RHAP: We Know Survivor - Know-It-Alls: Survivor 47 Ep 3

Episode Date: October 4, 2024

Rob and Stephen break down episode 3 of Survivor 47.

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to speak to an advisor free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Well, actually, they didn't really win the game at all. Yes, that's right. Without a doubt, we have it all figured out. Steven, I feel like people have doubts if we have it figured out or not. Well, when you have to say without a doubt, that itself raises doubts. Fair enough. What do you mean to say without a doubt?

Fair enough. If there's no doubt at all. Yes. Steven, how are you today? Listen, I'm very sad about the results of last night. You know, sad that Saul got a vote. Perhaps even sadder that I love Saul. You do love Saul. Yeah.

Very sad that Asia was voted out. Where did you, was there like a morning, you know, with a you, a morning with you and Tevin last night? You know what? I mean, I was very disappointed. I think Tevin was too too but tevin really was uh fantastic on the podcast last night so if people are jealous of you or something no i don't think so i don't get the sense that you get jealous over uh who else i talk to i don't think so that's not what i would not not uh a emotion that i feel like i would garner from you um but

tevin uh nevertheless was uh incredible on the podcast last night so uh a very fun listen if you hadn't checked that out but yeah definitely disappointed for our friend asia who ends up uh getting voted out last night and so a lot for us to talk about here live on thursday afternoon for survivor no dolls I had the chance to speak with Asia myself as she was on the Survivor Press Tour on the exit interview. So definitely check that out as well if you had missed that. And we got a little bit more insight

into this very divided tribe of three pairs of two. Well, I mean, as you know, my favorite thing to do in this podcast is just relive, you know, favorite thing to do in this podcast to just relive you know you tell me what all the exit interview stuff because um kirill was flummoxing about this right it just seems so natural that teeny and kishan should go with asia and saul it just felt like there was a soul a soul connection there um that you know, like, Teenie had recognized Asia. They had bonded.

And it didn't feel like there was this overwhelming force from Rome. You know, he had a one-use idol, so obviously he was safe. You know, there was, like, some mystery about whether he would play it for Genevieve or not. And, I mean, I didn't feel that mystery. Look, if I was there, I would have absolutely been protecting against protecting against that like i don't want my butt to go home yeah but presumably it would have been asia's butt going home anyway so like the danger i think right for for teeny and kishan is like if they piss off rome today and um you know it does blow up in their face and you know whatever reason

he plays it for Genevieve, and Asia goes home, but Rome is pissed. Then next week, next tribal council, Rome has this steal a vote, which kind of will make him uniquely powerful on a five-person tribe, because with two people, he can choose who goes home. So my guess is that that was what kishan and teeny were

thinking like that they were like protecting themselves down the line but it still seemed it still seemed hard to grasp why and maybe they felt like rome was more predictable you know rome was more persuadable i don't know well give me the give me the the download yeah so what asia had said was there's uh really this tight two, two, two, probably the biggest thing we don't see in the episode is that Rome and Genevieve are more of a pair than what the show is really giving us the impression that Rome is a little bit more of like operating independently, but it seemed like from the perspective of Asia that Rome and Genevieve are more of a pair.

I too have been a little bum puzzled as to why Tini and Kishan are not, you know, as interested in exploring potentially breaking that up. If I was gonna, if I had to put myself in their shoes, you know, I think that there's a concern of like, well, Asia and Saul might be an unbreakable too. So do we want to, you know, go down that path with them where, you know, do we need to split that duo up? And the fact that Asia doesn't want to write Saul's name down reinforces that idea of like, oh, they're never

going to turn on each other. This is going to be a problem for us down the road. And then secondly, I think that they might feel like that Rome is a shield of like, okay, if we continue to work with Rome, we're going to get to the merge and they'll vote out Rome before they vote us out. And I'm just a little conflicted about, like, I feel like that I know in a 39 day game, that's the wrong way to look at things. Uh, I am left with a little bit like, is that the right idea for the new era 26 day game where that people take out the you know biggest uh you know threats uh perceived threats as they get to the merge yeah it's true it really is true and you want that person there the flamboyant person i mean i think that it was even true in the 26 day or the 39 day game you

wanted the flamboyant you know it's like jeremy and his meat chills you wanted that flamboyant person there who's going to draw um attention i mean i can't imagine that the challenge performance didn't factor into this at all right like it had to have a little bit when they're thinking when they were finally debating whether saul or asia and and maybe it factored into it for kishan and teeny as well who were not so hot in the challenge themselves and maybe they're thinking like we don't want to target one of the stronger players now why did genevieve sit out of that challenge? That is a mystery to me. Um, but, but, um, yeah, I mean, that had to be a factor for them as they're thinking, like, as they're seeing these two other groups that they're going up against, uh, you know, both of whom really outclassed them physically in this

challenge. Um, tell me, I've been interested to know your thoughts on, okay, Asia is presented with this choice that Teenie comes to Asia and says, hey, I'm trying to, you know, you know, look out for you. Maybe write down Saul's name tonight. Yeah. So I thought like, I thought Asia handled it really well. I mean, I know that that's the moment we're supposed to point to where Asia messed up, you know, that like, oh, she should have gone with the plan and Rome was persuadable. You know, Rome moved from, you know, Tini could convince Rome to move the vote from Asia to Saul, but Asia was going to stand by Saul. But like, I mean, based on what we saw in that very discreet moment, you know, that made a lot of sense to me. You know, it would be ridiculous for Asia to immediately sell out her number one ally based on like some slight intimations from Tini and Keyshawn. You know, they didn't like lay it out for her like, hey, Rome's got all this hardware.

You know, we kind of have to go with him, but we want you to come along, too. And like, it's going to be one of you guys tonight. So why don't we make it him you know like to me that would be a much more straightforward um you know sell the hard sell if like this is a necessity we want to work with you but we like you know we can't you know you've got so please come along but it seemed to kind of like gently nudge and we're like well you know if it were one of you shouldn't it be Saul instead of you and like what if um and she's I thought if it were one of you, shouldn't it be Saul instead of you? And like, what if? And she's, I thought, like intelligently said, like, no, it shouldn't be Saul. Like, let's make it them.

Yeah. At that moment, it seemed like it was still if I were Asia, I would have felt like there was still a conversation happening. I would have probably like her not been able to understand why Teenie wanted to go with Rome instead of me. Um, and I'm sure there were more discussions there, but like, I kind of thought that she handled that well and that they didn't give her enough information. Now, maybe, you know, she dug her heels in more than we saw, you know, maybe she fought harder for Saul. I would have fought hard for my ally, you know, like in that moment, like, you'd be like, no, let's, let's like, let's turn it around's turn it around and and you know i saw someone on twitter say that it's sort of a situation similar to what happened to john you know whether or not that's actually the case um

you know hard to say like it sounded like they wanted to keep andy around anyway um and that there were good reasons for voting out john but But like, you know, the idea that by trying to save someone, you're sort of forcing people to vote for you instead. I mean, maybe that's a new meta. I don't know. Yeah, I think that from the perspective of Asia, I think that she was looking at it as, OK, she has a four with Saul and Teenie and Kishan. And I think that, you know, Kishan and Tini are feeling like, okay, we could go either way. And I think that Asia was giving them the right answer that was going to protect the four that Asia was seeing of like, no, we could do this. This is going to work. Rome's going

to play the idol for himself. We'll put the votes on Genevieve. This will work work this will protect our four but i just think that from the perspective of um saul and from teeny asia said this in her interview with mike bloom that she felt like to her this was coming across as more of like a loyalty test of like are you ever going to turn on saul and because uh she would not reassure them that she would, it was sort of like, okay, well, we have to, you know, split these two up now because ultimately, you know, and Saw is going to be a bigger asset in like in the challenges. I mean, that's, I mean, that seems like a viable world. You know, you also sort of want people who are going to like be loyal to their allies. Obviously you want people to be going to like be loyal to their allies although obviously you want people to be loyal to you and so i do kind of like it's funny like it is this sort of difficult needle to thread where you have to show yourself to be a loyal person but only to the person you're actually

speaking to at that point in time you know oh yeah i'll turn on anyone but you two you or this is the three um you know i i started the interview with Mike Bloom and then I had to, uh, stop reading it because I, um, you know, here we are. Um, and I, I saw that she was talking, that they started talking about her choice to go on the, you know, that first journey where that core four kind of was formed without her. And then, you know, teeny kept like being saving space for her, but there still was that sense of like space, like room was saved.

Right. Like you can come aboard this ship. And she was saying that, you know, she didn't want to initially be that person. You know, nobody wanted to be that person. So eventually she stood up and did it. But she still stood up and did it. Now, is that just like I mean, does this kind of, you know, it was that a mistake? I don't know if it was ultimately the fatal mistake. I mean, she's in this tribe. I mean, do they just stand there as Jeff just berates them and then nobody ultimately, uh, stands up. I mean, it turned out to be a

challenge that she could have done. I mean, she came close. I mean, have, uh, she'd been able to find her way out of the jungle i think she could have come back as the hero so i don't know necessarily if uh like i think it's being a little results oriented to say that that because at the end of that first episode we were like oh it wasn't looking too good for asia but everything's okay that there was room for her in the alliance it just so happened that during that time that Rome really started to get the legwork done on like starting to go out and look for the idol. And maybe, you know, I just don't know her being gone those two hours, like changed the course of the next six days that much.

Right. But I mean, you know, the, the hero, like to get to go back and be the hero, like, you know, very limited upside, as we saw from TK, you know, last week, you know, TK did get to go back and be the hero, very limited upside as we saw from TK last week. TK did get to go be the hero and then he was voted out shortly thereafter. I don't know if being the hero in the tribe supplies challenge gives you that much. Yeah, so what Asia said that they just stood there. Saul only wanted to go if he could be guaranteed it was a strength-based challenge. And then they didn't know that. And then everybody was just staring at each other until Jeff was like, anybody, anybody, any like we need us. We need somebody. Somebody step up. And then eventually Asia did it.

That Teenie had said to her that I really am looking forward to talking to you. So she felt good about Teenie and Saul said that he was an Asian rooting for Asia for her. good about teeny and Saul, uh, said that he was an Asian rooting for Asia for her. So she felt good about that. But ultimately I think that, um, you know, you have people, uh, Asia's a leader and you know, they wanted somebody to step up and she did. I don't think it was ultimately the like, uh, deciding factor in her going home here. Yeah. I mean, and it does seem like one aspect, like one of the biggest aspects of Survivor we always talk about is luck and specifically the luck of who you're cast with.

And I think the fact that she was cast on a tribe with someone she couldn't stand. I mean, we've both been there, not that we couldn't stand, but like with someone who was, you know, really didn't want us around and it really affects your game, right? Like it's hard to recover from that.

You know, so, you know you you have had the exact same situation this is like it's like you know a third off um you know someone was was just not i mean i would i would say fourth off but yeah i mean i would say to compare my situation and asia in um, survivor all-stars, uh, you know, we both were in a six person tribe and the first person out of our tribe. I mean, I was completely blindsided. You know, I did not have as good, like, I feel like that Asia knew where the pieces were better than I did in survivor all-stars where I felt like, okay, I have a good relationship with Rob. I have a good relationship with Tom.

I think that I was underestimating how much sway Amber had in voicing her opinion. And her and Alicia both were starting to get a good hate into me, starting to find me to be very annoying. But I felt like, okay, I'm good with Sue Hawk. I'm good with Tom. I'm good with Rob. And Boston Rob had gotten into like like a few like big arguments with Alicia and Sue. So I thought that I was going to be fine to go to a tribal council. I was nervous, but I didn't think that it was going to be me the first time out.

But, you know, ultimately, that's a different story. Yeah. But I mean, similarly, like, I mean, it did seem, you know, Asian, you know, new Rome, and she weren't gelling, but she, I mean,

and every reason to think that she was with, I mean, as a viewer, it's almost, it's still mind boggling, you know, and it wasn't really like, there has to be something else, right? It can can't just be and i'm so curious to hear you know down the line from teeny and kishan like this decision could not just come down to rome had the most you know he had a single use idol and this yeah i think that they downplayed perhaps you know uh the relationship we don't really know where genevieve has been so under edited through

uh three episodes of like what is genevieve's relationship like is she functioning as sort of like a trish to rome's tony where is she doing damage control with we see only see the things that uh rome is doing and we almost never see genevieve is it could Genevieve be cleaning up after Rome with Kishan and Tini uh yeah I mean it's very possible right it's very I mean very she seems like very chill and charming in the little bit we've seen of her so um I can absolutely see her being like a moderating influence there and um you know maybe you know as long as we're speculating wildly um you know maybe they feel that the bond between Genevieve and Rome is not as strong as the bond between Saul and Asia was. So, you know, who knows, right? Who knows?

I mean, I do want to say, I do think we should talk about Rome a little bit here. Please. Because he's such an interesting player, where on the one hand, there is so much like braggadocio. We're getting a lot of like, oh my gosh, Rome. But then he's also doing really well. You know, like right before the challenge, where he, you know, there's that scene with saul where we all know saul is a physical beast we know saul is going to kill it uh one of the great challenge competitors in survivor history maybe one of the great players in survivor history um not since lj i think have you

just uh waxed poetically or uh berries as poetically as you have about Saul. Yeah, no, I really do. Like he's got, you know, just like, he's got a great vibe. I like how quickly he picks up on like, you know, all the little things. I feel like I like his interpersonal, the way he like talks to people, like that whole conversation with Rome. Anyway, the point is, you know, that conversation, that chat between Rome and Saul right before the challenge, you know, where Rome was like, you're going to mess it up. I'm going to be so mad.

Like, you guys don't let me do it. I'm going to stamp my feet. And we have every reason to think that Rome is being set up for a fall. And he does not fall. He ends up pulling it off. And, you know, I do think it's interesting. interesting and the same thing i wanted to get your perspective on rome going on the journey because we saw like eventually like uh similarly like rome like insists he's going to be the person to end up going on the journey and i feel like that there's like a little bit to this point like

a politeness around him of like okay he's being petulant let him let him have his way but i do think that you know to the detriment of some of the other people on the tribe like i i think that i don't know how you deal with that where you know it's survivor it's a game of social politics you don't want to flat out tell the person hell no no we're not doing that right no we're not doing that but if somebody is like pounding the table let me do it let me do it i said i called it it's mine it's mine i think that most of us in that situation are gonna be like all right fine fine fine you don't want to create a problem you're being like you're like this guy i can't believe it but he's getting his way yeah and that was decisive.

Like, had Rome not gotten that PS, he also got very lucky. But like, had Rome not gotten by, you know, getting the one of three. Had Rome not gotten that steal a vote advantage, you know, maybe Tini and Keyshawn don't go with him. You know, like maybe they think it's worth the risk to. teeny and kishan don't go with him you know like maybe they think it's it's worth the risk to um so it does you know i also want to say like as you know forceful personality as he is in those moments where he's pushing he also plays a lot very well you know i mean he he um when he got there he made a big thing about how he was on the bottom of his tribe very smart right because then the other two tribes are going to go back they're going to be like oh everyone's targeting rome like

maybe we can pick him up at the at a swap or a merge so very very smart decision now you didn't think that banu was playing that super smart last season well yeah i don't know if that was um strategic the way he did that uh did i um i mean that was like they were like oh but aren't they gonna think that he's a liar when uh he says oh saul and asia are running everything i'm at the bottom does he have to make up some like is he gonna compound like this with like another a fish story like an idol for himself like russell in heroes versus villains and come back and be like oh i had to play my idol and then i got i got asia out of the. They were all trying to gun for me.

That's a story and it's valid. He played his idol. You know, everyone's going to say that he played his idol. You know, he's got the credentials to back it up. And I also thought when he went up there and was like, oh, I was very lucky to get this idol on a reward.

Now, of course, Teeny and Keyshawn presumably already know and presumably Genevieve too. So he's really only lying to Saul. And to, I guess, Asia. But, like, he's still lying to them. You know, he's still keeping – I thought that was smart. Like, this is what I got on that rewards or on that journey.

And so now, you know, don't worry about what else I might have basically, right? Don't worry that there might have been some other advantage. So I don't know. And a lot of little moments that he you know i thought it was interesting that he like was like nervous when jeff asked him the first question because of course that's something we talk about right uh like that often the person who gets asked the first question is the person to go home so i feel like he's you know he's in the strategy you know combos he's clearly doing the most yeah yeah and sort of like a danny you know, combos. He's clearly doing the most. Yeah.

Yeah. And sort of like a Danny, you know, like some it's, it's a lot, it's a lot going on. Some of it's good. Some of it's bad,

but it's a lot. Yeah. Do you feel like that Rome is, uh, was affected by watching Q at all last season? Do you feel like that this is his take on Q? Um, that he is responding to that by just like,

by being the person who draws attention to themselves. Like, I mean, it is interesting because like that strategy worked really well for Q in that like, not only was he the center of the show, right, which is obviously something, you know, Rome wants to be, you know, the next host of On Fire, co-host of On Fire. But it also seemed to keep him safe to a degree, right, Q?

Like that, just like you're talking about, of like the reason that nobody, you know, you don't necessarily want to vote out Rome is because you think someone else will want to vote out Rome. So you keep him around because you think someone's going to want to vote him out, which paradoxically keeps him kind of safe. Yeah, I think it um there's some similarities uh but i feel like that with q i think that people like feared his wrath to a certain point uh and until the until it flipped and then it was like okay well he's buried so far on the bottom are we he was then a smoke screen but i think there was a point where it's like okay well i that uh he is going to I guess the similarity is maybe the sort of like they are going to insist that they get their way. That's something I think that you could say is a common denominator between the way that both of them have played. I don't know because I thought Q was in. I think I don't agree with that.

Like I thought, cause I mean the whole thing with, with teeny and, and, um, and Rome was that, you know, teeny went and convinced Rome that it was better to vote out, um, you know, to better to vote out, um, um, Saul versus Asia. And, you know, we had a lot of instances last season where someone was trying to convince Q of anything. But I wouldn't say that Rome ended up conceding. I thought that teeny, uh, convinced Rome that this is what Rome wanted. Yeah, but again, there was that whole thing where you have Kenzie and Tiffany losing their minds trying to convince Q to vote out. And they weren't able to. They weren't able to convince Q to change his mind. Yeah. But I don't think if Rome didn't want to do that, I don't think that Rome would have made a vote that he didn't want to make.

But he is persuadable is the point. You were saying like a similarity is that they're both going to get their way. Like, I mean, I disagree with that is my point. I don't think we're saying different things. I'm just saying that that teeny was able to get Rome to think that a different move was better for him. But I don't think that either of them would make a move that they didn't want to make. Right. Right. And go just, okay. I don't think either of them have the gear of, hey, I don't want to do this, but this

is what the tribe wants. So I'm doing this. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Let's talk more about Saul. Okay. I know you're, you, you uh you want to call Saul better call Saul and he is I think such an interesting character I thought he was almost going to

blow it for himself when Rome comes and talks to him and Rome is like, like he's he's selling a bill of goods to Saul. Saul clearly sees through Rome's lies. However, I thought that Saul might have been making a mistake to channel Q again of letting telling Rome like I like you must think I'm an idiot, right? Um, although to be fair, what Rome wants in that moment is for Saul to be completely lulled into complacency. So by saying that, you know, it has to spur the suspicion in, in Rome that Saul might play his shot in the dark, which is exactly what Rome was trying to avoid. So for Saul to say like, Hey, I'm a little worried about what you're saying, it leaves open the possibility that he will play shot in the dark.

Now we see Rome go back and be like, ah, I talked him into it perfectly. Huge success. He had no clue. But, you know, I don't know. I thought that Saul handled that conversation, you know, perfectly. Yeah.

Okay. Steven, what do you think happens next in this tribe um do they go back to another tribal council yeah i mean i don't know like they're pretty it's they're a decently evenly matched tribe you know um i do think i mean you're looking at it really depends on kind of what the challenges were i mean they, they fell really behind in that, in that swimming challenge, but a lot of that was Keyshawn and Asia on the balance beam. Um, so, you know, I think there's a world where that doesn't happen. Um, yeah. And at the next one, they've held their own in the challenges pretty much. So I really could see it being anybody. I saw, um, Mike tweet that this is the first time ever in survivor history that the first

three boots have come from three separate tribes. So interesting. Yeah, that blew my mind when I read that also. I had been thinking of like, oh, what about Survivor Worlds Apart? But the no-collar tribe ends up going to two tribes. You can forgive me if I had forgotten the all-time great Nina boot as being one of the... As one of our nodals, A live show, the Nina Boot.

Famously. Yeah. So, yeah, amazing. Is this a good sign for the season? Three different tribes going to Tribal Council, or do you need the disaster tribe? I think it's good for the season.

I mean, we were getting tired of the disaster tribe, right? We were feeling like it was kind of weighing down the show, the sense that one tribe, and then that self-perpetuating problem that they had where they didn't have flint, they didn't have fire, they were cold, and then they were weaker,

and then they were losing more, and they were losing morale. So I think that this is good for the show to have a little bit of a mix-up in who's going home. I want to talk about teeny very briefly i i feel like probably fishy for teeny again is that right is that is that correct fishy for teeny again i had been thinking about uh who should get the fishy and i was stumped yeah um teeny is the one who you know she seems to be the one who's in all these conversations more even than we're seeing kishan um although you know it does seem like it's uh 55 45 all right let's let's

keep talking let's keep talking well that i see steven in the chat uh says baby andy yeah um yeah listen you know giving over the that was interesting i like that he didn't have a great run in the challenge but it seems like that the challenges are like uh where things go over the most wrong for andy but it wasn't just how he that he didn't do so well it was that he talked about in advance how amazingly he was going to do every part of it it was like the anti-rome you know where rome talked about how amazingly he was going to do it and then he did it you know that's that's the part that's the second part that people forget. It's one thing to talk about how great you're going to do, but then you have to follow through.

Yeah. Kelly says, give Andy the fishy for his masterful hair twisting. I mean, Andy for giving over the shot in the dark. What do we think of this now? This is like emergent, right? Who was the first, was Brando the first person to give over the shot in the dark or did did he get it from where does uh he was involved in some brando drew shot in the dark negotiation it wasn't there yeah i'm not sure uh that does not come to mind um without

brando giving his shot in the dark over but but you have some oh go, go ahead. No, I feel like that the shot in the dark is not that powerful of a tool of like, I have to know I'm getting voted out. And even still, then I have to I have to successfully land the one in six shot. So I feel like that the chances of it being like working successfully in my favor are slim. If I could like buy the trust of an ally, I think that that was a good deal that Andy made. Yeah. And for it to be such a decisive ally, right? Like he correctly intuited the tribe politic where he sees Sam and Anika are, are super annoyed at each other. He knows that Sam and Sierra are tight. So he realizes that he can build trust with, but, but like Sam's never going to vote with him if Sierra's against it. So by building trust with Sierra, and then he uses the one piece of leverage he has,

rather than just like, oh, I trust you, I trust you, I trust you, to actually give someone something. I think that was great. That's great. Great call, Steven. Great name. Great call. Baby Andy gets the fishy.

Yes. Okay. So Steven, I asked this question to Tevin last night and I'd love to get your take on it. Okay. So that baby Andy gives the shot. What's the baby aspect of this? Where did baby come from? You know, that's a story for another day.

But Andy ends up giving the shot in the dark to Sierra and that she's like, wow, like that, you know, the fact that he's willing to do that to me, that's, that's really important. I feel like that there are some players that you make that gesture to them and it is very impactful. And then there are other players, you make that gesture and they are going to now start to, their wheels are turning of how do I get Andy out of the game and I'll keep his shot in the dark and now we can i feel like that's what happened with bruno i feel like it like created like it created animosity rather than like yeah i don't remember the situation exactly but it was something like that

okay and i feel like that sierra seems like the perfect type of player that this type of trade will work with and i, is the common denominator that Sierra seems like the type of player that is super competitive and very much wants to win challenges? It seems like that she is super competitive. I just want to win and do well in the challenges. Above all else, I want to stay strong.

Is that a good barometer for the type of player that this trade will work with? That's interesting. You mean someone who's not going to overthink the strategic component of that? Is that what you're saying? Like, who's not going to go too many circles away? Not to say anything about Sierra's skill level as a player, but somebody who is like, uh, you know, not necessarily like a, you know, super in the weeds from a strategic standpoint, more focused on the, you know, winning the comps.

Right. Not a drew, not a drew. Yeah. Right. Um, I, yeah, I mean, that makes a lot of sense. And that's a great point. It's like the move is so situational to the people involved in the move and like what their kind of frame of reference is. If I let Sarah Lucina hold my legacy advantage, she's going to figure it out. If I let Seri hold the extra vote, she's going to go ahead and think about how to do it.

But I feel like that might be like if you're going to try something like this, just think about the person you it. But I feel like that, um, that might be like, if you're going to try something like this, just think about the person you are doing it to, if they are going to want to use that gesture as an opportunity to dunk on you. Yeah, that's exactly right. Yes. That's very smart. I mean, I thought again, not really remembering what happened, but I will speak about what I think might've happened in, in, in survivor 45. I do vaguely remember, like, it seemed like a smart move at the time, like, you know, a show of trust, but I guess like, to your point, like a show of trust, you know, anything, anything on survivor

becomes an opportunity to like overthink and over strategize, right? Like there's no, I mean, and so to, to, to have someone who doesn't, you know, who you can actually do that with and to be taken as, you know, for, as its own sake, I think is great. And again, why Eddie deserves the fishy for this week, why Steven was so right and so well-named. Okay. What about Sam and Annika? Do you see this coming to a head? Yeah, definitely going.

I mean, it sure looks like it's not going to end so well for Annika, right? I mean, now it does seem like Sam is really the driving influence on the tribe. You know, we see a lot from Rachel's perspective too, of course. Yeah. Um, but it does seem like Sam and especially cause you know, Andy really what? No, we didn't get, I was reminded that, uh, we didn't get to talk last week. Yeah. Um, yeah, I, I, I, I've been agonizing over who to give the fishy to for last week yeah well tell me just well you mentioned rachel and i was thinking about her moment last week and we didn't get to have you weigh in on it oh the rice yes yeah oh we i mean she of course should have been able to keep by the way like we did that spencer uh uh doom did that um and i think i did too when we

were there was like a corn challenge where they were like dumping corn on us and we were all like pocketing corn we didn't really like do anything with the corn it was kind of nasty and like we tried but it was like kernels of corn like pop yeah like kernels of like yeah like corn you know yeah yeah i mean we could like popped it maybe i don't know um jeff didn't catch you yeah but i feel like that was uh it is true that like back in the day you know you could not take things to camp from a reward like that was, uh, it is true that like back in the day, you know, you could not take things to camp from a reward. Like they, that was policed very, very aggressively. Um, the one thing we were able to smuggle back was a little bit of soap and we gave it to Taj and she just loved it. She was so excited to have soap. Um, but, but like with the food, they were really like checking pockets and like, what's that bulge? Yeah. So, yeah. What was the takeaway last week?

No, I think most of the alumni felt like that Jeff should have let her keep the rice. Yeah. Yeah, let her keep the rice. My gosh, that's like a fun move. Did you have any thoughts on Gabe's idol play from last week? You know, you had said like, just do the one tribal idol. That's the safe thing. You don't want to screw around.

And, you know, that seems to be the matter, right? Like now, after having seen the last season, when there were so many missed opportunities, so many people in a row going home, you know, get it, use it, move on. And that makes so much sense in this new era too, where there's like so much stuff coming at you. You need to just like take the things you've got, use them, get on to the next thing.

The irony is that Gabe had the three tribal council idol, but then we got the montage of all of the people from Survivor 46 that got voted out with the idol in their pocket. And so he said that that was like on his mind. Yeah, I mean, it makes so much sense because you don't he said that that was like on his mind. Yeah. I mean, it makes so much sense because, um, you know, you don't want to be that person. And it was a contentious, especially, you know, it was a contentious vote. There was a world where this was a split tribe vote. Now,

of course that ended up not happening, but it did seem like from what we saw, um, it was possible. Now, did you think that Sue was the one who convinced Tiana or did Gabe? What I didn't get was, can we jump back to last week? Yeah, that's fine. Maybe you guys talked about this. Yeah, you weren't here. You know, Gabe went to Sue and said, you need to be the one to convince Tiana.

Yeah. In my mind, Gabe needed to be the one because Tiana wasn't going to want to go into a 3-3 split, you know, and she knew that Sue and Caroline were together. But, you know, Tiana had every reason to think that Gabe was with TK herself and Kyle. So like the salient information for Tiana is Gabe being the one to want to switch. Why? What did you think about that? I mean,

they had to have had a conversation, P.S. Yeah, I'm sure there was more conversations than what we got to see. But I think that from Gabe's perspective, I think that he thought that Tiana didn't. Let's not make Tiana think that she is the fourth person in this alliance. Let her think that you're doing a women's thing. It's the epic boss girl move and that Gabe is probably coming over as the fourth. But I think that Gabe, and he didn't explicitly say this in the episode last night, I think that maybe Gabe wasn't convinced that Sue closed the deal. And that's why he played his idol because he was concerned that it could have been a 3-3 vote split and that it was going to be keeping him safe

from a rock draw. Yeah, I mean, that's why I thought he played his idol. I thought it was a good move. But Sue did close the deal. So I guess fishy for Sue last week. Oh, okay. Yeah, why not? Sure.

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future without stressing over the details. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by investing, this is a great place to start. Head to acorns.com slash RobPod or download the Acorns app and start saving and investing for your future today. This has been a paid non-client endorsement. Compensation provides incentives to positively promote Acorns. Tier one compensation provided. Investing involves risk. Acorns Advisors LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. View important disclosures at acorns.com slash robpod. we actually have a special guest here at the podcast door uh to come in uh to come along on our journey uh it's our great friend uh dr christian hubicki is here oh my gosh a stealth christian stealth christian did you just decloak uh did i did i just what decloak decloak like a

like a romulan warbird yeah i told you about my current line of research someone needs to be taken care of i think oh how y'all that's outlawed in federation space okay yeah all right that kind of research all right uh so uh christian is here christian uh you know i was of course like looking for you last night when we were talking about this Journey game that got played. I was wondering, like, is this a de facto Monty Hall problem that we have here on the Journey? It's a little different than the Monty Hall problem in terms of structure. But, like, it is true that the odds change, like the Monty Hall problem, once one door is revealed. one door is revealed. Now, the difference is,

the key difference between what you saw last night is that the player has no information, guards no direct information about where, about the next door, I'm sorry, as to whether to pick next or not. Because in the Monty Hall problem, Monty Hall tells you one of these has a goat in it and et cetera. I'm sorry. I'm rambling.

Hold on, though. But isn't like the first draw, when you draw the loser vote, that's equivalent to the first step of like Monty opening the door, right? Like that's like the step at which – so you draw the loser vote. So like that's the wrong door, right? And you get to choose between these two other doors. Yes. So that first step is equivalent the second step is what's different because in the monty hall step you can switch monty hall knows where the where the prize is and so in choosing a door to open

he actually gives you more information as to what to do and of course you have no choice yeah so that that's that's why it's structurally different got it but would you have would you would you have picked like a second time once you get the first loser vote vote? I mean, it's literally a 50-50. It's really based upon all the other factors at play. Like how much is it? And also, I wasn't quite, I needed to pause and re-go back. Like, do you lose a second vote? Do you get an advantage?

How does it work? So then it goes down to lose a vote or get the advantage. So basically, if you put your hand back in a second time, you're either going to lose your vote for a second tribal council in a row or get the advantage. Yeah, I mean, I would be tempted to reach back in again, mostly because like what you could do is you could lie, go back and lie. I lost my vote for this tribal council when really you lost it for two. And so like you could get away. So if you if you lose that second one, you can kind of mitigate the damage at least a little bit like you can't really lie. So and people wouldn't expect you would come back and lost two.

So I think you may be like politically mitigate that differently. I don't really lie. People wouldn't expect you to come back and lose two. I think you maybe politically mitigate that differently. I don't know. That's my thought off the top of my head. As a robotics and math person, I thought you explained that beautifully. However, as an English person, I'm going to have to object to your saying, go back in again. You're just going back in or you're going in again. You're not going back in again. That's a third time.

In the spirit of Survivor, where once again, immunity is back up for grabs steven yeah i just i you know when in rome steven i i do as the jeff probes too soon yeah okay all right so christian is here uh and not just to talk about what's going on on the journey but uh that we have an exciting project uh that we've been collaborating on that we are very excited to be about to show you all this weekend. Steven, this was really your brainchild. Yeah, well, I have become obsessed with the board game or social strategy game Blood on the Clocktower, which I've certainly talked about a lot and gotten the chance to play with Dwight and his streams.

And of course, working, playing with and against Christian and many of them and you as well, Rob. And so I was thinking, you know, why don't we get a bunch of survivors together and then, you know, edit it in this way that will make it a, you know, compelling visual experience. We're getting everybody's perspective. And we worked with, with Dr. I mean, Christian had, I mean, I really should turn over to Christian here because like so much of the, the, the, the bringing this to life was, was Christian's, you know, magic. Well, so this was all Steven's brainchild as he, as he described, basically he texted me at one

point, he's like, Hey, what do you think about doing this? And immediately I'm like, how, how can I turn this into somehow writing an algorithm? And that's basically how we went off to the races from there, how to technically do this. So it's really kind of like we made our own little mini reality show based upon a single, based upon a game of Blood on the Clocktower. And we actually brought in some heavy hitters from the survivor world, some of the best, most clever and entertaining people from the survivor sphere. You had, we got Emily Flippen, we got Dwight Moore, we got P.G. Law, we've got Omer

Zaheer, Franny, Freddie Marin, Owen Knight, Marianne, and they even let Stephen and I play, which was, it was very kind of them to do with that, with that cast of all-stars. And we partnered with the Pandemonium Institute who makes blood on the clock tower and they sent over two of their i guess they're not they're not official storytellers but two of their like ace storytellers ben burns who you might have seen if you've uh you know seen any of the no rolls barred videos on blood on the clock tower which was you got to give them credit like some of my inspiration for this and jams ricardo and the game was so fun um you know we we like have confessionals along the way um you know we i mean you know i feel like it really captures what it's like to play the game there

is introduction you know i give a little introductory spiel about how the game works and along the way you know ben certainly clarifies some of the rules um and we try as players to sort of you know spell things out too when we're talking. So if you're new to Blood on the Clocktower, this could be a really fun introduction. And yeah, it was great. And I think the really fun thing is that because of Christian's algorithm,

we were able to capture a lot of the conversations in the breakout room. So you get to follow the story along, who's lying, who's trying to get one over on everybody, and then you get to watch it all play out in real time. Yeah, just maybe because people haven't heard of this game, just the tiniest bit of flavor. So it's a game like Mafia or Traitors, if you want to win an Emmy, where you have bad people and good people. And I think one of the things that this particular game does so well is that in order to play well as the evil team,

you have to basically be a bit like Rome. You have to build this alternate world with alternate facts to spin for everyone else around you to get them to play differently around you. And so the evil team, instead of just kind of hiding and waiting for all the good players to get paranoid and take each other out,

the evil team is very active. It has to build worlds. And I think that that's one of the most exciting and interesting parts of how this game and how it kind of scratches that same itch that Survivor tends to scratch. Okay. So we're going to have that up for you

on the RJP YouTube channel. We're going to have a premiere, I believe, Saturday afternoon, 1 p.m. That's what we're saying. That's what we're saying. That's what we're telling ourselves. We're really excited for everybody to get the chance to watch the world premiere of our

Survivor Blood on the Clocktower game. We look forward to seeing you there and look to see your feedback along the way because we had one heck of a time. This is a real passion project for us, Stephen. Yeah. A lot of effort into this.

So it was a lot of fun. Okay. Christian, while you're here, Chelsea wants to know, can Christian explain scientifically and mathematically why you should saw the clothesline? I have to admit, that kind of washed over me really quick.

It was like, what, did the math just get mentioned? How did this become a thing? So I'll have to draw some free body diagrams for the next time we talk, Rob and Steven, so that way I can have a proper explanation so we can do proper justice to her justification. Okay. All right.

It'll depend on how wet the clothes are, what's the angle. Perhaps. Okay. All right. Christian, anything else that you want to tell people to check out uh that that's it just look forward to seeing y'all at saturday at 1 p.m eastern uh you know

what i'll pop in the chat too that'll be fun we can chat about yeah it'll be very fun uh to uh the live chat will be going and so very fun to uh watch in real time oh really oh i didn't know that yeah oh wow oh geez oh, that's so fun. I'll try to be there, too. I had no idea. This is a... Oh, wow. I don't know if I'll be able to do it. I'll try to come. Yes, I'll try to be there. All right. Well, Christian, great job, and I'll talk to you soon, okay? Take care. All right.

Bye. That was fun. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not surprised. Very excited for everybody to see the Blood in the Clock Tower game. We've been working on this for a couple of months, and it's very excited for people to be able to finally get the chance to see it yeah uh it's and it's yeah it was very fun throughout um and again like if you're new to the game like it's a really good introduction to the the game this was like meant you know designed i think this like particular scenario was designed by um the people from the pandemonium pandemonium

is to be a good introduction to like new players and new um viewers and some of the players are decently new to the game you know and and that's you know i've played a bunch and christian hasn't obviously dwight has a lot um but but uh you know some of the people were newer so i think that kind of is a fun part of seeing the players learn the game yeah plenty of hand holding for people who are new to the game okay steven so i i want to get your take on what's going on over at tuku where uh gabe now is trying to double back bring in kyle as a person he doesn't want tiana in the alliance in the four uh doesn't really want to work with her and so he's going to bring kyle in but then kyle tries to throw gabe under the bus yeah It was kind of like what, you know,

what Sam was doing with Andy a little bit, where he was trying to get his like pocket ally, but it worked so badly. Kyle doesn't want any part of it. Immediately rats out Gabe to Sue and Caroline, but then Sue is outraged by this. So she rats like double rats out. Well, she was pissed that Kyle wrote her name down.

Yeah. Understandably. I mean, I'm sure from Kyle's perspective, it's like water under the bridge, you know, um, they,

you know, he did it. It's like, let's move on. And, um, you know, here he is offering good Intel,

but like Sue doesn't want to hear it. She immediately shuts it down. Um, the very fun, um, Siri, like game of telephone where everyone is objecting to everybody everything else that everybody is saying was gabe what did gabe do wrong here like what

where did gabe go wrong rob with you know not how did he not finesse kyle because when i saw that conversation i thought okay this is good like he's gonna bring kyle back in do you have to tell kyle that he's back in can you just go to sue and caroline and work on bringing uh kyle in interesting like he should have gone first to them and kind of tried to rehabilitate him that way yeah you know like i kind of got burned by this uh a little bit in the amazon where i i had this uh like i had this crazy idea where i wanted to bring you know Jenna Maraska to like I'm like all right I got like nobody likes her everybody hates her I'll beat her in the final two so easy but I need to get to the final two with her and so I had this whole cockamamie plan and the first

thing I did was go to her I'm like hey great news I got a plan to bring you to the final two yeah and she was like and then and then she went and kind of did the similar thing to Kyle. Like tried to like blow, blow up my game. And I'm like, oh, she's lying. It's a lie.

And very unconvincingly, but I don't know, for whatever reason, I think they were just like, yeah, whatever. Well, why was Jenna?

Why did you, why did Jenna feel, feel that way when you, she wouldn't vote out Heidi. I was like, all right, we're gonna vote out Heidi next. And then I'll take you to the final two and she's like similarly with kyle like he doesn't want to turn on tiana so yeah i guess so judgment of of like the person's

loyalty yeah but i think you just just bring them to the end like you don't need to necessarily get them to consent on like i don't think that they needed Kyle's vote to vote out Tiana next. Yeah. I mean, it's true that now that like the voting ends at four, you can do it a little bit more elegantly. But like in your era, when there was final two, you did have if you were at the final three with yourself, Jenna and Heidi, you know, that wouldn't be a good situation for you. You would you would have gotten voted out third. It wouldn't have that have been humiliating to miss the end by one vote. Yes, absolutely.

OK, so close to a million dollars, just one vote away from a million dollars. Oh God, that would hurt. Yeah, and that was back when a million dollars was really a million dollars. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Interesting. So yeah, it's a pickle.

So that's a misplay by Gabe, right? But then it ends up not blowing up in Gabe's face because then Kyle, you know. Yeah, Sue hates Kyle so much. Yeah yeah it's so interesting how like the personalities end up defining the strategy you know that's what that's what's great about this season of survivor and what i think 90 minutes gives us more of is we get to see these personalities develop and we get to see like how their little you know i think uh mike bloom characterized it as like petty grudges and animosities like define you, you know, the strategy. Like that's what survivor is.

You know, it's like, it's like these like little interpersonal rivalries and grudges like end up and how they have this like enormous strategic impact in this, you know, huge game set in the jungle for a million dollars. Like what a, what a cool premise.

Well, and actually that's something that I've heard Tyson talk about on his podcast is that that's a big difference between the 39 day game and the 26 day game is that I feel like that it's so, difference between the 39 day game and the 26 day game is that I feel like that it's so it's like so much go, go, go. And maybe it's also because we have had I feel like that we had fewer reward challenges here. We've just had just the one big challenge here through these first couple episodes. I'm not sure if that necessarily that's probably the same for all the new era seasons, but there's less downtime with your tribe in these, like,

where instead of being like three days with them, you sort of, it's two days and you're going to a challenge and there's a lot more going on. Yeah. It cuts both ways though. You have less time to hate people, but you also have less time to build friendships. And so in general, it's like, I guess, I guess that's the point. It's less relationship driven where it becomes less about who do I hate, who do I like and more just, you know, more transactional. But, you know, even so you're still developing these feelings. I mean, it's an intense living situation, right? Even if it's for, you know, two thirds of the time. Um, and yeah, I mean, it really was those down days where you would get on each other's nerves, you know, just sick of hearing the same story over and over and over again about the

last waltz. I never got tired about hearing about the last waltz, but there were some people who really were sick of it. What's the last waltz? That's like the band it's there. Like, um, movie it's about the band.

And that was JT boy. Was he excited about the last waltz when we were at token chains? And I was hoping I should have played that up more in my final tribal speech. If I feel like if I had made it about the last waltz, I could have won token chains. Yeah. But, but who JT, boy, was he excited about the last waltz when we were at Token Chains. And I was hoping, I should have played that up more in my final tribal speech. If I feel like if I had made it about the last waltz, I could have won Token Chains. Yeah, but who, JT kept talking about the last waltz? He really, really, really enjoyed the last waltz. I never even heard of it.

A lot to say about it, yeah. Yeah, I gotta call up JT and have him tell me that whole story. Sounds like he'll be excited. Okay, all right. Let's take some questions. Nick wants to know, will they ever have an advantage

under the sit-out bench again? I don't know. Never is a tough one. You know, I think, you know, once people stop looking, then they'll start putting them there again. That was a fun little moment, though. Yeah.

I mean, they wanted to give Genevieve something. Yeah. Yeah, truly. Okay. Well, truly. Okay. Weird that we didn't get, well, whatever. We got very little of her today. Something I also wanted to say, you know, was how fun tribal council was. Yes, you commented on Twitter.

Yeah, metaphor era tribal council is over. You know, very excited. At least for now. I mean, Asia had a metaphor or some kind of analogy, but it was totally appropriate. It made sense in the context of like what was going on. It wasn't some like, tell me about the sharks, you know, kind of thing, you know, like give me give me something big about Survivor kind of moment from Jeff. You know, it felt, you know, organic to Asia describing, you know, what if this is a podcast? What's happening right now?

Yeah. Yeah. So I really a fun tribal council where they were like so specific you know jeff was digging in like oh you just said the core four who are the core four that was kind of a kooky thing for kishan to say right to like name that they had a core four right there tribal council okay and not to make this all about me and the amazon today uh but i feel like so uh i okay sure um and i think i don't do it a ton but in so it's the final seven and uh i really saw myself as the swing vote between two groups of three and i i feel like that uh at that tribal council like i felt like that i was being very cute of talking about like hey there's going to be three people that are going to be very left out of this vote tonight uh and like

you know i felt like that uh oh the people at home know what i'm talking about but yeah you know like the people so so uh for kishan i understand that like uh why you could do it um does it reassure you know i think it's like he's able to like have this cake and eat it too right yeah yeah um because i feel like that from the perspective of of kishan so like he's made like for he's you know trying to keep up the ruse to, you know, to Asia and Saul that he still would, you know, probably want Saul to play a shot in the dark and waste it. Uh, if that was something that, uh, you know, he cared about Rome is going to be excited that he's doing what they said they were going to do. Um, you know, from the perspective of like trying to keep, you know,

Saul and Asia feeling like that they're on the same page, that they're trying to make Rome play his idol on himself. So I think it wasn't bad. Did Asia go into that tribal council with a good sense that she was going home or did she think that there was a world where Genevieve was going home? I, uh, hmm.

I'm trying to think. I feel like that they, she said they told her before tribal council that they were going to vote for Genevieve. So I guess she was she was blindsided that Keyshawn and Teenie did not go through with what they said. Yeah. But I think she knew she was in trouble, but she thought that they were going to that they were going to go with the plan. And then ultimately they didn't. They told her they would. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

All right. So how about a question about Ben wants to know, is it undeniable that Gata made the right decision in voting out John Lovett after winning back-to-back challenges? Oh, that's interesting. But John was not, I mean, we talked about John as physically weak, but that really wasn't true, right like he seemed like totally decently strong you know i mean maybe he was seemed weaker than andy but again andy not the driver of the challenge today yeah if anything

andy held the back in the challenge well that's right yeah so i i don't know i mean i i don't necessarily take that 100 to be the case yeah but didn't hurt probably yeah i don't know i mean i i don't necessarily take that 100 to be the case yeah but didn't hurt probably yeah i don't know yeah i mean if it was between the two of them like i like he seemed he looked strong john you know maybe he was like not as tall as as uh you know sam but he he looked like you know muscly john love it yeah Okay. He says he likes to exercise. Yeah. He looks strong. He looks fit.

Yeah. Okay. Steven, Edward Morris wants to know, does Rome look like Paddington Bear? What? Oh, because of the hat. Yeah. What do you think? That's very funny.

That's what people are saying, that. Yeah. People are saying. Okay. All right. Yeah. How about... I would have loved a hat, by the way, on are saying. Okay. All right. Yeah. How about. I would have loved a hat,

by the way, on survivor. Oh my gosh. I have a hat like that, but like, it was like a rain catcher. It was like so big, you know,

you could like drink out of it. You could, you know, protect you from the rain. AJ asks, Asia says that Rome had some inexplicable beef with her. Is it possible that he recognized her and wanted to take her out as competition for the on-fire co-host role?

I mean, it's not impossible. Like, I do think that Rome might be more, like, you know, just the fact of, like, knowing about the first question, like, in the seating arrangement. I feel, you know, I think, I feel like he might be in the, you know, attuned to the world.

Okay. Yeah. All right. Attuned to the world of, like, you know, this community. Yes. Not just, like, the world generally. okay all right how about a question from nathan okay it's a long one okay uh based on the vote seems like asia and saul were splitting the vote between rome and genevieve with the expectation that teeny and kashan would do the same unless uh steal a vote and the idol get played two two two votes split to where

i actually believe that they were uh asia believed that it was going to be uh kishan and teeny also putting three votes they wanted to put three votes onto uh genevieve but truly the two two two votes but i mean i agree that it's complicated in a six-person tribe yeah well no that's complicated but two two two would be ideal, right? Yeah, but I feel like Teenie, Kishan, Asia, and Saul could have figured that out. That's why I think there had to be something else we're not seeing. It can't just be the idol. There was a fail-safe solution to the idol.

I think that the thing that maybe is there is that for Teenie and Kishan, they did not want to work with another pair in another tight pair in Saul and Asia. Right. But you know, we started this by saying that Rome and Genevieve were tight. I think that they feel like that Genevieve, like it's like Rome is definitely going to get picked off at the merge and that like,

he will be the person who will be a shield for them where maybe, you know, if I don't know if Asia or Saul win immunity, then maybe that they could be the people who get picked off. But Saul is like a beast. I mean, once again, like Saul, who they were seriously considering voting out, like not some, you know, shrinking violet here.

Like people are going to notice Saul at the merge. Steven, do you feel like that the success of of rome so far and gabe and uh like has this been a season of like hey go look for the idol like uh has it really come back full circle from like when you played in second chances but i think that we're really starting to get into the meta of like oh don't be the person to go out and look for the idol. You're going to get, you know, but these people find the idol and then in the small tribes, you know, it's a conundrum. Yeah. I mean, I do think part of that,

as we discussed, is like having that single use idol, right? If Rome had a full game idol, it would be a very different story, right? Like I think people, probably they would have tried to bluff him to like, cause then the pressure would have been on trying to flush the idol. Right. It's like we want to like blindside him before he has a chance to play this.

Instead, he has the single use idol, which makes him invincible at the next tribal council. You sort of like have to deal with the question of Rome. So I do think like the change in the stakes of the idol really drives that. I do think like the change in the stakes of the idol really drives that of like, it's actually, I mean, it's kind of, as you were saying last in our moment,

when last we spoke two weeks ago, it's almost like more useful to have a, like a more limited idol than it is to have a nebulously limited idol where like, it just like creates like this, this power around you. Yeah. I mean,

should, was Tony in game changers truly ahead of their, his time where should players get to the beach in Survivor 48 and just begin like a mad idol hunt the second they get to the island? Yeah. I mean, it does seem like there's less stigma. I mean, we're only seeing the success stories, right? We're not seeing the story about like the person who goes idol hunting and everyone hates him for it, you know, which we used to see a lot of, you know, so we're seeing the ones where the person finds the idol and then is in this like tremendous negotiating position

because they have this time limited immunity. Yeah. I'm trying to think of the last person who really ended up, I, you know, but I feel like that we didn't see it so much. I feel like that Sifu was a big idol hunter. And I think that maybe- That was why they like threw a challenge to get rid of him, right?

It was because Sifu, they were worried that Sifu had something. Yeah. Okay. I don't, but that was why they threw a challenge to get rid of him, right? It was because Sifu, they were worried that Sifu had something. Yeah, okay. I don't know if they, did they throw a challenge, but they turned on their own team anyway. I don't know if they threw a challenge.

I don't think that they threw a challenge. Yeah, but they turned on one of the red tribe before they had to. Okay, and then Kristen asks, between the small tribes combined with the number of people who lose their votes,

is the steal a vote too powerful of an advantage in the pre-merge? I mean, it's an interesting one. You know, the, I mean, the stakes, I feel like the stakes justify it. Like, what do you think though, Rob? This is the real question here. Should the contestants have been forced

to reach into the bag? No, they were, and here's why. They were not forced to go on the journey. They were forced's why they, they were not forced to go on the journey that they opted to go on the journey. Nobody, nobody got drafted into going on the journey. It wasn't even like a situation like, all right, pick a person to go on a thing. The boat came that your chance to not put your hand in the bag is I don't want to go on the journey.

That's your chance to not put your hand in the bag. So they should have to put their hand in the bag. Yeah. You're there. You're at the journey. You know, you're journey that's your chance to not put your hand in the bag so they should have to put their hand in the bag yeah you're there you're at the journey you know yeah you're that's this is what you signed up for when you got in the boat don't don't get in the boat and go on the ride to say uh too rich for my blood i'm not i'm not doing it right you went but the stakes are big right like that's what like two loser votes and to lose two votes versus you want it to be something that really has impact. And the steal a vote, again, is kind of a boring one as the numbers are bigger. I mean, an extra vote, too. Because it's so hard for those things to really make a difference.

But here on a six-person tribe, it actually has meaningful power. And so that's why I think it's like, cool, you know, an advantage that you have to make a big risk for, but that has potentially game defining power. I mean, it probably was what caused Asia to be voted out. I think I would have done it. I would have stuck my hand in the bag again. Call me crazy,

but I feel like that losing your vote is not the death sentence that we make it out to be. And I especially also feel like that when you, I mean, we're on the third tribal council already, so we're almost at the, uh, mergatory. And I feel like that in those first couple of mergatory votes that sometimes they end up being very lopsided. If you can happen to like, okay, one of those first tribal councils be where you lose your vote. It actually helps you a little bit because you don't have to show your cards so i think we saw that yeah you could you could make losing two votes work for you yeah and sometimes people like oh what am i worried about him he

doesn't even have a vote i'm not gonna what am i gonna vote him out you play your steal a vote on someone who doesn't have a vote like what's the order of operations there like you don't know they don't have a vote when you play your steal a vote like you get up and they're like oh you only get one vote like how does that work out that would be hilarious yeah you know um wait till we get to like they use the first vote at the merge and then uh rome tries to steal kyle's and now again he was on the journey with them so uh we'll see um all right steven anything else from the world of survivor 47 you want to highlight today? I think we hit it.

I think we hit the things. We did hit the things. Yeah. Okay. All right, Stephen, Blood on the Clocktower coming up on Saturday, 1 p.m. Eastern. We'll have that here to premiere on our YouTube channel. Fishy for Andy. Anything else that you're working on? Yeah, I sold my novel.

My gosh, I know I talked to you about it. I finished it. I had an agent. I was done. And then the next step is selling it. And it sold. I'm a novelist. I will be a novelist. I no longer, next time we, you know, when RHAP 20 comes around and we do promotional material, I'm not going to be former contestant in my Chiron

anymore. Now it's novelist. Yes. Okay. Well, congratulations. Thank you. Well, and I'll certainly be, you know, banging the drum. to be former contestant in my chiron anymore now it's novelist yes okay well congratulations thank you well and i'll certainly be you know banging the drum it's not going to come out probably till uh february of 2026 yes but are you retiring from the podcast now that you have a big novel money no we'll see how much you know how many copies it sells no the more copies it sells the more okay that's right get the incentive structure there yeah yeah all right it depends hopefully people you know hopefully it's a positive incentive yes okay uh and if it doesn't sell well you have to podcast twice as much no no no no no no one podcast for every 10 000 copies sold yeah if it doesn't sell well you

won't be able to get out of bed in the morning yeah exactly exactly all right uh lots of congratulations coming in for steven from the chat congratulations thank you oh it makes me feel great my gosh thank you okay uh if you missed our podcast with tevin check that out plus my exit interview with asia we've got a two hour big brother eviction episode coming up tonight, Stephen. Wow. What level of hell would you classify that as for you? I mean, for me, there's no level.

We'll never know anything about it other than this. This is all I know about it. All right, two-hour Big Brother episode. We'll be live to talk about that at 10.15 p.m. Eastern Time. Patrons, I'll be taking your questions live we'll have a bbq and a and the survivor q a survivor q a will be at 3 30 p.m eastern time on friday so i get that link over on our patreon at rob has a website.com slash patron thank you so much for joining us i look forward to reading your comments. Take care, everybody. Have a good one. Bye. Bye-bye. Only one thing you can really know So we say

Go, go, Rob Sestanino You are the best that we know Just grab your mic and we go wild We live by a simple creed If Rob has a podcast, we have a hero Rob Sestanino, time to fly. More things like me. This is your time.

Big thanks to Eric Barger, who composed the beautiful ballad you just heard. Hear more of his music at itelectric over on Instagram.