RHAP: We Know Survivor - Survivor 48 Pre-Game Day 8: Vula Tribe

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

Rob Cesternino and Mike Bloom dive into the Vula tribe of Survivor 48 in this pre-season preview episode.

Hey everybody, Rob here. And if you listen to RHAP, you know I love talking about all the different ways to approach different activities in the smartest possible way. So when I got my hands on the new Amazfit Active 2 smartwatch, I loved getting to discover all of the smart, strategic, fun insights that the Amazfit Active 2 had for me. the AmazeFit Active 2 had for me. I love a smartwatch. The AmazeFit Active 2 offers over 160 workout models, and I'm not just talking about your basic running and cycling. They've got specialized models like high rocks, race, smart strength training, and even free diving,

catering to everyone from weekend warriors to serious athletes. Plus, add in the AI-driven coaching and personalized recovery insights, and you've got a fitness partner so strategic it's about to win the Fishy Award. The display is ridiculously sharp. You can see your real-time stats,

even in bright daylight. The bio-tracker technology for heart rate and sleep monitoring is top-notch, and the battery life is the best part with the Amazfit watch. You're not gonna believe how much battery life you get out of the watch, so you don't feel tethered to a charging cable all the time.

And check out the price. This is the most affordable smartwatch you're gonna get your hands on. So head to www.amazfit.com slash Rob right now to grab the Amazfit Active 2 and get 10% off your purchase. That's www.amazefit.com slash Rob for 10% off the AmazeFit Active 2. Where's your playlist taking you? Down the highway? To the mountains?

Or just into daydream mode while you're stuck in traffic? With over 4,000 hotels worldwide, Best Western is there to help you make the most of your getaway. Wherever that is. Because the only thing better than a great playlist is a great trip. Life's the trip. Make the most of it at Best Western. Book, direct and save at bestwestern.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older, Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly.

Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario Health Line at 1-866-531-2600. Ben MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Hey everybody, what's going on? Rob Cisternino back for another of our Survivor 48 Tribe previews. Today we talk about our takeaways about the Vula Tribe here with the guy who went to Fiji to go meet them personally. Give it up for Mike. Boom! Yes, here we are, Rob, ready to

welcome in the last week of our preseason coverage, at least from an interview perspective. And we're talking about quite the Vula Pshuess tribe in Vula. OK, I don't know if I did justice to the intro. I don't know if I could do it as

well as Stephanie did it for you. But we'll be talking about all six players of the Vula tribe. Guess what? YouTube, the, to the chat, to the commenters, we, we hear you. We even like you and so you will see the castaways. We will put up the pictures as we're talking about them. I know a lot of people said that because I got the sense that we talked about the, what

was the last I want to say? Loggy. want. I'm going to say, Loggy. OK, I was going to say a tribe that was already on Survivor 47. Loggy tribe. And I think that's a lot of people just might have raw dogged it and just jumped in and listen to us using that term. That was the term you use, right? With the the riding on the plane without earbuds. Like you have a raw dog pound of uses of that phrase, Rob.

I was going to say how much I like it. I'm just going to say that it's so funny to me. But anyway, Mike, we're just because I think some people are just jumping in and maybe they didn't listen to all the interviews and they just want to know. OK, so we'll give you like some quick assessments of everybody and That's what we'll do of course. That's all here in our we know survivor podcast feed get ready We've still got a ton of stuff still to do in the survivor preseason Mike still has six more

interviews to drop on you both in our podcast feed and on YouTube and so We are off to the races here in this very fun Survivor preseason. Yeah, so when it comes to Vula, it's interesting Rob, because I did see some scuttlebutt amongst the community, especially when the cast dropped and we saw these tribe divisions of just looking at the makeup. You know, much like back in the day,

people were quick to cry purple-edded, people were quick to cry purple-edged. People are quick to cry in the new era. Okay. What's the disaster tribe? What's the tribe that surely is going to lose all of the immunity challenges for what it's worth? The Vula tribe, I think would be the first to tell you that, especially given the distribution of physical strain, they may not necessarily be up there. But what I will say, I said this last year, I will continue to say this, is that I remember the very first day of Survivor 46, when I saw that NAMI tribe get off the boat,

I thought, okay, they're basically as dead in the water as the sea they just came out of. Like they cannot be up to stuff. Lo and behold, they end up becoming the most dominant tribe in the new era, if not in Survivor history, when it comes to purely statistics. So don't judge a book by its cover. Don't judge a book by its cover.

But, you know, even Kevin in this tribe, who we're going to talk about a little bit, identifies three muscly dudes who are out here. And he said, surely one of them will be on my tribe. I'm calling it now. There's three big, strong guys. Each tribe will have one and I will be with one of them And he is with none of them Muscley dude now. Yeah, I mean he said I'm not gonna be the strongest guy my try and and and he yeah that fairness to Cedric and Luigi

Justin did say Luigi more than his own name in his interview. Justin who works at Luigi's. But I could see him as a Luigi. Yeah, I could see that as well. I agree. I mean, I think it's always it's always fun to make these suppositions. Caleb did the same thing, if you remember, with my interview, where he like voluminously ran down how the tribes would be split.

And he's like, OK, Austin, Sifu and and Bruce are definitely gonna be split up between the three tribes. The lesson is, listen, I absolutely love it when you try to make predictions, but never try to put yourselves in the shoes of these producers in many ways. Okay, so we're gonna go through everybody. We're gonna give you a little bit of how we're feeling, my first reaction to them.

Mike has had a lot of time to think about these folks, and then we'll give you a little sense of how we think it's all going to go. And then, of course, check out everything that Mike has going on at Parade, where for even more about these Survivor 48 contestants. Let's talk about Cedric. Cedric, not so young Cedric, but Cedric has a lot of experience with survivor, a lot of experience in general. He is the third oldest cast member of this season at 45 and he is our colorectal surgeon. Rob will see if he gets to the pointy end of the game with his

set of skills. I don't know where you're going with the pointy end of, listen, I'm only one man. There were only so many buttons. I relented. I know. Pins and needles of what is Mike Bloom considered? Mike, I don't know if Cedric received all of your like, I think he's heard them all before. I think he was like, he was very patient and gracious with you.

He's got to get used to it, dude. The second he did, he said he was he was one of these rare cast members who is not going to be hiding his career. So, you know, the second he's going to say it, he's out here with like a bunch of some people are half his age. They're going to be making puns out of their rear end for lack of a better term when they're out there. You got nothing but times. We, of course, live through Dr. Mike. We're going to get through this here with Cedric.

And I love Cedric. I just like it was seems like just like the nicest guy ever. Yeah, he is so calm and so measured. And I feel like especially in a cast that as you are starting to see over these interviews is incredibly personality filled. It is really nice to have that like sustaining force of what I imagine is going to be called. Now, for all we know, Cedric could just absolutely wake up on the island and choose violence and absolutely go ham.

But considering like that, he has, you know, a quite literal stability that gets him through a medical profession. I imagine he's going gonna bring something similar here, putting the O.R. in survivor, and hopefully do really well from that capacity. I don't see an environment where he necessarily is gonna make this big move or be perceived as so flippant and all over the place

that he's too big to keep in the game. Yeah, I am very interested in his career as a TV medical researcher. I loved what he was talking about there. He's going to stay ready so he doesn't have to get ready. He wants to play like Earl and Suri. And I totally get that from him. Yeah, Earl, I think, is a really apt comparison on his part. He talks all about this quiet confidence,

the fact that he was a force, but he was subtle at the same time to the point where like he never was really targeted, right? He kind of had a gal man as a shield or surrounded himself with the syndicate. So I would not be surprised if Cedric looks around and says, when in Fiji, play like Earl Cole. OK, all right. Just don't play like a cello when you're a violin, says Cedric. OK, some of his likes and dislikes. Likes a tall blonde.

Could that be Stephanie? It is. Yes. There were not many other tall blondes. He's got good vibes from Stephanie, from Kyle, from David. And with Mary, he was trying to spit it, I think in a positive way of like the, oh, well, there's this Asian woman who I'm not picking up a lot from,

but like that makes her mysterious to me. And I want to crack into that. There was one guy that he said he wasn't really loving. Do you get to figure out who that is? It's like, these are all like sort of like police sketch operations that we're trying to do. Like there was somebody that they had a, they have a nose.

It's like, okay. It's like playing a big game of guess who, right? Does your person have a hat? Yeah, so he said that it was a guy that he surmised was in his mid 30s, late 30s, thin, dark hair. I would imagine that's either Shaheen or maybe Justin. Oh, OK. But he's he doesn't rule anybody out, Cedric.

He doesn't seem like necessarily someone that's going to come in, maybe unlike some of his other tribe members and is like, I'm not picking up good vibes from anybody. Again, Cedric seems like a very plaintive personality that is willing to entertain any and all conversations. And I think that's going to do well for him in terms of longevity. I think where I worry, Rob, is, you know, would Cedric have the capacity to make that cutthroat move? Or is it a matter of like, yeah, we'll bring Cedric to the end because while he is so personable and so nice and pleasant, if you have resume checkers in the jury, that might not amount to much. I think Cedric will do what needs to be done if necessary. He's making life and death decisions.

So I'm not afraid that he is going to be not up to the moment when it happens. So let's see, you know, where he goes. Like I do just wonder in terms of like, you know, keeping up with like these like frenetic younger people who might be all over the place. Like, is that going to be Cedric Seen? Is he going to vibe with that? We'll find out. Yeah, I agree.

And I will say Cedric has a great message about people going to get their colon cancer screenings, colonoscopy, Cedric, you don't have to worry about me, I'm good. Well, I think what they should do is, you know how Jeff usually does his casting plugs, I think throw Cedric in there sometimes as well. You know how Jeff made Rome host tribal council one time?

Throw Cedric in to do a bit of a PSA. Let him sit in the chair? Yeah, about like, well listen, you could keep sitting in this chair if you get your colon checked out. Okay. Yeah, maybe Jeff's like, all right, I bet you thought I was gonna tell you to apply,

but instead, if you're over 45, get your colonoscopy. Like, oh. Exactly. Listen, Jeff talked about families watching Survivor, but we know the typical demo that comes with CPS. I think it's a message they need to hear. Okay. All right. Anything else on Cedric?

No, I'm ready to fit him into the big puzzle at the end because we know he loves jigsaw puzzles as well. Okay. All right. Let's talk about not Luigi, Justin. Justin, of course, who works at Luigi. And all I was thinking about, first of all, I got so hungry listening to Justin talk.

And I'm like, hey, we're doing a live show in Boston, April 9th, patrons tickets are going on sale very soon. I'm like, we gotta do a field trip to Luigi's. I was gonna say, have Luigi's cater it, have Tiffany Sealy bring in the pizzas, cause that's always a hit at these live shows. Uh, might as well because listen, Luigi's is popping up. I think it's going to become the place to be after this considering all the, I would say the marketing Justin put out there, but I, it does not seem a surface level to me, Rob. It truly does seem like this pizzeria is this man's passion.

And that is so admirable. Yeah. And I don't know what it's like. You know, I am a person who has built my business. Rob is a podcast, but I didn't grow up in a family business. I don't know what that's like, too. And maybe someday Dominic and Anthony could tell you about what that's like to sort of like grow up Around the business and it's sort of like a second nature So that must be so interesting and unique to have like the business is like a member of the family

Yeah, I do wonder you know I'm glad that his mother is on the mend and hopefully there's no like succession like scenario as to who's going to inherit Luigi's moving forward. Yeah, that could be a new show coming to you. Yeah. But for Justin, yeah, what an interesting road he has and these like Steven fishback graduate of Yale. And so he has like this Ivy league education, but then decided to, you know, what the family needs me, I'm going to run the pizza place.

Yeah. And so it's pretty incredible that, again, we have all of these people lying about their careers because they don't want to hide the skills that are contained therein. But this is a guy that is able to kind of come in and lift open the box and be like, yeah, I just own a pizzeria. That's all that I do. But he has this really interesting background where, like you said, he went to Yale for political science. He went to the Massachusetts State House where he serves. That was on his way to law school before, you know, everything happened with his mother.

And so he makes the comparison. But like, there's a little bit of Fabio energy here, Rob, where I do think and he is the youngest guy on the cast. I do think if he wants to, he kind of play up this like goofy younger guy energy of like, yep, I'm just the quirky pizzeria manager who got cast, you know, don't don't look any way from me at all. The athleticism aspect, Rob, is also very interesting to me. I have dubbed this Crustfit, where Justin said he doesn't have a gym membership. He's just lifting flour and ingredients all day. Like, if this works, this might be something he could market down the line. Come on in.

And then basically you get to do a workout and then burn off the calories from Luigi. It reminds me of that Nathan For You episode when they tried to disguise a moving company as a workout. Puyah told me yesterday he's never had parm anything. So Puyah, come to Boston. We'll get at least chicken parm. I don't know about veal parm. You don't even have to hold hands with Boston Rob to get that promise as well.

So Justin would probably want to, a fellow Boston survivor player. Hey, I've been, hey, it's me, Boston Rob. And if you want the best pizza in Boston, go to see my friend, Justin at Luigi's. Also get your colon checked out. Yeah, Boston Rob does all the commercials. See you in your dreams, Bianca. Yeah. All right.

Justin, there's a friendly girl, he say. We don't know who that is. Do we? Yeah. I'm not entirely sure. He was a little bit more on the vague side. He did say that he was picking up good vibes from a guy with the glasses. Cedric?

Cedric Cedric and the girl who was wearing the Bruins shirt, which I mean, imagine from a hockey perspective, that's got to be Eva. Not the same Bruins, but he likes hockey. She likes hockey, but not on the same tribe. OK. Yes. Don't talk to him about Tom Brady. Yeah. Well, I was loving Justin until he said that he won his loved one to be Tom Brady. Yeah. I mean, listen, he's a Boston guy, born and raised. Like this, he's a loyal guy, Rob.

I think that shows maybe the loyalty that he'll stick with. Okay, all right. Let's talk about, okay, oh, Kevin. All right, let's talk about Kevin, because Kevin has a lot of interesting complexities to him. I really like Kevin. Yeah, what a fun guy, Kevin. He has such a fun personality. And again, I really love this duality. And I very much

reverberate with it as well of like, this is the guy who from a day to day perspective is very analytical and works entirely in facts and figures. But he is also such an ideas guy at the same time and immediately comes in with a bunch of these ideas bouncing around his head of what he wants to do. Yeah. I loved his story of how he found Survivor and he was watching it just like basically the visuals and sort of like it appealed to him. But then he ultimately falls in love with the show. He is such a social butterfly. He wants to charm people. He feels very much, he could be kind of like a Caleb.

Yeah, so as much as I assigned this label to Justin, I almost feel like Kevin could out-Fabio Mr. P.O.B. because Kevin talks a lot about, obviously, his previous history as that front man at the Amber Crombie and Fitch store. He talks about paying a lot of attention to his personal appearance. He already has a recipe for a coconut mash hair gel.

And he talks about like, I am more than happy to play up the himbo role. I am more than happy to make people think that I've got nothing going on up here when actually I have an MBA and was number one in my class. Yeah, I don't know if that's going to work for Kevin. He just seems so, um, socially aware, like, uh, somebody like that has to like come across as like, they have no idea what's going on. I just think that you just interacting with him, that he is so friendly and so outgoing.

I don't think that you would think that he's just like a dummy dum dum like Fabio. I don't know. I think the way that he speaks is so like, it almost has that like fun golden retriever energy, where like it is so smiley. And I agree that it's not exactly as the way that Fabio came across, but I do think the way that he speaks in his energy levels does help underestimate him a little bit.

And I think as well, if he is perceived as like the physically strongest person on his tribe, which again, to your point, Cedric does a lot of running and very good cardio wise. We talked about the crust fit with Justin. But I think that, you know, if Kevin gets shoehorned into being like, OK, you're the brawn of our tribe, he is more than happy to swing into that while also coming up with like a billion different ideas that he wants to do at the same time. He's not the biggest guy, but don't count him out when it comes to athletic prowess. He talks about his tennis background with you. And he also put in a lot of work. Like he said, this is something he always wanted to

do. But he took a lot of time to like essentially put on the weight and get in really good shape. He's a big Barry's Boot Camp person. And so Barry's Boot Camp. Yeah. Remember that? That sounds like a throwback. What is that? You know, he never heard of Barry's Boot Camp before. He never saw those like infomercials on the TV in 2003 or something. No. Oh yeah. That was like,

I wouldn't say it was like one of the big at home fitness tape, but it was definitely a significant one in the early 2000s. I did not realize it was still around. Maybe Kevin is keeping them in business. But yeah, I'm just really excited to see what Kevin is going to do, because I feel like he is somebody who, while again on the surface, might play a bit like, yep, I'm just around to lift things and look good. He does have a lot of plans.

And so I think he will be somebody to try a lot of things and we'll see either if they fly or if they fall. Now, Mike, you were out there, you saw him in person. I feel like you're talking about him, like he's pretty jacked. I mean, he is like fairly, again, I would say it's, it's tough with this cast, right? I mean, he listed the three of Captain America,

Hulk and Falcon, but I think Spider-Man is an apt comparison in that Kevin is a little bit smaller compared to them, but like is very fit for his frame. Okay, his strategy, he wants to have Kevin's family tree. If only Kevin was on Dandy. Exactly. With Parvati and David and Dixon. Well, it is CBS and Kevin can't wait to make his own family happen on this.

So, yeah, I mean, it seems like less of a family tree and more like he just wants to endear himself to everybody and make it seem like he's a member of their family to the point where they wouldn't want to get rid of him. It doesn't even seem like it was like an outright, OK, first, I'm going to get rid of the uncle and then I'm going to ditch the cousin. I think it's more so just an idea of like get on a familial basis with everyone by showing off different parts of your personality. Not to prop up any of Luigi's pizzas competition, but to paraphrase, when you're with Kevin, your family is exactly exactly. There's a nice olive garden over hopefully we buy the exactly held out an olive branch. I mean, Kevin also lays out probably a more explicit plan in the follow up answer to that entire plan, which is, all right, I'm going to

find my meat shield and then I'm going to join up with the guys and then we're going to pull one girl over for fear of a women's alliance. And then we're going to make sure we go to tribal council at least once in the pre-merge. And then I have to wait until I make a move at like final eight, final seven, final six. I mean, on paper, this would seem like don't write any of this in ink because that's the exact wrong lesson to take away from the new era. Kevin does admit later on though to his credit that he feels like, all right, I'm making all these plans now, but I have every intention of changing them. Things happen like he is ready to already prepare for the worst case scenario. I love hearing everybody's on the game. I'm going to do this and then I'm going to do this and then I'm going to do this. Like he is ready to already prepare for the worst case scenario.

I love hearing everybody's, I'm gonna do this and then I'm gonna do this and then I'm gonna do this and then I'm gonna do this. It's like, oh, it's adorable. That's the thing is like, I understand. And look, this even got expressed in a couple of my interviews, right? When I asked for like, give your assessments of the people,

they're like, I don't wanna do that because what if I feel the exact opposite way about them? That's kind of the allure of these types of things. Look, the entire survivor experience, not to boil it down to you being publicly embarrassed for an entire three-month sojourn, but like there will be many times when times you were wrong are going to be... Change your mind. It's fine.

Yeah, like make some concrete statements, you know? Allow us to have something to chew on, live in that, and then be happy if it ends up getting proven wrong down the line Okay, did Kevin give you any specifics about people he was vibing with or not so much? Yeah, so he got good vibes. He didn't really give any bad vibes. He gave a lot of good vibes though So he talked about this story of an older woman who he had a connection with. Like the ranch, right? Yeah. That meet shoot at the ranch.

I believe that was Chrissy. Okay. All right. Where he was very much maybe she was not picking up what he was putting down, which was the ranch driver. She's like, oh, hello, work with me, work with me right now. And then of course, again, we get into the Avengers that he pointed out, which is Captain America, which I assume is David. We have the Hulk, which is Joe and Falcon, who I believe is Kyle.

Makes sense. Okay. Yeah. None of those are on the tribe with Kevin. And he's got the big plan to, you know, stay thirsty, my friend. He is going to just keep drinking all the water says to go back to the well a million times Yeah I think this might be the the first time when Jeff has to like come out to the Vula tribe and be like You have run out of water. I will if you sit out of this immunity challenge. I will give you enough water This is a great plan until you're sleeping in the shelter next to Kevin and he has to wake up 72 times during the night to pee Exactly. Maybe Cedric's like alright all right, I think you might need to get something

checked out. I know that's not my area of expertise, but like something's going on there. Yeah. Okay. All right. So let's come back to Kevin when we go through our group as a whole. Let's talk about Mary. Well, I there was something about Mary. I really enjoyed hearing from Mary. All right, Kevin, just don't go to Kevin's special hair gel. Yes. Kevin, is that a hair gel? Yes. Yes.

You've been running off so many times. Okay. So, what an interesting story, Mary. What a wild story from Mary. And it's really fun as well. And it goes to show, again, why everyone kind of comes to Survivor, I would imagine primarily to win the million dollars and the title. But also there for a lot of people, there is this like sense of personal accomplishment that comes with it. And somebody like Mary, who's kind of like in the midst of learning that while there is someone named charity on this season to not necessarily give into charities sometimes that she has dedicated her life just due to her

parents history and how she's been raised to like over giving to giving too much of herself to others. And this is kind of like one of those prime opportunity tests to have the ability to say no and to really be able to make decisions for yourself first and foremost. and to really be able to make decisions for yourself first and foremost. Yeah, she talked about so many different things from her past and her background with her work.

So lots of interesting stories there. She wants to be very social, also like Caleb. He comes up a lot. He does come up a lot, which is interesting because, I mean, isn't the cautionary tale of Caleb is like, if you do that, you're going to stick out way too much and get targeted, you know, at the biggest opportune moment you can after your shot in the dark is expired. But maybe it's this sort of Tobias Fumke like, but it can work for me. Yeah.

You know, like maybe it's like Kenzie was able to make it work when Caleb was. But it is interesting to me, Mike, to, you know, the people that sort of like, you know, we're so like in the present of like going through every single thing. But like then when we get like a little further away from things like the people that have sort of like resonated and stand out and like made impressions on people that, you know, Caleb is somebody who very much from that season, he ends up being one of like the, you know, three or four most talked about people. Yeah. And I think it also helps from like an underdog and tenacity perspective as well.

We don't really have a lot of those stories in the new era. I think maybe we'll see with 49, like I'll be intrigued to see if Rachel becomes a part of that narrative as like somebody who fought against the odds. What's really interesting, and I think probably the most vital skill for Mary is her crisis management skills. Obviously coming from her working on a suicide hotline to now her current job as a substance abuse counselor, like the ability to stay calm under pressure

is probably, you know, would be an understatement in terms of how vital it is to that job. And so I do really see Mary, who again, kind of like Cedric to me, comes across as so calm and so measured, so deliberate. This is a person that took her time answering my questions. And I think that's something really valuable to have in an ally who will give you that time of day. She has a duality to her. She describes herself as both obsessive and easygoing. And I found that to be relatable. Yeah. And I think it's interesting the way I mean, she had so many like

really choice quotes from my interview, like things you could almost like cross stitch or write in the forward of a self-help novel. I hate Taylor Swift. Exactly. I mean, that's something that would just sell millions on Etsy. But I do think that the something that would just sell millions on Etsy. But I do think that the way that Mary had spoken about how over giving also gives you a hunger for control at the same time of like, because you have the power to be able to give to others and then also kind of fills you with this odd sort of self satisfying narrative of like,

aha, I'm the one that's in charge of helping you in this moment. And how she admits, I will say this is a very like, I don't know, like a self actualized group in particular on a lot of people are like more than happy to be upfront with their foibles and acknowledging how it might work for and against them. I think the big question with Mary and in particular, I think about the next two people we're gonna talk about as well, which is like, it's great when you acknowledge your possible faults. It's another thing to actually try to nip that in the bud

out on the beach when you have so many other elements working against you. Yeah, her hot take is, I don't think Applebee's is good. Not the hottest take. Well, maybe to certain alumni in my face. Liz Willcox. Let's just talk about her likes and dislikes in terms of people.

She talks about taller black guy, is this Kyle? That's Kyle, she talks about the inch of the afro, yeah that's him. Yes, okay, she likes the gay person with the mustache, Thomas. Thomas. Okay, doesn't like the girl with the hair. Thomas. That's Thomas. Okay. Doesn't like the girl with the hair. Do we know who this is?

So the girl with the dark, thick hair, I would imagine that's Bianca. And I don't know if it's like hair jealousy or anything. She did also mention though, that there is a Tanner Asian man that she wants to work with, and he happens to be on her tribe. That's Kevin, okay.

All right, that's what I was gonna say. None of these other people are on her tribe. Okay, Kevin, okay. All right, that's what I was gonna say. None of these other people are on her tribe. Okay, all right. There's Mary, anything else from Mary? I will say, so I can mention a couple of these other ones as well. Again, the CBS Survivor Instagram account when the cast dropped,

dropped like little fun facts about each castaway. So Mary, as we talked about in her interview, loves to make music. Mary? Yeah, let's, let's,, loves to make music. Yeah. Yeah. Mary likes to make music on the side. Her fun fact was that she uses YouTube to MP3 converters for all my music. And Rob, would you believe it? This comment went semi-viral in the Week in Shame since the Survivor 48 cast has dropped.

Yeah. I had seen it. I didn't realize how far it had gone. Yeah, it's got like, I think, I got 60,000 likes or something on Twitter. The CBS Survivor account, like, reposted her picture with the tweet behind it as well. So Mary's already, you know,

already pinging on our screens even less than a month before we actually see her on our screen. She's on her way. Okay Let's talk about say Let's talk about say here because say had a lot to say she was a big personality And again you talk about somebody who? Talked a big game yet admits to a lot of the things that might work against that game I think say is like part and parcel for that argument.

Okay. Say used to work in paid media at NBC. I could use somebody like that. Yes, exactly. I wonder if she had access to Dandy screeners. Does she know what happened on the Traders? It sounded like she was like doing like print media and billboards and stuff like that. I was going to say she could have warned Thomas about that. His all his buildup for Dorinda being on the traders. If he knew about that. Yeah. Okay. She talks a lot about having watched survivor 42 was a very influential in her wanting to play the show. Yeah. So I think it's because she manifested this image and mentioned it so many times, almost as much as Justin mentioned Luigi's, but I very much get a big Dre a vibe

from say, like, I think she is somebody one of the fan favorites for sure. Beloved Dre. Exactly. I think she is somebody who is going to come in and like take charge. I think a lot of people in the new era, especially talk a lot about in those first few days and like take charge. I think a lot of people in the new era, especially talk a lot about in those first few days, like, well, I don't want to step forward too much. You know, I'm willing to sit back. Cedric Lee from the rear. Stephanie is going to talk about it as well. I think say is more than happy to just start speaking her mind immediately. And I think that is going to command a good amount of power early on. Like I think there will be plenty of people willing to say, yeah, yeah, go ahead.

Fine. You're you can speak up about this. You'd be the mouthpiece because like worse comes to worse. You're going to be the one that gets targeted as the big threat in the individual game, or even if the rest of the tribe decides to turn on you over me. Yeah, that's going to be interesting to see, like who the vocal leaders are on this tribe. And I'm not sure if any of the three men are necessarily going to be that person. And so like, I think that there's definitely going to be

a opportunity for Say if she wants to lead this tribe. And what's interesting is Say again, has a lot of big suppositions that she makes. You know, in her one minute video, she talks about like, I can't understand soft or super emotional people. I admit that I'm very reactive. She admits in my interview, like, I'm very emotional.

I'm a little too nosy. But the thing is, is that say also... Or nosy. Exactly. From my interview with her, she also has this lightness to her, though. She says her superpower is that she's able to make, you know, any awkward situation into something fun. And so, while I do feel like on the surface, you look at those qualities and you're like,

she's way too hard-headed, she's gonna bulldoze her way through the game, nobody is going to like her. She does have this, like, sense of humor and personality to her as well, that I could see as a way to get people on her side and not just feel like she has to kind of, like, you know, grab people around the shoulders and be like, you're coming with me, my way or the highway.

Yeah. I didn't really get that from her in terms of like what she was saying. So I'm not too worried about that in terms of her on the tribe. She has some hot takes though. She says Malcolm is mid. Yeah, this was pretty wild. Yeah. That she, she thought that the, I mean, maybe she's the world of Sophie Clark, right? Who infamously called her shot back during the three amigos travel council being like, this is all sizzle and no steak. Even over a decade later says like, that's fine. Yeah. Mike, let's talk about who she's vibing with. She likes Mohawk with curly black hair. Who is that? All right. So this is very fun. This is again, why I love people just putting themselves out there in the preseason. So say I'm fairly sure is talking about Shaheen

because he does have this California vibe to him, but I love the assumption that she thinks he like owns this surf shack and is doing shock a bro at all. She has a Mohawk. That's the way people, people were kind of describing it as like a Mohawk mullet. Okay. All right. All right.

I didn't, I didn't get that. Okay. But she had some strong dislikes of a couple of people. Let's start with a pulled back hair. Is this Bianca also? No, this is charity So this is someone that we will get into in our next podcast charity I would say besides actually I'd say the three main people that were talked about the most in this cast were Shaheen once again

was Stephanie and was Charity charity was giving forward. I think a lot of vibes to people of like, I can't read her. She's a little closed off. And Say is one example of that. Well, Charity, we'll talk about her the next time we do one of these. But there was a lady who's doing art.

And that is Stephanie. Stephanie. OK, we're going to talk about next. She did not like the art lady. Well, and it's not even the fact that she didn't like art. It was more so that she felt and with charity as well that they were like purposely making a show about it. Yeah. You know, like, no, I'm not saying that she doesn't like art. She did not like the lady who was doing the art.

Exactly. So it'll be very interesting to see how that manifests on the beach. I mean, if Stephanie immediately starts going off and gathering berries and the like to start painting the tribe flag, then we know we'll have a problem. Okay. All right. This is a great jumping off point to get to Stephanie, who I'd love to bring into this. And Stephanie was so interesting to hear from because I think that Stephanie is another person who like Mary has like these these two sides to her like I think in some ways she's a little bit like has I think like some Kendra to her but also has is doing a Monte Carlo simulation about using the shot in the dark versus using the idol

and is studying, doing research on the stats on all these different things. I feel like that those are two very different parts of a personality. Yeah, that's the thing is that Stephanie's personality and the way that she appears, including in this picture, is like very quirky, right? She has the big sun hat that we see in some of this B-roll footage. I mean, the way everyone's talking about her, for the most part, really with the exception

of say, there are largely very positive things that are being said about Stephanie is that like she has this very fun vibe to her. She kind of gave me a little bit of Christa Haystree. Yeah, I was gonna say that too. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, oh my god. Will she find a rooper out there? But I think what's interesting is that she is this this very big brainy person to your point where she did these survivor saber metrics to figure out, okay, the shot in the dark actually has a better chance of working sometimes than playing a hitter and immunity. I know she is very Cerebral and so that's a dichotomy that can be very fun

You know if she is able to get past what I think would be the hardest stage for her Which is maybe these first few rounds where if you're looking for a quote-unquote weak link on the tribe It might be her she is someone who like a, some even heard this before, Rob, could be underestimated to her personality and then come forward and be like, nope, I have all these really great ideas of how we should proceed tactically. Okay. Now, Mike, she told you she heard survivor Amazon's not supposed to be that good. Yeah. What the hell? Well, aren't you the person that said that? I'm not entirely sure. Let's check Shannon Gus's little chart of what season you should watch The Order in.

Maybe the call's coming from inside the house. Okay. All right. Can we talk a little bit about Stephanie's likes and dislikes? I think we absolutely should. Okay. All right. So she's getting good vibes from Thomas. She

said that she, you know, Thomas was having a brat summer. She, he was listening to Charlie XCX. She was listening to cowboy Carter, recent Grammy winner. She hoped they could get on the same page. Thomas said as well, he said like best case scenario, we're both wearing purple. We're on the same boat. Unfortunately would not be the case, but maybe they have the chance to link up come the merge. Maybe there's a swap or something like that. But yeah. So sorry for Stephanie. Sorry for you. Okay She also did vibe with Cedric. Okay. Well, she said that I believe she said that he was the guy that was like Saying thank you to you know, the staff and she very much appreciated that so that could be a link up as well

Okay, that's good Alright, and then uh bad bad vibes. I don't think she really gave anything specific She was very much one of those people that's like, I'm keeping the door open for anybody. I'm not picking up any bad vibes from people because I don't want to immediately discriminate. OK. Also about Stephanie, she said that every advantage is a disadvantage. The only problem is that her research only went through the Survivor 46

and then the winner of Survivor 47 did play the shot in the dark, played an advantage, and also successfully played an idol at the final six. Yeah, Rachel's really gonna weight those statistics once Stephanie recalibrates following the last season. But that's how this works. It's like the pendulum swings all the way to one side, and then it swings like all the way back to the other side.

Be like, oh my God, I gotta do everything in my power to get the idols and the advantages. And then people end up losing. Like, OK, I can't touch it. All right. Yeah. And that's something interesting that Kevin talked about, right? Which is like, OK, we just saw forty six. So now everyone's going to want to play their idols. But now it's going to kind of be this like double or more psychology. OK, so now if they're going to play their idols, do I need to play my idol?

Because the people are going to assume that I'm going to want to. So as always, it'll be really interesting to see this season as sort of an echo of the last season that they saw before it. All right, so Mike, that being said, and we'll try to keep some of these names up as we talk about people.

Okay, for Stephanie, I feel like her and say, I feel like only one can survive this tribe. Yeah. So the way I look at things, to be quite honest is I don't know if it'll be like a clean break, but I see at least early on Rob, and this is maybe manifesting something delicious as delicious as a nice calzone from Luigi's Pizza. I see a possible 3-3 forming on Vula here. I see Stephanie, Cedric, and Justin. Okay. Because I think that's-

Stephanie, Cedric, Justin. Because I think Stephanie and Cedric, I think they have a lot in common. They both come from leadership positions from their job. I think they would both have like a very similar headspace in terms of what needs to get done around camp. Stephanie and Cedric are also already vibing each other right in the preseason. And I feel like Justin is also like a very hard worker who is somebody that has a little bit more of a grounded personality

that would vibe with them maybe a bit more than these other three, which are Kevin, Mary and Say. Say had said that she was eyeballing wanting to work with a nerd. She wanted to work with people that she's not used to typically working with. She's never hung out with a nerd before. Yeah, which is like wild to me, especially the day and age that we live in. But like Kevin's big thing, right, is that like he is a nerd. He just got really buff in his preparation for Survivor. So I could see the two of them working well together.

And Mary was already seeking out Kevin as well as someone prospectively to work with. So I agree that like this say Stephanie dynamic could become contentious almost immediately. And then it might become a matter of like gather your allies and we'll go to war. Yeah. I wonder if it's less of a three three and more of a five one of like those does one sort of end up picking up everybody versus the other one. Yeah, I will say going to Stephanie's chances. Again, she is such an interesting wild card. I do think this tribe has a bit of a good amount of wild cards to them because she is somebody who, again, I could see just given her career background and her confidence is someone that could be vocal

in those first few days. And that could work really well for a tribe like Vula, which to your point might remain voiceless in terms of leadership. Or it's something that could put her in hot water immediately. She admits she is not the physically strongest. So if she gets past that first tribal phase, right, a phase where like physical strength is the most important thing to vote on. I do think she is someone that could become dangerous. A lot of people want to work with her in the preseason. And I think she is someone that could become dangerous. A lot of people want to work with her in the preseason.

And I think she's someone that could truly be underestimated and come out swinging if she needs to. I just think it's interesting that I feel like that the three men in this tribe, I feel like are more sort of in the go with the flow category. And I feel like that three women seem more strong willed where a lot of times we talk about these tribes, they're like, oh, this guy is going to butt heads with this guy for who's going to be the leader. Like, I feel like that I get the sense with this group that the women are going to be like a little bit more dictating how what direction this tribe is going. I agree. And it should be very interesting to that point. Will it be, I guess, too many cooks or pizza makers in the kitchen here? Where, again, I think that Stephanie and say would be two of the most outspoken

people early on. Are they going to immediately say like, yeah, all the women should work together right here. We can easily take these guys out. Or will it immediately turn to contentiousness of like, Oh yeah, I don't want her around in this moment. We could keep these guys and get rid of them anytime. They seem no threat to us. Mike, anything else you're seeing with this group as we head into the season? I guess we should ask Rob. We did this for the Loggy as well. Who do you anticipate would go the furthest on the Vula tribe this season? Oh, hmm. This is a tough question because I was very impressed with Justin and looking back at

this and I was a little taken by surprise because I wasn't expecting to be a little blown away by Justin, but you know, he has the long hair thing. This is such like a tried-and-true survivor of you know, the dude bro sort of like being underestimated and especially somebody who is so smart and we had this like as recently as Austin in Survivor 45 I feel like that people just see the long hair. Andy also, they sleep on this person. And then Justin is such a smart guy.

Seems like he really knows the show particularly well. Seems like that he is very easy to get along with. So has the, he's strong. He's a swimmer, right? He is I think gonna sneak up on people. He doesn't have like muscles like where, oh my God, we gotta get rid of him. So I think he's somebody who's like right in the middle

of a bunch of like really good categories. I completely agree. I mean, look, the fact of the matter is when you're trying to pick new era winners, and there's a couple of exceptions, but you wanna try to pick somebody who winners. And there's a couple of exceptions, but you want to try to pick somebody who like, will stick out as somewhat of a threat to make themselves pop in the final tribal council,

but not so much that they'll get targeted during this, you know, interminable nine, eight, seven, six streak that we usually get into in the end game. And so I agree, I think Justin is somebody that really does fit that bill and is able to perfectly fit this happy medium of like, okay, I have this secretly brainy background and especially a political background as well, which is really interesting. But you won't expect it from me in multiple ways.

Also the fact that as I talked about last time, client services jobs, incredibly important. And that's what Justin does in managing not only his workers, but in managing customers too. I'm really between him and Kevin as the person I think will make it further. Again, I'm just really putting a lot of my A's in this basket of Kevin is someone that comes across so friendly and so smiley. And also, while the buffest person on his tribe, once he ends up joining up with the other Avengers, will not be seen as a big threat whatsoever. And so I could see if enough people get cold around him and Kevin's able to like use that Barry's boot camp to his advantage at the end string together some stuff, he could be

sitting in the final three and have like the perfect formula to be able to put forward a win. But I think both of those guys, it's pretty much the same point, which is I think they both have the ability to be important to their tribe in the pre merge, but also have the capacity to be underestimated in the individual phase enough to go far. I want to highlight Mary just a little bit more also because that she's somebody who I think is just so interesting as a person and as a player. You know, I think that she seems like she's so genuine and authentic and really knows

herself so well. But she identifies with Ben Dreeber and it seemed like that specifically. She liked when Ben had to be the spy and go over into enemy lines and pretend like he was working with Chrissy and of course, Ryan. Yeah. And who's I'm sure very sad about Eli Manning. Yes, exactly. Very true. But yeah, I'm really intrigued to see what Mary gets up to. Like, Mary does feel like somebody

that will kind of use this game as an opportunity to, again, be able to flex those muscles that she doesn't normally get to do in the great service she contributes to society, where she might be a little bit of a scheming Mary. She might be someone that's willing to run around and do some more duplicitous things. And so I think she's going to be a lot of fun to watch. That's also my general take on a lot of this tribe, Rob, is that I do think this is full of a lot of these characters that are going to be willing to try a lot.

And for some, it might blow up in their faces. For some, it might just be like par for the course in this season. We're like, if everyone's blowing up their games, then nobody's blowing up their games at the same time. And so I am hoping some of these more combustive out there personalities do end up getting through to the individual game to truly make this a ride from beginning to end. And then, you know, the tribe is so interesting. Stephanie, please bring your research and let's. This is like an offseason podcast waiting to happen.

Oh, yeah. Well, she's already she's already got multiple bookings lined up. She's going to be on the Love Island panel this summer. She'll be on Drag Race next season. I mean, I always love a like died in the wool reality TV fan as someone who does the reality flashing as a fan of just the genre in general. I loved getting to queen out with Stephanie about some drag queens and more on there. Okay. And then I'll say for Cedric, please invite me to your Ted talk. Yes. I think you know what? Honestly, like Cedric, like read me to sleep, just like read

me anything. Read me any sort of a research you have on colorectal cancer, because he has, again, such a plaintive personality. And I will say to say, like, let's go, let's go kiki anytime you come back to the East Coast, because I loved hanging out with her. She has such a great laugh. She is- Oh, wait, who, who, who?

Say! Oh, say, okay. I thought you wanted to kiki with Cedric. Oh, Cedric, let's hit the town. Yeah, go ahead. Yeah, no, I thought say was such a fun personality. I really forecast an outcome for say where, again, she is like such a commanding force in the pre merge.

And then like as soon as the merge of Tory hits, I could very much see a scenario where everyone's like, yup, she's an easy person to get rid of. But regardless of how long she's gonna be on our screen, she is so sure of herself, warts and all, that I think she's gonna be a very fun character to watch, especially if she decides to like take this tribe and run with it. Okay, all right.

Mike, they got Vula tribe. Two thirds down, baby. Six more to go. Okay. Mike, you want to tease anything from this next tribe we're gonna hear about over the next couple of days? Oh, Rob, you know how much of a tease I am. And tease I will.

So yes, starting tomorrow, I will start my interviews with the Siva Tribe. I will Siva you tomorrow, bright and early, for my interviews with Charity and Chrissy. Then Wednesday will be my interviews with David, aka Captain America, aka Giga Chad, aka Guy Who Swallowed Tom Cruise and Camilla. And then we finish it up on Thursday with my interviews with Kyle and Mitch.

And then Friday, Rob, you and I will finish off the week by getting together one last time, giving some brief thoughts on everything to do with these six people on Valentine's Day on Valentine's Day and forecasting who will fall in love and who will have their hearts broken by each other out there on the island. OK, great stuff. Of course, you can hear all of that in our We Know Survivor podcast feed. Big week coming up next week on the podcast or I'm sorry this week on the podcast as recording a little before we drop this on Monday. It's the RJP 15th anniversary celebration all week long. We are celebrating the podcast Kinsignera as it turns the big 15 years to celebrate the 15th place winner from Survivor All-Stars. So we have so much in store. Check out all about some of the stories of lore where you

hear Mike Bloom and many others talking about sharing their lore, all history of RHAP. You can hear that in our podcast feed. Go to Robbetswebsite.com slash subscribe. OK, Mike, what else is coming up for you? Well, happy to contribute to the Laurel and Hardy handshake, Rob, that you deserve for all the great stuff you put through, including to this day. Of course, by the time this is coming out, all my written versions of the Survivor 48 preseason interviews will be out over at Pray.com. If you want a bit of a sneak peek as to what the Siva Tribe is all about

and to fill out a bit of the time between now and when the season begins, I'll do some of these like roundup pieces, like I'll compile everyone's favorite survivor moments, what they're feeling about each other to Rob's point, the likes and dislikes, good vibes and bad vibes. And then Rob, believe it or not, another Wednesday passed and another cast for a CBS reality show dropped. The cast for the Amazing Race 37 dropped last week. I did a reality flash episode with Jessica Leathor. We confirmed.

I listened, it was great stuff. Thank you. We will be back for coverage starting on March 5th, which will be the week after Survivor premieres and lots of stuff, Robert. It's a season of surprises coming up on The Amazing Race this season. OK, so be sure to check that out. And of course, we'd love to hear you in the comments.

So let us know what you're thinking about the Vula Tribe. Take care. Everybody have a good one. Bye.