RHAP: We Know Survivor - Zach Wurtenberger Recaps the Survivor 48 Premiere

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

Today, Rob is joined by Survivor 42's Zach Wurtenberger, to discuss the premiere of Survivor 48.

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Coming to you live from my apartment, it's Rob has a podcast. And now here's the guy who's the leader of the newly formed North Carolina Girls Alliance, Rob's sister, Nina. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to our Thursday recap of the premiere of Survivor 48. And I'm chuffed to bits to have a great guest with me to kick off the return of a Thursday Survivor interview.

Please welcome back from survivor 42 the great Zach Whartonberger Zach how are you? I'm great Rob thank you so much for having me I am so so excited to be talking about survivor 50 next year and until then I am mildly excited to be talking about Survivor 48. Okay, good. Well, I am very excited that you're here and I'm very excited to do this type of interview where that we change things up in case people hadn't been paying attention. Where also, I guess maybe, you know, like, we'll see like, like maybe a return of non

Final Four fire making, we're bringing things back a return of non-Final Four fire making. We're bringing things back a little bit to the old days where I talked to Steven on Wednesday night after the episode and here I am on Thursday. We're doing an interview that we can be a little bit more free from. We don't have to jump right into talking about the vote and every single thing that happened.

We can sort of go at our own pace and have an interview that is a little bit more of my speed where we could talk about things in really any order as they want. And if we get off topic a little bit, that's cool too. Yeah. I gotta say as a Rob is a podcast, long time fan, very happy to see this original format return. I feel like I was always like, you know, when I was watching it before I played, always an O&L listener because I always knew what you and Steven were gonna bring.

Like Steven, consistently great, consistently like an eight out of 10. Known quantity, yeah. Versus, yeah, versus the different recap guests you have, like there's a variable to that. And as a viewer, as a fan, versus the different recap guests you have, there's a variable to that. And as a viewer, as a fan, it lets me kind of pick and choose a lot more.

Yeah, and Zach, what I found is that sometimes that format after the episode is good for some players, but for other guests, it's hard to throw them into the fire of like, hey, we just saw this happen, let's talk about it right now. And it's a little bit more of like a frenetic pace and we can't really like,

I feel like I get to know people that way. And this is what I love to do. Yeah, we would have never had a Spencer Bledsoe, Survivor 38, Chris Underwood boot interview if you were doing it right after the episode with him. And I say that like genuinely, I love that interview. I think it's fascinating, especially seeing Spencer's place.

Where everything went. It's a really like interesting, unique episode in the show and that only comes with the recap format. So this is going to be my Spencer Bledsoe Survivor Edge of Extinction episode three. Well, this is just part of your Survivor Week here on RHAP. We mentioned the Know-It-Alls. I talked with Stephanie Berger,

not Stephanie Werdenberger, Stephanie Berger. I talked to her this morning. You can check out the exit interview. Then, for the patrons, the Q&A is live at 3 p.m. Eastern. On Friday, I'll take your phone calls or your video calls to talk about whatever happened. And each week, we're also gonna bring you an old school interview, that's new.

We're gonna try to track down an old school, who knows what they're gonna say, Zach. So what do you define as old school? I think pre 40. Is Christian Fumicki. So, okay, so Christian Fumicki is an old schooler. Yeah, we talked about what are we gonna do with Christian? So, and Christian, I feel like feels a little bit more

like a Thursday person. We might do like a Freaky Friday where I'll talk to Christian on Thursday and then let's find like a new school person that really maybe isn't like a, who knows what they're gonna say about the episode. Like a Bruce. Who knows, who knows?

But we'll figure that out when we talk to Christian. And then Monday we'll do Club Condo, so that's all right here. Getrhap.com for all things from me, or weknowsurvivor.com for all the Survivor podcasting that we have for you. So Zach, what's new with you? I've been doing great, honestly.

Just working, love my job, and then I come home. It's been really fun just because it's like, my life is so defined by what's on TV right now. And right now, it's like Mondays, I'm watching Australian Survivor. Tuesdays, I'm watching Australian Survivor. Wednesdays, I'm watching American Survivor. Thursdays, Severance, Traders. Oh my God. Fridays, Saturdays

weekend. Don't eat anything. Just happy on my own. So that's so healthy. Then you do no TV on the weekends. No TV. And then Sunday, Sunday we get white lotus. So, oh, and I just binge all of succession. So it's like, Oh, wow. I'm living the dream right now. Okay. All right. Well, maybe we'll get some takes as we get later on in the podcast. But Zach, what were your thoughts on the Survivor 48 premiere? So, like, first of all, enjoyed it. Thought it was a really fun premiere.

I think that like the criticisms I have of it, which are super boring because it's the same criticisms I've had for 41 through 47, which is just, it's the saminess of it, which are super boring because it's the same criticisms I've had for 41 through 47, which is just it's the sameness of it. But what I will say is I think it's really kind of interesting at this point, how the way I almost described it is like survivors at this stage where the game of what a survivor season is in New Era is so well defined and so clear that it feels like each season, they're almost just like bug fixing. Like every single season, it's the same thing with a little bit different.

We did the stupid, uh, sweat versus savvy thing for like six seasons. Everyone thought it was dumb. They finally in 47 changed it still kind of dumb, but it was like better. And then this time they did it again, Still kind of dumb, but a little better. I thought it was good. It was better. If I could have moved that entire segment. Give me your, okay, give me the Zach Whartonberger pitch. How do we improve this segment?

Do we just ditch it all together? Should we vote to just give everybody their supplies on day one? How do we fix it? Right. Yeah. Well, what can we vote on? For me, it's the challenge element of it is what I'm not interested in. I think the dream version of it for me is something like they did on Kaga Yon or token teams, right? Like you send the one person to camp early, you give them a decision point of like either work on the shelter or like choose this bundle of food for your tribe or choose a clue to the idol. For example, I love the token teams one because they just like flew those two people out and then made everyone do like a horrible hike.

So they were already miserable and we got like character building from that. Yeah, so I like having something to separate someone from the tribe originally. I just I don't need the whole challenge. Yeah. Okay. Well, Zach, the show opened with the survivors. They answered the call literally from survivor casting. And we got to see the zoom calls of so many of the players. And I was thinking about this and I was thinking about your journey today as we got ready. And you got a zoom call that you were gonna be on Survivor. And then you also got a zoom call. There was a phone call.

Oh, it was a phone call, okay. All right, and maybe it was a zoom and maybe, and both times was it a phone call? Cause then you get another phone call that said you're not gonna be on Survivor. And then you get a phone call that said then you're not going to be on Survivor. And then you get a phone call and say, then you are going to be on Survivor. Mm hmm. Yeah.

Which did you have a bigger reaction when they told you you were going to be on Survivor 41 before they canceled it for COVID or when they told you you're going to be on Survivor 42 after COVID? I can tell you it was first one. It was screaming, running through the rain, like so excited. Like I did it. I fuck it. My dream. Amazing. Blah, blah, blah. That was number one. Number two.

Like when they well, they told me it was delayed, but they were like, I will see what happens. It was start a covid. So you're like, I'll probably be delayed like two weeks. Then when they finally told me that I was like off of 41 in January, that was very much like a, well, why? Like explain it, like what has changed? Why, I'm the same guy.

But even then they told me like, you're probably good for 42, like you're still very much on our board. So I was like, okay, I mean, I'm not happy, but like, you know, let me know. And then 42, when they finally told me I was on that, that was just like, oh, thank God. Like they would have not gotten a good reaction from me.

I would not have been on the montage. I was in the middle of a class. And that wasn't a Zoom call. That was still on the phone. Yeah, I was in the middle of a Zoom class actually, see Jesse calls and I literally was just like, like, am I on? He was like, yeah, I was like, oh, thank God.

All right. I need to get back to class. But I really appreciate that. These people were pumped up. Yeah. Do you think any of those were like second takes? I don't think so. I think that they seem like that they seemed pretty genuine.

Here's what I thought was cool with it was one, like you could hear the casting people's actual voices and like, you know, there's only so many of them for them, right? This is the first time they get to be on the show. The, the, the unsung heroes of survivor. Oh, I mean, they literally, I mean, penny was named literally went like penny. Thank you so much or whatever. It's kind of cool. I think that it's something that Survivor's been doing a lot more,

especially ever since like Carolyn. And I don't mind. I like them giving us this glimpse behind the scenes, especially compared to like, I'm gonna shit on 41 again, how they did it in 41 where they would like literally show us the cameras and stuff. That was too much for me.. Jeff was talking to the camera. This, I kind of like those like small glimpses

we get. Yeah. The new era has been a journey from, you know, where it started and when it went and you know, look, look that everything in the last five years has been a journey. Yeah. I mean, it's if look, the journeys on the new era, that's right. That's right. That was, it was right there. That was the metaphor that yeah, we're all, we're all going on the journey with survivor. So another thing just in general with this episode and looking at the new era as a whole now, as I feel like we're like wrapping up the new era because 50 is going to happen. And then it's going to be the new era. Like some new way that they're spinning at all is I remember when

me and the 40 tours and the 40 one is played. We genuinely had no clue what we were doing out there. Like we didn't understand what the game was going to look like. We didn't know we were going to lose all these votes and there was going to be like this hourglass and these phrases of the boy advantages. now, like the players have such an understanding of what they're going into as a game in a way that I really like. And I feel like it has the advantage part of it. The unknown has actually like really gone down in Survivor. And these players are actually able to play a game that they know that they're playing

right now, which I really like and 50 is gonna be even more of that because we're gonna get like, you know I mean the players are literally gonna see like what is on the table. Mm-hmm. Yeah now you brought up what's after Survivor 50 that does is there another era after the new era? Yeah, I mean that's the reason that the new era was kind of a bad name in the first place, right? What will it be called? It's like, well, it's like an art. You've got like the modern, you know,

the modernist movement, but then the modernist is now old. So it's like, I don't know, the Neo new, I don't like that name actually. All right, well, we have time to work. Should the fans get to vote on what the name of the election that be like the last vote that they do that they ask the fans what should the name of the era that comes after Survivor 50 be? Yeah, but I think that they can't do it as like a yes or no vote.

I think they need to have like write ins. Like I think we need to be able to like submit whatever we want and vote on like, and I think it has to just as survivor is be a true, like, you know, a true vote and whatever it goes with. Like that's the Jeff sucks era. It's the Jeff sucks era. No, no, that that's a, we got to narrow it down in a binary choice for these votes. Maybe you can get like a bunch of suggestions to narrow it down to two. It's this or that. I don't think so.

I think that, uh, I think that if they really, really want to like put it in the hands of the fans, they let us call it like, you know, era make era face or whatever. That's what the new era should be. The newest era should be called. I'd love to get your thoughts on Stephanie and her plight here. And the episode really did paint this scene of, hey, when you come to Survivor, don't sit on your hands. It's go time, baby. Yeah, I've been really kind of going around in my head about this with Stephanie and Say

specifically, because I mean, that's kind of what they're presenting to us. Right. Is that like, say is the one who went all out, full force. And then Stephanie is the one who, I guess, took a backseat. Can you hear the car alarms? I don't. Okay, good. Is your car being broken into? My car's been broken into several times.

Seven times? I don't think so. Yeah, it's been basically seven times now. But they don't find anything anymore. Are they looking for stuff or they're trying to steal your car? No, they're just looking for stuff. Yeah. They're stealing my car.

Well, you know, speaking of, you know, what kind of car do I drive? What kind of car do you drive? Yeah. Yeah. But back to Stephanie and... And how do you like your steak? I'll... I've got a whole thing on that. But back to Stephanie and...

Well, that's a tease. We'll get to that later. Yeah, exactly. That's a sneak preview. With Stephanie and Say. So I've been going back and forth with this. And first of all, I relate to Stephanie so much. And I feel like Stephanie is how I played. There are so many exact parallels I can draw with my game and Stephanie's.

So essentially every criticism I have. You say that she's a half Wharton Burger? What's the half? Is that you then have to have a half Wharton Burger? Yeah. I mean, I've got a half Wharton Burger. I've got a half Wharton Burger. I've got a half Wharton Burger.

I've got a half Wharton Burger. I've got a half Wharton Burger. I've got a half Wharton Burger. I've got a half Wharton Burger. I've got a half Wharton Burger. I've got a half Wharton Burger. I've got a half Wharton Burger. I've got a half Wharton Burger. I've got a half Wharton Burger. that she's a half Wharton Burger? Well, what's the half is that you then have to have someone fall in love with you in the next episode.

I'm just going on its name alone, but. Like half Murphy? Yeah. Okay, yeah, half Wharton Burger. So, literally, even when she's like taking the blame for the puzzle that she showed up to the last minute at, right? Here's the deal. I think that Stephanie's strategy works really well on a tribe that doesn't have a say, which

is essentially if you have a player who is going to be so out of the gates, like controlling and just take the try by the horns and really like define the speed of the game. That's really bad for Stephanie. If you're the one person that that person doesn't like, I think we saw exactly that with Asia and Rome last season. Yes. Like if you are one of these slower players who is trying to form the social bonds, that's great.

But the bond you need to work on the most is like the battering ram that you have on your tribe that's going full force from the start. Yeah, that's a pretty good point in terms of like if you have this tornado on your tribe, somebody who's just like, bing, bang, boom, just playing very hard and very fast. This is a good point that you need to probably suck up to that person the most. Yeah, because either that person's going to end up like you don't need to be like their right hand person. Right? Yeah. You just need to make sure that you're not their least favorite person. You don't need to be their least favorite person. And also probably, okay, that person is like, chances are this person is, you know, perpetual motion is moving around, is probably going to end

up with the advantage. It's probably going to end up finding the idol. But if you could somehow win them over, as long as it's not like, okay, well now Zach is really close to the person who is going to go home. And so, or the person with the idol. So we'll vote out Zach just to be the, I mean, that's kind of like what almost happened to Genevieve in Survivor 47 in that tribe, where there was like, people were looking at, okay, well, where do we put our votes if Rome has the idol? Yeah, you don't wanna be there number one,

because that's, for someone like Say, it's clear that like Say is going to like, you know, follow Say's plan. But you absolutely want to be there number two or three. You want to be in that kind of sweet spot. I think that I felt that way with Dreya, where Dreya was without a doubt the most powerful person on the tribe by the end of it,

at least by the end of my three days. You know, Say in her pre-season said that that was a real role model for her. Oh, really? Yes. Well, I mean, you know, a great job. Say very really. She was very inspired by Dre.

Mary and she might have made her own. I think she loves survival 42. Love Mary Ann. Oh my God. What a what a what a great person. So I think I think that was the big thing. Here's the thing with that. That's my, I guess, biggest criticism of Stephanie is if you're going to be

the social player and I think that for the future players who are watching this, who find themselves in the position of like there's a person they're not really getting along with, that they can tell is playing too hard, that they can tell it's like a full, like a force in the game. Like spend extra time on that person. I actually, in my own game, got a little distracted with that

because I thought that that person was Roxroy on my tribe. And Roxroy was a force of personality, but absolutely not a force of gameplay in any way. Well, what was he doing? He was just like working on building the shelter and was... He was like the total leader type and I was trying to get in with his game, but then I realized too late that like, it wasn't really a game to get into. Yeah.

Like he was just that focused. Right. Rox Roy was very focused on the elements out there, but was he working on really building his coalition? Right? No. No. I mean, Roxroy was playing. It's not like he was,

but Roxroy was not the strategic mover and shaker of the tribe. Yeah. In the way that like Say is, for example. Yeah. Now I think with Say, she played a really great game to not be the first one out. Like, I really think that like what Say does essentially,

playing that hard, that fast, is just gonna scare people away from targeting you first. Because going after you, especially if you know that she has an advantage, it's too high a risk for people who have never played Survivor. They've never done a vote out. Like that is the way to play. If you want to make sure you're not the first one out, puts you at a lot of risk of

being the second. Yeah. And that's what I'm worried about for her. Zach, I really feel like that in the new era and maybe this isn't that original of a thought. I just feel like we're in such a race to get to four people. And Say I thought really illustrated that so well where she's there with Stephanie and Mary and they're talking about, okay, what do we say if the guys are coming? We'll talk about your mom. Okay. So it's like, okay, I'd love to know about your mom.

And Say is like, I don't have time for this. I got to get a four person alliance. Yeah, yeah, great. So it's like, okay, I'd love to know about your mom and say, it's like, I don't have time for this. I got to get a four person alliance. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think for the first three days, like that works. That's the right answer. I think that if you're halfway through the first day of Survivor, and you don't have your four yet, like, you know, you're already behind, you just have to have four. It doesn't it's not going to stick. It doesn't have to be the real four. I have to at least have four people that you can point at and be like, this is my alliance right now. Yeah. And that's really been the story of the first three days where we got to see in and I don't know all the tribe names yet, but the I think it's the Siva tribe, the Orange tribe, where we know we had a four that got built around.

OK, charity is a little sus. We built a four that got built around, okay, charity is a little sus, we built a four around that. And then in the purple tribe, that the three guys are sort of fighting over, okay, the Loggie tribe, who's gonna be the fourth? And there's sort of like maybe jockeying for position where Thomas wants to bring in Bianca and Joe wants to bring in Eva,

but that's really, the whole name of the game here in the pre-merge is, you know, who's going to win the race to four. So I think that with the four, it, everything I've kind of been saying, right, is all hinging around this, which is my area of expertise, this first three days, because that first four that you form will carry you through that first vote as everyone is so antsy. Everyone just doesn't want to be the first one out. Um, that's where that four will really matter. Yeah. I think all of a sudden you're at the second vote, you're at the third vote. The four that you made within five minutes of the game starting slowly starts to matter, matter less. Uh, I think the NAMI tribe is a great example of that.

Right. Like the immediately season 40 together. Yes. Yeah. Look at me. Remembering the NAMI tribe. Yeah. Or in tribe that was Venus, that was so, uh, yeah. Hunter Tevin, random and yeah, they create the four. Um, it's solid. And then by episode three, they're already targeting Soda. Like they've already turned on each other

for literally no reason other than like pure ansiness. I think the same thing happened with like the Seega tribe that season. So just protect yourself at the start, make the four and then figure it out. Well, Zach, okay, for the future players, if I want, okay, I'm in a race to four, okay, in a six person tribe, does it help me to get a duo first?

Or by making a duo, am I potentially finding myself like a Stephanie and Mary of like, great, I have my person, but the other four is like, okay, well, these two are already friends, so now we have to be a four. I kind of like it more, honestly, because I think that making the duo and then making the four, well, these two are already friends, so now we have to be a four. I kind of like it more, honestly, because I think that making the duo and then making the four,

remember, this is all very fast, so you don't actually know these people. Like, you have no clue what you're dealing with, right? So I like the idea of making the four first, and then from the four, narrowing it down, and being like, okay, but this is the person that I actually like. And then that's the person you can go to and be like, okay, but this is the person that I actually like. And then that's the person you can go to and be like,

are we sure about this four? Do we, us two, the real two, maybe want to consider the other two that are out there? I feel like, tell me if you think this is crazy, but I kind of like what Se did where Se went and found Cedric and Justin and said, Hey, this is three. Who's our fourth? And now you're making a decision with the other two people to pick out the four.

I mean, I like that. I did the same thing. Didn't work. Who did you do that to? So me, it was the way my tribe worked was it was Romeo, Dreha, and Rox Roy linked up instantly in a very like, a very say way, I would say. Like the alliance they have in the sense that like they just decided this is the alliance. Even though we don't actually trust each other, we don't actually like each other.

And that played out through the rest of the game when they didn't really work with each other, the second merge hit. So then me, Swathi and Tori kind of were this counter three and we looked at Romeo as the one that we would bring in. But Romeo had already locked in with the others. Romeo wasn't budging. Dreya already had an advantage from her mysterious journey visit, right?

So we were a little bit too late on the draw and then we were the ones that started scrambling. In the new era, have we ever gotten where the tribe splits three-three? Yes, funny enough. We got that in the Vessi tribe, season 43 and it got screwed up because of Dwight losing his vote. It was Nneka, Cody, and Jesse,

and then it was Dwight, Justine, and, oh my God, what's her name? Noelle, obviously. Yes, yes. So yeah, that's a good one, but you have to journey screw that up. So it but for the most part, yeah, it's we're always in a race to four. And ultimately, we have to, you know, I guess sometimes we get

probably a few five ones. Mm hmm. What do you mean we get five? Five versus one. Oh, I guess so. I mean, I can't really think of that happening. Maybe with like John Lovett, where everyone just decided like like Jolinski. Mm hmm. Yeah, there's like the unanimous ones. I think I think just you play fast at the start. I also think that for someone like, say, she got really lucky

with the tribe makeup. Yes. In the sense that she someone like, say, she got really lucky with the tribe makeup. Yes. In the sense that she was like the alpha. Yes. She played such like an alpha game and everyone else on the tribe was playing like a very, I don't mean to go all like Andrew Tate on this. That's not how I mean alpha and beta. Listen, listen. And nobody's, nobody's getting it twisted. Yeah. Yeah. Like they were playing very kind of beta style games where they were more sitting back, waiting, watching it twisted. Yeah, yeah. They were playing very kind of beta style games

where they were more sitting back, waiting, watching it happen. Yeah, I do think that if say with the tribe. The rest of the tribe is a kind of a passive tribe. And I was making jokes about this during Australian Survivor, but that's like the national equilibrium idea of like, in a tribe of passive people,

the one person who is like kind of aggressive is going to have a lot of say with this group. Yeah. And I think that Nash, I mean, from just three episodes of Australian Survivor is clearly set up for a very long time. No, I think that what Say has done with this tribe and I want to make it clear, by the way, that like I know we're critiquing Say a lot, but I do think that Say played very well for the first three days.

Hey, I advocate give her the fishy. And also, this is a survivor podcast, so we can talk about how people are playing the game. Exactly. I'm just, Say's Twitter scares me. So I just don't want to like, watch myself. I saw that Say was like upset that she was the eighth most liked person on the cast.

And I was like, ah, okay. Could be worse, right? That's top half. I have been worse. Yeah. Anyways, I think that what Say has essentially done is guaranteed that the next vote will be between Mary or say,

like, I think that she essentially has set the board up where she is the person who was targeting Stephanie. She like put her stamp on that with the tribal council. Mary, 100 percent is going to be going to those guys being like, say, should be the next vote like that to me seems like a relationship that why would they work together? Why would they form a two against the three? Like it is now a binary choice for the men of that tribe, which is okay with say because say does have the idol, but puts the real power into the three of them who were playing like very much slow playing the game.

Yeah. I think it's going to be so interesting to watch, say, as the person with the most power in the tribe because the idol, but maybe not necessarily the leader of the tribe. Yeah. Kind of like a figurehead. A little bit of a figurehead where you sort of like have to defer to her. You know, she's like this royal, but she's not the prime minister of the tribe. Like when they go to the challenge, she's not like telling everybody, OK, this is how we're going to do this.

Yeah, it very much. It very much gives me the possibility of she could be like the mergeatory. She could be the merge boot, like makes it runs the tribe. And then the moment that someone needs to go from green, like she becomes the sacrificial lamb. Yeah. Okay. Well, this is a question that came up. I talked about how, you know, the similarities with Rome, as you were alluding to, and, you know, Sam Phelan

posed this question. Yeah, that's a good call. This is like the Lavo tribe coded. How does say avoid the same fate as Rome? What how could say handle this differently? From what I've heard, it sounds like there was a lot with Rome unrelated to gameplay that was like just rubbing people the wrong way and what we saw on the show. Right. I think the easiest thing for say is to just. I think we saw a lot of that on the show.

For with Rome. Yes. Yes, very much so. So Rome was like rubbing people the wrong way. And that was always going to like lead to people just wanting to get him out. I think that Say hasn't done that as much. I think we saw at tribal council, she really was starting to make like digs that were just not needed considering where the vote was going and the tribe was going. And I think it makes her good TV,

but I think it's going to make people less interested in working with her, especially at this early stage of the game. If she can make it to a certain point, it becomes a strength. But I think number one, just chill it on the, like, I guess the digs, right? Like what she was saying about Stephanie or like, you know,

Mary and all that stuff. That would be the first thing. With the people on Twitter. Yeah, with the people on Twitter. I love it on Twitter. Twitter genuinely, like I want, I mean my favorite season of the new era was 46 and that was not because of what was on screen,

that was because of what was offline or online. Yeah. So yeah, I think that that's number one. Number two, I would say, like really take a step back in terms of the gaming right now. Like what I would do if I was to say honestly is be like, hey guys, I'm gonna like kind of remove myself

from the strategic discussions right now. I'm just gonna try to form those bonds now that I have the idol. And I'm just letting you guys know the moment we go back to tribal council, I'm playing the idol and then do it. Like no point in saving an idol here at like, should you wear it? It's not really.

It's kind of like a little like a. Yeah, I don't know. She could like a real idol where idol is a necklace. That should be something we vote on that. I don't like that. The idol is like a key chain. You're the key chain idols. Give me like a big fricking necklace. That's like how Marianne is like so proud that she like managed to sneak away with her idol after the season and she has it and she like literally pulls out like she's like,

look at this. It's a real survivor idol. It's just like literally like a thing of two beads. Yeah, come on. So yeah, I think that like just next vote, have no say in it, let whatever happens happens and like build the bonds with the tribes that will cause them. Do you mean she is, yeah. She doesn't have any agency in the vote?

No agency, yeah. Or like at the very least at this point, she should make it so that whoever gets voted out at the next vote, because it's not going to be her, because she's going to be playing her idol, whoever is voted out, she will be OK with. Yeah. That's what I say. OK. How important is it for her to have the idol going into merge time or not have the idol going? Like does the public idol protect her or make her into a bigger target?

It protects her pre-merge. And then the second she hits that merge, it's like, say has the idol, we need to flush the idol. We saw exactly that with Sam in 47, where like the place where he really lost control was the moment where they were like, Sam has this public idol. We need to make sure that we flush it out. Well, the other thing for say that I wonder, and you said at a certain point it becomes a strength.

What is that point where people say like, oh, I would love to sit in the final travel council with say? Yeah, it becomes a strength. say like, Oh, I would love to sit in the final travel council with say, Yeah, it becomes a strength. Uh, the moment people start, what day of 26, I think it's about the final eight or final seven. You know what? It's right after that double boot that they owe it. Well, they are doing the double boot later and later, but like on my season, it was the final nine final 10 that right there is doing it earlier than that. They do it at like final 12 now. Yeah, now they're doing it. So not after the double boot, but 10, that right there is the moment. They're doing it earlier than that. They do it at like final 12 now. Yeah, now they're doing it.

So not after the double boot, but I think that that moment that you're at like seven, eight, I guess now it's after the silly three-way split that they do at final nine. That's where I think people can start actually sniffing the end, start really planning out their end game and that's where it becomes a strength. So she's got to hang on for a little bit.

I think so. And I think that she has all of the tools necessary to it just entirely comes down to like, you know, coming back to camp, Mary is going to be gunning for her hard. Like, I can already imagine. Yeah. Say she should just remove herself from the conversation, be like, it's not going to be me. So like you guys kind of play, figure that out. I'm just going to focus on like becoming your friend and making you guys want to like go further with me. Which did we see any of the guys saying negative things about her?

Like it felt like it was only the women who have in a little bit talked about how that yes, they have the idol. But boy, I would love to You know be able to like if we could get rid of her then, you know She's a little bit of a wild card or if we got rid of her she played the idol We can go find it. So not necessarily any sort of like personally Things about say but like kind of like well if she didn't have that idol Yeah, I think that that's again, we're getting rid of that idol. We'll really just endear yourself to the tribe and make you look like kind of a standup player who

like, you know, does what they said they would do. I said I was going to play the idol. I played it, got rid of it. It's on. Can I talk about Kevin real quick, by the way? Yes, you can. Thank you. Kevin was actually my first boot pick. Really, why? What did you see about Kevin?

In these pre-season stuff, I got this like skittish nervous energy, which really like scares me when I see someone entering the game. I always think of like the Jacob Derwin, like just you never know where that's gonna come, what's gonna come with that type of energy. And I think it can kind of scare people away.

Where did you see that? Nobody answered questions in his body language. Yeah, in his body language, in his pre-season interviews, I just got like this, a little bit of a nervous energy. But then what I realized, and I realized actually is such a strength, is he just has like a resting smile face. Like he's like a golden retriever.

Yeah, that's what Mary said. Literally just, yeah, he dislocates his shoulder and he's just like smiling. And he's like, doesn't let it get him down. Like he's, I think that's such a strength to be just so friendly, I guess. And I think that I was so wrong that he was never going to be the first person targeted from this tribe, even with his fucked up shoulder.

Let's talk a little bit about some of these other tribes. I would love to get your impression of, I want to talk about the Siva tribe. Do you have any strong feelings? And that is the- David's tribe. David, Kyle- And that is, oh, the orange. Orange, yes.

I was thinking about the David's tribe. From Survivor David versus Goliath. Yes, I was like, which tribe are the underdogs? No, no. These tribes are not the underdogs. I think we just got done talking about the tribe of underdogs. David, Kyle, Mitch, Charity, Chrissy, and Camilla.

Yes. And we saw Kyle go off and go do the challenge. The Fight for Supplies Challenge. Amazing. Love that branding. It's a little on the nose. I thought Sweater Savvy was a little on the nose. I thought Knowledge's Power was a little on the nose.

I think with with advantages, like a real aside with the nose. I thought knowledge is power was a little on the nose. I think with with advantages, like a real aside with a knowledge is part I love when it's like a thing like I love when the idol nullifier is like, you know, a thing you can hold and look at and has like a look to it. Versus knowledge is power, just a piece of paper like the vote steal. It's just a piece of paper. I know just power should be like a light bulb. Would you like that? A light bulb?

Because it's like I have. Well, it doesn't really. Also, the thing is, with all the trash on those islands, you could probably realistically find a light bulb around. Knowledge is power, maybe like a maybe like a lightning bolt. It's like power. Uh-huh. What about like the advantage vacuum? Remember they did that for like five seconds? Oh yeah. That was Sarah. We've managed. Yes.

I could be cool. I think they call that. Yes. Yes. That's what they did. Yeah. Um, okay. Back to, uh, back to Kyle. I think that I really liked, first of all, I really liked how he handled screwing up so bad. I think that a lot of lesser players would have really taken that home with them and just come in with a negative energy to the tribe. And he didn't do that.

He came in and instantly was able to embed himself in a way that Asia sort of did, but then eventually, I guess, didn't. Asia lost the challenge, but came in and instantly was able to be part of a four. And I'll say that Kyle, yeah, he came back and he told everybody that he, I don't know if there was a difference in terms of how he did this, but we've seen other people come back from this and like, I don't trust it. He's shady.

He's a, he's not telling us everything. This is another place where I think it's really great how the structure of the new era has remained consistent, is that we've seen so many different players go and do this now and do this original, like, it started as sweat and savvy. Then they had like the sweat and savvy duo's thing that they did for 45. They didn't see 47, obviously. And they've seen time after time of time.

There's never been an advantage at this. What was your favorite of all of the sweat and sorry? Yeah. What was your favorite of all the sweat and savvy? That's like choosing which of my my children. What was my favorite sweat and savvy? To do I liked. In general it was the forty six because the forty six one had Jalinski throwing the hourglass. It was an impossible challenge. So it was always going to screw them up. I love that. I don't want people passing sweat and savvy.

And then I thought that Ben and Charlie's little puzzle they had to do was actually kind of fun. Yeah. Like their word search. That was cool. And it's dig under the thing. Yeah. And that was like a, uh, yeah, I would have solved it. One of my biggest regrets on survivor honestly is that we won the first reward because I think I would have crushed counting those triangles and then maybe they would have. Yeah. Wow. How many triangles were there? Like 51, 51 should have been 42.

It shouldn't have been. Yeah. That's what the nose. It's a little on the nose. If you think about it, like, oh, that's what it was. You didn't even have to really count them. That would have been cool. No, I take it back. God, that triangle puzzle. Why would we doing here? How do we get onto the triangle puzzle from survivor?

Your favorite sweater savvy. Yeah, I guess so. Can we vote on if sweater savvy returns? Maybe. Cause I don't really understand with the vote with the vote sack because that, all right. I was there on Saturday when Jeff announced that survivor 50 in the hands of the fans and you said, and you commented, you're like, Oh my God, I love this. The logo is chef's kiss. This is awesome. And then everybody is voting now. The polls are open and I would love to break down with you in this podcast that if we could talk about

what we think people should vote for on these things. Yeah. I saw they're kind of fixing it a little bit. Yeah, well we could talk about that. But I don't know, next week, are there going to be new poll questions? There can't be that many. Can you text Mike Bloom and find out if there are new questions next week?

Like are we going to be doing like... We blew through four of them already. Yeah, there's already four questions. And then does the polls close on Wednesday and then we get new questions to go vote every week? Like are we voting on like 40 different things? Can I tell you how I would fix the survivor 50 vote? Yeah, how?

Not to get all political, but I don't think everyone should be allowed to vote. I think that there should be some level of like requirements, like aptitude testing to make sure that you're qualified. Do you know who had this same idea? Who? Fishback, I assume. No, no, no. So on Saturday, I'm there at the thing and Jeff got done talking the whole thing

and he has like a receiving line. And I see of all the people like first in line to go meet Jeff Probst Jordan Kalish Okay, and I'm like, what is Jordan Kalish talking to Jeff about for 10 minutes? And then I come back I said, what did you what I said this whole animated conversation Jordan? What did you tell Jay? He's like I had I told him that they should be like a test that the casuals have to take so that they can't vote. I'm like, you can't gatekeep the fandom.

No, I figured out- There's no polling. There's no literacy test at the polling place. That's un-American. I figured out, this is far more important than that, Rob. This is Survivor 50. And I figured out what the perfect test is. Yeah.

The thing that they made Hunter do, we have to put all the seasons in order? No, no. It goes all the way back to Survivor 41. Yep. The greatest change, gone but not forgotten, the game within a game. Okay. You but not forgotten the game within a game Okay, you have to solve the game within the game Jordan is also You bring back the game within a game you put it somewhere in the episode when you get to vote

They ask you like what is the answer? What is the password? Mm-hmm, and then someone will post on Twitter So like, you know for the people who really care, it'll be out there. But just that, you know, bring back a fan favorite twist that they did. Like, we're gonna vote yes on that anyways, if they let us bring the game within a game back.

And let there be a little bit of a barrier to this voting. Cause I can't have fire making stay. Yeah. We should like try to workshop some of the things that they should let us vote on because they already said, OK, they're not going to let us vote on 26 days or 39 days. Yeah. Should they bring back the sprint

fan favorite award? I would like that. Yeah, I think that we could do like mobile now. They like spring back sprint first. Do they still have sprint? They saw sprint. Yeah, you can still get a sprint. I think we should like the podcast Do they still have Sprint? Uh, they still have Sprint, yeah. You can still get Sprint? I think we should like-

Let me know, if you're listening to the podcast and you have a Sprint phone, let us know. We should be able to vote. Like, is this going to be an Applebee season? Is this going to be outback? Should they get Applebees? And can you imagine like the, uh, the spot, the opportunities that would have where all of a sudden Outback is campaigning to us? Yes, the official word out back or

Applebee's or is there is there a third? Chili's right there Doritos and Mountain Dew to fall back. Yeah, I Think that they should I would love to do tribe names. I would love to just be able to name the tribes, whatever we want. I wish that for colors, like they didn't just give us three options. I think two tribes, three tribes. I mean, the fact that they're not letting us vote on that yet is terrific.

You know, I mean, you're looking for some sort of like ranked choice voting. Unfortunately, these are the inherent problems in the two party system. That's true, yeah. Do you want me to tell you an answer by the way, what I think would be the coolest thing to vote on? What? I think it would be really fun to have a full,

like long list of different advantages. Like some new, some old, make it like 10 different ones and have everyone be like, all right, vote on the three advantages that are going to be in this game. And they can be like weird stuff. They can get like funky. These don't have to be like the tried and true votes deal.

Like that can already be in the game. Put in some like really like surreal, kind of strange, maybe even overpowered advantages. And then the players on season 50 will be going into the game, knowing what the possibilities are and actually planning for it. Like I think that would be really fascinating

to see the fear of the knowledge is power, which was one of the options. Knowing that could be in play. Yeah. Or like this, like the inheritance advantage or something. Yeah. It's giving the players info I think the problem is that it might be hard to explain all these things to the voters

That's why we have the aptitude test They want a lot of people to vote. I think they want to say like we had you know, 90 million votes were cast. I Guess so, I don't know. I would also love if they let us vote on the, uh, uh, the CEO award. Should the CEO award come back? Yes. Yeah. And I think we choose where see as money goes where see as money goes. Well, they famously, you know, they canceled the CEO award. Uh, I mean, I'm saying bring back the sprint fan favorite. Like maybe they could do some sort of like crowdfunding of like there's to be some sort of like people like let the fans vote.

It's in the hands of the fans. Let them vote for their favorite player of the season. Jeff Probst is like, guys, please scan this QR code. It links to a Kickstarter. Yes. A GoFundMe meet we have for the fan favorite of the season. I mean, I feel that that hasn't happened in a bit, but I feel like it used to happen where people were like, hey, we're sending money to Joe Anglem's P.O. Box. Yeah.

Well, yeah. When was the last time that happened that we got like a real? I kind of feel like that. See, see, maybe did a service to Survivor and ended up stopping that thing where that I feel like with Big Brother also, I think there was a period where it was like, hey, this person didn't win. We're starting a GoFundMe

for them. It was, if I'm correct, it was Luke Toki in Australian season four. I think he got half a million dollars from Australian fans. Pretty nice, pretty nice. I think they literally matched the prize for him. Okay, so we did get a quick answer from Mike Bloom. Sam reached out to, of course, the great Mike Bloom,

respected journalist, not fishing for likes. His response was, quote, not a clue in terms of will there be weekly votes? He said, I've heard some interviews where Jeff said it was weekly. I thought I heard another where he said monthly. So we don't know for how long this vote will be up.

It sounds like weekly, if I had to guess, that's a lot of things to vote on. I mean, are we voting on 50 things for season 50? Yeah, it's going to get to the point of like, what shirt will Jeff wear? You know? Yeah. Right. Also, Sam. All right. Our third our third reward challenge of the season. Should we be doing this obstacle course or that obstacle course? Yeah. Sam Moore also thinks that, oh, he said, okay, he told me not to say the thing he posted in the chat, which is, you know, the best way to get me to not say the thing posted

in the private chat. Is to not say it in the chat. I think so. I think so. Yeah. Can we, can we, instead of editing that out, just put a bleep over there? No, that'd be too long. Anyway, Sam thought that there was a change.org petition for one contestant in the new era, but I won't say, I won't say who it is until he fact checks it. Oh, that's what he's saying. Don't say it. Okay. Don't

say that. Don't say that. Well, you know, those, those Swifties are, uh, they organized rapid. Okay. All right. So Zach, what's your impression of David? Now some people have said that David, you know, it's like a Jonathan from your season. I don't see that. I don't see that at all. Honestly.

Um, Jonathan, well, first of all, I see it. Let me change that. Like, I very much see what you guys are seeing. I think personality-wise, David and Jonathan are not alike in the sense that David feels like much more of a showman. Yeah. Jonathan was someone who has watched Survivor a lot.

Like, Jonathan was a legit fan of Survivor who came to, like like play the game, who he's not like an entertainer. Obviously he does his monkey dance or whatever. You know what I'm talking about? I remember that. I forgot about the monkey dance, yeah. Yeah, like he, so he can have that like goofy side to him,

but he's not a goofy guy. David to me comes off like a very goofy guy. He reminds me the most of not Jonathan, but like a John Hennigan. Yeah, John Hennigan. Of like a mayor of Slam Town, almost mixed with like a Dan Wrengering in terms of like a little bit of the game.

Two Goliaths in one? Two brochachos. I mean, don't you think he's like the perfect embodiment of it? See, I was gonna say, I was gonna ask you if you felt like that David is like feeling like a little bit more like a big brother person.

Like, is he giving like a little bit more like Mr. Pectacular? He feels very out of place in the new era, in a good way. In a way that I really enjoy seeing what comes with him. Big brother, again, like I really maybe would have a tough time seeing him on like modern Big Brother. I don't know if he fits into like the Tannenbaum era casting. I mean, he literally is Tannenbaum era casting. But I could absolutely see him on you're right, like season 11 of Big Brother. Literally, yeah. day, I think he's someone who's there to win challenges, to be entertaining,

to kind of soak up the moment. And I don't think he's there to play in the way that I think Jonathan was. So I don't necessarily see that comparison. I find it really funny that he thinks that we are surprised that he loves rom-coms. Yeah. Have you seen Notting Hill loves rom-coms. Yeah. Have you seen Notting Hill? Because I have not. No, I have no clue what that is.

You don't even know what that is. Were you born when Notting Hill came out? When was when was not I have no idea. Let me see. But I bet you've seen holes. I have seen holes. It was born in 1999. I was not born yet. Yeah. It was

released in 1999. Um, he also did that thing that I always find annoying, which is when someone hasn't seen something and they're like, why stop? No, that's impossible. Yeah. There's no way. And it's like, there's no way that someone has not seen Notting Hill, but it feels very possible. It was incredibly doable. It was very formative for David. Do you think that it's instructive in terms of his game? I don't know what this movie is about, so I can't. Well, look, first of all, I think that is this movie on Paramount Plus?

Like, is this movie going to be in the same way that Andy had his she's all that moment last season? Like is this movie going to give us some insight into like is this like Chekhov's Notting Hill where there's gonna be some big payoff to David's game based on Notting Hill? That's what I thought with the Andy Griffith Alliance and I wasted all my time with that

and then nothing happened. So I'm not doing that with not a hill Yeah, but you never know like that survivors are meta I guess so I Don't think that this is gonna be one of those things that like we point to at the end of the season and we're like wow It was right there was right there the whole time Yeah, exactly. Maybe holes. I feel like holes is a little bit more. So I haven't seen that either.

You haven't seen holes. Stop. How have you not seen you seriously haven't seen holes? I haven't seen it. Yeah, that I cannot believe. Wow. Believe it. How do you how do you how do you cook your saints?

I have a medium rare. Okay. Basic answer. Basic answer. Yeah. What would be a less basic answer? Do I want to give the sociopath answer? Which is well done was the sociopath answer.

I think that it wasn't even well done. I feel like it was like medium well. Yeah. See, that's like, I feel like that's fine. I mean, I get it medium rare too. I think for me, the sociopath answer is like bleeding. Yeah, like, it's so raw, I want it to still move. Like, that to me is a red flag.

No pun intended. Literally, yeah. Yeah. I don't think well done is a bad answer. I just think it's you have like bad taste, which is fine. Is that one of the questions on the survivor psych test is like, okay, on a scale of rare to well done, how do you take your stake?

No, the survivor psych test is like, they sprinkle in like the real serious questions with a bunch of like fluff where they'll be like, I'd love to be a gardener. Um, you know, I love to read the newspaper. Okay. I've thought about murdering my whole family. And then it's like, okay, you thought you were going to sneak that one in there? No, because they're trying, they want you to get, like, get your defenses down a little bit and then maybe, yeah, that's exactly what it is. They're going to wear you down and

then you answer, answer truthfully. What did you think of David's three questions? Did you like them or? What kind of car do you drive? Well, it was sort of sneaky in terms of like, okay, well now I think I could tell a lot about a person by what kind of car they drive. I mean, go back to Carl in not Godfather Carl from the White Lotus, but Carl Balancione from Survivor Africa, who got tripped up on this way back when they were like, he's like, I got a Lambo. I will say that if someone on my tribe told me they drove a Tesla Cybertruck, that would

actually be like, that would actually like fundamentally change my view of many cars. I think maybe we heard about David's car. I think almost every car is like not a car person. I'd be like, okay, movies interesting. He's a good conversation starter. Steak, again, I don't care about, but I kind of like that. I know when they talk about food. Yeah, you like it? I don't like it.

I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it. I Steak, again, I don't care about, but I kinda like that he does. I don't like when they talk about food. Yeah, you like it? I don't like it.

Yeah, I mean, it's, we only have two hours of screen time, guys. Let's make sure to really put the important stuff. When you said that I have three questions that I ask people, I instantly thought of Walking Dead, by the way, and Rick Grimes. Yeah, I instantly thought of Walking Dead, by the way, and Rick Rive. Yeah, I don't remember what Rick's questions were.

Yeah. It was, how many walkers have you killed? How many people have you killed? Yeah. Why? Why? Yeah. How many times have you seen Notting Hill?

How many? Yeah. All right. So let me ask you, okay, about Charity. Because Charity was somebody who was like a trendy pre-season pick. People felt very good about Charity. She's the total package.

She's got a great story. She's a flight attendant. She is somebody with a good athletic background. She knows the show. And then she comes here and is not off to a great start, Charity. I guess she's not. I mean, what did she, I'll be a hundred percent honest,

I did not get good like dynamics from this Orange Tribe. Not that I didn't like them, I just did not get a good lead on what was actually happening versus what was like just an episode one story. I felt like for me, really, all I got from that Orange Tribe was like David being a showman and like kind of bouncing around the tribe. So like, can you tell me who was specifically saying

that they were not getting good vibes from charity? Like remind me. Camilla, I'll give you the TikTok on the, not the app, but I'll give you the readout on everything. So we got where they talked about the movie and everything and Charity likes her steak medium well. That Kyle ends up saying, okay, that's the red flag on Charity

and him and Camilla hit it off. But when Camilla talks to charity, charity says that maybe Kyle has an advantage. And so Camilla tells Kyle what charity said about him. And he's like, I don't have an advantage. And so him and Camilla have hit it off. And then they start asking other people, hey, did charity say anything to you about Kyle? And they asked

Chrissy and she doesn't tell me anything. And then suddenly David's there too. And all of a sudden we have four. I think that this is kind of case of someone makes the first misstep and that is playing the game too early, which is funny because it actually worked so great for, for say, um, whereas I guess charity did a half say where she was doing a little bit of game talk, but not enough to actually like fully gain someone's trust and like form an alliance with them. So charities now the one who just made the first mistake.

She'll be on the block until someone either makes a larger mistake or someone gets antsy and wants to make a bigger move. Like, cause it's entirely possible. We get like an island of the idols, like Missy scenario, right? Where someone just decides, you know what, let's do Chelsea. Like, let's just get a big person out for literally like, like small reasons.

But it seems like Charity just like is the first one. Yeah. Is the first name that got floated out. And I think that once they're actually facing danger, we're gonna see a hundred other names come out. And I can't imagine that it's because of this one faux pas that you'll actually be the boot. Yeah, it was kind of interesting.

We saw more people talking about charity. We didn't see a lot from charity. So does that mean anything to you? Means that this tribe was a little boring this episode and was definitely the... Can I not say boring? Oh, oh, God. Mm-hmm. Oh, my God. I just remembered Tangela.

Um... Yeah, no, I think that this was the most boring tribe of the episode and they had to show something of them. I mean, look, in season 41, right, the Luvuu tribe, easily the most boring tribe. They had the winner on my season. I mean, my tribe was probably the most boring. But the 42, Taku tribe was like there was the least game going on

because they all just kind of liked each other. Like they were all kind of in unison. And like the scenes we got of them were not. They just didn't have that much to show. So maybe for this tribe, it's that case. The best example actually is 44, the Orton's tribe, where after that first episode, that huge Matty Brandon blow up that ended with Matty going,

didn't really have that much to show in terms of the dynamics of this tribe, because the dynamics didn't really end up being that important. So if there's any tribe that's gonna end up being like that, then I think it'll be this one. Do you think that the tribe that Say is on ends up being sort of just like the disaster tribe and goes to every tribal council in the pre-emerge until we swap? I don't think so, honestly. I think that they definitely have another one in the chamber,

like they're going to go to another tribal. But I do think this is gonna be a season. I mean, to me, the tribes look relatively even. It's not like any tribe was luluing it up, right? And just like complete dead last in a challenge. So I think that we'll end up seeing like a good- up seeing. I think that Vula might be in that case. I feel like that the other tribe, the other tribes, not only do they have some stronger guys, that the strongest guy on Vula is Kevin. From what Stephanie was telling me in the exit interview,

his shoulder is pretty bad. Like he's having some problems that he was working on the puzzle with Stephanie. And she was saying it was like really like it was like that. He was like with one that he was working on the puzzle with Stephanie, and she was saying it was like really like, it was like that he was like with one arm trying to work on the puzzle. And then not to mention that the women on the other tribes are stronger than the women that are on the Vula tribe, and they don't get to sit out, you know,

say or Mary in the challenge. I think Mary's actually a very good swimmer. She did not like how people were swimming on Survivor Heroes versus Villains. She talked about that in the preseason. So then the other tribes, they get to sit out their weakest person. So I actually do think that this could snowball. I mean, it could. I guess my read on the tribes, my read on what I watched from this episode is that we're going to see everyone go to tribal council. I felt like they gave us enough juice from each one that we're going to get to see each play out.

I think the real thing to look for is if there's a tribe that's a total complete disaster behind the scenes but super cohesive in the challenges, that's the tribe that won't make it, won't go to a tribal council because they're building up the blow up. I'm talking about NAMI right here. That's the tribe that they're going to like build up the blow up for the merch. Or another great example of that is Baca after episode one. I'm like, I'm naming so many new era tribes. She's in the Owens tribe on season 43, right? Yes. Yeah. They did that first loss. And they bounced and got rid of Mariah. And then it was like a powder keg from then on with like Gabler and Ellie and all that. But then they never went back. So I think that there's enough good vibes on the other tribes that on all

like the two tribes didn't go that we need to see crack. And I think we're going to we're going to see that in the pre merge. Okay. The other tribe we haven't talked too much about the purple tribe, the Laghi tribe. Of course, that's the tribe with Shaheen and Joe and Thomas, Eva and Star and Bianca. Do you have any thoughts on this tribe? You're so good at this. Oh my God. I mean, I got all six without even a yeah, I don't have to search for it too much. Not bad for week one, but we have been talking about these people for like four weeks now. That's true.

One for you guys. You know, this is like week five for me. I think I'm very interested in this tribe. They're clearly the most if we're believing in like, complex tribes and whatever, and like whichever tribe is the most complex ends up being the one that like has the hero in it. Explain this to me, I've never heard this before. It's getting a little into edgy, if that's okay,

but complex tribe theory is basically the idea that whichever tribe you get to know the best and they care the most about the dynamics of that tribe, that's the tribe that will produce the winner. I think last season was the best example by far of it, where, or not the best ever, but maybe new era best example. When you looked at the care and consideration

that they put into the dynamics of whatever the yellow tribes name was. Yeah, don't have that one for some reason. When you look at the relationship between Andy and Rachel and Sam and that kind of like triumvirate that they had, we you knew exactly how Rachel felt about Andy throughout the whole game, how Andy felt about Sam, how Sam felt about Andy, how Sam felt about Rachel all around, right? Compare that to something like the Blue Tribe, to Tuku. Yeah.

You know? Did we really know how like at any given moment Caroline felt about Kyle or how like Kyle felt about Gabe or Gabe felt about, you know, TK. It was a lot more. We know how Sue felt about Kyle. We knew how Sue. Yeah. So they like not to say that like these tribes are completely under edited or anything.

It's just which tribe does do the editors care the most about? Yeah. OK. OK. So episode one, just like way too early to predict this. We got so much of the dynamics of this Purple Tribe. We got the three boys, we got Thomas, Bianca locked in. We got Eva and Joe locked, right? We got Star a little bit on the outs. We got like one-on-ones with Thomas and Cheen.

There was just a lot of like moving pieces that made me feel like everyone on this tribe is like very important in terms of the game itself. Is there one person in particular to you that was the standout in this complex? Honestly, a lot of this, there's a lot I want to talk about with this tribe. So I'll start. I'll start with Shaheen.

Yeah, I find Shaheen very fascinating. I think that he is there's there's a sharkiness to him that I feel like I've only, I feel like Dr. Mike where I'm like, there's a ferocity that transcends the game. That's what Kyle like. He loves that quote. Yeah. Yeah. Did you know that?

Did you know that? No, I had no clue. Oh my god, what a coincidence because that Mike Bloom asked Kyle, he said Kyle, tell me your favorite moment in Survivor history. He's like there's a moment in Survivor

35 when Dr. Mike talks about Ben and says he has a ferocity for this game that has never been seen before. And Mike is like, wow, that is a very deep cut pull. That is incredibly deep cut. And it makes me feel like so bonded to Kyle. That moment stood out to him too.

Yeah, there is a ferocity, I'll say. A sharkiness with Shaheen. The only new era player that I can really point to is actually Ricard, where you, like, just look at this. You look at this guy and you're like, oh, he's gonna be, like, a main character on the season. Like, he's just got, like, that... His main character energy for you.

Yes, exactly. And I'm very interested in him because he's a debate coach. Yeah. And I will say that like, as someone who did debate, like all of high school, who knows debate coaches very well. Okay. That because I feel like that your brother is well is more well known for being a debater. Really? Right. I feel like I didn't know that about you. And I feel like I know that about that was part of his background, I thought. Well, I lasted one episode, Rob.

So maybe if I had to talk around a little bit. I feel like that I don't know of you as a... I didn't know that was in your bio. No, it was. It was a big part of my casting story. I just didn't come up on the show because I mean, first of all, I wasn't going to tell people I could be deflating the you and Corey. No, you're thinking of him. He was much better than me, to be fair.

He was winning like every single competition. Anyways, with debate, especially the coaches, there is like it is really a game within itself. Yes. The debate coaches. And there is like a level of like toxicity and like social Politicking that I actually think translates really well to survivor in a way that's like kind of ugly but kind of fun Yes, so Yeah, I'm I'm interested in seeing

Shaheen bring that in but Basically, you hear all these rumors when you're a debate student about the coaches interfering and like, oh, this judge in this round is best friends with this coach. So we think they're gonna rank them higher and stuff. And is that true? Is it not? Probably a little bit true.

It's debatable, exactly. One thing we love to do in debate is complain. And if Shaheen is like, if that's his whole life, is this competition is this like, kind of maneuvering that comes with debate, I actually think that's going to be really fascinating to watch. Well, Zach, first off, who would win in a debate, you or Corey? Who would win in a debate? I would win, but he would think that he won.

Okay. Okay. All right. So we have to have then a vote for that. But I feel like that we should, when we get to talk about the survivor 50 stuff, we should debate all of the things for survivor 50 in the hands of the fans. Should we do it like true debate rules where like right before we flip a coin and that decides who's debating what. Okay. Yeah. Let's do that. Let's do that. After it. Let's talk through the describing. Then we'll do that. Okay. All right. So that's my thoughts on Shaheen. Very interested to

see how he like how his game progresses. I think that Joe and Eva is a... Like, Jeff said this is a season of duos. Like, this is 100% like the duo to watch at this point from what we've seen in episode one. What did you think about their scene? Like, where... Yeah, you know what? I thought it was beautiful. Like, very touching. Like, you know, I watched the show with the family.

Everybody was... Everybody liked that. My mom texted me about it. So, everybody is, you know, I watched the show with the family. Everybody was, everybody liked that. My mom texts me about it. So everybody is, you know, really loving it. But to me, I did not get yet that they are going to be a strategic duo. That I feel like that they have a great bond, but I'm not sure necessarily.

Like, I guess, I think it still remains to be seen if they're going to be like a powerhouse in the game. I got the vibe that they are 100% absolutely going to be a powerhouse, that they are locked in, like that this is going to be like, I guess the duo of this tribe. I found it very interesting. And I think that when Eva was bringing this to Joe,

she was doing it outside of the game, like bringing this like, hey, I wanna let you know, this is something that I have. This is something that I'm going to be dealing with throughout this game. And I need someone there with me to just be aware of that. So I don't think there was gameplay involved with that.

The thing is you can't actually separate, like there is no such thing as outside of the game while you're inside of the game of survivor. And I think what basically just happened there with Eva and Joe is in that moment that like disclosure has made them like the closest bond. So there's a good game element to it, right? Where they are now like so bonded. And I think that they really like, like I feel like they feel really good about each other within this game.

I think the risk that comes up now is that they kind of like, I feel at least, and I think Eva should know this too, cause she doesn't know Joe, right? And Joe doesn't know Eva. They don't know how each other are going to react. It's kind of like a Charlie and Maria situation, where Charlie thinks that Maria is going to be this great ride or die, and she kind of proves not to be because she doesn't back him up at all at the end. So they're making this leap of faith with each other. And in doing that, they're potentially really limiting their options in the end game. Because for Joe to kind of take on this like protector role

for Eva, someone that day one, he doesn't know. Like he doesn't know how she would react to a blind side that she could perceive as being a bond built on something outside of the game. Like they basically have kind of limited and like locked in with each other and are at risk if they end up wanting to turn on each other of really playing with fire with this outside of the game talk.

Yeah, and I don't think they will turn on each other. I just feel like that my issue with this as a long-term viable, that these two are gonna run the game together, is that I just feel like that they have very like, as opposed to complementary skill sets, I think they have like very parallel skill sets in terms of like, I feel like that both of them are people who have a great work ethic, who are strong challenge competitors with a big heart. Like I feel like that they're both very similar in that. And I feel like that

the best survivor alliances look at like a Steven and JT of like two people that have different superpowers who are coming together and like one plus one equals three with the two of them coming together. Like it's great that they were a duo, but I feel like that they sort of are bringing similar skills to the Alliance. Maybe, maybe, but also where I would push back on that bringing similar skills to the Alliance? Maybe.

Maybe, but also, also where I would push back on that is I think that just purely in demographics alone, they're, they have wildly different life experiences and they'll be able to relate to very different groups of people. Eva's the youngest person on the cast. Joe, I'd assume is like the second oldest, if I had to guess. Like I think right there, that is a huge difference when it comes to who are you naturally going to socially click with, right?

Yeah. We saw Joe connecting with the two dudes. We didn't see Eva connecting with Bianca or Star, but I'd imagine that there will be at least talks of a girl thing at some point on there. So I think that they do have enough distinguishing them where it's not just like Nick and Austin and Panama working together.

Yeah, and it is giving an old school pair of a Kentucky Joe and Elizabeth Fularski or like a Pascal and Nellia like, you know, two people that they have like this bond where they're going to be very, very close throughout the game and like tough to split up. Yeah, I see the upside of them as like a Tom and Ian. Funny enough, especially with the firefighter element of it. Like, I think that like they could really if they just lock in and are able to like kind of kind of play the game together.

I can see that. And then I think the downside is Charlie and Maria. Like I could see them either way. I think they're doing very well. I think that like they've been set up as like these like two clear heroes of the season. And I see a scenario where one of them makes it to the finals and the other one doesn't vote for them. Okay. All right. All right. After episode one, I would bet, you know, I don't want to say my life, but you know, something, something of a value. Okay. All right. A Billy Joel vinyl.

Okay. Fine. You got it. Billy Joel vinyl. Okay, fine. You got it. You want me to send it to you or you already have them? Send me which ones you have. I actually sent me them previously. I'll look through it. I'll pick mine. Okay.

All right. What about Thomas? What about Thomas? Love Thomas. Yeah. I think he's so much fun. I think he was a clear like comedy highlight. If we're doing like, who do I want to be 17th place

and join the club? Thomas is far away there. That's a question that we got. Who do you want to be in the 17th place club? Thomas is far, I mean, I don't want him to go out next, but he would be a perfect fit. Oh my God, he is exactly the lives. Did you add TK yet?

Yeah. TK's in. We did add TK actually. Yeah. TK's in. We added TK originally and he didn't say a single thing, but to be fair, we didn't really tell him what was going on. Yeah.

We just added his number to the group chat. He's in? Yeah, and then we were just like welcome. And then he didn't respond because he probably thought it was like spammers. And then when I met TK, Yeah. when I met TK, I literally said, hey, you didn't respond to us. And he was like, I have no clue what you're talking about.

And I showed him the group chat and he was like, oh, that's never said this was 17 place club. Yeah. You have to name it. Well, we changed the name because we didn't want TK to know what was going on. Oh, okay. All right. Well, but now he name because we didn't want TK to know what was going on. Oh, okay. All right. Well, but now he's an active participant. Yeah, he posted.

Let me see. The group chat was popping off. Let me see what we said. So yeah, here it is. So yesterday, Jessica Chong and Sarah Wilson posted a picture of them together. Yeah. Okay. I guess they were at a watch party together.

I said one week away from the big one, Sarah Wilson said, next week our baby is born. And then it was like a pregnant emoji. I said, I hope it's a boy. Yes. Okay. Who do you hope it will be? Thomas. I hope it's Thomas.

Okay, Thomas. If it can't be Thomas, my second picks would be Bianca or Mary. I think Mary. They'll add a lot to it. Yeah. Yeah. Is there anybody you're hoping that it's not? Maybe. I don't know. Hmm. Yeah. Is there anybody you're hoping that it's not?

Maybe. I don't know. Hmm. I think we can work with anyone. Yeah. I think that like there are, I don't want someone who will just like Chrissy. Chrissy's not participating. She's gonna hate it. You know, I don't know.

She would freaking hate it. Yeah. Like, you know, that would be an instant like block Do you she hey, I mean no, please none of you all 3d printed the puzzles. She hates that I Read that she hated that and I was thinking like, you know, I was thinking like oh my god like Got this never mind like, all right, cut this, nevermind. Yeah, we could keep this. I mean, what did you say?

You didn't say anything. I didn't say it. Yeah. Oh yeah, you cut it. You cut it before we even had the chance to. I cut myself, I cut myself. Yeah. I think the California girls, as in Alliance, by the way,

this is an Alliance that I think will not do well in the game at all. Oh, okay, it's a hot take. I have very little faith in in the game. Oh, okay. It's a hot take. I have very little faith in the California girls. Yes, okay. And people universally, even Steven Fishback said on the no one else, California girls, this is one of my favorite alliances of all time.

Oh, I love them. I think they're great. Like I think that they're a really fun group. I think that what the issue is, we're talking like this whole alpha beta thing again, looking at these three players, these are three like alpha players, you're all going to kind of their, their way to go. We've already got the clear conflict,

which is going to be who's the fourth person. Some of them want Eva Thomas wants Bianca. Yeah, that's gonna be a fight, especially when it comes time to vote. And they're like, oh, well, star is like a beast in challenges, like maybe we just wanna get Bianca out. Thomas is like, I don't want Bianca out. He flips, something's gonna happen, you know? Well, I do love, and I respect it so much that the Men's Alliance named itself

the California Girls. And just the naming of it has completely flipped the perception around. People are like, oh, my God, I am loving this. This is great. All you have to do was have a men's alliance and call it the girls alliance. That's it? If it's the final three, is the California Girls, is this the most successful all female alliance?

I applied, will people be mad? It's like dominating the game. And it's like, well, we called it the Girls Alliance. I mean, this is like, my mind is blown. Possibilities are endless. Maybe the reason why I think it's not gonna work is because they called it a girls alliance. Maybe. You're so instinctual like, oh, is that gonna work?

Yeah, I mean, I've been watching Australian Survivor. It doesn't work. This is like a Nathan Fielder idea of like, okay, what if there's a girls alliance that's all men oh my god what a dummy if I if I pitch that to rock story he'd be like but I'm not from California hey Romeo, get in here. Omer, hi. Where are the California girls? Think about it. Oh my god. Think about it. Yeah and after such a great year that Katy Perry is having. Yeah, hi would have loved it. Hi. Hi. I wonder if that kind of disqualifies you from the SIA award

because I would rather do like a SIA themed advantage or not an alliance name. Yeah. I don't know what that would be. I don't know. Does she have like a song with girls in it? Um, I mean SIA's a girl and she makes music. Yeah. S you songs. Okay. No, no, she doesn't. Cheap thrills. The cheap thrills lines. Cheap thrills. You see Katy Perry's going to the moon. I did not see this. Like is this like she has a meme coin that you're investing in? Is that what you're saying? Very good. No, Katie. Search up Katy Perry moon. Uh, or Perry will launch this space with historic all-female crew on the moon origin though that's the thing is it the California girls yeah okay she's going to the moon she's going okay Katy Perry is going to the moon

it's a woman's moon woman's moon. Woman's moon. Okay. So, Zach, I want to debate the different things. We have questions for you also. So I got a message from Sam and he said, hey, should I get Cory Wurtenberger in here to debate Zach? I'm like, I don't know. Let me ask you. Do you want to, would you rather debate your brother and I'll judge the debate? Is Cory, do you have Cory on deck right now?

I don't have him backstage. I told, I didn't want to. I don't know. You want to see if he's around? Yeah, we can keep Cory up. Okay, Sam. I'll give Sam the green light. This was Sam's idea. I'm like, I don't know. I'm jealous because this is my time with Zack, but Let's do all of the questions for I don't want him like jumping in on that. Should we let the fans vote if we should have Cory come on to debate you about the debate? Yes, yeah, I want to see how that they're gonna vote yes on that. Okay.

You don't have to let the world word it though like like should Corey word and burger. Yes Yes That if you like that kind of thing, but I don't know if it would work It's kind of I was kind of digging the vibe between Rob and Zack or yeah Yeah, no, he'll come. He'll ruin the podcast if he comes on. I will say that, yeah, I think that that's the way to do it. I think this was Eliza's best tweet in years.

Yes. With the pointing out the how they worded the fire making question. Very, very interesting. Very, very much a push pull.ull. Okay, well, let's, okay, let's just see if we can go through that in a minute. Let's let Sam see if Corey's around to do the debate. Okay, all right, but let me bring in some questions for you. That might be a faster... You think you can get a hold of him faster than Sam? I believe so. Mm-hmm. Okay, well we'll see, we'll see. All right.

Okay, now your car's not getting broken into again, right? I hope not. Okay, all right. How about, let's see, okay. Question for you, okay. Jack says, do you think that the men's alliances, especially on Purple, again, it's a girls' alliance, might have some cracks that cause them to crumble

and target each other. I have speculated that, okay, well, Star seems like an easy boot right now, but is there gonna be a battle, a tug of war if somebody has to lose their person, whether it's Thomas losing Bianca or Joe losing Eva? Thomas losing Bianca or Joe losing Eva? Here, wait, Sam, don't have him just cop on in five minutes. Like whenever we want to do the, uh, the segment.

We'll make it work. We'll make it work. Make it work. I just want Corey to have to be sitting there, you know, like you, you do want him to be sitting there. You don't want him to be sitting there. Oh, actually I kind of do want him to be sitting there. Yeah. We'll bring him in when he, when he comes in, we'll bring him in. Okay. All right. Sounds good. Um, yes, I noticed that I already said that I think that the California girls, I don't think this is a lasting alliance. I just think it's three very strong personalities who are going to want their way through.

You think it's like a Gabler, Sammy Owen situation? No, no, I don't think it's like that. Cause I don't really know if all of it was really with them. Well, but they were like the three longest lasting from that tribe, actually. It's actually one of the only tribes where all of the men outlasted all the women. Do you think that Gabler would have started some sort of like Midwest girls alliance that maybe it would have been more popular? No, no, no. I think that I think that Gabler was always doomed sadly. No, no, no. I think that I think that Gable was always doomed, sadly.

Here's the thing, though, I will say that noticing how it feels like the men on every single tribe are in a stronger position than the women on every single tribe, I think is yet another example of the survivor players, like responding to the season that just preceded them. I think we just they just just watched D-Win, they just watched Kenzie win. Like just like how my season 41 were very much people, like we're watching and being like, oh, we just had six male winners in a row.

There was a far more concerted effort from the women on that season to like, you know, beyond the, on the defense from that. Then we had season 43 and 44, where the women went out back to back to back to back to back in the pre-emerge 45 and 46, they're going into the game with that very much on their mind. And now-

The invoice is due for the ladies. It flips yet again. and all of a sudden, going into this game, the men are incentivized to defend each other a little bit more, uh, especially having just watched, like, you know, two final twos, or final threes, where it was two men, one woman, and the woman winning out. You don't even know that Rachel won.

Exactly, yeah. Genevieve did so good. If they had, right. So basically for the, for the, I'll say this, for the women who are going on season 49, Yes. You really want to root for a male winner here. Yeah.

What should they name their alliance? Like anything guys to then they're like, okay, wow. We'll keep them. They're cool. They're called like, OK, well, we'll keep them. They're cool. They're called like, come on. Yeah. Yeah. They're called the come on in guys. Yeah. That's a good name. I think if they bring it back.

Uh huh. That'd be beloved. That would that's one of the votes that would mobilize. We should vote on that We should yeah, we bring the guys back No, I don't think we should vote on that. I just think that we would really get a lot of a lot of action I mean it could be like look executive order sign that says that they have to bring it back. I Was gonna say I could see Trump Yeah, you never know. You don't know.

Okay, alright. I've got a question from Eric Stein. I love Eric Stein, one of my great friends. 15 years of history on Rob is a Podcast. But he rarely writes in a survivor question. So either he must be very fond of you, or he must be very excited for Survivor 48. I think it's me.

Maybe it's both. Because there is, maybe it's both. I don't know what it would be about 48, that he'd be like, man, 45, 46, and 47 really didn't do it. Okay. But two hours in, this season. Yeah, Eric Stein, and that Sam put in the show notes, BB Ericstein, yes, no, I know of him.

With so many genuinely nice people in the cast, will niceness actually be rewarded this season? Does the sheer volume of nice people change the entire group's voting criteria, or will they be targeted for being such overt jury threats? Now, was that a big takeaway that you had that these people are super nice? I didn't get that takeaway that these are all super nice people.

They seem nice, not to say they're not nice. I think that we didn't see any big fights here in episode one other than maybe like, say, and Stephanie at Tribal Council were kind of going at each other back and forth. I think that if Say is the one person who has a little bit of an edge to her this season, surrounded by people who all end up maintaining this like niceness, we're probably going to see a lot of say, would be my guess. And that say will continue to-

Yeah, I think she should have like 22 confessionals, I think. That's crazy. That's absolutely insane. Yeah, I think it was like probably like, you know, 71 new era players that don't have 22 confessionals. I think if you combined the first like five boots of my season, we would not hit 21 confessionals.

It's amazing. She's off to a historic pace. Mariah, Jenny. Yeah, no way. No way. We're hitting 25. All right. Okay. All right. So, oh, look, we have somebody here at the podcast door. Look who it is. Corey Wurtenberger is here. Oh, wow. This is crazy. What am I doing here? Corey.

I don't know. Okay. Well, what we wanted to do is we had this idea of that I was going to debate Zach about the things that people can vote on for Survivor 50 but then we talked about how the the Wurtenberger brothers are both incredible debaters and we said well what if there was a Wurtenberger debate over the things people can vote on for Survivor 50. Wow. Are you up for that Cory? There's a lot of pressure.

I'm beyond up for it. I mean, there's nothing that Survivor players like more than big brother players commenting on their game. Well, there's also, but there's two Survivor players here. I suppose. Yeah. Yeah. And then Zach said he would flip a coin.

So you're not even necessarily arguing what you believe. Cause that way- I just voted for your support. And that way then the stands won't get mad at you for like your presenting the opinion that they don't believe in. You might actually believe in it. You might be debating something

that you actually feel very strongly against. Rob, don't get mad. When they clip it out of context, for sure. I know. For sure. Yeah, that will happen. That's Nicole and. Exactly.

Yeah, I'm gonna get a DM from Eliza after this. It is what it is. Hey, that's cost to doing business, okay? All right. Okay, let's do it. All right. So, all right. So this is, we've got a great question first of all Cory. How are you doing?

I'm doing well Zach and I are having a great podcast. I can tell yes our 34. No, no Yeah Where's America? Can she come in and say hi? Not not quite She shouldn't watch the premiere. Okay. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay.

I don't want her to get spoiled. All right. All right. So we have these great questions that have come up and that we're able to... Survivor 50 is in the hands of the fans. Okay. Here, I'll go in the middle here. In the hands of the fans.

And so this first question that we're gonna let people, let's start with the players' buffs. Choose the tribe colors that you would like to see for Survivor 5. Now there's three options for this one. I don't know how we do this. I guess I have to debate one of the three. Yeah, you do this.

OK? Well, I assume this will be a fan's vote after. Like, they'll decide the winner of each debate. I guess the fans can decide what they want. OK, so how do we do this, Zach? How do we do this with those three different options? Option A is blue, orange, and green. Option B is orange is back, this time with teal and purple.

And option C is like a more of a neon green, red and yellow. Uh-huh. Okay, how are we gonna divide this one up? Let's just have Sam. Sam, if you can choose. Well, I guess maybe for, then, let's just do it in the order that we're in A, B, C. Okay.

So Corey, you have to argue. Let's like reverse the order though. Let's reverse the order. Okay. You want C? I'm gonna take C. Okay. All right.

I'll be B. Okay. Perfect. Do anything. All right. How much time do we have? I think we need to do a minute each on the color. 60 seconds on the clock.

Sam, can you keep the time on this? Okay. All right. All right, Zach, you're up first. So let's talk about blue, orange, and green as the buffs. Mm-hmm. Yeah. All right. Guys, you know we're doing three tribes again. Blue, orange, and green holds a special place to my heart. I'm doing this a personal argument. These were the colors of Survivor 42. Now let me ask you, why would we wanna use the same colors,

especially considering that the orange even looks red? I don't know. I really hate it. I really hate this one. I think that let's look at the colors below it, okay? You got some purple in there, blue and purple, classic combination, orange and yellow. I cede my time.

Okay, all right. I have to go an orange, teal, and purple, okay? All right, these colors are hot, okay? That teal is fluorescent, okay? The 90s are back, big, bright, bold colors for Survivor 50. You could imagine all of your faves wearing these beautiful colors.

Everybody's gonna look great. It's the choice of young people, but then there's also purple, a classic. I vote for option B. Wow, you guys have really made some good arguments. It's gonna be tough to face. Tell us, Corey, why should people us Corey was for green red and yellow We don't have ugly ass orange

Are you kidding? It's gonna be the ugliest buff color I've ever seen there's kind of two camps of survivor fans There's the we want old school survivor back and shut up your annoying new school is fine Option B is like it reminds me a lot of Cambodia with that like ugly fuchsia and the weird like cyan. This is really what we want. We want this weird middle era with voting blocks. It's either time to take a step forward or make that homage to season one, that yellow.

Is that taggy? Taggy yellow? I feel like it's a nice all encompassing picture of what Survivor 50 is supposed to represent. I yield my time. All right. Yeah. Can I know Cory like basically cheated by deciding that he wanted C, which was the best

one in my opinion. I make my argument as a genuine pitch. Okay. Yes. And the reason why I like C the best and I think is terrible. No ugly ass orange. Is that what it is? This is actually my one, because Cory cheated,

is these are the original All-Star colors. And I think that's very cool for a throwback for the 50th season. I would argue that the green was, the mogo, mogo green was a little darker. This is where I think that we should really just be able, they should just give us a color wheel and let us put our mouse on what she. That makes me wanna vote against option C also, by the way. Yeah, vote against Shapiro.

Yes, yes. Okay, all right. Yes. Did you see, Zach, that they mentioned Survivor the Amazon flashback? I did, I did. Yeah, it was Mitch talking about it. Did they mention Survivor the Amazon flashback? I did, I did.

Yeah, it was Mitch talking about kind of like seeing himself on the show. Yes. So that was very nice. Yes. Is Mitch Jeff himself? I don't believe so. I think he just has a speech impediment. I don't believe that it is anything to do with his hearing.

Gotcha, okay. Okay, All right. Next up. All right. Now that was the warmup. Rice or no rice. Okay. Here's the question that we have.

Okay. And so this is the framework. Camp life! Exclamation point. Do you want to make it a bit easier on the tribes and let them start with a supply of rice? Or do you want them to earn their rice through effort or sacrifice?

Option A is give them rice. Option B is make them earn rice. Okay, do we have a coin to flip? How will we decide this? I'll just let Sam Moore decide. Sam? Yeah, I'm Sam Moore decide. Sam. Yeah, I'm good with either. Okay.

Sam. I'll give them rice. Cory is. Okay, so Zach is gonna be representing give them rice and we'll give you two minutes on this one. You don't have to use all your time. Well Cory, I went first last time, so would it be okay if Cory went first?

You went first and last last time, to be clear. Well, yeah, but you are the first. OK. All right. Corey is going to represent make them earn rice. 26 days. You can't do 26 days without rice. Zach might not be able to answer objectively. He did three days without rice. He does not exactly have a basis for comparison.

I was a have not for three weeks. It was challenging. Granted, in Big Brother, eating is not a massive part of the experience. In Survivor, if we're doing a 26 day resort stay, you go to the sanctuary every other episode, and you get rice off the start, what are we even doing? I would petition to just do a spring season of Big Brother and throw them in.

That's basically what we're watching. I don't want that. I'm a survivor fan. Make them earn it. Let's do it. Okay. Zach, why should the survivors get rice? I got two arguments here.

I've got the people, an argument for the people who like the survivors and an argument for the people who don't. Okay? Number one, argument, an argument for the people who like the survivors and an argument for the people who don't, okay? Number one, argument, give them the rights for the people who like the survivors. This is not a 26 day game, okay? I have heard from people

who are going through this whole thing, they are so miserable. It is the worst experience ever to be in survivor casting. Okay. They are literally every single night losing sleep. The game has already started for them. Okay, they are so, so, so messed up. Okay, let them have freaking rice when they're there. And then they're going to go on the show, and they're going to ruin their legacy. And then everyone's going to hate them after they

love them. It's going to be a horrible experience for 90% of them. Why not make it a little bit better for these people? Give them rice for the people who hate the survivors, which I'm specifically talking about the old schoolers who say that it's so easy. This is another thing that you're gonna have over them. Right now, we can say that we didn't get rice, okay? And that is a big notch on our belt. Okay, that's time. Okay. Corey, do you have a rebuttal?

My main argument that I think Zach forgot to make was, if we don't give them rice, we're gonna have to watch a segment about them earning the rice. And I don't wanna watch that. That the rice And I don't want to watch that Angelina maybe all right, okay, all right next up We have a vote on final four firemaking, okay

Yeah, I love that. They were of these questions. Okay. It says okay Let's get into some gameplay the final four fire making showdown has delivered some of the most dramatic moments in survivor history, but Not every fan is on board. Where do you stand? Okay? We have first keep it it gives players control of their destiny or Lose it let them vote someone out just like the early seasons. OK, who is going to be taking which position? Zach, you could pick. I'm happy with either. OK, I'll make well, and then will I I'll go first.

Do you want Sam to flip a coin or you guys got this? I want Sam to flip a coin. I don't want to. Okay, Sam, flip a coin. Could have just flipped it in the shot. Okay, well like heads or tails? I don't know. All right.

Tails never fails. All right. We'll get a tail. All right. It is heads. Okay. All right, Zach, what do you want? All right. Then I'm going to do I'm going to do get rid of fire. OK. All right. All right. So seems like a layup. OK.

Corey, you're going to start. Yeah, let's do it. OK. Keep it. Oh, my God, we all hate fire making. And yet the new era has produced a great crop of winners. Does anybody see this cognitive dissonance? Oh my God, we all hate fire making. And yet the new era has produced a great crop of winners. Does anybody see this cognitive dissonance? Why do you think it is that since fire making has been put into place, we've maybe had one super dissatisfying winner of nine seasons?

The whole premise is, okay, you don't get them out of Final Four and now you get them out of Final Five. Outside of Omer, has that actually happened? The goal of fire making was to do two things, make them more deserving players, get to final travel more reliably, and two, to make closer votes in that final three. And it's done both things. Just because we had an opinion when the twist was introduced

and it was introduced in a very unfair manner, doesn't mean we can't change our opinions based on the abundance of new information we've received. The twist worked. I don't love it, but it worked, and I'm willing to admit it. Okay, Zach. Yeah, I think the argument against fire making is actually really clear. It's just pushed

these targets getting pushed earlier. It's also making it so that like social gameplay is a lot less valuable. Rob does have Carson winning Carson would be a survivor winner if there wasn't fire making. I just wanna throw that for the casuals. I just wanna say, you know, Carson 100% wins that season if there's no fire making. You know, that's something. And it's produced some great moments, I will admit,

but you know what's great about having a vote? See, still sometimes get the fire making and it actually is a special thing when that happens. And it's gonna be really fun to watch these people play not knowing if there's fire making and then especially when there's not. Yeah. You know, as we're talking it through that, not to put my finger on the scale, but really, the final four fire making really hasn't mattered. like really the final four fire making really hasn't mattered. Like it did like for Gabler and Chris Underwood, but you know, all the other people like, uh, didn't even get involved

with the final four fire making all the other winners in the new era. Well, who goes home in 46 without fire making. Cause I kind of think it's Kenzie who goes home in 46 if it's what it was it's Liz Ben Unity Ben Charlie Liz Kenzie. I think Kenzie goes hmm It might be a two-two tie and it might have to end up being fire making there That's why I kind of feel like lose it and then half the time you get it anyway when they have a two-two vote Right, that's my evolved feeling on it. I will say I will, if I'm going to give fire making any credit,

winners at war, fire making is genuinely one of the most dramatic moments. Yes, yes, yes. I forgot that one. I forgot that one. Tony, Tony won and made the fire and won. So I just don't know if I believe the the bigger threats are pushed earlier. And obviously, Survivor is masterful in the way they edit a lot of deserving winners. So like, it always feels like we have enough threats towards the end. But like, sure, you might lose a Genevieve, but you still have Sam and Rachel. How big of a threat was Sam actually? No one really knows.

So it's like I think that premise was always what I believed. My biggest problem with fire making by far is just you can idle at five, fire making at four. Like there has to be one round, I think where you have to get through on a survivor, whatever. Okay. All right. And then one more question vote reveal in Los Angeles or Fiji. Okay.

Looking ahead dot dot dot. Should we bring back the live finale and reunion show in Los Angeles or keep the winner reveal and after show in the jungles of Fiji? Live in Los Angeles or keep it in Fiji? Corey, you took the harder one last time. I'm willing to take keep it in Fiji if you're willing to take LA. We might have two keep it in Fiji's then.

Oh! This is, are you kidding me? Okay. Well then flip the coin to see who has to take. All right. Let's flip the coin. We got it. Okay. All right. Does that all right, Zach heads or tails? I'll stick with heads. Okay. Sam is in the, in the chat. It looks like tails to me. Okay. Corey, so you're going to get the key in Fiji. Oh yeah. Okay. All right. So Zach, you can go first live in Los Angeles. That says live in Los Angeles, but let me tell you what it says to me. I live in Los Angeles. So if the finale is here, then I get to go to that that will be so fun. You

know, it was a real bummer for the past, you know, eight seasons that they didn't do this, it really felt like a piece of the survivor experience was missing. But that being said, like, we missed a lot, I didn't get an intro sequence, you know? I didn't get my torch. I didn't get the 90 minute episodes, okay? Us early, new era people, we missed out on a lot and I've moved on from that.

The live in Los Angeles, it deserves it, it's there. We've had it for so long, it's great. It'll cost CBS a decent amount of money. And I think that that's kind of fun. I think that we should be charging up these people, especially if they're not giving us 39 days. So I say, let's let it rip. And then one more thing, I want to be able to see,

I loved getting to see people after they've like come back home and they've like gained a little hair on their head. I will say, Zach, how many survivor alumni are you willing to have sleep on your couch, on your floor? How many alumni are crashing at your place? I think it's anywhere between three to six. Three to six, okay. Yeah, I think it works depending on the alumni.

All right, yeah, first to four is gonna have Three to six, okay. Yeah, I think it works depending on the alumni. All right. Yep. First to four is gonna have the say there. Okay. All right, Corey, keep it in Fiji. I'll have a say with me. Yeah, well, let's just get this straight, Zach. You want a 26-day season where they get fed every day and then all the prejuries get paid

handsomely for their getting voted out early, showing up to the reunion. They get a certain point. Again, we're not doing Survivor anymore. And most importantly, my seminal point, if you've ever been to these influencer get-togethers, the reunion, there's going to be a lot of Survivor, Big Brother alum in the building. It does more harm than good. You don't want to let that out there. These LA gatherings, I can't explain to you how damaging it will be to the

survivor and Big Brother ecosystem. But if you've been to one of these events, you know, that damage will be there, especially if it's run by CBS. So this is my argument. Very simply put, we don't want to open that Pandora's box. Sorry for Big Brother reference. And I rest my case. Okay. Yeah. Can I, can can I can I rebut that?

Yes. I think I think the words and Big Brother, we're doing a lot of heavy lifting through that entire conversation. I've been to plenty of survivor things. We are not you. OK. Jared's going to be there. Blue's going to be there. Jared's going to be there. Blue is going to be there with Jared's going to be there. You're in the field. Oh, all of them.

Everyone in L.A. Bowie is going to be DJing. Brother, I will not let survivor be limited. I think rather. Yeah. Well, sir, he's not going to. Yeah, sorry. Oh, that's very different. Don't deserve us. If you can't handle us at our Jared, you don't get us at our series. Yeah.

Okay. All right. There you go. That's the survivor in the hands of the fans debate. So that's survivor I T H O T F. That's what we're going with. Yeah. Well, Corey, thank you for popping in to help us debate what's on the minds of the fans.

Thank you all and to all the voters. Vote with your heart. Yes. Corey, anything you want to tell people to check out? I stream, just look up my name on Twitch. What's the figure by that lock? It's what there's an Astronaut and a dog and then there's John Locke. Yeah, John Locke. Okay. All right. It's my guy. Yeah, all right

Yeah, we have to go back to Los Angeles There is appreciate you guys have fun podcast. Okay. All right. There you go. All right. All right. All right. That was fun. Yeah. Wharton Burger family reunion debate. That's what Thanksgiving is like. A little bit, honestly, before we

before we both did our shows, that is literally like how we would talk to each other is we would just get into these like hour-long arguments about like, is JT a good player or, you know, who's going to win winners at war? Like we really, we really would go at each other with that stuff. Okay. All right. Look at you now. Okay. And we're doing it for the world, for the survivor nation. Okay. Justin Feinberg was, did Stephanie pass on her knowledge of Reiki to Zach?

Stephanie Berger or Stephanie Wurttemberger? I think Stephanie Berger. Do you know anything about energy healing? No, I don't know anything about energy healing. I remember Reiki was the thing that Tanya and white Lotus was like no Reiki Yeah, that's literally my only context for it. So I don't think I'd like it Okay, all right, how about a question Jordan Kalish asked is there a burger curse on survivor?

Why are these burgers and Wharton burgers being taken off the grill so prematurely? And is that also, uh, are they too rare? So, yeah, right. Can you run through the burgers for me real quick? Like it's me and Stephanie. Are there others? Are there other burgers from survivor? I'd have to do a search. A lot of Stephanie burger right now.

Yeah. I got this. I can do this real quick. Mm hmm. Just go to the wiki and I search burger. Yeah. This is some good cat. Cap and now we don't count. We don't we definitely don't count her. I got it. There's Aaron Burger.

Yeah. And then there's Ian Rosenberger. Yes. Ian Rosenberger. This is from Rob's Fact Checker. Aaron Rice Burger. Should they give them Rice Burger or not? Zach Warren Burger. Stephanie is Stephanie Burger.

Oh, you know what? They should do the, like the have not America's vote. Like it shouldn't be like, should they have rice? It's like, should they get gummy worms and mayonnaise? Like foods for survivor 50. Yeah. I don't think there's a curse because how do you explain Ian? You know, yeah, he did well. And claim it's a curse and you can't say that for people not winning is A curse. I don't think so. So I believe the next burger will do it. Okay. All right How about Bobby Hall asks unless your tribe is obviously the physically strongest should you ever volunteer to do the puzzle in the first immunity challenge? Yeah, it's a really interesting question the puzzle in the first immunity challenge? Yeah, it's a really interesting question.

Because you did the puzzle in the first immunity challenge. I did the puzzle in the first immunity challenge. Would you not recommend? Sarah? Is that a is that a move like that? Would you say if you had to do it again like, hmm? No, no, I would want to do the puzzle again. I think I think back on what you said, actually, about your All-Stars experience, right? Yeah. Where you,

like, were sitting there watching them lose the puzzle, thinking to yourself, like, God, I could have done that. And I feel like if I had sat out of the puzzle, that's what I would. Yeah. My life. I think at the end of the day, I could have done that. But I felt like, oh, boy, we got Sue Hawk and big Tom working on this puzzle. Like, did we put our, we, did we put our best puzzle team out there?

Did we balance it out? Yeah. I think that in retrospect of my tribe losing every big Tom also, I think I would do the puzzle still. I would just change how I acted after. Cause the truth is we came into that puzzle in last place and then we left it in last place. Like it was not the puzzle we lost on.

The taking the blame for it, I should have just gone in there and been like, yeah, no, we did great on that puzzle. And fully like hyped myself up instead of beating myself up. And I think Stephanie should have done the same. Okay. Ben asks, Stephanie mentioned that she did make social connections with Cedric and Justin. So what's the key into turning those into strategic bonds

in the first couple of days? It's not the problem of making them between Cedric and Justin. It's the problem with not making it with, say, when you identify the person who is the leader, that's the person that you most need to be careful of. It would have been perfectly fine if she was like all right with Justin,

all right with Cedric, and like all right with Say, as long as no one is pointing to her as like the one person. Because at the end of the day, it became a binary choice for Justin and Say, who liked Say and liked Stephanie and were either way voting out someone they liked. I'm trying to go back to my notes from the pre-season and say really did not care for Stephanie in the pre-season.

She did not like her. She called her the, she doesn't like the art lady. She was doing art, so he did not care for her. Didn't say, also say she wanted to work with the guys too. I remember her saying, I get along better with guys. Yeah, the Mohawk curly black hair with somebody. She's like, I don't know if that maybe, because that's been Shaheen. See, I don't know if that maybe, cause that's been Shane.

See, that's the thing is that I think that Stephanie was always going to have a hard road with say, and I think that like, and I don't blame Stephanie. I don't think that she like played bad at all this, this round. I think that what Stephanie needed to do at the, well, okay. Three, three outs for Stephanie, right? Number one is get say on your side to the point where say is not looking at you as the first target right? Number one number two is go full hog against say and like

Turn everyone on her like make try to make the big move Try to get everyone to flip like and that's kind of what she did. She didn't go full force with it, but she, um, that's what she ended up choosing option three, try to throw Mary under the bus. Try to that's like the Tory move be like, all right, well, I'm throwing my ally out as long as it's not me, whatever. It's probably the move that had the best chance of working at the end game, but I don't like the move still because it like seeds so much agency in the game and like you're basically leaving yourself on an island. And then if

you get voted out, you're going to sit there kicking yourself being like, God, I should have tried to make the big move. So regardless, I think the best move from the start was really like put all in and try to make say like you. And maybe, you know, more so than Mary. At the very least. Yes, yeah, exactly. It's like, like, try to get Mary out, but it's like, oh, my God, say, you know what? I like it took me a second.

I totally get you now. Mary, Mary still says like she doesn't she doesn't see it. But I get it. It's yeah, you don't have to outrun the bear. You just have to outrun your friend. Right. Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah. And you know, like I'm not targeting Mary. I'm just like trying to get to say like I just need to be Say's favorite. I just need to be the person that say likes on this tribe the fifth most. The thing I don't like about that strategy, which would have saved her. So it's obviously better.

It's obviously baseline better than what ended up happening. The issue is it really gives up your power for the next time. And if they were to go to another tribal, which as you said, you think they're going to be like the loser tribe, you think they're going to be like the loser tribe, you think they're going to be going to a lot, but to in a lot of danger come, the next I'm thinking of swathi, right, who basically did that to me, swathes the next boot, I'm thinking of, who else I'm thinking of key Sean right? Keyshawn saw Rome as this all-powerful dude, ceded all tri-power to Rome,

and let Rome just cut him at the next vote, you know? Like, that's what I don't like about that plan. It saves you a day, but then kind of puts you at the mercy of someone else, especially day one. Even though it didn't work for John Lovett. I'd like to love it going for Annika there, you know? Yeah. I think the problem with, say, that's different than Rome, where Rome had a number one in

Genevieve, it seemed like there was a move like, like, Teenie and Kashawn. And I think that what we've come to find is that Genevieve is actually pretty close with Kashawn also, that we got to see that clip a million times of Genevieve, you know, how could you? But like at least there was like another soft target that they could have gone for if they didn't put the votes on Rome in that spot. I don't know who the soft target is. If you want, if you think that say might play her idol, then who do you put the votes on? Cedric? They love Cedric. Yeah. Whose perspective are we talking from? We're talking from Justin and Kevin. If they want to say, okay, well, let's not let, say, dictate what this tribe is going to be about.

But, you know, she might play her idol. What are we doing here? Now, ultimately, she doesn't play her idol. You really have to sell it there as, look, we know regardless that Seyi is voting for me. And if I'm the collateral on this move, then congrats. I'm out anyways, and now she doesn't have an idol, which is going to be an even bigger problem for you next round. So like, yes, it's a scary shot to take, but I'm the one who's taking the bullet and you need to handle this problem sooner than later.

Okay. Zach, anything else on your mind about Survivor 48? I had like, I was looking through my notes. There was one thing. It was the pizza shirt. Yes. Justin's pizza shirt. Why does his shirt just say pizza? Well I don't know if they were gonna let him wear maybe the Luigi's Pizza logo.

So you think that they like I feel like they should I mean it's his it's his own this is national exposure. Yeah, I don't know. Can I be honest? What? Kind of gave porn star. The pizza shirt gave porn star. How just like ambiguous, like, Hey, the pizza's here. Okay. So in the, in the movies, you know that they have a person no better than me. I mean, this is old school. This is a new era. Yes. Yes. Okay. Yes. Um, yeah.

Okay. Well, when you put it that way. You see what I mean? Like, we need to get the plot out quick. Like this is the pizza guy. I feel like it's more like giving like he's in a school play and he's like a food group. Like he's just like, like he's like labeled pizza in the play. Or it's like, or it's like a New Yorker, like political cartoon. Like, it's like a talk in a, you know, Michelle Obama era, like food restrictions. He's the

Yeah. He is in the clubhouse, the number one person answering the questions with his job title of like, you know, it's just like in the restaurant. See, I was going to say, see, what's funny is I think the sleeper for that is going to be Cedric. And I'm curious, do we have a new Dr. Mike on our hands? Yeah. Well, I feel like Dr. Mike, I feel like did not necessarily have like, too many,

like I feel like he did not do a lot of urology. On the tongue. Yeah. And maybe the standards and practices were like, actually you can't do any of that. I did, I really liked, I heard in some preseason thing that Cedric was like, part of my job is to make people trust me to like, you know. Yeah, they have to show me like very sensitive areas. Sensitive areas, yeah. And I was like, I think that's a really different thing going on.

Cause like no one's just doing that. You know, like there's usually a pretty serious reason, right? Like you're at the doctors. Yeah. I don't know if that's going to work in the game. Yeah. So not the specialist, but he is, I just rewatched, I just rewatched out of nowhere for some reason, the brand enhance removal. Yes. No reason. Yeah.

Literally. Oh, maybe a little reason. Yeah. Okay. That should be one of the votes should Brandon hands go to prison. Yeah. Again, let's save that for in the hands of the fans. We'll have all the hands family polls.

We'll leave that for them. I think we should like let let the legal system do its job. OK, yeah, I support that in the hands of the justice system. Justice in the hands of the system. Justice. He's in the hands of the justice system. Yes, okay. Zach, I think we're off to a great start this season. Is there- The T-Bird's gonna, what is T-Bird gonna-

In the old era interview? So this is what my vision is. I feel like that, okay, so the new era people, you all are on it. Like you're gonna break down the episode, we're gonna have a chance to chat. We can, you know, go and talk about some tangents. I feel like that we were largely tangent free.

Is that fair? I think so. Well, I think we went on a lot of- A little bit. Did you have a tangent? Did you have like a tight five or anything you wanted to do? No, no, we went on a lot of journeys, is what I'll say. But I think we made it through.

We made it through every single tribe. We hit the main points. Yeah. I don't think there was a part of this two hour episode that we didn't hit in the past two hours. But with the old era people like I'm just like the victory is just getting them on the phone. Some of them is like, hey, let's talk to this person. Maybe they have takes. Maybe they're like they don't know anybody's name.

You know, I'm sort of trying to piece it together. That's just like sort of like the episode is just like a jumping off point to just say hi. OK, so it's a little bit of talking with T-Bird style. A little bit talking with T-Bird style, but it's sort of like with the backs, you know, against the setting of like, hey, did you watch Survivor this week? I guess it's, that makes a lot of sense.

I guess just the crisis I have with it is still, and we already talked about this, but still wrapping my head around someone like Gabby Pascuzzi being an old school player, you know? Or like... What I told Sam was like, get me on the phone with any survivor. I could do 45 minutes standing on my head.

And I would love it of just like, hey, let's just, let's just, you know just check in with this person. How's everything going? Good? Watching the show? And they're not gonna be like, who's the girl with the thing? Like, oh.

Should you make it a real? Is that Eva? Okay, I see the vision. I'm gonna be listening. Yeah, I'm gonna leave the heavy lifting for you all, the New Era people, on Thursday. But then, I'm gonna, maybe I'll talk to them on Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I meet the people where they are. So you tell me what's good for you. I mean, it's feedback show by, is the sense I get.

Yeah, not even feedback, because I don't even know we're going to maybe I'll maybe I'll ask some people some some questions from the listeners, but it's more just like, you know, check in. What are they what are they up to? You know, yeah, I mean, the feedback in the sense of like, it's the goofier one. Like you got like, that's what serious condo. That's oh, that's the goofy one. Mm hmm. That's we'll get into the social media and everything else like that's like a, and luckily we have some good social media to talk about with Chappelle on Monday. Yes, very good. We've already put Brandon Donlin on, get any, any survivor link that's going on this week,

any interesting things he's going to, he's going to flag it. We'll talk about that on Club Conde. I gotta say, I gotta say, say you're really picking up the slack of the rest of your season. Yes. With the social media. Yes. I want to find... I want Say's Twitter to be deleted by episode three. I want it to be back by episode four. Let us eat. Let us live. Yeah. I want there to be an episode where you're like sick to my stomach thinking about next episode. And like you have an amazing episode. I want the full Venus experience.

Yeah. Hopefully she'll deliver on that. So we'll see. All right. Let me tell you about what else is going on for you, for Zach and also for the listeners I'll tell them also okay. It would be rude if I only told Zach what was going on, but of course we know survivor Dot-com of course we're just getting Started this week. We've got all of the shows why why Stephanie lost in case You know you still had questions about that the B&B survivor global the in case you still had questions about that. The BNB, Survivor Global, the purple pants, Survivor News, everything Survivor, it's all in one place, weknowsurvivor.com.

Then you can be chatting along with us. Are you in the group chat, Zach? I am not in the group chat. Oh, we gotta get you in. Head on over to the VIP Survivor Group Chat, where we're chatting along with all the survivors about everything that's going on. We were chatting live during the episode.

Check it out, it's called Chat BCC. They asked Steven and I, hey, can you get a bunch of survivors talking about the episode? We said that. You can check that out. Go to robinswebsite.com slash VIP Chat to join in the fun there It's completely free and you can see what all this I think like 20 plus survivors are there just chatting and talking about what's going on

Very cool. Okay, the traders on Thursday night. We had our tenth episode of the traders I I won't ask you any spoilers. Are you caught up? Oh Mary caught up. Mary caught up. Okay. Yeah. Was that on your list of shows? I don't know. Maybe I'll get your, all your shows, get your takes on other shows. Oh, real quick. Rapid Fire. Traders, I think I don't actually care anymore. I think that there's a fundamental game flaw in it where the faithfuls at the end always

are not really the ones that I'm interested in anymore. And especially since Carolyn was my main rooting interest for the season. And I mean, look, if Danielle can pull it off, props to her. I just don't see a single world where that happens. So I kind of feel like the winner is going to be a little bit of a snoozer. Check it out. We know traders dot com and that will be live in Boston. Rob has a website. I come slash Boston. Sam saying that there's only five tickets left at the time of course,

if you're one of the lucky five top five baby. Congratulations. I'll see you in Boston. If not better luck next year. The White Lotus, one of Zach's shows, comes out on Sundays. Josh Wigler and I are recapping it all at WeKnowScriptedTV.com. And on Friday, I'll be taking questions from the patrons. We'll do our Survivor Q&A live Friday afternoon, 3 p.m. Eastern. So many members of the Wurtenberger family are part of our Patreon community. Survivor is better when you have a tribe. So join us and check out everything we have going on.

If you're watching two hours and 13 minutes of another Survivor podcast, you are exactly who we're looking for. So come on over. You could try out being a patron for free for seven days at robinsthewebsite.com slash patron. Where you'll also- Are there any patrons on the show, just out of curiosity? No, not that I know of, not to my knowledge. 47 was big, but 48, the pendulum swings back. There's an alliance of people who aren't patrons who are called the patrons. Oh, should we have to make them pay to vote? Should we make it like patrons get to?

Yeah, patrons vote for free. Also, you can check out Josh Winkler and I recapping Survivor Heroes versus Villains 15 years after the fact. You can check out our episode three recap of Survivor Heroes vs. Villains over on Patreon as well, braveswebsite.com slash patron. Can I ask you something about that?

Can I ask you something? Anything. You, okay, this is the fan and me talking, right? Because I see that you and Josh, like you guys recapped, you guys recapped Heroes vs. Villains, you guys recapped Heroes Villains, you already recapped San Juan del Sur, you're doing all these recaps. Is there a reason that like,

you're not turning these recaps and these times spent on these recaps into another evolution of strategy now that we're so far gone from 31 through 40? So you want us to go back to 30, do 31? I think that like the time, especially now that 50 is like about to be here. I remember you guys started the evolution of strategy on 28. Like, I feel like if there was ever a time to, you know, bring, bring that back.

You know. Yeah, potentially. That's something that we could have. It would be it's a big undertaking to do. Also, Josh doesn't really love all the seasons in the 30s and we're gonna hit a point of the stuff he really doesn't like. So it's hard to start that journey. You could do a nine chapter book.

Yeah. If you wanted to. Yeah. So I don't know. We might think about it. We might think about some way to do it. You know, that's my that's my pitch. Yeah. What else? What else is new for you? Um, nothing. I mean, that's that's what I got going on. It's been a lot of fun. I'm excited. Survivors back. I think this can be a really fun when you're not working or watching television. I'm excited Survivor's back. I think this can be a really fun. What are you doing when you're not working or watching television? I mean, you know, playing a lot of Blood on the Clock Tower.

Oh. That's been a lot of fun. Yes. Boy, that group chat is, blows up. Oh, I'm so into it. I mean, it's like, literally I'll play a game and then after the game I'm debriefing in like six separate side conversations where I'm like, literally I'll play a game and then after the game, I'm debriefing in like six separate side conversations

where I'm like, I get a text from, it killed me. I got a text from Fishback like 24 hours after a game. And he was like, it just said like, I think Owen made the wrong call. Yeah, you know what? It's so like, cause so many of my survivor friends are way into it. They're in the weeds.

And I wish I loved it as much as you all did. It took me a minute to- I wish it spoke to me like it does to you guys. Yeah, exactly. You would be a good storyteller. Oh, maybe. I could see that more. And I think that would be fun for you as like an analyst,

especially like within this world We actually get a lot from that. You know, that's my role when we do the like the taped ones Yes, and I enjoy that but as far as playing it's like I don't know if it's for me I get it My problem on these games like a lot of times I'm telling the truth and people don't believe me. And I get like indignant and like, like, hey, I'm not lying. I'm telling the truth. I think that people think it's funny to kill me then.

I have to like, well, but that's the... My problem is, and this is, I'd be bad on the traders too. Like I think it's too entertaining when I'm being wrongfully accused of things. People like that and then they vote me out. So that's where my strategy is in Blood on the Clock Tour, if we could talk about this for 30 seconds. My strategy in Blood on the Clock Tour is always,

when I'm good, do everything that I humanly can to prove that I'm good. Literally everything. Like if you want to kill me first, if I want to, like, you know, sacrifice myself, like whatever, become good, start collecting all the information and then just try to solve it. Yeah. So, you know, stop trying to. The last time I played, I had like I got in like one on ones with people.

It's like, hey, I got to say I'm good. I'm not supposed to tell people I have an important role. I'm the Raven keeper. I'm like, I'm gonna tell you, I trust you. And then it's like, I nominate Rob. He's like, I don't believe him. I had a one on one with you. I told you what my role was.

I told you. Who was that? Didn't believe it. Who might have told the wrong person? Didn't believe it. Who was it. It was multiple people was it multiple people Was the person who nominated I was like the main I don't want to say Okay, can you say I'll tell you after? Okay, okay, was it over it was not over no okay?

I was gonna say that's your mistake, and then I get and then I get pissed. I'm like, I'm telling the truth. You know, I will say that. No, that's that's a lie. One of my biggest survivor traumas actually was after playing. I could no longer play social strategy games for like over a year. Like it really messed with my head to like that's why you exactly what you're saying. Not right. The wounds have healed. Now I can get into it. And I love this one

specifically because if you die and you're good, it's like whatever you still get to play versus like a mafia where you're just done. Yep. Alright. How does it feel to join the mafia? Ask your brother. Yeah. Alright.

So happy that you came by, Zach. One of my favorites. I would love to hear in the comments, did people like having the Thursday recap back? I loved it. Vote. I don't love that it's late at night, but other than that, I love everything else. I think format wise, this really, really works. And I'm glad that you guys are, you know, doing it. I mean, I missed you did not.

Oh, you know what else we should do? We should give out a hashtag at the end of this. Oh, that's a classic. What's the hashtag? What did we talk about? You know, let's look through real quick. Mm-hmm could be hashtag What was the men's line rocks Royce girls, yeah, that's good What you say.

What who say? Say what you say. What you say. One of the stars of the season, Rob, most confessionals of all time. Yes. Let's do Rocksways, girls. Rocksways, get a negative reaction. Okay.

I don't know how to spell that. M-M-M-M. You know what you say? Yeah. That's how you spell it. Like a reference to the song that's from the SNL sketch? Yeah. To finally bring a succession in there. It's a little bit of like the we here for you. We here for you. Okay. All right.

Hashtag Rocks Royce Girls. If you made it to the end of this, we appreciate you. We here for you. Take care. Everybody have a good one. Bye.