RHAP: We Know Survivor - Survivor 50 Wish List | Season 42 with Brian Scally

Episode Date: August 2, 2024

Today, Mike and Brian Scally (@Brian_Scally) discuss Season  42....

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Starting point is 00:01:31 Notebook comes a twisted tale of modern romance and the sweet satisfaction of revenge. Companion, only in theaters January 31st. Hi, everybody, and welcome back to the Survivor 50 wishlist podcast, an offseason series where we're trying to figure out who could and should come back for the upcoming returning season of Survivor 50. My name is Mike Bloom, and I know Emu is excited to talk about Survivor 42, one of the initial seasons of the new era that threw out pretty much the same exact bundle of twists that 41 did, but with a completely new group that we are pretty much the same exact bundle of twists that 41 did but with a completely new group that we are going to talk about today as we try to figure out at the beginning of the new era who could make the list for prospectively the end of the new era on
Starting point is 00:02:36 survivor 50 now of course i am not alone here and for a a season that was very much about shifting voting blocks and allegiances free agents if you will I think it's only appropriate that we bring on a co-host from the free agents podcast as well as our recently wrapped coverage of Love Island here on Rob has a podcast it is Brian Scali
Starting point is 00:02:57 Michael I'm so excited thank you so much for having me here getting to talk about what is potentially my favorite new era season of survivor i am oh yeah i know i love 42 i think it's the right mix of like fun personalities a little bit of drama like uh definitely some mixing it up in the votes so i am so excited to tackle what i feel like is a cast that could have a lot of consequence on season 50. Yeah, I mean, I agree that whenever I'm thinking about what are my favorite seasons of the new era, obviously, I think 45 and 46 loom at the top of mind, not only with recency,
Starting point is 00:03:34 but due to things like 90 minute episodes, scaled back twist, etc., especially compared to 42. But I've always said that 41 and 42 are seasons where the cast kind of works maybe in spite of some of the stuff that the show is bringing in again this is stuff that is going to introduce a bunch of these new twists of wear advantages uh knowledge is power mergatory do or die the hourglass etc that's not new to us but is new to this group because of film right after season 41 air but i say even more so than 41 these people were able to take some of those factors and just turn it into a very fun chaotic season and really starts this kind of trend scally where not to broad brush too much but i do feel like in the new era the odd number casts tend to be by
Starting point is 00:04:25 comparison so many more like even keeled groups that yeah there might be a few like standout kooky personalities but these are definitely more of your down-to-earth people as opposed to every even numbered season they really take a lot of the uh wackadoodles to quote survivor 46 and put a lot of the big personalities in one cast and that that starts right here with Survivor 42 and the people we're talking about today. Yeah, I feel like people often are pointing to like, OK, odd number seasons is where they bring the longtime fans. The new era, like the even number seasons are where they're bringing more of the new generation, maybe a little fresher or less of fans in some cases. But I don't think that's necessarily the case here.
Starting point is 00:05:03 I think these people are just as big of super fans. They are just a little bit more wacky personalities and can't help themselves in some cases and but i don't think that's necessarily the case here i think these people are just as big of super fans they are just a little bit more wacky personalities and can't help themselves in some cases yeah so what's interesting is we certainly talked about this with 41 as to looking back i have some of the people been sometimes unfairly obfuscated with the fact that there have been other people that have been popped up that we sort of forget about uh the the hotness that kind of raised around some of these cast members. Do you feel that's the case with 42 as well? Or do you feel like some of these people's either legacies on the season or perhaps social media activity have kept 42 in the conversation more than 41?
Starting point is 00:05:40 I do think that 42 on average is probably a little bit more in the conversation than 41 it's as it currently stands but I think that there are people where if there were returnee seasons like as frequently as there were in like the 20s and 30s a lot of these people would have had a much better shot like oh they were robbed they were a
Starting point is 00:06:00 second maybe third tier character on a season but like we would really like to see them back and I think some of those people have fallen the way of even some of the larger characters of 41 getting outshined by some future new hotness in the new era. Well, listen, we're here to turn up the flames once again, perhaps, and shine a spotlight on this very fun cast for this very fun season. And so, like Jonathan inathan in raging waters carrying all of his tribe and a ladder let us surge ahead and let's talk about our final three from survivor
Starting point is 00:06:33 42 of course we have our zero vote finalist in romeo we have the oldest castaway of the season and our runner-up in mike but of course we need to start with maybe one of the most unpredictable winners from a character perspective certainly in the form of Marianne who really goes to show Scally I think why you never truly count
Starting point is 00:06:58 anyone out of Survivor especially going into the last two episodes Marianne is part of what made the new era so exciting, just from like fun, new, awesome personalities put on TV, but also in that it made the game so unpredictable. You had someone who may have been played for a little bit more of the laughs early on,
Starting point is 00:07:17 and she was still delivering on that front, but actually then turns that like winning equity around at the end and converges on it and converts on it and actually goes ahead and takes the win. Obviously, a lot of people were not expecting it early on. But by the end of the season, everyone's talking about how great of a game Marianne actually played. Right. And I think people oftentimes, especially talking about the new era, point to Marianne's betrayal of omer and the use of the extra vote that she had in her pocket pretty much since what like did she i think she went to shipwreck island in the premiere i'm pretty sure and so it was her drea and jenny and so pretty much from the
Starting point is 00:07:57 beginning she held on to this until nearly the last opportunity that it could be played and she uses it to cut her number one ally out from under her before it became the thing to do in survivor 46 and then she strings together uh this final tribal council performance one of the most impressive in recent memory and certainly one of the only few in survivor history that kind of felt like it changed minds in the moment we'll certainly talk about this with mike but i think a lot of the conventional wisdom was that people were going in and certainly they were you know uh definitely ruminating on omer infamously turning to marianne and saying oh it was you on the way out and her son of like claiming that but you know she still is protected enough to have mike play an idol on her because lindsey is such a big threat she's the one that sort of cashes in on that relationship with Romeo that
Starting point is 00:08:47 she's been supporting. Apparently this entire post-merce that lets him take her to the end. And then she comes through at the 11th hour with props as well. And it allowed the jury to give her props to where she sort of serves as the punctuation at the end of her final tribal council sentence by pulling out the idol that she didn't even, she didn't found surprisingly for the new era, did not tell anybody about and didn't even need to play. And that was enough for this jury to handily give her the victory. Of course, Marianne has been a huge presence in the fan community since her win, always
Starting point is 00:09:24 showing up on the RAJP podcast, hell showing up with me to talk about survivor cook islands. And she did say, Scali that she feels like she would want to go back though. She doesn't necessarily think her chances are that great just because now everyone kind of knows what she is capable of, but listen, between her personality and the fact that she now has a ring on that finger,
Starting point is 00:09:49 I am all for Mary Dan 2.0. Yeah, that's the thing. I feel like if there's season 50 and Marianne's not on it, like production did something wrong. I enjoy Marianne so much. I get it. Low expectations are the key to happiness. If Marianne comes back, I will also be preparing myself for heartbreak but
Starting point is 00:10:07 why not give us the chance why not and what I will say as well as I do feel like and it's tough because again we've only had six seasons so far in the new era but it does feel like when I'm talking to these players before the season or even
Starting point is 00:10:24 talking to production at some points, Marianne rings so high in terms of memorability. There are so many people who talk about watching Marianne. Carolyn did, for example, and that first confessional Marianne has, right, about like, I am here to show
Starting point is 00:10:40 that you weird people out here, you can come onto a social strategy game like Survivor, and you can do well, and you can come onto a social strategy game like Survivor and you can do well and you can thrive and maybe even you'll walk away with a million dollars. And so I do think that if you're thinking about of the winners, who is someone that production would want to bring back?
Starting point is 00:10:57 I would imagine that Marianne is either number one or number two on that list, not only because of the personality she brings, but also she is someone who has reverberated a lot with the audience and future castaways. Yeah. And that's also Marianne plays the game when she's only 23. And though it won't be that many years between 42 and 50 overall, it's still a big difference in life from 23 to what she'll be like 26 27 or so like that's a very different part of your
Starting point is 00:11:27 life the years matter a lot more the earlier they are on so I think that seeing Marianne like a little bit more grown up probably a pretty similar personality but just a different stage of life I think would be very exciting all right let's move
Starting point is 00:11:43 one step to her right here and talk about mike turner and mike has this this really interesting arc to him that honestly is a little rare for especially modern day survivor where this is a guy who i think at his face is all about preaching like honesty and loyalty right this is the oldest person this season. He's 57 years old. He's a family man. And so he wants to come in and yes, still play the game, but he's somebody that wants to find that value of like, I don't want to stray too far from my own personal morality.
Starting point is 00:12:17 Easier said than done, as we see in Mike's game, where he is someone who is in the know for pretty much everything going on in the post-merge and it leads him to do things like turn on high as an example who he was very firmly in his corner throughout the pre-merge and it builds to this point where mike had put together a very impressive game certainly a lot of social relationships had someone to vouch for him on the jury in the form of jon, but I think this game Sabai cast also wanted Mike to be
Starting point is 00:12:47 able to admire the blood that he was bathing in for a bit. And instead, Mike tried to take a fire hose and wash that blood off of himself. And that final tribal council, he was the one that was kind of still saying like, no, I am somebody who wanted to play this game
Starting point is 00:13:03 in a certain way. And I feel like I did. And I think, you know, in talking with people afterwards and even getting a sense of the moment, it does seem like what it came down to to Mike for Mike was a lack of ownership of the stuff that he was pulling off in the game. And that's a million dollar mistake. That being said, like, I give so much kudos to Mike in the moment, especially. That being said, like, I give so much kudos to Mike in the moment, especially. I mean, he is, again, probably the runner up we have seen in the new era and certainly in a while who has like come the closest to losing it at the finish line. Maybe Charlie comes in a close second, ironically enough, of he came in there as the odds on favorite and lost out due to Marianne's success and his failures in a manner of speaking.
Starting point is 00:13:44 the odds on favorite and lost out due to Marianne's success and his failures in a manner of speaking but also if you watch back that final tribal council he also kind of realizes it in the moment and that also speaks to like how good of a guy Mike is as well as that during this after show which they decide to do uh despite the fact that two of these people are going to be devastated that they lost out on a dream come true and a million dollar prize Mike is so incredibly supportive of the outcome at incredibly supportive of the outcome at the end of the day and i can only imagine what had gone through his head throughout that evening oh my god i as like a tv viewer obviously not knowing every single thing that goes on on the island look at mike as what i think is probably like the second best runner-up game
Starting point is 00:14:22 in the new era i think it's so strong I think partially through the fault of him not owning the actions that he was aware of and partially through Homer convincing him of a truth that may not be as true as it was so you know while he's in the know he might have been in the wrong know also at certain points
Starting point is 00:14:40 so you know misinformed so Mike has a tough final tribal there and also ends up against one of the best final tribals of all time I think that Mike on a return would know the exact mistake he made and know how to fix that I don't see him as someone who like a coach is going and insisting on playing honesty and integrity yet again I think that he would own his moves a lot more on a return and a mike turner return honestly more compelling than i think most people would give it credit for at first glance i don't disagree because yeah i do think when we talk about big characters of the season we talked about marianne we'll certainly get into a couple more but to your point i think
Starting point is 00:15:20 when you take more of a glance at season 42, Mike's fingerprints are all over it. He's one of the first people to find an idol. He coins the iconic phrase, there is such grace in the game of soccer, it makes me cry. And so I think this is someone that is willing to play the game, which again, for someone who at the time was 57 years old, that also says a lot.
Starting point is 00:15:45 And that also speaks towards a lot of people that they do put on these, these eras, this new era seasons, people like Mike, people like Julie, people like Maria as like, just because they fall into the mom and dad role doesn't necessarily mean they're going to sit back in their survivor recliners and like watch the kids play. Mike was someone that was eager to play from the beginning to the point where i don't think he necessarily even realized some of the some of the stuff that he
Starting point is 00:16:09 was doing towards the end he had sort of convinced himself that he was still you know honing close to the stuff that he wanted to do in the very beginning and not realizing that no this dude had strung together a good amount of blindsides he's the one that helps uh evade the knowledge's power for the second time in a row he plays an idol on marianne he beats jonathan in final four fire making i think a mic return would be very very interesting i think he has some of the most appeal to your point from a runner-up perspective especially next to charlie of like okay you need redemption because of this one very specific thing that happened how are you going to do it and i don't know if mike would be able to replicate
Starting point is 00:16:51 that success but i really enjoy his personality i really enjoy his hunger for the game and i think there is a really interesting appeal from a personal perspective of like okay can i play this time and own up to the moves that i had made last time yeah and i think people i don't know if their ages are going to be included on the ballot when they're there though mike will be 60 plus i think at the time of exactly he's exactly 60 right now so he'd probably be 61 next year yeah exactly uh i have no doubt that mike could uh currently beat me up let alone some of these challenges so I definitely have full faith in
Starting point is 00:17:28 Mike being like in tip top shape to be returning to Survivor and potentially even like the muscle of his tribe yeah I mean he played at 57 it's not like oh he played 15 years ago what does he look like now this is what he looked like three years ago
Starting point is 00:17:44 so I think he'd look pretty much the same if not even more svelte at 60 years old which is like freaking wild and i also think from a realistic perspective i don't know if they're going to divide the cast into like equal parts old era and new era or if they're going to go majority new era or what but i do feel like if you want to go for more age diversity and capture some of the uh later days demo if you will in your casting especially from a new era perspective i think mike is right up there you know there are people uh who who shall not be named but who may be the r in rhap who definitely questions uh some of the uh the the physical commitment of bringing
Starting point is 00:18:23 back people in their 60s and early 70s i think mike absolutely proves that he can be back on that beach considering he was only a few years ago yeah exactly i have zero worries about mike turner i would have many more worries about people in their 30s from even just a couple seasons ago than mike turner so let's talk about Romeo here. And Romeo is someone who had a bit of an odd story. You know, he, his edit kind of appears in fits and starts. I think he's probably most well known for a,
Starting point is 00:18:56 his friendship turned rivalry with high. And then him kind of being, I wouldn't say like the decoy vote, but certainly on the outs of a lot of stuff in the post-merge, culminating in him being the surprising winner of the Final Four Immunity Challenge. Probably most surprising winner besides
Starting point is 00:19:14 Ben from Season 46. Just from an edit perspective, a story perspective, really out of nowhere, but comes back to one of his first moments on the show, right, where he talks about being this pageant coach and wanting to support young women. Comes full circle when he brings a young woman
Starting point is 00:19:29 to the final tribal council and she ends up winning. I mean, Romeo, if you check out the stuff that he's been doing, you absolutely should because he has been hustling. If they did Heroes, Healers, Hustlers with this season, this dude might be the captain of the Hustlers tribe considering he is making a name for himself behind the mic covering many red carpets many interviews etc as an entertainment personality but scally did you think that romeo would be able to show back up to the
Starting point is 00:19:57 balcony for a second chance at survivor here it's hard i feel like romeo is one of the main uh examples of the fandoms like view of what have you done for me lately kind of view of contestants where romeo kind of goes out with much more of a whimper in his game than he enters into it he in that pre-merge is essentially running the eco tribe with treya like he is credited as a big player we're getting lots of his perspective only to then come into the merge and get completely discounted completely cast aside and just loses all social capital there really is not a lot to talk about in his post-merge game unfortunately but obviously he has shown the potential is there yeah i think so as well i think to your point this is where unfortunately the realism begins to come in and especially from these modern seasons the
Starting point is 00:20:53 idea of okay are there other people quote unquote in his archetype that would probably be cast over romeo and unfortunately tragically much like the tragedy of r of Romeo and Juliet, I do think that would be the case. That Romeo seems like a great guy. Again, he's been doing awesome stuff with his career. And I imagine if he got the chance to come back, he would probably be a little bit more bombastic, kind of trying to almost overcompensate for the very quiet edit he got last time. I just do not see production giving him that chance. It would be a little out of nowhere. He would have some story maybe as like a zero vote finalist looking for some redemption.
Starting point is 00:21:32 But there are certainly others, including from this cast, I would put on the list over Romeo. Yeah, I would be very surprised, but not disappointed. Like if there was some world in which you told me I could go watch another season of Romeo, it happened and I somehow missed it. Like I would be actively excited to go check that out. I just don't think that's going to exist in the world that we live in. Calling all sellers.
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Starting point is 00:22:18 Head to salesforce.com slash careers to learn more. All right. Well, let's talk about our jury here, Scali, because we've got a lot of characters. We are truly the USA characters. Welcome. Even though we have a couple of Canadians to discuss in this group, working our way up. We have a recent second place finisher on the challenge USA season two in
Starting point is 00:22:41 Chanel. We have, of course, the enigmatic Rox Roy. We have one of the biggest underdogs of the season in Tori Meehan. We have, of course, one of the first big victims of the blindside streak that happens mid-merge here in High, going from high to low. We have the keeper of all of the advantages in Drea. We have, of course, one of the shocking blind sides of the last episode before the finale
Starting point is 00:23:07 in Omer. And then we have an all-around threat who, at the final six, winds up with an advantage amulet unused in her pocket immediately getting voted out in the beginning of the finale in Lindsay. And then we have someone that we need
Starting point is 00:23:23 to start talking about scally which is jonathan young uh because and this was talked about actually with ali lasher during this week's summer of survivor uh last week's i should say when it came to casting a survivor season using the battle of the eras format from the challenge jonathan is somebody who is so different from so many people that are cast in this new era for anyone who unfairly uh sort of broad brushes the new era cast is like well they're all super fan nerds again i don't think that's the case but jonathan would very much be the exception to that he very much is kind of a callback to older seasons of survivor where this is a guy who just uh his job is beach he's a beach company owner and he comes in with possibly one of the
Starting point is 00:24:14 best physiques in survivor history he is hulking tall he looks like thor he even gets referenced as such on the season and he is primarily remembered for being one of the most outstanding challenge performers in the show's history, where, again, I mentioned it before, but perhaps his most memorable achievement coming during that challenge that two out of three tribes could not finish
Starting point is 00:24:37 because the conditions were so rough. The one exception not even being Jonathan's tribe, but just Jonathan in general, where he is dragging his entire tribe of four through the water. He's the one that's doing the final carnival game thing at the end of the day. And that's the other thing about Jonathan is that, yes, his Instagram handle may be young strength, but he is not just about strength because I'm pretty sure the challenges he won. He won two individual challenges in the post-emerge. Were all pretty dexterous and balancey.
Starting point is 00:25:10 Where he wins the doghouse challenge. Another challenge that infamously lasted five seconds because of the conditions. And then he wins the do or die challenge. Which is the Christian Kubicki hold the bar challenge. And so Jonathan showed a lot of his prowess across the board maybe not in other departments look he was not necessarily known as the greatest strategist and even from a social perspective he was seen as uh doing a lot of bickering especially with someone like lindsey due to the fact that his body was basically eating itself at a certain point because he was without
Starting point is 00:25:41 his like 50 eggs or whatever he eats daily but again looking back to the time that this aired and i can speak for myself having interviewed these castaways jonathan was far and away the most popular interview i did not only at that time but i would say for a long time in survivor yeah i mean if i show up on a two tribe season and jonathan's on the other tribe i'm like all right right, how are we intentionally Matt singing at this point? Like we're losing every challenge. It's over. What's the plan?
Starting point is 00:26:10 He is such a hulk of a human being. Like there have been other people that have been compared to a Jonathan or his archetype in the new era. But there is no more Jonathan than Jonathan, which sounds stupid, but it's true. Like he is a completely different class of competitor of person on the show. I don't think there really is a even like 0.5 to 1 comparison to
Starting point is 00:26:33 Jonathan in terms of characters. So love him or hate him. He is a very specific person that they could cast on the show. Yeah, I think the closest comparison, which people certainly did at the time is Hunter, who I think in a different way showed an aptitude for those tribal challenges where he came in clutch
Starting point is 00:26:52 and the individual challenges as well. Again, performing surprisingly well for someone of a bigger stature. Maybe it's also like, you know, the longer hair, the beard, the southern drawl, but it does feel a little different to me and again i do think especially in his heyday jonathan was incredibly popular and so i do think that he would be almost a lock to bring back and i don't see anything that has said that he does not want to come back
Starting point is 00:27:18 again there's also a bit of a story there too with like maybe and i don't know if this would be true that like if jonathan wins fire making does he win the season i don't know if that's the case because again he did bristle with a number of people on this jury and i wouldn't necessarily say that like you know i would not be surprised if jonathan brought the same appeal from a personality perspective that he did the first time around which is the mr jeff of it all which is maybe getting into arguments over food but that's pretty much it in terms of conflict but i think for jonathan if they were to bring him on it's very much getting what you paid for and that this is a guy that will assumingly do they if they keep the challenges the same just continuing to beast out throughout the first half yeah i would always have assumed jonathan as a lock i also assume
Starting point is 00:28:04 jonathan was a lock for challenge usa somehow that does not happen so maybe there is a world in which he somehow gets looked over again or it doesn't work out but at the time i remember like oh we're gonna see jonathan on three more seasons before 50 all right well let's talk about someone that for a while seemed to be the brains to his brawn let's talk about omer because omer is someone who almost like marianne which is uh you know very fitting given the fact that she takes him out for this was someone that was running things pretty much behind the scenes the entirety of the post-merge to the point that he comes into mergatory and does not have a vote but is
Starting point is 00:28:46 able to leverage that to actually being a good thing by basically like saying yes to all these plans realizing oh I don't have to show my cards because I don't actually have to vote for anybody though it really wouldn't have mattered either way because Lydia goes in like a 6 to 2 to 2 to 1 vote that is still
Starting point is 00:29:02 pretty inexplicable at this point but especially when we get into like the high Andrea boots, Omer was the one that was really orchestrating things behind the scenes. He's the one to your earlier point to spread that lie to Mike about high turning on him during the overnight pizza reward that then causes Mike to join his side and pretty much become one of his loyal soldiers until Omer gets taken out. I think he's oftentimes regarded as one of the best players to never win of the new era.
Starting point is 00:29:32 And again, you speak about that redemption perspective. This is a guy that was like, I was running my season until I was taken out. And now is the time for me to prove that I can make good on a second chance. Yeah, there are some really good narrators on this season, but I think that the narrator of the season is Omer. This is told largely through his perspective. He is the strategic powerhouse
Starting point is 00:29:54 of much of this season. He has the social relationships with almost every single person on this cast, let alone just the Merge Beach. He comes in and portrays himself as an outsider with the outsiders little do they know he's also running the insiders group so omer uh and as we've gotten to see since the game a huge huge personality on that it's it's wild and i have become so lucky to
Starting point is 00:30:21 become a friend of omer and get to you to play with him in these social strategy games as well as podcast with him. And this man, and I say lovingly, is incredibly chaotic just as a human being. And it almost makes me kind of look back at season 42 sometimes and be like, where did this Omer come from? It doesn't feel like Omer's natural
Starting point is 00:30:40 state. Now, maybe it's because there was so much chaos going on around him that he was more so kind of thriving and living it rather than feeling like he needs to be the chaos and create the disorder because yeah if you've ever seen omer in like a goose goose duck stream or even just on a podcast in general he is general disarray and i do wonder if he comes back for a second season would he be more of that person? And similar to Marianne, could this be something where his reputation precedes him?
Starting point is 00:31:10 And even though he is more removed from Survivor than some more recent contestants that would make the season over him, could people say like, okay, yeah, we got to keep an eye out on Omer because people did not for the vast majority of 42 and that was their problem. Yeah, does playing up this goofier side to his personality
Starting point is 00:31:26 help disarm people from his otherwise extremely strategic reputation like you don't know exactly how that's going to play on the beach or does it just draw more attention to him so I think that Omer is someone who regardless of how many episodes he's on is always
Starting point is 00:31:41 going to be a very fun character I have faith that he can play a great game yet again. So someone that I definitely have a lot of interest in seeing play. Plus, I think now with the advent of 90 minute episodes, that is perfect fodder to have Omer do a scene where he like analyzes each of
Starting point is 00:31:58 his tri-mates as various animals. That's of course a talent he has brought to the B&B since his time on Survivor. I think it only makes sense it goes mainstream i'm so ready i want to hear who everyone is as a bird i need to hear what animals everyone is the talent is unreal look if we can't have kim back uh i already wanted omer back but yet another check in the column all right well let's talk about Drea here, because Drea is somebody that was an absolute force in the game. To your point, was basically running Ica alongside Romeo, determining who goes in those two tribal councils
Starting point is 00:32:36 and just accumulates advantages like they were nothing. She's the one who covers herself in the mud and blood to get her hand on the advantage amulet. She gets an extra vote from Shipwheel Island. She finds an idol. You know, she gets a... Did she find another idol? She finds another advantage, I think, in the post-merge where she has to dip her hand
Starting point is 00:32:55 into the red paint and she kind of has to go out with money to spend, right? Where it gets to a point where she just becomes way too dangerous, especially after Hai leaves. And so everyone pretty much turns on her during the do or die tribal council. And she kind of
Starting point is 00:33:12 sees the writings on the wall. She does the extra vote. She tries to use knowledge as power to take Mike's idol, and it just is not working. Drea, of course, is also, besides Mary Ann, one of the people involved in this huge moment during the Tory tribal council Council where they look at Rox Roy and Chanel on the jury and decide
Starting point is 00:33:28 to make a stand to prevent that another Black person goes home that night and speaks about some of the iniquities that come in a social experiment like Survivor, which was huge, considering that, again, for them, this was the first time they had an opportunity to talk about this, things like
Starting point is 00:33:43 Black Lives Matter and the Black Survivor Alliance and the Diversity Initiative being brought about. So Drea Fever was absolutely there to the extent where Scali, Drea is the first recipient of Sia money in the new era that Sia had like randomly given Drea some money. And she was informed by third party and then kind of ushered in giving out multiple awards from 43 through 46. So what do you think about Drea being brought back here? There was a time
Starting point is 00:34:16 in which I thought Drea was like if not the number one like the number two lock on this cast to come back I thought Drea was on everyone's like mind. She was at the front of everyone's order to come back. And Drea's kind of disappeared. I haven't really heard a lot from Drea.
Starting point is 00:34:34 I don't know if Drea necessarily has been outshined by future cast, what that may be. I just don't know if the fervor is necessarily there for a Drea return. That once was. She was someone that played the game, was incredibly hungry to fight for any advantage, which the show absolutely loves. But I do wonder as well,
Starting point is 00:34:59 yeah, and especially in an era where people kind of have a second life on Survivor on social media afterwards. She is one of these people to kind of pull away from the show for various reasons. I don't know if she really talks about it anymore. I mean, she is obviously keeping herself a little busy. She is, I believe, is she still like a fitness influencer? Maybe even more so after this.
Starting point is 00:35:23 So she would certainly be in very good shape for Survivor 50, let alone the challenge. But I do wonder if, to your point, is the hunger there on behalf of the fans and the show to cast Drea for 50 as opposed to if 45 was a returnee season,
Starting point is 00:35:40 she would be much more of a lock. Yeah, she has posted about Survivor on Instagram and stuff recently. So I don't think it's completely out of her view. But I just don't know if Drea is necessarily like as hungry to come back as a lot of people on this cast. If she's constantly, you know, in the circles, if she were to come back, would she be as well connected?
Starting point is 00:36:02 So I'm not sure about it, Drea. All right, well well let's talk about someone that served as kind of her her frenemy throughout the course of survivor 50 i want to talk about tori scally and again when we're speaking about the cast of survivor 42 there are a few big hits that people usually go back to and tori may not necessarily be someone that everyone turns to but tori has such an interesting arc in survivor 42 where she comes in uh having been of course an alum of sequester obviously is a social strategist at heart and she shows how maybe sometimes it's a bit like fitting a square peg into a round hole when she tries uh oh so fluidly to like connect with the younger
Starting point is 00:36:45 generation how do you do fellow kids I hear you like Harry Potter even though I think Tori was what like 24 Tori was 24 yeah compared to like Zack and Swaffy who were like 19 and 21 but still it felt a little awkward and put Tori on the outs of
Starting point is 00:37:01 initially her and Rox Roy also had a very like push and pull relationship where they were both very frank to each other about how much they did not like each other. And so coming into the merge, Tory was pretty much public enemy number one. And what kept her safe for so long was her becoming a bit of an immunity threat.
Starting point is 00:37:20 She wins the first two individual immunity challenges. Back in the day, Sc scally when due to the hourglass twist they did give all of the like now non-immune people one more chance to be safe by doing an individual immunity challenge tori won that one when she definitely would have gone at that point and then at the final 11 she wins an individual immunity challenge when she definitely would have gone at that point finally things run out at the split tribal council where she does end up losing immunity and you know her boot is obviously much more about basically everybody but her at that tribal council and so people might not necessarily remember that tori sort of went out on a little
Starting point is 00:37:58 bit of a whimper and that she knows she's going she plays her shot in the dark it doesn't necessarily work but I do think I would not be surprised to see Tori back or see 50 I think I think there's some fights that underdog that we saw I think she popped enough on screen that I think people would remember her and she has some challenge prowess as well yeah
Starting point is 00:38:20 Tori is someone that I feel like in another world would be more popular than she is probably right now. I think that you can see like Tori Stan accounts popping up on Twitter. That would not have been surprising to me. She'd be the one having like a brat season. I definitely think that if we were given someone a brat season, I might be Tori. But I think that Tori mostly functioned in this season as like kind of someone to clown on for the editors.
Starting point is 00:38:47 Like they really played up Tori not fitting in Tori, having awkward conversations, Tori struggling socially. And I think that that's someone who can be compelling because is that going to happen again? Or are they magically going to find their better footing in a different cast? I mean, what's interesting is that if you talk with season 42 people afterwards they had said that tori was probably more well-liked than the edit indicated which granted is a bit of a low bar that but that she wasn't because i also remember in the moment there was probably discussions of like why don't you keep tori around as a goat nobody would vote for her that doesn't seem to be as much the case as maybe it was presented on the surface so i
Starting point is 00:39:26 would even say if tori were to come back like there's clearly some stuff that she needs to improve upon and certainly be a lot smoother when it comes to socializing but i don't necessarily think she's someone that has to like completely overhaul her game if she even wants a chance of winning a season yeah i agree i think it is just partially a matter of caste partially like the right time she was only 24 so a couple more years definitely could not hurt uh for tori as well as the experience of having been on a season already so i can see her coming in with as like a very low key threat and actually being a lot more dangerous than people might assume well let's talk about a person who went from a low-key threat to a
Starting point is 00:40:05 high-key threat towards the end, to the point where she was pretty much the dead woman walking going into the finale if she did not win that Final Five Immunity Challenge. Let's talk about Lindsay here. And again, I would say that Lindsay is definitely one of the more down-to-earth personalities, certainly when
Starting point is 00:40:21 she is surrounded by Omer, Jonathan, and Marianne on her tribe but i've always really enjoyed lindsey she is somebody that especially from an athletic perspective was one of the best performers in the challenges oftentimes neck and neck with jonathan i believe she ends up winning what uh two individual immunities same as jonathan and tori she is somebody who only really gets targeted towards the end when it turns and Tori she is somebody who only really gets targeted towards the end when it turns out that like she is becoming this
Starting point is 00:40:49 big threat especially once the advantage amulet stuff was revealed but with someone that was also willing to be like a little more cutthroat to get rid of a high and Adrea to gain that idol that she ends up not necessarily using like Tori Lindsay is somebody who like would not necessarily make the
Starting point is 00:41:06 tippy top of a list from a character perspective that I would want to see back but I can certainly see come back because it does feel like she is at least pretty good at nearly every facet of the game yeah it's so funny because I remember for a large portion of the season people are like okay well Lindsay like has to
Starting point is 00:41:22 go soon because we're not seeing her so no way she makes it far in the game and then by the time we start to see lindsey it's like oh you robbed us of fun lindsey we could have been seeing this whole time so i think lindsey is like an underrated fave i definitely think lindsey has her stands out there i think when people were pretty surprised not to see lindsey show up on like a challenge USA a challenge somewhere else. I don't know if Lindsay outshines everyone else in her archetype or on her cast necessarily to where I would bet on
Starting point is 00:41:52 her coming back, but I would not be upset about it in the slightest. Yeah, I think she's somebody that almost reminds me of like a Kelly or a D from 45 and that like she's going to do at least pretty well every single time i think she's enough of a physical asset in the pre-merge but it's also not like so explicitly
Starting point is 00:42:10 scheming and threatening that like you need to target lindsey you know she seems to be someone who who is really down to earth and again goes along to get along but also possesses the capacity to like not necessarily be a follower at all times. So again, I would not be surprised if Lindsay ends up showing up on a Survivor 50 and she would be someone almost like you were speaking about with Tori that I would not be surprised if she replicates her success a bit.
Starting point is 00:42:33 Yeah, no, I can definitely see it. I think Lindsay, like why wouldn't you work with Lindsay? There's nothing on this season that I think precludes her from being a good solid ally. And yeah, Mike, like you said, definitely could be a little more threatening than people think at first glance what about high high was somebody who again alongside lindsey andrea bathes himself in the mud and blood from the opening and that kind of
Starting point is 00:42:58 informs what high's game is where he is somebody who you know has uh some has initially presented it for more of a character perspective he has that moment where he really internally debates like killing and eating the chicken given the fact that he was a vegan but he had no problems uh cutting the throats if you will of some of the people around him most pertinently at mergatory when he decides to uh go along with the group and turn on his number one ally in Lydia. He was someone that helped orchestrate somehow going from a 4-2 minority to taking advantage of the two lost votes
Starting point is 00:43:36 and basically flipping the tribe so that him and Lydia pretty much wound up in the majority for the rest of the pre-merge. And so Hai is somebody that I've always really enjoyed and someone that yet again, I think would do well on pretty much any season that he's on. His photo indicates
Starting point is 00:43:53 he's also in pretty good shape and obviously has a head for strategy. I think my one reservation would be, as we've talked about with some others, I do wonder if we have passed the peak of when high is most on the minds of survivor fans are there people from seasons afterwards that are these like mid-merge strategic threats that would ping in the minds larger than high that would cause them
Starting point is 00:44:18 to be cast overhead yeah i do think that a high probably stood a better chance a couple years ago at a return but i really like high i you're high on high i am i like a queer villain i like i like someone that is going to go there and play the game will cut anyone's throat uh and is going to make for a actively more interesting season i think High is one of those characters. I think that, yeah, there are mid-merge threats that get taken out and probably overshadow High. I don't know that they are exactly his archetype, though, either. So I do think that High could find a placement on Season 50. I think that he is interesting all the way through on his run from the early unfortunate Jenny boot all the way through to his own.
Starting point is 00:45:09 I think that high delivers. So I am not out on high on 50, but I think that maybe not the most likely person. Yeah, I could definitely again. I'll keep repeating what I said about Lindsay and Tori. Like, I would not be completely surprised if he shows up on 50, but he wouldn't necessarily be at the top of the list for me of people that i think are locked it would certainly be welcome again because i think high also has a very fun personality to match those strategic skills and also showing a little bit of foreshadowing for the entire debacle over taking credit for the soda blind slide like high comes through after the roxroy vote right saying oh it was my idea
Starting point is 00:45:44 i was the one who orchestrated it norma's like all right well let's turn everyone on you hi so i think that hi is someone that could also make for good tv as well and maybe someone to consider let's touch upon the first two members of the jury here uh it's always tough you know i i have no idea if roxroy would want to come back to Survivor he again like Jonathan was one of the most unconventional cast members in the new era and that he seems like
Starting point is 00:46:12 such a throwback even more so than Jonathan to old school Survivor a guy that seemingly just kind of wanted to work on the camp was happy to be exiled and actively spend time away socializing with his new tribe because he just wanted to be by himself roughing it. But this really interesting story right about how he was suffering from an ocular degenerative disorder where like he was slowly losing his eyesight and he wanted the opportunity to basically see the world and see his dreams come true.
Starting point is 00:46:40 And then he was like, all right, we need a guys alliance right now to make sure uh we run it towards the end and it goes about as well as you think chanel is someone who as she says herself over the course of the challenge usa season two maybe her game was regarded as a bit mid maybe a bit too uh game body and messy and that she's someone that, for example, goes to Shipwheel Island when she's going to tribal council and chooses to risk her vote, which puts her and Jenny by proxy in a really precarious situation because both her and Mike don't have votes. And as a result, Jenny ends up going.
Starting point is 00:47:19 She's one that throws out a vote to Mike during the Daniel vote in case there's a shot in the dark play, which turns Mike off of her immediately so what are your thoughts about Rox Roy and or Chanel coming back for season 50 yeah I think that Rox Roy is like an underrated fun character because he's a little dry
Starting point is 00:47:36 so you might not think like oh fun but I think he contributes a good amount to the season now despite seemingly popping up on Twitter recently I don't think that Roxxroy is uh necessarily you know at the front of minds of fans or production so i would be a little surprised to see it now chanel i think is someone who came in remember a very large percentage of the fan base's winner pick if not the number one winner pick on the board um and made a couple mistakes i think fell victim to the big move itis of you know the uh era that came before the new
Starting point is 00:48:13 era so i think that chanel maybe thought i gotta take all these risks not a lot of them paid off now part of me is very curious to see could could she come back, correct those mistakes and play a much stronger game? Because I do think she has it in her. And the other part of me is wondering, like, is the challenge more of her game? We saw her come back there, play a very steady appearance. And so I'm torn on a Chanel. Yeah, I think that we've talked about it certainly with players like Michaela and Desi of how their stocks rose from a reality TV perspective. Certainly with their dominance on the Challenge USA season two.
Starting point is 00:48:47 And like, how does that translate to wanting to see them again for Survivor? I am intrigued to see to your point, like Chanel has proven to herself and the audience that she can go all the way and not need to necessarily be as out in front as she was. Could she bring that calmness? Definitely. I do think from an airtime perspective as well, and again, perhaps being a bit overshadowed
Starting point is 00:49:09 by the larger personalities in her cast, I think it would be a little bit of a tougher get to have her on. Yeah, I agree. All right, well, let's move into our pre-jury. So working our way up, we have, of course, a shocking like medevac slash pseudo pull from the game in Jackson Fox. We have the king of Survivor Twitter in Zack Wurttenberger.
Starting point is 00:49:32 We have Mariah, the first person voted out of talk, who has this very sad story about losing her her brother as one of like the first people to contract COVID during the pandemic. We have Justice for Jenny Kim, who again ends up being kind of screwed because she's in an alliance of four. Two of them don't have a vote. The votes get tied up and Daniel ends up flipping his vote to prevent a rock draw and ends up sending Jenny home. We have Swafi,
Starting point is 00:50:00 who is the youngest castaway of this season and plays with that young vigor to the point that it gets her in trouble. We have Daniel Strunk, whose game is kind of as out of sorts as his shoulder was, unfortunately for the pre-merge. And we have the BFJA herself in the form of Lydia Meredith. Where do you want to go here,
Starting point is 00:50:19 Scali, to start? Oh my God, this is so hard. Let's go. Let's start with Lydia. I feel likeydia is someone who a lot of people remember fondly at least in my circles but i unfortunately think for lydia that is a lot more of a twitter presence than it is a presence on survivor i think lydia is fun and we
Starting point is 00:50:39 didn't get to see quite how fun she is on the the show unfortunately. But I don't know if that's. You know what we're looking for in season 50. Yeah Lydia really is. Almost like survivor Twitter incarnate. And that she is really hysterical. With like the things that she says. Very much off the cuff on social media. Even in her post season press.
Starting point is 00:51:00 Like I remember her telling Rob about. How Applebee's basically gave everybody the shits. And like that is the unedited. unprompted Lydia that we like to see. When you put the Survivor edit on it, and particularly the edit she got on Survivor 42, it's a little tougher. You know, she was largely under the radar. We only get personal content from her when she goes to Shipwreck Island with Rox Roy right before the merge. And then she talked about kind of her personal struggles growing up but then right when we get to know her she's kind of
Starting point is 00:51:27 excised during the double merge episode there when she's just kind of expended as the typical mergatory boot of like well no one will completely go to bat for you and so we're going to take you out Lydia so I think Lydia you can kind of lump Zach in with her as maybe some of those Ponderosa rumors did
Starting point is 00:51:43 back in the day I think these Lydian, you can kind of lump Zach in with her, as maybe some of those Ponderosa rumors did back in the day. I think these are two people that are, you know, some of the youngins on the cast that did not necessarily resound immensely from an edit perspective, though Zach will obviously have a longer footprint when Marianne expresses her posthumous romantic interest in him after his boot. They are incredible on a social media but I would imagine from like a
Starting point is 00:52:07 realistic perspective of getting cast that is where their survivor legacy will continue yeah and see that makes me sad Zach is someone that is so funny that you're jealous it is almost maddening he is really really hysterical and I think that
Starting point is 00:52:24 unlike Lydia I think we got to see a little bit more of that in the edit not a overwhelmingly huge edit for a first boot but you know a first voted out at least but zach is definitely a character on the show i'm not putting it at an absolute zero but it would unfortunately be very surprising i mean listen if jelinski opened doors to consider other first boots to bring back zach is i think at least the second most remembered new era first voted out person from this season so maybe it could be like him and zayn knight and jelinski as three tribe captains i think that'd be fun literally sign me up like i would watch now jenny kim of course uh even from the time that she was unceremoniously voted out the streets were in an uproar over the
Starting point is 00:53:14 odd set of circumstances that led to jenny's boot to the point that a lot of people have been calling for a second chance for her she did seem to be somebody that like had a good spot in the game you know she goes to shipley island and chooses not to risk her vote knowing it's incredibly valuable unfortunately she falls because her allies don't necessarily uh not have that that you know uh lack of a filter to them and decide to risk their vote in the process it's tough because on paper and maybe in a different season i could see jenny as someone to put on the list because it's tough because on paper and maybe in a different season I could see Jenny as someone to put on the list
Starting point is 00:53:48 because it's like we need to see a second chance for her we need to see more opportunities for her I think to be honest if we're looking to bring on five people from this cast it's just too rich with personalities and players that I think Jenny would fall just short for me I'm so sad and I'm
Starting point is 00:54:04 still upset about the boot like I have not wavered in my anger since that day. Jenny absolutely screwed. I think usually you can look at any survivor boot through history and come up with something that they did wrong along the way. I think Jenny is one of the least at fault for her boots just in two allies losing their vote and the other just immediately folding in a situation that didn't benefit them at all I think that Jenny was the main person
Starting point is 00:54:32 that came to mind where I talked about how I wish there had been and I'm not even a huge returning season person but I kind of wish there had been an earlier returning season and I almost kind of wish that the season 50 was more heavily new era because i am already sad be careful what you wish for it's going to be like 17 new era people and
Starting point is 00:54:51 three random people from the old era yeah that's exactly and that's the worst of both worlds frankly like it's the absolute worst of both worlds because one of those three spots could have gone to jenny kim and they're just going to get voted out early so I'm sad yeah so maybe you know Jenny will have an opportunity to pop up in like other social strategy games you know like I want to see because Jenny still lives in Brooklyn like if they still do Survivor Brooklyn I want to see Jenny play like an LRG I want Jenny
Starting point is 00:55:16 to have an opportunity to play some form of Survivor in the future even if it may not be on the show yeah I would be so excited to hear that was the case I think that jenny just had like immense potential and just you know circumstances of luck went out of the game which was super unfortunate any thoughts about our remaining four here as well we've doted upon the other three i think jackson due to the circumstances around his departure, which for those of you that don't remember, Jackson was utilizing lithium in his treatments prior to being on the show.
Starting point is 00:55:51 And he like pretty much tried to to quit it cold turkey right before going out there. So he obscured from production and as a result had to get pulled for his own health concern. Mariah, very sad. She knew the writing was on the wall. She placed her shot in the dark, but was just especially after Jackson left kind of on the outs of Taku. Swathi is someone who, again, kind of represented,
Starting point is 00:56:15 especially the beginnings of the new era where they were all about bringing on these like 18, 19, 20, 21 year old. And Swathi kind of like a JD before her succumbs with just playing too hard, too fast. And Daniel Strunk, you know, one of the initial prototypes in the new era, unfortunately, for these people that are
Starting point is 00:56:33 so into the game, huge, super-duper fans who just end up, as he kind of does in the sand, falling on his face between, you know, dislocating his shoulder initially, between everything going on with the near rock draw and then him eventually getting voted out I will say
Starting point is 00:56:50 from the sense that I get of talking to Daniel he was pretty unhappy with the way that he was portrayed on the show and especially the fan reaction to him and so I do think he would be one of these new era contestants that even if he was given the offer to come back I do not necessarily think he would be one of these new era contestants that even if he was given the offer to come back I do not necessarily think he would
Starting point is 00:57:06 okay yeah that tracks because I was going to say I think Daniel is a actually pretty decently sized character I can see where he would not necessarily enjoy his edit or his experience unfortunately for him but
Starting point is 00:57:22 I also do think that his story is a little complete like I don't think that i am like coming away from daniel's story and thinking like i need the sequel unfortunately and mazel to daniel he ended up getting married in his time away from the survivor so it's safe to say his life is fine but our lives will not be right now sc Scali, because we have a difficult job here. So we've talked about everybody from the cast of 42. Let's rip off the bandaid. Let's do this.
Starting point is 00:57:53 Maybe it's just easiest if you give me your top five and I will see how my top five compare. If we have any in common, I think those are automatic people we can throw on and then maybe we can debate any others. All right, this is scary. Let me go the fear of the monster scally the monster is this wish list as i said to you before when it was just three in the early days and i was like i'm not a rule breaker i can follow a rule or two but now that it's five this is a this is scary
Starting point is 00:58:20 but so now i am obviously looking at you know a lock for me I don't think I hit it very well I want Marianne back on 50 like that is pretty obvious I'm also looking at Omer two of my early hits on the board and now I am just debating between
Starting point is 00:58:40 a couple people I mean I think that we are not like leaving this podcast without talking about the potential return of Jonathan as told I think Jonathan is a one of a kind character and whether
Starting point is 00:58:56 people want to see that on 50 I think you give them the option of letting us know now there's a lot of people in this endgame that I am eyeing. I think as said, people were eyeing them too. That's why they ended up getting booted so much in a row.
Starting point is 00:59:12 I think that when it comes down to it for me, I'm looking at potentially Mike and high as my other options but I'm open to discussion yeah so we've got 80% synchronicity here I would say I had Mary and Mike Jonathan and Omer on my list my last spot I was even
Starting point is 00:59:38 wavering between basically Tori Andrea so if we want to include high in there we can certainly talk through if we want to put in in there we can certainly talk through if we want to put in that last spot yeah i'm open i really could see any of these three they all go out back to back in this like we got to just start taking out big threats at this point uh tori maybe slightly less of that reason but as you said behind the scenes uh definitely comes up i think they're all compelling characters for sure. I think for me,
Starting point is 01:00:06 I think high is a little bit less of a like competitive archetype in terms of season 50. So I can see where we would go to a high. And I also, like I said, I am a big fan. I think that he's a lot of fun. So that's where I was looking.
Starting point is 01:00:22 Whereas I think Tori probably gets lost or Drea might get lost. So I don't know. That's interesting because I would say that I don't know. I'm trying to think about like who I would relate high to, but I do feel like high as someone I would probably cast Tori or Drea on this season over high just thinking
Starting point is 01:00:39 about like all these other random types of people that have gone eliminated in the even look outside of gender in like the eight to six spot in subsequent seasons of okay I mean like listen do high and Ricard fill the same slot here and
Starting point is 01:00:56 do you think the show would bring back a Ricard over a high that's valid I definitely think that that is probably the closest we are getting here they may be fighting for that same spot unfortunately yeah and I do think the show especially with the Shan storyline would
Starting point is 01:01:12 probably cast a record over a high that's the thing is that like I do feel like unlike Marianne Mike Jonathan Omar I think all these people would kind of come in with a story of like okay we don't necessarily need to do second chances even though people want to do it but like what would you need to improve on
Starting point is 01:01:28 to make good on your second chance Hyde doesn't necessarily need that though he has the classic survivor edit of like thinking that he was on top and to watch him tumble down so I am willing to discount Drea in the moment because I do think of those three she would be the least probably willing to do
Starting point is 01:01:43 it so it really comes down to high or Tory in this moment yeah it's so tough I mean obviously I think I know where I'm leaning I think I know where you're leaning but I will also mention you I mean you do have a money in the bank pass you could use it here
Starting point is 01:02:00 I think I told you where I am leaning on that for those that may not remember, Scali finished second after a valiant 15 hours in the RGP pressure cooker. And I did offer a prize of whoever finished in second would get a money in the bank pass. They could put whoever they want to
Starting point is 01:02:16 on the wishlist ballot here. That is true. I think, frankly, both of these names are going to be potentially revisited a little bit down the line. I think that, also, I have a Money in the Bank pass coming. Maybe I will defer to you and let you make this
Starting point is 01:02:34 final call. Alright, then I will put Tory on for now. And I'm sure I will hear from plenty of people about High that he will probably see a spot added on. Maybe we'll see other people get vouched for here too, but I, I don't know.
Starting point is 01:02:47 I just have a feeling. Maybe it's because I was sort of like looking over the past couple of years of survivor, right. And it did feel like for one reason or another, when people are talking about who's the most likely returnee from this season, Tori seemed right up there.
Starting point is 01:03:00 So I could definitely see it maybe more so than high or even a Lindsay or a Drea maybe I could be wrong about that and certainly I'll be informed about it this could certainly be a cascali that could see a number of names added to it after this podcast yeah I definitely think so there are people that I am
Starting point is 01:03:20 just absolutely gutted to leave like in the wings at the moment but doesn't mean their journey is over. We will see how it goes in the future. Absolutely. So let's let's address the money in the bank pass now. Then we're still on the tactic. So I'll give you a choice here.
Starting point is 01:03:36 Do you have someone in mind that you want to put on now? Because to peek behind the curtain a little bit, much like Jeff did when he talked to the camera in Survivor 42, we are recording this a bit out of order, so you don't necessarily know who all has been added onto the ballot. But is there someone you have in mind you'd like to add right now?
Starting point is 01:03:55 Or would you prefer to wait after we've done all 46 and then wait until the ballot is revealed before you make your pick? Yeah, look, I think that smart thinking would be to wait and make a much more measured decision but i think that's worse podcasting so let's talk about the person that i think i was talking to you trying to see if they did already make this ballot i don't believe they have someone that uh people would take a bullet for i would keep my
Starting point is 01:04:25 hand on my head for 15 hours for and uh until someone bests me at that they can claim the number one spot of natalie cole stands i need natalie cole back on survivor like i need air yes there we go natalie napalm has dispersed over Survivor 42 here. Listen, I'm all for it. A, because Bryce did threaten to come find me if I did not put Natalie on the wish list at some point. So like, great. I don't have to go into witness protection.
Starting point is 01:04:56 But on the other hand, yeah, not to talk too much about a podcast that happened in the past, but Jenny and I were really agonizing over the fifth spot basically being between like her and Mike White or her and Gabby and I think just due to the pre-jury of it all we had to leave Natalie out in quite a stacked cast so I
Starting point is 01:05:14 am thrilled to add her on here as a sixth pick Scali's choice for David versus Goliath yeah it must be like and you know as stacked as this cast is that cast is maybe even more so. Not surprising to be the first one or maybe not the first one. If you go all the way back, but one of the first to have six people on the list.
Starting point is 01:05:33 Yeah, so don't worry. I'm sure it's been a week since it's going to be a week between those podcasts have debuted of people, you know, waiting in the streets for Natalie Cole's return to come to the wish list. you know, waiting in the streets for Natalie Cole's return to come to the wish list. And it has come sooner rather than later, as she is going to join all the people that were added today from Survivor 42, which in review with ages, we have our winner, Marianne Oketch, 26. Our runner up, Mike Turner, 60. Jonathan Young, our fourth place finisher, 31. Omer Zahir, 33.
Starting point is 01:06:03 And Tori Meehan, 27. Last but not least, Scali, you are an expert in a lot of reality TV that exists outside of survivor. So I'm intrigued. Is there anybody from this season that you would want to see in a show outside of survivor? Ooh,
Starting point is 01:06:20 this is so hard because even the names that we've already gone over, that would be so fun elsewhere. But I am, you know, we talked about it, how I was surprised it did not happen already. I think Lindsay would be super fun if they were to bring back a challenge USA. I could definitely even see her on a mainstay of the challenge. That's the first one that comes to mind for me. Yeah, I think Lindsay and honestly, if he's, you know, in the same shape that he was during 42, I think high would be great as well. Like, it seems like someone who could hold his own physically and has some of that that scheminess to him.
Starting point is 01:06:52 Now I'm sort of like brewing, Scali, that you and I did a podcast in that Liguri where we drafted survivors that could be cast on the challenge. And now I'm kind of kicking myself that we didn't do this beforehand because I think I would have been a low key, very fun pick to put on the challenge. Yeah, was maybe even rumored for a challenge season in the past so has not been I don't know if that was actually you know leading to talks or what it was but
Starting point is 01:07:15 definitely you know at least the community has had their eye on high so I am thinking about that I want to find a spot for Jenny Kim I don't know where that is whether it's the traitors you know Survivor Brooklyn whatever the case but I want Jenny somewhere I want Jenny
Starting point is 01:07:32 she can join who I really want on Squid Game the challenge which is Chanel I think Chanel again even if she is shown that she can play more of a steady game in the challenge USA like she is clearly very cutthroat and very much self-forward thinking. I think that's very fun for
Starting point is 01:07:48 a game like Squid Game the Challenge, which presents so many opportunities for you to basically be selfish and cut people in your wake. Oh, I do like that. I think that while we mentioned Squid Game the Challenge, I would be remiss not to say that I would love a return appearance on Squid Game the Challenge by one
Starting point is 01:08:03 Zach Wurtenberger, maybe bring his mom along this time. Yes. The doors he opened. I mean, that's interesting because like I don't think the in show logic was that they actually died considering they do confessionals after they're eliminated. But like, could that break reality? Like, oh, my God, he came back to life. I know. Yeah, that I think it would be fun.
Starting point is 01:08:24 It would be fun it would be fun i think you know getting the snarky confessionals from zach getting you know stephanie wertenberger on there could be a good time i also think that they need to design some sort of reality show and maybe this is easier in concept and execution of like maybe a show like the goat of like a generic reality show without a specific structure with a bunch of early people out of these competitive reality shows who for one reason or another whether it was due to like their personality flaming out or just
Starting point is 01:08:52 a bad end of the stick they end up getting voted out first, second, third but they have an opportunity to really flex their muscles so like again Jolinski is a perfect category of that, Zayn Knight, someone like Reem and Prozak on there. Honestly, just fill that house full of a bunch of Survivor First boots,
Starting point is 01:09:08 and I would subscribe to whatever service is there. Look, it's a show long gone. We talked about it one time in one of my favorite podcasts, but I don't know, reboot I Love Money and put all the early boots on I Love Money. That's what I want. I would love that, much like I Love Money. And Scali, I loved this podcast. It was not an easy job to
Starting point is 01:09:30 do going through a powerhouse cast of a powerhouse season to only pick out five names. We have emerged with five of them. Marianne, Mike, Jonathan, Omer, and Tori. Last but certainly not least, I know that you always have a lot of stuff going on out here
Starting point is 01:09:45 in these reality TV streets. What would you like to plug and how can people follow you? First of all, Mike, thanks for having me. As fun as this was, I'm so excited to go back to listening to every episode and not have the stress of deciding who gets through. But if people want to find more from me, I'm on Twitter
Starting point is 01:10:01 at Brian underscore Scali on Twitch at twitch.tv slash be Scali. Myself and Matt Liguori are talking about the monumental season of the challenge season 40 over on the free agents podcast. It is so weird to know that your favorite show, much like Survivor, you know, when like the biggest season of all time is coming and it will never be top. And we're living in those times. So definitely come join us over there also recently wrapped up Love
Starting point is 01:10:29 Island USA 6 coverage on the Hot Dummies on Islands feed with Kirsten it is announced that we're going to be having a reunion in August so is that a rarity for Love Island it's the first time that the US has ever had it because the viewership like tripled the season so
Starting point is 01:10:45 yeah yep so very very excited to be revisiting what is one of my all-time favorite seasons of Love Island at this point wow so be sure to check all of that out and of course speaking of reunions I will be back after the weekend on Monday
Starting point is 01:11:01 to begin the final week of the Survivor 50 wishlist podcast. I truly cannot believe we are here, but the first one we're getting to is Survivor 43. Scali, I am very intrigued. From your perspective,
Starting point is 01:11:18 who are some people from Survivor 43 that would make your personal wishlist of those you would want to see on 50? I think 43 is like a very underrated cast when people think of like heavy sheer number of returnees that could come back here I mean my mind goes similarly
Starting point is 01:11:33 to where a lot of people's do I'm looking at the Jesse's the Carlos the Owens but also keeping a little bit of my eye out there for a Dwight Moore return I think that would be so interesting I don't know if it's going to happen, but I'm advocating. Well, much like Blood on the Clocktower,
Starting point is 01:11:50 we're going to have to make, yet again in the new era, some very big cuts, but I won't be alone. I will be joined by Chappelle. And so you know this is going to be a chaotic podcast. Be sure to not miss it. Again, we'll be back on Monday as we make the search forward to finish this whole thing out.
Starting point is 01:12:06 Thank you all so much for listening, not only today, but to this entire week of the Survivor 50 wish list as we closed out an old era and entered a new one. I cannot wait to see how this finishes. And look out for maybe a little something in your podcast feed a week from today as we might start the process of actually putting this ballot together and finally putting it to a vote thank you all so much for listening have a great weekend take care bye

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