User blog:MATT DB/Mauritius Q & A

Hey guys! Thank you so much to all of you who took the time to read my latest season, whether you read the entire thing from the day I started posting or if you've only read bits and pieces here and there. This season has definitely been the most time and effort I've ever expended into a single project, but reading your guys' comments and reactions and getting the chance to write such a season was more than worth it. I plan on adding the Reunion (including the results to the Fanon Awards) soon, but I thought I might open things up for questions from y'all now. I'm curious as to what you guys are curious about in regards to the season as a whole, specific pieces of it, how I went about writing it, or how the season changed along the way. Before that, though, I thought I might address one common question that always seems to come up: is the current boot order the one you came up with originally/started the season with? The answer to that question, as those of you on the Discord probably know, is a huge NO! I changed the boot order exactly 3 times in between finishing Gilbert Islands and publishing the final season. The most recent change actually occurred around the time I was posting either Rachel's or Elaine's boot episode. The very first boot order was as follows: 20th: Inez Montero 19th: Adrian Morris 18th: Naomi Davidson 17th: Sadie Collins 16th: Logan Simmons 15th: Tyrone Laurence 14th: Chris Taylor 13th: Gabby Ellis 12th: Heather Clarke 11th: Jason Sanders 10th: Rachel Berry 9th: Kurtis Hansen 8th: Elaine Nguyen 7th: Isaiah Peterson 6th: Winter Alan 5th: Gus Brown 4th: Nigel Jackson 3rd: Deidre Ryans 2nd: Calvin Huang 1st: Leilani Arthur In this original draft, a lot of the relationships and dynamics (especially those involving Calvin) were not present. A lot of details are fuzzy, but the majority alliance was a secret cross-tribal one between Kurtis, Winter, Leilani, Nigel, Gus, Elaine, and Calvin. This doesn't make much sense now, and changes in character development and personalities as well as a desire to not waste Sadie's potential lead to a new boot order, which is as follows: 20th: Inez Montero 19th: Adrian Morris 18th: Naomi Davidson 17th: Tyrone Laurence 16th: Logan Simmons 15th: Gabby Ellis 14th: Chris Taylor 13th: Jason Sanders 12th: Heather Clarke 11th: Gus Brown 10th: Rachel Berry 9th: Elaine Nguyen 8th: Kurtis Hansen 7th: Isaiah Peterson 6th: Sadie Collins 5th: Winter Alan 4th: Nigel Jackson 3rd: Deidre Ryans 2nd: Calvin Huang 1st: Leilani Arthur A little less than halfway through writing the season, I grew really fond of Heather's story and found myself bored of Isaiah, as did the viewers. So, I switched them, creating a boot order identical to the one above, but with Heather finishing 7th as she does now, and Isaiah finishing 12th as he does now. It made more sense with the story anyways, and allowed me to develop the storyline of Calvin's growth throughout the season. Lastly, I changed the boot order for the final six to reflect changes in the use of Calvin's extra vote (which, in the first draft, was used by Elaine to try to blindside Kurtis) as well as what I believe led to a better conclusion. Thus, we ended up with the current boot order, in which Nigel finishes 6th and Sadie finishes 4th. If you have any questions about these old boot orders or anything else about the season, feel free to ask!