[Jeff Probst]

Bit of a reset here.

What are your thoughts on the game becoming 20 players? What are your thoughts on playing with the newbies?

With mostly all of the inactive players gone, do you foresee the gameplay ramping up? What is your strategy in this new tribe?

Who do you think will be the immediate target on the tribe? How will your game evolve with this new stage of the game?

[Ryan]

So happy for a reset.

I feel like we just went through half the game, yet we're only just now starting. I'm excited that there are 10 more people out there that I can potentially work with. I'm gonna need them at this point because Refuge was full of slimy ass snakes. I won't underestimate these newbies though. Some of them already seem like good plays and have probably played orgs before. Us vets may have an advantage in challenges/finding idols, but other than that I don't really think we have a leg up on anyone. Like Brian is a decent player. I mean he's fake as fuck, but everyone else is falling for it. And Gary seems like someone I shouldn't really trust, but I have to at this point.

The game for me has already ramped up. I have a fire lit under me, I have a lot more information now, and I'm ready to do some damage. I'm making that merge whichever way I have to. For now, I would like to stick with Drew and Gary. I don't understand how I got so freaking lucky with this swap. The only two people I even remotely trusted came with me, and everyone else is on the other side. I will be so happy if Joaq and Dale go home before the merge, although I'm afraid people are going to fall for Joaq. On this tribe though, I like Lucy so far. She seems like she would be a cool partner, if our relationship gets that far. Kinda reminds me of Ali. I would love if we can take out Amy and Brooke first, and use the "inactive excuse". I know I'll need allies come a merge and I'm gonna keep preaching that Old Taino will too. They have the power right now, if Amy and Brooke don't start playing we are at their mercy. Just gonna keep telling them how much I despise the other tribe and am wanting to work with new people. I think the best move for the Old Taino people on our tribe would be to keep us around as allies, I just hope they see it too.

I think the immediate targets will be either one of Drew/Gary/myself, or one of Amy/Brooke for not talking. I actually could seem Old Taino targeting Gary cause he's talkative and was on the other side. We'll see.

I'm going balls to the wall now. After you got my hopes up with that fake idol you had laying around in Smilies ( ) I'm gonna spend a lot of time looking for the new idol today. For real when this game first started I went onto the Turks and Caicos wiki page and started studying I wrote down a bunch of words in my phone already that could be something. That's how I got a few during the unscramble challenge .

Looking hard for advantages, trying to honest and trustworthy to these new folks, and sticking with Drew. That's my plan. I still don't trust Drew entirely because I doubt he did much to try and protect me, but I can't ignore the fact that he was the only one to tell me I was being lied to. So I'm gonna ride it with him for a while, and try to kill this game!

[Ryan]

Here's where we're at with this idol...

I've been looking down the Juan Ponce de León story cause he "discovered" the islands. He seems to have died in a weird way which would fulfill the "your path to glory may be hollow", but he died from a tree! "Hollow". Tree. So now I'm looking up everything about the Manchineel tree

[Cole]

Hey Ryan,

How have things been for you thus far? Who is your number one and who do you not trust at all for first impressions? Have you changed up your game in anyway, or are you playing similarly? Any new tactics that worked in the past that you're utilizing / are you avoiding anything that might have bitten you in the ass?

[Ryan]

Sup man!!!

This new tribe has been pretty calm. Everyone's been chill and not causing a whole lot of commotion... yet... It's pretty clear though that I'm still on the bottom, with Old-Taino controlling our tribe at the moment. I've been hoping that they'd open up and welcome me into their group, but that hasn't happened yet. If today that whole group still acts as if they have the power and won't let us it, it might be time to stir crap up. I don't want to stir the pot this early because I have nearly no allies in the entire game, but I also don't want to just get picked off pre-merge. We'll see what vibe I get today.

My number one right now is Drew. He's been the most straight up with me and is a really chill dude. I'm still a bit weary of him, but he's the closest to an ally that I have. I also have mad respect for the game he's playing right now. Legit if I voted right now for who I thought was playing the best game, it would be him. He played the middle really well at Refuge, he drew (pun intended) me over to his side at the perfect time, he has an awesome overall social game, willing to make ballsy moves, and probably already has the idol. No way I'd take him to the end, but definitely someone I want on my side going forward.

I'm finding it hard to trust Hannah/Adam right now. They both seem to be 100% in on their Old-Taino circle jerk, which isn't going to help my game at all. Adam seems to have a great social game so far, so he's the most threatening in a sense that I think he could win. Hannah on the other hand seems to be head over heels for Old-Taino and not willing to entertain the idea of working with folks she ain't already working with. Fools need to move out the way if they ain't wanting to play with Ol' Regnant Ryan.

One way I've changed my game already is that I have a number one I'm not gonna leave Drew in the dust right yet. With that being said, I don't want him around forever to where it's just perceived that he carried me in this game. I ain't about being carried! I guess another way that I've switched things up is that I've been relatively honest I've been trying to build the precedent that I'm an honest and loyal player so that I can get to slitting some throats later on. Now, we saw that those fools on refuge didn't give two craps about the game I wanted to play this time and were purely after me for my first game. Hopefully I'll be able to convince these newbies though.

I'm trying to be more genuine with folks, connect with people on a personal level this time around. I did that with a couple folks last time and I feel like it worked out with them (Kim, Jonas), but I want to expand on that. I've talked very little game with a lot of these new people, just building the foundation right now. Hopefully that'll work out for me in the long run. The crap I'm avoiding this time around is making it seem like I'm being used by other fools (Cole, Patrick). I didn't think I was being used by them last season, I felt like we were all trying to use each other, but it wasn't perceived that way. That shit was a reputation killer. I need to play more around the way I'm being perceived rather than they way I perceive myself.

Overall, I think my chances to win this game are already pretty low, cause those 4 vets on the other side already perceive me poorly and are probably tarnishing my name to all of those other fools. I'm screwed if they all make the jury. It's gonna be something I have to work really hard to turn around this entire game. I'm up for the challenge though!