The Survivor 42 Cast Talks Jonathan Young | The Survivor 50 Files
Survivor 46 RHAPJuly 01, 20251:36:36

The Survivor 42 Cast Talks Jonathan Young | The Survivor 50 Files

The Survivor 42 Cast Talks Jonathan Young | The Survivor 50 Files

As Survivor 50 brings together legends from across the decades, it’s time to revisit the history that made them icons. In The Survivor 50 Files, host Brandon Donlon dives deep into the castaway archives — exploring the journey of each player in the Survivor 50 cast in the order they originally played.

With insight from former tribemates, behind-the-scenes stories, and a sharp eye for the game’s evolution, Brandon unpacks what made each of these players memorable and why they earned a spot in the biggest season yet.

The Survivor 50 Files returns with Brandon Donlon diving deep into Jonathan Young’s gameplay as he prepares for Survivor 50. Brandon is joined by Jonathan’s former tribemates Lindsay Dolashewich and Omar Zaheer, Zach Wurtenberger, as well as close friend and ally Mike Turner, to dissect Jonathan’s strengths and potential pitfalls.

Lindsay and Omar share their first impressions of Jonathan, from his imposing physical presence to his surprising social skills early in the game. They discuss the challenges Jonathan faced as the game progressed, including his struggles with hunger and emotional control. Mike Turner offers insights into Jonathan’s post-game growth and their friendship, highlighting Jonathan’s lesser-known qualities that could impact his gameplay in Season 50.

They discuss:

– Jonathan’s infamous 24-egg diet and its potential impact on his Survivor performance

– The double-edged sword of being a challenge beast in the modern era of Survivor

– Strategies for managing hunger and maintaining social connections while starving

– Jonathan’s unexpected singing talent and ability to connect with diverse personalities

– Mike Turner’s advice for Jonathan to focus on his social game and emotional control

Topics by timestamp:

00:00 Intros

09:41 First Impressions of Jonathan

18:25 Jonathan’s Strengths Beyond Physicality

25:35 Jonathan’s Social Game Challenges

32:55 Life Without Jonathan on Taku

41:38 Jonathan’s Kryptonite: Emily?

50:12 Surprising Alliances for Jonathan

57:25 Predicting Jonathan’s Survivor 50 Fate

1:03:22 Mike Turner Joins the Conversation

1:08:38 Jonathan’s Friendship with Boston Rob

1:15:17 Jonathan’s Struggle with Hunger

1:20:39 Mike’s Advice for Jonathan

1:23:31 Mike’s Hopes for Survivor 50

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[00:00:00] This episode of The Survivor 50 Files is brought to you by our friends over at Manta Sleep. Summertime is officially here. The days are longer, the sun is brighter, and while all of that extra daylight can feel energizing, it can quickly sabotage your sleep. Later sunsets disrupt your body's circadian rhythm, making it harder to fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up feeling refreshed. That's where Manta Sleep comes in. Whether you're blocking out daylight or tuning out the sounds of summer nights,

[00:00:26] taking control of your sleep environment helps you get deep, restorative rest no matter how long the sun stays up. I love this sleep mask. When we looked for a sponsor for this podcast, they were the first company that I jumped to. I bought one of these during COVID. I was sleeping very poorly. I had a lot of anxiety. This doubled the quality of my sleep. I am loyal to it, and I've been influencing for this way longer than this podcast.

[00:00:51] Visit the Manta Sleep website and use our discount code 50Files. That's 5-0-F-I-L-E-S for 10% off your order. Discount code is 50Files, 5-0-F-I-L-E-S. Let's get to the show. What is going on, everybody? We are back. We're in the new era. We've entered the new era on The Survivor 50 Files.

[00:01:16] I am Brandon Dunlant, and we're here to talk about Jonathan Young. You know him. You love him. You've seen him at the Waffle House eating 12 eggs. Or you have seen his Instagram story where he's doing that every couple of days, which is a concern for Survivor. I'm here with two fantastic guests, two members of Survivor 42. They spent the whole time they were on Survivor with Jonathan. It's Lindsey and Omer. Guys, how are you? Hello. Thank you for having me. Hello, hello. Super excited to be here. Thank you, Brandon.

[00:01:44] How did you feel about 24 eggs? I mean, it's called a binge. That's what it is. So what's so funny, that was literally one of the questions that I had planned for Lindsey was, that can't be good to do that every day, Lindsey, and then go on Survivor. I mean, I definitely didn't want to call him out while we were on the island. Like, when he's expressing, like, how he typically eats. Like, I didn't want to say, like, this is clearly a binge. This is clearly to build up weight before the show starts.

[00:02:13] Like, you wouldn't eat like that on a normal basis. So I didn't even see his stories. But if his stories are doing that recently, then it's clearly I'm bulking up for the show to look as large as possible. I think that's his normal diet. Huh? I think that's his normal diet. Also, Lindsey being all diplomatic, like, I didn't want to breach the subject with him on the island. And I vividly recall you telling him that was unhealthy. Oh, my God. Well, I said, like, don't worry. I'll talk to you about it afterwards. And I'll set you up. And he's like, I know what I'm doing. And I'm like, no, you don't.

[00:02:43] This is kind of what I do for work. Like, I pay my bills with what I know. And you don't. But OK. And we know rent in New Jersey. It's not cheap. No, exactly. So I'm spilling out all the correct info and getting paid. What is the prep for him to go do this again if it's not 24 eggs? Like, what would keep his body in the best shape? One ostrich egg. That's all he needs is one ostrich. I told him, the efficiency of taking one ostrich egg versus 24 chicken eggs, you're making a big mistake.

[00:03:12] Waffle House doesn't sell that. He could get his own. Even though he could go to the store, he'd rather go to Waffle House and sell it. Can you eat an ostrich egg? Yeah. Hell yeah. Why not? And they did that on The Amazing Race. That was one of the challenges on The Amazing Race. They had to eat a whole ostrich egg before they could move on. And people had difficulty with getting through it. That's a big egg. Have you had one personally? Have you eaten the ostrich egg? I've eaten ostrich. Is it good? But not an egg. It was pretty good, yeah.

[00:03:42] It was kind of like in between beef and chicken. I don't even know how to describe that. Now, is this something that had to do with your schooling of having to eat an ostrich? Or was this prep for an ostrich? Did you eat some of them? No, we fed some of them. Then we ate some of them. It was give and take. Not the same day, though. Same day. That's sad, right? That's a bummer. He's not sad about it. He doesn't look it. If you're listening via audio, he's smiling with glee at this moment.

[00:04:12] I've also taken blood from an ostrich. I grabbed its neck and poked it with a needle. Just sat there. That's kind of like Jonathan, you know? He'll just sit there and take it. Sure. I was going to segue with glee, a show that Jonathan's never seen. Tell me, Homer, about your first, you lay eyes on Jonathan. And like, in terms of a first visual impression, there's maybe nobody on this Survivor 50 cast that leaves a more visual impression than him. What was that impression for you? Firstly, thank you.

[00:04:42] I'm all decked out in Jonathan. You know, Jonathan taught me how to wear man jewelry. You know, he, you know, we have the muscles coming out. We've got the ocean behind me. And then we'll say a little prayer too. But the first time I laid eyes on Jonathan was at the LA Starbucks. So here I am. First of all, did not know the rules of going to Starbucks at nine in the morning. I rolled my ass out of there.

[00:05:12] You were supposed to go between seven and nine or something like that. I rolled in at 11 a.m. And I was like, I didn't see anybody today. That's weird. Then I reread the rules. The next day I came at the appropriate time. The first person I saw was Jonathan Young. But we were wearing K95 masks, you know, at the time. It was, it wasn't by choice. So I saw him in this mask. And I was like, that looks like Grant Matos.

[00:05:40] It was very, I was like, is this a, is this a captain season with Grant Matos? But he, he, as I, we walked by each other, he was leaving. He gave me a nod. I gave him a nod. And I was like, that's got, that guy's going to be on the show. Then the second time I saw him was when we got on the bus to go to the LAX airport. And he saw my shirt, which was a Power Ranger shirt. I saw you that day. Yeah. And he said to me, nice shirt.

[00:06:09] And I, I got him. I was like, that guy better fucking be on my tribe because I'm going to need some help physically. And when I saw him roll up an orange, I was like, it's done. Like, I was like, that's my number one on day one for sure. And here we are. Do you know that I wore a Power Rangers shirt in Fiji because I heard you on a podcast say that you wore one in Fiji? Oh, I did not know that. Which one did you wear? I have, I think I got it like Kohl's or something.

[00:06:39] It's just the general Mighty Morphin Power Rangers logo. And then all the, all the guys. But I heard you say that you did it. I'm like, listen, maybe somebody likes Power Rangers. Nobody, I think Sifu gave me like a little knot, but nobody, we didn't, I didn't have a heavy Power Rangers tribe. Was that the same impression? I hate it. People should do niche stuff like that because nobody's going to hate it. And if somebody loves it, that's a connection. For sure. For sure. I can say the same thing. You, Lindsay, you had the same Power Rangers connection or your connection was different? No, my connection was different, but I also saw Jonathan at Starbucks.

[00:07:09] And because I got thrown in LA late because, um, Lindsay from the future season on 43 got COVID. So I took her spot. So I still had my phone. Cause I was like, guys, you're pulling me in like tomorrow. I have to deal this up with work. So let me have my phone. So Omar saw me, but he's like, she has her phone. She couldn't be one of the cast people. But I saw, I think it was a Black Power Ranger shirt, if I remember correctly. And I saw you there and I saw Jonathan, obviously all the masks on. I'm like, this guy just doesn't look like he belongs.

[00:07:39] He looks like he's clearly casted for the show. Um, but then I remember once we got on the plane and we were waiting in line in Fiji. I'm like, if you look at our cast overall, it was not. What? Survivor sucks poster said that we looked like we were all picked up at a bus stop.

[00:08:06] Like I had Zach, Romeo, and then Janine, who was our alternate all right in front of me. And I'm like, what is happening right now? Like, am I one of the only stronger people there? And when I saw Jonathan and he came out in orange, I was like, oh, sick. Okay. This is awesome. This will be super helpful. But the person who had the t-shirt that stuck out was Jackson. He was wearing a office t-shirt during one of the zombie walks while we were in Fiji. And I was like, oh, sick. I love the office. So I'm definitely going to like jump on that. And then Jackson was on our tribe too.

[00:08:35] And of course, on the first night we're chatting about it. So it made, and I think I wore my office shirt another day to kind of like secretly communicate. And I think he saw it. Um, so it's kind of funny when you can't talk to anybody or see their face, what you choose to do to try to like talk. I will say that was an underrated time. The LAX time was so fun because we don't know what we're doing. You get meals delivered to your door. I remember peeking out a little people to see the person across from me, get their meal and then found out in the game, they were doing the same thing.

[00:09:05] Um, you know, we didn't end on the best of terms. That was fun. And then if you, and then also playing the game at, in Starbucks of who's on the cast and who's not. And I remember seeing somebody else in a K95 mask, the exact same one I had. So I was like, they must be on the season, but they don't look like they should be on this show. Like they, this is not somebody who should be on survivor. Like it just doesn't work. Like what, what is, what are they going for here? Turns out it was Zach.

[00:09:39] Yeah. Which I love. Put a pin in that for later. I was able to interact with him. We'll circle back on that shortly. Um, you're in the game with Jonathan and like, obviously there was a huge physical advantage for your team, but what, what advantages does Jonathan offer a group that go beyond physicality? What is, what, what about having Jonathan other than just lifting stuff is good to have on your team?

[00:10:04] So Jonathan, especially like he was honestly a lot of the glue of the tribe in the first few days, especially there's even a secret scene out there. It may be hidden in the locked vault of Lindsay gushing over Jonathan being the glue of the Taku tribe and how he kept us all to, cause he was very positive. He was talking to everybody at that time. He was doing a lot of the heavy manual labor and he was very, you could see him on the show trying to show me how to open a coconut and stuff like that.

[00:10:33] Like he was actually very supportive as a tribe member for somebody who didn't know what they were doing. And so I found that to be very comforting in an environment where I felt extraordinarily uncomfortable. Like I was having the internal monologue that I feel like a lot of people outwardly express, but because I was like, I can't show any weakness. It was all inside my brain, but he was a big comforting factor of like, okay, I feel like if he's here, he's showing me how to do things that I don't know how to do.

[00:11:03] He's willing to put himself on the line to like get climb the tree and get breadfruit for us. And he was a physical powerhouse in the challenges. Um, we learned very quickly that does not translate to a simple puzzle, Jonathan. So don't put him on the puzzle survivor, 50 people, but he was extraordinarily, um, upbeat and like trying to keep everybody together. Um, when he gets angry, different situation.

[00:11:31] He was good with me, but like not necessarily everybody got along with that. Lindsay, can you tell me about that? Also, I will actually agree in the very beginning. It was, it was very fun. We're like, Oh, we're such a boring tribe. Cause we all get along. So no one's going to put us on TV because we're not having all of this drama. So it was very fun in the beginning. And I remember thinking like my whole purpose in the beginning was number one, do not be in a minority group of like two people.

[00:11:59] Like I either have to be with three people or with all six. I don't want to be just like, let's say me, Marianne leaving because in the very beginning, there's four people being like, Oh, let's band together. So the other main thing was we cannot fracture. We need to be a strong team. Everyone should get along. And it was very easy because Jonathan was a nice piece to that. Like he was able to pick up the things that literally and figuratively the pieces that we could not and kind of keep that glue together.

[00:12:25] But I think it was maybe day five or day six where that definitely shifted, which I, that's really when the starvation period really hits where there's, I think it's episode two. I'm like, I'm crashing so hard. Like I noticed my body was like, you are on a desert Island and starving. There's nothing you have left. You're on fumes. And I think that's when things started to shift, but in the beginning it was fun and it was nice to feel a very kumbaya. We are going to destroy everything. And it was also nice.

[00:12:54] We had a good conversation. I don't remember who started it. Maybe me, maybe not of like, what is everyone's strengths and weaknesses so we can decide how we're going to divvy up challenges once we get there, because we quickly realized you have like 20 seconds to plan how you're going to handle this challenge. So it was nice that everyone felt they were, had their own place, including him. In the first few days, I legit, like these two were like pushing the boundaries of the huddle. No, chill.

[00:13:22] There was a place that like, I'm not going to be an asshole and be like, like you have to play the game. So if he's, he was booting me. He was booting me. But I, at one point I did think I was like, is this a showmance? And then I, and then Mary, I said, I loved your bromance. You two got real close. No, but I thought, I thought that Lindsay and Jonathan were becoming a power couple at one point. So I was like, stay away from each other. And then Mary Ann's like, what are you talking about? There's like no chemistry between them at all. Like, oh.

[00:13:51] And I definitely didn't have that either. It was friendly. And one of my fears going in was like, I do not want there to be any chance of it. Like just in the history of survivor, there's a power couple, whether it's true or not, you are now vulnerable to be one of the people acts just for the sake of the connection. And I was like, I cannot. And I even said that to Omer, which you definitely used in your advantage against me at one point, not against me, but whatever, but which was helpful for you.

[00:14:17] And I didn't mind regardless, cause it didn't work out in our favor, but, um, I didn't want anyone to worry that we were anything more than that. And I remember Mariah one night, she was like, could you imagine at the end during the finale that Lindsay and Jonathan are sitting next to each other as a couple. And I'm like, like, I rolled my eyes. Like there was literally nothing. It was very much like Sam and Sierra where there's literally nothing there, but it's just the way they, they're both the most athletic people on this tribe. They think people are like looking at them and it's easy to like put a spotlight, but

[00:14:47] it was a very funny thing in hindsight, especially given how everything played out. I did not want that risk at all. So I definitely made it known post merge because post merge people did assume we were a couple when there was literally nothing about it that would show that like, I was significantly like Omer and me were the tightest. And then Marianne and I were close. And at that point during the merge, Jonathan was the fourth of just having those numbers and staying like, kind of like guiding him with us in a way.

[00:15:14] So I had to make sure people knew like, you can get Jonathan out if you want. I'm cool with that. I got no ties. Like do not tie the two of us together and think that you can't talk gameplay with me in case he is one of the risky people, but people have their own perceptions, whether they see it or not. One of the things that I was always curious, and I'll ask you Lindsay first is like, what is outside of strategy? You guys are winning a lot in that pre merge. Like there's so much small talk that is happening on survivor. What are you and Jonathan talking about?

[00:15:44] What does he like to talk about in times where there's nothing happening? There was, he prefers silence. I will say, um, I'll start with that. So he was kind of just there in that regard. But there was one point in the very beginning that he wanted to like, he was trying to like bond with me. And it was in the very beginning where like, you're so aware that the cameras are around you. You're so aware of what you're saying. And so I'm thinking about like, what is going to be in the edit and what isn't?

[00:16:14] And he's like, wow, like you're really strong. So like, what do you bench? Like, what do you lift? And I'm like, I'm not going to be that douche bag to say what my lifts are. Like, this is going to come off so douchey. So I was just like, I don't know, like I'm whatever. Like I kind of like just totally dismissed it. And then I don't even remember what we talked about after that. Okay. But tell us how much you can bench. I honestly don't know how much I can bench, but it's very, it's not a lot and nothing impressive. And I'm not going to be this douche now on this podcast. He never asked me that I'm offended.

[00:16:45] He, he didn't, it was actually very, yeah. He, so I feel like he was very much into chatting about the game and about camp life, but I don't. And he would talk to me individually about like his relationships and like personal life back home and stuff like that. But he did not want to do a lot of the group chat. And we saw that on the show with the Mario carts of, of it all. Like, and he would often take me aside and be like, can you, I just need to get away from the chitter chatter.

[00:17:13] And we would just have a little vent sesh and then find a casual item all the fire, whatever. But he, he did need some like decompression time, which is why I do think he enjoyed going out to swim and fish at times because it was just introverts always need a recharging time for themselves, myself included. And I think that that was his time. And I think early on, he was using that as a very useful tool to build camaraderie because

[00:17:41] he was doing something that was selfless. That was not, there was nothing in return for him other than us supporting him. And as a tribe, I felt like down the line, you know, maybe he didn't express feeling underappreciated at the beginning of the game. So it kind of built up this resentment over time that he was doing a lot of Like we appreciated the hell out of it. Like how much stroking do we need of this? A lot more than we did apparently.

[00:18:07] But I think that, um, that the elements and all of that, like kind of grinded down his gears, whereas he may have had more tolerance for stuff. Maybe he took things more personally later on, even if they weren't. Yeah. I mean, everybody makes the same, you know, assessment of Jonathan is that he was like born in the wrong era, so to speak in survivor where he like, he does, he is so of the same cloth as your Colby's and your Aussie's and your what have you. Um, what do you think that relationship looks like, Omer, when he's with those people?

[00:18:36] Um, but he wants to be, I guess, like the best at the particular thing that he can offer when other people can offer that same thing. Yeah. I mean, the thing is, I don't think Colby is not, you know, fisherman. Per se. You know, that's not gonna. That's true. Roger did say he didn't catch any fish in Australia. He did say that. And then, um, he, he did say on his, um, our have rewind that he was catching them with Jerry and heroes versus villains. Maybe he's learned, but I don't think he's the one going out spearfishing. Aussie will probably go out spearfishing.

[00:19:05] They're not going to be on the same tribe. And I think that the thing is Jonathan after the merge didn't really want to fish that much. So I don't think he's going to be threatened by Aussie taking that role after the merge. I think his goal of fishing early on is to get a stronger tribe to move forward, but also the deprivation by the merge. Like it was, I think at one point we just told him like, stop fishing. Like you're wasting so much energy and you don't want to do it. So just stop, you know, like that is, was kind of the mentality. Um, but I think that he will get along well with those types of people.

[00:19:34] I think that the thing is like, this is a good cast for Jonathan specifically. Whereas I think your friend, Emily, for instance, I don't think this is a good cast for Emily. Um, I think if it had been more heavy new era, it wouldn't have been as good of a cast for Jonathan and probably would have been a better cast for Emily. I have a little different perspective on this actually. Tell me. Um, so when Jonathan and I would talk one-on-one, like, I know there were parts where he definitely felt like, uh, like, I don't want to look stupid.

[00:20:02] I want to make sure that I like presented myself well, but also you can tell that. And even he kind of said it in some of, in some of the show, like he knows he's not good at puzzles. He knows where his strengths and his weaknesses are. And he wanted to be able to like, well, I'm good at strength and at fishing and providing. So I want to take on that role. So therefore I am able to do something like that's my role since I know I can't do the other things.

[00:20:31] And I felt like that might've been like why we all really liked him in the beginning, because he was really pushing that narrative. Because I noticed very quickly after that, he's like, I did my thing and that's it where, but there, but I should still have this feeling of I'm your provider. You should do things for me because he didn't do any of the fishing or any of that post merge, but that's when he's complaining in his one-on-one of how like, I'm doing the providing.

[00:21:00] They should understand that and respect me for it. But like, you didn't do anything. Yeah. And I will say Lindsay did a lot of, like, I will honestly say that I was lazy. I was not that skilled. I got by on like Jervis Peterson season one, like charm, pretending I'm doing stuff, but not really actually doing much. Lindsay was like preparing all the food, cutting everything, cleaning everything, preparing it, making sure everybody got fed and everything. And that does take as much time and is very important role.

[00:21:30] Jonathan physically caught fish. Lindsay would clean it and prepare it and get it ready for everybody. Marion did a lot of that too, but also let's just go back to like making a fire, right? Like making a fire isn't just you have a spark, boom, you have a fire. So there were plenty of times where we had to build a fire and John was like, all right, let me do it. Do a quick spark and then went on his way. And then the three of us are spending 45 minutes blowing on this thing.

[00:21:59] Trying to make a real fire. But like, oh, but Jonathan, like I could have done the spark too. Cool. Thanks for doing that. But you want to like share some oxygen because we're all going to faint now, but happy to do that. But the first moment where I was like, what is going on? Was there the fire went out and I was like, it was raining one night. The fire went out and I was thinking to my lazy ass self, like I am away from the fire. I don't need fire.

[00:22:28] I'm, I'm, I'm okay over here, but I don't want to be a non-team player. So I got up and started to try to like help, but I don't even know what I'm doing. Then Lindsay and Jonathan trying to start the fire. I'm there blowing on it, but not really doing much else. And then there comes a point where Jonathan's like, this is not worth it anymore. We're going to, we should just go to bed. It's going to start raining. It's going to go out right away. And Lindsay's like, I just remember so vividly sitting there. She's like, okay. Yeah. Like you guys don't have to help. I just want to start this for me.

[00:22:58] It's a personal goal. I want to get it going. I think I can do it, but, but you guys can go to bed. Like, it's fine. And then he's like, you're not listening to me. We gotta keep it going. And then he's like, what do you think? And I was like, ah, um, like we can go to bed. She can do it. Let's go. That was the moment of like the shift. So like, I see that, like, listen, like Jonathan was good at like making the spark, doing the fire. So when we're there, he's like starting it and he's doing it his way.

[00:23:28] And I'm seeing that it's starting to like fall short frequently. So I was, I made a suggestion like, oh, why don't you do this? Silence keeps doing it the same way. Not happening. I was like, why don't you try this again? And then he was like, I clearly know what I'm doing. And I'm like, okay. And then they all go. And I'm like, I still think I can do this because this is the way I think it's going to work. So I'm going to try it out. And I remember they all go into the bed and Jonathan, like, they're all sitting up.

[00:23:56] And I know that Jonathan like has his knees pointing, just looking at me. And, and I'm like, I'm getting it. He's like, just go to bed. You're not listening. Don't even worry about it. I'm like, what do you care? Go to sleep. Like, why does this matter to you? And guess what? I got that fire going. It did start raining, but I was like, look at this. Look at this. He was so not excited. But then I was like, okay, now like it was starting to rain. I'm like, all right, how do I create a little roof? But then it was like really rings. They just go to bed. And I was like, fine.

[00:24:25] But I'm like, so proud of it. So I'm living there and I keep looking at the fire. And then he's like, stop looking at it. Just go to bed. And I'm like, what is with this power thing? So that's when I noticed, I'm like, okay, Jonathan is very alpha. I'm also very alpha. But this is not going to go well. So I had to like calm that the next day of like, I can tell that I'm getting on your nerves. We need to figure out how this can stay tight. He's like, well, I just don't like when someone tells me what to do without me having a chance to prove it. And I was like, okay, fine.

[00:24:52] Just, you know, don't leave me in silence and just say that you heard me and we'll move on. And we were able to like mend that and move. But I remember they asked me, so how did that go with the fire and everything? And I was trying to be like, no, I was like, I don't want to look like an asshole and just be like saying how pissed off I was. And I was like, it's fine. Like, we're just both alphas. Like, we'll work through it. Cause I didn't know how that relationship was going to go further down the road. Now looking back, I'm like, I should have just said it for what it was. Probably would have been way better off and better TV.

[00:25:22] Do you think Lindsay that Jonathan's now on this new adventure of season 50? Is he taking anything that he like learned from his interactions with you into the game or like maybe a better question. Should he be taking those things? I mean, he definitely should be taking notes from what it was before. I do still think he's probably going to stay with people more similar minded to him. And like, this is a great cast for that. Like there's other people who are also very like, let's stick with strength. Let's work there. And a lot of male strength that I think he's going to more gear to.

[00:25:52] But I think he, I don't know how much he's going to have that self-awareness of how he comes off to somebody else versus just allow other people to drive the direction of the game. And then he gets to kind of just like be in that passenger seat and be a part of it. I don't know if he's going to want to outwardly be the focus of who's driving the decision unless he's with a bunch of women. I don't know. I really don't know. We have never spoken after the show.

[00:26:20] So therefore, I don't really feel like there's a lot of lessons that may have been learned because maybe we would have had a conversation of like, hey, that came off wrong. I'm sorry that that happened. Like I've grown from that, but none of that has happened. So therefore, I don't think I don't know what growth has been. Omar, I'm wondering from you also, do you have lessons that you think you witnessed in season 42 that he should be taking into this new experience? Um, I definitely think so.

[00:26:48] I think he's an interesting character because there are so many complexities to him that people just even watching the show, you might not fully see or realize. Like for instance, you know, he presents as a very strong alpha. But I think a lot of part of him does need a lot of validation as well. I found that as an Alliance member, you had to keep him, um, you know, very feeling very safe and secure. It was a lot of reassurance that was needed, which you wouldn't necessarily expect.

[00:27:17] But I think part of that comes from the paranoia of I'm the big guy. I should get voted out. What are people going to turn on me? But I think he needs to quiet that inside paranoia. And in terms of the outward expression of it, because it comes across as panicky and it comes across as you don't really trust the person because you keep asking them if you're with them or whatever. You know what I mean? Like, I think that he from a strategic side, he needs to calm that down. Now on the flip side, he has some good strategic qualities as well.

[00:27:44] Like people don't fully like, I think we, the way that Jonathan carried me through the water is how it felt like we carried him throughout the game from a strategic standpoint. But I think that did lead both myself, maybe Lindsay, but she can speak for herself to underestimate him in some ways, because when he did put the pieces together that maybe Lindsay and I

[00:28:08] were closer than he thought, he took that information and he validated that information by finding out from Lindsay that I had the immunity idol nullifier without telling him that I told her. And then he came back to me and said, everything's good. She cleared everything up. We're fine. Meanwhile, he went to Mike and like flipped everybody on both of us. So he is capable of doing things that people don't expect.

[00:28:35] But simultaneously for a lot of the game, he did kind of follow along with the strategy, but that can lure people into a false sense of security. Like I remember one of the first things he said to me at Ponderosa was, you know, I was never going to take you to the end. Right. I was like, oh, I guess you were thinking on a level that I didn't think you were. And that's, I mean, if he can, if he can to fine tune his social game where he doesn't like, I think he was doing a good job in the really good job in the first five

[00:29:03] days, like that is somebody that could have beat anybody at the end. But day five is very different than day 26, you know? And then from there, he was very, um, you could start to see the elements and the where get to him because he, he, he just didn't like lack the filter. He would say things and he would get annoyed by people very easily. And I think that that is what will hurt his game like longer term.

[00:29:28] So if he can course correct on that, I think he actually could do well, but I don't know what it's like to be 260 pounds of only muscle, you know? Like, I'm sure that's a hard thing to like cope with. Plus he has, he gets easily annoyed. And I think that that's, I don't know how you fix that. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know. Yeah. I guess Lindsay, in terms of prep, like there's nothing he can do physically to change that

[00:29:57] day five crash from happening. When you're, you're starving, you're starving. However, he, I had the hardest time feeding my tribe. I, and he, I found out later on that he definitely is a germaphobe. And since I was prepping all the food, he was like, did you wash your hands? And I'm like, what a fucking Island man. Like, what am I going to wash my hands with? Like, really? Like, so, but then he wouldn't eat the whole thing. I was like, I'll eat it.

[00:30:24] So on one end, like there is a level, like you are starving, but take advantage of the food that is available to you there. But if germs are more important to you than being well-fed, then that's on you, bro. Like if you want to tank in that, in that way, but I would say he should be focusing more on social game and social awareness. He should be focusing more on puzzles. But from the little information I got from Mike, it sounds like he's just doubling down at what he knows he's good with, which is being this.

[00:30:53] I'm really strong. I want to present myself this way on TV, which really doesn't sound like there's really been much growth. And sounds like, it seems like he has his own narrative of what he wants people to see him as I'm a provider. I am really strong. These are my strengths when okay. But that's not what survivor is. It is a game that is very complex. We're playing chess. We are not playing checkers. If that's all you got out of this experience of your own self image of what you want people to see.

[00:31:22] I think he'll still make it far because he'll be an asset in that way. And I think it'll still be the no vote. And so. We'll see. It's hard to know because like, I just remember, obviously my Ponderosa a bit explosive, but also Jonathan's was kind of explosive when he came in and you had, you know, Lindsay, Chanel and Voldemort. Chanel started that. Yes. A lot of answers. Yeah. You had Lindsay, Chanel and Voldemort all like getting mad at Jonathan.

[00:31:50] And then Jonathan is like getting mad at them. And then High's jumping in here and there and not really, you know, diffusing the situation. And I'm just sitting there just watching it all go down. And there was just a lack of like, I think that Jonathan is a very, he's a very caring person at heart. I do think that, but I think he doesn't not want to hurt anybody's feelings. And by acknowledging that he hurt somebody else's feelings would like, I don't think he wants to think he hurt anybody.

[00:32:18] So his response was basically to them, like, I didn't do anything wrong, so I'm not going to apologize. And they did not take that well, understandably so. And so if that is the lesson that's taken from that, I think it's going to be hard to course correct. But if after that experience, you take a moment to be like, okay, maybe I did speak to them or talk to them in a way that did hurt them. And I should change that. Then there could be growth there, you know?

[00:32:44] How do you think, Lindsay, your game changes with no Jonathan there? How do you think you play if you're playing that first half of the game with no Jonathan presence? I think the biggest difference that would have been, like, I still love how I played. I liked the fact that, like, one of my two biggest fears going into the game was, like, I know I was very good at challenges, so I didn't want to be deemed as, like, she's too good at challenges. I want to vote her out.

[00:33:11] And I didn't want to be somehow involved in this power couple that may not have even been a thing, but if people perceive that. So with him gone, I would be shining a little bit more of what I'm capable of. Well, he was like, I want to be in the front. And I was like, do it. I don't want anyone on the other tribes to see what I can do. So by all means, shine all you want, because I'd rather people be looking at you than looking at me. So I think that maybe my physical ability might have been exposed a little bit more, which would have made it different.

[00:33:39] But I still feel that I had, I still like the concept of keeping everyone aligned. Like, when I watch the shows now, too, and just in general, and I watch people on day one, hey, you're my number one. Or, hey, let's get rid of these people without any context. Like, I don't want to tie myself to that. And I feel like when you, before you need to figure out who's being voted out because you're going to tribal council, before that's even determined, I don't think it's good to be already deciding who you want to get rid of because you're just causing a lot of problems

[00:34:08] and causing a lot of fractures in between the group. So I wanted to keep everyone really close that we're not talking about vote outs until it's even necessary. So I don't know. I don't really think it would have changed so much other than maybe we would have lost more. I think that we honestly, it's funny that you say don't have any plans in your head. And you follow the culture of the tribe. Literally, as soon as we got put in our boat of six and started filming the pregame, I'm sitting there being like, okay, I think we can probably vote out Jackson first.

[00:34:36] And then I'll use Mariah and Marianne to vote out Lindsay and separate her and Jonathan, like already thinking that like five minutes into the game. But it does change once you hit the beach or whatever. But I think that, but honestly, I think both of our games would have been, especially the first two thirds worse without Jonathan, because the four of us, when we were on a single tribe, we were actually, despite the bickering that would occur between Lindsay and Jonathan, between Jonathan and Marianne, occasionally between Lindsay and Marianne even,

[00:35:03] I felt that we all had an aligned goal and interest of how we wanted to play the game. Like you said, like we were not in the Vati, Ika mindset of like cannibalize each other. And we're all like going to hate each other. We were like, we need to stick with our core group and be strong for later on, which really came in handy down the stretch. I think that obviously towards the end of the game, he hurt both of our games.

[00:35:29] And part of that was, you know, part of us that had to do with us as well as him, but it was a situation. And he got the better of us at the end of the day. But the thing that with Jonathan from a strategic standpoint as well, that I would like to say that I hope he's learned from is it was, you had to be very careful with what information you shared with him at times, because he would sometimes, if he heard his name is coming up, could not play it cool.

[00:35:57] And that actually actively hurt our alliance at some point, like right after the merge. I remember very distinctly, everybody was going to vote for Marianne. And the only way to save her was the threat of her immunity idol. And so I told her, everybody's voting for you. They're all lying to you. Go back to camp. Pretend you're really cocky. Act like you're going to be in the game. And for her, that's a very scary thing to do because you're putting all your faith in me and you're not trying to save yourself when you know everybody is voting for you.

[00:36:26] But she did that. Like she did that perfectly. She didn't blow the plan up once. And part of that plan was to put some votes on Jonathan so that high and Mike would be like, we have to protect him and switch it all onto Lydia in case Marianne plays her idol. So I told Jonathan Chanel's voting for you. Tori's voting for you. Romeo's voting for you, but it doesn't matter. They need to do that so we can flip the votes off of Marianne. And they won't like, they don't have any power. Like you're not going home. And he, I was like, but if they find out that, you know, that they'll know we're talking

[00:36:56] and that's an issue. The next thing I know he's off talking to Romeo. Romeo comes to me and was like, Jonathan just told me that he knows I'm voting for him. What's going on? And I was like that from that point on, I was like, I have to just be careful of what I even tell him because he will panic if he hears his name. So I hope he's learned that lesson as well. And I think too, like we were definitely like his security blanket. Like when it was just the four of us, like you said, like he needs a lot of reassurance. And I think also knowing what his strengths and weaknesses are and getting to the merge,

[00:37:25] like his strengths aren't as relevant anymore. So I think that also made him very paranoid. And we were his security blanket, which was good until he eventually got close with Mike. And then there was this man alliance like lingering around. He's like, this is a great idea. So then I think he was able to like expand his roots a little bit where then we then weren't as close with him, but also say more with you because he did talk more strategy with you, not with me.

[00:37:52] So if I had any brains to explain to this, like that wasn't happening, I had to bring it to you for then you to convince him because I wasn't getting anywhere. So I'm like, this really isn't a good alliance number for me anymore at all. If there's no equal respect here. Yeah. And he was, he was okay for me, but of course it was for you. I think there is something to that. There is this camaraderie with your like original starting tribe. Nobody's played before. Like you feel protective and more like a family, but in like a season 50 situation when everybody's

[00:38:21] like more, not to say that anybody on their first season isn't out for blood, but now everybody's like tasted defeat or for two people they've won and they want to keep that streak going. I don't think that people have that same, will have that same reverence for protecting Jonathan's feelings because like Jonathan is extremely an asset. The biggest asset in survivor history may be at the beginning couple of challenges. But after that, what do you need him for? What would it, what's the, I will say he did single-handedly almost win that one challenge by himself.

[00:38:50] I will give credit for that. Are we talking about which one? Like the ocean one? Although you did, you did drag me a lot as well. And I don't think they, well, it's not even that when you're taller than the ocean and you're heavier than the waves and like, yeah, obviously you can move through it. Like there's a level of just, you were born with this size and this height, like granted he made himself bigger, but there is a level of I'm five two, even though I'm a good swimmer, I only weigh so much. And that current was strong enough. You're not giving yourself credit. And I can't touch the ground.

[00:39:19] You were moving forward. You were moving forward. And you were, you were dragging me at the same time. I will be, and Jeff kept saying, by the way, just stand up everybody. The ocean's not that deep here. And we were like, it is because of the waves. Like we can't actually touch the ground, but nevertheless. How deep was it in that, in that challenge? I think when the world. Probably 62 inches. A little bit. Because Jonathan's 64 inches. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like it was, we could not stand up Jeff at times because the waves were going higher

[00:39:49] than what the bottom floor was, but I will say like, yes, he did provide a very tremendous physical advantage, but I will say a lot of these challenges pre-merge do come down to the puzzle. And that takes like, for instance, there was a challenge where Marianne and him had to drag our boat in the water and we were jumping for the keys and whatever. It actually just challenged us right behind me right now. And we got to the puzzle with a lead. But if you look at the actual time, that lead was probably 30 to 60 seconds. And the puzzle takes much, much longer than that.

[00:40:17] And so I don't think that he, he is very valuable as an asset. I don't think it's as valuable as some people say in every challenge, but also you're right. Like this is a season where there's so many cross tribal relationships where if they look at him and say, Oh, he's really, he could really connect with X, Y, and Z on the other tribes. We don't need him here. They, he could actually get voted out pre-merge. Like that is going to be that extra vote that he has nowhere. He doesn't belong anywhere.

[00:40:47] So people might bring him in, but also I got a call for what it is. Ozzy is significantly more of a challenge beast. Jonathan looks the part, but he really only has some angles. I mean, this is me being very honest and being very objective in terms of athleticism, because that's really something that I really care about. But yes, he, when we did that one challenge where he had to swim the boat, he's a swimmer. He did great there. Definitely. He's obviously very strong.

[00:41:13] So in the challenge, but then there's also some things that he naturally has an advantage for, like the water one, because you are taller than the ocean and you are heavier than the current can push you. So yeah, you can walk through that. That's great. But Ozzy definitely, I think has been proven to be significantly more vast in all of his abilities. In his heyday. In his heyday. What about who's new? How old is Ozzy now? That's a great trivia question. That's a good question. I don't know.

[00:41:42] He must be like, yeah, I was gonna say early 40s, pretty young game changers. So we'll see what happens now. Yeah, because I mean, I was head to head with Jonathan for most of these challenges and I'm half his size, so I'm not going to pretend like I'm not important here. Like we're very good. He's good, but I don't think he's like, wow, that's the best person ever. We also have James, the grave digger, who was also like this huge physical specimen to look at that I definitely never forgot about how beautiful I was to look at him. I want to see James Clement and Brandon Donlan in Sumo at Sea.

[00:42:12] I'm ready. My Sumo at Sea strategy, which I've said before, but like just move out of the way. Somebody's going to run at you. Just go like that. Right? I wanted to clobber Zach in Sumo at Sea. Like I was ready. But if only Zach was here and you could tell him about it. Oh, yeah. You want to go? Are you just talking to say about me? Yeah, certainly are. I could. I was ready to. You wanted to clobber you at Sumo at Sea.

[00:42:42] Oh, yeah. I probably would have been against Jackson to be fair. Well, he was gone too early. I want to be part of the Sumo wrestling. Yeah. And also when I saw you at the LAX Starbucks, I was like, you had the K95 mask to match. But I was like, this guy, he's an on Survivor. What is this? No, I saw you and I was like, that's the fucking first boot. Yeah. Surprise, guys. I'm hanging out with Brandon.

[00:43:11] We've got two. You should say hi, too. Okay. Another person. Yeah. From season 42. Dwight. Yeah. Hi, guys. Hey, Dwight. I love being on the beach with all of you. It's so much fun. Did you love turning back time? Yeah, it was amazing. Well, Marianne was supposed to join us for this podcast. Marianne is not here. But I have a couple of questions that I sent to Marianne that I'm going to read aloud to you. Before you start, should I leave? I don't have anything to contribute to Jonathan.

[00:43:42] When did you meet him? What was your story? Well, it was actually two times. I did meet him. He was at my original casting. So like I did see him back in 2019. His audition video was public. So I did like a full dossier on him, which I was willing to give to any of the 50ers if they ever wanted it. And then I met him once at a watch party. He was very nice. He did know who I was at the time. I don't know how much memory he's committed to that.

[00:44:12] And I didn't know what to say to him. So I was like, Jonathan, I want to start working out. Did you did you did you watch his endurance season during your day? I did. I did watch his endurance season. You saw his endurance season before you went on 42. 42. Yes. My very specifically was pre-gay. And then I saw him like as a 16 year old. And I was like, he seems difficult to work with. Not for anything.

[00:44:38] I did invite the endurance team member to this podcast. They did decline. But for a minute, we would have had them here with us, which would have been something. Crazy. Why isn't Mike here right now? Mike had a scheduling conflict today. Oh, no. He was somewhere else. But Marianne also scheduling conflict. However, I did ask Marianne a couple questions about Jonathan. So I'm going to give you three the questions and then we'll play Marianne's response. And then you can tell him. We'll see who was right.

[00:45:08] The first question I asked Marianne was, who is the most surprising person Jonathan's going to get along with on Survivor 50? Not a Joe or Ozzy or Colby, but somebody else. I have the graphic up here for everybody to pick. I'm going to give Zach the answer. Who are the ones that you said it isn't? Like a Joe or Ozzy or Colby. Like the macho guys. It's like a can't say. Yeah, I think that it's definitely going to be a guy. Only from what I've heard from, you know, you guys.

[00:45:37] I'll say he was lovely to me. I had a great time. But I'm also a guy. So I think he's really going to take to Christian. That's my take. I think that. But I don't think that's surprising. Well, I don't think Marianne's going to have a very good answer to this. I think he's going to be coach. OK, I so I'm torn between I'm going to choose. Well, because it's the question is, who is it most surprising? So I'm going to go. Oh, right. That's right.

[00:46:07] So I take back what I said. OK, well, what is your answer then? Do you want to get my. Oh, no, because most surprising. No, I do think it's going to be a male. But I I mean, Christian doesn't seem that surprising to me either. So I don't know. Maybe Q would be a surprising one just because they're on. They're both the same category. Right. I'm going to go with I'm torn between D and Tiffany, but I don't think it's that surprising if he would get along with these. So I'm going to go with Tiffany. Wait.

[00:46:36] So, Zach, you also had another pregame story about Jonathan where you were gagging to be on his tribe, but you got stuck with Romeo and Roxroy. Tell us about that. Oh, yeah. OK, well, while Brandon figured this out. Well, I feel like all of us in the time as like the people were coming out in the different tribe colors. Jonathan was the big reveal. Like no one really cared about it. I saw Daniel Strong comes out in green. I'm like, oh, whatever. But then when Jonathan was coming out, it was almost like a gender reveal. Like we were. Yes.

[00:47:06] So what was that feeling for you guys when you saw? I mean, I was like, oh, this is awesome. Like, great. The two people I was trying with Marianne and Jonathan, like the most. So I was like, this is excellent. No, I saw Romeo come out and I was like, well, that's not right. I mean, it definitely wasn't uneven tribes. Like, it was so unfair. We needed Jonathan. I always think that like we should have had Jonathan.

[00:47:30] Do you think that was actually in the world because they did it all on Zoom that they couldn't see everybody together? No, I think that there was definitely reasons behind it. I think Ica was meant to drown. Like, I think they set it up to like have you guys eat each other. I have my own theory as to why I feel that because I was supposed to be on Ica and Tori was on our tribe and then they swapped last minute. And I have my own feeling as to why I think they put Jonathan and I together. But I don't know what they're true.

[00:47:59] It must be because they thought you would clash because you guys are very strong personalities. Well, I specifically said there were like who like what's your celebrity crush? And I was like Thor, who is 60 or 50. That could be either way. When I met with him, like you're a combination. If like Thor and Jack Sparrow had a baby, that's who you are. But I also said, but I also don't like very alpha males who don't respect women and like can't handle it's like we're going to crash.

[00:48:27] And I was like, OK, well, that could go either two ways with me. And Jonathan is either I'm going to it's going to be a love connection or it's going to be a total hatred, which we know where that left. And I think they were I think they were also going the showman's angle with Zach and Swati. No, I will say I do. My theory for our season has always been that they had like these duos in mind where it was like, oh, the two nerdy people. OK, Zach and Swati, the two like fit athletic people. OK, like Rox, Roy, Andrea.

[00:48:53] And then for your tribe, it was like the two fit athletic people, Jonathan and Lindsay, the two nerdy people, Omer and Marianne, who is right here. And then the two older people, Jackson and Mariah. Thank you. Even though they're both not old. I do think Jonathan and I on the tribe to clash because all throughout casting, I would talk so much. OK, full record.

[00:49:22] The first time I met Ozzy was at the premiere Survivor 45. He changed my opinion on him. And I think he's really lovely in person. And I really enjoyed him. And I'm actually kind of excited to watch him play 50. And I never thought I would say that because famously, I was always an Aussie hater. And all throughout casting, I was like that guy. He thinks he knows what this game is. This is not the Olympics. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so I thought they put us on together to like clash. We didn't. Yeah.

[00:49:51] Jonathan also really in a boho outfit, like a bohemian outfit, which you don't see in Survivor. You'd think they're going to double down for 50. He's going to be. Yeah, hopefully he's got a long sweep sweater this time. Very useful in VG. So, Marianne, in terms of who is the most surprising person Jonathan will get along with, I will play that now. OK, I'm going to give you two answers. One of them is going to be the easier one. One of them is going to be the harder one. I think one person that they'll get along with Jonathan for sure, D.

[00:50:20] He loves strong women. He loves people who are capable of themselves. D has that nice attitude. They're both from a South state, you know, geographically, not culturally. I think that would really work. But I think who Jonathan will really get along with, which people are surprised, is Stephanie De La Grossa. OK, I really feel as if they like they have some sort of same energy, same vibe, same values. I really feel as if those two together can really go and run the game. Why did she add like a Hispanic, like Stephanie De La Grossa?

[00:50:51] What's Stephanie De La Grossa? Yeah. De La Grossa, I think, is an Italian restaurant in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. But he's so off. Stephanie and Jonathan, it couldn't be more obvious. Right. I agree. That was a surprising connection to me. Bad answer. I predicted she'd have a bad answer. Yeah, that is true. In terms of question two, we've got who is Jonathan's kryptonite? The person that he will get along with the least. Oh, Emily. Emily, financial. Oh, Emily. A thousand percent.

[00:51:21] There's no other question. Yes. They will not like each other. I think it's mutual. They will hate each other. Definitely. And I don't even think Emily's going to hide it. Oh, she can't. She's incapable. So I don't think Jonathan is good at hiding it either. He might try, but the second he hit day five in their starvation hangar, forget it. Any sort of reservations are just gone. Zach, be a man and pick someone different than us. Yeah, I will pick someone different. And I think it's actually a really fun one. I'm going to pick Ozzy.

[00:51:49] I think that you look at them and you think that they're going to like, you know, they're big, big dudes. I think politically, they're probably the furthest apart on this cast. Maybe not the furthest apart, but they're very far apart. Ozzy's very outspoken. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah. Ozzy's very outspoken on the left. I'm sure, you know, Jonathan's seen that. Obviously, Jonathan leans more conservative. That is a, I don't think, I think that we're going to see some showdowns between them.

[00:52:17] I think that they will bring up politics and they're not going to get along. Oh, that'd be so good TV. But Jonathan does love Ozzy. Does he know everything about Ozzy? No. Unlikely. It might come up, you know, there's small talk. He was his only fan before, though. Like, he loved him so much. Who was that? Ozzy, or Jonathan was Ozzy's only fan for a while. Like, he was like, he loved him. Probably because of challenges.

[00:52:47] Probably. In terms of Jonathan's kryptonite, Marianne's answer is. Oh, come on. We all know the answer to this. Okay. Jonathan, I think, is going to hate. Riz God hates Sari. Okay. People who are loud. People who are going, like, a very dominant. Like, I wouldn't say domineering, but like a strategic force in that sense, which is Sari is. From the little that we've seen from Riz God, he's been a very domineering force.

[00:53:14] I really feel as if he's not going to like those two people as well, too. We don't know who Riz God is. Is she dumb? Like, what is she doing? Wait, what's the one that she said other than Sari? Riz God. That's 49 male. Oh. Sari's not going to have it with Jonathan. Like, I'm excited to see her kind of like put her claws into just like manipulating the people that she can. But I agree that they wouldn't get along.

[00:53:41] I think that she wouldn't get along with anybody except for Corey Wurtenberg. Well, Sari did get along great with Matt from Big Brother. And they were, he was like a swimmer from like Alabama or Louisiana or something. And like kind of had a similar vibe to Jonathan. And also she, she can get along. Who did she get along with? If she, she was, she was handling people like Rupert and James and all of these big person JT until JT turned on her.

[00:54:09] Like, I think that she will, I don't think she'll like love it, but she will be able to like pretend. I think, I think she can fake it. Whereas Emily Flippen cannot. They're going to be on the same tribe. Wait, what do you think about that? Brandon, you spent time with Emily Flippen famously. Um, I spent time with Emily Flippen. Yeah. Emily Flippen. I think she gets, she doesn't get enough credit for being able to fake it. I think she can fake it for like a little bit, especially with like, she did have like a near

[00:54:38] death experience almost going home first because I think she couldn't fake it. And I think she's been like scared straight in that way. Um, I do think that she will have an issue with him almost a hundred percent. I think that the issue will exist is just whether or not she can hide it for a long time. Will it be before or after Lindsay's issue with him? Well, that will be the biggest issue. I think that, that will be the, you know, she, she is a lot of things, but she is, you know,

[00:55:05] even when we were building our shelter the first couple of days, she didn't feel like she was being hurt, um, by all of us. You know, she had an idea that was a better idea. And because her approach to giving it was like, not, you know, pillowed out and soft that we didn't take it. Um, I cannot imagine Jonathan will take to that. It's like, we, we didn't go with that idea because we thought the other idea was better. But if Jonathan hears a better idea and doesn't like it, cause it's not his idea. I think that will tweak Emily in a way that we have not seen on television. Yeah.

[00:55:35] Wait, this is the question for Zach and Brandon then? Cause you weren't here for this part, but which of these, these cast members, Jonathan has like a very, one of the things that these people is iconic for. Jonathan has a connection and did the exact same thing. It just didn't get aired. Do you know who I'm talking about? Say that, say that question one more time. One of these castaways on Survivor 50 is like most well-known for like two things. And one of the things is so iconic that it's become a part of the show longer term,

[00:56:05] including in the new era. And Jonathan did stuff very similar to this person, but it just wasn't shown on TV. So this might be an iconic duo. Was it the clothes thing with Angelina? Close actually. Actually, he has connections with both because he needed to get a sweater. Because I heard that his clothes thing was that he ripped his pants and he had like kind of dong hanging out. Oh, well, okay. He did get them sewn up, but Jonathan and Angelina are both negotiation masters.

[00:56:32] Like when we got a tarp and he decided to lay the tarp over all the palm fronds and then it started leaking through because they were welling up in different areas. Because we got to, he was like, we're going to need to negotiate for a new tarp. And I was there being like, if you want, I don't think you should do it. We all said you shouldn't do it. Yes. I think I remember. And then Jeff was like, there's no issue with the tarp. You just put it on wrong. And Jonathan's like, I do this for a living.

[00:57:03] He's like, we've been doing this for 20 years. We've never had a complaint. You did the tarp wrong. That's your tarp. Mr. Jeff, can we get a different tarp? Question three. How is Jonathan going to do on Survivor 50? What did Marianne say how Jonathan was going to do? I think Marianne will say seventh place, but my personal prediction is between nine and 11 and I'll go with nine.

[00:57:36] I almost feel that he will be pulled much farther. Like, I think he might go to four. I'll go specific. Not even like a placement, but I'm going to say that he's going to go at the split tribal. Ooh, that's a good one. He's going to go through the whole, like, the whole pre-merge unscathed, and then he'll kind of be someone that can just be knocked out there without too much resistance from people.

[00:58:05] We'll see. Marianne. Oh, how's Jonathan going to do? It really depends on if there's a swap, if there's, and his starting tribe. I think that his starting tribe is really going to value the strength, especially if we think that it's going to be a really fast game of 24 people. And he's for sure going to make it at least to the end of pre-merge. If there's a swap, they might cut him. But I think that he's at least, if you're smart, especially if you're one of these older players who want to win immunity, you're going to cut him off early merge.

[00:58:32] So I'd be surprised if he makes a pass early merge, but pleasantly surprised. We'll take that. That's an Omer answer. That's an Omer W, if you will. It's really more me. I guess, yeah, you do have this split tribal happening at 10-11. Well, the tribal is like 10-9. So we're both winning. We'll call it. And then I asked Marianne, what do you think Jonathan would name the merge tribe if you let him do it himself?

[00:58:59] If he had full reign, full creative control, no involvement from production, what is Jonathan naming the merge tribe? What's a Bible? Like a good Bible. Oh my God, yes. Like Colossus? Colossus? Colossia? What is it? Is it Colossus? That sounds right.

[00:59:27] I'm not sure, but it does sound like biblical. Okay, I'll go with Colossus. Yeah, we'll take biblical name. We'll take general biblical name. Lindsay, do you have any, what's sparking your creativity at this moment? I mean, I wasn't thinking biblical, but now that you say it, I can totally see that. But I'm, as I said, I'm a bad Jew, so I'm very poorly religious in all these stories. But I would imagine it would be probably some biblical story that there is some Jesus human

[00:59:55] on earth that he would replicate that probably no one would know the story, but it's about him that he would think. Or like what 36.3 or whatever, whatever the biblical numbers are, it'd be something like that. I want to know what 36.3 is. Does anybody know that? Not on this call, I don't think. Zach? I'm just going to go Young Strength. I think he tries to get the plug in there. Oh, good one. Get his plug in? That's a good idea. Marianne said.

[01:00:25] Whatever the Fijian word is for 18 eggs, that's what Jonathan would name it. It's like literally this guy loves eggs so much, so he'd name it after eggs. Nobody's done that yet. Name it after eggs. The Merge Tribe. Unfortunate. Who named your Merge Tribe? Who named your Merge Tribe? I Google 36.3. I Google 36.3. And the first thing that came up was the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act.

[01:00:54] So maybe he's more in with Ozzy than we thought. All right. That would be a real turn for Jonathan if he comes back like Woke Jonathan. I'm going to name the Merge Tribe if I go back Woke Jonathan. I mean, that's a funny Merge Tribe. Don't let me do that. You probably hate that name. He'd be so insulted. Well, I'm so glad that we had three of the Survivor 42 cast to join us on this episode of the Survivor 50 Files.

[01:01:24] I'll go around, tell everybody what you're doing. Where are you going to follow you? Anything like that? Zach, go ahead. What am I doing? I think we're going to leave here in a few minutes. I'm not doing anything. Lindsay, what are you doing? So currently, if we're going to go by present day, I'm going to enjoy a concert at Stone Pony. And that should be a lot of fun.

[01:01:52] George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelics. So I'm enjoying that. Other than that, my typical nutrition jargon like I normally do, which, again, I take insurance. If anyone is interested in wanting to learn about nutrition for any education purposes or have any specific goals, I'd be more than happy to help you. And if you have any side Survivor stuff, I love talking about that, too. So you're always welcome. And you can find me on Instagram. Absolute Nutrition Counseling is the name of my business.

[01:02:22] If you're ever interested, Google me. I'm ready to dive on into the summer. Nose unplugged. So let's strive for a different change. So I can't wait to see what the rest of the summer holds. I am on Instagram and Twitter, Blue Sky, whatever. Just hanging out, listening to your 50 files. And I might get one of these sleep things. Get a man to sleep mask if you haven't used code 50 files. It's five zero FILE. Yes. I've got so many in my bedroom right now.

[01:02:52] Me, Zach, and Dwight can all wear one at the same time. I have so many. A sleep mask. You wear a sleep mask to sleep? It's really nice. It's 100% light blocking. Google it. Thank you, everybody, for joining this episode of the Survive 50 Files. We'll see you next time. Take care. Goodbye. You stuck with us. You were same episode. You didn't think we were going to talk about Jonathan Young without talking to his best buddy, right? We've got Mike Turner.

[01:03:21] Mike Turner, how are you? I'm very good. Thank you for having me, Brandon. This is very exciting to talk about my man, Jonathan Young. Survivor season 50. 50. Who would have thought? Did you think so? Yeah, honestly, I thought he had a good shot. Mainly because he's, to me, the greatest challenge beast in Survivor history. Now, you can talk about Ozzy. You can talk about Malcolm. You can talk about Joe.

[01:03:48] So, to me, I've never seen anything like Jonathan in my life. Now, you, when they do that challenge where Jonathan picks everybody up out of the water, were you done at that point? Could you see him do that? No, I didn't see him do it at all. I just knew he got done fast. Remember, they stopped the challenge because the water got so rough that, and I'm going to be honest with you, I looked at him and I said, how the fuck did he do that so fast? It's crazy to me. But, you know, he's 6'5". I'm going to try and make it look not as good as it was. He's 6'5".

[01:04:18] He did it before the water got really bad, and he had some other people. Lindsey's a challenge beast also. She's amazing. She's strong. Granted, he had a Paul Marion and an Omer, but, but, listen, he's a beast. And, honestly, he's the greatest. I saw it firsthand, and I know as great as it looked on our season on TV, it was more amazing in person. I was just like, wait a minute. He didn't seem human to me. Of course, until I beat him in fire and I beat him in a puzzle.

[01:04:48] Other than that, he didn't seem human. You see him, I guess, for the first time in the pregame. Talk about that. What's the first impression like of Jonathan? Okay, so when I remember when I first saw him in the pregame, I'm looking at him and I said, this is a, first of all, he was wearing big overalls. I said, this is a big fuck. Holy crap. First of all. And then I said, what's up with, like, he had the dreads. He was unique. He was like, he was almost like a caveman, but he was very unique. He was a very interesting looking guy. And I like talking to people that are interested.

[01:05:16] I love to see what makes people tick. And that's why I love Survivor, because I met people from all different walks of life. And I got to get to know them and talk to them and learn different things about them. And Jonathan's from the South. And I don't know much about the South. And he was just an interesting guy. So I was very taken to him, especially because he was a big guy. And obviously, you know, being an alpha male, I wanted to know him more. I want to see what the hell was this guy about. Yeah. And you guys, not only do you get along great in the time that you play Survivor together, but now you've like, you've traveled together.

[01:05:46] You're all over together. You two. He's one of my, honestly, he's one of my closest friends. And I didn't go to Survivor to make friends. And who would have thought some, you know, a city kid from Jersey is hanging out with some, I hate to use the word redneck, but, and he's not even a redneck, he's a beach bum. He's a beach bum. But, you know, like, you know, I say, oh, yeah, I got a good friend in from Alabama. They're like, Alabama? And I go, yeah, he was on the beach. I go, beach? There's no beach in Alabama. I didn't think there was either. That's from Jersey. We don't know that.

[01:06:15] So he, he's actually a beach bum. And, you know, he's one of the, honestly, I know sometimes he gets a bad rap, but he's one of the best, nicest, hearted guys I've ever met. I love him to death. Tell me a little bit about the traveling that you guys have done. I know you've gone to, I don't want to get it wrong, Central, South America, and you've built a prom? Yeah, we've gone to, we've been to Nicaragua. We've gone to, we're supposed to go to Honduras. We've done a lot of missions together. Not a lot. He's done more than me, but I've gone to missions with him. And he's opened up worlds to me that I never knew existed.

[01:06:45] And listen, before I got on Survivor, I always said, like, I would love to do a mission to help people, see how the other people, you know, just to help people out. But it's weird. You'd think it'd be easy to go out and do that. But if you have no avenues, you can't do it. I didn't know how to do it. So when I come back from Survivor, I have people reaching out to us. And it opened up this whole different place where I was able to help people out that were in need. So we've been to a lot of places and it's life changing and it's eye opening. And it was, it's, it's, it's a, it's a very rewarding experience.

[01:07:14] And Jonathan does it way more than I do it. And he's a good soul. He's a good soul. And when he goes there, he's actually physically building homes for folks. Yeah, we physically built. I got to be honest with you. When I got back from Nicaragua, I couldn't walk for a week. My back, we literally poured, mixed, poured cement because they don't have trucks to mix cement. So we're mixing cement ourselves. We're pouring it with, we're floating it. Then we're building the houses. We're putting the, you know, putting the roofs on. It's legit. It is legit.

[01:07:44] You're, you're traveling a lot, Jonathan. You've seen this guy eat. What's it like? What's going to dinner like with Jonathan? You know, I've seen the 18 eggs, you know, tell me about that. It's like going to dinner with a caveman. He just rips parts of like animals off like this, like this, and like there's flesh hanging. And it's all over the place. It's all, it's everywhere. He legitimately can eat any. And then you look at him. He has like a 2% body fat. Honestly, it fucking pisses me off. I'm pissed off.

[01:08:12] Meanwhile, I'm trying to eat egg whites and, and do protein drinks. And he's sucking down like, you know, 18 eggs and 18 pieces of cheese and like a big leg off a frigging cow or something. He's crazy. But he, he can eat. He put on his Instagram story one time. He was at Waffle House. And he says to the waitress, he's like, you're going to think this is a fake order. This is, I need 18 eggs. I need 18 eggs and 18 slices of cheese. And they do it. They'll do it. I've been to that Waffle House with him. I know exactly where it is. That's so funny.

[01:08:42] Yeah. You know, Jonathan, not only is best friends with you, one of the great survivor players of our time, but he's also, he's also friends with Boston Rock. Him and Boston Rock are good friends. Him and, yeah. And honestly, Rob's a great guy and he likes Jonathan. And Jonathan loves him. They're good friends. Boston Rock lives near Jonathan. So when we, when I go down and we get to hang out, I get to hang out with Boston Rock because of Jonathan. But Jonathan, I mean, Boston Rock's a regular guy too, man. Love going out, hanging out. He's funny. He's a regular guy.

[01:09:12] And quite frankly, me and him both break Jonathan's balls. I'm sure. Beach bum. What trail of park does he live in? From everything. We love breaking his balls. But obviously it's in good fun because we, you know, Boston Rock legitimately loves Jonathan also. He's a good, it's a good, it's a good duo.

[01:09:37] And he, you know, for some reason, Jonathan takes us Eastern guys, us Eastern United States guys. He likes the humor. Yeah. Yeah. We're less, we're the funniest part of the country. That's what they say is up where we are. We're funny up here. Well, that's why Eastern United States got people, not just guys, women do well on Survivor because we're used to dealing with so many different personalities. So there are many different walks of life. And, you know, we love talking and we love fooling around and we have fun. That is interesting.

[01:10:05] You know, you have people like from the South, like Jonathan's never met an X, Y, and Z before, like whatever kind of person, but you and I have, like we see everybody here. Everybody's here already. To us, you know, everybody's the same. That's what we grew up around. I mean, nobody's different to us. Live and let live. Right. And that's what I was taught. And that's what I believe in. And that's what I taught my kids. And that's what I see. I met every kind of walk of life that you ever think of right here. Did you, did you happen to give Jonathan any advice before he left for Survivor 50? Yes.

[01:10:35] I, I, I did give him some advice. Um, I told him be open to everything. That's really it. Be open to everything and be ready to be fluid. You're going to have to be fluid on, especially on Survivor. Don't be regimented. And the other thing is whatever happens, whatever happens, don't show it on your face. Always read it and leave it alone. And you can, you can vent at confessionals. You don't have to vent that camp.

[01:11:03] You know, it's so funny about that is Lindsay, who, if you're listening to this, you just heard Lindsay say that that is one of Jonathan's flaws is that he does. He shows it when he's feeling it. He shows it. Or he'll verbalize it. Yes. Jonathan, Jonathan wears his, you know, and that's why when people say like, oh, Jonathan, yeah, Jonathan wears his feelings right on his sleeve. You can see how Jonathan's not happy. You know, if Jonathan doesn't like something, he knows it. And that's great in life because then people know where you stand all the time. But when you're playing Survivor, you can't let people read you.

[01:11:33] You need to be blanked and almost put on. I said to him, the minute you get upset, go the opposite. Act happy. You reverse what you feel and then you'll always be aware of it. And that'll help you through the game. For sure. For sure. And I think that he shares similar qualities to like your similar challenge beasts, like your Aussies or your Joe from this last season. And Colby, how do you think he'll get along with people who kind of have that similar skill set that he does? I think at first they're going to have a common bond. They're all going to get along great together.

[01:12:02] They're all going to say, hey, they're all coming after us. We're the challenge beasts. We have to stick together. But I think that they all know they have to eat each other also because if they're all the same, you can't have all the same. Sooner or later, people are going to go after those challenge beasts and you have to make sure that you differentiate yourself from those people so people don't go after you only. And that means you need to make relationships, which sometimes nobody has it all. Right, Brandon? Nobody, you know, people that are great challenge beasts, they may not be good at puzzles.

[01:12:31] They may not be good at socializing. It's very hard to have one person that's great at everything. I said, Jonathan, you have to focus on your weaknesses. If you work hard at being better physically, you may go from being 80% out of 100% to 85% out of 100%. But if you're at 20% in puzzles or even social game, 50%, and you work hard at that, you may go up 70% to 80% out of 100. And that's a bigger differential than you'd becoming a better physical beast.

[01:12:59] You have to work on the stuff that you're weak at so you become more well-rounded. That's exactly right. And I think that he will have, you know, nobody wants to go in and play the exact same way. And I think that people aren't expecting him to have that social gear. And I hope he does that. I hope he does differentiate himself. I think the benefit that he has is he is, you know, very old school survivor in his mentality of how he approaches the show. And he has this crazy opportunity now, which nobody thought was he's going to be playing

[01:13:29] with half old school survivors. A hundred percent. I agree with that. A hundred percent. Jonathan is a new era player like myself with an old era mentality. And that can help him. But the truth is it can hurt him. He has to learn how to, you know, survive is a hard navigation. You need a little luck. You need to play smart. You need to know when to talk, know when not to talk. You need to know when not to show it. Because the truth is any little thing can be your detriment in the game.

[01:13:55] And as you know, listen, you can get lucky and get away with some stuff, but you could also be unlucky and be caught on the other side of the vote. So I think he'll be fine. Jonathan's much more talented than he gets credit for. In what way? He's very funny. He's very intelligent. He's not, he's really not dumb at all. We have some great, great conversations. I like to think I'm not as dumb as I look either. I'm a little smaller than I look.

[01:14:23] So, you know, and just, and he reads people better than you think he does. The problem is sometimes he shows it, which hurts him. You got to be able to hide it, but he's much smarter and he's a very talented kid. He's very, very talented. You know, honestly, I've never seen anything that Jonathan tried, including singing. You know, he's got an amazing voice. If you ever heard him sing it, it's crazy. And I look at him and go, how the, you got that too? The only thing he sucks at is puzzles. He needs to work on puzzles. Did he work? Do we know? Did he work on puzzles?

[01:14:53] I would think he did. You think he did? I would think he did. Pretty good. Pretty good. Yes. Yes. Now, did you see, we talked a little bit with Lindsay and Omer about the physical toll, the 26 days, 25 days that Jonathan spent on Survivor, what that did to him. What was that like for you to watch him kind of, I don't want to even use the word deteriorate, but what was it like to watch that decline in the time that you played Survivor with him? At first you don't notice, and then it hits you all at once. But what happened, he became much more hangry. So he's used to eating a lot.

[01:15:23] And, I mean, we took different approaches to the game when we first, when I got on, I chose the approach where I was going to limit my calorie intake before I got there. So that way I'd be used to it. And that way it wouldn't affect me as much, which worked for me because I, obviously you're hungry, but I wasn't hungry to the point. I've already experienced that point where your body goes into starvation mode and starts feeding off itself before I got there. So when I got there, I lost more weight, but I wasn't angry about it.

[01:15:52] It was already, that's the way it was. I was already used to taking in like 400 or 500 calories a day. Jonathan just ate and ate and ate. So when he got there and after, you know, 15 days, you hit a wall and he was starting to get to a point where he needed it. My advice to him was to don't take in as many calories, work on limiting yourself. So when you get there, it's not that much of a drastic difference. Because he's right. He needs more calories than most people. So what do you do with that? You make your body used to not needing that many calories. Yeah. Yeah.

[01:16:21] And that's a hard thing to like, you know, plan for when you haven't ever played Survivor War. But I hope he did that. I hope he did take that advice. And because, you know, he's playing the same game. There's not going to be more food this time. You know, he's going to be in the same situation. So you'd hope that he did that. And nobody's going to want to feed him. So, you know, if he doesn't win, nobody's going to take him on rewards. Because why would you want to feed him? That's right. Especially if you need to beat him. If he makes the merge, you know that it's an individual game then. And you don't want to feed the guy that is the best that you think.

[01:16:51] Especially, you know, if you're playing the game hard. Which you should be. You know, the him making the merge thing. I said to Omer Lindsey too, like, I have to imagine he's an easy making the merge. I don't see a world where he doesn't make the merge. I agree. I agree. And mainly not because he's so great. Because he is great at challenging. But because who's ever on his tribe would be dumb to get rid of him. Because as long as he does well on challenges and helps them win those challenges, they'll make the merge also.

[01:17:19] Now, if there's a crazy thing where there's a lot of puzzles and maybe things that he's not as strong as. And they lose a couple. His tribe loses a couple of challenges in a row. Then we say, well, we'll lose him with him anyway. And we'll cut him. So, we've seen that happen also. That is the fear. Well, not the fear for me. But that is the most likely scenario, I think, of why he would get booted early. It's like, you know, the tribes are going to tribal council. Probably if there's three tribes and there's 24 people. Like, two tribes are going to tribal council every time. Every night. That's somebody else. And right.

[01:17:48] The 20-day season. Yeah. And if there's 26-day season, you know, those tribals. The eliminations are coming quicker and quicker. Did he win? How many immunity challenges did he win individual on your show? Two. I think he won two. How many did you win two? I won that one. I beat Jonathan twice. I beat him in the final five and then I beat him in fire. Tell him that. You're not so tough, Jonathan. You're not so tough, damn it. We're sending this to him. He's going to get this as his little family visit.

[01:18:18] It's going to just be the trend for this. I'm going to throw this on the screen, Mike. Tell me from this group. Who are you excited to see on season 50? You know, the truth is, I'm really excited to see all the old school players. You know, I'm a huge fan like you from the very beginning. And obviously, it would have been a dream for me to be on 50. By the way, I was cut like maybe a week before. I was one of the last cuts. I didn't want to say it. I would have loved you on this group. I would have loved being in there. This is a great group for you. Yeah.

[01:18:47] I would have loved playing like, oh my God, Christian. I mean, everybody out there is a great player. It's, I mean, I don't know the 48ers. And I definitely don't know the 49ers. But it's a great group to play against. I would have been, I would have loved it. The old schools, honestly, I would have gravitated probably to the old schools only because of their icons to me. But, you know, coach, Colby, Christian, Mike White. I would have got a, you know what? I would have got a cameo on White Lotus.

[01:19:17] I would have made, listen, he couldn't, how could he not give me a cameo? That's the way I'm looking at it. You still might. Listen, you're going with Jonathan. Maybe we'll see it. Yeah. Even Devons. I mean, I loved Devons. Devons was one of my favorite players of all time. I loved him out there. So funny. So great. Chrissy's a Jersey girl, New York, Jersey girl, she's an Eastern girl. So I mean, I honestly, I love the cast. I do love the cast. I do think if I'm being fair, it's a little heavy on from 48 and 49 for the new era.

[01:19:46] It should have been a little more diversified. I think recent bias hurt, you know, 41, 42 and 43 and 44 because only Jonathan was taken from that group. Yeah. So if you love Emily, I've always, oh my God. Listen, nobody's rooting for Emily more than I am. Yeah. Is if you were in this group, would you want Jonathan to be there with you or would you want to take Jonathan's spot in this group? No, I want Jonathan. I would want Jonathan with me.

[01:20:10] And the truth is, if I did go with Jonathan, I would put a definite target on both of us because they would look at him as the challenge beast and me as the, as a social guy. And, and which exactly what we are. And I think people would be a little nervous about that. And I don't blame them. Um, but it'd be fun to play with him again. What do you think if Jonathan was going to learn any lesson from spending time with you, like in life, you know, what is that going into season 50? Like, what can he take from you? The Mike Turner experience.

[01:20:37] Uh, make sure your social game is top tier. You social, it's easy in a way, but it's hard in a way because again, you're going through a lot of adversity, but the bottom line is, you know, how's it look at it? If you're funny out there, which I tried to be a very funny, sometimes my dad jokes and stuff like that.

[01:21:00] But the truth is, if they're, if say if there's two people that they're thinking about getting rid of, they look at one and say like, well, he at least makes us laugh. You know, he's much more, and the other one's miserable. They're going to get rid of the miserable guy. So you got to kind of give yourself every advantage out there. And I like having fun. I like, you know, so that would be my, just be likable, be fun. And Jonathan is likable, but he, you know, when he's, he's hungry, it's hard. And that's what you have to learn. You have to put that behind, you have to almost take it and put it in a box, you know, put that in a box. I know I'm going to be hungry.

[01:21:29] It is what it is. You know, it's like when you're on a long trip, you drive like 1400 miles, it's going to suck. But you kind of say, I know what it is. I'm just going to do it. And I don't have to worry. I'm not going to be miserable because I have to do what I got to do. Same thing. You know, you're going to be hungry, put it in a box, leave it in a box. And it is what it is. That is, I, I set you up for what I think is the correct answer is that, and people say this about you. I know you know people say this, you have the best social game of any of these people.

[01:21:55] Like just in the circles that you and I exist in, everybody wants to be around you all the time. You, Mike Turner. And I, that's not the same with Jonathan. I don't believe, you know, he needs some of that. He needs whatever that quality that you have is. Because that can, that can win him this situation. I agree. To have that. And I just wonder if he is going to implement that. Right. And you know, the crazy thing, Brandon, he does have it. Listen, if Jonathan was an asshole and a jerk, I wouldn't want to be his friend. Yeah.

[01:22:25] Yeah, yeah. You know, I love Jonathan. Jonathan legitimately has that. But, you know, obviously, when there's adversity, that, listen, it's easy to be nice and social when things are going great. It's easy. It's when things are going rough is when you have to reach down and really be the person that you want to be. It's hard. And that's the great thing about Survivor, right? Because everybody can play Survivor from their couch because they're full and they're not tired and they don't lose any weight.

[01:22:52] And then you go out there and, you know, those decisions you have to make when you have to make them in, like, you know, in a drop of a dime, you have to make a decision and you're hungry, you're tired. It's much harder. So it's hard. You have to practice that. Nothing, nothing is, listen, nothing comes without working on it. You know, I didn't become like, you know, I bet you a lot of people when I was in my 20s, they thought I was an asshole because I thought who I was.

[01:23:14] But the truth is age brings those qualities out that you have in you to the forefront and you learn to just work with it. What are you hoping to see from season 50, Jonathan Asai? What's the big picture? What do you want to see when you're watching it? I want what everybody else wants. I want to see messy. I want to see funny. I want to see great gameplay. And I want to see a great winner. That's what I want.

[01:23:40] Now, if Jonathan isn't the person to win, who do you think has the best shot of winning this? You know, I haven't really thought about it. Because, you know, it's such to set the record straight, except for the 49ers who I don't know at all. I'd be OK with anybody winning. Obviously, I'm pulling for Jonathan because he's my boy. But if Jonathan didn't win, I would be OK with anybody else that won. I really would be. I don't know Tiffany that well, but I do like I loved her. I loved watching her.

[01:24:11] She's a sneaky winner pick, I think, because I think that a lot of people are kind of downplaying. And that's why I don't want to pick her because she's a sneaky. A lot of people think. You know who I would love to see win? Really, I would love to see Christian win. Yeah. I would love to see him win. I don't think he will, but I would love to see him win. The Internet would explode. Everybody would be so thrilled. He's the one person that I think leading up to this, like he had 100 percent approval rating. Like everybody wanted him to be a part of whatever this was. You know what?

[01:24:41] He's a good dude and he's a good player. And he's just, you know, again, socially. And he's got that quality, that endearing quality. Like, you know, he's a nerd and he embraces it, which is don't you love that? He knows what he is. Have you met him in person? I've talked to him on the phone. We played clocks in a watchtower, whatever. I played with him. And honestly, one of the nicest guys. Yeah. The nicest down to earth. I honestly, I loved him on the season.

[01:25:10] And when I got there, he didn't disappoint at all. He's just a nice guy. The best. And I wanted to win. You know what I'm saying? I wanted to win because I'm sure, you know, he would. He would not only surprise people, but he'd be a good winner because honestly, you know, who would think he would win? And I think he has it to win. I think so, too. I think that you're going to see him and Jonathan included like Jonathan maybe doesn't.

[01:25:36] It hasn't implemented that gear yet, but it's so many huge threats and it's threats in their thing that they're threatening it. You know, you have the huge physical, you know, Christian like you is like, you know, immaculate socially, you know, and it's going to be a knockdown drag out brawl of all these people. You know, I think so. Isn't it great? Isn't it going to be great? I can't wait. Listen, I don't even want to be spoiled. I don't want to know nothing. I want to come in. Like Jonathan's going home. I'll say, well, I'm going to look at him. To be fair, I want to know if he won or not.

[01:26:05] I don't know if he'll tell me because he's not allowed to. However, however, I don't want to know anything else. I love, I hate, you know, I love watching the season as a fan and being surprised like everybody else. When I say like, who's your winner pick? Like I say, I don't even try and figure that out because I want to, to me, it's like playing Monopoly. The beginning is like you're getting to know everything, you know, you're collecting your money, you're collecting your spots, then you get your, that's to me to survive and that's the part of it. Like the beginning is like, oh, I'm trying to remember their names, trying to see who's

[01:26:34] social, who's not social, who's a beast. And then I start formulating my opinion. And that's to me, my favorite part of Survivor. You and me both. I'm so excited. I want to know so bad. I do not agree. I want to know as soon as they get off this plane and they're getting off the plane shortly. I know. And he's going to tell me, but I want to know so bad. Yeah, definitely. Here, Brandon, we both know they're all going to keep to their honor and not tell anybody anything about what happened on season 50. Nobody's, none of us are going to know.

[01:27:03] We're not going to get a chance. Nobody's going to know. There's not going to be any leaks. No, no leaks. Don't look for leaks. If you're listening, don't look for leaks. There's no leaks. No leaks. Mike Turner, thank you so much for chatting with me. Oh my gosh. Awesome time. Thank you, Brandon. It's a pleasure. You're easy to talk to, brother. Thank you, listener, for joining us for this Jonathan Young experience. We will be back next time with another episode of the Survivor 50 Files. Take care. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.

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