RHAP: We Know Survivor - Survivor Global: Survivor 49 Finale with Karin Gunatilake

Episode Date: December 21, 2025

Survivor Global: Survivor 49 Finale with Karin Gunatilake Survivor Global host Shannon Guss speaks to Australian Survivor Brain Karin Gunatilake about the Survivor 49 finale, including the tough jury questions, the decisions at 5 and 4 to get there and looking ahead to Survivor 50, including how it impacted this season as a whole. 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!

Australian Survivor is saying. Selviour. Survivor. Survive. Survive. 21 South African. 12. Ordinary Australians.

Svente New Zealand. Svomalese. One million pounds. Million. Euron. Shkali. A million. Rumbli.

Hello, everyone, The Survivor for the adventure of a lifetime for Survivor Global. I'm your host, Shannon Guss, here to talk about the finale. We got through Survivor 49. I'm sorry for making that sound how I didn't mean it to be the how we all got through it.

We did get through it though. We did watch all Survivor 39 and now we are at the foothills of 50. We've got to talk about the finale, and there was a lot of interesting stuff here, and I'm so excited because I have a great guest from BrainFie Braun 2, who have absolutely been doing the, like, global guest was this season. It was a car and currently being here. Happy to be here.

It was like a journey. It was like a new era journey this entire season. I felt like I went through multiple feelings, and I tuned out after the secret part, but I'm back. We're here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I begged you to come back so you could be a guest and we finally made it work for the finale. You were overseas until today. So this is a lot of effort that you've put in and we really appreciate it. I appreciated the listeners appreciate it. You said you had a lot of feelings. What are those feelings right now? How are you feeling about what everything now? So like I started off being an absolute hater of this season. I started wanting to hate it, hated it. And then like, actively despised it and then I just stopped watching and then and then this the sof no no no sage Shannon drama sort of appeared and I was like oh okay I'm back I'm back I love a bit of sass I love a bit of pettiness let's bring it back then the secret stuff also was in the

and then I started like getting into it and the end game was bizarre but interesting like I can't say wholeheartedly that I was like, yeah, this is it. This is it for me. I love this season. But I mean, I was watching it. I was actually paying attention. So, and like there were moments where I was like, oh, I teared up at one point when Rizzo read his letters. So maybe it was sleep deprivation. Who knows? Yeah. Well, I mean, I definitely, I think that that's a good summation of things they got, it had interesting moments, particularly through the end game. We had a lot of interesting moments in this finale. I really felt we'll talk about it. Christina's question to Savannah and Savannah's answer to me was.

by far the most interesting part of the finale and there were good things in the finale but I mean it was kind of like three challenges in fire but um the final trouble council was great I thought the decisions at five and to a lesser extent four were interesting and yeah that question I was like now I'm here for it now we can have like a like a debate about humanity and we will later in this podcast so I'm excited to talk about that but there's a lot of good stuff here and we're going to talk about 50 the preview we can finally say I can finally say we've known, I've known. Many people have known that Rizzo and Savannah would be on 50 and it is impossible for me to separate the season from that. And it's almost a disservice of the season. I almost

feel like maybe it'll be better on a rewatch. But it was frustrating me that every week and some of this was in the edit, but Savannah doesn't have an OTT edit. I mean, she doesn't for a woman, honestly, but like not an OTT winner edit at all, but it was more just like, we were the more interesting tribe. They had, it was like they had the plot armor. Like, they had so much narrative, and we knew that Rizzo and Savannah were coming back for 50 as well. So, like, adding all of those things together, it wasn't like, are they going to be able to do this? Are they going to be able to come back?

Which is by far the most interesting element of the season. It was, how are they going to do this? And that's just one extra layer that the season, which is kind of like average at best anyway, I don't think could afford. Because, like, I think it's the same way when you get like an entire boot order spoiled and you're sort of expecting them to rally. Yeah. Yeah. It's like I, like, yeah, I started off the season knowing that Savannah and Rizzo were going to return.

And then when like Keller was like the disaster tribe, I was like, cool, ignore. Don't care. Don't care anymore. Hina, like, what are you doing at this point? And I'm just desperately watching for them to do something, which is why I like, tone, like, you know, completely zoned out at the start. Because it was just Keller going to tribal after tribal. Because I was like, well, okay, let's just get to the point where, you know, Uli start doing things. Which is, I don't know. Well, yeah. And it's. It's kind of a deservous to, like, Rizzo and Savannah, who are arguably, like, in, like, the new era mechanics and especially in this season, very good players. And all of the efforts were kind of marred by this big thing that was sort of hanging over the season. And, like, albeit, I was kind of, like, snarky about it, being like, okay, Survivor 49 players coming back for 50. Like, how dare they?

And I think that sort of, like, maybe made me, like, be more of a hater, which is so unfair. look we're happy to be haters you're on this podcast if you don't like the haters you probably tuned out by now especially the way that I felt about US Survivor this whole year and I'm trying to be a really like enthusiastic person I mean in terms of like the 50 of it all well firstly actually before we get to 50 there was to me a divide on entertainment in this cast Uli I've said I think were the six best characters of the season so if he's in there is the blue Sophie um and that was a massive divide like and i think and rob talked about this halfway through the season and i just want to like reiterate it now we've seen how the season pans out i've been

calling hina lehina just secretly to myself most merge because of the cassia lamina divide in panama because i are all the people you care about and heena lamina you know yeah they're like basically like pulling out space i i did not know half the like tribe members names like like sof appeared suddenly and i went oh okay you exist i didn't know who you were um mc i knew because i was like you you are like going to be a problem coming to merge and then everyone else i was like eh okay sure um yeah they were winning as well yeah so that's what's so hard like i felt bad for keller because it was just awful like that was awful and then Uli like again were interesting because they were splitting up and then again

interesting because of Joanne and Sage again interesting because of Shannon and sage and I was like Ooli is all content every day beautifully cast but I but I don't know if it's just like the three tribe mechanic that I loathe with a passion that actually does does like a disservice to characters like Stephen is actually like hilarious and interesting like give me space fact love space facts give it to me i don't care um i'll listen to you um and he like really shone through towards the end sof shone through towards the end mc i was like i'm pretty sure mc has things to say like just send them to try a bit more yeah i mean i completely agree with you and i have said it many times and i completely agree and i love was speaking the exact same like hater type

language but you know when this went badly day negative one and rob spoke about this but when they took out two members of Hina because the talkie troublemakers because they were speaking too much and I think the chemistry of the tribe like when you're going to change a third of the tribe on the fly like that the chemistry of the tribe was wrong

like even though they may have been entertaining I'm not putting this on like Jason and MC who were the you know the alternates although I do think that they both probably were more conservative gameplay and I think the whole of Hina then became kind of more conservative and it got into this group thinking they were doing the chanting. And, like, that was going up against Ouli, who played really hard.

Now, there were two people who were meant to be on Hina. I know we were way, months past us, but, like, they were playing so hard that they got kicked out. You know, like, if we were looking for the people who were going to throw challenges, like that was those people. And I think when we look back at the season now, then, like, Kina were getting kind of railroaded. And that was interesting.

And, like, that's a huge credit to, especially Rizzo and Savannah. However, it also felt like a lot of this was on them. And it felt like frustrating that they weren't kind of, like pushing themselves a little bit more, but you don't push themselves? People got kicked out of the game because they push themselves too much. So should they have been kicked out? I'm sure, yes. I think that that can be true as well, but it just was unfortunate that the chemistry

was messed up from the get-go. And I don't think we recovered. I don't know. Yeah, because all of like, like, you know, USS Ponderosa, and when you start making all of your notes and start like going like, you're a problem, I'm going to watch out for you. I'm judging by the fact that two people got kicked out, I'm pretty sure everyone else is going, okay, you're a problem.

them, I need to get rid of you or do something or, you know, looking at them to be the sort of instigators of chaos, whether that would have detracted or added to, hard to say, these are all hypotheticals at the moment. But yeah, definitely. Like, tribe chemistry is set pre, you know, day one. So, anyway, we are well past that now, what, 26 days. I still think about it because I'm like, they would have thrown a challenge. But anyway, it's fine. I'll get over at a point. But what do you think about Savannah and Rizzo being on 50? Like now having seen their whole games, how do you look at that? So like, again, like I said initially, I was like, how dare they? Like, where is

Carolyn? Where is Carolyn? Why are we getting three from 48, two from 49? And there is not a whisper, like, um, like just outraged. But I, like having watched the season progress and basically seeing them from pre-merge to when they were very solidly at the top to post-merge where they were at a 7-3 minority and then miraculously like got to the top. Rizzo, I have no idea how someone survives so long with an idol. Like I think credit to their games, I think they're very interesting characters and like the fact of the duo of them work together. Savannah is obviously a lot more mature player and she is.

older as well. Rizzo, I, like, honestly just, again, I'm a hater. I wanted to hate him. But he's young. You're speaking my language completely. But he's just young. He's young. He's goofy. He's a character. He just wants to go out there and play. And I think I will give him grace for that.

Like he got to. It's sort of like the Miles effective at all where, like, having gotten, like, when you're out there with Miles, you're like, God, I want to kill him. And even afterwards, I'm like, I really want to kill him. but you're like he's a 24 year old he's having the best time of his life like good god like i would also kill to be 24 on an island just like waving my idol around going like get me out get me out try and get me out and i think i'm going to give rizzo grace for it and i kind of want to see what he does now against like a very like a seasoned cast compared to what he had to go up

against in 49, which arguably had a lot of people that were very happy just sitting on their hands for a large portion of the game. People who weren't going to get kicked out in the preseason. I think, like, yeah, I mean, I definitely see the Miles-Rizzo comparison. I watched the finale with Miles, and I said the same thing to him. It's that same, like, youthful bravado that you might want to hate, but then you're like, God damn it, and I completely agree with you. I think, you know, I really enjoyed watching both Rizzo and Savannah play.

I think that people I want to see play again at a time. I think having both of them is silly casting. They were in lockstep the entire fees and they never had to turn on each other at any point. It's such an uncomplicated relationship and they played a week ago before they're going to go out on 50 or however long that is. I think it's like a two-week gap

between them leaving and coming back. Exactly. So it's just like they were the only pair that was in every tribal iteration together, including all three tribe swabs, the merge and the split tribal. And they were never, ever out of sync. So what are we gaining by having them together?

And then I look at someone like Savannah, who I really like. She's a good character. She's a good winner. There are limitations we'll talk about. Some social limitations, however. She's a good character. I think she's a little same need to D in archetype, even though they had very different games.

And that's one of the only other two winners. And then I look at it, I'm like, what's Savana's story coming back because she just won? So there's not even like Rizzo, like he just fell short. Like she just won. She's had no kind of life to live since then, or even like years, or for some winners decades of experience to be like,

here's where I am now in my life. Like, we just saw her achieve the goal. To have her there with Rizzo, I don't think it's necessary. I don't think we need five people from 48 and 49. I think that that's always been insane. I don't think the season warrants it. I think having one to bookend everything, having season Gornio and 49 makes sense.

And I think that could have been Rizzo. And I think that wouldn't have taken away from it because I think when we saw Rizzo call himself Rizgaard in the preview of 48, if you'd heard like, yeah, he's coming back. He'd be like, yeah, that actually doesn't spoil much at all. Like, he could probably come wherever he's calling him. himself for his God. He was everyone's major takeaway from the preview. Whereas Savannah was

like, we don't really know much about her. How's that going to go? And obviously for the people in the know, and this is not what CBS did, but I mean, CBS tried not to spoil them at all. But like, it was impossible to avoid that there were three tribes. Savannah was on the one tribe that didn't have a winner and you wondered and I tried not to when I was like, maybe not. But I

just feel like it made 49, which was already kind of pretty at best average season, at best I think I'm being gracious. It made it such a footnote of 50 and it didn't have to be it like it took away from this amazing comeback which was the best part of the season if you look at like brains be born too that you guys had an a uv world that was from back to back and i covered your season as its own thing and i'm so grateful i have to do that and it actually wasn't in the shadow of the biggest thing that's ever happened in

australian so i've like what a gift and 49 was not afforded that and i don't think the casting choices of rizzo and savanna warrant like well it was so worth it that we have them to take away as they did, you know? Because like, I think I agree on the, like, this is the thing, like, Savannah is already, like, a player that I think not, has not reached the pinnacle of what her like playing capacity is, but I think would warrant and would benefit from maybe getting a year under her belt of just life to just figure out her mechanics and come back, to be honest, to come like a dual winner and really iron out her social game. Whereas Rizzo, I think Rizzo's very capable and ready to just hit the ground running again and again because that's what he he did throughout the season um and i think

giving him a second shot will really just add to the viewing experience i like to be honest i think when the 50 announcement was given during like the 48 finale was it when it came out i was like what are you doing yeah like you're taking away from 48 now and then to add it on to like 49 again again and again like i it was such a massive disservice like i was like yeah like we Like, for example, when we knew that Australia versus the world was going to come right after us, we're like, oh, good God. Yeah. But I don't think that that impacted it that much.

Because I'm not covering it. I really felt like I got to spend the time with Brain v. Braun, too. And I'm so grateful for that. And look, Australian's five is edit can often be like, spoilery in and of itself. And I know Miles wanted to go back out after 47 days and play AUV World. But, like, it stood on its own two feet. You know, if you had heard, like, Mars Webb's Zubak because he wins. Yeah, it would have all been.

within the shadow of, of, of, of AV world. And I don't think that would have been fair to your season. And then, like, I mean, I don't know if it's like, if 49 was really good, but then minimized by that, maybe that would be worse. But it's like, unfortunately, 49, like already, like, the pre-emerge was so snooty, it was super truncated. Like, yes, the best thing you can say is it had this comeback and that was already so minimized for me, person.

This is my viewing experience. And I assume a lot of people listening to this podcast. Yeah. Although I try to keep the 50-year attorneys out of the podcast. But, yeah, it's also, like, the. season couldn't afford it. So even like Jeff was like, he said like, this is one of the most predictable,

unpredictable games ever. And I was like, even without the other stuff, that is not true. It was unpredictable because some of the moves defied logic. Like, sure that in that it was still predictable kind of. Yeah, like, it was predictable because it was like, I know, like, you knew that one part of this merge group tribe wasn't going to do anything and three people were.

And you're like, okay, cool. Some of the mechanics are just going to line up so that it suits the needs and, like, benefits of these three people. And then, and every time that happened, you're going, okay, I'm perplexed, but, yeah. Yeah. I think, like, yeah, one, definitely one. And again, you're getting, like, 48. You've got Camilla and Kyle coming back.

Again, like, and Joe. Yeah, and Joe was supposed to Kyle. Yeah, like, it's three people that have played very close. Like, Kyle and Camilla were, again, lockstep. Like, they had sort of, like, alternate parts. arts in different areas. But again, two players that were playing together for a large majority. So I don't know what would add.

There's, yeah. Yeah. And then like two of the three winners are the two most recent winners. Like it worked with J.T. on Heroes versus Villains because he was like, I guess so high from the win and felt maybe like he was playing with House money that he was just taking shots. Yeah, and Russell thought he'd won. But Russell's always going to be who he is. like I just think like if you're going to have winners like you're going to have winners

from decades ago like I'm going to show my bias here because obviously I'd love for Marianne to have been on 50 but like yeah you know Mary I only want a few years ago but in that time she's you know she was 23 she's years older now she's she's like riso she's not married yeah exactly like she's studying medicine now like her life looks different Savannah's life is a week ago I want to see it I just don't think it's on 50 and I don't think that yeah I don't think the season could take it honestly It's the same for when sort of like, you know, the redemption like cast for like Australian Survivor came out and you're going, okay, interesting, right.

Like, you know, Brooke, we haven't seen Brooke since All-Stars, a completely different player now and a completely different person. She went, you know, she's a mother, she's married, she's gone through so many iterations of herself coming back to redemption. Now you're like, okay, I need to, because Brooke was in old era of like, what's, you know, the friendship games era or like the end of coming to the end of the friendship games era. So that's interesting. But, yeah, I'm hopeful.

I think now that we know they're going to be playing, I'm like, I'm going to be critical of them. I think I expect more out of Rizzo, if I'm being honest. Like I've heard him say that he's like built his game around the likes of Ferris and Tony, which is very interesting. I was like, okay. Yeah. So I'm curious because, again, like Ferris is someone I want to see play up.

like Ferris has had a bit more time to mature, and arguably is it like obviously a lot more a mature player than Rizzo. So I kind of want to see, okay, so what have you, like, what will you have learned from two weeks? What can you do? Yeah, Ferris and Tony, two Australian Survivor Great. Let's talk about this finale a little bit because I feel like, I mean, Rizzo, there were some decisions made that are going to, you know, end in Rizzo losing the game. And I think that's really interesting is someone who's been like tracking and really enjoying Rizzo's journey, but this final five was so interesting to me, where it was

between Christina and Sage, as we thought it might be. Actually, I didn't think actually Christina would be in an I thought stage, which straight up go home. So that was unpredictable. And this is so interesting to me because it feels like if you're Sophie and Rizzo, you need Savannah out. Apparently we're finding out

Christina is the best firemaker by far. Where did that come from? I know, they should always have a tally of the levels of firemaking. I'd really They put the montage in there. It was just like, oh, bam, Christina's a firemaker. Here's a montage. And I was like, okay, where did this come from?

And it was the only thing they said, she, I'm terrified of going against Christina fire. I'm a terrified. I'm like, okay, sure. Then put someone you don't want there against her. Like, I don't get the premise of voting her out. I thought Sage was a goner. I was like, all right, by Sage. Yeah, I completely agree.

I think if, well, I mean, if you're Savannah, keeping Christina, something she credited in Final Tribal Council is a great movie. I mean, losing Christina, sorry. great review because that's like the thing she feels most vulnerable and she actually probably think she can win the challenge and then at that point she'd be fine anyway but if she can't then she's like really vulnerable to fire um and it's interesting because for sophy rizzo you think great let's take out savannah there like if she can lose the challenge like this is our spot we need to be able to get her out she's going to have a double chance how can we get her out

stage is better at challenges however like she's not good enough at challenges to be like but she's the one who's going to beat savannah at the challenge and then she'd still have fire so you You have to, like, be thinking, what's, like, the biggest outlier to really crushed Savannah at one of these rounds. We're going to have to, yeah, like, back ourselves with the challenge and Sophie wins it and put Christina in. They don't go with that, even though they are the two swing votes here. And the thing is, like, Rizzo has the idol, and his whole thing was like, oh, I want to play my idol offensively. I thought the offensive play would have been. You thought he played on Christina.

Yeah, exactly. I was like, just, yeah. But I don't know, like, it's the, the hesitant, like, I think Savannah did it. So when they're on the beach and Savannah comes back and she goes, no, we're voting for Christina. And like, um, uh, Rizzo goes, oh, but, you know, it would be so much easier in a final three against Christina. And Savannah just goes, oh, when have you wanted to take the easy wearer? And it was just, I thought that was like brilliant from her. It was, yeah, huh?

Like it was just attention before 50. Finally. Something. I don't know. But she said it so directly, just very matter of fact. She was like, this is it. Why would you want to do that? And then Rizzo kind of went, okay, yep, yep, which I was kind of surprised as well.

I kind of wanted him to be like, okay, like, sure, whatever, we'll do what you want, but I'm going to play this idol, which I've been dangling for nine tribals and do a big offensive maneuver, which is what I thought was going to happen instead of just like, okay, here you go. Well, that's so interesting to me because Rizzo said in ex-interview, the reason that he didn't, that he wanted to take out Christina was he felt like first leave, Savannah was a challenge and she puts him into fire against Christina, he doesn't want to lose. To me, that's pointless. Like if Savannah was a challenge, the game is done. So Rizzo's been playing for

first, not fourth or whatever, the whole game. To me, thinking Christina would beat you in fire is irrelevant. And that's more conservative than Rizzo's ever been. So that's irrelevant. But then he said, I want to beat Savannah and fire. And so then the question becomes, firstly, how did it get to the point where you feel you need that or you don't need it and you're wrong? Both of those I'm critical of. And I do like this thing. better that we're saying what if what if he goes against the grain protects christina from you know that many votes which would be unfortunate for so because she's willing to vote with him so it feels like you'd have to tell her the wrong vote like actively and then like actively

you know protect christina but if he can protect christina and then put christina into fire or someone puts pristina into fire and beat savannah could it be like we use christina as a weapon i got her there with my idol because the things he couldn't rely on fire he wasn't that good at it And he'd even say, like, I'm so prepared. And then he, like, messed it up. Like, he never seemed like he was that prepared for it. So I wouldn't really want to bet it all on fire. I think I'd rather bet it all on taking out Savannah,

going to a final tribal council to pitch a case, which I actually think Rizzo would be really good at. I bet on that better more than fire. And if he could use his idol to protect Christina or someone get her through, it would be more fireworks with the idol, it would be better for the jury. And maybe that's the pitch is that, like, I didn't go into fire against her,

but I got Christina through to beat her in fire. I'm a good delegator. and that's how we got here. I think that has to be a better way. And it like sort of fits this whole theme that he's been like, hey, I'm only going to play this idol when I need to. I'm not a defensive player. I'm like all offence.

I've protected my weapon when I needed to take out my biggest threat who has been my ally, which is a very compelling jury pitch. And like, you're right. I think of the pitches that you would get, I would rank Rizzo at the top two, like with Savannah. And then, like, and then I don't, like, yeah, the sageness of it all also sort of doesn't make sense. When did Sage and Savannah have this big bond? Like, where did that come from?

I don't know. Yeah, they made up. So I do respect, we're going to talk a lot about Savannah Social Game. I respect that she got Sage back on side. I will say it's very hard for me to try and calculate what to do at this five and four for, like, the Sofis and Risos of the world. because I watch Christina, Sophie, and Rizzo sit across from Mike Bloom on Zoom

in the exit interview and tell me that they would have won if Savannah wasn't there and I was like I don't know what to do with this. So it's a tough one because it's like does Rizzo really need if Savannah's gone, Christina's taken out of Savannah in fire, does he really need to have made fire? I don't know.

But like I still think I'd rather have bet it not on fire because he did so poorly at it. And again, that's like he bet it on he bailed at that and i would rather like make it about the idol and final travel council but like i don't know like when sophie wins i was like put yourself into fire and then you're like because i thought you might need that to beat rizzo but she thinks she that even if rizzo wins fire she's going to win it's very hard for me to judge because they all like they all said it so no no i like i think that was like a theme of all the exit interviews it was so funny i will like i have 100% and i kind of montage it yeah i like i get i get it like back

your game 100% we don't know the the dynamics that we like that weren't shown on camera but from but and even the final jury pitches like I was like okay you're not highlighting some of the things I saw but you clearly thought this was the game that would win so we're missing a few things yeah it's and like even like even if we're talking of a tribal like previously like sage going oh stephen like you're the only one that could beat me and I went oh wait what like are we are we missing sophie savanna and riso like you stephen's the biggest threat to your i i don't know i yeah this is what i meant by like it's it's bizarre like am i missing a huge chunk of edit or is it i don't know i don't want to say delusions are grandi

but like it's got to be from someone okay not everyone can be right when everyone was going to win in that final three that is basically the three of christina Rizzo and Sophie, I do think, look, Zavano was such an out and out threat that taking her out and fire might have carried weight. I respected that Christina was like, even if she'd gotten the chance to put herself into fire, she would have done it. So I think that that is good. I don't think it would have been enough from my perspective on my couch.

And then for Sophie versus Rizzo, like it really comes down to that perception we've talked about the whole season about Rizzo, which is again, hard to say, I do think he'd speak about his game well. For someone like Sophie, I mean, in terms of like fire, I don't know if she needs to take the risk of putting us off into fire from a jury perspective. And then I don't really think I know from a fire perspective either. That I'm also like, because you need to get Savannah out. So if she's better at fire than Rizzo, I think that she should do it.

But again, these are all kind of vague metrics that I'm being given. So it's quite a tough one. So Sophie, I don't think on any circumstance, Sophie should put herself into fire. She's played critical, like, strategic game, like from, in ways. From day one until yesterday when she stole. the block of vote. It's been really good. Like, she's, like, played it. She's, she's got social, um, things she can speak for.

There's strategic points. There's missteps, sure. But she has by no means, like, someone that doesn't have, like, a winner's equity to put yourself into, I don't know. I don't know. I thought, I thought maybe not, but like, I don't know anymore. I think she has like, like, like, he did well at final tribal council as well. Yeah. Like, I think from like a winner's equity, I thought it was like, Savannah was the clear, like perceived threat of the season. She was the big, you know, blazing beacon that everyone was trying to shoot at. Whereas Sophie was someone that maneuvered herself very well in quite a difficult end game

for her, given a lack of an immunity idol and like an immunity necklace as well. So I think there were things that she could definitely speak for. And I think there was a jury that was going to be quite perceptive to her compared to a Rizzo. or a Savannah. Like Christina outright does not like Savannah. Like Nate, I think, is more Rizzo and Savannah leaning. Like, Stephen, don't know. Joanne, definitely not.

Like, there are a lot more people that will vote for Sophie and I think than Rizzo and Savannah from like a purely like emotional perspective. Well, they didn't, though, to be fair, like you. Yeah. But like when they were. Like, for example, the, like, this is what I was found surprising. I thought, like, honestly, that Rizzo's, like, showboating would actually turn off a lot of people. But when it came to Savannah versus Rizzo, like, M.C. was trying to, like, you can't help but pick a side when you get these to these.

And it looks like Joanne was on Rizzo's side. MC was on Rizzo's side. Stephen, they were all on Rizzo side. So I went, okay. So, okay, cool. I got my jury perception wrong there. So. Well, we don't know.

No, compared to Savannah. Everyone agrees. Savannah would win. But after that, everyone, the drawers are just too nice. They're like, you would have won.

And you would have won. And you would have won. And you were three way time. This is the other baffly thing, though. But like, Sage just had such a difficult, like, post game from what I am gathering

from some of the exit interviews. But everyone's like, no, no, no, it's a game. We don't mind. And I'm like, you mind it 10 minutes ago.

Yeah. She said it was a brutal final travel council. This was worse for Sage than we could have imagined. And I think, Last week a lot of people were like, I mean, Stephen was kind of leading like, could sage beat Savannah? I'm like, I worry it's going to be worse for Sage than we could possibly imagine.

And the names that have been thrown out, I completely agree, had the same names in mind. Dawn, Carolyn, the emotional woman who's like had to bear that emotional weight of everyone else. I sought the death knell for me and it was even brought up in this episode was when I saw how even when she lost the challenge, no one went to last week, no, I think it was last week, no one went to congratulate Savannah. They all had to kind of like coddle say. And I feel like it's like that, it's like that level of like, you're protecting my feelings, but I'm protecting yours. This is very, very deep and I'm very, very, very burned.

It's very hard as well that they kind of solely blamed her, some with merit, but they all had their partner play. But they solely burned her, but the fact that it had gone from a seven three to a one, three. Like, yeah, and she did have questionable decisions. So some of that is, is earned, I will say. As someone who gets emotional and petulant, like, there are, you know, you have people around you that go, no, shut up, go sit in a corner you can't do that and you go yeah cool i'm gonna go walk off by myself for a bit um like they all had voices clearly so walk sage off a ledge tell her we don't need to get retribution for joan now we can get it later we don't need to vote a critical clear it is hard though it is

like even that week i did say like this is all on sage and she was so one-eyed on sophie and then savannah that's the last time that savannah's vulnerable that's a and she let her go that's a very tough game to defend. Like, I don't think she defended it well. I think she came and it was very tough. Like, I think it seems like she might have actively lost Christina's vote. However, even if it went at its absolute best, like she could not have won with that jury with the game she had to defend.

It was a very, very tricky. Oh, no, like 100%. Like, she would have to defend the SOF vote. She would have to defend the Stephen vote, all of which. And the, oh, MC? No, that was enough. MC, yeah, but she didn't, yeah, I mean, she was part of that. But, like, again, we had more control.

Yeah. The Alex vote, that was really like phasian. And then blatantly being like, oh, I don't flip-flop. I adapted. I'm like, oh, that's, I would disagree. I would say it was more flip-flopping. And this is the whole, like, one can say the calenness of it all, where you play this emotional game, say you're goofy,

that you go around where the wind takes you depending on, like, what the temperature of the day is. And then you go, no, actually, I'm a military operative. and I was strategic and I plan to do this. And then you go, oh, okay, the math isn't mathing here. I completely agree with you because I think she's like, look, I hid behind my emotions and I really like those answers. The question, the answer that she gave when, what were you in the Jewish?

She was like, I was a secret strategist hiding behind my emotions. However, taking out Sophie to me. And it's something she actually credits as like one of her best moves. I don't have to get the questions in front of me. But like, that to me was so emotional. Yeah. So it's like now, but that's, is it a front?

Like what I actually wanted her to do in that in that round was to act like blindside well by being like, of course I'm going off to Sophie. Like I'm emotional sage. Like I can't see any other way. Oh, I just blindsided Savannah or Rizzlew or Wizard's Idol, whatever it is. That's using your emotions as a weapon rather than being used by them.

And I can't say for Sage that she wasn't actually emotional. Like, and making decisions on that that were in many ways doing a lot of people on the jury and they seemed not happy about it. Yeah. And like, and I think. it's like it's um and it's hard like those decisions are super hard to make and when you're in the heat of it it's like all you see is red and i can relate to that and like all you want to do is burn everything to the ground and i like a hundred percent see it as well but like when like

when it comes down to those moments especially at a jury a jury wants to see you go okay i yeah I was emotional I went on like an absolute reign of terror there because I was upset I lost my mind yeah and the thing is as well is like people are comparing her to like a Sandra like Sandra's annex to Russell

she tried to take out the whole time and failed and beat Russell in poverty but it didn't fail because of Sandra like it actually failed because of the heroes like she did her best and they were all like sorry Sandra and then voted for her whereas Sage talked the entire time about getting out Savannah

and it's not just that she failed and I was like look what you all did, like, she alone let Savannah get through at seven, I think. Yeah. And I mean, and it's hard to wear that in a unanimous vote at seven, but like she kind of can. And that was the last time. Especially with her

so, yeah. Was it her that says, oh, you gave Savannah the game? And I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah, she said that. She said that to Sophie and then and then Savannah's never immune again. And like, it's, it's very, very hard. We talk about this with juries all the time. It's a lot easier to defend

a game that's better. And Sage had a lot of questionable things that we questioned that a jury would like have questions and pitchforks about. So yeah, I mean, I want to talk about all about that with the final tribal council before we get there, another inexplicable decision.

I just love to talk about it for Sophie B while we're here, Blue Sophie, because, you know, last week we talked about her not stealing the idol and it was so upsetting. But part of me was like, look, Savannah's probably just going to win out. You know, like it's going to be.

the kind of thing was like, you should have done it, but you would have lost to Savannah because you're just not going to be able to ever take her out. But now seeing the way that it went and having the extra fire information that we didn't have, now knowing Sophie wins that challenge, it's like, oh, you steal the idol. At five, you can take out Rizzo because she was so limited. She said she was a swing vote, but she wasn't because Rizzo was immune. If she has immunity, then Rizzo is an option and she can shore up with Sage and Christina. Christina.

And then we know that she can put Christina into fire, but she's against Savannah. And then she's won the game. And it's like, look, there are ways, like, sure, she's not going to play the idol at six, so she can have it at five in case she makes herself too big a target. So they could vote her out there. However, like, Stephen was a great shield. And then she can play it at five. And then she won it four.

You know, like, either Savannah's going to win it four or, like, and Christina's going to go against her in fire or, like, she's not. And now, like, you know, sorry, if Savannah wins it four, the game's done. If Savannah doesn't win, Christina will go against her in fire, You've won the game. So it's like, it's on that. And Savannah didn't win. And that was like,

it was game losing. So unfortunately. All of the end game mechanics are pretty much what's cemented. Like, I think, like, winning at fire for Savannah is like a huge resume tick in the same way that, like, for, like, for, like, Sophie's end game pathway is stealing Rizzo's Idol, voting out, voting out Stephen and being like, cool, I'm done with you now. You're gone. Great. Now I'm immune. Rizzo off you go and now

like Well Savannah yeah Savannah is vulnerable at five great but like in the expected outcome that Savannah is not now you have Rizzo as an option and now you don't have to sacrifice what ended up being Christina who was her fire weapon

apparently like she has this information we didn't have that information so like knowing that Savannah had so it's more unfortunate because like okay she wouldn't have known she'd win the challenge it for but like you know that like if she does that it's like I'm going to win the game if Savannah doesn't win the challenge it for.

If she doesn't, then Christina will beat her. If she does, the game is lost. But like, and it's all on that. And now we know she did it. But she knows at the time, Savannah has a weak spot, fire, and we have a fire weapon that none of the audience knew about last week. So it's an even more painful move knowing you get the jury chances. You get immunity.

You get Rizzo as an option. You're going to have a vulnerable spot for Savannah. And you're going to have someone who can take that vulnerable spot in Christina and beat her. And then she, even with Christina having that on her resume, I think Sophie who spoke so well to the jury would have a great move and like the worst things Sophie did in the game was not steal the idol so she'd have a great gate it would be like a great gate oh my god it's so upsetting um because I no I would I would like Sophie's the

it was the I don't know the edit was also sort of saying the Sophie repeatedly going I'm going to do a big move I'm going to do a big move I'm going to do a big move and then repeatedly stealing the vote block was a big move but like that was the option B I think that was the option B. That was nothing. She thought it was going to be unanimous vote. It was like, it wasn't a big move.

It was like a meh move. It was like the, I don't want to do the big thing. So I'm going to do the second thing that may not even work. With very little. So the knowledge is power is only powerful if you have all of the knowledge. The only thing you had 100% knowledge about was Rizzo's Idol. So arguably, that is that is the that is the hail mare you take. That is, that is the, you put all of your eggs into that.

basket because those that's you know what's in that basket that's it whereas this could be a steal of a could be a block of a don't know what it is like I I wouldn't do it with such a powerful advantage at such a critical point and like knowing Sophie's game would now have been like perfectly iced she has a good sort of story to tell from like the three tribe phase the tribe swap feed. Oh, it's so good. You've got a, you've got a brilliant edit now. It's a, it's brilliant. Like, she's got, like, she's struggled through the pre-mo. She had to play a million times more than anyone else. Yeah. And then she came back, just like Rizzo and Savannah did. And largely through her social game, she spoke to so well at final travel council that she was, you know, and I do love that whenever anyone does that. I kind of felt like that way with like A.J. Miles and Kalen, but when you're like three sides of the like social, physical, strategic and she was the social side, I think she spoke to that so well. you've done that but then you turn on them with this epic move and then you win the last challenge you put christina your fire weapon into fire it's one of the best moves it's one of the best games ever it's a good like mirroring of it's a good taster so like you see it she's her

start to do it when it's like her telling jeremiah one story and alex one story's hiding in a tree and you're like okay cool this is this is what you're capable of you're willing to look your like allies in the eye lied to them and to suit your game and now as you've matured through the game, you've done that again. Now you're like, I would say the like architecture of 49 changes completely. And 50 because Sophie's on 50 as well.

She won the game and she's on. It's like actually crazy how much was lost because it's not even like if Wu takes Tony, you know, sorry, if Wu takes Cassington Tony, he wins Kagayan, but he's like not great with her, right? But like this is like going from like, that was a kind of disappointing game.

Like it stopped saying that that happened to like, you're not only won, that was a brilliant win. And you're on 50 and up, she just won 50. I don't know how, but she just won't be like, the whole landscape of Survivor is different. Because, like, seasons are pretty much dictated by, like, the winner. Because, like, you get the winner and then the edits. I don't know, with, like, U.S. Survivor, it's a bit here and there.

Australian is very much, like, winner, and then it's, and their friends. And whatever you did to suit, you know, Miles' game, plus minus. I don't know, like my season, I'm a weird anomaly. I don't know, like, I sort of come in somewhere. But like, yeah, oh, Sophie. Oh, man. I hope she doesn't. I mean, she was still like the.

The Sophie that could. Yeah, she said a final travel council that the answer she gave was like, I didn't need to steal the idol because we didn't see this, but like I didn't need to steal the idol because I was controlling it. And apparently even really liked that. And I was like, no, because she wasn't controlling it. Because if she stole it, she'd have way more options at five. She could keep Christina to take out Savannah.

She would have won the game. Like, it's a completely different, like the fact that she wasn't actually a swing vote. She said, I'm between these two and Rizzo and Savannah. But when they were both immune, she wasn't a swing vote. If she was immune, then, like, if she had the idol, then Rizzo is free. And then she can actually shore up to actually take out Rizzo. And she can keep apparently the essential component to taking Savannah out of this game in her vulnerable spot, which was fine. And like, so, I mean, it's crazy that I work for the jury, but it's not for me as a juror.

I think this season is very much illusions of threat, like this sure hypothetical threat of Rizzo's idol, this supposed control Sophie had of the idol instead of direct control of an idol you hold and have stolen from someone, this like perceived fire threat. Maybe who knows, Christina could actually suck at fire, who knows? but like one one would assume and then savannah's like big blazing like glory of threat that started very early on in the season when she wasn't actually that threatening um but yeah it's all these like illusions of threat and illusion and delusion yeah i mean like she's saying that it you know that she would like it would be the same because she's controlling it but at the final five

she she's nothing she can do because if rizzo wants to be Savannah at fire and doesn't want Christina to be there, then that's three votes against Christina. And she doesn't have the idol to protect Christina. So Rizzo really becomes a swing vote there. Whether he needed to, we don't know. You know, if he needed to, that's also something I'll criticize. But for Sophie, it's like, oh, it's so unfortunate that you let Christina go. But it's like, it's more unfortunate that you don't have the power because you'd lost that power in the idol. However, not Christina. Sophie, Sophie did say that, like, around that point is when Rizzo and Savannah started stopped being one and two and

Sophie and Rizzo became one and two so I don't know if that was what because I think they wanted to work together but like oh I'm pretty sure I was in in the episode where they're like Rizzo says Sophie's I think he says Sophie's my number one yeah yeah yeah so I don't know if yeah if but if he's making the decision that he wants to go to fire then like he has to take out Christina and at that point the Dias cast so yeah super unfortunate we yeah if she feels the idol she knows it's literally just down to the final four challenge which she ended up winning so

let's talk about the final trouble council and what I said what I thought was one of the most interesting moments of the season of discrimination Christina asked Savannah to name all of the jurors loved one or partner or family member and Savannah

does well she actually not Rizzo she said outside of the trail we didn't see Rizzo we assume she knows about Rizzo. Of the other seven, she got two. She knew Nate. Yeah, Nate and Stephen. Yeah. What did you think of this? Because I got, I got a lot of thoughts. Well, it was very, like, take out your teeth. Do you think so? Because a lot of you said that. Because, like, it was, so I, I'm going to say that I, if you asked me, like, to name some of the family members of my jury, if I was there, I would struggle. I knew, like, my close allies.

I knew, if, you know, I knew, like, I knew Logan's kids and I knew, but I would argue that I would not know a large proportion because arguably I didn't care. That's, I think, the problem. I think this is what Christina was trying to point out. I think that. Well, like, I knew enough, like, when you play, like, socially, you find out things about people that you think will build a relationship. like when I was trying to get to know Max

we talked about being into the like the same type of music we went to the same type of gigs like did I ask him what his ex-girlfriend's name was and what his dad's name was no like it didn't really work in the mechanics of me trying to cement your relationship same with like Kate like

all right cool the common traits I have with you are X Y and Z so therefore I will try and get ABC information out of you like I don't know I thought AJ was Italian for like half the game Well, it's, I mean, firstly, I'll compare it to the teeth thing. It's very tough in Final Trouble Council because when it's at its spiciest and its best TV, it actually is a traumatic event for the fires.

And this is something that I've, you know, really reckoned with in the last few years. And speaking with like Chrissy from Blood versus Water in Australia, she really was like so traumatized. And I'm like, you weren't a fan. So you didn't know this is a like hazing ritual that we just have done since season one. we're like we're cruel and it's great TV but it's like is the juice worth to squeeze I actually thought this was great TV without being outwardly cruel the teeth thing I thought has a level of cruelty that is beyond the game I thought that also the teeth thing is beyond the game I know it was like well you wouldn't have continued in the game so I helped you in the game by finding your teeth

I never that does not feel in games to me however knowing the names of loved ones to me like that is social game like that's a social game yeah that's like part of the game I I think like falling comrades fall in combat challenge have random facts was literally a challenge in the game. It was literally something you could in that way. Guatemala? In many, it's like the whole Gabon, like, you know, take a handful of Xanax and cut out your vocal cords and all thatness of it. But the level of that cruelty. I really don't. But like, I, I appreciate the question. I think it was a good question because it created a good, I think it highlighted Savannah's weak points, which is what Christina was.

me to do, which I think is very fair for a jury member to do. However, if Savannah, if I was Savannah and I didn't really care about that aspect, I go, look, I know the things about my alliance members and the people that I needed to make a relationship with. And frankly, learning names was not a part of my social game. I understand that's a weakness and I'll wear it, but I'm sorry, that's, I would honestly double down. And I feel like, oh, I forgot who did it. Someone, someone doubled done and said, I don't really need to answer that question. I didn't really care about it. I cared about vote splits. I cared about where votes went. I cared about my allies. And when I needed to build social relationships, I built it. Like, Steven, someone,

Savannah really didn't have much of a relationship with, she knew some details because she needed to build a relationship with it. Sof as well, needed to build some sort of relationship. So she found our critical information. MC and Savannah had absolutely no contact, I'm pretty sure. Well, they were in a tribe together that didn't go to tribal council. Yeah. Like, you think you're talking about stuff but yeah i mean it's very yeah yeah i don't know i i was sort of like trying to think back to like my swap tribe and how much information like i garnered like some and and again it differs from social strategy like a logan definitely would learn all of these bits of details i would find out enough to get by so that i would have like a veil of

care but it would not factor much into my and I don't know and I respect Savannah for it she tried and she was like look I can't really answer that and Christina went no try which I also really appreciate it because I was like yeah go for it Christina that's very valid I actually quite like the way she answered the question as badly as it went and it was like a shocking moment

because she did name personal things that she knew about everyone that she could and she was sorry and she took accountability I almost thought that she could be like look you've been targeting me the whole game It's hard to connect, but people might not like the excuse. I mean, the excuse actually kind of is there. I think what's interesting about this is like Savannah has had social limitations. This is something we know to be true. We've heard it ex-interviews.

We've heard it on the show. It's only being asked because, A, she has that massive chasm with Christina, which we can talk about. And Christina wants to bring her down. Christina knows she can't do it. She's looking to try cost her votes. And, yeah, because she can't do it. You know, like, Christina's not betting on the fact that she knows Fana can't do. That's something Christina can probably do.

It seems like something Sophie can do. It's a tough one because I tweeted and I said, I think this might lose my vote. Now, in the heat of the moment, that's how I felt. I felt like it was such a massive in-game failing. But thinking about it, again, Sage and Sophie, who have had much bigger in-game failings

and she's so out in front, it would be tricky for me. I'm not out there at the time. I think all of these things are very different. I don't expect someone to know like my parents' names. I'm probably going to be referring to them like my mom, my dad, but just knowing myself if I was on the island and how I am in life

I'd be like Peter and I did that Peter and I did that it's not about memorizing my husband's name but like if you didn't if you would be like were you listening to me at all

like it's such a huge part of who I am so it's half for me to say because I don't know how much they talk about those things like how much does Joanne or Sophie refer to their siblings by name

I think all of these all of the jurors are different like she knows Nate so you can't just say it's a pure memory thing because she does know Nate to be there who's been gone the longest and then like MC a little bit less like Alex, they talked about work.

They weren't together that long. Jo-Wan is an interesting one because Jo-Wan, she was there with Day 1 and she simply did not care about Jo-Wan, and her social game was bad with Jay-Wan. Jo-J-Wan, we know that. And then Stephen, she got, so that was good. And then Christina, I would be upset if I was Christina

because Christina has young children and a husband. Like, that is different. I don't really expect people to know, like, my siblings. Like, no offense. Jason, my brother. Jason, remember that one. Like, I don't expect people to know my brother as much, but like, yeah, I expect you to know my husband and my cats.

um so i think like it kind of depends like what the family structure is how important what those values are to people and like and how much it comes up but you can't just say well savannah has a bad memory because it's like well she knew it for Nate you knew it for her people and that was also to be fair what christina was putting into the question she said you know your people do you know the rest and she that was proven true and like this is this is so this is um just so early on in Brancy Brown to how I gauged how much people cared about me or actually factored me into decision making was whether they could actually pronounce my name right.

That's so exactly. Yes. Would not, could not pronounce it. AJ from the start, yeah, AJ also couldn't pronounce it at the start. And I was like, oh, fishy. That's such a good comparison. Miles told me specifically, as soon as he figured out that it was like a sticking point for me, he would go back to the well and be like car and car and car.

Karen, Karen. Do not call Kaz until specifically told call Kaz, it's Karin. And I was like, Miles was like, yeah, I wanted to work with you. You were important in my game and I knew this was a sticking point for you. And I was like, okay. That's, and I think like, yeah, now when you mention it, I think if I was, like, yeah, if you were a smarter social player, you'd go, okay, your kids are definitely and vitally important to you. You like, you know, recite their names doing challenges. You already hate me. I don't want to give you other. reasons to um yeah yes yeah definitely a miss it yeah I mean when it's when it's highlighted like that I don't know I think you can be like sort of stumbling and gracious in sort of and acknowledge in

the way Savannah did or I would just double down and be like yeah cool my strong points were like my strategy and my physical prowess I am not good socially miles did it in our final tribal where he was like yeah I have tremendous social misgivings I I I have I I I am bad at this. And we all kind of went, yeah, Miles, you are.

Shame, poor kid, you know, like someone help him. And like, actually, I don't know if they, I can't even remember if they showed it

in our final tribal. There was one point where Kaelin went around and individually told us like what he liked about us. And we found that actually quite like disingenuous, to be honest.

And Miles kind of went, yeah, I'm not going to do that. And we all laughed and we're like, yeah, cool. That's, I kind of, yeah.

It's interesting because it's like it's going to matter to the jurors matters too. Like for the five people she couldn't answer, she does get two of those votes. They either felt like she did connect with them and she probably did or they didn't care. And I think that to be fair, like Savannah did more than enough. As I'm saying, like, it might lose my vote. But then I'm like, maybe against someone, it definitely against Rizzo. Like I'd probably be leading Rizzo anyway.

But like against like Sophie and Sage when like, again, I think that this is a social game failing to criticize. However, there are other much bigger things. I think probably to criticize from Sophie and Sage's game. But yeah, I think what's interesting about it is that for a long time, a lot of people have said, well, the jury just votes for who they like the most. And I'm like, they really don't. It's overly simple at best, and it's actively wrong.

We sold Miles this year, you know, like it was in it twice this year, possibly more if some people had like an actual friendship with Luke over poverty. But I think what I've always said is like, if the jury like you all or like two people, they might vote for the person they respect more even if they like them less but they still like them and if they don't like you at all

that one's gonna be tricky like if that's someone they like and someone they actively dislike that one's gonna be tricky I think that was true probably for MC and Christina DeWan likes like Savannah more than he should have I don't think you really like that's like MC switched her I'm pretty sure

that was a good deciding point for MC like it definitely was like she said she was leaning I don't think she was leaning to Sage so she and I think that the combination of everything she said she switched I think Alex and Sophie who's names she didn't know their loved ones and Stephen she struggled when she got there, Chelsea I think it was but she yeah I think they probably did like her

I think they probably like Sophie more but I think they respected her game enough and I think that that remains true if you like them enough you can respect them more but it's really never been the person you like more so I'm glad can we put that to bed that's just just so wrong like it's crazy well so Miles and I have this argument where Miles and I argue all the time about a lot of things. But he's always a

if I'm going to be a jury member, I have the right to be emotional and I will vote for the person I want to vote for regardless. And I'm like, no, you would not. You, no, this is not how your brain computes. Like you like people, but then you look at it from a vantage point because you are a player. I thought the same thing until I was like, damn, I don't know if I could vote with someone who couldn't tell me Peter's name. And that would be my right as a juror. And that would be a social game failing. Now, again, I might say, and Peter's like, that's very sweet. And I'm like, maybe I probably still would vote for her.

But I would wrestle. It's enough that I would wrestle. Okay. I'd wrestle. Actually, no, like, I held it to the end of, like, our game. When Kaelin spelled my name wrong, I was like, I will not vote for you. Did you spell his name? Well, you couldn't even give him to win.

No, no, he spelled my name wrong when he voted me out. I was like, you wish you would vote for him to win, but you spell his name wrong. But then you're voting for him. I'm going to spell it with it. But I was just like, hmm, I spoke to him afterward and I was like that, that really like got to me. I was like, Kellen, we have initials on our water bottles. You are like, you know, KL, I am KG.

He's like, so. Yeah. He spelled it with a C. Maybe it wasn't like a cue. I'm like, I was good to say. Yeah. I don't know. But like, yeah, I don't know.

I thought like I liked the question because I think it's a good one. to if you don't like like if you don't get along with a player and you think they have a significant vice I think as a jury member very much highlight it like that's what you're supposed to do so people can make an informed decision um whether like it like yeah I think I would have probably done what Savannah did if not gone yeah cool great story yeah I mean the yeah the fact that Christina's asking that shows a real social game failing in the relationship with Christina however I will also say I've also long argued it's not just the finalist fault if there's been a relationship breakdown there.

And Christina said in ex-interviews that she just likes Savannah from the pregame. So then you're like, well, that's not on Savannah. However, we do know that we've seen Savannah not handle that relationship correctly. We've seen social flaws in Savannah's game and they're valid. I think it's incredibly fitting that we compared her social game to old school path, whose social game has become a lot more comprehensive as she's 20 years older now. and she did much like when Pabdi won Micronesia, she won five votes

and she lost three. I think that that, and I think three very much socially she lost, and I said that that's the Van Lossed and I think that is fitting and I think really does show that this question was like tangibly pointing out a limitation in a way that wasn't just like explaining a social game, it was like

here's a test to see how you've done socially. And it might not be a perfect metric because as you're saying, there are other ways to connect with people, but it gave her like a platform for that that Christina felt she would fail at. I just felt the reaction to it was the most shocking thing to me. It made me feel 100 years old. Like, firstly, from a society perspective,

I was told that expecting that of people was, like, abless, basically, because of, like, you know, and I am neurodivergent, so, like, please. Same! Yeah, and then I also, like, heteronormative. And I get, like, it is about level, it's, no, to be fair, like, I don't know, like, it's about certain family structures, but it's, like, mostly about, like, it doesn't really matter, you know, where you are on that spectrum, it's about knowing things that are important and people that are

important to the people in your life. And the first thing I want to say from a society standpoint is like, this is a virtue. Like I'm probably pretty good at this, but I could be better. You know, I spent the last few days thinking, this is something to strive for. I want to be better at this. I want to know more of the people in my life's loved ones names. Like, that is not something where it's like, it's unfair to expect that of people. And I absolutely refuse to us. I head has to be Twitter brain wrong. But like, I refuse to think that. I think that we'd all be better off, like, learning more, yes, about like the people we love, people we love. Oh, no. I have a, like, a note on my phone, I have like a note app where I've got like, you know, for example, when like Laura

was having her, like, birthday party, I made a note of being like, this is Laura's friend from acting school. This is Laura's friend from high school. This is her aunt. And so if I go to Greek Easter, I need to know Aunt Diana's name. Like, yeah, this is, otherwise it's going to be going me, like, that's the thing. And like, for example, like, knowing what your friend's jobs are also quite important. So I think, like, the reaction is, like, yeah, I think, yeah, and some of the other things were like, oh, it's 26 days. How do you expect people to, like, remember things? We're going, like, stir crazy. We know every, like, tribal voting split from day one to 12, like, 40s. Exactly. We remember everything. Well, that's exactly how I felt is I'm like, you know what? I can name

pretty much the boot orders for most Survivor seasons I should know my friends love one's name you know what I mean and that's what made me think about it's like what really matters in life and I was like actually pushed me further to how important this is the fact that everyone's like I don't need to know that it's like okay whatever if you like if you have things in your life that makes you not able to know that that's almost a separate

thing however it's like a good social ambition like that would make society better and it's like a good thing to strive for in life in the game it's certainly a good thing to strive for as we've seen because it's a part of the game it's a social game It's a thing.

Australian Survivor. Heroes v. Villains. It was Sean Hampson asking Jerry, the question being like, Jerry, you didn't actually make any inroads to connect with me. And you said that there was an age gap. But, you know, like I like the outdoors. You like these things. We have such huge common threads where you just refused to acknowledge it.

So we actually have a lot of things in common. So yeah, okay, cool. No, all right. There you go. Yeah. And I think that lost, like, jury respect for Jerry in that scenario, as well. And I can't remember where else it happened.

I mean, a lot, I'm sure. Yeah. I think this question can be weaponized quite effectively. And it's all about styles of play. Like, again, like, I've said that, you know, my sort of misgivings is I pick out information that I need and I kind of like just gloss over the rest.

If I'm going to mature as a player, I think that is something I would go, okay, right. Yeah, as a human. Yeah. I want to do that as a human being. I don't feel that way. yeah no like and that's the thing I feel like in the in the grand scheme of life we sort of overlook a lot of these things and if survivor is the biggest social experiment we can ever we can do one could argue we should probably be paying attention to these things well a lot of the reaction was like it's out without play out last not out name is a student high I got a lot of those responses that's that's looking at it very just like surface level it's that's not the nitty gritty of it it's it's have you take can like do you respect the players you're playing with enough to go these this is the crux this is the why of your game this is why you're out here these are the people that are important to you

that have shaped the structure of the human you are um i i should i should know this in my head if so logan did it really well when we were at tribes swab where she goes you know i i don't know if um ursula wants to have another kid i don't know like if um christin um what wants to get married to a partner, all of these things. And it was like such an effective pitch where it went, oh, shit, she's been paying attention. And when you're sitting there, you're going, oh, this person cares. Like, even if you were a big strategy nut, you go, oh, that's nice. Yeah.

I mean, there's almost, I mean, in life, there's no downside. In the game, the downside, I guess is like the sage thing where it's like, you knew me so well and you still hurt me. Like everything in the game could be a double-edged sword. Yeah. But I do think, yeah, as you said, it's not really about memorizing it like I need to know. I mean, if that helps you and like, it is something you're striving for, I think that that's probably good. But like, yeah, someone who's who just innately knows you or is taking the time to actively care.

That's what it's trying to show. It's not going to be a perfect way to do that in the structure, but it's trying to show that. And I think that there was kind of a similar reaction when Q asked Ken's or Q asked all of them. What will you spend the money on? And it's funny because I feel like, I feel like Savannah's like the anti-Kenzie as a winner. like Kenzie was so social but she lacked otherwise and Savannah obviously like that was her weak point and Kenzie also like knocked a similar question like out of the park

it was like her crowning glory for me and people like well that's outside the game it's like no how people see you as a human is often the game not always and Savannah covered it in many other ways there are people who might not care about that at all it's player led the players of the jurors is an incredibly diverse format that's why Survivor remain so compelling however yes as much as winning a challenge is

knowing things about your competitors and when I say as much, it could be more or less to varying degrees, depending on the culture of the season and even the cultures of particular jurors, let alone the whole jury. So it was funny because at the time, yeah, people said, that's not part of the game. I'm like, no, that is the game. And I really do think people who are like, this is outside of the game. To me, and I hate to be harsh, like, kind of don't understand what we're doing here on Survivor. I'm like, it cannot be 2025. And like, people are saying that that isn't Survivor. And the crazy thing about it, it is people were like this is like exactly what's wrong with the new era because I think of that like

emotion and the journey and the sob stories and I'm like actually what the new era gets like criticized about is being really super fan heavy and game body this was old school jury fire this was a diversity in values which I think is always good and this was again an old school challenge like that type of social experiment just put 16 people on a beach social connection experiment was kind of all of old schools of value this was incredibly old school. school to me. Again, that's like not necessarily what the game is about because the players decide what it's about, but it certainly is often what the game is about. Certainly social capital is often what fuel strategy. And this is all of that. So from people to say this is completely

our side of the game, even like possibly more than the Q question, I was like, this is very game to me. I think Christina highlighted sort of like maybe a, like maybe, maybe this is how the game will shift going forward. Like, yes, new era has been like superbly game body. So maybe this is highlighting that floor being like, hey, we've gone so far away from like old school survivor where like, you know, it wasn't idols and advantages. It was pure like, you know, social equity that got you through at some point. Maybe that was the highlight. I think like if you have misgivings, you either, like, if I was Savannah and I was like, oh, damn, the chink in my armor is very on display, like how you respond to it is how you respond to it. You double down or you

graciously accept that this is your, you know, this is your vice. But I think that question, like, they're like, I don't know, people on like Facebook groups being like, oh my God, I hate it. God, it made my brain like hurt. I was like, no, I think it's a great question. I think it's a great question. I like it. I like it in all aspects. And like I've always said that like this whole thing about like yeah survivor's algorithmic you can't be emotional i think you can be emotional like emotion is everything in this game it's like how you react how you respond to it not how you react to it and i think like that was the crux of it you know uh christina brought out the emotion in everyone clearly on the jury as well and it was pretty much how savannah responded that would dictate

how everyone voted and it and it did so i think it's a good question it's a target a question and I like it because if you, I like it for all of the reasons that Christina wanted it to be. It was pointing out this, this is a, you know, a failing of Savannah. I don't really, I'm not going to vote for her. Nothing I think she's going to say is going to make me vote for her and I'm going to point it out right now, which I love it as well. It was so compelling in every way. It was compelling the Savannah couldn't do it and it was compelling that that mattered to some and not to others. You know, it was compelling that that might have turned MC off, but at the ultimately like Savannah had done enough in other ways and for other juries that might not be true

or other juries might not care at all like all of that to me is so compelling and the funny thing is like I'm I'm a game bot like I'm the person they would cast on the new era the theater kid the like Disney adult who's a stupid cat and game bot and like and I'm the one who's like I know you have relationships but like the people on the bottom get together take out the person on the top can't you see it it's obvious like I'm and I know I'm like sometimes it's chess like I literally say that And I'm like, but you know, the way that the moves, the pieces are often played on this chessboard is through social capital. So to say it's outside the game, it's crazy to me. And just one last thing on this, I do think it is true that we are more critical of it just as a society of the way we watch women play than men,

anti-social men, but I will say to that as well, I don't think that the solution to that is to like let women off the hook. I think we should be harsher on the anti-social men. I think that's my solution to that is like some of them as well. Like this is, again, a social virtue. It's a game virtue. If men are getting away with it, that's my concern. We should make it even, but like, even critically is. You know, it's a social failing on, like, regardless of, like, gender or anything.

It's a social failing, but I think women are judged on it more harsh because you're, like, you're supposed to know these things. You're the most social amiable creature. You're supposed to know things. How dare you not know someone's mother's name? But whereas, like, and that's the thing. would that question be like targeted at like for example Stephen or like I don't know like Jerry got it as you said yeah so like that to me is a lot on like how bad they're related with Christina was but also possibly I think it's it's kind of less from Christina for me because

it was like Christina really hated Savannah just so funny because a couple of weeks ago they were like this is all an act I'm like it's not you guys don't like each other but um I think I think it's less from Christina that I'm like I'm like yeah as a society we might be like, you weren't a delicate enough winner Savannah. And my thing is

more like, Savannah should be criticized, but so should be. But like, this is my thing about doubling down. Does she need to be delicate?

Like Savannah has sort of like, she doesn't need to be delicate, but she shouldn't have a big of social gaps. Yeah, but she had more than enough to cover for the gaps. Like the nuance of it is why it's interesting.

Mm. Like I think it's, it's like, that's why it's such a good question because it creates so much more dialogue. um in how this game can be played um which is why i think i really like it i agree um it was look it made me think i think everyone go ask one of your friends their loved ones mom's name you know they're at least that i thought the better question would have been name our pets because i'm like

that definitely loses my vote if they don't know peter i'm between it but if they don't know my cats i'm out i'm all the way out i don't care if you play the worst game of all time you're getting my vote i'm pretty sure people didn't know i even had a cat no you talked about other things other than your cat? Can't relate. I don't know. Like, I don't know what I talked about.

Yeah, I can't remember. Like, yeah. If I'm ever a juror, I want people I'm playing with to know. The question's going to be named my cat. Don't even go through the jury. Name my cat specifically. And I'll hold this on it.

I'm not doing. No. Okay. So that was the highlight of final tribal council. I thought, honestly, a lot of the questions were good. Did anything else stand out to about Final Tribal Council that, yeah, you liked or didn't like? Who, oh my God, who asked the question of what, like, is the, should your why dictate? How is your one? Yeah.

I thought that was a good question. And I think, like, I think both Savannah and Sof said, look, this is my why, but no, it shouldn't really, like, dictate why you give me, you know, the money. Like how important why, you know, how important the reason I'm playing this game shouldn't really dictate why you give me money or you give me the vote. And I think that was, again, a good question because it sort of highlights what a jury's temperature is and what their values are as well. And as also what, and how a player is also gauging the jury as well in how they answer. So I thought that was a clever question. Yeah, I mean, it's very Joanne, very heart-led. I mean, I thought they were very considered questions, very like specific to the group, which was good.

I liked, I think it was Sophie's question about the where you were in the trio or duo. And I thought they all did really well with this. I said, I loved what Sof did in terms of being that social component of the trio. Because that would appeal to me because that might be, I really like the strategy stuff. As I say, just coming off that conversation about social game. But I really love what Rizzo did. But, yeah, in my value system, I would, like, against Savannah, who was really, like, protecting physically. I think that, you know, Savannah did answer this well.

She protected physically to protect her whole alliance. And I think that she, you know, compared to other defensive winners, you know, I feel like Rachel was defensive, but, like, in a more diverse way of those defenses. Savannah was very physical, but she, like, maximized strategically on that. And that protection gave them so much ability to do stuff. So I think that Savannah answered that well. But yeah, like for Sophie, I'd be like, yeah, I mean, I do really care about that and that you were making the inroads and we've heard things like a lot of the leaks were getting through because Christina was telling Sophie and then they blame it on like an Alex. So like really key stuff here. And then say, yeah, saying that she was like the strategist. Like again, if it was a with an easier game to defend, it might have gone off better, but I thought this was pretty good. And then like they had to talk about their most persuasive move from MC and their best move, which was interesting. So Zana says the Christina move for persuasiveness, which, I mean, it was a good move. It was very important for them to take out Christina.

Yeah. And I think when she explained the sort of like strategy of getting Christina out and her sort of like not wanting to go to fire with her, I think I like, I like that answer. Because I was like, yeah, cool. Like that, that really makes sense. Everyone else wanted to, you persuaded them to go against, to be honest, their best interests. Yeah. I think it was good. I think another one that would have been really good.

A couple, you know, Savannah won a lot of good options, an easy game to defend. The MC vote. Hearing from a lot of the ex-interviews, it's like, without Savannah there, that wouldn't have gone through. And I think that, you know, there's such a good story there around like, Nate went, we were down in the dumps. I won the challenge. I ended up saving my vote that I used later as the extra vote, even if Jeff thinks it didn't

matter, they still got stuff out of that extra vote, which is rare. And really put the pressure on to take out MC. And at that point, like the dominoes, they didn't just start falling. They started cascading from Hina at the point where MC who was so central was gone. So I think MC was a good option, but she has a couple of options. Yeah, Sage talked about the Stephen vote. And it's hard because, oh, sorry, I think, was it Stephen here? Yes, it was Stephen.

And then later she talks about Sophie, both really difficult games moves to defend. I think they're like, this is specifically what we're angry about is that you were the reason Hina got destroyed. and like sure and like her sort of argument was like yeah I don't know I was thinking about me I was going to get myself and I'm like sure but you were getting yourself to the end with players that were also stacking moves onto their resumes arguably far better than you because you were essentially playing into what they wanted um yeah so I think I get it yes like and then I don't know if they included it but I I would say, like, Sage not mentioning any of the sort of early merge where, and like even before that, where Joanna. Yeah, Shannon. Yeah, I would have gone on to the Shannon stuff, I think. Like middle game, it was all Joanne and Sage.

Like, that was a key sort of, like, turning point in how the landscape of, like, even the end game turned out. So, yeah. Like, I would say I would have just very much. And that's the thing. Maybe she didn't have the awareness to understand that the SOF vote and the Stephen vote would have been looked down upon quite significantly because, I don't know, from my perspective, having stabbed Steven so badly in the back,

I would have been like, you know what, let's gloss over that. Let's look at what I did here. That was great. That was really good. And this sort of happens. Well, she made these moves. She has to speak to them. You know, like, you're not going to be proud of them and you did them like three days ago.

Like they were the wrong moves. And that's what I'm saying. it's a harder game to defend. The Shannon stuff, it's like, I was at the bottom of Uli, and then I really, like, made that cut. Now, that might not look great sitting there with Savannah, who was like your major ops on O'I. But I do think it's like when she cemented herself.

So I think Shannon probably, like, is some of her best, like, actual best stuff. So I'd go with that. And then Sof talks about the Jeremiah vote, which is like kind of a mayor vote. And so long ago, it's hard because I would rather she's doing some of those middle votes again, like, how important her information was.

But that's not really, like, persuasive, which was the question for this. I think the fact that she maybe does, doesn't have that answer of what she was persuasive about, kind of does cement in people's minds. Like she was a follower to Rizzo and Savannah and like that's what they're trying to avoid. So I think this was like a tricky one that probably fed into the bad stuff. But then for the best move,

she goes back to like her social game, which I think was repetitive but fair. Savannah says getting out Sophie. Sorry, not getting out Sophie, getting out Sophie, but first getting in Sophie, pulling over Sophie, which was lethal because that takes out Jawan and then she took out Sophie. so I thought that was really good

and then yeah and then Sage said the Sophie vote and people didn't love that because again it was like the last time that they had a shot at Savannah yeah so that wasn't great

yeah it was funny when like it was sad when when Sage was upset at the after show and Jeff gave her the most nonsensical thing he was like I was once told a quote that it's like if you learn people's stories then you know their stories

Because we all have a story. I'm like, this has nothing to do with anything, Jeff. What is it happening right now? And that's why I was just like, oh, thank you so much, Jeff. And I'm like, what? I didn't get any of that. Maybe, maybe that was edited out. Oh, like, the Jeffness of it all, like, frustrates me beyond belief.

But it's, yeah, that can we get rid of that, corny? Whatever that was. The after show in general or Jeff? Yes, that as well. The after show? Oh, my God. That is like nightmare. fuel like could you imagine doing an after show immediately after like you lost a million dollars

um and then have to sit with a jury that have absolutely shredded you um and being like cool this this is this is great let's drink champagne i i would honestly like you know be on the next boat home yeah it um it's also upsetting because it's like if they were going to ask one thing at the after shows you know what i would have really liked even take christina out of it if rizzo wins fire what are the votes? Like even without Rizzo being able to campaign at a final tribal council which is kind of unfair

then we know but instead they can all be an exit interviews being like no I would like well this is the thing I feel like the only like and this is from like being in jury and like speaking to people

what you can only like believe is what people say immediately after the after show yes that's like the best part about the after show is that they have the opportunity to do that and they didn't ask It's so irritating to me. I'm like, this is why here.

Because like once you go back home and like your brain sort of like untangles itself, like it's a completely different story. So that is the only thing that you do in an afterward. What would you have done if the final three was this? And you put a show of hand and you go, damn, this is great. That's it. And then everyone goes home and has the shower. But then we have to find out about Jake's kid again.

And I'm like, the baby's jacks. I'm trying to commit loved ones. Not the shakes my loved one, but I'm like, chat, check, check, check, trying to get it. So, yeah, I mean, I feel like the author show, at that point, I was like, I'm still really reeling from Christina's question. I felt bad for Sage because she, like, clearly she was feeling it. I think the biggest thing about the author show was obviously the 50 preview. What did you think of that? I loved it at the start, beware you got coach Psychobabble, like, oh, it was.

was I loved that. And then like just a pan to Colby and then the back of Ozzy's head, which I think a lot of people thought were Shambo. Poor Ozzy. He doesn't look great. I mean, like he's, he kind of looks like how I expected Colby. But like Colby was looking good, you know. Colby looks good.

I remember texting like, I don't know who I texted. I think I texted like either Laura or Myel I was out and I was just like oh damn Kobe all right cool still got it and then and then immediate flash to Ozzie and I went oh okay oh okay poor Ozzy it hasn't been that long we saw him in 2017 and he didn't look that bad I mean not that he he looks good now we're not judging we're not judging it was it was just an unfair like lighting I think it's hard because they put him in the same camo shirt it's like we're going to be comparing him to what he was got what Ozzy wasn't we on 20 years ago you know like yeah I was I was literally

The first time I saw Ozzy, I was in middle school. So, you know. Like, no mention of Genevieve. Where is Genevieve? There's, like, a tiny, like, segment of her under, like, one of the challenge, but Genevies not. Emily flipping. Not even, like.

Yeah. I mean, from Genevieve, like, four episodes last season she was on to get the screen time. So we kind of, if you're a Genevieve fan, you're used to it. But I suppose Genevieve is like, you know, she has, she's only just got an Instagram, like, I think, like, a week ago. It was a few days ago, yeah. Yeah. So maybe that's sort of, like, a mirror image of, like,

what her social media presence has been. But like, and like it started off well. I was like, cool, kind of like Australia versus the world with all the airport shots. Yeah, that's why we did it first. Yeah. I was like, hmm, are you getting some inspo? And then, then I was like, I think just angry with Mr. Beast and

Billy Boomerang, whatever it was. Yeah, this boomerang idol. Yeah. and apparently like Zach Brown, why? Does Zach Brown watch Survivor? I don't know. Isn't he like a musician?

He's like a country, like he's just things. Isn't it Zach Brian? Is it Zach Brian or Zach Brown? I don't know. Which one it is? Zach Ryan? Someone told me, I thought it was the musician. Who's Zach Brown?

Okay. Someone tell me what Zach Brown is. I don't actually know if it's that. Oh, he is to sing a singer-songwriter. Okay. Zach Bryan or Zach Brown? Zach Brown. Oh, Zach Brown.

Okay. Oh, he thinks... No, no, Zach Brown sings chicken fried. Do you know? No? I'm so old. Don't you hearing me? I'm like, get off your phones and connect with your fellow man.

Uh, cold beer on a Friday night. A pair of jeans are fit just right. No? Okay, no mind. No, but keep going. Um, I don't know this person. I'm old. I barely know Billy Eilish, okay?

I'm like, that's all. Shannon, we're like the same age, I think. Well, I, I'm sorry. I don't have to break it to you. I was about to say, like, you know, maybe I'm chronically online, but you're also chronically online. I am chronically online,

but I'm very specifically chronically online. I'm chronically online. Like, people will tell me that it's ablest to, or heteronormative to expect, you know, people to know things about their friends. That's my level, but I don't know. Because Peter and I did a podcast, and then I went home about social media

and he was like, are the kids still recrolling? I'm like, we're 80 years old. It passed so quickly. I've really enjoyed these many decades with you. No, no, no, no. And I don't know if they are. Yeah. They're not.

They're not. They're not. But no, they're not. I don't think so. No one's your crawling anymore. I don't think so. At least not on my TikTok algorithm. That got phased out. The crazy thing about the celebrity cameos

is I feel like we knew so much about 50. Like, we knew the whole cast ages ago. Yeah. into the draft, we, you know, knew about hands of the, you know, it's in the hands of the fans. We voted on, well, I didn't vote. Hands of the fans. Yeah. Did anyone even have, like, the faintest idea of the celebrity thing?

Because I hadn't heard one thing. So it was shocking. Obviously, it was surprising. I didn't expect a surprise at all. And I certainly didn't expect that surprise. I think what's hard for me about the 50 preview and what might be true of 50 in general is there's a lot of good stuff. But that's almost more unfortunate. Because you know what I mean? It's like, well, this is, you know, like we have Christian and

Mike Wyatt and I love Surrey so much and like Q's already making me laugh and Angelina's back and it's like, but then there are some casting decisions where you're like, why? And then the celebrity came out and it's like maybe it would be better if it was just all bad. But instead it's like, no, you're going to wreck other things that I, that are important to me. You know, like, why is Surrey, it's Surrey going to be like there with like, it's we're going to get screwed over by the Billy Elish Broomerang Idol? Because like, it used to be like a country, you know? Like, we used to we had the Tyler Perry Idol but like that was that was abysmal that was terrible and that and didn't

just say he wasn't going to do it again because it was so bad but like the ilish boomerang idol is different i don't know but this is the thing i i i don't know if this is just like the heralding advantage get in where seri gets boomeranged on an idle idling and it'll be our fault as Australians. Why? The boomerang. I don't know. Maybe like I don't, I don't get it.

Apparently, um, Mr. Beast or whatever his name is, is a big Survivor fan. I barely know Mr. Beast. I don't know. This is, I've aged out of Survivor. It's so upsetting. It's for so many different reasons as explained in this podcast. I've aged out of Twitter.

I've aged out of Survivor. It's, I think it's like the mom energy that I'm bringing now. Like, it's sad, but it's true. like I don't even and yeah I just but like I hate it too so I don't know if we're both aging out like I'm we are car I don't know how to tell it to you more politely okay no I am I am 27 I refuse to believe that I'm in my early 30s I'm 27 and I will believe that until I someone tells me otherwise

I'm telling you no I will get I haven't gotten Botox but I will I will make get enough Botox that my face doesn't move you can't reverse what's happening it's done it was done like it's not like a boomerang idol aging's not like a billy iish boomerang idol but the thing is we do know for certain now i think we thought it with the mike white stuff ironically he's on the season and like the tyler peri idol like we know how to fix the show someone in the community we must pick the most talented among us they will become a famous person they will get in jeff's ear that is it That's why I'm like, I'm going to pick up the guitar again.

Okay, please buy my single. It's a single called like Two Tribes. Two tribes are better than three. And that's going to be, we can all do it. I think we just pick the most talented person and that person becomes famous and that person fixes the show. But like if we're aging out of Survivor, surely Jeff is aging out of Survivor. Oh, no, no, no, because Jeff is like desperately clawing on. I'm not. I'm happy. I know. I'm like, get off your phone. And I'm on my phone all the time, but I'm like, go outside, kids. Talk to your neighbors.

Remember their names. Yeah. Remember their. Yeah. Dad's name. And I stand by it. And I'm like, it's the fact that I'm like, wow, people don't understand Survivor and there's like a social watch. I'm like at that point. It's basically like the, I don't know, it feels like we've like TikTokified Survivor. And I, I, hey, I. it here. Yeah, it's literally, this was a whole thing. And I really enjoy Sage. I relate to Sage in many ways. But I said this when Sage, like, rejected Shannon's hug that I feel like, I also don't understand the, like, recovering people pleaser thing.

I think it's someone who's, like, a current people pleaser. I'm like, this kind of just gives us an excuse to, like, not be nice to other people. And I'm like, talk to your neighbors. Like, yeah, I think it's a me thing. I think it's where I'm at in my life. But this is all beyond me. I'm not going to lie to you. This is all well beyond.

me i know jimmy fallon um but i'm the only like maybe i'm excited about the but if christian new becky gets out because of jimmy phallon i will like boycott jimmy phallon for the rest of my are you currently watching jimmy felon i've watched late night television i don't know i'm chronically on i watch tv i'm chronically everywhere nothing i do isn't chronic that's what it is it's like everything i do is fine don't do anything not chronically um yeah all right well Now I feel bad at myself and my age. Maybe we should not know the loved one's name. No, it's okay.

Maybe we should learn more about Zach Brown. What are his loved ones names? I knew one song. I knew one song. He married Kelly. Who? Oh, no, sorry, they're already divorced. Oh, that's so unfortunate.

I was only in 2023. I can't keep up. This is why it's hard. It's like he's now dating Kendra Scott and they're engaged. Okay, great. we know exactly. So this is talk to your pop stars. You never know when they're going to fix a survivor or break it. So they're there. But I don't like, but, but, but Mike White did say it was kind of like a high school reunion or a massacre and I'm clutching at the word massacre because

I can't like, I want it to be like they were so I think this, maybe this is me, but they were like sort of like nods to winners at war with the final challenge because Nat Anderson did the whole like bored thing and the the bald thing as well. She put Sarah Lascina and Tony into fire, kind of reminiscent of Rizzo and Savannah going into fire. So I was like, cool, maybe those are the little nods. And 40, like, I think 40 when it came out, I didn't sort of like, I don't know. But then watching 40 back, I've grown to appreciate it.

And I'm hoping 50 is. like just a all-out battle royale of like all of these like you know people that have maybe aged out of survivor hitting like going head on with the gen z but the kids they should rickroll them they wouldn't even know what hit them don't be like what yeah i mean survive here retirees versus gen z yeah um yeah that well i mean it's yeah we're a whole generation up from where we were which is so upsetting um i think I think as well, I loved, you know, I loved winners at war, and that had edge of extinction. So no Billy Elish boomerang idol is going to get me, but it's the cast that will get you.

And I still have my questions. But let's see how 50 goes. Should we get to the chizzy? Before we get to 50, we have to actually crown a chizzy winner and actually don't know how this is going to go. Take away Jacob's Sager Weinstein and MC Color. One, two, three. One, one, one, three, one, one, two, one, three. Let's get it's getting kind of chisie

Three, two, one All right So I'm going to give mine first Because then you're going to decide the winner I'll give three points to Savannah She got it done well She's a very physical winner Which isn't again my value system

But that's not what matters But she also like maximized physically Yeah, she is someone who was protected from six on And many other times But yeah, I think the She used that in her alliance more than you would think one could do. She had one big gap at the Nate vote and then otherwise very much fought from the bottom,

very much a defensive win, but they just wielded it so offensively. And yes, Hina, they didn't do great, right? But you still have to credit what Savannah and Rizzo and Sophie all did together and what Savannah was able to pull off alone, even being such a big target. So I'll give three points to Savannah, even though the question wasn't great. She needed more than enough to cover for that. I'll guess two votes was Sophie. The Christina was unfortunate, but it's again, like, that was, the bed was made

because she didn't actually have the power in that vote. And that's like the sins of last week. I think she wants some votes that she seemed to win MC's vote at Tribal Council. I kind of wondered, yeah, if Sage lost Christina's votes. Like, maybe she won both votes at Tribal Council that she got. I think she was the best across the board at final tribal council. like sage was floundering on a difficult game to defend and savannah still like was otherwise very good but like that one question was like obviously most of what we talked about tonight so

um i think that we can give that to sophie and i'm going to give one point to christina um yeah which i think you know the fire skills were good to know i didn't know that there's a pathway here where she takes our savannah in fire apparently even if she won the challenge she put herself in to do it like she's thinking on that level um i don't know that there's a will there but there's something there more than I thought whereas like I can't give a point to sage I feel because I feel like she was drawing even deader than we thought and then Rizzo either like had to risk it all on fire it's like how do we get there or he didn't have to and he did for no reason when the better move was keeping Christina and we think that there was more

to be done with the idol and that being his big flashy thing to lead him to the win rather than doing it at fire which he couldn't pull off like he bet it all on something he should have been a lot better at in fire so um those are my points what are your point and then I'm going to look at the charts and we're going to see who wins. So I'm, okay, my three is going to go to like Savannah. Mainly, mainly because she was a player at the start I did not think I would like.

And I grew to respect her style of play. And I think in the new era, we haven't had her style of play and her sort of like, not that she had like a, a villain-esque edit, but we haven't had that sort of sharp edges in like the, you know, PG-13 family values survivor that we've had in the near era. So, and I appreciated how she answered her questions. I appreciated that she acknowledged things. And she also sort of hammered in when she needed to.

She spearheaded the persuading everyone to vote for Christina when it benefited her. Yeah, all in all. The final final final. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And all in all. like I think she and like and I think another thing of her wife she's like I'm gonna be selfish I'm out for number one and I'm number one and I was like go girl cool you got me so I respected that three for her I'm gonna give two to Christina oh I thought my one was shocking no I'm gonna give her two mainly I don't know if I'm playing like I'm giving her points for her jury point you're really not meant too but it's all right oh well it's okay sorry

I don't know. I feel like because it created so much dialogue, I kind of have to. I'm sorry, I'm going to break the rules. And like the fire montage alone. Just my God, Christina, one spark and she had things going. Her sort of pitching things about Sage and sort of being like, oh, Sage, are you weaponizing all of this emotional thing you're doing? And I thought that was, I don't know if that was what she intended to do, but I was like, cool, good, good attempt. yeah and she sort of like tried to barrack for herself um so yeah a few didn't work but i think all in all and like she fell on like she fell so many times yeah also not usually what we give chizzy points for but yeah not not for falling down but like no yeah for getting back up again they're never going to get down yeah um so i don't know like i i'm giving christina some grace and then sof sof gets one cool uh okay Well, that's interesting Because that means

So we've just crowned the new Chizzy winner Who was not a leader coming into this week Who's that? Savannah won the Chizzy. Savannah got 28 points. Rizzo was on 26 but didn't get any this week And I was specifically not rigging it That's why I gave it to you second

Not that I've ever rigged it before. Sophie then got 23. Sage left on 13 and Christina went up to four She was on one before this week. We gave her three in the first. So we came from the phone. Well, no, I don't know.

I cheated, but I'm going to give. That's my 40. But no, I think it's a, yeah, it was a good season. Oh, and Savannah also got a fishy. Finally. Well, Savannah, yeah, she won the Chizzy this week. Better luck next time, Rizzo, literally, we'll be playing again imminently. That'll be your chizzy season.

But Savannah won the game and she won the chizzy. And I loved a lot of what Rizzo was doing. But I think that he, it was difficult not for himself and for us not knowing where the jury sat with it, that he felt he needed more to give the jury is why he lost the game. Again, whether that was accurate or a misread, both of those are things to criticize because in a world where he feels like the jury are feeling him the way they were Savannah, he can keep Christina in and he would win, you know? Yeah. So those jury questions really, even though he didn't make a double final tribal council, they did actually play out because it caused him to. take out Christina, which always gave Zavana a better chance of not just taking him out, but making it to the end to win. Yeah. And that's what I also didn't understand. I was like,

Rizzo, like, why, why are you putting yourself this direction? Like, I thought you had a good game. You clearly think you have a good game. So, um, but again, I don't know where the votes would have gone. Um, but all in all, I think 49's been, been a journey. And I've, I'm glad I sort of came in at the end to like experience it as well and I'd like and this is this is my gripe with new era mechanics is because these players are all interesting and given opportunity and time and nuance um they do come out um as good game players and actually do things that are interesting and divisive it's just that it's so clunky like they're yeah they're just playing against so much yeah look this 49 has been like me like i'm like christina in that challenge just falling down

over and over with me of 49 but look it's always been fun to cover um i'm glad we can get to 50 because the show seems to want us to get to 50 again because i feel like this has been like the precursor to that um probably i guess like what somo was in heroes versus wins i can't like think back that far but it was like meet russell he's gonna he's gonna be very important soon on like a landmark season um so i kind of feel like that's we were at with that. Yeah. Karin, where can people find what you're doing?

I'm not, well, yeah, you can find me on my Instagram. I'm vaguely on Twitter as well. And yeah, I'm not doing vaguely on Twitter. Not me, only chronically. No, you're chronically. I'm vaguely. Yeah, I might do

a few, I mean, I'm potentially doing some coverage for Australian traders when And it comes out. But we shall see. It should be fun. Well, we got some questions around what the coverage will look like for me next year.

This might very well be my last US Survivor podcast for a while. Recap, I should say. I have another one plan for next week. We'll talk about it. But yeah, I'm having a baby right around the 50 premiere. A lot of cameos into that type of life. And it's going to be really hard to cover 50. I don't know what that looks like.

perfect well, certainly not weekly coverage. My perfect world, it's like, I just hop in every few weeks, do something, rant about Jimmy Fallon, find out who Zach Brown is. He's engaged to Kendra, everyone remember, and talk about the season, but I don't know what that looks like. I really appreciate everyone who checks out Survivor Global. I know there's a lot of US coverage on the network and beyond, so we really appreciate the Survivor Global Loyalist and I'm going to do what I can. Will there be weekly cheesy points like no but you know like if i can post put stuff online i'll definitely be watching because i hear that when you have a newborn you watch a lot of tv but like i don't know if i can podcast and yeah i'll be um i'll do what i can i'll post whatever i can i'll just drop in

whenever i can that's why you should follow me as jenna gay so you don't miss what i'm doing because i don't even know what that'll be bigger issue australian survival will likely be on at that time i assume around mid-february it will start i'm hoping it doesn't there are rumors that like the traders will be first That's what I've heard as well. Yeah, but like, I don't think it's true. And, like, the players desperately don't want it to be true. And I'm like, I hope that happens.

But apparently, no, but apparently Traders has been so good that they're going to. I know. I know. Yeah, I mean, in a perfect world, like, Traders is on in February and Survivors on in, like, July. That would be great because I'm having a baby in February. So, yeah. Yeah, but, like, I'm going to start doing Australian survival. I'll get that.

You'll get me for the preseason, the most important part of a season. And then the first bit. Right. And then the recap bitch is. and alumni and everything, we'll have you covered. There will definitely be episodic recaps. There'll be chizzy points. All of that will be here on this feed.

But I, again, will hopefully drop in where I can. I don't know what that looks like. But we appreciate all the listeners at all times, just letting you guys know what's happening with that. In terms of other stuff, yeah, next week I'm doing a new era winner ranking. Oh, they sent out a form that I retweeted and reposted on Blue Sky, where you can rank the new era winners. and we're going to talk about it.

I think that it's going to be heavily weighted towards the form because I'm like, we're going to get death threats. So, yeah, so fill out that form. I also filled it out. I'm like, am I allowed to fill this out? And I did. So I can talk about Savannah's win. And I'm excited to talk more about that in that context

in terms of newer winner rankings. I haven't filled the form because I haven't watched enough new era. Actually, no, that's a lie. What have I not watched? Anyway. Regardless. Pull it out. Put Marianne super high.

That's all I ask. Yeah, so we're doing that. And then I wanted to thank everyone. I've gotten some really lovely messages this week after what happened in Bondi last weekend. And thank you all for that. Peter and I on Gus and Around, we talk about our lives, you know, hopefully every week. But there's been some delays, mainly like that happened. And we talked about that and our experience of that and how we're feeling on Gus and around this week.

We also talked about the social media ban for under 16s, which is where I felt like 100 years old. And I was like, these kids. Yeah, so that's been gussing around. If you have some time over the break and you want to check out something not Survivor-related, there are 11 episodes of Gussing Around. So you might want to catch up on that. That's it.

That's all to tell the people. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to lose my opportunity to talk to the people when I don't podcast and just like getting it in there. But I'm podcasting again next week. So, you know. You have to introduce the baby to Survivor. like, I feel like, you know, those big headphones you can put over? She knows.

Yeah. But then, like, you, she needs to load, like, the soundtrack. Like, the soundtrack needs to play. So, like, you know. She hears Taylor Swift. She hears a lot of Hamilton. She's watching a lot of Survivor. She listens to me podcast.

I mean, she watched 49 from the womb. And Shannon said, she remembers that. So maybe she'll, you think she'll, like, be born and be like, that season wasn't good. I don't get the Survivor thing. I don't think that was good. But she also watched the movie world, actually. First words are secret. No, first words should not be secret.

She'd be like, 49 wasn't good. I'm like, you're my child. I knew it, yes. Very proud of you. And we will remember her name. Yeah. And you're guessing. And you better.

I'm not going to play around with that. But yeah, Karen, this was so much fun. Such a great way to end the season. Thank you so much for being my guest and doing it on no sleep and you were away. I'm so glad I got to do it because it was such a great time. No, likewise, had fun. And I think I function best on no sleep. It was the same person.

So bizarre. But thank you so much. Thank you all for listening to everything, the season. Thank you to our team behind the scenes. And I will see you next time. Bye. Try a sleep. The adventure of a lifetime.

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