Otter

Otter is a contestant on Visionary Survivor: Continental Conflict, Visionary Survivor: Clash of Casts, and Visionary Survivor: All-Stars.

## Continental Conflict Summary

Every season seems to have one very unlucky castaway that just can’t seem to catch a break, in Continental Conflict it was Otter. Otter started off the game fortunate enough to have a pre-existing relationship with tribemate Brainish. However, it didn’t seem to amount to much for either of them. Aware of how much other Da Gama tribemates were starting to dislike Slug, and really the cast as a whole, Otter made it a subtle priority to try and keep Slug safe so that he could use him as a shield later in the game. While this wasn’t something he was necessarily adamant about, the rest of his tribemates gradually became more and more suspicious of Otter’s relationship with Slug throughout the first couple of weeks.

After Fury’s disqualification, Brainish and Jethro decided to mutiny in order to avoid any potential tie between themselves and Otter and Slug. But when Slug also decided to mutiny, Otter was the last Da Gama standing. Left completely in the dark by his tribemates, Otter was absorbed into Cartier as Da Gama was decimated.

Now on a new tribe with the only familiar face being his old tribemate Brainish, Otter was facing an uphill battle. The first few days on Cartier Otter and Brainish but had a tough time adapting due to not really being welcomed by their new tribe members, which made it very obvious that the original Cartier members had full intentions of keeping them on the outs. In addition, he quickly developed a bitter relationship with Rochelle. So in order to proactively save himself, Otter spread a rumor to the original Cartier members that Brainish had an idol, fearing that Brainish would or already had told them the same thing about Otter. Fortunately, his plan worked when the majority voted for Brainish in hopes of flushing an idol out of the game.

Now with some traction and a little more footing in the tribe, Otter was able to mend his relationship with Rochelle while also creating a side alliance with Dementia. When Dementia agreed to try to blindside Rochelle, Otter had some hope left in the game. However, they were still outnumbered 3-2, and when Dementia felt he couldn’t secure the numbers to eliminate Rochelle he turned on Otter, eliminating him in a unanimous 4-1 vote.

### Voting History

 I Hate All Of Them
 It’s Like I’ve Got Anti-Corona
 AHHJAHSGAHAJAHSJAKALAKSJS
 Where Am I, At A Circus?
 There Is A Reason For Blindsides
 I'm Quick To Exterminate Snakes
 No Use In Working With The Dead
 Eliminated, Day 20

## Clash of Casts Summary

After being screwed over numerous times in season four due to the mutiny twist, Otter had high hopes of redeeming himself with his second chance. Starting off the game with the season four alumni, Otter quickly planted himself in the middle of two alliances. On one side he was with Dementia and Jethro, and on the other Eddie and Sean. After losing the second challenge, the initial target was Eddie as Jethro and Dementia felt they could work better with Sean moving forward. Before really deciding for himself which direction he wanted to go, Otter told Eddie that he was being targeted by Dementia. Knowing that he was on the block Eddie started to scramble a bit to ensure that the target was off of him. Ultimately Otter decided to flip, and when Dementia decided to not play his idol he was eliminated in a close 3-2 vote.

The swap gave Otter a lot of opportunity as he was swapped with Eddie and Sean, the two people he decided to vote with at his first tribal council. In addition, with his new tribe split up 3-2-2-2 in terms of original tribe numbers, he had many options in terms of who to align with. Upon swapping he, Eddie and Sean formed an alliance with CK, Dawit, and Monkey, leaving Booty, Luke, and Schmutz as potential targets. At the first tribal council they attended, Booty seemed to be the obvious target and a safe vote that everyone was on board with. But as a safety precaution for a potential idol play Dawit wanted to split the votes onto the season two alumni. For various reasons, no one else was on board despite Dawit pushing the move so aggressively. Finding the season four alumni’s reluctance to split the vote suspicious, Dawit formed a theory that they were working with Luke and Schmutz and didn’t want to damage their trust by splitting. While Dawit was correct, his theory was slightly off in that Otter wasn’t part of the deal. When he informed CK about the possibility, CK got paranoid and started to lead a blindside on Otter. Ultimately Dawit flipped back to Otter’s side, and stuck with the original plan to eliminate Booty.

After Dawit saved Otter, their relationship grew stronger and Otter started to see Dawit as the perfect shield for himself moving forward. Coming off of the Booty vote, tensions were high at the Ksitigarbha tribe between CK and Dawit as CK felt played by Dawit’s actions during the previous vote. Suddenly the threat of the season four alumni was swept under the rug. After CK was eliminated, a rift was created between Luke and Schmutz as Schmutz targeted Luke in fear that she was being played. After winning the rest of the pre-merge immunity challenges, Otter slid into the merge in a solid position.

With an overwhelming majority, Otter was ready to start controlling things from behind the scenes. Immediately after the merge Dawit and Kiibo started clashing, which gave the four remaining season four alumni time to reconnect and start collecting numbers. After Kiibo was eliminated, Luke and Schmutz became the next hot rivalry on the block, one more tribal council and the season four alumni would even the numbers. After Schmutz won immunity, herself and the remaining season four alumni all teamed up to target Luke. Assuming that Luke was going home and oblivious to numbers of the Jethro blindside, Otter decided to cast a vote for Jethro in hopes that Luke would give him his tokens. Otter was shocked to find that Jethro was eliminated with only two votes on Luke, which made it easy for Eddie and Sean to find out that Otter flipped.

With his two main allies no longer trusting him, and Dawit now looking to blindside him with his new allegiances, Otter was in a tough spot in the game. At his lowest point, immunity couldn’t have come at a better time for him. With a tribal exit ticket in his back pocket, Otter just needed to win either the final six or final five immunity challenge and he was set to reach the final four. After Otter won immunity everyone seemed to be wanting Dawit gone. So Dawit made the brave decision to publicly reveal that he had an idol as a way to scare people. As a result, everyone started scrambling. While some people decided to change and vote Eddie, others decided to call Dawit’s bluff and vote him anyway. When Dawit pulled out his idol and Eddie pulled out a tribal exit ticket, all votes except Dawit’s were nullified and Sean was eliminated.

At the final six the relationship between Dawit and Otter was severed. They were both at a point where they didn’t want to continue playing with the other in fear that they were detrimental to each other’s game. Unfortunately for Otter, Dawit won the final six immunity. So Otter's back up plan was to play up his tribal exit ticket and get everyone to believe he was playing it, when he had no intention of doing so. His strategy paid off when he only received one vote. The final six tribal council was very messy due to no one left in the game trusting anyone else, causing everyone except Dawit to receive a vote. Which was all part of Brett and Dawit’s plan, as they teamed up to blindside Monkey in a very split 2-\*1-1-1-1 vote.

Coming off of a successful facade at the final six, Otter was in the final five still holding onto his tribal exit ticket. With the final five being the last time it could be played, he knew he was safe. But Brett and Dawit also had advantages of their own that meant they were also locked into the final four, which left Eddie and Luke as the only two people in danger of elimination. After Brett won the final five immunity challenge, he was faced with the decision of who to give his tribal exit ticket to. Ultimately he chose Eddie, and Luke was advantaged out of the game.

At the final four it was clear that either Dawit or Otter were leaving due to their strong showings in the season. When both of them lost the final immunity challenge, it was basically up to Brett and Eddie to decide who they wanted to take. After Dawit just simply appealed to them more, Otter was eliminated in a 3-1 vote.

## All-Stars Summary

It was hard to tell what to expect from Otter heading into All-Stars. In his first season he was the first juror, and in his second season he was the last, so he really had the potential to fall anywhere in the elimination order.

The start of the season saw Otter aligning with a trio that was already somewhat close before the game had started. Because of this trio already existing, Otter, Rachel, and Schmutz unknowingly were left with less options than the normally would’ve had. Fortunately for Otter he connected really well with all three of Jacob, Kalina, and Rey, which put him in a better starting position than Rachel and Schmutz. What makes things even better is that the original Legacy tribe won all three of the pre-swap challenges.

Once the swap occurred Otter didn’t really know what to expect as he had yet to attend a tribal council. Luckily he landed on a tribe with Kalina, who he felt strongly about from before the swap. In addition, he was swapped with Bee, Sasha, and CK, who he had a bit of a rough history with from season five. After losing the second post-swap challenge, things worked out pretty well for Otter as Sasha became an easy target due to not being very social. Sasha was voted out with ease, but Otter did receive one vote from CK that caused a bit of tension between the two. But they were quick to make up, and the new Royalty tribe won the last pre-merge challenge, allowing them to reach the merge with few problems and rather strong connections.

Coming into the merge Otter and the rest of the original Legacy tribe quickly reunited and developed a strong majority alliance with the help of Bee and CK, who Kalina and Otter managed to connect with during their time on the new Royalty tribe. The majority alliance, and especially Otter, initially wanted to target Dawit. But after a very complex and controversial first merged tribal council, Bee and CK ended up on the wheel and Bee was eliminated. At the final eleven, Otter and Kaden won immunity in what ended up being a rather pivotal, double elimination tribal council. While it seemed safe to assume that Dawit would be the top target again, numerous side deals lead to CK, Derek, and Rochelle being the top three names on the chopping block. After a selfless idol play from Rochelle, CK and Rochelle were eliminated, and Derek was saved by an ally for a second time.

At the final nine Otter was ready to start making some waves. Realizing that his core alliance was only going to get him so far, he and Kaden decided to act on their agreement and work with each other. While initially Kaden was just trying to split the vote while really voting with Dawit, he and Derek decided to flip at the last minute and vote for Dawit with Otter and Schmutz. This decision came after Kaden remembered that Kalina had a tribal exit ticket that she could potentially use to save Jacob, Kaden’s initial target. Unfortunately for Kaden, but also for Otter, Kaden and Derek submitted the same parchment as a last minute vote, which resulted in both of their votes being nullified, and Dawit being saved after he was initially eliminated by wheel.

At the final eight Otter was in a really tough spot. He had just flipped on the trio at the previous tribal council, Kaden was eliminated, and on top of that Dawit wasn’t. With the trio and Dawit now targeting him, he wasn’t left with very many options after losing immunity. While the trio didn’t want Dawit to get much further, they also knew Otter would start targeting them sooner rather than later. So they teamed up with Dawit, and eliminated Otter in a 4-1-1 vote.

## Return Interviews

* All-Stars

**Coming into your second season, which area do you think you can improve in most between social play, physical play, and strategic play? How do you plan on improving?**
I think my game last season was fine for a good player, but not anything to scoff at. While I do believe I was a little bit screwed over by the mutiny, it's hard to ignore the fact that I didn't try nearly as hard as enough as I needed to talk to every person in the game once mutiny points were reached. In the three mutiny options that were present, I talked to 0 people, 1 person, and around 4 people in that order. My conversations with them were severely lacking. While I do think I have the right to blame the cast of my season for being in some ways inactive (most notably half of my entire tribe), it was hard to integrate into my new tribe that I was swapped to. I think that playing a more aggressive social game and not being afraid to have my voice be heard, make those crucial alliance chats, and even make a few promises that I know I won't be able to keep will be crucial to helping me win this next season that I can't wait to take a part of.
**What was the biggest mistake you made when playing in your first season? How did you learn from it?**
My biggest mistake, that I mentioned earlier, was not being sociable enough to members on the other tribe during the opportunities that I had to talk with them. Luckily, that mutiny factor was only present for that season (and let's hope not this next one), so I think I should be able to improve on that. However, during the final mutiny offer, there was enough people to fill up a merge, and I really didn't have an excuse not to talk to every single person that I could (even if some of them couldn't hold a conversation with a brick wall, let alone respond to me.) I think what I've learned is that not everything is as good as it seems, and when I think that something needs to be changed, such as how I'm being perceived to the tribe, I need to do what ever it takes socially to raise my standing in the tribe.
**Have you spectated any seasons besides the one you competed on? Have any other castaways stood out to you?**
I have not spectated any other season, as I just joined the server nearly days before my season started, which was the most recent one. Therefore I won't get to have an advantage on others about knowledge of past players games. Hopefully though, people who did watch my season will either want to work with me because they see that I can be loyal, or maybe they'll think I'm a bit too emotional and can easily be manipulated, which let me assure you, I am not.
**How has Visionary Survivor impacted you?**
If I'm being honest here, I didn't expect myself to ever return to Visionary. I don't know how well I was perceived, but I think I most likely left a bad taste in both my fellow contestant's and spectator's mouths. However, I've got all this time during quarantine, and I may as well use this as an opportunity to reflect on my past game, and improve both my behavior and strategy. Visionary has allowed me to learn that sometimes, bad luck strikes you. I've never gotten such bad luck in both a twist and a cast than I had in Continental Conflict, and I think this experience has allowed me to be more humble with myself as a human being and a player.
**In what ways do you hope to refine your legacy with this second chance you’ve been given? What do you hope to gain from competing again?**

I hope to improve in almost every aspect of the game. I want to be remembered as the player who was given bad cards on my first go, and fought hard, but couldn't overcome, and then came back the next season to fight even harder and dominate a season like you've never seen happen before. Wow, quite the run on sentence I just had. All jokes aside though, I really just want to gain more appreciation for how I play, and I also really want to be able to play a game that I'd like to describe as "creative", a game featuring new moves you'd never expect to see occur. If I can't win the season though, hopefully I can be remembered as a nice guy who was #robbed because robbed contestants are automatically cool.
**Clearly you did something right last time you played otherwise you wouldn’t have been invited back. So this season, are you looking to play more of the same way or change up your play style?**
Honestly, I don't really see the need to change up my game. I think back in Clash of Casts, I had a pretty solid game. I was able to form some good connections early on, I had good, strategic moves, trusted my instincts, and I made it very far. I even would have won had it not been for Brett and Eddie making the wrong move and bringing Dawit to the end with them. However, there is room for me to change my game some. Although I feel like I did very well socially in my last game (as well as I could have at least, as some people didn't talk that much in return with me), I could have done better in some areas, such as the tribe swap we were a part of when I was almost taken out first. I think I also need to just be more open to forming alliances in general. I usually don't like to do so, but if I want to take credit for things, I have to be able to try and form those kinds of things without getting too worried that I could be a huge threat later on. Overall though, I think the basis of my game, where I play it strong socially while trying to make any moves I see fitting at the time, as well as playing a late physical game to help take me to the end, doesn't need to change.
**What did you learn from your last season that will help you do better this time around?**
Last season I learned from someone who was probably the best winner of this series so far in Dawit. The thing with him was that he didn't hesitate on striking against a given opportunity, and those opportunities were mainly forming good connections with others as soon as he met up with them. I was hesitant with wanting to form anything official with people like Brett, Monkey, or Luke, but Dawit always made sure he was in with everyone, which helped reduce his threat level, one that should have been way higher considering the game he had been playing that whole season. So the main thing I need to do is not back down when an opportunity arises, and make as many relationships as I can, and as soon as I can.
**With 18 high caliber players returning, who are you expecting to see return? Who are you most and least excited to see again?**
For one, I can see a ton of winners, fallen angels, and fan favorites coming back, so I could see a ton of people coming back. I haven’t been as active overall in the Visionary community up to this point because I didn’t really want any attention put on me once this season started. I’m hoping I just get overlooked by others who would want to go for bigger threats. Anyways, I think that if people like Kaden or maybe some people in S4 that I didn’t get to meet come back, I can work with that and try to make some new connections and have something to talk about with S4 people, as well as already have people like Kaden who like me outside the game. However, I wouldn’t be the most excited if anyone who watched my S5 game came on, or if people like Dawit or Brett came back once again since they could easily view me as a target.
**How confident are you this time around? Do you think you have what it takes to beat the best of the best?**
It’s pretty tough predict not only who’s gonna be playing with me out here, but also how they perceived me going into the season, and how I can either improve or maintain my image to those people in hopes that they want to work with me. Overall though, I’d say I’m fairly confident in my abilities to do well out here. I think I definitely have what it takes as far as game awareness and abilities go, but Survivor is a game that plays out different for everyone, and sometimes you can get a really good starting hand, sometimes not so much. I think though that if I can off on the right page with each of the people on my starting tribe, I can position myself to do some good damage in the duration of the game, and I think I have the abilities to come out on top and win. I’d say I’m fairly confident at the moment.
**What are you looking forward to most this season? What are you looking to accomplish this time around?**