Today, Mike and Matt Scott (@MattScottGW) discuss Season 16: Micronesia![00:00:14] Hi everybody and welcome back to the Survivor 50 Wishlist Podcast, an off-season series where we're determining who could and should come back for Survivor 50. My name is Mike Ronejabloom in this case as we are hopefully accruing of the size of a
[00:00:34] group as big and as valuable as one of those Polynesian money stones as we're rolling our way through this series. And today we are going to one of the most heralded seasons in Survivor history, fans versus favorites.
[00:00:48] Though, if you have been listening to this series, spoiler alert, we're mainly going to be talking about the fans and fans versus favorites. Now of course I am not alone here no matter what we are talking about. I'm so happy to be joined by this guy.
[00:01:00] He is a Survivor fan, but he is a favorite podcaster of mine. It is Matt Scott. Hi Matt. Hi, happy to be here with, uh, you know, I would say the favorite to my fan, Mike.
[00:01:12] Only one of us can be the Eric and one of us can be the Ozzy in this relationship. I don't know which one is better at this point, honestly, but the good news is we can at least talk about Eric as we go along.
[00:01:23] And like you mentioned Mike, look, Micronesia, a favorite season of so many, number four on the top 40 countdown for RHAP. Go back and check that out. There you go. But I was so ready, you know, to talk about Amanda, to talk about Sarit, to talk about
[00:01:38] Eliza, James, James, James, what's Penner like? And here we are. And here we are, Mike. As you quickly reminded me that that's not our task today because the work has been done.
[00:01:54] Listen, I think we'll also give you the opportunity to talk about them, but we want to focus more so on putting people on the short list. So the good news is your job has already been kind of done for you in the previous few days
[00:02:05] because yeah, for those that may not remember, of course, season 16 Survivor fans versus favorites was the first half and half season. As we like to put it, we did have Bobby, John and Stephanie mixing in with newbies for the first time back in Guatemala.
[00:02:19] But this was a newfangled concept. Of course, in the mythos of Survivor, this was supposed to be a full all-star season seemed to happen every eight seasons did not work out for whatever reason.
[00:02:30] Many people were cut along the way and some of them have found their way back into the short list. But what we wound up with were 10 favorites, whether they were favorites at the time or
[00:02:40] in a couple of cases would go on to become favorites and cement their legendary status against 10 fans. And there were some out now fans of Survivor. Right. Listen, we're in the Mac era of Survivor. Maybe some of them were not completely.
[00:02:56] But Matt, I find this such an interesting season, especially in retrospect, because we are on the heels of Survivor 46, where I think a lot of fans would say that the premerge was not necessarily up to snuff.
[00:03:09] Some would even say it's one of the you know, the their least favorite premerges of all time. But then the post merge has this incredible sequence of blindside after blindside after blindside where two people aren't playing their idol.
[00:03:22] One person is we have this unprecedented move where four people convince one person to give away the immunity necklace. And it's not a complete one to one with Micronesia. But I think one reason why this season is as lauded as it is all these seasons later
[00:03:37] is that we look ahead to something that happens 30 seasons later and see what power a honest to goodness, incredible post merge can have on how we view a season. Yeah, absolutely. And it's interesting to thinking about all this, you know, putting putting my my Survivor
[00:03:53] tinfoil hat on for a second. You mentioned this was supposed to presumably be an all star season. I don't think that the fans were casted because they're just like, we need we need to have these new players. I'm like, we really need them here.
[00:04:08] And it's so interesting to me that, you know, typically, we might think if there's a phenomenal cast all around, that that is what will make a season incredible. And the recipe here, how things came together here overall was really phenomenal.
[00:04:25] I will talk about a number of the fans, if we could, you know, the ones we can remember. But you know, I think the thing that's beautiful about this is that again, it's just that perfect, the perfect storm of all these different factors that makes this so good.
[00:04:40] And, you know, and Mike, I love talking about the fans here in particular. I mean, we'll talk about yeah, man, who knows? I don't know. But the talk about the fans here, which is so incredible, is interesting because while
[00:04:55] many of them don't necessarily stand alone in terms of their legacy being something that would presumably bring them back for season 50. I think a lot of them played pivotal roles in the favorite success in this season and in the good TV that we got for this season.
[00:05:13] Definitely one of my favorites here with Micronesia. So I'm excited to talk about it either way. Not to mention, I think it is one of the most echoed seasons in Survivor history, considering how many contestants and fans are always wary of a woman's alliance, because even though
[00:05:29] we got a taste of it in Vanuatu and it kind of fell apart at the end, we got an honest to goodness one in the form of the Black Widow Brigade, which crafted some of the most devastating blind sides in Survivor history.
[00:05:40] And so to your point, I do think that some of these fans in particular, the people will be focusing on today, their involvement in that endgame perhaps speaks more to their legacies than maybe the stuff they were bringing on the screen proper. Absolutely, absolutely.
[00:05:56] But we'll get into it. We'll get into it. But first, Matt, it's not Big Brother season yet, but I am warming up. Listen, I know you're feeling certain pangs in your heart about not talking about the
[00:06:08] favorites, but I do want to for formality's sake, because for those that skip to Micronesia for whatever reason, just review here. So these are our ten favorites from Survivor Micronesia. Harvity, Amanda, Cere, James, Ozzie, Eliza, Amy, Jonathan Penner, Yao Man, Johnny Fairplay.
[00:06:29] Every single one of these people except for Yao Man is currently on the shortlist. And I think a lot of it speaks to perhaps the casting at the time, which we'll certainly talk about in a different regard with the other fans versus favorite season.
[00:06:41] But I really do feel for the most part, the casting of winnowing down to these ten favorites was really good. It was either characters that for the most part really popped or out now fan favorites.
[00:06:52] And sometimes in the case of more questionable pieces of casting like a Parvati, for instance, she would then go on to prove herself to be a favorite in subsequent seasons. But I would love to give you the floor, Matt.
[00:07:05] Anyone from this particular group that we have voted through who you personally would like to see most on Survivor 50? Oh my gosh. Well, you know what? It's such an interesting group and there are different folks who come to mind.
[00:07:19] Initially, when I was thinking about who I think is most likely to be on Survivor 50, there were actually two people from this list that jumped out for me. One of them, I'll just jump into it. Cere. Cere. So like, why wouldn't she show up? She shows up everywhere.
[00:07:37] We've seen her all over the place. She'll just show up. She seems game to play. And I do think, you know, the long held, you know, lore of people giving their way, throwing
[00:07:48] their games away to Cere is something that I could see happening and to some extent, you know, I don't see her being an immediate threat. Parvati, I know, worried about being a threat again if she comes out, especially on a season that's not an all-winner season.
[00:08:01] Yet we saw how that worked out for her. The other person who's really interesting to me here, and I'll spoil this. I did tweet at Jonathan Penner to ask him if he'd return for Season 50. Didn't get a response. So there's that.
[00:08:15] But I'm very fascinated by Eliza as someone who's very active in this community. You know, definitely a polarizing figure, but someone who I could see being brought back just for how much she still champions Survivor. She's very visible to the producers and in the community.
[00:08:34] And you know, I wasn't going to put those two on my bingo card. Like I love James. I wonder if his muscles are still that big at this point. I don't know. They're still digging graves. I mean, I'm assuming what else? What else?
[00:08:48] I guess I do feel like maybe Madden, because we talked about this on the China podcast that, you know, James is a bit of a wildcard pick because he has largely pulled himself away from the show.
[00:08:56] But I do feel like there's an alternate universe where like James became a reality TV influencer, you know, like Survivor China had taken place 10 years later. I could see James selling like flat tummy tea on Instagram. Oh, 100%. Yeah. I was epic all day for him.
[00:09:14] Like I see it. I'm seeing that. But you know what? I like I love that. Like if James was asked now, what what do you do it? Who knows if if the price was high enough, they're paying him enough. Amanda, obviously, it'd be phenomenal if she came back.
[00:09:29] She still holds the record, I believe, for most days without being voted out, most consecutive days without being voted out. So there's that. And you know, Ozzy Ozzy, I know would show up if he was asked to do it like a bigger question
[00:09:43] there if he'd be asked to do it. But you know what? Like from from all indications, like if you message him on OnlyFans and ask him if he would do Survivor 50, he'd probably say yes. And I love that for him. Yeah.
[00:09:56] And I think Ozzy, I mean, listen, you are a host of The Pride Has Spoken. And I think something that we doted upon briefly in Cook Islands is something that should be mentioned again is like the journey of self-discovery that Ozzy has been on since his fourth time
[00:10:06] on the show, of course, coming out as bi did a really fantastic interview with Bryce. And so we talked about this with people like Jonathan, like Amanda, like Parvati even of like there also is an appeal to coming back for the umpteen time about showing sort of
[00:10:22] a new side of yourself, which Ozzy would be able to do. Again, as I mentioned on that podcast, he might be on the bubble as well. I've not checked the comments, obviously, for Cook Islands at the time this is happening.
[00:10:31] So I did reserve the right if something ended up coming out that would garner Ozzy's removal from the list, it would happen. The only reason why, by the way, for those that might not remember, the man is not on
[00:10:41] this list is because he confirmed he has a heart condition on talking with T-Bird. And so I do think he would be unfortunately the only favorite to not clear medical. Otherwise, yeah, we got 90% representation on the ballot from the favorites tribe. Yeah, I'll take that. I love it.
[00:10:58] I love this group. You know, I don't I really don't know who will get back because for so long we're thinking about the new era and obviously time happens. I know Penner has mentioned, for instance, being in his 60s now, maybe wouldn't hold
[00:11:15] up as well on Survivor, especially compared with some of the young cats and kittens. I don't know why I don't care about skin all of a sudden. That was weird. But you know what? Like I still like the possibility and with pro wrestling as a wrestling fan, fantasy
[00:11:31] booking is a huge thing. I love the fantasy booking that comes with this top 50 wish list. All right, well, let's put the fan in fantasy booking and talk about our 10 fans.
[00:11:40] So in order to finish, we have, of course, Mary, who we have Mikey B, but not this Mikey B. We have Joel, the firefighter truck. We have his mortal enemy, Chet. We have Kathy, of course, one of the spoken personalities on the fans tribe.
[00:12:00] We have Tracy Hughes, Wolf, the ally of Kathy and Chet. We have, of course, Francisca, where I talked about how maybe one of the reasons why Eliza was on the shortlist was because of her iconic. It's an epping stick line.
[00:12:13] This is the man that brought her an epping stick who was tricked by a fake idol and then tricked to not play his real idol. We have Alexis, who is I would say maybe the Pete Best of the Black Widow Brigade gets forgotten
[00:12:25] about a bit in part because she is idled out by Amanda. Of course, we have Eric, he of the iconic maneuver of giving up his immunity necklace to Natalie, the final fan standing.
[00:12:40] And so I want to talk about some highlights here because, yes, even though the field is halved, I still think there are some legitimate possibilities here. And let's start with Natalie. Matt, what are your thoughts on the enigmatic story of Natalie Bolton in Micronesia? Look, Mike, Natalie Bolton.
[00:13:01] This goes without saying, Natalie Bolton is my number one pick to end up on the Survivor 50 cast. And part of it is, of course, let's just flash forward a little bit her friendship, her long enduring friendship, recent photo shoot actually with the one and only Parvati Shallow.
[00:13:17] So we're still seeing the lore continue, maybe stronger than ever for that friendship. Obviously, if we don't get Parvati here, getting Natalie here would be fantastic. I really have to say, for me, if I think about Micronesia, for me, it's that final tribal,
[00:13:33] Mike, iconic final tribal of Natalie asking Parvati to compare her game to her sex life. And also let's just back up even more, her flossing her teeth with Jason Siska's jugular. Yeah. Like she's cutthroat. And so I feel like if one person- Literally, yeah.
[00:13:54] She cut the vein out of his throat and used it as a piece of dental wear. And honestly, like, look at that. That's sustainability there, which is especially hot. And not only is it skin and cat, absolutely. Look at that, like environmentalist goddess right there.
[00:14:10] But Natalie just brought so much. It's kind of shocking that we haven't seen her back. And I don't really know why. I don't know why. I think she's actually, like her lore has aged incredibly well since then, especially
[00:14:25] not just in terms of her game, but the Black Widow Brigade as well. Yeah. So speaking to why haven't we seen her again? We almost did. There is in fact photo footage that is out there about the fact that Natalie Bolton, yes,
[00:14:41] many people were in consideration for Heroes vs Villains, but Natalie Bolton was the on set alternate. Would a woman not be able to ultimately make the cast? Natalie would appear, assumingly as a villain.
[00:14:53] I know they did some swaps around with like, you know, taking poverty from the Heroes vs Villains and putting Candace on the heroes. But like, I don't know how you could pass off Natalie Bolton as a hero, but she was there. She got cast photos and everything.
[00:15:06] They're pretty iconic. So yeah, Natalie Bolton was very clearly in mind because of. Good God, talk about an edit that goes from zero to 60, where this woman was so, so, so quiet for the first half of the game.
[00:15:20] And she said in her quarantine questionnaire that that actually did sort of represent who she was out there, where obviously she wasn't completely invisible, but she was playing very low key. Then all of a sudden in this Jason Siska boot episode, she comes out of frickin nowhere
[00:15:35] and comes out with some of the most graphic language possible between, as you mentioned, the aforementioned jugular confessional between her getting the chocolate cake at the auction and like putting up a finger and being like, I don't want anyone to go aggro right now.
[00:15:48] We are really like, who put a nickel in Natalie Bolton? And we got a ride out of her for that nickel for a long time because once we found out more about her and like you said, culminating in probably the wildest final tribal council
[00:16:02] question ever that still rings through to this day, you mentioned her friendship with Parvati. They recently did a photo shoot for Paper Magazine around Parvati's coming out. And it's really interesting because whether it's due to the fact that, you know, she
[00:16:16] played alongside three returning players who have also come back and are legends of the game in their own right. But I feel like Natalie by and large kind of just disappear from a lot of survivor discourse. And it became a lot of Oh, where's Natalie Bolton?
[00:16:29] And we were so happily surprised to see her pop up as the two of them are like rubbing mud on each other for a photo shoot. Natalie Bolton did do a quarantine questionnaire with Dalton. And when asked if she would like to come back, she said yes.
[00:16:44] She said that she would definitely agree to do it. You know, she is obviously a lot older and wiser now. She was 31 when she played, which wasn't like incredibly as young as the rest of her castmates but still, you know, fairly young. She's 48 now.
[00:16:58] So obviously I think she has a lot of different perspective on things. She says, I think I would be ready now, which I think maybe also indicates that she's approaching things from a bit of a different perspective. So I think this is an absolute slam dunk.
[00:17:11] I think even if she has gained a bit more of a composure with the way that she regards the game, she's still Natalie Bolton at the end of the day, like a bolt of lightning. She is going to bring that electricity.
[00:17:23] And I personally would love to see it, considering that we have seen the Black Widow Brigade be represented, especially in the form of Syrian poverty in so many other reality shows through the years. Natalie has been unfortunately the one kind of left behind by that.
[00:17:36] Yeah, Natalie Bolton writes, what are we doing here? Come on, like just spread the love. You know, I would love to see, you know, Parvati, Suri, you know, when they call for, you know, the Traders 5 maybe just to pass the opportunity off to Natalie or something.
[00:17:52] Just give her something. Give her something, please.
[00:18:38] Well, let's move on to the person who passed off immunity to Natalie. Yeah, let's talk about him. Yeah, let's talk about Eric Reichenbach because he is, you know, the perpetrator behind what some would call, including James in the moment, one of the dumbest moves in survivor history
[00:19:09] where Eric basically had to win his way out against the Black Widow Brigade and he was on his way to do so. He literally filled out a puzzle guaranteed final for the four women are sitting around
[00:19:20] bemoaning the fact that we have to vote each other out unless you think we could convince Eric to give away immunity and thus begins what has been compared to like the survivor heist where Oceans 4, they're coming in and everyone really does play their part.
[00:19:38] I know that some people like to put it at the feet of Parvati or put it at the feet of Suri. I really do think this was like a four-headed animal that was able to take down this maneuver
[00:19:48] where you have Amanda appealing to Eric's emotional side since he didn't take her on the reward. You have Natalie being able to connect on that fan level since the very beginning and it all came together. What was Alexis doing? I mean Alexis was gone at this point.
[00:20:02] So she was the burger and always the question. So Eric ends up going through with this decision. He figures out, okay, if I make a short-term sacrifice now, hopefully it means a long-term
[00:20:14] gain that I have allies that I have Amanda and I have Natalie in my pocket so I can move forward into the final four. And if I'm in trouble, I can at least, you know, guarantee that I make it to the end and it doesn't happen.
[00:20:29] Everyone is in disbelief from the jury to the fans to the players themselves. We get something that really hadn't been seen until Q got voted out in Survivor 46 of getting voting confessionals from everybody where the vast majority of the time it is saying,
[00:20:44] I cannot believe this is actually working. Eric goes out head hung low, runs off, understandably embarrassed from everything that happened. Jeff Probst turns back to these four women and says, I think that's what you call a life lesson. And so Eric lives in this for a little bit.
[00:21:02] He gets shouted out at the Heroes vs. Villains reunion as like, okay, are you a congratulations? You're not the dumbest survivor ever now. It's JT. He does come back for fans versus favorites too. And he has this really fun on paper narrative of first he was a fan.
[00:21:17] Now he was a favorite. The old Sarah Lucina didn't work out as well on paper, Matt, as maybe it should have in concept. Yeah. And I think that one of the things that has actually always bothered me about what I was
[00:21:34] going to say, what happened to Eric, but what Eric did to himself and, but really the thing is that the Black Widow Brigade did this very intricately designed, complicated, some might say ballsy move.
[00:21:47] And they put something out there that was so ridiculous that it could just work because like who would propose that? Why would they propose that it? I can imagine that making sense to Eric in the moment.
[00:22:01] But so in one sense, I want to give credit to the Black Widow Brigade. The other piece of it though, is that Eric, as we'd go on to see, like didn't always fare the best in the elements.
[00:22:13] And I would like to think that he was like really hungry and out of it and not thinking with his best mind. I'm sure he wasn't to some extent. He was an ice cream scooper. He was used to taking so much sugar and calories every day.
[00:22:26] Instead he was wasting away in those little green runner shorts. I know. Yeah. Focus on your nutrition. And also, you know, no complaints about the green runner shorts from any of the Pride is Spoken community.
[00:22:38] But I will say that with Eric, I mean, the hard part with all this is just how badly he's gotten beaten down for his legacy. Look at Ghost Island constantly. He literally got paraded out, out the finale to be like, remember when Eric did that thing?
[00:22:57] And then he has to awkwardly laugh along. Like, oh, I remember that. That was so funny, guys. Oh no, Eric. He is my, my, I mean, maybe it's because he made it second furthest, but he's my number two in terms of having to go.
[00:23:12] Like if anyone goes back for Survivor 50, I'd want it to be Eric, if he'd be willing to do it. But it's just because there's like we need to clean up that legacy, Mike. It just doesn't feel good right now.
[00:23:23] We're beating up on him a little bit too much. I agree. And I think, you know, it is entertainment and it is one of the biggest moments talked about in Survivor history. But my heart does go out for him as well, to a certain extent.
[00:23:34] You know, this is a guy who plays at 21 years old, clearly has a bit of a naivete about him. Definitely the biggest fan on the fans tribe, I would say, considering how obsessive he is over Ozzy, considering, you know, the really sweet moment when his brother comes
[00:23:50] out for the loved ones visit. He's like, that's Jeff Probst. That's Jeff Probst. I think Eric as a character, as a character, if you will, was also really fun. I mean, this dude licked chocolate cake off of Cere's fingers and paid her to do it.
[00:24:03] Like, I think he was sort of the paragon of the fans to represent the fans. And perhaps in that way, he ends up getting kind of owned by the returning players, which has been the discourse for so long, right?
[00:24:15] Is like, don't mix newbies and returning players because the returning players will just pull one over on the fans the entire time. So I would love to see Eric back. And it's tough because I think on paper, a lot of people would say, well, he had his
[00:24:28] second chance and nothing really came of it. Eric had this incredibly quiet edit, which he admits was also his gameplay to the point where he would basically say, I'm not really going to strategize. You just point at the name on the flag and all vote for that person.
[00:24:43] As part of it, maybe him trying to lie low so that he gets to the end and win. Perhaps it doesn't work out, though, because he ends up, interestingly enough, leaving in the exact same position as Micronesia when he goes into the Brenda Tribal Council and
[00:24:56] gets blindsided, but is also kind of seeing blind as well and that his blood pressure is like crashing. I think it was discovered after the fact that he had been like given antibiotics for some
[00:25:07] sort of affliction that he had and he was having a bad reaction to that. And so as a result, he gets medivac on the way out from tribal council, basically, which I think also kind of incorporates into the purple edit.
[00:25:19] Eric also, I remember in that moment was incredibly outspoken about how much of a shit show the Caramoan reunion was when they tried to like put all the prejurors in the audience to hide the fact that Brandon wasn't there.
[00:25:30] And there was that weird stuff with like Rudy talking to Richard Hatch through video. It was just a wild experience. So you could understand maybe in that aspect, Eric didn't have a great time in his second season.
[00:25:42] He got a super quiet edit and he was not happy with the way things ended in many regards. What did he come back? Fast forward to his quarantine questionnaire. Oh, when asked, Eric has said, I do have a great and overpowering fear of playing with
[00:25:59] young new new school players as they have watched the game, studied it and are amazingly strong competitors. I fear being cast on a future season with Adam protege or other highly cerebral millennial and younger players. Yes, I would absolutely play again if asked.
[00:26:16] There are so many positive things that come from the experience win or lose. You learn a lot about yourself from being tested at the temporarily live in close proximity with nature and also make great new connections with interesting people from around the United States.
[00:26:28] The money from competing is just an additional perk. So it seems like despite a bit of that mixed response coming out of Caramell and Matt, he's keen to come back for time. Number three. Yeah, I mean, I don't I don't like that answer in terms of the money.
[00:26:43] Get your money, get your money. You came so close twice. Come on. But I mean, also, it's so interesting hearing his reflections on the new era and everything because I do feel like Eric was so ahead of his time.
[00:26:58] I mean, looking now at any any new era survivor season that everyone's a fan, everyone's a fan to some extent. You know that they still have a couple of recruits here and there, but everyone is a fan.
[00:27:12] And Eric is a fascinating one because he wouldn't be looked at as a threat. I mean, I would be worried about him being out pretty early just based on other relationships potentially. I don't know more involved in the community, but I mean, it was right.
[00:27:27] And for comparing this to other people that have been put on the list, we know that Eric knows enough about the new game to the point that he's still doing the Dabu doodles. He's still doing the cartoons every week.
[00:27:37] So I agree that I don't know how much he's doing one on one interfacing with these new era castaways, but at least he knows of them, which we can't say about everyone we put on the list so far.
[00:27:46] You know, I feel like he probably is sending those doodles to each person in a DM with a little winky face, just a little winky face. And that's all it takes. You know, that's that could be an alliance right there for some people.
[00:27:58] A lot of people probably, you know, aren't doing all that. So I mean, I'd be interested in seeing him here. His legacy, his legacy needs to be rewritten. Let's break the hourglass on it. Let's turn things around. Let's justice for air. Right. Yeah.
[00:28:17] And I also think, you know, if we have done it in the past where Survivor has said like, Oh, you did your first time out, Stephanie. You're one of the biggest underdogs in the show's history. Second season. OK, maybe not so much. But you know what?
[00:28:29] Forget about that. You're a hero now for your third season. I do think if we talk about like a redemption, not redemption island, but it's sort of an unfinished exact season or even from a legend's perspective.
[00:28:37] I mean, Eric's boot is one of the most legendary in Survivor history. It has been talked about and will be forevermore. It's going to meet the Great Wall of China and Eric giving away immunity necklaces that our children can view from space.
[00:28:52] And so also top on the fact that Eric has also gone through a lot in his own life since competing on Survivor. He has gotten married. He has a child now. He has obviously done some stuff around Survivor.
[00:29:03] He tried that Islands of Chaos mobile game that didn't necessarily work out. So again, if we talk about people who have narrative that could come back and talk about how much they have changed since playing Survivor, Eric checks that box as well.
[00:29:15] Well, I mean, his brain is fully developed now. That's a huge difference. That's a huge difference. Yeah, he is 38 right now. OK, I hope his brain is fully developed. But I will say I love that you mentioned the themes because I do feel that when we, especially
[00:29:31] when we think about some of the favorites here and why they might be brought back. I mean, an unfinished business type of theme works out. I was thinking maybe there's a last chance theme. There could be a rival scene. All right. This is the final time, I swear.
[00:29:46] Yeah, you will not come back if you lose. Like it's a very particular casting for that one. But no, I just I think that Eric would fit so well with that. And Survivor's done a good job keeping his his legacy in his name.
[00:30:02] And at least some of the worst things that have happened to him alive to the point where maybe beyond the relationships he has and everything else, maybe people would feel really bad about taking him out of this game.
[00:30:15] All right. I mean, listen, maybe that happened with Caramello into the way where medical had to take him out instead. Exactly. Matt, I love this series because sometimes we get the opportunity to highlight
[00:30:28] players that have their time in the sun, have been living in the darkness since then. And we get the opportunity to shed some light on them and in fact, maybe put them alongside some of these other legends in the sun.
[00:30:41] I am here, folks out there to spread the good word, the gospel of Tracy Hughes. Well, in my opinion, Matt Scott may be one of the best premerge players in Survivor history. 100 percent. I was so worried you're going to mention Alexis here. I have I have nothing.
[00:31:01] I know. And we'll yeah, we'll do it around. I think Tracy was the big one that I really wanted to talk about. We could certainly do it on the other fans as well, because people might not remember
[00:31:09] again, Tracy ends up finishing in one like I think 12th, 12th, 12th place. And listen, would be the start of a jury in other seasons. But I think a lot gets obfuscated in a lot of the prestige that happens in the postmortem
[00:31:23] to see some of the impressive stuff Tracy was able to turn in that premerge. Well, and there's the game. You know, she was really in able to stay alive a lot further than a lot longer than it seems
[00:31:35] she would. And really, if not for Chet and the iconic Kathy Slipman, just just kind of pulling out essentially, you know, Tracy would still be she'd still be in the game now. Mike, yeah. So for those of you that don't know, quick catch up on Tracy Hughes.
[00:31:53] Well, so the fans dynamic in the beginning is that kind of all the young jockey pretty types end up plumbing together. And we have these three outsiders in Tracy, in Kathy, in Chet.
[00:32:06] And so when the fans go to their first vote, Chet is on the chopping block, did his challenge performance, but they are granted a reprieve when Joel kind of turns the alliance on to Mary.
[00:32:17] But Tracy's turn, Vlad really comes in the second fan's vote where, again, her alliance is the ones that are in the line of fire. Mikey goes to Joel and says, you know, if we don't get rid of Mikey right now, you
[00:32:33] won't have the numbers to do it again. This is wild. He's got Alexis on his side. He's gone, Natalie, on his side. He's got Eric and Jason on his side. You need to do this.
[00:32:44] And Tracy Hughes, Wolf's Riz was able to convince Joel to take out Mikey B as he gives one of the most stunned blindside faces in Survivor history. She saved her trio. The unfortunate thing is, to your point, after the swap, things go awry even though she gets
[00:33:04] swapped over from IRI. Chet ends up asking to leave due to an injury he sustained. Kathy can't feel her family as she said she's doing a lot of she's really in it in terms of mental health struggles and decides to pull herself from the game.
[00:33:18] And so, you know, there was at one time going to be a possible move to be made where Amy was willing to play ball, was willing to work with the fans of Tracy, Chet and Eric to turn on Suri, Amanda and Ozzie.
[00:33:32] And unfortunately, because Chet had to leave the game, it left her at a disadvantage where once Malik Hall went to tribal council again, she was the easy one to take out. It's a rather, you know, womp womp finish for someone that I think popped rather impressively,
[00:33:51] especially in that first stretch of the game. Yeah. And I mean, she was she was so dominant in that first stretch of the game and it really did hurt to see the others in her alliance sort of, I mean, failing her really when it
[00:34:05] came to continue on the game. Also, just in the context of this era of Survivor. I mean, after after Micronesia, we've seen many folks who were casted. Like I don't I don't know if Tracy was a massive fan of Survivor or not.
[00:34:22] But one thing I do know is that even since being on Survivor, Mike, you mentioned her Rizz, you know, throughout the game and she's she's she's Rizzed everywhere, which I think is phenomenal. She was on the Kardashians.
[00:34:35] Yes. So I'd heard about this because Tracy started sort of a personal training business. And I believe that she was briefly the personal trainer of one Kris Kardashian and appeared on a couple of episodes of KUTWK. That's right. She's a she's a self-described celebrity master trainer.
[00:34:54] Yeah. Which also speaks to the physical aspect as well. I mean, Tracy is fifty nine, which again is a bit up there, though not completely up there compared to some of the other people that we're putting on.
[00:35:04] But like clearly seems to be in a physical shape that would at least bear pretty well in these challenges. I also think that I believe she like full time manages her daughter's singer songwriter career. Oh, my gosh. Tracy's done so much.
[00:35:20] So I think she was like a real estate developer builder when she was on the show. So she has become a true Renaissance woman since then. And again, to a much lesser extent than like a Natalie or an Eric, I'd be very keen to see
[00:35:32] how that's informed Tracy if she returned again. I just want to see her play and also make like all of the wolf references of the puns that will come up with as she is playing. Like it's so brilliant. Tracy deserves a second chance.
[00:35:47] I'm saying I think this is one of those times because all these other favorite spots have been claimed in previous seasons, we get to kind of sift through and pick some people that might not be as remembered.
[00:35:59] And I want to get people like Tracy Perdue, who I think was taken out truly before she had a time to really lay some track in the game. And I think she could be one of these almost Kelly Wentworth types where you put her on
[00:36:11] a season. People might not, you know, estimate her that much because she was a 12th place finisher. But she had, at least in the moment, a lot of really capable skills to do really
[00:36:20] well, especially in a new era where so much health she goes to someone now and says, turn on your number one ally. They'd be like, oh, great. I already did. It's already in my head and they'd be so willing to go along with it. I love it.
[00:36:31] And I do think it's interesting, too. I mean, like not to harp on the Kardashians piece of it, but we have seen people in more recent seasons, you know, nerding out, connecting about Pokemon and the like, like just
[00:36:43] watch her bring up her Kardashian stories with the right people that will work, that will keep her around. That's a great tool to bond. Like I, I like her chances here if she makes it because who's going to take out Tracy? Why would you do that to Tracy?
[00:36:56] So charming. Let's do it on some more of these fans and maybe we'll see if anyone will pop in here. Let's go back to Alexis, because I do think it's unfortunate that Alexis is a bit
[00:37:06] forgotten in this because Alexis is someone who plays this really interesting role in the season. She kind of becomes the unwilling third point of the brief Ozzie Amanda love triangle when Ozzie and Alexis go to Exile Island overnight.
[00:37:20] I always remember her trucker hat look and yeah, the fact that Amanda uses the idol to take her out because she was a motivational speaker at the time and people feared about what would happen at the end with her, which could mean that maybe she had better winning
[00:37:35] odds than the edit is indicating. She also mentioned that she has been doing some really incredible motivational work after the show. I believe when 13 Reasons Why was on Netflix, I believe she hosted at least one like after show seminar about teen suicide and mental health awareness and everything
[00:37:54] like that. So she is killing it out there in the real world. Yeah, I think it's so interesting because I remember well one how I really did feel like she was under edited because she was part of this dominant Alliance.
[00:38:06] It would have been nice to have something established with her. I found it so strange watching Mike Bernice the first time then watching it back that she was a motivational speaker because we weren't given the motivation or the speaking.
[00:38:22] But you know, there's a lot that I think that she brings and she's done so much since then of course. Yeah. It would be fascinating to see her in the game. I just don't have a great sense of what her survivor game is like, especially without
[00:38:39] all the folks around her between Natalie, Sari, Parvati, Amanda sort of, you know, pulling her along or shaping things along the way. Not to say that she was following along, but we just didn't get as strong of a narrative with her.
[00:38:53] It's hard to really talk about her game effectively. Yeah, I think that there is some appeal to bringing her back almost in the way of bringing back someone like a Parvati who's like she plays sixth, which is not bad at all.
[00:39:06] She had some skills and granted, I think it was much quieter compared to everyone around her, but I think she certainly had enough social skills to be in good with the Black Widow Brigade to a certain extent. Didn't seem to be like a slouch really in any area.
[00:39:20] And so I could have seen down the line, you know, Alexis show up in a cast and people be like, really? We're bringing Alexis back? And then it turns out, oh yeah, she's actually pretty good at survivor. So I could see it.
[00:39:31] She would not be really a top tier returning from this season, in my opinion. But I wouldn't be particularly mad if she came back in general, especially given again, we're talking offseason narrative. She could come back and feasibly talk about, you know, the things that she's done since.
[00:39:47] Yeah, I was going to say she's definitely a more interesting, interesting character in returning just from everything she's achieved. I wouldn't be surprised if she wins a Nobel Prize, Mike. There we go, which is even better than money.
[00:39:59] I want to talk about Jason for a second because we talked about Eric and how the edit has dunked on him, you know, in perpetuity. Jason, of course, to a certain extent.
[00:40:10] Again, this man found a whole ass piece of wood at Exile Island with a little face on it and was convinced it was a hidden immunity idol. And he ends up despite after making it through that kerfuffle at Eliza's expense, does make
[00:40:23] it through the Aussie vote when he gets everyone to promise him that he'll step down and give poverty immunity in exchange for not getting voted out. Surprise, surprise. People are going to turn on him immediately and try to get him voted out, including the
[00:40:35] very next week when he is sent to Exile Island, kind of in a bad move by Natalie, finds the idol, but is so snowed. He tries not to play it.
[00:40:44] There is a world where I could see and would want to see Jason come back as sort of that to Eric's point, kind of this appeal of, OK. They have a lot of ground to make up on. Can they redeem themselves?
[00:40:57] The thing working against me for Jason is that I'm pretty sure he has gone like completely off the grid since being on Survivor, and I don't know if he would want to do the show again.
[00:41:11] I'm sure he felt a certain way about the way that he was edited and the things that people were saying about him, which also, if you talk with some of the fans, was actually fairly
[00:41:18] sanitized compared to some of the way he was actually treating people on the island. OK, well, rough, rough times. Maybe maybe Survivor isn't for him. But you know, Jason actually is on my shortlist from out of these days in the top in the top
[00:41:35] half, I would say, which is maybe that's I guess that's not saying a lot. I mean, he was a big character, I think, but he was he was. And then again, it's the legacy of it all, the F and stick.
[00:41:47] But also, like he I think it's so, so rough watching Eric and Jason in particular, because it's it's easy for us to appreciate now in retrospect. And, you know, they were so young compared with a lot of the rest of the cast, too.
[00:42:08] And so I don't I don't know. I feel like I would be so, too, by a bunch of people I really love on TV. But Jason, I don't know. He could make up a lot of ground if if he got the chance.
[00:42:22] But I don't know if there's a lot there beyond just the stick. That's more of an Eliza thing for me. But again, let me I'll put it out there that who knows?
[00:42:32] I don't know if it's a rival season or Paris season, but I would Mike, I would I shouldn't admit this. I would actually kill to see Jason and Eliza paired up. Natalie. Yeah. I mean, look, just like flossing with that jugular of his.
[00:42:47] And again, like maybe we get Natalie and Jason nice again, a rival situation. So you have you have an unfinished business situation and a rival situation. Like I'm telling you, Mike, there's a lot of potential for Jason. He fits he fits into a lot of different puzzle pieces.
[00:43:02] If you did want to go with one of these fanciful challenge, the challenge like themes with number 50. All right. Talking about the bottom row really quick. I mean, Kathy, such a big character after she pulled herself away from the game, which
[00:43:18] had some rather graphic circumstances behind the scenes. If you know her, like she was in such a bad state that she was actually threatening to cut her fingers off with the machete. She could be medically pulled.
[00:43:29] She has said since that there is no way where she would want to come back, as well as I don't know if the show would want to considering the circumstances, Chet would want to go back
[00:43:38] And it would be incredible because of the check posting of it all that he is unfortunately the source of a lot of iconic challenge moments in survivor history, whether it is his incredibly weak ass dive into the water or I hit my head back there. I don't care.
[00:43:53] I know with Joel, I do think unfortunately for Chet, who I believe also is 64 right now, it would not be, I think, in the cards. I think he should rather just stay home and shop with the chickens, maybe. Yeah, not with that.
[00:44:11] I don't feel comfortable with the 64 year old with that challenge performance. You know what I'm saying? Like I'd be a little worried. I was worried back at the time in 2008 when this aired. But again, you know, Chet and Joel, like the good rival situation. Let's bring them back.
[00:44:27] Let's let's tie them to each other. Let them run around the entire season. I'm into that. That'd be amazing. All right, man. I'll give a shout out to Mikey B as well. I think Mikey B was a little bit robbed.
[00:44:41] Maybe it's just a fellow Mike B connection, but I feel like he was kind of a big character in his own right. He did do the roast of Rob Sessorino, which sort of was a returning season cast where you're like, why is Mikey B there?
[00:44:52] But I remember him doing like a pretty good job. He seems like a pretty funny guy. I think he was a writer and an actor at the time. I also very specifically recall he had Mets tickets tattooed over one of his pecs.
[00:45:04] So I just want to give a quick shout out to Mikey B, who I don't think will make the list, but I got to go with the name Solidarity here. I'm glad you shouted him out like somebody had to. All right.
[00:45:16] Well, Matt, let's let's not tarry too much further. Joel and Mary, unfortunately, Joel, you were a big villain on the show, but I think unfortunately that truck has left the station. So it seems like we're definitely putting Natalie on. Seems like we're putting Eric on. No. Yes. Yeah.
[00:45:33] And I would I kind of want to say I think Tracy Tracy's in there. I would love to put Tracy on as well. You are speaking my language. I think the real question left right now is, would you want to put Jason on?
[00:45:51] Do you feel like he is in such a noticeable tier below this trio that you wouldn't want to put him on the list? Is he in enough of a proximity with them that he should be on your list? What do you think?
[00:46:02] I have to say to you, Mike, I have these little cutouts and getting ready for today's podcast. I've just little cutouts of different all the different players and I'm staring at my screenshots. I love it. Steel screenshots. And I am staring at them because Natalie, she's in 100 percent.
[00:46:22] Bring her back. Eric, give him the opportunity. Tracy. Yes. If she says yes, you better pay her a lot because that woman is is expensive. She's probably a millionaire by now with her celebrity status. But Jason. Mike, I don't I don't know, it's just the stick.
[00:46:41] Like what are we doing? It's just it's just the stick. Like I don't want to justify Jason being in. I want to be a hard judge here. But like, what is he doing? What is like what did he do for us?
[00:46:54] I mean, he provided a lot of baby girl moments, I would say, in Survivor of like, oh, you poor, poor thing. Even though, again, I'll admit a bit of my opinion is colored by finding out some stuff
[00:47:04] after the fact that we had Jason, I guess was a bit of a jerk to people on the island here, which may also increase his chances of being on. You know what, though?
[00:47:13] I just for thinking ahead to this poll, I am curious, like how many votes someone like oh, I don't know, Eliza might get. And then I also think, but like, what about Jason? What if I feel like we're missing out if Jason Siska is not in this?
[00:47:32] I think we should put him in, Mike. All right, let's do it. Thirty nine year old Jason Siska on the list. Again, I think this would be a bit more of the wish part of the wish list, but Tracy is as well.
[00:47:43] So to your point, let's throw it to the fans of the fans and see what they have to say. So we have Natalie, Eric, Tracy and Jason making the shortlist here. Spoiler alert again for Kara Moen.
[00:47:55] I do not think we're going to get nearly as much of a percentage of those fans coming back to this. Yes, there are a little bit of question marks within this fan cast, but overall, there were some strong picks here, too. Yeah, there really are.
[00:48:08] And again, Natalie jumps out, Eric. I think that those two head and shoulders above the rest. I do appreciate about Tracy that she does. And this is a big factor for me. She does have survivor in her Instagram bio. So that's saying something.
[00:48:23] She's not completely divorcing herself from it. Lovely to see. And I have to put it out there, Mike. I would have maybe considered Kathy if not for her, you know, not wanting to do it at all, which I can't blame her for.
[00:48:40] So I just have to give an honorable mention to Kathy for just everything that is probably hard to watch back considering the circumstances. But Kathy was such a good character. And again, the like, who's Mary of it all is iconic. So good.
[00:48:57] So you're hopefully you're not asking who are these four people we put on the short list, but we must move on, Matt, from one of the most important seasons of Survivor history to its most chaotic. Arguably, we're going back to Africa, the heart of Gabon for Survivor Gabon.
[00:49:13] I'll be covering that tomorrow with Brian Cohen should be a great time, a bit of a chaos master himself. Who's on your shortlist to bring back from Gabon? Oh my gosh. This is like I feel like half the cast is on my shortlist to bring back from Gabon.
[00:49:30] Like I are we are we going to get sugar? Can we get Bob back? Can we get Randy? Like, what do we do? Like who do who else? Who else?
[00:49:40] I feel like I need to I can probably pick out half the cast to bring back at this point. All right. Well, we shall see who's going to bring a little bit of sugar and or spice to this list as tomorrow.
[00:49:51] Brian Cohen and I will get together to pick the shortlist from Survivor Gabon. It was such a great time. I know, obviously, it was not. I apologize for depriving you of the experience of putting some of your favorites of the favorites
[00:50:03] on the list, but we were able to make a 15 minute podcast that of picking through 10 people. So truly, this was a great time. This is this is a unique conversation. Who else is talking about the fans on my Cornelius? Think about it. Who? Who? No one.
[00:50:20] No one's bringing Mary. Who? This is iconic. This is iconic, Mike. I hope that I hope that some of them are listening and tuning in and hearing this. And it's giving them hope, you know, like Tracy should have hope that she could be back here.
[00:50:34] Eric, he already he probably already knows Natalie. Come on, Natalie. We need you back. All right. Send a letter to the producers. Come on. Well, Matt, you will be back in our ears soon, I'm assuming, considering all the great podcast work that you do.
[00:50:48] Anything you want to plug right now for the listeners, either social or podcast wise? Yes. Follow me on socials, Matt Scott, GW and the pride has spoken. Check it out at Robbins website dot com slash pride feed or wherever you get your podcast
[00:51:02] to search for the pride has spoken feed. Tons of great interviews and conversations with LGBTQIA plus survivors, many of whom probably will be on season 50. I'm just saying here's hoping so tomorrow I'll be back with Brian Cohen for Survivor Gabon.
[00:51:19] Let us know your thoughts about which fans you would want to see come back and who knows? Maybe we might have an opportunity to round up some stragglers in the near future. Who's to say? But thank you all again so much for listening, Matt. Thank you so much.
[00:51:32] Until next time, everybody, take care. Bye bye.