RHAP: We Know Survivor - Talking with T-Bird: Shambo Waters

Episode Date: August 18, 2025

Talking with T-Bird: Shambo Waters The time has come for the return of “Talking with T-Bird.” Each episode, Rob Cesternino (@robcesternino) and Survivor: Africa‘s Teresa “T-Bird” Cooper (@tbirdcooper) will catch up with a former Survivor player and talk about anything and take listener questions. Talking with T-Bird welcomes Shannon “Shambo” Waters from Survivor: Samoa in this […]

If you stay here and listen, your life will never be the same. Because we're talking with T-Bird now. And this T-Bird you cannot change. Oh, this teabird you cannot change. And things might get pretty strange. Yes, that's right. Talking with Teabird is back for season. Who even knows at this point?

What was it? Season what? Season six. Oh, like the Amazon. Season six. We're so back. We're back. And we've got such a great one for you here.

today as we're going to catch up with Shannon Shambo Waters from Survivor, Samoa here, and what a coup de grace here for the queen of tracking down the survivors. It's Teresa T-Bird Cooper. Yes. So, season six premiere with Shannon, it has taken me shimbo. You need the buff bandana to really make the Shambo look. Well, anyway, I've got to hear. Anyway, season 6 premiere, it has taken me over six years to get her, so I think this could not be more appropriate. Yeah.

I'm really excited. Yes, this was way back when, when Tiberd and I first started talking with T-Bird and T-Bird like, who are the people you want to hear from? I'm sure Shambo was one of the people that were early on in the list, and that T-Bird, there has been so many people in like tea birds archives that she has like written letters to gone back and forth and shambo is one of the people that you have spent the most time trying to track down yes yes yes okay yes yes okay and you finally yes and you finally got shambo to agree to come on with us and she'll be here with us.

Anything you want to say about the chase for Shambo? No. I mean, I think it's, you know, she just, everybody's survivor experience is different. And so I think she wasn't sure. She didn't want to be, I guess what they say, blindsided with questions. She didn't want to answer. Yes. Usually, Rob, I don't like to talk to our guest much at all, if any, other than maybe texting

or before we actually do the interview. because I want it to be fresh. Well, I taught with Shambo for, again, over the last six years, but it was never about the podcast. It was just really just getting to know her and what a unique and very awesome person she was. So I think we just needed to build that trust. So she knew that.

Well, you are the best in the game at getting people to feel comfortable enough to come on and talk with us. So really, you're the MVP. That's why the podcast is called Talking with Teabberg. It's been a minute since we've done talking with T-Bird. I know you've got a few lined up for this summer. How's everything going in your world, T-Bird? Everything's going good.

Doing a little bit, a lot of flying. It's the summer. So I do a lot of flying in the summer. Hey, have you done anything fun or crazy or exciting this summer? It's such a busy summer. It's such a crazy summer. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, anyway, if it's cool today in this room, sometimes it gets cool in the summer. Glenn's got that hair and cranked up. Just in case. case it gets cool. I got a little jacket here. I can put up. Yes. It looks very warm. Yeah, just in case. So back any memories? Yes, you look at a very warm and toasty. Yep. Okay. Anyway, so I'm excited. These and six. Hey, Big Brother. Yeah, you're watching Big Brother? Yeah. I started watching a few years back. Delta Flight attendant was on there, so I kind of got locked in. Yeah. I mean, actually

Do you have a favorite this season? You know, I like the underdog. So who's that? Kianu? Kianu. I'm pulling for the underdog. I can't, you know. Yeah, I like Kianu.

I like Ava, too. She's very eccentric. She's got a crazy fun personality. But yeah, I'm pulling for the underdog, so I'm pulling for Kianu right now. So I got you. Any favorite? I mean, Rachel's been a long time friend of the podcast. Yeah.

Yep. though also i heard you on a delta flight here recently yes i did i was uh look i've done a lot of flying yes recently i did uh fly delta that was already 15 year anniversary and Nicole and I flew Delta to Paris lovely flight it looked like a great great trip yeah pictures i saw from you and Nicole it looked great okay but it was very romantic but I'm done traveling now for the summer and now we're locked in and we're going to get some talking with T-Bird in and the first of which we have Shambo and let's go ahead, T-Bird. Are you ready? Let's bring in Shambo. Our guest today played on the 19th season Survivor Samoa. Her life experiences up to her then 45 years

would definitely prepare her for this physically demanding adventure. She is one of nine kids from Renton, Washington, about 11 miles from Seattle, and has a deep loyalty for family and friends. She has described herself as a trucker, logger, motorcycle guy. That's a chick. As a kid, she would cut and split a cord of wood just to get off restriction. She was voted most athletic in her senior graduating class and voted class comedian. You don't have to talk to this second generation Marine long to know that her strong eccentric personality comes from her solid roots given to her by her mom, who coached her in soccer from seven years old, who she says is her role model and her hero. And her dad, also a Marine who taught her a strong work ethic and passion

for cooking. She loves her toys. She has had a tractor since she was a kid. She is a Harley lover, her favorite named Chunky and also boat and jet ski owner. She has a passion for cooking and went into the Marine Corps to become a chef and became an executive chef. She has a strong

love for dogs, rescuing them and placing them in loving home over the years. And she has a very strong dislike for bullies. She will tell you that every kid needs a hero. And after listening and talking with her,

You quickly get the impression that she is that hero. She lost 70 pounds, four pants sizes when preparing to play Survivor. She says she might stretch a story, but whatever she does, she will do it honorably for not only herself and her family, but also for the U.S. Marines. The one word I would use to describe our guest today as our sixth year friendship has evolved is passionate. everything she does is with great passion. Her favorite quote, Life's most persistent and urgent question is, what are you doing for others?

By Martin Luther King Jr. I welcome the one, the only amazing woman who as a 10-year-old kid was obsessed with the rocking movies, which she has seen at least 100 times, and who is still rocking. signature 1984 mullet, Shannon, Shambo Waters. It's the eye of the tiger.

It's the thrill of the fight. Rising up to the challenge of our rival. It's the last known survivor at the end of the night. Do, do, do, do, do, do, da, da, da, da, da. Ha ha ha ha. I had a feeling you might play my song yes the appropriately survivor

I have the tiger isn't that crazy yeah full circle destiny yeah sham is pretty crazy so yesterday rob I talked to shambo trying to finalize everything sham are you digging on my mullet I forgot to put it on when I was doing your intro it's kind of crooked I wish my hair was still that color.

Anyway, so anyway, Rob, I was talking to her. I had my mom with me and she, I didn't mention yet that we wanted to do, you know, the video because I didn't want to throw everything out on one time. And she's like, I don't know. I look so terrible and I don't feel good. And then my mom who's with me, you know, at 84 has all her makeup on. She's giving Shambo makeup tips that she just needs to put on some red lipstick. and it was priceless.

I said, Mom, and then, of course, Shambo said she's never worn makeup, like basically the day and fine. So anyway, hey, Shambo. Thanks for coming. Thanks for being here. You're very welcome. Thank you for having me. You guys are really sweet for pursuing me. I was just kind of chilling, doing my own thing, post-survivor, and it's been an honest to God blessing to have been on the show and be able to do.

things like, you know, raise awareness for at-risk teens and just, I mean, so many different things that came my way due to being on the show and people thinking, who is this big mouth knucklehead? My God. I never met anybody like her before. The biggest word that people have called me in my life is gregarious, which I had no idea what the hell that meant. I had to look it up. So this was... It's not feckless. I'll tell you that. It's certainly not. Yeah. Well.

And, you know, it's, it's a blessing to have been given a stage to help in all the ways that, you know, I've been allowed to participate. Well, Shambo, it's so nice to have you here. And I really do appreciate you taking a chance in coming here. I know that you and T-Bird have been in correspondence for many, many years. And so I really do very, I'm very grateful that you decided to finally take us up on this invitation. You're really cute with that little goatee you got going on. Oh, thank you. And I love a goatee.

Yeah? Yeah. All right. Well, shame of flattery will get you everywhere here on RHAP. But we're so thrilled to have you here. Thank you. And I'm sure that the fans will be too. Oh, yeah.

Shembo, you were 45. Why did you say, I want to do this? Tell me about your audition process. What was your thought process going into it? Well, Eva and I were separated, and she really did not want me going on Survivor, which just made me want to do it, truth be told, you know how that goes. You want this. They want that.

You're like, no, I'm going to do what I want to do. So that was the beginning of it. And then my friend Trina came over and did the first video. And I was being a bit of a knucklehead and that, oh my gosh, if you could see that video, you would probably laugh your face off. But long story short, there was some motorcycle riding in there. There was some flambang with a giant walk in my kitchen, adding brandy to it and all colorful vegetables. And I was throwing them like 18 inches high.

It was hitting my hood and coming down. And then I was doing a weapons demonstration out in the grass. and then my two dogs came and ran and I was getting bitten with mosquitoes and I was slapping my arms. So it's like, pick me, Survivor. You have never had a former woman Marine and these are real, 44 knees.

And I mean, three days later, after sending the VCR tape in, I got a phone call from somebody named Brett. I was running on the treadmill. I just jumped off the treadmill. I said, hey, this is Shan. Hey, Shannon, you look great on tape. We love your energy. You're hilarious. We want to fly out to L.A. And I said, okay,

groovy. Let's do it. Yeah. So that's kind of what happened. They had me send one more video. I went to L.A. That was a little bit jinky. I was... In what way? Well, I was a two pack a day smoker and they wanted to lock me into a hotel room. And I was like, whatever. So I had the taxi cab driver from the airport because I didn't know where the heck I was going. I don't know. L.A. am from Seattle. I had him stop at a store and I got a six pack of Heineken and a bottle of Berringer wine because I figured I'm going to be here for a week. I'm going to need something to drink. And it was four days before my 45th birthday. So I'm being sequestered in a hotel room, not going to smoke, not going to drink, not going to be with my friends, not going to be with

my family. And I was like, I don't know about this. I was a little, you know, I wasn't too sure what the whole process was going to be. So I get my luggage in my room and you're not allowed to talk to anyone or look at anyone. And there's handlers that help you. You guys know you were both on the show, the process. It's probably still the same as it was, you know, 16 years ago for me. So I went to my hotel room and I grabbed a fact of myself. cigarettes and a lighter and put some shorts on because it was hot here and hot there in L.A. And two men in black walked up to me. And I'm eyeballing them, right?

Because I'm always aware of my surroundings. This is kind of how I am. And they're like, hey, I'm like, what? And they're like, you need to come in the hotel now. You're not allowed. I said, I don't even know who you are. You need to step off. I don't even know who you guys are.

You need to step off. And they just started laughing. They're like, oh, my God, this chick's hilarious. They said, Shannon Waters, we are with, I think they said the program or something like that. Oh, my God, I'm being converted or brought into a, I don't even know what. So they walked me in the hotel and they said, you need to go upstairs the second floor with us. There's going to be about nine or 10 or 11 people in the room and they need to talk to you about the rules. And I'm like, rules.

these people are civilians. This is hilarious. So they brought me in this room and there was one lady and she was kind of, you can tell she was in charge and she was flipping her hair and I was like, you can play at that game because my mullet was like down past my pants at that time. So they said, first off, if you're serious about being on Survivor, you need to quit smoking right now. I said, really? I said, you want me to go through a week of interviews and do like, like college entrance exams and go work out in gym with a bunch of strangers in front of people and go swimming. And I'm not going to smoke. You people have lost your damn mind. I said, this is what's going to happen. You're going to get me a smoking room, and you're going to get me a smoking room

right now, and I want a balcony. And I will quit smoking if I get cast on Survivor. And they said, well, you're going to have to quit 30 days before you go, and you can't use any of those patches or those purple pills or then they're talking about all this stuff that I have no idea about because I'm a smoker right yeah at this time whatsoever so long story short I got my room I got my balcony yeah and you got cast yeah well on day four somebody knocked on the door and they said hey we need you to go downstairs and I said I'm not going downstairs until I talked to somebody that's upstairs who's in charge because my birthday is tomorrow. And if I don't have a German chocolate cake and at least one or two Heineken beers, because I already ran out of my Heineken's that I bought on the way

here, I'm not going on your show. And they were like, we'll get back to you. They shut the door and I was to laugh. And I'm like, yeah, they didn't grow up in my family. If you don't have an opinion, oh, Lord, have mercy. You better stand by. You better say what you want. You better grab that last pork chop i'm just kidding there was always plenty of food on the table you can tell yeah yeah you got to have an opinion in life and you need to state what your purpose is so people will follow you so that you can be a leader and you can grant aid it's just the way it is could you tell when you were saying those things to them that they were really liking that that was stuff that was you That was really winning you over to them.

No, I was just really, really, really being me. I was not sleeping in my bed. I have massive body damage. Not sleeping in my bed was the worst part of going to the LA interviews because I had a really hard bed in the smoking room, but I wasn't going to complain about it. So I just took all the pillows off both beds and put them underneath the sheets and made like a little squishy quilt thing.

Yeah. Yeah. so that that was really helpful but yeah I didn't really understand how the how the process worked until I think it was like day two or three I think it was the third day we we all got in like big white vans and we got brought to some kind of a big beige warehouse that had stairs on the left hand side and they made us all line up and then they'd call us one at a time and I think I think I was like the, I think I was like the ninth. Yeah, I was. I was the ninth person called and I was like, oh, this bad luck because I'm number eight out of nine kids. I should have been number eight. So I go in there and there's a giant stage and there's probably, I don't know, 40, 50 people. And it's really dark, but you can see all the people. And there's like a light and a microphone on the stage. And I'm like, oh, okay, this is good stuff for me because I can tell a story. Sometimes, I'll fib a little bit just to make it a little bit better, but it's basically true.

But this story that I told them was factual, and they loved it. They ate it up, and they were like, one other person asked me another question after that. Wait, what was the story you told them? The story was, the lady that was in the front row, she had a, she had like a crop shirt that was black, and she was really buff and brown, and she was cool looking. That's what I remember. And then there was a guy sitting next to her that had a very very. vest on that was like yellow and blue plaid i was just like taking a picture of what i was seeing

right so the lady goes okay and she turns to the guy and he grabs the microphone he goes tell us a story or an incident which you perceive to be one of the greatest days of your life i said oh that's cakewalk so this was april 28th because my birthday's april 29th that's why i know what day it was because the next day was my birthday. And on the 22nd of January, three months earlier, roll the clock back, my name gets called for salesman of the year of a company of 500 people that has only ever had one woman, Lori Rhodes, 11 years earlier, who was a salesman of the year, who was one of my heroes. And I got up there and I told the story about this incident. and Tim Irie, my VP of Cells, precious dear friend of mine, wonderful family man with son and a daughter and his wife is amazing.

So Tim and I worked outside cells together at Bargerne Ellingsen out of the Seattle store. And our outside sales crew was, it was like another Marine Corps family. It was like our platoon. And the Seattle store was uber tight. I mean, we were like, we did crazy stuff together. And our general manager, Jeff Gatling, was just the best guy because he let me be me. He didn't manage me. He's like, Shannon, if you need anything, you let me know.

And, you know, we're going to just keep going with what you're doing. And so this is, you know, nine, ten, oh, it's nine years after I got hired. Well, Jeff hired me because he was one of my sales reps when I was the chef at the kingdom home back in 94-95 season and he needed he needed belshod donut company to come in and do a demonstration but they didn't have a kitchen big enough because these donut machines are like 16 feet long so he called me up he's like hey shan it's Jeff get like got a favor to ask and I'm like what's up boss he goes I need to borrow one of your kitchens like I said that's going to work we don't we don't we only have a mariners homestan stand starting on Thursday and it's three days against

Minnesota so you can use secondary kitchen the prep kitchen he goes are you serious i said yes send these guys down here so a guy by the name of rick van shows up with the belshaw donut guy and rick's a cutie pie he's famous he was our first VP of sales when i was little at barren ellingson i call it so rick and the belshod donut guys show up and i told all the guys because i had like 176 employees at that time i'm like i got to go down here you guys hang out here that the three leads were in charge of the kitchen for a couple hours, and I was hanging out with the guys, and I was learning about this donut machine and everything. And I was like super jazz. I'd never seen a bell shot donut machine that was this big. I mean, it was a conveyor

belt. It was super cool. So I was kicking it with Rick Van. And then my second interview of Bargey Ellingson is with Rick Van and another guy who is to remain nameless because I don't want to be naughty. So Rick Van was like, Jeff. Jeff, we are hiring Shannon. Oh, my God, are you kidding me? This woman is so knowledgeable. She's hilarious. She's going to crush it.

And Jeff's like, yeah, I don't know about the F bombs. And he's like, no, no, no, she'll learn to curb it down. And so they took a chance on me and hired me in 98. And it was life-changing. It was absolutely life-changing because I got to use all the knowledge that I had for, you know, 20-plus years in food service coming up through the Marine Corps. corn going to cooking school and then getting my first cooking job about a year after I got out of the Marine Corps because I couldn't get a job. I started with a landscaping company and I was doing

like dry rock bed bridge building and then I was doing landscaping rolling sod tree trimming. I mean the whole the whole kit and caboodle. I did that for a year and I had already cooked for four years in the Marine Corps and I had another job at Simons on South Center Park Parkway when I was in high school. So I had, you know, several years of food service under my belt. So I took that break because I couldn't get a job. And my tabs were due. But by the grace of God, when I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, I was making double car payments on my little Nissan truck that I bought in 85. So I wanted my truck paid off by the time I got back from overseas. So that was my plan. And so the only thing I spent money on was bandanas, chocolate, scuba gear, refoam my tanks, and an underwater camera.

Wow. All my money went into my truck to get it paid off. One last question about this, that when you were salesperson of the year, what were you selling? I was selling restaurant equipment. Okay. That should be a lot to be a chef for 20 years and then sell restaurant equipment. I mean, our company was so brilliant because if you were a sous chef, a chef, if you were a general manager, an assistant manager, a bar manager, you had to have five years experience back then to work for this little 500-person company that had, I think, three. I think it had three or four stores when I got hired.

Now they have like 19. So I was one of the people that was kind of helpful in. building this company because the territory that I was given was three towns, which expanded to seven. I started with 16 accounts and ended with like over 400 in 20 years. So cold, cold. So casting has asked you to tell your most memorable story, which I would imagine went on for quite a while. No, it's a very short story. It's very powerful, but it's very short. did they say what did they say because you've got so many details your memory even today is pretty pretty impressive about your most memorable moment up to that point being sales the year so at the

end of your story which i'm sure was very detailed what was their reaction you're breaking up a little bit yeah the story um you said it was short uh could you could you tell us what it is? Yeah, yeah. So I get up there. Tim calls me up on the stage. They announced my name, all of my teammates, because there's like eight or ten of us at one of the big round tables.

There's about 700 people in the room at the cell seminar that we go to for three days. And there's all the reps that provide our materials, whether it's pots, pans, whips, tongs, ladles, garbage cans, whatever, whatever, right? Anything to having to do with food service. so Tim's standing there and I'm just I'm horrifically bawling and I don't think in 10 years anybody had ever ever ever ever seen me cry or tear up I'm like I'm captain happy ass so this was just mind blowing I believe or the people that were there so Tim walks out to me he puts my arm his arm around me he he puts the microphone down and he goes he whispers in my ear Shannon this room is

so filled for love for you right now he goes this is your moment get yourself together and talk to the people and i said okay tim so i walked up to the microphone and i tapped it and i said i can't believe this shit they're busting up laughing because i don't see-mouthed christian right i can't help it i mean it just is yeah so everybody's just i mean they're they're falling out of their chairs because I just cussed in front of 700 people in my big moment. What a loser. Oh my God. Anyways. So then I said, all right, you guys, lock it down. And then everybody is quiet, right, for a minute. And then I said, I want you guys all to get on your feet right now. And everybody jumps up. 700 people jumped up. And I'm like,

oh my God, it worked. I mean, I didn't know that I was getting salesman of the year. So it's not like I could practice anything, right? So they all jump up and I go, now I want you all to turn to the person next to you. Everybody on the end, stand still. Everybody else turn to the right, every other person. And I watch the whole place, like 700 people go three or four times for everybody to face each other. I said now, from me to every single one of you that I know and love, I want you guys to hug each other. from me to you.

I watched 700 people hug each other. Wow. And then I literally couldn't speak after that. And Tim came up to the microphone and he was like, no big surprise. That's our Shannon. And then he said, Shannon, is there anybody you want to thank? I started thanking people and then I stopped because I felt like I was taken up too much time because I did the whole everybody hug each other thing because it was just,

It was mind-blowing to me. The whole thing was. So the one person that I didn't thank, Russ Randall, was the guy that was the kindest to me, the first couple of months that I was there. And I kind of broke my own heart because I didn't mention him.

And I tried to always do everything and bring it up to him in the next six or seven years that we worked together. And I've been in touch with him, the majority of the time that I've been retired, the last eight years. So I think I may have made up for it now.

Did you see when you were going through this process? Did you see other people that you were out there on the island with when you were there? Yeah, Russ. Russ Hans and I were in the elevator. Okay. Russell Hans and I were in the elevator the day that we had to go do the cult. the college entrance exam Yeah

We were on our way down the elevator And I hit the elevator button And then I looked up and I saw him He was in front of me He had a He had a red Harley Davidson T-shirt on I had a light blue

Harley Davidson T-shirt on And there was a handler with him A blonde woman I can't remember her name And I did the What's up, brother? Because he had a Harley shirt on, right? And he's looking at me like, holy shit.

And he's this chick with the bullet, right? And she goes, you're not allowed to talk to each other. I was like, easy, easy. He's like, you need to shut your mouth. I said, yes, ma'am. And I turned around and I faced away from him. And then when the door opened, then we went to the car thing. So it was hilarious because day one, after we flew to Fiji,

and then we hopped over to. Samoa, there's Russell Hans. And I did not see him on either airplane. I didn't see him in L.A. I didn't see him at the hotel. I didn't see him in Fiji. And I see him on the beach. And Eva had downloaded one of those, what the hell do you call it?

It's like a Walkman, but it has movies. What do you call those? Anyways, it doesn't matter. Yeah. She had downloaded me, she had downloaded me like six movies under this thing. So I see Russ. and he's over there. So I walked up to a couple of handlers, like first three days at Ponderosa,

and I said, hey, can I go for a run? And they're like, no, you can't go for a run? I go, can I go swimming? They're like, no, you can't go swimming. I go, what can we do? She goes, you can go read any of those books. And I'm like, you're hilarious. I'm so dyslexic.

It's not even funny. I couldn't even read when I was in fourth grade. My parents sent me to Catholic school to have a one-on-one tutor almost the entire. year in fourth grade because I couldn't freaking read between that and by the grace of God, my beautiful sister Julie who's got an IQ like higher than anybody probably in the city of Rent Washington worked with me every single day and my mom and my tutor and by fifth grade I could read. It was like God's divine intervention of a miracle. So I mean if you look at papers from me from kindergarten through third grade, everything is backwards. Even S.

H-A-N, and the O's are right, but all the other letters are reversed. Yeah. And then in 10th grade, I got a D-minus in typing. And the only reason that my teacher passed me is because I was his fourth period, T-A-N-P-E. So he gave me a pass on typing because I would literally type backwards. I'm like, yeah. Shamba, I wanted you to read so you couldn't read or didn't want to read. So what did you do?

So I was watching my movies And when I got now watching all my movies There was no handlers around And Russ was sitting there And I said Hey And I threw him the thing And he grabbed it

Because he was the only other person that wasn't reading It's like we were like the The Rock Harley people That were like You know The capable people Not the four lawyers and the, you know, Mick, the anesthesiologist.

And I mean, I think there was five lawyers on our show. But anyways, yeah, the brainiacs are all sitting there reading. And I'm like, somebody shoot me in the face right now, please. And that's why you two had such an instant connection on the island. It was because you had that past experience. Yeah, but I just felt bad for him because the writing was on the wall. I knew this guy from when I ran into him, the elevator. for one minute and then to see him sitting there it's like he was just pissed when we were at

ponderosa you know like on day three or four and i threw him that thing and he's sitting there you put your bones in and he was like i walked past him another time because i would just go speedwalking because it wouldn't let me go for a run so i'd speedwalk and then i go play with the pig there was a pig i'm all a pig and she had little puppy pigs i call everything puppies because puppies are my favorite thing in the whole world so these little puppy pigs are like this big right so they're probably three weeks old well of course i brought chocolate so when we got to set up our little pup tents at ponderosa where we're waiting to go in game for that you know six days those little puppy pigs used to come to my tent every day they raided all my

chocolate and i was so mad but i mean i was so happy to have friends because the handlers weren't really digging me yeah you can talk to anybody and how am i going to not talk to anybody so i talked to the pig, the mama pig, and all the little baby pigs. And then there was two wild dogs. There was dingoes there. And then I made friends with those guys. And I made friends with the lady that was cooking for us. She couldn't really cook.

So I was giving her cooking lessons. And I was helping her do prep. I ended up actually sending her some knives and cutting boards after the show. I got her address. And she gave me one of those spice crushers. I still have it here in the kitchen. So I was friends with her because I had to be friends with somebody, for God's sake.

Quiet, Sharon, it's no fly zone. What was your very first impression of Russell from when you saw him in the elevator to after you got to know him? And I think it's ironic that he's the first person that you mentioned, that y'all had that connection. And he actually, we know one, the Sprint fan favorite, but you were right behind him with top boats, you two. I think that's interesting. Well, I think as far as providing for your tribes, we probably attempted to do the most.

If we didn't do the most, we both attempted to provide because there was a lot of college mentality, prissy people out there, I'm going to say, just to be nice. That's as bad as I think it's going to get right there. Did you see anybody else while you were at the audition that was on the season other than Russell? that you remembered? No, nobody, only handlers. Okay. That went to some all with us. There was three handlers that I saw in L.A.

Yeah. And I think we're all familiar with Dr. Liza, and I think that you told me that... I love her. Oh, my God. I do. I do, too. I think Dr. Liza told you that going out there, going on the show, would bring you, quote, instant fame. And was she accurate?

well i don't really know if i don't know how to really answer that because i think i've been famous since i was a little kid i mean i'm getting serious when you come from a family that has eight children four of them are musical four of them athletes. Your mom would have been an athlete if she hadn't been born in 1934, and she was scholastically genius. And your dad's a former Marine. He's a small business owner. He's got his little kids out there. I mean, I was driving a loader when I was nine years old in the backyard. You know, Sean was on the back. Oh, I remember, I remember right around my ninth birthday, it was right before my ninth birthday. It was in, I think it was November of 70, I think it was November

1973, just based on age, South Center Mall. My dad was the guy that put the South Center Mall sign in that's like, I don't know how tall it is, probably 240 feet tall. He dug the hole with us back to put it in there. So when we had a three foot snowstorm, the most snow of my entire life, I mean, my baby sister Nancy, who's three years from one month younger than me, walked out the front door. and she used to do these little cartoon voices because she had a southern accent like you because all the cartoons were southern voices back then. I mean, think about it.

It's hilarious, except for Scooby-Doo. They're the only ones that weren't, but that was later. So Nancy's doing her little, I'm singing in the vein. She's doing this little song thing. She walks out the front door. I said, nanny, nanny, good nanny go, wait, wait, wait. And I went and I got my boots on and I got my hat on. and I opened up the front door

and she was gone I said uh oh so I walked out into the snow and I looked and then I went and got Sean who's my brother this 11 months older than me he's my Irish twins

so we were thicker than thieves besty besties literally from birth all my memories until I was 15 to have Sean in them every single memory

of my life that was fabulous so I went and got Sean and I could not find the baby and she was two and a half three years old It was hilarious. So I was like, Mama, Mama, the baby's into snow bank. The baby's in the snow bank.

And she's like, Shannon, what are you saying? I go, the baby's into snow bank. And she's like, Nancy's outside. And I said, we were going to go build a castle. Sean and I didn't know what an igloo was called, but we thought it was called the castle. So we were going to go build a castle. We had our little buckets and our little shovels from the sandbox. And yeah, the baby got lost in the snow.

Oh, and Sean and I got hired by my dad to go clear the parking lot at South Center at eight and nine years old. Sean was on the back. Oh, I was on the loader. And I think we each got paid like 50 bucks. We were only out there for like eight hours. We made 50 bucks. We were like, oh, my God, we are so rich. But grandpa, Squires, my mama's dad, put $100 in our bank accounts.

I think when we were born or when we were little, I mean, I don't have a memory of it. but we got $100 to open our own bank accounts that we were never allowed to touch until we were 18. So that money went in that bank account. But your sister, they found her, okay? That was, okay. She's a rock star. She's the most drop-dead, beautiful woman you'll ever see at 57 years old is God is my witness. I didn't know you were a two-pack-a-day smoker before you went out on surviving.

Oh, my God. So how did you do, how was that for you not having your cigarettes out there and the sleep conditions if you're used to always wanting a hard bed, you said? She was a soft bed. Oh, a soft bed, a soft bed. Well, so the ground. So how did all that affect your mood or your attitude? It was horrible. I don't think I slept in the 36 days that I was on the show, not even, you know, the six days in Ponderosa.

I don't believe I ever slept more than one straight hour at a shot. So I was, I made my Shambos shack on day through after Yasmin got voted off. I made her, her own little house because the young kids wanted to play. There was some game that was an L.A. game. And I think there was 10 or 12 people on our season out of 20 from Los Angeles. So it was like this little L.A. click, and they were always talking about their favorite sushi bar. And I'm like, what is wrong with these people? Sushi?

There's so many wonderful things in the world to eat. If any of them knew how to cook, maybe they would do something besides go to a sushi bar. I mean, I don't know. I mean, I grew up cooking. Okay. Since you're mentioning sushi, I think I remember the auction, the food auction, that you had to have to have. $140 for, I think, wasn't it like sushi base? Wasn't it kind of like nasty?

But you were loving it and eating it? It was sea slugs. Well, okay, let's be sushi. Oh, that is no, no, no, no. Sea slugs is like giant chunks of lard with like leather, bumpy, gray, BS with a little shooter hole where they like project themselves along the ocean floor. It is the most disgusting thing a human can put in their mouth. But I was just trying to go along and get along because it was protein.

Any protein was good. And I was appreciative. What a knucklehead I am. Oh, my God. Shambo, your season was the first time that the survivor let two leaders pick the tribes, right? Yep. Which was Russ. And who was the other one?

Mick. Mick. Mick. Oh, Mick. Yeah. Foa Foa was Mick. So when Russ picked you first, how did you feel about that? When Russ picked me first?

So I believe that I don't think they picked the tribes. I think that they picked the leader from the tribe, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because we all got throwing our purple buffs on the upside up. And he picked you to be in the first challenge. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yep.

so how did you feel about Russ and I know if unfortunately he wasn't in the game as long as y'all would have liked to have seen with him being taken out sweet sweet sweetheart of a man but that was kind of his downfall too because he let the dominance of the women dictate what he did as leader so I mean he had a seven-year-old little girl well you can't blame the guy and he was uber smart he was built like a steam truck i mean he was buff as heck he was really helpful in challenges and we were lucky to have them on our tribe i mean i think our tribe physically was was i mean obviously from the challenges we dominated but i did feel bad for phone other than jason and mick i mean they were jason and mick were pretty buff so i remember and russ was strong but he was a little dude so this might be a good time okay all right here we go

this might be a good time Shambo we got something for you okay here we go Shambo I heard you're going to do this podcast I was like oh I'm all over this no doubt about it

baby where's your dress Shambo is one of the my favorite people to ever play the game period now Shambo if you don't know after Survivor. I got into this aviation thing flying a lot of small airplanes like this one back here this Cessna 152 and just loving life

and so it's been amazing got this whole Russ can fly journey thing going on and it's been amazing but Shambo one of my favorite people and here's a quick story we're out there, we're in the jungle and all of us are trying to figure out how to deal with our clothes and all that kind of stuff and Shampo says Hey, listen, I'm trying to wash my pants, but I don't want my stuff all over to international TV, and I just bust out laughing, because that's Shambo, just real, raw, and amazing.

Shambo, I got to tell you, sister, I have missed you so incredibly. You are a fantastic person. My family and I talk about you all the time, and like I said, I mean it. You are one of the brightest lights I had out there in that game, bar none. So anyway, sister, I pray that life is treating you well, that you are thriving, all that good stuff. But yes, Shambo for the win all day long. All right, Russ kid, Russ can fly him out. Shambo!

How about that? oh my goodness that guy would you go co-pilot with ross in a plane my dad was a pilot yeah i mean i was like four thinking that i was flying the plane and my dad sassna so yeah for sure yeah i'm down i mean i'm not a pilot or anything but it would be great to see him but i really like that he got rid of the the dreads long hair he looks very very very handsome now dynamics of the game, the tribe change, to lose, to have two people medically evacked, but to have Russell, Russ, medically evict, and having Mike taken out. How did that, I mean, we didn't have that in our season.

Rob, you didn't have that in either of yours. How did that change, how did it change the dynamic of the game? Well, it started with the Schmergenbrawl, which was basketball and rugby. So there was a lot of people that got hurt And I broke my front tooth in that Liz went to go tackle me And like head butted my face And broke my front tooth

Ben Got evicted from the actual challenge Which Jeff Pro said In the history of Survivor In 19 seasons We have never felt the need to evict someone But for your safety, Ben, go take a bench And I'll never forget that

And I thought, right on, Jeff. We'd have a pair. That's awesome because nobody wants to see people get hurt that are out there trying to do something, whatever their personal reason is. But it's not about punishing people and, you know, carnage. That was never part of the situation that any of us thought of. So he sat down and we all thought he was having a heart attack. And medic was there because.

it was a main event that was challenging and you know very very brutal but it was I think it was harder on their tribe than ours because we'd never even met these people right you know we're talking like what day four five tops I don't sure sure but did you ever connect with Mike brass because he was a cook right he was a chef yeah yeah he was a chef I'll tell you my friend Ashley that was on their tribe yeah 22 year old beautiful blonde dear dear dear dear friend of mine always it's actually Ocarach she's married oh yeah and she's got two beautiful kids and uh we've been in contact the entire time she was the person that i most wanted to see when i went to finale we have a beautiful picture of us um eva stopped the car and i jumped out and i said

ashley she saw me and she started turning up and i was and there's a picture of us just embracing each other hugging and the look on our faces I'm telling you it's absolutely it's one of my favorite pictures I just looked at it this morning yeah ash now you said that when you applied for survivor okay evil was not in favor of it you guys weren't together then but you said by the time we were I mean we have never been more than you know I mean other than when I was in Okinawa Japan we've never been more than three hours apart from each other. And at that time, we were 20 minutes apart from each other. Could you just speak to how did you, did she come around on you being on the show eventually?

Did she like the idea? She didn't like the idea because she had quit watching Survivor. So we used to watch it every Thursday night when it was on Thursday. And I mean, we always watched Survivor. And when we didn't watch it, we had a DVR and we'd record it. if we were busy or working, you know, extra or whatever. But she said it reminded her too much of her own work politics. And at that time, she had just left either AT&T or singular.

I can't remember because they got bought by each other. Then she went to work for Starbucks corporate. And it was one of those three jobs. And she was like the drama and the fighting and the backbiting is just, it's really overwhelming. And I'm like, but it doesn't have to be that. way she goes it's always going to be that way i go are you crazy if i went on survivor i would not lie i would never go back on my word and i would lift people up and i would help them she's like good luck with that but i did yeah so whatever so shamba you've continued to watch it y'all still have watched it

all these years you and eva right no eva doesn't watch it she's never watched it now nope after my season i don't think she's ever seen an episode she didn't come back to it You're still watching it, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I record it. So, and also, I believe, I'm not sure if this is accurate or not, but you got asked to come back twice, but one of them was for second chances. Four times. Four times.

I have to think that they would have been calling you nonstop. Well, I mean, they asked before we left the island and then two more phone calls. And then the last time, we were in Renton still. We're in Moses, like Washington now. But we were still back in Renton. And we jumped into the hot tub. And my phone rang. And I looked at it and I go, Eva, it's Jeff Prost.

She goes, no way. She goes, tell them all go. I said, you're not going anywhere. I said, hey, Jeff, what's up? Shambu, we have a really cool show. And, you know, we know you have your Irish twin brother, Sean. And we thought it'd be really cool to get, you know, it's going to be friends and family

and we thought it'd be really great. I said, Jeff, just lose my phone number, please. I'm good. Wow. And he was like, obviously your experience was much different from a lot of other people. I said, yeah, getting injured out there, you know, having to pay my medical bills,

that was a little bit of a shocker. I wasn't really banking on that or getting hurt. So I'm good, man. I'm happy in my own personal life. I do not crave fame right now. I'm a happy girl. Sambo, since you mentioned Probst, what is the one word you would use to describe Jeff Probst? Spiffy in a Pantagona snap shirt.

Spiffy, okay? We haven't heard that one yet. No, I haven't heard that before. But, Shambo, you mentioned that you had an injury on the show. that, and I don't remember it being a part of the story on the show. It was not a never part of the story. It wasn't aired. I couldn't say anything to anybody for five years.

It was just, it was what it was. Yeah. Can we ask you about what was the injury that you had? It was just my neck. Yeah. From sleeping? No, I had previous neck injuries. Yeah.

From, from vehicle accidents. And, yeah, that's kind of what I have. Was it from the challenges? No, no, no, no, no. Yeah. Sleeping on the ground? Do you remember when I went over to Foa Fola? Yes.

And then I came back and helped them want a challenge on spin the wheel and drink the goo. Okay. And then we won the T-Bone steaks. Yeah. And then Laura decided that I was going to have to go back to the other tribe. Yes. For three more days. Yeah.

Which was perfect because that's where I built all my alliances with Mick and Jason and I taught those guys how to make fire in the rain, how to harvest wood out of the trees when it was pouring down rain. So it was a win-win for me getting sent back over there because the writing was on the wall. I mean, they asked Jeff if they could get rid of Ben, send him to Galu and adopt me onto their tribe. These people were like, I mean, they're like deeper close to. friends of mine today. I just got back from Los Angeles four weeks ago. Mick, Mick's wife, his two kids, Eric Cardona, John Fincher, his girlfriend. I mean, we all got together. We had a mind-blowing time of like the most epic reunion in the history of the world of survivor friends getting together. Yeah. And we have not seen each other since

2009 Thanksgiving Day they all came to my sister's house in Orange County Yasmin was there Mick Jason

Eric somebody else anyways yeah but Thanksgiving Day was when the survivor when they were rolling

the credits yeah shows me sitting sitting underneath the banana tree singing to the lizard, the eye of the tiger, and the camera crew, because, I mean, we're not supposed to talk to anybody. Good luck with that. I knew all, I knew all the camera crew. I knew how many kids they had. I knew their girlfriends, their boyfriends. I mean, it was all men on my side, but it was, uh, it was just a party out there, just talking to these

people. It was hilarious. Yeah. But so they sent you to Falafoa and you didn't get to have the mistakes, but how did you get hurt? In a in a in a in a in a van ride. Got it. Yeah. Yeah, I don't think it's something I'm supposed to probably ever talk about. Yeah. The thing is it's it I think it's a real spoiler for people that have their idealistic.

They don't watch us walk down the beach with with a torch and the helicopter flying along And they're like, how far did you have to work, walk the tribal? It's in that line of things. I get it. I think most of the people that listen to this podcast know this is a little bit of a suspension of belief when it comes down to how they make the show versus what they see on television. And I have no idea. The first podcast I've ever listened to in my life was yesterday. Wow.

I didn't know. I didn't really even know what a podcast really meant. So I was like when I went to L.A. and saw the guy. and we were hanging out four weeks ago they were like Eric quick Eric Cardona's so hilarious he just kept saying sham you don't understand the whole world loves you you're like everybody's favorite and you need your own podcast and I'm like dude I don't even know what that means I mean T-bird's been calling me for years saying yeah mo you need to get on a podcast with me and rob and I'm like I don't even know what that meant it's just it's not my world if I'm not outside building something

or doing something or, you know, on my boat or playing with my dogs or pruning the apricot tree or picking plums or apples or something. That's just a computer is not my, I mean, my wife had to set this out for me. I don't even own a computer. Tell him, tell Rob who you listened to yesterday. What did you listen to? I listened to the Jason. Yeah.

Wasn't that cool? He went to space. Oh, I know he called me the day he went to space. He was in Texas. the phone rings and I go, oh my God, I go, Jason Robbins, you're on my list for not calling me. He goes, Shambo, shambo, shambo, shambo, I'm buzzed right now. I love you if I don't come back from, oh, I'm going to space. I said, I know you're going Blue Origin.

My friend Jason works for Blue Origin in Kent. And he's like, that's the people. He goes, I was down there yesterday. I said, I know he called me and told me you were in the building and you were going to space. he goes but but if i don't get to come back from space i wanted to tell you i love you and you're my favorite i was like oh my god it's very fun he is precious though he's he's he's probably the most well-spoken human that i've ever spoke to in my entire life so i had a blast listening to him on the island i'm my god we were we were pretty inseparable when i was over there for six

days. It must have been so interesting for you that you had like these two night and day experiences where your tribe largely and you mentioned Eric, you know, was a friend but and John, but largely like you didn't get along great with a lot of the people that were from Galu, but you had such great relationships with the people from the other tribe. And I think there's very few people in the history of Survivor that have had that sort of situation where they don't get along at all with their original tribe but then they have they fit in like a hand in a glove with the other tribe yeah that does happen a lot in the later seasons i think it's from mainly people watching the show that have seen it you know for the last 20 25 years just trying

to like emulate what they'd seen on television instead of just being you know and seeing and saying hey man cool i like that your season i dig your attitude you know what i mean yeah and it happened to have that dynamic where that a person would go over so it really you know worked out so well uh for you oh it did totally yeah yeah it was wonderful because i i really needed that at that time because those guys were giving me the love and i was trying to share with them my knowledge of outdoors and, you know, starting fires and, you know, dig the fire pit out, put the, put the coal down. The coal is the black coral because it's so porous. It sucks the water out when it's pouring down rain, doing runoffs on four sides of the

fireplace and sitting there and teaching them how to shave with a piece of coral so you can make sawdust to start it if you have a little bit of coals left. So it's just, I mean, it's outdoors. stuff and bear guiles oh my god bear giles really helped me with hints and you know tricks and stuff like that and then just filled marine stuff like taking vines and running them from the fireplace to where my shambos shack was at night so i wouldn't trip and fall and get hurt or setting up closed lines so our stuff can dry after the monsoon or building water runoffs with you know taking the machete you I remember me and, me and John Fincher taking the machete.

I'm like, Johnny, go get me a piece of bamboo out of the forest. So he wouldn't get a piece of bamboo. And I'm like, stand on that end on it. And then I got Eric. And me and Eric were taking the machete and we were splitting the piece of bamboo. And we put them up on top of the shelter. And we caught the water because we couldn't boil water for like six or seven days. So we had water, which gave all this dysentery.

But that's another story. At least we had water and we didn't drop dead. So that's cool. And I think you played on one of, and maybe T-Bird, you might push back on this, but the worst weather conditions maybe of any season of Survivor, I think of the 49, 49, 48 seasons that we've seen so far, off the top of my head, I think that maybe Samoa was the worst weather of any season. It was breaking us. I mean, our hands, me and Jason's hands, like, if you go back and look, our fingers were probably. over two inches in diameter they were completely splitting and oozing and it was that was yeah it was horrendous and I was really happy a lot of people are like you know I can't believe

they put them up in a hotel because they were having a tropical storm and you guys lived through and I'm like you know what I'm happy that it's more humane you know I'm glad that it's a shorter season now I'm glad that we are the only season to not have rice now beans that I'm aware of because I was I was a survivor junkie completely totally I was like I can do this I don't think I'm going to win a million dollars but if I do then I can go do a USO tour because we're talking post 9-11 and we were in a lot a lot a lot a lot of countries back then I mean we were in Iraq we were in Pakistan we were the military was everywhere go back to 2009. Google it. How many countries the United States military was in? And I thought, you know,

I grew up with Bob Hope doing U.S.O tours. And I was like, well, I'm a lesbian and I have a mullet and I'm not that great to look at, but I could probably really cheer the troops off. It's silly me. What am I thinking? But I mean, I thought that I might just do that if I want it. But you know what I most wanted to do? I wanted to do a cooking segment with Al Roker. With Al Roker. Why Al Roker? Dude, I love that guy.

His personality and my... He went to my college, Sunni Oswego. Yeah. I love that guy. Yeah. I love that guy. But does Al Roker do a lot of cooking segments? Are you kidding me?

CBS morning, Al Roker, you know, like the last 30 years. Yeah. You don't know. No, Bob's in cooking, cooking shows. Has Al done a lot of cooking on it? No, I mean, like, you know how, like, they have guest chefs now? Yeah. Turn the clock back 20 years ago.

Mm-hmm. I was always doing cooking stuff. Okay. Cooking with Al Roker was one of their segments. I know. Wow. Shamm, I want to take you back to day 27, which I think it's a day you probably like. Day 27 during the game.

Oh. I know what you're talking about. I know, hey, there's certain things off limits, but I think I can bring this up. So I just want to know, how do you think, I mean, Natalie White, the winner, crown the winner of your season. But it was a tie that night, day 27, between Laura and Natalie. And it went back to vote. How would the game have been different or who would have, what would have happened to the winner of that season had Natalie been voted out? that night instead of Laura.

Well, you know, Gallo Strong came through because I took John Fincher up the mountain. Yeah. And I said, John, I'm going to make you a deal. You cannot refuse. If Laura wins the challenge, we know it's going to be a tie. the second time around you got a vote with me you're voting around he goes well what if i said no what ifs yes or no he goes well what does that mean for when they come for me i'm like i

john i will vote with you the rest of the season i don't care i do not care i will vote with you the rest of the season, whatever you say, I will just do blindly. And you know that I'm not going to lie to you. You know that I am honorable, most honorable person out on this island. He goes, well, you need to be, you need to become the chief again. And I'm like, we don't need a chief right now, dude. We're good. We're merged. We're okay. So that was how that went down. And there is no what ifs in Survivor. The writing's on the wall. It is what it is. But to, to a positive point, which it took me a lot last night thinking about this to pull this one out. There's, I wrote this down last night because I needed two.

Hold on one second. You ready for this? Yeah. There are three categories. There's Eric Cardona, who I lovingly call Ebert. Love you, Ebert. There is. I love Ebert too.

I'm so happy that you're still seeing him because he was one of my favorites from that season. I was so mind-blown when they did that to him to this day. Okay, so we got Ebert, we got Brett, we got Natalie, we got Jasmine, we have Marissa, John, Jason, Mick, Ash, and Betsy are all in the lift others up, kind, human column. Yeah. And then we have Russell, Dave, Laura, Ben, Liz, and Kelly that are in the, hey, notice me. I'm an unhappy human. Yeah. So I need to be mean to people.

Like, I'm in high school. And if I stand on someone's head and beat them up, I will be noticed, calm. Yeah. Which is, I just hope that in their long. they're happy with what they're doing and they're healthy and they're prosperous and they're raising their next generation to not defeat others with their bad things they have to say about people because it disgusts me to no end it is the bane of my existence people that bully people yeah and i was bullied i mean there's just oh my god no two ways about it so i'm just i'm happy

that I have my beautiful friendships with my guys and Jasmine and Ashley and I mean Betsy Betsy and Marissa getting voted off if I would have been on that tribe with Russ yeah that wouldn't happen you said there were three categories of people there was the lift people up and then there were the stand on people's head and what's the third category I'm going to say Russell, Hans, was in a category of his own of really desperate. That's it. That's my word. Yeah.

Because that can mean anything, but it's not for me to say what. But I perceive him as an incredibly desperate human being. Shabby, you didn't mention this person. I know she lifted you up with her. singing on the island. Rob, you've got that. Singing. Singing. You can't understand my accent. Here we go. Sam, can you play this clip?

Well, it's been a long day, but I couldn't let the day pass without saying hello. And, it don't have to be this way. Baby, why don't you stay? You say hi, Shambo. Is that Monica? This is Monica Padilla. This is my little guy, and I wanted to say hi to say that we miss you. And we hope you're having an amazing podcast with T-Bird.

Just thought I'd pop in and say hello and sing you a little tune. Just like our old days by the fine. And you know, money. Yes. Bye, Shambo. Bye, baby. Bye, love you. Yeah, I didn't.

Monica Pia was a singer. Monnie, Moni, oh my God, I just, I felt so bad for her because she was so young. Mm-hmm. You know,

she was, Ashley and Monica were both so young. 25, just 25. They were like, they were the age I was when I got out of the Marine Corps, for God's sake. They were just kids. And Monica got swept up by the BS on the purple.

tribe of you know be a bully stay with us blah blah blah and it was just it wasn't until some of the meaning pants got booted that she was she just started to thrive i mean i remember her birthday out there on the 28th it was her birthday and i was like moni i'd make you a coconut cream pie you know but it would just give you diarrhea so we're not going to do that and she was like Shambu, you're hilarious. She's like, I just really don't want to get voted off on my 28th birthday or 26th birthday. I think her 26th birthday was on the 28th was what I remember. But I don't even know if that's right.

But the day that the day that everybody decided to vote, poor Ebert out, she came up to me just bawling on the beach. I said, Monty, what's going on? Are you okay? She's like, sham. sham what happened what happened to galoo and she's bawling right i mean like she's she's doing that and i was like monica newsflash there is no galoo they imploded on themselves it's a free for all and she was like what what do you mean there's no galoo and she was just she was she was she was mortally devastated and it broke my heart for her because at the end of

day she forgot it was a game and she has a life and she she would she has a beautiful family her mom and her big sister are like her power source and life and you know it's it's cool because she was the one that reached out to me about three months ago and he said hey sham it's it's monny i said hey monny what's going on she goes i just wanted to reach out to you and let you know that um john finchers got stage four colon cancer and he's got to go fund me i I said, oh, my God, thank you for letting me know. I'll get it out there. But she was the one that reached out to me and told me.

So thank you, Monica. Yeah. You said you saw John recently. How was he doing? He has been through almost five years of colon cancer removal and chemo. And now he's on a trial that is, it's going really good for me. He's starting to gain weight. He's dropped dead sexy.

He's thriving right now. Yeah. It's wonderful. Yeah. Definitely. That's incredible. Yeah, I had, you know, seen the GoFund me a couple of months ago, and I saw that he was, yeah, trying in line to get this experimental treatment. And I didn't know how it was going, and that's incredible news. It's going really, really, really good. He just texted me last night, so. Yeah. Yeah. We were sending each other pictures from our vacation. Yeah. And you two were sort of. such an interesting duo in Survivor where he came in as the rocket scientist and... He's brilliant. I'm bronze. Yeah. And it was such a fun pairing to have you to, you know, have to work together in Survivor. We got to. We didn't have to. Mm-hmm. It's like, I don't know if you guys know this, but there was, it was the third or fourth day on Survivor, and I kept telling, I call them the kids,

all these guys were like 15, 20 years younger than me. I'm like, you guys, the sun is going to go down, because I did a sun dialed down on the beach. I'm like, the sun is going to be down in like five to seven minutes. We got to get everything cleaned up around the fire. Somebody's going to get hurt. John stepped on the machete. Somebody stuck the machete in the rocks on the fireplace.

And if this is his foot, his hill, his hill was taken off about two. and a half inches. So I went into the forest and I found some noni, which is a natural antiseptic. See, this is just Dr. Shannon. I went and got this natural antiseptic and I got some really, really, really tiny leaves and vines. And I did a compress on his foot. And the medics were telling me, Shambo, if you wouldn't have done that, not only would he have been out of the game, he would have had a severe infection. It could have gotten really bad. And I'm like, you know, I knew I was going to Samoa because there was a leak on our season of where the next survivor was going to be.

So I started researching all the bad foods and the good foods and anything that was going to help me with this situation, but basically medical stuff. So, yeah, John and I were just talking. I was looking at his foot when I was at his house two weeks, three or four weeks ago. I'm like, Johnny, let me see your heel. How did it? How did your foot heal up? And he's like, Jamble, look. And his girlfriend's like, what are you guys doing? And he's like, tell him the story to his girlfriend. And it was, it was just really precious. I was so happy that I was there to help my friend. It was huge.

Because he would have left. He couldn't have helped me further off if he wouldn't have been there. That'd have been another medical evacuation. If not he would have been, he absolutely. He would have been medically evacuated factually without a doubt and then we would have been down to eight and then jasmine wanted to go home so you know she was the first victim but yeah everybody's got their lot in life craziness though right shambo i'm curious this is kind of the now the nowadays are you still a smoker oh hell no did you quit when you came back or oh no no no no no No, no. The first thing I did was I got voted off. I got put in a vehicle. I got given a bag with peanut butter, a Snickers bar, a jar of peanut butter, a Snickers bar, I think a Hershey almond bar and something else.

And I think I ate all of it. And then I went back. And then everybody was really mean to me because they were happy that I got voted off because I helped get most of them voted off. and they were calling me traitorist which I was a traitorist I didn't vote Gallu out they did it I think I was the only one that didn't vote for Eric that night but they turned on them

and that's their stuff to own not mine. Shambo is not traitorous but I barfed my head off and Laura actually let me have her quonset hut instead of sleeping in a tent and I got to take a shower. I took a shower for like three hours. And then I slept until tribal the next day,

which was day 37. Yeah. And did you have a cigarette? And did you have a cigarette? Oh my God, I had about 60. Well, yeah. That might have been why you were sick. No, no, no, no, no. No, the brain doesn't forget. Mm-hmm. It had only been like 66 days since I had smoked. so yeah Shibbo have you had study in contact with Natalie White I've

I've asked Ashley I've asked Monica I've asked Russell I've asked everybody that I'm in contact with

which is like 11 people yeah I mean no no one knows how to get in touch you're off the grid she's really off the grid but you know

that's that's her choice and I'm like I told Monnie if you get a hold of her, tell her that I love her, and I'm here. And if she needs a friend in a support role, pick me. Yeah. Well, Shambo, you and John, I believe, you're the only two people that voted for Russell.

True. Do you feel like, do you stand by that? You feel like that you both got it right? Or do you feel like that if you had to do it over again, you would have voted for Natalie? Oh, there's no way. No, no. there's not another possibility. I mean, outwit, who outwitted?

Who outwitted? Yeah. Who else? Who outplayed? Him standing there with Brett with that stick with that little saucer on top? I mean, by all rights, that was, that was God's divine intervention that kept his hand steady because Brett at that point was stronger because our tribe was winning challenges, Russis wasn't. Yeah.

Outplay? Outplay? Oh, my God. Are you kidding me? It's the premise of Survivor. It's not who, it's not, don't vote for the person that you hate the most. You never heard those words come out of Jeff Pro's mouth, right? Yeah.

It's not part of the game. So I had heard Russell tell a story a long time ago. I'd love to just get your side of it that he told the story back when he used to do his podcast. about that he was under the impression that he had won survivor Samoa that they this was back when they didn't used to do the live vote reveal and he from what I remember spoke to you and you had to break the news to him oh Russell you don't think you won did you oh I think I remember this this was when we were in wardrobe right before the show before we went to the green room oh this This was at the finale.

Yes. Yes. We didn't get a talk to Russ. Yeah. When the final three came back to Smoa, to Ponderosa. Yeah. Russ wasn't with him. They flew him back to Louisiana because he agreed to go on the next Survivors.

Villains, yeah. That started in 19 days. So he needed to get. home but that's when I got pulled aside and they said will you go and I'm like you have lost your damn mind yeah I mean are you crazy there is no way in God's green earth I'm 45 my neck is dislocated I'm on painkillers and anti-inflammatories I can't turn my head I mean it was a no brainer for me the night that I got voted off but I had I had relationships with everybody that was there, you know, Nat and Russ and Jay and Mick and Mick and I, a week before this,

after they did the shitty on Eric at the merge on day 19, I walked up to Mick. I said, hey, Mick, come here. I go, let's go down to the water. He goes, okay, sham, what's going on? And Mick's the nicest man on the planet. Oh my God. If you guys knew, knew him, you have to get him on a podcast because he's precious. He's completely open book, beautiful human being precious. Tender soul, honest to God. So we go down to the beach and I go, okay, Mac, here's the deal. Me and you, nobody else. If you hear Shambos going home tonight, we're going to have like a secret handshake at tribal when we're in the hub before we get, you know, called up to Prost. And he goes, But what if they say my name?

I go, dude, either one of us, that's our jam. We're going to be there for each other. If I hear your name, I will tell you, if you hear my name, you tell me. So it's night 36, right? So Russ is spinning with all the boa boa. Shambla's going home. She's hurt. She can't do anything.

They're giving her painkillers be more challenges. We're not going to be able to take her and mix like, well, I don't. want to vote for Shambot. Russ was like, none of us want to vote for Shambot, but somebody's got to be able to help us beat Brett. And Mick was like, yeah, she can't really help us do that right now. So we're in the hut, right? And they're micing us up and everything and rip your shirt off,

get your bra hooked into the microphone, blah, blah, blah. And Mick looks at me, he goes, sham. He came over and he did like the, the secret handshake, it's you. And then I did the secret handshake and I said, no, Mick, it's you. He goes, and then he slapped his leg. And I go, oh my God, are you serious? I go, I'm so glad you and I went and harvested all that coral.

Because we spent the entire afternoon picking up teeny little tiny pieces of the shells and coral because I wanted it for all my brothers and sisters, my 14 nieces and nephews, my friends from work. I wanted to make them a rawhide necklaces from Samoa for my experience because I thought that would be really cool. So Mick and I spent like four and a half hours on the beach picking all this coral. He goes, do you have your coral? And I go, I got my coral. He goes, are you going to be okay? I said, yeah, dude, I get to eat chocolate and have a shower.

I get a pillow. He goes, Chimbo, I love you. I'm sorry. I'm like, baby, it's okay. He's a competitor for God's sake. Yeah. was there a time that they thought about pulling you out of the game if they were giving you pain meds and i begged them too on day 13 they wouldn't to pull you out yeah they would they yeah there was no way you know how they they have the guy that that's in charge of the camera crew what's that called camera no not the camera crew the guy that's dang it i can't remember now like there was a late Lady on Foafo, we had a guy.

The producer? Producer, thank you. Because the producers were like, after I injured my neck, they were waking me up at like one, two, three o'clock in the morning to do an interview, right? And that day after I got hurt, I was like, they came and they were kicking my feet because my feet were sticking out. And then I had put bamboo through one of the. banana trees, but there was a root that wrapped around. So I could curl up really tiny with my head

on a root. And then my right foot could stick out, but my left foot was tucked in next to the tree. And I would just change the bedding in that thing every day because it was so damn wet. And they were kicking me. And I said, you kick me again. I'm going to pick up one of these pieces of bamboo and knock you out. Stop kicking me. He's like, you need to get up. You got to get up. right now and do an interview. I said, I've decided I'm not doing interviews anymore. And he goes, Shambo, it's part of your contract. I go, what are you really going to do to me? Are you kidding me right now? I'm in the middle of the Samoan jungle. I'm a former United States Marine Corps Sergeant filled Marine. What are you really going to do to me? And he was just flustered. He was absolutely

flustered. He was like, and then they went and got. The dogs are getting upset. Hearing about it. Yeah, they're good. They know mommy rocks. So, long story short, the next day, pros pulls me off to the side at a challenge.

He goes, hey, Shambo, you know, we've seen all your interviews, we've seen who you're voting for, we ask you questions, you're 100% honest, going forward, we're not going to ask

who you're voting for, or I'm going to ask you before tribal and that's going to be good enough for us and we're not going to be waking you up in the middle of the night to do you know interviews to the extent that we have been in the we need you to stay here you and russ are an integral part of our show on the two tribes and i was like okay but i'm telling you man this this is not okay i what does it take to get out of here because i'm all okay i mean this is you know a previous injury so he was just like we got your passport we got your ID we got your money you're in a foreign country

and I think we just need you to stick it out can you do that for and I was like I'll try did you ever consider asking people to vote you out oh I did yeah and they would vote myself out and then Russ told me that I couldn't yeah I would I would lose the profits and I was like what profits he goes Shannon do you get paid for every day day that you're here and I'm like, what are you talking when we get paid?

I have no idea. So if not being a computer person, an internet person, you know, a person that is computer computerly inclined. I didn't know the other side of anything.

I had no idea. I went out there to play Survivor. I think it was me, Barazi, JSON, and oh, Chief Russell.

Yeah. We were the school people out of 20 that applied. Russ Hans applied to go on. Pirate Master. There was another one, too. He did two applications. His second app, oh, the one where they race around the world. Amazing race.

Yeah. Yeah. He applied for that one, too. So, Shambo, you had such a good relationship with Mick, but at the final tribal council, as we were talking about earlier, you called him feckless. Did Mick do something that, that bothered him? you that you called him

a coward in that moment? Coward to me is not feckless. It's it was not standing up to Russ. It was not standing up to Russ

the entire process. That was it in a nutshell. Because Russ was a bully and Mick is kind. If I had it to do over again, I probably would have said you are the kindest, gentlest soul on the planet, and you should have stood up to Russ instead of calling

him a name. If I could take that back, I would. Okay. Because it's the truth, you know. Yeah. But this just popped in my head because my wife is Captain vocabulary. So whenever I hear a really cool, catchy word, I'm like, what is that? What does that mean? How do I use that in a sentence? I want to mention I know you watched all the seasons and season 47 aired not too long ago and you reached out to me about a player that really caught your attention

that you really felt for and really had it you felt like you had a connection with so I was worried for her going home. Hey Rob. Yeah. Uh, here we have a, another clip for you, Shambo, here you go. Oh, wow. What's up, Shambo?

It's teeny here from Survivor 47. And Cheeverd reached out to let me know that you are going on talking with Cheabird, which one, I am absolutely so excited to listen to. Um, and two, I am just so honored that anything that I did on Survivor or in life resonated with you because as a longtime Survivor fan and, watcher. I distinctly remember watching Survivor Samoa and being quite literally obsessed with you on the show. And that has carried into my adulthood that is carried into my time out there on the island. And it will never not feel surreal that people like you were able to see something

in me. And I can't wait for our path to cross. And I'm so excited that I get to say hello to you via one of the best R&GAP podcasts in the game. So much love to you. I can't wait to hear everything that you're up to now and all the things that you guys are going to get into. You are an inspiration to me and to so many others. And I cannot overstate how much I am touched by the fact that I even get to know you

and that you know who I am. So much love to you. I hope you're having a wonderful summer and all the best. there you go there's teeny wow you know i just oh man i wish that kid would have been on my tribe because i would have just tucked her in under mama bear wing and said do not apologize to these men for wishing that you were big and strong do not diminish your god-given abilities accentuate them put them into the world go out there and lift

everybody up because it cost you nothing it cost you nothing teeny i swear to god you know it's like when when she got voted out and she was crumbled when the wind changed yeah and i was just like i was screaming literally screaming at the tv trying not to wake anybody up in my family which is impossible to golden retrievers barking because i'm screaming and they're like where's the bad guy mommy where's the gun anyways i wanted to jump into the television and take her shoulders and turn her to block the frickin' wind. That's what I wanted to do for Tini. And I wanted to talk to her.

I called Tiberd, I'm like, you have to have Tini on your show. You need to make sure this girl is okay because I was really, I was pretty beat up after my season. I mean, you know, when the shrink's telling you, she's never seen a verbal lashing, Like I took from people at Ponderosa up to the day that we left. I was alienated. I was, it was hostile. So, I mean, I was a 45-year-old woman that had lived, you know, a long time on the planet. And I was just really afraid that when I see people like her, and then there was, Ashley was telling me about she was friends with one of the ladies that was out of Michigan.

Again, tall skinny gal, blonde, older. She was like 41. Do you know who I'm talking about? From your season? No, she was like two seasons before teenies. Okay. Tall, skinny woman, blonde from two seasons before teeny. Yeah.

And where is she from? Michigan. Oh, no, Minnesota. Minnesota. Oh, Carolyn. Yes. Yes. I wanted to talk to Carolyn, too, and just say, you know what?

You need to book a flight to Seattle. You need to come spend the day with me because we are just going to have a love motivational seminar about all your attributes, how wonderful you are. And I want you to charge into the world and let everybody know because that's what people need. You know, everybody needs somebody to champion them. And I grew up being championed by my parents, my brothers and sisters, my coaches. Yeah. Everybody would. I mean, even my eighth grade teacher.

Mrs. Seeley? What a wonderful human. What a wonderful human. Such a dyslexic little Shannon in her brain. So ADD. I can hardly sit down, bouncing off the chairs, you know, all these teachers would always stick me in the front row. Because they could look at me and go, Shannon, close your mouth, especially Catholic school. I mean, until they bust out the rule, Sister Carol, oh my God, somebody saved me. Yeah, that's another story. That's another podcast right there. Catholic school was Shannon. mutters. Oh my God. You know, again, I know how you, I know how you feel about bullies and I know how you feel about heroes and you certainly absolutely are a hero. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for letting me aggravate you for six plus years. It was, it was worth the weight for me. It was worth the weight. Awesome. Yeah. I really just got so much from you from this conversation about how, you You know, you're really all about building other people up. Like, I really got that from you. You are such a great storyteller.

You have such an amazing memory for detail of down to what people were wearing when you had these interactions with them. What exactly they said. Yeah. It's my head in. It is worth it. That it makes you more locked in. It gives you, like, an even better memory? like before I was 20 years old

I have like oh my god like I'm sitting here right here today it's my third birthday my mom walks out with this big box and it was the little red jacket that we saw at J.C. Penny's downtown Seattle in the bargain basement and she put it on layaway it was $27 don't ask me how I know this

this memory is like at 61 years old locked in my head forever and she walked out with my little birthday cake it was a little chocolate birthday cake that she decorated Sean was sitting here Aaron was sitting here the baby was in the house the older brothers and sisters were obviously in school because Aaron was five Sean was four and I was three and I didn't even blow my cake out I ripped that box out open knowing that it was my little red jacket that I saw six months earlier And she said, well, we have to ask, dad, we need to see if we can put it on layaway. I mean, who gets to have that? I have so many memories of the first year of my life. And it always, it's like my head injuries in the Marine Corps and car accidents and the incident in Korea didn't and blown up and in a fire. And it's just, it like locked my brain. down from memories like if it's post 20 years old there's way less less less detail and like even

now like when I meet somebody I got to meet him like six to ten times and then I'm like oh yeah we met at the winery or I'll say something like that you know wherever I think that I met them and they're like no no no I met you at Safeway and I'm like oh okay yeah but it's like my nothing compared to what Shambo the first three years we were talking you called me

T-bone and I never She called me T-bone and I thought that's pretty cute I'll go with it You always called me T-Bone I've always called to T-Bone

Yeah I like it I like it too I actually like it too so sham I want to make sure as we talk about this about getting John Fitcher's

GoFund Me page out there well actually there's there's there's there's there's john finchers go phone fund me is very important to me yes can i can i just can i just um give you probably the most important thing in the universe to me yeah absolutely okay have you guys ever heard of the tv show survival mode survival mode yeah no survival mode airs um eight o'clock on wednesdays And it is the most tragic incidents that people have lived through.

But most importantly, this one, which was season one, episode two, we just watched it last Wednesday, me and Eva. We were reduced to bawling like our entire families had been decimated, killed, murdered, and we couldn't function. was how we felt after watching this show, to the point of reaching out to the people that were in the Lahaina Wildfires two years ago. Yes. Do you remember the Lahaina wildfires? Maui? Yeah.

Yeah. So Captain Chrissy Lovett and her wife, Emma Nelson, and their Golden Retriever, started a go-fund me for the entire Maui. circuit for all the business owners, all the homeowners, everybody that lost. And Lahaina is still not rebuilt today. So Captain Chrissy has been a vessel captain for 25 years up there. And she's a national. She's born there. They have the Lahaina Wildfire Relief, which is their old go-fummy from 23 when this happened. In addition to

she's the owner of the new Maui Ocean Adventures vessel that they've scraped all their money together and their family to be able to take the survivors on an annual trip to have a great day and go well

watching. Wow. To give back to their community. Their golden retriever got cancer during the fires three weeks ago, Macy got her leg cut off, and she's undergoing chemotherapy, and this dog's turning 12 on September 13th, which is my puppy's turning two on that day. And Eva and I have had five golden retrievers. So we do a lot of golden retriever rescue, re-home, bring them in, train them, get them healthy, feed them.

Then we'll take a vacation and we'll drive like we went to, where the hell do we go? We went to South Dakota two years ago to drop a dog off that we had for four months named Chloe. And I bawled, I'm telling you, man, I bawled when I dropped that dog off because I wanted that dog. But she was a big girl, but we found get this, you're never going to believe this. The breeder that called me and said, Chambo, can you go rescue another dog? I was like, yeah, where is it? She goes, it's up in Seattle. I go, where?

She goes, Auburn. I go, what's going on? dogs locked in a kennel. I'm not talking like a kennel that's six by eight. I'm talking like a cargo box like you would buy a dog in, lived in it for three years. Went to the bathroom in it, ate in it. He wasn't allowed to walk on the grass. I mean, it was horrendous.

So Chloe lived with us. We got her happy, loved, healthy. The breeder called the check on me after I picked her up. And she said, you know, the lady that first wanted that dog, that, She couldn't go get her because she's down in Arizona. She's a tax lady. She, it was just terrible. She had Chloe's sister from the first litter.

Chloe was from the second litter. Same parents. Even I got in our motor home with Bravo. And we drove to South Dakota and brought this lady, her dog. And we are still dear friends today. We talked like, we used to talk like three times a week, but summertime's kind of busy, so we haven't talked that often, but this year, we went on a vacation to South Dakota. We brought both of our golden retrievers in our motorhome, and we took one of our Can-Am spiders because we're motorcycle chicks, but we're too old for this shit now, so now we need training wheels, basically in the front.

Because if you, Eva, Eva, Harley, that was a trike, has a wheel on the front, if that wheel blows, you're dust, bro. I'm saying, Rob? When you got two wheels, if those wheels start to deflate on a can-am spider, it shut your engine down and it slows you down, like a compressive brake. Yeah. So it's way, way, way, way safer. So we brought one of those. We rode the Black Hills. We bucket, bucket freaking list.

Look, I haven't even said the F word once today. That's amazing, cussie-nell. You guys know the Nidles Highway in South Dakota? I don't. Black Hills, South Dakota. Swear to God. Okay. You're really happy you got to meet me today.

You know why? Why? Because the Needles Highway has stalagmites that are like 180 feet tall from the ice age. And there's caves. There's caves that you drive through. They're like 34, 36 feet long, 8 feet 4 inches. If you're in a truck, you have to fold your mirrors in to get through there. so Eva drove my spider up to the highway to the tallest point right and I was videotaping her in their helmet car and then on the way back it was my turn dude I was 19 I was freaking crushing it I was on two wheels on the corners on this thing doing about 50 miles an hour and I couldn't move I mean my shoulders my hands my elbows my hip hurt so bad I felt like I get hit but semi because I was riding like that for like an hour and I got a little bit

carried away. But I got my memory. Yeah. Shambo, I think you definitely need your own podcast. You wouldn't even need guests to be on. It could just be you. No, I would want to have, I would want to have you on T-Bone. Yeah, T-Bone would be great. That's hilarious. Rob, I love to go tea.

Oh, Shambo, thank you so much. This is. Look. Yeah. Thank you, Shambo. Are you in? I am. You're really handsome for a man.

Nobody's ever said that to me before. I know. It's a Shambal original. It's a Shambal original. I'm going to get that on a pillow. Oh, my God. You know, when I was a chef at the Seattle butcher restaurant for my birthday, I pulled my whole crew together.

It's like, I don't know, nine or 11 guys. And I'm like, okay, you guys, my birthday is next Thursday. This was on a Monday because I had inventory. that day because I wasn't supposed to be working, but I was because I did inventory. I said, you guys, we're going to have a contest. Whoever can grow the most beautiful go-tee that's perfectly groomed that I say is the best go-tee gets to come to my house and I will cook you dinner. They were all in.

So it started a thing because for the next three years, we had Chambos' birthday go-tee party. And then we started inviting everybody over once a month, and then I would cook for my crew. So that was really fun too. Yeah. What's your best dish that you make, Shambo? It's your specialty. It just depends what environment you're working in. If you're working in hotels, your menus are pretty much your menus from corporate. If you're working for a private entity like Schwartz Brothers, the restaurants that I worked for for, I think I was there about 11 years, probably oh i know my sous chef christ jenevice is going to love this that i just said his name on tv you ready for this ready veal shambalini veal shamblini is that an original yeah yeah

what's what's it like what's what's a veal shamblini veal dameglaze with roasted shallots and basil chiffonide okay what do you think T-Bone, you in? I'm in. The crowd goes wild. Oh, my God. Out of the park, right? Italian is,

Italian cooking is my beloved. I was classically trained in Italian for Kachina Kachina restaurants. Opened up, I helped open four of them with Bill Beck, one of my mentors and Ted First from Seattle.

And these guys were just, I mean, Ted's Italian. He's like, he taught me everything that I knew about Italian cooking. Like, you know, the basics, the basics of Italian cooking from the ground up. I was so blessed to work with this guy. He's phenomenal. And he's handsome like you.

True story. There you go. Thank you, T-Bone. What's the Dane? T-Bone, what's the Dane? What's the Dane? What's the Dane? What's the D.

The bail? Look. Look, Shabon, do you see that LaVal right there over R-H-A-P? That's his signature, right, Rob, tell it. Yeah, when we try to make a point, we try to, like, when we say something that's really important, like, Yeah, really, like, punctuated. Yeah, like, that's right.

That's right. Oh, I have one more thing I want to show you, though. What is it? I have to show you this before we leave. Okay. So I turned 60 last April, and Eva got online and made me. Shambo Buff. my very own birthday buff

okay here I'm gonna go here just show it to everybody season 1960th Shambo yes established in Washington so all my friends that were under 45

got the peach colored ones all of my friends that were over 45 got the blue ones and they were blue and green and yellow which is my high school colors, Hayes and Highlanders,

plus 82. What? Yeah. So we had Survivor games at my friend Jeff Irwin's house in Renton, Washington, and there was about 140 people. There were a bunch of people from high school,

people from that I played sports with, softball, basketball, track, I mean, everything. Yeah. And it was, the party was positively epic. We did. I built all,

the whole set, like it was an actual television show on Survivor. 140 people is a wedding. That's not a birthday party. No, it was definitely my birthday party. It's my hometown. That's just a lot of people. You must have made such a big impact on so many people to have 140 people turn out. It's not just my friends.

It's, okay, when you're a chef in Seattle, you probably know at least 5,000 people that have worked for you in 20. years right yeah you have 400 customers times 24 so what's that 1600 people there that know me well that see me every single week same time same day they said they're watched by me in sales you have seven older brothers and sisters and a little sister you have the coolest mom and the most productive dad that ever walked the face there my mom started girls soccer for me in 1971 she sat down at her hyperwriter. And she said, my daughter, Shannon, has been out there for three years playing every day with her brother, Sean. And she's absolutely as good. And it's not fair to these little

girls, because she's got six daughters, right? No wonder she started about soccer. So my mom was the first woman's soccer commissioner in the state of Washington. We did the six tournaments. We did the three people referees. Two of us kids and mom, mom would either be a lion judge. And me or Sean or Aaron or Donna would be the waffery, and then the other two would be the line judges. We got paid. I mean, it was the time of my life. Seattle Times did an interview on my mom, and it just made me cry because I'm so proud of my mom. League of Women, Voters, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls.

See, I got a lot of trouble with Camp Fire Girls because my mom was the mint mom for the whole city. Sean and I used to sneak in the garage and eat the mints. chocolate. Yeah, I'm trying to work on that. It's not going so well. Shambo and Rob, you know, I'm listening to your stories and how you still incorporate Survivor into your life now. And what a beautiful thing that we all three got to do. And it's still such a big part of our lives. It's really a very, very cool thing. It's brought us three together, which otherwise we would have probably never made. that's so true such a connection and a bond it's it's really fantastic it's really it's really special to me right now just having seen eber mick and john and seeing their worlds today

their wives their girlfriends their families their stories and we sat around mick's dinner table john and mick were cooking like three hundred dollars worth of rib eyes and Ursula mixed wife who is a very wonderful beautiful cool kick-ass

human being she has her own I think I wrote this down too you guys can't be done yet

okay okay shambo we're not done until you're done okay here we go Ursula

trimming is the law offices of Ursula trimming ESQ and

she does temporary work visas for people that are from other countries in California. How cool is that? Because there's a lot of corporations that need help placing people. But with the temperature and the climate with politics right now, it's kind of an unspoken no-no. So go, Ursula. I'm so proud of you. You're such a great woman. And Mick, Nick's an anesthesiologist at the Los Angeles, one of the hospitals there.

I knew which one it was. No, I don't know. What else? So we got, Ebert is putting together information on a film, and it's called All Is Fair in Love and Mexico. And I don't really know the entire premise of it, but it's really fired up about it. He's also Ebert, Eric Cardona has also co-authored a book. pouring with heart it's about wine it's about a bar it's about it's fiction i i don't know he's sending me the book i haven't read it yet but i can actually read a book now so that's the good news but he's just

i mean little e bear was so shy out there day one he was shy oh my god i grabbed him on day one and i said, dude, come with me, we're going to go get vines. He goes, what are we doing with vines? I say, you can't build a shelter without a rope. That's our, that's our ropes. He was like, okay. So we get back three hours later. Girls are all sitting there doing their little sissy, make a floor mat for what possible reason it's going to get wet and disintegrate. Those were their yoga mats, Shambo. What, oh, don't get me started on that. Yeah.

No, yoga fly zone. No, I lost the chicken because I didn't. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Hi, honey. Oh, Eva said two hours later. Okay.

I'm like, have you better? You know her very well. You're not surprised. But, you know, Shambo, just to echo what Tini was saying about how, you know, teeny watched you and was obsessed with you, you know, not only did you make this impact on people when the show aired back in the fall of 2009. But you probably could have never predicted that Survivor in the world of streaming would live on and that a new generations plural would be watching you. Like every day, new people are watching you and probably being like very

touched by your experience. And so I'm sure it's so meaningful to so many people to get to hear from you. Aw, you're so sweet. But I mean it. I think that people, like, we, that the fans, we really, you know, that resonate with these big characters from the years, and especially somebody like yourself who is not, you know, omnipresent on social media. Like, it's such a treat for us to hear from you.

Rob. Yes. I told T-bird this yesterday on the phone when I was talking to her mom about about call. I know what you're going to say, Shambo. Let me say it. Go ahead. She is not a character. I'm sorry to say that.

She is herself. She is not a character. But you're a one of a kind. Yes. Okay. I'll take that to the bank all day long. Yeah. And that you're a personality that people, as any survivor fan, will never forget.

There will never be another, Shambo. Yeah. You know, that's probably a really good. thing. Because I can be a lot. It's a very cool thing, Shambo. It's what I've been doing for years. I just want to say thank you for having Russell and Monica and Tini on the show because that was really cool. I wish it could have been Ashley because Ash is definitely my, that's my kid from Survivor, man. That's my girl. Hey, Shambi, I think it's only appropriate for us to go out the same way we came in. So how about a little theme song action? How about a little I of the Tiger?

You want to sing. Singing is not in my repertoire. I'd be really famous. It's the eye of the tiger. It's the thrill of the fight. How's that? Go ahead. Give it to us. It's great. I'm good, man. That's all you know. Is that? No, I know the whole song. I just am not going to punish America. What's the best Rocky movie? You know, it's got to be the original because Bud Kiss getting freed out of the pet store, him and Adrian getting married and the boys on the block singing the song and passing the wine bottle. And hey, rock. It's like 10-year-old Shannon came running out of the Roxy Theater in Renton, Washington with my best friend Teresa Prue. dancing and you know we were like i mean you should have seen us it was hilarious

okay little fourth graders at st anthony's and it was i i just i just watched uh rocky three two days ago again and then i watched rocky four and then i watched rocky five because i couldn't go to sleep after i watched rocky three is mr t needs to be slapped but you know okay okay All right. Thank you. Shabo, thank you so much. We appreciate you. All the best.

And please, and thank Eva for letting us borrow you for such a lengthy amount of time. We really appreciate it. Good stuff. Oh, there she is. Okay. She did a pop-in. She made an appearance. Okay.

Hey, boy. Bravo and Romeo, thank you to them as well. Romi, look. Yeah, they are. Look. Yeah, the Galdons. The whole world. Oh, my goodness.

So please, please, please, let me end with Captain Crisie Lovett and Emma Nelson. Please help the city of Lahaina rebuild itself. And if you don't want to do the GoFundMe, it's back from 23, but I believe it's still active. The Maui Ocean Adventures.net has well-watching tickets. that anybody can buy or even donate to to help them not only with their golden retriever going through chemo, but all the people of the town

because you guys need to watch that show Survival Mode. Season 1, episode 2, please, anybody that is watching this that is a survivor fan, I'm begging you to support these women for the simple fact that they're helping the whole town and they save so many people's lives. you've got to watch this show.

T-bone, I want you to promise me you're tuning this up. All right, I promise. Promise. I just can't get over. They made a show called Survival Mode and put it on at the same time slot as Survivor. What are you talking about? The one has nothing whatsoever to do with the other. But it has a very similar title.

And they put it on at the same time slot. Well, that is not my stuff in 2009. My season episode at 8 p.m. on Thursdays. Yeah. In 2010, they changed it to Wednesdays because they lost their slot. So, you know. Okay. Well, thank you for bringing awareness to this.

We'll get the links. We'll put the links in the description for this and for John. And thank you for helping to raise awareness. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. All right. Shambo, thank you so much.

All the best. We appreciate you. And hope we can chat again sometime. Thank you, brother. I love you, Sam. Thank you. Bye, T-bone.

Tell Mama, I said hi. And don't forget that collag green recipe I gave her. I won't. I won't forget. Love you. Love you, see, Hart. Okay. All right.

All right. They have it. Shambo. You did it, T-Bird. We did. T-bone. T-bone. You nailed it.

We did it. Yeah. What is a light? I think Shambo, we could have gone for hours with show. Like we even mentioned, she's a great storyteller. She's unique. She's, she's wonderful. I know, I absolutely know why she's cast. But these are my favorite talking with T-birds that I've done throughout the history of, and what have we done? Like 60 plus

talking with T-bird episodes and Marilyn Mad Dog Hershey and Jan Gentry. And there's just like these very interesting. I'm not going to say characters, but these, uh, memorable personalities who still have so much life and are just, you know, that you get it immediately what the show saw in them. And there's such bright lights. And that to me is Shambo. Yeah, it is. She's, she's eccentric and wonderful and kind. She's got a huge heart. I mean, we could, again, talk to her for a very long time. She does so much for her community. She cooks for everybody in her neighborhood when they're, you know, sick or got things. She's, you know, her and Eva will just do for everybody. She's, she's a beautiful person. So I'm so glad that we

got to have a look into her life now from all these years of survivor and her take us back to her season. Okay. All right. T-Bird. Anything else coming up for you? No. It's going to be a short talking with T-Bird season because the summer got a little short on us, which is fine. So hopefully we'll have a couple of more at least good characters. I mean, players. Players, players. I know you're working hard behind the scenes for that. I look forward to hearing what everybody has to say. Of course, I love

to read the comments about all of this. And we appreciate everybody checking out another episode of Talking with T-Bird. We'll be back with another one hopefully very soon. Take care. Everybody. Have a good one. Bye. Bye.

listen your life won't ever be the same because we're talking with tea bird now this bird you cannot change oh and things might get pretty strange