Pod Meets Twirl'd: Survivor 5003 with Sophi Balerdi

With Will out this week, a new castaway is stepping in to give Rider a firsthand look at what really goes down on Survivor, as Season 49 fan-favorite Sophi Balerdi breaks down Episode 3 of the already iconic Season 50.

While they analyze the strategies of the tribe swap, Sophi pulls back the palm fronds to clear up some long standing Survivor misconceptions. How much can you bring with you to the island? Do you ever have a mirror to get camera ready? And just how cool is Jeff Probst??

Plus, Sophi reveals the true enemy of every Survivor castaway - and no, it’s not another player. It’s rough, irritating, and somehow gets everywhere.

It's time to call in a "real" expert for a very special Pod Meets Twirl’d: Seeking Immunity!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to Pod Meets Tworld, a podcast that once chronicled
two guys who had never seen Dancing with the Stars,
but watched a season and walked away experts. From there
we ventured to Traders, and now we turn to Survivor
season fifty the Big One. Join us as we dive
into alliances, blindsides, fire making, sand related misery, and twenty
five years of television history culminating in a single massive season.

(00:31):
This is Pod meets Tworld, seeking immunity. I am right
or Strong, and today my usual partner, wilfred Ell, is
out and I am joined instead by someone who actually
knows the game of Survivor, and not just from watching it,
but from living it.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
That's right.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Today I'm with an honest to goodness survivor. Please Welcome
to Pod meets Tworld. A finalist from season forty nine.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Sophie Blurdie.

Speaker 3 (00:56):
What's up? Everyone? So happy to be here? This is
so oh cool.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
I am so this is amazing. Yeah, because Will couldn't
couldn't do it this episode and we were like, well,
who are we gonna get And like two weeks ago,
like after our first episode, you messaged me on Instagram
and I was, so this was like the coolest thing ever. Yeah,
So did you watch Boy Meets World? Did you listen
to our show?

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Or of course I did. I did both. I grew
up watching it. This is a dream come true.

Speaker 1 (01:23):
You're so young though you're old, like twenty eight.

Speaker 4 (01:25):
How did you Well, I'll be honest with you, it
was a little bit ahead of my time. I did
watch the Girl Meets World version more because it was
on when I was watching Disney Channel. But I still
watched your show and I grew up with you guys basically,
and I.

Speaker 3 (01:37):
Do listen to your podcast.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
And so when I saw that you did you know
you're covering season fifty, I was like, oh my god.
I sent a DM to writer. I was like, hey,
if you ever need someone, and here I am. You know,
sometimes they work if you shoot your shot. Yeah, but
I did have to say you didn't watch season forty nine.

Speaker 3 (01:55):
But Riz God, the Riz God on season fifty is
a huge fan of you guys.

Speaker 4 (01:59):
And he kill me if I didn't tell you. So
if you ever need someone in the future, reach out
toz Gott.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah. Well he's on the season right now.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
So yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
So my my problem with the Survivor. My biggest challenge
is that my family decides to watch seasons without me.
So my son and my wife will get like, you know,
six episodes into a season, and then I'll be out
of town and I'll come back and I'll only watch
like one. So I saw the snake bite incident of
season forty nine. That's it. I didn't know who anybody was.

(02:29):
I just jumped into that one episode. So tell me
about your experience. I have so many questions I want
to hear. Let's start this way like rather than because
I feel like you can fill me in on the
actual details of what happened forty nine, especially as the
relevant to season fifty. But I'm just curious what were
your expectations about like being on Survivor, and then how

(02:51):
were those expectations like met or subverted or exceeded, Like
what was the reality of being on the show, like
versus you wanting to be on the show?

Speaker 3 (03:01):
So, I mean, watching it you have.

Speaker 4 (03:03):
It's weird because not everybody has this dream to starve
on an island and suffer and go through the motions.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
But being a super fan of the show, you do.

Speaker 4 (03:10):
Have that dream, and you always wonder like, how would
I do if I'm.

Speaker 3 (03:13):
In their shoes?

Speaker 4 (03:14):
What would I do if I'm in that position? And
obviously when you watch the show, you see all the
cool stuff. You see them doing these challenges being at
tribal counsel with Jeff Probes, and you learn very quickly
when you're out there it's a lot harder than it
looks it is. You're never in that situation where you're
actually starving on an island, Like I was on the
losing tribe on my season and I didn't eat anything

(03:35):
for eleven days because I hate coconuts.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
I can't eat it, so it was bad.

Speaker 4 (03:41):
You don't sleep, Like there's so many things that you
don't even see that are so hard that I'm like,
why why do we go through it if they're not
even going to show it. But yeah, it's so much
harder than it looks. But you still have that like
feeling as a fan while you're out there, like I
want to win this game, So that's kind of in
your mind the entire time while you're out there. Your
eyes on the prize and you want to win. So

(04:02):
that kind of kept me through the entire game while
I was out there.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Okay, hold on. Like literally didn't eat anything for eleven days, dude,
nothing like not even rice, not Like they don't have
no So that's.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
The thing with the New Era.

Speaker 4 (04:14):
They usually have rice, and they don't have rice anymore
because it's shorter, so they try to make it harder
and it is like you have no rice, and like
people would stomach the coconut but I couldn't, so my
tribe would lose.

Speaker 3 (04:26):
So we didn't have fire to cook fish or anything.

Speaker 4 (04:28):
So I literally didn't eat anything until I finally want
to reward on day twelve in a grilled cheese sandwich.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
I had a grilled cheese sandwich after eleven days is starving.

Speaker 4 (04:37):
So it was crazy, but it's real, Like I it's
a real It's the real deal, which is kind of
cool to know. I feel like watching it as a
new fan or something, you might be like, there's no
way they're starving, but we are.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
Well yeah, that's what I mean.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
That's what was Because Will hasn't seen the show, and
as I was trying to explain to him, I was like,
in the earlier seasons, they spend a lot more time
on their survivalist aspect, like watching people and I feel
like that's just gotten edited out. Now it's like so
much gameplay and strategy, So it's good to hear like
that it's actually there is some real survival of stuff
going on.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
I wish there wasn't, but I mean you see it
in the weight loss, like as the season goes like
it's legit.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
Right, all right, So I want to know, this is
kind of a weird question, but like I've actually I've
never been on a reality show. I've known lots of
people who work in you know, the reality on like
the story producing side or the editing side. So I'm
very curious, like how do those how do those confessionals
or I don't know what you call them when they

(05:34):
take you off by yourself, are you working with Like
do you have like your own producer that's like on
you or do you just know like who's talking to you,
who's doing those interviews? And like is it one person
per tribe? Like how does that work?

Speaker 4 (05:47):
So kind of you kind of have your own person,
but I think it is like one person per tribe.
There's like three i'd say, three producers per tribe and
they switch off because like for my season, at the beginning,
I had like the same guy Ryan for like two
weeks or like a week, and then I merged or whatever,
I swapped and then there was another person. So you
get to know a bunch of different people. But they

(06:09):
do a good job of earning your trust so that
you tell them what they want to hear and you
can bide in them about things. But yeah, and then
you have about like four interviews a day, so it's
everybody goes off at some point to talk to see
these people and like narrate the season essentially, right, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
And are they just asking you like leading questions, like
so tell us what would happened today and make it
a complete sentence where you, you know, say it like
you're saying it spontaneously or yeah.

Speaker 4 (06:37):
Honestly, I feel like they look for this in casting,
Like if you're someone who when you ask a person
a question, are you just gonna be like yes or no?
Are you gonna ramble on for an hour? Like I'm
the kind of person that will ramble on. I've learned
to like cut myself down because they'll stop you, but
they'll just be like, okay, so how are you feeling today?
And then you'll just stock your crap and whatever, and
you'll go off and they'll be like, so, how are

(06:58):
you feeling about this person? You'll just talk about that,
but they don't really ask leading questions. They're very good
about that, Like nobody interfered with the game at all.
Sometimes I actually wish that they did, because I messed
up at some point in the game of my season
and like I'm like, I wish someone would have tipped
me off.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
But no, they do it.

Speaker 4 (07:14):
It's it's pretty they they honored the integrity of the game,
which I.

Speaker 3 (07:18):
Like, Wow, that's cool.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
So when when you're a super fan, you said, Dan,
so did you go in with a plan, with a strategy,
with an approach?

Speaker 4 (07:29):
Yeah, honestly I did because I'm not very strong, Like
I'm five to two, I weigh one hundred pounds. Like
I didn't think I was gonna be anybody's you know,
meat shield or anything like that when I got there,
So I knew that I had to, like I had
to use the the hey, I'm loyal approach, Like.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
I value that over.

Speaker 4 (07:50):
Strength because I know at the beginning of the of
the season, like people are like, we need to keep
the tribe strong. But I think in the long game,
you want someone you can trust. So I just used that,
uh to average like my spot in the in the
tribe and with people, and and that's what kept me
in the game. Like I was on the Disaster Tribe,
I lost every single challenge before the merge, and I
got second place. I almost won, so I didn't do terribly.

(08:13):
So you don't need to be that strong to win Survivor.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
That's that's that's like something I learned.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
How were the challenges for you? Were they just miserable
or was it actually kind of exciting?

Speaker 4 (08:22):
Honestly, while you're out there, there's so much downtime. You're
probably strategizing like maybe the two hours of the day
and there's twenty four and then the challenges are an
hour of your day. So I look forward to the challenges.
I'm like, yes, something to do where you're not like
sitting around and like thinking about how hungry you are.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
So I love the challenges.

Speaker 4 (08:40):
They're so fun and there's no other time you're gonna
be able to do that unless you're on Survivor, so
it's so cool to do.

Speaker 1 (08:49):
So, how how do you feel about the way that
you your season was presented? Like the way it ended
up do you feel like it was accurate? That did
it feel like you did it feel like you were
well represented and your experience was pretty much what you
what you saw.

Speaker 4 (09:04):
I think the Survivor producers do such a good job
at honoring how things actually went, Like there's obviously a
lot that's left out.

Speaker 3 (09:12):
You know, sometimes I did things.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
Where I'm like, I wish they would have given me
more credit for that move whatever, but it makes everything
made sense for the for the sake of storytelling to
get to how the winner won, and that's essentially what
it is. It's like, how did the person who won
get to that spot of winning their game? And everybody's
kind of like a chess piece in the process, and
everything made sense to how things went. It was honestly

(09:35):
very accurate. So that's what I love about Survivor, Like
everything is so true to to the experience and that's yeah,
it was awesome. I loved it for that reason, Like
they really they do such a good job of editing
and all that.

Speaker 1 (09:48):
That's good to hear. That's really good to hear because like,
you know, I think that there's there's a pretty cynical
side of me that's like, you know, just assumes that
everything is so manipulated and like, right, and I definitely
feel like you know, Will and I talk a lot
about how our impression of reality TV in general, like
as a genre, it's so forged in like the early
aughts version of it, you know, because that was like

(10:08):
when it was a new thing, and and it was
it seems like it was very manipulative back then. But
there's something I've always liked about Survivors that even though
it is the psychological stress test and it seems in
physical stress test, right, it seems like it's in the
spirit of a gameplay, you know, it seems like and
so it's good to hear that you had an overall
positive experience with the show itself. For sure, you came

(10:30):
basically you were in the final three. Yeah, so, but
you seem pretty positive about your experience. So how do
I mean, how do you you look back and like it?
Does it just are you still pissed that you didn't win?
Do you feel like you should have won?

Speaker 4 (10:43):
So here's the thing about my season, Like my best
friend ended up winning the game, like she was my
closest ally in the game. We me Rizzo and Savannah,
who was voted out last week on Season fifty pretty
much ran our season and US three were on the
bottom at one point, and we kind of bulldozed our
way all the way to the final four, and we

(11:04):
got Rizzo got fourth, sav got first, and I got second.
So I couldn't be that mad that one of us won,
because that was what we wanted, Like we got together
and hoped for that. So I came close, and obviously
coming close to winning Survivor, like it, you think about
every day what you could have done differently to have

(11:24):
the result be different. But my situation is different because
I'm also happy for my friend and also, like you
go to Survivor, yes, to win the million dollars, but
you also want the whole experience. And I got that,
Like I played an entire game of Survivor, I went
to the final three.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
I was in Fiji for twenty.

Speaker 4 (11:41):
Six days like and that, honestly, in some ways is
pretty priceless.

Speaker 3 (11:45):
So I tried to look at it.

Speaker 4 (11:46):
I tried to look at the silver lining in the
fact that I lost and I got second best, so
I can't I can't complain truly.

Speaker 1 (11:53):
Wow, Yeah, okay, And so what exactly happened the three
of you got you won the Final Immunity Challenge.

Speaker 4 (11:59):
Yeah, the Final Immunity Challenge, And because I worked so
closely with them, I was like, I don't really want
to sit next to both of them at the Final
three because our stories are kind of similar. So I
actually ended up backstabbing them and putting them in fire
against each other at Final four, and I ended up
sitting next to Savannah and then another girl that was
on my season, so it was us three, and then

(12:22):
Savannah ended up taking the taking the win on me,
And part of that was because Rizzo was, I think
a little upset with me that I put them in fire,
and so he went to the jury and talked up Savannah,
which can happen, Like that's part of the process, Like
it's managing the jury when you vote them out, Like
that's kind of the beauty of Survivor, Like you're working
with these people, you're voting them out, and then you're

(12:43):
also hoping for them to vote you to win at
the end. It's it's such a tricky thing to navigate,
but I.

Speaker 3 (12:49):
Did my best. Y.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
Yeah, I mean it's yeah, So what is the most
like surprising thing like for somebody who you know on
the outside. I'm just wondering what this experience is, Like,
what is the most surprising thing for you?

Speaker 4 (13:03):
Like, h, how cool Jeff Probes actually is in real life?

Speaker 3 (13:08):
Like he because I grew up watching this as a kid.

Speaker 4 (13:12):
It's kind of like a family show, right, But then
you see him say the F word for the first time,
just like casually, he'll.

Speaker 3 (13:18):
Be like you know, and I'm like, wait, this is
just a regular guy.

Speaker 4 (13:21):
And he's so sweet, he's so personable, he's so good
at what he does, and you never like really escape
the fact that you're like, there's there's such a magic
about playing Survivor when you're actually there that that doesn't
go away, like when you're at tribal councilor you really
feel like you're in your TV and it's so weird.
Every day you're like what am I doing here? And

(13:42):
so yeah, it's just even though you're going through it
and you're suffering, it truly is like a magical experience.
And if you're a super fan and you're thinking about applying,
you should definitely do it.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
So Rizzo and Savannah got invited back for season fifty.
Do you why do you think those two.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
So I mean, if you watch the season back, you
will not be surprised why they were. If I had
to like categorize us as a trio, I would say
they were villains.

Speaker 3 (14:10):
And I was like this underdog.

Speaker 4 (14:11):
Hero like I was somebody who I went through it
from the beginning of the season and like they were
always just like the way that they played was just
so bold and in your face and very entertaining. And
I wish we'd got to see sav a little more
on season fifty because you would have seen that very quickly.
But she was such a badass player like she was
she won four immunities by herself.

Speaker 1 (14:32):
My god, yeah, when she was already doing pretty damn well,
Like when she went on the journey by herself, I
was like, Oh, she's already playing exac better than these
like players who have played multiple seasons.

Speaker 4 (14:43):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (14:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
And it Rizzo is just like such a fun character,
but he's also happens to be really good at Survivor, Like.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yes, he keeps winning everybody over. It's so funny. It's
like he keeps being kind of underestimated and then like
but then I'm watching him, like even during the challenge
in this episode, I was like, oh my god, like
he's essential, Like he's doing the puzzle quicker and better
than anybody. And it's like it's so interesting because I
think he's because he's younger and he has the sort
of like goofy vibe. People don't take him as serious,

(15:10):
but he's like a real.

Speaker 4 (15:11):
Player works out in a game like Survivor, like you
kind of want to be underestimated so that they're.

Speaker 3 (15:17):
Looking at everybody else.

Speaker 4 (15:18):
And in a season like season fifty, if people aren't
taking you as serious, but then Sire's right there, or
Savannah who just won a season is right there, they're
not going to vote you out. So he does have
an advantage going in and just being the way that
he is, like this goofy guy.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
Do you think Savannah made a mistake by telling everybody
she had won?

Speaker 3 (15:36):
So I do have some tea about that.

Speaker 4 (15:38):
So basically before they went on season fifty, we were
trying to think of, like what can they say to
these people to give them a leg up, like because
a lot of these people know each other going in,
but when they filmed season fifty, nobody on season fifteen
had seen season forty nine, so they are these unknown
commodities playing this game, and that's scary, like people are
gonna make up their own assumptions of as to why here.

(16:00):
So there was a lot of like pregaming going on
before season fifty where they all would talk or people
would talk just because they knew each other, Like how
do you prevent that one? There's like decade long friendships
on a season like this, and so people knew that
she won before going on season fifty. Oh okay, she
had to kind of address that, and I feel like
it was good that she got ahead of it instead
of hiding it, because then they would have been like, oh,

(16:22):
she won and we can't trust her, so.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Right, right? Well, so how do you feel about I mean,
I know Savannah's gone, but how do you feel about
Rizzo's gameplay so far?

Speaker 4 (16:30):
So it's funny because the way that I have faith
in him, I played with him. I know he's really
good and he can work around people like this as.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
Long as this tribe keeps winning, I think he's okay.

Speaker 4 (16:41):
But I mean, what we saw last night, and I
don't know if we'll get to it, but it is
a little a little scary where Charlie's head is at
do you remember that conversation.

Speaker 2 (16:50):
Yes, it's about you. I couldn't believe it.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
I was like, oh my god, like, this is a
perfect episode to recap with you because you're mentioned in
the episode and you figure prominently in Charlie's like thinking, which.

Speaker 4 (17:01):
Is I know, I got a whole government name drop
by the riz God. I didn't expect that at all,
But I was if I'm not going to be a
part of season fifty at least, like I am in
some way haunting the narrative and now with Charlie coming
for Rizzo just because I'm his best friend.

Speaker 3 (17:15):
But I don't know. Did you you didn't watch season
forty six?

Speaker 1 (17:18):
I did watch Season forty six, Yeah, which I love.
That was like one of my favorite seasons in a
long time.

Speaker 3 (17:23):
It was so good, good right, good characters.

Speaker 2 (17:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
No, I liked you know that. I like the seasons
where I kind of like everybody, do you know what
I mean? And like that season, you know when they
did their like what was the Taylor Swift ac DC
song off for? What were they doing or kiss songs for?
I don't know whatever, it was one of the I
was like, I love these Like that whole crew was
just so fun but yeah, no, uh yeah, So I

(17:46):
went in, like, Charlie's one of those people I really like.
I like the way he plays, I like the way
he thinks. But it was interesting to see him sort
of turn on Rizzo in that moment because of his
his own baggage.

Speaker 4 (17:57):
And it's funny because rizzon sav went into season fifty
again trying to distance themselves from each other because they
didn't want people to look at them as this duo,
and so in that moment, I know what Rizzo was
trying to do. He was trying to continue to like
separate him with Savannah, but he took to further his game.
But he kind of did the opposite because now he
triggered Charlie, who has this baggage of like Maria turning

(18:20):
on him from season forty six and assuming he's going
to do the same to him, but he doesn't know
the context that, like Savannah was also very close to
Rizzo on our.

Speaker 3 (18:28):
Season, he's just trying to hide that.

Speaker 4 (18:30):
But it was funny to watch that, like Rizzo say
he was my best friend and whatever, and then Charlie it.

Speaker 3 (18:35):
Was like this whole flashback. I love the editing and that.

Speaker 1 (18:38):
Omo, but then what he said last night, it was
like back to last night. No, it was super interesting,
and I the layers. I also feel like this season
they are being so hard on the players, like, yeah,
the fact that they've already done this tribe swap, the
fact that they didn't get supplies like all the fans.
The decisions the fans have made really made.

Speaker 3 (19:00):
Get brutal right, like to see the suffering. It's kind
of annoying.

Speaker 4 (19:05):
As a player, it sucks, but as a fan it
is fun to watch a little bit.

Speaker 3 (19:09):
And I don't know, what do you think about the tribeswaps?
Do you like? Do you like that they did the swap?

Speaker 1 (19:13):
I mean yes, because what I the thing that I
haven't liked is exactly what happened in your season. It
sounds like, which is like when one team just keeps losing,
or one tribe just keeps losing in that snowball effect,
it really like, you know, it just keeps happening because
it's like they're more demoralized, they're not getting food, they're
not you know, all the things. It's like, why don't
we distribute some of this the bad stuff and some

(19:36):
of the risks, So like if you go to tribal,
maybe you do get flint and maybe you know, like
the fact that you that if you're losing, you just
keep losing. If you're winning, you just keep winning. Like
that can get really boring for me, as you know,
and I also just start it. So so I guess
I like the tribe swap in this week's because it's
kind of preventing that from happening, you know, with the
exception of like Ozzie, who's been to every tribal, you know,

(19:58):
it seems like it's shaking things up up and sort
of forcing people to up their social game, which I
think is good. You know. Like, so this move I like.
But when they started off the season and it was
that you know, oh, you're not going to get supplies
unless you earn it, I was like, Oh, no, we're
going to be just watching somebody really struggle. But that
actually hasn't been the case, I don't think.

Speaker 3 (20:19):
So.

Speaker 4 (20:20):
Yeah, it's like a hard reset and it's good for
some people, bad for others. I feel like, if you're
in a bad position in your tribe, it's great because
now you have opportunities to connect.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
With new people.

Speaker 4 (20:29):
But if you're in a good position, kind of like
Q was. He had this alliance and even though he
didn't have a vote, I think he would have been
fine had he gone to tribal council. But now he's
on this new tribe where he doesn't have those people.

Speaker 3 (20:41):
He only had Steph.

Speaker 4 (20:42):
Backing him up, and and he was a casualty of that.

Speaker 3 (20:45):
So it's good and bad. It's fun for us to
watch though totally. Well that's yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
And all right, so let's talk about it. Yeah, episode
opens with Cela tribe and this whole hiding the fake
idol thing you make of this? I don't understand, like,
what is the point? What is the goal? And they
never talk about it again for the rest of the episode.
So I'm like, do you have any like strategic mind
understanding of what's going on?

Speaker 4 (21:10):
I don't, So okay, I do because I have you
watched Rick Devons original season?

Speaker 3 (21:16):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (21:16):
Yes, okay?

Speaker 4 (21:16):
Well, Rick Devons is known to be very cold with
his idol plays, and I'm not gonna lie.

Speaker 3 (21:22):
He hasn't been on TV for a while.

Speaker 4 (21:23):
I feel like he's been thinking about doing this for
the last couple of years. He's until you return, he
was going to do this but I think it's really
creative because the way that Rick plays is very bold,
where he he always ends up being a target. And
if he's a target and he's going to be the
one to go at a tribal council, he really can
use that that tool that he now has in his toolbox.
So just pull this thing out at tribal council and

(21:44):
be like, ooh, sorry, guys, you can't.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
Boot me out, Like I have an idol now.

Speaker 4 (21:48):
And if there's any season where there's going to be
an idol hidden at tribal council, it is going to
be season fifty's.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
So he's made He's put it a fake idol there, right, Yeah,
so what's the plan. He's hoping somebody finds it and
thinks they have an eye when they don't.

Speaker 3 (22:01):
I think he hopes that he can take it from
pull it.

Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, he can pull it and be like look what
I had.

Speaker 3 (22:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (22:08):
And so if they if the plan is to vote
Rick out, then they're probably going to change their mind
at that tribal council when they you know, when they
see that he has a fake idol or an idol,
they don't know what it is.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
Interesting, Okay, Okay, I didn't know if he was going
to try and like like leave a clue for somebody
else to find it and then have it turn out
to be fake. And I was just trying to like
think it all through. Okay, So he's just like messing
with people's minds, messing with everything.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
Okay, yeah, all right, interesting, I know.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
All right. So then the tribe they get this tree
mail that does some sort of thing about whether they're
going to be rich or not, and then they all
kind of start into it in that it's going to
be a tribe swap. Yeah, and then they have this
like scramble because they know that Devin's and Christian have
sent Aubrey the Boomerang idol from Billie Eilish, which is
just the create The dynamics of this are super cool

(23:10):
and I'm very curious and like this plays well into
a tribe swap too, this idea that like you might
have supported somebody another tribe, but then they don't have
time to tell Emily get to the reward challenge or
the swap challenge or whatever, and Jeff does rap starts
rapping with this, which is the first time I think
this has ever happened.

Speaker 3 (23:31):
Yeah, what did you What did you think about that note?

Speaker 1 (23:34):
I felt sorry for him.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
I was like, well, what whose idea was this?

Speaker 1 (23:38):
And why is it?

Speaker 3 (23:39):
Was? It was his idea. I'm not gonna lie.

Speaker 4 (23:42):
Yeah he so, he a couple of seasons ago had
everybody start chanting chicken and waffles, fried chicken and waffles,
and it got a lot of packlash from the fans.
I have a weird feeling that he saw that. He
was like, you know what, I'm gonna double down on
this and do something even weirder. And it's funny because
I was talking to Rizzo and Rizzle's like it was
even worse in person because they didn't have the backtrack music.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
That's what I thought that.

Speaker 1 (24:04):
I was like, this is they're trying to make it
sound better than it must have because they're in the
snap and you can just tell everyone's like awkwardly like listening.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
Just get to the point, dude, don't keep no.

Speaker 3 (24:15):
I know it was it was created though. I give
I give him that.

Speaker 1 (24:18):
It's no it's so painful. I love him so much,
like I truly like if I want to meet him
so bad and I respect him so much, don't don't rap,
don't please don't. It felt like it felt like an
after school nineties special that's like teaching you about like
the government or something like, hey kids, I can be
cool and rap like you. Anyway, they dropped their buffs

(24:39):
and then Christian desperately whispers to Emily that they gave
the idol to Aubrey, which is just like such a
destabilizing move. I don't know why. I mean, I guess
it makes sense that he felt the need to tell her,
but man doesn't doesn't really work in his favor. So
the new Tribes are formed. Genevieve says that what's happening,
which is like that this is just a goal and

(25:00):
chaos that the fans want. It's just so true. And
then we see the new Tribes. Calo Callo is like
forming this coach kolby Joe, which is like this dude
bro Honor an Integrity Alliance.

Speaker 3 (25:16):
Oh my god, I hate that you watch forty eight.

Speaker 1 (25:19):
I can't even remember if I did.

Speaker 2 (25:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (25:21):
Well, basically, well, yeah, that's what Joe was on forty
eight rest yes, yeaheah.

Speaker 3 (25:25):
The Honor Integrity season, which is not what you want
to see when.

Speaker 4 (25:28):
You're watching Survivor, you want to see backstab the opposite
of honor and like no integrity, like you want you want,
you want the chaos. And so I was not a
fan of this alliance happening, though it was very predictable.
When I saw them get to that that swap, I
was like, oh, these guys are going to work together,
very clear because they're very similar.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
But I don't know, I'm not excited to watch that.

Speaker 1 (25:50):
I mean, the thing is, like I I like, I
like them, most of them because Coach is the guy
who's like honored it. He's like says the things that,
but then he's gonna play his way anyway, you know
what I mean. So, like I've always I wouldn't call
him a full hypocrite, but because in some ways you
have to be a little bit of a hypocrite in
this game. But like he really plays up how much
honor and integrity he has, and I'm like, do you

(26:12):
do you because is not the way you play so
but so it's interesting that Colby and Joe, who I
do think are much more like genuinely like what they
say is how they play to their detriment at times,
Like it's so interesting, and I feel like that's the
kind of player I would want to be. And you know,
but I agree, I don't think it's the best way
to play. I think it's much better to be like

(26:33):
a Devin's or a Christian or somebody who's just like, hey,
the part of the game is going to be lying
to your face and backstabbing, like we have to do that.
Like it's not doesn't make me a bad person, makes
me a good player, and like, you know you can
trust me when you can trust me or you know not,
But that's gonna be a game that we're playing. I
think that's smarter. I think that's better. I don't know
if I could play like that because I'm such a
horrible liar, but I definitely appreciate it when to watch it.

(26:57):
So these guys they bring in Chrissy, she's with them, yeah,
and then Coach gives Christy this like, you know, you
talk too much chatter chatter chatter, which I was just like,
I mean, I guess it's the right thing to do.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
It's good for her to know, but that.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
I think I think if a woman was the one
who told him, who communicated that with her, would have
been done differently and it came from a good place.
The coach was trying to warn her and give her
heads up, but I don't think she received it that well.
And obviously she was emotional about the things she's been through,
which I love that she opened up about.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
I thought that was really powerful.

Speaker 4 (27:30):
Yes, and it offered insight, and I think it reminded
me that that a lot of these players do have
a lot of baggage from their original season. Like she
talked about how in her first season she was not
liked and now she's feeling that again, and it'll be
interesting how she kind of adapts to that, because that's
what survivor is. You gotta adapt with the information that
you're given. And I feel like she was given like

(27:51):
pretty key information. Now she can use it to her vantage.

Speaker 1 (27:54):
What was what do you think would be your baggage
if you were going back into another season.

Speaker 3 (27:59):
So my big guests fault was I was I was
too loyal.

Speaker 4 (28:03):
I could have done something that would have won me
the game, and people like say, it's literally the reason
why I lost, And it was to take Rizzo's idol
because I had the ability to do it. And my
thing is I fall in love with people too quickly,
and like, even though I know the right decision is
to maybe cut them, I.

Speaker 3 (28:21):
Just I couldn't do it. So I feel like I
would have to.

Speaker 4 (28:24):
Remind myself to be a little more cutthroat and not
make nice when you're back in the States. But like
play a cutthroat game Survivor because you have to in
order to win, right, that's what people respect.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
Yeah, right, because in a weird way, the fact that
Rizzo didn't vote for you in the jury indicates that
saving that relationship didn't matter exactly.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
Right, exactly, and that that's what the reminder I kind
of needed.

Speaker 3 (28:49):
If I ever go back, that'll be what I do.

Speaker 4 (28:51):
I'm like, okay, either way, you you you might not
even need to be so nice because they might respect
the cutthroatness.

Speaker 1 (29:00):
I don't know, it's so interesting, Like I just you know,
one of the reasons I've never done a reality show
or whatever, like want to do one, is just because
I I definitely would I take things so personally, you know,
like I and I feel like there's there's you know,
there's like once an episode of Survivor, there's somebody who's
just crying because there's like nobody likes me or I'm

(29:21):
annoying everybody or whatever. I feel like that would be me.
I would just be So did you ever have that moment?
Did you ever have that like, man, I'm just or
did you kind of always feel like nope, I'm I'm
playing a game. I know who I am and I'm fine.

Speaker 4 (29:33):
So yeah, I feel like it was towards the end
where I where I when you have to make that
decision between your actual friends because I was lucky enough
to like be able.

Speaker 3 (29:43):
To cut people off and vote people off that.

Speaker 4 (29:46):
I wasn't really close to, and it made sense for me.
But then when you get to a certain point, like in.

Speaker 3 (29:50):
Order to win, you you have to outlast.

Speaker 4 (29:52):
Everybody, so you have to make those tough decisions and
cut those people. So that's when I when I would
have those moments of like, damn, I don't know I
could do this.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
And then well, so you're when.

Speaker 1 (30:03):
You say, like my actual friends, Like that's so interesting
because you know, and it happens in this episode too.
It seems like there's such a key distinction between like
alliances that people make because they're they're good and they
trust one another, they're not gonna lie and then like
just kind of bonding with somebody and like just being like, no, no,
I actually just kind of like you, you know, and like

(30:23):
it happens later in this episode, I think with Emily
and Angelina, like there's this this bonding moment where they're like,
I actually just like you. I don't know if I
can vote for you, and I'm like that must happen,
so you know where you're just like, well, regardless of
my gameplay, I'm just friends with this person.

Speaker 3 (30:38):
No. It happens so much more often than you think.

Speaker 4 (30:40):
And that's that's the hard part about survivor, Like, because
you're also surviving with these people, you're getting so close
to them because you're in this weird situation where like you.

Speaker 3 (30:49):
Have to lean on each other.

Speaker 4 (30:51):
And luckily that that's what worked out for me, Savanna Rizzo,
Like we liked each other, we bonded, but it also
made sense for us to work together in the game.
But there were a ton of other people in my
where I loved them as people, but I had to
make a tough decision, you know, to move myself forward.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
So it happens all.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Right over at the New Sila tribe, Camilla is like
super happy with the shelter and surprised because she knows
they didn't have Flint and Siri and Devin's there's like
four Callo members and Rizzo's the only one from Vatu
and surprise.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
I was surprised. He didn't seem that bummed about it.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
He wasn't like, oh my god, I'm on the bottom.
I'm screwed. He just immediately was like, Okay, who do
I connect with? How do I play this? Which he's
got a good attitude it is.

Speaker 3 (31:34):
I mean, that's all Rizzo is.

Speaker 1 (31:35):
Though.

Speaker 4 (31:35):
I remember on our season we were at the bottom
at the merge, like we were the only three that
were left out of a seven a ten person vote,
so seven people voted one way, us three voted the
other way.

Speaker 3 (31:47):
And I was like, Brizil, what are we gonna do?
We're so screwed, and he's.

Speaker 4 (31:50):
Like, hey, it's fun to play from the bottom because
what do we have to lose? And so I know
that was his mentality at that moment. He's like, Okay,
this is this is another opportunity to make like it's
never over until your torch is snuffed on Survivor, and
I think that's what people always have to remind yourself,
remind themselves stay optimistic.

Speaker 1 (32:08):
Oh my god, yeah, oh yeah, So I'm so bad
at this gamp. I would love. I love to like
being outside surviving part, but I would be so bad
at strategy. I would be I feel like you wouldn't be.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
I feel like you would have you would have a
really good, at least social game.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
I mean, I'm trying, like I'm learning, so like I
feel like maybe i could tell myself all the right things,
but I'm just also so like emotional and so moody,
and I'm so like I just think I would Yeah,
I think you know, like right now, like I've been
saying that Ozzie's like my guy, and I think that's
partly because that's how I would play. Like I would
just be like, no, I'm just gonna be nice and
provide for the tribe, and then everybody's not gonna like

(32:44):
me and they won't vote me out. It's like, no,
they probably vote you. And to my detriment, I wouldn't
even have Ozzy's physical capability, so I would just be
losing on all fronts. Anyways, that then this interesting moment
with like Jonathan and they're they're talking. They're talking about
Surri and d She's saying that her friend back home

(33:06):
was like, if you're ever on a tribe with Suri
voter out, which is hysterical because it's like it is
good advice.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
But then both her and Johnthy are like, but.

Speaker 3 (33:13):
We like Cerise, yeah, And that's like Seri's power though.

Speaker 4 (33:17):
She's so it's kind of scary because you're in her,
you're almost like getting misted by her, but you don't
even realize, and like they know, their logical mind is
telling them don't trust her, but then they're like, but
I like her.

Speaker 1 (33:28):
Soure charisma, right, It's like she just has like this
natural charisma and it's not overpowering, like it doesn't. It's
it's not like somebody whose personality is like front and center.
It's like she prays. Well, she's like, yeah, she's just
part of the crew and she gets along with everybody
and they like her. And then meanwhile she's really really plain. Yeah,
super interesting. All right over at the new Vatu, You've got,

(34:05):
Mike is the only callo, but he knows everybody. He's
got this trio from the David and Goliath season and
Q tells Auzzy that he and Genevieve sent him the idol,
and they go along with Emily. They kind of rope Emily,
and Emily immediately shares that Aubrey has an idol, which

(34:26):
I was just like, wow, okay, which is interesting because
Emily's usually she's, if I remember correctly, she's a pretty
good strategic player.

Speaker 4 (34:35):
She is, she's strategic, but she can get a little
messy too. I think she gets paranoid and it gets
the best of her. And that's exactly what happened here.
She overthought, like she overanalyzed the situation, I think, and
then she realized, oh crap, I thought too much about
this and it's not the right move, and she tried
to backtrack. But I don't know if she did irreversible

(34:56):
damage because Christian it sent him into a spiral.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
He was like, do we know?

Speaker 1 (35:01):
Yeah, And the fact that then she goes and tells
him that she told everybody, you know, it's like she
sort of just blew up her own game for no reason.
And it's and yeah, it actually works kind of in
Christian's favor, and like the way he's like, no, no, it's
gonna be fine. But uh yeah, super interesting that she
just sort of fumbled the ball here of this entire moment,
like she did you know she was.

Speaker 3 (35:19):
I mean it ended up working out and that she
did get voted out.

Speaker 4 (35:22):
It was cute, but I could have definitely blown up
in her face, and maybe it will later, but it was.
It was definitely fun to watch that whole spiral happen
because I do think Christian had good intentions by telling
her that Aubrey had the idol in case maybe she swopped, and.

Speaker 1 (35:36):
She receives it that way. When he tells her, she's like, oh,
why you just didn't tell me, and he was like, yeah,
that's why. Yeah, But it's weird that she just freaked out.
But she does have this bonding moment with Angelina where
they're like, you know, and she tells her everything, like
here's all that's happening. So we'll see how this goes.
But yeah, it's interesting. She's sort of like everybody's She's
in all the alliances, Emily, which is I guess a

(35:57):
good place to be because you're right, you know, she
was never on the jobbing block. So all right over
at the new Callo, Genevieve is doing the rounds going
to like Joe Coach and Chrissy and trying to turn
everybody on Aubrey, except she talks to Tiffany, and Tiffany
goes right to Aubrey and these two sort of bond

(36:19):
and seem like a you know, it's really interesting to
me how much people don't like Aubrey this season.

Speaker 4 (36:24):
Like, I know, I was so surprised because I liked
Aubrey going into this season, and I feel like when
I was playing on it, I would want to work
with her because she can be loyal, She's very smart,
and I don't know, it was very shocking to me
that she's not kind of integrating that well with these tribes.

Speaker 3 (36:40):
But what'd you think about Genevieve.

Speaker 4 (36:43):
Kind of going around and kind of telling her name
and trying to build these connections.

Speaker 1 (36:47):
I think it's always bad to be that aggressive, do
you know what I mean? Like at the second you're
telling people like why the good? You know, it's like
and I don't think she has really that much, you know,
like I don't know if she has much to present
other than like we should just target this person. It's
like okay, and it's like let's just have a scapegoat,
but it's so weird to me, like the way the
fact that it was the last episode where everybody went

(37:08):
through Aubrey's bag and was like totally fine with that, Like,
how did that make you feel? Does does that stuff
happen all the time out there? Is that?

Speaker 4 (37:15):
Just like so, yeah, I actually did that on the
last season and I found someone's idle, so it could
work in your favor, and it's not. And I see
a lot of people being like, it's such an invasion
of privacy and it is. But Survivor bags are different
than like a purse back at home, like nobody it's
it has like our dirty clothes in there, nobody, it's

(37:35):
not offensive to look through it, but and sometimes it
might help you in the game. So you got to
go into Survivor assuming like people might look through your
bag and you might have to look us through someone's bag.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
So it is Oh, this is a question that's come up.
Are you allowed to bring anything personal like a diary
or a pen, paper?

Speaker 2 (37:50):
No?

Speaker 4 (37:51):
Nothing, No, you get like a luxury item in terms
of like clothing, like I got this warm sweater that
I would.

Speaker 3 (37:59):
Use and you know, to cover myself when it was cold.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
But that'sh it, Okay, Yeah, let's talk about because Will
was baffled by the temperature, by the different clothings. Some
people are like in jackets and hoodies and other people
are wearing shorts the whole time. So is it just
like crazy temperature swings.

Speaker 3 (38:13):
Yes, especially on our season, it was so hot, like
scorching hot. During the day. People would almost have exhaustion.

Speaker 4 (38:19):
Like this guy Nate would literally pass out after every
challenge and he would need medical to like put.

Speaker 3 (38:23):
Ice on his chest.

Speaker 4 (38:25):
But then at night it would get so cold, and
you see us that tribal council, like we're full of
sweaters or like even in the mornings, you're like still
recovering from your body being so cold at night that
people are still wearing their like hoodies or whatever. It's
it's the temperature changes are crazy and Fiji.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
But the ocean temperature is lovely.

Speaker 3 (38:44):
Yeah, the ocean temperature is great.

Speaker 4 (38:45):
But you still don't even want to go in there
because we don't have towels to dry ourselves off.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
So if you go in the water, you're wet all day.

Speaker 1 (38:51):
What about sunscreen?

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Do you get sunscreen?

Speaker 3 (38:54):
You do get a little sunscreen, Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:56):
Okay, but no makeup. No one's going like made up
for their you get a mirror.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
No. I didn't see myself for twenty six days.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
I was wondering if because I mean, people tend to
look pretty good on this show, like I know, and
I'm always like they do they give them before then interview,
like a flash of like here's your shot looks just
so you know, Okay, that's cool. It's it's it's more natural.

Speaker 3 (39:18):
Than yeah this. So I had this clip.

Speaker 4 (39:20):
I had, not this one specifically, but a clip like this,
and I would just brush my hair with it like
this because I didn't have anything else.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
So we would find a creative ways to to, you know,
do ourselves up.

Speaker 4 (39:30):
There was a lady once who used like the soot
from the fire to contour her face.

Speaker 3 (39:34):
Like put makeup on. So yeah, if people get creative
out there, like we always have this time. So but no,
no makeup, no brush.

Speaker 4 (39:42):
I think on day twenty six I saw myself for
the first time because they gave us a breakfast, like
a celebratory breakfast, and the knives were reflective, so there
was like a mirror.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
So I was like, oh my god, like this is
what I look like, yeah, it's pretty crazy.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
Yeah never, I mean yeah, I mean I've gone backpack
in so maybe the most I've gone is like five days.
And I do remember it reached that point where like, oh,
I've looked at my face and a mirror for a
while and it's a it's a shock when you see
it again. What about the bug situation? Are there bugs
all over the place?

Speaker 3 (40:10):
Oh my god, it's so bad. It's really it's so bad.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
I remember there was one day I was bored because
you get bored, and I started counting the bug bites
from just here to here, and it was like thirty seven.

Speaker 3 (40:24):
It was like, like just bug bites everywhere.

Speaker 4 (40:26):
So that's also another reason why people cover up because
they don't.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
Want to get bit Oh my god, that's my nightmare
because I'm like, so mosquitoes just love me.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
I would be so eaten.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
Yeah. Yeah, it's bad. It's really bad.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
And so here's here's something I love to keep getting
off the recap, just survivor stuff. How did you, like,
how did you prepare to go on the show? Did
you like know how to build a shelter? I mean,
because it seems like all this information is pretty much
out there now, right, like yeah, building a fire, building
a shelter, like all that was it has become kind
of standard and all before you go on or did

(41:02):
you still not know things?

Speaker 4 (41:03):
I didn't know how to do anything except for like
I trained myself a little bit to use a flint
and build a fire. But then like everything goes out
the window when you get there because again, like I
was on the losing tribe, so we didn't get flint,
so I didn't have fire for eleven days. So the
game is constantly changing, And honestly, I think the best
thing to do is not prepare at all, because when

(41:23):
you get there, it's.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
Like, yeah, because what are you going to do?

Speaker 4 (41:26):
I think the best thing is like maybe maybe start
like fast for a little bit, learn train your body
to get used to that.

Speaker 3 (41:33):
But other than that, I don't know. I don't think
there's much you could do. I mean, look at Rizzo.

Speaker 4 (41:37):
He did so well, and I don't think he's He's
not like someone who works out every day and I'm not.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
That either, and we went pretty far in the game.

Speaker 4 (41:44):
So I think the strategy and the social part is
more important than the physical.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
Right right, which it didn't used to be that way
at all, Like I feel like early Seasons it was
so physical and like yeah, interesting, Okay. Over at the
new Sila, Rizzo starts speaking out, did you know that
he had this this? Yeah, that's awesome, And then he
tells Charlie about the Billie Eilish idols, and then we

(42:09):
get this flashback to talking.

Speaker 2 (42:11):
About you, which I love.

Speaker 3 (42:13):
It was so funny.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
This was like there was nothing new in this for
you to hear, like, this is exactly what.

Speaker 4 (42:19):
You Yeah, because in real life we're genuinely us three
are like best friends, like we talk every day. I
even knew he was going to kind of say stuff
like that because I knew he wanted to distance himself
from Savannah, so he obviously when they asked him, who's
your best friend from forty nine, he wasn't gonna say Savannah,
So he said his other best to me, And I
didn't expect him to say my full name and talk

(42:40):
about that. And I also thought it was surprising that
he said that he didn't vote for me because he
knows the baggage that Charlie carries. Yeah, yeah, So it
didn't make sense totally because he was trying to help
his game by distancing himself from sav but also like
did the opposite.

Speaker 3 (42:56):
So what do you think about that?

Speaker 1 (42:58):
It was a weird moment, like, you know, and I
think I actually think it was.

Speaker 3 (43:02):
It was.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Yeah, I mean, I'm just like not like it. I wouldn't.
I would have not thought ahead to like, oh, Charlie
might read this this way, do you know what I mean? Like,
I would not have thought ahead, so I would have
probably done the same thing, same thing.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
Yeah, And he probably just didn't assume Charlie was gonna
be still stuck on that. I thought it was a
little overreaction too from Charlie.

Speaker 3 (43:24):
But it's true.

Speaker 4 (43:25):
People again, like they have the baggage from their old sistring.

Speaker 1 (43:28):
It right, Yeah, and it's yeah, you got to just
go with your gut and sometimes and it seems like
that that it's set off an alarm bell for him.
It's gonna be interesting to see how that plays out,
because I don't think, yeah, I don't, I don't know,
I don't. I feel like these two actually would work
very well together if they decided to like trust one another.

Speaker 3 (43:45):
They're very similar.

Speaker 4 (43:46):
They're really like rebrol strategic, like the guys. So I
feel like I could do well together, kind of like
Aubrey and Genevieve's, but they're choosing not to work together,
so it'd be interesting, all right.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
So then we get to the immunity challenge. Is this
blindfold thing that they've done a bunch that's a survivor
Did you have to do this one?

Speaker 4 (44:05):
No?

Speaker 3 (44:06):
Think I'm so happy because I feel like people get hurt.

Speaker 1 (44:09):
I would hate this one because I'd just be like, yeah, everybody,
every time they do this, somebody hits their head on something.
I'm like, oh my god, Like that would be so bad.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
And maybe I could be.

Speaker 1 (44:17):
A caller, but I would never want to be one
of the people actually going through it. So it's chaos
with like getting giant rings and throwing the poles. Sila
takes the lead. They get to the puzzle way ahead
of everyone, and Charlie and and Rizzo like very similar
players like you're saying, and good strategic players. They get
to the puzzle and they just win it pretty quickly.

(44:40):
Ozzie and Q and with Christian calling, lose this immunity challenge.
Back at the VATU camp, Christian is all apologetic. It's
interesting that nobody even really considers Sam, You know, I
don't really blame I was. I'm fascinated by that, like
how the blame works. And that's a question I've had,
like how much because they usually don't show the strategy

(45:03):
conversation before a challenge, like how long do you have
from when you like they show you the challenge? Do
they actually have people walk through it in front of you?

Speaker 3 (45:11):
So actually, Jeff does it. He will go with each
tribe and walk.

Speaker 4 (45:15):
You through every single part of the courts and then
you can ask him all your questions and he'll tell you.

Speaker 3 (45:20):
But it only happens once.

Speaker 4 (45:21):
You only get one shot of that and then you
have literally thirty seconds to decide who gets what.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (45:28):
Yeah, they don't let you talk at all.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
God, I thought that was like a big part of
the game where you'd have to sit there and be
like I thought you'd have like five minutes at least
to be like I'm going to do this, and then
you do that.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
Oh my god, I wish, I wish, but they don't.
It's part of like why it's kind of difficult.

Speaker 4 (45:43):
You have to make the decision on the fly, and
then you get back to camp and then you plan
next time. Hey, if it's a puzzle, you're going to
do this because you sucked at it last time, so
you can have kind of talk about it before.

Speaker 3 (45:53):
But we still don't know what you're going to go
to next.

Speaker 4 (45:56):
So but on there you only get like thirty seconds,
which is crazy.

Speaker 1 (46:14):
All right. So uh, back at the VATU camp, Christian's
apologizing and Mike just tells Stephanie that he's probably voting for,
which is a crazy bold move that he's I feel
like only Mike White can get away with some of
this stuff, Like he's just like everybody likes him. He's
a great social player. He's just a great player. It's amazing. Yeah,

(46:36):
and then that kind of scrambles Stephanie and Q Q
doesn't have a vote, and it comes down to this,
you know, basically asking Ozzie to turn on Q, which
he doesn't want to do because he doesn't want to
lose challenges, which I think is a very good argument
because I'm like, if you keep losing your big strong players,

(46:59):
like I don't don't know, but sure enough at the tribal,
like I want to hear about tribal from your point
of view, because like my theory is that like the best.
The whole point of tribal and the whole challenge of
tribal is to go in and basically talk without saying anything.
Is that an accurate Yeah?

Speaker 3 (47:19):
Yeah, you're still playing the game when you're there, answer
your questions.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
And so everybody just keeps their like generic vague. It's
like how poetic and like nonspecific can you be, but
it's still basically signaling to the people that you're true
to what you said you were going to do, right,
Like yeah.

Speaker 4 (47:35):
And it's funny because I see fans all the time
complaining about how many analogies are set at tribal.

Speaker 3 (47:41):
It's like that because we.

Speaker 4 (47:42):
Can't be literal or else people will read into what
we're saying and they'll come for us.

Speaker 3 (47:47):
And and usually I.

Speaker 4 (47:48):
Would say, like ninety percent of the time, you're going
to tribal council and everybody knows what's happening, like at
least if you're on the right side of the boat, right,
it's set in stone.

Speaker 3 (47:57):
Who's going home?

Speaker 4 (47:58):
Unless they get up and they start talking, that's when
it kind of gets murky.

Speaker 1 (48:01):
Yeah, did that happen at your season? Did people get
up the spring?

Speaker 4 (48:05):
It happen on my season, I think twice, but even
then the person that was supposed to go home went home.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
It's honestly fun when it changes.

Speaker 4 (48:11):
And maybe, hey, maybe with like the whole Rick idol,
like something crazy will happen this season. I feel like
it will because they keep showing that something happens with
that idol.

Speaker 1 (48:20):
So wait, so you're saying that when you went to
tribal you pretty much were confident on how it was
going to go. Yes, and it pretty much went that
way every time.

Speaker 3 (48:28):
And like they I think the way they edit it
is like, so it's kind.

Speaker 1 (48:30):
Of a toss up, right, but the truth is.

Speaker 3 (48:33):
Yeah, so you're working around that.

Speaker 4 (48:34):
When Jeff's I answer your questions, you don't want to
give that away, or they might play their shot in
the dark, or they'll they'll do some hail Mary at
tribal where they'll try to change the vote.

Speaker 3 (48:43):
So you really are like.

Speaker 4 (48:44):
Just walking on eggshells, and it's part of like the game,
Like Tribal Council and answering Jeff's questions is part of
like the whole game, which is interesting.

Speaker 1 (48:53):
It just seems like, yeah, the amateur player move is
to just start talking about what you're doing. It's actually strategy,
like well, I'm vote for so and so exactly. It's
like the worst thing that you can do. It's such
a weird process.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
I would be so bad at it.

Speaker 3 (49:07):
Whole mind old mind, screw, Like it's crazy.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
Are you paranoid the entire time you're out there?

Speaker 4 (49:13):
Yeah, it's pretty But that's why it's so important to
have people that you trust. And and Tocque's point of
like keeping the tribes strong or to kind of go
against that is like, at the end of the day,
if you're if you have people that you don't have
your back, like that's more important than than keeping the
tribes strong.

Speaker 3 (49:29):
And so it was scary because you never know too.

Speaker 4 (49:32):
With all the twists and the swaps, like anything could
happen and survivor so you always have your guard up.

Speaker 1 (49:38):
So they ultimately vote Q out. What do you what
do you think of this? How's this going to go
for them?

Speaker 3 (49:43):
I think it's a tragedy.

Speaker 4 (49:44):
I feel like we're going to miss out on so
much good TV without Q. But at the same time,
like any good reason to vote someone out this early
is a good reason, and any reason actually, but like
he kind of told people vote me out, and that's
a strategy that worked for him on forty six, but
in this case, Mike was like, oh, you're giving me

(50:05):
permission about you aw, I guess I will. And that's
ultimately what happened. And I think he was just a
casualty of a swap.

Speaker 3 (50:12):
That didn't work in his favor. And yeah, it is
what it is. It's sad.

Speaker 1 (50:17):
Yeah, it's also sad, like it goes back. Like you know,
I've always said, like, don't ever take a journey, don't
ever do anything, which he you know, because he did
lose his vote, like he yeah, he did that early on.
That was like day one, you know, he trade and
Ozzie convinced him to take the supplies and lose his vote.
And I wonder how much he's regretting that, but he
you know, they do talk about Q as a somewhat

(50:38):
chaotic player, and there is a little bit of that.
Like I he's whenever he's like strategizing and doing a thing,
I'm like, oh, I like what you're saying.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
I totally you know, But then.

Speaker 1 (50:47):
Like from moment to moment, it's kind of he's just
playing hard all the time. In like three different directions,
and I'm like, given any given conversation, I'm totally with you,
but then it seems like your next conversation is just
as strong in this other direction. I'm like, dude, oh
so yeah, he played bold loud.

Speaker 3 (51:04):
It didn't work in his favor. It worked on season
forty six a little bit, but yeah.

Speaker 4 (51:09):
I think what's sad about Season fifty is like everyone
is so routable and fun to watch, so anytime anyone
goes home, you're like, damn, we're gonna.

Speaker 3 (51:16):
Miss out on them. But it is what it is.

Speaker 4 (51:18):
He got He got caught in the crossfires of a swap,
so that sucks.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
So how long ago were you actually on an island,
Like like six months ago.

Speaker 4 (51:28):
We got back in like late May, so we left
April and came back late.

Speaker 3 (51:34):
May, so it's been it's been a minute. It's it.

Speaker 4 (51:37):
Yeah, But yeah, you miss it in a weird, like
crazy way. I do, because I've already forgotten all the
suffering because while I was out.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
There, I was like, I'm never doing this crap again.
This is so hard. Of course, of course, but then
when you come out.

Speaker 4 (51:50):
Of it, it's like you forget about that and and
you just want to go back, like you missed the
island and all that, and it's it's crazy.

Speaker 3 (51:57):
I would do it again in a heartbeat. It's so
much fun.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
Oh my god. All right, So how is this? How
how has this affected your life?

Speaker 3 (52:02):
Like?

Speaker 1 (52:03):
How is like what is your day to day life?
How has it impacted like regular life for Sophie?

Speaker 2 (52:08):
Like is it?

Speaker 3 (52:09):
So? I think it just in like.

Speaker 4 (52:13):
It's made me like more bold and it's maybe believing
myself a lot more. And I say yes to a
lot of things now because it does open opportunities and
stuff like that, and I feel like before I was
closed off to that, but now I don't know, It's
opened my my world up to so many things, like
freaking talking to you is insane.

Speaker 3 (52:31):
Like the fact that I'm here, Like what the hell
is my life? But yeah, I don't know. And I'm
such a fan of the show.

Speaker 4 (52:37):
I feel like it's only brought positive things because I
used to just watch it. I would have watched He's
in fifty as a fan naturally, But now I'm actually
like ingrained in the community.

Speaker 3 (52:45):
I'm an alumni. People like respected and liked my game.

Speaker 4 (52:49):
So I'm just this has been a freaking you know,
thrill and a ride of lifetime, and I'm just grateful
for it.

Speaker 3 (52:56):
So that's awesome.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
Are you? Are you like planning to do more sort
of reality stuff, competition stuff.

Speaker 4 (53:03):
Honestly, I don't think so. I like my little life.
I'm not trying to, you know, change it too much.
But if Survivor Jeff Probes calls me again, I'll be there.
They know I'll be there in a heartbeat. So I
don't think you'll see me anywhere else. Maybe the Traders,
I would The Traders.

Speaker 3 (53:16):
Is so fun. How could you say no to that?
I know? But would you ever do the Traders?

Speaker 1 (53:22):
I don't think so.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
I would be horrible.

Speaker 1 (53:24):
Will wants to do it and like he would be great,
but like, no, I'm so I get so tense about
lying and hiding. I would rather do Survivor, I think,
because I think I could focus on the like, you know,
being out on the wh Yeah, and like I just
I like what you're describing about that experience of like
being so miserable, you know. And Mike says that during

(53:44):
this tribal he's like the highs are so or the
lows are so low that then the highs are so high.
Like I know that feeling from backpacking where you're just
like having showered and you you know, eating just dehydrated
food and you're just like oh and you're sore. But
then when you take that shower when you get home
and you're like, this is the grip I have survived.
I have like done something. So I can't imagine what

(54:05):
that's like after twenty some days or thirty days, Like
that's that. I feel like that is such a life
affirming experience that I would love to have. You know,
that interests me way more than I you know, being
on camera and doing all the like the gameplay stuff,
which is what traders just is just the comfort of
a castle and like retail room and then just the

(54:25):
play the gameplay and manipulation and paranoia. I don't know,
it is a I don't know. I do love a castle.
I like the style. I mean, I'm not a beach person,
so that would be a problem for me.

Speaker 3 (54:37):
Oh, that would be a big problem. Stand everywhere. You
can never get it off. It's bad.

Speaker 2 (54:42):
Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (54:43):
Yeah, Well, thank you so much for doing this, Sophie.
I really really appreciate it. Yeah, thank you for reaching
out and I'm so glad that you were able to
do this.

Speaker 3 (54:51):
I know me too. I appreciate it, and I look
forward to hearing your episodes every week.

Speaker 2 (54:56):
With Will.

Speaker 4 (54:56):
I'm kind of grateful he wasn't here because I got
to be here. So thank you, Thank you seriously for
having me.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
This is fun, of course. All right, talk to you soon,
Talk to you soon.

Speaker 3 (55:05):
Bye, guys.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
All right, you've been listening to Pod meets Twirl. The
torches may be snuffed, but our questionable analysis burns on.
We'll see you next time at tribal.

Speaker 3 (55:19):
HM. Hm