Round 14

[Russell Swan]

Sorry for the extremely short confessional. Ideally I have an alliance of 7 here that should be able to control the numbers for the vote. This alliance includes me, Chicken, Ralph, Erik, Gary, Ami, and Silas. However within the alliance there are so many splits that it's crazy. If we actually hold it together until final 7 (let alone this vote) it'll be a miracle.

I guess our alliance is voting for Mikey. Yul was the backup and Erik's and Silas's ideal target, but Ami wanted Mikey to go so much that our group agreed to vote for Mikey to compromise. Mikey learned that he was being targeted, which Ami basically confirmed to him, but no one knows how Mikey found out. The speculation is that Erik's playing all sides and told him, and that makes sense since Erik's now trying to get Mikey to target Yul rather than him or me so that none of us are idoled out or have prizes played on us.

I could easily be blindsided tonight or have a prize played and go home, so I need to try to figure this out before the deadline to see if I need to play the idol or not. The challenge indicates that I've played a solid game and am a big threat, so it makes the most sense to blindside me out of anyone.

[Russell Swan]

I'm nervous that we may lose Erik, but I'm not going to play my idol. If I'm taken out, they got me, but I'd rather have it for later in the game when this might be a huge mess. If I play it now, I may not EVEN NEED TO PLAY IT (because I'd just be guessing) and I'd show that I was lying to Chicken and my other close allies. I feel like I may be screwed later in the game if I play it for those reasons.

So I'll take a short-term risk to put me in a better spot. Erik thinks Gary has turned and that Ami might, which is really, really concerning since we're already just guessing on Silas.

[Russell Swan]

To be honest, if Erik goes, I can still manage and it might make our alliance more unified. I actually trust Ami a fair amount and I think Gary would be more likely to work with us if Erik's not around? My biggest concern would be keeping Silas for just one more vote if Erik goes.

Hopefully it's Mikey though. Now that Erik's a target, he may serve as a shield since my team may be more likely to turn on him than me and thus I may be in a better position as the opposition has to settle on Erik as the target for the votes.

[Rob Mariano]

Whats your plan for the early merge Russ?