Episode 2

[Shawna Mitchell]

I Love Secrets



Chase Rice - ok I have a secret to share with you
that I havent told anyone else
but youre my homie so ya know
I didnt vote for Jonas

Shawna Mitchell - haha
you voted Miki?

Chase Rice - yea

Shawna Mitchell - you're so silly

Chase Rice - and I put the little spider web looking things hoping people would think its Cochran

Shawna Mitchell - trying to make them paranoid over there at tribe c are you?
lollll
I'll have to look at that again

Chase Rice - cause he mentioned wanting someone from tribe 3 to leave

Chase Rice - Im terrible at art so the spider webs might be a fail

Shawna Mitchell - okay seriously I was thinking I was going to be blamed cause I said her "ginger" comment offended me lol

Chase Rice - hahahaha

Shawna Mitchell - I thought someone was trying to frame me :-\

Chase Rice - I literally just did it to be a derp
haha it was just to cause paranoia in every tribe but our own

So, I'm his homie. That's nice to know, lol. I'll be curious to find out who else he tells/if he tells anyone else. The vote itself isn't a big deal, it's just interesting that he did it and that he decided to tell me. He obviously trusts me/wants me to trust him.

[Shawna Mitchell]

A Little Introspective

With all the down time we've had (not having to go to TC so far), I've been thinking a lot about this game and how I could possibly win it. Yes, it's so early to be thinking like that...but then again, if you can't be positive, why even bother?

Up to this point, I've been feeling a little intimidated by not only the number of people in this game, but the lack of connections I have compared to some other players. I'm not saying I feel I have no chance or anything like that, but I think I need to focus more on my strengths and not psyche myself out based on what other players have going on.

At this stage of the game, or really any stage, it's definitely about building connections and I am as capable of doing this as anybody else. More than some. Yes, there are pre-alliances, pre-friendships, etc but I can hold my own when it comes to social game.

First, though, I have to focus on the people in my own backyard aka camp. I do feel pretty comfortable with my position on my own tribe. Not only do we have a four-person alliance (Kourtney, DDanielle, Sydney, Moi), but I also have my connection with Chase, somewhat of a connection with Neleh, and I do feel good about fitting in with Dr. Sean at this point. He obviously has a big ole mancrush on Chase (who can blame him right?), but that can work to my advantage since Chase has already given me information he's gotten directly from Sean. Nothing big yet since we haven't had to do any major strategizing, but he told me Sean wants Neleh out if we go to TC. We also have a pretty strong tribe imo so I think we have a good chance of continuing to avoid TC.

I'm not going to get complacent, though. I know things will be shaken up sooner or later and I'll need to re-group. With a little luck, when that happens I could still be okay, having a foundation from my own tribe, and a few connections of my own outside my tribe. I haven't had a huge amount of cross-tribe talk because I don't generally like to play that way, but I think I would be able to keep the lines of communication open enough so that, if I do end up on a tribe with a lot of new faces, people are receptive to working with me.

Since I haven't been online or in any orgs for such a long time, I really hadn't done any research on the other seasons so I've given myself a little homework assignment: to read up on the players who aren't as well known to me, or possibly seem threatening to me in some way.

I'm doing this little by little, like today I read Kourtney's confessional from season 4. I'm glad I did because it gave me some insight to who she really is. She may act like this cute, sweet, possibly ditzy player, but she definitely has more going on beneath the surface than I gave her credit for. I also had no idea she was so good at graphics. I definitely get the feeling Kourtney and DD are pretty close and I'm beginning to think she and Sydney have a good connection, also. I thought Kourtney was the 4th to be added to our main trio but I could actually be the 4th. Nothing I need to get paranoid or worked up over right now, just something to definitely keep in the back of my mind.

I also read Phillip's Season 4 Confessional. Pretty good little read, actually, lol. Short but entertaining. I already knew from what others have told me he wasn't going to be a big factor as far as threats go in this game, but at least it's good to know what you guys saw in him to make you cast him in the first place.

Next will be Coach. I need to understand what is going on with this guy who Kourtney calls a "brick" to talk to. I haven't really had much better luck in my couple of AIM convos with him but I know there's something deep about him and I'm really interested to know more about him.

My number one reminder to myself will be to listen more than I talk, and to watch what I say since there are so many people who know each other in this game. Careless statements could definitely come back to haunt me. Maybe that means cutting back a bit on the wine....nah.

[Shawna Mitchell]

So, we've been thrown a twist! Shocker!!

I said before I feel pretty safe on my tribe and I'm still going with that. I feel like I want to put in a decent amount of effort because, the competitor in me won't let me not do this, but realistically I think DD or Sydney are going to take this one.

In light of that, I really want to put my effort into something that'll possibly pay off - like relationships. I've been talking to Sean and I really want him to see me as someone who is on his side. He wants Neleh gone, as does Kourtney, it seems.

Neleh could be an asset to me but not if she is never online. So, I'd really like to capitalize on this opportunity to "help" Sean and make him feel like he's got an ally. I can tell he's already feelin' the bro bond with Chase but if I can be someone he feels he has on his side, why not do it?

The only caveat is that I think DD may try to push for Neleh's safety. It'll be interesting to see if she does and, I don't really want to stand out as being against her in this, but the more I get Kourtney, Sean and Chase to talk about wanting Neleh out, I think the better.

I can't put all my eggs in one basket and I don't have much confidence in Neleh so far in this game. So, why not try to make an ally out of Sean? I'm going to need as many as I can get, aren't I?

[Shawna Mitchell]

As I suspected....DD wants to keep Neleh. I'm being subtle (I think) but Kourtney is for dumping Neleh. I want to play this kinda cool but try to influence the Neleh vote here.

More coming up...

In the meantime, enjoy...

[Shawna Mitchell]

So, the vote is for Neleh. At first I was all about this since she wasn't ever around, wasn't participating, said she didn't have internet etc, etc. Sydney, DD, Kourtney and figured it would be best to keep our tribe strong and that it would also be the easiest thing to keep unity in the tribe. If we voted Sean or Chase, the remaining guy may feel threatened (if it wasn't Neleh it would have been Sean, not Chase).

Then, I read at TC tonight that Neleh has been on vacation! I don't know why she didn't tell anyone - apparently she thought she did but no one knew. This is giving me second thoughts but no one wants to change it now, and I'm really not going to go on a campaign to save Neleh and stir things up when everybody (minus Neleh) is happy with this vote. Well, not everyone is "happy" but we're resigned to it.

So, we're keeping the turncoat. I'm hoping it's a wise decision and I've definitely been trying to bond with him more. He's obviously nervous about the vote, really pushing the Neleh vote.

I don't know if we'll even stay on these tribes after this vote. I definitely hope so, because we've really only had one challenge where we got to work together and I definitely want the chance to compete more with this tribe. I think Gwad is definitely a stronger tribe but we're the next best as far as strength. Besides Neleh, all of our tribe members placed somewhere on the boards in this last challenge, which gives me extra confidence in our tribe.

Sydney shared her HII clue with us. It was pretty vague but it did earn her some points with her alliance I think. I don't know if she's going to share it with the whole tribe...she said Sean asked about it. I guess we'll see.

Kourtney surprised me again. She did pretty good in the challenge - I definitely underestimated this girl. She also seems to have a lot of cross-tribe info so I wonder how loyal she will be if we have a tribe swap. I guess I trust her less and less and definitely have my eye on her. I'd put Chase above her for sure.

One thing about Chase - Sydney mentioned how none of the captains wanted him on their tribe. This could be mainly because he wasn't really around until tribes were picked. She thinks this will make him more loyal because he doesn't have a lot of allies. This could be true, idk. Either way, whatever makes them not want to target Chase makes me happy.