A Salute to Awesomeness: Neil's Questions

[Neil Patrick Harris]

Hey guys! Congratulations on making the final three -- it's a heck of an accomplishment that all of us jurors wish we could have done. I had a lot of fun playing with all of you, and it's time to get to the questions and comments.

Sofia:

Congrats on a well-played game. I've got a lot of potential questions for you, since I wasn't privy to the inner workings of the Mohua tribe or your alliance, but what I'm most curious about is the end-game. You said in your opening statement that you forced a tie in the final four -- if I understand correctly, that vote must have been you and Gary vs. Heidi and Mark. My question is: did you give any serious consideration to joining with Heidi and Mark and voting out Gary? And, ultimately, why did you decide to stick with Gary? Was it solely because you felt that you, Gary and Mark were the strongest players and therefore should be in the final three together? I'm also hoping that you can touch a bit on how you feel the three of you are perceived by the jury and if that played into your decision at all -- after all, if the ex-Chukar players are bitter about Gary, then it would be to your advantage to make sure he's in the final three, but if Gary's largely respected for his gameplay, then it would be to your disadvantage. Thanks!

Heidi:

If I'm being totally honest, Heidi, you've got some explaining to do. From what I understand -- and admittedly my information is third-hand -- your blabbing very nearly led to your alliance's plan completely unraveling, were it not for some errors made by ex-Chukar players. If possible, I'd like you to explain the situation I'm talking about, which occurred right after the merge. Your alliance targeted me that night, but I used my hidden immunity idol to save myself after being told about what was going on, and that information supposed came from you -- the way I understand it, you told Cher, Cher told Kathy, and Kathy told me. Is it true that you revealed your alliance's plan to Cher, and if so, was there any kind of strategy behind it?

Hopefully your answer can give me a bit of information about your strategy, because your claim in the opening statement that you were a "tigress" in challenges is pretty weak, and your attempt to maneuver the argument you were having with Gary into blatant pandering for the women's votes reeks of desperation.

Gary:

Congrats Gary. Not surprisingly, my question focuses on what was probably the key turning point of the game, when you switched sides and starting voting with the ex-Mohua players. My guess is that you're going to hear a couple of different variations of this question, and you touched on it a bit in your opening statement, but I'd like to hear more about why you decided to flip given the obvious numbers advantage that the Chukar side had even without you. Ultimately we wound up shooting ourselves in the foot, which allowed your alliance to take control, but that kind of result was impossible to predict at the time you chose to switch sides. Was it really as simple as the lack of communication that you were feeling from the Chukar players? Thanks!

Well, that's about it for me. Congratulations again to all of you for making the final three. My vote is still up for grabs, so I look forward to hearing your answers. Until then, I salute you!

[GODOYBA (Brett Favre)]

lol NPH is awesome and you shed a lot of light to some questions i had on your heidi statement "Sit back down" lol sorry for the interruption

[Sofia Vergara]

Hey Neil, thank you for the question and no, it was not really a difficult decision to stick with Gary and force a tie. Back to the days when Brett was still here we talked a bit about wanted Heidi out because we knew she was the mole, or thought she was. The round you went we thought Mark had told former Chukar about the votes, but suspected if may have been her, so we made a point the next round, to tell Mark we were voting for Cher and told Heidi something different, actually that we were voting Kathy, to see who's idol got flushed. Kathy knew she was going and Cher only had one vote AND Heidi herself told me Mark thought the vote was Cher so we knew Heidi was the rat. I explained everything to Mark why we told him Cher, minus the Heidi part because Brett and I always just thought he seemed tied to her so I wasn't sure if I should chance it. Brett and I talk about the challenge Cher went home sending her home, if it wouldn't have been Cher she might have gone that round. I know that Gary's gameplay can very well be respected by the jury and will earn him votes, much like Mark's would have been, but at the end of the day Neil when I look at who I want to sit with at the end it is the people I respect most. Gary and Mark were those people. I tried to get Mark to vote Heidi out and he wouldn't so I had to force the tie, I do regret that he is not sitting here with us because he deserve it more than Heidi. This is not to "attack" Heidi's gameplay as she said in her opening statement, however I am really not sure where she was coming from honestly there. If I win sole survivor I know I will win because I went up against the best and you guys thought I outwitted, outlasted and outplayed, not because I took a weaker player. Hope this answers your questions, if not, let me know.

[Gary Dourdan]

Hey Neil, I will answer this in a little while when I get time, got a train to catch!

[Heidi Montag]

Heidi:

If I'm being totally honest, Heidi, you've got some explaining to do. From what I understand -- and admittedly my information is third-hand -- your blabbing very nearly led to your alliance's plan completely unraveling, were it not for some errors made by ex-Chukar players. If possible, I'd like you to explain the situation I'm talking about, which occurred right after the merge. Your alliance targeted me that night, but I used my hidden immunity idol to save myself after being told about what was going on, and that information supposed came from you -- the way I understand it, you told Cher, Cher told Kathy, and Kathy told me. Is it true that you revealed your alliance's plan to Cher, and if so, was there any kind of strategy behind it?

Hopefully your answer can give me a bit of information about your strategy, because your claim in the opening statement that you were a "tigress" in challenges is pretty weak, and your attempt to maneuver the argument you were having with Gary into blatant pandering for the women's votes reeks of desperation.

Heyyy Neil! I've missed u.

Ok so to answer your question, I feel like I'm being set up! I never told anything to Cher? I have no idea what that situation is. I was loyal to my alliance the ENTIRE time. I'm a loyal person. That was my game and that's why I'm standing here at the end. I kept close to my allies and I would NEVERRRR backstab them that's why its unsettling for me to find out they were very conniving behind my back. I think KARMA is going to catch up to them because that I couldn't even imagine going behind their backs and spreading rumors about someone being a mole when I put alot of trust into them. I was always there for Brett/Sofia/Gary whenever they needed me and now I find out that they were going behind my back and playing very malicious. It's sad that it came down to that. Mark was the ONLY person that stuck true to his word and I'm so glad that I was able to allign myself with him, he's a savior. I even brushed aside the cattinness that emerged from some people in this game towards the end but enough is enough and I have to stand up for myself!

And also, I don't really appreciate your comment that i'm trying to get votes from the ladies on the tribe. I'm all for female empowerment and for the men of this game to simply not give credit to the ladies that played their heart out in challenges is unfortunate. I do, however, think u were a great competitor and I can say that with my head held high.

Thanks Neil, I hope you got everything u needed from my answers!! ;D

[Softball--Kevin Garnett]

Something I think about every time I read something about lady vs man is the fact that technically we could all be hiding behind a wall. When someone says they r trying to get a girls or a boys alliance or girls or boys votes, do we even really know who is a girl or boy? Do different genders play differently? This is something I have always wondered about.

[Gary Dourdan]

Hey Neil!

When we merged I felt like I was on the outs just as I had before merge because there was so little communication within the whole tribe, only you and Kevin were even on AIM and although that was nice, 2 out of 6 people in an alliance/tribe is not very comforting. So at merge I realized that even if it doesn't work, I might as well go out with a bang, but I had a feeling Chukar would self destruct internally and it did when Cher wanted to get George and then Carmen out. I knew this was my time to get down to work. Even before we had out first individual challenge, I had started talking to Sofia, and I knew they were down and would say anything, but I felt a genuine connection with her and she was being up front and everything. I felt like we bonded really good and I told myself that I would do whatever I could at that point to side with them. I also knew that Chukar had a mini-alliance within the former tribe, the one Cher had approached me about consisting of her, Carmen, me, Kelly and you. Which meant Kevin and George were on the outs, and I having talked to Kevin the most in our tribe, felt bad because I liked him so I was kind of hoping he would make a big move with me and side with me, but he didn't, and ended up later in the merge ignoring me completely, by which I knew I couldn't count on him but knowing that Chukar had an alliance within the tribe, I was going to use that to my advantage and get the votes go in a way that even with Chukar having numbers without me, would ultimately mean a Chukar would still go home, and it worked. Brett only went because of a twist, the other Mohua's made final 4.

Also, Carmen, someone I had bonded with day one, started ignoring my messages before her departure too, didn't reply and I knew she wouldn't be there for me either, so it really was a lack of communication with my old tribe via AIM and then being ignored and a lot of communication with Sofia that made it that much easier for me to flip. And just for the record, as I said in my opening, I would have made sure Kelly made final 4 with me at least to even things up but she wasn't available and I feared her boot list vote that Chad stated would be used from an earlier challenge would have her voting me, but had I known she left a boot list just recently, well, she would have been in the final 4 at the minimum.

Thanks Neil and good luck with your decision!

[Neil Patrick Harris]

Thanks for your responses guys! I'll leave some comments regarding my thought process for this vote in my voting thread so that you can read about it once the boards are opened up. Until then, I look forward to hearing your responses to the other jurors' questions. Good luck!