The Zach Nichols Podcast - Cutthroat Episode 3 Review with Devin Walker! | ZNP EP. 180

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

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Hey, what's up? It's Devin Walker. I'm back on the Zach Nichols podcast, and I want you to listen to what I say right now. All right. Welcome back to the Zach Nichols podcast. Detroit edition. Detroit, Detroit. Real Detroit. Not metropolitan Detroit. We are here with one-time challenge champion, challenge interview All-Star and the better half of the Paulian Dev show, Devin Mulligan Walker. And you want to know what I think of your most tenure guest? I think so. I think you have now, yeah, you've been on the podcast. More than Jordan. Close. But I will say definitely like laughs per minute. I think you're at the top for sure. What I'd like to do is put our view counts against each other because I'd like in my next introduction to be the most viewed guest on the Zach Nichols podcast. Well, you are. You're like Kevin Durant. You've been to the Olympics so many times. You're your all time leading score. You've been here so many times, all time leading vote getter.

It's one of those things that just never gets old. It just really doesn't. And that's why. why, first of all, can we get another congratulations for the Polly and Dev Show season two? You guys are alive and well, man. How's that been fun? You guys do seasons? We thought about, so we don't know what we do. I think that's very, that's why it's funny.

Yeah, I want to be really clear about that. We are flying by the seats of our pants. And Polly's pants are very small. So there's not a lot of seat there. But it's been really fun. What I've learned about that, you know, dynamic is it's so, it's so interesting for me to get to talk to somebody who sees almost everything that we talk about through a completely different, strictly competitive lens.

That's all he thinks about. And it's, it's really fun for me to dive into that, like, just kind of, I guess, like mindset of, of a person from the challenge. Because I would say, even, Zach, you at your core, you would probably be most notably a competitor, but also you're there for the other parts of the game. 100%. Yeah. And I think you were the kind of the whole time. And I am admirable. I never thought I would kind of feel this way, but I'm admirable to Polly for like his edge and just like tenacity in competition.

and it really is he's not faking it. I thought he was kind of like full of shit. Everyone did for a long time. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I mean, I've just got so much data. I have hours and hours and hours of data.

I think it's real. It is. No, at this point, the guy loves this shit. Polly doesn't sleep at night. Yeah. He plots. He waits.

He's like Chuck Norris kind of in that way. Like he does not sleep at night. He literally plots for his next big move on the challenge or fill in the blank. Yeah, we just started bringing guests on, which has been really fun to get to kind of shoot the shit with some of the people in the big brother's sphere because I'm watching 28. And it's just, yeah, it's been really fun. I would obviously suggest to listen. Who's your frontrunner for 28? So I'm all over this guy, Yash Patel.

Okay, all right. Yeah, Yash is a sleeper. I think the obvious choices are like D, Devins, um, just from like double gamer, um, built in a alliance standpoint. But this Yash kid was an alternate.

So, I mean, have you ever been an alternate on the challenge? And then got, and then got to go in? Uh, I've been an alternate, but I've always,

when I was an alternate, they ended up moving me main cast. So I was actually supposed to be an alternate for vendettas and final reckoning. Okay. Two weeks before they were like, hey, no, you're main cast. This is what I'm saying.

That's what happened. That's my understanding of what happened to Yash. Okay. And there's something to be said for like the alternate role where you can kind of go in with not no pre-show planning, but very little. And so you can absorb the game as it comes to you. And he's doing that. He just also happens to have like a pretty deep skill set. Yeah.

From what I've seen. I don't know a lot. I want to act like I know a lot about Big Brother, but I've played with, with, Big Brother people quite often on the challenge. And Yash is giving like winner qualities. Gotcha. From the people I've seen move to the challenge. It's a very interesting point real quick because we're seeing that with Deb, right?

She has talked about how she's two weeks away. She gets the call and she's embracing it and everyone loves Deb because she's just walking into it like, fuck it. I'm here. Last name cheat code. Yeah. Like Deb Chubb is unreal name. But before we get into all things, Deb Chubb. I brought this up on a prior last episode with P

and I said when you used to say Big Brother sucks and people used to just thrash Big Brother players and say, oh, you're playing a Big Brother game. Is Keanu defining that so far this season? So I would say absolutely not. Really? Yeah, because a Big Brother game is a social game. It's to get people to like you, right?

He's trying. Or to fly under the radar. Gotcha. So Josh is a Big Brother game. Casey is a big brother game. Natalie is a big brother game. I would say Polly is not. No, Polly's very far from that. I would say Keanu is not.

So they don't, I'm trying to get Keanu on the pod because I want to talk to him about what he did to these people. Because they do not like him. But I think it's because he's like, he's like, you know what a challenge? You know what a challenge when you come in as a rookie and you kind of just like, you're like, whatever happens happens. Like I got to just face the bullshit. I think like him, he's not accepting that. And he's like, I'm going to game. But he's trying to game like everyone is on the same playing field.

Whereas like if you and me go into a show, we don't know said person, they should understand that they're not penetrating this, especially on your first season. And I think that's what he does understand is like, we're all on the same playing field. And I need to make these deals with people. But people are like, bro, these deals have been made for years. You're not breaking them.

He has zero. understanding of pre this season relationships. That's exactly. He has, and he's just trying to penetrate them. And what it's doing is it's causing them to be like, hey, by the way, Keanu said this about you. Oh, yeah, he said this about you. Let's give him some credit, though.

Every move he has suggested has been what's best for the team. But it's just not respected because you're literally trying to break up friendships, but he is right. All the moves he's suggesting are weaking the other teams and making their teams better. I think absolutely, I got to give him all the credit in the world because That's not how you play the game, though. He's not playing the challenge well, but he wants to play. And he's putting forth effort and he's trying.

It's just ruining his position in the game. Whereas he was just like, yeah, I'm the man. Like, no one's going to take it out and play the lovable rookie card. Like, lovable rookie card works. Dude. Kyle. Also, we talked about this on our last episode. You know you're going to be Brad.

Win 7-4. Don't blow him out. Don't... That's interesting. Don't blow him out. So now you have Chris Underwood on your team. First season, four eliminations, one survivor, one, the challenge's first time. Did so by dominating eliminations.

Butanas already wants to target him. Do you want to know what you did by blowing Brad out 7-1? You just moved that target right off Chris's back and right onto yours. Or at least split the target between the two of you. I disagree because if I'm still looking at. at it. I'm looking at it like, okay, he dominated that elimination round, but if I'm bananas and I'm CT especially, who would I rather run a final against Chris Underwood? Who'd you rather see in an elimination now that you know he can climb, that you know he's big as

fuck and he's physical? Like, you're going to roll your dice probably against Chris before you roll your dice against Keanu knowing that there could be a pole down there or there could be a hall brawl there or there could be a balls in down there. Now, all of a sudden, you're, you want him to go in against other people so you don't have to go against. him. Oh yeah, but he was going in every time for me regardless. I think that is the understanding is that from now until forever. That's why I don't mind him doing the blowout

and also I don't think so. I think he should have I think he, they made a if Johnny's decision was to weaken gray, he did a terrible job at it because you put Leo in against Brad. So that's a great point

and it was a question I was going to ask for later, but let's ask it right now. He had two decisions to make. Decision number one, which of his team the gray team, is he going to choose? And he had Leo and he had Keanu to choose from. And then also he could choose anyone from Blue. So of those two decisions,

did he make the right decisions to weaken Gray as best as he could? Right decision picking Brad. And I'll tell you exactly why. Johnny's a showman. Nelson coming back with his return, with the prosthetic, Johnny's never going to put Nelson in.

Because Nelson's good for the show and Johnny wants the show to do good. he's also never going to put Josh in because Josh hinted at it in this episode they have a four-year standing relationship. Preseason alliance. Preseason alliance. It was always going to be Brad. Yeah. There's answer one, it was always going to be Brad.

And answer one B, Brad did himself an aggressive disservice by trying to keep himself out of elimination, which was never going to happen. he should have been asking for the person that he wanted. He should have been saying, listen, I know Brad can't read between the lines. He should have seen what time it was, known he was going in. As soon as Johnny said, all I want to do is weaken gray. He should have said, okay, all you want to do is weaken gray, then give me Leo. Yeah. That would have been a, listen, you're going to send me in anyways.

If you send me in and you give me who I want, I'll still owe you one. because you gave me who I wanted. You gave me a better chance to win. He would have had a better chance to win. And in that specific game, he probably washes Leo. And gray is weakened. You don't think Johnny has a deal with Leo too?

I don't think Johnny has a deal with Leo. I think that... 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. Go do it now.