So I just had a thought, and idk if this is going to go down well or not but it is on the topic of perception so here we go: who were people worried about at f8 and just how much were people concerned about eli directly:
1) Torin felt he was the best in the game and felt he could beat eli or anyone, according to his final words
2) Clouds knew he was number one threat and priority vote out, I am going to assume he felt he could beat eli
3) Obviously I felt I could beat eli
4) Ryo felt like he could beat eli, though he wanted him out it was a secondary wish
5) Tbz also had eli as secondary preferring clouds and torin, he spoke to me about trying and beleiving he could pull votes in my ideal f4 and have a chance. Although he didn't actually contest this ftc, at the time he seemed to believe he could beat eli.
6) I am not sure zach believes he could beat eli, but clearly some jurors believe he had a shot, for example janzen said he would have vote him or brandon if he was here now instead of eli. I am not quite sure what zach's perception was but considering he actually could beat eli, I am going to give a half point.
7) Psy, I don't know how he felt honestly so I will say maybe he didn't think he could beat eli, though that could be wrong but for benefit of the doubt I will say he saw eli as a threat to be fair.
That being said, some people in the game at f8 may have seen eli as a bigger threat than others, perhaps ryo or me or tbz, but 5.5/7 people believed they could either beat him or had an actual good shot of beating him regardless of his overinflating threat level on jury.
So to end this comment I will say; I don't think eli was really a priority boot beyond people worrying he is against them, or seemingly an easy vote who couldn't defend themself. For the most part everyone perceived that they, if push came to shove, could beat eli. Of course you can call people dumb or whatever for their perception, but this is the truth of people's feelings in game at f8 I believe. If I am wrong about anything here, feel free to correct me.