RHAP: We Know Survivor - Survivor 51 B&B Premiere Recap with Sam Phalen

Episode Date: September 27, 2026

Survivor 51 B&B Premiere Recap with Sam Phalen Also available on YouTube. Survivor 51’s open era begins with an unpredictable bang, and Liana Boraas and Mike Bloom are here to break down every twist, alliance, and jaw-dropping moment on the RHAP B&B. Kicking off the season premiere recap, they are joined by Survivor 47’s Sam Phalen to dissect the shifting sands of the new “permanent uncertainty” format, where old strategies collide with brand-new gameplay and character-centric stories come to the forefront. Right from the start, the episode spotlights a cast thrown into chaos, with the largest tribes seen in years and almost no information about what to expect. Players scramble to form alliances and make a first impression, like Devin’s aggressive push for control and Brady’s emotional personal campaign, both vying to control the first vote. Notably, the “open era” philosophy brings both freedom and risk, sparking lively debate about twists, tribe dynamics, and the future of Survivor gameplay. Meanwhile, Lewis’s exile and failed mast-cutting challenge set the tone for high-stakes risk, while the showmance sparks and subtle social plays, like Carter’s spaghetti banter and Jelly’s immediate crush, add both fun and unpredictability. Key moments include: – The “permanent uncertainty” twist shakes up strategy and player expectations – Tribal Council heats up with a live vote and shocking pivot, driven by Brady’s personal plea – Sam highlights Survivor’s shift away from casting only super-fans, bringing in players like Ori and Devin who break the strategic mold – A new take on Exile Island tests Lewis’s resolve and sets him back socially and physically – The debated fire-making vote and controversial “coin flip” rules spark discussion about Survivor’s evolving endgame As the season kicks off, Liana, Mike, and Sam dive deep on whether unpredictability benefits the show, how character-first casting might affect alliances and blindsides, and what players need to do to survive the chaos of the open era. Will the new format reward creativity, or leave unlucky players out in the cold? Join in as the Survivor 51 B&B unpacks every detail—from wild alliances to game-changing twists, setting the stage for a season where anything can (and will) happen! 00:00 RHAP B&B Theme Song Opens 01:05 Premiere Reactions: Whale and Character Focus 05:10 Cast Strategies: Devin’s Alliance Move 09:05 Casting Spotlight: Ori and Devin’s Survivor Knowledge 13:45 Live Tribal: Devin’s Radical Honesty 15:31 Pat’s Influence and Pants Story 16:46 Jenna Versus Aaliyah: Pre-Vote Narratives 19:41 Brady Takes Charge at Tribal Council 22:37 Devin and Brady: Rivalry or Alliance? 26:59 Rob and Eric: Rhode Island Rivalry 37:07 Jelly and Ori: Cross-Tribe Showmance Begins 41:42 Carter’s “You Like Spaghetti?” with Eric If you have any suggestions for games or feedback for the B&B, feel free to reach out to us on social media or email rhapbnb [at] gmail [dot] com. Never miss a minute of RHAP’s extensive Survivor coverage! LISTEN: Subscribe to the Survivor podcast feed WATCH:  Watch and subscribe to the podcast on YouTube SUPPORT:  Become a RHAP Patron for bonus content, access to Facebook and Discord groups plus more great perks!

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Mike and the honor, yeah, they're playing some games. Better pray to your mama that there. And if that all sounds cool, I can tell you the name HAP, B&B. Mike and the Yonah gotta play in some games. Let up right to your mama, that all sounds cool. I can tell you the name is the R-H-A-U. Hi everybody and welcome to the R-H-A-B for the premiere of Survivor 51.

My name is Mike Bloom. Are we having Survivor 50 fun yet? I believe so. I felt like this was a party down as we have a lot of things to get into over the course of the official opening of the Open era. And I will not dally too much on the intros here.

I'll go chop, chop, much like Lewis on that mask. I'm joined by someone who I'm happy to chop it up here with every week. Leanna Boris. Leona, how are you? Doing well, a whale of a premiere, if you will. The respected and revered whales. You know, honestly, I thought this was

a really character-focused premiere, which means that I personally had a lot of fun. And it's nice to actually see the open era and what that actually means and how that's being reflected. I think we have a lot to talk about today. As far as we know, again, who's to say what's coming down the line? The only thing we know is that there'll be Final Four fire making it a coin flip. So a lot is open right now. And I'm excited to open up our series of podcast this season with a standout of the new era as we kick off another new era of Survivor. Though I guess Sam Phelan, are you technically an old school survivor contestant now by these standards?

Assuredly not. No, actually. I won't take that's all right now I know you're an expert in the media because you know a loaded question when you hear one. Yeah, no, I will not even dare to classify myself as old era. But I will say, I don't have a pun that you guys do about the episode. I just have four words for you. we are so back.

We are so back. Physically, us sitting here, chopping it up on the podcast, but also Survivor might be so back. This was an awesome, awesome premiere episode. I'm so excited to talk about it. Well, Sam, I'm going to stay on you here because I would love to get your thoughts as to, listen, there was a lot we didn't know

about what the open era was just as a general idea going to this. And look, as I say again, we still don't necessarily know entirely what it means. That's the point, Mike. It's permanent uncertainty. Exactly. But how certain were your opinions on the open era going into this season and how much should they change after these first two hours?

Look, I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt with it. Because I think when you take it, if you're trying to view it pessimistically, you're like, oh, this means that they're going to be all over the place and foot like twist and thing and this and that every week and it's not going to be Survivor anymore. I think it's a way to brand what they want to do anyway. way, really the idea of permanent uncertainty, everything's in play. That's kind of always been the case, right? Like, it was just the fact that they, like, they could have dropped any twist and it wouldn't have been out of bounds, you know, at any other point in time in survivor history.

But I do think this gives them the freedom to just play with stuff, to not keep things uniform and to kind of have an easy brand for that lack of uniformity. And I think lack of uniformity is awesome for the show and awesome for things feeling fresh. First word for the open era is fresh because it feels so distinctly different from the new era. So I think they're going to swing and miss a whole lot. I think they're going to hit a few home runs. But I think that trying those things is going to allow us to have some really great TV moments and figure out what works as they progress through the open era a little bit more.

It is kind of funny because it's almost like they made the rules for the new era that they were going to be so rigid and then they're like changing their own rules. But look, I agree with you. I'm happy to have it. Yeah, that's what I made this comparison during our preview podcast because yeah, when I talk with Jeff about it, the repetitive structure of the new era was a feature not a bug. It was by design to say, let's see how the players, you know, a person in Survivor 47 now sort of knows how things run differently than Survivor 42. and how do they base gameplay on that? And I think freedom is the most applicable word for not only the players, but production as well.

Like, this really felt like a breath of fresh air. And it's weird because we're coming off of a huge returning player season, the first we have seen in over half a decade, where that felt like a breadth of fresh air as well. But I think the commonality between them is that, while I think the 50 Premier certainly had its fair share of journeys and other, you know, Billy Ellish Bumring Idol, Mishigas, the commonality between them is that,

they both kind of just gave time to the cast. Yeah. Even just providing this opening moment of having them all chill on a beach and they have no idea how long they're going to be here, what tribes they're going to be. So they're just going to get into it. They're going to make a five person alliance seconds before the tribes are divided. And I think that is essentially what kind of survivor is at its core, right?

Which is like, here's a situation based on who you all, what you know, which is very limited and how you operate, what are you going to do about it? Some people were just sitting back trying to maybe work on a shelter that they might be living in. Others were quickly hitting the beach, trying to form an alliance with a quarter of the cast. And even though the latter doesn't necessarily pan out, I think it's an interesting experiment to see how do these people respond to these enigmatic

situations? And more importantly, how do they work to sort of like take the bull by the horns, as we saw with Devin throughout this episode, even if it, again, doesn't work out and say, like, I'm going to try to put this uncontrollable situation in my control. Well, and for that reason, Mike, I also want to caution Survivor fans out there to be too overly critical of some of the new things that we see, right?

Because I think that it's very easy, especially if you're a fan who watches the show for the gaming of it all, the strategy of it all, to sit there and be frustrated when there are these twists that are out of the control of the players. Yes, that can be frustrating to watch. But I think the risk is of having predictability is this sort of like monotonous feeling that we have over the new era where it's like, yeah, it was predictable. Players could game what was coming. Players knew what to expect.

But it also created a very standard level of gameplay that just didn't change. And while it might not feel like old school survivor, you hit it like, Survivor at its core was this idea of we're going to throw weird situations at you and see how you adapt. Yes, we hate it when somebody loses their vote or there's a Billy Elish boomerang idol. And we want things to be equitable, right? We want things to be as fair as they possibly can for the players. But I think we should give the show a little bit of grace as well to try stuff and try to

throw these curve balls at them because it does create for those organizations. organic character moments that really drive a show and drive the characters to be TV stars that we love to watch. I mean, and obviously we still have the whole rest of the season ahead of us, but I would say that this premiere was relatively twist-free. I mean, apart from Lewis being sent to exile. But I feel like even with that, there was always a bit of like all of us holding our breath and then letting out necktail where it's like, okay, he couldn't shop down the mask,

but he didn't lose his vote. Oh, Rob found an idol. and there's no beware advantage. Again, it's sort of us living through. Trauma's not the right word, but I think again, it's past being prologue, like anticipating the bottom dropping out from under whenever this big game element happens,

only for the bottom to remain intact. But I think that that gives me, that gives me hope that whatever twist, if there are more twisty twists that end up coming out later, it will follow. I think they're going to, they're going to do what they say, right, in that the sense that it's, they're not going to hopefully be lots of losing votes and things like that.

So it won't be that repetitive structure. So as Sam is saying, it will allow the cast to really thrive and what is for them, hopefully a new environment. Like it was actually very interesting because when they went to immunity, there were a number of players who were like, where's Lewis? Like, when's Lou? Are you going to just airdrop Lewis in? Like, where is Lewis going to come?

So they're clearly like questioning. They're wondering, like, where is Lewis going to show up? And I like that they're having to approach the game by always sort of constantly questioning, okay, what is my reality? what is going to happen and how do I navigate that space? I will also say that I think the casting so far has been a slam dunk. Granted, it is not an equitable edit for all 21 contestants. Unfortunately, for people that are wanting equal airtime for everybody,

I do not think that's going to be the case. They struggle with 24. We don't want that. Who wants that? I mean, listen, there are people out there, Sam. You know, there's a pop for every lid and a fruit for every bowl when it comes to these people's case. Isn't that the issue with the new era, though, was like the everybody's story. needs to be told, we all need airtime, and then you don't end up with any compelling

characters at the end of the game. Yeah, I mean, it's true. And it's not to say that they're not going to come about as well. Like, who knows, like Tannan might have a huge episode. We had one whole tribe, not go to tribal council of 10 people. And so we didn't get a lot of airtime dedicated to them. But what I will say is even looking into a couple of characters specifically, again, by design, the new era seemed to be focused primarily on, like, if you love Survivor,

whether you watched it since you were out of the wound. or whether you watched it over COVID, we want you on this show. Jeff admitted to me in an interview that he's like, or he doesn't know the game. We wouldn't have cast him in 43. He literally says on the show, like, I don't know what I'm doing. Can you help me?

Devin told me when I talked to him at the premiere that I attended, which was so much fun, that he started watching Survivor in December 2025. Yeah. Season 50 was the first season he ever saw and not even in full of the show. And I love that because look at what he's doing, right? Like, it doesn't matter how much survivor you've watched. It's more so how much survivor you want to play. And you look at somebody who's coming in with a very specific perspective. As ill-advised as it might be, he created some of the most electric content of the entire premiere.

I think it's actually so, so, so important. This is like a larger philosophy casting thing. But I think the new era did really suffer from what you were talking about, Mike, which was everybody has to be a super fan. And so you. You end up with whether you've been watching from day one or whether you started during COVID and binge watched all of it, you knew what you were doing and you were relatively savvy from a game perspective. But I think that also created a general, like, everybody was kind of trying to play the same strategy in a way that you saw. That's why we see this. Hey, don't get too high on the totem pole.

Knock out the big threats. End up with the under the radar kind of like come on right at that final five. that was sort of the M.O. And you didn't see people branching out from this to create differing outcomes. And, you know, I think hopefully, right, my read on this season 51 cast is that you're going to have people who are not playing Survivor by the book. But I think that's really compelling for the people like a Kristen who has been applying since the beginning, who knows how to play Survivor by the book, that she now has to play with people who are all over the map and tough to account for. And I think that that is very fun. I think it could give us a variety of different outcomes from season 51 to 52 to 53.

So very encouraged in the casting from that thing because who knows if Ori is going to be this strategic mastermind that figures it out really quickly or if he's just like, I don't know, I'm going with the people I like to the end. It's hard to read him. I mean, I always go back to the fact that while I do enjoy watching good strategy, I would so much rather watch entertaining players. And so when someone like Devin, like Devin, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, but I kind of don't want him to shut up, right?

Yeah, it's terrible. I mean, what are you doing at tribal council? But you cannot look away from him just being like, I'm voting for you. You see, you look at me. I'm voting for you. Oh, it was. Because it really, I mean, there was so many Spanors thrown in the work to that tribal council.

And it seems like from what's come out, it was legitimately a live tribal council. And part of that might have also been the numbers, right? I think it's a lot easier for a first vote. Sam, you can speak to this firsthand to get your hands around a six-person vote than a 10-person vote in the first three votes, the first three days of the game. So apparently when it swapped so last minute to Aaliyah, then they really had to do a lot of makeup at tribal council.

Like, okay, we need to make sure we have the votes in. So that makes it more exciting as well. I know sometimes we feel like these things are for show, but it seems like between the conflict that was set up by, you know, Devin's radical honesty or Pat outright saying like, yeah, you know what? there's two boots, much like my pantsless boots are on the ground right now, trying to search for my bottoms. You're on the bottom.

Alia, it was fun to just watch. Again, these people attempt to figure things out as they go and deal with the myriad wild cards thrown their way. Just a side note about Pat, every single confessional afterwards where she wasn't wearing pants, I just giggled to myself. Like, I just love that that's kind of her story. And then she kind of shows up like through the chaos. And also, I mean, she was the first one who also told Jenna that Jenna was going to be targeted. And so there is just like a lot of subtle Pat stuff going on that like makes me really excited. So while yes, we do have a lot of these main characters, big main character energy,

even the people who, you know, Pat was not necessarily the most involved is still out there making waves, losing her pants, doing fun things. And so I think that that to me also speaks to a very good cast. I will say they are, they were like a little intense at first, but that's what I want. I mean, that's what Alexis literally said, right? She's like, I had to even take a step back and be like, there's a lot of extroverts happening right now. Exactly.

Yeah. The, sorry, I'm all over the place trying to figure out where I want to start. A great cast, as Leanna mentioned, is even the small characters, the people that we talk about that aren't like heavily, heavily featured or thrown in our face, they advance the plot to some degree or they contribute to the arc of another person to some degree. It's a little tough when you've got 21 people that you're tracking. But I get that general feeling of even somebody like Pat,

who's maybe seventh or eighth on her tribe in terms of airtime and how much we got to know her. There's little subtle things in there that make you giggle, make you laugh, make you kind of like Pat. And then, by the way, if we're reading between the tea leaves here, Pat is a huge reason for this vote going down, the way that it goes down. And so it brings something different from the other energies. And I think that's a really complimentary group that has a lot of upside. New from Nespresso.

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You're richer than you think. Let's talk about a vote that went down, Pat, because of what happened with Pat. I'm so curious. Leanna, when the votes were coming in, how much did you think it was going to be Jenna versus Alia, given what we had seen of this story so far? We got so much Jenna so early.

I was like, there's no way she's going home. And listen, it'd be historic right? The cast could have done the funniest thing and make back-to-back Jennifer's boots. Yes. So for me, I thought that it was probably unlikely just because Survivor editing team has a tendency to not go overboard, but without being so nerdy about it,

I think Jenna obviously was like very clearly the one who was ostracized the most. And I think what was interesting was to see how many people were saying, yeah, Jenna's going to be the first boot or we're going to vote out Jenna. We're going to vote out Jenna. So then that way you know it's not just a smaller collective because while Devon, jelly, you know, obviously we're talking about it. There were, it wasn't just them, right? It wasn't just the remnants of the helicopter alliance that was on this tribe.

It was other people as well who were on board with. voting Jenna out. So I can see why it was potentially, you know, solidified going into tribal and then turned into a live tribal at, at tribal council. What do you think, Sam, based on, again, your experience as someone who went to a premier tribal council?

I mean, I was fully on the other end of Leano watching it at least. Because, I mean, hey, 47, I feel like we're pretty John Lovett forward in the 47 premiere. It granted the anti-situation.

He literally names the episode. Right. Names the episode. And it talks about how he, might have one episode and then sure enough it is John at the end. I thought that Alia was our little red herring to make us think there was a strategic doubt when they were telling us from minute two of the tribe being together that Jenna was the odd one out that was going to go home.

So I was very surprised. I think that it was, it does make sense for it to be live. I think Brady is really the mover here, the guy who gets this thing going. we have to talk about this because, Mike, I ultimately, I talked about this with my friend Genevieve about why we feel like this vote went down this way. And I think the thought process, right, of being at a premier tribal council, being voting out the first person in your season, it's super easy to want to go with the grain. That first name that kind of starts circulating, it's like, let me just not be the one. Let me not upset the Apple card. Let me just vote out

Jenna here. Where I think Brady does well slash not well, not well maybe for his future, but well for this immediate vote getting his way. He makes this very personal. This is, I want Aaliyah out because she said my name and this means everything to me. So if you are one of these middle people who are like, I don't really care, man. Alia, Jenna, I don't have strong feelings either way. You know what? I'm just not going to upset the big dude who tells me that this is everything to him. And also, I think there is a level of linear logic for Brady that is easier to get behind

than somebody like Devin. Brady's logic is very simple. She said my name. I want her out. As another player, I can track why you don't like Alia and why you want Alia out of the game where I can say, yeah, sure. sure, make sense to me. That's a lot easier to, you know, hit your wagon to than Devin's,

she's lying about her job. And, you know, and I just don't trust her and all of this stuff, which might be like, why is he so passionate about getting Jenna out just because he thinks she lied about her job? So Brady kind of takes it that personal route. His logic is very easy to get behind. And I think ultimately that line of thinking wins out for people who are probably trying to obviously make it through the vote, but then also go. back to the rest of their tribe with as few questions they have to answer as possible.

And this gives them easy logic to talk their way out of their decision. Yeah. I mean, if your instinct is pure survival, which person would you rather keep happy? Devons, hey, no matter what happens, we'll come back tomorrow and still be friends or Brady. I am sticking with my vote. I will take every single vote that's not cast for Alia personally. Plus, you have to look at the challenge as well,

and granted, they only have one challenge to go off of, but if they feel like they're going to be struggling moving forward, and granted, they're not going to be at a disadvantage. They do have Lewis now in their stead. But from what it looked like from our perspective, I wouldn't say that Alia was the reason they sucked at the challenge. They took the lead on the balls because the freaking acro grip ends up being one of the most convenient,

immediate payoff plot devices we've experienced in recent Survivor history. but Jenna and Kilby made up a ton of time on the puzzle as well. So if you're assessing skills, then that also has to be heavily incorporated as well. Yeah, the size of the tribe certainly has changed from recent seasons, but I feel like a lot of similar logic has to be as scrap to that first vote as well. Well, and I can understand there's like so many things actually ultimately, I think kind of pointing you in that direction.

I think Jenna's skill on the puzzle, not wanting to upset Brady. You know, so if you really sort of combine all of those things, it's understandable why ultimately they ended up going in that direction. And I think specifically to speak of Brady, that moment, Sam, when Kilby, I think it's Kilby, who was like, how much does this mean to you? And he was like, yeah, this means everything to me. It goes like, whoa, bro, let's chill for a hot second. But that's somebody who I'm really excited to see what they do next.

But also as a player, you clock that and you're like, well, I'm never saying Brady's name. We got to be subtle with how we get them out or whatever. Like it influences your strategy. Yeah. It's very dangerous, obviously, for like, long-term equity, both of like how much do people want to start to play with you. And if they are playing with you, that obviously can rub people the wrong way over the long course of the game.

But it is in arguably pretty effective in terms of like getting your way in these votes. Because if it doesn't matter to a lot of these people, you can kind of mold the game at your will if everybody's willing to just be like, all right, sure, Brady, whatever you want. So I loved it. And like you mentioned, I just, I can't wait to see how it plays out in that tribe moving forward because my thought as a player would be, you're like this. This is vote one. What are we?

What's this going to be like when it's vote six and vote 10 and we're getting down to the nitty gritty and you start to really develop bonds and have opinions beyond just she said my name? That's going to be interesting to watch it unfold how much more Brady feels compelled. by the first one was everything. What's the level beyond everything? Exactly. How's he going to care even more than that? Like, I'm just so curious. Yeah, I think as well, again, we talked about this a lot.

It's been stated a lot. But the dynamic of the 10-person tribe is also so incredibly intriguing, especially considering we have not had that as a starting tribe for a very, a whole ass pandemic has happened since we've had that. And so as a result, what we get is this really interesting, proxy war essentially where Devin and Brady Jenna and Alia are not given the pre-tribal confessions

it's these two guys basically being like it's my person versus his person Brady's like I would tackle my own mom on the football field like it was a Snickers commercial if it meant getting my way Devin way and so I really like that dynamic as well because it was set up in the beginning like hey we're not so different you and I

oh actually we are very different and it'll be intriguing to see if as Devin attest to is it water under the bridge, or is the fact that him and jelly went so hard in the paint for Aaliyah to the point where they voted against Jenna, does this cast them off on an island and possibly endanger this helicopter alliance even more? What do we think? I mean, like, is the Devin Brady relationship one that is going to be an alliance moving forward,

or are we going to see them continue to butt heads? I think if anyone has to pivot between Devin and Brady, I think Devin has a higher likelihood of being able to recognize like, hey, we're on the outs. We have to pivot in some way, whether that means going along apologizing to Brady or creating their own coalition. Because while a group of three works well in a six person tribe, it does not work as well in a 10 person tribe. And also now you only have two people. So I'm hoping that they have the ability to recognize that they need to pivot and then continue to exist within the game. I can imagine Devin making up with Brady and being like, hey, look, man, I know we're on different sides of this, but like, let's get back together, bros, blah, blah, blah, blah, two sides of the same coin, whatever. I'm hopeful with that ability to pivot, but maybe we shouldn't use that phrase given what's coming later on in the season as well.

That's true. Yeah, I mean, I think that where the two of them, I do think the two of them are going to reconcile because they are also two of the most openly transparent players, not only on the tribe, but in this season. Right? Like, they even acknowledge at tribal council. Yep, it's pretty much you versus me at this point. We'll see who ends up, you know, having their say at the end of the day. So it's not like there's going to be any sort of huge ire of one against the other, like, you lied to me, you betrayed me.

It was then pretty much saying, yeah, we'll see how many people I have. We'll see how many people you have and may the best man win. So I, 100%, especially considering as well, again, they're not going to be down a person, but I think also they probably puff their chests out collectively as like two of the physically strongest people in the tribe, two of the best physical assets. And so it could be a thing of like, let's work together on this. You know, we'll be open and honest with one another. That was just a momentary aberration.

Let's let bygones be bygones. Let's focus on some of the shiftier folks. What's going on with Kilby? Did he say my name? Well, what's interesting? Go ahead, Sam. Well, so I think just want to get my prediction out there. I agree with both of you that I think Devin,

will recognize what he has to do and try to reconcile. I also think that maybe last one episode. I just think that they're both such strong personalities that are so opinionated. I don't know if I can see a vote going down where either one of them are cool to just be like, whatever the group wants, like they're going to have an opinion. And I think the more that we see their opinions being contradictory to one another, I think the more that we see them just start to beef to the point where it's like, Like we can't even play together anymore.

We need to get each other out because you're going against me. My hope, I hope this is like Damabate versus Chris Noble. Like I want this to just be a full out like, I'm against you, you're against me. Let's get to the merge and see what happens. And both of them actively targeting each other. I think that'd be a very fun. I think that's like the last time we really had. Granted, it's been a long time since we had these big tribes, right?

but it's the last time that we really had like these two, I don't want to say egos, but very big like personalities that are opinionated about control being against each other right out of the gate. That's actually, I actually really like that you brought up the tribe's size because I do think that that plays a big role into it when you have the kind of like the concept of warring factions

because when you have such a small group, like two big personalities going after each other, that's just like a single conflict. This could potentially feel bigger than that, right? The Chris Noble, Dominic Abbotté felt a little bit bigger than that where it was like, we got to gather our troops and go after each other. Like that classic example of,

or the scene where Chris Noble is like leading all the children to the water well. It's like he's trying to gather his troops. So I'm hopeful we can see something like that. I think what's also interesting is we saw parallels of sort of a similar dynamic happening on the other tribe as well with Rob and, oh my God, what's his name? Eric, thank you. Because it was like, oh, the two guys from Rhode Island. Kim as Mickey Mouse.

Oh, sorry, or Pee-Herman. Yeah. It was like, oh, they're going to be best friends. And, oh, we're both from Rhode Island. That's awesome. Like that and then that rivalry accelerated real quick. One way rivalry, too. I don't think Eric has any idea that Rob is,

which are some of my favorites as well, that Eric's like, I am a social king right now. I can talk to anyone about anything, mostly metal and Disney movies. And Rob's like, no man is an island, but there's only one man from Rhode Island that's going to last log it up in this game. Screw you, Eric.

Eric's doing way too much. Don't briefly just back on the Yellow Tribe for a second. I did want to point some out because, again, I was so lucky to get the chance to attend this event last night, last week at The American Dream. You know, me and Rob got the chance to moderate a number of panels with both, you know, survivor winners as well as the cast themselves, which are so much, I'm so happy we got to know them,

both on screen and off screen as well. And it was really fun, and you can attest to this as well, Sam, to watch an episode with your cast because so many things are revealed, both through confessionals and otherwise. When the Thumb War went down during the negotiation, Brady lets out a huge exclamation in the back of the room, like, come on, Kilby!

So I don't necessarily think Kilby was incredibly upfront with how he was able to ascertain those supplies. That's very funny. I will also say, I just want to throw a flag on the play. Yellow flag. I don't know if I've ever seen a more out of bounds, the more win than what we got from Kristen. And that like, she was, elbow was here immediately.

I'm like, we got to get a flat surface. What are we doing, folks? I saw that immediately. I was like, oh, no, you got to be like, oh, no, you got to keep a flat out. And then he was just like, well, you got me. I'm like, what? Well, did that? That's a general, for lack of better term, rule of thumb is like, when it comes to these

quote, games of skill, if anyone offers it, that means usually they're going to have the advantage. Yeah, they're planning to win it. Yeah. Yeah, like, oh, hey, I just so happy to be good at thumb war, but let me just suggest all the top of my head, I don't know, a thumb more. Like outside of rock, paper, scissors, which is an outright game of luck, if anyone is suggesting some sort of game of skill, no matter how menial to determine something,

it means that they've been practicing this, much like Kristen's firemaking. their entire lives for this very moment. I also do kind of love it from Kilby's perspective, even if, look, maybe he didn't throw it. But I think that there's an opportunity to throw it here where it's just like, oh, little Gilby, like it just changes the perception of you. And I think that that could work in somebody's favor,

depending on who they are. But also, I don't think that either one group got significantly shafted compared to the other. And also, you know, Definitely a calculator risk on Kilby's part, but it turns out that, hey, again, bottom doesn't drop out. We expect, okay, sorry for you. Look at the banner.

You know, nothing for you, Yellow Tribe. But no, Jeff says at the end of travel council, Potmachette and Flint are waiting for them back at camp. Supplies are alive here in the open era. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it aged very well for Kilby with them getting the pot machete and Flint. I think he did kind of get hosed off the end. I think he didn't do very well on the initial thing.

I was going to say, as someone who lived out there, of the four things that were up for grabs, right, which was Pop-Fint Machete, it was shelter kit, fishing, and it was like camp kit as well. Like, what's your ranking in terms of priority? Number one would be Pop Machete Flint. Number two would be probably like the shelter stuff

just for like a tarp. It makes the roof a lot easier to do. The other stuff, can you know whatever it depends when you're filming too because like I remember really wanting the fishing gear then we get fishing gear in a reward but then it was choppy every single day and you weren't able to actually go out and fish so it also depends on your beach as well I know that like I think it was for you guys maybe it was the Tuku camp the one that has like the big rock outcropping is apparently horrible for

fishing yeah that one's there's a ton of rocks well there is a big like reef there but you have to go like way out to go get it which is where Eric was actually fishing in this episode, I'm pretty sure. Um, I think. But anyways, like I, I would have been very upset if somebody came back without the pot, machete flint. You can't make any food one thing like underrated stuff, right? Like we made hermit crab that we found on the beach.

Or you kill a crab. You want to be able to cook that and eat it. Um, the coconut flavor gets so old, so quick where you want to throw it up. The, the way to solve that is by roasting your coconut in, the pot or boiling the coconut in the pot and doing that. I know people have found like, is it called cassava,

I think is what it's called? They found that on the beach before. Even something as simple as simple as building the shelter, you kind of need the machete for in order to have any kind of shelter. So that would have been like the first like the fire obviously keeps the bugs away at night. That's the priority. But then I think once they get that after the tribal council, now all of a sudden they kind of have the better end of the stick here because they have the tarp and all the other stuff that he basically sacrificed to get that stuff for.

Just to briefly go back to the sorry for you banner, I was dying at that. That was so funny to me. It's so petty. And I kind of like the idea that each time the banner gets like meaner and meaner. I think I saw this suggested on Reddit, but basically it would have. Be like, you suck. This is why you suck. Is this going to be, this is coming back.

Yeah, like every, this is a new thing. Everything, if anything can come back. Even Jeff's weird catchphrases that he abandoned at some point in the new era. I thought it was so odd that when I was watching it for the first time, it was like, they won. But it was such an anticlimactic win. He was like, and that means that they win immunity, which means. And he's like waiting for them to get over there and pull the lever. I'm like, did he not just.

called that the challenge was over, why are they still running? It was odd. But also like the funny part about sorry for you is it's like they expose their banner for them? They expose the other tribes banner. Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah.

I'll bring up the photo. It was the yellow banner. That's right. Okay, I was initially confused when I watched that. I was like, wait, but they're sorry for the like. But even that is a little confusing that it's like you raise the yellow banner and that means that purple wins. If I was on Sabu, the Purple Tribe, if I saw that, I'd be like, oh my God, did I pull the wrong banner?

Does this be me lose? Yes. Yeah, exactly. But anyway, it was just hilarious that it got fully canonized actually in a banner, which was obviously wonderful. Yeah, because also, again, there was no announcement made up. I'm pretty sure when they do the B-roll as well, like explaining the challenge. I don't think they saw, they showed the banner going up. Yeah, raise the banner. Everybody.

Yeah. Amazing. Well, let's move over to. the Savoy tribe. Again, much less content by comparison. I think even a pre-immunity challenge, it was sort of Eric proceeding to put all the feet in all of the mouths. But Leona, what stands out to you from this group? Oh, man. I think again, I think just being able to watch overall the dynamics, especially not knowing a lot about these players going into the season, that it's just fun to actually see them out there on the beach, but also to see like Eric,

Eric in particular, the turn, the kind of turn that he gets where it's like, oh, this initially, like, oh, he's so going to be so charismatic and he's going to make friends. And everybody's super annoyed with him. Loving Kristen was very excited to see her do so well in the negotiation. And so I think, obviously, I want to learn more about them, even though it was, you know, still a hefty premiere. There's only so much that you can cover in the two hours. Yeah, what about you, same? Any highlights from this tribe? I just think the

kind of the strategic factions are going to be really interesting here. We see this trio sort of form with Rob, Carter, and Anna, which I was saying that Anna for a while. So Anna and Carter and Rob, not a three that I would have put together off paper. You see Kristen obviously make this

very quick connection with Sharonda, I believe it was. And then Sharonda is in that alliance with... Which I love this little Kristen being like, you played something in college. right? Yeah. Taking a shot and then if I'm right, I'm in.

Nice. So there we go. And then Sharonda obviously has this relationship with Ori. So maybe that is a three that could work together. I don't know where necessarily the other folks kind of stand. You have Alexis. You have obviously Eric is probably the odd man out right now. But I think that we have a possibility of a lot of trios and a really interesting kind of

strategic layout here on this group that I'm curious to see play out. Well, we talk about relationships with Ori. I'd be remiss not to talk about a cross-tribal connection before it became a cross-trival connection. How does somebody 30 minutes into the game give a confessional of I might be wiped up by the end of this because this guy loves lasagna? Yeah. Like, listen, if you, Legeli, if that is your green flag, I have an orange cat to introduce.

you too. I was so high on jelly. Jelly was probably my winner pick off of like cast introduction videos. That is not the case anymore. I fear Miss Jelly was a little lost in the in the jelly this time around. So I yeah, I don't I don't know how that happens. I guess Ori really is that swab. I would have seen Ori another interesting note by the way.

I would have seen Ori and been like we have the most, Jack dude in the game. This guy's huge. He's going to carry us in challenges. No, no, no. Anna describes him as Prince Charming, that he is the Prince Charming of the group.

So I'm like, something about this guy is clearly wooing everybody right away. He knows about that. He knows about as much of the game as woo too. I fear for jelly in this one. That was, but I'm here for it. I agree with her more showmances. Let's do that.

That's fun. I do love. Yeah. So if you missed it. I got the chance to talk with the cast of the premiere and get some of their hot takes. And Jellie was indeed that she wants most showmances. And Leonid really is, you know, be the hot take you wish to see in the world, right? Like, if you can't see it, be it.

To willing it into existence. I had the exact same impression as Sam. I was really high on Jelly going in. And the first, I would say the first part of the premiere, I was just like, oh, God, girl, no, please. Like, can we get it together, all right? Come on. We need something else to focus on. I will say there, well, it wasn't.

necessarily so over. There were still some subtle moments in the second half of the episode where I felt more confident. I was like, okay, we're kind of getting it together. We're having a little less googly eyes for a man who's on a beach you're not even on. She was the one who brought up or was talking about, you know, oh, we see a lot of men. I don't want a woman to go. So there are still some strategic chops, I think, in there. Although, yeah, it was not a great first impression to seeing her react to Ori and the cast. Best thing that could happen to her is Ori goes home. I think without her there. And obviously it would be great for her to have that number.

But I too worry that like she could be great on her tribe. Yeah. What happens if we get jelly to emerge? Does she become a little bit more lost in trying to be like, or he's kind of looking good right now rather than playing the game. Exactly. Get you head in the game, girl. Let's go.

I mean, this is the ultimate like Craigslist misconnection ad on Survivor, right? Like spent an hour with you on the beach, talk about lasagna. Yeah, only saw you with challenges. I will say it was really funny, though, those whole, and I think that this is why Sam and I had the same perception of jelly, because it was nothing from Ori. It was all from jelly. It was like, he loves my lasagna, and he loves this about me.

And I was like, he's just sitting there nodding. I don't really see any reaction from him. So we'll see how that goes. It's so love island-coded, right, Sam. It's so is like, what do you love? Oh, I love to walk. Oh, my God, I found my soulmate. also love to walk.

Yeah. Here's my other thing too. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall for like the production meeting where they broke down the fact that Jelly was really feeling a showmance with Ori because let's be honest, they love a showmance. They're like casting is dying for showmances. And then they get maybe two people who are maybe, we haven't heard from ory, don't want to speak for him, maybe very down to showmance.

and we put them on different tribes. Like, the magnetic connection that we would have had, this would have been a full showmance episode where one of them gets voted out like third because couples are too powerful and remember Boston Rob and Amber. But like, it would have been a great three episodes if we would have gotten them on the same tribe.

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I won't come up dead. Starring Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, and Helen Mirren. Do I have to do everything myself? You want to want! I'll give you a lot! That new season is now streaming on Paramount Plus. I have a couple of big things I want to get into in terms of discussion. But before we do, there is one small thing that happened in this episode that I want to highlight on this Purple Tribe.

And a couple of people posted. I know exactly where you're going. Okay. Give me a guess here, Sam. What do you think I'm going to highlight? Spaghetti? Yeah. Spoken from the man who was part of Operation himself.

Okay. So for those of you who did not notice this, this was during one of the many Eric's scenes where he breaks down, you know, talking about his proposal to his fiance. say Gina DeVito. And so it's a big shot of like a bunch of people sitting together and listening to the story. This might be a little tough to hear in the audio version, but just watch or listen to what Carter is saying as Eric's in his fields.

The easiest yes she's ever said in her life. You guys sound like you're meant to be. Yeah. Italian love story. Italian love story. Eric. Oh, Eric. All right.

So for those people who didn't hear, basically, you know, I guess there was an Italian love story. as they talked about it. And Carter just starts asking Eric, you like spaghetti? And then Eric starts getting incredibly reclaimed just thinking about his love back at home. Carter not necessarily reading the room.

Or maybe he thought he touched a nerve in a very different way. Follows up by asking the same question, you like spaghetti? That's so funny. It's so good. I loved watching this. And I didn't notice this the first time either.

But it was, it's the fact that Eric's cry is a silent cry. immediately. It's like she says the words. It hits him. We as the audience see that he's already started his cry. The emotions are coming out regardless. But I don't think anybody sitting there has noticed it yet. And so it would be so funny. I'm sure Carter was like, what did I say? What did I? Wait, I want to watch this again. To get when Carter's able to notice everything here. The easiest yes she's ever said in her life. You guys sound like they're meant to be. Yeah

Italian love story You tell him a lot story You like spaghetti Eric He goes Hang on he says Do you like spaghetti You a big spaghetti guy

And that That is the direct quote But it's so funny Because though Sam I understand You're read of it But it seems like Carter said

Ask the follow up After they go Oh Eric And so it feels like It's a reaction To him being emotional And Carter's like Oh you're a big

spaghetti guy, right? Like, I know I'm already missing food too. He's crying over his miss spaghetti. I will say this episode was actually really good for those sort of, like the editors leaving in that sort of background-ish kind of subtle comments, which I thought was really fun. I didn't write all of them down, but there was one when Jeff was talking about how you're birthing a new game or whatever. Oh, and Maggie. Maggie's, yeah, was it Maggie who was like, so Boston Rob's around the corner. Oh, no. That was there. No, I thought your time out when. Eric said that. I think you're talking about when Jeff says, we're birthing and you came back. He goes, I love birth. Oh,

I love birthing. Yes, exactly. That's what I mean. There were so many moments like that. And there was also one even when Jeff was walking away as Lewis is like chopping down the mast or something. And Jeff just stops, turns back and something along the lines of like, good luck, buddy. He's like there were just a lot of those. He goes, good luck, Lewis. Welcome to Survivor. Yeah, exactly. There were just a lot of those little moments. And those are the things that like always stand out in my mind as, you know, almost, I don't even want to say inside jokes, but like these very little small, subtle things that just give the show its richness that makes it not feel

so surface level. We kind of talked about this with those secondary characters where even the secondary comments add something to making it feel like a full 3D played out story and not so, so surface level. I love those comments because those comments are what make you feel like these are very, like, just like real people. It like it makes them feel normal in a way that is super charming and super, but also like just a delight to watch. And it's subtle. But I'm sure if you're Maggie's family watching that at home,

you're, you know, laughing like crazy watching the, you know, be like, that's so Maggie for her to say. She loves birth. She does love birth. And if you're watching obviously very like surface level, whatever, it's not the stuff that pops, but I do think it adds to like a level of just joy, kind of like a jovial spirit watching the show,

which is what they're going for. So that, yeah, that was really fun to see. All right. Well, let's stay on exile island here. I mean, listen, this was a big premiere, dummy tick, if you will, to quote Lewis's accent. Let's talk about the exile task here. I mean, I for one, knowing the limited amount we do about Lewis,

was not surprised in the least that he was the one to volunteer, even if he thought this is going to be an I'm Sporticus moment and everyone else was going to volunteer. No, no, no, this is Mr. Take the Risk, Flip the coin. Maybe he'll do so later on. Sam, do you feel, though, Lewis was set up to fail with this task? Um, no. Okay.

No, I don't know. This is a hard one. Because, again, I've played. And so I try to be cognizant of the, sitting at home on the couch being like, come on, but I'm sitting there on the couch being like, Lewis,

we got to go harder. What do you mean? We're not knocking down the mask. I was screaming. I was upset about it. I do actually like, typically, and I would bet that,

you know, Jeff would say this if he was asked about it, right? But this was probably play tested by multiple people. And I think they're trying to find something that's like, it's getable, but it's not easy.

It's not free. It's not like, just giving you an idol. And I like that. I do think it's good that, you know, when somebody goes to Exile Island and has to, like, work for something, that it is actually difficult for them to acquire it. It helps us not have too many advantages in the game.

It makes the ones that are in the game feel very well earned. So I was a fan of the task. I felt like, I don't know, TW, TW, the will to win. Like, I was screaming, being like, have to carry me bloody and passed out off of Exile Island before I'm going home without an idol in my pocket. Just my thoughts, though. Mm-hmm.

I think there were a few sort of technique things that would have helped. So covering his hand with his shirt to protect from the blisters. He's Irishly, Anna. He burns easily. That's true. He needs the shirt. I do, I did see something about he could only cut on that side. That's what he said.

He said for safety reasons, production told him he could only cut on that particular side. He couldn't go full lumberjack and do it from both sides. Yeah. I do imagine, though, like I'm thinking from a production perspective that they would probably want that idol to be in play. So I don't think that they would make it so unattainable that you couldn't do it. But I do probably agree with Sam. They still want it to be somewhat of a struggle.

Although I will say the timing of Lewis not getting the idol and then Rob finding a full idol was I was just like, hmm, they put that out there. I didn't manage to get his. But no, I mean, I think, was it the most fun task to watch? No, not necessarily. But still, you know, I, the shot to me of Lewis laying down drinking

out of his little cup thing that he made, that's actually more quintessential. When I think back, or what represents his time on exile island, maybe more so than the masked thing, but still. Yeah. I feel bad for him.

Because I think about the situation that he's coming into as well. I don't think as we were talking about before, this is an incredibly split tribe. He's coming in with, you know, three days of having missed out essentially on the game, you know, on bonds that are being made. And certainly he could try to slip in there

with a bit of that Irish charm, but certainly has a lot of ground to make up on. Also, it seems like they were living better than he was for the first three days as well. He had to pretty much survive out in his own. So he may be conservatively weaker than his tribe mates too. Like I would not be incredibly surprised if this guy is on the chopping block, for lack of a better term, next time, just because he's an easy person to just send back out to the revolving door. I think he's so charming, though.

I agree with Leanna that I think he's, I don't think he's very strategic, but I think he's very charming where people would want him around. Yeah. My only worry is what Mike said, which is like if he does, if he's exhausted, if he's a little down on his luck, is there a hit? to some of his hands are, I don't know, covered in blisters. Yeah. Like, I mean, I think that there is a risk. I don't necessarily think it's going to happen, but I do think there's a risk of like Lewis being not fully Lewis.

And that ends up hurting him from a social standpoint when he does get back. And I fully want to just take a moment to echo what both of you said outside of the task and whether how badly I wanted Lewis to complete it, mainly because I wanted Lewis to have an idol. I think that would have a really fun character. or to be walking around with an idol in his pocket, I felt awful for him because this is, I wish I could tell people how long the first night

that you're on the island feels like. It just, it feels like, and the first day and night, it feels like a legitimate eternity. You wake up that moment where you maroon where they're like jumping off this boat, I bet you it's like 6.45 in the morning. And they've been up since three and they had to board boats.

to leave from the resort, to go and get on the boat, to get ready. And then they waited from when it was still dark outside, all the way until it was the perfect hour to film for Jeff to finally pull up on that boat. They're exhausted off the jump. Then they're jumping in the water. Then they're swimming all the way over there. You're doing all this stuff, which feels like it's taking forever and it's killing you. And then you realize it's like 8 a.m.

And you're like, wow, we have a long, long, long day in front of us. So then Lewis goes and does this full thing and has nothing to do, has nobody to talk to, is just sitting there for 30 hours before he even does this task. And then I presume the next couple of days afterwards, too, to get through that first tribal council cycle. So Lewis is spending his first multiple days in the game without speaking to anybody really just alone. And that first night is, I think Anna says something. somebody says something during this episode like I woke up eight like one thousand times last night in the middle of the night and that is a universal experience of you keep waking up it's probably every five minutes and you keep being like surely it's morning now surely it's morning now and it's not

it's not even close so I just felt bad for Lewis being like what a what a whirlwind that he goes off the bat of just being alone um and I hope he recovers well because I think he is very fun and very charming and would be a fun variable for the rest of this cast. Yeah, that's a good. I didn't think about the fact of having to go through basically, I would assume as two nights alone,

then having a cut, like just feeling so great. Literally an entire other reality show. Yeah. And so yeah, he's filming naked and afraid and then everybody else is filming Survivor. And so to go back in, like I'm, I guess my opt, what I'm hoping for, because I do really appreciate

Lewis as a character, is that it, that is hopefully the energizing moment, not that he's going to bring sort of that drained energy with him, but I'm, man, I mean, it's tough. So I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. So lauded praises, very deservedly so, for this premiere, but let's get

into, I think maybe the one moment that has gotten the most heat. And ironically enough, it revolves around fire. Let's get into this. Because Jeff, officially about half of the episode reveals, this is what the open era is. anything and everything is possible. And that's why we're going to vote right now

to determine if firemaking is going to happen at Final Four. And I've seen a lot of discourse about this. And okay, this is very much apples and oranges, but at least I was reminded a little bit of Survivor 41, not only with the drop the four, keep the one attitude, but this idea that Jeff is saying like, okay, listen, there's this thing that we might want to do, but we're going to put this in your hands.

Hey, people who are financially incentivized and have cameras coming on them from all angles, do you want firemaking or do you not want firemaking? And then, listen, I will give kudos to the people who stood ten toes down in either direction, considering that I imagine there's a lot of peer pressure both in front of and behind the camera to be like, no, I like firemaking.

But then Jeff decides, and I'm lowly kind of obsessed with this moment because it's Jeff just fully taking this time to be like, all right, I'm so glad you're having fun because I have something I need to say to the fans out there, the people who've approached me at the gym, when I'm playing with my kids at the park, when I'm using a public restroom

that you don't like firemaking. The players want it. And again, I understand it, it's open air, and it's not to say that firemaking won't appear in other seasons. But I don't know, Sam, I just got a lot of shades of like, this felt like propping something up and making a statement by using, for lack of a better term, a captive audience to do so. Yeah.

My only issue with it is that it, it's a disingenuous effort to do the vote because it's never going to be, one, never going to be unanimous. Especially publicly as well. Right. Yeah. Two, at least from what we saw, they didn't have the opportunity to do what they have at tribal council when they need to be unanimous, right? you tie a vote multiple times. It says, hey, we're going to rocks unless you can come to a

unanimous decision. Talk amongst yourselves, right? I would have been way more interested to see Kristen and Kilby stand up and say, here's why we should remove firemaking. Get rid of it. Like, come on, put your hands up. Like, let's vote. Like, try to whip those votes together to get it unanimous. Does it work? Probably not. But I think it's interesting, right? Versus right now, blind, hands up. I need all 20 of you to be on the exact same page that we're going to get rid of it. Otherwise, it's not going to happen. That's just not a genuine effort ever to do it. So not that it would have mattered if they were doing majority rules anyway.

15 of them wanted firemaking to stay. So it probably would have won. I like firemaking. I actually don't have an issue with it. I think it's given us more compelling end games than it typically would have. As a final four firemaking winner. 100% bias. But I mean, if you look at, you know, somebody like Savannah wins 49 after winning firemaking.

making. You get Kenzie wins 46 after winning firemaking. I think there's multiple examples where Kenzie wins firemaking, right? He does against. Yes. I think there's multiple examples like even in 47, right, where me winning firemaking makes the final tribal council more compelling

and more interesting than you would otherwise get. So I like it as a game mechanic. I don't blame anybody that doesn't. My only issue is the Jeff doing this speech. that is not genuine if we're being very honest about what this is. And it took up way too much airtime for it to be not genuine. Yeah, that's my feelings exactly. I also want to put it in the context of the monologue that Jeff gave at the very

beginning of the episode because Jeff walking around basically being like, we have no say in anything that happens during the game. It's all up to you guys. And I understand what he's saying. however to then follow it up in the same episode with at times you will have agency over how you play which is sort of a weird dichotomy to basically be saying like oh we don't do anything and then it's like oh but actually we do as production still make active choices and set things up in a way that influences how you play so i just i just call a spade a spade yeah of course production has some

influence over how it goes it's not intentional and i think the way that people think that it's not like they're out there specifically trying to target lewis to be like louis will never get an idol. We're going to make the hatchet dole. No, poor Lewis, if everyone voted for to get rid of firemaking, he was the only person who wanted to do it. Oh, yeah. Wait, what did they actually do about Lewis? Oh my God, poor Lewis. He didn't even get a vote. He didn't get a vote. He did stay on social media that he would have voted for no firemaking. Okay, okay. Interesting. Well, easy to say that when he's safe back at home. The name said an absentee ballot in.

Mail it in from exile. I think, too, Leanna, to your point, like, it is also a direct contradiction to this idea of permanent uncertainty. I heard Rob make this point on the thing of like, you don't know what to expect, except I'm telling you right now, firemaking is going to happen at the final four. Does it not make way more sense to be like, maybe we'll have it,

maybe we won't. It's permanent uncertainty. This is the open era. And then you can just do whatever you want. And ultimately what it is, I hate to do this. Jeff, I'm so sorry,

is it's, you know, in the hands of the fans, was an excuse for production to do what they wanted to do and have somebody else to point to as being in control so that they don't take heat for the choices that are done. This is the players want it. We're listening to the players.

The players want it when it is not, as I said, a genuine effort to actually make the vote. So I don't have an issue with it. I think that production should do what they just want to do. I think firemaking is cool. I'm just like, we don't have to do the whole dance to especially because again

the vote is hey would you want this thing that if at the final four you were in a tough place you could feasibly work your way out of or would you prefer to get voted out automatically at the final

yeah right it's exactly and it's like as someone who also probably would not want final four fire if I was a player hell yeah I'm voting from final four fire making like yes of course I want that in the game as a player like I wouldn't want to get rid of it

I think I think again just like to overall it's fine. I think I just kind of roll my eyes at it and it's just like whatever move on. It's just Jeff gonna Jeff. I think it's just like yeah, I think because it took up so much time. It was just like this is a waste of time. If you want to just do it, just do it. Like just own your choices. If you want to remove, come on in guys. Just remove come on in guys. Like if you want to keep Final Four firemaking, just keep Final Four firemaking. It's almost like you're telegraphing your insecurity about the decision. Like just own it. Just be confident in the decision that you make and say, hey, look, we like Final Four firemaking because of X, Y, and Z. And I think that there has been a bit of a shift of fans over time that have come to be like, yeah.

The majority voted for it in Survivor 50. That's true. But and also, I don't disagree with any of the examples that Sam gave, right? Like, I kind of have to be like, yeah, he's right. Those were great exciting moments that it ultimately ended up giving us. So anyway, I just want, I just want production to just own their choices. Just own it. Yeah, I did love, by the way, going back to we were saying before, Sam, that like experiential theater monologue that Jeff game. I mean, as a player, how would you have felt if during Jeff's opening speech, he was walking like three inches in front of your face as he processed around the boat? I mean, it's a crazy introduction. It's just like, it, it's wild because, you know, it also feels super old school, right? Like this idea of Jeff

with like speaking to the drone as he kind of like gives his own monologue and he's doing the 26 days, 21 people. Oh, yeah. I mean, he said that the very first few seconds of the episode were the exact same things that he said in the opening episodes of Borneo. Yeah. No, it's so epic. I mean, like, I just remember walking. Ours was like walking up on the beach and you see him standing there, which is like, you know, its own kind of experience. But, um, and you've obviously met Jeff multiple times leading up to actually filming. But I do think the idea of like, I'm on a barge in the middle of the South Pacific and Jeff Probst is doing one of his monologues right in front of me would be crazy cool.

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You're richer than you think. Before we get into our user because I know we're over an hour here, but there's so much to get into. Any thoughts from either one of you about this big twist that the coin flip is again a certain part of the permanent uncertainty. But now I think we're really one of the first times in Survivor history. We have a twist that has a direct effect on the seasons that follow it. Yeah.

I like this, I think. I kind of do. I mean, here's what I like about it. I like that he announced it. Yeah, I love that he talked about it at the top. goes against the idea of permanent uncertainty. I don't care, but I don't care because I think, you know, when you add big things like this to the game,

the most important thing to do is give the players equity to play around it. It's not, hey, we're at the final six, boom, nuke on your head. Someone's got to flip a coin. And if you don't want to, we're going to make one of you flip the coin. The fact that you know it's coming now gives you the agency as a player to account for it in your strategic gameplay. And if you don't, that's on you. And if it ends up coming back to get you out of the game,

is it the coolest way to go out? No, but again, there were ways for you to possibly strategize your way around it and avoid it. And I think that it is going to be fun to watch, do you influence somebody to try to flip the coin? How do you, I mean, we know that the coin comes with an idol. We know that it comes with safety for that round. So now even if you're in a kind of good spot, maybe you're a front runner in the game,

but you're like, hey, this gets me through this round and the next round and it ups the prize pot. Like now that you know what it is, what it entails and how it can play out to benefit you, it just it gives you your own say in your fate. And then here's what I think ultimately too. They're looking for the TV moment. They had this whole big season 50

where they brought back all these iconic players. They did all this stuff. The best moment of the season that people talked about was Rick Devin's flipping the coin, whether you felt it was authentic to the spirit of Survivor or not. That's, you know, I think people have different opinions about that. But that was the takeaway.

That was the moment. That was what Jeff was talking about at the Emmys as like, we had this really cool moment where this guy flipped this coin. This builds in a TV moment one way or the other for every season from now on in a cool way. And I hope we get a bunch of people to get eliminated on it because I think it would be funny. Especially after the Rick Devin success. like, see somebody immediately. It is very interesting that it's like it has a 100% success rate on a

what should be a 50% chance success rate. So it is very, very likely that a person absolutely whiffs on the coin tossing goes out automatically. You know, I think for me, what I didn't really comprehend until they were talking about, and if you miss, it goes to $2 million. And then if they miss again, it goes to $3 million. I was like, oh, so the prize money that they have allocated for Survivor is basically $2 million per season. Yep. Which is kind of nuts. I mean, it's been a long time coming. It's been a million dollars. You know, that's all Mr. Biescangrel. He's just like a consistent benefactors of the show. Let's go.

So, you know, I'm going to be curious to see how that financial incentive changes things. If at all, the party is like, I don't think it actually will all that much. But who knows, if you've got a season where they've missed the coin flip over and over again and $8 million is a prize, like, I don't know. Brady may actually kill somebody. I mean, I don't know. What would be super interesting is if it builds up to a certain point and that's when they do a returning player season.

Yeah, exactly. And they're like, oh, if you're not going to come back for $2 million, how about you come back for six or seven, hey, Jerry? I think that's maybe part of the calculus. It's an open era, man. Let's go. I think that is part of the calculus. And I think it would be like, I don't know, I think it's, it can do more good

than bad, right? Like the fear in 50 was always because it was new, because it was unheard of, because it was out of the blue. If you don't have a Rick Devons, who's in a spot to flip the coin, you randomly draw, Surrey gets the thing, she flips the coin, she goes home,

you end up with like one of your big fish going out in a way that is like, that's not Survivor, right? Yeah. And here's what, I'll go one level further. I'm talking myself to more points here. Yes.

What does Jeff want? Jeff wants you to play all out, right? Even when it's not necessarily great gameplay, right off the rip to play super hard. He says, play like it's your second time, your first time, all of this stuff.

I think that we've seen multiple results over and over and over again of seasons that incentivize you to try to play quieter. As I mentioned with the new era, this idea that ideal gameplay is actually just kind of biding your time till final five and then kind of coming on right at the end. This allows another opportunity where if you're Rick Devons, if you're the big dog that everybody wants out of the game, maybe that coin flip drops in and then you're safe and then you've got an idol and then

you're safe again, and it gives you, it's going to give some of the power players a little, a few more chances to really make it deep into the game, which I think is what the show ultimately wants. And I think it will be fun for the fans to watch the big characters that have Win Equity continue to stay alive. Yeah, I think that Jeff puts a lot of stock in that moment from 50 to the point where when I talked to him about, you know, what was the impact 50 had on 51? He said that This cast plays with this idea of, I want to flip the coin. I want to be the Rick Devons. We've got a lot of people who are inspired by that, not cavalier or risky, but joyful.

This idea of like, listen, it's more likely than not that I'm going to lose anyway. So let me just try anything and everything. When I talked to him about Jelly and Ori, he literally said, Jelly, that's someone who would flip the coin in the way that she's so cavalier about how open she is with her feelings towards Ori. So again, even if everyone is coming, especially this season, from a lot of different backgrounds and knowledge of the show, I think what they're really trying to capture with the casting now in the 50s maybe is this attitude of whether literally or metaphorically, are you going to flip the coin?

Are you going to be someone to, ironically enough, take the game in your own hands for a 50-50 game of chance? Do we have any idea of how the mechanics of this are going to work? Like, is this like a shot in the dark type situation where you can be like, I'm playing the coin? or do you have to wait until a specific time? For the best of my knowledge, I believe it's going to like last season

drop in at one point in time. I don't think this is at any point in time the coin flip comes out. I think, because Jeff, I think I had alluded to me that he's like, and they don't know what it's going to happen. So I think,

now it's interesting. I think it came up, but what, final 10? Final nine last season. So, and listen, there's a big,

this is a big ass cast. Maybe they'll do the same time. Because I also think, even without the, like, you talk about the, does the calculus change with the increasing,

price pool, I feel like the timing of that also really matters. If my prize pot gets doubled and it's final nine, okay, maybe I want to start making some bigger moves now that I'm going to be making twice as much money. Or, okay, hear me out. If it stays at a million, you're like, okay, I need to lose but make a big enough impact to come back as a returning player on a downstream season, hoping the price will be higher. I'm just saying.

I don't think that's outrageous because I do think you do, they do cast people less so in the open air, I think, but they do cast people who are so cognizant of the entity that is the television show Survivor and the edit and wanting to be a big character and wanting to be a returning player and all this and that. I mean, it worked out pretty well for Rick Devons could work out even better for him on Thursday. But I mean, the idea of, hey, if I am flipping this coin and making this big splashy move, production's going to love it. I'm going to be a big, a big character of the season. And that's definitely going through people's heads, too,

in a way that, that is fun. So more big characters is always a, I think that's a plus in general, is get more of that, that energy. And I think a rising tide will lift all ships in this case. Well, speaking of the characters of this season, let's get into one of the dearly departed from this episode. We've got to crack open the time capsule,

as freshly dug as it might be, to give our preseason predictions. Now, this is incredibly interesting. As we've said multiple times, there really was no preseason. There was very limited information to go off, especially after previous years. So to say this was, fittingly enough, a shot in the dark when it comes to writing these things would be an understatement. I don't know how you feel, Leanna. Yeah, definitely.

I wrote some stuff. Let's see how it goes. All right. So we're talking about Aaliyah here. First alphabetically, last place in this season. But what did you think she was going to cook up in the preseason? I did have Alea as pre-merge, so we're starting off somewhat strong. I'm curious, just because our structures might be different as well, because we also don't know when the jury is going to start how many people.

Do you know, like, how many premers versus post-merge you have for numbers? I don't know off the top of my head. I'll have to go back and look. I think I just assumed. We could have a huge jury this, like another. I went with, like, jury starts at 13, so I think I'm a 10 jury, final three, and then eight pre-jury boots. Okay, yeah. I think I probably worked backwards from that similar structure. Okay, so anyway, I had, okay, she is relatively non-existent for the first couple episodes outside of a few random, loud comments from her in the background. We hear people talk about her more than we actually hear from her. While she forms tight bonds with jelly, other players keep making comments about Alea, saying she's stirring the pot a bit too much. A few episodes into the premurge, all of a sudden, she is everywhere.

She gets a bunch of confessionals and starts cooking up her game plan to burn big meat boy Brady. Unfortunately for her, the concern for tribe strength is alive and well, and Brady is full of protein. She realizes this far too late and is unable to talk herself out of trouble leading to an early boot. Ally was jelly, enemy was Brady. Look at you, Leanna. I know, I just throw a bunch of nonsense on the page. You put together a wonderful prediction. Pretty good.

I know. Certainly compared to mine. I did have her making the pre-jury, but I think that's where our comparisons end. So I wrote, with the limited number of resources gathered after the marooning, marooning,

Aaliyah immediately becomes the head chef of her tribe. Her knowledge and talent instantly lift spirits, putting her in the majority. As survivor service moves along, however, Alia becomes more vocal about how both the kitchen and camp, should be run. Even her closest allies begin musing in confessional that she's getting

dangerously close to packing her knives and going. After the tribe swap, Alia gets brought over to the other beach separated from most of her allies. She unfortunately makes a bad first impression when during the return of the gross food eating challenge, she fails to get down her dish, chucking it up to a too refined palate. Unfortunately, with nobody serving as her strategic sue, Alia is served up on a silver platter as the perfect post-swap boot. leaving her chances of making the merge chopped. I said her closest ally was Maggie and Devin and her enemy was Balut.

Strategic Sue. I was going to say, that woman close to your heart. That got my ears perked up. I'm sorry, what? Trauma. That's, I didn't think about, you know, it's actually, I didn't think about old school challenges returning. So that's what I tried to, I guess, Allah Leah pepper in in every one of my predictions,

like something that's going to come back in this. season. That would rock. That was like my like generous interpretation of open eras that we would get some stuff like that where you're like, yeah, that's more like that. That's, um, yeah, I think I have to award the point here. I'm, I'm going to go with Leanna. It was kind of easy one. I mean, dead on, by the way, not just with the, uh, the Brady and the jelly, uh, relationships there, but I like, you know, you had the cause of death, uh, pretty accurate here, which, Alia, maybe just a little too messy, you know, like saying Brady's name and stirring the pot a little bit unnecessarily right before the first tribal council ends up being what gets the ball

rolling on her removal. Okay, well, I will absolutely take that. I believe it all is all going to go downhill from here. So we'll see. I'll hold on to this point. Exactly. On the board first. So, okay, well, let's move on to our game of the episode.

So look, there was a lot of talk about professions. And particularly with Devin questioning whether or not Jenna was a wedding photographer. So what I have put together is a game where I will challenge you two on the professions of the cast of Survivor 51. So the way this works is- Mine's going to smoke me in this. You can look up, if you want to look up the cast list, you can look up at it. That would be totally fair. So the way this game is going to work is I'm going to show you emojis that represent the profession of someone who is on this season of Survivor.

So for example, I might show a bride, a camera. And that would indicate, of course, Jenna as a wedding photographer. I love, by the way, when, and you know, honestly, not to take two things too far down a different trail here, I feel like Devin is a very traitor's coded survivor player. Like him questioning, oh, you don't know this, therefore you're not a wedding photographer. And then especially him kind of treating tribal council like a roundtable by being like, I'm just going to be open and up front. I'm voting for this person. I didn't really think about it until really thought started coalescing before this podcast.

Yeah, he's giving loud and wrong faithful. Right. Like that's kind of the energy we have here. But okay. So the way that the structure of the game is going to work is I actually have three emojis per person. and I will reveal them sequentially. So if you guess the person with just one emoji, you will get three points.

If you guess with two emojis, two points, and one point for all three emojis. If you fail to answer, the other person will have the opportunity to steal. Okay, so it's not a buzzin. It's like it. It's not a buzzin. We're going to go back and forth.

I would say 21 people on the board, but I imagine Jenna's excluded. Yeah, sorry, Jenna was the example. So, um, Okay, dokey. Let's get started. Mike, we're going to have you. Also, why is Mike White in the corner there? Because the emoji movie. And this is, it's the flag of whales to represent the whales. Do you guys get it? I was also curious about Mike White's involvement.

It's the emoji movie. Look, there's a little head in the corner. It's so cute. You guys ever seen the emoji movie? Are you a fan? I've never. I've watched it actually a fair number of times. My son and I have watched it. You ever seen the emoji movie? Okay, let's go to the first contestant. All right, Mike, your first emoji is corn. So the issue is that this represents exactly one several of the cast. I am not so lucky to flip the coin here or the three-sided die.

So give me the second clue. All right, let's give you the second clue. It is a knife. A knife. A knife. Okay. Well, this is interesting now because I would have thought, farmer, but Alia

is a chef and she presumably does work with corn. I'm gonna play at Sapir and go with the final one. Okay, so, your final emoji? I know, Lianoboris, I know a classic zig

when I see one, so I'm gonna zag. It's Alia. That is correct, yes. That was good. That was good for me to see because, wow, I'm prepared now for you know listen it's permanent

uncertainty you know just because someone works with corn doesn't mean they're a farmer I'm um I'm absolutely waiting for Phil to get out on the mat

for this season of the amazing race and be like ooh it's guaranteed chaos yeah exactly let's just look up all the thesaurus words yeah exactly okay so Mike you're on the board

with one point Sam let's go to the next contest So the first emoji is an alarm clock. An alarm clock. An alarm clock. I'm just observing some of these jobs here.

I mean, regardless, I don't think I'm ready to pull the trigger on alarm clock. So I will ask for a second emoji. Okay, your second emoji. This is a quarry gate. It is. Okay. I don't know what to make of that. Hmm.

Okay, I'm ready. Okay, you have a guess. Let's hear it. Okay. We'll take a shot. Sure. I'm going to say that this is Rhode Island Robb, the airline gate agent.

Okay, let's see if that third emoji clears anything up for you. It is indeed an airplane. So what's the alarm clock? Well, because like you have. to make your flight on time. He's at the gate. He's like, he's like, alarm, come on.

I was second guessing my guess because of the alarm clock included. Look, this structure is supposed to be. One would be exceptionally difficult. I can't imagine you would get it. Two is like subtle enough to have a clue. And then third is like obvious. Okay. Listen, I feel like I'm still paying the invoice for that

what's in the bag game from last season. Yeah. Oh my gosh. That's still so funny to me. Okay, Mike, we're going to you. This is a little growing sprout. Okay, a little sprout. It's a little sprout.

A little sprout. Now, again, couldn't be a farmer. Or this could be, I don't know, someone who raises little sprouts in the form of children at home. Let's go with the next one. Okay. Your next emoji is a Russian nesting doll. Hang on.

Do these emojis exist? Or are you just running? I don't, I've ever seen this. Okay, this actual, there is on my phone, I basically played this by scrolling through my phone and looking through all the emojis. I do have a Russian nesting doll emoji, but I couldn't find a good picture.

So this might just be a Russian nesting doll. Okay. But I do have one on my phone. Okay, so Russian nesting doll. Yes. And a sprout. Hmm. Okay.

I'm trying to think, like, are these roles that, that like Anna was a part of, you know? Like she was in like strawberry shortcake. Did she play like a role called Sprout in that? And then the Russian nesting doll, did she do voices for some sort of Russian cartoon? Well, they're doll, strawberry shortcake. I'm gonna say Anna.

I'll go with Anna. Okay, Anna. That is incorrect. So Sam, you have an opportunity to steal. I have a guess that I hope is not right. Okay. Can I see another one or do I have to go now? You, if you, okay, so you can guess now for two points or you can see one more for one point. You know what? I'm going to take the coin flip and do what Jeff would want me to do.

Let's go. You're telling me that there's a sprout, that there's a seed, perhaps. Ah. Uh-huh. I'm going to guess Sharonda. Okay. Let's see. Is this an OBGYN that we're going for here?

Well, let's see. The final emoji for this contestant was a pregnant. Come on. Come on. Oh my God. Sam, you're crushing it. That's amazing. Yes, because she pulls people out from inside other people.

This is the most graphic description of an OBGYN I've ever heard in my life. That's why I said I was hoping it would not be correct. From the woman on the panel, by the way, from the one, be like, that's like a brush of a gracious sign and you grab the seed. Just open them up, pull them out. Leanna did a great job keeping the poker face there when I started going down the rabbit hole. No, dude, this is incredible.

That's so funny. But Mike, you were like, like they like growing, like birthing, like growing things. I was like, oh no. Okay. So, Sam, you are ahead by three points with a score of four to Mike's one. And we're going back to you for our next contestant. So this emoji is the division. Oh, it's the Sharonda again because she divides the mother from the child.

Yes, thank you. I'm going to very firmly have to take a second emoji here. Okay, let's see the second emoji. It is a little business suit. Division with like a little, yeah, a little fancy get up. You know what? I know I have my three point lead. I'm going to make it a two possession game and see that third emoji and go for one point.

Okay. Your third emoji is a baseball. Well, I'm going to say that this is Mike Tinsky. That is correct. Yes. Baseball executive because he does math with the American League division is what he's a part of. Oh, yeah, maybe. I don't know.

I was thinking math. I didn't get that far. And then he's a little, because he's an executive, so he'll all sit. And I plays baseball. So, all right. Yes, Sam, as you said, this is a two-possession game as we go back to Mike, this mic, not Mike, things. Okay. Okay.

Okay. A web. A web. Okay. Keep that in mind. Let's get the second one. Okay. Your second clue is two.

two people next to each other. Two people next to each other. Okay, so I'm trying to think about the web, like the worldwide web, someone who works a lot online, and two people

next to each other. I can't really think of people who like predominantly have something going on from a pure internet perspective. I don't want to keep making this a two-possession game, but I got to actually get points here, so give me the last one.

Okay, the last one is a whiteboard with a woman with a pointer chalk stick thing. Don't want to describe exactly what that is. That still is a little, this doesn't exactly clarify anything. What? A web, someone next to somebody, and someone,

taught on a whiteboard. Hmm. Is it like a sociology professor like jelly? Perhaps it is. Yes. Yes. The web was like the network of humanity. Are you kidding me? Well, because you know, sociology,

study different people is in grade. The network of humanity. Everybody knows that. Come on, Mike. Yeah, everybody knows that, Mike. The network of humanity is how chat GPT describes us when the game slaves us all. Okay. So Sam has mathematically eliminated Mike already from this competition.

Spoiler alert. This is your final question, Sam. We're going back to you. Your first emoji is a tornado. Okay. A tornado. A tornado. Hmm.

I want to try to go right now to keep Mike in it a little bit. Thank you. Thank you for taking pity on me. I'll see one more. I'll see one more. Okay, one more. A fire extinguisher. Okay.

I think I'm going to guess that this is Kristen who works in crisis management. Okay. Let's see if your final emoji reveal that it is a siren, which does in fact represent Kristen as our crisis management. Yes, the tornado of confusion that's caused a disaster emerges. I'm sorry. would you not consider a tornado, a disaster, which would warrant a crisis? I'm sorry, I'm just going back to your AP English definition with these first emojis.

Okay, I have, I do have a tie, but Sam has very obviously crushed to this competition. Let's get Mike one more shot because I think he may have a particular affinity for this particular tiebreaker. Your first emoji. Yeah. Bone! Bone! Bones! Yes.

the three emojis for Linnea were a bone a briefcase and of course the eggplant emoji. What was the briefcase? Business. Yeah, a little business, little store. Exactly, thank you. Sam knows Sam's picking up what I'm putting down. I read those first two emojis as bone business. I know exactly where I'm going.

Who's in the bone business? Exactly. All right, well, congratulations, Sam. You are the winner here. That Charonda gets was so clutch. That was so well-done. It was absolutely clutch. And Mike, if I do give you those three points from the tiebreaker, it is, you still lost, but at least-

It is close. Slightly closer. I'm like Jen and Kilby. I caught up on the puzzle, but it wasn't enough. How do you? Sorry for you, okay. Put up the banner. There, listen.

Pull it up. All erected. It's not from a Linnea perspective. All right. Well, Sam, we're going to keep things on you because, of course, at the end of every week here on the B&B, We allow our guests the opportunity to highlight a charity or cause outside of all of this, you know, nonsense.

We talk about Survivor that is very important to them that you want the listeners to know about. What do you have on the docket? I am going to highlight this is my specific one. You all have your specific one as well. But Nashville's Humane Society is where I got my cat from and they give animals for, give animals new homes. They give the people taking in the animals coupons, money. free vet visits, all of the things that you would need to become a pet owner and re-home an animal that needs it. So I want to just highlight your local animal shelters and your local service,

your workers who are working at these nonprofits to make these animals have good lives. So yeah. Incredibly well said. Well, Sam, I cannot think of a better person to kick off these entire proceedings with us, both the season and the open era in general, offering. as always, valuable insights and incredible gamesmanship. So if there's anything anybody wants to check out, of course you are about to hit hopefully your busy season,

considering that you're about to get into some postseason coverage in the midst of Survivor season. But is there anything you'd like to plug for the listeners out there? Well, I mean, yeah, you check out the social media. The personal stuff kind of goes on Instagram. The work stuff goes on Twitter a little bit more with occasional survivor commentary. but if you have a weird niche crossover interest in baseball, football, and Survivor,

go check out my Twitter, you'll probably enjoy it. But if you don't, you'll probably be annoyed. I'm not going to lie. There's a lot out there that is not your cup of tea. But maybe, who knows? I also know that you are one of the many contributors on the app, formerly known as ChatBCC, currently known as Ramble. Yeah, Ramble just got back up there, actually, after.

a brief hiatus on Rambles. So more of my extended survivor thoughts will be on Ramble every week. Strategic stuff, just kind of like all the fun observations that we talk about here as well, of thoughts on a season that I think is going to be really, really fun.

So I'm very excited to talk about it on Ramble every week as well. Completely agree. I think that even if we have some more misgivings with a couple of small things, I think overall, incredibly good vibes coming out of the premiere concept,

the cast, the vote. It just makes me really eager to see the freshness and the newness that's going to be brought to getting, giving some of these familiar concept, a sense of the unfamiliar. Of course, check out the stuff that Leanna and I are doing on a weekly basis. Leanna with the pal, I have my

interview with Alia up over on parade. I mean, right now we're encroaching upon what I like to refer to as the reality TV equinox, where we have Big Brother ending next week. We have the Survivor Episode 2, and then we also have the two-night amazing race premiere, which I'll be doing here on RHAP.

So a lot is happening at once. Sam, I'd be remiss not to ask you about your big brother thoughts, if you have any, as we lost one survivor and one is in a, quite an interesting position right now. Well, I've been, I've been pulling for my survivors all season long, and I am just really hoping Rick Devons can get this thing across the finish line. I love Rick. I think he's played incredible. And he's always been big brother coded.

Like, this isn't a surprise to anybody that, you know, he's got. And let's see. Yeah, he's always had the clutch gene. He's been in the spot once before, a challenge away from winning Survivor, Edge of Extinction. So I'm hoping he can finish the job. I think he's very deserving and would get himself his win. But I think it's been an awesome Big Brother season.

Like really has been a compelling end game with characters that you're passionate about one way or the other. And it feels like the power has shifted so much where we have had these icons make it deep into the game in the end game. And now the question is, does one of Taylor or Drew, um, who have kind of been biding their time waiting for this opportunity to snipe both

the icons out, can one of them do it right at the end? I don't know. I want Rick to win, but obviously Taylor versus Drew at the end is like the more compelling final vote, which would be really interesting. So it's a win-win, uh, no matter who wins. And yeah, uh, as Sam was mentioning, if you want to check out my interview with the other icon, the recently Departed D. Check that out. She gave a lot of really interesting insights as well as we look

ahead to finale night. It's a very survivor-laden week of CBS reality TV and I'm so excited to be back into it, especially with such an exciting Survivor premiere. Of course, if you have any game ideas, feel free to send anything, everything, emojis if you want to. RHAPB at gmail.com or hashtag RJPBNB on social media. Special thanks to everyone behind the scenes at RHAP for packaging this podcast for your eyes and years and well from America bringing back that theme song that thing will never change like when christian was uh singing the old school ancient voices we're never going to get rid of that anytime soon music to my ears quite literally leon and i will be back next week covering episode two of survivor 51 and whatever it might break until then everybody we'll check you out and your next

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