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I saw it coming too, which is exactly why the last thing I said was "Nothing anybody has said on the message board had any effect on this storyline." I wanted to make it perfectly clear that episode 11 was always going to be a double reversal, ever since I sat down to write it. The fact that people complained about the Gretchen/Colleen plan working had nothing to do with it. I knew that was never going to work. It wasn't supposed to. In fact, if you remember the immunity challenge, I even spelled it out right there what was going to happen. There's a sentence in there that says "Gretchen realized that, oddly, she had somehow underestimated Alicia. How had that happened?" That sentence was a dead giveaway to what was about to happen. Gretchen had sort of forgotten that Alicia is a variable in this game too. She wants to win just as badly as anyone.

The problem (from my point of view) is that what you guys were reading was a working copy of a very intricate episode. And in a working copy, I tend to just throw together sections as fast as I can. Working copies are rarely ever perfect, mainly because I don't try to make them perfect. I just want them to be a template. In the final draft of this episode, the John/Alicia conversation will be a lot longer and a lot more detailed, and so will the Colleen/Gretchen scene. There is a lot of stuff there that I am assuming came off when I wrote it, but it probably didn't. I have no idea. I never go back and re-read sections until I do the final draft. I have no idea if the scene that I wrote in my head matches the one you read in the working copy. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. All I know is that I have almost every single detail of this episode written IN MY HEAD, and sooner or later I'll be able to get it down to my satisfaction on paper. Right now, it is clear that is isn't, and that's why I have publicly hidden the working copy. In fact this is probably the last time I'll be publishing the working copy of an episode for the rest of the story. I find it too hard to have to defend scenes that are not 100% finished.

So anyway, there you go. Thanks Michelangelo for weighing in. You summed up my feelings on this episode almost word for word. Gretchen should never have monologued. That is the entire theme of what I am going for here. And in my head, it sounds like a great episode. We'll see.

Michelangelo, you got the general gist of it, but there are a couple of key variables that you didn't read.

1. Alicia has been dwelling on Gretchen's deal for a while, and something in her gut is telling her that something is wrong with this. There is something wrong with the way the producers are interviewing her. They seem to think that the F2 will be a lot closer than Alicia is assuming. And after a full day of this, it is starting to spook her. What sort of death trap has Gretchen walked her into?

2. Alicia goes to the only pseudo friend she has in the game, John. The two of them are not BFFs by any stretch of the imagination, but they have always been honest with one another because they are very similar people. She goes to him mainly because A) she trusts him, B) she understands him, and C) he won't bullshit her. Good or bad, she knows she will get an honest answer from him. So she asks him, do you think it's possible that Colleen can ever win a jury vote. John is suspicious. "Why?", he asks. Alicia won't give details, she just floats the question. John says that there's no way Colleen can win, because there's no way she is supposed to get to the F2. There is no scenario anywhere on Ahi where someone would let Colleen get to the end. It's way too risky. Why would you let America's Sweetheart into the F2?

3. Alicia raises doubts that Colleen could ever win a jury vote and John starts logically laying out the votes for her. He explains that Rob votes for Colleen hands down. He explains that Tina probably votes for Colleen, hands down (if Tina doesn't, she looks like a poor sport.) He explains that Gretchen votes for Colleen hands, down. John says all those votes would pretty much be in the bag.

4. Alicia says, "Well that's only 3 votes." And John (who has of course figured out why Alicia is asking this) adds ominously that if Colleen were in the F2 against Alicia, John would vote for Colleen. Alicia is surprised. "Why?" she asks. John implied that if he were to find out that Alicia fucked him over just to go to the end against America's Sweetheart, he would assume she is an idiot. And he's not gonna vote for an idiot. He says that if Colleen inexplicably winds up in the F2, he will vote for her just out of principle. Basically he is doing this just to scare Alicia. He is a little worried about why she is bringing this up.

5. Alicia (of course) is now incredibly spooked about the prospect of an Alicia-Colleen F2. Because the votes have just been laid out for her in completely clarity. It is a much rougher road than she had originally anticipated. She hadn't realized that Gretchen/Tina/Rob were all slam dunk votes for Colleen. So she thinks about for a couple of minutes. She has to decide how she wants to proceed with this.

6. Alicia thinks about it and thinks about it, and then it starts to dawn on her that there is another option she has never considered. There is actually a Plan B which, while risky, could have a much bigger payoff if a few pieces fall into place. So she gets a big grin on her face. John doesn't like it. When Alicia is smiling, it's usually trouble.

7. Alicia finally spills her guts about the whole Gretchen plan. She tells John everything. How Gretchen is willing to drop out at the F3, just to ensure that an Ahi doesn't win this game. John is shocked. Gretchen came up with that? He can't believe it. It seems he severely underestimated her.

8. So this is Alicia's deal. She tells John that she won't force a tie with Gretchen and Colleen, but only under one condition. She wants a F2. Right here, right now, John promises her a spot in the final two, or she forces the rock. Since she's immune, she knows she has leverage on this. Does John really trust Tina and Vee to cover his ass in a 3-3 tie tonight? Does he think they'll take a bullet for him? Or does he throw his chances in with Alicia instead?

9. John of course is pissed off. Fuck you, he wants to scream at her. Because he doesn't like this one bit. He had the entire game in the palm of his hand and all of a sudden now he's being blackmailed. All of a sudden he has a lot less control over this game than he originally thought. He hadn't expected this.

10. John and Alicia talk about it for a while and he eventually agrees. Fine, final 2. And Alicia makes sure he understands the ramifications here. She lets him know that if she agrees to this deal, and John fucks her down the road, she will poison him on the jury. She lets it be known that the last thing he wants on the jury is an angry Alicia. John knows this and he understands. But he makes her aware of the same thing in reverse. If he agrees to this deal, she Alicia screws HIM, he will absolutely murder her chances to ever win. He says that he can be just as big of a bitch if she can, if she decides to cross him.

11. So with this uneasy truce in place, John departs. But not before making one last demand. I get to pick who goes first. Alicia doesn't like it, but she agrees. John decides.

12. John goes to talk to Vee. He tells her everything that just happened. And Vee (seeing an opportunity) names the one person that she has been wanting to get rid of for the longest time now. She nominates the only person she can not for the life of her figure out, Colleen. After all, Colleen has been playing both sides for a long time now. Vee smiles and suggests that it is finally time to get rid of the Ahi troublemaker.


That's where my last section ended. I may change a few of the details around in the final version, but for the most part I'm pretty happy with this. I don't think a single action is out of character for anyone.