RHAP: We Know Survivor - Survivor 49 Preseason Interview: Matt Williams

Episode Date: September 6, 2025

Mike Bloom sits down with Matt Williams for a preseason interview ahead of Survivor 49. As the oldest contestant this season at 52, Matt brings a unique perspective and life experience to the game. Mike and Matt explore Matt's journey from finance to working as an airport ramp agent, and how his outdoor upbringing has prepared him for Survivor.

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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. Hi everybody and welcome back to our Survivor 49 preseason interviews here on Rob has a podcast. My name is Mike Bloom and today it's time for some Matt chat as you'll be hearing my interview with Matt Williams from this final tribe that we're getting into the Heena tribe. If you miss my interviews with Matt's two other tribe members so far in Jason, and Christina, as well as any other interviews with the other 12 cast members from Survivor 49.

You know what to do. We know Survivor.com for podcast versions of these interviews and for video versions of these interviews, watch RHAP.com or search Rob has a podcast in YouTube. Let's get into Matt Williams. So Matt, at 52 years old, is the oldest member of the cast of Survivor 49. certainly has one of the most unique looks to him.

If you look at his cast photo, considering that he's got the bright Hawaiian shirt, he's got the long gray dreadlocks, but he is not dreading the opportunity to play this game. Matt is originally from Farmington, Utah, stayed within the state where he currently lives in St. George, and he currently works as an airport ramp agent, those people that you see escorting your luggage on and off the plane,

that is Matt and company. And it actually is a really interesting story that Matt gets into as to how he ended up working at the airport. This is a guy who, believe it or not, had a background in finance about a decade ago, but he was looking for a different calling in life. And that calling ended up being the roar of a jet engine as he soon found himself working at the airport as a ramp agent.

and he is hoping to ramp up the gameplay this season with his time on Survivor 49. Tomorrow, we will get into my interview with MC, who is one of the two alternates this season that were put into the cast at the last minute to play as a full-on cast member. So make sure you're stay tuned for that. But for now, here's my interview with Matt.

My name's Matt. I'm 52 years old, and I'm a ramp agent at the local airport. Okay, so does that involve being the one to cart the luggage on and off? In layman's terms, I throw bags for a living. Well, listen, you're about to throw sandbags on survivors, so. Yeah, I've got experience, so they'll be that far ahead of the rest of the tribe. Have you always worked at the airport, or? Well, for over 10 years, but not always.

Before that, I was in finance. So I've got a... Interesting. Record passed. Yeah, I got really, really, I don't know, what an epiphany, is that the right word? Yeah. I decided one day, I don't particularly like the white-collar crowd, and the career path is not really where I want to be when I hit retirement age, and I quit. Interesting. So then what drove you to the airport? A friend of mine worked there, and I said, why in a hell do you work at the airport, man?

I fly for free. I just got back from Paris, first class. It didn't cost me a dime. And I thought about, you know what, I love to travel. I'm a cheap bastard. I could use some free airfare. And I looked into it a little bit, and sure enough, you work in the airport, fly for free. And so that's what snagged me, and it's what kept me there all this time.

Well, let's talk about what had you making the million dollar flight out here to Fiji. So give me your history. with Survivor and what made you decide to make that other, you know, big shift to add Survivor player to your resume? You know, it's funny. I'm not a TV guy. I don't even know how to work the remote, but my wife got me into Survivor 10, 12 years ago. And from the very, very beginning, I was like, I like this show. Let's watch some more. We'd sit there and binge watch the past seasons and, you know, what are we going to do tonight? Let's watch some Survivor, you know, pick a season. And, and, uh, I just became my thing. And for years, I thought of it. You know, I see he proapsed on there.

Yeah, yeah, you think you got what it takes, apply now. I love how you voice him like he's like 90 years old at this point. He's older than me. The only guy on this island older than me. But I always thought in the back of my head, yeah, I probably should do that. I think I'd be good at that. And one day we're watching. We had some friends over and I was bitching about someone doing something.

I was like, that's the wrong move. you should have a, my wife's friend says, yo, you're always talking about it. Why don't you do it? And I kind of struck a chord. I thought, you know what? I'm not the kind of guy who sits around and talks about doing things. I get up and I busted out the camera, made a video,

and all of a sudden, here I am on the island. Yeah, you're ready to walk the walk after talking the talk. Exactly. Well, let's talk about some people that have walked in these footsteps before. Give me one winner and one non-winner who you identify with the most. could be personally, strategically, anything under the sun. Oh, hell, am I identify it with? The word identify, I'd go with Tyson because he's from Utah, he's got long hair,

he's a smart ass with a quick wit. And I think I've got a lot of the same characteristics as Tyson does. And, you know, we've come from a very similar background. Oh, really? Raised in the Mormon religion and kind of walked away from that. And so I can relate to his journey, and I really enjoyed watching him play. He's a fan favorite. He's one of my favorites.

Fan favorite to come. There you go. There you go. We've got that in common, too. Exactly. What about a non-winner? I know. You got a lot more to choose from.

I like Christian. I really like Christian a lot. I told my wife, I said, yeah, if I get out there and I run into a Christian, I have your permission to start up a bromance. He's like, you do what you've got to do, Matt. That's a unique hall pass, I've got to say, you know? So what would you say is your favorite moment in Survivor history looking back? Would it be anything involving a Tyson or a Christian?

Oh, I like Christian going off on his endurance challenge. Just talking and talking and talking and strategy. It worked for him. I don't know. I like the funny little things that I put in. I like how the producers edited. Oh, crap. Just describe it to me.

What's her name? Debbie. Debbie Lanner, how she was always her occupation always changed with the edit. I love that. I mean, yeah, you can speak as well for someone who has a lot of varied careers. There you go. In fact, when I was making my audition video, I was talking about all of my successes and licenses and credentials.

And I thought, that was great. I played it back. I thought, I sound like Debbie Wanner. I'm going to redo this. I don't know if it's coincidence that you're out here then, you know? I mean, to that point, are you going to disclose anything about, like, your financial background to anybody out here? I don't think so. Not up front.

I'm a ramp agent, and I can walk that walk. I've been doing it for over 10 years if they want to talk about it. tell you everything you want to know about the job. So it's not like I'm making up an occupation. Yeah. I'm sure it'll come up eventually. You know, if you're on the island long enough, you get to know the people here. And hopefully I make up some friends. I want to leave here with some lifelong friends, some people that I'm still talking to 20 years from now. And of course, we're going to talk about more than what I did the last 10 years. I'm obviously, had some life experience.

Yeah. Gray hair and I'm, yeah. Yeah, they're, they're not going to, they're not going to buy the fact that I've been a rampage in my entire career. So we'll see how it goes. Well, you talk about those varied experiences. What's one life experience, though, you felt has prepared you most for what you're about to undergo?

Oh, yeah, I don't know if my childhood counts as a life experience. Oh, yeah, tell me about that. But, uh, how I was raised, uh, we, living outdoors, camping, fishing, hunting, you know, it's just how I was raised that was normal. And I loved every minute of it. I'm not saying I was, you know, neglected and thrown out in the bushes. You know, it was just, what do you want to do if my dad said, you want to go to Disneyland or do you want to go camping? I'd pick camping, you know, this just how I grew up.

And so that part of the game, I think, is going to be easy for me. I've got some people on my tribe who are weaker in that side, and I can step up and help and be the tribe provider. I'm about to ask, is that something you want to do? I want to prove my worth. I want to give them a reason not to boot me. So, yeah, if whatever I can do around camp, I'm more than happy to step up and fill that role.

So outside of that natural prep, what was your prep like when you found out you were coming out here, physically, mentally, emotionally? What were you doing to get ready for whatever this is about to be? for you. Well, I quit drinking beer. Okay. I started going to the gym. I thought, I told my wife when I got the call, I said, I'm going to try and have a six-pack by the time I go there. She's like, first off, you don't have time. You quit drinking a six-pack, yeah. First off, you don't have time. And second off, why? You know, a big part of my, I don't know if it's strategy, but my, my approach is going to be my look. I'm kind of a Trojan horse. I'm going to be so stealth out there. He's just the funny old fat guy. He's no threat. Let's keep him

around. He catches fish. But I don't want to go in there being totally ripped. I don't want to be the strongest guy in the tribe. Even if I could, it would take me a year. And when they tell you you're going to Fiji, you don't have a year to prepare. Yeah. What about anything? Puzzles, fire making, you do any of that? I tried. Yeah, I've had a flint and steel in the garage. I whipped it out and made a fire about 10 seconds and thought, I don't need to practice this. So, but, yeah, I played with some puzzles.

I'd never in my life done a slide puzzle before, so I figured that out. I know that all those work now. And that'll, again, be one of the things I hope I can keep in my back pocket is, well, I'm just, I'm dumb, man. I'll look pretty and lift heavy things, but you guys take care of the puzzles until we get to the end. And holy shit, that guy can do puzzles.

So, hopefully we get that far. What would you say is your biggest superpower and your biggest piece of kryptonite that you're bringing into this game? Oh, hell. My superpower? Dude, I don't know. You've got too many to pick from.

That's right, that's right. My superpower. you know what I've got an inner strength that no one can see you go throw bags at the airport for 11 years and see what it does to your inner core muscles and they're they're gonna think oh this guy can't do that he can't hold on to that he can't lift that and uh yeah I'll surprise him with uh with what I can what I can do on the physical side of things what about the kryptonite I I don't know I'm loyal to a fall to what I I need to to make sure that when I make friends and alliances, I keep my distance and realize we're playing a game. There's a million dollars on the line and there's one winner. Yeah. And my strongest alliance, my best friend, my ride or die, whatever you want on, my number one is at some point going to stab me in the back. And so, you know, it's, uh, to go in there and understand that everybody is lying.

It's going to be hard for me. Because I like to make a friend and build a bond and trust that that guy's or that girl's got my back. And that's not the case out here. So that'll be tough for me. And I just got to be conscious of the fact that we're in the game. And that's what's going on. You talked about your perception earlier.

Do you think that you're going to be perceived as, you know, what you're trying to put across. You're going to try to do anything to help steer into that curve? Yeah, I'm just going to play the role. Hey, I'm here for the experience. I'm surprised they ever picked me. Look at Linux. Let's go. Hey, you take care of that because I don't know how. Hey, you do it. I think I can play an idiot pretty easily. Well, I think as well, I mean, you bring this up. Your age, I think certainly differentiates you from others. I mean, is that something you want to play up as well? Because there is this thing about the moms and dads out here, right? Like the tribe parents, it's nice to help build that community.

At the same time, nobody wants to be voted out by their mom or their dad. Well, I kind of knew or I kind of thought I would be the oldest guy out here. But when I first saw the rest of the tribe members, what do you call them, players, contestants, survivors, castaways. I looked around, and I think the average age is about 27. They look at me And they probably all think I'm 97 I'm much older than the next oldest guy on the island

So I don't think I have to play it up I think it's in your face obvious Well let's talk about some of these young ins that are around you Because I'm sure you've been sitting around You know, we've got nothing but time out here Making some assessments So we'll start on the positive side of things You can use their initials, you can describe them to me

Who are some people you're getting good vibes from That it's like best case scenario We Hit the Beach together this is a possible ride or die for me. Oh, you know, they're, I'm pleasantly surprised with the, the group. I'm thrilled that I got cast onto this season with this group because you use the word vibes and that's, that's all we have at this point. We can't talk to each other.

And yeah, it's, I'm, I'm thrilled with the, the positive vibes that are coming from the group. And, you know, just the head nods, the, the looks, the, you know, there's the body language. if I had to pick a couple Yeah, pick a couple Yeah, I mean, hell, give me any of them But there's a Shoot

You know, I Survivor kind of I don't know if they coined it, but they now own the term Unapologetically yourself I like that And I like the people that wear it on their sleeve Look at me, I'm an old white guy with dreads There's a girl with pink hair

And you can you can look at her and know She doesn't care what anybody thinks She is like the epitome or the essence of unapologetically yourself Yeah I think she'd be fun to get to know and to work with The guy with a big fluffy muscles He pumps himself at the gym all day He looks like a really cool guy

And again, just wearing it on your sleeve, he's had a barbell nipple ring. I mean, only one? I don't know. I don't, I haven't kept track, but I think that might be a first on Survivor, a guy with a nipple piercing out of there. You know what it is?

The last one I can think it was Dr. Sean from the first season. Did he? Did he had a nipple piercer? Okay, there we go. There he go, following his footsteps. But, yeah, he looks like to somebody I'd like to work with. And I mentioned my, Trojan horse.

Yeah. He's kind of the opposite of it. And he's a perfect meat shield. It's just like, let's do it because everybody's going to at some point come after you. Yeah. And I just say, oh, look at that guy. Tim, not me. So from that perspective, you talk about this, this authenticity, right?

This openness. Is that something you're seeking in an alley of just someone you want to work with in general? That's who I like to hang out with. That's what my people. So anybody who would apply to be on Survivor, that's the kind of person I want to hang out with. But the people that are not scared to be different and to look different and to basically just say, fuck you if you don't like it. This is who I am.

Those are the kind of people I want to be around. Those are the kind of people I vibe well with. And hopefully I can run into a few of them out here and we can work something out. Now, you had a lot of, you know, good praise for this group of general, but is there anybody who, on the other side of things, either you're not getting good stuff from, or you feel might be a threat down the line that you can look to take out soon? Oh, I don't even throw anyone under the bus.

Oh, come on, under the plane. Oh, no, that's a tough question. When you haven't even spoken a word to most of these people, there are, I, I mentioned good violence, there's some sometimes you get the feeling that somebody's not talking to you because we can't talk to each other right but there's one or two i get the feeling they're not talking to me because they don't want to talk to me so it's like okay we'll see what what happens when we get out there yeah any specifics on who those people are oh there's one just an hour ago

we're in that we get here get up at three in a morning coming in here or you get stuff into a dark tent and we're all just sitting there not talking to each other and one of them brings out like a weird light clip hooks it onto her book and starts reading her book and illuminating the entire tent like okay and then you get tired of sitting in a chair at one point she stands up and starts stretching and it's like we're in some weird masonic uh I don't know, like the Knights of Templar or something. I'm like, what's going on? She needs a friend to tap her on his shoulders.

Hey, sweetie, add some self-awareness to your diet. Right. Yeah, but she's one of the ones that I've got the vibe from that she just has no interest in me or talking to me. What's she wearing today? I'm sure you saw from the book lane. She's going to see this as something. Yeah, but you know, who knows what people are saying about you, likewise, you know? maybe we'll be best friends out there and that's the thing as well we'll have a good laugh

exactly in retrospect this will all be like yeah you know remember we're back in the days when I was calling you out with the booklight and now we're final two uh pink fingernail polish and a cheap wrist launch something I don't know you see Santa Claus or something on her on her necklace Santa Claus I don't know what it says it's like cursive I get you see oh got you really loves Christmas I guess so let's talk about stuff you might have in your Survivor carry on here. Let's talk about idols, advantages, journeys. Is that something you want to incorporate into your game? Of course. Yeah. The kind of question is that. Well, I think that, you know, there certainly has some trepidation around like, do I go on a journey? Do I hunt for an idol?

Because it puts me out there in front so much. But it sounds like you're fully embracing it all. Oh, yeah. I'm one of the sit on your couch viewers that gets angry when somebody doesn't. Oh, it's a beware advantage. I can't risk my vote. I'm putting this back. Why did you even go out there if you're not going to play the game? So, yeah, I mean, I'm going to take advantage of every opportunity that comes down the pike, and one of them might burn me, but I'd rather, what do you say, go down, swinging? Yeah, die on your feet rather than live on your knees. There you go.

So on that note, if you do find something, if your hunt is successful, are you going to tell anybody you found something? No, no, the easy answer is no. unless at some point I have a reason if I need to build some trust but you've watched the show every time you tell somebody it blows up on you

it's a bad bad strategy unless there's a very legitimate reason it's got to be your last play if you find something and no one else is around there's no reason anybody needs to know about that well let's put you in production shoes for a second speaking of these idols advantages is if you could bring in a previous advantage or a twist from a season before this,

or you could come up with something new if you want, if you're getting creative, that you want to work with on this season. What would it be? Oh, tell it, the advantage or the idol you can play after the votes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they're never bringing that back. Right, right. It's almost cheating.

I mean, it's tough, though, if someone else finds it, though, because then you're like, well, I can't ever take a shot at you. Yeah. So, looking at this general source. sense of the game, when things start out, there's things that are known maybe in the new era as like disaster tribes, right? This idea of a tribe that goes time after time after time to tribal council. If you, not manifesting this, but if there's a worst case scenario where you wind up on one of those tribes, do you anticipate your approach and your gameplay changing when you're

going to see Jeff every other night? I guess it would have to. You know, the, the hope is you're one of the guys who doesn't light your torch until day 12. But yeah, if you're on a bad tribe and you can't win a challenge, it all comes down to your social game and who's left on your tribe and trying to build a hierarchy there and getting on top of everybody who's still there. And I've, there's no way you can come up with a strategy before you're out there and you know who you're playing with and you're familiar with their characteristics

and what they're thinking and what tribe you're on, who's on. You got to get into the game before you can even start building your strategy. But an overall blanket statement is I want to be everybody's buddy. I want to,

I guess why I'm steering the conversation this way is the scenario you just described is exactly what happened to Kinsey on a Kinsey season and all she did was be nice to everybody. She won the season. And so it's a, I would hope that I can sprinkle a little more strategy into it

but my foundation is I'm going to be nice and we'll build on that. Yeah, mermaid dragging and got those like Dothraki braids going on right now that's right so you are someone who again uh was able to come from being a couch commentator to play in the game so i'm sure you got a lot of opinions about the show or a player or a season what would you say is your hottest survivor take hottest take yeah most controversial opinion oh you know what um well i'll throw it to you just a real uh historic one that we can walk away from i liked russell okay i did i thought you know what he deserved

to win the game. I'm like, so what, he was a villain. He deserved to win the game. But there's a definite polarization there on, if you liked Russell or not. But he's yesterday's news at this point. One move that I liked, and I don't think he got any credit for it, and I think he got a bad rap, was when Chris completely stole the entire season from Devin. That was Devin's season.

Devin's was absolutely going to win that season. And then some guy who got voted out third and spent his entire season on Exile Island or Redemption Island or whichever one it was comes back in, does everything right for about a... Everything right for about a minute and a half. Yeah. And then he steals the season

because he put himself in the firemaking and a firemaking was still relatively new at that point. Right. But nobody had thought to do that, to use it, to build their resume. It was until that point, just a bad thing, a punishment that you're going to push on to your worst enemy. And he said,

the only way I'm, A, building a resume and B, getting rid of Devin's is to put myself in fire against Devin's. And that's what won him the season. But I think you've got a group of people who doesn't like the firemaking, which I disagree with them. I love it. I think it needs to stay. And then you've got a group of people that thought Chris was basically absent the entire season and doesn't deserve to win, which I disagree with.

He won. He did what he had to do. And I say it was a brilliant move. And a lot of people say, that sucked. That was stupid. It ruined the season. No, it didn't. Good for Chris.

And I feel bad for Devin's because I loved Devin's. I know. It's tough. Neither can live while the other survives. It's going down in flames, literally. So on that note of, you know, winners, jury. votes. What I find so interesting is that if you're a juror, there is like unlimited criteria you can use when voting for someone, right? It could be likeability, relationship, story, resume, et cetera.

Right now, what would you say if you were a juror would be the core value you would use to vote for somebody? The sentence is like, if I'm on the jury, I would vote for blank. Fill in that blank for me. Whoever played the game, the best or played the game the hardest. So I was going to say best and hardest. Are they one in the same for you? Well, I'm not going with whoever won the most challenges or whoever was the nicest, whoever had the best social game or whoever was, you know, looked the best in their swimsuit. You know, there's

whoever played the game the best is like an all-encompassing and you could wiggle things in or out of that depending on, you know, what transpires, but I'm not exactly sure. I might miss

my character here, but I believe it was Spencer stood up in a jury to to advocate for Tony. And he said, this guy played the game. And I think that turned the jury because at that point, they all hated him because he backstabbed every single one of them at some point.

And this guy not getting my vote. And then Spencer, I believe it was, stood up and said, why wouldn't you give him here? But this is a game. And he outplayed us all. And I agree with that sentiment.

And if I were on the jury, which I'm not going to be. So it's irrelevant. But that's how I would look at the final three is which one of you came out here and played the best game. Lastly, I'm going to throw a weird scenario out to you. So we're bringing back the loved ones visit. But you can only bring out a celebrity or a fictional character as your loved one. Who are you picking in why?

Wow. This guy came out of nowhere. I've never been really that enamored with celebrities. I'm kind of leaning towards a fictional character. Yeah, absolutely, man. Do it to it. I didn't bring out the, I don't even know her name in the series, but the girl from the girl with the dragon tattoo books.

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Lizabeth, I want to say something like. Lisbeth, Lisbeth, yeah. Let's get that Norwegian, a Swedish accent to it, Lisbeth. Yeah, and that's fun, though, because she's like, listen, super investigational, like. Exactly. I like how her mind works, and I think that she could look at what's going on here

and tell me, no, do this, this, this, get rid of that. I think she could puzzle it out be like the scene in Little Man Tate where he's playing pool and all of a sudden all the angles are coming in and she just tell me this is what you need to do you know, it was like brilliant

in the strategy of things. Yeah, absolutely. You know what I'm going to leave here and I'm going to think of ten better ones but I'm kind of I dug deep, I don't know where that came from. I was going to say this is like she's in the zeit guys like 10 years ago

but everything old is new again, you know? Well, this was an absolute delight, man. This was such a great time, getting the chance to chat with you, to get to know you, because it seems like you just have, it's a clear, like, passion for life, you know, like based on the moves that you have made, and it's very clear that you're going to bring all of that into the game. And I love the Trojan horse analogy, and, like, the second they let you in those gates, man, watch out,

because you're coming in and you're massacre in them. So, I mean, I'm looking forward to, you know, when that siege takes place. Oh, thank you. Thank you.