Mary's Closing Statement

[Mary Sartain]

~ Mary's Closing Statement ~ 

well guys, i'm gonna keep this short and sweet. i figure if i haven't convinced you guys by my answers that a big speech at the last minute probably won't change your mind.  

there has been a lot of talk in this game about being a good player, and what it means to play the game well. for me, i came into this game playing hard, and i worked my hardest for this win every single day that i was in the game. whether that meant doing challenges or thinking up strategies or staying up until 3 am answering jury questions, i was dedicated to this game and i always gave it my all. nobody can say that they dragged me here or that they let me get here, i made my own moves and i never had to rely on someone else to make alliances and plans for me the way that hayden did.

i don't think it's "strategy" to let someone else play for you and soak up the benefit from their strategies and moves. i think that's the definition of a goat or a coward, to just sit with your one alliance and never do anything outside it. i think that if you want to win you have to be willing to get out there and make things happen. but a big part of taking on that active role is accepting the blame for the things you do wrong. if all you do is sit around comfy in your alliance and let them do everything, it's easy to avoid hurting anybody, but if you're the one who's actually out there on the frontlines making sure that you and your allies are safe, it's not that simple. even though i tried my best to be respectful and kind to people even when they were against me, sometimes that wasn't good enough and people still got hurt. that's not something i wanted, but it's what happened. looking back, there are definitely some things that i wish i had handled differently, and all can i do is own up to that, take responsibility for my actions, and say is that i'm sorry and that's not how i intended for things to go. but i hope you guys know that even if i screwed up sometimes, at least i was trying my hardest.

so in the end, i hope that you guys will look at everything i did, and see that i was a strong player in a lot of areas of the game, someone who made their own choices and was never led around and who made it to the end despite being a threat. but, whatever you guys decide, i've had a great time, i'm glad that i had the opportunity to play alongside you guys, and i hope that that we can all hang out once this thing is over. 

love, 

~ Mary