User blog comment:Zypker124/Announcing My Leave/@comment-26485526-20160830021957/@comment-27638357-20160830041115

It's a long story as to why Michael quit; the meta reason is that it was the right end to his arc. As you might know, the theme of this season was that 18 high school students would reunite after 5 years. Well, Michael was originally the "bully" from high school. However, his time in the military helped changed him and made him realize his mistakes. When he realized the twist of the season along with everyone else, he sought redemption for bullying everyone at school. Initially, no one trusted him, and most thought he would be a "BvW Colton" and soon revert to his original ways. Eventually, however, people began to trust him. Michael played a straight up and completely honest game, never lying or backstabbing and always sticking to whatever alliance accepted him.

Now, let's get to the actual episode where he quits. Tensions are rising between several factions, and Tribal Council only continues the flame. Everyone is extremely emotional, and everyone is yelling and making accusations at one another, save for Michael. Michael eventually speaks up and gives a speech. Michael explains that his goal through the game was, in fact to seek redemption for his mistakes as a bully and he never intended to win the game. He understands the pressure everyone is going through in this upcoming vote, so to save them from the stress and anxiety of the next vote he decides to quit so that everyone can stay in the game for a couple more days, and lays down his torch. He declines to be part of the jury.

Eric was the ultimate gamer. He was savvy and shrewd, and established a F2 alliance with Velina early on. Together, the two of them exerted control over some of the votes, and established alliances as well as exchanging information. Eric was not afraid to cut his friends, and together he and Velina flipped against the Etchix alliance. Eric won the final immunity challenge and was faced with either taking Velina or Selina to the F2. Although he had a F2 deal with Velina, his gaming attitude combined with some convincing by Selina enabled him to cut Velina and take Selina to the F2, as he believed Velina would win against anybody in a F2 since she was the high school valedictorian and her story arc would have been too perfect to vote against. At the FTC, some of the jury members criticized Eric for betraying many of them and especially for cutting Velina. Eric, however, put out a strong FTC performance, and much to his surprise, Velina stood up and fought hard to support Eric, advising the jury not to be bitter and to recognize Eric's gameplay, while simultaneously praising Eric's move to cut her. In the end, however, this was not enough, and Eric received 4 votes, 1 vote short of Sole Survivor. He received the votes of Ben, Brandon, Steve and Velina to win.

Selina was a more cautious player. She was never under the radar but she never led the strategy, either, and had a fantastic social game. Selina used her social bonds to obtain information, and she kept up a "cute" persona where she played cute and innocent to everyone. Selina had a F2 with Yuri. Though she was on the wrong side of the votes several times post-merge, she always managed to stay calm and continued to socialize with everyone to avoid being the target. When Eric won the final immunity, she knew she was in danger and pitched to Eric a strong argument as to why he should keep her. When Eric decided to cut Velina at the F3, she was absolutely shocked. At the FTC, Selina was mostly complemented and wasn't criticized as much as Eric, but she didn't deliver as proficient of a FTC performance as Eric had due to her anxiety showing. However, due to her strong social game, Selina got 5 votes and won the title of Sole Survivor, earning the votes of Clark, Misty, Alina, Yuri, and Kim.

I'll be sure to update this season's charts soon.