RHAP: We Know Survivor - Sage Ahrens-Nichols Survivor 49 Exit Interview

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

Sage Ahrens-Nichols Survivor 49 Exit Interview Survivor 49 comes to a close as Rob Cesternino speaks with Sage, the dynamic third-place finisher whose journey tested both emotional strength and strategic adaptability. Rob digs into the highs and lows of Sage’s experience, from battling on the bottom with Shannon to navigating tough jury dynamics at the final Tribal Council. Rob kicks off by highlighting Sage’s open and vulnerable approach to the game, asking how her emotional honesty collided with the perception of her strategic gameplay. Sage shares how being a “recovering people pleaser” shaped her relationships, revealing the difference between genuine emotional expression and being misread as emotionally manipulative. Rob and Sage discuss: – Sage’s struggle with jury perception and managing emotional versus game moves – A revealing look at how flying under the radar can backfire at the end – The impact of the Sophie Segretti blindside and strategic misreads – How compartmentalizing emotions helped Sage balance being therapist and player – Candid post-game reflections, including why Sage found the Survivor 49 experience “boring” Rob and Sage tackle the tension between heart and strategy, asking whether it’s truly possible for an emotionally honest player to win Survivor. Chapters: 0:00 Intros 6:23 Tribal Council Energy Turns Negative 10:39 Emotional Vulnerability Versus Strategy 13:25 Post-Game Relationships Remain Strained 16:51 Key Decision Examined and Explained 17:15 Sage Finds Survivor Experience Boring 18:22 Rob Reflects On Sage’s Gameplay To pre-order Rob’s book, The Tribe and I Have Spoken, visit www.robhasabook.com 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!

This episode of Rob is a Podcast is presented by 20th Century Studios, Send Help from the Twisted Mind of Sam Ramey, Director of the Evil Dead, and Drag Me to Hell, starring Rachel McAdams and Dylan O'Brien. It's a new film that begs the question, what would you do if you were stuck on an island with your terrible boss? Do not answer if you work at Rob as a podcast, okay? In Paradise, HR, can't hear you scream. only in theaters in 3D on January 30th. When the weather cools down, Golden Nugget Online Casino turns up the heat. This winner, make any moment golden

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the final three but then having a tough night at the final tribal council so we'll talk with sage of course all of our other exit interviews are already up and then i talked with stephen fishback on a Special Survivor Know It Alls on Thursday. By the way, also, we kicked off our Traders Player Profiles for Season 4. You can catch the first of those. For some reason, they started with Rob Sisternino. And you can catch that with Mike Bloom and Eric Stein joining Puyazam McKeilly for the first of 21 days of Traders Player Profiles here on Rob is a podcast.

I see that we have Sage on the line. Let's go ahead and patch her in. All right. we're here with the third place finisher from something hey we have something in common sage the third place finisher for survivor 49 sage is here sage how are you um i'm passing away this morning but i'm here yeah i know you're not feeling well um just uh you know uh listen it's the holiday time a year traveling uh it's not easy but i appreciate you still making the time to talk about all this. Sage, I think you had such an interesting journey and I feel like that there's so much

more to your story because I feel like that you were so open and vulnerable with us and the audience. And I think that to a degree with the other players out there, but then when you layered playing a strategic game on top of that, it feels like that there was a disconnect with how the other players receive that. I understand the question. You say, can you Yeah. I just would love to hear from you where I kind of feel like that you to me were like a little bit like a Carolyn where I felt like that you really, you know, you had a personality but also a strategic game that was kind of behind the personality. And I feel like it's hard for the other players to reconcile those two things. Yeah, you know, it's I think something that's been so fascinating throughout this entire experience. is cognitively I've understood the concept of we see people through our own lens. Like we see people how we see ourselves or we see people through our own experiences.

And I've always understood what that means, but this experience, I understand what that feels like. Like I understand what it feels like to really know from like a, I know what it's like for myself when I do that. And now I'm aware of like what it's like for other people. And for me, I'm at a point in my life where I am very selective about. the people I get close with. I'm a recovering people pleaser. I used to just put everybody else first. Now I have like this nice, tight weirdo core group.

And I forget that in this weirdo core group, we are emotional with each other. And that's not like a, that's not as perceived as like a negative trait. It's actually like very esteemed. Like it's a very respected quality amongst the people I associate with. And doing this experience and remembering what it's like of like, oh, yeah, that's a quality about myself that I didn't always like. and that historically has been deemed as, like, inferior or negative. Like, and people aren't really talking about emotional.

They're talking about emotional dysregulation. There's a difference between expressing emotion and being dysregulated, right? There's a difference between me crying and be punching you in the face. One of those is very indicative of dysregulation. The other is just our body sweat when we're overheated. Our eyes cry when we're overwhelmed, you know? Yeah. So, say, do you feel like when you watch the show back,

Did you feel like that what you saw was in any way different than the experience that you had? Oh, yeah, but not in like a way where it's like, just in a way where it has to be different. It's 90 minutes, right? We're filmed 23 hours a day, roughly, seven days a week, 26 days. And then you're packing that into a 19, 19, 90 minute episodes that also have commercial breaks. Like, of course, like the Survivor the TV show is going to be vastly different than Survivor. the game. And that's just, unfortunately, how it is. And I went into the season knowing, like, this is going to be edited around Rizzo and Savannah. They go on 50. Like, you have to hype the

people up. So I think for myself, and hopefully the rest of the cast, like, they had that awareness of like, hey, be prepared for some disappointment. Not everything's going to be shown. And you hear past players talk about it all the time of like, this wasn't shown, this wasn't shown. So I was like, oh, okay, so most things won't be shown. Yeah. How about going into the final tribal council, when you went into that final tribal council that night, how were you expecting it to go? Not well in my favor. I, there's so much, if we had hours, we could really dissect this, but, I have the time, Sage.

Hey, hit me up, dude. But, like, I'm, this going to sound super, like, hippie, whatever, but, like, I do believe in energy and you can feel people's energy and especially when you have a large group that all feels similarly and have been like festering in these feelings like it is palpable like it is like oh i'm uncomfortable like there's something in here and i'm pretty sure when i pair that with what i'm observing of like body language or reactions to how i'm answering questions versus how savanna so i'm like it took by question three i was aware of like oh these people hate me and i guess i can't speak for them but they did not like me um the tribal was edited was not did not show the full

extent of people were they were there was a lot of disdain towards me and it was feeling you anymore they weren't feeling me and i don't think they were feeling me ever like a part of my strategy was like leaning into different parts of myself that even if those aren't the parts that tend to be in the driver's seat these days their parts i'm familiar with like insecurity I had struggled as we all do and if anyone says they don't have insecurities I'm like I got bad news for you but I know what it's like to not like myself

I know what it's like to think that I'm nothing and I'm not at that place anymore but I will never forget what it feels like to be there and it benefited me to come off as like insecure or kind of aloof in the game because it allows me to fly under the radar versus sometimes like my country accent will come out so strong and that's usually it's like a a defense mechanism I guess territory of defense mechanisms of a lot of people

perceive me as a bitch when they first see me I think just because like I do I I'm aware that my affect is like not super typical or normal and um it matters if you're if you're being perceived as a bitch like people are mean to you so like I've I noticed when I put on the country accent and I don't do it intentionally, but it comes out when I'm feeling uncomfortable is like, oh, this kind of disarms people. They're like, oh, she's not a bitch. She's just stupid because people equate a Southern accent with ignorance, but we could go in a whole.

That's a whole different story. I was thinking about your game yesterday, and I was comparing you to a lot of times we see in the Final Tribal Council that there is a mom who then betrayed people in the game. And people get very upset with that person. could you do this? And it's like one thing where it's like, okay, I maybe didn't have that emotional connection with Savannah and she did what she did. But maybe I wasn't expecting this from you. And my guard was down because of you. And then you did this to me. Like I can't forgive what you did in the game. I wonder, do you feel like there's anything to that? Yeah. I do. I appreciate you

saying that. And by the way, I don't judge people for that. Like that's, I understand. Like, I've been there too. But for me, I think a really eye-opening part of this experience is similar to what I was saying before. I'm like, I am in my own bubble these days. I don't really leave my house. I don't associate, like, it takes me like weeks to respond to texts. I forget that the rest of the world is not like my small bubble. And in my small bubble, we do.

We talk about weird stuff, but we also talk really deep. Surface level conversation is my kryptonite. I can't do it. But the second that you sit down and you, want to be vulnerable with me, I'm going to hold space for you and I'm going to make sure you don't feel judged and that you just feel heard and seen because I know how much it feels when I've felt heard and seen. It's like transformative and healing. I think the problem is I'm a therapist for a living. I have to compartmentalize. If I don't, I will be burnt out and I

won't have a job. So for me, I'm able to have, I have hard conversations every day, multiple times a day, just as my job. For me, I'm able to compartmentalize those and not let those factor into, like, be in the driver's seat. And I think, to your point, I think my strategy of coming off as an emotional player worked a little bit too well because people thought that they could just manipulate me through appealing to emotions.

Like, right? Of like, we don't really have to get to no stage because we already know how she's going to vote. She's an emotional player, so she's going to lead with her heart. She's not going to be strategic at all. And so when you have these human moments, I said this in my pregame interview,

I think with Mike Bloom, for me, the human moments, those are 100% real. This cast labels me. as emotionally manipulative, and I understand why they feel that way. It doesn't change my truth that every single moment where any one of them was vulnerable with me, that, oh, it gives me life. But it's not going to give you an advantage or a disadvantage when it comes to my strategic decision-making in the context of a game.

If we were outside of a game, that's a different story. But we were in a game for a million dollars. So I have to compartmentalize. Thank you for being vulnerable with me. Now I put my game hat back on. and that doesn't like that that didn't even happen in the game in the context of the game does that make sense yes i i definitely make sense and honestly sage i think that this is uh the way that uh my wife approaches a lot of things so i definitely uh understand what you're saying how about your relationships

with uh the other players after the game how because i know that you had an interesting ride certainly with shannon and some of the jurors so how how where you're you're you're where are things with the other players? You know, it's hard, like, a problem I've run into my whole life is I call out the elephant in the room and then I get labeled as the problem. But in my mind, I'm like, wait, why wouldn't we talk about the elephant? Like, we're all tiptoeing around it. It's uncomfortable.

Like, if we just acknowledged it and, like, held space for each other without shaming each other and just try to listen and understand, then we wouldn't have to tiptoe around this huge freaking elephant. But the elephant in the room, for me at least, is tribal was very different than how it's portrayed. It was, I love Sophie Sogretti. She has validated. She's like, Sage, we treated like a punching bag. And I was like, thank you.

I said, we can't change that. And I'm not going to kick, like, being accountable is uncomfortable as hell. So when someone is like coming at me with accountability, first and foremost, respect. I'm going to respect you. I'm not going to make you feel crappier because I already know how hard it is to be like, hey, like with Shannon's stuff, right? Like intent versus impact. I never intended to hurt her, but that was the impact. And I will own that.

That, like, I'm not going to invalidate that for her. But all that being said, there's some people that I still haven't, like, we haven't spoken. And I tried to hold a roundtable at Fiji before we left back to the States to be like, okay, so there was a lot of emotion at tribal directed towards me. Like, I want to understand. Can we talk about it? And people continued to, like, argue with every, like, thing that I was bringing up. And I was like, okay, it hurt. But in my head, I was like, Sage, don't take it personally.

They're just not, they're not ready yet. And that's fair. Just I'm, I get, I'm ready for uncomfortable conversations right off the bat. But not everyone's like that. And you have to respect everyone's own pace. So I've really just tried to stand back and let people like, okay, come to me when you're ready. And there's a few people I'll reach out. I'm like, hey, I just want to let you know, like Stephen as an example.

I will, I blindsided the crap out of you. It would make sense if there was feelings. And you could tell Stephen was very unhappy with me after I voted him out, which I did not calculate for. And I'm like, hey, you can tell me directly, Sage, I'm mad at you. You hurt me. You know, like, give me that. I'm not going to judge you.

I'm not going to get defensive. It is so healing when someone can just hold space for you to be like, you hurt me. And I want you to know. But I can't do the passive aggressive of I'm not going to say you hurt me, but I'm going to try to pawn up, project my emotions on you for you to hold. I'm a recovering people pleaser. I can't do that anymore. Sage, was there one decision that you made in the game that you feel like when you look

back you wish you did it differently or do you feel like that there's there's nothing that you could have changed that would have ultimately resulted in you winning you know it's so i have to remind myself constantly watching these especially survivor the tv show i have to remind myself constantly like sage what did you know at the time like the sophie uh sophie soffrete vote out for example everyone views that is strictly emotional and i'm like don't get me wrong as i said in final tribal like there was an emotional element and also i fumbled that question at final tribal like that wasn't there's so much we'll talk later about that but like i um oh crap rob i lost the train of thought what was the question you were you were talking about that was there something that you could

have done differently and you said that oh gotcha got you sigretti yes so with what wasn't shown the next day is that sophie oh honey you can't come right there my dog's got a donut on he's about to knock this over um i was like the next day say Sophie, like, I'm doing damage control, right? I'm like, I'm thinking that I'm going home. So I'm like, I want all these people to not be comfortable putting me on the jury. So I'm really, I am emotional, but I'm also leaning into it of like, yeah, I want you guys think I'd be like, hella irrational.

But Sophie, I never calculated for her to turn on me. That was like never a thing in my head that could happen, which was my misstep. And so when that did happen, now I'm like, I just lost my number one. Stephen was my number two for sure. But now he also was on the wrong side of that vote. and he's trying to do damage control. And his version of damage control was ruining my version of damage control. I'm like, crap, Stephen's going to come out on top.

But with Sophie, the next day, I said, Sof, you just handed Savannah a million dollars. She goes, no, Sage, I didn't. Like, I think I could go toe to toe with her at the end. And that's when it clicked. I was like, that's what Sophie Sogretti would want. She is a fierce competitor. She wants to go to the end with Savannah,

not because she likes Savannah, but because that is how, that is how Sophie is. She is the fiercest competitor I've ever met. The other thing that happened, was, I was talking to Savannah, I was like, hey, Savannah, I'm sorry to write your name down, but like, you're a huge slut. She's like, Sage, I don't understand why you think that. I was like, multiple people have said they won't write your name down, Sophie B and Rizzo.

And she was like, well, people have said that about you, Sage. I was like, nobody has said that to my face. She goes, well, Sophie Sogretti. And I was like, she has not said that to me. Rob, 10 minutes later, I'm in the hammock. Sophie Sofie walks past me in front of everybody in camp, by the way, pauses, lowers her voice. But the thing in my head, I'm like, you're lowering your voice, but you're still pausing to talk to me in front of everybody.

which means that you're comfortable doing this in front of everybody, which means that whatever you're about to say to me, you're comfortable if anybody else sees or hears it because they potentially know that it's a lie or something. She says, she like pauses, steps back 10 minutes after the Savannah conversation. She goes, say, I don't know if I've ever said this to you, but I would never write your name down. And I was like, crap, are Sophie Savannah still working together?

So I legitimately thought I was going home that tribal. And I was like, my best bet, Stephen really wants to hold on to his advantage. He's comfortable writing down Sophie's name for doing that. I'm like, my best bet is to put Sophie's name down. As a viewer, it's like, well, why wouldn't you get Savannah out? That was your best time. It's like, well, yeah, but as a viewer, you have so much more information that I had as a player. And as a player, there was too many red flags that indicated I might not be safe this next vote.

And I was, but at the time, I can only interpret what I have in front of me. Okay. I know you have to run. My last question for you is that I thought that you were such a throwback as a survivor player. I felt like that you were so real. And I think that you gave us so much to watch as viewers. But I don't know about how you felt about the experience.

Would you be open to ever playing Survivor again? I always say never say never with things because it's like I don't know how I'd feel in five years. But for me, personally, no disrespect to the game. It was boring, dude. It was so boring. I don't think anybody's ever said that. I think maybe with a different, like 47, I think I would have had a blast playing with them. Because I think that they were just on.

Say, you wanted to go on Big Brother. I know. And I'm so glad, no offense, Big Brother. But that's just like, when I was in my people pleasing days, Big Brother would have made sense. Because I do feel like it's a, no, and this isn't anything towards the players, but the editing is a little bit more, like, performative. Okay. I know you got to go.

This was not boring. You were not boring. Okay. Thank you so much, Sage. Hope you're feeling better. Have a great holiday. Thanks, man. All right.

Bye. Happy holiday. All right. You heard it here first. You just want to go back on Survivor because it's boring. How about that? I mean, Sage, if you think it was boring now, I got some news for you in the old era. It was really boring when it was 39 days, 26 days.

the nonstop excitement. All right. But, you know, Sage is such an interesting person to talk to. Of course, she looks at the game and all of the landscape of Survivor so differently than so many the other people that you talk to in the new era. I thought she was super refreshing. I think I may have mischaracterized her game at times and thought that she was only an emotional player. But definitely, there are layers there. I hope we get the chance to talk to her more. Thank you so much for listening to this exit interview special. We still have a lot more Survivor to talk about coming up Next week, I'm working on a list, the rankings of the new era winners, and we'll also have ways for you, the listeners, to vote and weigh in on that as we rank the nine winners from

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