RHAP: We Know Survivor - Survivor B&B: Survivor 49 Finale

Episode Date: December 21, 2025

Survivor B&B: Survivor 49 Finale With a new Survivor season upon us, it’s time for Mike Bloom and Liana Boraas to re-open the RHAP B&B! On the B&B, Mike and Liana are inspired by the li...ghter side of Survivor, featuring a series of segments and games based on what’s happening on Survivor that week. This week, Mike and Liana give their thoughts on the Season 49 finale! This week’s charity shoutout is Feeding America, a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based agencies.. Click here to make a one-time or monthly donation.Thank you for your support for the B&B all season long! We’ll be back in the new year for coverage of the highly-anticipated Survivor 50. 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@gmail.com. To pre-order Rob’s book, The Tribe and I Have Spoken, visit www.robhasabook.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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Starting point is 00:02:53 That all sounds cool. I can tell you the name is the R.H.A. You can stay for free. Hi, everybody, and welcome to the RHAP B&B for the finale of Survivor 49. My name is Mike Bloom talking about the conclusion of the fall season of Survivor. Not to be it's what the many falls. Christina was taking off the barrel in this episode. We have a barrel full of stuff to talk about.
Starting point is 00:03:25 We said farewell to Survivor 49. We have officially crowned a winner. There is certainly some questions we have to get into, perhaps about a certain jury question. We can talk about the season overall now that it has concluded and look ahead to some of the very interesting things and more specifically people coming our way with Survivor 50. So we're doing a little bit of an unconventional thing here on the B&B.
Starting point is 00:03:51 Of course, we usually have a guest Week in and week out. But listen, Survivor 49, like to try out some new stuff for the new era. So we thought we would do the same in that vein. And we are just as Rupal would say, keeping it in the family today. It is myself.
Starting point is 00:04:08 And the person whose sister's name is Marissa, Leanna Boris. Leanna, do I get your jury vote? No, no, you don't. Because I hated you anyway. So I was never going to vote for you. which would be my assessment on Christina's opinion on Savannah. But no, look, we made it.
Starting point is 00:04:27 We did it. We survived. We made it throughout the season. We did it. We did it, Joe. I'm so proud of us. We're here. And now I feel like, I almost feel like a weight has been lifted because I feel like now,
Starting point is 00:04:38 not only can we talk about the finale, but we can also look back on kind of our opinions throughout the whole season. Because now that we, it's almost like we know the ending of the book. We know that Roseanne Savannah are going to be on 50. We have this outlook going to the future. But now we can also, I think, more accurately reflect on the past, kind of knowing all these things, thinking about, oh, how are they going to fit in with 50,
Starting point is 00:04:58 knowing that they were going to be on 50, how that impacted. I mean, certainly my viewing experience, for sure. So I think it almost feels like a really weight has been lifted, like not just that we got the finale, but also it feels like, oh, we can talk about things honestly now. Well, yeah, that's the thing, is that this essentially was kind of for the terminally online,
Starting point is 00:05:17 a media res season of Survivor, where your brain has already kind of jumped to the point where Rizzo and Savannah were on season 50. And so it more so became, okay, how did they get there? And that's really interesting because I talk about the fact that, in my opinion, every season of Survivor should be watched at least twice, once week to week when you don't know what's going to happen, a second time when you do and try to figure out, okay, how did we get to that point?
Starting point is 00:05:45 This was almost like time one and a half meant to be time number one, where again, if you already knew that these two were going to make it to a certain point where they would get brought back, then I think a lot of your focus, and certainly the edits focus, was dedicated to that. You know, I am sort of up to mind when it comes to like, how will this season hold up on a rewatch? Because I do feel like some people feel like they might enjoy it more now that they officially know where these two lands.
Starting point is 00:06:15 But on the other hand, this is not as extreme as Russell on Somerville. Noah, but I think a very similar style of storytelling where, and Sage actually expressed this in my interview with her, a lot of the story is focused around Savannah and Rizzo to the point where it kind of does obfuscate some of the greater realities, perhaps, that were happening on the island proper. Yeah, and I think that we were definitely feeling this throughout the season, where it feels like this was the hype train almost for Rizzo and Savannah, almost trying to convince me the viewer why they should be on season 50 right because it was like well they had been
Starting point is 00:06:52 vetted by production jeff as you know you told us on the bnb that they got the they got the call right after basically the season finished wrapping no literally like the morning after which i imagine since they were probably partying till the wee hours of the morning was only a smattering of time later where they sat down in a room with jeff on a zoom despite being in fiji saying do you want to be on season 50 you're going to keep so some air of mystery you gotta do it via you know they'll talk about it much more and i want to put words in their mouth in my interviews with them but what they basically said was like we got put in a room in front of a laptop and i thought i was going to talk to my family but instead my new father
Starting point is 00:07:29 jeff prope shows up saying hey put your family plans on hold for another 26 days do you want to come back yep yeah so they as you said the morning after then invited back to play 50 so i do think that there was a certain element of and i don't know if this is me me making it up in my own head, but it felt like, no, no, no, they're really fun. Like, you're really going to like them as characters. So I agree with what Sage was saying, like, I'm sure. And it happens every season, right? We know that not everything is shown. We know that not all the storylines are shown. But I'm sure it probably either felt more like it in this season just because knowing they're on 50 and knowing that, you know, you kind of want the audience
Starting point is 00:08:12 to know who these people are and you want them to care about them going into 50. So let's talk about the finale first and foremost. A whole three hours, three plus hours, for those of us that were watching live on the Central and Eastern. So that was wild. That was pretty wild, actually. I think a lot of us are going to look back on the fact that of this wild season, of course, this was the finale to get interrupted by a presidential address.
Starting point is 00:08:40 Now, for what it's work, real ones might remember that this is not necessarily the first time. Like, I remember, I believe Survivor Philippines was in the fall of 2012. So I think there was a point where Obama may have like interrupted the finale to give a press conference on the tragedy that was the Sandy Hook shooting. I can't remember though if they did what they did here, which was to say like, all right, we're just going to take a pause right now. Everyone take a break, take like 25 minutes. Stages, or Christine is gone. And then we'll jump back into the proceedings of things.
Starting point is 00:09:10 I mean, I'm certainly happy because maybe my hot take, Leon. was, I actually really enjoyed this finale. Oh, okay. Sons presidential address, I assume. Imagine like if this is when I go full mask off. You were like, actually, that was, I enjoyed the intermission. My favorite part of the finale was 9 to 922 Eastern Standard Time. I will say, it was kind of nice to have a break because I went and I like got ready for
Starting point is 00:09:38 bed and I got my PJs on. So I'm not saying it should happen. That was ridiculous. but, like, at least I took advantage of the intermission, okay? Should there have been, like, a picture and picture, like, in the corner? Like, just watch, like, the challenge on mute. Like, you could still pay attention the entire time. Yeah, they do that now in NFL broadcast, right?
Starting point is 00:09:59 Would they have, like, a commercial on the side and then the little picture and picture. Yeah, it should have been that. But, okay, so wait, tell me, why did you like it so much? I think it's because now I did a podcast with Rob before the finale, uh, trying to paint perhaps a more positive brush on some of this stuff. stuff with Survivor 4.9. Not to say that as we'll talk about the season overall, there aren't misgivings that I've had with. It's certainly nits to pick. But I think there are, there's some hair amongst those nits, perhaps, that we can comb out. But I do think at least my thoughts
Starting point is 00:10:28 on how this finale would go did not necessarily pan out. For one, I very much thought Sage would get voted out over Christina, something that I think people were still kind of questioning through it happening, where you have these two arguments of like, well, Christina's better in fire. But Sage is a more threatening presence probably would do better in the final three. They take Christina out yet another I think piece of a questionable
Starting point is 00:10:54 gameplay from the people who have the most power. And then final four, I don't know why. I was just, I was so dead set on a Tresletche's final three. Maybe I just was not I was thinking that Sof was I know Rizzo said he was the boy who cried wolf but really Sof was sort of filling that category
Starting point is 00:11:10 for the past few weeks of like, I'm going to flip it on. I'm going to flip it on. I'm like, The train has passed by the station many times and you chose not to get on it. It's more so that she saved herself for the express, I suppose, coming a bit down the line as she does make this move to put her two closest allies into fire, which does make a lot of sense in retrospect, considering that Jeff said this season was all about changing loyalties, that not even the most loyal group of three was immune from this virus. and she chooses to do that.
Starting point is 00:11:43 So I was, again, building myself up for like this big Rizzo-Savana final two showdown who was going to make it over whom. And Rizzo goes out in Firemaking. Now, to get into our preseason predictions a bit more later on, maybe I should have stood my ground with what I was thinking back in April
Starting point is 00:11:59 versus December. But at least at this time, I was being a little bit shocked by that. I didn't think I imagined Sage in the final three. Maybe I just thought that the Carolyn connection would be a little too strong for that to happen and she does end up getting ad jury vote which is more than Carolyn Gop
Starting point is 00:12:19 but then in the final tribal council as well you know there's a couple of surprising things of course we'll get into Christina's jury question I think I would venture to say Leona maybe the most talked about jury question we have had for a long time even pre new era and I love it no same
Starting point is 00:12:38 spoiler alert we'll get into I'm sure a lot more later on And then also, I think the ability for Sophie to kind of come through. You know, a lot of people, including the finalist, including Savannah herself, were saying that Sophie was doing a really, really good job at final tribal council. And it's in the vein that we saw from Sam a couple, a year ago as well. And that, like, someone can just come out of nowhere. And listen, maybe it did not nudge all the votes in her corner, but it certainly got her a couple more than I thought there would be if she was sitting in the final three.
Starting point is 00:13:07 Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. I think I had a very similar vision. to the final three I thought that Rizzo's edit also was the strongest in terms of a contender who could go against Savannah. I felt like
Starting point is 00:13:21 neither Sophie had losing finalists written or so whatever. Can we just do you hear in the final challenge? Jeff called her Sophie like slip of the tongue for one second and then went I my hot take is that Sophie getting to hear her true
Starting point is 00:13:39 name, her government name, instead of this soap that was voiced upon and was like, oh my God. That was another big thing as well that like we thought that Savannah was going to probably win both challenges and make survivor history by now becoming the woman
Starting point is 00:13:55 who has won the most challenges, tying the all time individual immunity challenge record, but leave it to freaking Sophie to mount I think one of the biggest comebacks I've seen in the new era and be able to take home immunity where it meant the most. Again, you talk about someone coming on strong
Starting point is 00:14:11 in the final couple of days. Sophie did that and then so. Well, I mean, and that's what I thought was going to happen. I thought Savannah was going to take home the record. Okay, not only is she a winner, she broke the record. Of course, let's have her back for 50. So that was where I thought we were going. I thought Rizzo in second.
Starting point is 00:14:29 I thought SOF in third. And I had never really considered an outcome outside of that, which it is so I can't wait to do our preseason predictions. I think you and I were on the same wavelength, which I think, again, we should have stuck with. But that was just what I anticipated happening. And after the first, you know, the first immunity, I was like, great, Savannah's got this. Christina Arsage goes.
Starting point is 00:14:52 Who cares? One of them loses in fire. So then when Sophie ended up coming back, which miraculous, by the way, and then ended up winning, I was just like, oh, wait, what is going to happen? Is Sophie going to win? Like, everything I knew got thrown into complete shambles. It was actually really exciting. It was complete shambos. Chickens all around.
Starting point is 00:15:15 And so I think like having that made it certainly that next hour or two hours so much more exciting because I was like, oh, I started again questioning everything I knew. Yeah, that's the thing is that at least, again, and I would say that this might be one of the more unpredictable finalities you've had in sometime. I guess 46 would like slightly qualify, but I think everyone was so on board with Kenzie winning that like even if it did come across happen in a very surprising way I think people were still relatively
Starting point is 00:15:45 on board with that and maybe that was a certain extent from a Savannah perspective but like 48 you know we knew that Mitch was going and then that final you know that some combination of Joe and Eva would be in the finale or in the final three 47 was honestly maybe the most straightforward finale
Starting point is 00:16:01 we've seen in a long time especially with it being the final four that once Rachel one run it was like curtains there I mean honestly not since 45 or 45 I've had that goddamn diculous final five two to one to one to one vote. I think have we had so many different things happen? And maybe it's also because, again, the bar is set relatively low that I think, again, we sort of had the mentality in our minds of like, all right, well, how is the trio going to be
Starting point is 00:16:26 able to finagle their way out of a vote this time despite having the target on them? Who's going to, you know, make an own goal the most to get them ahead in the game? And it turns out that, yeah, the dream of the three of them making it to, those final three stumps was a pipe tree only. Yeah, I think in terms of final travel council for the new era, nothing will ever trump 43. Like I just, I, I remember where I was. The finale that Trump did not show up on was 43.
Starting point is 00:16:55 That's true. That's true. Shout out of Alaska. So for me, it was like, that was just like, the fuck. Whereas with this one, it was more just like, oh, like I was more intrigued, I guess, maybe more than anything. I think also because you had that that knowledge of them on 50. So it was like, okay, how is this going to play out? Rizzo goes in final four firemaking.
Starting point is 00:17:17 It was like, oh, okay, okay. Now, like now I can see that vision. I see that for him. But Savannah still has to win, right? I think Savannah losing there, I think would have been, that would have been a gag. Yeah, 100%. All right. Well, let's get into some of the bigger beats, I would say, from the finale.
Starting point is 00:17:36 And we got to start with, I think, the most talked about. element out of the entire three-hour extravaganza Leanna, it is Christina's jury question. I have something I want to show you. This
Starting point is 00:17:51 revelation came to me as of late. Yes. But in the effort of looking back on the season a little bit in preparation for this podcast, I did go back to my preseason interviews with the final five. And talking with Christina, I discovered a little something interesting.
Starting point is 00:18:08 let's give a listen favorite moment in survivor history does it involve some of the stuff you were talking about um so um it's actually from season one Oh, okay. Throwback. Throwback all the way back. Because I think it really speaks to kind of like the social aspect. And it was when Kelly was about to get voted out and everyone was like plotting against her. And then the challenge was how well you knew people. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:18:31 And I was like, boom. Like she won it and she was supposed to be the next one out. And it was like, boom, in your face, like you are aligned with people and you guys don't even know the information. And I do. And I felt like that was like the biggest like mic drop moment. Yeah. We'll talk about hot takes. later, but I always felt that's a challenge they should bring back, like, the fallen comrades.
Starting point is 00:18:50 It's tough because Vesepia low-key broke it because she brought a notebook for the game. And so she wrote everything down. But now that that's not allowed. Yeah, like I feel like I kind of want it brought back too. Yeah, because I think it is something to like sit there at tribal council with a jury and basically be tested like, how well do you know these people? If I don't make it to the final three, which I better. But let's say I don't and I'm on the jury, I literally, that was going to be like my question to them was like,
Starting point is 00:19:13 okay, what's my daughter's name? What's like, I want to know. like, do you know me at all? So if it doesn't get brought back, maybe I can bring it back. And bring it back, she did. She did? No, we love a woman of her word. That's amazing.
Starting point is 00:19:30 I don't remember that at all. Yeah, so I'm intrigued, Leanna. You know, we'll get your overall thoughts about this. But does this change your opinion one way or the other knowing that this was a little premeditated from even days before she set foot on the beach? Well, no. I mean, I think you asked the question this year in your interviews that was, if you were on the jury, what criteria would you use to vote for the winner? So I don't think that there's anything wrong with thinking about what you value in a winner of the game who's going to represent your season.
Starting point is 00:20:00 I also think that it can impact how you play because if you value strategy over social, then you might value strategy over social when you're voting as a member of the jury. So for Christina, clearly social was a big element of what she valued out there. that was something that she wanted to vote on so that was what her question was based on and I think the reason why I like that question so much from her is because it's what she cares about right now would Savannah have ever convinced her
Starting point is 00:20:26 unless she pulled out I know your entire family tree let's walk through your genealogy like I don't even know 23 and me 49 and me we love it hopefully no bankruptcy there but anyway so I think that
Starting point is 00:20:42 it just reflects what the players care about. So for me, I learned more about Christina almost. I feel like in that moment than I did throughout the whole season because I learned how much she does value those social connections and learning about the other people that she's playing with. That's probably why her social game was such shit because her social game was really what she cared about
Starting point is 00:21:01 and that was what she valued. So that's what she put her energy into. Yeah. So obviously a few thoughts on this. First, when it comes to my own answer to that question as to this discovery that, you know, this is something that Christina had intention and to ask ahead of time.
Starting point is 00:21:15 I think two things can be true. You know, I think this is an interesting rebuttal. We think a lot of accusations that have come out when this question was asked, when this was aired of like, oh, Christina came up with this question just to trap Savannah, just to dunk on her by being like, you don't know anything about us. I think two things can be true.
Starting point is 00:21:35 I think Christina could have had a plan to come into a jury situation with this question in her head. I also think there is a chance. that she thought, okay, I know Savannah doesn't know this about me. So let me expose her for it. She told me as much. She had said that, like, she wanted Savannah to prove her wrong. And I think there has been some talk about it in interviews as well,
Starting point is 00:21:57 about how, like, yellow Sophie, like, called her out on it, being like, why didn't you ask that to Sophie and Sage? And I think she did, but a little bit more of a half-ass way. So, again, I think that while this was premeditated and it's super interesting, it was not to also call out Savannah as well. And I think you make a really salient point. I mean, let me also say here, because there's been quite a lot of opinions about this,
Starting point is 00:22:21 this is objectively good television. Like, this is so fun. This is, it's an exciting element. Now, I think your mileage may vary as to, like, whether you feel like this is a quote unquote right question to ask. You know, I think the opinion has certainly been bandied about us, like some people saying, well, I wouldn't vote for somebody who,
Starting point is 00:22:41 who slips on a banana peel so hard a Savannah banana peel to just be with it with nearly everyone in the jury. There's some that are like, who the hell cares? This is Survivor, not, you know, get to know me Island. And so I do think that your opinion as to whether or not this should have mattered in the end can definitely vary. I think, though, that the opinion should be held across the board that this was really fun television.
Starting point is 00:23:12 And I think what is so interesting on both sides of this question is the fact that, as you said, this pertains to not only what Christina values as a jerk, but specifically what each person values in the quote-unquote social game. Christina obviously wants to dig deep and not only dig deep, but dig deep from a perspective
Starting point is 00:23:32 that she really relishes, which is family. She is a very family-led woman. And she talks about her kids, talked about her husband, and she talks about obviously the loss of her mom and that entire emotional reconciliation. But what Savannah exercises, especially in her final statement, is the fact that, like, she made relationships. She made bonds with people.
Starting point is 00:23:56 They were not over the names of family members. She said that she and Alex talked about work a lot. She and Yellow Sophie bonded over being, you know, the eldest children in their family. she opened up to Stephen about her past work trauma and I think it does show the various hues that could come with this rainbow gradient that is a social game
Starting point is 00:24:17 in that you can talk with people and get personal details about a myriad of things and look, this was not a good look for Savannah whatsoever. Like yes, she knew stuff about people but Christina specifically asked, give the name of a family member. She failed at that. But I at least admired the effort
Starting point is 00:24:33 for her to try to shoehorn in during the answer of that question like, well, I don't know this, but I do know this to showcase like, okay, she was not like a complete blank slate. I don't even know her to the majority of this jury. I mean, I think you also have to look. Okay, so I think pointing out what Christina values, which is the relationship and knowing names is important, but also the subtext of that question was how well do you know us? And I think that that's where Savannah was able to, very good interview answer, by the way,
Starting point is 00:25:01 which is like, I don't know this, but I know this. And here's how this still demonstrates. aspect of the original question that was being asked, which is, I did bother to listen to you. I did remember the words that you were saying. It wasn't just you were talking to me and other little like little just birds like fluttering in my head, right? Like I was listening and comprehending the things that we were talking about. So I think that Savannah did a really great job from that perspective, being able to comment on the things that she knew. And also, so what if Christina is trying to like put the spotlight on Savannah for something? Who cares? It's like
Starting point is 00:25:35 you said it's great TV TV it's her opportunity as her as the juror to ask her question let her be messy let's do it I'm so here for it that's the thing it's messy and I think that's a good way to describe this season overall from a strategic perspective personal perspective but like it is pretty messy I think another point that people take against this is they feel like well you know Savannah couldn't have bungled this question because she won and I'm sorry that's incredibly results oriented thinking. We have had winners who have not had good final tribal councils
Starting point is 00:26:09 in the past who have still won. I go back to Ethan Zon in Survivor Africa where Brandon Quinton asked him a question and Ethan just essentially shuts Brandon down. And Brandon as a result doesn't vote for him. Guess what? Didn't matter.
Starting point is 00:26:25 Ethan still wins five to two. Savannah attempts to answer a question for Christina here. Does not shut her out, but she essentially shuts herself down by answering it incredibly awkwardly and incorrectly, guess what? Doesn't matter. It seems like truly as much as this obviously cemented not earning Christina's vote and maybe had some people like MC leading the other way, all she needed was five and she got five.
Starting point is 00:26:51 It's okay for the winner of your season to not have the best performance on day 26. Yeah, exactly. And also, again, it goes back to what every single, what other people value. We know that those tribal councils go on way longer than what we see on television. So there's other topics that are covered. There's other things that are swaying people's votes. And I think to look at just like one single question to represent someone's final tribal council performance, I think is really short-sighted. So for me, yeah, sure, you can bungle pieces of the question, even though I think she did the best with it with what she could.
Starting point is 00:27:23 I still think that she was so passionate in her delivery. Even Sage was like, how do I follow up with that? Like, how do I follow that? You know, just because Savannah just sitting in the middle, commanding the energy in the room, I think that she did a really great job throughout the season and a good job in the final tribal. And I think everybody really did. I didn't think that this was, we didn't have that like one person like that just is like, I'm out of this, like I give up kind of situation.
Starting point is 00:27:51 Like even Sage, who only ended up getting one boat still, I feel like fought to the end. Yes, but some information has come out through Sage's press, at least from her perspective. that even though we thought this was not the case, this appeared not to be the case in reality. Savannah herself has confirmed that the jury was like low-key, pretty brutal to Sage, which like, unfortunately I'm not incredibly surprised about in a couple of fronts.
Starting point is 00:28:16 Robert of a really interesting point in his podcast, one of his podcasts this past week about like comparing Sage to the mom trope that we saw in like a lot of the 20s seasons with Dawn, with Lisa Welchel, et cetera. with Monica Cole Pepper, where it's like, not to say that Sage is a mom type, but it's like, you have this emotional investment in us, and then you betrayed us. I'm having trouble reconciling that. And so I do think Sage was trying to talk up a lot of her game, you know, reveal parts of herself,
Starting point is 00:28:48 talk about her decade in the military. But I feel like with the vast majority of these things, it is often too little too late. And it's often confirmation bias, you know? Like, I think maybe Eva was able to move a couple of things in her direction last season by revealing that she was a PhD student. But I feel like so much of a person's opinion is garnered over 25 days of playing them. It's really tough to sort of like reverse the momentum of that big rig by pressing on the brakes all of a sudden and be like, whoa, Sage was in the military. Guess this changes everything I felt about her for three weeks. Well, and I think the thing is, too, is you learn that information.
Starting point is 00:29:27 Then you have to process that information. then you have to use that information to help you justify voting for that. Like, it's a lot of cognitive processing to be doing in such a short period of time. So unless it's a reveal that, I don't know, has, I feel like a baby on the way, right? Like, Jeremy, like that kind of reveal. I feel like that's maybe something that you can leave to the end, but I do feel like anything like that. It would be kind of weird if anyone in this final three said they had a baby on the way. Oh, my gosh, imagine.
Starting point is 00:29:53 Imagine all three of them said it. And we are all pregnant. It was the Boston Rob statue that impregnated all of us. We're all having more Boston Rob babies. Anyway, so, yeah, I just feel like there's not a lot that you can do. But that's unfortunate for Sage that she, you know, got that treatment from the jury. Although I also can understand why. Because from their perspective, they're like, you had this way easier path this way.
Starting point is 00:30:22 Why did you choose this? Like, this doesn't make any sense. That's exactly it. I think a lot of their perspective could probably be. couched in like, you kept saying that you wanted Savannah out and then you had multiple opportunities and you didn't get her out. Instead, you betrayed us
Starting point is 00:30:36 what gives and Sage has her own perspective which is namely like, I tried. Nobody would listen. Y'all were a hot mess, Tina. And I do feel like Survivor 49 is a low key, very emotional season. I feel like
Starting point is 00:30:52 a lot of the gameplay and personal relationships were driven by emotion in every sense of the word. Obviously, we have a lot of these like semi-petty rivalries happening, particularly when you have, you know, Savannah versus Joanne, Sage versus Shannon, Sage versus Savannah, et cetera, et cetera. Obviously have a lot of emotions affiliated with people's backstories. And, you know, you have one of the biggest players of the post-merge, be a self-emitted emotionally forward-facing player. And so looking back in and more,
Starting point is 00:31:24 I'm not incredibly surprised that, like, you had a jury that, was rather emotional as well about the fact that as Sage mentions, she voted against every one of them except for Joanne. And yes, well, maybe with different people with different juries, that could be looked upon and commended
Starting point is 00:31:42 of like, uh-huh, you were always in the right. You always knew what was going on. You get my vote for the awareness. This particular case, it was more so one of those classic instances of we had something going on and you betrayed that for a reason that I don't necessarily agree with.
Starting point is 00:31:58 well I think it's that and I also think it's and you're telling me you're going to sit next to your biggest target at the end also like I think I think that was probably played a big role as well if it was Rizzo like flip Rizzo and Savannah potentially things could have been perceived at least a little bit differently but I'm sure it's so tough to be sitting next to the person that from everybody on the jury's perspective you've been targeting and you're saying is this big threat and you let her get to the end and sit next to you why should we reward you instead of her Especially because when Sage has put up this such clear juxtaposition between Savannah's amazing, Savannah's going to win, Savannah's doing all these things, you hear that over and over and over again, and then you believe it, right? So it just, I think that there are a lot of understandable reasons why the jury would be reacting that way based on the events that transpired throughout the season. You and the Per Noelle, the pro of the embellage cado. Mary, sis, so on the deballage, it's who, Meijer?
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Starting point is 00:35:00 A survey found 86% of women lost weight, 77% saw an improved mood, and 100% felt like themselves again. Start your next chapter feeling balanced and in control. For a limited time, get 15% off your entire first order at happy mammoth.com with code next chapter at checkout. Visit happy mammoth.com today and get your old self back naturally. while Savannah had a big old oopsie here in the final tribal council I would not say it's skewed oopsie overall because I actually think one other answer that maybe was a little polarizing that she had to another question I really admired which was the Jawan give us a reason why you were out here and Sophie and Sage both very understandably so go into their own instances of personal loss and feeling that spirit through them as they had the tenement to apply themselves in multiple ways day in and day out. And Savannah was completely
Starting point is 00:35:57 honest and was like, oh, you know, I am doing this for myself. I decided to this was the year of Savannah after I had this miserable time at my job. By the way, I'm a former reporter. And though, Joanne, I don't think you should incorporate that
Starting point is 00:36:13 into your reasoning. I mean, on paper, it's pretty brazen. As you mentioned, everyone on that jury has a reason, has a rationale for voting the way that they do kind of wild out of the gate to be like yeah but I don't think you should vote this way on the other hand
Starting point is 00:36:28 I do think it furthers the perception of Savannah which was how emotionally authentic she was and maybe that did grade up against some people especially from an interpersonal perspective but this was not a case where it's like okay I'm going to just put her up the jury by telling them everything they want to hear like Savannah was aware
Starting point is 00:36:44 enough to know how she was looked at that she was fine being steadfast in that answer knowing that I think at the very worst, people would be like, I disagree with her, but like, I knew Savannah was going to say that. Mm-hmm. Well, and we hear this from jurors all the time, especially recently in the new era,
Starting point is 00:37:01 where they want to reward that authenticity, and they want you to have a clear vision of what your game looked like. You don't have to be perfect. You didn't have to orchestrate every move. That's why Gabler won, for goodness sakes, because he at least was like, yeah, I did this one thing. So that's so cool. I mean, obviously he talked about other stuff as well,
Starting point is 00:37:18 but he had a realistic view on what. his game was. And I think that for Savannah, she didn't try to all of a sudden pull out and make up some reason. She was, as you said, authentically herself. And on top of that, she doesn't need every single person's jury vote. If she feels like Joanne has already lost to Sage, why even bother? Like just be honest, be authentic, hoping that that will then appeal to the other five, or I guess in that case, other six, whatever, seven people that were voting. So in that case, I think that that's the absolutely correct answer, especially in this era, in this time period and with that jury.
Starting point is 00:37:52 Yeah, honestly, I feel like that perspective, which Savannah has also affirmed to me in her interview, that like she came in basically feeling like, yeah, I don't need to necessarily get all the jury votes. I just need to get most of them. Is a little antithetical to the new era? Because I feel like the new era, and this season especially,
Starting point is 00:38:10 especially in the pre-merge, was a little bit of this unanimity, right? Which was like, okay, we all need to be on the same page. And so maybe that reflects sometimes the answers that you give, of like, I want to make sure I have as wide of a base as possible that I'm appealing to so that I catch as many people in this net as I could. Savannah is more less so about like, let me cast the net and more so like, I have a poll and I have five specific fish that I need to lay, maybe four, because I pretty much know that Rizzo's voting for me.
Starting point is 00:38:38 So like, let me specifically go for that. If another fish comes swimming by, that's great if they end up grabbing the hook. I'm not going to cast out their specific bait. I only have a limited amount of bait, a limited amount of time. just don't know any other winners in recent memory who kind of have that approach to a final tribal council rather than what you would assume everyone would take, which is like, I'm just going to make this appealing to everybody so that hopefully everyone is able to vote for me. Well, I mean, I think there are a lot of factors that play into it. I think depending on who
Starting point is 00:39:09 the jury members are, how polarized they might be, um, who you're sitting next to you, whom you think like, oh, this person corners the market on the Christina are going to. type right like they were the social person who memorized everybody's names who da da da da da you're like i am literally never going to be able to compete with that person like i will never earn that vote that independent voters vote like that's not mine that's her base that's not mine so i am going to learn from alex and really focus on my base you know turn out the vote for my base i'm all about that base um she is all about that base no trouble she's here to like get those people get Nate back on board, right?
Starting point is 00:39:51 Like, you know that you can get Nate, get Nate back on board. You've got Rizzo. Okay, great. You work on Alex, work on Stephen. Those people who you did make genuine connections with, who you think you know what they value at least. So appeal to that to get those people to vote for you because there's some that no matter how hard you try, they're just never going to vote for you. So don't even bother to have like a bland but palatable approach, right? Like you would rather be the firebrand who takes those votes.
Starting point is 00:40:17 Exactly. Well, before we start moving into. The many predictions we put out here about these five people, I want to get your thoughts overall about the season, Leona, because now we have officially seen all 26 days, and even if again, we thought that it was Savannah's to lose, there were
Starting point is 00:40:34 certainly some interesting things that happened in the finale. And I know it is tough to, as you mentioned, inextricably separate your view of the season with probably the large hunch you had about the two who would come back. But now that we've officially ended
Starting point is 00:40:50 the story, what are your thoughts on 49 overall? Do you think it is the worst new era season, as some people are saying? No, and I think it's going to be a lot better on a rewatch than, I think that hanging over the head of the Rizzo Savannah thing, I think that that for me really
Starting point is 00:41:06 ruined the first watch through, but I think it's going to be a lot better on the second. I think that there's a lot of interesting relationships, there's a lot of really interesting characters, sure, some cringe-worthy moments, but the new era has that plenty. I think especially the second half of the season, I think is going to be a lot more exciting when you go back
Starting point is 00:41:24 and maybe can look for, oh, why did those? Because this is my biggest critique throughout the season was that I feel like the line of logic was never really laid out clearly for some of the decisions that were being made. So I think on a rewatch now really like looking for those details, knowing what the ending is going to be. Like maybe those are there. And I think that it would be a lot more interesting to go back into the season now knowing the ultimate outcome. So for me, I don't think it's the worst season. I think certainly bottom half, but I would not say worst. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I think the lows were certainly low. I do think this was the worst pre-merge of the new era just between how straightforward it was and how even the
Starting point is 00:42:07 on-island stuff was like, you could have straightforward vote outcomes and still have like interesting episodes. Those first five were not necessarily bringing home a lot. You know, the most exciting thing to honestly happen with the first month and a half of Survivor 49 was a man almost dying from a venomous snake fight. It was really good TV though. It was really, yeah, that was really good TV and a woman spitting in a man's face
Starting point is 00:42:30 nonsensically in the very first episode. But when it picks up like, Lord, this is like almost a Karamoan-esque in like, oh my God, the shoot up that it happens, even from the Shannon Bow because I thought that was really good storytelling in building up obviously like a volcano, a lot of the pent-up magma-like
Starting point is 00:42:48 frustration that Sage had been feeling spending all of her time with Shannon before it finally erupts in this passive aggressive I won't hug you type of moment and that's the thing I actually feel like this was a very personally driven season which I like a little bit better from my perspective of storytelling just because I'm not a huge strategy person I like finding out some of the more human elements behind decisions like yeah Sage I may not agree with you wanting to have a vendetta against Sophie S and then to deciding to just askew the Savannah Evadol and go after her. But, like, I at least appreciate the perspective into it.
Starting point is 00:43:24 I do feel like maybe some of my misgivings, besides, as you mentioned as well, some of the more cringy humor-based moments that I, again, I felt probably played much better on the island that they did on screen and serving yet again as sort of a referendum on the new era of, like, of course, we had a disaster tribe. You know, of course we have to have a rice negotiation that goes nowhere.
Starting point is 00:43:45 I do feel like there was a more interesting, story for this season that could have been edited if this wasn't Survivor 49. I keep going back to the fact that apparently Stephen was this massive end game threat that everyone
Starting point is 00:44:01 from his closest allies to his greatest enemies were saying like if Stephen hadn't made his way to the final three he would have won. He was much more strategically apt than the episodes made it out to be which was more so like, lull he's on the bottom he's going to find an advantage and say a couple
Starting point is 00:44:18 metaphor is at tribal council. I do feel like if the story was told in a way to, and again, as you mentioned, I understand serving the purpose of like really getting us hyped on these two particular characters. I also understand the hype from their perspective of they were down 7.3 at the final 10 and they somehow wound up being
Starting point is 00:44:33 three of the final four. That's an incredible story. I do feel like, yes, it always comes at the expense of other people's tales, but it does come at the cost as well of like the Stephen Boot, for example. Now, listen, there are still question marks behind why Christina and Sage did what they did.
Starting point is 00:44:49 I feel like the question marks have been minimized, particularly when you find out in reality why Stephen ends up going when he does, because he was so close to making it to a point where he could have been even greater than Savannah or Rizzo or Sophie, the odds on threat to win the season. Yeah. And this was also the thing with Sophie S as well, right? It was like, why did you? And what's crazy is that we have seen, like,
Starting point is 00:45:18 there are we almost call like in the editing world we talk about like the final boss like the final boss that needs to be defeated for the winner to then go on it was jenevieve for rachel right so there there's that person and i guess risa was kind of that person for savannah but i feel like it could have been stephen it could have been sophy it could have been both of them build them both up as threats that like hey these guys and then that makes your winner look better because they defeated them like i just don't understand why you would kind of downplay and like make them not as big of a threat um If, I mean, if they actually were, which in Stevens case, at least they were. But like, it just feels like why, why wouldn't you show that more? So, I don't know. Yeah. So I think, as you mentioned, some reflection is going to help nudge this one way or the other. But I do think, honestly, this might be a season that is enjoyed more on a binge than a week to week where I think a lot of the week to week, I usually enjoy the discussion in between to really
Starting point is 00:46:17 marinate in some of the smaller moments or, you know, bigger strategic decision points to talk through. But this is one that maybe flows better when you know the overall arc and you don't need to necessarily, especially in those first six weeks, like, stop down and talk about like, well, this was another straightforward unanimous vote. What do you think happened there? Maybe it's better to sort of than say,
Starting point is 00:46:38 all right, let's look at the next episode, even during some of these big moves that were being made in the post merge, which I do think we're incredibly unpredictable. I mean, I ran it through with Rob, but nobody thought MC would go, even when you looked at that faction of the split tribal council. Nobody thought that everyone would turn on Alex. Nobody thought that after Joanne was in the power position
Starting point is 00:46:59 for three votes that everyone would turn on him. Nobody thought that everyone would suddenly then turn on Sophie S, who had flipped things away. One other question I have, Leanna, as I was sort of chewing on this game a little bit, I think that I mentioned that MC vote, Savannah winning that endurance challenge is not only the pivot point of the season,
Starting point is 00:47:26 but one of the biggest sliding doors we have seen in the new era. Thoughts on that? Get out the butterflies, baby. I do, I do think that there was a dead relative saying hi. Exactly. I've got my shirt somewhere in the closet. it. I think that when you look at what, and this is, you know, after the Nate boot, it was like, and knowing that, again, Savannah and Rizzo were on 50 was like, how the hell are they going to get out of this? Like, it just felt like, this is not a tenable situation. Like, what is
Starting point is 00:47:59 going to happen? And I think, like, you're totally right that that was the tipping point in the season where everything sort of started to swing. Everything got a lot more chaotic. There was a lot more distrust amongst that solid group that had voted out in eight. And I think that set up the flip-flopping, the changing loyalties throughout the rest of the season, if she hadn't have won that and we had gotten kind of an easy
Starting point is 00:48:21 Savannah boot potentially, like what does the rest of the season look like? I think it's completely different. Yeah, because if you look at it from multiple perspectives, A, had Savannah not won, she would have been the easy vote out at her tribe's tribal council. Now, granted, we still would have had the twist of someone else
Starting point is 00:48:37 coming over, I guess, in that case, it would be Sophie Does she change things up? Probably not, but Savannah and SOF would have two votes there. So maybe, but the other part of it was Savannah's even just presence at that tribal council. You know, I've been told by multiple people in that group that her just showing up, spooked everyone enough to not go with Rizzo. They were going to go with Rizzo. They were trying to get him to not play his idol, go out with it in his pocket. But because Savannah was there, they thought, okay.
Starting point is 00:49:09 okay, we assume that she's going to vote. We can't do our plan of essentially four to one of like throw that vote away onto Joanne in case Rizzo plays an idol. Because if Rizzo and Savannah have two votes, they take power. They majority rules there. They're the minority,
Starting point is 00:49:24 but they take majority if the idol is played correctly. And so then it leads to just everything falling apart with Jawan wanting to turn on Sophie and then everyone turning on to MC. And then the follow up from MC's boot being that Sophie S realizes is how on the out she is with Tina. So then she flips over with everything. Not to mention, as was talked about in the after show, Savannah didn't necessarily need the extra boat she got from that.
Starting point is 00:49:49 But it certainly helped, right? Then she was able to kind of do, have the alliance be able to utilize it a bit more during the Jawan boot to really secure they had the numbers, no matter whether Yellow Sophie was with them or not. Exactly. I think that's what it is. It's more the confidence of knowing that you're going to be able to pull it off
Starting point is 00:50:06 because you're like, don't worry. We have this extra vote in our back pocket. So even though, yeah, sure, as Jeff wanted to point out, technically no, you didn't mean it. Yeah, there's a weird thing that where he's like, you got this wrong, you got this wrong, you got this wrong. Just to be
Starting point is 00:50:21 like, okay, petty, Jeff, that's fine. I also low-key love as well that like, I don't know, I feel like how many times in the new era have advantages and idols be used in the way that they want to, right? There have been times where it's like spelled disaster
Starting point is 00:50:37 for people like we saw last season with the dice leading all to these chaotic no vote scenarios. But I feel like, you know, Jeff wants that Julie Ali-esque like, correct idol play, she takes somebody out with an idol. And we have seen much more than either not be used
Starting point is 00:50:53 or used to no effect than the other side of the coin. Yeah, but I mean, I think, okay, so like look at Alex's idol play in the premurge. Sure, technically he didn't have to play it, but he used it so that he used it so that he wouldn't go home.
Starting point is 00:51:08 You know what I mean? Like, it's like, it's still worked. And I think it's the same thing with this extra vote. It's like when you win individual immunity and you're more brazen to take a crazier move, right? Because you're like, ooh, I have security. So I'm safe. So yeah, let's go for like the big target. Let's flush the idol tonight because I know I'm safe.
Starting point is 00:51:26 So it's kind of the same thing. Like when you have these idols and advantages, even if you don't ultimately need them, you still used them to get the outcome that you wanted. that prevented you from going home. So, like, whatever. Yeah, and Jeff's like, Steven, uh, you used soap, you tried to use knowledge of power. Didn't work. Stephen, you used the block of vote, didn't need to.
Starting point is 00:51:46 And it's like, A, soap's knowledge as power didn't work because she did not realize that this was one of like the three times in survivor history where an advantage was used before tribal council. B, Stevens block of vote worked because he thought that's what the plan was. You know, like this wasn't a, well, might as well, might as well. try something. Like, he went in with the concerted effort with an entire working architectural
Starting point is 00:52:12 system of, okay, I'm going to play this block of a vote and then us three carry through and win the day. It's not his fault that he realized that the building was put on hold in general. I love that Jeff was like, and you still went home, loser. That was the subtext.
Starting point is 00:52:29 Well, remember, he's also Mr. The Experience is the Real Prize. So I think he's trying to be like, soften the blow a little bit, though harden it simultaneously. I guess so I do think my one of my well there were I had a couple favorite moments from the finale
Starting point is 00:52:41 one was of course Rizzo copying Savannah's puzzle classic callback we live and the second was Rizzo in his after he gets voted out the confessional that they like give at the end
Starting point is 00:52:52 and he's doing the saddest the man the myth the legend R-I-Z G-O-D Riz God baby so sad he sounds so dejected whereas most of the time he's like the man the myth the legend I mean he should be pumped
Starting point is 00:53:05 Jeff probes to say Rizgod. Now maybe given, maybe, you know, Rizzo had a hint that Jeff would be colliding with Mr. Beast in the future because this is so out of character and maybe shows how much Jeff does make this experience for the players. He's like, listen, you want to call me, you want me to call you this? You want to call you Dingleberry, David?
Starting point is 00:53:24 I will gladly say that as I snuff your torts. Like, he's supplicated to the Riz God in that moment. Unless your name is Sophie, in which case he will refuse to. call you what you want. There were two Riz gods. Game over. Game over. You're Riz God. You're Riz G. Okay. It's done. I decided. Riz go. Final story. Yeah. Will I completely screw it up multiple times this season? Yes. Will all of you be confused? Yes. Will it confuse the audience? Yes. But we're doing it. I don't care. I mean, this is objectively wild. Yes, we have luckily been
Starting point is 00:53:58 susceptible to the entire moniker of this man myth legend, the entire time. But imagine if you're sitting on the jury. And you've known this guy for three and a half weeks and he's like, Jeff, will you do me a favor? Would you call me the Riz God? I just, I really wish we had gotten more shots of the jury in response to him doing
Starting point is 00:54:21 that. I mean, Joanne was like jaw, Gabe, though to be fair, I think if you presented like Joanne a ripe cantaloupe, he would give a similar reaction. He has resting YouTube thumbnail face. Oh, yeah, yeah. He's like, hyped by everything. Anything happens. It's a Whoa! That's car easy.
Starting point is 00:54:37 A penny! Oh, man! They don't even fake those anymore. Alex's face. That's who I wanted to see. I wanted to see because it was, to me, I feel like Alex, especially the look when Stephen gave that like confessional about the knees and the dark and the cable or whatever, the shins. With the Alex, like, Nate look at each other where Alex is just like, you got to be kidding me. I would have loved to have seen that when he learned Rizzo's name or his nickname, I suppose, is Riz God.
Starting point is 00:55:04 Yeah, I agree. I think Alex is like low-key bitch of the jury. It's in 49. Yeah. Like when Rizzo played the idol, he was one of just like, just shaking his head. And he was also because of the way he went out, like, front and center as well. So I feel like he was also sort of like the litmus test as to like, if I'm winning over Alex, and I think I'm winning over everybody.
Starting point is 00:55:23 Exactly. Yeah. It's so good. When you're flying Emirates business class, dining on a world class menu at 4. 40,000 feet, you'll see that your vacation isn't really over until your flight is over. Fly Emirates, fly better. One of the hardest parts of getting older is feeling like something's off in your body, but not knowing exactly what. It's not just aging. It's often your hormones, too. When they fall out of balance, everything feels off.
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Starting point is 00:56:34 your entire first order at happy mammoth.com with code next chapter at checkout. Visit happy mammoth.com today and get your old self back naturally. All right. Well, let's get into some of our final five here. We've got five preseason prediction to read through Leanna. I mean, we're on the same page. Now, look, I think you and I are both impartial enough that I think we could come to a consensus as to how we did. If anything, if it's a split decision, we'll have the audience decide. But let's go. through in order of their elimination starting with our fifth place finisher christina how did you think christina was going to do in the preseason yep so i had christina making the jury i said that
Starting point is 00:57:20 christina enters the game as the social butterfly on heena effortlessly bonding with everyone from the game sharks to matt by allowing even jason and even matt well because the four of them were in the game They're four. By allowing Stephen, Jason, Sophie, and MC to believe she is a loyal number. She quietly nurtures side relationships. So Christina survives the early post-merge chaos untouched. However, as the Hina members dwindle, Christina's threat becomes less about strategy and more about jury appeal. Everybody likes her.
Starting point is 00:57:55 Everybody trusts her. So recognizing this, the remaining power players agree, Christina is a problem best solved immediately. Her ally was everyone parentheses early merge. Her enemy was everyone parentheses late merge. Okay. Dividing the two sets of everyone. You all, everybody. All right. Well, I also had Christina making the jury. So this might come down to Samantha
Starting point is 00:58:18 semantics here. Christina will hit the ground stumbling talking about how uncomfortable she feels in the jungle. But she finds her element not in the elements, but the people around her. The self-proclaimed social nerd endears herself immediately to the rest of the tribe, were treated to secrets were really everyone on Hina talked about how much they love her.
Starting point is 00:58:37 Unfortunately, due to the difficulty of editing a social game that doesn't culminate in a win, Christina's edit will be surprisingly purple. Call it a combination of only going to tribal once in the pre-merge and not being at the hub of strategy. But after the season, we'll get plenty of players saying that had Christina
Starting point is 00:58:53 found her way in the final three, she would have won. Christina gets taken on a trip to the sanctuary, but on this occasion, this is where sad things happened. Christina reads a letter from her family which sends her mind back home in that moment she chooses to open up
Starting point is 00:59:11 to both the players in the audience about the tragic loss of her mother leaving everyone crying in this club condo Christina gets taken out as an easy target in the mid-merge due to the threat she possesses with her immense likability and true to what she promises in the preseason she asks the finalist that they can name her children
Starting point is 00:59:31 So I remember then September Mike Should have told December Mike about this Her closest allies were Stephen and MC And her enemy was nobody And that's the problem Yeah I would give it to you solely for the question thing
Starting point is 00:59:47 Like that's insane Not to like do too much of a back pat here But yeah I think that moves the needle over Though I do love to the sanctuary Where sad things happen Where sad things happen I'm actually so here for the sanctuary Where blank things happen
Starting point is 01:00:00 and we can we do a madlib of this? Like the, you know, so it's like the sanctuary where, I don't know, where greedy things happen, where salacious things happen. Yeah, exactly. And I think each time there's a different reward. We have to come up with a different adjective to describe. I like that better than the colon response. I don't like the Jeff fill in the blank because it almost then sort of repeats,
Starting point is 01:00:26 I think, the popular opinion that like things have gotten to copy and paste where literally you're asking the players to copy and pay. So I like to throw them on their toes, Jeff. Be like, to the sanctuary and they go, where good things happen. Like, no, where brazen things happen. Yeah, that's also, you know what that is?
Starting point is 01:00:43 Okay, let me roll with this a little bit more. Let me cook a little bit on this because remember the whole strenuous journey thing, how one choice of word completely changed how everyone felt about it. And they sent Stephen on it. Why can't Jeff do that from his perspective, right? Mm-hmm. I like that. I like that.
Starting point is 01:01:00 And then maybe it'll change the perception of what the sanctuary is that day. And you're just like, oh, they're like, oh, my God, wait a minute. If this is abrasive things happening, like, do I want to bring my friends here? Or should I be bringing my enemies here where we can talk things out? Exactly. Exactly. So, okay, I think we'll implement this, obviously, for season 50. Come on, Jeff.
Starting point is 01:01:21 Let's time travel a little bit. I would love to see that. That would be so fun. All right. Let's go to the man, the myth of legend. R-I-Z-G-O-D, Rizgod, baby. Now, I mentioned that I should have stuck to my guns a little bit more in my thought
Starting point is 01:01:39 in the preseason compared to what my expectations were going into the finale. And let's take a look at my gun rack right now because I had Rizzo making the finale and I had him going out in Final Four fire making. Yep, okay. All right, well, your reactionally ought to make it seem like we're going down to semantics once again,
Starting point is 01:01:58 but let's read what I had to say in the meantime. In one of the biggest shocks of the season, Rizzo is somehow able to keep his persona of the man, the myth, the legend, R-I-Z-G-O-D-R-G-G-God baby, under wraps. Instead, he quickly endears himself to his tribe after winning the Fiper Supplies, successfully playing up his role as the wisecracking 25-year-old.
Starting point is 01:02:17 I will note here that I did watch the events of the premiere on the island, so I already knew he won the Fiper Supplies. Okay, Tudor, we're removing that. Do not give me credit. I'm starting in a hole right now. Rizzo's secret confidence, however, allows him to lock in early with Savannah. The two work together to undercut the rest of the tribe
Starting point is 01:02:35 to find the Uli idol. After sitting on their hands with an easy Shannon vote, Rizzo and Savannah kick things into gear in the post-merge, deciding to both turn on Joanne and Nate, for fear the latter was holding onto something, parentheses besides the Secret Marvel career. Despite bleeding their own numbers, Rizzo and Savannah lock in a key ally in Sophie B.
Starting point is 01:02:55 The trio plus Stephen as a fourth in the Fake Space Force Alliance are able to run roughshod over the second half of the pre-merge, to the extent where Rizzo doesn't even need to play the idol until a throwaway at the final five. Like Christina, Rizzo will also be taken to the sanctuary where he gets to read letters from his parents and brother. It's then we see a- Where does that things happen? Yes, it's then where we see a mortal side to the Riz God as he opens up about the struggles
Starting point is 01:03:21 his family has had. When Stephen wins the final immunity challenge, Rizzo confidently states that he'll need to be doing the taxes soon on his million-dollar earnings. things. Good thing he already has experience from his parents. So he's absolutely gobsmacked when Stephen betrays their brocode, sending the two tightest allies of the game into fire against each other. Rizzo was able to light his edit ablaze getting the most confessionals this season. The same cannot be said for his firemaking skills. He falls at the final four, revealing his full Rizgod moniker to a shocked and confused
Starting point is 01:03:53 jury. His ally was Savannah. His enemy was eventually Stephen, but generally hubris. Okay, interesting. So here's mine. I also had Rizzo making the finale. I also had Rizzo going out in firemaking. So here's what I wrote for Rizzo. Rizzo is perceived as the goofy, charismatic younger brother,
Starting point is 01:04:18 delivering great confessions and acting as a magnet for the camera. Meanwhile, while Rizzo is building relationships, he also demonstrates his strategic power by slowly, planning his big move after he finds the idol on Uli. Jesus Christ with okay but difference here with the vote when the votes finally
Starting point is 01:04:38 stacked against him Rizzo shocks the jury by correctly playing a hidden immunity idol on himself single-handedly sending sage to the jury and blowing up the S-axis end game plans however his luck runs out at final four when Rizzo is sent into firemaking and loses
Starting point is 01:04:54 in a blaze of glory Jeff creams his pants over Rizzo's successful idol play. And going out as a fallen angel in fire makes him a no-brainer to bring back for season 50. His enemy was the, or his ally was the idol and his enemy was fire. My God,
Starting point is 01:05:11 creams his pants. I did say, I don't know if you remember early in the episode when they were doing the Advantage scramble and today was like, I'm creaming all them. It's like, I get it, Savannah. Like that term was popular about 30 years ago. I fear the kids have unfortunately brought about
Starting point is 01:05:26 a more lascivious connection to it. No creaming, no cracking. There's things we just can't do anymore. Exactly. Okay, well, this is interesting. I mean, we both had his position going out the same. You did talk about using the Idol and the S-axis. Yes. So I think I would give it to you based on using the Idol with much little fanfare at Final Five. And I think the relationship with picking up Sophie B as well.
Starting point is 01:05:55 I think those things I would give to you. Another pet, Pat. Let me reveal a little bit of exclusive intel here as well from season 50. So, first off, I will preface this when I actually released the interviews as well. But when talking with Savannah and Rizzo on the island, they were not allowed to tell us specifics about season 49. But because I had interviewed them, you know, a couple months prior, they had asked me, like, how did you think we did? And I looked Rizzo in the eye. And I said, I think that you made a big cut in the game.
Starting point is 01:06:26 I think you were able to, as you mentioned, like talk up this character in confessionals, but not bring it to the island. And I think you probably went out in something like Final Four Firemaking. And I reached out to him about it after the finale aired. I said, I knew it. And he said, not going to lie. Like when you said that,
Starting point is 01:06:43 I thought someone tipped you off as to what happened. But I mean, again, I think there's a reason why you and I were on the same page. And I don't want to spoil our winners, but our winners, I pretty sure, are both Savannah. So it's like you and I both were like, like, okay, here's the information we know. We know they're on 50.
Starting point is 01:06:59 How do they get on 50, right? So for me, I was like, well, Savannah wins. And Rizzo has to be some big player, probably an idol, probably Final Four fire making. I have to imagine, like, you were probably in the same boat when you were, you know, thinking about how these players would have done. So it's not really surprising to me, albeit very funny that we both ended up with basically the same prediction. All right.
Starting point is 01:07:19 Well, we shall see if these outcomes will get a little bit more separate as we get into our third place finisher Sage because Sage presented herself as a character almost immediately both in the season and the preseason proper. So how did you feel Sage was going to do though when push came to shove? When
Starting point is 01:07:39 pimples came to popping. That's right. Keep him in a jar. I said that Sage would make the jury. I said that Sage utilized her facade of being an emotional weirdo and quickly tapped into her sneaky side, quickly plotting the downfall of her enemies. To execute her orders. She formed a tight bond with Savannah and Sophie creating the S-Axas alliance who let Jake be the
Starting point is 01:08:01 puppet out, the puppet frontman while they ran the table behind the scenes. Okay. Sage is all but guaranteed for the finale until the consensus target Rizzo plays a hidden immunity idol and cast the sole vote to send Sage to the jury. Sage found the beware advantage early on on Uli, but knowing her weakness chose to leave it behind favoring knowledge over power. I know, which is like, oh my God. Her ally, Savannah, and Sophie. A lot wrong there. Yeah, listen, again, this is why we do these things.
Starting point is 01:08:38 All right. Well, I also had Sage making the jury. We are splitting hairs over the course of this, Leanna. So I said, true to her emotionally driven superpower, Sage immediately starts trying to connect with her Oolty tribe members on a deep level. While Shannon is incredibly on her way blank, her behavior begins to unnerve the others who maybe don't want to tell basically a complete stranger about the last time they cry. Unfortunately, the answer Sage can give to that question is the Shannon Boot.
Starting point is 01:09:06 Despite knowing the votes were coming her way, she refuses to do what she believes is compromising their relationship. She does not trade in her morality, but perhaps she does her standing in the tribe. Banking on her military experience, Sage will go into recon mode, covering herself in dirt and hiding in a bush, try to overhear a conversation between Nate and Joanne. The effort is about as inconspicuous as Sage herself. The hits keep on coming for Sage as she's shocked to find Reso and Savannah turn their backs on the rest of the Oolie and taking out Nate and Joanne. Her back against the wall, yet again,
Starting point is 01:09:40 she pleads to the others to not trust the gruesome-to-sum and even attempts to make a fake idol to stave them away. But the MERS tribe decides the Survivor 49 Spice Cabinet could use a little less sage in it. her ally was Shannon and her enemy was Rizzo and Savannah if only she had more time Mike
Starting point is 01:10:00 I'm gonna give this one to you because I think that I was way off with the Shannon stuff really anchoring her entire pre-merge on her love for Shannon was already missing the mark yeah yeah I think I think both of us had a few elements
Starting point is 01:10:14 they were correct I think the tipping off about Rizzo and Savannah was there for you but I think I think both of us kind of had this idea of like yeah she's gonna be this quirky weirdo, but that we didn't really know how that would manifest with other players. I think both of us were kind of off on that, but I will happily accept the point to make this at least maybe somewhat of a fair
Starting point is 01:10:30 fight. There we go. Well, you never know. Again, Sophie B can come behind to win anything. Anything is possible. Let's talk about the woman herself, Sophie Blerity. So I had Sophie B in the final three.
Starting point is 01:10:45 So I love that knowing nod Leata. Keep on splitting those hairs folks. Sophie, I said, They say there's plenty of fish in the sea. And Sophie B immediately finds her whale when Jake lands on Kella Beach. She jumps into her remorse strategy as the two lock in, making a final two on day one.
Starting point is 01:11:05 Jake brings Alex in to form a tight trio, but Sophie doesn't have nearly as warm a welcome for the DC resident. In fact, when she sees him take off out of camp one day, she decides to start tailing him, and sneaky Sophie's nosiness pays off as she finds the beware advantage right from under Alex's nose. While the Kella Cool Kids, parentheses, please don't spell that out again, enjoy a comfortable strategically yet uncomfortable challenge-wise pre-merge.
Starting point is 01:11:32 They get hit hard at the merge when Jake is taken out immediately. Desperate for a new number one, Sophie finds a new big fish in Savannah. The two are finally able to connect after eyeing each other preseason as the short queens lock in with Rizzo. At a certain point, the rest of the competition will be eyeing this trio, not only as looming threats, but untrustworthy ones at that. When Alex spills the info about her idol, it puts her firmly in everyone's crosshairs. Showing a fiery side we hadn't seen prior, Sophie becomes the next to commit tribe-on-tribe violence. She successfully plays her idol and has her alliance bounce the votes onto Alex, making her the last Kela standing.
Starting point is 01:12:13 This proves to be the only obstacle for Sophie and her allies, as they roll over. the rest of the competition to get her all the way to the final three. She uses her stump time to stump for herself, stump time to the jury, opening up about her history of the show with her late grandmother and how that no chance is wasted mindset carried into her strategy. Choosing between to Sophie B or not to Sophie B. They unfortunately choose the latter, being more impressed overall with the games of Stephen and Savannah. Despite finishing the season in third and her dream,
Starting point is 01:12:47 of own him on McDonald's, at least temporarily paused, she does get a consolation prize, owning a plurality stake at a checkers in Miami Beach. Her ally was Jake, then Savannah, and her enemy was the McDonald's Corporation. Oh, no. Big Mickey D out to get her. Those arches, angel golden.
Starting point is 01:13:10 That's true. Not to undercut myself, but I think you've got this. albeit I did have the exact same placements for Sophie. Not only did I have her in the finale, the final three, but also the third place loser. But I think you had a lot more of those details there, but I'll give you mine
Starting point is 01:13:27 anyway. Sophie forms early bonds with Jake and then brings Alex into the siblings alliance, happily letting Jake take the heat while she stays insulated come merge. As the game progresses, Sophie adapts without ever committing, floating between alliances
Starting point is 01:13:43 and always landing on the right side of the vote. Her elite people-pleasing game keeps her protected, but by the finale, her greatest skill, avoiding responsibility for the vote-outs,
Starting point is 01:13:53 becomes her fatal flaw, as the jury realizes she survived by never needing to make or own a decision. In the final tribal, Sophie is perceived as the perfect seed filler, likable, harmless,
Starting point is 01:14:05 and completely drawing dead. Her ally was Jake and her enemy was the jury. Oh, I mean, that enemy applied to a certain extent. Yeah, there were elements that were there, but I think overall you were probably closer. All right. I will take that there.
Starting point is 01:14:22 But listen, there's a little chance to finish three and two here because let's go. Leona Boris, you and I have hinted about this for too long, much like Savannah being on 50 herself. The info finally out there for public consumption, both you and I picked Savannah Louis to win Survivor 49. I want to hear from you first because this is something that, this is a stake that I claimed. much like Sophie's, I suppose, in that future checkers property from the preseason. But what about her that made you decide to lock in with her as well? I knew who she replaced. That was the biggest.
Starting point is 01:14:56 So I had known what the original cast list was for 50. And then I knew who got pulled. It happened to be another female winner from the new era. So for me, I just put two and two together between, it was like, well, Rizzo wins or Savannah wins. Or both of them just make a big splash. but but yeah I think so that was that was the biggest thing that tip me off what about you?
Starting point is 01:15:19 I'm honestly it was vibes like and I will say as well you know I'm more often we'll go over this and a little bit wrong than I am right when I personally like to go for a winner pick I tend to kind of get my hands around
Starting point is 01:15:36 a person who's in like a very specific type of field I pick Savannah this season former reporter I picked Sam Phelan for 47. Sideline reporter, NFLB reporter. I picked Kevin for Survivor 46.
Starting point is 01:15:49 Actor. I picked Kelly Nalbandian for season 45. Nurse practitioner. I picked Jam Jam for season 44. Salon owner. I like to pick these roles that have people, essentially having a day-to-day that is formulated around a certain number of ideals, interpersonal relationships,
Starting point is 01:16:08 being able to make bonds intensely quickly with people to have them trust you in some way, shape, or form. Being incredibly open and efficient with communication. I think those are just generally very good skills to have in a survivor player that will do at least pretty well every single time. And so maybe that's a little biased as well as a fellow journalist, but that was something that I really got from Savannah, that she wasn't incredibly, if maybe blunt, but efficient communicator.
Starting point is 01:16:35 And I feel like those interviewing skills especially are just so handy to have. Like I cannot talk enough about the number of conversations I have had with people I do not know from a hole in the wall by being able to find small things to connect with them over and just digging in with them further and allowing them to open up and bridge that relationship super easily, super early on. It's it's so tantamount to games like this. So I had glommed onto that and I think on top of that watching Uli do at least pretty well early on in that first episode. And I'm like, okay, I think Savannah is going to make it at least, at least make it to the merge. There's a chance she gets looked at as a big target. But if she's able to make it to the end game, I think it's hers to lose.
Starting point is 01:17:18 Yeah. Well, and I think it's actually so funny that it's like, oh, but she didn't remember the name, like to go back to Christina's question, but it's not all about that, right? It's about being able to like create that bond and quickly connect with somebody about what's important to them. So for Alex, like what's important to him?
Starting point is 01:17:32 His work's important to him. So she can connect over that, right? It's not all about like the family person. say. So that's really interesting that you kind of tapped into that. And I think that that is always a good way to pick a winner is somebody who's just always around people, always talking to people, having to quickly create bonds with people. Like, that's the skills that you're really looking for. All right. So, Leona, how did you think Savannah's skills were going to measure up? What is your winner story for Savannah in 49? What is your French vanilla fantasy? Okay. So here's
Starting point is 01:18:02 what I wrote. I said that Savannah easily creates bonds on early Uli, never really in danger in the pre-merge. Come merge, she leverages those relationships and others to create the S-axis with Sage and Sophie using Jake as the loud frontman while quietly managing relationships and vote timing behind the scenes. Even after Rizzo's idol play blows up the alliance and sends Sage to jury, Savannah adapts without panic, re-centering herself and positioning Rizzo as the final big boss. When Savannah wins the final immunity challenge, she throws herself into firemaking. Again, the man, the myth, the legend, R-I-Z-G-O-D, Rizgod baby, winning and ultimately
Starting point is 01:18:45 securing her spot two times in the final tribal council. She enters final tribal as the decided victor, taking home all but one boat. Oh, wow. Her ally was the S-axis and her enemy was the cast of season 50 when they hear about what she did. Oh, good point. Good point. First off, I just had to stop down and say cum merge. I know, right? Oh, boy. Listen, I've, I had a nickel for every party I've gone to that ended with a cum merge. But the other side of it is, yeah, interesting that she would pull the under, but I want to stop down for a second and talk about maybe one of the bigger commonalities between a lot of the exit press that's happened.
Starting point is 01:19:25 in this particular final five, which is the who wins in the end if Savannah's taken out. Sophie had said that she was nearly going to Underwood herself and sent herself in against Savannah to take her down. And she claims that if it was her, Rizzo and Sage, she would have won.
Starting point is 01:19:41 Rizzo said if he defeated Savannah in fire, he would have won. Christina says that if she made it to the end, she would have won. Obviously, it's very difficult because we were not out there on the island. But what is your best guess as to who might be the most correct about their opinion here
Starting point is 01:19:57 in a Savannah-Less final three? Yeah, I think it's tough because, again, what we heard, like, we saw how well Sophie did in the final tribal and we see her get a couple votes. I think she was already sort of recovering from the knowledge is power, you know, debacle, I guess, of it all. But I think if she had won the final immunity
Starting point is 01:20:17 thrown herself in fire, I do think there could have been enough momentum there. I think for Rizzo, if he had been the one to defeat Savannah and firemaking, I don't know. I just think that there maybe wasn't enough behind him just given the fact that how much the jury kind of rolled their eyes at him with the whole idol situation.
Starting point is 01:20:32 Like it's really tough to understand whether or not the jury respected Rizzo at all because I feel like Sophie B could have potentially garnered more respect. Yeah, it's interesting. I'm still trying to figure out if that Rizzo jury perception that was alluded to last week was true. Because Rizzo, again, likes to talk about the fact
Starting point is 01:20:50 that he had intentionality behind these things. And I would not put it past him to be able to very effectively describe his reasoning behind all the big things that flashy things that he was doing. But it's also a little bit in the sage boat of like, okay, you could do that, but would that actually sway the jury's opinion of you?
Starting point is 01:21:08 And, you know, Stephen certainly indicated the way that he felt the jury was feeling about Rizzo. Sophie has said that she has asked the jury proper and that if even Rizzo beats Savannah in firemaking, that she would still win. Yeah. So I still think that Sophie, it could honestly be the,
Starting point is 01:21:24 opposite of what this final three is, where Sophie would still win, but Rizzo could put forward enough of a performance to get like Savannah's vote obviously and then like maybe one or two other people to vote for him. Yeah. I think they would probably just swap, right? Um, so I think, and I, because I think like the underdog story for Sophie B is probably more powerful. Um, and I think that she probably would have won. And I think there's also the idea that like, it's almost the opposite of the Cassidy Jesse thing where it's like, yes Sophie didn't actually go
Starting point is 01:21:57 into fire making to take down Savannah. But again, I think it is a big move for her to say I was rolling with these people the entire time, but I put them into fire. Because I knew Savannah wouldn't do well. I sealed her faith. And so maybe then the firemaking wind that Rizzo would be able
Starting point is 01:22:13 to say could be obfuscated a bit by that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that there's also a way like you said, like you, it's all about the perception, right? How do you argue around that? But also, again, I just, I don't know, I just feel like that jury would never would have given a result of money.
Starting point is 01:22:32 All right. Well, let me get into my thoughts about the person who did get the jury's money in Savannah, who yes, was my winner pick. I said, let me give you the scoop on how Savannah Louis made the front page of the Survivor 49 Chronicle, taking home a resounding victory. You could take the girl out of the night. newsroom, but Savannah's more than happy to bring her journalistic skills to the beach.
Starting point is 01:22:56 Her interviewing acumen and general interest in people allows her to connect easily with the rest of Ouli, perhaps, putting her at the hub of the tribe early on. However, the person she ends up connecting the most with is Rizzo. The two bond over their love of more nefarious, chaotic gameplay, being creatively strategic, as well as their respective yet burgeoning sense of confidence in themselves. Savannah's pre-merged storyline will primarily revolve around her growing annoyance with Nate and Joanne. Her preseason perceptions about the fedora wearer, combined with suspicions that he was withholding information about a journey, put a hat on a hat as she maligned's not having much of a chance to go after them due to Uli's challenged success. When the game goes individual, Savannah chooses to take that literally.
Starting point is 01:23:40 Despite Uli having a whopping five out of 11 people when the jury starts, she takes advantage of a split tribal council to turn over. over an Uli, new leaf, parentheses, is that anything? I guess it's like a slant rhyme. Emphasis on slant. She and Rizzo turn an easy majority onto Jawan, then finish the job by taking out Nate and Sage. Luckily, Savannah is able to switch out red for blue
Starting point is 01:24:05 in her ally ensemble. She and Sophie B get the chance to finally meet up after talking about each other in the preseason. They immediately click and she's able to bring her over to her side. What's more, when the spotlight is brightest on them, a correct idle play, and one in Rizzo's pocket as a precaution, along with Ahina implosion, swings the game in her favor. As the days grow longer, Savannah's fuse gets shorter.
Starting point is 01:24:28 Despite doing her best to maintain a professional attitude, her negativity begins to wear on her face, as she becomes increasingly frustrated with people like MC and Stephen interfering with her plans. This is most palpable on day 25. Having lost the final immunity challenge by seconds, she has a hashtag survivor breakdown. knowing there's a chance she could fall just short after all the work she put in. Luckily, when she is predictably put into fire, it's up against her partner in crime, someone whose confidence falls apart like a stick TP at the final four. Facing the jury on day 26, Savannah is partially criticized for talking up her game,
Starting point is 01:25:06 as well as what some feel was an unnecessary betrayal of her old tribe. However, her dominant gameplay, coupled with some key relationships on the jury, truly make this the year of Savannah as she's handily given the win. Savannah will continue to expand her bank account after the million dollar surplus by making a killing on cameo as people request she gives them
Starting point is 01:25:27 a confessional style roasting. Savamios will be the hot ticket item in Q1 of 2026. Her ally was Rizzo and her enemy was Nate, Joanne, and Sage. Oh my God. Okay, so two things there. one, I can absolutely see Savannah being like,
Starting point is 01:25:47 I will PayPal you $10,000 if you bring me to the final tribal. And second of all, when you're doing the newspaper jokes, I was absolutely expecting a black, white, and red all over because they're the red tribe kind of joke. So I'm a little disappointed in you, Mike. But I will say, I do think not, again, shoot myself in the foot, but I think that there were just more people there. Would it be Survivor 49 if someone wasn't shooting themselves in the foot?
Starting point is 01:26:10 I know, right? it's a cloud we're just wrapping up the season the way the season was was done so i i do think that you had more details there that that accurately represented savannah's game so since it was just the two of us leanna i thought it'd be fun to do a little bit of nail gazing navel gazing nail gazing actually you know what maybe that's the better term we're just like this looks nice uh well as i've talked about a number of times believe it or not leana this is the 15th season we've done of the bnb we started In a moment that Jeff Probst mentioned for some reason about Chrissy Hoffbeck, you know, having Ben win Final Four Firemaking,
Starting point is 01:26:50 you have to imagine that people like Chrissy and Rick Devons were pretty far in 50 casting at this point, right? If not outright confirmed, because like, it's like just a reminder of who these people are. Yes. Oh, a hundred percent. I think absolutely. Like, that was not random. That was done on purpose. Well, ever since we started the B&B, Liana, you and I have tried to put ourselves out there in the best way we know how, which is writing up these ridiculous preseason predictions. I thought it could be fun because we did hit the mark both of us on this season to go through just the gallery of various portraits of winners in B&B seasons past. Because I don't know.
Starting point is 01:27:35 Did you be the, were you the type of person that would make preseason predictions probably than kind of being forced? two through this podcast. I mean, you know, you kind of have a general sense of how you think people are going to perform and like, you know, you play some rainy games and whatnot. But no, I think I hadn't, I'd never done it this formally. I used to reindeer games for a second. Rangier games, I'll just let. When's the Survivor?
Starting point is 01:27:56 Rainier games coming. I need it. People were asking about that two years ago. What? Yeah, people were like, where's the Survivor version? Imagine like Colby and Ozzie and Jonathan and I'm like, just wait for Survivor 50. Yeah, exactly. just to wait until you guys have coming.
Starting point is 01:28:11 Yeah, so no, so this was the first time having, especially having to, I think, like, write out the whole story also of the season. Like, that's always been a very fun exercise to sort of, you know, try to put the pieces together and then to see how it differs sometimes significantly when it actually plays out. All right. So forgive us for being a little self-serving here. You know, it's like an hour, 20 minutes for you, maybe like five minutes for us.
Starting point is 01:28:36 But I thought it would be fun to go over the past 15 seasons of winner picks, Leanna, and see, were we on the mark, were we off the mark? Were we, like, close to the mark? So let's start with the aforementioned Triple H. Remind me, I am pretty sure that I had Ben and you had Chrissy. No? Yeah, I'm trying to pull them up now. I had Chrissy Hoffback as my winner pick, which it's so funny now,
Starting point is 01:28:59 knowing she's on 50. I'm like, come on, make my winner pick at you. I was going to say, you could make it again. You could double down right now. you could spread out your option to pick anyone but Cressy. I know, exactly. Yeah, well, statistically, I've got a better chance if I pick literally, can I just pick, like, the other 23 players?
Starting point is 01:29:16 I don't know what we can do Cressy versus the field. Yeah, well, this next one, if I'm remembering correctly, so you and I were pretty dangling remarkable to start, right? We got number one and number two. And then we have, I would imagine the worst miss that we have throughout 15 seasons is that you and I are very rarely on the same page. Savannah is like really the only exception besides if I recall correctly
Starting point is 01:29:39 Morgan Ricky the third boot from Survivor Ghost Island No that was your That was your pick Morgan Ricky No mine's way worse I picked Hot Cobb Dan No that's David versus Goliath Oh wait what season we're talking about
Starting point is 01:29:56 Ghost Island oh yeah no I think we yeah we definitely had the same pick on that one oh yeah that was horrible Yeah for those that may not remember that was the dolphin trainer, I think, who get not swap screwed, but like we had, like James Lim is able to flip the Naviti majority onto each other and her and Dom and Wendler
Starting point is 01:30:16 left out of the vote. Yeah, third boot. Yeah. All right. Well, you move on to Dave versus Goliath. You picked a Goliath in Hot Cop Dan. What a mistake. I think that's worse. I'd rather pick Morgan over and over again. My mistake, perhaps from a character perspective
Starting point is 01:30:33 and a longevity perspective was a little better and of course from a friend perspective was even better I depict Gabby Pascuzi Oh wait that's so cute
Starting point is 01:30:42 I love that Yeah because I think it was like when she described the way technical writing worked I think it was very much like okay this is again going back to my well of like this is interpersonal
Starting point is 01:30:52 she's able to I think she said on the episodes right like she's able to speak nerd language to them and yeah a lot of nerds on David versus Goli and listen certainly did not expect
Starting point is 01:31:02 her to go out the way that she did. So we're working our way a little bit from the Morgan Ricky Nadir. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. Survivor, Edge of Extinction.
Starting point is 01:31:13 I had one Gavitt who in some people's perspectives thought should have won Survivor Ghost Island. I'm sorry, Edge of Extinction. Yeah, yeah. Okay, who did I? I had Julia.
Starting point is 01:31:27 Yes, was that the medical science connection? Yes, that's right. Yes. Yeah, and she sat next to Wargoat. Well, that's a good call. I should look up who the rest of the final three were as well. That's so funny. Well, what about everyone's season that we look fondly upon?
Starting point is 01:31:50 Island of the Idles. Who was your pick to win 39? Oh, my God. I have to find who is my winner? Jamal maybe Hold on So I know my was Jamal I feel like you may have somebody else
Starting point is 01:32:10 Lauren Beck Elizabeth Elizabeth Basil I don't have my winner noted So I'm having actually I just have the finale So I had Jamal Elizabeth Elaine Lauren Beck And Kelly Kim in the finale
Starting point is 01:32:24 Might have been Lauren back I remember Yeah, maybe. I don't know. I don't want to read this. The point is, the point is that this was also way off. So I had a final three in Edge of Extinction. I'm reading it now of Gavin, Kelly, and Aurora. Remember Aurora? Yeah, remember Aurora? It's just so funny sometimes to look back on these seasons. And like I somehow picture it so clearly. And then also I'm like, wait, who is that again? because my winner was Jack. Oh, your winner was Jack? You weren't even...
Starting point is 01:33:03 So he was the other member of the finale that he'd even talk about on his own little section. So, yeah. So, yeah, we all remember Jack, right? Wasn't he like... Did he merge? Yes, he was before the merge.
Starting point is 01:33:19 He probably is more remembered for his relationship with Elizabeth after the season. Yeah, exactly. My final three for Island of the Idols was Jamal Elizabeth and Missy I had Missy being like the
Starting point is 01:33:32 like the Zero Bo finalist like she made a bunch of big moves but everyone was mad at her yeah okay I could see that all right winners at war now this is something that you and I were very upfront about because maybe in a podcast that neither you or I want anyone to remember
Starting point is 01:33:49 we did a draft in that preseason when the cast was announced and I think we sort of made our pseudo winner picks there can't move them wrong unless you changed your mind So I had picked Tyson, Apostle. I picked Denise. And listen, you made it further than I did for what it's worth. Yeah, I guess that's a win for me.
Starting point is 01:34:10 But yeah, I, yeah, winner is it? I wrote it as M-Fing War. That's what I titled the folder of my house. You were pumped. I was so pumped. And I also, this was the season that was so off on the fire tokens. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I forgot about it.
Starting point is 01:34:26 It ended up with like 40. I have some people, Wendell managed to get 303. Oh my God. Sandra had almost 5,000 fire tokens. Wow. I just didn't understand the scale of the fire tokens. Leanna, you were like predicting crypto
Starting point is 01:34:43 with just how useless like a inflationary currency can be. Just you guys wait. The island of the idols coin is going to go hard. All right. Survivor 41. We have officially entered the new. era and with it a new era of prediction so yeah I mean again
Starting point is 01:35:00 we really hit the ground running with Chrissy and with Chrissy and Ben I like get there somewhat again with Gavin but otherwise maybe a little bit off the pulse but does our tune change with the new era so my pick
Starting point is 01:35:17 was Ricard I felt like again going back to like the okay you know job day to day is all about interacting with people building quick relationship. And so I had him sitting next to, I believe it was two of the first three boots of the season
Starting point is 01:35:35 in Sarah and David Voce. Yeah, okay. I had Chantelle. I was like, or, yeah, Shan, I had Shan because I was like super enamored with her. I remember listening to her interview and being like, oh, she's so charismatic.
Starting point is 01:35:52 I was just immediately taken with her. Maybe you should have picked my own namesake, but here we are. I mean, listen, you were right to do so, considering, like, she was for a good portion of the season. I know. I had my hopes up there for a bit. All right.
Starting point is 01:36:07 Moving on to Survivor 42. Leanna, you are sighing and disgust at the moment. I had Omer. Oh. Nobody tell him. It's embarrassing. I don't want him to know that I rated him so high. Oh, okay.
Starting point is 01:36:24 You don't want him to look favorably upon you or vice versa. Yeah. No, I don't want him to think that I look favorably upon him. Yeah, so what would, do you remember the story for him? Let's see, he stays in the nexus of power, finds an idol, but never has to play it. He's our second Canadian winner, go Canada. You were close with the Canadian winner. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:36:52 I picked, no, I should say I picked, but I really copped out. year. I was like, the new era is so wild and chaotic. It's like a brand steel. So let me run a brand steel of Survivor 42. Now, it did pick Lindsay for the winner, which I wasn't completely mad at. But it was much more off the mark with things like having both Omer and Marianne pre-jury. It did predict that Mike Turner would finish as a runner up. But I believe the third person in that final three was Mariah. Okay. Yeah, I also had Mike Turner as a runner up. I had Marianne actually going out in fire. Wow, it's well considering how much of like, a surprise
Starting point is 01:37:30 loss in the moment, Mike's was that we both kind of peg that he would somehow come up short. Yeah, I know. Well, I think something about maybe owning his game. No one respects his strategic game feels he was outplayed by Omer, but he's a very magnetic
Starting point is 01:37:46 personality, so. True and true. All right. Survivor 43, I believe this is another one where you and I were both on the same page. If I'm wrong, we both pick Jesse on this one. Yes. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. Yep. I just, and also I wrote not a prediction.
Starting point is 01:38:04 He, uh, just a reminder, he watched Survivor New Zealand. So I had him very highly rated for that fact. Cards up for that guy. Uh, so I also believe that I had, I think the final three was Jesse. I think Ellie was in the, the runner up position because it was honestly what we talked about with Sage, uh, you know, somebody before with the therapist social worker perspective where it's like she made these close bonds with everyone, but then cut their throats. Then I had Lindsay, Lindsay Carmine, as the, as the second runner-up in the classic mom position of like, oh, my God, I can't believe she voted me out. Don't get my vote.
Starting point is 01:38:40 Yeah, okay. I am a funny note. I had Carla getting the knowledge's power and manages to break the curse by stealing an extra vote from Dwight. Do you think knowledge's power will show up in 50 and will the curse be reversed? Oh my god I don't know That's a deep-seated curse It's certainly how it feels
Starting point is 01:39:00 So I don't know Good luck on that one If anybody ends up getting it But now it's going to be rebranded To the I don't know Insert celebrity name here Knowledge is Power Yeah exactly
Starting point is 01:39:13 All right Let's move on to 44 Shall we Survivor 44 And now finally After giving for so long I finally get to receive in the form of yet another correct winner pick as I did pick Jam Jam for the winner. And I had Carolyn also making the final three alongside Franny.
Starting point is 01:39:38 I think my, this story was that like Franny was able to make a lot of big moves. She was arguably the bigger strategic threat out of that final three. But people were just so burned by her. some of you heard that before. We're like, she was so goofy and enthusiastic and people were like, this is a different side of you. I don't know who you are. That Jam Jam,
Starting point is 01:40:03 again, it's much more openly authentic and himself, his social play wins the day. Yeah, I had Carolyn as the winner for basically same reasons that she was just so authentically herself that the jury wanted to reward that. All right, Survivor 45. Who you got, Leanna? D.
Starting point is 01:40:21 D. Oh, you got D. Nice. D. yes so yeah I mean I'm just sitting next to her under that one forever yes yeah so who is sitting next to her in the final three um Jake
Starting point is 01:40:37 and Julie ooh and I actually had I had Emily losing in fire which is interesting that's interesting hopefully not foreshadowing for season I know I had Kelly now Bandine as I mentioned winning I did have Jake in the final three
Starting point is 01:40:56 and I had Julie as well. I think I really watch just stereotype like, older woman makes final three and loses, even though we have like barely gotten that in the new era at all. Yeah, that is funny how both of us, like we had the exact same final three. I don't know what it was that we were reading about
Starting point is 01:41:12 those two that we were like, no, no, no. You're going to make it really far, but you're going to lose. All right. Well, did that rub off on the chaos that was Survivor 46? So I mentioned it before. I had Tevin as my first place Fisher. Mike, you have to stop doing
Starting point is 01:41:28 this. I put Maria in second place and I put Ben as our zero vote finalist, but she didn't end up happening. That's interesting. I had so I had Maria also in my final three. My winner
Starting point is 01:41:43 was Tiffany and Kevin was actually much. Now here's the thing. Are you going to hope that Chrissy wins or Tiffany wins considering that they can make up for this now. I'm just going to, I'm just going to, I'm just going to say both because I'm going to double my odds. Interesting. Yeah. So if either one of them win season 50, then I count that as a win previous when I made that prediction, whether it be 35 or 46. So we're just going to go ahead
Starting point is 01:42:12 and retrospectively claim that. All right, Survivor 47. I remember this one just because it was only last year. I didn't even need to open up my notes. Sam Phelan, as I said, one. And I remember specifically it was a Sue Teeny Sam final three.
Starting point is 01:42:29 I said that because things were so up in the air, one person from each original tribe sat at the finals and Sam ends up picking it all. Okay. I had Tiana as my winner with Onica and Gabe as the two losing finalists.
Starting point is 01:42:44 Oh, interesting. I don't know how that happened. Teeny went out in fire. I'll take that one. Oh, look at that. Do you hang your hat on that? Previous guest, Teeny. All right.
Starting point is 01:42:55 Survivor 48. Leanna, who did you pick as the most recent winner before this season? I had Joe. Oh, you got so close. Let's go. Joe wins. I count it. I had Joe sitting next to Eva and David, actually.
Starting point is 01:43:15 Mr. Giga-Chad himself. Yes. How can we forget about Gagachad? I do feel like, low-key, maybe if we see like a returning player season in the future, I would not be surprised considering how much we have sort of like expended the 48 well so quickly if David shows up there, just considering how unique of a character he was. Remember when he stood up when Mary was booted? Yeah. Oh, my gosh.
Starting point is 01:43:36 You know, I need to rewatch 48. I need to see how that holds up on a rewatch. I think there's also so there's like moments I see so crystal clearly and I'm sure there's a ton of bits that I like have completely forgotten. So I don't want to like pigeonhole that season into just those few moments that I remember. No, but it's also a good point because I think that's another one on the week to week that had a postmerce that people were like, what are we doing? Why is no one going for Joe and Eva? And I wonder if when we're watching in retrospect and especially hearing more of Kyle and Camilla's perspective as to why they didn't, it gives you a bit more appreciation rather than having to stop down every six days with your hands just permanently in the air.
Starting point is 01:44:13 Yeah, exactly. And just be frustrated for six days of the week. I had Shaheen as the winner but he was in a final three I believe with Kyle and Eva I want to say maybe it was Chrissy and Eva so again pretty much circling the drain around that and then we get Survivor 49 and then in due time Leanna we will get your winner prediction I'm sure
Starting point is 01:44:35 for Survivor 50 which is wild I mean you could go with the ultimate cop out and say any of the other three people that I previously picked but I want you to innovate here I know well now I'm thinking I think I'm just going to diversify so I'm not going to repick someone I've already picked because obviously I'm covered on those fronts so I already have three people so we know it's not going to be Chrissy we know it's not going to be D we know it's not going to be Joe so it's got to be someone outside of that
Starting point is 01:45:03 I don't know I got to think long and hard about it I you know obviously we did the draft like way back when before they they already played which I'm sure it'll be released to the general public soon so I'll have to go back and look at my draft board from that and potentially use that to influence what what I think is going to happen. I'll do one more looking at our predictions here and I'll go more recent.
Starting point is 01:45:25 Before the season, you and I went through some superlatives as we always do. I'll go quickly through this because I know we're already running a little long on time. Most likely to get a personal segment. You said Matt and I said Jake. I think Jake makes sense even from the very limited time that he
Starting point is 01:45:41 had on screen. He was pretty much all personal segment shoe stealing and snake bites. most likely to get a purple I said MC and you said yellow Sophie oh okay I'll take that yeah I think you should definitely take that and you also talk about the whole Sophie versus Sophie of it all yeah yeah I knew it was gonna be a problem most likely to flip on their number one you said Shannon and I said Savannah it's weird because I feel like of a season that was so topsy-turvy with people
Starting point is 01:46:10 flipping those were two of the people that were surprisingly the most like steadfast and loyal yeah I mean I would say like Savannah throwing sage under the bus significantly kind of counts who would quantify for this category the most sage Jawan yeah probably Sage and Jawan
Starting point is 01:46:28 Christina maybe for voting out Steven yeah you could say that was justified I feel like to a certain extent well most likely to start a podcast or merch line I said Shannon you said Annie or Jawan slash Nate doing a
Starting point is 01:46:43 MCU podcast together still waiting still waiting for that, boys. We haven't really seen anything yet, right? I guess everyone's just gone so full cameo. I guess this is to be determined over the course of the next year or so. Most likely to get
Starting point is 01:46:58 screwed over. You said MC, I said Matt. This is interesting. I think both. Yeah, I think both of those would count. MC, I think, got screwed over by production in multiple ways. The split tribal council and Savannah's presence, again,
Starting point is 01:47:14 kind of spooking people into going with her. Matt, obviously you had the tribe swap, which pretty much made him like a dead man walking where it was going to be him or Jason going no matter what. I also put Alex in there. And like, Alex I would say most got screwed over by the other players in that Rizzo did that whole
Starting point is 01:47:30 smear campaign against him. You know, they kept saying that he was sloppy. Still haven't seen it. Still haven't seen it. Yeah. Yep. Most likely to be obsessed with milk. Really odd barometer to be determined for this one, but I said Jake and you said Stephen or Sage.
Starting point is 01:47:46 I was like, what question is that? Oh, right, Mr. Giga-Chad himself. Yeah, now the NDA is lifted. If any 49 players are listening, please let me know your cursory observations as to who was the most lactose-obsessed. Exactly. Who drank the most milk?
Starting point is 01:48:04 Please, we need to know. Most likely to write a rap about the competition. You said Alex, and I said Annie or Nicole. Remember Nicole? I remember Nicole. Nicole's more likely to spit water than spit a bar Oh well I was going to say the boys on a bench That's like it had to have been one of the boys on a bench
Starting point is 01:48:24 I'm so upset I didn't say Stephen they did boys on a bench I know because it was what joan rizzo and stephen that were the boys on a bench Yeah I also will say some pretty fun callbacks to I think that maybe some moments we had reservations about throughout the season I did like the three girls on the beach callback on day 26 and I when I tell you, this was literal cinema. Joanne's confessional going into Final Tribal Counsel where he talks about Act 3 of the horror movie.
Starting point is 01:48:53 Who will be the final girl? Come on! That was so good! And that was an incredible way to have this be the last confessional of the season compared to him being the first confessional of this season. Yeah. Yeah, it's almost like they did that on purpose, Mike.
Starting point is 01:49:08 Do you think they got Joanne dressed up in his red overalls? And be like, all right, can you give this confessional on day one? Yeah, I'm sure. No, I mean, I'm, I think like, if you're editing the season, you're going through the footage, you find that clip. You're like, note that. Note that. Note that. It's a little reminiscent of the Carolyn bookend, right, with her starting off season 44 by talking to the producer and then her doing it on day 26. But like, yeah, this was incredible. This was awesome. You could not script this better. Yeah, yeah. I loved it. And then finally, most likely to appear on the survivor influencer experience, I think we talked about like,
Starting point is 01:49:44 Who has the best influencer pipeline? I said, Stephen, I was trying to remember who you said. I had a tough time. I think you said Nate Moore, just sort of like going for that, that Occam's Razor. Yeah, that makes sense.
Starting point is 01:49:59 And you also said like Annie, Rizzo, Nicole, and Jake could also be in like the influencer pipeline. I feel like Rizzo honestly could, especially if he's appearing back to back on 50, it makes like a pretty decent run there. Yeah. I think as long as, he can get the audience for it. He's just got to find
Starting point is 01:50:16 his niche. I mean, I think mark my words here, folks. The Rizcast is coming to your podcast and YouTube feeds in fall of 2026. I think that Rob has fortunately inspired a lot of people to be able to find the resources and the talent to
Starting point is 01:50:31 do their own thing. We see Rome has been doing a podcast. Gabe's been doing a podcast. I think Rizzo is very much in that vein. I think even if he feels fatigued from doing these two seasons back to back, he loves the show. He's obsessed with the show. He's going to want to talk about the show.
Starting point is 01:50:46 And I think he could find the audience for that. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I mean, look, put your heart and soul into it, Rizzo. Put your whole R-I-Z, G-O-D-R-G-God baby energy behind it and you'll be successful. Go for it. All right. Well, you and I gave a lot of our thoughts on our preseason opinions, our post-season opinions.
Starting point is 01:51:08 But, Leona, there's one group we haven't checked in yet. One essential group to the lifeblood. that is Survivor. Let's go for the last time this season and the last time in 2025 to Casual's Corner. Yeah, I think it's important to check in with Casuals Corner. We've got a little bit of
Starting point is 01:51:26 an abridged version of this, but mainly because I was so curious what they thought about the promos for 50s. So we'll quickly close things out with just an overall view of their thoughts of the finale of 49 before we look to the future of Survivor. So, Mike, I just have a handful of questions for you. This first one is about
Starting point is 01:51:42 the 49 finale. So the format of this is I'm going to read two questions two quotes you to tell me which one has more likes okay we're trying to gauge the temp of how they were feeling about the finale so your first casuals corner quote is she deserved the win I really disliked her and Rizzo in the beginning but they played a good game in the end that was comment number one I'm obviously referring to Savannah correct comment number two why TF would they put Rizzo and Savannah on season 50 I've never missed a season until now. She is so arrogant. It is unreal.
Starting point is 01:52:17 So I think it's got more likes. I think I think the second one is because what I found is a surprise, maybe not a surprising opinion, but Savannah is, it's tough to call her the most polarizing winner in recent memory because I think there was so much obviously around the Gabler win
Starting point is 01:52:33 as you mentioned before. But I feel like from a personality perspective, she qualifies more so for that. I think I have found so many people be like, she deserved it, but I did not like her. She was a mean girl. Did I imagine the second opinion prevails here?
Starting point is 01:52:49 Yes, you're correct. That one had 93 likes compared to 27 of the other. And actually what you said, I pulled a comment that I feel like so perfectly encapsulates the casual's feelings towards Savannah's win, which is Savannah played great. She's also the most unlikable player we've seen in years. I never wanted someone to lose at firemaking more. Congrats, I guess. That one, I think, really capsulate at least all of the,
Starting point is 01:53:12 comments I've seen really kind of felt like they could recognize her win and her success, but also weren't necessarily happy about it. Which is like a good, you know, complex level of thinking, I would say, especially compared to that fan base that like, okay, I guess I wanted her to win the most out of the final three, but I still didn't like it. I think a lot of people took umbrage with her unhappy with Sophie not accepting her pitch. The whole thing of like, is this the real Sophie? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:53:40 I think there were a few moments where I could see. people turning on Savannah for that. There were some moments where it just, she felt, came across at least a little bit entitled. And I think I can see people sort of negatively responding to that. So that does lead us into the next question, which is about the promo announcing that both Rizzo and Savannah were on 50. So you know that neither,
Starting point is 01:54:03 they're not happy about either Rizzo or Savannah coming back for 50, but which one are they less excited about, I suppose. Oh, it's a good question. here are your two comments comment number one i'm a watch just to see coach put rizzo in his place oh coach yeah comment number two she already won should have been the guy bitten by the snake wow i don't remember jake's name but it was the guy bitten by the snake but they remembered him enough to be like he deserved it more than her should have been that guy god that is really an interesting, would you rather, right?
Starting point is 01:54:45 Like, would you rather have the guy that I'm assuming they were annoyed with because of, like, the youngster whippersnapper attitude versus the one that, as we mentioned before, they felt that she was mean and not very positive and not really someone inspiring a lot of confidence in them, at least. I will say that they are more upset with Rizzo being on than Savannah. That's correct. yes that one had more light say she won she you know tied a record for individual immunities like
Starting point is 01:55:19 if you look at that from a credibility perspective there's more there there yeah there were some other comments i feel like really encapsulates how people feel about rizzo so one was i didn't realize rizzo was 26 i thought he was 18 by the way he talks uh also i don't know but he has enough teeth for three people oh he has such a beautiful smile so i feel really bad about that one but also i I'll get kind of see it, so that's funny. But no, I think they're definitely less, less excited for Rizzo. But I, what's weird is I'm actually more excited for Rizzo than I am for Savannah to come back. I mean, I'm excited for both of them to have to now play in this completely different environment
Starting point is 01:55:56 with completely different people. So I'm just so curious to see how that's going to play out because, you know, to plan a newbie season is one thing to play with players who have played five times is another thing. Well, also on top of that, this is a conversation. that maybe you and I are going to have much more down the line. What's also incredibly interesting is that the only thing people know about Rizzo is the Riz God voice clip that played at the very beginning of the 49 trailer. And that comes with an entire boatload of perception attached to that.
Starting point is 01:56:30 So there's also the baked and stuff of, as you mentioned, how will he play differently or similarly to 49, considering that him and Savannah had about 10 days between seasons. can he really adjust his gameplay that much on top of how is this going to be looked at as both one of the biggest unknown factors as well as oh my god this man actually calls himself the Riz god
Starting point is 01:56:51 I think that's kind of what it is especially with some of these vets being like if people were watching him and perceive him to already be younger than he is and then everybody gets out there and I'm like this little guy I'm sure he was a big character like that might work in Rizzo's favor nobody's going to think of him as a threat
Starting point is 01:57:08 especially if that was already a little bit of his reception on the last season. I think Savannah is certainly more in danger. Yeah, I was just saying, he could also very easily be like, yeah, she won. I didn't win. Oh, yeah. Like, yeah, I lost, I was a fallen angel of final four firemaking, and I was just a big personality,
Starting point is 01:57:24 but she is like, she won all those immunities, and she won ultimate game, and she beat me in firemaking, like, oh my God. I mean, yeah, he doesn't need to stretch the truth when he's like, yeah, you know, I wasn't really good at puzzles at all. I never won a challenge, and I lost miserably in fire. So maybe you want to take me to the end Just that resume could help you down the line
Starting point is 01:57:45 That actually Rizzo finally making the final three That would be I'm kind of interested to see What his final speech would look like I was excited for it What I thought was going to happen in this episode But especially to a group of the future Well especially to a group of returning players
Starting point is 01:58:00 I've said this before once I found out he was cast But I think he kind of fills the like I go back to the Adam Klein on Winners of War Or like the Zeke on Game Changer cut him bold of like young, excitable superfan who's able to be an audience analog to like, oh my God, I'm surrounded
Starting point is 01:58:15 by all these legends. Isn't this wild? And he's not just talking about the celebrities. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Well, that leads us to our last question I have for you, Mike, which is the promo 450. So I did pull some comments from the promo,
Starting point is 01:58:33 complete promo that aired that was posted on the Survivor Facebook page. So this is about well let me just read you the two the two comments okay which one again had more likes you had me until mr beast dot dot dot or where's boston rob sad face emoji which one had more likes well i know which comment leona boris likes but i think it's an easy you know answer here whenever Boston Rob is mentioned on the Facebook page, it will get more likes.
Starting point is 01:59:10 It's true. You know what? I was really surprised because when I look at the Reddit reaction and I look at the Facebook reaction, and this is why I'm always reminded that like when I think Survivor is trying to appeal, like Survivor has to appeal to a super broad range of people. Okay. It's not just me.
Starting point is 01:59:25 So when I see only four people, like very, very few people were complaining about Mr. Bees being there or even the celebrity involvement at all, all the comments were like where's Boston Rob or one was let my man Colby rest Unk knows it's been a while
Starting point is 01:59:44 since season two I guess he hasn't been on since 30 C are they saying like he looks old I don't know a lot of people were like Colby aging like a fine wine Ozzie looks bad it was mostly like those kinds of comments not so much
Starting point is 01:59:57 I really fixed in on the Mr. Bees thing I see don't disagree with either one of those opinions especially in person about a freaking stud of a man and Colby looked damn good in denim. Yeah, yeah, what a snack. So, yeah, they seemingly are just, you know, casuals don't really mind,
Starting point is 02:00:15 whereas all the complaining pretty much I saw on the Survivor Reddit and in my own household was about Mr. Beast, and it was all coming from me complaining about Mr. Beast. I just don't like the man. I'm sorry. I'm a Mr. Beater. We need to drill into this as we look ahead to season 50 as well. Like, I need to get your thoughts on this trailer
Starting point is 02:00:33 because it really was a Jekyllyn Hyde scenario in that I think a lot of people felt that first half super exciting hearing from all these old school voices starting off with a coach poem say magnatee no notes and then Zach Brown shows up with a big ass fish slung over his shoulder and then we get the Billy Ilish boomerang idol and then we get Jimmy Fallon might decide my fate of his game and then we get the man the myth the legend M-R-B-E-A-S-T stating there with a briefcase.
Starting point is 02:01:05 Just give me your running opinions as that two and a half minute segment aired. Okay, so I had pretty much already fallen asleep watching the Survivor finale. Puyah came and woke me up and was like, you have to watch the trailer for it. He was like, he was like, it's coming that they're going to show the trailer for 50. I'm laying in bed. My only reaction
Starting point is 02:01:23 was YTF is Mr. Beast here. And let me tell you, I think I've thought about it a lot. I'm trying to distill down like why I think a lot of us feel so frustrated. I think that when we were voting on things, we were hearing Survivor 50 in the hands of the fans. And then turns out not just us, the little people who were voting, but then there's the big fans, the Tyler Perry's of them all, who are potentially having a greater impact, which I think is a perfect representation of the oligarchy that's currently existing in America. As capitalism is taking over and wealth is being consolidated into just a few people who
Starting point is 02:01:59 have a ton of power and us little people at the bottom feel left out. I think that is such an interesting way to put it. I didn't even think about that because a lot of people were saying like, we didn't vote for this, but in the hands of the fans has a widespread opinion because I don't know. I actually don't know if Zach Brown's a fan, but like these other people have expressed at least some sort of fandom with Survivor. So it's like it's in the hands of all types of fans.
Starting point is 02:02:23 Those fans and especially in the hands of the rich, the rich famous fans, they have more power. than us. We got to vote on what tribe colors? I don't know. Look, I'm trying. The other thing, too, is I'm having a very emotional negative knee-jerk reaction to everything that I'm seeing.
Starting point is 02:02:38 Let's try to put that aside. You don't actually know what it's like. You don't know. Maybe he's just showing up to like show, to just do some cross-promotion. That's the thing. I would not be surprised if each of these people be exact or Mr. I don't know why I'm using their first names. They would show up on the island for only like a scene.
Starting point is 02:02:56 So if anything, it's like, I think you mentioned. it's a great microcosm for what some people feel like is wrong with the direction of the show's going to and the way that Jeff maybe brings in more celebrities than you might think that a show that originally at its conceit was about everyday people living on an island
Starting point is 02:03:12 but while they take up a good majority of airtime on the trailer I would imagine the grand scheme of things they will take up a small portion of things on the island with perhaps the exception of the twists and I know it's it's an objectively weird
Starting point is 02:03:29 thing to hear, but God am I so obsessed with the Billy Irish Boomerang Idol. Billy Irish Boomerang Idol. What an incredible turn of phrase. Shakespeare, for many reasons, could not write
Starting point is 02:03:45 as beautiful a piece of language as the Billy Irish boomerang idol. It has to be the most mad libs piece of survivor literature I have ever heard in my life. It opens up so many questions. Will there be other sponsored advantages?
Starting point is 02:04:03 What is a boomerang idol? Why does Billy I did Billy Ilish get to sign off on this? Did she have her own like advantage menu or did she get her name just sort of like stuck onto it like a brand sponsorship? There's so many things that this could provide in terms of possibilities. And look, we are here on the B&B. We will certainly have our grumbles and grouses. But how have we been given such a delicious morsel to chew on, Leanna? through these cold winter months, then the pure idea of a Billy Elish
Starting point is 02:04:35 boomerang idol, the B-E-B-I. The B-E-B-I. Yeah, I mean, we're not even going to need to do Madlibs. It's done for us. I always picture it a little bit like the Hunger Games,
Starting point is 02:04:49 where it's the people that are sponsoring and sending down little packages. And so, you know, you're going to see Devin's out there in the woods and then all of a sudden a little package is going to like float down because Billy Elish sent him the Boomerang Idol. Like, that's just what I'm envisioning happening. I highly doubt
Starting point is 02:05:05 that that's the case. But look, I mean, we've got a lot of interesting players that are coming back and I'm going to go into it with an open mind to see ultimately what they end up doing for 50. And yeah, and I'm just looking forward to wrapping up the new era.
Starting point is 02:05:21 Yeah, I completely agree. And it remains to be seen what happens with 51 onwards, whether it'll be influenced by 49 or some of the changes. they made to 49, whether it'll be influenced by 50. It sounds like from what Jeff Probe said to me, they're not necessarily thinking about that stuff right now. So really, it is an open book.
Starting point is 02:05:39 And I cannot wait to turn our page to chapter 50. So even when it's just the two of us, you know how we close out these podcasts by highlighting a charity or cause that is important to this podcast at large, I suppose. Leona, does anything cross your mind, anything you want to highlight to the listeners out there? Yeah, I do.
Starting point is 02:05:58 I do have a charity. I want to point out, it's Feeding America, Feedingamerica.org. It's all about ending hunger. I know that, you know, especially with changes that are happening in our federal government, there's a lot of aid that's not being put out as it was previously. So I highly recommend,
Starting point is 02:06:16 especially during the holiday season when things are cold, to donate to your local food bank, or specifically, if you want to check out Feeding America, they're a really great organization as well. All right. Totally co-sign all of that. so feel free check out Feeding America give if you can
Starting point is 02:06:31 give it to your local food bank as well if you have extra supplies left over from all of your holiday feasting but Leanna people will be hopefully feasting on some stuff you've got going on
Starting point is 02:06:43 though I believe the pal is done for 2025 right you just did your final podcast of the year you have anything else coming up in the next couple weeks we did yeah so if you want to check out what
Starting point is 02:06:53 if you want to check out more thoughts about how much I hate Mr. Beast you can listen latest pal episode. That was our final holiday Christmas episode before we take a week off for the holidays and then we'll be back in the new year with episode 50. So we're actually going to kick off off the first in 2026 with PAL episode 50. All right.
Starting point is 02:07:16 And I also know that between now and Survivor 50, you'll have another major reality show sashaying back into the workroom drag race season 18. Are you excited for it? Yeah, I'm excited for a drag race. It's always fun. It's always nice to start the new year with something colorful and sparkly. So I always look forward to a drag race season. Well, if you want to hear me talking to some of these sparkly personalities,
Starting point is 02:07:40 I alluded to a lot of stuff that was said. But my interviews with the final five are up on parade in written and video form. We're actually still on the Amazing Race postseason guide. I had a really fantastic interview with Izzy and Paige. I could not recommend that more. That is one of my favorite podcast that I've done in, quite some time. Talk with Joseph and Adam as well. Another favorite podcast I've done as of late is that I have the distinct pleasure of joining your boothing, Leanna, in Puyah, and Eric Stein
Starting point is 02:08:10 to preview Rob Cisternino on the trainers. This was, for as much as we were glazing Rob over the course of a couple podcasts in July, this was like a really concentrated session where that was another two and a half hour extravaganza where I think we were really cards up about what we thought Rob's chances would be his skill set who he might connect with, who he might not. Obviously that is going to be a major highlight for this podcast network in the
Starting point is 02:08:37 off season. So if you aren't checking out traders, do yourself a favor and do so. It's going to be such a fun time, both watching and covering it. And then I may have a little bit of a Survivor 50 project or two coming your way in the new year. But more about that
Starting point is 02:08:53 in 2026. We'll worry about that once the ball drops. And hopefully we did not drop the ball on covering this season. I want to thank everybody again, as always, for not only listening, but all the guests that we had, of course, over the course of this season. Ali Lashar,
Starting point is 02:09:09 Mariano Catch, the aforementioned Puyah, Sam Phelan, Chantelle Francis, Kevin Jacob, Stephanie Berger, Peridium, Teeny, Shannon Gus, Christine Richio, and Onica. They were honestly such a great group of people. I think really changed my perspective. I
Starting point is 02:09:27 know about Juliana coming and especially the past couple weeks where, again, people were a little down on this season in the last few weeks especially. And it was nice to have some refreshingly positive spins on all this. Again, not to say that we feel like these seasons and the discussion should not be without reproach, but we tend to skew a little lighter and more humor based on this podcast. And I feel like our guests brought that in spades this season. Yeah, absolutely. No, it was such a fun season. I think we had, yeah, it's, I always love walking away. like seeing another perspective and I think that our guests definitely brought that
Starting point is 02:10:01 I love that. Well, of course, I would not be here without all the great stuff that you provide, Leanna. This was something new. For us, we usually do this in the preseason, but if people are more into some like Mike and Leanna, we're a solo because we're a duo, but duo podcast, like let us know.
Starting point is 02:10:17 Who knows? Maybe we'll change things after. We'll invite a celebrity on to show up for like 15 minutes and dip out like what will happen on 50 proper. Ooh, that's right. Yeah, well, I'm excited for whatever advantages they're going to bring. Did they bring a briefcase?
Starting point is 02:10:30 We shall see. Well, much like a boomerang idol, before you know it, we'll be back in your feed soon with coverage of Survivor 50. Until then, I hope everyone has a restful and safe for happy holidays. Thank you all so much for the support, whether it be providing
Starting point is 02:10:46 games, listening, commenting on our videos, on our podcast proper. It means the absolute world to us. We've been doing this for 15 seasons now, and we hope to keep on rolling for Survivor 50 and beyond. Of course, we've got to give a special thanks to the entire team behind the scenes at R&JP
Starting point is 02:11:04 for always packaging this podcast for your eyes and your ears and Wolf from America for his incredible, unimitatable theme song. Leon and I will be back in the new year talking about, believe it or not, Survivor 50. Until then, everybody, we'll check you out at your next day. Mike and the R-H-A-N-A-Gather playing some games You let a pray to your mama that they're not super lame
Starting point is 02:11:34 And if that all sounds cool, I can tell you the name It's the R-H-A-P-B- and B-N-B-B- Mike and the R-H-A-Gadet Play in some games You'll pray to your mama that they're not super-lane And if that all sounds cool, I can tell you the name It's the R-H-A You can stay for free

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