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When I host or co-host, I'm always a bit skeptical on what I can say so I much prefer to not say much at all. However, Seneca wants me to give my thoughts so my thoughts I will give. ^_^ Even though I wish I could divulge interesting details on the contestants, don't anticipate much talk on them in this blog because such discussions make me paranoid as hell.

Anyway, the forum. It turned out so awesome. The fire, the logo, the colors. Everything just screams competitiveness... having that fire to go for the win. I don't know, I think this may be one of the best forums I've ever helped create. It was work to set it up and get it running, but it's been worth it and people have commented to me about it. One personal thing I would like to change? I may switch the "No New Posts" symbol with the "New Posts". For some reason, yellow screams like a new posts color while blue doesn't. Thoughts?

As for the first challenge. Seneca gave me the privilege of hosting the opening-night Immunity Challenge, which was an honor to say the least but incredibly nerve-racking as well! I know I've done this hosting thing for easily 5 or 6 years now, but when I'm helping someone with their game, I still don't want to screw anything up on the first night much less! I aim to please, so when I don't do that by screwing something up, it's such a buzzkill.

The challenge itself went off without a hitch. A simple speed-based challenge with me asking questions about revolts, rebellions, and other conflicts. It was simple, but I also required active people who scored points to sit out so that other competitors could emerge. We're in good shape if we have a plethora of competitors in our cast. Both teams had a fire to win, and we couldn't have been more pleased that it came down to the final question for one of them to win. It was a classic first-week challenge, and I don't think it could have turned out better.

A promising start to a promising game. I can't wait to see what Seneca has in store for them next.

Well, despite all the crazyness, I got the reward challenge posted and it's a doozy. I had another challenge planned that I was really looking forward to hosting, but Forumotion decided to choose yesterday to go crazy for some reason and some people just can't access the forum for the life of them. I guess one person was still having problems getting on as of last night, so I'm really hoping this issue gets resolved soon. Major buzzkill, and I really hope that this shit ceases soon.

The reward challenge is so coot, where they have to come up with a few of their favorite IMDBers who have left an impression and pick a well-known figure to represent them, as well as make a collage. I wish I could claim credit, but Mr. Seneca gave it to me as a last-minute idea to account for Forumotion's obesity. Plus, he much rather have a judging challenge which, after hosting a few in BB23, annoy me at the moment but I guess it's fairer this way. I guess I will hit them with my one I had planned on Sunday, so I can feel bliss for feeling ahead of schedule, though you can guess how long that will last. ^_^ I am enjoying hosting the competitions for this game though, especially considering how competitive the cast is.

I like all the players, but if I had to pick one, I'd choose Tim Riggins as my favorite right now. As for people who left, I think they're all justifiable boots but I can't say that I didn't shed a tear or two for Tamera Campbell and Marianne Bryant. They were both strong players who left long before their time.

I'm hoping that things will calm down eventually. This game has been going by at an eerily-fast pace. It feels like we've just started, but we're already down to the final sixteen though I'm sure the multiple boots thing will stop soon.

I love how they're totally WTF'ing about this right now. I really wonder if any of them know what this means or not, but I know that people are probably going to start double guessing their strategies now. I'm mostly curious to know how these people will take this comment and mold their strategies accordingly. I'm not going to tell anyone what it truly means; my response to each person who asks me about it? "Take it for what you think it means." ^_^

God we're mean, but this is too much fun. I can only guess what conspiracy theories will crop from posting such a... O_O... announcement. In the meantime, I'm anticipating posting the next immunity challenge. It was supposed to be the first reward challenge, but now I'm using it as an immunity instead due to Forumotion's fatness the other night. I wonder if they'll have a hard time with it or not. And the questions continue...

Round #4. McLovin has fallen. This boot was mildly disappointing. I wasn't overly crazy about having everyone voting at tribal councils, but this vote sort of proved my fears wrong. I always hate seeing heavily lopsided votes where everyone bandwagons or goes with the status quo, but this first "single vote out" really was intense and wild. I honestly don't think anyone knows who is lying or telling the truth anymore, and it's always compelling seeing where people end up in crazy votes like this and the aftershocks. I suspect that this won't be the only crazy vote this game, or at least I hope not.

But I am sad to see McLovin leave so soon. He goes on my list of "Gone Too Soon" with Tamera Campbell and Marianne Bryant. The dude had game, and I love the character so much. I'd worry about all the big threats being kicked out, but when you cast such a good group of people as Seneca did, I think these people will step it up no matter what. I can't (or perhaps won't) pinpoint the players to watch at this time, but I have a new favorite right now after this vote and it's the person who voted on his or her own. ^_^

Btw, it's taking longer than expected to get results for the Reward Challenge out. However, thankfully I have a judge coming in tonight to finish that up for us. I should have focused on getting it done last night, but when you're involved in many games, things tend to get put to the backburner. I am excited to see who wins the reward.

In conclusion, I am loving the game right now, Seneca... I haven't put this much effort into hosting in awhile and you did a stellar job on casting and it helps that a lot of the cast members seem into it as well.

To start this blog off, I want to say that dark and sinister games are so much fun to host. <3 I'm glad that I'm co-hosting this game and not playing, which is probably what I'd be doing right now (if I weren't co-hosting) since I can't seem to say no nowadays. lmao

That being said... not only is this cast intense and crazy, but some of them are also liars and aren't afraid to get down and dirty to advance in the game. Sadly, I think Kris Allen got more than what he bargained for with this game. If there's one thing that drives people more nuts, it's dealing with players who are constantly uncertain on what to do. I will almost never deal with these players whose loyalty is difficult to pin down in the first place, but it's especially true in an intense game like this. These people are intense gamers who want votes in their corner and are rigid in their beliefs/goals, and I sense that Kris wasn't in tune with that and may have turned some people against him. I hate to say it since I like Kris, but I think the other players' patience with Kris ran thin and it's not hard in a shifty game like this. He gave it a good run, though.

Hosting wise, I finally got the reward challenge finished a day late but better late than never. I sadly work these next few nights, but I have a challenge prepped for Seneca to host. I suppose I better lighten up on them... the menu challenge drove them nuts but I was so "Mwahahaha <333" that I hosted a hard puzzle/math challenge for once. I'm not good at math and I'm especially not great at puzzles, so that made me all warm inside as though I was a badass challenge maker. However, let's be real, I can't keep that up for my meticulousness is a bit too much for me at times. Given some of the subjects of Seneca's challenge being his interests, I think it's time for me to hit them with some of my favorite things as well.

I loved your menu challenge lol. That was really different <3

Cato wrote:

I loved your menu challenge lol. That was really different <3

Appresh

You have to give a brother credit for trying, but sadly Lip wasn't able to turn things around though I'm suspecting he's done some major damage to Elena's game. He may have gone down, but I'd be surprised if he doesn't drag Elena down with him. In fact, I'd be surprised if Elena survives the week. She's established herself as too big of a player. At these stages, you need to go with the flow, and alpha dogging it is sure doom. I still appreciate Elena's intensity with the game, though.

Hosting news, well, not much new on that front. We did catch some people talking about the game off the forum, which is a big no-no as we hope to do episodes... I mean, no big promises there but I'd at least like to keep the option open and everyone knowing each other's identities ruins the fun in that. I think people around this time grow curious to know who other people are, so they'll do little things like, "Are you in Mystery Hunger Games? ^_^" to their friends on MSN. I've been guilty of it in the past too, but I was hoping that the hope of episodes in the future would help them keep a cap on it but maybe we'll have to put the fear of God in them if they keep up such talk.

When I left off, Kim Mills was ~tragically~ voted out. I was pretty bummed about the boot, but before I had a chance to really miss her, Seneca Crane hit them with the District 13 twist - which had two fallen tributes return to the game and resume their quest to win at the end. Basically, it was an outcast twist that severely rocked the game.

I was pretty much in support of this since the fallen tributes were yearning to get back into the game and it was perfect to shake things up a bit after the current players got a bit too comfortable with the game. However, sadly we said goodbye to Elena, who was a head bitch in charge in every sense of the word. I was hoping that she wouldn't take the fall this round, but sadly it wasn't meant to be as she was the victim of this twist.


Sadly, after Elena's boot, I immediately found McLovin and Kim Mills dancing on her grave and that immediately turned me off to them. Too big of words said by two people who are even lucky to be around right now. While I was excited to see them do well with their second chance, I can't say that I will be watching either now unless they get back on my good side somehow.

As for the ninth Immunity Challenge, I decided to do a Crime Show trivia challenge. It was easy as pie to make, but I was sad to see the activity very low tonight in comparison to challenges in the past. Kirby Reed won the challenge easily, but not without my accidentally referring to her as a guy. Am I the only one who knows the name "Kirby" from the famous baseball player? There's not a part of that name that doesn't sound masculine to me, but I digress... still a pretty embarrassing mistake on my part but still a straight-forward challenge nonetheless.

I hope all the players return tomorrow for another challenge hosted by me. I plan to make tomorrow's a bit more challenging, Plutarch-style! I love hosting this game and with BB23 out of the way, I am excited to devote more time to it than I have been able to prior.

Sorry about my lack of blogs lately. I was going through a grief period after Legolas left. lmao not really. But I mean, he was an insane competitor who wasn't afraid to get down and dirty with people. Some of the players probably felt that he was an annoying tool, but I can appreciate someone like this who is outspoken and not afraid to make waves. The fact that he decided to challenge whore his way through the beginning of the game was amusing considering it's a mystery game and there's no need (I've done the same in games as me where I already knew I was the man to beat and therefore had no reason to downplay my challenge whore status). Legolas' competitiveness set him up to be a huge threat, but he had a good run and should be proud of himself.

I got to host a string of challenges, and I enjoyed it. My Crime Drama photo challenge was poorly attended, a stark contrast to the activity of the challenges before. The Cryptogram challenge had some takers, yet some claimed that the challenge was too hard for them... but I wonder if those people would be saying the same if their asses were the ones in danger. I mean, Bella Swan did the challenge eerily fast and submitted first. However, she made some basic errors in her submission, and it cost her the game sadly as she was voted out that night. I was pretty sad to see her go. I pegged her going very far due to her social ties and not setting herself up as too big of a target, but the outcast twist really hurt her the way it does at times and I wish her well.


Anyway, given the thinning challenge attendance, people were feeling too safe and content to let other people do the challenges, but luckily Seneca and I hit them with our jury twist where two players will be voted out and sent to the jury house on the same night. The players were split off into two groups, as though they were split into tribes and sent to tribal council with one person being immune in each group. The challenge was a basic eliminator challenge which is always fun and fans the flames between the players in an already tense situation. Santana winning didn't surprise me, but Chris defeating McLovin in the end surprised the hell out of me. We're currently awaiting results of this tribal, but the twists and turns in this game have been wild and this game is anything but stale at this point.

Little did Seneca and I know that our two twists were going to cancel each other out. McLovin and Kim Mills were the outcasts brought back into the game, but just as easy as they were back, they were out the night when the players were broken into two groups and sent to tribal to vote two people out, one from each group. Operation revolving door at its finest, I guess. Just as well.

I don't really have much else to say, other than the fact that the hosts have finally had enough and restricted posting access for everyone but the players currently in the game. No one is allowed to post in the public threads but the players. Contrary to what my fellow blogger Cato believes, what did it was the pre-jurors constantly posting in the public areas and that's not right if they're supposed to be the fallen (aka 'dead' tributes). I was hoping that we wouldn't have to do it considering it wasn't done in HBO, but I guess some people just enjoying pressing buttons/crossing lines and they pressed our last button.

Still an awesome game. That kind of goes without saying. I have no other news, other than that I look forward to hosting the challenges on Sunday and Monday.

I shamelessly got behind in my blogs, and it's pretty much too late to catch up so I'm just gonna skip that stuff. Truth be told, I got a little disinterested with keeping up with the game because I was busy doing other things and nothing much was exciting after Kim and McLovin got voted out. I did, however, host a few challenges. The coconut-chop challenge is never a favorite of mine to host. When I host that challenge, it always seems like the most deserving player doesn't win out and it's just how that challenge is set up that bothers me. Let's face it, Blair owned the fuck out of that challenge with getting the survey questions right and somehow Marty won it at the end? Wtf I loved my Connect-4 challenge, even though Kirby was such a speed whore so it wasn't as intense as it could have been. She's glam, though... and she definitely deserved to win that one.

Other than that, I have been loosely keeping track of the game and was anticipating seeing some combination of Kirby/Marty/Jesse/Blair in the finals. I knew that the four of them were the ones to watch. I'm shocked that Max squeaked to the end, but I think people saw her as a weak opponent at the end but I say to never underestimate the power of kindness and honesty. Survivor, after all, is a social game and there are two different approaches. You can strategize, manipulate, and lie, or you can be honest and loyal to those you're with. Neither way is necessarily wrong at all, at least in the game sense. Both approaches have been proven to be successful, given the right jury of course.

While I'm definitely hoping for Max to win, this was the Marty show strategically. He had everyone tied around his fingers by the end. If he loses, it'll be because he pissed off the jury way too much despite his mastery at the game. Max is still amazing though, and the fact that Marty selected her as his goat could prove to be a mistake because Max was by no means inactive. You want a goat that follows you through your dirty moves, but Max is very independent-minded and doesn't always go with the status quo on everything. I never saw her as a puppet, though she could have spoken up a bit more.

Overall, despite my initial reaction (I can't lie and say that I wasn't looking forward to seeing Kirby or Jesse in the finals), it's a very good final two in that we have two very different players with two very different approaches to the game and seeing which approach will win out will be fun. No matter what, I think both finalists are deserving of the title. They both got to the end and one will get the votes to win, and the most deserving player always wins and that's the beauty of Survivor. You just can't argue the bottom line. If you got the votes, you did something right and that's just the way the game has always been set up and I don't expect to see that change anytime soon.

Anyway, this is my final blog. It was a blast hosting for this game, and I wish the final two luck in the final vote and want to thank the players for playing the game and Seneca for letting me co-host with him. It was definitely one of the best games I've hosted in a long while, so thanks for the experience.

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