survivorhephaestus

[survivorhephaestus]

Bonus Content: CAPTAIN’S LOG, DAY 00 - A Vote of Confidence

It’s been a little more than a month since Survivor Hephaestus ended. The champion was crowned, the confessionals were posted, all the secrets were spilled, and friends & foes were reunited. And we’re all missing our home beyond the stars... at least a little.

So here’s a bit of bonus content for you, to commemorate the end of our journey. A deleted scene, if you will. Because here’s a fun fact: right before this season was scheduled to begin filming, one of our cast members dropped out unexpectedly, and production was in a bit of a scramble to find an alternate. After all, we had to be very selective about who we put on our crew. As you all now know, it’s pretty brutal out in space, especially if you aren’t properly equipped. We did end up finding that magical 16th person very shortly before we started (now taking guesses as to who it was...!), but we had to come up with a backup plan in case we couldn’t find them in time. This is what we came up with.

So take a peek below, and imagine what could have been. Would this season have played out differently if we’d used this method? Undoubtedly - but there’s no way of telling what the game would’ve looked like. Just a little fun stuff to think about!

Welcome, Crew of the Hephaestus!

Your mission has begun, but we’re not quite to the stars yet. For those of you who may be wondering where you are... welcome to the Goddard Futuristics training chamber. 

There are fifteen of you in this room. Don’t worry - it may be a bit cozy for now, but you’ll be divided up into your teams soon enough. We certainly couldn’t expect all fifteen of you to share a single spaceship without killing each other, now, could we?

Before we divide you, though, there’s some initial business to attend to. Consider this a kind of social aptitude test. For the next twenty-four hours, all of you will have a chance to get to know each other better; then your newfound relationships will be put to the test. In order to create any successful team, you need a strong Captain - so you’re all going to pick one together.

By the time this twenty-four hour period is up, you will each be required to cast a vote for the one person here you would trust with your life, the person you feel confident could guide you to the end of the universe - the person, in short, who you want as your Captain. The exact details of this position and the groups being represented will be explained later*; for now, all you need to know is that the Captain of each team will have special powers that could make or break their team’s success.

And that’s it for now! This is Ari signing off. If you have any questions, I may or may not be able to answer them, but you’re certainly welcome to ask. Please submit your Captain votes via Skype or Tumblr by 8:00 PM EST, February 18th.

Goodnight!

*For the curious, this is how it would have worked: We’d split fourteen of you into the two initial teams, Minkowski and Lovelace, and the remaining person - the person with most votes for Captain - would have been a member of both teams. They’d have some special Captain powers in the immunity challenges, as well as some other bonus access to places that were off-limits to everyone else, and of course there would be some tricky consequences to balance out that power. We don’t know exactly what all this would’ve entailed... but we were pretty excited to figure it out as we went :~)

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 13 / FINALE / Space: The Final Frontier

The Final Five - Josh, Logan, Jakey, Katie, and Renee - set out on the home stretch of their journey with a challenge to test their social relationships and savvy: they had to identify confessional quotes from jurors and guess who said them, as well as a couple of quotes not from juror members at all. Logan got 7 points and had the highest score....

.... except Renee did not submit, receiving her third strike. Which meant, as per the Pryce & Carter DSSPPM, she had to be medically evacuated from the game. She was not permitted to join jury, so Carson was promoted into the vacant spot as the Final Four embarked on their Rites of Passage to pay their respects to Renee and all the other brave astronauts who they sacrificed to the stars.

After Rites of Passage, the four faced a final reward challenge (Epic Coaster) in order to steer the ship back on course after autopilot Zo’s tragic demise. Josh won this challenge, and received an advantage in the upcoming Final Immunity.

For the castaways’ final test of dedication and strength, they participated in a cryosleep endurance challenge, posting once every fifteen minutes to put out a distress call. They had a 48-hour window to participate in this, with up to twenty-four consecutive hours permitted for posting.... and after a long and intense struggle, Josh prevailed and secured the last individual immunity of the game. At the last Space Council where these four had control over their fate, Jakey was voted out 3 - 1 and became the final member of the jury.

At Final Space Council, the jurors asked questions and made statements, deliberating between and within themselves, trying to decide who was most worthy of the title of Sole Survivor. Each of the final three made a good case for themselves and each of them received at least one vote..... and after 39 days surviving the vastness of space, Logan won 5 - 1 - 1 and was crowned Sole Survivor of the Hephaestus mission.

JOSH

Renee approached me for a Final 2 deal after voting me out twice? What kind of strategic queen....

my gameplan for the next few rounds is to stick with Logan this round because they have 2 idols lol ideally Jakey goes out this round. The only scenario i can see myself having a shot at winning is to go to f3 with Renee and Katie but that means getting rid of Logan and....I'm willing to do it but not right now lol

Did I really just have to tell Jakey to his face that I voted for him? I could’ve ignored his question when he asked me who I voted for but I told him anyway. Why am I like this.

JOSH

i can't believe i made final 4 by default.......i certainly did not see myself winning this game but i actually have a decent shot??? not having a strategy works folks!

I have a feeling this is gonna end up as a repeat of Night Vale where I lose an endurance challenge and then i end up as the finally jury member  

JOSH

Space: the final frontier. FTC is unfamiliar territory yet here I am. Let’s see how I fuck this up big time because did I get here by my own strategies and cunning tactics? lmao no.

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODES 12: Everyone Is Getting Half Of The Truth Tonight

Episode 12: 

The players were given a Space Transmissions Music Mashup to decipher, in which their observations over the past several weeks were put to the test. Considering the intensity of the music, they all did surprisingly well; scores were fairly close, and it was only with a score advantage that Logan edged out their competition. 

At Space Council, there was another 3 - 3 tie between Josh and Jakey. This time, however, nobody changed their votes, which meant it was time to go to rocks. And in a Survivor first, when the bag of rocks came out, Renee volunteered to take Katie’s rock as well as her own and have her name put in the list randomizer twice in exchange for Katie’s safety. As the rules stated nothing against this, it was allowed, and with Renee’s name in twice and Lydia’s once, Lydia was rocked out of the game.

KATIE

You get a half lie and you get a half lie... check under you seats teammates because woohoo everyone is getting half of the truth tonight!

JAKEY

KATIE

I get that this community is very very accepting and I love that, but sometimes it’s harder for me to say “I am dating this person” than just saying “I am gay” it feels more personally and like a stronger type of “coming out”... I’m not hiding my relationship as a game move or because I’m embarrassed or ashamed or anything like that... I’m just not ready as a person to be that open with people that don’t know me super well............ yeah........idk......I guess I just wanted to get that down in writing for people to read after the season is over so they understand what was going through my head during this time in the game and hopefully not think I was trying to be malicious.

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 11: That’s Not How Conversations Work

Time for a Survivor Auction! The remaining players were given an opportunity to bid on some fabulous prizes, including but not limited to:

A toolkit providing an advantage in a future challenge

A star chart to help find idols

Various delicious (or not-so-delicious) foods

A set of keys that unlocked some of the off-limits rooms on the spaceship

A large, mysterious metal box

A magnet to steal other people’s items

After the loot was divided up, the next immunity challenge began: a lights-out maze challenge in which each player had to make their way through the ship as quickly as possible. Jakey won, and after Josh used his auction keys at Space Council to put himself in the airlock, Karter was voted out for the second and final time by a vote of 3 - 2 - 1.

JOSH

mood this round http://prntscr.com/my38hg 

LYDIA

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 10: Basically, I Was Lied To Yet Again

Before the players had a chance to catch their breath, an Instant Tribal was announced - meaning they would skip an immunity challenge and go straight to another vote. This was activated by the three people who were chosen as “best commanders” in Touchy Subjects: Josh, Patrick, and Logan. These three commanders were given the opportunity to decide whether to have an Instant Tribal this round or the next one and they chose to do it right now.

After an intense twenty-four hours of strategy and bargaining, Patrick was voted out 5 - 3 and became the next member of the jury.

JOSH

this game has aged me. i just want to watch anime in peace but i have to deal with Jakey yelling at me, Pat not being here, Lydia tryna talk game with me and Renee not talking to me at all

tldr i was tryna play both sides this vote that's why i gave lydia my idol to ensure her safety and vote her out to keep jakey happy. turns out richie had already told jakey about my idol then jakey told katie then katie told everyone? and jakey told me they're voting lydia to waste my vote? drew still left in the end so whatever. i feel really solid with my alliance with pat and lydia i'm tryna be open to them as much as possible. i really need to work on my game relationship with logan too. as much as i love them outside the game we don't really talk game much. my top 2 to vote out this instant is either katie or jakey. jakey dosent have immunity  so it's a perfect time but also katie is such a wildcard.

unrelated to the game but UGH I'm so emotional about a fictional character again haha

PATRICK

That was a fun council! What a strange and winding road we took to get there, though. 

I still don't think I have a clear understanding of exactly where the votes came down, except that Katie was the flip vote that made it tie. And whoever threw that Lydia vote is my hero. (Not a sentence I ever thought I'd type – thanks for voting against one of my strongest allies!!!) 

I give Jakey all the credit in the world. That was a really savvy play that very nearly worked. I don't think he or his fellow voters were counting on Josh voting for Drew – I think they expected him to vote Lydia, too. But I came within inches because of an exceptionally well-orchestrated idol flush. 

Katie, OTOH, played this round about as well as she could have. Lydia and I discussed the night before last how Katie plays more for fun than for the win, and I think last night's play was a perfect example of that. She got the idol flush she wanted, made a splashy play, but when push came to shove she didn't bail on her people. 

(Sidebar, and I acknowledge it's weird timing given everything, but the vote got me talking a bit more with Katie and I'd forgotten what a delightful human she is.)  

The instant council also couldn't be coming at a better time, and I'm glad we had that under our hats and ready to spring. Jakey was telling me that if I stayed, he knew he was gone as soon as he didn't have immunity. It took everything in me not to be all "okay I guess we only have 24 hours left then!" Not that I'd do it with any malice or anything. Jakey's aight. 

Game plan tonight... I don't know? Obviously, I think the core of Lydia-Logan-Karter-Josh-me will likely be voting in unison. And for once, I don't feel like I have to camouflage my intentions! It's WEIRD. I think this assassination attempt is the best thing to ever happen to me in a game. I don't usually survive these attempted blindsides, but it's nice to have a solid gauge on where everything lies. 

Also, speaking of lies (see the segue there? did you see it? the segue that i did?) Renee is such an odd bird. She says hi to me yesterday – initiates the conversation – then doesn't respond to my reply. Then votes me out. So I sent her a message being like, "Hey, no hard feelings, do what you've gotta do... but I wish you'd have given me a chance to at least pitch my case." Guilt-tripping, admittedly, because I was planning on voting her out soon. She comes back and says "you still have a chance" and when I asked her if it'd be worth typing a novel and if she'd really consider changing her vote, she says "idk which of you goes" so... like, cool. I didn't bother because I had far more constructive dialogues going elsewhere and I didn't know how much time I'd have.  

Then post-vote, after the instant is revealed, she asks what the vote is this time. Then tries pitching me on... me? Says "honestly like i already voted u once why not just do it again". And THEN tries pitching me on Lydia. And gives me, no joke, my favourite scenario-setting discussion ever. 

Renee, 11:01 PM "well theres 8 people left right i think i could get you, me, logan, karter, josh, katie, jakey to vote her. thats majority." 

Pat, 11:03 PM "That’s unanimous lmao. Only person you couldn’t get is Lydia?" 

Renee, 11:04 PM "unless we convinced her to stay offline all day and she self voted you said she trusts you, do you think you could get her to do that?" 

SURE, I COULD GET LYDIA TO SELF-VOTE. SHOULD I CURE WORLD HUNGER AND ACCOMPLISH UNIVERSAL NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT TOO. 

I think Renee was just being ridiculous for the sake of it. She has to know her game pretty much died last night. 

Anyhow, all things being equal tonight, I'm pulling for a Jakey vote – surpriiiiiiiise. If you come at me, you'd better not miss! It's the obvious play, and if there's an idol floating around still it could easily splash back on me. Lydia also told me the idea's been floated around that I might have an idol (lol I haven't intensely guessed for one since pre-swap, really) so I could see myself continuing to receive votes tonight. But as long as our core stays solid (and I don't see any of those people I listed flipping on me) then I think we're sitting pretty moving into F7. Knock on wood. I think the only reason last night's play failed is because I'm usually the F8 boot, not the F9. They tried it one round too early. Then, ideally, we pick off Katie, Renee in whatever order, leaving us with Logan, Lydia, myself, Josh and Karter. That's a damn fine spot to be in. I've got all the options in the world in that F5. But.... I'm going to NOT get too far ahead of myself. Let's survive this vote first. 

LYDIA

JAKEY

PATRICK

Congrats, Jakey. You got me. ;) Shouldn't have let off the gas and given you a chance to reload.

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 09: If You Come At Me, Don’t Miss

After the drama of Richie’s departure, the castaways were given an opportunity to vent their feelings in Touchy Subjects, their next immunity challenge. Seaweed coffee was spilled and eyes emojis were conveyed, and it turned out that Jakey and Lydia knew their teammates best. Jakey submitted his answers first, which meant he received immunity and was safe from the next vote.

At Space Council, there was.... drumroll please..... another tie, this time a 4 - 4 split between Patrick and Drew after Lydia played an immunity idol and negated one vote for herself. At the revote, Patrick managed to stay alive, while Drew was sent home with a vote of 3 - 1.

KARTER

Dear listeners today was wild but I have a few takeaways. 1) There is no reason, under any circumstance, that you need to tell someone they are "adorable" when you are trying to get them kicked off. It is condescending and frankly, rude. 2) There is also no need to be arrogant when trying to get someone voted off by saying that you are surprised that you got people to vote for them. That's trash. Don't be rude to other people and mostly don't call me adorable. I am a plant slayer damn it.

I am adorable, it's true, you just aren't allowed to say that to me. 

PATRICK

So, um, wow, I blew that. Completely unintentional, and now I look sketchy as hell even with those I voted with. It'll be an uphill battle to regain traction, but I don't even really care about that as much as I know I should. I'm just really upset with myself for disappointing people. I've made efforts to smooth things over with Lydia and Jakey. Josh didn't seem too upset. Logan, the most positive and upbeat person I can think of, was positive and upbeat. And radio silence elsewhere, though I can't tell if it's due to upset feelings or inactivity. 

Anyway, despite my unintended best efforts to fuck it up, the plan went off okay. I can appreciate Drew trying to make something happen by forcing rocks. That's a fun move and kinda ballsy! But Josh flipped with me. It was never going to rocks. Though, that would have been fun to maybe make happen if Drew had insisted. Not like I'm not immune! 

Anyway, I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. The big players going into the home stretch IMO are Logan, Lydia, Jakey, Josh and myself. Throw Katie in there too, come to think of it. I really want to work with the former two til the end. But I also don't want to (and frankly, won't) burn Josh or Jakey. So I've once again put myself right between two warring factions – AWESOME – and because of the way it all went down I don't think either fully trust me. It's a shame – this would be a great position otherwise. And even at that, it probably still is? But my anxiety isn't letting me enjoy it even a little. Blah.

KARTER

Dear listeners, I love my pals. Also Ari is such a gift honestly and I love that they convinced me to play this game.

JAKEY

PATRICK

@jakey – I was honest with you about the missed vote being an accident, and honest with you about not having a good reason for keeping you out of the vote other than my messiness. This past round was a hot mess on my behalf and I'll own that. But I was never coming after you. As good as I am with Logan and Lydia and Josh, I did still want to work with you. 

But this morning, I'm hearing that my name's coming out of your mouth. That's a damn shame. I still like you and have nothing bad to say about you. You're a pretty damn fine dude and I'm glad we had the early game to bury the All-Stars hatchet. I want you to know that I haven't said a bad thing about you to date, and I really don't anticipate that changing even if you do keep coming for me. You're playing your game and I'll never be mad at that just because it doesn't align with mine. 

But I want you to know: I wasn't coming after you until I heard you were coming after me. This is not a confirmation of your suspicions, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. You came after me because you thought I was coming after you, and because of you coming after me I'm now coming after you. Isn't it funny how that works sometimes? 

Best of luck on your path, dude. If you manage to get the votes on me, I'll be proud of you for pulling it off and I won't even be too upset about it. I know why I look sketchy and I understand why you think the right move is coming after me. And hey, for all I know, maybe that is your best move? But if you come at me, don't miss. 

KARTER

Dear Listeners, I don't like all this lying i am confused and I feel bad about it

JOSH

i think i overplayed this round and reacted impulsively. if i get taken out i don't even have any regrets

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 08: Underestimate Me, The Fucc

And...... out of the stars, a wild Karter appears! By a whopping 47 points, they beat out their five competitors and earned their way back into the game. Immediately after Karter’s arrival, the two teams were finally merged and got a day to relax and eat food before their first individual immunity challenge. The Ateluhcra Team (thus named because the players could not come to a reasonable consensus and Ari has been waiting to name a team after our lord and savior David Archuleta for FAR TOO LONG) also got to collectively choose three rooms for their new spaceship, and chose to install the Kitchen, the Communications Room, and the Airlock.

The immunity challenge took the form of a flash game (Asteroids), and Patrick won by a wide margin, securing himself safety from the first merge vote. Renee also secured safety for herself in a roundabout way by using the Airlock to isolate herself from the vote - she could not receive votes, but also could not cast one. At Space Council, shenanigans ensued, as a 3 - 3 - 1 tie between Karter and Richie almost sent the team to rocks, but ultimately the revote tilted against Richie, and with a vote of 4 - 1 - 1 he became the first member of the jury.

LOGAN

logan wins again. sorry carson, sorry drew. i made merge and am feeling great!!!!!

KATIE

i dont think drew trusts me anymore but thats ok because everyone else does

KARTER

I AM A PLANT SLAYER AND JESUS, y'all can't feed my ego like this

I can't beLIEVE ARI DIDN'T COUNT MY SUN PICTURE. Like I know I still won but STILL

RICHIE

we merged!!!!! at first glance it's 5 lovelace vs 5 minkowski but idk if the lines are blurred i guess we'll see??? also karter is back and i voted them out without ever speaking to them so i gotta go

JAKEY

hi we MERGED!!!!!!!!!!!! wow finally and kelsey came back into the game cool!!!!!!

so basically im p good w renee, pat, katie, richie, n kinda josh. lydia is with katie/pat so that leaves us w like 2 options for a boot. i think it'll be either drew logan or kelsey bc honestly i dont see my tribe NOT staying united for the first vote it's just not realistic sweety.

drew is trying his best to get my team to vote together to take out one of the ppl on his team (i think his main targets are katie and lydia) so who knows if thats working??? idk if the ppl from my team are buying what he's selling or whatever but tbh he's desperate and gonna say whatever he needs to say at this point since he made it clear he has no allies. does he not realize i was one of the people who voted to send out his closest ally, owen, and make sure he has no options at merge?????? prob not so if all the blame wants to be put on katie/lydia imma let that happen!!!

this game is p lowkey so like i don't want to play v hard to stand out. its strange but i almost feel like underplaying is the smartest move bc everyone who is going to be going hard is going to be targeted immediately so i def can't let anyone see how hard i'm rly working!!! renee was like "josh needs to go" right before the merge bc he was the only one doing the challenge so that was "threatening" and IDK it was very telling since i was the only person helping josh in that challenge, i don't wanna be the next target???

underestimate me, the fucc

LYDIA

LOGAN

the sides right now look like Lydia, Karter, Katie, and me vs. the other team of five with Drew off on the side somewhere. there's some possible cracks... Josh and Pat want to with with me, and Renee apparently wants Josh out, so i guess we'll see how this goes. Richie is probably the most dangerous player on the other side because he's so personable, but i don't think we can get him out anytime soon for that very reason

PATRICK

It's been a minute, hi!

So some stuff has been happening. Josh told me he has an idol, which is both good news and bad. It's good because it's a tool we can use to swing things to our advantage. It's bad because I think the target so far seems to be Richie. Who's apparently a duo with Josh.

The target being Richie came up during a conversation with me and Lydia. We were listing off who was on which team during the swap, and both of us forgot Richie. That concerned me. I think I've been pretty clear about what kind of game I think he's playing, and the fact that he's so under the radar while also being likeable is terrifying. If we can't take him now, I wonder when the next chance we'll have will be.

OTOH, I'm definitely somewhat worried about things reverting to team lines immediately afterward. Better players than me have been suckered in that way before, with promises of big things to come that never materialize. I get a different vibe from this group – I think Lydia and Logan are both upfront about working with me, and ditto the other way around. But for better or worse, I can't just kick my paranoia to the side when it's convenient. I'll just have to listen to my gut and act if something feels off.

Renee taking the airlock... I get why she did it. I can't say I fault her. But when people flip from OG teams – and it will happen – the excuse is easy. A 5-5 vote is much more of a struggle. A 5-4 vote (or worse) makes it much easier to justify self-positioning over team good. But also, playing solely for team good is a sucker's move. Gotta know when it's time to cut bait. I like Jakey. I like Josh. Renee and Richie haven't made strong enough impressions for me to want to keep them. And this isn't Minkowski vs. Lovelace anymore – now I'm a Cook in a world of Archuletas. Time to win this.

LYDIA

JOSH

oh boy jakey’s big mad at me

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 07: Nobody Wrote Confessionals This Round So Here I Am Writing Essays and Listening to Steampunk Playlists All Alone

Immediately after Space Council, the remaining castaways got a special announcement - a reward challenge for which the reward was not yet defined. They were tasked with sending in Two Truths and a Lie, which would be used “at some point in the future”.

As a couple of players correctly guessed, these submissions were part of a challenge on the other side of the universe: a three-part competition for all the recently deceased members of this expedition, in order to determine which of them would earn a second shot at playing the game. This challenge consisted of Two Truths and a Lie, a photo scavenger hunt, and a flash game. 

Meanwhile, the still-on-board astronauts were split back into their two original teams for their next challenge: comparing two star charts and determining which constellations were visible in both. It was a very close competition, but Minkowski just barely edged out Lovelace, and at Space Council we said goodbye to Carson with a vote of 3 - 2. As he left the ship, one other person headed back to their redemption.....

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 06: Minkowski is Divided, Dear Listeners

For the next challenge, the castaways were given an “impossible” task: unlocking a mysterious box with a three-digit combination code, which they were allowed to guess for once every ten minutes. This combination was generated by the dear listeners inside the star, who were asked to send Ari numbers between one and ten, which were then put in the order they were received to make up the answer. After a lot of complaining and a couple of clues, Kepler and Lovelace both guessed correctly, leaving Minkowski to face their first four-person Space Council. However, there still weren’t four votes cast at this one - because of their sacrifice to the plant monster back on Lovelace, Karter’s vote was taken away, and they were ultimately voted out 3 - 0.

JOSH

I'm gonna give 50% in this challenge because statistically speaking we aren't gonna crack the code lol

LOGAN

i never wanna see another number ever again

KARTER

Josh and Richie are a team and Carson and I are a team, Minkowski is divided, dear listeners and I can't vote sooooo.

Remember that time I fought a plant monster.

Also Carson is a gift honestly

I think I am going home tonight so, that's all folks. It's been fun dear listeners!

JOSH

how in the world have we only been playing for 16 days? feels like forever ago when this started tf.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w70QkzB2z50 please listen with earphones on this is the most beautiful thing y'all will ever hear

KATIE

i dont think drew trusts me anymore but thats ok because everyone else does

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 05: WAIT YOU TOOK ME AWAY FROM MY DOG

After Space Council, the teams were given a new and exciting twist: a mysterious spaceship appeared on the horizon, only to crash in for a long-awaited Team Swap. Inside the star, the voted-off castaways got to have a hand in deciding who went on which team, and the resulting three teams were as follows:

Minkowski - Richie, Karter, Josh, Carson

Lovelace - Drew, Patrick, Owen, Lydia

Kepler - Katie, Renee, Jakey, Logan

The new teams were given a music video challenge to break the ice, and after varying degrees of effort, Minkowski and Kepler emerged victorious. Before the vote, each team was given a chance to elect an MVP from the challenge who would be given a special power. Lovelace chose Patrick, Kepler chose Katie, and Minkowski all voted for different people so they didn’t get an MVP :( Katie and Pat, however, each got a fifteen-minute satellite call to a person of their choice from another team. Pat used his to call Logan, and Katie called Lydia shortly after, allowing the four of them to enact a secret plan to influence the next vote.

When Lovelace arrived at Space Council, they found out they had been infected by a virus from another team’s laboratory, which meant an extra fifth vote would be cast at their Council. Because of this, Owen was voted off 3 - 2 and sent into the star.

KARTER

I FOUGHT A FUCKING MONSTER AND NOW I AM ON ANOTHER FUCKING SHIP

AND THE OTHER TEAM WAS SO SHADY AND NOW I AM WITH THEM. I MISS MY TEAM. I AM ANTI-MEANIES. THESE ARE CLEARLY MEANIES

I CANT BELIEVE THE OTHER TEAM GETS TO CHEAT

I don't want these new friends :( I miss Logan and Lydia. Fuck this. Lovelace #1 is a gift and I miss all of them.

I hate this new crew and I am so fucking mad the Kepler ship gets this NEW SHIP SHIT but I still love my pals from the original team on that ship so I am torn.

I FOUGHT A FUCKING MONSTER.  KICK ME OFF I HATE THIS GAME WITHOUT MY PALS. Can someone send me out the airlock? Zo?

Just kidding I miss my team my pals m y c r e w

Oh no we are talking about vines now maybe they are okay

WAIT YOU TOOK ME AWAY FROM MY DOG. ARI IS THE WORST

DID I MENTION I FOUGHT A FUCKING PLANT MONSTER?

LYDIA

JOSH

http://prntscr.com/mr5pkf

PATRICK

First: losing Stevie was no fun. I didn't want to vote him, and I told him as much at the end of the round where Jay left. But between a complete lack of traction from anyone else and a lack of time to put in the legwork myself, it didn't make sense for my game to keep him around. :( Sorry, Stevie. You deserved better. And for that matter, Karen, you too.

Onward and upward, anyway. Fweeeeeee, team swap! Love it. In an ideal world it would've come one round earlier or with another person from my OG tribe. Being the lone Minkowski on a tribe of Lovelaces is concerning. But I like this group. All people I'm familiar with to some degree, and two of whom have been pretty good allies in past games! Owen's the one I'm least familiar with, and even he and I have SOME history. Not extensive, but some. 

Realistically, if we go to council, I know I'm in trouble. So I'm going to be doing everything I can to avoid that. In the meantime, this seems like it'll be a fun team! I'm excited to have a good time with Lydia, Drew and Owen. Hopefully we can kick some butt and take some names.

It all starts with this music video. I love editing video, although I haven't done so in a while. I think for this, we'll need a few things to go right: we need a good, catchy song; we need a concept (all the best music videos in ORGs have them, not just raw lip syncing); and above all, we need good-quality video from everyone. Good video can survive bad editing, but the opposite is not true.

And, of course, we need to make a video so objectively good that even a panel of subjective judges can't shut it down. Basically, I want to capture the magic we had in Heroes vs Villains 2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S64ck2mPXs), though so much of that will be dependent on our teamwork.

Also, lowkey I wish Logan was on this team? One, I miss them terribly. Two, they've been in two of the three videos I've ever edited in a game. It feels wrong not to have them in here too. Oh well. I'm sure we'll meet up at merge. Whether we work together is up for debate, but I just miss their peppy upbeat vibe.

I hope Josh and Jakey stay alive, too. If you know my game, you know I like to keep my options as open as possible. And putting aside my own game, I'd like to see those two get far. I think both stand DECENT chances because of the tribe's splits. But we shall see!

KARTER

I just miss my friends. We worked so well together. Lovelace #1 forever.

I kinda hope they vote me out this round.

PATRICK

Well, this is frustrating. I tried pushing things along yesterday, strongly hinting at needing today to do anything. And nobody really helped much, causing today to mostly come and go. Lydia finally ended up taking the reins — bless her soul — and she picked the one song I voiced objection to. Beautiful. But, whatever, it's too late to be switching songs. 

It's also too late to lock in any concept like I'd hoped, so it'll be your garden-variety lipsync. I'm probably canceling my plans tomorrow to get this done, which has me VERY unhappy, so if I'm sacrificing my day I may as well try and have fun with it. I have a few ideas to inject humour, at least, if not interest. 

But... ugh. I'm just frustrated. If/when we lose, I don't know where I stand. I'd hope Lydia would force the tie and give me a chance. But I think I'd get two votes if we went today. I hope I don't go out because of this. I feel like I was doing my part to steer conversation and just kept getting met with radio silence. 

Whatever. Sleep, quick turnaround, then I'm on this video grind. If we lose it sure as hell won't be because I didn't do my best under the circumstances.

LOGAN

me when people criticize how in sync my video was when my teammates sent stuff in an hour before the deadline: just be glad we have a video!!! 

it was hard work making that happen. i can't believe i single-handedly won my team immunity, Kepler is now the Logan Team. i feel like i'll be the tragic boot right before the merge, but at least i'll have this win to my name.

LYDIA

PATRICK

First off — Logan and Kepler at large, ily. You're the best kind of best.

NOW THEN. A few things I want to cover off, so bear with me.

PAT, YOU WON THE MVP AWARD. WHY DID YOU NOT REACH OUT TO ONE OF YOUR ALLIES FROM MINKOWSKI? A few reasons. First, I saw this reward as one hell of an opportunity to expand my options even more going into a merge. It's a rare way to forge trust with someone who's never been to council with you. Second, I mentioned this in my last confessional... I just missed Logan. And third, I think both Josh and Jakey are secure enough in our respective alliances that, even if it does leak out to my OG team (which it would already have had to leak to at least Jakey and Renee,) they would know it was to build ourselves a foothold, not to throw them aside.

PAT, WHY DID YOU KEEP DREW OUT OF THE LOOP ON THE VOTE? An excellent question! Drew came to me this morning and said "I talked to owen about voting for lydia". He then went on to clarify that he'd messaged us both around the same time. But immediately, I went on full alert. Like... why are decisions being made without my input? And obviously, I'm not turning on Lydia... but Drew didn't know that. At the same time, after that message, it told me those two were a bit too close for my liking. So I knew I couldn't tell Drew I wanted to vote Owen. So I went along with it in private, but then did my own thing.

PAT, DO YOU THINK DREW WOULD HAVE FLIPPED ON A RE-VOTE, OR WERE YOU PREPARED TO GO TO ROCKS? I'd have gone to rocks in a heartbeat. But I also know beyond the shadow of a doubt that Drew would have flipped. That's why the vote went on Owen and not Drew.

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 04: Being in The Minority Just Makes Things More Fun

When the teams arrived for their next challenge, they finally learned what had been in their Greenhouses all along......... a PLANT MONSTER! Turns out, doing chemical testing on plants is maybe the worst idea ever, Hilbert. The teams now faced a dilemma - should they ignore the vicious mutant in their ventilation system and take a hit to their overall challenge score, or would one person be brave enough to fight back against the plant and forfeit their vote at their next Space Council?

Minkowski chose the disadvantage. On Lovelace, a martyr emerged: Karter took a hit for their team and fought the monster.

As it turned out, this sacrifice made a difference - Lovelace ended up winning the flash game challenge, sending Minkowski back to Space Council for the third time. Stevie was voted out 4 - 1 and became the fourth person inside the star.

PATRICK

Awright, guess I'm overdue for one of these.

We went to another council after voting off Karen, and the way the vote split the first round made it an easy proposition. Jay left in a unanimous vote, and I'm not too upset about it. Sucks that he got voted out while he was away, but it means he couldn't make a push for himself so the vote never really deviated.

I'm a bit concerned that the next vote will be a Stevie slam dunk. Is that the best course for me? Realistically... probably. But the thought is bouncing around in my mind that it might not be awful to get rid of Richie here. He's so well insulated and liked. Would I be able to turn the votes on him? Or would that bounce back on me?

For now, anyway, I think I've got both Jakey and Josh firmly in my camp. And we're starting to gel as a team. That last comp win was clutch from everyone and executed damn well near flawlessly (minus an interruption from Zo – THANKS ZO.)

JAKEY

hello!!! im back from the dead... after not submitting a confessional for a couple episodes OOPS im so sry ari.......ily......plsrigforme

ok soooo last round we won immunity so nothing happened!!! we were all super excited to win a challenge and have a damn moment to relax. god.

and THIS round was a flash game so we obviously lost!!! that flash game was fucking HELL i played it for two hours straight and was just losing so much and getting so annoyed... ugh im just SO glad its over pls no more flash games like dat pls.. i got the worst score on the team, werk. LKJDFHGL i am not used to being a challenge flop but tbh im such a target already i feel that i'm going to take this and run with it

ok um honestly i didn't realize how much control i had on this team until NOW JKFJKFJK... i thought my social game was a complete mess, but apparently not that bad??? i have these ppl thinking my social game sucks and my physical game sucks so if i can keep that up, who gon stop me??? lydia???? probably tbh but imma keep running with it!!!

so basically right away i want a group with me, richie, and renee. i need that feeling of comfort and yeah... knowing i have 2 votes by my side i can almost 100% trust is EVERYTHINGGG cause i can be fairly confident that the vote will at LEAST tie in my favor. so i finally got these 2 to communicate and eventually richie makes the chat with all of us and im just like ah... mission accomplished. LKJHFKHJF i love these two and i DO trust them the most right now. my bbys and NO ONE is touching them ....

pat i think trusts me more than i thought he did which is good!!! i know i cant piss him off so im gonna hav to be careful what i tell richie/renee about him and vice versa. we'll see if my game starts to get messy later but for now i think it's being maintained! josh is the person im least close to and ik he has a good relationship with pat. the group i made w richie n renee was also in case we stay on these teams, we'll have a 3-2 majority over pat and josh.

whew so far im honestly happy w the way this game is going!!! stevie should be leaving unanimously this round unless he has an idol but at this point im assuming no one is finding that idol anytime soon cause there's just a very little chance of someone being that lucky kFJKFJK so yeah!!!! im nervous the other team is going to pick us all off at swap or merge hahahaha but they won't if i have anything to do about it :~~) being in the minority just makes things more fun!!

i can't wait to play with katie and carson!!! but......... theyre super loyal players soooo do they already have defined loyalty to other ppl on their tribes???? probably so im annoyed!!!! ill just make them fall in love w me so they have to take me to the end its fine

RICHIE

.....why do we keep losing.... this suuuucks!!!!!!!!! i really wanted to play this game with jay and stevie but it didnt work out at the first vote and that alienated them 

it looks like this team is doomed and i need it to be united so we have a chance   in any swap or merge situation so logically the only thing to do now is vote out stevie which makes me sad as a person but as a player there's nothing i can do about it right now.... me jakey and renee formed an alliance and i'm tight with josh so the only other option is pat but that would just cause a fracture in the group and bring more trouble than good so RIP

JOSH

Stevie been going around tryna get people to vote for me? ME? I...ok? I better not be voted out on my birthday i swear

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 03: Wouldn’t That Throw a WRENCH In The Plan?

For the next immunity, Minkowski and Lovelace were given a semi-live challenge: their spaceship’s engine was experiencing some serious mechanical issues, and in order to fix it they had to work together to pass tools back and forth in the shortest time possible.

This was an intense challenge for both teams, and only one of them got through without messing up - Lovelace dropped their tools and had to start over, which allowed Minkowski to push through to their first victory.

At Lovelace’s first Space Council, Laurence asked to be voted out and was sent to the star by a 6 - 1 - 1 vote.

KARTER

I will go down with this ship and this crew!

I kinda hate zo tbh but don't tell her. I don't want to fly the ship myself

ANONYMOUS

UR rude

KATIE

let’s get out the boys !!

does anyone else keep accidentally reading this season as hepatitis... like ive listened to the podcast religiously but my dyslexic is really playing tricks with this one

LOGAN

Laurence is adamant about going home, so it's probably going to be him tonight. that sucks because i just made an alliance with Lydia, Karter, and him. after this round, we would've had the majority!!! that would've been so nice because this alliance kinda fell in my lap and i didn't have to work for it, but now i gotta figure something else out. 

i plan on casting a throwaway vote this round to stir the pot a little and make people sweat. i was debating between Drew and Owen, but Drew seems the most likely to react, so i'm going to vote him. to cover my tracks, i told Drew i'm voting Laurence and added some fake reasoning to justify it. the only problem with this plan that i can think of is that Drew seems close to Carson and Owen, which could lower the suspect list for who he'll think voted for him to Katie, Karter, Lydia, and me. but if i did an okay job convincing him that i voted Laurence, then that would at least take eyes off of me for a while.

KATIE

Katie, 6:45 PM @zo mama mia here we going again yes or no 

Zo, 6:45 PM Katie Yes. Yes. Yes.

CARSON

First confessional on day 8? more likely than you think! 

I literally haven't had convos with anyone and losing this challenge made me very scared! However, I made sure to participate in this challenge because ive been virtually useless in every other one so far. I didn't even come online for the second one! So as soon as we lost i revved up my social game and got talking. Drew was the one person i talked to before this round so I started with him. He told me he could get Owen and Katie, so then I talked to them. Now I'm in good terms with them and I think we might have started a cute little alliance! Hopefully we dont swap anytime soon. Wouldn't that throw a WRENCH in the plan? Haha get it, because of the tools? I'm fucking hilarious, please clap. 

Anyways I'm very grateful Laurence threw his own name out there because I literally didn't need to do anything for this vote. The key to premerge is to escape with many allies and little blood on your hands, and by voting out laurence I'm doing just that. Laurence offered to leave, so no one is going to ask who threw his name out, and now i have a pretty stable group of people to work with. I'm very glad i was able to bounce back from being INV. This round gave me the opportunity to lay the foundations for the rest of my game now that people were open to strategic talk. I think thats it but reminder that this game is really cute and i LOVE it 

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 02: Hmm, Okay, Sounds Weird But Okay

For the castaways’ second immunity challenge, a glitch in the system took down their Deep Space Survival Procedures and Protocol Manual, also known as the Rules page. Their task was to reconstruct it as best they could, which shouldn’t have been hard since they all definitely read those rules thoroughly before beginning the game, right? 

Hmm, perhaps not. They both did a decent job reconstructing, though. Within the first two hours of the challenge, Lovelace found a loophole and used the Rules from one of Ari’s other games as a template to work from. Even with that, Minkowski was a fierce contender - maybe they actually did read the rules - and the teams tied. Ultimately it was Lovelace’s early submission time that secured them a second win.

At Minkowski’s second Space Council, Jay was voted out 6 - 1 and went to join Karen inside the star. The DSSPPM was restored, and the anarchy of this round was laid to rest.

RICHIE

i got my way and karen just left :) noah fence karen you just were the only person on the team i wasnt aligned with bc i needed someone to vote out if we lost im sure youre great!!!!!! i'm not aligned with everyone left which isn't good bc if we lose then i'm fucked lmao... the person i'm least aligned with is probably Pat??? which is interesting bc stevie and jay didn't vote with me.... i really wanted to vote with them but they wanted to vote for jakey and he's one of my closest allies at this point.... i should have just straight up told stevie and jay that i had the votes to get out karen that way there would be more team unity and if we lose again jakey wouldnt be so for voting one of them out and i could point the finger to Pat for the least amount of blood on my hands but I know stevie and karen are friends and i didn't want to be so obvious about the fact that i know the votes were there for karen bc im the one who got them all lmao we really need to win this and then hopefully a team swap happens bc if we go back to space council with this group i'm fucked i have too many allies this is wild

JAKEY

hello!! so basically today was SPACE COUNCIL DAY!!!! so we have some content ladies, saddle up! 

so coming into council i've only spoken with richie and pat one on one lol which is clearly NOT GREAT so i had to get to #werk. richie informs me at 7:10 that miss karen wanted either me or richie to leave. 

now clearly since i'm me and richie is one of the two people that have built a relationship with me im like hell no!!!! so at this point it's clear karen is the person i was gonna target since she came for me yknow 

so RENEE messages me today and we get to talking a little bit and we immediately have a GREAT bond. i get good vibes from her and i was so happy to find someone i could potentially work with closely in this game! 

so she rly wants to keep me and she hasn't talked to karen, so i knew i could get her vote from there. so then it was mostly talking to pat and what i've gathered from pat is he's very secretive and sketchy... like this vote he wasn't saying much which i know he was busy and everything but he was telling richie like he wont be around so he might not be able to vote or something and it was ????? also he's apparently close with JOSH because i havent spoken once to josh and pat was like "ok josh will vote with us" and i was like hmmm okay sounds weird but okay. 

so yeah it ended up being me/richie/renee/pat/josh for karena n karen/stevie/jay  voting for me. im all fine for this outcome especially since i got to have my sandra-esque "AND THE QUEEN STAYS QUEEN" moment... i was LIVING... but im so worried pat/josh will turn on me in the next vote!!! i don't trust them at all and maybe it's time to start trying to built relationships with stevie and jay since maybe they feel on the outs after this vote. 

at this point i know im going to be an ONGOING target on this team so the quicker we swap, the BETTER (i also want to reunite w some cuties on the other team) 

LOGAN

i just realized there were confessionals but honestly i've been sleeping this whole game and don't really talk to anyone lol #socialgame

PATRICK

Welp, that was a shit show.

A bit of context: I hated both options that came up. I tried subtly dropping Renee once or twice, but it was clear that wasn't gaining traction. My next preference would have been Jay, probably. That wasn't happening, either. People seemed locked on Jakey and Karen, which irked me and still kinda does. But since I was out I didn't really have much ability to make anything happen.

So, why take out Karen over Jakey? It gets complex. At the core of it, in a vacuum, I feel Karen would have been more loyal to me than Jakey likely will be down the road. But the issue comes in who I would have been throwing my hat in with if I'd gone with Karen. Those three votes were Jay, Stevie and Karen herself. I'd have made it four, and I presume Josh and I were always voting in lockstep. Either that, or rocks on the first vote which yikes.

Plain and simple, I don't like that group as a means to reach the end. I think me/Josh/Jakey/Renee/Richie will be a much more effective group. I wish Karen had talked to more people, because adding her to this group would've been great.

Also, Josh stated a preference to voting out Karen over Jakey. I really want to keep Josh feeling like he can trust me 100%. I always do better in these games when I have an unquestioned #1 ally. So I let him feel – rightfully – that if his preference was Karen, we'd do Karen. It helped that I was leaning that way, myself, for the reasons above.

Also, Jakey's pretty fun. A bit abrasive sometimes for my taste, but I'm not mad at all about working with him. He'll be a good ally, I think.

Ah well, onward and upward. RIP, Moose Alliance.

RICHIE

so we lost and now i'm fucked bc no matter who i vote for tonight i'm going to be backstabbing someone since i'm a dumbass lmao

me stevie and jay aren't an official alliance but we have talked about working together jakey has told me i'm his #1 and we have gotten close josh and renee are 2 of my favorite people who i just won't vote out rn

and pat and i really connected at the beginning of the game but i've kinda stopped the breaks on that relationship bc i needed someone with no connection with in case we went to council but it looks like it's impossible for me to put the vote on pat tonight which sucks for my game bc im going to be pissing off someone just who's it going to be??? idk bc we're less than 2 hours from council and no one is around!!!!!!

i love jay and i wanted to work with him but the last vote really fractured the team and choosing to go with the minority with a possible team swap coming just isn't the best idea???? i'm trying to do damage control with stevie 15 minutes before the vote so that if this all goes down as planned then i still have room to work with him hopefully

KARTER

I can't trust anyone? Or can I? I can't tell! I just want us all to be friends.

[survivorhephaestus]

EPISODE 01: Did She Just Drop Her Keyboard and Run?

Seven light-years from earth, billions of miles away from home, sixteen strangers embark on a voyage from which only one can return victorious. Their game - their greatest test - begins.

After a day of getting to know their teams, Lovelace and Minkowski were given their first challenge: building a ship together. They were assigned the task of creating a ship design together, which would be judged by a panel of Goddard experts, and picking three rooms that would be crucial to the operation of their ships. Minkowski picked the Greenhouse, which gave them a mysterious room full of interesting plants; the Bridge, which unlocked the ability to guess constellations for idols; and the Communications Room, which allowed them to guess twice as often for those idols. Lovelace also picked the Greenhouse and the Bridge, along with the Kitchen, which gave them the option of an immunity advantage for one of the coming challenges or individual advantages for whomever of their team made it to the merge.

Highlights of the design process included pet pictures, bunk beds vs hammocks, and frozen ice cream. After some intense brainstorming, the judges were called in, and Lovelace’s design beat Minkowski’s by a narrow margin of four points. 

At the first Space Council, Karen was voted off 5 - 3 and sent to a secret holding space inside of Wolf 359, the star our castaways were orbiting, in order to observe them and await further instructions.

KATIE

mutiny !!!

this cast is super duper ... wait wait ... this cast is... out of this world ... :O

JOSH

Day 0: Well here I am. All this technology mumbo-jumbo is confusing me. It's nice to see <Familiar Faces> around but I'm not feeling very social today. I probably ate an expired cupcake before taking off because my stomach does not feel good. Is it safe to request some <English Tea> and some <Cheese> and <Crackers> ?

I wonder what the common consensus of Tumblr Survivor people with <Anime> avatars

RICHIE

fuck group projects

JAKEY

i hate my team!!!!! i wish i was on the other team w all the cuties like katie logan owen carson but im on this team with PAT!!!!!!!!

JOSH

<Day 2> How long do I have to keep up this facade of being a <Normie>. I've been supressing the weeb inside me so long just so i am deemed fit to be part of the team. Anyways, I took charge of the challenge along with <Richie> and if we lose I'm blasting off this ship using the <Escape pod>. 

PATRICK

Not to take anything away from Lovelace's efforts on this challenge – their routine is cute and the pet shrine is pretty well essential to any satisfying space travel – but the challenge was to build a spaceship. Beyond the sketch, there really wasn't much of that. Judges... y'all may have graded based on the four criteria offered, which is fair game, but y'all didn't take into account what the challenge was actually supposed to accomplish. Not that I'm try-harding this game or anything, but I'm actually pretty bummed out about this.

JOSH

It's 2019 and the RHEAt came out once again like it was 2014. Just kidding Rhea's gr8

PATRICK

It is very not like me to wait until almost the first space council to write a proper non-whiny confessional! Weird. Things have been somewhat quiet on my end. I've locked in with Josh that I'd like to work with him. We've been swapping info on the constellations so that we can triangulate the correct stars a bit quicker. I'm pretty sure we're not the only ones doing that, though I can't pin down exactly why I feel that way. 

Having played a bit with Jakey before (as sworn enemies,) I know he can be mercurial. I'm on the fence because on the one hand, I want him as an ally. I think he's an enjoyable person and has a good strategic mind. But OTOH, how much ammo do I want to give him to sink my game if things don't go his way? I'm going to play this one by ear, but I'd really like to see how far we can get together. 

 Richie, I'm vibing with hardcore. Our conversations haven't turned to strategy yet but they have this fun and light tone to them that I always love. The "getting to know you" phase shouldn't be like pulling teeth, you know? Really hope working with Richie is in the cards. 

Karen's a fun one, too. She asked me if I'd be up for working together last night, and of course I said yes. You never turn down an alliance, and I think we'd both be happy to survive the first round. Karen's dangerous. But also really friggin' funny. The kind of person I like keeping around, even if it's to my detriment. 

Stevie and I work well together. We played a side game before where we made F3 together, then an alias game together where we accidentally teamed up and did really well again. This time around though, I'm not sure I want to go down that road. Nothing against Stevie – he's an absolutely lovely person and fun to hang out with! But I've played that game before. Doing the same thing over and over isn't fun. I won't target him early, but I'm not going to put my neck out there too much to align. 

Jay's been a bit quiet, but I attribute a lot of that to him being busy with work. We've still chatted some, but it's been very surface level. Not sure what the potential is here, if any. And last and least (from a communications standpoint) is Renee. She reached out to me one night after I'd gone to sleep already. I reached out the following morning. 

And then again yesterday afternoon. We haven't touched base yet. That scares me, going into a tribal council. Especially one where she didn't actively participate in the challenge. But I also know she's spoken with Jakey, who may be a bit reticent to get rid of her. Is it too early to start burning bridges? I think so. 

Where does that leave me for this Space Council? Plain and simple, I'm in Sandra mode. As long as it ain't me. 

Alright some minor moving and shaking since this morning. Locked in with Josh that we're good even more. If I had to pick a ride or die right now, he'd be it. 

Locked in a Canadian alliance with Karen. Pushing for us to call it the Maple Syrup alliance but one step at a time. 

 Locked in that Jakey and I are gonna work together, which I'm totally happy with. 

 Haven't spoken to Richie today, but nobody wants to vote him which I'm both happy and concerned about. I mentioned wanting to work with him, so him sticking around is a net plus. But if he's untouchable this early in the game, when WILL he be vulnerable? I'll need to keep an eye out there. 

 Talked with Jay a bit too. Nothing exciting or even particularly interesting. I find him difficult to hold a conversation with, but that won't stop me from trying. 

 The perception I get right now is that the so-called outsiders are Karen, Stevie and Renee. I think Renee is the obvious choice right now just by virtue of her relative inactivity, but I'll wait and hear others out. She and I were finally online at the same time this morning, and our conversation lasted... a combined five messages. She said hi and work's keeping her busy. I asked what she did. She told me. She asked what I do. I asked about her job and told her what I do. And then... nothing. Like, what, did she just drop her keyboard and RUN as soon as she hit enter on her last message? Bah, I dunno. It's frustrating.

RICHIE

the fact that we lost is bullshit... i dont want to do this vote i hate first votes its so annoying no one wants to do anything... i threw out karens name to jay bc im sure shes great but shes just the only person i havent talked to and thats my fault just as much as its her fault but i dont think its going to happen bc no one is saying anything lmao....i dont want to vote out anyone but karen just bc i have made good relationships with everyone but her that voting out anyone would be..... bad

i'm definitely doing too much and i'm going to draw attention to myself but i'm manifesting a karen boot... im speaking it into existence and doing the work to make it happen

KATIE

AI Zo and I are in a fight but like all healthy relationships you must learn to accept each others flaws. Lucky for us the wedding isn't until Sunday.

KAREN

guess whos crackt head is playing another game whewwwwwwwwwwwb eheuhvuevuiberve anyway so um i didnt do anything for the challenge so thats exciting, i wouldnt be surprised if i get some votes but is it really a game if people dont try to make me first boot (no). so uh i think i have a solid group of people in this tribe that i can trust. pat stevie jay and renee are like the core people rn hsudcdfhbd mostly bc idk the other 3 so yeah egfchegfhcv rn from what ive gathered jakey is getting voted out, thanks to yours truly whew i really saved this shit for the last minute but its expected lmao so heres to hoping jakey doesnt pull out an idol. that reminds me, i should start looking that lmao

[survivorhephaestus]

DAY 39 - WINNER REVEAL

Welcome back to the Hephaestus, everyone.

It’s been a pretty wild thirty-nine days out here, and you’ve all been through a lot together. From vicious plant monsters to malfunctioning engines to the appearance and disappearance of new spaceships, you’ve been put through the ringer - you have all been tested in one way or another, and I can say with certainty that you’ve all grown so much stronger. It’s been a true pleasure to watch the action unfold.

Now, on behalf of Goddard Futuristics, I’m excited to finally read the last votes of this season. Josh, Katie, and Logan - you want to see your name written down tonight. One of you is about to become the Sole Survivor, so let’s not delay any longer. 

For the final time, I’ll read the votes.

First Vote:

Logan.

.

.

.

Second Vote:

Katie.

.

.

.

Third Vote:

Josh.

.

.

.

Fourth Vote:

Logan.

That’s two votes Logan, one vote Katie, one vote Josh. Three votes left.

.

.

.

Fifth Vote:

Logan.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Sixth Vote, and the winner of Survivor Hephaestus:

Logan. After four games together, it’s a privilege to finally be able to write your name down for the win. You played a near flawless game and I’m so damn proud of you.

Congratulations, Logan!!!

We’re all so proud of you and the game you played, and you should be too. It’s time for you to journey home now - but don’t ever forget how impossibly large the universe is, and how important your part in it is.

For the last time.....

Goodnight.

[survivorhephaestus]

JAKEY’S JURY STATEMENT

[survivorhephaestus]

LYDIA’S JURY STATEMENT

“Hi guys! I am sooooo happy this is the final three and i love each of you very very much. That being said....*cracks knuckles* let’s go. 

Katie. When I started this game I said that I loved you but the way you play irritates me. And here we are at the end and I love you but the way you play irritates me. I think we just have different understanding of a promise. When you promise not to vote me out, you mean that in the most literal sense. When I hear that promise, I assume you mean it as you want to play with me, you want to work together. You define your game by loyalty but the promises you make ultimately mean nothing?  Your promise to ‘not write my name down’ meant that you wouldn’t vote me out when I wanted to leave, but that you had no problem lying to me, and letting me get rocked out. It’s just kinda silly, and frankly I still don’t buy it? I think you made really good moves, really interesting and slightly cutthroat choices. But you never own up to them, and would just commit to a pretty dumb lie afterwards. So my question is can you tell me about the snakiest move you made and why?

Looooogan. I can’t express how much you helped me during this game and how grateful I am for you. I am so fucking happy to see you at the end. I don’t have a huge statement for you because most of your game makes sense to me and I feel like I followed along pretty well. But I do want you to share you biggest high and low of the season. The best moment and the worst. And also one thing you learned.

Hey Josh! I’m sorry to say, I don’t believe you are going to get the credit you deserve. I couldn’t have asked for a better ally and friend during this game and I was so glad we reconnected. We are a total disaster of a team but ya know...in a cute way. For you, I would like you to talk about the move you are most proud of and the biggest regret you have from this game. Something you wish you did, but didn’t do.��

JOSH

“It’s starting to become clear to me that there is no scenario in me winning or even getting a vote around the end of final 5. It’s frustrating as well because after I airlocked myself I have no control or the opportunity to do something big and flashy. Everything was just too late. I was not able to vote because of the airlock at final 7, we were going to rocks regardless in final 6, renee got evacuated in final 5 and whoever stayed in final 4 will undoubtedly beat me at final tribal council. Voting off Jakey was kinda like my ending in my Survivor Hephaestus story and a personal victory. A David vs Goliath moment if you will. My biggest regret was not following my instincts. A recurring theme of this game was “Josh knew this was gonna happen and should have taken action but decided against it.” I wish I didn’t play my idol on impulse, I wish I didn’t airlock myself in. I think airlocking myself so I would satisfy both sides not factoring in my vote to appease both sides gave me options in the future but ultimately left me with little moves to put on my resume. Thinking back on it, the moves I did was just the required ones to make it to the end, not exactly the flashiest or the biggest one. “

KATIE

“Ok I’m going to try my best to clear some things up. First and foremost I play these games to meet new people and develop stronger relationships with people in the community. I like to have fun and over the years I’ve started to treat them as a crazy board game/puzzle with lots of logic and thought to avoid getting feelings involved. You’re right I don’t realize that not everyone is doing this and I apologize again if I’ve genuinely hurt anyone’s feelings it was not my intention at all.BUT I do want to win. I like find ways around the rules and seeing what secrets I can uncover from each person- in a game sense. Any secret or conversations had that weren’t viable to my game I take to heart and am present in that moment as a friend and not a game player. So yes I’m aware of the way I use the term I won’t write your name down literally but that’s all just a way to maneuver my way around the hypothetical game board. If I were to be brutally honest then I wouldn’t be sitting here. I was never once a target in this game and that’s not because I was a snake it’s because I think logically and have fun. I won’t hang myself up as a bad person and talk about my snake moves because I’m not a snake, I’m just clever in an odd way. But if you or anyone else wants to find out how I was able to use strategy into getting them out then I’d be happy to share that with them because it was never malicious just game. “

LOGAN

“<3! My biggest high this season… Honestly, voting Owen out was epic.  There was something so amazing about being the deciding vote at a tribal I never had to attend.  Like, I felt so powerful.  Sorry, Owen.My biggest low this season was having you and Karley go out back to back.  It sucked.  I don’t really know how else to slice that, lolll.  I was v sad.“