Ryan Remembers The Fallen

[Ryan]

Poor Austin. It always sucks to go during a challenge when the game has not even begun yet, but i understand why Morgan planned such a challenge. Unfortunately, Austin just never got around to really logging on and socializing during the course of the first Plague. We never would know what the game would have been like had Austin been in it. But I will just be honest and say that it was nice to have him around so that we did not have to stress out so much about the first Plague.

[Ryan]

Poor Leo. Like Austin, he never really had the chance to play the game. I actually did have the chance to chat a little with Leo, and he was a nice guy. I was a little bit surprised to see him get the axe during the first Plague. He narrowly was beat out by Carly. Had Carly not made it through, the game obviously would have been TOTALLY different. I am glad that Carly made it instead of him, and this is not meant to offend Leo in any way. I think that Leo probably would have been a solid player had he been able to stick around. But I guess we will never know for sure.

[Ryan]

If Paige reads the Ellis confessionals when the game is over, then she will find out how truly popular she was on our tribe. We almost considered her an Ellis, and we thanked her for helping us win the first tribal immunity challenge. We were sad to see her go, because we thought she would be a great asset to us in future challenges. Haha, I am sure she meant well. I assume she just did not have the schedule to participate in a game like this. I don't really know. However, I she was good for a few laughs in our tribe chat.

[Ryan]

Sawyer was someone that I had a great conversation with in the first round of the game. We actually chatted quite a bit, and he may have been the first person I talked any game with at all. We once again had to thank him for not really being around in the second tribal challenge. If he were around to finish his puzzle last minute as well, there would have been no way that we would have pulled off the epic win. I did think that Sawyer was a pretty nice guy, at least from the short time that I had the opportunity to spend with him. Unfortunately, I guess he did not have the time to devote to the game.

[Ryan]

Aw, my boyfriend! I was extremely sad to see him die. However, I think I was able to play my cards a little better as a single woman. On a serious note, I probably was a little too hard on Yuri on my confessional. However, he should definitely be credited for being a huge force in creating "Tina's Army of Skanks", the dominating alliance on Ellis at the time. Even though people did get a little annoyed with him after that, I think he would have been successful in this game had he not disappeared. I do hope that everything is okay with him in real life. It is a little scary that he disappeared after announcing how he was in the hospital. I just will continue to hope for the best for him, because I really think he did mean well!

[Ryan]

Poor Jonah. I guess he just isn't having much success with this series. The thing is, he is always screwed over for being viewed as a threat. Even before the tribe switch happened, all of us on Ellis pretty much viewed Jonah as a huge force that would have to be dealt with eventually. Even though I never had an opportunity to be on a tribe with him, I still have the feeling that he really did try his best. He probably did deserve to at least make the jury, but this game isn't always fair. That's just how it works. I hope that eventually he does have the opportunity to prove himself in the series if Morgan continues to allow him to take more chances!

[Ryan]

Oh, Tina. She was probably the butt of every joke on the original Ellis tribe. We even named an alliance after her when she wasn't even in it. Even though we enjoyed having a laugh at Tina's expense, we all secretly adored her and hoped that she would make it far in the game one way or another. Tina is just one of those people who is fun to watch. You never knew what the next thing out of her mouth would be. However, her complete unpredictability was probably her downfall in this game. Although she was extremely entertaining, she was just never able to get into the right alliance that could maneuver her to the end of the game.

[Ryan]

Liam was actually someone in this game who I found a little intimidating. He is just one of those people who you can tell is really smart and knows how to play the game. I never had the opportunity to have a really close relationship with Liam; however, I know that he did have a lot of power within the Liberty alliance. I think that Liam did have it in him to go far in this game. Unfortunately, the cards just weren't in his favor this time around because the Ellis alliance was able to maintain a majority.

[Ryan]

It was actually a lot harder for me to vote off Leah than I thought it would be! I did not think that I would begin to like her as much as I did. She just always came off as such a smart and strong individual to me, and I was not sure if we would be able to have a bond. However, she was so sweet in the last tribal immunity challenge that she took part in. She wanted to split up points for words that she found even though she deserved all of the points for herself. She wanted it to be a team effort. I think this is definitely a positive attribute of Leah's. She just isn't a selfish person, and I think that if roles were switched and Liberty was dominating in numbers, Leah could have definitely been the type of person we would have seen sitting in the end. I think that Leah just had some bad luck with the twists in the game.

[Ryan]

The round Chase left was probably the biggest cluserfuck in the game. I was shocked when "clusterfuck" wasn't the title of the episode. Everyone was rushing around trying to find out what was happening. I think this just shows why Chase was such a good player. In reality, it should have just been an easy decision because Chase was seen as the biggest threat from the remaining members of the Liberty tribe. However, no one wanted to vote him off! He was so likable and so persuasive, that people seriously just did not want to cast his vote for him. Somehow, Ellis was able to pull together and vote him off, but he was VERY close to staying that round. It was definitely a sad vote, but I think it was a necessary vote. Had Chase gone further, I think things would have turned out differently.

[Ryan]

This was so hard for me. For those of you who don't know, AJ and I knew each other before coming into this game. I'm not a huge fan of pre-game alliances or anything like that, but she and I have a history of playing Justin's games together, so we couldn't turn down the opportunity. AJ was such a huge confidante to me in this game. I really did trust her, and voting her off was SO unbelievably hard. What it came down to was keeping a pre-game alliance or an alliance built with my original tribe members. I think me sticking with my tribe kept the game a little bit more pure. Had AJ and I not known each other before the game started, then it would have been a no-brainer. However, I still think AJ was probably the best social player in this game. NO ONE wanted to write her name down that night. People thought she definitely was getting the short end of the stick. It broke my heart, but I still think it was a smart decision. Not a single person would not vote for her to win if she was sitting in the finals. She was this season's Elisabeth, and I hope she gets another chance in this series to prove herself because I know she can.

[Ryan]

Kendell and I had a very interesting relationship. However, we were always honest with each other when telling each other how we felt about one another. She told me to my face that she thought I was a little too over the top. When she would have an emotional break down, I would tell her that she needed to calm down a little bit. I can definitely appreciate when someone is straightforward like that. Everyone was mad when Kendell won immunity. She was definitely labeled as the next to go. However, she proved that she really wanted to stay in this game. Yeah, she was a little overemotional, but there were quite a few people (myself included) who were overemotional during the course of the game. I can definitely respect Kendell's spunk, and I think that she will only continue to grow as a player as she gets older.

[Ryan]

Oh, Dominic. Dominic and I had a little bit of a rivalry. At the beginning of the game, i thought it would be easy for me to just take him out when it was necessary. However, we truly bonded throughout the course of this game. No part of our relationship was ingenuine, at least on my end. I truly just enjoyed talking to him and getting to know him. Yeah, he can be a little snarky, but so can I. That is what really brought us close together. Dominic was the life of the party while we were on Ellis. Did he deserve to get better than 6th? Oh, absolutely. However, there is no doubt in my mind that he would have railroaded these past few immunity challenges. Honestly, he was a huge threat to win this game whether he will admit it or not. I think he should be proud of his placement because he really did do a fantastic job.

[Ryan]

Ben is just one of those people who you can tell has a huge heart. He never wanted to vote anyone off. Writing his name down was really tough. However, he was SUCH a sweetheart, and no one wanted to see him sitting in front of a jury. I really hope he will be able to forgive me when this game ends because I really would like to continue our friendship. I hope that he can see that voting him off was not a personal attack, but it truly was a compliment to his character and his gameplay. I think this game got a little dirty, and I think it was a little hard for him since he does have such a huge heart. I have so many positive things that I can say about Ben. Had he not started posting remarks at Judgement kind of separating himself from Ellis, I think things would have turned out differently.

[Ryan]

This was not an easy vote for me AT ALL. Definitely one of the hardest in the game. Carly was someone who I bonded with right in the beginning. However, others on our tribe did not feel the same way about her. I do think that Carly did not truly come out of her shell until after the merge. It was not until then that people really started to appreciate her sense of humor. I was worried in the beginning because on the original Ellis tribe, people did not want to take her very far in the game. I am so glad that she was able to get to the final 4 with us. She was someone who I trusted a lot, and I was just able to talk to her about anything in life. We had a lot in common! In the final four, she started scrambling a bit, and I know my name was brought up. That was really the only reason I voted against her. I am really sorry for it, and I hope she will forgive me when all is said and done.