Roddy Returns!!!

[Roddy Mancu$o]

First off, I will start off this thread by presenting you a unique little opportunity. If you want to ensure that I vote for your opponent to win, then the best way to do so would be to answer these questions dishonestly. Otherwise you bitches better give me the truth dammit!

I guess I will also start off by saying congrats to the both of you. Perhaps it may be because I was in an alliance with both of you through a lot of the game, but I would never accuse either of you of coasting through the game. I think that you both earned your spots by being well rounded players, and that is commendable.

Anyways, While I like both of you, only one person can win so I want to make sure that I picked the right person. I am picking based on merit because I think of myself as friends with both of you.


Jordan

Throughout the game, you are the only person that I never moved against from start to finish. I considered you an ally from week 2 when you/Jase/Kev/Jeff/myelf made the alliance after the first vote. Sure, there was never a period in the game where you were my #1 (first half was Jeff, second half was Lyd), but you were my#2 the whole way through. I worked my ass off to ensure your safety when I could, and I planned to go to the end with you from early on. I feel like there is little chance you would have made it here if you had not basically got me to do your bidding - there was really no reason for me to push for you to stay over Russell earlier on, and you were basically 100% safe when I won my HoHs.

But from what I am reading in James' thread, it doesn't really appear like you saw things in the same way. You would have essentially have eliminated me had you won final 6 HoH by nominating me beside an unevictable houseguest, and it sounds like I also probably would have got the boot if I was not HoH in final 5. Don't get me wrong... I am not one to take it personally, and I understand that you were playing the game. In fact, I would greatly prefer to be beaten by someone who screwed me over than by somone who wasn't playing hard in the first place.

What I find myself wondering is whether or not I really have a grasp on your game. I mean, it is evident that I underestimated you. Throughout the game, I felt like you were lacking in both the challenges and strategy department, but in hindsight I was definitely wrong about the former, and possibly wrong about the latter.

1. You have only answered James' question so far, but from that single answer I realized that I have no idea where I actually stood with you. I always thought that we were tight, and while I knew that you and Kev had something, I never would have guessed that I was a lower priority to you than James was at final 6. So I guess I basically want to know where I stood with you throughout the game.


Lydia

Lyd, while I personally feel closer to you than I do to Jordan, I am not gonna base my vote on personal shit. Like I said, I want the best player to win.

I think that you played a far more dominant role in this game than Jordan did. You won 3 HoH's, and to me that trumps 3 vetos and an HoH in terms of affecting the game. In fact, from week 2 forward, there was never really a time when you were in any danger.

But there is also a part of me that notices there was a fair amount of luck involved in your game as well. For instance, I never would have predicted that Chiara and Holly would have left when they did, and I know that had a huge impact on you personally. And the fact that you were randomly placed in a division with your arch-nemesis must have had a huge impact on your game as well.

1. As luck is a part of any BB game, I would be a fool to criticize you for benefiting from it. But I want to make sure that it was not JUST the luck; if I am going to vote for you, I want to make sure that you didnt get here by chance. What I want to know is how and when you feel luck played a role in your game (either good and bad), how you capitalized on the good luck, and likewise how you downplayed the bad. I guess what I really want to know is how you adapted to the circumstances that were presented to you.


What I want to know from both of you is:

2. Explain the five most strategic elements you had to your game. This can range from a general strategy to a particular move such as the use of a veto or choice of nominations. If you cannot come up with five, then do as many as you can. They do not necessarily need to result in success, but I want to know WHY you made these decisions, how they actually ended up affecting you, and who they screwed over (or at least, who you intended to screw over). Oh, and because I am overly analytical, please rank the five elements from most important to least.

3. Is there any particular houseguest(s) that you feel you were the primary force in evicting? Justify your response please unless it is already done in the previous question.

4. If you had to compare yourself to one particular contestant on the actual show of Big Brother (Survivor is also acceptible) who would it be?

[Lydia Tavera]

Hey Roddy. Thank you so much for your kind words and being an awesome friend/ally in the game. It meant more to me than you can imagine, and hopefully I can explain that. Before I begin answering your questions, I would like to say that I am happy that you are not basing your vote on friendship. I think that this game should be won by the best player in the final 2 and not based off the “friendship card”. And at the end of the day if you think Jordan played a better game than me, I would not hold anything against you if you did vote for her and I would like to continue our friendship after this game because you were the closest guy to me. You can’t get rid of me that easily :-P

Alright on to your questions, and please forgive me if I make this too long. My head was running a mile a second last night and I wrote a lot of things down.

As luck is a part of any BB game, I would be a fool to criticize you for benefiting from it. But I want to make sure that it was not JUST the luck; if I am going to vote for you, I want to make sure that you didnt get here by chance. What I want to know is how and when you feel luck played a role in your game (either good and bad), how you capitalized on the good luck, and likewise how you downplayed the bad. I guess what I really want to know is how you adapted to the circumstances that were presented to you.

I completely agree that luck is a factor in the BB game and it is true that luck played a part on my game. Most of it was bad luck, but I think I benefited from the bad luck more than the good luck. But never did I once fully depend on either of them.

The first half of the game was honestly one of the hardest challenges I have ever had to overcome. It felt that nothing would ever go right for me and that something “above” did not want me to be in this game. I had so much bad luck that I honestly was convinced that there been a curse on me as I stated in my DR.

Examples of these were:

On Day 1, through another person (Holly) I was aligned and connected with someone (Jeff) who I realized right off the bad that I would have a problem with in this game. I loved the rest of the members of the “Late Night Crew” but got a bad vibe from Jeff when we were talking in the group chat. After some disagreements (And I honestly tried to work with him) I found myself one of the main targets of the biggest competition winner… as he won many HoH’s and Vetoes. (Even before I was partnered with him)

The next week Jeff won HoH AGAIN (The only person that I clashed with at that time) and I knew for a fact that if the veto was going to be used on Alex or Renny, I would most likely be the replacement. So I made a deal with Jeff and HELPED him win veto, thinking that he would keep his nominations the same. I guess I found out from you later that you were a driving force for my nomination (Though it was not intentionally, you said you wanted to make sure Alex left). So even after I helped my “nemesis” win veto, I still found myself on the block going against Alex… who I knew from a previous game was very good with words and manipulative. Thankfully I survived that vote.

The next week was my personal hell. From what I heard Jeff was on the hunt for me getting nominated but thankfully Renny did not go through with it. But that week found you, Jordan and Russell up. Three of the people who I did not want to see go. It killed me that I had to evict Russell because I saw a HUGE ally in him because he was showing “anti” Jeff motives. And you’re right about Holly and Chiara quitting the game affecting me personally and not only strategically. I put a lot of trust in them because not only did I find them good friends, but they were a driving force for me turning against Jeff so early. It sucked that I had this big competition winner after me, but knowing that they had my back, it gave me support. When they quit (Chiara basically lost interest and quit too) it not only meant them giving up on the game, but it felt that they had given up on me as well. It was a hard pill to swallow. I gave these girls my trust and it felt like they took it and spat it back in my face. It was a feeling of almost basically being backstabbed.

After that I made an attempt to redeem myself by making an alliance with Jase, which then we brought Jordan in. I did not want to extend it more, because I wanted it to be a secret from Jeff, because if he found out about the our packed to get rid of him, he wouldn’t take it too lightly. I know Jase thought he had good reasons for quitting but I did not see any one of them valid for throwing in the towel. A THIRD ally in a row had basically quit on me and I was at my lowest point in the game. Quitting is very cowardly and even though I was close to them, they had lost all of my respect game-wise.

I was very frustrated at this point. I was frustrated because almost all of my allies quit on me. The only ally I had was Jordan and at that time I did not see her helping my game in any way because I knew she had connections and other allies that did not involve me. I was frustrated because at this point you realized what a tool Jeff really was, and despite good talks about working together secretly, you would not openly come after Jeff. But that didn’t make me mad (just frustrated) because that was risking your own game and I didn’t want you to do that for me. Also at that point I was still having a hard time connecting with some people in the house. After Holly, Chiara and Jase quit, I had a hard time trusting people again and I didn’t want to be “fake” to others. So making new allies didn’t seem like the way to go.

Because I was frustrated and had a hard time connecting with some of the people left in the house… I turned to venting in my DR. It actually became very therapeutic for me and I think I should actually try having my own DR when real life gets tough. This is a direct quote from my diary before things started to turn around for me.

“If you start pushing me I will not bend nor break... I will push back.”

I felt like I did just that. My back was against the wall but never for one second did I ever think of rolling up in a ball, I pushed back all the negative luck that was given to me. Honestly, even though it was hard for me at times, I am really thankful for having more bad luck rather than good. I think if I would have had an easier ride in the beginning, I wouldn’t have handled the situations later in the game as well as I did. Because of the bad luck, it made me more thankful and appreciative to still be in the game and make me want to work harder. It gave me more drive and determination than I ever thought I could have had in this game.

Now on to when you mentioned that when divisions where broken up and I was paired up with Jeff. Yes I completely agree that was lucky for me because Jeff could not directly target me in the game which gave me room to breath. It was also the start of the turning point of the game for me in which I did a complete 180. Yes I agree that that luck helped, but it wasn’t the whole factor to my “new” life in the game. By this point when you got HoH during the jury stage, I had gotten to know Jordan a lot more and you and I were really plotting together in the game. For the first time since my former allies quit on me, I felt like I had found allies I could put my faith and trust in. And that was of course you and Jordan. I also started to win Head of Household Competitions which led me to make game moving decisions to place myself and others (especially you and Jordan) into good spots to make it further in the game. Also the whole house realized what few have seen in the beginning about Jeff and it felt that great that the whole house was feeling the way I felt from the start. I felt finally in control of my own fate in the game because now I was not only trying to survive week by week, but being a part of the “power” alliance that you, me and Jordan created.

Phew. Sorry that was a lot more than I expected.

Explain the five most strategic elements you had to your game. This can range from a general strategy to a particular move such as the use of a veto or choice of nominations. If you cannot come up with five, then do as many as you can. They do not necessarily need to result in success, but I want to know WHY you made these decisions, how they actually ended up affecting you, and who they screwed over (or at least, who you intended to screw over). Oh, and because I am overly analytical, please rank the five elements from most important to least.

1. I think my best strategical move, which was in fact mostly behind the scenes, was being aligned with you. (Especially secretly and sharing information in the beginning half). I could tell that whatever information that was shared between us would have been kept between us. We both trusted Jordan but knew she had a mouth. So having you by my side with full confidence (especially at the end) was a good move on my part because I could have easily tried to avoid you because of your dangerous connection with Jeff. I am a good judge of character and I knew you had your own brain and were not following him like a sheep, so I kept connect with you in the beginning. I think Jeff noticed this when he nominated you at F7 earlier than we expected, because he got wind of how close we were. That was one of my main goals, which was to get you on my side.

2. Going against Jeff’s wishes in the first week and keeping Renny over Libra. Jeff knew that people were rallying for Renny’s cause and that I was the vote to tie it up. I believed that Libra staying over Renny would not help my game at all. It was a big risk going against Jeff but I knew what Renny was capable of. And I was right. Renny staying over Libra helped me stay off the block in Week 3 and also she and I teamed up so we would be the final 2 in the HoH challenges that got me my first competition win. If Libra stayed, she probably wouldn’t have helped me as much.

3. Winning my 3 HoHs. I know that I most likely wasn’t in the worst danger to be evicted when I won them, but I felt like I needed to win them in order to secure a better spot later in the game and target people who I felt would have hindered me in getting to the finals.

4. I don’t like particularly throwing competitions because naturally I am a very competitive person inside and outside of this game. But at times I felt that I needed to throw some competition and let others who I had trust in (EX: You and Jordan) hold that power. It’s not that I didn’t have to “balls” to carry out more decisions, it just that it would have given me more unnecessary targets on my back that I did not need. I already had Jeff on my ass.

5. Now I know that this move did not help me but I feel like my intentions where for it to extremely help my game. Even though I failed, it was still important. This was a move early on in the game that I intended to carry out and might have helped me turn around my game sooner than I did. I intended to screw over Jeff or another threat to me by winning the power after I completed a secret mission (We all know that you get a secret mission if you survive a vote). My secret mission was to “flirt” and say specific words to a houseguests (chosen by past players) in a chat. I am a very flirty person by nature and felt that I could have accomplished this mission if it was anybody but one person. And yes, the viewers choose Jeff (Darn them ). I struggled talking with that guy let alone FLIRTING with him. So as you are probably are aware I failed it almost right off the bat because he knew my behavior was off even though I tried to pass as being drunk. Lol. Obviously I put this last because it didn't work out.

Is there any particular houseguest(s) that you feel you were the primary force in evicting? Justify your response please unless it is already done in the previous question.

The only houseguests I can think of at the moment was in the first week with Libra…since I was going to be the tiebreaker vote. And also I think by nominating Chima when I was HoH pretty much sealed her fate because her ally Jeff was frozen. (Though I am still confused why he didn’t use the silver veto on her). There were other houseguests that were evicted that I had some say, but it mostly was a group decision in our alliance, that particularly didn't center around just my interest.

If you had to compare yourself to one particular contestant on the actual show of Big Brother (Survivor is also acceptible) who would it be?

I am going to say I have to go with Danielle from Big Brother 3. That was the first season of BB I have ever watched and she opened my eyes to how to really play a game. I try to use some of her methods such as “keep your mouth closed, and your eyes open” sort of thing. Also like me, she had great allies in the game towards the end. I feel like Jordan was my Lisa and you were my Jason considering most of the time our alliance was kept a secret. I won about the same amount of competitions but like her, didn’t rely on winning everything and use other techniques to stay in the game. I think she really got robbed at the end by not winning, and hopefully I don’t have the same outcome as her. That’s the only thing I hope we don’t have in common… getting runner up.

Thanks for the questions. They were very good and well thought out. Good luck with your decision.

[Jordan Lloyd]

Hey Roddy!

Throughout the game, you are the only person that I never moved against from start to finish. I considered you an ally from week 2 when you/Jase/Kev/Jeff/myelf made the alliance after the first vote. Sure, there was never a period in the game where you were my #1 (first half was Jeff, second half was Lyd), but you were my#2 the whole way through. I worked my ass off to ensure your safety when I could, and I planned to go to the end with you from early on. I feel like there is little chance you would have made it here if you had not basically got me to do your bidding - there was really no reason for me to push for you to stay over Russell earlier on, and you were basically 100% safe when I won my HoHs.

But from what I am reading in James' thread, it doesn't really appear like you saw things in the same way. You would have essentially have eliminated me had you won final 6 HoH by nominating me beside an unevictable houseguest, and it sounds like I also probably would have got the boot if I was not HoH in final 5. Don't get me wrong... I am not one to take it personally, and I understand that you were playing the game. In fact, I would greatly prefer to be beaten by someone who screwed me over than by somone who wasn't playing hard in the first place.

What I find myself wondering is whether or not I really have a grasp on your game. I mean, it is evident that I underestimated you. Throughout the game, I felt like you were lacking in both the challenges and strategy department, but in hindsight I was definitely wrong about the former, and possibly wrong about the latter.

I did not "let" you do any of my bidding. You and Jeff took it upon yourselves to get russ put up as replacement nominee because you two wanted me around [and Jeff thought he could control me]. I wouldn't have chosen Russ as replacement, trust me. Also, you should know that after I was nominated I went to speak to renny and explained myself about the first week situation. We had a good talk and decided to put it behind us. I doubt she would have been oh so eager to be willing to let me stay if she still felt threatened by me, especially when the person she nominated in your place wasn't coming after her, whatsoever.

For the majority of the game, we had completely different goals, so I don't know where any of my bidding was done by you :-\ in fact, if I were hoh week 5, Jeff would have been nominated/backdoored. I certainly wouldn't have nominated Kevin or Monica. So I'm not sure where or when I had you do anything I set out to do, especially since after i expressed how badly i did NOT want Alex to go in week 2, you and jeff schemed to ensure that would happen by using veto on renny and putting lydia in her place i learned my lesson lol.

I just want you to understand that I wasn't just sitting there, nodding my head at orders people were giving me. When you came to me with that veto plan about everyone getting something out of it, i knew EXACTLY what i was getting into.
Nov 3, 2009, 1:11am: im gonna play by roddy's rules, but i dont trust it for a minute [not cuz of roddy, but because of jeff]. - Jordo's DR
I needed you to see first hand what Jeff was capable of. For some reason, everyone thought Jeff was lying to everyone else but them. I kept getting BB7 AS flashbacks and everyone fighting to be BFFs with Chilltown, it was mind boggling. What drove me crazy about that even more was that you wouldn't even sign onto AIM right after it happened because you were ashamed or whatever and didn't even respond to my PM till much later, after replacement nomination happened. Trust me, had you been on AIM, i would have practically sold my soul for you to backdoor Jeff, but im sure you knew that and maybe thats why u didnt want to sign in.
Every move i made and every decision i made was calculated.

1. You have only answered James' question so far, but from that single answer I realized that I have no idea where I actually stood with you. I always thought that we were tight, and while I knew that you and Kev had something, I never would have guessed that I was a lower priority to you than James was at final 6. So I guess I basically want to know where I stood with you throughout the game.

Early on in the game, I felt that it was you, me and Jeff and that I would probably have a stronger relationship with you as opposed to Jeff, but it came clear that you and him were definitely the tighter ship. It's just whenever I would talk to you about something (i.e: me not wanting Alex to go), later Jeff would bring up a similar subject. As the game went on, while still keeping our relationship intact, I wasn't about to just sit there and wait to be taken out at final 3, that's just stupid. I built relationships and kept in contact with those I already had been in from the getgo which then ensured that if I wouldn't be able to win HOH, that I would have enough people to cover me with their HOH reign. Believe it or not, but not winning HOHs is an actual startegy.
october 15, 2009, 11:01 PM: i want to win veto. fuck hoh, i want to win veto as often as possible. - Jordo's DR
I played this game as a social game, but worried about myself when it came down to safety. I did as much as I possibly could to keep the people I trusted safe and free from danger, but I had to come first because it came pretty clear that I wasn't first for anybody, except maybe Kevin <3.
Midway through, when I was telling you about the stuff Jeff did to me personally, you sort of just brushed it off and thought I was being crazy or something, which sort of rubbed me the wrong way. I knew there was no way you were going to turn on him unless Jeff actually backstabbed you first. That was unfortunate because when you won HOH on week 5, it was the perfect opportunity to backdoor him and in turn, he did get to you first.
After that, although I was a little upset with the way you reacted to the Jeff stuff, I put that on the back burner because there was a game to play. I never fully trusted that you and him were done, so when I wanted that HOH that you ended up winning, I was going to nominate you and Jeff for fear that you would not only use veto on him, but that another one of my closer allies would leave. At that point, James and I spoke on a daily basis and i trusted him more. I also knew he and Lydia didn't have a very strong bond and especially not as strong as yours and Lydia was, so I wanted him there for my own benefit. Through this though, my #1 target was always Jeff, so no. I would have never wanted you out over Jeff.
Roddy, no matter what, throughout this entire game, I always saw you as an ally, but I always KNEW you had better connections with other people. First Jeff and then Lydia. Yours and Lydia's relationship was part of my argument as to why I should evict you over Jeff in F4, but considering the conversations I've had with Jeff in the past, i knew he would take lydia to F2 over me and i felt i had a better shot at beating the two of you at F3 hoh than i would have with Jeff there.
As much as I appreciated you as an ally, I wasn't about to settle for being #2, so this is why I would have nominated you at F6 hoh and not James.

2. Explain the five most strategic elements you had to your game. This can range from a general strategy to a particular move such as the use of a veto or choice of nominations. If you cannot come up with five, then do as many as you can. They do not necessarily need to result in success, but I want to know WHY you made these decisions, how they actually ended up affecting you, and who they screwed over (or at least, who you intended to screw over). Oh, and because I am overly analytical, please rank the five elements from most important to least.

1. My overall social game was my best strategy and my biggest reason for sitting here in final 2. Yes, I secured my spot by single-handedly determining my own fate in this game by winning vetos and final hoh, but thats not what lead me here. I started my social networking the moment AIM screenames were available. I spoke to Libra, Alex, Chiara, Russell, Lydia, Jeff, James and Roddy. After the shit first hit the fan, I started speaking with Jase, Kevin and Monica. None of my conversations or my relationships were fake. Obviously I connected with certain people more than others, but that's part of the game and actually, that's LIFE. Libra and Alex were two people that I really felt would be great allies to me in the game and both were evicted weeks 1 and 2. Week 5, Jase quit on me, which turned everything on it's head for me. At that very moment, I felt like I had absolutely nobody in this game besides for Kevin, who wasn't always around to compete in competitions and Lydia, which i then got closer to. I made that post against Jeff because I needed people to know that I was not aligned with him. Prior to that, I was coming after him in secret. I knew that there were some people who kindaaaaa wanted him gone, but didn't really want to get their hands dirty. I wanted those people to know that I was serious and that they could count on me to help make it happen. My connections to the houseguests was tested big time around this time and onwards. My early relationships with Roddy and my building relationship with Lydia were the reasons I wasn't nominated ever again. On top of that, I had my relationships with Monica and James that were getting pretty steady as well. I knew that I would be fine because I had made strong relationships and made allies with lots of people who wouldn't evict me if it ever came down to that again. By the time the numbers dwindled, I took matters into my own hands and started winning Vetos to ensure my safety.

2. Winning F6 veto was HUGE for me. Renny was the last remaining person, other than Jeff, that I did not feel comfortable with being in the game. I was going through a "paranoid" period and felt like I couldn't trust ANYONE other than myself to win it. When it came down to Lydia, James and myself, I ended up helping James with the answer because I wasn't sure I could trust that Lydia wouldn't use POV. This worked BIG TIME because it came down to me and James and I won it by a large margin.

3. It was very early on in Week 3 that I not only realized the type of player Jeff was, but I had also officially turned against him [no longer considered him an ally]. I was nominated for eviction and he asked me to help him with veto so he could use it on me and then he ended up using it on you. I was SO angry. oh, you don't even know. how is it that you don't know? that's because i acted like it didn't matter. I knew I still needed his vote and with his vote, came renny's support and with her support came a bunch of other votes as well. I shut my mouth and bit my tongue for a very long time.

4. Winning F4 veto was the best feeling. Not only because it secured my spot in the F3, but because I was finally able to accomplish the one thing I've been meaning to accomplish since week 3. I was the sole vote to evict that week and I finally managed to evict my biggest threat to making it to final 2.

5. Week 4, when Jase won HOH, he and I discussed Jeff to extremes and toyed with the idea of getting rid of him "soon. " Jase and I were aligned from the 5 person alliance created to take all the Renny voters out, but we seemed to have a connection beyond that. Him, Kevin and I all felt the same way about Jeff, but Lydia didn't seem to want Kevin as a 4th person, so we decided not to push it. It definitely seemed like a Jeff backdoor plan was in motion, but unfortunately, Chiara was expelled which completely foiled our plans.

3. Is there any particular houseguest(s) that you feel you were the primary force in evicting? Justify your response please unless it is already done in the previous question.

Renny. Not only did I win veto to secure this, but since both Lydia and James' votes were secured in different directions, Kevin and I had the deciding votes. Kevin told me he was going to vote the same way as I and so we both evicted Renny.

Jeff. Obvious reasons. I won veto and I evicted him.

Roddy. I won final hoh and evicted you.

4. If you had to compare yourself to one particular contestant on the actual show of Big Brother (Survivor is also acceptible) who would it be?

Dan Gheesling <3 because I fucking LOVE him. hehe.
Dan made it his strategy to throw early competitions, even if it meant sitting there on eviction night. He was seen as weak and when someone on the other side won some power, he wasn't targeted for this exact reason... which compares very much to when Jeff shrugged me off as insignificant when he wouldn't nominate me week 8.
After being killed on a landmine in the 3rd HOH competition:
Oct 22, 2009, 9:29pm: BEST prize everrrrrrr, lol. i didnt want to win hoh. - Jordo's DR.
Towards the end when Dan had certain targets in mind, he took it upon himself to start winning competitions to not only secure his own safety, but ensure that the right person left. I did this at F7 when I won veto to ensure Renny would leave, my last remaining target, apart from Jeff who was hoh at the time. Then I won F5 veto, expectinggggg Jeff would go and won F4 veto, evicting my biggest threat. Finally, I won F3 veto and secured my spot in F2.


thank you and good luck with your decision!

[Roddy Mancu$o]

Thanks girls for two amazing responses to those questions. Those were not easy questions but neither of you slacked on answering them.

Good luck to both of you.