The Zach Nichols Podcast - All Stars 5 Rivals EP. 6 Review w/ Corey Lay! | ZNP EP. 96

Episode Date: March 7, 2025

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You can hear it, though. It's cupping noise. Come on, man. Of course you can. I'll cuff you. Oh, don't challenge me with a good time. I got big hands. As you can tell, Corey Lay is back in town, baby.

Back on the podcast. Are we starting it that way? That's how we're going to start. That's how we can cut it. Keep it. No, keep it. Let them see how horny I am. I like that.

There we go. We have the star of all stars five. Corey Lay back in the building. Thanks for coming through. I wouldn't say it was the star. A star. Well, the star power definitely came through on Twitter after the season. Right.

Yeah, after. I have a lot of things to say when people pop off on me. No, I agree. I mean, that's why you're casted as an all star. I mean, you weren't cast as an all star. They'll haven't been cast as an all. Wow, Zach, I'm an all star and you're not. I know.

How does that feel? Guess what? So are the three other people that I won are. We won together. Right, but not you. I'm not an all star. Yeah. Honestly, I don't call.

myself an all-star either. I'm just, I'm somebody who was on all-stars. I don't know if I'm an all-star. Like that's, that title is not for Corey Lay at this point. But whatever, I was there, I had fun. I think though. I think though, though, I do think you deserved another shot on the show. Yeah. Because you 38, you kind of got a raw deal being a fresh rookie from, you know, a different, a show, like, not even like a CBS show. And so then 30, 39, I thought. that you were probably one of the most entertaining people on that season. I was definitely dynamic. That's what I'm saying. Yeah, absolutely.

Castability through the roof as we see here. But what I will say is a lot of people were talking some shit saying like, where's Cory Ben? Like, where's the drama? Yeah. But in my head, I'm like, I think you handled yourself perfectly in a sense of like you did come out and try to make some huge moves your first season. And then you had to burn Big T, which got you on this one.

Right. But that being said, then you played a smart game, got to a final. almost won. Yeah. This time you come in and it's like, you're where, I mean, how many people have you filmed with before?

Fessie. So yeah, it was Fessie, Amber for a little bit. So it's being a rookie all over again. It was basically being a rookie. Yeah. So what I liked was you came in and you were like,

I'm going to keep my mouth shut and be a rookie because these are some OGs as OGs they get. Yeah. However, you didn't, you kept your mouth shut. You played a smart game, but you didn't let anyone walk all over you.

Totally. You stuck up for yourself almost instantly with Adam every single time. So I'm like, there's a difference between being able to cause drama and being thirsty. Right. And you weren't thirsty. And as a viewer, I appreciate that because sometimes with these rookies, it's worse when you're there.

But when you're watching it and you've done it in your head, you're like, nah, that's thirsty. So like I think big team, Melissa and myself, we had a conversation and we were like, let's not make this about us. This is All-Stars. We're just kind of lucky to be here. And let's play our game and do our thing. but like I think all of us had a little bit more of a subdued season than you might have expected from the three of us.

And it's because like I personally felt lucky to be invited. I didn't know it was All-Stars when they called me. They said, hey, there's a challenge spinoff. Are you interested? And I was like, oh my God, what is this? Is this USA3? Is it like, I have no idea what this is? I find out it's All-Stars and I'm like, oh, my God, what am I signing myself up for?

Am I just going to look like an idiot being on this show? So if I am going to be on it, I'm not going to make it about me. I'm going to play my game and do what I need to do, but I'm not going to be whatever version of me you think I might be. Like, I'm not thirsty. I'm happy to be there. You weren't going to create anything. You weren't going to like, I feel like there's a lot of people that just are there and they're like, I have to do something huge. Right. So I can get a callback. Totally. And I liked how you, like I said, you were very like, don't cross the line. But if you don't cross it, like I'm here to have a good time. Totally. Yeah. You know, but All Stars started out with like, I mean, the first season was like people were, the youngest person may have been in their 30. Right. Like my age 30, like flirting with 40. You're pushing 40. There was, yeah, man, am I ever?

I feel 50 though. That's the crazy. That's my 40 doesn't bother me. You look 60. Bro, that's actually, I was thinking one of my, one of my biggest flexes is that I could afford Botox, but I won't get it. I don't think you need it. You don't have any lines on your friends. Oh, if I smile.

So I took a picture with my son at Dad's Night, which means I'm close to 40. And I got the picture, and it's a wonderful picture. It's a great picture. We both have a huge smile. It's the best picture. But you can see. I'm like, okay. Okay, Clint Eastwood.

Listen, Clint Eastwood, Clooney, men, Aflick. They're still superstars. Right. Right. But I'm just saying, like, I didn't see the childish. I don't look child. I look like I have four kids. You're fine.

So your point is taking, which is you're going to be humble about it. You're going to say you're not an all-star. Technically, the, the, when you search, Corey, on the challenge Wikipedia, All-Stars 5. So you're a part of that. I want to just give you a bunch of props for not only being casted, but having a great season. You make it halfway.

And let's dive into this episode real quick. Actually, I kind of want to go back because your drama kind of started like getting real hot last episode. Yeah. Let's go back to that. You were part of a conversation while you're playing pool. You, Fessi, Dario, where Dario suggests or slash infers that Devin and Lemoy should be the pick to go against the house vote. So how did that come about?

So, like, how did it come about me telling? No, the initial conversation, was it just like Lucy Goosey? Yeah. So we were having a couple drinks. We had a couple cigars, but they don't show you smoking on the show. You know, we were like, so we were feeling really good. Yeah, they won't show you smoking. No, they won't.

But we were, you know, had some drinks, has some cigars. We were playing pool, me, him and Fessi, just like being boys talking. Yeah. And I didn't let people know who my actual alliances were. I was mine with Devon from day one. I'm good friends with Michelle. Why the fuck would I not be working with Devin? But whatever.

But so I'm letting Dario just say what he wants to say. And there's a lot more that wasn't in the episode. He was like, this is our moment to like take over and we can be the stars. And like it's not about the OGs and these winners anymore. Like we need to be the number. So it was a whole, it was a lot there. His beef was about Devin. It was more about Devin than Leroy, but they're tied to each other.

And so I'm just letting him say what he wants to say in the back of my mind. I'm like, hmm, okay, I will probably tell Devin about this because I, you're your guy. He's my guy. Right. Last season, 39, you saw me being snaky and trying to play all sides coming into this season. I'm like, I'm not doing that. I'm going to play straight and narrow and show people you can trust me. Maybe not Dario.

He can't trust me, but I don't know him. I met him the second I showed up. Nor do you have a deal with him. I don't have a deal with him either. Even if, even if you're not working with Devin, you're at like you said, We're at a point where like you were not only were you are you one of the Rookies there considered a rookie yeah yeah yeah yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah, right, right, um, but your partner isn't that old either like

She's made an impact right like she's been a big impact mm-hmm, but she's not like someone Who's been around for 20 years totally right? Yeah, so even if you're not like Even if you're not working with Devin it's like there's an opportunity in the game for you to be like buddy. Yeah, you can't trust Dario. Right. But you can trust me. But you can trust me. And then what you do there is boom.

Yes. And that's a game move. Yep. And they're likely to win challenges. Devin and Leroy are strong teams. We said it here. We're like, that was so smart.

Yeah. Now that you're working with Devin is brilliant. Yeah. I mean, you have to do it. But even if you, I mean, it's more brilliant if you're not working with them because you're like,

okay, now I can actually get Dario out of their alliance and move into that spot. Yeah. We're looking at it as a lens of gaining social equity. Yes. You were also doing that But behind the scenes, no, you're reinforcing trust.

Yes. And that's so important in a game like this. Go ahead. I was going to say, it's funny. So people didn't know that I told Devin and Leroy until they watched it. I got so many texts from people on All-Stars 5 Because I didn't tell anyone that we're the one

Just spilled the beans. Yeah. And I don't know if you notice, there's a moment when like they're yelling at each other. We're all up in the house and I'm sitting there next to like Ashley and Dario like, or not, not Dario, but Ashley and Frank. I'm like, why is Devin yelling? What's happening outside?

I have no idea. This is insane. So, like, I kept that in for like a year. Nobody knew I was the person who told them. Well, because here's why. If that never airs, you saying that, right. You never did it. Right.

And then, and no one can hold that against you. Yeah, exactly. I love that movie. I used to say too much. I love it. 39, I said too much. Now I will not say as much. Well, I think, so wait, I just want to make sure I understand the facts here.

You and Big T because Big T's with you. Yeah. You keep this secret for one year. Yes. That's actually really. smart though because if you're awesome so you're doing one season but you're also like I know I'm if they called me again I'm gonna go yeah so let's also like why would I like that's what west's biggest downfall was is west would do that then go in an interview and basically say I'm the

smartest person in the world look at what I did because and he would explain the move yeah and every single challenge you're watching that especially nowadays it's like oh cool mental no don't trust west that's why West has had such a hard time so for me I'm like I used to Dude, I used to like make deals and moves all the time and specifically make them not on camera. So then people were like, we made a deal. And then you're just like, did we? That concludes the free preview of the Zach Nichols podcast. So go to Patreon and subscribe to see the rest of the shit that we talk.

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