Purple Pants Podcast | Qing!

[00:00:00] It's the Purple Pants Podcast

[00:00:26] Hello, hello, hello and welcome to the Purple Pants Podcast

[00:00:29] Survivor News Edition Episode 392, Queen. I serve as your

[00:00:35] humble and also gracious host Bryce Isaiah and I thank you so

[00:00:39] much for tuning in to this week's Survivor News. If you

[00:00:43] could be so kind to ensure you are subscribed to the Purple

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[00:00:57] your Survivor News, you can watch this audio podcast on

[00:01:01] video, just head over to the Bryce Isaiah YouTube channel,

[00:01:05] click Subscribe, give this video a thumbs up and let us know in

[00:01:09] the comments what you think about this week's recap. Bay

[00:01:13] listen, Survival 46 is heating up and with only one episode

[00:01:18] left, we are back to discuss Episode 12. Oh, you know your

[00:01:24] baby boys have a lot to say about this week's episode. I'm so

[00:01:28] excited to be joined by Jack Atkins from the Netflix show The

[00:01:31] Season Two, Wendell Holland, the winner of Survivor Ghost Island

[00:01:36] and a current contestant on Amazon Prime, The Goat. And we

[00:01:40] are so excited to welcome to the podcast for his first debut, the

[00:01:45] winner of Survivor Season 43, Mike Gable, a la Gable is in the

[00:01:51] building. Let's get in to this week's Survivor News.

[00:02:15] Survivor News.

[00:02:23] And we are back with your Survivor News covering Survivor

[00:02:27] Season 46 Episode 12. And I am excited for this week's episode.

[00:02:32] We've got our favorite baby boy, Jack Atkins from the Netflix

[00:02:36] Season Two, the circle was popping Jack.

[00:02:39] So what's up? I'm in Chicago coming to you live from my

[00:02:42] friend's apartment. So excited to discuss a great episode and

[00:02:46] we got some some great other people in the mix.

[00:02:48] Absolutely. Some call them a goat from Winners at War, or

[00:02:55] maybe the goats of Ghost Island. Also The Goat on Amazon Prime

[00:03:00] currently streaming now Episode 4 is out. Make sure you check

[00:03:03] out Wendeezy's The Goat Pod. Wendell, welcome back to the

[00:03:07] podcast. What's up?

[00:03:08] It's good to be back. Thank you for having me back. And I'm

[00:03:12] excited for this next guest.

[00:03:14] I am really excited. This is actually Jack, the first

[00:03:18] legitimate actual winner to welcome to the podcast. I'm so

[00:03:23] excited to have the man, the myth, the legend, you might

[00:03:27] remember him from Season 43. The Al LeGabler. Let's welcome Mike

[00:03:32] Gabler to the podcast.

[00:03:33] Mike, great to see you guys. So fun to be here. This is awesome.

[00:03:37] We've got such a great show to talk about too.

[00:03:40] It has been a season and an episode. Wendell and I just

[00:03:44] wrapped up our Philadelphia show here in Philly last night. And

[00:03:49] it definitely was an epic show. And all roads lead to the

[00:03:54] finale next week for the Bryce and Winn present Season 46

[00:03:59] finale. We've got two days of events for everyone. We have our

[00:04:02] Real Talk panel, which tickets are still available. We have our

[00:04:05] karaoke nights. We have our international brunch with our

[00:04:09] Survivor Quebec, our Survivor Australian friends and some more

[00:04:14] surprises and all things are leading to the finale on May 22.

[00:04:18] Wendell, do you have anything to report about the finale?

[00:04:21] And just that this finale is sold out. And if you want to

[00:04:26] make it to anything, make it to the other events or make it to

[00:04:29] this karaoke welcome party, you'll be able to like meet

[00:04:31] pretty much everybody. And that's a that's a fun one.

[00:04:36] Yeah, it's going to be an epic, epic time. But listen, we got a

[00:04:40] lot to cover. So Jack, what like, where are we starting today

[00:04:43] Jack?

[00:04:45] I gotta start off. I got beef with someone Bryce and I gotta

[00:04:48] address it. We've been talking spoilers during the season in

[00:04:52] terms of you know, what is considered a spoiler. And for

[00:04:55] the first time this season, I was partially spoiled by my own

[00:04:59] uncle on this. And so Uncle Jim, come on, man. Come on,

[00:05:05] Uncle Jim. I was I laid it on my flight and I was ready to go to

[00:05:09] my friend's house and settle in and watch the episode. He's like

[00:05:13] what's with all these people not playing their idols? As soon as

[00:05:16] Q found the idol I was like, oh man. But you know, as a Charlie

[00:05:22] as a Charlie supporter, it did help ease a lot of those

[00:05:25] tensions and while watching the episode, but regardless, it was

[00:05:29] a great episode. If I didn't know that Charlie was safe, I

[00:05:32] might have had a heart attack.

[00:05:35] Jack, there is another beef that I have seen on the

[00:05:38] Instagram. I'm not sure if you're familiar with this, Mike,

[00:05:41] but you've been watching the episodes or the season, correct?

[00:05:44] And you saw the Applebee's reward, right? Well, I mean,

[00:05:50] we're on the block, you know, Q is out here shutting down

[00:05:54] Applebee's. Applebee's just announced this week that they're

[00:05:59] closing 35 locations and of course Q has to take to his

[00:06:04] Instagram with Silk the Shaka. It ain't, and Mystical, it ain't

[00:06:08] my fault.

[00:06:11] He's a character man. He's a character.

[00:06:15] Mike, when's the last time you've been to Applebee's?

[00:06:18] I haven't been to Applebee's in a long time. I did walk by one

[00:06:21] at the Dallas airport, took my picture and sent it to Mike and

[00:06:24] Jonathan from 42 because they're always big on that. So just as

[00:06:28] a joke. But no, I haven't been there in a long time. I am

[00:06:32] intrigued because you know, it's this was like the ultimate

[00:06:36] season for Applebee's in that Liz lives and dies for Applebee's

[00:06:42] as much as she does for Survivor. And that was genuine. They

[00:06:45] could not have gotten a better spokesperson caring about that

[00:06:48] bourbon burger than her.

[00:06:51] Absolutely. And even last night, the recent vote out mentioned

[00:06:56] Applebee's in their exit.

[00:06:58] Yeah. Yeah, right, Jack. Because Q mentioned it also. This has

[00:07:03] been a very Applebee's season. On our season, we were wondering

[00:07:06] if we were going to get, you know, Applebee's at the Merge

[00:07:09] Reward thing. We didn't. We just had a, you know, a Kutri

[00:07:12] thing, whatever it was, but it was really great. Of course,

[00:07:14] you're starving. So it's even better. But we were all like, I

[00:07:17] wonder if it's gonna be Applebee's. Maybe it'll be KFC.

[00:07:19] Maybe it'll be Popeye's. We were like, we're just going.

[00:07:23] Mike, what you know about a Popeye's?

[00:07:25] Oh, hey, I'm from Texas. I'm from the south. So you know, Houston,

[00:07:29] Houston is there's a little Mardi Gras Beaumont. And of

[00:07:32] course, I've been to Mardi Gras a bunch of times when I lived

[00:07:34] down there. Six hour shot straight straight east.

[00:07:39] Yeah. But before we get into the meat and potatoes of the Q

[00:07:44] situation, we do kick off the episode. So you know, a lot of

[00:07:49] people were like last week, why did Ben vote for Kenzie? And I

[00:07:52] think a lot of us, especially coming from a strategic

[00:07:55] standpoint, we're like, well, it's a split vote in case

[00:07:58] there's you know, there's an idle play or there's a shot in

[00:08:00] the dark. Turns out Ben just forgot who he was voting for. And

[00:08:05] he was really we've seen people say, Oh, I messed up in the

[00:08:08] past. I'm thinking, you know, maybe a Natalie Anderson and San

[00:08:10] Juan del Sur. But here Ben is genuinely like, I just messed

[00:08:14] up. And I don't think we've ever seen that before.

[00:08:18] Just everyone's like, I feel like everyone believed him to

[00:08:21] like, I believe I'm like, yeah, I did. He messed up.

[00:08:27] It was shot. It was a shocker. You know, I know. Kara from

[00:08:32] Australian survivor was with King George, I think it was on

[00:08:34] the first time they played together. I think it's maybe

[00:08:36] season six or whatever that was. She did the same thing where she

[00:08:40] wrote the wrong name down and it completely at least Ben didn't

[00:08:44] really alter the game. You know, it was Venus still went

[00:08:47] out. It was okay. Kara's vote down there blew up that entire

[00:08:52] thing and ended up it ended up getting her home. So really

[00:08:56] wild. Ben's got to keep it focused here on this next vote

[00:09:01] or two.

[00:09:04] I've been guilty of getting up a little earlier and putting on

[00:09:07] the wrong shoes. So I feel like I can relate to Ben lack of sleep

[00:09:13] laying on that bamboo will will do it to you every time.

[00:09:19] It's really true. You know, you're really beaten down out

[00:09:21] there. You're exhausted. You're and you know, you're going in

[00:09:24] there and he may have been thinking even like, you know,

[00:09:27] don't write Kenzie don't write Kenzie and somehow put Kenzie

[00:09:30] in there. I don't know. It's funny.

[00:09:32] Kenzie and Venus aren't obviously very similar names,

[00:09:35] but in a way they have a similar vibe, I feel like so. I don't

[00:09:40] know. I guess this though. They said, let's just give them one

[00:09:42] letter.

[00:09:47] Yeah, but I guess he's able to recover. I mean, we've seen he

[00:09:50] and Kenzie have such a bond on the island. And Kenzie gives him

[00:09:53] some flack for it. But ultimately, you know, she's still

[00:09:56] there for him when he when he's struggling at night and things

[00:09:58] like that. And I think that's a great, great move from Kenzie.

[00:10:01] We've seen a lot of people this season, a big issue for them is

[00:10:04] someone does something against you. They hold grudges. And so

[00:10:08] now it's nice to see someone be like, okay, hey, like, I'm

[00:10:11] giving you the benefit of the doubt and bringing them back in,

[00:10:14] which I think is really good for Kenzie's game.

[00:10:17] Yeah, because she gave him the benefit of the doubt.

[00:10:23] See, now that Wendell's a father, the puns just happen.

[00:10:28] Puns, it just happens, man. You're it's only gonna get worse

[00:10:32] Wendell. Trust me.

[00:10:33] Yeah.

[00:10:36] I respect Kenzie a lot though, because I don't know if I would

[00:10:38] have had enough. I don't know if I would have been able to have

[00:10:40] that grease whip and I'd have been like, he's got to go. You

[00:10:43] wrote my name. So it was good to kind of see Kenzie just be

[00:10:46] able to shed love and understand that, you know,

[00:10:49] Yeah, just her personality. And I think that's what makes her so

[00:10:52] magical and attractive. I mean, she's somebody that I mean, how

[00:10:56] can you not want to work with her? She's she's got that great

[00:10:59] smile, good energy. She's smart. She's kind of the hiding in plain

[00:11:03] sight person for this week anyways, because Maria's stock

[00:11:07] is, you know, her targets gotten big. Charlie's has gotten big.

[00:11:11] Liz is working in there. Ben. Ben's also, you know, playing

[00:11:15] that, that game in the shadows, where I don't know how much of

[00:11:19] it's the edit, how much of it's him, but he's, he's still there.

[00:11:22] And aside from Q was the only person that kept writing his

[00:11:25] name down. I think he's, he's, he's probably advancing. It's

[00:11:30] hard. It's anybody's guess right now because Jeff and the guys do

[00:11:33] such a great job editing it, but it's pretty exciting finish

[00:11:36] right now.

[00:11:37] Definitely. And I keep saying every episode, like we don't see

[00:11:40] much of Ben, but I feel like every time there's big

[00:11:43] decisions to be made or anytime he's there, they're always

[00:11:46] having conversations with him. And so again, I'm like, is this

[00:11:49] an alligator? They trying to pull on us where it's like, he

[00:11:52] really could be in the mix. And so it's with this only one

[00:11:55] episode left. It's like, I guess we will feel really sick.

[00:11:58] Yeah, yeah.

[00:12:00] Yeah, I was I was thinking Ben could be a sneaky dark horse if

[00:12:03] he ends up with, you know, like a Liz and a Q at the end. But

[00:12:07] now, you know, writing the wrong name down and with Q going

[00:12:11] home, I am a little bit lower on his chances. But I mean, Gabe

[00:12:15] was absolutely right. He's been consistently in the mix. And

[00:12:18] he's also just really well liked by people.

[00:12:20] Yes.

[00:12:21] That there's, there's, there's something to be said about that

[00:12:23] if you can get to the end with some people that are not as

[00:12:25] well liked.

[00:12:27] And then maybe he's got something more that we haven't

[00:12:29] seen that he would, you know, because the time to be self

[00:12:33] aggrandizing and the time to really trumpet all the

[00:12:36] greatness that you've you think you've been a part of is that

[00:12:40] final travel, right? If you get there. And, you know, we saw

[00:12:44] last season with Emily, you know, coming out a little early

[00:12:49] and wanting to take wanting to validate her game and herself by

[00:12:53] taking credit for Bruce's blindside, which she did a

[00:12:55] masterful job. We all saw it at home. But I don't think they saw

[00:12:59] it on the island until she pointed it out. The problem was

[00:13:02] she pointed it out too early in the game. And people were like,

[00:13:06] Oh, she is playing really hard. She is really smart. And doggone

[00:13:12] if people like her, that's got to go. So it's all about when

[00:13:16] you show your hand. And I think final travels when you lay all

[00:13:21] your if you're, you know, you lay all your cards down right

[00:13:23] then.

[00:13:24] Gabe, it's interesting to hear you talk about that game. And

[00:13:26] I'd love for you to elaborate more because something we've

[00:13:28] talked about on the pod this season is how so many of the 46

[00:13:32] castaways are so all about getting credit for different

[00:13:36] moves. And you take the credit and like you referenced with

[00:13:39] Emily last season, as soon as you grab this credit, it puts a

[00:13:42] big target on your bag. We've been high on Charlie because I

[00:13:45] think last season or last week, it was really smart of Charlie

[00:13:47] to be like, Hey, I'm going to give Maria the credit in order

[00:13:51] to make her target bigger. But obviously on your season, you

[00:13:54] made a few moves early in the merge, and then you alligate

[00:13:57] into the shadows a little bit. And then you were able to come

[00:13:59] back around at the end. Was that something you were actively

[00:14:02] working on during the season or just sort of worked out in

[00:14:05] hindsight? But what was like your thought process with that?

[00:14:07] You know, survivors is extremely strategic, in that you

[00:14:11] have to be patient. And, you know, when you're ready to make

[00:14:15] your shot, you might really want to do it right now. But maybe

[00:14:18] it's better to do it in four days, you know, maybe you've got

[00:14:21] to have a few more things line up before you take that shot.

[00:14:25] And when it comes to taking credit for things that happen,

[00:14:30] it's a very fine line because this season has been very resume

[00:14:34] focused. I think last night was the first episode this season

[00:14:37] that they did not say the word resume. And it's great to have

[00:14:42] a resume. But I think they're way you know, you just can't be

[00:14:46] as focused on the minutia of the bullet points on your resume, as

[00:14:50] you are the macro strategy getting to the end because the

[00:14:54] longer you're there, the fewer opponents you have and the

[00:14:58] better chance you have to tell your story. So, you know, Q, Q

[00:15:03] just needed to live one more day. And you know, that's kind of

[00:15:06] a lesson there too.

[00:15:08] I always bring up James Jones on the podcast, Mike. And of

[00:15:11] course, here I come with another James Jones quote, because James

[00:15:15] Jones always is calling me and rehashing the episode and James

[00:15:18] Jones, he put it to me the other day was like, you could have a

[00:15:20] great resume. But in the job interview, if you can't deliver

[00:15:26] on just who you are and sell yourself to the job, you're not

[00:15:31] going to get the job. So what's the point of a great resume if

[00:15:34] you can't sit in the job interview and deliver what the

[00:15:38] resume is? And so shout out.

[00:15:40] Love that analogy.

[00:15:41] And also you have to sit in that interview, you got to make it

[00:15:44] to the interview. So like you got to make it to the end to even

[00:15:46] be able to pitch your case. And if you want to, you know, take

[00:15:51] and we've seen Gabler, we've seen a lot of these people taking

[00:15:53] these big shots at their friends and their allies early. And like,

[00:15:57] hey, I did not take a big shot at my ally. And I was able to

[00:16:01] sit at the end and plead my case.

[00:16:03] Okay, jump around a little bit. Because, you know, in the words

[00:16:08] of the great Liz, this I'm pissed in this era, right? Because

[00:16:15] what you just brought up Wendell, like you didn't take a

[00:16:17] shot at your number one, and you got to the end. What is it?

[00:16:23] And maybe I'm wrong. I don't know y'all help me out. But

[00:16:26] like, what is it in this new era that you gotta go against your

[00:16:31] number one. And so it has my mind messed up because now it's

[00:16:36] like for the new people that will play survivor. It's like

[00:16:39] your number one is your biggest enemy. And like, I don't

[00:16:43] understand that logic. And it's like really frustrating. And

[00:16:46] especially like with Maria and Charlie, it's like I love them.

[00:16:49] And it's like, I want y'all to the end. But something that you

[00:16:52] said, Jack, like where Charlie get allowed Maria to have that

[00:16:55] credit. And I feel like did Charlie doing that kind of

[00:16:58] boost Maria to the sense of like, now I got to get rid of

[00:17:02] Charlie because I see what he's doing. Like, why you can't go to

[00:17:04] the end with your number one?

[00:17:06] Well, I totally agree with you. But I think what I like about

[00:17:10] this season is everyone is so obsessed with taking out their

[00:17:14] number one. But ultimately, I think the winner is most likely

[00:17:17] going to be a Charlie or Maria, or perhaps a Kenzie who actually

[00:17:23] failed at taking out her number one. And so hopefully the

[00:17:25] lesson of future players is you don't need to take out your

[00:17:29] number one. And obviously, I mean, for the Charlie Maria

[00:17:31] situation, taking out your number one at like a final five is the

[00:17:35] perfect time to do that. Or maybe you take them out in fire

[00:17:37] making. Like, like Wendell considered doing and goes to

[00:17:42] island and like a lot of people have done and considered it and

[00:17:46] goes down. I'm sorry. Yeah, like Dom considered doing and goes

[00:17:48] to island and maybe that's the time because I guess, like with

[00:17:53] the ghost island reference, you don't do that, then you have to

[00:17:56] sit next to your number one and you might lose. So it's really

[00:17:59] all in my mind. It's a timing thing. But taking out your

[00:18:02] number one at final 10 is not setting yourself up for a lot of

[00:18:05] success. And to your point, Bryce. Now, with this, that's why

[00:18:09] I like how this example ultimately, I think is going to

[00:18:12] prove not to take out your number one, because it would be

[00:18:14] so weird to go into a season of Survivor as a player and be

[00:18:17] like, like, let's be number one. So you'd be like, wait a

[00:18:20] second.

[00:18:23] For a couple days, you know, then you'll switch. And that was

[00:18:26] your Tiffany, when Kenzie went after Tiffany, your Tiffany, and

[00:18:31] it ended up going home the week later, but it wasn't by Kenzie

[00:18:35] and Kenzie was heartbroken because she was left out of the

[00:18:38] vote. She didn't have a lot of agency in that particular

[00:18:41] episode we saw. And probably because her number one was gone,

[00:18:45] the person she most trusted was cut free from her. And she

[00:18:50] started that you know, she kind of planted that seed going. And

[00:18:53] I think you do it to be careful because you don't bring in in

[00:18:56] Survivor if you could have one person you trust, pretty much

[00:19:00] that really helps you you can build on that. If you keep taking

[00:19:03] out your number one, like look this season with the six

[00:19:06] remember when they were concocting the six and I'm like,

[00:19:08] oh, that's a genius idea. It's the three people that got one of

[00:19:12] the journey. They got the reward. They figured out how to

[00:19:15] manipulate that they all brought in once when they got to the

[00:19:18] merge, they'd have six that held up for a hot minute and it was

[00:19:22] gone. blown up. Maria is the last of the six left. Yeah.

[00:19:29] Yeah. Well, Charlie was a Charlie was a late addition.

[00:19:33] With the add on. But to that point, it's like, I actually

[00:19:37] think there's some benefits to Kenzie's game in, you know, it's

[00:19:41] nice to have a number one around someone you can really

[00:19:43] operate with. But for a Kenzie to not be a part of her number

[00:19:46] one going home. I think that opens up her game in a sense

[00:19:49] where people are like, okay, now her number one's out, but she

[00:19:52] never betrayed them. So maybe that's someone I want to work

[00:19:54] with. And also you have someone going to the jury who's gonna

[00:19:56] sing your praises and who's not going to be bitter at all. And

[00:20:00] ultimately, you know, I think for Kenzie, if if a Charlie or

[00:20:04] Maria doesn't get to the end, and there could be some clear

[00:20:07] dominoes in that happening at five and four, then I think

[00:20:10] obviously Kenzie could sweep a jury sitting next to Ben and

[00:20:14] Liz. So again, it's not bad to necessarily lose your number one

[00:20:20] if you play your cards right?

[00:20:23] Yeah, it's timing right? You know, you can, if you've got to

[00:20:26] go to knives, and you got to do that, you're doing it fire,

[00:20:30] you're doing it final five, you know, you want to kind of go

[00:20:33] deep. When my main alliance that I was on the island with was,

[00:20:37] was Jesse and Cody. And Jesse ended up going after his number

[00:20:44] one, which was Cody. And it was a great move. And it's a famous

[00:20:49] blindside. It's a savage blindside, right? It's a he

[00:20:52] does. I mean, Cody, Cody and Jesse and Jesse became like this

[00:20:56] is a legendary player because of that. But strategically to get

[00:21:00] through the game, it was very hard on him. Because as soon as

[00:21:02] he did that everybody like the Emily example was like, Oh, no,

[00:21:06] he's freaking dangerous. That guy is dangerous. And he wasn't

[00:21:10] able to survive. You got to be good, but you also have to be

[00:21:13] lucky. And he just kind of ran out of luck. He was a lucky dog,

[00:21:16] but he ran out of luck that day.

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[00:21:48] Spring Trust a division of Sandy Spring Bank.

[00:21:52] Should you be aiming to be the should you be aiming to be the

[00:21:56] third in a triangle? Because does does the number three

[00:22:00] actually work out better if you know, because people are always

[00:22:03] like, I don't want to join that alliance, because I'm going to

[00:22:05] be at the bottom and ain't no wrong with being at the bottom

[00:22:07] when you know, but I'm just saying, if in a triangle,

[00:22:11] though, like if you know, the two people are at the top, and

[00:22:13] you're the third person, I actually think that that's a

[00:22:15] more advantageous place to be, especially in this new era.

[00:22:19] And I totally agree. And it reminds me of a lot of blood

[00:22:22] versus water seasons where your loved one gets voted out.

[00:22:26] Now every other duo, you know, a bona fide obvious duo who is

[00:22:31] there as a loved one, they look like, oh, you could be our

[00:22:34] number three, because because you don't have anyone else to

[00:22:36] be loyal to. So in a lot, we've seen, we've seen people in blood

[00:22:40] versus water seasons, like Tyson, and Natalie, you know,

[00:22:44] they lose their, their blood early on in the game. And in a

[00:22:48] way, they're able to be a lot of people's reason to be, which I

[00:22:52] think, ideally, it's a little bit harder in a less obvious duo

[00:22:56] situation than a blood versus water. But I think that's a

[00:22:58] great example, Bryce is if you could be everyone's number

[00:23:01] three, you're sort of just an option for everyone, but not a

[00:23:04] number one that needs to be cut per se.

[00:23:07] I you know, I said it once I say it again, don't knock it till

[00:23:11] you try it. So listen, I'm open to a three.

[00:23:15] Three is a good number. Three is a really good number in

[00:23:18] survivor, I think, if you're because the tribes have gotten

[00:23:21] small. So if you can be a part of a trio, you're going to have

[00:23:26] information, you're probably gonna have your own, you know,

[00:23:28] feelers out and you can come together and share a lot of

[00:23:31] information and be that swing group because we were when we

[00:23:35] were on that ride or die, we were in the middle choosing

[00:23:39] night to night what was going to happen. And we would have very

[00:23:42] brief conversations because we didn't want anybody to see us

[00:23:45] really. And so we would get it all figured out in the jungle.

[00:23:50] I'd never even look at them when we walk into valve valve

[00:23:53] conference. That's what I just got out of that. When we walk

[00:23:55] into travel, travel council, and just do my vote sit down. It was

[00:24:01] always like, we were locked and loaded every time we knew how it

[00:24:05] was going to go down. And that was a it was a beautiful thing.

[00:24:08] It's like, you know, when the plan comes together, it's pretty

[00:24:11] sweet.

[00:24:12] Yeah. Yeah, that's a good strategy. And like not even

[00:24:17] even it's like, I tried to keep you know, well, a lot of people

[00:24:21] knew that I was working with Dom and Laurel and even Donathan

[00:24:24] but being so not even while you're you know, on the boat or

[00:24:30] going in the tent or all this stuff that happens before you

[00:24:34] walk out of not even engaging with them. That's that's one way

[00:24:37] to do it. I like

[00:24:39] something you should have maybe tried window on 40 I think that

[00:24:42] may be the we could have switched things up a little bit.

[00:24:47] How'd you do a 40? Listen, Gabe was that he liked the number

[00:24:50] three and I was the third out so it's an honor. Okay. It's an

[00:24:54] honor.

[00:24:55] But to that same point, I mean, especially in the new era where

[00:24:58] it's a lot of three tribe seasons where it's groups of

[00:25:01] six, if you get that three early on, you know, that's basically

[00:25:04] a majority of got a type three, you just pull someone in and

[00:25:06] tribe of six. So you can go a long way with that. Whereas, you

[00:25:09] know, in the olden days of two tribe seasons, you know, nine,

[00:25:13] 10 people or three isn't as strong. You still got to pull

[00:25:16] in some more numbers, not to mention the merge where you have

[00:25:19] a merger Tory and then you have a split tribe tribal, you're

[00:25:21] not really doing it. The biggest vote you're ever going to see

[00:25:23] is 10. And then a three there is still pretty effective. So

[00:25:27] it is pretty effective. And you know, you look at it, there's

[00:25:32] three is a pretty good number because if you have more people

[00:25:35] to keep track of than two, the trust gets a little rusty a

[00:25:40] little loose in that trust out there. You start getting an

[00:25:43] alliance of four or five, you're really not sure what's

[00:25:47] happening. When there's three, because me, Owen and Sammy were

[00:25:52] in a three, me, Cassidy and Owen were in a three, me, Carla and

[00:25:57] Jesse were three, me, Jesse and Cody were the real three in the

[00:26:01] middle, but we were moving. And all those little threes were

[00:26:03] like gears grinding together, right? And you'd be all those

[00:26:07] gears were touching each other and coming around. We're trying

[00:26:09] to figure out what to do. And it allowed you to be pretty

[00:26:13] nimble. I think it's like almost like a seal team, right? You got

[00:26:16] this, this little small tight group that can move on a dime.

[00:26:21] Like that. Yeah.

[00:26:23] What happens if you're three in the three, you've got Q as one

[00:26:28] of your threes. How do you think that will work out?

[00:26:31] You play your idol.

[00:26:38] And moving towards that, I mean, so we have this reward

[00:26:41] challenge, and Charlie wins and gets to bring people to the

[00:26:45] sanctuary for some Chinese food. And also he finds out after he

[00:26:51] wins that there's going to be some love, some letters from

[00:26:53] home. And he picks Liz and Kenzie much to Maria's disdain.

[00:27:04] But did you guys think that was the right choice from Charlie?

[00:27:08] I think it was the right gameplay move, wrong emotional

[00:27:13] move, right? Because for me, I always as a survivor, fan and

[00:27:17] lover, I love the letters. And I love the family visits, right?

[00:27:21] Like I just always get emotional. I just love seeing

[00:27:24] someone's loved ones. I remember Wendell season seeing Wendell's

[00:27:27] dad out there like, I just I love that. And so Maria being a

[00:27:32] mother knowing she has three boys out there like that was

[00:27:34] just hard to watch. And even if I was Charlie, and I had that

[00:27:39] agreement with Maria that I'm not going to bring you on a

[00:27:42] challenge because that's a great strategic move. Like let's keep

[00:27:45] each other away. Let's bring in the people that we need to. I

[00:27:48] don't know in that moment, me being a son and having a mother

[00:27:52] like I don't know if I would have been able to actually pull

[00:27:55] that trigger and not bring Maria which is also in my opinion, a

[00:27:59] resume booster for Charlie because that was yeah, he did

[00:28:04] that because I know that had to have been hard and then just

[00:28:06] watching Dr. Maria try to like suck it up and like you know not

[00:28:10] really give her emotions but you could just see she was broken

[00:28:13] and just knowing that like all of the things of the world knowing

[00:28:16] her sons were writing her letter that was like that was

[00:28:18] hard to watch.

[00:28:19] Hmm. Yeah. What do you think Wendell?

[00:28:23] I agree. I felt for her. She loves her family. And like, she

[00:28:30] misses her boys. And I'm sure she was telling them all about

[00:28:34] her family. And, you know, but again, like I on Ghost Island, I

[00:28:40] believe I won like a stake reward or something like that.

[00:28:42] And I picked I had Laurel out there. I had Dom out there. I

[00:28:47] had Donathan out there. I believe I picked Angela and

[00:28:50] Sebastian to come with me. And a few nights later, they're

[00:28:55] sitting on the jury and both of them voted for me.

[00:28:58] Yeah. You know, you don't. I'm going to take the contrarian

[00:29:02] view on that where I agree with with your move Wendell. I think

[00:29:06] it's it's heart heart wrenching. You know, Bryce Jack to watch

[00:29:11] that. But strategically, I thought it was masterful play

[00:29:16] where he brought the people he needed because if he was going

[00:29:19] to do a coup on, you know, in Blindside Maria, he needed those

[00:29:25] two specifically. They also were not it looked more almost I

[00:29:31] think from the three that didn't go like he was just being a good

[00:29:35] guy Liz's you know who had been on a reward and so he was able

[00:29:38] to get away with that. The wrench in the whole thing was

[00:29:43] Maria's visceral reaction to not getting to see the letters from

[00:29:47] her kids. And that was I don't think he was factoring that in.

[00:29:52] But I think he managed it okay. And I also get where if you've

[00:29:55] got a number one, just say you know, Bryce, me and you are

[00:29:58] super close. We're going here. Hey, man, we're doing this

[00:30:02] reward. If I win, I'm not taking you because you got to take care

[00:30:06] of babysitting camp, or vice versa. So I had that plan with

[00:30:11] Owen on my season and towards the end, there was that

[00:30:15] freaking puzzle. The words are just long enough to where it'll

[00:30:19] fit right? It's like dangerous works adventurer works all the

[00:30:22] like you get a big one you kind of stick with it. That was my

[00:30:25] my downfall but Owen got that one that we were starving. And

[00:30:30] I'm looking at Owen like trying to communicate telepathically

[00:30:33] with him. Like forget what we said. I'm so hungry. Pick me.

[00:30:39] But he sent if he went with Cassidy like we had talked

[00:30:42] about he probably did that also did that strategically because I

[00:30:44] think that's where he was going. But we did have that agreement.

[00:30:47] I was going to babysit back at camp. I think the difference in

[00:30:50] this scenario, it was such a gut punch to poor Maria that she was

[00:30:55] ineffective babysitting back at camp because she was you know,

[00:30:59] she needed care and she needed people to help her. And it kind

[00:31:02] of stirred a bunch of stuff that we're still not done

[00:31:06] seeing the chaos caused by all that.

[00:31:09] I think that's a great point because you know, I think

[00:31:14] obviously there's so many emotional factors when it comes

[00:31:16] to reward and it's easy to say watching from home when you're

[00:31:19] not starving or you want to love you from home but I think the

[00:31:23] stratus in me I think the real value is how do you put these

[00:31:27] groups together that's going to maximize your game? Who can you

[00:31:30] bring that you might be able to work with? And also, I mean, it

[00:31:34] reminds me of my good buddy Xander in 41. He said something

[00:31:38] along the lines of, you know, I kind of I don't want to go on

[00:31:41] the board because there's something there's some value in

[00:31:42] being with the losers because if you're in the position where you

[00:31:45] need new allies or you need to twist the game around the people

[00:31:49] back at camp that are hungry and pissed off might be a little bit

[00:31:51] more willing to change the game. And so honestly, I know, I know a

[00:31:57] couple times this season, I think people volunteered to give up

[00:31:59] a reward and it didn't end up working out. But it almost part

[00:32:03] of me was like, maybe Charlie could give up his reward to

[00:32:05] Maria, but he also wants that time with Kenzie and Liz to

[00:32:09] solidify this this upcoming.

[00:32:11] It's tricky, right? I mean, Jeff and those guys, they do such an

[00:32:14] amazing job of keeping you off balance. And you know, you're

[00:32:19] already in the fog of physical from sleeping, hunger, thirst,

[00:32:24] all the other stuff. And then you're there with these super

[00:32:27] complex, emotional decisions that are very important. Five

[00:32:33] chest moves ahead. And you're doing this. Oh, it was you could

[00:32:37] feel it. It was palpable, right? Bryce, I mean, you felt that it

[00:32:41] was just heartbreaking to watch. But that's part of why we love

[00:32:43] Survivor because you never know what's going to happen. Right.

[00:32:46] And the the organic nature of it is what so far Jeff doesn't

[00:32:51] know what's going to happen. He sets a table but we put it all

[00:32:55] together, which is really interesting.

[00:32:56] I think another like key just something that I watch always

[00:32:59] look for little stuff. And for me, I'm like, Charlie is good.

[00:33:03] Because when he picked Liz, not only did he pick her, but he

[00:33:06] named her daughter, right? Like and it's like, for me, that's

[00:33:09] the little stuff where it's like, he is getting to know

[00:33:12] these people and just the fact of him even saying that name if

[00:33:16] it were to come down to the end, like that's a vote right

[00:33:19] there. And so it's like, Charlie, I see you like I like,

[00:33:22] I see you, Charlie.

[00:33:23] He's genuinely connecting with everyone and like the non pizza

[00:33:28] people. Remember, that was a thing too, right? You go back

[00:33:31] there. When you're doing that, you are making relationships

[00:33:35] that he didn't have before that loss. His his stock rose after

[00:33:42] that loss because he played it just right.

[00:33:45] Yeah. And I mean, to me, that's what separates that's why I'm

[00:33:48] more on board with a Charlie win than a Maria win. And I think

[00:33:52] that's why it works out.

[00:33:55] Even I mean, look at this episode, look who emerges

[00:33:58] triumphantly in this Charlie Maria battle, because he's able

[00:34:01] to win over the Liz and the Kenzie and it might boil down

[00:34:06] to something as small as last episode, Maria really fumbled

[00:34:09] the way that she picked for the reward and left Liz feeling

[00:34:14] very discontent. Whereas this episode, Charlie brings her

[00:34:17] plays a perfect and gets the people that he needs on his side

[00:34:20] to win this first, he may not have won in the war. We'll see

[00:34:23] what happens. But he definitely won the battle this episode.

[00:34:26] No, well, right. But also I think what I love about first

[00:34:29] of all, I hate that it's the Charlie and Maria battle, but

[00:34:31] also it's so good, right? Because it's like, we love them.

[00:34:34] And I love the fact that you're right. Charlie played this

[00:34:37] excellent. And Maria kind of stumbled a little bit. But you

[00:34:40] saw that fire that it lit, right? Like, and I think that's

[00:34:43] fire. And that's something that you can't quantify and survivor

[00:34:47] when it's like, when you get pissed, shout out the Liz, but

[00:34:51] when you get pissed, you never know what's going to happen. And

[00:34:55] so like I, I'm with you, but I'm not counting Dr. Maria out

[00:35:00] because I mean, I'm just saying like I, that fire at her for me

[00:35:05] was like, oh,

[00:35:08] the music even told the story this episode had particularly

[00:35:12] like really good or eerie, spooky or suspenseful music. They

[00:35:17] did a great job.

[00:35:18] I noticed that it was really impressive. They, they really

[00:35:22] put together a great show for sure.

[00:35:25] For sure. The editing was phenomenal this episode for

[00:35:27] sure. I've seen a lot of praise for that because even back at

[00:35:29] camp during the reward or once Charlie and them get back from

[00:35:32] the reward, we see these sort of dueling confessionals from

[00:35:35] Charlie and Maria of like, is it my time to make a move? Is, are

[00:35:39] they suspecting that I'm going to make a move?

[00:35:41] Dueling! It was very well done. Yeah. Like literally they were

[00:35:45] saying the same things and changing the frames. Spooky.

[00:35:49] I'll tell you though, I think so before we do that, who was your

[00:35:53] winner pick? Go around the horn. Who was your winner pick in the

[00:35:57] beginning? What'd you guys have? Who do you have now?

[00:36:00] So, you know, I do, it's a look with Rob. And so I always judge

[00:36:04] my winner, my winner picks off of their look. And so I loved me

[00:36:09] some Kenzie, but as the episode started and where we're at now,

[00:36:14] it's like, I think I might be team Dr. Marie. I think Dr.

[00:36:17] Marie is like my now new winner pick.

[00:36:20] Yeah. Great. Great. Great. How about you, Jack?

[00:36:23] Yeah, I know. At the beginning of the season, I didn't make a

[00:36:26] formal winner pick. I would say I was definitely high on like a

[00:36:29] Tiffany and a Kenzie.

[00:36:31] And a Jalinski.

[00:36:32] And a Jalinski, Jack! Don't, don't!

[00:36:33] And a Jalinski. We gonna hold you to it.

[00:36:35] But the Jalinski was more of a personal bias because I was just

[00:36:40] team Jalinski. But now, I mean, ever since the merge, I really

[00:36:44] think Charlie's been been playing his ass off. I said it

[00:36:48] last week. I thought last week's episode was phenomenal for him.

[00:36:51] Think this week's episode was fantastic for him. If he ends up

[00:36:54] winning the season, I think he could go down as one of the

[00:36:56] strongest players in the new era. So he's really like you

[00:36:59] said, there's so much, I think specifically in the new era, so

[00:37:03] much importance on like timing and being patient and maintain

[00:37:07] those relationships and like building them up until the time

[00:37:09] to like strike is correct. And I think Charlie's just really put

[00:37:12] on a show on how to do that.

[00:37:16] Very patient. How about you, Wendell? Did you did you start

[00:37:18] off the season with a favorite?

[00:37:20] I think I was I was I think I predicted Tim as my as my

[00:37:25] winner. And now, man, I think that with Charlie and Maria, you

[00:37:33] have Maria being the one that voted for Charlie that is still

[00:37:37] on the island. Going into next episode. Maria is this strong

[00:37:41] player. We've seen her win. So there's going to be a lot of

[00:37:44] eyes on her. She just shatters this beautiful partnership that

[00:37:51] they've had. A lot of eyes are going to be on her. Publicly,

[00:37:55] yes. And Charlie is this this character that's been like

[00:38:00] moving and mastermind mining as well. So I'm scared for Maria,

[00:38:05] Bryce. I'm high on Charlie. I'm scared for Maria. High on

[00:38:11] Charlie, but I could see them gunning for Charlie too.

[00:38:15] And he and she's good enough to sway them to do that. It's

[00:38:19] possible, right? Even though she's in a bad place going into

[00:38:23] the next episode, she's she can figure it out and she can do

[00:38:27] well with this because you'll I did a Survivor League this year.

[00:38:33] In fact, it's funny. The day we flew back from Fiji, we walk

[00:38:38] into the LA airport. I've ordered a Jersey Mike sandwich.

[00:38:43] I'm like lost 30 pounds. I'm sitting there eating my

[00:38:46] sandwich. This little girl walks up with her dad and she

[00:38:50] goes, Are you a guy from Survivor? I literally landed.

[00:38:54] We haven't meet but they put the commercial on TV. And this girl

[00:39:00] 11 years old is Natalie literally saw me got her dad

[00:39:05] or dad comes over. I was freaked out because I just got back. And

[00:39:09] I told him like, Well, Dad, I can't. I can't tell you what I

[00:39:12] am. But I clearly you guys like Survivor. Tell you what, Dad,

[00:39:16] give me your email. I'll take a picture on my camera of us. And

[00:39:21] if the season happens to go anywhere, I'll send you this

[00:39:24] picture. So though that family's become a very close special

[00:39:29] family. They're really cool. And I'm going to Survivor League

[00:39:31] with those guys. So it's really funny. It's come full circle.

[00:39:35] But that's why I was asking because the beginning of the

[00:39:38] season, I was like, Okay, I'm thinking Maria because I usually

[00:39:41] go I'm gonna be honest here. I'm always going to go probably for

[00:39:43] the older character. I got to pick an older character to go

[00:39:46] for. But she was like, I'm like, she's got life experience. She's

[00:39:50] got a look. I think she's got a good one. And there were several

[00:39:53] to choose from that were you know, it's really hard. Probably

[00:39:55] had five I had to really pack down. But pick Maria. Does that

[00:40:01] mean that Jalinski was your winner pick?

[00:40:05] I had Maria down. I still have her down as my number one. But

[00:40:09] Charlie I'd as of right now looking down the barrel of the

[00:40:14] final. I think Charlie's in the driver's seat, maybe Kenzie on

[00:40:17] the outside hard to say.

[00:40:20] Mike, more like this, Charlie's.

[00:40:23] When, when you were at the airport, Mike, and you took the

[00:40:26] photo with Natalie and her dad, and you gave them all those

[00:40:30] stipulations. Do you think they walked away was like, he not a

[00:40:33] survivor? Or do you feel like they was like, Oh, he definitely

[00:40:37] or so?

[00:40:39] Yeah, I'm not sure I'd be a good spy. It was, I was just like,

[00:40:46] because you know, right when you leave the island, you're in

[00:40:48] Fiji, the last thing they tell you is don't say anything to

[00:40:51] anybody, you know, stick rules, all this stuff. And I'm getting

[00:40:56] on the plane from LA to go to Boise. I get a Jersey night sub

[00:41:00] and right there and I was just like, wow, this is gonna be

[00:41:03] such a crazy ride and it has been

[00:41:07] what was what was throwing me off when I got back before my

[00:41:11] season aired. I think our cast leaked and you get these people

[00:41:15] that are just fans that just want to stand you writing in your

[00:41:19] comments. And like people are writing King Wendell, king of

[00:41:22] King of Survivor 36 winner of Survivor 36. I'm like,

[00:41:29] deleting certain comments. And it's like you got these people

[00:41:34] that they just pick someone and they latch on and but how am I

[00:41:37] to know that you know?

[00:41:38] Oh, it's Yeah, yeah, that would that would be really crazy. That

[00:41:42] would be really crazy.

[00:41:43] Mike, can I ask you a hypothetical question? Yes, sir.

[00:41:47] You coming back from Fiji. And you live in Idaho, right? Yes,

[00:41:52] sir. And say you there are four other survivor people that are

[00:41:56] in Idaho. And you come back and you like you know, the survivor

[00:42:01] community, which will reach out to the four other people in

[00:42:03] Idaho to be like, Hey, how you doing? Nice to meet you. I'm in

[00:42:06] the survivor community. Or would you just you know, reach out to

[00:42:09] everybody but one person.

[00:42:11] I was I just talked within our within our cast within our cast.

[00:42:15] I kept it really quiet until I was, you know, Jeff said to us

[00:42:19] before the island. He goes, Look, yeah, there's a lot of

[00:42:21] legal reasons. Don't leak it because we'll come after you

[00:42:23] blah, blah, blah. But it was more like, don't mess it up for

[00:42:26] your friends and family because let them enjoy the ride of what

[00:42:31] it is. And, you know, like, I don't I don't want to know what

[00:42:35] I'm a fan number one, right? We're all fans of the show. And

[00:42:38] I don't want to know like, I don't want to be spoiled. Jackie

[00:42:40] you're talking about your uncle. It's like, we don't want to be

[00:42:42] spoiled. It's like I want to I want to do it myself. Climb that

[00:42:45] mountain myself.

[00:42:46] All right, let me rephrase the question. Mike, after the cast is

[00:42:50] revealed, and you know, it's like you're on Survivor and it's

[00:42:54] like 10 days until your season airs. Would you reach out to the

[00:42:57] other like survivors in your community? Like, hey, my name's

[00:43:00] Mike, like, you know?

[00:43:02] You know, so I would now absolutely. Okay. But I wasn't on

[00:43:09] anything. I wasn't on Instagram or Twitter, or in fact, when I

[00:43:13] was doing my application for Survivor, they're like, pages of

[00:43:16] list all your social stuff. I'm like, I have email in a cell.

[00:43:21] That's it. So I just I was learning social media as I was

[00:43:27] coming back from Survivor so that I could have a an

[00:43:31] Instagram and a Twitter or X post a postable for the season.

[00:43:36] And I took me like, you know, I started in July, July, you know,

[00:43:39] started off with like me and a one friend and they would be

[00:43:42] gross. But it was but I just built it. So I wasn't very

[00:43:45] internet savvy to answer your question.

[00:43:47] Okay, but hypothetical, like, like, say there was like a phone

[00:43:51] book. And you know, I had people on it, would you reach out to

[00:43:55] the community and say like, Hey, my name's Mike, how you doing?

[00:43:58] If you have the community reach out to me. Okay, right.

[00:44:03] Okay, well, that's funny. You say that because Bryce is trying

[00:44:05] to draw an analogy from when I got back and I hit up Russell

[00:44:08] Swan, but I didn't hit up Bryce. And what's funny is the

[00:44:11] community. Okay. To me just like just like I reached out to him

[00:44:17] but come to find out he had like, Mike, he there was like a

[00:44:21] million messages like Hello, Sandra. My name is Wendell. And

[00:44:25] I'm a huge fan. No, it's literally

[00:44:29] in the group chat. You guys are good friends. You just nobody

[00:44:35] takes it out of each other like a good friend. That's a good

[00:44:38] razzing. Right. But I know that you will reach out to me, Mike.

[00:44:42] That's why.

[00:44:42] Oh, you know, I reach out to all the new survivor people. I mean,

[00:44:46] I try to reach out to them if they're on Instagram or

[00:44:49] something and just you know, like, wish him luck and welcome

[00:44:52] into the survivor family. I in fact, I didn't know what a great

[00:44:55] survivor community we had until going to Bryce and Wendell

[00:44:59] events. I didn't realize how amazing and if anybody's never

[00:45:04] been to one of those, I think it's one of the most fun things

[00:45:07] I've ever done as a survivor person because it's just

[00:45:11] everybody's talking survivor. And there's all these survivors

[00:45:15] in there, which is cool because like it's very flat. Everybody

[00:45:18] on everybody's a fan and once in a while, a fan gets to play,

[00:45:22] which is super exciting because you know, I'll never be the

[00:45:25] quarterback of the Dallas Cowboys, Jack, Wendell, maybe

[00:45:28] Bryce, but I don't I'm very unlikely. But any of us could be

[00:45:32] on survivor and chances are we could you know, there's a if you

[00:45:36] hold it together and get a little lucky, you might win. And

[00:45:39] that's what's exciting because it's a it's a hero story every

[00:45:42] week of because you never know who's going to rise up and just

[00:45:46] find something in themselves and just do something mind blowing.

[00:45:50] And they do it every week.

[00:45:52] Yeah, you know, you never know when Q's gonna rise up and find

[00:45:57] the idol on the island.

[00:46:00] I was around on cue. I really enjoyed him. He was he went from

[00:46:05] a disaster to a just I loved watching him. I was cheering for

[00:46:10] him. I was hoping he played that a day idol.

[00:46:12] And just like Chris Noble. He went home with an idol in his

[00:46:17] body. He did. Do you think this trend that we are seeing

[00:46:23] specifically on the season with everyone going home with the

[00:46:26] idol? Do you think you can correlate it to the same thing

[00:46:29] about them being so pressed about their resume? That's like,

[00:46:33] I need to play it. I need to make it the right move instead

[00:46:36] of like the right move is actually just even if it's good

[00:46:39] or bad, play it and be here tomorrow.

[00:46:42] Several of them. Well, all of them. Jim several. It's been

[00:46:47] four though. Jim. I should five now. Yeah, the last four in a

[00:46:53] row. So that was Gem Hunter, Tiffany Venus queue. That's not

[00:46:58] over in a row last four were back to back to back. Not idols.

[00:47:02] No, because Gem was pre merged. And then the last four last

[00:47:05] four. Tiffany Venus and Q. You right?

[00:47:10] It's crazy. You know, I think people are looking at at when

[00:47:14] they find these idols like a 401k. They're gold bars. They're

[00:47:19] cash money you pay. You don't wait for them to 20 years to

[00:47:23] appreciate. You got to get in. And I think that that's been I

[00:47:27] don't think I think people watching the season will be more

[00:47:31] a little bit quicker to pull the trigger because I think when

[00:47:34] people start realizing you have an idol, you need to need to play

[00:47:38] it unless your barrage or somebody else that can really

[00:47:41] use it multiple ways. It can end up biting you.

[00:47:45] It's a tough conversation for me because you know, I've never

[00:47:50] been out there with an idol in my pocket. No, you know, feeling

[00:47:53] that burning of the idol. But I do think it's like a lot of the

[00:47:57] people that are going home with idols, right? There's sort of a

[00:48:00] cost benefit because you could play it quickly and make sure

[00:48:04] you don't go home with in your pocket. But I do respect that

[00:48:07] in the mindset of them wanting to play a great game. Now, did

[00:48:11] they all have the chops for it? Not necessarily. But in the

[00:48:14] mindset of wanting to make those big moves to put a stamp on

[00:48:17] your resume and have something to talk about when you get to

[00:48:20] the end, you're going to be a little bit riskier with it

[00:48:23] because you want to make sure you use it right rather than

[00:48:26] using it in a really simple way. And not to say that you want

[00:48:30] to go home with an idol and obviously five in one season is

[00:48:33] unprecedented. And I think a lot of these specific players

[00:48:36] had a lot of reasons, it's easier to say from the couch,

[00:48:38] but it's a lot of reasons to play it. But I do think having

[00:48:42] the mindset of you want to go big or go home if you're not

[00:48:45] first, you're last does encourage holding on to that

[00:48:48] idol a little bit more closely.

[00:48:49] So I think that makes sense, Jack, right? But however, I feel

[00:48:53] like the last four in a row, their names came up and if my

[00:48:57] name came, that's enough.

[00:48:59] It was a hot seat. It wasn't like it came out of nowhere.

[00:49:02] It's like every tribal Q's name has been on there, Venus's

[00:49:06] name. It's like you probably need to do and then even

[00:49:10] Hunter knew his name was shooting around.

[00:49:12] Agreed.

[00:49:12] And just went ahead and he got a little unlucky with the

[00:49:16] tie. But still, if you don't have the votes, if you're in

[00:49:18] doubt, you got to play it. I think that's it.

[00:49:22] If you're hearing your name.

[00:49:23] I agree with you because like you said, specifically Hunter,

[00:49:27] Venus and Q.

[00:49:30] If you know your name is one of the two options, I think

[00:49:33] that is when you have to play it.

[00:49:34] So again, the rambling before about I think that was what

[00:49:40] the correlation I was looking at with Bryce talking about.

[00:49:42] Okay, I think these are players who want to make bigger

[00:49:44] moves. But with some of these instances we're seeing here,

[00:49:47] they're players that want to make bigger moves.

[00:49:49] We just might not happen to be the best at the game and

[00:49:52] executing those moves.

[00:49:53] But I think that's why it's made the season so entertaining

[00:49:56] as we have players shooting for the stars who might not

[00:49:59] have a single piece to build that rocket.

[00:50:02] Yes.

[00:50:02] So I like that and it has been fun.

[00:50:06] I mean, it was pretty delicious.

[00:50:08] Some of those were pretty delicious because you're like,

[00:50:10] there's no way that they're not going to play.

[00:50:13] Are they setting this up?

[00:50:14] Like it's going to be a good because they'll say something.

[00:50:17] I know Venus in her show, her last show said something even

[00:50:22] like, I've got this.

[00:50:24] I think I'm not going to play it tonight because I'm gonna

[00:50:25] do something better with it.

[00:50:26] You're like, okay, that's a breadcrumb that Jeff tasty little

[00:50:31] morsel he tucked in there and sure enough.

[00:50:33] I couldn't believe it because she was starting to warm up

[00:50:36] to her.

[00:50:36] You know, she was she was starting.

[00:50:38] I'm like she might be cracking into this.

[00:50:40] You got this thing with Kenzie going and then just got bushwhacked.

[00:50:44] Especially as we get later in the season.

[00:50:46] But Mike, that's sort of what I said is when you're at when

[00:50:48] you're a gem spot and it's pre-merge if you're getting voted

[00:50:52] out with an idol in your pocket pre-merge, maybe then you're

[00:50:56] just not going to you're not cut out to make it that deep in

[00:50:59] the game.

[00:50:59] But in that sense, it's okay to hold on to the idol because

[00:51:02] it's sort of like a gamble where if I have to play it now,

[00:51:05] it's I'm probably in trouble going forward.

[00:51:07] But when you're at the final six the final seven, you're close

[00:51:10] to that.

[00:51:10] You're close to securing that win and yet by yourself a day

[00:51:14] you have a day a lot can happen in a day and then you buy

[00:51:17] yourself that time.

[00:51:18] You know, I had an idol on day one or two on my season.

[00:51:23] It was good for my first two tribal councils and I ended up

[00:51:26] it's on my wall and you know over there.

[00:51:28] It's like I did never did end up playing it and I kind of used

[00:51:33] it too because people thought I had it and they didn't know

[00:51:35] if I had they looked at my bag where you know, it's like we

[00:51:37] kind of were and I was able to use it like defensively because

[00:51:42] if you tell somebody that you're going to play your idol

[00:51:46] you're going to play your shot in the dark and there's only

[00:51:49] a handful of people to vote for you like well, it's Wendell's

[00:51:51] got an idol Bryce's shot in the dark, you know, let's vote

[00:51:56] for Jack because he's got nothing and it's let's get to another

[00:51:59] day and that's sometimes what does happen.

[00:52:02] Yeah, right.

[00:52:03] Yeah, and in a way you having an expiration on your idol

[00:52:06] makes it easier because people are like, well, you know, let

[00:52:09] them let them rock for two for two times two tribals with

[00:52:12] this idol.

[00:52:13] We don't want to take that basically a 50-50 chance you get

[00:52:16] through the first one.

[00:52:17] Then, you know, it's guaranteed that you can like then you're

[00:52:19] going to use it for sure.

[00:52:21] So that's what I've said about past New Era seasons where

[00:52:25] the idols have been very visible and sometimes having them

[00:52:28] be so visible kind of just scares people off of throwing

[00:52:32] your name out at all.

[00:52:33] But this season has been quite the contrary obviously Q and

[00:52:36] Venus their idols were pretty secret but even like Tiffany

[00:52:41] Hunter their idols were a little bit more public but people

[00:52:45] were willing to take that shot.

[00:52:46] So yeah, what do you guys think this this is jumping forward?

[00:52:50] But what do you guys think about Q sharing with Maria that

[00:52:53] he got the from the idol?

[00:52:56] I think it was solid if that's if that's your number one at

[00:52:59] this point, which should it's its own conversation of like

[00:53:02] should Q want to go deep with Maria sharing it with that

[00:53:05] just that one person where you know, you can make that move

[00:53:08] is not and especially this late in the game because early

[00:53:11] on it's like you share with your number one.

[00:53:12] You have to trust that they're going to be with you until

[00:53:14] this idol sees, you know, whether it gets played or whether

[00:53:17] it gets a lot of you out which is a lot of tribals but here

[00:53:20] it's like if you're just with your number one, it's like

[00:53:22] how do we best use this for the next two tribals?

[00:53:25] I think that's a more easy conversation to have with someone

[00:53:27] you trust.

[00:53:28] But don't you think that like I don't know you only have

[00:53:33] two tribals and from Q stance like Maria is the one person

[00:53:39] that really reached out to him and nourished that relationship,

[00:53:42] but Maria has connections elsewhere.

[00:53:44] So I mean she's been with Charlie and you don't necessarily

[00:53:48] know that she's ready to really take that shot at him.

[00:53:52] So I don't know.

[00:53:52] I'm like I question it.

[00:53:54] I'm with you Whittle.

[00:53:55] I think I mean if you're past if you're past the merge, I

[00:54:00] mean if you're certainly past the final 10 your final eight

[00:54:05] you get to six that's such thin air get your base camp another

[00:54:09] thousand feet up by just dropping it.

[00:54:11] If you're so lucky to find on the beach and I mean chaos

[00:54:16] should be spelled with a Q in the front because he's just

[00:54:19] lit up.

[00:54:20] He had people he knew was going to go after him Wiz for sure

[00:54:24] and he probably should have just kept that quiet and just

[00:54:29] played it if he even smelled it smelled anything, but even

[00:54:33] so if you're at six you just play it because you got to

[00:54:35] get to five.

[00:54:37] This is where I think it's the biggest misstep of Q and Maria

[00:54:40] where after Maria one immunity.

[00:54:44] Why wouldn't y'all devise the plan to say Q play your idol?

[00:54:49] I know they're gunning for you.

[00:54:50] They're not going to come after me.

[00:54:52] I'm going to hop on board with them.

[00:54:54] I'm letting you know, you know, because you know, you got

[00:54:57] to let you know if you go and say his name or else all hell

[00:55:00] is going to break you but I really thought that like she

[00:55:03] should have had him play his idol and they vote Charlie.

[00:55:06] I feel like that could have been super smart.

[00:55:08] Bryce super smart.

[00:55:10] That's it.

[00:55:11] You're guaranteed one of your best ideas.

[00:55:13] I've heard.

[00:55:15] Credit to you Bryce.

[00:55:16] You're guaranteed.

[00:55:17] She is guaranteed and he will guarantee himself y'all can

[00:55:21] pick whoever you want.

[00:55:22] That's why I thought it was such a blunder by Maria and

[00:55:26] this is the point why maybe I think it's good for someone

[00:55:29] like you to share with Maria because Maria is getting a

[00:55:32] lot more Intel than Q is and Maria should have known if

[00:55:36] he was the other option.

[00:55:37] Yes, have him play it and make there was something in her

[00:55:41] eye and I feel like she's like maybe if we get to five

[00:55:43] he'll play it for me, but it's just like just focus on

[00:55:46] the here and now but ultimately my biggest issue where I

[00:55:49] thought Maria and Q really really blundered when I was

[00:55:53] telling everybody no, no, they didn't tell everybody it

[00:55:55] was more just like what makes them think that Liz and

[00:55:59] Kenzie right?

[00:56:00] Are you gonna go with them over Charlie and Ben like, you

[00:56:03] know that live with you.

[00:56:05] You know that you're like, you know that your threats you've

[00:56:09] seen blatantly like like we talked about with Charlie

[00:56:12] and picking for reward how much better he did that then

[00:56:14] Maria did you have to have some self-awareness to be

[00:56:17] like there's a chance they don't vote with us and then

[00:56:21] just play the idol.

[00:56:22] Yeah.

[00:56:22] I thought it was a really big misstep.

[00:56:24] Thank you.

[00:56:25] Go ahead.

[00:56:25] I was gonna say I want to give Liz her credit right because

[00:56:28] I was shocked when Q went over to her was like, let's do

[00:56:31] Charlie.

[00:56:32] I said look at Liz out here going like, okay.

[00:56:35] Yeah, you're right.

[00:56:36] I'll do it.

[00:56:36] But that's also where I'm like Q the one thing the gift Liz

[00:56:41] has given you this season is letting you know what side

[00:56:45] of the fence she is on.

[00:56:47] Yeah.

[00:56:47] Why would you get that comfortable to think that you could

[00:56:50] then just sway Liz over?

[00:56:52] That's why I was like Q what are you doing?

[00:56:55] Super great point.

[00:56:56] Yeah, that item.

[00:56:58] Totally agree.

[00:56:58] It's like why do you expect these people to vote with you

[00:57:01] over Charlie and Ben like that?

[00:57:02] Kenzie's so close with Ben too.

[00:57:04] It's like what you know, and you know, she's the canary in

[00:57:08] the coal mine.

[00:57:09] Basically, Liz is the canary in the coal mine where if Q

[00:57:12] goes up to her and he's just at all paying attention to

[00:57:16] what she's going to do instead of trying to cajole her to

[00:57:19] vote a different way that she's not going to do.

[00:57:20] Anyways, just see what she says and read that energy and

[00:57:24] bank on it.

[00:57:25] Yeah, cuz yeah Q loves to throw out the plan and then but

[00:57:30] it's it's when you're throwing out all the plans if you

[00:57:31] were just like sounds good.

[00:57:33] You can't really get a read.

[00:57:34] Question.

[00:57:35] Yeah.

[00:57:35] Yeah, and it's also like I guess like and I always say Q

[00:57:38] was going to be his like his worst his own worst enemy,

[00:57:42] right?

[00:57:42] Where it's like Q got a little power and now he's thinking

[00:57:45] he could like take charge of the troops and it's like Q.

[00:57:49] No, but I was like, okay.

[00:57:52] I was a interesting just to see Liz going along with the

[00:57:56] thing.

[00:57:56] I was like, wow, like look at Liz being able to kind of

[00:57:58] like pull herself in and kind of play a role.

[00:58:01] So I was like, I see you Liz.

[00:58:04] She did.

[00:58:05] Yeah.

[00:58:05] Yes, she's been in.

[00:58:07] She's been a joy to watch as well.

[00:58:08] Yes.

[00:58:09] Yeah.

[00:58:09] What season of people I think and I remember I hear I heard

[00:58:14] Jacob Kane talk a little bit about it on the rap live where

[00:58:17] he was like these this Idol situation so tough to analyze

[00:58:20] because every situation is its own situation.

[00:58:23] It's like you can't there's no rule of thumb of like if

[00:58:26] you have an idol just play it.

[00:58:27] That's that's yeah.

[00:58:28] Yeah.

[00:58:28] Yeah, but it's so it's so dependent on the situation.

[00:58:34] But I think we talked to him about all the flags the red

[00:58:38] flags.

[00:58:38] There was like a sky full of red flags for Q that should

[00:58:43] have been like, you know, this could be exactly I think,

[00:58:47] you know, he probably needed I think you you nailed it when

[00:58:50] you said that he got his Idol and he went from the ground

[00:58:54] floor to the penthouse mentally and he was just like, okay,

[00:58:58] man, I got my I got my back.

[00:59:00] He's calling the shots.

[00:59:01] He's talking to okay Liz you do this and he forgot that he

[00:59:05] still got a bunch of people aiming at him and it probably

[00:59:08] just overrode his initial plan.

[00:59:11] Well, that's what I mean.

[00:59:12] I kind of lost my train of thought but I think that the

[00:59:15] key signals that I would point to to try to like generalize

[00:59:18] the Idol players.

[00:59:19] Do I know the alternative plan?

[00:59:22] And if I don't know if I don't know the alternative plan,

[00:59:26] would it make sense that that alternative plan is me right?

[00:59:29] So I mean here Q knows should know from Maria that the

[00:59:33] alternative plan is him.

[00:59:35] So it's like just but in the past situations, it's like maybe

[00:59:39] for a Tiffany where that's a little bit more hard to get

[00:59:42] that read then you could be like, okay, I don't know who

[00:59:46] who so-and-so are voting for right?

[00:59:48] Like she knows the plan was Q but she doesn't know what Q's

[00:59:51] plan is and ultimately maybe Q's plan if people know you

[00:59:55] have an Idol then that blind side of you makes sense.

[00:59:58] Maybe that's what prompts it.

[00:59:59] But if you're like at the merge and it's the final 12 and

[01:00:02] you have an Idol and you know, like okay, like Bryce and

[01:00:05] Wendell are voting for Gabler but Gabler and Jack are voting

[01:00:08] for Wendell and there are all these movie pieces.

[01:00:10] My name hasn't come up.

[01:00:12] Okay, then you don't need to play your Idol like it should

[01:00:14] be alright.

[01:00:17] Yeah, I'm really there's a world where call me crazy, but

[01:00:24] I feel like Q not playing that Idol could have really been

[01:00:27] a million dollar fumble for him because I was like in the

[01:00:32] beginning Q could never win but oh, yeah, but he could win

[01:00:35] but he was he was he was shifting gears.

[01:00:37] He was in a different lane.

[01:00:39] Yeah, and again, it reminds me again of like Tony from my

[01:00:42] original season where it's like people in the game are hating

[01:00:45] you and don't like you but the fact that you're able to get

[01:00:48] to that end and have that job interview and what you could

[01:00:52] do in that interview.

[01:00:53] What a story he would be able to tell.

[01:00:57] Did you see some of the Twitter activity about Q's exit?

[01:01:02] No from the 46 cast.

[01:01:05] No, no.

[01:01:06] Oh, they were ripping it and they were wanting to do it.

[01:01:11] My favorite one.

[01:01:12] Really?

[01:01:12] You know how early in the season Q was talking about like

[01:01:15] it reminds me of back in high school.

[01:01:17] Like I was the captain of the football team and we're in

[01:01:19] the state championship and then the title of the newspaper

[01:01:21] was like Q, like Burdette fumbles.

[01:01:25] Jelinski tweeted last night.

[01:01:26] He tweeted Burdette fumbles.

[01:01:29] Oh and then I mean Jess was going in on him is several

[01:01:35] just said something like that's what you get for showing

[01:01:38] me that fake idol.

[01:01:39] My face or whatever.

[01:01:40] What did he say?

[01:01:41] What?

[01:01:42] That's what you get for giving me that fake idol or something

[01:01:44] like that.

[01:01:45] Oh, yeah, right.

[01:01:48] You know what?

[01:01:49] He also did.

[01:01:51] Hot take.

[01:01:52] Q?

[01:01:53] He turned on the season.

[01:01:54] He turned on the stove in the kitchen.

[01:01:56] Made this one of these seasons that we will always remember

[01:02:00] and he made the season.

[01:02:03] Oh, yeah, for sure.

[01:02:04] It's been a very, he's had a huge impact.

[01:02:07] He's been fun to watch.

[01:02:09] His commentary is great.

[01:02:11] Bad idea.

[01:02:12] He's got, he's just, he's got a good idea.

[01:02:15] Q skirt like his six that he demolished.

[01:02:19] There are so many things that he did this season.

[01:02:22] I mean, yeah, because it was it was kind of a soft start

[01:02:25] with, you know, there's a little Jelinski was awesome.

[01:02:29] Bonnie was struggled for a little while there and that was

[01:02:31] kind of hard because it was hard to watch the poor guy struggling

[01:02:36] and then you're like, but you're also like, okay, the game

[01:02:39] let's get let's get it going.

[01:02:41] Pull them off the field.

[01:02:42] Let him go.

[01:02:43] Let the guys go.

[01:02:43] But it's shirt really started with with Bonnie and and Q and

[01:02:48] the gang because it was very fun.

[01:02:51] Yeah, it definitely picked it started slow but picked up to

[01:02:54] be a great post-murder.

[01:02:55] It's 100.

[01:02:57] Yeah, for sure.

[01:03:00] It's a quandary.

[01:03:01] But yeah, he was I think he's virtually potentially a lock

[01:03:04] for season 50 because he was whether you love him or you

[01:03:07] hate him, you feel some type of way about him and that's

[01:03:09] what makes such a compelling.

[01:03:11] You're going to watch.

[01:03:11] Yeah, on his R hat interview.

[01:03:14] His last line is if you don't call me for Survivor 50 cancel

[01:03:21] Survivor.

[01:03:22] Oh, hey, dude, that's awesome.

[01:03:25] Okay.

[01:03:25] He's probably I'd say he's he'd be great TV.

[01:03:28] I know I'd be watching so I tune in.

[01:03:32] Yeah.

[01:03:35] I saw it's just sort of discussion about season 50 though,

[01:03:38] where it's like a lot of these players that bring back that

[01:03:41] could be brought back now have this understanding of like

[01:03:44] the perception of them and so they might play into that

[01:03:48] perception too much rather than being like their authentic

[01:03:51] self which created that fun.

[01:03:54] Caricature of them.

[01:03:56] So it's almost like you'd see Q come back.

[01:03:57] I can only imagine he'd have like the most insane antics.

[01:04:02] He would have like license Q skirts.

[01:04:04] He'd be wearing how I would feel about it, but it would be

[01:04:09] unreal for sure.

[01:04:11] It definitely would love to see Q back but I think similar to

[01:04:15] Tony from my season his first time returning when you have

[01:04:19] such a big personality like that.

[01:04:22] It can work for you or you could like kind of fumble really

[01:04:26] early.

[01:04:27] So yeah, I think there's a high danger of that.

[01:04:30] Yeah, Tony sort of played in that caricature of himself to

[01:04:33] where day one.

[01:04:33] He's like, all right, I'm looking for idols like takes off.

[01:04:36] That's right.

[01:04:37] That's right.

[01:04:37] So it got him it got him knocked out.

[01:04:40] And there's also jealousy and there's also I don't want to

[01:04:44] see this person.

[01:04:45] I'm not even going to let him have a time.

[01:04:49] Yeah, like I could see I could see that really backfiring.

[01:04:53] You know what?

[01:04:53] That's really good.

[01:04:54] Yeah, that would be the only thing about not building him

[01:04:56] on there because I think unless he but you know, we're assuming

[01:04:59] he'll be the same Q or Q type 2 which is even bigger and you

[01:05:03] know when Boston Rob came back he his game.

[01:05:07] He tried to do like the same thing when he was the Rob boss

[01:05:10] and what worked for him on the last season did not work here

[01:05:13] and he didn't was able to make that adjustment.

[01:05:15] I think if Q is going to be successful, it'll have to be a

[01:05:19] whole new Q that we see it'll have Q isms because he's he's

[01:05:23] naturally going to do those and I hope so.

[01:05:26] I hope that ever stops but he'll have to be a different Q because

[01:05:30] if he gets otherwise, he's going to be put in the Q box of chaos

[01:05:33] and no one's going to want to work with him.

[01:05:35] My exact suggestion is to study Tony's three seasons.

[01:05:40] If I'm suggesting anything to Q because we will see him on

[01:05:44] season 50.

[01:05:45] Hey Q my friend look at how they did him on game changers.

[01:05:50] Yeah, look at Tony came to winners at war.

[01:05:53] I could not recognize this person.

[01:05:56] He would he was so humbled.

[01:05:58] He would build the shelter with me all day.

[01:06:00] I'm like, where is Tom like and he just stayed so low.

[01:06:05] Meanwhile, he was up all night looking for idols, but we would

[01:06:09] this was an unrecognizable Tony and game changer game changers

[01:06:14] humanized him so much that it's like man.

[01:06:17] We could get this guy out anytime.

[01:06:18] Yes, but as he got some steam and turned it on so cute

[01:06:24] Quintavious Burdett my friend study study Tony's three seasons

[01:06:32] and play like his third season if you come back and then turn

[01:06:35] that Q on excellent advice.

[01:06:37] Excellent advice.

[01:06:38] Also remember Q is not the only colorful character in the

[01:06:42] Survivor catalog, right?

[01:06:43] Like and so I think that there is a world where he could be

[01:06:47] around like there's a world where Q could really be low on the

[01:06:52] totem pole of personality depending on who he's out there with

[01:06:56] so it would uh, it would be very interesting to see.

[01:06:59] Well, you know for season 50, there's been a lot of things

[01:07:02] floated out that I don't know what they're going to do and nobody

[01:07:05] does but as a fan, I kind of want all the things right?

[01:07:08] I'd love how great would it be if they had like 50 people 55

[01:07:13] tribes of 10.

[01:07:15] Maybe you go a couple days with that and then everybody comes

[01:07:19] out of the jungle.

[01:07:19] There's 50 fire making stations in the top 20 to make fire go.

[01:07:24] I mean you can do that.

[01:07:25] You can have five tribes of 10 competing for 50 days for 5 million

[01:07:30] bucks or do whatever you want to do.

[01:07:32] There could be all kinds of cool things going.

[01:07:35] I saw that advertisement for this thing beat the Beast games,

[01:07:39] Mr. Beast and that's for 5 million.

[01:07:41] So and you know winners at war is for 2 million.

[01:07:44] This is about to be season 50.

[01:07:45] I can see them doing a special number for 50 Gabler.

[01:07:50] I would I think that's only fair.

[01:07:52] I think it'd be, you know, put all the things out there.

[01:07:55] I'd love to see I think it's going to be exciting.

[01:07:58] Jeff, I mean Jeff's the biggest Survivor fan of anybody.

[01:08:00] So, you know, it's going to be good.

[01:08:03] I just I just can't wait.

[01:08:04] It's like Christmas.

[01:08:05] You got to wait like a couple years for it and it's going to be

[01:08:08] good. Is that why they've been cutting this budget for these last

[01:08:12] six seasons?

[01:08:14] They've been like holding back so that whoa, I can only imagine

[01:08:20] if they did do that.

[01:08:21] That would be so sick because I mean those it was 300 people on

[01:08:26] the crew that take care of the build those amazing challenge

[01:08:30] contraptions that we do and when you come out of the jungle,

[01:08:34] it's it's really amazing how big they actually are right there.

[01:08:38] Like it's like two football fields and you're just like wow,

[01:08:43] they built it in just really incredible.

[01:08:46] It's also a little intimidating but because you Jeff walks you

[01:08:48] through it.

[01:08:49] You got three minutes to figure it out then you go so or just

[01:08:53] the size of the crew itself is intimidating in my opinion.

[01:08:56] Like it's like all these people just not what it looked like

[01:08:59] on TV.

[01:09:00] Yeah, it's wild.

[01:09:02] It is wild.

[01:09:03] Yeah, but regardless we have our final five and I mean, I don't

[01:09:10] think I could have predicted this final five several days ago.

[01:09:14] But can we all lock in a winner pick going into the finale?

[01:09:21] Okay, I will.

[01:09:21] So I'm ready to die.

[01:09:23] Okay.

[01:09:24] All right.

[01:09:24] I'm I'm going with my doctor Maria.

[01:09:26] I've just I don't care.

[01:09:29] I'll go Charlie.

[01:09:32] I'm going I was Maria was my pick.

[01:09:34] I'm sticking with her.

[01:09:36] Yeah, I'm sticking with Maria.

[01:09:37] I'm sticking with Maria.

[01:09:39] I'll even the numbers up going Charlie too.

[01:09:41] So can we can we give a moment to Maria for her her challenge

[01:09:47] win?

[01:09:48] Oh, yeah, let's talk about that.

[01:09:49] That was clutch.

[01:09:50] She had to do it.

[01:09:52] Yeah, build the puzzle fun puzzle too.

[01:09:55] That was a fun puzzle.

[01:09:57] It was super fun.

[01:09:58] She was she was such a clutch win.

[01:10:00] That was a big win, you know, when you need it, you need it.

[01:10:03] And you know, like last season of Australian Survivor when

[01:10:06] Ferris, he hadn't won a single immunity all season.

[01:10:10] He gets to the final and you know, just is able to do what

[01:10:14] he had to do because he was certainly going to go and that's

[01:10:16] what real champions do out there.

[01:10:18] And I think it's really going to be fun because the final five

[01:10:21] left.

[01:10:22] I mean, maybe the Survivor gods will lean towards Liz or Ben,

[01:10:26] but they haven't really looked at them fondly during challenges.

[01:10:30] Yet.

[01:10:30] So you think you got Charlie the Challenge Beast, you got Maria

[01:10:34] up there and Kenzie's kind of the dark horse.

[01:10:37] You never know.

[01:10:38] It's going to be amazing.

[01:10:40] Yeah, and Dr.

[01:10:42] Maria did that like just when she needed to do it and just her

[01:10:45] strength.

[01:10:45] And so sometimes I always feel like things don't happen when

[01:10:48] you want them to happen.

[01:10:49] Right?

[01:10:49] And although she would have loved to read those letters from

[01:10:52] her son, sons and children, but like forget the letters.

[01:10:56] How amazing is it for them to see the roller coaster their mom

[01:11:00] went on in this episode and for her to come out like look at

[01:11:03] me.

[01:11:03] So I love that for her and for her children.

[01:11:07] Also, it's like I just want to give another shout out to from

[01:11:10] season 30 Mama C.

[01:11:12] I think there are so many similarities of Dr.

[01:11:15] Maria and Mama C and I think that people forget the greatness

[01:11:20] Mama C was out there.

[01:11:22] Mama C was kind of like counted out.

[01:11:24] She was allegedly older because when but when I see Mama C in

[01:11:27] person, she's like 22.

[01:11:29] So I don't know why categorizing her as older but Mama C had

[01:11:33] the social game.

[01:11:34] Mama C was a beast and Mama C was a lethal.

[01:11:38] And so I just see so many similarities between Mama C and

[01:11:41] Maria.

[01:11:42] And so again, just shout out to Maria and also shout out to

[01:11:44] Mama C.

[01:11:46] Great point.

[01:11:47] Great comparison.

[01:11:49] For sure.

[01:11:49] It's been special watching them and we'll see, you know,

[01:11:53] Kenzie's one that's, you know, she's hiding in plain sight

[01:11:55] right now.

[01:11:56] I think she's somebody that cannot be underestimated or at

[01:12:02] your own peril.

[01:12:04] She's got Ben.

[01:12:05] Ben owes her as well.

[01:12:07] They're close and he owes her.

[01:12:09] I think she's got Liz.

[01:12:11] There's five people.

[01:12:12] So there's three to the math.

[01:12:15] Kenzie's in a real powerful spot and she's somebody that can

[01:12:19] win challenges as we've been proven.

[01:12:22] And so it's going to come down to winning the immunity.

[01:12:26] I believe that's going to dictate everything.

[01:12:29] I think that's going to be very important.

[01:12:31] That's the thing.

[01:12:31] I think Maria might go at five and she doesn't want immunity

[01:12:34] and then Charlie could be a clear target at four, but it's

[01:12:36] just you know, who's gonna be who could beat Charlie and fire

[01:12:39] is the big question for me and we don't really know.

[01:12:42] We know Liz is not really good on the fire, but I don't really

[01:12:44] know what Charlie, Kenzie and Ben are where they're at with

[01:12:47] it.

[01:12:47] So if they can take Charlie out at 4 slash Charlie Maria in

[01:12:51] the next two votes.

[01:12:52] I mean, I think it's a it's a easy win for Kenzie.

[01:12:54] So she's definitely got a good shot.

[01:12:57] Yeah.

[01:12:57] Yeah.

[01:12:58] Well, I guess we'll have to tune in next week to see what's

[01:13:01] going to happen.

[01:13:02] I will be in New York.

[01:13:04] I know Jack will find his way to be under a speaker somewhere

[01:13:08] in our finale to watch the episode Mike.

[01:13:11] I can't thank you enough for coming on our podcast.

[01:13:14] I feel like ever since you started coming to our parties

[01:13:16] after I met your beautiful wife, I feel like our relationship

[01:13:19] has blossomed.

[01:13:20] I love you, man.

[01:13:23] I feel like I'm like a little kid texting my like younger

[01:13:26] handsome.

[01:13:29] It's been so great.

[01:13:31] Thank you, Mike.

[01:13:32] Thank you.

[01:13:33] Very much value you man.

[01:13:35] It's been great.

[01:13:35] I love watching.

[01:13:36] He's got a a groundhog that's been showing himself in the

[01:13:40] in the forest behind and we've been sending videos.

[01:13:43] Is it's great man.

[01:13:44] I think it's awesome.

[01:13:45] And you know Wendell our whole Survivor Community Jack we got

[01:13:48] to meet briefly and you know, it's really fun those I definitely

[01:13:51] look forward to go into some of those next year for sure.

[01:13:54] Thank you.

[01:13:55] Thank you so much man.

[01:13:56] You're you're such a stand-up guy and a great winner and we

[01:13:59] appreciate you very much.

[01:14:01] Oh, thank you.

[01:14:01] Appreciate you guys.

[01:14:03] Thanks for joining us.

[01:14:04] This is been your Survivor News.

[01:14:05] We'll be back next week for the conclusion of season 46.

[01:14:09] We're allah gable out of here.

[01:14:18] You better get your headphones and listen up quick.

[01:14:21] It's the purple pants podcast.

[01:14:23] You better listen in public might make your stomach hurt.

[01:14:26] It's the purple pants podcast.

[01:14:28] She's trying to unwind.

[01:14:29] You better get that box wine.

[01:14:31] It's the purple pants podcast.

[01:14:33] You trying to get your snack?

[01:14:34] You better hurry right back though.

[01:14:36] It's the purple pants.

[01:14:37] It's the purple pants.