RHAP: We Know Survivor - Christian Hubicki Survivor 50 Preseason Interview

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

Christian Hubicki Survivor 50 Preseason Interview Mike Bloom (@AMikeBloomType) is here to chat to the cast of Survivor 50! Join us to hear from your favorite returning Survivor players! Survivor 50 is here, and Mike Bloom sits down with Christian Hubicki for an exclusive preseason interview. Christian, a fan favorite from David vs. Goliath, opens up about the anticipation and nerves of returning to the Survivor arena after seven years away. Christian kicks things off by sharing how it feels to still be on Survivor “wish lists” after nearly 200 new castaways have played since his last appearance. He dives deep into the importance of perception and narrative, explaining why controlling the story at camp and Tribal might be the most powerful tool in his arsenal for Survivor 50. Mike prompts Christian to weigh in on his “friend or foe” assessments of the new cast, leading to hilarious and candid explanations (including an unforgettable story about farting in front of Colby). Christian reveals his thoughts on being viewed as a threat, what he’s learned from missing out on Survivor 40, and his formula for handling unpredictable twists and fast-paced votes. – Christian’s philosophy: “Survivor is narrative warfare”—why being the architect of the story could be the key to winning – His take on returning players versus new faces, plus why challenge beasts and favorites are dangerous pre-merge – Funny moments: Christian’s accidental faux pas at Ponderosa and his approach to building alliances – Strategic planning: playbooks for vote splits, managing loose cannons, and picking the right allies – A personal reveal—Christian is competing for more than just himself this time, bringing fatherhood into the Survivor equation Christian and Mike explore big questions—can Christian’s storytelling skills shift the target? Who from the cast will be an unexpected ally or rival? How will secrets and relationships shape the opening days? Don’t miss this in-depth Survivor 50 preseason interview—get the scoop on strategy, cast dynamics, and all the unpredictable drama waiting to unfold! Chapters: 0:00 Intros 06:20 Christian Returns, Fulfills Wish List 12:20 Narrative Warfare Drives Survivor Strategy 18:00 Friend Or Foe: Cast Rundown Begins 24:00 Categorizing Castaways By Archetype 30:00 New Secret Weapon: Christian’s Motivation 36:00 Playing For Family, New Perspective 40:00 Example Setting For Next Generation Never miss a minute of RHAP’s extensive Survivor coverage! LISTEN: Subscribe to the Survivor podcast feed WATCH:  Watch and subscribe to the podcast on YouTube SUPPORT:  Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks!

This episode of Rob is a Podcast is presented by 20th Century Studios. Send Help from the Twisted Mind of Sam Ramey, Director of the Evil Dead, and Drag Me to Hell, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien. It's a new film that begs the question, what would you do if you were stuck on an island with your terrible boss? Do not answer if you work at Rob as a Podcast, okay? In Paradise, HR, can't hear you scream. Only in theaters in 3D this Friday. Hi, everybody. Mike Bloom here. Finally, with my Survivor 50 preseason interviews. I am bursting at the scenes right now for you all to be able to listen and watch my conversations with the 24 returning players making up the cast of this milestone season. Of course, I had the great privilege of getting to go out to Fiji to the set.

of Survivor 50 to watch the first few days of the game, get to talk with some of the people behind the scenes that make this whole thing possible, and of course to speak with all the castaways days before they dive back into their second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth season on Survivor. Now, the release schedule for these interviews, the cadence we're going to go at,

is going to be incredibly similar to how we've been doing it for the past two seasons, but for the uninitiated, just so you're all aware how you can sort of set your watch to these interviews, is that you are going to be getting two interviews a day. In the podcast version, which you are listening to right now,

both of those interviews are going to be contained in one podcast. The video versions of these interviews, which you can check out at rob has a website.com slash YouTube are going to be two separate videos. but you should be expecting two of my conversations with the Survivor 50 cast a day. And we're also going tribe by tribe. We have three tribes of eight people each this season. And so how it's going to work is that we'll have one day of two interviews, another day of two interviews, a third day of two interviews, a fourth day of two interviews.

And then we press pause because the day after that is a little bit of a roundup. I'm going to get together with Rob Cessernino to get his thoughts on the previous eight interviews that we just experienced. Talk about what the shape of this tribe might be, who were going to be some easily tight duos, who's going to be in danger early on, et cetera, et cetera. So essentially, for interviews, it's four days on, one day off. And you can expect that for all three tribes. So lock in the next two weeks are going to be dedicated to the. these interviews. Make sure you're subscribed to our Survivor podcast feed if you're not already at

We KnowSurvivor.com. Just a couple of other disclaimers before we finally get into my first Survivor 50 preseason interview. So obviously these interviews are done in the wild, in the jungles of Fiji. And I brought my best, you know, electronic accommodations to try to give you the best sound and visual possible. Thank you so much to Rob for your help with that. But, of course, we are at the whims of Mother Nature.

With this group of interviews in particular for this season, sometimes the wind picked up a bit. So apologies in advance if sometimes, you know, parts of interviews are either a little quiet or get obscured briefly because of the sounds around them. But for the vast majority of these interviews, I think we were able to get a lot of really good quality out of not only the sound, but the things that are being said.

Another formality as well, and I'll talk about this more when we get to the Rizzo and Savannah interviews, but when I talk with the cast, we are not able to disclose any information about the two 49ers, including their names. Spoiler alert, everyone pretty much knew their names already, but if you hear me specifically refer to, quote, the 49 players, that's me trying to keep it purposefully,

vague. But let's start with a man who never keeps things vague, delightfully so. Now, again, we're going tribe by tribe here. We are starting with the SELA tribe, and we're doing these interviews in alphabetical order by first name. And this was all a configuration I wanted to make happen so that the first interview you all listened to from my Survivor 50 preseason conversations was with the one, the only Dr. Christian Hubicki, or Hubicki, I suppose, as Jeff would put it. But we're not asking who this man is, because obviously a major standout character from David versus Goliath. And of course, what I thought was a really wonderful chat. Suffice it to say, Christian has a lot of thoughts during his time between seasons about how

he wants to approach this second timeout and he lays them all out for me. It is in a word unpredictable in many, many ways. I guess just some quick personal details from Christian, from his updated bio, we'll get more into some stuff from this in my conversation with Rob, but Christian currently 39 years old, originally from Baltimore, currently lives in Tallahassee, Florida, and he is a robotics professor. So he's got a big game plan. He's got the X's and O's or the ones and zeros about how this time he's going to take home the money

to buy as many macaroons as possible and maybe be able to have an extra mouth to feed in the process. Just so you all know for today and today only, we are actually doing two separate individual podcasts for these interviews. again, moving forward, they're going to be combined into one, two-for-one show, but this one is a solo-bolo podcast with Christian. So that also means in the middle of the conversation,

there will be an ad break, just to give you all a heads up. But let us not tarry any further. I have been yapping way too much. It is time I turn to the yapper extraordinaire and officially begin my Survivor 50 preseason interviews with Christian Hubecky. You were on many people's wish list, Christian. You made our wish list. And that wish came true.

Yeah, well, thank you. And you're here. I'm glad to be here. It's a lot. Yeah. How are you feeling right now? Because I think that certainly after your season aired, obviously this is the first time you've gotten this opportunity,

but there have been so many lists that were like, God, I hope that the people like Christian and Angelina and Chrissy who, you know, didn't get their opportunity in the 30s, get the chance to come back. Yeah. So when you finally got that, that opportunity to come at your feet, how are you feeling about it? I mean, it felt validating. that people that a lot of times passed, it's been seven years since I've played.

I mean, roughly 200 people, I think 198 or so, who's counting, have played since me. Yeah. The fact that I'm still on these lists is so flattering. I mean, I think it helps that David versus Goliath was such a well-received season. Absolutely. But at the same time, like, I feel like with Angelina and me,

we're kind of like a yin and yang for that season across the David and Goliath stories. And also a little Mike White drizzled on top as well. I'm sure we'll get to him. Yeah, exactly. He's a sauce. But really what it was ultimately is, I mean, I try to be humble about it because I'm like, look, I'm lucky. I'm lucky that they chose me.

I got lucky by circumstance. But if I just write it off, it's, oh, I was lucky. I really do myself with the service. Yeah. And that I have to acknowledge to myself that I did something to earn this. Because if I do not own my own strengths, I will end up carpet bombing people with a charm apocalypse again. Uh-huh. And then everyone says, we like you so much, Christian.

18 votes. So that's the thing that I want to get into is the fact that, you know, so one of the many delightful narratives of David versus Goliath was that arguably one of the David's of the David's was a Goliath was someone who was perceived from that first life puzzle as like the BMOC, someone to get rid up to the point where you got those 18 votes. So what is the sense of your perception coming in here based on that? So I think time helps and hurts in a way. I think that time helps that I'm no longer like the most recent threat. Oh my God. We have three people from 38 here. We just saw.

Two of him were in a secret alliance, ain't no secret no more. But, but, like, time helps there. And it even helps in the fact that some of these newer players, they might actually look at me with some kind of reference. That's something that I never really expected. You know, like, if I would have come back for, say, 40, and this is the first time I'll say on the record, I was in contention for 40.

Yeah. And I wasn't even sure if I was going to go because it was so soon thereafter, and I had a job that I was worried about. But then they changed the theme, and I had it ripped away, and I'm like, damn, it really hurt. You don't know what you've got until it's gone. Exactly.

I wanted it to be my choice at least, but, you know, I probably would have ultimately come around to it, but it would have been hard. Yeah. But yeah, but like, anyway, it's back to the reputation. The other thing is here is everyone is scared. I think deep down, on some level, everyone is scared. There was a moment I was in a tent yesterday with coach, and I remember I was starting to get to my own head a bit.

like, like, coach was like in my way. Like, like, he was, he was like, he had his feet propped up to the over, in front of the only entrance to the tent I had to get through. Yeah. And the man did not budge a millimeter to let me get out. I'm like, oh my God, this man ate me? Is this man pre-gaming and decided that I'm dead? And I'm like, what, I've got in my own head.

And then, like, not five minutes later, coach starts freaking out in the tent. She's like, I'm about to lose my mind. I'm stuck in this tent so long. I'm about to lose my mind. If I had anxiety, I would run off into the forest. right now. I'm like, he's scared. Coach, in my opinion, has always had a narrative about fear.

That's in my opinion. But that's the same for everyone. There is a reason that everyone out here is scared. Do you think Dee's not scared that she's not scared that she's not booted because she's a winner? Yeah. And she just played the challenge. Everyone is scared. So what is about is marshalling the right narrative where I'm not the current person to be scared of. And that I will say is my dominating strategic mindset this season, is that Survivor,

is narrative warfare. It's about votes, yes, it's about relationships. It's about all these things. But they're all incomplete pictures as to what this season is about. The reason I was a giant threat was because I was a narrative threat. And who set that threat?

Fricking Mike White. The king of narratives. The writer himself. The writer himself. He told a very simple story which said, Christian is the David. He will slay Goliath. If you let him get to the end,

he will win. Simple story. It's like inception. A simple enough story buried deep enough We'll plant seeds and grow. I want to steal his power this season. That's the thing I learned.

You're picking up the pen. I'm picking up the pen. It's mine. So, like, that's the thing I learned the most. And I've kept close to the vest across 30 hours of, probably 60 hours of podcasts at this point. It was, like, it's narrative warfare. That's my secret strategy is that I, is that, especially with 50,

there is no set narrative other than in the hands of the fans. Yeah. You can make up whatever narrative you want. Yeah. It's like, you know, you know, Ozzie, what? Would the fans want all the old sports stick together? Yeah. You know, it's like, you know, Charlie, Charlie, really, the fans are going to be happy if you just stick together with all the new scores, with D and whatever.

Are they going to be happy with that? Charlie might not be able to buy it, but some people will. Yeah. And though people that are most susceptible to the narratives are the ones I want around, and the least susceptible are the ones I want to talk. I looked back on our exit interview that we had during David versus Goliath. And when you expressed to me was that you had sort of like written a playbook preseason. of how to play the game and you wish you had memorized it. Yes.

Is there a new playbook for 50? Yes, there's a couple of things. Well, one, I spent a little bit more time writing out basically the blackjack tables and what to do when, where, and how at a vote. Okay? Because that's one thing that Nick did very effectively is he came up with the minority vote split at the final 12 of my season. And one of the moments I look back on that I could have changed is that if I had come up

with that idea, because I knew Davey had the idol, he had learned it later, I could have chosen the target and if I had chosen the target to be Mike White Yeah not Mayor Slamdown Very different season Nick would have never gone for that Because he had a back channel alliance with him

But if I were calling the shots I would have And that would have set a very different tone Going down the stretch The only person who would have been beating the drum To get me out At that point would be Angelina Who did not have the credibility

With the Goliath tribe I could have brought the Rotaches back into the fold That's one of the butterfly effect things that I think could have been different. Do I beat myself up in that? No, I did not. I undervalued the occasional time when those crazy votes would happen. Yeah. And what they mean. And now those votes are crazier. You mean, you've seen these seasons? Do you God? I'm like, I'm actually, I have not gotten a full, complete answer from production as to what the role of the shot in the dark is on a rock draw and during consensus vote. I ask them, hopefully on the beach,

they will tell me. Yeah. But those things matter, knowing what to do when matters. And especially when the game is faster. You don't have time to think it through. You gotta have the playbook. All right. Well, let's take a look at some of these players in the playbook. Sure. We'll play a game with you, Christian, friend or foe. Okay. We're going to go through the cast. Okay. You give me friends, someone you want to, you know, hopefully share a buff with, join up with. Either someone you're not viving with or someone that you are looking to get rid of as a threat. You can provide explanations or we can just go rapid fire, whatever. And we'll obviously talk about

some of these preexisting relationships that you may mention of a couple times. Let's start from the top here, Jenna. Okay. So real quick preamble for this. obviously anything will change on the island. As people understand. Jenna, friend. Okay. Any reason why? She could be a loose cannon. I want to point at a direction at some point.

That woman will not quit. I think she's a misunderstood old school player. Classic player. I'll call them classic era. Classic era player. They're going to love that. They're classic era player. I mean, the woman in her mind almost won all-stars. She thinks she, like she thought she was one alleged foot smudge away from winning.

And I listened to podcasts with Rob that she did from 2005. I think I know what bothers her, but she's a loose canon. She can be a loose canon, but she tries really, really hard. So she also marshaled the relationship with Rupert, et cetera. Like, I think there's angles there. So I think I could temporarily work with it. How about Colby? Honestly, foe, mostly because I would love to work with him.

I worried that I farted in front of him. So I worried that he hates me. So, like, I, So I remember, I was like, I'm trying to be chill at Ponderosa. And I grab a table that's next to Colby's table and we're enjoying, at least I'm trying to enjoy the sunset. And Colby, who was resting murder face, I think for most of the time, like Pondorosa. Like, I'm like, I want Robby to like me.

I was like, so I always try to be chill. Like, yeah, you know, I'm just the guy who's enjoying the sunset. And I just had this feeling. I'm like, did I just let something out? And I think it was silent but mild. And I think I was far enough away. but I'm estimating the radius of this smell. And we're outside.

It's like, what's the wind direction right now? Exactly. I'm like, the wind direction wasn't favorable. I looked back at him, and I didn't know if it was his resting murder face or he had one nostril up. And I'm like, oh my God, I just eaten, I pound food at Ponderosa. I'm just like, I wasn't even like intentional. I'm like, does he know?

Does he know? But like, I think I've had a series of minor escalating faux pas with Colby. I think that they might all be in my own mind. but I also think he may think I'm from outer space So I so I look I you know The idea you know Sparer thought for Cor Colby who had Two thousand babies named after him in the year 2001

You know it was being farted at by some random guy on an island It's like who's upwind And and also spare a thought for me that this is going through my head And I am a tenured professor of robotics I've won major international awards for my work And this is where my mind is at at the moment Listen, the deprivation can get to you in so many ways, that pressure cooker. Yeah.

So hopefully, you know, after he's been thought out of cryosleep, he's a little more chill. It'll be a gas no matter what. Yeah, so, you got me there. How about Stephanie? Stephanie, I worry about her. I'd say foe, just because she, when we initially came out of our hotel room for the first time in L.A., you know, there are four people that came out of hotel rooms at the same time. It was me, it was Stephanie, Tiff and D. Stephanie looks at D.

She's like, oh, my God. If you looked at as tip, oh my God, it looks at me. He's like, yeah. I'm like, hello to you too, Stephanie. I mean, look, here's the thing. One thing I learned last time is I do have a capacity to get people to like me, right? I don't need to carpet bomb everyone.

Charm offensive, yeah. Charm offensive, but I think in the one-on-ones, give me three minutes with Colby and Stephanie. I think I can have a working relationship. I think I can do it. How about Sarai? Surrey, dangerous. But I think, honestly, friend,

what I would say, I'm thinking, this is what I'm thinking about. I'm cooking up in my mind. I don't know if I would do this. But what is Ceree scared of more than anything in the world for the Survivor season? Leaves. Leaves, number one. Number two, getting picked off early, I imagine.

Number three, she cannot make that final tribal to save her life. What if someone offered her that? That's a dangerous game to play. And mean it, and mean it. Yeah. I mean, say, look, Ceree, you and I have similar problems to vastly different degrees.

You know, I can't make a final tribal. You have a real hard time making final tribal. You know, you have a massive target. I have a minor target. You know, it's a matter of degrees, but the similar problem. What, you know, if I thought to keep you in the final three all the way the end,

I would take you to the final three. And, you know, you can believe me or not believe me. But, you know, I think over time you'll learn to take me seriously. Seriously. Dangerous play. She will go off and she will laugh about this idiot and try to make a deal with her. But at least it might be worth a shot as long as she's not looking for an easy first pick to throw me under the bus. How about Ozzy? Ozzie, Brent.

Very chill. Met him one time, glorious time. Fantastic. How about coach? I will make him, my friend. I think the man, I used to be scared of him, but then I think I saw the Matrix. He's afraid. For all of his machismo and all his puffing out of hubris, it was a constant in all of his seasons. He was afraid to go to exile island to exile and token chains. You know, he was afraid.

He flipped to Russell's alliance. Yeah, he was afraid to vote out Boston Rob. He was afraid to stand up for him too. Yeah. He was afraid. And I think that that's the thing you've got to remember that there are, that one thing I can offer is reassurance. I do this to my students all the time. with coach it has to be a carrot.

You've got to dangle it out just enough that he keeps wanting to come in your direction. So, so I'm going to say I'm going to make him a friend. All right, let's turn to the 30s. Aubrey. Aubrey, friend. Have you talked in the past?

Very briefly during her season, like during 38. And so we were both on each other's radars, exchanged a few text messages, but it's very friendly. Very friendly. I think that we would vibe. So long, well, if she starts talking astrology,

my knuckles will turn a shade of white, previously unknown to science. But other than that, I sure we'll get along great. How about Chrissy? Chrissy. Friend. I think that she will be looking for friends. Now, I think she has a lot of connections. The connections start to scare me with Chrissy. Because I think she goes to a lot of these events. She talks to a lot of the moms. But I think that she's also going to be looking for someone who takes her word and an idea very seriously. I love working with professional women. Especially, and I'm happy to be their partner.

Well, let's open up Pandora's box, shall we? Okay, what's your other? Give me your thoughts on Angelina. Angelina? So, now, let me caveat this. I say that because I think everyone assumes that we're going to be working tightly together. Right. I think people will assume that.

I think, and I harbor no ill personal will to Angelina nor Mike. I don't believe in revenge, but I also don't believe in being stupid. Like, this woman was so driven to win last time. Yeah. And now she's fighting for her two wonderful daughters that she loves dearly. Do you think she's going to let me slide by for her family? No way. Yeah.

No way. That she's absolutely going to do what she needs to do for her kids. But yeah, but she's also not the only parent from David Rist Goliath. So there's that. Let's get into Mike. Yeah. I mean, you showed up in Thailand. Do you think maybe bygones or bygones, but what are your feelings?

I think that Mike sincerely would want to work with me. Okay. For now. I think that he, but when the circumstances change, he will flip. And I think that, and this man, he will say he's here for the experience again, but fool me twice. You know, it's like, but like, I mean, the guy, he, he's the man who has everything. He won an Emmy. He'd rather win Survivor.

I think on some level he'd rather win this show. So I'd be a fool to forget that. He's a friend. I think he's a friend. I don't think he'd be looking to take me out early. But there's no way. Like this idea, oh, take me to the final three. I don't want to win.

He's not going to make that mistake again. He will get to the end, and then he will make a beautiful speech and tell everyone why he should be the winner of season 50. Yeah. Give me your thoughts on Rick Devons. Friend. He, I want him to be my captain, the captain Kirk to my Mr. Spock. Oh, I love that. Well, I want to Kobayashi Maru this shit.

I could totally see, like, I'm plotting photon torpedo trajectories. and he is and he's like, you know, be him in a beam down on away missions. Basically, I want, I think that, I think we get along. I'd never met him. Yes. But I just, I just know it.

I just know we'd get along. And, um, and, and I can imagine a world, like, here, Rick, here's some ideas. Let's get around some ideas. Let's do this at tribal. And that man would ham it up so hard at tribal. The thing that he needs to do,

there are so many weird inside vote split opportunities. Yeah. With raised and lost votes that force different kinds of, uh, uh, consensus. consensus discussions, could you imagine, could you imagine what he would do in one of those things? Oh my God. And he'd be out in front doing it.

Yeah. He's a person that I would gladly go to the end with because I think we have actually perfectly in-line threat profiles. There's no reason for us to target each other. Who's the McCoy in this situation? Who's your bones? Bones? Well, do we have any doctors here?

Yeah. Who's sassing us bones? I'll just say like, Colby might be like, dammit, I'm a cowboy, not a doctor. I think that Colby would be bones. The other one would be Mike White. He'd be like, I'm done with this shit. Yeah, exactly.

I'm like, the Spock and Vos relationship very much, the, you know, the Yining Yang, as it were. All right, let's get to the new era, shall we? Yes. Jonathan. Friend, I think I can get him on my side. I think that I remind him of Omer in the good ways, but not the ways he doesn't like. I think is, I imagine. And I think that I can play that.

But I think that from watching Jonathan, I think I could recognize the signs of what he's going to turn on an Omer, so I can be aware of when that's likely to happen. How about D? D. Who? Foe. Foe. I think that she is so well connected. I think that if there's a threat of there being an old sort of new school alliance,

she is going to be near the center, near the center of it. I want to play the, I want to play a little bit more get the goat this season, but also a little more get the glue. And so the, you're that glue remover. Yeah, yeah, you got to get out that acetone.

And, you know, and I want to ruin her beautiful, gorgeous hair. In person, it's fucking phenomenal. That's just, but like, but the acetone's got to come out. And I think that she's a prime target. nothing to do with the fact that she won. But everything to do with the fact that she has that louder to win. All right. Let's talk Emily.

Because listen, we've had a couple of these opportunities where you've gotten to play these games. You've got to lie to each other's faces. How does that affect the way you're perceiving her? Emily is a friend. However, she's an excellent liar, in my opinion. At least in my opinion, I have a hard time telling if she lies. So full disclosure here, Mike and we've played a lot of

blood in the clock tower together. We have. Social strategy game, this hidden roles game. And we have done this with Emily. Flippin. And Emily Flippin went to Clock Tower Khan, you know, and she's, she's very talented. But I think that she's also one of the people, a person who's going to need some allies early on. I think she's very worried early on. But the other thing, don't watch, don't sleep with Emily Flippin. She's very good at lowering her expectations of her and therefore

a threat profile. I think that she does this intentionally. I think she's very good at it. I think that her demeanor is such that she comes across like, I don't know, I'm worried I'm going to be home first, but I'll just hang out and I'll drink martini at Ponderosa. But she's actually here to play. How about Charlie? Charlie foe. So primarily, I think he's amazing. I think that he has all these skills. The reason he is a foe is because of how normal he is. I actually have, I have a flaw in hypothesis as to how and why the season was put together. And Charlie is one of the people that clinched as to why that is. So, so basically, I remember this, there were leaks about the cast that dropped a few days before it was officially announced we had to go. And I looked at this list

is like, this list makes sense. This list makes a lot of sense. It's got me, and it's got Mike White on it, and I know deep down Mike White would play. That's unsurprising me. So this is a real list. And so I'm looking at this list, like, but there's some choices.

I'm like, why is this person on there? And you see three, like, alpha male dude figures. You've got, you know, you got, you know, your Joe, we'll get the Joe, Jonathan, and Jonathan Young and also Ozzie. Yeah. So there are trios. The season is cast in trios.

Ooh. So this is my, this is my, I'm putting my nickel down on this hypothesis. There we go. Okay. There are four major categories, three men, three women from each. Okay. There are the challenge piece.

Yes. Those are your Ozzy. That's Joe and Jonathan Young. There are women challenge beasts. That's Tiff. That is, um, honestly, Chrissy. Yeah. One four immunity challenges.

Why am I blanking on the, on the fourth one? Stephanie. Stephanie McGroth, then you have the, uh, the drama. People who are there for drama. I'll get the drama. Yeah. There's, there's some dramatic characters kind of. So you got your coach.

You got your cue. I am so far to, go to say, the Riz God might be some source of drama. It's actually helped me slide in where our last

249ers coming to Oh, interesting. So, and the last one under challenge, so for the women who are drama, I mean,

Angelina, I think, and to be clear, all these people can be strategic and good and challenges. This is why they're on the season.

They know they will deliver drama. You've got, I think you got Angelina, I think you've got Geno Lewis. I listened to her old

podcast from 2005, the woman will stir the pot. Yeah. And I think Savannah slides into that last slide. I'm not sure about here, though. I have thoughts on it. Okay.

Then you have the people who are there for comic relief and witty commentary to camera in confessions. That's me. That's Rick Devons. That's Mike. That's Aubrey. That's Emily Flippen. And that's Camilla.

Okay. Then you have this final category where Charlie Lies, which are the favorites. These are the people who are there because they are most likely to be excellent winners. Interesting. So these are people, they have a lot of these characteristics, but frankly,

they read as normal. You know, so, like, I mean, certainly compared to people that are cast for comedy and commentary. Exactly, by contrast. I mean, that's where Charlie fits. That's where Kyle fits. That's where Colby fits.

Now, Colby just awoke from Survivor cryout sleep. I don't know how he'll do out here. I mean, you never know, but he's there because he's likable and normal. And for the women, I mean, that's where you get, that's where Dee falls into place. That's where Genevieve and Franklin Surrey. Those are those six are the favorites.

I don't have a target list on this season, but insofar as one would exist, it is those six that they are in the way of winning. I have to acknowledge, I'm not here to be the hero. I'm here because they know I will say funny things to camera.

Not that I can't win. I absolutely can't. I mean, Jam, Jam. I can win. But if you're betting at the blackjack table, those six are you the ones you bet. Okay, so talk to me about Q. Is not in that category?

Is he a friend to you? Currently a foe. I think I made eye contact with him once. I'm not sure if he was, I don't know if he was, He was trying to, like, size me up to eat me. I'm not sure. But, like, it was, like, it was, it was very, like, he's, he's, he puts up this distortion

field around the game. And really, that's the reason. Like, I don't know if I can play a good game when he's on my tribe, you know, just, I think about all many, all these weird plans that came into play because he's there as a distraction. Yeah. He's a reality distortion field. Maybe that would help me out if I was there.

Maybe if it would distract me from being a target. I don't know. But currently a phone. Tiffany. Tiffany, friend. I think, I, I, I actually think that there's a, She would be a wonderful, like, completely unknown alliance partner. Yeah.

I hope that she would like me. I think she followed me on Instagram like a day before I left. So I should have, I don't know. I should have said hi or something. I don't know, but I didn't want to say anything. But, like, I would love to get on the beach with her and then connect with her. We'll see. We'll see.

Genevieve, she was in your six. She's my six, but I would work with her at least for a while. Interesting. Yes. I think that she is going to, you know, she wants to learn about the power of emotion, Mike. And what better from a robotics research science. Exactly. No, but like she's very bright, but I think that she can take her later, and I think that she's, the thing is, in a way, she's an odd, but interesting replacement for Gabby.

Oh. And it could be for me, because she's not Gabby in many, many ways. But I think that she's a person that she wants a stable ally. She had to work with Andy last time. I remember this, I'm listening to all these people's voices in my head in their podcast where I'm sitting next to them. And I'm looking at them and listening about what their regrets are from their seasons. Yeah. And Genevies, like, I wanted to work with Andy, but I just wanted to work with Andy, but I just,

wasn't stable. It's like, well, I could be a stable ally for you, at least in the meantime. And the reason that the Christian Gabby relationship did not work in the long run is because there was a disparity in credit. But there's no world where I think Genevieve comes across as not having agency in the decisions she makes.

Give me Joe. Jimmy Joe. Friend, hopefully. I think that, I think that, I hope he likes the cut of my gym. I do have a minor connection of him with him through Eva. Eva and I worked in the same robotics laboratory. Oh, I didn't know this. Yeah, we actually worked in the same building

at Georgia Tech for a while. We did not overlap. We just missed each other. But yeah, so, like, I think that she would have mentioned to Joe that, oh, yeah, like, because even I talked during her season and talked about, oh, what did you work on? What'd you work on? Yeah. So, yeah, no, we worked in similar fields. And so maybe there's

something there. Now, does you take that to the bank? No. But I'm going to be on a tribe. Does the other aspect of trios thing? That's how you build a tribe. There's, there's eight of each character type. three tribes of eight. It's trios. That's how you build a tribe. So, odds are I'm going to be on a tribe with Jonathan,

with Ozzy, or the third, Joe. Yeah. So I want to make sure as long as I'm good with Ozzy, Jonathan, or Joe, odds are one of them is going to be in my tribe. Camilla. Camilla. Oh, God. I don't know what the mega of her resting assassin face.

I don't know. I would love to work with him. Better than the resting murder face. Yeah, Mercer rates. I just, I just, I don't know. I don't know if he's just annoyed to be there. But Camilla, it's a problem because, like, sure, she's known for lying. Yeah.

That's the thing. She made her reputation that she's known for lying. And she's in the season 38 trio, right? Yeah. Now, I do like the distraction of it being a season 38 trio in the season 46, sorry, 48. So you know what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah. Audience, I'm not an idiot.

Drop the three, put the place for the four. Yeah, so 46 and 48 trios are good distractions. But, I mean, she, I think she wants old school survivor blood and her breakfast cereal, I think is what she wants. Kyle's in your six. Kyle's in my six. I think that Kyle is definitely a, if you have an opportunity

in the pre-merge, take him out. You have to get some of these favorites off the board before you hit the merge. If there are too many, the one will slip in the end. What about the 49ers? Any sense? I mean, you seem like you were trying

to slot them into things. Does that inform the way that you're trying to regard these unknown entities? Absolutely. I think that the Riz God, well, first of all, I don't even know what kind of God he is.

I don't know if he's a benevolent god. I don't know if he's a vengeful god. I don't know if it's part of the Greek pantheon. He's the god of Riz. Yeah, when someone says you're a Riz god, you say yes. Yeah, you say yes. I mean, I don't know why the Riz God walks among us, but I think that he, like, clearly what he, he's so cocky.

It just comes across in his confessions. There's one confessional we saw before we left. He saw his season preview. That was very informative. He's a super incredibly crazy. I think the answer's foe. He's a crazy fan. Like, I found he, he's a crazy fan.

his record of LRG placements. Wow. Yeah, he played, like, in a live reality game version of The Mole. Wow. He played live reality game version of The Big Brother. He's the superfan this season. It ain't me, that's for sure. It's him.

So he knows, and he's on the season for a reason. I mean, he reads as tall, athletic Ryan Ulrich. That's the way he reads to me. Yeah. And so he clearly did something. And the other thing is, like, there's a strong possibility one of these two won their season. The reason being is that

you have two winners but probably three tribes. The hypothesis is that if any one of those is on the third tribe without a winner, maybe they won. That's a hypothesis. But I think that he's a foe. I think that he's trouble. I think that...

The other thing is that you rarely get to use the advice you would have from a first time playing, again, for a returning player season. But one of the piece of advice is like, if you're sizing up new opponents on a reality show, you look at their face and you say, what's the first thing you think?

Because they're not normal people on the street. You should not judge a book by the cover in normal life, but these are not normal people. We are strange folk. Yes, we are. We are selected by casting to give a particular impression to the audience. So if the first thing is like, this person seems a little schemy to me,

you have to listen to that. And often, as we know, what's the record of these immediate turnaround players coming back on all the season. Pretty good. Pretty good. Fair. I mean, Aubrey and Zieg both made it pretty deep, deep-ish to the merge and deep into the merge. I mean, that's like, like, Zeke is, I think the one who did, like, the worst placement of all them. And Zieg was an intelligent guy. Yeah. And so I think that him and Savannah, we have, I think it might be the time to break that tradition and say, there is God, I, I, maybe one day I'll be one of your Rizbertarians, but they might not be

today. Who is one person you wish was cast on Survivor 50? Davey. It would be nice to have a person from my season

who I didn't think wanted to cut my throat all the time. That would be nice. I mean, I mean, he's, I mean, that, I have a personal bias there. I mean, but like,

I mean, but the obvious snubs. I mean, who are the obvious snubs? I mean, it's Jesse and Carolyn from the four years. I mean, like, there's such giant characters. Jesse, Jesse delivered the exact kind of move

that Survivor wants from the new era. So not having him, it would be nice to have a different target out there as well. Yeah. There's that. So I think that those are the other, the new era snubs. What role in Blunt on the Clock Tower you think will best summarize the game you're about to play in Survivor 50?

A storyteller, right? Storyteller. I mean, like, that's, I mean, that's where I hope to do this time. Let me get back to Savannah, by the way. So it's, so Savannah, I think that she fits in the drama category if I believe in my literal hypothesis. But let's pretend that my mathematical hypothesis is not correct. Okay. For a moment. Of course, yes.

But for a moment. But, like, I mean, she, I try to remember from the preview, I know you can't tell me, I wish I had listened very closely to the voices and the voiceover in the preview. And there had a lot of people saying very threatening things in the voiceover. And like one of which was about being a mermaid who would lure and drown men at will. I wish I had listened to that voice more to know if that was Savannah. And if that was Savannah, now we're dealing with a different character type. We're dealing with the more part of the character type, right?

Like, oh, this is a person who likes to play the flirt card and move things forward. I think that'd be a little bit redundant with Dee. I think that's what Dee did very, very well. I mean, she's talented in many ways, but that's one of the extra spice that Dee will bring. It's like she was able to wrap Austin around her finger was the way it was portrayed, at least. So that'd be a little redundant with that, but I think that maybe she was a big mover and shaker. So the funny thing about Savannah is I got on, when I was back in L.A., I got onto the shuttle bus to go to the hotel. And I get on the shuttle bus, and a young woman offers me to have me sitting next to her.

And I'm like, oh, no, that's okay, that's okay, I'm good, I'm good. I'll stand in the back. It's all right. And it was Savannah. I had no idea. I mean, like, I saw a picture of her from, you know, from various lists online. I was like, okay, that's like, these are the people allegedly on the season. But people look a little different in their life. But yeah, I mean, she's got the smoky eye thing going on.

I mean, that's not an accident when casting wants you. So I think that she's, I think that she is potentially dangerous. So foe. Okay. To be clear. But the funny thing, like, I did not know. The, because I was all, I was still in my last phone call with my wife, Emily. Not Emily Flippin for people who are confused.

Now my own wife at home, who was my girlfriend who was on the show the first time. And I was glad I was speaking in very, very hush tones because I almost gave away my biggest secret. which is six weeks ago I had a baby. Oh my god. Yeah. Congratulations. Thank you. Oh my god. Yeah. How are you feeling right now?

I'm doing okay at the moment. Yeah. It's a lot. It's a lot. Fucker shit. Oh my god. Yeah. So he's, you know, so I'm not playing just for me this time. You know. Are you going to tell people? It's a secret right now. Is it going to Jeremy Collins it? I don't know if I'm going to Jeremy Collins it, but that's on the table. Like I, it's a, there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of, you know,

of a lot of ways that I could use it. Right now, what it is for me is it's a motivation that I have that none of these people know I have. I think people will think that, oh, I'm a goofy professor who parts in front of Colby. But like, it's just like, oh, he's here for the fun, you know, and I intentionally look a little sort of awestruck around the environment, which is true and real, and it's me,

but like I don't think they know what I'm ready to fight for that I have someone to fight for this time that's different than last time. Rarely do people come in with a secret on their second time that could change how they play. Yeah. And I think that that's, he's my secret weapon. His name is, is Michael, actually. Oh, my God.

Yeah, Michael Bloom Hubecki. Exactly. It's a Christian, I'm honored. Michael. But yeah, no, I'll never forget. It was back in August. I originally got my call from CBS and they're like, I, as like, as a Christian, or if you want to go on 50, so are you interested, would you be interested in 10 months?

It's like, well, I just got a phone call saying I'm having a baby in nine. And so I'm like, and so Emily and I talk this through. I'm like, how we're going to do this. And we found a way, you know, I'm guessing you had no idea. We played Clock Tower together a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, it's very much under wraps. So the, and, yeah, I recorded Be Reading Baby Books to him. So he has this one gone.

I bought a robotic baby bed to soothe him to sleep. so that way Emily can get more sleep at night. All these things, I tried to give him a blanket that smelled like me, so we have some reminder of what I'm like. But it's five weeks that I'm gone that I'm not there. Yeah. So really, I really feel like I have to make this mean something. Yeah, a new meaning to get that money, baby.

Yeah, I mean, the money, look, my baby will survive without a million dollars. I understand. College is expensive, so maybe not. But the, but like it's a, but really, someday he's going to watch this. and I'm sort of bringing this all back to the end of my first season I went up seventh place as all fans probably remember

and I dodged so many bullets to get there you know crazy plays were happening around me and because of me sometimes you know to get as far as I could and it's like and at that point I got voted out and it's like you know it's disappointing but like

it's my time it's my time you know I had it coming I made mistakes and it felt great and still feel great about what I did that season. But as time goes on, I'm like, why did that have to be my time?

Could there be, there was more in the tank I could have potentially done. Why can't it be me to be the winner? And now I have to think about the example I'm setting for Michael that I don't want him to limit himself as to what he can accomplish. I don't want him to think that, you know, you know, seventh place is good enough on this reality show.

You should be lucky to be there. You're happy to be there. No, there's other people should be happy to be there. I should win. You should see that. So that's the way I see Michael entering my game on this season

and we'll see how far that takes me. Hopefully to win. And there you have it. I am just beaming talking about this right now. Not only the idea of getting to be out there and talking with all of these fantastic characters and players

before the season began, but that Christian interview if it was not abundantly clear from my massive gasp in the middle of the jungle of Fiji took me to places I never would have truly believed even after knowing Christian and being friends with him for so many years

so considering this man wants to wield narrative warfare, considering the stories he has already spun for me in this 35 minute conversation I think we are in a really good place for season 50. And hopefully you feel the same way

to make sure you do not miss any of the other interviews. We've got going on. We just got started with this first interview. So be sure to subscribe to our podcast feed. We know survivor.com. And if you, of course, want the visual component, the video versions of these

interviews, go to Rob has a website.com slash YouTube. You will not have to wait very long at all. for my next interview. It will be in your feed by the end of today. And the hits keep on coming here, as we'll talk about the next member of the Sealy Tribe,

joining Christian on that beach, the legendary Surrey Field. Coming back for her sixth season of Survivor. I know you will not want to miss that one, nor hopefully any of the other ones. Thank you all so much for starting this. journey with me. I have been waiting with bated breath for these interviews to finally see the light of day, and hopefully they are gleaming. I'll be back in your eyes and ears very soon with my interview with

Surrey. Until then, everybody, take care. Bye-bye. Hey, Rob here, and you know at RHAP, we're always talking about the ways to optimize your strategy on all of our favorite reality TV games. But there's a guy that I listened to in real life, who's the knowingest know it all when it comes to how to deal with your money and all sorts of other areas of your life. It's called All the Hacks, and it's hosted by the master optimizer, Chris Hutchins. This is a podcast I've actually listened to for a couple of years, and Chris is the king of life hacks, which is something that I love learning about. I'm always watching TikToks about all sorts of different life hacks, so this appeals to me so much. people love it. They've got so many great reviews. Listerers have saved literally thousands of dollars

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