Survivor Mania: S49 Finale and Season 50 Thoughts!

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
What's up everybody? Happy holidays. Scott and Lindsay here for
one photo. What's up everybody? Scott and Lindsay here for
one final Survivor Mania of the season to talk the
finale of Survivor season forty nine and maybe a little
bit of fifty now that we've seen that trailer.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
And the whole cat's out of the bag and everything
like that. How you doing, Lindsay?

Speaker 3 (00:34):
That was a season.

Speaker 4 (00:37):
It was an interesting experience. Thank god it's over watching
knowing who's on fifty. I feel like I have a
lot to look forward to you now.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Can we talk now? Can we like?

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Because to me, like that's the most interesting thing to
talk about now that.

Speaker 4 (00:52):
I knew that's I knew that's a Savannah won this season,
and it was very, very difficult to watch this season
knowing that she and Rizzo are on the next season,
knowing that Savannah one you not knowing podcasting about it,
being annoyed that people would want to watch this season

(01:15):
with spoilers out there.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
I don't let me ask you this, so tell people.
Tell people what you told me, which I've since seen
other people tweet this.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
So it is so the.

Speaker 4 (01:24):
Big reveal is not who won Survivor, but the big
reveal was me telling Scott how everybody knew that Savannah
was the winner this season, and that's because we knew
that Rizzo and Savannah were the players from the season
that were on season fifty. The season fifty cast is
divided into three tribes, and they show us they had

(01:44):
already revealed those three tribes in images moving images. We
saw what the three tribes were, and on each of
those three tribes was supposedly a winner because you had
d a new era winner. Specifically, you had d on
one starting tribe, you had Kyle on one starting tribe,

(02:07):
and then nobody knew if you had someone, but the
other tribe happened to have Savannah on it, which would
make sense. And Stephanie La Grossa, I believe, tweeted or
said something in some in some way put it out there,
obviously accidentally, obviously the Survivor producers are probably furious with her,

(02:28):
but said something about there being one winner or there
being three winners, one winner on each of the starting tribes,
and so it was very clear, since Rizzo was not
on that third tribe without a winner, that Savannah and
Savannah was that she was the winner of Survivor forty nine.

Speaker 5 (02:45):
I so this whole time you saw this, you saw this,
but I didn't see this, right, So clearly this is
like you know, conjecture that was like optional to receive
or to download or look into it.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
And no, no, no, no, no no no, I did
not go looking for this information.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
No I'm not saying you went looking for it. But
my point is that, like the information.

Speaker 4 (03:06):
Crossed my path and I really wish that I didn't
know it.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
Now, the Stephanie of it is interesting if she said that,
but but also the other part involves like a lot
of like screen grabbing and like you know, just like
analyzing the images whatever. Now you're telling me that Survivor
told us who was on what tribe? Or did Survivor
like do an image where it was, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:27):
There was. I think it was like an image and
a previewer.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Here's what I'll say to people.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
I say this people with a challenge too, Like when
people get mad, they're like, oh, I looked at the
trailer and it ruined it for me because I could
tell that this person was in this shot, and that
means that they get this like it you got to
turn your brain off to that stuff, or you need
to brag that you're smart, and you could try to
win money by like gambling with people who don't know
that you figure that out. Like, I'll be honest, we
were watching that preview for the Survivor fifty over at

(03:53):
the party that I'm sure we'll talk about, uh, And
I didn't look close enough to see who it was,
but I could tell somebody doing a challenge had a
good amount of armpit hair. And I like leaned over
to say to you, but I didn't say it, but
like I think I said, like, oh, that's a spoiler.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
And unless this person went.

Speaker 1 (04:07):
There loaded with armpit hair, as we know a survivor,
what happens is, you know, some of these women now
will get like the laser removal word no matter what.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
They could be there for three years and they're never
going to get a hair.

Speaker 1 (04:18):
But for the most part, a lot of women, by
like you know, episode five, six seven, you start to
see a little bit of a shadow and then by
the end of it they've got some armpit hair.

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Right.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
It's kind of jarring to see and I kind of
notice it because you don't really navigate through life unless
you're living in Brooklyn seeing a lot of women without
arpit hair, right, So so for me, my eye kind
of just is drawn to it.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
It's weird. It's like, you know, I've been more power.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
It shouldn't have to be.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
You're not saying there's anything right or wrong about it.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
My point is is that I notice it, right, So
I noticed it because I'm not used to it.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
I notice it in season and apparently in trailer.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Form as well, And it was just like a shot
of someone doing a challenge and they had some arpid hair,
and I thought to myself, that means this person at
least makes.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
Don't tell me who that is.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
I won't, but my point is that that person makes
it to the armpit hair portion of the show, right,
which I don't know if that means Merge or what
or whatever, but but either way, and look, they wouldn't
show a challenge that was that close to the end
in the trailer, so to be honest with you, it's
definitely like not one of the last five challenges, you know,

(05:21):
but it's probably but it probably means that clip was
from like you know, or I'm completely wrong and this
person just goes fuck it, I'm gonna go load it
with pit hair on day one.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
Right either way, you point.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
Asked me that this trailer was amazing.

Speaker 4 (05:37):
I think Emily Longaretta told you this, and I actually
walked out at this WTF, like, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
That does seem to be the general consensus. I don't
know if she meant a man.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
It was like a spoof on a Survivor trailer. I
don't know that that felt like.

Speaker 1 (05:57):
Yeah, let me pull up the actual text, because maybe
she didn't use the word amazing. Maybe that was me paraphrasing.
I believe what she said was.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
So.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
The first thing she said was like, are you are
you watching Survivor tonight?

Speaker 4 (06:12):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (06:12):
And that made me think like, oh, is something good happen?
And I said, yeah, I'm at the finale party in
New York City right now. And she said, fun, let
me know how it is. The fifty trailer at the
end is so good. So okay, so she does think
she does think the the fifty trailer is good. Here's
what I'll say. It is good in the sense that
it got the entire internet talking, and not necessarily in
a great way about all these things, like the celebrity interjections,

(06:35):
and whatnot, and of course it was our first look.
It was a very subtle reveal that Savannah and Rizzo
are the two people for the six people in the
world who didn't know this already.

Speaker 4 (06:46):
I feel like it's fine if you're having like I
don't know, like Brad Pitt, who's a huge Survivor fan
is like on the island, but like, I don't I
draw the line at mister Beast.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, well so I would agree to.

Speaker 3 (06:58):
Now it just feels like trying to do like cross promotion.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, so I'm gonna I'm not gonna lie like you're
you're not gonna believe this or you're gonna tell me whatever.
But to people under twenty five, mister Beast is infinitely
more famous and important than Brad Pitt. So and I
obviously love Brad Pitt, and I've only been introduced to
mister Beast in the last few years, but it is
just a fact that that specifically him, but YouTube people

(07:24):
who came up on YouTube and have gotten to his
level where he is by far the like literally most
watched person and content creator on YouTube. He makes challenge
like stuff on YouTube that for the generation that grew
up on YouTube, and got him those billions and billions
and billions of views that mathematically are literally more views
then shows like Survivor of the Challenge Amazing Race combined,

(07:44):
and more views than the movies of Brad Pitt of
the last five years. Those that generation also does not
go to the theater and watch movies, watch traditional TV,
watch traditional reality TV. I asked the kids at Syracuse
who here watches reality TV? It was crickets and the
few people that did where people who's like parents started
them out watching Survivor with them, Like we have Brock
watching with us, and like how you hear Rizzo has

(08:06):
been watching since he was a kid. These other kids
don't watch traditional TV. They just don't. They watch things
like mister Beast on YouTube. So, mister Beast, to be
honest with you, as much as it's cringe as fuck,
I get it. For you and me and ninety percent
of Survivor fans, I understand it because what it's probably
trying to do is bring in another wave of young

(08:27):
Survivor fans that maybe are not finding the show on
their own the same way that our generation did because
we watched CBS and traditional television. So that's the one
I don't hate. Also, he has a challenge like reality
show that he does with Amazon that is in its
second season, which the cast dropped for last week. There's
a Survivor episode of that season, so it's a two

(08:47):
show kind of cross promotion thing. And if you've seen
the cast for that season, it's got like Jesse and
Sue and a few other people I'm forgetting from Survivor
on it, so clearly they are trying to kind of
use mister Beast for that purpose, and to be honest
with you, take all the other celebrities out of it.
I think that one's the one I can at least
defend for that reason, Like, I get it, I get why,
and I get why it's going to piss off the

(09:08):
Lindsay's and the Scots of the world and everyone listening
to this podcast.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
But I assure the people that it's for do not
listen to stuff off.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Well, none of them pissed me off in general, because
I just kind of get it, Like I get what
you're doing, I get what you're trying. The idea of
there being a Billie Eilish idol is is kind of cringe,
Like you couldn't just have it be a billy idol.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Come on, guys, I mean really, but.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
Anyway, Jimmy Fallon, I mean, we know he's a big
reality fan. He had Johnny Bananas on the tonight show. Like,
I get it, And this has always been what Survivor
has cringed at, right, They're like, why do you need.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
To tell us that Tyler Perry texted you?

Speaker 1 (09:42):
Or why do you need to brag that like this
this idea came from the mind of Jimmy Fallen. Survivor
fans have hated this since the minute they've done it.
But Survivor has always been this show. They've always brought
in celebrities. Mike White is back for fifty. We happen
to be okay with that because he made the Final three,
created the White Lotus, and he a gay icon. But like,
Survivor has always been this tryhardy show that wants the

(10:04):
cool kids at their table, Like it's always been that,
So I get it. I'm just saying that Billie Eilish
and Jimmy Fallon, who do not actually show up at
the island playing a part on the most important season
of Survivor, And I get why you hate that. Zach
Brown at least goes and look, I mean like Zach Brown, Like,
if you're not into country music like or folk rock, like,

(10:25):
you probably don't even know who he is. A lot
of people think they said Zach Bryan or just don't
know that they're two different people.

Speaker 2 (10:30):
Zach Bryan, I.

Speaker 1 (10:31):
Could argue, is also to probably bring in the younger crowd,
but Zack Brown is actually kind of more our generation.
Either way, He's got a residency at the Spear. He's
a pretty big deal musically, even if you're not into
that type of music. But I get that if you're
just a survivor fan that hates any mention of any
celebrity integration, you are going to absolutely loathe the fact
that they were such a big part of that trailer.
I totally get it. But it was a pretty cool trailer.

(11:01):
Like I'll be honest, I love that line delivery of
Jeff of like you know this is gonna be the
best season ever. We've got you all here, and the
only thing we ask of you is everything.

Speaker 2 (11:10):
Like I thought that was.

Speaker 1 (11:11):
A pretty good, like movie trailer ish line delivery, right,
because I thought he was gonna say all that you
have or all that you can give and the fact
that he just said everything it was like, you know,
pretty good, I saw it.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
But yes, there were some.

Speaker 1 (11:22):
Pretty cool slow mo shots of like the icons that
were glad are there and stuff. There was that cool
Survivor fifty private plane we've never really seen that.

Speaker 3 (11:29):
Was oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:30):
And then again going back to the armpit hair of
it all, going back to the Savannah of it all
and the suppruder film, like studying of these things. You
really can't do that much with one of these trailers,
right because again, the Internet is going to break it down,
accuse them of ruining things, or not even accuse them
of ruining things, just go out of their way to
ruin things for people regardless. So like were we are

(11:53):
going to talk about Survivor forty nine, We'll talk about
the party we were at, we talk about the winner
and everything, but I do really quick want to talk
about the but it I've been kind of through lining
this entire season, which again, by the end of the
season it got spoiled for me that Savannah and Rizzo
were on fifty. I did not know Savannah had won,
So everything you're talking about that had not made it
to my desk. I had not seen that I had

(12:13):
kind of guessed, right, I started watching this season saying,
if she gets to the final three, she's gonna win.

Speaker 2 (12:19):
I mean there were really no other candidates, which god.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
Is also what everyone on the island was saying.

Speaker 1 (12:25):
And it got me, in turn kind of rooting for
anything but Savannah, because again I'm kind of like, and
here's the other thing.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
Let me say this.

Speaker 1 (12:32):
I often watched seasons like as much as I do
like a quality winner that played a good game, and
I like them being validated. Sure, I often when it
becomes like a cakewalk for someone, I often start rooting
for anything. But that being said, the sad part of
that is it does suck hypothetically if that person's like
one chance to win is taking.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
You can't win. It's like people want you know, you
want both things.

Speaker 4 (12:56):
You want the person who's the winner to have played
an amazing game and dominated, but then you also want
the people who are you know, not clearly not going
to win to like do something to change that.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
And so which one is it?

Speaker 2 (13:11):
You know you can no, but I'll give you an example.

Speaker 1 (13:14):
So Jeff actually used these two examples right, Ironically, I
believe both people no wonder what is not on but
Devon's is so so so I think maybe purposefully both
situations mentioned have someone on Survivor fifty, right, and actually
it's the people who get to redeem themselves on fifty.
So ironically, the perfect casting scenarios I believe is that

(13:35):
we got Chrissy who as he as he mentioned, you know,
puts Ben into fire.

Speaker 2 (13:40):
Ben ends up winning, winning the season. Uh.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
And then the Chris Underwood goes against Devon's, takes him out,
ends up winning the season. And now we're getting Chrissy
and Devons the two people who didn't win on fifty.
I think that's awesome, right, So, but my point is
is that like the idea that you can still have,
like for me, like Chrissy is the more one one
comparison with Savannah, and she ends up losing to Ben,

(14:03):
obviously under extreme circumstances, the idols of it all, the
fire making of it all, and.

Speaker 2 (14:08):
Then obviously the vote.

Speaker 1 (14:09):
But like, there is a way I think in which,
you know, all that could have happened and Christy could
have still won. So so there could have been a
way where you know, even I just wish the gameplay
would have been a little bit more on the offensive here.

Speaker 2 (14:21):
I wish Rizza.

Speaker 1 (14:22):
I mean, we talked about it with with with sof
obviously wrong call on how she used her advantage. She
opens up this finale almost admitting it does anything suck
more than having someone in their first interview after something
immediately regretting it and saying they should have done the
other thing. It's like, could you not have thought about
this four hours ago? And then we actually came up
with our own scenario? You did, I believe, but I

(14:43):
immediately co signed it that during this episode, since such
a big deal was made out of Christina and her
fire making ability, and like, at this point, it's like
Rizzo is held on to this idol for so long
that the problem with hanging on to an idol for
so long is it almost gets to a point where
there's really no critical way to use it. And you
actually came up with a great one because up until

(15:03):
this episode, I didn't really know anything about her fire prowess.
But when it became this tug of war of Savannah
wanting Christina out of there because she's good at fire
and Rizzo wanting Christina to stay and stage out of there,
I immediately go, oh, they might be setting us.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
Up for it.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
There is a play that Rizzo could use his title
for if he uses it to kind of you know.

Speaker 3 (15:23):
You didn't immediately start to do that. I said it, and.

Speaker 2 (15:26):
You said, could he use it on Christina?

Speaker 4 (15:28):
And I said, I said what I said, like, oh,
this is.

Speaker 2 (15:33):
He's going to Yes. We started telling people, oh, he's
going to do this, He's going to do this, is
I know what happens? He doesn't and then he doesn't
do it.

Speaker 4 (15:44):
And in fact, I thought that that would have really
set Rizzo apart had he used his uh, had he
used his idol, which he knew nobody was going to
vote for him anyways, because everyone would be silly to
not assume he was going to use it on himself
in this last chance to use out himself when he's
guaranteeing him the spot in the final four. And so

(16:05):
if he wanted to, he could have used it on
someone else. And if he felt strongly and was having
opposition from his allies, he could have kept Christina.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
In the it's a brilliant it's a brilliant idea.

Speaker 4 (16:23):
Set himself apart from Savannah in a way that like
you know, people have perceived them as playing the game together.
Savannah has the upper hand in that she's won all
these you know, immunities herself. You know, Rizzo has done
the idol stuff. It would have been great, it would
have been played otherwise.

Speaker 3 (16:43):
They've played the game together the entire time, and.

Speaker 2 (16:46):
It would have had to work out on the back handle,
like she.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
Would have had to have gotten the he would have
had to have kept her, and then she also has
to then take out Savannah and fire for it to
really matter in my opinion, Like and that part will
never know if.

Speaker 4 (17:00):
Yeah, but at least that's one at least that's a
move where yes, you know, like unless he's scared of
he's banking on Savannah possibly winning that final immunity and
then wanting her to just to think that, you know,
they've stayed loyal to each other the whole time and
to bring him and so you know, that is the
one drawback to that plan is like in doing that,

(17:20):
maybe you make it seem like some sort of a
betrayal because you're blindsiding her, even if you're not getting
rid of her, you're blindsiding her. And so you know,
maybe she could use that as an excuse to feel
less obligated to bring you in that spot right in
the final, in the final three, when she's the most
likely as we've seen, to win. She didn't, but she
was the most likely we all would have guessed going

(17:40):
into it, right.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
Yeah, I just I think that it would have been exciting.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
It would have been I mean, look, here's the other
sad part of what we're talking about here, Like, I mean,
like knowing that Savannah Rizzo go again onto Survivor fifty,
you're kind of like, all.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Right, whatever happens here, you know, it really doesn't.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
None of this really matters, which is why my brain
started talking myself and do is it maybe if someone
else swoops in and wins, is it sof and they
get to go play again? You know, is it stage
and they get to go play again? You know, now
its dense, But but in fact, it was the other
thing where it's Rizzo who gets to play again for
the second chance. It's Savannah who gets to play again
because she won. And to be honest with you, you're

(18:20):
locking and loading up. Not that they're the only duo.
There are a couple other ones. We obviously have Kyle
and Camilla and there, et cetera. Like, you know, you're
loading the up to people who have the luxury of
having played on a season together.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
They know each other well.

Speaker 1 (18:32):
The other castmates do not know how well they did
or what their personality archetypes are, et cetera.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
Right, they may be able to like do some digging out.

Speaker 4 (18:40):
There might have been something also too, like Jeff knowing, Okay,
well we have these two other New Era winners, and
we have three starting tribes, like it makes sense to
have one. Don't get me wrong, I think I think
there are other options. Like I would be interested in
seeing like Marianne play again, you know, like now that

(19:01):
she was like her whole thing was how underestimated she
was the whole season and going into it not being
underestimated like would have been an interesting change. And so
I think there are other options here.

Speaker 2 (19:11):
Yeah, because but I don't think that has something to
do with it. Well this way, yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
Okay, So Jeff Probes on his podcast Emitted Slash, and
they have in their exit interviews now that these guys
were told they were going on fifty like before they
left Fiji for forty nine.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
So about that, I think that's really interesting.

Speaker 1 (19:33):
Yeah, So basically, while they're still at Ponderosa after the
final tribal, they're still there probably like I don't know,
if they stay there for more interviews or this or
that or whatever, or they just gather their bearings or
whatever it is they apparently like And it's weird that
it was done via zoom. That part doesn't really make
sense to me, but it was like apparently like Rizzo

(19:55):
was brought into a room and like Jeff was on
zoom and said like, would you like to come back
for fifty and he was like, yeah, of course, blah
blah blah, and then he walks out of said room
and he's got like a pep in his step, and
Savannah like sees him called me out of that room
with a pep in his step, looking like he got
good news. She doesn't ask him why or he sees
playing coy, but she knows something's up. And then like

(20:17):
a few days later or maybe a few hours later,
I forget the specifics, she gets called into the same room.
And so she gets called in the same room. It's
Jeff on a zoom, same thing. So then she knows
now that because she kind of saw Rizzo go through
the same thing. He probably also got asked to do fifty.
So she goes up to Rizzo and she's like, you know,
you know, congratulations and he's like what. She's like, survivor fifty.

(20:41):
You know, you think you were the only one who
got asked or whatever. And so they were told. And
I forget the timeline of like when this filmed, but
clearly a film before fifty. I don't know how far
before fifty filmed. I'd imagine it had to be somewhat
of a quick turnaround. But they literally were told before
they had even left, which tells me the.

Speaker 4 (21:00):
News get back to Savannah before season fifty filmed, because
she couldn't have watched it. But there was a little
bit of betrayal from Rizzo in this last episode here
telling Sophie basically, I want to go into fire and
I want to do it against Savannah and win, right

(21:22):
like a little That's what.

Speaker 1 (21:24):
She didn't She didn't think that was betrayal. So I
listened to a couple of her exit interviews. She pegged,
she pegged Rizzo for somebody who would want to go
make fire against her or anybody or whatever, and that
that she kind of saw that as being a move
he would probably have in his uh, like like what
he said, like what he said at the end, uh
that he was going to say that about anybody. The
question was asked of her is who would she have

(21:45):
put in fire? If she was the one to make
the decision. Whatever she said, she probably would have acted
like it was a group decision, knowing that Rizzo probably
would have volunteered himself, wanting to be the person to
have the moment. So I don't think she faults him
at all for that. She feels like that's part of
his personality, not him turning on her at all. Also,
you're going into a show with you know, twenty four

(22:09):
icons slash Strangers and then your best buddy from a season.

Speaker 2 (22:12):
I think you let that one little thing go either way,
you know.

Speaker 1 (22:14):
So, But what I find interesting about all of that
is that what I now want to know that hopefully
he'll say on a podcast or I think Emily's talking
to him soon about maybe this kind of stuff. I
don't know how into the weeds are going to get,
but about like the casting of fifty and whatever, And
you know, I said, Look, my main question, if you
can summarize, is do you care what people want? Slash

(22:38):
do you think you know what people want? But also
I want to know, like did they keep two spots
open for this season or like on spec And then
there was like a couple of moving parts where like,
for instance, to go back to what you were saying
about wanting three winners if for whatever reason, this season's
winner was like a lame duck.

Speaker 4 (22:56):
With specifically new era winners too, right, my point that
isn't that interesting. There's no winners from before season.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
Righty, so that seems to be a choice. So my
point is, like.

Speaker 3 (23:08):
Was D forty five?

Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, Savannah feels like a great kind of winner callback right,
Like she you know, obviously other than if you're gonna
say winners shouldn't be brought back, fine, but but but
she did have a type of season where you're like,
all right, cool, she's definitely like an iconic New era player, right,
so they obviously pencil her in. Is there an alternate
universe where like let's say Sage wins, do they then

(23:31):
bring in Marianne? Did they you know, you know, like
I was jam Jam off the table because he did
Traders or vice versa or whatever, like, but was there
someone kind of on standby as a New Era winner
if they did want to go with three New Era winners.
Was there a different New Era winner who got cut
the minute they realized, Oh, Savannah is money if she
wins this thing, she's in there. And then Rizzo obviously
is kind of the big character return from the season.

(23:54):
It works out, Slash doesn't work out in my opinion
that they are like really really like there are like
I don't I don't love that, right, I love him
as a character, callback it really just sucks that, like,
for instance, none of us were able to watch this
season and like we watching it, going, oh, I hope
Rizzo gets to play again, you know, like because not

(24:15):
only do most people know or did most people know
at some point that he gets to play again, but
he gets to play again right away, and by playing
again right away, we all look at it as like
a spot that was taken from Adam or a Jesse
or whomever. So so for me, it sucks because you're
really not able to process either of these two. But
I do think in a vacuum, let's say this was
season forty four, right, like fifty is nowhere in sight.

(24:39):
Let's just say this was season forty four, I think
we both would have come out of the season saying
both of them.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
Definitely should play again, you know.

Speaker 4 (24:46):
So that was kind of say, like Rizzo reiterated my
point in the in the after show when they're sitting
there and he talks about like being you know, making
his mark and being innovative and like as as much
as we laugh at the Riz God, stuff like that
is what I want to see, like the Tony kind
of player, the Rizzo kind of player, the player who

(25:07):
like wants to innovate the game, wants to find ways
to make the most of every second of it, you know,
every opportunity, every advantage. And so to me, I am
excited to see a Rizzo play again for that reason,
but I don't need him on fifty. I would be
interested in seeing him play again on a difference.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
So if it sounds like the more interesting part of
this finale and the conversation leading into fifty is all this,
which is kind of like some of it's been like
waiting in the chamber because we couldn't get too specific,
and now obviously we have the trailer for fifty. It's because,
like as I've said this whole time, that this season
has had this dark cloud of fifty hanging over it,
that both has overshattered it because it's a big season.

(25:47):
But I feel like if forty nine could have just
been this palate cleanser of a standalone season, we really
all could have been able to enjoy it. And honestly,
here's an alternate universe if they announced the full season
fifty cast and it's let's say it's Mary Anne and
Dom or Marianne and Jesse, either one, take your pick,
and not these two, and so we know for a
fact no one from forty nine goes on fifty. Instead,

(26:09):
we watched this season going, ah, man, you know these
guys were so good. I wish Rizzo was on fifty.
Oh these guys are so good. I wish Savannah was
on fifty.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
Oh well, but why like we're gonna get like we
will have other returning seasons.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
That's my point. That's my point. My point is they
took that from us.

Speaker 4 (26:24):
I would have much rather seen a Jesse play the
season who I've been, Who I have like a nostalgia
for who I haven't seen. I'm like excited for it
to watch play again again. I don't need any more
of it, especially on a season like this. I thought
forty nine, to be honest, was a really straightforward season.
You know, it was very clear besides knowing it like

(26:44):
there are two people who were dominating it, and you know,
I thought there was a lot of bad game play too,
and like they were on a season with players who
I think like had many opportunities to do something and didn't,
and so I felt like they got their chance.

Speaker 3 (27:00):
And I don't need to see it again.

Speaker 1 (27:03):
I don't want to say anybody point yeah, yeah, I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (27:07):
Yeah, But instead, congratulations to Savannah. I think she is
a great winner. I think she will like she's a
solid winner. I don't I don't think there was anyone
on this season who goes down as like, well, like,
this was Savannah's win, but this is the season of
like Shann or this is a season of Jesse, or
this is you know, like, there wasn't another player who

(27:28):
stands out as like the one who got away, And
so I do think that this should go down as
a very solid win for Savannah, regardless of I don't
know if the competition this season was like as prime
as in other seasons.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
I do think that she was the one to win
this season.

Speaker 2 (27:45):
So I think so we went to this good. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (27:49):
I want to say, like you've listened to some more
postgame interviews, I felt like I got a little personal
with the Christina vote out.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
You know, it felt like they were.

Speaker 4 (27:58):
Really making her see, like just on a like personal level,
on a friend level, that she was the one on
the outs. I get that that's hard when you're in alliances,
when you're working with people, you spent more time with people,
but I did I did think that it seemed like
it was being taken very personally. And I want to
talk about Christina's final tribal council question because I do

(28:20):
think that was an epic question and and she put
Savannah on the spot in a way that I think
everyone had that brief moment where they're like.

Speaker 3 (28:29):
Oh, like, is this a bitter jury? Is this did
this question?

Speaker 4 (28:34):
Is this like one of the first times where a
question from a jury member actually changes everything and people
go in a different direction. Are the votes going to
go towards soph now? Uh? You know, she asked the
question if she could name a family member or loved
one or like our partner, of every person on the jury,

(28:54):
you know.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
What this reminded me of, by the way, Yeah, you
do you do this to me like when we're when
we're owing to something like.

Speaker 2 (29:00):
If we're going to like if we're going to like.

Speaker 4 (29:02):
A I like to prove that you need to put
more effort into remembering things about people's lives.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
We will be walking somewhere, we'll be going to like
a birthday party or like a school function, and you'll
be like, do you know Donnie's mom's name? And I'll
be like, uh, Cheryl. You'll be like Sharon, and I'll
be like, well, you know, I kind of knew it.
You'll be like, nope, it's Sharon, you know, and you'll
and and look, and I like why you I enjoy that.

Speaker 4 (29:25):
It's also a helpful thing in some ways because I'm
scrapping you right before something, so you go into it.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
Yes and look and look. There is an art to
not letting people know when you uh. And you do
this to me too. We have our little unwritten rule
when we're at a function. If you don't introduce something
to me, somebody to me, it's because you want me
to introduce myself so that they'll say their name, and
then you could know their name, right, so we know
that right.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
Uh, And so you understand the idea of like first,
can I just.

Speaker 4 (29:52):
Say this has happened so many times lately when you
remember like one or two of three people's names that
you want that are like in a group, and you
like want to introduce them.

Speaker 3 (30:01):
So I'll like do the first like this is Scott,
this is Anna Bell.

Speaker 4 (30:05):
And and like wait for you to pause, jump in
and just like hope it's not awkward and it's not
too long.

Speaker 3 (30:13):
Of a pause.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:14):
Sometimes what I'll do is I will intro like I mean,
it happened a couple of times the other night where I,
you know, was oh, this is my wife lindsay, hoping
that they will then say hey, I'm so and so whatever.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
But so uh.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
But what I loved about that question that didn't ultimately matter,
And Savannah has said again because I had.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
The luxury of listening to a couple of exit interviews.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
She she said that that did kind of haunt her
and that like going into fifty uh, she like made
it a point to really get all those people's like
names and stuff.

Speaker 4 (30:52):
That's good though, that's that's fun. Like Christina helped her.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
Game she helped her game from future seasons, and it's
something that stuck with her, which which which probably taught
her the importance of that Whereas look, it didn't stand
in the way of her winning the.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
Million dollars, but it was mortifying.

Speaker 4 (31:07):
Probably probably that's like a thing like that was that's
a thing that she is taking into her personal life,
Like if that is something that she does in her
personal life, and it's something that I think you like,
you know, if I'm being honest, one of the reasons
you love me, right is that I keep you honest
and I am like your biggest advocate, your biggest fan,
but I also try to help you see when things

(31:31):
can be better, and well, you think as a person
like you can make a bigger effort to like ask
people questions about their lives, like remember things that are
going on in their lives, keep up with it.

Speaker 3 (31:43):
Keep track of it.

Speaker 4 (31:45):
So I wonder if this is a thing that Savannah
is guilty of in her regular life or for whatever reason,
maybe because she felt on the outs because there's these
like tribal team dynamics me versus you, she you know,
it made it harder or you didn't feel like she
wanted to do that in a way that maybe is
different from her real life.

Speaker 2 (32:05):
Well there's okay, so there's two things, are right.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
So there's the real life application and then there's the
game application.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
Right.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
So for me, I could be accused of sometimes not knowing,
you know, person A, person b's name or remembering. But
that's not because I choose to not remember anyone's names.
It's because in my brain, I might have four thousand
more names than the average person, and I've self selected, like, oh,
you know what, I don't know if I you know
Cody's dad, maybe I'll just know that he's Cody's.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
Dad, right.

Speaker 1 (32:33):
And I'm not even doing that. I'm not even saying
out loud I'm doing that. My brain is just going, oh,
since you have like one hundred random patrons that you
know their names that when they come up to it
a challenge mania and you say hey, Michelle, right, and
they go, oh my god, that's so crazy.

Speaker 2 (32:46):
You know my name? Right.

Speaker 1 (32:48):
I'm not picking or choosing. My brain is just self sorting, right. So,
and it just they have there's this thing it's I
forget what it's called. There's a term you can only
recognize so many faces, know so many names, etcetera.

Speaker 3 (32:56):
Yeah, it's funny.

Speaker 4 (32:57):
I literally says that my friend, our friend Nicole, she's
one of my best friends. And she is so good
at somebody she met one time a few times, she
remembers everything about their lives.

Speaker 3 (33:08):
She follows up, she asks.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
How's this person's dad doing? Like she just remembers, like
people like things you like. Off An mentioned she remembers
everyone's sister's name every Like she's the best present giver
because she remembers everything anyone's ever said about what they
like or a place they've been, or their favorite color
or something they're worried about.

Speaker 3 (33:29):
Like she is just the most thoughtful person in that way.

Speaker 4 (33:31):
And I literally said her the other day, I said,
I overheard it. I was at the ice rink and
I heard her ask someone someone at the ice rink,
Oh that's your you know, oh that's your sister, like
Shelley right, like a person that I don't know if
she knew that well.

Speaker 3 (33:47):
And I was like, I just said out loud. I
didn't even mean to do. I said, what are you
not retaining?

Speaker 4 (33:53):
Like what are you choosing in your life not to
retain that you have this much room in your brain
to retain like people's stirs names.

Speaker 1 (34:02):
Yeah, well, there's there's some people who genuinely just just
care and whatnot. And then again in a game, if
you're worrying about other things or like, for instance, on
the challenge, they know that this might actually come up
in a challenge. This doesn't really happen on Survivor at all,
but on the challenge, it's very common that you will
essentially do like a newlywed game style thing where like

(34:24):
you will be quizzed on either your partner or other
people in the house and things like that. So on
the challenge when they have a new partner, like Derek
said this on the podcast a week ago, when they
have a new partner, the first thing they're asking him is, hey, hey,
what's your what's your last name, what's your what's your
where you're from?

Speaker 2 (34:38):
What are your parents' names? What are your siblings' names?

Speaker 1 (34:40):
Because they're going to be put in a position to
know that, and they want to know that, and it
could like win them a.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Challenge or something.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
Right to me, that doesn't make them all now very
generous and very inquisitive people who naturally just know each
other and want to know each other's siblings and stuff. Right,
that's a game application, right for Savannah clearly, obviously she
did not have those kind of conversations worry about retaining
those names because she didn't think there would be a
game application. Now suddenly, not even just for her, but

(35:08):
for everyone now into the Survivor world, there is right now,
anyone who goes on Survivor, Savannah or not is probably
going to go, oh, that was mortifying. I hope to
God that doesn't happen to me. I better make sure
I know everybody's names, right.

Speaker 4 (35:21):
And so, by the way I heard Eliza, Eliza Orlean said,
I think on Twitter something that she that was like
the question that she wanted to hour was supposed to
ask whatever, like didn't end up getting to but like
that that that that had like almost happened before.

Speaker 1 (35:39):
You know, It's so funny that these the tribal countsls
have switched up to now it's like everyone getting to
ask a specific question, because I find some of them
to be like redundant softballs that are just like name
one move that you're proud of or whatever, and like
like three different people ask all of them that in
a different way.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
And it's kind of a waste.

Speaker 1 (35:56):
And then you'll get like one or two people who
just target one person and ask him like a cutting
question that's like meant to flex on them like this one.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
And so it's funny that.

Speaker 4 (36:07):
Some bad blood between those two, right, and then ultimately
like she doesn't give her she gives her vote to
soph Yes.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
And also what's interesting is so you know, they were
making such a big deal out of the fire, the
Christina fire stuff that I kind of started to agree
with you, like are they setting this up because of
Rizzo going to make this move and play the idel
like Christina? And then when he didn't do that, I
was trying to think, like, oh, you know, why are they.

Speaker 2 (36:34):
Playing that up then?

Speaker 1 (36:35):
And because he doesn't really come to fruition, and I
realized it's like, oh yeah.

Speaker 4 (36:40):
Why you know, people are like, yeah, I didn't practice
at all. I haven't made fire ones out here, Like
why was that her strategy? It was like she didn't
want people to be intimidated maybe by her also like
and she's she knows she's intimidating in so many other ways,
Like did she not want them to also be worried
about her beating them in a fire, and so she

(37:01):
didn't want to like ever be seen practicing because otherwise,
like why are you making that choice you're living on
an island to never attempt to make fire?

Speaker 1 (37:10):
Well, I mean, look, doing it on the island is
one thing? Like is there not like an Etsy kit
you can buy and do it at home? Like I
feel like the question was posed to her. I think
it was by Rob, like, hey, like, did you think
maybe you should try to practice doing you know, fire
to go on Survivor.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
And like to brag about Like but even Rob said,
I don't know that.

Speaker 1 (37:32):
I I don't know that I you know, practice often
or would know how to do it.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
It feels like something I know how to do whatever.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
But but like but but she admitted She's like, yeah, no,
I just didn't. For whatever reason, she focused on the
other stuff that she more gravitated towards, like training and things.
She read a lot of strategy books, a lot of
like social books, so she did a lot of prep,
but just like not on the fire, which again, it
ended up working out because she ends up still beating
Rizzo and she makes like a pretty adequate fire, right,

(37:58):
But yeah, it's interesting, like you under why in today's
day and age, why more people why there really isn't like,
you know, eighteen out of eighteen of people who because like,
for instance, like it's let's say I got cast on Survivor, right,
I don't know how much leeway time you get, but
you know, obviously there's other things you can do and you.

Speaker 2 (38:17):
Can start trying.

Speaker 1 (38:17):
I mean, I remember it was Carson like bulked up
and gained like thirty five pounds or something like all
this other stuff.

Speaker 2 (38:23):
But like, in addition to that, like I'm probably pretty sure.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
Grip strength is when you want to work on.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
Grip strength, sure, but I feel like building fire, depending
on where you live, would be like a fun cool
and like definitely like a necessary thing to brush up on, uh,
because it's the thing you probably do the least of
in your regular day unless you're like an outdoors the
woodsman type person, and those people probably don't need practice
at all. So it's actually boggles my mind, although it also,

(38:51):
by the same token, is kind of impressive that when
these people just like start even the people who say like,
oh I suck at this during the montage, they all
like do kind of get one or two going right,
So anyway, all right, let's get to some of these questions.
Trevor says, do you think they picked the right two
people from forty nine to be on fifty or did
the edit make us think that these should be the
people to go on fifty? Rumor is that Savannah took

(39:12):
mary Anne spot winner forty two. Okay, well, that's interesting.
I didn't hear that rumor, but here we go. That's
kind of what I was saying before.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
Yeah, and that Rizzo took Andy spot from Operation Italy.
He was there the other night.

Speaker 1 (39:23):
If you could pick one person from this season and
be on fifty, who would you have picked?

Speaker 2 (39:27):
And who should and should have been? No? One? So
I think it should have been No. One.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
But that is selfishly so I could have enjoyed forty
nine more, and also based on the timeline of when
they filmed everything, so like, for instance, in a perfect world, okay,
let's just say, in a perfect world. Okay, in a
perfect world, forty nine would have been filmed with enough
time before fifty that we could have just watched forty nine,

(39:52):
knowing fifties cast isn't locked in yet, and then we
could have watched forty nine enjoyed it, not been the
wiser of who wins or anything else.

Speaker 2 (39:59):
And then maybe maybe we.

Speaker 1 (40:01):
As a fan base love Rizzo and Savannah so much
that it does seem obvious that they should be on fifty, right,
But we will never know, right, So that would have
been option one, perfect Rickue option two, if the timelines
had to be how they are, I would have just
punted on forty nine, said hey, guys, you have a
chance to stand on your own and be an amazing season.

Speaker 2 (40:19):
We have fifty locked up.

Speaker 1 (40:20):
You're not gonna be able to play on fifty, but
you could be the first choice for the next Attorney season.
You could be on fifty one, fifty two, whatever, who knows,
you know, But that would have been option two. Option
three is what we got, which I think kind of
really ruined forty nine. Really, I think ruined being able
to watch either of these two people and root for
them and correctly process whether they should have been on
the season. I mean, in a vacuum, do I think

(40:42):
Rizzo is more deserving of a returney season spot than Andy?

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (40:46):
Okay, in a vacuum I just do right, But do
I am I more interested in seeing Andy play again?
Because it's been at least a couple seasons instead of Rizzo,
who I just saw play Wednesday. Also, yes, right, same
thing with Marianne and Savannah, Like, I think they're both great.
Return the options, the fact that I just saw Savannah
play last week, I'd rather see mary Anne play again.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
That being said, if it was three years from now,
I'd probably say maybe Savannah. You know.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
So it's like again, the timing of it all made
it impossible to properly, you know, assess whether they picked
the right too or whether they should have been on
fifty I will say, like in a vacuum, yes, they
picked the right too.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
If you had to take to the.

Speaker 3 (41:23):
Scene, yeah, I agree with you.

Speaker 4 (41:24):
I think like you said, I'm with you on all
those points. I don't need anyone from the season. It
would have helped in multiple ways, including the watching of
the current season. And you know, I don't necessarily think
any like to get specific, like sure like Savannah like

(41:47):
and Marianne. Okay, I'll take mary Anne because of the
hind like you know, because of the amount of space
we've had, and then like Rizzo and Andy. Actually think
I'd take Rizzo, but like, does it have to be
Rizz overs Andy, Like there's so much I know that
what Jesse was Jess he was a considerate to play,
you know, he got close like Rob Cesternino, Like I
don't even I don't want it to be a new
air person Like can't like Rob Cesternino have that spot,

(42:08):
you know, any that's.

Speaker 2 (42:09):
What goes to the whole.

Speaker 1 (42:10):
So okay, so I'll use an example of this, right,
so it goes to the whole, Like, I guess why
people are maybe going that doing that one for one
proposition is when you take let's say that the people
who have confirmed they were cut late, right, Mary Ann's
probably saying I was cut around the time fifth forty
nine rapped is probably what happened, right, And and because

(42:31):
we're doing the winner math, it would make sense that
Winner A took spot from Winner B. Right, and then
same thing if Andy got cut around when Rizzo was
given a spot, and if Survivor forty nine, you can
maybe do that one for one, assuming that they wouldn't
have but like, but that's the thing is like if
Andy also got cut the same week as you know,
Rob Cisternino.

Speaker 2 (42:51):
And blah blah blah blah blah, blah and blah blah
blah or Jesse whatever.

Speaker 1 (42:54):
How do he knows Andy and not those guys now,
So I don't know. Maybe there is a little bit
more insider or insight, Trevor. You can let me know
who's this or how they know. But I'll give you
an example. So, when I was in Orlando, I was
talking to Crie's son Jared, who was almost on Survivor
David Versus Goliath, which was like season thirty six.

Speaker 2 (43:11):
Right.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
He then later makes his debut on Big Brother like
a year ago with his mom.

Speaker 2 (43:16):
Right.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
But he was gonna be on Survival when he was
like eighteen, right, so he was going to be like
son of siree eighteen and like you know, bright eyed
and bushy tailed, with like the legacy mom, but like
you know, also young kid, like.

Speaker 2 (43:30):
That kind of character or whatever. Right. He ends up quitting.

Speaker 1 (43:34):
He says, I don't and he was the very last
minute decides I don't want to do this never mind.
I don't think I could live in this is not
for me, right, he's I asked him, I said, I said,
how did this come about? He goes, I went for
one of the family visits, one of the times my
mom was on and Jeff was like, Jared, you look
like you could play, would you want to play?

Speaker 2 (43:50):
Sometimes?

Speaker 1 (43:51):
Blah blah blah and like and kind of fell in
love with that idea, and they were always kind of
circling him. And then when he was finally aged appropriate, boom,
they've tried to put him on David versus Goliath, and
so I'm I'm having this conversation with him and I
think Adam Klein and someone else, and.

Speaker 2 (44:04):
We're trying to figure out. I'm like, I'm like, but
would he have been a David or a Goliath? Is
he like?

Speaker 1 (44:08):
Is he a David because he's he's young and he's
you know, or is he a Goliath because his mom
is Surrie like whatever? And we're trying to do the
math because Davey, who got the spot Davy was an alternate.
He famously comes in last minute as I'm having a
great season, another person everyone wanted to see.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
I'm fifty, and I go.

Speaker 1 (44:24):
But Davey was a was a was a David, So
that means you must have been a David, right, And
then Adam goes, no, the school of thought, Yes, yes, Alex,
So the school of thought was Alec was supposed to
be a.

Speaker 2 (44:39):
I don't have in front of me, but whatever.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
My point is that what they did was they moved
Alec from one to the other, and then that way
Davey could be a Davy, a David could be Davey
could be a David and didn't have to be a Glive.
So that that's what it was. So I guess Jared
would have been a Goliath, right, and Alec was a David.
Then they go, Okay, how can we bring in Davy.

(45:02):
I don't think Davey really plays as a Goliath at all,
but could Alec. Yeah, he's good looking enough, like he's
got that. He seems like he's you know, he's good
with the ladies whatever, even though he's kind of like
at this point in his life, I think he was like,
what was he a kind of a down on his
look actor like whatever.

Speaker 2 (45:16):
It's like, it's just funny with this. What was he
a bartender? Bartender? Right?

Speaker 1 (45:21):
My point is this, this is what this is reality
TV in a nutshell. The theme is David Versus Goliath.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
Right.

Speaker 1 (45:29):
The whole point of David versus Goliath is that David
is a little guy. How can he possibly do this,
and Goliath is a huge monster. He could beat anybody
in a fight, right, They're not supposed to be interchangeable, right,
And the fact that just to make room and do
a little casting puzzle piece making, they go to this
guy Alec and they go No, depending on how you
look at it, he could either be a David or Goliath.

Speaker 2 (45:51):
Now we did talk about Mike White.

Speaker 1 (45:52):
You could make the argument both, right, because I think
Mike White was.

Speaker 2 (45:56):
Was he a golither David?

Speaker 3 (45:58):
He was a goliath?

Speaker 2 (45:59):
Okay, so he was a goliath because of his prowess
in the film.

Speaker 3 (46:04):
Industry, right, Yeah, he's a successful guy.

Speaker 1 (46:07):
Sure, But but personality wise and like everything else about him, I.

Speaker 4 (46:12):
Mean, I think in order to be like a director, writer,
like you are a leader type of person.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
But but it just goes to my point of like
how are you are you casting someone based on their
job they're a David or a Goliath or is it
their personality or their body type or their size?

Speaker 2 (46:27):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (46:28):
Because like you think these things ever completely make sense
or well?

Speaker 2 (46:34):
Okay, so my point is for fifty.

Speaker 1 (46:36):
My point is for fifty, is it possible as well
that some other things got moved around, and it's not
as easy as one A one B marriage.

Speaker 4 (46:45):
Exactly answer your question. And I also want to say
I appreciate that you have asked a question consistently and
that you have stayed loyal to this podcast.

Speaker 3 (46:55):
Thank you.

Speaker 4 (46:56):
I really appreciate Yeah, Trevor, I really appreciate you. I see,
I did the thing where I was waiting for you
to say his name because they couldn't know. I'm just kidding.
I know your name, Trevor, And I appreciate that you
have stayed. You've stayed in it with us this whole
not only season, but this whole journey.

Speaker 3 (47:12):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
Well. Trevor has been with Challenge Mania.

Speaker 3 (47:15):
For all right, all right.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
Bronco Brad says, if Rizzo won the Firemaking Challenge, who
do you think wins the season?

Speaker 3 (47:22):
In that scenario, I was I was confused why.

Speaker 4 (47:25):
Normally in the after show, Jeff is really good about
asking that question, like if this person had one rush,
who would you raise your hand? If you would have
voted for this person Raiser, And I thought, especially in
a season like this where the two people that were
doing fire were so closely aligned, and you know, such
good players this season. I was surprised that this is

(47:46):
the season where he didn't ask that question.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
Yeah, that is interesting. I so hmm. So here's the
thing about Rizzo. We've talked about this.

Speaker 1 (47:56):
I think we've talked about this, but certainly other podcasts
have talked to about this that I've listened to.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
I'm trying to remember if we've had this conversation or.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
Not, But a lot has been made of is Rizzo
sort of more? Is the theater of the Rizzo? Is
that more something that's affecting us and Jeff and and
sort of maybe even us subconsciously because we know or
some of us know about the fifty casting of it all?
Or and is it working on the jury or the comparison?
I keep hearing, is is Rizzo the next potential Xander who,

(48:25):
like the jury, does not want to reward whether it's
because he's young, he know, or whatever it is, blah
blah blah and all that stuff doesn't really work on that?
And then I heard a counterpoint which goes, Xander like
played on the worst possible season for Xander. You know that,
like if Xander played maybe now or even like a

(48:46):
couple of seasons ago and played the same exact season.
I'm not saying he would have won, but like be
like a no vote getting finalist like Rob I think
this is a podcast I was listened to pointed out
and you know, you know it's my favorite subject. But
like that he played on forty one, which was on

(49:06):
the heels of I believe, some crazy stretch.

Speaker 2 (49:09):
Of male winners in a row.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
Like it was like, I mean, there hadn't been a
female winner in quite some time, I believe, and that
like that season after they had reshaped the diversity initiative,
and really like the conversation was about those type of things,
whether it was winners or casting and blah blah blah.
And remember those were the seasons where we started to
have people talk about like, you know, wanting people of

(49:33):
certain ilk to win and things like that. It's around
the same time we had the Cookout season A Big Brother,
and I believe there was an iteration of that on
Survivor may have been that season or the one after.
My point is this, there was no chance, I mean,
he could have played an even better game, and there
was probably no chance. A lot of people wanted to
reward someone of Xander's archetype on that season. So comparing

(49:55):
Rizzo to Xander is kind of a little bit not a.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
One for one.

Speaker 3 (50:00):
Xander was like exceptionally young, right or no? Who who
was the who? Who am I thinking? Dave at your
your You're Mike.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Michael Michael Yerger.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
That's one.

Speaker 2 (50:11):
He's been showing up on the feed lately. Have you
seen that guy grow up? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (50:15):
Like that's someone I would love to does he play again?
Simply because we saw him at such a young age
play and so much time has gone by that I
think that's just like a really interesting thing to see
someone play at such a different stage in their life.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
I mean, Rizzo is is like admittedly young, he's pretty young.

Speaker 4 (50:32):
Yeah, yes, yes, but I just saw Rizzol play And
so my point is, like, to have watched someone play
when they're young and now.

Speaker 2 (50:39):
But I'm not going to the yeah I'm I'm not.

Speaker 4 (50:41):
Saying like, oh, well I watched I watched him at
twenty and now I want to watch him at twenty one.
I'm saying like, I watched him at nineteen and now
I want to watch him at thirty.

Speaker 1 (50:49):
But this is not this question is about whether he
would have won. So my point is is that. I
don't think in any ways, I think a lot is
being made of the jury wanting to reward him or not,
or did his game make the same dent in the
jury's minds as it did on ours. I do think
if he would have beaten Savannah in fire Making and
then had a really good final tribal.

Speaker 2 (51:10):
It's possible.

Speaker 1 (51:10):
I mean, he definitely would have had Savannah's vote, right,
so that would have been one.

Speaker 3 (51:21):
That I don't know that he definitely would have had
savannahs it.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
Oh, you don't think so.

Speaker 4 (51:25):
No, I think Savannah so yeah. I think I think
probably she would have.

Speaker 3 (51:31):
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (51:31):
It seemed like she was really respected both of them
out there. I thought it was interesting, like how much
they showed that she respected Savannah at the very end,
all of a sudden, when who respected Savannah sevected respected
Sage's game so much when I don't that was definitely

(51:51):
not reciprocated. And it's interesting, like I wonder how the
aftermath of Savannah seeing how Sage talked about went, you know,
like having viewed the season now, because it seemed like
she felt even though they were like you know, sometimes
not on the same page, it seemed like there was
a love there on Savannah side that I don't know

(52:12):
that was there on Saga side.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
And I looked at it, and she denied this in
one of the interviews, but I looked at it. It's
just kind of like really good jury management on her
part with that last kind of thing.

Speaker 4 (52:23):
But then why was she so adamant and like keeping
saving her well with her friend.

Speaker 1 (52:28):
I still think if you're really worried about losing a
Christina and fire, because here's the thing, right, So, so
Savannah was right that she did.

Speaker 2 (52:36):
Savannah did not win that last immunity, right.

Speaker 1 (52:39):
So if there was someone there who could have taken
Savannah out right, and whoever wins that final immunity has
the hutzba to go, all right, Savannah, you're probably gonna win.
So sorry, love you, We've been playing together the whole time,
but it's gonna be you and Christina.

Speaker 2 (52:53):
I think she could take you out and she does.

Speaker 1 (52:56):
Right, Like I kind of get that superseding any other
jury management now that being said, though, yeah, I guess
then what jury management are doing if Stage is still
sit next to you, So I get it. Yeah, no,
it it negates the jury management theory that.

Speaker 4 (53:11):
She Yeah, it seemed genuine from Savannah side, but clearly
Stage thought they had a different dynamic.

Speaker 1 (53:19):
By the way I saw see, Uh did you see
the news station she worked at, was like, uh, it
was like our former anchor, you know, they were just
like our former anchors. And but I guess that so
I I I stupidly read it and was like, oh,
now you love her because but I think I'm misremembering.
I think it was the station probably loved her too
much and it was like old guard was that, yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:42):
You know the other anchors.

Speaker 2 (53:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (53:44):
But So, to answer your question, so I'll say this,
if Rizzo goes to final three, even after beating Savannah
and Fire, I think, like Alex votes for sof right,
that's probably a So vote correct because Alex voted for Savannah.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
But I think Alex would have voted for So if
it's So versus Rizzo.

Speaker 3 (54:04):
Maybe yeah.

Speaker 4 (54:05):
Yeah, So anyway, it's I thought that was like, I
thought that was a great moment when So brought up
the time when she you know, what, what move did
you make? And I was so glad that she got
into the pre pre merge of it all, because I
do think she had the strongest pre merge game and
that moment where she talks about having convinced Alex that
you know, Jeremiah had told her that information when really

(54:28):
she had hidden and learned it and that's what kept
her in the game. Like, you know, I thought that
that was really helped make her case. I loved that
she got some votes. I loved that all three of them,
you know, I think that's a good sign of a
season when all three people get votes.

Speaker 2 (54:43):
So what about this?

Speaker 1 (54:44):
What if what if she corrects or correctly uses the thing,
the knowledge is whatever and takes Rizzo's idol and votes
out Rizzo because she couldn't have voted out Savannah there
because Savannah had that community that week. Let's say everything
else plays out the same. Do you think that that
move if she's still in the final three with Savannah,

(55:06):
Savannah still picks up another immunity winner two, maybe Savannah
has to beat someone else in Fire and let's say
it ends up being saved Savannah and Sofa at the end.
Do you think that that's what it was? But do
you think that that move to take Rizzo out is
enough to propel Sofa to getting as many votes? If

(55:27):
not more than Savannah because I think, like that move.

Speaker 4 (55:32):
May well I guess, like, sof when's final immunity? Anyways,
so I was gonna say, like, then maybe.

Speaker 1 (55:41):
And then what if she takes Savannah? You know, then
what if she takes Savannah and goes I don't want
to give you a chance to make fire, you.

Speaker 3 (55:48):
Know, mm hmmm, yeah, I think she's got a shot.

Speaker 1 (55:51):
There, But again, what if all these what ifs, it's
kind of like, you know, it's fun to do. But
that's how I was watching the season is I kept
trying to talk myself into, you know, what could happen
here to make this slightly more interesting than what I
think we're getting.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
And it's kind of what we got.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
We went to the party the other night, and uh,
you know, Bryce and Wendell, they throw a great party.
By the way, shouts to Trashy Annie or trash Annie.
Trash Annie Annie, who was one of the first cast
members ejected from this season. But you remember she mentioned
she had a band. Her band played at the party
on Wednesday, and uh, and they were great. They were awesome,

(56:24):
So they kind of sounded like one of those bands
du'd here in Ten Things I Hate about you like
a Letters to Cleo kind of vibe. They played some
good covers, they were great, so shouts to her. And
then we watched the episode. But truth be told, like
we left. We like we like once once.

Speaker 4 (56:42):
Yeah, un Savannah one fire, we said, we know who wins,
let's get out of it and look, but we need
to watch the episode. Just didn't feel there, and we
got there.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
I mean we were there at seven o'clock, maybe even earlier,
and we stayed until because of the Trump So this thing,
Trump had to give this speech at nine, which they
I will say very smartly baked in schedule in a
way where it was locked in, which I found to
be way better than hypothetically having it where oh as
long as it takes. And then like oh, at nine twenty,
all of a sudden, Survivors back on and then everybody's

(57:10):
DVRs fucked. So what they did was it was like
Survivor was on from eight to nine. There was a
nine to nine thirty block for the speech. Even though
the speech was like, you know, more finite than that,
they baked in kind of an intro and outro whatever,
and then Survivor came back at nine thirty on the
dot and then played till eleven thirty. So we were
there from you know, and so I mean we were
there for at least three hours, you know, so we

(57:32):
left early early, but then so then we watched in
the car on my phone, and then we finished up
watching at home. And it was, you know, fairly predictable,
I think, an anti climactic And this is Matt's question
question for both of you, was just the most anti
climactic final tribal since what season? So this was the
most anti climactic final tribal since what season?

Speaker 3 (57:53):
But again, like how do we not?

Speaker 4 (57:55):
Or I guess for you, like you didn't know you
thought there was a good chance Rizzo on that, right,
So like that was exciting.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
Right, final tribal? What do you mean? No, he's saying
final tribal?

Speaker 4 (58:06):
Oh, final tribal. I thought you mentioned final episode. Yeah,
final tribal.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (58:11):
Although I will say, like, did that moment where she
couldn't name people, did it give you a little bit
of pause as so what could what could have happened here?

Speaker 1 (58:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (58:19):
Little it did give me a second. I was like, oh,
what's going on here?

Speaker 2 (58:24):
A slight this is not good for her?

Speaker 1 (58:27):
A very very slight pause, and I would say, look,
I mean since when if like the most recent one,
I mean, I mean last season I found to be
very inclimactic as well. You know, I don't think you
had like a steamroll type season, although you did. But
like Kyle winning, I thought was like a foregone conclusion
going into last season, last season's final tribal, the one

(58:48):
before that, I thought Rachel right was pretty pretty foregone conclusion, right.
I forget who the other option would have been, but
I think she was pretty much of a layup win
there before that.

Speaker 3 (58:57):
Genevieve of it on.

Speaker 4 (58:58):
So Genevie, you've got, you know, not a lot of
Genevieve or Emily Flippin in that season fifty trailer.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
Yeah, I don't.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
I tried not to overanalyze the the the a lots
of the littles of those of that, but I'm sure
we'll get a lot of that.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
I think.

Speaker 1 (59:15):
Yeah, all right, Joe says, knowing who's going to be
on fifty, are you four or against one of them?

Speaker 2 (59:21):
Winning tonight?

Speaker 1 (59:21):
I guess he asked this before we before the episode
was over, but it was knowing who's gonna be on fifty?

Speaker 2 (59:26):
Are you four or against one of them winning tonight.

Speaker 1 (59:28):
I'm curious as it would be odd to have three
New Era winners on fifty when there are none of
the prior era as well?

Speaker 3 (59:34):
Would d nippy awkward?

Speaker 1 (59:37):
Yeah, well, well I think now we know if there's
one per tribe, that kind of makes sense, right, and
if they're going to say that, you know, although awkward
thing to do because it sort of forces her hand, right,
like I mean not like, I mean it would be
psychotic to have to like not tell them that you won,

(59:57):
like let's be honest, but also does kind of really
if that is if that was done intentionally and it's
like verbalized by Jeff, like you're broken up.

Speaker 2 (01:00:08):
Into three tracks, each of you have a New Era winner.

Speaker 1 (01:00:11):
You know, like if he says that, that does kind of,
you know, paint her with a with a brush that
she didn't necessarily need to be painted with because they haven't.

Speaker 4 (01:00:18):
My question is, like, does do people know that she's
the winner going in? They only know probably like because
they guess from that or you know, although like you
brought up a good point, like if there just happened
to be two like they would probably be on separate
dribes doesn't necessarily mean they balanced it out.

Speaker 2 (01:00:33):
There's a good chance that we're making about Mohill here.

Speaker 4 (01:00:37):
You know, I don't think it's fair for Jeff to
say although everyone else knows, like, I think you should
leave that to Savannah to possibly use as a move
if she wants to lie, hope that Rizzo will have
her back there and lie and say that they both
made it so like four and five or so, well, let's.

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
Be honest, right, like what and maybe he'll confirm this, right,
But what's more likely that they go, let's cast three
New Era winners and let's put one of them on
each tribe. Or when they were sorting the tribes, they
were trying to have as close to parody as possible,

(01:01:12):
and then maybe they were trying to split up duos
and things like that, and just by nature of that,
it worked out where there was a New Era winner
on each tribe. Right, Because remember, like the way it
shakes out, it is probably three men and three women
on each tribe, right, because it's it or is it eight?

Speaker 4 (01:01:33):
Is it?

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
It's three tribes of eight? Right?

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
Because it's twenty four people, right, So I think that
is it twenty four or twenty yeah, it's got to
be three, right, So I think it's twenty four people.
So I think it's three tribes of eight, so that's
four men and four women.

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
So you know, it's possible that the only reason we're
hearing about this the return is because of the Stephanie
Legrossa comment.

Speaker 2 (01:02:00):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:02:03):
Maybe, Yeah, I think people might have wondered. You know,
I think they would have thought about it. There's there's
some my players out there. I think people would have
thought about it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:14):
Are you able to separate the season fifty of it
all and rate this season from one to ten without that?

Speaker 3 (01:02:23):
I hate ranking things.

Speaker 2 (01:02:26):
So fine.

Speaker 1 (01:02:27):
My point is that I'm not even asking you to
rate it. I'm asking if you could even rate it,
because my answer is no, I am incapable of telling
you how much I like this season because.

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
You will have some more perspective on it in like
a year, you.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
Know, but I don't want This is the thing.

Speaker 1 (01:02:43):
Though I watched the show in a very particular way,
I talk about it with people, I make predictions about it.
We have a fantasy league, like so I'll give you
an example. So obviously the challenge mania. We do a
fantasy draft, right where everyone just gets one person, right,
and it's it's randomized, and you know, so and uh,
you know, let me see if I can pull it up, right.

(01:03:03):
But you and I and a few of our friends
we do one, right and so and I even suggested.

Speaker 4 (01:03:10):
The very early this year that these don't count because
there's too much information out.

Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
There and I and I said, I didn't even necessarily
want to do it because I go, I don't have
this information. I know some of you do, and I
and I just like and I don't even liked it.
It probably made you like not want to use the information,
right because you like felt like it didn't.

Speaker 4 (01:03:30):
I didn't pick either of them, yeah, and neither did
the other people.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
Then you yeah, okay, that's draft.

Speaker 4 (01:03:39):
But in some ways then you know that those people
that I picked are not the people.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:03:45):
And then and like I was like trying to like, like,
how do you navigate through? Okay, So let's see, all right,
So here's here's the order in which people were picked
for our draft on on uh Patreon and this will
this will be give me a good chance to congratulate
the wins who won the prizes.

Speaker 2 (01:04:04):
Alright, So first pick was Valerie.

Speaker 1 (01:04:07):
She took Sophie, right, I believe the blue Sophie, the
one with no e uh. Second pick was Juwan, third
pick was Rizzo okay, then went Nate, then went Jake.
Savannah didn't go till six. So that means that Ashley Delaney.

Speaker 3 (01:04:25):
Won Delany if she knew the information.

Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
But to me, at six, it doesn't matter if she
knew it or not, you know what, not because like
five other people who were all a good picks went
before her.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
Right, So like I just you know, I don't know.
I don't need you to.

Speaker 1 (01:04:49):
Tell me, Ashley, but if you want to feel free.
And then it went Jeremiah, then Shannon, then Sophie, the
other Sophie, then Steven, then Alex, then Nicole, then Sage,
than Matt, than Emc then Christina, than Jason, than Kimberly.
I believe Kimberly is Annie, right, yes, yes, yeah, we.

Speaker 4 (01:05:09):
Figured it out the whole time. We're watching trashy Annie
and I'm like, but that wasn't our name on this season, right, Like,
that wasn't what and you know, this is what it says.

Speaker 3 (01:05:19):
It says Any and.

Speaker 4 (01:05:20):
We're like, no, there was something else, there was another name,
and we couldn't figure it out, Kimberly.

Speaker 1 (01:05:26):
Yeah, but so the prizes are Ashley wins two VIP
tickets to any Challenge Man Alive for choice, and a
Challenge Mania hoodie. However she has selected she wants a
Survivor Mania hoodie that she's going to be getting, and
then the other two who draft the final three score
Challenge Mania hoodies.

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
So those of you, which.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
Are Christina Agustino who Dragon who got Sage at thirteen,
as well as Valerie with your first pick of sof
you guys hit me up too, because you guys get
some hoodies as well.

Speaker 2 (01:06:01):
But oh wait here we go.

Speaker 1 (01:06:03):
We're also going to add this year that if you
draft a player that loses fire, you get a T shirt.
So that means that mister Carter Lawson or you know,
I believe it's mister Carter Lawson right or is it
missus Carter Carter Lawson. Uh, you get a shirt for
drafting Rizzo. So appreciate all of you guys, and uh,

(01:06:23):
anything else before we wrap up because we have to
do another podcast after this.

Speaker 4 (01:06:28):
So I want to just finish share with the most
important point of this season, which is is carrot Cake
ever a reward.

Speaker 2 (01:06:38):
Some people like carrot cake. I like it.

Speaker 3 (01:06:39):
That's more like a punishment.

Speaker 2 (01:06:41):
I don't love it, but I don't hate it like
you do.

Speaker 3 (01:06:43):
Oh my gosh. If he was like man, carrot cake,
I'd be I don't want it. I don't want to
get out here.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
I believe this one was steak.

Speaker 4 (01:06:51):
I would need I wouldn't eat. I wouldn't eat the
carrot cake no matter how. And I'm not opposed to
sneaking Veggie's suitets.

Speaker 2 (01:07:01):
By the way, with.

Speaker 3 (01:07:02):
Those zucchini muffins that we have, cari cake, we have.

Speaker 1 (01:07:06):
We have Traders premiering on January eighth, and then Survivor premieres.
I want to say, February what is it? Do you
have it in the calendar already? Mm hmm, all right,
it is February twenty fifth.

Speaker 2 (01:07:27):
That neither of those I don't.

Speaker 4 (01:07:28):
Get enough credit for all the hours I put into
putting dates into our calendar.

Speaker 1 (01:07:33):
Neither of those will overlap with a Challenge because the
Challenge is over for now and they're not filming again
until around when Survivor starts. So yeah, we will be
able to dedicate our full Wednesday viewing to Survivor. Great

(01:07:54):
and as well as everyone listens to this. Yeah, appreciate
you guys, and yeah, have a great rest of the year.
Happy holidays for anybody who still owes somebody a gift.
Remember Survivor Mania swag in the shop if you want,
and we will see you next year for Survivor fifty.

(01:08:16):
But you might get another podcast from us in the
next few days because we're going to talk some Disney
World stuff, disney Mania.

Speaker 3 (01:08:24):
Coming back, NA see something.

Speaker 4 (01:08:26):
I'm looking at our draft, the one that I was
like me and behind the scenes like me. Lauren and
Shahn text each other and we're like, well, purposely not
pick the people that we know are on season fifty
to make it fair. And I still got third place
without drafting either of those two people.

Speaker 2 (01:08:45):
Well there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:08:46):
So King Kong ain't got shit on you. All right,
everybody have a great week, Happy holidays.

Speaker 6 (01:08:54):
Haby Honica America, Christmas, Bye bye.

Speaker 4 (01:09:09):
The Challenge Mania shop is open. Head over to Challenge
Mania dot Shop today for the best way to support
the podcast while looking good doing it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:17):
New designs and items added every few weeks.

Speaker 4 (01:09:20):
Maniacs time to mobilize.

Speaker 3 (01:09:22):
Check out Challenge Mania dot Shop today

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Dateline NBC

Stuff You Should Know

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Survivor Mania: S49 Finale and Season 50 Thoughts!

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}On Purpose with Jay Shetty

Dateline NBC

Stuff You Should Know

All Episodes

Survivor Mania: S49 Finale and Season 50 Thoughts!

On Purpose with Jay Shetty