Mike's Statements

[mike]

Hi guys. Congratulations on making it to the end. Despite what some people would say, I think you both deserve to be there especially after having gone through that final competition. I know if we find Alex dying of thirst somewhere, well remind him of that very night. I guess all I ask is for 100% honesty, because you have nothing to lose at this point.

Ryan, I’ve really come to respect and like you during the past few days in the game. I guess my only regret is that we didn’t talk a lot earlier in the game. That being said, I feel like I already know everything I need to know about you in the context of the game. My main questions tonight are going to be directed at Michael based on the fact that I’m either voting for him, or against him.

Michael.....Michael.....Michael. Chances are when this is all said and done, the joke will be on me. I’ve already told you plenty of times these past few days that everything in this game, I’ve done to benefit our partnership, friendship, whatever you want to call it. I’ve lied to people like Stacey, Jay and even my very good friend Steven about being in an alliance with you and the reason for some of the strategic moves was to benefit us. By saying that, I’m not taking anything away from you because I know you’ve also contributed to our alliance. You saved me with that PoV and you’ve come up with some of the strategy that contributed to us going far. There were times when people warned me about you. They said you were sneaky and you were saying and doing all this crazy shit. I didn’t listen, and obviously I’m the dumbass at the end of the day. I believe it was during my HoH reign, we even joked about you playing dumb all the time, but you are actually pretty smart and knew what you were doing. I don’t know how else to explain how fiercely loyal I was to you, and so your decision to evict me really does hurt and not only because I felt our alliance was really strong, but I felt like we connected on a personal level too. When I talked to other people, they didn’t really know much about you so I assumed you just didn’t have that kind of relationship with them. You’ve shared things with me and vice versa, so I also felt personally close to you. And it’s easy for you to say that you learned a lot from Eric during the final four, but I'm willing to bet I told you a lot of that at some point or another so you coming to me and talking to me about it would have been appreciated. I would have given you the same decency.

So, two questions. One, what part of our relationship was authentic, if any of it?

And second question. I still don’t know why you evicted me. During your speech, you said it was because of Ryan’s three reasons. In your goodbye, you said it was because I didn’t say I could beat you in the final 2. Then when I asked you again, you said it was because of stuff Eric said. The wishy-washy answers really are just too complicated. And you can tell me I was your best friend in the game, but then why completely ride me off like that IF your intention wasnt to win this game? So for the FINAL time, just please tell me WHY? Even if the reason is because I typed in orange font or I annoyed you, just tell me why.

Thanks guys, and good luck. May the best azn win.

[michael]

1) ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. Your insight is 100% on the money--nobody in the game knows more about me than you do. The reason being, you were the person that I clicked most with. As everyone else might know, it is hard for me to share and break down my so-called "barrier" but somehow you were able to (along with Robbie). Most of our talks were never about game--all personal. Here and there we may have discussed who to vote or what to do, but even that was basically always having one of us go "YES. Of course I will do what you want" and then straight back into casual conversation.

Because you have answered previously why you trusted me, I feel like I should do the same (in case you didn't know already). I came into this game alone and not knowing what to expect at all. Unknowingly to me, alliances were quickly made and I was left out of the loop on everything. However, you brought it upon yourself to fill me in on what I was missing out on and teaching me what to do. When I had nobody else to rely on near the beginning of the game, you were there for me. I picked you to be my partner in the pairs veto because I liked you most of everyone. That was enough reason for me to do whatever it took to keep you and I safe. The first test was when you were on the block and I had won veto. Yes, I could have played the same under the radar type of game I had been doing all along. I'm pretty sure the target wasn't you at all. But I took it upon myself--without even asking or needing your input-- to save you, perhaps revealing our relationship to everyone else. From what I could tell nobody knew, but I didn't care: better safe than sorry. It didn't matter to me that the target could be put squarely on us and this is when I began playing the game harder--for the both of us. I knew that once I vetoed you, that we needed to win competitions and use our alliances with others to protect the two of us. We did EXACTLY that. So playing all sides with other people were ultimately to BENEFIT US. I told you this explicitly and people underestimated our loyalty to each other.

In retrospect, I think something BOTH of us should have done was to talk MUCH MORE strategy together such that we were always on the same page. People talked, and I probably should have realized that a lot of it might have been rumors or lies. I was naïve to believe that everyone was as trustworthy as you. I listen to people and I believe them. It's just my nature. I know now that it is not a good trait to have in this type of game. Hindsight is 20/20.

2) GOSH. Comic Sans is such a big font. What were you thinking?!?!

Nothing I say here can change the fact that I was ultimately a complete asshole for evicting you. For that I am genuinely regretfully unbelievably infinitely sorry. I have said it a thousand times over that I made the BIGGEST MISTAKE OF THE GAME during F3. But let me give you some insight on everything. You certainly deserve it. My comments everywhere may sound wishy-washy but none of it was a lie. So let me try my best to combine it for you because it does matter to me.

Now that I have had time to sit back and think about what happened during the heat of the moment, I know what happened. Remember when I vetoed you and ended up lying to Ryan? It was because I did not care about the repercussions of my actions- your safety in the game was my only concern. Well a couple of weeks later, you vetoed my nominees to save Stacey. I was shocked since you told me beforehand that the plan was to keep everything the same. Yes, I got some Karma--but it was déjà vu for me. I remembered WHY I disobeyed the HoH to save you and that is how I perceived what you were doing for Stacey. I remember complaining to Alex, DR, you, myself, whoever would listen to why veto was held without me. Nonetheless, I wrote down in DR and told myself--and this is a quote-- "This is the real test of loyalty for Mike. He will follow through." I never asked you afterwards why you did what you did. It's because I forgave you for it and because I didn't care. Sure I felt a little betrayed, but I knew it was for the both of us. Perhaps I should have asked….idk. This was on top of Jake's previous veto victory. There were 3 of us competing in the competition--the game bluffing one-- and it was a certain victory for us against Jake. I mean…it was failproof. Yet somehow Jake pulled off a victory (congratulations, Jake) and the nominees became Robbie and Ryan….something I did not want to pick between. That is where my "F-I-S-H-Y" quote came in. I was thinking about whether you were working with Jake because I told you that by NOT bluffing, Jake would be guaranteed to lose to you, but you didn't listen? It certainly was unsettling. But I forgave that quickly as well. This is why I never asked you anything. But I realize now that I shouldn't assume anything and double checking with you wouldn't hurt. Blame my new status in ORGs, my overconfidence for you, whatever. It was ultimately my fault. Altogether, I began to suspect (ultimately incorrectly) that I was foolishly giving a one-sided loyalty. Near the end, you were on the block every week and I saved you no question. Ryan and Eric saw through this easily. I knew I had to play to win in every competition, especially vetoes. Vetoes were the best way to guarantee BOTH our safety. Luckily, I also had a double vote for extra protection. In preparation of F4, Ryan played off on me my potential one-sided loyalty to you, but my F4 decision was ultimately my own. I didn't listen to him or Eric to evict you and made my own choice. I didn't believe what others were saying and I lied to Ryan to keep myself off the block. We knew we were done for unless I somehow found a way to stay off. I did, and once again I took the chance to save you. Sure, I had the better chance with Ryan to stay off the block because he REALLY wanted you gone. But it seemed I had done everything. F4 was also depressing for me. I found out from Eric that you had been day 1 allies with him. To me, a newcomer, I would have kept a day 1 promise over ANYTHING in this game. That is who I am. And I thought the same of you. I am still confused over everything that day because I frankly cannot tell between the lies and the truth. I simply see truths because I am gullible and gave everyone the benefit of the doubt. I mean, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN CLEARER IN YOUR F4 SPEECH . I wish you weren't so good at journalism…..*sigh* I TOLD you that I thought it was me, but was I just being blind? Eric got into my head and made me think it was ALL ABOUT HIM. I mean, really?!?!? Was I just duped by my best friend? Now I am just wandering off…..back to your question.

So, for the F3…..I did a lot of the dirty work to get both of us there because I had the extreme difficulty of voting EVERY SINGLE WEEK. Near the end, my vote was always the deciding vote so I ultimately sent other people packing, just to keep you around. This was NOT easy for me by any means since I had also developed ties---not as strong-- but ties at least with everyone else. Choosing between you and Ryan early on would have been a piece of cake. Sorry, Ryan but you just weren't as cool as Mike. Anyways, getting back on track, I felt like I had a debt to pay to Ryan in the F4 situation after lying to him even though he saved me. But I still trusted you way more. So I told myself after I had won the last HoH. Okay, I am going to give Mike one last chance to save himself with my "3 reasons" question. In retrospect, my wording was TERRIBLE and this was a BAD MOVE. It wasn't supposed to be an exercise to weigh my pros and cons for taking each of you, but an exercise on telling the truth. I know how to do my own pros and cons, so I didn’t need your guys' help on that. I completely DISREGARDED Ryan's 3 reasons. It didn't matter. I don't recall ever saying I evicted you off of RYAN'S three reasons, Mike. And if I did then that is incorrect and heat of the moment. Lame excuse to you maybe, but it is the truth and I'm not afraid to say it. Your reason number two…..something about NO guaranteed votes and MAYBE Stacey's. Mike, I TRUSTED everything you told me. There is NO REASON to hide anything from me. I was 100% genuine in my goodbye message, including the song lol. MY BAD on that. I didn't want you to tell me that you would beat me; that is too high of expectations. I frankly didn't care. I just wanted you to be honest like we had been the whole game, and I didn't get that feeling; something was off and I think we both felt it. The other ones were great btw although I don't get why you and Ryan BOTH played the race card. You guys, SERIOUSLY? Haha. I am not racist. So in the end, it was a combination of everything and hopefully I pieced it together for you. My biggest regret is never talking it over fully. Sorry it took so many words to explain.

Perhaps everything I just said only makes sense to a certain CRAZY person I know, but hopefully I have made clear what exactly happened. THANKS SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING MIKE.

[mike]

Thanks Michael.



Mike is -done- with questioning.