World of Weird Al Yankovic

Just to clarify, Stephen's immunity pass is no longer in play. It won't be transferred to anyone; it's just gone. Depending on scheduling, there may be bonus challenges in the future for similar prizes, but at the moment, the only immunity out there is the hidden idol.

To say I'm shocked is an understatement.

The reasons I was voted out are simple.
I was the strongest player, I trusted the wrong people, and I was too good at convincing people.
Obviously I was the strongest player. Many of the challenges we won, were because of the work I did. When it came to creative challenges, no I wasn't strong. But when it came down to actually getting things done, I got things done.

I trusted the wrong people. Assuming that people wouldn't flat out lie to me. At least try to maintain some integrity by not flat out agreeing with what I'm saying.
Seriously, people don't seem to ever have any integrity when it really matters to have some.

And then finally, I was too good at thinking. If I had kept my mouth closed before the vote, I certainly wouldn't be the one sitting here right now. Everyone knew the one person who everyone wanted gone ASAP.
But brilliant me, the only one really giving a smurf about the game, thinking more than just "right now this challenge".
So I say Hey! We're close to what I imagine will be the merge. "Instead of voting out the obvious, lets go after someone who may not be showing much now, but will obviously be a threat later!"
Oh yes, I definitely got EVERYONE thinking about that.
But obviously, tada, it backfired on me.
The biggest threat in the game talking about trying to take out another threat. Hm. Yeah, let's go after that person instead.

But it's still such a shock that people didn't even bother pretending to have integrity. Instead they flat out lied to me, and didn't even give any reason why they disagreed with me. Because I was right. But the wrong reason.

Good luck to everyone though. The Guides have an awesome opportunity right now to keep their act together and make a huge come back. THIS IS YOUR CHANCE. You won the Gory challenge, keep that momentum going.
And again, Guides... keep winning. And when you do finally merge, keep your votes unanimous and pick off the Celebrities one after the other. That's your only chance to win, otherwise they will wipe the floor with you.

Going into this game, I had lots of mixed feelings. I didn't really expect to get too far into the game, considering I did almost win a previous season, against some of the very same people I played with this time. But I also figured I had a strong enough alliance to overcome that and get to the jury (or final 5 at least).
Nope.

Should have trusted my gut when it came to trusting people.
Minor Celebrities made their biggest mistake right now. Although, then again, so did I.

You are all cowards. You guys have absolutely no strategy.

So that's my exit speech.
So whatever. Bye y'all.

No offense to my homies in the Jungle Cruise Guides, you guys are cool and smurf, but I wanna be back with my bitches in the Minor Celebrities.

Ryan has been moved back to the Minor Celebrities...but not for long.

As I mentioned before this round began, the person who was kidnapped would receive a secret power. And as Tree Mail indicated--and as some of you accurately predicted--the game is about to get a whole lot crazier and more competitive because a third tribe is about to enter the ring. Ryan officially became the first member of this new tribe, which he had the power to name. And the name (and avatar) he chose was...



You're probably wondering, 'Who else is part of this tribe? And what is the square root of 1849?' The answers, in no particular order, are 43 and you. You are part of this tribe, all 12 remaining players. Drop your buffs (and by buffs, I mean avatars). That's right, it's the merge, baby! (So yes, it technically is the third tribe still. Don't be an anti-semantic.) And put on your new buff (again...avatar).

This means we say goodbye to two of this season's format changes, separate tribe forums and kidnapping. I definitely want your feedback on these, and please be honest with any criticisms or suggestions on how to improve them. It'll be a big help for future seasons. You'll have access to your tribe forums for the next 24 hours or so, but after that, everything will be confined to the Gameplay and Chitchat threads. So make notes and copy anything vital you may need for the future, because those will disappear from view very shortly (along with, unfortunately, the color-coordinated usernames).

That doesn't mean the twists are over though--far from it [maniacal laugh]. Indeed, they're only beginning. This next immunity challenge, in fact, will bring about the next two twists this season.

Remember in challenge #5, where Dave and Alicia were the "Number Crunchers," selecting the numbers 1 and 2 respectively? They didn't know it at the time, but the numbers they chose were going to be added up and that would be the amount of people who would win immunity at the first individual challenge. So at the next vote, three people will have immunity and cannot be voted for...unless they give it up (more on that in a moment). This will be a live competition. Since the stakes are so high, I want to make sure everyone has a chance to play in this next challenge, so what we're going to do is hold the same challenge three times (don't worry, it won't be the exact same challenge each time) with four people competing in each one (hence the "battling three" line in the last Tree Mail). Please let me know what time(s) would be best for you to compete. Kevbo and I will do our best to accompany everyone to make sure you have a shot at winning. Once the times have been determined, you will all sign up for your preferred slot--one person from each group will win immunity and be safe at Tribal Council, guaranteeing themselves at least a spot on the jury.

But as has been the rule in the past, individual immunity winners will have the option of giving immunity to another contestant, or exchanging it for the power to cast two votes. This season, however, there's yet another choice for players: if you're feeling especially confident in your safety and numbers, you can give up immunity for an advantage in the next challenge. These advantages will be small but significant--not enough to guarantee you the win, but certainly could prove crucial in close competitions. Immunity can be transferred to another player up until and including the final five; the other two expire a round earlier. If you wish to give up immunity for one of these three options, you must post to that effect in the Gameplay thread within 10 minutes of Tribal Council being posted. (In the case of non-live challenges, you can let me know what you plan to do with immunity before the winner is announced just to make sure you're all set.) Unless I'm told otherwise, the assumption will always be that the winner will hold on to their immunity.

Tiebreaker procedures will be the same as mentioned in this post.

If you have any questions, please ask. Congratulations on making it to the merge, Helen Kellers! Good luck!

The tribe forums are officially closed for the rest of the season. They'll be made public after we wrap up.

Ok, so let's see who's here and who absolutely must play right now--those with availability concerns get first priority; after that we'll see how many slots are left over and it's up to you guys. Sign in if you wanna play!

Here but willing to move over if necessary.

Forever and always, I'm always here.

Alicia? Dingo?