Why ___ Lost Survivor 50 Ep 10 w/ James Jones

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[00:01:35] And Jessica will turn it around. They'll break down the rules and we'll show you how. You played yourself and got voted out. This is why blank lost. This is why blank lost.

[00:01:51] Welcome back to the 10th anniversary year of the why blank lost podcast and the 25th anniversary of why blank lost as a concept. I'm David Bloomberg. And because we have so much strategy talk in this podcast, I'm going to follow Jeff Probst's lead and throw in randomness like a coin flip, pick a card, roulette wheel. Just because. So if suddenly someone disappears off the podcast today, you'll know what happened.

[00:02:29] Their number came up. The crazy thing is, is you could do that. Good. Joining me, that voice you heard, of course, is my co-host, Jessica Lewis, who told Mr. Beast on social media exactly what she thought of the idea of forcing a rock draw if nobody had volunteered to flip the coin. Listen, listen, I had to. It was a necessary. Yes. Reaction to that moment.

[00:02:56] Like, how dare you tell everyone? Too bad. So sad. You're going to rocks if no one can can agree to this coin flip. Yeah, I was a little frustrated with that. So, yeah, I shared my feelings. And welcome back to our special returning guest, James Jones. As you know, I flipped a coin to see what guests would be here. And luckily heads came up for you. And I also hate rock draws. I hate random rock draws as well.

[00:03:24] Like this is a lot of PTSD this episode. You know, I just wish we had a regular 10 person vote. Give me a 50 50 coin. I'll take any of it. It's not a triple of five with a random vote. That's just me. Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot of trauma. I've decided you probably heard me mention this, James, but I do think that we're seeing a lot of trauma responses on season 50 of Survivor for sure. Yeah, it's coming up.

[00:03:51] So, James, how have you been doing since we had you on with us last season? I mean, everything is good. I mean, I was kind of bummed I didn't get a call for 50. I was sitting by my phone. I thought I, you know, had a strong performance. Clearly that didn't happen. So I got revved up when 50 started. I stayed away from all the pregame. But then once it started, kind of it's been fascinating to watch now that you kind of know some of these players

[00:04:20] and you kind of understand their personalities inside and outside the game. And you're just kind of thinking before the show, OK, I know these people going to click, but where are the random relationships going to pop up? And I think that part has been very interesting for me. And I've been doing pretty well just working like, you know, just easing back into kind of the Survivor community and getting back on podcasts and stuff. So thank you for having me. And I'm excited to talk to you two tonight.

[00:04:49] All right. This is a great episode. All right. Well, as it happens before we start, I got something in. Well, I was going to say the mail, but it was UPS today. And I think you two may have something similar. Look what showed up. I think we might. The Tribe and I have spoken by Rob Sesternino. Ta-da! You know, obviously, since I just got it today, I literally was like, OK, I'm looking at I'm watching the truck, you know, as it comes.

[00:05:16] Because I got an announcement of I got an email from UPS. Like you have a package coming in. It said it was from the book's publisher. So I was like, I think I know who this is from. Uh, but I was watching the truck. I hope it gets here before the podcast. But yes, I haven't haven't started yet. But, uh, um, you know, I'm very much looking forward to it. And of course, people, I think you can still preorder it. I think technically it's publication date is not yet. I think you can still preorder it.

[00:05:46] So obviously we encourage it, you know, and we're not just saying that because he's the boss. I promise he did not ask us to do this. He didn't. He didn't at all. And I will say I should be frustrated. I should be. But I'm not frustrated. I didn't get a shout out or anything in the book. But there is something on page 213 that I thought was a little fascinating. And that was, should I go to rocks? And I was like, oh, what does Rob Sassonino think about going to rocks?

[00:06:13] Well, he does not think that we should have gone to rocks in Millennials versus Gen X. He thinks that was unnecessary. And I was like, that feels like a little bit of a shot. But I understand because 10 seems like a really, probably. But he did say there's usually another creative play. And because he said this and I, I love him dearly and I'm not discounting what he said. Context matters, right? When these decisions are made. And James, I'm sure you can appreciate this.

[00:06:41] So I brought a little something with me to show you all. I don't know if I've ever shown this on the podcast. But I might happen to have this. You're really small on my screen. So what does that say? It says the tribe has spoken. It has Jeff Probst's signature on it. Look at that. Okay. And it is episode 10 from Millennials versus Gen X, right in the middle.

[00:07:09] It was the episode that I didn't go home, but almost did. And this is why context matters. When you start to see this, Jessica, and then you see another Jessica. How did you get those? Jessica. And then you see another Jessica. You start to realize people don't like you very much.

[00:07:33] You start to be concerned where you are and where your lot in life is in Survivor. And you really hope that they all vote for this guy, which they ultimately did. They voted for Crips that particular episode. Now, I acquired these because a friend of mine won them in the online auction, which was a super lovely gift for them to give me. But this is why I say context matters, because that was the lead up to the episode where we ended up going to rocks.

[00:08:01] And things were very split at that point in time between the two factions, if you will. And so I just wanted to include that. Yeah. And Rob did say in here, if you don't see any path forward, any other path forward for you and your allies to combat the other side, then, yes, you've got to do it. Don't just sit there getting picked off one by one. And that's exactly the point. I mean, remember, Rob did do the Why Jessica Lost podcast with me. Oh, I know.

[00:08:29] And we explained why it was the right move for you. Yes. And so I think that there may have been other people in there who it was not necessarily the right move for. Yes. And this is why this is what makes. Yes. And this is what makes Survivor so fascinating, because in that moment, for me, that was the best decision, even though it was a horrible thing to have to do. But yes, other people probably didn't need to do that.

[00:08:58] Could I have been creative with my legacy? Probably. Was my brain in that space? No. In hindsight, of course, you're like, oh, maybe there was another option. But this is what makes this game so fascinating and also so difficult, because things are moving very quickly. Things are outside of your control. And everybody's lying to you about everything all of the time. And so you just have to try to pick and choose what's going to work best for you.

[00:09:21] And so I just I'm very fascinated to look through the book because I really do think that Rob Cessarino is one of the greatest people to ever play this game. So I'm certainly not discounting anything, but I thought it was interesting. I was like, oh, rocks. Oh, OK. I had to I was going through it very quickly because I just got it the other day. But I am excited to read all of it because he I'm sure has incredible advice for anyone who is interested in playing this game.

[00:09:47] See, and I want to just echo what Jessica saying, because a lot of times people get criticized for not doing things to put them in a position to win at the end of the game. And they say, what was the point of going to three or four and drawing dead when you could make a move at six, seven, eight to put yourself in a position? Or you can kind of go along with the flow and kind of be dragged to the end or know you're kind of on a sinking ship and you're being kept because you haven't made an impact in the game.

[00:10:16] Right. So I feel like you have to make those decisions. So we also have to kind of also look at the game in that context as well and kind of see, you know, from the players point of view sometimes and not necessarily, you know, a very objective, you know, you know, two plus two equals four type of equation because that's not how Survivor operates. Right. And also, I do want to point out for people who may not remember this, Millennials versus Gen X was before the get up and walk around and talk. Yes. Bible Council era. Yes.

[00:10:47] I think that, well, it was like one season before that, I believe. I know. I was so frustrated when the next season, I'm like, wait, what, what are they doing? And I was like, this has never happened before. Why are they standing up? They were very adamant about where you would sit. And it was very important about where you were sitting. And so doing anything outside of that space felt not allowed. So I think, yeah, the same situation is much less likely to happen.

[00:11:15] And I think there's a reason that they haven't gone to rocks since then. Because if you if you are that tied up, you can get up and go talk to people and try to convince them to swing over, which I believe is exactly. I mean, you've talked about it before. You and Will could have gotten together and figured out what you were doing because Will didn't swing over because he thought you were going to swing over.

[00:11:40] And if you would be able to talk to him, he would have known, oh, OK, she's not going to swing over. Therefore, I should swing. And suddenly there's no rocks there. So, yes, I do think going forward, it is much less likely that you go to the people go to rock. Yes. Which is why it's so fascinating that we saw so much movement at this tribal council this time, because there was a possibility of going to rocks.

[00:12:08] And there was also a whole lot of things happening in that tribal council. It was very fascinating for sure. Yes. And I I thought, you know, switching to this one, I thought overall this was a very fun episode. I think that's, you know, almost universal opinion. Nothing in survivors ever universal. So I'll say almost, but it could have easily been horrendous, which we'll talk about in a few minutes here. And I do want to say most of the fun didn't come from Mr. Beast.

[00:12:38] It came from Mr. Devins. Oh, my gosh. I love that man. So good. I mean, I feel like watching Devins play and talking to Devins and understanding Sandy Devins, you kind of see what was happening, kind of giving this guy all artillery, you know, that early after tribal, right? That early when you get back from the challenge, Devins is probably the type of player that you may have to queue in maybe a half an hour.

[00:13:07] Or, oh, man, we just you just pulled a fast one and we're trying to we may have the votes like giving a player like Devins kind of time to kind of, you know, ammo. Yes. And before you have everything else, we can get to it. But it's kind of a tough situation because you don't want to give the first name on the beach. Right. And that's I think we're and that's getting into minutiae. And you know that like the first person, I don't think it's at all.

[00:13:37] It's never that person. I think it's I think it's rule one. I think we will have a lot of discussion about that in rule one. But but first we have to get to the rules. And, you know, just last week, I predicted Stephanie would be brought to the end as a goat. So much for that prediction. But what we may lack in our ability to look into the future, we make up for in looking back at how players have played the game.

[00:14:04] We will, of course, do that again this week as we figure out where Stephanie went wrong or right by comparing her gameplay to a set of guiding rules for winning. I originally wrote way back after season one and have been updating ever since. We will use all the non-spoiler information available to us from what we saw on TV, interviews, social media and secret scenes. And of course, the newest published version of the rule rules can be found at Rob has website dot com slash YX lost feed and look for the link bubble that conveniently says survivor rules.

[00:14:34] But before we get there, we always have some other things to discuss. And, you know, I know we've already been talking about things, but yeah, we've there's a few of them here, because as with last week, I know everyone expects me to talk about the big twist first. And again, like last week, there were two of them. So again, for the third time, we will start with the good twist first, like we did.

[00:14:58] And especially since it kind of led into the second and the good twist was the auction. Oh, yes. Yeah. I hear people saying, wait, the auction isn't a twist. It's been around forever, which is true. But Jeff more recently turned it into something that was unrecognizable and not really even an auction. This one was and it was fun for both us and the players.

[00:15:24] So, yes, these days, something that Jeff does that's fun and not potentially game killing. It is a twist. A real auction is so much more enjoyable than the BS. Spend all your money or lose your vote. Non-auction that they've been. Almost like Jeff Probst should listen to us more. I feel like maybe he is occasionally. I think the auction was great.

[00:15:49] And I think the whole the tests were with Jonathan and Ozzy with that dual prize thing is something that they're definitely going to kind of bring back. Yes. I feel like that's something that I feel like that's one of the few things that I've seen a new era that really could break a relationship or maybe even form one.

[00:16:12] Like, like, especially, you know, if you're hungry and you have a plate of fried chicken and your ally doesn't eat something, you may not. You may look at them differently. Yeah. Or your enemy doesn't do it. Yeah. You may make things even worse. Yeah. You know, so I feel like this is a good element that kind of can maybe bring some some little, you know, conflict in a nice way socially to the game. Yeah. Yeah. I agree completely.

[00:16:41] And it was fun. It was fun to see Jonathan, you know, eating this horrid thing and then spitting it up. It was even more fun to see Aubrey like excited to eat the grubs and jumping up and down and biting into one and squirting Ozzy with it. And, you know, all the other things and her going, I'm a psycho. I mean, that was all that was fun. Yeah. But Siri takes the prize. She gets the prize.

[00:17:07] Like, as far as I'm concerned, the fact that like she was like, Jeff, I'm going to go throw up and then I'm going to come back and eat the rest. And then did exactly that. It was like she completely rallied. Like, I loved that so much for her because it was just such an honest moment. And it's fascinating to me that that's what that's the world you're living in when you're on the island is like it. I'm going to go throw up. And people aren't surprised. They're not like offended. They're not grossed out. Even if you're like, I need to go.

[00:17:37] I have to I need to go take an aqua dump or whatever it is. People are just like, OK. And it's like everyone walks around and not. I should say the producers walk around hand sanitizer because they know that things are happening that are not pleasant and that are gross. But it is fascinating to watch how all of that just gets stripped away. I mean, I I don't pee in front of people. I peed in front of everybody in Survivor because you're just like, well, I mean, I don't have a choice. I'm about to do a challenge.

[00:18:04] There's 150 people watching me, but I have to pee. I'm literally just going to pee right there. It's fine. You don't care anymore because it's like there's a bigger goal in mind. And I I so love that we got to see that from these players during this auction. It was it was just so enjoyable. Yeah. Yeah. The serene moment, I have to say, reminded me of. One of my birthdays when I lived in a dorm, it couldn't have been my. Oh, no, because I graduated before I was 21.

[00:18:33] But my roommate and several other people decided that, you know, on my birthday, they were going to give me a lot of alcohol. And I remember sitting in the hall. People were just giving me drinks and they were just whatever they had handy. So some of it was pretty disgusting. Oh, no. I mean, the mixes and they were giving it to me. And at one point I was like, I'm going to throw up. So they handed me a wastebasket. I threw up and then they kept giving me drinks.

[00:19:02] So I do not recommend this. This is probably, you know, a bad, bad idea in general. And I also remember the RA who's supposed to watch out for things like this, walking by and just being like, don't let him die. OK, so it's kind of surprising I remember anything, to be honest. But yes, I do remember those. And so we reminded me of that lovely, lovely moment.

[00:19:31] I feel like Saree went to the spa. She got a blanket. Yeah. You know, she got some food. So secure it. Charcuterie. I hate that word. Charcuterie board. Charcuterie. If I hear it, charcuterie. I mean, if they had a shower out there, Saree would have been for it and got it. She brushed her teeth. Yeah, but someone else pointed this out. She brushed her teeth before she threw up. So it was like, oh, come on. She probably says she probably had left over. You probably take it back to camp.

[00:20:01] You know, it's probably, you know, a great thing. So it was great to watch. Well, and I will say if they're selling a blanket, I'm buying the blanket for sure. I'm buying the blanket. I was like 80 bucks. Yeah, like that's such a deal. Get the blanket. They just didn't want to get against Saree for that blanket. They were like, she was like, mama needs a blanket. OK, that was the end of it. I mean, but I think that's also part of the psychology for going first at 80. Like, right. She could have went first at 200. Yeah.

[00:20:31] But she's going first at 80 is her saying, all right, like what's going on? I feel like there's always a psychology to everything because me and Jessica's first reaction was 80 dot. Like, yeah, we like anybody. They got five and 500 and you can pull money. So two people together can say, like, we can split the blanket. Right. You know, yeah. For 100 bucks and no one did it. So like that's kind of, you know, I think that's I look at all these little things that happen when you're out there. It was like.

[00:21:02] That's just very interesting to me. That was very interesting to me. Yeah.

[00:21:34] Yeah. Probably on chat. It was an X. Was it OK? He posted and said, you know, he considered flipping the coin and was about to, like, make a move for it. And Sari gave him the look like, don't you dare. Which is the look we get from our moms. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She is quietly controlling so many people. And in her beautiful way of doing it.

[00:22:03] I love every conversation that you see Sari having with people because she's she's never overreacting. She's always just like, mm hmm. Mm hmm. And then she's kind of thinking. And even if they try to, like, call her out on something, she's like, well, of course, I'm just going to say yes, because what is the rule? Like if someone proposes something, you don't say no. But she does in such a way that's just like, well, duh, why would I do anything else?

[00:22:27] And so she makes everyone that she's talking to feel like they have to justify what they're doing as opposed to she has to. And then she also reminds people of their place while they're, like, talking to her. And then the most fascinating thing I saw her do this episode was when she was sitting on the hammock with Devens and was just ticking off all like this was the target. Then that was the target. Then this target. And now you're voting for me.

[00:22:52] And it was so great because it just she forces people to have to be honest. And then she can kind of read their responses, which she was talking about with Stephanie, who will be talking about today. How just body language matters so much and her ability to just seem so calm and comfortable in every conversation she's having makes her seem so non-threatening. And people just listen to her. It's it's an art. It's incredible.

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[00:24:50] Rules and restrictions may apply. I've been singing Therese phrases. I mean, of course, but I think the one thing that she does, like, and I think Rizzo does this extremely well too, is when they're talking to someone, they frame the communication as a we in that best person's point of view. So like even when Rizzo was talking to Juwan last year, he's kind of like, yeah, us. This is our way forward. Or he's talking to Stephen. This is us on our way forward.

[00:25:19] So Rizzo, in each one of these pockets, her and Tiffany probably have a, this is our way forward. Yeah. Stephanie says in the X interview, we're going to the end. Us, and here's our way forward. Even when Sari's joking with Joe. And Joe, I think a lot of times we think about the game in groups. We think about it in kind of clusters. I feel like Joe, the reason why Joe feels comfortable is because Tiffany, does Joe feel comfortable going to the end? Probably with Tiffany and Sari, that makes a lot of sense.

[00:25:46] So she's able to create these little pockets of trust. Ozzie Rizzo and herself, pocket of trust. Those, you have to get to the end, you need people, and you only have to get to four. So you have three. One is always happy to come along, you know, to get to that fourth spot. You know, so even with the relationship with Joe, Tiffany, and Jonathan, that's a four there. Aubrey kind of Devin's Tiffin herself. Like, there's a lot of different avenues forward that she's in the middle of.

[00:26:16] And when she's framing those conversations, she can frame them in ways to make sense because Devin says Joe. She's not a frame that conversation. You know, Emily and Jonathan, you know how to frame that conversation, right? Probably Joe and Tiffany. So you already know how to frame the conversation based on what you're talking to because the lines are just so drawn out. And it's just kind of like lamps to the slaughter out there now. We hope. We're biased here. But, you know.

[00:26:46] But, yeah. So after the auction, to get back to that, it, of course, morphed into a way for Jeff to bring in Mr. Beast. And even made it seem like it was a consequence of their own actions as if they were going to bring Mr. Beast all the way out there and not have him come on with his twist. Yes? If they did take their love letters, would they still have done the twist? Like, if they have said, we don't want the love letters?

[00:27:12] I mean, I think by offering it up for only $20 each, one, it was almost a certainty. Okay? Mm-hmm. That they're going to take that chance. Two, if someone either ran out of money or didn't want to spend $20 for some reason because they felt it was a risk, I think Jeff would have said something like, well, either he would have revealed it so they saw it was their letters and then that would have gotten everyone.

[00:27:39] Or he would have said, oh, remember I said you can share money so someone else can pay their $20 in order to get this for everyone. And as a matter of fact, I believe that is the main reason he allowed money sharing this time. Just to make sure that there was some path that was going to be available to get Mr. Beast in it. That's fair. Do you remember when Mike Holloway was like, oh, yes, I'll go in too with the 20, everyone, I think it was $20.

[00:28:08] And he was the last one up and then was like, never mind. And everybody got so mad at him. Yes. Great, great moment. Great moment. Love stuff like that. Yeah. Now, once that triggered, the rest of the twist took effect at Tribal Council. Other people outside of the game had predicted it would be a coin flip for doubling the prize or elimination. I did think that doubling the prize could be involved. I did not think automatic elimination because who would do that? Well, now we know.

[00:28:37] Well, plus they added some things to it. They added the double immunity for the flipper if they got it right. Although we've heard flippers never win. I think it was smart because on Beast games, it's just flipping for the good of the group or you get eliminated. Like you flip and whoever wins gets double the prize. You personally have no guarantee of gaining anything if you get it right.

[00:29:03] Here, Devin's had a guarantee that was good for him. So I like that modification to it because it gave someone incentive to do it for their own benefit. Yes. And what were the chances that the torch was going to pop up on the coin? 50-50. I looked up. Okay. Okay. I know there's been a lot of people like, they rigged the coin. I looked up how you rig a coin. It is not easy. Okay.

[00:29:32] Most of it deals with magnetic, which they obviously did not have magnets under tribal council. Or sleight of hand and using a double-headed coin, which he obviously did not do in that case. So, you know, I think Jeff and Mr. Beast were perfectly happy if it went the other way. I think they were wrong, which I'll get to in a minute.

[00:29:57] But, you know, once Rick himself showed an interest in flipping the coin, it was funny to see a few people doing the same thing that we've seen on Beast games. They're like, yeah, do it. It's all about you. Hype them up. Yeah, yeah. Well, of course. Because it could double-bearize money. Yeah. And they have no risk. It's only a risk for the flipper, who in this case had been on the bottom for, you know, the last little while anyway. So, yeah. Oh, yeah, you do that. Yeah. I'm just going to sit back here. But you do that.

[00:30:27] Mm-hmm. I mean, the risk comes with the one of us is going to be then voted out if he's correct in the flip. Most of them knew they weren't in danger. Sure. And those who, the person who was in danger did not realize she was in danger. Well, Aubrey was also concerned. And so she was concerned. Yes. Mm-hmm. But the one who should have been concerned was not. Yeah.

[00:30:55] I mean, with the live trial, I do think there was a slight possibility of Aubrey. I don't think it was like something that would have been a planned thing to do. Mm-hmm. But I think if Devin's was on the table possibly, and we don't know how on the table he was at that point, you know, it could have been a game time decision. Just because at the end of the day, Stephanie and that side was going to vote how they're going to vote. Mm-hmm.

[00:31:21] You know, so it kind of just, it's in the hands of, you know. Oh, no. Yeah. Well, we wish. Yeah. So I think those are the things that I think if we knew what they were doing going in or maybe not, but I definitely think she was slight risk here. But we know it was Stephanie, Aubrey, and Rick. I, once we get to rule one, I have, I fully believe it was Stephanie going in and certainly Stephanie by the time of the coin flip. No, you don't.

[00:31:51] And I have my stack of evidence that I will go over to, to decide, to, you know, share with you once we get to that. Oh, fascinating. That's fascinating. But anyway, getting back to the result, as much as it was a fun one, like I've said, and I said earlier, I have to give this twist thumbs down. Like many people already have said, I'm not the first to say this by any means because it could have been horrible.

[00:32:21] Yes, Devon's volunteered, but even Jeff admitted, oh, we didn't think anyone would volunteer. We thought we'd have to go to rocks. And that's why they put that mechanism in there to force it. It could have easily ended up with a rock draw because there are many times you get to a tribal council where everyone thinks the person on the bottom is someone else. Just look at last week. Christian had no idea he was about to be voted out.

[00:32:49] It was a complete blindside. There's no way he would have flipped that coin if it happened then. And I don't know that anyone necessarily would have. And if it was now, it was lucky that Devon's knew he was, you know, seemingly on the bottom and was not in a good spot, if not this time, at least going forward. And so it's very clear that a lot of the jubilation over this twist is results oriented. And a lot of people will say that.

[00:33:19] Fun guy, Rick Devons volunteered. He got it right. He survived. Woohoo! But if it landed on tails, it was bad enough that they interrupted the most interesting tribal council of the season to do the flip. But if it turned out he was just gone and there was no tribal council, that would have been a huge mood killer. And it would have been even worse if it had gone to rocks.

[00:33:43] Because imagine Sari drawing the wrong rock and getting the wrong flip only to be screwed again when she was playing a masterful game. Which I know many of us did worry about. I saw it all over the place. I got texted about it. There were messages all over social media about it. And yes, I know that is the worst case scenario. And people may say, well, that was very unlikely to happen.

[00:34:10] My calculation, 5.5%, which is way too high for my taste. But unlikely things happen all the time on Survivor. Think of how many times a swap has ended up with a grouping that seems to defy the odds. Even this season, all three David versus Goliath players landed on the same tribe. And immediately people were there. I mean, some people will yell fix to anything. But there are people fix. There's no way. The odds are against it. Yeah. Uncommon things happen.

[00:34:40] Think about what Jimmy Fallon said to Christian last week on The Tonight Show. Oh, it wasn't supposed to be you. Yeah. Well, guess what? That's the problem with these twists. You don't know how they will end up or who it will affect. This one was lucky. Hey, I'm worried Jeff will take away from this. Oh, that was fun. We should do it again. Yeah. If you keep doing stuff like this, someone will eventually get royally screwed. It was a good outcome. It was not a good twist.

[00:35:08] See, what I thought was going to end up happening was that the offer would be extended to if somebody wants to, somebody can. And if that person is successful, the same rules apply, right? And you would get an idol, blah, blah, blah. If that doesn't happen and if someone isn't interested in volunteering to do it, we are then going to have a vote. And the actual tribe is going to decide who is flipping this coin.

[00:35:37] And whatever choice is made, that person has to flip and they don't end up with an idol. They have to flip the coin and they can save themselves. And then they don't get voted out. And then there is no vote out at all. Like that would be an interest. Like that's what I thought was going to end up happening. That it was going to come up to like the players were going to decide, well, now how do we work this? Like, do we do we want who do we want to flip this and run the risk of 50 50? They get to stay. They have to go.

[00:36:05] So that was what I was anticipating. And then I was like, oh, rocks. Hell no. No, this is terrible. Like what? What are you doing? So, yeah, that I have the same the same gut reaction to the rock draw being the force that's going to cause people to do this. I would rather it have been, OK, fine. Then you're all picking like then you have to go up and it's just like tribal council, except you're voting for the person who's going to flip the coin. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:36:35] I like the voting for the person to flip the coin, depending on what the what the benefits are to the flipper, meaning like if that flipper maybe gets two votes at tribal council or I think the idol is a good thing for the flipper as well. So I just something like that, that maybe gives consequence to the person if they win. So if you want a person on the bottom and they have two votes, then maybe the bottom can flip.

[00:36:59] So maybe you volunteer because you look at your game and say, because if we talk about numbers, a 50 50 chance at immunity in the idol is probably the best chance you're going to get for an advantage in the game. Yeah. So if you're really thinking about it, the question is, why would you not?

[00:37:19] Unless you're in a very dominant position, like if the goal is to win the game, I think this is probably probably your best kind of shot, especially if you're anywhere close to the bottom. So if I was Aubrey or if I was Rick, you know, I think this has to be your move if you are at the bottom. Right. Even if you're Aubrey, if they're if they're targeting Rick is maybe why David thinks that Rick was the target that Aubrey didn't do it. But, you know, if Rick is safe, then, you know, you're the back of vote.

[00:37:49] So Aubrey as a defense mechanism will want to have to do it. Then I wonder what happens if two people want to go. What happens where if you know Rick hits, you're going. If Aubrey knows Aubrey has risk gone, then they're going defensively. So I think there's some things that kind of possibly work out. But, you know, yeah, I enjoy it. I suspect if more than one person had insisted on doing it, it would have gone back to rock draw again. I mean, I think that they and Jeff may have explained that, but they cut it because they didn't need to address that.

[00:38:19] There was only one that makes a juicy situation, though. I mean, I would hate to see it just from but like two people like, you know, and I can flip the game without it actually being a vote. Meaning those two people that are on the bottom decide to go to rocks and a person goes home. That's in a majority position. Oh, no, I meant the two people. I meant that the people who want to do it draw rocks. Not everybody draws rocks. Oh, but they have to make unanimous decision, though. So, I mean, I don't know.

[00:38:45] I mean, I'm guessing I think it probably would have been like I said, I suspect that instruction was probably cut because they didn't need it. There was only one person who really wanted to do it. Rick really. Rick did his thing. Yeah, that was amazing. He did. He did his thing. Right. And that's the thing. Rick did his thing all episode. And Jeff kept attributing everything that happened to Mr. Beast being there. It's like Jeff, not patting yourself on the back. These players were playing hard no matter what. Rick Evans wasn't just going to roll over.

[00:39:15] Jonathan was itching to make a move. Almost everything that happened leading up to that point would almost certainly have happened anyway. It was not because of Mr. Beast causing chaos. But I know Jeff wanted to, you know, oh, it's Mr. Beast. It's Mr. No, it's Mr. Devin. Like I said, it was it was a final 10 vote without a split random draw, which we were robbed of most of the new era. Right. Yeah.

[00:39:41] Now, speaking of Devin, he was on fire in this episode. Yeah. If you were Rizzo, you might say he was cinema. I loved his confessional at the beginning of the episode where he said, when I'm having fun, I either make a good decision or a fun bad decision. And that turned out to be huge foreshadowing. But when Rick has fun, I know I have fun watching. So I was all part all for it. No, it was amazing.

[00:40:07] And what I what I love so much about the approach that he took, and I know, James, you've already kind of referenced this as well, is the amount of information that was being provided to him was insane. But he he just he accepts it in such a great way. Like he's he's very self-deprecating, like I'm up for anything. Like, yeah, I mean, I'm good with that. Like, that's good. He doesn't necessarily offer up an idea until like Rizzo started being floated. And then he was like, yeah, no, I think we could all get behind that.

[00:40:36] But he lets other people talk. And then he just he's like a little sponge. He just takes it all in and figures out how am I going to utilize all of this to just destroy everyone, which was so much fun because watching everyone's faces while he was talking during that tribal was so entertaining because it was just like everything was being put on the table.

[00:41:01] And immediately you had people who were defending themselves and other people that were just stunned and shocked that this information was coming out. But he he was so. It's just incredible in the delivery and what he chose to deliver and how he chose to say it. And he was he was like in Rizzo. Yeah, I was I was offering up your name and that's a compliment. And so it's just it's all about the way that he utilizes the information. And he didn't go in there like he was very clear what his objective was.

[00:41:30] This is what I'm going to do. And then I'm going to have a pitch. So everyone has to listen to him because he has things to say and he's told them exactly how he's going to do it. It's like he offered them a thesis. Like, by the way, let me get through this because this is what I'm going to do. Yeah. I mean, I feel like he framed it up really well, especially with the whole the beach conversation with when that came up about, oh, they approached me. Oh, let's wait till rule one for that part. Oh, I'm so sorry. I apologize.

[00:42:01] Appreciate it. Slow me down. Oh, he will. He will. Jessica's fault. She was the one who went there. Oh, oh, my gosh. I'm not going to blame the guest. Come on. You should know that. I do. I also add that Rick's wife, Becca, told him in her letter to have the spirit of playfulness. And he definitely did. And by the way, it is her birthday today as we record this. So happy birthday, Becca. Happy birthday, Becca. I love that.

[00:42:29] Also, Rick called Joe and Jonathan smug sons of bitches and said they could not wipe the smile off his face. Now, he did not mention them by name, but we know about it was very good. Now, there's a couple other people I was going to talk about, but we are already running way over here. So you'll just have to look at my videos for that. I will do some of them there. And one thing I do want to mention, because you mentioned it.

[00:42:59] One of you mentioned it. I can't remember who now. Joe and talking to Sari. And I didn't really realize it last week, but I think it's becoming clear that Sari has Joe locked into her orbit. Mm-hmm. Because he keeps going to her and telling her things that he really shouldn't if he's not aligned with her. He's right. And, you know, remember, they did start on the same tribe and he she worked to get him on side then.

[00:43:25] Plus, she and Rizzo made a point of telling Joe what was going to happen in the double dippy duo's twist. And and, you know, Stephanie even told Rob, I think Joe is playing both sides and he doesn't want to admit that. And it could bite him in the end, which was an interesting comment. There's been a number of people being like, how much did she spoil about the end in her interviews? And I think this was one of the comments people are wondering about. We don't know. Might not be.

[00:43:54] But, you know, his whole honesty and loyalty shtick lost him the game once. Could it lose in the end again? Yeah, sure. You know, and meanwhile, he continues to be offended by other people playing the game. Like he went off about how terrible it was for Devin to talk about lying when he revealed his fake idol. Oh, no. And then Stephanie told Dalton Ross that Joe couldn't even look at her when she told him about the steal of vote because she had originally lied and said she didn't get anything.

[00:44:23] She said, oh, it was sorry. She said he was like a child that was so mad. I didn't tell him sooner. So if anybody's thinking Joe has changed. No, no, he has. Well, I mean, this is Survivor. What happened on the other beach? What did Rizzo do earlier this year? Let's give Rizzo some juice. We have. Was it Rizzo? Somebody we have to let Joe know. Someone said we have to tell Joe. Right. That's right. I think that was part of the whole getting him in that alliance or apparently in that alliance.

[00:44:53] So, you know what Joe appreciates? So, Steph, what you have to do to get like, hey, I didn't tell anybody else this. Joe, look, this is what I have. And I'm telling you because I know you value this type of honesty. Right. And when you don't do that with somebody like Joe, you're in his mind. You're dead to him. Yeah. Mm hmm. Well, and I think someone like Joe makes it so easy for other people to play with him because they know exactly what they know.

[00:45:21] Exactly what he needs is exactly what James just said. I mean, you if you're able to feed into that person's way of playing the game, then they are going to be more desirous of working with you because, well, this person is playing the game that I that I respect and that I think people should play, even though that's not at all what Sari and Rizzo are doing, but they are. But they know how to do it with Joe.

[00:45:46] I think that really is a Rizzo and Sari are very good at figuring out the emotions of other people, figuring out how other people are going to respond to information and what's important to them. And that's how they present the information that they're providing to them, depending on what it was and what time they need to share it. But they do it in a way that is for that person's receipt of the information, as opposed to I just need to tell you something. It's about that person who's getting it. Yeah. All right.

[00:46:15] I want to say something, but I don't know if it's a rule, so I'm going to stop. OK. I try to remember it. All right. Well, we, you know, like I said, well, there's some other stuff that I was planning to discuss, but we just had too much fun. But we, of course, have our regular segment for the season. The CBS Mornings crew is wrong about blame. So how were the hosts of CBS Mornings wrong this week? Well, Gail admitted something to us.

[00:46:44] She'd never watched Survivor before and just started this season. Knock me over with a feather. Yeah, we know, Gail. It's been very clear. I'm not sure why you're admitting it now after pretending otherwise to this point. Maybe she's been listening to you. I think she just decided she couldn't make it badly anymore. I don't know. You know, later, when Stephanie was describing how Ceri had spread around something she told her,

[00:47:12] Gail asked, did you go to Ceri and say, why did you do that? Because she didn't know till she saw it on the show, which Stephanie had to patiently explain to her. You know, so Gail is watching, but she's still not actually absorbing anything that's happening there. Yeah. It's hilarious.

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[00:49:09] Now, of course, Gail had to ask who Stephanie thinks is going to win. And to make it worse, she acknowledged that Stephanie was a member of the jury. And she said, who are you picking to win it all? Gail, do you understand that as a member of the jury, she already did pick someone too willing to win it all? Never mind. I know the answer to that.

[00:49:34] But she asked Stephanie that question just moments after they had a whole conversation about how Stephanie is a terrible liar. And then she asked Stephanie to be dishonest on live TV. And I have to say, as I was watching, when Stephanie said she was worried about Jonathan but was picking him, first, she began her statement with, honestly, which we all know is often a verbal tell for, I'm lying. Right.

[00:50:04] 100%. Her eyes looked down at the ground, which is the exact physical tell for her specifically that Sari mentioned on the show when Stephanie lied about the Aussie plan. Sari said, it's so obvious that she's up to no good because it makes her feel uncomfortable. She won't make direct eye contact with me. So I went through the whole interview again, and I did not notice her looking down any other time.

[00:50:31] Now, they did cut to an image of Jonathan when she said his name. So thankfully, you know, she looked down, she said that, and then they cut to Jonathan. So we didn't see the look on her face as she continued talking about him because who knows what else she might have given away. Yeah. It's all terrible. Like, they just need to stop it. Just stop it. Gail and especially stop it with someone you just discussed was a terrible liar. Come on.

[00:51:00] Oh, man. All right. Well, like I said, there were, of course, other things going on. Some of it, like I wanted to talk about Aussie. I wanted to talk a little bit more about Mr. Beast and his lack of being on the show. That one, I already have a video posted for Aussie. I will post a video for so you can find that on TikTok and YouTube app, David Bloomberg TV.

[00:51:20] And before we do get to how Stephanie did, we want to mention that the rules we're about to discuss come in a colorful and shorter version in poster form. So go to Rob has a website dot com slash YX lost speed. Scroll down to the poster and click on it and then keep scrolling and you can get the poster on a T-shirt and keep scrolling and you can get the shirt I'm wearing, which is the checklist version of the T-shirt.

[00:51:50] So, again, Rob has a website dot com slash YX lost speed. Go click order. I do everything. And, you know, we we will be happy to see people wearing these. And yes, we always love it. Yes. And buying the posters. It's lovely. Buy it all. Buy it all. Yes. Well, Stephanie asked at one point this week, how did this go from Aussie to me? That is one question we're here to answer.

[00:52:18] Maybe a better question is, why did you say Aussie's name to begin with? We'll get to that one as well. Plus, many others. As we look at where Stephanie went wrong, how much this vote was affected by the Mr. Beast twist and more. At RHAP, we know Survivor and we know why Stephanie lost. Now, the first and most important rule is, of course, to scheme and plot. And this one is going to be a long one.

[00:52:42] As a matter of fact, it is going to be most of our discussion today, as far as I know, unless you two come up with stuff that I'm not ready for. Oh, goodness. Yes. Quite frankly, Stephanie was not good at this. Or maybe a better way to say it is she was good enough to allow herself to stick around for a while, but not to actually progress in the game or make actual moves or have any shot of eventually winning. We've noticed through the season that she hasn't gotten much screen time.

[00:53:12] And I surmised it was because she wasn't really doing anything other than being a vote for other people, which does indeed seem to be the case. We saw that, for example, in what ended up being the Mike White vote. The funny thing is some people defended her in various comments to me and told me, no, that's not true. But at this tribal council, she admitted it. Yeah. Yeah. She she she helped me out here.

[00:53:40] She said she wasn't being the first to name names or instigate a plan. Well, OK, again, that's why we didn't see much of her. Well, who would the TV show want to put on? The person who's coming up with the plan or a person who's going, yeah, I'll vote for that. No, they're going to want the one who's formulating everything. And and then she added in her interview with Mike Bloom, I'm not ever going to lead the campaign or lead the charge up until that point. It was too early in the game.

[00:54:09] Why would I start calling people out and leading the charge? I wasn't going to do that. Too early. Isn't there like six days left? Yeah. I'm like, are you waiting till final five? Yeah. I mean, I know there's 10 people here and that seems like a lot, but you started with 24. Yeah. And Rizzo said exactly what I was thinking at tribal council. Don't come out here and say, oh, I never say names. That means you aren't playing the game. If you want to plan to happen, you make it happen.

[00:54:36] But again, she told Mike Bloom, I wasn't out there to play a cutthroat game. I would have been a little cutthroat if I if I had when I had to be. But honestly, the people to whom I give my words, I really try to stick with to the end. Yeah. Nobody in season 50 was going to give the win to someone who didn't take any action of their own until the very, very end, unless she was up against people who did even less. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:55:04] I mean, I feel like I think this season more than any is showing how hard it is to make a vote when you're playing this game on Survivor. It's easy to be on the right side of the vote. And we I think this new era thing and Survivor resume, I'm on the right side of all the votes. Right. But the question is what happens a lot of time in jury's mind. What we're seeing now is who actually is making these voting decisions? Mm hmm. And who are you kind of just being shepherded along?

[00:55:33] I think one of the strategic things that she could have did better was she relied on a lot of other people to build relationships and maybe her and Joe's relationship. I think what happened with Joe is if Jonathan knows you have a still a vote and Joe doesn't know, what does that tell Joe? Right. You know, like, I mean, you can't get mad at him for you telling him you're he's number three. Now that makes him feel even better about working with Tiffany. So clearly, at least I have a good relationship with this person. You kept this from me.

[00:56:02] So you kind of are doing some things kind of to yourself when you don't have those direct relationships. If people are locking other people down for you. Yeah. Yeah. And I and you're certainly not helping your cause at all when you are announcing to everybody at final tribal in front of the jury. Like, yeah, by the way, I was I was never I was never leading the charge on anything like that wasn't me. Like, I'll go I'll go along. So it's in that moment. It was it was uncomfortable to see her doing that in front of the jury.

[00:56:30] But then it's also fantastic that you have a player pointing it out to everybody like, really? What are you doing? Like this this is this is Survivor 50. This is cutthroat. You're supposed to play the game. You're supposed to say names. And if you're sitting here saying you're not, then you're lying to everybody anyway. And so it's I love that they're like calling people out for the things they're doing. And yeah, own it. If this is what you're going to do, you have to own it because everyone is fully aware of the of the ramifications of doing it.

[00:57:00] But at the same time, you have to because of what James just said. Like, that's what the juries want to hear. They want to know what move did you cause to happen? What vote were you the the the starter or the you know, the person that started the vote? Like, that's what they want to know. And if you're going to sit there and go, I never did that. Well, guess what? That's not a winning strategy at all. It's a frequent jury question. Tell me what move you personally instigated or made.

[00:57:28] And whenever someone says, well, I was with a group or this or that, the jury's like whatever. And then if they try to lie about it and you have someone on the jury, they're like, no, no, that was me. Like, I actually did that. What are you talking about? Yeah. Mm hmm. So because of this attitude, it is kind of funny that the Aussie idea got pinned on her because it's true that she was not the one who put it forth. She was just tagging along. And so, you know, I'll ask for a couple minutes here.

[00:57:56] I'm going to go through what happened to lead up to that. So, you know, sit back, relax. And let me let me go through all this here. From what we saw, Aubrey was talking to Jonathan and Stephanie on the hammock and push the idea of targeting threats with idols instead of Devon's on the bottom. But Jonathan bit on it, and he was the first one we saw mentioning Aussie, at least to us in confessional. Then he exaggerated to Stephanie about Aussie dropping her name.

[00:58:26] The two of them, Jonathan and Stephanie, along with Aubrey there, talked to Devon's about the Aussie suggestion. We didn't see how they approached or who talked first. So we could only go by what was said at tribal council. But to me, it looked like they were telling the truth, Aubrey and Devon's, while Stephanie and Jonathan were lying poorly, especially since Stephanie's story changed as soon as Aubrey pushed back. It started with Stephanie claiming Devon's and Aubrey approached them.

[00:58:56] Aubrey's like, really? And so then Stephanie changed it to, well, the four of us were sitting on the beach together. It was your guy's idea. No, if you're already changing your story, you're lying. That's it. I mean, you know she's bad at lying, but she just busted herself there. You can't change your story after the first little bit of pushback. And excuse me.

[00:59:18] The thing is, we saw Jonathan saying to Devon's, we have an opportunity to make a big move with you being a smokescreen. So, no, it wasn't their idea. And Devon's asked who they were looking at. And Jonathan said, Aussie. So, yes, Stephanie was accurate in saying she was not leading the charge. But she was lying when she said just about everything else. When she claimed it was Devon's and Aubrey, when she claimed they were approached, whatever.

[00:59:46] So, again, this brings us back to the question of how it got pinned on her. After the beach conversation, Jonathan and Stephanie brought in Joe. He ran the plan and the names of those who were behind it back to Seri. It wasn't clear to me and apparently to others in the game if he was suggesting she join in with it or was informing her because he believes he's with her or something in the middle there.

[01:00:10] But the thing is, if Seri hears it from Joe, she could be about 99.9% sure that he's being honest. So, when Stephanie came to Seri with her BS story about splitting the votes on Devon's and Emily, Seri already knew it was a lie. And, of course, on top of that, she can read Stephanie like a freaking Dick and Jane kindergartner's book.

[01:00:33] It was incredibly foolish of Stephanie to try to lie, knowing she's terrible at it, and especially when it comes to Seri. She said in interviews that she later told Seri she only lied because Tiffany was there, too. Well, OK, here's an idea. Don't say anything then, if that was indeed the real reason. And I think this is the main way that her name got associated with it.

[01:01:01] She wasn't leading the charge, but she was the one who lied to Seri's face. And if there's one thing we learned last week, if Seri thinks you want Ozzy out, she is going after you. As she said on the show, after Ozzy, guess who Stephanie's coming for next? I know Stephanie doesn't want me here for the long haul. She has to go. The Queen has spoken off with her head.

[01:01:30] Yeah, I think that's a pretty fair assessment as to what went down. And I also think the other part that makes it more Stephanie's idea is the fact that she is the one that did approach Seri. Like, we didn't see Jonathan doing that. Right. And maybe he did. Maybe we just didn't see it. But the mere fact that she chose to try to do that really puts her at the forefront.

[01:01:54] Because then it's like, well, why is she coming to us with this lie when we've told that there's a plan in place to take out Ozzy? And so you start putting all the things together. And like, who's trying to save face right now? Well, Stephanie is. Stephanie's trying to cover something up that she doesn't want us to all know. And so, of course, you're going to come back and you're going to start looking at Stephanie as opposed to Jonathan. Mm-hmm.

[01:02:18] I mean, I feel like you have to, I don't know if Stephanie and Ozzy have a relationship, but if there's someone that you say, I thought we were tight and close. Mm-hmm. But you don't have a conversation and you can just subtly say, oh, you don't, you can say, oh, how are you? Like, what's going on? Like, are we still good? Like, our group is me, you. Like, what's the plan?

[01:02:40] Like, you can kind of gather from, because I don't think Ozzy was targeting Stephanie until Stephanie was targeting him. So I think that, I think there was a Devin's Aubrey narrative. And Stephanie does nothing here. Yes. If Stephanie does nothing here, Coles is up to Sabree and says, I mean, what should you do? I have these two guys I'm playing with, but I still want to look towards you.

[01:03:08] Now you're still, like, I feel like there's a very much a chance that you now have gotten back in with Sarit. Right. You're good with Ozzy. You still have your two guys there. And Devin's and Aubrey are now in kind of the crosshairs of what's going on, you know? So I just think that, you know, when you're not the target and you're pushing for someone to be a target, it has to be your move in all sense of the word.

[01:03:36] If Jonathan wants Ozzy and I'm not the target, Jonathan, you go talk to Devin's and Aubrey. I'm not going on down there with you. Because I don't have a relationship with them. Like, clearly they were the target. So what are we doing here? Like, either they're going to accept the deal or not. Like, us two going together, they know we're talking. Like, they know it's coming for you.

[01:03:57] When I was playing and I was talking to somebody, bad gameplay possibly, but they know me and Carla were kind of, they know I didn't say anything without probably running it by Carla or Carla would know. You know, like, that's kind of when you're playing, that's kind of also gives you power and strength. Because you're wasting time talking to somebody with the same message where you could have been checking in on Ozzy while they had a conversation. And then you can flip it back to say, hey, Jonathan went down there and they were pitching your name.

[01:04:24] You know, and it's like, you can kind of maybe get that like, oh, you know, Devin's being Devin's. And you can maybe flip the narrative. But, yeah, it's playing with sharks out here, man. Like, you know, so you can't slip up, you know? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Now, this brings up the question. So, Stephanie knew Jonathan was the one who led the charge. Why didn't she tell people that when things started going against her?

[01:04:50] It's similar to the issue that we discussed last week about whether Christian should have turned on Devin's. Except our conclusion was Christian would not have gained anything and he was blindsided. He didn't know he needed to anyway. Right. Would Stephanie have gained anything here? Maybe. It's impossible to know for sure, of course. But she took all the heat. She was the one mostly arguing back at tribal council while Jonathan. He wasn't saying anything. He said a few weeks. He was Mr. Nazi. I don't know.

[01:05:21] Yeah. Yeah. I would never. Yeah. He was like, he was like, well, if what Devin said is true, which it's not all true, you know, it's like it was so weak. And saying, well, Devin's lied to us before, but he didn't like claim any one particular thing was a lie. Like she was claiming things were lies that she was then caught up in. Well, he doesn't protest too much. Right. Isn't that what Devin said? So, yeah.

[01:05:47] And I think Jonathan saw what was happening and he was like, well, if things are going to flip against us, I'd rather it be her than me. So props to him if that was his realization and he acted accordingly. But meanwhile, Stephanie took the brunt of it. She later said things in interviews like, I'm not going to throw my number one ally under the bus. And that's just not who I am. And I'm loyal to a fault. And, you know, that last one was the most accurate. Loyal to a fault.

[01:06:15] It was a fault in rule one here. Unlike Christian last week, she knew there was a possibility, a probability the tide was turning against her. And it might have helped her to turn things against Jonathan instead of herself. But she refused to do it. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, a little bit. I'm not doing gameplay. Outside the game, sure. Inside the game, no. Okay. So I'm going to push back just a little bit.

[01:06:44] And is that, you know, people like characters sometimes that do wacky Philip Shepard's of the world. Like, you know, Rupert. I kind of admire her a little bit in the gameplay standpoint. That type of loyalty where I know I may not be winning, but I'm not going to sink your games. At this point, I feel like maybe she kind of can maybe see where you're at. Like if you feel like someone has a chance to win and you don't, I kind of am. I kind of side with that.

[01:07:13] I understand from a game, but I kind of respect that you recognize. I know I'm drawing dead here or I know this opportunity could be for you. And I'm going to give you the opportunity and not take it away. It's still possibly, you know, go home for me to stay here for another week or two. If she had absolutely known that. Sure. But I still, I mean, the thing is, like I said, she didn't know it.

[01:07:40] As a matter of fact, she said in interviews that she still thought that Aubrey was going at this point. Even at this point, she thought Aubrey was going. She thought all the way till the votes that Aubrey was going. So she I mean, I guess we could say, you know, it kind of a different way. She didn't want to throw him under the bus because she didn't think there was a need to. So it was kind of a different rule. One issue of her not. I mean, I think what was happening around her.

[01:08:07] She was really anticipating going back to tribal and wanting to go back with Jonathan, who was her number one. So, yeah, I don't want to sit here and throw him under the bus just in case. It's really not either of us. Like we're not going home. This is Devin's just doing Devin's things. Right. But not realizing that the Devin's things was working. Right. If she had known that she was seriously at risk, which I think she should have. I mean, if you're being if you're being raked over the coals like that, I think you should

[01:08:37] know that you're at serious risk and you're being great for stuff you didn't do. If you want to stay in the game, which is, you know, I mean, that's what that's that's what, you know, just that's what this is all about. Staying in the game and going on to win. I think you got to throw even your closest ally under the bus. And the other thing, too, that I think is of interest here, she's not willing to throw Jonathan under the bus. But then when they're all like kind of scrambling as to who they're going to vote for after the

[01:09:04] coin flip, she's talking to everybody and asking them what she should do. She's like, Ozzy, should I do should I do my steal a vote? And and she's really like including people in these discussions. And it's like, did you see what just happened like just five minutes ago? And now you're like literally going to all of these people and asking them. I think she whispered in everyone's ear at one point in time about what she should be doing and who's who they're all voting for, which was kind of fascinating to me.

[01:09:34] Like, I just I really was I was scratching my head a little bit with all of that happening. Yeah, you should. I feel like what you saw there was that you don't really know your people because at that point, I feel like in her relationship was, you know, John is number one. And through other people, she had relationships. Now, to raise your fulcrum for your relations on the other side. And like you kind of can't you're not an equal partner. You're not coming. You have to understand.

[01:10:03] I mean, survivors about leverage. Like if you're walking into a conversation and I have, you know, my three Coco members and we need one vote, it behooves you to say maybe I just take this way out. This makes sense. If I'm coming to you with this, you know, a maybe and like Sari already has Joe and, you know, John is kind of a chicken wing. Like I don't have Devin and Aubrey. Like I can't come dictating. I shouldn't be saying where who is we splitting the votes? Yeah.

[01:10:32] Like in the thoughts of just making a vote, Sari sitting there, she knows you have Jonathan and Joe. Rick and Emily are the current targets. Right. So we are splitting the votes. Aubrey. Yeah. Who was the we? Right. And that whole approach. Right. Just doesn't make sense from a vote structure. If you know where you stand with everything happening there. Yeah. Yeah. That's the big if. If you know. She thought she did. She always thought she knew. And she was. Wrong.

[01:11:02] Kudos. Sari. Yeah. Yes. Yes. Now, another question at issue gets back to something you had brought up, which is whether Stephanie would have been the vote without the coin flare. Now, we could discuss this in rule seven since it deals with twist, but there's so much strategizing intertwined. It makes more sense to do it now for her part. But she claimed in interviews that going to tribal council, Devin's was going to be voted out with Aubrey as the backup if he somehow ended up safe.

[01:11:33] Now, I immediately suspect that wasn't true because, first of all, like I just said, she had the wrong read throughout much of the game. And certainly here. She was being bamboozled right up till the last moment. So that's why I suspect it. Okay. That's just a suspicion. Through all the interviews where she mentioned that the people whose words she was relying on were the same people she acknowledged lied to her later and were good at it.

[01:12:03] So she was like, sorry, told me this. This person told me this. Those people were lying to you. She even admitted maybe they were lying then, but she just doesn't think so. And then Devin's did a midseason interview with Dalton Ross and said, I felt I had done a good enough job of putting the target on Steph and Jonathan that I was going to be safe at that tribal council.

[01:12:30] Now, to his credit, he acknowledged to this day, I'm not sure whether that's true or not. Obviously, to be 100 percent sure, we would need to hear from other players to get a better handle on it, mainly three, because Stephanie talked about how she best up to Sari and Sari said, OK, all right. Well, I hear you. Then what should we do now? The way this was described screams someone being dismissive. Like, OK, whatever.

[01:12:59] I'm done with you, but I'll pretend. Right. Like, what do you want to do? Yeah. By Stephanie herself. She described it that way. But she took it as she was truly asking me what I wanted to do. I hear that and I'm like, whatever, whatever. And she even told Mike Bloom. I'm placating you. Yeah, right. Perfect. She even told Mike Bloom that Stephanie saying she responded by saying, let's just go back to Devens and Aubrey unless it's me and you're lying right to my face.

[01:13:27] So, again, Stephanie acknowledged the possibility. To me, this evidence, when all taken together, points squarely at her being the target. Yeah. Yeah. I understand. No, I understand. I'm there 80 percent. I'm there 80 percent. I'm there 80 percent of the way. OK. I think that makes sense. I do that.

[01:13:54] But only with her being a target, I do wonder why not Jonathan. Is that maybe to replay getting Joe a little bit? I think so. I think that's kind of the I think and just keeping it. Yeah. Oh, well, I don't know if I think they're smart enough to know that Stephanie didn't come up with this plan on her own after she said it while exiting.

[01:14:21] And we don't think Joe came up with this plan. So I think we're running out of people to come up with this Aussie plan. Right. But I think they were doing to use the word placating Joe. I think that to keep Joe, you know, Joe, I think, still believes he has an alliance with Jonathan playing both sides. So if Joe doesn't want Jonathan, then they go with Steph. They just need a number out.

[01:14:49] They don't need, you know, anything more than that. Exactly. Right. Right. Yeah. And interestingly enough, I'm sorry, I just want to make just one point about the Joe Jonathan thing is that when they were all kind of concocting this idea about Aussie, Jonathan made it very clear who he was going to be speaking to. He's like, I will go talk to Joe. And so I think that's what we're also seeing is that Jonathan is taking the lead in that relationship with Joe.

[01:15:16] And it was confirmed just in the approach of who's going to talk to who. And I think it was pretty certain that like nobody wanted Sari to know what was going on. But then you've got Stephanie marching over to talk to Sari, not telling them it's Aussie, but you have like Jonathan being the one that's actually going and sharing the information with Joe, which is removing Stephanie entirely from that idea that they do have a working relationship together. Yeah. Yeah, I agree.

[01:15:43] And then do you think, I mean, it's also you kind of think, do you think Sari is not going to talk to Tiffany when you tell her the real plan? Right. Right. Right. Exactly. So, I mean, I got voted out. I didn't win. I didn't go deep, but I've definitely made some mistakes. But yeah, this is kind of bad. Yeah. Yes. Yes.

[01:16:07] Now, James, since you were only 80% of the way there, I do want to say, even if, actually, I was going to talk about this anyway, even if the plan had shifted back to Devin's before tribal council, okay, it was still everything we talked about a few minutes ago with Devin's blowing up her game, revealing her steal a vote, et cetera. All of that took place before he became immune. So things didn't look good for her.

[01:16:34] She even told Mike Bloom, they all turned on me because the whole steal a vote came out and it was just too much back and forth. So even before the coin flip, even before he was immune, I believe, even if she wasn't the target before tribal council, I even more strongly believe she would have been the target no matter what at tribal council.

[01:16:59] Much like I said, you know, about Christian last week with Jimmy Fallon twist that I believe he was going to be the target even without the twist. I think that's the same here that she was going to be the target, whether it was decided before tribal council or at tribal council. I think she was toast no matter what. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's still a vote thing going to the person that you're voting. I mean, I got voted quote unquote with a still a vote that he didn't need to use, but I don't know. Like it's kind of.

[01:17:29] I, I, okay. I'll go to 90%. Is that I go to that? All right. I'll go to 90%. Here we go. We're getting ahead. That's all I can ask for. Now, of course, a key part of all of her scheming and plotting came down to her interactions with one person whose name has come up quite a bit already. And that is Siri. She felt absolutely solid with Siri and said so multiple times on the show. And I get it. They know each other outside the show.

[01:17:57] They played with and against each other on Survivor, the traitor, snake in the grass, et cetera. They pregame. Stephanie said they promised each other they'd get to the end together. But Stephanie told Mike Bloom, I just unfortunately think Siri was never with me. I thought she was all those talks we had pregame during the game. We talked a ton. She was never with me. Now, part of the issue could be that as she told Dalton Ross, we don't have a chance to

[01:18:26] talk till day 13 out there. So by the time we talk, she's already gone on to another plan. She never intended to be with me, not with one, not or never once. I'm still going with the fact that I'm going to be loyal with her and loyal to the people I said I'd be loyal with. And that's my fault yet again for just being loyal and true. Now, I don't know what was in Siri's mind at the start of the game, but this is something we've talked about before when it comes to pregame alliances.

[01:18:52] They don't necessarily hold because you get into the game and things change. They didn't meet up for two weeks. Right. A lot happened to Siri in that time frame. She already had tight allies. She had secondary allies. She had tertiary allies. She even said last week she just had an understanding with Stephanie. Stephanie. But Stephanie just assumed all was well, sort of.

[01:19:19] She said she spoke to Siri and, you know, told Mike Bloom, I would never, ever trust somebody ever if I was getting a weird feeling from them or if we never spoke. I would never. I mean, I'm really not that stupid. Come on. But the thing is, how many times has Siri pulled the wool over her eyes and she never got a weird feeling? She was a traitor on the traitors and convinced Stephanie that she was a faithful and she never got a weird feeling.

[01:19:48] She's not the best judge here. And she fell for it when, in her words also to Mike Bloom, Siri is constantly saying to me, you're like family. We're going to the end. It's going to be like me and Parf. I swear I'm not going to write your name down. I mean, up until the night she votes me out, she says this to me. She's good at what she does and I believed her. And she added to Dalton Ross, I think she's a manipulator, but good on her. You know what I mean? Siri is made for these games. She's cut out for this.

[01:20:17] And also said, I'm like so frigging loyal. Call me stupid, whatever you want. Her words, not mine. If the world were like a sleep number mattress, everything would adapt for your comfort. Because as your life changes and your body changes, sleep number mattresses adapt and shift to give you personalized comfort night after night. And now everything's on sale during our Memorial Day event. Save up to $1,200 on mattresses for a limited time.

[01:20:47] To experience a whole new world of comfort, visit a sleep number store or go to sleepnumber.com. Sleep number to a good life's sleep. If the world were like a sleep number mattress, everything would adapt for your comfort. Because as your life changes and your body changes, sleep number mattresses adapt and shift to give you personalized comfort night after night. And now everything's on sale during our Memorial Day event.

[01:21:14] Save up to $1,200 on mattresses for a limited time. To experience a whole new world of comfort, visit a sleep number store or go to sleepnumber.com. Sleep number to a good life's sleep. If the world were like a sleep number mattress, everything would adapt for your comfort. Because as your life changes and your body changes, sleep number mattresses adapt and shift to give you personalized comfort night after night.

[01:21:41] And now everything's on sale during our Memorial Day event. Save up to $1,200 on mattresses for a limited time. To experience a whole new world of comfort, visit a sleep number store or go to sleepnumber.com. Sleep number to a good life's sleep. If the world were like a sleep number mattress, everything would adapt for your comfort. Because as your life changes and your body changes, sleep number mattresses adapt and shift

[01:22:08] to give you personalized comfort night after night. And now everything's on sale during our Memorial Day event. Save up to $1,200 on mattresses for a limited time. To experience a whole new world of comfort, visit a sleep number store or go to sleepnumber.com. Sleep number to a good life's sleep. It's just, it's unfortunate because I do think that what we're seeing is two people who have,

[01:22:36] one has a great ability to read other people and the other one just doesn't. And when you, excuse me, when you have a bad ability to read someone, you then can't put so much faith into what you think that person is telling you. You have to understand what your abilities are coming in. And so if she knows I don't lie well and I'm loyal to a fault, like you know these things about yourself,

[01:23:04] that is going to affect how you perceive others. Because you're going to have kind of a different viewpoint as to like, well, well, I'm a loyal person just like Joe. Why? How could people possibly lie in the game of Survivor? Shocking that they can, right? And I feel like Stephanie really suffered from that. Like she just doesn't understand that she doesn't have that skill set and unfortunately put herself into a position with someone who does. Yeah.

[01:23:31] You have to actually have actions to kind of show that we're working together. And a key thing to let me know that we're not an ally is that we don't talk about a vote and you come and tell me what we're doing. It means you had a conversation with someone else, came to me and said, this is what we're doing. And if we are in a line together, speaking from experience, I'm assuming I'm talking to the people that I'm working with about the plan and then it's being the district.

[01:23:59] Once you, when you're on the disseminating part of the plan, you either get offended or you kind of like, if you're not a part of any type of the XYZ of having like, okay, we have our little mini majority. When you start disseminating, you know how it gets disseminated. If you're one of the receivers of the information. Yeah. And you didn't plan with me, then how can we be aligned?

[01:24:27] If you can't even run a plan by me, but you're telling me what to do. That's just basic, just human kind of interaction in nature, which is kind of probably another reason why I seri felt so like, girls, it's going to be asking, before we start voting, what do you want me to do? Well, isn't that what Angelina was talking about too, that Jonathan, I think it was Jonathan and Stephanie that were like, I feel like they're just telling me what to do. Someone mentioned this very early on in the season where I feel like they're just telling me like, this is what we're doing as a,

[01:24:57] opposed to having that discussion. And so, yes, you're receiving directions basically like, okay, this is what we're doing period done. And you're like, wait, what, where's the, where's my thought process and all of this, where, where's my idea in all of this. And you're literally just using me as a number. And that can definitely not sit well with people. And when you're doing it to Sari, come on. I was going to see Stephanie wanted to be just used as a number. Well, she did. Yes. I mean, and, but you can't approach like,

[01:25:26] this is what we're doing because you already formulated a vote. So now you put that person in a situation where they have to say yes. If you're talking about formulating a plan, especially early on, then they, they, they can, you know, object a little bit. When you say we have the votes. Yes. Yes. Like, that means you have five votes already. Aubrey, Rick, you and Joe going on Ozzie. And we're split. Whoa, that's a, how do we, how do we do that? Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

[01:25:56] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I, I, you know, Jessica, I think you summarized it well, and I can't argue with anything Stephanie said in her compliments of Sari's game because Sari massively outplayed her again. Oh, again, just like I'll play others already. But Stephanie has to take the blame for allowing that to happen. I mean, you said it perfectly, Jessica. If you come in knowing all these things about yourself, you need to adjust.

[01:26:25] It's like coming in and saying, well, in my first season, I learned I could not throw a beanbags at something. I'm terrible at throwing beanbags at a challenge. So either you spend the off season learning how to throw beanbags, or when it comes time for a challenge, you tell the other players, don't let me throw the beanbags. Make it be someone else. If you come back in and say, I want to throw the beanbags again,

[01:26:55] knowing full well you can't throw for crap, then it's your own fault. And that is the same thing that happened here. If you can't tell when Sari is lying and you lie terribly, especially to Sari, then you should avoid those two things. Right. 100%. Yeah. That part. That part. And I feel like people don't go out on Survivor to actually be a vote. You know, they go out to make moves. Like, I mean, and that's kind of,

[01:27:23] and the hardest part I think about playing the game is like, when you don't have that power, when you know you are kind of just a vote. So when you had the opportunity to kind of put your power in the game, showing that restraint is kind of what you kind of really need to do sometimes. Like when, when you're, when, if you're a Stephanie, you're like, I'm not taking out. When Jonathan brings the idea up, you just say, Jonathan, go make that happen. If you get the votes, you don't go Marshall. Like you say, Hey, if you, if you have those votes, you have to figure out where are,

[01:27:53] and if two of those votes are cover people that you're planning on voting out, that's not the place you want to go. You want to bring those people in like last. Like, like get the serene blessing possibly, or maybe you get a Rizzo like, Oh, Rick is like, maybe, like maybe like, yeah, but you have to have those relationships to start. Like you can't start a vote without a relationship prior. I think that's what you hear where you're trying to start this vote, but you don't have that relationship built prior. So it doesn't make sense.

[01:28:21] Like, why are you talking to Rick and Rick and Aubrey? You're not on their team. You know, you're like, what is happening here? And you already know, yeah. You already know Joe and Devin's aren't like, you know, X, Y, Z. So it's, yeah, it's Joe. Let's give Joe props. Flexibility. He like, let's just, let's, he may not be identifying his flexibility, but that's the problem. I think it'll end up being, and I may have something about this in here later.

[01:28:49] I can't remember if it's here or I am doing it for a video, but that I don't think it's so much flexibility as hypocrisy. Oh yeah. No, we talked about it earlier. We talked about earlier when, when Stephanie said he's doing these things, he's playing both sides, but he doesn't want to admit that he's playing both sides. And therefore that's going to come back and bite him. That was what she was talking about. So yes, it is good to play both sides. If you recognize it, if you won't admit that you're playing both sides,

[01:29:19] then it's bad. Well, and this is, again, I've already mentioned this about Sari, but her ability to respond to someone and go, well, of course I'm going to say yes. Like why, why would I say something else? And she understands how to like read that space and what's going on in that moment. There is a way to respond when someone is presenting to you information, because if you immediately have a knee jerk reaction to it, then that becomes suspect. And if you start getting defensive or like, well, why are we doing that and asking too many questions?

[01:29:49] That becomes you turn into Stephanie, which is exactly what Stephanie did in response to her hearing her own name. She started running around to everybody and was actually putting her name into the lips of other people. Like, okay, apparently the vote is on me. And people are like, okay, cool. Great. Now I know everybody's voting. You know, like she was helping spread the word that Stephanie was the target. Yeah. Yeah. Seri followed the Ghostbusters provision of, uh, you know, of,

[01:30:19] of the rule when someone, you know, uh, well, it offers you an alliance. You say, yes. Someone said, okay, we want to do this. Okay. We'll do that. And then you go later and figure it out. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's just, yeah. All right. Well, I, I have to add that part of the problem with Stephanie getting outplayed by

[01:30:46] Seri is that Seri is playing the game as it should be played. While Stephanie told Dalton Ross, and this is something we've, we've touched on already, uh, with a little pushback from James, uh, that, uh, she said, I played the best game I could play with honor and some loyalty, trying not to be this brutal cutthroat, pretty good example for kids everywhere. So there's that huge problem lumped on top of it.

[01:31:15] Cause the best game does not include those aspects. You are not there to be an example for kids. Okay. This is not Sesame street. You know, this is something we have discussed dozens and dozens of times. Mm hmm. Yeah. And listen, you know who would be welcomed on Sesame street? Seri. Seri. I mean, immediately. Did you see her hanging out with Elmo? I mean, come on. Wow. The cameo book. Yes.

[01:31:47] We need to make this happen. Sesame street is about to be on PBS. We need to make this happen. Yeah. Because it would, because even Seri doesn't appear to be manipulative. She just appears to be responding to the information that's around her. Uh, yeah. So she's getting on Sesame street. She is a great example for kids everywhere. Yeah. Yes. All right. Well, it's been long, but like I said, we knew that. So it's time for rule two, which says not to scheme and plot too much and to keep your scheming secret.

[01:32:17] Now, based on how much we talked about Stephanie, not scheming and plotting enough. I don't think she really had a problem with the first part, but that second part. Yeah. Yeah. That's an issue. Uh, some of it was unintentional because she just could not keep a secret from Seri to save her life. But she had a combination of problems that came back to bite her this week because, and you two have already brought this up of all the information she and Jonathan purposely gave to Devin's.

[01:32:46] And like you two said, I was surprised when the two of them decided to bring Devin's in on their plan because of exactly this type of situation. Sure. You may think he's on the bottom. He might be desperate to do anything to stay, which means working with us. But if he's desperate, why wouldn't he flip on them to stay? Even if things hadn't gotten all chaotic in terms of figuring out where the votes were going,

[01:33:15] him agreeing to a plan, just like we talked about with Seri, doesn't mean he was actually going to carry through on it. Like he even specifically mentioned that in tribal council regarding Seri. He handed him all this information on a platter and just expected him to never talk about. And I think he agreed with like four separate plans. Like immediately. He was like, yeah, no, I can get by. Yeah, no, that's that works. I can do that too. He did the same thing that Seri was doing where it was like, yeah, you just say yes. You're like, sure. Yeah, no problem.

[01:33:45] And then you just gather all the Intel. I mean, something they possibly could have did was, you know, I mean, go for a, let Seri. And that squad. I think this is one of the best things. Let them come up with the vote split on Aubrey and Devin's. And then you only need your three votes and you're still a vote. You can just say, Oh, I'm still, I'm a vote from Rick just to make sure Rick goes home and you can put the votes on whoever. And they can still think you're going with the plan. I think that gets interrupted with the Mr. Beast.

[01:34:15] I think that's something from a planning standpoint. I don't know if they could have executed the four, three, three like that. I don't know if they, they, they, they could do it, but that's something that I would have thought about knowing that they're splitting the votes. If you're like, okay, they may backfire on me. Maybe they do split the votes. Maybe we don't need all the votes. I need to get somebody out or to get Ozzy out, for instance. Right. You can take those, you split the votes. That's what I meant. You can split those votes, get Ozzy out. Now you make some enemies, but that would be the way to do it. If they were going to split the votes,

[01:34:44] if that's what I would have pushed. Yeah. I pushed that, that's the level split. And then when we're voting that, I think my four votes and I go after whoever I go after. Yeah. I think if they had attempted to do that though, that would have included, they need Joe and Joe would have been like, three, they're voting for Ozzy. I mean, it depends. And that's the thing there, there, there are different ways you can do it. I mean, okay. First of all, as we discussed in rule one, it was mostly Jonathan pushing this plan, but Stephanie was right there with him. Sure.

[01:35:13] Having those conversations with Devens and Aubrey, showing her support, spilling information about the steal a vote. If, if she would have thought it was a bad idea to tell Devens, she had ample opportunity to stop it. So we can't just say this isn't her fault. No, it was, it's still her fault. Oh, for sure. You know, uh, she, you know, she wasn't taking the lead, but she was right there. And, but divulging the information, especially the steal a vote. That was not smart.

[01:35:42] This was a very specific, tangible piece of information. It allowed the exact situation we saw Tiffany to pose the question at tribal council. Why would you share that information with the person you supposedly intend to vote out? Yeah. Yeah. Right. That's a damn good question. Tiffany, it was pretty hard evidence to support the truth of what Devens was saying. And none of it was necessary for Stephanie to have done.

[01:36:10] If they really wanted to go against Ozzie, gather up your other forces first. Uh, like, you know, like you said, James, make sure Joe is on board. Maybe he wouldn't be, but you can try. Don't tell Devens till much later. And I think you were getting at this earlier when I said, hold on, we'll get to that in the rules. Yeah. I think you were saying, I think this is where you were going to say, make it a last minute piece of information. Like, Hey, we're about to head to tribal council. Rick,

[01:36:39] I know you think you're the vote, but we are actually switching it to Ozzie vote with us. And do it. And also you're playing with Rick Devens and he's on the bottom. So like, if someone's on the bottom, they're going to do something. So if Rick is seen as being proactive, it then leads to kind of, Oh, Rick was walking around kind of pushing and throwing people's names out there. But as in the beginning, and it's clear that none of the running around has transpired.

[01:37:09] So it's kind of like, if you're, if people are on the bottom, they have to kind of figure out how to make a move or they stay on the bottom. So Rick and Aubrey are talking amongst themselves the whole time on the bottom. Just like you say, if someone like when Ryan went fishing or as I, I just took some out of a strategy conversation, right? That's what you like. So if, if you know that they're not on the bottom, they're going to have to make moves. If you make that first move, practically, you automatically look guilty because literally they have to go out to try to figure out what's the next vote.

[01:37:39] And other players are going to make them show their cars first. Cause they're on the bottom. So when Rick talks to, let's say Sari, Sari's not going to say Rick, that's what we're doing. Like Rick, what do you think right now? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Which is what Stephanie attempted to do. But then she immediately said, because we're splitting between Devin's and Aubrey. And then there, and Sari's like, what?

[01:38:13] Well, I don't know. What do you, what are you doing? Yeah. You know, now another, Oh, go ahead. Oh, no, no. I'm trying to help out a little bit, but it's not. Um, another problem that wasn't necessarily of Stephanie's making, but certainly hurt her was, it seems like it was about of big move. It is going on there. She and Jonathan,

[01:38:42] could just have planned to go the easy route and take out Devin's. I mean, they could have done that. None of this had to start. None of this had to happen, but instead they decided to include him as a number. Even Stephanie mentioned the big move aspect in tribal council, just before Devin started spilling all the secrets. And yes, I know we discussed in the first rule that she believed it had circled back at that point. And it was, it was Devin's being the target then, but it was too late. Either way,

[01:39:11] the damage was done. They should not have gone down this path in the first place, unless they were damn certain it would work because even trying to get it to work was what raised the alarms. So they were like, okay, we're going to go after Ozzy and we're going to spill all this information. Oh yeah. It doesn't look like we have the numbers, but we've already spilled all the information. Right. Right. Right. Mm-hmm. Ozzy was so not threatened that he didn't play his idol. Like that's horrible. Like, like there's, it's like,

[01:39:41] it's like people, like I haven't had an idol, but what I hear people are kind of like, it's, it's like they, to know you were a target and to be that confident that you're not a target that you didn't even, like Ozzy didn't even lynch in tribal. So like that may lead like credence, but I just think it's, it's just interesting. Interesting. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Now, as a quick side note, before we move on,

[01:40:08] I didn't include her telling Joe about the plan as part of rule two, because she and Jonathan clearly at the time thought he was with them as a close ally. So they didn't have a reason not to tell him and they actually did need him as part of it. So, you know, telling Devin's and Aubrey and Emily, that's, that's bad. Telling Joe, I can understand that. And Joe is one of Devin's out forever. Yeah. As, as a,

[01:40:37] as a ally, right? I'm making all these sacrifices. You only can make your ally make so many sacrifices. But so they say, well, if you're not going to do the votes I want, why am I playing with you? Right. Like you have Devin's on a platter. I don't like Devin's. You know, I don't like Devin's. You, if anything, you know, this is where my interests lie. Right. And I want to keep you on my side. Yep. Mm hmm. Like. Sometimes you just have to support what the others in your,

[01:41:07] in your little crew want. Even if you don't think that it's, it, this isn't what I want right now, but that's what they want. That's going to keep them with me and voting with me because I'll focus on somebody the next time. Like we gave you Devin's this time. Now I want Ozzy this time, you know? And so you can kind of give that trade, if you will. Like I did what you wanted. Now you have to do what I want. And you don't have a relationship with either one. So it doesn't really matter at this point. Like you have your three, you have Joe and Jonathan, like in series, kind of your dark holes for, right?

[01:41:36] If that's the way you're looking at it, then Devin's isn't in your plans. So it shouldn't matter at this point in the game. Only nine, 10 people left. Like it's kind of like. Right. Yeah. All right. Well, the third rule tells players to be flexible. Now I mentioned in the first rule that we saw Stephanie being used as a vote multiple times. And for example, in the Mike white vote, she switched to whoever was talking to her most recently, multiple times. James, do you think this means she was flexible or is there a better way to

[01:42:06] describe it? I think flexibility is when you have options and then you choose based on those options. I don't know. Flexibility happens when you're at the bottom. No, like just in general, objectively speaking. So she was, I mean, when you're in the body, don't really have a choice. So yeah, I don't think, but I think at this point in the game, I feel like I don't think how flexible she was because I think where she was was in a semi solid position,

[01:42:36] where she had a relationship with one side and Sari was relationship to the other side. I think what she kind of wanted to do was that Kobe to D a, I can protect you a little bit. If I hear a name on this side, I gotcha, which I think would be some good assurance for Sari, right? Where that could be some leverage, you know, like, Hey, keep, keep everybody honest, but I don't know if she did that. And not having that flexibility and being so,

[01:43:03] when people know you're with Jonathan and you're with that side, you're with coach, you're with Chrissy. Hey, I am this loyal person. Right. That, that that's, that's tough sledding for people, even a one and two building lines and work with you because you know, you're attached to five of the people already. So I had to give a nice little ranking on that one. Yeah. One area where she definitely lacked flexibility was something I mentioned at the end of rule one that she wanted to play.

[01:43:32] Like you mentioned, she wanted to play a certain way, a specific way, that honor and loyalty crew. And she was not willing to change things up. You know, specifically her telling Dalton Ross about that and being an example for kids. But of course we know none of those go along with being flexible. In fact, that is pretty much the, one of the most inflexible ways to play. Like I am going to do this. We, we've, we've seen it. We, we see it with Joe. We saw it with coach.

[01:44:02] We, you know, all these people, you're so locked in on things outside the game that you're missing what you need to do in the game. Yeah. And so I just think that, yeah, that was definitely inflexibility on her part. Yeah. And the fact that she wasn't willing to say, Hey, perhaps I should throw Jonathan under the bus here because I need to keep my other options open and not be the target of this particular vote. Because again, I'm going to be loyal and that's, that's who I am. Well, that's fine.

[01:44:32] But you found yourself getting your torch snuffed. And he's throwing you under the bus at tribal. Cause I pretty sure. I, you know, Rick brought that up. I don't know where that came from. We went down to the beach. Cause 70 right over. Yeah, we did. And that's what happened. Yeah. Now on top of that, there was the way she was so certain that Sari was going to work with her and she could work with Sari. And again, we talked about this. Yes. They've known each other for a long time.

[01:45:02] That should tell her that all the pregame and discussions in the world don't necessarily mean Sari is taking her to the end. She has seen Sari play. She has played with Sari and you were apart for the first two weeks of the game, just locking onto Sari and assuming this would work. Not at all. Right. And if anything, I, I, you would think that they repeated issues that she was seeing happen with Sari while they were,

[01:45:32] when they finally came together, those 12 days or 13 days in Sari wasn't like, Oh my God, thank God, Stephanie, you're here because I can't, I can't function without you. Like this is, we don't, we don't know. She might've been. And Stephanie would have eaten it up. She would have taken her spoon and just eaten that up there. I mean, I feel like James facial expressions throughout this. This is very entertaining. No, it's great.

[01:46:02] Cause he's just like, no, I just feel like it's one of those things where like the game is kind of so clear and no double eliminations has made it. So like, I think the thing about the new air, I think Stephanie saying how the new air is was easier or whatever like that. So I'm actually going to use possibly, but the rapid succession in which you, you have to build relationships where you don't have those down days or off days, which, you know, say what you want.

[01:46:30] You're having these back to back vote outs. So you had to be able to kind of build relationships quickly. And I think it's also very hard because time is of the essence when you're out there. So because they did an auction, a challenge and had tribal day was a super long and fast day. So you can't, you don't have time to kind of lollygag and do those things. And I just feel like you, you, you, you go out the loyalty game and press for kids. All that stuff is great.

[01:46:59] But the goal is to win and you have to kind of put yourself in that position and, you know, see the, see the board. And I don't know if she just saw the board that well. And that's fine. Cause you're playing with some of the best players. So that's like not necessarily the worst thing in the world, but yeah, that's kind of right. Yeah. All right. Well, the fourth rule tells players not to let their emotions control them. And Jessica,

[01:47:26] while she has said some things on social media that indicated an emotional reaction, one of which we talked about last week in relation to Sari, did you see her do anything similar in the game itself? Well, I think what's, what's tricky here is it's, it's kind of like an emotional response to the way she wants to play the game is what negatively affected her ability to just play this game. Like she came in with an agenda of how she wanted to play.

[01:47:53] And then she hooked up with other players that had the same agenda. And then you think, Oh, we're all playing the same game. And then that almost becomes the force that you're playing the game with instead of responding to things going on around you and, and responding to the responses of others and responding to the, the game mechanics as they're happening and the relationships that are forming. You have this idea. Well, but I, I can't lie. And I, and I'm loyal to a fault and this is my problem. And this is, but I will never change that about myself.

[01:48:23] Well, then that is kind of an emotional way to play the game. And it's not a great way, obviously to play the game because you need to have that ability to shift and move and respond to what's happening. She went into the game thinking Sari and she were going to be like this. Then they're on different tribes. Then they're not with each other for 12 or 13 days, but she still has this idea in her head. Well, we're like this. She doesn't understand and realize, no, a lot of things have happened. And regardless of what was spoken about beforehand,

[01:48:53] now you're in the game and you have to respond to what's happening. And so you think that you have this emotional connection with this person over here that you haven't been playing the game with for 12 days. So I, I think she just had this inability to, to like separate those two things that like, yes, you can feel a particular way about how you want to play, but you have to be able to respond to what the game is being presented to you. And she was not able to separate those two things. James,

[01:49:22] you're a role model and you get voted out how you did or James, James, you were not a role model and you got a million dollars. I'm choosing. I'm not a role model. Like I'm like, I'm literally choosing. I'm not a role model. A hundred percent out of a hundred percent time. Yes. And playing this game of survivor. And I'm fine with that. Now here's the thing about survivor. Some people aren't invest. Cool. That's just me. Yes. I, I like, I,

[01:49:52] I like, you'd like a million dollars. I would like a million dollars. Like if you don't need a million dollars, that's great. It's not going to take a life. So you may look at the game differently. And that's true. I believe, isn't she married to a formal, former pro baseball player or something like that. And if you're just comfortable, you know, like, you know, like it changes your viewpoint on the game. If you like, if you're really depending on something versus if you're, if, if you really aren't say what you want, you could really want to get be a sole survivor,

[01:50:22] but from a just carnal needs standpoint, the person that needs it more typically what the communities, the person needs immunity somehow to get the strength to get it as with the person that feels safe. It's kind of one of those things that you just naturally can't, you know, unprocess. Right. Right. And of course that is, you know, you know, at the, at the very beginning, the introduction to the rules, uh, as they're written, it emphasizes that point. You know, we know some people go in and say, well, I just want to be a role model.

[01:50:51] I want to be a good person. I want the experience. That's not what we judge here. We judge based on winning. Yeah. I have a bone to pick with that, with the experience stuff. Like I feel like that was something they were pushing heavy in the air. Oh, I was, I was so happy to be here before. If I just being out here is the win. If just being out here is the win. I don't want to play with you. I don't want to play with you. You're happy go lucky just to hit the beach. Like that's not my side by Allah. I want to outline. I wants to make moves,

[01:51:20] like play hard and get to the end. Hopefully it doesn't cut me too early. If it's a good move for them. Not if it's not, if it's a good move for them, cut me. If it's not the move, don't. And like, but that's the people I like, I like just happy to be out there. I, I think Jeff tried to push that. And now what we're seeing with that interviews is that there is a motion. We'll be voting off. It's, it's, you can't vote people off and say, Oh, we're hunky dory. You're besties. It takes time to heal. Like, like,

[01:51:49] I think this told like, you know, Oh, it's just a game. And we're no, no. The effects of the game last. People don't talk to you when it's over. They're, they're frustrated with you. It doesn't go away. It does not go away. I think it's different for different people. I think that like some people, especially the ones who are used to playing other games, like the Christians, the Emily's, uh, those people, they, they play online games all the time.

[01:52:19] Uh, now do I think that Christian still was hurt? Yes. But do I think he will ever hold it against anyone? No. And so Mike White hasn't spoken to him. Well, that's the difference there. But that's what I mean. Like, so like there are those people that. Right. Oh yeah. The resonating like long-term effects of what happened when they were out there. It's especially true in a returning player season where you think you have these relationships, you know?

[01:52:47] And I think that's one reason that I mentioned, uh, you know, Stephanie has said some things on social media about Saree that people are like, Ooh, she is bitter, but she comes on her interviews and says, I'm not bitter. I'm a good loser. Uh, or I don't want to be a squirreler. All right. Here, can we address this too? Sorry. Like the purpose of the jury is to be bitter people. The goal of survivor is to vote people out and have them give you a million dollars. Yeah.

[01:53:15] And how you vote those people out dictates how you get a million dollars. Mm hmm. All this other stuff came afterwards. Yeah. So the question is, how do you vote people out and still get a million dollars? Right. Mm hmm. Like less. Yeah. Mm hmm. You have to typically have good strategy to do that. That's why you get the money. Right. But you have, that is the game. Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah. All right. Well,

[01:53:45] the fifth rule reminds players, they need to pretend to be nice and play the social game. And while we did not see a ton of Stephanie interacting with other players on a social level, I don't remember noticing any specific problems here within the game. James, how do you think she did in this role? I feel like, I don't think anybody had any type of negative view towards Stephanie. I think Stephanie kind of fell into kind of the archetype of almost kind of that, that,

[01:54:14] the athlete, athlete, the big, strong jock guy where you have a big, strong guy. And it's like, as long as they're doing kind of what you, what the group wants them to do, they're, they're great. Right. But the second they try to kind of go off, you know, go off script, it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa. We can't have you out here trying to go off script. You know, I think that's something that happens a lot of times. If you are kind of athletic person, it's like, it's kind of hard to be athletic,

[01:54:41] dominating and kind of leading strategy and be social. You know, when you try to do all those things is very, very hard. So she already is a dynamite competitor and everybody knows that. Right. So she does have a low. So when you start trying to now insert yourself into the strategy talk, that may just raise your kind of direct level enough from where it was. And now I have to kind of take action because you're more a liability and less of a number.

[01:55:11] So I think that's what happened when she started moving around, even if she supported John this plan, they would say, Oh, she's supporting John these plan. But the fact that she was an active participant, let them know, Hey, she's not as docile as we, you know, expect her to be. And because of that, when you start stepping out of the norms, what people think you should be doing in survivor, that's when people start. Why is Ozzy getting some such crazy? Cause Ozzy is making shit. Ozzy's thinking strategically now, you know,

[01:55:41] that's why he's on the radar, right? Like it's like, Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is a, what's happening here? This is a new Ozzy. This is a new Ozzy. Yeah. So now what Ozzy's new Ozzy, what did that do? Raise Ozzy's threat level to Stephanie, who Ozzy was not coming out of to Jonathan, who Ozzy has not mentioned John this name. Right. So because he's playing this new way, his threat level raised up. So when she started playing a new way, what happened to her? It became,

[01:56:08] you became more of a liability than a Devin or Aubrey, because we know where they're coming from. You were trying something new and we can't, we don't know where your loyal vote or not vote is going to go now. Because we know if you're with Jonathan and Joe, your loyalty and integrity, we know we can be comfortable that way. Now you're trying to do some split vote, Rick Devin's nonsense, and maybe even still target Ozzy. I don't know who this person is. So with that being said, you may have to go. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I,

[01:56:38] it seemed like she was, you know, well-liked by almost all the players during the game. I, I certainly don't think that social game, the niceties of it had an impact, but what you said, James about her overall behavior, I think definitely could have. Yeah. Now, speaking of some of those things that you were leading into, the sixth rule warns against being too much of a threat. And I think for pretty much all of the pre-merge, and even up to this episode,

[01:57:05] she was doing fine here. She, you know, she was purposely not doing anything that would make her too much. So as we discussed, and, you know, we never got a full answer really as to why she wasn't picked off in the swap tribe rather than people like Christian and Devin or Christian and Mike going against each other and some other people there. I, I'll stand by my hypothesis from the time that the others all pretty much felt like she

[01:57:35] wasn't anyone to worry about in the game. And she could just be used as a number. In other words, she wasn't a threat at that. Right. Well, and I think she explained it very well herself as to why she was not a threat in the game, in that tribal council, when she explained to them that I'm not, I'm not coming up with a plan. I, I will, I will certainly go along with it and, and consider it, but I'm not leading the charge. And so I think that's what a lot of people were seeing with, with Stephanie and the approach she was taking.

[01:58:02] She had locked herself into the loyalty integrity group and was kind of like, well, whatever they want to do is what I'm going to do, which can make you be very comfortable. You can feel like, great. I have, I have people like I've got numbers. So why do I need to rock the boat? Why do I need to do anything? Why do I need to say anything? And I do think this episode, we saw exactly what James was just speaking to when all of a sudden she's like running around to everybody on the Island.

[01:58:29] And we saw so much of Stephanie talking at everyone and telling everyone what was going on and, and my, and I'm being voted for now they're coming after me. And so I have a steal a vote and I'm going to take this person's vote and we're going to do this and we're going to split. And all of a sudden you're just like, whoa, like this is a lot from someone who went from, I'm just here and I'm a number and, and I'm going to do these things. You are literally talking to everyone leading up to this tribal council. And you become that, like the,

[01:58:58] the whirling dervish, if you will. Right. And everyone is now focusing on you because you are making yourself the center of attention instead of going, Oh my gosh, someone just said my name. Well, we got to get the attention somewhere else. That's not what she did. She made sure everybody knew that all of the attention was on her. So yeah, I think that she ended up making herself become more of that threat at that point in time, because the way she had been playing wasn't threatening until all of a sudden she was like, Oh crap,

[01:59:27] everything's happening. I need to talk to everybody all at once, all of the time and say all of the things that become scary for someone like Jonathan. Jonathan. Who's like, Oh no, is she going to start throwing me under the bus? What Ozzie? I didn't, it wasn't me. It wasn't me. I would never. Yeah. Never say. Yeah. I, I, I agree. There was, it was never a reason to worry about her until she gave them a reason to worry about her. Right. Right.

[01:59:57] Yeah. Most of that reason was of course saying Ozzie's name to Ceree, which then led to the spiral. You know, people like Devin's and Emily and Aubrey had plenty of reason of their own since she was clearly against them. But that has an idol. Yeah. Like, like, can we just go back to this? So like, like they, like, let's just rewind this. Right. Yeah. Ozzie has an idol. Right. So,

[02:00:26] but who are you splitting votes on? And who's going to let this plan work? Yeah. Let's just interrogate John. This plan. This, I'm sorry, but like what's happening here. It's like, yo, yo, we're going to get the guy with the idol. And I was, because they weren't going to tell him they were going to make sure he didn't know through some, I guess. He won't see it coming. I believe is what Jonathan said.

[02:00:55] That's exactly what he said. He won't see it coming. Except when you tell Joe, who then goes and tells Ceree and she's like, not on my watch. No. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry. It was just like, it just kind of, it was like at that point when Joe says that you may go to Ozzie and just say at that point, I don't know what's happening here. Like, are we good? Because someone is saying that we're not good. And before I make a decision, I could, you could you make,

[02:01:25] when you make a decision to start a vote. Before I make a decision, everything good with us because I, you know, we're out there. I want to Rick, Rick Emily train. I'm on that train with you. Are you on that train? Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And of course the, you know, the big problem with mentioning Ozzie is it becomes a threat, not just to him, but to Ceree's whole alliance structure and plan. And to Rizzo. Cause you start like, it's like,

[02:01:54] so once you started trying to, you know, vote people out with idols, like it's kind of like, uh, like people like when you're like, like minded, you just kind of, you don't want to be in that and start that, that little run. So the second, you know, that side gets a hit, they're going to keep going, you know, Rizzo as an idol. So now we're going to blind. Like, you don't want that to start, you know? So. Right. Right. Right. And yeah, Ceree told Joe, if they let that happen, the rest of them could get steamrolled. Yep. Uh, you know, I quoted Ceree saying earlier,

[02:02:23] she knew she would be next. She's running the numbers. Every, every, every possible scenario. She's running the numbers. And she's not lying. Yeah. All right. Well, we can go to rule seven, which covers idols and advantages and game mechanics. And of course, Stephanie didn't have an idol, but she did have that steal a vote. That everybody found out about. Yes. She initially lied about it, but is so bad that Ceree caught her right away. But it was funny to later see her things,

[02:02:53] she said things like, I told Ceree. Uh, no, you told Ceree because she completely busted you. This was not a choice that you made. Right. This was not like I volunteered it. No, it's because you, you lied and Ceree gave you a look like, really, really? Yeah. And you fold because you knew. Uh, but later she did have some choices and in interviews, she said, she told a few other people like Jonathan and Joe. Oh, we mentioned this earlier.

[02:03:22] And yes. Okay. I can understand that if you're working with allies, they need to be aware of the situation when you can swing a vote in an unexpected direction. If they're counting the numbers, they need to know. Oh, and we also have this other number, but of course, as we already discussed at length in rule two, telling Devin's about it. Absolutely foolish. Mm hmm. Yes. Yeah, I would agree. All very foolish. Yes.

[02:03:50] So there was a great little scene during tribal council when a large group was talking about how to vote after Devin's won the coin toss. And you know, they were in a circle and someone was worried and said, well, it's Stephanie has a steal of vote. And Tiffany whispered, she can't steal everybody's vote. I know. It was Emily. Emily who asked. Emily said it, right? I thought it was Emily. Tiffany said it. Tiffany was the one who said, I think Emily may have asked. I don't know who asked,

[02:04:18] but Tiffany was definitely the one who said it. Um, and yeah, she was exactly right. Don't give someone more credit than the idea. You know, don't get scared of just an item. It steals one vote. If you have a unanimous group, it doesn't matter. Right. Yeah. Thank you for pointing this out because my vote out, like I was trying to tell people if Carla wanted to vote me out, Carla was going to vote me out. Like literally I could have stole,

[02:04:47] I could have stole her, her idol possibly. I still, I still someone's vote that tribal. If they still want to vote me out, they can vote me out. Like it's not a, the, the, the steal a vote did not vote me out. If they wanted to vote me out, voted me out. Like, like you had to kind of look at the, the, the vote and not sometimes the mechanics that go along with the vote. And also at this point in time, there, the numbers are, are like kind of, it's not a lot.

[02:05:17] I mean, you're at 10, right? So a steal a vote becomes more beneficial when the numbers are smaller. And when you're losing the people who are around you, that's when you want to be like, no, now I have a steal a vote. Cause there's only two of us left. And, and this is where the numbers really matter. We're down to five and we can have three and that's it. It's a majority kind of idea, but you know, to try to use it at 10. And, and in this setting, terrible idea for the mere fact that like everything seemed a little insane, right?

[02:05:47] Like people were all, all talking and people thought they knew where the vote was going and things were changing and shifting. And, and she didn't even know, she's like, should I, should I use it? And people were like, no, don't, no, don't use it. And then she used it. It was a very odd choice considering the timing of it, the amount of people left, and just the like inability to like kind of read the room and know what's going on. And to just like throw it out there. It was just not, it was just not good. Not,

[02:06:15] not a good like decision at that time, considering the numbers. Yeah. I like what you said there too, Jessica. I think from this, we're talking about numbers and strategies and strategy podcasts. If you, if you do have the still a voter extra vote, it does get more powerful as you go on in the game. So like it actually, that's still a vote when you and Jonathan are at eight, gives you a, a nice little four, maybe like a,

[02:06:44] it gives you a nice little advantage, possibly to tie a vote or to get, to get a majority. Right. Like, like, so like using it when you don't need it to affect the vote is like one of the worst things you can do. If you're, especially if you're not at risk, if you're at risk and it saves you great, but it was just to make a vote happen. To waste that power. I, I waiting for someone to kind of use them, leverage that still a vote in those lower numbers. Yeah.

[02:07:12] At some point it's going to happen when you hold it. So about seven or six, and then you're able to really kind of do some damage. Yeah. Just to clarify something before we get a bunch of comments, Jessica, I think it expires before five. I'm not a hundred percent. I think. and that's, that's yeah. I mean, I just said five, but like, I don't know where it expires, but it is. I, I do think that it gains power. Or the, the fewer people that you have. So if it's something that you have to play before five,

[02:07:41] well then wait until you get to, if you're at six, then use it at six. When it's really going to be more impactful than at this setting, when we're at 10. Yeah. Now, another thing for this rule, we discussed a lot of it in rule one. I do want to mention though, that it certainly seems to me that Stephanie was, you know, again, I've talked about this. I got, I got James to 90%, which really, I mean, I'm at about, you know,

[02:08:10] 95 to 98%. So not much, you know, I, again, I said, we can't be a hundred percent sure. But no. So I think that she was getting booted up. No matter what, at this tribal council, not because of Mr. Beast or the twist, much like how I said last week, I didn't think Christian lost because of the twist, even though it was a horrible one. So yes, the same applies here either, either before or at tribal council. I think, you know, the tide had turned against her.

[02:08:38] It wasn't the fault of the coin flip. Wasn't because of Mr. Beast. All right. We can go to appendix a, which discusses players keeping their end goals in mind when voting. And we talk about voting out the week, then the strong, then the week, then the strong. I, I've mentioned the past few weeks, excuse me, that we were in the phase, the early merge of voting out strong players. It's a bit hard, harder to judge with the number of players we have compared to the number we

[02:09:07] started with and the size of the merge and everything. But it seems like now would be about when we would expect the swing back to voting out the week. And we'll have to look at what things transpire going forward. But after all that we've discussed, it's clear Stephanie was not playing a strong game in survivor 50. She was purposely avoiding playing a strong game. But remember that when we talk about someone being weak or strong,

[02:09:36] there are different aspects to it. In Stephanie's case, her weakness was in her overall gameplay and especially her alliances. Just a few episodes ago, she thought she was in a great alliance with Jonathan, Joe, coach, Chrissy, Sari and Ozzie. Plus maybe some others on the fridge, but two of them got taken out at once. Two more were never actually her allies. And this was hidden that not being their allies. Those were hidden because of the way the double vote went down with Devin's

[02:10:05] idol plus Sari and company swinging against Christian. So Stephanie thought things were still peachy, but it was only a matter of time before they swung back again. And she helped ensure now was that time. So yeah, it made sense for them to target her. Do I think they should have taken out Jonathan instead as a bigger threat? Yes, but goes back to what we said earlier. I do not think Sari would have had Joe's and maybe not even Ozzie's support for

[02:10:34] doing that now. Right. Yeah. Well, because you did see like Ozzie was having some conversations with people too. And so Sari is doing a lot of placating the people that she's with. She's mindful of what we talked about earlier, where if the person who is your ally is seeking a particular person to be voted out, it's no skin off your nose to go along with it. If it, if it just benefits you anyway, because like, well, it's not me. And it is somebody that I'd like to have out of the game is right now. The opportune time. Well,

[02:11:04] it doesn't really matter. Does it? Because we can get the next with the next vote. We can get the person. And I'm looking at, because we still have the numbers and that's what Sari is doing. She's just, she's looking at the numbers and she's very aware that if we allow this to happen, we are in quick succession after we need to control the votes moving forward. So she knows they'll be able to, because they took Stephanie out. It doesn't have to be Jonathan. It can be Jonathan next time. If it's going to be brilliant. Exactly. It's kind of just like lambs to the slaughter,

[02:11:33] you know? Yeah. All right. Well, appendix B discusses the jury phase of the game. I don't think this one played much of a role. If any, I, I don't think people worried that Stephanie would beat them in the end. No, if anything, her little tribal council speech should have made them be like, my God, bring her to the end, you know, like sit next to me. But that's why you have to vote because now I think the game shifts a lot of

[02:12:01] times from those people out that I can't, that I don't know if I can win that are good players versus voting people out who people value more than me at the end. Cause it always switches to that point somewhere where you're like, Hey man, right now people probably think Rick Rizzo delicious person takes it in. He may be, he may not be, but right now that's a person probably why Rick is targeting a, a Rizzo because if Rick doesn't target a Rizzo,

[02:12:31] everybody doesn't mind sitting next to Rizzo at the end. Right. So you have those, those people like Stephanie is close to being that type of person where she makes it as this vote. You got Jonathan and Joe in front of her. You got Aubrey. And it's like, why would you target? You only have so many votes. Cause we have fire making at four. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So you only got about five more votes, Yeah. Mm-hmm. All right. Well,

[02:12:59] I think it is about time to wrap things up for Stephanie. So James, what are your final thoughts on her? Um, I feel like, uh, you have to play the cards that you're dealt and that's knowing yourself and knowing kind of the people you're playing with. I feel like Stephanie came in. She did have an alliance. Um, she was able to get out of trouble. I mean, like there is a world where she, like, you know,

[02:13:26] something happens on that Mike white vote and she does go home because she does kind of make waves or she does kind of, you know, lose her cool and get paranoid. I, I do think, you know, what her downfall was this loyalty of trying to implement this Jonathan plan instead of saying, Hey, I like, I like Ozzy. I may be skeptical, but if you can get the votes, go get the votes, or let's just reconnect to see if we can bring Ozzy in. And I feel like your loyalty worked in one direction,

[02:13:54] but it didn't work in the other direction. And you have to kind of look at that and say, kind of, and when you're playing the game and say, I have to give my loyalty equality. So if I do have a relationship with Ozzy and I am playing with him and someone saying something to me, I need to check with Ozzy to make sure before I make a decision, you know, that I, you know, that's a major decision. And, I think that loyalty got in the way. So you were loyal, but you were also disloyal. So, so it's kind of just that survivor.

[02:14:24] And I feel like you kind of chose the wrong loyalty route to someone that wasn't loyal to you in it. And that's kind of how the game typically wrote. So. Yeah. I, yeah, I do think she came in with that mindset too, where it was the, you know, the loyalty, but one word she mentioned in her pregame press too was an honorable game. She wanted to play honorably, but she also knew that she was going to have to do what she needed to do to get further in the game. So it's like this weird position.

[02:14:53] She kind of put herself in, like, I want to be honorable. I know my children will be watching, but I also know that I come from these other seasons of survivor that I've played and people have seen how I play. And they might take issue with how I was a little more cutthroat. And, and I was, I was a threat in the other seasons I played because I'm very physically fit. And, and so all of these things she was bringing into season 50. And I think that that probably clouded some of her judgments as far as playing the game in the new era,

[02:15:23] because it was a different vibe when she played survivor previously. And I do think there was this idea, will it be old school versus new school when people came together in season 50? And there was this, there was this unknown factor. Someone like Sari, we've seen really kind of lean in on that and understand that the game is different now. And I need to change the way I play, but I don't have to entirely change the way I play. And I feel like Stephanie was really struggling with that.

[02:15:51] And suddenly she found her group of people. She found coach and thought, Oh, this feels comfortable because he wants to play with loyalty and he wants to play with integrity. And here's Joe, my gosh, the most loyal person you can imagine in the world. And he wants to play the game with me. And, and there's Colby. And so all of these like kind of delicious people were surrounding her, making her feel better about the choice of this honorable game that she came into it, wanting to play. And I feel like that really stunted her.

[02:16:21] It really stopped her from playing the game that she knows how to play, because we've seen her play a much more aggressive game previously, because she found her core group of people. And what has happened to all of those people? It's not worked out so well for them, right? A lot of them are sitting on the jury. And so I, I fear for her rather than shift and move and adapt to the game that was now presented to her in season 50. She got caught up in this idea of,

[02:16:49] I want to play honorably and lost sight of, but I need to do what I need to do to win the game. And unfortunately it just hasn't worked out for her the way that she was hoping. So there we are. That is, those are my thoughts on Stephanie. Yeah. I mentioned in the introduction to the rules portion of the podcast that Stephanie wondered, how did this go from Aussie to me? If she's listening, she now has her answer. I know she's not, but at least everyone else has it throughout the game. She took a backseat role,

[02:17:17] making herself useful by filling in as a vote at the merge. She connected with fellow believers, plus some fake believers in playing that honest and loyal game that both of you mentioned. But we know how well that type of game works, especially when you're more focused on being a role model for kids, then you are actually playing in a manner that will get you the win. Then when a more active role was kind of foisted on her,

[02:17:44] she participated with Jonathan and telling Devin's everything they were planning and even went above and beyond with her steal a vote information. Worse still, she tried to lie to someone she knows she can't lie to, Sari, who also happens to be the godmother of this season. And I mean that in a mob way, not like a fairy godmother. That is very true. That is great. She already massively overestimated how tight they were.

[02:18:13] And that lie, after honest Joe told Sari the truth about her targeting Ozzie, broke whatever bond may have been there for this game. Whether the decision to target Stephanie was made at camp, as I believe, or at tribal council, after Rick Devins raked her over the coals by being honest, while she tried and failed to lie, everything she did in the previous day came back to bite her.

[02:18:39] And she refused to use the one piece of information she had that might have been able to turn everyone towards Jonathan because that wouldn't be loyal. Sari outplayed Stephanie again, but also Rick Devins outplayed Stephanie. And most importantly, Stephanie outplayed Stephanie by focusing on the wrong priorities and mishandling the entire situation. And that is why Stephanie lost.

[02:19:10] There we are. All right. So before we get to our predictions, we do want to remind everyone that the rules we just discussed are available in poster form. Yes. And in poster on a t-shirt form and in checklist on a t-shirt form. So many forms and ways. Yes. Yes. As I mentioned,

[02:19:35] go to robhaswebsite.com slash YX lost feed and click away. Now, James, where can people find you online? Well, you can find me right now, reading Rob's nice book right here. Then I got an amazing coincidence. That's what I'm going to be doing. It's amazing. Me too. Wow. Appointment reading this weekend in a bookstore near you.

[02:20:04] Pre-order available. What I'm going to be doing right now in Philly, find me, Jason Jones, Instagram or Twitter or Blue Sky. I'm on threads too. I'm still about to start doing some events again in the city. Roots picnic is in Philly. Let me know if you come into the city, have some fun things planned. Also going to be in New York next week, I believe for our JP live show.

[02:20:34] So then I'll also be rocking out with Bryce and winning New York too. So, um, yeah. And my birthday's next week. So your boy is turning 41. So, uh, you know, I know I still look young, you know, Jeff, I'm around, you know, you know, I can, I can, I can still play, you know, any chance, hopefully, you know, so that's it. Drop the four, keep the one. You're turning one. I like golden survivor 40. Let's do it.

[02:21:03] I think that's a great idea. I love that. And that's great. Well, I am at Jessica Lewis 89 on blue sky and Twitter. I'm at Jessica Lewis, six, seven, eight, nine on Instagram. Most of the content I just steal from all of the incredible content that David Bloomberg does now create. He posts so many stories and I just put them back onto my Instagram. It's lovely and easy. And it's a great life because David, Bloomberg has taken over social media in so many ways,

[02:21:30] his tech talks and his YouTube channel and you name it, he has it. And it's all on his link tree. So David Bloomberg, please tell everyone where they can find you. Yes. You could find me at link tree slash David Bloomberg or directly on blue sky is at David Bloomberg and the video sites, YouTube, tech talk and Instagram is at David Bloomberg TV. I've been continuing to post two or three reality TV short videos every day. As I said, a couple of things we didn't get to here will definitely be discussed in videos there.

[02:21:59] If you kind of view them as, uh, you know, the, the, the secret scenes from, uh, that didn't make the podcast here. Ooh, I like that. That's good. Yes. Now, almost all of my videos right now are about survivor 50 at this point with some million dollar secret, thrown in as that has wrapped up. And you never know when another show might have something that strikes my fancy. Uh, speaking of million dollar secret, I wrapped up coverage,, uh, of season two on the trade our podcast. I think

[02:22:28] it was a fun season better than the first, uh, find out everything I had to say by searching for trade our, that's T R A I D A R in audio or on YouTube. With that, we can move to predictions. Now I have some crazy stuff going on here. Cause there's so much we don't know. Uh, the preview just tells us, it shows us Aussie crying, serene panic mode, Emily telling Tiffany. Yes. Uh,

[02:22:58] yes. Uh, Emily telling Tiffany, she can convince Devin's to play the idol on her. Aubrey telling Joe it's now or never. And, and plus the biggest moment of the game. I'm not sure how every episode can continually have the biggest moment of the game, but here we are. Uh, the press release for the episode also, says a shocking incident will take place at the immunity challenge, which I immediately figured must mean that Sari will win immunity.

[02:23:27] Cause that would be a shocking incident. That would be shocking. I know that's probably not it. I, I, it could be a medical issue in a medevac. I mean, we're at nine players and three episodes left. Yeah. They have to get down to at most six at the finale. Five. If they want to do what they've been doing, they need to get rid of, two players at once in at least one of the next two episodes, if not in both of the next two.

[02:23:57] Now, obviously you can't plan for a medevac, or at least I, I certainly hope they're not like, Ooh, if we do this, someone will hurt themselves. No, I don't think so. Um, but we're going to have to say goodbye. I feel like we have to say goodbye to two people next week. I just don't see any way around it. I know. I thought we were going to this week with the two hour episode, but I, I, I don't know whether, whether it's a medevac or maybe the type of tribal council I thought would

[02:24:24] happen this week with one person right after the other. I don't know. So I'm going to make a wild prediction. I think Ozzy is going out due to something that happens in the immunity challenge. Maybe he re injures his back. Maybe that's why we see him crying. I don't know. Um, I only say this because one of the things that I didn't talk about at the top of the podcast that we didn't get to was the edit he's getting.

[02:24:54] You two both brought it up, makes it seem like he's playing much more strategically. My assertion is he's really not. He's relying on three to play much more strategically. He's reaping the benefits of that. That would come out at the finale as a contradiction. They talked about it in this episode as if it were all true. I feel like they wouldn't do that. If it was going to come out the opposite in the finale, if he's injured, it never comes out.

[02:25:24] Now, obviously I hope nobody is hurt. I've seen no indication online that anyone has a lingering injury. But, you know, Kyle hit his. So, so I'm going to say Ozzie as for the other. I think one way or another, series group swings back. We'll wall pendulum and goes against Emily. I'm a little confused. Come on. Yeah, well, I'm a little confused. I was, I was, I was, I was going to pick Emily too. Oh,

[02:25:54] okay. I, I, I, I don't know why Aubrey was the secondary name after Devin's this week, rather than Emily. I mean, it was Devin's and Emily in the fake plan that Stephanie gave. Right. But the alleged real plan was Devin's and Aubrey. So I don't know what happened to Emily in there, but I feel like that will be rectified, especially after what we saw in the preview about her thinking she can get Devin's to play an idol on her. So that's my kind of crazy prediction is Ozzie.

[02:26:22] And I don't think that's too crazy. I, I was, I, because I was thinking it was going to be Emily. And I had concerns about Ozzie because I feel like just looking at who we have left, how do we get there? And, but I, I just want to, I just want to say, I'm not, I won't follow suit and say, cause Ozzie was the other one on my, on my list. I just want to say Jonathan. I just feel like he's just, he doesn't have any support other than Joe,

[02:26:52] but we know Joe is with Siri and Siri is a puppet master and she can make anyone do anything she wants. So I feel like I'm going to go with, if we have to pick two, if we have to pick one, I was just thinking Emily, but if we have to pick two, I'll throw Jonathan in there too. Man. Oh man. So I, I'm looking at the numbers. There's a lot of people left. I think we're probably looking at some type of Jonathan immunity situation. And with a possible,

[02:27:22] I think there's a Jonathan or Joe immunity. Of course, I do think there is. I mean, the Ozzie tears makes me feel like something has to happen. I don't think Ozzie is going to do like, I haven't, we haven't seen the Ozzie cry. Like, I mean, maybe we have, but I don't think it's always been, I don't think, I don't think he's at that point of crying unless it's something that's really happening. So I hope it doesn't happen, but I think that's what it is. And with Jonathan winning immunity and Rick playing his idol,

[02:27:50] I don't think they should, they are going to target Aubrey. I think they should target Aubrey. Um, and about my winner pick. He, here's the issue. I feel like they should very much target Aubrey. The Aubrey Joe conversation. Right. Leads me to think that. I'm going to, I'm just going to gamble.

[02:28:19] I'm saying Rick is going home. And I love Rick. I think that the Aubrey Joe conversation is about Rick and they're going to try to flush Rick's idol on Emily. And if he keeps it, I think he goes home. I think everybody can get behind that. Unless Aubrey is targeting Sari with Joe, which I don't think would end well based on what happened last week. All right. Well, there we have it.

[02:28:48] We don't really know, uh, you know, but just, Hey, had to come up with something. Cause we don't even know how many people are going home. We have no idea. Right. Um, and then the thing is like half the time I make these predictions here and then they show us sneak peeks and I post a video like, okay, now that we see these sneak peeks, which usually come out on like Monday, I feel like, okay, now I've completely changed my opinion on what has happened. Cause we have more information. Yes. So watch for those as well. But as we wrap up,

[02:29:17] I want to encourage people to check out the RJP patron program at Rob has website.com slash patron. You can get access to all the special podcasts that are put out just for patrons plus Facebook groups and discord. And of course support shows like ours and everything on the network at Rob has a website.com slash patron. And make sure you subscribe to all the RJP survivor podcasts by going to, we know survivor.com and selecting your podcast service choice.

[02:29:42] And then you'll get all of the RJP survivor podcasts in one place. And of course, pre-order or buy the tribe. And I have spoken by our boss. Uh, so, and when you do it, put in there, why blank loss told us to do this. No, it doesn't. That's right. I'm just joking. Well, and we would like to thank everyone at RJP for all of the incredible work that you do, the editing and just putting forth all this content that you just heard David Bloomberg speak about.

[02:30:12] Thank you to Rob St. Pierre for the, for leading the charge or Scott St. Pierre. I'm Rob, Robert, but Scott St. Pierre leading the charge on all of the editing. And Oh, I need to acquire that book as well because I am in that book. I will say there's a couple of photos of, of miss Jessica Lewis and that book. So, uh, and if you don't, for those not seeing it, James has the, uh, Jeff Probst book that also came out that he's holding up. So, so we'll plug this one. We can also plug Jeff Probst as well.

[02:30:41] Thank you to everyone for listening as you always do. And thank you to all from America for the theme song that you did create for the audio version of this podcast. Thank you to Rob for writing this delicious nugget of information for everyone who ever wants to play survivor or who has, that will be a great read this weekend. And thank you to James for joining us as always. You are fabulous, fantastic. You have great insight and we appreciate you greatly. So thanks for being here. Congratulations for 10 years. Um,

[02:31:11] thank you for giving us your takes for 10 years and helping us understand the game better. It definitely has helped me. Let's give a shout out to Rob for his book and my original company. Man pitch. I got Jeff here with, you know, this nice book here too, but no, thank you guys for having me. Uh, this is fun. I mean, grab a, grab a, uh, grab a shirt, grab a poster. Well, reading a book written by Rob says, you know, I mean, come on, it's all perfect.

[02:31:41] That yes. Like share and subscribe. Yes. Thank you for me. Also, James, always great to have on here. We always enjoy it. Uh, so thank you for joining us. And of course you and I have conversations throughout the season, you know, so that's always fun as well. Um, thank you, Jessica, who we also have conversations obviously throughout the season. Uh, so thank you as always. We will see everyone in a week.

[02:32:11] And of course you can find us on social media until then. Bye everyone. Bye. If the world were like a sleep number mattress, everything would adapt for your comfort because as your life changes and your body changes, sleep number mattresses adapt and shift to give you personalized comfort night after night. And now everything's on sale during our Memorial day event.

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