JamesFBlake

So I saw your post in /r/cringe and proceeded to watch the entire show last night. I honestly have some question regardding specific events on the show, but seeing as it was so long ago I understand if you can't really answer them effectively.

• At the beginning of the show you were portrayed as the level headed fuzzy haired child who had promise to be the best possible leader of the group. After you won your gold star your camera time was limited to short bursts of yelling when the other kids got rowdy, and snide comments. This lasted up until you were elected to the council. Did you just stop trying as hard after you got your star? Or were you just given bad camera spots?

• How did you feel about Blaine and Gregg both being elected to the council? Is this something you were worried about when the team swaps happened and the new elections started, or was it just kind of an "oh shit that just happened" moment?

• Do you really think Laurel's choice of maintaining a static district was in the best interest of the community?

• Do you think Gregg actually improved after being elected to council? As one of the oldest kids it really seemed like Gregg felt out of place with everyone other than Blaine. He didn't have much respect for anyone, but after being elected to council he seemed to have a bit of responsibility injected into him. Morgan's father even remarked how he "had worse conversations with adults than with Gregg". Was this an actual change of heart, or did he just play it up for the camera's and his parents?

• What are your thoughts on your inability to win one of the final gold stars due to you being on the council? Personally I feel like you could have been a contender, due to the one on that one white girl (her name escapes me, it wasn't morgan nor sophia) seemed kind of a stretch in my eyes.

Also, thank you for the AMA. I find it interesting that we're able to get an AMA from one of the more level headed children on the show. Even though you thought it was cringe I felt you portrayed yourself much better than any of the other kids on the show. You definitely weren't a Gregg or a Taylor.

I did work less. Not enormously less, only slightly less. As for the snide comments... as Sophia and I grew closer and hung out more we just amplified each other's sarcasm and general bitterness. We ended up mocking the show a lot and just having more fun in general.

I can respect that. If I had just won $20,000 I'd slack off a bit. Even then you weren't necessarily the hardest working in terms of physical labor, but you were definitely a big boost to the community mentally. I noticed how you and Sophia (and the rest of the green team), played off of each other, especially when it was you vs the world.

Blaine and Greg both reaching the council was pretty shocking. Blaine was actually a great guy - no problem with him. It was definitely an "oh shit" moment on the whole though.

I feel like Blaine and Greg just happened to stick together due to being similar age and personality, and then Blaine showed himself to be, as Zach put it, "a moderately intelligent human being". He really came into his own at the end of the series.

Yes. Green was the archstone of the town: disrupt it and the whole thing would have fallen apart. Our cohesiveness allow us to help maintain the sanity of others

Here I both agree and disagree. I don't want to argue it with you because hell it was so long ago and it doesn't matter at this point. However, I really felt like the other teams all became stronger (well except blue wtf they gained Emilie and lost Blane). I feel like if Green had been able to convince people to work together fully, ergo forget the classes, you could have been more successful. Now granted I understand you're kids, but you guys all showed a mental age well above your physical age. I don't even see that kind of determination in full grown adults. But I think that if you guys had had basic people in charge of each activity (merchant, cooks, stuff like that), and then everyone pitched in and helped everywhere regardless, it would have worked out better, but that's just me. Green was a powerful division mentally, you weren't the strongest physically, but you were a powerhouse in terms of friendship and mental capacity.

Giving it to Migle (that was her name) was so dumb. My choices were Sophia, Anjay, and Pharaoh. Pharaoh was fucking awesome, he deserved more time in the light. We actually could have given the star to one of us, we just agreed that was a shitty idea. Also, CBS stepped in and limited our choices to only 1. people that already won gold stars and 2. former council members. The third was allowed to be our choice, and Greg, Blaine, and DK all pushed for Migle whereas I wanted Pharaoh.

Sad the hear that CBS kind of limited your choices of who to give the big money to. But I'm still glad Sophia won one. She was honestly the hardest worker in the entire town, albeit a bit strange at times, but she really seemed to find her love in cooking at the beginning of the show, and that kept her motivated.

But like I said thanks for the ama mate!

I can see that about the district stuff. As a viewer it's easy for me to sit back and knit-pick. At the end of the day you guys handled it fairly well, even if it meant being extradited from the community for a bit.

Sophia and I begged the executive producer to let us secede from the town and form a splinter meritocracy.

I would love if that had happened. However it would have shown that the community would have ended up just like the old Bananza, with the districts splitting off due to not working well together.

Oh one last question, what was it like talking to the Native Americans? That's actually a pretty cool experience that I was able to have back in Scouting and it really has stuck with me throughout the years.