"I'm out of action for awhile and suddenly people get delusions of grandeur."

Hahaha.. Michel, come on now. Caryn never had any power. She was outside an alliance of 5 the whole time, which is exactly where Gregg and Jen saw her. Her head was on the chopping block, which is why she was going to jump at any offer Tom and Ian had for her. The fact that neither Tom nor Ian's head was on the chopping block right then only shows how ballsy and Promethean their move was, the most courageous move ever done on Survivor, I have said before. If Caryn goes to Gregg or Jen or Katie and tells them of Tom and Ian's plan, then Katie goes back to Ian and tells him of Caryn's deception, and then Caryn ends up going home. So, no, she was going to take Tom and Ian's offer, live another week, and hope to make F4 or get the women to form an alliance at F5, which they would have if it weren't for Katie's loyalty to Ian.
Still, by saying strong players can win on their own terms, I don't mean that they never get any help. Tom was helped by Ian the entire way. If Ian didn't have that tight alliance with Katie, they were cooked. Yul was also given huge help by Becky and by decisions made by Jonathan. Brian came the closest to winning completely without help, which is why I have always considered him the best player.
Anyway, my point is that these players, and others, Jenna won completely on "her own terms," for instance, didn't rely on slipping through because other people, who were making the decisions, decided to boot threats instead of themselves. They didn't have that luxury. They had to protect themselves and stay in power or get booted. They had to play a proactive game.
Cirie made a great move by orchestrating Courtney's boot. I will always agree with that. However, Courtney foiled Cirie's UTR game because she was such a goat. This meant that no matter how weak Cirie was, she would still likely be booted in favor of Courtney. Being a non-threat was no weapon against being a goat. Therefore, Cirie had to boot Courtney so she could continue to ride her non-threat posture into the F3, which specifically meant relying on Aras and Danielle to boot "anyone but her." She would have gotten her wish if it wasn't for Terry's idol and challenge dominance.
So, yes, Cirie has been proactive at times. I'm not saying she hasn't. But her prime game isn't social, as shown by her bitching at Jonathan, and it isn't strategical. It is being a non-threat and hoping those in power continue to boot the threats.
The problem is- once someone sees her as a threat, her game is up. And if she keeps trying to control boots, that day will come sooner rather than later. I think the showmance alliance already knows this, or they are idiots.

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