Exit Interview: Ash Ketchum

Thank you for taking part this season of Survivor Quarantine! It’s sad to see your time be cut short, but I appreciate you taking the time to play! Before you go, may you please complete this exit interview? These are questions submitted to us by the bloggers who followed the season. Please keep in mind that they do not have access to your private rooms or confessionals. Once you answer these questions, I will submit your answers to them. Feel free to be as brief or as thorough as you’d like. Thank you for your time.

Who was your closest ally in the game?
My closest ally in the game was 100% Yelena. She was my ride or die the whole season. We were on every tribe together and any major alliance I had included her. She was the only one who knew of my advantage that I won on Mt.Sibo. I know that we are going to be friends outside of this game.

What do you think was your downfall in this game?
My biggest downfall I think was my emotions. In real life I wear my heart on my sleeve and I do a horrible job at hiding them. When I lost Yelena and Truman, I was honestly scared for my game and was upset. I got confused because I kept hearing for days that members of my old tribe (Zia and Ariel) had dropped my name and could potentially want to get rid of me. Then when I was approached again by a few people, they were confused as to why I wasn’t throwing them under the bus when that’s what they were doing to me, and feeling vulnerable in the game I panicked and went along with the idea of voting Ariel out in an act of survival in my eyes. Had I known there was a plan to split the votes the way they were, I 100% would have used my double vote on Shemar that round which would have sent him home and we would be having a much different game I believe.

Ash, was there an opportunity where you could have tried to get Jess and Willy out earlier in the game? If so, why did you not take it?
Honestly no there wasn’t. I was on a tribe with Jess for a short bit and we never went to tribal council. When it came to my next tribe with Willy, we tried to get him out and two double votes were used and our strategy of splitting the votes was ruined. Then came the merge and they are a cat with 9 lives. They are there mainly because of powers they have found in the game. It doesn’t really help that they are friends in real life which I think put a lot of people at a disadvantage, from what I gather everyone kept their anonymity but again from what I heard they know each other and obviously work together. I think soon their time will come, I left a little present for Zia and I hope she gets to use it and make it to the finals.

Did you have fun this season? Any suggestions for a future season?
I had so much fun this season, it reigniting my love of forum games. It takes me out of my every day life and I am able to compete and make friends I may not have met in real life. Past forum games I played the games would run slow because deadlines for challenges were a day or so, then extensions were given so the game could last two or so months. I loved how on top of everything the hosts were, they made sure people understood what was happening and kept everything running on time and didn’t stray away from it. I know people complained about production but we are all human, mistakes happen. I am happy with how the game ran and was handled and if asked to come back and play in future installments I am ready with a new identity

As for suggestions, there aren’t many. I think my main thing was the daily tasks. Don’t get me wrong I loved the idea and thought behind them, but from what I could tell people got extra tokens or powers from the fishing, but the others were just busy work, so maybe like if this was something used in the future whoever does wood include like a clue to a power randomly or for fire have an added reward. And maybe with the store a lot of people would check it and change their strategy on the fly once they saw things were bought, so maybe instead of updating the store to just tell people that things are bought out? Oh and more puzzles, I’m slow at posting challenges

Feel free to continue watching the game. At the end of the season we will have an identity reveal where you can find out who all was a part of this season. Thanks once again for a great season!