Round #1

[Jaime Dugan]

*Disclaimer: I'm not a native-english speaker so my pronunciation is far from ideal. I apologize if anything I say is not clear and doesn't make sense. I'm more than happy to clarify if that's the case.*

[Jaime Dugan]

Ok, so I figured I'd write this instead of making a video because videos are complicated. They take time, I need to edit, etc...

So this round was supposed to be an easy Marcus vote. He was MIA since day 1 and only showed up for the challenge. I talked to him last night and he explained that he was moving so that's why he was having such a hard time getting online. Today he was also away for most of the day, but then he came online. We had a chat and I actually felt pretty good about him. I think he's easy going and someone that I'd see myself getting along with.

Ever since last night I wanted Jaymes gone. I don't feel like we ever clicked and he was just too aggressive at the challenge AND also a challenge threat. So after Marcus came back and was actually having conversations, I figured it was the moment to get to work. So I approached people individually (Brenda, Silas, Chelsea, Jamal) about the potential of blindsiding Jaymes/Spencer. Brenda and Silas preferred Spencer over Jaymes, but I knew (or thought at the moment) that Jamal would be more willing to vote for Jaymes than Spencer (based on our last conversation on the topic last night). So I sort of tried my best to turn it around to consider Jaymes instead.

Jamal was not around at that time, so I didn't hear from him. We took the conversation to the 5-some group chat and at first it was met with resistance by Chelsea, or so I thought? I don't really know anymore. Chelsea is ALL OVER THE PLACE. She changes tune faster than a radio on auto search. On second she was "No, I think Marcus is dangerous and we should vote him" to "Marcus is sweet, we'd keep him". Like she is always agreeing on whatever the person before her said. So I gave my reasons why I felt Jaymes should be gone. 1 - He was hard to talk to, 2- He is someone no-one has a good read on. Then people added how he was aggressive at the challenge last night (though I feel he was just very competitive and wanted to win). Then some mention that maybe Marcus won't be loyal because he knows we already wanted him gone and so if we spare him, he might just turn on us at a swap anyway. So it went back and forth between keeping Marcus or not. I was pushing for him to stay, but was always trying to make it seem as a suggestion and not something I desperately wanted.

So Chelsea messages me and asks me if I think we'd switch the vote. I tell her that, if it's up to me, I'd definitely vote for Jaymes. Then she says that she's gonna ask Phoebe I think. And 2 seconds later she comes back with "Phoebe agrees".. Like, really? You are making a plan to blindside our tribe's strongest player, and you take 2 seconds to explain the plan? Sounds more to me like she was "we are voting Jaymes, ok?"... That was strike 1.

Then Chelsea goes on the alliance's chat room and continues to push for Marcus to go. And I'm like "WTF is wrong with this girl?". So I messaged her, telling her that I'm having a hard time figuring out what she wants because she's telling me in private that she wants Marcus to stay but in the alliance chat room she is pushing for him to go. She gives me a lame explanation about it and says that she now wants Marcus to stay. Her reluctancy to commit to one or the other was strike 2.

Then, in an apparent attempt to make amends to me for flip flopping on the decision, she comes with this wonderful news "Marcus owes us his life".. And Im like playing dumb and ask her "what do you mean?" and she's like "I told him you and I saved him and we are voting for Jaymes". ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! HOW IN THE F*CK DID YOU TELL MARCUS THAT WE ARE KEEPING HIM WHEN WE HAVEN'T DECIDED?! I'M ABOUT TO WHOOP YOUR ASS RIGHT NOW, GIRL..! STRIKE F*CKING THREE.

Of course I didn't say that, but I was LIVID! I was so carefully crafting this plan and was only willing to do it if I'd get everyone (or majority) to agree with it without pissing people off, so to have her going around telling Marcus that I'd agree to save him was not only stupid, but disrespectful. I don't need Chelsea to carry my messages. I don't need anyone doing it. So I made clear that I was upset with Chelsea and told Silas, Brenda and Jamal separately what she just did. I mentioned early in my video that Chelsea seemed to be all over the place and whoever I talked to would say "Chelsea said this, etc", so having her actually confirm it by running her mouth, was perfect. Now everyone is aware of how reckless she is and they will think twice before trusting any word with her.

So in the group chat I said that I was voting for Jaymes because Marcus had told me that he heard that I was saving him and voting Jaymes and I consented to Marcus because I didn't want to put anyone from within this group in a hard place. Jamal was pushing back hard for Marcus to go and was privately telling me that he was worried that maybe some people from our alliance have something going with Marcus and that's why they want to keep him. I assured him that I wouldn't be mad with either going and if he wanted to stick to the Marcus vote, that was all right with me.

Of course Jamal is kind of vocal and not very diplomatic when it comes to how he expresses his point of view and so Silas got upset about because he felt that Jamal was set on forcing the Marcus vote and suggested to me that we'd forget about Chelsea/Jamal and stick with Brenda and Marcus to form a new 4-some. I'd assume he mentioned Marcus as the 4th because Marcus was pretty much up for grabs AND I think that Silas bonded with Marcus over "we are the outcasts" thing. I told Silas that I'd be up for that, but only because I'm planning on being part of every group that I'm suggested. Ultimately, I'm going to go with what I think is best for me in the long term. If I feel like this new 4-some is the best, then that's what I'll do. I'm keeping ALL my option in the table.

There was some last minutes concern because Silas thought that the vote was going to be 4-5 (Jaymes/Spencer/Jamal/Phoebe) voting for Marcus. He send me a chat log from Phoebe were she claims that Jamal told her to vote for Jaymes and then back tracks and says that Jamal actually told her Marcus, so she tells Silas to vote for Marcus. Of course, Phoebe is part of the "all girls" alliance and we decided to vote for Jaymes. With Phoebe following on that promise AND telling Silas to vote for Marcus, I think we can agree on the fact that she's fully committed to the girls alliance and that she's not working with any of the guys.

Jaymes went home and, even though Chelsea f*cked it up by making a mess, everything worked out well in the end. I feel like I'm in the best position within my tribe. Jamal trusts me 100% and claims I'm his number 1. Silas is my real number 1 and trusts me 100%. Brenda I think we both are in the same page and like we really work together well. Chelsea was very apologetic about her slip up and I think that's gonna keep her in check for the immediate future. Spencer is completely isolated and I feel like I can build a relationship with him that'd prove beneficial in the future. Marcus I think would be grateful for the opportunity to survive and, although I think Chelsea might take the credit (in his opinion) for saving him, I trust that Silas can totally get Marcus with him and, by extension, me.

So, I'd say for been away +6 years, this first round wasn't too bad for me. Looking forward to wars to come.