Gina's Classy Questions

[Gina Rio]

Hello, hello. It's nice to see both of you again .. well, sort of. Congratulations are in order for both of you, doing what the rest of us couldn't do, and that's make the end.

Elissa, I respect you for the simple fact that you told me you were going to evict me in the Fast Forward, while Helen played dumb and pretended she had no idea what was going on. Transparency like that really pisses me off, especially when there's no reason to lie when the votes are locked and in place, as you were wanting me out for strategic reasons, and Chima of 'course wanted to keep her partner. So, thank you for that.

However, I'm having a really hard time seeing why you deserve to win this game. I know I'm not the only one on the Jury that sees it this way, but when I think of your game, I think of only you and Helen as a duo. You say that it was your strategy to sink UTR and not be visible, but the fact of the matter is, you went completely UTR .. to the point where you were sometimes invisible, non-existent .. basically a non-entity with no social game. The times you were visible, you were having a random outburst or threatening to quit and abandon Helen. You stayed in the game because Helen was around and she had actually established relationships and bonds that helped you two.

My question for you Elissa, is, if Helen wasn't here and this hadn't been a "duo" oriented game, what would you have done differently? How would you have made it to this point in the game without her? Would you have played the same or taken a different approach? Who would you have aligned with and taken out as soon as possible?

Chima, when I first saw you posting on the board at the start of the game, my reaction was, "this girl is going to be the most annoying person in the house." But, I was pleasantly surprised! I had enjoyed our first conversation and we got along very well throughout the game. Even with you clashing with Nick and Sallie, you and I still managed to salvage a relationship and somewhat work together for many rounds. I valued both you and Ivette so much, because you both had pointed out to me just how disgusting Janelle was. I mean, let's face it, I had heels higher than her standards.

You had a great combination of physical, strategical, and social moves in this game from what I had seen. I'd like for you to highlight what you believe was your best display of physicality, what strategic move defined your game, and what social bonds really helped you go the distance. Please explain these three situations in as much detail as possible.

Thank you both and may the better woman win.

[chima]

BEST DISPLAY OF PHYSICALITY

I THINK MY BEST DISPLAY OF MY COMPETITION SKILLS IS HOW I WON THREE HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD COMPETITIONS AND THREE VETO COMPETITIONS.

I HAVE ALWAYS GIVEN MY 110% IN EVERY COMPETITION. FOR INSTANCE, THE FIRST PART OF HOH, I SPENT OVER 12+ HOURS BUILDING A 832 BLOCKS HIGH TOWER AND IT ALL CRUMBLED IN MY FACE HALF WAY DOWN (WE HAD TO UNSTACK IT FOR IT TO COUNT). I DID NOT TAKE A BREAK, I IMMEDIATELY STARTED OVER AND BUILT THE HIGHEST ONE I COULD. I DIDN'T JUST THINK 'WELL BETTER CHANCE NEXT PART' NO, IT'S WIN, RIGHT NOW. AND IT'S LIKE THAT IN EVERY COMPETITION.

I AM ALSO ALWAYS GUNNING FOR PERFECTION. IN THE ARTS CHALLENGE, I DIDN'T HURRY UP AND RUSH LIKE EVERYONE DID. I LOOKED AT EVERY PICTURE AND MADE SURE I WAS RIGHT ABOUT EACH ONE OF THEM BEFORE I SUBMIT. THAT TOOK ME THE LONGEST TIME, BUT IT PAID OFF WITH A PERFECT SCORE. SAME WITH THE ZINGBOT COMPETITION.

ONE MORE THING THAT HELPS A LOT IN COMPETITIONS IS WHEN YOU'RE USING "TECH WHIZ" TACTICS. FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE SAFARI (OTEV) CHALLENGE, I OPENED A NOTEPAD, AND WHILE THE HOST WAS COUNTING RESULTS FOR THE FIRST ROUND, I HUNTED DOWN EVERY SINGLE OTHER PLAYERS FOR THE NEXT ROUNDS TO COME.

IN THE "CATCH FISH" CHALLENGE, RATHER THAN LOOK AT EVERY POST OR "QUOTE THEM" TO FIND THE FISH, I WOULD JUST OPEN THE THREAD, PRESS THE TAB BUTTON, AND IT WOULD LEAD ME ANY LINKS EXISTING ON THE PAGE, AND I WOULD LOOK UNDER MY PAGE TO WHAT LINK IT LEADS TO, THAT LEADS TO TINYPIC? GOOD, IT'S A FISH!

I GUESS I CAN'T DETAIL PHYSICALITY MORE THAN THAT.

STRATEGIC MOVES THAT DEFINED MY GAME

I THINK THAT ONE STRATEGIC MOVE THAT DEFINED MY GAME IS PITTING NICK & HELEN ON EACH OTHER ON THE BLOCK. I THINK THIS NOMINATION WAS REALLY UNIQUE BECAUSE VERY FEW PEOPLE WOULD HAVE TRIED TO DO SOMETHING SO BIG, OR WOULD HAVE WAITED WAY TOO LONG BEFORE DOING IT. I TOTALLY EXPECTED THAT NOMINATION TO DRAW THE LINES IN THE SAND, AND I WANTED TO SEE WHO STICKS WITH WHO, START SOME DRAMA. AND AFTER ALL, THERE WAS TRIPLE MORE DRAMA THAN I HAD EVER IMAGINED. HELEN WAS ALSO THE PLAYER WITH THE MOST POTENTIAL TO SURVIVE AGAINST NICK. WITH HIM WALKING OUT THE DOOR, IT ELIMINATED MY BIGGEST THREAT IN THE GAME.

ON WEEK 7, WHEN WE HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN ELIMINATING SAM & HELEN. FOR SAM TO STAY, HE NEEDED THREE VOTES. ERIC + ME & GINA. I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH GINA WOULD HAVE BEEN INTERESTED INTO VOTING HELEN, BECAUSE I DIDN'T ASK HER TO, BUT FOR MY GAME, IT WAS BEST TO VOTE SAM. BEFORE I EVICT EITHER OF THEM, I EACH ASKED THEM WHAT IS NEXT ON THEIR AGENDA, AND HELEN'S PLANS WERE MORE INTERESTING. SHE CLUED ME IN THAT SHE WOULD GET RID OF THE TWO GUYS & GINA BEFORE ANYBODY ELSE. AND HELEN & ELISSA BOTH STAYING WOULD KEEP A TARGET ON THEIR BACK AND FORCE PEOPLE TO GET RID OF THEM AT ONE POINT. KEEPING SAM WOULD ... OPEN THE DOORS FOR TOO MANY UNPREDICTABLE MOVES FOR OTHER PLAYERS. SAM GOING HOME FORCED THE GAME TO REMAIN ON A STATUS QUO. I PICKED TO EXPLAIN THIS DECISION BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE THAT REFLECTS HOW I WANTED TO PLAY THE GAME AND HOW I BASED EACH OF MY DECISIONS.

MY FINAL SMART MOVE WAS TO BRING ELISSA WITH ME TO THE END. HER TEMPER MADE IT REALLY OBVIOUS SHE WOULD TALK HERSELF INTO A PIT COMING INTO THE FINALES, SO I DID NOT EVEN HESITATE BRING HER HERE. OR MAYBE IT WAS DUMB MOVE? BETTER NOT BE.

SOCIAL BONDS THAT HELPED ME GO THE DISTANCE

I THINK THE TWO MAIN SOCIAL BONDS THAT HELPED ME GO FURTHER IN THE GAME WERE YOU & IVETTE. WE DID NOT TARGET EACH OTHER AND WON MANY COMPETITIONS SO OUR SOCIAL BOND DID HELP ME.

AND FOR IVETTE, HER SOCIAL BOND DEFINITELY HELPED ME AS WELL. WE HAVE BEEN ON THE SAME PAGE ALMOST THE ENTIRE GAME SO WE COULD BACK EACH OTHER'S PLANS EASILY.

I ALSO HAD GOOD BONDS WITH HELEN, SAM, POOPDECK, BOOGIE, JANELLE, WILL & ERIC. BESIDES HELEN, THEY NEVER CAME STRONG IN HOH COMPETITIONS SO THEIR BONDS DID NOT HELP ME DISTANCE SO MUCH, AND I WAS NEVER *OFFICIALLY* ON THE BLOCK, SO I NEVER NEEDED THEIR HELP WITH EVICTION VOTES, BUT I COULD OF NEED IT!

[elissa]

My question for you Elissa, is, if Helen wasn't here and this hadn't been a "duo" oriented game, what would you have done differently? How would you have made it to this point in the game without her? Would you have played the same or taken a different approach? Who would you have aligned with and taken out as soon as possible?

I would have attached myself to you but have played a bigger and more elaborate game. I knew with Helen I didn't have to worry about making waves because Helen was such a reckless player and as long as she was in the game, the target would be deflected away from me. Without her I would have had to play a bigger game from the start. I probably would have kept Boogie and Poopdeck a little later and bumped Ivette and Chima in their place and tried my hardest to get them to the end. I would have taken Eric out at jury

[Gina Rio]

Thank you for answering, ladies! Good luck.