Brad's Answers to Shawna

Hey Shawna.  Let me respond to your comments.

I have to respectfully but COMPLETELY disagree with many of your comments.  I'm not sure exactly where you got the idea that I have been under JP's wing.  I think I've done a solid job of explaining why my strategic game went much further than JP's game.  If you read my answers, I tried to articulate that JP really DIDN'T have a strong strategic game in some aspects, whereas I always maintained control throughout the entire merge (and frankly most of the premerge) sequence.  I HARDLY completely relied on JP.  As I've said, I had a separate alliance with Brandon and Shambo, so if JP had given me ANY reason to distrust him, I could have merely flipped the script on him and still been completely fine.  I understand that many of the Tambaqui members thought that me and JP were a solid pair, and to some extent we were.  But I think it's really completely false that I was under his wing.  I didn't have to let him be the target, people just didn't target me.  If any members of Jaburu were going to flip, they were NOT going to target me because I had a better relationship with each member of Jaburu then at least another member of Jaburu.  (ie: I was close with Todd and JP whereas Brandon/Shambo really weren't as close, and vice versa).  And at the Final 10, with Ryan being a close ally of mine, it was hardly that I let other people take the bullet for me...I just was in a good social position.  Just because I decided to be loyal to JP (because frankly, I've screwed him over in like legitimately, 5 games in the past several years), doesn't mean that I was relying on him.  I'm sorry but I'm just really not understanding the logic behind that statement if you have been reading all my other answers.  My game was much more multi-faceted than that. 

If JP gets the votes over me, I think it will be because people are once again just merely taking the strategic game at face value and because JP is a general threat on FGC, so the fact that he is in the Final 3 means he played the best game, which I'm sorry, but in my opinion, he didn't.  JP (and Brandon for that matter) can both acknowledge that I had more strategic leverage in general, particularly in the endgame.  I'm sorry if I didn't want to make that a well known fact.  There have been plenty of winners in online games as well as the real show that really controlled a lot from behind the scenes.  I'm sorry but being in the spotlight doesn't always make you the best player.  So, JP wouldn't be a BAD winner, he played a good game...but I think if people voted for him thinking that I was his 2nd in command, that would be a huge copout lol.   I didn't need JP as much as JP needed me lol.

As for the fakeness thing, I again disagree with that.  I'm not going to sit here and pretend that I didn't want you all to go to the jury without at least having some conversations with me, but like, I really DO genuinely take the time to get to know people.  We all made it to the jury so if you guys had ultimately taken control and the situations were reversed, I would have liked to have been able to make an informed decision myself.  I mean, you can think I'm fake...I think I was just trying to be nice.  Frankly, once Ami self voted, I think everyone NEEDED to talk to each other at Final 10 and see where everyone stood.  Also, if the vote was going to result in a tie, you can be damn sure I didn't want the tie to involve me lol.  As far as AFTER Jaburu had gained control, frankly, I was just trying to stay on my toes.  I really did want the Final 5 to be Jaburu, so I was happy it was, but I can't honestly sit back and assume that no one was going to consider flipping.  I needed to have a working relationship with each Tambaqui member in case things got crazy.  So, you can call it fake, but I call it strategic as well as just, giving everyone the common courtesy of getting to know them.  Difference of opinion I suppose, but I have absolutely no qualms about the way I carried myself.

When I meant manipulation of Tambaqui, my role (and JP's for that matter) really was only with Ryan.  We really DID want to work with Ryan, and had he not snakebited, I wanted to keep him longer, but JP and I had to work together to promise Ryan the world to make sure that he voted for Shambo so we could just give Shambo the idol.  The manipulation of the other Tambaqui members was a bit by Shambo, who I knew from early on was promising to flip to your side just to confuse you all.  The idea was to split your votes, and the fact that we had the idol just ended up being icing on the cake.  So, I think that was just misinterpreted.  My manipulation (and JP's) was on Ryan, and even then, it wasn't complete manipulation because we really did want to go far with him.  Clint is a good friend of mine and I wanted to see him do well.  And no, I don't think I was "fooling" people persay, but we had to have some sort of element of confusion.  Really, I didn't think you guys were stupid by any means, but we just had to create some mischief or confusion and I think the actions of myself, JP, and Shambo as well as the fact that JP lucked upon the idol all worked in our favor to get what we want.  Also, by sheer mathematics, I realized that there was probably an extra Christy vote in the urn so we had a chance of avoiding a tie even with split votes or the idol, but luckily we didn't have to rely upon that.

So, in conclusion...no, I was not JP's second in command.  I've explained numerous times in multiple answers about why my strategic game me more power, control, and overall safety, particularly in the second half of the game.  Just because someone decided that JP and I were a power pair (which we had a strong alliance, but to say that either of us didn't have our individual strategies is just ridiculous lol), that does NOT mean that JP dictated my actions.  I'm actually kind of surprised at the judgment, considering in past games, like I said, I've screwed JP over more times than I care to remember in order to win and people usually look at me as the ruthless, controlling one.  I don't believe I was being fake by any stretch.  I think I was being strategic in terms of positioning, but also trying to give everyone the respect they deserved by getting to know them to some degree.

That's all I really have to say.  Thanks and good luck with your decision.