Pod Meets Twirl'd: Survivor 5006 with Rob Cesternino

Guaranteed human.

Welcome to Pod Meets twerrel, the podcast that once chronicled two guys who had never seen

dancing with the stars, but watched a season, and somehow walked away, experts. From there, we've ventured into traders to show that I'm pretty sure that I could win if I got on it, but Ryder had never seen before, and now we turn to Survivor, season 50, the big one. This time, the roles are reversed, where I have seen exactly one season, the very first one with the naked guy, and Ryder Strong has watched four years.

We are Wilford El, who prefers his wilderness with room service, and Ryder Strong, who will hike any mountain, but hates the beach. Two best friends, one devoted to the comforts of civilization, one who would never leave the woods if he could, both

reality competition scholars.

Join us as we dive into alliances, blindsides, firemaking, sand related misery, and 25 years of television history, culminating in a single massive season. This is Pod Meets twerled, seeking immunity. And, oh, our dear listeners, for half of you out there, you won't care. For the other half, you're like, "Oh God, please tell me Wil's not running the show this week."

Oh yes, he is. Ryder Strong has taken a much needed vacation, he was starting to speak in tongues and say strange things. So we sent him to a beach, and now I am here talking about Survivor. Yes, I don't necessarily get it, and a lot of people are having trouble with that, but here we are. So we're going to get into it, but you know, before we do a couple of things.

“First of all, I've been reading a lot of your comments, which I think are absolutely wonderful, because of all the things that I love more in the world.”

There is nothing more than fandom. I love it. I love fandom, I love nerd, I'm a big nerd, so I totally get it.

And for the people out there who are like, "Well, you're never going to get this. You are ruining Survivor for me. That's true."

I'm working on getting it, and I'm hoping that the person that Ryder is insisting that I do this episode with, because he's like, "You're not flying solo, bro. It's not going to happen. I promise you that. I'm not leaving the most important season of Survivor in your hands. You need a guide. You need a guru. You need a Yoda." Or even a grogu, to help you determine what Survivor 50 is all about. And just Survivor in general, because clearly I am not getting it, and I need some help.

So this week, I'm being joined by somebody who we are not only going to talk about Survivor from beginning to end and Survivor season 50, and of course, do a nice recap of last night's episode. Well, it's actually a couple nights ago with the way that we're actually releasing these. But last night for when we saw it, but also somebody who can talk to me a little bit about the show that I know I could win if I got on it. Traders, so please help me welcome my partner and crime for this week, Rob.

Rob. Sister Nino. How are you? How are you? I'm doing great. How are you? I'm good. I apologize that you're stuck with me and only me this week. Yeah. Well, that's okay. That Rob is not so jealous. So jealous. He's also the big huge Survivor fan, and I am learning. I get that. I get that, but I'm here to be a bridge for you to get the Survivor. Okay. I'm trying. I swear. I'm trying. Yeah. Left and right. Well, we could talk about this on the show, but I feel like I talk to a lot.

I mean, I don't know if you know my background at all, but I was on Survivor in the very early days. I was on Survivor back in 2003 was when I played Survivor.

“Oh, so that's what season three season four or something like that?”

Six already. Sometime later, probably not unlike human writer. I got into podcasting and podcasting about the show. But I started in 2010. So I've spent the last 16 years podcasting about Survivor. So I do kind of like the unofficial, official Survivor podcast. Talk about it. And what I do, it's like the ESPN of reality TV. So we're like interviewing the players and like really in the weeds on all the reality shows. Including the traders, which oh, okay. So well, we're going to start with traders.

I guess I know that's your I've been listening and trying to get caught. I know that traders is more your jam that is than writer. Well, it's just because so traders is my jam Survivor's writers. This is my jam because I know I can win 100% sure. As as every person who watches television who watches anything goes, oh, I could easily win that. I said they're not sure knowing full well that I couldn't, but it's a lot of fun to imagine that I could.

“So let's let's start there. How did you first get the call about being on trade?”

So I got a call from a person who casts the show.

And then they went pretty well.

Yeah, and then you know, I went through the regular casting conversations. It's a lot different than when you first get cast on Survivor because when you do Survivor, you're one of hundreds of people that are talking to when thousands of people apply. And it's very much like they are like sifting through. Okay, we're going to find these people.

“I think with traders, they know what they want. They know who they want and they reach out to you and they say, hey, do you want to do this?”

And then you say yes. And then you know, you're kind of just like they're making sure you don't have anything crazy in your background or anything like that. And then you're on the show.

Well, it's because it was amazing. The first of all, again, not being a Survivor official motto. I did not know who you were at the time.

And the second you walked on to screen, everybody else in the cast is like, oh God, it's Rob. It's Rob. He's a gamer. He's going to know exactly how to play this game. And then from that moment on, you were kind of a marked man where everybody was like, if we don't get him out right now, he's going to win. So what was that like my threat level comes from that I talk about these shows more so of like what my accomplishments actually have been on Survivor. I've never won Survivor. I haven't even played Survivor in 20 years. And so there were some people who were in the castle who were talking about my background a lot to the other folks.

“And I think it sort of started to snowball a little bit, but I do know the show particularly well. I'm not great at playing it myself, but I do know a lot about it.”

Well, I mean, you say you're not great at playing it, but you were walking around my wife and I were watching and you're walking around going like, oh, I think it's a murder and playing site. I think like you were calling these things as they were happening. So you obviously have to have some sort of an instinct for these. I mean, I'm going to, what would you even describe shows like this to be Survivor? Are they? They're not backstabbing shows. That's not the right way to put it, but it's, well, how would you describe it?

Yeah, we call it social strategy games. The reality television where, you know, they're strategy, but it's also about your relationships and I feel like I wasn't necessarily great at knowing who the traders were. I didn't really, I'm not a vibes person and some people are like, okay, I can tell the vibes are all for that person. But I feel like if you put me in a situation, I'm going to, like, that doesn't make sense.

“And so like, I think I'll like logic it out eventually, but I'm not somebody who can just like read people like incredibly well and know who's lying.”

Okay, that would, and I guess that's kind of an important thing on traders. I would imagine more. Yeah, I guess you do need, but we're as writer again trying to explain to me certain things where he's like, No, that's the joy of something like Survivor is there's more so in Survivor than traders, there's very physical challenges. There are some in traders, but Survivor really, so it's like, you might want to vote off the big huge Jonathan the giant right off the bat, you know, for a fact that he's going to help your tribe lifting heavy objects, essentially.

So it's that balance he's telling me of all this, you know, kind of you've got to have the social structure, but you've also sometimes has to have the physicality until you get to the individual challenges and then it's kind of every person for themselves. And so I'm trying to wrap my head around all that stuff, but I see beautiful castle and what lovely food in the morning and I think traders is more for me. Well, it's interesting. I've been following along a little bit with your journeys with these shows and I think it's interesting that you have really connected more with the actual survival elements.

And it's, you know, it's hard because I think that with Survivor in its 50th season, that so many of the people who have watched the show over the years, they sort of like, okay, they take that stuff for granted. And they aren't really as, as focused on that, and they are more interested in the game and obviously these returning players in this season. But I also talk to a lot of people who are sort of a little bit more of, and I hope that this doesn't come across as offensive. No, they call them, they come a casual viewers.

Sure, I, I look at Survivor, but it's not the most important thing to me. I'm, I'm on my phone.

Maybe I might, not watch a season and I'm sort of like in and out with Survivor. And I do feel like that for the people who are more of the casual viewers of Survivor, that is a really important part of the show. And so that they get a lot of feedback from the show from the people on the internet who are very active and have opinions about everything. And you know, like, we need less of that stuff, but for the person who is probably the bigger percentage of the audience, where, you know, this is a show where we just had like this big fan vote.

And the fan vote has been probably a little bit more siding with that casual audience because it's so massive. But the people who are writing the most commentary about the show is probably a more vocal minority.

Right. Well, this is clearly one of the things right or not, I keep going back on fourth on and again, it's, it's just unfortunate for me more than anything else and that this is probably not the best for season to come on. Because it's by the fans for the fans, there's all these kind of, it seems, you know, in what, in because I like comedy in my head, it's like one inside joke after another, where if I didn't see Survivor, I don't understand what's happening.

And so I get that this is probably just for me exactly the wrong season to come in on.

“But at the same time, so you were one of the OGs then, do you as, and I imagine you're still a Survivor fan? Do you miss showing the survival aspect of the show?”

Do you think they should show more of it? Are you kind of past that and you're more into the gameplay? I'm much more into the game in terms of, for my viewing experience, because I think that we, you know, we've seen people fish, we've seen people have to start the fight. Now, you do get some novel things, like in this season, when we saw Christian use two pairs of glasses to start a fire, and that's a bit of a throwback. We haven't seen people do that. And I think in a character like Ozzy this season, where we saw in the most recent episode, where he's really in the water, and that's really, but it's part of his character.

This is who he is, where he tells us, like, getting back to nature is heaven for him, and that's always been part of Ozzy's story, where he's a little bit like, they used to describe him as, like,

"Mogally from the Jungle Book." That's he was just a control guy who came out there, and then he just took to the elements so much. And so, there is a really deep, rich character backstory for all of this. I've been thinking about what you've been saying with that it's a hard first season to watch. And I do wonder if maybe because all of the shows are on streaming and available to for anybody to jump in, whereas when in the era of, like, over the air broadcasting, that there were people who were, "Okay, I'm going to watch Survivor this season."

“And they had no way to go back and watch the old stuff, where I wonder if I design, it's like, "Hey, all right, well, if you want to, like, get started with Survivor, all that stuff's on Paramount Plus."”

Like, this is for the people who are coming in, who want to explore where the game is at, "Bow." Yeah. I do. I feel like I'm starting with Return of the Jedi. And so, you're starting with episode nine, exactly. Yeah, you're right. It's like, "I'm supposed to know what the Force is. I'm supposed to know all this stuff." So, yes, you're right. I should go back and do a little bit more of my due diligence. But you make a fair point, too. Why should you have to? You should be able to also enjoy it. It's hard for the show to have both things.

It is. And I understand it. And then there's things, you know, like, in the episode we just saw, which we'll get into, you know, they're eating. And it's something that's sponsored by Applebee, which is a cool way to get into sponsorship. But all the things going through my head are like, "How long has it been since you've eaten?" Is going from no food or just coconuts to double cheeseburgers a bad idea? Because it's like, "How's your stomach dealing with all this stuff that's kind of happening?" And I guess I don't, because this is what Ryder keeps saying, and he's like, "You just have to understand that they're suffering."

And it's like, "Okay, I want to see a little bit of the suffering, so I understand that they're suffering." And so again, because to me, holding you, looking, you go, "Oh, I could hold on to those things." Well, it's a lot different if you're trying to balance yourself on something. And you have an eaten in nine days, and you're sleep deprived. And I'm watching, you know, again, we'll talk about it. And it's an excylion. So he says, "You know, we Aussie ends up going to excyl and he brings a riso with them." And I'm like, "Oh, okay, so they're going to keep cutting to that." That's going to be a whole story line. They're like, "Oh, oh, they just kind of, they'll cut to them for 30 seconds."

But they're just kind of off this episode. So I'm not used to what's kind of going on.

“So basic questions to get them out in my head. How often do you eat?”

So in the new era, and I think that this is, I'm happy to, you know, explain as much of the survivor lore. Talk to me as if I may three-year-old when it comes to survivor. Yes, because this means a lot to the survivor fans that you and writer are talking about the show.

I don't want you to give up on the show. I will never, I'm a completeist. I will never give up on the show.

Yeah. I am in a hundred percent, but I will criticize. So I can give it just a little bit more of like the history of the show because this is a, you know, a 25-year journey for the survivor.

So after COVID, survivor came back with a new format that they called the new era. So survivor used to be 39 days really since it started. And so the seasons were 39 days and it was very, it was structured all a certain way. After COVID, they had like a bubble that they had everybody come in.

“So you come to Fiji and then you have to quarantine for two weeks.”

And so because of that, they cut the production cycle down from 39 days to 26 days. And for that, they said, hey, we kind of like this idea. It's going to be fast pace. We're not going to give them any supplies. They have to earn everything. So I think on its surface, you probably would say like, oh, well, I think maybe that's more interesting that they don't get anything. I really want to say that.

But the game has moved so fast that the players and you saw Rizzo talk about this a little bit with Colby. Like, I didn't come out here to camp. We don't do that anymore. So I think that there's a mentality of the players now of like, hey, that we're only here for 26 days. Like, let's just sleep on the ground. Let's not worry about building a shelter.

Let's not worry about, let's just starve. And I think survivor wants them to go out in fish and go out and look for food. But historically, they used to give them rice. And so survivors would have rice. But survivors then would then eat all the rice.

And then go to Jeff, do we love no more rice?

“And then he would say, well, you have to give me something. You have to give me, give me your trick.”

But they would just eat meat and then, you know, later on. They'd worry about like, Jeff, we have nothing. Can you do something? And beg for more. So the show took the rice away.

He said, you have to earn everything. That's why they take away their flint now. Because they try to make it more and more that you have to, they don't give you anything. So I know that writer talked with Sophie Blair and she said that she had eaten for 11 days. It seems like a lot of these players that come out there,

specifically, I think there's an age divide, also, where the younger people who come in,

and that's always been a theme on survivor going back to the infancy of the show,

how the older folks and the younger folks are getting along. But it seems like that the Gen Z players who come in, they'd rather just starve and do nothing than put the energy into, hey, I'm going to provide and look for crabs and look for fish. And then this season you have a player like Ozzy who historically has been one of the greatest fishermen in the history of the show.

He's here and he's able to provide for his tribe even when they were a disaster and weren't getting anything to eat. That's amazing.

“So just curiously, as not only a fan, but one of the OGs, do you prefer old school or new school?”

Yes, yeah. And I think you would, too. I think that for the most part, it was talked about in the show, the difference between old school players and new school players. And the show is so meta now.

It really is often the snake eating its own tail, where in survivor in the very beginning, it was really a show about we're going to take 16 Americans from all walks of life

and what are people willing to do to win this million dollar prize?

And it was really, the idea was a little bit more of, it is as a social experiment. And what's going to happen when we put these people out there? Now, survivor is so meta where everybody who's on the show is a gigantic fan of the show. So everybody's mind is going a million miles an hour.

It would be absurd in this new era for somebody to be cast on the show that hasn't watched at least 35 seasons of the show. So everybody who comes in is plain, because they don't want the players to have to be learning the rules as they go, because they feel like that really stagnates the gameplay. So they want everybody going fast, fast, fast on day one.

It's like, hey, it's, you know, it's dangerous fun. Go, go, go, the game starts as soon as you land on the beach. So if there are players who are sort of like, "Wait, how do I play the idol? How do I, how does this work?" They feel like it would be too slow.

And you also get so much of the show loves to talk about the show, "Oh, my god, Jeff, I've been watching since I was two years old." It's a little bit sort of like that they have cultivated this environment. Like on the prices right when people come down and they wear them this shirt. They're trying to watch this show.

You know, like, pick me to play Planko. That's like the atmosphere that they've really cultivated on Survivor, where Survivor in the old days, it was people who really, for, I don't know how they necessarily got the people,

but a lot of them, like, had never even seen Survivor.

They don't even know what it is. And now they're sort of like having to forge this society together, and also that there were stronger bonds that were harder to be broken, where everybody is, you know, the new era is a little bit more like they play like a board game,

where it's not so much these deep betrayals and bonds that get made. It's a little bit like, "Okay, well, I'm playing this card on you

And it's not necessarily like the life and death,

emotional bonds that really were part of the older school.

“And I think it's something else about the old school versus the new school.”

I think that the characters were much bigger and broader in the old Survivor as opposed to the game players are much faster and more savvy in the, in the new era. So you do have a much faster and more accelerated gameplay in the new era, but people are just making moves for the sake of that.

Okay, well, this person is a threat, so I have to take them out or this person has an advantage as opposed to really getting very invested in more of the characters across the 39-day battle of wills, which was the old school survivor. What is it was interesting to hear the kind of the definition between the two?

I forget who said it in this episode. Yeah, right, where she's like, you know, old school,

whoever you were friends with, that was you kind of wanted to stick with them forever.

That was kind of what it was, as you formed a group. And there was kind of an honor among that group and you stuck there and she's like, "In the new school players, they just don't work like you work with this person one week. You work with this person the next week.

You work with your enemy here, you do." Which, again, you're right, it seems to be a more fluid way of kind of playing what, essentially, is a much faster-paced game than it was back in the day. What I would ask you is, so they come to you and say, you can do another season of traders, so you can do another season of survivor,

which one do you take? That would be a hard question to answer. And for me, survivor would be going home and it would be like a sort of, when I played survivor when I was 24 years old. And so that now, like half of my life has gone by since I played survivor,

I don't know what would be different if I played traders again, where people would go. I'd have to get very, very fortunate with a lot of things on the traders,

“where I think that survivor is less luck-based,”

and I feel like that maybe I could maybe forge a path in survivor, and I think that there would be, like, my heart would say to do survivor, but I really loved getting to play the traders. It was such a fun, fun experience. And I would be very excited to get the chance to do either of those opportunities.

Now, did you, when you were watching your season of the traders, were you watching Rob just like, my he's a sociopath? He's perfect for this. I mean, it was like amazing watching what he was doing on that job. Oh, he was absolutely incredible watching the show back.

When I was there, I did not get that from him. He was always so great about him was that when I was there, he seemed like totally not interested at all. He seemed like almost like he didn't want to be there. He was eating cookies in the kitchen and, like,

asking for drinks, and he was just not putting out the vibe at all that he was playing a game or at all being strategic. Now, I was there in the very beginning,

“and I think that he was very smart to let Candace really do a lot of the work early on”

and let her be out in front. I think that one of the things that I say about the traders is, you never really want to be like the alpha trader.

You kind of want to be the second most important trader.

And so you sort of like let somebody be out in front, like doing all the things. And then you just don't really want to like lay back, and then when that person inevitably gets caught, be the trader who also is like, it was you the whole time, will we know it so hard?

Yeah, I think that's really the way you want to be approaching the traders. You never want to be like the top dog trader. Yeah, no, that makes sense. Okay, I'm just filing all this way for the future when I'm some day in the castle. I won't be in front of you.

Oh, God, I would jump. Oh, I do it in the second. Would you be a faithful or a trader? You know, I think I'd like to play as a faithful to be honest with you. That's what I thought.

Yeah, I think there would be something fun about the who done it, about trying to figure out who it was. There's also, I think it's harder to play as a trader. I thought it would be harder to, excuse me, harder to play as a faithful. Yeah, it's going to be harder to play as a trader.

But the more I was watching, it's like, no, I think it's much harder to play as a faithful. So, yeah, there's something kind of interesting about that. Yeah, it flips. I think it's in the beginning. It's harder to play as a faithful because you are really just working off of nothing.

You're going off vibes. You know, the game is designed that the faithful are probably going to be wrong at least six or seven times over the course of the season. It's easy in the beginning to be the trader. Just sitting back, go up in the turret, pick out a person.

But at some point, it flips where it's insanely hard to be a trader at the end of the game when you get down to like five people. And now it's like everybody's looking at everybody. You really have to work so hard. And it's also a war of attrition where that if you're a trader,

you're on a schedule that's so much harder than everybody else because it's late nights at the castle.

and filming whatever other trader business you have to do.

“And then you have to show up the next day and not act like you're more tired than everybody else.”

God, I didn't even think about that. Logistically, just the shooting schedule of being a trader. Of course, it's going to be a lot harder than being a faithful. And I think it's doubly hard for, probably, like maybe triply hard for the women or like say like Candace and Lisa, and I like to cite Candace because she, her makeup was on point.

Yeah, always. If it's a war over great. If Candace showed up at the castle one day looking like hell that you would say like, oh, Candace, what happened to you? Where, you know, Rob, I do think had an advantage where he probably just like splash the mortar on his face.

Yep, showed up. Didn't have to do all that. But Candace was probably waking up an hour to early to do hair and makeup. Before she showed up at the castle after a night of being a trader. And so you're on less sleep than everybody else.

And so I think that after a shooting schedule of a couple of weeks,

I think that really does start to pile up.

God, I didn't even think about that. That's so absolutely true. Okay, so well, we got to hop into our episode of a survivor recap. But before we do, because you are, as you said, you're essentially, that we have to put quotes around it, but we don't.

You're, you're the, the official podcast of survivor. I'm just called. But it wasn't official podcast of survivor, but they've stopped doing it. They did. You're the, you're the official podcast of survivor.

So I imagine you've spoken to most of the contestants. You've watched the shows. You've seen everything that's happened. Who's your favorite survivor of all time? Oh, that's a really, really tough.

You know, I would say my favorite survivor that I've gotten to watch was Tony. And Tony is a player. I don't know if I want to spoil too many of the seasons. Okay. He was just a character that I've described as a unicorn.

We're usually in survivor. You have players who are great characters or great players.

And a lot of times the best players aren't always the most interesting characters.

They want things very orderly and they keep the game from getting too chaotic. Tony. And I think that his first season survivor coggy on, which had a theme. I think that survivor needs more themes where I think it's a great hook to get people in. That theme was Brains versus Beauty versus Braun.

So there was one tribe that was Brains. One tribe that was Braun and one tribe that was beauty. And it was a really interesting season. Great cast. Lots of blindsides in chaotic gameplay.

And Tony was the king of playing this really super chaotic game. That was also very interesting strategically. And I didn't agree with a lot of the moves that he made. But it was one of the most action-packed seasons that you could have hoped for. Which tribe was he?

Was he Brains Braun or Beauty? Braun. He was Braun. He's actually a New York, I'm sorry. New Jersey police officer.

Oh, okay. Looks kind of like a Vin Diesel is a little bit like a mini Vin Diesel. Okay.

“So I'm going to have to go back and start watching all these because it's pretty important, I think.”

I think it'll be interesting. I'll get there. One of the older seasons that you to see if you might have like a little bit more of a connection with jumping in and not having to have known the backstory on people. That makes sense.

[MUSIC] All right. Well, let's get into our episode. So this was day 12 on the island day 12 of 24. That were told.

So we're halfway through. 26. So we're essentially by the end of this episode. We're halfway through. Yeah.

Our time on the island. And we are at the seal-a-tribe the morning after they voted Charlie out. Jonathan was blindsided, but kind of handled it pretty well. I thought, frankly, this was not Aussie last week. It was like, wow, you really screwed me over.

This was he kind of took it on the channel a little bit. What did you think about that? Yeah. You can't really inspire when you come back from a blindsided tribal council that act like, hey, I'm mad at you.

I'm mad at you because now you're on the bottom.

“Now you have to go instantly from playing from a position of strength with Jonathan.”

Thought he was into now having to kiss ass being on the bottom of things. And so you saw D connecting with him. And so he felt like, okay, well, let me just see if I can piece things back together. And they're not just going to pick me off next. That's really, I mean, it's the constant, I don't know how you sleep with stuff like that.

Just wondering who's coming for you. But then we see boats showing up for every single tribe. And we hear apparently again, I apologize for being such a neophyte. But this is a big day on Survivor. This is Merge Day.

Merged Day. Yes, not swapped day, which was a couple of weeks ago. Right. This is the Merge. We're now all the Survivor tribes come together in the game becomes individual.

So it was Merge Day.

But they're still kind of battling as individual tribes.

And then you're not on the jury. I know it's not being on the jury is like that's been a part of things. The jury is only so many people, and they've merged with more people than there are on the jury. So that's not that, you know, unusual. Okay, I'm sorry.

But what is unusual and they've done this a lot in the new era. It's like, hey, you're merged. And now you're going to vote separately. Well, no, the idea was that you said we're merged. You said we were, we're back all as one.

And for whatever reason, they love to in that they had, I'll give you some more back. So in the new era that you see it. So after they came back from COVID, they sort of tried to do like a little bit of a reboot of the show. A lot of people discovered Survivor during COVID. And so there was a lot of hype for Survivor to come back and he'd taken a year off.

And they ended up developing this game, which was based off of the idea. Jeff had this whole other idea for the game, which was around this idea of fire tokens. I was almost like, it was going to be kind of like a board game. And Mike White of this season of the White Lotus that Jeff would bounce a lot of ideas off of him. And Jeff went through his whole whiteboard pitch to Mike White.

And Mike White said, but is that fun? And Jeff's like, you're right. And he threw up the whole thing. And they came up with like, it's dangerous fun. And part of the idea of dangerous fun was, hey, small tribes, nowhere to hide.

Everything has got to be in a small group where in old school survivor often, there would be tribes of 10. And so as long as you weren't like really causing a scene, you could sort of be under the radar. Skate through and skate through.

And they really wanted to throw that out. We don't want people skating by.

So they were never going to let you have a vote with 17 people.

“So they came up with this idea to now, oh, what if we put them into groups of five?”

And so we'll have now in these small groups, you know, there's really going to be nowhere to hide and really tense votes that happen. And so we got this big twist for this episode, which I'm sure we'll talk about. And is that now is this par for the course?

So are they getting every week going to vote as three separate groups of five? Or now I'd be surprised next week if they do a vote all 14. I think that that seems like a big vote for survivor. I don't know if we'll put them into two groups of seven potentially. But I think that the survivor fans, especially the hard course of our fans,

like we'll let's say, hey, could we just let them place survivor at some point and not stop putting them? Because when you do these random groupings that there are going to be people, there's so much variance there. You're going to see people who are playing pretty good games get picked off just because they got unlucky with this tribe grouping that they got put in.

Okay, yeah, that makes sense. I mean, is there a possibility that this exile thing becomes, you know,

“something they do every week, the exile two people next week and then there's two teams of six?”

I mean, is that a possibility? Or it's it's it's look, I wouldn't take it off the table. And I do like that they've had exile in the season, but it is a rare thing for the dev exile island at this point. It used to be a part of the show in the earlier days where they would send one person to exile island, and they would really spend more time doing the type of thing that I think you'd be interested in.

Like, okay, I'm here by myself on this island and I'm sort of like having to survive there. And they used to hide the idle at exile island, also sometimes you go to exile island, get a clue and be looking for the idle there also. Okay. Now they've just sort of like used it as a way to sort of isolate people to get them out of the main action.

But I like that they're doing it with a buddy. Yeah, that was interesting to see, especially if it's you have to pick somebody and they can't say no. That was interesting. Okay, so they're all headed to Vaatu to become a collective tribe. It's the largest merge in history.

We talked about with 17, they usually merge with about 10 or 13 people. But some of them are the thing that amazes me is they're introducing each other. Like they're introducing themselves. Like we've been on the same show for weeks. We all came in together, but it's like, hey, coach, it's nice to meet you and all my got it.

So it's like, so Christian goes to coach like, hey, I'll coach nice to meet you. He's joking, obviously he knows he may not have ever met coach in person,

“but I think he's a little bit pretending like, oh, I know what was your name again?”

Right. So they know at least of each other. Because they're their fans, other. And maybe some of them like have seen each other in the pre game and they obviously they flew to feed you together,

but they didn't have the chance to really talk because they've never been on the same beaches together.

But yeah, these survivors are very familiar with each other. Well, the merge is certainly not getting in the way of Genevieve and Aubrey's feud. Which is this a feud, this is where it's like, is this is from a former season obviously? No, this is from now. They just don't like each other.

Fair enough. Yeah. For whatever reason, Aubrey, I think was more of, I was talking about with the traders.

And for whatever reason, she felt like that the vibes with Genevieve were not there. And then she was a little bit aloof with dealing with Genevieve. And I think the Genevieve was a very shrewd player. I'm not liking how this is going. And then she then progressed to go all in of like, okay, well, Aubrey's obviously going to be

the person who's out. And then, you know, it just like kept feeding each other from both sides. It was pretty amazing because it would not to jump ahead, but at tribal council, it was. Genevieve essentially says, like, and then you've got people on the opposite polar ends of the spectrum,

meaning like, we could never work together.

And it's like, wow, that was a great idea. They've never worked together. And it's like, wow, that was a big shot.

“And the dark, that's why I assumed this was a few that had gone back season.”

So they were met each other and they hated each other this much. It's kind of great. So the next morning, the merge tribe, they received a note. There is no merge fest or note, excuse me, no merge feast. Yes.

Or a fest. Or a fest either. Well, fest, feast, music festival, that last episode I saw. What two episodes ago. Yeah.

Just playing this to me, that Jeff said that this. So you know what, well, I'm sure we'll talk about Apple. But Jeff said it was the best reward of the season.

It's like, I thought Zach Brown was the best reward of all time.

Make it make sense. Well, I also can't make sense that nobody with the Billie Eidish. I was calling it the Billie Eidel. That's pretty good. Still don't get why nobody's put that together.

I don't think they're allowed to. I think they're for whatever. No, no, actual reason.

“I think they have to say the Billie Eidel.”

I think they have to say trademark. Okay. So they learn that there is a twist hidden in the jungle. And so people scatter. And they're running through everything that even.

To go through Christian. He's talking about how he's got a, you know, landmark tree. No landmark tree. No. Yeah.

Somehow try to map the island out, which is crazy. And after Rizzo walks right by it. Yeah. Finally, as he finds it. It was funny.

So I just got back from Atlanta where I went to. There was another survivor player, Ron Clark, who he is. Actually, a very famous outside of survivor for his teaching academy that he has an Atlanta. And he had a big event there inviting about 70 different survivor players. So teaching survivor.

No, no, no, no, no, no. He teaches. He has an academy that where teach educators come and learn. And that, but he was on survivor on season 38. And so he is a big survivor fan.

So he had this, like, big event. And it was a bunch of the survivor current in past players there. And Rizzo was there in the audience watching the episode.

And got to see for the first time that because you don't, you don't.

He obviously, nobody told him that he, oh, yeah, you walked right past the island. And that's a tough moment. Does it like, ah, it was right there. Well, that's, I mean, that's one of the things that Ryder and I talk about or have spoken about. It's the fact that that's going to be a tough thing because you're thinking.

The show is going one way or you're having conversations with people. And then when you watch it back, it's people talking about you in a way that it's like, Oh, wow, they either just lied right to me or they obviously don't like me and they're lying. That's going to be pretty tough to sit there and listen to what people really think about you. Sure.

I mean, that's reality TV though. So much of it. I know you don't like that part of it, but that's that's the thing. And you know, I certainly experienced that with the traders. Right, sure. And you know, in my traders experience, I got murdered in plain sight.

And I felt like, okay, I knew a murder in plain sight. I was happening. And then I went to bed that night and I woke up the next morning. They said, you're dead. You got murdered in plain sight. I'm like, how I did do anything.

And I said, okay, what happened? And they said, oh, we can't tell you. Oh, why not? They said, but you'll see when it happened.

“Like, well, I was like, I don't know what, but what did I do?”

They said, oh, well, you don't, well, you don't see one day. Do they really do the producers just come up to you and just go, by the way, you're murdered? It's just like that. No, you, well, you think you're going to breakfast and then they bring you to a different room. Oh, God.

Where does it go? Where does it go? Go sit there. Then the chair. No salmon animator.

That is a bad morning on traders. It's like, well, and you know where the room is for breakfast, it's like, why are you taking here? It's a little bit like, you know, you're going to the vet. Exactly.

We're going to the dog park and then it's like, yeah, this is the dog park street park. Oh, that sucks. So Aussie chooses for risotto go with them. From a game standpoint, game playing standpoint, did you think this was a good call to pull him out of the game with him? It was interesting because it seemed like that three had her two allies.

She called it her polyamorous relationship that she was cultivating.

shoring up another different group that he could work with. So I think it actually worked out good for Aussie. And I actually enjoy watching risotto who we just saw play last season with to see him from the new guard. Anytime he's with some of like the older legends of the show, I do think that it's like a fun buddy cop sort of.

Uh, massive. The rookie and the veteran. It did. It reminded me of seri kind of wanting to work with both of them. But it's like getting two cats that don't like each other.

“So you have to cover them in tuna fish and just put them in a room.”

Let them let them lick each other clean so they get to be friends. I'm a tad person. Is that what you do will? Apparently this is what I've heard. You cover them in tuna juice and you put them in a room and then they just lick each other.

Clean and then they just lick each other clean and then their friends. That's kind of what it seemed like. We're excellent to become a team seri which is what it seems like. And then we get to see something really interesting for me anyway because I'm not used to this. I'm sure everyone on survivor is but we're starting to see our first ever individual immunity challenge.

Which so this is my first one. And apparently 63% of the fans voted for new twists this season. And today's twist is described as a survivor blood moon and three players are going to be sent home. Is that ever been done? We're three at one time.

We've had double tribal councils before we've never had the triple tribal council.

What do you think about Jeff set this all up? Were you following the logic of the blood moon more and why then? And then three people are getting voted out tonight? I didn't. And I guess it came back later at Tribal Council where I guess they talk about video game.

So maybe it's a big thing in video. I'm a huge. I don't even see behind me a huge fantasy fan. These are all my fantasy novels. There's not a lot of blood moon stuff.

It's a vampire thing or a liking thing. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. I think it sounded ominous. Yes.

But yeah, we had our first ever three person elimination episodes. Which is a lot. I mean, you're getting three people out. You know, that to me, it seems like now everybody's going to start to scramble for positioning. Especially now you've got immunity up.

And so, okay. So today's challenge.

“Is that better for you or worse that they did three tribal councils?”

I don't think it mattered to me either way. I think it's going to be I was I was confused at this point of merge day. And then it was still three separate tribes. So then can fuse me to me. It just meant merge day was like, oh, you're taking the three tribes and you're just putting them on a beach together.

Where you're not actually a tribe together. And then they were starting to talk about the jury and how the people kicked out today weren't going to be part of the jury. So then if you're kicked out from now on, you're part of the jury's. Am I getting that right? Okay.

So so that makes sense. And they'll vote for the winner at the end. Okay. So that okay. I get that.

But I guess this was a classic immunity challenge. One that's been around for a while with their balancing on the narrow footholds and your. This is the other thing I would have liked. I would have liked some sort of a time clock. I would like to have known.

Yeah. How long they were on there? How long they had to go before they had to get to the next one? Which would have been better for me. But hey.

“So they're balancing on the narrow footholds.”

So they're still in their three tribes. Yes. Whoever lasts longest amongst the tribe gets immunity from that tribe. And then whoever lasts the longest amongst all of them. Not only gets immunity for themselves, but they also win the big prize for their whole tribe.

Applebees. Which is Applebees. Jeff walks through the Applebees menu. Like I'm sitting there and he's a waiter. Describing to me everything at the Applebees menu.

It's like a beautiful product placement. Yeah.

So product placement has historically always been a part of survivor going back to the very beginning of the show.

Where Mark Burnett sold the show to CBS. And basically that they wouldn't give him that much money. So Mark Burnett went to sponsors. And so you had like target and butt light. And there would almost every single reward challenge would be.

And then you'd see the survivors go berserkow for Doritos. Oh my god. Smart. I mean smart. It was a really big part of the show in the very early days.

So we don't have too many product placement challenges. But Jeff really will sell your thing. And how would I mean my guide? You watch him do something like that as somebody. If I was somebody willing to business like that.

I'd be like, get me on survivor. I want this guy to sell my product. I don't know why though that Jeff and he does. He puts everything into it. But he turns into like a 90 year old grandma talking about the stuff he's like,

You're gonna have the good bourbon street burger. I'm gonna give you, you're gonna have bacon.

You're gonna have never smoked bacon.

You're gonna love the applewood smoke bacon. Oh god, it was really great though. He can't. Why are you talking like that? Say what you want though.

The man commits to every bit in the show. He really does. Which is pretty incredible. He puts it all out there. I do want to add one thing about the challenges and maybe why they don't give you

And so one of the things with survivor where,

“and I think that this is like we see this across many things like like,”

Hey, used to go to a restaurant and it was like one way forever. And now you go there like, that's not that good anymore. They're really like put. And so with survivor, I think that they're under such pressure to like,

Okay, 26 days, we got to keep things going. We got three tribal councils to get to here tonight. I think that the footholds used to be bigger or they would spend more time on the footholds. So these endurance challenges in the old days would go four, five hours. No, I think that they really designed them to go about 15, 20 minutes.

Like, I don't know if they give you the elapsed time, because I think if you heard it, it might be unimpressive. Right. And if there's any of the survivors that are listening like, Hey, Stephanie LaGrosse says,

Hey, Rob, hey, listen, idiot, it was up there for nine hours. It is right exactly. They've made a lot of the challenges.

Like the classics of our challenges.

They've made them similar, but actually a lot more difficult to do so they go faster so that they can get on the rest of the day. That makes sense.

“Especially if they're truncating the show by two weeks.”

I mean, that makes sense. I would just slowly have the footholds start to heat up or spikes, something like that. So this is where I would go with it. I don't have a little more running mics.

That you would really love Australian survivor. They would use some endurance challenges that are really torturous. What is it with Australia? The whole country wants you dead. Even the game shows what you did.

It's really amazing. Bend there by the way. Beautiful place. Incredible people. But man, it's like you wake up in the hotel room next to a spider

and a crab. That's three times the size of your bed. It's really strange. So D ends up winning immunity. Yeah.

And immunity is a very small tasteful necklace. It's what I've known. It's a very small tasteful. That's a very small tasteful. That's a very small tasteful.

That's a very small tasteful. Very small tasteful. Really unassuming necklace. No, they giant eagle head kind of. Almost the Egyptian goddess looking kind of necklace.

Which wins immunity. So D wins immunity. Christian wins immunity. And then Stephanie wins immunity. And she also lasts the longest.

So she wins Apple Group. Which is great. And this is when I was like, wow. They're really totally forgetting about Aussie and Brazil.

Apparently that's just, I'm never going to see them again.

You're not going to see them again. I think that that was. They were all fun. Can I give you some Applebees, Laura? Please?

Yes. One of the most fun survivor moments years happened in survivor 46. When there was this woman named Liz who she had a lot of food allergies. And she could not eat a lot of the food that was on the island that was there. So there was Q, who was from earlier this season.

He, he won a reward. And it was Applebees. And he got to take three people with him to Applebees. And Liz in addition to having these food allergies. It turns out that she goes to Applebees every week with her daughter.

And she watches survivor that's part of their ritual. And she goes and eats this, the cheeseburger that they had. Which happens to be what she could eat. And it was a totally emotional thing for her. And they said, Q, pick three people.

And he picked three different people that were not Liz. And people said, I'll switch. I'll switch. So let's get he said, no, you cannot. You cannot.

You're spot the Liz. And she had a, all time historic survivor crash. Where's your, ah, peace. And she. You blew up my whole game.

Oh, oh. Reem that Q.

“Did he do it on purpose to make her kind of unbalanced in the moment?”

No, the so that he would not budge. He was not, she was not going to convince him that she should go to Applebees. Oh, my God. Oh, okay. I have to see that.

And what a great commercial for Applebees. That was that a grown woman just had like a totally. A total breakdown over not getting to go to Applebees. How do you not make that a commercial for Applebees? I mean, that would be the best commercial.

But again, my head went to you have not eaten in days. Yeah. And now you're powering down blue Romulanale drinks. Yeah. And you, and you're the giant shark or bull plays.

Yes. I have to imagine this you've spoken all the survivors. Doesn't this mess with your digestion and any way she perform? Certainly can. And so I think what happens is that so without getting into, you know,

I don't get graphic, but a lot of the survivors are very backed up.

When you are going to shock,

your body is going to start like, okay, I'm holding everything in. Sure. Right. The survivors haven't gone to the bathroom many of them for two weeks now. Oh, God, that can't be healthy.

And so it's, you know, it's not ideal. And so then, and you know, to give the survivors producers the benefit of the doubt, perhaps, you know, one of the reasons why they say, okay, 26 days, it's also maybe better for you than 39. Yeah.

That makes sense. And so now, you know, you ingest and you're sort of, you know, you're trying not to overdo it because then if you overdo it, it can come back up. I was going to say you're going to throw it all up.

Yeah. Yes. But then also a lot of times then you see the survivors getting like,

incredible stomach pains and then ultimately,

now that they had not gone in a very long time. And now all of a sudden they have the, there's an urgency. They just stopped going. Well, Christian went in his pants in like the second episode. Yeah.

Yeah. That was, I'm not sure exactly what the call. That, that to me seemed like a overdoing it with coconut. Right. Well, it's a natural accident.

Yes. Natural accident. And so for the survivors here, it's like, you know, a push poll of like, how do I, you know, put, like, how do I put 4,000 calories, 5,000 calories into my system to last me

through the next couple of days without now overdoing it to the point where I'm in the fetal position for there too.

“That's, say, that's what I thought is like you would just, oh,”

God, gastrointestantly. Anyway. Sorry. So the winning team arrives at the sanctuary for their Applebee's feast. That's really great.

This is, of course, after we get a little bit of Azim Rizou on the island, licking the tuna fish off of each other just for the visual. There you go. So they both at least at this point claim because this is the way this show works.

I'm starting to realize they're all just claims until you back 'em up, claim that they're in together with the Alliance with Surrey. So as far as we know, at least now, their team Surrey is what I would say at this point. So one of the losing groups is strategizing back a camp.

And that's when Aubrey and Genevieve were paired in the same group. And then going head to head. Genevieve is, this is where now it's just kind of talking about. Now, this is where I have a problem with the show where survivor fans love the show.

Where the next hour is now just cutting to people talking about who they're going to vote for. Yeah. And that's kind of the show, is it's just, I'm going to vote for this person. Well, let me go down and talk to this person.

I'm going to vote for, and I get this is the gameplay. This is what the survivor fans want. And this is where me as a new fan coming in. I'm kind of going, okay, it's just talking heads kind of in a high school talking about who they're going to vote for and who they're not going to vote for.

“That's why I'm trying to wrap my head around in a little more and trying to get better with this.”

You know, it's, again, it's hard for the producers because it's like, hey, we want big, explosive moments in the show. And so we want there to be a lot of, you know, tribal councils and blindsides. And so you know, they end up creating moments like this. As far as they're not being anything having to do with like the survival elements.

It's really now it's like, hey, they're trying to get through this day. They're going back to that idea of, you know, the dangerous fun, small groups of having to fight for your life constantly, showing the game. But it really ends up being kind of a foregone conclusion in most of these groups.

Ultimately, just based off of who had relationships with whom coming in.

So there's not as much intrigue in these three votes as maybe you would have hoped where there's a little bit more of a scramble. Sure, did you were able to kind of call who was going to go home before even got there? It felt like it. Yeah, I mean, seemed like that Genevieve was sort of dead to right.

And with Genevieve that she was with Aubrey who, with somebody who she had not been working with, but also she was with the guys who sent Aubrey the idol from the other group. So out of anybody else in the game, it was really like the worst possible draw that Genevieve could have gotten in this group. Yeah, that's really, yeah, that's very interesting.

So one of the things that I've been seeing more and more of on social media, and I kind of take anything from social media, the internet with the grain of salt. But you keep seeing, obviously, reality TV, you put quotes around reality. Producers, editors, directors, they all want to push in there. Not pushes the wrong word.

They can, they can help to construct a narrative. And some characters, the real people, but characters on the show, tend to get more screen time than others. And some of the former contestants are coming out kind of saying, it might be a little bit of a sexist kind of vibe, a little misogynistic.

It seems like it's more based on the men and on the women. And some of the people on the show are really not getting enough screen time. Do you agree with this?

“Can you see this as a kind of a legitimate complaint by some of the contestants?”

Or is it more like, hey, they're going to take the best stories they have of that week

Yeah, so a couple of the contestants Angelina really was the first person last week

who said it about the edit.

“But then a bunch of the other women who have been under edit in the season have”

talked about this. And it's something that the survivor players, you come out there. And this was discussed a little bit in the Charlie Tribal Council. Like, hey, everybody's the hero of their own story. And then you see the episodes.

It's like, wait, hold on. I was the main character. Where's all my stories? And so historically while there have been some women who have gotten a lot of airtime, there's many women who are legends of the show.

It does feel as the survivor will consistently give almost all of the men a fair share of

and there's certainly some exceptions. But sure. You know, almost that it seems like that they do a better job of telling the stories of the male characters than some of the women who get left behind.

“And I think that if you go throughout the history of the show, I think it's specifically”

a lot of the younger women. I feel like that they struggle with having to tell their story. And so in this season, you have what there. I think there's a lot of factors that go into it. But in this season, you have one tribe that has been to tribal council so much.

And really, you see more people. See more of people when they go to tribal councils. And some of the women, they haven't been to tribal councils at all. And so they've had less screen time in the show. There are people that they count the confessionals.

So the confessionals are sort of like the talking head segments that they do. And so there are lots of people who for a variety of reasons, including trying to predict who's going to win the season. They count the confessionals that players get. And so this is sort of like the box score of who's getting the most screen time in the show.

And if you look at it, a lot of the women have gotten less screen time and talking heads. Then the male players who they've done a better job of telling their story. So you've seen some of the women speaking out. You've seen some of the fans getting upset about, hey, why is survivor like this? It's supposed to be that we're showing everybody equally.

I think the show is struggled with 24 players. And then also you have some of these players who are really legendary talkers. Like somebody I know coach is one of your favorites and he's come back and so he's a character is what he is. Yeah, he's going to talk and chew up a lot of screen time.

“So it is hard and the only thing that I can say is that, you know,”

not everybody's story has been told yet in the case of Angelina and Camilla. I do think it's a disappointment to not have seen more of what they had going on. And for everybody else, you know, you have to see that maybe we do get more of their story going forward. They do seem to develop the men's stories more than the women's stories. I mean, again, as somebody who doesn't know the show at all, doesn't know the history at all.

I know a lot more of the men's names than I do the women. Or it's like when I see, of course, when I see D or some of the kind of the, uh, Surrey, some of the ones that are kind of the loudest speakers or for instance this last episode, so we're talking about they did kind of focus more on the Aubrey Genevieve thing going on. Right. But it's like, oh, the women are fighting.

Right. Then it's almost there's, yeah, there's almost a version of that kind of going on. So, uh, yeah, it's interesting to see, and again, we all know that it's reality TV. There, there's nothing's real, a quote unquote. I mean, they are still trying to push an narrative of, of the show that they want to put out there. So, but it, it was, it was interesting to see, as I think somebody said,

and it might have been, I apologize to the name that you said,

who was who came with the first one to come out and really talk about it last week.

Angelina Angelina. You know, survivor has struggled with this type of issue also all throughout the history of the show. And I will say to the producers, credit, they do have, they have tried to improve things. And it certainly is, is not perfect. That's survivor had its own reckoning with race.

Really after 2020, where after everything with George Floyd, a lot of the black players and other minorities talked about, hey, you know, I was on a tribe and it was really, this was really unfair. I felt like that my story wasn't really being told. And so, survivor really did do a lot once it came back after COVID to try to address that.

And so, survivor is not perfect. They have a lot of things that they can improve on. I do feel like that they do care deeply about trying to get it right. And I have no doubt that they will be looking to improve this in the future. But for the people who are out there right now and feeling like their story is not being told.

Like it does kind of suck for those players. Yeah, no, I get that. There is, you can, and again, being completely newbie to this world. You do see that it seems at least like they're listening to the fans and they're listening CBS and the parent company.

Because the other one I saw was that they thought that the was a Zach Brown.

Zack Brown, yeah, yeah, that he had so many he was on the island so long. He did a full concert that apparently for at least from the couple of the articles I read today that they're planning on going back some for some future episodes and actually editing down

“I don't know I don't know that I think you don't think that's true”

I think that that might have been fake news. I don't know you think with the homester beast thing. That's the one I don't think so I think that the shows are largely edited. I don't think that they're changing too much after words You know, there's so much fan reaction to everything. I think that for the most part I think that unless something is like a big scandal I don't think that survivor is changing too much based off of how the fans are receiving it because again

There's probably a big majority of fans who are silent who maybe had no issue with the exact brown of it all right Probably Zach Brown probably has a lot of fans that all the work excited to see him. Yeah, so you know

That the problem is that a lot of the online survivor fans you complain about everything

So it's very hard to really for survivor to discern. Okay. What are the things we really need to look at because That there's so many things that people are furious about that they had three tribal councils in this episode and their favorites went home

“Yeah, it is it's one of the say I've always said just don't live your life based on the comments on social media or”

When you're business based on the light the social media just the way very hard to get any sort of like actionable information from the one star reviews When it's everything like this socks worst episode ever in the fan vote and like they went on IMDB and said the Zach Brown episode of survivor was the worst rated episode It's about And was that true or no it was not the worst episode Was it the worst rated episode because I read that it is the worst rated episode

But I mean there have been like like many problematic episodes in the history of the survivor over 20 years and many boring episodes

Also, it's 50 seasons you can't do that and not have problematic episodes and anything that you do so all right So anyway, yes, we're seeing Aubrey and Jenna V. They're paired in the same group. They're going ahead ahead Jenna V is not going to vote for Aubrey tonight because she could play her idol and it would all backfire Instead, she's gonna go after devins and tries to convince Christian to vote for him too So this is just going back and forth

Another one of the tribes is on a different island. They're also prepping for the tribal tonight Colby is a sitting duck at this point And I love Colby. I love I do He's injured though and he has no vote. It's like my you know Me even I know it's like all this is not going well He's looks like the goat that's just tethered to the thing in Jurassic Park for the yeah, the T-rex to come and eat

He didn't really have much of a play there and you know, you know for Colby I mean he had such a legacy where he was you know the biggest star in survivor in 2001 He was so famous Yes, survivor of the Australian outback people named their babies Colby like he was in you know Like put it and they put him in movies. He used to do commercial he hosted top shot

Which was which was a great show? Yeah, he's on curburethusiasm. I mean he was just like like the biggest survivor star and then, you know Here he is and he's kind of like and he heard his toe and he can't it's just it was Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was really sad to watch and you just you felt back He was trying to

Trying to play whatever he had but he didn't he'd really didn't have anything to play so it was more or less just kind of like I'm Colby You don't want you don't want to vote for me. I'm Colby. Yeah, but that was pretty much all you can do Then coach kind of makes a fool of himself as per use and tells D that Emily is targeting her which is a lie a lie also a very unbelievable lie because D and Emily are from the same original season They're both from survivor 45 and are actually friends in real life

So that would be quite a betrayal if Emily was trying to get the vote out for no reason And yeah, it's like why I guess if you're gonna lie make it plausible

“I don't think he thought it through I think he's just like yeah, he's throwing it out and seeing what sticks”

The winning team obviously gets back to their camp before tribal and it seems kind of like an easy vote for them too But you don't know if it's gonna be you've got Camilla Tiff and Jonathan if they stick together and vote out Chrissy Easy But of course this I'm learning being survivor is not the way that it works So Chrissy puts on the ultimate rules for Camilla and Tiff complete with tears

And in reality she's just trying to get Stephanie and Jonathan together to vote out Camilla Yeah, I think that this was by far the most interesting vote of the three of what was Jonathan gonna do because you had the

Chrissy who were more affiliated with the old school player right, and then you had Tiffany and Camilla who were from the more recent player of seasons that were okay. Hey, like stick with us from the last couple of seasons and Jonathan was really playing both sides But Chrissy does a really convincing job of making sure that Jonathan is gonna go with the old school players who sort of have a little bit more of this like Hey as Teresa like honor loyalty right when we are word is good come work with us

“And that's a little bit more of what Jonathan is about well, you can probably tell that's why I'm team Jonathan”

Yeah, you pants. Yes, I've got my my pants as I always wear when I made those

When I heard that you bought the Jonathan pants I'm like out of pride You know, Chrissy kept saying like hey Jonathan, we're cut from the same cloth. I'm like, yeah, that's how he gets his clothes It's the cloth from the pants. No, no, this is I think it was a shout out to Mrs. Jeremy Jeremy Pinter or Mrs. Eric Matthews or two fans of ours From the world and From pod meets twirled here that ended up finding the pants and getting the link to writer so we'll next you need like the shirt that has like

Just shows my nipples nipple. Yeah, I won nipple shirt. Well, I mean a lot of people Wardrobe out functions. Yes, well a lot of people look at Jonathan's body and my body and they're like God so similar. So it could definitely happen that I'm gonna get nipple shirt I thought I was talking to Jonathan exactly right zoom very similar. Very similar So now we're at the

Red moon blood moon tribal council blood moon We get into the first group. I feel like they turned the music down a little bit this week, which is good because it

It does get in the way comes out of it. It does it just I always I feel like I'm on a Disney land ride

I do every time I hear it. They're sitting there around the ruins and you just hear that that same music I'm like I'm on a Disney land ride. Well, it's jarring when you're actually there Because there is no music. So yeah, just dead silence, right? It's like if you go from what I like at home You have this one experience and then you're there and you can hear a pintrop

“So that that's the fire that's really weird and you're you to go and place survivor now is it true?”

Because I read that the all them grab grabbing the torches and walking on the beaches That's all they shoot that and then they like put him into trucks and take them to the actual vote in trucks Probably boats in Okay set up in Fiji, but yeah, like you would never They used to stay in like the very beginning like we hiked three miles to tribal council like they would get lost

So they're like how you like in Jeff would be standing there all that I like when are they getting here right? Yeah, yeah, when they were supposed to be here hours that got what happened will bring them rain and everything So yeah, they sort of like will they pick them up in a boat They take them to tribal council and they get out and they they walk up I'm sure it's how far how far away is the crew like if there's got to be a crew area where Jeff hangs out all that stuff

Is that a small boat ride we played in Fiji so I don't know And that's really what that layout is but they're tends to be on the survivors have like a certain area and this is like a signpost no Players pass this area and then production will have like a base there They have their own base camp they have a really nice set up in Fiji where the crew has really nice accommodations Jeff has good accommodation so the show's really comfortable in being in Fiji

“It used to move all around the way where I remember that a lot's lots of different locations”

And then starting with season 33 they landed in Fiji and they've been there for a sense at that point It just doesn't make more sense to just kind of have a controlled area Especially yeah, and I hate to keep saying this but especially if the kind of the survivor aspect of survivor has gone It's more about the gameplay than you can control it more in one area much like the Hunger Games Yeah, it doesn't make sense

They don't have to like rebuild all all of the challenges and props and they are able to save a lot of money They filmed two seasons back to back Also now a lot of the changes to survivor have come because they're trying to save money and make it more economical Where there was a point where it was such a phenomenon It would be friends, you know

3 million people a week would watch survivor at a certain point survivor when it's time slot

But it's not like the juggernaut that it used to be so they've done all sorts of different things between cutting back the days staying in Fiji They filmed two seasons back to back So they've done a lot of things to sort of like cut the amount of money that they spend the day Overhead as much as you can. Well, that's smart So well, I mean everybody's kind of going back and forth is it going to be crazy is it going to be Camilla who's going and then

I wasn't shocked if I'm out of it was the biggest shock of the three But still wasn't like oh my god I kind of figured that maybe Jonathan was gonna gonna vote Camilla how about you? No, I was not surprised So I actually was a little surprised that the vote was Camilla and not Tiffany because I thought that at least Jonathan and Camilla had more of a relationship

Maybe that there was a relationship there, but I was Not surprised that Jonathan went with Stephanie and went with Chrissy because it really does seem like that he's very much aligned with He was working with Coach earlier in the season that he would want to stick with the people who were also with that honor Lawyers a team honor. Yeah, yeah, that kind of thing John and all that kind of stuff if memory serves Tiffany's name wasn't even floated at least that we ever saw

No, so yeah, amazing amazing all right So now we go to our second tribal council different music same game Geneva ends up playing her shot in the dark

I never can please very briefly walk me through this shot in the dark because I I didn't really understand everything

Sean the dark everybody gets one the idea is that way everybody gets one of these everybody has one to start Yeah, oh, okay, and so you could have one time when you get to play it where it's basically It's like your sort of your Hail Mary where hey, I think I'm getting which is why Colby

“You need to you need a vote to do it. So it's like I think I'm getting vote it out tonight”

So instead of actually putting my one vote in I'm playing the shot in the dark Which it makes no sense because it's a one in six shot it literally is a die The literally is I think so it's like oh, so you roll it no you put it into a tube and then you pull a scroll Out of the back, okay, just like Vegas gotcha. Okay. Yeah, so I did not know that everybody got one

I thought you were like who is one of these or some everybody gets a shot at your part the game with why and it's basically your

Hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna lose and so it's a very throw my Hail Mary and and then if Jeff if you pull out Those were the one scroll that says safe everybody goes crazy. It's like I didn't like and so it happened people have got it has happened. Okay. Okay. All right. Interesting. So but that this time She is not safe so any of the votes against her will count and well She's actually unanimously voted out

But before she leaves she gives her coat to her nemesis Aubrey so many coats. I was gonna say there seem to be this whole coat thing seems to be it's like a right-of-passage It's like toys for Todd says the Christmas time like donate your coats to his cold survivors donate your coats. I still don't know cuz half the time they're cold half the time they're hot and half the time They're standing one person's in shorts and t-shirt sweating next to a person who's in a sweater

So I don't know if they're hot and cold. It's very interesting and then we get to the third tribal council Coach is all dressed up for the red wedding and

“Colby gives a very sentimental speech that leaves some of the people in tears. I think he knows he doesn't literally”

And figuratively have a leg to stand on Because he's injured and he's just and he doesn't have a vote. He's just He's yeah, he's piggy on the island without the coach. So this was a nice send-off for Survivor for Colby, you know, you sort of like that the idea of season 50 it being this celebration was supposed to be where you were gonna have these like great iconic players coming back for one less like

Doff of the cap curtain call and if Colby was gonna get blindsided you wouldn't get that so in a way where it was such an obvious vote for Colby He really was able to get his flowers and have an emotional send-off After you know as of Survivor viewer if you started you've spent 25 years watching Colby Come and and play the show. This is his fourth time coming back Colby was the one in his very first season where he easily could have won and gave it to the woman, right? Tuktena to the team. Yeah, Tina. Yeah, so it was but at that point in time

Survivor was such a phenomenon and Colby was the good guy America's

“Hero Cowboy hat. I think he thought that he had a big career coming in movies and I think that he felt like”

I mean he did I mean he did I mean he did have a career is certainly but I think he felt like hey Maybe I'll win maybe I won but I think I'd rather do that and be beloved than Screw the Tina who he cared for and they're right friends to this day

Remember in the million dollars and then at what cost, you know, where I'll be I'll be hated but I won a million dollars

I think that he really was thinking about his image too along the way. Well, it worked because You know, he's was beloved even though yes He was voted off the island. He still considered one of the most beloved Survivors of all time and I think he'll be you know He actually was before this season just to give it the the but the bow on Colby Yeah, he had this great run and then he came he played two more times and it was kind of underwhelming the last time

He played that he was really he seemed like he really wasn't that into it He was kind of like miserable the whole time He was called Superman and a fat suit by one of the other contestants where he was like this like young Buck who was winning everything in his first time out and then he was kind of seeming like like over it And it was like a sad mopey version of Colby, so to see him come back and have this run and hey make sure you find the joy

Came back with a different spirit and seemed like he got a lot out of it like it was a nice book end to his story

Yeah, which is really great and that's that was our episode for for the night I mean we I we don't usually get into what happens next because that's the fun part of finding out what happens next But I would like to know you're in Vegas. They hand you chips You've got to put your thousand dollar chip on the person you think is going to win this season

“Oh, who do you think's gonna win survivor fifth thing?”

I know you're not the biggest fan, but it could it be coach. I don't know. Do you think do you think it's gonna be coach? Okay, I'll say I Feel like somebody from the old school. I think is Headed on the right. I think that the new school is really on the back foot now. I think Marie has a chance also with this Ozzy and risgad set up does Ozzy have a shot for for once?

I don't think so. No, like I think it'll be interesting for Ozzy He he got he's been very close

He got to the finals his very first season lost five to four

He also was one vote away from winning in a season that he got voted out three times That's a story for another day about how Ozzy got voted out three times in a season he almost won and then

“It would be I think that there's a chance. I think he's well liked, but I don't know”

I think that if he if he goes to the end with Sari he will lose to Sari. Sari's beloved Sari is an icon and every but this is when the jury who's going to start being picked next week None of these three people are on the jury So going to be picked next week. They decide they decide your vote the final three will sit there They will make their case of who will win the jury will ask questions and then they will all vote for a winner of Survivor 50

Okay, well, man. Thank you so much. Yes, for joining us while we're here Now you are unfortunately going to be stuck for one more thing because I do every week on our show I do a little something called wheels history famous survivors and stuff I'm still working on the song. Please don't hold it again, but we're gonna do a very quick one this week because the it's a long episode because I wanted to talk to you about why I'm wrong about Not liking Survivor and I'm getting there. I swear to God. I'm getting there

But this week we've got Roy Sullivan who is a man who was struck by lightning seven times Yes, U.S. Park Rangers survived in astonishing seven lightning strikes between 1942 and 1977 a feat that made him a legend among survival stories his endurance and luck earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Worlds records

“I think I'd rather be there for hot dog eating as opposed to most times struck by lightning”

But his story is really fascinating go check it out. Just be careful. Don't read it under a big tree because apparently even his story attracts lightning Yeah, I think if you get struck by lightning seven times you like it. Yeah, you're asking for it at this point I'm gonna believe lightning strike victims normally, but like something something's off here Yeah, this is seven times although apparently it's this somebody fact check me on this because I could totally be wrong, but apparently if you're struck by lightning once

You have a better chance of being struck by lightning again

Then if you've never been struck by lightning again, I could be making that up like a blood moon

But I don't think I am I think that's a blood moon. You can't have any three times. That's exactly the danger of a blood moon Exactly. So can you tell us a name of your podcast, which everybody knows anyway, but I want to shout it out anyway, and where everybody can listen to you It's called Rob has a podcast. You can search for it R. H.AP. And I'm talking about survivor and all of these Reality competition games the traders big brother, and so if there's a show with strategy We typically have a podcast about it. I actually how's this for some fan stahlia for you?

Okay, I have recently wrote the book that is coming out next month. It's called the tribe and I have spoken It's about the 25-year Lauren legacy of Survivor and you can check out. Rob is a book.com. Maybe I'll listen. Maybe for you one day Maybe maybe I'll send one for writer for now. Oh, that's that's so harsh. You know, we have a book coming out too So if you don't want to be yours then that's fine

We could trade, but apparently writers gonna get one. Yes book beats were all this coming out Listen, I can't be like a sitting here on my high horse I do not have all of boy meat world history at the ready. There you go. Thank you very much No, it's is this has been really cool. I again. I am trying. Yeah, I appreciate what you all are doing That it really like as as somebody who talks about Survivor all time

I love that you're bringing more of an audience to the show and I think that that's great And I think it's also hard to jump into something with an existing fan that I think it's very great To come in because that you really open yourself up to like oh You think you could just come in here and talk about this show. Don't you know, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah I kind of love that though because I'm a mega nerd

It's joyous and I never ever ever do it as like rage bait in any way shape or form

But it just shows a passion for something that people love. I mean, I'm like that with fantasy novels with Dungeon Dragons I'm like that with stuff in my life too, so I completely and totally get it There's never any hard feelings. It's somebody quote unquote bashing something that brings you joy So I completely understand where the fans are coming from and all I can say is I'm working on it

“I'm getting there. I'm learning the characters, which is an important thing”

I mean again as a fantasy lover. It's it's about world building

So I'm trying to understand the building of the world and I'm sure that you know this from everything that you've done with the pod It's also like this this world building. It's also community building where absolutely come in and it's like Yeah, that we have our own language and there's certain things that only they only we know about But it's the stuff that makes us feel close and connected with the things that we actually care about

“So in some ways it is a little bit of a note that anybody just can't jump in and be a part of our thing”

That's really sacred and precious to us. So the people who you know fight through that to sort of like at it And then it's like oh, I'm part of this now So it's you know happens with all sorts of these online fandoms and so it's natural Okay, I'm getting there. They've been usually very nice to me They just are kind of like you don't get it and they're right. I don't get it

“But I'm working on it and you've been a great teacher”

So thank you so much for joining and you're gonna have to come back when riders here because he's not gonna be happy They didn't get a chance to talk to you. So please join us again to help explain more stuff. Yeah. I would love through. Okay. Good. Thank you so much All right. Thank you so much. Well, bye. Bye. Man. That was cool. Yeah I mean talking to somebody who's knowledgeable about a world that I am still learning is just so helpful And it's something that again, it's a nerd. I love to do so unfortunately for all of us

Ryder did not send me the thing that he normally says to get rid of the episode. You know the the outro He sent me the intro

But he never sent me the outro. So I'm gonna have to make one up and mine's not gonna be nearly as poetic or awesome as Ryder

So I'm just gonna say thank you everybody for joining us We've survived yet another tribal council our smoke hasn't been trapped. Is that what is that what Indie always says But we will be here next time with loud beating drums behind us as we write down somebody's name and find out if everybody decided to write down the same name Or they screwed us at the last second. Thanks everybody This isn't I Heart Podcast

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