Survivor Shocker: The Merge Twist That Changed Everything!

0:00 F [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] welcome back to the nullified take Channel on YouTube where we've got the TNT takes for you on Survivor 47 episode 6 it's merge time and kuna I'm feeling a lot better than last week so this should be a good podcast that's good to hear man I'm glad you're on the menend feeling much better how you feeling about an episode after missing out last week is this the episode to come back to

1:21 Yeah well I think we did we did recap last week for Survivor was the week prior I think we missed one week and then right that's right yeah we kind of missed out on I think a challenge episode a week before it's been yeah it was it's been interesting it's been a lot going on I know everybody's been really busy we had Drew and Jake only do their recap today as well so they had a very late recap compared to what they would normally do also a lot of things going on in their personal life that's the tough thing when you're a part-time podcaster but don't feel sorry for us we do this because we love it right but sometimes what comes with being a part-time podcaster full-time worker and having a lot of things going on is sometimes you know the schedule get a little bit messy and you don't always go live when you intend to do so kuna yeah but you know we try to get as much in as we can when we can and I'm always grateful when we have the opportunity to talk about stuff so you know 100% And I do like coming back to this episode and I want to talk like you know we've probably got to start with obviously Rome was a standout character of the Season someone that I've Loved from the beginning to the end and for me the juice was worth the squeeze to see this episode to see the downfall of Rome this is what great casting is about this is what great storytelling is about and this is why we shouldn't

2:41 Be afraid to cast villains in the new era of Survivor and I hope that you know Rome didn't just School them on why the boat ride Island trip is useless and a lot of the advantages the way that they give it to people now is useless but hopefully he's also schooled him in villains and if we do get the boat ride Island going away and if we do get more villains in the show in the future I think a lot of people should apologize to Rome this season because he would have done the fans a really big service this season CA I found that so fascinating like and the thing that I found even more fascinating I don't know if you picked up on this Chris it kind of wasn't the first time that in the episode where the cast was like on the show and like this is dumb like this is so stupid it like even car actually call Jeff out his face I don't know I don't know if Rome want himself like any favors there like us like the great moment right for TV it's an amazing moment the whole no Jeff seemed to react really positive to the same time he's saying Jeff this is freaking stupid like Jeff oh yes it was it was insane to me it was insane to me could you know you know the reverse have happened

4:01 Here you know they say you live long enough if you're an hero you live long enough to become the villain what if New Era has lived long enough as a villain to become the hero of Survivor and now the new era players are going to be the savior of Survivor they're finally going to sit out of doing the stupid twists they're finally going to you know tell Jeff where the game is flawed and why they don't really care to use the amulet because it's useless when everybody knows about it and Jeff can ignore the fans but he can't ignore the people who are playing the game right like he can't ignore them they're in the game so he has to take lessons and take notes from someone like Rome and to the point where he realized he was learning he's going back to the drawing board he's a student he invited Rome to sit in the teacher desk while he was walking away and taking notes from the new era villain right so this is what I'm saying like is this a plot twist where Rome becomes the most valuable player of the new era because potentially he gets Jeff to realize some of the flaws within production that we've been pointing out for so long look if he if he can be you know the villain that the villain that's de you know makes everyone kind of stop and see that maybe we're all wrong along the way you know yeah the whole time maybe that's what you maybe

5:22 That'll be great but I think there's a lot of fans that are going to listen to this podcast and get triggered by me saying that because there was so many people who just love to see Rome go this episode looking at x there's not a lot of fans for Rome on EG and to me it's just it's a it's a sign that you know he really has come into his own and I wanted to ask you one question a lot of fans were very triggered by the fact that he got to sit on the Jeff seat they said it was disrespectful to the show did you feel the same way that it was disrespectful for Rome to have the opportunity to sit in Jeff's seat did people really say that there would people had said that online I looked at this on when I looked at all the comments and things on X and I'm like where are people coming from this is a TV show you know what I got the vibe I don't know if this is this is me like squinting or not and looking at things interpreting things the wrong way but tell me if I'm off on this I got the vibe obviously Jeff knows what's going on and I think it must have been pretty set that Rome was going home like in everyone like all the production I think in je I think Jeff knew and he played him a lot he's like I don't know if it was a matter of like who was the runner up again runner up of

6:42 Season 35 I can't even remember of Survivor shows you how casual I've gotten Chrissy hoffbeck who was CH Chrissy was the blonde lady the older lady that was running up a lot of people thought she should have won rather than Ben dreber in that season not me for the record I thought Ben deserved it 35 I was thinking 45 in my head I'm like wait wasn't it that the Caroline y like oh okay I was this way back you're about 10 okay gotcha okay let's say let's just quickly say hello to people here there's a lot of people in the live this early in the morning we've got Richard all the way from South Africa welcome back to the live gabes back say just be happy we had a normal vote we are going to talk about that because what a gamebreaking Twist Jeff introduced in this episode to Survivor something unheard of really enjoyed it we also have maky saying I love New Era that's why I podcasted maky also says Chris maky I'm gonna watch new era okay I think that means he that I kind of forced him into it Jonathan says this may be the first genuine fantastic episode of the new era I think like I'm low on New Era a lot of the times but think there's been a couple of good episodes like we can all

8:02 Agree every now and again they get a pretty good episode out there gabing the cast reild and just used amulets right away I freaking loved it I loved and you know we probably haven't spoken about this enough Victoria welcome 4 a what are you doing watching us live you can always watch you can we thank you but you can always watch it later on and just Spam us with a bunch of questions we'll St them and answer them if we to theate in our convers to bring it up but I want to talk a little bit about you know we said hello to everybody in the live I want to talk a little bit about the fact that they just played The Amulet outright Jeff had this diabolical plan we're going to put the amulet out there we're going to have these people go after each other and they just broke the twist they're like okay well if we just play it out right there's no incentive for any of us to come after each other plus every single person here knows about the fact that we've got the amulet because every single person knows when you get on the boat you get an opportunity to get an advantage so if you come back with nothing you're lying if you're not telling the story if you're not being truthful about what happened you're a Target so can we finally get rid of the boat ride I really don't like the boat ride but more so how impressive was this game play by the likes of Andy teny

9:22 And was it Caroline I can't remember the last person who was in that I think it was Caroline yeah carine how impressive just broke the game they broke the twist but like I said I'm I love that they're doing it the spirit of like this is dumb we're not going to fall for a thing that might disadvantage us but even earlier like I said there's little things right the fact that Jeff gives him this twist when you drop your Buffs to go for search for an advantage and they search for one minute they don't even give a they're like no we're not playing your game we're not going to run around on the first day of merge when we're so excited to meet each other and get all the social stuff like they're just saying no we're playing like where too you tell us to go run here we're not going to do it you tell us to use the idols in a specific way we're just going to throw it out the window like and then flat out till you to your face it's dumb like I can't believe what we're watching on the show like this is genuinely a good season if this is what happens when after six seasons they've breaking the show because they know exactly what's going to happen and know exactly like you know Jeff thinks he's unpredictable but his unpredictability has become predictable

10:42 For New Era players if you've watched new er for long enough and it's quite interesting because like you said a lot of them were just thinking to themselves which we as fans we want to see it we want to see people on the island that are actually communicating forming bonds coming up with strategic plans we finally get all what was it 13 or 12 of them I can't remember how many was left in the game on the same Beach finally get an opportunity to discuss a bit of strategy find out some information but no you've got to go run and find this advantage in for the challenge that's for tomorrow and I loved it I freaking absolutely stand this cast I stand the fact that they are rebelling against production from just going out there chasing these things and a lot of the time the juice is not worth the squeeze it did end up being a good advantage in this case but how funny was it that both Genevie and Sam looking at the buoy and they're like that doesn't look suspicious at all I'm sure it's just a buoy out there in the ocean and they left it you know I 100% thought I was like Sam's genius this is very smart he's saying oh no it's nothing and he's gonna sneak back there and get it like in my head I was like obviously because how does he say that's nothing and genuinely like I was like there's

12:02 No way on hell you could think that's normal out there especially because it's not his Beach right yeah like if it was yellow's Beach and he's seen it like what are they seeing out there that he's just he's like nah it's normal like how many is this is this another sign that we need to give the Survivor players some food like we shouldn't take their Flint like maybe they were that tired they just didn't give a crap and they're like it's effort you know even Genevie when she when she yeah even when she get it she was like I know I'm going to waste my energy doing this before the challenge I know I'm going to probably get wet it's probably going to be nothing but at least she got her ass up and she actually went to go do it like how have we gotten I'm just watching Kagan with Julie to get her into Survivor or try and get her into Survivor so obviously I'm going to go back to the season with the goat won but you know we they kept talking about Morgan That season for being a pillow because she used to just lay and camp and do nothing this is like most of new er cast these days because they're too bloody tired they don't have enough sustenance I feel like that is half of the problem and why they didn't go out there and look for the advantage to a certain degree they were rebelling plus they were like we're too tired we can't give a crap about this one advantage is not going to

13:23 Win the game when there's 13 players left in the game it's more advantageous to build those relationships and start getting the information early and getting to know each other seeing who you can work with and by the way like not only I'm going to go on a little bit of a skew here but as good as this episode was it's still showing us the flaws in the way the new era has worked in that this is the best episode where everyone's talking about how great this cast is because they broke what they've been doing it's showing again how bad the production has made it to the point where when they actually break it we're like whoa this was amazing right yeah not only that but I was watching it going I really enjoyed the bit like where they just dunked on Rome made him look so silly the edit was almost like painful how bad it was kind of like I'm the best like blah and the whole time they're like yeah Rome and then immediately no and it was so crazy and I was like this is amazing I loved every second of it I loved Rome I loved everyone playing along with it and guess what that happened because we had a big tribe where the stories can get back to each other and there's a little bit of

14:43 Move into play and they showed how good that could be against what they just did for the last six episodes giving us small tries where you can't move there's nothing that can happen there's no room to chat to there's no one to talk to exactly and then now they get it and we go boom what an episode that was just shooting themselves in the foot showing how wrong they continually get it guno we must sound so annoying to the people who listen to our podcast season after season because we always say that the Prem merge is boring from the merge onwards the season suddenly gets good like we've been this is not a new thing that we've just found out in this season we've been saying it for at least three or four seasons in a row now and it's a shame that they just can't pick this up but like again like I said when the players are actually rebelling within the actual season Jeff Khan he can he can ignore the fans online but he can't ignore the players that are playing the game and I think it's one of the reasons why he was annoyed at winners at War when some of the winners at War also refused or didn't like you know edge of Extinction and they were quite vocal about it and he was such a big fan of it you know because you can't ignore the players when they're not supportive in the actual game in the production that you're doing so I loved it absolutely freaking loved

16:03 It storytelling top tier we never doubt Survivor production team when it comes to being able to put a really good story together and that's what we saw with Rome we saw the Rise of Rome you know the Empire of Rome was built over many episodes but then it got knocked down in one day as per Sam's confessional when he voted just poetry em motion when they get it right another thing I wanted to in half season yeah okay before I go into the next thing that I thought they get got right let me just see if there's some good comments that have come in here Victoria saying I fear Rome will be the next co-host co-host on next season's podcast I actually don't listen to the podcast I did the first season and then I kind of got offered I know D is the co-host I believe at the moment but you know Victoria you're fearful that R might become the next co-host of the podcast Jeff is fearful that R might take his job so imagine people want a previous player to be the host of Survivor and I feel like Rome would look really good in some cocky Blues you know like I feel like he could pull it off right so you think he did well in his in his explanation did he do well sitting there yeah I thought so yeah but I'm a Rome fan so I mean I'm probably I'm probably watching it with rosecolor tinted glasses you know I think he would be chaotic

17:23 As a host though I think I might be a little bit too biased as well because I thought his breakdown was actually decent but I thought he delivered it in a way he sounded condescending the whole time he was like I said I thought it was so extreme that he was almost like this is why we don't want to do it Jeff like it just sounded like he made it sound really like he did get the hug from Jeff at the end though he did get the hug not many not many going for the hug got give some credit there let's see what other people are saying did you see the schoolyard pck secret scene didn't but I was annoyed that they were like we haven't done the schoolyard pck in the new era and now we choose captains I had no idea who the captains were no idea how the actual pick happened like Jeff just cut out the whole fact that you're doing it for the first time if you're not going to show it to us it's such a tease he left us with this is like kids listen to this I probably shouldn't say but with something that's blue at the end of this because we were like what where's the pick where's the reaction to it Kun that's half of the fun especially because look listen I'm a I was a fat kid right I know what it's like to stand against that fence and be picked to last like if we were playing you know football like tackle I'm first pick out your gay but when it came to like you know things of

18:43 Athletic like skill-based athletic nature I wasn't always first pick I get it but I also know on a TV show you could get a lot of drama and a lot of information out of that like who does get picked last how do they react to that why would they picked last do you pick like who is the pecking order is it based on friendship is it based on strategy is it based on strength like there's so much that can go into it and they just completely skip over it to then give us what felt like freaking 45 minutes of challenge like I feel like that could have been trimmed down a bit right yeah that challenge was way too long like felt way too long for me but again it was a fun challenge to watch I mean this is not a challenge podcast when it comes to Survivor we don't normally analyze the challenges in very much detail but I thought there was interesting Dynamics like how you could go up the ramp differently by using the sandbag strategy or just running straight up I thought they made a very interesting decision to choose both Gabe and Rome to end up doing the maze at the end like both the worst choices in that time how did they get to that ker do you think Rome just like we've said like if there's one thing about Rome he just bulldozes his way into these key positions and he sucks at them th% he's done it so many times like it's again I feel like if

20:03 I didn't know any better it feels like he was throwing it's the worst possible way to do one of those mazes I learned doing those things when you're like six years old you get little you know to learn hand eye coordination and this dude's like freaking just Jer it's like calling the semi-trailer truck and then he had the nerve after this to say soul was being mean him because I wanted him to move like the pot calling the K black like how did he think that was going to work when he tried to shift the target of Soul's been mean to me this whole time like listen I love Rome as a character but I was just like where you going with us buddy like you're believing your own hype right now how about how he threw at Kyle like before the before the challenge before any immunity thing at all not knowing who might get it and he just threw everything at Kyle like way early like obviously completely backfired and soul becomes the second chance like you know I got to do something but my goodness he just he throws 100 miles per hour with no like yeah no caution whatsoever yeah he just Roma's that typical guy who wants to be a big player

21:24 Big name plays hard and I think again it's just the this lack of subtlety in his approach that's just not there and his timing's off Survivor is all about timing and he did so much pre merge to create distrust within his own tribe that really he just did not have any Social Capital going into this merge the right thing for him would have been to lay low let people kind of find their feet and hope that someone else becomes a big Target and throws himself under the bus but he didn't have the patience to be able to do it just like maky like if he was ever to go play Survivor he needed to make the big move and be vocal right at the merge trying to throw Paul Kyle under the bus M now I know you would have taken a similar strategy you would have created chaos you would have tried to get someone else to be the target where did Rome go wrong what would have been the subtlety that he missed in his approach to making sure that Kyle was being targeted by his previous tribe mates well I mean it's quite interesting you bring that up right CU I feel like there's two different sides to it right where you have one of I think Rome did it just a bit too early maybe he should have waited for after the immunity challenge to then kind of throw all the chaos around right or I think Sol and genev really did digest gr for him here where I feel

22:44 Like so going oh I just want to give you guys heads up Rome just likes to stir right that's all he likes all he likes to do and then J and tenny backed him up on that and so every's like oh well he said this about you and this about did genev though I don't feel like I saw genev at any stage throw row under the bus but she didn't step in front of the bus for him which I can't blame gen for that the rting on the wall she saw the writing she didn't give him a warning that things was coming his way but I definitely agree with you on the Teeny and soul side of it but there was like and you may have missed this because you sort of came in mid conversation Rome did too much against teny and soul and there was no trust heading into the merch the fact that he thought he could play with both of them and clearly didn't think he could play with Saul because he tried to throw sa under the bus as soon as soon as he could and as soon as he knew that Kyle wasn't an option in the game for him anymore but overall just really like again great character big character had a really good rise really good fall on the season it was a lot of fun to watch now I know that maky you're someone that loves big twists in the game and boy oh boy did Jeff cook up a big one for us here on this season the players couldn't believe that half of them won't be safe

24:04 At the merge and that this was not going to be a team immunity or a team fight to get into the merge it is going to be an individual game only one person would be immune at this stage in the game what a groundbreaking move like some may say it was very survival likee of Jeff to have this gamechanging mechanic and how shocked were you that the new era players were shocked by this well I guess Rock Island isn't looking that bad no way it's a we're really scraping the bottom of the pot for Grand big new twists but as like I said in some of the videos I sent you guys where why did you have to go hoop after hoop just make it a normal merge it was literally the exact same as a normal merge right except they weren't wearing any Buffs right and it's like oh but first you got to compete in a challenge to win some food and then those people will competing a challenge to wear the Batman necklace but those who don't you know win that challenge don't get any food it's like Okay cool so it was essentially a regular merge episode but like people the six people just didn't have a Munch re I reckon Rome says he made the merge yeah he made well he did make merge he just didn't make like what

25:24 Else can you call it I've never really understood the half of you win immunity but other half of you don't because I think there was one season where only like just one half had like actually went to tribal and voted the other half like just like sat back and chilled or something like that and then and then you also have The Hourglass and stuff like that it's like do know what's also like really good it's just a regular merge episode local thought look at this episode you get what I mean like it was great and it was just a downall yeah OS go merge like every single merge episode is always really good one way or another right if you throw in all these too many different like complicated twists and stuff like that like I don't know I just don't understand it I'm with you I totally agree this was just good old survivor is what we saw this episode and we spoke about it before you jumped on you may have heard us when you were in the live but it was also great to see a lot of the players just give a big middle finger to production and not go and sech for the advantage and actually socialize like what you should be doing at a merge you know getting to know people strategizing getting your ducks in a row for what the next couple of moves should be like but I absolutely thought this was this was a

26:44 Big W for production going back to old school survivor having it be a fullon merge episode where only one person was going to be safe because by having half of the tribe safe I feel like you get less scramble I feel like get less strategy I feel like the episod Falls flat more often than not and in this case it did deliver because immediately they needed to find a common enemy and we did find out a lot I feel like about tribal Dynamics as well and I will get into that in a second I just want to read a couple more of the comments here in the live because we are falling behind a little bit Richard is saying Genevie needs to win the season Amen brother I do like gen genev as well my money is not on her to win the season though I've got a very sneaky suspicion I know who's going to win but normally I don't know if I should give the kiss of death to anybody because I've been wrong the only person I've been right on in the new era was gaer I feel like I feel like I was wrong on most people myself and Jake pretty early who's get the spider senses this season then Sam I think Sam's winning the season yeah big edit big strategist no one's looking at him at the moment yeah are you not worried about how everyone was doing the her him and Sierra are a couple thing Sierra will fall before him I think Sierra would fall

28:04 Before him I think she could be somebody that gets sniped I mean if Sam sits next to Andy in the final which I can very easily see happen him and Andy being in a final two or final three that's already one person who's not going to win over him right so then you've only got to get one other person but I thought the subtlety of him not playing his Idol last episode which we didn't talk about I think in the recap was actually again a sign of a very good Survivor player he's showing the patience that Rome I don't think would have been able to show Rome would have wanted to go for the big splashy move play the idle on Andy make it look good because he's all about being a showman I think Sam's less about being a showman but more about timing playing the idol at the right time so he's the person I would say but not wanting to go too far down that conversation because we just want to read a couple more comments here get some people's comments up we've got Victoria saying got caught up in postering lies to everyone as totally agree with that Charlie's on this season Charlie's from last season he's the Taylor Swift girl guy I should say the fan right yeah that's he's the guy Brenan says where are the other two lesser podcasters well one of them's just shown up yeah the part the part-time parttime we're part Kahuna

29:24 And I are part-time podcasters but then maky and Tom are parttime podcasters but I feel like Mon's never really missed one yet you may be a little bit late because of work but at least you show up where's Tom where's Tomac we Haven need to give watch it yeah I reckon I reckon it's because Genevie is like dominating and he just can't handle the fact that there's a strong independent female this season that is doing well and he just can't face up to it I reckon that's it Gabe saying Rome became unreliable plus wi stick neck out for player hanging themselves so much totally agree it was basically a reward with entry into the immunity Challenge and we've spoken we've kind of danced around the whole thing and we spoke about how crazy it was that they didn't go immediately for it but maky do you think that this Advantage was worth it was it a good Advantage for Genevie to get do you think it was an actual Advantage well I mean if she had won the immunity challenge would have been a great Advantage right but I mean it's the thing as well was like I loved that the players was just like n we just want to chill in chat and get to know each other because end of the day social game is what makes Survivor right you can't win without a social game right like players like Russell has proven you can be like a great phenomenal strategist but you can never win if you don't have the relationships and friendships

30:44 Right and so I like that so like no let's like socialize and stuff like that at end of the day do the advantage really change things no so it's true it didn't but I do feel like it was a good Advantage right because she did get to rest while the others were exerting I think a lot of energy in that challenge we could see the longtail effect of it here because not only did she chill in that beard like she literally just stood there for like however long it was holding the bli or whatever the ball and she got to eat she got to Source up energy all that while not exerting herself at all so you know it could have a little bit of long-term advantage and benefit anyway it certainly was a good advantage and gave her a better shot at winning that even though she didn't win would gave her a much better shot than if she hadn't you know if she had gone through the entire obstacle course that's for sure yeah now a lot of people were wondering who done it with Sue's Idol this episode but Victoria's mind was on who got the eggs from the previous episode instead now I know Mony was on egg watch chicken watch from the previous episode do you feel like this is the biggest mystery of survival 47 the fact that they negotiated all these eggs which was a good stack of eggs that they would have had until probably AME or

32:04 Do you think that team yellow just ate as many of those suckers as they could prior to the merge it would be really funny if they just left the eggs there I that would have been really funny like they lift the eggs at the yellow tribe and then next season they come along H what are all these rotten eggs doing on shelter Andy was responsible for bringing the eggs and he lost it like he did with his over on them I love this question Victoria this was a great question I did not even think of the eggs my mind was not on it at all Brendan saying it wasn't a regular merge episode it was New Era merge episode with extra steps insert Ricky and mor Morty meme I don't watch Ricky and Morty so someone will have to explain that to me if you do Morty come on Morty a Jee Rick Gabe saying maky who you giving the kiss of death for next week who do you think is out next week well you know you said you called the kiss of death let's not forget in 's first Rebels I said e and jadden were going to win it and they went out back to back then I said Alex was going to take it and he was the first one out so who's winning it then who's winning it according to you know what I'm gonna give it to Sue

33:25 I'm going to give it to Sue I can SU w we finally gonna see su's big move this season holy Absol worst liar in the game yeah well that's why she's gonna win right because like a she can't tell a lie a poor Su no you're just a darling AR and then to brutal brenon coming in saying M giving a kiss of death to a cadeson is the only action he'll get oh gosh amazing I meet by the way everybody if you're not a fan of if you're not a fan of Australian Survivor memes yet you should go check out Brendan's channel on Instagram called Australian memes like this kind of humor and content is all over his channel consistently so go check it out go give it a follow on Instagram Australian Survivor memes or if you're like me you just don't follow it at all he actually blocks me listen I understand the amount of voice no I'm not even joking though D serious he had accounts blocked like7 to like sometime this year it's like oh why did I block you like yeah why did you block me what have I done but yeah must have seen

34:45 You must have sent him too many long voice notes that he needed to listen to that are like podcast movie voice notes and he's like listening to you once a week on the nullify take channel is all I can take I'm not I don't want that in my personal after even before I became a podcast he's like no I need to block this guy in advance just in case who's going to pick up the big mantle now that Gabe's gone oh not Gabe Rome's gone Gabe is saying probably Andy and Gabe at least any predictions for next week about the double Tribal Council no predictions at this stage to be honest I have just watched the episode a couple hours ago I didn't even know it's the double Tribal Council that's how that's how crazy behind I was I had to ignore all and I actually did ignore all socials and I didn't know what was going on spoke to coach Drew earlier today before he did his and I said don't tell me anything about Survivor but what's happening on your side and he gave me an update which was good he didn't spoil it for me either Brendan says can confir maky was blocked but I have no idea why must be one of your moderators Brendan that did that I'm sure big Instagram Channel like yourself probably have plenty of moderators that probably did the dirty work for you when they saw maky stting to get a littley in the comment for your Australian surviv memes Instagram page

36:05 I want to talk guys about we spoke about some of the things about production that we don't like and the fact that a lot of the new school survivors are now actually pointing it out and they're schooling Jeff and Jeff is finally listening because he can't escape it but let's talk about something that was really good we liked the first time they did the whole blood Idol challenge Advantage thing and when Drea had to get she I don't even know if both of you watched that season but Dr was the first one to find one where her hands were basically full of Dy or full of red and this time they did it again and they brought it back I thought it was a fun twist that time again this time it's playing out really well with people going on this hunt seeing all the blood spatters or the pain spatters they finally find the evidence that Sue tried to hide so close to the well which was hilarious to see and you know Sue thinking that she's going to get away with this how she thought she was going to get away with this with both Caroline and Tiana who've caught her literally red-handed at the well is beyond me but I feel like this is one of those things Kahuna again where production have done like let's give them credit when they do have some fun ideas I thought this was again a Big W for production this episode with the way that this is sort of playing out they don't actually know who have it most of them at least but this was fun to see them kind of be confused around like what's

37:25 Going on this is like a Who done it scene I had some fun with it I thought it was a fun moment I thought it was really good I thought it like I'm sure like production must have been just doing that thing like doing a thing with it at the same time licking the lips and just being so happy but also at the same time scratching their heads completely going I don't understand it's great for the TV show but I do not understand how Sue goes hey there are try coming over that means they're going to go through our bags so I better wash my idol because I don't want them to find it messy it'll be okay if they find my idol clean but I don't want them to find it with red paint like I do not if she thought that it would be easier for them to look through the bag or find red pain like I don't know what her thinking was I don't understand at all like it's probably the same thinking she has she tells people she's 46 yeah that's the this is the biggest lie of all not covering anything up but the fact that she's still trying to say she's 45 holy crap this is the most egregious thing since Johnny Fairplay he looked like he bought it

38:46 Soul did not freaking buy that because Soul had to point out that he was 42 and he was like he didn't say it with words but with his eyes he was like I'm 42 you're [Laughter] 45 it's crazy I can't understand why she's trying to think she's gonna get away with it and even why it matters yes muy oh something else I did want to point out right because there's another good thing production had done this episode right another good thing rightl us it's the storytelling of this episode we've got this Grand big downfall of here's Rome causing chaos and stuff and here's his downfall why he getting vot out we saw all the confessional was like Hey Y'all everyone's on soul and stuff and D he's so cocky he's so confident and we see his demise and it feels like almost I mean I was a bit sad because I love Rome so sad for him to go but you still had that satisfying feeling within you right that oh like the good guys took out the big bad wolf kind of thing right and that's something I think New Year survivors been missing a lot is story telling of episodes It's why strange Survivor does really well you have your main characters your underdogs your top dog yeah exactly like it makes you care about the contestants right and I's a lot of contestants in Australian Survivor you care you care about them quicker

40:07 And you care about them going home right where a lot of the times in new age is like yeah okay exactly but they did a really good job this episode like I to no I totally agree I think we pointed it out a little bit earlier between that Ro the fall of Rome came pretty much at the hands of Soul after this that payoff as well when you're talking about story and narrative the fact that Soul had to have that P he said like I've probably meditated more than anyone in the history of Survivor just trying to yeah because Soul actually does two players from this season who follows the podcast Rome was the first Soul was the second so shout out to S if he does actually listen to this I don't know if at which part he listen to us but obviously I think the whole soul and Rome Dynamic and the who's going to come out on pop rivalry has been great for the season so good and the way so like even when he got his chance to kind of bury Rome the way he did it in the soul car he goes wait did Rome tell you that no Ro this is what Rome does he's just so whereas you know like if it was me I oh like I would like no

41:27 It's don't like but so by being so cool about it and so calm he actually built the trust he got like beli him instantly he brought so much gravity and so much credibility to just going wait did Rome say that no this is what Rome does like just so cool about it and he gets to be the final dagger after as well by the way we forgot to mention the Kyle thing too yeah like just going Rome like that was after all of that like and like Soul gets to just bury him and be the final thing that was the whole way through the person that's given him so much trouble and then he again tried to turn on Soul again it's perfect writing you couldn't write it better yeah well done to Kyle as well this episode someone that looks like a country boy doesn't look like someone that can probably play Survival that while obviously winning the immunity at a time where he needed it didn't have a vote in the game so he needed that safety but more so when he was caught red-handed he kind of used the image that he had to lie himself out of it because it sounded like he did say all these things but he was like no it wasn't me I'm just the good old country boy you guys know I play I play a straight game and I think that was some good gameplay

42:47 From someone that we haven't seen a lot of and we haven't really gotten to hear his strategy and his thoughts on the game so really big shout out now another reason that I wanted to bring up Sam again as the person that I'm looking at the moment and I just feel like gameplay wise he's got it you know some people have just there's levels to this thing there are certain people who've got it when they were at the reward and they're all sitting there and they have to talk about the target being Rome they throw out Andy's name as a second choice which clearly isn't something Sam wants to do I 100% believe he wants to take Andy as deep as he can into the game possibly sit next to Andy in the game because he's a couple of steps ahead of Andy at this moment even though Andy similar to Rome believes that he has been the one that's been in charge of the strategy in the yellow tribe and that he was the one who voted out anakah he even took a lot of joy in that at Tribal Council saying he really enjoyed that Blindside Sam being willing to offer up Andy in that moment and not making the Survivor rookie move of saying no Andy's not an option let's go someone else which we've seen literally a season ago when people were protecting certain individuals too much in the game it throws you under the bus so again I just feel like Sam's got a lot of subtlety to his game he's got these little touches where he's like I need to give them a little bit now for us to be able to get Rome out and for

44:07 Me not to be suspicious but Andy's not the long-term move I don't see Andy going in the next episode so I do want to give a shout out again there to Sam for that gameplay M yeah no like Sam is playing really well like I think is someone that no's really looking at too much going like I think everyone knows that Sam he an active player they're not seeing him as like this humongous threat but then again all eyes were on Rome right because he was causing so much chaos and stuff so now you have that distraction away yeah like should they have kept him last season they kept the chaos in the game they kept someone that was very chaotic in the game so that they could always Blindside other players this season we're seeing a very different strategy is it always good to get the chaotic player out of the game or should you keep the chaotic players so that you can hide behind them and maybe Blindside other players that are more strategically threats going into the end game to actually win the game would have the right move not have been to go after someone like a Sam or someone of that level where they're clearly a threat in the game I feel like maybe this was a missed opportunity and that the level of gameplay here they're missing a couple of steps I know you didn't watch last season but last season they masterfully kept the chaotic player in the game so that they could keep on blindsiding other players well

45:27 I mean it's an interesting thing right because there are many different kinds of threats right we've someone like Rome where let's not forget in the first two tribals he went to he like played like a one-time Idol and flipped a majority Alliance on each other and then he flipped on that Alliance yet again with a Steeler vote and completely Splinter the whole thing right and that was in two days right and so it's like yes while Rome is a very massive distraction he's also a threat in terms of if he wants to pull you part like he's done it you get what I mean he's done it before and so it's like if you're like soul and teeny for example you want Rome out because you know what he can do if you're like Sam maybe you can try use Rome but if you're hearing all these stories about a guy who literally pulled apart a majority Alliance in two tribals like I mean you kind of got to get rid of that right H I disagree do you disagree yeah in context I see what you're saying like but I do think looking at the game where it is today I think Rome was so toothless he re like he was throwing everything he could and not one person was buying no one was fighting nothing like they did not give him any like at all he's got

46:47 He couldn't I don't think he could pull this way even Genevie who was his closest Alliance is look was just like I can't like I'm I can't like this Lally nothing I could do so with that in mind I do think he was pretty like useless as far like he's not threatening in the slightest I think he was kind of the sacrificial vote because when you get to merge he'd already piss some people off Carl was obviously very fired up st's more than happy to let him go and at this point when it's merged you're still finding your footing it's the first vote why not have an easy kind of almost consensus kind of vote because there's no one really else standing out and I but I do think he's not threat I would have tried to drag him along as far as I could because he wasn't doing much at all in this game I don't agree I think the only danger that someone like Rome poses to give a little bit of sort of I guess assistance to mak's argument but I agree I'm leaning more towards you Kuna in regards to you could use that agent of chaos is something that you can Blindside around but the only difference between him and Q from last season who I'm referring to is someone that they used in the game so they can make big moves as Q never really found an idol from memory but Rome has been shown as someone that can find advantages which brings oh no he did find it at the end he

48:08 Got blindsided with one in his pocket but throughout the early stages he didn't have the same reputation as Rome had or someone that could find tools in the game to use it to create some big moves so I think that's probably the only thing but I would lean 7030 towards your way kunan saying I think you could have used them taken them a little bit deeper in the game want to say hello to one of our loyal listeners of the another fight take Channel Ellen welcome back to the live she says Hey guys not following the season of us Survivor but wanted to pop into the chat to say hi I need my TNT fix Ellen this has been like this has been a bit like it's hard like if you don't like New Era this has been a better season of New Era I do feel like there's been some good characters this season some interesting moves being played and theit the most fun is seeing the players rebel against production which happened like this episode where they just refused to do some of the things production wanted them to do but we'd love to have you back you know whenever you're ready to come back and listen to TNT and follow any of the seasons gab is saying the preview showed online sold through Sam under the bus to Andy saying G sacrificed him as a backup interesting because Andy did ask Sam afterwards did you was I had the backup and Sam said no I didn't know or he said I don't know at the tribal council so that's going to be interesting

49:28 But I think Sam has the thing you mentioned the subtle play from Sam that was so good to not actually play as Idol the fact that they actually put that in the edit I feel like was a little bit of a forewarning kind of thing that something might come of that yeah maybe because what may come of that is that Sam could use it now as a tool in the game which is what it sounds like he might do so something where he could fake having an idol or you know that blone vat for him or he could even plant it and give it to someone imagine him being like Andy I got an idol I'll just give it to you for trust or something I don't know like there's things you could do it's probably bad of Andy does end up playing it and it doesn't work but I think Sam's got enough for me personally I think that Sam has got enough skill to be able to navigate Andy and I think he's worked on Andy long enough that even if this does come back and blows back on Sam I think he'll have the right conversations with Sam in the game gab saying I think Andy is going to screw over his entire original tribe now I don't know I don't know I feel like I really feel like Sam can bring him back in maybe I'm wrong we'll see Brendan saying fairly certain there was a hidden scene where the Aussie doctor did a confessional and said Rome had a really bad case of big Midas sounds accurate to me gab saying if Rome survived he would have become

50:48 The Mony of the group like this podcast oh man shots fine you know what it's because Tom's not here monkey so Gabe needs like a new punching bag and you're it well I haven't been sexist I haven't been anything you know I don't know why gab's coming after me you know like I thought I thought we're homies gab what happened thought you were Amigos you know if I could replicate the face that Caroline did when Rome was giving her sad story I would for that specific story there but I'm not as good of an actor or actress as Caroline is when she had that she was probably was being sincere I feel like she actually bought what Rome was selling which was kind of funny to see I thought so too and then the edit just complete I was like that was that was pretty funny good job edit like that SS and everything was on the Beat of the Music yeah it was really well done Gabe says Q can chill Rome is no chill and I've seen some fans ask Will Q or Rome be selected for season 50 my answer is why not both yeah but if you had only one of them I would say Q is the better choice because I feel like Rome would be disadvantaged by not having you know been able to go out there and socialize for season 50

52:08 Plus I do think Rome going back m is going to be like to me he seems like a pre merg boot he's someone that you're going to get rid of very early on if he does come back well once again it really does depend on what the season is going to be right is it going to be new era versus like pre for is going to be like a mix up of those who knows because I do see a world where Rome can't make it to merge again but yeah it just really does depend on the cast and I guess what the whole idea of the season's going to be if that makes sense it's all chaos it's just Q Rome Banu Caroline like just all the crazy characters in one season you lost me at Banu if Banu comes back I am not watching season 50 you guys are doing this podcast and's Banu remix yeah Andy's better than Banu did not stop crying for five episodes like Andy's cried for one episode let's not compare the two like I cannot see Banu I am not one of the million hearts that he stole okay I'm not one of the Banu Hearts it's not here Ellen is saying not going to lie us Survivor doesn't really interest me as much as Australian Survivor maybe it's because we get 24 episodes in Australian Survivor versus the 12 here in the US Ellen were you a fan of surviv us before and when you started

53:28 Watching Australian Survivor that take you away from being a Survivor us fan because again like a lot of people say us survivors is going strong and the only reason that the ratings are down is because a lot of people watch it online at a later stage like I did but I do think that there's definitely signs that some people have gotten tired of New Era and have moved away or are on the verge of like should I watch shouldn't I watch like coming into this season I wasn't as I wasn't as excited about 47 starting as I've been about previous Survivor Seasons you know I don't get that same excitement like look at me I only watch Survivor before this podcast I remember a time when Survivor came out that same night I had to watch the episode as soon as I got home I had to watch it I get that excitement still from The Challenge the challenge gives me that excitement Kahuna knows this we talk about it where I'm like I need to watch the new episode got to talk about it immediately Survivor doesn't do that for me at this point like I can see certain things that enjoy within it but is it my favorite us show right now definitely not the challenge is better than Survivor unfortunately for me and then I would say Australian Survivor definitely has taken for me as well is now the premier show when it comes to Survivor well something I just want to bring up because as someone who has fallen out of American Survivor since the new era it's two main things

54:48 It's production and also casting as well right because something we've seen in austr 5 that they nail both of them right American F they flunked both of them right I hardly remember anyone since the new era do you get what I mean and like a lot of the casting yes it's super duper fans but they don't do anything because the smart move is not to do something right and where the St Survivor they get more casuals play the game even players like Ferris and stuff he hadn't seen many seasons of the show before Kirby hadn't seen the single episode and they were the two greatest characters of last season and so it's the storytelling there's no investment in any of the players at all to watch I don't really care about anyone Rome was the only guy who actually liked this season and it was simply because this is causing chaos and it's was like hey I like this guy he's actually doing something you get what I mean and it's like I like Soul because he got that moment of finally getting Rome out and stuff and I'll put money on it sorry Soul if you're listening to this and I would love to be wrong about this would love to be wrong about this right but I feel like Soul's going to disappear into the background now that Rome's gone he's not goingon to be a big character like he kind of needed his Rome moment he's a obviously a good dude like he's the kind of dude you want to be best friends with

56:08 Don't know if he's going to be riveting TV from now until the end of the season is he going far AR goes far I think I think he's gonna I think he's got a couple of rounds still in him I see him going pretty deep yeah I do think I know again it was Rome Focus but I did like the way he sort of played it with Tiana where Tiana was it Tiana or Caroline where he basically said no how about I go talk to Kyle because Kyle's going to lie to you anyway I'll go find out for you and kind of and this is people that's not on his tribe it's not and he's already out there again because he has that Persona where he's just very relaxing very calming and he's ingratiated himself to people very much because he a common enemy that he can kind of Point towards and be the person in between but I saw some of that salesperson skills that you always talk about Chris and I was like yeah like he was making you know Making Connections I can see him going very far because you said you see him Fading Into the background but I see him still making the connections without standing out like I just don't think he's going to be a great and again to this I think you're a cool dude like I actually thanks for following us I really appreciate it and it's

57:28 Nothing to you as a person as who you are I'm talking about you as a TV character and from what we've seen and I would so love to be wrong about this I would so love for soul to come in suddenly make big moves be a big character I just don't see it I see him fading a bit into the background maybe doing so because this is the other thing as well like in a and I think this points towards what M has said not that I'm saying Sol is a game bot because I actually think Soul's not a game bot but they do sometimes cast too many game Bots too many people who just know the right move this is what you're supposed to do on Survivor I'm sure Rachel is a lovely person outside of the show but Rachel comes across as that especially in the first episode when she's like you know Andy don't come to me you're G to ruin my game you're not supposed to this and that and this and I'm like oh man like just be natural just be a human being be compassionate like that is the kind of stuff that we see when we get more casual people playing the game who don't necessarily know the pitfalls of the game and I think Rome probably is a casual off Survivor I don't think he was like a super duper fan coming into the show maybe he'd be better in a future season and kind of know where he went wrong watching himself back this season but yeah I don't know where I was going with it but I just don't see I think Soul can go deep I think he's got the skills to go deep I don't think he's winning but I just don't think he's going to be a big character someone that we're going to be like well like if he won we would have been like amazing

58:49 He's a good dude a good dude won the game you know what I mean but he's not going to be exciting to watch let's see what Ellen is saying she says yeah I was a fan of old era us Survivor but when new era started I couldn't get past the unnecessary production twists and stuff I want to watch them play the game not deal with that stuff and I totally agree Ellen that has been the biggest frustration of New Era and we've been talking about it for many seasons here on the podcast I've always said I'd be watching Survivor until the wheels come off and it does seem that way but this season has been interesting there's been some production interference that the players ignored to play the game which has been good to see and I wish we could see more of that in the future Gabe says for characters we still have Andy and Gabe to me I don't know I'm on the fence Gabe yeah how do you feel yeah he's there you like there's nothing been ex a big game he doesn't do anything yeah exactly I think su's AIG Su and Andy are the big characters left that and because they're not good at it like it tends to be I think you're right so many people seem very base level competent like the ba the floor I feel like is very high in the new era and then outside of that you have these big like chaos really bad players

1:00:09 So like the it's the outly of characters that really stand out and everyone is kind of in a very small variance because they're trying to play the game The Meta way or like the game bot way and I feel like a lot of people this season feel like they could be very good at the game but not very interesting yeah I totally agree sorry just give me a sec I just noticed Instagram kicks us off after an hour so annoying so annoying we could have still been live on Instagram could have said goodbye to people watching us on Instagram but it's just like rude immediate you're out so if you ever watch this in the future always come back to YouTube to watch us live and especially to be in the comment section I totally agree with you on that Andy I do enjoy Andy I would say out of Andy and Gabe maybe Gabe will still do something really impressive and big and fun like I just haven't and I'm sure because they keep going back to him saying he wants to be a new era Legend similar to Ricard he wants to be one of the greats of the new era but we just need to see something happening first for me to get excited really I think Sue is a bigger character than him and has done more so than him and have added more entertainment and then Andy I'd say I like Andy I kind of like I turned a complete one 80 on Andy the first episode I was like another Banu don't like this guy he's

1:01:30 Whiny what's going on he's a bit awkward but he's like again he's not socially aware in some ways or strategically aware in some ways he's not going to win this season but he's entertaining to watch him and he is good at confessionals he's better at confessionals than Sam so if you had Sam on his own it would be a bit boring and very this needs to happen this way and this is how the strategy needs to go where Andy's a little bit I don't know he's just more natural with the camera m who would you agree with that would Andy be someone because I know now that Rome's gone it's going to be harder for you to watch the show because there isn't that Ro character in the show anymore but would Andy at least fall a little bit of that spot for you for now yeah would just before I did get to that I actually wrote that down I forgot to bring it up how gab once be the Mount Rushmore of the new era and he said and to do that you got to make merge it just shows just how small that step is right it's like yeah he feel like feel like you're my notes it's in my notes I wrote it down because I thought it was so funny this is a part of I think he meant this is a stepping stone to becoming a legend in the game like I'm going to come up for Gabe I don't think he thinks that by making the merge on its own you're a legend of the game I'm pretty

1:02:50 Sure that's not what he meant you have to at least make merge at least make merge like it's a an entry towards it entry but I mean graduate to high school you can't be a legend in Primary School oh so here's the question then New Era we know the bar is quite low there hasn't been a lot of really standout big characters who is the Mount Rush Rome not making the merge on the Mount Rushmore of New Era he's on the Mount Rushmore of Prem mergers definitely like I mean who else like who else pre-merge would come up to his level you know not many like I remember that girl in gab season I forgot her name now was like Ellen or I can't remember her name but she was pretty good in gab's season as a character and a strategist and went up against gab but then gab cut a short someone in the comment section will know jalinski one episode Legend ah I don't know I don't know the the whole Aura of jalinski is legendary on its own give I'll give you that but I don't think he was up there but who would be like while we're exploring it who would be the mount and I know M's out cuz he didn't watch most of the seasons but and you've not watched all of the season so you may even miss out on a couple of people that would be the legends

1:04:10 Of the new era but if you had to look at it who would be the Mount rashma of New Era I would say d 100% is up there is the best winner of New Era and my mind she's the best new era winner I think character-wise it'll be maranne and also for what she represents for a lot of people in America and having one you know the previous woman of color not a black woman that won was the sepia all the way back in season five and for people to see her win was a big deal but not just I don't I definitely don't want to diminish her to that definitely don't want to she was a really big character in her season and I've always said if she didn't win that season she would have come back definitely for future Seasons which they still may ask her to come back very involved she's also still very involved in the actual Survivor fandom world and podcasting and things like that so I would definitely put marann and D on that Mount Rushmore and then it gets hard then it gets really hard like do you go with Only Winners I would say Carolyn yeah I would Carol probably yeah probably Carolyn from character standpoints up there yeah Carolyn could be up there and yeah again like some people may put yam in there I would put potentially in there which would be no

1:05:30 Ricard's not ricard's self he made himself a legend like and that just turns me off like I'm like you can't you can't be the one to choose that you're a legend the fans choose legs are okay this is not how this thing works okay but yeah some people are saying Shan potentially is up there get out I don't know if Shan's Sean's a big character but if she Mount Rushmore we're talking Mary I mean that's a big drop Maran who's W we're talking de who's won who's probably the best winner we're talking Caroline that's three women right off the rib like this is what happens when you don't have Tom on the podcast you may get like a four female on the mount rush let's put Cody in there I feel like Cody help started me out hit me out hit me out I would go Jesse over Cody no just is rubbish anyway so Cody right he started the trend we casting like characters on the show don't know much Survivor right so you get Cody say ring life guy everyone loves him he made that Idol out of like a hat how cool was that no one else would have thought to do it right because I'm too busy trying to study Pass boting records and stuff and then so I'd put Cody and then I Jessie was the brains of that operation it was like it was a classic Steven Fishback and TJ

1:06:51 Combo with him being like TJ and Jesse being Fishback but in this case Fishback outsmarted TJ before the end and then just got clipped short before winning the show but I don't know it's an interesting conversation and maybe something we should explore in the offseason since is saying D Caroline Jesse and maybe Omar two guys and two girls interesting not maranne on that one there I feel like maranne should be on the mount rushall personally I'm okay with d Caroline and marann being on there i' I just am unsure who the fourth person would be and one from each season Omar up there yep every Survivor fan said wish they'd play that game yeah Omar yeah probably you probably put Omar up there and that probably knocks maranne out because they were from the same season so I can see where sin's coming what about jonath it's who Jonathan jonath I like Jonathan a lot of fans didn't like Jonathan in the season like he was a 5050 character for a lot of people I don't know why I liked him but the thing with Jonathan is he was supposed to be the big physical guy that was going to dominate at the merge with all the immunities and then ended up only winning two and getting beaten by a lot of them so I feel like he fell short on his potential but I definitely want to see Jonathan come back like if we in fact we should we had never done a season 50 Dreamcast

1:08:11 We'll do something in the offseason here on the NFI Tech Channel we do a Dreamcast and we do an official Battle of who is the Mount Rushmore for New Era Survivor pre season 50 because it'll be interesting to do one pre-season 50 and then to do one after season 50 when we've seen a lot of these players come back and maybe that will change some of our estimations because it's hard when you're choosing a Rushmore with players that have only played the game once and that is the whole new era we've only seen players play the game once right but I kind of think that's it for this episode we've spoken about everything that I wanted to get into we've had a lot a great live audience here tonight as well or this morning wherever you're watching us thank you so much for jumping on if you're a fan of this channel we try to keep it real we try to talk about the good the bad the ugly everything here on this podcast and we love to hear everybody's opinion so you know if you disagree or agree with us let us know in the comment section I do read all of the comments and I try and get back to as many people as I can so please go and let us know what were your thoughts on this episode for now we are going to call it a night though and we'll catch you next time so grab your torches head back to Camp we'll catch you guys next time bye