RHAP: We Know Survivor - The 25 Greatest Moments in Survivor History | 15-11

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

This week, Mike Bloom , Omar Zaheer, Kellyn Bechtold, and Rachel LaMont talk through moments 15-11.

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So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goal tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Hi everybody! the 25 greatest moments in the bend right now reaching the halfway point of this entire process. We will talk about get another five huge set of moments. This is huge. We needed this as we are celebrating Survivor's 25th anniversary by counting down. 25 moments is voted on by you in the hands of the fans and today moments 15 to 11 who will be knocking on the door of the top 10? We shall find out in due time. As always,

I am joined by an illustrious panel of Survivor alumni to take a walk through Survivor history past, perhaps present, and maybe in the future. But let me welcome them in one by one. Here's somebody who's still cooling down considering she's been on fire over the course of this spring. It is the winner of Survivor 47, Rachel Lamont. Hi, Mike. So excited. I'm so excited to do this with Omar and Helen.

I feel like, you know, this is my first non-47 related podcast. So it feels like a big deal. Like I'm nervous, my heart's beating. So I'm glad to be here with with friends amongst friends. Well, the professional podcast for you become right. It's a great job setting up our other two guests, of course. He knows who's who at the zoo, and we'll see if that applies to counting down

these moments as well in the cages. It's Omar's here. Hello. Thank you for having me. And I love this illustrious panel as well. But Rachel Lamont, winner of Survivor 4047, has already started in on her deception and lies. This is your first non 47. Okay, I realize after that. This is my first like RHAP Rachel's just a past player type of podcast, you know, like I heard a whole first time as a normie is what I just heard. Welcome back down to Earth, Rachel. Join us mortals.

Well, it's an honor to be on for your first non forty seven podcast. And of course, finishing out this for some for the evening is someone who famously said on Survivor that your gut is all you have to go with. And we'll see how she can gut check the vibes of the fandom when it comes to guessing these moments from Survivor Ghost Island. It's Kellen Bechtold. Hey everybody. Happy to see you all. Excited to be here. All right. So we've got another whole batch of moments to talk through from the list of 100 that people voted on.

I won't describe the entire process. We understand it at this point, but I will remind people of the moments we have talked about so far. Let's really quickly reveal or review, I should say, the first 10 moments that we talked about here on this entire project. Of course, we started in the new era, much like two of the people we're talking to today, with number 25, Jesse Betrays Cody from Survivor 43.

Number 24, Rupert Steals the Shoes from Survivor Pearl Islands. Number 23, Coaches Trip to Exile Islands, Survivor Token Sheens taking the monastic approach number 22 Caleb shot in the dark hits from the Mergetory episode of a survivor 45 number 21 at series 3 2 1 vote in survivor Panama 3 2 1 votes all the rage nowadays in Fiji for those of us that are watching a love Island and then the ones we talked about last week number 20 Sandra wins twice on Heroes versus Villains. Scoopin falls in the fire in Survivor, the Australian outback.

Omar is fist pumping. That's number 18, Tony's spy shack from Survivor Kagaon, the proto version of the spy shack before it became a bunker and a nest. Number 17, Advantage Gettin, the series of unfortunate events that took out Suri and Survivor Game Changers. And finally, number 16, Heidi and Jenna Strip for chocolate and peanut butter in the Amazon. A moment so salacious that the host of this very podcast network had to take off to Scotland and appear on another show just to not be linked to it. So here we are with another batch. Real quick, before we get into getting to guess the number 15 moment

and have you all take a turn in the chair here, I'm curious, Rachel, looking back upon 25 years of Survivor, you know, we've had a mix of new era, we've had a mix of old era, we've had a mix of big character moments, we have a mix of new era, we've had a mix of old era, we've had a mix of big character moments, we've had a mix of big moves and strategy moments. Do you have any moments from your perspective that fall into any particular bucket when you look back as to the stuff that makes your list?

Oh, interesting. Yeah, I think that for me, the moments that stick out, maybe they're not, like I have, I have a very different history, I think, with Survivor, because I am not a day one survivor fan. So I started watching like eight years ago. My first live season was Heroes Healers Hustlers. So I feel like I did like old school on a binge.

And I feel like that gives me a very different perspective. And it kind of like those moments kind of stick out to me maybe different than people that watch them live. And my connection to them is a little bit different. And so, yeah, I feel like, you know, things we haven't heard about yet. You're asking for me to kind of. Oh, yeah. Just, you know, are you some of your favorite moments? More of like the the funny, goofy things or more of the.

All right, let's get down to brass tacks. I want the big blind sides. Yeah, interesting. I think that it's a mixture like I feel like, you know, Billy and Candace. Very funny moment. Like not serious in any way, not game related in any way. Same with like, you know, Natalie, can I have your jacket? Like those things are just funny and iconic moments.

Dad Fairplay said grandma like those types are just funny and iconic moments. Um, dad, fair place, dad, grandma, like those types of things. But then you still, you know, you have Eric giving up the necklace. You have like, um, I feel like, you know, Parvati's double idol play things that I assume are going to probably not be in this, in this segment and probably like be a little bit further down. Um, even like Sioux hawks, snakes and rats speech. Like I think that some of those things are just the things that I think about. And I'll be curious to hear the perspective from

other people that have been watching a lot longer. Yeah. I mean, from that perspective, I mean, Omar, you are someone who has been very dyed in the wool with some of the, you know, bigger Easter egg moments, I would say even from those earlier seasons. And we've seen some of those moments from the first 10 seasons pop up. Do you think they are being held appropriately in reverence on this list? Well, Michael, if you don't give me chocolate and peanut butter now, I'm too late. Yeah, to be noted in the video. I saw what I wasn't entirely sure what you were doing.

OK, you were stripping. I'm glad that is verified for all of us. Yeah, but you have to give it to me. Otherwise, I'm going entirely sure what you were doing. Okay, you were stripping. I'm glad that is verified for all of us. Yeah, but you have to give it to me. Otherwise, I'm going to keep going. That's the deal. Well, with the tariffs, I don't know how quickly that's going to get to you, Omar. I think that I like... So I started...

The first episode of Survivor I ever watched was... It was the most famous Jenna Lewis tape moment ever was when she didn't get the video from the loved ones. And that was just an iconic moment that should be on this list. In my opinion, it captured my attention, then had having Greg talk about his sister in incestual terms, a very funny introduction to Survivor. And I think that those are really funny character moments. But I think for me, I think I prefer, I prefer a little character stuff mixed in. Like one of my favorite moments ever was when Sugar did not give the cookie or gave the cookie to Randy and he wouldn't take it. And then he got

blindsided with the fake idol. Not like a top strategic moment, but very funny and kind of deserved. So I loved watching that sort of stuff. But as far as like, if I look at Rupert and his stealing of the shoes, certainly an iconic moment. But I think that Rupert getting blindsided, I would probably put higher than that sort of moment. So I think that I like heavier strategy, but character moments sprinkled in. What's the balance for you, Kellyn? Oh, God, oh, God. I was on mute.

So for me, I would say like out of the five moments today, I would say like four personal moments or like human moments with one strategic move put in. I mean, if it's like both at once, like what I can think of as like Michaela being blindsided. And that is like a because I think of as like Michaela being blindsided and that is like a perfect because I think the perfect moments for me are when someone is so raw and out of control. I think those are the moments when I was watching before I was so drawn into and just like what

would happen with me if I was stripped down to that, just like stripped down to my bones, you know, out there in front of everyone. And so those tend to stick out to me when people are just being their self and they can't help it. And sometimes it's really not their best self and I don't want to make fun of anyone, but you know, like those are some of the moments that stick out to me.

Like this is not on this list, but like Kat crawling to her brother or whatever. Those kinds of things I think earlier in Survivor are what was just like, what the hell would I do if I were in those situations? So at least I stayed on my two feet when my brother came out to visit. All right. I can't believe we have Naviti Strong-Kellen here where I can ask her about one of my favorite moments that's not on this list. So some moments, they take a while to become iconic. Naviti Strong-Kellen here, where I can ask her about one of my favorite moments that's not on this list. What did you think?

So some moments, they take a while to become iconic. Other moments are iconic, the instant that they happen. And what did you feel watching Angela down that sea cucumber like that? You are increasing the explicitly rating of this with every syllable that comes out of your mouth, the year. That was crazy. I didn't feel anything, but maybe some other people watching had feels. All the feels. I mean, I guess what I felt was just absolute shock.

I just remember me like, what is happening? I actually just saw that clip the other day. I don't know what you watch that is in. It is insane. It is insane. It is worth a rewatch and probably should have been in the top 10 of the survivor moments ever. All right. Well, let's take a gulp of moment number 15. And as per usual, I'm trying to guide you here. I'm not going to throw you completely in open water here.

I'll give you a bit of a lane to swim in. So moment number 15. Look, the Traders is on the brain. The cast has recently been released. I will say that moment number 15 heavily spotlights a survivor player who either has appeared or will appear on a season of the Traders. Homer, you're nodding your head.

You have me. You know, mine right now, I have a guess. Yes, I, I, my heart wants to say when Jam Jam burped into Carolyn's mouth, but my head says that it's going to be. Did you vote for who I told you to vote for Jacqueline, Natalie Anderson, Rachel, Kellan, any, any opinions to the contrary? That's a good one. That's a really good guess.

I was just trying to think of a maybe a Boston Rob moment. I have a guess. What's your guess? Go ahead, Rachel. It could be Stephanie being the only member of the long left. Hmm. That does seem like a fan. Good guess. All right. Well, we've got a couple of guesses in. Let's see. But moment number 15 is already hungry and all alone. This is no way to be.

Pack your canoe with all you want. This is why Rachel won. With all you want. Survive. You're the only to endure. The next phase of your adventure starts with a trip to Karora. That's awesome. Oh my god. It's a merch. I'm gonna have friends!

Oh my god. Okay. Okay, now out here. All right. Wow. The strings in the background. I never heard music back then was like a pop song like about. Well, we've got to solo act, Rachel, as she said, see you later. Oh, long that we are saying hello to Stephanie LaGrosse, as indeed moment number 15, as you predicted, is her becoming a tribe of one, the Survivor Pallow, the first

and so far only time in Survivor history that an entire tribe was decimated, quote Amy O'Hara, before the merge. Omar, thoughts on this moment? I mean, this was a huge moment during the live airing of the show. Like, everybody saw this airing of the show. Everybody saw this new cast of 20 people. I feel like this is the first season as well that was so heavy on the Macders that were just dropped on the island and I had no idea what was going on.

The majority of them were on one tribe. Yeah, like 10 of them wanted to quit and then they were all on Oolong. So watching her claw back her way after week after week after week, and then she's left with, you know, two strong men that she just, you know, gets out of the way, including the person that helped her learn how to make a fire. So I thought that that was, I mean, it's the reason she's on season 50, you know, like, that's why her legacy, because I mean, everything since then hasn't been that great. But this was the moment it It was huge.

She was the most popular survivor of all time to that point, even more than Rupert, which is why he wanted her out. Yeah, it's incredibly true. I mean, I think it cannot be overstated. I mean, Rob talked a bit about Rupert mania in the moment with the shoes. But like Stephanie is far and away, I would say, at her zenith, like the most popular female contestant in all of Survivor. And I would argue, like, again, this moment certainly hits near the top, at least, that Rupert did.

If there was another America's Tribal Council, she would have won a million dollars as well, just because of how entirely unprecedented this is. I mean, obviously, the clip I pulled is from the very end of it, but there's Kellyn in an entire series of scenes where she's doing all the typical things you have to do on Survivor by yourself. She's starting a fire. She's fishing. The days of comparing this show to Castaway had sort of winnowed away by the time Survivor

Palau came along, but they promptly brought the comparisons right back considering that Stephanie was a Survivor in more ways than one in that moment. Yeah, I really can think back. I should go back and watch this. I haven't since I played, but I did spend two nights alone playing survivor out on Ghost Island. So I have slept, slept alone and started the fire and got out and got water and done the whole thing being by yourself. And I think it would be I mean, this is like a drop in the bucket of her experience, but it is very strange to experience something that is so tribal so much about a group experience and then finding yourself alone. I can remember thinking that she was just like such a badass it was like a little a part of me thinking how strong and cool and amazing

that she was to be doing this on her own. And yeah, it's a whole different ball game to be the only solo gal living on a beach in the game of Survivor. I'm curious, Rachel, as someone who experiences again through a binge, not through the lens of 2005 when it aired, did it still hit for you, considering that, especially considering survivor history is now going to be waylaid by a whole plethora of like these disaster tribes? None of them have gotten to the level of Stephanie.

But this is really one of the first times that we've seen just an absolute devastation of one tribe over the others. Yeah, I mean, it definitely still hit. I actually, you know, I also filled out the form for this, these moments, and this was one of the ones I put on mine. So it certainly hit. I actually rewatched this season with my family up north,

like a couple years ago, we just randomly put it on. And my father-in-law, who is like a day one kind of casual fan, like was like, oh, man, Stephanie, you know? And so she definitely sticks in the minds of people that have been watching a long time and in newer watchers, too. Yeah. I mean, next season, right? Survivor Guatemala, she's going to walk down from the pyramids and you're going to have people to turn to her and say, I applied for the show because of you. Again, that's a phenomenon.

We've only really seen a handful of times. Let me let me take things one step further here. I'm going to try to pull open some sliding doors right now. There are no doors on Survivor, but I'm going to try to set the house here because Stephanie goes, again, in a completely new situation. She is completely by herself. She is the sole survivor before one was actually crowned in Tom Westman this season. And look, I imagine that the show, even at that time, is still planning out the majority of the season ahead of time. But I think the thing there's a little thing in my noggin that says that maybe they saw Stephanie really roughing it

for that day and a half and we're like, you know what? We throw something in maybe a couple of rounds from now where someone spends a night alone. Yeah. And that's what happened with Janu. couple rounds from now where someone spends a night alone. Yeah. And that's what happened with Janu. That then inspires the entire concept of exile island. Almost biblically, exile island beget redemption island.

Redemption island beget edge of extinction. This entire idea of her own. So she ruined survivor. Like, not a Kirk. Chris Underwood would not have one survivor. Honestly, I think that is the small domino to the large domino in survivor history. What is she going to do on 50 then that's going to ruin our lives? Can't wait to see. Well, it is also a time when there really wasn't like All Stars was such a, um, you know, special event, a

big event. It's not like returning player seasons were very regular thing at the time. And so the fact that they specifically, I feel like saw these two were like, we have to bring them back for their unfinished business. I think it worked as a theme and it was so quick and so basically devoted to them that I think it is, um, I think it's a game changing moment, for sure. Yeah. And I think you brought up a really great point before, Omer, that like this is also a nice reminder as to why Stephanie was cast on Survivor 50. Is that to your point, she has had two subsequent appearances.

She did a lot better in the next one from a placement perspective, maybe not from a reputation perspective. The third time it was worse in both, but like people still remember this, right? Like despite how bad of a look Stephanie was in Guatemala, she was still like a lock for the heroes tribe in survivor heroes versus villains. And it was because specifically of something like this,

something that you would definitely consider, especially from a survival perspective, like the biggest underdog moment in the show's history. The biggest show of the summer is back. Love Island USA Season 7 premieres June 3rd, and we will be breaking it all down all season long. Join Kirsten and Scali for the challenges, recoupling, and drama. Get the same great Love Island coverage on the brand new We Know Love Island podcast feed.

Hey, the moment number 15 is in the books. We'll leave Stephanie behind. We'll move on to moment number 14. And I will say the moment number 14 is quite a memorable moment that happened on a finale night of a survivor season. So you were looking for a moment that happened on a finale. Romber. OK. What about anyone? Rob proposes Sambar.

OK, that's that's got to that's my lock it in. Like, all right. Locking it in with Rachel Omer. Kellen, any. I've got to go. I got to take hometown honey here. Ghost Island tie vote. Ooh, between. I thought it might be that one. I hope it's that one, because that would be so cool to make. Yeah. The list.

I mean, it wasn't me, but you know, you were there. I was actively contributed to the outcome. So, OK, I'm going to go with also then. I don't want to go with Natalie's moment again, but going under, trying to tell him, let me pick the ghost island one and maybe I'll pick the forty to one. Marianne, a final tribal council. OK, there we go.

We got a couple of homers and a homer for Romber. Let's see what moment number 14 is. Well, you know what, Jeff? Regardless of what happens here tonight, why? Oh, Rachel, I feel like I already won. I have the most special girl in the entire world sitting here right next to me. If you don't mind.

I'd like to say something to her. Amber, you came a long way in this crazy game. I've seen you at your highest high and your lowest low. In between it all all we work together as a team to accomplish so much it was really crazy and in the end I ended up falling in love with you you're the most amazing person I've ever met in my entire life I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I love you with all my heart. Will you marry me? Who wrote that speech for him? That's that's the forward of the B.R. rules, Kellen. Come on.

The entire speech word for word as indeed Rachel Lamont to four. Wow. Special Ed survivor. Moment number 14 from the reunion, technically sort of like the weird purgatorial period between the finale and the reunion because the votes hadn't been read yet. Boston Robb stops the proceedings to propose to Amber. And of course I had to put up two pictures here because how could we ever

forget that this woman I would say has one of the best days of her life, wins a million dollars and gets engaged while wearing an I Heart Rob shirt. And I will also say Boston Rob as well. Back in the days when there were live reunions, you know, people tried to get gusty Duffin with no offense to Rob Mariano, kind of a schlubby look, long sleeve, no collar, the ultimate version of no collar that he's wearing to the reunion here. Well, he's a construction worker at the time. That's his look. You know, they want to you.

They want you to do your look. Oh, my God. This is wild. Like, this was absolutely bananas, because look, in survivor history, ever since the beginning, it's been laid with the path of people getting laid or suppositions therein, right? I'm like Greg and Colleen, the one sided thing between Colby and Jerry. This was like an out and out. I mean, Rob says, you know, said it.

Rob and Amber are going to do it. And while maybe that's not confirmed down the island, like we watched two people fall in love, not only on that, Kellan, but like on one of the most like cutthroat personal seasons in seven survivor up to that point, still maybe in survivor history, like there were so many emotions out there in the moment. Who would have thought that one of the most prevalent emotions would be love? I mean, I cannot imagine.

Even I get how old were they about around this time? They were pretty young, right? Yeah, I know. I know. I think Boston Rob is definitely like in his I want to say like maybe the late 20s. They're in their 20s still, certainly. I was like trying to figure out if they were like even like 25 ish. Twenty seven and twenty five. OK, twenty seven and twenty five.

So that gives this space for this most. I mean, we can all attest here. It's a pretty magical, all engrossing experience to go and be on Survivor and to do the whole thing. And then to be 25 and falling in love and getting to do the whole thing on TV. It is really that Disney princess experience without a shower that you're hoping to see a young girl. Yeah, it was I obviously remember this moment. I cannot imagine going through that myself, but I'm happy we all got to witness it. And it is very sweet to think and that they're still

married today and have four beautiful girls. Like, it's just a really lovely love story. And who doesn't love love? I am I am intrigued if we did a census only inside the Mariano Burkett household, if this would have ranked number one, because they have a lot of, you know, high key moments in that household that they can celebrate. I think you have to say this one, though, don't you? If you're in the household. I mean, it could be they have mom winning a million dollars,

dad winning a million dollars, them almost winning another million dollars on the household. I mean, it could be they have mom winning a million dollars, dad winning a million dollars, them almost winning another million dollars on the amazing. I would argue that without this moment, those other moments maybe don't have to happen. Yeah. Very true. Where's the back to the future spin off or someone like stops this enchantment under the sea world dance and all this disappears from this photo? Yeah, exactly. I mean, the other thing as well is, again, the timing of all this,

that it was before the votes were read. Not I don't know, Rachel, like Buss and Rob maybe saw a bit of the writing on the wall. The savvy person that he is is like, I'm not winning. So like, let me make sure I try to lock something down before I officially confirm that I'm a loser. Yeah, I mean, I feel like if you're going to do this, this was the right time to do it. It stops.

Even if he had won, it still stops this kind of perception that it was only because there was like money involved somehow. You know, I think doing it before just kind of helped quell that and make it more about like their love story. It was cute. I definitely didn't as a person who already knew Robin Amber were married and had kids and stuff, this did not hit for me that strongly

as a viewer many years later, but it's obviously pretty iconic. So I'm not surprised. I loved it. I mean, I was the biggest Robin Burr fan at the time. I mean, still now, honestly, but at the time I was rooting for them so hard. Everybody hated all stars because all their favorites were going out early, but I loved it because my favorites were making

it to the end and sailing right there. And so I was excited about this. Then when they went on the amazing race, I was so into the race, like so exciting to watch all that play out. I was so excited to see them both come back on to winners at war. So this moment was pretty big, but it is, you know, I never thought about this until right now. But it's actually crazy to have the most like intimate special moment of your life performed not only in front of the world, but also in front of like seven people that hate you so much. Yeah, that's the thing. So this was at Madison Square Garden, which was just as Rob describes, like an absolute raucous environment. And yeah, to your point, I mean, you hear like big Tom's like,

oh, voice in the background like the jury was also right there. And I'm sure in the moment they were feeling this way, you know, at least one of them was like, that's not going to last at all. Look who's laughing now, folks. Look at them now. But you know, five feet away from Lex, who hates their guts, like that's bold. What was also really interesting about the moment and Jeff talks about it actually in a clip shortly after this, I didn't play is that

there was this big surprise that was teased for the finale and reunion. They said, OK, but there's one more. Listen again, your mileage may vary on how the season ended, but there's one big surprise that we're announcing at the reunion. And Jeff has to clarify to say just to make it clear, that's not the surprise. Because I think a lot of prize was better. This was the better than giving Rupert a million dollars. Who cares? Yeah, exactly.

I think this was I was trying to remember, honestly, if it was unexpected. Like I certainly was on the message board at the time. But I think obviously, without this being the world of social media, like people were not paying as close attention to whether Rob and Amber had done anything after the season to be like, oh my God, he's going to propose. I'm sure there was like some scuttlebutt about it, but I think people were more so in the weeds about America's tribal council and that heavy speculation than like, oh, oh, Boston Rob just proposed in the middle of a family.

We thought that this was the surprise. That's what they were predicting up until the aired. I mean, like now, now we got both here as a. Yeah, Boston Rob is able to put a ring on that finger as Amber slowly puts a crown on her head subsequently. I mean, listen, the reunion moments, you know, hopefully we'll see the return of it for season 50 produced a lot of really awkward stuff. But there's occasionally some gold nuggets here in the form of getting to see true love

blossom and reach the next stage in front of, again, many people into Omar's point, people who virulently hate their guts. Also, Kellen out here acting like this is such a foreign concept when Ghost Island, the alternate name for it is Survivor Love Island, like, please. I don't know what you're talking about. I do have one disclaimer here for those of you listening who may be thinking about proposing.

Do not, and I repeat, do not do it when it's like the biggest moment of your partner's life, like that they're going to win a million dollars or they're graduating from med school or they just got a promotion or whatever it is. Like, please correct me if I'm wrong panel, but I know I do not want to be proposed to in the middle of I'm about to win a million dollars. Like that would piss me off. Like to know it actually, Mike, when you started started to say think about this big moment Amber is about to like win the million dollars and then he interrupts it with a proposal. So just saying there's another twist on this that it worked out then but it will not work out now so split up your magical moments. OK, please disagree with me. Anybody?

I don't disagree. Yeah, go ahead. But do they think that they thought it could be either one, though, right? That one? I would imagine so. I mean, Amber does say right before this clip, she says, I think it's going to be one vote difference either way in the jury vote. My my advice stands. Advice for me, I think it's less about the fact that it's two huge moments and more about the fact that you have to be a certain kind of person

to want a public proposal. Like I I remember very adamantly like being at like a Red Wings hockey game and someone does the proposal on the Jumbotron and turn to Derek and being like, don't ever do that. Like, that's not the vibe, you know. So I think you just know your partner, maybe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your partner will have said I want if your partner has not said I want it to be on screen

and I want there to be millions of people watching or hundreds or whatever. They do not want that. So yeah, anyway, side note, do not try to recreate this moment. It's for Robin Amber only. And we saw we saw what happened when they tried to recreate it. With David and Carol Leah. Yeah, I was going to say there's there's a, you know, two sides to every story in a manner of speaking.

And listen, good luck finding these shirts if you want to try to mimic this proposal. But yeah, I mean, a wild way to end, you know, probably the biggest season of the show up to that point with I think a lot of people were talking about, you know, Survivor meets the Bachelor in that moment. It's just romance was not necessarily something that people thought of in the midst of the survival and the strategy. And who knows?

You could say that while Robin Amber did have four children of their own, it arguably birthed a lot of other survivor couples successful or otherwise that have you know, culminated to this day. This episode is brought to you by DZONE. For the first time ever, the 32 best soccer clubs from across the world are coming together to decide who the undisputed champions of the world are in the FIFA Club World Cup. The world's best players, Messi, Holland, Kane, and more are all taking part.

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All right. Well, we've got another couple of moments to get to. Three, to be exact. Let's get into this next one. It tells quite nicely from moment number 14, because I will say, as Omar mentioned before, there was a quite, you know, a somewhat acrimonious group of 16 other all stars that were watching everything go down here in Madison Square Garden.

I will say the next moment involves one of those people. It's too early for Sue's speech, right? I'm going to go with Christy Smith getting blindsided by Rob's sister, Nino. Okay, all right. There we go. The ultimate Homer response. Rachel, Kellan, any guesses? Someone a moment from somebody who was at the All Stars reunion. A lot of pressure on you, Rachel. I know you got to go three for three right now. I don't even have a guess. You don't have anything, Kellen?

No, because I, you know, I'll screw up who was there. So I'm not even thinking of guess. Can I get like a face sheet of all the whole stuff? Go with the Thailand fake merge. Okay. Um, no, I don't know. I can't even think of who who it might be. OK, I guess I'll say, uh, oh, shit. Like Lex's Blackberry, Lex's Blackberry, Shane's

Shane's Blackberry. OK, see, I didn't even. All right. Well, regardless of who's owning the phone, let's get Jeff on it and see what lucky moment number 13 is on the countdown. If we can, if we can. Lex, move it out. As soon as we merged, Lex comes running over to me. Rob, make me feel comfortable. Tell me that make me feel comfortable tell me that I'm safe

tell me that I'm safe. You want to make the deal save Amber and I'm gonna help you later on? You think I didn't really believe that did you? Come on! I should have let you know that But you know that I appreciate everything you did to save Amber. But myself, Amber, Big Tom, Jenna, Alicia, and... Rupert. Rupert. Have agreed to stay together as a group. I can't even believe what I'm hearing. Let me tell you something right now.

That was not a game or strategy decision. It wasn't strategy decision. It was something you can be angry angry about it was a brother coming to another brother saying friend a friend and you know what I had my game all worked out and if I had gotten rid of Amber do you know what I would have come in here with I would have come in here with my numbers advantage and I did that just because you're my friend I completely my own game I screwed my own game up I'm sorry buddy I just can't believe it

I'm here. You're asking me to screw everybody else now. You got more allegiance to them than you got to me I made an agreement with them. I asked you for a favor. It's about being betrayed by my friend It's about getting a knife in the back like honestly I don't know what you want me to say Lex I know like I want you to say that you're gonna You're gonna be true to the word you gave me Word I gave you makes no mistake about it like between you and I and you want to put our friendship on the line I'll put our friendship on the line over this the word I gave you was that if I can take care of you I will I'm sorry. I cannot

All right, so no blackberry, but some sour grapes. Yeah. So yeah, my my instinct was telling me one thing and my embarrassing moment. See, I got the Lex part of it. You get the point. I'll give you the point. Yeah, I don't deserve the point. Because this is pretty wild. I did not expect this moment would rate so high. And I especially did not think it would come immediately after Boston Rob proposes to Amber. It is also from Survivor All-Stars Boston Rob Betray's

Lex where I just said piece again, we usually don't do context here, but against a little bit of a scattershot montage here, there's a tribe swap. Amber essentially gets screwed. Rob makes a last minute deal to Lex. You take care of her. I'll take care of you if you can. If you can. Lex lives up to his end of the bargain, decides to keep Amber in lieu of spurning Jerry, makes the merge. Boston Rob basically says like, yeah, that check pretty much got, you know, bounced the second that I wrote it to you. And we get this incredibly visceral scene where as Lex says, like from his perspective, this was not about the game whatsoever. This was something he did as a friend to another friend.

In that moment, the friendship was over. The original Survivor pre-gaming, like coming to life probably on our screens, right? Like, don't you just get the sense that it was really the first time like, well, I don't know if it's the first time, correct me if I'm wrong, but one of the first times where the screen drops. It was the first returning season, right? So I have to say. Yeah, so true.

Yes. Very good. So it has to be the first time where you start to feel like almost zoom out and be like, oh shit, these people knew each other. There's real relationships and like, damn, this is this cuts deep. Yeah. I mean, that's the thing is that, you know, you could say that it would make more sense with the way Kathy feels.

And Kathy chams it a little bit to kind of finish his Rob sentence when he forgets Rupert. But like she is incredibly distraught. She'll talk about this at final tribal council. But like she is incredibly distraught. She'll talk about this at final tribal council. Her and Rob had this incredibly tight bond. They were the only two representatives from our cases on this season. But yeah, to your point, Helen, this was all done outside of the game that I believe there was a deal between Rob Lex, Kathy,

and I think Big Tom was the one who was the fourth party involved. And they had plans to run it to the end. So when Lex faced this moment, he said like, OK, yeah, I mean, I'll save Amber. But like you got me, buddy, right? Like we're just going to get rid of her at some point and run it to the end. And Boston Rob made it very clear in this moment. Pre-gaming can only get you so far in returning seasons, especially when you got the love goggles out there.

Yeah. And I was. this was a crazy moment. And I was very much Team Rob in this moment. And I will say why is because Lex was such a hypocrite. I'll stand on business and say that he did the same thing to all of his friends. But when it was done to him, it was too much. And he has been whining about it ever since. So I think that if you're going to do it, especially Ethan, you're going to do it to Jerry, you're going to do it to like, it's conveniently

just the game when he's voting those people out, literally saying this is business this time, this is not about friendship. Then when it happens to him, it's all of a sudden beyond the game and all of it, like, I'm not here for that. And so, yes, that's my opinion. Also, I don't think people give Amber enough credit in this moment because, yes, Rob said this to Lex. But if you go back and listen to those All Stars interviews at the time,

Kathy is the one saying I Lex was unsure. He left the decision to me and Amber really convinced me to keep her. But everybody forgets all about that. Oh just a fight between the boys about what gets to happen to the girl. Good call out, Umar. I don't think it could have happened without both of them and I don't think she gets enough credit for saving herself in that moment as well. Yeah. I don't have too much to add, but I would I would love to like know how this hit in real time. Like, was this like kind of a like, oh, I can't believe that he he didn't save like like did it.

Who whose side was America on? Very much Team Rob. Lex was the one of the most universally unpopular survivor contestants after All Stars. I feel like we split, you don't think? I mean, I remember the twat waffle period, Omar. Oh, yeah. We're like, survivor sucks. Mocked him mercilessly because of this that I know what a twat waffle is.

But the nor do you need to. That's what it was. But yeah, I think it was this idea that I wouldn't say they were like hugely pro Rob, you know, team Romber, like Omar was saying. But it was more so this idea of like, listen, you know, we didn't know about this. This is not information that we were privy to necessarily. So from our perspective, it's not Boston Rob betraying this friendship and breaking this pregame deal.

Again, this is a day without social media. We didn't know that they were thick as we didn't know that they were working together. We just saw them as two separate entities from separate seasons. But no one cared that he was like, take care of her. I'll take care of you. And then he just really didn't. They just thought it was good gameplay. I mean, I think it was more so like, oh, my God, you know, the romance survives, right? Like our crush lovers have survived.

Yeah, that makes sense. Obstacle. And so, I mean, certainly, you know, it's something that you could argue lost Rob a million dollars this entire moment. He's still got it, though. Exactly. It's really nicely into into moment number 14. But it's also like, I mean, I the more I talk about it, the more I'm obsessed with the fact that this moment is on the list and it's high as it is because like this kind of is survivor as well, especially

from a returning season. You know, as we're getting into season 50, it's been a while since we've gotten into one. But like people forget that like, honestly, some of the returning seasons are the most emotionally charged. You would imagine like, well, these are people who have played the game before they understand that it's all strategy at the end of the day. So much worse because these people, some have played in the sand together, uh, you know, season after season, others have become incredibly close outside of the show, bonded by this

experience. And this was one of the first times that somebody kind of said like, yeah, our relationship outside of the game doesn't matter inside of the game. And it really was this like monumental stamp on not only the Boston Robb brand, but I would argue how these relationships are inextricably tied into returning seasons for better or for worse. I can't wait till this comes full circle. And Angelina goes up to Genevieve and says, take care of my wife and I'll take care of you. And then she cuts his throat. Yeah, because she says like, oh, no, you wanted me to take care of him.

Right. Like in a mob, yes. White notice. What? All right. So there we go. We'll say, yeah, exactly. We'll say sayonara to Lex. I hear that's what you say in Boston. And 13 is done. Let's get into our dirty dozen here with moment number 12.

And what I will say for moment number 12 is that a little bit of a color from moment number 14. This is something that takes place, I will say specifically, at a final tribal council. We will remove the reunion of it, we'll remove some other finale stuff from it. This takes place specifically at a final tribal council. Go ahead, Callen. I'm going to say Wu takes Tony. Wait, that happened before the final tribal council.

Oh, it doesn't count. OK, well, whatever. That's my wrong guess. Go on. I can't take the right guess because then I'll ruin his record. And that's the kind of friend I am. I figured if it was the Dom and Wendell thing, it would have been at the reunion again, right? Or not three, I guess, at the live finale. Well, they revealed the 10 votes in.

That's true. Do you want to like. Take no. OK. She doesn't absolutely not stand on your mistakes and you'll revel in the victories. I'll go Mary Ann again, but if it's not Mary, and I'll have something to say for Rob when he's back from Scotland. I feel like I have to take Dom and Wendell if you're not going to take it, Kellen. But I do. I also have like I feel like it could be the Brenda Dawn teeth moment.

Oh, that's a great moment. All right. The picks are in. Let's see what moment number 12 is. All right. I'm'm gonna read the votes. What? I thought he was choking. First vote, dominant. Wendell. That's five votes dominant, four votes Wendell.

That's five votes dominant, four votes Wendell, one vote left. Wendell. For the first time in 36 seasons of Survivor. We have a time. First and so far only Jeff Probst as yes, we have reached it. It's been foreshadowed. And I believe we're also breaking our own ground here as this is the first moment. Of course, the jury vote being tied in the finale of Ghost Island, that one of our panelists is actually in attendance. Ding ding ding. Kellyn. Ding, ding, ding.

Kellen. Yeah, that's right. And I would argue part of getting this vote to tie. Okay, tell me more. I've never talked about it, but here we are. Top 25. We're spilling the tea. I don't think I've ever talked about this on a podcast.

Before Chelsea went up to the booth, she turned to me and whispered in my ear, who are you voting for? And so I will argue that I pulled Chelsea over at that time to pull her vote from Dom. She and Dom were very close on the island. Maybe this has nothing to do with me. I'm totally just like egocentric telling this story to say, again, you are a narrator right now. We're going with this. Absolutely. Chelsea whispered in my ear, who are you voting for? I think it was, I think there were people who were literally deciding, like not only was it so close, I think probably Angela didn't know what she was going to do when she walked up.

I don't think Chelsea knew what she was going to do. I think those two could have gone either way probably at the end there. So not only was it literally a tie and literally so close, I think Dom was probably, you know, whatever you want to call it, milliseconds, like the tiniest decision away from winning that season. And what a bleeping mess that he did not get his chance on season 50. I want to burn it all down for Dominic Abate, the person who is literally the closest person to have never won the game of Survivor should be out there to represent all of us who couldn't get it done because he was the closest. But in this moment,

literally all three of them knew exactly what had happened. Like Jeff said we've tied. But then he goes into say like, Laurel will cast the vote. But without him even saying that, like Tom's heart probably fell to like the opposite side of the earth. And Wendell realizes he won a million dollars and Laurel realized that she was the one who was going to like the opposite side of the earth. And Wendell realizes he won a million dollars and Laurel realized that she was the one who was gonna pull the trigger on it. And it was, it had to have been, I think, one of the most insane moments to be a part of,

of being on a survivor jury ever in time. So yes, I think it deserves to be on the list. It was crazy in person and I think it all played out just as exciting on TV. I'm biased. I mean, we got a couple of snatches of it that I wanted to include there. Like, you know, have Chris Noble being like, oh, I just thought Jeff was kidding in classic jokes or Jeff Brookes or you had Donathan going, oh, my God. So, like, from your perspective, it sounds like no one really knew that

this was coming. You know, sometimes with juries, you probably have a sense as to like internally where the votes were going. It seems like once Jeff said, I'm staying put again, doing the new era before the new era, everyone was like, oh, something's different this time around. Could we actually have reached unprecedented territory? Yeah. I mean, all of us were trying to figure out exactly what's happening. I mean, like, because he just comes back.

We're all like, Okay, the season's over, we're done, we're ready for the party. We now you see what happens. We didn't know what was going to happen at the time. And when he just came out and said, I'm going to read the votes, I think there was a split second where everyone on the jury was just like, what, what is happening? Like, we all left our bodies a little it was like an out of body experience to be like, wait, did we forget something? Like what is going on here?

And then in that moment, just heart wrenching moment for Dom and for everybody just being confused. And we may or may not have been having some drinks on the way to tribal. And so don't drink and vote folks. That's how you get ties. Yeah, that is, let me tell you, I think we all contributed to that in that way. So tying one on. I don't think any of us, unless I was left out at Ponderosa, which is highly possible,

I don't think people were actually talking about, we certainly were openly talking about who we were going to vote for. And I did not know, I don't think any of us knew which way it was going to go. None of us had a feeling. I think we all thought we would be surprised on who was going to win. We just didn't know we were actually going to find out that last night in Fiji. I have two questions for you. One, if you guys had revoted as 10 people, do you think it would have been a deadlock or no?

Oh, gosh. Hmm. Well, I was not changing my vote. No way, no how. I think if they could have talked, I think Dom probably could have pulled a couple people over. Gotcha. Yeah, I would say Dom's final tribal performance was actually a little bit better than Wendell's. So I think if Dom would have had a little bit more time, he might have been able to pull a couple more people, maybe. And then why there was such a, there's 10 jurors, the first five people voted off, all voted for Dom,

and the last five people voted off, all voted for, why was there such a stark contrast in the timing of the jury and how they voted, or was it just coincidence? I can only give my biased answer to that, which is my experience of interacting with. And Dom is a very dear friend of mine in real life now, so I can say this, but his like asshole factor like was going up as time was going on, like my crazy factor was going up.

Like I was getting more emotional, more reactive, right? And so I think Dom was probably losing, unraveling a little bit more from like being able to stay present, stay in human connection. And Wendell was really still staying calm, staying compassionate and staying as a witness to people's lived experience. So I think that's probably what happened a little bit.

And look, Dom, I'm sorry, I love you, buddy. But as you got more crazy, I got more crazy. We got more crazy and Wendell stayed less crazy. Well, you said before too, that like Wendell, you knew you were going home, but Wendell was able to kind of like make you feel not okay with it, but just not, I don't know. You said Dom was very like, just, it is what it is.

Yeah, I mean, Wendell, looking back, I think Wendell was just better at manipulating us, honestly, but really felt like Wendell cared about you. And I think as the days wore on, like day 32, 35, 36, it gets really, I know y'all know nothing about that, but it gets really hard after those days. Like the starting to degrade of your body and your emotions. I would say those last probably five or six days are the hardest They were the hardest for you as well. I'm just joking about that And so you're more and more sensitive and Wendell was just able to like continue to show up as like the brotherly figure for all of us

Ultimately with Laurel staying in that space staying connected to her and then that's what got it over the finish line for Wendell in the end. Yeah, I mean, this was absolutely wild. I cannot imagine being out there in person, but getting to experience this, because remember, at the time, the entire discourse, especially leaning into the endgame with no offense, Kellen, it looked like a pretty spelled out outcome in the end was like, OK, who's going to win Dominic or Wendell. And we had definitely talked about the possibility of a tied jury vote. It was brought up at the game changers reunion one year prior about this fake scenario

of, okay, if ties in the final three, we still don't know what would have happened if Amanda and poverty had tied with eight jurors in Micronesia. So I think I could certainly speak for myself and maybe some of the fandom in that, I don't think we ever thought it would happen. That to your point, Kellen, yes, you might have some people be like, okay, we're purposely gonna try to make it a tie vote,

but at the end of the day, jurors will vote on usually their own personal proclivities. And so they're not necessarily going to try to, you can't necessarily have everyone work in Simpatico with this final vote that is like their last statement at the end of their own survivor sentence. And so I personally never thought we would see this, if not maybe in season like 46, let alone 36. And I remember Ghost Island was the first reunion I was able to attend ever. And there was this absolutely lovely, but certainly in the moment, poor mother and child that were sitting next to me that like seemed to be

enjoying their time. Like, you know, I wouldn't say they were like huge out and out about survivor fans, but like got the opportunity, awesome live experience. And then when Jeff says, OK, I'm going to read the votes here, I lost my fucking mind because I was like, you know, understand this is never happened before. This is not that's in season one. That means it's time. What do they do to time?

What's the role going to do? Like all this all this reality sort of came shifting into my head across the sort of like myriad reactions that you were talking about, Helen. And that was certainly the reaction in the room as well. Like when Jeff said that, I think there were some people that were like, oh, that's interesting. Maybe it's something new. Ghost Island is a throwback season.

Maybe it's a throwback to Borneo. But the majority of people knew what that meant, that they knew Laurel had to cast a vote right there right then. And we were about to watch Survivor history being made. Who's going to win, Wendell or Dom? Until Laurel cast that vote. The answer was both somehow. And you know what? You know where I was that night, Mike?

I'm glad you had a great time. That was one of the worst nights of my life from a veterinary perspective, because I was still a super fan that was like, I need to get home at eight o'clock on Wednesdays. I don't give a fuck. And I somehow ended up on call that night. And at seven p.m. an hour before the finale a hamster comes in and it's dying and then I'm like okay well I'm gonna

help this hamster but it's pretty sick so it'll probably be pretty quick turns out it was a support hamster not a good idea for a pet that lives two years to be your support animal and then the lady was a little bit not normal. And she kept telling me the police were trying to take her hamster and that the police were corrupt. And I was like, I don't know what to tell you right now. This is beyond my pay grade. She was threatening to do stuff to herself and her hamster and went on for five hours. And I did not see the finale that night night I watched it the next day. That's tragic. Wow. Were you spoiled on that by the time? No, I did not get spoiled so I did watch it.

Okay, so you still get to experience it. Okay, okay, okay. Thanks for being such a good steward of hamsters and support. There we go. The hamster lives. Um, it definitely didn't live, but it did go home against medical advice. So I can't say I know what happened. It was out of your hands. Sure. It did not live much longer. And I did have to call the authorities. So. All right. Well, an eventful night for us all, was it not? I mean, Rachel, I want to turn to you here because when we talk about the impact

of this again, I think, you know, it fortifies to Kellen's point the legacy of Dominic Abate, the closest person to ever get to winning in survivor history. But as someone who walked into her own final tribal council situation, has the seed been planted since 2018 in the minds of everyone who reaches the final three of like there could be a tie. And so that happens. I better have my worst case scenario planned out.

I better butter up that zero vote final. Yeah. I mean, respectfully to Sue, I brought her to the end with me. She was my ally, a very loyal ally of mine. But I was also aware that if things went crazy, I thought that I had Sam by a decent mark. But had it not turned out that way and Sue had to vote, she was certainly voting for me over Sam.

And I think Teenie might have been a similar way. But, you know, it's just it's hard like you can't you never know. And so I was like, yeah, of course, I'm going to pick my ally to bring to the end with me. So, yeah, it it's not something that I really thought was a true possibility. But it was she had her bases covered anyway. That's the true Rachel winner. And she's four for four here on the guesses.

This is crazy. I know. I really don't deserve the last point, but well, we'll see. We'll see how the fifth one goes. I I'm curious. I want to throw this out to the panel. Will we ever get another tied jury vote in survivor history? Are we one and done after Ghost Island? I mean, we almost got it on 45, right? Like I think it's very possible. And 46. Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. Forty six seems more like the Ghost Island prototype of like nobody really knew what the other person was doing. And it just so happened to fall the way it did. Yeah. I'm curious from an outsider's perspective. Do you think it was a tie because they worked so closely together as a pair? And then that's what set up the tie or something else. That was what I had assumed at the time. And that was sort of like what Laurel had sort of a spouse

in one of those confessionals, right? The Minmerge was like, oh, maybe they'll split votes because people had a tough time, you know, inextricably separating Wendell's game from Dominic's game. And so that's the way that I had sort of perceived it. I think, as you mentioned, you know, stuff has come out after the fact to showcase that, like, they each had individual relationships that were more so baked into those respective jury votes.

But I think certainly at the time, it went along again with this narrative of, like, the two of them are one of the best duos in Survivor history. They worked with each other from day one, and it bears out with the fact that they split those jury votes right down the middle at first. Yeah, it really kind of helps make up for the fact that they split those jury votes right down the middle. At first, yeah, it really kind of helps make up for the fact that it was a quote unquote boring, like post merge season to have it really kind of come out that way. I think that's why people like Ghost Island on a rewatch better. Go back and watch it, everybody.

It's more such a good time around. Don't hate on ghosts. Don't sleep on those. It's a weird. There are hilarious people on that season. Like you forget I just rewatched it. You forget how freaking funny that season is. Really, I was entertained thoroughly.

I'm again biased. I am less a little still biased, but a little less biased. And I feel like the most frustrating thing about watching Ghost Island the first time is like waiting for the people to turn Jonathan and Laurel to do something and them not doing it like sort of, you know. Yeah. And and I and I and I think that like on the rewatch, when you know they just aren't, you pay attention to everything else and it's so much more fun.

I really I really find it to be like a really fun season. All right. That's my good friend. I'm find it to be like a really fun season. All right. Just because my good friend, Dylan's on it. There we go. So we got the insider's perspective as to the number 12 moment in Survivor history, and unfortunately, we must move on to our final moment of this particular podcast moment number 11. And all I will say is, it's been a minute, but welcome back the new era of Survivor.

This is a new era moment just outside of the top 10. What do we think it is? I don't want to steal Rachel's guess, so. Has Operation Italy come up? Yeah, that's what I was going to say. I'm going to go for home team Operation Italy, but you said it first, so I feel like you get the point. I'll take.

Operation Italy. I'll take Liz's Applebee's. Oh, that's so good. That's good. All right, Rachel, you've been so gracious to, you know, take away those top two moments. This is Applebee's. Oh, that's so down. That's actually. All right, Rachel, you've been so gracious to, you know, take away those top two moments. Is there a new era moment that you feel could be number 11? I really brainstormed for like what some of these things could be,

and I don't have any new era moments on my list. Man, those two are really good. I. I'll say. Hmm. I got. Yeah, I don't. I think it's operationally, but I will say it's like Maria not voting for Charlie. I think that that is like kind of a crazy moment. All right, let us see what the new era moment is

to close out just before the top 10. It really is high time for me to go for bro. The way I started this game built an initial perception that I was a goat. This is my opportunity to make my mark and finish this game off an initial perception that I was a goat. This is my opportunity to make my mark and finish this game off in a way where I can get first place. Do you think they're gonna be suspicious

when you come back? Yeah. We have to come up with a whole fake story. We have to milk the time that we have on the sanctuary to put together a very difficult mission. This is not simple. It's going to require thorough planning, a lot of stealth, and just pure execution. This is a reward with Italian food.

I think Operation Italy is good. Yeah, I like that. That's the plan to knock out Rachel at the final seven. This is the biggest heist of season 47 of Survivor, and we're calling it Operation Italy. It is indeed. Rachel, you thought you were on a non-Survivor 47 podcast, but sorry for you.

Number 11 is indeed Operation Italy. Oh. Here we are. I'm really interested in all of your perspectives. Obviously, Rachel, you have the first hand perspective, but I will admit, I think over the past near year since we have seen this season, I have seen it already kind of go through the cycle of like, this is the best move ever, highest rated episode to IMDb to actually it's really overrated. It was just an easy vote split with Andy coming over the top.

And so I am a little surprised actually that the final result is that it lands as highly as it does nearly making the top ten in Survivor history. Yeah, I personally like I feel like some of I mean, I'm biased, right? I think it is a great move. I am surprised thought it would be on this list, but higher in the ranking, just by the general audience's view. But I think that sometimes the best moves in Survivor are the ones that look on the surface

pretty easy, but are truly like very complex on on the backside. Right. Everything, all of these little details have to fall into place. You have to kind of like incept these ideas in a way that feels natural to the people you're doing it to. And like that on paper for people that have never played Survivor sounds very easy and doing it in real life is very difficult. So I do think it is a brilliant move. And, you know, but I got to help foil it.

Ish. Yeah, I was going to say what is obviously, you know, surprise devastation from losing Caroline, especially the role that she played in your game. What was it like now getting to watch this all back? I'm sure you had heard through the grapevine up to that point of like, oh, we had this whole name. We had this whole plan happen. What was it like for you watching it back, especially the edit that it was giving? You know, we sort of have the triptych moment. Yeah. As an example, I mean, here like Ocean's Eleven was my favorite movie growing up.

So I feel like this just spoke to me in a way, you know, it was like I was very torn because it's like, yeah, against my alliance, against my good ally. Ultimately, they they pull the wool over us. But at the same time, it's such an iconic way of like showing the like birth of this, the planning, the execution, the spy music, the split screens like what a fun, like just such a fun, probably arguably the most fun episode in our entire season. So it's just very is very cool to watch it back after only hearing about it.

You know, especially when when you're there, I feel like your memories just get so. I was very convinced for a long time that that idol was real, you know, like it was just so it's so hard to. I. She had a whole like, Genevieve didn't even show like her whole story about like, I found this clue and when I came back to camp, I had to find the shell on the beach before the sun was directly overhead. Like it was so specific and so like crazy to

have just fabricated that out of nothing. You know, it just I don't know, A little speechless, but it's just very cool. And I'm glad it made the list. Yeah, I mean, without saying too much, obviously, we'll get into Survivor 49 in the fall. But I will tease that Operation Italy was certainly on the mind of a good amount of Survivor 49 players, considering that, you know, they had seen your season in totality.

They had seen about half of season 48 before going out. But like it's something like this that is so big and flashy. And like you could say it's obviously a group effort to your point about Genevieve's, you know, tall tale about the idol finding. But like at least from an edit perspective, it's kind of singularly presented as like Andy's this goat and he's making this move for himself to push himself up the top. I really do think, Omer, that it kind of represents. And I would say arguably your boot as well.

Another big penultimate move is this idea that like any player can take their own game into their own hands, try something big to shake things up in the hopes that a million dollars will be lying with them at the end of the day. Yeah, I agree. I think that this was a really fun moment for the show. I think that the thing about it that made it special though, in my mind, was not necessarily the move itself because again, I don't think a 3-2-2 is not groundbreaking survivor strategy, but the way that it was packaged and narr, and narrated on the parts of the

three of them and how it was like branded, it was almost like it was made into a little movie. And I think that that made it fun to watch and made it feel more special. I'm not saying it wasn't a great move because I do still with my full chest think that that was the right move for Andy, even though he went out the next round. But it was, it's not, I think for a brief period, people were like, this is earth shattering strategy that's never been done before. But I don't think that that's true.

I think it was the the uniqueness of it was how it was narrated and presented that made it so fun to watch. I think that's a really good point. I think that's what helps the move kind of like stick out in people's minds more. I mean, it kind of comes down to branding. Right. Like Andy had the right idea by giving it a name. You could argue like when I was writing out a lot of these descriptions to put in the survey, if I write out like Survivor 48,

Kyle and Camilla lie that Shaheen has an idol in order to get Joe to betray him. Like, does it exactly ring as much, Kellyn, as like in Operation Italy does. Just kind of rolls off the tongue. Yeah, I think this is the perfect storm and why we all like Survivor and why when the producers and the editors get it right, it just knocks out, it's like a grand slam to watch Survivor. And I think this is where all of the pieces come together.

The experience, the perspective, Andy's entire story arc. I think one the only missing piece here is that postseason we find out how much of a threat Caroline was in that moment. Maybe you don't feel it quite as much. So that's the only thing if we could have like put it just put a little bit of like, I don't know, a little bit of hot sauce at the end or something. It could have, we could have bulked that up.

But other than that, it is like the perfect full 360 experience as a survivor fan. And I think that's probably what keeps Operation Italy right here, just the honorable mention in the top 10 of these exciting survivor moments. Yeah, I think all go ahead, Rachel. Oh, I was just agreeing. I think that there's you, Kellen.

You were talking earlier about how like your favorite moments are the ones that kind of incorporate like personality and strategy. And I I'm not trying to speak for you, but I think for me, this is one of those where it's like, you know, Sam's like, Andy's the straw that stirs the drink and Andy's like, you know, cackling maniacally and Genevieve's like, Andy's the straw that stirs the drink. And Andy's like, you know, cackling maniacally. And Genevieve's like, I think this will work. You know, or she said, like, if this works, I'll die.

I think I'll die. Like, it's just like everybody. It's just such a good combination of good strategy and like fun character. Having fun. My God. Like people having fun playing Survivor and going for it and trying to make the moves and realizing a bit that they're on TV, but not really. And just do it going all in. And I think

going all in allows everyone at the table to have a really fun time. That's the thing is that, you know, the moments that we've gone into comparing this, it's odd to compare this to like the Lex moment. But I feel like when you talk about things like Operation Italy or like Rupert stealing the shoes, if we think about how will this moment resonate, not in the bedroom, but in the rest of Survivor history, like I think future players have fun with moments like this, like give them names, come up with with big flashy things behind it, because not only is that going to catch the eye of the producers to the point where they make an entire frickin heist montage around this, that's what gets you remember.

You know, arguably, we still have not seen perhaps the ultimate heist move in Survivor in the form of Eric being swindled out of the immunity necklace. But like, that's another great example of how the moments that ring so much in the minds of Survivor fans, including one that only happened a year and change ago and is still making number eleven, is the fact that it was done with so much quality to it from both the perspective of production as well as from the players itself. And I'm now realizing how incredible it is that we have our oceans eleven parody at number

eleven. our oceans 11 parody at number 11. With the person who was there now for the second time, having the panel member here. Yeah, lots of eyewitness accounts. All right. She could have been the victim of this. I could have been. The boy was originally intended for you. Yeah.

Well, luckily, history changed in a very different way. But let's go through the previous five moments in Survivor history that we discussed tonight. Joining the other 10, we have Stephanie becoming a tribe of one in Survivor Palau. We have Boston Robb proposes to Amber in Survivor All Stars. But after he was winning over hearts, he was breaking hearts only a few weeks back as he betrays Lex in moment number 13. a few weeks back as he betrays Lex in moment number 13. Moment number 12, the jury vote ties perhaps due to Kellyn's

influence and moment number probably not moment number 11, a nice cannoli at the end of this five course meal Operation Italy. And folks, we have reached the top 10 in survivor history. And again, those are some weighty moments. So you know, the top 10 has got a lot in store. So let us know in the comments, your thoughts about 11 through 15, your guesses as to what the top 10 are. We'll be sure to get into it next week as we recap number 10 through six with yet another great panel of alumni. But let me say goodbye to this lovely panel of alumni. We'll go around the horn.

Any final words you want to say about this list, the five moments we talked about, and any plugs you want to give out? Rachel, let's start with you. I think this list was great. What a fun time to get to relive a moment that happened on my season and one that happened on Kellyn's. And yeah, I'm excited.

I hope that this is not the last time I am on our. And I might be talking to my first time. Yeah, I just. I don't know what to say. Thank you. Yeah, I'm can follow me on our Rachel A. Lamont on Instagram and yeah, you can follow me on Rachel A. Lamont on Instagram. And yeah, I can't wait for the rest of the list. All right, Omer, I want to see Sue's final tribal speech on the top 10.

I wish that Gretchen being blindsided was on this list, but we'll say goodbye to that. But that's my only thoughts about that. Thank you for having me. This was fun. Can't wait to see what the top 10 are. And you can follow me on Instagram or Twitter or Blue Sky. Kellen? Thank you so much for having me.

It was really fun to be here with all three of you and everyone listening. How much fun is being a freaking survivor fan? Like, even just like watching these go back, it's like, oh my gosh, there's love, there's betrayal, there's moments, there's all this. Like I know sometimes survivor can get really frustrating. Like, and I have had my complaints. But remember, every single season, there are at least a few moments. Often every school episode has like a miniature moment.

And every season certainly has one of these things that we remember forever that changes the game, that sets all of you up for the people who are going to get to play Survivor in the coming years, like sets you up to make a moment of your own. So I'm just super excited to have been here today. You can follow me on all socials at the KellynB, T-H-E-K-E-L-O-Y-N-B, or at the Kellyn B T H E K E L Y N B or at the

out beyond for my business. I would love to have your support there. If you need career coaching or entrepreneur coaching, you can find me online and thank you so much for having me. The pleasure was all mine. Such a fantastic job from all three of you offering eyewitness accounts, overall perspectives on the moment, tragic hamster related stories and everything in between. Of course, we have got plenty of stuff going

on here on Rob has a podcast. Well, the Rob's away. The mics will play in a manner of speaking. Of course, if you missed it, Rob is on the traders. And so we had a big reaction podcast. We've got plenty of content coming out. There's a cast assessment with Nicole Cestrino for the patrons. Puyo and I got together with Bryce Isaiah to do a cast connections thing. We're doing a proper cast breakdown in a couple of days. We've got the Survivor 50 files where every weekday Brandon Donlon gets together with a previous player to talk about a respective person on Survivor 50 that they played alongside. I've got Survivor 48 postseason interviews coming out.

The first one with Rachel, your boy Shaheen, my boy, coming out on Friday. A very fun time talking with Shaheen about his time on Survivor 48. So make sure you do not miss a second of all of this. We know Survivor dot com to make sure the prep to all the survivor goodness we have this summer months are just heating up, we know Survivor.com to make sure it's the prep to all the Survivor goodness we have. The summer months are just heating up as is this countdown. As next week, I'll be back with moments 10 through 6 in Survivor history, as voted on by you, the fans. Thank you, as always, for your support. Thank you, Rachel, Omer, Helen, for your fantastic insights. Until next time, everybody, take care.

Bye bye.