Today, Mike and Brice Izyah (@BriceIzyah) discuss Season 36: Ghost Island.[00:00:00] Do you wish for someone who understands you like no one else? Someone who can make your wishes come true and wants to experience the most beautiful adventure of your life with you? The Shopify commerce platform revolutionizes millions of companies worldwide.
[00:00:15] With Shopify, you can create your own online shop without programming or design knowledge. Thanks to the efficient setup and intuitive social media and online marketplace integration, you can advertise and sell via Instagram, eBay and Co. Reaching new target groups has never been so easy.
[00:00:34] Shopify offers all the tools to build your online business on a single, secure platform. Test for free and present your business to the world. Visit shopify.de//try Simply enter shopify.de//try and get started. Made for Germany. Powered by Shopify.
[00:01:11] Hi everybody and welcome back to the Survivor 50 Wishlist Podcast. An off-season series where we're trying to figure out who could and should come back for the upcoming returning season of Survivor 50. And it makes sense, we spend all these days looking back on the past,
[00:01:27] that today we talk about a season that did it in the form of a twist. Survivor Ghost Island. And in a season that is all about an incredibly dominant partnership, I'm excited to welcome in an incredible podcast partner to this podcast.
[00:01:42] Let's see if we can dominate the mics as much as Wendell and Dom did. Of course, this season is all about reversing the curse, but it is a blessing to welcome this guy in. Of course, host of the Purple Pants Podcast, Survivor Kagaian Castaway
[00:01:55] and member of the Survivor 50 shortlist from Survivor Kagaian, it is Bryce Isaiah. Hello, hello. I'm so excited to be here. I don't know if I can talk as fast as Dwight, but I will absolutely try so that we can have a great podcast.
[00:02:09] Blaze, I think people's brains may have melted over the course of the Kagaian podcast. I want them to like solidify a little bit. This is super exciting, Bryce. Obviously, Ghost Island is a season that you have one particular link to,
[00:02:21] but I am curious what made you want to talk about this season when the bat signal was sent out? Well, one, I'm never going to say no when Mike Bloom calls and wants me to do a podcast. And I love Ghost Island.
[00:02:33] I think that Ghost Island makes me love the Survivor community. It's brought me my best friend. And so I just remember the excitement of watching that season. So, of course, I wanted to come on and give my two cents on a couple of people on Ghost Island.
[00:02:48] Yeah, so that's the thing is that Ghost Island, I think that at the time there was a lot to do about this cast. I think the pre-merge in particular is a lot of fun. A lot of big moments happen.
[00:03:00] But I think the way that people kind of remember the season is like, well, Dominic and Wendell just dominated the entire way and there was no competition, which might be true to a certain extent. But that doesn't mean we necessarily need to throw out the baby
[00:03:12] with the bathwater and completely nullify the rest of the cast here. Because I do think there are some really interesting personalities to mix in. And also the fact that besides Wendell, nobody from this season has returned to Survivor.
[00:03:27] And so, look, we talked about this in the Heroes, Healers, Hustlers podcast. We're expanding the courts a bit. Bryce, we're allowing five picks today instead of just four. So you get a little bit more bang for your buck today as we're talking Ghost Island.
[00:03:41] Ooh, I get five. I ain't mad at that. Well, maybe it's four and with a tie decision is the fifth one. Okay, there we go. Absolutely. Laurel comes in and breaks the tie to figure out who is going to be number five.
[00:03:53] Well, listen, I mentioned at the top here, I'd be remiss, Bryce, because I think besides Rob, we haven't had a Survivor alum yet to come onto the podcast after they were put onto the shortlist. So like I need to be the media person that like asked the person
[00:04:07] after their award nomination, like how does it feel to make the Survivor shortlist for Kagaian? So it is such an honor, truly, right? It makes me a little emotional, right? So I love it because I am a Survivor fan. Like I really do eat, breathe and live Survivor.
[00:04:26] So it is truly an honor. However, with honor, I'm very realistic, right? And again, okay, I'm glad I made the shortlist, but honestly, and I keep saying this, I'm just excited for 50 because season 40 was so fun with winners.
[00:04:46] And so I'm just excited to see the players that will be selected and we're yearning for a returning season. And I remember like in my Survivor era, there was a point in time where it seemed like returning seasons were happening over and over and over again.
[00:05:01] And we kind of were like, okay, we're done with it. And I remember my season Kagaian was like a fresh start to newbie seasons. And so we've been on this newbie era for a while. And so like, I'm just really excited for a returning season,
[00:05:14] taking myself out of it. I think that there are so many amazing players that I would love to see come together and the mess that it would be. I just know it's going to be amazing. So, but it is truly an honor as a third boot,
[00:05:27] as someone that has always kept Survivor in my veins and always just being a fan, right? I'm a fan first. And whenever I'm at events or I'm talking to people, I always tell people, I don't really feel like a Survivor alum
[00:05:39] because I ain't really had that much time on the island, but I feel like I have the deluxe package of Survivor. Like, I feel like I'm a super fan with plus, like I get to meet the former players, become friends with them,
[00:05:52] and I get to meet the fans that watch it. So again, just truly honored, but I'm just excited to see what will happen with 50. Do you have a preferred theme for 50, whether it be like Legends, Second Chance, something else you could come up with?
[00:06:08] So I have like two things in my mind that I talk about. Here's the thing, here's a hot take. Tell me if you agree or not. I don't want to see no winners. I don't disagree with it. Second Chance is definitely probably my preferred theme
[00:06:25] or like best to never win. Right. Like I just think if you won, you got a million dollars going about your day. Okay, go do other shows. But again, we had winners at War where they were all winners.
[00:06:36] So I really would love to see old school, new school, new era. Like I would love a theme like that would be in my opinion, really, really, really great. Because I think that like, you know, there's old school players,
[00:06:53] there are new school players, and then there's this new era. I think the combination of that would be great. I would love it if they went back to 30 days for something like this. I think that it would be amazing.
[00:07:04] Another idea that I love and again, taking myself out of it. But I would love pre-merge versus merge. Because I really do feel like there are so many amazing pre-merge people that just due to the luck of the game or just due to their, you know,
[00:07:21] due to whatever they weren't able to get the shine and they are amazing game players. And again, I'm not saying that just to include myself, but I mean, you can include me, go on ahead. But I just think that, and I say this all the time,
[00:07:35] pre-merge is the best part of the seasons. I don't care what nobody says. Pre-merges are the best. I think pre-merge is underrated as well. I like the storylines kind of being amongst two different groups. And look, sometimes there is a little too much of like
[00:07:49] the tribe strength, tribe unity drum getting beat. But especially nowadays, I feel like that sort of is out the window. So I'm up for it, Survivor South Africa for its last season, did an all-star season of pre-merge versus post-merge and it went really well.
[00:08:01] And yeah, to your point, I think especially going through this exercise and putting people on the list, it does go to show that so much of Survivor, yes, there is skill involved, but a lot of it is luck.
[00:08:10] And a lot of it is the cards that were drawn, the people you're with, or just the circumstances around you that could lead you going third or could lead you going all the way to the edge. So why not give some of those people another chance? Absolutely.
[00:08:22] And I mean, even though I've given three options, like I really would like a two tribe, two tribes again. I miss the two tribes. I love, well, actually I don't really love the three tribes, you know, they don't work out for everybody so well.
[00:08:36] I love a two tribe season. I feel like so much can happen. I do understand that sometimes in two tribes, like it's a domino effect and things can become repetitive and it's like hard to switch up, but like at least start off with two tribes,
[00:08:53] then break the, to three tribes and then merge to one tribe or something. I would really love to see that. Well, listen, you outlined the exact structure that was in Survivor Ghost Island. I think it was two to three back,
[00:09:06] two to two to three to one, and we've got five. That's a lot of numbers. Let's get into it, shall we? And we got some big ones to start with here, Bryce, because we have arguably the two players of the season,
[00:09:20] those that ran it down pretty much from the beginning all the way to the end, even tying for the first and so far only time in Survivor history in your boy, the goat, Wendell and his guy, Dominic Laurel. Of course, the Malolo serving as the one
[00:09:37] that was supporting them the entire time and ends up filling an incredibly important role in Survivor history and that she was the first time that a finalist then turned final juror and had to cast a tie-breaking vote. But we do need to start with the Wendell and Dominic
[00:09:52] at all. It only makes sense given the season. I mean, Bryce, I'm just going to give you like unlimited time to talk with me about your thoughts on Wendell coming back for a third Survivor season because suffice it to say, certainly at the time,
[00:10:08] the second season wasn't entirely an incredibly positive experience. It really wasn't. I think he got the short end of the stick on Winners at War. I think I didn't really love his character arc. However, as a friend and as somebody that's really close with him, I enjoyed it.
[00:10:27] Okay, he got humbled on season 40. And so, you know, in my opinion, I don't recognize season 36 for him. I recognize season 40. That's the only time I, you know, give him his credit. But you're like a winner of Ghost Island, but more so importantly, Merge Boot from Survivor.
[00:10:43] Yes, Merge Boot of Ghost Island. Okay. But regardless, even though I said I don't want to see Winners, I think that Wendell would be a great option. He would have a huge target on his back as that he's like very diplomatic. He's great. He's strategic. He's really good.
[00:11:00] So of course, I would love to see my best friend back out there. However, also in that same vein of me saying that I don't want Winners, if he were excluded, I definitely think that Dominic needs to be at the top of the list because Dominic,
[00:11:19] in my opinion, is as quiet as a scat. He's the real winner of Ghost Island, right? You know, like he really embodies everything and we've seen him on The Challenge USA where it's like, it's not just fluke. Like Dominic has the mental capacity. He has the strategic knowledge.
[00:11:40] He has the social ability. He has the dominance to make it to the end. And so again, I really feel like you put Dominic back out there, you might see a Tony Vachos come out and be another two-time winner because Dominic really does have what it takes.
[00:11:57] And I feel like when you meet Dominic and obviously I know Dominic personally, but like, excuse me, he has like this disarming factor about him where it's like, you know, he's a threat, but he's also a dad. He's also like, there's so many different facets
[00:12:13] about him that you're like, oh, he's a threat. I need to remember that. And then next thing you know, he voting you out and you didn't even get to take him out. So it's like, I would love to see Dominic back out there. Yeah.
[00:12:25] So talking about these two guys, I mean, obviously Wendell is someone who has gone on from Survivor to make a couple of reality TV appearances, most recently on The Goat on Amazon Prime. I'm sure that sort of had like, maybe lived in the minds
[00:12:39] of Survivor fans as to, okay, would Wendell want to come back? But it feels like, and Bryce, correct me if I'm wrong here. I mean, every time that I have talked to Wendell, he has always said like, Survivor don't lose my number.
[00:12:50] If you ever call me, I will accept the call. And so I do think that he would stand a good chance of coming back if he was asked. Now, I guess the question is, Bryce, would you, because I'm trying to figure out like, what would be
[00:13:02] the theme that would bring Wendell back? Do you think he would qualify for like a legend season? I think he could qualify as a young legend. Mmm, I like that. Old legends versus young legends, that's the theme. Right, absolutely.
[00:13:19] I definitely think he, and again, the way that he played the game in Ghost Island, I like to make a lot of jokes and I like to make fun of Wendell any opportunity that I can. However, watching Ghost Island, like, you can't take away
[00:13:33] that this man was leading the tribe. Other than that one time they almost got him out, but like he really was building relationships. And again, speaking to the fact that Laurel made that tie decision and it was because of the relationship
[00:13:47] that he built with Laurel, he really did his thing out there. So absolutely, I think that, you know, he could be a legend. Or again, you know, pre-merge. Well, both times, you can build a post-merge. Even if you do old school, new school, new era,
[00:14:03] definitely would consider him a new school player. So I think there's a lot of possibilities that we could see Wendell again. So the Dominic side of things, I totally agree with you. I think this guy is an absolute lock.
[00:14:18] I think when we talk about, oh, it sucks that we haven't had really any returnees since, you know, season 34, with the exception of like a few random people on Edge of Extinction. It sucks that there are people like Chrissy, like Christian, like Angelina who haven't come back.
[00:14:35] Dom's name has been right up there because this is a guy who has maybe come the closest since Boston Robbed to kind of running a season like a mafia boss. And maybe it's just the, you know, Italian dad construction persona to him.
[00:14:50] But he had such an interesting arc where he decides kind of foolishly in that opening challenge to like speak up against Chris Noble in the moment, immediately starting this rivalry. But then he finds a real idol, but then also finds
[00:15:02] a fake idol and claims to Chris that he has the fake idol. I mean, in a season that was all about throwing out all these advantages that served as like past survivor totems, Dominic was the one that maybe had his hands on the most
[00:15:14] of them considering how he was kind of spreading them like candy towards the end game. I mean, I think I wouldn't necessarily boil down the two games to Wendell being only social and Dominic being only strategy, but like, that's the way it kind of shows to us.
[00:15:28] And for what it's worth, Dominic is the runner up that has from a numbers perspective come the closest to winning. I mean, how could you not use that as a follow-up to the story of this is the guy who was one random
[00:15:43] jury vote away from being a million dollars richer. He needs to make up for that. And what's interesting is that in his quarantine questionnaire a few years back when asked if he'd play again, he'd say he'd love to, but it's not even for that story.
[00:15:55] For that story of redemption, of making up for the one jury vote that he missed. It was more so about the fact that he just loves to play the game. You know, the challenge USA might've stoked those competitive fires for a bit, but as the final showed
[00:16:08] maybe not necessarily the fire that he necessarily wants to be a part of. So I think he is more than happy to throw himself back in survivor once the call comes in. Absolutely. I think Dominic is waiting at the door with his bags packed
[00:16:23] and he already has his PTO time or short-term disability request in because Dom is not playing. And yeah, everything I agree with everything that you said. I just, he would really be interesting to watch. However, it may be ghost Island was a little,
[00:16:40] it's a little far removed than say, I forgot what season was Jesse season 43. But like, I, a lot of Dom reminds me of like a Jesse, right? Like obviously Jesse has that bigger move, but I just wonder when Dom goes back.
[00:16:56] Will people see him as a huge target or will they remember how he played in his game and his season? And it's like, you really have to watch out for him. But I also think both Island is a little far removed
[00:17:08] that I think he'd be able to assimilate and kind of like take the reins again. So it'll be interesting to see, but Dominic for sure. Yeah, I completely agree. And I think the benefit would be that I assumed Dom would be on a cast alongside.
[00:17:24] You mentioned Jesse, you could throw Chrissy in there of like some of these people who made it super far and would have won under circumstance other circumstances that didn't. Otherwise, I think Dominic would stick out like a sore thumb,
[00:17:35] but I do think the time away combined from like, again, I think the way that people remember ghost Island now is like, well, Wendell and Dom ran the season, but Dom had no social game. And so that's why he lost. He did get five out of 10 jury votes.
[00:17:48] That's perhaps broad brushing his game a bit too much. So I actually think he might come in a tad bit underestimated compared to like if season 40 was an all star that featured basically a bunch of people from the 30s.
[00:18:01] Dom would have been a shoe in there and I think would have gotten a much bigger target than he would have for 50. Yeah, I think his threat level is a little lower now, but I also feel like knowing Dom's personality,
[00:18:11] even if going in his threat level wasn't low, give them two to three days, the threat level is going to shoot back up there because Dom just can't help but to be in control and kind of get things together.
[00:18:24] So I mean, regardless if it's there when it arrives, the threat level will soon find Dom. I'd be remiss, of course, not to mention Laurel here. And look, I do think that Survivor history looks back fairly unkindly to Laurel.
[00:18:37] All they say is like, oh, all she did was just eight and a bet Wendell and Dom and she cast the tie breaking vote at the end of the day. I do feel like that is removing a bit of the agency from Laurel's game
[00:18:48] that yes, she did make a very deliberate choice to be with Wendell and Dom, but she even expressed that in one of the episodes that she hopes that the two of them end up splitting votes because they are such a tight
[00:18:59] pair and then maybe she'll mop it up through a plurality. Listen, it's a strategy that has yet to work out in the history of Survivor, but at least there is intentionality behind it as opposed to maybe some
[00:19:09] people that are just like, yeah, I'll get dragged there and then we'll sort of see what happens. So even if Laurel made choices that the audience did not necessarily vibe with, she still made choices at the end of the day.
[00:19:21] Laurel is somebody who has also done a lot of stuff since her time on the show. She has gotten married. She's 36 and actually recently gave birth as well. So congratulations to Laurel. I do think that the show probably would not consider bringing Laurel back
[00:19:38] again. There would be some appeal to like, okay, is she someone that can have a bit more activeness to her game and kind of take it by the reins and become the power player as opposed to kind of siding with the power players?
[00:19:50] But I just think in the grand scheme of things that there are other people and other zero vote finalists that the show would bring back over Laurel. Okay, so I'm going to have to disagree. Okay, push back on that, Emily.
[00:20:03] For the sake of me knowing Laurel, love Laurel. I think she's an amazing, smart, brilliant, athletic, talented woman. And two things I want to say about Laurel. One, I really feel like she got the short end of the stick.
[00:20:19] I know that she's like somewhat removed from the Survivor community a little bit because like during this time, like people dogpiled on her. Like she was getting like so much hate and I didn't understand that at the time. Like what are y'all talking about?
[00:20:33] Like and you know, she just got so many nasty and hateful comments that like she just kind of removed herself a little bit. However, knowing Wendell and knowing Dom and hearing the intricate stories about how pivotal their game was because Laurel, not because like, you know,
[00:20:49] Laurel was just, oh, whatever you guys need to do. Like Laurel was playing the game. Laurel was a double agent. And I think that because maybe she wasn't as flashy as other people are, but Homegirl was on both sides.
[00:21:05] Homegirl was bringing information not only to Wendell and Dom, but to the other side. And it really was Laurel could have flipped on Dom and Wendell and got them out, but she, I forget what episode it was, but she ultimately told them that like they're coming for y'all.
[00:21:20] So it's like, I think Laurel's one mistake, which I feel like a lot of first time player mistakes are is you want to get to the end, but when is the right time to make the move? And I feel like when you are playing the game of Survivor,
[00:21:36] that right time sometimes is hard, especially when you make it farther in the game. Like, of course, when we're watching on TV, you go be like, girl, get rid of them now. But it is like, you know, there's so much on the line.
[00:21:46] There's so much to take in. There's so much to like, if I flip on them, they can take me out. And so I definitely think Laurel is a strong player. She's athletic. There are so many challenges that she beasted.
[00:21:58] And I also want to change the stigma in the Survivor community a little bit, right? Because reverse the curse, reverse the curse and the sense of like, we give Wendell the praise season 36 is his, but. And I've never really said this out loud.
[00:22:15] I've said this to people in private, but there's something about the Survivor community that annoys me, how we don't give Dom and Laurel praise. Getting number one, like the number two and number three spot. Like that is still an honor.
[00:22:30] Like that is still a very prestigious to be number three. Obviously it's not winning, but I just feel like someone from the opposite end, I'd rather be that three than the three that I was.
[00:22:42] And so I just hate how we don't really congratulate that as much as we just kind of put all the praise on the winner, because although Dom didn't win, you still got number one. You still got to the end with your ally.
[00:22:55] Can Jesse and Cody say that? I'm not sure. Right. Like, you know, Laurel making it to the end with those, like, I don't know. I just feel like we don't offer enough praise and congratulations to the, the second and third spot. It's an honor.
[00:23:11] And sometimes it's like, what's wrong with playing to be number three? Like I damn sure we'll play to be number three, then number 17. Okay. That's just my two cents. No, no. Listen, preach. Absolutely. And yeah,
[00:23:24] I do think that Dom in particular was like one of the best players to never win the game considering he almost won the game. There are so many what ifs that we can ask about. Oh, if Jesse makes it to the final three, what happens?
[00:23:35] If Rob Cicernino makes it to the final two, what happens? Like Dominic was somebody that was able to get there and nearly won. And yeah, to your point, it's so interesting. So it's so interesting to look back and yeah,
[00:23:47] I totally agree that like Jeff used to say this back in the day during the live finales, but like making it to the finals is an incredible, tough thing to do. Just considering all the elements that are working against you in Survivor. And yes,
[00:24:00] sometimes we don't commend it as we sort of lump together, particularly when it comes to a lot of zero vote finalists. Right. It's like, these are the goats. These were not good players. Right. But and again, when you, you think about it, zero votes,
[00:24:12] but also when you think about it, she's up against Diamond Wendell. Like it's like, it's, you know, you're up against greatness, but listen, zero votes is still, you got to the end of number three. And I, I would love to see Laurel back now.
[00:24:26] I don't know if Laurel would even want to come back just given her life being a mother, but I definitely think Laurel could kill it. And I also feel like, sorry, I'm just all over the place. No, please. But there is something about playing again.
[00:24:41] There are so many things just from a production standpoint of that you learn going out there. And so it's like Laurel 2.0. I think could be lethal. And just, just as much as what Dom has learned, and I'm sure Dom has learned like having our live,
[00:24:59] but take them out before they take you out. I'm sure, you know, and I remember just so many times watching Laurel season, like girl, make the move. And even though, even if it would have been against Wendell is still, it's like, well,
[00:25:12] clearly that was Wendell. But at the same time I was rooting for Laurel at the same time I was rooting for a dime. And so I just wanted one of them to win. And so there were just so many times that she could have pulled the,
[00:25:24] she could have pulled back the slingshot. I don't want to, you know, Dave versus Goliath this next season. Yeah. So, yeah, but I would love to see Laurel again. I think that it would be a surprise and although like on these podcasts were saying like, yeah, maybe not,
[00:25:37] but I also feel like if she were on 50 the story that they could give her, I think would be exciting and relevant to fans. Another hot topic. I would love. So it's hard, right? Cause there's a part of me that's like,
[00:25:51] oh, I'm just like I want to die Dom, but there's a world where I would want a season where it's kind of more people like Laurel that kind of like, we didn't really get to see a blossom and Excel. And I think as a survivor fan fan fan,
[00:26:09] that season kind of excites me a little bit more because it's like in a season, if we were to get diamond window, it's kind of like, I know what they would give with Laurel. It's a question mark. And yeah, dare I say,
[00:26:20] like let's talk the Kelly Wentworth at it. Right? Like, you know, that second time around and a player or let's even talk. I always feel like when we talk about a premerge player, we always talk about Kelly Wentworth. I always feel like people leave out Makayla.
[00:26:33] And I feel like, like we've seen how those players have evolved. So, I mean, I can only imagine what Laurel would be like now as a wife and as a mother now her mama bear protective capacities are in she's playing for like Laurel going to be a threat.
[00:26:50] Y'all gonna stop playing on my girl Laurel name. Okay. That's all. I love it. I love it. The passion is perfect. Let's see if that passion carries over to the jury of ghost Island here. So we have in order of finish, we have Mr.
[00:27:07] Suave himself, Chris Noble. We have a Libby. We have Desiree. We have of course our one of our show mansions that came out of this season and Jenna and challenge USA competitor, CBAS Sebastian. We have a resident teenager on this season in Michael Yerger.
[00:27:25] We have a unfortunately probably the most purple player of the season. If not in recent memory in Chelsea, we have a fellow RHAP podcast host in Kellan. We've got CEO award winner, Donovan and the person who goes out in fire making that if Dom had his way in
[00:27:42] retrospect, he would have thrown himself in, in her place in Angela Perkins. I want to dote upon a few people here in particular before we start going, you know, overall about the rest of these people. I want to start with Donovan here because again,
[00:27:56] I do think that there was like, there was a lot of fever around Donovan in the moment. Here comes a kid. Absolutely. Like sweet as honey. You know, a really huge survivor super fan has a bit of a struggle in the beginning
[00:28:09] where he's a bit of an outcast because he's not necessarily perceived as being like incredibly athletic, but he does make it through. He survives that challenge where he has to dive down and get the balls. And then he was like,
[00:28:20] plays a little bit of a, a little bit of a fierce game to him. He's finding idols. I'll be playing them incorrectly. He's one of the people to like really clap back at Dominic and Wendell when
[00:28:32] he starts seeing the writing on the wall and starts calling them out over at tribal council, which ends up getting him booted in a fifth place. So people are usually used to up until recently, see it kind of becoming a commonplace thing amongst survivor fans that she
[00:28:49] gives awards every season. So people might not remember that. Yes, she storms the stage at the co-wrong finale really oddly and decides I'm going to give money to tie, but then see it disappear. She doesn't give out money during millennials versus Gen X game changers or
[00:29:04] heroes, healers, hustlers. And so I was actually in the room. I attended the ghost Island finale when Jeff announces to Donovan, when he brings him out on stage, like there's this popular artist named Sia and she has been so, you know,
[00:29:16] enamored by your story that she is giving you this certain amount of money. And then it pretty much continued from there on out. We're from 36 through 46, basically with the exception of winners of war at 41, we got money every season.
[00:29:32] And that goes to show the power of Donovan story in the moment that again, this was a very sweet guy who was working uphill at a certain perspective and ultimately, you know, ended up finishing just short of making it to the top of that hill,
[00:29:45] but certainly reverberated amongst people in the moment. Bryce, do you think that reverberation has carried through to survivor 50? I definitely think so. I think that Don Don is a player that when we saw him enter our screen, we was like, what, what, what is that? What is Donovan?
[00:30:05] And he was just his country. So, yes. So happy. So excited to be there. And I definitely think that Don Don, cause that's my nickname. I call him. I think he was like culture shock, shell shock. Like he didn't really understand what he got himself into.
[00:30:19] But the second that those lights switched on, Donovan was ready to play. Like Donovan could be cutthroat. Donovan, we could, we saw make the alliances. And I think one of like his iconic lines was like, you know, like,
[00:30:33] I want to play, like I want to stay. I came to play. And Donovan is just truly a light, a bright light. He's just so friendly. So himself. And I think survivor 50 would be lucky if we could get an appearance from
[00:30:50] Donovan, because I really think that Donovan is just so great. I think again, playing a second time and, you know, Jonathan has experienced a lot of different things in his life. You know, his me mom recently passed away and like,
[00:31:03] he's been sharing the story of like caring for his grandmother. And I think things like that kind of like change you as a person. And so I know that Donovan going out there this time around, he's still the same Don Don, like we still love him.
[00:31:18] He's still silly. He's still a country boy at heart, but I definitely think Don Don has what it takes. And I sometimes think that like people forget how funny Don Don was, how like interesting he was.
[00:31:30] I would love to see a Don Don that's we come on Don Don. Well, I also think as well that, you know, you could say that Donovan's archetype might've in the past been filled by somebody like Nick Wilson who actually said on the show that he was called
[00:31:46] evil vampire Donovan by the audience after David versus Goliath. But now that just not to spoil tomorrow's podcast too much, but now that he has gone down the political route and I imagine does not want to come back to survivor.
[00:31:56] I do think Donovan is a fairly unique cast away to bring back as well. And, you know, in this sort of era where we're going to be talking about, oh, this person would be fun to bring back,
[00:32:05] but are there other people that could take their spot in their archetype? I can't think of many people except for maybe like Elaine, if we're comparing them a little bit, that would be filling the same spot here. Yeah. But for me, I just,
[00:32:19] I want to Donovan and also, you know, he's a member of the LGBTQ plus community. And so I think adding that layer on just knowing Donovan's story, I think you're right. Like there isn't really an archetype like a Donovan. And the only one that I could think of,
[00:32:37] but not anywhere similar is like of the older season, like a Colton, like, you know, Colton was from the South Colton, a lot of different things, but also a stark difference in Donovan, you know, so different. And again,
[00:32:51] I think we tend to lean towards the light and someone like a Donovan, but I also feel like Donovan has the ability to be a shark, to be cutthroat. I don't think we necessarily got to see that on this season just because
[00:33:06] I feel like, you know, it's a learning curve and, you know, you got to kind of get in where you fit in. And I don't think that we got the opportunity to actually see what a Donovan gameplay really could have looked like.
[00:33:18] And so I think yet season 50, I'll be excited to see a Don Don. What about Kellen here? Because Kellen is somebody who has a really interesting season where in the premerge, she's kind of seen as like the leader of her alliance during the
[00:33:33] premerge, you know, when the tribes end up swapping, Navidie ends up having this majority on the Malolo tribe. And she's the one that's really kind of the figurehead of it saying Navidie strong.
[00:33:44] She's the one who like is one of the only people to go to ghost island and actually pass up on playing the game because she values her vote too much because she knows she's at like a five to four advantage in the moment.
[00:33:56] And so she was seen as, I think one of the biggest strategic forces for the first half of the game. But then at the merge as Donovan Wendell kind of rise to power, it comes at the expense of Kellen and it gets to this extent where like
[00:34:09] Kellen's left a little flat footed. You know, she tries to make this move against Wendell to your point, really the only time that Wendell is in trouble in the game, but Wendell and Dom are able to come over the top and able to,
[00:34:21] you know basically get Kellen to throw a couple of votes, waste her extra vote on Laurel and be able to take out Michael where Kellen ends up being on the outside looking in. And as much as she tries to scramble and use her gut based line of thinking,
[00:34:37] she ends up getting voted out right before the finale. And Kellen has certainly, I think, boosted her profile a bit, of course, in doing the road to reality series where look for what it's worth. If Kellen were to return,
[00:34:50] she has now made a lot of one-to-one contacts with other people that might be on season 50. Yes. Anyone that can take a shot at Wendell to try to get them out. You got my vote. I love Kellen.
[00:35:03] And so it's interesting because some of my hot takes for a lot of this cast is from my personal experience with them, right? Like not necessarily from the game because it is an edited show. And so for me, it's like, how is this person in real life?
[00:35:19] And Kellen is when I just say she is so smart and she has that, like the zest for the game. She reminds me of like an Aubrey, right? Like if we're talking like different like archetypes, I just think Kellen is so amazing.
[00:35:36] I think even during the pandemic, Kellen lived abroad. Yeah. She had this wild story where she was like traveling abroad and then due to the airlines getting shut down, she was basically stranded in Spain, but that's where she like met the love of her life.
[00:35:49] Okay. Cause listen, cause. Okay, cause I'm trying to figure out what a wait a minute. I've been on some delayed flights. My flights got canceled. I'm trying to find where where's my. I don't think the Delta outages are causing any new relationships to drum up
[00:36:05] because I'm trying to just figure something out, Michael Bloom, because how Kellen get a man and I love her husband. Actually, I love might love a husband a little bit more than I love Kellen because he's so amazing. But yet Kellen is a survivor.
[00:36:18] Like, can you imagine being overseas and like, Hey, like, you know, I'm going to come home in two weeks and then the world shuts down and then you have to literally pivot. But Kellen's just so amazing.
[00:36:28] She is maybe not when you look at her. Oh, not a threat, but she's a threat. She's smart. She yeah, I would love to see a Kellen. Give me more. Yeah. And I think she's somebody who also understood a bit of her own folly in
[00:36:46] Ghost Island as well, that she was somebody that like took the shot a little too late and got again a little like bamboozled into what was such a tight yet essential vote during that split tribal council that could have cracked
[00:36:58] the game wide open if she does end up working with Michael correctly. And you know, with her extra vote, they could have taken Wendell out and the game is completely different from there on out. So I think she's someone that's also again eager to find advantages
[00:37:12] and use advantages. So I think she really is set up perfectly to do well. I mean, Ghost Island is definitely a cast that admittedly has some hits and misses. So I don't know if Survivor 50 like, you know, they'll be looking to really
[00:37:27] popular seasons of the show. To be honest, I don't know how popular Ghost Island is that they're like, oh, we got to bring back all these people from it. But I do think Kellen is somebody that would be fun to get a shot
[00:37:38] from a season that is not incredibly well regarded. I would agree. And you're right. There's a lot of hits and there could be a lot of misses in Ghost Island. But Kellen for sure is a hit.
[00:37:52] Well, then let's talk about someone that casting wise was a goddamn home run. We got to talk about Chris Noble here because it's so wild that this guy makes it halfway through the season. He's voted out at the merge
[00:38:06] at his first tribal council with an idol in his pocket. But I feel like when we talk about Ghost Island, he is up there as one of the biggest characters of the season. Of course, the big, hulking, handsome male model coming in immediately, stepping up in the first
[00:38:23] challenge, making decisions for his tribe, starting this rivalry with Dominic that's going to last all the way to his boot. It also like showing a bit of his softer side, obviously taking his time. I think it was when he was
[00:38:34] put on Ghost Island to like open up about his mom's diagnosis with MS and all the conditions and then living with that to show that he isn't necessarily this like two dimensional character. But when he does show that character side of himself, it's amazing, you know, between him
[00:38:50] throwing those beanbags and yelling about how much he wants pastries to again, as mentioned before, the beneficiary of it all to, of course, him crafting back when Ponderosa videos were a thing, perhaps the most iconic one in Survivor history, making a whole ass
[00:39:06] rap music video with the poor Ponderosa staff serving as his background actors. And so for a while, people were thinking that like Chris is a necessity to bring back just from a character perspective. Is he someone we want to carry forward to 50?
[00:39:22] I would have to agree that I would love a Chris return. Do I think Chris could win? I don't know. But do I believe that Chris would deliver us the noble edit that we love and deserve? Because it's I think the
[00:39:42] golden thing about a Chris Noble is that, and I'm not sure if he was a recruit or but I knew that he didn't know much about the game where he was one of the people
[00:39:50] that like, you know, in a hotel room watched seven episodes and then was like I'm a genius. He only had like eight episodes. He didn't know how much he needed to know. He fell asleep a couple of times
[00:40:02] and he woke up and the TV said, are you still watching? He was like, I'm good. Right. But there is just something about Chris's personality that makes for such great TV where it's like why are you raising your hand? It's like if we were on an airplane
[00:40:18] not, you know, on a not a Delta, let's say an American air and all of a sudden like it seems like the turbulence and all of a sudden the plane kind of going down a little bit and they do the seatbelt sign comes on. Then it's like
[00:40:34] this is your captain. We're having issues in the cockpit. I'm getting ready to pass out. Do we have a pilot on the plane? Chris Noble would be like, I could fly a plane. Or like, is there a doctor
[00:40:46] in the house? Yeah, I think I can figure it out. I can figure it out. She just needs a double bypass. Give me a cookie and a straw. There's something to be said with somebody with that amount of confidence and zero amount of
[00:41:02] precision, but they always step up. And I think that that's what makes for great TV. Then when you mix in the ability of this feud with him and Dom, him willing to go against an adversary, I think that Chris Noble is
[00:41:18] needed. And I think people forget because in this new era we have such big personalities. We have a lot of these things. We have a lot of attributes that Chris has in himself in the new era. But I think when you think about Ghost
[00:41:34] Island or you think about the old era, I don't think you necessarily think that about Chris because he is easy on the eyes and you know, just for him to just be on the island with his shirt off alone, he could have my vote.
[00:41:46] But I just would love to see his cockiness be put down again in some way, shape or form. I think that it's like golden. So I would live for Chris Noble. I mean, could you imagine him and Q on the same beach? This is what I'm talking
[00:42:06] about, Mike. Could you imagine them two going back and forth? Like this needs to happen. I'm sorry. We need to manifest this, producers. I don't know in what way and what if it's just a
[00:42:18] captain season with Chris Noble and Q. No, you have to put them on the same tribe though. They have to be on the same tribe. Imagine two days they're going to work together for two days. Then after that third day, Qtavious is going to have a thought
[00:42:34] and it's going to be war three. That would be epic. That just has my mouth salivating for the type of TV that we would get. That would be gold. Chris and Q, who would have ever thought?
[00:42:50] Well, let's talk about somebody who might have your mouth salivating in a different way. Let's talk Michael Yerger. Okay, Michael Yerger. Yerger, Yerger, Yerger. Listen. Aesthetically alone, we want Zaddy Michael back. Okay. I believe was one of probably the original people to be on a
[00:43:10] Zaddy calendar. He absolutely was. And I want to say the year that Ghost Island came out. I don't know if it was like People magazine, something something something. He was voted the most attractive person like in America. What? What? Yes. It was
[00:43:26] something weird. I remember during this season because he kept posting about it and I was like, well, what publication is this? Like who did like who? But yeah, this is what I will say about Michael, right? Because I don't really know him
[00:43:38] that well. But what I remember from that season is Michael was good at everything, right? Like I remember him being good at everything. I remember Michael always fighting even when it seemed like, okay, you should probably give it up. Like I remember that like go getter
[00:43:54] attitude. And so I do feel like respectfully because I don't want to be mean, but I just want to be honest. Like I love a Michael Yerger. You know, you'll play your girl. We love a Michael Yerger. But I do feel like his archetype
[00:44:16] we've seen a million times, right? Like, you know, like and there isn't for me personally, like not that much special about him that I couldn't get in 82 more other survivors, right? But I do love Michael. I do think that he killed it on his season. But like
[00:44:36] I don't know if I'm going to volunteer tribute to put him on the back. Yeah, that's the thing is that again I speak about sort of Donovan fever being rampant at the time. Michael was an outright pandemic and that like this was a guy. Yeah, he came
[00:44:52] on at 18 years old and we had certainly seen teenagers in the past, but there was a lot of talk. I remember for a good number of years pretty much until Sammy came along of like is Michael Yerger the best teenager to ever play
[00:45:04] a survivor that this was a guy that was pretty much the underdog throughout the season starting from when he gets swapped into that tribe with Kellen and is pretty much in the minority from the beginning. You know, he finds an idol
[00:45:16] he tries to do this whole charade at tribal council where he's like, oh, who am I going to play it on to try to get the votes, right? It doesn't work out. But then he finds another
[00:45:24] idol places on himself to save himself at the merge because he really is the you know, the huge target by the super majority going on and then he eventually again gets taken out in this really odd vote during the
[00:45:36] split tribal council. But again, there was a lot of popularity around him because it was this combination right of like being really young and being an underdog for the vast majority of his season and I think of season 40 again was a regular all-star season
[00:45:52] not specifically winners at war. There was a very very good chance that Michael would come back. I think production absolutely loved Michael Yerger and even now, you know, he's only 26 years old But to your point, I do wonder now if especially
[00:46:08] looking at people like Xander looking at people like Sammy again, are there other Austin Austin are there are there others, especially on the younger side of things that are the new hotness over someone like Michael has the time from Michael return past possibly. Yeah, I
[00:46:28] again Michael is great but to your point right like and when we're talking about Donovan or even like you just mentioned Sammy like if I were to compare Michael and Sammy completely different but there's something about Sammy's archetypes. There's something about
[00:46:44] Sammy's story. There's something about, you know, Sammy kind of going hot playing super super hot and not always being right. And so I don't know I just feel like there are a lot of Michael Yergers that we could pick from and so
[00:47:00] I'm just I don't know how excited I am to want to cast a vote. No doubt. If he were on of course, I would be hype because it's like, oh, I know what we're going to expect from him. But just because the pool of Survivor
[00:47:16] players is so wide. I just don't know I don't want to necessarily throw these people all in in one batch for consideration, but I would love to hear thoughts in general of you know between Angela Sebastian Chelsea Jenna Desiree Libby. I
[00:47:36] think there's a fair chance that none of them would get asked back just looking at back upon what people remember from Ghost Island, but is there anyone that you want to highlight in particular from that group? I love my girl Desiree
[00:47:48] because I also feel like you know, I feel like Desiree didn't vote for Wendell. I feel like she voted for Dom. So that's a vote for me. I also just feel like Desiree was another strong competitor. I feel like she wasn't highlighted
[00:48:04] enough. We didn't really get to see a lot of her so I would love to see Desiree Angela. I think she is amazing Chelsea. We definitely didn't get to see a lot of her which leads me to if they won't
[00:48:20] throw in a wild card like I like, you know, you know just somebody like hey just you know, I feel like we didn't get to see enough of Chelsea. I have seen all that I need to see of Sebastian and you know Libby is. Libby is on
[00:48:36] she was on the CW show alongside another member of this cast like she's got other reality shows to be on. Right so yeah. Alright well let's segue into our pre-jury group here because again I speak about the premerge of Ghost Island being surprisingly strong and
[00:48:52] these are the people that end up getting booted from it. So we have the other person that was on I think it was called like fight to survive alongside. Yeah alongside Libby is Stephanie or as she's more so known as
[00:49:04] Gonzalez. We have a you know a huge super fan who has a pretty epic flame out in the premiere and Jacob Derwin we have Morgan Rickey who ends up becoming one of the first like big blind side victims of the season when the tables get turned for really
[00:49:20] the first and only time on Dom and Wendell we get you know a trio of Malo lows that are swapped screwed in the form of Brendan Shapiro Stephanie Johnson and James Lim and then we have the guy that I
[00:49:32] want to start with here and arguably the biggest character of the premerge here in Bradley and it's interesting you know we talk a lot especially nowadays about like does Survivor have villains anymore and it's even tough to call like Bradley
[00:49:48] a villain as much as he was just like a person who complained about stuff but was still such a fun dry character as dry as the dirt he unfortunately had to sleep on on the beach Yes I love Bradley
[00:50:04] Bradley in my mind was an ex-boyfriend of mine I think that Bradley's dry humor is the funniest thing ever I am of the era that I love a I love a complainer on Survivor it like makes it so interesting it like annoy the other people
[00:50:24] have this snarky dry humor I think Bradley would be great I am very excited and would be so happy if we got to see a Bradley because I just he's funny he knows the game he's willing to go against
[00:50:40] the odds he's like willing to go against the grain to be sneaky to be like Bradley would be great to be he was gone extremely too soon I love me some Bradley so Bradley is very in this pool of people
[00:50:56] very high on my list yeah I mean it got to the point where like supposedly Dominic and Chelsea had to throw the challenge because they were done with Bradley they were like nope we can't let this guy get to the merge cause yeah
[00:51:08] he was kind of running things alongside Kellen for the majority of that pre-merge and I want to talk about again that majority that he was able to swap into and he kind of becomes the main antagonist there to the point that I do remember
[00:51:20] Brendan's students because he was a gym teacher like finding Bradley online and harassing him a little bit because they voted out his teacher Bradley was certainly a little bit of a lightning rod I think for a lot of consternation from the community but this seemed to be
[00:51:36] a guy that I wouldn't say like necessarily took it on the chin but certainly seemed to lap it up in the moment which is also what we like as well from our survivor characters absolutely and I think when we think of in more recent seasons there's
[00:51:48] Frannie and her partner what's her partners name? Matt before there was a Frannie and a Matt there was a Bradley and a Kellen I don't think people really remember their short flame but it was like all of the streets in the survivor realm they were like the
[00:52:08] Kellen and Matt before Kellen and Matt so yeah Frannie and Matt don't throw any other stuff at the survivor streets by shipping them Matt together with somebody else no no no please I don't want no smoke yeah so I would love to see Bradley
[00:52:24] can I jump to someone else as well? Please jump away. Okay so here's another person that I absolutely adore and I think got the short end of the stick as well it would be Mr. Shapiro Brandon Shapiro Brandon is amazing Brandon knows the game Brandon is smart
[00:52:44] and I think it is just one of those cases where it's like the luck of the draw and it's like being a first time player I think that Brandon Shapiro is so amazing so funny his podcast with Rick Devens and what's his name? Dalton Ross. Dalton Ross
[00:53:04] Brandon has the personality and so I sometimes always get a little frustrated at Brandon when I see him and I'm like I'm listening to the podcast where the hell was this Brandon at on the screen? So I just love Brandon however I don't know if I want Brandon
[00:53:20] for Survivor 50 what I do want Brandon for is Survivor Blood vs. Water 3. Brandon has a son named Will Shapiro and Will is like my little brother little cousin he is a spitting image of Brandon he is like literally it's like your genes are
[00:53:44] strong he is a survivor love survivor he just graduated college like I need to see that duo on my screen I need a fan I mean I need a Blood vs. Water 3 stat and I need Will and Brandon on it ASAP. Okay I love this
[00:54:00] casting even seasons beyond 50 we're really doing casting's job for it yes and then let's go over to my good good good good good good good good good good good friend Jacob love Jacob I think he's like a casting recently engaged as well musician he's a casting
[00:54:24] director it was hard to see Jacob on this show right because it's like you know your words have power right so if you're like I'm going to have a bad day and you're going to have
[00:54:36] a bad day and so I just I had a lot of empathy for Jacob during this time period because I just remember you know he took it hard and going out early I know what that feels like and so if there's ever a chance you know
[00:54:52] Francesca Hoagie-esque style I think it would be interesting to see a Jacob back on our screen but Jacob was an interesting character and we love Jacob I loved Jacob I mean he kind of also paved the way for like Flameout superfans as well because Jacob really
[00:55:16] comes in hot you know he infamously is believing that there's an idol in the rice so he pours the rice into one of his socks he's someone who again the big twist in the first couple episodes of Ghost Island
[00:55:28] was like if you were sent away after the challenge you didn't go to tribal council and so you weren't voted out basically you couldn't vote but you couldn't be voted for and so Jacob like begs the Navidi tribe to send him away
[00:55:40] immediately and so when he comes back everyone assumes he has something when he doesn't and so he's a very easy second boot I think he unfortunately kind of like paves the way for people like Daniel Strunk and Brandon Donlan
[00:55:52] like these huge superfans of the show where the experience to your point is not exactly what they idealize to that point you know when asked his quarantine questionnaire about if he would come back Jacob said boy probably not it would have to be under very specific circumstances
[00:56:08] I'm not interested in being a prime time punchline for millions of people again and I definitely get that sense in interacting with Jacob recently that I think his life is fine I think he had his time
[00:56:20] making a dream come true by being on Survivor and he has now gone on to do a bunch of other really great stuff I do fear for him a little bit if he wanted to like open himself up again to that experience considering
[00:56:32] that it did make a major impact on him the last time around definitely and that's why my heart just always goes out to Jacob us superfans we're so excited to get out there and sometimes it doesn't
[00:56:44] pan out the way that you want it to pan out and some people can bounce back from it some people internalize it and I definitely think Jacob was one of the people that it was really hard for him because he was such a fan
[00:56:56] of the show and so it's like me on a positive spin right like I really feel like and this is no shade this is really like you know love it's like Jacob crawled so that we could have a Jalinski to walk right like you know
[00:57:12] and when you look at a Jacob and a Jalinski right like Jacob had such a hard time with his you know how everything went out and people like the punchlines that's one thing I love about a Jalinski right like you know well I mean a couple of
[00:57:28] things but I love how Jalinski is taking it with a badge of honor oh he is staring into the curve and then some yeah you know maybe maybe a little delusion mixed in there but like you know we all are delusional so I love it but like
[00:57:44] I just really really really really love when an early boot can really make the best of it right and really kind of like even a Brandon Donlan like him had a hard time but he makes the best of it and I love whenever
[00:58:00] I see fans and they are talking to people and they're like talking like hey I talked to Brandon Donlan like he really helped me out through some things and so I love it and even with a Jalinski like you think Jalinski won the DMC
[00:58:12] this is how Jalinski is out here selling merch and like I when I tell you I love it random funny story at one of our Survivor finales Jalinski was there right before his season came on so we met Jalinski Michael Jerome Malik Gerard Balloon the confidence
[00:58:36] that Jalinski exuded first of all like not even like because I don't want to say cocky but first of all he was so excited to be there like so excited to be there like he kept walking from
[00:58:48] one corner to the other corner he wanted to just be in the background and like he just was like watching everything and I remember saying to Wendell I was like that boy is interesting and then like because like he really was just taking it all in
[00:59:04] and we talked with him after and I was like so shocked someone introduced us and we were like hey hey his first words to Wendell was like you don't want to see me on a basketball court I see your Instagram I said oh my
[00:59:16] Jesus Jalinski came out hot and so I remember later that night I was saying to Wendell like I think we might have met the winner like he the confidence just how happy he exuded and then we will go on to see the season however
[00:59:36] his attitude didn't change and I just love that and which is again pre-mergers have a special place in my heart and no matter if you go out first y'all need to be like Jalinski and it's your season you won so that's my little take on Jacob
[00:59:52] also James yes because I want to tell you James and Stephanie I feel like were definitely at the time two people that a lot of people felt ended up getting screwed over a bit you know Stephanie was like this really
[01:00:04] positive force and James was someone who he's the architect behind the Morgan vote the person below him he's the one that puts together the vote and he ends up really becoming the most swap screwed of them all where they do a second swap and he is just
[01:00:16] he goes from the right side of the numbers to the wrong side immediately absolutely and James is in my opinion James is the type of like super fan but also I think where James in my
[01:00:28] opinion it's like the super fans that know everything know every possibility you know he reminds me of different they look a little different but a James Jones right James Jones is so smart so sophisticated knows all the things is constantly running
[01:00:44] these things in his head and so is this James this James little different than James Jones this James is built like a gladiator yeah he was a big runner right I think huge runner I remember one time like he spent the weekend
[01:01:04] at windows house and I was like so excited to meet him we were going out I was like oh my god I can't wait
[01:01:08] and James is like I have to get up in the morning and I've got to work out so I can't go out I was like James is serious but James loves the game of survivor James I believe he's a lawyer but there's something about a James that just
[01:01:24] in my mind we didn't get enough of him and so like I said these luck of the draw or like these people that maybe because I really want season 50 to have a couple of like who was that again like players
[01:01:36] and it wouldn't be an all-star season without that right and I think James would be perfect for it he's smart he's talented but I do fear that James would again be in his head running numbers thinking different
[01:01:52] stuff and so I don't know how what his outcome would be like but I would love to see a James on there and also my girl Gonzales I also feel like we didn't get to see enough of her personality I think on that other
[01:02:04] show on the CW that she was on she was like very entertaining very fun light hearted she's beautiful I love my girl Gonzales I would love to see Gonzales as well and I'll give a shout out to again the other
[01:02:16] Stephanie who I think warmed a lot of hearts at the time you know I believe the story was that she was a single mother I think I might be talking out of my ass here but she was someone that certainly had some game
[01:02:28] to her she was like a pretty big strategic player from the jump and again just ended up getting kind of screwed over at the swap unfortunately you know Stephanie does not attend the reunion of Ghost Island and there's been rumors behind the scenes that like
[01:02:40] something happened between her in production that I think made her a bit of a persona non grata behind the scenes so I do think she would not necessarily get invited back and Morgan seems like a very lovely person
[01:02:52] and like was my winner pick once upon a time I think was set up really well and just ends up getting kind of hosed again at the swap when the Malolos take charge but again it's a surprisingly good pre-merge group for the season
[01:03:04] It's crazy because and yes Morgan is amazing I don't think I did an Issa look for Ghost Island and as I'm like sitting here looking at these Issa looks um
[01:03:16] I don't know if any of them would be my winner pick right cause I'm looking at Bradley he Bradley has the quintessential winner pose but from this far away I can see a thumb Brandon or Brendan has that's another quintessential winner pick but hello cop to the side
[01:03:32] I can see a Jacob thumb I can see a Morgan thumb I can't get into enough of Gonzalez but like I'm sitting here looking like I don't think I did an Issa look but like
[01:03:44] it's all in the pose they were telling us they wasn't winning without telling us Alright well Bryce pose or not it's time for us to pick not just the winner but those to add to our short list here now you made some
[01:03:56] good cases for a lot of people we do get to pick five up to five a quarter of the cast but let's start with some guarantees here who's somebody that you like are locked in want to put on the ballot
[01:04:08] It's gonna have to be Dominic yeah I completely agree with that I think Dominic is far and away the most likely person to put on the short list so now here's the question that always comes following or preceding Dominic do we
[01:04:24] put Wendell on I know you said no winners but again we've really cast the net wide as to what season 50 could be is Wendell somebody that you want to put on the short list today we're gonna put him on the short list
[01:04:36] I can't do my best friend like that although I don't want winners I'm only talking about him playing season 40 so that qualifies him alone to play so we can put Wendell on there I definitely want to add my girl Kellan I would definitely think Kellan
[01:04:56] would be good to add on there I'll add Chris Noble as well I think again this is somebody Chris Noble again I don't know what the chances are that he ends up getting voted on or would even be asked because again it's like five years
[01:05:08] ago at this point or six years ago but I do think that he is somebody that has been in the talk for so long amongst the survivor community as like
[01:05:16] oh wouldn't it be great to see him back that I just want to throw him onto a fan ballot as well to see how much people do want to see him back I agree this makes
[01:05:24] it so hard because now we only have one person right one person left and honestly I would imagine it's between Laurel, Donathan maybe a little bit of Bradley and that is what I'm stuck between because I love my girl Laurel I think that she absolutely deserves a chance
[01:05:44] I love Donathan I think that there is just something magnetic about Donathan and of course I love Bradley that's like you know my ex-husband I'm so glad you're keeping it amicable after the divorce
[01:05:58] by the way that's very much part of your portrait yes yes yes we co-parent very well we have a turtle together so yeah but between the three I would probably say Donathan is the most realistic between the three of them and look there's a chance
[01:06:16] that through wildcards and people suggesting in the comments we could get a Laurel we could get a Bradley on but I do think Donathan would be the one that I could see them bringing back because again the uniqueness he
[01:06:28] provides I'm going to go ahead with that and with an honorable mention to my girl Laurel but yeah definitely Donathan just has this energy this magnetic thing and I think that like people would love to see a Donathan I know I absolutely would
[01:06:44] could just hear some of his sayings and just you know I could just picture it now but again I also think I don't know if they would be ready for the Donathan the Don Don 2.0
[01:06:56] you know I don't know if you follow him on Instagram but Don Don is good for giving you a shirtless photo you know okay thirst trap Donathan yeah so again I'm saying there's this new energy about Don Don so that
[01:07:08] I definitely think that Don Don could kill it out there I'd love to see him just come in as like this absolute mafia boss power player and become Don Don Don I think it'd be such an amazing term for him well
[01:07:20] the people we are putting on today from Survivor Ghost Island including their ages are Wendell Holland 40, 63 exactly at heart baby Dominic Abate 45 we've got Donathan Hurley 33, Kellan Bechtold 37 and Chris Noble 34 finally Bryce now maybe some of these people have answered this
[01:07:40] question for us because they have appeared on shows outside of Survivor but is there anyone from in this cast that you would want to see on a show that's different than the one we're talking about today absolutely I want to see Dom
[01:07:52] on Traitors that is such a great idea like I like sign him up that would be great if I do believe Chris Noble is in a relationship but if Chris Noble were single I need Chris Noble on Love Island
[01:08:12] I just feel like he's so Love Island coded absolutely I think that he would absolutely kill it I need Kellan on a TED Talk so now we're just charting careers for these people just go on a TED Talk Kellan get a Masters
[01:08:29] I need Kellan on a TED Talk I need them to bring Top Model back and we're going to put Don Don on Top Model I think you put Don Don and Michael on together and just see what happens well I mean if you want to see
[01:08:45] Michael you can just go to his OnlyFans and who's the third person we had and Wendell yeah I would like to see Wendell on another show I think I would love an HGTV show for him I would love like House Hunters
[01:09:01] I would love because I don't think people really get to see his building ability so I would love Wendell on like Property Brothers or House Hunters or not House Hunters but like one of those build
[01:09:13] shows I would love to see Wendy Z on yeah I think you know Secret Celebrity Renovation was a show that was on CBS for a while where like celebs gave renovations to people that impacted their lives and for a while Boston Rob
[01:09:25] went from like someone who did that to becoming an actual you know builder on the show and consulting for construction I say reboot it and bring Wendell on I think that listen he's in house at CBS
[01:09:37] it's a very easy thing to do because I agree I think like watching the little things that he built around the Navidi camp were so much fun and obviously was a testament to that social game that he was quite literally building relationships through the
[01:09:49] things that he was building I'll only add on to that Chris Noble for the challenge I feel like people were talking about that a lot during his heyday and he's only 34 right now so again I feel like he's still in a pretty
[01:10:01] prime age I think he's also stopped modeling and he's no longer in the running for America's Next Top Model I think he's now like fully committed to being a personal trainer so like he's in even a better shape to just go lay waste to the competition
[01:10:13] yeah then let me just also add I also think Bradley for the mole I think Bradley I think he would fit right on in there so Bradley for the mole as well Bradley has a lot of molish behavior that I think people would just become really captivated
[01:10:31] by well Bryce tomorrow we talk about a season that really captivated us back in the day and forever more with this beloved cast to the point where it made its way on to Netflix at one point as a season to watch David
[01:10:47] vs Goliath and let me just tell you this now Michael Kareem Abdul Balloon if Natalie Cole and Uncle Carl Natalie Cole and Uncle Carl are not on that list I'm coming to find you oh boy alright well I'm glad I moved so that uh listen I'm not
[01:11:11] gonna say anything they'll be up for discussion absolutely well we're gonna talk about it all tomorrow with Jenny Autumn I mean there's a lot of people to pick from it's a really great season it's a really great cast it's gonna have a really tough job
[01:11:27] in front of us yes that is uh you know how they say Kha'Gian has a lot of personalities and like I feel very similarly to David vs Goliath because that's a good season like that is that's a muah! oh my god
[01:11:43] I can't wait to watch the episode Bryce you are truly a Goliath when it comes to the world of content creation and podcasting thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come on talko styling with me
[01:11:55] put some people on the shortlist to join you of course you always got stuff going on on the Purple Pants podcast what would you like to plug for the listeners out there? yes I just am really excited that every Tuesday Brooke Kamhai and I
[01:12:07] Brooke is the winner of Amazing Race Season 29 we are doing a summer rewatch of Amazing Race Season 5 we've had the honor of having Mike Bloom on with us this week we recapped episode 5 and I just have to say like my love for Amazing Race through this rewatch
[01:12:23] is oh it's just one of the best seasons in reality TV that I've really ever watched and I'm just being honest Survivor included so don't come at me but this season is so amazing so I'm having so much fun doing the recap with Brooke on the Purple Pants
[01:12:39] podcast you know I'm doing some sports takes with my play by play so yes a lot of things coming up and you know this is around the time that the Zaddy calendar gets revealed so you know we've got the Bryce Isaiah
[01:12:51] 2025 Zaddy calendar coming soon so you know a busy summer over here Michael. Should we have done a Survivor wish list for cast members for the Zaddy calendar? That seems like the more marketable list I mean you are doing a Summer of Survivor
[01:13:07] you know how to find me. There we go there we go so TBD on that and of course check out everything that's going on here and let us know your thoughts about the cast of Ghost Island and who you want to see on the list as well. Tomorrow
[01:13:19] we'll be back with a big one Survivor David vs Goliath with Jenny Autumn. Thank you all so much for listening Bryce thank you so much again for coming on until tomorrow everybody take care bye bye