RHAP: We Know Survivor - Survivor 49 Kele Tribe Preview

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Rob Cesternino (@RobCesternino) and Mike Bloom (@AMikeBloomType) are here to share their reactions to the Survivor 49 Kele Tribe consisting of Alex Moore, Annie Davis, Jake Latimer, Jeremiah Ing, Nicole Mazulo, and Sophi Balerdi!

Hey everybody. What's going on? Rob Sesternino, and we are back to talk about another one of our Survivor 49 tribes. Today we talk about the Kella tribe here with a man who went out to meet them in Fiji. Give it up for Mike Bloom. Yes, Rob. We've reached September new month, new tribe. I'm hungry and I'm ready to say, get in my Kelly. Get in my Kelly.

Yes. Okay. Mike, thank you for bringing back. What is that? Austin Powers, the spy who shagged me? The spy who shagged me. Yes. Classic.

Okay. Everything old is new again. All right. And we won't be calling any of these people be words. That's like inglorious type, not like the. you know, other B word. Anyway, so Mike, how are you doing? I'm great. It's been, you know, a long weekend, get to sort of take some time to, you know, be able to to rest a bit before we jump into a month where a lot is occurring. We're going to be experiencing a lot of CBS reality TV,

both ending and beginning over the course of the next month. And so now it's an opportunity. We just aired once again another six interviews with another tribe on Survivor 49 and you and me and a very well-received whiteboard are getting together to be able to figure out exactly what is going on with this Blue Tribe. Who will live and who will dabba-de-dabba-die-dye on Blue? Well done. Yeah.

Okay, so we're going to go through all six of these new interviews that we've dropped here on RJAP. And then as Mike alluded, My whiteboard is back with all six of our tribe members. We'll try to figure out what the alliances are going to be, who's in, who's out, and we'll do all that here today. All right. So we have been dropping our tribe previews day by day here on RHAP.

The podcasts have been coming out one at a time. We've now dropped 12 of those after this podcast today. Six more will drop before Mike and I come back one more time to preview tribe number three. Now, Mike, what color tribe is this? Blue? This is the blue tribe. Got it. Okay.

Anything you want to set up about this group before we talk about them one by one? What is going to be very interesting about this group is that we spoke last time about the Uli tribe tribe, kind of being the vibe tribe. Maybe it was just sort of again the way that Shannon kind of spoke about her own perception of the game that led with that mentality. I do feel like, though, if this particular tribe gets off on the right foot, like this might be. the vibe try because this is a very positive group of six i would say we'll get into this with my interviews which of course you can check out if you haven't already uh but i feel like a good amount of these people have these really jovial personalities have expressed that they want to specifically bring a lot of that fun vibes jam jam was mentioned a lot amongst these six people in particular

uh so i'll be intrigued to see how well that gels once they actually hit the beach and hopefully, you know, if they start hitting a losing streak, that positivity might go out the window immediately. Yeah, I think that this is a tribe where things could go really either way. And it's interesting that you frame it that way because I had not been thinking about them as a tribe and maybe there could be such great chemistry that they are more than the sum of their parts. But I think that there's also a risk here that this could also be the hot mess tribe. Yeah, I mean, my hope is that, you know, as we saw in Survivor 47, these things, things are a bit more balanced. I mean, we'll certainly get into it with Jake, who, as we mentioned

before, as these people mentioned many of times, my interviews is the physically strongest person in, I would say, this entire cast. So that could certainly help them in certain aspects of the challenges. You know, you can't judge a puzzler by their cover, by, you know, the shape on the box, I should say. But like, I don't know if any people on this tribe particularly struck me as like the people that would be the best at that aspect of the challenges. So, yeah, I mean, we can talk about this more, I think, when we experience Hina, too. I do think this is a very well-balanced group of three tribes, but this could also be from an interpersonal perspective. You know, if there's too many positive cooks in the kitchen, Rob, how's that broth going to taste? Okay. All right,

let's find out. And let's bring in, okay, person number one that we're going to talk about. Let's bring in Alex. Yes. So let's get into Alex. So for those of you that do not Alex hails from Washington, D.C. He is 27 years old, originally from Evanston, Illinois. And Alex is a political comms director for a member of Congress. And as he talks about in my interview, you know, he is used to living a bit with imposter syndrome trying to sort of figure things out on the go, considering that he ends up getting promoted to this job at a very, you know, unnaturally young age in that type of situation. And he's, had to only not learn how to figure things out on the fly, but also how to handle a situation

where clearly he was the odd man out. Yeah. I really enjoyed hearing from Alex. I thought that he was the person that I thought that I kind of connected with the most in hearing his interviews. I think he just is very charismatic, Alex. I think that he could be in the center of a lot of things. Yeah. So, I mean, Alex disclosed to me that he is not going to be public at all about his work in politics. He says, I think he's going to be like just a public affairs associate, which certainly

has some connections as he says, it's essentially the same job. It just doesn't have, you know, the connotation of Congress to it. And I think even if he did have that upfront political association, like, I think the way he comes across does not seem inauthentic whatsoever. Like, he talks to me about the fact that, yeah, I'm purposely smiling a lot at Ponderosa to give off a good vibe. But, like, I think Alex is just kind of a good vibes guy. Like, I think he is very naturally smiley, very naturally positive.

Now, granted, he does love, you know, a bitch session or two. He loves to gossip. Who doesn't? Exactly. He's one of us. But I do think that, you know, the, the, I feel like one of the understandable reasons why he wouldn't disclose his truthful career. is the fact that there is this connotation of like, you know, the used car salesman,

you know, you're smiling at me shaking my hand, but what's behind the eyes, you know, what the seat is coming away, what's your ulterior motive? But I don't think Alex even presents that, even if you know what he does for a living. Yeah, he just has an easygoing charm about him. It doesn't seem like that he is trying very hard. And I think that that's something that's going to suit him well in the game. I don't know if he's somebody that people felt like that they were suspicious. of or he didn't have it like in a

Caleb type level where people like I have to watch out for this person he was one of many people that we've heard referenced Sam Fallon in the Survivor 49 preseason and I think that he shares that ability that Sam has

except in Sam it comes in a little bit more of a physically imposing package which might have maybe made people more wary of him yeah I mean Alex sort of touts that as well. I mean, he explicitly says he's the glue guy, specifically was in high school, right,

where he says he was class president, and he was sort of like basically having connection points with everyone at the respective mean girls tables. I mean, I'm always intrigued, Rob, but when I ask about these life experiences, people pull specifically from high school. I feel like we experienced this a lot with JD

as sort of like a larger symbol of like, okay, maybe you haven't seen a lot of the outside world. If you know, what you're saying will help you in survivors, like your direct high school experience. But I follow the logic that Alex was taking. And not to say that, like,

He obviously doesn't have a lot of immediate experience in the world of politics and especially in the world of communications, right, where he has to, on a daily basis, be able to take, you know, any sort of situation that has been thrown his way and massage it in a way that can be packaged positively for, you know, the person that he represents. Now, in this case, it might be himself he's representing or an alliance, but I feel like it's a very one-to-one skill set. It's interesting that he comes from the world of politics. I feel like that we have have not really, I guess maybe we talked about this slightly with John Lovett when he played back in Sam's tribe in Survivor 47, where there really has not been a lot of overlap in people

coming from the world of politics into Survivor, a little bit of people from Survivor getting into. Yeah, but right that. Yeah, I'm trying to think like directly. I can't think of many people that came, especially from the level that Alex has. I mean, again, you mentioned, Alex himself mentioned someone like Yule, who ends up working in the White House following his time on Survivor. And Mariah was in city government, but I don't think anybody has really come from like the real, like, really like in it type of like a political environment. And it'll be interesting to see how much that prepares you for the world of Survivor.

Now, what's also interesting is that Alex talks about in his CBS video that not only did his boss, his congressperson, send him off, you know, for 26 days, say good luck. She also says, uh, hope you come home with a wife. And as we've expressed in our cast preview, Rob, uh, I wouldn't say Alex is thirsty, but like, you know, his mouth's a little dry, maybe in a manner of speaking. He says that like, if a cute girl tells me to do something, I just might do it. Yeah. I hope you come home with a wife is a lot of pressure.

I mean, very, very much though, especially for Survivor. And I do think going back to the water analogy might be a bit of a dry well for Alex here. I mean, even looking at the women in his immediate tribe, Annie is married. Nicole has a partner, and I don't know if she'll do a Jojo Siwa situation. Sophie recently engaged. So I do not know if Alex is going to help find, I think, hopefully many connections, but maybe not a love connection this season. All right.

Well, that might be something for down the road. But no, I feel like that Alex is somebody who I could see being set up well here. I do. I think the downside that I would see is that Alex is very, very much expressed to me in my interview that, like, he wants to play hard. He says that, look, I got picked. People didn't. I want to make sure that I don't sit on my duff for 26 days.

I want to put in the work. And I could see him do that and work really well at that for a while. I could see a situation where it gets to a point in the game where everyone's like, everyone loves Alex look what he's been able to do look at what he's been able to manufacture all the deals he's made we've got to take him out eventually

and so Alex you know talked about some people that he was viving with that were on his tribe hopefully he'll be able to utilize you know those shields so that he serves as their constituent in the end game and they get to vote for him but I could see a possible universe where this guy suddenly becomes

you know the big fish how about this to get taken care of third survivor Alex Is that right? Yeah. Alex Bell, of course. And Alex Angerita. Alex Angerita.

And then we had Alec Merlino, but not, I don't believe another Alex. Yeah, so this is the first time in 10 seasons. Every 10 seasons we get an Alex. Mm-hmm. Okay. All right. So there you go. There's Alex Moore.

We'll place him in the rest of the tribe as we begin to talk about some more folks. And I'll just quickly go through because I know sometimes Rob you like to ask about these identifiers as to who he was talking positively and negatively about. So he did talk positively about Christina which again not on his tribe

could be a link up at the merge. Someone that is very much on his tribe, Jake calls him Snooky because he has that Jersey Shore look to him. I don't know if Alex really watches Jersey tour because I feel like you know DJ Paul E. D. was right there but I like the snooky nickname. I always love a

nickname in these things. And he was negative in particular on Nate and Jason. Nate, he just said, you know, he's trying to smile, give everyone a positive vibe. He was not getting the same thing back from Nate. Nate was very serious, wasn't smiling. And Jason has his head down in his video game the entire time they were there. Now, we'll get to Jason's interview. There is a good reason as to why he's focused specifically on his game boy. But Alex is focused on the game, boy. Yeah. All right. We will have such a great tease for finding out more about that. Thank you for breaking that down. Sometimes the people you're interviewing are so like with the initials and it's like, all right, I didn't have like a cheat cheat out while I was doing this. So it is very hard to handle it in a lot of cases of like who they're talking about. Yeah. I mean, truth be told, we'll get into this actually down the line with this tribe. There might be some identifiers that even I'm a little. confused by when they're like, here's a shorter woman with brown hair whose name begins with S. It's like, okay, well, great. You might as well have just told me someone on the cast of Survivor

49 because that's not narrowing the field any further. But yeah, it also helps when I'm on the island with them so I could ask them like, what were they wearing? That's how I was able to identify Jason. So I'm trying my best to hopefully try to align with who might be aligned. Sometimes it's like, yeah, there's a guy, like, I call him Jason Siddakis, okay, that he's always like going and reading a book. Like, okay, well, we don't know. We don't know. We don't know what you're talking about. Okay. Classic Siddakis. Right. Let's go to our next person here. It's going to be, oh, Kimberly Annie Davis from Trashy Annie. Yes, from Trashy Annie herself, also from Run Lab, and that is Annie's big stories that she has led these dual lives, Rob, by day.

She's a mild-mandered CEO of a running biometrics company, fueling her passion for fitness and endurance. But once the sun sets, out comes a pink wig, and Trashy Annie comes to town. So Annie is 49 years old, originally from Portland, currently lives in Austin. Okay. Now, do we get a sense from Annie, which Annie is playing Survivor? Is it the musician or is it the CEO? It's definitely the musician. She said that that is going to be the only career that she tells everybody else. She's not going to say that I have a master's in a doctorate, that I run my own business. She says, both in my interview and in her CBS video, that on a daily basis, she wears a necklace that has the word boss on it. She's left it at home. Tony Danza, don't worry. She's not the boss. So she's very much going to, Annie, where's that necklace I gave you? But Annie is very much going to present as musician forward of like, hey, I'm just a musician. She is going to be forthcoming about her story.

And Annie's life story is incredibly unique in that, again, she has these two very separate lives, both of which she came into in like the past 20 years. She taught herself how to swim in her 20s. And then she was like, yeah, I guess I'll do a triathlon. on, I should probably start learning how to run. Okay, I injured myself doing it. What if I founded a company that helped train runners to run correctly? Oh, it's COVID.

I have some downtime. I'm going to learn the drums. I'm also going to learn every other instrument. Okay, I'm going to start a band. Like, God. She got in the background that she was a trumpet player and went to school on a trumpet scholarship. I'm sure that the collab with coach is coming.

Oh, I cannot wait for the two of them duetting on Flight of the Bumblebee. coming to Instagram, the winner of Survivor 49 and 50 together be a match made in heaven. But yeah, I mean, Annie's story is really, I think, indicative of the fact that she is somebody who can kind of put her money where her mouth is. You know, if she puts her mind to this idea of like, I'm going to try to do something, she is going to put every ounce of effort into it to make sure it happens. To quote, a player we talked about last week, Rob, she is the definition of dream big, dream bigger, and that she just, just wakes up one day and says, I'm going to go find an idol. You better believe she is scouring every speck of dirt in that jungle to see if she can find one.

I really don't know how Annie fits into this puzzle here in terms of, is she somebody that people want to build around or does she have trouble fitting in? It's a really good question because I loved talking with Annie. I think she was such a fun of personality. What's really intriguing to me is that I know in the comments of my interview with Annie, there were a couple of people comparing her to Sue. And I think that- Sue Smey.

Yes, Sue Smey. What can you do, May? I do think that that makes sense concerning that, again, these players have just seen Survivor 47, that, you know, this is the oldest woman on the season. Annie has very much expressed that she is not going to necessarily want to be that motherly figure. she is kind of more of a kid at heart. The entire idea behind the trashy Annie band name is the fact that someone,

some troll commented like, why are you wearing outfits that are much younger than you? And so I think she embraces a very youthful persona. Yeah. But I do think that she is going, what's going to endear her, I think, to the tribe is that she will probably have one of the best work ethics.

And I think, again, she is very tireless. She is someone who can probably have like a time turner and works 30 hours a day inhumanly, considering all that she gives. gets to do. So I do not think she's going to sit on her duff when she hits that camp. Yeah, it's an interesting profile because now, Annie, that she's not a mom, correct?

She's a stepmom. A stepmom. Okay. But I don't get the sense that she's going to come out here and be motherly in terms of like how she's like, I think she's mother to the fandom. She might be mother. But so it's interesting where a lot of times like the mom is expected or the woman, the older, elder later days ends up, you know, okay, a mom to the younger people, look at Julie in Survivor 46 or even like Sue connected with Caroline, like, oh, because she reminds me of my daughter. So it's unusual to get that person to come in and, you know, how do they connect with everybody? But the fact that she seems so youthful and is around, you know, something that I think keeps you young, like rock music, then I think she has a good chance

to be able to be able to get in with the younger crowd. Yes, the famously young genre of rock, the Rolling Stones, just hugely indicative of that youthful energy. Yeah, I mean, she told me in her interview, right, that like her bandmates are, you know, half her age or, you know, two-thirds her age and she gets along with them fine. I mean, Annie also, again, has a very different visual sense. from Sue or a lot of these other older women that have been on the show. She has the pink hair that you see in this photo.

She has the glitter eye shadow that I can confirm she wore through the first day of the game. I can imagine that when people come in for Survivor 50 and they use the same camps, there's going to be glitter smeared all over that camp, whichever tribe goes there because that stuff is going to linger and hopefully Annie will as well. But I do agree with you that I think there could be certainly a shift where, you know, if she has more of an offbeat persona and a look to her, that even if she is a hard worker, it could put her on the outs from a social perspective.

I do also, I waver back and forth as to like the physical aspects of the game. I think, first off, if Annie gets to the post-merge, she is going to be an absolute monster in these individual challenges, especially the ones that are all about like holding up your own weight, maintaining that balance. I mean, again, this is a woman who does Iron Man's for fun.

Maybe she could relate to me more about that. But, you know, she did a, what, like a, she did an entire mountain hike, like, with a rock in her shoe. She's so passionate about mountain climbing that she bashed the cast of the summit. That's true. RIP. And so I think that, like, she is someone who could subsist in the elements better than some of her tribe mates. But I worry that, like, she's got a runner's body, which does not have a lot of fat on, not a lot of reserves, that if, and when you're going without rice for two weeks, you know, how much can she sort of work,

you know, how much could she sort of bank on, you know, once the elements really incorporate themselves? Yeah, that's a good point. I wasn't really thinking of her as potentially an asset in some of the challenges. Although early on in the game, a lot of the strength-based challenges are really what's the important part of before you get to the puzzle. Yeah, exactly. But I do think that, you know, if there's someone who has this individual sense of grit, I think Annie might be the best representation of it, considering this life that she has cobbled together from, as she talked about, a really tough background, you know, from like scrounging for, you know, canes to being able to put on the canes and make some award-winning music, it is

quite a life. And to go talk about, again, some of the people that she was having good vibes on. I believe from the description she gave, she was positive on both Sophies, one of which was on her tribe. She was also positive on MC because she sort of clocked the fact that like she has this runner's

type. We'll talk about MC next week, but she is a former track star. And she was, I wouldn't say negative on Jake. She was more so clocking like this guy is, you know, winking at people, like giving a little flirty. He's going to

broie he thinks he's going to have everyone wrapped around his finger i can't trust him as far as i can throw him and i can't throw him very far yeah okay and we'll keep an eye on that yeah and also people no matter how far any goes check out trashy annie it's a fun a fun fantastic time again if you're into some rock music uh and i know you are if you're a big ben caspin listener we've got someone else to add to the band also i think i want to amend what i talked about i believe in the cast preview that Annie is the lead singer of Trashy Annie. She's also a guitar player. She writes all of their music, too.

And so let's see the song she pens about Survivor. Hopefully it's a power ballad towards the end of it. Okay, Mike, who's next after Annie? Well, we mentioned him a couple of times, and we'll keep on doing so. We call him the Hulk, Mr. Beefcake, whatever you want to assign to him. Snooki has arrived.

we're talking about Jake Latimer. Okay. Jake is one of the all, I'm sorry, Jeremiah, is he a Canadian also? Yeah, so we're going back to back with our neighbors to the north here. But Jake is 36 years old, originally from Regina, Saskatchewan,

currently resides in St. Albert, Alberta, but one of the big parts of Jake's story is that he sort of has a Canadian sandwich, if you will, rob a Canadian bacon sandwich in that he grew up in Canada at 18, went to Australia to play hockey there, got injured, fell in love, and then went back to Canada, which is where he currently resides as a correctional officer. Yeah. So he's got a lot of deep family connections here where he talks about that.

He is on the show because he wants his dad to be able to see him play Survivor. His dad is losing his eyesight. He also was, him and his wife are expecting. a baby that he's going to miss the birth of so he's got a lot going on jake yeah there's a lot weighing on his mind and i think you know what jake communicated to me it's pretty much how he's going to be on the beach you know i will not disclose what personal information he was up front about because i have not seen the edit of the first episode but i don't think there are specifically anything that he is going to necessarily keep a secret this is a guy who said in my interview right

Like, I've been me for 30 plus years, so I'm just going to keep being me on the beach. And this is the guy who is sort of a holdover from Survivor 48. 49 feels like a very different cast than 48 for many reasons. But I think between the physical build and especially Rob, this motto of honesty and loyalty and integrity to your sense of self, Jake very much wants to represent that this season. Okay. So, Jake is such an interesting figure here in this tribe. Who did he say he was viking with?

So he specifically said he was viving with Alex. He said that, you know, Alex's preseason work kind of paid off for him here. And that he's like, this guy smiling at me. I like to smile as well. Smiling is my favorite. I feel like we could work together. And then he didn't typify another person. But he said specifically he wants to sort of like look for a younger woman to be kind of a big brother to.

I mean, something else about Jake is like, Jake is an incredibly nurturing individual. You know, he became a correctional officer partially because of, you know, the monetary stuff, but also because he wants to help sort of rehabilitate, you know, those that have lived trouble lives in the past. He volunteers at the Special Olympics on the side. Like, this is a man who clearly wears his heart on his tattooed sleeve. And so I think, you know, this is a guy who very much saw himself in Joe from last season. He mentioned him many times in my interview in his bio.

And I should mention as well that the cast of Survivor 49 from a timeline perspective, they did not see all of Survivor 48. The last episode they saw was the episode after the merge, which was the Say and Cedric double boot. I think this is going to be very interesting, Rob, because I think as we start sort of moving past, you know, the shadow of Survivor 48, and we start to think about, okay, how is this season going to reflect upon what happens in future seasons?

I think 51 will probably be more of the, more of the guinea pig here of like, okay, now will people turn strictly against the honesty and loyalty stuff, considering how much it dictated the endgame of 48? 49 doesn't know how the season ended. You know, they kind of end up ending the season before we really start to see the strong five or strong six take over as an alliance and really run that game to the end. So on paper, you could say, like, if Jake's coming forward with a strategy,

oh, we got to get rid of him because look at what, you know, Joe and Eva and all of them were able to do. But he's able to kind of live in this, this vagueness of like, well, we don't know how far that strategy carry far. We don't know how Joe did. And so Jake can't be directly compared to him

in terms of this big end game threat. Okay. And it's not the same sort of setup where, you know, that there were these bigger guys that where they were able to all find each other like in this season of Survivor 49 where I'm not sure who were the big guys that he was sort of

eyeing. I mean yeah like he said that Alex was kind of a big guy. Nate we talked about this last time probably has like the largest frame to him but yeah I totally agree. But Nate doesn't seem smile based off of what we're hearing from other people. Yeah it was just mainly Alex

but I do agree that I think this is not I will say, I think Jake is going to make it far. I think that as we get into the tribe, I think Jake is going to be the hub of a lot of things. Maybe not by his own doing. I think so many people get along with Jake and Jake will be seen as one of the biggest assets for this tribe,

especially if they're not doing well, that I think he could be more of the most locked in safe people. I do not think they will let him near this end game. I think that between the physical presence he possesses, to your point, the fact that it's not this new alliance, of like athletes that would need to get taken down and the fact that again if he is not going to withhold any sort of stuff about what's going on back home listen I know that like you know Joe and Eva and Kyle as well like all had stories that they were very upfront about and went

to the end you know no matter what but like that is a type of story that 99 out of 100 people would not want to sit next to in the final three it's interesting to come into survivor as one of the bigger guys because it really is just you are so much the main attraction in terms of how everybody else is thinking about you everybody else has a strategy of oh i'm gonna like link up with the other big guy or i'm going to target the big guy or i'm going to hide behind the big guy you know that everybody is just like i don't know if everybody has like a strategy of how are we going to deal with annie yeah it's very true but i think what's going to help jake is the fact that as he espoused to me and as was clocked by a couple people,

like he kind of has, as he mentions, the D-bag look to him, right? We're like, he is tan. He is musily. He's got the tattoos.

But I think we've talked about this with previous pre-seasons, Rob, that they're like, is this initial shield that can almost get put up by being unsuspecting? And being like, hey, you thought that I was just this giant asshole, but actually I'm from Canada and my wife's due with our first

child and I'm doing this so my dad can watch me on one last time before he loses his eyes and you're like, I was so wrong about you. Oh my God, you're a teddy bear. I want to work with you. And I do think that's what is going to help Jake endure himself to a lot of people early on, not to mention that he also said he was generally looking for people who are really close to their families. And so I think this is somebody, again, who is going to be very upfront about his emotions and about his story. And I think early on, that's really going to help him get in with people that maybe thought something else different about him. On the other hand,

it might also really work against him when you get to a point of the game when you're like, we are not letting Jake get anywhere near this net, you know, or else he's going to score on us immediately. Okay, anything else about Jake? I'm so glad you asked, Rob,

because this is not Jake's first appearance on reality television. Okay. Jake mentions this in his CBS video that when he was down under, playing hockey. And I should also mention Jake feels like a very Australian survivor coded casting choice too, right? Between the physicality, between sort of that matechip vibe, even if that is like old school Australian survivor.

He does feel like someone that they would pick up to put, you know, in that typical setting. But Jake got injured a couple times. Unfortunately, prematurely ended his hockey career. But he was binding his time and a new continent. And so Jake decided to join an all-male review. Okay. And that all-male review appeared on an episode of Australia's Got Talent. Yes. Is it the thunder from Down Under? Well, I have the video, Rob.

Okay. All right. Don't get us flagged on YouTube. It's SFW. It's SFW. All right. We'll see how strict Australia's copyright laws here. But here is Jake auditioning for Australia's Got Talent.

Okay. We have Sydney's hot shots. We're normal touring. kicks on the right. We're going to take all this off. I can't wait. Thank you, Jesus. So if you're listening to the podcast,

we're watching the judges look on at the Sydney's Hot Shots. Doing gyrating on the stage. Focus on the packages. Yep. They all hit some idle stuff in there. And now me, and that's the final vote. Yes, you're through to the next round. And they made things to the next round and you'll see that shake is going to hop up on the table and kiss one of the judges on the seat.

So listen, Rob, if there was ever a time to bring back to bring back the Mechay challenge, I think that's going to Jake could be an absolute shoe in to win it. All right. So he can work well in groups. Exactly. He's not shy. He's not shy. Individually.

So, all right. Can perform under pressure. I mean, I hope that nobody saw this video before going out there or they'd have to pull an Allen ball and ask, uh, Jake, you've got an idol somewhere, right? Just to make sure. There you go. There's Jake. there is Jake and the snake

yeah okay Mike who comes after Jake well we go from the snake to the bullfrog as we're talking about Jeremiah

King Jeremiah is our other Canadian on this season he's 39 years old originally from Windsor Ontario he talks about coming from a very blue collar type of town being a fish out of water there found his pond in Toronto

and he is a global event manager, though he previously worked for over a decade in fashion before he said, I'm looking for a man in finance. And he made his way over there. Okay. So Jeremiah comes in and you wonder, is there some connective tissue with Jake who you would think that maybe otherwise wouldn't necessarily have a lot in common, but they're the Canadians. That's the thing is that one of the things that Jeremiah expressed to me was that he was really negative on the quote unquote bros that all these athletic guys were like viking with each other and he's like trying to play the medigame of like come on they're clearly going to

split everyone up like you guys aren't going to work together let's not make this another Q situation and so I do think that honestly it could be as simple as the two of them saying we're the only two Canadians on this season that could make them the tightest two on this entire tribe yeah you would think otherwise I was more worried about Jeremiah potentially could he be the first person out of this tribe. I mean, there is still a chance to it. And not to say that Jeremiah isn't resilient, you know, this is a guy who is very well traveled.

He's been to all several continents. But he also admits that, like, the way he travels is a bit of a posh white lotus style to him. We talked about this a bit on the kickoff show, Rob. But now that you've formally heard from Jeremiah proper, what have you made about his cover story? That with the exception of his father, he has told everyone in his life,

including his mother, that he was going to go climb Mount Everest instead of play. Yeah, it's a pretty badass cover story. One that I think could leave people like less impressed where they thought, like, whoa, we thought you were doing something cool.

Oh, you just went on Survivor? Now, to be fair, we did put out the question as to, you know, have there been more people who have competed on Survivor versus Climb Mount Everest? About 10 times more people have climbed Mount Everest

than competed on American. Survivor. So to be fair, Jeremiah isn't much more of an exclusive club. Any Joe Schmo can climb out Everest. It takes a certain special person to be on Survivor. Yeah. So it's an ambitious cover story for sure. Jeremiah gives a lot of Ashley vibe from Big Brother that he also wants to be this L. Woods type that is very unsuspecting, you know, giggly on the surface, but underneath he'll get the last laugh in a manner of speaking. Luckily, no showers on the island. So he's could cause a social stripe there. I mean, again, Jeremiah has such positive vibes to him.

Just like the way he speaks, the energy he has. You could tell that if this is a guy who maybe doesn't feel like he can provide in certain ways compared to other people on his tribe, he can really be like one of the sources of entertainment. The issue is that he is on a tribe with multiple people who want to be the sources of entertainment. Yeah. And then he has a harrowing tale of how he got hit by a car.

So let's talk about this. Yes. So this was from Dalton, Ross. He likes to put out, you know, these sort of like, almost like a compilation pieces of like, here's how everyone from the season responded to this particular question. And, you know, his, the question was, why will you win Survivor? And Jeremiah, we should say, Jeremiah is very much, I would say he's like fairly spiritual. He's very much into astrology. He says that he wants to be the first male Taurus to win Survivor. Wow. He says that he's looking for a Gemini to vibe with.

unfortunately I did check that Survivor Instagram post that lists everyone signs there is no Gemini on this season so he will not be able to find his proverbial twin in the game but Jeremiah said that on his way to the airport to play Survivor slash Climb Mount Everest he got I wouldn't say maybe hit by a car maybe it was just a minor abrasion considering that like he looked if I don't look we were dealing with enough situations in the pregame okay like

though they couldn't afford having Jeremiah in track Did not come out and play. Frankly, we don't have any alternates left. Exactly. Jeff himself would probably have to step in as number 18. But Jeremiah got into some sort of scuffle with an automobile. And apparently Venus Vafa from season 46 was around. Now, to be clear, she was not behind the wheel.

Jeremiah did not typify it as such. Venus likes to throw people under the bus. She does not hit people with cars, okay? But Venus was at the hospital or Venus was with him? I believe Venus was at the airport like she locked he locked eyes with Venus and at the airport he got hit by a car

yes and he was so he saw Venus like is that Venus and then got hit by a car now that could be the case as well it could be that Venus has fallen not directly but because he was so starstruck and then he had to go to the hospital and then yeah but then he was right as rain

came here ready to play I mean listen people talk about getting second chances on the island he's got a second least on life immediately. Okay. Look, and he takes a licking, keeps on ticking, right? He knows his way around blind sides.

Yeah. Okay. Who did Jeremiah feel like that he was viving with? So this one was probably the least clear to me. Again, he was negative on the bros. Positives, he did say he was positive on Christina, those identifiers I got. He did say in my interview that, like, there's this. shorter woman with shorter brown hair

and beautiful eyes who's like my best friend. They just don't know it yet. And I'm having trouble figuring out if that was, okay, is that Sophie, is that, or either Sophie, honestly, is that Shannon, I'm not entirely sure. I mean, Jeremiah in general is someone

who says that he vibes with a lot of the female underdogs in, when watching a survivor season. So I do think he would be somebody to bond with the women over the men anyway. So it honestly might be all of them instead of just picking out one. Okay. Wow.

That's a pretty good thing to do. Yeah. So I think that Jeremiah is going to have a great story. I mean, Jeremiah in both his bio and my interview with him, talks about associating the most with Ty. And that does make a lot of sense to me. And that maybe like Jake's temperament is more like Ty in terms of just Ty being this natural nurturing persona. But again, Ty was so unsuspecting.

he was just this like friendly Vietnamese gardener in his 50s and you didn't know what he could do with a pair of pruning shears in the end. And I feel like if Jeremiah is able to take advantage of that, again, if he's able to present this very bubbly persona, but then underneath that allows you to sort of like let him in and then he'll be able to take advantage of that and be able to, you know, get some finances for himself to manage at the end of the day, all the power to him. I think he still might be in a bit of trouble in the premurge, especially if this is a tribe that loses often.

Because, you know, Jake is someone who says in his interview in particular that he's like, you know, I asked the, this year I asked if you are, if you are on a disaster tribe, what would that be like? And Jake outright says, like, I don't want to work with any of the weak people. Like, that would just, like, that would go against what I'm trying to do. And so I would just want to call out all the least physical people. I do think Jeremiah is probably one of the least physical people on this tribe. And so despite how close him and Jake might be bonded,

that might make them ops again early on. Okay. We'll talk about it when we look at the tribe as a whole. Next up, Mike, Nicole. Nicole, a name you know, all too well. Well, I have to say that Nicole's another person that I really, felt like I resonated a lot with Nicole is from Long Island

Italian a name I know well Now did you Rob when you moved to North Carolina Did you also start a bagel store like her parents did No I have not started a bagel store I love a good bagel And that was the reason why her parents started one is that her story is that She grew up in Long Island as you mentioned when she was about start high school. She moved to kind of like

Bumble F. Ohio as she implied. I moved when I started high school also. Yeah. There you go. But her parents missed bagels so much. Sounds like Nicole eventually ended up fitting in and I'm still trying to figure it out. Don't sell yourself short, Rob. Come on. But her family found a hole in their heart and it was the hole at the center of a

bagel. And so they opened up their own shop here. They did it in Ohio? In Ohio. Yeah. open up their own bagels. They even, apparently in her bio, Rob, she says they imported water in from New York. That's what they say, right? That's what makes the pizza so good. The bagel's so good from New York. I would think Ohio would still have the good water. I feel like that once you get to the West Coast, the water is no good. No, I mean, I think that like, there's just something unique about that New York water, you know, we go from trashy any to trashy water, but by God, we love that trashy water. So Nicole is currently living in Philadelphia, but as you,

you mentioned she is initially from a long island she is 26 years old turn 26 on the day that i was interviewing her and she is a financial crime consultant so she's largely responsible for looking into uh cases of money money laundering and fraud uh we'll see how much laundering she'll be doing with the clothes that she'll be stuck in for 26 days okay yeah so nicole i think is going to be an interesting player to watch uh seems like somebody who makes the social connections easily, but also is like a tough customer when it comes to dealing with like going through all these financial issues. Yeah, I mean, Nicole is someone who, I mean, she describes herself as the love child of Boston Rob and Shambo, which which

I am. Two people I know well. Yes, exactly, Rob. People you become intimately familiar with as of late. I don't know if there is anybody who is more well versed. Maybe. Maybe. Russell Hans perhaps, but I'm on like the short list of people well versed in both of those two people. Make that your LinkedIn bio. You're you have you can only get the badge and shambo expertise. Very unique. Very unique. Including, you know, Unique's association here because yeah, I do think that Nicole, obviously very much vibe. How many people have talked to both of those humans in the year 2025. Definitely not in the year

2025. I would say like Jeff Probst had a two season period where he talked to Shambo and Boston Rob back to back. How many people are talking to them in 2025? That's a fantastic question. Maybe Nicole might. Maybe now maybe she's brought Shambal out of the woodwork.

We have to do a follow-up podcast, Rob, with Shambo, to get her thoughts on Nicole on the season, how her child is doing. Because I do think that Nicole is another person that mentions jam jam and I do think she could really utilize him also yeah very again you're racking up all of her proverbial parents here uh mama mia style and that and she would family would say mama me a lot uh because she she has this I think she would be the most likely at this cast to sort embody that jam jam persona right of like she can she can crack a lot of jokes and I think be able

to get away with stuff like she has a very great sense of humor about her but her energy is also kind of like laid back at the same time. I mean, part of that comes from the fact that as she mentions in my interview, you know, she grew up with hearing loss. And so it's caused her to have to kind of lean back a bit more, be more observational, you know, clock body language. She says, Rob, that she wants to be in, you know, the corner seat at tribal council just on a perch

as live tribal council happens because she could clock each and everything people are doing as the havoc infurals around her. Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. and an interesting distinction, I think, because, you know, the laid back to me isn't necessarily Jam Jam, where I think he is, I would classify him more as the like classic social butterfly that will fly to every flower that's out there as opposed to somebody who's more laid back and observing.

Well, I think what's also interesting about Nicole, and this is where the be on part comes out of her DNA is that like she does kind of have this don't F with me attitude I mean she is very opinionated Rob she says that if any of these honesty and loyalty players get to the end and profess their game upon that she would not vote for them as a juror again she was doing a lot of forecasting for Survivor 48 without realizing it as I called out to her in the interview right like she essentially paraphrased Camilla's exact confessional that happened And in that episode, like I just watched the Chrissy Boot episode before flying out for 49 where Camilla had that confessional of like, if they wanted to, you know, reach the end

together as a team, they should have gone to the Olympics. And Nicole basically says the same thing. So I think that's another good comparison as well as like, I think she does have a bit of this Camelanator vibe to her and that I do think she could be someone who is very unsuspected as just kind of like this, you know, laid back comic persona, but could have some gamey vibes to her. Okay. Who was Nicole feeling good about? She was very positive on Christina, as were a lot of people, and she was negative on Matt. I was more so from this idea of like, Matt has this vibe that we haven't talked about them yet, right? No, no, that's another tribe.

Could be a merged situation, but she basically felt like this could maybe clue something in is that Nicole feels like for Matt, like, I get the sense from him that everyone wants to get along with him and that's considered a threat to me. Maybe that's more of a perspective as to who Nicole might target on her own tribe is thinking about, okay, who could be sort of like my likeability threats and gun for them specifically? I could see her doing that. You know, we'll talk about laying this tribe out.

Like, I would honestly not be surprised if we see a Jake versus Nicole going into whatever first tribal council this tribe attends. Yeah, I certainly could see that. Yeah, just because I think that. These two, I think, have very different approaches to the game. Not to say that, like, they couldn't get along swimmingly, but I think they just have very different focuses and considering that, you know, I'm sure Nicole probably is no slouch

in the challenges. I'm sure she is prepared well, but Jake might perceive her as someone who's weaker physically. Nicole would perceive Jake as someone who would play a game that she would not necessarily want to vote for in the end. And this is what Survivor is in a nutshell, right? These are two people from demonstrably different walks of life, taking two demonstrably different approaches to the game.

and sometimes it's like oil and water, blood and water. Okay. Mike, anything else about Nicole? No, I really enjoyed getting to talk with her. Again, I do think that she can get in good with people initially by just getting on the same page as them, you know, having discussions with them, getting to know them and shooting the shit a little bit. And we'll see if she, she loves to say the word totally in my interview.

Totally, yes. She could totally take over the game. before it got mentioned in the interview but yeah we love a self-observational queen right of like okay yeah i i clock the word that i was using all the time so we shall see if she is the total package yeah nobody likes the cereal total yeah does that still around is they still meant that total i think so let us know in the comments if anybody likes the cereal total i will say also like i watch a lot of broadcast television for very uh understandable reasons. I don't think I've seen like a cereal

commercial years. Outside of like maybe Cheerios? Maybe they're marketing it really to the kids. There used to be a lot of serial commercials while on like daytime TV for the tricks and the lucky charms and all that stuff. But I don't know, maybe big cereal

is getting out of the TV advertising. Maybe they're just all on social. Exactly. They're taking over it. They're all making TikTok trends. The Tricks Rabbit is standing on a box of tricks on one foot as the camera revolves around them. That's what tricks is doing nowadays. Yeah. Okay. All right. How many tricks DeKole will turn this season? Well, okay. All right. Last but not

least, Rob, let's talk about one of the Sophies here. Sophie Ballardy. Okay. Sophie is 27 years old. Currently lives in Miami, originally from Miami, though her parents immigrated from Cuba and Venezuela. And she is an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur. A savvy business woman. And this is, like, I think, a very interesting profile to have here on Survivor. And she's a young person. How old is she? 27.

27. She's a business owner. And her dream is to own a McDonald's franchise. And people who, you know, scoff at that, she says, it costs like $2 million to own a McDonald's franchise. So she's half a. there she can buy the mick she has to come back and win again to get the donalds yeah and very enterprising she has her own business that works in iphone repair and people be breaking those iPhones exactly so i think she's she's going to be staying in business maybe not on the

beach uh you know i don't think there's my wife beats the hell out of her iPhone where does she care exactly i don't think uh i have to fix it i'm the one it's my problem if she breaks it well listen sophie uh went to duke if she opens up a north carolina branch she's got you covered there i'm gonna open like can she open like a coconut phone repair station on the island do you think that'll help people coconut repair phone repair phone repair phone roof coconut phone repair i don't know uh but yeah sophie is somebody who despite being i think you know her and nicole are i think uh well it's it's interesting sort of division of ages as well and that like her Nicole alex sort of around the same age range but again sophie went to duke has an MBA uh she obviously

is not going to disclose any of this background. But again, she is a go-getter, as you mentioned. And obviously, the comparison has been drawn, is currently drawn by Sipar herself. And I imagine, I'm intrigued to get your opinion about this, Rob, will be drawn about her to D, considering how many things they have in common. Sure, but I think that the thing is that would be most intimidating

to the other survivors about D is that, oh, okay, well, She really did a number on Austin. And I think that if that's not happening, then I don't think that you would be as suspicious. Like, okay, we don't have to get rid of Sophie because, you know, she is, you know, a businesswoman from Florida. It's an interesting question as to like, if you did the family feud,

what are the top five things you remember about Di Viadores as to where the showman ranks up? Big toe. exactly oh yeah and listen if you're uh johnny bananas i think that would be number one through five uh specifically applying to the toes on her feet but i do think that for for d yeah people do specifically connotate it to one relationship other new not just talking about the fact that like no she was so freaking well connected with everybody let alone one particular alliance that steamrolled the game because i think that's this is sort of a playbook that if sophy doesn't get clocked about

it she could kind of run it back like she has a very very similar, ruthless way that she is approaching the game, where she's like, I want to cut throats. I want to blindslide. She says in her bio that she wants to play as a combination of Surrey and Genevieve, which is to have this sort of ruthless, take, you know, take charge, take no prisoners type of attitude, but also have the social connections to help that as well. And honestly, I could see a world where she is able to make that happen. Because she is one of I don't expect to Genevieve, like, that you could just be Surrey. That's also true as well.

Yeah, that like, uh, Surrey has definitely been the mastermind behind some absolutely, uh, maybe she's going to win more challenges or that's true. Though she did say in my interview that like, uh, she's not only on the smaller size, but she's like, when I found that I was going out here, I stopped going to the gym because she didn't want to tear anything, you know, it's why they don't put starters in preseason games, Rod. You didn't want to risk injury. Yeah.

Sometimes you need those reps. Exactly. you need those reps. I don't know if Jeremiah took a rep and he almost got hit by a car. So you never know. I didn't think it happened on your way to Survivor.

But Sophie, I think as somewhat honestly, like, again, maybe it's just the D comparisons, but I was very high on D in our 45 preasons and feeling like she kind of was the total package

in terms of smarts, her business savvy or her business sweat and, you know, just her social ability and natural relationships with people on top of the physical aspects. I think Sophie's less physical than D

that's not saying much but like this is someone who I think could also if she makes her to the merge make a really deep cut in this game I don't know who is coming to her immediately the show particularly well also she told the story about her grandmother who said that Jeff Probst

is the hottest guy ever I mean if I would say if her grandmother was the editor of people Jeff Probs would have been sexiest man alive on the cover perennially. Yeah okay so I feel like Jeff was Probably in one of those issues at one point, right?

Somewhere along the way, okay? So who did Sophie say that she was vibing with? Okay, so Sophie said that she was very positive on the Hulk, which is Jake. Sophie very specifically is coming in with this meat shield strategy. She literally opens her video by saying, I am going to find the biggest guy or biggest girl here and glom onto them like a Ramora to a shark. I do think as we get into the tribe overall,

this is going to be one of the most natural connections. Jake wanted to work with people that are very close to their families. Sophie has a very personal story about a loved one around Survivor. Like, these are going to be two peas in a pod. And I think that's also going to help her as well. So I think she could immediately link up with Jake.

she also was positive on Christina as well some of you've heard that one before she did not really clock anyone negatively I believe she was more so like yeah you know what so yeah she literally clocked my interview being like no one gives you any names but I'm not going to give you any names

I mean she says like if Jake isn't on my tribe and I'm not working with him he could be a problem that I'll get rid of down the line but at least from what I From what I recall, there were not, like, any specifics applying to this particular group. With Amex Platinum, access to exclusive Amex pre-sale tickets can score you a spot trackside. So being a fan for life turns into the trip of a lifetime. That's the powerful backing of Amex. Pre-sale tickets for future events subject to availability and vary by race.

Terms and conditions apply. Learn more at Amex.ca. This episode is brought to you by Defender, with its 620. 26 horsepower twin turbo V8 engine, the defender, Octa, is taking on the Dakar rally. The ultimate off-road challenge. Learn more at landrover.ca. Mike, let's start to take a look at this tribe and see what we can figure out. And I think it's a great place to pick things up to start with. Okay, I was going to bring it up.

You mentioned, okay, here is Sophie, and Sophie had the strategy of she wants to be the fish that is, has the symbiotic relationship with the big whale. Yes, there we go. But we'll earn her a fishy in the process, we shall see. But yeah, I could easily see this becoming a two-sum immediately. I think that, again, Sophie will immediately be seeking Jake out. specifically. I think that, again, Jake will be sort of the center of this hub, Fiji style, just from a social perspective and a positional perception perspective. And I think that he'll be like, oh, I really connect with Sophie on her story. Yeah, I'll be happy to work with anybody.

Okay. So I feel like that this is a pretty good duo here. And I think let's make it a third, shall we, three tickets for challengers. Let's bring Alex in as well. Now, we know that Alex was, was, you know, winking and smiling here with Jake. Is there any connective tissue with him and Sophie? Not from what I remember. But I think, you know, they will get along totally fine.

Total. I also think that, again, like you have sort of more three offbeat personas compared to these three people that I think, as much as Alex talks about getting along with all sort of different types of clicks, I could see them jelling together. as just like an initial three

and as Jake talks about all you need is four to rule over a six person tribe and so the question is would they grab a four and would that leave the other two people out? Okay well yeah who would be the likely fourth member of this

we could talk through the candidates first here's Nicole I think Nicole is someone that could get in well socially I could see a situation where like these three are getting together and they're like who we aren't bringing in this fourth it's like I really like Nicole

you know Nicole would be really someone that's really fun to have a route. I think that would be the argument for Nicole, as if, again, she really endears herself personally to the tribe early on as I'm expecting her to do. That could be an easy case to just get her in on pure likability. Who do you think would be Sophie's person here? Because I can't feel like that Sophie is going to want to just link up with, you know, if we think that maybe the guys might be a little bit closer. I can't imagine that she's jumping into this without having like her person also in the four. Could be Jeremiah. Jeremiah again has talked a lot about the types of characters that he

likes in Survivor. I think Sophie as again, a smaller woman is a great example of the types of people that Jeremiah likes to see. And so I could see them getting along as well. If we move on to the like case for Jeremiah to become the fourth, if we talk about that Canadian connection, that's an easy in. And again, if he has a relatability to, yeah. he has an ing, and then if he has, you know, relatability to Sophie and he, again, could be someone whose positivity endears himself. The case for Annie, I think, would be like if she immediately proves herself as an asset

from a camp perspective, you know, if it's like, look at all the stuff that Annie's doing, we can't get rid of her anytime soon, look at what she's getting done. She's clearly someone that is here to help the tribe. Again, Jake is someone in particular that is very much trying to push that motto. So honestly, there could be a case for all three. to be made here if I could pick one it might be

Annie I think Annie could be the fourth I think Annie could be the fourth Annie or maybe Nicole I didn't know it depends on how strong that Canadian connection is could we maybe also look at an alternative

version of how this tribe gets formed because I think that I'm talking about alternate this season. Let's go alternative here, Rob. Let's just, even though Rocky, it's more rock,

not alternative. Let's just build a different version of this tribe where let's say Nicole is the person who comes in and really, you know, it like kind of like say last season gets,

hits the grounds running and gets to the beach and says, I'm building this group in my likeness. And I could see like, I think Nicole going back to her a bit as well. Like, she has a bit of Carla upside too. Like I do think she could possess that sort

of like social power to be able to weaponize into close strategic bonds too. Okay. So what does the Nicole version of this tribe look like? I think Nicole would want to probably bring in Jeremiah. Okay. I think that the two of them would work really closely together. I could see her wanting to get a women's alliance going to. I'm trying to remember from her bio.

So, I mean, she does say her pet peeve is the West Coast, but I don't think we have any Californians in this particular group, luckily for them. So I could see Sophie in there. I could see Annie in there as well. Not to say that like Nicole, yeah, honestly, I could see this, I could see this for some. I can see Nicole, Sophie, Annie, and Jeremiah. Especially if there's some talk about, oh, you see Jake and Alex? Oh, they're browing out. And I think I could see like the worst case scenario for Alex being like, well, we need Jake to win the challenges.

And the guys are getting too close. So let's vote out. Smiley Alex. Exactly. Like the medium threat in a manner of speaking, which is wild. Because again, I think you and I pegged Alex for doing well generally. But yeah, he's in a bad situation here where it's like, well, you're a threat. But the second biggest threat, then that could lead him to get, you know, cut out quite early.

the campaigning process. Yeah, because I could really see the version where Nicole comes in and really just starts to like put the pedal to the metal like very early on of like, hey, I'm not going to be on the outs. Like I am going to, you know, build my four before, you know, the other four gets built without me. She turns 26 within those first few days, right? They say your brain matures at that point. And she's like, all right, time for me to put together a Machiavellian style game here. And yeah, maybe it could be a matter of, like, her feeling like I want to get something together before any sort of majority coalesces around, you know, Jake and Alex, like we were talking about in our previous version. So again, Rob, it comes back to this fact that I think we're kind

of looking at two universes where either it is an alliance where Jake is at the center or an alliance where Nicole is at the center. And I will say that then the one common denominator in both of these universes that we've built for this tribe is Sophie is the one. who is in both of these groups. So I feel like it's big for fantasy draft time. I think that Sophie is our person here who I think. I think she has a high floor and also a high ceiling. Yeah, I do think that if we are to pick winner contenders or end game contenders out of this group,

I think Sophie would be my number one. I'll probably have a bunch of number ones. Now, look, I could have seen very easily a sea universe where she gets two bloodth talk about the Ramora and the shark and decides like she's she's betraying way too many people and then becomes the big threat as a result and gets cut but I think she is someone that can be a bit unsuspecting especially if she links up with specific other people at the merge is someone who can make it at least pretty far and then I would put Alex number two I do think that like Nicole or Jeremiah could be in an interesting spot if they made it to the merge again I could see a situation

where one, if not both of them, goes in the pre-merge. But, like, you know, arguably, that's the most difficult stage for them because all eyes would be on them, assumingly, as people that are not as explicitly physical as others, that, like, once they get to the merge, then they can just sort of be their natural, funny, charming, social selves and not need to worry about, like, well, how'd you do in the swimming? We got to get rid of you, you know?

So, like, I could see a version of any of those doing pretty well. I could see any, again, Annie is not Sue, but I could see a situation, especially if she's not necessarily, if she's more so sitting back, not playing the CEO role and making decisions where like she gets brought in as a number if she makes the merge of like, well, everybody likes Annie. She'll go along to get along. Let's, you know, have her join her band. And again, Jake, I think as someone who's probably the most safe to make the merge. But I think of these six would honestly be in the most trouble once the merge hits due to both the way he stands out and his story. anything else you want to say here about the Kela tribe No I mean I think we've looked at a couple of possibilities I do think as you mentioned you know with Uli I think it was a little tougher

to pin down like who is going to be working with who I think due to the fact that a lot of these people were mentioning each other in my interviews this is something where we can sketch out a bit more of a dynamic I mean let's say it can all get eroded away like you know the wave washing upon the shore but I think here we're able to at least eyeball a bit more

what the starting dynamics might be Okay. All right, Mike, we got one more tribe to talk about one more group of cutouts for me to make. And we will do that. We get together in about a week. Yes. I'll give some cutups about some cutouts as we'll be talking about last, but certainly not least, the Heena tribe. So starting tomorrow, you'll hear my interview with Jason and then the opt-mentioned Christina, then Matt, then MC, then Sophie E.

And last but certainly not least with Stephen. And then you and I will get together one week from today, Rob, to break down this third tribe. Yeah, just a little check in here. So what are we three weeks now? So this podcast is going to be live Wednesday. And so we will be just three weeks from the Survivor 49 premiere. Can you believe it? Yeah.

I mean, again, it's this weird thing where August feels like a different state. to mind where it feels like, oh, survivors are months away at this point. And then all of a sudden you wake up and it's a new month. And, you know, we pass Labor Day, but it's an absolute labor of love, Rob, to get the chance to bring these interviews to you all and get the chance to talk about all of them with you. So thank you, as always. Thank you to everybody who's been checking all this stuff out. We've got one more to go. It's a very interesting group to get into as well. This is the tribe that contains our two alternates. So these are going to be very unique interviews because at the time I was speaking with them, they were under the impression that they

would not be in this season. And so to sort of get their mentality in that moment, I think is a very particularly intriguing headspace for them to be in. So I'm excited to see how they're going to be pieced together in this tribe, considering that they were last minute editions. Again, 12 hours before the season started, they got thrown in like Jeremiah in front of that car. Mike, I don't know if you could answer this. When you're talking to someone, do you know that they're an alternate yes okay they are they know they're an alternate as well do you find yourself because I know that you're you're such a giving interviewer and like you know you're you're such an empath do you find yourself like like trying to like talk them up

like hey do you know many alternates I've talked to that they they get on the show eventually yeah I mean what I will say without saying too much is you know I during Survivor 46 I spoke with both Rachel and Shaheen. Shaheen in particular was really down. Just to time things out, they had just taken the cast photo, which is when the cast is made aware as to who is an alternate. And now we know

Shaheen has, you know, big feelings about things. And that's the thing is that you know, he felt in an incredibly vulnerable place. And, you know, I am incredibly grateful for his openness there. And that if I was able to serve as any sort of like emotional, you know, point to grab onto, I'm

incredibly thankful for that opportunity. But Yeah, certainly in our chats, I was definitely like, listen, this is not going to be the end. Obviously, at that point, I did not know the stats as to all these people that were going to be, you know, brought back in a larger capacity. We'll get into this next time, Rob, probably looking at the stats as to like the new era when it comes to alternates. And I spoke with Jeff about this. This is very purposeful on his part to be like, if you make it that far in the casting process, like, we want to pay you for that, both monetarily and also in giving your spot in on a future season. So, listen, for the alternus that exist out there, now more than ever, you can get your second shots and look no further than what especially Rachel was able to do but one season later.

But for these two, they got their second chance right there, right then. And so I think we'll get a lot into what that shock might mean to their system early on and how that might vibe with the rest of Hina too. Yeah. Okay. Mike, great job here today. we've got our next and final preview coming up in about six days from now

or seven, I guess six more previews and then we'll get back together for that. What else are you doing for Survivor 49 preseason? Well, I'm just putting out interviews on the written side as well. If you want to get an early scope as to what Hina is all about before you experience them in written in audio form, or sorry, in video and audio form, they are up in written form over at parade.com. I'm also bringing a little bit tidbits.

I did an interview with Jeff where I've sort of sprinkled some stuff. You know, we'll certainly get into the alternate situation. Next time, which he opened up about, he talked about how the 249 players made their way onto season 50 and how that affected this 24-person cast as well. So I'll be sprinkling stuff in throughout the preseason. Like I mentioned with Dalton, maybe some of the more of these compilation pieces of everyone sort of answering the same question. On top of all the other great stuff I'm doing with Big Brother Exit Press, with covering Australia

versus the world, which is barreling towards its end game, only one episode left of that. The reality flash, at the time this is coming out, we should be getting a Dancing with the Stars cast at some point today. So I will be on with Matt and Sasha to break down who is what and where and probably why in terms of those casting choices. And you can follow everything I'm doing at a microphone type.

All right. Thank you so much for checking this out. We still have our draft to do and it's a look and everything else that we have gone on in the Survivor 49. preseason. So make sure you subscribe for all of that. I love to read your comments as well about all of these podcasts. So be sure to check that out. Also Wednesday, I'll be recapping week three of Australian Survivor v. The World with the aforementioned Shannon Gus right here on RHAP. Thank you so much for joining us. Take care, everybody. Have a good one.

Bye. Thank you.