RHAP: We Know Survivor - Know-It-Alls: Survivor 49 Ep 11 Recap
Episode Date: December 4, 2025Know-It-Alls: Survivor 49 Ep 11 Recap Today, Rob and Stephen discuss Survivor 49 episode 11. Survivor is back, and so are the Survivor Know-It-Alls! Join Rob Cesternino and Stephen Fishbach as they br...eak down all the strategy, blindsides, and big moves from Survivor 49. To pre-order Rob’s book, The Tribe and I Have Spoken, visit www.robhasabook.com To pre-order Stephen’s novel Escape!, visit stephenfishbach.com To request a limited edition Escape! map, email proof of hardcover pre-order (within the US) to escapefishbach@gmail.com with the subject line MAP. Previous hardcover pre-orders are also eligible! Buy tickets for Stephen’s book events here! stephenfishbach.com/events Never miss a minute of RHAP’s extensive Survivor coverage! LISTEN: Subscribe to the Survivor podcast feed WATCH: Watch and subscribe to the podcast on YouTube SUPPORT: Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks!
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The smartest guys around
We're about to break it down
Like they've won
The game a million times
Well, actually, they didn't really win the game at all
Survive, no at all
Steve on a rock without a doubt
They know it all
And they are back here
For Spiverr know it all's here
As we had yellow Sophie
We're down to only one Sophie
And we'll talk about it all here
With a guy who
it's never strenuous to talk to this guy.
There's no strong dislike here for Stephen Fishback.
Oh my gosh.
Oh, my gosh.
Such an honor to be here.
I literally just stepped in the door from Walt Disney World.
I literally like I flew back, drove home, walked in the door and started podcasting.
So I am, I mean, I watched Survivor along the way.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I didn't know you were doing that this week.
Oh, yeah.
We were at Disney for, it's incredible.
How was it?
What was the highlights?
I'm very pro-Disney.
I had my bachelor party at Disney.
Yes.
Which was a regret.
I think nobody enjoyed it particularly.
But this was more fun.
With two children, with two small children for whom the park is designed, it was
extremely fun.
And I feel like the park was designed for me.
I had an amazing time too.
Okay.
All right.
What was your favorite ride?
We went on a lot of the kid.
I mean, like the small world, like seeing my like children,
gape and wonder. And also we got to talk about all the different countries and how you could
tell which country was which. So we made something magical or something tedious and dull.
And then can you give us just to get us started tonight a metaphor of how is Disneyland,
Disney World like Survivor? What's happening right now in the game? Well, I will say you have a lot
of different groups with competing interests, right? They all want the same thing, which is to get
on the ride at the same time. But they all kind of have to respect each other and the rules of the game,
which is the, you know, the lions and the lightning lanes and all that.
Yeah.
And they really, it is the new era of Disney where you have to have the fast pass and the lightning lane and the app and all this stuff.
People are like, bring back the old era.
Yeah.
Bring back people climbing over each other to get ahead.
Bring back the villains.
There's a lot of new characters that weren't there.
We're like, where are the old characters?
Like, we don't know.
We're giving you the new characters.
So there's a lot of similarity.
All right.
That being said, we'll talk about everything.
from, you know, they said that
the post-merge game was going to be
fluid. There was going to be a lot going on.
I have to say, coming into tonight, I did
not think that it was going to be yellow Sophie
who went home. I believe she got the fishy
last week. I know. I know. I was going to say this is a
major make call. And honestly, like, I feel
like I got lazy with the fishing. And also, it's a
little bit of all the pressure from you, Rob. This is really
your fault because you don't let me give it to the
weather or Jeff or something. So we have to find
someone. But I will say
we used to, very
clearly always say like that person who flips from one group to the other, they're often the
person who's voted out. We've been saying this like since, I don't know, since freaking, I mean,
I remember talking about Cochran in Survivor 26, you know, like, oh, he jumped from one group
to the other. That was actually in 20. He actually did very well in 26.
I was so 23. Yes. Yes. Even talking about it with John Fincher on Survivor 19, you know,
he goes from one group to the other and is what's the next voted out. We've been talking about
that move of like trying to jump from one group to the other and then immediately getting
cut because like neither group wants you around. So major mayacopa, me giving Sophie.
Yeah, we'll do some got in games. Retroactive reexamination. What did we miss from last week's
episode and so much more to talk about here. I will talk with Yellow Sophie coming up tomorrow
on our exit interview. And then I'm very excited. I got a fun podcast coming up on Thursday night.
going to talk to a duo, Austin and Drew, from Survivor 45, and then I will catch up with Bryce later on this week here on a jam-packed week 11 of R-H-A-P.
And, of course, if you are not joining us every week on chat, BCC, what are you even doing?
Do you even know how to do reality TV?
Go to Rob his website at Consulate VIP Chat to join in on all the fun for free.
A ton of survivors there now.
yeah it's really Sandra yeah Sandra's there yeah come on over all right so yeah let's talk about
I have so many questions about like almost from every single player's perspective almost every single
player made had a decision to make tonight and I think a lot of them did not make the right decisions
and we ultimately end up in a six one vote where it was really that the edit was giving us that it was
going to be a four three vote. Sof was going to be the deciding vote between the two sides of you had
yellow Sophie and Christina and Stephen. Their interests were aligned. And then Rizzo and Savannah got
Sage to come back home, back to them and wanting to take out Sophie. And sof was going to be
the deciding factor. And it was a six one vote. And I feel like when it's a six one vote at the
final seven, at least three people made the wrong decision. Yeah.
Yeah, but I did love, and I really love this.
Probably four.
Yeah.
Well, and really like maybe five, you know, ultimately.
But like, I do feel like, you know, this was such a great episode of Survivor because
we did get to see everyone, every single player, basically, trying to figure out their game
and their conflicting motivations, you know, not always game, you know, with Christina and Sage.
It did seem a little more personal than anything.
But this was the thing we've been wanting from Survivor.
I mean, as long as I've been talking about Survivor, my biggest frustration with the show is like there's seven people out there and I'm only hearing three people's stories.
I only know like the strategy and, you know, for like a handful of them to get basically everybody's perspective on like, here's who I want to get out of the game and here's why.
Like that is, I truly like, I'm sure there's times we've gotten that before, but it is so unusual and it was so sad to me to see everybody getting everyone, every single person's perspective.
Okay, so maybe let's try something new today.
let's talk through it player by player
and talk about where they are in the game
and the decisions that they had to make.
And I'd like to actually start with Sage
who comes into this episode
and Sage's story the whole season
has been that she
felt like that she was at the bottom of
Uli and it was people
like Shannon and
Savannah were the people that
were holding her back and finally
after the merge her and Jawan
come into power and that they are
going through. They made the big move. They voted
out Nate. And then they were sort of nibbling around the margins, not really knowing how to
handle Rizzo's idol. And then last week they felt like it was going to be their coup de grace. They
were going to flush Rizzo's idol out of the game and or get out Savannah. I forget exactly who
they were putting the boats on. And then Yellow Sophie blew up the plan. And then ultimately
Joanne went home. And Sage will not rest until Joanne is
gets a she gets for revenge she has to she has to do it for joan and does the unthinkable
and votes with savannah and rizzo and so first off let me say from a sheer lover of the game
perspective from i i love that there are people out there that have this motivation but this
was shades of abby maria if you f with me you're dead yeah honestly and like i have been
in this situation of being that being joan you know in you know when spencer like blindsided me
and cambodia and i every week on the jury was like just vote out spencer give me my revenge
jeremy give me my revenge and he never did it and it was so frustrating every week so what a great
friend you know what a great great friend and really that we saw from sage's perspective that she
needed to do this to, you know, make up for what she did to Joanne.
But then we saw Joanne, who a very nice sweater for Joanne, I thought, on the jury.
And I feel like I have rarely seen somebody on the jury in the new era, like cheering for
yes, yes, get her, got her.
She did this.
Yeah.
It was actually kind of emotional, like to see that like in the stage was like, yeah, got it.
Yeah.
Her facial expressions are always great.
They connected, but I feel like that Sage, I thought, won the battle today, but did she lose the war?
Yeah.
This was.
Or had the war already been lost and that she said to, she said to Sophie, the episode, you just gave her a million dollars and that Sage is, well, I, well, I, that, so that you, you did this, not me.
And so I will, I will now be working to help Savannah win the game.
Right.
So there is a world, right?
Well, so first of all, like, let's just like, there's also just like a fog of mistrust, right?
I'm being a little flip.
I don't think she's actually trying to help the out again.
I mean, I do think she made the wrong choice.
But I think we should caveat that with saying, you know, the right choice would be to 100% trust this group or at least one person who's yellow Sophie, right, that she has not trusted at all that literally just lied to her the previous vote.
So, you know, on the one hand, like, yes, I think abstractly.
I think we are going to agree
that voting out Savannah was the best move
for Sage here. But voting out Savannah meant
that the four people voting for Savannah
would be Stephen, Christina, Sage
and both Sophies, either of the Sophies,
really, you just need one.
Both of them have been lying to Sage.
So like to trust them in this big move.
But that said, I do think it was a mistake.
You know, it does seem like giving, you know,
that Sophie, you know,
Yellow Sophie is more someone who wants this kind of like,
who is willing to work with Sage moving forward,
who does kind of want to play that middle role.
And then ultimately she's eliminating that person
in favor of someone who definitely does not want to work with her going down the stretch.
Is there a world?
Like what is,
what is Sage's perspective of,
I mean,
the dynamic in the next vote?
She probably thinks it's 3-3.
Like she may think that's actually better.
I mean,
this is the Rob Sistranino special, right?
Like get rid of Christy.
We don't know where she's going to vote.
So get rid of her, you know.
And then, well, no, I would not say that they're, that that's exactly right.
Because it wasn't like that it was like, okay, Christy, I'm mad at her.
I'm going to, if anything, Jenna and Heidi were, you know, they were the ones that wanted,
you know, to take out Christy because they didn't like her.
I felt like that for Sage, I think that she was sort of in a situation of like, hey,
either Savannah or Sophie is going to win.
And Sophie just burned me.
So she's the one who has to pay today.
Yeah.
what do I care if it's that's the problem one of them's going to be the odds on favorite to win and so if I get rid of one of them it doesn't matter which one and she's the one that pissed me off yeah I mean that is the problem with being the flipper and again like really overlooked that last week because we have been saying this for I mean at least 10 years yeah well I felt like that in the conversation about Sophie from last week that I was like okay well yes she she made the move to do the
this, I feel like I was a little hesitant of like,
what was this a good move?
I mean, that she went, yeah, yeah, we do.
Yeah.
She went away from the side that had the numbers to go to the smaller side that we said,
okay, well, maybe she's at the bottom of a five versus the bottom of a four and four
is better than five.
But that five seemed like more like a disconnected five and she was more of a distant fourth.
I do wonder just how much things might have changed had Stephen not been immune in this
episode like could that four have stuck together for a simple vote and things really unraveled
for sophy where that easy vote of taking out stephen ended up being uh off the table yeah i mean
i think that's a really good call that suddenly they have to reconsider um who they're voting
for but no you you fully said like you know last week it was me who really pushed for that she
was probably the one who deserved credit um and that was uh horrible i'm not doing like uh hey i i i
I was right.
I said, I think in last week's episode,
I really,
I'm not sure how to process this.
It seemed like that she did move up one spot in the pecking order,
but it does seem like that you could break up.
That side has the Rizzo Idol.
That side also had,
you know,
knowledge is power.
Savannah's extroval at the time.
But they also have that unbreakable Savannah and Rizobond.
They don't even talk about going after each other.
So it just seemed like that that might have been,
while numerically there were less of them,
that it seemed like that there was a,
lot more inroads for potentially being in a group of five with two duos of
joan and sage and then also stephen and christina let's let's talk about then from i think that
for yellow sophy things are pretty cut and dry she is wanting to vote out stephen then she was
like i don't know about him getting on the boat i guess she could have as the challenge beast that
she is gone and tried to block him from getting that advantage.
I think that we saw certainly a few players not wanting Rachel to go.
And I'm trying to remember who exactly.
I want to say maybe, maybe did Rachel go to try to block Sam and Genevieve from going
to get the advantage in season 47, but we have seen players try to do that.
And it was an interesting tree mail on the part of the producers to call it a strenuous journey.
And I think that had they not included that,
I think a few more players might have said,
okay, well, let me try to block somebody from doing it.
So they kind of forced a situation
where only the most desperate player was going to get to go.
Which seems crazy from basically,
given that like it sure seemed like Stephen
was the majority's pick for who people wanted out,
letting him go into this situation
where he might get this superpowered advantage
just seems like really sloppy play, I have to say.
And we had a lot of people saying afterwards,
It's like, you know, Sophie said that.
I think Sophie said that.
I think maybe even Rizzo said that.
You know, like, why are we letting Stephen do this?
Now, there did seem to be some argument at the time.
I think Savannah especially said, we want him to be exhausted so that he doesn't win immunity.
Well, how'd that work out?
Yeah, well, sure.
I mean, you know, yeah.
He got on a roll.
But in fairness to Yellow Sophie, I really feel like that Stephen winning immunity is a bigger deal than Stephen having this advance.
I think even if yellow Sophie had gone and gotten an advantage, there might have been more heat on her going into this vote than there ultimately ended up being in this episode.
But let's talk about it. Let's go to Stephen, okay? Not you. Stephen. Stephen Ram, who had such a big episode and we'll see if he gets the fishy for all of his efforts. But he did the hardest thing he ever had to do. He went to the journey and got a vote block.
you ran a lap around the island
yeah which was
P.S. Like some of the
things he was doing were some of the most risky things
I've ever seen anyone do in Survivor
like climbing up these like narrow volcanic
I mean did we learn nothing from
Matthew van whatever
Grussel I don't even remember how to pronounce his last name
yeah that
I thought that was crazy
I remember in Survivor
All-Stars Big Tom
was walking on rocks like that
and he ate it so hard
and like really I think hurt his tailbone very hard
that those rocks are so slippery
I really was surprised that the Survivor producers
I mean I'm sure they tested it beforehand
but like to say like go as slippery rock
as fast as you can
the slippery rocks
and like yeah I mean I thought like in some ways
I was kind of gratified by that because like
it felt like you know Survivor now does
sometimes feel like it's a little bit like
of speaking of Disney world, a little bit of sort of like an enclosed magical little world where
it's very safe in those lines. And, you know, I think back, I mean, I remember Colby, even in
Heroes versus Villains, feeling very frustrated by this, the fact that there was like camp
boundaries, right? You couldn't leave past this one line. And then, you know, because he missed the
old days when you could just kind of strike off into the wilderness. And there was that kind
of sense of like, holy cow, like this guy's doing something like, he's really out there in this
like crazy wilderness environment doing things that are quite risky. That being said, like, this
wasn't just a guy exploring this was part of a prescribed challenge that was you know he was handed
that was like like go as fast as you can across these extremely treacherous rocks yeah like if that had
been me like i would i would be dead probably like thank god stephen you know is more the younger you
maybe i don't know i mean oh for sure current me forget current me like no no no um you know but
like who's who's uh you know who are the the awkward ones out there like you know is uh
Who are the, who's bad, who's bad at challenges out there right now?
Like, let's imagine any one of them guy.
I'm not going to say.
Exactly.
That's what I was thinking.
It's like, I don't want to know.
Yeah, you, Rob, tell us who are the worst physical competitors are out there.
That's what the comment section is for.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But like, imagine, like, truly like, that this looked really dangerous.
But he does it with time to spare.
Like that, that, that pot had barely, like, raised at all.
Yeah.
Hard to tell how much time was left in, before it was going to go up.
But okay, so Stephen then gets a vote block.
What do you think about the vote block for that challenge?
So it was interesting.
I did feel like kind of like weak, like just in terms of, there's no rhyme or reason of like who get like, like, sof does nothing, goes out into the woods, finds the most powerful advantage in the game, knowledge is power.
Stephen, like, risks it all, public advantage, goes on the journey, like risks his life,
runs around, comes back, you got a vote block.
Yeah.
Which is like basically like maybe like slightly more powerful than an extra vote,
but like I'm not even sure because you at least can control the extra vote 100%.
So yeah, I think that again, this is not necessarily my area of expertise.
I think that the vote block is actually more powerful
premurge in the smaller tribes
where you know you're going into a very small vote
now we will be in a six person
with a three three with a three three with a three three three
you know it is like the perfect situation
to have a vote block so it is like
I feel like on the odd number
I think you'd rather have the vote steal
and then on the even number you want to vote block
yeah it is really the perfect moment to have a vote block
with a three three group you know a three split vote
potentially next week yeah now I don't know
exactly like on the whiteboard
for the season. It's sort of like, okay, oh, well, we, you know, that the winner of the challenge
that Savannah got, got an extra vote, and then we'll put a vote, an extra vote, and we'll also put a
vote block, and it'll also go, like, set up for a great drama. I don't know if that's how they
figured out, but it was so interesting that Rizzo, who knows the show so well, says I know exactly
what he got. He got a vote steal. So. It had to be a vote steal based on everything he did.
It has to be a vote steal. And so there's this.
very interesting back and forth where Rizzo and we can start to bring him into this a little bit
goes to Stephen.
I know what you have.
You have.
I know you vote steal.
And Stephen, to his credit, doesn't give anything away.
And so a big relationship to have watched in this episode was the Rizzo and Stephen back and forth of what they want to do.
And so Rizzo and maybe that you know what happens when you make assumptions.
now he's very proactive he Rizzo is like I know he has a thing I can't let that thing go off so I need to now engage with Stephen but Stephen does not have as powerful of a thing as Rizzo believes that he has and so Rizzo now is playing ball with Stephen but I think that Stephen made a mistake in that if people think he has the vote steal this is like
having like the fake idol if people think he has the vote steal he did not act as though he had
the vote steal and i think that if the information got out that he had the vote steal i think that
he could have gotten soph to vote with them on this rather and assuming sof wasn't going to steal it
that it's like hey if he tells soph hey by the way i have the i do have the vote steal i'm stealing
rizzo's vote tonight okay so me and christina that's me christina i'm stealing i'm stealing i'm stealing
I'm stealing Rizzo's vote.
It's going to be, and yellow Sophie is with us.
So you're going to be on the wrong side of the vote, Blu Sof.
But then what happens at tribal council, when Jeff was like,
does anyone have any advantages you want to play?
He doesn't steal Rizzo's vote.
It puts no pressure on Rizzo to, you know, play his idol.
So I just, I wonder, like, when you sort of like bake these plans ahead of time.
Yeah, yeah.
Do you know, so if you, okay, so.
This is a very high risk choice.
Well.
Just think, I think, like, everybody opted for whatever with the safest,
let most, everybody was the most risk of verse possible, I think, tonight.
And so you had Stephen, if he goes to Sof and says, hey, listen, it's me, Christina, Sophie,
and I'm stealing Rizzo's vote tonight, okay?
So we have four.
Are you going to be on the right side of the numbers or the wrong side of the numbers?
What do you want to do?
And then, he, I don't know, they, they would still have four.
what do you think she does you think that she would go with them she might reconsider because she's got time to reconsider presumably she's in on whatever the riso savanna plan is right um but i do think you're right i think if stephen had really pushed for to eliminate savanna here he could have first of all i want to say i think stephen played it really well um i have also been in that exact situation where people don't know what your advantage is
and i think he also played that part well yeah but i think that he did not get the most
that he could have out of this.
But I like, you know, there's a world where like my concern and what happened to me is like
the speculation about what the advantage is ultimately hurt me because people's, you know,
people became so fixated that it could be this huge thing.
So it became a bigger target.
He played it really well to the opposite of that where he wanted people to speculate that
it was this huge thing to like make them reevaluate their plans and be scared.
And I thought that was very smart.
I mean, different era.
All right.
And just let me talk to talk this through one more time.
So, okay, so he did have the vote block.
I think the way that it works, like, he tells a producer before, before they go to tribal council whose vote he wants to block.
Could he tell so, like, hey, by the way, I blocked Rizzo's vote tonight.
So unless you vote with us, it's going to be a three, three tie.
Me and me, Christina and Sophie, we're voting for Savannah tonight.
So, and I'm blocking Rizzo's vote.
And so if you don't vote with us, it's going to be a tie.
You're going to draw rocks.
But his strategy, which I actually really like, was to try to get to next week.
Now, he doesn't know, of course, about Sof's knowledge of power.
Right.
So I like that his strategy.
But what's going to be different next week?
Sage is they lost, is Sage going to come back and vote with them next week?
Yeah.
I think that's what he's expecting is that it's going to, Sage really wanted to get out.
So yellow Sophie this week.
But everybody knows Sage's number one priority is getting out Savannah.
And that this was like a temporary reprieve from that vendetta.
And next week, you've got Stephen, Christina, and Sage against Rizzo, Savannah, and Sof.
Honestly, I think, like, Sof is a weaker ally there.
So I don't think it's crazy for Stephen to think, like, if I hold my block of vote for one more week,
I've got a three-three tie and, like, something extremely tactical and useful.
Now, I do think you're right that had he done the whole, like, extra vote kind of thing,
like I got a steal a vote, he might have been able to get Savannah out just based purely on Hutzma.
but I also think that that could potentially blow up to hit for him,
both because then when he doesn't play it,
Sof is like, what's going on?
And then next week,
she's going to be less likely to flip with him
if he is, um,
if like he's just like totally lied to her face.
I just feel like that if you're Stephen and, you know,
Rizzo has all this power and you are doing what he wants at this point in the game,
you're probably not doing what's best for you.
Yeah.
No, I mean, but like, I'm with you.
I agree with you.
I mean, I think Rizzo is playing a fantastic game.
Like, I give more credit to Rizzo, you know,
and then I do take away credit from Stephen.
I think Stephen is making really smart choices tactically based on what he's seeing
before him, which is a potential three, three tie, him having a vote block.
Rizzo's got an idol, which he's probably not playing for Savannah.
And, you know, not knowing about the knowledge of power.
Like, to me, that's really.
strong like you're you're getting rid of sophia like yellow sophie who's just betrayed you you
you can't trust her and then next week you basically know where the votes are going and you have
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Let's bring in Rizzo and talk about his moves this week from his perspective.
Now, I mentioned that he is going to assume that, and that was an error, that he assumes
that Stephen has something that's even more powerful than what Stephen ultimately has.
But he is playing aggressively.
He's playing on offense.
And I think that, you know, like Tony, we used to say back in Survivor, like Tony would
wake up and make so many mistakes and then he would spend the second half of the day
fixing all the mistakes that he made.
And so while, like, Rizzo, I think gets out over his skis in terms of trying to figure out
what Stephen has and is making assumptions, it's for.
forcing him then to engage Stephen in a way that he had not engaged before to the tune of
he gets taken on a reward by freaking Stephen and Christina.
I bet that's a little bit.
I think that's more based on like their politics of who has eaten and like when they
last eat.
Who cares?
It's day 20.
I agree.
Listen, don't talk to me about it.
Like I do think that is.
I don't care.
Yeah.
I think the survivors care a lot.
when you're out there, it's all you talk about
is who hasn't eaten and how long.
And I think there's also...
There's also just a human element.
Cut his... Cut Stephen's internet.
This is a bad take.
Okay.
I'm not saying it's right, but that's my read.
I just reached out to the ISP to throttle you.
It's such a bad take.
Send him down to dial up.
I look, I'm not disagreeing with you.
I just think that's what is,
happening here. I think that's why
probably Stephen took Rizzo more. I mean,
you're also, obviously, they were just being engaged
strategically. So it's not crazy that he would
want to like kind of bring Rizzo in that way. So I
think it's probably both. Um, but
I do think it was also human.
The, um,
but you let, you let Rizzo
go another round with his
freaking, like this was of the, of the
four last votes.
This was like the least stress
that Rizzo had to be about playing. Like,
how does it get easier every week?
For him to not play his idol.
Well, at this point, I think they're probably just going to let him through, right?
Like, at this point, they made me think like, just let him be in the final four.
Who cares?
Yeah.
Is final five the last time you can play the final?
Yes. That's crazy.
That's, that's a flaw in the game.
The game is flawed.
Okay, that's, write that down.
Write that down.
That the ability to play idols until the final five and then a final four firemaking.
Stevens is this could be a flaw in the game.
Let's, let the record show.
What about a final, final two?
What about the final?
Okay.
This is the week that it.
really clicked for me about how great a game Rizzo is playing.
And I think for a lot of people, it was last week they saw it.
And I was seeing that a lot on the internet about people saying, like,
this is the week Rizzo truly was a Riz God.
But for me, like, and I saw it.
I was like, yeah, he's playing a really good game.
Like, to me, this was the week.
And I don't know, maybe it was because I had like a lot of coffee or I was just in a
really good mood.
You just came back from the happiest place on earth.
I guess that was it.
You know, it was like, I was like, wow, Rizzo was really playing like an exceptional
you know, game among the, like, best first season games, I think. And I hate to use hyperbole,
but, you know, certainly an exceptional game. I don't want to rank. You know what that is.
Right. But, um, like, he has taken this idea. Resductive. He has taken this idea of,
like, finding a consensus boot who's kind of at the bottom of the whole group and like really
elevated that into an entire philosophy. Three is not a great number with 11 or whatever,
but he has consistently taken these moments to find a person who everybody can agree on
who seems to be more at the bottom of all the hierarchies and directing votes that way.
And that every single week gives him more and more relative power because his tight three
becomes more and more powerful as he gets rid of MC, as he gets rid of, you know, Alex.
And then as he gets rid of Joanne, he's taking these people who are sort of in the middle
and consistently eliminating them.
And that both keeps him in the game, keeps his idol in the game, and then gives his own
tight three more power till next week they're basically in charge of the game.
We'll see what happens with Stephen's vote.
But he's doing such an exceptional job of it.
Right.
Fishy for Rizzo.
Let's go with it.
Fishy for Rizzo.
Early in the show, we didn't even play the bumper.
We'll talk about it.
And so I really like how you're framing this because I don't think I have heard it as articulately
said as you have put this together where that we've talked about like, you know,
there are two sides.
But rather than two sides attacking each other, that it seems like, you know,
his game plan has been that there are two sides and then he says let's attack the middle and so
let's find you know rather than go after like one of your key numbers like who can we find
among the the riffraff in the middle that we can pile the votes on this week and then build a
consensus to target the people that are just like really it's sort of like when uh the the people that
are really polarized online that really go after the people that
are the centrist and say, like, hey, it's your fault.
Yeah, yeah.
That's basically it.
It really is.
And he's able to, like, bring enough people along every single week.
And, of course, I think he's using the fear of his idol very successfully, where I think
this only really works because people are like a little bit wary of putting the votes on him
or even Savannah, less, you know, they get, it blows up.
So I think that, and I mentioned Tony before in terms of just like the speed at which
Tony plays.
And then even if he makes a mistake that he plays so fast.
that he can go back and correct it.
That he also has had the ability where that like Tony of,
okay, I have like a, you know, woo and Trish,
but then also sometimes I'm going to bring in Spencer and Tasha,
but then I'm going to go back and vote with the other people.
But then like, okay, oh, like I got a new carrot here for you this week.
Hey, like you guys want to come over and vote with me this week?
Like he's been able to, you know, do that pretty effectively also where that somehow
he gets Stephen and Christina voting with him this week after that they have been trying to
get him out of the game for weeks.
And I think some of that is just kind of remaining humble.
You know, like you see, you know, it's like Stephen says.
As soon as I got that advantage, I could see Rizzo, like, I could see the wheels turning
in with Rizzo.
You know, I think he is constantly keeping this sense of like, I've got to work hard
to get to make today happen, right?
I mean, he even said that, you know, like today, like tomorrow is not a give,
is not a given or something.
So, and I think, like, you know, suddenly he sees,
okay, there's a new problem.
Stevens got this advantage.
I need to work hard here.
I need to direct my energy there.
So I think he's always in this kind of attitude of,
I just need to like make sure whatever problem is coming up,
I am addressing it like full steam ahead.
And I do think that's like what a lot of the most successful survivor players do
is they continually assess and examine where the biggest threats and problems are
and then apply themselves full full.
force to those problems and just through the you know just through the personalities and just through
the effort they're able to to solve that we got some information about the fake idol that rizzo played
in last week's episode and we had a lot of ideas of was he trying to dunk on joan was he did he do
the thing where oh i want to read the room before i play is he going to tell people like well that
wasn't my or i i i never had an idol this was if i i i guess i had a fake idol the whole time that it was
actually none of the things. I didn't really hear this
talked about that this
fake idol was just bait
to try to get Christina
to play the real idol. Now,
the timing on this would have been very interesting
in terms of how this works where
it's almost like he would have needed
to like stand up and like fumble
for his keys and then finally
like get the thing out and then Christina
races to the podium to beat him there.
I think it would have been a fun
back and forth of you go
first. No, you go first.
sort of like in
Australian Survivor
Australian Survivor versus the world
with Parvety and Luke
sort of like oh do you want to play your thing
or should I play my thing?
How should we do this?
And it would have been like
very interesting to have seen it go down that way.
Yeah because I don't even understand how that
because I imagine if he's something for his idol
like in any normal world
Christina is just going to let him do it
and then he goes up and plays it as a fake
and then she doesn't know it's a fake
so that it's
it was a fake, right? Because Jeff would, he would
hit it to Jeff. It's like, okay, she's
like, okay, well, if he's going to play his idol, I'm
going to play mine. So he stands up, you're like,
Jeff, I'm playing my idol tonight.
And so, like, but then he's
got a sort of, like, it's like where the
check comes in the restaurant, and it's like,
oh, okay, let me go.
I'm looking for my wallet here.
I must have, is it in my other backpack?
Uh-oh, this is embarrassing.
And so, like, I think he's just hoping
that she goes up and plays her
thing first while he's like,
he has to take one of the idols first.
I mean, that makes sense if it's like
Parvety and Luke who are both these big theatrical
figures, but like, I don't think Christina's
going to like jump in on Jeff here.
Like, out of the way, Rizzo.
Uncle J, I got to play my idol before Rizzo.
Yeah, I just don't, I really am curious
and hopefully we remember to ask him
how he imagined that going down
because I really don't see how that worked.
Yeah.
All right, well, we'll see.
The way it worked out was good.
You again, full credit.
Hold on.
We got to get where Stephen is giving me credit clean.
We're back.
So I really have to give you credit, Rob.
You said last week, yeah.
Finally.
Rizzle was, it was pure theater.
And I was like, no, he was, it was strategy.
And normally I'm the like, it's nothing a strategy.
These are all just messy humans person.
But you said it was theater.
I said, no, this was, he was,
aging reactions. I was giving him the benefit of the doubt. I was wrong. Yeah, I guess I didn't have
the motive right, though. I think it was that it was kind of like, well, I don't need to use it,
but I made the thing. And they said that you can get on Survivor 50 if you do cool stuff.
So I'm going to do it anyway. I came here with a fake idol. I might as well use the fake idol.
But I thought it was a little bit more just to like do a move to Joanne. And I think it was just more like,
well, like we had all the fireworks, like we don't need them, but let's just shoot them anyway.
Yeah.
So, I mean, and it's interesting, you know, from his perspective, he says at the start of the
episode, like the jury loved it.
They were eating it up.
Like, if I make it to the end, you know, then I'm sitting golden.
And then you have Sage say that, hey, he was just twisting the knife.
He was just rubbing it in.
You know, he didn't have to do all that flashy stuff when he was eliminating my really good
friend and crushing his dream.
Where are you?
Is this like in the new era when so much is just jury theatrics, basically, do you think this is the good kind of jury theatrics where like the jury's going to be like, if that guy's making moves?
Or is this bad where people are going to feel hurt?
So that's an interesting question.
I had asked Joanne when I did the exit interview and we didn't get to talk to Joanne until Monday this past week.
I said, Joanne, when you were sitting there and Rizzo pulled out the fake idol, based off of what you knew there, did you feel like that he was like kind of like really?
rubbing it in.
And Jawan said, yeah, I did kind of feel like that.
And so Sage got that also, but I bet MC and Alex were like, yeah, yeah.
We loved that.
So, you know, you sort of like win some, you lose some with it.
So I don't know if it's necessarily going to be something that, you know, costs Rizzo the game.
Yeah.
Let's talk with it from Sof's perspective because she's someone who's really interesting here.
And, you know, this episode is, we got a little of it.
last episode, but this episode she was given me
or I should say,
is she giving you, Rob,
a little bit of a Mitch, a little bit of a Mitch
vibe. No, I don't think she's
necessarily going to give me
I'm not giving the Mitch five because I think that
she has like the one bullet
in the gun of that
she can make the move.
Mitch had like one
Mitch had an extra vote and he wasted it to
get out say. And then
he had like one real opportunity to flip and then didn't flip at that time and was sort of like
holding out hope for Kyle and Camilla to come through and go with him and then they're like,
I don't think so.
So that he sort of like abdicated his one shot that he had to really like flip the game upside down.
Sof still has the knowledge is power.
And she also still has opportunities to, you know, there's just a two, first off, she, she's
more in the camp of she is headed towards the final three right now but she won't win and so
I think that she it's not so much that she's trying to figure out her position of how do I get to
the end she's more in the situation that we've seen a few survivors in in the new era where it's like
yeah I'm headed to the final three but I don't have a chance to win right now because I don't have
anything on my resume and so she's sort of like in the mode of I need a Hail Mary for my resume
but she happens to have the ammo to be able to do that.
And we saw in season 42 with Marianne as somebody who did have the ammo to be able to do it,
that it was something that, you know, it was able to, like,
Jake O'Kane did not have the ammo to do.
Did he have an idol too?
Did he, was he sitting on an idol?
I don't think Jake had an idol.
Did he?
I don't think so.
Okay, let's confirm that.
I know at the final five that there was the whole play with him and Ketora and they couldn't
get on the same page.
And he felt like, okay, this is going to be my big move to take out D.
I'll ask Austin and Drew about it tomorrow.
But she has the ammo to be able to like flip the game on its head.
And we see her like telling us like, hey, I know that I am third with Savannah and Rizzo.
I need to make a move to switch this.
up. And we see her talking to Sage and talking to Sophie. She ultimately goes with the group.
I mean, I think that the ship had already left the station or the train left the station
in terms of the 6-1 vote. So there really wasn't a flip for her to make in this episode.
She could have potentially stolen Stevens' advantage. But to waste the knowledge is power on a
vote block seems like kind of, you know, a trade down to be able to do that. But she's definitely
breadcrumming us that she's going to do something.
Yeah. Do you think that
she should have
pushed harder to get out Savannah here? What's your
take on that? Like, let's say, you're saying the train is
left the station, but the episode was
kind of saying, this is the conductor.
You know, do you think that there's a world
where she should have pushed harder to get Savannah?
Well, I think that Stephen and
Christina were already on board with
the Rizzo plan. They love
the idea of not having
to use the advantage and
saving it for the next round.
And so that they seemed pretty committed.
And maybe Christina might have been a little bit more, hey, let's still try to get out Savannah.
But Stephen seemed like pretty good with his deal he made with Rizzo.
Yeah.
I think Sof made the right call here.
I just wanted to, you know, put it to you first.
There was no call to make other than, you know, should I try to steal Rizzo's idol this week?
I think that for her, there were no votes coming her this way.
She keeps her powder dry.
I think that she has like less,
there's less time for it to come back around on her
where we saw yellow Sophie make her move last week
and it blew up this week.
So I think that for Blue Sof,
and now we can call her Sophie now.
No, so, but in the intro as soap,
I didn't even know, I don't know when it started being a couple weeks ago.
Yeah.
This was, okay.
The, um, the, so the other thing, like to your point,
like she, if she does this flip on Savannah,
which is, again, like purely hypothetical.
Those are her allies.
Like Rizzo and Savannah are her allies.
So like she would be turning on the people who she is working with and who are protecting
her at the final six.
But you know who's going to love that, the jury.
Well,
they would love that.
But like then she,
like,
then she has to get through four votes,
six,
five, fourth.
Well,
she has to get through,
you know,
potentially making a fire.
Two votes,
I guess.
Two votes on a fire making challenge.
I did think it was.
So maybe that's the right time.
Is that final six?
Actually,
the final seven.
We could have maybe an advantage get in.
coming up in next week's episode where, and not quite an advantage get in, but I mean that
in that we could have potentially Stephen playing the vote block.
We could have either Rizzo playing his idol.
We could have potentially also Sof stealing the idol.
Well, so here's a question I have for you, Rob.
Two questions, actually.
First of all, and now I'm going to have a question for you.
Well, I've got two.
I got two.
Don't go before that too.
Maybe one of your questions will be the question I'm going to ask you.
is so like knowledge as power expires at six is that correct or five i don't think we've
ever seen to get that far i don't know so i mean the question is stephen has to play his vote block
before tribal council so if soph then uses knowledge as power on him that would be a dud it would
be a dud yeah um and then what about so do you think is there a world where her using knowledge
power on Stephen is ever the right
move. No. It's not the right move, but it's also
not the move that she thinks is going to help her win
the game. I think her issue is that
she needs to like do
something to outshine
Savannah and Rizzo and stealing
Stevens vote block or
vote steal is not going to
potentially do anything for her.
Does she know that or does she
think, hey, I just got to use this thing
to show I've done something. I think
she feels like that yeah, this is my ace
in the hole. I need to use this thing to be
able to get out one of these two.
And maybe she's thinking like, okay, well, maybe I could vote out Savannah and then, you know,
steal Rizzo's idol and then get rid of him.
I could get rid of potentially both of them.
I did think it was a little dangerous for her to go to Sage, who has been so anti-Savana
throughout this whole, this whole game.
And she's telling her the plan.
But then Sage starts hanging out with Savannah.
But I don't think, I think that's just like the enemy of my enemy is my enemy.
You know, like I don't think like, I don't think she and Sage are.
She and Savannah are friends by any means.
Yeah.
Okay.
My question for you is that we saw Christina play her idol this week.
Do you think another idol has been hidden in the camp?
Or do you think the production is happy to have just one idol in the game?
Oh, more idols, right?
There's got to be an idol out there.
I'm trying to think of what the precedent is in the new era in terms of when they hide another idol.
And I think that maybe I know in Survivor 47, we had Rachel play an idol at the final
six, correct? And then
I don't know if another one was
hidden there, but to have another,
have one idol played at the final
eight, that was also
the idol that was, like, I don't
know if they considered that. Okay, so Christina
found that idol post merge.
If is the post merge
idol back in play? Like, do they want
two idols? Like, I'm sure.
You don't want two idols at like six, right?
Or five even. Then you've got like one person
eligible. You don't think they want two idols at seven?
Yeah, but like if they doesn't,
if they're thinking like it's seven already,
that means like there's two,
you know,
probably not getting paid to play this week.
It could,
you know,
six and five.
Maybe.
Right.
I don't know.
I don't think they want that.
I don't know exactly how it works.
And maybe in the on fire podcast one day,
Jeff will explain it of that do they have like a certain number of idols in the game?
Like certainly if Rizzo played his idol at that tribal council,
they would not want zero idols in the game.
So that they would certainly hide another idol.
But do they want two idols in the game still at the final.
I think that that's unclear,
especially they knew that there was a journey coming up
and so there was going to be another advantage.
But if you have a knowledge as power in the game
and no advantages,
like I have a feeling that maybe you'd see them.
Yeah, yeah.
But you also like, you don't necessarily want,
like one group to have two idols and a knowledge of path.
You know, like, you don't want like suddenly like one group
to be basically invincible.
It just like removes all the drama from the episode.
What about Christina's perspective?
So Christina hates Savannah.
That was a very funny stage.
no she strongly dislikes her yeah that was such a funny exchange because you never see people saying
stuff like like that personal yeah we love to see it we love to see it in the new era people
not getting along and so that's very that was very fun i think jeff was fun with talking about
even jeff was surprised like what yeah survivor players are saying they don't like each other
and savanna was like no we're just the wrong alliance together you know just sort of papering it over but
Christina really, you know, went there.
Christina really does not care for Savannah.
Yeah.
Do you think this was a mistake for her not to push harder to get Savannah out?
I mean, because assuming she and Stephen are together, you know.
Yeah, I think that Christina was very much on board.
My read of it was Christina was very much on board.
Like, yeah, we're just telling Rizzo we're going with the plan, right?
Right?
Like the Anakin Skywalker Padmae meme, like you're just telling him.
that we're going with his plan, right?
Right?
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, exactly.
But Steve, no, seems like, no, no, I trust Rizzo.
Yeah.
And, I mean, and Rizzo was, you know,
Rizzo was being, you know, cards up here.
But Rizzo is like, yeah, like, please, like,
let me, let me get another round and not have to use my idol.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And if Savannah goes out due to your advantage
as collateral damage, so be it.
Yeah, I mean, I guess that's sort of where she is.
And then Savannah doesn't want to vote for herself.
So that's everybody.
Well, you know, I'd like to talk things through a little bit from Savannah's perspective.
Because I think that Savannah and Rizzo are super interesting in that we've heard so start to
talk about, listen, I know I'm number three.
Rizzo and Savannah, we don't see them talk too much about their part.
Like, they talk about each other.
Oh, that's my number one.
That's my number one.
But they never, we've never seen either of them talk about from Rizzo's perspective,
can I beat Savannah in the end?
And from Savannah's perspective, can I beat Rizzo in the end?
Do you feel like that both of them just have, and I mean this lovingly, like just big enough egos that they both feel like,
of course they're going to vote from me.
Yeah.
I do think like, I mean, it's kind of a good partnership because they both have done a lot, right?
I mean, like, look.
The best partnerships in Survivor are when two people both feel like that they could beat the other person.
I don't know.
There's some great partnerships where one person knows that they're going to lose.
Well, okay, fine.
Or this is a great partnership where one person knows they're going to win the other person is also rooting for that person to win.
Those are the two best types of partnerships on Survivor.
Yeah.
No, I think that's right where, you know, and I think that's in this case, that's really the case where like, and they both have great stories.
I mean, Savannah has been consistently the target.
basically every week and Rizzo has really played such this like masterful
strategy game between the two I'm voting for Rizzo here right I mean I think I think
Rizzo is being set up as the like Jesse of this season he's the guy who is the final
boss and they have to get rid of him before you know the end it would be fascinating
to see the two of them make it to the final three and see how they would argue
against I still I feel like in my heart of hearts that we're not going to get that I
feel like that one of them is going to not make it all the way but that would be like one of
the great showdowns where that you have where Savannah has played the game like a little bit
more out in front a little bit more that she has like taken a lot of the bullets for the alliance
where a lot of people are gunning for her and it would be like a great story that she even got
to the end, whereas then you see Rizzo has been sort of like the operator who's been like doing
a lot of the maneuvers over these last couple of rounds, especially in the post-merge game.
And so he would really be able to talk the game.
So it could be like a real like style versus substance.
Yeah.
And I kind of think in that world, style wins.
And we've certainly heard them, everybody saying Savannah's the threat.
Savannah's going to win.
You just handed for a million dollars.
And then other people are kind of thinking about Rizzo.
Like, yeah, it's Rizzo.
Like, oh, give him a pass.
You know, I do think that Rizzo is more of the operator.
And I think he is probably getting more overlooked as a threat.
Yeah, I think so.
And I think that a big part of what he's been able to do has been that Savannah has been
such a shield for him and has taken so much heat of like, it's Savannah.
We got to get Savannah.
She's going to win the challenges.
And then, like, it's short of, he has an idol.
But if he didn't have an idol, I don't feel like anybody would be even thinking about him.
And honestly, people's real fear with his idol is that he's going to play it for Savannah.
You know, no one's like, Rizzo's going to protect himself.
It's all like, what if he plays his idol for Savannah?
And I do wonder if they got to the final three.
Not that Rizzo is a bad speaker, but you see him in the confessionals a lot.
And he's sort of like, I wouldn't say he stumbles over his words, but he like, he's like, wait, what is it called?
how do you say this?
Like he's like always like
correcting himself
and going over and over and over.
He really was.
He was like two stones.
Yeah,
it's like what is it called?
You know the thing that I'm trying to do?
And again,
I mean this,
you know,
lovingly as like a,
you know,
25 year old,
26 year old,
ahead of where I was,
certainly.
But Savannah is just so polished
where you feel like
that that could be a good spot for her
in the final.
three. I do think that she could probably use a little humility in terms of like the final three.
Like I think that she could probably need to bring a little bit more grace to it. And I figure what
she said in the tribal council where, oh, she was talking about how she's like, she was out for
revenge tonight for people that said her name where, you know, she's just, she's so strong and so
powerful that I, but I do feel like that maybe in the finals, I think you want to sort of like,
balance that a little bit.
Yeah, she was doing her, oh, damn, I got you face to Sophie today.
Oh, got you.
You know, I mean, didn't you see that?
She did it last week.
Did you watch?
Can we get that as a gif?
Yeah.
Okay.
Stephen, you've already given out the fishy for tonight.
I think so.
I mean, we're not giving it to Stephen, are we?
No, I don't think so.
I think, uh, because I think that, uh, because I think that there was probably a move there.
And, you know, call me crazy, but I'm not feeling overly.
great about that
Stephen and Christina are going to be able to
figure this out at the final
six. Yeah.
I'm not bullish.
Yeah. Who's going home next week? Probably
probably Stephen.
Maybe it's Sage.
It could be Rizzo.
Could be. It could be.
I guess the questions,
do you think that
knowledge is power
will get fired next week at six?
Well, I just want to know when it
expired. That's a real question.
Yeah, I don't know for sure.
I want to say that I feel like in Survivor 42, it was, I feel like there was a little bit of talk at the final seven about it being the last time to play it, but obviously that was not the case tonight.
Yeah.
AI, which I just Googled it.
It says knowledge expiry, but you know, this is really where AI is frequently wrong.
Yeah.
And then again, like, I just Googled it.
I do not trust it at all.
Talk about knowledge is power.
And then we get to like the AI overview of the advantage.
What does it say?
Not useful.
It says six, but that's really a place.
This is really, especially game mechanics.
When I Google clock tower mechanics, it's very frequently entirely wrong.
Yeah.
I think six probably makes sense functionally.
I'm not sure about like the other advantages and when they expire.
I'm not sure why everything just doesn't expire at five,
but I think that they could be like an advantage get in situation.
And maybe that at six is when they feel like that at five, there's too few people.
but five i mean if the idol is live at five
the knowledge of power should be live at five because that would be the dream
as she like i does it at five
yeah and if it does what a what a story if it does expire at six
then it's definitely coming out next week
yeah um yeah and then presumably on rizzo
because that's her move that's her only move she's got to yeah i think that if you take
his idol i think you gotta take him take him out also like i think it would be kind of
a little bit of a weird one-to...
Although, I don't know.
That actually would...
Sorry.
You don't think it'd be like a weird one-two punch of like...
Rizzo, do you have an idol?
And it's like, and we're voting out, Christina tonight.
I think if you take Rizzo's idol and you totally defang him and then you take out
Savannah and Rizzo's left in the game is like, I've got nothing.
Okay.
Well, that would be an interesting one-two punch of like if you took Rizzo's idol and then voted
out Savannah where it's like, then you expect it to be.
be like, okay, I'm stealing, you know, I'm that, you know, you steal the vote of the person,
then everybody expects that you're going to vote them out and then you don't.
Yeah, that was my move, Rob.
I was so excited for that move where I was going to steal someone's vote and then Joe was going to,
or whatever.
Yeah, I read that enough.
Let's talk about what you're excited about now.
Let's talk about this little book project.
The little book that is changing lives, escape.
Stephen Fishback is going on tour.
Yeah, so this is really exciting.
So people already know that I'm going to be on January 27th in Washington, D.C.
at Politics and Pros with Dalton Ross, as I announced last week, on January 29th in Austin
at Book People with Rick Devons.
Tickets are going fast.
So if you can make it, please reserve a ticket.
They are free.
Then January 30th at the Strand, again, almost sold out with Emily Nussbaum in New York City.
I think that's going to be a really fun event.
So if you can make it to their reserve now.
Three new dates.
On February 2nd, I will be in Madison, Connecticut.
Brownhogs.
You should have in Punksitone, Pennsylvania, Groundhog, that was a mistake.
It's not on Metro North.
On RJ Julia booksellers, there is free registration on my website.
And then here's a big one.
In Boston, on February 3rd, I'll be at Trident Booksellers with Sophie Clark.
Wow.
And tickets are required.
So please go to my website, Stevenfishback.com, go to the events page, and you can get a ticket there.
And then in the following day, February 4th, I will be in Providence, Rhode Island, another big one, because that is my old hometown.
And there are free tickets required for that as well.
Rob, before we go on to the next thing, I have a very fun, exclusive promotion for people who pre-order.
the hardcover of my book.
Okay, what is it?
First of all, I'm trying to get more people to pre-order the hardcover.
If you're waiting to get it until after it's released, this will not be available to you.
What is it?
I am going, I have been partnering with the great artist, Eric Reichenbach, to design a custom map of the island that Escape is set on.
I could use that.
He's right, and he's drawing it now.
I mean, I don't know if he's doing it right now.
but we have uh we've been mockups back and forth and um anybody who pre-orders the book
a hardcover copy of the book in the united states um and mail is i will send limited supplies
while supplies last a limited edition copy of this map call our copy of this map um email me
escape fishback at gmail dot com with map in the subject line proof of purchase and your address
and I will get you this map again limited edition wall supplies last so it might take some time for me to do it
Eric has to draw the map I have to mail probably hundreds of copies of the map so it may take some time
but I will get it to you if you qualify order now all right well let yeah and take a take a drink after all that
that was that was an endurance challenge that you went through to get all that out but I have been reading escape
and I really have loved it because only Stephen Fishback can take you inside the incredibly
demented brain of the reality TV star that I've never I've never seen it captured this way
the the the thoughts the the the conversations that the reality stars are having in candid moments
that Stephen really captures that world of what it's like to not just like,
be a participant in a reality TV show, but to go inside the headspace of someone that has
participated in the reality TV show and the games that get played even after the shows are
over.
So, Stephen does a really incredible job.
And I just have been, so it's been, again, it's my work.
So it's especially interesting to me, but I just think that you've done such a good job of
capturing that.
Well, thank you.
I mean, truly, like, when, I mean, that's such an honor.
I mean, for someone who's lived it, to be like, hey, this resonates true for me.
Rick Devons, who is interviewing me in Austin, read it, and then shared it with his wife
as a way of showing her a little bit what it's like for a contestant dealing with the producers
and what it's really like out there.
So I was like, that's like, that's it.
You know, like, if I'm like capturing it in such a way that people are sharing it with
their wives to show them what their experience was like, I was like, you know what?
I feel pretty good about that.
I don't know if everyone's going to love this book.
Hopefully they do.
But I feel like I have like achieved what I wanted to achieve.
I have a million questions for you.
once I finish it.
So I'm like halfway through.
I meant that, you know, basically if this was a new era season, I'm like on day 14.
Okay.
Okay.
So let's get just past the halfway point.
Yeah.
Okay.
I told you about the podcast coming up this week.
We are in the home stretch of the Survivor season.
And then on Friday, I'll be taking questions with the patrons.
Join us for the patron Q&A for episode number 11, Friday at 3 p.m.
And then I'll talk about it all on Monday with Chappelle over on Club Condo.
So check that out.
Had a very fun club condo this past week that we do every week.
We talk about the episode, all of the funny things that happen in the episode and everything
else that's going on in the world of Survivor Social Media, the very convoluted for reality TV star world that, you know, the types of things that Stephen talks about at escape.
in escape that happened at charity events that's where we talk about it on club condo
i was also uh so far to this point i've been very happy in escape that you have not really
like uh gone in on the uh reality stars with podcasts
like calling them losers you that'll be in the cemented podcast yeah there was it there was
like a little it was like a paragraph about uh people with podcasts and like uh talking strategy and
stuff like that. But I've been relieved that Stephen did not roast me and escape.
Okay. Of course, check out everything else way of going on over a we know Survivor.com
is the podcast feed where every week we've got tons of stuff coming your way, the B&B,
Global Survivor, White Blank Lost, and Survivor News with the baby boy, Bryce Isaiah.
Check that out. Amazing Race is coming to its conclusion on Thursday night. Mike and Jess will have the recap of the
final four for the amazing race.
And also we had so many people tell us that they love the new merch from the
Brandon Donnellin collection.
Go to rob as a website.com slash merch to check out all the new stuff that we've just
added over there.
And check out Rob as a podcast nominated for the reality TV awards.
Go to robes website.com slash vote.
And if I may, may I do a little book, a book promo here for a second?
Yeah.
But basically, look, here it is.
The tribe and I have spoken everything I know about Survivor.
I have poured into this book, 15 years of podcasting, 25 plus years of following the show.
It will trace my personal history with Survivor from when I was a broke college student in Oswego, New York, all through the Rob is a podcast era and everything.
that I have learned and know about Survivor is here for you,
including a strategy guide of how to win Survivor.
No refunds, though.
Check it out.
Rob has a book.com.
And if you order around the holidays,
we have a postcard that we're going to send people between now in December 20th,
if you want to give the gift of the tribe and I have spoken.
All right.
That's such a good idea.
Hey, is that the real one or is that menus?
No, it's still, it's still that I heard that there's going to be some real ones coming out soon,
but this is still just a,
this is the Rizzo fake idol of books.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So I was,
I was hoping for you to play your book
and then I have a fake book
and I was going to use it and it worked perfectly.
All right.
Steve,
anything else on your mind?
No.
Yeah,
you know what?
I just want to say,
in these dark times for America,
I don't know if they're dark times,
but I think probably a lot of people feel like
being at Disney World,
I was just, I was in the buffet at Disney World.
Everyone is so polite to each other.
You know, it was just like a remind, no, it was lovely.
Like, people are taking their turns.
Oh, please, after you.
Oh, I see your kid.
You know, like, people are just really nice to each other.
And it was just a reminder to like how fundamentally decent, you know,
you get a lot of people in a room.
And they're all just like mostly really polite and thoughtful.
Yeah, I do think that Disneyland, Disney World Disneyland has been a place.
And I think they have worked very hard to maintain this where, you know,
red America, blue America can come together in Congress.
and still have a main street USA that works.
Yeah.
Let's put the heads of Disney.
Is, uh,
what's his name still in charge?
Bob Eiger.
Uh,
is Iger still in charge.
Um,
yeah.
Um,
I think there was some talk about,
well,
once about time that he was going to run for president,
but I don't think that's,
probably a little bit.
Yeah.
But Stephen,
um,
yeah,
I'd love to get more of your,
uh,
Disney World Review.
Uh,
was it crowded?
Like I heard that,
uh,
that the,
still crowded.
I heard that they were less crowds.
Yeah,
less crowds.
And,
you know,
it was,
uh,
after Thanksgiving. So, you know, I think a lot of people go Thanksgiving. This was like the week
after. So a lot of people go holidays also. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that we picked a week when we didn't
think anyone else would be smart. Okay. All right. How many days did you do? Just two days at the
parks. There's a lot. Two days. You did just, uh, main, main, what of magic kingdom?
Mostly magic kingdom. We also did like, we did like some evenings at, um, Hollywood studios and an
evening at Epcot. Yeah. Um, just for a few like scattered experience. You know, we had to the frozen ride at
Epcot, San Angel in, San and Helen.
And then at Hollywood Studios, we went to the Beauty and the Beast show,
and we went to the drive at the diner restaurant,
which was amazing, the, like, sci-fi diner restaurant.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
It was good.
That's good.
Yeah, but the sci-fi was like,
the sci-fi trailers were a little scary for my daughter.
So it was a little much, but overall, amazing.
I mean, it was great for me.
I loved it.
All right.
We got a busy Thursday coming up here on R.JP.
Take care, everybody.
Have a good one.
Bye.
Thank you.
