How Quitting Your Dream Job Can Make You a Millionaire - E167

I mean, you're back in it now, and now you can't just be like, you know, I wonder if Sophie is telling me the truth right now and make your whole day about that. Now it's like, you got people telling you what they think about you and you're watching the news and we've got a Warren Iran and all that stuff. So what part of survivor kind of made you realize like, oh wow, this is exactly how life works, but we don't usually get to see life with this clarity when the TV's on or the scroll is scrolling. I've even noticed that the world that we live in has been doing most of the thinking before you, that your beliefs, perceptions, reactions, fears and doubts have been shaped by unsolicited outside noise.

How easy it's been for you to slip into that default sleep walking mode and label it as life and reality, yeah, that ends here. Welcome to the Makes sense with Dr. JC Podcast. This is your opportunity to start thinking for yourself, reclaim control, and step back into that role as the shot caller and dominant force of your own reality. It's when you change the way that you look at things that the things that you look at begin to change. So let's wake up, let's rise up and let's make sense of why and how shift happens.

Hey, how are you? I'm just imagining that you're doing like 20 of these a day right now. But you're the one I'm most excited for. How about that? Oh, you tell all the podcasters that.

No, I've never told that to another podcaster.

Well, what's interesting from what I can gather, you haven't really had the opportunity to do a show on what you probably want to talk about.

“You know, I mean, I'm seeing a lot of tribal council kind of conversations and stuff which I think is super fun.”

But I'm going to take you in a totally different direction and I think that you're like perfect for it. Oh boy, all right, I'm excited. Yeah, let's get wild with it. I'm up for whatever wherever you want this journey to go. I don't know if I'd call it wild, but welcome to the make sense with Dr. JC podcast, the amazing Savannah Louie.

This is going to be fun. Dr. JC, I am so excited to be here and share a little bit about everything it sounds like. Yeah, exactly exactly. And one of the things that I have to tell you and I'm going to arm and equip you with this is I'm 54. So I'm like a Richard hatch guy, you know what I mean?

So I go way back with it, but it turns out when I realize that I was going to be having you on the show,

I always tell my kids about it and it turns out that my son Jeremy, who's 22 and his best friend Quinn,

are not only survivor fans, but dare I say Savannah Louie obsessed fans, maybe. So I just want to let you know that I do have a question that they gave me and that will come later.

“But first, I just want to tell you what I like about you and that that's what's bringing on.”

So because we've never met and I did a little bit of research on you other than I don't believe anything that I see on the TV and what I see on the internet. So I looked into you and that's kind of just the way we're going to kick things off. So here's the way I look at it. When it comes to survivor, a lot of people play survivor and I would assume that they do it hoping to win. But one of the things that I noticed about you is that you showed up expecting to win.

That was one of the first things that I noticed and I started to say, "Uh-huh." And you didn't just play confidently at the game. It seems like you kind of decided that you were just going to be yourself and then act accordingly. And that was going to be good enough. And I know that one of the topics you talk about is betting on yourself.

So that was the first thing that I noticed was kind of like connected to that. Is that you were going to show up and use your stuff and it was going to be ample to win. And what's powerful about that is that you didn't start doing that only on the island. And I don't know how many people really relate your previous story, but it seems that you started showing up like that the day that you left a career that most people are like hoping and dreaming to have one day. And you know, they might have said like, "What do you have a fool?"

And you might have gone through that as well, but I just like the fact that that was the first step to betting on yourself. Because when you go on a show like this, the odds of winning.

I mean, I don't know if you've never looked it up, but the odds of getting on the show and the odds of winning are very, very slim.

You'd have to bet on yourself.

“And I think that's exactly what the world and people need to hear right now.”

So that's what I like about you. And I'm sure there's going to be other things about Savannah Louie that we're going to learn.

I mean, have you ever had anyone take some time to tell you what they like about you?

“I mean, I think I got to do this podcast every day of this hour.”

You're welcome, too. We can meet here in the morning every day. I love it. You know, it's been so interesting being in the public eye over the past year because don't get me wrong. There's a lot of fans out there. Probably like your son who love the way that I played the game, but there are also a lot of people and a lot of very loud people who do not think the world of me who have been very vocal about that. And you know, I think there's something to being your true self that when you step into who you are and you own who you are.

You're going to have people who resonate with that, but you're also going to have people who don't gel with that and who don't drive with that. So it's kind of honestly a little freeing and a little empowering to be yourself because it gives you that permission to really just not care if there are the haters out there. But when there are people who can't appreciate things about you, it really means so much more because that truly is me, you nailed it. And what's interesting about that just off the cuff is that when you decide to just be yourself and you start experiencing some of that.

You know, I call those people that like just seem to have a lot of free time to just complain about somebody else rather than take responsibility for their own lives. I call them flow burglarers.

“Do you have to also kind of arm yourself with either a, hey, fuck them, you know, I'm going to be myself or you might go the other way and care too much about it.”

So it's something that we always have to navigate.

So I want to go back kind of before survivor and let people know a little bit more about you. You were in Atlanta news first anchor and if anybody wants to look her up, she looks a little bit younger, you know, she's obviously still young, but, you know, she kicks him serious ass at that job. And for most people, like I said, that's kind of a destination that they've said, but internally, it seems by learning more about your story that something seemed a little bit like out of alignment for you. You know, I mean, why would, why would somebody leave that?

So what was the moment that you realized, and this is kind of a topic that we talk a lot about is like how we navigate through life and the EBS and flows and make decisions and things like that. So what was the moment when you realized and you said to yourself, this isn't for me anymore. Was it triggered by the opportunity or did you kind of already know that there was something else? Well, you know, I wish I could say it was fully my decision to leave the industry. But to be perfectly honest with you, it wasn't.

And this just for context, I had spent about nine years working in news and it's a very fulfilling career. I'm so glad that I did it. But it's also kind of an exhausting career, right? There's no such thing as traditional hours or normal schedule. You don't get a lunch break when you're working in news.

You're oftentimes talking about a lot of really negative topics that are hard to digest. And it comes with so much stress and so towards the end of my contract that I had with my station here in Atlanta, I was actually pulled into my boss's office. And I was told, hey, Savannah, like you've done a great job over the past three years that you've been here. But right now, we don't think this is the right fit for you.

“And I think, you know, to give my boss some credit, I think they saw that I was burnt out.”

And I just didn't have that same fire in me for the job as when I had first started.

Right? It was starting to wear on me. And, you know, you think about the way that people enjoy news now. Maybe it's on social media. You're scrolling through TikTok.

You're on Facebook. You see something very rarely. I think our people sitting in front of the TV for hours at a time. And when I left news, not only was I presenting the news for hours at a time. But that's also consuming a lot of negativity.

And for me personally, I'm someone who can feel the energy from, whatever I'm talking about or whoever I'm interacting with. I'm very sensitive to that. And so that was a big reason why I think at the end of my career, I was like, oh, you know, I think it's starting to show that it's just not the right fit.

It was almost like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It just, something wasn't working. And so, you know, after I had that conversation with my boss, I thought about it. And I thought, you know, is this really the right place for me? Not that particular station, but the industry.

Am I being called to do something else? Sometimes I feel like we need maybe something external to help make that decision for us. And when that decision was partially made for me, I thought to myself, hey, I'm going to lean into this. What are things that make me feel joy, that make me feel alive, that make me excited about living? And as crazy as this might seem, survivor, a reality TV show.

That was one of the things that had always created this bright light within me.

I've loved the show ever since season one and the opportunity to go chase it.

Yeah, it's a great way to look at life too, because I think when the shit hits the fan and life,

you know, we always recognize that not what happens in life's how we respond.

But it seems like the universe was kind of like working with you. And because a lot of people might have the opportunity to do the desire to be on the show, but they can't, it's not an opportunity because they're hooked into family. And I always wondered how people left their family and did that stuff. I don't know if that would be my bag.

“But it seems like you kind of like said, okay, so what's next?”

And just quickly, how did the opportunity for survivor come? Did you just say, I'm gonna apply for it? What was that about? But you know, it's crazy. This whole thing actually started about 15 years ago. So I'm 32 now. But the first time I applied for the show, I was 17.

So I was in high school and I was in this media studies class. It was an elective course and for the class that I was in. We had this project where we could choose any type of media that we were interested in. And do any sort of project. There was a lot of freedom here. And for that, that project that I had the opportunity to do.

Again, I was a huge survivor fan. So I thought to myself, hey, I'm just gonna apply for the show and go to the process and show what this is like for my school of science. And, you know, one thing led to another. And when I was 17, I actually got called back and I actually went through the process. Obviously, I didn't get on the show. But, you know, I've applied a couple of times over the years.

This was the most recent time was my third time applying. And I mean, third times the charm because I had heard back from producers every other time that I had applied. But this was the first time where stuff actually stuck.

“And where, you know, I think production just saw how I could fit into the show.”

I had a lot more years on me. I had a little bit more wisdom on me as well. And it just ended up working out. So I've been trying to get on this show for a long time.

It's interesting to always question like, I wonder why I did this.

I wonder why I did that. It almost seems like the career as the anchor was probably the missing link. Because, you know, if you watch your episodes and you watch your journey in survivor, a big part of your role, which might not have been a part of you when you're younger, was that you were very, very witty and you had that background,

which you didn't seem to tell people about. But I think that they probably like controversy and they want suspense and things, and like they were like, okay, she's ready. She's perfect. I want to go a little bit deeper and kind of make it a little bit more real. And that's what we're going to do here.

We're going to make this more relevant to the real world. So what's interesting about it, because you kind of went through this, when you were told, hey, maybe this is not right for you, but survivor was a game that's played in an extreme environment. You know, their scarcity pressure, social politics, but I wonder,

is it actually really that different from real life? It's like, you were already in the game of life, and you were just going to go play it somewhere else. Or does it just remove, this is the coolest thing that I came up with with this, is I was just thinking, it's the same game,

but in a sense, when you go on the show, it seems that it removes the distractions that we normally have to deal with in real life, like all of the social, I mean, you're back in it now, and now you can't just be like, you know, I wonder if Sophie is telling me the truth right now and make your whole day about that.

Now it's like, you got people telling you what they think about you, and you're watching the news, and we've got a Warren Iran and all that stuff. So what part of survivor kind of made you realize, like, oh, wow, this is exactly how life works, but we don't usually get to see life with this clarity when the TV's on or the scroll is scrolling.

Yeah, I mean, you nailed it. It's really interesting because this reality TV show that we watch for entertainment. It is such a reflection on what's going on in our society, or how people interact with one another on a day-to-day basis. You know, it's wild that this thing that we consume just for entertainment

can have such a deeper meaning and relevancy to it. And, you know, also it's very similar to what you pointed out when you're out there on the island, no distractions. So you don't have a phone. You don't have the headlines from the news.

You don't even have your family or your friends to really distract you. And while you might have people out there on the island who, yeah, you're jealous and who you enjoy and who you grow to really love in some ways,

you can never truly trust them completely.

There's always a percentage of a chance that someone could be lying to you.

“So at the end of the day, the only thing that you truly have out there on the island”

are your clothes and your bag and your body bottle and yourself, right? Your body and your mind.

And when you're in the moment and when you're forced to be present like that, give us the first time in our lives where we've truly had the opportunity to show up and we present like that just because naturally living as a human being in 2026 we're surrounded by noise, whether we want to be or not.

“It forces you, I think, to show up in such a raw way.”

There's no hiding from any emotions or frustrations or fears that you might have out there. I actually had something happen to me about halfway through the game where I realized I was at the bottom of my tribe and what happened in the game was I get very emotional about it. And I feel like I'm at the bottom, I feel like I'm excluded, but those emotions are so amplified by a work situation that actually happened to me years

and years earlier where I felt like I was very isolated in the newsroom.

And I had this trauma that I never truly processed that just came bubbling up to the surface,

just because I had no noise, no distraction or no outlets to take away some of that pain that I thought I had run away from or maybe I thought I had processed earlier. It turns out that I had just really run away from it. It never truly forced myself to wreck it with some of those difficulties if that makes sense. I love how you keep saying makes sense, just perfectly feeding it to the show.

The name of my book is makes sense as well. So absolutely, you know, it's such a fascinating thing to look at it because most people would have just assumed that the whole purpose of survivor and the potential blessing of it is this idea of winning. Or even getting close so you get more exposure or I'm sure everybody has different reasons.

But it seems like one of the biggest challenges that I see that humans have is to unrap the present moment. I mean, everybody's even living in the future.

Everybody is not satisfied with the now and they're always going after the not now.

But like here you are, you're put on this island and you're going through all these emotions

“that are obviously you want the money, but at the same time, what a gift to be like you have to live in the present.”

And the other thing that I would see, which makes the fact that you won so impressive, is when you have a bunch of people that are free from the noise and they're just living in the present moment, I would assume that it's very hard to bullshit people. Yeah, it is. And you know what's so funny.

I actually saw a life coach before I went out to play the game. And one of the things that we worked on together was, who was like processing your emotions and trying to separate emotion from some of your decision-making. And I wanted to go into the game being able to freely lie to others, which is such a crazy thing to say, because you know, in my normal life, I don't think most people try to embody dishonesty or manipulation,

or at least I hope not in there in their general lives. But going into survival, like that's one thing where you really kind of do what a lean into that. Because you have permission to lie and to manipulate people. So one of the things that I tried to do before even heading out there to Fiji was when I'm in a situation, any situation, understand the emotions that I'm feeling, whether they're positive or whether they're negative,

because oftentimes, you know, part of being human being and making decisions, it does kind of tend to be influenced, I think, by by some of the things that you're feeling. And once I was able to understand the exact emotions I was feeling, whether it was, I don't know, anger or distrust or low self confidence, I could then move forward and logically think without letting emotions rule me.

Okay, what's the best decision to make going forward? And when I was able to think logically, it almost helped me be more dishonest with people when I needed to be. But I will say one of the crazy things about my time in the game is I actually played a fairly honest game. I think compared to the way that we see some of these other people play, I was so loyal to my allies. And I think that that's one of the things in my real life where I'm a very loyal person to my friends and my family.

And in the game of survivor, part of you are always going to shine through.

Even in this game, that is based on deception and manipulation. I mean, being loyal is such a huge part of who I am on on this day-to-day basis.

“I had no choice but to really lean into it and I think ultimately that's what helped me win the game.”

So fascinating to have permission to lie. Because in real life, it's like, there's a very, very definitive line. Like if you lose somebody's trust, it's like, I got enough problems in life on that talk of this. But when it's gamified, I'm just wondering how much real human to human conversations were happening. Like off camera. Like when you go through a scene and there's camera men following you around and you're like, oh shit.

How many times did you like get out of a scene per se? And like have some time walking through a trail with somebody and there's nobody following you. If that happens where they're like, hey man, you were a little at a control there.

“You know, like real sister, like, we tell on the truth. Like does that stuff help?”

You know, so one of the crazy things about survivor. There are always cameras rolling even in the middle of the night.

When you're asleep, there will be one camera who's filming literally nothing happening. Just in case something does happen. Wow. That's how amazing their crews are. But yeah, I think a huge part of being able to be successful on the show is is finding maybe that one or two person who has your back.

And who can be brutally honest with you? You know, I had a very close friend on the show Sophie and we're still like, great friend. But I remember in one instance, just being so stressed and so frustrated, I actually kind of snapped at her. You know, I'm not like that in my normal life, but you know, it's a byproduct of being in this stressful environment.

And I think one of the beautiful things about it was Sophie and I were able to have a conversation that was on camera, but never ended up making air.

And you know, she said to me, Savannah, I like that really hurt my feelings. And I said, dude, like, I know like, that's my bad. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. That was not a reflection of how I view you or how I want to be perceived by you either. And so those moments do happen. It's a little tricky because, you know, productions always try to tell a story and sometimes things like that aren't necessarily relevant to the full story.

But they do happen. And when you have an ally who you can trust to have your back, but also tell you when you do do things that are maybe a little bit crossing the line or hurtful at times. Like, that's that's everything to me and get only filled that trust in a game where trust is everything.

“Yeah, I mean, like, trust is everything in life and that's what's so weird is you have to actually manipulate somebody like somebody that you're like, I'm going to hang out with this girl and the real world.”

I hope so, but I'm going to screw her if I have to. And I would assume that just thinking the only time that like you just mentioned Sophie that you guys are still friends like she was an actual friend. You guys probably didn't really know that until you decided to hang out after.

It's just amazing how somebody could put so much work into an alliance and a friendship.

But then all of a sudden, be like, I was totally bullshitting man, you're out. You know, so is that the way it is? Is like you really know somebody's true colors once the show's over? Yes, and no, you know, it's so interesting because on the show, you are seeing everybody for who they are. You might, some people might have a mask up, but I think that mask can only stay up for so long, right? It's really hard to keep a mask on 24/7 if you get pretty far in the game.

So I knew exactly who Sophie and Rizzo was another one of my close allies out there as well too. I thought like I knew them pretty well, but kind of like you're saying it's everything that happens after the game that shows how true and deep those friendships are. So I'll give you an example. When I left to go film the season 50, which was just nine days after we had finished filming season 49, that's crazy. It was obviously hard on me, but it was also really hard on my partner. My, an amazing boyfriend. He's super supportive of me and my crazy dreams, but you know at the same time, he has his needs too as a man who's with partner.

And so while I was gone and while I was away living my dream, Sophie messaged him and Rizzo's girlfriend, Rizzo also played 49 and 50 with me. But she messaged both of them every single day checking in on them making sure they're okay. Yeah, and it's just one of those things where similar to real life, how do your friends, how do your people show up, not just for you, but for the people who are in your circle. That to me shows, okay, that's a friendship way bigger than a game. Yeah, I mean, if that game is everything in our lives right now, it's everything that happened after that that just showed me this girl is, you know, 100% legit someone who I, not only one, but I need to keep in my circle.

Super cool so much to learn about that, you know, and there's also this thing when you have a true friend, you know, you are a bit forgiving with them as well.

“So most people think that pressure changes them, but I believe, and this is kind of something I talk about on the show that pressure actually reveals.”

So I just want to talk about your own personal growth journey from this experience for your whole experience. When you were exhausted, hungry, and, you know, backed into a corner, you were crying like you said, what is it that you discovered about who you really were on this show?

The moments where life just feels so easy, it's up to us to shape our character and to grow and improve during those really positive moments.

So that way when things get tough, we reveal maybe some armor that we've created for ourselves during the positive moments. But when I was out there in the game, and I had those obstacles, and I felt so alone, I mean, when you truly feel like you're by yourself, you are forced to kind of see what you're made up. And I learned a few different things. Number one, your body physically is capable of so much more than you would ever think. I went like days without eating anything, but coconut. And you know, I'm not sure how familiar you are with with eating coconut, but typically if you eat, if that's okay.

It doesn't stay long.

“No, yeah, and it causes digestive issues. It is not good for your stomach. And so it gets to a point where you either have to choose, okay?”

I'm not going to be eating this coconut to nourish myself and feel sick to my stomach or am I just going to not eat and have no energy. And it's a tough decision to make, but when that you're forced to make in the game. But you truly realize, I mean, strands it on an island with very little food for 26 days getting terrible sleep, sleeping in the literal dirt and sand. That sounds insane. And it kind of is, but and I tell people this all the time, if they're interested in doing the show, but they're a little hesitant, your body can do so much. Your body is programmed to take on a lot more than we force it to go through every day.

And I'm not saying everybody should go starve for 26 days on an island or anything like that, but I think most people are never forced to realize how incredibly powerful and strong.

“Our bodies are when they need to be. But more importantly, I think that that physical aspect of strength is that mental toughness, you know what I mean?”

And my mental toughness, I mean, kind of like I said, it wasn't something that I created or that I shaped when I was on the island. It's something that I built from childhood really. And it's something that was built not only in tough moments where in life maybe I felt lonely or I've maybe felt like I was at the bottom of the tribe, but I worked in a newsroom. I was at the bottom of the newsroom, so to speak. Not only things like that, but when I felt like I'm healthy and I'm strong and I'm capable, still continuing to push myself every day, whether it's with, I don't know.

And just thinking about things that I was doing in my personal life, whether it was with intense workouts, maybe training for a marathon, maybe pushing myself to hit a new PR in the gym. Whether it was at work trying to turn the best possible story to be the lead story of a newscast to get a story before the competition at other news stations.

There's always been something in my life where I've thought, I want to see if I can not only do this, but do the best version of it. And that creates a type of resilience.

That resilience shows itself and appears when you're in these stressed moments. And so when I'm on the island and you really have to almost test that, I had been putting things to the test for years, and that's ultimately what showed up. That's amazing. It's once again, it's just a wonderful opportunity outside of what most people are thinking about when they go into that mode. Okay, so we're going to switch into super fan mode here for a second. Okay.

According to my son, it's so funny for you to think about this, because you know a lot of people are watching, but there's groups of people that get together to watch it. I must be so funny. I mean, my son's of he's a great guy. He's very responsible. He's got a great job and gets good grades, but like, you know, he likes to consume, you know. You built strong alliances, and this is this is kind of what they wanted to know, and it's probably interesting for you to find out what people work curious to know.

But you built strong alliances with risotto, Sophie, Sage, and Joanne, and I kind of know who these people are. So from the outside, according to your super fans, it looked like you had a solid, and that's a, that's a Jeremy word, a solid social game. Here's the question, and this comes from Jeremy and Quentin. This is one of his best friends.

“We're used to prized by Christina's question at the final tribal, and did you feel like it was a fair critique? Like, that's what they want to know.”

Yeah, you know, it's so funny. That question was crazy, and you know, if people are listening, they're not familiar with Christina's question for me at that final tribal council. Christina asked me, if I could name a family member from every member of the jury, and I told her straight up, like, I don't think I can do this. I don't think I can do that for context. Like, it's day 26. I'm exhausted. Like, I just, I just want to wrap this thing up, and I told her, I don't think I can, I can do that.

So to answer your question though, even though it's not a question, I would ask, and I didn't think it was reflective of my social game. She's absolutely in her right to ask something like that. And it kind of, I mean, you can kind of relate that to things in real life as well. Just because I play superiority on on other things like the physical part of the competition or the strategic part of the competition. Other people might want to vote for a winner of the game based off of if they know the family member.

Right. And at the end of the day, that's Christina's decision. She's so within her right to do that. And people are going to do that in our, in our everyday lives. Maybe not with, you know, sitting on the jury and awarding someone a million dollars for a game.

But, you know, we're going to run into those things. We're not always going to agree with maybe that perspective.

But we certainly have to respect it. And then secondly, we also need to figure out how to best give the jury what they want to hear. Right. In that moment, I knew like, I'm not going to be able to do this. So I'll own up to it. I'm not going to tell Christina, yes, I can. And then, you know, just bail miserably.

“But I'll own it. Yeah, sure. Maybe I didn't have a social game that required me to remember and memorize everybody's family members.”

But you know what I do have. I know a little bit about each of you. Yeah. Yes. And so I want to define a way to answer that question. And again, if you didn't watch the show.

Instead of naming a family member from everybody, I started telling people what I knew about them.

Maybe touching on things that I knew about their family. But, you know, also talking about conversations that we had had that were really meaningful to me. And I hoped that in doing so, maybe the jury would recognize, okay, I'm sure she doesn't remember my mom's name. But she remembers that we talked about this and we bonded over this and it was an important conversation. And that the game is about a lot more than memorizing a name at the end of the day.

It's so funny that they call it the jury because it is really like a court of law. And it seems like Christina is trying to, you know, defimate you. You know, she's trying to say like, oh, let me show you how full of crap this girl is. But at the same time, she probably is not one of your besties now. I would assume and probably didn't vote for you. But she also unveiled that she has anger inside of her and because she kind of probably hates you because she hates you.

Type thing. So there's probably an interesting dynamic like that.

“And you have to be careful not to say like, oh, seems like somebody's a little bit upset, you know?”

Right. You never want to make one of the jury members feel like they're on this spot. We're being attacked.

And I will say, I've gotten to know Christina outside of the game. And I actually adore her now. I think that the game brings out different sides of different people. And formerly working as a reporter, I'm someone who's very straight up. I'm very direct with my communication style with Christina.

She has a very different communication style. And that's okay. In the game, it's showed up almost like it didn't work. It didn't mesh well. But outside of the game, when we don't have that pressure and yeah, we don't have that pressure that stress. You get to know someone in a very different light. And even though I did have some issues with Christina and some of the other people on my season for the most part now.

Like, I would kick it with any of them. You know, we're all crazy people who went through this and say an experience. And I absolutely respect everybody from my season. And they're decision to ask questions that maybe I don't like at the time. But as a fan, you know, I appreciate what it brings to the show.

It's a little entertaining and a little drama to the show. That's so cool. Once again, you know, probably have so much gratitude for the experience. And you know, you guys, even if you don't have someone that you care for, you still went through something together. I want to ask a question about your perception of whether or not you felt understood or misunderstood. While playing the game, and I think this is a fascinating way to look at it.

How different was the game that you felt that you were playing versus the game that you think others perceived you were playing? Do you feel like people understood you or do you think they misunderstood you? Oh, that's such a good question. And I'll answer it in two different parts because I'll answer from the perspective of my actual cast. And then also the perspective of the world who's seeing me play.

So for my cast, I actually do think they saw the game I was trying to play. And I think that they labeled it as someone who yes is fierce, but also someone who is very scary and intense. And I'm not going to lie. I am a very competitive person. I'm someone who is going to do whatever it takes to win. And I feel like that energy and that hunger for the win.

It's shined very bright in my season.

“And I think that's why some people were a little bit afraid of me.”

I think that I may have been mislabeled at times as being me in reality. I'm someone who speaks with confidence.

But overall, I do think people saw me as someone who is a very intense gamer and who came to get that million.

And when you have someone who is like that, it might be a little scary to you. Now, when I look at the world though and how they perceive my game, I think that it's probably mixed reaction. I think you have people who see how I played and they understand. Like, hey, it's a game for a million dollars.

Of course, this woman's going to be hungry to win. She's going to go after it. She's not going to hold back. And I think there's a lot of people who respect that. In the same vein though, I think there are also some people who saw how I played.

“And they think it is the worst thing in the world.”

There was one moment in the game where I attempt to steal someone's advantage. And again, one of the beautiful things about Survivor, along with giving you permission to deceive and be dishonest. But it also gives you the permission to steal and to cheat if you need to. Like, that is inherently the game that has no real written rules, right? People saw things like that as being mean and evil and nasty.

And I didn't see it like that. I saw it as someone who is competing for a million dollars.

That's more money than I've ever seen in my entire life. I would think it's strange if I just sat there and watched everything play out and sat on my laurels. And if I wanted to play the game that I had again been waiting and trying to get on the show for 15 years, I was going to give it my all. I wasn't going to go out of the game and be voted off with any regrets.

“I wanted to leave it all on the table because that's how I do everything in life,”

whether it's playing Survivor, whether it's doing a job, whether it's, you know, anything really. And so there's certainly people who don't understand that.

But at the end of the day, the most important thing is that I feel okay and I feel at peace with how I played.

And that the people in my real life, in my circle, who know me, whether that's my friends or my family. And also I think a good part of my cast that they can recognize how I played. And you know, maybe they don't like it all the time, but they at least respect it. And I can own that and I can sleep at night because I, that's exactly what I did. And at the end of the day, it won me a million dollars.

I don't need everybody to like the way that I played, but I just needed enough people on the jury to appreciate and respect how I played. That's good enough for me. There's a lot to be said about just respecting somebody's game, you know. So I was thinking, I want to draw connection between something that a lot of people experience and potentially struggle within real life. And I was thinking about imposter syndrome, you know, just the whole ego world.

Imposter syndrome, comparative realities and stuff like that. And I thought I thought a perfect way to do that would be to kind of draw a little bit of the experience of moving on to season 50, where you're going into survivor 50 and you're no longer underestimated. You know, like everybody is like on alert and we've got a little bit of scar tissue. And we kind of know that everybody's there for the game, which in one sense might be kind of nice, like it's like there's no bullshit.

“I would assume that the first people that get kicked off are like, what the heck happened to that?”

I didn't know that was going to happen, but that's kind of out now everybody equally wants to win and everybody thinks that they know what they're doing. You're playing with legends, you know, so was your mindset different for 50 than 49 in that sense? And I guess the big question is, is it harder to maintain that same level of confidence and resilience when expectations and egos are elevated? Because this is a big part of the issues that people have in life. You know, one of the most interesting things about the games that I played 49 and 50, they were played back to back.

And so when I went to go play 50, no one had seen how I played 49, no one knew my game, no one knew what I was. It could be a really freeing thing in one aspect, but at the same time, I still felt that imposter syndrome that you're talking about because I still felt in a lot of ways. Like, I was just a little old fan over here while I'm playing next to and playing against these legends who I literally grew up watching these legends who grew my love for the game. And so I remember getting out on the beach that very first day and in some ways, you know, I felt familiar with the beach.

I had just been out there for about a month, but in other ways, I felt even more scared to be on that beach the second time because you're playing with these incredible people who are so good at not only survivor, but other games, maybe that they've played, whether it's traitors or, you know, other competition shows, right? They're these big names for a reason. And so it wasn't intimidating in that aspect. But, you know, when you look at my mindset for 49 and for 50, for 49, I was so confident and determined that I was going to win.

I just could feel it in my bones going out there. For 50, I didn't have that same confidence.

Some of these players already knew that I had won 49, but they didn't know exactly how I had played the game. And to them, that uncertainty was going to be very scary in a game where information is everything and trust is everything. And so when I went out to go play 50, instead of feeling so determined this thing was mine, I'm going to win.

And I'm going to do it. I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to be the first person to vote it out.

These people are not going to want to play with me. I'm going to be lucky if I survive one tribal council. I'm just going to go for the experience. And if I can last out there longer than a day, that'll be considered a win. And, you know, in hindsight, I kind of do wish I had that same hunger and determination that I displayed in 49 as I had had for 50.

“Because I think maybe I could have lasted a little bit longer in season 50. I was a very early boot.”

But at the same time, I don't know if I had it in me to have that same hunger. I was so physically and mentally exhausted. And I felt like I had really just proven myself in in season 49. I don't know that I had the capacity to give much more, even though I love this game so much.

And I was so grateful for the experience. And it was truly incredible. I just, my tank was so exhausted in that moment.

And, you know, maybe that's part of the reason, again, why I was one of the earlier boots for 50. But I do think also the cards were stacked against me. I think I was labeled as someone who's a pretty big threat, which is, you know, Honestly, the biggest compliment, especially coming from some of these iconic players. And especially as someone who came in with a little imposter syndrome, it's almost a little poetic that I was voted out for being such a threat.

I was thinking about that. Like if I was the first person kicked out when I was amongst legends, I would be like, That's right. You guys are smart to get rid of me because I'm ruthless. That's pretty funny. There's a lot to be said about confidence in clarity. And also when you're building relationships in the real world and you're trying to establish trust,

you got to get to know people and people didn't get a chance to do that. Even though they maybe were plotting against one another, they still felt like they knew one another and that felt probably safer. So, but it seems to me in learning about you because you're not the kind of person that fails when you go in assuming you're going to succeed.

You had a fresh million in your pocket and you had achieved something that like 0.0000 percent of anybody would do.

You're probably were good, you know what I mean? Like this is like a cherry on the top that you didn't order, you know, so I like it. I want to talk about loyalty versus leverage. You know, this is this crossroads that a lot of people come to in life where they have to make a decision to do the right thing or do the right thing for themselves.

“So, in both survivor and in real life, you know, people are constantly navigating that tension, you know, and it's kind of like, do I stay loyal or do I make the move that serves my future?”

And, you know, there's a case for both sides of that, you know, you got to, I don't think selfish is a bad word. You know, I think that human beings don't think say or do anything when there's no value and it's just a matter of whether or not they understand it. So, was there ever a moment where you were kind of contemplating between doing the right thing emotionally and maybe observing the conflict with doing the smart things strategically? Like, did you ever have these moments where you had to not listen to your conscience and say, hey, you know, Savannah, this is the right thing to do, and then the little devil on your side that wants the million says,

"Shut the hell up, we're doing this." You know, it's so interesting, I fully went into survivor planning to backstab and lie and to manipulate everybody on the beach. And when I got out there, I very quickly realized, maybe not very quickly, but I realized soon enough that honestly relying on my closest allies, that was going to be the strongest thing that would get me to the end. And I pledged my loyalty to them, and I was fully prepared to sit next to both of them at the very end, even though it wouldn't necessarily be easier to win sitting next to both of them.

I just felt so much confidence in myself and confidence in my own game, not to say that either of them played poor games or anything like that, but I just felt so much loyalty to them. But I do want to say, I mean, I like how you brought up the acceptance of being selfish, right?

“Because I do think that's something that does appear not only in survivor, but in everyday life too, and I think especially as a woman, being selfish is met with pause a lot of times, right?”

And I knew going into survivor, like, I had to give myself permission to be selfish, and I kind of talked about this a little bit at the final tribal council.

And I said, honestly, like, my wife is just because I'm selfish, I wanted to do this for myself.

I wanted to go after this and chase this, chase this dream, and for years, don't get me wrong. I love my career as a journalist, and it was very again, very fulfilling. But I felt like as a journalist, I had dedicated a huge part of my life to serving my community. That's why I became a journalist, because I wanted to tell the stories of people who maybe didn't always have a voice, and I felt for the first time in a very long time, I was fully committing and pouring myself into something that I wanted to do.

And I was having to ask from other people, whether it was my partner, my family, I needed to ask them for the support that I needed to go out and be selfish and live this dream. And that's okay. So, while I did want to be loyal, and I felt like in my gut being loyal was going to be what served me the best out there, and I was right.

“Always listen to your gut. I think that there's also elements of being selfish that I needed to lean into. So to hear, answer your question, I mean, it's a little bit of both, right?”

And like this like that as well, like you want to be as loyal as you can. I think there's a lot of great things that can come from being loyal, but you also need to know when it's appropriate to be selfish. You need to step into that and own it and see where you can go with it. Because at the end of the day, you might be working for a company, or you might have people in your circle who you can rely on, but at the end of the day, kind of like survivor. The only thing you truly have is the clothes on your back and your body and your mind, yourself.

Yeah, when you live in the world of self development and personal growth and all this stuff, I mean, I've done a lot of coaching myself, and what you can see is that most people are jammed up and stuck just because they won't give themselves permission to receive. And you see so many people just feeling like it's the moral thing to do to just serve others and that's noble, you know, work for mother Teresa, but if you're at the same time complaining that you're not getting anywhere in life at some point, you're going to have to give yourself permission to do that.

“And I'm seeing that that's a big connection in the concept of betting on yourself. You know, I mean, like, first of all, if you're betting on yourself, you know, what are you betting on yourself for?”

I mean, just do people wake up and bet on themselves that they'll devote their whole life to others. No, it's there has to be. I mean, the word self is the first four letters in selfish, you know, but a lot of people hide behind that protective barrier of being an angel from heaven that you know, but meanwhile, everybody wants and everybody needs to know that it's okay to want and I think that what you just said is going to really land with people. So I want to talk about the price, you know, the holy grail, you know, the the million, you know, but I want to talk about what, you know, you perceive as the real price at this point because, you know, we don't, we don't take our money with us when we die.

I mean, I always say that because I've had tons of money in my life and I've been broke and neither of them, I can equate maybe happier.

I would prefer to have the money than not, but it doesn't fix everything. So I want to talk about that. Most people think that money changes everything and there's something to say about that, but a lot of times what I find that it does is it just amplifies people. How has your definition now? Because what I like about our interview is we're post, I don't know if you're having survivor withdrawal, but you're out in the real world now and you've got your lessons that you've learned.

“You've evolved as a person and you got some money now, which is sometimes a curse, right? If you don't know what to do with it and everybody wants to talk to you now and you're also thinking, how can I leverage it into more money?”

And that's kind of what we're helping you do right here in a sense. But how has your definition of success changed from chasing the anchor desk to winning this game?

Did the million dollars give you freedom or is it more clarity that you're seeing as a prize?

Oh my gosh, I mean, honestly a little bit of both and just to give you a little background about how I grew up and why the money means so much to me. Just to be perfectly honest, I was what my parents would call an unexpected gift to the world. My parents were on welfare when they had me. My mom was a student and didn't have a lot and growing up, you know, we were always taught like you will work for everything that you have. Do not take anything for granted and, you know, even my first couple of jobs working as a journalist and TV news like

Not very high paying industry until you get to the very top, you know what I mean. And I've always had I think because of my my background with with money, I've always had a little probably more than a little anxiety when it comes to finances.

You know, I think about my time with survivor, not just being on the island, but really over the past year. One of my favorite parts about this entire experience, which I didn't anticipate has been hearing from people who watched the show. I said to me, Savannah, I watch you, my daughters watch you, my my family watches you, we love how you played the game, we love how you showed it's okay to be a strong, bold, confident woman and to go after what you want that's the lesson that I want my kids to see that's the lesson that I needed to hear thank you for being vulnerable and open with me that to me has been the greatest gift out of this entire experience.

“Knowing that other people feel now empowered to maybe chase their dreams or to be someone who is selfish like we talked about at times.”

I mean, that to me has just been the greatest gift and so right now what I'm trying to do and what I'm hoping to do is to share my story and my perspective with other people because in today's world.

Sometimes can be hard enough, right? And if I can use my voice to give people strength and encouragement and help them feel empowered, that's ultimately what I want to do.

So to answer your quote, this is kind of a long way of, of, of basically saying, you know, I am hoping that this money can basically, you know, be a little bit of security for me going forward, but how can I invest this into ways that I can amplify my voice to help other people because, you know, I truly feel like we all have a purpose and I mean, I've talked for a living for about 10 years as a journalist talking about other people's stories. Maybe this could be my opportunity to tell my story and to hopefully help some people with that.

Yeah, it's super cool. I always ask people what they will really care about if they have the opportunity to be conscious that they only have 10 minutes to live like at the end of life.

And it's an interesting question because what most people will say is that, you know, you'll probably just contemplate whether or not you mattered, you know,

“left a legacy or a footprint and things like that. So it seems like that's what this opportunity has freed you from and it's interesting to watch the whole process.”

And I'm sure there's way more prior to becoming an anchor that's interesting about you, you're a human being. But it seems like you have a very, very cool opportunity, but at the same time, you know, with that comes responsibility and, you know, so like the show's not over, you know, the shows in many senses just beginning, you know, you've got an opportunity to add to you. Here's a loud question. We live in a world where most people, whether they know it or not are wearing a mask, you know, they're they're coming in and out of characters to, you know, get by and get ahead and fit in and all of that stuff and very few people and that's where we started this conversation, get a chance to actually be themselves and feel comfortable with that and succeed in life.

“So do you feel like you were being Savannah on the island or and I would assume that there's a mix in that in this answer or do you feel like you're playing a character called Savannah that was designed to win the game?”

Oh my gosh, I'm an incredible question. And I mean, you're right. It is a mix of both.

I think that when you play the game inherently, everybody's going to have some sort of a mask up at least in front of their fellow castmates. The time where you really get to be yourself and take that mask off, which feels like such a relief is in those professionals that you have with production. And it's wild because at the end of 26 days, you like starts to feel like these these producers are almost like their friends, your therapist, they're there as close to, you know, someone who you can really lean on in some senses because you've opened up to them completely those producers.

They know the real Savannah through and through. They know me at my best. They know me at my not so best as well. And so those moments, I guess maybe, you know, 20, 30, maybe sometimes 40 minute long interviews with producers, that can be like almost like a cold glass of water on a hot day when you're parked. You get that a little bit of relief in being able to show who you truly are and it's such a wonderful thing out there. But when you're with your cast because you want to be able to control your narrative, you never want to let your guard down completely. You're almost always having a sort of filter up whether you're filtering for other people's information, whether you're filtering yourself to make sure that you don't disclose too much information, whether it's in the words that you say, whether it's in your gestures or the eye movements that you're making.

And as I got further and further through the season, as I started to lean on different allies and being more vulnerable, because I think that being vulnerable with people also is a way to draw people to you and make them trust you more. You know, a little wall started to fade and dissipate, but I mean, to answer a question, it's really both. And I think that, you know, a lot of times we live life like that as well, you know, if you think about how you show up and in works situations or even social situations, I think about when I was younger, I used to go to church quite often.

I always felt like I had, you know, as a teenager, kind of a filter on at church when I was, you know, trying to explore, you know, maybe when I wasn't at church, you know, all of the things that life has to offer a teenager or a late teenager, I should say, and I would be very careful about, you know, having a mask on when I was at church. But, you know, it, that mask will show up no matter where you are. And I will say it's a lot more freeing when you take that mask off and people are able to see you for who you are. It brings a lot of relief, I think.

There's a lot of people listening right now that probably find themselves like a lot of people stuck between security and something that's calling them forward.

That's a very, you know, kind of purgatory. If somebody feels that pull right now, because, you know, you're, you're somebody, if you really peel it all back, you felt something and you felt a pull and you bet on yourself. So a lot of people say, yeah, that's a good idea, but they was bringing their butt into it. So if somebody feels that pull, but they're still afraid to make that jump, what would you tell them about betting on themselves?

“Honestly, life is too short, like, I'm sorry, but like, fuck it and get over your ego, get over yourself. Okay, like, you life is so short, you never know how long you're going to have.”

I could drop dead tomorrow. I really could. I mean, so could you, like, it, I hate thinking like that, but anything can happen.

And the question we need to ask ourselves is, is something we're going to happen tomorrow, would we be happy and fulfilled with the way that we're living life?

Or do we wish we would have taken that step? Because I think a lot of times people operate with the mindset, why me, right? I think we need to operate instead with the mindset, why not me? Why couldn't I do this crazy thing? You know, I don't know. I wish more people would take risks and live without that fear, or if there is fear, maybe instead of trying away from that fear, leaning into it, because ultimately it's leaning into that fear that's going to make us a stronger, smarter, better person. And, you know, maybe a do fail.

I've failed. That's survive or 50. That's okay. I still gotten the amazing experience out of it. And I mean, it was truly a gift.

Even if it doesn't end up the way that you, you really want. There's more than one way to win, the game is survivor, right? You can win by getting that check at the end,

“or you can win by having an amazing experience. And life is so much like that as well. You don't necessarily need to be the best or to have, you know,”

X, Y, and Z to win. Sometimes winning is, you know, just the experience. You're reminding me of one of my favorite quotes, because I mean, for the most part, people are playing small. And I understand why they are. And they're living what I guess you would call a mediocre life and calling it good enough, you know. One of my favorite quotes is that if you continue to lick the lollipop of mediocrity, you will suck forever. Oh, I love that. Where's that from? I think I made it up. I'm not sure.

I should get that on a t-shirt. I would buy that. So just in closing, you know, my closing thoughts, and thanks so much for being here, you know, just by closing thoughts that will kind of put a bow on this is that it seems like you can either be worried about getting voted out in life. You know, there's so many different ways of looking at that, and deciding based on that worry to not try.

“Or you could be like Savannah Louie and bet on yourself. You have to take away.”

I love that. You put away better than I could. Thank you so much for being here. What a treat. And I have to say that, you know, I'm going to go back and rewrite the what I like about you segment. So when you meet somebody, and this is just a compliment to you, when you meet somebody that's played that role, and also is now experiencing a little bit of fame and getting a lot of attention, you kind of have this preconceived notion that they're going to be a little naughty and and a little full of themselves and stuff, but it's pretty obvious to me why you won the game, you know, and I think that no matter how deceptive you were and all of that stuff, I think that it was probably refreshing for people to realize like you're just a real person that happened to be, you know, less worried about what everybody thought, and I think there's a little bit of a respect thing that makes people say, yeah, she deserves it, you know.

Where should we direct people that want to join the massive amount of people that are stalking you? Where should people go to learn more about you?

“You know, I have a couple of projects in the works, but I would say for now the best way to follow me and to keep up with all the good stuff that I have coming up is honestly on Instagram.”

This is the Vanalooie with Survivor 49 and 50 and this podcast makes sense.

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