RHAP: We Know Survivor - Andrew Savage Talks the Survivor 49 Premiere

Episode Date: September 28, 2025

This week, Rob and the Andrew Savage sit down to talk about the Survivor 49 premiere.

Hey, everybody. What's going on? Rob Sisternino back here. And we've got such a fun one here today because we have the first of our old school interviews. We love to hear from players from the old era, as they call it. And we got a two-time survivor here who always fun to talk to the great Andrew Savage. Savage, how are you? I am fantastic. I just, I'm living the dream, to be honest. I tell my friends, if I complain about anything, they should punch me in the nose. I'm just living a blessed life. So I'm great. And thanks for asking me to join. I'm flattered.

Yeah, very fun to talk to you. And I know you have not kept up with everything from the new era, but you did watch this first episode. So very eager to hear your thoughts on everything from the first episode. And, you know, when I do these interviews with the new era, alumni we tend to not spend that much time breaking down the actual ups we've got tons of other podcasts that get into all the weeds with everything that's going on in the new season so we may just go a little bit more all over the place and I'm sure that's fine with you let's go yeah that's

wherever you want to go okay let me ask you are savage on this on the screen like literally and figuratively uh in your everyday life What percentage of the time are you Andrew and what percentage of the time are people calling you Savage? Fun question. So my wife calls me Savage. She has for 30 years and it's fun because we'll be in the grocery store. She's at the other end of the aisle and she'll say, Savage, you know, do we have this? And we'll look around like, hmm, interesting.

So when I'm at home, empty nesters now, so I'm always Savage at work. I'm Andrew. so I'm a lawyer and so yeah I'm Andrew they don't call me savage although some of my close colleagues call me savage yeah well it's such a great last name and you know your background of coming up and being an athlete I'm sure it was like a great name to have but I'm telling you if I had a lawyer that was savage that'd be great too I would love that yeah no it was fun for sure it looked great on the back of a jersey both my daughters world class athletes they played college volleyball and they had savage on the back of their jersey

so that was pretty cool as well yeah it's and it just seems in the last handful of years the just the term savage is taken off like savage a f you see all these t-shirts it's kind of every time i'm in the store i pay with a card or something they i always get the comment wow super cool last name or i you know so it's cool yeah that's interesting Yeah, I hadn't thought about that, that it really did become like a more commonly used word as time has gone on. Yeah, my daughter's like, Daddy, you should get a royalty every time you see that t-shirt. Get some merch. Yeah, right.

Yeah. All right. So I am so curious to know your thoughts on somebody who has not really paid attention to too much of the new era. So it's actually very new to you coming in and looking at. it as you know I've been thinking about this all week of this new format that Survivor has had it's kind of like the same format that they've had for a while just thinking back to they call it the new era but this is season nine of the new era for us so this is like Vanuatu of the new era for us it's been with us for a while but if somebody who hasn't paid super close attention

to it I'm really eager to hear your thoughts on what's changed since the last time you were regularly looking at Survivor. Yeah, so much, Rob. And I watched, as you know, the first episode, and I haven't kept up the last season. So I saw the season before, which I thought was fantastic. 47? Yes.

Okay. And I, my wife, Steph, and I were hooked, and the characters are just great characters, great gameplay. We loved it. Still thought it was a little short, to be honest, 26 days. And the last one I watched was Winters of War, which was electrifying.

So the new format, I do, because I'm old school, that's why I'm on your podcast. I miss 39 days. I think that's an essence of Survivor that's missing a little bit. But I'm okay with the 26 days. My initial impressions, first of all, is just the joy. Like most of all the contestants on the show now are super fans. And it's a life dream of theirs. And they get on that first episode, the joy, the emotion, the tears, it's so meaningful, deeply meaningful to them.

And I just find that intoxicating and beautifuls. That's the first thing. So I remember Pearl Islands season seven showing up, and it was all business. Like we had not had 20 years dreaming and getting on Survivor. And you get on Survivor, like, holy crap, what did I sign up for? and it was unbelievably difficult. We didn't have this rapture, this joy, this deep, deep passion. It was almost an experiment back then.

And so the first thing that jumped out at me is like how happy everyone is. It's just phenomenal, which is beautiful. Bring that to the. And I also noticed the amount of clothes that they have is crazy. And so the comfort level is. And I always thought, you know, why starve all the survivors and just put them through absolute hell for 39 days. You actually would get a better production quality if you give them a little more comfort. And I think they've gone that route. And so I was just stunned by, you

know, back in Pearl Islands and Cambodia, you get the clothes on your back, barely, and you're freezing. And you saw fishback a couple times with the moons coming in and it's freezing. It was unbelievably difficult. And I didn't see that. Maybe, I don't know, but they seem to have a lot of clothes and benefits, which is great. Not, I don't, I think that's a good thing. You know, keep the castaways somewhat comfortable and it increases the joy that they have. And I do want to comment.

I love how, so this isn't the eco challenge, right? You don't have all these buff people and it shouldn't be. Survivor should be a reflection of American society. And that's what I see with LGBT. just love the respect of everyone and you don't have these world-class division one athletes like back in the day. And I think that's beautiful. I love how the prox and the production team has morphed to a more accurate reflection of American society. And I applaud that and I deeply respect that.

And I think it's just wonderful. Can you remember back to when you were in the Pearl Islands and the people that you played with that I feel like that the most, motivation of why people went on the show was a different motivation. And I'm sure it was a little bit more spread out across the board where it does seem like that universally that these players are just very excited to fulfill their dream of being on Survivor. But I feel like that the motivations that people came into the game back in the old days was very different across the board. Yes. Yeah, it's a great point. Back then, it was not unusual for the motivation. to be on the show to get famous about that right we had 20 million people watching the show

and there are folks that literally became famous went on to have lucrative careers in L.A. and then it was common for folks that weren't from California weren't from L.A. to get on the show and moved L.A. to get their big break in the television industry and that was a huge motive. I didn't I could and I was a lawyer. I am now was back. Back then, my motivation to go out on the show was to test myself mentally and physically and to see how tough I was. And I also had the revelation that no one is going to give me a million dollars if it's between me and someone that's more needing in terms of money. And so I really want to test myself. But there were folks back then on that season and prior seasons that just wanted to be on TV, wanted to be famous and also wanted a million dollars.

Like that's that's fair motivation. Now, as I said earlier, that you touched on, it's this lifelong dream. And it also, I love the stories of folks, you know, Survivor used to be on Thursday, Survivor Thursday, and the whole family would get together. It's a family bonding thing. And they want to make their family proud, get on the number one show that they brought their whole family together and all these beautiful bonding moments. And I think that's a really cool narrative as well.

something that I saw on social media in the last couple days. I wish I could credit the person who said this, that there was no mention of the $1 million prize at all in the premiere, in the two-hour premiere of Survivor 49. And I know that that was such a big part of the show in the early days of who's going to win the million dollars. What are people willing to do for the million dollars? Do you feel like that that changes the way that the show is perceived at all or the way. that the players are looking at things, that the money, the monetary prize at the end of the show is not even really talked about. It's all about sort of like what's everybody getting out of the survivor experience. Yeah, it's a great observation. I think it does reprioritize the benefits of being on the show, making lifelong friends, testing yourself internally. And those are just experiences that outside a survivor, you're really not going to get. I mean, we're not, fortunately, you and I are not going to get marooned on a deserted island and where there are no cameras, right? And that's how you truly test yourself. And I think that deemphasizing

the million dollars, I hadn't noticed that, but it's so true. Again, it's a great observation that it's so much more than that at this point. Back in the day, it was about the million dollars and not so much anymore. Yeah. All right. Well, I'd love to hear your thoughts on some of the players that are in this new season. Was there anybody that you saw that really resonated with you as somebody that you have a real rooting interest in? Yeah, there's a bunch.

I got to tell you, I just had a blast watching it. I watched it with Steph, my wife, and just some of the, just great characters, first of all, casting has not dipped props and his collection team. Just amazing cast that they put together.

I thought Rizzo was fantastic. I think he's just a kid, he's smart, he's a little awkward, he seems to wear his emotions on his sleeve, winning that head-to-head challenge against Alex, the greatest moment in his life. You see the tear. That's beautiful. I just, I love that. Stephen struck me as someone that could go really far in the game. Obviously, he's crazy, bright rocket scientist, but also his humility with the hearing aid. And what was it, Ryan Reynolds?

What do I say? Discounted Ryan Reynolds. Yeah, poor man's Ryan Reynolds. Yeah, I thought that was fantastic. And he seems to be humble. And I love folks that are humbling kind and they're whipsmart. They have some self-awareness. And he's a little awkward.

But I think he can go really, really far. I loved Michelle MC, just this kick-ass athlete dominating and challenge, soft-spoken. I think that I think she can go far. Jake, big personality. he's going to have a lot of attention targets on his back, see how far he can go. He's the meat shield. One thing that struck me,

not a knock against Jake, but he kind of got gassed in that first. Oh. Like super gassed. And what I notice, you know, as you and I watch the show, we inevitably reflect on our experiences, a couple seasons and what we went through.

What I noticed is when pro-s, said to both tribes that had lost that they'll have a chance to get supplies, but they have to pony up one person to do the challenge. And I was watching Jake when that happened. And he looked terrified. He absolutely looked terrified. Now, when I was in Cambodia, we did a hero challenge. And it was absolutely grueling. And nobody wants to do that, right? Because we hadn't eaten in three days, but I raised my hand. And I saw Jake was just absolutely terrified. So it's interesting because it's that, it's that element of, uh, I'm going to just shout from the highest mountain top. I got this. I'm going to protect my tribe. I'm going to do the best I can. And he just

looked terrified. So that was interesting to me. And I don't know how that's going to play out down the road because he's a very physically, uh, imposing character, very strong. Of course, it'll be interesting to see because, you know, there's so many folks out on Survivor that appear to be so physically strong and it's all about mental strength. It really is. And how that will be tested later. So something that I think is really fun about you as a survivor character is that you really, your game, in my opinion, and tell me if I'm wrong, it's really all about you are there to lead your group. And you are there for your people. and you'll do whatever it takes for your group.

And the people that you are going to clash with are people who are leaning more towards being self-interested as opposed to group-interested. And I think that that was a really interesting observation you made about Jake, where that if you were in that group, you would have been the person who said, hey I'll go for my tribe and I will go take on that challenge whereas we've seen over the last couple of seasons that they it's a struggle to find that person to go step up and everybody's

afraid to go take on that role for the group because that they're worried that okay well it may come at the cost of my own game if I go and step up and do this challenge for the group yeah yeah no that's and you could look at that as a fault of mine yeah I just can't. That's the way I'm wired. I always have been. And I just raise my hand. And I, you know, my number one job in this world is to protect my wife and two daughters. And then when I get on Survivor, my tribe or my wife and my two daughters. And I have to get in there and get in the trenches and do everything I can to protect them. That's just who I am. And for good or bad, it's probably not a particularly good survivor strategy. But yeah, I love the observation. And, you know, there's just so many fun moments in the premiere where I think it was Sage at the beginning. He said she pees when she's nervous. I'm like, it's amazing to reveal that. And then I think she had the question about the aqua dump.

Yeah. She says she's very interested. Yeah. Wait, what? And I also love, I got to say, Nate, I think, is a really good character. I think he's crazy, smart, a lot of experience. He's a bit older. Can't wait to see how it plays out.

And I like Matt. I like Matt. He's the oldest guy out there. He's got his dreadlocks. He's smart. And I like how he pulled back from jumping in and say, just youngsters get out of the way. I'm going to make fire. And he just kind of kicked back.

And then he made fire in a couple seconds. So that'll be interesting to see how that plays out. But again, the characters are our fan. And the energy is so powerful. And so I'm going to watch the whole season. I'm hooked. And one of the reasons we haven't watched a lot of the seasons is because if you don't watch the first episode, you don't get hooked.

But then you just get hooked on these characters. And then you have to watch. And then it's a big time commitment. I do want to go back to this idea of you and your leadership style and how we don't really have that type of character anymore. And as I'm thinking about it, I really think that because of the way that the show is formatted in this, that it's always three tribes, it's always a group of six. I don't think that there is that kind of a priority of, hey, I am going to build up my group. Maybe people feel like, hey, I'm going to find my two or I'm going to, I need to find

four to get through this first part of the vote. But I don't think that people are really looking at the game as I need to build my group, my people that I'm going to go far with into the game because this is temporary. I'm just trying to get to the next phase of the game. And then when I get to that next phase, I'll figure out what comes next as opposed to I'm going to build my group of people that were going far. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's true. It's, you know, in Cambodia, a lot of folks were saying nothing matters. until after the merge. Like what you do before the merge is irrelevant.

So just get to the merge. And then the game starts, right? So one-on-one, it's not tribe versus drive. There's an element of truth to that. But I take issue with that because when it was the drop your buffs moment and two drives went to three, we went to anchor. Tosh and I went to Anchor, the dividends that building the buy-on alliances were huge. Because at some point, we're all going to be back together.

And that was Tosh. in my play to get PG and Barner on their back heels saying, you better be nice to us because this is short term. We're going to be back together. And our buy-on folks are going to lop your head off. So you better be damn nice to us. And it worked. That's how we got Abby Maria to flip and then to decimate the anchors.

And so, yes, what you're saying. So I do believe that for the most part, what you do before the merge is not that relevant. But you have to plant those seeds. You have to have those relationships. Because at the end of the day, after the merge, those relationships matter to some extent, assuming not everyone is sociopathic. There are folks that actually have a heart and they have some allegiance, some allegiance. But I think in the way that the game is now and the way that it's set up,

that really those pre-merge bonds don't matter that much anymore. I think that everybody kind of looks at it as this is transitory of, We're together now, but I just need to, you know, get my people together to get through this period of the game. And then it's so individual from all the parts after this that people, even we've seen a lot in the new era, that I have to get rid of my closest person because I need to make it be something that the jury will see as I'm willing to get out my number one ally in order to, you know, put points on the board. Yeah, that's hard for me. Yeah. That's hard for me. And I had long conversations with my wife and kids before Cambodia, and they're pleading

with me to stop being so damn loyal, right? And I think that's just who I am. And I can't help it, Rob. I can't help it. But be incredibly loyal and invested. But there were moments where I could be less loyal, a little sociopathic and just lop somebody's head off. But it's something that I struggle with for sure.

It's not very helpful in the new. New era. Yeah, I know you missed last season, but I would have been very interesting to get your thoughts on the last season of Survivor, because actually what had happened was in season 48 of Survivor. And I don't know if you, because you're in the Bay Area, have you heard anything about Joe that played on last season? Oh, yeah. Yeah. And we watched last season, honestly.

Oh, okay. All right. Yeah. So, oh, good. So I'm actually really curious to him because. He's like a firefighter from Stockton. Yes, yeah. And really, that season came together in the second half of the game, really about that there were a group of players that really felt like, okay, well, we are putting loyalty and integrity first.

And they sort of had some commonalities there. And there was a group of players who really decided, okay, this is going to be our group. And it wasn't necessarily all people that started together, but they had sort of this shared bond. And it really came to be a group that really looked like that they were going to just steamroll all the way to the end until Kyle ultimately, you know, had his person, which was his number one. And there was some underhanded things that they did to sort of undermine that group as they got close to the end of the game. But really, that was a big theme of players who wanted to stick together around this idea of sort of like having intents. integrity in the game. What did you think of that? I, so I loved it. And right, it just spoke to me. It's kind of old school. Joe was fantastic.

And in his bond with, I can't remember the young lady's name. Eva. Eva was just beautiful. And then I, that one episode, you know, I was in tears. Like, it was deeply, deeply meaningful. And it was just a beautiful moment. And then Kyle and the other is Camilla. Well, Camilla, absolutely genius. And I enjoyed so much in how they unraveled everything. But that was, for me, that was one of my favorite seasons. I've watched probably, I don't know, 12 or 15 seasons. It was a super powerful season.

I can't wait to see 50. And I think a couple of them are on 50. But I was super impressed with Joe and the Allegiance. But then they sprinkled in kind of, new era gameplay, brilliant strategy and gameplay. And I loved how it played out. With Amex Platinum, access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot trackside. So being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and varied by race.

Turns and conditions apply. Learn more at amex.ca.org.com. So Kyle was somebody who was a lawyer, and he hid that job from the other players. And that's actually something that's been very common in the new era of Survivor. Lawyers coming into the game, and they don't tell people that they're a lawyer. They hide their occupation. A lot of people actually do that. I'm curious to know what are your thoughts about players hiding their jobs, and specifically lawyers who do that on Survivor now?

Yeah, I like it. I like, because, I mean, Nate's doing that now. These are Marvel movies, and that's smart, right? And I think I love when folks hide who they truly are. And, you know, lawyers have a good rap and they've got a bad rap, right? At the end of the day, lawyers in our training is interesting because we can be perceived as all sorts of things. And I'm in favor of not, and I thought about this back in Pearl Islands, and Steph and I talked about it.

Do I let folks know that I'm a lawyer? And at the end of the day, I said, screw it. And this is, you know, that was three and a half years into Survivor, hard to imagine. And I was like, screw it, I am who I am. It's part of who I am. I'm just going to put my cards on the table. But I love it when folks deceive and make up professions to play the, the game. It creates this initial strategy mindset that they're going to have to build this

whole character and then see if they can maintain that when they're vulnerable. Now, I would have thought that you would have been against the idea because I feel like that it's something that holds people back from being able to be more authentic in their true selves and making bonds with other players. Do you feel like that sometimes there's more of a cost to hiding a part of yourself as opposed to, yeah, maybe people will vote me out because I'm a lawyer, but, you know, maybe there's more to lose by not being myself. I do. I think there's a cost. I think there's a genuineness. And I think when you're in that element and you know as well as anyone, it's about being genuine and building those relationships

and reflecting on who you are and letting folks see into your soul. And part of my soul is I'm a lawyer of 36 years. And if I don't have that, if I said, I'm a hairdresser or whatever it is, then you can't go that deep and I can't share the deep soul of Savage. And so you do. But it also, I love if you're clever enough and if you're as, if you're a brilliant strategist and you can play this out and you can make up, you know, like coach, just make up all sorts of crazy stories and remember them and be consistent when you're asleep deprived. and dehydrated and missing home, you can reflect and still play into that character. That's genius if you can pull it off.

So I was so happy when I was watching the premiere the other night because I knew I was talking to you. And there was a moment where your season came up that Jeff was talking on the mat to Stephen about Stephen. I'll let Jeff ask the question. Stephen, talk to me about the moment you decided I'm going to dedicate myself to getting on Survivor. 100%. So my journey began with the Pearl Islands when I first saw all of the different contestants from all different walks of life, and they were so vulnerable. And I think as you get older,

you kind of run out of first-time experiences. And Survivor is just jam-packed of first-time experiences. They're going to help you get outside your comfort zone and give you a chance to be vulnerable. Never heard it put that way. Great answer. Good answer. Okay. What do you think about Pearl Islands is being the season where the contestants are the most vulnerable? I fully agree. I fully agree because I think any season you're vulnerable. Pearl Islands was one of the most vulnerable, I think, because the conditions were horrible.

At that point, we got the clothes on our back. If you remember, Probe said the game stars now, we jumped off the Rembrand, the ship had to swim into town, and we didn't get her in-game bag. That was the first time in-season. seasons that we didn't get our in-game bag. We didn't have, you know, carefully packed and spent a lot of money on Nike attire and great shorts and all this stuff, none of that.

And so that set the stage in terms of what Steven said about being vulnerable. It's, that was an old shit moment. Like, oh, my, what the MTF is happening. And also knowing that, that I think I was the oldest person, maybe Lil was, but, but looking around all these buff guys like Burton. and then Sean, and we knew it was going to be incredibly, and we had heard this in pre-production from Burnett, when we met, Burnett was there in Prost, and they're telling us it's going to be one of the most physically grueling seasons in the history of Survivor, and so very vulnerable.

And that's one of the beauties of the game, right? That's one of the reasons it sounds completely messed up. That's one of the reasons you do survivors, to be vulnerable, to really test yourself, as I said earlier mentally physically how tough are you but also those what stephen said uh those moments those moments that you've never encountered in your life and boy we had some great ones in pearl islands yeah and it was so exciting and it was so new and novel for even us to be watching at home and i had um i'm trying to remember the so i so i had just played in survivor the amazon but I was conflating it because I was like, oh, no, I was actually getting ready to play because

I was going to go back for Survivor All-Star. So it was sort of like in the in-between of the two times that I got to go. But it was just that there was a novelty of the fact that they took these people and then you were on your toes because you'd had no idea that they were going to throw you off the boat and you'd have to go fend for yourselves and go into the village. But also as viewers, we had never seen anything like that before. And that's been my big complaint about Survivor 49 so far is that for the new era, it's kind of the same era where that I felt like that there was nothing that we hadn't seen before in this Survivor 49 premiere. And I think that where, you know, you are so vulnerable because that you are in this experience that you could have never predicted. whereas so far I would say through one night of the show everybody's great you know everybody's

excited but just nobody is really thrown into a situation that they could not have ever predicted yet and the viewers included yeah I agree Rob I love the beginning of certain seasons where it's just chaos like let's let's just start if you remember Cambodia where we get on that boat you grab everything you can within a certain time frame and then you're off to the races. And I love when Probst puts his big brain at work, Kerr Hopper and the production team, and let's just create chaos in whatever the start is.

I think that's the genius to the beginning of brilliant seasons. And I was blessed to be part of Pearl Island's brilliant start. And then Cambodia, I thought, was brilliant as well. And it is a testament to that the season has become such a big part of everyone's survivor experience where we're 20 plus years after and people still vividly remember everything that happened in, you know, that first episode to start where they made them, you know, everybody jump off the boat and go into the village. And so it's just like, you know, these moments get created when they do take chance. And maybe not everything's going

to work, but, you know, it's just such an amazing thing that you'll never forget. when they deviate from what they've done before. And I love your point. I love when the show, the production team, puts together something that the cast don't expect. Like everyone has watched many, many seasons of Survivor, and they think they know what's coming. And then the beginning of Pearl Islands or Cambodia or other seasons,

the production team is just one step ahead. And they create chaos and it throws everyone off, which is beautiful because your expectation is like, crap had no idea that was going to happen now what do i do i had my game plan and that that just throwing everyone off and having to reset expectations then what it also does as you know is down the road you start questioning well i thought this is how survivor goes so usually there's a merge on day 21 is there going to be a merge are there going to be hidden immunity idols out there maybe they're not maybe they completely swapped it up that beginning was crazy crazy and maybe that's going to

be the theme throughout the 39 days or 26 days. So I do miss that element to it. Yeah. Savage, there was another parallel between this and your season. And actually, which is, this is very nerdy of that your season seven and this is 49, which seven times seven, 49. Okay. But going back to the original season seven, so, yeah, we've had, we've gotten to season seven, seven times. That's how long ago Survivor Prolislands was. So there was a shoe bandit, and Jake, he ended up trying to maybe recapture some of the magic from Rupert back in that same Survivor Pearl Island's premiere. He's going to take away everybody's shoes just to mess with people. What did you think about that?

A couple of reactions. First of all, I did think about Rupert. So those shoes that he took, those were my $500 or $300. orthotic inserts to my shoes because I have unusually high arches. And then Rupert took those. Thanks, Rupert. Yeah, thanks. And then so I didn't have those.

My feet hurt the whole time. Then he said, no, don't worry, Savage. I'll get you a new pair afterwards. And guess what? He never did. Even after they gave him a million dollars? Yes. Even after they gave him, he didn't buy my, he didn't replace the $500 orthotics.

Anyway, it doesn't matter. I thought what Jake did was fun. I thought it was clever in terms of he wants to be remembered and if you want to be remembered and yeah as you know 1% of what happens on a season

actually makes the show and if you want to make sure that you get some airtime do that and so I thought just from a personal standpoint it was clever for him to be the shoot bandit and it's a fun quirky

element to the show. It's increasing the chances that he's going to be memorable. Yeah. So, yeah, it's a good move, I guess, in terms of getting screen time. But in terms of like something that you would do in your tribe, it's, I felt like

that it's something that if I'm trying to work with this group of people, like, yeah, it's creating a moment, but it's also probably raising the chances that these people, if they ever find out about this, that that's going to hurt the trust for sure. I didn't so I didn't agree with it

I agree with it you know because you know Pearl Islands with fair play he just wanted all the airtime he was a camera horror he wanted as much air time as he gets so he came up with all these stupid fair play things and

and I saw a little bit of that with Jake and that's okay he wants airtime from if I were Jake I would not have done that I think it's stupid and and if he gets at some point I would think if they're reasonably bright they're going to figure it out and they're going to look back at that and say that was dumb i can't trust him and why would you do that because you know how it is on survivor

if you can't find your shoe a shoe is incredibly valuable asset and you can't find it for four or five hours creates anxiety and like what the f where's my shoe and then you find out that this knucklehead is orchestrating the whole thing for air time that's the way i would look at it yeah dude not smart okay another parallel between your see season and this season. Okay. First boot is Nicole. How about that? How about that? That's fantastic. Nicole. Nicole, and I correct me if I'm wrong and I know I'll get dragged to hell if I'm wrong about this. I don't believe there has been another Nicole in Survivor. And so Nicole is tied for the worst performing name in Survivor history. Wow. I love the parallel. And Nicole, for this season, I got to tell you, man, I nearly peed my pants.

They both wore blue. They both wear blue. Well, and when Nicole stepped on that branch, she's trying to get whatever firewood or something and fell down, I nearly peed my pants. Slowly fell down. I just fell on my ass. My wife and I were just cracking up. But yeah, Nicole, that's not a lucky name. So, yeah, speaking of wives, so my wife is named Nicole.

And so, and for a very long time when, you know, we started doing the podcast and she would be on and I would have my wife, Nicole. I think that more than a few people think that I'm married to Nicole Ndala. Oh my God. So it's like not an uncommon thought that that is actually that my, I have married the first boot of Survivor Pearl Islands. Wow. That's a conspiracy theory. That's fantastic. Really.

You should just blame those theories every now and then just for fun. All right. So I wanted to get your thought on something that happened, and I don't know how aware you were about this, the controversy at Ponderosa before the end of the season started, and it's not necessarily a controversy, that two of the players got removed before the season started, and then they plugged in two of the alternates. And I wanted to get your thoughts on the fact that. Two players had to get removed from the game for talking too much and breaking Survivor's rules.

I got to say, so I just read that yesterday. And I got to say, I effing love it. I just love it. You've been there. I've been there. The gag rule and the Survivor fans, like, maybe they don't understand this, but there's a gag rule. Like, you cannot talk in Ponterosa. And we go on location for probably 10, 14 days before the,

the game starts, right? And there's a gag rule. You can't talk. And it's fascinating because the minute, and I'm just telling you what you already know, Rob, the moment you hit Ponderosa, despite the gag rule, the game's on, because it's all about body language. But out of respect for the producers, and the gag rule is unbelievably serious. We were in Cambodia, all-star season, and there's a couple folks that said maybe three words to each other, and the producers were on them. And they didn't say, a word after that. And it's unbelievably serious. I loved that they get booted because they don't respect the producers and the handlers. Because at the end of the day, that for me reflects character. How can you not respect the rules and understand that they have a job to do? They're going to enforce them. And I love they got on the mic to probes and probes. Tell me what happened. And he said, they're out. I love that. Yeah. I thought that you were going to be a fan of the fact that they did that. But you bring up Cambodia, which I'm sure must have been a very unusual season because it was a season where everybody was campaigning to go. Everybody knew the player pool that was going.

You all leave directly from a finale. You get in that bus. And I would think that that must have been incredibly difficult for them to enforce, hey, no talking, no making eye contact with everybody. as you then went from the bus to, I guess, I don't know if you got your stuff or whatever, to the airport, and then all to Cambodia together. Yeah, crazy. So here's a quick story. So we arrive in L.A. for the finale, and we're called into different green rooms. And I walk into the first green room, and Terry Dietz is there getting his stuff. I'd never met Dietz, but I thought he was amazing.

I think it was Panama. And he looks up at me and he just goes in there, like three producers. there he goes savage w tf and he stands up and i said d's man i can't believe i get to finally meet you and the producers were honest like sh you can't talk and we looked at them we're like whatever and we gave a big hug and uh but then we respected the gag order after that but but that was my point about you have to respect the rules you have to respect the handlers and the producers have a job to do because we're on the bus after the finale here's the 18 or 20 whatever that are that are that are actually made America's boat transported to LAX.

We're on the plane, LAX to Cambodia. And then we're there 10, 12 days in Pondros before the game started. And all of us respected the gag order. We just did because the threat, and we didn't know if it was real, if it were real, but the threat was, you violate the gag order, you're out.

And we were told there's four alternates flying. You don't know who there are, but they're coming to Cambodia with us. So if you violate the game, gag order, the gag rule, you're out like that. And I honestly thought that that was just baloney that they would never, they're never going to pull anyone. And that's why when I read that article, I was like, right on, right on. So season 31 was survivor second chances. And now we have another season coming up with returning players that's in the hands of the fit. Now, I would argue

season 31 was truly in the hands of the fans. that the fans voted in the cast. But for season 50, they didn't vote in the cast. They voted on different game elements. What did you think about that decision to give the fans a choice again, but you're going to pick some of the rules that we're going to use in this game as opposed to picking the cast? Yeah, full disclosure, I have no idea what that is.

I didn't follow that at all. And I don't know. And I saw Prope say that a few times. So I was not in the running for 50. I never got a call. That's totally OK. But because of that, I didn't follow America's voting for whatever. I don't know, were they voting for advantages?

Yeah, they got to vote for how many advantages should there be? What should the colors of the different tribes be? Should there be a live reunion show? So you vote that you got like three or four questions and they did it like three or about four different times. that you got a list of things to vote on. I think that's fine.

I don't think it really impacts anything. I like getting the super fans involved, but I love the notion of letting the super fans pick who they want. Yeah. With a vote, I think that's brilliant. I'm surprised they haven't done it again. Maybe they'll do it. It was such a sensation.

It was so popular, and I don't know why they didn't do it. I would have bet anything if you asked me in, when did you all play? Was it May of 2015 that I would have bet anything while Survivor is going to probably do this like, what, every other year they'll do this again. It was such a hit. And they never did it again. Yeah. And then remember that live show after 30 and it was going around to all of us reading the votes, that was riveting.

And, of course, I say that because I was involved in it. And it was so brutal for the people who didn't get it. And maybe that's the only thing that you could argue of like it's too, it's too hard. for the people who don't go to find out that way. Yeah, but let me push back on that because when has Survivor ever said something is so brutal, we're not going to do that again. In fact, I thought that that would be an inspiration

to do it again because that was brutal. And I think Survivor loves that. And also, you know what we sign up for. We put ourselves out there. We sign up for that. I think that's a positive. That's why I would do it. I would let America vote again.

I thought it's brilliant. Yeah. I'm surprised that they didn't end up doing it all this time, and it never even came up again. But ultimately, so that's what they're going to do for Survivor 50. Had you seen the cast of people that they took for Survivor 50? They did. There's some surprises there.

I'm going to watch it. It'll be super fun. And I was actually going to flip that on you and ask your reaction to the cast. Sure. There's a bunch of them, I don't know, from kind of new school. But Colby surprised me. and there's just a bunch of folks Okay, well talk that through

What was surprising about Colby being selected? Well, it just I don't remember him doing it so he was absolutely dazzling Australia and and I don't He just I don't know what he's bringing to the table Yeah I don't I don't and then

And, you know, I've hung out with Colby. He's a cool guy. We played cars together. He propes his house. Yeah. And he's like a cool guy. But I just didn't see. It's not 50 is a big deal.

50 is a big deal. And he representing kind of old school survivor. It surprised me. Yeah. You know, I don't know who I would have put in instead of him. But it did surprise me. So from, I guess what I've heard anecdotally is that he last played in Survivor Hero versus villains and I think that he was disappointed with how it went on heroes versus villains

and maybe he didn't doesn't like that being the last thing that people have seen from him and so he is uh wanting to prove that okay he actually that that that's not how you should remember him yeah that's that's cool I just don't know from a producer's standpoint I hear you if that carries enough I don't know because I wouldn't look at you know sorry Colby, you're going to have to live with that. You got your buck kicked. And so that's your legacy. I don't know. Yeah. But, you know, but also, you know, maybe that's the reason he should be on 50. He's going to come in and we're going to see the old Colby and he's going to light it up. And if he's, you know, the Colby from Australia, which, you know, he's older now. But if you see that

element, that'll be really cool. And to give you my thoughts on it, and I talked about this a lot when they announced the cast. I had thought that there's definitely a lot of people that I was excited to see. And I didn't have as much of an issue with Colby per se. I had more of an issue with that I felt like that we leaned too much on bringing back people from recent history. And I felt like that what they could have done, much like they did with the second chances, is that none of these people are going anywhere. You could have easily done Survivor 54 is another second chances. And any of these people from the last couple of years you wanted to see that there was there's plenty of time to bring some of them back and i think that like hindsight is 2020 that you probably should have

done that somewhere in the last couple of years have done a second chances and bring back some of these people from recent history that you wanted to see again but for 50 being the celebration of 25 years of the show i felt like that it should have been a little bit more of like who are the people that we could bring back that maybe we don't have another opportunity to ever see them again. And it could have been more of looking. And that's just, you know, that's not what they wanted to do. And, you know, it's their show and their prerogative to do it whatever they want. But I would have loved to have seen it be a little bit more of, okay, here is more of a selection of people across 25 years as opposed to leaning much more heavily into the new era where it's 12 and 12 of people

from only the last couple of years. Yeah. No, I had the same reaction, Rob, where I kind of, it was head scratching to me. So, season 50, 25 years, who are the folks? I thought it would be more evenly distributed. Like, who are those folks kind of building blocks and survivor got us here? Household names in terms of Survivor Superfans. And we, you know, we, the earlier seasons didn't seem as representative as the most recent ones.

I'll tell you what Fishback said when we did it. He said, hey, look, what do you want? This is how it is. Look at Cambodia. There was, what, four people from 28 and two people from 29 and or no, I think four people from 29 and two people from 30. So he's like, hey, that's how it is. It's always recency bias.

Yeah, they front load it for sure. I get that because they want immediate recognition. Like, oh, yeah, I remember that person from two seasons ago. sense. You know, I still, that gave me pause. Yeah. Let me ask you about some other things that, you know, we've gone back and your Twitter account is a great follow. And you have a great back and forth with people who ask you questions. And you're often, you know, talking about things that I didn't know. One of them was that you and step, were in the mix to come back for survivor blood versus water. Yes. Dude, this was crazy, Rob.

So my wife was the original motivation to get on Pearl Islands. She's from Mauritius, little French island, Indian Ocean, off the coast of Madagascar. It wasn't a U.S. citizen back then. I was the attorney for the Jerry Springer show taping every Thursday night, Jerry Springer episodes. I would come home at midnight, and she would tell me about these crazy people on an island. South China Sea eating rats and she says savage I want to do this and so I looked at the rules and she couldn't she wasn't a US citizen she said screw that you have to do it for me that's the only reason I applied right so fast forward to blood versus water and Steph said and she's a great athlete and stunning and whip smart and so let's do it so we put a little tape together sent it into Lynn Spilman and we got the call and and we were told that it's between us and Rupert and and I think his wife's name is Laura. Yes.

And it was neck and neck. And then we got the call saying, Rupert and the producers or Proops and Burnett, whatever, they want Rupert again. So they made the, we got pumped out. But dude, we were so close. And that would have been just a kick in the pants. And I think it would have been epic because my wife is,

I'll tell you another story. You want to hear another story? Yes, please. So, I don't know if I'm supposed to tell us. And I sat with Stephanie and your family during the Cambodia finale. Oh, yeah, exactly. No, and she says hi. So there was many seasons ago.

So a lot of folks know Probes and I, close friends. And there was a season where we went on location to hang out with Prox. And so we get there. This is San Juan del Sur, the Baragua. And Propp says this amazing five bedroom beach house and we're hanging out for a week and going to challenges and Boston Rob was on that season. Anyway, we get there. We take the red eye and it's not easy to get there. We end El Salvador.

We finally get there and haven't had any sleep. And Propp says, Steph put on these boots. We're going to a challenge to rehearse a challenge. And we're like, okay, let's go. So we get to the challenge. And Probe swaps out a dream team or for Steph. Okay. And this was unbelievably physical challenge, doing three stages where you've got to go under a rope and all this stuff.

And she won, and it's a dry rehearsal, right? So they film the whole thing. And she's against these dream teamers. And she won the whole damn thing. And we were like, it was amazing without any sleep. And she was just nails and she comes. She's all cut up. And it's amazing.

Anyway, so that was that plant at the seed that Steph would be amazing on Survivor. We applied for blood versus water. Yeah. Just missed it. And that's the, you know, that's, that's Rupert, like big personality. I didn't have any illusions that Savage was going to unseat Rupert and his wife. But we had a shot. Unfortunately, it didn't play out.

Okay. So Survivor is such a big part of your family and there's so much love for Survivor. And so I know that now that your daughters are old enough to. potentially be on the show. Has that conversation ever been had in your house, whether they want to do it? Here's a fun, fun conversation. Cambodia rap party afterwards, the executive producer, pro-s executive producer, but under the other executive producer and his lieutenant come up to me, and I'm with McKenzie, my older daughter, who is stunning in a Division I athlete. She's a deputy district attorney now

lead prosecutor felony division up here, Contra Costa County, Northern California. Anyway, back then I'm with her and the executive producer came up to me and say, hey, Savage, how are you and who's this? And I said, this is my daughter, McKenzie. And he went all

in for five minutes. Mackenzie, would you play Survivor? Like, tell me seriously we want you on the show. So he planted that sea. And then both daughters, Skyler I just took the California bar exam. She's brilliant. She's three times smarter than I am

and just went to graduate at UCLA law school. Both of them are stunning and have asked me if I would let them play. And my only reaction was and still is you can absolutely go on Survivor after you pass the California bar. That was it. So now they're growing.

Don't ask women. They want to go on the show. They can go on the show. But I also tell them the realities of going on the show and probe to make sure that their motivation is the right motivation. It's not to be famous. It's not. It's to test yourself. No one's ever going to give you the million dollars unless you're super lucky. But the chances of winning a million dollars. You shouldn't you shouldn't go on the show to win a million dollars. You should go on the show for the experience. And so we'll see how that plays out. I do. I know they would be brilliant on the show. a little hesitant knowing how tough that show is. It does seem like that as the show, you know, if it continues to, you know, have success and stay on the air for long enough, like that does seem like such a slam dunk season to do survivor generations where it's like the offspring of the different survivors that you remember over the years. Yeah. 100%.

I talked to Prox a long time ago about that. And he said, that one thing I'll just tell you, and so Probs and I never disclose our conversation, but this is a funnel where he said, and I said this would be really interesting for me on All-Star season with one of my daughters or both daughters. And he said, I totally agree, this is Probs talk.

And he said, it's a brilliant, brilliant idea. We would do it in a second, but you have to understand that prior survivors don't have your daughters. like your daughters are stunning and athletic we just don't have the folks to be able to put together an entire season otherwise we would in a second yeah yeah it sounds arrogant but anyway yeah I do think that there's enough people you know 750 survivors like I think that they could they could put it together at some point sure for sure now this was probably 10 years ago I mean for now now for sure and now and other

the kids are getting older and people that had little kids are now, like, you know, sure, that they, that how many people had, you know, kids that were of age to do it at that point in time, but now, you know, they're more and more aging into it. So I think they could do it. I agree. Let me go back to your origin story on Survivor. And I hope you're okay if I bring this up that recently it had been posted on YouTube. they got a hold of your Survivor audition video. Are you okay if I bring this up?

Of course, yeah. Okay. All right. And when I say bring this up, I mean it literally. And can we play a little bit of this? Do you remember this? I remember that vividly, yes. Okay.

All right. Here's Andrew Savage. And so your season is on. So it's the fall of 2003. This must have been what, maybe earlier that year? Yeah. Okay, all right, here's what Andrew Savage told the producers. This was from All Winner Survivor posted this.

For the last 10 years, I've been knocking heads and going toe to toe to toe with rugby players all over the world from Hawaii to Japan. In high school, I was camped from the football, basketball, and tennis team. And I went on to play college football. Let's take down a guy. I've lived and traveled all over the world, from New York to Africa. I've been whitewater rafting and thwarting. Indonesia, and recently went skydiving in Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.

I'm a gifted athlete out physically and mentally tough-ass nails. I'm a thrill-seeker, and most importantly, I'm a true winner. All of this qualifies me as the ultimate survivor. Play on. I traveled all over the world to find a man like Andrew. We've been married for six years, and although I'm 10 years younger than him, he has survived everything I threw at him. look at you always puts a twinkle in my eye and who is the ultimate survivor

for the last 10 years step's gonna hate me for killing that by the way well done yeah that was fun that was fun yeah um so i'm interested to know how did you get started in rugby as that being your calling card yeah uh college football and after that uh law school i just wanted that physical release and uh so my law school had a rugby team and and the fun thing about the law school rugby team is it there's a bunch of division one former football players one played for michigan one played for uh just amazing schools and they all wanted this release this yeah athletic sort of release So we all got together, started playing rugby, and we would go and play these top teams. And everyone would laugh at us before.

I can't believe we're going to play a law school team. And then we would knock them out. Like we had just wrecking crew players and we actually knew how to play rugby. So that started the whole thing. And then from there, after law school, played in, I was a lawyer in Hawaii. We had the amazing Hawaii Harlequins, amazing team. And then from there, moved to Chicago, played for the Chicago Lions. top five rugby team.

And, you know, in Hawaii, we went to, that was the comment about Japan. We were invited, we were, we won state in Hawaii. We were invited to go play all the professional teams in Japan. And then in Chicago, again, top five in the country, just amazing. And it's just amazing sport, a young person's for it. And it's also, what we said earlier, it's a family.

Like you go on the rugby pitch, rugby field with your teammates and it's, you'll do anything. anything to protect them. And it's just kind of how I'm wired and loved it. You mentioned earlier about when you met your wife that you were working as a lawyer for the Jerry Springer show. And you were in the Jerry Springer documentary recently. I'm sure that that could probably, that whole experience could be its own podcast that could be a couple hours long. Yes. Yes. I could, Rob, you and I can have a glass of wine together. I will tell me the stories that would just the hair in the back of your neck

would stand up. I was the first lawyer for the Jerry Springer show. Yeah. And this was, I was brought in to clean up the show and the Springer show was beating Oprah in the daytime ratings. It's sad to say, but we were and but we're also violating all sorts of FCC

rules and regulations. So I was brought in the cleanup show and the stuff that I did was groundbreaking and crazy like the crazy stories that I have yeah but and I was you know Jerry get subpoenaed what you saw when I appeared with him Alderman Burke in Chicago he was subpoenaed to testify under oath that the fights in the Jerry Springer show were staged yeah and as a catch 22 because Alderman Burke claimed that the off-duty Chicago police officers if the fights are staged then they can't be because that's a violation of reality

show rules under the federal communications commission and if they're real fights then the chicago police officers are violating their duty by not arresting the assaults and the batteries arresting the folks contestants fighting because it's a violation of law so they should be fired so i go with jerry in a bunch of preparation to testify under oath and as a catch 22 Somebody's going to get in trouble. And it's also, if it's an FCC violation, then the network, CBS, risks having their license revoked. And we're talking billions of dollars. So just the highest stakes in Jerry was brilliant.

And he just testified in a very Jerry way. The fights look real to me. And then, you know, we prepared. So the explanation was the fights were completely real. And the Springer guests were very angry and they just wanted to fight. And so the police officers, as always, they had discretion, whether to arrest somebody. So when they go to Chicago Cubs games and a fight breaks out between fans, do they arrest everyone every time? No, they have discretion if it makes sense to arrest people.

So that was a story. But, yeah, Springer was an amazing experience. I'm sure you caught that Netflix documentary. Did you think that it was well done and fair? No. No. If you look, look, I was an insider at Springer for quite a while. And if you look at the folks, really just Richard Dominic was the executive producer,

so he knew everything about the show. And Toby Yoshimura was a senior producer. Those were the only two producers, really, that were used to film that documentary. All the other ones, and I can list all of them, declined to participate in that documentary. And I got called. I wasn't going to do it. I wasn't going to do it unless Rochelle Consiglio, Steve Wilkos, and all the other

and Linda Schaffer and the publicist, unless they got on board to do it, to tell the real story. And they all declined. I'm like, I'm out. I'm not going to do that. But to bring it back to Survivor, though, it is an interesting full circle thing to that you have this in your background.

And then the only time I believe in the history of the show that Jerry Springer is mentioned is when your nemesis from Survivor Pearl Islands, Johnny Fairplay, when he reveals that his famous grandma lie, and RIP to Johnny Fairplay's grandma for real, that he says, hey, my grandma is probably sitting at home right now watching Jerry Springer. Exactly. Yeah, it came, it came full circle. And the audition, here's the reason why I got my interview for Pearl Islands is the audition tape starts with the Jerry Springer show and I don't know if you saw that but I'm actually on stage okay yeah that wasn't in the clip on YouTube and they

probably IP issues they took anyway so I'm I had I went to Richard Domine executive producer and Jerry and said I want to get on Survivor they said what do you want what do you need I said I want a live studio audience I want to need my speech and film it so I get to the the it's in between shows live studio audience Todd shows the stage manager prompts the the audience to say Andrew, Andrew cuts to me. I give a speech that I can handle everything at Survivor has to throw at me. I handle Springer guests and everything.

And basically, I'm the ultimate survivor. Jerry comes out, puts his arm around me and says, Savage is at his best. When others are at their worst, do yourself a favor. Return this Savage to the Wild. Like, Greg Lozura was the director. He directed it. I sent it to Lynn Spillman, the casting director.

Immediately got the call. It was completely unfair, but that, so that, that got me noticed by the producers of Survivor. And then at the live reunion show for Pearl Islands, I actually presented, I don't know if you probably don't remember, I presented Fairplay for his grandmother, a signed picture of Jerry Springer saying to Fairplay's grandmother. Thanks for watching the show. Yeah. That's super interesting. What about Jerry as a guy? Is there anything that you could tell us about him?

Because I feel like that, you know, some people say that, okay, that he, you know, is a good guy. Other people say, like, well, he really kind of like changed the way that television was going in a negative way. What's your thoughts on, Jerry? Jerry was wonderful, very, very smart. He was a mayor of Cincinnati, then at the top news anchor. he started the Jerry Springer show to really replace Phil Donahue

I don't know if you know back in the day so Donahue's ratings plumbing he gets canceled. They tap Jerry to replace Phil Donahue and Jerry is going to do a similar kind of very ethical news show and the numbers aren't any better and Richard Dominant comes in and he completely flips it and he says my whole goal is to get the studio audience on their feet. How do you do that?

that, well, you do something outrageous. And that was the beginning of the Jerry Springer show. But Jerry, I will tell you, and I became very close friends with Jerry because advised him on all the shows. He was a gentleman. He was incredibly bright. He had incredible television instincts. He deeply cared about the guests and wanted their stories to be told.

And that's why I did not like the Netflix documentary because it didn't tell the true story. It didn't tell what we were doing at the show. in an accurate way and Jerry was wonderful the content of his show disgusting and I couldn't

I didn't last more than a year year and a half because the content of the show was troubling to me so I left I left the show but Jerry was a stand-up guy he was and and just everyone that worked with him he was incredibly generous

would give you the shirt off his back and I had great respect for Jerry. So something else that I saw on your social media is that you've been doing a lot of traveling this summer. And something that you and I have in common is that we both spent some time this summer in Scotland. Oh, no kidding. Yeah, I love that, man. Where'd you go? So I was in the Scottish Highlands, which I believe you were as well. Yes, I was. What brought you to So I was doing some other television work there because that's where they film The Traders. Yes.

But what I was curious why you were there and you, I believe that your family is Scottish. Yes. Dad was born in Glasgow, Scotland. I'm first. Anyway, he immigrated when he was 35 on the Queen Mary. He's a very, well, he's a carpenter, but a very, talented singer guitarist and he was in a pub edinburgh super fast yeah picked out a young lady in the pub and fell in love with her and it was my mom who was doing her junior year abroad university

edinburgh and they eloped on the queen mary uh back to the states and um so my daughter younger daughter skyler yeah is named after the isle of sky and she just as i said took the california bar our gift to her was post bar gift was to take her to scotland she'd never been step had never has never been to Scotland either. So we went to the Highlands Eye of the Sky for her namesake, Skylar's namesake, and it was a stunning trip. Yeah. I mean, so I want to talk more about traders.

You can ask questions, but I don't know how many I can answer on the podcast. I want to tell you, my friend, when we saw that you were on traders, we had a tear and right. It's just so well deserved. Thank you so much. I can't wait to see how it plays out. Yeah. Had you been to Scotland before?

Have you been throughout your life? I had two other times. And so when I, before I married Steph, we had just met a week before, my dad retired as a carpenter and he hadn't been back to the old country in 40 years. So I took my mom and dad, brother and sister. We went to Scotland three weeks, the Highlands. And then I had also, my junior in college, I went to the University of Galway in Ireland and spent, went across the Irish Sea to Scotland

and spent Christmas and stuff with my, I've got the savages in Glasgow breed like rats. I've got first cousins everywhere, savages are everywhere. So it's really fun to go back to Glasgow and see the cousins. I'm sure the question you probably get the most is, who do you keep in touch with from your seasons? So Jeremy Collins is, you know, Jeremy, he's amazing.

new former trader and then or former member of the traders and then also that he just got added to the survivor on fire podcast with jeff right on i love that that was jeremy and val his family they're amazing uh close friends and uh and then the pearl island crew like the morgan crew so o t toman odera um are just amazing yeah and i sat with dad Dara, too, who was in the audience for Pearl Island or for the Cambodia finale. Yeah, yeah, Dera is fantastic. And then Rhino is, he's in Florida. Yeah.

And we've had a, we've had some tension between us in the past, but we still kind of keep in touch. But really, OTT and Dara are amazing. How was awesome? I feel like I don't know if I've ever encountered him in all the time that I've been in the Survivor alumni community. I don't know if maybe he, like in the very beginning, he might have been at something. What's he up to? Yeah, he's doing really well.

He got married. I don't know if he saw. He got married in Dominican Republic to Lil. He married a Lil, not the Lil. Exactly. Not the Big Lil. From Brazil, and she's beautiful. And O.T. is a very lucky man.

So he's doing well. He's in financial services. And he always said after Pearl Islands, he's going to make his million some other way, and he's done really well. So he's great. Nice. He's fantastic. And he doesn't, you know, back when he was quitting, which was epic and broke my heart,

I told him you're going to regret this for the rest of your life. And I don't think he does. And he's like, whatever, I quit. Yeah. Well, the quitting on Survivor has gone through so many different phases where then, you know, it's still something that the, you know, the, show I think struggles with where then it seemed like they reached a point where ironically after of course we all remember Jeff through Austin's torch on the ground then you know Jeff started

to get some heat about hey you're being too soft on the quitters to where then Jeff has had to like double back and now like if you quit you're like Jeff's going to make a big deal yes and I think he should I don't you know the way I'm wired I would never quit I don't understand it yeah man But to OTs, this is something that not a lot of people know. He had four staff infections. He had a lot going on, yeah, and no clothes. Well, but regardless, you can die from one staff infection. And we had back the day, you know, Ato, Dr. Ado, he would literally, we'd show up.

Rub some dirt on it. He would take a finger of Neosporne and stick it in the infections and say, oh, T, you're fine. And so O.T. gets back to his doctor in Boston who said, you know, you could have died out there and so that's why OT quit he was in he was struggling yeah and I still like still you know in Cambodia my toe was infected and I has on antibiotics and they said if the antibiotics didn't take they'd have to medaback me out they'd have because I was at risk of having to have my foot amputated because the infection was running up my unfortunately the antibiotics work work but that's still never

in my all that time rob that i think about quitting like the only way i'm getting off survivors i get voted out which i did uh or metabacked out i'm never going to volunteer to bow out yeah okay so you're hooked on survivor 49 you're going to keep going with it i'm very excited that we're going to get to see you in san francisco when we do the live show in november yeah november i can't wait thanks for the invite i will be there i can't uh i haven't seen fish back forever. It'll be great to see fish. And I, you know, I love this. Thanks for inviting me. I have never done one of these. I've never been live to one of your events. So I am a rookie. It's going to be a real scene. Get ready. I'm looking forward to it. It'll be super

fun. And I can't wait. When's the air day to traders? That's going to be probably 2026. they have not said they've not officially had a release day yet Was that castle as stunning as it looks on camera? It's a very beautiful castle I will say that there are parts though that are like there's parts that are ready for TV and then other I mean it's like a 300 year old

like hunting lodge so that there are definitely areas that are not as like TV friendly as like what you see on the show. Yeah, needs some renovation. We went to a couple of castles in the highland and you get that sense. There's some that have been renovated. There's others that you're like, ooh, that needs some work, I'm sure.

But so I don't know where that castle is. Did you go and drive through Glencoe and the highlands and those mountains? Not really through the mountains, but you do a lot of driving around, I will say. Yeah, yeah. Well, I can't wait. I'm thrilled. We'll be all in watching, and hopefully it was just a magical experience. Yeah, lots of fun.

Anyway, so check out what Savage is saying over on X.com. Are you still Survivor Savage? Yeah. Is that the handle? Savage Survivor, I think, actually. Savage Survivor. Yeah, it's fun. And anything else you want to tell people to check out?

No, I'm all good. And again, just living the dream. And this is super fun. I appreciate the invite, Rob. Thanks for making some time. What you've done is just fantastic, your podcast and how you've elevated Survivor and just, you know, the super fans and giving them a voice. I think it's just fantastic what you've done. And I don't know if I've ever told you this, but we were such a fan of yours in Amazon.

Oh. You're just amazing. And we were screaming and rooting for you. and I know it's a long, long time ago, but it was super cool to watch. Great. Thank you so much. You are always super interesting to talk to and get your perspective on things. So I appreciate you making some time on a Sunday morning to, you know, have some coffee

and talk about everything going on in the world as Survivor. Yeah, no, it's mimosa time, I think. I mean, make an omelet and have a mimosa. Nice. Great to see you, enjoy. Enjoy. All right. Thank you all so much for listening. We love to hear what you have to say,

in the comments. We have plenty more survivor coverage coming up here on RHAP. Take care of a good one. Bye.