February 28, 2026 • 28 mins
They’ve cha cha’d across the ballroom and been faithful in a castle, but can Will & Rider outwit, outplay and outlast as they take the challenge of Survivor season 50?
Will’s ONLY seen the inaugural season, 26 years ago, but Rider is a longtime diehard, so could either of our hosts actually last for 20 days on the island??
Either way, Rider fills in Will on what he’s missed over the past 49 seasons, while they both give flowers to a true master of the hosting craft: Jeff Probst.
And they can’t tackle a 3-hour premiere with just one episode, so don’t miss the second part of the first Pod Meets Twirl’d Seeking Immunity, because the tribe has spoken!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to Pod Meets Twirl, a podcast that once chronicled
two guys who had never seen Dancing with the Stars,
but watched a season and somehow walked away experts. From there,
we ventured into Traders, a show I'd never seen but
Will swore he could win. And now we turned to
Survivor season fifty, the Big One, and this time the
roles are reversed. Will has seen exactly one season, the
(00:32):
first one. Meanwhile, I've watched for years. We are Wilfordell,
who prefers his wilderness with room service, and right or Strong,
who will hike any mountain but hates the beach. Two
best friends, one devoted to the comforts of civilization, one
who would never leave the woods if he could. Both
reality competition scholars join us as we dive into alliances,
(00:52):
blind sides, fire making, sand related misery, and twenty five
years of television history culminating in a single massive season.
This is Pod Meets Twirled, Seeking Immunity.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
How you feeling, Will, I'm excited, cautiously excited, I guess,
and you're.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Completely right with what you said in your intro.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
As my wife often says, if I'm in the woods
for three days.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I've been dead for two of them. So yeah, but
you grew up kind of didn't you camp when you
were a kid? Oh? Every weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
I was in the woods every weekend growing up. I
was a boy scout. I can start fires once. You
were never going out.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Hell no.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Once you sit in a nice hot tub, you never
want to have to scrounge for water again.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Would you do like an r V? Would you do
like a camper van? Yes, briefly and a big one. Right,
But what is it that scares you or what is
it that is it just a discomfort? Yes?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I like I like things like showers and hot water.
And yeah, you being on a mattress and shower.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Like twice a day?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
At least wait, really like every every day you shower
twice a day. At least you at least you have
to keep in mind. I also work out twice a day.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
So I wake up in the morning and I work
out and I do cardio or lift weights with with
the trainer, and then at night I do cardio again.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Do you shower after you poop? Are you one of
those people?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
No? God, no, I couldn't I be showering eleven times?
A day with my stomach.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I'm a I'm a prodigious pooper. My friend, very healthy body,
that prodigious pooper, Wilde, I am.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I've got a very healthy scholar and prodigious pooper. Okay,
So it's not about it's not about like the animals
or fear of the woods or exposure to the element.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I don't mind. But hugs, I don't mind. Uh you know,
Oh a bear is gonna get me. I'm not scared
of the woods. I just I like being comfortable and
I like not having to you know, again, there's a
novelty to that stuff. I get, no like I feel
like with you, there's a piece to it and almost
a philosophy to it which is completely and totally lost
(02:59):
on me, the idea that I'm getting in touch with nature.
And yeah, that doesn't do anything for you nothing.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
See. I think that there's something so profound that happens
when you look at an amazing stars, you know, like
sky filled with stars or I've.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Got telescopes put him right outside, right next to the awe,
in the face of nature.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
That is really important to me. And that and I
feel like is even better when it's slightly earned in
other words, like you get high to it, to it
and and and there's there's something terrifying, genuinely terrifying to
me about the solitude of the woods that, in that terror,
actually makes me feel good, Like I feel like I
(03:43):
am somehow closer to reality or like closer to the
real nature of things. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Are you one of those people where it's like the
closer you get to tasting death is really makes you
feel like you're alive.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Oh, I guess I need to do and a motorcycle.
I don't want that. No, it's more about the like,
you know, the the slight panic that comes from like
being alone in the woods looking around and being like, yeah,
if I ran into a bear, it would it would
just kill me. And it's not it's not because the
world's an evil place. It's because the world is just
a place where things happen, and you are a physical
(04:15):
body in it. That as much as we like to
think of ourselves as important, we're not, And that that
feeling of like not being important is really profound to me,
and I I cherish it even though it scares me right,
Like I want to be important. I want to be
the center of my own movie. And getting into the
woods is a sort of shortcut to that sense of
inconsequence of your own life. And I think that that's
(04:37):
healthy and fun.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
And I like to sit at home knowing how important
I am. That's that's that's what I.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Like, watching your own TV show, watching You like to
sit at home watching Boy Mets World. You all the time,
and Susan's next to you applauded, You're amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
No.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
As a kid, I did all that stuff by Heights
Mount Washington, and we camped every weekend. I would get
home from school and we all had We were without
the karate or being cool in any way, shape or form.
My couple friends and I in seventh and eighth grade,
we were like Johnny from Karate Kid. We all had
dirt bikes. We built a track in the woods. We
were in the woods every weekend.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
We loved it.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
There's a we found an old band in Chicken Coop
and we spent every weekend and all the weeks we
had off like rebuilding it into this great fort we had.
I mean, I loved the woods and stuff like that.
But then I got to a point where I'm like, Okay,
I don't. I don't need to do that anymore, and
I'm not gonna there's no I find no peace in it.
So there's no active like, oh, this is the best
thing in the world. I get to go and be
(05:39):
in the woods by myself. Like no, I'd rather go
have a nice massage somewhere and get a nice meal
and watch a show and go to sleep in.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
A nice band. And now you have you watched the
one season of Survivor, the very first one, but you
have watched Alone, another Survivor reality. Yeah several times.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Okay, we've seen a bunch of episodes of Alone, and
now that is way more badass than this, way.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
More bad ass. And yeah, that one is, yeah that
you know, that one is true survivalist skills and they
have to carry their own camera gear. They are truly alone. Yep,
it's hardcore. And you see that that Actually the survival skills,
which are difficult but are manageable. The real thing is
the loneliness, right, Like to watch people start to go
(06:21):
crazy being in the wilderness by themselves after you know,
thirty days or whatever.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
That would be the easiest part for me by far,
do you think so? Really, dude, I was alone in
my house by myself with my anxiety for like seven years.
I didn't see anybody, So being alone, I was able
to completely compartmentalize the difference between See. That's why the
show is called alone and not loneliness, right, because being
alone and being lonely were two very different things.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I love being alone. I almost never get lonely really.
Even now now that's a little different because I have Susan.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah without Susan, like yeah, yeah, twelve year and I
want to be twice.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, you're talking about your mid twenties when you were sire. Well,
I I think it would be very different now, because
that's what you say is like on that there was
one season of Alone where this guy was doing great.
He even made like his own the toy wifim out
of here going home, and they're like, dude.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Are you see Like he locked up his fake garage
that he had built and every like going home.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah. The best on that show are the ones that
have either just been through divorce or or they they
need the money so bad. I said, they have something
so important that they were like, and they're doing it
for somebody else that they're just going to do it there.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
I remember that that one season where the guy built
rock rock House, Yes, and he was eating and soon
and I looked at each other and he.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Saved he he killed the.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Muscock and then and then he's eating the stomach and
we looked at each other like, Okay, when you're eating
warm contents of muscogs, no.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
One's gonna beat that guy. He's going to eat his
own leg before he leaves. No one's going to beat
that guy. And he dug a fire pit too, right,
like he dug he dug.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
It's called it was called rock House where the whole
thing was made of stoney, found the cave and then
built everything around it.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
And so I mean, you're not going to beat that dude.
It's just not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Whereas Sue always says, I would have tapped out on
the on the boat right over yea where I would
have literally been on the phone and the guy, the
producer's phone would have rung and he would be like,
I'm standing next to you, like, yeah, I'm tapping out,
turn around and tapping out. But it wouldn't be from loneliness.
It would have been probably from boredom more than anything else.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Well, so survivor. You know, it's having watched most of
the seasons, I have to In are some of our
promotional material for this season. It said on the social
medias that I had seen every season. I actually haven't
watched every season. What what's happened is I started watching
it when my wife was pregnant and we started devouring
every season, and then I watch it with my son
(08:42):
and her. Now the problem is they watch it sometimes
when I'm out of town, so I've missed either half
of a season or I know they that's not allowed.
I know, but well I couldn't, you know, hold them
back from what you know, the season without me and
then I'll jump in. I So it's a little confusing,
and it's been especially confusing coming into this season fifty
because there's a lot of people that I do know
(09:05):
or a scene, but I can't remember what they did
in their season because in part sometimes I didn't finish
the season in or I only came in fifty seasons.
How could anybody remember what everybody did in every single
I know, it's it's a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Do you have a favorite from the season, whether they
wont or not. Do you have a favorite Survivor that
was your favorite the whole time.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Ozzy's just the man, the guy who's in this one. Yes,
he's the best of all time. Is Ozzie's not Coach,
No coaches.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
No. Ozzy is the guy who looks like the drummer
from a Okay, yeah, he looks like the drummer from Total.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
He is by far the best survivalist ever on Survivor.
He like, y oh, yeah, he's I think I told
you about him. He's the guy who like will fish
for everybody. That's yes, dude, did you notice he already
found like that. He provides for everybody. He is and
he's never won. He's been on the show I think
(10:11):
four or five times, and he's the nicest guy. His
problem is he gets too cocky and he thinks that
by being providing for everybody that they won't stab him
in the back, and they always alway.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
He's the one who had a problem with Coach, who
I guess said that it was because of him the
coach didn't win a million dollars.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Coach is my the villain that I love to hate. Coach.
He's a villain. Knowing nothing about this, I thought everybody
coaches first season, So what happened coaches first season? And
some people do love him, but it's mostly because they
have mixed feelings about him because he's a very good player,
but he's also very socially manipulative. There's the season that
really turned me against him, which I believe was his
(10:54):
first season. He was on a tribe with somebody. I'm
blanking on this guy's name, but this guy was not
very stable mentally and very religious, and Coach made a
partnership with this guy and like four other people and
said we're gonna go all the way to the end.
(11:14):
Like day one, he was like, the best, the only
way to win this game is if we never break alliances.
And then this guy was really off his rocker and
like targeting women because they were enticing him, you know,
like saying like that woman is a is sent here
from Satan and because she's dressing and you're like, dude,
you're just attracted to her. Let it go. It's not
(11:35):
her fault. And Coach didn't draw the line and say like, oh,
this guy is probably He instead leaned into it, used
religiosity to keep them tighter and said, let's all pray
before every challenge. Is and I find that really despicable.
And he agreed. He made it to the end. He
made it to the end. He did not win. The
jury did not get him. It was a woman who
(11:55):
also just sort of attached herself to him, knowing that
he might get to the end, and she was smart
and you want but that's always turned me against coach.
He's he's manipulative and he I think he crossed the
line there, you know, going too far into like using
religion to rally this team of people on his side.
They did very well though, they want and he and
by sticking with that group of five, because it is
(12:15):
true if you have a group of five and you never,
no matter what, turn on each other, you can make
it all the way to the end pretty much, especially
back in those days. Now it's gotten more complicated because
of the rules that they've introduced with advantages.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Well, this is what I want to talk to you about,
because there's there's basic things that I as somebody who
didn't watch your vivor that I don't know. And since
I watched the first season, all I remember is naked guy.
That's all I remember. And I actually remember the girl
from this one, Jenna I think her name was I
remember that. So first of all, what is you're talking
about new rules? So what is the new era?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
I actually don't know that distinctions technically. I believe there
was a it was it was a shift in the
way the game. I don't know technically, but yeah, So
I honestly I had this same question. I was sort
of like, okay, one of our parisiers could jump in
the thought. But I believe it has something to do.
I believe the problem with Survivor when it started was
(13:12):
that the men would dominate the entire first half of
the game because they were The challenges were so physical, right,
and the men would end up winning, and so women
were getting eliminated like just you know, even the first
couple rounds and challenges. And so I believe at some
point they decided to institute more puzzles and to make
(13:34):
the social learn more. Yeah, so it wasn't just and
then because at a certain point, you know, if your
tribe is losing, you just decimated. There's like one person left.
And what was ended up happening is people would never
want to vote their big powerful men off, so they
would they would just keep winning with their men and
vote the women off. So I believe the new era
(13:55):
has something to do with that shift, because the game
is way more balanced now in terms of like the
teamwork involves like a puzzle always or some sort of
like throwing challenge that doesn't need brute strength or physical ability.
It's much more balanced. And then also this, you know,
when it gets to the individual challenges, a lot of
the challenges are physically tough, but they're often about perseverance
(14:19):
in your own strength, like with your own body. In
other words, you're like beholding on holding onto something just
by your fingertips, and it's like it's your own weight,
do you know what I mean. So it's not like
it's like it's vary to the person. It's not like
we all have to lift the same amount or whatever.
It's like it's all scale to you. So it's really
about challenging to yourself. So yeah, I believe that has
(14:40):
something to do with a new era or the old era.
So here's the thing that I find I think is
a big mistake.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
You should never start a new season of a show
assuming everybody that watches the show has seen it before. Yeah,
so one thing this did not explain to me in
any way, shape or form, which I have no idea,
is what the does an idol do?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Okay, So an idol protects you at tribal So if
you can't be voted out and voted out, but you
only play it after everyone's voted, so essentially they're wasting
their vote. And so if you feel like everybody's going
to vote for you and they don't know you have
an idol, or only certain people on your team, on
your tribe know you have an idol, you could then
bust the after the vote, you say hey, I'm playing
(15:19):
this idol, and then the person who gets the next
level of votes is the one out. So it can
be a real turnover. So they have to they have
to always be suspicious that somebody is playing the game
with an idol in their pocket. And that's why like
Ozzie got voted with, he got voted out with an
idol in his pocket because he didn't he didn't play it,
which happens often people will just be so trusting of
their team. The team might know they have an idol,
(15:41):
convince them, oh no, we're not voting for you tonight,
blindside that person, and then they walk out with the
idol in their pocket, so you can be voted out.
Even if you have an idol, you have to just
for you ever, yes, you have to play it at
after the vote is but before it's before they replay it, yes,
before they read it. And then you have things like
multiple idols, like people will play I'm playing an idol
(16:02):
and you're like okay, and then the other person who's
like the next in the line will be like, I'm
also playing an idol. You're like, oh my god, and
it'll go down. They've had like tons of weird things
like that. The main thing with idols is that if
it's if it's played, or if it leaves the game
because it's in their pocket, it gets hidden again on
the island.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And are these always hidden or are there are? Do
you ever win one? When you win?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
It's changed every season you got you don't. Yeah, you
win when you're Yeah, you win immunity through the challenges,
either as a tribe or when they get to the
individual game, you individually win immunity. But yeah, the idols
are and there have been seasons with no idols, and
then there have been seasons where you get clues that
can lead you to an idol, and then you have
weird rules like this time they have that boomerang idol
that got introduced. Yeah, the game is you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Oh my god, I just realized if you take your
middle name out, it's literally a billy idol. How did
nobody else pick that up that it's.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
A billy idol? I got it. Yeah, it's a complicated game,
and yeah, it's pretty manipulative in terms of like how
the rules change season to season. You know, they're they're
they're ultimately going to go for the best television and
there have been times when you're you can tell that
they're kind of tilting the challenges to sort of favor
a certain person or to give certain But yeah, it's
(17:22):
it's a it's a tricky game. The main thing is,
you know, the three the three rules, outwit, outlast, and outplay.
So those are the three things you really you you
know you that you you want to outwit your fellow players,
you know, because you're gonna have to eventually be voting
against each other, even if they're on your tribe or
working against another tribe. In the in the early half
(17:43):
of the game, let's see outlast obviously, just surviving and severe.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
One of the Outwit Outlast out play is that it.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
What's been interesting for me is, like going back to
the early seasons, there was a lot of emphasis put
on the actual survival factor, like how they got food, right,
if that's what I remember, building fires, stuff like that.
That has really for the large part been edited out.
Now the game is now, I mean, I think people's
psychological stuff. It's all the social stuff because they are
(18:27):
still doing all the physical stuff. I mean, you see
in this one they figure out how to make a fire,
which was great, and you're still having to build shelters.
You see them working hard. They're just not focusing on
that in the editing at all anymore. So it's really
just about who's partnering with who, who's going with who,
And then the challenge is becoming the sort of showdown
and the immunity the tribals to be like the reveal
(18:48):
of what's actually going to happen, So you don't get
like there would be whole seasons where you'd just be
listening to people complaining about how hungry they were or
that they were cold, and you don't get that much anymore.
And I don't know how much of that is because
it's not as hard as it used to be because
they did like one season in Africa which was truly devastating,
like people were like near death because they were starving
(19:10):
and the key was doing to death. And they used
to do a lot of seasons where they would do
in like a culturally specific area, so you'd have like
the Philippines and you'd learn about Filipino culture, they'd eat,
you know, or whatever. They kind of now just limited
it to Fiji for the last like ten years, just
like it's kind of a standard set of circumstances, like
(19:32):
there are fish, there are coconuts, you get a certain
amount of rice, and you can get flint if you
work for it, so you can start a fire.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
And that was the other thing is I didn't again
because I didn't know. When they're like one team wins flint,
I was like, Okay, does that mean the other teams
can't just build a fire if they want to they
just And I didn't know if that meant it's like
one one tribe gets fire, the other two you can't
have fire, right, But that's not what it means.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
But it means you can you can you could make
a if you knew how to make a fire, right.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
But you figure everybody going on something called Survivor would
know how to make a fire.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Dude, you are will every season, not every season, Almost
every season there comes down to a challenge between two
people where they have to build a fire after because
they like split the votes or there's no other way
to determine, so they have to build a fire at
the tribal council and I shit, you not have The
people that get there do not know how to build
(20:25):
a fire with flint. At the end of the d
Alex and I are talking about this all the time.
We're always like, how toy, It's like not knowing how
to swim. It's dude, you have to figure this out,
like get you know? So, yes, I agree with you.
Like the first thing I would do is figure out
how to make fire under any conditions, but especially the
Fijian conditions, right, like knowing what my resources are called,
(20:48):
how to make a fire and fee exactly exactly, And
then I'd learn what I can eat and what I
can hunt and what kind of fish I could eat.
And then I would also starve myself leading up to
going because you watch these people and there's they lose
so much weight, and also their bodies are so used
to regular calorie intake. You see like big guys crash
because they have such requirements their bodies require, so which
(21:10):
is why weird. That's the opposite of a loan.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Everyone on a loan they put on as much weight
as they possibly can before they go into a loan.
So you see these women that are like, I just
put on sixty pounds before I.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Go because they just know they're going to lose it.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
They know that they're going to lose all the body fat,
so they're like fat is fuel on a loan, so
they're like put on as much weight as you can.
It said, it seems almost like a bit of a
vanity project on Survivor, where it's like I need to
look good with my shirt off.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Mike White worked really hard to make sure he abody
for this moment for months, like yeah, with your fifteen
personal trainers.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
But at the same time, it's like, I think I'd
rather go in thirty pounds overweight and carry a whole
bunch of that.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
No, I don't, because there's because they're so physically stretched,
like the challenges you want to be in really good,
like lean fighting shape and also not be hungry, you know,
So like to me, I would I would be like
restriction going like the month before. I'd go to like
a really low calorie diet because what that does is
it trains your body to be more efficient with less
(22:08):
food because you're only getting so much rice, You're only
getting so much stuff. So yeah, be used to it.
Here we goes. Maddie just said the player that won
last season since she was fasting for months before going
to the show, so we're a body.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah, that's exactly what I would do, which is totally
the opposite of a loan.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Everybody and alone is like we're just sitting around and
in cold weather and trying to survive that. It's different.
This is like, yeah, this one you just want to
be because you're working hard. I mean those challenges you
see them insane. It's really tough, man Like, it's not light,
you know, and you're doing that.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Okay. My last question is a basic one. Are these
people hot or are they cold? Because when you've got
somebody just in shorts with no T shirt next to
a woman with a parka and a sweater, what the
is happening. Are they hot or are they cold because.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Weather extremes man without shelter, and I think at night,
like when you saw them on Exile Island, they were
all bundled up in whatever they could have because I
think they're talking at the same time.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
You've got a woman there literally in like a trench
coat and a turtleneck next to a guy with shorts on.
I'm like, temperature wise, help me out what's happening on?
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Yeah, I think it's tropical, which is just very you know,
and it's like whether you've been in the water or not,
or like right, yes, without shelter, Man, it's intense. Like
that was confusing.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I know.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Well, I mean I think the game has gotten a
lot better since, and maybe that's what the new era
is is locking it in in Fiji and sort of
controlling those conditions because like they did an Australian Outback one,
which was brutal, Like you get into situations where like
the survival question overtakes the gameplay because it's like we're
literally starving and you know, or our shelter gets blown
(23:49):
away by a hurricane wind, you know, like that shit
like that has happened, so I think now they've they
figured out the beaches, Like now they're repeating using They're
using the same beaches that you can reckon from season
to season.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
It's interesting that's their set. Yeah, I mean it's basically
become a set. Yeah, they figured out what they can control.
There has to be a point where you've done enough
seasons there where you've depleted the natural, right, like the
coconuts aren't going to be as plentiful, and the trees
that you can use to make shelter aren't going to
be as plentiful, and eventually they're gonna have to move it, right,
I know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
How they rotated or how they figured it out. Would
you go on? Yeah, I think this is the one
reality show that I would But again, like Traders, I
would probably be bad at it the same way that
like Ozzie's bad at it, Like, I mean, I'd be
way worse than him physically number one. But number two,
I'm just too trusting. I'm just too like I would
be like I would want to play with honor and integrity,
(24:41):
but you said you can't do that. Yeah, but it's hard, man,
you know, like you eventually somebody is gonna have to say,
let's take advantage of you know, right, honor and like
his word.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Which but you would also have to you would have
if you wanted to play honorably, you would have to
go in in ripping shape because what you would essentially
be saying is I'm going to play honorably, but I
have to win every challenge that I can possibly win
so we're not voted off.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Yes, And I mean I think I would do exactly
what Ozzie is doing, which is partner up with the
Machiavelli and genius like SII and just be like, hey,
you're gonna you're gonna help tell me who to vote
for and help me and watch my back and be
the strategic mind for me. Well, I'm just like here
to help and like support and provide like and I
could never be that provider, but I hopefully I would
(25:27):
offer other help, you know, in terms of like moral
support or leadership skills or whatever. But I yeah, I
would not be I'm not a good liar. I'm not
a no you're not and I'm really uncomfortable with you know,
and I just would ultimately be like, Nope, just take
me out, vote me out.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
If I you know, have to Well, here's the last
thing I'll say before we get into this. And you
told me about this, you said this several times, but
it wasn't until I really watched.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Jeff Probst is a phenomenal host. He's the man, dude,
phenomenal part. At times he's doing sports commentary.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
At times he says all of their names, it's he's
it's great.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
And I assumed that he had an ear piece on,
you know, that his producers were helping him. Turns out
Emily Longoretta, who's writing our Podny's World book and she's
a journalist and she went and covered Survivor this season.
He does no earpiece. He is fully on his own.
That man is like, because I look at like amazing
race and Phil what's his name?
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Who has that?
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Oh, I'm like, dude, your job is like you got
the coucius job in the world because he just like
literally gets a fly around the country or the world
and meet people in beautiful places and be like you
made it, you didn't. Like, that's all he has to do,
whereas like Jeff Probes is actually engaging them and and
monitoring and and like over refereeing and overseas a referee.
He's doing sports. A trial judge. He's like a trial judge, dude.
(26:49):
He is great an entertaining host, yes man, and like, yeah,
I just think.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
He's empathetic, dude. He keeps everybody on track. Halfway through
the show, was like, my god, this man is a
good host. Yes.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
And when Indy like became a fan of Jeff Probes,
you know, when he was a little little like five
year old six years watching him, like it's a good
person to look up to.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Dude.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, Like he's the guy is a really good it's
it's like one of the few like reality show hosts
that I'm like, he deserves every cent that he goes
because that's not easy.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
He's entertaining, he's yeah, I mean he's it's really.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
And everybody feels like it's on their side, like it
doesn't matter how they behave like for the most like
every single person that's part of the game. They never
turn on him. They never are like, Jeff, you really
messed this up? Or Jeff, how dare you talk to
me like that? They he's always very upfront, he's personable. Yeah,
he's the best. Was great. Yeah, all right, So We're
gonna pause here before we get into the actual recap
(27:46):
of the episode, because it turns out we've had a
lot of survivor back history to cover and discuss. You've
been listening to pod meets Twirled. The torches may be snuffed,
but our questionable analysis burns on. We'll see you next time.
A Tribals wa
Welcome to Pod Meets Twirl, a podcast that once chronicled
two guys who had never seen Dancing with the Stars,
but watched a season and somehow walked away experts. From there,
we ventured into Traders, a show I'd never seen but
Will swore he could win. And now we turned to
Survivor season fifty, the Big One, and this time the
roles are reversed. Will has seen exactly one season, the
(00:32):
first one. Meanwhile, I've watched for years. We are Wilfordell,
who prefers his wilderness with room service, and right or Strong,
who will hike any mountain but hates the beach. Two
best friends, one devoted to the comforts of civilization, one
who would never leave the woods if he could. Both
reality competition scholars join us as we dive into alliances,
(00:52):
blind sides, fire making, sand related misery, and twenty five
years of television history culminating in a single massive season.
This is Pod Meets Twirled, Seeking Immunity.
Speaker 2 (01:04):
How you feeling, Will, I'm excited, cautiously excited, I guess,
and you're.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
Completely right with what you said in your intro.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
As my wife often says, if I'm in the woods
for three days.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
I've been dead for two of them. So yeah, but
you grew up kind of didn't you camp when you
were a kid? Oh? Every weekend.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
I was in the woods every weekend growing up. I
was a boy scout. I can start fires once. You
were never going out.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Hell no.
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Once you sit in a nice hot tub, you never
want to have to scrounge for water again.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Would you do like an r V? Would you do
like a camper van? Yes, briefly and a big one. Right,
But what is it that scares you or what is
it that is it just a discomfort? Yes?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
I like I like things like showers and hot water.
And yeah, you being on a mattress and shower.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Like twice a day?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (01:56):
At least wait, really like every every day you shower
twice a day. At least you at least you have
to keep in mind. I also work out twice a day.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
So I wake up in the morning and I work
out and I do cardio or lift weights with with
the trainer, and then at night I do cardio again.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Do you shower after you poop? Are you one of
those people?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
No? God, no, I couldn't I be showering eleven times?
A day with my stomach.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Are you kidding?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
I'm a I'm a prodigious pooper. My friend, very healthy body,
that prodigious pooper, Wilde, I am.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
I've got a very healthy scholar and prodigious pooper. Okay,
So it's not about it's not about like the animals
or fear of the woods or exposure to the element.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
I don't mind. But hugs, I don't mind. Uh you know,
Oh a bear is gonna get me. I'm not scared
of the woods. I just I like being comfortable and
I like not having to you know, again, there's a
novelty to that stuff. I get, no like I feel
like with you, there's a piece to it and almost
a philosophy to it which is completely and totally lost
(02:59):
on me, the idea that I'm getting in touch with nature.
And yeah, that doesn't do anything for you nothing.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
See. I think that there's something so profound that happens
when you look at an amazing stars, you know, like
sky filled with stars or I've.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
Got telescopes put him right outside, right next to the awe,
in the face of nature.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
That is really important to me. And that and I
feel like is even better when it's slightly earned in
other words, like you get high to it, to it
and and and there's there's something terrifying, genuinely terrifying to
me about the solitude of the woods that, in that terror,
actually makes me feel good, Like I feel like I
(03:43):
am somehow closer to reality or like closer to the
real nature of things. Does that make sense?
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Are you one of those people where it's like the
closer you get to tasting death is really makes you
feel like you're alive.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
Oh, I guess I need to do and a motorcycle.
I don't want that. No, it's more about the like,
you know, the the slight panic that comes from like
being alone in the woods looking around and being like, yeah,
if I ran into a bear, it would it would
just kill me. And it's not it's not because the
world's an evil place. It's because the world is just
a place where things happen, and you are a physical
(04:15):
body in it. That as much as we like to
think of ourselves as important, we're not, And that that
feeling of like not being important is really profound to me,
and I I cherish it even though it scares me right,
Like I want to be important. I want to be
the center of my own movie. And getting into the
woods is a sort of shortcut to that sense of
inconsequence of your own life. And I think that that's
(04:37):
healthy and fun.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
And I like to sit at home knowing how important
I am. That's that's that's what I.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
Like, watching your own TV show, watching You like to
sit at home watching Boy Mets World. You all the time,
and Susan's next to you applauded, You're amazing.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
No.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
As a kid, I did all that stuff by Heights
Mount Washington, and we camped every weekend. I would get
home from school and we all had We were without
the karate or being cool in any way, shape or form.
My couple friends and I in seventh and eighth grade,
we were like Johnny from Karate Kid. We all had
dirt bikes. We built a track in the woods. We
were in the woods every weekend.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
We loved it.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
There's a we found an old band in Chicken Coop
and we spent every weekend and all the weeks we
had off like rebuilding it into this great fort we had.
I mean, I loved the woods and stuff like that.
But then I got to a point where I'm like, Okay,
I don't. I don't need to do that anymore, and
I'm not gonna there's no I find no peace in it.
So there's no active like, oh, this is the best
thing in the world. I get to go and be
(05:39):
in the woods by myself. Like no, I'd rather go
have a nice massage somewhere and get a nice meal
and watch a show and go to sleep in.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
A nice band. And now you have you watched the
one season of Survivor, the very first one, but you
have watched Alone, another Survivor reality. Yeah several times.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
Okay, we've seen a bunch of episodes of Alone, and
now that is way more badass than this, way.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
More bad ass. And yeah, that one is, yeah that
you know, that one is true survivalist skills and they
have to carry their own camera gear. They are truly alone. Yep,
it's hardcore. And you see that that Actually the survival skills,
which are difficult but are manageable. The real thing is
the loneliness, right, Like to watch people start to go
(06:21):
crazy being in the wilderness by themselves after you know,
thirty days or whatever.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
That would be the easiest part for me by far,
do you think so? Really, dude, I was alone in
my house by myself with my anxiety for like seven years.
I didn't see anybody, So being alone, I was able
to completely compartmentalize the difference between See. That's why the
show is called alone and not loneliness, right, because being
alone and being lonely were two very different things.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I love being alone. I almost never get lonely really.
Even now now that's a little different because I have Susan.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Yeah without Susan, like yeah, yeah, twelve year and I
want to be twice.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
Yeah, you're talking about your mid twenties when you were sire. Well,
I I think it would be very different now, because
that's what you say is like on that there was
one season of Alone where this guy was doing great.
He even made like his own the toy wifim out
of here going home, and they're like, dude.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Are you see Like he locked up his fake garage
that he had built and every like going home.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Yeah. The best on that show are the ones that
have either just been through divorce or or they they
need the money so bad. I said, they have something
so important that they were like, and they're doing it
for somebody else that they're just going to do it there.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
I remember that that one season where the guy built
rock rock House, Yes, and he was eating and soon
and I looked at each other and he.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Saved he he killed the.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Muscock and then and then he's eating the stomach and
we looked at each other like, Okay, when you're eating
warm contents of muscogs, no.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
One's gonna beat that guy. He's going to eat his
own leg before he leaves. No one's going to beat
that guy. And he dug a fire pit too, right,
like he dug he dug.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
It's called it was called rock House where the whole
thing was made of stoney, found the cave and then
built everything around it.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
And so I mean, you're not going to beat that dude.
It's just not going to happen.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Whereas Sue always says, I would have tapped out on
the on the boat right over yea where I would
have literally been on the phone and the guy, the
producer's phone would have rung and he would be like,
I'm standing next to you, like, yeah, I'm tapping out,
turn around and tapping out. But it wouldn't be from loneliness.
It would have been probably from boredom more than anything else.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
Well, so survivor. You know, it's having watched most of
the seasons, I have to In are some of our
promotional material for this season. It said on the social
medias that I had seen every season. I actually haven't
watched every season. What what's happened is I started watching
it when my wife was pregnant and we started devouring
every season, and then I watch it with my son
(08:42):
and her. Now the problem is they watch it sometimes
when I'm out of town, so I've missed either half
of a season or I know they that's not allowed.
I know, but well I couldn't, you know, hold them
back from what you know, the season without me and
then I'll jump in. I So it's a little confusing,
and it's been especially confusing coming into this season fifty
because there's a lot of people that I do know
(09:05):
or a scene, but I can't remember what they did
in their season because in part sometimes I didn't finish
the season in or I only came in fifty seasons.
How could anybody remember what everybody did in every single
I know, it's it's a lot.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Do you have a favorite from the season, whether they
wont or not. Do you have a favorite Survivor that
was your favorite the whole time.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Ozzy's just the man, the guy who's in this one. Yes,
he's the best of all time. Is Ozzie's not Coach,
No coaches.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
No. Ozzy is the guy who looks like the drummer
from a Okay, yeah, he looks like the drummer from Total.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
He is by far the best survivalist ever on Survivor.
He like, y oh, yeah, he's I think I told
you about him. He's the guy who like will fish
for everybody. That's yes, dude, did you notice he already
found like that. He provides for everybody. He is and
he's never won. He's been on the show I think
(10:11):
four or five times, and he's the nicest guy. His
problem is he gets too cocky and he thinks that
by being providing for everybody that they won't stab him
in the back, and they always alway.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
He's the one who had a problem with Coach, who
I guess said that it was because of him the
coach didn't win a million dollars.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Coach is my the villain that I love to hate. Coach.
He's a villain. Knowing nothing about this, I thought everybody
coaches first season, So what happened coaches first season? And
some people do love him, but it's mostly because they
have mixed feelings about him because he's a very good player,
but he's also very socially manipulative. There's the season that
really turned me against him, which I believe was his
(10:54):
first season. He was on a tribe with somebody. I'm
blanking on this guy's name, but this guy was not
very stable mentally and very religious, and Coach made a
partnership with this guy and like four other people and
said we're gonna go all the way to the end.
(11:14):
Like day one, he was like, the best, the only
way to win this game is if we never break alliances.
And then this guy was really off his rocker and
like targeting women because they were enticing him, you know,
like saying like that woman is a is sent here
from Satan and because she's dressing and you're like, dude,
you're just attracted to her. Let it go. It's not
(11:35):
her fault. And Coach didn't draw the line and say like, oh,
this guy is probably He instead leaned into it, used
religiosity to keep them tighter and said, let's all pray
before every challenge. Is and I find that really despicable.
And he agreed. He made it to the end. He
made it to the end. He did not win. The
jury did not get him. It was a woman who
(11:55):
also just sort of attached herself to him, knowing that
he might get to the end, and she was smart
and you want but that's always turned me against coach.
He's he's manipulative and he I think he crossed the
line there, you know, going too far into like using
religion to rally this team of people on his side.
They did very well though, they want and he and
by sticking with that group of five, because it is
(12:15):
true if you have a group of five and you never,
no matter what, turn on each other, you can make
it all the way to the end pretty much, especially
back in those days. Now it's gotten more complicated because
of the rules that they've introduced with advantages.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
Well, this is what I want to talk to you about,
because there's there's basic things that I as somebody who
didn't watch your vivor that I don't know. And since
I watched the first season, all I remember is naked guy.
That's all I remember. And I actually remember the girl
from this one, Jenna I think her name was I
remember that. So first of all, what is you're talking
about new rules? So what is the new era?
Speaker 1 (12:49):
I actually don't know that distinctions technically. I believe there
was a it was it was a shift in the
way the game. I don't know technically, but yeah, So
I honestly I had this same question. I was sort
of like, okay, one of our parisiers could jump in
the thought. But I believe it has something to do.
I believe the problem with Survivor when it started was
(13:12):
that the men would dominate the entire first half of
the game because they were The challenges were so physical, right,
and the men would end up winning, and so women
were getting eliminated like just you know, even the first
couple rounds and challenges. And so I believe at some
point they decided to institute more puzzles and to make
(13:34):
the social learn more. Yeah, so it wasn't just and
then because at a certain point, you know, if your
tribe is losing, you just decimated. There's like one person left.
And what was ended up happening is people would never
want to vote their big powerful men off, so they
would they would just keep winning with their men and
vote the women off. So I believe the new era
(13:55):
has something to do with that shift, because the game
is way more balanced now in terms of like the
teamwork involves like a puzzle always or some sort of
like throwing challenge that doesn't need brute strength or physical ability.
It's much more balanced. And then also this, you know,
when it gets to the individual challenges, a lot of
the challenges are physically tough, but they're often about perseverance
(14:19):
in your own strength, like with your own body. In
other words, you're like beholding on holding onto something just
by your fingertips, and it's like it's your own weight,
do you know what I mean. So it's not like
it's like it's vary to the person. It's not like
we all have to lift the same amount or whatever.
It's like it's all scale to you. So it's really
about challenging to yourself. So yeah, I believe that has
(14:40):
something to do with a new era or the old era.
So here's the thing that I find I think is
a big mistake.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
You should never start a new season of a show
assuming everybody that watches the show has seen it before. Yeah,
so one thing this did not explain to me in
any way, shape or form, which I have no idea,
is what the does an idol do?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
Okay, So an idol protects you at tribal So if
you can't be voted out and voted out, but you
only play it after everyone's voted, so essentially they're wasting
their vote. And so if you feel like everybody's going
to vote for you and they don't know you have
an idol, or only certain people on your team, on
your tribe know you have an idol, you could then
bust the after the vote, you say hey, I'm playing
(15:19):
this idol, and then the person who gets the next
level of votes is the one out. So it can
be a real turnover. So they have to they have
to always be suspicious that somebody is playing the game
with an idol in their pocket. And that's why like
Ozzie got voted with, he got voted out with an
idol in his pocket because he didn't he didn't play it,
which happens often people will just be so trusting of
their team. The team might know they have an idol,
(15:41):
convince them, oh no, we're not voting for you tonight,
blindside that person, and then they walk out with the
idol in their pocket, so you can be voted out.
Even if you have an idol, you have to just
for you ever, yes, you have to play it at
after the vote is but before it's before they replay it, yes,
before they read it. And then you have things like
multiple idols, like people will play I'm playing an idol
(16:02):
and you're like okay, and then the other person who's
like the next in the line will be like, I'm
also playing an idol. You're like, oh my god, and
it'll go down. They've had like tons of weird things
like that. The main thing with idols is that if
it's if it's played, or if it leaves the game
because it's in their pocket, it gets hidden again on
the island.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
And are these always hidden or are there are? Do
you ever win one? When you win?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
It's changed every season you got you don't. Yeah, you
win when you're Yeah, you win immunity through the challenges,
either as a tribe or when they get to the
individual game, you individually win immunity. But yeah, the idols
are and there have been seasons with no idols, and
then there have been seasons where you get clues that
can lead you to an idol, and then you have
weird rules like this time they have that boomerang idol
that got introduced. Yeah, the game is you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Oh my god, I just realized if you take your
middle name out, it's literally a billy idol. How did
nobody else pick that up that it's.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
A billy idol? I got it. Yeah, it's a complicated game,
and yeah, it's pretty manipulative in terms of like how
the rules change season to season. You know, they're they're
they're ultimately going to go for the best television and
there have been times when you're you can tell that
they're kind of tilting the challenges to sort of favor
a certain person or to give certain But yeah, it's
(17:22):
it's a it's a tricky game. The main thing is,
you know, the three the three rules, outwit, outlast, and outplay.
So those are the three things you really you you
know you that you you want to outwit your fellow players,
you know, because you're gonna have to eventually be voting
against each other, even if they're on your tribe or
working against another tribe. In the in the early half
(17:43):
of the game, let's see outlast obviously, just surviving and severe.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
One of the Outwit Outlast out play is that it.
Speaker 3 (17:50):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 1 (18:04):
What's been interesting for me is, like going back to
the early seasons, there was a lot of emphasis put
on the actual survival factor, like how they got food, right,
if that's what I remember, building fires, stuff like that.
That has really for the large part been edited out.
Now the game is now, I mean, I think people's
psychological stuff. It's all the social stuff because they are
(18:27):
still doing all the physical stuff. I mean, you see
in this one they figure out how to make a fire,
which was great, and you're still having to build shelters.
You see them working hard. They're just not focusing on
that in the editing at all anymore. So it's really
just about who's partnering with who, who's going with who,
And then the challenge is becoming the sort of showdown
and the immunity the tribals to be like the reveal
(18:48):
of what's actually going to happen, So you don't get
like there would be whole seasons where you'd just be
listening to people complaining about how hungry they were or
that they were cold, and you don't get that much anymore.
And I don't know how much of that is because
it's not as hard as it used to be because
they did like one season in Africa which was truly devastating,
like people were like near death because they were starving
(19:10):
and the key was doing to death. And they used
to do a lot of seasons where they would do
in like a culturally specific area, so you'd have like
the Philippines and you'd learn about Filipino culture, they'd eat,
you know, or whatever. They kind of now just limited
it to Fiji for the last like ten years, just
like it's kind of a standard set of circumstances, like
(19:32):
there are fish, there are coconuts, you get a certain
amount of rice, and you can get flint if you
work for it, so you can start a fire.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
And that was the other thing is I didn't again
because I didn't know. When they're like one team wins flint,
I was like, Okay, does that mean the other teams
can't just build a fire if they want to they
just And I didn't know if that meant it's like
one one tribe gets fire, the other two you can't
have fire, right, But that's not what it means.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
But it means you can you can you could make
a if you knew how to make a fire, right.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
But you figure everybody going on something called Survivor would
know how to make a fire.
Speaker 1 (20:05):
Dude, you are will every season, not every season, Almost
every season there comes down to a challenge between two
people where they have to build a fire after because
they like split the votes or there's no other way
to determine, so they have to build a fire at
the tribal council and I shit, you not have The
people that get there do not know how to build
(20:25):
a fire with flint. At the end of the d
Alex and I are talking about this all the time.
We're always like, how toy, It's like not knowing how
to swim. It's dude, you have to figure this out,
like get you know? So, yes, I agree with you.
Like the first thing I would do is figure out
how to make fire under any conditions, but especially the
Fijian conditions, right, like knowing what my resources are called,
(20:48):
how to make a fire and fee exactly exactly, And
then I'd learn what I can eat and what I
can hunt and what kind of fish I could eat.
And then I would also starve myself leading up to
going because you watch these people and there's they lose
so much weight, and also their bodies are so used
to regular calorie intake. You see like big guys crash
because they have such requirements their bodies require, so which
(21:10):
is why weird. That's the opposite of a loan.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Everyone on a loan they put on as much weight
as they possibly can before they go into a loan.
So you see these women that are like, I just
put on sixty pounds before I.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
Go because they just know they're going to lose it.
Speaker 2 (21:22):
They know that they're going to lose all the body fat,
so they're like fat is fuel on a loan, so
they're like put on as much weight as you can.
It said, it seems almost like a bit of a
vanity project on Survivor, where it's like I need to
look good with my shirt off.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Mike White worked really hard to make sure he abody
for this moment for months, like yeah, with your fifteen
personal trainers.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
But at the same time, it's like, I think I'd
rather go in thirty pounds overweight and carry a whole
bunch of that.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
No, I don't, because there's because they're so physically stretched,
like the challenges you want to be in really good,
like lean fighting shape and also not be hungry, you know,
So like to me, I would I would be like
restriction going like the month before. I'd go to like
a really low calorie diet because what that does is
it trains your body to be more efficient with less
(22:08):
food because you're only getting so much rice, You're only
getting so much stuff. So yeah, be used to it.
Here we goes. Maddie just said the player that won
last season since she was fasting for months before going
to the show, so we're a body.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Yeah, that's exactly what I would do, which is totally
the opposite of a loan.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Everybody and alone is like we're just sitting around and
in cold weather and trying to survive that. It's different.
This is like, yeah, this one you just want to
be because you're working hard. I mean those challenges you
see them insane. It's really tough, man Like, it's not light,
you know, and you're doing that.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Okay. My last question is a basic one. Are these
people hot or are they cold? Because when you've got
somebody just in shorts with no T shirt next to
a woman with a parka and a sweater, what the
is happening. Are they hot or are they cold because.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Weather extremes man without shelter, and I think at night,
like when you saw them on Exile Island, they were
all bundled up in whatever they could have because I
think they're talking at the same time.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
You've got a woman there literally in like a trench
coat and a turtleneck next to a guy with shorts on.
I'm like, temperature wise, help me out what's happening on?
Speaker 1 (23:18):
Yeah, I think it's tropical, which is just very you know,
and it's like whether you've been in the water or not,
or like right, yes, without shelter, Man, it's intense. Like
that was confusing.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I know.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Well, I mean I think the game has gotten a
lot better since, and maybe that's what the new era
is is locking it in in Fiji and sort of
controlling those conditions because like they did an Australian Outback one,
which was brutal, Like you get into situations where like
the survival question overtakes the gameplay because it's like we're
literally starving and you know, or our shelter gets blown
(23:49):
away by a hurricane wind, you know, like that shit
like that has happened, so I think now they've they
figured out the beaches, Like now they're repeating using They're
using the same beaches that you can reckon from season
to season.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
It's interesting that's their set. Yeah, I mean it's basically
become a set. Yeah, they figured out what they can control.
There has to be a point where you've done enough
seasons there where you've depleted the natural, right, like the
coconuts aren't going to be as plentiful, and the trees
that you can use to make shelter aren't going to
be as plentiful, and eventually they're gonna have to move it, right,
I know, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
How they rotated or how they figured it out. Would
you go on? Yeah, I think this is the one
reality show that I would But again, like Traders, I
would probably be bad at it the same way that
like Ozzie's bad at it, Like, I mean, I'd be
way worse than him physically number one. But number two,
I'm just too trusting. I'm just too like I would
be like I would want to play with honor and integrity,
(24:41):
but you said you can't do that. Yeah, but it's hard, man,
you know, like you eventually somebody is gonna have to say,
let's take advantage of you know, right, honor and like
his word.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Which but you would also have to you would have
if you wanted to play honorably, you would have to
go in in ripping shape because what you would essentially
be saying is I'm going to play honorably, but I
have to win every challenge that I can possibly win
so we're not voted off.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Yes, And I mean I think I would do exactly
what Ozzie is doing, which is partner up with the
Machiavelli and genius like SII and just be like, hey,
you're gonna you're gonna help tell me who to vote
for and help me and watch my back and be
the strategic mind for me. Well, I'm just like here
to help and like support and provide like and I
could never be that provider, but I hopefully I would
(25:27):
offer other help, you know, in terms of like moral
support or leadership skills or whatever. But I yeah, I
would not be I'm not a good liar. I'm not
a no you're not and I'm really uncomfortable with you know,
and I just would ultimately be like, Nope, just take
me out, vote me out.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
If I you know, have to Well, here's the last
thing I'll say before we get into this. And you
told me about this, you said this several times, but
it wasn't until I really watched.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
Jeff Probst is a phenomenal host. He's the man, dude,
phenomenal part. At times he's doing sports commentary.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
At times he says all of their names, it's he's
it's great.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
And I assumed that he had an ear piece on,
you know, that his producers were helping him. Turns out
Emily Longoretta, who's writing our Podny's World book and she's
a journalist and she went and covered Survivor this season.
He does no earpiece. He is fully on his own.
That man is like, because I look at like amazing
race and Phil what's his name?
Speaker 3 (26:23):
Who has that?
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Oh, I'm like, dude, your job is like you got
the coucius job in the world because he just like
literally gets a fly around the country or the world
and meet people in beautiful places and be like you
made it, you didn't. Like, that's all he has to do,
whereas like Jeff Probes is actually engaging them and and
monitoring and and like over refereeing and overseas a referee.
He's doing sports. A trial judge. He's like a trial judge, dude.
(26:49):
He is great an entertaining host, yes man, and like, yeah,
I just think.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
He's empathetic, dude. He keeps everybody on track. Halfway through
the show, was like, my god, this man is a
good host. Yes.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
And when Indy like became a fan of Jeff Probes,
you know, when he was a little little like five
year old six years watching him, like it's a good
person to look up to.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
Dude.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Yeah, Like he's the guy is a really good it's
it's like one of the few like reality show hosts
that I'm like, he deserves every cent that he goes
because that's not easy.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
He's entertaining, he's yeah, I mean he's it's really.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
And everybody feels like it's on their side, like it
doesn't matter how they behave like for the most like
every single person that's part of the game. They never
turn on him. They never are like, Jeff, you really
messed this up? Or Jeff, how dare you talk to
me like that? They he's always very upfront, he's personable. Yeah,
he's the best. Was great. Yeah, all right, So We're
gonna pause here before we get into the actual recap
(27:46):
of the episode, because it turns out we've had a
lot of survivor back history to cover and discuss. You've
been listening to pod meets Twirled. The torches may be snuffed,
but our questionable analysis burns on. We'll see you next time.
A Tribals wa
Popular Podcasts
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com