Predictions for the Survivor 50 Live Reunion Show

[00:00:08] Hey everybody, what's going on? Rob Cesternino, we are back. It's finale eve and we are so pumped up to talk about the first live reunion that we are having in these Survivor streets since 2019.

[00:00:26] And it was way back when in December of 2019. It was a time that I remember well because I had a guest at my house that time and there with me to stay. We had a sleepover. It was fantastic. We'll try to recreate some of that magic as I am back here with a man that we are going to give it up for. It's Mike Bloom.

[00:00:57] It's reunited and it feels so good, Rob. Yeah. Well, I think it's all happening because I think that at that time you came to my house, you stayed there in December of 2019. I believe it was also the first time we ever did the end of year Brant Steele. And I also believe- Yeah, it was a literal fever dream. I think we did it the day after. I think it was the night before. I think it was the night before. The night before the finale. Okay, we were really audacious.

[00:01:20] And that in that night before the finale, I believe also it was a big night for baby Grogu, who's also having a moment this month. So me, you and baby Grogu are all back. And 2019 is back in a major way. I mean, that was a really obviously a very interesting finale. Rob, that was also a nice snapshot of I think your relationship with Jeff Probst at that point. Remember-

[00:01:45] Yeah, there was a particular moment where Jeff comes out to warm up the crowd. You got a nice shout out from him right then and there. Yeah. So, and by the way, is it too much? Is it an oxymoron to call him baby Grogu? Do you not need to call him baby Grogu? Is that insulting to call him? Because he's not a baby. He's 50. Well, I mean, I think it depends on like, it's like your family members will like always refer to you by how they see you. You know, like a lot of my family members still call me Michael. Michael.

[00:02:15] They call me Robbie. Yeah, exactly. So like you're always, he's always going to be baby Grogu. He'll always be baby Grogu. Or baby Yoda. Even though that was, you know, it's seven years later now. He's even older. But Mike, we went to the finale. I feel like it was me and you and Kurt Clark were in the audience. And we were sitting there and Jeff Probst comes out to warm up the crowd and he comes out and he's like, hey, everybody, welcome back. This is the finale. We're so excited.

[00:02:40] He's like, so I'm in my dressing room and I'm sitting there and I'm looking at my monitor. And then I, all I see is Cesternino's face right there in my monitor. Now this was only weeks before the infamous, do you even like me at all? So. Honestly, you should have seen it coming. I should have seen it coming. This was a prequel. Yeah. For context, though, speaking of baby Grogu, for context, because I believe actually I remember speaking with the great Chelsea Walker, who I believe actually was recently engaged.

[00:03:09] Apologies if I'm speaking out of turn here. But I remember seeing her because this was the Island of the Idols finale. And I was like, oh, yeah, were you surprised we'd be here? And she said, no, because the monitor indeed backstage at the reunion that has this perspective on the audience had you and I, Rob, dead center of everything. So this wasn't like Jeff was seeking you out. You were presented. Yeah, I don't know why we were just sitting in the audience.

[00:03:33] And I don't know why that the the camera people were like using us to test test like the zoom lens on the camera. So I'm not sure. I'm not sure maybe that they were doing target practice as as maybe the commentary on season thirty nine got a little too hot. That being said, here we are. We're back. We're season 50. We're loving it. We're back. And so is the live reunion show. The fans did us a solid. They voted it in.

[00:04:01] And we are going to be in attendance once again. Yeah, it's going to be a massive night. It's going to be incredibly exciting. As you mentioned, the last time we had a reunion was Island of the Idols. Even that was a bit of an unorthodox situation. I believe that was the first live to tape reunion. So the last like live live reunion was Survivor Edge of Extinction. So it has been a long time coming.

[00:04:29] As you mentioned, people have been jockeying for it. They put it up to a fan vote. Of course, it went through. And so there's a lot to expect given the timbre of previous reunions. But also, I guess, in vain of perhaps an Australian survivor, it seems like from what Jeff has been alluding to, this one's going to be a little different. A little different. And it should be an exciting night. We're going to have the contest winners going to be there, the people that found the idol.

[00:04:55] So this is going to be maybe totally unpredictable. But that's what we're here to do. We're here to predict. We're going to ask questions. We're going to try to get to the bottom. Now, what has Jeff said on the record, Mike? I'm so glad you asked because let me go to an interview that he did with the great Kelly Boyle over on TV Insider that recently came out this week.

[00:05:16] He was this was the first to break the news that there would be one additional fan vote going out this week, which we know now is the vote for the SIA fan favorite award. Something that I'm sure we're going to bring up over the course of this podcast. But Kelly asked, what aspects from the previous live events are being brought back? Any special entrance for you and the votes? And Jeff said, we're bringing back the elements people love most.

[00:05:39] The live audience, the real time reactions, the immediacy of revealing the winner on stage and that feeling that anything can happen because it's all unfolding right there in the room. That energy is what makes a live finale unique. This year, though, we're structuring the night a little differently. Instead of thinking it as a finale followed by a short reunion show, we're treating the entire three hours as one big live event.

[00:06:06] We'll be checking in with players throughout the night, letting the story of the season continue to unfold in real time, all building to the live reveal of the winner at the end. And then he goes on to say what he has said in previous interviews, which is unfortunately to Dalton Ross's chagrin. He's not doing any sort of jet ski or helicopter entrances with the vote earns anytime soon, because he basically says, like, if there needs to they need to find like a good idea.

[00:06:31] He did say, I remember back when he did an interview at the Savannah College Art and Design TV Fest that like there was an idea at one point that he was going to lose the votes and Mr. Beast was going to like kidnap the votes. And Jeff would go on the scavenger hunt to find them. But then they found out that like he Mr. Beast had actually done that for like an award show. So they they put the idea on the kibosh. Mr. Beast was going to kidnap the votes.

[00:06:57] Something like that or like put in some sort of demented saw trap to try to acquire the jury. Why would he do that? Listen, I don't know if it says a lot more about how they feel about Mr. Beast than Mr. Beast feels about the show. Yeah. OK. All right. What if Zach Brown like stuff the votes into like a giant like shark? No, I love that. OK, so let's say Jeff gets on the jet ski and he hits like a rock and the votes sink to the bottom of the ocean.

[00:07:26] And so Zach Brown shows up in his skiff and is like, I got you, man. And then he goes, dives into the water, spears it like that tuna and then comes up holding it aloft like Rupert. What if Jimmy Fallon stole the votes and then Christian has to like bare knuckle box Jimmy Fallon to get the votes back? I mean, I would literally pay per view to see that happen. Please. I want to see celebrity net fights segue into the Survivor live finale.

[00:07:56] Could need some action, I think, in the live finale. OK, so it sounds like we're going to be cutting back and forth between the taped show in Fiji, kind of building on like what they've done a little bit in the past, but not having like a big meal of the full reunion show at the end. I have to say, I feel like that this format is not dissimilar to maybe how they used to do the Celebrity Apprentice finale. Oh, my God. Don't impugn that, Rob.

[00:08:26] Don't make this Mark Burnett shows come full circle like maybe Grogu and us. Yeah, I think that the way it's being described, I'm trying to figure out how dissimilar it is to the way the librarians were kind of being done towards the end of their tenure before this brief hiatus happened. You know, I was watching a few of these back and I think back to I think it actually, ironically enough, might have started with Sari and Survivor Game Changers, where after she was voted out, they brought her out on stage to do an interview with her.

[00:08:54] So they did do that notably with Sari, but it did start earlier than that. I really feel like that around Kageon was when the live reunion show really started to change where they would do cut ins. Because if you remember, even back to that, they brought out Big D from Keith Nale's wife, where they would do some interstitials like, all right, come on out.

[00:09:18] I'm trying to remember if Sari was the first person that was an actual contestant that they brought out to talk to. I watched back several of these interstitials and that's as far as I can see. Sari was the first. As you mentioned, they did a lot of cutting to family members. There was a whole like gaggle of kids. I remember that were saying if Wu takes Tona to the end, it'll be the stupidest decision in Survivor history. But I think that Sari was the first person they actually did a sort of mini interview with. And then after that, we got, I believe, Devin and Heroes, Healers, Hustlers.

[00:09:48] We got Donathan. We got Davey. We go from Big D to all the Ds out there. Rick Devins, another D. Janet, I think, in 39. I'll be intrigued to see then how much of that element is being brought in here. Because I would actually, Rob, if we're talking about these types of characters that get their own sort of segment in the finale, you could argue that two of the biggest people who would get sex segment were just voted out in the form of Sari and Rick. Yeah.

[00:10:15] So do we think that they're going to have like a few different like groupings of people that we're going to come out and say hello to? So it's like, all right, come on first. All right. For our first commercial break. All right. We've got here Savannah and Charlie and Camilla. So how's it going? Yeah. I could see that where like one of the first commercial breaks. It's all right. Here are the first seven people voted out of the game.

[00:10:42] So it sounds like essentially what we're doing is one big survivor reunion slide puzzle where it's like here are all the pieces. But we're just shuffling around the order that it occurs. So maybe that would take the place of the. All right. We've got 30 seconds real quick down the line. Let me just take down that last row. Give you one quick question each. I think if you displace that over to perhaps an earlier portion of the show, then that means that we are going to seemingly maybe get less time dedicated towards that. And those reunions were getting shorter and shorter.

[00:11:10] I remember the Heroes Healers Hustlers reunion was maybe like 20 minutes long. And so it's like barely paid any lip service to anyone in the cast outside of the final five. So the more I'm thinking about it, the more this would make sense if what Jeff is alluding to is correct, which is like taking the usual segments of a reunion and instead moving them to earlier points throughout the three hour period. OK, so we'll see how they ultimately end up doing it.

[00:11:36] Do you think that they're going to sort of be locked into just like asking them about what just happened? What we just saw? Like, wow, you just saw Joe in the final five. Like, Kyle, what do you think about that? I think it really depends on the people and it depends on the subjects that are going to be talked about with each of these people. Like you bring up Kyle, I think a very easy layup, for lack of an air term for Kyle, would be like, how's your Achilles doing?

[00:11:59] You know, like I think if you can't really find questions to ask people about the season proper, then it makes sense to say, Q, you're always one for a good soundbite. Yeah, you may not have made a huge impact on season 50, but what did you make about the move Rizzo did right there? Mm hmm. Yeah. OK, so, Mike, where should we start with our questions about our finale?

[00:12:23] Well, I think a large perspective that has been brought into season 50 is the perhaps famous fans of the titular fans in the hands of the fans in the form of these celebrities. We have mentioned them a number of times here. We've got Billie Eilish, Zac Brown, Mr. Beast, Jimmy Fallon. Do you think? And now Sia. And now Sia. So I think that's definitely another, you know, facet we'll bring into this.

[00:12:50] But from the main four who are outright name dropped in the season proper, who had a direct impact for better or worse on this season. Do you think any of them will be in attendance and will get a segment with Jeff? Jeff. Okay, so my official answer is going to be no, I do not think any of the four celebrity super fans that were part of the season proper will be there. I do think Sia will be there.

[00:13:21] Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. I'm trying to think of like who of the four I could see. I would probably say Mr. Beast might be the most likely. I mean, I think Billie Eilish at this point would rather attend a Taylor Swift concert than attend a Survivor reunion, considering perhaps some comments that may or may not be said on another podcast. And I think I don't know if Fallon is off next week.

[00:13:46] So I think he's he's over in New York still, you know, making the hay while the sun shines or while the sun sets over in New York. Yeah. So I don't think we get any of our original celebrity super fans other than Sia. Do you think that we have any other celebrities that are here in attendance? I mean, we certainly have seen that in the past. People keep pointing out Adam Scott, of course, was at the Survivor redemption island. It's going to be a hot ticket.

[00:14:15] The Survivor finale. I mean, that's the other thing, too. Like some of these people, there might have to be, you know, a bit of a David Spade ask. And you are a character at the door. You have to get past a certain level of notoriety to be able to actually get a premium seat at the Survivor reunion. Like, sorry, Mayim Bialik. I don't know if your star has faded so much that you can stay in the reunion circle the way you did for Survivor One World when you talked about Colton. How great Colton is. Yeah. Yeah, exactly.

[00:14:44] So I'm not entirely sure because there are a number of celebrity super fans. But I think it depends on like how much they want to go and how much they are in contact with production to get a ticket. Like, I don't know if Survivor's personally reaching out to Nick Offerman and Megan Mullally being like, we really want you to come as they might have in previous years. Just because not only is there 24 contestants, there's all of their families. There's these contest winners.

[00:15:11] There's, you know, I think the rumor through the grapevine, right, is like all the winners of Survivor have been invited. I'm not sure if all the winners of Survivor have been invited. I think some of the winners of Survivor. You don't think Brian Heineck's going to show his beard and mug in the studio city? I don't think so. I don't think that they really like did Natalie White get invited to the Survivor finale. You never know. Listen, Rob, you were able to get her on the podcast back in the day. She just shows up. She just shows up. So I'm not sure if every single winner.

[00:15:40] OK, I've got so many other questions. But I do think that there will be other celebrities, super fans in the audience. And I think that this format is going to be very conducive to like, oh, my God, look who's here. Yeah, that could be something. I mean, Jeff does do that a bit. Again, we talked about Mayim Bialik. I talked about like Terry Bradshaw, I remember commented on. Now he had a Jimmy Johnson connection. So that makes more sense. So I guess that's the thing as well.

[00:16:05] Could friends of Mike White, who are celebrities, be in the audience and make commentary about his beard? Perhaps is Mike White going to be there? How about that as a prediction? I mean, is Mike White not shooting the White Lotus right now in France? That's a good question. I mean, I think he'd have to take some time off from being in Cannes. And I know Mike White loves Survivor. That is, of course, everybody knows that.

[00:16:31] But does Mike White, is he going to if he is doing his day job, will he leave that to go attend the Survivor 50 reunion? I mean, I think so. I think despite maybe some of the misgivings he has with certain people on the season, I don't think he has misgivings with the show. It would be great. I just don't know necessarily like if he's in the midst of like, you know, I think he might also have priorities. Well, here's my bold prediction here.

[00:16:59] I think if Mike White is indeed a no show, I think we get a video message from him. Sure. On the set of White Lotus. Sure. I mean, like for when we did the Traders finale, Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir were at the Olympics. They weren't leaving the Olympics to come back and do the Traders reunion. They were they did come in via satellite or I guess it's Zoom now. Oh, no. Zoom. No. No. They could say, hey, for Zoom, everybody remember this? Now, what were the logistics of that?

[00:17:29] Like, I know, was it was it properly edited together or was there a large lag between you and the States and them? So this is funny because that we so we were in the room and they brought everybody in in segments in the way that they do the Traders reunion show. And so that they had they brought out like all of the Traders, I think, because they really wanted to get Donna Kelsey out there. And so they had Donna Kelsey out there with the Traders.

[00:17:53] And then then they brought in I think then they brought out more and they brought in Johnny and Tara because, you know, they're I don't want to spoil the season. They go very far in the season. And so they're talking to them and then they brought out more people. But so then Johnny and Tara are still like connected. But then they are also there. So they had like a big TV set that had Johnny and Tara on it. But then they would show like they had like these packages that they would show.

[00:18:19] And then when they show the packages, like Johnny and Tara were gone. And then like so you didn't really see them, but they were still seeing everything. And then there was a point where Michael Rappaport had like a bone to pick with Johnny Weir. And he was like, he was like, hold on a second. Hold on a second. Where is that that silver medal winning pearl clutching? And you just hear I never won a silver medal. He was like the voice of God.

[00:18:48] Johnny Weir is like it's like Michael Rappaport was like fighting with the ghost of Johnny Weir, who was still pumped in. OK, so maybe we'll get that with Mike White, where even if we're getting video packages, Mike's voice will just linger above occasionally doing commentary. Hey, that's how I live my life. Mike White is listening at all times and ready to pounce. Mike White is always listening. Be careful what you say. That was the secret slogan of Big Brother. Yes.

[00:19:17] OK, but, you know, I kind of feel like I'd be a little surprised if he's able to make it, but pleasantly surprised. Yeah, I mean, I could see a world where he like breezes it. I feel like it could be a world where Angelina like gives him a little bit of pressure to be like, come on, stop in for like a day and then fly back out to the French Riviera. I wonder if he could record a like a cameo, like, hey, everybody. How much would that cost? Two million dollars?

[00:19:46] For him to leave France to come to Los Angeles for maybe 90 seconds of screen time at the reunion show, it just seems like a big ask. OK, that's a good point, Rob. Should they dedicate the entire reunion to Mike White to make sure they get their money's worth? I don't know. I just feel like that they probably might connect with him virtually is what I would suspect. There was that high concept episode of SNL where they pretended it was directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Could they say this finale was directed by Mike White?

[00:20:17] Hmm. Talk me through it. Give me the vision. Well, I think then there's just one big orgy in the middle of the reunion. People tripping out on drugs. And then there's like a trap door that opens and then Christian is just taken off the stage. Well, then, actually, I think it opens with Christian's dead body on the stage of the studio a lot. It's like, OK, how did we get here? That could be the one scenario where Christian comes back to the White Lotus. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it's not a bad call.

[00:20:46] I think if we, you know, we let Mike really throw his ideas in here. I think we could really build something out. Yeah. Let's talk about that. They brought back the Sia Fan Favorite Award, which started way back when in Survivor, Korong, when so many Korong flashbacks where that tie. Yeah, Aubrey's really going to have some PTSD here. Might be time for the Korong rewatch, Mike.

[00:21:12] And we have where Ty ends up being the first recipient of it. I wonder, could Ty be one of the members of the audience if Aubrey is going to have her loved ones there? I would love it. I adore me some Ty Trang. I think that we got him in this like two-year spurt and then we heard high nor lack of hair from him. But I love Ty. And yeah, he truly was a game changer, not only on screen and that we need to remind people about this,

[00:21:42] especially who did not watch Korong live. Sia stormed the reunion set. I do not believe this was planned. Yeah. That this woman in this giant wig all of a sudden walks down the aisle and it's like, hey, hey, hey, stop the proceedings. I have something to say. Yeah. I don't think that this was a scripted moment. And I'm like, okay, is there like an intruder at the Survivor reunion show? And she was a friend of Jeff and a friend of Cochran.

[00:22:11] And she was there at the finale. She just walked on the stage. I want to give money to Ty Trang. Yeah. And so this begets, I would say it's somewhat seasonally tradition where Sia just out of the goodness of her own heart would give away various quantities of money.

[00:22:30] That was the oddest point about this, Rob, was the demented meritocracy of Sia's fiefdom where like, okay, Janet and Elaine got $100,000 each and like Jamal gets $15,000. It's like, okay, so you have to do certain things to earn more money in Sia's eyes. But regardless, the bottom line, literally for tax purposes for Sia is that she would give away money to like one to three people across a handful of seasons.

[00:22:59] I think that $15,000 threshold is like the amount of money you could gift somebody that without it being for, you know, getting involved with taxes. And then I think that Richard Hatchett's going to be there next week. I don't think so. I don't think so. But you know that they did have him at the 10 year reunion show. And really a lot has changed between now and then, Rob.

[00:23:21] Well, I mean, maybe like culturally, but like everything that people are mad at him for doing, he did before he was at the 10 year reunion show. He didn't do anything new. To be fair, though, wasn't that the rumor that he was like still in the mix for Redemption Island? So he's still like in favor with production. And again, I think actually around 2019, that fabled year, I think perhaps things became a little bit more soured. Sure.

[00:23:47] And yeah, he has like spoken negatively of Survivor and Survivor production since then. That's the only other thing that has changed since then. So I'd be surprised if you saw Richard Hatch at the finale. But so we have the C.O. Award. It's going to be a fan favorite. I think that Sari is the odds on favorite to be the winner.

[00:24:10] Do you think, Mike, a la AFP, do we get runners up announced and do we get a top two or top three? So I do think we get runners up announced, I think back in the day. So this even before Sia was a twinkle in any of our collective pop culture eyes, this fan favorite award did exist. It started all the way back in Survivor Exile Island. And two of the first recipients of this were Sari and Ozzy.

[00:24:39] But back then they just got cars. And then in China, they transitioned to good old hard cashola. And I remember whenever they would do it, Jeff usually announced the top two or three people every single time. Even when Ozzy had like the biggest share in Survivor history and Survivor South Pacific, they did say like, well, Cochran finished in second place. I feel like, you know, Big Brother gives us a top three. I feel like Survivor has traditionally given us a top two. Yeah, I don't remember them always doing a top three.

[00:25:09] I'm thinking about like Rupert and Russell in Heroes vs. Villains. I think back to the last time we did this, which was Malcolm and Brenda in Survivor Karamoan. Malcolm and Lisa Welchel, guests on this week's podcast in Survivor Philippines. So yeah, the more I think about it, this is where the final two has remained. Robin has gone away long ago, left by the wayside in Survivor proper, except for this fan favorite vote. Yeah, so historically also, this is a good spot for Sari and Rick Devins.

[00:25:38] Like the spot to get voted off right before the finale is the sweet spot to win the fan favorite award. And it's interesting that our two favorites for the fan favorite award both go out in the same episode. 100%. Yeah, that's something that when we look back historically, and maybe, Rob, this could be a fun offseason podcast. It's like from seasons 27 through 49, who could have won the fan favorite?

[00:26:03] But a lot of it is, especially in like the pre-social media era, was indicative on what have you done for me lately. And I go back to Brenda Lowe because she is the consummate example of this. She did bupkis on our screens for 12 episodes of Survivor Karamoan. But all it took was episode 13, when, you know, she won the family reward and let everyone go out on this giant barge and have a barge bequeue. And then Dawn, you know, led the charge to get her voted out. And she was weeping.

[00:26:32] That pushed her all the way to second place. And maybe that spoke more about the Karamoan cast. But it went to show like how much the impact of a penultimate episode can bear on, okay, now turn around and vote for somebody. So you mentioned Sari being the odds on favorite. I mean, allow me to play a little Survivor Devil's advocate here because I do think that a previous Sia winner himself in Rick Devins has a fairly good chance at perhaps usurping her. I think that Rick Devins certainly would be the number two pick if we're drafting this.

[00:27:01] And if it was Sia herself giving out the money, I think that he would have a much better chance that Rick would prefer. It was like, hey, it's Sia's money. Let's let Sia pick. Sia loves Rick Devins. And so that's interesting. I think that the interesting question might be, who'd be third place if they do a top three? I think it would be, you know, forgive the kneecap sucking a little bit.

[00:27:31] Would it not be Christian? Would Christian not be up there? May I counter pitch you? I think it would be Ozzy. Ozzy would be another good one as well. Yeah, Ozzy had some as much as people might impugn the move he made or did not make. He obviously had a lot of great personal content. He is a two time fan favorite winner of this very award. I think unlike a Micronesia like he was not necessarily vilified in any way. So I think Ozzy is another really good pick there.

[00:28:01] I would love if they would release the entire results. I would love to know who's 24th. Show the voting records. Show the votes. Release the voting records. Come on. Yeah, none of these people are coming back. You don't need to worry about upsetting anybody. Mm hmm. Yeah, it'd be interesting. I think I'd be intrigued to see because I think everyone has very different criteria of how they vote for this, right?

[00:28:28] Like, I mean, everyone's enjoyment of a certain character can depend on a wide variety of things. So it's sort of like, OK, who can everyone communally agree does not fit any of these categories? I just think there's a lot of people from the beginning of the season that people have forgotten about when it comes time to do the voting. And so I think it would be interesting to see how that goes. But I do suspect we get a top two. At what point in the show do you think we get that? Is that the end of the night? Is that the final award a la Big Brother?

[00:28:57] I think that is the very last thing. It was the very last thing when the award previously existed. Now, that was a little different, right? Because it's like that was far after the winner was crowned. We don't know when the winner is going to be revealed at this point. If Jeff is saying this is more so going to be a little bit of a Reese's peanut butter cup, a finale and reunion all in one. Are we saving the winner reveal until I think so to the to the 10? Let's do this, Mike. Let's do the over under. OK, winner winner reveal.

[00:29:26] OK, I'm going to give you the winner is announced at 1042 p.m. Eastern time over or under. I'm going under on that one. I think that there will still be some stuff reserved for the end. They'll want to talk with the top three. There might be a couple of video packages that they'll want to show like they I think they do want to bring it still bring in that element from the quote unquote live after show they did in the new era.

[00:29:53] So I would say it could certainly see it in like the 1030, maybe even 1020 time frame. But I think 1040 is pushing it just a little bit. I'll say over. I'll say over. I wonder if they'll try to get it as close as they can. Like, I wonder if this will feel more like a Big Brother finale than this is a family show. All the kids will be in bed at that point. The beyond. Yes. They'll watch it on DVR. It'll be fine. I think that there might be some questions about like, oh, why did you vote for this person? Why do you vote for this person?

[00:30:23] You could you're not going to get maybe the Charlie and Maria moment if anybody ended up doing a maybe they should get Charlie's take on it. How did everybody vote? Charlie? Are you cool with that? Charlie, who do you think Maria would have voted for? Yeah, but I kind of feel like I wonder if they're going to try to drag this because I do feel like that historically. I think that the ratings while the super fans have clamored for the reunion show to come back.

[00:30:47] I do think that the ratings have dropped off a little bit after the results have been announced. And so I think that maybe they feel like, hey, let's try to drag this out as much as possible. To that point, will we see any footage of Survivor 51 at the end of the finale? Yes. OK, and this was one of my questions for you. Do when we get a preview of Survivor 51.

[00:31:13] My question for you, Mike Bloom, is will season 51 have a theme? Oh, I don't believe so. I because Jeff has certainly spoke out about the fact that certainly, you know, this was a lot of talk before the season. He was very up in the air as to how he would approach and production would approach season 51. He said, let's see how 50 is received.

[00:31:36] So I don't necessarily think they were going in, at least at the outset of this entire planning process, being like, all right, we're bringing themes back. I think from what Jeff has said, like the theme needs to come from a really inspired source. And so I could see a world where maybe there's a couple of structural changes to it. But I don't think they are fully immersing themselves back into like, and don't worry, everybody. Themes are back. I know you've been missing them.

[00:32:03] The reunion is maybe more so hitting that element for a lot of fans. I wonder, could it have an unofficial theme? Like where we have Survivor, you know, Survivor, some of the things have like themes that are sort of like soft themes. Like Survivor on the back to Islands of Fire. Yeah, I was even like a subtitle? Subtitle. Could it be Survivor 51 with a subtitle?

[00:32:30] I mean, that would be quite the throwback because we had that for a while. Of course, we had Vanuatu Islands of Fire, Guatemala, the Maya Empire, Token Sheens, the Brazilian Highlands, Gabon, Earth Slash Eden. Earth Slash Eden, yeah. That would be, I mean, if they were inspired to do that, God, talk about a stage of seasons long gone to bring back. Like, all right, we're not going full theme here. We're just sprinkling a little theme in a subtitle that no one's going to remember three months from now. Yeah.

[00:32:59] Survivor 51, Millennials versus Gen Z. Yeah, so I could see maybe that would be a little bit of having your cake and eating it too, right? Of like, we're still keeping the number in so you don't get confused, Hunter, if you're doing a future challenge. But we're bringing some sort of, I thought you meant more so like the speech that Jeff gives at the beginning of the season of like, this is the social contract, you're building a community. But that's like the loosest of themes.

[00:33:25] Yeah, I'd say maybe they keep the number but have like the theme as a little bit of the subtitle. I don't think so. I would love it. I would love it. I'd be happily surprised by it. But I'm going to err on the side of caution here and say that we're just going with 51 for right now. But I do think, you know, it might be a very quick turnaround time from what I've been seeing as to like actually putting something together.

[00:33:53] But I actually, I'm thinking about when they did, I think it was 46 into 47. The 47 was still filming by the time the trailer aired. So I think if the editors knew ahead of time that they had to cobble something together, a quick 30 second sizzle reel for the end of the season, they could use any sort of preseason. Yeah, no doubt they could do it. I mean, Survivor 51 we saw has finished filming. That's true.

[00:34:18] Now, could they do something in the vein of I keep going back to this frickin' Karamoan finale. I don't know why because it's one of like the worst finales ever. Do you think that anybody that 24 people has a lot to fit on the stage? They said they couldn't do it back in Survivor Karamoan. Will they be able to fit 24 people on the stage or will some people have to sit in the audience? Is that why they are going to stagger the reunion? That's why Adam Scott and Yvette Nicole Brown can't get in is because the seats are being reserved for Mike White and company.

[00:34:46] Yeah, that might end up or they might like keep them in the green room. I know Jeff has done a couple of cuts to them like hanging out in the green room during commercial breaks. But yeah, I think that will get some sort of stuff from 51. But could they do something in the vein of the blood versus water introduction where we get no actual footage, just enigmatic imagery to be invoked? And we would only understand in three months time. I think they're going to give you a normal preview.

[00:35:13] You said it yourself with Survivor 47 was still filming when they did the preview for that season in Survivor 46. So they have plenty of time for this. Yeah, I mean, well, it depends on if they'll have plenty of time in the reunion. Yeah, we'll get to it. We'll get to it, I think. Mike, let's talk about some of the topics that we might see covered in Survivor's 50s reunion.

[00:35:40] Let's get into this because there was this really good tweet, and I'm trying to find the person who posted it. So my apologies for not attributing it to the source. But they provided this really good reminder because, again, it's been a second since we've had a reunion. And I think we have lovingly so had a groundswell of fans come in and find Survivor since the last time we have had a reunion.

[00:36:03] But it serves as a great reminder that Survivor reunions are not typical to reality show reunions in general. You can speak to this, I think, first and foremost, because you have now experienced a Survivor reunion as well as more of a Bravo-style reunion that I think people may expect when they hear the term Survivor reunion.

[00:36:23] I also experienced what I believe to be the craziest Survivor reunion of them all, the reunion for Survivor All-Stars, which I was an up-close spectator for. Yes, in the nosebleeds. I had the best seat in the audience. I was in the audience on the stage for the Survivor All-Stars reunion. I was watching Rob Boston Rob proposed to Amber, but all I can see is Cesternino looking at me. Yeah, yeah.

[00:36:51] I was backstage when that happened. But yeah, I mean, that was a massive one. Madison Square Garden. Like, again, people don't necessarily realize, like, that Central Park, when they had a huge outdoor venue there as well, much like Survivor proper, they really experimented with a lot of locations back in the day. For sure. For sure. Okay. So, yeah, Mike, do you want to talk this through?

[00:37:13] Yeah, so, because I think that, again, people are like, oh, yeah, there's a whole laundry list of grievances from throughout the season that people are going to run down. I don't necessarily expect that to be the case. Now, as we'll get into, there might be some specific topics that are being brought up. But again, if you look back at previous readings, I mean, Rob, you did a podcast a while back with, I think, Frail Mary of, like, the most awkward reunion moment. It was actually Lindsay Wilson. Lindsay Wilson, yes. Apologies for the misattribution there.

[00:37:43] But there's a lot of wild random stuff that happens over the course of this, like, 30 or so minutes that the reunion has been previously packaged in. It's not necessarily a, like, all right, let's do a running list of everything that happened all season long and get everyone's perspectives on them. Yeah, so the difference between Jeff and Andy Cohen as the host of reunion show, I think. Do tell. I don't know how short that list is.

[00:38:06] So I do think that Andy is looking for what are the more salacious things we could get the panelists to talk about? Where is the conflict? Where is the beef? Where is something that's going to, you know, get shared on social media? I don't think that's who Jeff is as a host. Perhaps maybe once upon a time, that was what Jeff's goal was. That's what Jeff's objective was.

[00:38:36] Asking some of the questions he asked of the contestants in the past. I don't think that's where Jeff's head is at now. I think, if anything, Jeff is trying to largely avoid controversy and conflict in the reunion show. And I think that Jeff has worked hard over the last 10 to 15 years to really prop up Survivor as a place where there is gameplay, but then sportsmanship. And everybody comes together at the end of the show.

[00:39:05] And everybody is feeling good about their experience. And there's a spirit of camaraderie amongst the survivors. And so, if there are riffs, I think that what Jeff is looking for, hey, Joe and Rick, you guys obviously got into it on Zoom. But you guys are good now, right? And then Rick would be like, oh my God, I love Joe. Joe's the greatest guy ever. And then they hug. I think that's more where Jeff wants the Survivor reunion to be.

[00:39:35] Whereas, in the past, sometimes where we have some of these awkward moments, that's not what the Survivor reunion is about. I would agree. Jeff sort of treats this after show kind of like Nicole Kidman treats AMC theaters. You know, like we come to the reunion to laugh, to cry, to care. Like, we need that feeling of unity.

[00:39:59] As he sort of has expressed through various interviews, including one that you did with him a couple years ago, I think he has kind of moved on from... I don't want to use the term, like, trash TV, but I think, as you mentioned, more of these, like, conflictual elements that may exist. And I think it's going to be more of a celebrational aspect, much like the season proper has been. Right. Where if this was an Andy Cohen-hosted reunion show, we might get like,

[00:40:24] Ozzy, you said on social media that Rizzo was lazy and not somebody that you would respect and somebody who is just trying to act like a big guy. And, like, it's just not going to do that. Yeah. So, to that point, I think one of the topics that will not be mentioned is this apparent tension between the David versus Goliath 3.

[00:40:49] I think, whether Mike White is in attendance or not, just because I don't necessarily know what the status of that relationship is. Now, maybe Mike has talked with Christian since Christian has said they have not spoken and, like, water is a little under the bridge here. But I don't know if that's – and also the fact that that was something that was in the fourth episode of this show, I don't necessarily know if that's going to be a discussion topic at the forefront of anyone's mind.

[00:41:15] So, I do think that if Mike White wants to talk about it, I think it will be a discussion on the show. I think that that's something – Yeah, but I – Because I think that that's not even something from social media. That's something that actually happened on the show.

[00:41:29] And, you know, if Mike still wants – is feeling some type of way about that, I feel like that that's a good way to get – I think that they would rather have Angelina talking about that than Angelina talking about her edit or any of the other – like, the, you know, the confessional counts or anything like that. So, if you could get Mike and Angelina talking about Christian as opposed to anything else, I think that actually that's where Survivor would prefer that.

[00:41:59] Well, I think that you – how about other couple topics you can go to with Mike White, right? Do you still have a six-pack? What's harder, filming the White Lotus or filming Survivor? Like, there are more prevalent things you could get into with him that – again, I just feel like this is something that, yes, incredibly significant. And I think, in retrospect, probably one of the bigger moves of the season happened months ago at this point.

[00:42:24] I don't necessarily know if it's something that production feels like we need to really address this again. I think that if Mike wants to talk about it, they'll talk about it. I think that the production would much rather have Mike talk about – now, Mike, you wrote the White Lotus right after Survivor. Are there going to be any – was there any inspiration from your Survivor 50 experience? Yeah, I think that's probably the easiest place to go.

[00:42:49] I think in terms of other conflicts, I think Rick and Joe, I can already imagine like the two of them giving each other bro hugs from like rows apart or seats apart or wherever they're going to be worlds apart at this point. I don't know about Aubrey and Genevieve. Do you think that topic is going to be brought up at all? It's interesting. I kind of feel like that if you're going to talk to Genevieve, I feel like that that's the thing to talk to Genevieve about.

[00:43:16] Or if we're probably going to do a segment right about like, and look at all these twists that were brought in. Genevieve, you found two Billie Eilish boomerang idols. How did that affect your game? Do you think we want to talk about Billie Eilish? Do you think that – Pick your poison, Rob! Yeah, so I do think that potentially like to see how well Aubrey has done since that point in the game, I think you probably do want to get Genevieve's perspective on it.

[00:43:41] Yeah, it's like Genevieve, you were the one that really saw Aubrey from the very beginning as this dangerous player. What's your reaction to what she's been able to do since? Yeah, I think that I could see – I definitely think that that will be something when we talk to Genevieve. And I think as well, like again, from what Genevieve has expressed, they are not necessarily on the best terms, but I think that both of them would be cordial enough to not make it seem like it was going to devolve into like some sort of episode of Jerry Springer by the end of it. No, certainly not. Yeah.

[00:44:09] All right, so let's talk about maybe some moments, some moves that will be discussed. I mean, I think – You don't want to take on the list. Any other potential riffs? Well, I'm trying to think about like what other – I mean, Stephanie and Ceres, there might be something there of like – well, I think you could do if you want to. If you really want to bring up Mike and Christian, I think there could be an entire segment about like pre-existing relationships. Yes, okay, and that's one of my questions for you.

[00:44:33] Do you think that – do we talk at all about pre-game alliances in the – does the term pre-game alliance comes up at all? I do – I think it depends on who you're talking to. I certainly think those who have been accused of being in pre-game alliances will not bring it up. I think that they still want to sort of remain in that neutral territory.

[00:44:59] Now, if other people accuse others of being in a pre-game alliance, that's a different kettle of fish. Yeah. I think that that's going to be an interesting one to navigate. I don't know if – other than like the poker alliance, I'm not sure how many times the actual Survivor show proper has acknowledged the existence of pre-game alliances. No, I don't necessarily think so. So – but the tough thing about the reunion, right, is like these players are relatively unfettered.

[00:45:29] Yeah. They can sort of discuss what they want to. Going back to that Survivor All-Stars finale when Boston Rob is getting into it with Big Tom, I think Rob is saying like, so did you or did you not have an alliance with Lex and Kat? And Big Tom's like, I didn't have – I didn't agree to anything! Like they're getting right into it. Yeah, so that could be – it could be something.

[00:45:54] I feel like enough time has passed since those accusations were like – again, I feel like the mood of this reunion is going to be joyful. I think that's what they're aiming for. And even though I think some people may not have had the happiest experience there, I don't necessarily know if people are coming in with an agenda to be like, and let me address how I was screwed over by a pre-game alliance that already existed. I think people like Jenna and Savannah who have said as much in their exit press,

[00:46:23] I don't think they're going to make that the forefront of the time they're giving out the reunion. But also you have people – I couldn't believe it when I was doing my exit interview with Colby. And Colby, I was asking him about what happened with the vote, and he said, you know, well, the thing about Sarit was I pre-gamed with her. I'm like, oh, we're like – I kind of feel like, oh, we're talking about this? We're coming out, and he was like laying out some of these pre-game conversations that were had.

[00:46:52] I think if anything, it's going to be viewed through the lens of ways you've interacted before. That's where I think Stephanie and Sarit would really be borne out here of like, all right, Steph, you've played on a couple different shows with Sarit. What was your reaction when she turns the votes around on you? Less so about like, hey, you two probably had a conversation before the game started, and then she betrayed you. How are you feeling now? So again, it's through the lens of what we actually saw on our screen,

[00:47:21] rather than sort of the invisible iceberg that exists underneath the surface. Yeah. So then, we're talking about moves here, Rob. I mean, I think the 1A move that they're going to talk about is Ozzy not playing his idol. I think we're going to go right – not right to him, but certainly that's going to be probably the first question he gets asked, right? Is why did you not play your idol again? You would think that that would be a big question for Ozzy, yes. Yeah. And I think there might be more.

[00:47:47] Again, he has had a very big personal journey both on and off the show, but I think, especially with these aftershows, right, they really like to walk through, and these are some of the big swings and moves that were made. Again, I would say Survivor 50 wasn't necessarily full of those, but I mean, that's a big one. The coin flip is obviously going to be another big one. What else? Big moves that were talked about. I think taking out Seri will be framed as the biggest move of the season. Yeah, I think that's another big one as well.

[00:48:17] Even if it was not necessarily a blind side, it was still a massive move that was made. Do you think we'll talk about the double duos twist and taking out Coach and Chrissy there? I think it'll be sort of just framed into there were all the fans voted for dynamic twists, and we really tried to keep the fans happy. They told us they wanted dynamic twists, so we did the blood moon. We did the double duos. Yeah, but we hear the number 63% in this reunion.

[00:48:47] Yes, there was a mandate for dynamic twists. Yeah, so maybe that would get brought up there, but yeah, I'm hard-pressed to think about what other big, quote-unquote, moments will get properly dissected over the course of this reunion, which is maybe why they've adopted to more of this sort of as-you-go type of format, where it might be less conducive to like, all right, let's break down what happened here, unless we see some sort of wild thing happen in the final five or final four.

[00:49:15] Maybe. Certainly, that's on the table. Mike, we have here Stephanie LaGrosa at the Survivor finale that we all remember, going back to the Heroes vs. Villains finale, when Stephanie said that— I forget what the question was that she responded, but that there's nothing— All that matters was the answer.

[00:49:38] All that matters was the answer, which was that, hey, that's—it's nothing that a filet mignon slice of pizza at Gigi's can't fix. Do you think anybody from our 24 panelists will plug any sort of outside venture, whether it's cameo, whether it's nickname ceremonies, whether it's merch?

[00:50:06] Do you know Q Burdette at all, Rob? Do you not think this man would take this time in front of an audience of millions of people to plug some sort of thing he has going on? I mean, you invoked it before. Coach, this is also a very—another fantastic platform for him to be like, and listen, if you want your own nickname, go to CoachBenway.com, and I'll give you—I'll bestow upon you the greatest moniker you could ever receive. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think that there's an artful way to do it.

[00:50:35] I think that Q could talk about how, like, he's got the Q skirts finally up and running. Like, I think that there are more artful ways that you could be able to do it. Of course, Cochran gave out his Twitter handle as the answer to a question. Now, if you are giving out merch, I think the easiest thing you do to silently advertise is wear said merch. Yeah. Like, if you've got, like, huberdette.com across your T-shirt. You'd have to get the green light from the wardrobe person.

[00:51:02] That's true, unless you, like, unzip your hoodie and it's secretly underneath, like, Superman. They would not let him wear a—like, yeah, you'd have to, like, Superman it, where you'd have to have the website URL underneath the shirt and then break it open. Goldenpalace.com. Yeah, that feels, like, very indicative of, like, an early 2000s comedy, right? Like, actually printing the website URL on a T-shirt. Yeah.

[00:51:28] So, I do wonder if we could see anybody just going for it. Just like, hey, this is the last time I'm going to be on Survivor. This is it. This is my one shot. Yeah, I could certainly see. I mean, I think Cameo is a good way to put it up. Like, listen, if you want to hear some more perspective— Listen, I didn't win $2 million, but give me a little chump change. I'll tell you a little bit more about my thoughts on the season. What about a QR code shirt? Is that the next step? I mean, we saw the Super Bowl bring that in heavily.

[00:51:57] I think it would be the best way to just randomly advertise things. So, do you really think CBS is following you around with a phone trying to get this QR code on their phones to figure out what it's going to be? Yeah. I mean, Q is right there for a Q. It's my QR code. Yeah, exactly. Like, don't you worry about it. This is my brand now. I've got my own QR code. Yeah. Okay.

[00:52:20] Mike, we also have a cast that has varying degrees of strong political viewpoints. Do you think— Does anyone in the cast— Because go no further than Ozzy himself. Go back to 2017's Game Changers finale. Do you think anybody uses their opportunity on the stage to make a political statement?

[00:52:50] I guess, as is always the case in today's day and age, the term political is as widespread as the criteria with a jury vote. But I think that, you know, Ozzy's speech, which I think was a little bit more explicit, was still kind of verging on— You're talking about, like, Survivor as a microcosm of society. Like, I don't think we're going, like, full award show. You know, we're not going like, you know, I just want to take this award to say, F this person.

[00:53:18] Please go to this website to support this cause. Well, I can tell you— And I hope I'm not speaking out of school too much. I believe that in—I spoke to Ozzy that night. I think that he regretted he did not go further in his political statement. And that was seven years ago. Well, considering what he has said shortly thereafter about the winner of that season, I think that makes a lot of sense to maybe take some shots across the bow.

[00:53:44] So that might also depend as well about, like, you know, who's succeeding on the season versus who's not. I could see someone like Ozzy standing up to make a statement like that. I do not expect many of the other 23 people to take the time to do that. Yeah, I don't think everybody's going to give equal time. Unless they are running for office, Rob. Will someone use their time on the reunion show to announce their candidacy for a political office?

[00:54:14] God, I would love that so much. Move over, Golden Escalator. We've now found the oddest campaign announcement I've ever seen in my life. That's right. I'm the man, the myth, the legend. And now I'm going to be your comptroller. Watch out, Christian. Move over, Slamtown. I'm running for this November. Vote for the Riz God. Pokemon Riz, go to the ballots and vote for me.

[00:54:42] To me, finishing sixth is the same as finishing fourth. I'm finishing first this election day. Voting for me is easier than flipping a coin. You don't have to make a 50-50 choice. Go 100% on Rick Devins. Yeah. Boy, this is so fun to have the live reunion back. See, this is really like an anything can happen type of environment. I mean, here's another question, Rob, that we really should have addressed at the beginning.

[00:55:09] How many children will Jeff talk to over the course of this three-hour period? How many children? Now, does this include the children of the players in the audience? Like, are we talking to, say, let's interview. Hey, here's Rick Devins' kids. Let's ask them about what it was like to see dad flip the Mr. Beast coin. All right, let's say kids who are not affiliated with the player's opera. Unrelated children. Miscellaneous youth.

[00:55:38] Well, we love the miscellaneous category. Miscellaneous children. I say the over-under is it's not the Survivor reunion show without talking to some kids. I'm going to say the over-under. I'll say two and a half kids. I will take the over. I would agree with you on that because I think about other segments that did. Of course, one of the things that I did, I remember we were at the Survivor Ghost Island reunion, and they had the kid write down who they thought would win on Jeff Probst back, and then they pulled out the vote. Later on, we could see something. Yes.

[00:56:08] Like that. The kid was always right. The kid never got it wrong. This kid is a... It was multiple kids. They never got it wrong. Okay, how about this? Are these kids on Calci anytime soon? No, keep the kids off Calci. So, how many... What's the over-under on how many non-season 50 winners do we talk to in the audience on this Survivor reunion show? That is such a good question.

[00:56:36] I'm going to say the over-under there. I'm going to say it's four and a half. I'm going to go under. Under. I think there is so much to get through, especially, again, if they are parsing this reunion out and speaking to the cast throughout the entire evening, that I think you go to the Mount Rushmore, I think, and I don't know about much else beyond that. But is Mount Rushmore going to be there?

[00:57:04] I mean, I would imagine that at least Boss of Rob and Sandra are going to be there. TBD on Parvati and Tony. Is Sandra still vacationing with Gabler and Rupert? I mean, maybe her and Gabler are going to caravan over. No, Sandra and I, we're traveling. Do you think Rupert's going to be Sandra's plus one? I don't know. Maybe Gabler. Maybe Sandra and Gabler are going to come right from they were in Puerto Rico. That's like the best reboot of planes, trains, and automobiles I've ever heard of in my life.

[00:57:32] Does Rupert get an invite as the winner of America's Tribal Council? He technically has won a million dollars. Yeah. So we'll see if he makes it over. I do feel like, could they have like a Legends section? Like, I think they'll definitely talk to Boston Rob. The IPD section. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Name names here. Who do you think they would most likely go to here? So I think Boston Rob is a gimme. Cochran is a gimme. Especially given the Jonathan connection. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

[00:58:02] So Boston Rob might get more finale airtime than Jonathan. Unless Jonathan wins. Yeah. So that's two. I'm not 100% sure Sandra's going to make it. Would Sandra zoom in? Yeah. I do feel like that maybe we'll talk to some New Era winners. I was going to ask you how many New Era winners do you think are going to be there? I was going to say, do you like, okay, so do Dee and Savannah and Kyle count in this category? Well, I guess so.

[00:58:29] So I'm just trying to think of like who the winners are that would be there. I'll go through it. Erica, I feel like will not. Not sure if I was invited, but. Yeah. Marianne, I think. Will Marianne be there? I think so. I think Marianne will be there. I think so. Gabler. I mean, if he's coming with Sandra. Caravanning with Sandra. Yeah. Jam Jam would not miss it if he was invited. What's the term? He would attend the opening of an envelope. Mm-hmm.

[00:58:59] Mm-hmm. Yeah. Then Dee's there. Kenzie just gave birth. Kenzie won't. Like Kenzie just had a baby last weekend. I believe Rachel Lamont will be in attendance. Kyle's there. And Savannah's there. So I don't, I don't, maybe you go to like Marianne? I think Marianne. I think you would go to Marianne. I think that Marianne is a great ambassador for Survivor. They wanted to have her back. So I guess that's, that's three. I guess maybe take the under.

[00:59:29] I think Parvati is, maybe they're a little worried what she's going to say. Mm. Yeah. I could absolutely see that. Maybe the case with Tony as well to a certain extent. I, I, again, I, unless they flew Tony there, I don't think that he would go just to go. Mm. That could be the case. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm trying to think about, yeah, are there any other like local winners who would show up and would be spoken to? Yeah. So I think maybe four and a half seems high. You will, is you will, uh, is he in San Francisco?

[00:59:59] He's in San Francisco. Yeah. I'm not sure if he's, uh, you know, making the trip for this. Wendell? I think he's busy. Whoa, I was a little, he might be doing his own travel right now. I think he's traveling. I think he's traveling. So, um, yeah, so four and a half, I think maybe take the under. Yeah. So I think that makes sense because I mean, again, it depends on how much they want to lead into this whole celebration of survivor. If they want to honor the legacy as well.

[01:00:27] I mean, wouldn't it be fun if they had Tina West in there and be like, Tina, what were your thoughts on Colby? Tina could be Colby's guest. I mean, I think Tina sounds like Tina would, uh, more so want to talk about. Yeah. Tina would be a good one, especially when, uh, Tina, what was it like for you to see Colby out there? Yeah. I think that could be fun. Uh, but I, I agree that I think being a little bit more conservative, uh, not to speak about maybe what Ozzy might speak about at the reunion with, uh, who else they might go

[01:00:56] to in terms of players in the audience. Yeah. All right, Mike, what other topics are on your mind in the, going into this reunion show? Ooh, uh, let's see here. Okay. Are we going to get any name drops of people who aren't on this season? Players. Not from Jeff Probst, but yeah, players who are not on this season.

[01:01:24] Unaffiliated season 50, uh, name drops. Uh, I, I would say certainly. Yeah. Cause I think that, uh, and then maybe this is another off season idea, Rob, I've been floating out the idea of doing a brand seal of all the players who have been mentioned on survivor 50, but we're not on survivor 50, Michelle Fitzgerald, Sophie Bolaire, Debbie Pascusi. Yeah. I think Michelle is certainly a, uh, a layup. Oh, maybe, maybe if Michelle's there, they'll talk to her. What you want to do? Especially if Aubrey wins. Yes.

[01:01:53] You want to do a draft of, uh, non-affiliated players who get mentioned? I'd love that. Okay. Yes. Okay. Um, with you, are you going to go first with snake draft? I'll go, I'll go first. I'll, I'll, yeah, I'll take, uh, I'll take Michelle. Michelle's number one pick. Yes. Considering that has low key been like Aubrey's entire narrative at this point is like, I'm having Michelle Fitzgerald PTSD. Uh, let me make sure that I, I nip this in the bud that maybe I become the Michelle instead. Mm-hmm. Okay.

[01:02:21] Um, number two pick of a player who could get mentioned, uh, who's not on the season. Well, I do think now, can I say Boston Rob? Yeah. Put him in there. Yeah. I'm going to say, um, it has to be spoken by one of the cast members. Yes. It cannot be said by Jeff Probst. Yeah. Okay. I'll go with Mr. Boston Rob. And then. Okay. That's, that's my, okay. Well, no, no snake draft. We'll go back and forth. Okay.

[01:02:51] Let me go with, cause I'm trying to think about like, okay, who will definitely get talked to at the reunion. And because Joe makes the finale, I think it would, there's a non-zero chance to name Eva. That was going to be my pick. Ah, gotcha. Snaked you on the non-snaked draft. You snaked me on that one. Uh, who is going to be, okay. A person.

[01:03:21] Uh, is there anybody? Um, I'm going to say Kenzie. Could Tiffany mention Kenzie? Yep. That's, that's a good one. And to that point, this might be a deep cut reference, but it's a survivor finale. There will be jury questions. And there are so many fans that are involved, especially in the new era casting that I wouldn't

[01:03:48] be surprised if someone's like, I was about to have a Sue Hawk moment. And then I thought differently. You think so? Yeah. Do the new era players know Sue Hawk? Do they know who that is? I think they worship Sue Hawk. I would not be surprised if some of them have a shrine dedicated to that woman. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. I think that, uh, much like Rosie O'Donnell tried to create the Sue Hawk Memorial Award with Tammy Leitner back in Marquesas.

[01:04:14] I think that I would not be surprised if someone's like, I could have gone full Sue Hawk and called you out, but I decided not to. Okay. So they cite Sue Hawk as being somebody with a great jury question. Okay. We mentioned him already. I wonder if Ty also could come up. Hmm. I am realizing now, depending on what this is coming at, we may low-key be manifesting this tab. If people out there want to mention all six, Dayenu. We will love you forever. That's fine. Okay.

[01:04:43] Well, Mike, should we do our tradition and bring it back our noun draft? Oh, yes. The, uh, the word that will be spoken by a player at the reunion, which, uh, has, you know, I remember very, the most prominent example I can remember was that I threw out the word bird and Nick Wilson told me the day after the reunion that he got so close to saying it. So hopefully someone can get it over the line this time if they're listening. Maybe he'll be there. Oh yeah.

[01:05:12] He could be there as well. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Cheering on people from Zoom. Do you think he'd be in the under four and a half? Yeah. Yeah. So it could be, could be. All right. Mike, what are some nouns that we think could be, could be mentioned? It looks got creative. Non-survivor net. Yeah. You get points for creativity. Yeah. It looks like a blind side. Like, yeah. Fans. Like, we're not, we're not doing that. Okay. How about the term transformation?

[01:05:42] Is that too survivor adjacent? No. Um, is transformation is a noun? Yeah. Yeah. I went to a transformation. Okay. Um, what, what do you see as a, people reflecting back on their? Yeah. I think that you could easily talk about this with Ozzy, Colby, like things that have happened after the show or Sari when she reflects for the umpteen time about what survivor has taught her of like, I've, I've gone undergone this transformation.

[01:06:11] And maybe we'll try to be generous here and say like, if there's verb versions of these nouns, I think that counts as well. I spoke with Sari as you did on Thursday. Sari said that she would not be playing any more survivor. She did seem like that she was interested in other opportunities. Did you get a sense of what those other opportunities are? I mean, I can say I've had some conversations with Sari personally where she's talked about

[01:06:37] like, I mean, Sari is, is open for many opportunities as long as they don't involve going back on that island. Not to say then she disparages the experience, but I think she's very much like the survivor phase of my career. So not to mention she has seen pretty significant success on shows outside of survivor that I do not think she's thumbing her nose at any opportunity. Yeah. But do you think these shows exist or are they potentially new shows? I mean, I could see her do something like a worst cooks in America.

[01:07:06] I feel like they've used a lot of reality TV people as of late. I think she would love to do these shows that are like breeze in for one to two days. Like I could see her go on the floor, maybe like a 99 to beat. Yeah. This just feels like with no disrespect to those shows. I feel like that, um, sure. She could do that. Sandra was just un-extracted. Wouldn't it be fun to have Sari and HB and Jared on his extracted? Okay. You talked me into it. Okay.

[01:07:35] Um, I, I, let's see. I need a noun. Um, hmm. And I, and I, I don't want low hanging fruit. And so, hmm. And I don't want dead air either. And so I'm going to say that, uh, how about baby?

[01:08:07] Baby is a good one. Yeah. Baby. I'll accept child as well. I think. Wow. So generous. And not talking about Grogu. Nobody's going to be like, I'm so excited to see the Mandalorian and baby Grogu. The Mandalorian, the Mythalorian, the Legendalorian. I mean, who has more Riz than, uh, than the Mandalorian?

[01:08:37] Yeah. I think it's, uh, he shines even without his chrome plated armor. Sure. Sure. Okay. All right. Um, let's do two more nouns. What else you got? Hell yeah. Uh, didn't. Darn held onto that dark saber the way Rizzo holds onto an idol. Okay. I will go with, or I'm really banking on our good friend, Christian Hubicki here. And a question that Jeff might go to him with. Give me probability. Probability. Okay. Very good.

[01:09:07] I could see something where Christian's asked about, like, why did you do this? Or like, Hubicki, I gotta go to you. Like, what are the chances that Devin flipped that coin and voided all those votes? Like, I think he's going to get some sort of mathy thing to do. They're going to put him to work over the course of this reunion. Is retirement a good word? You're going from the, uh, the beginning to the end of the age spectrum here. Uh, yeah, I think retirement is good. I think obviously there's going to be a couple people that they might say they're done with survivor.

[01:09:37] I think that the, the question is, are they going to specifically use the term retirement? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Okay. Mike, do we get any product placement for anything else? Whether it is from a new series coming to Paramount Plus or for a new line of cosmetics from the people over at Eyes, Lips, and Face. Yeah. It depends on how much time Tiffany gets at the reunion. Yeah.

[01:10:06] I, I thought, did you watch that commercial that Tiffany was in? It was very, I was striking because it was like, oh, there's Tiffany, but this doesn't look like survivor. And she was like this weird, like uncanny Valley background. That was just blurry enough to be like, is that a confessional? Yeah. Get this on the set. But I thought that Tiffany mentioned that commercial. Did you watch it? It seemed like that she said something about announcing a new player.

[01:10:30] And I wasn't sure if the player was the cosmetics or if Tiffany was like teasing some kind of a twist. Oh my God. A 25th player enters the anti-penultimate day of Survivor 50. I mean, I would imagine it's like the, uh, the cute way of teasing the cosmetic line, right? Like, here's this new product, this new player in this, uh, cast of beautified commodities here from ELF. Yeah. Okay.

[01:11:00] Mike, we haven't talked at all about coach coach in the past. Uh, I mean, go back to the survivor token genes, uh, finale. He was, uh, the star of the show that we, he took a lie detector test. We met, uh, the, um, there, there was, I believe a question about, um, I'm not sure if Jeff asked it or if it was answered this way about, we met coach's girlfriend who talked about how she slays the dragon bedroom. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:11:29] Like, does he use the dragon slayer nickname in the edge room? I believe was the question. This wasn't two seasons or, uh, Natalie Bolton. So I think it was very much still on the mind of people. Yeah. We get that type of question. What does coach do? God in the coach is going to steal the moment, right? Oh, Jeff is absolutely going to go coach real quick. Give him a haiku to finish the season. We get it. We certainly get a coach haiku. I think coach haiku would be. If I were in the reunion, I think that is a picture perfect way to end the season.

[01:11:58] Like coach started with, or no, he technically didn't start with a quote, right? That was the beginning of the teaser. Before he sure feel like it kind of makes sense. I mean, bring the actual marooning proper. He gave the last words of the opening of let's go slay some drag. I feel like it'd be a thing to have that book now and have him. Do you end it on coach though? Where you'll have the winner. You have Sari. There's so many other people along the way.

[01:12:28] I definitely feel like we do get a coach haiku. I don't, I don't think we'll end on it. Okay. Over, under 945. We get a coach haiku. I think under, I think we're getting in the first hour. You think we're getting early on? I think that it's like in the opening minutes. I think that Jeff's like, and coach is here. Like, I think that he's a go-to guy. Should they open with coach?

[01:12:55] Will coach open by playing the survivor theme on the, on the trumpet? Yeah. Yeah. That'd be exciting. If we recognize it being played on the bugle. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah. He could go full say coup and they could cut to him before a commercial playing it on. Yeah. And here's coach with the Russ Landau and the survivor band. No, it'd be Ben Katzman, right? He replaced Russ Landau. Here comes Ben Katzman to shred with the van.

[01:13:25] That'd be great. Oh, he should have been in our player draft. Yes. Uh, will we interview any of the idol winners, the idol finders from the 50 States? I think they're going to gather a whole gaggle of them together and be like, we got people who searched all over nationwide to find these idols. Like, uh, how far did you travel? I'm like, I think we'll get a little bit of that type of, uh, back and forth between them. A little bit from those people. Okay.

[01:13:51] Is there anything else that you think we need to preview for this three hours survivor live show? Like I, we were meant to say, Rob, we only did two words. I think it makes sense. We go with a wild card word. Okay. A wild card word. Going to go. I'm going to say, you could say that some of these players went to the fountain of youth and that's why they look so good.

[01:14:18] Even years and years later, hopefully someone. We'll spurt some wonderful words about my favorite water fixture. What's the water fixture? Fountain? A fountain. I like fountains. You don't like fountains? You're not a fountain fella? I'm just trying to, what is the context that they're going to say fountain? I went to the fountain. I got, I found the fountain of youth. Could be.

[01:14:47] Or like, uh, uh, Ozzy's like, yeah, when I saw Aubrey was dead to rights, I just sort spewed things out like a fountain. I couldn't stop myself. Hmm. Genevieve was a fountain of idols. The fountain of idols. Um, I am going to say, just trying to come up with something that's not basic and something that's something that's good.

[01:15:17] If you have a favorite water fixture, you could say that. Um, how about discovery? Is discovery to not off the wall enough? Cross, I mean, cross brand promote like is paramount is soon acquired to the Warner Brothers field of products. Okay.

[01:15:36] If, and if that's not enough, uh, off the wall, um, how about, um, uh, chicken? Okay. Damn. I love that. All right. We're going from bird to chicken survivor. 50 players. You have your assignment. You have a few different, uh, outs on getting chicken.

[01:16:01] Of course we could talk about Rizzo didn't eat his chicken that, um, there would be the second survivor reunion where they talk about breasts. This could be a top heavy reunion where I think that maybe that we could see more, more stuff. Yeah. Um, although I, I think that maybe this could be a little bit more of, I'm trying to think of what the right metaphor would be to say that like a lot of the reunion stuff happens in the middle where we start with like an hour of survivor and then do a lot of reunion

[01:16:30] stuff in the middle and then do final trial of council at the end. One of those like a Carnegie delegate sandwiches, right? There was just like a butt ton of roast beef in the middle of the bread. Yeah. Pastrami. Is that one of the words? Yeah. Like a pastrami sandwich, Jeff. Yeah. Ever had, you ever had, you know, pastrami sandwich? Um, you want to do like in the Superbowl that they have, like, what color is the Gatorade going to be? What color is Jeff going to wear?

[01:16:58] Oh, that is a fantastic question because Jeff, I feel like he usually likes to go for like the casual sweater look. Now, I don't know if that's only, that was only for the fall seasons, but like those are the ones that really come to mind for me. Jeff is in a different season of his life than he was since the last reunion show. That's very true. Does he wear like a number one dad shirt in honor of Survivor being more of a family show? To see Superman that. Yeah. Okay. All right.

[01:17:27] What's your pick? I am going to go, I'm going to go with like, now this is tough because I am slightly colorblind. Oh, I didn't know that. Especially when it comes to, yeah. So when it comes to especially darker colors, it drives my wife up the wall here. So I am going to go with like a deep dark blue and I might not know it. I might think that it's black the entire time, but I'm taking everyone else's word for it. I'm going with a darker blue.

[01:17:54] I'm going to say that Jeff is wearing brown for the reunion show. Brown. Okay. He does tend to wear darker colors at the reunion show. I'm going to say brown. All right. I like that. Okay. Is that a Darnell Hamilton reference? Perhaps. Does that make our non-player draft? Imagine Darnell Hamilton was there. They brought out the whole cast of Survivor Co-Wrong. Remember this 10 years ago? Like, Aubrey, we have a surprise for you.

[01:18:24] Let's bring out the whole cast of Survivor Co-Wrong. Anna Kate's like, I loved when they stormed the stage 10 years ago. Yeah. Anna Kate's like, wait, hold on. When are we giving our political statements? Exactly. I was told we'd only give those. Mm-hmm. Yep. Okay. All right. There you go. That's a very good question. I think he will.

[01:18:50] I think he will give a very courteous wave when the camera cuts to him, and that is all we're Will he give a political statement? He does with his presence, Rob. All right. Doesn't he have his way to the UK? Doesn't he have a job he's supposed to do? Yeah. Well, I don't think he lives in Los Angeles anymore. I thought he was a special emissary to the United Kingdom, so not sure if he's even- But yeah, he's been giving interviews. He talked with Dalton for his cover. He talked with the recent Variety cover that came out.

[01:19:18] So I would not be surprised if he showed his face. Okay. All right. We'll see. All right. Mike, what's next for you in between now and when you'll be at the live finale? So I've got one more B&B to do. Unfortunately, Liana will not be able to make it, but I will have a great guest in her stead. I'll be talking with Lauren O'Connell from Edge of Extinction. Fresh off of the live show. Fresh off of the live show, and especially given that this week we sent off Rick Devins.

[01:19:45] I'll be intrigued to get a lot of her perspective as to that. In particular, she, of course, has her own live reunion POV that we can get her own sort of predictions on as well. So that should be a really fun time. And then something that I don't think any of us have talked about is that I believe right now the plan for coverage of the finale is that there will be a red carpet for the finale, but there will also be proper exit press done the next day as well.

[01:20:10] So there'll be a little bit of, you know, short stints with these players on the red carpet. And but then if you're looking for like proper sit down interviews with the final five, it'll be happening on that Thursday as well. So just follow all the stuff we're doing. Follow me at a Mike Bloom type to keep abreast, not chicken breast of this entire situation. I'm so excited for this, Rob. Like this is going to be a really, really fun time.

[01:20:37] I mean, I've gotten the grateful opportunity to go to two live reunions. You can attest to this. Like there is something that's so fun about it. I mean, you know this from live events about like watching an episode together with a group. Add on top of that, the fact that the whole cast is there. You have Jeff doing all these interstitials. Like it is such a fun atmosphere that I think has been so sorely missed. And so no matter what happens, what words are said, who makes a cameo, if Mark Burnett showing

[01:21:05] his face, I'm just so grateful that it's back and that we get to get a version of this to truly, you know, culminate what has been an eventful, incredibly exciting season of television this spring. Yeah. And I would have guessed you've been to way more than two more finales. But I remember when we went to the Ghost Island finale was the first one that you were at.

[01:21:29] I remember your reaction walking into the live finale was one of just sheer excitement. Yeah. Like when Jake, like when Jacob Derwin arrived on Ghost Island, just sort of like geeking out incredibly. So yeah, I've gone to Ghost Island. I've gone to Island of the Idols. And now this will be my third. So I'm incredibly excited to be there.

[01:21:53] Excited to see you, Rob, as well as all the other fantastic people in the press for Survivor. Check out all their content as well. And yeah, we shall see what the evening provides, not only for the finale itself, but for what is coming our way in the room where it happens. Yeah. Okay. And then just a little bit of a rundown of what our schedule is going to be here on RHAP. I am heading out to the finale. Steven Fishback is traveling.

[01:22:23] And so we are going to have our deep bench. Is he traveling with Wendell by any chance? No, I don't believe he's traveling with Wendell. Our deep bench of know-it-alls fill-ins as Sam Phelan and Owen Knight will be live after the episode on Wednesday night. I'm going to do my best to try to call in and be the embedded field reporter. Take your pick. Who's your favorite NFL field reporter?

[01:22:52] Oh, I do. I like me some Erin. I forget her name at this point. One of the ones on Dancing with the Stars. Andrew Andrews is now on Fox. I enjoy her a lot. Yeah. I was going to say Michelle Tafoya. Oh, I like her as well. Not Diana Rossini. We're not talking about that. Okay. I was going to say, Rob, please. Will that come up? No photos in LA. Will anybody want to talk about that in the Survivor Union? They're not cutting to Boston, Rob, right?

[01:23:21] I feel like that would be the primary thing you'd want to discuss. I don't know if you'd want to talk about that. I don't think you'd want to talk about that. It's not a great look for the people of New England. But that being said, we are going to be – Sam and Owen will be live after the episode. I'm going to be from the red carpet. I'll have my red carpet interviews and talk with everybody. And then I'm looking to connect with Steven, whether it's Thursday or Friday, to do a proper know-it-alls.

[01:23:48] So a lot of moving parts for the finale. Yeah, but incredibly exciting, right? Because, again, we don't necessarily know what to expect. I want to hear from other people as well about what they think is going to happen. Give your own predictions as to which Survivor players or otherwise are being talked to. What words are going to be said. Let's play this game within a game together years after it's gone away. Yes, and we could use somebody to be the official scorekeeper of who got more stuff right, me or Mike, today.

[01:24:18] Yes, I'm Bud's person. Come through. Okay. All right. Thank you so much for joining us. Take care, everybody. Have a good one. Bye. Bye.