Malik's Opening Speech!

**Hi everyone!**

I am super surprised to be here at the finals. This NEVER happens to me, so I'm very nervous but I am proud of what I accomplished to get here. And I enjoyed this game and loved everyone in it. Now on to my game.

**Pre-Jury (F16-F12)**

I didn't know many coming into the game. I was very excited to see Tom since we host together, and I thought this was the first time we could play a Big Brother together instead of just hosting one together. I knew Dwayne from playing with him before but we were enemies then. We made up before this season started so I was happy to see him. And they both wanted Julia to tag along even though I was very wary of her from the beginning.

When the hitlist target twist was announced I wasn't thrilled at all, as I imagine no one else was. And I got sad when I saw who my target was. At that point me and Loris seemed like we could get along well, but I was basically forced to work against him due to the twist, so that did hurt a bit not gonna lie. Going into the first weeks' HoH believe it or not I did not want to win it. I was swamped with Orgs I was playing and hosting and I knew my messages would blow up with messages. So instead of doing some strategy with mixing my relationships up on the HoH(Because I learned in TBORG what happens when you do that) I just put my honest list of the people in the house and how I wanted it to go. And YIKES it worked and I ended up winning first HoH. I was happy for winning it, but not because I know my stress levels would've gone up. Even though it defintely helped some of my relationships in the game.

At this point I was in this four person alliance with Julia, Tom and Dwayne. And I was feeling out a few people like Luca, Lee, Chris and Hedger. However I had several people tell me about who had me on their hitlist --that person was Ben. And I already knew Loris was mine, so I decided be bold and not make waves, just nominate the two people who are threats to you in that moment. Ben was always my target that week. Loris was just the pawn. When I was tag teamed in PoV and Ben won I was furious because prior to that I swore something on Loris because he kept freaking out thinking I was after him, and I kinda wish I didn't so I could've turned around and had him out BUT I can't go back on a word like that so I had to figure something out. So after thinking on it and not knowing I just went with my gut and nominated Jacob. I was asked what I wanted and at first I said I didn't care, but then I heard Loris was most likely leaving so I told them to just do that then since my target would be out and I would have nothing to really do with it. Jacob ended up going anyways so I felt kinda bad about that.

The next few weeks except for once specific week I was basically in the clear with pretty much everyone. I built a better relationship with Hedger and we agreed he'd keep me safe since I kept him safe week one. When he nominated Tom though, I got sad because that was an ally I didn't want to lose early, but Hedger also nominated Ben which I was happy about. Tom saved himself, and Jake went up in his place. Whatever antics Ben was on got him in trouble enough for him to be evicted. I was estatic because now I didn't have someone with a locked on target on me. Same thing with Lee the following week, she kept me safe due to me keeping her safe week one. I tried pushing her to nominate William as I was weary of him and he how clearly played all sides. And I felt that could be dangerous. She did nominate him but he saved himself. So she nominated Tom. Which I was heartbroken because two of the people who I was close to were both nominated. Tom asked to be voted out when I really didn't want to, but I had to respect his wishes.  Loris then won HoH and I was very worried about that. He was making jokes about it and I didn't know what would happen. I also told him he should nominate William because of he sketchy I felt he was, which he did but COMP BEAST WILLIAM won PoV again so at this point I was annoyed at the fact William couldn't stay on the block. Then surprise surprise I was nominated, likely the target. But I'm guessing due to my connection with most of the house besides William, I stayed which was a relief. Chris then won HoH and I was excited and used that to get even closer to him since I wanted to be closer to him already. I also expressed my concern of William to him, which I think he mentioned that William has him as a target. So he was likely going to backdoor William, and it worked successfully with a uniamious vote. Things seemed to go good for me at this point despite losing Tom so early.

**Early Jury Phase (F11-F7)**

I was very excited that I made Jury, and at that point I didn't know what to expect. When Luca won HoH I was worried about my safety, but wasn't worried about my allies because I was sure they were fine and Julia said Luca would've voted to evict me week four if he voted. What kind of got me to trust Luca more again was that fight he had with half of the house. When we went into pms and I saw how upset he was, I wanted to help him 100% so I was down to trust him again after the seeds of doubts someone put into my head. And as much as I liked Hannah I don't exactly remember how she ended up going home but I'm pretty sure she was a renom because of the fight. When Lee won again, I got nervous for my allies, and a bit for myself, because I wasn't sure what she was going to do that time. But she nominated Hedger and Nicol likely because they were kind of a showmance it seemed but it didn't bother me too much. I personally wanted Hedger to stay though I liked them both, but Hedger was the bigger threat so he was the next out. When Jake became HoH I was extreme worried because we stopped talking weeks before, and I didn't know where his head was, but thanks to Julia's ties to him that possibly spared me. He put up Luca and Dwayne which again upset me because I knew I'd have to send Luca home due to being closer to Dwayne at that point so it was bittersweet, but I didn't want to do it. I was excited when Julia won HoH, but I didn't what she was going to do. Me and Dwayne discussed putting up Loris since he was a danger to my game the longer he stayed, but we felt like she didn't even hear us and just wanted to get Lee out, when I didn't have to worry about Lee at that point. So after I was supposed to evict Lee, I decided Jake for a couple of reasons: I was closer to Lee and we talked every round as opposed to Jake waiting until that round to talk to me, kinda to spite Julia for not putting up Loris, and I felt it benefit my game to bring someone who had my back as I had theirs, vs someone who wants to talk to me now that they were in danger. I just felt it was time to talk to me weeks ago. So that was my thing. And then Jake blurting out his and Julia's final two made me more nervous of her. Lee then again won HoH and she was not going to nominate me, but was after Julia for nominating her. But she was only going to nominate her if she had to replace someone. I think she counted on me doing that because I would try to save Dwayne if he was nominated, which I did. But even at that point, Julia got all the votes to stay which kind of surprised me a bit, and it also made me wary of her more.

**Late Jury Phase - Final HoH (F6-F3)**

Loris became HoH, which at that point I felt like I was doomed because who else could he really target? I was nominated with Chris, but he saved himself so he put up Dwayne along side me. I had to campaign my ass off to stay against him, since I did not want to leave on a Loris HoH, it'd be humiliating. Besides Julia not voting, I got all the votes to stay. At this point I was ready to explode because 1: Dwayne was gone and 2: Loris was still in and it was my last chance to get him evicted. I was going so worried. Lee won HoH for the final time, and she said she didn't want to nom him since he's been there for her and helped her like me, except that one time I saved Dwayne..yikes. But she noms me and Julia, which I was thinking she was gonna get Julia evicted then I could be auto evicted. So I was glad Julia won, but I needed to campaign her to nominate Loris and make sure he goes. I got so emotional with Lee, which I do again apologize for how I acted then. So we made a deal that if Loris goes, I'll help her evict Julia the next week, and I agreed. I had to try my hardest to convince Julia as she suddenly caught onto to me I guess and tried to campaign for me to go, but she didn't evict me. Final 4 I thought I was in the complete clear. I thought it'd basically be Julia V Lee and me and Chris could just sit back and watch. When only Chris got that chance. When Lee saved herself, her and Chris both told me how Julia was campaigning super hard for me to go due to having 'secure jury votes' and that I was 'throwing challanges'. But I did my best to remind her that Julia wanted her out badly vs me almost always helping Lee out when I could. And I was also fighting hard because I wanted to kill my final four curse which is me going voted out at final 4. Lee evicted Julia and I was estatic that it was my first time in a BB Finale and at the same time nervous because it was alot on the line. When I got to Final HoH, I KNEW I had to win HoH or I was going to jury. And I also remembered how Dwayne said he'll let me HAVE it if I walk into jury, so I needed to make sure my face did not show in jury because I did not want to get snatched in there nono. I was nervous about Part 1 so I waited a while before attempting, but Lee and Chris told me how they messed up. I didn't know if I could trust what Lee said at that point, but I met the middle man and come to find out they were both honest. I won part one basically by default. I wanted Chris to win Part 2 so I didn't have battle Lee at the end, but Lee trimuphed so it was fine. Part 3 I was so nervous because I knew this was my last chance to fight. I wasn't sure if I could beat Lee, I wasn't sure at all. It went from me having a good lead and then losing it and almost tieing. But I ended up having one more point then Lee. I was so pumped I made it to final 2, but I wasn't thrilled to evict someone. My mind was already made up after final 4, and I knew I wouldn't like it at all. I was thankful for all me and Lee did for each other, but she had to go because she had an impressive resume to the finals, and when Dwayne was evicted I knew Chris was the one I wanted to take to final 2 because I felt close to him and I thought it'd be a fun final 2. So I evicted her, hoping that I would have a chance at finals.

**The Three Important Keys: Physical, Social and Strategical**

**#1: Social**

I will say I do apologize for the first few weeks of the house and how unsocial I was. I was dealing with a lot of org games, playing three others and hosting two. Still the case now. As well as dealing with personal demons. I didn't purposely ignore anyone so I apologise for that. Around jury phase, I feel my social got me out of a lot of sticky situations. When my butt was on the line, I was able to talk my way out of it and how it would benefit me staying vs. the other person. And I felt it worked a lot for me once I had less people to talk to. And people trusted me enough to know I was being honest a majority of the time.

**#2: Physical**

I'm not the best at winning challenges, in fact I normally sucked at challenges SEVERAL times. When I did infact win them such as PoV it was when I needed to save an ally or keep the most important allies safe (i.e, Dwayne, Julia), and I never needed an HoH except for Final HoH, which helped me not only get to final 2, but take out the biggest threat that was left. I didn't need to rely on my physical much, as my social soon made up for it.

**#3: Strategical**

Whether or not I was in an alliance, I was always talking to people who weren't in my alliance who I had close ties to like Chris and Lee, which I feel benefitted my game in different ways. If they ever striked at my alliance, I wouldn't be their target due to our bonds, and that I would help Lee when she asked like she'd help me. Another way I felt helped me get here was instead of evicting the opposing alliance all at once, the outsiders getting evicted benefitted my game because Julia, Dwayne and Nicol would always be after Lee and Loris and vice versa. And I'd rarely be considered because they'd be so focused on each other that they would cancel each other out instead of thinking about me. In doing that I was able to move through most of the game being undectected, always keeping a target in for someone else so I would't become a huge target, and explain why someone else is a bigger target than myself.

**Summary**

I didn't need a flashy or in your face game to get to the end. I was able to go undetected for the majority of the game, and whenever I was nominated I would be able to convince people that someone else would be a better target or give reasonings as to why I benefit them staying vs someone else. I won the first and last HoH, and I won two PoVs to keep noms the same to protect my closest allies, and then again to save my ally yet again. I again apologize for my awful social at the beginning, but I then picked it up later. I feel my social was what helped me get to the end, what helped me initally.

Thank you to the hosts for casting me! I enjoyed this rollercoaster of a season, and I enjoyed the cast. If you, the jury have any questions, PLEASE ask me in your jury speech, and I'll answer the best way I can as possible :) Thanks again for reading this super long speech, I didn't know how else to write it but explain a lot so sorry if you're one of the ones who hate reading those. Good game everyone. <3