RHAP: We Know Survivor - Six Slowest Starts in Survivor History

Episode Date: October 21, 2025

Today, Rob Cesternino welcomes Brandon Donlon onto the podcast to discuss the six slowest starts in Survivor history!...

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey everybody. What's going on? Rob Cispranino back, and we got a little podcast off the cuff here today. And these are one of my favorite types of podcasts to do where we're just vibing today. A little bit of reheating of the nachos from Summer of Survivor. I said, hey, why don't we do a podcast of the type of? Sometimes Survivor Seasons started a little slow and got good. Maybe putting out into the universe, maybe manifesting a very exciting second half of the Survivor season while still acknowledging it's been a little slow to get out of the gate.
Starting point is 00:00:46 And here with us, a man who once famously was slow to get out of the gate, it's Brandon Donnellin. Wow. You introduce your guests. It is true. It's not incorrect. But I, you know, one thing. You're flying. We're here.
Starting point is 00:01:02 Nobody else. I'm looking around. I don't see anybody else here. I'm thrilled to be here. I'm thrilled to... The only thing I like talking about more than current Survivor is Old Survivor. And we're going to talk about a lot of it.
Starting point is 00:01:13 So we're going to get into it. We're going to talk about six times. We were going to talk about five times. I said, wait, let's get the alliteration. Six slow starts for Survivor. And we'll talk about six different times. I have a list of six. Brandon has a list of six.
Starting point is 00:01:28 we're going to take we're going to give our lists i'm sure there'll be some overlap we'll come away with the definitive list of the six times survivor started off slow as uh we are getting ready for tomorrow night when we will get into episode number five potentially the final premerge episode of survivor 49 and brandon i saw we just posted we've got a big week on the podcast coming up we've got two people that i love a lot that i loved watching and that i um i'm going to love having talked to you, which is Star from season 48 of Survivor. Star cannot be tagged in photos on Twitter, but I did tag Star Base 48. So at least they'll share it on behalf of us.
Starting point is 00:02:10 And Sydney from Survivor 32, Coral, who as far as I'm aware, doesn't talk about Survivor ever in any medium. So we're thrilled. And she's been watching this season or we don't know? It is unclear. I do not believe so, but she's very excited to chat. So it was like, whatever, you know, maybe she caught up. I had a great interview with Sydney following Survivor Co-Rong.
Starting point is 00:02:35 I had like, it was like an hour long. It was a very, you know, a precursor to the medium dive and had a good chat with her after the season, have longed to get her back onto the podcast by way of talking with T-Bird. So very excited that we finally have the opportunity now. Yeah, it's funny. In DMing with her, she said, you know, what, eff it. I'm in. She didn't say eff it. She said the whole word, but she said, you know what, F it. I'm in. Okay. Um, so it'll be great. People love it. People are very excited. I saw on
Starting point is 00:03:07 Twitter. All right. So let's turn our attention back to Survivor 49. And really the why this is in my head is that it was Jeff who really put the bug in our ear, speaking of Survivor Call wrong, that this is going to be a season that starts slow. But he said, it's going to get good, okay? Trust me. It's gonna get good. And so I think that so far, Jeff has not told any
Starting point is 00:03:38 lies. I think it has been a slowish start. I mean, even for a season with a guy who got bit by a snake, kind of uneventful. Uneventful. Yeah. But not bad, which I think there is a distinction between a season
Starting point is 00:03:54 that starts bad, like and unlikable and not fun, rather than and a season that is just kind of middling. It's like nothing. Do you want to define here up front what we think has made it a slow start? Or do you feel like that that's sort of like already reported story? I mean, it is reported. But even the seasons that I look for it and the seasons that I imagine you look for,
Starting point is 00:04:16 like I'm looking for strings of episodes where nothing really happens. It's unremarkable. It's not great and it's not bad. I think a lot of people have cited. And I'm curious to see just to call out season 46 if that ends up on your list. It is not on mine because I do think while the stretch of the premurge of season 46 is like not great Survivor, it is I'm going back interested every week because it is so quote unquote like bad. I'm so like, this is crazy.
Starting point is 00:04:47 This is happening on Survivor. I can't wait to see it be elevated next week, whereas the seasons that I have on this list are just kind of fine. It's like one of the seasons you could forget is on from week to week. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. Well, with that in mind, then let's not cannibalize too much of our list by talking about what makes it a bad or boring season and maybe we'll have a different criteria. All right. So let's go back and forth. Too soon for Snake draft? Snake draft. Because we're not a draft number. We're going to start from six to go from six to one. Sure, sure. Okay. So this is sort of like, it's like basically your honorable mention here. this is my honorable mention this is not one of my this is my six six yeah i mean it's really a list of
Starting point is 00:05:30 five in an honorable mention sure sure okay let me okay well then i'll go a dishonorable mention a dishonorable um i'll go the season that i enjoy the least that i have on this list i'll be to make my honorable mention and that would be survivor 26 karamoen is my slow start um because i mean the fans tribe on care season 26 karamom is is you know, mind-nummingly boring. I think, you know, the, you have some stars on the first fans tribe. No, that's on season 48. You have, and this week on the podcast.
Starting point is 00:06:04 There are not a ton of stars on the favorite, or the fans tribe, rather, on season 26. And you spend a lot of time with them, given that they do lose the first couple immunity challenges. Whereas you have this favorites tribe who, you know, juries out on even if they were favorites in season 26. That was a big people like, these are the favorites. But you don't even.
Starting point is 00:06:23 see them the first four or five episodes because we are so on this fans tribe that we end up not really caring about not only throughout the story but in survivor history yeah okay so i do have this on my list and i don't know if i should spoil this or not but i'll tell you that this because it's going to be anticlimactic later when we get there i have this is my number one i i think this is the slowest start in survivor history in a season that turned out good and i'll tell you all the reasons why. I think that there are going to be some common themes that go on here. And I think that we have one tribe that ends up being kind of unlikable with all due respect to Snowy and Matt Bischoff and all the chillers, Reynolds. And we know you're listening. Yes. Eddie and Hope and
Starting point is 00:07:10 Ali and all of the, you know, the fun people that are there. It ends up being a tribe that is, you're not really rooting for them. They keep going back to back to back to back to tribal council. You have everything that's going on with Shamar. And Shamar is sort of like, and I'm sure you could revisit the season and say, was Shamar treated unfairly, potentially, but no matter what, you can revisit that season as many times as you want. You cannot go back and find the fun in the first half of survival.
Starting point is 00:07:48 for Karamowen, not to mention, meanwhile, on the other side of things, with the returning players, you have everything that's going on with Brandon Hans. And that whole side of the, the, that he's going to, he's having like some kind of manic episode. He is threatening to destroy the tribe. He's going to pee in the beans and pee in the rice. Is a lot of fill up? A lot of Philip.
Starting point is 00:08:20 Yeah. A lot of Philip and Brandon together, which equals double not fun. So to me, I can't really think of a, you know, incredible moment. It's also a pre-merge that goes on for quite some time, even post-brand enhanced. You feel like, okay, it's over after Brandon Hans, and then you get a couple of sleepy tribal councils where I think Matt goes home and Julia goes home. and maybe there's even like another one where it's not really that it picks up. And maybe you could argue and say, hey, Karam Owen never gets good. I don't like it.
Starting point is 00:08:57 So it shouldn't be, because there are seasons where it has a slow start and it has a slow second half. And you could say it never gets good. I do think that Karam Owen is interesting in the second half. And there was a lot of excitement. You know, Cochran was a fun winner. I was podcasting during the real time. there's everything that goes on with the three uh three amigos tribal council and you can say
Starting point is 00:09:19 whether or not the dawn taking out her teeth of was fun but it was iconic cochran an unlikely winner wins for immunity challenges so i have caramont as number one for the slowest start wow i didn't even have mine rank but mine would have been i just arbitrarily rank just now and i would have had it a six i think it's my least favorite season that i put here um but it is fun at the end it's Once you have the Philip, the idle debacle, the hold up bro is a different moment than the film. People can play those two. But did I say hold up bro? Or I said three amigos. No, no, people just in general. I know I see those two things. It's like a Mandela effective survivor. But you have the holdup bro. You have Philip. You have the three amigos. And then I think it's fun after that.
Starting point is 00:10:01 Holdup bro is from the tribal council where Michael Snow gets voted out. Snowy. Lost the history, snowy. He used to be, he used to be around. He was in New York City. He was, he went to all the stuff. but you don't have a I think also people in the real time were measuring this up against the first fans versus favorites which I think people really admired at that time and even still obviously and it just did not hold a candle to it yeah okay so that was my number one your number six we'll have to at some point see if we can come to an agreement with all this I'm excited I mean it's a good sign that we both have yes so that why is it so low why is it Why am I too high on it being the best slow start season? So I think that when I, when given the assignment of like so slow season that ends great, I think all of the seasons that I have higher up on my list and greater. Like I enjoyed the ending of the ending of caromone. The ending in Caramone is good.
Starting point is 00:11:00 But I think the five seasons that I have are they end with a bigger impact. And there's a vast difference in between the bad to the good. It was just so bleak. It was bleak. It was bleak, yeah, yeah, the Brandon is, the Brandon's tough. Whenever I see on Reddit, like a Reddit comment that is like, Brandon is unstable and unfit to play wherever, I'm like, oh, you know, could be anybody, you know, it's not, it's not a surefire for your boy.
Starting point is 00:11:21 So thank you, Brandon Hans, if you're listening for that. And I know you are. All right. Let me give you my number six of seasons that had a slow start and then got better. I'm going to go talk about different hands. I'm going to talk about, how about season 19? Survivor Samoa. And I have it as an honorable mention because I do feel like that in the real time,
Starting point is 00:11:47 there was some intrigue around Russell being sort of like a breakout character. And I think that there was all this promotion around Russell and he was doing some interesting things like burning the socks. And there was like a real like earnest fan base of Russell Hans and people who liked watching him play. But he was part of a tribe. that was repeatedly going to tribal council. And it was also a season of very bleak weather.
Starting point is 00:12:18 And I do think that that is a turn off for the viewer when everybody is just sort of like huddled in the shelter, freezing cold, soaking wet. Like that's not fun to watch. And then on top of that, you have everything with, you got medical evacuations with Mike Barassie. you've got also everything all of the racism
Starting point is 00:12:43 with the outlaw Ben Browning yeah unreported story too people don't cite that that's crazy that that happened on Survivor you know it's like you see viral TikToks of like the big Survivor
Starting point is 00:12:55 controversial moments and that is seldom ever you know never come across that but yeah crazy yeah you want to see that talk about more I don't need to see it's just crazy that it's like lost to history
Starting point is 00:13:07 which maybe is a testament to why it should be on I think that what happened is I think it probably was dealt with pretty well, like on the show. And it was like one of the earlier times that something that was like bad behavior was called out by both Jason. I'm trying to remember how Jeff handled it. I think that you probably would see it more if it was something that was, if Ben Browning is being racist and Jeff was being like, hey, what a character. You know, I think if it was handled poorly, I think that it would be like, can't believe this happened on Survivor. So I think that it was like, for the most part, I think even Russell was like, hey, I'm not,
Starting point is 00:13:43 I'm not down with this. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. This did not make it onto my list. It's not in my top five. And I think it is because in my head, I remember those first couple episodes being so fun and novel because of Russell being there.
Starting point is 00:13:56 I even think that the more boring tribe of the two is the Galu tribe, who you are like seldom with because you're with FOA FOA so much. So I do feel like it, it paced well enough. I think the past evocation, passed Ben Browning. I think the Ashley Trainor episode is probably a sleeper. I think the Liz Kim goes home. And then I think then there's a non-illimination or the Russell
Starting point is 00:14:19 Swan medical evacuation. They go to tribal council and nobody gets voted out. And so it is a long premurge that has, you know, a few sleepy episodes. Yeah. You know, people talk so much love for the Australian survivor. But the going, the act of going to tribal council and then not having to vote somebody off that they do that and i think that sucks it's just a waste of anything it's just like to build up to have the tribal council to then not do anything about it even jlp calls it blue balls he does he does rip um yeah i i did not have this on my list and then of course it gets you know very exciting uh you know eight to four and then you know you have everything with the comeback and you know certainly an exciting conclusion to the season so i have it
Starting point is 00:15:07 at number six as basically an honorable mention for me. It sounds like it's not, if it's not on your list, sounds like it's not going to make that cut. Um, I don't think so, but now I'm interested it was, it was definitely in, I actually have a list of honorable mentions that are even beyond my six. It is in there, but it did not make my top six. Okay. But now we're going five to one. Okay. All right. So, should I go again with number five? Go again. Snake track. All right. So with my number five, We've talked about it already a couple times on this podcast. I'm going to say Survivor Co-wrong.
Starting point is 00:15:43 Oh, there you go. Interesting. Not on mine. Tell me about it. Okay. So it's a season where we have some ugliness. I mean, I think that there's some like some staples here of like check marks of things that we want to say are in our slow season. So we have some ugliness, Alicia Holden with Scott and Jason, or is it? Kyle and there's a you know some you know unfortunate like they're picking on her there you also have you know the beast mode cowboy medical evacuation I just think that it's not super memorable to me and then ultimately it culminates I know it's like we're talking about a slow start
Starting point is 00:16:30 you're like okay we get to the merge and then we have a Neil Gottlieb medical evacuation where we have people getting all of these infections going on. And then I do think then it starts to pick up steam in the second half of the season. But I feel like it's a sleepy start and go wrong. It's a sleepy start. I think that... One tribe never goes to tribal council.
Starting point is 00:16:53 Yeah. Which I think that because it is sleepier given that you have Matt Singh in season 25 and then the Luzon tribe, the brains in 28, are more exciting of the quote unquote disaster tribes we talked about this on chat bCC which is a plug if you're not on chat bCC go for it um with the the brawn tribe in season 32 is that they are losing but it's just not as they're not as fun and and chaos ridden as your mat sing which are like you know they're laughing with you rather
Starting point is 00:17:23 than laughing at you um like you feel like some i don't know camaraderie there with the two other losing tribes in the three tribe format but yeah the the brawn tribe just kind of ugly and not as fun. And then I don't, I don't think there's much to say also about the only other tribe that loses before they swap, which is the, the brains with Liz Markham she leaves. I don't think that was anything to write home about. And I think that, you know, you have Debbie there and Debbie is at least makes it a little novel, a little exciting. Yeah, well, you know, what's interesting already with our two lists is I think that you are, you know, it's funny that you mentioned the medical evacuations and the ugliness, which is not what you want to watch from
Starting point is 00:18:01 survivor but I think it is something to watch whereas I think a lot of the seasons that are on my list really like nothing happens like there's not even a a thing to point to it's like oh this is the reason why it wasn't fun to watch these are just like it's just if you you know regular survivor that is like there's not a lot going on that says the jenny boot in episode two was crazy I definitely disagree guys yeah we did a live no-at-alls for that one penner was there yes she did stand on the chair and then in the tribal council and I don't think was going to go home that night um which is uh you know not a lot of people do that in survivors they make their case for them to leave at tribal council um so that's interesting yeah that is again not in my top five um but i can
Starting point is 00:18:40 hit you with my five yeah what is your five is um the first new era entrant that we're discussing which is survivor 43 43 uh recent being i think the the pre merge in particular of survivor 43 is you know you can't point to anything in my head of like that is like something that we're still talking about today. I think that we, the thing that people reference from the pre-jury portion of Survivor 43 is at the merge when Gabler, the fake merge, when Gabe was like, by throwing out Ellie's name, I'm throwing out Ellie's name. I think that that tribe, the yellow tribe, Baca, is the only tribe that I think is super
Starting point is 00:19:17 interesting that they kind of build out because they're obviously important for the later game, but they only go to tribal council the one time. So you're with the red tribe Vese, which I think is pretty uninteresting with love to our friends that are on that tribe, as well as the blue tribe is like interesting-ish, but not fun. I think you just kind of have five rounds of like regular survivor where a lot of the, like there is interpersonal conflict, but it's not super compelling. And a lot of the content that you're getting, it's early new era too. So it's a lot of beware advantages and the beads and all that fun stuff, which I say all that
Starting point is 00:19:55 fun stuff, meaning it's not as fun. All right. Here's my question to you, Brandon. please but did it get good I do think it got good I think that we are we are underrating Survivor 43 in that again if you watch Survivor 43
Starting point is 00:20:10 as I did in the fall of 2022 as it's the Jesse Lopez show for the you know that back half I think that's a good season of Survivor I think that you have a Kim Spradlin ask run in Jesse but with the auxiliary characters being a little bit more fun than they were in a one world or a redemption island with Rob
Starting point is 00:20:28 I think that you do have that. And then, yes, is it at the 11th hour, not the season that we all thought it was going to be? Of course. But I do think it's a from maybe eight from the Noel boot on. I think that is very objectively good survivor. I will stand by the 43 hate is over hate. Yeah. I'm not super down on it.
Starting point is 00:20:48 I feel like that it turns out fine. And obviously the Jesse move to vote out Cody is masterful, probably maybe the best. new era episode i think that might be another fun podcast to do of actual like like you know 42 or now 61 minutes of television and so that is very fun and iconic i just don't know if like uh the whole stretch run really brings it i do think that it is again compared to the other seasons that i have this is again my fifth favorite i do like it more than caramo and i like the end game but I do stand by that this does get good and I think the difference between like
Starting point is 00:21:33 the Jesse, I'm sorry, the Justine boot, the Nekka boot is, you know, so much different compared to like the fun that we're getting only, you know, a couple more episodes in. Even like the Janine boot I think was fun, the Elie boot was fun. So I stand by that I do think this does get. The Janine boot was fun.
Starting point is 00:21:51 Why? Wasn't it fun? Did she give her idol to Dwight? Was that what it? I'm sorry. That she gave it to Jesse, but I think. they thought Dwight had it. Is that right? Maybe that's wrong. But then you get to reveal the next
Starting point is 00:22:03 episode that Jesse has it, which I think that's fine. I think they were trying stuff that ended up landing. I feel like she got voted out like 10 to 1 or something like that. I know I do remember Owen being the only other person I think that voted not her. But I do, I do think I stand by. I think it's great. And I am curious to see if you have any new era on your list. Because I think that's, that's, you know. I go ahead. Yes. I think, too, the 43, you're kind of getting settled into what the new era is. And I think that does give a little bit more fatigue just because it is like, oh, it's the same. It's the same thing.
Starting point is 00:22:41 Whereas I think in other times where there was, you know, two seasons back to back that were relatively similar, we do get a third different thing, whereas we're getting the third same thing, which I think does add to it kind of flatlining for me. If you're watching RJAP on YouTube, you've seen my new studio setup. you'll never believe that it's all Wayfair, the paneling behind me, the chair I'm in, the plants, all picked by me and shipped right to my door. The best part is it's free delivery, even on the big stuff. And in our house, I'm not just serving looks. I'm serving a bunch of people my wife has invited over the house this fall, and they've got everything that we need at Wayfair to get these parties going,
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Starting point is 00:25:30 Book on emirates.ca today. Okay, so we had no overlap so far between the four seasons we've talked about, but I'm wondering if maybe we're going to get into that territory here. I'm going to go with a little bit of a throwback. I'm going to go back of the furthest back of any season that we've talked about so far. I'm going to say a season that was a season where a lot of times we're talking about, one tribe is winning, one tribe is losing, and this was truly a season of haves and have-nots.
Starting point is 00:25:59 I'm going to say Survivor, Fiji. Talk about it. Yeah. So the season was built around the idea of that we're going to give one tribe, this incredible shelter, and they're going to have everything. And then the other tribe or the other camp, whoever loses the challenge,
Starting point is 00:26:20 will have to go live in a real hellhole. But, uh-oh, we didn't really think this through because the tribe that has the great shelter is going to continue to dominate all of the challenges. And so one tribe is going to, and it is a tribe that has, you know, some likable people on it, like Earl, like Yao Man. So there is, there is something, and it's actually the tribe that's winning all the time, that's more unlikable. This is a little bit of like sort of like the inverse of Karamoin where you're spending time,
Starting point is 00:26:53 like you really come to love some of the. these people that are going to tribal council over and over and over again. And they become your favorites and you're watching them. You're spending a lot of time with them. And you're enjoying that as opposed to Karamowen where you're spending a lot of time with a group and it's hard to find a rooting interest. Yes. Is Reynolds my guy? This is spoiler alert, my number four also. So we are lockstep with Fiji. And I echo many of the same things. Also, I wrote, you know, for each of the things that are on my list. I wrote the first couple of boots down, which are, you know, in order. Spoiler alert for Fiji. You have Jessica, Erica, Sylvia, Gary is Medivac. You have
Starting point is 00:27:32 Liliana, Rita, whatever. Lilliana is, yeah, the person who I think goes the furthest into a survivor season and I know nothing about. Yeah, and that's, that's exactly why is like, how often does that happen in Survivor, where that's happened with Lilliana, but also about a lot of the folks that I've named. There are, you know, I think about Palau where a tribe is losing over and over again. But I feel like I knew something about Kim Mullen, and I know Jeff Wilson,
Starting point is 00:28:01 but I knew nothing from this group. Yeah. And that's a season, though, where you were seeing something that you never saw before in Palau. So I feel like that that was not a season. Like that was one of the rare seasons where one tribe is just like keeps losing
Starting point is 00:28:13 and you, it was interesting. You wanted to tune in every single week to see if they can keep the streak up. It's like watching the Jets. It's like, can they do it? Can they go? Oh, in 17. I wasn't Jeff Wilson
Starting point is 00:28:23 Was that somebody that was on the Jets? That's a football player. Zach Wilson was on the Jets, yes. Wouldn't that have been so cool if we pulled that out? That would have been a, what a reference. But yeah, I echoed the same thing and it is the have verse, the have knots. We even see now in the new air, they're not calling it that, but that's essentially what a couple of these seasons have turned into.
Starting point is 00:28:42 And it's not fun. And then we also have a swap. And then in the swap, we end up with some of like the unsavory, characters like sort of end up together so even like post swap it ends up being not super great where rocky is still with anthony and now he has like some more bros with him and are still being mean to anthony yeah he he's not home from school yeah a bummer of a season and really like it's unfortunate that all of that happens to anthony but it does make the granted rocky is voted out before the, why don't we vote off
Starting point is 00:29:22 at Gardo of it all. But it makes that moment all the more sweeter that you're seeing the Rocky associates get beat in the game that they've now had so much success. And then once you get to the merge, you do get some juice going on
Starting point is 00:29:36 with the four horsemen and then ultimately getting them to, you know, flush their idol. And so there is some excitement there. And then your mileage may vary, no pun intended, on the dreams yowman car saga yeah i mean that's like good that's like what survivor you know
Starting point is 00:29:56 it's so funny i see people throw out the phrase like on reddit or on tic talk like that this isn't what survivor is but even though we have a car which is not always often what survivor is like the interpersonal conflict that generates what isn't what survivor is like the they'll cite things that are happening in the new era of like the the the dice or the advantages or the journeys or whatever. And it's like that, agree, because what is Survivor is, even though we have this secondary object, much like an advantage, right, that causes interpersonal conflict that you're never going to get from just the rolling the dice and losing a vote for whatever. Yeah. Survivor is about interpersonal conflict. And I think that that's in the DNA of the show.
Starting point is 00:30:37 And there are moments in Survivor history that are ugly and are things that, you know, people might have wished that they would have behaved differently. But that's why. we watch that's why it's good that's why a couple of the seasons that are on here like i don't i can't say actually i shouldn't say that too soon but i think like survivor 43 is an example of it does have interpersonal conflict but nothing that is like particularly you're not tuning back in to watch that interpersonal conflict whereas like you know you're turning back you're tuning back in to see what happens with that that car the week after um was that too put that was two separate episodes that wasn't all in the finale the car i'm trying to remember of how it was i think so i think that the
Starting point is 00:31:16 promise gets made in the episode prior, and then in the next episode is when Dreams is supposed to deliver on the promise and then does not. Yeah, what a great. So good. Yeah. And then, again, it's such a departure from the first half of the season where you are getting these folks that are, I'm sure they're lovely. I mean, they're cast and survivors.
Starting point is 00:31:36 So they are, they have a story to tell, but they never get to tell it. You know, the only, I, Sylvia is I think the only person out of those first seven boots that I could tell you anything about. she said orthogonal i think which like andy said in the yeah but that we thought that andy did that as a shout out to sylvia but i think that that is just how andy talks it is true um it did make me laugh um there was somebody i was at a finale party that night and the person who was next to me was like did he just say that sylvia used that i said i hope he knew i hope he wanted to throw that out there um but he should have lied and just said it that he did it's better to say
Starting point is 00:32:14 that you that was like an easter egg but it might have been like in the lead up to survivor 50 so he might have just been trying to lower his threat level and maybe maybe it was and he didn't want people to think he was like knew too much about survivor yeah nobody's really nobody's taking a confessional from the olden day or something from the olden day and trying to say it again on the new survivor i think you could get away with it if it's something super niche i don't think anybody's doing it you think that you think that that's the kind of stuff that you do if you want to be truly despised by the fan base that the more this is the thing and i've like with this fan base in particular the more you try to win the approval of this fan base the more you want to try to be like
Starting point is 00:32:56 deep cut desperately try to be liked the more people will hate you and if if you want to be truly loved by this fan base don't care about them at all i do i hear that i hear that I do think orthogonal is a different word to work in than doing litigate. Is going to memorize an old quote to drop in a confessional? I think old quote is bad. I think like orthogonal is the level that you want to be at to where it's like there's 10 people that are going to get it and they're going to laugh at it. You don't want to do, you know, if you go on saying mentioning like, I don't know, whatever,
Starting point is 00:33:34 the dead grandma. I think that's a net negative for you. I do agree with that take. But I think you get in the, I don't know what orthogonal means, but you get right in the it means not i believe uh like uh not parallel not parallel um our lists so far have have not been orthogonal although they were that just this last round just this last one i guess i should skip to my three yeah go to that's right so i did some research before we did this and i was i was googling around and this season is contentious in terms of is the premerge
Starting point is 00:34:08 boring or not. I could not tell you anything about it from the first couple of episodes. And maybe that's on me as a super fan of Survivor. But Mike Renisha, season 16, I have here in the third spot. Because, again, much like Caram Owen,
Starting point is 00:34:24 do you have some stars on the favorites tribe? You do. Not even the stars that go far. You have your Tracy's, who I love and should have been back for a second, third time. You have Kathy Sleckman,
Starting point is 00:34:35 who is, you know, an interesting survivor character. as is chat. I see that, but I don't think you get the essence of them in the first four episodes where you're spending it
Starting point is 00:34:46 with, you know, your Marys and your Mikey Bees, you know, the thing that I think hurts the season the most, too, is I think, and not to contrast
Starting point is 00:34:55 with Survivor 45, which I was present for, but I think ending the first episode in a quit does like stifle the beginning of the season. Whereas I think that the season,
Starting point is 00:35:06 the episodes that followed the Survivor 45 premiere Sands the third Sabaya Wax Idol episodes, I think those episodes were not good. I think they were bad as opposed to, I think the Micronesia episodes were just like we get stifled as a quit, which is not great. And the episodes following are bored. I don't love this one on the list.
Starting point is 00:35:23 I think that I see your point that it's not necessarily the best that Survivor has to offer. And I do think it's a long pre-merge also. But I think that there is some very memorable stuff. there and again your mileage may vary on Joel and Chet as Caden says in the chat
Starting point is 00:35:46 then you know it's it is a long slog in the in the pre-emerge I mean I guess I don't hate it but there are there are some vote flips also it's not necessarily like it's totally boring where that yes the fans
Starting point is 00:36:07 go to a lot of tribal councils and Mikey B goes home and Mary goes home but also like Joel flips on Mikey B to end up like there's a few like swings like Tracy Hughes Wolf is playing and while there's not a lot of memorable stuff there's also you know Kathy is going to have her like psychological evacuation Penner is going to get hurt I do think that there is some stuff here. So, you know, as I'm talking it through, it goes on a while. I feel like that there's a long, we just had Amy on the podcast, but that the, when it's the Amy, Ozzie, Amanda, Eric, Tracy, Chet, like they go to a couple tribal councils and that's not exactly riveting that part of it. And it does get really good after the merge. I just feel like there's something
Starting point is 00:37:00 there. There's, I mean, even just hearing you say the things, yes. And I will say, And I think my biggest point for why it's good is episode three, to me, is a iconic episode when we see the fight between Penner and Surrey, which really just goes on and on and on. It happens at the camp. It happens at tribal council where Surrey is in the middle. She is flipping to the other side. And Penner is not going to go down without a fight. Yes.
Starting point is 00:37:35 Yeah, I mean, this is one of the ones Like, I haven't, I used to Always have a deal I used to have a survivor channel On, you know, I ran into him on the street Not too long ago. Two months ago, three months ago, yeah, he was in front of I was in the East Village, he was in, he was doing a film festival
Starting point is 00:37:51 He was on the red carpet He was like, I don't know, hosting, moderating something, something But it was a couple weeks after We had done that thing for the season 48 premiere that we saw I never met him until that day. So I was fresh enough in his head where I felt comfortable going to say hi. He did that. He did the voice just then. He said, oh, what do you do? Hey, you're the guy. There's a different story. We had, we had a great time. But yeah, I mean, that is, I used to
Starting point is 00:38:17 have the Survivor channel on Paramount Plus that plays 24-7 Survivor. I used to have it on all the time while I was working. I no longer do. It's a much more fun thing to have on when you don't work in the Survivor space. And now it's just, it's too much. Bob Ross is a better background thing to have on. Regardless, this is something that is, well, maybe not that. This is something that I wish I maybe had the time to revisit just all of my creditorious because it's a controversial take. Like I said, on Reddit, people are very split whether this is boring or not.
Starting point is 00:38:45 But in my recollection, I do not remember a ton from it, whereas I remember so much from the merge on. So whether it makes the final list, who's to say? If anything, I think it might be just outshone by the second half of the season. Like the second half of the season is so good by compared. Harrison, I think it makes the first half of the season seem bad when I think the first half of the season is just fine. Fine. Yeah, I hear that. I definitely hear that. Okay. All right. Not on yours. Let me go to my number three season. And my number three season is a season that I did go back and rewatch a year ago. And it was the 10-year anniversary of this season. And we went back to go revisit Survivor, Sam.
Starting point is 00:39:34 Juan del sir and while there certainly are moments the from survivor San Juan del sir it is I feel like not super excited you do have the you know the ballot of Drew Christie which is a great episode episode number four of that season but overall you've got John Rocker you've got you know the Coyopa tribe it's not super excited it's not super excited over there with all due respect to Dale and Wes and Alec Christy Baylor and Jacqueline you know so it's
Starting point is 00:40:17 it's hard to find a real like rooting interest there you know Jeremy is sort of like doing his best over there you know even Kelly who goes on to become such a legend is does not really get a lot of FaceTime in Survivor
Starting point is 00:40:34 Sandwatch so Natalie is very quiet in the first half of the season and in the real time people were very down on this in the first half of the season yes um not to spoil again but it's my number two i have even more points um to further go for it in one little sir um being that i think that this does suffer given that we just did the same theme a year ago with people that we know i think that it is interesting to see loved ones that you're from i'm sorry survivor contestants rather that you're familiar with battling against their loved ones, but I think it's inherently more interesting to see people that you don't know couples, father, and something, whatever, playing with each other
Starting point is 00:41:11 just because you don't have anything, you don't know their relationship. You don't know them. So I think that makes the entire season with new people suffer a little bit. But I think we're also coming off of Kagyam, which is even then, I mean, you were there, as was I online. Like, it is what people consider the best season in however long. So I think that the first couple episodes being just unremarkable is what I wrote in my notes like fine I also think it's so funny that you mentioned with Samoa and the color palette it's raining it's very gray I think of this season it's just being any Nicaragua might just be like where they filmed it it's just like great it's not it doesn't pop it's very rocky yes Anthony yeah yeah it's very like in my head I can see you know
Starting point is 00:41:55 there's the thing where you can like see numbers and colors or what have you I feel like I have that for Survivor seasons and this one is like it's it's it's gray. So not as fun. And then I think you are also getting a disaster tribe. You have the orange tribe, which I guess, Coyopa, is that right? They lose three out of the first four. Yes. They lose the first four. And it's, you know, relatively unremarkable. Again, and it gets so good. It gets really, really good at the end. But I think the first couple episodes are just fine. Yeah. I think that that's a good point about that they went back to the well so quickly. And they did that also with brains versus beauty versus brawn where they had it in 28 and then went right back to it in 31 and then
Starting point is 00:42:38 you have here where it's season 27 is blood versus water and they really loved it when it worked in survivor 27 that they were so quick to go back to it and then i think that in the real time i feel like that jeff and company realized that no we don't like this because they were so quick to try to move on to season 30 yeah yeah even i remember that i mean in the real time i remember that and i do think there is something to be said of like when you do a theme like that like it does work better to have folks that you recognize to onboard them granted i thought for a long time that 41 on i thought they were just going to do brains brawn beauty all the time that just like that's just how survivor would be in the new era so you have like australian survivor yes you know i i i had always anticipated
Starting point is 00:43:23 maybe they just lock in with that um and they never did just because it's easy and it's easy to identify people, whereas something that is a big swing, a couple weeks ago on the know-it-alls, you talked about, you know, how 49 should have been a big swing, like a 39, and they didn't do that. Like, I think this is the same thing where it is a big swing of a theme, but if the cast doesn't hit the same, which I don't think it does, it is just kind of tough to sit through. And again, I think there is something to be said. I just said about, like, I love, like Josh and Reid seemed great on the show, but I don't know their dynamic. So when they're separated and talking about each other.
Starting point is 00:43:57 Like, when I see Rupert switch places with Laura in the first 10 minutes, I feel that because I know Rupert. And you got some interesting stuff in the post merge and against people while it speaks to the post merge where you got to see John and Jacqueline's relationship and they have like this big couple spat while they're on the island. They're not talking to each other. And Reed needs them to work together and they're not talking to each other. And then you have everything with Baylor and Missy and like their dynamic and how that works.
Starting point is 00:44:25 And so West and Keith also. So there were some interesting relationships for the people that survived the first half of the game. But having them separated. And then also everybody who listens to the podcast goes, I love Mike White. Everybody knows that. And Jeff famously, instead of having Redemption Island on this season, spoke with Mike White. And Mike White said, uh, redemption island. So then we kind of have like this nothing burger hero arena also in the first half of San Juan del Sur.
Starting point is 00:45:02 Again, 42 minute episode. We don't have all the time in the world. And we spend like seven, eight minutes on like, oh, who's going to win the right to send somebody to exile island in these episodes? And so there's really not a lot of excitement that comes out of hero arena. is is the hero arena the redemption island arena from season 22 do we know that same thing i have no idea if it's the same locale i i never thought that before but i it looks in my head thinking about it without having seen either in a couple years it feels the same um and it feels like a the same structure um but yeah this is a this is one that again it gets really really great um
Starting point is 00:45:43 but it is not one that i would recommend you start okay pause on whatever you're listening to and hit play on your next adventure this fall get double points on every qualified stay life's the trip make the most of it at best western visit bestwestern.com for complete terms and conditions Brandon it's time for me to give you my number two yes and then we each have a no yes so you have a number two and then I have a number one yes you gave your number okay I've already revealed my number one which was caram owen so my only season that I have not talked about yet It's a season that I feel like that you said is not on your list. And that's season 46.
Starting point is 00:46:26 Season 46? Please, because yes. We're down bad in Survivor 46. And that may have been the time that the fan base was as down about Survivor as I can ever recall. And of course, we actually had a great premiere of Survivor 46. And we had Jolinsky and all of the excitement. that came out of that, but things really turned the next week where we had a two-hour, nobody knows why, a two-hour episode two-hour episode two of Survivor 46, the 90-minute episodes
Starting point is 00:47:06 had only been here for one season, for your season, season 45, and then they said, hey, guess what? Episode two is also going to be two hours long. And we spent two hours on an episode where I know Jess Chong got voted out. We had a episode where very long immunity challenge, which was interesting of like putting the blocks up and holding them up. But ultimately, we end up with just getting voted out. And then we begin the real ballad of Banu. And it becomes so dire for Banu. And he is begging, please, Tiffany, save me.
Starting point is 00:47:58 Nobody wants to work with this guy is so not fun. Meanwhile, we're like, okay, finally, all right, let's just like put Banu out of his misery. but freaking Randen slapped on his arm wrong gets medically evacuated for sleeping the wrong way and then we don't even go
Starting point is 00:48:19 to tribal council in episode number three and then we have to come back and do it all again in episode four and then we get a perfectly fine episode in episode five
Starting point is 00:48:34 where Siga goes to tribal council and Jem gets voted out so it really when I'm talking it through like episode one was was great episode five was fine but it gets so good after that but we got so in the mud with Banu I wonder if like these longer episodes really sometimes when survivor it makes survivor worse than if it was shorter if it was shorter and he says okay that's fine I'm moving on but the fact that you they keep you there sometimes for so long. Yes.
Starting point is 00:49:11 I remember we did the 17th place roundtable was the the club condo after season 46 episode two and two hours. I think I think it's been you who was like you can really feel it. You can feel the two hours. However, I will say, and I think I said it earlier, like I left every episode of this intrigued about what was going to happen the next week. And I think that the mass disgust, which I was, I mean, we both saw it. Like, people were very down, but I think down is an emotion that I would get.
Starting point is 00:49:40 Like, it's not slow if it's down. But we're fans. That's short for fanatics. We're emotional. And people were really, really sour on 46. And then it got so good. And I've said this before. It's my favorite season of the new era.
Starting point is 00:49:59 I think it gets so exciting by the end, the whole rest of the way. And so to come out of the dip and then to skyrocket and then have like this really exciting post merge where everybody goes home with these idols and everything with, you know, Charlie and Maria like all the way to the end, I do feel like that it is the epitome of a season with a slow start that gets really good. I see that. I definitely see. I think I went, again, for my number one, I went an opposite way from, I'm so surprised you don't have my number one on your list. But I think I went the opposite. But it's, again, it's a testament to this is like a fun thought exercise of like, I don't think of that being slow at all because there's so much emotion that was inflicted from it. I think they're not fun.
Starting point is 00:50:52 I think they're bad episodes of Survivor, but I don't think they're slow as opposed to just like a nothing. Okay. So tell me, Brandon, you have a number one on your list. that did not even make my top six. And so I am dying to know what in the world could it be? So I love this season so much, one of my favorites in my top three.
Starting point is 00:51:16 I would say my, I mean, my favorite winner of Survivor of all time won this season. You already said 43. We just talked to Amy Kusack. You just talked to Amy Kusack, who is sixth place on Survivor Vanuatu. I think the first five episodes are just are nothing nothing happens it is it is just
Starting point is 00:51:40 it is brook it's dolly it's jp it's mea and brady you know people double episode i believe with jp and me double episode to be fair um people talk about i've seen that i've been so disgusted with the sage Shannon Sophie all look they don't look the same they are totally independent of one another have you met Brooke, J.P. and Brady Finta? That's the same guy. Well, I would say that my bigger issue was, yeah, John P. and John K., which was more of an issue. Brooke, I don't think looks like those guys. He doesn't look like, but they're just, I think they are personality-wise even, just more. I mean, maybe Brooke is different than the other three.
Starting point is 00:52:22 But yeah, John Paylock, John Kenney, Brady Finta, very similar. But I think this is, again, you get some interpersonal conflict with the women, with Dolly, can't decide which side she's on. and then get sorted out. That was a good episode. It's a good episode. It's fine. You know, you have the Chris can't get across the balance beam. They get the majority.
Starting point is 00:52:39 So then it's kind of a slaughter for the... What about post-swap? Post-swap, I think, is still not great, but it's better. You have the Bubba. He's going to burn the camp down. It's great. Bubba says, think about the merge. It's, it's, I agree that those things are good,
Starting point is 00:52:57 but then I think it, the swing is so high towards, the end game that I think it is just like it is like watching a different season and again everybody that gets cast and Survivor Julie gets Sarge to take his pants off I think they're great I think that you have four episodes before pre-swap I think are really really swap I hear that I hear that um you do you get you start the upswing and then once you know Rory goes I think you're off to the races and I think it's the best or one of the best survivor finishes ever maybe top five um but i think those first four are just like that is to me the most reminiscent of where we are with survivor 49 um given like kind of like you have the fatigue right you have in and
Starting point is 00:53:44 season nine of survivor has the break of all stars which is interesting but now you're i thought about this with american idol season nine yeah nine is 49 you're with american idol season nine it's like oh this is just the same thing again and that's what we're getting with Survivor, 49, where it's not bad. It's not inoffensive. It's just like, this is just the same thing. So I feel that fatigue. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:54:09 And then I think the personalities in season nine that go out early are not the most dynamic in the world. Like, you know, your Brooks and your JPs are not, you know, people that you're like, oh, I'm going to miss you, which I don't think is necessarily the same for 49. But I think that the difference that you get from the early nine to the end of nine is like, unlike anything else in Survivor in terms of starting slow I think 46 I
Starting point is 00:54:35 Hyundai Hondo P here the vast difference in quality but I think 46 just starts off bad yeah I think that one of the issues with this season that we're currently in 49 and some of these other seasons is that it is very predictable I think that if you were going
Starting point is 00:54:51 to like poll the audience every but you know outside of the first week who's going home tonight I think probably like 90% of people say like uh Annie Trashy Annie is going home. And then the Jake Snake thing, what's a surprise, but then also was like heavily promoted in the commercials.
Starting point is 00:55:08 So it was like, okay, is Jake going to get medically evacuated or not? But either way, Jeremiah is definitely going home. And then this week, I guess there was a little bit of intrigue to start. But then it did feel like, okay, I guess it's a coin flip between Matt and Jason, which we are not particularly invested in. It feels very much like that if the, you know, either seems like that Shannon is going to go home or Jason is going to go home. So there has not been a lot of like variants or unpredictability in, you know, and nobody
Starting point is 00:55:44 has really flipped on anybody so far in this new season. It's been very much by the numbers. Yes. I'm forgetting in season 43. I think that's maybe the most similar to season 43. Am I forgetting a crazy vote flip with Justine Nekka or Lindsay? Well, I think that there was Dwight got, Drive was on the wrong side.
Starting point is 00:56:07 I think that did Jesse flip his numbers of that, did he think that on the vote where Justine went home? Did Dwight get kind of caught up there? I'm forgetting. That sounds vaguely familiar to me, but I'm forgetting. but it is interesting that yeah i don't think that the the 49 has happened exactly the way that it is is i agree with that the boots are pretty i think that about season 45 as well like you go into you know episode two and it is only one of two people and then you go into episode three and it is
Starting point is 00:56:42 again only one of three four people okay um which does not make for fun all right so now here's where the rubber's going to meet the road okay yeah and we're going to figure out how do we get how do we our list down to the actual six okay my six was samoa co wrong fiji san juan del sir 46 caramo and your six was caramow in 43 fiji micronesia san juan del sur van oatu okay so let's let's take uh samoa out of this take it take it just completely out of the running okay yeah my number six it wasn't on your list so samoa is gone well i think the same with 43 is not on your list okay okay And is my five, so we can, I think, ditch 43. Okay.
Starting point is 00:57:26 All right. So probably if Kowong's not on your list, okay, let's forget about that also. Yeah. Okay. So we both have Karamohen, but you had it as six and I had it at one. Yeah. We both have Fiji. We both have San Juan del Sur.
Starting point is 00:57:44 And then we have a couple of these outliers in Vanuatu. We have 46 and Micronesia. I'm writing down. aren't you and Micronesia yeah I mean I think and not to jump
Starting point is 00:57:56 to number one but I think if San Juan del Sur is our respective two and two I think that is
Starting point is 00:58:01 the number one two and three okay so all right so if we have San Juan del Sur is
Starting point is 00:58:06 is one what would be what would be two would it be would it be is it Fiji
Starting point is 00:58:15 is Fiji is Fiji's my four and then you're three so it's both of our fours it's both of our fours
Starting point is 00:58:21 it's both of of our fours. Okay. Then, all right. The other one that we both have is Caramohan.
Starting point is 00:58:29 Caramohan. Is that three? I think that's three. Okay. And then... And then you have... Okay, so then I have an outlier Vanuatu is one.
Starting point is 00:58:40 We still have to place 46. We still have to place of Vanuatu. And Micronesia. Micronesia, if that's... You added at three. I had that,
Starting point is 00:58:51 but you know what? I will... I hear the argument for that more than I hear the other. I'm happy to make that the honorable mention six, Micronesia. Okay. I think that makes the most sense. And then... But our ones should be charted into four and five.
Starting point is 00:59:05 Okay. And then we have 46 and we have also Vanuatu. Yeah. Do you have any different opinion on 46? I hear the 46 argument. I think it is, again, it's us interpreting the assignment. in a way i'm curious if we just pulled a hundred people how would they interpret as but the hundred people aren't here this is our list it's our list i i stick by if nothing happens that's slow
Starting point is 00:59:33 rather than that's bad okay so you feel more solid for van oatu i feel more solid for van oatu but i don't want to make the decision i want to hear out your i think nothing happening close to nothing i do hear the me the the the dolly i'm sorry who fights twilight and mea um that is interesting but i think it's the most interesting thing out of four episodes okay but again it's slow i guess a slow start i guess is it defined is this a pre-merge or is it just uh pre-swap yeah i like a start could either be either of those things but um net i mean if we're gonna do pre-merge i think that there are more of the Vanuatu pre-merge post-swap.
Starting point is 01:00:22 I do hear the argument the first four episodes, five episodes of 46. Listen, I don't want to bend the knee, but I can hear 46 for fourth place. I want you to take a stand. I want you to have,
Starting point is 01:00:35 be strong in your convictions. I mean, I'm strong about, I mean, I think I've stayed at my conviction is when I hear a slow start, I think a start
Starting point is 01:00:43 is where we are in the current Survivor season, which is four episodes in. Like, I think that's a start. Like, We're doing it this week and not at the end of the post or the premurge, rather. Okay.
Starting point is 01:00:54 So I hear either argument, but I think slow start is what episode are you going to watch and feel the least emotion? I think that's Vanuatu, which stretch of episodes. All right. I think that there are, you know, these old school seasons have just longer premerges and so that they can feel a bit slogier when you're watching a double tribal council where J.P. and Mia go home. Sure, sure. Are you feeling anything?
Starting point is 01:01:22 Are you feeling anything? No, no. When Lisa Kiefer goes home. Sure. I do think that was... Well, that was fun because it should have been Rory, and Rory sneaks his way out of it. Yeah. So, I'm a Vanuatu defender. But I hear the argument, I think, if you are going to, you know... All right. So here's our list. Okay. Number six, Micronesia. Number five, season 46. Number four, Vanuatu. Number three. Karamohan, number two, Fiji, and the number one slow start in Survivor History is San Juan Del Sir.
Starting point is 01:01:56 Love it. Okay. Any other honorable mentions for you that did not make your list? Well, I had a couple, again, assignment was seasons that start slow get good. I think both Thailand and Heroes Healers. I had HHS on my list. I think that HHS does something. I think that there is like a moment where it is, I think,
Starting point is 01:02:18 in the mid-merge that there is a point where there's a few like before ben starts finding all of the idols there's a few different things where ben is like the double agent and you have where um there is the the the alliance that comes together at the reward challenge yeah i mean it's fine dr mike throws the thing in the fire yeah i mean i remember i remember that the JP blind side. People were so excited about the JP blind side. I shouldn't say people. I think like there was an air of a two hour episode
Starting point is 01:02:56 I think. Yes, there was an air of like this was such a huge thing and I remember not feeling much from it. So it's fine and I think you know Thailand starts slow but then never Yeah, but it never gets good. It doesn't get good. Yeah. Okay, here's the other one I had on my list for Alvinan mention Survivor One World.
Starting point is 01:03:14 Does this get good? Does it get good? That was my thing. I don't know I don't think it's Bad premurge. It's a bad, with all the respect to Troy Zan, who we just had on the podcast this week. We love them. And it's a bad premurge. First episode, Courtney Moon, Medevac. And then with, you know, a beloved friend Nina Acosta goes out.
Starting point is 01:03:33 We also then end up losing, is the third episode when the men win the challenge? And then they give up, they decide to go to tribal council anyway. You have Matt Quinlan. The rooster. And then Bill is that tribal. And then Bill. And then also you have the the swap.
Starting point is 01:03:57 Tarzan has nominal aphasia and they vote out Monica Culpepper. Yes. And then Colton gets Medevac. And then a Colton Medevac with no tribal counsel. So I think that really your question is does it get good?
Starting point is 01:04:12 I think that your criteria, if it got good with all due respect to Kim I think it would be there is a bad pre-merge it's a bad it's a tough one and it doesn't ever
Starting point is 01:04:26 and there's also like some ugly yeah there's like there's some racist moments you have it at all it's not very fun and then I think you know is the most exciting part of that season
Starting point is 01:04:37 that isn't like a macro Kim dominating is the most exciting moment the men going to tribal council instead of the women no I don't think so I think that there's like some, like, mid-merge intrigue about, you know, what's Kim going to do, you know, there's a little bit of excitement of, you know, are they going to be able to get Troy Zan out? Trois-Anne is trying, this is my island, trying to get everybody to flip.
Starting point is 01:05:03 Like, I think that there is, like, a point where it's not a 100% guarantee that Kim has got this thing. There's a little bit of a resistance. So, Kim meeting some adversity, I think, is probably. the high point yes i think probably the best episode might be the j buyers uh vote out i yeah and this is like i remember nothing about the j buyers but i should i should refresh myself in the j buyers vote out yeah kim had her people from the swap but she also had the women's alliance and then she has to decide ultimately uh which way to go she's all about options kim she's all about options yeah you know there's there's so many seasons of this show i does that it's crazy people that
Starting point is 01:05:43 No, there's actually 49 seasons of U.S. Survivor. It's, it's, you know. People lose track. But yeah, it's actually 40, there's 49 seasons of the show. It's, it's so much more than there used to be when I was younger. You know what I mean? They just keep making it. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:06:00 You know, they took a break, but only for a year. Yeah. I mean, this is how long that the show has been on where, for the, for a long time, I used to be older than the show and now in seasons the show's older than me yeah yeah you just well just this most recent birthday the show yeah I started out I was older than the show
Starting point is 01:06:24 but then the show the show got older than me yeah nuts show's been older than me yeah but I it's just crazy like I used to know the ins and outs of all the and I just I've over time I've just forgotten they've gone away you know
Starting point is 01:06:41 I think my sweet spot is like between seven to 30. I think I know everything. After that, I think I'm on out. What's wrong with six? You know what? Can I tell you what's wrong with six? Is because six. Your parents wouldn't let you watch it.
Starting point is 01:06:57 What's that? Your parents wouldn't let you watch it. That's what my kids said. It's almost time. That'll be a great podcast. Six wasn't on DVD because before the age of the YouTube, Like, you had to get the seasons that were on DVD, which were one, two, seven, eight, nine, ten. There was a DVD, but it was called, too hot to handle.
Starting point is 01:07:19 You had to call a special number to get the DVD as far as the Amazon. They, yeah, I didn't, I didn't watch it live. I didn't get that commercial. They only put, like, commercials for it, like, on late-night TV. Sure, sure. It's the wildest Survivor season yet. That's lost to history. Do you know they made DVDs of your, you know this?
Starting point is 01:07:39 I don't know why I'm asking you if you know this. They made DVDs of your show that were like promotional DVDs that you get like a Honda dealership. Do you know about that? Yes. Yeah, I do know about that. So it was a Saturn dealership and you got to go and see like audition footage and like the B-roll and like EPK footage from that we film like pregame interviews. Nowadays, you know, Mike Bloom just goes to Fiji and they just put it all on YouTube back in two. 2002, you have to go test drive a Saturn if you wanted to see the pregame interviews.
Starting point is 01:08:16 And they give you a DVD. Is that, now, do you know what DVD means? Do you have to go, you got to go to the dealership, HondaPate. Do you have to act as if you are buying a vehicle? Or can I, could I have just gone in and said, can I have the Survivor DVD? I think that's what I did. I think I went to the Saturn dealership. I'm one of the people.
Starting point is 01:08:35 Like, I'm on the show. Can I have the DVD? I don't remember having to test drive a Saturn. sure there was a Saturn of Wantaw if they had your test drivers at it would you have you would have done it I would have done it sure sure yeah yeah what else I have to do um that would have been great
Starting point is 01:08:52 you would have been fun and the Saturn ion was the car that they gave away and who who won that Mateo oh Mateo yeah you went on and Jenna also got a Saturn ion Jenna also got it I believe the guest of Survivor Marquesis got a Saturn view SUV
Starting point is 01:09:09 Yes. What was your, what were you driving in 2002? When did that show was on? Accura RSX. I'm going to Google that. Which was kind of a nice car, but it was my boss. Oh, wow. My boss leased it for me as a company car.
Starting point is 01:09:26 I was driving a 1986 Ford Taurus prior to that. And my boss as like a perk at my job leased me a Accura RSX. I don't think anybody's doing that anymore, leasing their employees. these cars. I'm not doing that. Unless you like have a draw of it. You're not doing that. Um, but what color? You drive in blue? Black. Black. Yeah. You Google it. The blue ones come up. Blue ones are pretty lit. Right? Elizabeth Hasselbeck. I'm not doing that. Yeah. All right. There you go. There's our top six times. Survivor started off slow. By the way, speaking of the Amazon, a lovely birthday message from Butch Lockley. Stop it. How was it? Good. It was beautiful.
Starting point is 01:10:06 Yeah. What did you say? Very good. Let me see. With that. revealing too much let me just share he was I think making fun of my advanced age let's see
Starting point is 01:10:20 you're getting a voice message or you're getting a text? No no he sent me he said damn another year has gone by I'm trying to figure out your age 24 on the show at 21 years and well you're getting old L-O-L-L-L-W-W Walmart
Starting point is 01:10:37 has a sale on Depends and also canes. Pretty soon, you'll be on Flomax. Don't ask how I know, except for the Depends. It's a long text. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:10:48 Anything goes on. Yeah. Is he team iPhone, butch? It seems like it. Pretty good. Yeah. All right. We've got everything coming up this week.
Starting point is 01:10:58 Back at it with Survivor No-at-all. Stephen Fishback and I will get into everything on Wednesday night. And then, of course, on Thursday, we'll have your exit interview. We'll also get into it with Star. Star, who was lovely, who has been, I've heard of her on a podcast or two. I did a podcast with Star while you were gone, and she is so funny. I had to hold myself together. She at one point got Mike Bloom and Mike White confused.
Starting point is 01:11:26 She said, Mike Bloom was going to do great on Survivor 50 with the other Dave versus Goliath people. I said, that's different, but I'm so excited for this. And then also we will have our old school interview with Sydney and everything else is Survivor Q&A. Club condo. And we'll have patron stuff coming as well. Just keep an eye on the patron feed for more fun stuff that we'll do there. That's only for you if you're a patron. It's not for anybody else.
Starting point is 01:11:53 That's right. It's really. All right. And there we go. All right. So thank you so much for joining us here for the six times Survivor started off slow. Hopefully business is about the pitch. Take up. Take care. I have a good one. Bye.
Starting point is 01:12:16 Hey, Rob here. And you know at RHAP, we're always talking about the ways to optimize your strategy on all of our favorite reality TV games. But there's a guy that I listen to in real life who's the knowingest know it all when it comes to how to deal with your money and all sorts of other areas of your life. It's called All the Hacks, and it's hosted by the Master Optimizer, Chris Hutchins. This is a podcast I've actually listened to for a couple of years, and Chris is the king of life hacks, which is something that I love learning about. I'm always watching TikToks about all sorts of different life hacks, so this appeals to me so much. People love it. They've got so many great reviews. Listeners have saved literally thousands of dollars in book flights that they never thought that they could afford and it's hands down the most actionable podcast out there. One of the shows
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