RHAP: We Know Survivor - Why ___ Lost: Survivor 47 Ep 6

Episode Date: October 26, 2024

___ acknowledged in his final words that he ruffled some feathers. David Bloomberg and Jessica Lewis agree with him on that, but was it enough to explain how he so quickly became the obvious first boot of the merge, or was there more to it? Could he have avoided it if he’d just taken his own advice? At RHAP, we know Survivor, and we know Why ___ Lost.

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You played yourself and got voted out This is why Blank lost This is why Blank lost Baby, this is Why Blank Lost. I'm David Bloomberg. And joining me, as always, is someone who has been saying advantages are disadvantages for a long time now. My co-host, Jessica Lewis.

Listen, I was so happy to hear him admit it finally on the show, no less, not just in like the podcast. Did he admit it or he asked like he was he was like, oh, wait, are you saying that like he's putting on this innocent face like, oh, I'll take that as a note. OK, sure, sure jeff i understand but he has acknowledged it he vocalized it and he even inquired further about it which to me that's like the first step right yes is you have to admit that there's a problem and i think he's finally he already He already knew. You know, I mean, he made it public. He knew that this has been a disadvantage for a long time and he likes to see people. Well, find find out how to get around the disadvantage.

Yeah. And I will say that I appreciated the fact that there was even like a collective, like, Hey, yeah. So this thing that you had them do on the journey, it's not, it's not good. And,

and Rome at least did have an opportunity to explain to Jeff why it was bad. I do. I do very much appreciate that. It is now included as part of the story of survivor itself. It's not just something that we're podcasting about and people are tweeting about now it's the actual players saying hey jeff this is not good and this is why so i i can appreciate that we've crossed into that and jeff just went

he learned a little bit because now we kind of have a merge thing, right? I mean, ish. I mean, it's a merge, except that the person who doesn't make it doesn't get a buff and is still undateable, technically. Sorry, Rowan. Doesn't get to be on the jury. That's it. That's the end of it.

I will just continue i i think for most of this episode i will just call it the merge um i agree and i'm glad to get rid of the term mergatory because despite my valiant attempts and even tiffany who coined the term agreeing with me there are far too many people who still misspell it as mergatory they don't have the e in there after merge. So it just, it makes me grind my teeth every time I see it. And I know it's a made up word, but it's made up in my mind with an E there.

And you know. Spell it the way that David Bloomberg has told you to spell it. Yeah, thank you. Because yes, yes. So now, aren't you glad that this was the way I led off instead of being like, ha ha, you lost your winner pick? I knew we were going to get there eventually. So I was preparing myself for it. And I I knew that this day would unfortunately come.

However, I was really hoping that what I had mentioned a few episodes back, maybe a couple, a few episodes back, maybe a couple, that perhaps Rome was frustrating people so much that they were willing to keep him around because no one would vote for him in the end. So he'd be in the final three. That's what I was really kind of hoping for because we've seen that happening. I think that was my,

I had, there was like themes or something, but regardless, that didn't happen. They were done with Rome and sent him packing. Yes. You know, I'm sure it was fun for you to root for him while it lasted. And just as, as you said about my winner pick, this is nothing against him. You know, this is solely against you. And I will say I am a curse to anyone who I choose as my winner pick because you never win. I'm so very sorry. So the bag, the bag failed me.

The rocks failed me as I should become accustomed to at this juncture in my life that rock draws don't work out well for me. So my own rock will sit here. You cursed him retroactively by drawing his name. I know. This is what I'm saying. It all terrible yes that butterfly effect yes but yes i did lose my winner pick yeah yeah now an interesting thing to me is that last week we talked about uh annika's very real reaction i think we had another one this week though in a different way you know rome didn't have his whole world ripped out from under him the way Anika did. And he had a very fun last few minutes in the game.

So his reaction was real and that it showed how he felt about being able to play. Yes, but I do question so much of what he said in his exit press. I don't question that it was his perception. Is that a good way to say it? I believe, and we will get to it, I believe he is telling the truth as he sees it. And that is fair. That is definitely fair.

It was very interesting. I just think there are some things he is mistaken about that we will get to. And the way we will get to them is the same way we always do, following our path of comparing Rome's Game to My Rules for Winning that I originally wrote

way back after Season 1 and have been updating ever since, using all the non-spoiler information available to us from what we saw on TV, interviews, social media, and secret scenes. And of course, the newest version of the rules can be found at robhaswebsite.com slash yxlossfeed and clicking on the link bubble for Survivor Rules. But before we address how Rome did in terms of rules, we always have some other things to discuss about the episode. Now, normally this season, this is where we would talk about Rome because we always had something to talk about with him. And, you know, this is no exception because while the bulk of the podcast will be about him, there is still something related to him that I want to mention that isn't anything to do with the rules. And that is Jeff letting him take his spot at tribal council.

Oh, I thought you were just going to say it was the Rome episode. Cause it really was. It was, it was survivor Rome. It truly was. You know, some viewers and former players were very upset at this while others thought it was fun. I fall into the fun group. You know, I saw nothing wrong with this. It's, you know, Jeff isn't the Pope. He's not, you know,

taking his spot on the pulpit or anything. And you know, Jeff only did it because he knew Rome was headed out the door. Well, and that's the thing I was wondering about too. If that was why there was like this. It was almost like the last nail in the coffin, right? Because it was very clear throughout the whole episode that production and the editors

are having a little bit of fun with Rome at his expense. And so I'm curious if that was just like the final. We know that this is happening. Like he has said all of these things in his confessionals and about how he was going to be, was it licking the bones of Saul or something? I mean, it was just very,

very aggressive. Like I am the mastermind. I have convinced 13 people to vote my way. I am the best player at this game ever. And Jeff is just like just like yeah over in the corner and like yes rome please come and sit here and tell me why i'm wrong and then i will snuff your torch yes yeah and you know even if rome had picked up on it that this was why it was happening the only thing he could have done at that point was play a shot in the dark i mean yeah nothing was changing he wasn't gonna turn the entire merge tribe against him at that

point or for him no he really wasn't um i just thought it was so funny how there were so many conversations where they would show him talking to someone and then he would walk away and then someone would go okay so the real plan you know know, it's wrong. Right. Okay. Just like, it was so funny that everyone was like placating him so much. You're like, oh yes. Oh, that's, that's, it's going to be Saul. Okay. All right. And everyone's on board. All right, great. And then he like moves on to the next one. Oh, that's so terrible. The way, the way Saul treated you. Oh yeah.

We don't want someone like that. So awful. And then, oh yeah, that's wrong. Yeah. It was such an incredible episode. But I also have to say, as someone who is a former player, I'm a little bit jealous that we don't all get our own exit episode, right? I mean, this whole episode was centered around Rome.

I mean, you kind of got an exit episode when you were saved. Like you got the episode of the people saying, OK, it's going to be Jessica. You know, it's going to be Jessica. It's going to be Jessica. And you going and questioning them and them saying, oh, no, no, it's not you. It's definitely not you. And then you being like, oh, OK. And then being saved. So you got like an exit episode when you weren't exiting. All right. Well, I guess, I guess I'll take that then. And then my exit was a very dramatic exit. So I guess I'll take that. So dramatic that it is emblazoned on our poster as, you know,

rule number seven. So it is with a very sad fire. Yes. Yes. Yes. So, all right, let's move on to a few other things that happened this episode. I want to stay with tribal council for the moment. Well, actually you already talked about the amulet holder, so we can move on from that because I was just going to agree with what you said.

So going back to earlier in the episode, I need to ask Sam, Sam, if you're listening, dude, how do you just ignore the strange buoy sitting there when you're looking for a challenge advantage? Right.

And I will say someone on Twitter asked survivor players, have you ever just seen a random buoy? No, there was never a random buoy there. if there was an air and ever anything that was random you checked it immediately because you're like and even if it wasn't random if it was something that like was provided to us like a basket full of food you check the whole thing you ripped it apart if you had to like if you see a buoy just floating there you look for sure yeah i mean if asia or tk had seen it they would have known from their initial journey but well after their initial journey they you know uh so so right

um now another question that i have for sam and i you know i i fully don't expect him to answer these uh but um you know unless he suddenly comes on to our recording here you know just knows mentally um is why he was so ready to quickly put up andy as the backup target because that surprised me as did sierra not picking andy to be on their merge team when it was down to andy and Sue at the end, which we saw in the secret scene and which I posted also as a YouTube short and TikTok. I just cut out all the fluff and compressed it down so you could just see pick, pick, pick and see who goes to the order.

You know, Sam had spent so much time bringing Andy in and cultivating trust. I don't understand why he's so willing to toss that aside. Yeah. And I do think that's an interesting point because there was a pause when Andy's name was suggested. And I'm curious if this is one of those circumstances where you're trying to hide the fact that you're close. And so he and Sierra opted with, oh yeah, yeah no Andy would be fine and and maybe they will pull Andy aside and say listen we knew that you weren't going to be going home like we knew that that wasn't going to happen of course Andy's going to be frustrated because if the shot in the dark had been played and been successful then Andy's going to be going home but I think that they could

do damage control if it's expressed to him that way that like we didn't want anyone to know how close we actually are so we can hide this threesome i don't know i don't know if that's going to be the goal if that's what they'll try to do but i imagine that that was part of the reason for them being willing to offer him up yeah yeah yeah we'll have to see how it progresses from here now finally at least for me we will have a lot to say about Rome taking the information he got from Kyle and spreading it around. But I want to add that when Kyle said, I'm one of the big, biggest dumbasses here, I kind of was nodding along in agreement because he was not far off the mark. And I know some people are right now yelling at me, you know, at this podcast

because almost everyone likes Kyle. And okay, I do too. But come on, he never should have told Rome all those things anyway. Yeah. Especially the way we saw Rome questioning him. Kyle should have realized he was being grilled for information.

Why do you spill all the beans like that? Well, but that's been happening this entire season. Everyone has diarrhea of the mouth. Every time they come to meet somebody new, they're like, oh my God, let me tell you everything. And then they're shocked

when they get thrown under the bus or someone else finds out. I'm fascinated by this entire cast and their desire to share everything immediately i just don't understand it at all i don't understand i especially don't understand when you're being questioned like that all right you know the only one that we saw kind of push back was saul when he was being kind of bombarded with with questions but certainly didn't help ingratiate him you know into the group or anything. But yeah,

this is a very strange thing phenomenon that we are seeing with so many of the survivors just wanting to tell everybody everything. Yeah. All right. Well, do you have anything or anyone else you want to discuss before we move on here? Yeah. My girl Sue, come on. There's an entire ocean surrounding you why are you using the water well every time you need to wash this goddamn idol of yours like stop it and i don't understand why she felt the need to she's like oh they're gonna come over here and and search my bag uh right i what that doesn't happen i just want everyone to know like if i'm if anyone's searching

your bag it's when you're like being sneaky and well and then she should have left the red paint because then she would have been able to catch someone if they searched her bag well right there's so many reasons just leave it alone but like why why are you continuing to use the water well i just don't there's an entire ocean whole ocean lots of options lots of places you go instead you're sitting there like pouring your your drinking water over this and you're getting paint everywhere and then her reaction to it was just hilarious because it was so i got busted and i have to be like feigned shock but i'm not very good at it she's clearly not a good liar but i was just stunned i I'm like, Sue, what are we doing? So that was something that I just.

She's only 45. So maybe. Those 45-year-olds. Right. Maybe when she gets older and more mature, she will understand these things. She'll learn. Oh, goodness. Although it was funny when Saul told her, you look good.

We look good for our ages. You know, thinking she was 45. I'm like, you go Sue. And all I can, I know it's people will probably not get this, but every time I hear her say I'm 45, I just think of the first season of love is blind. When there was a contestant who I believe her name was Jessica. And she said, I'm 34, like all the time. It was like it became like a big joke. So that's the only thing that goes through my mind every time.

I'm 45. But anyway, so that was that was my bit about Sue. Also, shout out to the commenter on the YouTube version of the podcast who said that they hadn't seen your season yet and therefore presumed that you were one of the millennials on Millennials vs. Gen X. Thank you so much for that. That definitely makes me feel good. So I appreciate those comments. Thanks. So, yes. Well, speaking of YouTube, there will be, of course, other things that I will be posting on my YouTube at David Bloomberg TV. So check those out. But before we get to how Rome did,

we want to mention that the rules we're about to discuss come in a shorter and much more colorful version in poster form. So go to robhaswebsite.com slash yxlossfeed, scroll down to the poster, click on it, order it, and it will be rushed to your house. That's right. It will be. Click on it, order it, and it will be rushed to your house. That's right. It will be. And then you can keep on scrolling and click and order a poster on a T-shirt and the checklist on a T-shirt. So you can just, you know, you can get everything.

Buy early for the holidays. You know, don't wait for the rush, the holiday rush. Get it now. And get it for yourself. Just, you know, don't, don't wait for the rush, the holiday rush, get it now and get it for yourself. Just, you know, everything. You can wear it. You can hang it up. It's, it's great. You can wear the poster too. If you want, it's just more difficult. I mean, it is, but you could try, you could certainly try. We've talked about this, like those, uh, those, uh, boards, you know, like menu boards or there's a word for it that suddenly escaped my brain because you know i'm 45 so oh my goodness yes maybe i should sell some

with red paint all over them oh special version special version yes yes the red paint version oh goodness all right well Rome said in his final words that he ruffled some feathers and that went all the way back to the beginning as even his supposed ally Tini said at one point that Rome would have been an easy first boot if he didn't have an idol instead he was the first boot of merge, as everybody at the merge feast immediately settled on him as the target, and then the people at the beach did as well. Was it for similar reasons? Could he have avoided it if he had just taken some of his own advice? At RHAP, we know Survivor, and we know why Rome lost. Now, the first and most important rule is to scheme and plot.

And Rome seemed to understand this. Though he handled it in different ways in his original tribe and then at the murder. His intent on his original tribe was to lock in with a core group and be loyal to them. And this is something I've been mentioning for a few weeks now,

while other people have talked about him bringing chaos because they've confused some of his behavior with his strategy but interesting yeah but Rome talked to Gordon Holmes about it as well and you know it goes along with what we saw he intended to be loyal but there was a problem in that while he was loyal to them, they were not as loyal to him. Obviously, we saw that when Kishan tried to get Rome voted out a couple of weeks ago. But I think it mostly stems from Rome believing that he, Genevieve, Tini and Kishan had a solid four before Asia even got back from her attempt to get supplies. I'm sure the others told him that.

And there was a lot of discussion of it, including even naming the alliance, as he discussed in the interviews. But that doesn't mean Kishan and Tini were on board to the extent he thinks. So this goes to what I was talking about, where you were saying in his interviews, you know, he said some things that maybe didn't make a lot of sense. I think to him, they did make sense. He believed that he was in this four person alliance. That's why he couldn't understand, for example,

why Keyshawn would go against him. You know, that's why he couldn't understand why teeny didn't alert him if they were all four equals why would teeny go with kishan instead of him um but uh allow me to quote myself which you love from why kishan lost where i talked about kishan and teeny being quote in the middle of the two other duos, with him saying they had really great relationships with both. What we didn't know until his interviews was that he also had what he believed was a very

solid alliance with Genevieve as well, such that he didn't consider himself and Tini a duo, but rather the two of them and Genevieve a trio. And he further said that the plan to get rid of Rome as soon as he used the idol had been floated previously, and Genevieve appeared to be on board with it. Now, let's note those last two things. Kishan and Tini were tight with Genevieve. But he didn't include Rome in that. Right, right.

And of course, they planned to turn on Rome. So for Rome, it was a situation where you don't know what you don't know. Well, right. And I think that this is also an incredible example of everyone is playing their own game. Yes. And so the decisions that Tini is making, the decisions that Kishan is making, Genevieve is making, they are making the best decisions for themselves. And I think we can definitely their own beliefs. Yes. Right. To their own beliefs. Right. They I mean, Kishan thought that he was doing what was best for him and his game. But unfortunately, it wasn't the best thing for Genevieve's game. And so Genevieve had to come in and say, oh, no, no, no, no, no. This is not

what we're doing. And I think that we saw that with Genevieve on this episode as well, because all of a sudden she was like, okay, with turning on Rome because she has utilized Rome for what she needed until she got here. Now she's willing to cut ties. And so I think that Rome just, he forgot about the idea that just because you say that you're in a solid four, it doesn't mean everyone feels like this is a solid four. They might have other plans. They might have other people that they want to work with,

which clearly is what happened here. And so I think that that's really to his detriment to wanting to be so loyal and believing that everyone else would be as loyal as he was. Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, there were a couple other instances of Rome being outmaneuvered or outstrategized. We saw the merge discussions. You referenced them earlier where he thought he had convinced everyone to go along with him

when they were actually humoring him to keep him thinking they were on board. We saw him going around to various people and all of them reassuring him while he said things like, well, you already quoted some of these. I think I might be a little bit of a mastermind right now. The fact there's 13 people in the game and I can corral this many people to

vote my way. That must say a lot about how I'm playing the game. And it did say something a lot about how he was playing the game, but that something was that they fooled him. Right. Right. And they did a great job fooling him so much so that he really, truly believed he was a mastermind and didn't use a shot in the dark.

Right. Right. With that, we can move to the second rule, which I think might be a little bit longer. It says not to scheme and plot too much and to keep your scheming secret. Just maybe a little tiny problem here for Rome. Just a little tiny one. Yeah. And now to his credit, he knows it.

He told Rob, the biggest thing I should have done was be quiet when you hit the merge. And he is absolutely right. He even said it in a confessional that aired as part of an Entertainment Weekly secret scene regarding what he did when they all arrived on the beach together and Gabe read the sign

about the hidden advantage. Rome said, I've seen enough Survivor to know that once this merge limbo hits, it's best to lay low and chill in the grass and just wait for your

opportunity to strike. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And then he further said that looking for the advantage would put a target on his back and make it look like opportunity to strike. Yeah. And then he further said that looking for the advantage would put a target on his back and make it look like he's playing really hard. Quote, I don't want people to feel like I'm playing hard. I want people to feel like I'm the go with the flow, happy go lucky guy that just has a really loud voice. And all of those were really great thoughts, Really great thoughts.

The problem was he didn't listen to himself. Yeah. You know, he did that for the advantage hunt, but he didn't carry it through to other parts of the game. Because as he further told Rob, it's hard for him to sit still and not do anything. Quote, that was my biggest flaw at the merge. Just not being quiet and letting things happen.

And he even talked about it in the pre-game because remember he said he planned to follow sandra's anybody but me strategy yeah yeah well and i think he also referenced in his exit press how no one was really doing much once they got to the merge like it really didn't seem to be like a whole lot happening and and i feel like if you have that type of personality where you like, well, something needs to happen because no one's doing anything. And so it's more of that, that need to, to be, I want to lead, I want to be in charge. And even though it appears that nothing's happening, maybe that's the better way to

go because then you don't shine the light on yourself. And unfortunately, he gave everyone a reason to say his name because he started running around saying someone else's name and everyone went, oh, OK, so this is what we're doing. Yeah. Yeah. What he didn't. Properly analyze, I'd say, is why were people just sitting around and not doing anything? Yeah, well, it's because nobody should be throwing out names until you know who's vulnerable or else you're setting yourself up for a potential problem. Because as far as he knew, half of them were going to be immune because that's the way mergatory had been done up until this point. So it was quite a risk to pick a target at that time.

And yes, I know Rob mentioned this in Know It Alls, but it was already in my notes before Rob mentioned it. So just great minds, that's all. But, you know, so yes, that's why people weren't saying anything. But he was out there talking to Kyle, spreading information everywhere. And it was just too soon. He had just met a lot of these people. He needed to get the lay of the land rather than diving right in and deciding who he wanted to work with and trust.

Yeah. Yeah. He was playing like, what is that? Speed dating. That's really what he was doing. Just try it. Try it all right away. Real quick.

Yes. Yes. Yes. And unfortunately he got dumped. Well, I did say earlier, he was undateable now. So see, this is,

this is, I don't make, I was going to say, I don't make the rules. I make these rules. I don't make those rules. They were made by someone else. Now,

after Rome talked to Kyle, it seemed, based on the edit, like he passed along a mix of true and maybe stretched truth versions of what Kyle said. Though Rome said in his interviews that it was all true and there was even more to it than we saw. But here's the thing. I'm not going to get into what was true, what wasn't true. You know, did Kyle say more? Did, you know, is something more going to cut out? It doesn't matter. It does not matter. Because how many times do we need to emphasize

this is a game of perception? Yes. And the perception is that Kyle comes off as being very genuine. While Rome does not. No while Rome does not. No, he does not. Well, and also that's something that I feel like Rome also forgot about, right? Because he came into this merge saying all of the things that you've already said about

how the best thing to do is to not say anything, lay in the grass, hide, whatever. is to not say anything, lay in the grass, hide, whatever. All of those things are great ideas, except when you come into the merge being Rome, the people that have come into the merge with you know who Rome is. And so if they start talking to anyone, they're going to say, Rome is not normally like this. Like this is not the Rome that we have interacted with.

And they're going to make note of it. And I don't know what, if any, effect that would necessarily have on their game versus Rome's game. But I think that they have seen enough of Rome in challenges that any stories that were being relayed to them about Rome would probably have some truth to them just from what they observed when they were together. And I'm, and I'm certain that when he was walking around Ponderosa pregame, people were picking up on his, the confidence level that he had and, and how he would likely come across. And so I would, I would imagine that that's also a problem for Rome is that you can't, you can't, if you have already expressed that part of yourself, then to come in and expect people to buy it.

If you're different, I don't know if it would work for Rome. I don't know either, but he should have tried. Oh, I'm not saying he shouldn't have tried. I'm just saying that that's another issue because maybe I, I don't think Genevieve would have pointed him out.

I don't even think teeny would have pointed him out at that time. Saul might have, but if it was just Saul doing it and nobody else, then people might've just blown it off or found another target. You know, we don't know who else might've blown up. So yeah, I mean, what it came down to was whatever Kyle may or may not have actually said, people were going to trust him more than Rome, especially people in Kyle's own tribe who have worked with him. Like Tiana said that what Kyle said makes no sense. We're working closely together.

I mean, even Sue seemed more likely to believe Kyle than Rome. And she had wanted Kyle gone at one point. Yeah. Yeah. Mm hmm. So it also did hurt Rome's case that in addition to that, Saul leapt onto this and was used it to spread around that he was, you know, Rome was a pot stirrer and could be lying because that was Saul's own experience with him as recently as last episode, when he dumped a lot of information on Saul. And then Saul talked to Genevieve who told him, no, a bunch of that was untrue, even though, you know, this was another situation where actually

Rome had told him was true. Genevieve just didn't like the fact that Saul had, or that Rome had told him. This is why you have to stop telling everybody your secrets. Right. Stop it. So, so Rome simply was not seen as being trustworthy in these matters. Again, whether he was or wasn't doesn't matter.

You know, like I said, he told Saul the truth about Genevieve, but Saul believed Genevieve. He told at least some of the truth about what Kyle said. People believed him. And, you know, as Kyle said at the merge feast, dude's a rat, man. You can't trust that bleep for nothing.

And people believed him. Yeah. Well, and that's why this is I find it so interesting when there is this bit of telephone that is going on, because everyone is going to put together their own versions of things. And so the fact that Rome has this contentious relationship with Saul and then he he hands Saul a gift by doing exactly what Saul has said he's been doing. And Saul, Saul has no love for Rome. He's not going to come to his defense. He's going to use this as an opportunity to go, no, no, no, no.

That is exactly what Rome does. And let me share with you the experience that I've had with him. So Rome underestimated Saul's ability to do exactly what Rome was doing, but do it better because he was flipping the script on Rome and making Rome seem like he's untrustworthy because this is the relationship that he had with Rome. And so it's a very interesting dynamic to see happen because Rome was doing exactly what Saul was doing,

but Rome started it. And so Saul was like reacting to it. Right. And so it's, it's, it feels different when it's a reaction as opposed to the person that's initiating it. Yes. Yes. And I mean, I don't know if Rome realized how mad Saul still wasn't him because remember, I don't think he knew at all because yeah, he dumped a lot of information on Saul and Saul reacted to it, at least to Rome's face positively. And he didn't, Rome didn't know that Saul then fact checked him with Genevieve.

Yeah. And I think this goes back to Rome wanting people to be loyal as he is and that's a that's a big concern for Rome playing a game like this you can't assume that everyone feels the same way you do and then everyone will respond the same way that you do and I think that's exactly what happened with Saul he thought because he half-heartedly apologized and tried to make things better between Saul and that Saul responded positively. Okay. I'm good with Saul. We're fine. You know? And, but unfortunately Saul was just playing Rome because Saul was like, no, I haven't forgotten about all the things that you did over here, but I know this is a game for a

million dollars. So I'm going to pretend to be nice. and then i'm going to fact check you and i just think that rome didn't expect other people to be doing that when he talked to them yeah yeah now from rome's point of view as he explained it in interviews he figured if someone told him that another player wanted him out of the game he he would probably believe it. And, you know, I want to say that, like, on Big Brother, we see something like that happen, and it can work. I mean, the season that just ended, the winner, Chelsea, used that type of word twisting to manipulate people all season. But she had built up trust to get to that point.

Rome has not. Rome just met some of these people. And meanwhile, as I said, Kyle did already have trust with some of those people and appears at least to be a more honest person than Rome to the others. So when the information was fact-checked, Kyle ends up looking like the good guy.

Rome ends up looking like the evil villain spreading lies and again this is the case whether rome told everyone the absolute truth a version of the truth or all lies it doesn't matter it's all perception after most people knew him for less than 24 hours and some of his own tribe mates spread their own opinions about him. And that's the other part of this. It's not just Kyle going, hey, but this is what happened. It's Saul going, hey, this is what he does. And it's Genevieve going, hey, yeah, that's what things were.

And so it's again, it's like mob think at that point. Right. Even if it is true or not true, it doesn't matter because you have so many people that are coming forward going, Oh no, no, no. Yeah. This is, that's, that sounds like this and that sounds like that. And so Rome really would have been better to just sit back and not say anything at all. Yeah. Now, since we've mentioned Rome's initial tribe mates a couple of times,

we should go back to earlier in the game and see how he did with that. Because, you know, we've talked a little bit about that he intended to be a loyal player. But even with that, there were some problems. First, because of the way he handled some of those on the outside of his alliance, most notably Saul, because Saul was still there at the merge.

While some of this goes into rule five and we'll talk about then, much of it was just the way he was treating Saul in terms of being overbearing from a game perspective, giving him the ultimatum slash threat, following him around, et cetera. And I know he said in interviews that the editing on that was wonky and he followed Saul after trying to get him to give up his shot in the dark. And I will say, looking at the clothes in those scenes, it does support what he said. You know, the clothes switch back and forth and you're like, well, why was he wearing those clothes?

Those two wearing those, you know? Um, but even so from Saul's point of view, that was clearly too much. Even teeny said at one point that they knew Rome was doing it to protect their alliance, but still, you know, and then Teenie gave that look to the camera. And so, yeah. Yes. And again, we have to remind everyone that when you get into a situation like the merge, everyone is looking for any reason to vote someone out as long as it is not them. Right. And so if if Rome is offering himself up in a way because he's starting conversations and other people are now starting conversations about him, he's just making it that much easier for everyone to come to a consensus because, oh, well, it's not me. And that's great. Yes. Yes. Now, you did mention the Rome apology to Saul so they could proceed on the Kishan vote.

And he said in an interview that it was more of a real apology than we saw. But it's clear they never truly buried the hatchet. I suspect that's because after the mixed reward challenge that most of Lavo lost, Rome told Saul everything. And, you know, we talked about this, including that Genevieve didn't want to work with him long term. And then he told Saul that they should target Tini, but told Genevieve that Saul was the one who wanted to do that. So after being all about loyalty, Genevieve's perception upon hearing those things was that he was turning on her right after she saved him the previous night. Now, do I think he was turning on her? No, I think he was just I think he wanted to still work with Genevieve.

I think he would have still been loyal to Genevieve but I think he was trying to give information to Saul to kind of pull make Saul feel like he was being honest with him yeah but as Genevieve said the scales they be tipping and you know these were the tribe mates that Rome headed into merge with right and I think if you're going to do something like that, and again, I realize everyone is playing their own game, but if, if Rome's whole shtick is I'm incredibly loyal and if he wants to try to mend fences with Saul and by doing so share information, he maybe should have checked in with Genevieve first and said, Hey, listen, we're going to need Saul emerge. And I want to make him feel better. What do you think about me having a conversation with him about some things? And then maybe he wouldn't have found himself in

a circumstance where Genevieve was then frustrated and then Saul wants to throw Rome under the bus more so because of that. That's just something that maybe would have been a better game move for Rome to try to avoid the problems that came from that yeah yeah all right well we can go to the third rule which tells players to be flexible how do you think your winner pick did in terms of this rule I think he was very flexible because it was like if you uh go against me, now I'm going to just go against you. So he certainly, he wanted to be locked in with the four, right? He was, they had their four cheese alliance or their four cheese pizza alliance.

So I think he wanted to be like, yes, this is it. And then realized, no, they're not as interested in this as I am. So I got gotta cut ties with them so I think he was he was flexible in in that regard in a willingness to try something different but I also feel like he struggled with changing those parts of himself that he needed to change in order to play the game better for other people's perceptions and what would work better with other people as opposed to just Rome. It was very, very Rome centered. And it was, I want this to be what Rome wants and it's Rome's way or the highway. And so in that regard, not flexible, but I think he tried to be

in regards to who he would play the game with. Yeah, I would say his flexibility was, I would describe it as iffy, in my opinion. You know, like you mentioned, he talked about being locked in during the pre-merge, which almost led to him being blindsided if it hadn't been for Genevieve saving him. Right. And then he had a plan at the merge for who he wanted to work with. And well, we already discussed that a fair amount in the second rule. Now, of course, part of this rule is that you need to have your thumb on the pulse of what's going on in the tribe. At the merge, Rome was very, very certain he knew and indeed believed that not only did he have the pulse, that he was the beating heart causing that pulse. And even before then, he was certain he knew what was happening, even as everyone on the,

you know, on his original tribe planned to blindside him before Genevieve stepped in to flip things. So I really think this goes back to, you know, like I said earlier about his interviews, he believed he knew what was going on in all these situations and he really didn't. People just fooled him. Yeah. Well, it's Rome's way or no way. Yes. All right. Well, the fourth rule tells players not to let their emotions control them. I think Rome could certainly react emotionally, as we saw a few times, especially in terms of how he treated people outside his alliance. But I think we have

our answer to a question I'd asked a few podcasts ago, where I had said, you know, did he choose his alliance based on emotional connection, or was the alliance picked first? And then he decided he didn't need to worry about those people outside of it because we talked in the first rule about how he believed his four person alliance was set on day one. I think where his emotions got involved was in not realizing he had to still deal with the other two people in case he needed them in the future. You know,

just like he needed Saul to have his back at the merge or at least not lead the charge in trying to get rid of him. Yes. And I and I again, I think this goes back to that loyalty component. Rome is assuming that everyone is going to be approaching the game the same way that he is. So in his mind, he's thinking, OK, well, I'm locked in with with these guys over here. So that's good.

I don't need to worry about them. I can go over here and I can deal with this. But you got to go back and you got to check in. You got to make sure that everything's still okay and that we're still on the same page. Because if you don't, then Genevieve and Teenie are going to be looking at each other going, what on earth is Rome doing?

What is happening? Because they don't know because he's not telling them. And then he's, well, I assumed we were good. No. You know what they say about when you assume. Yeah. Yeah. No, I know.

I think that takes us into the fifth rule, which reminds players they need to pretend to be nice and play the social game. Because Rome could be a very nice guy when he was on your side. Because Rome could be a very nice guy when he was on your side. But as we were just talking about, if he has no use for you, from what we saw, he didn't try too hard to hide his true feelings. No, he really didn't. Now, it didn't matter for Asia because she was voted out. You know, so, you know, it didn't come back to bite him.

And it wouldn't have mattered for Saul if Keyshawn would have stuck to the alliance Rome believed they had. But that's the thing. You can't predict the future on Survivor. You never know when you might need someone's help. Rome should have done more pretending to be nice to Saul you know but we even saw going back to the beginning there was a secret scene of Saul trying to be nice to Rome and warning him that other people were worried about him looking for an idol and Rome got pissed off at him for saying it rather than at least pretending to be appreciative or Or I think he did pretend somewhat,

but Saul often saw through Rome when, you know, Rome was trying to pretend. There were several conversations where Rome was like, oh yeah, it's like this. And Rome is just like, you know, massive eye roll city, you know. I mean, I think Rome heard that conversation

and responded to it differently than Saul wanted him to. I think Rome was just very suspicious. Like, why is he even telling me this? Does he think I don't know what I'm doing? And so he got his back up a little bit because instead of him thinking through the permutations, like, oh, well, maybe, maybe Saul's telling me this because he wants to work with me. Maybe Saul really is looking out for me. Instead, it was it was immediate like he doesn't think I know what I'm doing and I that's not okay like he can't tell me how to play this game and so if you don't

keep that part of you in check either you're going to misread a situation because that was really like Saul like kind of offering up like an olive branch right like? Like, hey, just, you know, you got to keep it down a little bit. Again, I think Rome is very much like Rome centered and it's, and Rome has a read on a situation and there's really not much give there if it's not to his benefit. Yeah. Yeah.

And the thing was, you know, in the original tribe, it wasn't just Saul who, you know, was upset about these things. And I know Rome felt like he was in good original tribe. It wasn't just Saul who, you know, was upset about these things. And I know Rome felt like he was in good with everyone, but we saw almost all of his original tribe talking negative negatively about his overall attitude and ego and bragging and talking and everything such that it put him outside the main social circle. Right. You know, I know he and Asia clearly did not get along at all, but as she told Mike Bloom in her interview,

when Rome was gone on his journey, do you know how much we got done at camp? We were moving, we were cooking, we were being productive. We built a swing. We were having a great time. Laughs,

giggles, vibes were great. When this man was not at camp, it's just like, I understand he's excited we're playing survivor we're excited but he was just overconfident so overbearing now from rome's perspective he told mike bloom he knew asia and saul weren't happy with him quote but when it came to teeny and kishan they were very nice out there on the island. They never made it seem like they were annoyed with me.

Now, the word seem is doing a lot of work in that quote. Yes. Because they were better at pretending to be nice. Teenie told us Rome is a nuisance around camp and stresses us out. Genevieve said Rome is such a big personality and does rub people the wrong way. In the pregame, Rome told Mike Bloom his superpower would be his social game.

But while I think he would be a really fun guy to hang out with, as Teenie said multiple times, being with him 24-7 in this game situation was just too much. Yes, and he did say that his Achilles heel was overconfidence. being with him 24-7 in this game situation was just too much. Yes. And he did say that his Achilles heel was overconfidence. So I think that that's the other component of this that was affecting Rome.

And it's great to be confident. Please be confident. But you have to also recognize how you are interacting with the people around you and how they are perceiving you and reacting to how you are being. So I do think that it was certainly something that he needed to work on. Yeah. Yeah. Just a bit. All right. Well, we can go to the sixth rule, which warns against being too much of a threat. Rome told Dal ross he was shocked people wanted him out because he thought he was more of an asset to people than a hindrance and they would want to use him as a shield the thing is that in a way they did use him as a shield a shield against being the first person out at merge by painting him as a bigger target they just put him up there i don't still have my shield that I used to have over here.

You know, they just put up the shield and they held him up and he got all those arrows that they were shooting, you know? So, yes, they did use you as a shield. And I thought it was interesting because in his pregame press, he said he was one of the biggest threats to win this game and then when he was talking about looking at the people who were in the merge he put himself up there with sam and tiana as the biggest threats for challenges and that we were going to be a force to be reckoned with and as long as there was no puzzle right exactly no puzzle um so he so the four of them were were

going to take all of the immunity challenges which i thought was fascinating because he's also openly admitted he sucked at puzzles which you've already talked about so we all know that survivor loves puzzles and a lot of the immunity challenges might include puzzles. So if you want to be a challenge beast, you have to be able to do puzzles. And so I just, again, it's that overconfidence. I can do everything, even if I suck at it. I can still do it. And I'm going to beat everyone. So just I thought that was fascinating that he really perceived himself in such a way

that he was going to be like a challenge beast and he was going to be a threat and it's great again to have that confidence but you also have to be mindful of how that's going to be seen by the people who are around you right and obviously he was and has been a threat to at least one player and that was Saul and we already talked about Saul doing you know going to work to undermine what Rome was saying. Yeah. But by spreading the stuff about Kyle that he did, Rome, of course, became a direct threat to Kyle as well. And since people, you know, we discussed it, people believe Kyle rather than Rome, that made him an overall liability. Because as I say

in this rule, another way to be a threat is if you are so untrustworthy that people don't know which way you will vote. You may be perceived as a threat to them sticking around. With Rome, it wasn't just about how he would vote. What would he say and who would he say it to? Say it too. If he could tell Tiana that Kyle was targeting her while Tiana believed they were tight, what else might he do in situations where maybe they didn't have as much information?

Add that to his own original tribe mates talking about what he did and what he said to them. And he was perceived as just too chaotic a piece to stay on the game board. Yeah. Unfortunate for you. It's like having a, it's like having, you know, playing chess and having a piece that can randomly jump over here or over

there or something, you know? Well, right. And you really do have to be so mindful of everyone else that's in your space, regardless of what your game entails. And that was again, something that Rome was not recognizing, that his actions are going to negatively affect Genevieve if people believe that he and Genevieve are together.

Same with Tini. And if he's the person that everyone is looking at and he's the person who's causing the issues, he's not the person you want to tie yourself to and try to get through the game with. If everyone is worried about how he's going to vote and his loyalty and what he's going to do and what's he going to say next. Even though I think in Rome's mind, he thought, well, I'm being truly loyal because I'm trying to look out for everyone. They just don't know that I am.

It's a very mixed perception that you were putting out there for everyone. Yeah, yeah. All right, well, the seventh rule covers idols and advantages in game mechanics. And obviously, we saw Rome find the idol on his original tribe. But the way it was portrayed made it seem like

he was trying to be secretive while everyone else was suspicious of him. He said in interviews, however, that the other three he believed were in his alliance were all in on it. Now, let's presume that was the case. It does somewhat soften the way, you know, he was rather obvious about it because he felt he had an alliance already and it didn't really matter what the other two thought,

as we previously discussed. Of course, again, it comes back to his perception of his situation there right well and i think that that would also help us understand why he wasn't like shocked and appalled when he came upon tanny and keishon looking at the idol box because if they were if they were that close then oh yeah great go ahead you know you can all look at the box because we're all together and i think that's supporting what he's presenting. Right. I agree. And what really mattered was in relation to that, when he did find it, he told Teenie, he showed Teenie where the box was saying he trusted Teenie a million percent or something like that. And despite what Rome had thought, Teenie said they had planned to vote out Rome, but now they couldn't.

So it turned out that Rome sharing his idol information and advantage information with Tini did solidify any alliance, at least for the time being. And it also showed how tight Tini and Kishan indeed felt they were at the time with Genevieve, as Kishan had discussed in his interviews, because they could have easily just shifted the target to her. But Kishan and Tini didn't want to. They came up with that lie, that story that they told Asia about, oh, well, you know, he said he might use it on her, which they just wanted to protect her.

He said he might use it on her, which they just wanted to protect him. Right, right. Now, Rome also got the vote steal from the journey he went on and used that to help take out Kishan when Kishan had tried to blindside him. Did he technically need it? No, but it helped make everything secure, ensured Kishan couldn't even play a shot in the dark and theoretically made Saul feel better. Plus, him using it meant he couldn't be seen as someone with an advantage when you get to the merge and therefore putting a target on. Yes, and I will say that that particular move was,

it was very enjoyable for all of those reasons because it did check all of the boxes. Did he need it? No. But did it do all of these things? Yes. And so I do think that that decision from a game perspective was, was a perfect decision for him to do. Yeah. Now you had mentioned earlier, well, actually I had, and you had, his shot in the dark. Now he told Mike Bloom that he considered using it in this tribal council

because he believed there was about a 25 percent chance he could be a target. But he decided against it because even if it hit, it would only save him the one time and everyone would clearly have wanted him out. Now, I both agree and disagree, you know, presuming we're taking his interview at face value here. Sure. I agree he shouldn't have used it if he thought there was only a 25% chance of him being the target because, you know, mostly he believed he was the one leading the charge and corralling the votes.

So it would have looked very strange to others if he had then turned around and used the shot in the dark if indeed he had been right about the way the votes were going. Right, right. People would have been like,

wait, you got us to vote this way. Why are you playing your shot in the dark um he could have played it off and like i wanted to show you that i'm that trustworthy and i don't have my shot in the dark moving forward so you don't need to worry about me anymore right wink yeah but i disagree with saying, well, it only keeps you safe for one vote. So there's no point in using it because we have seen many times that staying safe for just one day can indeed turn everything around. Now, it didn't for Caleb. I understand that. But you never know when someone might do or say something to put themselves in the spotlight or if you might win immunity the next time, or there could

be some sort of twist that ends up helping you, which it looks like there's going to be next episode. So you just, you never know. Anytime, if you're certain, again, you know, or have a good feeling about it, you should try to save yourself. Never resign yourself and say, eh, it's only going to save me for one week anyway. Right. Yeah. No, I agree. I think it would have been the better option if you... And he also did say that when you're not hearing another name, then you might be that name.

Ding, ding, ding. Yes. And if that's what you were thinking, then that is all the more reason to play the shot in the dark just to avoid that being a potential issue. Yes. All right.

Well, Appendix A is next up here. We can talk about it because it is about the players keeping their end goals in mind when voting. And, you know, it normally goes vote out the weak, then the strong, then the weak, then the strong. But the merge vote in the new era is a situation where we frequently see the so-called easy votes and there may never has been as easy an easy merge vote as this one because not only did the other players see and hear what rome was doing but even his own original tribe mates not only did they not try to pour water on it they poured

gasoline on it yeah um you know as the appendix notes it's no surprise if the actual merge vote is someone who is more of an easier consensus pick to kind of ease into the merge in many ways it's like the very first vote of the season when people are just happy if it's not them right with so many people to choose from and one person standing out for playing too hard and spreading stories and doing all the other things we talked about it was an easy decision yes and i also would like to note here just for rome's perspective or from his perspective that he wanted to vote out Saul because he knew Saul didn't like him. And so he didn't want Saul on the jury because he wasn't going to vote for

him if he was in the final three, which I thought was an interesting little side. I mean, it's something we see, we, we see it more often, I think in big brother, you know,

we see it occasionally in, in, in survivor, but I think more often in big brother people will start talking about well I don't want that person in the jury they'll never vote for me right right or they'll vote emotionally instead of strategically and I don't want that or whatever so yeah so yeah all right with that it is about time to wrap things up. What are your final thoughts on Rome? Oh, Rome, you were my rock. Here you are. And unfortunately, just like my other rock that I

chose, it was the wrong one. So with that, Rome, I am sad to see you go because you were my winner pick. And I was hoping maybe, maybe the tides had turned. Maybe the rock gods were going to look down on me and say, you know what? This girl deserves a win with a rock. We're going to give her this one. But no, apparently there are no rock gods looking out for me at this time either. Rome came in with so much confidence and really wanted to play this game with gusto.

I have to say, I'm very impressed that he was able to pull off watching all of the seasons of Survivor within a very, very short amount of time. And I was a little concerned that maybe there would be too much going on in his brain about Survivor because he didn't have enough time to marinate on it. And I do think that that is a key component to being successful in this game.

You have to watch the seasons. You have to understand what's happening. You need to read all of the things that are being provided to you and watch all the podcasts like this one to truly understand what the game is and how it works. You can't just cram it all in and then expect to understand it. It was like he was cramming for a test, but he didn't do any of the review. He just read all the materials. And so I was worried.

And I think that's maybe what happened here is that there was just so much in his mind when it came to playing the game that he thought it was going to be fast and quick and furious and I just got to get in there and I got to do it without understanding that sometimes things take time and patience and just a little bit of quiet and you can play survivor that way too. Unfortunately, he didn't and Rome frustrated some people so much so that he found himself being the merge boot. So Rome, thank you for entertaining us though you did really entertain people you created a lot of fodder a lot of discussion a lot of tweets and a lot of imagery and and comments so thank you for that for putting yourself out there we truly appreciate it and you got to sit in Jeff's seat I'm jealous so that. Yeah. I'll have some similar thoughts to you as well, but you know, starting where you ended there, Rome had an incredible survivor

experience in the time where he was there. He found him played an idol. He went on a journey to get and then play an advantage. He survived a blindside attempt. Thanks to his allies. He was the first player to sit in Jeff's seat at tribal council. He was either incredibly entertaining or annoying to viewers, depending on who you asked. Sometimes both. And he got a ton of TV time for both good and not so good reasons. In his final words, I would say he was right that he was very entertaining, but he was also right that he ruffled some feathers. The first part is not what we focus on here. The last part is because it definitely played into him getting voted out. Rome ruffled feathers in a few different ways, both socially and strategically. From the social side, he didn't seem to fully consider that those outside his

initial tribal alliance might still be of use to him. So he treated them as if they weren't important. When Saul made it to the merge, he had a big incentive to help turn the tables against Rome. And even those he counted as allies felt that he was just too much for a lot of the time, and they certainly didn't put up a fight. But he might have been able to survive the initial merge vote if he had just kept his head down and let someone else screw up and get the attention. As we mentioned, he told Rob his biggest flaw was not being quiet and letting things happen at the merge as he knew he should. Rob Rome told Dalton Ross, all I can do is look back and say, okay, did I play as hard as I could? Did I

have as much fun as I could? And did I leave it all out there on the floor? And I like to say, if you didn't play hard, you didn't play at all. Well, he did play hard. But as we said, when Keyshawn lost, he played too hard. He knew he shouldn't have played that hard. He wanted to be like Sandra and go with an anyone but me strategy, but he couldn't help himself. As you mentioned, remember, everyone, that Rome discovered Survivor and binged it in just a few months. We've said before, just about two minutes ago, that one concern we have with people who binge watch all the Survivor seasons in such a short time frame is that there isn't as much time for them to digest all the implications of what happened. Now, to his credit, Rome went beyond that and dove into commentary like podcasts and Reddit. But even so, I do think there were some missing

pieces, like a full understanding of your own point of view versus the point of view and perceptions of other players. I think Rome would be fun to have back on the show after he's had some more time to digest all of this. Watch the show in real time. Realize that he was looking at things one way while others viewed them from a completely different perspective. We say it all the time. Perception is everything. Rome had one idea of what he was doing and how he was acting, but didn't realize that almost everyone else had a different idea entirely. Even when he felt he was being loyal and doing things to make people trust him, others saw other aspects to his personality and felt the opposite. But most importantly, Rome needed to

listen to himself and slow down. Playing hard can be fun, but as they say, it means you're there for a good time, not a long time. In the end, Rome played Survivor like he watched Survivor. Fast! And that is why Rome lost. Yes, very good. Very good analogy there. Oh, Rome. Yes. Well, before we get to our

predictions for next episode, I do want to just remind everyone that the rules we just discussed are available in poster form, poster on a t-shirt form, and checklist form by going to robhaswebsite.com slash yxlostfeed. Yes. And am I talking about how people can find us? Yes. All right. Excellent. I always forget the order of things sometimes. So I am at JessicaLewis89 on Twitter, and I am also at JessicaLewis6789 on Instagram.

I do live tweet during the episodes, and I do have a great time doing that. And she's always behind me, as usual. Listen, I've learned why that is, ladies and gentlemen. Let me tell you what I just learned about Mr. David Bloomberg here. He tweets from his computer during the episodes. Well, yeah. You have any idea how fast I type? Well, but, and then you were like,

and this is why I beat you all the time. So now that answer is solved, but I am, my mind is blown that you would be tweeting from your computer. I'm just, I don't know. I don't know why that blows your mind so much, but yes, I, during live tweeting, I tweet from my computer and I also take notes at the same time, which makes it, you know, it's a lot easier to do that on the computer than on the phone.

Yeah, that's a fair point. That is definitely a fair point. I just, I never, I didn't envision it that way. And so now that answer has come to be in existence because David Bloomberg not only tweets from his computer, he also has a lot of social media content. So much so that here is a page that was created by Mr. David Bloomberg at linktree.com. Yes. Yes. Yes, so you can find all my various accounts at linktree.com with a dot before the E in that URL. Or you can find me in other places too. You know, Big Brother 26 is over, obviously,

and therefore my Double Duty Why Blank Loss podcasting is done as well. But I'm still co-hosting the Tradar podcast for the Traders Canada season two. That's T-R-A-I-D-A-R if you want to search for that. Or you can find me directly on Twitter and Blue Sky is at David Bloomberg on threads is at David Bloomberg TV. And that's also my handle at David Bloomberg TV for YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, where I've been posting. at David Bloomberg TV for YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram,

where I've been posting, well, since Big Brother ended, I have to admit, I can't post like four videos every day anymore. So it's three or sometimes two per day. You know, I mentioned last week, I passed 40,000 subscribers on YouTube. So I encourage people to join the fun and subscribe over there. And, you know, I'm posting clips from Survivor, The Traders Canada, The Summit, and House of Villains, among other things.

You do so much. It's kind of crazy. It's, you know, it's my full-time job. It is, since you're retired. Yes. Look at you. Yes. You're just taking over.

I love it. It's so good for you. No, I think it's fascinating, the relationship that I've now developed with you throughout the years, because we've been doing this together a long time, haven't we? We have.

I realized, I was reminded on LinkedIn, of all places, that I started on RHAP doing this podcast, originally with Rob, about nine years and a week ago. Wow. And so we did it for a little while. So that means you and I have been doing it for probably, what, seven, seven and a half, something like that?

Well, it had to have been, it was right after 2016 when I was on the show. So then I would have started probably 2017. Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah. Long time. But it's been so much fun. It's been great. But I just love that it's changed so much because when we first started, you were so opposed to like any video type of thing happening.

And now look at you. type of thing happening. And now look at you. Not only do you do this, but you do all of the TikToks and you're constantly like putting yourself out there. I love it. I think it's great.

Well, good, good. All right. You know what else we think is great? Predictions. No, we don't. Oh, we don't think that's great. OK, no, I will go ahead here.

The preview, again, didn't give us much, except that Andy apparently wants to flip on his tribe. Now, who knows if that's true? But if it is, you know, I can't blame him since, you know, we talked about it earlier. He may well find out that Sam was perfectly okay with him being the backup target. Plus, of course, that secret scene where, you know,

Sierra didn't pick him to be on that merge team. So I think that has to make him wonder about trust in that regard. Still, the thing is, Andy is playing the game in a way that he wants to be someone who is scooped up, not someone who is trying to take a leadership role. So even if he does want to flip on them, I don't know that he'll have the opportunity. You know, especially with the comments Rome made in interviews about how well Sam appears to already have integrated with people on the various other tribes.

Yeah. I'm curious if Andy will try it and realize it's going nowhere fast and maybe just realize he's got to just stay where he is. And I am also curious how Sam and Sierra are going to respond because I'm certain Andy is going to approach them and call them out on it. And hopefully they'll have a good answer for him. So I think things will go in a different direction.

I just don't really know what that direction will be. I suppose it would make the most sense if it's Andy himself since he was the backup vote, but I still think he'll be around for a while. So my mind keeps going back to Tiana for a few reasons. One, Gabe and Sue were mad at her for throwing Gabe under the bus in the mixed up group reward a couple of weeks ago. Two, Sue believes that Tiana knows about the pink immunity idol. Three, even though everyone took Kyle's side over Rome this week, the statements Rome spread are still hanging out there. And sometimes even if they don't hit immediately, people are like, well,

maybe he did have a point. So I, I'm going to make that my prediction. I think Tiana is next. I'm going to go in a different direction. I'm looking at my little cheat sheet here because I'm trying to determine who has people who are kind of on their side. Now, I would agree that Tiana doesn't necessarily have people who are on her side and she was who i thought was potentially going to be the merge boot but i keep i'm going back to rachel because rachel really is kind of on her own in a strange way because she's not in with andy or sam or sierra and i don't know if she's going to try to make inroads somewhere, but I don't know how well it's going to work for her considering.

I don't think Sam or Sierra are going to go to bat for her. I don't know. I'm going to go with Rachel. Okay. Now, after I had put together my predictions, I saw from Jeff Pittman on Twitter that CBS put out a press release about the next episode. And in that press release,

it suggests that half the players will be immune. So that means all they did was postpone that, that bad twist from the mergatory episode to the episode after the merge. Now I'm frustrated. Yes. And that's exactly what Jeff and I were talking about on Twitter. It's like, as Jeff said, something to the effect of, do they hate getting praise?

You know, we're all like, wow, this is a great idea. And they're like, nope, we're going to do it again. We're just going to save it one episode. Yeah. I don't know that that impacts our predictions because you can't predict who will be in that group right right but it could also explain like why Andy doesn't end up getting targeted because maybe he's on that group right uh so we'll just have to see what happens listen Jeff we've already told you we really loved the fact that it was basically a merge

can we just let it be a normal merge, please? Yes, yes. Please. So ridiculous. No, you cannot. Anyway. Oh, goodness. All right, well, as we wrap up, I do want to encourage people to check out

the RJP patron program at robhaswebsite.com slash patron. You can get access to all the special podcasts that are put out just for patrons, plus Facebook groups and Discord. So you could support shows like ours and everything on the network by going to Rob has website.com slash patron and make sure you're subscribed to all of the RJP survivor podcasts by going to the newly updated website.

We know survivor.com. It's right there at the bottom of our screen. You can see everything there. You can select your podcast service of choice and you'll get a ton of great survivor content like us, the know-it-alls, the BNB, Survivor International, the different check-ins, everything, all at weknowsurvivor.com. Yes. And we would like to thank everyone who is at our app, including Scott St-Pierre and Jessica Sterling, for all of the producing

and editing that you do, not only for Why Bl Jessica Sterling, for all of the producing and editing that you do, not only for Why Blink Loss, but all of the incredible content that you just heard David Bloomberg speak of. There are so many options available. We have such a great team and the staff that's been put together providing all of this incredible content to you. And it really is amazing

how much work goes into all of the production that you see. It looks like it's really like here it is, but there's so much work behind the scenes. Even this pretty little like backdrop that we have, that's a whole thing. Like it's incredible. So thank you so much to everyone for all the work that you do.

Thank you, David Bloomberg again for a special episode. And I feel like, even though my winner pick is gone, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna put this guy up here because you know what, Jeff? Jeff, you got to start listening to us, okay? Please. Can you? Can you?

Stop all of the madness. Stop the madness. We don't need all of this extra. Let the players just play the game. They will surprise you because they'll be really good at it. Yeah. Anyway.

All right. Well, thank you as always, Jessica. Um, and, uh, yeah, we, you know, this was, you know, kind of a, a weird week, uh, for me, you know, it was the, you know, post wedding slow down, you know, I mean, we did one after the wedding, uh, earlier last week, but this is, you know, everybody's gone. Things are going back to normal. It's kind of like really strange for me here. And it's just the two of us. And then next week, as far as I know, it'll just be the two of us. And then we'll have a couple of guests as we pick up again later. We just had to kind of take that break for things to, you know, shake out. So yeah, thank you

as always. And we will be back here in one week. So we will see you then. Bye. Bye. And we'll show you how You played yourself And got voted out

This is why Blank lost This is why Blank lost Baby, this is why Blank lost