~ Episode One ~Oh gosh, I have so many likes for a confessional I didn't even write. I sure hope it lives up to your expectations.
ALRIGHTY, let's talk about the first couple of days.
First off, I threw the puzzle challenge. It's already a safe bet that anybody looking to expose me will assume that I'm one of Colleen, Brooke, Kelly C, Monica, or Jaclyn, so I didn't want to narrow the playing field any further by dominating a puzzle task on the first day. Now, had I known that the challenge winners would get to be secret moles and hilariously sabotage the tribe, I would have absolutely won it. I love the idea of sneakily ruining everybody's game. I could have been this season's Rodney, and I'm really sad I missed that chance. Shucks!
I'm interested to see how the twist affects our tribe, though. Some people are talking about the mole having thrown the first challenge, but I'm a bit hesitant to join that train of thought. Here's why: the mole has to be subtle, if they're going to be successful. Tanking your own individual performance is only a worthwhile strategy if your tribe can win without you, but it'd be unbelievably hard to sustain that sort of thing if you wind up losing repeatedly. Natalie being the clever host she is, I can't see her making the mole that easy to guess out, so my theory is the tasks are going to be a little more nuanced, and more about slowly and secretively poisoning the tribe against one another. Kelly absolutely flopped in this challenge, so naturally some fingers are pointing at her as a possible thrower. Granted, it's
possible that KWigs is a strategic mastermind who's laying low on purpose but I'm more inclined to think she's inactive and an easy scapegoat for the real mole. If you're bright enough to throw challenges in a way that isn't noticeably less active than you've been before, you're bright enough to know that doing that in round one is a great way to draw attention to yourself and would avoid it.
Of course, my theory runs into a massive snag right off the bat, but to explain that I need to talk about my tribe. I'm astounded to say that I actually kind of like them. This is a total first for me in this series, so I really have no idea what to do about it. The people on my tribe are talking to me! They're strategizing with me! Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!
It's like that magic moment when you find out that a girl you like actually likes you back - you're all awkward and excited and you just want to scream I LOVE YOU at the top of your lungs, but you can't, because you'll blow it and she'll go out with that weird limpy kid with the lazy eye instead of you. (Note: I know what you're thinking, but that is not a true story and it totally did not happen to me in high school.)
So I'm playing it cool, and acting like it's no big deal, but I really do like my Akha homies. They're my Akhapella group. My Vampire Akhademy. My... alpAkha wool sweater. Mmyes.
I'm already in an alliance with Shane and Caleb and Joaquin, with Alec as a potential fifth. That's an interesting setup, but it does give me an amazing vantage point to use my feminine wiles, so I'm going to work a little Latina charm (which probably won't actually work because I more or less guarantee you they're all gay IRL) and get myself into a good position for the future.
I like this alliance for a few reasons. One - I'm in it. Two - It doesn't include Ashley. I realize that this is probably paranoid as all get out, but Ashley made a reference to Brant Steele being a robot in our group chat. That was a popular in-joke from the jury panel in Shadow All Stars 3. I'm not a big fan of how I was treated in that season, and there's a significant part of me that wants to immediately target and vote Ashley out just on the off chance that she's one of those folks. Is that stupid and petty and schizophrenic? Yes. But that's what PTSD does to people.
The third reason I like my alliance is that it's full of talkative people who have interesting things to say. And also Joaquin.
Buuuuuuuut, the thing is... my alliance are the ones spreading the "KWigs is the mole" rumor. Now... that seems odd, since that particular rumor isn't quite so much with the smartness-being. Upon further reflection, I know why I don't believe it - because nobody has mentioned the other very obvious possibility: that Brooke was the mole. Brooke could have been pissed at her elimination because it made her look like a thrower, which would expose her as the mole, hence the quit. That would also explain why our mole hasn't posted anything this round - because they are already gone. This theory is just as plausible as Kelly being the mole, but nobody's playing with it. Why?
See, when people are legitimately trying to figure out a mystery like this, they think through multiple scenarios. They don't just settle on the first thing that fits the data and assume that it's the only possible explanation. My guess is that the Kelly mole scenario is being floated because it's convenient. Brooke being the mole leaves too many question marks - is someone else the mole now? Does Tracy adopt the role automatically? Kelly being the mole is cut and dried, and it gives us a reason to think we've successfully taken out the mole so we'll stop looking. That makes way more sense than that Kelly beasted a puzzle or a random-choice questionnaire and has been UTRing the whole time.
But the alliance is all on board with this. Which means that either they're smart people buying a reasonably implausible rumor, or they're silly people buying a reasonably implausible rumor, or they're very VERY smart people selling me a reasonably implausible rumor. Both Joaq and Caleb seem pretty hardcore under the belief that KWigs is the mole, and that makes me leery. KWigs is an obvious boot, and when she's gone the real mole could plausibly have free reign. So I'm going to go along for now, and see what happens. In situations like this it's always prudent to give a side-eye to the person who's going around proclaiming that the mole is dead and so we really definitely totally completely positively absolutely do NOT need to go looking for them anymore, right guys!?
One thing I do know for certain: I need to keep my intelligence under wraps. If the mole is in my alliance, they're not going to look favorably upon anybody who seems likely to expose them, and my guess is the other tribe probably isn't thrilled about me coming out of nowhere to kick their asses yesterday. It wouldn't be hard to sell me out at a swap and let them take me out to camouflage themselves. Guess that means no more stellar challenge performances for the next little while...
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