Post by Chenbot on Feb 2, 2012 7:50:23 GMT -6
Finale
Houseguests: Nicole Schaffrich, Porsche Briggs
Nicole and Porsche had gone as far as they could go. Now it was time for them to face the jury.
So here I am…in the final two. A part of me - the modest part - wants to say that I never thought I'd get this far. But another part of me knew all along that I'd be sitting at the end. Now it's down to me and Porsche. I am up against the one person I absolutely, positively did not want to be sitting next to in the finals. What's so disappointing is that I really believed Renny and I could win this last HoH and cement our place in the final two. And when I realized I had submitted the wrong answer for my tiebreaker (which dawned on me hours later), I was honestly devastated. I like Porsche very much, but aside from a stellar social game, I really don't believe that she deserves to be sitting in the final two, let alone actually win the game. But convincing the jury that I'm a better player than Porsche is going to be one hell of a tall order. I think that all of Porsche's weaknesses as a player - and there are many - are overshadowed by people's relationships with her. And hey, that's a completely valid and respectable element of playing the game, so I certainly don't hold it against her. But it's my job to show these seven people that, when it comes to playing the game in its entirety - from socializing, to strategizing, to performing well in competitions - I am the total package while Porsche is, at the end of the day, a one-trick pony.
It was time for the Final 2 to give their opening statements.
Porsche: After a wild and crazy ride I am extremely excited and grateful to have made it to the final 2 in this game. Like Nicole, I am also an org newbie. This was my first real game, the first that I joined being abandoned by the host. While i realized that forming relationships is an essential part of the game I never imagined that I would form such close bonds with many of you which I hope can carry on long after this game has ended.
My strategy coming in was really to be myself, to align myself with other strong players that I felt that I could trust, to be honest and loyal, and of course to give my all in the competitions.
Very early in the game I aligned myself with Jun and Nicole in what we called the G force alliance. I also formed very close bonds with several other players which ensured my safety in this game week after week. It became apparent when the vets held the power for the first weeks of the game that G force would need to expand in order to take control of the game. Sarah and Renny were players who we had become very close to and felt we could trust and the Zombie Slayers alliance was formed.
I was then able to break the vets winning streak by winning my first HOH and dealt a major blow by ensuring the eviction of Annie who by many was considered the strongest player in the game.
April then decided it was time to start playing and attempted to build an alliance to target me, becoming my biggest threat not realizing that the players she had turned to were my closest allies. I was able to win my second HOH and evict my biggest threat leaving me in an excellent position.
By aligning with the Zombie Slayers who had become the most dominant alliance in the game I was able to be directly involved in eliminating anyone who I felt could be a threat to me making it to the end of the game. When I felt that I may be seen as a target I made sure to voice my opinions and even if I was not HOH that week I was able to ensure that my threats were in fact evicted. I believe Steven said it best when he won HOH and considered nominating me. He said that he felt I could be a threat as anyone that I had any sort of conflict with was evicted.
When the Slayers were not in power the close bonds that I had formed outside of my alliance continued to keep me safe. although Steven saw what a threat I was he did not nominate me for eviction or even as a replacement once veto was used.
I know that I have been labeled as playing a strong "social game" and while this is true I also won 3 HOH competitions. The last HOH being the most important of the entire game. This win resulted in me breaking up the final 2 pact of Nicole and Renny and securing my own spot in the final 2.
Along the way I faced some very tough decisions. One of the toughest was Sarah's eviction. Loyalty in this game is extremely important to me and I made a choice that on one hand was a great game move but it was at the expense of someone who I had come to call my friend. While I am deeply sorry, she was a front runner to win the game and I felt that I had no other options if I wanted to make it to the end.
You as the jury have a very difficult choice to make as you decide who you think should be the winner of Big Brother Recycled season 10. I feel that I played a great game. Not only was I strong socially, I won competitions including the final HOH, I made it to the final 2 without having 1 vote cast against me the entire game, an although I was considered a threat I managed to avoid the block up until the final 4. I look forward to your questions and promise that I will answer each one honestly. I will now turn the floor over to you
Nicole: Hi everyone,
Firstly, I want to say that I'm really excited that I made it to the final two. This has been a roller coaster of a season and I'm so happy to have been here the entire way. As most of you know, I'm pretty inexperienced in the ORG world; this was only my second game ever (and, in my first game, I was the first person evicted lol). I'm happy to have gotten to know a lot of you, some more than others, and I've made genuine friends along the way.
As a disclaimer, I intend to be brutally honest during questioning. There's something really off-putting about buttering up the jury heading into the final vote, and that's something I can assure you I will not do. I'm not going to pander for votes; I'm going to lay out the facts from start to end and answer every question as honestly and explicitly as possible. My hope is that you'll each look at this game - and the two somewhat different journeys that Porsche and I traveled to get here - and cast a purely objective vote for the better player.
Honesty and integrity are qualities that, while talked about constantly, are difficult to enact in Big Brother. We've all, at some point, claimed to be playing "an honest game," whether or not it was the truth. For some, playing a deceitful game under the guise of honesty was the whole point. When this season started, I imagined that this would be the kind of game I'd play. I envisioned myself making friends and backstabbing them at the drop of a hat, all for the sake of advancing myself to the finals. And I pictured myself sitting here, in the final two, telling you to vote for the more devious, cut-throat player because that's what Big Brother is all about. As the game progressed, however, I realized that this strategy is, ultimately, the easy way out. It's a sloppy strategy that requires more luck than gameplay, and more risk than reward. I didn't want to rely on luck and I didn't want to take risks that would yield only negative results. Instead, I played a thoroughly calculated game, evaluating the scope of every single decision before I made it. Sometimes, that meant making myself appear weak or susceptible to suggestion. Other times, I needed to work harder to establish myself as a competitive threat or a bigger target. At each stage in the game, I took stock of my position in the house - and the positions of each other housguest - before deciding on a plan of action.
I was in two core alliances at the start of the game: G-Force (with Jun and Porsche) and Cougar Power (with Renny and Karen). Eventually, these two alliances merged into the Zombie Slayers, with Karen being replaced by Sarah. And as Karen became less of a prominent player, I threw all my weight into the Zombie Slayer alliance with a particular emphasis on my relationship with Renny. I knew that the dynamics of this alliance, while mostly united, was always somewhat unstable. A major component of my strategy was fostering a sense of team unity that was essential to making it to the end. No matter what, I always emphasized making the best decisions for the alliance. When Jun began to stray and tried to convince me to turn on the Slayers, I was actually somewhat tempted. But ultimately, I decided to tell the girls everything. Similarly, when Dustin encouraged me to use the Power of Veto on him and backdoor Porsche, I was also tempted. But, again, I decided to relay every detail. I did this for the sake of getting the Slayers to the end, but ultimately, I was working to get myself to the end. My strategy was to be perceived as the most loyal, honest, and genuine player in the game. I knew that some of the Slayers had forged strong bonds with each other (many stronger than my own bonds) and I had to counter these relationships by presenting myself as the most reliable ally available. And, if my sitting here in the final two is any indication, I believe I was successful.
The interesting thing is that I can say, with a fair amount of conviction, that I've played a largely honest game (as honest as possible in a game like Big Brother). I never fabricated rumours about other players (even when I knew they were fabricating rumours about me), I kept my blatant lies to a minimum, and I was absolutely genuine in my relationships with you. Obviously, the only instance in which this doesn't hold true is Sarah's eviction, which was the hardest decision that I made all season and was purely strategic. My reasoning behind evicting Sarah was to ensure that Renny and I were in the finals (assuming that one of us would have won the final HoH). I feared that Porsche had a stronger competitive influence over Sarah than I did, and I didn't want Sarah (the strongest competitor aside from Renny and myself) in the final four if I couldn't guarantee my own safety. Like I said, that was a really difficult decision that I felt very guilty about, but it was the smartest strategic decision at the time. With the exception of that week, I genuinely believe I played a thoroughly well-rounded game that incorporated astute strategy, dominance at competitions (all skill-based, I should point out), and as much honesty as was reasonably allowed. There is something to be said about playing a strong social, competitive, and strategic game, and I think it's even more noteworthy that I was able to do this with a relatively high level of integrity and honesty. To make it to the end while cutting throats along the way is one thing; to make it to the end with sound strategy and as little deceit as possible is another.
Like I said, my answers will be no-holds-barred and I hope that your questions are too. I'm prepared to show you that I played the strongest game - specifically because it was fundamentally well-rounded and comprehensive - and that I deserve to win this season of Big Brother Recycled. I came into this with an extremely limited knowledge of the format of online games, and I had no pre-game friends or relationships. I worked extremely hard, every step of the way, to get myself to the end of this game. I take nothing away from Porsche, who played a strong social game, but my hard work and multi-faceted approach to this entire season make me deserving of your votes, and of ultimately being this season's winner.
The Jurors now had the chance to address the girls and first up was Dustin.
Dustin: Congratulations on the Final Two. I'm not going to make long, unnecessary paragraphs about how I played the game. I'm also not going to flood it with unnecessary pictures of strippers. (He wasn't even that hot, no offense Jun.) I will get straight to the point. I promise you that I will voting purely strategically based off of the responses you give other players, what you have said in your opening statements (and closing if there are any), and what I have seen throughout the game strategic wise. I will not at all be voting personally. If I was, I would not be here. Also, if I catch any of you sucking up to any of the jury members, you will be less likely to earn my vote. We lost, we're over it, don't butter us up for votes.
Requests: Be completely honest. If there's something that might help your case, say it-it couldn't hurt. If there's something that you think may hurt your chance-say it, I appreciate the honesty, and modesty is the best policy, you will see why in my final request below.
Question One: Porsche, in your opening statement, you said you wanted to break up the Final Two of Renny and Nicole. Why did you choose to evict Renny instead of Nicole?
Question Two: Nicole, you had the choice to evict either Porsche or myself, and you evicted me. I have absolutely nothing against your decision, but do you think that this decision was smart now that you are against the person you saved in the finale, and that she evicted your long-term, friend Renny. Please elaborate on why or why not you do or do not regret this decision.
Final Request: I would like for the both of you to tell me why I SHOULD NOT vote for YOU. Was there a tacky decision you made that was cheap or tacky? Did you not preform to the best of your ability in certain parts of the game? Don't be afraid to tell the truth. Good luck to both of you girls.
Nicole: Hi Dustin, Thank you for following Chenbot's guidelines and keeping it brief. To answer your first question for me, that was something I thought about a lot as I headed into the Veto competition. I had already made up my mind that, if I were to win, I would vote to evict you and keep Porsche. Now, obviously, I went over the possibility of evicting Porsche in my head but I knew that, in more ways than one, it wouldn't be the right decision. Even though Porsche won the final HoH and evicted Renny, I think I did the right thing in evicting you. Had I turned on Porsche in the final four, I would have had no chance at her jury vote if I made it to the final two. More importantly, I felt it was necessary to reassert my loyalty to the Zombie Slayers after Sarah's eviction. If I evicted Porsche, I knew that I would be causing tension within my most important relationship, which was with Renny. Hindsight is always 20/20 but I stand by my decision because it was the best tactical choice I could have made. I had faith in Renny and myself to pull through and win the final HoH competition, and even though that didn't happen, I don't regret my decision.
To answer your second question, you shouldn't vote for me because I don't read instructions properly (ask Chenbot) and I lost the first endurance competition of the season because I modified my very first post. Another reason you may not want to vote for me is because, like I mentioned in my response to Jun's questions, I declined to re-do Part 1 of the final HoH competition. The reason for this is because I stayed up until 4 AM doing it the first time and I believed that I had a very competitive score; moreover, I really didn't have the time to sit down for another three or four consecutive hours to do it again. But, in any case, a harsher critic could argue that, if I were more dedicated, I would have made the time to do it.
Next up to speak was Parker.
Parker: Hey you two, congratulations on making it to the finale... you definitely earned it and you should be proud.
I've spent the past few days just reading and analyzing your responses to the other jurors and I just want y'all to know that I am definitely looking to vote based on who I think played the best overall game. No matter what was done or said a game's a game, the line being reality and game is distinct and neither of you ever crossed the line with me so yeah... again I have to just congratulate the two of you. I have no actual questions, I'm just going to observe and decide who to vote on based on your answers to the other jury member's questions.
Good luck Porsche & Nicole, great games on both your parts.
After Parker's comments it was Jun's turn.
Jun: I entered this game as a rookie and played like a veteran (Ask Renny, she knows everything about my life huh?). I knew from the start I had to align myself with a main ally then have side alliances so I can get far and get to safety in the weeks. I first went to Nicole and asked her let's align and take Porsche as the third wheel. Honestly, that surprised me when Nicole, you & I stayed in separate rooms. When you said you had another alliance with Renny & Karen, in the "Cougar Room," I was like wow, Nicole outsmarted me and I would have never thought. Then we formed the Slayers consisting of Sarah & Renny as well! I was glad we were in control.
Porsche! Honestly, you've been there for me than Nicole. I was able to go to you about problems in the game and even went to you when I wanted to jump ship. You obviously have won my heart over and I have a Best Friend that I met in this game. (Aside from Sarah, Parker, & Nicole.) You're a down to earth chick. And I've told you soooo many times how sorry I was during my eviction week. I didn't mean to and I was just soooo tempted and I wanted to advance myself further even at the cost of my own allies. (I'm such a villain). When I saw you winning HoH's left and right, I was able to feel safe with you in the game knowing I will be safe. Also, we both had common interests and ideas for Recycled. We were the masterminds behind everything; told Nicole, Renny & Sarah all the information we found against Annie, Jordan, Parker, Dustin & Steven. We knew them inside out and we were on a roll. I honestly have no dirt on you because (according to Renny, you were accused of getting leaked info from me? LOL! and you wanted info. from me when it benefited you LOL!) You've played the best Social game, and best strategic! You needed to win when it counted and when you wanted to get people out yourself. My questions for you are the following: if you were able to go back in time, and realize Nicole & Renny had some kind of F2 deal from one point, which week would it be and how would you have changed that week to make sure you had a better chance at the game? Next, I want you to rate the jurors on a scale of 1-10 on how they played the game; explain why and your reasons for this number you give them. Then, I want you to give me your impressions of me from the weeks I've been in the game, up until my eviction week. Finally, I want you to create me a list of all your biggest moves, mistakes, and best strategies you've had made over Nicole. Gathering this information can help me determine if Nicole should get my vote over you. I love you and let the best slayer win <3
Porsche: To answer your first question I knew that there was likely something more going on with Renny and Nicole during the elimination HOH. Renny expressed that she felt Sarah was a threat to her and wanted to knock her out first. We had talked and agreed that we would then eliminate Nicole to ensure that it would be her and I left standing in the competition. There came a time in the competition where Nicole could have been eliminated as she had posted and Renny still had her turn left. If she had eliminated Nicole then she would not have been able to knock out any more of my x's but Renny never took her turn that round and Nicole indeed came back and hit me on her turn. After that Renny hit me to "even it out" SO the picture became clearer then.
Then Renny nominated me saying that she did so in the hopes that Nicole did not try as hard in veto. We had chatted the night before nominations and she had never mentioned that she had any plans of putting me up. Although veto was a deciding factor that week I believe that she was afraid that if anyone else were to have won veto that Nicole would be the one to be evicted.
If I had known before the elimination HOH that they had a final 2 deal I would have played differently. I would have used my turns to weaken her and Nicole and I would not have assisted her in eliminating Sarah early on.
Rating the jurors from 1-10
Jordan: I give her a 4. Jordan was a vet and labeled as a huge threat in the game. I felt that she did not put forth much effort social wise and if she had tried to get close with the new players especially she may have lessened the target on her back enormously. She got a second chance to come back and did not use that opportunity to genuinely get to know the other players instead she used the second shot to try and put me down. The final reason I give her a low score is that she was technically evicted before the jury round and received a jury seat because Karen was expelled from the game.
Parker: I give Parker a 5.5. I am very fond of Parker and I think that if he had played with his full potential he would have really done some damage in the game. I know that Parker is extremely smart yet I felt at times that he was holding back. When Parker found himself on the block with Steven and the POV was not used he chose not to fight and instead asked that we evict him and keep Steven. Even though the cards were stacked against him I would have liked to see him fight and show that he wanted and deserved to stay in the game.
Jun: I give you a 7 You had an amazing social game, one of the best and I think that you had a great shot at making it at least to the final 3 had you played your cards right but you got too eager a bit too soon and planned to turn on an alliance without any plan in place to pull it off and then to protect yourself in the weeks that followed. You were also a little too vocal about flipping and didn't keep it close to the vest until you could get all of your ducks in a row.
Steven: I give Steven a 7.5 He was not all that active socially throughout the game yet the connections he built in the beginning we strong enough where others felt that he could be trusted and he was the least threatening of the vets. I really enjoyed chatting and talking game with Steven and I admired and respected that he came to me and we talked it out when he had thoughts of nominating me. I had second thoughts and considered the possibility of giving Steven my vote to stay and felt awful about his eviction but when I learned that he was telling Sarah the same things as he said to me I knew that I had no other choice and that I could not fully trust him to keep me safe if Sarah and I were to both be nominated.
Sarah I give Sarah a 9, she deserves it. She was a frontrunner to win the game and was the all around total package. She was a strong competitor and had a strong social game as well. As far as I know she was extremely loyal. Unfortunately being the total package made her a huge threat and had she made it to the finals I feel that she would have won hands down. I feel that she deserves a higher score than even a few that stayed in longer, she was blindsided and did not have the chance to save herself.
Dustin I give an 8.5. The odds were stacked totally against him coming into the game. It seemed that not too many had nice things to say about him but I personally found him to be one of my favorite players in the game. Although he didn't win an actual competition he contributed in other ways and I still think he sells himself short on all that he did accomplish. He was willing to get down, dirty, and devious
Renny: Renny I will give a 9. She was very strong in competitions and I caught on to the schemes and shenanigans of many other players this season but Renny was really the only one that I can say shocked me. I didn't catch on until very close to the end that there was more to Renny than meets the eye. The only reason that I didn’t give her a 10 was because she actually admitted to me that she lied. While I agree that would be the moral and just thing to do, this is a game and she very well could have won it by covering up the deal with Nicole.
My thoughts on your game play huh? Girl, you just looove to hear all about yourself LMAO! I already gave you a number and short description above so I will just talk a bit about what I think of how you played the game at various points up until you were evicted.
For the first beginning weeks of the game I think you were off to a great start. You socialized with everyone and began forming close bonds with many of the other players. I think that the general consensus was that you were well liked and respected by the majority.
after the initial honeymoon phase and you settled in I think that at times you got a little ahead of yourself, and I know I mentioned at the time as well that you started to jump a little ahead of yourself and rather than taking things week by week and analyzing the current stats of the game and what the best direction to take you more focused on a boot order and planning many weeks at once. In a game where things can change so rapidly slow and steady wins the race.
Throughout the weeks you maintained your relationships and at times I had some worries that you may be focusing too much on keeping everyone happy with you and in Big Brother it's extremely hard to not make a few enemies here and there. When we got to April's eviction you did lead her on to believe that she would be staying over Karen when you knew that wasn't so and it may have been to keep the peace until the eviction but that was something that I didn't necessarily agree with.
Despite the little things we stuck together and enjoyed our late night pajama jams and those late night talks helped me to kinda push any other frustrations aside.
Then we find ourselves at the time where you started feeling insecure and worried that I would prefer to work with Dustin over you. This is where you made your crucial game mistake. I know that you felt that you had become outcast in some way but to the best of my knowledge none of the Slayers had any plans to turn on you until you started showing the signs that you were plotting a big move. I discovered that you had gone to Steven trying to make a deal.
This was in my opinion a move that you attempted to make a couple of weeks too soon and had you stayed calm and waited just a little longer you would have made it several weeks further into the game. I think your real downfall here was that you brought in way to much outside emotion and it hindered your ability to come up with a strategy that would not only help you achieve your main goal of beginning to break up the Slayers but keep yourself in the game as well.
After Jun, Sarah spoke.
Sarah: It's kinda bittersweet to see you two at the end. I was allies with both of you, but you both betrayed me in the end. I understand the strategy of the move, but it still hurt at the time, especially since I was completely blindsided by it. Anyways, congratulations on making it to end. You both played fabulous games and deserve to be here for your own reasons.
Nicole, I do want to make a comment to you about what you said in other post about wanting me out because you were afraid that Porsche had a stronger relationship with me and your spot was shaky if I stayed in the game. I wish you had talked to me about any of this because that wasn't true at all. I was planning to keep you safe as much as I was able to. If we had gotten to final four and I was HOH, I wouldn't have nominated you because from what I knew of Porsche and Renny's relationship, I wouldn't want to risk your safety. This is all water under the bridge now, but I wanted to correct that mistaken assumption.
I'm still at a slight crossroads of who to vote for. I've read your responses to some of the others which have covered many topics and having been going back and forth. At this point, I just have one question for you both before I decide.
1) What was the biggest weakness in your opponent's strategy?
And if there's anything else you guys feel I should know, feel free to share
I'll read this and any other responses you guys post to the other questions and make my decision. Again, congratulations! I consider both of you friends and am glad to have played this game with you. Love you both
Nicole: Hi Sarah, Thank you for correcting me and filling in the gaps. The reality is that my decision wasn't based on a lack of trust but on an effort to keep the odds in my favour as much as possible. But had I communicated better with you, the ending of this whole game could have been different. I'm sorry for not coming to you about it.
To answer your question, I think the main weakness in Porsche's game is, like I described in another post, her sometimes emotional gameplay. I don't mean to suggest that her game wasn't strategic (it definitely was) but Porsche occasionally let her personal feelings make her decisions for her instead of adhering strictly to smart strategy. I consider this a weakness because it essentially puts your game at risk, even when there are less risky options available. Risk is admirable when it pays off, but in a game like this, I think risk is sloppy. I prefer to rein in as much as I can and keep every possible variable under control. Some of the more personal decisions that Porsche made in the game may not have yielded the negative outcomes they could have, but to rationally analyse the game will show that even risking these outcomes is, ultimately, a strategic weakness.
Porsche: Hi Sarah. I think that Nicole played a great game and took things step by step much like I did and I think that underestimating her opponent was her weakness toward the end.
She has said that she felt that when she chose to evict Dustin and keep me that she felt that in the final HOH that she had faith that her and Renny would pull through in the final HOH competition. I have seen it mentioned that I was a social player and I think that my competitive abilities were overlooked.
In regard to me playing based on emotion I can see why that was said. In the end with Renny I had just discovered that I was lied to and of course I was not happy about it and I said so in response to Dustin's question but it was also the best choice strategically. Nicole has stated that while she would have taken Renny to final 2 that she would have had a tougher time in stating why she shouldn’t win the game and I agree that for myself going against Renny in final 2 would have been a struggle for me.
More times than I can count I felt emotion in regard to choices that I had to make but went with the best strategic choice. An example of this was with Steven. You and I both were very fond of Steven and when he was asking for my vote I wanted so badly to vote in his favor and I know that you had a hard time with that week as well but in the end I went with the best game move over how I felt on an emotional level.
Steven was the next juror to address the Final 2.
Steven: Hey y'all, First of all, I just need to say congratulations to the two of you for making it to the Final Two. You both played an amazing game in your own style, and I respect both of you for the decisions you've made in this game and the integrity I believe you've played with.
I only have one question for the two of you, because everyone else seems to have covered just about everything. What I would like to know, however, is who each of you think deserves to be sitting next to you in the Final Two. Porsche, do you think Nicole played well enough to be in the Final Two, or do you think someone else played a better game? Nicole, do you think Renny deserves to be up with you, or is Porsche sitting right where she should be?
Hopefully my question gets each of you to take a look at your greatest opponent in the game and wonder whether or not they deserve to be where they are.
Thank you both, in advance, for your answers, and good luck in the vote.
Porsche: Hi Steven. My answer to I think deserves to be sitting next to me in the final 2 is Sarah. Although I do not know all of her strategies and what she would consider to be any possible mistakes that she made in the game from what I do know in working with her closely for a majority of the game she was the all around total package with a strong social and competitive skills. She was close with several players in the game including both you and I and she won 2 vetos and a HOH competition.
She found herself on the block in the first 2 weeks and was removed from the block before the voting began both times. She was betrayed in the end and chose to go out with dignity and class and in her juror thread she was able to express briefly how she felt yet ask ask her question without a bitter tone to it.
Those are just some of the reasons that I feel Sarah played one of the best games.
I do feel that Nicole also played a great game but I think that while they won the same amout of actual competitions Sarah had the advantage socially.
Nicole: Hi Steven, thanks for your question.
I don't mean to split hairs, but I just wanted to quickly point a small mistake in Porsche's post. Sarah and I didn't win the same number of competitions: Sarah won 1 HoH and 2 PoVs; I won 1 HoH, 3 PoVs, and part 2 of the final HoH. The only reason I'm pointing that out is just so everyone is on the same page as far as game stats go.
Steven, in response to your question, I would have loved to have Renny sitting in the final two with me and I do believe that she is deserving of a place in the finals. I think that she comprises all the best qualities in a Big Brother houseguest: she was an excellent social player, a cunning strategist, and an extremely strong competitor. In addition to that, I admire Renny because she's uncompromisingly outspoken and has always stood her ground and voiced her opinions, even when others chose not to support her. As far as this game goes, Renny is the total package and I wholeheartedly believe that she deserves to be sitting next to me in the final two.
I'm sure Porsche knows that I mean no disrespect with my answer because she, too, played a very good game. In fact, I really think that this season's final three was a very deserving trio of players. But when it comes down to it, I have to give the edge to Renny because she was a more versatile and multifaceted player.
Renny was the last juror to address the girls.
Renny: Congratulations to you both in getting to the final two! I assure you I'm going to take everything you both say in this finale into consideration before casting my vote and I truly hope the most deserving player wins. I think it should go without saying but I'm going to go ahead and concur with Dustin that lying at this stage will not earn you any points - and may cause you to lose my vote. Lying has its place in Big Brother when it's done in the context of the game, and within the bounds of the rules. At the very least, you are sometimes forced to lie by omission. But, now that you've made it to the end, I would appreciate complete candor from both of you in your answers.
Nicole, I'll start with you. I've read everything you've posted so far and I will admit there were some surprises for me. I definitely did not give you enough credit for how strategic and methodical you were. I thought of you as a nice, loyal ally who was a powerhouse in competitions. That is all very true, but you were playing the game much harder than I even knew. Don't let this go to your head, though. I still have some questions for you in regard to that strategy....
1. I heard about the G-Force alliance from Porsche fairly early on but I didn't really pay that much attention to it because a) By that time, I felt I had Porsche's trust, and b) I thought you were more loyal to me and Karen (mostly me since Karen wasn't around that much) than anyone else. Do you think I should have been more concerned about your loyalty toward me at that time?
2. When Dustin came to you with the story about a F3 of me/Dustin/Sarah with Porsche as an expendable 4th wheel, I admitted a few things to you like how I had pulled away from you a bit when Porsche was telling me you and Jun were closer than I had thought. This was to explain why I had made a F4 of me/Porsche/Sarah/Dustin (not the F3, like Dustin told you), and left you out of it. Was your motivation in telling me about this solely to prove your loyalty to the Slayers or was there any other strategy involved? Also, given the fact that I was putting my cards on the table with you, why did you decide not to tell me about the G-Force alliance then, or at any other time?
3. Did you throw part 3 of the final HOH as part of your strategy?
Nicole: Hi Renny. 1. When Jun and I first decided to work together, G-Force didn’t exist yet. We just agreed to share information and keep each other safe. Over the course of the first week of the game, Jun began talking more and more about Porsche, someone I hadn’t really had a chance to get to know yet. Eventually, Porsche was “added” to the alliance, which then became known as G-Force. At that point, I knew that my loyalty to Jun would ultimately be limited. That’s not because I didn’t like Porsche; as we all know, she turned out to be a lot more loyal than Jun did. But I realized that Jun would never be as loyal to me as she would be to Porsche. That’s what I meant when I said I put all my stock in Cougar Power. If there was ever a time for you to be concerned about my loyalty to you, it would have been in the first few days of the game, before G-Force was even officially formed. During that early time in the game, I considered keeping you and Karen as a “side alliance” to my core partnership with Jun, but it really only took a few days for me to realize Jun wasn’t a stable or reliable ally and you were.
2. Part of my motivation was, like you said, to again prove to the Slayers that my loyalty was 100%. At the same time, part of that decision was also about severing the bridges that Dustin was building. I never fabricated any of the things that Dustin said to me but I certainly emphasized that he was offering me deals, suggesting that Porsche be backdoored, etc., because I knew that I had to redeem myself after the Jun situation. The way that Jun impacted people’s perception of me was, in a lot of ways, out of my hands. So I had to put all my effort into countering that image by displacing it onto someone else. I did that to both Steven and Dustin. When I was HoH, I urged everyone to vote out Steven because, at the time, I didn’t have any dirt on Dustin yet. I knew that Steven had been making similar assurances to both Sarah and Porsche, so I placed a lot of emphasis on it in order to ensure that he was evicted. And when Dustin came clean to me about the final four alliance and proposed a deal, I had to do the same thing. My goal was to emphasize the stark contrast between the boys and myself: “They’re cutting deals, they’re being dishonest, but look at me, I’m telling you everything.” (That’s not a direct quote, obviously lol.) It was the only way for me to rebuild my image after my name was dragged through the dirt. It was two straight weeks of intensive damage control.
3. I absolutely did not throw Part 3 of the final HoH. I’m way too competitive to throw any competition, and I was dead-set on winning. If anything, it was my own eagerness that caused me to lose. I was disappointed that I lost and I was embarrassed by my answer to the tiebreaker question because it basically makes it look like I can’t add. In the Big Spenders competition, I knew that Sarah and Annie finished with 50, and April finished with 51 (which was enough for her to win). That brought the total to 151. Dustin didn’t do the competition properly, which gave him a 0. Jun gave up all her points for one of the powers, also leaving her with 0. I put 49 of my points towards the second prize and 1 point towards a punishment (which I didn’t receive because someone else had also put 1 point towards it). That would have left me with 1, thus bringing the total to 152. I didn’t account for that 1 point, came up with a total of 151, and submitted 150 as my answer just to be safe. It was a stupid mistake that cost you a place in the finals, but I can assure you it wasn’t intentional.
When the votes were cast, Parker, Jun, and Steven voted for Porsche while Sarah, Dustin, and Renny voted for Nicole. America broke the tie and crowned Porsche as the winner of Big Brother Recycled 10.
Houseguests: Nicole Schaffrich, Porsche Briggs
Nicole and Porsche had gone as far as they could go. Now it was time for them to face the jury.
So here I am…in the final two. A part of me - the modest part - wants to say that I never thought I'd get this far. But another part of me knew all along that I'd be sitting at the end. Now it's down to me and Porsche. I am up against the one person I absolutely, positively did not want to be sitting next to in the finals. What's so disappointing is that I really believed Renny and I could win this last HoH and cement our place in the final two. And when I realized I had submitted the wrong answer for my tiebreaker (which dawned on me hours later), I was honestly devastated. I like Porsche very much, but aside from a stellar social game, I really don't believe that she deserves to be sitting in the final two, let alone actually win the game. But convincing the jury that I'm a better player than Porsche is going to be one hell of a tall order. I think that all of Porsche's weaknesses as a player - and there are many - are overshadowed by people's relationships with her. And hey, that's a completely valid and respectable element of playing the game, so I certainly don't hold it against her. But it's my job to show these seven people that, when it comes to playing the game in its entirety - from socializing, to strategizing, to performing well in competitions - I am the total package while Porsche is, at the end of the day, a one-trick pony.
It was time for the Final 2 to give their opening statements.
Porsche: After a wild and crazy ride I am extremely excited and grateful to have made it to the final 2 in this game. Like Nicole, I am also an org newbie. This was my first real game, the first that I joined being abandoned by the host. While i realized that forming relationships is an essential part of the game I never imagined that I would form such close bonds with many of you which I hope can carry on long after this game has ended.
My strategy coming in was really to be myself, to align myself with other strong players that I felt that I could trust, to be honest and loyal, and of course to give my all in the competitions.
Very early in the game I aligned myself with Jun and Nicole in what we called the G force alliance. I also formed very close bonds with several other players which ensured my safety in this game week after week. It became apparent when the vets held the power for the first weeks of the game that G force would need to expand in order to take control of the game. Sarah and Renny were players who we had become very close to and felt we could trust and the Zombie Slayers alliance was formed.
I was then able to break the vets winning streak by winning my first HOH and dealt a major blow by ensuring the eviction of Annie who by many was considered the strongest player in the game.
April then decided it was time to start playing and attempted to build an alliance to target me, becoming my biggest threat not realizing that the players she had turned to were my closest allies. I was able to win my second HOH and evict my biggest threat leaving me in an excellent position.
By aligning with the Zombie Slayers who had become the most dominant alliance in the game I was able to be directly involved in eliminating anyone who I felt could be a threat to me making it to the end of the game. When I felt that I may be seen as a target I made sure to voice my opinions and even if I was not HOH that week I was able to ensure that my threats were in fact evicted. I believe Steven said it best when he won HOH and considered nominating me. He said that he felt I could be a threat as anyone that I had any sort of conflict with was evicted.
When the Slayers were not in power the close bonds that I had formed outside of my alliance continued to keep me safe. although Steven saw what a threat I was he did not nominate me for eviction or even as a replacement once veto was used.
I know that I have been labeled as playing a strong "social game" and while this is true I also won 3 HOH competitions. The last HOH being the most important of the entire game. This win resulted in me breaking up the final 2 pact of Nicole and Renny and securing my own spot in the final 2.
Along the way I faced some very tough decisions. One of the toughest was Sarah's eviction. Loyalty in this game is extremely important to me and I made a choice that on one hand was a great game move but it was at the expense of someone who I had come to call my friend. While I am deeply sorry, she was a front runner to win the game and I felt that I had no other options if I wanted to make it to the end.
You as the jury have a very difficult choice to make as you decide who you think should be the winner of Big Brother Recycled season 10. I feel that I played a great game. Not only was I strong socially, I won competitions including the final HOH, I made it to the final 2 without having 1 vote cast against me the entire game, an although I was considered a threat I managed to avoid the block up until the final 4. I look forward to your questions and promise that I will answer each one honestly. I will now turn the floor over to you
Nicole: Hi everyone,
Firstly, I want to say that I'm really excited that I made it to the final two. This has been a roller coaster of a season and I'm so happy to have been here the entire way. As most of you know, I'm pretty inexperienced in the ORG world; this was only my second game ever (and, in my first game, I was the first person evicted lol). I'm happy to have gotten to know a lot of you, some more than others, and I've made genuine friends along the way.
As a disclaimer, I intend to be brutally honest during questioning. There's something really off-putting about buttering up the jury heading into the final vote, and that's something I can assure you I will not do. I'm not going to pander for votes; I'm going to lay out the facts from start to end and answer every question as honestly and explicitly as possible. My hope is that you'll each look at this game - and the two somewhat different journeys that Porsche and I traveled to get here - and cast a purely objective vote for the better player.
Honesty and integrity are qualities that, while talked about constantly, are difficult to enact in Big Brother. We've all, at some point, claimed to be playing "an honest game," whether or not it was the truth. For some, playing a deceitful game under the guise of honesty was the whole point. When this season started, I imagined that this would be the kind of game I'd play. I envisioned myself making friends and backstabbing them at the drop of a hat, all for the sake of advancing myself to the finals. And I pictured myself sitting here, in the final two, telling you to vote for the more devious, cut-throat player because that's what Big Brother is all about. As the game progressed, however, I realized that this strategy is, ultimately, the easy way out. It's a sloppy strategy that requires more luck than gameplay, and more risk than reward. I didn't want to rely on luck and I didn't want to take risks that would yield only negative results. Instead, I played a thoroughly calculated game, evaluating the scope of every single decision before I made it. Sometimes, that meant making myself appear weak or susceptible to suggestion. Other times, I needed to work harder to establish myself as a competitive threat or a bigger target. At each stage in the game, I took stock of my position in the house - and the positions of each other housguest - before deciding on a plan of action.
I was in two core alliances at the start of the game: G-Force (with Jun and Porsche) and Cougar Power (with Renny and Karen). Eventually, these two alliances merged into the Zombie Slayers, with Karen being replaced by Sarah. And as Karen became less of a prominent player, I threw all my weight into the Zombie Slayer alliance with a particular emphasis on my relationship with Renny. I knew that the dynamics of this alliance, while mostly united, was always somewhat unstable. A major component of my strategy was fostering a sense of team unity that was essential to making it to the end. No matter what, I always emphasized making the best decisions for the alliance. When Jun began to stray and tried to convince me to turn on the Slayers, I was actually somewhat tempted. But ultimately, I decided to tell the girls everything. Similarly, when Dustin encouraged me to use the Power of Veto on him and backdoor Porsche, I was also tempted. But, again, I decided to relay every detail. I did this for the sake of getting the Slayers to the end, but ultimately, I was working to get myself to the end. My strategy was to be perceived as the most loyal, honest, and genuine player in the game. I knew that some of the Slayers had forged strong bonds with each other (many stronger than my own bonds) and I had to counter these relationships by presenting myself as the most reliable ally available. And, if my sitting here in the final two is any indication, I believe I was successful.
The interesting thing is that I can say, with a fair amount of conviction, that I've played a largely honest game (as honest as possible in a game like Big Brother). I never fabricated rumours about other players (even when I knew they were fabricating rumours about me), I kept my blatant lies to a minimum, and I was absolutely genuine in my relationships with you. Obviously, the only instance in which this doesn't hold true is Sarah's eviction, which was the hardest decision that I made all season and was purely strategic. My reasoning behind evicting Sarah was to ensure that Renny and I were in the finals (assuming that one of us would have won the final HoH). I feared that Porsche had a stronger competitive influence over Sarah than I did, and I didn't want Sarah (the strongest competitor aside from Renny and myself) in the final four if I couldn't guarantee my own safety. Like I said, that was a really difficult decision that I felt very guilty about, but it was the smartest strategic decision at the time. With the exception of that week, I genuinely believe I played a thoroughly well-rounded game that incorporated astute strategy, dominance at competitions (all skill-based, I should point out), and as much honesty as was reasonably allowed. There is something to be said about playing a strong social, competitive, and strategic game, and I think it's even more noteworthy that I was able to do this with a relatively high level of integrity and honesty. To make it to the end while cutting throats along the way is one thing; to make it to the end with sound strategy and as little deceit as possible is another.
Like I said, my answers will be no-holds-barred and I hope that your questions are too. I'm prepared to show you that I played the strongest game - specifically because it was fundamentally well-rounded and comprehensive - and that I deserve to win this season of Big Brother Recycled. I came into this with an extremely limited knowledge of the format of online games, and I had no pre-game friends or relationships. I worked extremely hard, every step of the way, to get myself to the end of this game. I take nothing away from Porsche, who played a strong social game, but my hard work and multi-faceted approach to this entire season make me deserving of your votes, and of ultimately being this season's winner.
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The Jurors now had the chance to address the girls and first up was Dustin.
Dustin: Congratulations on the Final Two. I'm not going to make long, unnecessary paragraphs about how I played the game. I'm also not going to flood it with unnecessary pictures of strippers. (He wasn't even that hot, no offense Jun.) I will get straight to the point. I promise you that I will voting purely strategically based off of the responses you give other players, what you have said in your opening statements (and closing if there are any), and what I have seen throughout the game strategic wise. I will not at all be voting personally. If I was, I would not be here. Also, if I catch any of you sucking up to any of the jury members, you will be less likely to earn my vote. We lost, we're over it, don't butter us up for votes.
Requests: Be completely honest. If there's something that might help your case, say it-it couldn't hurt. If there's something that you think may hurt your chance-say it, I appreciate the honesty, and modesty is the best policy, you will see why in my final request below.
Question One: Porsche, in your opening statement, you said you wanted to break up the Final Two of Renny and Nicole. Why did you choose to evict Renny instead of Nicole?
Question Two: Nicole, you had the choice to evict either Porsche or myself, and you evicted me. I have absolutely nothing against your decision, but do you think that this decision was smart now that you are against the person you saved in the finale, and that she evicted your long-term, friend Renny. Please elaborate on why or why not you do or do not regret this decision.
Final Request: I would like for the both of you to tell me why I SHOULD NOT vote for YOU. Was there a tacky decision you made that was cheap or tacky? Did you not preform to the best of your ability in certain parts of the game? Don't be afraid to tell the truth. Good luck to both of you girls.
Nicole: Hi Dustin, Thank you for following Chenbot's guidelines and keeping it brief. To answer your first question for me, that was something I thought about a lot as I headed into the Veto competition. I had already made up my mind that, if I were to win, I would vote to evict you and keep Porsche. Now, obviously, I went over the possibility of evicting Porsche in my head but I knew that, in more ways than one, it wouldn't be the right decision. Even though Porsche won the final HoH and evicted Renny, I think I did the right thing in evicting you. Had I turned on Porsche in the final four, I would have had no chance at her jury vote if I made it to the final two. More importantly, I felt it was necessary to reassert my loyalty to the Zombie Slayers after Sarah's eviction. If I evicted Porsche, I knew that I would be causing tension within my most important relationship, which was with Renny. Hindsight is always 20/20 but I stand by my decision because it was the best tactical choice I could have made. I had faith in Renny and myself to pull through and win the final HoH competition, and even though that didn't happen, I don't regret my decision.
To answer your second question, you shouldn't vote for me because I don't read instructions properly (ask Chenbot) and I lost the first endurance competition of the season because I modified my very first post. Another reason you may not want to vote for me is because, like I mentioned in my response to Jun's questions, I declined to re-do Part 1 of the final HoH competition. The reason for this is because I stayed up until 4 AM doing it the first time and I believed that I had a very competitive score; moreover, I really didn't have the time to sit down for another three or four consecutive hours to do it again. But, in any case, a harsher critic could argue that, if I were more dedicated, I would have made the time to do it.
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Next up to speak was Parker.
Parker: Hey you two, congratulations on making it to the finale... you definitely earned it and you should be proud.
I've spent the past few days just reading and analyzing your responses to the other jurors and I just want y'all to know that I am definitely looking to vote based on who I think played the best overall game. No matter what was done or said a game's a game, the line being reality and game is distinct and neither of you ever crossed the line with me so yeah... again I have to just congratulate the two of you. I have no actual questions, I'm just going to observe and decide who to vote on based on your answers to the other jury member's questions.
Good luck Porsche & Nicole, great games on both your parts.
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After Parker's comments it was Jun's turn.
Jun: I entered this game as a rookie and played like a veteran (Ask Renny, she knows everything about my life huh?). I knew from the start I had to align myself with a main ally then have side alliances so I can get far and get to safety in the weeks. I first went to Nicole and asked her let's align and take Porsche as the third wheel. Honestly, that surprised me when Nicole, you & I stayed in separate rooms. When you said you had another alliance with Renny & Karen, in the "Cougar Room," I was like wow, Nicole outsmarted me and I would have never thought. Then we formed the Slayers consisting of Sarah & Renny as well! I was glad we were in control.
Porsche! Honestly, you've been there for me than Nicole. I was able to go to you about problems in the game and even went to you when I wanted to jump ship. You obviously have won my heart over and I have a Best Friend that I met in this game. (Aside from Sarah, Parker, & Nicole.) You're a down to earth chick. And I've told you soooo many times how sorry I was during my eviction week. I didn't mean to and I was just soooo tempted and I wanted to advance myself further even at the cost of my own allies. (I'm such a villain). When I saw you winning HoH's left and right, I was able to feel safe with you in the game knowing I will be safe. Also, we both had common interests and ideas for Recycled. We were the masterminds behind everything; told Nicole, Renny & Sarah all the information we found against Annie, Jordan, Parker, Dustin & Steven. We knew them inside out and we were on a roll. I honestly have no dirt on you because (according to Renny, you were accused of getting leaked info from me? LOL! and you wanted info. from me when it benefited you LOL!) You've played the best Social game, and best strategic! You needed to win when it counted and when you wanted to get people out yourself. My questions for you are the following: if you were able to go back in time, and realize Nicole & Renny had some kind of F2 deal from one point, which week would it be and how would you have changed that week to make sure you had a better chance at the game? Next, I want you to rate the jurors on a scale of 1-10 on how they played the game; explain why and your reasons for this number you give them. Then, I want you to give me your impressions of me from the weeks I've been in the game, up until my eviction week. Finally, I want you to create me a list of all your biggest moves, mistakes, and best strategies you've had made over Nicole. Gathering this information can help me determine if Nicole should get my vote over you. I love you and let the best slayer win <3
Porsche: To answer your first question I knew that there was likely something more going on with Renny and Nicole during the elimination HOH. Renny expressed that she felt Sarah was a threat to her and wanted to knock her out first. We had talked and agreed that we would then eliminate Nicole to ensure that it would be her and I left standing in the competition. There came a time in the competition where Nicole could have been eliminated as she had posted and Renny still had her turn left. If she had eliminated Nicole then she would not have been able to knock out any more of my x's but Renny never took her turn that round and Nicole indeed came back and hit me on her turn. After that Renny hit me to "even it out" SO the picture became clearer then.
Then Renny nominated me saying that she did so in the hopes that Nicole did not try as hard in veto. We had chatted the night before nominations and she had never mentioned that she had any plans of putting me up. Although veto was a deciding factor that week I believe that she was afraid that if anyone else were to have won veto that Nicole would be the one to be evicted.
If I had known before the elimination HOH that they had a final 2 deal I would have played differently. I would have used my turns to weaken her and Nicole and I would not have assisted her in eliminating Sarah early on.
Rating the jurors from 1-10
Jordan: I give her a 4. Jordan was a vet and labeled as a huge threat in the game. I felt that she did not put forth much effort social wise and if she had tried to get close with the new players especially she may have lessened the target on her back enormously. She got a second chance to come back and did not use that opportunity to genuinely get to know the other players instead she used the second shot to try and put me down. The final reason I give her a low score is that she was technically evicted before the jury round and received a jury seat because Karen was expelled from the game.
Parker: I give Parker a 5.5. I am very fond of Parker and I think that if he had played with his full potential he would have really done some damage in the game. I know that Parker is extremely smart yet I felt at times that he was holding back. When Parker found himself on the block with Steven and the POV was not used he chose not to fight and instead asked that we evict him and keep Steven. Even though the cards were stacked against him I would have liked to see him fight and show that he wanted and deserved to stay in the game.
Jun: I give you a 7 You had an amazing social game, one of the best and I think that you had a great shot at making it at least to the final 3 had you played your cards right but you got too eager a bit too soon and planned to turn on an alliance without any plan in place to pull it off and then to protect yourself in the weeks that followed. You were also a little too vocal about flipping and didn't keep it close to the vest until you could get all of your ducks in a row.
Steven: I give Steven a 7.5 He was not all that active socially throughout the game yet the connections he built in the beginning we strong enough where others felt that he could be trusted and he was the least threatening of the vets. I really enjoyed chatting and talking game with Steven and I admired and respected that he came to me and we talked it out when he had thoughts of nominating me. I had second thoughts and considered the possibility of giving Steven my vote to stay and felt awful about his eviction but when I learned that he was telling Sarah the same things as he said to me I knew that I had no other choice and that I could not fully trust him to keep me safe if Sarah and I were to both be nominated.
Sarah I give Sarah a 9, she deserves it. She was a frontrunner to win the game and was the all around total package. She was a strong competitor and had a strong social game as well. As far as I know she was extremely loyal. Unfortunately being the total package made her a huge threat and had she made it to the finals I feel that she would have won hands down. I feel that she deserves a higher score than even a few that stayed in longer, she was blindsided and did not have the chance to save herself.
Dustin I give an 8.5. The odds were stacked totally against him coming into the game. It seemed that not too many had nice things to say about him but I personally found him to be one of my favorite players in the game. Although he didn't win an actual competition he contributed in other ways and I still think he sells himself short on all that he did accomplish. He was willing to get down, dirty, and devious
Renny: Renny I will give a 9. She was very strong in competitions and I caught on to the schemes and shenanigans of many other players this season but Renny was really the only one that I can say shocked me. I didn't catch on until very close to the end that there was more to Renny than meets the eye. The only reason that I didn’t give her a 10 was because she actually admitted to me that she lied. While I agree that would be the moral and just thing to do, this is a game and she very well could have won it by covering up the deal with Nicole.
My thoughts on your game play huh? Girl, you just looove to hear all about yourself LMAO! I already gave you a number and short description above so I will just talk a bit about what I think of how you played the game at various points up until you were evicted.
For the first beginning weeks of the game I think you were off to a great start. You socialized with everyone and began forming close bonds with many of the other players. I think that the general consensus was that you were well liked and respected by the majority.
after the initial honeymoon phase and you settled in I think that at times you got a little ahead of yourself, and I know I mentioned at the time as well that you started to jump a little ahead of yourself and rather than taking things week by week and analyzing the current stats of the game and what the best direction to take you more focused on a boot order and planning many weeks at once. In a game where things can change so rapidly slow and steady wins the race.
Throughout the weeks you maintained your relationships and at times I had some worries that you may be focusing too much on keeping everyone happy with you and in Big Brother it's extremely hard to not make a few enemies here and there. When we got to April's eviction you did lead her on to believe that she would be staying over Karen when you knew that wasn't so and it may have been to keep the peace until the eviction but that was something that I didn't necessarily agree with.
Despite the little things we stuck together and enjoyed our late night pajama jams and those late night talks helped me to kinda push any other frustrations aside.
Then we find ourselves at the time where you started feeling insecure and worried that I would prefer to work with Dustin over you. This is where you made your crucial game mistake. I know that you felt that you had become outcast in some way but to the best of my knowledge none of the Slayers had any plans to turn on you until you started showing the signs that you were plotting a big move. I discovered that you had gone to Steven trying to make a deal.
This was in my opinion a move that you attempted to make a couple of weeks too soon and had you stayed calm and waited just a little longer you would have made it several weeks further into the game. I think your real downfall here was that you brought in way to much outside emotion and it hindered your ability to come up with a strategy that would not only help you achieve your main goal of beginning to break up the Slayers but keep yourself in the game as well.
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After Jun, Sarah spoke.
Sarah: It's kinda bittersweet to see you two at the end. I was allies with both of you, but you both betrayed me in the end. I understand the strategy of the move, but it still hurt at the time, especially since I was completely blindsided by it. Anyways, congratulations on making it to end. You both played fabulous games and deserve to be here for your own reasons.
Nicole, I do want to make a comment to you about what you said in other post about wanting me out because you were afraid that Porsche had a stronger relationship with me and your spot was shaky if I stayed in the game. I wish you had talked to me about any of this because that wasn't true at all. I was planning to keep you safe as much as I was able to. If we had gotten to final four and I was HOH, I wouldn't have nominated you because from what I knew of Porsche and Renny's relationship, I wouldn't want to risk your safety. This is all water under the bridge now, but I wanted to correct that mistaken assumption.
I'm still at a slight crossroads of who to vote for. I've read your responses to some of the others which have covered many topics and having been going back and forth. At this point, I just have one question for you both before I decide.
1) What was the biggest weakness in your opponent's strategy?
And if there's anything else you guys feel I should know, feel free to share
I'll read this and any other responses you guys post to the other questions and make my decision. Again, congratulations! I consider both of you friends and am glad to have played this game with you. Love you both
Nicole: Hi Sarah, Thank you for correcting me and filling in the gaps. The reality is that my decision wasn't based on a lack of trust but on an effort to keep the odds in my favour as much as possible. But had I communicated better with you, the ending of this whole game could have been different. I'm sorry for not coming to you about it.
To answer your question, I think the main weakness in Porsche's game is, like I described in another post, her sometimes emotional gameplay. I don't mean to suggest that her game wasn't strategic (it definitely was) but Porsche occasionally let her personal feelings make her decisions for her instead of adhering strictly to smart strategy. I consider this a weakness because it essentially puts your game at risk, even when there are less risky options available. Risk is admirable when it pays off, but in a game like this, I think risk is sloppy. I prefer to rein in as much as I can and keep every possible variable under control. Some of the more personal decisions that Porsche made in the game may not have yielded the negative outcomes they could have, but to rationally analyse the game will show that even risking these outcomes is, ultimately, a strategic weakness.
Porsche: Hi Sarah. I think that Nicole played a great game and took things step by step much like I did and I think that underestimating her opponent was her weakness toward the end.
She has said that she felt that when she chose to evict Dustin and keep me that she felt that in the final HOH that she had faith that her and Renny would pull through in the final HOH competition. I have seen it mentioned that I was a social player and I think that my competitive abilities were overlooked.
In regard to me playing based on emotion I can see why that was said. In the end with Renny I had just discovered that I was lied to and of course I was not happy about it and I said so in response to Dustin's question but it was also the best choice strategically. Nicole has stated that while she would have taken Renny to final 2 that she would have had a tougher time in stating why she shouldn’t win the game and I agree that for myself going against Renny in final 2 would have been a struggle for me.
More times than I can count I felt emotion in regard to choices that I had to make but went with the best strategic choice. An example of this was with Steven. You and I both were very fond of Steven and when he was asking for my vote I wanted so badly to vote in his favor and I know that you had a hard time with that week as well but in the end I went with the best game move over how I felt on an emotional level.
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Steven was the next juror to address the Final 2.
Steven: Hey y'all, First of all, I just need to say congratulations to the two of you for making it to the Final Two. You both played an amazing game in your own style, and I respect both of you for the decisions you've made in this game and the integrity I believe you've played with.
I only have one question for the two of you, because everyone else seems to have covered just about everything. What I would like to know, however, is who each of you think deserves to be sitting next to you in the Final Two. Porsche, do you think Nicole played well enough to be in the Final Two, or do you think someone else played a better game? Nicole, do you think Renny deserves to be up with you, or is Porsche sitting right where she should be?
Hopefully my question gets each of you to take a look at your greatest opponent in the game and wonder whether or not they deserve to be where they are.
Thank you both, in advance, for your answers, and good luck in the vote.
Porsche: Hi Steven. My answer to I think deserves to be sitting next to me in the final 2 is Sarah. Although I do not know all of her strategies and what she would consider to be any possible mistakes that she made in the game from what I do know in working with her closely for a majority of the game she was the all around total package with a strong social and competitive skills. She was close with several players in the game including both you and I and she won 2 vetos and a HOH competition.
She found herself on the block in the first 2 weeks and was removed from the block before the voting began both times. She was betrayed in the end and chose to go out with dignity and class and in her juror thread she was able to express briefly how she felt yet ask ask her question without a bitter tone to it.
Those are just some of the reasons that I feel Sarah played one of the best games.
I do feel that Nicole also played a great game but I think that while they won the same amout of actual competitions Sarah had the advantage socially.
Nicole: Hi Steven, thanks for your question.
I don't mean to split hairs, but I just wanted to quickly point a small mistake in Porsche's post. Sarah and I didn't win the same number of competitions: Sarah won 1 HoH and 2 PoVs; I won 1 HoH, 3 PoVs, and part 2 of the final HoH. The only reason I'm pointing that out is just so everyone is on the same page as far as game stats go.
Steven, in response to your question, I would have loved to have Renny sitting in the final two with me and I do believe that she is deserving of a place in the finals. I think that she comprises all the best qualities in a Big Brother houseguest: she was an excellent social player, a cunning strategist, and an extremely strong competitor. In addition to that, I admire Renny because she's uncompromisingly outspoken and has always stood her ground and voiced her opinions, even when others chose not to support her. As far as this game goes, Renny is the total package and I wholeheartedly believe that she deserves to be sitting next to me in the final two.
I'm sure Porsche knows that I mean no disrespect with my answer because she, too, played a very good game. In fact, I really think that this season's final three was a very deserving trio of players. But when it comes down to it, I have to give the edge to Renny because she was a more versatile and multifaceted player.
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Renny was the last juror to address the girls.
Renny: Congratulations to you both in getting to the final two! I assure you I'm going to take everything you both say in this finale into consideration before casting my vote and I truly hope the most deserving player wins. I think it should go without saying but I'm going to go ahead and concur with Dustin that lying at this stage will not earn you any points - and may cause you to lose my vote. Lying has its place in Big Brother when it's done in the context of the game, and within the bounds of the rules. At the very least, you are sometimes forced to lie by omission. But, now that you've made it to the end, I would appreciate complete candor from both of you in your answers.
Nicole, I'll start with you. I've read everything you've posted so far and I will admit there were some surprises for me. I definitely did not give you enough credit for how strategic and methodical you were. I thought of you as a nice, loyal ally who was a powerhouse in competitions. That is all very true, but you were playing the game much harder than I even knew. Don't let this go to your head, though. I still have some questions for you in regard to that strategy....
1. I heard about the G-Force alliance from Porsche fairly early on but I didn't really pay that much attention to it because a) By that time, I felt I had Porsche's trust, and b) I thought you were more loyal to me and Karen (mostly me since Karen wasn't around that much) than anyone else. Do you think I should have been more concerned about your loyalty toward me at that time?
2. When Dustin came to you with the story about a F3 of me/Dustin/Sarah with Porsche as an expendable 4th wheel, I admitted a few things to you like how I had pulled away from you a bit when Porsche was telling me you and Jun were closer than I had thought. This was to explain why I had made a F4 of me/Porsche/Sarah/Dustin (not the F3, like Dustin told you), and left you out of it. Was your motivation in telling me about this solely to prove your loyalty to the Slayers or was there any other strategy involved? Also, given the fact that I was putting my cards on the table with you, why did you decide not to tell me about the G-Force alliance then, or at any other time?
3. Did you throw part 3 of the final HOH as part of your strategy?
Nicole: Hi Renny. 1. When Jun and I first decided to work together, G-Force didn’t exist yet. We just agreed to share information and keep each other safe. Over the course of the first week of the game, Jun began talking more and more about Porsche, someone I hadn’t really had a chance to get to know yet. Eventually, Porsche was “added” to the alliance, which then became known as G-Force. At that point, I knew that my loyalty to Jun would ultimately be limited. That’s not because I didn’t like Porsche; as we all know, she turned out to be a lot more loyal than Jun did. But I realized that Jun would never be as loyal to me as she would be to Porsche. That’s what I meant when I said I put all my stock in Cougar Power. If there was ever a time for you to be concerned about my loyalty to you, it would have been in the first few days of the game, before G-Force was even officially formed. During that early time in the game, I considered keeping you and Karen as a “side alliance” to my core partnership with Jun, but it really only took a few days for me to realize Jun wasn’t a stable or reliable ally and you were.
2. Part of my motivation was, like you said, to again prove to the Slayers that my loyalty was 100%. At the same time, part of that decision was also about severing the bridges that Dustin was building. I never fabricated any of the things that Dustin said to me but I certainly emphasized that he was offering me deals, suggesting that Porsche be backdoored, etc., because I knew that I had to redeem myself after the Jun situation. The way that Jun impacted people’s perception of me was, in a lot of ways, out of my hands. So I had to put all my effort into countering that image by displacing it onto someone else. I did that to both Steven and Dustin. When I was HoH, I urged everyone to vote out Steven because, at the time, I didn’t have any dirt on Dustin yet. I knew that Steven had been making similar assurances to both Sarah and Porsche, so I placed a lot of emphasis on it in order to ensure that he was evicted. And when Dustin came clean to me about the final four alliance and proposed a deal, I had to do the same thing. My goal was to emphasize the stark contrast between the boys and myself: “They’re cutting deals, they’re being dishonest, but look at me, I’m telling you everything.” (That’s not a direct quote, obviously lol.) It was the only way for me to rebuild my image after my name was dragged through the dirt. It was two straight weeks of intensive damage control.
3. I absolutely did not throw Part 3 of the final HoH. I’m way too competitive to throw any competition, and I was dead-set on winning. If anything, it was my own eagerness that caused me to lose. I was disappointed that I lost and I was embarrassed by my answer to the tiebreaker question because it basically makes it look like I can’t add. In the Big Spenders competition, I knew that Sarah and Annie finished with 50, and April finished with 51 (which was enough for her to win). That brought the total to 151. Dustin didn’t do the competition properly, which gave him a 0. Jun gave up all her points for one of the powers, also leaving her with 0. I put 49 of my points towards the second prize and 1 point towards a punishment (which I didn’t receive because someone else had also put 1 point towards it). That would have left me with 1, thus bringing the total to 152. I didn’t account for that 1 point, came up with a total of 151, and submitted 150 as my answer just to be safe. It was a stupid mistake that cost you a place in the finals, but I can assure you it wasn’t intentional.
When the votes were cast, Parker, Jun, and Steven voted for Porsche while Sarah, Dustin, and Renny voted for Nicole. America broke the tie and crowned Porsche as the winner of Big Brother Recycled 10.