Rob Cesternino and Mike Bloom meet the eleventh and twelfth castaways from Survivor 46: Moriah Gaynor and Tim Spicer.[00:00:00] This episode is brought to you by Bumble, who says Valentine's Day is just for couples.
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[00:00:10] That's where Bumble comes in.
[00:00:12] This February 14th, you can flip the script and give those relationships a friendly dose
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[00:00:26] Do Valentine's your way? You're removing teeth stains with ease. Sweet dreams. And when you wake up, keep on living life to the brightest. Colgate Optic White. Find it at all, major retailers. Asante came to TurboTax after graduating from culinary school and landing a job in the hottest kitchen in town. My hands are full all day, every day.
[00:01:40] I love it.
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[00:01:45] guaranteeing 100% accurate filing and your maximum refund. of this cast. All right, Mike. Okay, so let's, I won't even tell Mike, let's go here, okay? We've got Mariah up first. Third, we've been suggesting yesterday, the Kukuna thought, the third survivor Mariah of the new era. Maybe Jeff is just a huge Mariah Carey fan.
[00:03:02] And he's like, I gotta produce as many Mariahs
[00:03:04] on this show.
[00:03:05] Maybe, but I don't think any of them are,
[00:03:07] are they spelled like Mariah works as a program coordinator for the city of San Diego. Yeah, city politics, you know, very different than like the national politics. You say politics and you sort of like get like visions in your head, but it sounds like that she's, you know, very invested in like actually like making progress
[00:04:21] in her community.
[00:04:22] Yeah, usually with American survivor,
[00:04:25] we see contestants go on the show
[00:04:27] and then go into politics. Sure, my name's Mariah Gaynor. Oh, do I look at the camera or are you? You can look at either or whatever you're more comfortable with. My name's Mariah Gaynor. I'm 28 years old and I'm a program coordinator for local government. Yeah, so for the city of San Diego, is that correct? Yes, for the city of San Diego. How did that happen? I'm incredibly curious. So a lot of luck and a lot of phone making hours,
[00:05:43] to be honest, I'm not originally from San Diego.
[00:05:46] So the fact that I at all? Yeah, I might I'm like a good B plot on parks and rec Like some of the antics you get into is like we had like a good while trying to figure out a new printer code when everything stopped working
[00:07:06] We had like a ceiling tile fall one day and we had to evacuate from asbestos in the newest season, what has led you to this path that's sitting in front of me? What made you decide amidst all the different departments that you've been a part of that survivor player would be a part of that as well? I'm a complex creature, Mike Bloom. So I have a lot of many, many hobbies and interests. And I'm just the type of person to kind of take the bull
[00:08:20] by the horn, like again, local government,
[00:08:22] not something you normally see an outsider, right?
[00:08:24] But for me, it comes in many facets.
[00:08:27] Like I play D&D So I'm like somewhere in between. I am a super fan, so let's get that out of the way. OK. But I came in in the weirdest season possible. My first season watching was Cochrane's win, which was like kind of this all-star season.
[00:09:41] So of course, I missed 90% of what was going on in the subtext
[00:09:44] there, but it a very social person. I love talking to people and I think I talk to people pretty well, to be honest. So I think if I get into that nerd perception, people are going to put two and two together
[00:11:00] and be like, well, she's smart, she can do puzzles.
[00:11:03] I like her.
[00:11:05] That's a red flag on Survivor.
[00:11:06] That's a one way ticket upon to Rose and my friend. you know garbage or a garbage pickup like civil service like it's not as political yeah and I think that's kind of a middle ground of not you know wiping out my personality but maybe not being like when I deputy campaign managed yeah like so that being said I mean obviously politics is a literal part of survivor what do you think is going to be most applicable from everything you've done for
[00:12:21] the city to now being out on the but I think this really comes into play in like relationships and alliances. It's just understanding like maybe even a numerical, like they were an eight, nine, like hot or cold, or like trying to figure out a system to remember where everyone is,
[00:13:41] who everyone is talking to or relating to.
[00:13:44] Like that's not really putting them in boxes,
[00:13:46] but rather checking their progress and temperature over time. been like either from like a challenge perspective, you know, a social perspective, rewatching seasons, making fire, all that jazz. So I rewatched every season from 26 on. Okay. And you want to experience Cochrane winning all over again? Of course, I got started off on a high. Exactly. But I got to go reverse chronological order and kind of keep track as it went, how the
[00:15:01] game evolved as well.
[00:15:02] Interesting.
[00:15:03] So that's just like watching from that.
[00:15:04] I read a ton of strategy books.
[00:15:06] I'm an avid reader. I do the wordle and my little sister is a teacher. So she gave me a bunch of cute little summer time on scramble these words. Like, what she. So you're hoping that you get to the final five when we get this like unscramble the letters to find the advantage type of thing. I mean, that's either my dream or my nightmare because now that I said it, I won't be able to do it, of course. I mean, that'll be after 24 days
[00:16:20] of like malnourishment and exhaustion.
[00:16:22] So you could forgive yourself a little bit
[00:16:23] that the junior jumbles you did may not pan out.
[00:16:26] I will say with the flow in my professional life, even though I don't seem like that Lucy Guzy type of person. So I could see someone, but it's really gonna be a feel for me.
[00:17:40] And the number one thing I'm actually looking for
[00:17:43] in my alliance member is someone I can read better
[00:17:46] than anyone else in the game.
[00:17:47] Interesting. So maybe a little bit more covert. The one, this kind of the big question mark, is there's a woman on here who I swear like looks like my older sister and is like a doppelganger. I don't know. That'd be the ultimate twist if you found out like your older sister come out to play and you don't even know it. Surprise, it's not Survivor. It's like Ancestry 23. Yeah, exactly. This is blood versus water, but only for you.
[00:19:01] Really though, but like it is scary.
[00:19:03] Like so far like everyone in the hotel
[00:19:05] has got to miss stuff at least once.
[00:19:07] Like someone's handed me her meals before, get on the beach with you, I'm writing your name down first chance I get. Yes, there is I'm a judge of it. I know. There are a few, not a few, but there's one or two people who I'm like, I don't see you as maybe like someone who's really going to give it your all. And I truly like, you should always keep your eye on the horizon.
[00:20:25] But the first part of the game is a group game.
[00:21:22] someone else to go, how are you approaching that type of dilemma? I think Lauren was a genius and unfortunately can never be repeated.
[00:21:25] I know you're going to know that there's going to be 17 other people that are going to be like,
[00:21:28] I don't need to draw rocks too. Oh yeah, yeah, I'll get the rocks. No, you won't.
[00:21:32] Yeah. So I think my start is maybe not that. I'm really hoping but hopes not a strategy.
[00:21:37] I think especially on the first few days, it is a lot about just taking it as it comes.
[00:21:44] And almost, I don't want to say and power, it gives you in the game. I have to bring up something you wrote in your bio. You never know how much I second guess myself. And it's so interesting, given you have had such like
[00:23:02] a journey filled life already, right?
[00:23:04] You talk about the number of jobs and locations
[00:23:06] that you've feel is ingrained in your DNA at this point? It's ingrained. But a reason I really loved
[00:24:21] Aubrey as a player and also Hannah to that fame is that they learned to use their anxiety as something you can always trust in this game. It's not something I don't, I want to discount, but you gotta go back to like your list of like, do they have an advantage? Are they for me? Like, are they vying for me? Where do I stand with them? Where do they stand with me? So I think like having this almost like break down to help make decisions helps it unmerk the waters
[00:25:41] a little bit.
[00:25:42] Yeah, cause I was gonna ask with this concept of
[00:25:43] our thinking, which is incredibly relatable on my part.
[00:25:46] I mean, how does that say this now. But I play a lot of games at home. And one of my favorite ones to play is to play the Spire.
[00:27:01] I'm a terrible player.
[00:27:02] I haven't played it, but I've heard of it.
[00:27:04] I've beaten this game.
[00:27:05] When I say I've beaten this game,
[00:27:06] I've climbed to the top extension
[00:27:08] on every single player in this game. challenge. It's a survivor classic. It's a survivor classic. A lot of people love it. I don't think it teaches you a ton Mm-hmm about players that you could do like inland I don't think it makes for good television. Mm-hmm And I as a viewer Oh, yeah, I'm like sitting there thinking like ooh that sounds interesting that seems wow
[00:28:21] But ultimately when you've seen it so many times, you know, it's gonna happen
[00:28:24] I'm just gonna come and people are gonna go shelter. Yeah, that's true. But I think maybe that would like help me get into a little bit more of a zen silent mindset. I think that would be someone fun to bounce ideas off and to be honest, they would be great company because they just be happy to see another human. Exactly. Love anything. Yeah, you are vastly superior to a volleyball in my opinion.
[00:29:43] That's just my base judgment of you.
[00:29:44] Oh, Wilson.
[00:29:45] I don't know about that.
[00:29:46] Really?
[00:29:47] That was a very impactful volleyball. trickling stream of anxiety just about the unknown. We don't know the tribes, we don't know who's on our tribe. We don't know literally jack shit about what's gonna happen. So there's that like anxiety, the unknown, like kind of this undercurrent, if you will, but there's an overwhelming tide of just looking around this casting's phenomenal. Everyone seems smiles all around,
[00:31:01] which is so rare in Survivor, which is why it's day zero.
[00:31:05] But I'm anxious and excited and pecking through some background checks here. Mariah appeared on an episode of white bout back in 2021. Oh, wow. Okay. How did she do? Did she win? I don't believe so. She fell into the drink. Yes. And listen, it's a much larger drink this time around. It's a whole ocean full of drink, but she's ready to, because when she talked about these people, like, and she referenced, you know, Hannah and Gabby and Franny and Kellyn, like, oh yeah, these are all my friends that she is referencing. So I think that Mariah is going to be,
[00:33:40] no matter how she does on Survivor,
[00:33:41] you know, a wonderful addition to this Survivor community.
[00:33:45] But I felt like that out a couple of times people do that. I believe Carolyn, of course, had a moment where that happened. But I think Mariah actually is ideally playing in this new era from her perspective because she is a chronic overthinker, someone that has an advantage. And I think she does define that appropriately where she says, yeah, I will only really do that typical type A organization on Island if it's trying to track who has what or how much does this person trust in me. But even that is veering into subjectivity.
[00:36:22] There's not a lot of like hard and fast facts
[00:36:24] you can lay out there.
[00:36:26] There's no such thing as dribbling the ball back who can be a bit more carefree, who can talk about fantasy and D&D and video games with people, though I will say, I think she may be missed the boat unlike the Pitch Perfect cast to talk about that with. Yeah, and the Pitch Perfect tribe potentially. Yeah, possibly. I think she's very 44 and 45 coded with her interests.
[00:37:42] I'm not entirely sure if like actually
[00:37:45] she could talk fantasy with Ben.
[00:37:46] We know Ben is a massive fanuse to look at the glasses. She says that she'll probably be perceived as someone that is brainy. And I do think for a cast that sort of lacks those externally nerd archetypes, I do think
[00:39:01] this is somebody who can be looked at and easily viewed, especially in the new era is primarily because of that. I think her ace in the hole is that puzzle aspect. Now that you especially have gotten a look at Tim and we'll get into it, I don't necessarily see any other like go to puzzle people. I think Mariah is someone you can easily turn to and be like, great, you're going to be the one doing this. The counter is if she doesn't
[00:40:21] deliver on that, that like, what good is she? But if there is something where these people are for another cast member almost immediately. So Liz is the doppelganger, they say. And they do both have glasses. You know, it's hard for me to say that they look exactly alike. Well, I think Mariah initially couched it as she looked like her older sister. Like, I could definitely see a relation between them.
[00:41:43] If one of them was on claim to fame, I could see it be related to the other one.
[00:41:48] Yeah. Okay. Yeah, but to be fair, these two are on a separate tribes and maybe this will create a little bit of a fun runner. I know that Mariah is still keeping it up in the air as to whether or not this is going to be like her best friend or her worst enemy. I'm really hoping for a Highlander survivor, Sarah, scenario Rob. We're like, they both get to mergatory and it really is like neither can live while the other survives.
[00:43:01] Only one of us is allowed to get to the end with this point. I think my couple of drawbacks are, A, as you mentioned, that potential to be looked at as a weaker person in the beginning of the game. And also, potentially, like, yes, Ben is the most
[00:44:22] outlandish personality, but like, well, she also be someone that might fail if she doesn't have best love life. That's where Bumble comes in. This February 14th, you can flip the script and get those relationships a friendly dose of FOMO. Say no to staying in this Valentine's Day and yes to more. More dates, more first kisses, more gossip for the group chat girlies. Do Valentine's Your Way Date Now and Bumble
[00:45:41] Why take one vacation with the family when you could take all of them? With Royal Caribbean, retailers. Asante came to Turbo Tax after graduating from culinary school and landing a job in the hottest kitchen in town. My hands are full all day, every day. I love it. Asante, as your Turbo Tax expert, I'll make your moves count. Guaranteeing 100% accurate filing and your maximum refund.
[00:47:00] Sound good?
[00:47:01] Yes, expert.
[00:47:02] Switch to Intuit Turbo Tax and make your moves count.
[00:47:05] See guarantee details at Turbo Tax dot com slash guarantees. My name is, I'm sorry, I look at you. You can, whatever, you're more comfortable with. Okay, on paper, my name is Timothy Spicer, Jr. When I'm in schools, higher education institutions, I go back to them Spicer. And when I'm in the streets, they call me Spicer. What type of Spicer are you? Pecante, you know, just super high.
[00:48:20] However, however the mood acquires, you know what I'm saying?
[00:48:24] I'm 30 years old, and I train high school students
[00:48:27] how to apply to college here? I'm talking all elements of what the college application entails.
[00:49:44] So I take them play into the application process? Are you saying like same shit different day? Now I'm the one that's that's you know making the applications going through the entire Gold Digging process as you said. Yeah, I mean The application it dives into it because one the applications are changing
[00:51:04] I think in the last with the birth of the pandemic
[00:52:02] started running. And then after I started running, I said, I didn't need another challenge. I did a triathlon. And then I
[00:52:05] mean, my wife were watching survival. I'm like, babe, I can
[00:52:07] do that. She's like, yeah, whatever. I said, you know what?
[00:52:10] That's another challenge. So I get into the video, I get into
[00:52:14] looking how to apply for survivor. And one thing led to
[00:52:18] another is my first time applying first time on the show.
[00:52:21] It's been an exhilarating year. Honestly, I think I submitted to me and then of course as I got older with the family now a million dollars is definitely appealing to any dad so give me from your history with survivor give me one winner yeah could make a difference in your gameplay. So those are the players I really enjoyed watching. What's your favorite moment in the history of survivor? Oh, that's a pie chapter. And bro, pledging as we will call it is a microcosm of life, everything that you experience in this process, you'll experience in life. And that's exactly what happened. You weren't on, you weren't, you weren't, nobody's time,
[00:56:20] but there's, you were accountable for those around you,
[00:56:25] your brothers.
[00:56:26] And so that really just, when I heard a lot DC, you know, the rush out of DC to get to I lived in Virginia at the time and I'm passing GW and I'm like, bro, it's no way that God is putting this institution in front of me. I'm telling everybody to go to school and I didn't even want to get my masters. I didn't want to get my masters. And I said, you know what? I'm going to look up GW, see
[00:57:42] what they have to offer. And I applaud and perceived as a threat, but everybody could be the same as me in a different way. So I don't know, I'm gonna be perceived as funny. I'm definitely gonna tell some jokes.
[00:59:00] As a good swimmer, social threat,
[00:59:03] I get along with everybody,
[00:59:04] even those that don't get along with me.
[00:59:06] So people could find't be a wagon. You can't take everybody with you. So Jesse did play a good game, but his time might not have been the best. Saying and how much I think people get closer to the end
[01:00:22] and they start sharing too much.
[01:00:24] So just don't be a wagon.
[01:00:26] Yes, there's gonna other black guys out here. I'm getting a good vibe from them. We want to just, I want to be able to represent something bigger than me if we're going to be on national TV. And then other things I'm just, people are reading, honestly, Mike,
[01:01:44] I think that shit is fluff.
[01:01:46] Like, you're, you got to really come down to their level Figuratively and physically and just speak eye to eye. They don't know anything
[01:03:03] You got to be you got to teach them how to human in so many ways really going to depend on the relationships I've built right now. You know, can I come back and feel like I have to lie? Can I come back and tell a convention story that everybody will believe? And if I don't go, I'm fine with not going. Um, when that person's gone, what seeds am I planting in the tribe?
[01:04:22] So we can either grill this person up or make a decision about them before they
[01:04:27] even get back.
[01:04:27] Yes. It could be an advantage for you. Except when they say, you lose a vote for the next five times. Speaking of work your way out of that, really trick out that magic. You got that spice, you got it on it. There you go, that spice, that charm. And one of the thing about the advantage is, and one of my prep, I was writing my idol, my business.
[01:05:41] My advantage, my business.
[01:05:43] You can't tell everybody.
[01:05:44] You tell that one person, and hopefully it goes well.
[01:05:47] Let's talk about decision-making in your life. So even out here, I don't have that much time to think though. Yeah. I got to think about it in like maybe a minute or two and make a decision. Yeah. I mean, I'm a parent of a four year old. Nice. I got the whole thing with you of like having patience talking on the level. But to your point, like you got to think about that community. Yeah. And that applies not only in the tribal phase of the game, but like with alliances and
[01:07:01] also thinking about other people that might be enemies as well.
[01:07:04] For sure.
[01:07:05] You have to know what your enemies even doing. You know like I watch it, but just the past five days being out here It's mom blowing you know and I Don't I don't even know I just think it's It's good. It's gonna be It's nothing like watching it. It's nothing like watching it and then for all the people that you know like
[01:08:23] Have tried to like oh you got to saying and then celebrity. Oh, that's a tough one. Oh, oh, celebrity. I go president Obama.
[01:09:42] So you wrote in here that you introduced him. I'm assuming you meant at an event or like introducing a Michelle.
[01:10:43] that President Obama twice visited the White House once. And he gave me a challenge coin
[01:10:44] that I brought out here as my emotional item.
[01:10:46] So I think it, and honestly bro,
[01:10:49] and my students get on me for this,
[01:10:51] I have not like written a letter to President Obama,
[01:10:56] like since then, or like we haven't had any communication
[01:10:59] because honestly, I just never felt like I did anything else
[01:11:04] bigger than that, you know?
[01:11:06] Like I was kind of want to start with where things ended.
[01:12:20] When I asked for that temperature check for that emotional cocktail.
[01:12:24] You got the back to the emotional cocktail,
[01:12:26] and he drank it right up. I would hazard a guess that I don't know if he's traveled a lot away from his family. And so I can understand, look, my trip to Fiji was the first time I had like gone anywhere without Asher since he was born. And like, I certainly was feeling some things of remorse behind it. Let alone somebody going to go play this like big 26 day high stakes adventure.
[01:13:41] I would understand that Tim is maybe 545 before you got to the actual answer. He actually wrote down. Shamar Thomas. I would. Does he know him? Like why? Oh, that's a very random person. I think where
[01:15:01] was Shamar from? That's a good question because't know. That was calling like a Diana's. I don't know. Maybe Diana's from international survivor. I mean, Tim is also big in the nicknames, right? Yeah. He's spice in the streets. He called me Mike and Ike. Yes, Mike and Ike. Yeah. He got a challenge coin from Barack Obama. What is that? Is that like a fire token?
[01:16:20] I'm not entirely sure.
[01:16:22] I thought at first it was like a challenger coin, kid science advisors. Okay. He just gives them out. Yeah, well, for Tim, right? He's shooting like a patron park. Tim was class president,
[01:17:41] and so he was able to introduce him.
[01:17:43] Yeah.
[01:17:44] So, okay.
[01:17:46] I think Tim was gonna give Obama the heads up which of course we love in New Era's Survivor. But basically what his wife is inferring is this idea of you can't bring everybody to the end, which is so interesting in counters to somebody like you who remember told me like I guarantee you right now someone from my original tribe, two of us are making it to the final four. Like he had this big community perspective and Tim,
[01:19:03] listen, come from that world of motivation comes from that position of like, again, shaping young minds, and it's not to say that, you know, the people he's working with now are comparable to people in high school, even though Jelinski is probably a few years out of it. But I do think that Tim is all about like being that voice,
[01:20:20] the voice that introduced Barack Obama back in the day.
[01:20:23] And so I think he is not afraid at all to be somebody
[01:20:27] to like, just help rile the group up together. angry AF, right? He wants to be a record-breaker. He is somebody that is going to hit the jungle like nobody's business. That really seems, I think, like him and Gem are gonna be in a competition early on. Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned Gem because I really felt like that Tim, I feel like that his most natural ally in this group will be Gem.
[01:21:41] That is my Mike Bloom-esque calling my shot.
[01:21:46] That's a duo.
[01:21:47] Tim and Gem. that they both have like a serious approach. So like, I think that they are probably like, not to say that this is a wacky tribe, but I think that there's like two of the more serious people like in this group where I think that Maria has like a little bit of like the sort of like spiritual side of her and Ben, of course, that we've talked How do you think you're coming across? He just has such like a laid back way of speaking. It's almost like Hannibal Burris ask. That was my impression I got when talking with him. And I think that presents such a calm nature, which I think will also make him such a good leader. I think Tim could be the most powerful position in Siga, because
[01:24:22] again, not only do you have these leadership qualities exciting? I mean, it would definitely be a shorter course, it'd be a shorter challenge, so I guess production would be happier. I think you'd make it a longer course. I guess so. Or do you do like best two out of three, like two tribes being able to get a second year?
[01:25:40] No, I think you should make the course longer
[01:25:43] and start with the three tribes. that is more likely to crack that center for. I think it would be Mariah over Ben. I know that coming in when we started this tribe, we said like, well look, Ben is an absolute X factor, but who knows if they win enough or if he's able to just be that transmittal shreditator, like he likes to be like, maybe he's not gonna ruffle any feathers.
[01:27:01] And I don't really see this as being a very conflict heavy tribe
[01:27:05] as maybe any of the other two might be. candidates from this tribe, I think the two that you pair together and Tim and Jim are both good. I know that you mentioned that Tim has some like Brandon downside and if people are targeting the seagas. When I say downside, I mean that he's so strong and polished like that he is as I've been
[01:28:20] talking about a lot that the threat levels are just off the chart in terms of like, okay, he's a
[01:29:23] out for the people that are saying, oh yeah, we're six strong. And he's going to look for that fledgling seventh person on the outs
[01:29:26] and pick them up.
[01:29:27] I think Tim has a very active way that he wants to play despite his maybe
[01:29:32] more passive perception.
[01:29:34] And so Mariah loves the passive perception checks.
[01:29:37] And so I think that Tim has that potential where maybe if his back
[01:29:41] is against the wall, he'll just keep swimming and he'll be able to maybe The doppelganger herself, Liz, as we begin our deep dive into Nami, a lot of drive and not me, me and you are going to be talking about Nami. Okay. Mike, what do you have going on over at parade.com? Well, if you want an early teaser of Nami before you get Rob's thoughts on them, I have already written up my interviews with them.
[01:31:01] They were up in the first few days since the cast release.
[01:31:04] You can check that out at parade.com slash YouTube and all of our podcasts at Rob is a website.com slash subscribe Mike Bloom done it again. We've got three days left here as we talk about a brand new tribe starting tomorrow. Take care everybody. Have a good one. Bye.
[01:33:40] For the ones who work hard to ensure Asante came to Turbo Tax after graduating from culinary school and landing a job in the hottest kitchen in town. My hands are full all day, every day. I love it. Asante, as your Turbo Tax expert, I'll make your moves count. Guaranteeing 100% accurate filing and your maximum refund.
[01:33:44] Sound good?
[01:33:45] Yes, expert!
[01:33:46] Switch to Intuit Turbo Tax and make your moves count.