Monica's Rite of Passage

[Monica Padilla]

17th Place - Rob Cesternino

I was actually pretty surprised that you got eliminated first, Rob. But I have to confess that you were pretty hilarious. Taking four hours to do the puzzle was funny as all hell, and then the fact that you called us all "imbossiles" (English Major Monica points out to you that it's spelt "imbeciles") was even funnier. Sad you couldn't have clowned around longer!

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16th Place - J.T. Thomas

Mister JT! I was actually pretty freaked out by you in the beginning, since I knew that you were one of the few people who would know to be on the lookout for me as a strategic and challenge threat after Greenland. Plus, John was swearing to me that he could control both you and Brad, which was something I was definitely leery of. That's why I lobbied hard for you to go over Tyrone. But I think you were kinda done anyway, so no hard feelings, eh?

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15th Place - NaOnka Mixon

Na, I think you had the definite potential to be a contender in the game. Obviously you thought you had it in you to be the sole survivor, as evidenced by the last challenge, so it's sad that I really never got to see the spunk outta y'all.

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Benry Henry - 14th Place

Benry, you were a really awesome guy! I think I probably talked to you the most out of anybody before we got split up into tribes. I was sad that things got switched around on us, because I think we could definitely have had good times together, and I know that losing that last IC wasn't really your fault, since you couldn't avoid it.

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John Kenney - 13th Place

I was incredibly bummed that you went! This happens to us in every game we play! Even though you were marginally active at the best of times, and you were definitely one of the shadier people to look out for, what with your connections and wanting to blindside Jane or Jon all the time, I think you were definitely someone that would have been loyal during the merge and kept all of the insanity from happening. I'm still not sure why Jane and Tyrone wigged out on me, but you were unfortunately the fall guy, and I'm really sorry.



Charlie Herschel - 12th Place

Another one of my Greenland worry-inducers! Charlie, I loved ya to death, I think out of all of the Greenland players you were the one I could trust not to hold anything against me. I'm really sorry about whatever real life issues you were going through that made you drop out, but I hope things get better for you! You're a good dude!



Brad Virata - 11th Place

I was really sad that they targetted you at the merge. You seemed like a great guy, even if you were pretty quiet. But, given your final words, my guess is you were a huge threat just tryin' to keep it low-key. I hope we run into each other in another game, man. We'd have fun times. Even if you do like Brad.

[Monica Padilla]

Jaime Dugan - 10th Place

I... don't really know where to begin with you, Jaime. I loved you to death in the last game we were in together, and I knew that coming into this you and I could definitely have been a huge force in the game. Given my druthers in round one, I definitely would have taken you to the final two.

But then you chose Christy over me, and obviously I knew that you were doing it for secrecy reasons, but it still kinda hurt that you went back on your promise. Then when we got tribeswitched, you didn't IM me until TC, which to me kind of meant that you probably weren't interested.

Then, of course, we got to the merge, and that's when all hell broke loose. You didn't invite me to join the alliance, didn't tell me what was going on, didn't even IM me until the TC you left. The only reason you were targetted was because Eliza picked you, and that's a fact. I told you straight up I wouldn't change my vote, but I hated doing it. I really did.

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Amanda Kimmel - 9th Place

Miss Montana! We didn't get to talk much, but when we did, I always felt like you were an interesting person. I was a bit befuddled as to why you fought so hard to stay in the game when it was pretty obvoius you were unhappy here. I guess you're like a giant panda, or something...

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Christy Smith - 8th Place

Girl, I never really knew what to make of our relationship. We kind of had a loose friendship going into the merge, despite the fact that it really came down to you or me the round that John left. After that, it was kind of a weird dynamic. When it looked like the Kansai Girls Alliance was gonna own the show, and you told me you weren't sure how long you could protect me, that's when I started to seriously freak out. I promised you I wasn't after you the round that Jaime left, and then again the round that Amanda left, but after that it came down to you or Jane (or, as it turns out, Fairplay), and I had stronger ties to Jane than to you. Hope there are no hard feelings, because I've always agreed with your AIM name - you are so very cool.

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Jon "Fairplay" Dalton - 7th Place

My homeboy! I'm sure the jurors have told you all kinds of horrible things about me, but I really did like you. Even when Neishi was raring to throw a challenge and boot you, I was still your number one fan and fought like hell to save you. I think you got a bad rap from day one, and that was really hard to overcome, but I did always feel bad, since it seemed like you were a genuinely nice and trustworthy guy.

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Marcus Lehman - 6th Place

Marcus, you were definitely a badass contender. I definitely underestimated how capable you were of getting in there and mixing things up. For the longest time I thought you were in Tyrone's pocket, but I think it's pretty obvious that you were definitely the one running the puppet show there, and making everybody think you were just an innocent little dude. Props to you, for you truly were the master of the underworld.

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Jane Bright - 5th Place

Janey Girl, I think the worst moment of the whole game for me was when you took away my "Good Luck" in your final words. I know you're probably seriously pissed off at me, because I broke my word to you. But I hope you know that I would never have done it if there was any possible way I could have ever beaten you. You were definitely a huge threat, and I know for a fact if you were here you would have dominated the jury and won this game 7-0. Still love ya, and I hope we can be friends later on.

[Monica Padilla]

The Final Four!

We're the fantastic final four!



Tyrone

Not gonna lie, I honestly never thought you and I would both get here. I was pretty hardcore targetting you all through the merge, ever since it became apparent that you were going over to the Kansai girls to try and take us out. I know you pretty much always wanted me out after Fairplay. It's kind of interesting to have a hardcore rival here at the end with me, but hopefully we can patch things up eventually. No sense hatin'!

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Alexis

Alexis Solar Plexus!

I've really never been sure how to read you. You seem like a really great chick, and we connected really well in the initial days of the game, and then we got split up, and then there was all of this madness surrounding the merge, and you helped double-vote Brad out. I think the biggest move of the game was when you flipped to vote off Jaime, because that was the move that brought you, me, and Eliza together. While we haven't always been able to trust each other *coughvotingoffFairplaycough*, I'm proud to say that I was right when I promised you we'd be in the final four together.

That being said, I was a little put off by your arrogance last round. You said you didn't want Jane gone, because you were afraid that we'd take Tyrone to the finals. I said "Nah, I want to go with you." And your response was something along the lines of "But I would totally kick your ass," which I found a little bit offensive. Overconfidence is not a good trait to display at this stage in the game, especially since we have one more challenge left. I think I'll still keep my word, but it's gonna be a struggle after that little comment.

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Eliza

Y'know... I honestly have never been more perplexed by another person in my entire life. I do genuinely appreciate that you're so devoted to me, in fact, that's pretty much the best quality an ally can have, to me. But you had this whole... I want to say jealous girlfriend dynamic, but you're not a girl, and neither am I. And my real girlfriend once went hella jealous on some other girl she thought was after me, and that wasn't even close to some of the stunts you've pulled.

On the whole, I'd say working with you has been positive. I think we've... pretty... obviously... had some times that I can at best describe as "interesting" and at worst describe as "totally batcrap crazy."

I knew as soon as you came back that it was gonna be a huge scramble to see who would get your loyalties. I thought Fairplay had you, and then Amanda had you, and then somehow I inexplicably wound up with you, and that just kinda stuck. But I'm glad it did.

[Monica Padilla]

Monica Padilla

Wow.

I honestly don't know what to say. It's definitely a significant privilege to be standing here in the final four of this game. Following Greenland, I knew that this was a very active cast, and I'd be incredibly lucky to be able to place anywhere near as well as I did last time. It's definitely been a huge struggle for me to get here, even with Immunity. I'm incredibly proud of how I played, and I hope that I get the chance to show the jury that I deserve to be Japan's Sole Survivor.