Opening Statements

[Chenbot]

Here Cassandra and Dick will post their opening statements. Jurors will then be able to create a thread and ask questions to the final 2.

Note: When each juror makes a thread only THAT juror and the Final 2 may comment in that thread.

["Evel Dick" Donato]

Hey everybody! I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet. You all were there this season and saw what happened so I'm not going to write an essay on why I should win. Nor am I going to go on at length bashing Cassandra's game. You all know what happened and she earned her spot here too in her own right. To start with, while I was not a competition dominator, I won all the critical competitions that I needed to. This ensured that I protected myself, but it also did not make me a target. I won the veto the week Karen put me up (Dick and Dom double veto week was amazeballs!) and saved myself. I won HoH in the final seven and ensured that either Rachel or Drew was evicted that week (breaking up one of the strongest alliances of the season). I won HoH in the final four, and again in the final HoH, ensuring that my spot here in the finale was not left up to fate or destiny. Truth be told, at the final four I would've worked with anyone to get here. But fortunately I won my way here in back to back HoH wins, which I am super proud of.

My strategy in the beginning of the game was to take it week by week. I never had a huge alliance despite what people may think, (besides probably an assumed alliance with Dom since we are bffs outside of BBR ). Therefore with the naughty and nice twist, I made sure to become super close with the nice houseguests (which is why I didn't really develop any close bonds with my fellow naughties until later on). I made week to week deals with the nice HoHs that I'd keep them safe if I won, if they gave me a key. I made these deals with Lori and Jason and whoever else would go for it. Granted I was really out of the loop in this part of the game, but my policy was, as long as it's not me, I'll roll with it.

The second half of the game is when I really stepped it up, not only in competitions, but in my social and strategic game. I was essentially the ringleader of multiple alliances which I pulled together in reaction to Rachel's groups. I was always an outsider/part of the out crowd, and I used this feeling of being left out to get everyone else who wasn't with Rachel fired up. I knew when we played the BB mini and Rachel and her peeps demolished us systematically, the odds were not in our favor. But this group of misfits eventually started to win comps, convince people that Rachel had her hand in too many pots, and we gained a little bit of momentum. Of course we had our drawbacks, like Russ and Lori (originally in the outsiders) flipping over to Rachel and sending my best ally, Dom, out the door. Luckily Rachel ostracized two of her former allies (Parker and Josh) in the process, and we took them in and formed the out crowd alongside Cassandra who had been working with me ever since she returned. I knew Cassandra was a loyal soldier because she had missed a lot of game, and was just as much on the outs as I was. Plus I made sure she knew that I was the deciding vote for her to come back. Long story short I assembled and reassembled a hodge podge group of people who got left out of Rachel's plans, and essentially made sure we were united and went to war. And I think with some critical wins on our behalves, as well as people underestimating us as competitors, leads to this final three, and two.

My game was also not one dimensional. While I did make it clear who was with me and who was against me, I also played the other side so in case we did lose power, I wasn't immediately picked off. Believe it or not I actually had a secret alliance with Karen. I figured our fighting was a great cover up and had she not been expelled/walked, I was going to try to convince my side that she should stay. I also made a season 9 truce with Lori and Parker... and when Parker was HoH he actually tipped me off that Porsche was gone (since their side had the votes) and so I voted with them to blend in, and let Dominic and Lori (my allies at the time) stick out by voting against Russ. This strategy to cover my tracks came into effect even in the final four, when I seriously considered teaming up with Rachel and going to the end with her (someone I knew people didn't like, and who had a strong chance of winning comps.. so why not have them on your side?). Even though I spent all summer trying to get her out, at the four, she had no allies left.. and I really had to think, does it make sense for me to still want her out? So had she or I won that final veto, perhaps something would have come from it.

So much for keeping it short... Sorry! Anyway I loved this season, I enjoyed playing with you all and even competing (and yes sometimes fighting) with you guys. Had there been no conflict, it wouldn't be half as satisfying sitting here now. I also think it's very fitting that we still have an original naughty vs nice conflict in this final 2. Ultimately, while I have a bit of a temper, I hope you guys also got to see that I am loyal and a nice guy, who genuinely wanted to see those who got left out of alliances, make it far. And even if I don't win I succeeded in that, at the very least.

Thanks for playing guys and I look forward to your questions ( I hope! ) .

Xoxo - Dick

[Cassandra Waldon]

Hello everyone! I just wanted to start off at first by thanking Chen for hosting another amazing season of Recycled, her back up crew for helping out as much as they could, and all of you guys for making this game as crazy as ever.

I started off the game knowing I had a target on my back for not only being a previous winner, but the most recent one of them all. Considering the number of people involved in season 11 who were also playing this season, I knew that as under the radar as I hoped to be, that could never truly be the case. I was able to make a very strong bond with Lori and despite my campaigning, I was evicted the first week during Rachel’s HoH by a relatively close vote of 9-6. I took my walk of shame as I got Tina Wesson’d only to be pleasantly surprised with the possibility of returning to the game! I won my first two rounds and thankfully you guys voted to bring me back into the game over Britney and I was given a second chance.

But as expected, there was a sort of plan (I guess you could call it Operation Revolving Door) to get me out again after Karen quit. I was nominated against Dominic and was told that I was going to get evicted, but my strong friendship with Lori paid off. She went to the end of the earth to turn the tables and get Dominic evicted and I truly can’t thank her enough for it. She gave me another life and I made a vow to myself to not screw it up.

I had my tight bonds with Lori, Russell, Rachel, and Drew for helping me survive the last eviction and the familiarity with them from season 11. But I also found myself sought out by Dick, Parker, and Josh. I was sitting firmly in the middle and had everyone thinking I was with them, when in reality my mind wasn't even made up at the time and I just focused on keeping my options open. For those few rounds, I had to let the game dictate itself and just go with the flow of it all, meaning throw Competitions and continue to nod, smile, and absorb what everyone had to say as I collected whatever info I could.

But when the right time came, I had to make a move. I couldn't do this through Competition wins since I have no knowledge of Recycled history (including the weeks I wasn't in this game, which happened to come up far more than I hoped) so I had to do this through other people. I seized the opportunity when Rachel won the HoH at F5 and before nominations tossed around the idea of evicting Lori in a backhand sort of way. Dick and Parker were initially nominated to my pleasure, because it kept up the rivalry between Rachel vs. Dick, and once the PoV was used Lori was evicted. From there, I continued to just come up short in Competitions but put up enough of a case to get both Rachel and Parker evicted over myself.

I know my game didn't start off that strong, but it was out of my control as soon as I checked in. However, once I returned I was able to play my game with a lot more control. I didn't win any Competitions but didn't let it affect my game. Despite all the early setbacks, I used my social and strategic strengths to effectively play both sides up until now. But now the ball’s in your court. You nine jurors get to decide on the winner and I personally can’t wait to see what questions you guys have. Good luck with your decision and thank you for making this game as crazy as ever!