If there is a cow on This island we damn sure aren't eating yogurt....beefsteaks tonight boys!

While sitting around the barbecue, graze on this final challenge...

Let's finish up by seeing who can make the most out of the least. Pick a team with a .400 or worse winning percentage, and play a three-game series against each of the other two remaining survivors. The player with the best record in those six games gets one vote toward winning Survivor III. Anything goes for pitchers; you can start the same guy in all three games, and pitch anyone in relief. Tiebreaker will be net steals. Sitemail your selection to me; teams can be changed up to the time when I post the matchups.

While we are proceeding with the final challenge, the members of the jury —FishNasty; deltagorfers; toddleduc; The Taint; soxyanks12; nfet; acketyack — will post their questions for each of you to get the discussion going before they vote for a winner.

Hey fellas - who do you think, besides yourself, played this game the best from start to finish? What strategy (or moment) will you remember from this game? And most importantly, what one lesson did you learn from this whole game?

It is hard to say who played the best from start to finish because I think so much goes on that everyone doesnt know about. That said what I can speak to is the quality of the game that soxyanks12 played. He always seemed to have his ducks in a row and if it were not for a pass of the idol by tropicanna then it is very likely that soxyanks12 is up here instead of one of us three.

The moment/strategy I will remember the most was after the 2nd challenge,(it was our tribes 1st time to vote) and many people had said tropicanna was the one to vote out, I lobbied to vote someone else out on the basis that we knew tropicanna did not have many alliances going and we could pick him off at any time. I then passed on some info to tropicanna and was able to have him keep me in the loop on the various dealings of the tribes. Really a big what if moment there if he goes home that early.

I learned that this game is fun to play and I am glad to have been able to give it a run. I also have learned that josh had some of the same troubles I did when I ran it in terms of setting up challenges, people backing out and so on. But the main thing I learned was that there are a lot of good people on LIVE that I had not talked to much before. It was good to chat with tropicanna whom I hadnt really talked with before, it was fun to send 50 SMs while at work debating teams and strategies with you guys.

Thanks for the questions, ack....

I'm gonna give two answers to the first part, not as a cop out, but because I think it was broad enough that it deserves two...delta was a BEAST in the challenges. I went back and looked and, unless my math was off, he was 11-4. Just a ridiculous record.  I think, in the end, that meant he had to go -- he was on such a run that it wouldn't have been out of the realms of possibility that he could have won every immunity challenge on the way out.  The thing I can't really speak on is his social aspect of the game, because he and I didn't talk much...

I have to admit that I really appreciated the way nfet played because he took the other tack that I could have. Neither of us had natural alliances heading into this one (there was a point in the game where I'm sure that I had sitemailed josh more than anyone else in the game combined...you know, just to chat...). Nfet went another route and just laid low and presented himself as someone that could help come tribal time. He ended up being a VERY valuable piece of the puzzle for me and for, really, everyone left. Some might say he was a pawn, but I don't agree. He was playing, and playing hard. Just behind the scenes.

The moment I'll remember was toddleduc and The Taint dropping out back to back without votes. I had so many options at that point, and when they both dropped, all I had was abject terror. Toddle was the one person I had talked to from the very start, and he and I bounced ideas around the whole game until he stepped aside. When The Taint dropped...damn. A huge opportunity got thrown away to the wayside. Just ridiculous...The final three would be very, very different right now had Taint not dropped when he did. Really a shame, because no one would have seen it coming...

Piggybacking off of that, I learned just how important it was to adapt. I had intentionally set myself up with a ton of alliance options just so I would have the opportunity to be here.  My plan was to beg, borrow, cheat and steal my way here, which was going to do two things -- one, make me a little unpopular, but two give me various paths. It was a little bit shocking when the path was chosen for me, and that was where I had to adapt and make it work. I'm here and I'm standing, despite the fact that the one guy I ended up being true to the whole game, kneeneighbor, stabbed me in the back at the worst time.  At least I'll get to say, "I told you so," if I'm right about who wins...

Like I already told you ack, you impressed me this go-around. Not only with the knowledge to select your teams, but your ability to make long-term alliances and sway people's votes. Like I said before, I underestimated you, and almost payed for it. There was a time that you should have been gone but were saved by your idol. The next vote you were saved because someone dropped out and then by then we couldn't get to you.

The strategy I will remember first was playing knee's idol that he gave to me. Not only did it save me, people had no clue on that it had been passed. I had never been to the island so there was no way of knowing that i remotely had a chance to have an idol. That right there was a big moment in the game that could have flipped who would have been in the final 3 in my opinion.

I would say since I'm running the next survivor, I learned the in's and out's of what knee and josh have tried to do, and I have mixed their trials with my new flair to really make it over the top. We will see if it works. I learned what is valuable in this game and how to get around certain things. I also learned that you can't just get the best pitcher to win like you do when creating a team for yourself. Offense seems to win more than pitching at times in survivor. I really don't know why that is.

Like I told you at the time, knee, we'll see if I get to say I told you so or not...and again, you were the one guy I was true to alliance-wise the whole game. You can ask nfet and ack, they BOTH told me you would totally do something like that, and I told them both that you wouldn't do something like that to me...

thanks guys for answering - I can tell you all, that in spite of any alliances I may have had in this game - I am leaning toward one person that PLAYED the best (even if at times he played me) - the easiest thing to do on the jury is to vote this like a popularity contest - I am really going to focus on this tribal council and I hope the other members of the jury factor it into their final decision -

My question has two parts.

1) I want each of you to explain to me why you think you and your 2 competitors both deserve and do not deserve to win.  Was there anything they did or didn't do in this game that they shouldn't/should have done?

2) Who would you vote for (other than yourself) if you were on the jury?

hmmm soxy...guess I took to long to finish typing my question...

okay for my question you dont have to tell me why you deserve to win.  Just why you don't deserve to win.  Still tell me why your opponents both deserve and don't deserve to win....and which of your opponents you would vote for.

Why do I deserve to win?

Interesting question since I hate tooting my own horn. I would just say I hope my play and personality showed during the game that people recognized. I thought I did my best at keeping alliances and promises throughout the game. I didnt choose several paths like trop said he did.

Why don't I deserve to win?

I guess I would say that earlier in survivor, my record wasn't the best, but here in recent rounds that has changed. But if I had to say what would cost me is my earlier record was not too pretty to look at.

My opponents

Well knee really saved me last round by giving me his idol and was my strongest alliance in the game from the start. So he deserves to win based off of that if it were me bc i wouldnt have even been around had he not done that. So it showed true loyalty to me. I guess he may of burned some bridges along the way it seems based on some posts above, so if you were one of those, maybe thats why he doesnt deserve to win, but I myself cant say that.

Trop has been a stand up guy, and we have talked over this survivor and before this had never really talked to him before. We have both kinda been in the same boat but really never crossed paths all that much being on seperate tribes or later in the game so really don't want to lie on why he should or shouldnt win because i just dont know.

I deserve to win for the following reasons:

1. I won two challegnes for idnividual immunity here at the end. Something neither of the other two can claim.
2. I used my idol to save Bastan or he is not here, and  as I stated earlier Trop was on the chopping block but I was able to save him there too. That is not to say that they havent helped me out along the way either.
3. I played the game hard from the start, worked well with everyone and even though it may uspest some of you on the jury I had a hand in sending most of you to where you were.

I shouldnt win because I did have several alliances of convinance as we moved along. Ackety and I crossed paths a few times and we were able to help each other here and there but in the end I did vote for him, that was the case a few other time as well earlier so if it bothers people that I cracked a few eggs to make an omlet then they will not vote for me.

Bastan deserves to win becuase he seemed to keep his head above the muck, and he has played solid in some challegnes. However he does not deserve to win because he has not won a single individual immunity and he needed someone elses idol to get to the finals.

Tropicanna deserves to win because he single handedly found 2 hidden idols, threw us all for a loop when he passed one to nfet and was able to make it this far without having a natural partner in this game as some people have had.
That said I think he slid by early as no one saw him as a threat and then he slid by late as everyone knew he had at least one idol and some suspected two. Perhaps having them flushed earlier would have been a better move and perhaps we should have goten him when he thought he was safe. I know he feels like I stabbed him in the back by not telling him that I was going to save bastan but in reality all it did was add another vote for him in the finals as I feel like nfet is leaning that way now.  He keeps saying I did this to him, when in fact the only person I did it to with that move was nfet.

Oh and I do beleive I went through this whole game with out a single vote against me.