with the three remaining Vireo's, mostly Ashley. Her and I had been working very closely together the entire game, and I knew that I needed to keep that relationship up in order to push forward after the Allie vote. PLUS, this was when everyone in the game now knew that Zane and I were bothers, so that only enlarged the target.

I told Ashley a ton of times that we were gonna have to rely on each other 100% if we wanted to make the end. After the Allie vote, I set up a F3 with her, Kel, and myself. Within that, a F2 with me and Ashley. We talked a lot about how her game life was in my hands during the first few votes of the merge, and I told her that to really make her trust me, I was gonna reciprocate and intentionally put myself in that position, giving her a good deal of power. I explicitly told her this. This felt like the only way after the Allie vote to really get her to trust me and to ensure that not only myself, but Zane as well would make it further on in the game, and it paid off tremendously. Plus, Ashley was still very paranoid and felt like I still had the power at F6 and F5 to pull moves against her. Like at F5, on paper, me/Zane could've grabbed Laura and gone against her/Kel. Ashley was really nervous about that. So in her mind I believe, we were still keeping each other in check and really relying on each other


- Do you think if this was a "real game" and no prior relationships (and you and Zane aren't related), this F2 would be the same? If not, what significant differences would have happened? And I guess in this question it should be answered the degree of importance Zane had to your game.

It's so hard to say really. It's hard to imagine Zane as just some random Vireo that I didn't know. Honestly, I doubt it would be the same without prior relationships. Without a good amount of people in this cast knowing each other, I imagine some stuff would've turned out differently, even on Vireo. Would the same six Vireo's have made the merge if me/you/Ashley hadn't known (or suspected) who all six members really were? Would Julia have picked Ashley first if they didn't know each other? I really have no idea. I don't know who discovered who at what points, and it's really hard to predict what could've happened in those other scenarios.

- Do you think it was wrong of you to convince (EDIT: or perhaps it is better to say, happily accept) Ashley to quit at F3, rather than at F4, therefore preventing Laura a chance at an endurance challenge she was very likely to win?

Here's the thing with that, because it was a pretty awkward road bump in the game for me. I don't wanna sound whiny or anything! But I had just spent the last night of my vacation working hard to beat Laura at that last IC in order to secure her going home, and it paid off. It was a huge pain in the ass, but it ensured that I made the F2, no matter what. It was a huuge relief for me at the time. But then Ashley started talking about bowing out. I told her that whatever she wanted to do, I would go with, and I would've. Whether she wanted me to vote her out then at F4, or win final IC and boot her at F3, or whatever. She told me that she was gonna vote Laura out, and I wasn't sure if she was gonna reconsider or not after another round to think about it, so I was fine with it. All I knew at that point was that I needed Laura gone for my game, so that's what I wanted to happen that round. I had been working towards that, and I really didn't want my entire game to end because Laura out-enduranced me, after I had already taken the necessary steps to make sure she was going at 4. It was a weird situation really and I had no control over it.


- Can you list your 3 best and 3 worse moves in this game?

Best

1. Voting you out. I'd say that was easily my best move. It opened up a ton of doors for me going forward, and it really changed the entire game around. I'm really sure that you were gonna go on to make the finals and likely win, I don't think I'm exaggerating by that. I did feel like that was the best time that I could've done it and the move was pulled off as well as I could've hoped, with you leaving with our idol

2. Voting Allie out/securing my position with Ashley/Kel. This was also huge for me. I touched on this a lot up top, but I did feel like voting Allie out and then making sure I had that tight alliance with Ashley already set was the only way Zane and I could've made the end despite everyone rightfully wanting to split us up

3. The F5 vote. This was another huge part in my game. To help Ashley/Kel trust me going forward, I told them that I would vote out Zane at F5. If I hadn't really convinced them, I very well could've been gone at F6. But then the plans changed. Kel went to Zane and asked him for a F2, and that's the window that I needed to save Zane and enter the F4 with him. I used this info and convinced Ashley that it was our better move to blindside Kel that round. I ran through every possible F3 scenario from that point on, and I knew that my best bet was me/Ashley/Zane rather than me/Ashley/Kel. I would've had to rely entirely on one of us beating Kel at the final IC, and I didn't wanna rely on challenges at all. So once this opportunity came up, I took it. This set me up in a perfect position going into the end game

Bad

1. Telling Kel that he was on the outside of Vireo after the Jeff vote. There was probably no need for this in hindsight. I just wanted to gain his trust at that point desperately, and that was a big piece of information that he wasn't 100% aware of. I have no idea if it worked or not, but at the time I felt like I had to do it. It got me in a bit of hot water soon after, because Kel confronted Ashley about it and if they had a falling out, that could've been bad for me.

2. I'd say the not so subtle hints to you (Jeff) that I was gonna go against you soon. You and I already talked about this, but during the Tarzan/you vote, you and I picked up on a lot of each others' tells during our conversations, such as me pushing for Tarzan to go over Allie. We both played somewhat transparently then, and it made me pretty nervous. If you had really acted on any of them, you could've just played the idol, but it was a risk I had to take

3. Mayyybe giving you the idol. It didn't prove a mistake in the end, but I do wish that I had kept the chest only to try to open it with Laura instead, since I linked up with her the next round. An idol in my pocket after the Allie vote would've made me feel more comfortable, but then again maybe I wouldn't have tried so hard socially after that knowing I had the insurance, so it might've been a good thing that I didn't have that to rely on

Thanks bud!

[Zane Knight]

- When did you/your brother discover each other? How did it change your game?

My brother and I knew who each other were from day 1 because we wanted to work together and make it here.

- Would you have made it this far without your brother? Why/why not?

No I do not think I would have made it here if it weren't for my brother. But I dont think my brother would have made it here without me. We were a very strong 2 person alliance and the fact that we each had an extra vote over everyone else because we always voted with each other was huge. If it werent for me he could not have pulled off your blindeside unless one of Kel Ashley or Julia helped him. So we both helped each other get to the spot we are in.

- Why did you play a better game than Chris? This is the question to change my vote If you want it, you need to convince me with this one. .

I believe I played a better game then Chris because I am a less experienced player. This is only my third real season of a survivor game and I think I did very well. I am not a good challenge performer but I made alliances right of off the bat so I would not get votes of off Vireo because of that. I secured my position right away to make merge on Vireo. Then when we entered merge not trying to sound cocky but all of the power was in my hands for the first vote. I could have chosen to vote Ashley off or to stick with our alliance. I thought that betraying our alliance right away was no a good plan so I stuck with Vireo. Not being good at challenges really made the game harder for me. I had to have a perfect social game in order to make it anywhere in the merge and I believe I succeeded on doing that. I made all the right moves when I needed to even if you think Chirs was behind all of them it didnt mean I had to do it with him. I could have done whatever I wanted but I knew what was right for my game and did the best strategic thing. I think if anyone of you were chris's younger brother and were in my shoes for the votes I had to make it would have been an obvious choice just like it was for me. Not just voting with him because he said so. If anyone else was his little brother and was weaker in challenges it probably would look like he carried you too even if he didnt.

Thank you Jeff!