User blog comment:Coolio15/Canary Islands Boot Order/@comment-27429004-20190821015544/@comment-9949103-20190821032040

Patrick: From the beginning, Patrick's strategy was to people please and make himself seem available for ny type of emotional or strategic support. He was able to hide behind the louder personalities in his various alliances, Jasper with the construction crew and Kerri after the tribes were separated, in order to slink by to the merge.

Though he had a very imposing and physical-looking appearance, he made a point of not giving it his all in a good portion of the challenges, especially the individual immunity challenges to give himself a "Crystal Cox" sort of story to hide behind. And, for the most part, his strategies were successful as he was able to get through the entire game without a single vote against him, essentially being seen as a dumb old follower for most of the game until the very end.

He made many key relationships during the pre-merge, the most obvious one being Jasper, but more important were the subtle relationships he established with people like Faith, which proved useful when getting her back on his good side at the final six. His bonding with those at the separated La Palma tribe (Tara, Kerri, Clay) was also imperative to his gameplay as it allowed him to remain off of their radar when they eventually seized power from him and Jasper.

Once Jasper and Paul were both out of the game, Patrick knew that he needed to start being more bold and brash. With him and Faith tightly aligned and Robbie ready to turn the game around again, it all seemed too easy to blindside Kerri. But things went awry when Kerri saved herself with an immunity challenge win and when Tara leaked their blindside plans to Kerri herself and her tight ally Clay. Originally angered by Tara's big blabbermouth, Patrick was fully on board with Robbie's idea of them two and Faith sticking strong and voting for Tara. However, after having a conversation with Tara, in which the latter reveals that she doesn't intend on working with anyone, having spread around information for the "fun of it", Patrick starts to realize that she might be the better prospect to keep around as a nonthreat in challenges and a "bridge-burner" for FTC. Coming to Faith with the idea of switching the vote to the more threatening Robbie, Faith is unsure, notably calling Tara a "Serpent on a Bed of Roses". However, Patrick decides to go through with it and corrals the two young girls to vote for Robbie, knowing that the vote split between Robbie and Kerri/Clay will allow their three votes to be a majority.

At five, Patrick now found himself in big trouble. Though the Robbie move seemed good for negating a possible idol, Kerri ended up holding onto her idol and felt quite betrayed by both him and Tara going behind her back and lying to her. Vowing that she would use the idol to take either of the two of them out next. At this point, it seemed all but inevitable that Patrick would be going home fourth or fifth, but not wanting to give up at such a crucial point in the game, Patrick was able to formulate a plan with Faith where the two of them, along with Tara, would put on a whole charade to convince Kerri that her idol had caused the target to switch away from her. While both Patrick and Tara put on their acting faces for the next three days, actively campaigning against one another to Kerri and starting public arguments with one another in the middle of camp, Faith would be comforting Kerri from the sidelines, making her believe that she had the majority of the votes on her side no matter what Tara and Patrick did. The trust between the three, along with Faith's ability to quietly pull Clay aboard the blindside, would allow Patrick's plan to work out to perfection as Kerri felt confident enough to not pull out her idol (Even though it was the last point that she could use it at) and she ended up paying the ultimate price for it.

Patrick would go on to win the final immunity challenge, guaranteeing his spot at the FTC and allowing him to comfortably survey his options of who to take to the end. Though feeling heartbroken about betraying her after essentially watching her grow up and lose her naivety over the last 38 days, Patrick turned on Faith for the fear that her story could actually allow her to sweep the votes in comparison to his more lax and under-the-radar gameplay.

At the Final Tribal Council, Patrick was highly praised for his ability to diffuse the physical threat target on his back early in the game, along with his social game that allowed him to slink by undecected for so long. However, he was highly criticized for his "underwhelming" strategic gameplay and even called out for making a bad move at the final 6, something of which Robbie tells him could be a "million dollar mistake" for not getting rid of Tara when he had the chance. Robbie's threat, however, doesn't come to fruition as Patrick's solid performance at FTC and him taking partial credit for both of the biggest blindsides of the season (Robbie and Kerri) gets him just enough votes to take home the crown.

In ranking my winners, Patrick would have been 3rd, above Michael and Meredith,but below Amanda and Tanner, as his strategic game was subtle for most of the game but he had enough of a winning personality and smaller gameplay decisions (Like being a male Crystal Cox) to differentiate him and make him more unique.