Survivor 43 Review

0:00 And welcome back to Survivor 46 and 46 this is day 43 and yes gaer just won Survivor 43 and another blowout it's the third blowout in a row actually well if you really want to it's the fourth blowout in a row that we get in the 40s but third in the new era I know we all have on how that went down but today I'm joined once again by Alex who is making return from the palao pod what 33 days ago or something like that and we're joined by Luke from idled out and Luke we'll start with you when 43 aired what was your feeling going into it based off of what you had just seen 41 and 42 were you expecting you know what were you hoping for I guess well I think we were all kind of you know kind of sick of some of the like New Era budget cuts and stuff and like the kind of wacky twist so I personally was hoping for them to kind of scale some of that stuff back and I think for the most part they did I think the casting continued to be really good and yeah I was just I was really excited for more Survivor what can I say and what were you

1:20 Hoping specifically to not happen this time around I am looking for an actual answer but well I mean we're all thinking of The Hourglass right okay anyone any does anyone but Erica like that I don't believe so and Alex you know Luke brought up the casting and a lot of these twists that we have now we're now three seasons in I understand that a lot of people have issues with 41 through 46 when you were going into 43 though were you had you had it jumped the shark yet or were you still on board with some of the more positive thoughts that were being portrayed about the show at that point so at the point that I started watching surviv 43 the first season I watched live was 41 and I hadn't seen anything much before that except for like a couple like really old Seasons Borneo Australia and all that so I hadn't gotten that like gradual buildup to where the new era came so I watched 41 for the first time and I was kind of like okay there's just a lot going on that's just like kind of how it is then I like slowly started to realize oh beforehand there was like

2:40 A lot less they were throwing a lot less at the wall it was still complicated but there wasn't like all this much going on and I did realize when watching 43 I was like okay a lot things are a lot more subtle now they're not throwing in a new twist every single episode or anything like that and there's not even a lot of advantages this season the only one we have is the knowledge's power which is like not even really a factor at all I will say this one of the fun things that I saw they did this year was the season was the editing tricks that they would do specifically I'm looking at the Jesse checklist scene just as a whole that's something that we really have never seen before and I do feel like they were still they're still in this process of they're trying to figure out what is working and what doesn't they know what doesn't work now based off of vanan reaction to 41 and 42 but because 42 was you know looked at as very good I feel like this season okay let's get rid of this and let's just focus on the cast and I feel like 43 kind of runs into the edge of Extinction problem SE as a season as a problem of it comes right after David versus Goliath it has a Twist at folks not the biggest fan of

4:01 And so people just say oh yeah it's the Rick Devon show that's all it is I feel like they do the same thing 43 it's oh yeah it's the Jesse show and that's it I don't buy that I feel like there are a fair few compelling characters on edge of Extinction and here and I feel like the reason and we're just going to start with or we're gonna just go right into this one I feel like the reason that this season is not looked as highly as it might be is because of the win Luke thoughts on Mike gabler as the player and do you think it's fair just in the history of Survivor for people to label a season a Bad season because of the winner how do you see that well I think I mean people are gonna it's the most memorable part of most seasons is the winner and that ends up being what it's defined by and I totally understand anyone who does not like Mike gablers win I think that's a perfectly legitimate opinion to have me personally I will always root for the funniest possible thing to happen and gabler winning over Cassidy was the funniest possible thing that could happen and over Jesse and over Carla and over Cody so yeah I mean I like gabler I mean he's one of the best characters of the new era in my opinion and it's so funny that he won Alex

5:22 You were the truther just go okay so here's the deal I did not obviously I did not really think that gabler was going to win the first time I watched it actually what happened was cuz I make a draft with my girlfriend when I watched the season and we start after the first episode as opposed to preseason because we're not really big into like preseason stuff and so we get down to the draft it's done where you have to like pick a woman then a man then a woman and a man stuff like that so we get down to the bottom I have the last pick I have to pick between gabler and Gio and I'm like you know what I have a feeling about this gabler I got this guy I got this guy this man's going places he may have a he may have had a terrible first episode but I'm still G to pick him and it paid off really well and in this rewatch that I did there's a lot of moments where like gaer really does have a good pulse on exactly what he needs to do every round even if it is just hey I'm going to stay back I'm going to let these other big guys take care of business because they could be taken care of later and he literally says it final six or something that he wants to go to the end with Cassidy

6:42 And ow and he makes that happen yeah so there we go ahead one thing about gabler too is that before the season aired his audition tape was discovered on YouTube and so for you know Joe Schmo you know on Facebook is not watching that but for those of us who are like you know terminally online in the Survivor space like we had all seen that and that you know it's crazy he's like playing air guitar and hanging out with goats and that really primed us before the season even started to just kind of dismiss him as a player and kind of just think of him as like a kooky old man and you know the first episode kind of reinforces that but yeah I do think before the season even started we were all the Survivor fan Community online kind of had already dismissed this guy as not a serious person yeah and that's I try to stay away from pregame press it's very hard Post 40 to do that to the point where I just say screw it I'm just going to read everyone's bio and I'm going to pick my winner based off of who their favorite surv players are and who they want to base their game off of with gabler I'm also in a fantasy league and a lot of people were big on him because it seemed like he was going to be a character and

8:03 One of y'all mentioned I think it was luk that he one of y'all that he was such a great character of the Season it reminds me of Tony in Kagan which when I talked about Kagan two weeks ago I said Tony is a great character in this season not a great winner he becomes a great winner in my opinion and winners at War I think that characters can win the game we've seen it plenty of times and this is where I go into the whole resume fallacy of this era of Survivor that's slowly starting to go away because once again the people that are claiming resumés and big moves and everything they are not the ones that get to the end and the ones that do get to the end they're not the ones that are winning the goat strategy has a higher statistical you know chance of winning the game than someone that is out there consistently making all the big moves off the top of my head I can name two and one of them played for 12 days so there's really only one person that has been able to use the big move strategy and win the game Luke why do you think that even in 43 people have this perception that they have to be out there making crazy moves every single round they have to have the biggest resume among everybody else

9:23 To win the game when that these are super fans they should know what actually you know what it takes to actually the game why do you think this is still clouding the game I guess I think well I mean the show's at its you know the show tells us that big moves are necessary and I do think to some extent like you know I hate the resume you know when people say I need something on my resume but I do think you need something on your resume you can't just turn in like the blank sheet of paper like Owen did you know I mean everyone on that jury I think liked or loved Owen personally but you know they need something and I don't even think it's about making big moves it's about articulating them at the end and I you watch this season gabler has a great final tribal at least from what we saw because he's able to articulate here's he answers every question well and he says here are the inflection points of the season and how I was involved the Ellie boot is like What He hangs his hat on and that changed the whole course of the season so I guess to get back to your point I this the show tells us that you need resumés but you do I think you do need something on there you do and this is one of the first times that someone is able to say something that

10:43 They did pre-merge as their defining move outside of you know getting rid of Jesse at the end where that is the move that they're like this was me my big move was getting rid of Ellie it's like who's Ellie was my winner pick so like I know Ellie get rid of Ellie and I feel like yes Owen didn't have that I felt like Cassidy was saying a lot but I just watching the how the edit was like at final tribal how when gaer would answer questions he was getting a lot of laughs it came off as more engaging with them I do feel like in that final three situation based off of what we are seeing obviously I can see how he won the game because that is the point is to get to the end and defend your game Alex if we want to rewind a little bit were there any Front Runners in your head outside of I'm assuming Jesse but were there any Front Runners in your head as the game was progressing and was gaer ever one of those Front Runners to you did you ever see like there's there's this path or oh they're showing this in the edit which means you know this I well so I'm very like statistical when I'm thinking of these things cuz I just like how like numbers work in my head and

12:03 At a certain point I think I started realizing oh wait not only is gabler not like getting targeted he's not getting any votes either no one's even like throwing a stray on him he's not even getting brought up as a Target whereas other people are saying like Cody and Jesse are like calling the shots like we got to get Carl out of here we got to get Cassidy out of here and like G's name is not even being brought up and I feel like that may have made him like fly under the radar like so to the fans as well people like just kind of like forgot he was there but it's because he was so well like insulated but like to go back to your question I think that like when I was first watching the season I was kind of thinking like Jesse was more the quieter player Cody was the like louder player and he was like probably the one out front it wasn't I don't think it was really until they did that whole thing about like Jesse like tying up all the loose ends of the no Noel boots and having like the checklist I was like oh shoot hold on I think I think Jesse's like got something and then Jesse boots Cody I'm like this man yeah and I was and I brought this up to Luke earlier and I guess I can go down this path for a second I was at a

13:23 Watch party for this and off to the side sits Billy Garcia from Cook Islands and I like I'm just sitting there I go up and talk to him as if he's just another person because he is just like any other player and at one point he says yeah I think gabler's gonna win this and I'm like I don't know man I think I think Jesse might have this it's like hey you know that I actually I actually played Survivor I'm like I know you all come on I know who you are so he was like I will buy you a shot if gabler wins and I'm like and I'll buy you a shot if he doesn't win and in the process we just started taking shots throughout the night anyway gabler wins and that place loses their Collective minds they could not believe what they were seeing much like Cassidy and Owen that was the loud that was the loudest I have cheered for a winner again be me but hold on hold on and so I get on my snap story I have my arm around Billy Garcia and we were just drunkenly talking to anyone that's following me on Snapchat saying it's Billy Garcia's fault that gaer won because he told me two hours ago that was going to happen Alex go ahead and I want to continue I don't I forget what the point I was trying to make but I was saying that was like the loudest I had cheered for a winner partially because like

14:43 Luke said of the funny factor of yeah like him winning I think I was I was texting a friend at the time and he was like oh cassy's got this like it's like it's not even going to be close right and then I'm like no hold on gaylor's got this and then Gab wins and he's like gab was the worst winner ever this is ridiculous I can't believe that I'm like all right well and that's where I have an issue with the larger fan base and it's so funny because the Facebook moms they loved Xander against Erica even though I felt like Erica did way better than Xander you know whatever the winner is the winner fine the Facebook moms loved Jonathan and they didn't like Maryanne this season the Facebook moms loved gabler even though I would say that gabler and Erica kind of did the same thing but the Facebook moms love him and they hate Erica meanwhile the Twitter fans loved Cassidy right and they put her on this pedestal of alltime robbed goddess or whatever for me she's a fine loser like she's not this I can't believe she lost Thing Luke where do you think this comes from the fact that they have now put Cassidy in this category that

16:03 You know people like maybe Dom or are in or things like that where they feel like oh man like that is actual highway robbery even though I don't think Domin is I don't think anyone is but well I mean I they I don't know I don't want to get into any political stuff no we keep yeah it doesn't I don't know I think yeah I don't think Cassidy is some like horribly robbed player I think I mean had Cassidy won who even remers 43 you know I mean it's probably like a bottom tier season I some people would say it still is but I mean gaer winning is so much more memorable than Cassidy winning I think it was just we were at the final three it was a gabone tier final three where none of them really to take it and you know the 50 something year old guy pulled it out somehow against players who maybe had more agency that's I don't know I know that's I was hoping that one of y'all would bring up gabone because I had gabone I had gabone in my head watching that watching this final three even though I felt like this final three per formed better at final tribal because

17:23 I think that suie performs the best in the gabone final traval because Sugar's not trying and Dr Bob is basically saying yeah I followed sugar here everyone is able to articulate their own games and they're all answering the questions well enough that the jury seems to be vibing with them but yes I do like that comparison Alex for you I as a gaer person but did you see Merit to a Cassidy or even a own when here or did you feel like okay once Jesse's gone it has to be gabler right I mean I see no real scenario where Owen wins like I love the guy he's a great person on the show but like he was just blindsided constantly so I don't think there's a real situation where he wins for Cassidy it's interesting because I feel like the edit definitely tries to portray her as this like strategic Mastermind was like always on the right side of the vote and like to give her game credit she definitely was and she like evaded getting voted out a good number of times but at the same time there's a couple times in the edit where she

18:44 CLA where she claims things that just like aren't really true and the biggest one is like in this finale where she's like oh yeah gaer isn't a threat gabler like does hasn't really done anything if I send gaer into fir making like he's going to be like nothing like that's not going to be anywhere close to give him like the Boost that he that he needs so I think when well back to your question I think when Jesse got voted out I was more just lik like devastated that's probably like one of the saddest I've ever been towards someone getting eliminated and I do think I had the same reaction like to you when I got to the final three I was like oh this is what's left this is what's left and so I want to I want to touch on this everyone tries to copy Jesse's gameplay because they consider him a great player such as vote out you're number one but I perceive it as he lost at the end of the day so if anything do the opposite of what he did I see what your point is I would say that I disagree with that only because he was probably always going to have to do fir making and let even if Cody is still there and when final immunity I don't think Cody is going to just take Jesse to the end I

20:04 Think that he would much like domond Wendell you're gonna have to put this person to you know have them do fire so I don't buy that I do agree though that you know the there's this perception that you have to vote out your number one in order to win and we've seen other cases where that's not true you could actually go to the end with your number one and still win the game but I yeah I dis does do you guys have any other opinions with that or do you would you say you agree I mean I think Jesse I mean it's a game of timing and I think I know people think he made a bad move voting out Cody at six I disagree I mean he had a punch ticket to final four he had two opportunities at four with immunity and fire he bet on himself and he lost but I still think that he made the right call at final six with taking out Cody I think the Spectre of JT and Steven still looms very large in most players brains and you no one wants to be the Steven at the end with the more Charming more outfront guy at the end and even if you were the Strategic Mastermind people are just going to pick the guy who has you know 10 out of 10 Charisma versus you so I think I think Jesse made the right call I also think Jesse made the right call

21:24 Even just like thinking through what happens if he doesn't do that in that case Cody probably gets his Idol back they vote out Carla at six and then Cody has a straight shot till final four and assuming they vote out Cassidy at four or at five Cody probably has the most likely chance of winning that final immunity Challenge and in that case I think Cody wins I think Cody beats anyone at final six so the idea of like people copying Jesse to like take out their number one I don't I Feel Like Jesse had a much better reasoning to voting out as number one than other people do like even in this most recent season with Charlie voting out Maria I don't even know if that was necessary because like Maria had burned so many bridges but you guys could talk about that in three days three days so we if we want to rewind to the beginning of the season I did feel like the pre un you know unlike 42 where I felt like the 42 premerge was a lot of fun I even felt like the 41 premerge was a lot of fun because it was it's Nostalgia 43 I thought the premerge dragged on and yes and this in the 26 days era

22:44 Of the show premerge doesn't last long but it lasted long enough for me to take a nap today because I because I got bored with a lot of the stuff that was going on I haven't taken a nap since I think ghost Island was the last season that I actually like okay I'm going to take a break from this because I really can't do it and I woke up during Meritor and obviously we talked about how they've gotten rid of The Hourglass they've gotten rid of Do or Die they've gotten rid of a lot of the things that people were really against in 41 and 42 and we they keep these am or they introduce these amulets is and I and I really enjoyed that I think I thought I froze I really enjoyed that in 42 there's something about this season for me that especially this being my second time it just still hasn't resonated with me and Seasons like bow watu and Edge Of Extinction were like that to me at first and then I like really grew to love both but specifically bow watatu so maybe if I watch 43 a couple more times it'll start to hit home Luke we're three Seasons into the new era of Survivor did

24:04 You check out during the season were there long period like okay I really just don't want to watch this week but I have to because of content or did you enjoy the ride no I always enjoy the ride I do think I mean this season had it kind of Spun its Wheels a little in the premerge I agree there are some votes that are pretty obvious like the NECA this the third episode where NECA goes out I mean you know that happening 10 minutes into the episode like there is basically no question and I think and I do I do I think I like the season more rewatching it but I think part of the problem with the pre merge is that a lot of the big characters are like all the fun is on Baka like there's not a lot of fun on the other two tribes I mean Cody keeps things in Co Cody keeps things fun at vessie Coco I guess it's sort of fun to watch goo just implode but by and large most of the fun is on Baka and they only go to tribal in the first episode so I think that actually hurts the entertainment value of the premerge a little bit I would have loved to have seen them go to a second tribal because I feel like any of the five of them could have gone including gabler and he had an idol so found his

25:24 Way out of the game right there well and my two favorite moments from the pre merge one is when gaer Ellie and Owen I think are sitting there and Ellie's trying to like fish for if his Idol is expired because she wants to go around making fake idols and gaer and Owen are very this is very transparent of what's going on and Ellie goes off and they had that conversation thought that was hilarious and then the Lindsay self-implosion episode it kind of came out of nowhere because we hadn't got much content from her and we hadn't gotten much content in that episode and then all of a sudden it's just like Lindsay is super paranoid and Lind is gonna be super paranoid for the rest of the episode and it kind of just in according to the player or what we're seeing it looks like they are caught off guard with how paranoid she is in the moment Alex are there any pre-merge moments scenes tribals that have St like stood out to you this time around I kind I do agree that I think Baka has like a lot of the entertaining parts and I do think a lot of this pre merge at least for me on this rewatch was kind of just like okay this is the buildup for moments that I know are going to come eventually

26:44 I don't know why but I think my like favorite really quick moment pre merge is when they vote out Justine not Janine but Justine right yes CA she's J with an e right and then in the next episode Dwight is like upset with Jesse and he's like so the island marriage is a little strange strained and Jesse's gonna be sleeping on the couch tonight I don't know why that was I don't know why that was just really funny but I did actually really like the Lindsay vote out particularly because like in the few episodes before because I was like trying I was trying to pay attention to her she like presents herself as this like really like strong really capable person and like I even got that from the first episode I was like oh yeah she's like she's going to do some stuff spr fires in her backyard right like she's the one that like prepared the most so when like the vote time comes time for them to vote and she's like okay wait this is too easy I'm beginning to like think some things up I was like I kind of get it from her perspective of like I know how prepared I am for this game so in my head if I was these players I would consider me a threat so they're going to vote for me

28:05 Work around but I want to touch on this one also Jesse would have lost my jury vote if he played someone's Idol on themselves some moves feel icky and unnecessary that isn't one of them though I don't feel like that's icky wa him playing Janine's Idol on himself play oh wait he get Idol back during that episode well he gets Cody's because Cody gives him the there's like the flashback where like Cody gives him the idol yeah and then he uses that Idol on Owen I believe and then Cody goes home whatever this comment is though I disagree mainly because it's not this isn't and everyone knows my opinions on certain players that played in 1920 and 22 this isn't that this is I like this is a solid move and he the fact that he stands up and shakes Cody's hand you know hey we're going to be meant about this and for a second when he lost fir making I didn't think he was actually gonna hug Cassidy I'm like wow you're really go but he does I don't think that's icky or unnecessary I feel like that's a flashy move which Natalie and Tony have taught us are the only way to win the game apparently and so he does that in front of everyone and I

29:25 I do feel like je Cody still would have voted for Jesse at the end because they were boys and he did respect the game did you all feel that was crossing a line it's all in the execution I mean you know that's you know you could totally see Russell doing something like that and when he's doing it he would be like gloating and laughing at them Jesse does it respectfully stands up to shake Cody's hand you know there's a world where I think that could be perceived as icky and gross mostly if r did it but the way Jesse pulled it off I think was perfectly within the bounds of the game and I don't think anyone would hold it against him on this jury yeah I think B well based from what I remember Jesse said something about like we're taking a look at the social contract and we're going to call People's Bluffs which is what Carla was saying like they were going to do so I feel like that was more a move against Carla than it was against Cody cuz Jesse could have just not played Cody's Idol and then still voted Cody out the vote still would have gone that way but I think it was just that it's that extra cherry on top that makes that move like so really cool

30:45 To watch question if you could give a subtitle to this season what would it be I for one really miss the subtitles that's hard because that's you can't really any subtitle that we give you would just be a joke like we can say oh gabone to electric bugaloo or something like that but like there's really nothing that you could you could pigeon hole a lot of these people into you know they're still in Fiji so you can't even go that route I think that the number titles are going to have I think the number of titles are going to stay until 50 you know whatever that theme is ends up being they'll put a title there for that but I can't think of a single subtitle that I could label this season for I will say I did see a Reddit post that like really funnily made like subtitles for each of the seasons I think 41 was like too many advantages like 42 was like too many but slightly less advantages and then 43 was like you'll love a lot of people on the jury okay all so that's did you have that's all I got yeah Survivor 43 best final 3 right there okay are we Dwight

32:05 Is one of the worst players to ever be on my screen no one cast second Chan fine I can't imagine having that strong an opinion on Dwight I know that's like weird what's wrong with DWI there was nothing wrong with Dwight all right so anyway as we navigate throughout this game it becomes very apparent that it's going to be the Jessie Show and this is the Jesse segment of this Jesse and we've talked a lot about Jesse the last few days when we get to the end I'm going to ask oh who do you think should be on 50 and a lot of people have said oh this person this person this person but they're probably going to get voted out first the problem with that logic and we've all we've all talked through it is because 50 probably is going to be a lot of those types of players someone like and we brought this up yesterday some are like Omer could last longer in a game because there is someone like Jesse there I feel like if you were to go into a game and you have to play against both of them I feel like more people would keep Omar around than Jesse but that's jumping ahead too much to the end of this what were your's thoughts on Jesse hopefully 1.0 do you feel like he was he is the game player

33:25 Of 41 through 46 or would you put other people above him just for you personally I mean I've seen other people make Arguments for like Carson or like d to be above him as far oh no as far as like as far as like player quality but I think Jesse played I don't want to say like the most perfect game because that like any player game could be like criticized but I feel like he played the game with the least mistakes like he was on the right side of the vote every time he was able to flip-flop and people were still trusting him up until he made the biggest move of the season to vote out his number one and then it was only at that point that people were like okay wait hold on this guy's like been playing the best game of the season we got to get him get him out so in my opinion especially because I have some lesser opinions on the seasons following 43 I do think Jesse still holds the title of best player of the new era but yeah Luke yeah I'd put him up there with d i'm gonna have to watch your 45

34:45 Thing to see takes no I love d i roll my eyes at Carson i r my at Caron yeah I was like oh no I love de yeah de great we got a deer here I love yeah I think I personally one of the things I value in the game just as like theoretically who I would vote for you know is control and I think if we're looking at people who controlled votes in 43 definitely Jesse in the new era it's I mean D1 so I got to give the edge to her as number one but I would put Jesse as a pretty solid number two best new era player and he's someone who I think you could plop him into almost any season in any era and I think he's at least making the merge I don't know he's very he's got a very good strategic mind he's very personable but he's not super outfront you know he's not like a huge personality that's going to like annoy people or dominate you know the island so yeah I think Jesse's a great player top two new era for sure yeah and I was trying to compare him to in my head today to omr and I feel like om Prem merge was very down here and it wasn't until

36:05 Around mid merg that he's really started to be out in the open and that's when he got clocked at six and I feel like Jesse got like clocked at five and then he plays his oh he plays the idol that is in his possession his Idol he plays his Idol and then at final four he you know he loses but I do feel like Jesse is one of these characters that how do I want to phrase this they're both good game players and good characters and a lot of the time we get either the coach who is just a fun character gameplay-wise okay we get game players who don't always come off as the best character and then we get our happy medium of something like Tony and winners at war or Jesse yes he was very mild mannered but I felt like that what made that's what made him so compelling because one we have his story but two when he's sitting there talking and he does have his vulnerable moments especially after he loses final four U the Final Four challenge I feel like it really made him relatable and I and I think that brings up the broader thing of this because I understand that

37:25 People there are a section of people that hate the SB story aspect of the new era for me I gave I gave it a big pass for 41 and 42 because those people had just come out of covid they had a lot of PTSD a lot of stuff that they needed to talk about and I understood it 43 on I don't I thought I was going to grow tired of it I still enjoy it I like being able to know what makes these people tick and why they are doing the things that they do and I think that it's a it's I think it's an editing trick on Productions part it's like okay we don't want you to actually hate these people even if they are villains so we're going to make you feel for them so that you understand why they are doing a Ab ABC all that Luke do you enjoy the storytelling of these players you know what happened oh God did I freeze okay the storytelling of these players you know learn their back stories are you good with it after 4142 yeah so I think the show got the balance right in 44 and 45 and 46 like it's gotten progressively better like I don't think anyone really has an issue

38:45 With the Saab stories now in 46 you know but watching this season I was like I as 41 and 42 were airing I was like a Saab story Defender you know I was like we've all been through Co you know like exactly what you said you know I like the sweeter gentler side of Survivor but coming back to Survivor in 40 coming back to this season and it is just backstory package after backstory package after backstory package I it was like Ryan as the first confessional this season instantly like Z story you know there are people who get them who now would never get them like Gio Ryan Janine like pretty every like minor character gets one it is I was like flabbergasted it was just like boom Ellie gets two it's insane I'm glad they kind of moved out of this moving forward Alex do you think that there's do you think that they have changed it do you think it's a more even balance past 4 43 I'm going to be honest I'm trying to remember like the difference between like 4142 and then like onwards

40:06 Cuz usually I like tune them out I'm going to be like so honest there's a couple that like oh that stick with me and I honestly do think that Jesse's was one of them because I feel like when I was like talking about the show with my friends when it was live before Jesse was like the Strategic Mastermind we would just refer to him as like you know the guy that was in the gang one time that would I wouldn't have known if they didn't give him like a sob story but I don't like it when it feels like they're trying to like force the sa story in like somebody wins a reward Challenge and they're like this was a really uplifting moment for me because in my childhood I was bullied and it's like what how does that M like respect but like what are we doing well it's go ahead Luke oh they just like really overdo it this season to the point where I like actually like enjoyed watching it cuz like it was like funny I mean you know what's like the music comes in the like sad like somber piano and it's like we're talking about Gio I'm sorry but he's like the 17th most popular player on this season no offense to Gio I love but like we're really just handing out like sad piano music to anyone in this season and I'm glad they kind of saved that in 44

41:26 For the bigger characters or the people who had you know like really interesting or tragic things happen in their past and not just throw out to everyone well and ironically when they did Jonathan's backstory yesterday during 42 and in his backstory to me and I called it abuse yesterday and it was you know oh yeah my dad to make wake us up at 3:00 in the morning and I know I was three years old and we had to walk up a hill and whoever lost had to do a three more times and they had this inspirational music for that one and it's like okay I feel like you once again just read the room Survivor and then there are other players I think Xander is an example he's like oh yeah I was a was it Xander or was it somebody from yesterday I was a fat kid and then I wasn't a fat kid it's like cool NE JDS like do you remember JD's from a few days yeah I was in the band and I had braces glasses yeah it's like okay wow what a what a SB story I ready to go let me tell you yeah so compelling so I do agree with both of you know 41 and 42 I got I didn't hate the fact that they continued it but I do think that it

42:46 Is it basically took the spot of all the advantages with just all the we get all the Back stories instead of all the advantages and I think that you what you said is correct that 44 onwards they do kind of level it out where we're not getting backstories for every single player and I and I do appreciate that the other part of this era that people felt like was going to go away after 42 was the 26 days me I'm not a 26 days Defender I don't I it doesn't bother me that they are still doing it if that makes sense do you and I obviously I know you know budgets and all that do you feel like 26 days as a whole from 41 through 46 does it hinder y'all's watching experience because for me it doesn't no I don't feel like we really as the audience notice a difference I don't know I still feel like we get good strategy good character stuff do I wish it was 39 days or even 30 days yeah but I'm completely at peace with 26 days and it is not something I really care about or even notice

44:07 At this point yeah Alex okay well the most recent 39 day season I've seen is KAG on I haven't seen anything like a after that until 41 so I don't have like the full idea of okay this is what a like super modern Survivor season is like on 39 days I just have like this is what it's like on 26 days and like I don't really see a difference like maybe you could make the argument for like oh the bonds that people have aren't going to be super duper strong at or at least as strong as they would be on 39 days but like I don't know you see these people like geter Uncle Xander or whatever what talking about his kids so like Jesse and Cody were pretty bonded you know I think we're getting I think we're getting the kind of the same thing next season we're going to get a showmance like and they I think are still together so like I don't think that the 26 days hinders it I think that it's one of these things that fans they just kind of it's one of those it's the hive mind thing where people feel like well we have to say it's 26 I don't want to point out why I actually don't like the show now so I'll

45:27 Say that it's because it's 26 days and things like that just say how you actually feel question I remember hearing Jeff hearing about Jeff saying he doesn't want any more villains on the show how do you feel about that I think that interview was taken out of context I don't think that Jeff was saying he didn't want villains I think he was saying he doesn't want people like Ben Browning or Shannon from Nicaragua or Russell hin I don't think that he and because soon as that season happened or soon as said that we got 46 where we did have villains we had villains on 46 and you know what happened when we got villains in 46 people on the internet got pissed off at them on the show it's like well I thought you guys wanted villains you can't you're picking and choosing now because if you don't like this person as the TV villain why were yall complaining about it two weeks ago when Jeff said I don't want villains which is not what he said so how do I feel about it I agree with him because I don't want Ben Browning or Shannon back either yeah it was 100% like do you know taken out of context for headlines and if you go back I think it was like on his podcast right that he mentioned that and he specifically said we would cast parvy and Boston Rob now in

46:47 A heartbeat if they were applying we would not cast Russell because he's an a-hole and they that's what they don't want they don't want Russell and lower you know and I think that is a perfectly fine threshold to have especially in the social media age when people lose their mind people are still mad at Carla and Jesse for not voting for Cassidy I mean you know the show's also invested now more than ever I think in taking care of the players's mental health after the game and yeah they just want to minimize people getting abused online by jerks on Twitter and Reddit and everywhere else you know does any either you guys know did that interview happen after 46 had finished rap or had finished filming I think it had to have because Jeff it was on Jeff's podcast I think the week before 46 started airing so okay so then my theory is that like they went through all of 46 and then Maria did the thing that everyone's talking about and I feel like in that in that moment je like after that happened Jeff was like okay there okay there's no

48:07 Way we're gonna like spin this so she looks good especially with Charlie being like completely devastated afterwards and I think he anticipated that like she was going to get seen as a villain like that and even with Venus with apparently what happened with like Ponderosa and people like just didn't like her so if she's seen as a villain then like other people are going to bully her online so I think that was Jeff's way of saying like we're not going to we're not going to cast people that are going to increase their odds of getting harassment online or anything like that but I but I will also make the argument that there is a villain in every season like in 44 like the most Kumbaya season like I've ever seen the entire time I was like I like Danny because I think he's like very like sneaky very conniving that thing 45's pretty kbo out too but Cura Bruce just like you're gonna you know people are like they don't cast villains anymore and I'm like there are plenty of New Era villains I mean q and Venus from 46 I think D's pretty Cutthroat I mean what is the definition of villain if the definition of villain is Ben Browning then yeah villains are gone

49:27 If the def definition of villain is someone who's going to play Cutthroat and make snarky confessionals which is that was my understanding of what a villain is in the context of Survivor then yeah villains have always been here and always will be yeah there are there are in this era that you can compare to nine out of the 10 people that were on the villains tribe in Heroes versus Villains and the one person that you can't compare them to they wouldn't cast anymore anyway so it doesn't it's once again and I know that I go on I know I come on here a lot and like call out because they are turning into Star Wars fans but it's true they it's so bothersome that they continue to latch on the things that are either taken out of context or things that don't actually matter all right that survivors never going to just cast 18 of the most likable people you've ever seen on your show because that doesn't make for compelling television and winners at War they had to portray people as negative just because Tony's going to win and everyone in his Alliance is you know we can't portray any of them like this oh we've got Wendell we can make him look like a jerk we can you know make Ben's moment with Sarah seem more you know passionate than it really is Ben's quitting

50:48 Because he doesn't want have to deal with sitting against people that or sitting and had been yelled at by everyone I don't buy into this I don't I think it's a flawed logic but whatever we're starting to wrap up I'm sorry like it's okay deep breaths deep breath at this point I've I've gone into this tangent for the last three or four days and I'm just I'm so tired of talking about we sto talking about 43 at this point so I know I know I do want to touch on the backlash that the SC and once again we're not GNA we're not going to go down the political route of this but a lot of the I'm not the biggest gabler person outside the show but here it seems like people once again oh well they only voted for him because of the whole military thing it's like the whole military thing didn't happen until after he had won and he sat it he said it while they're sitting there but they kind of just removed that from their brains oh they only voted for him because they were bitter towards Cassidy and Owen it's like once again I feel like you guys just use this word bitter when you don't have another word to use because nothing that I'm seeing in final tribal shows me that these people are overly

52:08 Pissed this is not vanatu this is not Fiji this is not Allstars or anything like that this is Survivor 43 and they're all fairly wholesome with their questions and they don't even really attack any of them even Owen why do you think that the season has or not the season this winner in particular has gotten so much backlash to the point and I know I started this you know asking a similar question but to me as just a Survivor fan who I try to remove what people are outside of the game gaer was not hatable at all I felt like he was a very rootable character either because he's funny or because he's an underdog or what have you why do you think there was such an uproar about this one I think like the show in the new era is more interested in telling the story of the Season overall rather than just the winner story I think you know a lot of Seasons Focus largely on the Journey of the winner and I that is not the case for most New Era Seasons look at 41 42 and 43 the winner is largely not the main character so I think it was the backlash was because they portr gabler as he was like

53:28 A kooky guy who you know survived the like all the big threats taking each other out and was the best option left at the end you know they could have edited gabler as like some strategic Mastermind but I don't think the show's interested now in like really lying about the winner and like trying to pump them up to be a bigger player and person than they really were so for me I think that's why Alex I okay I do think it the two big things were like one the edit that gaer did get because I don't know what happened in the editing room for this season I don't know if they just like didn't get a lot of good shots of gabler like playing the game or whatever or they thought other people were making moves but it really did feel like they edited they edited the season one way yeah I don't know and then they edited the entire season one way and then once it got to final Tribal Council like they brought in like a completely new editor and the stock just like completely shifts on his game and I think it sort of caused a little bit of like Whiplash like to the general audience

54:49 And the other big thing is I think the fact that he was up against Cassidy who as you go back to the edit was like in the Forefront a lot of times her name was being brought up a lot of the times and I feel like generally a good amount of audiences will root for like the young woman who's like the badass of the Season or something like that so when she loses to like this old guy who's portrays like the cook the entire time and the edit doesn't really spend a lot of time being like okay these are the alliances I was in these were the people I talked to make sure I survived this vote these are like the reasons that people didn't give me a vote it comes off badly I guess to them or it leaves like a bad taste in their mouth of like our fan favorite lost to like this dude well and it's clear too that like they very clearly like Survivor production thought Jesse should have won this season like I can just imagine them like the production team at final six and they're like okay Jesse's going to win and if Jesse doesn't win Cody's gonna win and if Cody doesn't win Carla's gonna win and we can all we can live with that result

56:09 And then they probably get to final three and they're like okay well Cassidy's going to win and we can edit That Into You know we can do something with that and then gabler wins and it's like I to be a fly on the wall like behind the scenes when gabler won I would I would kill to see how they react CU even in the preview for 44 that aired during the finale they're like they basically like imply that like this the 43 sucked and they're like hey stay tuned cuz next season's going to be great and it'll be really fun and exciting and we promise please keep watching like you can tell it's almost like desperate they're like don't leave like next season's good so and it was and it was give us another give us another chance next season we show double the amount of confessionals for the winner it'll be better I just think this is why we have two seasons a year sometimes you get a winner that doesn't resonate and that wasn't great it happens occasionally it happens that's why we have two seasons a year Alex Final thoughts on Survivor 43 okay I think the one I think the one thing I like didn't mention that I think really helped the season like traj up upwards for me was cuz like I told you before like in the back of my mind at the beginning of the season I was like oh yeah G's got this just you guys wait

57:30 Like kind of as a joke and then it started becoming more and more serious throughout the season I think at that point when I was like still relatively new to like Survivor terminology I was aware of what a decoy winner is or was and so I think once Jesse started gaining like more and more momentum like very slowly I was like oh okay so Cody's going to be the decoy winner and then like Jesse is going to be the actual winner okay I think I think this out and then Cody gets voted out was like oh boom proves it right there and then Jesse gets eliminated I'm like wait a minute who's left and then it's gabler and I feel like Cody was the decoy winner to Jesse who was the decoy winner to G like it's this like bra but I don't I mean if they did it on purpose like good for them even if they didn't like that's the way like it was viewed in my head and it kind of just wrapped the season up in a nice way for me and while this might piss some people off I like have all the seasons ranked and I think I have like 21 or so Seasons that I've ranked watch 43 is fourth on my list the only the only Seasons that are higher are

58:50 I think Kagan Exile and Pearl Island and that's it so you have this above Heroes of villain all right that I'm not going watch I haven't watched Heroes of villain I'll let you know all right thank god Luke thought on Survivor 43 I'm so fun I chose or I'm so glad I chose this season to rewatch for this because it was so much fun honestly same 43 shot at my rankings rewatching this I like it more than 44 45 41 it's at least middle of the pack it's super fun and I don't know even if you don't like the winner you got to think about the journey and what's not to like there's a lot of really fun strategy there's a really I think one of the best casts of the new era maybe second only to 46 and I don't know it's just it's just it's super fun and I don't know it was great so I am gonna I'm going to disagree with both I mean I don't hate the season obviously but I do think through three seasons of the 40s is it is my least favorite and it's nothing like actually wrong with it you know I'm G to give it a 3.75 out of

1:00:10 Five it's going to end up at number 20 it's GNA end up at number 26 on my list it's going to be in between Survivor 41 and Game Changers the DVD question I would say that yes either the final six or you switch someone out with Noel yeah I was gonna say I could see you I could see you switching out Owen for Noel okay yeah and then final question Alex if you have to pick two people from the season to come back for 50 who would it be oh okay I think they're gonna bring that Cassidy just cuz the fan base for her is like massive and she's already been on Challenge USA so like J already has the like Extra TV experience that she might need and like I mean it's got to be either Jesse or Cody right to bring back the 50 this is just your personal opinion this I okay that was my personal opinion and then I said it as if like I need you to agree with me so yeah it's C and then either Jesse or Cody whoever they're able to get Luke well Jesse's like the biggest Survivor 50 lock of all

1:01:31 Time so I'll go I'll go with him I think he'll still have gas in the tank and I think he'll he's pretty likely to do well my second one I would go with Owen I think I'd like to see him with the experience of having played the game I do think that we could have like a good strategic run from Owen and thought he was a really fun narrator on the show and I would love to see Owen back for me yes Jesse's a lock I would say outside of Jesse probably Carla you know I know that you know as the merge hit she her character did kind of fizzle a little bit but she was still looked at as a threat at that final six which means that obviously we're not seeing everything but if they're saying it that means it's probably true it's the Alexis Jones effect of everyone saying that Alexis that she's the biggest threat we're not seeing it but it's still there I think Carla kind of falls into that category post emerge as far as we don't see all of it but we are still being told it so Jesse Carla both of y'all thank you so much for taking the time to do this has been a lot more fun than I thought it would be like the season

1:02:51 But this I knew this was going to be fun you know L's great to link up with you again the first time in like two years Alex thank you for coming on for palow and this Luke what do you have going on in your channel in the near future well I took the week off but I'll have some really fun videos coming up the next few weeks I'm doing best boot orders and worst boot orders so little sneak peek exclusive right here okay but yeah it'll just keep chugging along every Sunday around 10 or 11 Pacific Time new video oh it's oh that means Game of Thrones is done perfect I can go off and go watch that but thank you all thank you to everyone in the chat y'all we've got three days left and then I won't have to watch Survivor again until September so that'll be fun we will see you guys on the other side thank you