User blog:Fedora Kid/Countdown to 10,000: The Final Countdown - Behind the Scenes

After the success of my blog going behind the scenes of Nalyd Renrut’s Countdown to 10,000: All-Stars, I knew that I couldn’t resist making a second “Behind the Scenes” blog about the third and final season of Countdown that I ever participated in: Countdown to 10,000 Season Six.

Whether or not this is better or worse than all of the drama of Season Four that was revealed through my first blog, that is up to you. But I am fully documenting the entire season from start to finish, plus a new addition: Pre-season events!

Note: Before I begin, I must give a shout-out to all users who will be featured in this documentation. To avoid a clash of opinions or any arguments based on my narration, I will remain completely unbiased as I describe these happenings, as if I was never a contestant. Also, some evidence mentioned here may have depended on what I myself was told by my allies and/or teammates, so it may have been slightly misconstrued or misunderstood.

Myself

CD-TDA

TotalDramaAddict

Musou

The Cartoon

Ishni

Breakingmikey/Mikey

Neko-natio/Neko

TDIFan13/Ryan

Bbhinton15/BB

Mygeto

Bigez620/Bigez

TotalDramaFan1000/TDF

Kgman04/KG

TDAwesome15/TDA15

Ale-Alejandro/Ale

BarBar

Silverspark735/Silver

Before I begin, here is a quick recap of the original teams.

Team Nalyd Is Hot/Team Nalyd

Mikey

Myself

Musou

Mygeto

Neko

TDF

Team Neil Patrick Harris/Team NPH

Ale

BB

Ishni

Silver

Ryan

Addict

Team Buffalo

BarBar

Bigez

CD

KG

TDA15

The Cartoon

And now, without further adieu, let the story begin.

Pre-Season Meetings
Around the time of Week Nine of Countdown Season Five, CD-TDA calls me into a brand new channel in the IRC: #ClassicCountdowners. There, I meet up with my two former allies: CD and TotalDramaAddict. As the days go on, we learn more and more about the new cast for the upcoming season, as well as the shocking revelation that there will actually be 18 contestants; the most of any season. I am also informed of our new members, who are also confirmed by that point: The Cartoon and Politoed89, placing it at 5 members. Within the next few days, we officially invite Musou into the alliance, and she accepts, thus increasing it to 6 members. On Tuesday, June 7, we invite the winner of Season Five, Ishni (who is also confirmed), into the alliance, since she and Poli had an alliance in the previous season. She accepts as well, thus placing the alliance at 7 members; the largest alliance in Countdown history. Also, this puts four of the five previous season winners in this alliance together. At the same time, we discover that our former ally Aimers, was offered a spot, but declined. Nevertheless, I feel that this is for the best, as our alliance could not get any bigger, or it would become too unstable. As the days roll on, CD becomes the (unofficial) acting leader of the new alliance, and seems determined to eliminate one of the confirmed new castmembers: BreakingMikey, whom she believes is a massive threat; even to the same extent that Webkinz Mania was.

On Saturday, June 18, in Tinychat, Nalyd officially announces the contestants. In addition, he posts a Pre-Season Blog featuring all interviews of the 18 new contestants: 15 returners and 3 debuters, and also confirms that Team Redemption will be returning. The interviews confirm our alliance members who are competing: Myself, The Cartoon, Musou, Ishni, Addict, and CD. Poli is no longer in since she apparently quit, and was replaced with TDA15. Meanwhile, we establish Ryan as our new Number One Target, with Mikey second. At the same time, we consider the idea of a new 7th member to replace Poli, but ultimately decide against it. Also, CD starts reconsidering Ishni’s part in the alliance, although she ultimately opts to keep her in, due to her being the most recent season winner.

Suddenly, at 10:04 A.M., Mikey PMs me and asks about forming an alliance to eliminate CD. I try to convince him that Ryan is the true threat that needs to be eliminated. After our unofficially elected spy, The Cartoon, had also PMd Mikey and gotten him to reveal his plans to eliminate CD, I also tell the alliance about Mikey PMing me. Me, Musou, and TC go into their own channel (#CountdownS6Alliance) and learn all of their plans. At that time, the alliance consists of Mikey, myself, Musou, TC, Ishni, and Neko. Mikey plans to eliminate all of the admins and Ryan. He also plans to get BarBar and TDA15 into his alliance as well. However, as Musou, TC, and myself get more and more info out of Mikey, we eventually find ourselves completely manipulating him without him being aware, using our “experience” to convince him which ways are the smartest and strategically best ways to go. We eventually convince him to drop TDA15, since he’ll undoubtedly be aligned with Ryan, and even manage to convince him to do the following:

[10:48]  Break it to TDA15 that you're gonna drop him?

[10:49]  I'll be like this:

[10:49]  Me: I'm Awesome, but you no edit a lot. So, I decided that your out of the alliance

[10:49]  Awesome: WHAT!? :@

[10:50]  Me: Also, since you know about the alliance, were gonna have to eliminate you :D

[10:50]  That's a good plan, Mikey.

[10:50]  Awesome: You Psycho! :@

[10:50]  Me: BYE!! :D

And we manage to convince him to do just that, thus ruining his chance at an alliance with non-Classic Countdowners members in it, and insuring that his attempted alliance is completely under our control (as 4 of the 6 supposed members are already part of our own alliance). Musou humorously says:

[10:52]  FEDORA, YOU'RE PLAYIN' HIM LIKE A VIOLIN. xDDDD

Eventually, I go several steps further. I manage to convince Mikey to drop his editing earlier on in the season, so as to convince people that he’s lost his game since the end of Season Five, and that he won’t be much of a threat anymore. However, this will make him vulnerable, and let someone else make the most edits and win invincibility, thus making him an easier target to eliminate. A few days later, I talk to TDA15, who still believes that he is in Mikey’s alliance, and try to convince him to help vote out Ryan first instead of CD, whom he is adamant about eliminating first. At one point, Mikey makes a comical typo in one of our conversations:

[14:01]  I CALL DIPS ON ELIMINATING BARBAR!!!

As a result, this becomes an inside joke among all of us, to call “dips” on something in the game. This and many other hilarious instances make the situation with Mikey all the more hilarious.

However, on June 23 – two days before the competition begins – I suddenly receive an update from Mikey: CD, KG, and Ryan are in an alliance, supposedly to vote out Addict and Ale. But then, upon giving me two screenshots, I see a quote by Ryan saying to vote ME off. I storm into their room, at the same time giving the links to the screenshots to CD. CD soon leaves completely, only saying, “g2g.” I confront the alliance, in #tdwiki-plan, and find Ryan, CD, KG, and Addict all in there. Despite a rather heated argument, I eventually discover that their true intent was to vote out Mikey, but my name was just thrown around as a joke. Ironically, while I find myself believing Ryan (who acts as the main spokesperson for the three), I still remain suspicious of CD.

Week One
Although I am absent on Saturday and the first half of Sunday, I return and manage to make 25 edits. Also, I discover the teams for the first time. It is almost too perfect, due to two different arrangements. There are exactly two Classic Countdowners on each team, with me and Musou on one, Addict and Ishni on another, and CD and The Cartoon on the third. In addition, my own team – Team Nalyd Is Hot – has 4 members of Mikey’s “alliance” on it, which is Mikey himself, myself, Musou, and Neko. Thus, we already control the votes, and since I truly control the alliance, that means that I am in complete control of the entire team; it is all too perfect for me. When I head into the IRC, Mikey reveals that TDF somehow found out about “our” alliance, and plans to tell everyone. Thus, he wants to eliminate TDF first. However, I convince him that it should be Mygeto to go first, as he is much more of a threat than TDF. Mikey eventually agrees (with the promise that TDF goes second), and I convince Neko to do the same. Meanwhile, I contact Addict in the secret channel and inform him of our priority of eliminating Ryan early as well. Addict, however, is quite doubtful, stating that he believes Ryan when he says that he wants to play “just for fun,” and also cites editors such as BB and Silver (who have made little edits thus far in the Week), stating that he instead wants to eliminate users such as these, to avoid his team being completely decimated before the merge. I insure that the plan will work, and, although he again pledges loyalty to me, I still remain uncertain of his standing on eliminating Ryan. In addition, I contact BB, being a close friend of his, and tell him that I personally believe that he is more deserving than editors such as Ryan, Silver, and Ale, and that I don’t want to see him eliminated for making zero or less edits once again. Although he says that he is already considering dropping out, I convince him to make at least a few edits each week, so that he won’t be automatically eliminated and he’ll remain as a valuable vote; hopefully, a vote against Ryan. Later that same night, just before I retire for the day, I finally manage to catch Ishni in the IRC. In a long PM, I reconfirm her participation in the alliance, her ability to out-edit Ryan for individual immunity, and her ability to talk to Ale and Silver, in hopes of convincing them to switch and vote for Ryan as well, just to insure a majority.

At one point during the week, Musou and I are talking in a PM, when she makes the most startling and most encouraging revelation I’ve ever seen: She has only two goals this season, neither of which involving winning. The first is simply to help CD outrank Mikey in this season, as she is her friend and is determined to eliminate Mikey. And the second, more important one, is to do anything she can to help me win this time. I am flattered and ask why, and she says that she’s won already, and feels that I deserve it the most, seeing as how I’ve been in the final two twice and have “been robbed” many times. This gives me a whole new level of determination, and proves to me that Musou is easily my most trustworthy ally. The next day, I head into the IRC, where Addict, CD, and Musou are already there. We all convene in the channel, and I inform Musou of my conversation with Ishni in a PM. We then both confront Addict, who still refuses to vote out Ryan. CD even provides a quote from Addict saying that he plans on making zero edits just to be eliminated the first week.

[17:24]  "Well guys, if you wanna know the truth, I'm gonna be making 0 edits next week, so I can finally be out of this game, and I'll be losing Team Redemption, as well. :)

However, she inadvertently proves it to be fake, by giving us the quotes of the entire conversation, in which she asks Addict to come up with a quote that will keep us occupied, resulting in the longer quote with quotation marks over it. This only confirms their distance from the current alliance. Similarly, CD is proving that her determination to eliminate Mikey at this point is overpowering her sense of logic and common sense. She claims that the alliance with her, Ryan, and KG was solely to eliminate Mikey. However, believing this story only makes it worse, as CD has devoted herself to eliminating Mikey. Musou and I now believe that, at this point, the alliance could be split up into two sides: Addict and CD on one, and myself, Musou, Ishni, and TC on the other. We continue to discuss plans to eliminate Ryan, with or without Addict’s help. Addict makes us promise to not tell anyone about his plans to drop out. Later on, CD tries to convince me that Mikey is plotting against me, and has even told TDF that he plans to eliminate me after Mygeto. However, I try to convince her that that’s not the situation, and that I’m in total control of Mikey and the alliance. She responds by angrily leaving the channel, only to come back shortly after long enough for me to explain how I truly do have control of the team. Even then, she remains unsure of whether or not she trusts me, and I am the same with her. Later, I go to Mikey and tell him that there has been a change of plans: For the rest of Week One, he is to go all-out on his editing, to better insure that Ryan’s team will lose, and that Ryan will be eliminated. The next day, I confront CD in a PM and try to talk some sense into her. At the same time, Ryan PMs me and tries to convince me that CD is against me. Every time I keep trying to inform CD, she disconnects. However, I eventually finally manage to get the message through. Using it as proof that Ryan is trying to break our alliance up (and taking advantage of the Mikey situation to do so), CD and I manage to settle our conflicting interests, and formulate a plan. If her team loses, they are to vote out TDA15, with the shared votes of CD, TC, KG, and Bigez. I also try to convince her that Ryan must be the first person voted out on Team NPH, instead of BB. In the process, I contact Ale and subtly ask her about her vote in Week One. She admits that she wants to vote for Ryan, but due to BB making no edits, he’ll probably be automatically eliminated instead. Ishni, however, remains uncertain if Ale will actually share our vote. The last major event of the Week happens on the final day, just hours before midnight. I talk to BarBar in PM, and do my best to convince him that TDA15 should be voted off, citing my three-time experience and his very possible alliance with Ryan as good reasons for why he should listen to me. He admits that, at that point, he had no idea who he was going to vote off, so I naturally took full advantage of the situation. However, BarBar remains uncertain and somewhat hard to convince. The next day, BB – despite my promise to him and his similar statement that he would try to edit – is eliminated for making -4 edits. Thus, only Team Buffalo must face a regular elimination. CD and TC vote for TDA15 as planned, with an absent TDA15 pre-voting for KG. In PM, I try one last time to convince BarBar to vote for TDA15. BarBar takes his time, but eventually finally votes for TDA15, thus securing his elimination and proving that I have succeeded in convincing him. Later on in the day, KG and Bigez come by and also vote for TDA15, thus making it a landslide elimination of 5-1.

Winner: Team Nalyd

Second: Team Buffalo

Third: Team NPH

Eliminated: BB (automatically) and TDA15

Week Two
TC, CD, and myself meet up in the usual alliance room, while myself, Mikey, and TC meet in the other room, and discuss our plans. We review our priorities: Mygeto out first for Team Nalyd, either KG or Bigez out first for Team Buffalo, and Ryan out first for Team NPH. Eventually, I finally ask Mikey if he trusts me. He says yes. I, similarly, say that I trust him, and ask if he trusts the other members of the alliance. He says he trusts all but Musou, whom he is uncertain of. I finally confront him on this (casually, of course), and tell him that Musou is definitely trustworthy, and about as honest a player as they get. This seems to convince him, and rebuild his trust in the alliance. He then suddenly makes a startling revelation. Non-participant, and our former ally, Aimers, who is participating in the “Fantasy League,” is trying to get Mikey (acting as his inside man) to eliminate those that he wants eliminated, so that his guesses will be correct and he will earn a spot on the possible next season: CD, Ryan, and KG. Of course, I convince him to listen to us – his friends in the game – instead of a friend outside the game. He pledges loyalty to us once again, and I feel more confident in his loyalty than in CD’s. The next day, I find that the teams have been completely rearranged. I am, once again, on Team Nalyd. And, once again, I am in a good position, with four of the six members being from our alliance: Myself, TC, Musou, and Addict, against Ale and KG. I talk with CD and TC and go over our plans. Team NPH, with CD and Ishni on it together (alongside BarBar, Neko, and TDF), is to try to pull through with the win, so that Team Buffalo and Team Nalyd lose. Silver, who has apparently quit for two to four weeks (according to CD), will be automatically eliminated from Team Buffalo (himself, Ryan, Mikey, Mygeto, and Bigez) for making no edits. Meanwhile, the members of Team Nalyd will vote off Ale, who is Ryan’s next major supporter now that TDA15 is gone. While CD plans on voting off TDF or Neko if they do lose, I convince her that Neko should not be considered a target, as she is almost completely on our side, and it should be either TDF or BarBar. Eventually, we relay the plans to TC and Musou. When Mikey finally comes on, I PM him and tell him of our plan for him to “lay low” next week to insure that his team loses, so that Ryan will be voted off. However, he continues making edits like crazy regardless, securing his team’s victory. However, I figure that it doesn’t matter, since Silver has made no edits this week and will be automatically eliminated. Plus, my team finds itself in dead last, securing our chance to eliminate Ale and completely remove Ryan’s alliance from the game, save for Ryan himself. However, our plans are thrown off when KG ends up making negative two edits on Friday, thus securing his own automatic elimination and sparing Ale. However, on the Saturday after that, a miracle has happened: Silver has, in fact, made 2 edits, and KG has made 1. Thus, both are saved and we will still get to vote. Myself, Addict, and Musou all vote for Ale. Meanwhile, it comes down to either TDF or BarBar on Team NPH. Ultimately, we decide on BarBar, since he made much more edits than TDF this week, and has made almost 200 edits both weeks so far. Neko, CD, and TDF vote for BarBar, eliminating him. Ale votes for Addict, but then KG comes in and votes for her, making the fourth vote that secures her elimination.

Winner: Team Buffalo

Second: Team NPH

Third: Team Nalyd

Eliminated: Ale and BarBar, BB (from Team Redemption)

Week Three
Soon after, I learn that my prediction came true: Nalyd switched up the teams again. Now, for the first time, I am no longer on Team Nalyd; I am on Team Buffalo, alongside Mygeto, Neko, Addict, and TDF. I quickly meet up with CD and discuss our new plan. It turns out that she, Ishni, and Musou are all now on the same team (Team Nalyd), along with Silver and TC. Mikey is on Team NPH, with only KG, Bigez, and Ryan. I talk to Mikey in the IRC and tell him that, while he must lay low this week, he must stay ahead of Ryan and the others to insure his vulnerability to elimination when, and if, they lose, as well as Mikey himself gaining invincibility. I also give him several pointers and long, well-worded statements to relay to Bigez and KG after they lose and before the vote, which he can use to convince them to vote for Ryan instead of one of each other. Addict then PMs me, and informs me that I must get invincibility this week, as Mygeto and TDF are gunning for me. I thank him for the warning and insure that I am going to gain invincibility. Even then, we’ll still need a third vote out of the five overall members of our team. We both agree on Neko, and I confirm the plan with her: To vote out either Mygeto or TDF. I myself truly don’t know which of these two to vote out now, so I ask Addict, who opts for TDF. Thus, we make TDF our current target for elimination for this week. In the process, Addict makes another startling revelation: He too wants to help me win, since he has already won and feels that I – having been in the final two twice with no win – deserve it the most. This makes two people now – Addict and Musou – who want to do this for me. The next day, I head into the room and relate our plans to vote TDF. However, both Musou and CD opt to instead vote out Mygeto. I tell this to Addict, who still wants to vote out TDF. I figure that perhaps we can hold an alliance meeting of all six members and put it to a vote to decide between Mygeto and TDF. However, the meeting never takes place, and we are left with the possibility that Mygeto will go automatically, as he has made -2 edits. In addition, Silver has made -2 edits as well, and KG has made -3 edits. Since I must leave on yet another weekend vacation, I make one final push of editing to insure that I win individual invincibility on my team just in case a miracle does happen with these three, just as it happened with KG and Silver in Week Two. Although I am not present on Saturday, I eventually learn of an absolute explosion of a revelation: For the first time in Countdown history, there has been a discovered instance of cheating. Ryan, who had somehow managed to convince Mikey – being an administrator – to undelete a redirect towards the end of Week Two so that Silver, one of Ryan’s closest allies and at that time having less than zero edits, could stay in the game. As a result, both are officially disqualified. For the first time in Countdown history, two contestants are eliminated straight from the game, completely and permanently removed from the season, without Team Redemption and without any chance of returning. The top two biggest threats, and our alliance’s top two biggest targets, are eliminated just like that. In addition, Ale is eliminated from Team Redemption.

Winner: Team NPH

Second: Team Nalyd

Third: Team Buffalo

Eliminated: Mikey and Ryan (automatically disqualified), Ale (from Team Redemption)

Week Four
Following the shocking result of Week Three, we are in for yet another surprise. Not only are the teams rearranged once more, but Team Buffalo is permanently disbanded, leaving only Team Nalyd and Team NPH. For the first time, I find myself on Team NPH, alongside Bigez, Mygeto, TC, Addict, and TDF. Team Nalyd consists of CD, Ishni, KG, Musou, Neko, and Silver. Not much interesting happens until later on in the week, when we get a startling shock: Ishni is pulling out of the contest, as well as the overall Wiki, for 3 solid months due to a summer class. Thus, she will make no edits this week or next week in TR and will be eliminated. This removes the next biggest threat in this game now that Mikey is gone. Just like that, the top two editors of this season (Mikey and Ishni), along with the most strategically dangerous contestant (Ryan), are all gone within two short weeks. Thus, this leaves only CD as my true competition for the win. With Ishni, Silver, and KG all making 0 or less edits, it will be down to the final 8. Meanwhile, I have several PMs with BarBar, in which I express my full support of him on Team Redemption, over TDA15. I admit that he will probably last the longest on TR, and may more or less be considered a threat once he returns to the actual game. He asks if I’m making another Behind the Scenes blog, and if I’d like to add some special secret information from him to my Blog. However, I convince him that he should make his own, since he’ll spend more time on TR than anyone else, and I don’t plan on going to TR anytime soon. On Saturday, my prediction becomes almost completely true, but Silver has managed to make 2 edits, thus saving himself. Only Ishni and KG are eliminated, and BarBar beats TDA15 by only 2 edits.

Winner: Team NPH

Losers: Team Nalyd

Eliminated: Ishni and KG (automatically), TDA15 (from Team Redemption)

Week Five
After four weeks, we lose our first member and also the first season winner: Ishni. Nevertheless, things are looking great for the alliance and for me. The fifth week of the season is rather uneventful, with no major issues of problems hindering our plans for the elimination. The only two things that happen this week are: Nalyd declaring that the winner of TR this week will return, and that this week introduces the first challenge of the season; answer a series of questions about things that have happened thus far in the season. CD, Addict, and myself are the only ones to cast answers, but CD answers first and correctly. Thus, she wins invincibility and is also allowed to share the invincibility with one person from the other team. Thus, she chooses Addict to share it with her, leaving the position open on both teams for individual invincibility via most edits. Come Saturday, me and Musou have made the highest edits on each of our teams, thus making me, Musou, CD, and Addict – all remaining members of our alliance except for TC – invincible. On Team Nalyd, Silver votes for Neko while Neko votes for Silver. I break the ice for my team and cast the first vote for Mygeto. TC and Addict follow suit, thus eliminating him. Eventually, CD comes in and breaks the tie on Team Nalyd, voting for Silver and sending him home, thus finally eliminating from the season every single person who either was, or was likely to be in Ryan’s alliance.

Winners: Team NPH

Losers: Team Nalyd

Eliminated: Mygeto and Silver, KG and Ishni (from Team Redemption)

Returned: BarBar

Week Six
Nalyd declares that the merge has started and BarBar has returned from Team Redemption, sending both KG and Ishni home. As of this point, there is no more Team Redemption. Thus, it is officially the final nine and merged group: Bigez, Myself, TC, Addict, TDF, CD, Musou, Neko, and BarBar. Nalyd declares that, at the end of the week, only one person (the one with the highest edit count) will have invincibility, and the person who makes the least edits will be automatically eliminated. Following that, the remaining 8 contestants will vote one more person out. Since I am leaving on Tuesday for a vacation over a week long, I make sure to make plenty of edits. By Sunday night, I have made exactly 100 edits, and am the only person at that time to have made any edits at all. In addition, the “Cody and Noah” page is deleted due to a proposal on its deletion being passed, thus severely damaging many of the edit counts of current contestants. At the time of 8:00 PM PST Sunday night, I make the following evaluations: Bigez has made -6 edits, TC has made 0, Addict has made 0, TDF has made -8, CD has made -3, Musou has made -51, Neko has made 0, and BarBar has made 0. Even though other’s (most prominently Neko’s) edit counts increase somewhat over the week, both Musou and TDF remain looking grim. Sure enough, by the end of the week, both TDF and Musou are the only ones who have made less than 0 edits (with TDF at -8 and Musou at -51), and both are automatically eliminated.

Eliminated: Musou and TDF (automatically)

Week Seven
It is now Week Seven, and down to the final seven. We have lost another loyal member of our alliance, and the second season winner in a row, with Musou’s loss. This is also a serious blow to my chances, as Musou was by far my most loyal ally and the only other one besides Addict who wanted to help me win. Nevertheless, I remain confident in my chances, having made the most amount of edits weekly for three consecutive weeks now. However, after Nalyd posts the Week Seven blog (in which he declares that, for the first time, only one person will be voted out), he posts an ultimatum: The final seven must edit, or Mikey will be brought back. I meet up with both Nalyd and Addict in the IRC, and talk to the former first. He admits that, ultimately, all he wants is for everyone to make at least 1 edit this week, and with no automatic eliminations. I then talk to Addict, and we set up all of our plans for the next few weeks. This week, we target BarBar. If he is invincible, we eliminate Bigez, then work hard to insure that we can eliminate BarBar next week. The next day, Addict contacts me yet again and tries to ask me if he can have solo invincibility this week, due to him “actually trying this week,” and having “never gotten immunity for editing in a merge setting.” However, my instincts tell me to deny this offer, and continue editing myself. However, just as Friday comes to an end, we learn of a shocking revelation. Nalyd declares that, after CD-TDA posts a comment containing the entire Eighth Week due to Nalyd being unable to do so, Mikey will make “an announcement.” Throughout the whole day in the IRC, Mikey repeatedly boasts for the rest of us to watch our backs. It is only too obvious that he is going to return. I discuss heavily with Neko, CD, and Addict on what we should do. Neko agrees with me completely when I cite how he was caught cheating, and shouldn’t return, as well as how if he returned, everyone else would give up. However, she cites his constant boasting as obvious proof. When I talk to CD, she shares a quote with me from a PM she had with Ryan, in which Ryan stated that, according to Mikey, Ryan could possibly return, too. Lastly, Addict remains the most skeptical towards it, saying that Mikey wouldn’t be so obvious in the main chat if it were true. However, Addict has a potentially either game-changing or game-destroying move planned. If Mikey does return, Addict says that he can rally all other remaining contestants (with the possible exception of BarBar, who will be out at the end of the week anyway) to effectively protest by deliberately throwing it and making 0 or less edits with four whole weeks still to go, thus possibly forcing Nalyd to reconsider. When Nalyd finally comes into the IRC, Addict gives me permission to inform him of the entire plan in advance to freak him out. While Nalyd initially denies knowing that there were even rumors, but upon me telling him that all seven final contestants have, in fact, kept their side of the promise and made at least one edit this week, he is suddenly (and literally) at a loss for words, even saying “Damn” and using the “-_-“ face. Thus, it becomes clear that he was unaware of everyone editing, and will have to recall Mikey returning. However, he asks, “If Mikey doesn’t return, are we going back to lame editing?” I can assure him that we won’t, and will keep our promise. While Nalyd hints at my suspicions being true, Mikey still denies it at first. However, when I tell everyone in the chat about my PM with Nalyd, Mikey suddenly switches gears and says that another former contestant will return, giving us the following clue: “He’s a hungry person.” He then quickly corrects the he as “she.” However, I remained completely unconvinced, and extremely unsure as to whether or not he’s even remotely telling the truth. I keep the options open, and assume that any previously-eliminated contestant could return, regardless of gender. That night, I reconfirm the plan with Addict to vote off BarBar, and have our protest plan on standby in case the worst occurs. Come Saturday, it is an absolutely shocking turnaround. BarBar has actually won solo invincibility due to making 141 edits; exactly one edit more than me. In addition, Mikey makes the official announcement, which is much better than we had previously anticipated: While neither he or Ryan will not return, there will be a contest throughout all of Week 8 to see which of the other 9 previously-eliminated contestants makes the most edits that week. The one who does will return at the end of Week 8. I do a quick deduction, and conclude with the following: BB, KG, Ishni, Mygeto, Silver, and TDF, all of whom barely edited or often made 0 or less edits, could never return for that reason alone. Musou had recently quit the Wiki, while Ishni was on hiatus for 6 months. Thus, this only leaves one person: TDA15, who I believe could be a very legitimate threat after looking back at his performance on TR. Nevertheless, the current issue is that, for the first time in three weeks, I am vulnerable for elimination. I break the ice by voting for Bigez, as agreed to by CD. CD then goes AFK from the IRC, and BarBar comes in. He tells me that “some people who I will not mention are telling me to vote you off.” However, later in the conversation, he admits that CD and Addict want him out for sure. Thus, this narrows down my field of possible people targeting me to three: Bigez, Neko, and TC. BarBar goes on saying that he doesn’t know who to trust, and, in a comment on the Week blog, he says that CD won’t vote unless he votes. Eventually, after I ask him enough, he reveals that the “people” who wanted him to vote me out is only Mikey. I quickly tell him to never listen to Mikey, seeing as how he’s not in the game. I also use the possible threat of Mikey coming back as a legitimate reason to vote out Bigez, since he’s the only one left who barely edits. With both of these reasons supporting my plan, I finally manage to agree to the following terms with him: He will vote out Bigez this week with the rest of us, as long as we agree to eliminate TDA15 after he returns, also believing him to be a threat, and due to their previous conflict on TR. I confirm the deal with CD, who agrees completely, and BarBar votes for Bigez, followed by CD. Meanwhile, BarBar and CD both bring up another issue that was completely unseen until now: Who to vote out in Week 8, before TDA15 returns. CD suggests Neko, which I agree to as the best option if we are to remain loyal to BarBar. I relay the suggestion to BarBar, who also agrees, agreeing that I shall be loyal to him, and him to me, up until Week 10. Finally, TC comes on and casts the fourth and securing vote for Bigez, eliminating him.

Eliminated: Bigez

Week Eight
Eventually, I meet up with Addict in the IRC and relay the plan to him about temporarily aligning with BarBar against TDA15. However, upon mentioning the plan to vote off Neko this week, he refuses to go along with it, thinking that Neko should not be eliminated over BarBar. However, I cite that, if BarBar is still in when TDA15 enters the game, TDA15 should be distracted with him and focus more on getting revenge than making the most edits to win invincibility. However, if BarBar is gone when TDA15 enters, he’ll know that the biggest target will be on his back instead, and he could power-edit his way to the finale. Thus, I strenuously try to convince him that keeping BarBar for longer is the only way we can insure that TDA15 will go in the same week that he enters. Addict ultimately agrees, but makes it very clear that he refuses to vote for Neko. However, as the week goes on, BarBar is banned for 3 days due to fluffing. As a result, when he comes back, he ends up suddenly racing ahead of all of us on Friday, making 150 edits and gaining solo invincibility, thus prompting Addict to further doubt him. In addition, BarBar’s invincibility forces Addict to vote for Neko the next day, regardless of his previous feelings, as he now has no choice. That night, I talk to TDA15 in PM and relay the plan to him, insisting that he must not get top editor next week, and must lay low to allow CD to out-edit him, BarBar, and everyone else next week. He admits that it is risky, but ultimately agrees. However, come Saturday, there are several shocking turn-arounds. First of all, it turns out that Addict had horribly miscalculated with BarBar’s edit count, as he ends the week with only 21 edits instead of 150, leaving me as the winner of solo invincibility. Beyond that, Addict casts the first vote for BarBar, prompting BarBar to vote for Neko. However, both CD and Neko come in later and vote for BarBar, thus leaving me and TC as the only ones left to vote. BarBar desperately approaches me in PM, pleading with me to stay loyal to him, claiming that he has TC’s loyalty and that the three of us, together, will vote out Neko (who, having made less edits than BarBar, would be eliminated). I at first choose to remain loyal and wait for TC. However, when TC still doesn’t show up, and with pressuring from CD, I finally break the tie and vote for BarBar. In addition, TDA15 is officially announced as the one who will return.

Eliminated: BarBar

Returned: TDA15

Week Nine
When Addict arrives in the IRC, I go over the plan with him. Realizing that there are only three weeks left, and yet six contestants remain, we realize that only one thing is possible to handle this situation: Two more consecutive double eliminations. Thus, we have the chance to eliminate both the last non-CC member in the game (TDA15) and the most threatening member of the CC’s (CD) within this week alone, if it is a double elimination in which both are decided by votes. Addict says that he wants solo invincibility this week, similarly to Week Seven. I first talk to CD in PM, hoping to convince her to let Addict win solo invincibility. She is reluctant, but Addict eventually convinces her himself, and the three of us initially agree to let him take solo invincibility this week so that we may beat TDA15 and eliminate him. However, when Addict announces that his first week of school is this week, we decide to shift the solo invincibility over to CD, just to be on the safe side. Then, we will allow Addict solo invincibility next week. Just Friday night, CD has the most edits, and is far ahead of everyone else.

Then, on Saturday, it all takes a turn for the worst. CD wins invincibility and TC is eliminated for the least amount of edits, and I cast the first vote for TDA15, which CD also does. Then, Addict votes for me. Neko and TDA15 do the same, thus eliminating me from the game for the first and last time ever.

As words cannot describe this sudden, rather brutal act of betrayal, I will keep it simple. After Addict voted for me, I confronted him. He told me that his thoughts were “clouded,” but he felt threatened by me always coming up with “near-perfect strategies,” and thus felt threatened enough by me to vote me out, despite admitting that he knew from the start that he would never win this season. At one point, I desperately pleaded with him to change his vote. He said that he might consider doing so if Nalyd approved of it, but he refused. Thus, I was doomed from the moment that Addict betrayed me.

Nevertheless, despite my elimination from the season, I shall completely and successfully fulfill my duty as promised, and I shall finish documenting this season throughout the last two weeks.

Eliminated: TC (automatically), and myself

Week Ten
It is down to the final four: CD-TDA, TotalDramaAddict, Neko-naito, and TDA15. Following Addict’s betrayal, I warn CD to not trust him or Neko, and to completely forget about the previous plan to let Addict win invincibility. Thus, I tell her to win invincibility again this week, which will secure her a spot in the final two and easily allow her to beat whoever is in the final two with her. We are also informed that this Week, there is no vote. Just the two who make the lesser amounts of edits are automatically eliminated, and the other two continue on. Coincidentally, this Week starts right after a vote was taken on a Forum that officially allowed for a particular admin to create pages for the 13 characters, as well as the two teams, of the upcoming fourth season, Total Drama Reloaded. The admin who takes the action upon themselves, coincidentally, is CD. This immediately earns her about 80 edits. In addition, I contribute to this by giving her a boatload of further edits. Previously, I had pre-written out sections for each and every TDR character’s pages, titled “Total Drama Reloaded,” which are basically similar to the “Camp TV” sections on each of the 22 original characters’ pages. I give these sections, basically explaining all changes from the characters’ earliest designs to their current designs, to CD via the IRC in a private chatroom. Giving her these edits, along with plenty more coinciding with the creation of all these new pages, greatly boosts her weekly edit count even more, making it rise up to over 100 within the first day. However, due to complaining from Mikey about CD’s unfair advantage with the TDR pages, Nalyd decides to make any edits to these pages no longer count towards the contest. The Sunday this is declared, CD is enraged and threatens to quit Countdown due to the unfair rules, but I manage to convince her that the best way to spite Nalyd and the others is to beat them, and I motivate her enough to continue on. I continue giving her edits and help. The night before Saturday, when Neko and CD are neck-and-neck, me and several other users are with Neko in the IRC. I partake in pretending to support Neko over CD, repeatedly motivating her to edit more tonight to secure her own victory. I believe that, if Neko feels that she has more popular support than CD does, and if she makes enough edits tonight, then she will let her guard down against CD. All the while, I do not at all mention how CD has a clear one-hour advantage over Eastern Standard Time due to living in Brazil, setting up Neko for the perfect trap as my final true contribution to the outcome of the season, and last act of support for my only remaining true ally. Come the next morning, only after taking advantage of her extra hour, CD beats Neko by 3 edits, placing her and TDA15 in the final two, and sending Neko and Addict home.

Eliminated: Addict and Neko (automatically)

Week Eleven
Throughout the final week, I continue to give CD edits to add to her edit count, allowing her to maintain her 300+ edit advantage over TDA15, due to CD spending more time in the season than TDA15, even though both make about 200 edits that week. Come Saturday, the winner is declared to be CD, having made 1,349 edits over TDA15’s 1,111 edits, thus making her the first and only person to win two seasons of Countdown – coincidentally, the first and the last. Ironically, in a strange bit of good karma, I end up becoming the At-Home Champion for the season with 1,319 edits.

Winner: CD, myself (At-Home Champion)

Eliminated: TDA15

Epilogue
Overall, this season can best be summarized as this: Only with this additional behind-the-scenes material could a majority know the truth about how truly dramatic this season really was. Dominated early on by automatic eliminations due to 0 or less edits, with many strong editors giving up in the face of such powerful editors like Mikey, Ishni, or Musou, the true action was happening beneath the rather boring surface. Behind the scenes, a seemingly unstoppable alliance of six supposedly rocked the season, while slowly and subtly crumbling apart beneath our noses. Behind the scenes, a true strategist – who was truly the one pulling all the strings of this season – had a sudden and harsh downfall when he assumed that victory was inevitable. Behind the scenes, it was out of an alliance that two of the most powerful players in Countdown history were suddenly and shockingly disqualified. Behind the scenes, one of the strongest, most loyal bonds between two competitors was brutally severed. Behind the scenes, the last season of the great Countdown to 10,000 may, in many ways, be the greatest and most dramatic season out of all six.

So that’s it. Oh, and, as always: If any of you were also in the season and have any additional info you’d like to add, to better educate our viewers in this insight of this season, then feel free to add it in your comments below.

This is the 5th-place recipient and At-Home Champion of the sixth and final Countdown, Fedora Kid, signing off.