Survivor Fiji Review

0:00 And we are back with day 14 of Survivor 46 and 46 just finished watching Survivor Fiji I have always had my thoughts on the season depending on what we're talking about I can be very positive and very negative about this season and so that's why I had to bring on the Ultimate Survivor Fiji fan gorthy of Silent P silent podcasts and inside Survivor G will talk more about what's going with inside Survivor this summer but Gia thank you for coming back after 42 and 42 I want to go into this saying yes I know that you are the Fiji fan like you I don't think that there's anybody in this community that knows anything about Fiji that doesn't know that Gia loves Fiji yes we're going to get into a lot of the bigger things later but what is about this season that has withstood the test of time for you as I can still sit here and say so I think that like for me personally like so there are I think in the grand scheme of Survivor like from

1:20 Season 1 to season 46 right like there is a strong connection to me to a lot of the older Seasons because those are the seasons that I grew up with so while we have a lot of new school players that I love and adore in Seasons that I think are incredible there's something really personal to me about the shows like the seasons that I have personally grew up on and Fiji was one of the seasons that really stuck to me because primarily one of the big reasons was that I feel like I related a lot at the that time in my life to the final three that we got but also looking back at it I kind of feel like Fiji is like a season that got better over the test of time because I think if you're reading it in a lens where we're advocating for diversity and a lot of like the change makers in the Survivor Cannon Fiji has a lot of first it's one of the most diverse seasons of the old school era it's tied with Cook Islands and that's about it's the first season to have the idol in its current format it's the first season to have a successful idol play in that current format and also

2:41 The first season with a unanimous winner and the only season with an all black final three or final two so but also on like a personal level as someone I think I was this was in 2007 so I was 12 when this season AED I believe and for someone that was really figuring out like my racial identity and at that time the school I went to was primarily white that it was very empowering to see black players work together while also be self-interested in a game of strategy which we'll definitely be talking about here and because I didn't watch maresis in the real time Earl is actually the first black player I've ever seen when a television show like this so it was it's very special to me and there were a couple Seasons when I was older like by older I mean like late teens early 20s that I went back and rewatched after like not watching for like almost a decade just to see if I still liked the season like I remembered that I liked this season when I was young and that I was a really big fan of like Earl and dreams Cassandra ya man like there were players that really stuck with me over the season Seasons which I can't say about

4:01 Every season but then I was like well will I still like it because I think we know that you know some of the shows some of the contestants that were quite popular in the early 2000s would not necessarily Fly today but I rewatched Fiji I was probably in I want to say it was it was either like I was 19 like right on the custom of my 20s or in my early 20s like 21 22 I rewatched FG in full to see if I still liked it and I just feel like I connect with it even more as a black woman as somebody that had went through some social like difficulties like social ostracization similar to the what players like Cassandra and dreams experience this is just like a show that really connected with me and this season in particular connects with me and I think that you know obviously a lot of us are talking about what type of players we'd like to see on Survivor 50 when it comes up and I think there's an obvious choice for who from this season would come on but I think there are some other really good candidates that warrant a return if only to recognize the great accomplishment they made on their season no and I absolutely

5:21 Agree with most of what you said I will say and I want to go to this comment actually because I just talked about Cook Islands last night I feel the game play is pretty much the same except for in one season you have the super Idol and in this season you have you know the regular Idol I don't I didn't see much variation in gameplay this season in Cook Islands Cook Islands wasn't actually a pagonging i to took out every single person going so there was no real you know dynamic gaml and then this season yeah it's basically you know once Michelle goes home The Four Horsemen or three of The Four Horsemen get picked off and then we get to a more compelling final six but I don't think that Cook Islands has their gameplay moments are not as far as yeah cast I think that Cook Islands and Fiji both run into the problem of just a very lame pre merge as far as cast for the most part there are standouts for both and we're going to talk about a couple standouts from this season yesterday we basically just said oh yeah it was cowboy and that's basically it this

6:42 Season I think one of the things that has really going for it is the fact that they did have a quit before the show aired so that they didn't have to do race Wars part two yeah I think that really saved it but what doesn't save it is the hav versus half knots and I want to get your thoughts on that because I feel like when people do [ __ ] on the season I feel like that is one of the main things they talk about is the twist really screwed with a lot of stuff we had one tribe who won every single immunity and won every Challen reward challenge minus one both at the pre- Swap and Swap and then we had another one where they just get completely decimated and all their Camp life is either them l because they can't do anything like lying on the ground because they can't do anything else or rocky being a piece of [ __ ] so what as the Fiji fan do you think there is Merit to the hav versus Have Nots twist do you think it could have been done better or is this the only way that we can actually have this twist is that if that makes sense yeah I think that there would be I want to let me go through a couple things because I feel like there was a lot of stuff that was covered in what was just discussed in the comment below

8:02 I do disagree about Cook Islands being a better season than Fiji I think that it's got a better reputation than Fiji but I also think that the honestly I think the racial division twist is worse H like give us a worse outcome than like what they were hoping to achieve there because as Survivor players we think about like you know you a lot of the times especially in the earlier Seasons you have like a strong there's good reason to want to stick with your original tribe well as we get to you know the tribe swaps the Mutiny we get in and I don't blame the players for this so like people like some of my favorite players are on Cook Islands right like I'm a big Candace fan love Penner obviously you can't talk about like people who's inaugural season were Cook Islands without talking about parv but they started on an all-white tribe so their season like so it makes sense as a Survivor player why they would want to work with the other starting players on their season that were also all on an all white tribe so like I don't blame them

9:22 For that but that's kind of the issue we run into in Cook Islands with the come that happens I think the I the I2 the is it I2 I think that is kind of like striking lightning in a bottle that we got this really interesting Underdog Story but you can't really compare the gameplay of the two in my opinion because of the super Idol right like I think Ule is a fantastic winner he's one of my favorite winners and he played a magnificent game but that super Idol it you can't talk about the season and its outcome without the super Idol coming into play I don't think it made him Untouchable like a lot of people did but it definitely was a big had a big impact on the season which is why they changed the format after first couple times they did it where the super Idol made that Idol holder you know Untouchable until four yeah so and so I want to kind of make that clear and again like I you know Cook Islands is in no way to me like a Bad cast or a bad season I don't like it as much as I like Fiji I think

10:42 That the way they did the halves haves not twist it was just poorly executed I it was very clear that they kind of threw it together as a result of the quit CU they don't really it's not really framed well but they said you know like they spend like pretty much the first three days living together on the same Beach and so you know we miss a lot of those Dynamics but they're basically like we're just not having a tribal council the first three days to keep up with the schedule because the because of the quit Melissa mcnalty Queen Rob do or whatever the internet says I think there are ways to make the halves have not twist work if it wasn't so blatantly obvious I think one of those things you know was you know like if they had given them more like there was more of a rotation or if we only did like let's say instead of one tribe being the have tribe and getting everything and the have not tribe getting next to nothing you need to have some type of advantage in each area like okay if you're on the half not tribe you don't

12:02 Have you know necessarily like all of the workings all the works that happened on the half tribe but you have the opportunity to get the idol like only the have knots got an idol on there or something like that I think it could also work as like something a little closer to the merge where maybe like only one or two people are like the halves of that episode like you have one or two people in within each tribe that get like the halves portion so you're rewarding fewer people and then the Have Nots are like you know made up of the players that have less and there's more of them so it's more of an interesting outcome I think that there are ways to work around it might even work better in like the merge where we have like one or two halves and then everybody else the people that are not safe are like the have knots in that situation I there's definitely ways to work around it I just don't think that production really thought through what having such large disparities would do like even with you know okay if you want to have one Camp be this lavish Camp right at least give the other tribe their basic necessities their Basics nothing give them water give them

13:23 Food like let them start let them start with more than what they did I think the big problem here is that yeah everyone one has everything plus stuff that has never been on the show before and the other tribe has stuff that even people in Borneo had like yeah we it's such a big difference even just like okay like let's take out like the all the extra food they got right because they had a ton of extra food take out all that let them live in a nice camp with like the hammock or something like that you know what I'm saying like take out the things that are really driving the wedge between why one tribe is winning everything and the other tribe is like barely keeping it together so I think that would be a huge difference in the game I think there are several ways and I mean like we could spend an hour just yeah just talking about how they could have done this better this twist I don't think it's like the worst twist we have ever gotten on Survivor history and I also don't think that it's like this if they wanted to ever try it again I think there are ways that they could improve it and actually make it more interesting

14:43 However I think that what we did got get from the halves versus halves not twist is because the outcome of the challenges were more predictable we get a lot of focus on like the inner workings of each tribe and that becomes important as we get further in the game and I wish that's part of the reason that I wish that was part of the storylines that production focused on more when they were editing this season because there's something really remarkable about us getting an edit and I want to say it's like episode three or four where dreams and Cassandra are specifically edited to be on the bottom of the tribe right like they are the two outliers on the tribe that is winning everything and is the reason that they haven't been voted out yet is because they're on the tribe that are winning anything we also get this amazing confessional from dreams I believe who tells everybody who tells the camera tells the confessionals that the minute they get the opportunity Cassandra and dreams are going to flip they say this so early on before the four horsemen is formed before the merge boots before all of that and that's such great foreshadowing for what happens later in the

16:03 Season because this is like really remarkable that there is like what I think is an incredibly impressive Underdog Story there similar to the I24 and how they were down in the numbers and came up dreams and Cassandra in particular were at the bottom of their tribe after losing Gary and lyanna their really like each other's only support system in there and then they're in the final they end up in the final three and everybody that has mistreated them over this period of time are on the jury and you could even say something similar to Earl he was in a better social position but he started on the tribe that was losing everything I think that's a very hard thing to overcome and Earl as a player that had never seen the show before to only to become the first unanimous winner of the show's history that is so impressive that's incredible and the show didn't emphasize that enough they did not like give these players their just does here and I think that's really tragic on the show's part because when you re when you're watching this season focusing on the finalists I would even throw ya man in there but I think like the edit does give Yao

17:23 Man a lot of credit it becomes like a very remarkable story that's being told here and we haven't even gotten to like the all black Alliance yeah we haven't gotten to yeah like that's not something that we were shown but it's something that we know from there and I wanted to talk to you about that because you were the one that actually put me on to that two years ago and I want to touch on that a little bit they're I'm watching The Reunion make sure that I don't like start China they're bring up the rocky Anthony thing right now and that's one of the my big issues with this season is you know we talked about last couple of Seasons last couple of days with the oh yeah recruits and everything and like and you can tell they're trying to cast not even they're not even trying to cast archetypes at this point they're trying to cast characters from Seasons past yes and the prime example is Rocky where it's like oh he's from Boston who do we else do we know that you know it's from Boston oh we just casted Yao man we had we just had Cowboy you know and cowboy was you know this game changer we you know we just it's a lot of the casting especially with I would say Guatemala until now isn't the best but there are always you know that you know you catch lightning in a bottle and you do find people like

18:43 Dreams like Yao man like Earl but we end up with other people like Rocky and Lecy yes as someone that is a self-proclaimed blur or I was more of a blur when this show was airing so and seeing basically my proxy at that point getting bullied by this Jabron who walks with a hump in his back and but he comes off as such a tough guy but I'm sitting here today watching it and I'm like I don't I'm not a fighter I know I'm a rugby player and that's pretty much it but I could take Rocky this at this point like there's but he's such a he's such a smuck and I was glad that dreams put him in his place during the one challenge because he's awful and it's so funny because when we get to final tribal Rocky's question is not that I was expecting Rocky to be one of the more bitter pissed-off people fact he's one of the nicer people on candre [ __ ] but she's a woman and Rocky was never going to vote for a woman anyway because of other things he had said during the season I won't touch on that but we get we get people like Rocky we get people like ly who more than once brings up the fact that she really doesn't want to be there

20:04 And it just and it sucks because yes we get Earl who had never seen the show and he you know he actually plays the right the right way whatever the right way is he plays the game we have people like Alex no matter how much I don't like Alex at final tribal Alex is playing the game from when you brought up dreames and Cassandra he was one of the ones who was like hey don't you guys think it's a little bad I guess to antagonize these two because if we merge they're going to flip because we just sat here and treated them like [ __ ] the entire time and Stacy is not buying it Boo's not buying it Edgardo is the only other person that really was like yeah we probably should treat them a little bit better But we run into a lot of situations from 11 to now where it's like there's a lot of people that don't know how to play or even know what the game is and then we have a fair few that understand what's going on and watching this final tribal all I could think about was the US Traer season one because in the US Trader season one these people didn't know they couldn't comprehend lying and they couldn't comprehend how a game would is played like this and at that Reunion where they just treated C like [ __ ] the entire time yeah

21:24 That's the kind of vibe I got here where it's like these people could not handle the fact that dreams Cassandra and Earl but mostly dreams Cassandra were out there wheeling and dealing in the way that they did and I'm going to talk about both their games later but go ahead let's call it what it is dreams and Cassandra played the [ __ ] out of their tribe like beautifully yeah they definitely benefited from the fact that the their tribe was the one that was winning obviously they only had so many rounds before they would have gotten voted off had they been on the losing tribe but dreams and Cassandra were no by no means and I say both of them because one of the I think dreams is kind of like you know he is one of the big change makers of this season right he's one of the we're gonna talk about dreams because I've got season but on my most recent rewatch of FJ the thing that stuck out to me the most was how well insulated Cassandra was from the tribe swap on her social game was impeccable right like absolutely incredible she was I would argue that when we're talking about The Syndicate Alliance it is her and Earl that are at the center of everything keeping the people in their respective

22:44 Groups together like there's no Syndicate without Stacy who was connected to Cassandra dreams probably would be bouncing back and forth a lot more if it wasn't for Cassandra and Earl is bringing in Michelle Earl is bringing in ya man and we also of course have the all black Alliance in there so I think it's actually like a it's not to dismiss either of them as like they got lucky it's such a big disservice to the game that was going on in there in real time and it was and they were incredible I'm I'm such big fans of both of them Earl obviously one of my favorite Survivor players of all time I and honestly I think that I'm to answer this question here we saying I can see why the other players hated dreams but what the heck did Cassandra do to earn so much animosity from the jury mainly Alex and lcy well I think it was very clear for anybody watching that several of these jury members were intoxicated that's my answer right there Alex and Ley were also though there's just several moments in here where I think players like Alex and Lecy thought that they were going to be the ones to be victorious at the end like they overestimated their own intelligence and value within the game they overestimated

24:05 How much power they had this Alex was the answer in touchy subjects for who is mistakenly thinking they're running the game so he is not the Mastermind player that he believed himself to be so for them to in my opinion the problem with dreams and Cassandra in their eyes is that two people that they thought were not as intelligent or not as good of game players are now getting rewarded by at the very least at the at the absolute worst they're getting third place but because Earl was our unanimous winner they're actually both second place they're both tied for Runner UPS so they and I don't think that it's a happy coincidence that dreams and Cassandra were made it as far as they did I think they were both really great strategists and really great players the fact that they didn't win means they probably are not getting their due in the edit but from the little moments that we see including like Anthony dreams was trying to find a way to save Anthony because he didn't he didn't want Anthony to go he liked Anthony it wasn't something that he could do and so dreams vote for Anthony is the only time a black player voted for another black player to Le to get voted out of the game this season

25:25 Because he knew that he couldn't do that and he'd be setting himself up as a Target if he did vote with Anthony to take out Rocky so I think that like there's a lot of really great strategic moments in here particularly from the final three but in several other times as well andam did what Anthony couldn't do with the Erica vote Yes dreams voted for Anthony when Anthony could not oh Anthony did not vote for er for Erica yes also I just think that like I think Anthony is probably like our first self-named blur in this in the Survivor Cannon we probably have some other players in the in like the Survivor universe that could also kind of fit that archetype but Anthony owns him being a nerd I also identify as a blurt especially where reality TV comes in but I think that you know even though he was our last pre-jury member even though he did not out he did not Outlast one of his main antagonists of this season and some other people like that I would certainly have loved to see go before him but I don't think that means that we can't appreciate him as a character he was he was in

26:45 My opinion professionalist the best narrator of the Prem merge he was fantastic confessional something very underrated he was so funny he and he didn't give up and that's not something thing that everybody in this season can say so I think that you know placement does not indicate that there is not something of value here and I think Anthony is a huge part of why I love Fiji so much I think that even if he wasn't on the jury he is such a valued member of this cast and someone I would love to see play again y'all when I started when I started planning for this G was the only person no G was the first person I texted and said hey I'm doing this again Fiji and she's like of course Fiji it's like okay cool so I I love your I love your passion for this and I want to go back a little bit to the question about this besides the fact that they were drunk I feel like Cass cassand talking about cassandraa this time around I pay I try to pay attention you know every time I do a rewatch of a season I try to pay attention to players that I didn't pay attention to in the past this time I paid attention to her Alex

28:05 And I someone else but Cassandra she not only wins touchy subjects she sweeps touchy she doesn't get a question wrong on that which is a testament to the fact that she has a good read on what's going on in the game that challenge yes it's also designed for people to show the pecking order but the pecking order still ended up with her and Y no her in dreams as the final two of that challenge and she got every question right so she was perceiving things the right way when Alex is on his last leg she's the one that goes out to him and just kind of sits and chills with him yes that could have been game that could have been her as a person but she did extend not a game Olive Branch but she did at least go and sit and entertain him and that is something that you know I feel like people kind of bury because is an older season but it's something that if it was a newer season people might actually put a lot of stock into when you talk about Sandra would be getting fan edits we'd be calling her mother on Twitter like she is she is mother let us not Mist I was I was getting V vibes from her I think that if this season was airing in the modder season the people would be eating this

29:26 Edit up like they would be eating this season up with the players that end up in the final four and we be getting thought think pieces about why this is the greatest final four that we have ever gotten I and I agree with you I think that because and I'm glad that no one said that she wrote Earl's C Co unless I'm pretty sure that no one said she wrote Earl's CT Tales finale because they do understand that she was doing her own thing dreams well I want we're this is going to be the dreams set section of this what might which might take a while I tweeted out earlier yeah dreams is this very chaotic play like a lot of the stuff that dreams does this season he probably shouldn't do I'm talking about strategy wise he probably shouldn't do but he always ends up on the better side of it and then he can just he kind of just goes from there and every time like especially watching this time the player that I kept thinking about where it's like oh yeah a chaotic player that can always you know find their footing after making a mistake or not making a mistake is Tony 1.0 because cause Tony and Kagan was doing a lot of [ __ ] that like was overly chaotic for no reason and somehow he was able

30:46 To manage to get through that game without you know without going home and dreams this season he's doing a lot of [ __ ] where it's just like what the hell are you doing like why are you know why are you voting out Michelle here and you know he would give even when he would give his reasoning behind it's like I that I guess it kind of makes sense but cool I do feel and going back to Cassandra I do believe that dreams probably would have tried to save Alex at the Alex vote if candra hadn't gotten him on her side and said hey we're not we're not doing this dreames is such a compelling character we're not we're going to touch on the truck deal at some point during this but before the truck deal I feel like dreams was playing a very chaotic strategic game that has kind of just been buried through history because of the truck deal what are I mean everyone Buckle in what are your thought on dreams pre truck deal we'll get you the truck deal in a second the truck PR truck deal thoughts on dreams yes dreams is again one a Earl favorite player from this season right like he's the winner he's a great Confessional As well one of my favorite winners of all time actually only tied was Sandra right like only

32:06 Only tied with Sandra is he like not like my confirmed favorite winner all right because like I can't in good conscience put anyone above Sandra so they are both like tied for me for my favorite winners but dreams is one of my favorite Survivor characters of all time and I think one of the things that I love so much about him is that he is very intelligent he is very street smart but it doesn't always come across in a way that makes people think that there's like a method to his Madness and I think you can say the very same thing about Tony 1.0 so I definitely see the comparisons between the two but even like you brought up the Michelle ye vote dreams has gone on record to say that vote was you know they made it seem like he made that decision right there at that Tribal Council to vote out Michelle ye and why even though I hated seeing her go at this moment even though it was so sad to see her get voted out here it actually makes a lot of sense for dreams to have made that vote because he wanted to be more integrated to The Syndicate and a more essential member and yes he did have the all black Alliance going for him but with Michelle gone his place in that Alliance is more solidified and I think that's

33:27 A very smart very risky move but it came at the perfect time perfect time because they can't do anything about the fact that he voted out Michelle there because like they need him both sides need him and that's the beauty of what he did that's not something that every player can do and get away with but I think he has like this incredible backstory he's somebody that I think like his upbringing really struck a chord with me especially as we're talking about kind of like what later turns into the social disparities between dreams and by peroxy Cassandra with the rest of their halves tribe is that he was with a lot of players that I'm kind of paraphrasing what he was saying but they did not know what it was like to struggle like his upbringing was very different from the rest of his tribe and even like him living at the camp even before the him being on the half tribe he was kind he was fine with the conditions that they were brought with because like he's lived in worse situations and I think that's like a very understated part of his character and something to like really highlight because we don't get a lot of characters like that anymore we get a little more of them in

34:47 The new era but someone that's really candid about like their like their upbringing their like how they grew up and some of the struggles that they went through that I think made him a more well-rounded and more effective like Cutthroat player when he needed to be but I think also like how he presents himself you know like I'm thinking of like his more comedic moments like saying you know like a not knowing how to say Soliloquy or we know he knows what he's saying but it doesn't always come across as like oh this is somebody that we need to watch out for in this game but he was on the right side of the boat and you can't really tell me that there are any that all you can't tell point to like a major moment in Fiji that dreams was not a part of in some way like yes the Edgardo Blind Side him going with dreams all going back and forth the car deal Yao man trying to y man saving himself by playing the idol you know like all of the all of the big moments in there all of the big blind a lot of the big blind sides in this season are in some way contributed to dreams actions whether

36:07 In a minor way or a major way no I outside of Earl and ya man dreams is the biggest character on this on this season and I would say outside of Earl dreams is the best confessional of the entire season because and I talked about this yesterday and also talked about it in marus you know Shawn is the narrator of maresis in my head and he and Cook Islands until Nate Goes Nate is the best confessional in that season dreams because and it's because the three of them come off so genuine like it doesn't seem like they're trying to play a character for the camera they're just trying to play themselves for the camera this is who I am I'm going to say these things and I'm going to you know not say the right words whatever but it doesn't matter CU I'm just trying to talk as my genuine self and I don't feel like that was the case with a lot of people here specifically Lecy where it's like a lot of her confessionals I just roll my eyes at it's like okay this is she's very much trying to appeal to the camera dreams is such a compelling character because yes at face value and what we are being presented he's looks like any anyone that works watches this season for the first time is going

37:27 To perceive dreams as a fool which is not the case like dreams is not a fool Almost 100% of the time in the season I think the only time that I kind of was like okay what are you doing is when they're One Tribe and he's in the tent talking about oh yeah who what's everyone what's everyone's race in here it's like all right yeah you might want to shut up about that but like everything else I got you know him not caring that Stacy didn't want to help him with the coffee it's like all right screw you like I'm just going to drink it like this I'm going to teach myself I this is kind of jumping the gun here by however long we go tonight but dreams is a character that like I feel like at some point or another between 14 and 40 should have at least been in the real big running as far as someone to come back because I do feel like he was such compelling the season person on the season and I think the only reason they didn't is because of the truck deal and because Fiji has kind of been buried to time because Survivor whether it's a production or whoever just hate this season for some reason and they're wrong for that I just I'm going

38:47 On to say production is I know you I know you agree and G I've known you for four years at this point and every time that I discussed Fiji with you whether it was on my old Network on this network on your network I've always tried to give Fiji a chance because I want I want to love it because it has one of my favorite winners ever and a couple of my favorite characters I think the problem that I will always have with Fiji is it's very similar to palao and well let's just go with PL where once the Allure of a season of a tribe being completely decimated wears off it's like okay yeah I'm just I'm literally just watching this to watch these people suffer for this many episodes and then things kind of change at the merge but the other thing is and what always bothers me is that final tribal oh yeah because final tribal is awful but the final tribal is awful and like I will say I say though that and you know usually I am not like I there's no excuse for the final tribal it's awful like what those players had to go through however like it was a bitter jury not bitter

40:07 In that they voted for the wrong person obviously I would never you know Earl is a perfect winner in my eyes but I just don't think that like you know they're upset because they didn't get their way on a show about other people making sure that you don't get your way and I think the fact that we have these such great underdogs in Fiji it is Fiji is a success story to me and like it is a underdog story about how these people that came from really tough circumstances in the game were able to outt outlast outplay all of their competition many of which were treating them like worse like worse than most players are going through even in like a social game you know like they went through a lot on this season and they still came out on top and I just think that's incredible I agree I agree that the final three and it by themselves are they're perfect I think this is a very good final very good final four I can feel with I can deal with the fact that the jury is bitter because the result of the season I think the best three players made it to the end whether they like it or not whether the jury likes it or not I should say

41:28 As much as I love Yao man as a character he is and you know this is another character that I remembered years and years afterwards as well that you know he's a very unique character especially for how far he makes it in the game and kind of knows where he needs to prove his strength at the very beginning because how the oldest men are and women on the tribe are usually the first to go but I think that Yao you know ya man's also a really compelling character in that way too so I still think this is a great season if Yao man ends up winning as well however I will say that another thing that I noticed on my last rewatch of Fiji is that Yao man is a great character but not necessarily the strategist that people give him credit for one of the things that I really noticed particularly when he was on Ru and Ru was losing everything was that we heard a lot from like mookie we heard a lot from Rocky we heard a lot from Earl about the like potential options for who was going to go home we rarely heard from Yao man about like what his thoughts were on the strategy purpose he made up for it in other ways like proving his

42:48 Value to the tribe finding Idols and really playing and like being able to be really perceptive about like playing the idol when he needed to play it but I don't you know but like I think that there are ways that Yao man himself would even have admitted that he got outplayed in certain ways and that's not to say that he's a bad character no he just that's why he didn't win yeah I think that ya man is one my favorite ya man moment today watching was when mooki and Alex are like man we're going to get him we're going to call him out on it and he's just like h no it's fine you guys can know it's not a it's not a big deal and they're just standing there like well I guess we'll just go [ __ ] ourselves then and then they're mad at Alex and mooki for blackmailing Yao man yeah they don't even care that Yao man has the idol it's just like nope I can't believe they would they would pick on poor ya man like that but like the way that scene is shot yam is just like H it's fine it's it's whatever and I think that's he's I don't want to use adorable because it comes off as like infant condescending but like he is he is a such a fun character this season

44:09 To the point it's like a sitcom like level timing on there you know like yeah these players think that you know have just gotten the rug ripped from underneath them they like this is their last play they're able to they're able to rip the you know they're like they're at the bottom now they're not used to being at the bottom they're going to do this devious move about telling people that y man has the idol and it just does not work for them if anything it makes them so much more like disliked than they already were with some of these people so oh my God I was just I it's I'm glad you brought it up because it's also like a very underrated but very funny moment it's such a it's such a funny moment I actually lost it similar to losing it in a different way when I saw pen with his wife yesterday in Cook Islands I lost it just laughing my ass off today where it's like Yao man just does not care that you two people just sat there and like the way the scene is shot is they're sitting they talking about it Cassandra and Stacy are listening to it they said oh [ __ ] we got caught let's run back to tell Yaman before they do and then it cuts to commercial I have Paramount Plus without commercial so it like cuts and then it cuts again and they're running and it's like we're going to get him we're going to get him it's like

45:29 No I don't care I really I really don't and I understand and once again we're gonna touch about this at the end of this I understand why ya man was brought back obviously oh yeah truck deal now we know we know what you know what actually happened but we're going to first we're going to touch on what happened in the edit and then I'll let you talk about what happened in real time yes so you know in the edit everyone has seen this season we all know what happens and this is another reason that I say that dreams played a very like if dreams had done this and played even 10 years later it would have been looked at as a masterful move because he would have played poor ya man but it's not portrayed that way and I think for the longest time for me I like I never hated dream for it because like why I always felt bad for him watching that final four tribal at least from the edit watching him cry and you know being so torn about making decision not making a decision and then immediately like afterwards he like oh yeah I was never going like I understood that but the truck deal I feel like people are starting to come around to the fact that it

46:49 Was the right move to make in that situation why do you think that people they are still some folks that still say it's one of the most diabolical moves that's ever existed when they still praise people like Tony and [ __ ] R for some reason I thought we were done with that but they still praised Tony and all these other people for doing you know moves that you know or Li telling lies that you know a person in real life would never tell why do you think that dreams has been contined to be demonized as you know for as long as he has besides the real reason we know the real reason was demonized and I think it does not help if this was like if this card deal was made with like Alex right I think that the emotional reaction for a lot of people is not as strong but by and far Yao man is the most loved character of the Season at the time this was airing and I don't think that's an unearned position I think Yao man was a very fun character and I agree with you totally makes sense why he was brought back for Mike gr Asia but I

48:09 Like but also I think it's because it's dreams who was known for making very chaotic moves and making a lot of the future jury members angry already and then it being Yao man but that is kind of if we want to call it the victim or the person that was on the bad end of this deal however I think even if you don't know all the lore outside of the everything that happened I think the episode itself actually explains really well what ends up happening here because we get to the reward right and the side of it's boo Stacy and ya man win the reward and ya man is like the winner with in the winning group because of the truck and we all know that dreams needs a car however once we get to the like everyone's going to their separate locations after the reward challenge so ya man is on exile Island and dreams is with the reward people and Earl and Cassandra are back at Camp Yao man admits that this the reason this truck deal with was made was because he wants

49:29 To make sure that dreams is out at final four he says this already and like yes it's it feels good to give to somebody that needs a car right like and he says that it's not just because it's a good game move but that's the primary reason is because it's a game move and he knows that if the final four works out the way that it does Earl and Cassandra are lost to be in final three if this is the final four right like they're there's no question about that yeah but Yao man is not confident in the fact that Yao man will be going to the final three with them over dreams and he's very aware of that and he's smart for that so this to him is a way to ensure that if he does not win immunity at a final four there is still a chance for him to make it through the final four and they don't even know that it's a final three at this point right like that it's a final like final three as opposed to a final two they didn't see the outcome of Cook Islands yet and Y man admits this he admits this full and well on the confessionals like with nobody else there and I think that this is a smart move on Yao man's part I'm not saying that Yao man is some evil man for trying this no but dreams also puts the pieces together while he's on the reward

50:50 That yes this was a very nice thing for a ya man to do however he's not just doing this out of the goodness of this heart there's a reason that he's doing this and the reason is if the final three is Yao man or sorry final four is Earl Cassandra dreams and ya man and ya man is IM immune dreams is probably the one getting voted out so this is something that he struggles with over the next couple rounds about what he would do if he held up the deal and I don't and I don't think it even matters to me at least and think it shouldn't matter in the context of the game of whether dreams was always going to go back on this deal or if he changed his mind and like he genuinely thought he was going to go through with this deal and then realize what would happen and changed his mind I don't think it matters I think he made the right move here to get him to the finale yeah and I don't fault him for it regardless of whether I think that this is the correct decision for everybody that is not Yao man involved like if I am Cassandra in this moment I am telling dream like so help Meed if you get like do not give up that necklace do not give because they know they're gonna lose to ya if he's in the it's just I'm very happy with the decision

52:10 That was made and I think it was the right one for everybody in the final three dreams would have been maybe labeled kind of like a redeemed hero if he had done it for a lot of people but I don't think it's worth him turning down life-changing money which EXA he says it during the confessional like so I just think like in the in the context of Survivor up until this point this is not the dirtiest move that we have seen up to season 14 and it's certainly in the grand schema things is not like the most devious move in Survivor overall I think that this is a strategic player making a very strategic decision here whether he was always going to make the decision to go back on the deal or he was going to or he originally was going to keep the deal and then decided to change his spine later I don't think it matters it was the correct move but for those that don't know like in the reward challenge itself the original plan was that people were going to throw the challenge two dreams and Yao man kind of like came up ahead and was able to basically like change the plan without consulting anybody and again totally fine I don't blame ya man for doing this

53:30 But like it kind of just adds another layer to it but I don't think you even need to know that layer to be on dream's side here I just think you have to be like a Survivor fan and recognize that if you are looking it at it at an individ individualistic level Dreams made the right move for himself here yes and that's and that's always been my biggest problem with the people that continue like I said it seems like people are kind of swe starting to way the other way with this finally but the people that are still like oh man like that's one of the dirtiest moves ever it's like it's really not especially compared to the people that you guys continue to put on pedestals whether we like them or not really a big deal but if you're going to put these people on a pedestal but look down on this guy because he betrayed y man you know the hero of the Season he betrayed him then he's got to be demonized like the rest of him and dreames this is one of like three or four times during the season that he says I'm not stupid yeah when him and Yan are talking and he's like you know Yan I'm not stupid like I know like I know what's up I know we've turned this into more of a dreams's underrated thing and like that's fine because I do think him and Cassandra are very underrated in this season I wanted to touch on a couple things

54:52 One through 14 Seasons I especially through 14 days of doing this the because the pre-merge was so and because the merge you know the merge the merge was fun the Ardo boot was fun the Ardo episode in total was fun the Michelle episode like I just felt like they was throwing too many twists in one episode like it's fine whatever I do feel like runs into the maresis thing almost of like once the once they eliminate all the people from the supposedly bigger Alliance go it doesn't become entertaining again until final six because at that point they have to turn on each other and there is compelling moments where it's like okay what if this happens what if Buu continues to win because Buu is winning a lot in that situation and watching Buu's final tribal I got Sarge Vibes this time around where Sarge attacking twia oh you've damned your son to hell because that's how this works and buo saying that dreams is a horrible Christian when like once again

56:13 He's one of the first finalists that is sitting there saying hey we're all doing this we're all lying we're all deceiving it's all a part of the game Earl actually in my opinion drops the ball at final tribal because he said I played this game with honor and integrity I'm like dude that's like four seasons in the past man like why are you why are you saying this not it I don't blame so I think that like an for a Fiji podcast you know we love Earl we have not touched on how well of a game Earl at this time especially for somebody that again has never seen never seen the show but I think that maybe necessarily like looking back I don't know if Earl would say that like he played this honorable game in a way that was like more or less honorable than like some of his allies right I think that he had a very specific hand dealt to him that was very different than his counterparts in the finale where he did not have to lie to the jury members as much as dreams and Cassandra in particular had to but I also think that he did a lot of really good social capital in there and he also kind of knows the players that are in the jury and compare if their choices are between voting for the person that is

57:33 The reason you're in the jury or this nice guy that's saying I played The Honorable way and like different than these finalists and I think the answer is more like for the jury than actually kind of like a summary of his game his actual game and I do agree with that because so this one of the only things at final tribel that I think happened in real time is when he's when Edgardo asks him did you know about like or how did you find out about the idol or whatever and there's like a long pause before he says dreames told me and it's like I feel like that was actually how it happened in real time because I do feel like he was actually fighting with himself on if I'm going to throw this person under the bus right here yeah because thankfully no one really goes in there saying hey I want you to [ __ ] these other two people no one does no one throws out that question at least from what we see so I think that's the one moment where someone really has to throw someone under the under the bus and I do feel like Earl in that situation says you know what I don't think it's the worst thing for me to say yeah dreams told me this and it's what's funny is mooki goes right afterwards and says hey dreams did you tell anyone about the idol he's like yeah of you not to see what

58:53 Just happened it what a waste of a and mooki is kind of the least offensive to me of the Four Horsemen that are not dreams the non-dream for Horsemen yeah I'm really not a big fan of Alex or Edgardo in any capacity however what a waste of a jury question sorry obviously that's what happened because how else would they have found out about the idol like and he asked I was like oh so you're admitting that you lied and he's like yeah did you not like did you not see anything that happened in and you know again thinking about that about like the everything that led up to the Edgardo Blind Side this probably wouldn't have gotten such a negative reaction from dreams if you told about him about the idol when you found it maybe the same result would have happened but again dreams is not stupid and knows that everybody else in this Four Horsemen Alliance knew about the idol except for him yes dreams knows how even if even if mooki had pulled him to the side and said separately that like I found the idol the other guys know they don't think that you know like they think you don't know but like you're the person I want to go to the finals with

1:00:13 You know like it doesn't have to be true but there are so many things that like that Alliance in particular could have done to maintain their numbers better at least be a more attractive option to dreams who had a lot more option then them into the merge yeah as we start to get to the end of this I do want to touch on and this the floor is yours you know there is this hidden all black Alliance that is not shown in and this season this time around I did try to like pick up on moments where it's apparent that this is probably going on and what I end up realizing is it's also going on with all the other races but specifically with this one with Anthony trying his best not to get the vote on Erica to the point where he doesn't even vote for Erica dreams not wanting Anthony to go but has to go with the numbers why do you think this Alliance was not shown for what it was on the show I mean just look I it's okay there's a real answer

1:01:34 And then there's a more specific answer right the real answer is it was successful because it was a successful Alliance the three of their we lost two of their members in the pre merge very tragically but the three members that made it to the merge became the final three and I actually think this is a super compelling Alliance for many reasons not just because it's really the first all black Alliance of its kind that I heard of in reality TV history at least with like this number of people we've had examples of black players working together you know or like bonding with each other over seanan isia Romona and Jervis like connecting at least on being like on the same tribe together and being the only two black players on their tribe and I think they're both from Philly too so they just had a lot in common but it doesn't like but this Alliance is very successful and was run very well and even when we had the moments where they showed being more self-interested like dreams voting for Anthony because he knew they didn't have the numbers or Cassandra and dreams trying to vote out ya Man Behind Earl's

1:02:54 Back or making sure that he set up the best leading into the finale you know like this is such a compelling Alliance because they stuck together while still showing moments of like I want to make sure I am the best situated I am working within my interests here even like there was never talk about them voting each other out like there was no discussion during that final six vote from between dreams and Cassandra of like what if we just got rid of Earl because he wouldn't suspected they never consider that but they do consider voting out Yao man and just making sure that Earl does not know that they are planning this so I think that this is like a really interesting Alliance where they're still acting in their interest but while still sticking together and becoming the final three I also think though that if this was an unsuccessful Alliance they would be using it as an example they would be showing it more like see what happens when you try to get head when you're trying to do XY like I think that this looks very different if it wasn't successful it was successful though and I think we can see and this is where it gets a little more complicated when we had the cookout in Big Brother that they are forced to show

1:04:14 That story because they are the dominant Alliance of the Season you can't you can't tell the story of Big Brother hide it yeah without highlighting the cookout not just of live three not just because of live feeds but because they are running everything even when they are not in power in that week and I think that like the reaction would have been so negative at the time I think people are a little more willing to hear it now we still would get accusations of like Reverse Racism even Isaiah gos actually did tweet something about how all of our black winners in reality TV have worked in some proximity to black players other black players whether they were in the finale together or not and it got a like a lot of people saying well that's not true but it kind of is and there's a for that and there are specific examples with a lot of these winners and I don't you know and I think some people are not willing to have that conversation yet but I think this is a Alliance that does very well and I would love to see the edit I would love to see Fiji rework to focus more on that Alliance because I think that they are a fantastic

1:05:34 Alliance to look at within like hidden Survivor history I think that would be a great story arc if you tell it from that alliance's point of view you watch it from their point of view and you watch dreams have to vote out Anthony and you have to watch Anthony know full well that Erica is probably going to go and watch earin Cassandra and dreams's reaction to everything happening I think that is a very compelling story arc that you could have gone with I don't think because survivors is not high on this season I don't think they wanted to tell anything outside of Dreams in the car like I don't think they want they want it to lead up to that and I think that's what this entire season storyline is let's get to the truck deal because they even bring it up during the Cook Islands reunion it's like oh yeah something that's never happened before it's like okay yeah this is this is what this is and it's not fine but like I understand from a TV aspect in 2007 this is what people want to see I get it I will say well the only thing that confused me about the this Alliance was when they were picking new tribes and there was an option of picking Anthony and they didn't pick Anthony that for lack of a better phrase bothered me today but that's just like I was I was grasping at straws because I was rooting for Anthony so

1:06:54 Much today I know they don't pick Anthony it's like you could have just had him and saved him from this all boys club this Macho men this Macho men on the side I know I was very confused about that as well even now it just kind of boggles my mind but I don't know I don't know what the what the plan was but the only thing I can really think of and I still don't think it particularly works here is wanting to make sure dreams wasn't by himself over there that's fair but I also don't think but I think you still kind of run into the same problem of okay there's two of them over there but that doesn't really solve the problem of like Anthony's a shrimp have to still bring another person like you still have to have those two still have to pull another person in for them when Earl has been on this tribe and he knows how Anthony's being treated by Rocky specifically why would you put him in a situation where if Rocky is being the more vocal person which he is could swing people to Anthony in that situation but okay we're in the final two questions finally this is officially the longest podcast of this entire thing so far yeah let's question one we've had Yao man we've had ya man wow oh my

1:08:14 God we've had Y Man from this season between Seasons 14 and 40 do you think we should have had any other people back oh yeah absolutely I think there are several I think Second Chance is the obvious one right like the like I think there are several players that have like their story ends in certain ways I think they would have been perfect Second Chance candidates I think Anthony we've talked about him a lot is a great one the way Michelle y was voted out in the swap or the merge that isn't really a merge I think like she's a perfect candidate for something like Second Chances is very similar Arc to like Andrew Savage if we want to make kind of like a one absolutely people that were on the ballad and I'd love to see you know they two of the first zero vote finalists dreams Cassandra similar to Becky Lee I think they're really compelling players to bring back in a format like that I think if we're looking at like Heroes versus Villains kind of obvious one for one dreams on the villains tribe Earl on the heroes tribe if we could have gotten that I would have been so happy and I know that winners at War they contacted Earl but his daughter was almost

1:09:34 Born during that time like his wife was due kind of like while or she was due when they would have be filming so it just the timing was not right but I think like the like there were several opportunities where I think that a Fiji member would have been a good fit here yes I agree I mean I agree with you I think that Earl dreams for me Earl dreams Earl dreams and no really just Earl and dreams for me for me personally I think that Earl Michelle if you want to do second chances I'd be fine with that but Earl dreams you know and I understand Earl's life got I think Earl's life got in the way for another season as well I can't remember which one but like I think wanted him I think they've contacted him several times is from what I'm aware and I don't know the specific Seasons that he was contacted for but it was like I think one reason was for work one was for it was there were several times where he wasn't able to play but which I'm glad that Survivor because at this point we only have the sepia we only have the sepia and you know it seems like she's Persona n grada from production so it is it's great to see

1:10:54 At this point in Survivor history hey it's we won't say it's a black thing because we want Earl back multiple times and the big question is and you kind of alluded to this earlier and I want I want you to I know this is hard for you as the ultimate Fiji fan I need you to remove all biases and all whatever and this is going to segue into what Gia is doing this summer what she's a part of this summer if you had to pick one or two people from this season to be on Survivor 50 knowing age and all that who would you pick and why earing dreams I think they're the two there are other players on this season that I would love to see brought back and I think there are formats that would have served them really well as like an opportunity to bring them back and it's a shame they were but if we're talking about players that were big change makers in the edit that I feel Warren a return I think Earl is kind of a universal answer right now for like especially if we're talking about which winners have we seen before that we want to we want to have come back I think Earl is

1:12:14 One of like the most requested one-time players and I think that something like a pinnacle season like Survivor 50 it's like I if he's available you should be having him on your cast if he's able and willing let's get him on so definitely Earl and I think dreams is a player that was so ahead of his time in like the gamepl that he made and I would just love to see Survivor right their wrong essentially of like how they wanted to portray him and show and I think you know like he's I think he's in his 40s now he's probably his 40s at this point yeah so he's still and Earl is like early 50s I believe so still like both very like young people like definitely within like playing age and I both of their quarantine questionnaires they that they did in 2020 indicated that they would love to come back if they're given the opportunity to so I would love to see both of them back and I think that they're both players that could adapt very well to a new school environment yeah if I had to rank them in terms of because I agree with you I think Earl and dreams I would do dreams Earl and that's and that's a very close

1:13:34 Because I think that dreams is the better character in the season I think the Earl is the better player in the season overall I would love to see one of one of probably not both but one of them back on 50 I don't think that anyone from pre-33 is going to be on 50 but I do think and this is my thing I do think that they do bring back anybody pre-season 33 it is Earl Cole yeah like I don't think sha Rector is that one person I think that might because he has such a large following online but I think that Earl Cole because one because they have tried to get him back so many times but two because he is the first I he sweeps the jury I won't say perfect game because you know whatever unanimous winner too yes well that's what I'm saying like first sweep of the final not the first perfect game because of Rogue vote we didn't touch on that but like it happened whatever I think that Earl Cole would be that person overall please don't hate me I'm gonna give Survivor Fiji about a 3.25 only because the pre merge is dull and the final tribal once again it this happened in 42 and 42 where it's like final six until fi finale it's fun

1:14:55 I enjoy it and then that final tribal just totally just takes me out because these people are so overly pissed off that I can't like I'm upset as a as a spectator it's like why are you guys treating these two people specifically you know leasy not asking dreams how many zeros or in a million it's like what the hell are you talking about like you tried to quit three times yeah three 3 325 or 350 either way so Gia what's going on with you this summer where can and all that jazz oh my God so much stuff so you can follow me on Twitter Instagram and Tik Tok classic Leia for all of my reality TV Shenanigans I have closed out on recapping Survivor 46 on my podcast on silent podcast called I don't know about that we're also closing out we're in the end game of Top Chef Wisconsin so we only have I think like three more episodes to discuss before That season is done so just if you're a Top Chef fan definitely keep an eye out for that but the main thing I want to talk about which is the thing that I will be working on throughout this summer is we will be working on inside

1:16:15 Survivor where I'm a contributor we are doing a 50 for 5050 which is 50 articles that written about 50 different Survivor players in history the Only Rule that we had I believe was just that they couldn't have played two times or more I think that we they could have play more than two times already that's what that's what we ended up going with and so me and four other writers East drafted 10 players from Survivor history it could be any period it could be any you know any players it did not have to they did not have to meet any other specific criteria they could be winners they could be first boots if we really wanted to none of mine are first boots but there are a 10 players that I will be writing about that I do want to see play again and basically make a case for why I think they would be good candidates for Survivor 50 and we have four other talented writers that are writing about their picks I know the whole list I have seen it I am very excited about my 10 players that I am writing about but I'm also incredibly excited for all 50 players to be released I can't wait to show them so

1:17:35 Keep an eye out on inside Survivor for the for the start of the release of those articles because I think it will be a very exciting list that is coming forward and I think there'll be some you know players that make sense that players that we're all like yes we need to have this player back players that we've been advocating for a return for a really long time but there are also some very nice surprises in there and I think that's also going to be some a very fun list in there many spoilers anyone from Fiji you don't just yes or no yes okay I told you I told you m more but yes yeah before we went live I to the viewers to wait until the articles are released but yes there will be at least one Fiji player mentioned all right perfect so Gia thank you so much like I said you were the first person I reached out to when this got planned I knew that we could probably go at least an hour on Fiji and we went at least 18 minutes more thank you so much hopefully we will have G GC for day 46 of this during the live stream make

1:18:55 Sure to follow I will tag all of her stuffs on all the on the post thank you to everyone in the chat as always and we'll be back tomorrow with Survivor China which I feel like is going to drop down my list considerably maybe we'll see and until then we'll see you on the other side