RHAP: We Know Survivor - Maryanne Oketch Recaps Survivor 49 Ep 6

Episode Date: October 31, 2025

Rob Cesternino welcomes Survivor 42's winner, Maryanne Oketch, on to dive into the strategic depths of Survivor 49 episode 6.

coming to you live from my apartment it's rob has a podcast and now here's the guy says hey just call me uncle r rob sister nino hello everybody and welcome back to our recap here after episode number six of survivor 49 and we've got a fun one here today with one of just the best people to talk to you. Somebody that always brings a smile to my face, such a ray of light, of course, the great winner of Survivor 42. Marianne, Ocatch, Marianne, how are you? I'm doing good. And thank you so much, Rob, for sticking to the script that I paid you to say. Yes. So wonderful. I'm so happy to get my money's worth because everybody knows those are way too kind things to say of me. Well, okay. Well, Marianne is such a ray of sunshine that if

If anybody was planning on dozing off to this podcast, make sure you throw on a Manta's sleep mask, 100% blackout. You won't be able to see anything, just like when the sun went into a total lunar, a total solar eclipse at Marianne's wedding. You can get 10% off, mantasleep.com, promo code R-JP 49. Marianne. How are you? I'm doing good, you know. Mantra's sleep mask reminded me I did not have my map today, which is fine. But every day, are you every day nap? I'm a habitual napper.

So I nap for the spirit of napping. Typically I wake up before 8.30, I take a nap. But today I decided to be productive so I can speak with you. Okay. I am too. And I am blessed in that I have a line of work that allows me to be able to do so. It is not a long nap that I take. I need to close my eyes for about five to ten minutes.

minutes and then I basically just need to like not unlike when you like if your phone is like giving you problems and you're like oh just turn it off and turn it back on and then I'm like okay ready to go no pajamas I'm sleeping yes I'm sleeping in the bed it's a it's a ritualistic process I really could if I worked like in an office I think I could like go sit in my car and like put my AirPods in and I think I think I could do it there if I ever have to, like, go back to an honest day's work, I think I could do it. No, Rob, I can nap like that. I just choose not to.

Yeah, a buff or a sleep mask and my AirPods, and I think I think I could do it. Exactly. Okay. Exactly. All right. But I hate to overheat out in the car like these players are doing out on Survivor 49. Am I right? Oh, my gosh.

It gets really hot in Fiji. Okay. And, like, I remember, I think our first challenge. on day three, it was so hot. And that 11 days in row, how hot was it? I think Jeff said that it was, you know, they never give you numbers when you're playing. They're like, oh, it's just really hot. But I looked at the historical data and I think it was like 32 degrees Celsius.

So, I don't know, in freedom units, maybe like 90 Fahrenheit or something. Freedom units. So. Freedom units. Okay, I love it. Jeff can't keep it straight of what's the hottest season. He's like, this is the hottest, this is the hottest. Then I was listening to the On Fire podcast, Jeremy was like, come on, Jeff.

Like, Cambodia was hotter. He's like, all right, all right, you got it. Cambodia's hotter than this. No, Jeff, when it comes to, like, seasons being hard and hot, it's like chat GPT when it makes up fake information. And you message it back being like, Jeff, this is just wrong. Didn't you just say that it was like, you know what? You're right. You're right.

Yes, yeah. Because I think it's so many, I was like, this is such a hard season. And I'm like, in code wrong, weren't they literally dying? Like, people were dying. Like, heat stroke. Caleb had to be helicoptered out of here. So, you know, I'm not saying that it's not hot and I'm not saying that it's not hard. But the hardest, the hottest, the hottest makes me, maybe not.

Okay. Marianne, what's new with you? Oh, my gosh. Last time you saw me, I was in first year of medical school. Now, I'm in second year of medical school because I passed, which is great. Four. Four. And then residency, which can be either from two years to like 10 years.

But for me, I will not be doing 10 years. Okay. Do you have a particular field of specialty or are you going into general medicine? Hmm. Okay. Let me see. Based on my vibe, guess. Based on Marianne's vibe, you're so positive.

And trying to think of what part of the anatomy does that most lend itself to Hmm, how about cardiology? No. No. No. Go broader. Broader. Okay. Women's health? I like women, but not like that. Okay. What is it? You see, not women's health, but what do women do? Hmm. This is such a loaded question. Don't say have babies.

that women do stem? No, we are being traditionalists. They have babies. Pediatrics. Yeah, yeah. So interested in family medicine, pediatrics, but they always say you never know until you get to your clerkship year,

which is next year. So I'm coming with a very open mind. Yeah. Okay. Well, that sounds like a perfect thing for you. I would love to, you know, have you be a pediatrician for the kids. Thank you.

I know. It's great. Kids are so funny. Yeah. Okay. Well, Marian, let's talk about Survivor 49. And I know that you always, of course, like the weather in Fiji. Your takes are also super hot.

How have you felt about Survivor 49 so far? Oh, my goodness. And, of course, Marian, one of the regulars over on Chat BCC. Yes. Oh, my goodness. I love Chat BCC. see, if you ever want to see my thoughts live on the episode, please join. Unfiltered.

Exactly. Unfiltered. Maybe a little too unfiltered. I think that season 49, we have been seeing players playing to win. And I think a lot of times when you see players playing to win, it is not as exciting for fans. Because, you know, if you have a majority, what are you going to do? Get rid of that majority? Absolutely not.

And I think that even in this episode, which we'll talk about more with Shannon being voted out, we were still seeing players playing to win because they're thinking of merch when people were thinking about how to survive the next steps. I've really been enjoying it because, you know, any survivor is good survivor. And I think that it's really fun. And I think it's going to be interesting in the future because I think in between this episode and the next episode, Jeff is when he reminded the players about season 50. So I'm interested to see how that plays out. Yeah, I really do think that while I have been one of many in the Greek chorus of Survivor Fandom to say that I think that the first half has been slow, I do think it's been slow but building where I can see where we are headed into an exciting second half of the season. And sometimes it's slow and it's like, and it's slow because this is going to be just a steamroll. and this is headed towards like a very boring second half.

But I really do see where there could be a lot of fireworks and a lot of big swings. Yes, exactly. Because I, because think about what the story has been, you know, like in episode one, we have Kelly just being an absolute disaster tribe. But then we have this like Hina, Hina, what's the other news? I was so bad with names. Oonah, Hina and Uli war that's happening back and forth. We have the swap.

It's just Hina. Hina and Uli. Everyone has heard as this Hina and Uli war. So of course, you're going to take that quick shot. You're going to take that easy shot because you don't know what's happening on the other tribe. But now, as we're getting to merge, people are like, well, you don't, very rarely now in this day and age, do you win Survivor only by playing with the people that you started the game with.

So people are now thinking, okay, how am I going to extend this olive branch to Hina to make sure that when the merch happens, that they're not just going to go and jump with old Kelly and take us out. And we saw that very clearly in the players of Jawan. Well, not Jawan. He actually was the only person that was excited to go for Stephen. But we saw that with Shannon getting one to go and take out Jawan. We saw that with Sage wanting to take out Shannon. So now people are thinking, I need to now, I can't be in my bubble. I have to work now with the other tribe. How am I going to show that I'm willing to work with them? And thank goodness, this was great for steaming because at first, if it was just people doing boring moves and not thinking

about the whole game, Stephen would have been gone. But these players are thinking, these players are playing. And hopefully next episode and onwards, we're going to see more cool flips and whips and everything. Flips and whips. Okay. The way that you described that was actually very interesting because I had not really thought of it that way where, yes, there are the two sides, but you mentioned the two players from the original Kela tribe. And I think that that is actually very interesting to think about it, where that both sides are really going to be in a tug of war for these two people that are in the middle

that could really shift the balance of power to one side. And I think it's also so interesting, too, because Alex was put with a majority Hina and Sophie with the eye was put with the majority Ouli. So now they kind of technically, the numbers, with the Kelle numbers added plus one to both. So now it's very interesting to see, well, Sophie, you know, Sophie and Savannah are very close. Will Sophie go back to that?

But Alex now has this relationship with other Sophie. So now Alex has to choose between the two Sophie's, which Sophie will be his. Find out next week. So I'm really interested to see how that goes. And then we also have Sophie as well, too. Who said in the episode, I have knowledge as power. I know Rizzo has an idol. I can't use it now, but that's not to say.

I'm not going to use it later on him. So people are very fluid in their groups and it could really go either way. Yeah, it's actually particularly interesting because you have the four original Hina that are left. And they do seem like that for the most part, we saw, you know, Sophie with an E talking about Christina. But they seem to be mostly on the same page, Stephen, Sophie with an E, Christina, and MC. And then there are four of the old Uli tribe members who survived the first. swap together, Rizzo, Savannah, Nate, and Jawan, but really also Sage is an interesting floater there.

Probably at this point, we would say, is more likely to stick with the Hina tribe than to go back with her old tribe, but she also has Joanne as a little bit of an anchor. Yeah, I think, I don't mean anchor in a bad way. I mean, just somebody to like that. I know exactly what you mean, like a, like a lighthouse or could he bring her home? Like a moon, a satellite. No, no. I think that actually for Joanne and Sage's game,

taking out Shen was the most optimal move because whether they knew it or not, they were at the bottom of Uli. so that if Uli, Joan was going to be sacrificed, I think, in the same way. Like, if the new tribe, what do you see names? If the new tribe went,

if the new Hina, so old Hina, you know, honestly, it's like Rizga, is on Hina, like, forget it, forget it. We're dealing with... But if the two tribes, yeah. If they were in two tribe mode and Hina went to the tribal, based on dynamics, I really do think that they would have flipped on Jawan and kept Sophie.

Because, you know, you're thinking, how do I extend this olive branch with the other tribe to show that I'm willing to go and eat one of my own? So then by go ahead. Do you think that Sage has been able to get Jawan to wake up and smell the coffee? Oh, I don't think so. I think that Joanne is smelling the coffee, but he is dreaming and the coffee is still being smelt there, you know, where he realized, oh, my goodness, Shannon is trying to go for me. So obviously, I'm going to go for Shannon and extend this olive ranch.

But going into the swap, we heard Joanne say, oh, my goodness, this is an easy one. We can just go and take Stephen out because we're trying to be very Uli strong. And on the previous tribe that he was on, they were not only strong. They were anti-Ju-Juan was going to go home, if not for that swap. So I think that, you know, it was that self-preservation where it's like, okay, I'm willing to go and eat one of my own to keep myself alive. But then if you go and then also, it's just so unfortunate that at least from what we've seen that Shannon was very close to Savannah, who seems to be running things there. So now going to merge, it's now going to be like, well, what's going to happen? How are they going to respond to this?

like what is like are they going to be okay with this or they're not going to be okay with this especially because if I think that if they voted out to Juan, Survivor will be like, yeah, great, this is amazing. This is exactly what I wanted to do. But now it's like, oh, are they going to be able to come back with welcome arms or now are they defecting and going to Hina? And that's what I'm excited to see. Let's go back to Sage.

You said that you felt like that Sage made a really good move. Stephen and I were debating the wisdom of Sage's move, whether it was. are not. Why do you like the move? Okay. So I understand how people don't like the move. I'm probably sure that Steven said something like, buy my book escape. And before you buy the book escape, you should think about how, you know, Shannon was really into Sage at this time. So why would you vote out someone who was really into you at this time? Did you have a transcript? No, I just know Stephen. And you should buy it. But I digress. But I think that in this moment, if, you know, Shannon is going and it's like, I want to work with you, Sage.

but then also in the same in the same part Shannon was very willing to go and throw Sage under the bus and just completely drag her through the mud to save herself, self-preservation, mind you. But going to merge, if you're going and you now have your number one person

in Savannah and now the conversation comes up again about being like, let's go and let's kill some of our own and then, you know, let's say Joanne was gone and they really feel, oh my goodness, we need to kill one more person. I feel as if that person would have have been Sage. So now by

going and then instead of going and pulling Joanne, Joanne is like now, great, I have this number one person. Stephen can hopefully work with that olive branch, because Stephen was more interested in working with Sage than with working with Shannon. And he only was willing to go with Shannon's plan because he thought that was the only thing to save himself. So now

they can go and talk to Hina and be like, hey, Hina, don't go for us. And then, because what's going to happen? Like, the only way that their sage and Joanne is going to go out is if Uli then goes and sacrifices them, but I think that in that sense, old Hina will be like, well, if they're willing to sacrifice, let me tell them, and then we can sacrifice one of their own and fully

defect. So I really do think that by doing this, it makes it so that if Uli wants a shot, they still have to work with Sage and Jawan, if they still have a shot to survive, but then, on the other hand, they can still go and defect with Hina. So I really think it really puts them in that swing position, which they would not have been if Sage went for Jowan and instead of Shannon. Yeah. And I argued the same thing with Stephen yesterday that I felt like that, you know, Sage has options now where Sage was not in a great position with the original tribe,

where now she does have options. I do think, though, that there is a possibility where this could backfire for Sage. I think that the way that this goes sideways for Sage looks like Joanne goes back to Uli and Sophie B goes back to work and pulls Alex. back and now all of a sudden with Nate Savannah Rizzo, that's three, Joanne comes home, Sophie B, and now if they get Alex back, that's six, and perhaps it could be Sage as the person that they take out. But what I think, though,

I don't think that that's likely, but I think that that's that I overall like the move. I just think that that could be when we're talking about the downside for stage. No, I just think it's more likely that the Hina people, so that's who MC, Christina, Sophie with a knee. And then who else? Are those the only three people who haven't been to tribal though? Yeah. These are three people who haven't been to tribal. And when you don't go to tribal, you get antsy. Okay. So actually, I think that if we're seeing a defecting or flip, I think it's more likely that Heena is going to eat one of their own before Uli goes and sacrifices. It's one of

their own. Do you think that after we saw sort of like a little bit of like the breadcrumbs of Sophie with an E talking about, you know what, Christina is throwing my name out there saying I'm the decoy vote? Do you think that possibly we see Hina throws Christina under the bus as sort of like a, hey, this is our like consensus person? I feel as if, at least, it really depends on what Sage and Joanne do. If they go back to Uli, I really do see that Christina being the person to go, but if they're willing to go and work with the new he, with Hina, then maybe Christina is safe. Or if they're like, sacrifice one of your own, then we'll work with you.

then I see that it might be Christina. But I really, because I really do think, and I might be, I might be a little delusional, but I really liked that move. And I really do think that it at least bought them one more tribal because things can change at a drop of a dime. I really think going into the merge that Jawan is the most interesting player in the game. Yes. Yes.

What is he going to do? A thousand percent. I think that he has the people that he has been working with, where we've really, you know, Nate and Rizzo have not had a lot of commentary about Jawan and it seems like that he has had a hard time fitting. And we know how Savannah feels about Jawan. And then he meets these new people and he's like,

wow, this is great. Stephen is great. Like, you know, okay, I'm really, I'm hitting it off with Sage now. I feel like that when he meets the other people from Hina, like I think he's going to get along really well with them. Like I think that he is an interesting piece and I don't think that Uli recognizes how valuable he is.

Like basically for me, I think that Uli's survival in the game is completely dependent on Jawan. And I don't think they see it. Yeah, I think so too. And I think also too, Jawan likes to bond with other people. But he doesn't let it fully block himself from what needs to be done. Like, for example, he's like, Jason, you and I are cut from the same cloth,

but I'm still going to rig the rock draw. You know, don't get me started. Those were some base easy. No, Malamar, come on. I digress. But, you know, he's still rig the rock draw. He's like, I like you. I think you're great.

I'm still going to rig the rock draw and make sure you don't play your shot in the dark. He's loyal. Yeah. So I think that, like, with these bonds, he's letting people go work with him and trust with him. I think he really showed, oh, I really want to, I really want to work with Jason.

And now with this move of going and working with Stephen to make sure that Shannon goes out of, instead of Stephen. It's like, oh, he really did want to work with me. And maybe he didn't have the power to go in and keep Jason safe, like, because of numbers. Maybe, like, it did work out. So I really do think that it is not in Hina's best interest. Even if Uli's like, yeah, let's get you won, I think a smart player would be like, wait, wait, ping, ping, ping, ping, bing, like, why are they giving me the sacrifice? I should go for an alternative name. And Joanne, they've talked about him, oh, well, he's the most likely

to flip. I think he's actually the least likely to flip. Like, he really wants to make it work with his original tribe. And that's why I think that even after all this, I think he could very well could stay with Uli throughout all of this. I just think it's interesting that they take him for granted. That's true.

Because the only reason he voted out Shannon was because he heard Shannon was saying it's me first. Really? I think that Shannon, I think if she said that Stephen is the vote and we're voting out Stephen tonight, I'm not sure Joanne would have flipped.

I don't think so. I think Jowal would have put his feet down. I think especially if she's like, hey, let's go and flip. I don't think. I think he would have gone back to Shannon. I'd be like, hey, Shannon, this is what's happening. I'm still team Stephen. But I really do think that Jawan was 100% on Stephen.

And I really do think that as soon as he found out, oh, my goodness. Like Shannon is not on the same page as me. Oh, my goodness. Like, well, I guess I can protect myself. And there are benefits because I do genuinely like Stephen. And I can still come back. And then, you know, you know, do a little bit of bus throwing, hey, so Sage is the one who did this move. I think it could happen.

Do you think that Sage was looped in enough at Uli to know that Joanne was going to be the vote and he was on the bottom? Yes. I think in dynamics, especially when even if you have a core four, it's like you are, you know, as long as you're not the six, you have a name. Everyone has a name in their mind who you're thinking of, you know? So it's like no matter where you are on the pecking list, you know what that name is. And typically that name is the name that is either the true name or the name that comes after you, if that makes sense. Check out the big stars, big series, and blockbuster movies. Streaming on Paramount Plus.

Cue the music. Like NCIS, Tony and Ziva. We'd like to make up our own rules. Tulsa King. We want to take out the competition. The substance. This balance is not working. And the naked gun.

That was awesome. Now that's a mountain of entertainment. Marlonneux. Marianne, I want to talk to you about Shannon. And I would love to get your perspective on her. Because, you know, I think of you. And obviously, that's a big part of who you are on as a person and certainly on survival. was your spirituality and I think you speak very openly about that and I think that you're a person

where I don't think it was ever called into question ever Mary Ann's authenticity. I don't think that I've ever heard anybody even question, you know, where your faith comes from and, you know, how you balance your faith and also a survivor player and what a great survivor player you demonstrated yourself to be. but in Shannon it's been so interesting right to watch her as a player trying to navigate playing the game and also having this spirituality about her yeah I think it's interesting because and please if I go and express Shannon you're if you're listening to this or no people if you're listening to your journey wrong I apologize I'm just going from what I've heard and what

I've seen and I think from what Shannon's explored is that like when she started to go on Survivor she was still on that journey of spirituality where right where she's like oh i believe there's god i'm still trying to figure that like i'm still exploring things figuring things out you know figuring like all these pieces right so i think it was really interesting in the way that she's coming in with that spirituality where she was very fluid taking different parts you know i was actually chatting because as we know so wonderfully last week she said jesus got high off of god which is actually technically theoretically sound in Christianity

depending what you see how it is. I can go into depth in that, but later. But I really do think that it's like Shannon is someone who she will bond with you, however she wants to bond with you. And so it worked for people, especially because Christina is super strong with her faith. Christina also explained

there's other reasons she connected with Shannon. But she's like, this is important to Shannon. This is important to Christina. She's just going to talk about it. And I think that the way that Shannon goes and connects with people, it's very like, oh my goodness, I really feel this way. I really connect. Like, oh, I had a dog to. My dog was 16 months. What type of dog are you? And I think that when, especially when people connect on faith and especially when someone is on a faith journey where they're like, okay, what do I believe?

What do I not believe? Like, what's right? Like, how do I feel about this? How do I feel about that? It can seem very ingenuous because they're not very solid in what they're believing, but that's because they're exploring that, you know? So when you're exploring something, it doesn't seem very, it's still very fluid. From now, I think from as of this day, she's kind of gone and really been like, okay, has a little bit more of a solid thing of how she's feeling in her spirituality,

which is why I think that when people see how she's feeling today and where she was playing, it's two different parts of her journey. But then it can be like, well, if you believe this now, why were you saying these things in the other time? And I don't think we should go and judge her on that.

And I think that that's really how she was. And I think she's great. I think what that's interesting about her. And I got the chance to talk to her this morning and I asked her a little bit about this was that I'm sure it must be hard for her in particular because that we really saw her story from Sage's point of view. And from Sage's point of view, this is clearly how, you know, Shannon was of a sharky Shannon and she is like catering her approach to different players and she's playing up these different parts of her spirituality to other people. And I think that that probably was a difficult journey because that as she was saying to me, you know, I, I didn't feel like I'm being disingenuous. Like, I felt like that I was, you know, bringing a part of me to each one of these conversations. But from Sage's point of view, it's like, look what a phony.

Yeah. And I have two things to say about that. The first thing being like, I went from a tribe that, you know, kind of spoke about spirituality. I know Jonathan and I had conversations just one on one. And then when we went to merge, we had both Romeo and Tori, who were a Christian. And I feel as if it's like, oh, these are people who want to talk about their faith more, I'm then going to go and talk about my faith. So it doesn't mean that I'm now, oh, my goodness, they're Christian.

So I'm not going to go and get super holy. And just, oh, I have more people who want to talk about it and explore it. So in that perspective, it can be like, oh, especially for someone who saw, okay, Shannon was now zero, and now it's 100, what's going on. That's what it might look like. But on the other hand, I really want to speak, especially for people listening, where it's like, when you're playing survivor, when you're experiencing life, there's going to be people that you don't vibe with. Okay. There's going to be, and I love a good, I love a good villain. I love a good person at enemy. In my real life, I have someone who I, on site, enemies number one. Like, I do not like this person, which is very rare. But I genuinely do not like this person. I would be very happy to never speak to said person ever again. But the thing is, I don't like this person because of their personality who they are. Do I think that this person is a horrible human being who deserves no love or life? No, but parts of their

personality is what does not connect with mine. And I think that we should be very, very aware where it's like, okay. So Sage and Shannon, their personalities didn't go and they did not buy. That's okay. Maybe Sage was like, oh my goodness, this person is like, I think that Shannon's annoys me, you know, and that's true. But just because Shannon annoys her, does not mean that Shannon is inherently annoying. It just means that their personalities do not vibe. So I think that, you know, in speaking of this rivalry as someone who I loved it when the girlies were fighting.

I loved it too. I loved it. It was so wonderful. But, you know, in a super surface, in a subsurface level. But I think that it's very important when we speak about that. We don't think, oh, my God, Shannon is this evil, annoying, super fake person because that's not who she is. It's just like, oh, Sage thought that she, like, Shage thought that Shannon was annoying and

that's also true if you kind of get what I'm going. Yeah. And Sage was an amazing narrator and Sage gave us so many great facial expressions and we really did see this story through Sage's lens. Something that I do feel like that, you know, and something that, you know, Sage was saying that she was picking up on, something that I really don't like in the game and especially outside of Survivor is when people, you know, use spirituality. as a weapon where that they say, you know, I am in communion with the higher power and I'm telling you this is what the higher power wants me to do, which is this thing that's in my best interest and not in yours, but trust in me. I know what, you know, the spirits are saying and that's why you

need to do this thing. As someone wise once said, you know, God doesn't have a vested interest and survivor. But I think that when we were going and looking at Shannon, who was talking about spirituality and looking at the, you know, super extreme end of coach who did have that spiritual cult, I think that speaking about your spirituality and banding over some over that, I don't think that's fake or ingenuine. And I think that when we were seeing Shannon talk about strategy, she like especially because she had the thought about like pulling people like each other, each person's number one into the merge and then having like a big merge sub-aliance. I didn't hear anything about spirituality in that conversation.

But that was to Stephen that approach was. And that wasn't necessarily the lever she was pulling with Stephen. With Christina, she was saying, like, you know, I did pray to God to say, I don't even need to be in the numbers. Just lead me to the right people that I'm supposed to be with. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think that as someone who is spiritual, I think that from someone who isn't spiritual, I can

see how that comes. Because, you know, a lot of times there's a saying where it's like, whatever your will, God, or like, whatever, let that will be done. So it's like, even if it's not beneficial for my game, let it be done. So I think when you're speaking to someone who's also spiritually, and you say, oh my goodness, I prayed this and this is what's happened. I just want to be, I want to go wherever his will is. And even if that's negative in the numbers, that's okay.

As someone who's spiritual, I pick that as like a, wow, this person really trusts what the plan is. This person is really like belonging. And I really do appreciate that. But I think that if you don't have that spirituality, it can seem very. very like, what are you saying? What's going on? So I think that's something we call it, like, in Christianity, we call it Christianese, you know, where it's like, you say something. You're like, what the heck are you? Look, what do you mean? What are you saying? This makes no sense.

But like, I think that when I watched that, that didn't even come in my radar because I knew where Shannon was coming from. I knew exactly what Shannon was trying to express to Christina and that was a faith talk. And I really think that that's how especially, and I think that's how Christina interpreted it where it's like, okay, not like a, oh, wow, this is her saying that God wants me to. to keep her, but this is her saying, wow, even though she's in a bad situation, she still has faith in that higher power. It's something that I feel like doesn't necessarily translate to the viewers, like the heat, like the hunger, like the elements.

But I do feel like that when you are in some of these high stress environments, that I do feel like that it's one of the things that you don't really get at home. but the spirituality and the way that people feel spirituality can be more extreme and more profound on Survivor in this environment. Exactly. When things, when you don't know who's lying to you, who's not lying to you, when your next meal is, what the challenge is going to go, and you have something, and there's so many things in flux, and then you have the spirituality, something that keeps you stable, it can really, really help

and it can really be intense. Like I know that I had like a lot of times where I felt very connected to God in my time in Survivor because it's like you have nothing. nothing. And the only thing, it's like you have you and there's God. And then you have those conversations. And so it really, and so it's like I said, it's very hard to translate on TV because it's like, you know, you don't, we don't talk. We're three dimensional human beings and you can't go and go show all the complexities on TV. And you can't explain all the history. You don't have all the conversation to make it make sense fully. And like, but I really do understand

where people are coming from and I understand exactly what you're saying. I want to talk about where we're headed into this merge and I think that this is actually a pretty interesting merge for the new era where we really do have like two big sides that are going to be going after I guess we've had that a little bit maybe in Survivor 44 uh was really uh you know two sides and um I'm sure there's probably another instance where you know you have like the two the two bigger sides coming out of each other but your season was certainly an interesting one because I believe that Famously, it was, what, 4-44 at the Merge? It was 4-44 at the Merge, yeah.

Yeah. So how do you, how is it emerge like that different from one like this where there's just like these clear battle lines? Oh, my goodness. I think when it's 4-44, people are more inclined to make inter-tribe alliances. So, you know, unbeknownst to me at Merge, because I was living up my great life, basically every person, every tribe kind of like every person in tribe was represented in this majority alliance, and they all decided on at least one or two people from their tribe

that they were going to sacrifice. So from Taku, that was me. And then from Ika, that was Chanel. And then from Vati, that was both Romeo and Tori. So then everyone else was like, okay, and then we're going to be happy. We're going to work together. We're going to be a big eight mega alliance, and that's never going to fall apart because when will it ever fall apart? But I think that now, when you have, I think they have a five, four, two, but the facto, it's actually a six, five, if you look at the previous swap, it's so, so close. And at these tight, tight margins, everyone is a fear of a pegging, you know, just being eaten one by one by one. And you know cerebrally that you're not going to go and just vote everyone out and then

vote everyone else out. At one point, there's going to be someone who goes and flips and works with the minority group. But at that point, are you sure that you are going to be the one in the minority who's left after they go and decimate you. So I think that everyone is thinking, oh my goodness, I have to stick to tribal lines so that I'm able to last the next day so that when I want to make a move and flip on my tribal lines, I will have those numbers. And if I flip now, then the other team will have tribal lines and then they will go and just vote us out until they have their number. So it's kind of like this like Cold War Prisoner's Dilemma of like, well, we have to continue doing this because if I don't do it,

what they're going to do it. It's like, do you have siblings, Rob? I do. Do you have older or younger? So I'm the oldest. And then my sister is two years younger than me. And my brother is nine years younger than me. Wow.

Have you ever heard of spite eating? Spite eating. No. Yes. It is when you maybe bring some food or dessert and you put it in the fridge. And you leave and you come back and it's still in the fridge. And you don't really want that food right now. But you know that if you do not have that food right now, your siblings going to take

it and you're not going to be able to have it. You have a roommate's where this is an issue. It's different with roommates, though, because that's just feeling your food. The kids are going to eat this. Exactly. So even if you don't want to really do it or eat it at that moment, you still have to. Because if someone else eats it, then when you want it, it's going to be gone. That's what it really feels like when you have these, when you have this very clear tribal

lives and very close margins, you need to be the one to eat that cupcake before someone else eats the cupcake, even if you don't want to eat the cupcake at the time. That's how I viewed the rice on Survivor, you know, going back to Survivor All-Stars. Like, we had rice. We were like, and I'm like, hey, let's eat all the rice. Let's do it. Let's go. Because we're just going to swap.

We're going to merge. We're going to share it with everybody. And Amber was like, no, in Australia, we ran out of the rice. Like, who cares? We have it now. Let's eat it. Did you manage to eat the rice in the house? voted me out. Oh, that sucks. Sorry, man. Which was sad. Yeah. Yeah. But what are you

going to do? But again, it's like, you have the thing. Yes. You have the thing. Use it. Otherwise, other people are going to come in and take it. Exactly. And I think that's what we're going to see next episode. Some sort of, well, go ahead. Okay. I'm just going to finish my thought. All right. I know, please finish. I'm going to ask you something else. I was just going to say, we're going to have people being like, well, I have to stick to triple lines. Because it, it's, it they go and take my number out, then when I want that number, the number's going to be gone. Marian, we have 11 people left. Do you think we are not going to have mergatory this week?

I do not think so. You do not think we will have mergatory? I do not. I think we're going straight to jury. I think we're going straight to jury called it right here. They will be cooking because. that this is if there was ever

any season in the new era to not have emergatory this would be it because we are sitting on potentially and listen they could it's their show look they're going to do what they want but they have such an opportunity

here we could be going into like a Kagi on level merch vote next week. We really could. Kagi on merge, I believe, was also, was 11 people. And similarly,

you had, you know, you had the tribe swap and then that was coming off of top five baby where Sarah Lesina had heard it, but that Sarah Lascena and Cass couldn't get on the same page about who they were going to be

voting for. And then ultimately, you're going to have two sides basically take a shot. There's idols in play. Where are the idols? That they really have such an opportunity for a really exciting vote. They just have to get out of the way. I agree with you 100%. Like these margins are paper thin. It can, and when it's paper thin and people are seeing the future, seeing the next steps, no one wants to be and people feel like they're in the bottom of a five or a bottom of a six,

this is the time for those people to strike a move. This is the time. I hope and I don't think that it's going to happen, but I think we're going to get a close margin vote as well, too, at the merge.

I don't think it's going to be just like a, oh, a 13-1 or a 12-2-2, well, that's impossible because there's not 16 people. But you get what I'm saying. I really do think that this has the opportunity to be a great merge. And I do think,

because I'm like, look, we already had a tribe swap then we had another tribe swap and now we're at merge like we've already been like we already have so many things which are going on why do we need a like why what is the benefit of adding now a third thing yeah you know I have complained as much as anybody in the first half of this season but they've really they have it set up so well right now despite all of my complaining about things that they have an opportunity to make them look so smart and me looks so dumb so stupid so stupid for like rob let us cook we know what we're doing they have this amazing opportunity right now it's the final 11 you don't need to have

that you know that the when did you all have the hourglass was it 13 no 12 okay it's a 12 okay Jeff says it's a great number great number to do emerge and that they had 13 they had 12 But because we went, instead of in the sixth episode, we've waited until the seventh episode, we had the secret and we had a double elimination episode. So we've already lost now seven people from the game. So we don't need to mess around with mergatory where somebody's going to make, oh, you almost made the merge, but you didn't make the merge or you made the merge, but you didn't make the jury. there's 11. So we're going to have a final three and we're going to have an eight-person jury.

So everybody here is going to both make the merge and make the jury unless we do something, unless we fumble the bag. No, I think the way we fumble the bag here is I think that the 11 people will either be on jury or final three if we fumble the bag. The way that I think we fumble the bag

is if we only let half of the people go to tribal like we saw in 44. Only half the people go to tribal. Like, you know, how it was it to be split up? Yeah. Well, we don't need to do that either. Yes. We're already, we're already, we are on track because that when we, when we had the medical

evacuation, that we, that was, you know, again, bad luck for Jake, good luck for Jake's baby, you know, that dad got to come home. But it was, we already had our double. elimination episode. We had it already. We don't, we're not behind in the numbers. So we don't need to do it. And, and they've done it in the past often at 11 where they merge, they have merger at 12. And then congratulations. You're merged. And then, okay, first day of the merge is two new tribes split up. It's like, yeah. We don't need to do that. Also, I know I don't need to do it. And also on a pro, production has also been willing to go and change things. You know,

42, the whole game of 42 was that it's the same as 41. But when Jackson left, we only had one tribal at the first tribal, showing that they're willing to go and change things up based on the schedule. So I have hope. I have hope. We're going to just see our first traditional merge boat. And it's going to be great. And they're going to go on jury.

And it's going to be wonderful. There is reason to hope after all this. After all this. Keep hope alive. Keep hope alive. I'm telling you, Marianne. Like, listen, keep Hope Driscoll alive. Mm-hmm.

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and contact Desjardin today. We'd love to talk, business. Berri-Anne, okay. Let me bring in, I have questions for you from the listeners. There's so many different things to talk about. Okay, let me just mention here before we jump into all this. Our sponsor for this episode of the podcast, our friends over at Mantha Sleep, Mary Ann, she's going to be rocking one of these every day.

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It's going to work great for you, mantasleep.com. Okay. Let's take some questions that I have for you from the listeners. And, okay, Sam Weintraub wants to know who on Survivor 49 would give you the ick? Oh, my gosh. Okay. Do you know what the ick is, Rob? Yeah, I know what the ick is.

How do I know what the ick is? I don't know. You're like, what? You're an old millennial, right? You know, the thing is, I appreciate, thank you for saying that. I'm really, I'm really like the youngest Gen Xer to be. Okay. And here's the thing, though, and people like, oh, Rob, you're so old. But you have to remember, I have children that are tweens. Gen Alpha. So I actually tend to know more things than people who are like 10, 15 years younger than me. Okay. So you know the special numbers. I know all about the numbers.

Like, you know, I want to know. Like I ask my kids about what's going on. So I actually, you know, I'm pretty much on top of everything. Okay. Perfect. Okay. What would specifically or who or what would give me the ink on Survivor? 49 oh my gosh you know what would give me the ick actually i i hate snoring i hate snoring yeah i'm a

yes i'm a very light sleeper and if you snore loud enough i will wake up and when i wake up when i'm sleeping i'm actually i am so mean rob like i'm actually the most the meanest person you will meet in your life so if i woke up this is yeah thank you so that's why i slept on the be sick on the, in the fire, not next to people. But if I woke up to someone snoring, when it's already hard to sleep, I would literally be like, I am voting this person out. They are horrible. They don't deserve to be here. Why are they even on jury? Why, why did they, who cast them? Who casts this person who snores? Like, I hate snoring. I could really see it because I feel like that while you have like the biggest heart and, you know, have the kindest side that there's

also like the other side of that coin. Yeah, yeah, I'm Slytherin if people believe in that But yeah, I don't like that snoring actually would be Oh, I do not like snoring All right, here's something that gave me the ick from the episode Okay, Jeff finally gave the players a good reward this week Where they got grilled cheese And then also with that grilled cheese

Jeff kept talking about they're going to also have salty potato chips and he was kept talking about how salty the potato chips are going to be it turns out I believe I was following on Twitter

the players talking about it so they got salt and vinegar chips oh that's not salty potato chips that's salt and vinegar chip oh Jack no that's a lie You lied to me, Jeff. And I don't hate salt and vinegar chips. Yeah, I like them.

They're good. They're good. Yeah. But why do I care? Like, if it's 400 degrees outside, why does Jeff think that this is going to be like, oh, like a salty potato chip? How salty is? Can I get extra salt on my chips? No.

We used to have Applebee's as pretty much rewards. Look how the mighty have fallen, man. That's all. Yeah. I went to Applebee's the other day. I went by it actually this Saturday. Yeah, I went to Applebee's, my kids that they were thrilled. I love Applebee's. I genuinely do love Applebee's.

Yeah. I went to Applebee's and it was my kids, my kids were thrilled. I thought it was kind of expensive. Oh, you're not, you obviously didn't go for their lunch special. We did not go for lunch special. Yeah. Mistake number one. My family, we exclusively went. we would get there at 3.45 be like, give us the lunch menu piece and thank you're pushing in the order.

I got the check and I was like, boy, we could have gone someplace better than Applebee's. I mean, it was no joke. I believe you. Things are expensive. Yeah. And we didn't get anything crazy. Like the ripples? I did get the appetizer. We get three things.

Oh, yeah, yeah. The trio. I like the ripples. I like any time like they have blue drink like the shark the whatever shark ball I always yes it's shark bowl I love their shark bowl I always like wings

I'm a very simple I love chicken it's like you can't mess up chicken and ribs can't mess up chicken I had seen that people were talking about your feelings about the chicken on chap BCC yeah okay disclaimer you guys are all wonderful

people but actually people are so scared listeners or no the players like how are people so dramatic about killing a chicken people what do you think happens for the chicken that you eat

it's not hard to kill a chicken you just ring its neck or decapitate it if you want and you know what was crazy Rob they didn't even blanched the chicken because if you boil water boil it then you put a chicken in it quickly it'll contract and it's so much easier

to pluck the pluck the pet feathers so they didn't even prep the chicken properly and then last and not least They're so sad about killing this chicken. I'm like, this is the most ethical chicken you will ever eat in your life. Straight from the stores, front of the table. This has probably been like a free range chicken as well, too.

And even if you don't eat the chicken, if you're so sad about someone, someone is going to eat the chicken. It might as well be you. You know, like I have never, I have never had patience for people who are sad about the chicken. You know, I love Thai, but that chicken would have died. That it would have one day woken up. Oh my God, where's its head? Well, got to cook it anyways. Sorry, Sia.

like literally, I can't deal with that. Like, because when I was in, like, you know, that's, that's my parents' life. You go and have a chicken. You go to Kenya. You go to someone like my cousin's house. We're like, we're so happy you're here. We're going to go and kill a chicken so you can eat it. That's such an honor.

That's such a great thing that someone's going to go have their meat and give it to you. And now we're all so sad. Oh, like, boohoo. No, that chicken. And then after the day, I saw that they kind of cooked it on the, they cooked it on the, what am I trying to say, on like the cast iron. They butchered it? No, I would have stuck through and done a rotissary chicken, you know?

Because if you're patient enough, you don't have to immediately cook it, you can go have a slow roast. You can make it last, let that emanate. Then you take the bones and then you boil the water with the bones and you can now have a chicken stock. So now you can have a chicken broth to give you more food. There's so much you can do with the chicken. And we were not appreciating that, okay? I was so sad. That chicken would have been so over and made sure I ethically killed the chicken because, you know,

I'm a little pita wouldn't like me but I would have made sure we had some good chicken yeah okay well thank you for talking that through I did think that it was funny that this is like such an issue for the players now in modern day survivor where in the old days

of Survivor that it was just like oh great let's just kill a chicken you'd have like you know three or four people in the tribe that would know how to do that and now it's like you're lucky if there's one person that's on the show that would even know what to do with the chicken I know like it's interesting Like, because I remember before going, I went and I'm just, and I asked my mom, and I looked online, I'm like, how do you prepare a chicken?

Like, I'm like, how do I make sure I get it? I make sure I get it. How do I get everything done? Because I'm like, if there is a chicken reward, I am going to be ready to go and prep that chicken and make sure that it's the best chicken we have. And you have salt water. You can salt the chicken. Like, you know, oh my gosh. Yeah.

I love meat. Okay. So, Marian, I thought it was interesting also that the chickens then escaped from. the coup how are they storing the chickens that they're getting out? I think like don't they come in like a box?

They come in a box but I know that some players like to free range them so you give them. They always escape and you tie. That's what I'm like you know this is where I get a little ethically ambiguous and I do understand if people do not agree with what I'm about to say. But I'm like

if this chicken is going to die in the next three or so days just I don't know. Keep in the cage for the three days and maybe on its final day, then double tie it in the non-unitly free range then. Maybe the players are feeling like, oh, the chicken will lay eggs. I think that that might be the thinking

of if it's like not, it's stressed out in the thing. And if you want it to lay eggs, then we have to do that. But they always let it escape. No, also too, about eggs, I'm very anti-egg. Okay? Yeah. In what way? In what way? In the way of

survive? Because people are like, oh, the hens might lay eggs. da-da-da-da-da-da. And, you know, depending on the type of hen, you can maybe lay an egg every day, but most times you're only going to get an egg on average on three days. And what are you going to do with one egg for three days? Jonathan, in 42 for my season, you wonder how many eggs he eats in one sitting? Twenty-one. Sometimes a dozen, sometimes up to 18. This guy, so what are we going to do with one egg? Let's be real, like the benefit of the chicken. Three days, you waited for an egg. Two people are going to be voted out by then. That's what I'm saying. And in addition to that,

look what happened they got the chicken and then they got swapped again and then what you're gonna bring one chicken to let 11 people eat at the merge no you're not stupid eat that chicken you have the chickens just like just like the guy who got voted out also um I will say that I was thinking of this when I was watching the episode that you know they're like oh my god like this like we've made it so far it's day 12 I was like yeah that's that's the same time that like, it's like, Rob, you were nothing on Survivor All-Stars. Like, you were like a footnote on the season. Well, I made it just as far as all the players did so far in this season. There you go. You played more than all the players on this season and more of the new era. Well, just in that one season. No, because I'm talking including Amazon.

Yes, yes, yes. I have played 50. we'll see how Dee and Kyle do, but yes, as of this point, to this point, I have played more than anybody in the new era, but there you go, Marianne, that have you, have you talked about this at all about Survivor 50? I've talked a bit about it. Yes. I talked a bit about it, yeah.

Because as I really think of, because they talked about, of who's on the Mount Rushmore of the new era, and to me, I think that you are the person. who really was the person who was like the true proof of concept of the new era because I think that after Survivor 41 I think a lot of us were so like I don't know about this I don't know about this and then you came along

and that you came along and I've always been so amazed by your survivor journey and you came along and you had you said that this is who I am I'm here for I'm here and I'm weird and I'm doing it for all of the other weirdos who are out there and if I can do it, you can do it and then you had this amazing journey in your season and of course that I think that you were such a great

representation of everything that they wanted the new era of Survivor to be and I think that you were the person that when you won that it was like, you see, this is, this is exactly what we are trying to go for here in the new era. And I really felt like that if we were going to bring back people who won from the new and I know this will sound disrespectful to the people that they did bring back, but I don't know how we didn't bring you back.

You know what, Rob, I think that it's like, for me, I'm like, I love Survivor. Don't want to play Survivor again, yes. Would I make it, like if they called, would I try to make it over my schedule, yes. But I think one thing for me to know that I get a lot of peace in is that it's like, it's not up to me, you know? And if it was meant to happen, it was meant to happen. And, you know, some people might be like, well, but why are you not on? This doesn't make sense. I think that in the grand scheme of things, people are always like, you know what?

It doesn't make sense. That would it might make sense later. For example, Sandra wasn't on all stars. And people like, why isn't Sandra on all stars? Look what happened at Heroes versus Villains when we saw Sandra. And I think I'm also in such a wonderful place where it's like, okay, I won, you know, doesn't get much better than that. And I love Survivor and I don't feel sad about not playing. I'm very happy.

I'm very excited for 50 to see how people do. And even if I didn't make it to Fiji, my clothes did. So that has to count for something. Wow. Your clothes made it. Yeah. Okay. Well, I just really hope that, you know, you know how I feel about you as a person who I hope that we do get to see you play again.

Thank you. It would be so fun, you know, like if the timing is right again and they make a different decision, I would love to come back. But like I said, even though I have a mask pack of flag. Yes, still my pront. I'm okay. I go to the gym now. I could probably beat Jonathan in the swimming contest. Maybe.

Maybe. I mean, you're not like me and so many of my peers where it's like, the clock is ticking. Oh, my gosh. That's the thing. How many more good years do we have left? That's what I'm saying. That's just what I'm saying. Like, for me, it's like, oh, no, Marianne's on 50. So sad. But I'm actually more sad. You're not on 50. Well, listen. You're geriatric and survivor years. Are we ever going to see you again? I don't know. I don't know. I'll answer the call if it rings. But I really. you know, I was fine with how everything ended up turning out. Yeah.

I'm at peace now. Yeah. I'm not angry writing, see you're a survivor. This girl is a slut. Do not trust her. Regina George. Regina George quote. I think it's skank actually. Okay. Dirty skank.

But, you know, there are other Canadian reality TV shows that do you think that you might pop up one of those before you go play Survivor again. You know what? I was always up Survivor or Bus person. Even before getting on Survivor, I was Survivor Abust.

I think to go on other Canadian shows, it's like, it would have to be like, oh, this is fun. And, you know, Omar keeps on talking about how much fun he had on the Trader of Canada and everyone should watch. And if you don't go and a horror have a Patreon,

you can watch, you know, Rob has the connections. Yeah, if you're not in Canada. Yeah, but I'm just like, But for me, it's like, timing wasn't right. I was like, you know, am I really going to do the traders? Like, I was a very survivor robust person, which is why I'm like, I got my survivor. I got my bust, you know?

Yeah. What about the Amazing Race Canada? Um, I would do that at the time. It's just a lot of times it's just timing. Yeah. It's just hard with med school and then with getting married. Because you are a expert traveler. I know this from, I know from the times that you have come in for the live show.

you know all the airports you know you know everything about upgrading with miles you know the you know the transit absolutely i think i even gave you a special a special lounge ticket once like a special express ticket one time did i not maybe i mix me up with someone else maybe i think somebody else oh oops yeah i do like to travel johnny fair play oh yes absolutely love that man yeah i like to travel but like a lot of times it's like with the timing because a lot of times Canadian shows film off like I'm the Aussies like Big Brother Canada filmed in February I'm like I can't do that with school

Amazing Race films in April oh can't do that with school so it's very like oh the timing doesn't work enough and I'm not so connected to the show where I'm like I have to go and watch I have to go and make it work you know like Survivor's the only thing I'm like I will make it work I will move things to make this work okay

how about take a question from let's see um i want to make sure that we're sticking to survivor questions and not talking about other shows um okay uh chris lambert says what do you thoughts on production going to tribes of four uh when they took away the final four vote uh for fire years ago doesn't it feel like a contradiction okay so famously survivor said we don't, hey, we don't like a vote at the final four. Only in the pre-merge, we like it.

Yeah. Very interesting how they swapped to four. I didn't really hate it. Because I feel as if the swap to four came at the perfect time right before merge, where people weren't so staunch about tribe lines, tribe lines, you know? I thought they were going to do one tribe wins immunity. two tribes go to tribal council and vote out one person. I thought they were

going to do that. I thought that was going to happen at first too. Yeah. But like I'm not like at first I was more like okay so look how it is and like as soon as it happened I'm like great. So the majority is just going to pick off the minority as we've seen again. But then when we got to like the oh they're back at camp

I'm like okay maybe things are more fluid. Maybe people are really peopling. So I really did I really did think it was interesting. I think it was fun for a little final four vote. It would have been fun to see if it was a two, two, if we finally got that firemaking, but in the final 12 instead of the final four. Yeah.

Yeah, I'm trying to think of, would we go, would we do a firemaking at the final four here at 12? I think where you go rock draw? I think still, I think still rocks. Yeah. But then rocks isn't, rocks doesn't feel good, you know? Because that's what happened with, uh, Nalaya and. You see it. Thank you. I'm being a bad fan. But that's what happened, right? In the final four where they did go to rocks. But I feel as if like fire just feels best if it's a deadlock vote at a four. All right. Marianne, I want to ask you about something else from the episode that we saw last night where Sophie B. ended up getting knowledge is power. We had the Riz God came back. Yes. Riz GOD, Riz God, baby. Riz God baby, the man the myth of the legend. And he came back.

He's like, you know what? I got a feeling. I think that maybe there's an advantage. What if there's an advantage? We should look for an advantage. And they go off and we find the coveted knowledge is power, which I knew you saw firsthand in Survivor 42. First off, I thought this was unusual that we ended up having knowledge is power, very big deal in Survivor. And usually, I'm trying to remember in Survivor 42, when Dreya got it, what did, how did she acquire knowledge as power?

Okay. So, and I want to speak about that. Dreya got knowledge as power, I believe, because she sat out in the final, at the final 11, we had a reward challenge and it was at the sit out bench as a reward. Yeah. I guess in my mind that it's like, wow, okay, so the precedent on knowledge's power is that, like, I feel like you have to do something really incredible to get it, but it just seemed like that was just sitting there. You had to be in the right place at the right time to get it. So remind me again, who won first in the reward? So this is a really astute point.

So the tribe that got the knowledge of power was also the tribe that got the reward. Because speaking in 42, when we won the reward, Omar did get an idle nullifier. And it was a part of the reward as well, too. So the reward at, we apparently threw it out. We found out in whatever Jeff's podcast, we ran me the name right now on fire, that in the fish, there was a reward. And Jonathan just threw it out in the gut. And it was said, go to the water well, and then that's where knowledge's power is.

So I'm thinking maybe that because Hina won the reward, and these are players who've probably watched all the seasons, they're like, well, we got first place in the reward, maybe because we got first place, there's going to be an advantage that is with said reward. That's what I think makes the most sense. I find it hard to believe that there were advantages hidden at all three of the new tribes. and I can't imagine the other advantages would rival knowledge is power in terms of like what a powerful advantage it is.

So that is the thing that makes the most sense. In terms of the other times that we had it show up, I believe that Leanna got it in the... A journey. Then, of course, you mentioned how Drea got it. James Jones, I think, got it like at the water well. There was like some sort of like a clue to something. and James Jones got it there.

But in those other instances, I guess maybe not as much with Leanna. It was like anybody could have gotten it. But if you go back to Survivor 48, the most recent season that we had it, at least in the ether, not actually in the game, where Eva, I believe when it was that she won the final leg

of the like very, long the like the all the different stations of like the many stage immunity challenge and then it was like the thing where everybody had their name cards and the scroll was like in the chips that were like right in front of her because she won the challenge so I do think that there is like a little bit more precedent now for somebody or a group of people win a thing and then they also by in addition to winning the reward, they also get access to the big advantage. Yeah. And I think that's also, this isn't new to new era.

Like I think wasn't it, and please tell me if I'm mixing up my survivors, but wasn't it like in one of the 30s, there was like some sort of like spaghetti reward or something or some food reward if they had to eat one at a time? Yeah. So there was in Survivor Heroes versus Healing. versus hustlers, that there was, there, there was a reward challenge and it was two groups of five or six or whatever. And then they had to pick what order they were going to go eat the pasta. And then on the bottom of the dish, there was the location of the idol, which was back at

camp. And speaking of Survivor 50, that Chrissy ended up wrestling with Cole, I think, to try to get the idol. And certainly, you know, we have where in here, heroes versus villains where that tribes win rewards and whether it was in the toolbox or the coffee beans or sitting at the table with the right napkin so there is a there is a yes there is a precedent for that um i guess i'm trying to remember if they said that it was more of thing um they they just like did not imply at all that this these two things were connected i think is the question. And so I think we were left wondering, did all of the tribes have an advantage at their camp? I don't think so. I don't think so either. I think that this, I think this is just

something where it was like, oh, we need 15 extra seconds. What can we cut? Yeah. And that was the thing that cut because three knowledge's powers. That's just a logistical nightmare because it's like, what if you knowledge is power, then someone uses the knowledge just power with the idol, then you immediately use another knowledge's power. You know what I'm saying? Or they like, Because Marianne, do you have knowledge as power? That's an advantage. And then you can, like, then you stack the knowledge's powers. No.

I think it was just a reward for getting first place. And then they just decided not to tell that story that it was connected to the reward. Brandon Donlin did some incredible research and went through all of the new era survivor contestants and looked at who would you most like to play? play like. Oh. Okay? And found a surprising number of players who said that they would like to play like Marianne.

Oh my gosh. Would you like to hazard a guess of how many players in the new era said? Ooh. Okay. Specifically, Marianne is who I'd like to play with like. So I think I started popping in at 45. because 40 maybe 44 but I think mostly 45 and I feel as if the type of game that I played

men typically go either they choose men or they choose very dominant woman and I wouldn't say I was a dominant winner so that cuts it about in half so 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 and it's just in the introductions just in the introduction This is in their bios. Okay, so five multiplied by 18

would be 90 people divided by two So 45 possible players, I know that people who are typically weird connect with me. So that gives me at least, like, so I'd say like, for sure, Star said me. So I'm going to go with maybe 45, what's the math? If I do seven, seven, that would be, I'm going to go with seven. It's higher. Oh, okay. Nine?

Higher. 11? Higher. Fourteen. Lower. 13 people. 13 people specifically and soda and so to answer the question season 42. So we'll give you 13.5.

Okay. 13.5. Okay. Of a possible 90. Okay. Pretty good. That's pretty good. Pretty good.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Do you want to hear all the people that said they would want to play like Marianne? And you tell me if they. Let me guess. give me the season and how many people are there um how about i let's go let's just go through the list because uh oh time yes for time that's fair that's that'd be forever i'll give you the name you tell

me the per did they get the marian seal of approval did you see any of yourself in their game okay okay okay okay all right caroline said she would play like a mariann 44 caroline yes um did the season 43 players see your season? Had they, like, had your season aired at the time? I think Chanel got voted out by the time that they went to fly out. So they could have, they could have said

you, but they didn't see your winning game. Yeah, but it's, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. So you said yes to Carrie, you see yourself in Carol. Authenticity, yeah. I would give yeah, so, yeah, one out of two. Okay. All right. One out of two, what? So the way that I go

with it is that like zero is, they didn't play it with me at all. A one is either I think they played strategically like me or were very authentic like me. Yes. And then a two is that they were strategic and authentic. Okay. Great. Okay. Franny. Fannie. Ooh. Oh my gosh. I give a two. Two. I give a two. Yeah. In addition to Franny, also Matt Blankenship. Was that what they bonded over? That would be crazy. I would go with just a one. for strategy. Okay, just a one for Matt Blankett. Yeah. Okay. J. Maya. J. Maya?

One strategy. One strategy. Okay. Jessica Chong. Just Chong? Oh, she didn't really get to play that long. It's so sad. I would go with a zero, unfortunately. Okay. All right. All right. Now soda, that's the half one. Mm-hmm. Soda's got to go, go to. I'm going to go with a one. I'm going to go with a one. for authenticity You said soda has got to go to what about Tevin?

Tevin? Oh my goodness I feel like a one for strategy Okay All right I believe this is

Kenzie Kenzie Yeah I think It says on this document Kenley K I think Kenzie said

So and she said She was like A mixture between me and I think poverty maybe and I think that was very, very apt and I do agree with that. So I do agree with that.

Yeah. All right, Bianca Roses. Bianca, I love that woman. I think Bianca and the strategy, yeah, one out of two. Okay. What about say? Say? I don't see it.

Sorry, say, love you girl, but I do not. I don't see it at all. Okay, Star. Star in the authenticity, absolutely. Yeah, I will say that I, I don't see it. do feel like that say is you know and i think that maybe you didn't necessarily uh okay all the time on the show but i feel like in social media that i do feel like that say can be a very like bubbly fun personality and i do think that i could see that a little bit okay you see

i've never connected in person and i think social media is fake i love it but it's fake so i'm like i can't make a full ruling i can only make on what's there on tv remember this is if you watch the RHAP Mafia we did with Say I think you could see it a little bit more Okay Yeah Okay What about Star who is my guest last week?

We did Star already Oh sorry so Star you said yes Yeah Okay Camilla Camilla I see it I really do see it I see it I think I'm gonna go with a

Girl just needed to know how to make fire I'm gonna go with a two for two Two for two Okay Shannon Fairweather Shannon Fairweather I love my girl Shannon Oh my goodness I think the problem with Shannon

I think she was authentic, but the problem with your strategy is that, like, she came from a natural point of dominance in the game. And I just don't think, I think by virtue of Marian, it's like, you kind of weasel your way into that win. And she had a very good layout in the beginning. So one out of two. Okay. And then also Sage. Sage? Oh my gosh. You know, Sage and I both are obsessed with blackheads. So I'm going to have to get that. You have a jar? I love. No, not like that, but I do love Dr. Pimple Popper. And I think at least with the. way that Sage is playing, especially the way that she pulled Joanne to go and get Shannon out, at least from what I've seen so far, two for two for authenticity and also her gameplay.

Okay. All right. There you go. And we'll see in the future if you continue to rack up the number of people who say they are going to play like you. I'm old and irrelevant at my ripe age at 27, Rob. Come on. You said, Brandon also pulled that, who you would most like to play the game like.

Do you remember? Um, yes, I do. I think I said I wanted to play the game. I said two different answers. This is the one where I said winner and non-winner or just is the one where I only described one person. Okay. So then I specifically said, I would like to play the game like Davy. Davy went with authenticity, but then he also wanted to play Survivor, which, like, in a fun way. Davy had a path to six and I'm going to perfect it to number one. You did. Something around those lines. You did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was also talking about your journey with Stephen on the know-it-alls in terms of that I felt like that your survivor journey really followed the three-act structure so well, as Joanne talked about how we were headed into act two. Mm-hmm. Because you were really probably in your most dangerous spot in the game was, correct me if I'm wrong, but right at the mergerary, right, where that you could, you could have gone

home in that vote? If it was not for Omer, I was going home. That's point blank period. If it was not for Omer, I would have been blindsided and I would have gone, gone home. I truly do think that that might have, that would have happened based on the conversations that I had. So thank you, Omer. Thank you, Omer. Okay, anything else on your mind about Survivor 49? Oh my goodness. Survivor 49. I think it's been, every good survivor has been a good every survivor is a good survivor I think with 49 we're now at the part where it's like

oh we're about to hit merge and like we've been discussing we have this perfect setup of 11 tart margins and people who want to win and people who are thinking about 50 maybe they're thinking a lot maybe thinking about a little but they are thinking

about 50 so I am so curious to see how all these beautiful bubbles are going to go and mix up to turn into a beautiful Right. Okay. It's like we've taken the chicken and now we have it in the, we have it in the pot. And it's like, hey, just let it. We're, we're letting it simmer. We're letting it simmer. All they could do is now screw it up by putting more stuff in it. Like, you've got it. You got it. It's right where. They're occasionally. Okay. And we just, and we just stirred. And we just stirred. No, but we really could be set up for a good back half. Yeah. I think so. I think so. And I also think that it's like survivor changes day to day. You know, there's so many seasons where you're like, oh my gosh, this pre-merge is so powerful. We're going to have this powerful of a merge and we don't. And then we have other seasons where it's like, oh, my God, this is a slow moving car. And then someone straps a rocket to that car at the merge. So I really do think that it can it can go from zero to 100, 20 to 100, you know? So like I said, I'm very excited to see it. Any survivor is good survivor, and I'm really enjoying the season.

Okay. Marian, what else do you want people to check out that you're doing? Oh, my gosh. Like I said, I'm on chat BCC. That's where I usually just do my, for lack of a better term, live tweet to the show, chat about people. Also on Instagram. Because you can talk about the show there, and it's not like that you're going to get like retweeted and ratio. I know.

I know. And then because I actually, I don't have Twitter updated on my phone, so it's still actually Twitter. So the support is really janky, so I can't really use it properly. So chat BCC works so much better for me. And yeah, Instagram as well too. I try to do a monthly post. I did not do September. So hopefully I will do a back-to-back one tomorrow.

And if you see me on the street, please say hello. There have been times when people have seen me, then they message being like, was that you? I should have, like, I didn't want to bother you. Unless I am trying to go in like I'm getting a, like I'm clearly very busy fighting for my life. always come say hello. Here, let me share one of your recent Instagram posts. Here you are with the coveted Labibu. You saw a big fat Labubu in New York City. They have a rat boo-boo in New York City now. No, this one was actually in Toronto. Oh. It was like a $700 lobooboo.

Yes. Not the coveted golden Laboo though. No, not the 20-carried gold. And I sent it to my niece who's obsessed with Labuboos. And she's like, did you buy it? it and I'm like, no, it was expensive, but she doesn't know the concept of money because she's young. So she's like, you should have just gotten it. And I'm like, no, it was $700. Yes. Do you collect any Labibu? I don't. I think they're ugly, actually. Laboubu would be such a great Merge Tribe name that do you think that like you could get away with it? Like, would Jeff know if you name the Merge Tribe Labibu? I think there's some producer that be like, kill it, kill it. And to kill it. Yeah. No, I remember.

because I wanted to name the Merch Tribe Screwd-N. Screw-D-N? Screw-D-N, yeah, because you're not allowed to cuddle anymore. Oh. That was shut down so fast. You're looking they didn't just, like, pull the hook and rip you off the show. Yeah, they were like, damn, she was almost gone at. Mergatory, didn't have to have that name.

Because even pre-Murcherge, I'm like, we should call her merch tribe name Screwd-Den. But it didn't happen. names of the Merge Tribe F. Spilo? F. Spillo. That's Fijian for Crocodile. Yeah, that was the joke one. But then, but it's actually interesting. Speaking about

merch, you might be like, how do people make a Merge tribe name? Yes. Social equity comes into matter. Because when I was at Merge, I was at the bottom. So I couldn't then ask for the Merge tribe name because I'd be doing too much on the bottom, you know? So if you find out who makes the Merge tribe

name that actually shows you they're in a very good position strategically yes okay that is a very good point uh we'll see who names the merge tribe and we'll see we'll know that they carry a lot of weight absolutely both the person out who names the merge drive all right marianne thank you so much for making time you are always such a delight to talk to i'm always so happy when we get you to come here on rjp and talk about what's going on survivor and i thought that you had such great perspective on everything going on in the season. Oh my goodness. Thank you for listening to me

and not like just flying to Canada and pulling the mic, you know? That really means a lot and you appreciate my opinion. I would never do that. All right. Thank you so much for joining us. We've got Danielle DeLorenzo

on the old school interview. I'm going to be doing the patron Q&A. Check out my interview with Shannon. If you've missed that, thank you so much for joining us. Take care. Everybody, the good one. Bye.

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