RHAP: We Know Survivor - Know-It-Alls: Survivor 48 Premiere

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

This week, Rob and Stephen discuss the Survivor 48 premiere!...

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Starting point is 00:01:06 stands for total fund savings adventure, maybe reach out to TD Direct Investing. Survivor 48 is here and alongside it, we're bringing you a brand new season of On Fire, the only official Survivor podcast. If you're a Survivor super fan, you won't want to miss this deep dive into every episode where we break down how we design the game the biggest
Starting point is 00:01:30 moves your burning questions. It's the only podcast that gives you inside access to survivor nobody else can. Listen to on fire the official survivor podcast with me Jeff ropes coming soon wherever you get your podcasts. Survivor podcast with me Jeff ropes coming soon wherever you get your podcasts. The smartest guys in town. Switching their plans around to go back.
Starting point is 00:01:59 Just dreaming Wednesday. Well actually Rob never stopped doing Wednesday's at all. Survivor know it all. Survivor know it all. Yes, that's right, Steven. We're back, we're home. Oh my gosh, Wednesday nights. What on earth?
Starting point is 00:02:42 I can't believe, and Josh's voice to serenade us in like that? Thank you Wanda for that beautiful serenade of our announcement this week that we are returning, the Survivor Know-It-Alls is back on wed. Whoa, whoa. Do you remember that in Survivor Nicaragua that they had a whole campaign of all the survivors like hold up a card, like now on back on wed or now on wed.
Starting point is 00:03:05 I remember that. I was so honored to be a part of that. Yes, yes, yes. In your real heyday of only being like a year off the show. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Right. I was an exciting alumni.
Starting point is 00:03:15 You had been, you were already. I was old news for way longer than that. Speaking of old news, Rob, 15 years. Congratulations. That's extraordinary. Thank you so much. And Survivor Know-It-Alls has been a huge part of that. I think that this is going to be in the fall.
Starting point is 00:03:31 13 years of Survivor Know-It-Alls. So our Know-It-Alls Bar Mitzvah coming up this fall. So be on the lookout for that. Finally a man. Finally. Do you ever feel, you know, I've said all I have to say. I'm done. 15 years. I've been talking a lot.
Starting point is 00:03:44 That's the great thing about Survivor.'ve said all I have to say. I'm done. 15 years, I've been talking a lot. That's the great thing about Survivor, there's always new stuff to say, and we're so excited to have everybody back here for a new season. Stephen and I are back here live after the episode to talk with you, and we are very excited to get into everything. Stephen, do you mind, before we get to jump into things,
Starting point is 00:04:02 if I could just tell people what's ahead for the weekend store? Oh no, no, okay, because the good thing I'm not running out of things to say because we have a lot that is coming up this week here on our HAP this is what I've got lined up of course here. You are here on survivor know-it-alls in the morning I'm gonna be doing this survivor exit interview I will talk with Stephanie and then because I'm back with Stephen on Wednesday night, that we're also going back to me doing a longer form interview on Thursday. And so that's what's going to come out on Thursday. I'll do a patron Q and a
Starting point is 00:04:34 on Friday. We've added in an old school interview every single week. And then on Mondays I'll talk to Chappelle on club condo and to kick things off this week tomorrow I will get into everything with our great friend Zach Wurtenberger and an old-school interview coming up on Monday night with TeeBird. Well, I was hoping Zach wasn't the old-school interview because you know that was that was not so old school Yeah, not not that old school. Yeah. Also, of course Steven and I have been chatting all night long talking about the episode as we got involved with putting together a Survivor VIP group chat, which everyone is welcome to join us and talking Survivor with us all week long for free and a bunch of our Survivor friends. If you want to jump in on this, crash the group chat, go to robbinswebsite.com slash VIP chat to skip the
Starting point is 00:05:31 waiting list and jump right in and chat alongside all the survivor glitterati, Stephen. I'm finally hobnobbing! Yes, you'll be hobnobbing and rubbing elbows and hearing what all our survivor friends have to say myself and Stephen Kelly Wentworth and Tyson and Maryann and Omer and Davey and scores of other survivors are there Yes, I really like the platform because it kind of has like the looseness and casualness of like the text message group chat But kind of like the scale and the reach of social like my one of my many problems with sort of like traditional social, everyone's like sounding off on social media. Like here's my pronouncement, you know, but this is like, you know,
Starting point is 00:06:11 we're like chatting. It's like a little bit of like, it's more like bantery. And I love being very bantery. It's like you are, you know, you are reading the, what the survivors are saying in the group chat. And so check that out. Go to Robert's website.com slash VIP chat. All right, Steven, I get to have chat with the ultimate survivor VIP here today as we get to break down the two hour episode of Survivor. And I would love to know what your thoughts were
Starting point is 00:06:35 on the premiere. I mean, it's so great. It's just so exciting to be back. Feel like it's a very fun cast. It's, you know, can I just say out of the gate, I feel like this is one of the hotter casts we've had, you know, and you know that's something that's very important to me.
Starting point is 00:06:50 And I think maybe what happened is they saw all the anti-hot person bias last season, and we're like, we can't take this anymore. We've got to bring in some real hotties, and there's some real hotties out there. First off, I love that this is your platform that you have owned of that, okay. Bring the hot people back to Survivor.
Starting point is 00:07:07 And with all due respect to our friends from Survivor 41 through 47. And so, you're, and you've taken this home. Each of them is beautiful on the inside, but the outside is what we care about. Yes, okay. So, and do you feel like that now this is what the people want,
Starting point is 00:07:23 or this is like gonna make for more exciting Survivor? Well, you know, I think it's both. I mean, look at these just things. And will we get to vote on that for Survivor 50? How hot do the returnees get to be? Oh, I do think, well, I truly believe, I truly believe, Rob, that like hotter people, not like the whole cast needs to be breathtakingly beautiful,
Starting point is 00:07:41 but hot people lead to better Survivor, like a nice, like a big contingent of hotties, you know, because like hot people are typically, you know, they're a little bit more confident, you know, they're there. And as a result, which is like both good and bad, they're going to play
Starting point is 00:07:54 more aggressively. They're going to like take bigger risks, you know, both for good and for ill. And so so, you know, I think like we need a real like a good like third of the cast needs to be like absolutely, you know, breathtaking.
Starting point is 00:08:07 Yeah, Stephen, I don't disagree with you. I think that really the best survivor casting are probably the breathtakingly attractive and then also the conventionally unattractive also. And maybe that's a season. I know that they've sort of done away with the themes, but maybe with Survivor 50 in the hands of the fans, maybe, you know, 51 and beyond, we could get some sort of like hot versus not season of Survivor, can you imagine? Wow, I mean, they did have a beauty tribe. Of course, that was more about beauty on the inside.
Starting point is 00:08:35 Yeah. We're just talking like, can you imagine like walking out there and like, you are cast on the ugly tribe? Yeah, could you imagine the Zoom call at the start of the season? Like, hey, hey Steven great news You're a part of survivor 51 Hot or not
Starting point is 00:08:52 You're on the not tribe Yeah, they're like okay, I you know what I'm thank you I'm leaving thank you yeah, okay exactly That's what the viewers are saying too all right right. But let's get into this in all seriousness. So this was a very fun two hour episode. Steven, speaking of rubbing elbows with the glitterati, I had the opportunity this past weekend that it was part of a very nice thing that Survivor put on where I actually got to see the episode early. I got to watch it on Saturday night with a room full of people, and Jeff had a panel after the show, and I got to even meet a bunch of the Survivor 48 contestants.
Starting point is 00:09:30 Oh wow, who'd you meet? There was, almost all of them were there. It was, you know, they don't get to have a finale together, but they do have a first episode of the season, and probably that's for the best, because there's a lot of hard feelings that surface by the end of the season. Yeah, right, I mean, of course.
Starting point is 00:09:45 Well, that's so fun. Was Stephanie there? Stephanie was there, and I will say that Stephanie got a nice ovation from the room, and it's a very hard thing to be the first person voted out of Survivor. Let's start there and talk about Stephanie. Now, I would love to know from you,
Starting point is 00:10:01 when you watched the episode, did you feel like that Stephanie was going to go home? This is funny because I actually want to know from you, when you watched the episode, did you feel like that Stephanie was going to go home? This is funny because I actually want to talk with like, I had a moment where I was like, it could be either of them. But then like this, this binary narrative they were setting up of Stephanie decided to not play hard and say went out there and played hard. I was like, there's no way in, you know, survivor 48 that they are going to let the person who did not play hard be the one who came out on top. And they so hit this point of like, this one's playing hard and going for it and this one's
Starting point is 00:10:32 not going for it. And that's her strategy. And in my mind, my heart is, I guess, of course you take it back, see, I guess, of course you go slowly out of it in the early days. But I know, I mean, literally in Jeff's opening speech, he said, you have to go for it. Like you have to go all, so I was like, there's no way that if this is the storyline
Starting point is 00:10:51 that Stephanie is like somehow or like seeing the triumph of not playing hard in the first episode of this new season. So in that way, like I kind of figured Stephanie was going. So in the real time, when I watched it on Saturday, I really thought Say was going to go home. And I thought that it was going to be a case of that Justin and Kevin were going to flip and that Say wasn't going to play her idol and that she was going to be the first person voted. And I was thinking like, wow, this is like what a crazy first boot of the show. Ultimately. And I felt like, whoa, they're really making a meal out of Stephanie playing the shot in the dark.
Starting point is 00:11:23 That was the first time that I said, OK, maybe it is going to be Stephanie. But you're right. I think that that moment that Jeff had on the mat, I feel like that that really was thematically at the center of this episode. The one thing that gave me pause was that Jeff talks if players are going to attack the game and says, you know, basically, if it's fear of failure that's causing you to play slow, why even answer the call? Why even get up off the couch for that? And I think that that does ultimately become the theme of this episode. But he does say,
Starting point is 00:11:58 but just because you play aggressively doesn't mean you're insured success in that. So that's the one thing that gave me pause. Yeah, yeah. But they were just, I mean, Stephanie made this really conscious choice and you kind of feel bad for her because like, according to the episode, her real effort to not give in to her more aggressive, flang instincts was what led to her downfall.
Starting point is 00:12:21 But yeah, I mean, so let's talk about, was this the right choice for, and let's, you know, just, I mean, maybe for Justin and Kevin. These two seem to be in the swing. It seemed like that Cedric, from what we heard from Justin, seemed like he really wanted to stay close to where the idol was. It's, you know, an interesting decision.
Starting point is 00:12:40 And I think that there are some parallels between this and the Lavo tribe, the tribe that Rome was on in Survivor 47. And I do wonder where this was sort of like, I thought that this was a similar situation where you have somebody who is like coming in hot and is going to be very much like the person who is looking for the idol. And then ultimately might in a different scenario
Starting point is 00:13:07 be the first person voted out. But having the advantage, having the idol, I think does end up giving them a more secure place in the tribe. Yeah, and I will say for, to say as credit, she did such a good job of sharing it with her group. You know, I mean, where, you know, maybe Stephanie and Mary felt that,
Starting point is 00:13:27 say was running off and not telling them, but you know, from the group that say really went out and formed, you know, she went out to those guys and like, this is my group, you know, like, and, you know, and you are now part of my Alliance and just like through force of will. And I fully expected that to blow up, you know, because it seems so kind of like top down, like this is it and I am playing hard and like this is my group.
Starting point is 00:13:50 She cemented that, you know, with bringing them into the to the to the advantage hunt and solving the problem and everyone kind of had part of that. You know, I mean, Sam did that very methodically last season, right? Where he went like I'm bringing in this person for this part of it and I'm bringing in this person for this part of it, and I'm bringing in this person for this part of it, and I'm bringing it, I mean, it's very similar to what Se did here, you know? Like everyone kind of had a little piece of that. And as a result, that probably did help cement their sort of group identity.
Starting point is 00:14:15 And so just to answer your question from before, I do think that this probably was the right decision for Justin and for Kevin, because that based off of what we saw, it probably would have also entailed blindsiding Cedric also. And so now you're going to turn off Cedric to ultimately take out, say, and, you know, seem like that they had like a decent relationship with Mary and Stephanie. But it seemed like that the better relationship was with Cedric, the three guys, and then also
Starting point is 00:14:42 with, say, who has an idol, and maybe she might be a little bit of a loose cannon, but I think you probably feel better about, no matter what happens, it's either probably gonna be Mary or maybe a blind side of Say, if that's gonna be, if you go to the tribal council again. Yeah, I mean, let's talk about, I mean, to separate out Justin and Kevin, I do think it's slightly better for Justin than Kevin,
Starting point is 00:15:03 simply because it did look, from what we saw, I mean, Mary voted for Justin and Kevin, I do think it's slightly better for Justin than Kevin, simply because it did look from what we saw. I mean, Mary voted for say, so this was not something where she was in on it. And I think maybe that was a misstep to like not bring her in when the whole group was. And obviously part of that is the very fact of the shot in the dark, and is the fact that you kind of want
Starting point is 00:15:20 to get the other person to trick the other person. But I think that this was a little bit of a misstep for Kevin because he, you know, created this bond with Mary and he's immediately kind of pissing off this person who is supposedly his other big alliance in the group. And based off of what we saw, I think it's also reasonable to believe that it was Kevin who tipped off Stephanie that it was gonna be her when she asked him, okay, how's the vote gonna go tonight? And he said, no, very straightforward.
Starting point is 00:15:51 Which is not a good answer. If, you know, that's not. And then he was like, oh, well, we didn't talk about any names. Oh yeah, when they went back to say, and when they asked what names, oh, that was Justin who did that, right? Who said, oh, those first days, you're not the best liar.
Starting point is 00:16:07 You gotta give some people grace for like those early boots. You're just like not so good at lying to other people. But I think it bears repeating for people like, well, why is that a bad answer? Because I think that when you are trying to just get rid of somebody, you tell them everything is gonna be fine. Don't worry about it.
Starting point is 00:16:20 It's good. It's gonna be very straightforward. Where I think that the survivor instinct of somebody who you were actually working up, like, let's go over this one more time, okay? Let's make sure we're all on the right page about this. Yeah, and I mean, just in general, nobody, it doesn't pass the sniff test to say,
Starting point is 00:16:36 oh, like, they didn't throw out a name, it's like, just not credible. It's very straightforward, we're just blindsiding the person with the idol. Don't worry about it. Yeah, exactly. We got this. Yeah. But I would love to talk a little bit about Stephanie
Starting point is 00:16:48 versus Say in terms of their approaches because the clash of styles was a big part of the episode in terms of how Say wanted to handle things and how Stephanie wanted to handle things. And we saw it in the beginning of the episode that before we see Say talking to the men, we see Say talk to Stephanie and Mary. And it's actually where we get the title of the episode,
Starting point is 00:17:08 which I think is the Get to Know You Game, where Stephanie is trying to like, oh, wait, where are you from? And she's like trying to make a bond socially first before she makes one that's about an alliance. And Say is like, ah, I'm not here for that. And basically says, I'm not here to play the get to know you game.
Starting point is 00:17:26 And she goes instantly from what we see to go start talking to the guys. And I think that in a lot of circumstances, the Stephanie approach is the right approach in some of these other tribes. We've seen many survivor players. If we were gonna tell people how to play survivor the right way,
Starting point is 00:17:41 I think we would tell them, hey, I think you wanna to start with a social bond that ultimately becomes a strategic bond and not just be out there in the dating world of going up to somebody like, hey, you want to go home with me? Yeah, there is something to be said for, well, there's two sort of responses to that.
Starting point is 00:18:00 And one is just, if someone, you kind of have to be receptive to how other people are playing the game. So if someone's coming up to you with that, like, but this is it. This is the group, right? Um You don't say no, you know, like you don't say well, let's let's let's hold that I mean like that's the whole thing with with penner in philippines like someone's coming to you with with the The offer like you're not like well, let me think about it and see how things plan out And the second thing which is really just the first thing Restated is that I do think there is in those early days like this
Starting point is 00:18:29 Like I mean you think you see it across everybody like any any group. This is three, right? This is the four I mean, you know what with the California girls, which is like one of my all-time favorite alliances I think now out of after one episode, you know, they're like, okay the guys we like each other You know and then up to people and then you know,, or even with like, you know, Mary and Kevin, oh, we vibe, great, we're in. You know, I do think there's a lot of that. And I think Say is not wrong if she's like,
Starting point is 00:18:53 okay, this group, you know, and then she gets like some pushback from that. Like not only is that wrong, like probably a misstep for Stephanie and Mary in that situation, but like Say is correctly reading that situation. Like if they were in, they would say something to that effect.
Starting point is 00:19:08 Yeah, and Say is moving on very quickly and goes and starts the alliance and she gets the answers that she's looking for when she ends up talking to Justin and Cedric and then ultimately Kevin. I wanted to try this on and tell me what you think about this in terms of like,
Starting point is 00:19:23 well, how do I know the right approach to be taking in terms of like being out there and playing starting very fast or ultimately taking a little bit more of an approach to try to like, okay, I'm going to see how things develop a little bit, not not to a fault, but just like a little bit slower in terms of tribe strength. I wonder that do you think in a tribe that is a powerhouse where we saw some of these other two tribes, that the Green tribe, the Vula tribe, they're outgunned by a lot. Even, you know, Kevin in the preseason talks about how like,
Starting point is 00:19:57 well, there's three strong guys out here. I know one of them is gonna be on my tribe. None of those three guys that he mentioned end up being on his tribe. And- Who's the third? Obviously it's Joe and Davis. Is Kyle the third guys that he mentioned end up being on his tribe. And who's the third? Obviously, it's Joe and David. Is Kyle the third? He said Kyle he thought was the third was the other.
Starting point is 00:20:10 Hey, Kevin, look in the mirror. You're the other strong guy that's on. You're the powerhouse for this team. Wait, can we? Oh, sorry. I'll let you finish. Yeah, so I wonder that if you're say and you're on a tribe that is maybe physically outgunned,
Starting point is 00:20:26 is it better to be, hey, I gotta start playing fast because there's a chance we're going to tribal council soon and often, as opposed to somebody who is maybe on a tribe, like maybe the tribe that has a lot of powerhouses, maybe we're not gonna go to tribal council, and maybe I'm gonna be a little bit more laying back because maybe we're not gonna go to tribal council and maybe I'm gonna be a little bit more laying back because maybe we're not gonna go to tribal council
Starting point is 00:20:47 for a while, maybe I'll have some more time to work at this. That's really interesting. I think that's a great observation and it probably like powers those dynamics. You know, I mean, so much of it is just like, you've got to see what other people are doing and you know, and mirror that. And like, I thought, you know,
Starting point is 00:21:01 Thomas expressed that beautifully when he said, you know, I'm listening to what other people are saying and kind of trying to figure out how I thought, you know, Thomas expressed that beautifully when he said, you know, I'm listening to what other people are saying and kind of trying to figure out how I present, you know, present my personality in such a way that it fits in best with them. I mean, that's basically it, right? You're like, if you're coming and saying, here's how I'm going to play the game,
Starting point is 00:21:15 and like, other people better figure out around me how to do that. Like, that's probably not a long-term successful strategy. And that of course was what I didn't love about Say's game plan. I think, you know, Say ended up triumphing today, but I think probably does not have, you know, too much longevity. Um, I could be wrong, but, but, um, you know, I think like you kind of just always
Starting point is 00:21:32 want to be, be, um, sort of receptive to the vibe, but you might be right that that does determine the vibe. I always bring this back, of course, to my experience, uh, my, my trauma in, in Cambodia, you know, where Bayan was the like, totally the chill vibe tribe and I'm like running up and down the beach and like, yeah, as the outlier and then you see over there in Takeo and they're all, they're all going crazy. They're all over, over the place. And I felt so just envy for that. But I think you're right. Like we had Joe, you know, like we had, we were strong, we were winning. Like I think you're probably right that like they,
Starting point is 00:22:03 although I don't know in that situation, they had just won a challenge. So whatever, it's not a perfect parallel. But it is I do think you may be right that that's about like a general principle. Yeah, can we briefly talk about who's pulled up these? Like, if you look at Volo and you look at Loggy, like, or Vula, Vula, like, who made these divisions? Like, this is not a fair, this is not fair, like very superficially. Yeah. At some point, even like when they were like about to release them, you know, let's just switch these two people around. Like right before Jeff says go, you know,
Starting point is 00:22:32 maybe like switch out, I don't know, like Mary and Star or something. You know what I mean? It seems like the disparity really, I think comes in the form of the women, especially when you talk about the Laghi tribe who has Bianca, but also star and Eva in addition to, you know, Joe and Shaheen and Thomas, you know, the, you
Starting point is 00:22:54 know, with all due respect to, you know, Mary and Stephanie and say, it seems like that typically you probably try to balance out, okay, like let's give them the weaker men, but also we'll balance it out with the stronger women. Yeah. But I mean, Laghi is like all strong fit athletic guys. You know, like Shaheen is like the weak. I mean, I don't know. I mean, Thomas and Shaheen are both like really fit guys.
Starting point is 00:23:18 Like, you know, they could stack up against any of the guys on Vula and like that's not even counting Joe. Yeah. And they have Eva and Star too. You know, it's a real powerhouse team. But again, you know, we sometimes look at these different teams in Survivor 46. I think the the Hunter tribe, I think we thought, OK, well, how are they going to win any challenges that they don't really like have the greatest powerhouses?
Starting point is 00:23:41 And they ended up winning all of the challenges. So hard to say on paper. But so far, as expected, Vula is the team that's in the most trouble in the challenges. I want to ask you about the beware advantage that we saw. It really does seem like the survivor producers, Team Flint and everybody that works on putting these things together, this really did seem like a challenge that when Say found the Beware advantage almost impossible for one person to try to accomplish all this. Yeah, I mean, which is so great. I mean, I thought that was so fun and inventive and just enjoyable. So it really like it was sort of like a long Dungeons and Dragons challenge. And like, you know, even their tribal council set is kind of like Dungeons and Dragons either. Like we
Starting point is 00:24:22 invented a fantasy civilization. And like, then we went back to first principles and figured out what kind of domes they would use you know it's really um I feel like they're really getting into this sort of like RPG vibe which like I am obviously very here for um but yeah I loved it first of all like it was just such like a all the different parts of it and how like they had you know put them all over the landscape so in order to like figure out the colors, you had to go to all the different parts of the island and the camp. Impossible, like probably unlikely for someone to get every single part of it by themselves.
Starting point is 00:24:54 Yeah, and you would need to go and be like just running all over the place. We saw a little bit in Survivor 46 where people like, you know, Jem and Tiffany needed to like run around, even Hunter had to like do a couple of tasks. But this does seem like a task to me in terms of you had to go and uncover all of the clues.
Starting point is 00:25:11 You had to go and like figure out everything. And if you did not have people covering for you, it seemed like the kind of thing that you would have most definitely have been. Everybody's like, okay, where is Say? Right, yes. Not just Stephanie and Mary saying it. So they last time had, you know, last season they had
Starting point is 00:25:29 these idols that sort of like grew in power the more effort you put into them, which I really loved. And I really love this too. Like where do you have a preference between those two strategies? Yes, so it's interesting. Do you think that this is like a replacement for that? Or do you think that it's gonna be different
Starting point is 00:25:43 every single season? That the idols are having a different tribal council time limits? Yeah, or just different mechanics kind of governing how they work. Well, it's interesting because last season we had the idols, you know, coming off of Survivor 46 where, and now these players finished watching Survivor 46
Starting point is 00:25:59 and then they went to go play, that there were a lot of people that they had, you know, one tribal council, three tribal councils or full blown idol that this appears to be what say has a full blown idol. I remember on the on fire podcast, Charlie was saying to Jeff about, Hey, like having a idol that only is good for one tribal council. Like that's, that's good. Like you can't, you can't screw that up.
Starting point is 00:26:23 And Jeff's like, okay, well, we'll make a note of that because then, you know, I like the idea of the players being able to blow it. But that happened after, that conversation had to happen after they filmed this season. So I do wonder if that was something that was maybe that they thought about of, okay, well, it's no fun if a player gets an idol for the next tribal council
Starting point is 00:26:44 because they have no way of screwing it up That's right interesting and and probably I mean like last season like people did stop pretty early right there was one That was just was Gabe's for the for just one I think it's what gave us a gave us a yeah There's three or for the whole thing and he used it at the first one Yeah, and then somebody else had the one Sam and Rome right right um So like people were stopping. And then of course, like to your point, like people,
Starting point is 00:27:07 if you're a producer and you want this like idle in the game, both as like this looming threat and as this like potential to totally blow it, you know, people playing tactically and intelligently is not necessarily what you have with your ideal outcome. Yeah. Steven, for say long-term, where do you feel like this is going? Do you feel like that, say, is able to, you know, with an idol, with an alliance now with
Starting point is 00:27:34 the number one person and really say and Stephanie were not vibing from the preseason. I know that you did not make a meal out of the preseason coverage, but Mike Bloom did incredible interviews with all these people. And that I believe Say and Stephanie both had some comments about each other. And Say was especially vocal. She was not feeling Stephanie from the preseason. Wow, that's so interesting.
Starting point is 00:27:58 What was it about Stephanie? I think that Stephanie was painting at Ponderosa. And yes, I too am an air sign and also, you know, notably indecisive, but, say just was not vibing with Stephanie from the pre-season. Yeah, I'm an air sign too, Rob. I'm an Aquarius, which everyone thinks is a water sign because that's the word aqua in it.
Starting point is 00:28:17 But you know, we're indecisive even about what type of sign we are. Yeah, okay. Yeah. What are you? You a Libra? Libra, yeah. Yeah. You weigh you? Are you a Libra? Libra, yeah. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:28:26 You weigh things out back and forth, you know. But you know, say as an air sign, she doesn't like people who are indecisive. Yeah, which is sort of, yeah, interesting. But to know that about yourself is great, you know, self-knowledge. So yeah, I mean, I do think that, you know, say clearly triumphed here.
Starting point is 00:28:43 I think she played it decently well, but I think that her overall strategy is a little too, like, metal to the metal here. And as much as Jeff might like that, like, I don't think that's gonna have longevity. I mean, you saw that even, you know, people were already kind of debating whether or not to move against her.
Starting point is 00:29:03 And of course, like, she would have time now to deepen those alliances. And so so much depends upon what she does next episode. If she's like, well, I've got my solid four, I'm gonna take a step back, I'm gonna take a breath, let these relationships marinate, then I think that she could maybe build something deeper, but that does not seem to be the type of personality she is.
Starting point is 00:29:26 She seems to be like, go fast, go hard. And I think that that might kind of wear out its welcome a little bit. Here's my bold prediction on this, that if, say, does end up getting voted out in the pre-merge, I think that Mary is gonna be the driving force. I feel like that Cedric, he is just calm, collected. I feel like that Justin and Kevin, yeah, they're kind of happy guys. I don't feel like that they are ready
Starting point is 00:29:52 to really like do a big blind side of say, without some prodding from Mary who might be very scorned with how this all went down. Right. That's interesting. And then they're all kind of seem to be somewhat like moral in their framework, you know, certainly. So yeah, I mean, that's interesting. I buy that. Yeah, Mary had, you know, some real glares for the group as she cursed, the blur her mouth. Yeah, wow.
Starting point is 00:30:21 She's not happy. Okay, Stephen, let's talk about a couple of these other tribes. Let's talk about the Siva tribe. That's the- Sun tribe. Yes, the Orange tribe. And they, we got to see Mitch really is,
Starting point is 00:30:38 feels like the glue guy also on this tribe. Chrissy's a big personality, seems like a positive person to be around. You have David here on this tribe. Whatissy's a big personality, seems like a positive person to be around. You have David here on this tribe. What's your reaction to David? I like David. I mean, he seems very affable. I can say though, I feel like I'm a big strong guy, but I love this rom-com. It feels a little bit like too, like here's my crazy quirk, a little bit too much of that. But, you know, I seem like nice and friendly and, you know, very willing to obviously share. It didn't seem like some sort of like, you know, wasn't like that
Starting point is 00:31:08 sort of like bossy alpha type that you sometimes see. I mean, like, you know, 39 years old, I feel like is very like prime to be the bossy alpha. You know, you're like still you're like, you're like a little mature. You're still like you haven't like, you know, hit the decrepitude of your 40s yet. So I feel like that's a good age. Yeah. And I think a lot of people probably judge David, the book by its cover a little bit, but I think that there's more depth there than I think people can expect. And I think he's very funny in the confessionals also, which you don't always get from somebody who's here to be like a big athlete on the team. Yeah, I really enjoyed him. I thought he had a great presence, like very like dynamic.
Starting point is 00:31:46 I mean, this is what I'm talking about with hot people. You know, he's got like, he's dynamic. He's got a big presence. Like, is it too big? Like, could it get too big? Let's see. But for now it's like super fun. And he's gonna do like somewhat risky things.
Starting point is 00:31:59 Like, you know, like leading the tribe off in search of all these like symbols instead of, you know, being calculating, like everybody else in like symbols instead of, you know, being calculating like everybody else in the game is constantly, you know, he's going to like do something a little bit impulsive. And that is going to be interesting to watch. So Kevin is also sorry, Kyle, Kyle and Kevin, I was transposing them the whole time in my notes, but Kyle ends up coming back from the challenge after Kevin, he comes back the loser. Let's talk a little bit about the challenge that we see Kyle and Kevin participate in. And I thought this was a really interesting one.
Starting point is 00:32:30 I thought that from a TV standpoint, I thought that what they did with Asia and TK last season was good, but I thought this was better. I really like this. This seemed like because it was a little bit more like literally on a track, you know, I mean, they were running into the jungle, but they were literally on a track. So there was this like thing, you know, whereas with agent TK and this, like, it seems like this is just kind of like, they took that to the next level. They're like running all over. It was hard to get a sense of like really where they were going or what was happening. Like we had their confessionals, but it was a little bit kind of like hard to follow almost, but this, this was like, you know, you see them and they're like, there's different like
Starting point is 00:33:03 tasks along the way, which was really fun too. And that kind of like, you see them and they're like, there's different like tasks along the way, which was really fun too. And that kind of like, you know, survivor Robinson Crusoe, you know, way of it. And they get different strategies too, you know, where you saw, you know, Kevin being really methodical and Kyle being sort of a little more chaotic and aggressive and it starts to work for Kyle. And then, you know, he, oops, he shatters his bowl.
Starting point is 00:33:23 And then you have the really lovely moment where like, you know, Kyle kind of helps him finish. I thought that was really nice. Yeah. Do you feel like that that moment between Kyle and Kevin was that sportsmanship or do you feel like was their strategy or maybe both? I mean, I think, you know, always anything on Survivor one attributes to strategy, like probably too much. I honestly just thought it was like more sportsmanship. And of course you're like, well, who knows down the line, like maybe this will pay dividends, but it just seemed like the nice, decent thing to do. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:50 I really did like this challenge because I feel like that there was like an objective, but there wasn't necessarily set rules in terms of like what you had to do. And, you know, for the whole new era, we've had sweat versus savvy, but this, in this challenge, we actually had a challenge that actually, you know, for the whole new era, we've had sweat versus savvy. But in this challenge, we actually had a challenge that actually had the players have to decide,
Starting point is 00:34:11 am I using my sweat or am I using my savvy in terms of like the two approaches that we had where Kyle was just trying to power through this obstacle course and then just go as fast as he can. He's gonna break the bamboo. He ultimately is just pouring the water in as hard as he can and ultimately breaks it. Where Kevin ends up taking like a much more
Starting point is 00:34:30 like methodical savvy approach to it and ends up being the winner. So I really did like it that they approached it from these two different things. And there was a lot that we learned about these two. Yeah, I thought, I think you're exactly right. Like having these tasks that you could do anyway, it was like, I didn I, I didn't, I
Starting point is 00:34:45 couldn't articulate, but like, you're right. I felt like they're very free and exciting. Like, Ooh, like they can solve this problem however they want. And like, maybe there's multiple different ways to solve this problem. It doesn't have to be just done in this one way. It kind of, I mean, like it actually, like, I was thinking while watching the episode of that, of that challenge in Samoa, which was very silly at the time where like, they just show up to the challenge
Starting point is 00:35:05 and Jeff isn't even there, and they have to devise their own challenge for themselves. Which was, again, it was a little bit too goofy, but there was something there about letting the players figure out how to solve a problem, which is really enjoyable to watch. Let's talk about Kyle, who comes home and is the person who he loses in the first challenge.
Starting point is 00:35:32 Then he ends up losing for the team challenge. David says, well, look, I could have won that, but Kyle's not me. So, but Kyle, I thought it was able to rebound pretty well. It was nice to see the two people that went to go do this. It seemed like that they did not really get ostracized while they were away. Yeah, I mean, there was a little bit of like,
Starting point is 00:35:52 could Kevin have something, you know, in his pocket from that? You know, you always, of course, suspect that. And I'm sure that was percolating in the back of people's minds, but for Kyle, it didn't seem to really affect him. And, you know, he seemed to immediately, I mean, it was interesting that charity targeted Kyle.
Starting point is 00:36:11 I thought that was such a weird choice. Like, was it just because he hadn't been there? I mean, what was that about, do you think? I think that there's a concern when these people, and this has never happened in the new era, so I'm not sure necessarily where this comes from, but I know that there was some concern that maybe, oh, does Asia have something when she comes back
Starting point is 00:36:28 from going on Sweat vs. Savvy in season 47? And so the players are thinking like, OK, they left the tribe. They went on a journey. Maybe they have an advantage. And so Charity seems to be the one person who's thinking about that. And then because she mentions that to Camilla,
Starting point is 00:36:45 then we see that we're getting a four person alliance that comes together of people who have some sus on charity. Yeah, exactly. I mean, and it's beautifully executed by Camilla, right? Who we have to give credit to that for that too, since she took credit. But also it really did seem like she was the one who kept on kind of bringing it up.
Starting point is 00:37:05 And then, you know, I really loved this foursome. It's such a fun foursome with David, Chrissy, Camilla and Kyle. And you know, and she makes the point, you know, or maybe it was, I think it was Camilla who made the point like we're so unlike each other, which is such a great line. And I never really thought about that until, you know,
Starting point is 00:37:21 I did my podcast with James Jones a couple of years ago, a couple of seasons ago, where he was saying, you know, having an alliance of people who are unlike each other is great because it's like stealthier and like it's less threatening in a way to people. And I thought that was such a great observation. And so this foursome really encapsulates that. Steven, I have three questions for you.
Starting point is 00:37:41 What kind of car do you drive? What's your favorite movie? Yeah. And how do you like your steak? Wow. I mean, I would also be nervous about someone who liked their steak medium well. And I have a friend who likes his steak well done. And like, I don't know about that. Is it a sociopath? I mean, he, you know, he's...
Starting point is 00:38:00 I don't want to like out who that person is, but you all know. Are they a survivor alumni? Survivor alumni. Who likes his, well done, very scary. I'm a medium rare guy, right? Who isn't? That's just like I'm a normal person in the world. Yeah. Okay.
Starting point is 00:38:15 Favorite movie? I mean, you know, ranking. You know how I feel about ranking. Okay. Yeah, it's no good. Arbitrary and reductive, yeah. What about Notting Hill? Great movie. I mean, you know, that has to be.
Starting point is 00:38:27 I've actually never seen it. Really? Yeah, I know. Oh, you should, it's so charming. Oh, it truly is so charming. It's just delightful. Okay, what should I watch, Notting Hill or Hull, Steven? Oh, I mean, obviously Notting Hill.
Starting point is 00:38:41 I mean, it's just like, it's like P.Q. Grant, like the apogee of his charm. I really think that you need to, you know, you should see that. You, I think you really, you know, date night, Nicole, you. Date night? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:38:52 Sit down, popcorn, raw steak. Yeah. Let's do that. And then, where's Mitch in all this? He doesn't get part of the alliance? It seemed like that he was fitting in so well. I thought so too. I was curious about, I mean, again,
Starting point is 00:39:08 like so much of it is just like, these are the four people having this conversation right now. Let's call this our Alliance. And then it kind of sticks. But, you know, the core four. But, you know, I did feel bad for Mitch. You know, he didn't do anything wrong. It was charity who ruined it for everybody.
Starting point is 00:39:23 Steve, did you notice a Survivor the Amazon reference on Survivor tonight? No, what was it about? Mitch talked about how Chrissy, Chrissy Smith. Oh yes, yes, of course. Yes, yes, yeah, yeah. So, yeah. Did you feel excited?
Starting point is 00:39:38 I'll tell you what, when I was watching the episode on Saturday and first of all, I was seated very close to Mitch. Did you text Chrissy? No, I did not. But he's talking about my hero is Christy Smith from Survivor of the Amazon. I was worried they were going to show, okay, here's how it started. And then like I was worried they were going to show her getting voted out. And I was like, oh, Mitch, I'm so sorry. So sorry about that. So sorry. But you know, that's, that's as Jeff said, survivor of the Amazon. That's forever ago. Yeah. Nobody cares about that. Come on. Yeah. All right. Great.
Starting point is 00:40:14 Then the Loggie tribe, which is our overachieving tribe. They're doing great. One of my favorite tribes. I really enjoy everybody on this tribe. I think this might be my favorite tribe in a while. Yeah, well, they have some big personalities and we get to meet them. And that's with starting with the California girls of Thomas, Shaheen and Joe.
Starting point is 00:40:38 Yeah, great, like really fun. I just like love each of them. They just say they have so much like personality. I mean, Thomas's confessionals are just sublime. You know, I love, I don't know, like his sort of like disbelief at being part of an all male alliance. And Joe, like, you know, even at the very beginning,
Starting point is 00:40:58 that first moment with Joe, where they have him, you know, breaking down upon learning that he's going to be cast and then saying, you know, my kids are going to be so proud of me. Like what a beautiful moment that was. And then the way it pays off in this relationship with Eva, like I literally was getting tears. Like I was like becoming overwhelmed with emotion from like just like how powerful that was where she is revealing the things that she struggles with and, you know, her challenges in life and then like giving him like really concrete ways to like help her.
Starting point is 00:41:32 Like if you see me like holding myself, like here's what you can do. And then he's like, I will be, you know, sacrifice my own game. I will be there for her. She picked the right guy. Like that was a, that was a gorgeous, human, intense, personal moment. Yeah, and you wonder maybe if the producers might have seen this pairing coming, because it's hard to imagine even another person on the season that would be a better person to pair up Eva with.
Starting point is 00:41:56 In the preseason, you know, she said that she was looking for athletic types to try to work with, and Joe is somebody who has such a big heart. He's a dad. He talks a lot about how he lost his sister to domestic violence. And so he's like, you know, very sensitive and was just the perfect person for her to open up
Starting point is 00:42:17 and share her secret about how she cannot really read other people particularly well. So she needs somebody to help her with that part of the game. And it is amazing that this is like three days into this adventure and Joe's like, I'll lose for her. Yeah. I just met this person and it might've been day two also.
Starting point is 00:42:37 I'll lose the game for her. I just met this person and I've wanted this thing for so long and I'll give it up for her. Yeah, I mean, it's just quarter because like, you know, to have someone approach you with that amount of vulnerability to say, here are the struggles I face and here I am turning to you to like help me because I see something in you. Like I see some like innate human decency in you. What are like a beautiful like soul to soul human moment? And like this is what's amazing about Survivor. I think it's like, you know, if you scripted something like that, it would probably come off as a little cheesy
Starting point is 00:43:07 or corny. I mean, like the moment I always think about is like, yeah, Adam and Jay in Millennials versus Gen X, like talking about how they both lost their moms, you know, or, yeah, that's right, right? Like, yeah. And then they just, yeah, having that like deep connection out of the gate. You know, it was like it would be too much if it was scripted, but it's like so real and so human. Yeah. And they really did a great job of setting it all up and the payoff. And so I'm sure many, many people were, you know, you know, starting to get a little a little misty eyed watching that segment on the Loggy Tribe.
Starting point is 00:43:43 a little misty-eyed watching that segment on the Loggy Tribe. So, all right, so you have Joe and Eva, that they are not going to be broken up, you would think. Okay? You also have Thomas, who's really going to bat for Bianca. They really hit it off, and they have a really great relationship out of the gate. Yeah, which is really interesting,
Starting point is 00:44:03 because it just sort of comes out of nowhere, but they're also very fun. because it was just sort of like comes out of nowhere, but they're also big, very fun. I mean, like this is a great alliance. I think a great duo. And I think they're kindred spirits that Thomas works in the music industry. Bianca is a PR person. So they have like a, you know, very like a, you know,
Starting point is 00:44:17 fast talking, you know, entertainment vibe. And so they're together like pretty much right off the bat. And it really seems a little bleak for Star who. Yeah, poor Star, but hopefully Loggy never loses, but yeah, and Star's just outcast almost by virtue of not having this immediate crazy bond with someone. I think that maybe the best case scenario for Star is that they don't go to a tribal council,
Starting point is 00:44:43 which is entirely possible for Loggie, whether they get to a swap or they get to the merge. You could totally see the circumstances where this tribe ends up not being the, coming in last place in five immunity challenges. I, yeah, I really like, like, well, tell me about Star. We didn't get a lot of Star in this episode. I really liked Star from the little I saw of her.
Starting point is 00:45:04 Give me, wait, wait, what would she like? Star is a former women's basketball player. She has a baby at home. She is a sales expert is what her chiron is on the screen. She says she can sell anything. She is a big talker. She's relatively new to the show, but she's a really big fun personality. Yeah. Crazy again to put Eva and Star on the same tribe as Joe
Starting point is 00:45:34 and then Shaheen and Tom. It just just absolutely broke. It's a real powerhouse tribe. Right. Yeah. Yeah. And maybe I will say, oh ahead. And maybe they weren't expecting as much from, you know, a couple of the guys. Maybe they underestimated- Maybe they got really fit before- Yeah, maybe they underestimated Thomas or Shaheen, but yeah, to put the women's athletes on this tribe also with Joe, like it's a lot.
Starting point is 00:45:57 Yeah, I mean, I guess like a 30 or eight year old debate professor, you're not thinking like, this guy's gonna really bring it necessarily, but he seemed like obviously fit just from looking at him. Yeah. And he got a great beard and like that's like powerful. Yeah. Do you know Stephen also that Shaheen was an alternate
Starting point is 00:46:12 for Survivor 46? No. Oh great. It's so nice to see those people get on. Just like knowing how emotionally devastating that has to be. Well, the other alternate for Survivor 46 was Rachel, who came back for Survivor 47 and won.
Starting point is 00:46:26 And he actually made a big kerfuffle in the Survivor 46 preseason, where a bunch of different players were talking about how they were getting really bad vibes from Beard Guy. And we said, oh my god, who is this Beard Guy? And then ultimately, then he pops up here on Survivor 48. Now, he says that was due to the fact
Starting point is 00:46:46 that he was an, he knew he was an alternate. He was trying to- So he was like sour about it. Well, I think that he was a little sour. Oh, he was really quiet. Yes, because you really don't want to screw it up. Well, he was, I think, hoping that maybe I'll sort of like create a little drama.
Starting point is 00:47:00 Maybe the producers are like, oh, we need this guy. Get him in there. But then his comeback. And then the Survivor 48 players, he made a big impression on a lot of people, but not necessarily in a negative variety. A lot of people had positive things to say about Shaheen.
Starting point is 00:47:13 Yeah, he seems like he's got a great vibe and a great beard. He's very engaging that I feel like that in some ways, I called him new era Max Dawson in the pre-season. Just because of the beard. The beard, but also that he is very location. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, all right. Steven, we've met the three tribes.
Starting point is 00:47:37 We've talked about it all. But Steven, the week of Survivor cannot be complete. Until you award one player your coveted fishy award. Okay, well, let's talk this through, okay? Cause there's a few people who I'm thinking about. So let's, I want your perspective as we discuss this. Okay, so on the Seba tribe, I think if it had to give it to anybody,
Starting point is 00:48:03 it would probably be Camilla, right? I mean, you see Camilla is kind of the person who most puts together this alliance of four. You know, we kind of see her create this target in charity. I mean, basically all charity did was sort of throw out Kyle's name and then Camilla kind of gets the group against her. So it seems like, and also does not seem to like make herself
Starting point is 00:48:23 a big target in so doing. So I think like on this, if it was going to be someone on the SIVA tribe, which I don't think it should be necessarily, but I, you know, I'd love your perspective. I think it would be Camilla. Yeah, absolutely. I 100% agree with that, that Camilla ends up being the person who from what we see in the episode, you know, she really, Hey, I feel really good about Kyle and then ends ends up hearing Charity saying Kyle's name and runs with it and ends up sort of like, almost by accident with a four person alliance of people that are sort of like,
Starting point is 00:48:52 hey, what's wrong with Charity? Yeah, and it's funny, like she says, like I came out here to create chaos or to like sow chaos or whatever she says, but it's an interesting strategy, you know, to sort of like throw out, I mean, and that can often like bite you, but I feel like because she doesn't have a chaotic demeanor,
Starting point is 00:49:09 you know, I think the person running, sometimes you see people who are like running all over the place, creating chaos, and you're like, ooh, that person is bad for the tribe. But there is something about someone who's just like throwing out names and, you know, almost like seems positive as she's undermining others. It's very subtle a game to play.
Starting point is 00:49:25 But I think if you look at it from like a real macro view, if you're a Camilla type in the game, I think the scenario where Camilla wins the season is like a very chaotic fluid game where big targets are going, going, going, going. And all of a sudden, nobody's worrying so much about Camilla and she's able to sort of like from the background, kind of little finger this thing.
Starting point is 00:49:48 Yeah, which, you know, there's upside. I do think there's like a little finger upside for Camilla. From the Vula tribe, I think like, you know, maybe you could talk about Say for sure, right? Like Say drives the strategy on the Vula tribe. She creates this alliance, the alliance sticks. She says, I'm gonna go find an idol. She does, she finds the idol.
Starting point is 00:50:08 She does, is not as she struggles to crack at herself, brings in her alliance in a way that really does cement that group and then manages to figure it out herself anyway. I think using a few like, I thought Cedric had some key information, the idea of like using the number of letters and the color, and then that brings her to the animals
Starting point is 00:50:28 on the beach. And then of course, this ultimately gets her way in getting rid of Stephanie. So, I mean, I think Say would have a good claim to getting the fishy on that tribe. What do you think? So I would love to know from you, because I was thinking about this in terms of the fishy award, and it's your award. So I really have to know from you, because I was thinking about this, in terms of the Fischy Award, and it's your award,
Starting point is 00:50:46 so I really have to get inside your head. Is the Fischy Award more about who won the night, or is the Fischy Award about who has advanced their position to win the game? Because I think it's different. Yeah, I mean, it was all sort of like, been on the sort of like knife's edge of those two questions.
Starting point is 00:51:05 And I've never really wanted to have to clarify one way or the other, because I feel like that would maybe difficult down the line. And sometimes it's like one of those things where like, you know, I gave Kelly now Bandy an offici the episode before she got voted off. And it's like, well, she seemed to do something really good there.
Starting point is 00:51:18 And then it blew up in her face the next episode, you know, because suddenly she was a big target. So it's one of those things where like, I don't want to be held too accountable for my choices. Yeah. I don't want, and I, but, but I think. Visibly this specific instance, I'm going to side on the idea of like, who is making more inroads for their game.
Starting point is 00:51:35 Because I think in this case, we can see that as much as say one, the night, she didn't necessarily lay the groundwork to win the game, you know, she has created maybe this like-term moment of power and control in a way that almost shows its own seeds of destruction, in a way that I don't think Kelly Nalbandian necessarily did, although you could argue the contrary. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:51:55 So. I think that the other players maybe recognize how good of a position Kelly Nalbandian was as opposed to, something specific that she really didn't see coming. But Stephen, I would actually advocate that I think the fishy should go to say. I think that part of it is due to a lack of like one specific person that I think did the most to really set themselves up as like in the long term game. I think we'd really just be grasping at sort of like, okay, this
Starting point is 00:52:26 person made an alliance, give them the fishy award, as opposed to Say, who did so much, perhaps too much, ultimately. But when I watched the episode on Saturday, I really thought that Say was playing the game very hard, very fast, and probably I thought was going to be the person who got voted out. But upon my second viewing today, I really feel like that Se did a lot of things right. I think that Se came in, started playing fast, built a group, brought people into the group, especially in a group that's a little tight. It's not necessarily that there's anybody else on this group, and this is a little bit of like Nash equilibrium here, for Sey,
Starting point is 00:53:10 in being that the one person in this group who's willing to play fast and play hard and dictate the action, she ends up finding the idol. There was some conversation about maybe we should blindside Sey, but ultimately, nothing really concrete. I don't think that say is going to be the winner of the season, but I think that say did the most to advance herself for the next
Starting point is 00:53:31 couple of weeks. And I feel like that in lieu of any other better options, I would advocate, give it to say, okay. So I have a, I have a response to that and I have another option. So first the response, which is that, I think Se came in so hot that I think she might have blown her game up, in the short term, like not just like, so in terms of like setting up her own game, and I haven't seen the episode twice, and I probably never will.
Starting point is 00:53:56 But you'll read more on Twitter. Yeah, that's true. I will read more on Twitter. I gotta say, PS, like first night here, so nice. Like it's all like, it's like virgin snow, you know, we're coming in, we're skiing through the powder, you know, like maybe Mike Bloom has a track ahead of us somewhere out there. But like, you know, I'm making my own tracks. Very, very, very nice.
Starting point is 00:54:16 So, so I think that it was she came in so hot that I, you know, you don't leave this episode thinking, wow, like, say is really like built up a position for herself in her group. You can look at so many other people who have laid better groundwork than than she has. Um, and and here is I just want to like give you okay, so here is my my dark horse pitch for eva. Okay, so eva comes in knowing that you know, I have these challenges in a big group strategy game. that, you know, I have these challenges in a big group strategy game. And I am going to work against those challenges. So I just like, like, I have trouble reading people, I have trouble,
Starting point is 00:54:52 you know, I need a project and a task. So I am going to like create my own regulation by being the bamboo person. She does it, she's got a smile on her face all the time, you know, getting having a smile on your face is not like the move of the episode. But then she goes to the big lug Joe, Joe. And, you know, she says she's like, correctly identifies this person who she thinks is going to be like an amazing ally, and also potentially like help her emotionally and like, you know, help her,
Starting point is 00:55:26 you know, so she shares the fact that she's autistic with him. She says like, this is outside the game. This is beyond the game. Like, I want you to be my person. I'm not sharing this with other people. She tells him physically, you know, the signs to look for for in herself as a way of like keeping herself regulated and like says, like, here's what you can do. And they share this like beautiful, beautiful moment to the point that Joe says, I'm willing to sacrifice my own game for her. Now this is a really, really human moment.
Starting point is 00:55:53 And like, I do think that it would minimize it a little bit to like reduce it to strategy. But if you can get in one episode to say someone, I'm willing to take a dive in my game for your game, like that is good strategy. So I think there's a case that this gorgeous human moment is also probably the person setting herself up in the best possible way for longevity that she can.
Starting point is 00:56:14 What do you think, Rob? I think you made a compelling case for Eva in terms of that she was not playing for strategy but also I think that in terms of she had a plan of, hey, I need to divulge this information to one person I can trust, and that is gonna be my path to victory. And she executed on that and found the perfect person
Starting point is 00:56:38 to help her, the perfect ally for her, in Joe, so I could see it. Yeah, I'm gonna to say because that this this human moment was so beautiful and that you know, I do think it transcended the game, but it was also a part of the game and therefore I'm giving the fishy to Eva. You know, she created this incredible alliance with Joe where Joe is even saying I'm going to sacrifice my game
Starting point is 00:57:04 for you. But even more than that, it was this gorgeous human moment that she or she acknowledged her own challenges. She confessed her difficulties with autism and she gave him the tools to help her through this game and really sealed this really emotional bond. So for all those reasons, I think that that Eva deserves the fishy. OK, well done.
Starting point is 00:57:30 Anything else on your mind for the two hour premiere? Yeah, let's talk about mud, right? And we've talked about mud in the past. Yeah. But like, especially for the first challenge and the new season of Survivor. Yeah. Please no more. No more. I have no idea what's happening. Yeah, I get it. I'm with you.
Starting point is 00:57:47 You're trying to find out who these people are and I'm like, what is that? Who said what? I have no idea. And Jeff has talked about it and all the reasons why he likes it. You're being birthed into the game and they work so hard
Starting point is 00:57:58 and they do so much to get the mud just perfect so nobody gets hurt. There's not a pebble in there. They make it, it's the perfect mud. They bring it in and they import it and they do everything to make it perfect. But I will say that we're just trying to meet these people and it is very hard to tell who they are
Starting point is 00:58:16 when they are covered in mud on the first day. Yes, I mean, and this is the kill your darlings thing. Jeff, kill your darlings. Could we baptize them with water? Could we have them go into mud And this is the kill your darlings thing. Jeff, kill your darlings. They think you kill riders. Could we baptize them with water? Could we have it like you go into mud and then you have to swim through water. So then you go into the mud, but then the mud comes off.
Starting point is 00:58:32 And then we go back to knowing who they are. Or we can have a viscous goo. Like a viscous goo would be great. A viscous goo. Yeah, like a gelatin or something. Yeah, that could be a slime. And then, okay. And then it's sort of like a wash-off. Right, yeah.
Starting point is 00:58:46 I mean, it's like, you know, you've got to like I get it when you're making something. I get it too. With all the craft that goes into it, but just from the viewer's perspective, it's not a pleasant experience. It's a little hard to figure out who they are. We'll get there eventually, but you know, it's a little bit like who is that? Yeah. I don't know how Jeff knows who they are. The first challenge of the first episode. You know, it's like. Yeah, okay. All right, well, Stephen, this was a great conversation about Survivor 48. Do we still got it?
Starting point is 00:59:15 I think we do. I think we've got it. Even 15 years later, you know? Yeah, okay. All right, well, let me tell you a little bit about what else we have going on. And of course, with Rob is a podcast, it is the great joy of my professional life to get to bring all this stuff to you.
Starting point is 00:59:34 And we'd love to have you here. Part of this conversation. Steven, survivor is better when you have a tribe. That's what I always say. We'd love to have you here. Part of this community. Head on over to robbinswebsite.com slash patron to see about all the different ways
Starting point is 00:59:49 that you can be involved with what we have going on from all of the stuff, all of the bonus content that we do. I have the patron Q and A that I do on Friday. You can call in and ask your Survivor's strategic questions. Plus, also, it's the 15-year anniversary of Survivor Heroes vs. Villains. Josh Wiggler and I have been rewatching Survivor Heroes vs. Villains.
Starting point is 01:00:11 We just talked about Heroes vs. Villains Episode 3, which first aired this past Tuesday, and you can see all that and more in our Patreon feed at robinswebsite.com slash patron. Then, we know Survivor, you better believe it. Go to weknowsurvivor.com slash patron then we know survivor you better believe it go to we know survivor.com to subscribe for our survivor podcast feed where you'll get all of our survivor podcasts not just the stuff that i am putting out here on the rhap main feed but also shows like the bnb why blank loss survivor global survivor news with Bryson Winnett, anything else that we have survivor related.
Starting point is 01:00:45 It's all at WeKnowSurvivor.com. Steven, the live show is back. We are back on the road, Steven. Back in Boston and you can be there and of course you can get a ticket to that event. Now I have to be frank, okay? The patrons of Rap is a Podcast were savages. They bought up all the good tickets. Jerks.
Starting point is 01:01:11 And that's, you know, that's their privilege, that's their right as a patron of Rob is a Podcast. They get the early access, but we still have tickets. If you wanna be there with us in Boston, robiswebsite.com slash boston to be there with us on April 9th. Then the Traders, Steven have you kept up with the season of the Traders?
Starting point is 01:01:29 No spoilers? No. Okay. It's been a great season. That's what everybody says. Lots of twists and turns. Tomorrow night I'll be back with Puyo Zambekele after the episode to talk about everything that's going on.
Starting point is 01:01:41 If you want our Traders coverage, you know where to find it at wenotraders.com. And then Steven, I've been talking about, of course, Mike White's The White Lotus, where Godfather Carl and Natalie Cole pop up in the premiere. And if you want to catch Josh Wiggler and I talking about The White Lotus, you can hear that and much, much more
Starting point is 01:02:01 over at we knowscriptedtv.com. So great to have Wiggler. I know Wiggler has been doing scripted forever, but you know, great to have him like, it's so fun to have Wiggler back on into Survivor. You know, he brings such joy and energy and high pitched warbling. It's just really adds so much to the whole thing.
Starting point is 01:02:21 Yeah, tons of great coverage over there. He's talking about Severance, which is going on as well. And I'm also recapping Paradise, which is- People love Paradise. I love Paradise so much. You love Paradise. Yeah, it's mostly you who loves Paradise. I love it so much that episode several this week
Starting point is 01:02:34 of Paradise was a banger and a half. I'm not gonna say anything else about that. All right, Stephen, what does- Oh, two things, two things, two things. First of all, let's talk about one last thing about Stephanie. How did she get a sun hat? My God, what else? Oh, two things, two things, two things. First of all, how, let's talk about one last thing about Stephanie. How did she get a sun hat? My God, what an advantage to have in this game.
Starting point is 01:02:50 I mean, it turned out to not be such an advantage, but like a sun hat, that's unbelievable. Yeah. Future players take note, you know, try to find a way to work a sun hat into your wardrobe. Okay, but just because, for the sun or is there another purpose? Yeah, for the sun.
Starting point is 01:03:03 Okay, you can hide an idol up there. Mm, yeah. I know it's bright. You know, keep your, I guess, you know, anyway. Secondly, I have a novel coming out in a year, like about a year from now, which sounds like a long time, but it's actually quite short, according to my editor.
Starting point is 01:03:18 What can people do to get ready? Thanks, I'm glad you asked. I have really done a very cursory job of preparing for this. So at StephenFishback.com, I have done a very rudimentary email sign up form. If you would like to sign up for my newsletter, I don't have a newsletter, but I'll email you when the book comes out. Like, hey, by the way, please buy this book. Sign up. I'm not going to bother you with newsletters. I'm kind of harassing you. I have a newsletter.
Starting point is 01:03:44 But you've got one that's full of substance and interesting things that I enjoy reading. Sign up, you know, I'm not gonna bother you with newsletters, I'm not gonna be harassing you. I have a newsletter. But you've got one that's full of substance and interesting things that I enjoy reading. But this will not be- But we'll tell people when your book comes out. Yeah, I'll tell people when my book comes out, I'm not gonna spam you, it's not gonna be like, some annoying newsletter, it'll be a great newsletter.
Starting point is 01:03:59 All right, stevenfischbach.com. Once a year, you'll be getting an email from me. Okay, and then if you wanna chat all week long, Steven and I and all the Survivor Glitterati are rubbing elbows and you can be there too. Go to robbinswebsite.com slash VIP chat to hang out. I think I'm too active on chat. I think I need to tone it down. I think I'm too active on chat BCC.
Starting point is 01:04:19 Yeah, well look, it just got started. Everybody's excited. So come on and hang out with us there. robbinswebsite.com slash VIP chat. Thank you so much for joining us. We love to read. I read all the comments on YouTube. So I love to hear what you have to say,
Starting point is 01:04:31 whether you like the show or not. I read it all. Love to hear what you have to say on our YouTube channel. Thank you so much. Make sure you hit subscribe and make sure you subscribe to the podcast for another fun season of RHAP. Take care everybody, have a good one.
Starting point is 01:04:44 Bye. Bye.

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