The Zach Nichols Podcast - Rivals 1 Episode 10 Review! | ZNP EP. 115

Episode Date: July 4, 2025

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All right, make sure you get your tickets to the live show. It's going to be September 20th, 2025 in San Diego, featuring Carl, Pauly, Horacio, and Norese, and possibly some more guests. So get on that now. You're not going to want to miss this one. This is why cigarettes are bad, ladies and gentlemen. No, I'm sick, bro. I'm put. You are sick.

I'm sick in the head. You fucking are. Happy 4th of July. He needs a clap, bro. I did. I gave him the clap. Oh, we good? You were wheezing.

Oh, I didn't know it. Yeah, see. Why don't you, we're like the Goodyear Blimp, and you're just looking up at us. Bro, I'm high on life right now. Heavy four? This is why we can't. Bro, I had anxiety, and that's how you get it out. Try it.

You feel better. Go. Oh! No, you faked it. That wasn't legit. Mine was sick. Mine was legit, and it was... You did the McCauley Culkin.

No, I didn't. It didn't slap my face. What's up, man? Happy Fourth, man. Happy Fourth of July. Happy Independence Day. Yep. I can't show you what's on the back of this.

But let's say. Just shut the fuck up. Wait, what? Just shut up. Just shut up. Oh, I'm sick. Because I'm sitting down. I can't show you what's on the back.

But I got USAG. Now I need another one. You see Moose Ridge? I feel it coming. Moose Ridge. Feel it coming. Ah! Okay.

All right. Are you done? Bro, I've had a hell of a week. And it's just a, just a cigarette wouldn't do it. You just needed to scream. Stop smoking a long time ago. You know that. I haven't.

Wait, no, I haven't. You haven't had black and mild in ages. January, I think. Did I have one on the golf trip? I don't think so. No, I think I might have. Might have a sneaked one. But that was it, dude.

Smokers. Cold Turk. Yeah. Dude, listen, I could quit anything cold turkey. I've quit relationships, cold turkey. I've quit marijuana, cold turkey. I've stopped doing crack. Cold turkey.

Cold turkey. Yeah. No more crack. I said, I don't want to smoke crack anymore. And I stopped. Good job. So what the fuck is up with you? Nothing much.

Actually, I have a couple stories. I have a couple questions. Questions first? No, go ahead, stories. Two stories. No, I feel like that. No, go ahead. Stories.

Two stories. They're from the same trip. So I went to New York last week, last weekend. And I stayed at Nicole's house. Our good friend, Nicole Zanada, which was a lot of fun. So there's two stories from the. this trip. They're currently dating and expecting. I mean, I really, really thought about giving her a baby, but I said, I decided against it. Yeah, because I'm sure she would just think,

of course, I would love that. No, for those of you following Nicole's journey, she was recently pregnant and lost the baby, unfortunately, and I was there to comfort her in this tough time. Did you, did you get this cleared? What? To have this conversation. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. For sure, for sure. Yeah, no, she knows. But anyways, while I stayed at her house, no, she, she was like, you know what I do when I'm sad? He got his phone out. Where's the nearest.

Where's the nearest Olive Garden? Well, I was there yesterday, actually. And they went, and he ordered a troth of just fatichini sauce. Garbage, he goes, do you have any garbage trucks? Fill them up with fetichini. And they, they snorkeled with fattuccini sauce. Can I be, like, super real? Feduccini is a very, like, overrated noodle.

Then it's all about the, it's all about the Alfredo. What's your favorite nudes? I like kavitapi, dude. It's the corkscrew. Yeah, dude, trust me. I know what the news. You knew that? I know the news.

You did not know that. Do you should see you? Can I test you with noodles? Go ahead. Farfale. Do you know what that is? Is it the like wiggly one? It's the bow tie.

The bow bowie is ball farley? Okay, I don't. Bucatini. I don't know those names, but we have, I don't know which they are, but I know that I'm always told like a different crazy name. And I always am afraid that those are the names she's telling me that she wants to name the children. but like she's like can you get me this this this and I'm like what is that she's go there posse and I'm like oh got it yeah but no I can't listen I know I'm just a big spaghetti person listen you might be Italian by injection I'm Italian by also injection but through my through the

injected you sucked off Italian right gotcha correct anyways breadstick dip it in the white sauce so I'm taking a long cylindrical object with white stuff on it into my mouth breadsticks It's us. Anyways, so you were, you were comforting Nicole. Yes, I was there to hang out with her and then, you know, I found out when we were comfortable. So when I'm at her house, I use the main bathroom on the main floor. Oh, you clogged that shit, didn't you? You know what?

Just one's in there. Two's upstairs. Okay. So just it's beautiful in there, nice floral patterns and accents. It's purple. It's flower floral. It's all these beautiful things. But right above the toilet, dude wipes.

Just sit right there, dude. Just dude wife. Of course. Hilarious. You were in the dude's house. Yeah. I was. I was in the dude's crib, dude.

The dudeest. She's the greatest host ever, by the way. She's the dudeest female of all time. She is the dudeest female of all time. Yeah. Her or Sam. No, for sure, Nicole. Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. Nicole's a firefighter. Yeah, she's just a badass. And then the second thing is, so we eat at this place. I forgot what the place is called, but right next to it is a movie theater. And this is after dinner. And I'm like, guys, do you mind if I just going and get like a bag of popcorn just to have it at the house, you know? And they're like, yeah, sure, go ahead. So I go by

myself and I go and I get this popcorn and on my way out, I broke an escalator. It's true. I was taking steps down and the escalator just like stopped in the middle. I broke an escalator. So I broke a bridge and now I have an escalator on my record. Dude, God couldn't give you a bigger sign to hop on an exercise bike. Like you've broken a bridge. You couldn't hike a mile and a half and then back, you had to wait for your 70-year-old father to walk back to get the car. He's 64. 70 definitely sounds better. It's better for the story.

Your dad's younger than my dad. That's crazy. Yeah. Well, kids are younger. You know, it makes sense. But they, you know, they get to it. Either way. My dad is like Detroit's version of Clean Eastwood.

I'll tell you. Yeah. Well, so he's literally the guy from the move. El Torino. That's my dad. Except for he lives in, on 13 acres in the woods. with no neighbors because he doesn't want anyone to see him. He doesn't need to take it off my lawn.

He just bought acres and there's a lawn after all the acres. Instead of, instead of like my dad just bought all the properties around him so no one else could buy him. You know, can't get on his lawn. Yep. So yeah, a couple things. We got the live show.

We announced it. The 20th. Yes. September. You got to be there. Get your tickets. It's going to be huge. Wild.

Yeah. Strange. Well, fun. Not strange. Beautiful people there. Very beautiful people there. Mm-hmm.

We're going to have a blast. It's going to be on sign up. Do that. Do that. Do that immediately. Rivals. Come to a close. The final.

The finale. This finale was, what, 14 years ago now, right? Very interesting, revealing. A lot of takeaways from this final. This final was the entrance into the new era of cast members getting very close to death. I mean, I'm a two-time casualty. I'm a two-time casualty. I'm a two-time casualty.

of the challenge finals. The legacy lived on very much. And it started right here with the first overnight finals. Five finals, one win, one hospital visit, deathbed. That's what you get. Hell of a resume. But yeah, before we hop into this final, first overnight. And in many-

location change. Many people's opinion, this is the hardest final up to this point, for sure. Up to this point, for sure. I think there's a couple that have come close to this one since then. but nothing up until this point was this NAR. So this stands the test of time as one of the hardest finals of all time. This is top three, I think. Well, here's the thing.

It's tough for me to really grade a final unless I've run it. But from what you watch and like just the experience of it, I do know that finals that start point A and finish point B with no like segments and no breaking. I think we spoke on this last time. Those finals, in my experience, were way harder than the ones that were like, okay, like we're going to do sections or segments and then reconvene and then relocate. They're doing, they're starting literally on their back doorstep and going across a lake,

you know, through a field and then up a mountain, up a hill to a mountain. Like this is legit. Right. And Patagonia is outdoorsman's wet dream. Been there, died there. hated it. Love the views. Hated the feelings it gave me. Is this the same location as that Free Agent's final?

It's the same region. Patagonia is a region of South America, but we were in Chile or Chile, and they're in Argentina still, I think. Got it. They don't really say, they just say Patagonia. Got it. Okay. But that's like, I mean,

pretty much it's like the southern, Patagonia is the southern tip of South America. Dude, I'm telling you, when it comes to weather, it was the perfect golf weather of all time there. Cool at night, so the hot tub's legit.

Like, you gotta hop in. But during the day, 65 to 70, sunny, no humidity, great breeze. The place was amazing. And there was like these beautiful dogs just running wild everywhere.

Like dogs that I was like, like golden retrievers with blue eyes is the best way to explain. Just wild? Bro, the Pam Anderson's of dogs run all over Patagonia. It was amazing. What was funny was when we were in Chile.

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