Survivor AU: Brains v Brawn II Kickoff

[00:00:00] Hey everybody, what's going on? Rob Sestradino back and we have got a big special to kick off a big season and year of global Survivor coverage here on RAJP. And I am joined by our chief Survivor global correspondent, of course, the winner of the Survivor 47 draft, I could say for the first time. It's Shannon Gus. Shannon, how are you?

[00:00:30] That sounded so strange coming out of your mouth. I wasn't expecting it. I should be wearing my tiara. I will in the draft. I took it off specifically for this podcast. First time I've taken it off in months, but Rob, very excited to be here to kick off Australian Survivor, Brains v Brawn II, Brainiar and Brawnia. Yes. Okay. So we have a big season of Australian Survivor, which is going to kick off what? February 17th? Yes. Which is February 16th for you guys.

[00:01:00] Okay. How does time work? Yeah. So it's going to be just around the corner and Australian Survivor has been so much fun. So we're just here to set up a little bit of what to expect, maybe why you should jump into Australian Survivor if you have not yet partook in any Australian Survivor or any global Survivor coverage here with the

[00:01:24] Shannon and just what's coming up between now and then. And we have a very exciting plan on how we're going to cover this season. Maybe. Would you say that this season is going to be brawnier coverage than ever before?

[00:01:37] I mean, I hope it will be brawnier. Like we always try to go for the brawny, you know, content on, on global survive. I would, I, would I say that we go for brawny content? Um, what, and how would you characterize like what that it's just robust, robust. Yeah. I thought you meant like can lift weights, which I can't, I can't, I'm not brawny. Um, but yeah, sure. Robust and brawny.

[00:01:59] Yes. Okay. So that's going to be, um, coming up in just a couple of weeks. And, uh, Shannon has a lot of preseason shows that are going to be coming up planned, but I guess, uh, Shannon, I don't want to bury the lead, uh, that we have, uh, this is our biggest season of Australian Survivor coverage because for the first time, you know, Shannon has covered every single week of Australian Survivor for, uh, several years now.

[00:02:29] I don't know if it's quite been seven, right? It's been about, well, I've been podcasting. I'm coming up to seven actually coming up to the several and then for Australian Survivor since 2019. So that's six. Six. Okay. One. This is just, just short of several years. We don't have several. Yeah.

[00:02:46] And every week Shannon has brought you coverage of Australian Survivor, but this time in 2025, we are doing things we've never done before. Shannon is going to be covering every episode of Australian Survivor.

[00:03:07] Yeah. That's the hope. That's the hope, right? Like the live feed updates of Australian Survivor because it's kind of like that, right? It's kind of like watching them in a house all the time, except it's on TV and not in a house. Um, yeah, I mean, we're still working out the logistics, but our hope is to do episodic recaps and then like kind of some weekly content and like a feedback capacity. We've always had the exit. So we'll do that as well. All Survivor all the time. That's what I always say. Quit your jobs, quit your jobs for this just to keep up with it. And that's what I'm really excited about it.

[00:03:35] Okay. And just so people don't get in too much of a panic, Shannon will have a shorter recap after each episode followed by then a feedback show with a guest coming up. And I think this is really exciting because I think there's so many times in covering Australian Survivor, sometimes in, and if you've never watched Australian Survivor, uh, the episodes come out, what is it in Australia? It's what? Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.

[00:04:01] Yeah. Yeah. They usually start at like on a Monday and then follow up every week from a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Yeah. And so it's three days in a row. And sometimes like a big thing happens in the first day and it's like, wow, oh my God, this changes everything. And then by the time you get through three episodes, the thing that happened on Monday turned out to be not as important or we kind of forgot about what's going on. But now every single episode will have the ability to have its own podcast.

[00:04:31] Yeah. And I think it's been frustrating for me because like the last two seasons of Australian Survivor, for those who haven't watched or kept up with the lore, like I've called the last two seasons, which was Heroes v. Villains and Titans v. Rebels, the best back-to-back, you know, double in global Survivor history.

[00:04:47] And there was hardly a bad episode. There was hardly a mere episode. Like in Titans v. Rebels, I don't know that there was one. So it's like, it's so much content to pack into like weekly recaps or like every episode needs its due, hopefully in zippier ways. Right. We're going to do like a quicker recap that people can listen to the next day before the next episode or, you know, for the U.S. audience, like check out the episode when you get up and check out the recap and then, you know, keep it moving to the next to the next day.

[00:05:15] And then every week kind of look back on the week with other stuff and like feedback content and like all the other things we miss. But like get to the headlines every night because I think it just like it frustrates me. Yeah. So I think that's a great way to attempt to cover it. And then Shannon also talks to all of the players that get eliminated when we have all of our elimination episodes. And so we will bring those to you as well.

[00:05:37] And Shannon, I think in the past has been doing all of the Australian Survivor podcast, just audio only. But here we are on video. Shannon, does that mean what I think it does? I don't know where you're going with this. Are you going to be on video? Oh, right. Yes. Yes. Okay, great. That. Yes. Video. I mean, we did video check. What did you think I meant? I have no idea. I don't know. I don't know where we could go. Yes, we're going to be on video. It's what you just said.

[00:06:04] I mean, we did the check-ins on video and we're doing more video. And I feel like, you know, it's been about relinquishing control for me to be on video. And we did 47 coverage on video. And now we're going to do all of this on YouTube, the YouTube crowd. And it's just like, we're just making it bigger and better than ever. Brainier, brawnier, bigger, better, bulkier. Do you have more B words? Bulkier? Yeah, I guess so. More robust. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Bustier. Whoa.

[00:06:33] We're not going to, I'm not going to say that, Shannon. Yeah, that's fine. Okay. Redacted. Redacted. We can't edit it because it's video. Of course, you can subscribe to all of this in our podcast feed when you go to We Know. What should we call it? We Know Global Survivor? We're doing this now on the board. Shannon, this is us. This is us. What should the URL be? Usually we do production meetings like for episodes.

[00:07:03] I don't know that we do like full scale strategy meetings, but that's great. We see it's bigger, it's better, it's brawnier, it's brainier. Yeah. I mean, what about just weknowglobal.com? No, what's that though? Shouldn't it have the word survivor from an SEO perspective? I don't think anybody's doing SEO on this. We just want something snappy, something zippy for people to remember. What, you think International Survivor Happens wasn't zippy?

[00:07:32] I'm doing this on the board guard. I think, are we polling this to people? I think we know Global Survivor. We know, you don't agree. I'm just wondering if there's too many letters. It's a lot of letters, but it's less than International Survivor Happens for you. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Okay. You don't seem convinced it's your network, Rob. You do you. Shannon, I want you to be happy. Well, this is crazy podcast content. Yeah? Okay. Yeah. All right. Well, okay. Look.

[00:08:02] Go to- Oh, now people will be weighing in. Yeah, people will weigh in. But it'll be too late. But it'll be too late. Shannon, that's what I like. I like when people weigh in. Okay? That's how we came up with this recap. Mm-hmm. Yeah. We called it to re-watch. Remember that week? Yeah. And then we came back the next week and people were like, it should be called this recap. And I was like, oh, we screwed up. And that's why- That's what this is. This is back and forth with the audience. This is how we make magic. Yeah. It is good. I mean, not too much. Mm-hmm. Like, you know, send your best ideas. Not all the ideas. Yeah. I think we know Global Survivor.

[00:08:32] I think we- And we do. Okay. Right? So- We know Global Survivor. We'll have the link in the show notes. If you want to get subscribed, you can do that and then get all of Shannon's podcasting about international survivor seasons there at weknowglobalsurvivor.com. Yeah. Okay, great. Wait, no. So that's decided? Look, we can always get another URL. Okay, great. Okay? Cool. So great.

[00:09:00] Everyone's in this production meeting. Yeah. And also, if people are wondering, how do I watch Survivor Australia? How do I do that? Well, look, there's lots of different ways that people are able to watch, of course, watch it on television if you live in Australia. But for people around the world, for the global community of Survivor fans, you know, we do try to make it as easy as possible for our patrons to watch the shows, whether it's watch parties,

[00:09:27] so many ways that people get to watch Australian Survivor. And so for the patrons of Rob's Podcast, we do try to make it as simple as possible so you can enjoy everyone's wonderful favorite coverage that Shannon provides from Australian Survivor. Thank you. And I also think, you know, a lot of people are talking about, like, should they go back and watch? Like, people are excited about the year. Obviously, Australia v. World is coming up later in the year. So it's like a big year for Australian Survivor.

[00:09:55] Just in case people are maybe don't know about that. Yeah. So later in the year at an undisclosed time, we don't know when, August, September, October, maybe around there, there's going to be Australia v. World and there are castes floating around. Probably don't Google it. But they filmed that already. And that the announced cast members are Tony, Parvey and Sari, which is crazy. Like, I spend all my time thinking about, like, oh, my God, imagine if I get to interview

[00:10:22] them and then thinking about things that will go wrong that I won't get to interview them. Like, I just have to make it to them, you know, but I don't know what's going to happen. Yeah. Anyway, I digress. And then what was it? George, Johnny and Kirby were announced as the three Australian representatives so far. So that's a little bit of an exhibition match between global survivors. So that's happening later in the year. So people are really excited about Australian Survivor. So like, what should we go back and watch in Australian Survivor? And I will say this. When Australian Survivor is good, it is so good.

[00:10:52] Like, it's honestly incredible. And when it's bad, it's not. It's atrocious. OK, there's no middle ground. I will say five and a half of the nine seasons they've done because it's the big 10th season. But five and a half seasons are excellent. So I highly recommend 2017. And you can do it in order. 2017, 2019, the second half of 2018. But I guess watch it all. Maybe put that at the bottom of this list. But I still think watch it. Brains v. Braun 1, Heroes v. Villains, and then Titans.

[00:11:22] Titans v. Rebels. And if you just want to watch like the last one, Titans v. Rebels, to see how this production team has been doing things, you can do that. But just a warning that the first few minutes of Australian Survivor spoils the whole last season. So just keep that in mind and maybe skip it. But forget five and a half out of ten. They've been on a hot streak. Five and a half out of nine. That's pretty good. Yeah. Five. Are amazing. Fine. That's really good. Fine. But lately. Yeah. Don't go all the way back to the beginning. The last couple of years have been epic. Yes. Yeah.

[00:11:52] Well, David Forster took over for Heroes v. Villains. And then that was exceptional. And then I remember hearing before Titans v. Rebels like this is as good as Heroes v. Villains. And I said that's impossible because that would make this the best back-to-back seasons in Global Survivor history. And then that happened. And then we just kept debating what was a better season. And both valid arguments abounded. And now I hear that this is as good. And I'm not going to doubt it again because I already did that and I was already wrong. Yeah. That would be crazy though.

[00:12:18] What's been the secret to the success of Australian Survivor in terms of being on this hot streak? The last few seasons. I mean, I think that David Forster, the EP, is doing a lot of really good things. I think he knows how to make excellent television. I think he's cast really good seasons. I mean, if you look at the newbies, like the people we uncovered last year, you know, Ferris, Kobe, Eden, Caroline, Mark. Like there's so many, so many. I'm not listening to them all. Like there are so many good characters. I think it's really well cast.

[00:12:45] And having looked at the bios for this cast in the last couple of hours, this seems like a great group. So I think that's been really good. And I think that, you know, a lot of the complaints about Australian Survivor are about how much it will like kind of break the game. I don't know who's been complaining about that. Certainly not someone at Shannon Gates on Twitter leading a lot of that. But, you know, that hasn't really been the case in the last few seasons. Like it's often really hard to extend it to 24 episodes with non-eliminations. And I think the last few seasons, with some notable exceptions, have done it the best.

[00:13:14] I think that, you know, 95 out of 100 for last season's production. One twist I did not enjoy. Otherwise, I loved it. I think it's been done really, really well with the twist, with production. I think it has, yeah, good game design and great casts. And it's a fun format because it's so long. And when you do it right, these pre-mergers are like two concurrent mergers. And then they swap and it's madness. And I know that sometimes in US Survivor, people are kind of missing those like big tribes and

[00:13:42] those big games and swaps and like all the chaos of that. And I think Australian Survivor has delivered on that in droves. So yeah, worth checking out. Yeah. Well said. Okay, Shannon, you mentioned the cast was a big part of why these last couple seasons have popped, especially even Titans vs. Rebels, which was an all new player cast. Here we go again, returning to the Brains vs. Brawn format.

[00:14:09] And this is only the second time they're doing Brains vs. Brawn, right? Only the second. They've only had 10 seasons. That's one fifth of the seasons. I just feel like they're all Brains vs. Brawn. It's true. More than we did, I do have some stuff on that because even the Brains, even our Brains are like so brawny. Like our Brains tribe would be the brawniest people in New Era Survivor. Like it just is true. So, I mean, yes, Australian Survivor is known to be very brawny. Then sometimes they'll put in a couple of Brains and they made, you know, a couple of Brains tribes.

[00:14:39] Yeah, they love to steal US themes and then make it like two big, you know, tribe on tribe battles, just like the two tribes. We cut out Beauty. The joke's always been because, you know, everyone in Australia is so beautiful. Certainly the people they cast. It actually is fair and true. And we, yeah, we're doing Brains vs. Brawn again. And the first Brains vs. Brawn was very fun. Very, very fun. So if it can follow in those footsteps, that would be excellent. Okay.

[00:15:04] And so, Shannon, does this cast pop to you the way that some of these other casts have? This cast is so fun. Like, and I'm going to be honest with you. Like, I've been on like in my head, like the year is not really started, you know, and they dropped everything without warning. Like it was like, here's the date. And then online was like the whole cast. And I was like, that's a lot. So I kind of, I didn't look at it. The last couple of hours for this podcast, I was skipping through the bios and I was like, oh, this cast is great.

[00:15:33] Like almost every bio had something funny or interesting. Like I've got a little game for us, which you'll see. Like there's so much fun stuff here. Like even just from the page, let alone, I know there are videos going around. I'm really excited for the cast assessments we're going to do. But like, this seems like a really fun cast. Okay. All right. You want to jump into the game? Yeah. I'm really excited about the game. If anything else, it's in Samoa as usual, be around 47-ish days, like usual. General stuff.

[00:15:59] It seems like a lot of fans for Australian Survivor, which is a very low bar. But like compared again to new era US Survivor. Yeah, we struggle. But Titans v. Rebels was already making pretty good on that. And I think like this, this cast seemed to really have a lot of fans. Yeah, that's mainly what I had. Do you have anything else? No, I'd love to hear about this cast. Okay. I will. I have the cast that I've made into Two Truths and a Lie as a game.

[00:16:28] I like to gamify things, as you know. See if you can beat me, the banker. I'm also watching a lot of Dondi right now. So that's where I'm at. I bet you this game will make more sense than Dondi. Wait, hold on. Can I take the deal? What? To not do it at all. Maybe, maybe. This is what we do. If you can beat My Two Truths and a Lie, how many did I do? Seven. Seven. I did one, two, three. I did several. So if you get four, we call it We Know Global.

[00:16:57] And if you get fewer than four, we go with We Know Global Survivor. And that's how production is decided at RHAP in a game. Yeah. Do you like that? Are you willing to bet it all on this game? Sure. You need to care more about my wages. I care. I care. You don't. You don't care. This is the issue. This is what happens in the draft. People think you need to care more about the things that I, like, my competitiveness. You know, it needs, like, pretend you care about this.

[00:17:27] Well, there are stakes now. I am. Look, I am with bated breath waiting to get into the game. All right. Cool. So this is going to decide the entire direction of the podcast, which is my child. So stakes are high. All right. So, okay. The first one in Two Truths and a Lie is actually four truths and a lie. And it's just names. Okay. I've got five names here. You tell me which one is not a name of a person on the cast. Okay.

[00:17:52] Then, Ursula, Noonan, PD, and Jiminy Joe. Hmm. Okay. Can I hear those names one more time? Yeah. Then, Ursula, Noonan, PD, and Jiminy Joe. Hmm. Hmm.

[00:18:21] Now, I feel like, just to talk it through, did Shannon give me the wackiest name and that's the fake name? Or does she try to throw me off by putting a very basic name into the pile of wacky names? Just real quick, one last time. Then, Ursula, Noonan, PD, and Jiminy Joe. Hmm.

[00:18:47] I'm tempted to say PD, but I feel like that in hearing it back, I feel like that Shannon said P, P, D. P, D. P, D. And that's very unusual. I'm going to say that the person that's not in the cast is Ursula. Wrong. I don't have sound effects. Okay, great. One for me. It's very important. Okay. Who is it? It's Jiminy Joe. There's no Jiminy Joe.

[00:19:15] I'm really glad this worked because I couldn't say it was a straight face. And then I tested it on Peter before thinking he'd be like, it's clearly Jiminy Joe. And he said Zen. And I was like, okay, good. That works. I'm keeping Jiminy Joe. And I was really happy about that. Jiminy Joe was so out there. Yeah, it made me laugh. Mm-hmm. I don't know why. I'm so glad that worked. Okay. See, even better than it worked. Okay. I'm really happy about it. Can you tell me anything about Jiminy Joe? There is no Jiminy Joe. Oh, that's right.

[00:19:44] Well, what about, what would he be like? I imagine like a farmer, maybe. Where'd you come up with Jiminy Joe? I have no idea, Robert. Is it like Jiminy Cricket? Yeah, I think maybe. And I think part of me was like Joey, Joe, Joe, Junior, Shabadoo. And then I don't know. I don't know where Jiminy Joe is. I don't know. I'm really glad it worked because I didn't put that much thought into it. It came out of my brain and it worked on two, like both you and Peter. So I'm really happy about that. I don't know how you guess that.

[00:20:14] You thought there was someone called Jiminy Joe that's insane. It's ridiculous. All right. So did your husband. I know. And I judge him too. I was just as harsh on him. I feel really bad for him because he was just helping me. Anyway, no, there's a Zen. There's that. That's true. There is Ursula. Noonan, who is Laura, but is going by Noonan. And PD. Yeah. Yeah. Those people will exist. All right. On to the next one. Yes. Okay. This is jobs.

[00:20:42] Which two of these jobs are actually jobs in the show? Olympian, a witch, or an AFL player? Hmm. So two of them are real. Yeah. That's the game. I mean, an Olympian and an AFL player are so generic. Did Shannon Jiminy Joe me again?

[00:21:12] And is the fake answer the witch? I love that it's a verb now. And I really think it should become a thing forever. Well, I think I'm, I'll say that the, I feel like there's so many Olympians and there's so many AFL players. I have to say the witch. Yeah. No, that one was, that wasn't true. See, I Jiminy Joe'd you twice.

[00:21:37] One time by making you fall for Jiminy Joe and then eradicating your sense of trust to go back. And then you didn't trust about Jiminy Joe. So you assumed I would just do a witch, which I didn't. That actually is the profession of someone on the season. Laura, the other Laura that's not Noonan. Yes. Laura is a witch. Yeah. Laura calls herself a witch because she's a woman who knows what she wants and wants to take back the stigma in the title. Okay, cool. Because that just sounds like. That's not a job though. That's not a job. That's not a job.

[00:22:03] Because she has over 250 crystals, uses spells on the daily and knows how to manifest through her spell work and magic. That sounds like she's working to me. All right. That being said, the last thing I want is to get on the wrong side of a witch. So. Sounds like a valid profession to me, Laura. I'm your number one stan. My winner pick, Laura. Not Noonan. If, yeah, you didn't get smited right now, which is, I assume, how spells work. Which is great. It's been a good time. I think God smites. I don't think witches smite.

[00:22:33] I think they can. I don't think so. Yeah, I think so. I think so. Let us know. Weigh in in the comments. Yeah. Can witches smite? I think yes. And I think it's been a good time for witches in pop culture. Agatha all along. Did you watch that? Did you watch Agatha? I did not. It was a great series. Highly recommend that too. But anyway, you know, big time for a witch. We've had an empath in Kara before. Yeah, it's literally her job title. That's what it has.

[00:23:03] Yeah. Everyone else has their job title. Okay. Yeah. See, fun cast. Okay, that's two for me. I'm getting very close to getting what I want on the podcast. Maybe there might be another witch. I don't get it. Maybe it's you. People have said. They're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one. Yeah, look. Anyway. Look, Wicked. That's hot. Yes, Wicked. I talked about Agatha before I even talked about Wicked. Thank you so much.

[00:23:32] I literally podcast about Wicked. I was about to have my musical stand card revoked. Wicked. It's a big time for witches. Exactly. Thank you. Did you see Wicked? Yes. Did you like it? It was fine. Oh, you're going to get so smited by so many witches right now. It's a little long. A little long. It was a little long. It was a little. In my professional review, I said the same. Like a lot with the talking animals. We're like, we really like are. Oh, it's the world. Have you seen? Have you ever seen Wizard of Oz? I did see the Wizard of Oz. Yeah.

[00:24:01] But I feel like I don't need that. I feel like there was a lot of backstory into all the talking animal politics. It was like. That's like the whole point of the movie. Okay. All right. I don't. I saw the production like in off Broadway. Oh, no. But. Wow. Look at you. I don't remember all that. I felt like a lot of filler in the Wicked. And I'm not talking about anybody's faces. I don't think that the talking animals would filler.

[00:24:32] I think that it chewed the scenery too much. Much like that goat might chew something because he's a goat. But. I don't. I mean, the animal stuff is kind of like the main thing. It's going to be very important for the second part. That's like the whole thing. You would just like get to define gravity. Right. Like that's what. Yeah. Come on. Let's. Yeah. Get to some of the bangers here. Does the cowardly lion talk in Wizard of Oz? Or did I make that up? Yeah. He talks. He talks. He talks. Right. Okay. Sorry. Put him up.

[00:25:01] Put him up. He sings the whole song. Oh, he sings the whole song? Wait. Have you not seen the Wizard of Oz? No, I've seen it. I've seen it just so long ago. Like I know. Like I've seen the Wizard of Oz. But like. Maybe I should watch it. Because it's big time for witches. Speaking. I actually had more on this, by the way. Obviously, there's an Olympian. There's always an Olympian. Morgan. So that's the one thing Australia has. It's Olympians. And then Laura's the witch. And then. Okay. There's no AFL player.

[00:25:29] Which is crazy in an Australian Survivor season. Let alone Brains v. Braun. They might be scared off by what's been happening to the AFL players in seasons like that. But. We have. We have two wags. Oh. Okay. Wives and girlfriends of AFL players? Yeah. So one of them is the wag of a current AFL player. Jason Chanison. That's Logan. Mm-hmm. And that's her job title too. Wag. Yeah. Okay. And then someone else. Ursula.

[00:25:58] Is an ex-wag. Like her partner. Not her ex-partner. But her current partner. Did play in the NRL. And PD is a soccer coach and ex-player. So like not an AFL player. But like we did get pretty close. You know. Yeah. Like we had to obviously get pretty close. Anyway. Have they taken back. Speaking of taking back the term. Wag. That people are. That they're wearing that proudly. That's a big thing here. Yeah. Wag. You got wag. I mean Taylor Swift's a wag now. It's very proud. Proud.

[00:26:26] Big time for wags and for witches. Yeah. I don't think we really talk about the wives and girlfriends of players as wags. Really? In America you don't do. That's huge here. I tend to see it more because on the very popular podcast News AF I have to do a lot of searching through all the different news sites. And I'm on a lot of like British tabloid websites. And I see a lot about wags. So that's probably where we got it. But like it's really big here. And that's her job literally on the thing.

[00:26:57] Logan. AFL wag. So yeah. Interested in how that's going to go. So those are the professions. We've only done two of the several categories that I have. Yes. Two to zero is the score. All right. And just to count. So zero points. Smited by a witch. That's where you're at right now. It's not going so well. Okay. This is a fashion category. Okay. Two of these three things people are wearing. Okay. All right. One. Denim and rhinestones.

[00:27:28] Two. Long gloves. Three. A sweater vest. These are things that people are wearing in their picture. In their like island. Yeah. Can you repeat? What do Bryce and I do too? Their cast forms. Cast pick. Yes. Okay. Can you repeat these one more time? Denim and rhinestones. Long gloves. And a sweater vest. I'll say the sweater vest is fake.

[00:27:57] Unfortunately, Rob, you were very close to losing this game all up. And I hope we still get to do all my categories. But yeah. Noonan is wearing a sweater vest. Okay. My least favorite, Laura. She's not a witch, but she is wearing a sweater vest. Um, over a t-shirt, which is an interesting kind of look. I mean, she's a brain. So I guess. Was it denim and rhinestones? No. Also, there is a woman, Kate, I think, who is in full, just all denim and rhinestones. Yeah.

[00:28:25] Which is because denim is like not good for Survivor, I feel. And this is all denim. And like not in shapes that I feel like will be good. Yeah. For the challenges. And then rhinestones. So, yeah. So long gloves was the lie. Well, yeah. I made that one up. Okay. Yeah. I've really got you. I think she's talked about it. Kate talked about it. Um. No, this is a good part. I guess I've never seen anybody wear gloves in their Survivor cast photo. I would be crazy. Okay. Here we go. Look at what I'm wearing on the first day.

[00:28:55] It's rhinestone and denim. And denim. My whole outfit is just to look like a girly girl. Okay. I think they're going to get the wrong perception. Yeah. And it's got like a buckle, but it's like completely bare. Is she brain or brawn? In the middle. She's brawn. Yeah. Yeah. So again, interesting. I mean, last season, the big one was Valeria had like that really big fluffy coat. Yes. Um, so anyway, carrying on the tradition of strange fashion choices, but yeah, no long gloves. I think if someone came in gloves, that would be weird.

[00:29:23] Cause that's not a helpful accessory in Survivor. That's not going to help with anything. I don't think. Can you think of anything it would help us? Maybe you could, uh, take the pot off of the fire. Easy. Okay. There you go. See, that's innovating. All right. Next category for idols without like ripping your hands up. And like, uh, it's like a bug camp, a spider can't bite you through the gloves. Yeah. And also probably at night, your hands might get cold. Yeah. Like, I feel like that when you go look for, I wouldn't know.

[00:29:51] I've never looked for an idol before, but I think that like, I feel like if you guys like stick your hands in a lot of holes, maybe like those gloves might be useful. What are you thinking? Like when Jim like rehid the idol? Mm-hmm. Yeah. There was like fire ants and stuff. Yeah. Okay. Well, that would be really playing the long game. I think, but like more power to you. Yeah. Okay. AI category because it's 2025. Okay. Doesn't bother me, but some may be upset. Well,

[00:30:21] there's two AI specific jobs. Okay. Which of these three, which two of these three, an AI trainer, an AI expert, and an AI PhD student. Hmm. AI trainer. I guess an AI trainer is fake. That is correct. AI is pretty easy to train. It trains itself. It's really, you don't need to train it.

[00:30:50] That one was really hard because I don't know AI jobs and I had to look them up. And I didn't, I didn't know what, I don't know. I was just making things up, but yeah, we have an AI expert, which is Ali and a, and a PhD student who's studying AI. AI without, or Ali without AI. No, actually it's with a Y. It's right there, Ali. No, unfortunately. Yeah. And even Kaylin, there's no I there. It's K A E. L A N. So actually they, I feel like both of them went out of their way to leave that eye out. I'm taking their brains.

[00:31:21] The what? I'm taking their brains. Yeah. And there's no, and you can't spell brains without AI. You beat me to it. But you can spell both of their names. Yeah. No I. Yeah. I in those names. Or team. Okay. Or, yeah, I got no more. I got no more on this. We've, we've exhausted it. All right, but I'm still alive, baby. That'd be amazing. Like a Boston Red Sox. Come back three from down three zero.

[00:31:51] Shannon would be so despondent. I would. I feel like that would be a crazy way for me to decide the whole future of the podcast. That's what like. A collapse. Yeah. That would be crazy. It would be well, it would be well earned. Um, yeah. I mean, after the whole Jiminy Joe. We know Jiminy Joe could be the URL. That'd be a great prank for me. Like you should make it that. Not good for you either. Probably. Right. Like we're in this together. We're a team. I mean,

[00:32:18] we could probably give you Rob as a website.com slash Jiminy Joe. That'd be pretty funny for the, for the day one is of this season. For the people who really listen to this one podcast and you get, and then there's a kind of thing where like years from now, people will be like, what is with Jiminy Joe? Like what I would like. And Shannon, tell me if this is maybe you don't want this. Uh, if there was a Twitter account, Jiminy Joe, I, that was talking about Australian survivor. I think I would like that. Yeah, no, of course I want that. What's wrong with that? Okay. I mean,

[00:32:46] don't troll people from the Jiminy Joe account, but like, yeah. Anyway, I also don't know. Please don't troll people from the Jiminy Joe account. Okay. That's all I ask. I'm looking now at Kalen and it says he's an ex engineer. He's an ex engineer. Now a PhD student using AI to scout and map vegetation by drone around Antarctica. Like these people are interesting. And also is he an AI PhD student? Probably not. I think I took some liberties, but I wanted to make an AI category. Okay. Okay.

[00:33:15] I've got a whole category on Kalen. Okay. Why? Because he is a PhD student on the brains tribe, right? And I want you to picture what you think that looks like, right? On Australian survival. Okay. I've got four things here. Three truths and a lie. What does Kalen also do? Three of these four things, play rugby, professional paddleboarder, champion swimmer, and a surfer. This is the PhD student. This is what it's, this is my, why I'm trying to like, look how brawny,

[00:33:44] even our brainiest are down, not me, but down under usually. That's my point. Yes. Shannon, can you say those, that list one more time? Rugby, professional paddleboarder, champion swimmer, and surfer. I think that the fake answer is surfer. Unfortunately, it's professional swimmer. So I've actually won now.

[00:34:13] And I'm not going to name my podcast, Jiminy Joe. Okay. But I might change my name. To Shannon Jiminy Joe? Well, I have to change my last name. I've never legally done that. Do you think I should make it my middle name? I don't have a middle name. Why not? But it'd be a long way for a bet. Anyway, Rob, I'm really sorry that you lost the game. Have you enjoyed it? Because I have two more categories. Give me the other two real quick. All right. All right. Okay. Last year, Kent, who was on the cast,

[00:34:41] met two of these three people. Okay. John Keirhofer, Jeff Probst, and Mark Burnett. Who's the person he didn't meet? Yeah. He didn't meet Mark Burnett. He did. Wow. I know. He said he met Jeff and Mark Burnett. Like, I don't even know that they hung out with each other. At the same time, he met them? That's how it's coming across. Do you want me to read what he said? Sure. I'm really excited for the cast, because again, every bio was blowing my mind. I've been in love with the show for 25 years, he says.

[00:35:11] I even met Mark Burnett and Jeff Probst last year. I kind of felt like it was together. I thank Mark for the show and how much it meant to me and my eyes welled up. Maybe it wasn't together? Did Jeff and Mark Burnett hang out? I mean, not to my knowledge, but it's possible they could have been both at like, did he go to like the Emmys or something? Why did he go there? I don't know. He's a business mogul? Maybe he had meetings with them. 4.40 every morning? Yeah. Meetings with them? For what? I bet they take a lot of meetings, those guys.

[00:35:41] Not with me. That's crazy. Do you think that's how he got on the show? I don't know. Probably not. I don't feel like Jeff's loving Australian Survivor. I don't think that he leveraged his connections with Jeff Probst and Mark Burnett to get on Australian Survivor. Why not? You're saying that disparagingly. I just don't think that they have any pull. Yeah. I mean, they would, but they wouldn't use it. Do you think Mark Burnett knows there's Australian Survivor? I think so.

[00:36:11] But Charlie Parsons knows. Why? Because he's making bank. Right. I don't know how that all works. Mm-hmm. Fair enough. Okay, last category. Does Mark Burnett's name appear in the credits of Australian Survivor? I'd have to check. Just Charlie Parsons, right? I don't think so. It probably, probably? I don't know. Okay, well, that's something to look out for next time. Or maybe someone just go back to an old episode. Let me know. Yeah. From the Jiminy Joe account. Yeah, I had listened to

[00:36:40] the audio book, the Emily Nussbaum book, Cue the Sun. Yeah, that was good. And she talked a lot about how the development of Survivor and the work that Charlie Parsons did to like create the format, which then he could not sell for anything. And Mark Burnett was able to, like the ultimate salesman, was able to sell to CBS. Right. Interesting. I don't know if he met Charlie Parsons. It's not in his bio, if so. Probably not. Probably he did because what the hell? Crazy. I mean, the bio is really,

[00:37:10] I think, I'm excited about this guy. Yeah. Okay, miscellaneous. Which, okay, so is someone vice president of the PTA, do they have a pet koala or is the financial analyst also a pole dancer? I didn't have categories for these ones. I think for pretty clear reasons. This is the same, one person has two of these three things. these are three different people. But like, which of these things do they not do? Okay. It's miscellaneous category. It's miscellaneous category and you're just telling me

[00:37:39] that two things that people actually do. Okay. Yeah. And they are once again. Someone's vice president of the PTA, someone has a pet koala and someone is a financial analyst who also pole dance. Okay. I don't think somebody has a pet koala. Yeah, you are right. They have a pet kangaroo. Isn't that crazy? Can we talk about your beloved husband does not love kangaroos?

[00:38:10] Why? He does love them. Does he? Because of the time that they all ate kangaroo? No. No. I feel like at Marianne's wedding he was talking about that they drowned dogs. Peter? Were you talking about how kangaroos drowned dogs at Marianne's wedding? Never mind. What? Well, no. Bad take. I mean,

[00:38:40] I don't want them to drown dogs. They hide in the water and pretend and then and then the dogs come out and then they drown dogs for sport. What? I think he's really kept that for me because it's like it's too much for me. They're like serial killer kangaroos. What? Why was he talking about that Marianne's wedding? Where was I? What? And that stuck with you so much that you remembered it from last day. How do you forget that? Do you remember anything else about Marianne's wedding or that was like

[00:39:10] the one thing? I remember many things. Yeah. Oh, okay. All right. Well, I don't know what he's talking. I genuinely don't know what he's talking. I mean, all the kangaroos I know are lovely. Are lovely. Yeah. The reason this is annoying is because like that's the thing that the Australians like to do. Like there are kangaroos everywhere. We all have pet kangaroos but this woman actually does. Allie. Yeah. She's the one who has a pet kangaroo. That's why I put it in there. And then Zara is vice president of the PTA. And the reason I love that is I felt like president of the PTA is like a perfect profession trope.

[00:39:39] But vice president is like even better. Like that's great. Like that sounds like a sitcom character. Yeah. Love that. She actually sounds really impressive but very funny. Okay. That's Zara. Yeah. And then Miles who's a big fan is a financial analyst who also poll dances. So I just thought that was interesting and unexpected. Oh. Miles is a poll dancer? Yeah. Wow. Am I expecting that? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Do you know Miles? I don't. Okay. Well he says but something you wouldn't know about me is I'm a poll dancer.

[00:40:09] It's one of my hobbies that I like to do. This is something totally out of left field that people don't think of. That's right. That's how it means. Is it thunder from down under? Um. I don't think so. I don't want to have to look because then I feel like it'll mess up my algorithm. Yeah. Then I'm never getting away from that. But now it probably already has. But yeah. Wow. That's. That was. Do you have fun? In the five to two was the final score but you did well. Right there.

[00:40:39] As well as could be. You felt. Not an easy game. Not an easy game. Not easy. Of lies about random things. Yeah. That is true. That's quite high. Um. I think a well constructed game and a Jimmy Joe do. Yes. And that's good. It's good when you can create like a whole new concept. You definitely did. Okay. Shannon has a bunch of preseason coverage that's going to be coming your way. Can you tease us with any preseason coverage? Yes. So the cast assessment. So Mike and I

[00:41:08] are going to do our regular cast assessments in each tribe. I guess start with brains, right? Because brains be born. I'm really excited about talking about this cast because as you can tell like that was just that was just some of the fun facts. Really fun stuff from the buyers and there's still videos coming out on social media and apparently the ads of I'm a celebrity get me out of here but I don't want to have to watch it. So I don't know. Okay. But yeah. And so we're going to do that. We're going to do a draft an Australian draft of Aussie drafters looking into that.

[00:41:38] It's a look. Yeah. Definitely those things. Okay. And then all the coverage we spoke about a while ago. Yeah. All right. Well, Shannon, we know globalsurvivor.com is where people can find all of your coverage. We have kicked off the preseason officially and so can't wait to see what comes up the rest of the way and then an incredible amount of coverage, a real marathon of 20, what,

[00:42:08] 24 recaps? When you put it like that. Weekly feedback shows, exit interviews, the most encompassing Australian survivor coverage coverage that you could ever find. Yeah. And then Survivor 48 will start. You're in the right place. You found your people. We are going to make it so easy for the patrons to get to watch all of the stuff, even if they're not in Australia. Shannon, what else is coming up for you? Mostly that, honestly.

[00:42:38] A lot of that. I'm kind of just like getting ready for that. But yeah, the cast assessment, that's going to happen. You're resting up. Yeah, I really am. I'm in hibernation. I don't really have more. I feel like that's a lot. I feel like I don't have to feel bad that I don't have much more than that. But ask Shannon Gates, that's what I want to say. Ask Shannon Gates, Instagram, Blue Sky, Twitter, I'll post all that content so then you won't miss it and subscribe to the feed that Rob said and don't miss any of the content. Okay. All right. Thank you so much for joining us. We've got a ton of great Survivor podcasts

[00:43:09] from Survivor 47 still. I'm going to drop my Medium Dive with Genevieve on Wednesday as well so be on the lookout for that. Plus, you can check out my interviews with Rachel and Sam. I also have recorded interviews with Teenie and Andy and those should soon be on the way. Plus, coverage of The Traders, Dondi, everything else happening in the world of reality TV. It's all at robhazaw Website.com. Thank you so much for joining us. Take care of a good one. Bye.