RHAP: We Know Survivor - Bret Labelle Talks Survivor 49 Ep 10

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

Survivor 49 episode 10 heats up as host Rob Cesternino welcomes Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X’s Bret Labelle for a special Old School Interview. This episode dives into the wild post-merge game, where fake idols, bold swings, and shifting alliances set the stage for a chaotic Tribal Council. Rob and Bret break down the strategic moves, the social chaos, and ask if the players can keep a lid on their secrets when so much is on the line.

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Rob Sesterdino, back for our old school interview. And I'm very excited to have an old friend back here with us from Millennials versus Gen X. It's Brett LaBelle. Brett, how are you? Okay, now Brett has, yeah. Oh, Rob! Oh, that feels so good to finally be, I'm finally unmasked and able to speak on Rob as a podcast. Just like you and the rest of the, all the fans from Rob as a podcast are up.

They're all dying to hear what I have to say. And I've been, I've been silenced for too long, my friend. Okay. Well, yeah, I was wondering what you were doing here with the tape on your mouth. It was like that scene in Pulp Fiction where they're like, bring out the gimp. Yes, it wasn't. It didn't appear that I had some sort of a ball gag going on there. But it wasn't the case, Rob.

I was just silenced from all the Rob as a podcast fans. And this is just simplifying that the tape has come off. And I'm here to speak and talk to you. My good friend, Rob, who I've missed, it was good seeing you in Boston, by the way. We enjoyed some pizza, which was fantastic. Yes, at Luigi's. Yes, Luigi's. I love that place.

And Justin's a great guy, too. But, yeah, man, it's great to be back. It's great to be here sitting with you. I'm excited to talk. Let's talk. What do we got? Yeah, let's talk. And how are you doing?

Give us the update. Man, I'm doing great. I just got back from Europe. I did two and a half weeks overseas. What? Yeah. But not since the amazing race, maybe. It felt a lot like the amazing race.

I did Dublin, off to Germany. I did Rome, which was beautiful. The weather was awesome, too, Rob, 70 degrees. I'm walking around in the short trousers. It was great. And then from there, I went to Amsterdam, because I'd always wanted to go, and I wanted to go to the Van Gogh Museum.

Oddly enough was more. I thought there'd be more to that than there was. I mean, it was cool. Yeah. But, you know, I mean, there was times I wanted to cut my own here. More of a don't go. What's that? More of a don't go than a van go.

Exactly. No, it was actually good, but it was very crowded. It was just, you know, it was just tough to get around and stuff. But it was fun. So, yeah, no, I had a great trip. It did feel like the amazing race. I was kind of bouncing around, minus the ginger. Yes.

How is Chris? Chris is doing good. He's doing all these, he's doing these crazy, um, crazy videos for his law firm. I don't know if you've been seeing them. You know, I think I saw them on like maybe Instagram. Yeah.

Yeah, that's him. He looks, he looks, he's grown the beard out. He's a little more, I feel like he was telling me about how like what to do if I get pulled over. Is that sound right?

Yes. Yeah. Now, is that like, are you too like, hey, don't stop, stop telling people what to do if they get pulled over.

No, no, because not, you know, excuse me, Rob. Nothing he says is really going to make a big difference. Although I do agree with some of the stuff he's telling people because it's really not a good idea to sit there and argue with a police officer on the side of the road.

Deal with that later. You're always going to be better off. You know, Rob, your father was a police officer. You're always better off kind of wait until afterwards, you know? Yeah, I don't know. I see some of these videos, but then I say like, you know, I imagine myself like being pulled over. And then I'm like, oh, you know, I saw on TikTok,

I'm not supposed to say I'm not saying anything. Like I feel like that's not going great for me at that point. Yeah. Yeah. Like, oh, really? Yeah. I applaud.

I applaud the jinge for trying to get this word out here and help people with free help. I think he looks a little Paul Bunyanish though with that beard. That be it's got to see. Maybe we could bring up a picture and I could see what what Chris is looking like right now. Are you watching the amazing race this season as it's been another all. reality season of the amazing race like the one that you were on. So it's a really good one. I'm

behind because again, I just got back for my trip. So I am going to be catching up to that. My main concern right now is Survivor because I just love Survivor so much. Yeah, okay. Well, let's catch up on Survivor. If everybody wants to catch up on their sleep, hopefully after this podcast, check out what's going on

over at mantasleep.com. Get 10% off. Manta Sleep with promo code R.HAP 49. I'll show I'll tell you more about this mask later on. And so find out exactly how it all works, Brett. So I would go go to my ball gag there. You know what I mean?

Yeah, get the mask and the gag. Yeah. All right. So you're keeping up with Survivor 49, right? Yes, I am. Yes. Okay. All right.

Have you enjoyed this season? Oddly enough, I have. And, you know, I'm very critical of the new era. Yes. But I think we have. have a lot of good characters. I'm really enjoying them. I've been lucky enough to meet a few. Yeah. And, but yeah, no, I like it.

I really am enjoying this post-merge, these couple episodes that we've had. I've really been enjoying those. Yeah, it's heated up a little bit here over these last couple of weeks. And then it looked like, you know, not too much going on in the pre-merge, but like just like, you know, we're just like we had to let it simmer for a while. And now things are heating up. They are. They are. And, and it's getting good. And I think it always does, right? I mean, even if you have a great season on Survivor, for the most part, as you get to the end and things start to dwindle down and people have to kind of go after each other with a few exceptions. I usually find that the end to be more exciting in the beginning. Sure. A lot of the times it is, but I feel like a season like last season tended to not be the case. It's a good point. That's a valid point. That was more like, yeah, you kind of saw what was coming early on.

you know so yeah okay are there any particular characters that you really are uh vibing with this season i really like a lot of people i like um uh juan who just got voted out actually uh i i got a kick out of him uh i thought i i you know just feel him like when you meet him you just feel he's a really good good dude you know and you're gonna i know you got an interview with him coming next week yeah well we're talking to juan on monday yeah so i like him I like Riz. Riz is interesting to me. He's getting a little...

Do you call him Rizzo or you call him Riz God? No, I don't love that he's made a nickname for himself. I'd love to see... So I've been giving him a long rope with that because I... You know, here I'd never like to see people make a nickname for themselves. But I believe that maybe, and maybe we'll find out later, that might have been like something he got in high school

and he's just, you know, continuing that on. I do believe he did give himself the nickname Riz God, Although he does not, has not told anybody else except for us that he is the R-I-Z-G-O-D baby. But do you have a nickname? I have several nicknames, you know, over the years, which is kind of funny. Any you could say on this podcast? Yeah, so I used to be, when I was growing up, they call me Cy, because they look like Cy Spurl and Hair Club for Men.

I looked like the guy. Did you remember that commercial? I thought you were going to say the guy from, whoopnum gangnam style. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Which you don't look like that guy. Exactly. And I was called Bert Label for a lot because it was, you know, Brett LaBelle, Bert Label.

It was kind of. Bert Label. Yeah, we were at, we were at work discussing that. Like people say, oh, you know, I get these crazy phone calls. And, you know, they always say like a different name when they call you. Like, they'll be like, oh, Rob Serstonine. You know, so you know they're selling something because they screw up your name. And I say, yeah, it happens to me all the time.

Someone looked at me and says, how do they screw up Brett LaBelle? And I said, Burt Label. And the minute I said that, it stuck. Yeah, you should check into hotels and Burt Label so they don't know that you're there. Exactly. By the way, I think we have the picture of, okay, here's the modern curious. Yeah, definitely a more full beer than I remember. Yeah, it's getting weird.

I don't know what he's got going on there. I think he's hiding stuff in there. Like, you know, he's got his lock card in there. So when someone, you know, when he sees someone in the street that he needs to represent, he pulls it right out of his beard and hands it to them, you know. So, yeah. Now the jinge. Getting a little gray there too, I noticed.

I shouldn't talk, but he's definitely getting a little gray. Now, you said you met Joanne. Where did you meet him? I met him at the Survivor Cafe in Boston. Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah, very briefly, very briefly. But I just, you know, we talked, we shot the shit, took a picture.

and I really enjoy it. I just think he's a really, he seemed like a very nice person, really, uh, genuine and definitely a fan of the show, you can tell. Tell me about the Survivor Cafe because I haven't been up there.

Yeah, is it still open? Because when I left, they said they were closing it. You would know better than me. Yeah, it was great. So I went a few times just because I was in Boston.

My dad and his wife wanted to go, so I went with them once. I went with, um, the ginger was in town. Yeah. So went with him. and that was a lot of fun.

That was when Bryce and Wendell had their thing going on. So there was a ton of survivors there. And we went up and it was really cool. They had it all set up. They had they had challenges there that you could actually try out for yourself. A bunch that people would have seen on the show. John Kerrhofer was there one day when I was there. The opening, when it opened, they had us there.

for the opening. It was right before the premiere, Survivor Premiere. And they had pretty much the whole cast there. Kerrhofer was there. And I love John. I mean, you remember John, right? Of course. Yeah.

I saw him back. He was at the Survivor event they did in February. That was the 48 premiere. Yes. And I know that, you know, we're talking, this is on Rob has a podcast. So everyone knows who John Kerhofer is. But if you don't, he's the guy that makes all the challenges, probably since the beginning. Yeah, I think since he's one, yeah.

Yeah, and he's just one of the nicest, kindest guys you've ever meet. So it was really good to see him. So, yeah, it's been a lot of fun, but you'd walk up the steer. It's at the greatest bar in Boston, which is downtown Boston. And that's what it's called. That's the name of it. It's not just Brett saying it's a great bar. The greatest bar.

Yeah. And it's across from the Boston God. It's like right down the street. So it's walking distance. It's a very popular bar. So you go upstairs and then they, you walk in, it's like teaky, everything, the center bar is teaky covered and it. It was really cool. They really did a great job with it. So I hope they do it in other cities also. Yeah. How was the food, though?

The food was bar food. It was good. It was, you could, the chicken wings were good. Better than survivor food. Yes. Yes. Well, I mean, it depends. What are we talking? Are we talking to pizza? You know, the pizza's hot. Hawaiian pizza, I mean, Fijian pizza, which is what they're eating now on Survivor, is just horrible. So if you're talking about Fiji and pizza, yes, the food at the Survivor Cafe kicked its ass. Let's just say that. I'm just going to be blunt. Yes, it was really good.

I didn't mean to get you worked up about the pizza already. It wasn't like, you weren't getting a steak, yeah. All right. So tell me from this past episode where. there was basically these two groups and one of these groups were really they were going to make their big move and they were going to take out Savannah and then the other group was going to get blindsided and Sophie really tipped the scales and went to the Savannah and Sof and Rizzo group to tell them about the plant. Did you like that move? From yellow Sophie. I mean, you're talking about sage, right? You're talking about sage. No, I'm talking about Yellow Sophie, that she won immunity.

And then she went with the other group. Sophie Sofi Sogretti. Yeah, yeah. So Sophie, yellow Sophie you're talking about. So, and Sophie, the other Sophie I call Sophie B. That's the one that's, uh, some people call her Sophie blue. Right, okay. And she's the one that's got the advantage, right?

She has knowledge is power. That nobody knows about yet. Yes. Right. Okay. But the other Sophie is the one you're talking about. So, yeah, I did, I look it, she could have gone either way. I feel like she was most comfortable going with those guys.

Now, I think we're missing something because she really hasn't had the best edit until now. She's kind of getting a good edit now. But I feel like, like sometimes I question whether she would have been better off. But I feel like she did the best. What she did was she felt more comfortable going that way. And I think it's just because of the relationship she had with those. folks, you know? Yeah. So there was a moment a couple of weeks ago where they came back from they had the split tribal council. And then I think they all expected that either Rizzo was going to be

gone or they're going to at least flush his idol. And then if he was still there, that she was going to be gone. But then they came back and it was like they saw a ghost. Like, wait, what are you doing here? Right. Yeah, they were, they were definitely shocked by that. Yeah. I'm starting to really like so i'm a little weirded out by but we've seen this before i'm really kind of liking what's going on with her now she seems like she's in a really good spot i just worry about her because we really haven't seen much of her yeah going through this whole show but we've seen this before you know was there ever a time where i know you that um you didn't have to split tribal councils but were there ever is there ever a time where it's that you had a moment like that

where like one of the groups came back and you were really surprised of what they did? Well, maybe it was your group, was it when Michaela wasn't there? No, it was Figgy. It was Figgy. Well, yes, probably

it was probably my, when I was probably involved with it with the Michaela vote, I think it shocked everyone. But the Figgie vote, which we were all pushing for, I didn't think that it would actually get done and it got done. Yeah. I didn't think that was going to flip.

but he did, you know. Yeah, when you all got together and Michaela wasn't there, was there anybody that gave like a bad reaction? I was like, wait, hold on, Brett and Sunday, what are you doing here? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. There was, at the merge, they were shot. I mean, Chris Hammonds was shocked to see me. Everyone was shocked to see me, like, you know,

and I think there was a lot of people that were not happy to see another millennial go. But, you know, again, there was so much going on at the merge. I'm probably, you know, wasn't. privy to some of the conversations about we being there, you know, so. Yeah. Now, from being on millennials versus Gen X, now, like the millennials, that they're, they're like the old guard, that do you feel like that survivor maybe in the, when we get into the 50s, they should do millennials versus Gen Z?

I'm sure that's coming. And I know you've been, you've been screaming for the, for them to bring back some, you know, stuff like that like the themes themes yeah like i agree with you like i we need something man 51 needs something i feel like it's uh you know i want to go back to some old school survivor maybe like two tribes i think you discussed that i want to i think that'd be a great idea i want to see themes it's never going to happen i would love to see a new location but that's not going to happen i think they're embedded there hey little did you know you were such a trendsetter that you were like a pioneer of that you were the first people in Fiji

and you planted the flag and you said, hey, Survivor should stay here forever. I know. That's what I did. It was me. It was all me. And I told Jeff, I said, that's it, bud. It's a quick hit. It's a 10-hour flight. You're good. You can go see a family. This is where you should be. And he agreed. He agreed. We went off, had a couple of beers and then I went back to the tribe. Yeah. So, but here's the thing like,

I love that they're in Fiji. There's a part me that loves that they stay in Fiji because I get to look at all the places I lived. Like I see, oh, that's Ikabula. Oh, that's, you know, that's Gen X Beach. But the survivor fan of me is like, no, I want to see, go to China, go to, go to Borneo, go someplace, go to Kagayana. I want to see other places. Like, I think it's, you know, there's something about, you know, they used to get involved

with the, you know, some local stuff. Like some of these challenges are just horrible. I mean, the rewards, it's like, I don't want. want everyone to go back. Why we keep going to the same place for awards? I want to, we should be going to some, like, you could go to some cultural thing in the town and have food with people like they used to do. Like, just do something fun. Like, it doesn't have to be wicked expensive, but come on. This is getting ridiculous. Well, I don't even know how far the town is from where they are. It's not that, well, it's probably like, it depends on which island you're on.

Yeah. But it's like a boat ride. It's like an hour boat ride or a half hour boat ride and stuff like that. But to me, it's like, we need something. And I think it's getting stale. I love Survivor. I love watching it. It's getting stale. The sanctuary. Come on. This is Fiji. There are resorts everywhere there. Yeah. They could just go to a resort. Take into a hotel, you're saying. Yeah. So what I used to do that? It'd be like, and then they would like go in front of the mirror. Like, oh my God. And it's like, yeah, Johnny Fairplay, you stay in this hotel for the night and hang out and then you all sleep in the bed.

Like they used to do that. Yeah, be careful saying. If you say Gianni Fairplay three times, he's like Beatles. He just shows up. I just got him out of my house for crying out loud, you know? But, no, so I agree. Like, it was on Millennials versus Gen X.

We went to, we went to just a resort. And it had this, you know, infinity pool. let's what they call those, it looks over the water at the infinity pool. We had the affinity pool and we, I think I did a cannonball into the water, but they had a woman there that gave us a manny petty. And it was just, that's all we did. We sat out there. We were drinking white Russians with, with Chris Hammond's Sunday and David Wright.

And we all got Annie Petty's and we just sat there and ate and drank. And it was just, that couldn't have cost them that much money. Like, but we keep going to the sanctuary. I just think it's getting boring. I'm done with the sanctuary and the food If you go to the sanctuary and you eat pizza

It's not a reward You should have just gone back to the Just go back to the tribe Just go back to the island Forget about it It's not fun When you were in Fiji For Millennials versus Jet X

Like could you tell Like with everybody like wow This is nice This is like I wouldn't mind if we stayed here forever Like this is a pretty nice place To do Survivor compared to some of the dumps we've been at.

Like, this is good. Oh, yeah. You mean Fiji itself? Yeah, like the crew where they all like saying, like, wow. Oh, yeah. No, you could tell you. Brett, we really like it. So the weather, so we did have that.

We were the ones that had the cyclone, right, that first night. We were the first ones to ever be evacuated. After that, Rob, we had a couple days. We had a couple nights of rain, but it was beautiful weather. Yeah. It was 80s to 90s during the day. It would cool off to 65. at night so you would feel the cold and you'd have to sleep sleep near the fire but it was just

it was easy it was good it was nice weather and and the crew really enjoyed it because they had one flight they only had to do one flight you know so which you know they have a direct flight three they get to the amazon yeah i'll bet it did yeah and that was that was i mean you had tons of but so the bugs are low in fiji there's not like ikabula we had a ton of bugs but for the most part bugs are pretty, there's not a lot of bugs there, you know? So especially if you're on the ocean with the breeze you get no bugs. So

I think they just enjoyed it for that, you know? Yeah. Better weather and stuff like that. If you're scrambling for great gifts for your friends or family, trust me, I've been there. But Aura frames is the gift that solves all of that. What's different about an

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That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R.com. Wayfair, every style, every home. So there were a lot of shenanigans that went down at this tribal council from this past episode, and we saw where, okay, Christina had an idol, and she played her idol, and then you also saw that, like, Sage and Jo-Wan, they really wanted then Rizzo to play his eyes. idol and you said you want like, hey, play the idol, play the idol. And he got up and this is a fake immunity idol. What did you think about Rizzo coming in? He's got the real idol, but he played a fake

immunity idol. Yeah, so I'll see a lot of people think that's cock. He's being acting very cocky with that. But what do you think what he was trying to do was, I think what he, I think he was trying to read the room. I think he was just kind of seeing what the reaction was, seeing who's, you know, see if he could tell who was with him, who wasn't, if he surprised somebody that he thought might have been on his side. I think he was just trying to get a reaction and read the room on everyone. I don't, I don't know what else he could really be, was trying to do with that. So I think he was just trying to see who would, you know, what the reaction would be on people. And then I think if he didn't like his reaction, you know, if he saw, oh,

shoot, there's a lot of people that voted my way or he felt that way, he would use. the real idol. So I think that's what he was trying to do. I thought it was kind of creative. I do think he's looking a little cocky in the last couple episodes. But that's all right. I mean, that's, that's, he's feeling it. Yeah. Yeah. Do you think he's going to tell people that like, oh, like I thought I had the idol. This idol was like it, I thought it was the real idol. Like, what do you mean it was? Like, I couldn't believe it. So I think Chuan screwed him on that. because he's like, hey, just play the real one. Like, he threw it out there.

So it's got to be in people's minds that, wait a minute, that wasn't, that wasn't the I don't, what's going on you? It's going to be very hard for him to backpedal that. Now, he could try and we'll see how it goes. Stranger things have happened on Survivor. Like, you know, but I don't, I think it's already kind of out there. It's been put out in people's mind that he, that he used a fake one. So it'll be interesting to see in the next episode how this all works out.

but you know everyone knows he's got the idol this has been what I've been seeing with this this new school is everyone just tells them what they have I applaud Sophie I call her Sophie B Sophie was it Sophie Blue you call him I called her they call it you could call him Blue Sophie you could call herself but she's great and I she's not telling anyone and I think that's so smart

she is such a you know this power knowledge is power thing It's just so strong. If you know that if you could take somebody's idol and use it for you. I mean, come on. So I think she's so smart not to use it. And I think it's going to make for a really good scene coming up. I'm really hoping she plays it well.

She kind of needs to. She's kind of, I mean, from what I can tell, she's kind of laying low. And I think if she wants to win the season, I'm not saying she's going to, I'm just saying, I think she needs a big play. And I think that that could be it, you know. Yeah. So in Millennials versus Gen X, David Wright, famously made a fake idol and got Jay to think it was real and then which I guess stopped him

from going to go look for the real idol. Could you talk through? So what was your reaction to all of this? Because you you didn't know that they had done that, right? That that David Wright made the fake idol and Jay didn't know it was a fake idol. But you were just like somebody at this tribal council of like, wait, what's going on? Yeah. So we. had uh we had seen someone someone had left the paints of david david right the sneaky little bass that he was uh he left the the paints out so we can't i we came across him so we had i had a feeling someone was up to something with a fake idol i just couldn't we i couldn't figure out who it was right we just i didn't stumble on the person uh always i always suspected

david but i had no proof of this um when jay plays that it's a great great scene. And, and what I love about that scene is that Jay is such a good dude, man. And he just, he laughs it off. He's like, oh, you guys got me. It's such a great exit to Survivor. And, you know, I would have been mad, you know, I mean, I think a lot of people would be mad that they got played, but he got played. And it was, it was great how it, you know, how he walked out. It was just a riot. And it's just, that's Jay. Jay's such a good, hot and good dude, you know, so it was fun to watch. But. When he stood up, you thought he had the real idol, right?

Oh, yeah, I was getting ready to go. I thought it looked real. It looked like David did a great job because he, you know. And what would have happened? Was he trying, he was trying to vote you out? Like what would happen if Jay had the real idol? I just knew if Jay wasn't going home, I was probably going to be, I was probably going to be the guy, you know. So when he played the idol, I'm like, oh, there's going to be, you know, they must have voted for me.

I just figured that they were coming after me. I know David was coming after me. So I just assumed I would probably be the guy that goes next, you know? So, and then, you know, then I tried to work with David on, you know, we tried to work on going after Adam. Adam finds the idol and stupidly tells Hannah who tells Adam. So the next night, I think I get whacked. But yeah, it was, it was a great season with great people. I had, I had so much fun on that on millennials versus Gen X. And I still keep in touch with everyone today. And they're just really, really, really good people. We were so lucky to have.

have. I mean, really, we all really do get along pretty well. It's, it's kind of crazy. Well, I'll say, I think that Millennials versus Gen X also started to pave the way of going into the new era where I feel like that Jeff was like very impressed with the sportsmanship in Millennials versus Gen X. And of course, the last season that they had done was they had done Co wrong, which was last season that aired, but they, I know they shot it out of order. But I do remember that Jeff feeling very much like, hey, like these people, like, that they, they played hard and then they didn't have hard feelings with each other. And I do feel like that that was something that Jeff really wanted to keep in Survivor coming out of to where, you know,

you have Joanne, like, oh, everybody, give me a hug. Come on. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think, yeah, definitely. I mean, I think we, I think why Millennials versus Gen X is so special is because of that camaraderie and, and the sportsmanship. I think, you know, even though that we're all playing and we're all playing hard, we all respect each other and we enjoy each other and we can put the game down and watch the sunset and enjoy it together and not hate each other. I think that's very important. And I, I kind of see some of that today in this season, like with Jawan's exit.

I mean, that was a great exit, too. That was, that was very J-esque, the way he walked out and hugging everyone. So, yeah, I definitely think, I definitely think maybe we're paving the way. I don't love the 26 days, though, or whatever it is. Yeah. I'm glad that I was part of the 39-day thing. And I do think that it puts an asterisk next to, and I know that the new people. I know, I know, I know.

But I just say it, it does. Out there longer makes you crazier, makes you do stuff that you wouldn't do. It changes the game entirely. Like, you know, they're talking about way, but down here for 18 days. I'm like, my God, 18 days, you're just getting going. You know, you're not even missing home yet, you know, so. Yeah, it is, I was thinking about this. Rob, that's my opinion.

Yeah, no, I was thinking about this the other day because I know it was like day 18, day 19, and they're like, wow, I mean, hey, it's day 19. And like, yeah, yeah, that's when we merged of day 19. But I will say that they probably have been to way more tribal councils than we might have gone to in so like even though that the the I feel that they have played more game but that it's not the same toll necessarily like physically it's definitely probably a faster pace game because we would have a day stretch where you wouldn't have travel console for three days sometimes four and I mean by that you know you're now you're really relaxing

and then all of a sudden you have a challenge coming up now now the game starts to people start to kick up the game and So, yeah, I mean, I could see that it's probably a much faster thing. I'm trying to think of, you know, so on day 19, I think that maybe that was, like, that was the day we merged in Survivor the Amazon. And I think I had been to three tribal councils, I think, in that time. And like, you know, Sophie B, she's probably been to like, this is like her seventh or eighth tribal council. she's been to. Yeah, she's a tribal council pro.

You know, and we've seen this, Rob, and I know you've talked about it, but the more you go to tribal, I think it fine-tunes your skills for the game. I mean, it really does. I mean, when you're worried every night that you're going home, it definitely helps you to play

harder, to work faster. And so I think that's definitely helped her throughout this game. So I want to talk about something else that's been a part of the new era. where they always do the rice negotiation, where Jeff says, all right, I got a bag of rice. Who wants to sit out of the challenge to get some of this rice for the tribe?

And he was, you know, usually they, they, I'm looking for four people who want to sit out. This time out they had no takers for sitting out of the challenge on day 19, Brett. Yeah, I was a little surprised they didn't have any. They did try to tobogging it down to two people sitting out. But usually you'll get like three people. But I applaud them for the fact that I knew I would never. And he offered us beer, which I'm shocked. I didn't.

Beer and peanut butter and jelly, which I love too. What a combo. What a combo. But I'll tell you what. You know, and some people did, I think, I think Will might have opted for it. Yeah. I, and one of the things. And he can't even have a beer.

We had to hold that thing where you bounce the ball on top of this like half oval. And then you were on a balance beam and they'd move you down to a skinnier beam. We had something similar on it on this season. I should look at that and said with, you know, with my feet and, you know, the size of me, there's no way I'm going to win that. So I should have bowed out, gone and had the beer and the peanut butter jelly. However, there's something about the perception of other players. Sometimes you just don't want to portray that you're not trying that.

And that was one where I was like, eh, I think I'm, I'm not ready to bow out. I want to stay in it. And I think that's what we had this time. Well, you kind of getting, you know, you get a lot of people that don't want to, don't want to look weak, want to, you know, or felt they could be in trouble. So they felt like they had to stay in it, you know. So they did it very. late this time.

It's day 19 where I feel like that in the past they've done it like day 16 where it's a little bit closer to the start of the merge and there's more people that are there. You know, I think that probably maybe, you know, if there's 10 people, I think it's a little bit of a difference. Also, a lot of times they feel like they've done it before. It's like one of these endurance challenges where people look at like, I'm not going to win that. But this was a race, this one, where I wonder if everybody was like, eh, like maybe.

Like, I could get through the race and like if it comes down to the. puzzle? Like, sure. What? I mean, I could, maybe I could do that. Whereas it wasn't like, I think in Survivor 46, it was where it was that challenge where they have to like hold on to the pole for for so long. And Q was like, you're not going to win this. Sit out. What are you talking about? Yeah. Yeah. And that's probably exactly what it was. People probably looked and goes, well, wait a minute, somebody could get tripped up on this. Somebody could maybe not do the puzzle very well. So I could definitely do this. And I think that's true.

I think if you did have, like you say, something that was a little more, you know, like, you know, like, you know what you're going to be good at. Something you had to balance. Balance is always a thing. If you don't have balance, you're probably not going to do well on it. Or you're not going to be the best, you know? I mean, has there ever been an endurance challenge where people were like, well, I thought I was going to be the first one out and I won. I can't believe it. No, you know what you're good at.

Right. Right. Yeah, you definitely do. And you know your strength and your weaknesses. That's what's important about Survivor is being able to. understand your strengths and weaknesses and put it to good use because I'll tell you right now if you really don't if he's offering you some food and not so much the rice but if you go back to my situation with the peanut butter and jelly if you're in a position where you're starving

that's all you can think about yeah you know you're not going to win you know you're not going to balance on that balance beam as you know as well as Adam or or or Taylor right then you should sit out and eat because eating and drinking beers definitely helps put your mind, you know, get some food in your belly, put your mind so your mind's right so that you can actually go back into the game and strategize. It definitely, you know, so that can be important too, you know, having food and not worrying about that and get your mind right. So, you know, it's definitely knowing who you are and what your capabilities are.

So earlier you were mentioning Sage, is that somebody that you've been enjoying the season? I have. I mean, she grosses, me out. Like some of the stuff that she says, I'm like, my God, you know, like the blackheads thing. And then now, then she's talking about the fart. I'm like, I don't, this is too much for me. But I, I'm really, she's really playing hard. And I love that scene where, you know, they're all talking about what they're going to do. And they shoot to her. And she's like, no, no, that's not happening. I was like, oh, that was awesome. So I'm enjoying her. I, you know, didn't go her away this week. And I, I, I don't think it bodes well for her. But. But.

But we'll see. Now is the time when other people who are aligned should really start thinking about where am I in this alignment, you know? Yeah. She had said that, okay, tonight, here's what I want to do. I want to get Savannah voted out and I want, I want Rizzo to play his idol and I want Christina to play her idol. Do you think that that was like too ambitious of a to-do list for one day where it's

like maybe, okay, let me just concentrate on my one goal here. Yeah, I mean, you really. She should have said more like, I want her to use her idol. If I can get that second idol, great. Maybe we can get them to play it, but don't worry too much about that. Focus on the one thing. And I think she would have, it would have voted a better for her. But yeah, I think she does, she's got this grandiose thing where she thinks she's kind of going to run it.

And people just don't work that way out there. You know, people will tell you one thing and they'll do the other. You just never, you know, you really, even when you have good conversations and stuff, Deep down, you don't know where everyone feels they're at, you know? So it's, it, you're rolling dice a lot out there, you know? Yeah. This was very ambitious what her and Joanne were trying to do. Do you feel like that there were signs that they should have seen that maybe Sophie wasn't

going to be with them? Yes, definitely. Yeah. But I, yes. Yeah. I mean, I think Sophie, I think they should have seen that she was more of a jump ball than I think they thought she was. Yeah.

Like, right, I think if you could put yourself and say, all right, put yourself in soapy's shoes, you can kind of see that she was kind of like in the middle. She was kind of like, okay, she can make it. She's going to be the one who decides who goes home. And I think if they had seen that, maybe they would have, I don't know, you know, talked with her more or something like that.

Sage seemed to have a pretty good relationship with us. So I'll be interested to see how this goes when they get back to camp. You know, there was some fluidity to your season in the post-merge, like, right before people, like, got locked in. Like, how, did you see, like, looking back, like, signs that maybe somebody wasn't necessarily with the one group and then before they went to the other group? Well, we had, yeah, I mean, Zeke voted out Chris. Yeah.

Which we weren't expecting, you know, because Zeke had been voting with us and then all of a sudden flipped. And that was for his game, right? But, like, I didn't go back to, you know, it's a great scene where Zeke, you know, Zeke and I got along great, you know, we, basically, yeah, as we still do. But I would, you know, I knew, all right, Chris is gone. Chris is history. It sucked because he's a great meat shield for everyone.

And it was, it was great as we were going through. But it was like, I got to work with Zeke now. So I went back. It was like, you know, you can't worry about that. Like, I didn't get mad at Zeke because he voted out, Chris. Like, as much as it sucked and I, you know, I missed my friend. We're going to get, we're going to get further in this game. So there was a lot of fluidity amongst people out there.

in our season you know Hannah called it to trust classes people would work together on a vote and then work somewhere else

and that was there was a lot of that going on there yeah but I think you see a lot of that now you'll see a lot of people

on past seasons you'll see a lot of people working together on certain votes but not working together as a whole for the whole season you know

for the whole season and then are the things that like the clues were they and then it's like after Zeke votes out, Chris, like, then like, do you look back and say like, oh, yeah, that's why that, you know, I did notice that that, you know, that makes sense now.

Yeah, well, Chris was a little too confident that he had Zeke. And so I was kind of going on that. I was like, I don't know, man. Like it just, I was like, but, but I mean, look at we, we were, we were also, you know, moving forward. and Zeke, you know, was, uh, was, was happy working with us. So there was, you know, it was, you know, like I said, you just never, everyone sees themselves. You never know where everyone sees their, their end game, right? They're lane to the end. And if you're blocking that lane that you may think they're with you, but they're like, no, I can't be bread or I can't, I need him gone. And,

and, and they're going to be coming after you. So it's just, it's a crazy game. And you just, it's so many different personalities and so many different opinions clouds it a lot of times, you know, so. Do you have any thoughts about Savannah? She's a trip, man. Yeah, she's kind of interesting. I don't, I think she's made some mistakes. She, you know, she's kind of, I didn't let you, the whole Joanne conversation, like, just let it go. Like, you're not going to, I didn't, I thought that was stupid when she went back to talk to him when she knew he was lying and then she didn't do bad she didn't say anything stupid but I'm like

if you let like if you let him know that you know I don't know I just was kind of like you know I just thought it was yeah I did feel the same way of like okay like you know he's lying you don't need to necessarily like go and let him know that you know he's lying because then he gets has the opportunity to then make another move right and the thing is it's like that's just good information to have in your head it's like keep it up there know it don't take it personally so many people take things personally like i gotta go talk to this guy because i can't believe this is happening and and uh but yeah i i enjoy her um i think she's funny i don't think i think she made a stupid move telling she she was keeping

you know she's lying about what she did for work and then she told sophie b that's what i call that she was lying about her job you know and and sophie's like to her credit she's like okay yeah i have that but it's like sophie's going to use that and These aren't people that you're friends with. You don't know these people. You just met them 18 days ago. She is going to use that against you or something. Now, hold on.

Now, what if Chris Hammonds would have told you had like, hey, Brett, I got to tell you something. I'm a lawyer. Okay? What do you tell people that he did? It was a coach, which I bought. I actually thought for sure. I told everybody I'm a coach, but I'm actually a lawyer. Yeah.

You wouldn't have told anybody, right? Not with Chris, right? but I mean, who knows, though? But maybe Savannah feels like, hey, that's my Chris Hammonds. Well, but see, here's the thing, though. I might have used it. You know, if I'm sitting at the end with Chris Hammonds, yeah, I'm going to use it. I'm going to use all that stuff.

You know, and my thing was like when you lie about your job. Yeah, and you did. And you did, too. I told everyone I was a funeral director. Yeah. You can't go back on that. If you go back on that, nobody believes anything you have to say. They think you're a big.

What else is he lying about? What was I? You got to own that to the end, man, you know? And that's it. So I thought that was a mistake on her part. But I, I've been enjoying Savannah. She's doing really well. Honestly, I thought she was going to get voted out a lot sooner.

I did not see her going. Why? I just thought she was, she played kind of in your face. She was opinionated. She's like perfect. I just thought there'd be more people kind of gunning for her. but I've been enjoying her the longer she goes. I find her very interesting.

So it's, I like this through. I do. I think she's been very fun. And I do feel like that, you know, in this new era, I do feel like that I am clamoring for things that are different. And she definitely feels different. I think that she is, you know, has a confrontational way about the way she approaches the game, which I think is very different than what we see throughout a lot.

It's not always a play style that I agree with or like the way that I would necessarily approach the game, but I enjoy watching it. It's great TV. It's great TV. It's, and I do, I enjoy her for that. It's funny because you can, you can totally see, when she says she's a TV announcer, you can totally see it. Like she can, you know, she totally has that, you know, so.

But yeah, she's. she's definitely cool. So I'm, I'm shocked she went as far as she did. And let's see if, let's see if she can pull it off, you know, so. Do you think there's any possibility that Savannah and the Riz God could turn on one another? Because, you know, that's really the story of the new era is that it with very few exceptions. It's like, yeah, this person is my number one and I have to get rid of them. Yeah. I mean, they have to at some point, right? Because they have similar games, I would say. I don't, she doesn't know, you know,

Rizzo is getting a great edit, and I hate to say that, but he is. I mean, he's, you know, he's writing his own story, much like David Wright did, like he's, you know, giving himself a nickname. He's got some great confession. Well, is David Wright's nickname? No, he didn't have a nickname. Well, I call him dirty Dave, but no, but David just like, he had the story act that was just crazy, you know? Oh my God. I'm so scared of everything out here.

to, I'm taking over this whole thing, you know. Yeah. But, you know, Riz is doing the same thing, right? Like he had that, you know, he, I love that scene in the beginning when he's, what's he, he's playing, what's, he's, they're doing that challenge and he's behind. Yeah. Right. He's behind.

Yeah. And who's he playing? Alex. Alex. Great. Yeah, great guy. So Alex, Amigone again. And Alex has it.

And then Riz comes from behind and crush it. It's such a great scene. I've forgotten about that. Such a great way to set up his season. And then now look at him. Look at him now. He's the front man for the new boy band, three boys on a bench. So I don't could you get, but no, you can't just have three words on the song.

You have to have more than three words on the song. Like it was a great, it's a great idea. But guys, it can't be three guys on a bench, three guys on a bench. There's got to be more words to that. There's not a lot of bands and maybe some of our listeners could help with this, but there's not a lot of bands where

the name of the band is also the name of the song. Right. I mean, take the Know It All's theme, which I'm as you know, I'm very... Yeah, you know how to sing it. I like to sing it. I love to say. I sing it by myself in the shower sometimes. But my point is this is

that's a very simple song. Right, Rob? It's a simple song, but it has a lot of words and it has There's a lot of words. Bridge. Yeah. And how many is it? If you keep saying three guys on a bench, three guys in a bench,

it's just not going to do very well. Right, right. But I like the idea, okay? I like the idea. Yeah. And they have the look. They do. Do you think that they could maybe tour after the season is over?

You know, I would hope that they would, but they're going to need some help with that. Yeah. Do you think that Joanne will resign from, three guys on a bench. Yes, I think he's going to go solo for a solo career at this point. I don't think he's happy with how things

ended up for him. And I think he's going to, I think he's probably going to move on his own. Yeah. Was there any talk in Millennials v. Gen X of anybody making a musical group? So we used to sing all the time out of there and they'd get out of us because they don't really like you singing. Now, in the new

era, it's like, hey, can you guys drop a track for us in this 90-minute episode? That's what I'm saying. Like, now they're letting them, now it's like they're, you know, that they're spinning records for them. Yeah. We couldn't, we couldn't, like, we try to say, stop singing, we can't put that on. It's like, oh, but now you do, you know, so.

And I have a very better voice, Rob. You've heard my voice. I have a much better voice than anyone I've heard in the, in the, in the, in the, uh, in the new seasons, you know, so. Yeah. You have a solo career, you think? I, what's that? A solo career, you think for me? Yeah. Oh, yeah, I would have. I would have

if they played any of the stuff I was singing out there. You know, I was singing pit bull. I came back. Mr. Worldwide. When I came back from that, the challenge on the pizza bods, I was half-biffed, and I started singing Pitbull. Which pit bull song, do you remember?

The one, Timber. I was singing Timber. Which, Jay Sterer got a kick out of him. So we had a lot of laughs. But, yeah, I mean, like, I was going down. Right. I just wish they would

have played that stuff when we were doing it. Now they air it all the time. Well, I guess, you know, Survivor changes. You know, it's a fluid game, apparently. Yeah. So. All right. Well, let me take a moment and thank our sponsor for this episode of the podcast.

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Can you sleep on a plane? I can sometimes. I like to have a few drinks. Like I did the red eye to Dublin, right? It was like 11.40. So I watched, you know, my Netflix on my iPad. Yeah, what did you watch? I watched House of Guinness.

I liked it. I liked it a lot. Because I was going to Dublin. I'm like, oh, I'll watch House and Guinness, you know. So I watched it and it was really good. But I did, so I did that for about three hours, had a few drinks, and then for the second half of the flight, I slept. So I did sleep. Okay. Right. Coming up this spring, it's going to be Survivor 50.

There's been commercials on everything. Yes, 50. Yeah, I was watching the football games last night. Commercials. 50 is coming. It is coming. And we've been anticipating this for a long time, Rob. Let me tell you. And I'm a little disappointed with, you know, with some of the, some of the people I'm excited for. Yeah, I think they could have done

a little better. I don't know what criteria. So first off, we had no representation from Millennials versus Gen X, right? Right. None. Yeah. What's up with that? I don't know. Again, I, I, I think it's a really good season. I don't understand how we can possibly have three from 48. two from 49 and none from Millennials v. Gen X. Listen, I think there's a lot of good, I think, I think I'm like, unlike a lot of people, I think there's a lot of good characters in new school Survivor in the, in the past, I'd say 10, 15 seasons, right? Yeah.

So David. I don't think we need five from 48 and 49. I don't know. I think that's way too much. We have so many great people from past Survivor seasons. Sure, sure. one through 20 i can give you well let me hold on well let's let's go one thing at a time i let me just talk about millennials versus gen x for a minute because all right so um zeke played back to back

uh they brought zeke back for uh in game and so did mckella um and then david wright got got brought back in the well he got brought back the wants right uh for uh the edge of extinction That's right. Yeah, he played twice. And then Adam played again on Winners at War. And then is that it? Well, no, I mean, yes. Did I miss anybody? Chris Hammondon and I did Amazing Race.

Sure, did the Amazing Race. I don't know if they're counting that. No, I'm only talking about Survivor right now. Okay, all right. So I think what was really why, I think the thing that probably would have, I would have blown my mind was after your season was over, I feel like that Jay was somebody that's like, all right, well, Jay will definitely play again for sure. I thought so.

And then it never happened. No. No, it didn't. And Jay, Jay's done. He's had a really good career for himself. He had a different career than we anticipated. And they may have called him. I don't know.

I, you know, I do talk to Jay. We've never discussed whether or not he's been called back for survival, you know. So I don't know. Hey, we'll get to the bottom of this. I know, I will. I will. I'm actually going to see him soon. So I will, I'm actually going to ask him.

Yeah, clock that key. Yes, exactly. Yeah. And, but yeah, so I don't know. But it does seem like there's a lot of good. But it's not only Millennials versus Gen X. There's other great seasons that, you know, and I'm not, again, I don't want to, I'm not, I'm not shitting on the newer seasons. Yeah.

I just think we have a lot. That's a lot. Okay. Well, give me, give me the snubs. Who are the people that you feel like should have been there for 50? Well, she's played before. Denise?

Denise? Yeah. Shapley? Denise Staples? Yeah. I like Denise. Well, yeah, sure. I like Denise was a winner.

But she played on, does she even want to play again? No, maybe not. But I mean, I just think there's so many. Come on, give me a better snub list than Denise. All right. She just came back. I would say, first of all, I would say, and everyone's going to hate me for this.

Who? I'll say Russell. Russell. I'll say Russell. And I'm going to say Russell got snub for, and I don't know the backstory. There may be back story to this. Maybe he's done something. I don't know.

I'm just saying. Yeah. You can't have a, they had a game changes without Russell. How can you, he's the one that started hunting for the idols. Look, that's fair that. Yeah. You would have thought that like after Survivor 22, you thought like, okay, well, maybe Russell's going to play. eight more times and then you wouldn't you didn't think on the night that russell you know

throws his torch is buffing the fire when he's eliminated on redemption island that that was going to be the last time you were going to have russell on survivor i mean i think that there's maybe some extenuating circumstances where they felt like okay well i don't know like is he can we can we trust russell on a survivor season i know that that might be it But I feel like, honestly, like, I think it had more to do with things that, like, Russell himself, you know, was fine. And then I think it had more to do with, you know, when Brandon played and when his brother played on Big Brother. And then I think then, you know, I think he was getting caught up on social media over the years. But it is wild that, you know, they didn't have him back at any point.

sooner than 22 or since 22. Yeah. And then another one I liked that, you know, I'm going to throw, I mean, again, we're talking 50, right? Yeah. So we're looking at the big picture. Big picture. I like that we have someone from Borneo on, but I would love to seeing Hatch.

How do you not have Hatch on him, you know? Yeah. And I know that he's got his history too. I get it. Sure. And I know he was just on a show. He was just on a show recently. So maybe that's not.

villains. Yeah, maybe they were made out of him. But, um, no, I, well, I thought that when they started this, they were going to, they said, well, no winners. So I didn't, I didn't have any, you know, I, no problem there. But then, but then they started, they started bringing in the winners, uh, from the new era. So like, it was fine. Because if you wanted to have no winners, then, then it was like, okay, fine. Well, then because then how many spots you have to give to the people that were just on to your Denise Staples and Boston Rob and Parvety

and Tyson and you know Sandra and Tony like all the people that were just on like the whole show is going to be all people that just played in the last five years so I got it they did no winners but then I thought they threw it all away when they brought in winners

no disrespect to the winners that they brought back yeah that's a good point I just I look at it like and I so that yeah They blew themselves up with the no winners because they have winners comics. That's fine. Yeah.

I would look at it as 50 as a whole. Let's look at our history, right? And I am happy that we have somebody from Borneo on. That's fantastic. But I just think that, you know, like, there's just way too many from the new era. I want to say, I love the coach is on. I'm excited to see coach. You know, I'd like to see some more people from kind of that era.

That's where I fell in love with the show and watched it and stuff like that. So who's the person that you know the best who's going to be on Survivor 50? Like, is there anybody that you know personally? Well, I got to go down the list of who's on. How about Aubrey? I know Aubrey. Yeah. I mean, I don't know her the best, but I know Aubrey.

Well, I just feel like that she played in your era. And really where that you were in 33. She plays 32, 34, 38, plays with David Wright. So I feel like you. I would love to see, I would love to see, I'm excited to see Aubrey play, you know. And it's going to be interesting to say, has she played twice, Rob? She played three. This is going to be four times for Aubrey.

It's going to be a fourth time, huh? Wow. She played four times. This is going to be four times for Aubrey, yeah. Wow. And, you know, as crazy as it sounds, and we've seen him a thousand times, a boss and Rob. How could you, you know, and for that matter, Bob Cessonino. I would love to see you.

Don't make it about me. I know, because you won't play. You're going to play villains, and I cannot wait for that. The traitors, yeah. The traitors, I cannot wait for that. I cannot wait for that. Well, they did. I'm so worried.

Right out nervous he gets. We start talking about him, everyone. Listen, I think they did call Rob, and Rob said, no, I don't want to come back. Oh, boss of Rob did say, no? They said he called him, and he said he didn't want to do it. All right, and I'm okay with it, because I just think, like, to me, this Survivor 50 is about the history of Survivor to me.

And I think they've ruined that. But I'm just saying that's what I was thinking we were going to have. I was going to have all these different kinds of players and stuff like that, which would have been fun. Like, I wouldn't even sprinkle in a Randy Bailey, as crazy as that sounds. I want to see characters like that out there that, you know, that would just made me laugh during all this, you know. Yeah.

But, yeah. So, but Rob, I know you wouldn't have played anyway. I didn't mean to throw that out there because you kind of, you have this going on. No, why do you say that? I would have said yes. I would have gone. You would have said yes? Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay, good. Well, I guess we talked years ago and

you would said to me, I don't want to go back. I don't want to go back, but that's changed now. I would say that I'm not dying to go back. Like, I think I would do it. It would be fun. And I think that my concern would be like what happens to all of this. Because Right. You know, there, Once upon a time, you know, doing Survivor was my dream, but, you know, I'm very fortunate in

that, like, I, this, doing this, you know, talking to you here, this is my dream. I mean, this is like, because I really think about, like, well, if I could be doing anything, what would I do? And it's like, well, I'd like to just keep doing this forever. I mean, that would be, that would be the goal for me. I love what I get to do. So it would be cool to go do Survivor, no doubt. But, you know, the fact of like, you know, how much does it jeopardize, like, what I get to do is a concern.

But I would have gone. Yeah. Yeah. No, I hear you. Because you kind of can't say no to 50, right? It'd be hard to say, no. I'd be very concerned about like, oh, what if I'm the first person off? And then people make fun of me.

And then, oh, no and all, yeah, my ass. But I would say that anyway. say it anyway. I would have to have like a sense of humor about it. Like, okay, I guess, yeah, I guess I should stick to podcasting. Well, at least, hey, look, you love what you do for work and how do you beat that? And I get it. I'm in the same boat. Like, it would be hard for me to go back. I don't think I could have said no to 50. Yeah. But like, you know, if they came to me with, you really have to be something kind of like a, like a second chance and something like that. or even a, you know, friend, family, what's that one?

Blood versus water. Who would you go with for blood versus water? Oh, I don't know. I just, I always like the blood versus water aspect of it. Although I don't even know if you can do it now because everyone's so, but I just like that like where you have loved ones on different tribes. Are you trying to get through together? I could see them going back to blood versus water,

especially if they ever wanted to do like a loved ones of like, you know, they wanted Rob to come. come back. He didn't want to do it. But would, I mean, and Rob didn't want to, you know, or Rob came back with Amber the last time. And I think for that that was a concern for him to like, you know, are people going to go after Amber to go for him? But would he ever go with one of his girls? With, you know, is that a way that they could get Rob to come back? Would, would. I bet that would make him come back, you know. But he's also protective of the kids. So maybe he doesn't want to throw them into that pressure cooker. Like maybe he feels like that. Maybe.

But maybe that's interesting where that they, like, you have all these survivors with, like, adult children that might want to do it. Like, could you do like eight generations where either the returning players are playing or it's all the kids of survivors? Yeah, I like that. That's, that's a, I like, there's so much they can be doing. And I think, I think you're right. And I've heard you on the podcast saying it something, 51 has to be almost bigger than 50, right? in a weird way like it has they have to there has to be something that kind of gets us going again because you know yeah and and i and i like i i try to be you know precise when i give out

like this kind of criticism but i think that the show like really has stories that they want to tell and i and i felt like that the what happened with christina in the episode the other night was like a great example of you see that's that's what you get on survivor but i do feel like that there needs to also be and it's great when you know you do have a moment like that that can resonate with the viewers but that doesn't like telling that those types of moments i don't think necessarily bring view viewership to survivor and i think that you do need to also have where like I think where Mark Burnett started this thing of but what's like what's the thing that we can do on this show that's going to make people say I got to see this I got to tune in to

see this and like I think that Survivor is like you know has been like okay well we make the show for our audience that we have but I think that there also needs to be a little bit of like you need to make a show that people are going like okay i had not been checking this out but i need to tune in to see this wait they're doing what and like i think that there need to be there needs to be like a little bit of like where you're competing with the rest of television and phones and everything and and you need to like be doing things to keep the show very uh interesting and new and novel yes i i i completely agree and i think you know i did enjoy like there's parts of that scene the other night that you're talking about that i did enjoy and and you know i my heart

went out to her you know i mean i sure yeah i totally get but i agree with you like i'm not coming on like you can't have too many of these moments like you got to have stuff that just people go oh my god this is unbelievable. You got to have the, you know, you got to have the Johnny Fairplay, you know, says his grandmother's dead. You need these things and people go, oh my God, what is going on? I'm not saying like that you, that, like, I kind of feel like that the mission statement

of what they're going for is like what happened with Christina of like, see, that's it. That's the show. And I think that it's great if you get that, but I feel like that that should not be what the show is. that's not what we're going for, you know, it's just remember, remember how you got started. Remember, remember, like, you know, 39 days, 16 people, one survivor. Like, it's not like 30, 26 days, 18 people, 18 stories, you know, 18 experiences.

I hate to give Chris Hammons any credit, you know, because, you know, they are slow at thinking. down there in Oklahoma. But I will say this. He has been screaming and calling for an original season. He's like, I want you to go back to the original two tribes. Nobody gets anything. Go play Survivor.

Like no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, you can do rewards. No, no, I'm sorry. You can do rewards. No, none of that stuff. No, no, that's, you're going back too far. It's like, okay, it's like, you know, if I kind of like to see that. Well, it's also like in football we don't need to say like hey it's getting too crazy let's go back to get rid of the forward pass get rid of the get rid of the go back to leather helmets like go back to

I'd be fine to let's just go rewind it back to where we started in Fiji give me give me two tribes and just a couple of idols yeah and I think let me ask you this yeah would you go back to the 39 days I don't think honestly I don't think you need it like I understand the product like I understand why it's why it's better but I understand understand that there are production reasons of like, hey, for our budget, we need to, we need to keep the shortened schedule of 26 days. Like, I, I've never really been like, hey, it needs to be 39. I think 30 is a round number.

If you could go to 30, I think that that's a nice compromise. But I don't think that that's the viewer. I don't think necessarily can tell the difference between it being 26 days or 39 days. Okay, fair enough. I would like to see it go back to it. I understand. I just think as you get better, I think you get a lot of really good TV in those last 10 days. Well, I do.

Sure. It's like, you know, if you have 39 days of raw material, you're going to, you know, get better stuff to have to fit 13 episodes. You've shot 39 days of stuff. So there's less of a chance you're going to have boring episodes when you have 39 days of like, you know, if you have three. days of content to mine from as opposed to, you know, one or two days, like you're going to have more raw footage to be able to find great stuff. Yeah. Yeah. It's, you know, I, they need to do something. Let's put that way. I don't know what the rings are. I know I still love the show. I still watch. I'm always going to watch. But I just feel like, yeah, something, there's something

missing. And 51 is going to be the test, I think. Yeah, 51. And what, do you like my idea, Area 51 of like aliens? I love it because I'm a big aliens guy. I love, I listen to Joe Rogan had a great podcast just recently with the guy that wrote this, the age of disclosure. What did they say?

So he's saying that they pretty much interview in all these dignitaries and politicians and, you know, generals. And they're saying that they've been visiting us for years. I haven't figured it out yet. So it's like we have Survivor 51, is area 51, we do some, get something with, but I don't know what, I don't know if it needs to be on Area 51.

It needs to be on the, it needs to be on the moon. No, no, I, because look, we're not, we're still in Fiji. Like, let's be real here, Brett. Come on. Yeah. But maybe tribal council is like some sort of like crashed spaceship. Okay, Survivor, you can use this, okay? Instead of like, oh, it's a pirate ship.

It's a, it's a spaceship, okay. Yes, why not? Area 51 theme. Like, listen, have fun with it. You're on to something. I'm on. This is a great idea. We're cooking.

We don't need. We've seen this ship. We've seen the pirate mast. Enough. We want the downed aircraft. We want the downed flying saucer with little guys coming out of it, you know? I don't. I want the idol.

I want the idols to be little green men. Yes. That's cool. That's cool. Like, yeah, instead of like, okay, it's like that everybody has to carry. a, you know, giant chameleon, like in the child. No, it's, there's an alien.

We're moving. We're bringing the alien for the autopsy. Big Brother is going to steal this from you, okay? Survivor? Yeah. And for immunity, you get like a tinfoil hat. That's what you get if you win immunity, you know? So, I love it. Don't let Big Brother

51 get to this and you'll be kicking yourself in 20 years. Well, do you remember when we went to, Rob has a podcast, was live in Toronto. Yeah. We were up there and Big Brother Canadian Big Brother. Oh yeah, Big Brother Big Brother, yeah. With Kevin Martin

I think was, uh, did well. They had, they had like a Star Trek theme on that big brother. Remember it was like a spaceship. Yeah. It was a really cool set. So you're right. I think they will steal it. And, and, uh, you know, Jeff better get on it because, uh, I think this is

you get something here. A nice crashed UFO in the, in the, in, in, in the, in, in the Fijian See, I'd be, because they would get people like, wait, what? Survivors doing an alien thing. All right, I got to, I got to see this. Yes, exactly. Maybe there's like, you know, some people, maybe it's like a tribe of people that's like,

hey, we believe in aliens versus don't believe in aliens. The believers versus like, you know, the truth is out there. And I don't know. And maybe like the believers tribe is like that they have, they have like, they have like, they have like belief in all sorts of things. Right. No, I like it. Yeah. I'm this person is, you know, believes

in this. This person believes this. And this person, I'm a skeptic. Right. Yeah, they're flat earthers too. You know, like. Yeah, I think people get uncomfortable, uncomfortable when you, you know, you're bringing, like put flat earthers on television. Yeah, no, I hear. I mean, I think you could do, you could do believe. I mean, look at it.

There's plenty of people that go, like, take Larry. Like my, we do a podcast. Yeah. He doesn't, he thinks I'm crazy. He's like, there's no way. So there's a perfect guy that normal person who does not believe there's any aliens doesn't believe we've ever been visited, doesn't believe anything. And I'm on the opposite side

where I'm like, wait a minute, I think there might be something to this. So yeah, I mean, you could definitely find two groups of people, believers, non-believers, you go to tribal council, there's the spaceship, you know. I love it. The tribal council spaceship is great. The rest of it, I think is still a work in progress.

But I'm just saying, like, hey, like, dump out all the pieces out of the box. So figure like you've, you have an opportunity here to do anything. Right. I mean, look at they, they made those big heads of Sandra and

Boston Rob. Right. If you do that, you can do a spaceship at Travel Council. That's just as alien as having a down spaceship, you know? So I think it's great. I think it's a great idea and I hope they're listening to you, Rob. I really do. Yeah. If you're out

there, if you're listening. I'm talking to the aliens. I hear you. Yeah. Get no frills delivered. Shop the same in-store prices online and enjoy unlimited delivery with PC Express Pass.

Get your first year for $2.50 a month. Learn more at pceexpress.ca. Who are you most closest to 150? I'd say the person I know the best is Christian. Okay. Yeah, yeah. You know, Christian, as a, since he's played. I thought he's going back.

I like, he's a good dude. Yeah. That's going to be like, I think he was somebody who, when he played his season, it was like a, you know, a instant person. Okay, I'm going to see him, have him come back. So I'm very excited that he has the chance to play again. Yeah. Same.

Yeah. So that's good. So we'll see. And, and then one, just one of the thought I had with, you know, and I've been like you and I said, you know, I think it's too much from the new era. Do you think that any part of it is like, hey, sure, we've got. Not the old legends, but, like, this is our chance, like, let's bring back a ton of people from the new era, and we're going to make some new legends. Like, maybe, like, maybe we're going to, like, at the end of this is going to say, you know, we're going to have, be invested in, like, you know, we're going to have, like, five or six new legends instead of, like, the old guard getting long in the tooth.

Now, look at, look at us now. We've rebuilt the legends. I think that the problem is is a lot of the fans there's a lot of old school fans and I think they're yearning for the old legends

and I think I'm not taking away from the new legends I think there's some great people out here but they have time we're moving on after this like I just think I think people really want to see some of the old legends

especially people that have been watching the show for a long time yeah I hear that Brett anything else on your mind in terms of Survivor no I mean I'm still watching so it's you know they're doing something right uh but i you know i'm you know i'm hoping i'm hoping as we move forward uh you know i was hoping for longer seasons but uh i would be happier

with better rewards uh better yeah here let me ask you some of the rewards uh here here we go that um brandon tracked down some of the rewards uh from from survivor over the last couple seasons. Let me get your reaction to. In season 43, they had a reward. It was iced coffee. Come on. America runs on donkey. I will say. I will see. Yeah. If it's donkeys, maybe we'll talk. You do, I was dying for coffee out there. But once you've been there, you know, for 30, once you've been there for eight days, you're over coffee, right? I love coffee every morning. It was definitely something I miss. If you get reintroduced to it, now you're going to get back and get yourself back off it again. I don't know. I don't love that at all. Okay. All right. In Survivor 45,

they gave them a single rotissary chicken with no utensils. I mean, it's, I will say it's good. It's good. You'll be licking the bones off a rotissary chicken. That's fine. Yeah. I mean, it's better. It's better. So I'd say that's good. At least it's nourishment, you know. Okay. In Survivor 47, and they gave them one hot dog with no condiments. Awful. Who's going to have, and I think I remember complaining about this. Who is going to have a hot dog without relish?

I like a hot dog all around, we call it. Hot dog all around. Blue. Yeah, blue. Blue. Red, yellow, and green. Red, yellow, and green.

What's hot dog all around? Relish. You know, that's a hot dog all around. Catchup. Is this like at a certain restaurant? You go order an option? a hot dog all around? South Boston.

But if you get, you can't have, you can't just have a hot dog. You have to have ketchup. Rob, you're from New York. You understand exactly what I'm talking about. You can't just like,

my dad would be furious if somebody put ketchup on a hot dog. That that would be like, you know, that's, that's for babies. Yeah. You know,

my father, I think if I, if I would have continued to put hot dogs, or ketchup on a hot dog? I think my dad would have disowned me. Really? So what was he for? Mustard?

Yeah, only mustard. My dad loved mustard. Okay. So it's funny you say that because when I was a relish guy, mustard and sauerkraut. That's on a hot dog. That's it. All right, fair enough.

I will say this. And burn the hot dog. They burn it, burn it right? Yeah. When I was a kid, you go to Fenway Park, okay? No ketchup. You couldn't get ketchup. You only got mustard for your hot dog,

which kind of used to piss me. off, but now you can get, you can get ketchup for it. But you got to have something on it. You got to have some condiments. You can't just hand them a hot dog and say, here you go. This is your reward. I'd throw it back at them. I'd say, keep it. I'll go get some fish, you know? Take this dog and shove it. Yeah. Earlier this season, they had do it yourself deli sandwiches. That's fine, right? Yeah. Again, I don't, it just seems so weak. I mean, I guess if it's earlier in the season, I'm okay with it. But as you get to the end of the season, you want the big, good reward. Well, what did you think about when they tried to give them fruit? And then

Sophie, yellow Sophie was like, fruit. What are you talking about? I love that. I don't know. It can be fruit. I want meat. Like, that's not a reward. I know. It's better than like getting like, like, I don't know, like mashed potatoes and stuff like that that's going to really sit heavy in your thing. But it's con. You can go get fruit out in the jungle. You can find fruit out there, you know? So it's not, it's, they're, all of these are becoming non-reward. It's almost just a, annoying. And sometimes you're away from camp and you're missing stuff that's going on there. So I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't want to miss stuff. Whenever I see pizza,

Rob, you know how am I feeling about that? When they do the fichian pizza, it's like, come on. And that's the one thing I said to Justin, how could you, how could you pretend to like you, you are pizza? I mean, he's, he's got one of the best pizza shops in Boston. Yeah. I'm like, how could you pretend? Did he get pizza on life? He did. He ate it once. And I was like, how could you pretend that it was good? It's not good. You should have been honest. You know, but he's a good kid. And I'll tell you, great pizza. Yeah.

What about for Thanksgiving? What's your go-to Thanksgiving dessert? Well, so we get this pie. It's called fruits of the forest. I didn't realize. I thought there was just one lady that made it. Fruits of the forest. Yeah, it's all different fruits put in the pie.

It's so good. My dad, we always have pecan pie too, though, because my dad loves pecan pie. I like the fruits of the forest pie. What's yours? You know, I, I'm, I guess I'm a pumpkin guy, but I don't know. I feel like I'm losing my taste for it. I'm like, yeah, I feel like I used to like really clamor for it. And I just feel like that lately I've been having it and I know people are going to say like, yeah, because I bought the, I said on a podcast, I bought the pumpkin pie on Saturday for Thanksgiving.

Oh, yeah. But I don't know. But I don't know. Like lately I feel like I haven't like none of this stuff is like really hitting for me. Yeah. You know, I don't know. I don't do a lot of dessert anymore. So I definitely enjoyed it because I had some ice cream with it.

I usually don't get dessert at like a restaurant or anything anymore. So it was definitely, I definitely enjoyed it being that it was a holiday. I was going to have it. So it was good. But I don't know. I'm not a big dessert guy anymore, you know, so. All right. Well, anything else you want to tell people to check out, Brad?

What are you up to these days? I'm starting to get into some stand up. Yes. Yes, a little bit. So that's been fun. So I'm going to be hitting the stuff. I had to revamp my show a little bit. Why?

But I just didn't like the way it played out. So I'm just changing a few things. And you could do that. You could revamp a show. I can revamp it. Yeah. So it's good. I'm doing that.

You can follow me at Brett LaBelle on Instagram and Twitter. But other than that, I just, like I said, I just got back. I'm working. I got about three or four more years, Rob, and I'll be retiring for the place. for, so that's exciting. Okay. What are you going to do in your retirement? Not a thing. No, no, I, I'm going to be traveling a lot. Going over to Europe, there's so much I really need to see in this world. And so I'm going to try and do a lot of traveling. And then, then we'll reevaluate it after that, you know, so.

Yeah, you got to have a good plan. My dad, he retired from the police department, and then he, like, went, like, went stir crazy. He had to go back. Yeah, you have to have to go back. Yeah, you have to have to keep yourself busy. He retired. I went back. Yeah, I know guys that do this because they I don't know what I'm like I don't know what to do. I'm going like can I come back to work? I know. That's crazy. I can't imagine that. I can't imagine that. But I can see people get it's true. Yeah, I have some ideas on stuff I want to do. But for now I'm just going to kind of wing it, you know. But I mean, it's it's three years away. I'm just kind of enjoying my last three three or four years and that's it.

You know, who knows? I'll tell you what I am excited is to watch you on Traders. First of all, I love that show. January 8th. How great is that? I cannot wait to watch that. You know anybody else from that from that show? From this one that's coming up?

Yam Yam. Yeah. Yam's a good guy. I mean, we've only met, I mean, we've met three or four times and partied and we've gotten along great. I like Yamiam a lot. So I don't know. I've never played against them.

or anything like that. So I don't know any of that drama. But him and I get along great when we hang out. Okay. All right. Well, that's coming up January 8th. Also, Brett, did you know, I wrote a book. It's called The Tribe and I have spoken.

No kidding. Yep. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Yeah, that's coming out next year. But pre-orders are available. Rob has a book.com. And if you pre-order for the holiday season,

we'll send you a postcard that you can give to your loved one and let them know they're getting the gift of the tribe and I have spoken. I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to read that. I'm going to read that. I've got to read Fish's book. Stephen's book is fiction. This is mine is stranger than fiction. It's all about my thoughts on 25 years of Survivor.

Awesome. That's awesome. I can't wait to read it, Rob. That's great. Do you give any tips to people who are? Well, there is a chapter also about the strategy of how to win. Every single, you know, our Survivor Strategy Guide, no refunds of, you know, how to, how to navigate through every single aspect of the game.

Right. Good for you. That's awesome. That's a, that's a big challenge, man. That's a lot. Big undertaking, but I'm very excited for people to get the chance to check it out. It's like, it's like for your coffee table, a lot of art, a lot of designs and stuff like that throughout the, you know, it's a beautiful piece of any Survivor's collection.

I love it. I'm going to get one. Okay, that's great. All right, thank you all so much for joining us. We're going to have on Monday our exit interviews with Joanne, looking forward to talking to him. Check out my conversation with Andy also from Survivor 47, which we broke it all down,

really got into the weeds of the strategy from this last vote, and everything else we have coming up here as we're in the home stretch now into December, as we are now only a couple of weeks more of Survivor 49, and before you know it's Survivor 50. Take care, everybody. Have a good one. Bye.

Yeah. Thank you.