MUMZIE

[sarah]

I’m gonna try and keep this short-ish. More like a highlight reel or a trailer than a feature film. Hopefully. 

I came into this game having no idea what to expect. I come from a background of only Survivor games and I only recently (within the last six months or so) started watching Big Brother. I didn’t know whether the gameplay would be more complicated, whether I’d have to balance my social game differently, if there was some kind of overruling strategy I should try to adopt. In the end, I just decided to try and be myself and do my best to adapt to the people around me. 

Prior to the jury phase, I tried to avoid winning any competitions, because I did not want to emerge as a comp threat early on, and having to control pre-jury nominations seemed like a potential set up for disaster. I laid low. I continued talking with people. I formed the odd alliance here and there, but kept things light. I was nominated once (by someone who later became one of my closest allies, just as a sidenote), but I don’t think there was ever any question I was staying over Amy. And then the Marvin/Will drama happened. 

At the point of Will’s eviction, I had an alliance with Jen and Austin. I did not honestly believe that either of them were loyal to it or to me specifically, and when they both voted to keep Marvin (along with Porsche) and went against half the house by doing it, I knew I had been right. Jen told me she was “just making the best move strategically for herself”, knowing Marvin was against me. Whether an alliance or deal existed between the two of them or any of the people who voted to save Marvin, I knew for sure at that point that Jen did not have my best interests at heart (this was further confirmed later in the game when Austin admitted that he and Jen had been plotting ways to save Marvin in his eviction round behind my back). 

Once the Marvin Wars began, I saw the house splitting into two sides – those who voted for Marvin and those who did not, with only minimal overlap (David I’m @ing u). I exacerbated the conflict by spilling tea about Cody and Mark supposedly asking Austin for an alliance, which pushed the sides apart even more. I connected strongly with Mark and Cody, made an alliance with them, and also had an earlier final 2 deal with Cody in my back pocket, but I knew I had to bridge a gap to the other side, too. I had liked Porsche since the start, but had always been wary of her. One thing that I was consistently throughout this game was pretty much transparent. I was honest whenever someone asked me a question. I shared my feelings on things without any filtering. I told very few lies. I was not fake towards people. I made sure to really make a point of this with Porsche so that she knew I was being genuine with her, even if not vice versa, with the hope that once her other allies were gone, she would have no choice but to turn to me. 

The next step was the systematic removal of other people closer to these two opposing allies I had chosen. I needed people on both sides to like me, but I needed to avoid looking like a figurehead for anything, and most of all, I needed to get to the end with 2 people who loved me more than they loved each other. I backdoored Jen because she had too much social capital, there was no trust between us (and so was never going to be beneficial to my game), and because I felt she was Porsche’s closest ally, and I needed to get rid of that, not only because I needed to rise on Porsche’s priority list, but because they were a powerful duo. It also ensured Cody and Mark’s loyalty to me moving forward. 

The pattern continued. Mark left, and then Porsche unwittingly made a great move FOR ME at the F6 by backdooring Louise and eliminating her, because it meant I didn’t have to do it later and it 100% ensured that Cody was most loyal to me, if that wasn’t already the case. With Cody’s help, I took out Porsche’s last big ally in Austin at the F5, and she voted for David, putting her on the wrong side of the numbers and leaving her in potentially bad stead with David, while mine and David’s relationship stayed strong. 

At F4, I was completely safe regardless of who won. I had just saved David and he had promised to keep me at F4 if he won veto, and by this time I had a F2 deal with Porsche as well as Cody. I tried to win the veto to ensure Cody’s safety going into the F3, and in eliminating David, I locked in a spot in the F2. Porsche and Cody were worlds apart from each other at this point, and I had accomplished my ultimate goal of keeping one ally from both “sides” of the house and having all of their other allies fall away in the process.  

I may not have the distinction of having never been nominated like Porsche does, but something I did have, especially in the later rounds, was security, and that's something I planned for right up until the very end. I put myself into a position where, by virtue of my relationships and the elimination of threats to those relationships, I was virtually guaranteed advancement past every round. Porsche was in imminent danger from the moment she used her PoV at F6. She survived F5 because I wanted to keep her in order to really cement my spot at the end, and if she had not won the last 2 HoHs, she would not be here. I am not saying winning out on comps is necessarily a bad thing, but I think the need to be immune to get to the end shows a kind of lack of foresight and deliberation - kind of like playing for the endgame, but not quite for the finale. 

Anyway, I have no doubt that some of you are probably not overly hyped to see me here. My goal is to change your perception so that you’re at the very least OKAY with me potentially being the representative for our season. I invite any & all questions and comments, and I’ll be happy to attempt to quell any concerns or clarify any confusion or misconceptions you may have.  

Cheers, and good luck to Porsche!