Post by Steve on Aug 7, 2016 20:42:49 GMT
I would like to begin by thanking everybody for reading this. Why? Because this will probably be long as hell. This has been a long and stressful past couple of months, and while I understand I’m not who some of you want to see up here, please allow me to explain why I think I deserve your vote.
Let’s just cut to the chase, my game was messier than your favorite episode of hoarders. While some of it was intentional, some of it was not and I do recognize that. I did not play a perfect game. What I did do, was play a strong game with my best interests at heart. Does that mean I stepped on a lot of toes to get where I am? Absolutely. But in an attempt to play the game against the grain of everyone else, who were all trying to be quiet and secretive about everything, I think I did a pretty damn good job.
Before I go into the week by week analysis, I would like to address the jury directly. Especially because I understand that I burned a lot of bridges throughout the game, but I think that was the best move that I could’ve made. I played a great social game. Point blank. The reason why I played it was because I was trying to do it differently. Be inconsiderate to the person leaving, tell everyone who’s left what happened and why they wouldn’t vote for me. (Becky. I called myself Steve the Bitch for about a week following your eviction). It’s not a clean strategy, but it enabled me to always look like someone who COULD go home, but why would I? I won four competitions (I’ll get to the near infamous one in a moment), and started cranking them out towards the end of the game, but I was never in any serious danger of going home. How could I be a threat if Howard was upset with me when he left, and Becky was upset with me when she left. And Naeha. And I know Cass doesn’t like me. and especially Arlie. I had so many votes against me going into the end of the game that I was pretty much guaranteed a spot in the final two once Howard left.
I ask any of you upset with me this question, where in the rules does it say that the winner of the game needs to be polite and trustworthy? It doesn’t. I do think of myself as a trustworthy person, but I did go back on that quite a few times in the house, so I understand why I might not be considered one. All that matters, is how you get to the end, and how dynamic was your route to get there. I played a strong game that subverted expectations. I’m not asking for you to like me or to even respect my game. I’m asking for you to acknowledge it. It was impeccable imperfect, I was on everybody’s radar, but I such a small blimp who everyone just regarded as annoying.
So when the game started, I immediately gravitated towards Becky, Liz and Shelli. If you’re wondering who started the alliance, ask Kelsey. Everyone told her I did. And with the alliance’s name being Steve’s Angels, I think it was pretty clear. Shelli came to me and mentioned her and Howard wanted to work together, They threw out the names Becky, Arlie Liz and me. Because Becky already had a side alliance on the other side of the house, and me feeling that the alliance would’ve been made without me. I went ahead and contacted Howard, stating we should work together, he asks with who, we comes to a list of everyone minus Becky. With that, by the first day of week two, I already had a good portion of the house on my side.
I noticed that no one would really speak up about things, so I decided to use the living room to my full advantage. Whether it was me making fun of Nick for not showing up, or me using it to do damage control on a house wide level. I made the living room my personal bitch, and from that, I became a bit of a loose cannon.
In week two, I threw out the idea in my diary room (and to Howard) that the first time I won hoh, i’d tell everyone I would randomize the nominations, even though I wouldn’t, and I knew full well that no one would believe that I had. While I 100% think I could have handled the entire situation so much better, I got what I wanted out of that week. With the house looking like it was divided, I knew when the other side had a chance, they would take out the people in my groups who were in the best positions. Like Howard or Liz or Shelli, so I needed a fuck up to show everyone that I’m an idiot (which I am, I whole heartedly agree). I’m not gonna lie to you and pretend that whole debacle was some huge masterminded idea, because it wasn’t. It was me trying to take the idea of “If you piss off the house on a genuine level, they will keep you because they’ll think everyone else will try to get them out.” and turn it on it’s head. I don’t deserve a lot of recognition for my first hoh, but there was a method to the madness, even if I didn’t quite know how to deal with it.
When it came to the actual nominations. I nominated Kathy because I wanted her to quit before veto (loljoking) and Libra because I felt she was closer to Howard than she was to me. Howard told me that libra asked him to tell me not to nominate her, and I took that as a potential problem. I made it not secret me and Howard were close, I didn’t talk down or bad about him at all, and so if me and him happened to ever be on the block against each other, I felt confident Libra would’ve kept Howard over me. And when I’m in a position where I’m relatively safe, I have to play the game strictly for myself and get rid of a potential issue before it could have the chance to become a big one. I didn’t play my game for the house, I did it for me. I think that week is a prime example of that.
After that mess of an HOH, I started calming down, seeming more normal and less erratic. When I was nominated against Liz, I kept that up and I did two things.
1. I refused to throw Liz under the bus. Also, I made it known to everyone voting that I refused to throw Liz under the bus. That was partially because we were aligned together, and partially because I knew she was gonna campaign hard, if I could sound defeated after everything that came to light, and just sort of be like “hey keep me plz”, I’d be way less of an issue that Liz would be.
2. I went to Kelsey first. She was the HOH during this crucial week and I truly felt that she would have a hand in who goes home. Also, she was my gateway to getting the other sides votes. Instead of going to Howard or Arlie or whatever first, I went to Cass, I went to Kathy. I went to the people who I felt would be hardest to get, and I made small deals with them.
Becky and James left after that. (With Becky and Howard though, I genuinely thought we had more time to talk before the eviction was posted. But I did post my vote early, and I can’t defend myself from that. So, I’m not gonna apologize for that, because I feel that would be nearly on false grounds.
By the time Kathy quit, me and Kelsey were super close, and me and Shelli were starting to rebuild our relationship, so we joined together. The inciting incident for it really was Howard asking for me to be put up. I honestly tried to fight for you not to be put up by Kelsey, until you kept saying things, and she kept showing me what you were saying, and it made it impossible for me to rationally say we should keep you. There is a lot of confusion and lack of communication around that week, and I accept responsibility for it. Absolutely. But It was what I needed to do to get where I’m at. So for that, I also can’t apologize for it.
TLDR: FINAL SUMMATION
My biggest asset in my game was loud and obnoxious ass mouth. I understand that I’ve angered a lot of you and I feel it was completely warranted. I did have a strong connection with most of you though. When I did make moves and played the game, it was strictly for the game, not personal at all. And when I did make moves in the game, it was to better my game, that’s it. I was in four alliances throughout the game, all of which I used to put me in a better position and again, get me where I need to be. Which in my defense, is what most of you have also done, along with Shelli. I just did mine louder, I went upstream and voiced opinions when others just swan downstream and talked about people under the water. (I’m not good at metaphors). I play a solid game, with a solid number of wins under my belt, and while everyone was trying to work behind the scenes to get to the end, I was fairly upfront with it and my intentions. Hell, Kelsey asked me the week after my hoh if i would’ve put her up if Cass hand’t. Straight up said yeah, there’s no reason to lie about that. I saw that’s what a lot of people were doing, and I saw an opportunity fairly early on to break out of the mold and go boldly in another direction. Arlie asked me why would I make purposeful mistakes? The answer is simple, because it pissed people off, and it made me look weaker than I actually am. (I am weak tho. I’m up to four push ups.)
My game was not without it’s flaws, for sure. It was also not without it’s merits. At the end of this day, I got here based on my off kilter gameplay, something that on paper shouldn’t have worked, but I had the humor and crass to back what I was doing up. I was never in serious danger of leaving this house. Hell, the one time I was on the block (Aside from the final four), I immediately struck a deal with Kelsey to keep me and we started up a friendship kick.
I was sly, a snake, a rat, an asshole, a douchebag, literally anything you can name and more, but I knew going in what I was gonna do, and I did it. I would like to halfway repeat what I said earlier to end this. I’m not asking for you to think I’m some oh so amazing player who threw a perfect game. I’m not the pitcher who throws a shut out. I’m the pitcher who threw the ball right at the batter’s head, over and over.
Did I just end a Big Brother final two opening speech with a baseball reference? I’m clearly hitting my target demographic. I thank you for reading all of this, or at least skipping to the end to read this part. I welcome any and all questions from the jury, and again, I want to thank everyone for such a great summer where I did get to meet a lot of sincere people who I would consider my friends. If you don't, then that's fine too. Thank you again for your time.