Survivor 50 Wish List | Ep 8: All-Stars with Rob Cesternino

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[00:01:17] forward slash contest. Give us just a few details and you could replace this spot and be heard by millions. See webpage for T's and C's. AudioStack.ai forward slash contest. Hi everybody and welcome back to the Survivor 50 wishlist podcast, an offseason series where we're determining who could and

[00:01:53] should come back for Survivor 50. My name is Mike Bloom and to borrow an adage from across the Pacific Ocean, today we're doing things a little bit different as we are looking at the previous All-Star Survivor seasons, looking ahead to a prospective one.

[00:02:10] We're going all the way back over 20 years ago to the first ever All-Star season of Survivor. In fact, it's called Survivor All-Stars. And we're gonna try to figure out the 11 herbs and spices behind

[00:02:24] Survivor returning casting and see if there's anything we can use to prognosticate what might be looking ahead to Survivor 50. Of course, I'm not alone. I am never alone on this podcast series.

[00:02:34] And for this special type of podcast, we are joined by someone who did join us back in Borneo, but will be with me for nearly all of these all returning seasons to crack into the Survivor casting formula.

[00:02:47] I can call him a literal Survivor All-Star considering he is going to be one of the 18 people we're talking about today. It is, of course, Rob Zastronino. Mike, what a treat to be here with you. Allow me to put on my Survivor All-Stars hat.

[00:03:00] Actually, give me a second. Oh, OK. Yes. So Rob is going off camera, pulling out his own bag of tricks, even though that predates this season by about like I'm going to put on my Survivor All-Stars hat. Oh, it looks so well on you. Even two decades later.

[00:03:16] Still. Yeah. Did my head grow? I'm not sure. Only. Only doing the podcast for 14 years. Some would say a major head grow, Rob. Certainly since the last time you were voted out of Panama. Yeah, well, that I can only go up from there.

[00:03:32] All right. Here we go, Mike. Here we go. Wow. What a treat to talk about Survivor All-Stars with you, Mike. Because if I if I recall, I believe also Survivor All-Stars your first season as a Survivor historian.

[00:03:45] Yeah, I actually listen back to those podcasts because we're going to be talking a lot about what happened behind the casting formula of All-Stars in particular, who was left out, what were the the minds of the production crew at the time?

[00:03:58] And I got to listen back to my decade old podcast Origin Story. I don't know if I was on Quaaludes or something. I sound completely different in my opinion. I do not advise people seek it out.

[00:04:12] Maybe just listen for Mario and Jay and just kind of tune out the third. Were you on so many Quaaludes that you don't remember taking Quaaludes? I guess that's a good point. I was like a Jordan Belfort, just sort of clawing my way across the kitchen floor

[00:04:25] because I think that's where I was recording at the time. Do you guys still have Quaaludes? Oh, that's a good point. Have millennials have they killed Quaaludes? I don't know. I feel like that they were big in like the 70s and I remember like in health class

[00:04:37] in high school, they talked about Quaaludes. But then in the, you know, 30 some odd year since that point, I've never encountered them. I've never been offered Quaaludes. I've never known a person that, to my knowledge, that was on Quaaludes.

[00:04:53] Well, I think Quaaludes are sort of like the contestants were talking about from the first seven seasons where they were really popular for a certain time. Yeah. And they kind of disappeared. They just appeared. I don't know. And so now we're putting it back in circulation.

[00:05:07] You can call us your survivor drug dealers. In fact, I prefer you do so in the comments. And we're here to hopefully deal you out something good today. Mm hmm. OK, well, I'm very excited to talk about where you've gone so far, Mike.

[00:05:21] And if people are really good, maybe I'll have a treat at the end of the podcast. Oh, my God. Even besides the hat, we should count ourselves so lucky. So, yes, we have been going through the first seven seasons so far.

[00:05:33] And today we're going to go through the cast of Survivor All-Stars. There's going to be quite a bit of crossover, which I think speaks to the casting of Survivor All-Stars. I mean, I think we really need to anchor this, Rob, in 2003, 2004. No, unanchor. Let's unanchor.

[00:05:46] Yeah. For a number of reasons. One of them being that this was such a prolific season for reality TV in general, that we had, you know, the challenge, which was the sort of like in-house returning season for people from the real world and road rules.

[00:06:02] But really, Survivor All-Stars was kind of the first of its kind. We are going to be bringing back no more new players. It's players from the first seven seasons coming together, duking it out to see who the best of the best is.

[00:06:14] The challenge wasn't even the challenge yet. The challenge was like, like, let's all go on. Like it was like teams like, stop it. This was it. This was when they first announced this. It was to picture it like New York City 2003. They announced the Survivor All-Stars was happening

[00:06:33] and the Survivor world was shook. And so much like the exercise that we're doing now, it's come full circle that I spent most of my summer of 2003 trying to prognosticate who would be the people that were on Survivor All-Stars.

[00:06:47] In fact, I recently found my binder that I use to prepare for it. I can grab that as well. I don't know how useful it will be for this exercise. No, I know. Please do, actually, because I'd love to get your

[00:06:59] hold that thought. OK, because I can describe it. There we go. Rob truly bringing it into the Gen Z terminology, because I do think that there's going to be a lot of value right now when talking about not only who made it on the season,

[00:07:13] but specifically who did it and who was anticipated to. And I think that's also going to be a bit corollary to, you know, who we've also put on the ballot in the seven seasons since. So I'm already loving this so much.

[00:07:25] This is an experiment that has already paid off in so many ways. Yeah. OK. All right. Well, this is like when you go visit grandpa at the nursing home and he's like, here, come here. I got this, kids. I got to look at this.

[00:07:36] Rob, you are not granddaddy right now. Mm hmm. Yes. So this binder, which I recently found in my mom's garage, contains the my dossier of all of the different people that I thought were going to be on Survivor All-Star so that I could memorize their bio and then

[00:07:58] impress them with facts about themselves. So it wasn't that you were trying to study them to figure out how they tick is that you would Chris Farley show them and be like, Rudy, remember the time that you know, I did kind of do that.

[00:08:11] But I had things highlighted by Richard Hatch is single and has an adopted son, Christopher. Oh, OK. So if I knew like their family members and favorite movies going in, then I would have a lot to by the way, a fun fact.

[00:08:29] Everybody who participated in Survivor at that time with it, when you get voted out, you would get a DVD of your favorite film. And I remember still that I got I was rather annoyed because I got a DVD of Boogie Nights

[00:08:47] two times in one calendar year from Survivor. You already gave me the DVD. I are first off. It's my favorite movie. I heard, of course, I already own it. You've seen it. Now you've given it to me and then you gave it to me again.

[00:09:01] But yes, Richard Hatch received following me a DVD of. I'm not sure if it won best picture American Beauty. It did win, but they won best picture, I believe, actually. And that's interesting because he might. And Richard Hatch and Kevin Spacey would end up

[00:09:18] perhaps occupying the same sphere. Yeah. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I mean, it makes sense because I believe American beauty. I think that recently they were both in the same category in Canada. So I think that's a good thing.

[00:09:28] And I do believe that American Beauty may have won the Oscar for best picture, probably like five months before Richard Hatch won a million dollars. So I think he looks back upon it fondly. Yes. But I do believe that both Boogie Nights and and American Beauty do feel

[00:09:44] feature some masturbatory scenes, for lack of a better term. So, OK, not where I was going to go. I was going to say, I hope, too, that this podcast is in some ways a a good way to kind of get you in the mood for it.

[00:09:54] I mean, I'm not sure if it's a good idea. I hope, too, that this podcast is in some ways a beautiful flying plastic bag. Exactly. So let's let's turn an eye to it, much like that creepy boy did with the camera on a said plastic bag.

[00:10:07] Let's talk about this. He was a drug dealer. Yeah, exactly. Perhaps he was dealing in Quail. He had the Quail Oods. He was a human Quail Ood, basically. He's an anthropomorphized Quail Ood. So we're going to do things a little bit differently here. I have prepared a visual.

[00:10:21] But for this one, now, this is interesting, Rob, because again, this was a much smaller pool compared to all the other returning seasons that we're going to talk about. And, you know, Jeff Probst has now gone on record to say

[00:10:32] that he would consider people from before the new era for Survivor 50. But I think for a while when people were considering, OK, Survivor 50 just going to be new era all stars, it would kind of be the closest one to one comparison in terms of casting.

[00:10:45] Right. That is nine seasons. Oh, it's a set of seven. But that could have been an interesting exercise to look back on, on like, OK, what are the stars that you're pulling from from less than 10 seasons? Yeah, probably should have done that at some point.

[00:10:57] Maybe 48 should have been new era all stars. And then you could do in Survivor 50 like legends. But alas. Well, let us see. And maybe we can try to make some one for one comparisons here. We'll save that for a summer of Survivor podcast.

[00:11:12] Yeah. So I can go back into my dossier for all of these folks. Well, let's start talking about these American beauties, Braun and Brains. But we'll start with the man that you mentioned before. Let's talk about I started with separating these with seasons

[00:11:29] because Borneo and Australia are going to make up half of this cast, which is really interesting. And I think, again, in retrospect, you're like, why did they not go for more of a diversity in seasons? But it should be said, Rob,

[00:11:41] you know, in a lot of ways that you could say that. Yeah. Yeah. For many reasons. But these are two of the biggest seasons from a pure quantity perspective in Survivor history. Of course, Survivor Borneo was a smash sensation.

[00:11:53] The finale was the most watched episode in the series history. Australia, the most watched season in Survivor history. So again, putting ourselves in the minds of these producers back in the early 2000s, it does make sense why they pulled so many people from the first two seasons.

[00:12:08] OK. All right. For sure. And so that when they first announced Survivor all stars, it was at Carnegie Hall in May of 2002 that myself, it was the top six from Survivor the Amazon. We went to the CBS upfronts where they were going to be big event

[00:12:27] that they throw for the advertisers to tell them about. How was it at the upfronts? Was he just having a time? It was wild. It was wild. Kelly Rowland was there. She was going to perform. I am a survivor.

[00:12:39] How and if they only got one of Destiny's Child, no one on say no. Just just Kelly Rowland was there to perform it. And so it was a big, a big event. But I walked into the room and there's Hatch and Rudy. And I believe Sue was there.

[00:12:57] And I was like, what are you guys doing here? And Richard said, you didn't hear about the all stars. No, I didn't hear about the all stars. Yeah. Does that kind of do it? If he walked up to you, it is like you're probably on all stars.

[00:13:09] I did a little pregaming with Richard Hatch. Didn't get anywhere. Did you ask him what his favorite movie was? No, no. But I do have that. I can give you a trivia question about each of these players. I love this. Yes, this. Yes.

[00:13:21] OK, let's see if we can stump Mike Bloom with some survivor trivia. OK. All right. And because Mike is such a TV historian, what did Richard Hatch say? His favorite TV show was in his bio for Survivor Borneo. For Survivor Borneo.

[00:13:42] So, yeah, this is 2000 looking at the 90s. I mean, in retrospect, to be hilarious if you said like Law and Order. But I would say, oh man. Friends know Ali McBeal, Ali McBeal. OK, so still in the legal sphere, but a little bit more comedy to it.

[00:14:02] Yeah. Also, a favorite vegetable for Richard Hatch. Okra, Brussels sprouts. You were right there. I was right there. I was in the general family. So, yeah. So looking looking at this group, so we have Richard. You had to have Richard.

[00:14:16] Yeah, that there was no chance you couldn't not have Richard. You had to have Rudy. Rudy is one of the most universally popular survivor contestants. And I think that there was some question as to whether or not you had to have Rudy like Rudy was such a

[00:14:33] a juggernaut. But but Rudy coming back, I believe at what? 75, 75. So he's 72 in the original Survivor Borneo. Here he is. He's back. Rudy, I believe, is not even in my dossier. I don't even probably I probably thought that, OK,

[00:14:52] although he was out there for the upfront, so I'm not sure. Maybe just an oversight on on my part. But yeah, I think that there was some questions as to whether or not Rudy would actually do it. But there he is, 75 years old.

[00:15:05] In hindsight, you probably and listen, one of my most treasured memories about this entire experience was the time I got to spend with Rudy. I was discussing it on the recent talking with T-Bird, with Tina Wesson. I adored the time I spent with Rudy. I'll never forget it.

[00:15:24] But in hindsight, I think probably, you know, I wonder if there was some other way that they could have incorporated Rudy into this rather than have him out there as a player. Do you what do you think Rudy's DVD was?

[00:15:36] Do you think it was just some of those like war reels from the 1940s? Yeah. Yeah, it was probably on the march. I don't remember it. I don't think he had. I don't remember Rudy ever watching TV or anything. You don't even know what MTV was famous.

[00:15:52] I don't even know what DVD means. OK. Well, let's talk about Sue Hawk here, because I feel like this was another slam dunk. Sue, obviously, force majeure in Borneo and of course, the person behind. Oh, you know, I did. I'm sorry. I did find the Rudy page.

[00:16:09] I did find the Rudy page and I can then give you his question, Mike. OK, what is Rudy's favorite TV show? Oh, God. Matlock. No. Amazingly, Seinfeld. Oh, OK. I could see that. Rudy, incredibly dry, incredibly sarcastic. You know, what's the deal with all these kids today?

[00:16:32] I mean, I think Rudy also probably would have some opinions akin to the stuff that Jerry Seinfeld has been saying in press junkets now as well. What's Rudy's favorite magazine, Mike? Oh, Lord. Oh, Tiger Beat for sure. No consumer reports.

[00:16:49] You know, they got their reports from the consumers of all the products and then, you know, you know what's the price of weed is up sometimes. You know, they're they're expensive, but they're good. So Sue Hawk, the most iconic part of one of the most iconic episodes

[00:17:08] in Survivor history, let alone television history. She had to be here. And unfortunately, it's going to end in a very. Oh, yeah. Terrible way for Sue. But this is another person, Rob, that I'm sure you relish your time together on the beach with. Love Sue Hawk.

[00:17:23] Can't say enough great things about. I really I only saw Sue Hawk one last time after I went through, she was there for the Survivor All-Stars finale that interestingly, if you go back and watch that,

[00:17:41] they moved my seat because Sue and Rich end up going out of the game together. They end up switching my seat. And so I'm you finish one place higher than you actually did. Finish one place higher.

[00:17:54] Yeah, so I believe if you go back and so I think that maybe Richard is to my right and then Sue is to my left in the rafters there at the Survivor All-Stars finale. I saw Sue, I believe one more time. And it was a year later in 2005

[00:18:14] at the premiere of the Fox reality channel that they had like a gala. And I just had a nice time hanging out with Sue Hawk. I love Sue Hawk. Well, let's get to the the first question mark here of a couple.

[00:18:28] But my first question, Mark, do you mean what was Sue Hawk's favorite TV show? Oh man, it's a listen. If I throw truckers existed, I'll give you a hundred years, Mike. You'll never get it. Is it like the Crocodile Hunter or something? No, I'll give you the network.

[00:18:44] OK, what is it? Sue Hawk's favorite reality show is on MTV. I don't even know what MTV means. Well, how's it Sue's favorite show? She just like she just watched TRL. Did she just watch the music video Beavis and Butthead? Tom Green. Oh, the Tom Green show.

[00:19:04] You know, I loved when his mom went up. Mom is on the move. I love the moves. Yes, Bob was on the rail. I thought that was a pretty good time. You know what? He's Canadian. She's from Wisconsin. Like there's a there's a slight border connection there.

[00:19:22] I just really hoped him and Drew Barrymore turned out OK. Yeah. So let's talk about the first real question mark here, to be honest. Of the cast, let's talk about Jenna Lewis. Rob, I'm intrigued. First off, was she in your binder?

[00:19:36] I think after she told me that she was going to be on the show and I think it would be very silly of me to not put her in. Yeah. Yeah. So Jenna Lewis, I think in retrospect, raised some questions at the time.

[00:19:50] I mean, this was an eighth place finisher from Survivor Borneo, who was most well known for being denied a loved one's videotape just due to circumstances. I have gone on record to say that I can understand it because I think for the Survivor All Stars

[00:20:07] for the very first All-Star season, I think you need a Pagong representative. Pagong, one of the most beloved alliances within that first batch of seasons. We know that Colleen famously got asked and said no. We can certainly talk about Jervis as a snub.

[00:20:23] But I think otherwise, if you're looking at the other ones like Greg, a little too far out there, Gretchen a little bit too distant. That we'll talk about maybe a couple of other tenth placers that made it onto the cast. Jenna had enough personality.

[00:20:35] And I do think if you also read Mark Burnett's book about the first season, they really expected Jenna to be like this big villainous character, the single mother that will do whatever it takes to win the game. And so I do think there was also this idea,

[00:20:48] which we'll talk about with a couple of people of like, not just maybe so less All-Star material and more so like second chance potential of she had some personality to her. She was kind of stuck on the losing end of this very beloved alliance.

[00:21:03] So let's try to put her in the game and see what happens. Yeah, I don't know if Pagan representation was necessarily a big factor there. I do think that, you know, that she ends up like if Colleen says, yes, I don't think that Jenna is there.

[00:21:17] I also think that when you take a look at how the show was cast in 2004. Yes. And again, this is not to say that this is how the show should be cast or how the show is cast in twenty twenty four.

[00:21:32] But then at that time, I do think that there is a question of who are our young women that are going to be on the show? And we got to make sure we call it the Brian Gumbel demo, you know,

[00:21:43] of like a couple demo VT is in his trailer. Yeah. And again, this is not to say that this is right or wrong, but this is to say that that was definitely a conversation that was had in these like executive decisions

[00:21:58] at the network about how they cast the show. And so, all right, we don't have Colleen, but we have to make sure that we do have other young women that are part of the show.

[00:22:06] And Jenna Lewis came out on Survivor All Stars and really did a great job. I'm not sure how much she said to the casting about how I'm here to play. I, I, I am a woman scorned. I am here for many reasons.

[00:22:21] Yeah, I'm here to really make a name for myself. I'm coming for the winners. So I don't know how much you really like said that she was. You know, she's also a great athlete. Also, Jenna Lewis.

[00:22:32] So I think that there are certainly reasons why she ends up being here. But I don't know necessarily if they're like, OK, well, we need to make sure we can't just have only toggy people there. Well, let's speaking towards that aesthetic.

[00:22:44] I mean, I do want to move into do you though? Do you have a trivia? Yes, Mike. What is what is Jenna Lewis's favorite TV show? Oh, can you give me the network here? Fox. Oh, she love American Idol. No, she too loves Ally McBeal. Oh my God.

[00:23:02] Is that still going in 2004? Oh no, this is from Borneo. So yeah, I was still going strong. She just loves that dancing baby. Mm hmm. Maybe they should have just sent her a videotape of the dancing baby

[00:23:14] in lieu of one from her children if they didn't have one. Yeah. Yeah. Your favorite episode of Ally McBeal. All right, well, let's move it. Although and Jenna Lewis's favorite music. Not sure if this holds up great. Her favorite music here.

[00:23:27] I'm not sure if this is a typo. Hard white rap. I think she loved the new Eminem song. She was in an Eminem video. Oh, right. I totally forgot about that. So, yeah, she is going hard for Houdini. Maybe they wouldn't let her say Eminem.

[00:23:42] So she had the that was Eminem. You know, yeah. Hard white rap. You know, the only one who's doing that, it's, you know, they don't let me say, but it's they call it a hard white rap. I don't even know. I got handfuls of Eminem's.

[00:23:56] I don't know who he is. They say melts in your mouth, but not in your hands. We are audio stack dot a I combining a I writing the best synthetic voices with production and delivery, be it ads, podcasts or videos for video. Just like this ad.

[00:24:14] How would you utilize a audio for free? Go to audio stack dot a I forward slash contest. Give us just a few details and you could replace this spot and be heard by millions. See web page for T's and C's. Audio stack dot a I forward slash contest.

[00:24:34] We are audio stack dot a I combining a I writing the best synthetic voices with production and delivery, be it ads, podcasts or videos for video. Just like this ad. How would you utilize a audio for free? Go to audio stack dot a I forward slash contest.

[00:24:52] Give us just a few details and you could replace this spot and be heard by millions. See web page for T's and C's. Audio stack dot a I forward slash contest. All right, well, let's talk about the chunky group from Australia here,

[00:25:08] because I think this is going to really factor into bringing in people like Amber and Alicia, and I totally agree with you. I think that's something to really take away from this thing in particular,

[00:25:16] where I think we're really kind of going to get like from the age ranges, the alpha and the omega, where I think particularly with the female casting, there could be stuff about why there why is there no T-Bird? Why is there no Helen?

[00:25:28] But I think if you look at people like Sue, you look at people like Tina, you look at people like Kathy, you know that is certainly skewing towards a certain side of the age bracket

[00:25:37] that especially in those early days, they wanted to fill out on the other side as well. OK, so who do you want to talk about first here? Tina? They'll start from the top down. I mean, I think I'll talk about Tina and Colby together

[00:25:46] because I think that Colby obviously was going to be the one to get. This man was an incredible fan favorite that parlayed this into a little bit of work in Hollywood, even at the time. Never forget Red Eye.

[00:25:57] And so I think Tina, though, as well, I mean, again, the most watched survivor season. And I think while they didn't necessarily put out a call to all winners, I think you would want to put a call out to Tina, considering the role that she played in Australia.

[00:26:12] For sure. I think that Tina is, you know, a big star, legend of the game, and I think definitely would be up for coming back. And so I think and I will say, yes, she was on.

[00:26:26] Our list, three of the people out of these five, Tina, Colby, Jerry, all people that Josh Wigler and I put on the shortlist, nobody from Borneo. Oh, no, we put Jennifer Borneo, right? So I spoke with Tina recently. She would be up for it.

[00:26:38] She was also feeling a little let down that she was in the mix for winners at war. We'll get to winners at war eventually. Tina's theory was that she felt like that she was in the mix. And then when Amber ended up saying yes,

[00:26:56] she feels like that she got the shaft because they didn't want to have too much Australian outback, to which I said now you don't want to have too much Australian outback. Exactly. They're like, oh, you know what? We touched the stove one too many times, man.

[00:27:12] By the nickel, every time Tina was spurned to have Amber on an all star season, I'd have two nickels. But hopefully she gets another chance. She certainly will in our poll. Colby, another one that made the shortlist absolutely definitive to have on. Hold on, Mike.

[00:27:27] You don't want to know Tina's favorite show. Of course I do. Tina's favorite TV show, Mike, what do you got? I'll give you a hint. Not a primetime show. Five days a week, five days a week. Is it is it a soap opera?

[00:27:41] Is it The Young and the Restless? No. Rosie O'Donnell. Oh, well, listen, was she just trying to get onto that Marquesas reunion like Colby did? It's possible, but I believe her bio was from this is not her all stars bio. This is her bio from 2001.

[00:27:56] So she was trying to talk three days at a time. She knew she knew Colby. I'm so intrigued by his bio. Yes. OK, well, Colby, I think the only question about Colby was, is he going to do it? I think that they certainly would have wanted him.

[00:28:11] I think that Colby had some things going on in Hollywood. I think that also he had already taped Curb Your Enthusiasm. I think he had done Red Eye. He was also the face of shit. Quattro.

[00:28:25] I wanted to make a four person alliance with Colby and call it Quattro. Oh, my God. Well, first off, I don't know if that would make it pass. Like is that I guess that's off brand enough as long as you're not saying

[00:28:36] shit, as long as the shit doesn't hit the fan there, then I think it could make the air. But yeah, you would predate what Big Brother Canada won with Quattro. Yeah. OK, so Colby's favorite TV show, Mike, give me the network. Or I think about it.

[00:28:51] I believe ABC. ABC was it. So this is back in 2000. The ABC show from 2000 wasn't like Wheel of Fortune. Was it? No. NYPD Blue. OK, yeah, he loves watching Sippowitz's ass. Bonus, Mike. And they're not all star survivor bonus for you, Mike. What is Colby's favorite candy bar?

[00:29:14] Oh, well, he isn't famously is not a lot of things. I would say 100 grand because that's what he wants. Oh, good guess. Maybe a lot of things. But I ain't no not righteous. Is that did that go the way of the Quaaludes? Does not just still exist?

[00:29:38] That's interesting. Not right. Just is made by the Hershey company. So I think it was really trying to knock it for that representation. Mm hmm. Yeah. OK, so, Amber, obviously, Colby would do it. You think Colby?

[00:29:51] I think that Colby has famously, though, I feel like that he had like a bit of a falling out. We had a falling out with Jeff. He did say, I believe at your event in Austin in 2017 that he would be up for doing it now again.

[00:30:04] I don't know if like he looks at the new era, which is kind of like in line with everything he didn't like about heroes versus villains and is like, I'm not doing that. But I think that it's he wouldn't say no to it.

[00:30:18] I think there would be some consideration for it, especially now the bloom has kind of fallen off the rose when it comes to, you know, that Colby one more time might be pretty fun. Don't know if this is an original thought or if this is from TOS,

[00:30:32] but I think Colby is like in his like Uncle Rico era of that. You know, hey, back in one, I could throw this football over them. Their mounds. Yeah, you think he's going to go to outback, maybe check it.

[00:30:42] But you're not rageous or go on Applebee's, chuck a burger at someone's face. Maybe. Go long, Liz. So Amber is obviously going in. Certainly one of the big, OK, sure. Casting choices, which I think I would say like it's not coincidental that she winds up winning.

[00:31:04] I think we can certainly talk about that. The meta behind all stars was get rid of the big names first. And then you kind of leave some of the lesser than quote unquote to prosper towards the end.

[00:31:14] But I think as well, if you speak from an aesthetics perspective, I think there was a lot of talk at the time of like, oh, Amber, her, Elizabeth, who's the bigger cutie from Survivor the Australian Outback? So even though I would say from a personality standpoint,

[00:31:28] she wasn't necessarily there. I think to your earlier point, she does check a certain box. Yeah, I think that she certainly like is part of like this huge season and was sort of like, you know, she was very sweet in Survivor the Australian Outback.

[00:31:45] And then, of course, you know, I think that also I think it's fair to say if Elizabeth Hasselbeck says yes to this, Amber's probably not there. But here she is. I remember hearing about it in the summer of 2003. And I was shocked.

[00:32:01] Was she so did she make you put her in the binder? I'm assuming after she's in the binder, I had I had the good intel that she was getting ready to go. And here she is. I mean, I think she's done after winners of war.

[00:32:14] I mean, then the really the shock was that she came back to do winners at war. It was a nice story. I feel like her survivor stories on. I don't think that they could get her to even go back.

[00:32:24] No, I think and we talked about this a bit with Ethan as well with the Africa podcast. I think just given what happened on the edge and the fact that her and Ethan both lived there for their chief amount of time during the game

[00:32:38] kind of said, yeah, you know what? I'm good this time around. I don't necessarily have that itch. The time that I came back for Survivor was not what I envisioned it to be. And so I am good to have this be my last time around. Yeah.

[00:32:51] Amber has three favorite TV shows, Mike. Oh, my God. Are they so good? They're so good. Oh, wow. Is one of them Ali McBeal? No, no. I think this is a typo here. Oh, good. Mm hmm. Yeah.

[00:33:09] Her three favorite TV shows that they list in Beverly Hills, comma nine. Oh, two. I know. I believe that's a colon. Yeah, because I don't believe it was like a street address. Yeah. Then Friends and Frazier double down. Wow. Really? She's into must see TV. Mm hmm. Yeah.

[00:33:28] Like the Amber and Rob relationship was. Yeah. Yes. So let's talk about her partner in crime here. Jerry had to be on here, man eater, man. The back for a second time around. I mean, arguably, besides Colby, the most talked about person

[00:33:42] from the Australian Outback, someone who is on our ballot where, yes, I think if you took our temperature in 2004, we would not think that Jerry would come back due to what happened in the reunion. But she came back for heroes versus villains.

[00:33:54] And it seems like she has been like relatively active in at least talking survivor as stuff that I think she would want to come back for time number four. Yeah, it certainly would be interesting if you wanted to throw back somebody who is going to make a headline.

[00:34:09] I definitely could see Jerry getting a call as far as Jerry survivor story. I kind of feel like that it reached a conclusion at the end of Heroes versus Villains where she was right there. She could have won if she got to the end.

[00:34:23] I like. I'm not I'm not sure I'm necessarily seeing, you know, Jerry coming back in what at age 55 to come back and win. Considering some of the people we brought back from these first seven seasons, that's a bit of a spring chicken.

[00:34:39] But yeah, this is exactly what Josh and I said of if you're talking about from an unfulfilled potential perspective, Jerry's story is very much a closed loop, kind of similar to Colby. But there's a chance that if you're just casting from name recognition and oh,

[00:34:53] wouldn't it be cool to see this person one more time? That's where the potential comes from with Jerry. Yeah. And I suspect she would do it. I think she would do it. She is someone who has been like reposting fan cam edits of herself

[00:35:07] on her Instagram, so I think she's very keen. I don't know if she watches New Era Survivor, but I think she would come back depending on what the price is. And if she did watch it, I bet she wouldn't like it.

[00:35:18] Well, I think she'd be like, wait a minute. They called me a villain and they're doing this stuff. Jerry's favorite TV show. Oh. It's got to be sex in the city. No, no, Jerry. Gold Seinfeld. OK, that makes sense as well. Hmm.

[00:35:40] Yeah, I was just thinking about eating chocolate off some hot dude's bod that made me think of sex in the city. Yes. Our favorite food, anything chocolate. Yeah, exactly. Oh, we heard that multiple times. Yes. Over the course of promoting. That's why I like not righteous.

[00:35:56] So let's finish things off on us. Mostly nuts. A little bit of chocolate. Exactly. Me, Amanthi. Everything all mixed together in one glorious bite. Let's talk about someone who would probably stay away from a nut rages bar considering how shredded she is. Alicia Calloway. So Alicia.

[00:36:13] So off the radar, I've dispatched T-Bird to track down Alicia Calloway for some time. And nothing. Nothing. I feel like you are. You hardly see. I do believe she's one of the few survivor people that are like truly off the grid, to my knowledge.

[00:36:31] Yeah. So I see that she is there's a fan page for her, but I don't believe she's on any social media right now. I mean, she did do a quarantine questionnaire with Dalton Ross in which she did say that she would not want to come back again.

[00:36:45] She said that two times was enough for her. I mean, Alicia's casting. If you look at it from a placement perspective, right, she's first juror. You're thinking, why is she necessarily on here? But most watch season and of course, the fight with Kimmy Kappenberg,

[00:36:59] which only looks better in retrospect, was one of the more talked about survivor fights from the first seven seasons. Yeah, certainly a big, big survivor moment. I really I loved every moment that I got to spend with Alicia outside the game.

[00:37:14] But in the game, she was like very just like, you know, locked in. You know, was was she she had such a like a wonderful personality in the times that I was around her, not in Survivor, but she was very just,

[00:37:29] you know, and again, like I don't know if it's like, OK, now I'm not eating. And, you know, she's such a like the physically fit person. If that plays a factor. But yeah, she was like so serious in the 12 days that I spent with her in Survivor.

[00:37:43] Yeah, she did. She does seem to have like a fairly intense personality. I remember there's like one moment in Australia where her and Nick are talking about the chicken, and I think he cracks a joke about the dark meat. And she like lets out an uncharacteristic smile.

[00:37:57] Like, I think that's just who Alicia is. And I think even besides the fight, listen, Survivor wasn't looking at this, especially not compared to nowadays. But I do think there was a bit of a diversity quality as well of like,

[00:38:09] we don't want to do hashtag Survivor so white, especially. And so Alicia is going to be one of the two representatives of color here on the season. Do you want to know her favorite TV show? My, oh, is it going to be like Man vs.

[00:38:23] Beast, like one of those Fox specials? No, no. I think that not quite must see TV, but a similar category to some of Amber's picks. OK, interesting. Was it Ali? No, no. That Amber likes friends and Seinfeld. Will and Grace. Will and Grace. OK.

[00:38:42] They wouldn't even let you put an NBC show on your favorite list now. Yeah, absolutely not. They'd be like, what is your favorite CBS fan? What's your favorite show to stream on Paramount Plus? Yes. Andy Griffith. Exactly. Oh, I love to check out reruns of Andy Griffith.

[00:38:59] That would certainly be one of those like soda as Survivor 42 things where people are like, that's got to be a typo, right? Or unless there's a reboot of Andy Griffith. All right. Well, that's half the cast again from these first two seasons.

[00:39:11] Again, Alicia, that was you did not put Alicia through. No, we did not. Because she also said that she would not do it. So, yeah, OK. Our rule with these is pretty much if you do not explicitly say no,

[00:39:23] we take that to mean like, OK, you might say you're saying there's a chance. Exactly. We take the full dumb and dumber route, which might be Sue's favorite movie. I don't know what the DVD said. All right, well, let's move into Africa here.

[00:39:35] And the big one, I know, Sue Hawks favorite movie. Oh, yeah, please. OK, let me give you a ball run considering she was a cannibal run 2001 Sue Hawks favorite movie. That's a practice, Greg Papillon. This is a woman of mystery. This is like 1970s film, Papillon. Yep. Wow.

[00:40:04] Sue Hawke continues to surprise me in so many ways. Yep. OK. Also, our favorite dinner. I think this could be a typo. It's a tapioca. No ribbed steak. Ribbed. I'm not a butcher. I feel like those are two different things.

[00:40:28] Very pleasurable steak, I believe the ribs for her pleasure. Yes. OK. And asparagus. Oh, listen, I mean, also if your vegetable asparagus, so she's a big asparagus person. Let's move into an arid plane that was not green. Unlike asparagus in Africa. So we have our big three, three.

[00:40:48] So the big question, Rob, is and listen, I don't want to do a bit of like conspiracy pod survivor version here, but how much do you lean into the theory that because Lex and Tom were screwed out of the fallen comrades

[00:41:01] challenge that they were offered spots? Oh, all stars. I just feel like that. Were they that far ahead of the game of that in after the third season that we were planning all stars and it's coming? And so and that's part of like. So I don't know.

[00:41:22] I don't know if that's really like I've never been like a huge believer in that. Yeah, so I think as we look ahead to these three, of course, Ethan, Lex and Tom, I think Ethan and Lex in particular would have made the cast no matter what.

[00:41:36] Ethan, I talked about this on the Africa pod. The one of the most like universally beloved winners, especially at that time where people felt obviously not so keen on Richard, even Tina, to a certain extent, they felt like the good people were necessarily winning.

[00:41:50] Ethan was that big paragon of like, OK, this is a winner that is incredibly beloved. And then Lex was one of the main characters of Africa, you know, like the evil tattoo mastermind, but also had a moral code to him.

[00:42:02] Big Tom, I could be kind of on and off on. I think he was there for big. He was a huge comedic character. I think if you're looking to like the best of the best players facing off against each other, Big Tom's not necessarily there,

[00:42:14] but he was sort of there for the Keith Neal role. He's a huge fan favorite. I loved my time with Big Tom as well. He was absolutely hilarious. And, you know, I think that just one of just the people that the fans truly loved as well.

[00:42:31] Yeah. So we bring back the big three here. I do think, though, that they are the reason why we end up with three tribes here. Yeah. So because famously, of course, when Survivor looked at the tribes, they had to split it up.

[00:42:43] Of course, they had 18 castaways and they decided for the first time we're going to make things a little more dangerous and split into three tribes of six. And so we see, for example, that Colby and Tina get split up. Jerry and Amber gets put up.

[00:42:56] Ironically enough, Tina and Jerry don't get split up, but Sue and Rich and Rudy all get split up. And so this could be another reason why as well, that they didn't want to put all the toggies on or two toggies on one tribe.

[00:43:08] They don't want to put two of the big three on one tribe. Yeah. And I do think that these three also, you know, I see. I think that there was definitely like, you know, you know, conversations with

[00:43:22] and this is like really ancient history of like, you know, Lex and Tom are, you know, talking about they want to work together. Ethan is left out of that a little bit. We see that, you know, when it comes to Ethan, Lex is, you know, this is business.

[00:43:36] Yep. Yes, exactly. And then Tom's alliance will unfortunately show Lex that, yes, it is indeed business should make Tom gets really caught in between a rock and a hard stone. Yes, exactly. But I will say that of these three, Lex is on our shortlist right now.

[00:43:53] Ethan, I believe, is on the record saying that he is good, much like Amber after winners at war and big Tommy. I think for many reasons, I think a big Tom in 2025 may not fly. So big Tom is 46 in a survivor Africa.

[00:44:09] So let's see how many years out like, you know, God blessing his late. Yeah. Pushing 70. Like, I think that's probably for the best. Big Tom is, you know, I think that we've seen the best of big Tom. Yes, exactly.

[00:44:25] And I think also, I mean, he also for such like a big, fun loving guy kind of went out on a surprisingly sour no with don't call me stupid, stupid and, you know, the fake handshake and everything like that.

[00:44:36] And again, like I'm not sure, considering how the modern survivor landscape is now, how big Tom would deal with that type of environment. Mm hmm. Yeah. OK. But are you interested in some favorite TV shows? Absolutely. Lexus Lex has two favorite TV shows.

[00:44:52] I was going to say, I know Ethan's would probably be Seinfeld. I remember him being a big Seinfeld guy. I feel like we'll see about that. OK, yes. Ethan has a number of favorite TV shows, including Seinfeld, Blind Date, Jackass and one he shares with Lex.

[00:45:11] Oh, OK. Interesting. What network is this mutual show? Honestly, I would be hard pressed to tell you that I don't want to say it was Fox, but I could be wrong. Oh my God. Is it like married with children? No, no.

[00:45:27] Sir, that is I would know that that is certainly a Fox show. Freaks and Geeks. Oh, that was NBC, I believe. NBC, NBC. Lexus was also recent in memory. I believe the show aired like in late 2000s, maybe early 2001 as a one and done show. Mm hmm. Yeah.

[00:45:43] And then Lex also liked The Sopranos, Big Tom's favorite TV show. Oh, God. I would say he loves. See, I feel like he would be a married with children type like he's a company man. Mike, he loves Survivor. Oh, OK. All right. Big time.

[00:45:58] I'm surprised more people didn't do that, especially first time applicants. But Big Tom knew exactly what to serve up here. Yeah. Big Tom has three favorite movies. Oh, OK. Poppy on. I'm sorry for. Gladiator. Are you not entertained? Pretty woman. Yes.

[00:46:20] Yeah, that makes makes a lot of sense. Forrest Gump. That makes even more sense. And Aaron Brockovich, big Julia Roberts fan. I am not surprised. Yeah, exactly. Like, oh yeah, I watch. I wish Julia Roberts was on this season. Big mistake. You're a big time.

[00:46:38] I just say, is he cute? You're like the human face, a Brockovich. Yeah, Aaron, we're Brockovich. Aaron Brockovich. She's a Jew. She won't even. Oh my goodness. All right. Well, now now we do a bit of a composite because now we have represented 12 of the eight contestants.

[00:47:03] So these next slides are going to mash up two seasons into one. We have representatives from Marquesas and Thailand. Kathy Fabric, O'Brien had to be on here. She was a big fan favorite. One of the original Rob G. Dottie's is of the show.

[00:47:21] I think, you know, the Sepia and Nalia, even someone like Sean Marquesas was not like an incredibly beloved cast by either production or the fans. Kathy, I think, is the exception. Mm hmm. Yeah. And Kathy, big fan favorite. You had to have Kathy for the all stars.

[00:47:38] And then, of course, we got to talk about. Did you put Kathy through for more cases? We did put Kathy through. I think Kathy, from an age perspective, is a little bit more of a wild card. She's 47 in Marquesas. Yes. So suffice it to say.

[00:47:53] So you're putting you're putting 70 year old Kathy Fabric O'Brien. I mean, Rob, I'm looking to what Rudy Bosch was able to play as a trail for in the very first season. You know, age is just we are. We started in the maybe Rudy shouldn't have come back.

[00:48:08] Well, he did. And he was fine. He was going to drink. He was a Navy SEAL. He was going to drink parasite filled water. And those are the only 26 days at this point. So, of course, we got to talk about our two tenth place finishers here,

[00:48:22] which again, raise some eyebrows here. Boston, Rob, Rob Mariano. And again, I feel like if you're looking from this more from the perspective of a second chance than an all stars, Boston Rob's makes sense. This was a guy who ran this premerge from a narrative perspective

[00:48:38] was truly a big game changer in the way that he did the hunter blindside. Pulling moves straight out of the Godfather. He was called the Rob father in the moment. He does become the merge boot.

[00:48:49] But I do feel like you could look at his narrative and be like, oh, there was so much potential for him. I'd like to see him come back. He was beloved. I talked about this recently when I wrote up about the Mount Rushmore of Survivor confessionalist.

[00:49:03] There was something about Rob that he was able to make a connection with the audience that really transcended what anybody else had been able to do at that point. And so he was a production favorite. And so I think that ultimately he's probably when you make the list

[00:49:21] of the people that they end up casting again, this is my speculation. I feel like he's probably eighth or ninth on the list. Like I'm probably there were probably versions of the cast that he wasn't there, but he comes there and he really makes the most of it.

[00:49:38] And I feel like that that's, you know, it's an incredible story for his biography of like there's it probably wasn't a no doubter that he's in the cast. Oh, yeah. I think, you know, when we look at who should have been on the cast,

[00:49:51] I think from a male perspective, like eight out of nine were musts. And so it's really tough because of the manner of like who you get in that last slot could have been Boston Rob, could have been Jervis,

[00:50:01] could have been Ryan Heideck if he wasn't just such a disaster. Exactly. Yes. Let's not let's not disparage any rumors about like, oh, he asked for a high appearance fee like production did not like Thailand. They did not like Brian Heideck.

[00:50:14] I think, you know, maybe if Sean was more popular, he could have been on as well in lieu of his Marquesas buddy. But yeah, to your point, the sliding doors universe where Boston Rob does not wind up like entire people, little girls were created

[00:50:28] because Boston Rob got cast in that ninth spot on Survivor All-Stars. Yeah. Huge sliding doors moment for everything survivor. You have Rob going back for 50. He's got to be on the pole. Yeah, so I put I did.

[00:50:41] We didn't bring him back from our cases, but I basically have a pin in him of like he's going to be our returnee from Redemption Island at least. Yeah. OK. Marquesas favorite TV shows. OK, first, Kathy Vavreck O'Brien.

[00:50:53] I feel like she is a big comedy person, of course, has an iconic laugh. I am going to say Will and Grace. Oh, no, you're in the right ballpark. Frazier Sex in the City and Public Vermont Public TV specials.

[00:51:14] Oh yeah. I love flipping on the TV at 2 a.m. All right. Boston Rob favorite TV shows. Sopranos. No, he has a bunch of he has Godfather one and two and Goodfellas in his favorite movies. OK, so I'll be told too far is favorite TV shows are

[00:51:30] Survivor Seinfeld and TLC on the inside, which I guess must be some kind of like jail documentary. He'll see on the inside. He'll see like I'm Googling it. That doesn't that doesn't come up. Did he make up a TV show? There's inside TLC and I don't know.

[00:51:50] That's when it was the learning channel. Exactly. Women's designers are thinking about how to create a product that will satisfy their customers. Something tells me that's not a Boston Rob TV show. All right, well, let's let's talk about our third person on this slide here.

[00:52:06] And she and she and the she devil. And she ended my notes here. So that's a good question, because I do think that at the time they wanted a representative, at least one from each.

[00:52:18] Oh, no, she I did have she and I guess I must have heard some buzz. Yeah. Thailand slim pickings. But she and again, I think lives in this Boston Rob camp of certainly a big character, you know, an outcast amongst her tribe, but ekes through to what

[00:52:31] she thinks is the merge turns out not to be and ends up going out there. And I do think it's a bit of, again, unexplored potential. Let's give her another chance. And she's also probably one of the least problematic members of this Thailand cast. Yeah, for sure.

[00:52:45] Do you have she and coming through from Thailand? We do have she and coming through from Thailand. OK, I don't she and I believe is doing very well. I believe as a real estate agent, she and is probably younger in Thailand than I than I would have guessed.

[00:53:02] She's only 26. Yeah, which considering how she's made recent news for taking on younger partners, she really does put the age is just a number. Yes. So that she and will be so her birthday is January 24th, 1974, which means that she turned the big five.

[00:53:24] Oh, earlier this year, she and 50, 50 years old. And I do believe that she has said in her quarantine questionnaire and with you and Tibor, she was very much like Fancy Fenserton, like, oh, I'd go back if, you know, it was under the right circumstances,

[00:53:40] which again to me doesn't mean a no. Yeah, I think she would probably turn it down if I had to guess right now. I feel like what does she need this for if she's doing well? I feel like that she had this run in Survivor All Stars

[00:53:55] that was like she was discounted and, you know, got further than anybody expected. Yeah, but I do think especially from a diversity perspective as well, I do think, you know, she is one of the highest Asian-American women to do well

[00:54:13] in the show, which I think is another reason why she also get cast in this season as well. She is 29 in all stars, but I think also does kind of lean into this angle that we spoke before about, like, let's go with the Heidi perspective

[00:54:24] and we want the younger, cuter bodies on this season. Mike, Sheehan has four favorite TV shows. One of them is Survivor. Any guesses on the other three? I do believe what was Sheehan's career in Thailand? She was a... An executive recruiter.

[00:54:42] How that would help you in any way? Well, I didn't know if it was a legal thing and she would want she would love Ally McBeal. I feel like she likes Sex and the City. No, she likes 48 Hours. Fear Factor. Fear Factor. And Moonlighting. Big Bruce Willis fan.

[00:55:00] Wow. That's a throwback. Like usually they talk about shows that are currently on, not Moonlighting. It wasn't hard. It wasn't easy to watch Moonlighting in 2004. Yeah. Didn't it get canceled after like it was back in 1985? It did run five seasons, but this like predates Die Hard, I believe.

[00:55:18] So there you go. All right. Well, let's move into our final group here. Three tickets for challengers, please. I don't even know what that means. Wow. Return my serve. All right. I'll feed you a corn dog. Maybe so much rotten death. All right. So let's talk about this.

[00:55:43] So Jenna, when I hear about Zendaya, I'm still trying to binge my way through Euphoria, Mike. I help. Reminds me of all the troubled teens I help where they're just trying to get all the trouble team. There was the one girl with the

[00:56:03] you know, and then I think she was on the Quaaludes. They're all getting honeys. Rupert, you know what? Honestly, I think Euphoria needs to come back to have Rupert on as like the guidance counselor. Mm hmm. Inspired casting Sam Levinson.

[00:56:24] So so let's talk about Jenna here, because Jenna, you know, I think actually, despite her being a winner, was maybe a bit more of a surprise casting that I remember. Again, if you lead into the aesthetic makes sense. But why were you surprised, Mike?

[00:56:38] Well, because the ending of Amazon, I do feel like was a little and I would say unsatisfying. But to quote Chrissy, you know, the evil stepsister ends up winning. I don't know if necessarily like I think honestly you would look to Heidi

[00:56:50] over Jenny, Jenna, if you're trying to bring. Yeah, but you know, Survivor that they I mean, they were very excited to have Jenna come back for a survival. If you remember, there's an entertainment weekly feature that gets done. Jenna is on the cover.

[00:57:03] And so I think that they were really, you know, and maybe. I'm trying to remember back to my covers, and she wanted to do it. She was very excited to go back. And the idea that she was coming back

[00:57:16] and she was also like the first young woman to have won the show. Yes. And then also that, you know, that this was somebody that she was like could have been like the like on the like all the promotional materials of like,

[00:57:30] hey, this is one of the Survivor winners. So I think that she was a no doubter. Heidi was definitely in the mix. Jenna revealed, I think, that Heidi was ass, and I think she declined, I believe in the moment. I don't know. I really I'm not sure.

[00:57:51] Like, I feel like I've heard it both ways of Heidi said no. Ultimately, she didn't make the cast. I have a hard time seeing why. And I know I've done we did a talking with T-Bird with Heidi at some point.

[00:58:04] I don't remember if I know Heidi talked about a lot about parasites and stuff like that, so I'm not sure. Oh, she's a big Bon Jovi fan. And her face that her favorite Oscar winner. Yes. I could probably look up Heidi's favorite movie.

[00:58:19] Yeah, so so that does make sense. And I think if you're looking for like, you know what? I don't have Heidi in the binder, so I feel like that. I must have known Heidi wasn't going. Yeah. And I think I also like it's tough because we're saying, oh,

[00:58:30] would they cast the big three from Africa that cast the toggies? I think Jenna and Heidi are so similar in terms of archetype that I don't know if you can have both on, especially with such limited spots. For what? Yeah.

[00:58:43] And they would be a true duo at that point in time. Yes. And then, of course, I think we finish off with two no brainers. I mean, I will speak on your behalf. Jeff Probst literally called you the best player to never win.

[00:58:55] Like, that's got to be a must have. And then, Rupert, even though you all didn't really know him from a hole in the wall that he would put in the log cabin shelter soon to be incredible fan favorite.

[00:59:05] I mean, obviously they wouldn't know at the time, but, you know, obviously someone who was a big character in Pearl Island only ends up finishing in eighth place, but obviously has quite a large role

[00:59:16] in the season to the point that he is front and center on the DVD cover. Yeah. So, Rupert, I think the question was going to be, would he be there? I think that we were anticipating that it was going to be people from the first six seasons.

[00:59:30] But Rupert was, you know, such a big juggernaut at that point. I mean, I think there was like legitimate surprise to see Rupert out there on the island. Yeah. I mean, does it help that it took place in the same spot that Rupert

[00:59:42] could just be like, all right, I'll just camp out here for a month and then I'll come back and film all stars. I mean, he definitely went home. He didn't keep him. I think that there was a considerable gap also between when they filmed it.

[00:59:55] So if I recall, I believe they filmed Survivor Pro Island probably June of 2003. And then we left to go and film late October. So it was like early November. So there was probably about four to five months in between the end of filming

[01:00:12] Pearl Islands from when they started to film Survivor All Stars. But yeah, suffice it to say, you two were locked to be on when it comes to Survivor All Stars. Rob, I'm intrigued. Look into your binder. Any other names that were in there that I guess by proxy

[01:00:28] you were surprised were not on that were not there? By the way, Rupert's favorite TV show, Mike. Oh, God. I mean, would he not also say like Indiana Public Access? No, Mike. Similar to you, The Simpsons. OK, there we go.

[01:00:41] I mean, Rupert kind of is a cartoon character in and of himself, which is why I love him, which is why he alongside you and Jenna, all three from that slide are on the shortlist for us.

[01:00:51] Yeah, I guess from the early, early days, I guess the some people you want to know some snubs that I had here. OK, so I would imagine your list is not too dissimilar from what people were thinking at the time.

[01:01:03] Yeah. And so ironically, I think that this is the first of the all star seasons that we're going to talk about. And this is the first one that's truly bottom heavy in that it is like very loaded with people, not from the most recent seasons,

[01:01:16] but loaded with people from the most popular seasons. And I think that that's going to really buck the trend for the future all star seasons that Survivor is going to do. Somebody you and I talked about was Greg Booth.

[01:01:30] I thought that there was he's here in the binder. I probably didn't think it was likely that he was going to be there, but I thought there was certainly a chance, you know. Let's see other notable snubs. Let's see a couple of people from Australia.

[01:01:46] We don't need to talk about. OK, let's see from Africa, T-Bird. Yeah, I was just a bird. It was a big surprise. Not there, but T-Bird had said they told her if Tina says yes, you're not going.

[01:02:00] Yes, I think there was a little bit like apparently Kelly Goldsmith was the alternate to Jenna. It was less so about like they do nowadays with one male alter and one female alter. It was more so, again, by archetypes of, well, if this person says no,

[01:02:12] then you go on. Yeah. From our cases, I had Nalia in here in the binder. And I believe Nalia, according to Nalia, she was in talks, but she didn't ultimately did not get chosen. And I think that makes sense. Like when you have Amber already on there.

[01:02:29] The sepia, the winner, you know, first winner to, you know, not get the callback. Yeah, I think it was just a matter at the time of Mark. Casis was not particularly popular. Recepi, unfortunately, I think people look back better on her win than they did in 2004.

[01:02:44] Yeah. Sean Rector, Brian Heideck. Yep. All makes sense. Helen Glover, big one. Yeah, so Helen Glover was a big one. I think Helen, unfortunately, it came down to the age perspective. Like I really do think if they focus less on that younger demographic,

[01:02:59] I think Helen could sneak on there maybe above or even in addition to a Sheehan. Yeah. Helen is 47 at the time of Survivor Thailand. So she's going to be around like 70, 71 at the time. They're going to film this. Yes, she is on the ballot, though. Mm hmm. OK.

[01:03:19] All right. Jake Billingsley as a Jake Billingsley, probably beyond 61 in Thailand. So yeah, yeah, yeah. But he's now. But it's interesting because I think the story was that Ken Stafford might have been an alternate for all stars as well. The New York City cop. Mm hmm.

[01:03:38] Yeah, which is wild in retrospect. Yeah. So that's the extent of my my binder. So, yeah, I think, you know, we'll certainly add this into our rolodex as we will do it on Heroes versus Villains next in a little while.

[01:03:51] But something to keep in mind of like when it comes to casting. Certainly in this moment, they were not afraid to cast multiple people from the same seasons, and they were really looking for in the moment

[01:04:02] not only the biggest presences, but I think when it came to certain aesthetic perspectives and archetypes to fill, who would fill that? And I think we're going to talk about that, Rob, as recently as game changers

[01:04:12] as well, that I think that is something that will kind of carry through all these returning seasons. Yeah. OK, Mike, I promise something else. Yeah. One other one other treat if the listeners stuck around. OK, I have also I have my survivor also has had on.

[01:04:28] I have my survivor all stars canteen. I could have turned this into a pretty sweet hidden immunity idol if that would have been invented. I would have been left on Ghost Island. Oh yeah, it's like a coral and a shell.

[01:04:41] Oh, nice. And then what's the your tribe sigil? Yes, there was like some kind of like Shapiro tribe symbol. I dare not open the. God knows in there. I feel like those are parasites that would make even Rudy Blanche.

[01:04:55] But Mike, I have said it is there's some inscription here on it. It's not that this collector's item has been signed by the Shapiro tribe. Oh, and you got it with you. Yes, please read the what it says. OK. All right.

[01:05:11] This is from my my Shepard, Sue Hawk. Did not sign. So it was not I guess this must have been at the finale and I would imagine. So, yeah. OK, so on your way out after you got voted out. Yes. Alicia says you are the trivia master, Alicia.

[01:05:33] All right. Not untrue. Mm hmm. OK. Big Tom says kick ass with goat love. Big Tom Buchanan. Wow. Tom, probably a big Tom Goatman that says big. I mean, he never provided a nickname for himself with that,

[01:05:49] but I guess he's trying to make the branding happen and go, man. OK. Amber says not everything. I guess that must have been some kind of like inside joke and says Michael Bolton rules. Oh, wow. I just talk about the office space character. What's her favorite?

[01:06:02] No, we stayed at Michael Bolton's dad's house in Panama before the game started, which was very funny. And then Boston Rob says, you know, you're one of the funniest guys I've ever met. Boston Rob. OK, there you go. Lee's trying to, you know, build some rapport

[01:06:20] after getting rid of the other Rob on the season. So wow. Look at this. Well, Rob, you and I took a long drink when it came to Survivor All-Stars back tomorrow. We are going to the grind. We're back to a newbie season in the form of Survivor Vanuatu.

[01:06:34] I'm doing this with my guests, Rob. Real quick, anybody you want on your personal shortlist from Survivor Vanuatu for Survivor 50 from Survivor Vanuatu. Mike, how could I? I want them all back. I want them all back. Who's your guest, Dalton Ross tomorrow? No, it'll be Brandon Donlan.

[01:06:50] Oh, OK. Yes. So it'll be fun. I think Rob putting in his work for Brooke Bourgeois, I think, as a second chance candidate, Solitary's JP. So yes, we shall see. We're back for a battle of the sexes as Brandon and I will talk

[01:07:04] to the 18 castaways of Survivor Vanuatu. Wow. OK, well, this will work. You do it, Mike. You're on fire. Thank you. With not with Jeff Probst, maybe imagine we got Jeff Probst for one of these. That would be wild. Rob, thank you.

[01:07:17] You were absolutely on fire bringing in your perspective. Props abound. This was such a great time. I like Jeff. He showed me you need prop comedy to make it work in the new era. Well, I can't wait to do it all again.

[01:07:29] Can't wait to see what you bring out for heroes versus villains by comparison. We'll be back in a couple of weeks time, I believe, when it comes to the timing of all this to talk about it. Make sure you don't miss a beat.

[01:07:39] Again, subscribe to our YouTube channel, our podcast feed. But I'll be back to the usual grind lovingly. So with Brandon Donlan tomorrow for Survivor Vanuatu. Until next time, everybody, take care. Bye bye. We are audio stack dot a combining a writing

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