User blog:Tanglefrost/Forrest Stephenson's Facebook Live Reply to Mercedes

Note: Once again, no censoring, as this is a Facebook Live.



Forrest: Hi, everyone, it’s Forrest Stephenson here, from Survivor: Jeju Island. By now, I’m sure that a lot of you have seen the Facebook Live that Mercedes posted yesterday, in which she said a lot of things, but accused me of targeted harassment. So, here I am, to set the record straight.

Regrettably, a lot of what Mercedes said was true. I’m sure you’ve seen in the edit by now that I did get obsessive when targeting someone. When Mercedes kept going for walks, I was convinced she had the idol. When she let go of the pig, I made sure she stuck to her promise of being a vegetarian so she wouldn’t be a hypocrite. I did all that. I went too far. I made things personal, and to Mercedes, or any other vegetarians and vegans that I offended, I’m very sorry. I’m sorry to Leanne, Kurtis and Josiah too. That’s not the kind of example I want to set for my children, nor should they have to be associated with that. I’m not going to justify or excuse this behaviour. I was playing for my family, and I got so wrapped up in things that I wanted to take out anything that was in my way, but that was no reason to take things as far as I did. To any of my friends or family who view me as less of a person than they did before I went out to film, I’m sorry.

What Mercedes didn’t tell you, however, was the extent of how insufferable she was to live with. You did see me get frustrated, trash talk her, spread rumours that she had the idol, but you didn’t see all of how she acted around camp. It was impossible to have a conversation with her unless you agreed with what she said. You didn’t see me try to have a conversation with her early on, because the edit was trying to make me look like a fool since I was the obvious boot during the pre-merge. I tried to tell her how I felt about the idol search, but every response I got was “get over it.” Mercedes truly was the most self-righteous person out on the island. She always believed she was superior to others and her way was the right way. I’m not the only person on the tribe who thought that, but I was the only one willing to say anything about it. That was why she didn’t like me. When she released the pig, I knew she was trying to impose her will on the tribe and did it to get back at me. That’s why I made sure that she stuck to a vegetarian diet, to see if it was a true belief or just to piss me off, and knowing her, it could have been either. I still admit that I went way too far with it all, though.

Mercedes had a personal vendetta against me because I simply tried to ask her not to do things like walk off without telling anyone, because it was making the entire camp paranoid. She wouldn’t even entertain working with us at the merge and a lot of people were starting to get worried. Knowing what I know now, I wish that I had put votes on Mercedes instead of Sanjay that night, because I think we could have sent her home. I knew that Kenji or Ingvar had the idol and I was too worried they’d play it on her.

Mercedes claims that I targeted and harassed her, but as she said in her video, she gave as good as she got. It extended to after she was out of the game, too. I heard from people at Ponderosa, some during the game and some yesterday who have seen her video, that she trashed me to anyone who would listen while she was there, trying to make everyone see me as she saw me, and only slowed down when multiple people told her it was making them uncomfortable. The fact it takes an entire group of people to tell her that something is bothering them before she listens should speak a lot about her.

I’m not going to have any contact with Mercedes nor am I going to make anymore videos about this. If she wants to make another video, more power to her, but I’m done responding. I’ve admitted to my wrongdoing, and I’m busy enough with my own life to worry about being dragged into a petty online feud about shit that happened months ago, when all that can go on is a “he said she said.” I’ve told my side of the story. Parts of both sides can be backed up by the cast. Harassing her like I did was a fucked up thing to do but she’s not innocent either.

Thanks for listening, and once again, I’m sorry for all the offense that I’ve caused.