RHAP: We Know Survivor - The 25 Greatest Moments in Survivor History | 25-21

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

This week, Rob Cesternino and Mike Bloom talk through moments 25-21.

The Hot Honey McCrispy is so back at McDonald's. With juicy 100% Canadian-raised seasoned chicken, shredded lettuce, crispy jalapenos, and that completely craveable hot honey sauce, it's a sweet heat repeat you don't want to miss. Get your Hot Honey McCrispy today. Available for a limited time, only at McDonald's. Hi everybody and welcome to RHA Pease countdown of the 25 greatest moments in Survivor history. My name is Mike Bloom and Survivor just celebrated being a quarter century old, but we're still taking a look back at all the momentous occasions that have kept us in these chairs watching these people

starving out on an island for years upon years. And we sent out a survey just a couple weeks ago of a curated list of 100 moments, some of the best of the best that Survivor has had to offer. It was sent out, put in the hands of the fans, you all voted, and we have tabulated the results. And over the course of this podcast series, I will present to you five at a time, the final results leading up to the greatest moment in Survivor history. Today, we're starting from, I would say the bottom, but still the top of the top in a manner of speaking, going from 25 to 21. But of course I am not alone here every week. I will be joined by some illustrious members of the survivor alumni community. And considering all the iconic

moments that this man has provided on this very podcast for the past 15 years, I can think of no better person to kick off this entire process than the one, the only Rob Cessar Nino. Top 25 baby! Yes, so happy to be here with you Mike to get this started. Mike Bloom had this incredible idea to catalog the top 25 moments in Survivor history. I said, please let me just be a part of it. And so here I am to get things started here on this countdown as we go from 25 to one over the next five weeks, incredible. Yeah, so again, for the uninitiated

who didn't check out all the stuff we've been doing. Look, it's been a busy time to be a Survivor fan. You could understandably have been distracted by a bunch of stuff happening around you, but a panel of us behind the scenes a combination of podcasters Survivor players members of the survivor media got together and created a big old list of 100 moments from all 48 seasons that have aired and we kept it 100 people said add more no we're keeping it 100 and

To be 100 that was incredibly tough to pare down. We tried to represent every season and even within then, there were some seasons that we wanted to burgeon with moments. We really had to narrow it down. And so I would imagine the job of the near 6,000 people that voted Rob is incredibly unenviable to pick 25 based on that that being said you all rose to the task and we have the results Right here right now And so every week I'll be counting down five moments with my guests and we'll be talking through not only what the moments were But how they had a major effect on a survivor history going through the milestone season of survivor 50 that's filming as we speak Yeah, so alright. It's a great time

Happy birthday to Survivor turns 25 now can rent a car and now has 25 great moments How's it all gonna work today Mike? Well first hopefully nobody gives that car away in exchange for immunity at the final four because that is territory That was one of the moments that was actually on the list. Should they bring back the giving away a car for Survivor 50? Honestly, I think it's a fun concept. Now look, maybe the car brands did not necessarily want to be affiliated in the moment, but I could certainly think of some car brands that honestly might need the reputation from giving themselves away freely on a reality TV show. Yeah, that'd be a good way to go.

All right. Well, we have some highly priced moments here on the lot as we drive through the top 25 here So let's outline how this is going to work before we get into the entire process Again, it was an incredibly difficult experience to pair everything down to a hundred moments in general And of course, there were some snubs as there are with any good list around a survivor So what I want to do before we got into the top 25 proper is we gave the option on the survey that went out for anyone who filled it out that if there was a moment or moments that you felt you wanted to acknowledge that were not necessarily on the ballot to let your voice be heard.

Suffice it to say many voices were heard in that process. It really is just a fantastic reminder, Rob, as we're going to get into over the course of this series, just how like chock full of great TV Survivor has been. It's, you know, as much as people like to joke about the fact of that show's still on, we're gonna be getting into an incredible amount of strategy, comedy,

emotion, personal highlights that showcase why this show is as strong as it has been over the past 25 years to the point where there were myriad things that got left off just due to pure quantity. Yeah, okay. Well, Mike, it was an embarrassment of riches for us to go back into the annals of Survivor history and

The fans got to cast their votes and I'm dying to know what they're coming up with Yeah, so I'll just read off a few I guess these are honorable mentions technically even though they didn't make the ballot just some some write-ins that got a good amount of groundswell support just to you know be able to acknowledge them pay them some lip service. Things that were not on the ballot that another a plethora amount of fans voted for. Exactly and look there were a good amount of them you know if they had made their way into the ballot proper they would have made a decent dent though I will say the top 25 had a significant margin higher than 26 and beyond but I felt they should still be acknowledged. I'll go a bit chronologically here for some highlights.

The Borneo merge vote, of course, the Gretchen Cordy, It's Me, arguably one of the first quote unquote big moves in survivor history, got a decent amount of support. Going all the way forward to heroes versus villains, we have Sandra burning Russell's hat alongside a couple of mentions of the, I don't know about that.

There is a moment that involves maybe that, that, that we can get into down the line, perhaps if it made the top 25, uh, Stacy Powell's, his name is Benjamin speech. Oh, get ready, Stacey coach is back. Exactly. So we'll see how many people get her on a survivor 50 recap. Listen, uh, I would love to hear finally the definition of what Chuckie the cheese jokes are. Those things have been keeping me up as a concept since 2012, but that got a highlight, including the coffee pasta of it all, which I greatly appreciated.

We've got Tony speaking llama, which chaos cast herself shattered out as maybe a bit of a snub. That certainly got a lot got a lot of play with you, Rob, certainly back in the day on the podcast. One of the most emotional moments in Survivor history, the scene of Millennials versus Gen X with Adam and Jay on the hammock where Adam opens up to Jay about his mom's cancer diagnosis and these, you know, frenemies end up turning into, you know, people who see each other in an incredibly cutthroat game in that particular moment.

And then a couple of big moments from winners at war, both Tony booting Sophie in the big extortion episode. And one big shout out to the Tony versus Sarah fire making challenge, really the culmination of an arc of these two people that were inextricably tied to one another from cops are us through one of them quite literally going down in flames and the winners of war finale. Okay.

All right. Pretty good honorable mentions. Yeah, which means that again, it was a real pick of the litter amongst the top 25. So I'm incredibly excited to get into it. But we're not going to do any sort of regular degular, just laying things out here. No, we like to take the scenic route on our HAP speaking of that car metaphor. So here's how this is going to work. Rob, I'm going to edging you exactly. That's what Mike White says. Yes, exactly. And Chris Underwood might know

his way about doing that a couple of times to us. Rob, I'm going to give you a clue as to what each moment is going to be. And I'm going to have you guess. See if you can truly, again, have your pulse on the fandom at this point and figure out what moment ranks where. I'll then answer your guess with an audio clip of a said moment, and then we will officially get into what that exact moment entails. OK, so I'm guessing the the moment that you are queuing up, not the placement of it. No, exactly. I will be saying, first off, this is the number 25 moment.

I will give you a clue as to what it might be, whether it's a chronological categorical. This is the Denise Stapley moment. Yeah. I mean, you have the hardest job arguably out of this entire process because you are really trying like a la Destination X, really trying to put the pin in the proper place in the map to figure out what ends up starting out our countdown here. But I'll try to make it a little easier for you to start things off. Moment number 25 is voted on by the fans is a moment from the new era that happens at Tribal Council. OK, a Tribal Council moment from the new era and I'm doing this without the list in

front of me and so... Raw-dogging it as you like to say. I feel like, not 100% sure this is on the list, Caleb hitting the shot in the dark is certainly something in a moment that happens in the new era at tribal council. And hmm. I don't I can't think of too many other things from the new era that are even on the list. So I'm going to guess. Is there a second clue? Nope, that's one clue. We're going to old school Idol Clue days.

Caleb hits the shot in the dark. Okay, there we go. Rob taking a shot in the dark with Caleb's shot in the dark. Let's give a listen to what the number 25 moment as voted on by the listeners is. Give me a minute. Only listen. I think a couple of us took a look at the social contract. We decided to call people's bluffs, so I'm playing this for Owen.

For Owen? Yep. Cody, one vote Cody. Cody, two votes Cody. 13th person voted out of survivor 43., Cody. Three, that's enough. Need to bring me your torch. Who? Who is right? And the answer to who is part of the number 25 moment is indeed from Survivor 43,

Jesse Betrayz Cody. Yeah, you know, pretty good. In my mind, I wasn't thinking of it as a tribal council moment of Cody getting rid of. And that was stupid on my part. Again, let me maybe I'll heat up a little bit on this, but look, I'm glad Jesse got picked for something. There we go. Look, if there was ever a reminder as to why, you know, for many reasons, it sucks to not see Jesse get a second chance at this moment to play Survivor. It truly is represented here in Rob, what I would call perhaps to his begrudgment as arguably one of the most brutal moves in Survivor

history. The fact that Jesse decides to blindside his own number one ally, not only doing that, that's dime a dozen. We've seen plenty of that many times over the course of 25 years of Survivor, but to do it using Cody's own idol that he had given to Jesse to hold on to, to prevent a knowledge of power advantage. Yeah, I think this moment is rather beautiful and speaks to so many of the thematic things that I personally

love about Survivor and I know that Survivor 43 gets a lot of flak where that I think that there were times where that the fan base there was hand-wringing during that season as well and ultimately a lot of people were left unsatisfied. Gaebler maybe not the most popular winner around but the Jesse and Cody relationship is so interesting where that we did not really have this in Survivor 48 where Kyle found a way to win without having to do what Jesse ultimately did, but he had this best friend in this game His number one that he felt like I can't beat him and also he has this desire to provide For his family. He has the note from Gio get that money, baby

That was also on his season not that Gio and Jesse we see him with tears in his eyes. And he realizes what he has to do. And he takes no pleasure in it. He is not a mustache twirling villain of like, ha ha ha. Little does idiot Cody know I get to betray him tonight. He's walking into a blindside Jesse is

Heartbroken of what he has to do But he feels he sees this as the only way that he can get the win for his friend And he does it in this masterful fashion Where and I had forgotten the particulars about what he ends up doing, that he takes the immunity idol, he plays it for Owen, that Cody was- Which then also prompts Carla to play her idol, to flush it as well. Right. And Cody's under the impression that Carla is going to go home, which isn't ultimately

what happens. And then we have that moment. There's a pregnant pause when Cody looks to Jesse and Jesse has his hand, his arm out to him. And we don't know what Cody's gonna do in that moment. We don't know if Cody is gonna give him the fingers and never talk to me again. But they have this handshake

and that Cody is still processing what happens, but ultimately he has the handshake and presumably they hug after. And Cody was not cool with what happened, but ultimately Jesse and Cody are friends still to this day. And it just, I think, really speaks to, I think it captures so well, I think what Survivor tries to do in the new era,

which is really catalog these really hard decisions that the players get forced to make. And on the one hand, I have this relationship with this person that I met 20 some odd days ago. And on the other hand, I have this desire to provide for my family. And the story of Jesse ultimately was to choose what was best, what gave me the best chance to win.

And in that, I just think that that is such an amazing encapsulation of what I love about Survivor. Could not agree more to this idea of your on island family, Ohana, if you will, considering Cody's, you know, Hawaiian background versus the one you have waiting for you at home. This idea that receiving a letter from home, as warming as it may be, is also kind of a splash of cold water to be like, no, remember that you're actually competing for the loved ones that you have known for years, not the ones that you met 26 days ago.

I think what I love about this move so much as well is that it is one of those rare moves that is entirely focused pretty much on one individual with no offense to, you know, the other three people that vote alongside Jesse to get rid of Cody. But it was pretty much presented entirely from Jesse's perspective that this was the the guy that, you know, he has going from living to dying. He is someone who he rode with for the entirety of the game. He decides seemingly singularly in that moment, this guy is way too big of a threat for me to go to the end with as much as I know he's going to be by my side. That is too much to prevent me from winning that million dollars that I so sorely need.

And so he makes an incredibly difficult decision. And I cannot agree more. Obviously, when it comes to the audio clip, I did not play the moment that is just maybe one of the most tension filled moments. Honestly, I can think of from a recent Survivor season where Cody legitimately stands there for what was in actuality, a second and a half, but felt like a year and a half of like, is he just gonna punch Jesse in the face? Is he gonna just shrug off the hug?

Speaking of coach Benjamin and move forward and not give him the time of day, but Cody does dap him up. Jesse tells him I'll explain more and Cody kind of glibly replies, there's nothing to explain, bro. And in the moment you could say that it's like Oh damn Jesse really pissed off Cody But no Cody was absolutely able to take it on the chin perhaps another testament of the new era

But it shows how much someone is able to take the game in their hands with the you know advantages they're given both literally and in the form of other people. And the fact that when it comes to winning this game, difficult decisions have to be made. I think this is one of the standout moments of the new era. I remember at the time, Rob, the discourse was, is this one of the best moves in Survivor history? Maybe look upon less favorably now that we know what happens to Jesse. But I also think moving forward, I mean, you mentioned Survivor 48. I feel like that's very much the acceptance of the rule where like, I would not be surprised if the cast of Survivor for 46 was heavily

influenced by what Jesse did. And this idea that your number one can get you pretty far, but at the end of the day, you are your own number one. Yeah, I think that this and Operation Italy are probably the two most celebrated moves from the new era unless I am having a glaring omission at this point. I think that while Operation Italy is flashier, I'm not sure if Operation Italy shows up later on in this poll, I think that this was probably the more impactful game move in terms of taking out somebody that was the preeminent threat to win from Jesse's perspective and

it just is really just a more glaring omission that Jesse is not on Survivor 50. Well, listen, his family was able to get that money, baby, just in a very different way. But yeah, just a great reminder of the player that Jesse Lopez was and how he truly lit up the screen. I mean, during that moment as well, you have Noel say on the jury, like, Jesse did that shit.

And that's very much a feeling that we certainly felt in the moment. It was as electric as Cody was a couple days ago with all that coffee in his system. Yeah, okay. So yeah, great job by the voters to get number 25, Jesse Betrayals Cody into the pantheon. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

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That's better help. H-E-L-P dot com slash RHAP. All right. Number 24, Rob. It's a good number 24 and one moment is taking up its spot. This is a moment from we'll call it the old era, we'll call it pre-41, however you want to deign it. And I will say Rob, because there's a lot of seasons to choose from, this is from the early seasons, and this is a moment that technically won an award.

A moment that technically won an award. Was it an award that was at the, was it Rupert stealing the shoes? Okay, officially locking in as your guest. Let's see what moment 24 is. And I got to those stairs, I was done. your guess let's see what moment 24 is. This is definitely a pirate adventure. Pirates pillage. Pirates steal. Pirates take advantage. If they were going to be silly enough to put it right next to me, I'm going to put it in my thing.

All their trade goods, all the little women's shears, the insoles, everything that I could find in theirs, I took. They've always said I will lie, cheat, and steal to win this game. We're going on. There was my stealing. I stole for the Drake. Take him. Take him. You know, you can get anything. Who's are these? Pirating. Yeah. We are pirates. So we pirate it. Yeah, it's a hard life living the pirate's life. Okay. Alright, Rupert Steals the Shoes, our number 24 moment.

And Rupert stole the show in that moment as well. Rupert stole the show. It's such a great character moment. It's really our introduction to Rupert and sort of the Titan of Survivor that he would become. It comes early on in the opening minutes of the survivor Pearl Islands premiere and Never before in the show's history and never again. Would there be such a marriage between? marriage the theme of a season and a person a player that is on The season and somehow Lin Spillman and her team, they find Rupert Boneham at some point in 2003,

and they just so happen to be making a show, making a season all about pirates, and they find- And then five years later, they'll make Pirate Master. Pirate Master, one day Rupert was not involved, but Russell applies to be on that. And one day they'll both end up in Samoa together. And Rupert ends up becoming a household name after this. Which is wild considering that Rupert will be regarded as one of the biggest heroes in the show's history. Which makes sense, he's a troubled teens mentor.

He talks a lot once he actually hits the beach about a lot of the bullying that he experienced both in his past and on the island as well. You know, he is the animal lover. He is the tribe's provider. And so it's kind of odd that the first introduction we get to this man is thieving the other tribe's shoes when they're not looking.

Yeah, and I think this speaks to another really fun part of Survivor, where Survivor is... We live vicariously through the players that we watch onto the show, and there is a code that you have to follow in the real world. But Survivor is somewhat freeing for people in that you can come to Survivor and you can get away with doing things that you can't necessarily do in the real world, like sabotaging the other team who was stupid enough to leave their shoes out. And Rupert does just that. And thematically, the music is perfect.

His Rupert the- Shout out to Russell Landau. He was out of this world with the pirate music that season. Rupert the narrator is just absolutely incredible. I'm so glad you brought that up because I have always kind of gone to bat for the fact that I love Rupert as a survivor character. And's because of how over the top he is in these confessionals for him to

talk about pirates, thieves, pirates, steal and I stole for the Drake certainly has different meanings nowadays. Pirates pillage. Exactly. It's the way he speaks with such gravity about every single thing, including stealing as he puts it, the little women's shoes and selling them. Yeah. And he's able to do this in such a likable, such a charming way. He becomes such an instant phenomenon. I mean, the heights to which Rupert will go as a survivor figure. I think maybe not since, you know, maybe Colby in the second season.

Nobody else had even touched that stratosphere. And he will become this huge figure in survivor lore over the next year from the fall of 2003 all the way through America's tribal council when he will pillage $1 million from CBS, where he wins a fan vote to ultimately, a fan vote that was really created with the intention of just, how do we get Rupert a million dollars? Because he's so popular.

Which is wild because he was up against, as you mentioned before, Colby, who was, as Jeff put recently, the first all American hero and survivor, Ethan's on the first, I would argue, and most, maybe the most popular winners of the early season. It was stiff competition Rob coming off of, uh, you know, his big run in all stars and proposing to Amber. Yeah. But Rupert absolutely ran away with it. And I mentioned before the award winner, you hit it on the head, Rob. During America's tribal council,

there were several superlatives that were given out. And indeed, what was voted upon then in 2004 as the best moment in survivor history is none other than number 24. Has dropped 23 spots in the countdown down to number 24. But yeah, it's an incredible moment. I also remember I had gone out to play in Survivor All-Stars. And you would wear,

I think we had like two different pairs of shoes. We had like, I think I had like water shoes, or maybe I had my sneakers, and then we were doing a challenge where that was gonna be the challenge where we were all swimming out to like the relay race. And I was leaving my shoes over there and I had asked one of the producers at the time like,

hey, is it okay if I leave my shoes over here? Because Rupert, this guy, he loves to steal the shoes. Is this gonna be okay? Yeah. You're not gonna let Rupert mess with our shoes, right? Well, listen, with a million dollars, you could buy a hell of a lot of stolen shoes. I also love the fact that this is by far the most like capitalistic opening in survivor

history, right? Where each of the tribes is given a certain amount of Balboa to spend for their supplies at a Panamanian village. And Rupert just flat out, I wouldn't even say does the barter system. He just steals the tribe's shoes and sells them off to just make the rich even richer in the form of the Drake. It is such an incredible moment that feels so wholly unique to not only Survivor Pearl Island,

but to Rupert in general that led to him becoming one of the most universally beloved figures in the early days. Yeah, interesting that the pattern so far was a big Survivor move, but then also then a big character moment here to kick off the countdown. It's going to be interesting to see at the end of this list, do we end up with more game

stuff or do we end up with more character stuff? It's a really great point. I mean, I think that one of the chief reasons why Survivor is still on the air is because everyone kind of sees a different thing that they enjoy the most about the show, be it the strategy, be it the characters, be it the goofiness, be it the seriousness, be it the challenges, be it the locales. So again, it's a really interesting census in this particular time to see, as you're mentioning, at the end of the day, what sort of outbalances what according to the fans. I also don't think we've ever properly like talked about like the impact of Rupert stealing their shoes.

They didn't have other shoes. No, basically play the game barefoot from that point on. And also on top of that, Rupert had no idea. But the guys were also selling their clothes as well. So Austin ends up being the first person to quit the game because he's essentially left in his bear underwear and a suit jacket hours into the game. Mm hmm. They had to run all the challenges with no shoes on? Well, and a lot less on as well.

Yes. If you remember that first immunity challenge. Okay, all right. So our introduction to Rupert is number 24. Well, let me give our introduction to moment number 23, Rob. I will once again put this in the chronology of Survivor. This is from pre-40, but let's focus it in a little bit and let's give our eyes to a very recently announced season.

It'll be a little bit of a ways away, but I will say this is a big moment for a contestant who will be appearing on our screens in Survivor 50. Okay. So it is from pre-40. Oh, pre-40. Pre-40 and it is prominently featuring a Survivor 50 cast member.

Survivor 50 cast member. So I'm just going down the list in chronological order. Did you say it happened recently, in recent history? No, I would say that it's pre-40. Pre-40. And I will say, you know what? I like your terminology. This is more of a character moment,

closer to Rupert stealing the shoes than Jesse betrays Cody. Could this be Angelina asks for the jacket? All right, let's give a listen and see if you're right. This is gonna be like a vacation for me. Funtan out here. All those wishy washy people at camp with no character. Coach Wade's foundation is built on a rock inside here. Unbreakable, unbending, unyielding,

immeasurable, immovable, invincible. Stay out here for a week without any food. Only make me a better, stronger person. These guys won't be able to get old Coach Wade down at all, I'll tell you that. I will not have anything to eat. It's gonna be like the ancient American Indians that are my ancestors. They used to go out into the wilderness for 48 hours,

and they would commune with the creator of the universe, and they would become men. Well, I'm already a man, so this will just make me more of a man, but this is gonna be an adventure. Alright, and let's talk about an adventurous man himself. Coach Wade, whose trip to Exile Island takes up spot number 23. Yeah. And so far, we're three for three on just sort of like all time survivor episodes. The Jesse blindsiding Cody is certainly the high point of that season. I believe it's called Tella Novella is the name of that episode. The Emmy nominated premiere, you know, another classic.

And then the monastic approach, I believe. The what is this? The final is final five or six. And 10 ultimate episode, final five. This is coaches Swan song. We'll talk about how the monastic approach maybe puts himself in a certain state where he goes all out in that immunity challenge

in his last gas. Yeah. And one of the greatest episodes of Survivor that culminates in Coach going out and then reading the poem at tribal council, just so many comes back and does the challenge. This is just like the epitome of Coach. I believe also, Mike, correct me if I'm wrong, I believe I've heard interviews where I think that this was

Coach and Matt Van Wagner, I believe out like Matt Van Wagner is sort of like a young pup in his Survivor producing career. I believe he started technically on the crew in Survivor Fiji the OG of Fiji Yeah, relatively young in the two and unless I'm having Some like Mandela effect or misremembering, I feel like that he's the producer out there on Exile Island with Coach. And it's just like they're making magic. Yeah. So Exile Island at this point have been a pretty tried and true concept. I mean, considering the fact that this isn't even Exile Island,

since considering that they're on, you know, a pretty non-contiguous strip of land. This is Exile Dune. But you could argue that across the many instances of Exile Island, Coach Wade's stands out as the creme de la creme, because this is a guy that approached it with the gravity, and specifically spirituality, that we were to expect of the Dragon Slayer.

As he says, he is going to go out there and truly showcase what his body is capable of to show. He is unbreakable, unyielding, unbending, immeasurable, immovable, invincible. I think he was also trying to try out loosely a bunch of replacements for outweighed outplay out. Yeah. They were going to do a, what is it like return revenge redemption for that was the slogan for heroes versus villains No, they maybe he sort of like put the idea out there So coaches trip to exile island just the culmination of his survivor story Like Rupert he is gonna be such a phenomenon in terms of a survivor player who came in and made such a mark in a short period of time.

We were talking during the Survivor 50 cast reveal, Coach plays three times in six seasons, which when you really pull back and look at the scope of Survivor history, we had so much Coach in a short period of time. I'm grateful that we are going to get to see him at least have one more encore in Survivor 50. So I do feel like that that's a real- In true maestro fashion. Yeah, to come back out, take a bow, get to like in true, like that's my favorite thing about Survivor 50 is that the like a little bit of like the old timers day

aspect of like a few people that are going to come out and don the survivor buff one more time and coach is certainly in that category. And this is just one of the true high points of survivor token chains. I mean, it's a great representation of who coaches as well. And I mean, when we talk about the evolution of survivor storytelling, when we look at exile, I mean, token sheens and we look ahead especially to Russell Hans in Survivor Samoa, you could even take a step back and look at Sugar, another frequent exile returnee in Survivor Gabon. The viewpoint of Survivor briefly had this period of time where it kind of shifted its

lens from being more of an ensemble story where we're hearing a little bit about everybody, where they came from, who they are out on the island, why they get voted out, to saying, okay, here's our main character, here's the big person who's taken up a lot of time. And Coach filled the airways with all the antics that he was doing and all the reactions therein. This truly is the best representation of Coach and the various perspectives that he brought into his survivor experience. Just for time, I'd cut the second half of the exile trip, which was of course him being so physically and mentally depleted

because suffice it to say, I'm no nutritionist, but I'm pretty sure that's what happens when you purposely starve and dehydrate yourself. But he quotes Marcus Aurelius, or so he claims to, by saying, through our greatest adversities come our greatest successes. And it really goes to show the highs and lows of coach, that this is a man who will take every single syllable

that comes out of his mouth incredibly seriously, and nobody else will around him. Mike, we were trying to track, so how did Cody's blind side affect the future of Survivor? Do you feel like that there were other moments like this that followed this really iconic moment with Coach? Yeah, I mean, it's tough to find, like moments where, especially because Exile Island kind of goes the way of the Dodo after this this particular season,

where people are able to go off on their own and just have these walkabouts in a manner of speaking. But I do think, again, it serves a larger emblem of the fact that when some people go out onto Survivor, look, you are playing a living, breathing game, but there are cameras around you. There are millions of people that will be watching you at home months after the fact. And listen, while Coach does take this lie detector test in the reunion to prove that everything he talks about is supposedly true, I do think there's a little bit of like wink at the camera stuff going on in this

particular scene of like, Oh, it's just you and me. I'm going to ham this thing up. You're about to have a good show both in the moment and at home. Yeah. I think coach is also rare in that there's such a selfness at times to what he's talking about. And I think that there are not a ton of other players that even have the ability to do that. Let me read, because again, we polled a large subsection of people that helped determine some of these moments that we put on the survey. I'll read off a few submissions, I should say,

from the people that we surveyed to get to the 100. This is from AJ Norris, a great RHAP podcaster. He says, Coach in Survivor Token Sheens going to Exile Island is one of my moments. Coach is one of the greatest characters in Survivor history and I do not feel anything embodies the grandiose character like his visit to exile. Survivor 47 runner up Sam Phelan says coach going to exile island in token chains for two days and the ensuing immunity challenge where the dragon slayer goes head to head with the warrior spoiler alert the warrior wins best character moment in the show's history and finally Dalton Ross who has

just an absolute you know cornerstone of coverage through Survivor from the very beginning he puts coach going to exile in his top 10 moments. He said that it's the scene that really has it all. You get Coach repeatedly referring to himself in the third person while also quoting Marcus Aurelius, who again, might be misplaced in terms of the source of that quote. You get multiple shots of eagles soaring and hawks squealing.

You get questionable martial arts moves on a sandy mountain top. And you get this underrated gem, as we heard in the clip. It's going to be like the ancient American Indians as my ancestors. You used to go out in the wilderness for 48 hours, and they would commune with the creator of the universe, and they would become men.

Though I am already a man, so this would just make me more of a man. More of a man. How does Coach drink his milk? That's how we know how much of a man he is. Probably his arms straight up in the air. Yeah, exactly. He's like, I pour it directly onto me. That's the manliest way you can drink something.

Just pour it over your head. So, certainly Rob, you and I banded about when Coach was announced as part of the cast of Survivor 50. If this is the Coach that we'll see come back. And yes, there is perhaps a more down-to-earth version of him. But as is indicated by this moment, both from, you know, the people that we surveyed as well as the fans, we got to see at least a little bit of this poke out. Right. Well, I will also say, though, that this is, I feel like a time capsule to a period in the show's history when they could present Coach in

history when they could present coach in this interesting light where as Aaron once said who is this Jackass and I think that for us as the viewers it was sort of presented without interpretation is this guy for real is he not it was a huge question at the Survivor tokenoken Sheen's reunion show. Maybe outside of Rome in the new era, we don't really get characters presented this way on Survivor anymore. That's a good point. I mean, I think that coach ends up laying down the line, editorial speaking for former federal agent, question Mark Philip Sheppard, for the constantly changing Kyrons for Debbie in seasons 32 and 34.

I think this gave the editors a little bit of license to be like, okay, this is a toy that we can play with. Yeah, the show at times would be a little bit, are they making fun of Coach? Is he serious? It's just not a way that the show presents people. Like everything is very much that we are

Trying to represent the true version of this person as they see themselves as opposed to turning people into a caricature which for better or for worse I think that the more entertaining version of the show is one where maybe the show does take some liberty and makes people into some of these larger than life characters, as opposed to always giving us a more representative view of the person. Maybe the players appreciate that more, but the viewers, I do think respond more to this.

Also special shout out to that dragon cane, one of the most infamous accessories in a survivor history that coach had the energy, the, you know, rare calories to carve out and bring with him through his final days on survivor token chains. All right, Mike, are we ready for number 22? Number 22. And you mentioned the new era. Let's go back there for moment number 22. I will say this is a moment from the last five seasons of Survivor.

And this is a moment that you experienced in a large setting. A moment that I experienced in a large setting. Well, I did mention Caleb's shot in the dark. We were at a live show for that one. I do. Oh, I did. I did also do a live show on Operation Italy. And so I'm going to go with Operation Italy. All right, let's see what number 22 is.

All right, Jeff. I do have one last thing I'm going to try. My last punch. Bring it up to me. Yeah. Thank you. I'm going to buy a lot of tickets. Thank you. I'm going to buy a lotto ticket if this works. So fingers crossed. I'll open the scroll. Oh Oh, wow. Oh, wow.

Oh, wow. So close Rob, but ultimately I would say slightly a cigar, maybe a butt of a cigar as it is indeed moment number 22 Caleb's shot in the dark hits from Survivor 45. Okay, there we go. Caleb ultimately becomes the first person to have the successful shot in the dark when he is going to go home. Yeah, and remember, Jamie Lynn will reese. She did hit it, but she was not voted for. Fulfilling the destiny of what the shot in the dark could be. And it was a huge moment in that season, a huge moment to have watched in a room full of people. Really exciting. Caleb was there, I'm sure I've told this story before,

but it was incredible. Like everybody was hugging each other. The waiters that never watched Survivor were high-fiving. It was a crazy night to have all of that happen. And the shot in the dark really had served a purpose High-fiving it was a crazy night to have all of that happen and the shot in the dark really Had served a purpose That I had thought in the new era of that the thing that the shot in the dark was doing

Was that it was preventing people from just being told straight up they were going to go home It didn't even have to ever hit to be effective because it always, okay, we have to give the person another name. It created more drama. And so I think it was a very useful invention for the show. In the case of Caleb, he got cast on this very doomed tribe of Lulu was a big character, such a likable guy, had off-the-screen charisma that everybody recognized. Unfortunately, his cast also really recognized that. And he was a person who really couldn't find a home in the post-merge game. And so everybody universally agreed that he would be the person to go but as luck would have it Caleb is able to pull the correct scroll and be safe for just one more night. Yeah so I mean this goes to show the high that can be produced

from a successful idol or advantage play you know we'll talk'll talk about this. I'm sure throughout this countdown, it was talked about on the list. We've seen various moments where people will play their idol when they need to nullifying all the votes against them and saving themselves. It's this exhilarating feeling. It's why the idol was created in the first place in Guatemala was it prevented this outcome of,

you are a dead man walking. Here is your stay of execution. An opportunity that if you play it right, could be the difference between you going home right now and you surviving until the end of the game. Now look, and unfortunately does not play out well for Caleb in the end, he does get voted out in the very next episode, but truly there are very few moments that can match the high that is experienced here. I mean, look at this picture. Look at the Renaissance painting that is this moment when the shot in the dark hits, be it friend, be it foe of Caleb. Everyone

is losing their damn minds. Whether it is poor, poor, woe-begotten J Maya realizing instantly that her game is over. Whether it's Emily who, you know, was unfortunately forced to sell her closest ally down the river just to stay in the game. Now he's granted a moment of reprieve or whether it's just everyone in the captive audience at the moment being like, I mean, yes, listen, uh, drew is, drew is, is waiting to just make a, I don't know, an Aristotelian reference to what Caleb is going to correct. The Marcus really is reference from coach exactly. He's already thinking about that, But it truly shows how Survivor is a game that can provide you with outs when you are backed into a corner. Now, oftentimes that does not work, but in a manner of speaking, one out of six times

it does. And I think that this is something that on the one hand does represent the power of, as you mentioned, the shot in the dark, that it is something that we'll see in Survivor 46 that they will, even though they haven't seen 45, they will give Jess a fake idol to as you mentioned, the shot in the dark, that it is something that we'll see in Survivor 46 that they will, even though they haven't seen 45, they will give Jess a fake idol to make sure that she doesn't play her shot. There's always that remote chance,

that 16.6667% chance, according to David Boche, that your plan will go awry. And then on the other hand, we see that this thing can be completely disposable considering the fact that all of the Survivor 47 cast, like the final eight, final nine, just offers them up, preventing them from allowing a Caleb-like moment to happen the rest of the season.

The shot in the dark hitting in this fashion is really the greatest utilization of what we have come to know as the great immunity idol plays where that we think back to Wentworth does not count. I think that that's probably a moment that we see down the road on this list. And the beauty of this moment in the shot in the dark, you had this lovable underdog in Caleb and you know that he's in trouble and then also it's a one in six chance that he's going to have it so you also have it sort of baked in like they had in Survivor fans versus favorites where we didn't know if

Amanda had the idol or not so when we I guess there's a question when Wentworth goes to tribal council, is she gonna play it or not? And she's probably gonna play it. You know that she has it. This is almost a big surprise to the viewer because you know that Caleb is in trouble. He's going to do the thing and there's suspense in whether or not it is going to hit and then when it does there's this you know incredible release of that yes I can't believe he did it had he had like the idol in his pocket I think that there would be a little question of like is he going to play I don't think it would have been as exciting if he would have had

an idol that he found earlier in the game and and he knows that he's in trouble, and he plays it at that tribal council, to have it be this miracle that he gets saved. It was only, I think, for one night. I think he gets voted out the next day. He does, yeah, but for that one night, he was a king. And just the grandiosity cannot be understated here because not only did Caleb nullify the majority of the votes against him, he nullified every single

vote at that tribal council. In an era of vote splitting and even the shot in the dark still kind of throwing in hinky votes here and there. Every single person, it's the merge vote, you kind of just want a name to go with to make things easy breezy. Everyone, all 12 other people on this tribe, voted for Caleb. He ties a record for most votes nullified. I feel like he actually maybe beat Wentworth in that regard or maybe tied it with an idol or advantage being played, wipes the slate clean. And we have a no vote situation at the final 13 of Survivor 45. Now, unfortunately, it does fall onto poor J. Maya, who, you know, whose game ends with the tragedy of the best Greek myths among us.

But to see the triumph of Caleb in that moment where every single person had him in their sights and he was able to somehow dodge out of their line of fire, it's epic. There's no other way to put it. Yeah, incredible moment for Caleb. I think that Caleb, one day, we will see him play Survivor again, largely because of how iconic this moment is.

Oh, yeah. Not to say anything to take away from him as a Survivor player, but I think when you have a moment in the top 25 moments of all time, I think that it is something that is very much going to be indicative of future appearances. Yeah, and I would call this maybe a Hall of Fame advantage play as well, especially in the new era, but maybe in recent memory.

Again, in terms of just the mood that it provides, both in the moment and especially among the crowd. Rob, I absolutely loved watching everyone react on that video to this moment. It truly felt like, you know, the Super Bowl or like the game winning touchdown scored in overtime, you know, where someone's able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Yeah, incredible moment for Caleb and a great moment at number twenty two. All right, we've got one more moment to talk about Rob in this batch number 21 I will say we are flipping back to pre new era old era

However, you want to say the first 40 seasons? This is another standout moment that features a cast member from survivor 50 hmm, okay Now there are many moments with the people. Can I get any more specifics? Sure, I'll say that we started this countdown with a gameplay move. We will end this countdown with a gameplay move. A gameplay move from... So, I'm trying to think of what's on the list. I mean, Colby did not bring Tina to the finals. I think that that was on the list. Surrey certainly has her share of gameplay moves could be her three to one in Panama. I don't know if with all due respect to Stephanie LaGrosse, if she has too many game moves, Ozzy,

I'll do respect my guy. I don't think it's you and I'm not sure about coach and or Aubrey's I'm gonna say siree 321. All right. Let's see if the 321 is number two one. Shane wants to take Courtney to the final two. He's told me that Terry wants to take Courtney to the final two. That to me makes Courtney the most dangerous personality. I want to kind of mess up Terry's plans and mess up Shane's plans. And hopefully we get rid of Courtney then.

Me, you and Iris vote Courtney because Shane is going to vote June. Terry and Courtney are going to vote Iris and me and you and Iris are going to vote Courtney. I'm absolutely positive. That's why we have to let Courtney think that me, you, her, and Terry are going to vote ours. Courtney, that's two votes Courtney, two votes ours, one vote Danielle.

The 11th person voted out of Survivor Exile Island. Courtney, you need to grab your torch. That was a shocker. Yes, it was as number 21 is indeed the first of many big moves. Surrey Fields will make in her storied survivor career the infamous 3-2-1 vote from Survivor Panama. Yeah, I'd love to explore the impact of this move, of course, that this is a huge move, great episode from Panama and iconic round of the game where we have, what is it? Suri, Aris and Danielle are going to be voting for Courtney, where Danielle and Terry are, is it Shane and Terry?

Yeah, so basically the situation was that it was- Shane and Courtney are together and Terry is the one, right? So Terry wins immunity. And so it's like, well crap, we have to vote for one of our own. The Kasiah six, or I guess five at this point due to poor Bruce, had to finally turn against one another. And the plan is to vote against Otis.

And that Otis and Shane would instead vote for Danielle. But Seree is assessing the lay of the land and realizes that everyone wants to go to the end with Courtney. And so rather than work with the goat, she chooses to slaughter it. And she does it in an incredibly unique way, not trying to necessarily get Terry or Shane on her side, because they're pretty resolute. Instead, she gathers ours at her right hand, Danielle on her left, and says, there are six people, but if the votes are scattered in a certain way, all we need is three. And indeed, they do it in what I would say was one of the most complicated pieces of

strategy in early Survivor seasons. Okay, Mike, I had been talking about this move at a certain point in the last few months, and I was trying to think of what is the impact of this move coming out of this? How do you feel like that this vote changes the immediate future of Survivor? Because I feel like that while it's iconic, it's a huge move. And it certainly is the defining move in Saree's early career that do you feel like that the ripples of this move are felt over the next few years of Survivor? It's a good point because I think if you look ahead to the more strategy forward later seasons of Survivor,

I would say yes, because the impact of this vote is really a big glorifying statement to say, look at what pieces you have and the powers that they possess. Yes, it's always good to get the majority of numbers on your side, but if you know exactly where the cars are going in this traffic grid, you could sort of weave your way through it and find a shortcut to hopefully get yourself to the end.

You could argue that there are so many moves like in Operation Italy might not happen if the 321 move doesn't happen and navigate each individual move. I would say more so for me, what this represents is as delightful as Saree Fields was at this point, the woman who was afraid of leaves. This is one of her defining moments of her survivor career. This to me is when she truly transformed into that gangster in an Oprah suit, as she so wisely put, and showcase that you can't always beat them with this, but you can always beat them with this. Yeah. It's so interesting to look back at this period in Survivor history where this is in season 12 of the show and we're in such a recruit-heavy period of the show where what Saree does here,

I don't think that we necessarily see players come into Survivor Cook Islands and are trying to recreate anything like this. And certainly the players in Survivor Fiji aren't trying to do stuff like that. And I don't think that there is anything in Survivor China that's like this. It's not really until, you know, Suri herself comes back. And I think it's really the significance of this move is that it really solidifies Suri's career as a returning player. I'm not sure we get Suri on Survivor fans versus favorites without us.

She's popular and I think that she would have been a borderline pick, but she's becomes a lock to come back in the returning player season after we see what she's able to do here. I also really love the meta impact that this move has as well, because up to this point, there was sort of a prevailing way to play survivor and that got flipped a little bit on its head with the fall of the road to four, but it largely was like, hey, find your person that you know you can beat in the end, lock in with them and take them to the final two. And usually when it came to the post merge, it was always about voting out

the biggest threat to your game. And what Suri kind of looked at is this idea that Courtney's weaknesses were kind of her strength in that while she was someone that probably would not win in a jury vote in the end, the jury would not drop their guns into the ocean when it came to pointing them at Courtney much like she did to Aris and Danielle. She's taken up one of two spots. She's taken up 50% of the slots that occupy the endgame there. And so, Seree thought that instead of going for someone like Aris, who might be more threatening to, you know, run the challenges or, you know or win the game over her. She instead decided, let's kind of wipe the slate clean here.

Let's take up somebody that's a threat to me in that everybody else wants to take her to the end over me. I think it really was a next level move that when we talk about the meta narrative that often isn't shown in Survivor of people assessing their own jury chances and other people's jury chances, there is legitimate strategy to getting the goat in a manner of speaking. Yeah. It's such a outside of the box idea to have done it this way.

Unfortunately, it elevates Suri's threat level. Yeah. Though there was an unfortunate confluence of events as there is basically every time Suri plays Survivor where that's where Danielle and Terry go to Exile Island at the Final Four and they decide to make a deal to force a tie to send Suri into Final Four fire making. But much like we talked about with Jesse actually to start, there's actually some remarkably similar parallels right between the Jesse blind sighting Cody and Cerise321 in that here's a player at the final six making an incredibly individual move to take out someone that was a

form of competition to them in some sort of way and unfortunately does not work for them They both end up finishing fourth But it goes to show how you need to make these necessary moves sometimes especially towards the pointy end of the game If you want to try at least a shot at the million dollars. Yeah, do you think that that's really an interesting part of this, where, okay, Surrey makes this move in Survivor Panama, and it's airing in, what, 2006,

and it really ends up taking a generation of players going back and watching the show on streaming, where in the future, one day, Jesse Lopez and Andy Rueda are going to be coming into the game. And now all of this stuff is just so essential survivor. All of these things that, you know, we've talked about for years and they they become really big parts of the game for where we are now. Yeah, I think that it's also a great reminder, especially in this day and age,

what Suri is able to bring in terms of strategy. Again, there's a reason why up to this point, from our knowledge, she has never been voted out with a majority vote in Survivor history history because she is just a master of numbers and interpersonal dynamics where, again, she took a six person situation and somehow manufactured a three to one scenario at the final six of the game, a time when you would argue that dynamics should be more locked in than ever. She firmly turned the game fluid for that brief portion of time. And it truly goes to show that if you're the right strategist

and you have the right people along your side, you could truly make any move happen in Survivor. All right. Mike, anything else about the 3-2-1 vote? No, I mean, I guess if we're doing our own countdown in a manner of speaking, just to review the day's events for today, we started our list off with number 25, which is Jesse Betrayed Cody from Survivor 43. If you're just joining us. Exactly. Number 24 Rupert Steals the Shoes from Survivor Pearl Island's premiere. We have Coach's Trip to Exile Island from the penultimate episode of Survivor Token Sheens. Caleb Shot in the Dark

Hits from the Merge episode of Surviv Survivor 45 and last but certainly not least series 3 2 1 vote against Courtney from Survivor Panama But Rob we are just getting started as we have reached the top 20 greatest moments in Survivor history Okay, so three from the old era two from the new era So so far a 60% old era for another the fans that's not enough. Where's my new era. So so far, a 60% old era for another that's not enough. Where's my new era? Come on. Well, listen, there might be some coming. Who's to say we should also mention a two submissions so far featuring prominently cast members from Survivor 50. We'll see if that continues to get highlighted because I don't think it's also think it's a great

opportunity Rob, especially with some of these more old school castaways, to get a reminder as to their popularity at the time, their responsibility for creating some of these initial moves that does end up starting the roll on this snowball effect that leads to bigger moves down the line as well. It's important to know your history, kids, and I am grateful for any and all excuse to review the voluminous amounts of Survivor history through this great experience. Yeah, Mike, I can't tell you how incredibly much I enjoyed this. Thank you. Likewise, this was so much fun.

So thank you, Rob, for riding shotgun along the first leg of this car ride. I mean, there are few people that you would enjoy talking Survivor more than an honest to goodness Survivor historian in Mike Bloom who knows all this stuff like nobody else. Oh my God, well you are incredibly kind Rob. Thank you as always for your support both on air and getting this entire, you know, mad cap exodus of a podcast off to such a brilliant start. It's gonna be a tough act to follow,

but follow it, we must as next week and every Wednesday, I'll be back with another five moments. So next week I'll be joined by another, either alumnus or alumni perhaps of Survivor to get their guesses and break down moments 20 through 16. In the meantime, Rob, anything else you want to say, anything you want to plug? We've been talking a lot of Survivor as of late. Yeah, we've been talking so much survivor, having so much fun.

Make sure you subscribe to the podcast because there's a plenty more where that came from. So make sure you hit that subscribe button if you're watching us on YouTube or check out the podcast feeds, R.H.P. wherever your podcasts are found. And of course we want to hear from you as we did in this survey and got such a fantastic response. What are your thoughts on these first five moments, you know the associations that you have with watching them in the moment, watching them on a binge, the impact that they've had on you, and what do you think's coming up in moments 20 through 16? Let us know your thoughts and you'll

find out in due time next Wednesday. I am so excited for this to officially kick off. This has already been worth the price of admission so I cannot wait to see where we go from here. Thank you all as always so much for listening. Until next time, everybody, take care. Bye bye. 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.