RHAP: We Know Survivor - Sam Phalen Survivor 49 Finale Reactions

Episode Date: December 18, 2025

Sam Phalen Survivor 49 Finale Reactions Today, Rob Cesternino and Survivor 47’s Sam Phalen break down the Survivor 49 finale. The Survivor 49 finale was packed with drama, unexpected moves. Rob Cesternino and Sam Phelan discuss it all. Savannah emerged as a unique and dynamic winner, combining challenge wins with honest, straightforward gameplay. Unlike many winners before her, Savannah’s approach was focused and unapologetic, leading the trio of herself, Rizzo, and Soph to dominate much of the late game. Rob and Sam discuss: How Savannah’s clutch challenge wins and alliance management secured her victory. Sage’s emotional journey and her reaction to the jury’s reception. The final Tribal Council, including a throwback moment when Christina asked Savannah to name loved ones of jurors. Rizzo’s creative idol bluffing and speculation about how his game might evolve in Survivor 50. The upcoming Survivor 50 was teased, featuring legendary returning players, celebrity cameos, and new twists from Billie Eilish, Zac Brown, Jimmy Fallon, and Mr. Beast. Stay tuned as Survivor enters its next chapter—with returning favorites, twists, and celebrity cameos. There’s so much more Survivor coverage and community fun ahead, right here on RHAP! To pre-order Rob’s book, The Tribe and I Have Spoken, visit www.robhasabook.com This episode is sponsored by 20th Century Studios and their new film Send Help. Send Help is directed by Sam Raimi and stars Rachel McAdams and Bradly Preston in a thrilling, darkly twisted survival story that only Sam Raimi could bring to life. Experience the suspense on the big screen — Send Help is only in theaters and in 3D starting January 20th! 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!

Hey, everybody, what's going on? Rob Sesternino, back with you live after the Survivor 49 finale. What a night. What a night. So many things that we were not expecting here in this night. As we congratulate our brand new winner of Survivor, Survivor, Survivor, 49 winner, Savannah, congratulations, and here with me tonight to break it all down, an honest to goodness survivor finalist, a survivor finalist who gets votes even here with me to break it

all down. It's Sam Phelan. Sam, how are you? I'm great. I'm so honored to be you. Not Jimmy Phelan. Not Jimmy Phelan. I will not be deciding anyone's fate tonight, but very excited to be here with you, Rob. I'm honored to be here for the finale. I think the top story of the night for me shifted like eight times throughout the evening. So we certainly have a lot of fun to break down and talk about. Well, this is going to be a great spot to talk with you. I'm so excited that you're here. Stephen has to go to bed early. He's busy out, you know, promoting escape. And so we will talk with Stephen tomorrow. We'll have a live Survivor and O'Dalls tomorrow at 3 p.m. on a very busy Thursday when 3 p.m. Eastern. I will also talk with four of the five

finalists. I believe Sage is scheduled for an exit interview coming up on Friday. So I will speak with Savannah, Rizzo, Christina, and Sof on Thursday, and then we should have an exit interview with Sage on Friday. Also, some very exciting news. Tonight's big Survivor finale recap is sponsored by a brand new movie. Send help in theaters in 3D, January 30th. We have more to show you about that.

We're very excited about that. Great commercials for Send Help during the Survivor finale, so we're super pumped up about that. Sam, how are you after three plus hours, the longest Survivor finale night in history? Well, I'm still hanging in there. I'm a night owl, so it's good to be up late talking Survivor. I will say we got, I thought, a really competitive.

final tribal council. So three very good speeches. One not so good speech today. It was a good time. It was a good time. But I'm doing very well. I did enjoy the episode, especially I think kind of after we came back from our little interruption and our break, it really kind of picked up a good, a good preamble to fire, a really great preamble before final tribal council, and then a really competitive fight from all three finalists. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I know, I could just want I heard in the speech tonight, Survivor was doing much better than one year ago right now, Survivor, was down bad, I heard. Before the new era. It was a nightmare. It was a nightmare. And now we're doing so good. Now it's so good. It's better than ever. Okay. We are live, live, so we can take your questions tonight as well here. So we're pumped up. And so if you got things to say in the chat, we will flag them for later on.

in the show. But first, let's talk about our brand new Survivor winner, Savannah, who officially, we just found out tonight, did I spot some Savannah in the Survivor 50 trailer? Wow. Breaking news. Our reporter is back. I thought Savannah as a winner, Rob, my initial takeaway was just, what a fun winner. What a fun, unique winner that she is here. I think we kind of talked about this throughout the season, but her personality was just something we really hadn't seen. And a strategic force, a physical force, had some really tight allies, seemed to rub some people the wrong way, and clearly didn't end up costing her the game at all. There was a fumble and a at final tribal council, which had my heart pounding out of my chest. But Savannah just kind of

brings such a fresh energy to the screen. And I thought she did a really good job tonight of laying out clearly why she was essential to the success of that trio. And so I think a very deserving win for Savannah. I'm satisfying conclusion. A really interesting player profile in Savannah. And I don't know if I can think of off the top of my head another winner, specifically a woman who is like her, where that she has this tenacity of the child.

She will not be turned away when she has set her mind to something. She's so driven. She's so focused. I thought she had a lot of self-awareness, especially at the reunion show where she talked about how her hero was Kim Spradlin, who she wins for immunity challenges, much like something that you and I have in common, the woman that won both of our seasons also won four immunity challenges. And she says, but that I wasn't Kim.

Like I didn't have the social game that. Kim had. And so it is actually rather interesting to see somebody come along and she really won the game. I thought that her best moves where a lot of times we see people win challenges and they don't win or lose based off of challenge wins where we've had, you know, people like a Brad Culpepper wins five challenges and doesn't win the game. But she won very clutch challenges where there were many times where it seemed like that everybody, they wanted to. get her out. She would have gone home had she not won. But she won the challenge. She wasn't a compiler. And not just like protected herself through winning clutch challenges, but also with the

combined force of her challenge wins and Rizzo's idol, the boy who cried idle fiasco throughout the season, was able to have like immunity for all three of them really for like most of this post merge. And then I think she did a great job highlighting as well. Her recruitment of Sophie Segretti to their side, right? And like, huh? Both selves. Both sofs. Yeah, she had both selves on her side, two sofs. And she ended up by bringing on Sophie Segretti and then immediately like turning on her, I think was able to cement the numbers, had that extra vote used in there as well to solidify their position. And then just clutch immunity wins. She was not this person that was constantly evading a target and getting people to do her bidding all the

time. But I think we had countless confessionals from people saying, well, I want to get Savannah while we have the chance. I want to get Savannah while we have the chance. And then kind of a fitting end that she wins final five immunity is able to say, they can't get me. They miss their chance. And that's sort of the story of the season for a lot of these people. Yeah. And I think that also compounded with, you know, she was such a big threat all throughout the game. And then I think that we also need to talk about this finale and Sage's role in all of it as well. She has like the very emotional moment at the reunion show, but also that I think that Sage's story is such an interesting one

where she's part of the majority. There's that point where if you just like pause the movie halfway through and it's like there's only Nate gets blindsided and it's only Savannah and Rizzo and Sof. And here's Sage and Joanne in the middle of this big seven person alliance. And then if you pause it right there, it's like, oh, this is looking real bad for Savannah. But somehow Sage,

who's in that majority where then so many people go home from that side, it's that I think that there was an anger towards Sage of like, we were with you. Why did you vote so many of us out? Yeah, definitely. I think, you know, Sage, I actually defended Sage and her move to vote out Stephen last week. I heard Stephen Fishback make the same point as kind of like I had the realization of as well.

I saw Saddam make the counterpoint. Yeah. I mean, listen, Sage woke up at the final six, realized I need to hit my one-outer and sit with these particular people to have like the best shot of winning. She probably knew that I need to sit next to Sof and Christina. That means one of Stephen Rizzo, Savannah has to go. So she votes out Stephen, right? Like there's sound logic there. I just think it was like sort of a comedy of errors, like like a series of mistakes over and over that compounded to getting in what was honestly probably a drawing dead situation. for Sage. So I don't think she necessarily could have done anything more tonight. I thought she was pretty good at Final Tribal Council. But Rob, I got the vibe that Sage wanted to go into Final Tribal Council and say, I used my emotions as a shield for real strategic gameplay, which can be a great argument. But to me, I perceived the jury kind of wasn't hearing it because they perceived her moves as emotional moves.

So you can't really use emotion as a shield for moves that they perceive to be emotional. And this is the thing that we see across Survivor and Big Brother where Savannah was sort of like focused on getting the people that weren't working with her out of the game where Sage, I think, looked over and said, like, I have a lot of friends on the jury, you know, between Stephen and Sophie and emce and i and christina like those are my friends that are on the jury and and joan like i'm i'm looking pretty good and then the people on the jury felt like yeah but you you you screwed me over you turned on me yeah absolutely no they screwed you over i'd like she she did contradict herself as somebody in the chat pointed that out with like the emotions of it but then i also

wanted like revenge to avenge joan um and savanna i think at some point you just have to like respect who she is and she does have as you mentioned rob this sort of uh it's a self-fulfilling prophecy in a sense they talk about savanna as this big fish that we have to get out the whole way and when that big fish is sitting there at the end a jury member is going to ask sage or so for whoever else is sitting there hey why should i not just vote for this person that we talked about not being able to beat the entire game. That's a hard argument to make. And the beauty of what Savannah was able to do is that did anybody feel like

Savannah screwed them over in this one game? If you're not with me, then I can't screw you. She played hard the whole way through, but she was like pretty cards up throughout the whole game of like, okay, these are the people I'm working with. And yeah, if you want to work with us on this, that's great. But nobody felt betrayed by Savannah the whole way through. yeah people maybe felt distant from her personally she rubbed people the wrong way that's there's a

difference there i and i think you know certainly and we'll talk about self here i'm sure as well rob depending what you get out of a jury savannah might not win some seasons if you get a jury that values this like i can think of like okay survivor 46 is an example of a jury that clearly valued a social game as being like top tier christina said at one point like a social game is what I value and what I'm basing my vote off of. She votes for Sof, but I don't think this jury cared about that all that much. They liked that cutthroat dedicated to, dedicated and determined headspace that Savannah seemed to be in for a lot of the post merge. And she ends up there at the end. People just tip the cap to a better competitor. Yeah. Did you think that this final

tribal council was in play, in swing, like to be swung to Sophie? at any point. I don't know. I just, I had a hard time piecing together where Sophie's votes were going to come from, especially because Rizzo seemed to be such a big advocate of Savannah. And Rizzo does have that luxury of being the one person from the trio to go to Ponderosa and spill and tell all about what everybody's roles exactly were. And clearly he, I mean, he called Savannah a legend voting for her to win the game. He clearly thinks very highly of her and her gameplay. Not to say he doesn't of Sof as well, but that's where his vote went. And I think if people like Alex or Sophie S or Nate were on the fence about which direction to go, getting a stamp from Rizzo probably helped swing that,

you know, for a lot of those people. Yeah, I think that would have been so interesting to have had Rizzo in the final three also with Savannah and to see, you know, what people would. would have done. I actually think Stofy's got a real good shot in that final three. That would be really interesting. The trio ends up getting there. Yeah, but can you speak to it? I know you weren't at Ponderosa when people come back, but how big of a role does that

final juror play in helping to shape the decision of the jury? Yeah, I don't know if it's specifically the final juror, like that firemaking loser always, but I do think there are certain people who offer insight that other people just don't have. Like a key juror, I think, on my season was Andy. When, you know, Andy was part of this trio that pulled off Operation Italy move. And a lot of people on the jury, I mean, everybody on the jury, did not really know what happened. They just knew, okay, Andy flipped, Caroline went home, what's going on here, right? So when that person gets to Ponderosa, they're able to spill information that this jury could never foresee or see coming.

and how they frame that information, how they perceive the players remaining in the game, I do think can shape a lot of the opinions of the people who just have to take their word for it. So I don't know if, like, Christina, going back to Ponderosa was able to, like, completely sway people's opinions of the game. But I think somebody like Stephen,

who everybody seemed to really respect, or Rizzo, who was part of this trio, I think their opinions certainly have weight with people who haven't been on the island in quite some time. Kind of surprising that Alex doesn't vote for SOF in the final three. So the two SOF votes were MC and Christina. And if she can get Alex, now it's four to three to one. Yeah.

Yeah. I would be curious to hear from Alex. I mean, Alex, I had kind of chalked up as a as a vote for SOF. You know, maybe they didn't really play the post merge together. Maybe he felt a little bit burned by what went on there. MC and Christina, I kind of got the vibe that they were just anti-Savana votes. It's kind of, you know, vote for anybody who's going up against Savannah. And so, Sof, definitely with the social game, pulled both of them in here.

But, yeah, Savannah really able to sweep some of the on the fencers, I would say. And that was the difference in the game. Yeah. Okay. Let's – can we call her Sophie, please, in the chat? Look, I've had to hardwire my brain like three different times. Sophie, Blue Sophie, Sof, I'm stuck on Sof. I'm trying to work my way back. This is where we're at.

I'm sorry. Jeff is still calling herself at the after show. I can't. Jeff got really stuck on Sof. And she has the great moment in the episode where she ultimately wins the final four challenge. You know, she had a couple of spots where I think she was expecting she was going to be able to make a more impactful move. and things just did not work out in her favor.

We certainly have litigated the knowledge is power situation from last week. But she comes into this episode feeling like, hey, that I still have a chance here because it's the final five, and I have Sage and Christina, and I could swing with them, and I could vote out Savannah here. She's not going to see it coming, and that could be my big move, and she wins the advantage, but ultimately she doesn't win the immunity challenge, and then Rizzo still has his idol. And she really, they think that she's still with them. And so she ends up just getting through that final five vote.

But at four, she does win the Final Four Immunity Challenge. And then she sends Rizzo and Savannah to the firemaking. Was that maybe the half measure where did she need to take Savannah into the firemaking? I mean, evidently. I guess based on, like, the result. But I do think that's sort of hindsight. I mean, I think she takes Savannah and she beats Savannah and fire. She's got a real good shot.

I mean, Rizzo has a great case to make as well as far as his own game is concerned. But I think that's a big thing on her resume. But I do think that's hindsight. I think Sof is sort of banking here on that social game. And I think she showed a lot of awareness at Final Tribal Council of like what her niche was within this trio. She said, oh, Rizzo's the strategist. Savannah's the muscle. I'm the social.

And boy, was that clear. She had everybody laughing on that jury bench. Every time she spoke up, Charming her way, all the way to the end. She was a great player. She really was. I was very impressed with her all season long. I think she got a little unlucky with the whole knowledge is power situation. And there being an advantage that was you had to play it before tribal council.

So I think that there were some circumstances that she got on the unlucky, like, disaster tribe, where she didn't have numbers at any point in the game. But I think that she's somebody who, if she played again, and I did not catch her in the Survivor 50 trailer, so I don't think that she made it to Survivor 50. I do think that she would be very dangerous on a second time out. Yeah, for, oh, certainly. Yeah, she's great, very charming, seems to have a brain for the game and all that it would take well equipped to do very well.

I'll say, I think one of the things that could have been a fact. for Sophie here is, see, I'm getting better, because I've been in this spot before where you're sort of getting to the end and you're trying to figure out, like, what is my best combination? Can I beat this person? I think the closer you get to final tribal council, the better you start to feel about your own game. Like, you start to feel a little bit more gassed up about your chances. And so I do think there is that idea, like maybe she's able to sit at final six and say, I can't beat Savannah. And then you win that final immunity challenge and you're starting to feel yourself and your narrative and your story and you can see you're

like sitting in on that stool talking to the jury you're writing the speech in your head and you start to wonder oh what if this is just like good enough i'd hate to give up a million dollars if i can beat savannah um for the chance that i go into fire against her and lose and you know kick myself forever so i think some of that has something to do with it as well you kind of talk yourself up in your own head to be like no i got this i can beat anybody i've got a unique story to tell um so Yeah, hindsight, she beat Savannah. Maybe she has a good shot with a Rizzo Sage, Sophie, Final 3. But I think she did, she put up a good effort here.

She definitely redeemed herself from the, the knowledge's power situation that we had last week. Okay. We still have a ton to break down, including everything from Rizzo's game, the final five vote. And we're going to talk about the Survivor 50 trailer. But first, I want to take a moment and show you. little message about send help in theaters January 30th

so let's take this quick break and we'll come back and break down the rest of the Survivor 49 finale this episode is brought to you by 20th century studios send help from the visionary twisted mind of Sam Ramey they actually mentioned him on the premiere of this season

the director behind the evil dead and drag me to hell the movie stars Rachel McAdams as Linda Little she's a survivor super fan I get it it. Who's overworked, overlooked, and honestly, over it. Then there's Dylan O'Brien. He plays Bradley Preston. That's her nightmare of a boss. And the two of them go on this work trip that goes very, very wrong. Their plane crashes on a deserted island and suddenly the rolls reversed. She's the boss now. Bradley all of a sudden he made her life miserable. Now he's relying on her

survival skills to stay alive. And the whole thing asked the question, maybe we've all asked at some point. What would you do if you were stuck on an island with your terrible boss? And there's no tribal council on this island. She'd kill for a promotion. And honestly, after seeing this trailer, I get it. Send Help is only in theaters in 3D, January 30th. There was a trailer for send help during the episode where they have Rachel McAdams, another great Rachel. She was making her Survivor audition video. Fifty-one. I've heard rumblings of famous people in casting all the time. Yep. And yeah, maybe we'll see her pop up on Smart 50. All right. Yeah. I'd love to talk through that final five vote because it was certainly interesting. And we talked through about how it ends up

with Savannah winning her fourth immunity. And really for Sophie, she doesn't have the big move that she wants to make to flip over with Sage and Christina. And so it's just a foregone conclusion. Okay, well, it's either going to be Sage or Christina. The interesting thing that happens is Savannah picks Sage to go on the reward to go to the final three. I'm like, wow, this is some elite jury management going on here from Savannah. But then Savannah wants to take her to the final three. Yeah. I mean, Savannah wants to, I guess you get Sage on your good side so that she doesn't pitch

like Sophie going out, I guess. I don't know what else the move was there other than ingratiating yourself with somebody if it was just a genuine, like, kind gesture. I understand why she's afraid of Christina for the firemaking. That was sound, I thought. Well, to me, I was, Zach in the chat says, Rob, you predicted Christina as the final five boop. But I predicted Christina as the final five boop

because I thought they were going to say, wow, Christina has a lot of friends on the jury. Yeah, it didn't seem they were. And it didn't seem like that was even a factor. No, yes. They talked about her. She's the easier person to beat, but she can make fire so good.

She had one, like, moment where she's like, I'm really worried about Christina at the end. I didn't understand that. It was like a one-off comment. Sof and Rizzo acknowledged, like, yeah, we want Christina sitting there at the end. She's easy to beat. But I think it depends who you are.

Like, if you're Savannah, rightfully so, felt like she could beat anybody in the game. You know your weakness is fire. Get the strong fire maker out. Absolutely. That makes sense for her. Does she subscribe to that? Oh, absolutely.

I mean, for Savannah, yes. I was actually kind of interested in the decision that Rizzo and Sophie made because Rizzo says, I'm worried about Sage taking some of the votes that I think I can get. Maybe Rizzo feels like, you know, Jawan is somebody that he could pull over the other trio members. Sam, if it's a situation where it's like the player who they do not, again, this is their logic. Okay. There's a player in the game who is not likely to win, but very good at fire. can't whoever wins immunity just take them to the final three like are we that afraid of christina

where like were they afraid that oh what what if sof wins and then she'll use her as a weapon and put her into the fire against savanna is that what they're afraid of well i do hear that i do hear that argument actually now because savannah seems shocked that sophie put her in fire like that that she was hurt by that clearly from her confessionals so if she's so surprised that she's going in fire. Why vote? Because right, like you said, right, if you keep Christina, you're only keeping Christina, or afraid of keeping Christina, if you think you're going to end up against Christina in fire. I don't think Christine is a threat to win the final immunity challenge.

So what, like, what do you worry about? Savannah really feel like, hey, we're the three musketeers. Our dream is to get the three of us into the final three. And so we have to remove the best fire maker to Sage is not going to be able to beat one of us in fire. so that's how we get our final three to the end? Yeah, that could be. That could, I think that's actually probably exactly what it was. Because she did seem very set on this three. Maybe she's just placating Sage at the end,

hoping that if Sage is there at four, you know, if she gets her way, they vote out, Christina Sage is there at four. If Sage pulls off immunity, right, Sage has been the one person to give Savannah the best run at immunity up until that point of that group. Maybe Sage just decides to take Savannah as like a nice, kind repayment gesture.

Maybe that's what Savannah's going for there. No, I really, I'm trying to get there with her three. Yeah, I think that they were trying to get it all. Trace Lechay's final three. She was at least, which, you know, in her mind. That final three, we were raw, I will say,

we were a little bit robbed of like, I wanted to see Savannah versus Rizzo at the end. I think that would have been so much fun because they're both performers, right? Like, Savannah is very straightforward. She was not afraid to, like, speak up for herself, and fight there at the end. And then, like, I mean, a Riz God final travel council speech, that would have been incredible.

It would have been incredible, but Sam, I never got the sense that he was a serious jury threat. I wonder if maybe Nate might have voted for him, but I struggle to see where Rizzo's votes would have come from on the jury. I think he could have gotten a lot of the same ones Savannah got. Maybe not Stephen, because Stephen, just from what we know, like exit press, whatever. Alex like maybe some of a couple of like the rando savannah votes if he's there if he's there without sage I think he gets joan of like if it's the trade

chase final three I think he could get uh he could get Sophie S maybe I think Sophie S was a locked in Savannah vokes I think that Sophie S looked at Savannah as I think that that's the thing that a lot of jurors do have like that's that would have been me that's how I played the game I'm voting for the person that is most representative of how I play.

I think so that's kind of the final three that I'm talking about here though. If that Trace Lechase group goes, does Rizzo get Nate and like Jawan? And then Savannah gets like Sophie and people. And then like maybe there's

a path there for the anti-Savano Rizzo contingency of like a sage Christina MC to vote for Sov. Maybe that's her win scenario there. It's got to, like, shoot the moon, but I think that there was probably a path there. So let me talk about that final five vote where Sage goes on the reward with Savannah. And Savannah, because I'm not voting out Sage. And we see where Sof and Rizzo are talking to Christina, like, hey, we want to vote out Sage.

And so for the first time, really, in the whole game, we see where specifically Rizzo and Savannah are at loggerheads. And they're having a hard time making a. decision and you see rizzo is like crying about this uh that he's like uh you know i don't want to make you mad and ultimately the votes end up going on sage it seems like this was a fold on rizzo's part i have to give credit to chapelle who held it down on the twitch stream tonight did a great job we had our first ever survivor live uh watch party and also halftime show during the Survivor finale and I believe he had said

on the Twitch stream of should Rizzo have played the idol on Christina? Was this the point when he could have shown the jury like hey, Savannah's not calling the shots. I'm doing something without Savannah's permission. I wanted to save Christina.

I'm going to play the idol. Christina, did you vote for who I told you to vote for him? Yeah, right? I mean, hey, there was a maybe, right? I mean, I get it if you're Rizzo Final 5, you're like, all right, just like, let me play this on myself, whatever. I was kind of surprised we didn't get some sort of theatrics out of him.

But wouldn't that have been, like, at least like, okay, I held the idol, I held the idol, held the idol, and then my fun, my coup de grace with the idol is, I made the move that nobody expected, which we, which is the Natalie Anderson move, which it would have been so appropriate considering that this is, as mentioned in the episode, the first all women final three since Survivor San Juan Del, Sir, which happens to have been 20 seasons ago. And I saw Natalie Anderson posted on Instagram earlier tonight before the episode even came on

that she said it was 11 years ago tonight to the day that she won Survivor San Juan Del Sour. So interestingly, 11 years ago to the exact day, December 17th, was when there was last a all women final three on Survivor. Yeah, it's incredible. It's been that long. I feel like, you know, we've gotten close. We've gotten some teasers recently, and then it just hasn't, hasn't worked out.

But yeah, the Riz God becomes mortal, a mere mortal this time around and goes. I will say, I think Rizzo, I'll push back on your idea a little bit here, Rob, that Rizzo couldn't have won if he got to the end. Okay. I think he is a showman. I think he is able to stand in front of a jury and make a case for himself. And I think he has the most unique story strategically, which this judge. jury seems to really respect of anybody up there, right? Like, yes, the idol shenanigans might have, like, rub them the wrong way at the time

as a jury member who's just watching this group that they want out so badly continue to survive and survive. But I think when Rizzo kind of breaks down, one, I think he made the most, I think he made the single best move of the game. And that is bluffing the idol at the final six, which keeps that entire trio safe and into the final five when, and that's just pure creative strategy. and like social reads and and being a good bluff person like being able to lie he he does that he kept them safe at the Nate vote he keeps them safe at the Alex vote all off of this idol and everybody

in the game does seem to view him as the strategic head of this alliance um so if he's there without Savannah in this world where he wins firemaking I do think he wins the game because I think he gets Savannah support I think those people that like respected just the up up front strategic gameplay of Savannah would also respect that of Rizzo. So I don't know if he was like, I think there's people. If he made the fire, you think that he beat Savannah and Fiery wins. I think that was a million dollar firemaking for sure. So I interviewed Stephen this past week and I asked him about, you know, this perception

of, because I wasn't really buying into it the whole season when people said, ah, people don't seem to think of Rizzo as a threat. And I ask Stephen point blank about do you feel like that people were not looking at Rizzo as a threat. We hear them talk about Savannah and Sophie and Stephen but nobody's talking about Rizzo is a threat

to win the game and he said you know that his idle shenanigans were not landing as well as he thought they were so that it seemed

and maybe look I'm not thinking about this fourth dimensionally he wins he makes the fire and all of a sudden oh I saw I saw the fire in his eyes after he did that

and that changed everything so you never know and with no Savannah there, but I suspect that Sof ends up winning the game if she's in the end with Rizzo. I would disagree, but I think maybe I'm giving him,

like I just think when you listen to Rizzo talking like confessional and stuff, he speaks with such an intentionality about his strategic game that I'm not sure comes across to people in his like well conversations, right? He does have like goofball energy that I think make him seem very young.

He, who says, oh, I'm cooked, chat out loud to people right before a puzzle and stuff, things that can make you be like, this little turd as Sage calls him. I think people kind of viewed him that way for a lot of the game. But it becomes hard if you are a jury member, I feel like, looking for, you know, just something to nibble on as like, you did this intentionally to control the game. I mean, Sof's big strategic move that she talked about was when she was asked about a strategic

move, she said, well, my social game. and then she talked about something pre-merged that nobody else was at. So if he's there with Sage and Sof and he's able to basically spill this whole narrative about how the Risgaat and his idol controlled every vote, I don't know. I think that gets votes.

Well, it's very possible because he did have the great breakdown of the idol that he had at the after show, which he may have been able to tell the jury and maybe change some mind, where he talked about using the idol as an offensive weapon. And Survivor 46 loomed so large over the next couple seasons. Now, you all, you did, how far into Survivor 46 did you all see when you play?

Because I know Gabe references it. Yeah. So our last episode was the I'm Pissed episode. Yeah. It was the Applebee. So I'm trying to, I think Tiffany goes home with the idol in her pocket. And that was the last one that we saw. So we had seen two people already.

hunter and tiff go out with with an idol yeah and so i'm just trying to follow the through line of okay so people like hey if you have advantages you got to play them you got to get them out of your pocket because that that's you're gonna you'll you'll waste them play the idol and we certainly saw mc hey i'm hearing my name i'm just going to play the idol when i have a chance Alex i'm not going home with an idol at my pocket i'm going to play my idol here tonight but risgod comes up with this new maybe old idea of i am going to just dangle the idol in front of you and say hey come get me are you feeling lucky punk very very tony i mean i think you know you've made that reference uh that's kind of been the vibe that i've gotten as well is even as much as the the bluff at six it's only good tonight

whatever like that's very tony uh you know super idle till four type of a vibe i think rizzo is a great example of what has existed in Survivor since maybe season eight. Like, I don't, I feel like early on, every season was sort of like it's a new thing. But as it sort of built on itself as an entity and lore has been established in Survivor, there is this, these fluctuations that go on where people zig and they zag based on what they've seen recently and what is perceived as optimal strategy right now, right? Like we go through waves where the big, strong guy is the biggest challenge threat. Then we go through waves where it's the small gymnastics girl that can balance

because that's who we've seen when all these challenges recently. It's the loud person's the threat or the under the radar person. And so I think Rizzo did a perfect job of zagging and timing it up when everybody was set to Zig. And everybody's certain that because we watched all these people go home with idols in their pocket on 46, surely he's going to play it. Surely he's going to get spooked and just like burn it on himself. And then we won't have to worry about it anymore. But he was able to stay in the pocket and stay composed and just like keep riding it out

and risk it for the biscuit as he said like at every tribal council and not go home. And I do think we're now going to see the reaction to Rizzo on 51. And people are going to say, okay, well, now we have to make sure we flush the idol. We just saw what Rizzo did. And I think finding your place in that balance of Survivor is how you can get ahead of the curve. And if you're not ahead of the curve, you're out of there. But if you time it upright, you end up having like loads of success in the game. So he was so masterful with the Idol and we'll see what his legacy ends up being.

And he has a great chance to be able to really double down. Because I think I saw Rizzo in the Survivor 50 preview if I'll have to go watch it again. But I think that was him. I did see him. I did spot him. He had a confessional. He talked about something. I don't remember what it was.

So he does have an opportunity to be able to, you know, be able to play the same game twice where the players who played on Survivor 50 were not necessarily expecting somebody to be playing the idol the same way. Yeah. Yeah. That's the, uh, the big old elephant in the room when you've got new players on a returning season that nobody knows how they play the game is, I don't know what to respect out of this person and they can kind of create this is also fun by the way like i'm kind of hoping we get to

see some sort of lore made up by by rizzo and savanna about how their first time on survivor went and see if people uh are buying it yeah it'll be very interesting to see what they end up talking about each other and we'll have so much time to talk about that but i hope savanna like on the first day like hey everybody this guy you know he calls himself ris god i found us out yeah right He made Jeff say the tribe is spoken, Rizgod. We've got Savannah at the final three breakfast doing his like casting pitch for coming back for him. Being like, that guy, I tell you what,

if he gets to come back in the near future in like three weeks or so, I tell you what, he could win it all. Yeah, she was doing a lot of heavy lifting for her buddy. The other thing about Rizzo is that we saw him struggle so much. We know he's bad at puzzles. we know he's cooked when he has a puzzle to do and we saw that certainly unless he can cheat off somebody else he was so he had such a struggle

I'm being so kind he had such a struggle in the challenges he had such a struggle in making the fire I do wonder has the meta also evolved of can you still win the game if you have a challenge record that is nil there's nothing

who that's interesting because just like in recent seasons I think I think did Ken I think Kenzie only had one at least one yeah Maria gave her helped her get one or I know Liz helped her get one over you're right she had two two she one help and then one on the pole

yeah she yeah she did like I think it was like on the dog houses like in the water on the split triple counts I think she wanted jam jam win an individual challenge he did win last gasp okay so I mean, look, I don't think you necessarily need to have immunities on your record to win the game. I do think you do need to be competitive. Like I think there is something to, hey, I didn't win any, but I was second and I won this reward.

Like, you know, I wasn't like a complete fool in all of these challenges. I think some people disregard challenges entirely. But if it does matter to somebody, it clearly like Sophie Sogretti was somebody who talked in her, like, jury confessional about I want, like challenges as a strategy and I love that challenge Clutch immunity wins as a strategy like that was clearly something that she valued.

I think that it could be a bit of a disqualifier for those people because it's just less loud, Rob. Like this is something I would say it's one of my like, I don't have any like regrets, but it is something that I would change about my game is try to be a little bit more loud.

I think I was so focused about like trying to downplay my own threat level to people and that included at tribal council. And you don't realize that like what you say in front of the jury and how you say and how like loud of a threat you are does affect their opinions. And one thing that, you know, draws all the eyes to you at final at a tribal council is when you walk in with the necklace and when they see it and when Jeff gets to give you the floor to talk about how glorious your win was, it's a great spot to be in as a player to be taken

seriously as a threat to win the game. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit more about what you mean by being loud in terms of getting noticed? Yeah, I think like, right, this could be an example of it at this final travel council, but I think, you know, we've talked now. A lot of juries have their mind made up before they show up, right? Like, there is so much vote whipping and politicking and, you know, debriefing that goes on a panel of that. Especially when Alex is on the jury. Right, exactly. And people talk about what do you think? What do you think? What do we I think. Let's, you know, let's figure it out. Let's make sure our winner is a good

winner. And so I think that can be hard if you're kind of relying on a lot of like under the radar gameplay. And nobody knows I've got this cooking up. Nobody knows I've been doing this. Here was my intentionality behind this. That is stuff that the jury needs to take into account earlier. And so some of the things that get a jury's attention right away is who's got the necklace, who played an idol, you know, who is being talked about publicly at these tribal councils as a threat. Those are the things that can allow you to play like a loud game. And I think that does you a lot of favors with a jury is to just have something that's very public on your resume. So I thought the best moment at the final tribal council came from the question from

Christina. And it turned out to be a very bad moment or seemingly bad moment for the woman who ends up winning the season when Christina asks Savannah. to tell us the name of one of each person on the jury's family members or partners, okay? Or you basically name a loved one. Now, this is like going back old school, old school, like single digit, like final tribal council stuff. And it's been interesting in the new era where we've had a little, some throwbacks where Q asks Kenzie, what are you going to do with the money?

if you and asks Charlie, what are you going to do with the money. And so this is like a very, going back to like the very first season as Jenna Lewis is going to be coming back. This wasn't necessarily a jury question, but that, that Kelly Wigglesworth is asked in the final like a quiz that they do of, you know, what's, what are the name of Jenna's children? And she's like, Sadie and Sabrina. And Richard's like, yeah, I had no idea. I did not know that at all.

and so this would be like a very old school thing of like okay and tell me the names of my of my family and savannah did not know it um no should savanna have answered this question was or or should she have done some sort of like change the subject or like meandering thing where she never gets to where she's going to start naming the loved ones so i think she tried right like she kind of hit her she kind of was like uh christina i appreciate the question i'm not going to be able to do this let's move on christina was not taking that no i want you to try thank you for that but i want you to try um and you only bury yourself individually with every person that you can't get right just a little bit you can you can leave like you can get the benefit of the doubt

if she just refuses to answer of like i'm a jury member i'm like no she would have gotten mine though like she may she might not have gotten christina's but she would have gotten mine uh and then she's going down the line just not getting a lot of them but if you're savannah and you know you're not getting christina's vote like i think this i talked with chapel about this at the halftime brief i think this is it i think you just go respectfully christina no i don't need to put myself to you shut up christina yeah christina's not we've seen people in the final three do this before that Yeah, Ethan dunked on Brandon Quentin in the Final Travel Council, but like going back to Eric Reichenback.

Sugar. Eric Reichen back with what, I'm sorry. Now I can't remember her name. With Dawn, it was Sherry where she asked the question. Sherry's like, I'm not answering you stupid question, Eric. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Screw you. Yeah, sugar just refused to answer questions.

Yeah, it happens quite a bit. I think it could have been a sound strategy, right? is like, I'm not voting for you regardless. You know by the question, Christine is not voting for you regardless. So, yeah, you burn Christina. Listen, Christina, I'm not participating in your little gotcha question. Okay, like, it's day 26. Like, I have been out here.

I have been putting all of my energy into how to get to the end of this game. You see a firemaking challenge. Do you know how exhausting that was for me, Christina? You and I may not have seen eye to eye on a lot of things in this. game but i respect you christina but that's that we didn't come here for your little so i'm not going participating your little dog and pony show i so i'll say i uh i loved this question i know it's been it's been like some criticized online a little bit i love i loved it too come on it was it was the most entertaining thing at final tribal council it brought us like

the feeling of like hours in a tent waiting for final tribal council like pacing looking at the moon practicing your speech like your heart's just pumping out of your chest you don't want to mess anything up but you don't know what anybody's going to ask and you i could just like feel the you know heart in stomach for savannah when the question gets asked and she realizes uh-oh i cannot do this um so i thought it was i thought it was electric television i was i was glued to the screen this is not what i would use to base my vote off of but what i would say to anybody out there, is that every vote, whether it's a jury vote or it's a vote to vote somebody out of the game, is based in bias. Hello, welcome to the social experiment that is

Survivor. People vote for people to win based off of gender. They vote for people to win based off of personal relationships. Who needs the money? Who they simply like more and laughed more with? They vote based on strategic gameplay or physical gameplay or you name it. And all of it, fair. None of it maybe is my criteria. But it is the burden of the players in the game to understand the criteria of the people you're playing with. And if you know Christina, and if you've gotten to know Christina well throughout the season, you can probably assume that emotion and connection matters to her. We saw this with Shannon back at like the tribe swap,

how much the familial connection mattered between Christina and Shannon. So it's on the players to make that relationship with her. And if not, you're not going to get her vote. Now, Savannah didn't need it. She played an awesome game without it. She got the win that she deserved, but it's fair for Christina to ask it. And Sof had the best social game. She gets the vote, and she deserved that vote.

Yeah. And I think it says something about Savannah and that she, like, did not know the answer to the question. She's like, okay, I'm going to answer it anyway. Yeah, right, right. Also, this is again, I'm going to sound like a broken record, but like the, we want old school survivor back, cold school survivor back. One person asks an old school final tribal question. and we bring out the pitch forks my goodness i mean not me no not you but i saw it online people

were people were upset yeah what are you gonna do okay um what else uh from the oh let's talk about sage you know i don't think enough about sage in terms of um you know we talked about her game a little bit but i thought that that was a very raw moment that we had at the Survivor After Show. And I think that if, you know, we had Jeff here, he would say, this is what's great about the Survivor After Show. You were there. You went through this experience.

You went to the final three. You did not win. And now you are thrust into now a pizza party. What is that like to have that turnaround? Yeah. So I understand the idea of a, I get why it's, you know, appealing for somebody like Jeff to have that raw sort of a moment. That's what Survivor's looking for now.

But it does really, really suck as a player. And I think the main thing that's going on with Sage, not to speak for her at all, but I think it's the fact that she hasn't been able to talk to anybody, right? Like she made cases for herself at final tribal council that was not landing with the jury. And they were kind of just being like, yeah, but Sage, come on.

Every time she opened her mouth. And so it wasn't going. well. They felt betrayed by her. They weren't impressed with her game moves. Now she loses. And she has to go and like celebrating credit to Sophie. I don't know how she was so pumped. I mean, Sophie was like dancing, like shaking her booty, being all happy about the pizza party. It's hard. It's really hard to sit up there and put on a brave face. And I think what's going through Sage's head is like, was I mean to all these people? Did I do them wrong? Do I need to apologize? I don't know. And I can't talk to them. And she's

under the gun and so it's it's a lot and that emotion flowing out. And I think the difference between Sophie and Sage was that I think that Sophie felt like, okay, well, Savannah's probably going to win, but like let me give it my best chance and let's see what happens. You know, I'll throw a couple of haymakers and maybe you want to land and maybe I'll pull out a miracle win at the final three and she was just, you know, thrilled to get there from where she started. But I think.

Sophie was, that was a unique reaction to votes, by the way. Can we talk like, that's, I've never seen anybody be like, oh, really? like when they get votes at final tribal council I thought that was a little bit cool so but for Sage I think that Sage came into that final tribal council thinking that I don't know if I'm going to beat Savannah but

I have friends on the jury and then the jury was very cold to her other than Juan and then I think that she was as an emotional person I think was like wait hold on you you guys don't like me anymore

like my friends like are like you didn't even vote for me because you're mad at me and it's like can we talk about this yeah you just want to talk that's it and that was like my thing rob i remember you asked me tomorrow one year ago uh when we were doing our 47 finale you know exit press um about like my perceptions going into final tribal council and who i thought i could get and i felt pretty good about three votes on the jury and so i was like okay sierra kyle gave like i can get those votes like write my name down that's easy i just need to convince the people on the on the edge so then the votes come out and you get one and i kyle came up and i think andy came up hugged me first was like hey man

awesome job you had a great final travel then it was kyle and kyle hugs me and's like hey i was the one vote and so now i know okay there that's where it was um and all you want to do is like ask some of the other people like why what's going on and you don't have that chance for like three more hours like it's 2 a.m. by the time you get to talk to anybody and that eats at you like it's in your head that whole time you're sitting there so especially when it's like friends of yours that are then cold to you and it's not the reception you maybe were expecting walking in um that is where that emotion kind of boils up and it's why you might need i will say this you can keep the live show you can keep it do it the next day or or do it give him an hour give him an hour give him an hour

to just like reconnect and talk to people and gather their like raw emotions so that they're not like super, super vulnerable, put them back and then go and, you know, have a more measured take on the experience that you just went through rather than not being able to say your piece, how you want to. Yeah. I think that that is very sound in terms of waiting a day to do it. I just don't know if their production schedule ultimately allows that, but maybe we don't worry about that with Survivor 50. Yeah, it's a day. I guess that's a day. I guess, they really had to, they had to get those tarmac shots. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. I saw in the chat, people were asking you, how is the Survivor Pizza? Because there was that moment at the, now I know we've talked a lot about the Survivor Pizza on this podcast. It's fine. I'll say I never like, I'm not one to poo-pooh pizza. And it was, it was fine. You're hungry enough. It's good.

It's not like the best thing you've ever had. I don't think it was noticeably awful. that's always kind of been a take that has surprised me. A lot of the food on Survivor, I thought was very good, actually. But Jeff was really like, wait, who says it's not good? Where are you hearing this? Well, I mean, Jeff takes a lot of pride in that live kitchen and like the chefs that they have behind the scenes that are making all the stuff.

But I thought, yeah, most of the food. That's why the rewards take forever. They make you wait forever to get to walk into the sanctuary because they're cooking backstage and they got to make sure it's fresh but yeah, it's really good. Okay. I want to get to the 50 trailer. Is there anything else from the first two hours

and 50 minutes of the Survivor 49 finale? No, not, not that's coming off. I was, okay, I was surprised we didn't get, I know that these like final tribals are condensed. Surprised we didn't get more conversation about the big moments.

Like we didn't hear about Sof's knowledge as power at final tribal. we didn't hear really about Savannah's extra vote at final tribal council. Like some of these like how advantages, how you used advantages, your way to get to the end of the game, that was, it felt really condensed. It felt like we were missing a lot of the meat and potatoes of some of these arguments. I think I will say that Jeff's framing of the season I thought was a little odd, especially like in the opening of the show where he's like, this season, it was a season of Unbreakable Alliance. In the Premers, no alliances could be broken. The tribal alliances were so strong.

It's like first off, we had the same tribe, went to tribal council three times in a row. So I don't know about the tribal alliances there. He's mainly trying to carry a little bit of water for a snoozer after the swap. So then we had the swap. And then Matt and Jason got voted out. Okay, tribal lines held there. And then we had another swap.

And then you had. Joanne and Sage voted out somebody from their. original starting tribe. So I don't know about like, oh my God, these unbreakable tribal bonds were so strong in the pre- and then it was like then it was like people got a temporary tattoo.

Then people are like, what are alliances anymore? Like, hold on. I thought the story was that the alliance of Rizzo and Savannah and SOF like dominated three people strong against the other like the gang that couldn't shoot straight. That's certainly

I think is how the season will be remembered, right? It's the, it's the season of this trio. It's the, it's the, it's the Savannah Rizzo preamble before season 50. Um, it's, it, you know, Jeff said, I think in his press, like previewing the season way before like, oh, super unpredictable post-merge. And I do think, yes, without, without possible like 50 cast lingering in your head, it maybe would have played a lot better for people. People who didn't know who was on 50 probably loved the post-merge of this season. Yeah. It's the kind of thing where I always say, like, I'd love to like ask my mom about this, where if you're not like really tapped in where and you know we can we can say like

there a lot of people a lot of people knew Savannah and Rizzo we're going to be on Survivor 50 so I think it really did shape how you were viewing the season in a lot of ways where you felt like okay they're going to probably be getting into the end game and then like later on in the game you know I did think that there was a chance Rizzo was getting voted out in last week's episode once you get to six right, seven, six, anything can happen. And I think, you know, that's the, no comment.

I did it. I shouldn't have done it. I did that just for Dominic. Okay. Thank you for remembering my loved one's name. Yeah, see, on. You got to give me your vote now. Yeah.

I think this was one of the fears about the timing of the 50 announcement, the fact that these film back to back, it's a risk of putting people from this season on season 50 to begin with i understand like hey you were compelled to watch to figure out who it's going to be uh but it does i guess take away from some of the rest of the cast or some of the other storylines that we might have been able to see throughout the season because a lot of people knew and and you know some exciting tribal councils maybe weren't because of that knowledge and but i wonder when people go back and watch on a binge or stuff like that i do think that this season probably would

been more exciting, like had people not known as much about what was going to come in the future. And maybe that's a good segue to get into. We got a trailer for Survivor 50. And Survivor 50, I mean, we have been talking about it here before you even played Survivor. Yep. Yep. Yeah. They announced 50 was going to be a thing before 47 went out to film. So it has in fact been years. I think 46 was airing when Jeff announced, like, he was at this beach event in Los Angeles, like, all right, we're going to let everybody decide right now. Should we have returning players for season 50? And like, yeah.

Like, that's it. It guys decided. That's when he decided. These people decided it. It was in the hands of the fans from the inception. He didn't check anybody at the network. Yeah. He didn't like, yeah.

So, all right. What stood out to you? um okay i appreciated the nostalgia of it all i think they did a very good job with that i can't go wrong with that people were floating out ideas of like hey how are they going to open this thing out is it going to be mike white is it going to be rick devons is it going to be jennel lewis off season one there really was only one option right like it it had to be a monologue from the dragon Monologue from coach. I did not recognize what he was monologuing.

I think we might have to, like, maybe we'll have a fact check by Thursday. Magellan, I think he said. Was that quote from Magellan? Something. I didn't know Magellan had quotes. If there's one person that knows Magellan quotes, it's Coach Wade.

So I loved just seeing like that quick shot to Colby on my screen. What else stood out? No, Genevieve. That stood out. That sucked. Boo for that. I was very excited to see my friend. on the screen for season 50 egregious uh two minute trailer celebration of 50 seasons you can't show

everybody come on now um we we heard from everybody except for like jenev that was kind of i felt personally i don't have to watch it again i just saw it the one time but you know we've been hearing about 50 for so long it was surreal to and not serri it was surreal to actually see footage of actual survivor 50 like a real thing that has happened and been filmed and actually occurred. And the Riz God right next to Colby Donaldson on the beach. That's real. And what Q told me to cancel

my Christmas, cancel my vacation and cancel doctor's appointments, Kew, I do not the official opinion of Rob is a podcast, do not cancel your doctor's appointments for this. So the it's just a reminder, like you said,

you think in your head about what it's going to be like, what's going to be like to see all these people together? And then you get a confessional like that. And you just realize none of these people have lost their fastball. Like Cuberdette still, he's still got the fastball. Coach still has the fastball. I mean, I'd be remissed if we didn't talk about some cameos that were made. Well, let's talk about it. And we're not talking about when, you know, that stood out. That stood out. So apparently, it seems like that there is, uh, it's like we're getting a lot of walk on.

that basically it's it's what is the survivor is like like poker face that we're just going to get like every week there's a bunch of celebrities that are going to be stopping by yeah you mr beast um we saw the mr beast we saw the trailer for beast games season too we saw that jeff was going to be there but it doesn't seem like that maybe there's a little bit of like a quid pro quo where some people call him jimmy i i like i call him mr beast mr beast yeah um yeah i assumed that it was like a Survivor Mr. Beast crossover where Mr. Beast is going to like advertise Survivor. That's very good for Survivor and Jeff might appear on Mr. Beast. And yeah, I did not expect to see Mr. Beast walking on to a survivor set on the screen.

Did we, did we need, I don't know the context. Did we need Zach Brown? So I don't, you know, were people itching for that? I know Zach Wurttberger. I do not know of the Zach Brown. This is chicken fried, Rob. I know you know chicken fried. No, I don't.

Okay. Well, you're going to have to, you know, sure up on Isaac Brown. Is a country music artist? Yes, he is. You know, I like my chicken fried, cold beer on a Friday night. That is classic lyrics.

You have, you know, spent a lot of time in Nashville. Yeah, so I've been a Zach Brown fan for a while. I like Zach Brown's music. I didn't know this was like a need on season. I didn't know we needed Zach Brown on 50. I'm excited to see him, I guess, and what he brings to the table. It certainly seems like they're in their back.

Yeah. We can put it that way. Like there's going to be a lot of things. So tell me about there's a Billy Eilish boomerang idol. Yeah. Known survivor fan Billy Elish. What is a boomerang idol mean? What do we think that that's going to mean?

I think, I mean, what does a boomerang do? It comes back. Okay. So maybe is it an idol that you can play and then get it back? if it comes back to you successfully like if you use it successfully it comes back to you yeah maybe people never see it coming it's like it's pretty powerful idol maybe however many votes you negate you get that many extra votes does billy eilish know about this i would hope so i would sign off on this there's got to be so then why is christian seemingly concerned with what jimmy phallon is doing also a known

Survivor fan and I can't are we gonna like there is this in the hands of the fans element it seems as though Christian seemed like it was not even like a Jimmy Fallon like Jimmy Fallon

um idol in a box what was the exact quote he's like Christian I believe said something along the lines of my future in the game depends on what Jimmy Fallon wants to do tonight yeah so Jimmy Fallon so is Jimmy Fallon going to decide if there's a firemaking challenge or not

is that like by in the hands of the fans did we just mean the famous fans that that's the question that we listen we've had a Tyler Perry Idol before So there is some precedent. Yeah, how'd that one go? The Tyler Perry Idol. He gave us one of the greatest seasons. Sure, sure. There was the Jimmy Fallon booth in Survivor 39.

Look, here's my overall take on all of this stuff. Number one, I do think it is a bit surprising, okay? It is a bit surprising to what to many people has been so sacred as the pinnacle of, television as Survivor to be collaborating with all of these other things and you might wonder Survivor, you don't need that. You don't need Mr. Beast. What is this? Big Brother?

Yeah, you don't have to attack. It does feel big brotherish in some ways and you know, that might get ready for a takeover. Oh gosh. Is the Zingbot going to show up? Did you imagine? Yeah. But it wouldn't be a Zing. It would be

have to be like some's like like, oh, like a, of this, like, Sam Altman is here with the Zing, with the Open AI Zingbot. Yeah, precisely. Who's a, Neil Patrick Harris to deliver Zings. Yeah, so to me, okay, they maybe didn't need this. But I do think if you've been paying attention to Survivor, I agree with this take, that I think that the newer show is being produced for the family.

It's being produced for a more casual audience. right like the die hard nitty gritty old school player that just want like fan that just wants to see like strategy and conflict that's not what survivor is anymore it's not what they're trying to be and in that sense this is going to be a huge success how many kids that watch mr beast are going to want to watch mr beast on survivor you know it's a dicey proposition where you have like season 50 which is really the thing that has been holding this entire fan base together where people have been waiting for this for years of, okay, even people who did not care about this season, who are not watching this recap of Survivor 49, it's like, okay, wake me up when

we get to season 50, but we are taking a big swing here where it seems like maybe we made a decision of how do we get a lot of people who don't care about Survivor to maybe be interested in a spectacle of what's going on? But at what cost where to the people who care, deeply about Survivor, is this going to be a turnoff? And I think that that's the calculation that the show is going to have to try to reconcile. And I do hope for all of our sakes that they nailed this equation. Yeah. I mean, look, I understand why people would be like disappointed or taken back or like upset about

this. I do think it has the possibility to be very bad. And Survivor has tried a lot of things throughout the years that have not gone well. and they've heard loudly, we don't like this, and they've been like, okay, sorry, are bad, usually, usually. Sometimes they die on the hill. But, you know, I think there can be some good things from trying and seeing if they work.

And the only way you know it doesn't necessarily play in a real life game of Survivor is by trying it. But I would also say, like, this is a little bit of a peek behind the curtain into the world of media, I suppose. Like, your favorite celebrity, is doing Twitch streams with Kaisenat and like you know but that's what they do like I didn't think I would see Kevin Hart and random people combining with like Twitch streamers and my athletes being with

it's like what are we doing here but this digital media world this social media world this for younger Gen Z audiences that is what rules what gets eyeballs what makes money what can stay on the air and so if you like love Survivor things like this are going to come in order to keep Survivor on the air. I hope they get it right and it's just like awesome and it's cool to see these cameos like you said, Rob. But I understand the concern as well. Yeah. And it's the kind of thing that if you wanted to do this, I do wish that I had said that Survivor 49, I wish that they took a more ambitious swing with Survivor 49. That Survivor 49 wasn't just the one before Survivor 50. So if you wanted to, hey, we've got this

wild idea. What if we had like celebrities like is like, oh, Mr. Beast. not interested in Survivor 49. Mr. Beast is 50 or bust. Zach Brown will not show up for Survivor 49. Billie Elish will not be contributing a boomerang idol for season 49 of Survivor. If there's one like thing to take away, it's that it's exactly what you said. I think season 50 has a bit of novelty to it in the sense that this is the biggest Survivor season ever, a celebration of 50 seasons of the show. And in that sense, I don't expect a Billy

Ilish boomerang idol on season 51. I don't expect Jimmy Fallon to have a say in season 52. These are things that I think Survivor is doing to uniquely put this season on the pedestal that they have put it on for the last few years. And that might have been a mistake in and of itself, right, is you created the returning season that everybody wanted. And then you decided to go bigger than you've ever gone before, but you've already done all winners. So what exactly can we do to top ourselves? And you're chasing that right now. And so you have to gas it up.

And now eyeballs from around the world are going to be on it because tonight show's involved. Billy Elish is involved. Mr. Beast, who's the most watched content creator period, bar none, anything, is involved. And that could be, not saying it's going to be, not trying to carry water. but that could be the thing that gives Survivor enough shelf life to stay on the air. And, you know, Rob, you've talked so often on this show about, like, what did COVID do for Survivor?

Unforeseen circumstance. But it gave it a little kick in the pants for a nice little, like, run when it looked like it was dead. And it brought a lot of people to a show and brought a new audience in that were captivated by this thing. And so I think their hope is that this can have that same effect and maybe just introduce people to a show where they go, wait a minute, what is that? And they stick around. And now you are able to bring this game and show that we all do love

so deeply and dearly. Like, we can keep having it in our lives for forever. Yeah. And we will learn so much more in the next couple of weeks. And we'll see. But it was a little bit of surprise. I was not ready. I was not prepared. I had my jaw on the floor. It was stunning. I'm not going to shy away from that. Okay. I promise we would take questions from the audience. If you have questions, go ahead and fire them away in the live chat. And Sam and I will answer some of your questions here tonight. Let me also just be remiss to not mention something, a project that I've been working on here for quite some time. The Tribe and I have spoken the collection of 25 years of my survivor knowledge all in one place. As I have tried to. too, you know, from all of my conversations over the course of Rob as a podcast and through my own Survivor fandom and experience with the show, I don't know if anybody's ever tried to trace the history of how did we go from back to where Jenna Lewis started in Borneo to

where we are now? And I think that that's such an interesting conversation. And it's something that I tried to hear in this book talk about all of the lore and the legacy of the history of Survivor, including the greatest moments, the greatest players, all of the innovations in strategy and how superfans have really changed the show and so much more. So excited for people to check it out. Of course, you could pre-order at rob has a book.com. All right. Let's take some of these questions that we got.

Okay. Question, okay, let's see. A few of them that we already talked about. Okay. A question from Tyler Meyer Music, what did Sage need to do to pick up more votes? Was that possible? No, not in this circumstance.

I actually think Sage did really well tonight. You know, I know Christina had that little moment where she was like, she better not get emotional. And for the most part, she didn't. You know, I thought, hey, talking emotion when you're talking about your why, totally fair, totally on the table. I thought she did a great job, by the way. We haven't given enough love to this.

I hate the big, by the way, reveal about yourself at Final Tribal Council, except if you do it kind of how Sage did it. You know, like, here's this thing about me and here's how it played into my gameplay in a way that you guys didn't know. So I think she did well. I just think you maybe got to make some different decisions at eight and seven, and you're not here. Were you surprised that Savannah did not reveal that, hey,

you all thought I was in marketing but I actually was a news a newscaster she mentioned it but didn't do the whole like theatrics thing which I again I think she did do it she just I think she mentioned off one off

like I used to work the news reporter in the middle of like a sentence but I do think it showed what we talked about with Savannah earlier which is just like a little bit of awareness of she knows what is going to win her the game she knows what her winning story is

it's not by the way and it's not you know my why it's not any of those things she doesn't have the best story she didn't play the best social game she doesn't have any of that but she gave it to you like it is and it was enough to get her a million dollars okay uh here's a question from uh justin piopi wants to know how do we get sam on survivor 50 yeah yeah that ship sailed that ship sailed that yeah that's like could you be like one of the celebrities that you know maybe we can we can go Fiji film something edited in but yes unfortunately the the 50 ship did in fact sail right before uh right before they were filming that guy yeah okay a question from annie not trashy annie what happens if self used her knowledge is power on rizzo does she win um

very possibly um i mean that's the winning move right like but does she vote out too i'll go I'll go as far as to say yes. I'll say yes, she wins. Here's the problem with this, though, that we need to talk about with the Sophie and the knowledge of power. If she steals Rizzo's Idol, Stephen goes home,

she makes it to five with Rizzo's Idol, plays the idol, wins at Final Four immunity. Yeah, Sophie wins the game. I do think so. The problem with it was, I think Sophie thought she was going home at Final Six. And so if you think you're going home

at Final Six, you steal Rizzo's Idol, you probably just play Rizzo's Idol. in that moment, and now you've elevated your threat level. I still think she should have done it. It could have been the winning move for her. I think I'm sold, too, because I think that where, if you play it out where, okay, if she just gets through that tribal council with Rizzo's idol, then even if Stephen goes home

at that tribal council, then Rizzo is not immune at the final five, that there is a chance now, okay, we vote out Rizzo. Or Sophie was working towards a Christina and Sage final three. now she wins the final four immunity challenge and so she brings age Christina beats Savannah and fire yeah so she's looking pretty good I agree no I think this is the winning move um I hate taking somebody's game and like you know minimizing it to like one move or one mistake like Survivor is a yeah it's a series but this is the obvious like thing and I think Sophie has enough regret about that where you know she got

Monday morning blues right but when you're talking about a football game game. I mean, isn't that the same thing where it's like, oh, yeah. When they went for the two-point conversion and they missed it. Shouldn't they have gone for one? Sure, sure. No, yeah. I think, I think Sophie had enough self-awareness to recognize that even then. You know, she's in her confessional the day after being like, oh, dang it. I got that one wrong. Yeah. She did. I do I think she can win, though. So I think that goes to speak like to your, to your point, Rob, like Sophie, very capable player and was well within arm's reach of winning the game.

Yeah, I thought she was really, really good. Okay. This is a question from Jack. Sam, are you excited to see Sue Smey on Mr. Beast's Beast Games? I think it's a little bit dirty. I think you need to call it Mr. Beast's. You can call it Jimmy's Beast games. The tsunami is coming.

It is coming. So buckle up. I'm ready to go. I have no idea what to expect, but I'm ready for it. I mean, I'm expecting, you never know on Beast games. There's so many people. Like, you don't even know if somebody will be featured, but we got a trailer with more of Sue Smey and Beast games

than Genevieve was and Survivor 50. This is ridiculous. But, you know, she's interacted with Jeff more than, more than most people on the 50 cast were in that trailer. So I'm ready to go. Yeah, I'll be watching. go. All right.

Let's see. We talked about a lot. You asked a lot of questions that were also on ours. Okay. This is a question from Zach Funk wants to know. We need to know Sam and Rob. Would you have been able to answer the Christina question? I almost asked you this.

I would not have. Oh, really? I wouldn't have been able to get. I wouldn't have been able to get most. I would not have been able to get everybody. I think I would have missed two. I'm not going to say which two. Yeah.

So I really would have in Survivor the Amazon, because that, and this was a little bit of a fumble on my part, I guess like where Rizzo thought he knew what was going to happen with the advantage. I had only seen four seasons of Survivor that had only been four that had been on the air since then. And there was always a quiz

about the other people's loved ones. and it was always a big deal. And so I knew everything about all those people. And Jenna and Matt knew nothing. I was going to trounce them. I would have won like seven to zero to zero. I, so yeah, you had reason to be. It's like the Big Brother stuff, right?

You like write it down everything in the house. You study it. Yeah, I was like, I was totally prepared for, I thought that the final immunity challenge was going to be a quit, especially they're like, all right. And then you'll go to the final tribal count. We don't need to do a recap as far as the Amazon. But they told us our final immunity challenge is going to be at tribal council.

Like, oh, great. It's the quiz. You're ready to go. Yeah. And we did it a like endurance challenge at tribal council. What the hell? The only time in the history of the show, they ever even did that. And I know you would have been able to do this for all stars.

Since when? You had, you had an encyclopedia going for all stars. So you were, you were ready to, I was ready to. I was ready. Yeah. I would have been able to, I would have been able to, I would have been able to get everybody. I would not have been able to get Gabe.

Would not have known anything on him. But I think most other people, I would have had something on him. Yes, okay. All right. And then a question from Nolan. Any hints for live shows for Survivor 50? All right.

Well, all right. If you asked for a hint, okay, let's give you your first peek at the Survivor 50 trailer for RHAP live shows. Here's what we've got so far. We may add to this. Okay, get ready. March 11th, Los Angeles, April 22nd.

We're going back north of the border to Toronto. And May 6th, New York City, the day after the tribe and I have spoken is released. I'll be doing a book signing as well. New York City May 6th and we're gonna we may be adding to that I think you should

I it's a year long celebration Rob I think you should have to okay all right Sam anything else on your mind hmm not that I can think of no no I had a great time

this was jam packed I'm surprised I'm still awake I'm hey I'm that woke me up Stephen Fishback's been in bed for three hours I'm going to be sleepless tonight.

I can't stop thinking about Boomerang Idol. I don't know. Really Irish, Boomerang Idol? I'm going to be scheming. Like, what could this be? No, I'm surprised we kept this to an hour 21, but stoked to be here, honored to recap the finale. What about the Billy Garcia idol?

Can we get that? We do need that back. The Billy Garcia true love idol. And I do think we need, I tease this a little bit in Chapie's to see, but we need the live reunion back. I need somebody to go full Murphy. I think it's going to happen. Somebody's going to get

at the 50 reunion. Mm-hmm. Yes. I was somebody going to propose. Yeah, full Murphy. Is anybody single on the Survivor 50 cast? I'm putting the thing out there.

Maybe get single. And then like, yeah, put it on pause temporarily. So to do a full Murphy, so David Murphy proposed to Carolina. Carolina,

who was not on his season. So, okay, so like if. Let's, can we find, Can we find a single 50 person real quick? I'm trying to like run through the... To do a full Murphy,

do you have to propose to another survivor contestant? Yeah, probably. Probably. Or have you just proposed to your significant other? You could do that too, but they have to say kind of no. Brzgod, we're looking at you. They have to say kind of no.

They can say yes, like later, and you figure it out behind the scenes, but it has to be weird. So Rizgad, yeah, that's, this is... Jonathan, is he married? What did we think of the, probably not, what do we think of the Rizgod final four

the tribe has spoken moment? We haven't talked about this. Well, we did say that Jeff asked him to, I asked if Savannah was going to tell people that Riz God asked Jeff to say Riz God the tribe has spoken. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think that was, that's everything I could have asked for. When we first previewed 49, actually, I did a podcast and I, I won't name the podcast because

this is the only one you should be listening to. I was with Tyson. But I talked about, the only thing I need out of Rizzo is I need Jeff to say Riz God. I need Jeff to say Riz God. And him delivering that with seriousness, scratched the niche for me. So earnestly, Jeff said, the tribe has spoken from, or Riz God, the tribe is spoken. The tribe has spoken. I was hoping that he would go by it on the show,

and I'm curious for 50. We can put our bets in now. Will there be votes for him that Jeff has to read aloud as... No, I think he will go back to his secret identity of Rizzo, and then it's just a matter of, like, will Savannah, like, keep his cover story?

They've seen 49, though. They've seen the 49 preview, though. So they have seen this kid call himself R-I-Z-G-O-D-R-G-G-D-R-G-G-Baby in the 49-3. Okay, yeah, okay. Going out for 50. Oh, they did him dirty.

They did. You remember, that was all the rage at the 48 finale was like, who the heck is this kid spelling out Riz got baby? I forgot about that. So this is going to be top of mind for folks on Survivor 50. How is Colby going to take to this? You know, I don't even know. I don't even know what Riz is.

Yeah, I only know one way how to do Riz. That's full tilt. But, yeah, we did get some good Colby shots. It's exciting. It's awesome. It's awesome. I'm so ready. What's Colby going to think of the Billy Elish idol?

You know, back in Australia, we used to have boomerang, but I don't know who Billy Islesh is. We need that confessional so bad. We do. But I'm optimistic for, I'm hoping that these, like, I think if you're, if you are an OG, and I mean, you know what's been going on in the new era and like something like, whatever. I think you got to just be all in. You got to lean into it.

You got to educate yourself. And I think Tina was on like talking with Tiberd or something and talked about how Colby's like ready to go. He's ready. And he's been. Yeah. I'm so excited to see Colby. I love Colby. This is my like crush Rob.

I love Colby. Listen, uh, I get it. I get it. I love. This is a thing. I'll share this publicly because I'll tell Colby this someday too. I, uh, I'm not one to be all like, oh, like I would like, speechless talking to like survivor people. Um, and Colby is just, he's won for me because, uh, I used to watch similar to Sophie.

It feels very fitting to talk about this, uh, tonight. But my grandmother used to watch, uh, Survivor. And I used to watch Survivor with, um, my parents. And my grandma is from, uh, was from, rest in peace grandma. She was from Tennessee. And she had this, this twangy accent. And she loved Elvis Presley and Colby Donaldson. Mm-hmm.

And she stopped watching Survivor. after Heroes versus Villains because she was irate that Colby never wins and her favorite never wins and she was so mad about it and so I've always just had a special place in my heart for Colby Donaldson and so I'm very excited to see him so for those asking who am I rooting for on season 50 Genevieve number one Colby number two

so in the finale tonight Savannah talked about what it was like for to be a young person who was somebody who grew up with the show, you know, I had a totally different experience where, you know, I was already almost a grown up when Survivor started on television. But, you know, what is that experience like to have, like, had it as like such a presence in your life and then to be an adult and then be on the show? Yeah. I mean, it is weirdly just like emotional because it is, you know, like I hated getting so emotional about it out there and like and feeling super like nostalgic and emotionally tied to it.

But I think Survivor for so many people is kind of like a relationship. Like it's just something that has been prevalent in our lives for for so long. And it brings you joy weekly. And especially as somebody who's who always strived to go and do it someday, it's almost the motivating factor, this ghost, imaginary motivating factor for everything that. you do. You could just write off this workout as an excuse and be like, I'm going to get in shape for when I'm on Survivor or whatever it is you're doing. I have to be super successful so that I have a cool story to get me on Survivor. Like it just drives you. And so there is this emotional

relationship, I think being out there. One, the realization of like, hey, I did it. I'm here and I'm doing well and this is really cool. But then also a sense of mourning, I think, that exists a little bit because you do know however this goes for me good or bad or what like it's going to change everything and it's going to change my relationship with this thing forever and i'm not going to watch on wednesdays the same way that i used to um so it is certainly this very like reflective moment at this stage in the game day 26 final tribal council whenever where you can really like pat yourself on the bag like wow this is you would have told like six-year-old me that i'm doing this this is crazy um and i think you know you see a lot of that now with people who have just been like

grown up on the show and and it means something to people other than just them versus rob i feel like when when you were back on the show you loved it and you're obsessed with it but it's like it's a you thing like it's a niche you thing that you really like this thing versus like other people have um like i've got friendships that i've had in my life that i kind of solely have and i've had i've had for years because we both love survivor and we can just talk about survivor. And so I think that connects with a lot of people. So you mentioned that there is a morning that happens where it's almost like that there is, you know, for lack of a better term, like that the fan of the person who wasn't on Survivor, that that that person doesn't

exist anymore. And I've never really heard that describe that way. I think, I think, yeah. That is definitely kind of how I view it. And I also view it as like... And you've, when you got there, like, at the end, you felt like that there was like a sadness about... I don't think in that context, but I think the context while you're out there that I thought of it through is like, this is gone, right? Like this, like I said, this was always a someday. This was my someday. And then you're like, oh, it today is someday. Today is the day. Like, I remember sitting there on the rock at camp and being like, tonight I'm at final tribal council on Survivor trying to achieve my dream.

And today is the someday that I've talked about for 15 years. And now what, right? Like, what do I do now when I don't have this thing to chase all the time? And I think that that's a hard thing. Survivor casts a lot of people that are like go-getters, self-starter-driven people that want to achieve. and this nugget that you've been chasing for so long is no longer something to chase.

It's the dog finally caught his tail. What do you do that? It's so true. I hadn't really been thinking about it that way, but I had just been relistening to atomic habits. And in that book there you talk about how, you know, you have like the part of your brain that's the wanting is like you have so many more like,

nerve receptors that are built into your brain for the desire, for the wanting. And then so few in terms of like the having and enjoying. Like it's really we're just wired for the wanting of the thing. And you can't even enjoy it as much when you have it. It's, you know, you really are so wired for the wanting. Yeah. And I think that's why you see people still come back, right? Like, I mean, if you want to know why, it's one, like, people that are doing this four or five times, right?

They all love the game. But it is to scratch that itch and it is to keep that chasing and that yearning alive in many ways. So it's it's something that I think people connect with more so now than they did in the early days of Survivor because a lot of, I mean, recruiting, people didn't even know what it was before they would go out there. And even if they were a fan, it was sort of a shorter term temporary. relationship with this show versus like a whole community that exists that you're a part of now. And there's so many layers to it that exist where people that listen to RHAP are like, wow, Rob's going to podcast about me and there's going to be these live events that I can watch myself on the big screen and like all of these cool little tree branches that branch off

of this one big desire. And so however it goes for you has like, it has a big like emotional turmoil inside of you, even if you do very well. Okay. All right. Let's talk about what else we have coming up because starting tomorrow, we have a very cool treat for people that, you know, Sam, I don't know if people know this. I actually participated on a reality television show, and I will soon be making my return to reality television for the first time since. It'll be in 26 or 22 years.

Wow. Okay, when I will be returning. Find out if Rob still has his fastball. Yes, and find out what celebrities show up in season four of the traders to give out all sorts of advantages. And so we will be doing a series of player previews. Pooja has been hard at work recording player previews of all of the cast of the traitors season four. will be bringing that to you starting tomorrow and we will have a very special jam-packed preview of me that I did not participate in your who's the is there a guest is it just is it

just uh yes we have we have guests uh that okay Nicole yeah Sam are we giving are we giving are we giving that right I don't want to spoil anything I don't want to spoil okay uh who's who's there I believe that it's, uh, who's there? It's, uh, you're, Sam's, he's like, I can't. I can't. You know, well, just say it. Who's, who is it? It is. Eric Stein and Mike Bloom will be joining Pugia. Oh, okay.

7 p.m. tune in. All right. There we go. All right. There you go. I'm very excited. Sorry to, to, you know, cut you off there. I'm so pumped for this, by the way. Like, you don't, I'm, I'm so excited. Hey, listen, if you're looking for something, a whole, hold. you over in between now and when Survivor 50 kicks off perfect timing for the traders season four. I cannot wait to watch you. I'm so pumped. So pumped. Okay. All right. Get ready. All right. And then we know that Sam Phelan also loves chat PCC. Yeah. I'm there. I'm in there. You see me down

there. Fun live chat. We are adding more survivors all the time. I think I even saw some of the people from Survivor 49 over on ChatBCC, posting away. You go to Rob's website.com slash VIP chat to join in the fun. I will also have a post-finally Q&A coming up on Friday for the patrons live at 3 p.m. Eastern. You can get the link to join us and ask your questions. We've had such a great time every Friday. Go to Rob's website.com slash patron.

Plus, we'll be doing some other patron shows coming up this week, including we will be doing the next. we had such a great mailbag show that I did with Brandon Donnellin. I think we're going to do that on Patreon coming up next time. So we'll have a question thread coming up for you shortly. Of course, full Survivor finale coverage across the we know survivor.com podcast feed, the B&B, Shannon with the global survivor feed, YX lost, and of course, Survivor News. then this Saturday, we have a very special event coming up

that from the minds of the very famous Kane Fritzler and Franny Marin, they have gotten together for something that we're calling RJP Presents Murder on the Holiday Express, a D&D adventure that's going to be premiering on the YouTube channel, Saturday at 1. By the way, Sam, did you happen to catch last night? We did the reality mafia. once again. I did watch it.

I had to watch it. I heard my name was shouted out a couple times. I tuned in. I was sad to see the traitors get away with it. I have to be honest. I was disappointed. Hannah Chata did so good, by the way. I was unfamiliar with Hannah Chata's game. She was cooking.

She was cooking last night. And then of course, we want to thank our sponsor for this episode of the podcast. Send help. This is a really fun movie. for Survivor fans, and the premise is that Rachel McInty

she is a survivor super fan. She wants to be on Survivor. She has the horrible boss that's a real, you know what, and they end up on a plane that crashes, and all of a sudden

she says, I'm the captain now, I'm the boss. I'm sorry, that is the plot of the movie? Yeah. Oh, I'm so, oh my goodness. I see, okay, foolish for me, Rob. I thought Rachel McAdams was like doing

the Survivor tie-in so that she could advertise on the Survivor 49 finale. I did not know. No, the movies about she wants to be on Survivor and so she knows everything about being a like survivor player and then when she crashes on the island with her boss

then, and he has like an injury or something and he's like, oh, I need you to take care of me. She's like, well, you're at my world now. want me to be on Survivor. I love this. I can't wait. Yeah. Yeah, from Sam Ramey, who, and funny enough that Nate Moore in the first episode said, like, hey, my first Sam Ramee gave me my first job. They included that on purpose, right? You think so? I don't think that the Paramount had anything to do it. I think it's a survivor thing. I mean, this is a clear partnership

we got going on. I'm not sure. Again, I don't know about the, like, we don't, I don't think. This audition video that Rachel McAdams dropped was just kind of like, okay. I have to say, I am, I don't know all the details. I will be seeing this movie, though. I'm excited. Yeah, okay, so that's going to be January 30th in theaters and 3D for Send Help. Sam, what's coming up for you? Oh, man, just a whole lot of the usual.

I'm working hard. If there's anybody out there that has a care about crossover content between Survivor and Chicago Sports. Hey, I'm your guy. You come my way. I'm putting a lot of stuff out. So I appreciate the Survivor fans that bear with me through all of the sports span to get to some of the good stuff.

Where are you covering all these Chicago sports? At Roundtable Sports, it's a new little startup that I've got going that I'm, you know, chugging away at, getting it rolling. So firing a lot of stuff off into the void right now. But still working hard and doing work that I'm proud of. happy about so oh and i'm also loving a holiday season where my bears are rolling this is we're having a good it's great my mood has improved tenfold with a winning chicago bears team on my screen um so it's all going good in my world right now uh and yeah if anybody has a crossover interest

their support is appreciated come check it out okay well sam you did such a great job coming in to do this this is uh not an easy spot to come on right after an episode and talk about it and so Really appreciate you. I'm glad that we got the chance to do this. I know that I've been jealous when Stephen has gotten to do a recap with you right after an episode. So I'm glad that you were up for a late night. Oh, of course. Anytime.

I will, I will, you say jump. I'll say how high, Rob. I'm here for you. Okay. Well, tomorrow, Stephen will be back. We'll have live know-it-alls at 3 p.m. And then I will talk with four of the final five in our exit interviews. and then we were working on a podcast with Sage coming up on Friday,

and hopefully we'll do some longer interviews after the season as well. So thank you, everybody, especially a great live turnout here for 1.15 a.m. here on the East Coast. Thanks for staying with us. We appreciate you and much more on Survivor 49 and Survivor 50 coming up right here on RHAP. Take care, everybody at the good one. Bye.