Frankly, I think the very idea of the judges trying to manipulate the contest is ridiculous. If we all fell off a cliff, we couldn't agree on which direction was down. If we were all at a meeting and had to order food, we'd starve to death before we could decide between Italian and Chinese.

Judges vote for all sort of reasons, some of them silly and almost impossible to understand. Some don't want to vote for the same person they voted for last time, some don't want to vote for the last person who won immunity, some unabashedly vote for their friends, some don't even know anyone who's playing.

While controversy is cute and it's nice to get the attention, I miss DL Survivor One where nobody knew who the judges were and nobody could second guess them.

I'm not sure what to say, but I'll post anyway - which means I might not make sense. Some of the contestants seem pissed at the judges. Some of the judges seem angry about the alliance. Powerplay threats. It's all interesting to watch. However, it is impossible for me to please everyone. How many disclaimers would I have to include on the application for the next Diary Survivor? I'm in the middle here - I trust the judges AND the contestants. I have no problem with any contestant alliances that may have been formed. If there are issues with judges affecting the outcome of the game, what exactly do you expect me to do? Do away with immunity challenges? That would defeat the 'competition' aspect of the game. I'm still host, but damn you all make me crazy sometime. Still love ya, but chill out! It's just a game. This is supposed to be fun. And when it isn't, then I question the future of Diary Survivor.

If there is a DS4, I'd accept lots of help, however - I don't want someone else to host it. I won't step down, this is my baby dammitt!
I appreciate ALL of the help from the judges, believe me they deserve more credit than they receive. And I appreciate the contestants for taking a chance and signing up.

Believe me, the game is still in the hands of the contestants - and always has been. Unless I'm totally clueless. Who knows?

Damn, this is all too funny.

So some judge(s) wonders what it would have been like if we had also "played a game" with our votes. No one did. If you knew our votes all along, you'd see that. Yes, judges are supposed to vote for the "best" IC...whatever that means. But there are no rules that say we can't mess with you folks, just as there are no rules that say you can't mess with each other. And the way we choose to "mess with you" is to do our jobs and vote our hearts, yet feed you little crumbs of possibilities. Possibilities that you jump on, rant and rave about, and get all worked up over. Funny how that works, eh?

I think overall ALL the judges are doing the right thing, no matter what frustrations we may have about the game.
No matter how frustrated anyone has been with the alliance, the judges' votes show we've voted our own hearts.
I hope the Contestants understand that, there has never been any voting blocks amongst us.
Remember, many judges never even post here, they just quietly vote on their own.
And Meg,
Survivor would not be Survivor without you,
I've never heard anyone complain about YOU,
Though I can certainly see how the stress of the job and all of our whining would take it's toll.
It's certainly not a job *I* want.
But I do hope you stay and run it next time.
And I'd be willing to judge again if you wanted me, and I'd help you in any way I could.
I still *love* Diaryland Survivor.

I think that the contestants should know that the general reaction to the judge's suggestions that telucti quoted was "We can't do that, we have to remain objective."

BUT to be a bit bitchy, I just want to hit on the alliance members who actually thought we would influence the game that way: Now you know what it feels like to NOT have the power in your hands, basically you guys rallying and bitching about how unfair it would be to have the judges band together to control everything is exactly how every single one of the non-alliance members have felt. So maybe now you can understand their "bitching and moaning"

Obviously DS would just not be DS without Meg, I doubt I would return in the future as a judge is there wasn't a Meg Probst hosting.

I want to ammend something I said earlier about the contest being boring, the tribal councils and the vote offs have been boring because they have been predictable (except I wasn't expecting lampshade of course :)). As for the ICs themselves, they have still been great.

Last vote I didn't feel that anyone's IC was particularly better than anyone elses. So I just voted for who I wanted to. I felt that everyone had put in time and effort, but no one really stood out.

You know what annoys me? How one judge can say one thing, and then the contestants thinks that one judge speaks for all of us. Are you kidding me?? Of course Im not going to try to sway the outcome of the game. I will vote for the IC I like best. I dont even care enough about this game to bother. I was having fun at the beginning, and then all this alliance bullshit made it all so very boring.
Meg, girl, you are the biggest sweetheart ever. For coming up with this great game, running it three times, and dealing with all the crap that comes with it. I cant say that Id like to take over for you... too much work. But I hope that someone out there with dignity and respect is willing to give it a shot.
I dont know if Ill have time to vote in the next IC, and I will be in NY for memorial day weekend. Im graduating in a few weeks, Im very busy lately. I dont even know if Ill be able to vote in the ICs after this. I will try if I can, but I cant make any promises.
At this point, Id like to give a shoutout to the contestant Id like to see win. A little "Good luck!" but I wont say the name, that could be dangerous as the others might get jealous and angry and bitter and whiny like they always are. But Im pretty sure you know who you are. ;)
Bye!

On alliances - I expected people to band together and vote in blocks, such is Survivor. Everyone plays the game their own way, and I respect that. The contest never bores me. On judging - I vote for the entry that affects me, I'm with Pischina in that regard. I trust the judges. Even if it seems that some want to affect the game's outcome - I do not see them voting to do so. It's all blowing off steam. If I really thought that a judge was being unfair, I'd kick him or her off the panel.

On the game - I want to have a Diary Survivor 4, however, I feel like asking someone else to host. I suck at this, honestly. That isn't to grab your sympathy - it's the truth. There's all kinds of behind the scenes mishaps that prove it. I have tried to please the judges and contestants and keep the interest of whatever small amount of "viewers" we have.

For the record, if there had been a tie in the past (11th) TC, we would use the tie-breaking technique, starting with step 1: tally all past TC votes for the tied contestants. The person with the largest total amount of votes gets booted. So, if Ravenword and Lampshade would have been tied, here's the breakdown on past TC votes:

Lampshade -
3 votes - TC#1
4 votes - TC#2
1 vote - TC#4
2 votes - TC#6
3 votes - TC#8
3 votes - TC#9
3 votes - TC#11
- - - - - - - - - -
Total Votes = 19

Ravenword -
1 vote - TC#6
2 votes - TC#10
2 votes - TC#11
- - - - - - - - - - -
Total Votes = 5

Yeah the whole alliance thing just makes this contest very boring. In fact the judges are much more interesting now! Especially since we have all been having orgies behind the scenes! :)