Why Another Critic?

I was gonna say no lengthy answers but do what you want.

Also this will be stream of consciousness because I'm mainly skimming over the speeches I shouldn't even be here reading these at the moment. I will be back later for a more thorough read.

David, you haggard. Why didn't you get good vibes from me? I honestly felt somewhat betrayed when I found out you were actually flirting with other cast members, because when we first talked I actually offered you my Spotted Dick and you didn't seem interested at all? I think you were just intimidated by my voluptuous figure.

But no, David, I think you're actually right. I may have trouble understanding your humour because that zombified babe you sent me as Wise Man was one of the most horrifying sights I've ever witnessed.

I actually have a question for you. You say you've been immune many times. Does that track record affect any of the decisions you made in the game? I'm curious because it did for me. I had been immune for like three formats in a row or something and I decided I was SICK OF IT. In fact, I just think it CAN BE (not that it is) a bad look to have in your resumé at FTC. Because if you're immune and you don't need it, that removes you from the decision making of the round. So when we had the Peter Pan format, I told myself that no way in hell I'd attempt immune and was always competing for Exemption. Even though I knew that I was likely in contention to be voted out that round, and I was. So I willingly put myself in danger for something that I believed would benefit me long term. I reiterate that I'm not saying you should've done something like this at all, esp since some of those wins were luck, but since I had that experience I want to hear if you felt something similar.

This is a very good point regarding the 'spotted dick' and I will get into this a little more with the next post on your question regarding the first round.  I didn't sign up with the intent of playing Suchet as a dirty old man, that sort of developed naturally in my conversations with Skye (and I am sure as someone who was close to her as well you could see how that could naturally develop).  I then decided to kick that into overdrive as way to have fun with the lounge invites round and it went to another level once I found out Skye wasn't in my room (even though I had invited her) but I had another room with her and the Queen (and then the Queen started playing into the 'limpy' of it all) and then it launched into the stratosphere when I spent the weekend with the two of them in a morgue.   So you are fair to say, that Suchet should have responded with considerable more vigour and excitement to your spotted dick entendre, except at the time, I wasn't thinking of playing the character that way, so I likely overlooked the lay-up.  I do apologise for this and I expect that had we ever been able to PM again later in the game, I would have actually started using this set up. 

The zombified baby was somewhat of an extreme I will admit, but I was going to the next level in that round as I was quite annoyed at myself for fucking up the challenge and wanted to very much to be back in the game.

On immunties, I take your point, but I don't think being immune took me out of the vote on most occasions.  Sure, in Peter Pan, removed me from the vote but I asked for that partly because I felt shitty about voting for Joe (at that stage) simply because he'd been away all weekend (and noting we were supposed to be able to take weekends off in this game but that appeared to go WRONG very early) and that he'd been a good ally.  As I have said, I did fear him grouping up with the Roberts (and I think that fear has been clealy justified by things Robert has said as well as what Joe told me at the Edge of Redemption but I still felt shitty about it at the time because he hadn't actually done anything to betray me (even if was planning on doing so sooner or later)).  So it was the right move, and I would have voted for him with the rest of the group had I not been removed, but somebody had to be exempted so it might as well have been me for that reason and that was a story we could sell to everyone that made sense and made people comfortable.  Being immune didn't influence the vote there one way or the another, and it wasn't going to.

On some of the other rounds though, I felt being immune gave me the necessary confidence to push the outcomes I desired.   There are a few examples of this running into the endgame.  But the best example was your boot so I might just go into that one in detail noting you said you didn't want a long post and this is already long and I have to respond to your other quesiton (so please let me know if you would like more examples). 

In that round I was immune and had almost all the information needed to enable both Diana and Scrooge were safe, and that was my goal that round (as it often was) to keep myself safe first and then my best allies safe next.  As Diana mentioned in her open, she, Scrooge and Chris the Narrator were in a room and she and Scrooge were trying to get the Narrator to admit he was Richard, but she eventually confirmed it was Camille.  The three of them then decided to fill up the choice room I was in as Suchet so we could completely game the round.  There was this funny moment, where I woke up and read this thread and saw Scrooge calling me out as the Wise Man and I wasn't sure what was going on in the thread so I quickly posted that I was not the Wise Man and I could never be such as full sexting in ORGs gives me the ick.  Diana commented on this in Fire-making (not sure if you could see that in the Critic's Corner) but it was one of my finer moments and an excellent lie to protect my ID.

Diana then responded in an exasperated manner that if I wasn't the Wise Man then she didn't know who half the cast were which was concerning given she and Scrooge were in danger.  I then upon realising the circumstances and after confirming who was in the room revealed that I was the Wise Man, I was immune, that I was the returning critic and that Margaret had been eliminated.  That package of information removed so many variables in working through a plan to save both Scrooge and Diana, in that if I wasn't immune we'd need to know two peoples IDs; if I wasn't the returning critic then potentially Margaret was still in the game and/or we'd have to consider Croc, DH, Joe or even Shawcroft as potential IDs.  We then formulated a plan to get Robert to reveal his ID, so I jumped into a room with him and Diana and Scrooge and Camille which we had where I revealed that I was the Wise Man and encouraged Robert and Camile (who was part of plan of course) to do the same to save our friends.  Now again, I made a whole song and dance about this in the thread about putting my arse on the line to try and get Robert to do the same, but really I was immune so I had no risk and could push towards my objective of saving Scrooge and Diana.

This is as equally fair as the 'Spotted Dick' question about my initial round approach.

I absolutely came to have fun and to try and be 'light and free' as you put it.  But as I also noted in my opener, it was not something I had sought to do before so it took some time to adjust my approach.  

You are absolutely right that I got a bit paranoid in that first vote.  I just felt like something was a bit off and Scrooge didn't feel 100% either so I got a little jumpy.  There was actually a specific moment in that vote where I fell in love with Scrooge.  He was concerned that if something was afoot it might be he that was going because he had not yet managed to form much of a bond with you and you certainly were in a position of influence on the tribe.  I said that I could play my safety without power on him and he said not to.  He said, if he was going then so be it.  There was a real calmness to this when he said it and it hit me right between the eyes.  I was like 'Suchet, what the fuck are you doing? You came here to have fun and now your over-scheming and a paranoid mess.  Take a page out of this Scrooge guy's chill book and relax the fuck out'.  Which I did.  Now you noted that I then seemed to over strategise the vote and I did give than explanation in our alliance thread but really I just didn't fucking want to vote for Smythe.  I liked Smythe.  He had a good vibe and I got on well with him.  I really wanted Plate to go there but you were firm on it and I didn't feel I could or should push you on it.  Now this wasn't any sort of pandering or hope for an ally if he returned because, obviously, none of us knew there would be returnees then, but I just liked the guy and didn't want to write his name.  Now should I have perhaps said that instead of all the 0.0001% minimisation strategy?  Probably.  But I was still feeling my way through how I was going to play the game with a fun focus. 

As for the Fish Game, I understand from what Plate told me that you'd have the best understanding of everyone here as to what his plans were as to dragging in that he wasn't actually going to drag me.  And as I have said in my open and in response to Deer Head's question, I was originally actually paranoid but after the initial part, the paranoia was a ruse to go along with Plate's plan.  However, I cannot deny that the initial part was pure paranoia.  And by that point, even though the focus was 'fun' I'd invested a number of weeks and the sunk cost falacy got to me.  But most of all, I didn't want to get booted then (or ever) as I was enjoying the format and the game too much.  Each new round was a fantastic test and I really wanted to experience them all.  

I am not sure what you mean by the Joe vote off round though, as that was not one I had to worry at all?

Traditionally, I have been the kind of player who signs up to ORGs to try to win, but I also had fun while playing them.  This time, I signed up to have fun, but equally that didn't mean I wasn't also going to try to win.  There was just a slightly shifted focus.  Did I revert into my natural state from time to time?  Yes, and you have certainly pointed out some correct examples of where that occurred.  I am not a perfect player by any means, but even when I am here for fun, I am going to invest so much of my time and energy in the ORG, that I cannot ever go out without a fight.  I'll never be an easy brezzy lemon squeezy player who just chills their way out the door.  But I feel that over the course of this ORG I tried and learned how to just embrace the fun of it all.  And even if there were times perhaps where I seemed like I wasn't having any, I can assure you that I had the best time. 

Every minute of it. 

Well maybe not the period from 1 am to 5 am on the battleback.  That was not fun, thank you Joe. : )

Thank you so much David. I have to leave now but I'll be back with more thoughts if I have them.

First of all, thank you, Annie for the fun facts and sharing your favourite game moment with me, I remember that round very well too. For the sake of my point of view and side of it all, I shall explain myself and my actions.

In the Lodge I was in as some would say a shit ton of rooms, dear. I'll just go over the list as I can recall..

Your room.
Mick the Muscle's room.
Sir David's room.
Max the Plate's room.
Skye's room.
Trevor's room

And of course my own room.

Now, Skye and David's rooms both contained Camille and Isobel. And Camille was in your room with Trevor. I can't remember the third in Max's room, was that also you? Not sure. I believe your room also contained one or both of the Team Harris ladies, if I'm not mistaken? (I could be wrong and in which case forgive me.) and then my own room was Skye, Scrooge and Isobel. Which I created so Skye could speak to Scrooge and I wanted to connect with him too, because well he's from my episode and I was enjoying his board posts and wanted to be with one of the pretty Chris'

Now as you may recall in your room Trevor was "going at it" with Camille a bit and being quite aggressive to her, while she was keeping calm and rational and explaining the situation of his ousting.

Meanwhile in the other rooms I shared with those girls, their story was unlike Trevor's. In his version, he felt that Lucy and Mick were worthless mutes, and that he'd put in more effort socially with the others, and those two didn't bother to message him and so he deemed them inactive, and he claimed freely that Richard was with him and was also blindsided. But the girls explained that Trevor was a bit "off" and that Mick had schedule issues, but did put in the effort as did Lucy prior to the Lodge where she was actually absent. In their defense of their actions, they were very worried about Trevor having returned and for lack of a better term being a disgruntled little shit. Since he was rather ornery with Camille and made some offhand comment about how she'd been pinning his vote on the Queen or blaming her, when she said no such thing. He was combative and quite frankly, dear, it made your room as the kids these days would say awkward as fuck. I didn't want to engage in there, because of that and you and I shared other spaces. Mick's room was a vast array of people I could speak to elsewhere but I did my best to put in with her. 

I did however, say I'd heard Team Harris wished for immunity because the girls were a bit worried about their situation, and so I agreed to vote that so did David and some others in rooms we shared with those two. Now, I'd also heard that David was setting up or had set the scene for Joe to steal Plate's item, so like I knew he'd want him out and that your team had an out. I did not know you were besties with Plate, all I'd been told about you at one point was from both David and/or Scrooge to relay to you that the vote was Plate, because you were rumored to be paranoid, so I let you know what I heard. Also, Plate and I were very blunt with one another that our own names had been mentioned, so it's not like I hid that from him. 

By the next day when the voting and ghost hunting thing was due, it was clear to most everyone that Richard was absent in rooms as was Lucy, and that Team Harris would be taking out the Robert's niece. Now then, when you did tell me why the fuck are you voting them? At the time, I wanted to appease the people I'd been talking to for the better part of the round.

However, before that I *DID* work along side you in Trevor's room to placate him, try and give him friendly advice and let him know that Team Harris wasn't against him, and that the vote wasn't personal. And that he should reconsider his vitriol for the Queen and the French beauty and to reconsider his emotional (and valid in some respect) responses and feelings for them. You and I explained to him, it was better to forgive and move on over enacting a vengeance tour.

Now, why did I reveal this? Well, dear, because I wanted Isobel and Camille to know that YOU and I had been working to help their case with Trevor, I never said "He asked us for a deal for the rest of the game etc." none of those things he mentioned, I just let them know that there was nothing to fear and that Trevor was manageable and even then, if he kept his ire he'd probably be cut for being so bullheaded, when he was literally "out" of the game for less than 12 hours. So I was simply giving those ladies some assurance not to be afraid, and that WE, YOU AND I, had spoken up for them. That was why I did that, nothing more or devious or squealing on private alliance talk. After the fact, sure. During it? No fucking way.

Having said all of that, while Shawcroft and I were in a head to head battle at being targets for Team Rigg in those final hours, he himself tagged all of us once our TC opened and told us NOT to vote for Team Harris, that perhaps if we put votes on Suchet we could be immune and not have to deal with the chaos and bullshite we were going through. We all agreed, and I did that. I voted for Skye to get the extra votes from Suchet and for Isobel from Harris and I saved team Suchet. But it wasn't enough to help us, maybe if we struck a better deal with Suchet when the me vs. the judge stuff was happening, they would have helped us, since most wanted to see me safe and Shawcroft was going to be robbed there too, but yeah. That's what happened in the end. 

As for not showing you any attention in rooms, I dropped some general stuff in some rooms because there was massive overlapping, I didn't ignore you, dear. I just didn't have a lot to add in those spaces since everything was pretty much in the open. My true work with you was in Trevor's room, and I did not ignore you there, I thought we complimented one another well in that space. But if not, and I did make you feel neglected, then I'm not trying to invalidated your feelings, Annie. I can't recall every single thing, so if I did make you feel like I didn't give you the attention you deserved, I apologise. It's not an excuse per se, but I was in the middle of a lot of shite trying to coordinate my own vote and save myself at the time too, so. 

Also, my apologies if any of this sounds harsh or something. I'm just trying to explain my situation. That round was a LOT for me. I was very much in a shitty situation, trying to micromanage a vote, get Margaret to confirm a target, having David and Scrooge relay to me what was happening with the Roberts. Having to figure out how to vote, how much danger I was in etc. It was just a very chaotic time. I am sure you know or heard, even in those final moments. Shawcroft actually just decided to throw in the towel, due to Scrooge talking Robert out of killing me and not starting a war there between us (Which I am grateful for, because I loved Robert) and then in our TC with minutes before the deadline I played my SWP on Robert to take him out and kill off any votes he could cast, it was absolutely batshite chaos and pandemonium to the highest degree and stressful as hell, so again, my apologies for not considering your feelings with Plate and everything else.

Lastly, oh dear Annie, I knew you wanted me dead, love. As I wanted you dead too! But it was simply because like you said, we were not connected and didn't share a tribe. I did however, enjoy our time in the Haper's Locket round. I really was loving our talks in my missive with you and Sandra, and your girls' names came up as the second divorce for the longest time, you two were to be the other divorcees, but once the Judge was awol for so long, the plan shifted. But I said in many group missives I was in with my core allies, you had been someone I was impressed with and didn't want to vote for you, because of the efforts you were making to plan and talk with me so lengthy in our chat.

In closing, I appreciate you bringing this up and allowing me to explain myself. Thank you for the question and I guess the revisit to my PTSD from The Lodge!