Knox's Opening Statement

[knox]

OPENING STATEMENT

[/font][/center]

Hi everyone! First of all I want to start this process by thanking Morgan for chosing me to come back this season, without him this series would not be a thing and most of us would not have even met, probably. I also want to thank everyone who has helped hosting challenges, and every single one of you and the pre-jury because the cast [whether I am close to them or not] is what makes a game, and what a game this has been! I would also like to wish the best of luck to both AJ and Thiago, may the best person win!

Before I start with my actual like opening statement I want to make a promise... I have played this game honestly, and as far as I can remember I have not lied at all. Likewise, I promise to be honest and keep it real throughout this process. I am happy with the way I played and I don't see any need for anyone to lie at this point in time, as it our chance to prove we played the best game, not that we can lie the best.

Now... coming into this I genuinely thought I stood no chance, I knew very few people and I knew the relationships between the rest of the cast were very strong. I started of in Eduro, which as we all know was the least magnificent of tribes, I absolutely adored my tribemates but we could never win challenges. As a matter of fact, I am pretty sure I was probably one of the weakest competitors in the tribe. Challenges have never been my thing, and I know this, so I tried to focus more on the social aspect of the game.

Throughout this game I went to Tribal Council every single round besides three of them, some of which the challenges were thrown. And even though I went to Tribal Council so many times I managed to survive them all. I think that's a feat on itself despite the fact that sometimes it was sheer luck that I did survive.

On this game, I never truly backstabed an ally. The closest I came was when I attempted to vote out Luca [and Hannah left], but I believe we were never officialy aligned. I played this game in a way that was somewhat selfless, sometimes willing to put my neck out on the line for people I cared about and willing to vote with minority even if that meant being on the outs. I was always honest about my feelings for people and I was never one to try and play a relationship to get information or get myself further into the game. I also never started rumors to create some divide or put an axe on relationships, as a matter of fact whenever I heard a rumor I did my best to confront the person. Likewise if someone came to me with something they had heard I was always honest about how things worked, which I believe sometimes annoyed people.

In this game, I think I did a lot more than meets the eye. I know that it's really easy to assume that we all know what each other did, but the truth is that with how divided the merge portion was it becomes far more complicated. For example, I don't know what the dynamics between the other side was and I don't think that "the other side" was fully aware of the dynamics on our side. I believe that my role was to keep my side focussed, I was often the rock for a lot of people, I kept the environment fun and calm, and I tried to keep us thinking positive even when things looked like they could be really bad for us. The way I see it, positive attitude brings positive results. I kept the alliance informed when someone missed a strategizing session or someone was out of the loop, I tried to make everyone feel like an important part of the alliance and I made sure that we all had a say on the vote and decisions.

I don't want to drag this for too long, because I know most of you will probably just scan this, so I will say one final thing. I think my story-arc throughout this game has been very unique, not only did I come here to play the game [like everyone else] but I truly, genuinely, believe that I changed. Last season I was a cocky bastard, I didn't care for forming genuine relationships and I was there to just douche around. This season I think I changed, I finally realized how my acts came accross and that I could actually hurt people with what I thought was funny or needed, but after being called a bully by Selena and having a mental break-down I realized that I didn't have to be that person. I still had time to make ammends and represent myself as the person that I am in my everyday life and who I can be proud of despite of the end result. So I changed, and I became a better person. And I can honestly say that, at this point, if I could take back what I did to Selena I would absolutely 100% without a doubt in my mind do it.

I know that this is probably not your ideal Final Three, and I am probably not your favorite to win. But I hope that you guys can give me a chance at your vote,like I would have done for every single one of you, and not just shot me down. I know I played an emotional game, which I'm well aware is frowned upon, but I am en emotional player and I can't just decide to ignore those. I hope that once this is all over you can see that there was much more to me than an emotional game.

Thanks,
Knox.