Don't Tell A Snake He Can't Slither - Behind The Bluff

Last night was another thrilling episode of Surviving Barstool. It truly gets better every night, and I hope people are enjoying it. We knew last week something special was happening but credit to the producers and editors for masterfully putting this all together. Speaking of masterpieces, I hope everyone enjoyed watching da Vinci paint the Mona Lisa last night. Rewatch it with a pad and pen and take some notes because I just taught a Masterclass.

So to go a little behind the scenes, without giving too much away, I'll explain the move. Everyone knew I had the idol. There were whispers about it for days. Once Donnie went through my bag, it was official. At that point, there was no reason for me to lie and try to hide it. Ideally, you never tell anyone you have the idol. But my hands were tied. Instead of looking sneaky and continuing to hide it, I chose to come clean and look honest and trustworthy. My pitch to people was basically:

"Hey guys, sorry I didn't tell you about it. I just wanted to have one surprise moment. You know how much I love this show! But I was never going to betray you with it. I'll just play it tonight and we can all move forward." 

I think people are being too hard on everyone (which is in turn not giving me enough credit). But I met with every single person individually to tell them and get a read on them. Due to alliances, people chose to trust me. If I felt like I was in trouble, I would have played it. But when I talked to every single person, I looked them in the eyes and didn't feel lied to. You have to be good at reading people in this game. 

Another tell me for was that at the vote, Kelly said nobody really had a chance to meet as a group today. Once I heard that, I knew there was no way anyone could've had the opportunity to gang up and conspire against me. So I felt confident the votes were still on Zah. After everyone voted, my plan was to stand up and put the pressure on people when I asked who they voted for. I didn't know if anyone would outright answer, but I figured I'd be able to read their faces and body language. Once they did just outright tell me they voted for Zah, it would've been very stupid to play it when I could save it for another vote. At that point, trust was already broken. 

Oh and for anyone saying that move was in poor taste or illegal, you're a fucking moron. I lied and played within the rules in a game for $10,000. Cry about it. Also there is precedent for allowing it anyway. 

There's also been a lot of talk about how my move would've never worked if I was playing on a real show. But guess what? Part of this game is knowing your competition. If I was up against hardcore fans who knew the game like me, I would've played the entire game differently. Know your opponent and act accordingly. That being said, everyone else in this game is not as dumb as the Internet seems to be saying. I literally told people before the show to not watch Survivor because it wasn't worth it. That was gameplay. Everything was carefully calculated. 

Thankfully my move worked and I lived to see tonight's episode, airing at 7pm on the website and the Barstool YouTube. 

We're flooding the live YouTube comments with Tommy chants so get ready.