Previously on Survivor Hamilton: Old Meets New
Perceived alliance lines were blurred as our remaining players pushed to solidify top 5 deals with friends, family, and rivals. It soon became apparent that the handful of players still able to choose sides were being singled out when Paul was sent to the Jury by a 5-4 vote. If that 5 is able to stay together, I suppose they accomplished their goal. Now with only 8 players left, it’s time for our tournament to begin…

It’s no secret that some of these players have been loyal to those that have been loyal to them (see: bastards), while others have not. Because this is a game, I truly believe that players should do whatever they need to do to get to the Final 2, but at what cost? In normal life, trust and sacrifice are rewarded – in Survivor Hamilton not so much. Vote with a player all game long, then have one conversation with someone on “the other side” and you’re now fair game. That’s what Paul found out, but will the players left in the game learn from Paul’s lesson?

Maybe its better to just stay close with your allies like Chris, James and Jon have all game long. Everyone knows where you stand, but is that really playing the game? If Jordan’s assumed to be allied with his family April & Graham, is he not “allowed” to poke around and play his own game? When it gets near the end of the game, are Chris and Kyle obliged to help eachother because they are family too? At what point does the alliance game truly become an individual one? These are the questions that Bryan and our players must ask themselves if they haven’t already started. Trust and promises have proven to mean jack all game long, and that’s not going to change just because you made a “final 5” agreement.

There are two real strategies to get yourself to the game: defensive and offensive. And I think you can pinpoint which players are using each style. Defensive players work to build alliances wherein members won’t vote for eachother and will presumably vote together. The focus is on getting themselves to the next Immunity Challenge, often while sacrificing potential allies in the process. Offensive players proactively target the players they see as “in the way” of their own success. These players may only see one or two other players as real allies, where everyone else is a means to an end.

At a time like this it’s very important to identify which players are which, promises be damned because we’ve seen they don’t mean anything (as they shouldn’t, see: “it’s a game”). Be careful that you’re playing YOUR game, not someone else’s, and that you’re doing whatever you can to put your own plans into action. There’s no time left to hope that others will take you further. Every player left in the game is a threat, and they see you as a threat too. Remember that as you fight to win today’s Immunity necklace and accompanying Reward, and as you continue fighting until the end.

And now…

the Tournament begins…

Our final 8 players will each compete head to head to be named the Tournament Champion, replacing  last season’s surprise winner Stef. After three rounds we will crown a winner and place an Immunity necklace around their neck, and a secret Reward in their hands. There are definitely some intriguing matchups, and we can’t wait to see them play out over the evening. Let’s go!

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Jon and Graham spent two weeks together on Nevala after the swap, as Graham built up a good working relationship with the “bastards” over that time. Since the merge, Jon has won 2 individual Immunities and a Reward, positioning him as a favorite over Graham’s solo individual Immunity win immediately after he was voted back in from Exile Island. But who knows what responsibilities each of them had today…

Given a question where they had to solve multiple clues and ultimately form a song lyric and send me the song name and artist – I knew that each of these players would be surprised at the format change. Chelsea helped with these ones! The answer for Jon & Graham was “One Week by Barenaked Ladies” and after a few minutes one player answered, while the other was MIA. The winner of this match was…

GRAHAM! Onto the second match of the 1st Round.

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This is an interesting matchup as Kyle and April have been working together since the merge hit and Kyle lost his other allies Chelsea and Sharon. I’m sure each would be ok with the other winning, but as two very competitive people, maybe I’m actually not so sure! Given Kyle’s challenge performances earlier in the season he may seem the “favorite” going into this match, but I was betting it would be pretty close. Sure enough, though their proper answer was “Barbie Girl by AQUA” both Kyle and April sent me “Come on Barbie Let’s Go Party” and were thus shuffled onto a tiebreaker.

Then given the choice between “The Sign by Ace of Base” or “Summer Girls by LFO” I went with the latter, which April had never heard of (probably for the best). That meant that Kyle was just that much faster with his answer, and the winner of this round is…

KYLE! Onto match number three.

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Bryan and James had just won Immunity last week on a team together, and were now facing off, head to head. On paper Bryan was the clear favorite as he’d been dominating challenges all season long with his mix of computer and algebraic skills, while James was steady but not exceptional when it came to the challenges up to this point. Their answer was “Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-A-Lot” which is a song I really hate. It was a pretty easy one to be honest, and the first player to answer was, predictably…

BRYAN! Now let’s get to our last match of the first round.

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“Mr. Two in a Row” Jordan was continuing his quest for three straight against Chris, who by his own admission just wasn’t a fan of the Immunity Challenge questions this year. Speed and attention span he’s got, but the patience to sort out a multi-step logic problem? Not so much. But as we know, anything can happen when the answer is as easy as “Hey Ya by Outkast” which of course everyone loves. Chris needed the win because his closest allies Jon and James had already lost their matches, while Jordan was probably not so sure that he was in a safe position in the game at the moment as someone who tried along with Paul to work the middle. The winner of this match is…

JORDAN! And so we have our Semi-Finals!

What an interesting set of matches! Graham is up against Kyle who voted him out already once, and though they were in a tenuous alliance, there were only so many votes left in the game. Plus they were about even when it came to challenges this season, though Kyle as yet had not won an individual Immunity. Bryan vs Jordan was also interesting, and not just because Jordan was working Graham and Bryan was working with Kyle. Jordan and Bryan had just teamed up to win Immunity together (with James) on Thursday, and while that was Bryan’s first individual win, Jordan as mentioned was coming off of 2 straight. These battles were also symbolic. Four strong players deathly serious about getting to the final 2 were about to compete for bragging rights, honor, and a spot in the Finals.

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To say Graham and Kyle’s game so far was complicated would be vastly underselling it. Obviously Kyle had misled Graham once, and though they had worked together on the past few votes, seemingly mending the the fences between them, you couldn’t be so sure that they had eachother in their long term plans. And so our first Semi-Final kicked off with a complicated logic question about a murder mystery and overlapping timelines. It was certainly a question that would need to be carefully worked through, or else a wrong answer would be achieved, disqualifying you.

Some players were still rushing, while others had learned over the past few weeks that slow and steady most often wins the race in Survivor Hamilton challenges. Though he likely had the right answer in his calculation, Kyle was the first to respond, maybe too quickly because he made a mistake and sent in the wrong answer. Mustn’t be hasty master Pitman. Now it was all up to Graham taking his time as his cousin Jordan had been doing over the past week. But would Graham get the right answer? If not, Kyle would be heading to another tiebreaker.

And the result is…

GRAHAM WINS! Yes he was slow, but he was correct, and thus moves onto the Finals of the tournament. But would he be facing Bryan or Jordan?

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So would Bryan be battling Graham in the finals, or would it be an all-cousin matchup? Let’s find out. The question for this match was a logic one literally all about “who pied who?” which is always good fun. With clues like “Sheldon pied the man who pied the woman who pied John” it was always going to be a lot of work to figure it out. And again we’re faced with a tortoise vs hare situation. Bryan as per usual answered quite quickly, but he, like Kyle, was incorrect. That he promptly sent in the correct answer right after was a moot point, because as we know you can only send one answer. So would Jordan take his time? Would he ever!

After what seemed like an eternity, Jordan finally answered. He, like some other players as well, has learned that being right’s all the matters now. Fast and wrong is worthless. So Jordan worked and worked and worked for around 30 minutes, but in the end it payed off because he was correct.

JORDAN WINS! So in fact we DO have an all-cousin Finals, which I would not have predicted given some of the other heavy hitters in the tournament.

And so the “family” can rejoice as they haven’t had too many moments to celebrate. One of their members will win the Tournament of Champions, and the Immunity Necklace and Reward that goes with it. Of course both Graham and Jordan would want to win, but did one of them need it more than the other? That would be up to them to figure out, but at this point in the game every single player should be at least a bit paranoid. Hidden Immunity Idols were harder to come by, there were less Rewards in play, and so the individual Immunity necklace takes on utmost importance from here on out.

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And so the Finals of the Tournament of Champion commences as both Graham and Jordan need to get their clicking fingers ready to count how many votes have been cast in the game so far, minus any that were cancelled out by Hidden Immunity Idols. With Chelsea’s help I know what that number is, but do Graham and Jordan? Somehow I think they haven’t been keeping track as closely as Chelsea has, and as per her spreadsheet, the official answer to the question is 238 counted votes.

But would either of them get close to that answer? Would they both go over the number, necessitating a tie-breaker? Let’s find out.

In a strange twist the first player to answer was Jordan, eschewing his normal tortoise approach with a fairly quick answer of 441, which was… not even close! Oh no Jordan, why did you rush? Three Immunities in a row was within your grasp, and now you’d need to hope that Graham messed up as well. But did he?

Well Graham submitted his answer shortly after, and his answer was…

238!?!?!

Right on the money!?!?!

That’s correct, Graham somehow got the same number that Chelsea had, which I’m not even 100% sure is correct, but it’s the same number that she reached as so I’m counting it. No tie-breaker needed, because…

GRAHAM WINS IMMUNITY AND REWARD!!!

That’s Graham’s 2nd individual Immunity win of the season, and he halt’s Jordan’s streak at 2. I believe that this was a very fun and eventful Tournament, and Graham shall remain the Tournament of Champions Champion until the next time this game rolls around. For now, only Graham has a guaranteed spot in the Top 7, and the rest of Tendua is in danger of joining Chelsea, Ruth, Sharon, Peter, David C. and Paul on the Jury at Wednesday’s Tribal Council at 8:15pm.

Good luck everyone, I know that you all have a lot of work to do to ensure that it’s not you joining the Jury. I wish you all some enjoyable strategy time!

Sincerely,

MH

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