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[00:00:52] Made for Germany. Powered by Shopify. 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. My name is Mike Bloom and it's finally happened.
[00:01:26] The monster has caught us. We have arrived at the new era of Survivor. Survivor as we currently know it, Season 41. A storm is a coming. I'm not just talking about the storm that appears in this logo right here.
[00:01:43] No, we are talking about this cast that brought Survivor back after the pandemic. Brought about with a bevy of new twists, advantages and a brand new way to approach the game. And a cast that we certainly had opinions about back in the fall of 2021.
[00:01:59] But how do we feel about them in summer 2024? That is not only for me to break down but also my guests. Someone who I imagine would have sold the hell out of all those nonsensical lines that the Idol holders had to say at challenges.
[00:02:15] It is the great Maggie Morgan. Hi Maggie. Hi Mike, you know I would have been amazing at that. What would have been your favorite? If I recall correctly, so one of them was I'm as confused as a goat on AstroTurf.
[00:02:28] There was the one of I truly do believe that butterflies are just dead relatives saying hi. Then there was the one about how broccoli reminds me of small trees. Yeah, I was thinking next season was the if potatoes have skin, I have skin.
[00:02:42] Am I a potato? I like the broccoli one. I feel like that would be you like what he said about broccoli. I do like what he said about broccoli. Oh my gosh, how fun Survivor 41 was fun.
[00:02:56] There were some there were some really ridiculous moments and you know that that's my my thing. I love when people are on the show and I'm like where on Earth did you find this person? Yes, and so I'm on my TV forever.
[00:03:11] So we're going to talk about those people and we're going to talk about a season that kind of invokes that as well because again to place us in history for the first time in Survivor history.
[00:03:21] It took a Yadis it went away for the entirety of a year obviously due to production being shuttered due to the covid pandemic when they came back under some new stipulations,
[00:03:32] namely a bit of a shortened season to encompass a preseason quarantine time Survivor struck while the iron is hot and decide to come back with a bunch of new ideas and they officially coined it the new era of Survivor and honestly, they haven't looked back.
[00:03:51] This is the first season to bring in things like beware advantages shipwheel Island Mergatory do or die the hourglass all of this was in this season to the point where it felt a little discombobulating for us, let alone the contestants that were experiencing it for the first time.
[00:04:11] I think in retrospect it is certainly a season that is mostly looked at from a narrative perspective as twist forward as really introducing these game elements to the point where Jeff is actually looking into the camera and talking to us about them and we're watching the players react to it.
[00:04:27] Maybe second secondarily is the actual social strategy that is happening sometimes but it's still brought about some stars some really interesting gameplay.
[00:04:36] And of course a lot to talk about when it comes to Survivor 50 to start here Maggie what made you interested in this season in particular when it came to putting people on this wish list.
[00:04:48] So I like this was the first season that I really watched live because I watch 39 live until the bad stuff went down and then I failed. I was one of the people who was like this. Why would I put myself through this and watch this anymore? I'm done.
[00:05:13] I guess I did watch Survivor 40 live but then the pandemic hit in the middle of it and things got really weird. So that happened. So Survivor 41 was like I was a part of our AJP.
[00:05:28] I was like I had seen all of the Survivor seasons that I would ever really watch beforehand. I went and watched this at a fricking bar in New York with my best friend.
[00:05:40] We'll go every week and watch the season together like this to me is like the peak of my Survivor watching experience as an adult.
[00:05:48] Yeah, I mean there was nothing like that feeling of when the cast came back and Jeff welcomed everyone to Survivor 41 and he had that rare moment right?
[00:05:59] We're like the camera is expanded back and we got to see all the crew and how excited they were to be back as well. Because again, it was very atypical. This is one of the hardest working crews in television.
[00:06:11] I've had the luxury of getting to go out there and just see how much of an iceberg of a production. It is of all the people who work tirelessly behind the scenes 24 7 to make sure that the entertainment plays out to our liking in front of us.
[00:06:23] And it was such a special moment in that first moment to look around at everybody and feel like Survivor's back. Like we made it through here and we're on the other side and maybe we have a new pair of glasses to look through at the game,
[00:06:40] which I think certainly even in retrospect production would say was maybe a little bit of an overshoot in terms of all the things they were throwing into the game.
[00:06:49] But we really see laid here Maggie a lot of the foundations of what Survivor has been for the past couple of years and is going to be for the foreseeable future. Yeah, I thought that the biggest disappointment of this season was actually the production story.
[00:07:03] The way that this season was produced, I think really did a disservice to the amazing cast that they had. And that's also part of why I was like, okay, yeah, like let's talk about these people because this is the first season of Survivor with the 50% BIPOC initiative.
[00:07:19] In place and you really see that in the quality of the players that are on this season. I think that everybody is really interesting and everybody is somebody who I'm like, I understand why you're on television and like why you're on, why you got chosen to play Survivor.
[00:07:39] I was really let down with the narrative storytelling of the season. I think that the winner of this season was done a huge disservice by the way that production told her story. And Jeff Probst has said as much basically.
[00:07:54] Well, I suppose he mostly said that about the Gaebler season. But it's very similar. I would say yeah, a little bit apples and oranges with their games.
[00:08:03] But I think certainly, you know, the fact that Erica was not tied into a lot of the brand new shiny things that were in the season and the fact that she got an under the radar edit, especially from a winner perspective, are a little bit in the center of that vendetta.
[00:08:21] And her big thing that the show or her big move that the show decided to highlight was this twist that everybody hated, including the contestants. The contestants were like this. Danny literally is like, this is not fair at all.
[00:08:35] And like, that's what she was touted by production is like her big moment. And so, of course, that's going to tie into the perspective of the people consuming the season.
[00:08:47] And yeah, I thought that the thing about this season that made me be like, okay, let's talk about it is that I was sitting at the bar with my best friend Lincoln watching the season. And we were going, oh my God, we are this player in this player.
[00:09:03] Like this is us every single week. No, that's not another network. Right. Every single week we would talk about how he was the record.
[00:09:13] I was the Shan and how what Shan had done that week was exactly what I would have done and how record what record had done that week was exactly what you would have done like down to every single thing. It was so, so good.
[00:09:27] We had so much fun living vicariously through them over the course of the season. What's also going to be really interesting about this is that and I'll be talking about this throughout the new era season is that it really does feel like 45 and 46 are the new hotness, right?
[00:09:42] They brought about 90 minute episodes. I think they too are really strong cast. Let me also say right at the top of this public disclaimer because listen, I think there's a fair shot. At least some new era castaways are listening to this series of podcasts in particular.
[00:10:00] I will say what I said a few podcasts ago, which is I really love the casting of the new era. In my opinion, it is the strongest thing about the new era. Hard people.
[00:10:11] Yeah, the people that they've been able to bring on range from either new takes on kind of old tropes or entirely unique individuals in and of themselves. Unfortunately, we're really going to have to come in from the angle here.
[00:10:25] We've been doing this a bit since like Triple H of more of the will return than should return a sign of things because especially if we're looking at the new era, it depends on if the theme of the season is old era versus new era.
[00:10:40] That's only a select amount of slots that they're going to pull from. And so I think we're going to be doing a bit more in this podcast, Maggie cross comparing not only of the contestants in this season to each other, but looking forward as well.
[00:10:53] Are there archetypes that some of these castaways can be compared to that either they measure up against or sort of get outbid in lieu of? I think, well, one, if you are a contestant who was on this season and are watching, don't do this to yourself.
[00:11:09] Why are you doing this to yourself? Don't do that. Go, go. Goodbye. Number two, please don't be mad at me. Please don't be mad at me. Number three, I think I'm going to come in with some like hot takes here, I think.
[00:11:25] And I think that I only have on my personal list, three people that I'm like, if they are not brought back, what a travesty. Because I think that these three people are completely singular and nobody has like there is no other alternative to them.
[00:11:46] There are other characters who I think are fantastic, who I would love to see back. But like you said, I think that they are archetypes that you could find in ranges of season.
[00:11:57] But I specifically the three people that I'm going to bring up, I'm like, if they're not on Jeff, what are you doing? Yeah.
[00:12:05] And so that's the other thing that I was going to before I went up on my own little trail here is that 45 and 46 are considered, I think, by large, by most people in the fandom to be like the two best new era seasons.
[00:12:19] And it's been really interesting in this exercise. Once Jeff announced that 50 would be returnees is that I think people look back at 41 with a different scope than they certainly did in the fall of 2021.
[00:12:31] I think again, especially with the lens of all the things production was doing and what worked and unfortunately what didn't work again.
[00:12:38] Talk about the hourglass, which is maybe the worst twist in a survivor history to the point that even Jeff has been public to be like, yep, that wasn't a good idea. But we tried it.
[00:12:49] And then also on the fact that again, it's sort of like, what have you done for me lately? Do you think from a realistic perspective, I guess, to your point about those three people that to your to your credit should make this list no matter what?
[00:13:04] Do you think 41 is going to get a little bit looked over here? Unlike a true drop the fourth, keep the one in a season like Borneo? Yes, I do.
[00:13:14] I do because I think that the legacy of this season, like I said, was really not served by the production elements. I think that Erica's win is not like out of all of the wins of the new era is the one that is most often looked over.
[00:13:34] Because even though Gabler's win, a lot of people have opinions on it. It was completely shocking. And I am not certain that people felt that way about Erica's win. I think I think it just has maybe been lost a bit to the tendrils of the new era.
[00:13:54] So I do think that it is going to be the most overlooked. And I that's why I'm saying these three contestants specifically don't make that mistake. Don't bring them. Don't make that big mistake. Well, let's get into our final three.
[00:14:10] Let's stay on the Erica train here, even though her hair is purple. Her discussion on this podcast will be far from it as we'll talk about her and the other two members of the final three in Deshawn and Xander.
[00:14:24] Erica, the lamb to the lion and to your point, a very odd edit where she is quiet in the beginning. Her tribe never goes to tribal council in the pre-merge and this was with 60 minute episodes. So we barely saw a lot of Lulu.
[00:14:43] She finally does pop in episode four when at least the edit is telling us like, oh, she's got caught scheming too much. Deshawn and Dan, you're going to throw the challenge to get rid of her.
[00:14:53] It's not the case both on the island and when Nasir just beats the challenge. So they win anyway. And it's painted as a typical merge boot until everything is thrown out when it comes to mergeatory and the ship, the exile into the hourglass twist. Erica is saved.
[00:15:12] And even if you talk about production, looking at her big move as smashing the hourglass, I think her biggest move is more so the hammer she takes to Shan's game at the final eight where Shan is going after Erica eyeballing her as her next big threat.
[00:15:28] Erica catches wind of this and decides to help put things in motion where she works alongside Heather, Xander and Ricard to basically dismantle this other alliance that had been forming in the first part of the merge.
[00:15:45] They take down Shan, one of the biggest takedowns of a power player we certainly have recently experienced. And then she goes on to win, albeit, you know, maybe a little controversially from a fan perspective. We'll certainly get into that with the Xander side of things.
[00:15:58] Erica has made a name for herself afterwards. She has started her own podcast. She appeared for a brief time on the Traders Canada.
[00:16:07] I do think an Erica return would be interesting because I think there is this sort of winners at war idea of people didn't respect my win. They said I was too quiet. Let me show you how loud I am. I can get loud, too. What the F?
[00:16:21] I also think there's an interesting idea to the fact that Erica has recently come out as queer.
[00:16:26] I think she is some we always talk about this and we'll talk about this with actually a couple of other cast members on this season as the enjoyment I get of people being able to play survivor with that whole sense of self and getting to see Erica truly discover, you know, her her full place of where she could be in this world is really admirable.
[00:16:46] All that being said. Erica has said previously that she would probably only come back if it was an all winter season and I do not think of the many themes being thrown out winners at war to is one of them.
[00:16:59] And the other thing is, again, I think from our perspective, there is some captivation to having this person who had a very underestimated game from the fandom come back and prove the haters wrong.
[00:17:13] On the other side of things, especially if we're just comparing to the new era, there are so many people that have these big personalities and big gameplay that I think would probably get cast above Erica.
[00:17:27] Hell, the winner of the season we're going to talk about tomorrow is a key example of that. Unfortunately. Yeah. I mean, I think Erica, if she were to get cast on Survivor 50, she might be my winner pick.
[00:17:40] You want to talk about Sandra during Heroes Villains, like not really respected game, like a very solid game, but not super respected, not really seen as a threat.
[00:17:50] Like I think that if Erica was on this season, I would be like, OK, she's going to absolutely crush because she would be a winner who nobody was scared of, you know.
[00:18:03] But to your point, I'm not certain that she would be on the season either from her own choice or due to, you know, there are only so many spots. Let's move one space to her right and let's talk about Deshaun here.
[00:18:20] Deshaun is a really interesting character because especially in the post-merge, he has he is personified as a little erratic and a little emotional. I know that when I talked to, I think with Tiffany in my interview, she called him like a spoiled brat at a certain point.
[00:18:37] He's someone who drops the quote unquote truth bomb during the Danny Tribal Council to try to turn this majority alliance against each other, only to find out that he wasn't in danger in the first place.
[00:18:48] He does have this brief moment of triumph towards the end where despite the fact that he struggled to make fire the entire season, he does successfully prevail against Heather and make it to the final three.
[00:18:59] But from there, it pretty much seems like both him and Xander are largely counted out due to Deshaun just largely ruffling feathers with the jury along the way. Deshaun is also somebody who has discovered a different side of himself.
[00:19:15] He actually very recently came out as queer on the Pride Has Spoken podcast. I really encourage people to check out that conversation.
[00:19:22] I absolutely love hearing from Deshaun and him getting to talk about his experience on the island and how that made him realize that he could and should come out and the happy life that he is leading now.
[00:19:34] And to that point, again, I think I'd be welcome to see a Deshaun return.
[00:19:39] I feel like this is a guy that could very easily learn from his mistakes the first time around and be able to, you know, can contain himself a little bit and be able to have a little bit more fun with the game and truly leave everything on the table.
[00:19:55] I just unfortunately do feel like, again, he is his is a story that could be told by other more recent, larger personality filled castaways in more new era seasons. Yeah, it's a crowded playing field right now. It is.
[00:20:11] And I think that if this had happened at Survivor 45 and it was new era returnees like Deshaun's on the list, I would be excited to see him there.
[00:20:22] Like I think that he, especially after hearing him on The Pride is Spoken, like I would love to see him back out there. I would love to see him on my TV again.
[00:20:31] And I hope that he is somebody that is in the mix, but I'm just not sure. He's not one of my three that I'm like, don't look, don't look over them.
[00:20:41] And I also think that, you know, this season, their final three fell victim to what happens when you have a fire making twist, which is your best and most interesting player goes out at four or five. You know, I think. Okay, interesting.
[00:21:01] We'll get to four because I'm sure you have some thoughts there. Well, no, but like I, I think that I have found in the new era personally, and this is not specifically just talking about Erica, Deshaun and Xander.
[00:21:12] I'm talking about like every single season in the new era, basically that I've gone into the finale with the exception of 45.
[00:21:21] I have been really disappointed because my favorite player and like the player who I'm like, this is who should win the season goes out in the fire making twist or right around there right before.
[00:21:35] And, you know, I'm not saying that I haven't loved any of the other winners. Like I was very excited about Mary and when all of that, but I, I just think that.
[00:21:44] One of the functionalities of that fire making twist is that you sometimes get final threes that you wouldn't ask any of them back for an all-star season. All right. Well, could that be extended to the third member of our final three here?
[00:22:05] Let's take a bite of some Zandy candy here and talk about Xander Hastings. Xander is of a few people that look, Jeff said it during that winners at war finale like teenagers come apply to our show and everyone was a little nervous in the moment.
[00:22:20] And when Survivor came back, you know, especially in the beginning, we did get a bit of an influx of people in their late teens and early 20s on the show. Xander being one of them, I believe he had recently graduated college if I'm remembering correctly.
[00:22:34] But he was still in college. Oh, really? So there here was this young, athletic, good looking, very, you know, affable guy who starts off a little bit on the wrong foot.
[00:22:48] Like he's not in any incredible danger, but he is certainly on the outside looking in and the premerge due to the Yasa women's alliance and the fact that he was the first person I believe on the season to find the idol and find out that he doesn't have a vote until everybody says this very thing.
[00:23:03] Everybody says this very silly phrase. And so he sits largely as kind of a non player for the first half of the game. Then the second half of the game, he does come alive. He starts winning immunity challenges.
[00:23:15] He's working closely alongside Ricard in particular, but also Erica and Heather. And we saw enough of him to the extent where survivor fans were thinking, OK, looking at this final three, it's got to be Xander.
[00:23:28] Maybe there's a chance it's Erica, but her edit was way too quiet in the premerge. Xander has had the most consistent neutral to positive edit. Use a little bit of edgy terms and he becomes a zero vote finalist. I never thought he was going to win. Interesting. Why?
[00:23:47] I don't know.
[00:23:48] I yeah, because because I do think what it largely came down to was that I think the on screen at it told a largely like conventional winner story of like, here's a guy who appears in every episode who doesn't really seem on the outs of anything majorly.
[00:24:03] But then I think we were starting to read the tea leaves in the exit press where we were having people basically say like, well, the reason why nobody targeted Xander with an idol was because nobody really wanted to vote Xander out because he could have win the game.
[00:24:15] Yeah, I mean, I think that I was looking at the strategic powerhouses of the season and who they were threatened by, and they were never really threatened by Xander.
[00:24:26] Like, again, you're saying Shan wanted Erica out like I I saw the danger that Erica posed to them versus someone like Xander who, you know, I think Xander seems like such a sweet kid, like such a sweet guy. Oh, yeah.
[00:24:44] I mean, the reaction to the reaction to record telling him about the upcoming birth of his child was like, melt in my heart when I just recently like a sweet, a sweet guy and very much a fan favorite. Like a lot of people really liked him. was over.
[00:25:01] A lot of people really wanted him to win. Like you said, very good looking there, you know, is like the Mr. Survivor out there and like the young kid vibe. And he probably will get a callback for Survivor 50.
[00:25:14] But he's one of those people where I'm like, I wonder if there was somebody, you know, in the coming seasons who would fill that slot in a way that Xander like it was just a little further back, you know?
[00:25:29] Yeah, I mean, the main person that I compared to Xander is Austin from 45 of again, like very nice, athletic young guys with long hair. One gets involved in a showmance, one gets involved in a rivalry that some thought was a tense showman's in the moment.
[00:25:49] I do think that again, this is just putting ourselves back in the fall of 2021. But I do think the fervor around Xander's loss was much larger than the fervor around Austin's loss.
[00:25:58] Maybe that's because Austin had a little bit more of an underscored, understated at it compared to Xander. But like, I saw some corners, Maggie, where people were starting up petitions to raise a million dollars to give to Xander because they felt he was completely robbed of it. Wow.
[00:26:15] I wish someone would do that for me. Maggie, you got to just come on to the show, come on to Survivor 49 and then make it all the way to third place and put out an edit that makes you feel like you were robbed.
[00:26:27] And then everyone can crowdsource the million dollars for it. And I will be your first dollar, Maggie Morgan. Thank you, Michael. I promise you that. Thank you. So I do think that Xander does stand for me one of the better chances from a memorability perspective.
[00:26:39] I'm getting called back because I do think though there are other people that would fall into his archetype. And look, he is not necessarily the young buck anymore.
[00:26:47] He's 23, but he would still have people even in seasons that we don't know about Maggie, assumingly coming on if we have some teenagers or people in their early 20s who blows everyone's socks off, Xander would get replaced.
[00:26:59] But I do think especially at the time there was so much popularity around Xander.
[00:27:05] And I do think I don't think there's as much of a big narrative for him to come back as much as Erica or Deshawn in terms of like, what do I need to make up for?
[00:27:12] But I do think there's a little bit of like a second chance narrative to him of like last time I got to the end and nobody respecting my game. Now I'm going to show that I can make moves. So they're forced to vote for me at the end.
[00:27:23] Yeah, I mean, I think that if I were to rank the like the chance of someone coming back from this season, I have my three and then Xander's four. You know, I think that Xander slips in there at the end.
[00:27:39] And he the only reason that I would say he's not a guarantee is because there have been other people who sort of fit his archetype who've played since. But I agree with you. I think that he maybe looms larger than like an Austin would.
[00:27:52] All right, well, let's move into our jury here, because if I was to say we've got a lot of characters to talk about here, working our way up, Baruch Hashem. It is Tiffany Sealy.
[00:28:02] This is Nasir who gets booted right after her, followed by one of the masterminds of Yasa, of course, the great Dr. Evie Jogoda, then one of the masterminds of the season, as you were mentioning in Shan, I suppose, the you to Lincoln.
[00:28:18] Then we have Liana, not my B&B partner, but one of the younger cast members on the season and someone who ends up linking up with Shan towards the end. We have former NFL player turned survivor player turned challenge champion in the form of Danny McCray.
[00:28:34] We have a Shan's partner in crime before he decides to turn on her in the form of Ricard. And we have our fourth place finisher in Erica's number one and the Jennifer Coolidge lookalike in Heather. I think it's only proper, Maggie. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
[00:28:51] Mm hmm. Oh my God. That's Shan's music. Yes, it is time to talk about whether Shansmith will have a reprise of the shantam on Survivor 50 because again, it's so interesting to only go back a few years and see where the fandom was. People were absolutely gaga over Shan.
[00:29:12] I am. Yeah, there was so many opinions in the middle of the season even being like she is one of the biggest stars we've encountered in some time. Bring her back immediately.
[00:29:21] I think I sometimes on these shows have trouble finding someone who I really, really relate to because I think that if I was on one of these seasons, I would be very good. But I would have a lot or I would have several very big glaring flaws.
[00:29:40] Oh, seven of them. Exactly. Seven. But I so somebody like Shan, I was like, you are me. I am you. I get you. I am like I was like, this is incredible.
[00:29:57] And I don't watch these shows because I want to see somebody who's just like me on the screen. Like that's not why I'm like I like I said, I like to watch people and be like, where did they find them? Keep them on my screen forever.
[00:30:10] But I just like really got her. I don't know. There was she was so good. She had that that Green Tribe wrapped around her finger. She was it was really hard for her to vote everybody out that she had to like. I do think it really is.
[00:30:25] She struggled with it emotionally, but like not too much that she wasn't willing to do it. She found her alliance partner in her card. She knew that he was the one that like she should stick with. She didn't cut him when she should have. She waited too long.
[00:30:44] And then she was so bitter, like and she was bitter because she was angry that the people didn't make the right game moves for themselves to put themselves in a winning position. She wasn't bitter because she was like, you voted me out. And how dare you?
[00:31:02] Like you screwed me over. She was like, what were you doing? Dishon like, what were you thinking? We could have made it to the end. And that to me, like that is why I would be angry at somebody if that's why I become a bitter jerk.
[00:31:19] Not because they got me, but because I was giving them sound advice and they didn't believe me. And now they're going to lose because of it. Now we both lost. You know what I mean?
[00:31:29] And so, yeah, I mean, in case you didn't know already, Shan is my number one. Get her back on the screen right now on the island. She's your number one. Much like Shan had a lot of number ones out there.
[00:31:43] I mean, it cannot be understated how much of an impact she had on this season. Again, there was so much new out there. Everyone in audience included felt like we were being thrown into a pool and asked how to kind of swim again.
[00:32:00] But there was one person that completely glided on water. And it was Shan, this pastor who just who, as she described, had this ability to to captivate people.
[00:32:11] And that showed in that like she was the center of a gradually winnowing tribe to the point where she never was a target. I don't think she ever got her name written down until she was voted out.
[00:32:21] Yeah. And, you know, I I don't I'm not like Shan was robbed, like Shan screwed up and Shan got herself voted out. Like, that's why I love her so much, because I was like, I would have done the same thing. That's exactly how my story would have ended.
[00:32:35] You know, like I think that she I think her story on Survivor is not over. I want to see her do it again. I have no idea how she would play.
[00:32:44] Like, literally, I have no clue she could flame out and be the third person voted out or she could make it all the way to the end. I have no clue, but I really want to see.
[00:32:53] Yeah, I completely agree in that I could see a world where her game immediately gets clocked. It's almost like what should have happened to Sarah in Winners at War, where it's like, OK, you're getting to know me, but you're just buttering me up.
[00:33:05] So you're going to get rid of me later. I know your game, Godmother. You're going now or listen, Shan has certainly shown that she can be incredibly outspoken.
[00:33:14] I think if you followed her during her time on the Challenge USA, in particular on social media, you would know that. And so it's possible that Shan might self-destruct her own game if she gets word that like something she doesn't like is happening.
[00:33:25] She is not afraid to point it right out there in the open.
[00:33:29] But it also could be a situation where there's been enough time away and there have been these bigger players that might loom more immediately in the minds of these players that Shan might slip through yet again, that much like Sarah in Winners at War.
[00:33:43] She can trot out the same elite social game that she had being able to connect with people on so many levels again, that pastor energy and then be able to say, great, I'm rich in capital right now.
[00:33:55] Let me go spend it and craft some blindside to your point. I think there is a narrative to her not necessarily being done yet and that she really had her legs cut out from under her.
[00:34:05] It really did feel like between the all-Black alliance that she had brought together and her bond with Ricard, she really felt like she had gotten everything done that she wanted.
[00:34:14] She was even able to pull off this like really interesting maneuver in the split tribal council where Nasir went, where she actually used the extra vote to force a tie. So smart! Yeah, so smart.
[00:34:27] I'd be really intrigued to see how she would play now as well, just as a person. You know, Shan is 37 right now. Her life has certainly changed. She has moved on from being a pastor more so into content creation. Actually went viral a little bit, Maggie.
[00:34:42] I don't know if you did you ever see the TikTok that Shan made when the Queen died? No, I saw one that went viral like about Celine Dion. She did one where it was like, oh, the Queen's died. She goes through this list of like, oh no, Beyonce.
[00:34:54] Oh no, Missy Elliott. And she just goes through a list of pop stars before it was just revealed as the Queen of England.
[00:35:00] So I think that Shan could have a new head for the game considering where she's gone in life or it could just be settling into the same old beats. Either way, I think it would be entertaining and I think there is so much story to be had.
[00:35:12] The only thing I think that would preclude her from coming back would be the physical aspect. Shan has expressed that she has been diagnosed with MS and she even expressed reservations before she went out for 41. I remember, yeah.
[00:35:26] Yeah, that she was afraid that would and she certainly did have moments where she would had some physical difficulties. I think that would be the only time she would say no is if she felt that she could not physically handle it.
[00:35:39] But I also do think her competitive drive probably overwhelms all that at the end of the day. Shan, if they ask you, please come back, please.
[00:35:49] Well, let's not go too far from Shan here because we got to talk about the man that has been associated with her for the majority of this season as well as survivor history. Let's talk about Ricard. My number two. Well, yes. And much like Shan as well.
[00:36:05] I love Ricard so much. Ricard has an incredibly unique story. Right. Being deaf in one ear, having a trans partner at the time. I mean, I think Ricard represented so much of like what the new era could bring in terms of casting.
[00:36:20] Did you know, Mike, that Ricard currently is suffering from Bell's palsy? What? Yes. Ricard on Instagram. Lincoln and I send his Instagram. Well, Lincoln sends them to me because, you know, but like because we love Shannon Ricard. He has Bell's palsy. Half of his face he can't blink.
[00:36:38] Oh my God. I don't know if he's recovered from it yet, but like he's been struggling with it for like six months. It's been like a long time.
[00:36:45] Well, wishing nothing but the best to Ricard, especially if he could heal in time to come out for Survivor 50 because we're going to get into this a lot with the new era Maggie that look, I want to cast people due to their individual merit. But come on.
[00:36:59] Yeah, no, you gotta put Ricard and Shan on the same season together. I don't think that there has been a more dynamic duo in the new era. Other than Shannon Ricard, I mean, you could say maybe Marianne and Omer or, you know, the Tika three.
[00:37:16] Yes, Maria and Charlie. Okay, but Shannon Ricard are the OG Maria and Charlie. Oh yeah. And like they didn't make it to the final, you know, like Ricard gets sniped out before the final. And if you ask me, it wasn't for that dang fire making challenge.
[00:37:37] Ricard would have made it and don't say, oh, well, he didn't even make the fire. Well, it changes the way you play from final six on and you know it. Everybody knows that in my heart, Ricard, but Ricard is my winner pick for this season. Oh, Sam. Yeah.
[00:37:53] And so, I mean, I think that it would be a complete and utter shame if Ricard does not get asked back for Survivor 50 with Shan. Like what a missed opportunity if that doesn't happen. Truly. Well, especially because there is both on island and off island unfinished business.
[00:38:11] Of course, on on island again, these two were thick as thieves ran all of UwU together pretty much from the beginning to the point where they were the only two remaining.
[00:38:20] And then even then, it seemed like this is going to be a matching situation of, OK, they survived this tribe culling and now they're brought in to be in the middle people. And now they're going to make their way to the end.
[00:38:31] But Shan hears that Ricard's name is up and she gets pretty dang mad at the Sean and Danny Ricard. Here's his name is up and says, OK, this is my opportunity to take out Shan. One of the biggest betrayals that we've seen in that era of Survivor before.
[00:38:49] And it's interesting because to your point, I do wonder how many people in future new era seasons saw what happened with the downfall of Shan and how much of that informed their mindset as well of like, all right, listen, a number one is just about as good as as far as you let them into the game.
[00:39:05] And if they're not working out for you and if they're in between you and a million dollars, they got to go ASAP. Yeah, I mean, I I really, really hope that they are both brought back.
[00:39:18] I would die for when they both have made it from their starting tribes and they merge or there's a swap like, come on, you can't pay for that kind of content, you know, like so good. And I think that just like Ricard is really different.
[00:39:35] Ricard is a really different type of player beyond the personal storyline. Ricard is icy like Ricard is not warm, like doesn't come off warm at all through the screen. And I mean, like, I don't know. I haven't met him in real life. I don't know.
[00:39:54] But like he comes off icy. He comes off smart. He comes off conniving and he made it to the top five. Like how when does that usually happen? Not only not only that, by your logic, he was considered probably the biggest threat to win at the final five.
[00:40:12] And honestly, it happened at the final eight and he ends up winning immunity. What I think he wins and then Danny wins. But that's the do or die stuff. And then Ricard wins again when people are starting to look at him.
[00:40:24] So he was able to also win challenges. He wins the most immunity challenges of the season with three also clearly capable of strategy. And again, has a big storyline with Shane, considering the fact that the two of them were not on the best of terms.
[00:40:39] I think last time you ask either one of them. So it should be even more interesting to see them together on a season. Yes. Can we sort of rapid fire through a couple of these people who I think I have a little bit less to say? Go ahead.
[00:40:53] And then we can maybe we'll go back to maybe some other people that would be worth discussing. Yeah. So Danny, we saw on the challenge. I think that we know what Danny's about.
[00:41:05] If Jeff Probst would like Danny's incredible athletic prowess and lovely personality on Survivor 50, Danny will be there. I think because we saw him on the challenge, like I feel like I've seen all of what Danny can bring to TV.
[00:41:24] I like it, but I'm not dying for it back. Would you? Yeah. So I mean, I like Danny and I think Danny was very fun on the challenge. You say, I mean, he made an entire meme of himself by consistently mentioning his wife Kiki in every episode.
[00:41:39] And I'll be it under controversial circumstances does when the show does come back for another season. And I think earns a lot of popular fan reception at the time for kind of turning on these vets that had been running every season.
[00:41:50] And so I think a lot of people would say like a lot of people we've spoken about, like a Chris Underwood, like a Michelle, like a J like, oh, Danny Stock has risen because of the challenge. We want to see him back on Survivor.
[00:42:01] I could understand that, but Danny has expressed he is not coming back. Oh, OK. I didn't know that.
[00:42:10] So for those that don't know, it has been revealed that when Danny found out about the hourglass challenge, he was like Andy Reid in that shot of the Super Bowl with him and Travis Kelsey to go back to a football analogy.
[00:42:23] Danny apparently read them the riot act about how unfair it was to reverse the outcome of a challenge. And look, I think some people would say, well, CBS is clearly playing ball with Danny and that he was invited back for two challenge seasons.
[00:42:37] Maybe it'd be the same thing with Survivor. This is not a CBS issue. This is a Danny issue. But even asked last year in an interview with, I think, Angel Cake Entertainment about, OK, you said this might be your last season of the challenge.
[00:42:50] If you were called for a survivor and the challenge, which ones would you want to come back for? He said without delay, the challenge, he said, quote, The hourglass twist took Survivor away from me. I'll never go back out there.
[00:43:02] Once you throw that in the game where you can take a win from somebody, it makes no sense for me to go out there and compete. So I don't even think of Jeff promise like there's no hourglass twist.
[00:43:11] It really does feel like the bridge is burned with Danny. Mm hmm. Yeah, I mean, well, I hope we see you on the challenge, Danny. I think I mean, it's a lone exception might be blood versus water three with Kiki.
[00:43:24] If we can somehow make that a possibility, that's what I want to see. That would be fun. The other person who I feel well, one of the other people who I feel I don't really have much to say about is Heather. Sweet, sweet Heather.
[00:43:39] Yeah. Purple at it ever. Like, I feel like we didn't even see her on the season, you know?
[00:43:44] Yeah, I think on paper it would be a very interesting person to bring back just because, again, from what we've heard, she was much more integral to the story than what we knew, which was basically she was Erica's number one ally.
[00:43:56] And she really struggles catching a ball during that challenge. The point where Ricard told me, like if Heather had made it to the end instead of Erica, you would have voted for Heather.
[00:44:04] And there's a chance that if Heather sitting there with with the Sean and Xander, that Heather is the winner of your season. The fact of the matter is, again, we have to bake some realism in this new era seasons, especially.
[00:44:17] And as much as I would understand fans want to clamor for like a second chance for one of the most underrated contestants of the new era. I just think from a pragmatic perspective, there's next to no chance production would bring her back. No, no.
[00:44:32] Well, let's move towards the beginning of the jury here, because I want to take a couple of hits on these people who I think all have some interesting stories. Let's start with Tiffany.
[00:44:42] I think Tiffany is one of the bigger personalities on this season, which is interesting because I think Tiffany's story, right?
[00:44:48] Was that like she I don't know if she was an alternate, but she got called pretty last minute to be on Survivor 41 and pretty much comes shot out of a kid.
[00:44:58] And, you know, there's that fun sequence where like she's confused about the bit where advantage about figuring out Xander's vote and the fact that he doesn't have a vote. She was definitely presented as one of the larger personalities on behalf of that Yasa three.
[00:45:12] And she ends up going first member of the jury, of course, has had a long afterlife after Survivor, making frequent guest appearances on YX Lost. This definitely, again, gone to show why Survivor cast her.
[00:45:25] The other thing is, is that not to talk about the later days of it all, to quote another future jury member. But Tiffany is 50 years old.
[00:45:35] And listen, I think there are certainly a lot of other people in the new era who come on in their 40s, in their 50s. And not to say that we have one big bucket for everyone over a certain age number.
[00:45:47] But do you think Tiffany's chances of getting on are obfuscated by some of the quote unquote older castaways that came after her? I don't think that Tiffany like is comparable to the other older cast. Like, I wouldn't put her in that category.
[00:46:04] The category that I would put her in, like the archetype is the like huge personality archetype. Like Carolyn. Yeah. Like I think she's battling with Carolyn for a slot. And like in that situation, we all know who's going to win that if that is, you know, the battle.
[00:46:19] But like, I think Tiffany would be fantastic. I the only reason that I'm like, I don't know that she will be there is because of the archetype of it all. But like if you put Tiffany on television, we're all having a great time. We're all loving her.
[00:46:35] We're all loving life. Like if she doesn't make it on Survivor 50, I hope she makes it on another Survivor season or is back on our television because she's just fantastic. Yeah, I completely agree. Again, very outspoken. Someone to just brazenly say what she's feeling.
[00:46:50] Someone to like start of a live tribal council with Heather just to like, you know, stir Mishigas up before she ends up getting voted out. And like had some really great strategic moments. Like wasn't just personality. She, you know, did the fake idol with Xander and Evvie.
[00:47:05] Like she she had great moments of strategy as well. Like she she was fantastic on the season and I would love to see her back. I want to talk about Nasir as well to that effect because I love Nasir.
[00:47:18] Nasir seemed like one of the happiest people out there coming from Sri Lanka and bringing all those survival skills to the island.
[00:47:25] You might think on paper like, okay, that makes him one of these old school players and that all we really focused on was the fact that he was able to provide for everybody. But Nasir played the game and played hard.
[00:47:36] He was actually pretty comparable to me to somebody that will finish in second place next season in Mike Turner. And that I think if you look at him on the surface, right, this guy when he played is he's only 36 years old, but like he's a dad.
[00:47:49] He's married. You think, okay, this is the guy that's going to take on the father role around him. But Nasir finds the idol on his tribe. And, you know, I can't remember if anybody knew about it.
[00:48:01] I think it's been expressed that people did suspect that he had the idol, but still was such a wild card in the game. And again, has such a joyous, infectious personality. I think the downside to Nasir would be that he did get a quieter.
[00:48:15] And yes, I think compared to especially a lot of the other jurors. So that is something that might make him fall out of favor or memorability in the eyes of the viewers, ergo the producers. But I would certainly be welcome to see Nasir come back as well.
[00:48:29] Yeah, Nasir wouldn't surprise me if he came back. I would be like solid choice. You know, I think that he's really a different type of personality than we usually see on the show. Although you did just compare him to somebody who's on the next season.
[00:48:44] So, you know, I think that and who was like a second place finisher. And I do think maybe as a lock to come back for Survivor. I didn't do this. Isn't the Survivor 42 podcast, but I put Mike pretty high up on the list.
[00:48:57] So, yeah, but I think that if Nasir is one of the people that they choose, I would not be mad about it at all. Completely agree. Let's keep going with the person who went alongside him in this odd split tribal council. Let's talk about Evie and Evie.
[00:49:13] I love Evie so much. I mean, Evie was this person that maybe screwed puzzle designers for a brief period of time when they showed like, oh, hey, I studied this puzzle. And so I conquered it in like a minute and a half.
[00:49:25] And she was like, oh, my God, that's fantastic. Keep doing that until you do it too much. Then we're going to say don't do it anymore. But Evie was somebody that came in with, as I think obviously personified as one of the bigger brains on the tribe.
[00:49:40] Certainly personified as one of the bigger strategic forces from a narrative perspective of the Yasa group. And talk about the game getting turned topsy-turvy once Mergatory happens where they wind up in the losing group.
[00:49:54] First, they were in the winning group, but then they were in the losing group. And then they pretty much become the target initially of Luvu.
[00:50:00] And so then it just becomes this matter of them and Tiffany and Xander playing three card Monty with the idol trying to be like, OK, we got to make sure that Xander doesn't play it. On Evie, so we'll steal it from Xander.
[00:50:11] Oh, wait, actually, Xander already gave it to Tiffany to hold on to. So Evie is able to survive that. Then they win an immunity challenge, a very crucial immunity challenge lasting like four minutes and the shortest endurance challenge ever to survive.
[00:50:26] Tiffany goes and then finally their game runs short. They run out of wiggle room at the split tribal council, which pretty much them and Xander versus the world. And they go out here. And again, I'll speak about what has happened since their time on the show.
[00:50:41] Evie's in this really unique category because between the filming of 41 and the airing of 41, they came out as non-binary, which I believe made them the first non-binary contestant in Survivor history.
[00:50:56] And again, I do think that Evie themselves would probably feel that if they got the chance to play now, they would have a much better headspace for how to approach the game with that true sense of self. Yeah, I mean, I think Evie's my number three.
[00:51:11] I think Evie is a slam dunk. I think that if you don't put Evie on Survivor 50, what are you doing? They are brilliant. They are great socially. They had a really fun, dramatic series of events on this season.
[00:51:30] They are unlike anyone else we've ever seen play the game like you. You just said the first non-binary contestant on Survivor. Bring them back. What are you doing? Jeff Probst, bring them back. I will buy it if my friend Evie is not on Survivor 50.
[00:51:46] Well, not to mention I do think out of this cast, listen, sometimes time passes and people tend to kind of disassociate themselves or distance themselves more from their time on Survivor.
[00:51:55] Evie has been like one of those people, at least from an RHAP perspective, who I think still really hang out in the immediate circles, co-hosted a couple of live know it all events, obviously helps co-helm the pride has spoken.
[00:52:07] And so also is like very involved in liaising with a lot of alumni as well. They're just so cool. Like I've gotten the opportunity to meet them and hang out with them at a couple of these events. And like they've come on a couple of my podcasts.
[00:52:20] They're just a really cool person. And that, of course, transfers to social game. And they have this big brain and these like I just am like, well, of course, bring them back. What are you doing?
[00:52:35] Well, last person we got to talk about is someone who walked the game alongside Evie and then Shan before she was taken out in the odd like do or die tribal council. Let's talk about Liana here because Liana plays the game at only 20 years old.
[00:52:52] And I think unfortunately, it's kind of broad brushed with this rivalry with Xander. What was it that she says while she's sitting on the bench of like, I just want his stupid face to break. Or I just hate his stupid face or something.
[00:53:05] Yeah, that's exactly what it was.
[00:53:07] I feel like to your point, if this was a scenario where 45 was a new era returning season, I do think Liana would have been somebody to show her way up there where I don't think she necessarily had the strongest at it compared to the people around her.
[00:53:22] But I think she had enough of a game sense and also has a story of again, she was only 20 years old when she played. What would a couple of years of life experience do for her?
[00:53:31] I do think unfortunately now while she would be a welcome presence on 50, she's a little outmatched by others that have come after her. I would agree.
[00:53:40] I think that I would be interested to see what she could do now with a little more experience and I would again somebody who I would be like, oh good for her that she made it back on. You know, I would be like, oh, this is exciting.
[00:53:51] Like I'm excited to see what she can do. I wouldn't be like, why did they bring her back? You know what I mean? But I just am not sure that she'll make the short list. I mean, I hope she does if she wants to be there.
[00:54:02] But I'm just not sure. Like there has there been young female contestants who are finding their way, you know, after her who I think maybe would out edge her in that spot. All right. Now let's move into our pre jury contestants here.
[00:54:21] And Maggie, let me put out a bit of a hot take to perhaps spoil the upcoming five podcasts after this.
[00:54:29] I do think realistically with a couple of exceptions, it's going to be very tough for pre jury new era players to get onto the season again if it was if it was new era only there might be the chance that a couple sneaks through.
[00:54:43] But again, the new era casts are so strong and especially the end game groups in particular those who make the jury tend to be full of these big players and big characters that I think it is very tough for someone who was eliminated in the first half of the season to pop so much that it warrants them returning over again people that might be their equivalent who finished higher in subsequent seasons.
[00:55:06] Yeah, except if your name is Bonnie. That listen, we might talk about him. I don't know. My hot take is that I think Jalinski has a better chance of getting called back than Bonu does. I think we saw all the Bonnie that Bonnie can offer us.
[00:55:18] But that's that's not my we're talking about exists, Maggie. All right, let's get into our pre jury here. So we have our first boot of the new era and Eric Abraham. We also have Sarah, who was one of the more surprising boots in the premiere here.
[00:55:33] We have Tiffany's partner in crime and YX loss appearances in David Voucher. We have the enigmatic broccoli man himself, Brad Reese. We have the cocksure one of our youngins of the season in JD money. We have Jeannie Robin Chen, who becomes the final victim of the massacre.
[00:55:53] And we have our first mergatory victim in, I would say, one of the more like classic villains in the new era in Sydney Siegel. Maggie, who do you want to talk about out of this group to start? I guess JD.
[00:56:08] Let's talk about JD because JD is somebody similar to Liana. I think if 45 was a new era returning season, I think JD would be almost a lock. I agree. JD was huge in the four episodes he was on to the point where they did.
[00:56:26] He goes on the journey, right? And he's talking about his his personal experience, you know, becoming a nerd and then getting in with the high school crowd. Because, again, if he's only 20 years old, that's his life experience.
[00:56:37] And they show a flashback to what just happened on the episode like 20 minutes ago of him making fire on the first day. They had us seeing a lot of JD and he comes in hot early on where he has this extra vote.
[00:56:51] He's volunteering for all this stuff, especially when it starts getting winnowed down. He thinks that he is someone that is running it all alongside Shan, only to find out that she becomes Shan's umpteenth victim here.
[00:57:05] And he actually gave her the extra vote before he was voted out in the process. And nowhere is this more represented than. Yeah, to your point, the money shot or lack thereof where he sends them to tribal for the third time, basically in a row.
[00:57:20] Yeah. And I do think it was tough for JD after the season was over. I don't think that JD had like the best experience watching himself back and the online discourse.
[00:57:32] Like, I do think that it was a tough time for him, which I do have great empathy for anybody who went on reality TV and struggles watching themselves. Like you are braver than me. You know, good. Like, take care of yourself, you know.
[00:57:48] But I agree with you. I think JD is like the OG new era Jolinski sort of vibe of like, no, I'm serious. Like somebody who's like, I'm here. This is amazing. And then like everything just goes wrong and they kind of give you a dodo at it.
[00:58:03] Right, exactly. It is sort of like the alpha and the omega where we see Xander be this young player who makes his way to the end of the game.
[00:58:09] And then you have JD who comes in very thirsty and is trying to drink as much of Survivor as he can. And as a result, maybe gets a little bit too much of a tummy ache and his number one takes him out before he can go number one.
[00:58:22] Yeah. And I also think like quirky wise preachers like we got to talk about Brad. Oh, Brad is so great. And Brad is almost what I was speaking about with the Sear as well.
[00:58:38] And that this is a guy who I believe is the oldest person on the season at forty nine. Yes, I can confirm that is the case. I know Abraham was 50, but Brad is considerably older than a lot of the people around him.
[00:58:53] And again, you think like Rancher from Wyoming, first contestant for Wyoming, you know, Mary, Dad, this guy's just going to be the calm papa of the tribe. But he was arguably the most manic of them all. He's the one that goes on this mission, right?
[00:59:07] Where he has to sneak out of camp. And so he makes a Ferris Bueller as stuff Brad to make everyone think that he had it left. And then he finds the beware advantage. So he gets an extra vote from the journey, but he loses his vote.
[00:59:20] And so he can't even do anything with it. And then eventually he's kind of taken out as someone that is just like a little too paranoid and a little too powerful as well.
[00:59:29] But all these advantages, I think Brad is such a fun presence and I would have loved to see him play survivor again. I do not know if 50 is right for him. Yeah, I mean, no, but I loved Brad would love to see him again somewhere.
[00:59:45] Bring him on snake in the grass. Oh man, bring back snake in the grass specifically for Brad, who would probably take the prompt wrong and be crawling through the grass when he was when he was hiding and listening to people. So good. So good.
[00:59:58] I think the only other person that I really have anything to say about from the pre jury that like really sticks out to me is Jeannie.
[01:00:08] I think that like people I remember people had really, really high hopes for Jeannie and then Jeannie if I remember correctly just turned out to be a bit inflexible in their gameplay. And that was the reason that Shan had to eventually be like, I'm picking record over Jeannie.
[01:00:26] Yeah, I would also give a shout out to Sydney as well who again, I think in a period of the new era where people may be typified as like a bit too syrupy sweet too much about like the pre package backstories and the inspiration of how survivor changes somebody.
[01:00:44] Sydney was very different in that this was someone who again was blunt was open was honest, you know got targeted by Heather over up a wrecking that dream that Heather even just made up in the first place as a reason to go after Sydney and Sydney gets kind of short here surprisingly because again, she's part of Lou who doesn't go to tribal council in the pre merge and the first time she goes.
[01:01:07] She doesn't even vote. She plays her shot in the dark because she realizes there is so much of a shit storm happening at tribal council with this big idle switcheroo happening. And so she ends up getting kind of picked off.
[01:01:18] I mean, not to talk too much about how we usually end these podcasts, but I feel like Sydney is prime for a show like the challenge where she was in pretty good physical condition and she is not afraid to talk shit and be confrontational. Yeah.
[01:01:33] Yeah, I think she's like been on social media a lot talking about the show and talking about other stuff. So I think that she wants to come back to reality TV.
[01:01:46] So I can't imagine that she would say no to an invitation to the challenge and with no offense to vote.
[01:01:54] Sarah or Abraham, I do think unfortunately given all the people we've experienced so far in the new era, unfortunately it may be one and done or 41 and done for them. Yeah, but Voce like hangs out on our JP super fun. Like I love that.
[01:02:11] I think that that's if I went on Survivor, I would be like I get to be on our JP now, you know, like that was for real. No, that was like one of my things.
[01:02:23] Like if I went on Big Brother, maybe that I could be on our JP and all it took was sending in a video, but I didn't have to change the name from within. Like all these big brother players are trying to do exactly. Exactly.
[01:02:35] We're not changing names today, Maggie, but we're picking names as the time has come. We have to pick up to five people. Now what I will say is the three you gave in Ricard and Chad and Evie. I completely agree.
[01:02:50] I think those three should be on the list for a myriad of reasons. I think from a realistic perspective, Xander should be added to the list as well. I agree.
[01:03:02] And then if we're going off for five, if we're picking five, I think we I think we should pick five. I think there's enough of a there there with a few of these cast members that I think we have every right to pick up.
[01:03:15] Can I give you two people and then you decide? Oh, my God. I'll whittle it down to six and then you pick the fifth slot. OK, yeah, maybe because I was going to I was going to do the exact same thing to you.
[01:03:26] Well, maybe I wonder if we have the same time, the gas. Well, because I know because I because you can have final say the two that I was between for the fifth slot was Tiffany and this year. Me too. OK, there we go. Simpatico.
[01:03:40] So I really go between them where I think Tiffany had the bigger edit, but I feel like this year might have the bigger chance of getting called back. And look, there's a sizable chance with these wildcard things that both of them wind up on the list.
[01:03:52] So this is just a formality. But for the sake of today, we got to pick only one. I don't I really don't know because I think I would rather see Tiffany because she just delivered every single scene. And she just fricking delivered.
[01:04:12] But I feel like in this year, somebody who would come back and have like an amazing arc, you know, like that would come back and have like an amazing second time out there and like do really well and like find himself out there in a way where it's like Tiffany would come back and it would still be bangers all the time.
[01:04:30] But it's just more Tiffany, you know? I would probably put I might go Nassir. OK, here I think I'll go Nassir, probably assuming that Tiffany will find her way on in some way, shape or form.
[01:04:46] But I do feel like Nassir again has that uniqueness perspective to them that even if he did get a bit of a quieter edit, I could see the show looking at him as like, OK, this is this is a guy that really can't be compared to anybody else in the new era.
[01:05:00] Also, like Nassir loves Survivor so much. And Jeff Probst loves nothing more than somebody who loves Survivor. So it's very true. Yeah. OK, so those are our five in order of finish and I'll throw some ages here on top of it. We have Xander, who is 23.
[01:05:21] We have Ricard, who is 34. We have Shan, who is 37. Evy, who is 31. And Nassir, who is 40. And we've got a what? Three, five, eight, nine, ten is that nice little streak in the middle of the jury is shown up here on the wish list.
[01:05:38] Final thing, Maggie, as I mentioned before, is there anyone from this season that you would want to see on another reality show? I know we've already got a couple people answering that question for us in the form of Danny and Shan. But anybody else, any other shows?
[01:05:51] Yeah, Tiffany. Tiffany would be so fun on The Amazing Race. Tiffany would be really fun on The Amazing Race. I was going to say Ricard and Xander for The Amazing Race.
[01:05:59] I think Ricard and Shan would be the more interesting dynamic, but I think Ricard and Xander would be the pair to actually go on together. In fact, I believe Ricard put out a statement at one point being like, put me and Xander on The Amazing Race.
[01:06:10] Well, I know Tiffany and Evy are still incredibly close. So Tiffany and Evy on The Amazing Race. I was thinking like Tiffany and her son. Doesn't she have a son? She does have a son. Yeah. Any family member of Tiffany would be great.
[01:06:24] Bring me out the family edition and put four Seelies on there. I mean, like Tiffany would be Tiffany trying to run for a plane. Tiffany trying to do these chat like Tiffany is just amazing. Put Tiffany on anything.
[01:06:37] Tiffany for like The Traitors slash The Mole, I think would be great as well. Tiffany on The Traitors would be so good. I mean, I think Shan on The Traitors would be pretty dang fantastic.
[01:06:48] I know the Survivor casting with The Traitors, they really aim for like the top tier household names. She's from Canada, so she could be on Traitors Canada. That's so true. She can follow up in Erica's Footsteps.
[01:07:00] I don't believe she's been announced on the upcoming season, but hopefully they do more so that she could come back. I think that's a very good idea. Put Brad on Tough as Nails. Sure. Yeah.
[01:07:14] And I feel like JD, put JD on like one of those like Squid Game or like they announced like a Mr. Beast reality show, which may not be a thing considering some of the recent news about Mr. Beast,
[01:07:26] but like put him on one of those big, exciting, energetic, physical streaming challenges. Because I feel like that is in JD's wheelhouse over at Survivor. Sure. Love that. Love that.
[01:07:36] I do want to say like looking over the cast again, like when you put up the jury, I was like, oh, the great cast. Like it's great. Really. That's why I said, like, I feel like any negative feelings towards this season,
[01:07:52] like all have to do with production and have nothing to do with the quality of the players on the season. They were great personalities and every single one of them was really interesting.
[01:08:03] I don't disagree at all. I had a lot of fun going over this cast and looking at, again, a season that largely does get looked over in the new era in 41. And let's see if production does pull on a couple of these people to bring into 50.
[01:08:16] And Maggie, maybe your opinions were carry over into tomorrow as well, because the game structure certainly did. Survivor tried this audacious experiment where they said Season 42 does not know what Season 41 had. So we can theoretically rerun the same season back.
[01:08:33] And as a result, we got something incredibly different in Survivor 42. Yeah. And also I'm very sorry to whoever the guests are for like 42. But like the rest of the new era, I was giving like huge opinions and I was like, well, they're locked.
[01:08:46] They're like, sorry. This is a 41 pack. You're here to do this is work of other people. Though you're the goat on AstroTurf is chomping. Not you, Maggie. Don't you worry. Well, luckily, I don't think the guest tomorrow will mind.
[01:08:58] It is the one and only Brian Scali. He will be joining me to talk through who from 42 should come back. And listen, if you thought your job was hard today, we're just getting started because, again, these casts are stacked.
[01:09:10] But I'm going to keep going into those hot takes here. Maggie, you mentioned a couple locks. But who, in your opinion, would be on your personal shortlist for 42? Omer. Marianne. Mike. Oh, gosh. Now everybody's running together. I have to look up the cast. All right.
[01:09:41] Well, as you come up with those last couple of names, we can start wrapping things up. This was such a great time. And again, it's going to be a tough time as we go down the stretch here,
[01:09:51] putting people from these great new era casts into only a select few. But I'm sure you all will certainly let your opinions be known on the people we pick. Xander, Ricard, Shan, Evy and Nasir, as well as who you want to see on the wish list,
[01:10:03] who we might be able to sweep up into the ballot once all is said and done. In the meantime, Maggie, I know you have so much going on in the world of podcasting. What would you like to plug? Yeah, I'm all over Big Brother right now.
[01:10:17] So it's a big season. There's a lot going on. Come check us out over there. If you want to follow me, I am on Instagram and TikTok at Emma Morgan underscore. And I have somebody else from Survivor 42 to be on the shortlist.
[01:10:34] Who's that? The one and only Zach Wurtenberger. Oh, there we go. Bring him back. I mean, he's gotten so much mention on Big Brother. He might as well be a contestant there. Yeah, definitely. So fun. And he can say, Be you, Corey.
[01:10:48] Yeah, well, he's got to make it that far, but he can do it. Zach, you can do it. You can do it. Sorry. I'm just another person giving Zach Wurtenberger strays. I'm sorry. That's fine. Listen, it happens to all of us tomorrow.
[01:11:02] We'll be back seeing how many more strays are coming Zach's way as we talk to you the cast of Survivor 42 with Brian Scali. Thank you all so much for listening, Maggie. Thank you. Fantastic job as per usual. Until next time, everybody. Take care. Bye bye.