RHAP: We Know Survivor - Know-It-Alls: Survivor 47 Premiere

Episode Date: September 19, 2024

Rob and Stephen team up to recap the premiere of Survivor 47!

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Like they won the game a million times. But actually, they really didn't ever win the game at all. Is this intentional? No. Do I know at all? Yes, we're back with another season. Steven, it's been a minute since I hit the wordless version. Yes, okay, we are back. I hit the wordless version of the Survivor 47 song.

Yes. Okay. We are back. Survivor 47. Can you believe it? It's the karaoke. The karaoke version. Yeah.

It's been a minute. It's been a minute. It's been a minute. I got something to complain about here. Yeah. What is it? I want to start with a complaint in addition to that terrible song screw up. Sorry about that. Ruined the whole Survivor season.

When I'm making podcasts, nobody is freaking cheering for me you make podcasts and they are you know talking about you on television i'm here making podcasts no one's saying steven is on the podcast you know they're there it's not fair it's not right you're it's such a good point it's not right and uh people eyes are on you rob people need to cheer for steven it's such a good point uh that please everybody let's start cheering for steven uh head on over to we know survivor.com right there in apple podcast that's where you should put all your five star reviews for steven fish back when you subscribe. Okay? Here's the question I have. For once. First of all, I'm very excited about your new branding and all the new stuff

you guys are doing. It's very fun. We know scripted. We know it all. That's us. Do you know, when you say we, does that include you? Because I'm not so sure you know. Okay. You're not the knowingest know-it-all. Not the knowingest know-it-all, for sure. Stephen is know it all for sure even no survivor yes okay steven knows survivor i'll see if i get that url steven no

survivor.com where you can subscribe for everything we're doing uh including uh my conversation with uh john love it from earlier today uh now posted we'll talk about that but it's so nice i thought he had some great insights into like the game I really am excited to talk about it. Great. Well, this is the place to do it. We're back here live. First episode of The Survivor Noodle. Stephen, how was your summer?

It was lovely. It was very hot. You know, you watch Washington, D.C., a lot of mosquitoes. But otherwise, it was lovely. Yeah, very nice. Okay. All right. Wednesday nights were a barren wasteland. And then Thursday afternoons, even more barren Yeah, very nice. Okay. All right. Wednesday nights were a barren wasteland.

And then Thursday afternoons, even more barren of a wasteland. Okay. Well, we're back and ready to go here on the Survivor Know-It-Alls. And so excited to get back into everything from this two-hour premiere of Survivor 47. And Stephen, let's jump in. What was your reaction to the whole thing I thought it was a very enjoyable two hours of tell I mean it's a great show Survivor you know

it really is they do good stuff yeah they do and I thought it was a very enjoyable premiere everyone people are like oh this is the best premiere since this I don't know they're all great I really enjoy all the rankings arbitrary and reductive oh I was queuing that up for myself but no I really I love I thought was, it was very fun.

A lot of characters. I would have liked more Saul. I really liked Saul. You know, just so, so cute. Yeah. You've been locked in on Saul from following you on Twitter. You were locked on Saul in the challenge. What is it about Saul?

Do you know him? Do you know him in real life? No, I just thought, you know, such presence, like when he's like dragging things and, you know, I love a huge burly dude, you know, like that's true. That is on brand. You know, I would have liked to see a little more Tiana. I thought she was great, too. I enjoyed her and the little we had of her. Yeah.

But overall, it was great. Very fun. You know, some people were saying there was too much scrambling around for idols. Yeah. Much like looking. I kind of enjoyed it. I agree. was too much scrambling around for idols, too much like looking. I kind of enjoyed it. I agree, like lots of scrambling. But here's the thing about the scrambling for idols.

Like the scrambling for idols is where the characterization comes from. Like we know that people are going off in twos and threes and they're all saying, oh, blah, blah, blah. But what is exciting is when like there's a real decision point. You know, it's when Rome runs away at the water well like that is a characterizing moment or you know it's when like Sue is doing the worst job ever of being a lookout like you know like looking out like she's really looking out you know or like hollering I mean and and like those you know the idol hunting I don't think of just as some like random advantage

it's like that is the crucible of the relationships or like you know the conversation between tk and gabe where they're feeling each other out you know there has to be some kind of structure for those relationships to develop yeah you say the idols are just a backdrop for the camp life yeah exactly like that's what is like giving it's like it's a good take you know yeah you have to have like a net you can't have a court if there was no net in no court you know you just be like smacking balls around and that's right you never want to be doing that okay all right so steven uh let's start off with john lovett here and you know i thought that john lovett had uh i thought a pretty good episode you know one of the best first boot episodes of all time, I think, in terms of just how, yeah. Yeah.

Okay, so what was your reaction to John Lovett? Because I really, I thought he was here for the long haul. I drafted him. I thought that, like, okay, he's on all the commercials. I felt pretty good about John Lovett coming into Wednesday night. The show aired, you know, an hour, 50 minutes into it. I still was feeling pretty good about John Lovett. And then, unanimous vote he was in so many commercials that i started to wonder like you know it's like in in

token chains because let me make this about my experience every you know they kept on pulling sandy for confessionals and we're like okay like they want her while she's here you know they got to like maximize their sandy yeah well she didn't go go first. Well, no, but I mean, there was a good, good chance that she might have. So I felt like that, you know, very enjoyable character. I thought he had some really like very astute, you know, like, like, like when you were in your interview with him, you know, you pointed out how, you know, quick witted and generous his response on the mat when Andy called him out was. Yeah. I mean, it was stuff like that. You know, he had, he was able to take these little moments and really, you know, from

like a strategic and character perspective, kind of like turn them into something, you know, when they could have just been awkward and awful. So yeah, he was good. He seemed to be gelling. I, do you think there's any legacy of Jelinski here, Rob? Because, you know, we saw last season, tribe had this decision between do we get rid of the messy but stronger contestant or do we get rid of, you know, the weaker contestant who might not help us out in challenges? Ultimately, they chose the weaker to get rid of Jelinski. And it was terrible for them.

And we talked about what a bad choice it was we said as a rule when you're the tribe and the first person you know it is out you should you should go for strength that was us you know you own it rob it was you and um especially because that the second challenge just was such a uh like challenge that should have been in Jelinski's wheelhouse, where it was a challenge that required a long wingspan. And so having a tall person like Jelinski would have really helped them out. So yeah, the Jelinski thing was really, Q was driving that decision, I feel like, more than anybody. I feel like that, and I could be misremembering, but I feel like more than anybody, I feel like that and I could be misremembering, but I feel like that Kenzie and Tiffany, I think, were probably more along the lines of let's hey, let's keep Jelinski around. And Q was the person that was really pushing for him to go.

But I don't know necessarily if this was like that. They're like, OK, well, we have to make sure we don't lose Andy. It seemed like they were from the point of Sierra and Sam, they were very much of like, let's keep Andy. And then it felt like- Because he's stronger, though. Because he's stronger. Yeah, no, that's what I'm saying.

Like, I think like, you know, last season, like that was a big, you know, lesson of like, don't, you want to keep strength, and especially at the first boot. Yeah. So I guess those are all the reasons to keep strength and especially at the first at the first boot yeah so i i guess those are all the reasons to uh to keep andy i don't i guess that like we did come away feeling like okay well in if you have a chance in that first question and i didn't really line up the two seasons uh like you have yeah i guess that's a good point i just like uh look at it from the perspective of did John

do something wrong? Like you've definitely made the case for keeping Andy if you want to avoid going back to a tribal council. I thought that I mean, so this is what I thought was really, you know, I've always thought of like alliances, especially in the early days, it's kind of like like fields of influence, you know, rather than kind of these like locked in number groups, which they used to be. They used to be locked in number groups. And, you know, I think later in the game they become that, but in the early days, they're kind of like, like hazy fields of, you know, you kind of have relationships with everybody and then you sort of have to see

where the game goes. And that is basically how he, you know, described his experience in the first few days on the, on the, on the beach, right. Was there were these six people, like these groups were gelling, this group was gelling. But then when Andy has that blow up on the beach, right. Was there were these six people, like these groups were gelling, this group was gelling. But then when Andy has that blow up on the mat, like it's sort of like locks in this whole form where like the, there's this John and Andy pair and like, we got to do something. Like, we don't want to be part of that. Like, that's not our, you know, that is suddenly like locked out of the rest of the Alliance or of the tribe.

And so, you know, is, is there a world where Andy doesn't have that blow up and they can, like, there is still that field and they can pull something where they're, you know, voting out. I think he said they would have voted out Rachel or, I mean, I know he's obviously Anika was someone to be voted out, but he also said he had an Alliance with Anika, but anyway, like maybe there's a world where Andy doesn't blow up. Danica. But anyway, like maybe there's a world where Andy doesn't blow up and, um, you know, there is still that field, but I think, you know, even apart from that, and it's so hard to know, obviously this, he's just sort of out of luck because if, if, if they're, if they're staying

strong and, and, you know, you have this group with Sam and the three women on that tribe, um, you know, they're, and they want to keep the tribe strong. Like there's very little John can do in that. Yeah. It's a product of the the three tribes he's in a bad spot because that he's probably not looked at as one of the most physical people in the tribe that i just feel like that he probably needs to pivot quicker to when andy is uh throwing him under the bus. Like, it's just very hard to do it rather than try to like rehabilitate Andy's like, okay, well, look, you know, good to know that Andy. But, you know, I think what he's trying to say is like,

like, how dare you? Like, you're going home tonight, buddy. Now, the only other place where I can see him having maybe done something wrong is right out of the gate, right? Where, you know, Andy gives this story about how I had like four friends in high school and was like, ah, four friends, you know, like, um, and, you know, really plays up his own nerdiness. Right. So that ultimately is something that kind of come back. And of course, like that shtick that we all do in the nerd community, you know, sort of, you know,

in the, you know, make fun of ourselves. That's our thing. Right. But like, you know, of, you know, in the, you know, make fun of ourselves. That's our thing. Right. But like, you know, that's our culture. Um, but, but, um, you know, that does lock in a perception, right? When, so then when you're talking about like, who is the weak link on this tribe? Like, Hey, maybe the guy who talks about what a weak linky is, maybe that person could be it. Yeah. So I mean, I have a hard time just, uh, you know, piling on that John did something, uh, terribly wrong. Like I'm, I'm more open to say like that, that john did something uh terribly wrong like i'm probably wrong yeah i'm more open to say like that maybe did he get a did he get a charitable edit and was there like uh a like other issues that we weren't seeing in in there and i think that that's

you know that that's possible babe but based off of what we saw it's very hard to nitpick uh you know anything that john did you know i agreed with what he had to say about like, hey, I'd rather go out swinging than just hope for the best. And I was somebody in the all-stars where like, I went to a six-person tribal council and hoped for the best and it didn't go my way. And I always say I would have rather have gone down, you know, swinging rather than just hoping

that the assurances I got were going to be fine. Yeah. I mean, obviously there's that question, which he raised himself of, should I have played my shot in the dark? I mean, he had a really smart answer for it, which was that, you know, can I, can I spoil your whole, your whole interview? Should we just go step by step through the whole interview? You know, he talked about, you know, I've got a one in six shot of the shot in the dark and it felt like a one in six shot that like socially I would be able to pull this off so i figured i would he figured he would just like go out voting basically which i kind of like you know like this is cool

like right to have like gone out but like never written someone's name down it's kind of like a like a weird little uh asterisk um so i do think that um i i don't think he did anything wrong i really think that it was just terrible luck um you know maybe andy doesn't have the meltdown and there's uh you know more more room to play on that in that group i still think there's a very good chance that even if andy does does not have that meltdown he still looked on as you know a potential weak link in the tribe but it's hard to say obviously yeah but um you know he was great it's too bad you know maybe they'll bring him back even it was yeah i want to come back to that in a second but even

in the two-hour episode you know it was hard because I feel like that, you know, that the Andy situation sucked so much of the oxygen out of the tribe after it happened. And even like leading up to that, it was a lot of like, what does Rachel think about Andy? You know, what's what's Andy experiencing? And then, of course, after the challenge and we saw how John was feeling about the tribe. challenge and we saw how John was feeling about the tribe. I don't think at any point we got what the other play other than Andy, what are the other players thinking about John? And so we were sort of like missing that piece of like he John felt like he was doing well, but we don't necessarily get like what did Anika think about John? You know, what did Sam and Sierra think about John? I mean, yes, we never got that like one toone confessional, although it just kind of seemed like he was, you know, from the story we were told, right, those four were gelling, right?

Sam was the glue guy and like he had these like one-on-one relationships with all the women. And then, you know, Andy and John were a pair and like they liked John, but he was obviously, you know, he's like kind of kooky older guy, right? Like, you know, more of like an oddity. You knew about Vine in your day? You know, that kind of thing. You know about Vine? Oh, yeah. You Vine guys?

Well, I mean, I was working at MTV that when Vine was, we were like desperate to figure out how to like, you know, use the Vine stars. Like we had like, you know, King Bach on our air. Did I say that right? Bach, King Bach, Fish and King Bachs. Yeah, I knew of it. I was never really a vine guy yeah um we um yeah so the other thing i thought that it was funny that john said that was like an interesting observation was like in the world of um shots in the dark

there's always a decoy and that was even true before shots in the dark right but like now it becomes much more necessary you have a decoy boot so that was even true before Shots in the Dark. Right. But like now it becomes much more necessary. You have a decoy boot. So like, how do you convince someone to actually vote for the decoy boot when they're saying they're going to vote for the decoy boot? So he was like Rachel saying, oh, yeah, I'm voting for Andy. Then how do I have a conversation with Rachel where I convince her to vote for Andy when she's already nominally saying she's voting for Andy? I thought that was a very funny yeah but let's really vote for andy okay yeah we gotta make sure we do it yeah yeah okay so you said uh could john be a second chance candidate uh would love to get your thoughts on that jeff tall called him in interviews uh one of the best storytellers if not the best obviously hyperbole like he was great in his time but you know i mean jeff didn't even mention cochran you know or or or penner or yeah i mean you know um yeah yeah so you feel like uh john for uh season 50 i would be into it and i also think like this is why i tweeted that i think he would do a lot better because all the season 50

contestants like having been through the media circus a little bit will like be desperately sucking up to him as influential. Whereas his own tribe had no idea who he was. So they didn't know enough to suck up to him. They didn't know, you know, that like Mike White is casting, you know, the people, you know, from his, I mean, obviously Mike White is different,

but like, you know, maybe they'll have him on the podcast. You know, like now I feel like, I feel like if John Lovett goes back with a returning cast, like everyone's going to be John Lovett's friend. But other than the naked ambition of a reality tv show contestants that do you feel like that there is something that would be different about john playing a second time than uh the first time out for him i mean we saw so little of his game it's

so hard to say he seemed very self-aware he seemed able to handle himself extremely you know intelligently in one-on-one conversations i thought his attempt at like salvaging you know saving his own game was decent we don't it would be impossible to say he's like some master strategist simply because you know from from the you know the i don't know was it even three days the day two days i think it was three days yeah yeah um but you know he suddenly you know i i thought i tweeted that it would be nice to see him come back someone else said like it would kind of stink because you know there's all these people who are like so desperate for a second chance. Like, are we really just going to bring back like the most, you know,

the famous guy? Cause he's famous. It's not just cause he's famous. He's also like gives, gives good confessionals is self-aware is funny. You know, I think there's a lot more there, but also, you know, as you said to him again, one more part of your interview with him, it's like, it brought a lot of attention to the show. I just personally know a lot of attention to the show i just personally know a lot of people who are who are watching you know who watched this episode you know just just to see him and you know maybe they watch more than one episode and they become

lifelong viewers they stick around maybe they they have to watch and uh just to spite the people that took out john love it yeah i want to see all these people suffer and lose. Yeah. They voted out. They voted up my favorite podcaster. OK, so. All right. John Lovett. It's a quick boot for him. I wonder, Stephen, like just in the new era, have we seen a John Lovett type? Not necessarily from the standpoint of like having this resume outside of Survivor, but in the six person tribe version of Survivor, like have have we seen this person do well? Huh? Because I feel like the people that we point to that, OK, the, you know, Cochran and David Wright and Mike White, like they all played in the old era. Yeah. Well, is Romeo like? cochran and david wright and mike white like uh they don't play it in the old era yeah uh well is romeo like i don't think romeo is necessarily the same as john lovett yeah um that's a tricky

one i need i'm not and i need to go back and look um i mean who would be like who is the same is like charming charlie's not you know like charlie's not no it's such like is is ben katzman a john lovett type like no is what's a john lovett type like is kenzie you know i mean i don't know what does that mean wow um yeah well um i feel like maybe a a guy on the tribe who's not necessarily like a physical presence who's probably going to get by on more of uh certainly a social game and a strategic game and like you know i feel like uh zach wortenberger uh what about carsten carson garrett is like i mean remember like nerds that do well carson was final four yeah carson's a good a good point yeah um yeah i mean uh what about obviously basile my beloved basile um is he uh would that be another one yeah john lovett dark okay so it's possible

yeah there's a path there yeah i think you just get in with the right group you know and and you know i actually think carson's a good analogy for um or a good comparison for love it because like he was someone who succeeded by just being right like bridging social relationships bringing people together being self-awareaware and great merch. So those are his paths to success. Yeah. Yeah. I think that for John, I think he had too many eggs in the Andy basket. I think ultimately where, OK, that that was going to be his person. And then when Andy thing went sideways, he didn't really have a viable other plan.

Yeah. All right. Let's talk about Andy. Yeah. What's your take? What was your what's's talk about Andy. Yeah, what's your take? What's your go-to? What's your takeaway? No, I feel horrible for Andy because I know how much this was a dream of his and how close he got in previous seasons of getting onto the show.

And I don't know the exact circumstances of what the issue is that led to him feeling the way that he did. Like, I feel like that I'm not a doctor and I'm not a psychologist. So I feel like a little out of my depth to like talk about what's going on there. But it seems to me like there's more than just like the normal survivor paranoia. Well, I mean, listen, I have been in that situation. And, you know, I, when I went out there for Cambodia, again, let's, how can I bring this about myself?

I was, you know, a 35 year old TV executive. And I'm like, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to be like confident, you know, team leader, Steven. And that was not what happened. So, you know, you do suddenly find yourself like shunted into this other version of yourself. And, you know, especially if you're someone like Andy, who clearly seems like they're really haunted by that version of yourself, that can be a really jarring experience where like you, I mean, you know, you have this expectation of like, not just how you'll play, but how you'll be, how you'll exist, how you interact with other people. And then to find like yourself, like regressing in this way, that's like totally out of your control is very scary. And, you know, I have so much empathy for him, you know, for that. I mean, I think that, you know, I obviously have, you know, I feel terrible for him. And I also

don't think this is, you know, a game ending moment for him. You know, everything is so situational, right? Like on Cambodia, I was in a terrible experience with on my first tribe, I was miserable. And then I got a little, you know, I still got on a tribe swap. I was with friends. I started to feel more confident, you know, and I feel like the same thing could happen to Andy.

You know, I mean, I tweeted last night, there's a lot of survivor. You said buy Andy stock while it's low. Yeah, well, I truly like, is Andy going to win this game? It is a long shot. Could Andy do very well? Absolutely. You know, I think that, you know, he is someone who could absolutely come back. Like Holly Hoffman had a total breakdown in the early days, you know, Aubrey allegedly almost quit. I don't know if that's like in the show or not. I mean, I'd heard, I mean, but, but, um, you know, so a lot of people have had, you know, fallen apart

in the early days and then kind of, you know, just, just when it's all kind of crowding in on you at once. And then, you know, I mean, Hannah had, I had a ongoing anxiety and was in the final three. So, um, you know, I, I really think that he has a viable upside, you know, that said there was actions that he did that were, you know, whether or not they're like manifested from the panic or whatever, you know, that were subpar, even, even within the realm of someone who's suffering from anxiety, like, you know, waking someone up on the first or second night to console you is a pretty, you know, we saw, we saw it last season with Ben and Kenzie. It was a real bonding thing, but that was much later in the game. They were all, they weren't allied, you know, and,

and to pull someone like that in an aggressive way without considering how they feel about it. And maybe even in spite of them explicitly saying that they don't want to do it, I thought was pretty, um, you know, I don't know. I mean, like a little bit socially maladroit. Um, and, um, you know, and again, like you're in a tough situation. You're experiencing these huge things. Like maybe you're willing to sacrifice, you know, the social niceties to get the consolation you need. But we can still judge you like for that. You know, that's still a bad choice within the game of Survivor.

So we can have like empathy for Andy and what he's suffering and also say you're making some terrible decisions. Yeah. You know, and like, even like in the challenge when he was like, you know, Jeff kept on coming over and like, are you okay? And he was like, I gave everything I had Jeff, this is my moment. And it's like, seemed like he wanted like this big, like speech moment. And Jeff was like, okay, okay. You're fine. You're fine.

And then the, but I gave it all Jeff, you know, it was a little bit of like main character energy, you know, where he was like, this is, this is, I struggled. And now I'm the I'm the martyr. And, you know, that wasn't that was a little subpar, too. Yeah. So it's a new year. You know what that means? Setting big goals. Maybe you promised yourself you're going to hit the gym every day or maybe you said you're going to learn to make fire with a flint for once or the classic save more money. But let's be honest, New Year's resolutions tend to fizzle out by February. Wouldn't it be great if at least one of those goals could be automatic? That's where Acorns comes in. Today's episode is sponsored by Acorns. You probably heard

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It's one of the best movies of the year. What's happening? Oh, God. September 5th in select theaters, December 13th. To go back to your earlier point about the players that have come back from a situation like this, I would feel better about Andy's prospects to come back uh from this had john stayed in the tribe like if there was some other situation where that john's plan to vote out annika ends up coming through and they and and that now like there's this calming presence uh

like in the case of holly hoffman you know that they showed at least in the episodes that jimmy johnson like gives her like that speech like do you think is there a person here that could get andy back like build him back up build it back better well it does seem like you know now and especially because they all are obviously so concerned about their own you know social places you know um you know now and especially because they all are obviously so concerned about their own you know social places you know um you know social positions in the game like and andy has kind of taken on this role i think you're exactly right like if he was part of a group you know but now that he's you know so much labeled the outcast it could have like a reinforcing you know effect on him where that's his biggest fear and not only and it's happening you know it's not like just i mean it really is happening um but you know i think you you swap suddenly there's like new energy people are excited you know they're like oh gosh we had so we felt so bad for you

you feel you know you're like oh you know i feel like like if andy can make it to a swap you know there is real real upside for him you know and and not just to play differently but like be differently to feel differently about himself yeah the. The rest of the tribe, Stephen, do you think that first of all, did they make the right decision to vote out John? Yeah, I think they did, actually. I mean, you know, John had a good point. Let me steal all my notes from John, you know, that like he's the threat right but andy's kind of like he's no longer threatening and he's stronger um you know or seems to be physically stronger um so you keep the the tribe strong strength and andy's been like you know he's

he's not suddenly he's like he's not gonna pull something like nobody's gonna like jump to the andy ship now so you know you have someone who's a little bit kind of on the outs who's like a safe person to have there and is also bringing tribe strength i think that's sort of a uh right what do you think yeah probably i mean it seems like that none of them looked at john as like such a close ally like that was such i think um a damaging thing for john's game to have the person, okay, here's like this strong person in the tribe. Who's my number one ally. I'm feeling great here in this spot. And then to have that person be sort of like the very squeaky wheel,

instead of dealing with Andy, they end up saying, okay, well let's just, okay, we can go through like, if this ends up being a situation that we have to deal with, we can always then next tribal council take out Andy. But, you know, we can move forward and try to go back to tomorrow's immunity challenge with Andy and have a chance, you know, to make it through to the merge with the four of us as opposed to.

So I do think it was probably the right decision for them. four of us as opposed to so i do think it was probably the right decision for them yeah i have a question for earlier in the episode with rachel and how she responded to uh andy right we sort of alluded to it but um gabby had a really funny tweet um well i guess it was someone something that someone texted to her so um it's like it's an andy will you play with me and rachel in the sand and that's crossed out and And it just says, no. You know? And I think, and again, like, obviously there's this, like, we have this example of Ben and Kenzie last season.

Yeah. And so we have so many examples of people, you know, expressing their insecurity and looking for consolation and other people giving it to them. And was it wrong of Rachel or was she being reasonable? No, it wasn't wrong of Rachel or was she being reasonable? him they're gonna get rid of me and so i think that she could have been in that john lovett spot potentially had she gotten closer to andy and then he has like a it goes where it ultimately went and then they say okay well like he's actually very strong in the challenges so let's vote out rachel yeah yeah i agree i i think that i mean again like it's like you people like play so

defensively in those in in those early days. And do you know her backstory too? That, you know, that she was an alternate, I think she was for Survivor 46. She was out on location. She went to Fiji. She didn't get on the cast. She came all the way home. Right. And then to go like the first night and then, you know, uh, here's Andy, like, like in front of the whole tribe, like, Hey, like, can I talk to you and like

look do you know how like long and andy had his own uh story where he was uh could have got close to being on an earlier season two but these people work so hard to get here yeah yeah they're gonna like i mean i'm not gonna let you screw this up for me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, and again, like, especially, like, after the first vote, I think that people, you know, sort of open up a little bit. And then that kind of progressively goes on until people, like, you know, make bigger plays. Although not Gabe. He doesn't need to open up at all. He's open.

He's plenty open. Gabe is open for business. What did you think about Gabe? I mean, you know, obviously, it was it was nice. Cause it was nuanced, right? At the first year, like, wow, this guy's really going hard. He's playing well. And then you're like a little, a little too much with like, uh, you know, running around up and down.

I, um, yeah, I mean, it was fun. I see people who are like, there was too much, you know, running around opening boxes, but I thought it, I thought the treasure hunts within treasure hunts was, was kind of fun. Cause you know. Yeah, I didn't mind it because I think that we were getting story out of it on both the tribes where I think that these things were so complicated that both of them were making missteps. This was a question or a topic of conversation in a lot of the preseason press of that. Are these idols worth the trouble and also the social cost that it takes to acquire them? We saw both Gabe and especially Rome, who will get to have to go to great lengths, put themselves into bad position all for an idol. Is it worth it?

No. I mean, you know, no, I mean, I don't think so. Obviously part of it is just the fun of it, right? You're on survivor, you're running around, you're opening boxes. Like that's its own part of the experience, right? Like, so that's outside of the question of, is it worth it for, you know, in terms of like your game, because it is like, it is fun, you know, to be doing that. Um the um i mean i do think gabe called it quits at the right point right i think like going for in some ways i think a three tribal council idol is actually like better for you than a limitless or final five idol because okay you know you have to use it there's pressure to use it whereas the final five one you know you're like i

am like waiting for the perfect moment and well i was thinking when gabe had the chance to go for keep the idol that was good for one tribal council versus the one that was good for three and sure on paper versus three tribal councils oh wow what an advantage but it's almost like there's no decision there of like hey if i had an idol in my pocket good for one tribal council i'm not even I don't even know I'm going to tribal council tomorrow. So whenever that tribal council is, I could play the game knowing that I have like absolute immunity at that next tribal council. Like, yeah, I think that could be huge for your game. Yeah. And, you know, you also don't misplay it technically because you have to play it. You know, you have a free life where basically it's like it doesn't matter how bad i screw this up no matter what i'm not going home

next like uh i think that that's is that crazy that that's maybe in a way more powerful than the travel the idol i have to use at one of the next three tribal councils which i may be using at the merge at the point where maybe i don't want to use it in front of everybody yeah i thought three was a good number i mean i hear you that one in some ways is is even you know as is it just the limits make it better like easier to use harder to screw up um i thought three like and gabe does seem to be in a good spot on on his on his tribe you know he's got his relationship with sue uh you know there's caroline seems to be a part of that you know all the guys seem to to gel um we didn't really i guess do we have a sense do we know where tiana is no tiana and kyle i think were very quiet in the premiere yeah i mean we saw

kyle tk and gabe all kind of bro down for a moment uh then obviously there was a little tension between tk and gabe but um yeah i i mean, I agree with you that there is a lot to be said for just the time limited idol. Like, you know, it's a lot of running around and it does cast suspicion on you. I mean, now TK is worried about Gabe, you know, now suddenly there's, there's tension there. Yeah. Where do you think this is going for Gabe? Do you think that Gabe is on this trajectory to be like this major player? Or do you feel like that he's getting

a little bit of a buffoonish type at it? Where I, cause I could see it both ways. I think that you could sort of like look at it from either side, because I felt like that on the one hand, like, okay, he's getting these advantages and he does have this idol. But on the other hand, you know, he's dropping the boxes and making noise. And we're seeing that, you know, Caroline and Sue are also on the side developing their own thing that isn't necessarily involving Gabe.

Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. I mean, I thought it was good. I thought it was really I feel like it was not pure buffoon. Right. For sure. I don't think there I mean, I thought it was good. I thought it was really, I feel like it was not pure buffoon, right? For sure. I don't think there, I mean, I think there's like a world where it's like Danny level of, of, you know, of gameplay, uh, which is great and super fun. But I also, I kind of got better vibes than that. You know, we see him right out of the gate, creating a bond with Sue and Sue so excited about that. And it's, you know, it felt like the

story was establishing Gabe as a meaningful player. You know it felt like the story was establishing gabe as a meaningful player you know most of the relationships on that group we saw through gabe's perspective right that we tk and gabe we had suing gabe um you know we did have the caroline sue thing but other than that it really felt like um you know we had tiana calling tK out for throwing paper. That was funny. That was funny. Steven, what do you think is the likelihood at the end of the season that we are putting Gabe on the new era Mount Rushmore?

Is he the one who said that? Yes. I mean, I don't think it's out of the question. You know, I don't know. It's a little, he came out so hot that typically the players who, you know, I think the players who have played the best have really developed over it. It's like a fine wine, right?

You want to be the fine wine of players, not the like, you know, champagne spray in the face of players. Right? Steven, who is going to go home from this tribal council or from this tribe if they go to tribal council? I mean. Do we have a sense yet? Unfortunately, to your point, we haven't seen relationships for Kyle or Tiana. I mean, they both seem like they're good parts of the tribe,

but those are the only ones we don't see. This is feeling like, to me, this is the tribe that doesn't go to tribal council before the merge. I think so, too. I think this is like the main character tribe, I mean, in the sort of actual sense of the show, yeah. It is the blue tribe.. I mean, in the sort of actual sense of the show. Yeah. It is the blue tribe. The yellow tribal.

Is this deliberate, Rob? How deliberate is this? I don't know. I mean, the blue tribe. I don't know. They put the buff on and they can't lose. And the yellow tribe puts the buff on. They can't win. Yeah.

Who's the glue guy? Speaking of the yellow tribe, who's the glue guy in the R-Hap world where that person is there? And now the party, you know, now, you know, the whole Mike Bloom, Mike Bloom's a solid blue guy. Yeah, I was gonna say Mike Bloom. Chappelle was my other one. But like I was going to Mike Bloom and it was sort of my first go to. Yeah, as well. Yeah. Put him on any panel. Instantly better. everybody gets along nobody like i never have gotten one text over the years like uh hey anyway any chance i could not be on a podcast with mike bloom are people saying that about other people no about me no definitely not no who else who else were you even on a podcast

with i'm with mike bloom yeah just me just me yeah. So absolutely. He'd be all wonderful. Yeah. Really amazing in the very first challenge. Uh, you know, she, she mentions Rob has a podcast on air. I mean, surely she gets a promotion for that, right? Yes. Yes. Senior podcaster now. Yeah. Um, and yeah, I just like seemed to be in a great spot on her tribe, uh, you know, recognized by teeny, which I thought was funny that nobody recognized John Lovett. But, you know, he did get recognized and which worked out great for her. Like Teenie was like, OK, we can't create an alliance without. Well, Stephen, I feel like that we've really turned a corner where I was worried about Asia, that she was somebody who like, oh, if they find out like, oh, don't tell them you're a fan.

Don't tell them like there was a time and a place of if people thought you were a survivor podcaster. You're old enough to remember. Like what? This guy podcasts about survivor? More than remember. We hate this guy. Can you believe it? Vote him out.

Yeah. Yeah, it was great great it was really fun i mean i have to say i was very nervous when she went on yes the what are we calling it the treasure hunt yeah it was like the new sweat and savvy yeah um but it was not you know and i thought that was not a great decision you know and i thought because you know you come home even if you if you come home with nothing, everyone's going to be like, what does she really have? And even if you come home with the thing, people are going to think, what did they really do? You know, and so I was worried for her, but I was wrong. I was totally wrong.

You know, immediately integrates herself into the group. You know, Rome, who is the guy who's kind of like snickering about her going away. She ends up targeting him. Really kind of almost like the leader of that group where she's the one kind of pointing. Yeah, she very quickly came back into like a leadership position and people like consents like who's got the leader vibes and who doesn't. And so, you know, teeny like said, let's let's just save a spot for her when she comes back. And she does take this role as sort of like uh leading the witch hunt uh going uh around looking for rome so um let's stay on asia for a second uh the uh new sweat and savvy uh upgrade or downgrade oh i thought it was fun i mean you

can only do it once right like but i thought it was a really fun way of doing it it was a it was different it was visual um you know it obviously was a really fun way of doing it. It was a, it was different. It was visual. Um, you know, it was obviously it was a very fun moment when they both were like, where am I? How do I get back? And they're both,

you know, just had to forge their own paths. Uh, and then there's a little bit of a, of a wrestling match at the end. A little bit. Yeah. Yeah.

Um, what, but do you think in terms of the volunteering, do you think that's the right move or the wrong moves volunteer to go on? No, I don't think it was a great spot. But I do think that it certainly is like there's more to gain out of that than sweat versus savvy. Where I think that's sort of like, and I don't know how long Asia is gone for.

But the sweat versus savvy, like sort of like the risk reward there is like, hey, Stephen, all right, we've got sweat. All right, so how about this? is like, hey, Steven, all right, we've got sweat. All right, so how about this? Me and you, like, let's like bust our ass for the next six, seven hours, completely gas ourselves for the next immunity challenge with the chance that we might be the heroes for our tribe. Here, like you have this situation where,

okay, I got a 50-50 shot of coming back as like, and neither of them had to like overexert themselves. Like, I think that Jelinski, you said he was a game changer, uh, for like, uh, like him not being there. But I do wonder if him breaking the hourglass of saying like, uh, like, look, uh, that what are we doing this for? Like, it's a little bit like, yeah, it's a good point of, you know, why, why should a player kill themselves for, you know, uh to get the flint and the pot?

You're going to get it eventually. You're probably going to lose immunity because your team ultimately ends up being so gassed from doing that. And this is like, you know, something that's a little bit, I'm sure it was strenuous uh tk and asia but it's not something that is going to totally like wipe them out and they got a 50 50 chance to come home the hero yeah yeah um yeah exactly so yeah and it was it was fun and right and nobody nobody was that no it didn't end up really affecting either of them um and and you know but you do wonder if teeny hadn't been there like this could it have been there i mean but again like she she did such a great job of immediately integrating yeah

i think it would have taken longer i think the teeny sort of like sped up the process she got like a fast pass back into the tribe because of teeny as opposed to it would have taken maybe another day or two to sort of like reintegrate but okay rome was the person who was on the idol hunt here on this tribe. Now, it's interesting that, you know, I think in Survivor 45, I think it was similar where it's not necessarily in Survivor 46, too, that the way one tribe finds an idol is not necessarily how the other tribe finds an idol. What do you think about the disappearing ink? That's fun. Yeah. Well, I was worried it wasn't going to disappear.

I thought that's what they were going to come on it and it was going to say, you know, go to the's fun. Yeah. Well, I was worried it wasn't going to disappear. I thought that's what they were going to come on it. And it was going to say, you know, go to the water well. Yeah. And I was worried that they were going to come over and then find Rome sticking out of the well. Like just see his legs in the air. What a moment. You know who loved that moment? Josh Wiggler. Josh Wiggler did. And Matlock. Yeah. Yeah. So, all right. Can Rome work his way back into things, Stephen? Yeah. Why not?

Yeah, sure. Absolutely. Yeah. It's, you know, yeah. Why not? Well, when somebody, and maybe you could speak to this, like has like the stigma of, okay, being the idol hunt person uh like how do they shake that eventually yeah i mean i in this in this era everybody else gets an idol eventually and so you know to some advantage you know they're all they all get an advantage and they're like well it doesn't really that's a big deal yeah or they burn the idol or they bring people in with the

idol or just over time it kind of you know goes away i mean they play the idol right and they play correctly and they save themselves and then suddenly you know there's they've got the the the vibes well yeah i mean when push comes to shove like if rome does end up having the idol okay now you have to go to tribal council now what do you do yeah you play it i mean i guess if you're the target yeah if he shows up at tribal council he's wearing the idol around his neck okay now you have a situation yeah yeah um yeah again like it's hard because it does i do think those early you can get out from under that right i think those early alliances used to be somewhat rigid right like you know let's make the alliance on day one because that's what's going to last for all 39 days now i don't i mean that's not that's not the case anymore because that's what's going to last for all 39 days. Now, I don't, I mean, that's not, that's not the case anymore, right? That's just like not how it, how it works.

I mean, there are some examples of that, but I think there are fewer and farther between in this new era. Yeah. I think that in the new era, like, I think it's very much like the Sandra era of like, just like just anything to get through these early votes. Right. And then, and then it all, it all switches up and maybe, right. Didn't they like forget that Carla might have an idol or something in, in 40, whatever that was the story. They said that they just stopped thinking about it. Right.

Which is like, you know, kind of funny, but I, as crazy as that sounds, I do think there's like something there where, you know, of course, like you're like, you think everybody could have an idol like that. You're always like factoring that into your calculations and like the the urgency of that guy's off doing that thing you know gets replaced with other like more immediate issues yeah the biggest thing for rome is i think that he needs andy to not settle in like i feel like if that ends up being where okay so the yellow tribe can go back to tribal council, buy a little bit more time. And even if he has the idol, I think that there are still paths for Rome.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What else from the premiere, Steven? A worm eating, Rob. Where do you stand on that? I think that people are just doing it just to do it. Uh, I don't really think that there's, uh, how many worms do you have to eat to get that

nutritional value? I feel like that people are sort of just like, uh, it's like their own fraternity hazing of like, Hey, you're not a survivor until you eat the worm. Yeah. I did it in token chains. I ate like the giant termite queen or whatever that was. And it was like, because I had seen, you know, Jolanda do it in Palau i ate like the giant termite queen or whatever that was and it was like because i had seen you know jolanda do it in palau i was like that's like such a survivor moment and what jt said at the time very smart man uh you know i would eat a whole plate of termites but i'm not gonna eat one termite okay yeah you know it's like if i'm getting if it's like sustenance then yeah i'll do that but i'm not gonna like people do it just to do it i don't think there's really anything to and then more people will do it because they saw uh was it

genevieve did it uh yeah yeah yeah so uh ends up being a uh you know uh self uh fulfilling cycle but you don't eat the scorpion we won't eat the score i you don't don't have to worry about that i will not you know mike mike uh in season 30 he ate the scorpion. He did. Okay. Steven, earlier this week, you were hopping mad that Survivor got snubbed again at the Emmys. It is crazy, Rob. It's crazy. First of all, I mean, it's just like unquestionably the best reality show. And for it to not get even like not, not only not get get nominated but to have literally never won now to be fair the reality tv emmy did not start until like you know after survivor was you know the initial

glow had worn off a little bit but um it's still the best show i mean you look at these freaking shows that they're nominating the traitors okay people love the traitors but it's not but you know what i'm i guess i'm a little jaded on these award shows. I feel like that. And again, tell me if this is, if I'm, tell me to walk it back. If I'm like treading into like a way too hot take territory,

I feel like the people that vote on these shows, nobody's even watching the thing. It's all buzz. It's all hype that people are just like, like you tell me that many people people have seen every single Emmy voter watch The Bear, they love every second of The Bear, all these other shows that you never,

most of these shows have 200 viewers, you never even heard of them. It's like, oh, I like this person on this other thing, so they should win the Emmy for this. Nobody's watching all these shows. I hear you. Does an award really matter?

No. It still feels like a little bit of a snub. Never, never. Yeah. Yeah. So, I don't know. Steven, should we take some questions from the, we got questions from the chat. I got questions from the Robbins Podcast patron Facebook group.

Patrons, I'll be live tomorrow at 3 p.m. to take your questions live. We'll send out the link for the patrons. Okay. Jen Gonzalez has a great question. Wants to know, why did it take Asia only one episode to shout out Rob as a podcast, yet Steven never mentioned it in 29 days in cambodia yeah what the hell well i think the expletives i always included when i said your name where

they couldn't it's a family show um that forking rob um they don't like they don't like cutlery on survivor you know it's a hands it's a hands-eating show um no you know i did i did talk about actually being a podcaster uh back then quite quite a bit you know of course and you know they just never included it okay i didn't they've become much more like comfortable with you know being so i mean as someone noted i think mike bloom you know um you know the the glue the glue guy mike blue guy noted that this was like the first ever experience of survivor merch you know survivor contestant merch on Survivor with when in Asia's introduction when they panned to her Jam Jam shirt. OK. All right. Let's see if OK. Haley wants to know what will baby Andy have to do to come back from this?

what will baby Andy have to do to come back from this? Will his tribe always see him as a wild card and keep him around for challenges and cut him when they get close to the marriage? Is there a way for him to reintegrate back to the tribe? What do you think, Steven? Do you have a plan for baby Andy? It's a good question. And I really just think that it's being,

like finding people he gels with more. You know, I think that, and I also think that, like I was saying earlier like the very fact of a swap or whatever like creates art it's like artificial gel you know you're like so excited to meet people and you're like oh and i think you know andy is the fact that he's so obviously the outcast of his group will make everyone other people are gonna want him you know other other groups are gonna want him um how did like holly? You know, like they just found their communities, right? Like, how did you brought up communities? Um, so yeah, I just think that Holly like settled in and, you know, I, in the show, they give Jimmy Johnson the credit for it. And Holly Hoffman has become

like a motivational speaker. I think she even herself, uh, will say like, you know, Jimmy Johnson, like gave her a pep talk. And then that was the thing that she sort of just like started to feel more comfortable and then was in a different headspace. So for Andy, yeah, he definitely needs like a beat to catch his breath. And maybe he can sort of find himself a little bit more. I just think that the issue is I don't see somebody on the tribe who's going to be there to like help him through this. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and you're right. see somebody on the tribe who's going to be there to like help him through this yeah yeah i mean and

you're right like having that one person give you the motivational pep talk you know that can like just someone showing uh that they that they believe in you and you know obviously aubrey developed such a great relationship with joe and it doesn't look like like andy has that person it's so hard i mean it's so hard to feel so isolated you know when you literally know everyone is out to get you you know and you don't even have the sort of like false consolation of like like you know pretend friendship um and i really my heart goes out to him so much the other thing for gotta to be worried about and i was making this comparison on the podcast uh last night was you know yet gabler who in season 43 you know uh that he is like a little bit of like the outcast and he's like doing weird

stuff and he's putting palm fronds on people when they're sleeping. And then but it's sort of like an unaddressed situation through the rest of the they don't go back to another tribal council and they get to the merge. And then he's the first one ready to like throw Ellie under the bus and flip against his old tribe. So that's another thing to worry about. Like, okay, if the Andy situation doesn't come to a head, he's a flip candidate.

Oh, for sure. I mean like more than a candidate, right? He's almost like a flip certainty. I think at this point, but again, like, and like, can the flipper win? I can't Andy win Rob answer me that. It's only day three. I'll say yes.

Yeah. Yes, exactly. It's only day three. I'll say yes. Yeah. Yes, exactly. It's only day three. Who knows? You know, like, you know, what a story to say, like I was the guy who, you know, was having an anxiety attack or a medical issue. What do you think? Medical issue or anxiety attack? Combination? Yeah, I think it was probably a medical situation of overexertion, which then and again this is you know me as speaking as a podcaster not a doctor but i think that that um the two things just uh worked uh off of each other yeah yeah um exacerbated the situation yeah um yeah and and now look now you know look at me now and so like you know i think we can you know

say like hey you you made some bar choices that's our job here oh that's that's well that's what you know why we sign up and why we get up in the morning is to know it all um you know within that for sure but like also have a lot of you know empathy for him and hope for his future okay and my god i mean you know it's it's uh you know like you said, one episode. Okay. Daniel wants to know, Fishback, as the JT expert, does Kyle remind you of your old pal? Not enough yet. You haven't seen enough of Kyle to get the, thank you. That's actually what on my resume, JT expert.

It hasn't really gotten me a lot of jobs. Not yet. Yeah. But at JT Inc., you know, when I finally apply there, that's going to be, you know, I feel like that's going to be real relevant work experience. Yeah. Okay. Rachel wants to know, should John Lovett have employed the Mike White strategy for the rich and famous, pretending he was just there to have fun? Yeah. I mean, I think that, I mean, that is definitely a good move.

And just be like, you know, I don't need this, you know. But, yeah, it's a little bit different when you're when you're mike white right someone that people recognize from the movies you know to be like you know obviously extremely successful but like they don't necessarily have that sense of him as being a really successful but i felt like uh i guess how many people from his tribe recognize like maybe they knew his uh right uh but it sounded like someone said oh i think i've heard of pod save america no i've done a mike white oh always a dangerous uh territory for me um yeah um i i felt like people knew him no i mean you

know like school of rock right like everybody'm from school of rock okay how about a question from nathan who says uh we saw andy spiral into self-doubt in a messy way very relatable for nathan he said but actually um uh that do you think uh it was actually john that had more self-sabotage he says i'm 41 so i'm old now he says i'm struggling to fit in did he just land on a tribe he couldn't connect with and then uh have issues connecting because he was overthinking it i didn't think so i i didn't think it didn't look like he did have issues connecting i i got the sense that that was like more shtick you know than anything like i he seemed to be pretty at ease you know for someone who was constantly saying, I mean, I think that was the difference, right? John is someone who is

obviously like used to making fun of himself and seemed very at ease in that world. Whereas with Andy, it felt more precarious, right? Like he couldn't, you know, he did the, the self mockery was not like, felt like it might actually challenge, like shake his sense of self a little bit. And, um, you know, that ended up being difficult for him because you know you know and and john's older than him right you have more time to like be comfortable with your own ridiculousness as you get older okay justin has an interesting question in the past three seasons we've had two quits with hannah and sean one person who was ready to go and j Jess. We've had epic pre-merge flameouts. Is there anything that we can point to that might be the causing so many of these early issues? Is the

game getting harder? Has casting even more devoted superfans made it inevitable that the pressure to perform well will take its toll with devastating consequences at least one time a season well you know what i think rob which is that you know more handsome athletes we have the you know the less we're going to see this so you know i just want beautiful athletes super cocky you know type a adonises and adonets and uh i think actually, I do think like, you know, bringing in more regular people who, you know, are not, you know, delusional and cocky or self-confident even, you know,

then again, like the game is very, very, very stressful. And, you know, suddenly it magnifies. And then again, like what you're talking about with these people, these super fans who have been applying for years and years and years and getting so close and then it's finally here i mean i applied in four months was on the show and i couldn't believe how much pressure i'd apply you to put on myself like to have been doing it for for years like it just is like it's like there'll be so much pressure to have to deal with and especially if it's not going

exactly as you imagined it and you even think think like, you know, it could be really badly. Like how are you not melting down in that situation? Is the show preparing its viewers enough for how hard it ultimately is when you get out there? We know we hear about it, but I think there's a thought of like, well, 26 days, come on. It's not, this isn't, this is not like it used to be.

And are people like not necessarily in the right headspace for it? I just think you can never, you know, you can't imagine. You just like don't know, right? I mean, you don't know what it's going to be like until you're really in it. It's just, there's no, there's nothing that anyone can say, you know, to like communicate what it feels like to sit,

even apart from the elements, to sit for a day knowing other people are talking badly about you and you know i mean like i god i remember like in cambodia when i like i saw people go off and they were talking about me i mean i knew they were like literally knew they're talking about me because they were okay i'm gonna talk to tasha about you you know like and i was like okay like and you know it's bad strategy to go and intrude but you just have to like watch it happen and there's nothing you can do about it and your whole fate in front of 14 million people is going to be dependent on it i mean like that experience alone apart from the elements apart from like the bugs and the malnutrition like isn't so intense

so i mean there's just no and there's just no way you can you can you know but that's not even the physical conditions that's what i'm saying yeah yeah exactly there's like no way you can, you know. But that's not even the physical conditions. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's what I'm saying. It's like, that's the least of it, you know, in terms of deprivation. So, and for someone to anticipate it and dream about it and work so hard for it

and then to feel like, you know, they're powerless as it's slipping away from them. Like that's got to take a toll. Okay. All right, Steven. Then Ryan erwin said uh which of the purple players could be a huge threat genevieve saw kyle caroline uh caroline or uh kishan well you know i love salt you love saw talking through with me for me that it's just

that he's like you think that he's like a specimen i, he's just like a super burly, strong person. He seemed very at ease. He's an interesting guy. Uh, if you check out his preseason interviews, I believe he's like a, uh, deep brain.

I'm trying to remember what the right word was. Uh, but he, he, uh, like, I don't know. He works with people's brains,

but not, not like, not like David Vo david voce like he like works on like uh like deep thinking or something like that wow he seemed like totally at ease he was you know the little we saw i just like his vibe um you know uh i thought genevieve was good they're all good you know they all seem good i mean you know honestly like kyle you know i love a country boy too um to me seemed the least at ease slightly just from the very very very little we got out of him um you know i thought genevieve seemed good uh you know how can you have an opinion you know

steven you are a master of the edit reading uh do you feel like after night one that you have a leader in the clubhouse no No. What about you? It's not the same anymore, right? Like, could you have picked Dee from the premiere of, you know, Dee was probably one of the most obvious winners of the whole new era, right? And could you have picked her? You certainly could not have picked Marianne as winning that season. But Marianne did have a lot of screen time, certainly, in the premiere. But it was so OTT. There was no CP.

I'm sure an edgic person is going to like you idiot yes yeah well i don't like to know like that i like to hear what you uh think but that that's probably like as far as i like to go into the edge of pool comment that sam was getting a very michelle fitzgerald edit which i kind of agree with um you know as someone who was positioned as being in the middle of a lot of different things, you know, we saw a lot, again, like a lot from Sam's point of view, maybe disproportionate the whole thing about him being the glue guy, you know, did we like not really relevant to the story, you know? So like, if I, I just don't, I don't want to be, I really get in trouble.

Cause people are going to, you know, but he was someone else made the very smart observation that it could be, you know, could be him just, just in terms of like edit, you know, how much they're getting in terms of personal content versus that was always

the benchmark back in the day. I don't think that's true anymore. Back in the day, it's like if you're getting like a story about how you're a teacher or how you design furniture and that's gonna be great for your game you know you've won yeah but now we get that for a lot of people yeah okay exactly all right steven we're back was there anything else you had from episode number one that's fun you know i feel like uh i feel like a memorable premiere yeah i also think like the show's relaxed i i have

i have some friends who are kind of new to Survivor. And so I've been recommending them seasons. And they said they wanted to watch something new. I think so. They were like, oh, so we're watching season 39. I was like, I don't even know what that is. But but then they I recommended, you know, they wanted to get into the new era. So I said 42 is a fun one, you know, and then, you know, just skip 41, basically. And they're like, what on earth is going on with this game? You know, Jeff is, like, so antic. There's a zillion things. Every episode, there's a new thing. Nobody knows what to do with it. And I don't

feel like the game has had a nice kind of rhythm now. You know, there's the things, but it's, you know, a lot more characterization around. Yeah, decent place right now. Okay. Steven, the chat is reminding us you didn't give out your coveted fishyy Award. Now, Sam, are we going to make an award for the Fishy Award winner so that the recipient... Well, we did last season.

Yeah, we did last season, but every week I have to say, are we doing it again? Is he responding? I'm not saying. I don't know. That's my leadership style. Steven. I have to say, remember when we said we were going to do the thing,

are we doing this, Sam? Um, yeah. So here's my candidates and I want your, your input here. Okay. Um, I think,

you know, obviously Asia's gotta be in the mix, just, you know, hometown hero for sure. But I think she did a great job, but we can't be, just be like blatant Homer is no, right. And then we're mix. Just, you know, hometown hero for sure. But I think she did a great job. Sure, but we can't just be like blatant homerism. No, no.

And we're not going to. No, this is, you know, did a great job putting herself in a great position in her group. She, you know, is the person who was pointing at her. She ends up making it into the target. In the yellow tribe, in Gaara, we've got, I think Sam has got to be a contender for being the glue person um you know maybe rachel as someone who was able to avoid the stink of an alliance with andy and then ends up you know also being sort of in that in that um

uh dominant vote. And I mean, you know, could it be Gabe? Yes. But there's like you said, it's a mixed edit. I mean, TK had a very good night in terms of, you know, kind of reading people correctly. But I would say I would boil it down to those three. Sam, Rachel. Are you interested to know who I said last night?

Oh, and Teenie is a good choice, too. That was the person that I said I thought was deserving of consideration. Really? And why? Give me the case for Teenie. I just feel like that Teenie, to me, was a player that was in a similar spot to John Lovett. If they go to an early tribal council that's where teeny could have an issue but if teeny gets to the merge watch out and to me teeny looks like uh they're in a great position at this moment and to come in after like i never expected teeny to be, you know, at the like that high up in the like where Tini is seemingly working well with everybody, not really in consideration to go home. Like, I feel like at this point, you know, if Tini gets to the merge, they're going there.

When are they going after Tini after the merge? There's going to be all these big targets that are going to be the big threats. This is the time of the game where teeny's in the most danger and teeny's doing great. Yeah. And teeny was the one to kind of like, you know, create the form of that Alliance.

Right. When, um, there was a conversation with, who was it? Who were they talking to when, when they kind of formed the sort of structure of, I like this person and that person.

Uh, yeah, let's, let's give it to teeny. Okay. All right. All right. Yeah. All right. I Yeah, let's give it to Teenie. All right. All right. Yeah. All right.

I'm a fan of that. Yes. Okay. All right. So congratulations. Very convincing, Rob. To Teenie, winner of the first fishy of Survivor 47. Okay.

All right. Steven, we've got so much coming up. Of course, weknowsurvivor.com. That's where you find all of our Survivor podcasts. And that is where you can leave five-star reviews about Stephen Fishback. And Stephen won't be with us next week. But should we still read any five-star reviews about Stephen Fishback next week? Or do you want to wait until you're back for me to read them all?

Oh, no. Wait for me. Yeah, definitely wait for me okay um yeah my god all right or should we retweet them no no no i i want i want to hear i want to i want to marinate now will you if somebody leaves a five-star review of you and their grammar is subpar will you let it slide or will you correct the grammar? No. What are we talking about here? I guess we'll have to see.

Make sure your grammar is on point and you leave a five-star review about Stephen Fishback when you go to WeKnowSurvivor.com. Okay? Very easy. The link's for Apple Podcasts, Spotify. It's all right there. WeKnowSurvivor.com. We have a lot coming up still tonight big brother we're going to be live after the episode america lopez is going to join us uh she is of the brand new america tells all podcast talking about golden bachelorette which uh hit

number one in the tv and film category so amer America will join us to talk about Big Brother tonight. And then her first episode of the Golden Bachelorette recap is going to be up at americatellsall.com. Patrons, we've got for you a patron Q&A coming up on Friday at 3 p.m. Eastern. If you want to ask questions for that, the link to do so is at robisawebsite.com slash patron,

where you can also watch for free. I'm taking on patrons every week in This Week in Survivor History. Find out how our first patron combatant did against me in This Week in Survivor History. You can watch it for free at robisawebsite.com slash patron. Club Condos coming up on Monday as well, plus everything else in the uh we know survivor feed all right yeah what's coming

up for you well uh nothing oh i mean i told you the big news for me was that like you know my um my literary agent uh is just i just finished uh his edits on my um novel and i'm so i'm going out to editors like two days ago he sent it out to editors. So hopefully, God willing, I'll have a book deal soon. So I'm really excited about that. Incredible news. All right. I've been working on this novel for so effing long.

So it's amazing to be at this. I mean, there's still more to be done, but hopefully it'll be out in a year or so. Okay. All right. Steven, congratulations on that. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us back again for the Survivor Know-It-Alls. to be done but hopefully it'll be out in a year or so okay all right yeah steven congratulations on that everybody thank you so much for joining us back again for the survivor know-it-alls uh steven is going to be on sabbatical next week uh but we've got a great fill-in host uh lined up for you as a special time 4 30 sam am i allowed to say who's filling in for Steven next week or is that a secret

okay let me know I never know if we're allowed to what we're allowed to say I feel like you're the boss aren't you the boss I'm the boss but it's like sometimes it's like oh well they weren't confirmed yet so the president can break confidentiality yeah but I don't want to over promise

I don't want to say that and then people are like oh what did you say you said that this person was going to be a possible. Marianne Okich is going to be with me next Thursday for the Survivor Know-It-All. So join us at 4.30

for that one. And that's why I won't be here because Marianne will have, you know, consumed me. She will have eaten you. Okay. All right.

Thank you so much for joining us. I will be reading your comments here on YouTube later on. So let us know what you thought. Take care, everybody. Okay. All right. Thank you so much for joining us. I will be reading your comments here on YouTube later on. So let us know what you thought. Take care, everybody. Have a good one. Bye.