RHAP: We Know Survivor - Adam Klein Recaps the Survivor 47 Finale

Episode Date: December 19, 2024

Today, Rob is joined by Survivor Millennials vs Gen X winner, Adam Klein, to discuss the finale.

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And your Tampa Bay vacation includes good times, relaxation, and great Gulf Coast weather. Visit flyporter.com and actually enjoy economy. Hey, everybody. What's going on? Rob Sestrino back here for finale night to recap part two of the Survivor 47 finale. And congratulations to Rachel, winner of Survivor 47. Looked like it was going to be a little close at points tonight,

but Rachel wins it 7-1 over Sam. And we are blessed here tonight because we have just one of the great podcast guests that you could hope to have here with us, a winner in his own right. Please welcome back the great Adam Klein is here. Adam, how are you? I'm good, Rob. I'm super excited to be talking about this season. I am so, so pleased with the whole season. It just put a big smile on my face. Um, I'm excited for the, the preview we just saw. I'm kind of just giddy. It was, it was great. And, uh, even though I feel like you kind

of already talked about how, you know, Rachel's win last week. I mean, this is kind of, I felt like you feel like I've already covered the finale a little bit, a little bit, but I'll be your, you know, second. But who cares what I have to say? We're here to hear what you have to say tonight. I think Rachel's going to win. Yeah, I think that's a good bet. I like that. I like that. OK. All right. I finally got something right. So we'll talk about all that. We'll take your questions live tonight. And of course, busy Thursday coming up on RHAP. A lot of stuff coming your way. Of course, we'll kick it off with interviews with the final four. We'll talk with Teenie, Sue, Sam and Rachel on our exit

interview pods coming up on Thursday. Then I will talk with Steven Fishback on three 30, a little bit later than normal three 30 live with Steven. And then I believe by the end of the night, we're going to be dropping some more podcasts on you. So stay tuned for that. And then the patron Q and a, we'll be taking your questions from the patrons Friday at 3 PM tom. to talk about your thoughts on Samar 47 and beyond. Okay.

Adam, real quick, how are you doing? I'm good. It's complicated right now. I had an eye surgery last week. I'm having another eye surgery next week. And so we're moving in january i'm gonna be like moving on to a cruise ship kaylee got a new job performing um on virgin voyages so where there's a lot of like change right now we're having to pack up i'm doing these procedures i also just did like an endoscopy. There's all kinds of weird things

going on, but overall, like I'm today, I am feeling really good. I'm recovered from my surgery from last week. So, uh, yeah, I'm overall, I'm feeling really good and really excited. Yeah. Adam, well, we appreciate you being here with everything that you have going on. I'm going to have a lot of follow-up questions on all that later but that i think as as you would insist you need to get into this finale yes yes yes please okay all right rachel uh what an interesting winner of survivor this was and you know we had been all week trying to define and uh you know shout out to andy uh who uh you know gave us so many great moments this season but he uh brings up the specter of that uh rachel you yourself would not say that mike

holloway or ben drebergen were were winners that are in your top tier first off how happy were you that you didn't get cited as one of the winners. Well, I... You would like the shout out? I wouldn't have actually... I mean, I wouldn't have taken offense to it because I do think that in some ways there are some similarities as well. Like, I definitely get the Mike and Ben comparisons in sort of needing to win,

although I have some caveats to that that I think makes rachel a little bit different and we can talk about that but i also think that like there's something about the way that rachel played that did remind me a lot of of of how i played the game which is that you don't need to be in control at every moment throughout in order to make it to the end and win. What you need is to, when you're not in control, make sure that you're protected, that you're not going to be the one going out. And through various different ways, Rachel was able to do that throughout the entire season. Yeah. I mean, we really struggled to sort of nail down Rachel's game and there had been

a ton of debate. I'm sure there will continue to be some debate from, you know, the, the, the infamous Dom Abate hot take of this is the best player of all time to people say, okay,

she was very lucky, kind of a lower ranked winner if she wins. But I think that, and we were struggling to come up with the, like the most blank winner. And she said the word herself tonight. And I think it was the perfect word that Rachel had a stealthiness to her that just going back to,

from she stole, she tried to steal the rice. She got busted on that one, but all of the other like little moves that she made along the way, like the little little things that she did behind the scenes that nobody really noticed to the point where then even coming out of nowhere to win all these challenges in a very stealthy way. Like, I think that that she just has a stealthiness about her. Stealth R. Rachel. Stealth R. Rachel.

Stealth R. Rachel. Stealth R. Rachel. Stealth R. Rachel. I totally agree with that. I also think that there is, it's not just like, was she lucky or was she unlucky? But it's like, how did she use the luck that she did receive? And I think that she used every bit of luck that she got to her advantage. And that I think is the hallmark of a really strong player. I think when people think of like the best winners, they tend to think of the most dominant games. But dominant does not always equal best player.

Like if I had to draft a team to go play again, Rachel would definitely be on that team because, uh, she may, she understands that it's not about controlling the entire game from start to finish, but about figuring out where you fall in that and making sure that there's going to be somebody above you. And when there's not that you do whatever you need to do to protect yourself, whether it's find an idol or win an immunity challenge or whatever. And even when it comes down to the very end, like I'm not convinced that she needed to win out completely at the end here. Like she had more to fall back on, I think, than maybe Mike or Ben. Like I think at the final at the final five, I don't know that she absolutely must win there.

I think most important is just that Genevieve does not win because I still think that Genevieve, I have to imagine, was a bigger threat and target than Rachel was at that point. So that's actually a pretty good spot to be in at the final five. Yeah. And she definitely, you know, wanted to keep some of those shields around to a certain point. Can I circle back to where you feel like that you have some similarities between yourself and the game that Rachel played? Could you talk a little bit more about that? I mean, I think it's just the idea that like, uh, when things don't go your way, are you going to be okay? And I think that the, the episode where this is highlighted the best, um, well, I think there's two good examples this one is the annika vote right like it was never gonna be her going home if things didn't go her way and she we didn't see it all because you don't see all the pre-merge machinations and whatever but she absolutely positioned herself

within that tribe so that if anything flips it's probably not gonna be you know annika and sam were the ones that were sort of butting heads a little bit. And so that's a really good spot to be. And then I think the really clear one is when Sierra goes home. Right. And she recognizes that things are not going her way and she still manages to feel out whether or not it's going to be her. She probably knew in some ways that it wasn't going to be her because she knew that Sam and Sierra were going to be targeted before her. Um, and then also was able to hang on to that idol, which again, even though she was lucky to receive it, if she doesn't make that right choice there

and she plays that idol then, then she's probably not the winner unless she finds another one. Well, it's all, yeah. Also the idol saves her at the final six and also it's like, oh, she had an idol. Oh, okay. She's a big threat now. But I think that also,

um, for, um, a couple of things that were surprising tonight. Um, were you surprised that Rachel did not, and I know the final tribal council is long. Things get cut out of it.

Are you surprised that Rachel didn't really, uh, mention the fact that she played the shot in the dark and could have played her idol at that tribal council and did that as one of her moves? I have to imagine that she did. If she did not, I would be incredibly surprised. But I know, I always come back to this as sort of the only thing that kind of upset me about the edit of Millennials Gen X was the edit of Final Tribal Council because of how much was left on the cutting room floor.

I thought that – They didn't show all of your good points. Yeah. I mean that's how I feel about it. So, Ian, I mean it's so crazy do you think that that's because they want the audience to feel like you're going to win 10 to 0 that they're trying to because like that's part of the problem on survivor is that every single thing whether it is close or not is almost always edited to be like it was oh it could go either way you know dean, Dean or Nora could beat Tommy tonight.

Like, you know, we're going to see everybody's best points, even when it's going to be a blowout. I think part of it is that, but I think part of it is also that they had options to choose from in terms of what parts of my story they wanted to tell. And the most compelling was the story of what was going on at home with my mom. And then I think the clash between Hannah and I at Final Tribal Council was the story of what was going on at home with my mom. And then I think the clash between Hannah and I at Final Tribal Council, because it was good drama.

And so they showed every single moment where I sort of dunked on Hannah's game. And very, very, very few of the ones where I spoke about my own game, including things that you never saw on the show that I thought, oh, well, we're going to see it at final travel. How naive was I? If you don't see it on the show, you're not going to see it at final tribal. Right. So, so I should have known better that those things weren't going to come up, like my relationship with Jessica and how I dealt with will and, and, and, you know, got him voted out and got him to

trust me. And so things like that, that, that, I mean, it doesn't matter now, but, but at the time, those were things that really, you know, upset me that didn't make the air, but they had, they had other things to pick from that were better television. So from a producer standpoint, from that were better television. So from a producer standpoint, like it makes sense then to highlight like this little move I made in the game or whatever, that really is not what people are going to remember about me on that season. Yeah. Well, going back to Rachel, I would say that I, just to be clear about this, I, you know, super impressed with Rachel and everything that she did this season. I feel like that Rachel's game is such a great fit for the new era. Like,

I feel like when we're talking about like, well, did she dominate the game? Like a Boston Rob or a Kim? Like, I feel like, no, that's not her game,

but I don't think that game can win in the new era. I think D would have take some exception to that i do feel like that i i would push back on that because i feel like that d was part of and i just interviewed drew the other day i think that that d was part of like a amazing group of four which and then she outfoxed them like she she positioned herself best out of that group of four. But I don't think that she was the like leading the group of four to the promised land. And I think that in the new era, for the most part, people don't imagine that it's possible to get an alliance and just run it to the end. Right. Between all of the different twists and all of the propensity of big fans to want to make their mark on the game, to imagine that everybody is just actually going to sit still and like do you know the stable move um you know feels naive right and it's probably a self-fulfilling prophecy that if people think

oh well if that feels naive then everyone else is going to feel that and they're going to try to act before i act which is why tuku falls apart in this season. Right. Uh, so, so, uh, you know, there will continue to be exceptions, I think, where there's a group that figures out, no, it's just better if we run this together, like Drew was talking about on the podcast. But, uh, I also think that that's going to be extremely unusual. And for the most part, the best players in the new era are going to be extremely unusual. And for the most part, the best players in the new era are going to be the ones that do not try to control the game from start to finish. I think that Genevieve came like quite close,

but even that was still far from the finish line right and and i'm sure we'll talk more about genevieve well later just fascinating and well we can talk about genevieve now because i think that genevieve that after the sol vote where that genevieve had a move that was sort of like 100 this was genevieve's move of taking out Saul. It was almost like that the target on her back was just so incredible. I mean, she almost got, she got close to the end, but it was almost like that once you make a move in the new era that's identified as your move, it's like a heat seeking missile. And Genevieve, you know, was able to like hide a little bit and stay safe. You know, ultimately Operation Italy came along to like hide a little bit and stay safe. Uh, you know, ultimately

operation Italy came along and bought her a little bit of time, but it caught up to her, you know, Rachel, I think that one of the things besides her immunity wins was that she didn't really have that, you know, signature move early where people said like, Oh, that was Rachel's move. Right. And the moves that some of the moves that she was making that the audience got to play along with, like not choosing not to play the idol were under the surface and not known by the people that were there. Right. Or even, you know, going off and winning that challenge or whatever and getting the block of vote. Like those are things that weren't seen by the group. They weren't public. Yeah. I'm always you know, I'm a big proponent of you have to be really careful about what you do and say publicly, like on even on the mat.

Right. Even pre challenges, post challenges at tribal council. If you are the showman of the season, that in and of itself is going to put a target on your back. So I really believe that Rachel played one of the strongest new era games you can possibly play, even though things didn't always go her way. She had every element of being able to win challenges, find idols, use them correctly, of being able to win challenges, find idols, use them correctly, but also feel the flow of it. Like, I think she even mentioned this, like something about the ocean, like you have to ride the, the, the wave. Right. Um, and I, and I think that she did that, uh, very well. Yeah. And I think that she got unlucky on, couple of things. Lucky or unlucky, you can look at it. One thing unlucky was that I think that when she got blown to slip into the post merge and not be thought of

as somebody who is like oh here's a player who we should keep an eye on i i wonder about that i wonder if the players out there would agree that that sort of like like clocked them on rachel or if they just thought it was like something funny. Yeah. Because she, she did sort of attempt to pass it off as something funny. And I think there's a chance that that might've worked, but it definitely could have gotten. And two, this was a blessing or a curse. I think she did very well at the puzzles in the pre-merge.

And I think that that was something that really like helped Gata. But I think that also put her on people's radar. Right. I mean, look, she was absolutely a challenge threat. And if they were ever going to vote somebody out for being a challenge threat, it could have fallen back on her. So there were certainly ways in which she didn't perfectly maybe manage her her threat level but but again she uh she was both lucky and quite unlucky she was lucky in drawing the rock to be able to go and play for that block of vote that she needed she was lucky to get the idol and her french fries um but there were also moments she was lucky to

get yes yes that uh you know she was lucky that lucky that Saul ended up bailing her out from the spot, which was certain. I'm surprised that that did not come up at all in the final tribal council either from what we saw. Yeah. I mean, I would again, I would guess that Sam probably mentioned that as some sort of knock on her game. But her response could have been, well, I made the relationship to be safe. Right. Um, and so I didn't, it's not like it was random chance that that happened. It was human selection. It was somebody over there saying, I don't want you to go out. And you could also make the argument that the group that she was placed in was quite unlucky. Right. But, but I think the, you, there's, there's definitely a lot of like, she was very lucky and then there's some,

she was unlucky, whatever. But like, I don't think that that's the most important conversation here. I think it's that you have a really strong player that was able to ride that wave and make it to the end. But, but let's also acknowledge that she was not the only really strong player that we could have been having this conversation about, right? Like, I think like Caroline is a great example of somebody who in, in, in maybe as many more instances in which we're talking about Rachel being the winner, it's it might be Caroline, because I think she was very, very similar position. And if it's not Rachel that wins that immunity challenge, we could be talking about Caroline here, who I think played a very similar. I think Caroline was positioned well. I think the biggest difference between Caroline and Rachel was that Rachel was a threat and the challenges that Caroline wasn't. I think that, you know,

that's the difference that Rachel had that other superpower. That was the difference in that round. Right. That is right. You're right. It was going to be Rachel who went home and then it ends up because Rachel wins immunity. Caroline goes home. So yeah, but I do think that Caroline was another very, you know, savvy game player who was very fun. Just want to check myself a little bit on this,

because I just am thinking about it. And I do think that if Rachel loses there, it's not, I think when people talk about this, it's like, oh, Rachel was going to go home there. But Rachel had more tricks up her sleeve. So we don't actually know what would have happened that round. You think that Rachel would have played the block of vote had she not won immunity? Yeah, I do.

Because if it's not her neck on the line, why is she going to pull out her bag of tricks? neck on the line, why is she going to pull out her bag of tricks? But if there's any doubt in her mind when she's not safe, I think she plays it much more safe and maybe stops Operation Italy completely in its tracks. It's a good question for a Rachel deep dive. Yeah. Yeah. What's the plan if you don't win immunity there? And, you know, she might not know because things could have changed or whatever. But I do think that there is also a very good chance that she would have navigated her way out of that. And this is why, when I say like, this is the difference between her and Mike Holloway and Ben or whatever is like, Mike absolutely needed every single one of those idols, right? Or every one of those. only had one idol yeah i'm sorry not an

idol every one of those immunity wins ben absolutely needed those idols needed that final four fire making twist he was out right like so so those things are are feel much more solid than the the alternative reality where rachel is not safe it's not as clear cut what happens there. I think with the exception of the final six after Genevieve wins immunity, she would have definitely been out there if she didn't have an idol. So it's a new year. You know what that means? Setting big goals. Maybe you promised yourself you're going to hit the gym every day, or maybe you said you're going to learn to make fire with a flint for once or the classic save more money. But let's be honest, New Year's resolutions tend to fizzle out by February. Wouldn't it be great if at least one

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because there was some interesting things that happened in this episode and some interesting decisions that were made. And so ultimately, uh, the night gets started. Rachel wins the final for immunity challenge. And, uh, we really, uh, talked a lot tonight, I think on three separate occasions, the show talked about Rachel tying the all time record for women winning the, uh, immunity challenges. I know I lost to one of them. Five women now, Rachel, has entered the pantheon. Yes, extremely impressive.

I wasn't sure if you had a... No question there. Just acknowledging it. Yes, obviously very impressive. Okay. Rachel immediately decides, okay, that I already know what I'm doing. No drama, okay?

And I know you love the Final Four fire making. You've been one of the biggest proponents of it. You enjoy it so much. But... I called up Jeff and I said, you gotta put this twist in. Yeah. So, all right.

I remember vividly the podcast you did, I think it was the day after. Was it the day after Heroes? I guess I don't remember as vividly. That you came to my house and then we talked all about it, about the new twist. Oh, God.

That's right. You think it was me, you, Josh Wiggler? And I still don't like it. Yeah. I will say, not that I'm a defender, I say that it's typically a very exciting TV moment. Both my kids jumped off

the couch when Sam got the fireman. Even though I don't like it, now that it is part of the game, and look, he knew we were going to talk about this. He's even said it in the show. Everyone at home is like, why didn't you practice? To me, it is the number one thing that you must do if you are going to go on Survivor, is you must be able to make fire in that specific condition of Final Four fire making,

because it's different. They use a different, it's not a machete. They use a knife. Like you have to watch and you have to learn specifically for that condition making fire at camp using a machine whatever it doesn't really matter but that if you make the final four and you are the best fire maker of your cast you cannot get eliminated right and so you have to go in with the confidence that you can beat anybody, because if you can, you have so much more agency. Yeah. I don't like the twist, but now that it's here, you got to prepare for it. You know, I feel like if I was Sam and it's about I got to Survivor and I had I had not practiced making fire.

And it's like day 21, day 22. I think I would start to practice a little bit. I get not practicing during the game because. But what if you hadn't practiced at all? Like, don't you? I didn't practice at home. Like, go back in time. Rewind.

He was busy. And what busy? What else do you have to do? Do you know how much stuff the Tennessee Titans are up to? Oh, my God. Is that what was happening? I don't do that. So I don't know. I stopped watching football. I used to love watching football when I was a little kid. I watched football with my grandpa all the time. You know what I stopped watching was the Super Bowl of 2001 because Survivor Australian Outback premiered right after that.

And I wanted to fast forward through the Super Bowl to get to. Yeah, that was the Giant Raven Super Bowl. Do you actually remember? I remember. I went to a Super Bowl party. I'm like, boy, I don't I don't like the New York Giants. Can we yada yada up and go along here and get to watching Deb make a shelter out of rocks? Yeah, exactly. I used to love

football. Anyway, it doesn't matter. The point is that you have to prepare before you come to the island. It is too late to prepare on the island because anything you do on the island can be seen and watched by everybody else. And the last thing Sam needed was to raise his threat level by showing that he can make fire.

Yeah. Okay. So let's just back up a step to Rachel. And we talked about this during the week on the podcast of what if Rachel wins the final for immunity, there was a pretty good chance that that was going to happen. Kudos to Rachel also to win. This wasn't just like an endurance challenge. I mean, this was like a big obstacle course challenge that she won. This challenge felt like it is the challenge that normally happens the round before.

And the challenge the round before feels like the challenge that normally happens at the final four. Yeah, you're right. You're right. The stacking the... Yes, that feels like a final immunity challenge doesn't it yeah i mean typically is i they were talking about on the on fire podcast that challenge was the like final immunity challenge in uh ghost island so uh yeah mixing it up we don't mind that so then rachel wins and she says instantly, okay, I'm putting Teenie and Sam into the fire making.

Now we at home don't know that Sam has not practiced making a fire. If you're Rachel and I presumed that Sam knew how to make a fire. I was concerned about this very scenario because I felt like that. Hey, like you put Sam into the fire. He could make the fire and Adam, you know how these juries are sometimes they see somebody make a fire and they see the look in their eyes

and they can't help but vote for a person that just made a fire I thought this was a little dangerous on Rachel's part No, I think Rachel knew where she was at with the jury I thought the move i the correct move what would have been that to if you wanted to put sam as a fire i don't know why she wouldn't

make sue make the fire against sam but i think that d had it right i think just you know what everybody i'm just taking sam to the end don't even give him the chance to make the fire. Yeah, I heard you say this with Drew. I just, I think that- Did you disagree? Yeah, I do disagree in the sense that she got all but one vote. Like she knew, she, it exactly- But even Jeff said-

What you were so worried about happened and she still sort of clobbered him in the votes. So like- But like that that sam did a pretty decent job i feel like that but he did a this is my this is my point right that everything that could go wrong went wrong in that he won in a flashy come from behind big fire making challenge then he comes in and has a really strong final tribal council. And she still clobbers the vote. I will say a couple of voters seem like they were on the fence.

Like, I don't think it was a runaway in the final tribal council, even if the votes ended up being that way. Even if there's a couple of votes that swing the other way, she still wins. So she had room to lose votes. And he he did, you got to give him credit. He had a really good final tribal. Like, um, I think she had an easier pitch and he still managed to do really well. So I think if it were closer, I could understand your point, but I think, and, and, and, and, I mean, we saw it kind of in the show where they sort of gave some editorial, like, is, is Rachel a little overconfident? Like we see the scene with Rachel and Genevieve where they're talking about basically one of us is going to win. And then, um, same thing where Sue is talking about Sam and Rachel kind of celebrating.

But look, she was right, right? And so, like, you know, you can learn a lot by paying attention to the jury when you're out there. And I just, I don't know this for a fact, but I'm going to give Rachel the benefit of the doubt here and say that when she won that immunity challenge, she pretty much knew that she was going to win the game. OK. All right. So then why pick Teenie instead of Sue to go up against Sam in the fire making where Sue she's dirty all the time. She's got soot on her face. She was the fire maker at the camp. He's got soot on her face. She was the fire maker at the camp. Again, because I think the point was not I need to get Sam out,

but I know I can beat Sue. And I really like Sue. She could beat Jeannie. Sure, but I think she really liked Sue, and was just, it wanted to genuinely reward that. And it's, it's just another move that makes the jury go. Rachel gets it. Rachel's smart.

She's, she's basically taking the person that she has the best chance of beating that is going to also probably talk her up in final tribal council in subtle ways and pissing off Sue up in final tribal council in subtle ways. Um, and pissing off Sue right before final tribal council and having Sue come after you at final tribal. I just don't know, like, uh, you know, so I think just keeping it simple there and doing the sort of safe, smart move when you are the person that's already the biggest threat, I just don't see any need to take any unnecessary sort of risks there and do anything different or crazy. Because if you put Sue in, here's what it really is.

If you put Sue in against Sam, what you are signaling is I desperately want Sam out. By keeping Sue out of it, you're saying, I don't care what happens. Right? Like, you guys. Isn't the best way to say, I don't care what happens? Like, bring Sam. Who cares? Bring Sam?

Yeah. No, why? He's nothing. He's just, he's the, that. If I were on the jury, I would be like, why are you bringing the person who you have the worst relationship with, who like also maybe has the best chance to beat you?

Like, are you trying to trick us by like making us think less of him? Like I would see right through that. I would see, I would think that that was so transparent. Can't get one over on Adam. If you're actually advocating for this or just like trying to play devil's advocate here. I mean, I think that I would have, if I was Rachel, I think I would have put Sue in. I would have said, Sue, we need you to beat Sam.

You know, I think that. I would do exactly what Sam said at final tribal, which is you wanted me out real bad. And you, you contribute. But you would have been out. Sue would have knocked him out. You don know that pretty sure okay but what if he wins now now you have a real problem on your hand if he takes down sue the best fire maker in the whole group like now you have a real potential problem yeah right okay so and now you have Sue pissed to you because you were unloyal, right? You could talk to Sue. Sue could do that. Look at Caroline. She voted out Gabe and she was like,

Caroline, you're my, Caroline never voted out Sue to be fair. I think there's a big difference if Rachel is the reason Sue goes out. I mean, I don't know, maybe, maybe not, but the, the, the point is, is I just think keeping it simple there and not giving Sam any more ammunition for saying, see, you really wanted me out. Because the best argument that Rachel had, which I was screaming from my TV and I was, I literally like clapped when she said it was like, if you place me in front of you as a threat, I've, I said this the last time I was on the podcast. I remember talking about this. If you place me in front of you as a threat and you fail to get me out, you have no argument. That is like that. So if this is a big thing that I did with David,

right. Right. It's like, Dave can't, we can't beat him. You know, he's going to beat all of us. If I sat there at the end with David Wright in the final three, I lose. There is no argument. And I would have even had a hard time like lying to myself and saying that I should win. Because if you play that card, you must get that person out before the end you are saying we cannot beat you and making that your truth and then if you go to the end with them you just have to shrug your shoulders and say i tried my best but i couldn't get out this big threat and i've said that they're the best what am i gonna do now like yeah you know what i mean so well i thought that was a great argument yeah uh we'll

definitely ask rachel tomorrow about uh some of her thoughts on uh how she came to make that decision but what a battle between sam and teeny where it really looks like okay wow this ultimate david versus goliath of teeny versus sam that finally after all this teeny gets one over on sam and then the survivor gods say hold my beer yeah yeah and i think i hope that the i hope that the takeaway here for teeny is that teeny needs to trust themselves more. Right. Because, uh, if I think if teeny just goes for the gusto there, cause teeny got flame,

right. Had it going, but sort of looked around a little bit. Like, what do I do now? Literally was like, Rachel, what do I do?

Dump the pile on. Right. All the stuff and just. Like do better than one stick at a time at this point. It was the, it was the, it was the tentativeness. It was the tentativeness of going carefully and being like, I don't want to screw it up. I, I have this flame. I don't want it to go out. I don't want to smother it. Right.

And, and, and knowing that like, uh, that if teeny goes full throttle there and just full tilt and puts their hands in the fire with all that, with all that wood, then teeny wins that challenge. Right. And so again, I think the story with teeny is a little bit of this selfoubt creeping up and being the reason that holds them back a little bit. Right. I'm almost getting the vibes that you wish that you could have done a final four fire making. I mean, yes. In Winners at War, I was itching to get in there when I saw Sarah and Tony.

They were awful at fire. It was so bad. I i was like how did you guys not practice i was so fired up that that these i was like these are the best survivor players ever i just watched them like dominate the like winner's season of survivor they were so good at everything and they can't make a fire. What? How? Like I was, I was, I was very disappointed.

So yes, I was like, get me in there. Okay. Look, I'm going to throw an idea. You, you can have this.

Okay. All right. Fire making coaching. Just, you can have that. Add that to your portfolio yeah sure why not i mean look i i i do look i was i think if i went into fire making in millennials gen x against dave i i i'm very very know, I think it's very, very likely that I lose. Yeah, because David Wright, he was like the fire guy.

Yeah. The fire making challenge didn't exist. And so it wasn't a big part of my thinking going into the game. And I practiced a little bit, but like not much. Right. But now going back for 40, you better believe I was out. Like I here's OK, here's my big take. back for 40 you better believe i was out like i here's okay here's my big take and i'm i will i i am waiting for somebody to win fire making without using magnesium i was not i i don't

believe it's necessary i think it wait this is a flex yeah no no as a strategy yeah because i think it wastes time the scraping it look if if if everyone were really good at fire then it would come down to seconds every time at the second that the 30 seconds that you spent scraping the magnesium or whatever i just don't think it's necessary they don't spend that much time on it on tv when i i don't like the sound it makes yeah the sound is not good. But when I was practicing for Winners at War, I was like, I want to be able to do this. I want flame within 10 seconds,

no magnesium every time. That should be the standard for everybody that's attempting to go out there, I think. Okay. Alright, so amazing comeback for Sam. He gets the comeback, knocks out Teenie. Nice moment for Teenie. I also thought, you know, that we've been a little hard on Teenie last couple of weeks as things have gone sour for Teenie.

I did feel like a some I thought some prescient like self-awareness from Teenie to say like, you know, Sam didn't do anything. Here's this is why i think i don't like sam i loved that moment because it felt it felt like it was teeny literally speaking through the television to all of the people that have been crapping on them for the last few weeks or whatever which i feel like is over has been been overblown, right? This is someone who, uh, you know, was pissed off basically that they didn't get taken for like the loved one's reward, which is like extremely, you know, we've had people complain, you know, that they didn't go because it was their birthday and whatever. And it's like laughed about and it's funny. And like, you know, uh, you know what I mean? Like, so, so the, the level of vitriol about somebody upset

that they didn't get like kind of the loved ones visit, I think was a little over the top. Um, and, uh, and so I, but I, and I love that, that the awareness was there for everybody saying like, Oh, teeny, so unaware or whatever. Teeny was literally acknowledging everything that you've been saying. So it's not that it's like untrue. It's just, we just don't need to like, like, like really like twist the knife. People do online. It's too much, you know? No, it was kind of amazing that teeny is able to get there. It's like the kind of like realization that you would have like after like months and months later, after you watch the show

and you're at the live reunion show and Jeff's like, all right, Teenie, you and Sam, like, uh, how, what's the relationship like? And it was almost like the Teenie gave an answer of like, that, you know, that they had gone back and they watched the show. They read what everybody said and they came back. I mean, this was like, you know, four days later after Operation Italy. There's no better way to sort of and I hope this sort of shuts everybody up because I think it will, because there's no better way to shut somebody up than to basically make their argument for them. Right. Like if somebody is mad at you for something and you go to them first and you say, here's all the things that I did wrong. And I'm really sorry. And I shouldn't have done that or whatever. Like they can't come at you with the same ferocity because it's like, yeah, I already said that. So hopefully that like puts all of that to rest and, uh, we can just get more moments of like, uh, like the champagne being

filled. Sue was like having this, like, I don't remember what Sue was talking about, but it was like something, you know, like meaningful or whatever about being 59 and winning all these challenges. And the camera's like zooming in on like Teenie's champagne. Teenie knows how to party. There was one thing that Teenie said though about Sam about like, you know, Sam, he's

the kind of guy, you know, all the girls liked him, that he's the kind of guy that then got asked to move all the desks in the classroom. Like that's a very specific thing that Teenie seemed jealous of Sam for some reason that Teenie did not get to move any desks in the classroom. I can get, I don't think it's about the desks but about being the go-to person for the teachers right like when the teachers need help with something it's not about moving the desk it's like who is the most capable person in the room of course it's the big strong guy

rather than teeny and i think that's that makes sense to me right like i don't think it's about the the desk um but uh i i do i do wish that like we had gotten to see teeny sort of get that sort of victory over themselves a little bit and i feel like that that's something i still like yearn for a bit when it comes to teeny story is like i want i want teeny to sort of have that moment where it's like i i got one over on them yeah how does that feel right but did you ever get asked to move the desks? I was the one not necessarily being asked to move the desk because I don't think I was seen as the most physically capable. But I was like student body president starting in sophomore year, sophomore, junior and senior year. And so I felt like I had I was like friends with the teachers kind of like and the students. I was like friends with the teachers kind of like, and the students.

So it was at a weird dynamic where I kind of could leave classes whenever I wanted. And I had, I did have kind of free reign over the school a little bit. Wow. I mean, it's just, that's what it was. So. But you use the power for good, right? Oh yeah. A lot of good. Yeah. I mean, I, I'm very proud of, like, I peaked in high school. You peaked? What do you mean? I guess, I mean, I don't know.

I enjoyed high school, though. You know, it's not for everybody, but I didn't really. I think if you, whatever. Well, let's talk about the final tribal council okay and this was a pretty classy final tribal council like if anything that uh the most tension in the final tribal council didn't come from the jury outward that probably most of the tension uh came between sam and rachel sort like, uh, going, uh, you know, a little back and forth. Sam fought like really, really well. Uh, and I think that I came into this episode, like

very certain that Rachel was going to win. Um, and, and I don't think I, I, I don't, I never really wavered in that, but I I was as I was watching it, I was like, there's going to be a lot of people thinking that that that Sam might be getting the votes. Yeah, I thought I thought Sam did did really well. But, you know, really what the story just I think wasn't there in real time because he was elevating Rachel as a threat. I think that, to me, is just the most damning thing. I think it makes it incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to win if that's the case. And then just as a viewer perspective, I did see the possibility that Sam was going to make it to the end, I did see the possibility that Sam was going to make it to the end,

but I never thought that he was actually a win because I thought some of the arguments that like the edit was showing us about if Sam wins, it's because he's like the glue guy or whatever. I remembered that from like the first episode and I'm like, no, no, that's not, that's just not, that's not the story here. Right. Like it's a story of survival. It's a story of like, you know, sort of dodging some punches and surviving against all odds. But it's not a story of like bringing everybody together. In fact, if anyone were to be the glue guy, I think it's Rachel. Right there. When when we saw that scene of like Rachel making the final three with

Teenie and Andy, and then Rachel making the final three with Caroline and Sue, it's like, who's at the center of all this? Rachel is the glue guy. And so maybe some of the narrative is like, here's the case that Sam is making, but it's actually more relevant maybe to, to somebody else. Um, yeah. And, and I also think that Sam, uh, what both was benefited by and was hurt by being seen as somebody that was disposable because they were a traditional threat. Right? And so Sam survived at moments because people were like, we can take care of him later, kind of, because he's always going to be seen as a threat. And so that's the benefit of that. Genevieve said, let's go after Rachel. Let's go after the medium threats, the sneaky threats that people aren't thinking about. We don't have

to worry about Sam. But the downside of that is you don't get the credit for surviving because the agency is granted to others for determining that you're sort of disposable and easy to deal with later on. And I think a good example of that is one when Sierra went and then again, when Andy went and it was sort of up to Rachel to determine who goes out there. And the only reason Sam survives is because, you know, Sam was determined to be less like less threatening, but without getting the credit for like making that happen without the agency for that, if that makes sense. Yeah. I thought Sam did a great job fighting. I thought he made some good points, but I feel like that his thesis at the final tribal council, I think was probably

not the right one to go with up against Rachel that, uh, he, he really tried to, uh, own the narrative that he was the scrappy one. You know, he was the underdog in all of this. Uh, and he was the person that, you know, uh, just, uh, uh, he was going to be remembered as being, uh, scrappy. And, and, and that's, he kept coming back to that. I don't know. I feel like that Rachel, I feel like owned the scrappiness lane, I think, but based on the way that she played.

I think that there probably should have been another way that he tried to attack this of like, hey, I came in to this emerge with the biggest target on my back. I was running Gata in the, you know, we blindsided right. And maybe he did, he did say all these things and, and, and I was in the power position. And then, uh, you know, my, my house of cards fell because I'm such a big threat. Um, and maybe he tried to say, even still, I was able to get back up off the mat. We put together Operation Italy that Rachel had no idea about.

And I feel like that Operation Italy didn't even come up. Again, a must-have, right? There's so much that gets cut out of Final Tribal Council. To me, there's absolutely no way that that wasn't a signature piece of what he he talked about um maybe not if he didn't then that's a big knock obviously but like i i don't know that i totally agree i think that he did the best with what he had i don't know if there was a winning argument i i just think he was uh you know really up against it because of what you know we talked about before before with setting Rachel up as a threat. But like, I think this idea that like I bobbed and weaved and survived is the best argument that he had.

Adam, isn't his argument that, hey, I voted correctly every single time that Rachel didn't? It's so easy to poke holes in that, though, because because some of the times that he voted correctly was because he didn't have a vote or his vote was gone. It's like, okay, yes, technically that's true, but like, you know what I mean? And he did mention that he did say that, but it can only take you so far when you really dig into like what that actually means. I mean, he wasn't, he wasn't running the show. And, and, and yeah, I mean, I just think it, he needed to get Rachel out. That's the bottom line. And, and he needed to win immunity or take her out and fire. And then he goes into the final

three with a really good shot of winning the game. So he came very, very close to winning the game. Um, but she won that immunity challenge and that was a wrap. I really just think it was as simple as that. Yeah. Okay. Um,

I'm trying to find some other highlights from the game, uh, or from the jury. Uh, Caroline asked about the biggest mistake in the game. And there was a little bit of talk about it. I thought this was interesting about Rachel snuck up on that conversation that we saw after Caroline went home.

And Sam was quick to point out like, aha, that was a fake conversation that you overheard. That was a lie that you heard. Yeah. Interesting, right? Yes and no, though, but it kind of wasn't because they were all against her. So what element of that conversation was a lie? I mean, they were lying about what had happened.

They were lying to Timmy about that. What had happened. Yes. And they were telling Timmy that genevieve had the fake idol but they were telling the truth about was the future which is or they said that genevieve had a real idol which was fake got it got it yes okay so that the piece about genevieve's idol was still not true but again like rachel said she had a really good argument to that which is that it didn't matter like it didn't matter to us because one way or another, we split the votes the right way so that even if, you know, it's real or not real or whatever, like you're you're going home after that.

I mean, I do think that Sam had a potential really good argument to make. Again, I imagine he probably made it out there. I'm not sure if he did. I don't think we saw it in Final Tribal. But this idea that by having Genevieve be the one to have this fake idol, it puts all the heat on Genevieve and none on him. Because they have to put the majority of the votes on Genevieve in the event that she does have an he does really, he should get a lot of credit for being the one to survive that, even though I do think Genevieve

is probably a bigger threat and target there anyway. But by having her be the one to hold on to the fake idol, it does protect him more for sure. Are there any of the questions from the final tribal council that you want to highlight? We talked a little about Andy's question about the Mike Holloway. That was, that was a great one.

Not necessarily, but I definitely want to talk about Andy. Yeah. Let's talk about Andy. I mean, how can we not talk about Andy? Andy was great television, first of all, like just so much fun to watch. But I really want to talk about what we think happens in the event that Andy makes it to the end. I've had pretty strong feelings about this throughout the season. You know, I don't know if I was right or not. But to me, well, let me first, let me ask you, what do you think happens if Andy makes it to the end? What do you think the response is from the jury? I think that it doesn't go great. I think that Andy ended up having the better ending

going out here, getting idled out of the game than if he got to the final three. I don't think that the jury would have been especially receptive to him. I agree with that. I. As as as fun as it was and as like interesting as it was to watch, like, you know, Operation Italy and some of these things, there is a point in the game where certain people can no longer win. And sometimes that point comes quite early, right? And I think that Andy had hit that well before Operation Italy, and I don't know that there was anything that he could have done at that point to change the narrative enough to have the jury be like, game, and I hope he won't take offense to this. He might.

But sort of the idea of a power goat, right? Power goat? I don't think we ever talked about a power goat before. I think I came up with the idea. It's something I've just been talking about with my friends and whatever this season. But I really saw it in Andy. I was like, this is someone who has a lot of agency,

a lot of power and cannot win the game. Right. And, uh, and the way that the, the, the, the real problem, I think for Andy stemming from the very beginning of the game. And a lot of people say, problem, I think, for Andy, stemming from the very beginning of the game. And a lot of people say, wow, Andy really grew and changed so much. But I think the thing that remained consistent that would have been a problem for Andy at the end, had he made it to the end, was I do think that there was this desire or even need for validation, right? And that validation was that was very clear to everybody out there. And so they knew that in order to sort of work Andy, they had to apologize to him. They had to cheer him on. They had to clap when he opened the coconuts they learned that from day one when he is like saying they're not clapping for me or whatever and so from then you see it on gada they're all like

oh you know we're doing this thing and and and it it works to an extent there's still not as much respect as there should be in order for me to win this game. And so I must do more. And it's this constant battle between the other players trying to say, here's a win for you. You're doing great. You don't need another move. You're like, you know, you're fine. You're good. You're going to win. And Andy saying, no, I don't quite believe you. You're not telling me the truth. You don't actually believe that you don't actually respect me. I must do more. And so, and, and it's a self-fulfilling thing where the more he does, the more people see him as sort of a loose cannon, the more they see him as a flipper, the more they see him as someone who is not actually necessarily playing a good game,

but as somebody that needs validation, right? And there's probably some truth to that. And so I just think the way that that was sort of like reinforcing itself, it wasn't changing in the way that was going to lead to an Andy victory. And maybe, maybe I'm wrong. Yeah. No, I think you're making a very good point. I do think the caveat is, and when I spoke with Andy in the exit interview, you know, he felt very confident in his fire making ability. You know, if he could have potentially, you know, and again, I don't know if, Rachel's not going to be vulnerable.

So I don't know how he gets to the end without Rachel, because Rachel's going to win the final four immunity challenge. She's not going to put herself into. So if he gets there with Rachelachel he's going to lose i think there was a window where because like just to think about it just to go back from at operation italy they target rachel um is rachel available to be voted for ever again after operation it. She wins immunity at seven. She plays the idol at six. She wins immunity at five.

She wins immunity at four. So the last time that they could have gotten Rachel out, and then at eight is when Kyle goes home, right? So that the last time they could have gotten Rachel out was at nine when they voted out Gabe. Right. So you're saying it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter. Rachel anyway, and Rachel wins anyway.

I think Andy would have beat Teenie and Sue. So I think that there was a path for Andy. That's an interesting question. So you do, that's, that, I think that's an interesting debate. I mean, probably probably right, but not necessarily. Well, what is I mean, how could you vote for anybody else? I mean, it would it would come down to look, I do think that Teenie had the better social bonds. Right. And I think that there is something quite impressive about Sue's accomplishments. Right. So it I think that it would probably be enough for the jury to look past the the sort of ego stroking that they maybe felt like they had this was a hot

take the chat the chat's a disagreement but but i i think andy would be agreeing with what disagreeing that uh that i think andy and it would be a slam dunk over teeny and sue what is the chat saying who wins uh some people said sue some people say teeny i just i think it's i think it's an interesting debate. I don't think it's an absolute slam dunk. Look, I think the big thing is like when you have to sort of fake your encouragement to somebody, it does make it, I think, harder in the future to really offer that for real Um, because, uh, it doesn't make you want to lay on true, genuine praise if you've had to fake it a little bit before. Do you know what I mean?

So it makes it hard to, to cast that vote. But I do think that that would be, you know, um, like, I think he would sort of always be seen through that lens of like, are we just stroking his ego right now or are we actually. Yeah, they could separate that and just look at, OK, what were the. You know, the moves that he made, but the way that he talked about some of the moves that he made, you know, to the camera, it's like no one had ever done these kinds of moves before. And so you have to imagine that, that that's how the people out there are feeling about it as well, that maybe he's a little high on his own supply, but he's a super smart guy too. I think that again, in this world where he gets to the end, he's like beaten Rachel in a fire making challenge. So he has that to add to his resume as well. So,

um, I, I think that there's a, certainly a world where, uh, that he could have done it. Absolutely. I, I, in the right circumstance. Yes. I just think it was a, it was an uphill battle. I think, I think he knew that. Yeah. Well, though. Okay. So let's talk about the after show. And it was probably the tightest after show that we've had. I think that we basically, we were debating this on the podcast on Club Condo with Mike Bloom. What time was the after show going to start? I think the after show started around like 9.35 after Jeff counts the votes, Kyle being the only Sam vote. Let's just go back to that for real quick.

Were you surprised that there weren't more Sam votes? Because I was shocked Sierra didn't vote for Sam. Yeah, I thought Sierra might vote for Sam. Maybe this is not at all the case, but you have to wonder a little bit if Sierra still had in her mind this whole thing that had come up about like oh they're like a couple or whatever and is does sierra really want to be the one vote that's being cast for sam after all that like i don't know maybe i thought rachel had a really good answer to sierra's question i'm like all right here we go sierra is gonna vote for sam Sam. And then, uh, she's, uh, was asked like, what was your lowest moment in the game? And Rachel said the night that you went home, like that's a good answer for Sierra. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. I, I, I think that

it was probably very close for Sierra. It looked like it was, it looked like it was close for Gabe. Although I wonder if it was, I, my, my thinking was that he was trying to decide if he was going to vote for Sue or not. Yeah. It's a good question for, for Gabe. Okay. Yeah. So it was, you know, uh, just a quick survivor after show before we even got to the survivor 48 preview. And, uh, Jeff asked, uh, what's it like you just won and it's not having to deal with any of the complaints on social media. You could talk about a pure win right now, Rachel. Yeah. I mean, look, he has to sell the after show because they don't want to do clearly the live reunion anymore.

Like it's not better than the live reunion i want to hear from teeny about what that what what this has been like watching themselves on television and getting all this unnecessary bs from the online community and that sort of stuff. Like those are the kinds of things that I'd be interested in that are, that are, uh, can only happen when it's all come out. Right. Like what's your reaction to the response, right. After some time to reflect, um, it always just feels like tribal council, the, the, the after show, right. Where it's, it's more speaking in generalities and that sort of thing, and not any real like opportunity to sort of reflect and say, Hey, here's how this changed me or, you know, whatever it might be.

So I'm always going to be team reunion, but I understand it's like much more complicated than just. Yeah. No, there really wasn't even like a headline from the survivor after show i mean maybe teeny and the champagne i don't know or andy gets asked about going back to the first episode and then he talked about what it was like coming after that and then the way people were seeing him uh he said that it was not orthogonal with the way that he saw himself yeah it was a scoot it makes sense that i i i understood what he was saying i thought they gave him part of a time for that but i also think it like the pre the pre-jury

should be there you know what i mean like they're all a part of the season and to not have to be a part of the of course that's why they're not there it's the logistics of it but you know i don't know that the reunion can be complete without the entire cast and that's always such a shame you know um yeah and then we got our first look at survivor 48. Anything stand out to you, Adam? Um, yeah. I mean, but I, I can't really talk about it. Some faces you know? Yeah.

Just, I'm just excited. Like it's just, it's cool. The shoes on the other foot. Cause I don't recognize any of these faces on survivor 48. It's different than survivor 47. Oh yeah. Cause you knew Andy and Asia. Asia. Of course. Asia asia uh others as well john love it yes yeah and then we had also uh some stealthy patrons also yeah yeah can you name them or is

this uh secret secret uh i'll let them uh disclose them, uh, disclose their own, uh, you know, like, uh, we don't, you know, if people want to stay under the radar, I'll let them stay under the radar. I, I don't trust me. You subscribe to that. Yeah. Uh, well, especially after season 45. Yeah. Um, yeah, look, it's just without, uh, saying too much, like it is really uh a fun experience to get to see people play the game that that i know quite well right that i've that i've gotten to know over the course of sometimes years and like uh you know see the evolution of their audition videos. And like, they talk a lot on the show now about like how hard it is to get on and the process. And for anyone who has had experience applying, you know, like it's, it's an intense process. And if you've ever gotten contacted, it's really intense. It goes on for months and months and months and so it really is the

culmination of sometimes years years of trying to get on the show which is why like it's always i just have a hard time with like even watching people go home early let alone having to vote them out early it's like do you wish there was like an island that they could send the people that go out early so they could stay on the show? No, not if it's the Edge of Extinction. Now, if it's like a second chance survivor game where they get to vote again and like, you know, something like that, that could be cool. now having, you know, worked with people on their auditions to like, get to see the fruit of that labor from another angle.

And it's just, it's fun. It's really exciting. It always puts like a huge smile on my face. And I've, I had, there were, you know, I got to watch it this season, next season. Every season. So, so, so far we we got a pretty good you know track record so we'll see all right we're gonna take some questions from the audience but uh let me break uh a little bit of some uh i don't want to call it necessarily news, but I have an announcement to make about something big that's coming up. A year ago, we got together for a huge event back in January and people have demanded

they wanted more. And Adam, this January, it's returning to RHAP. RHAP Traders 2. January 4th, 2025. An all-new reality star cast will be playing a live version of the Traders here on RHAP. You can watch it all play out live.

Watch people go in and out of the rooms. So mark your calendars for RHAP Traders 2. I love that you are creating reality television as well. Now, the Blood on the Clocktower, that was a lot of fun. Do you want to play on one of those? That was a lot of fun. Do you want to play on one of those? Yeah, I'd be down. Okay, let me tell Fishback. Blood on the Clocktower, that's a complicated game. As I was watching it, I understood what was happening,

but as a player, I don't know if I could wrap my head. Why do you think I have to just emcee it? Yeah, yeah. I feel like people like dwight that like really understand the game are like so fun to watch because it's like the mac edition like unbelievable mel in the chat asked was that photo ai or photoshop i want let let the record be clear it was photoshop okay that's a big win that's like yes yes yes you're like proud of that it was photoshop yes yes okay all right all right so let's go ahead adam and take the questions okay all right um

all right how about um a question from LL Cool Dubs? Is Sue that good at making the fire or was she just good at tending the fire? I don't know. I mean, probably making it. I mean, it looks like Teeny and Sam did a pretty good job. like teeny and sam did a pretty good job like it did look i mean it's hard to know based on the edit but it didn't look like it took forever to get that going um it's i don't know it's hard to answer that question because we're not out there but like i do think there is a difference between living in the fire and tending it and being able to make fire under those very specific conditions that's why i always say if you're training to go on survivor,

you need to train under those specific conditions. Okay. Ned word wants to know now that it's officially over, I'd love to know what you guys think the big takeaway from the season will be going forward. Is there one specific lesson that future survivor players, do you think we'll have learned from watching survivor 47? That's a great question

i'd be interested to hear your thought i don't know that we learned anything groundbreaking that we didn't already know but it's more you know reaffirmation of uh that that you don't need to dominate the game to be a really great survivor player. I think to me, that's one of the biggest takeaways. Like I think Rachel and there are others, you know, like Genevieve is more your sort of classic, traditional, dominant, very, very strong survivor player, but is always going to have a tough time making it to the end, whereas people like Caroline and

Rachel are more often going to be the ones in those winner seats, I think. Although I will say, I was convinced that Genevieve was winning this season. I thought that like after episode three, I was like, that's the most clever editing I've ever seen of hiding somebody in the first two episodes. So that when they come out with their great big move, we are just as taken aback and have to look at ourselves and say, we were underestimating that person.

I thought that was brilliant and genius and has nothing to do with the question the great question that was your take on on that question um that what will people take away from this season um it's very it's very hard i think that people are gonna probably look uh harder at sort of like these like medium threats moving forward. Like I kind of feel like that this is good news for like the Sams of the world. I think that they might end up being like a little bit more ignored and maybe less targeted

as we get to the merge. And I don't know if there's like another big uh takeaway yeah another idea because we always talk about threat level right okay i'll add one more thing after you're done i feel like threat level is something that we talk about every season right but something that that came up because of genevieve on this season that i don't think we've talked about, is the level to which it is okay and good strategy to allow yourself to get very emotionally close to the other players. Yeah. And Genevieve's evolution throughout the season was so interesting

because at the beginning of the season, the reason she was such a powerhouse is because she was getting close and playing cutthroat, right? When Keyshawn got voted out and Tini's reaction and Genevieve really struggled with that. And it changed the way Genevieve approached the game, where instead of deciding to not be cutthroat, she decided to not build those really strong, tight emotional bonds and to continue to be cutthroat. learned the hard way that those emotional bonds are the thing that gets you through the game. And without the bonds, she lost the ability to be cut through because she was sort of sidelined and seen as this person that just had to be taken out. And by the time she reintegrated this idea of relationships and getting close bonds, it was too late. And to me, that might be one of the big takeaways of this season is that there must be a willingness to

maintain human emotional bonds and to play the game despite the difficulty of the humanity of the whole thing right uh and and maybe that's maybe that's a big takeaway of the season that i don't think has really come i think that that is a really important note i don't know how many viewers and future players got that from the season. I mean, to me, that was Genevieve's story, right? It was the story of human connection and having to be extremely cutthroat in the process and then pulling back on that human connection, having that be the reason she lost. And Teenie's story is the antithesis of that. Tell me more.

That teeny was like, Hey, I'm all about emotional bonds and connections. And then, uh, did not have the, you know, uh,

the killer instinct to make the moves that ultimately were going to advance teeny in the game. And ultimately what you need is both okay um a couple other things i think this is a good one uh josh says rachel's usage of the shot in the dark to cover an idol and handing over the shot in the dark for allowing more decisive i think that more creative uh ideas for the shot in the dark i think we're going to continue to see that. I think that that's a takeaway. And I think also Operation Italy. I think that other future players, people that play in Survivor 49

are going to be trying to come up with, oh, this is our Operation Italy. And I think you're also going to see people thinking they're in on an Operation Italy and that it's actually these idiots think we're doing this big plan tonight but i'm actually i'm actually double crossing them like i think that people will want to have their operation italy moment and i think we may see players get burned trying to do an operation italy right um do you think there's a chance that anybody looks at this and says tuku should have just stayed together and the Reba 4 had it right

and that that's how the game should be played? I think some people probably are saying that, but I don't know if that's the big takeaway. And they're certainly not attempting to cast people who think that way, I would say, as well. So that's probably something to do with it. Adam, this is a great question for you. All right. Uh, at final tribal council, is it better to focus on your game or should you also oppose and or discredit

the other finalists? You got to do both. You got to do both. Uh, what I was talking about before the disappointment in the edit of, of millennials Gen X final tribal is that all they showed was me ribbing on Hannah and the quote unquote, you know, mistakes I thought she made. Um, but I do think that's important to discredit the people that you're next. It's a fight. It's a battle. Like that's what it's all about. Right. Um, uh, but then you also have to say, here's what I was aware of, and here's what I was thinking about and these were intentional

decisions and this is you know you know this is what you mean to me and all of those things so yes all of the above i mean so much gets cut out of final tribal council i i it's it's really a such a small fraction what you see on television how How long is the final Tribal Council? Two hours? The next one went extremely long to the point where Jeff was like, you guys got to have shorter answers. Which one? Winners at War or?

Millennials Gen X. Yeah, they were like, come on, guys. But I was like, I have a lot to say. I can imagine. Every single element I talked through, every piece of my game, I wanted them to know about every intentional decision that I made, everything that I left out that I didn't say that I was missing, whatever.

And so it was very long. And I think probably some of the people were saying, all right, Adam, it's 10-0. I think we got it. Yeah. Well, I had to fight for every vote. Yeah. Rob.

The jury's like, no, Moss. No, Moss. Take our vote. Fine. Well, take our vote. And if you let us go home. Okay. All right.

You know all the angles on these things. Can you answer this question? Prayers and Ponytails asks, could Teenie have stood up and blocked the wind during fire making? I love that this question got asked because we talked about this when we were watching the show. I don't know. I think this is one of those things where ask for forgiveness, not for permission. I think that would have been a good idea but again this goes back to what we were talking about before with i think the thing that that that that that caused

teeny to lose this fire making challenge was that a little bit of self-doubt that if teeny had just thrown themselves in put all the materials in there stood up and was like i'm winning this and you know then then i think it probably would have made the difference so if in the future just do it is one seat better than the others for making the fire i feel like that there used to be a curse of they was like okay don't pick the orange one pick the purple one but is it the one that's on the right is better i mean certainly the wind was like a genie's favor but i think that could probably go either way i mean i don't i don't know it'd be i'd be interested to run the numbers on it and i'm sure someone in the chat already has uh run the numbers on it and see what you know what it comes out to

okay all right um adam asks uh what's left verse right so i i just saw what was what was it somebody said uh not so okay eight to five left i was a left so teeny was actually in the better seat no that that's crazy okay all right so uh a question from adam Do you think that there was anything Sam could have said to win tonight? No. I don't. Pretty simple answer. I don't. I think Rachel won as soon as Rachel made final travel. I think Rachel knew that.

I think that's why Rachel took Sue. And as long as nothing crazy happened, I think Rachel was going to win. Okay. All right. Because Sam did the best I think that he possibly could. He had a really, really strong final travel.

Okay. And then Kimberly asks, did Sue think her age reveal would get her votes? It seems shocking, but not game changing. I don't think Sue was surprised that that she lost um i think that sue would have liked to win but i don't think that sue felt the g was there to show people what her generation can do i think there there yeah that was a lot of it more so than like I need to win I must win at all costs yeah

yeah and honestly if there's any contestants that are out on Survivor to show that their generation can do it who better to talk to than somebody from Millennials versus Gen X when the whole point of your season was to

prove hey our generation can can do it yeah i think it's time for uh millennials versus gen z what do we think uh maybe i think it would be great would you come back to captain the millennials Captain the Millennials tribe? Of course. Would they ask me to? Nope. Okay. I love this though, Bob. I still love it so much. It would be very fun. I mean, should it be Millennials versus Gen Z versus Gen Alpha? Gen Alpha is not old enough yet.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I did like Kid Nation. Not old enough yet kid nation fans okay i'm open to that if they ever bring the themes back this is a no-brainer okay yeah yeah all right adam let's get your kids out there yeah um well they talk about it sometimes but uh we'll see let's see i i want better for them They don't have to go down the road that I did. All right. Adam, you talked about at the top of the show that you're thinking about moving on a boat.

Yes. It's complicated, but yes. So my wife, Kaylee, is extremely talented and she's been performing in Awakening at the Wind in Las Vegas. She's an acrobat. She gets flung into the air and does incredible superhuman things and stands on hoverboards with one arm and can.

Yeah, it's stuff that I couldn't even dream of doing. And so her new job is she's going to be performing on virgin voyages cruise ships uh and so she's going to start that in february and we went on one of these during our honeymoon and it was amazing we loved it the show that we saw that she's going to be in which is called like dual reality is like such a fun show and kayla's going to be like perfect for it uh and uh so she's gonna be living on the ship and the logistics still have to be worked out but my my great hope is to tag along uh as much as i possibly can and try to go with her. Is that possible? Are you able to do what you're hoping to do? It is.

It is. There's some logistics that we still have to work out, but she's going to get really good companion discounts. Do you have to buy a fare for every cruise ship? Yes, kind of discounts, right? But some of those- Just to buy a fare for every cruise ship? Yes, kind of, but much, much, much cheaper than it would be normally. I don't know what you're talking about on this honestly. I don't know how that would, I hope I'm not gonna,

but so yes, I can, instead of, so we're not gonna be paying rent anymore, right? Like we're- That's the dream. And not going to have any rent. And so whatever I would have to pay to go on board is just a rent substitute, but we won't have to pay for food and get to travel. And, you know, it's just, it's kind of like i i am so excited we're both so excited oh okay

yeah adam i hope it all works out that i can go and everything some a lot of people would be very scared in my position right now not you a month from now i will be technically like have no place to live so will we be able to reach you when you're on the open seas? Yes, yes. And I do continue, I do plan to continue doing my work, doing casting coaching. And they have like Starlink Wi-Fi on the ship. So my plan is to be doing the casting coaching from the open seas. So that is the plan. Adam, didn't Paul Wachter used to live on a boat also?

This might be a little bit different than that. But yeah, so hopefully that all works out. It's a little bit scary, but we're both very excited. And I'm really proud of Kaylee for what she's accomplishing in that world. Everything she does is super impressive. Let's bring in Rob's fact checker, Kosa. This is fire making, win-loss by station color. Green is 1-0.

Yellow is 4-1. Blue is 4-2. Purple is 2-2. Orange is 2-4. And red is 2-6. I didn't even know that there were colors. Like, i didn't know that the stations had colors yeah i don't know what i think was it orange and purple tonight were you back i i don't know i'm not paying that close all right and then uh christian hubicki asks would adam famed host of Middle School Mole, go on The Mole, Millennials vs. Gen X.

Yes, a thousand times over. The show that I, like, dreamt of as a kid, because I never thought I could do Survivor. Like, you know, I'm not Sam. I'm not, like, the jock. Yeah. Right? Was always The Mole. That's the one I was like, I could actually do that one yeah um and i

know that christian is a massive mole fan and i love it and i uh i i so would desperately want to do the mole i i yeah i made my own like mole game uh called the mole lake tahoe there's a couple episodes on youtube i think i've talked about this on the podcast before. Did you peak in high school or middle school? Well, that was college, actually. That was, well, had just graduated high school. We made our own, like, mole game. I love the mole. You should do a mole.

You're doing traders. Honestly, the mole's a better game design, I think, than the traders. Okay. All right. Do you want to, can we host one? All right. Well, let's work this out. Let's talk about this. Okay. Also, Rob's Fact Checker says milk drones. Yeah. Has anybody checked with Paul Wachter?

Are the drones in New Jersey delivering milk yet? You know, they're self-driving milk drones now. I have no idea. Yeah. Also, I saw somebody in the chat. I want to call this out because I don't want to take undue credit. Somebody said that the idea of Power Goats is not something that I created. And that, I believe that because I must.

You sure you didn't create it on reddit and start the conversation but i have been on reddit for 15 years or whatever all right claire in the chat says little late but someone please tell adam that reddit has been talking about power goats for at least nine years so adam how about this go from somewhere, you go from living rent-free on people's minds on Reddit to living rent-free on a boat. Nearly rent-free. Nearly rent-free in both places. Yeah. But I had to acknowledge that because I don't want to take credit for a phrase that I didn't come up with. Sometimes you don't know and you think you come up with things because you've just like,

it's in your vernacular. It gets absorbed. It happens all the time. Do you know how many things that I come up with and then people just start using? Except you didn't actually come up with any of them. They were all on Reddit. Sorry. Check the tapes. Okay. All right. Adam, let me tell you about some other things that we have going on here these days. All right. So I told you about RHAP, the traders,

and we are doing it because Traders Season 3 is right around the corner. And guess what we're doing? We've got a podcast daily traders preview pockets. And we're starting tomorrow with your old friend and mine, Boston, Rob Mariano traders preview. How will Boston Rob do on the traders? Find out when we drop our daily traders preview podcast starting tomorrow night, 8 p.m. We'll be dropping it as Frail Mary noted,

Rob Mariano, expert, talks with Puya and I, the first of about 13, 14 traders preview podcasts that we are going to be doing. Adam, how do you think Rob Mariano is going to do on the traders? I think Rob will do pretty well because I think that he'll be seen as somebody that is sort of a shield for people, right? Like you don't want to vote out Rob as a trader early

on because people are going to think that he's a traitor later on. Right. And if you are a traitor, you're not going to want to murder Rob because, again, people are going to think that he's a traitor. And so I think that, you know, having the way that Rob plays the game is like all control all the time. And while i think in the new era of survivor that may not work out so well uh i i do think in the traders there's a much better chance of running the table i'm not a trader yeah uh and then i saw he's also gonna do uh the uh after show don the don the after show yeah yeah yeah is another you know is that Is that considered a Rob podcast? Are we...

I hope they're not calling it Boston Rob as a podcast. Yeah. So it could be good for our SEO. So this picture is freaking me out. It's like he's coming out of the screen. It's like I'm watching The Ring. Is this AI or Photoshop? Hey, I think you can't spell Mariano without AI.

I don't know. I don't know what this is. I think this was real. I think this is real. Okay. All right. Then we've got so much going on over in our Survivor podcast feed, including my exit interviews with all of the final four Survivor Know-It-Alls and much

more. You can subscribe and get all of our Survivor coverage when you go to WeKnowSurvivor.com Then we are getting ready for Squid Game, not Squid Game the Challenge that you have lots of friends on. The real Squid Game. Now, did you cast anybody for

Season 2 of Korean Squid Game? Just to be clear, I never cast anybody. Sorry, sorry. But yes. The old man. Every single person on the actual Squid Game show, they worked with me. Yes, yes.

You play Danji with people in the subway and then you got them onto the thing? You think it's hard when people get voted out first, right? Imagine when they, you know, get eliminated. Yes, okay. Squid Game's coming back. We aired an encore performance of our original Squid Game season one coverage with myself and Chappelle and Josh Wiggler

to get you ready for, we're going to have daily Squid Game coverage coming up on our scripted TV podcast. We know scripted TV, and you can subscribe to hear. That is also going to be in the nothing but Netflix feed. Seven days of Squid Game coming the day after Christmas. You know, for the Christmas Eve,

you have the seven fishes, often, in Italian households. So you have seven days of squid coming to RHAP. I'm just marveling at how big of an empire this is now. I mean, it's just unbelievable how many podcasts you have.

The fact that you still do a lot of them is impressive in and of itself. I feel like you could just like, you know, what's it not export? Well, what's the word when you delegate or whatever to, I mean, it's just, it's so cool. I'd like to delegate more, but then the fans are like, we like Rob the best. So I have to keep like, how can I walk? How can I walk away when when when the chat's like uh

put rob on all the podcasts it must be so hard to be that popular i'm so sorry it's not easy i try no i try please come back like ah okay all right fine but you're spoiled. Okay. All right. See, they even say it in the chat. Then the Q&A is going to be on. Now, that's a podcast. Okay. I sit there. I take questions from the patrons for hours and hours.

They call in. I answer all their questions. We do that live at 3 p.m. You can get the link on Patreon. OK. All right. And that's it. It's great. OK. And where can people keep up with what you're doing? You're doing exciting stuff. Yeah. Like surgeries and endoscopies. I'm like, I'm like a...

Listen, don't make us worry about you. Oh, I mean, I'll be fine. But if anyone happens to know what to do with a hiatal hernia, let me know. Shoot me a DM. Okay, if you can help Adam with his

hernias, you could slide into his DMs. No, but you can help Adam with his hernias, you could slide into his DMs. No, but they can. I don't know. I'm on Instagram at Survivor Adam, and I'm really bad with Instagram these days. Is Twitter, does Twitter still exist? Are we still doing that? Yeah.

I mean, some people aren't, but, you know, I've got a presence. Yeah, sure. I'm Adam Scott Klein on Twitter. I barely tweet anymore either. And my website, this is the one that I actually use, adamklein.com slash casting. If you want to work on your audition video, that's really where I'm spending most of my time. Okay. For all of reality TV. Yes.

Yeah. We got, we got, we got representation on beast games, squid games, deal or no deal. Island, both seasons.

Yeah. This season of survivor, next season of survivor, multiple people on both. Look, it's hard to get on reality television. There's no guarantee. This is not like,

but if it's something that you want like, but if it's something that you want to do, if it's something that you're excited about, I find it fun to make the audition videos and to get better at them and that sort of thing. So, um, you know, it's always a long shot. I make no promises or guarantees, but it's very fun to work on. And I do think that I can be helpful with, with that sort of stuff. So so i've i've given my pitch enough on your podcast now uh adam i think that uh for people that are looking uh for answers i i think that you do a great job helping people uh and i appreciate any time you come out here to be on the podcast so thrilled we got the chance to talk to you here in Survivor 47. Thank you for continuing to invite me.

How do you think Beast Games is going to be? It's going to be a mess and hopefully a glorious mess. I'm excited for it. I mean, it's like, it's big. I'm going to watch it tomorrow. We're supposed to do a podcast. Yeah. I mean, it'll be interesting to see if he keeps the same rhythm that he does for his

youtube videos which is like super fast pace yeah right whereas i prefer reality television that like can take its time a little bit more like it's this is a real show so i hope he like gets that we have a little bit longer of an attention span than like the typical YouTube kind of like. Adam, I watched my kids were put on that. He had like a Mr. Beast challenge of like men versus women in the jungle. I was like, OK, I could relate to this. And then Sammy from Survivor 43 was on it. I saw that.

That was cool. Yeah. Well, I know Carl from the like mr beast world oh i think i say carl from david versus goliath is going to be on the white lotus i saw that i saw that that's awesome and natalie too right that's super fun that's awesome um no but carl from the mr beast world is like a massive yeah big survivor fan. Um, and, uh, I think like, uh, Jesse was on something or Jesse's son, Jesse's son was on some of the, a couple of the videos too, as well. So yeah, some survivor representation in there for sure. All right. Well, Adam Klein,

uh, always a treat. Thank you so much for joining us, everybody. We've got a big Thursday, so make sure you subscribe and let us know what you thought about all joining us, everybody. We've got a big Thursday, so make sure you subscribe and let us know what you thought about all this in the comments. I love to read what you have to say, so take care, everybody. Have a good one. Bye.