Survivor South Pacific Review

0:01 And welcome back to day 23 of Survivor 46 and 46 I just finished watching Survivor South Pacific Sophie just won thank god you know there are not many moments in Survivor history where it's like I need someone to not win I would think like maybe Samoa here's there villains or two seasons where it's like okay I hope this monster doesn't win this is very much another season where it's like I just need this person to not win and that was coach and I'm glad he didn't I want to get everyone's thoughts on it today we're joined by German and John frell let's just start at the beginning of all of this what is y'all's first time watching this season especially coming off of Redemption Island what were what were your thoughts coming off of Redemption Island as far as like was it better or worse I think better but we're not talking about Leaps and Bounds better we're just talking about we took one step in the right direction better not a big step but we took one step I completely agree I think of any season that had the Redemption Island this is the best Redemption Island season or the variation of the Redemption

1:21 Island anyway I should say I mean you had a whole bunch of characters at Redemption Island and I'm we'll get into those characters I mean I mean we had people utilizing strategy with Redemption Island in this season I personally was just like really we're bringing back Azie again I was hoping that there'd be some sort of rivalry that they'd bring back instead of it being oh it's coach and Azie they have no relation with each other they never crossed paths I mean I mean the Russ thing was a stretch but yeah they kind of wanted coach and Phillip to be like two delusional Kings against each other and they apparently didn't get Philip back so they were like aie I mean he you know what Azie is delusional this is probably the best strategic version of aie that we get through Four Seasons by a lot like Azie I know that it's big brained with the you know hey just vote me out and let me just go beat up on everyone at Redemption Island but it works because both times that he does it I mean one the first time he only needs to beat one person the next time he does exactly that and I

2:41 Do feel like and we're going to touch on this because there is another winner there is a winner that has happened in the last six years that people [ __ ] on but if Azie had won this season I feel like people wouldn't have [ __ ] on and so I'm curious to see what why you think that is but yes we got our second Redemption com it real quick if Aussie won this season I would be [ __ ] on him too oh yeah so I mean I'm not an Aussie fan so like yeah of course I would I would sh on too and we'll get into that bit later much F so yeah I would have [ __ ] on it too but it's not like it's we'll get to it but yes we get our second Redemption Island season and like I said Earl like I tweeted this out earlier you know this is basically just a carbon copy of Redemption Island to the point where you know we've got the captains we've got you know we've got the Colts we've got certain characters that are just like I compared Ashley to Albert where Ashley is trying to make these weird bonds with people in Redemption Island and Albert is doing the same thing now he got called out for it here a lot and in that situation I kind of compared him to sash from Nicaragua where it's just like okay yeah he's just doing all he's is blowing smoke up people's asses and people are reading seeing right through it we've got you know the coach

4:01 Rob comparison except for Coach Sucks like Co Coach Sucks to the point where Sophie can sit there and say hey I kind of dragged him to the end and people can buy it I mean I buy it because I like Sophie but people can buy because it's like yeah because he's doing the exact same thing that he's been doing for the past two seasons even though he said This Time It's Different and the only thing more different you know this time is that he really leaned into the religious aspect and that's the 20 how many cast members on this 18 or 20 18 okay so the 19th cast member of this season is God because God shows up a bunch and we're gonna talk all about God as a character this season because it's there let's go with Sophie first I know that the weirdos online think that she's a non-deserving winner and she didn't do anything and all this other [ __ ] yeah oh I agree what are our thoughts on Sophie Clark 1.0 amazing one of my favorite winners ever Sophie I mean she did the right she did the right things I mean she stuck with the right people she knew when to

5:21 Speak up and when to shut her mouth and let the crazies just keep talking because she knew that she'd be able to beat the crazies in the end so if she is the calm and pleasant one then people are going to actually want to like vote for her at the end yeah it's basically like exactly what Natalie said in season 19 hey if I sit next to this you know Russell Hance AKA coach figure at the end I'm gonna win so all I have to do is be the perfect you know number two to them I ride through a bunch of easy votes I said at the end and I win Natalie white did it perfectly in season 19 and Sophie Clark did it amazingly in season 23 I think she did it she was Natalie 2.0 she was even better because she managed to win she managed to win competitions y she knew and she was very strategic in competitions she tried to get Albert to help her out in that final five Challenge and the one time that it's now called out oh you can't help somebody else out in the challenge I mean it was it's been brought up a whole buch now coach to win this one yeah Jeff needs coach to win this one so we can't have Sophie win this or we need Coach O yeah

6:42 I and obviously I love Sophie Clark I think that yeah if you want to use the Natalie white comparison I'm fine with it because yeah at face value it is strategically Sophie is the best person in that Trio yeah I think socially yes and she got called out for the social aspect and she called out for that social aspect physically she is the best person of that of that Trio Sophie aie yeah and she when she needed to win she beat it God's gift to Survivor challenges when she needed it and sent his ass packing I you know I understand you know coach fan non-ironic coach fans thinking that it was highway robbery that this man didn't win and I would say for the first time in Survivor history the jury did come off pissed off towards the robbed God that people you know so usually and I've done this already but when I talked about Samoa those people didn't go off on Russell they were not pissed off at him they even Heroes versus Villains I think Danielle was really the only one that like really got angry with him I guess we could make a case for Rob and all stars but I don't count that because they thought they were playing friend viver and they wer and Rob wasn't so

8:02 Get over it these people were pretty pissed off with coach and I think because we had a very religious cast and a lot of their bitterness went towards the fact that hey you were utilizing religion for a game and you manipulated this kid Brandon and we're g to talk all about Brandon to the point where this kid this 19-year-old kid feels so betrayed by you and you know because you use Faith to manipulate him I like I understand it's a game and you can do whatever you want where do you guys see you know just you personally using religion in the way that coach did this season did you fair or foul but you know it depends on the jury you have at the end of the day you can do the most foul types of gameplay ever like Brian heidik and Sur ior Thailand but if you have four jury members to vote for you despite being a foul person then you can even win with a foul game he coaching this season played a foul game but people on the jury said what the [ __ ] are you talking about religion we're here in a game that you're supposed to betray and you know get people out and you're constantly talking about God while doing so God was never out there saying we're gonna betray people for money you

9:22 Know what are you talking about you can't talk about you know scripture holist morals and integrity while you're you know making a cult and voting people off and betraying people out of the orders you promised them that is the least Godly activities you can do if you just did that without you know holding a God on a pedestal you might have won but the way you did it none of the people on the jury who were religious unlike me I'm not but when you preach religion to people who are religious while betraying the morals they represent how can you get their votes when you're saying I spit in your face and vote for me yes John I mean I see it as a little both because he managed to get people to have that Common Ground especially we're still talking in the 39 days era so they had a lot more downtime in between things so they were able to find that common ground and like we said so many of this cast was religious so it didn't matter which Faith they had he embraced everybody's face and got them to just be more open and more relaxed with each other and yeah you have the people like the Brandon H who then just went off the complete deep end but those everybody was fine and dandy with talking about religion and having that

10:42 As a background until they got their throat slit they're like wait a second I thought we're all honky Dory here but God us yeah exactly it's like but God can't save you anymore now so I mean unless you got an idol in your pocket then God ain't gonna help you so yeah or even if you have immunity God still won't help you in Brandon's case I mean it's it really is interesting because Brandon is the second person now to give up immunity and then get turn around get voted out yeah Jenna didn't get voted out yeah but we don't see it as much of a bad move as what Eric did and which I find really intriguing because I mean I see it as just as bad a move that late stage in the game you got you got to pretty much hold on to that immunity yeah and I mean Rick even says dumb move Rick is very underrated as far as a confessional and because he gets like two confessionals all season I like Rick as a as a speaker this season because he always he was very funny for one moment because you recently watched Nicaragua again we have Jimmy T and Rick as our two people in Survivor history that

12:02 Were won the Home Depot award to be on Survivor they are only two examples and we both have two incredibly unhinged you know older people that provided nothing to the game but provided really good confessionals and I would love to get a Home Depot winner on Survivor 47 I think that would be just good TV give yeah give us another Rick Jimmy T don't I would rather them go the route of Jimmy T and just not outs say their welcome like it's not like Rick was saying anything crazy but it was like okay at a certain point you just forget that Rick is there because I absolutely kept on forgetting Rick was there in fact when I was thinking about the five person Alliance I'm like yeah Edna coached Sophie Brandon and Albert and like oh no there was there was Rick this comment most betrayed in jury speeches by coach like you were in there [ __ ] you yeah my bad coach pulled a Mike Turner in my opinion he didn't own the game I agree and I think the I still prefer Mike Turner I prefer Mike Turner because he there was that moment I always bring this up there was that moment that Mike sat there and you see on his face when he realized oh I have not been playing this loyal game that I thought I was and he felt bad it looked like he felt bad about it with coach this

13:22 Is his third time playing and he know like he has seen both of his seasons and even if he hasn't he's seen the perceptions of what people have about him online that he you know he's just a bozo so this time you come in and I do feel like we get a more realistic version of him he's not doing a bunch of the Dragon Slayer stick but in on the on the other end of that we get you know very religious coach but he's still preaching the same type of stuff except for grounded in reality of religion and not grounded reality of being a dragon slayer and you know telling his stories and it's frustrating because yeah I'm not a coach person but I do feel like at the beginning of the game him and Azie establish really solid groups in a situation where they could be the first person gone and you know in both seasons of you know Redemption island South Pacific there are people that say hey they gotta go and what do Rob and Coach do in this situation they get rid of those people first do we think that rolls reversed and I'm glad that they were on the tries they ended up on do we think rolls reversed that this season may have been even more or been interesting or do we think

14:42 We probably get the same types of story lines I don't think it plays out the same if you reverse who's on who I think that especially if we put coach on the other tribe I really don't think he's mended as well into that group with Elise and semhar and papa bear you know I don't think that like the way he talks I think you'd have more negative confessionals against coach from day one I think Aussie might do a good job in the opposite way but I don't think coach is you know a few of those initial types of people that they gonna bond with instantaneously I don't think aie would have fared as well with coach's group I there they were just too high heavy of personalities on coach's original tribe whereas aie was able to blend in with a lot more of the levelheaded thinkers on the original tribe so I mean whereas Co yeah like you said I don't think coach would have fit in I don't think oie would have been either they landed perfectly on their tribes to start off the game yeah I mean I think go ahead go ahead I want to say

16:03 With you know both of them I think that both of them were trying to correct mistakes from previous seasons of theirs you know coach got the criticism of you know you're all about you know just saying honor integrity but you did no strategy coach you know what I mean and him this season was like I'm gonna make a five that's gonna beat the four I'm GNA copy what Boston robbed it in the previous season and I'm going to run the game right and then aie was like nobody talked about me strategically you know in Cook Islands or Micronesia so I'm going to be the leader and I'm going to make these decisions and it's basically like two people who have these most tragic outcomes to you know the decisions they were trying to make because coach is like I'm GNA be the leader and I'm gonna be that dominant figure but he didn't learn from Stephen Fishback you know betraying you know alliances and having no jury votes he didn't learn from Russell he made the same mistakes of people that he was on the jury and voted against you know Azie even though he said I'm gonna be the Strategic guy this season he fell into all of the same traps that he made in the past two seasons and had to just rely on his physicality again and couldn't against a one-time you know first new player that he lost against it's these two people that were G to be this is finally my time beaten by new players and beaten

17:23 By the same mistakes that he made previously and I kind of love that to be honest and I yeah I love it I and I was I'm glad that we got the outcome that we did because if we got two rures winning back toback in Seasons where it's very clear that the season is set up for them to have the best chance at winning you know like I said yesterday I don't think that anything is rigged I do think they put them certain people in certain situations where they have a higher outcome for success and I think even in this season much like Redemption Island where this season is pretty recruit heavy with the exception of like Cochran and a couple of other people Sophie and all of a sudden the you know coach ends up in an alliance with someone that understands the show Sophie and I think that's one of his big downfalls is with Rob was working with a bunch of jamokes that didn't understand the show period and so he can do whatever he wants with Coach he ends up with at least one person that understands the Dynamics and is shown socializing and has shown being a part of a lot of the decision-making on the other end we get Azie and you know we have you know Jim Rice who I keep comparing to David Murphy from Redemption Island that's their proxies and Jim you know has a lot of these ideas and I think that

18:43 You know the move they pull to get Elise out great and I think that Jim's fun up until he takes the what's Whitney's boyfriend him what's his name Ethan or Whitney's boyfriend in the game Keith when Keith goes home and Jim takes that so personally that he and then I think that's when the wheels fell off of Jim like they were all going to go home but that's where I lost like as a player it's like okay Jim like this is this is weird that you were taking this to the point where you don't want to talk to this kid again because he flipped on you and this kid OB all because he didn't want to risk going to rocks yeah I feel bad for him I feel I feel bad for Cochran In This Moment because I mean yeah they've been [ __ ] on him for a long time then he doesn't want to take the risk for to go to rocks for these people that have been [ __ ] on him for the longest time I might not go to rocks for them either so yeah this is where I do want to pause for just a moment and discuss the Elise vote you think that was the right move because I think after [ __ ] on Cochran for 12 plus days I don't know if that was the right to get out a lease there I think that when you go to a merger you know with

20:03 Somebody as on the bottom as Cochran you kind of expect a similar result to what you get where Elise had a completely locked alliance with Azie who they had a five with aie you know what I mean I think Jim just wanted more power than what he needed to have at that moment yeah Jim can pull in Dawn you know Keith and Whitney to go against Aussie who's the obvious threat later if you've got your six but if you still have Cochran round who I think they should have voted off Cochran over Elise okay they don't do that but you vote off Cochran over Aussie to go to Redemption Island to get in you know Christine who has been badmouthing her tribe at every single Redemption Island and then they're like okay we'll get Aussie to beat out the big bad Christine who's going to go to the other tribe after she was voted off basically like first in her own tribe what are you talking about this is so stupid like just off Cochran I agree with you I agree with you and that watching it this time it confused me even more why they were so gung-ho about getting rid of Christine like there was no Christine and Stacy you know are the two most vocal people shout out Stacy and

21:23 Her iconic Chucky the cheese jokes monologue I don't understand the rationale of doing that and it didn't help that Azie is the worst actor in the history of acting thank goodness and here we go Chad thank goodness he doesn't have to do much acting on his only fans you know he does what he has to do and they think that they're actually going to pull this off against coach and the rest of the crew and my favorite coach moment probably ever and I don't have many is him and Cochran are sitting there and Cochran's trying to feed him the story and Coach is just like yeah none of us are flipping on each other and this is what I think is actually going I think that y'all voted out Azie thinking that this and the other were going to happen I think that y'all do have an idol and you know we're gonna have to if you guys want to do this just know that you know we're willing to go to rocks and coch just kind of sitting there just being like oh [ __ ] we've been we've been sused out I loved that coach moment because in that moment it's like okay maybe this guy actually does understand what's going on and he's shown in the past that he does but then he follows he always follows it up with this whether it's the dragon slayer [ __ ] or the or the religion [ __ ] and it's

22:43 Like okay if you just if he just stayed the course of just being the cult leader and you know maybe turn I think what ultimately calls him is because he keeps bringing up the religion part but like if he just shows himself to just be the strategist I think at some point he would have to cut Sophie at that point though like he has to what did you think of that merge you know that merge moment no just everything that went into I know what you think should have happened but what actually happened of Azie going and winning would you from there to when Keith ultimately gets voted out yeah again I think the plan to send you know aie there was completely stupid but I do think that the red tribe you know had a good argument where if we have the idol and the immunity you know what I mean on this then we have more people who are going to immune in the Rock draw than the blue tribe right the only people that are going to be up for rock draw on the red tribe were going to be Cochran and Dawn where basically the entire blue tribe except for I think was it rick who had the vote against him yeah Rick they voted for Rick yeah so it was gonna be five versus two you know so that was kind of the Aussie pitch is We have basically the majority chance of us safe if

24:03 Five of them go but you left cine as one of those two who was the most nervous person among them if you left like Whitney you know who they played the idol on as one of those two it's not like Whitney is gonna flip because it's like oh no I have a minimal chance of going home because of a rock draw if Aussie plays the idol and Promises to play the idol on Cochran I don't know if Cochran actually flips in that moment you know what I mean they set him up to be one of the only people taking the fall after they also made this whole you know show about how he was the betrayer on the tribe so they basically made him to be the villain and made him to be one of the only two people on the tribe to draw a rock in that scenario so again I think Aussie's initial plan was stupid and then Aussie's second plan was stupid and it was a mess and all you know coach and Sophie had to do was show Cochran empathy and say hey we're not going to tell you what we're going to do but if after the rock you know after the first vote you want to come with us and have an actual chance of safety come with us and we'll be your home yeah and Brandon insisted like hey you know I'll look after you and it's just

25:23 Once again we're going to talk everything Brandon H A little later but it was there was wholesome moment of just like hey to STI when they're leaving tribal he's like just stick with me I'm like oh my God like he's really looking out for this for this poor soul John what did you think about the merge specifically the merge vote do you think that they could have gone a different way do you think it should have gone a different way I think coach's group picked the right person to go after and like I was saying I think ay's group made the mistake then you like we were saying ay's group made them mistake pre-emerge not getting rid of Cochran should have gone for with how they were treating him I mean it literally made it so that way Cochran was going to flip the first chance that he was going to be able to and then we just saw a huge ponging happen one after another minus I mean Doan had like it was posted the comments we could have had the final three of Coach with Edna and Cochran and that would have been an interesting final three scenario yeah I mean in that final three scenario I think coach probably

26:44 Wins which is insane but coach probably wins in that situation because SI none of them are gonna vote for Cochran nope Apu none of them are going to vote for Edna Maybe abach have you watched the Ponder roses this season yes and so one thing that really bothers me is last time I did this all the ponderosas are still on YouTube the only ponderosas on YouTube now are winners at War so I haven't I haven't been able to watch the South Pacific on or any of these since 42 and 42 but I do remember the South Pacific Ponder Roes specifically when Cochran shows up and Jim Rice is still giving him the cold shoulder it's like dude it's over like we all yeah like Cochran's able to talk to nobody they completely isolate him like Cochran goes to the beach and tries to apologize and make amends I mean I remember the Abby Maria one in Philippines too that's a different but Cochran's like hey you know I'm sorry it was a game and they're like f you man and it's like bro you know coach could have sat next to Cochran and won yeah there's no way that Co and that's the thing about Cochran this season is the fact that almost from the go he has no chance because on his OG tribe they want to get rid

28:04 Of him they don't but they're also treating him like [ __ ] so even like at the merge he could either flip and be number seven or stay and be number five or six either way he's not making it any farther because they don't have him in no group has him in their long-term plans and he would have to go on an immunity run and this isn't caram moan where he can win an immunity here in there this is South Pacific that has some pretty good challenge people on it that make it long enough in the game I'm not the big I'm like I'm not the biggest tan person I do feel for him in this season at a lot of points because he is swimming up shits creek without a paddle but I and this is going to jump the gun for the end of the episode I didn't need a Cochran 2.0 I feel like we got the beginning and end of that kid that kid I feel got the beginning and end of his story here and you know I don't want to dwell too much on cocking because I do want to get to Brandon what were our like overall what were our thoughts on John Cochran 1.0 I mean the sympathy that I gathered for him here led to me wanting to root

29:24 For him more the next time he showed up and getting to see him having playing the game the second time around with confidence was much different than this time around in which he was scared of everything from the get-go there's the initial speech in Survivor 46 where Jeff says hey some of you are going to be on a tribe and you're not going to gel with your group you're not going to be that person that can get in the votes in the end there's nothing you can do about that and that was Cocker on this season if you implant Cochran from here into a new era season where there's a lot more nerds a lot more you know what I mean people that might have shared the same interests as Cochran then maybe he does better but you put him on this tribe that's got Aussie Keith Whitney sear Elise you know he was like not in a tribe of anybody other than Dawn that fit his interest and then when he gets to merge the other tribe is full of religious nuts who are in a cult you know I don't really like Cochran I don't like his sense of humor but I do feel for him that he was in a group of people that really had nothing in common with him he was set up to lose from the start and I don't like of course you have to bond with the people that on are on your season but he didn't have

30:44 A group of people here that he had anything in common with he was set up to lose from the start he had a better group the next time he came out from them because he got to bond with them at post show events and you know things and another tribe there that was the worst tribe in Survivor history but in here you know he didn't really have anything no and going off of that we're gonna we're gonna move on to Brandon Hance and God for the season I think that duo really carried the season John do you want me to put the other one on for you okay never mind we've got Cochran or not Cochran we've got Brandon Hansen we've got God so Brandon H comes in and it's very clear first of all that they didn't do much of a what's the word a psyche valow on the kid because it's very clear early on that he's not he's not right he's not in a good spot and that's not really mean making fun of him as much as just it's very clear that he's not in a good place in life at this point no he's in a better place then than he is the next time he comes around but you know he's talking about how he you know he just found God and like he's really he's really into God now really into religion and that's all good you know that's all

32:04 Good he wants to keep this whole Russell thing on the down low because he feels like people hate Russell and I think because most of these people are recruits and they probably only showed them Heroes versus Villains and what micr where they know a oh so maybe like Micronesia at that point so most of these people are only going to know Russell Hance for you know Heroes versus Villains and they only know coach because verus villains aie Micronesia and he you know you can tell that they're really trying to push this whole Narrative of oh man coach you know had to deal with Russell last Russell really messed him up it's like not from what I remember from what I remember Russell just voted out coach because he got Cassandra convinced him to vote out coach early on Brandon has his whole thing with Michaela which you know isn't fun let's talk about pre merge Brandon H we won't talk about anything that happens after the merge but pre- merge Brandon Hance how do we feel about him I think the first thing I want to bring up is he has the Lil Hance tattoo on his shoulder and he basically is like for the first like two episodes I'm gonna wear my shirt you know just covering my shoulders and then like I just be honest like if you were on Survivor

33:25 And somebody was doing that I'm like what's wrong with you who wears a shirt like that like you're obviously hiding something you know like it's more weird to wear your shirt like that in a way that nobody else wears a shirt ever in the history of mankind than just like being like yeah I'm related to Russell H you know it then when he reveals it's like aha on day six I can finally trust my tribe and reveal that I am the relative of another Survivor player and Stacy bam say he can't believe it and now that I have revealed that I'm G to make incredibly sexist comments about another Survivor player for the next you know two episodes until she goes home phell [ __ ] you pre-merge just pre- merge Brandon H pre-merge Brandon Hans in any game is absolute [ __ ] I mean we've seen him just be at the high of highs and low of absolute bottom feeding lows in these games I mean he thinks that he is the end all be all and I honestly think that he may be the worst

34:45 Out of the three hes and that takes a lot wow I don't know are so uncomfortable so cringy uncomfortable and he disguises the I'm afraid of this woman and like I am creeping on her and the shots you see with his eyes where they're looking in the veil of Christianity and it's like oof big [ __ ] oof yeah and it's such a STK contrast to Brandon H post merge which I do feel like is a very compelling character and a character that I actually kind of support but you know for us to get there we have to deal with a lot of stuff and even stuff with him telling Edna oh yeah sorry God told me to tell you that like there's a five person Alliance and you're not in it and you know once again it's just like this man this kid is unstable and a lot of the premerge is them saying like hey why don't we just do this why don't we just get rid of Brandon and you know Co you know we go to we got to stay the course we got to stay the course you know this is our crew and we can't start turning on each other and we can't even vote out Edna because we need we need Edna I coach I need Edna

36:11 Brandon we hit merge thank God we hit merge and the first real thing that we see is you know Brandon telling Cochran before the vote don't worry we've got you and then after the vote happens and Jim Rice is saying you're you know you're a coward and all that Brandon's or Brandon's like stay with us and when Azie takes Cochran off to go talk one-on-one and Brandon says I just want to be here to make sure that nothing goes down Aussie's like we're playing in a game dude like relax I'm not gonna hit him and we get moments where Brandon is just he's so loyal to a fault because God has told him to be loyal to a fault with everyone and I know I keep saying that like mockingly but like and it kind of is but you I'm not I feel like this kid actually believed that and I think there is something compelling about the fact that he did believe that he was chosen to be with this crew and the God had chosen this group that chosen him and Coach post merge Brandon H before we get to that moment the necklace moment do we like him I want to put the pause on like the god expectations for a moment and also put the Russell Hance family expectations

37:32 On him for a moment I talked about the tragic you know Tales of like coach and Aussie this season but also you had Russell Hance and Shan Hance you know you know Brandon's father who was there the family visit demeaning Brandon and then at the reunion show you have Russell Hance demeaning you know Brandon Hance you have his entire family basically being like you have to live up to our Legacy you know Russell's legac isn't even good like let's be honest about that but they are taking this young kid who really you know is very young does not have much life experience is in a bad place in life and saying you have to live up to this Infamous reality TV villain and we have to be honest you know Survivor at this point had hit a high you know a viewership after it was at a low you know after like 11 through 18 Russell H kind of spiked the show's viewership for a while and was a b TV character and Brandon has to not only live up to his religious expectations but also the Russell H expectations so he is you know having to live up to all these things in his head when in reality he's just a young guy that you know doesn't need this religion it doesn't need you know the hands Legacy just needs to be himself and grow up and I do think like you said you get this rare moment at the beginning of

38:52 Burge where I think he's trying to be his authentic self oh away from those moments and then when you know his you know Shan Hans comes in I think it resets him again and puts him into that dark place that he was in the pre merge again he's a very you know traumatic character despite all of the sexist and horrible things he's doing in the Prem merge you know at the end of the day he's a guy with had the world of expectations over him and he didn't have the ability he didn't have the mental capacity to fill of that and I feel bad for him you know yeah phell okay sorry post Brandon Post Marge Brandon I mean it takes a lot to get over the initial pre-merge Brandon to have any sort of want to change your thoughts about Brandon once you get to post merge and especially like knowing now like I mean like how crazy he's gotten with everything and how mentally unstable he was I mean I honestly feel that he is the reason that they put psych

40:12 Vals now into the Survivor auditions but I mean yeah he was great to Cochran I mean he liter I mean he as much as Azie was like this is a game this a game look exactly how Jim Rice was treating him I mean Jim was ready to just pretty much slap him around and do bodily harm to him but yeah I it's tough to think like that I mean Brandon did have a much better game once he reached post merge and it was a lot more respectable of a game however I still think he's absolute [ __ ] and is still like I said the worst of the three an because as much as we all hate Russell Hans I mean he is a legend for other for various reasons of the game people I mean I didn't say he's great I'm not saying he's the best I know I just exactly it's but think about what he brought about for the game I mean that's my thoughts on Russell but it's not like Brandon brought any of that to this game somebody in the chat mentioned that Brandon would have won if he got to the end and that is what we've heard from you know postgame you know

41:33 Interviews and whatnot and that's also true that Brian heidik was the most horrible person in Thailand and still won the game when he got to the end so that does give you a sense that Brandon Hance especially post merge especially to the losing tribe the red tribe had a decent enough social game with those people while they were going out where coach was saying I'm the religious guy and Sophie who I love wasn't talking as much with those people you know and Albert who I want to talk about a little bit later was Albert to them you know what I mean Brandon did in his way maintain the best social game to the other tribe of anyone from the blue tribe but again like I said the moment that Shan Hance appeared he immediately sued his game completely afterwards and what Al and I know phell brought this up earlier about what did Brandon bring to the table I'll tell you what Brandon brought to the table coach likes to preach all of this loyalty and you know integrity and all that Brandon H actually did do that Brandon H was loyal to a fault and he did have you know integrity and all this other stuff that you actually do not see in this game and stuff that coach has been preaching for years at this point Brandon actually did all of that and it's insane that we had

42:53 To it's a it's a h that did finally bring all that to the table and I do think that yeah put it in the right situation Brandon does win because what you said of the social game but also because he was loyal to his crew the entire time and I feel like he receives a lot of votes from a lot of I don't Sophie I don't know votes for him I mean if she that's we're fantasy booking at that point but I think there's a lot of situations where Brandon Hance wins and so we get to we get to the necklace situation and we can use that's the segue to Albert Brandon wins immunity and God comes to coach or Brandon or both can't remember and God says hey you know you need to give the necklace up to Albert and they have their whole moment and Coach you know coach and Brandon are sitting there and it's like yeah you know I'll tell you what my what comes to me in my prayers Brandon gives up the idol the necklace to Albert they vote out Brandon Albert actually votes for Sophie in the situation and I know we already touched on this but

44:13 Did you feel bad for him here for Brandon no yeah I guess to a certain degree of course you see a person who's you know Young on Survivor just completely making a fool of himself to the nth degree like you have to have a certain amount of empathy but you look at everything that's gone up to this point and all the mistakes that you made and you're like you need to get some life lessons you know and unfortunately you shouldn't be on TV Survivor should not have casted you Survivor like really you needed to go through these life lessons at home and he still didn't learn these Life Lessons by his second season so I guess I feel bad but like at the end of the day if somebody does every single thing wrong you know every crime possible and ends up in prison you know by their own valtion I could feel bad for them but at the end of the day they made mistakes that led to where they're at so it stops at a certain point John do we feel bad no I mean like I was saying earlier this is Eric 2.0 but I mean it's it gets to the point though that Eric still

45:34 Seen as like the worst move and Brandon is just seen well he is a victim of God this is not a bad Survivor move God just hates him in this moment but yeah God hated what's his name from Redemption Island his name I've already forgotten why God hated Randon from season 4 because bonu saved him yeah God hated what's his face Matt Elrod Matt Elrod because as much as Matt is saying God is guiding my hand through all this Redemption Island stuff and all of a sudden it's like oh well psych Andrew is gonna win now sorry John's Point real quick Eric Reichenbach on 16 was told by Natalie and Siri that they would vote with him if he took off his immunity so in the ideal world it's a three to2 vote brand was only told by Albert by Albert he was only by Albert who did vote why I think this is even worse than Eric's I that's why I understand where you're coming from you know but for the longest time Eric was always seen as like the worst move in Survivor history I so I to go off of that I feel like the reason that it's Lo one because

46:54 It was the first two because it's an alliance that people actually put on a pedestal of it being the Black Widow Brigade like people look at that they don't really look at the APO Apu the cult as like one of these alltime alliances I think because the winner of the Season came from the alliance that did that I think that I mean I guess Sophie technically was in that Alliance but anyway I think one be the main reason is because it happened first and because it couldn't have happen happened to a better guy than Eric in this situation it is brand enhance and like it's like okay yeah good that it happened to him I mean I did feel bad for him but you know that's just because I have we go we go on to Albert and Albert spends a lot of the merge making promises or trying to do things that he doesn't ultimately end up doing it's very similar to Ashley and Redemption Island it's very similar to Sash and Nicaragua it's very similar to Kelly Wigglesworth and Borneo I was I was going to say we compared it to Samoa compare him to Mick in that in that final three I mean it's like we said it's almost a mirroring of the Samoa final

48:14 Three what I want to differentiate Albert a little bit slightly from like the mick type because Albert was actually with Sophie in terms of one of her only few applicants on this season so unlike you know the mix and some of these other people on the season the Whitney the keiths Albert actually knew the show to a certain extent you know what I mean and that kind of puts his mistakes and I think a little bit of a different lens for me than some of the other people that we've mentioned because Albert in theory should know a lot of the mistakes that he was making but I think that Albert was you know you take Albert and Sophie some slightly less religious people than the alliance they were part of they were trying to be the Mastermind that was with there at coach to the end and could plead their case Sophie did this by letting coach take the Reigns and letting coach take all the back you know lash of everything that happened Albert thought will I have to be more dominant than Coach Albert thought I have to you know be more important than coach so Albert kept promising everything to all of these people as they went out because he's like well you'll look at me as the more strategic one right but none of his plans ever went through so all

49:34 He was looked at the end of the day was a backstabber that accomplished nothing coach was looked at least as a backstabber that accomplished something you know with the moral guise of all of this but I think Albert in this season plays an underratedly bad game you know that doesn't get discussed enough he like held all of the cards to be the Sophie you know that wins in the end against coach because he knew the lessons that coach had done everything wrong in his prior two seasons Albert had that knowledge but Albert still nonetheless makes coaches saying mistakes on top of him and even worse to where he gets zero jury votes at the end Albert's a fascinating character and he sucked at Survivor Jesus phell follow that one up no I mean I mean I to be honest I don't know and I've I'm been horrible at following who was applicants and who was recruits all I can all I can go off of was how they performed during the season and Albert just seemed too much of a follower at times and writing checks that he just can't cash

50:55 Whereas Sophie was able to control a little bit of things was hecky was able to win challenges when she needed to and knew what situations needed to go her way in order to make things happen yeah and so and I'm glad you said that as far as recruits because this time around watching all the seasons it's been fun to pick who I think are the recruits and who are the people that and it's it becomes very clear every time you watch the season over and over again who was probably you know picked to be on a season and who actually apped to be on it I will keep going back to James referring to the immunity idol as the immunization thing in China you know this season you know you've got Whitney who's a country music singer and it's like okay well that's Chase Rice we've got you know I feel like rice probably applied but then we have like sehar who I don't think semhar was the biggest Survivor fan coming into this it's I think Papa Bear was because he says he was I could see I could see Chine being one that signed up for the game CHR yeah and it's

52:16 It's so interesting to see these Seasons because we're ready to I'm getting to one tonight that I'm going to you to see Seasons where there are people that you know actually understand the game and how they go about playing it because in one world jumping the gun a little bit we get a situation where we have basically three people on the cast maybe four that know what survivor is and we get the top two most dominant winners of all time because she's playing against a bunch of jabronies that don't understand the game and I think that's something that Sophie does so well in this season is okay yeah I've got these people and I've got Brandon H and yeah I've got albertt and she even says like Albert because we can talk game with each other Okay cool so you've got someone that you can B you've got coach who you know the coach is probably just gonna coach his way to the end and all you do is beat him You' got Brandon who is Brandon you've got Rick who's invisible and you've got Edna who we all know we're gonna Sophie's set up so perfectly from the very beginning because she only has to you know stick with this crew she doesn't have to out think anyone because they're going to do it to themselves they're going to be they're going to try to do all these crazy moves because they've only seen two seasons at Ponderosa before

53:36 They got there they're going to go looking for these idols and everything and all I have to do is sit there and you know like I said she neglects the social game and she admits it and I think that her second time around she plays a very good social game aligning with Sarah and all that my favorite Sophie moment of the season is at final tribal where she says oh yeah I just want to say they already found the idol before we prayed about it yes and Brandon's going like this and it's like yeah man God didn't find that [ __ ] for you like coach didn't prayed about it I speaking of that final Tribal Council I think we also got to discuss one more brand enhance moment with Albert there did you did you Albert just want wants to be that Mastermind used car salesman until the very end and manipulate Brandon but Brandon knows the truth Brandon's been at Ponderosa with Rick who was there in the initial conversations you know about hiding the idol you know what I mean Brandon knows everything but Albert still at the very end still wants to be that Survivor winner and by the way I think Albert's been really self-deprecating and knows what he did wrong on Twitter you know

54:56 You know like postseason you know 10 years later you know what I mean so like shout out to Albert he knows what he did wrong but in this moment Albert is still trying to become a Survivor winner and Brandon Hans you know is just trying to look for the truth and Albert won't give it to him did you know it's such a sad moment did you know it's like man will kill you I don't think that you guys understand he thinks this is real he will kill you if you don't tell the truth restraining I mean this is this literally this FTC is literally foretelling how Brandon is going to be during Caramoan and [Laughter] it's his emotions car right on over yeah and thankfully go ahead I'm sorry no I mean Don and Cochran knew exactly what they were going to be getting with Brandon since they had already just dealt with that and they knew they had already started to see Brandon get unhinged and I mean they didn't get to see what he was like during pre merge but yeah they found out quickly so well and the I think the reason that we don't get crazy Brandon this season is because there is no one there to antagonize him

56:17 Because in caramon we do have Phillip and they have their whole thing and it's like yeah if you have someone that's actively antagonizing someone that's not you know stable bad things will happen because when he's not being when he's just being lied to here he's so focused on Albert just tell the truth or just him you know once again going up to Cochran and Azie and feeling like I have to protect Cochran and it might get physical it's like it's not going to get physical dude like this is this these ain't the streets of Texas or wherever you're from he's such a he's such a compelling character this season and it just sucks that we just didn't end it there if we just end it there brand I feel like Brandon history might actually look at Brandon like they look at I don't know like maybe like a big Tom because big Tom did problematic stuff in his season but like also there's like wholesome moment and I feel like this is be like okay yeah Brandon had his whole pre-merge thing but also like he looked after cogr as we start to wind down I do want to touch on that final tribal a little bit more well first of all the Redemption no actually no that's not true I want to talk about I want to talk about Azie and Redemption Island because I alluded to this earlier people all the [ __ ] on Chris

57:37 Underwood for winning edct because he only played like a day and a half or whatever and this an exaggeration but I do feel like if aie had won this season people wouldn't like the majority the vocal majority wouldn't hate it and that bothers me because he got voted out so many times this and had to use I mean I you know what if it's part of the season it's part of season I get it I would support no a winner no matter what why do we feel why do you oh I guess I phrase this do you feel like people would have supported an Azie win this season those fans if you know what I mean okay there's a big difference between whether they would have supported it and whether they're right about that opinion because honestly you're right you're right people would have supported it because this is still before we were truly sick of Azie I mean we're starting to get sick of Azie at this point but yes he would have been voted out Twi vote voted out once if you want to call this first one a strategic move to win that first thing because he asked to be voted out there but he literally just would have walked to the end pretty much

58:58 Because he would have had the SAA votes and I mean whether or not Cochran would have voted for him at the end that would have been interesting it would have I don't know if he would have or not but that would have been an interesting final three scenario I don't officially know who would have gone in that scenario if Azie wins that final immunity who goes but probably Sophie because aie and her would beefing Albert probably votes for which means the coach is either going to have to make him go to fire or yeah exactly so could have been Sophie going and then we have the situation in which it's it probably I mean it probably is Aussie to win because yeah again you have the same situation of people are pissed at coach and pissed at Albert so does aie just win by default at that so as possible there's a personal respect difference for me with Aussie and Chris Underwood here where Chris Underwood only has to win One Challenge to show up at the finale where Azie had to win at least six you know what I mean that's there's a difference here you know Azie had to fight versus the next person that came and the next person

1:00:18 That came and the next person that came and the next person that came Chris it's like I won one and they brought me back with an idol okay bro you know what I mean like ozie had to win that challenge after he came back in two at the final five and then you know he lost to the final four okay Chris Underwood was brought back with an idol and only won one challenge after being interacting with the entire jury the entire time I think there's a difference here where I would slightly respect Aussie's game over Chris Underwood if Aussie was the winner of South Pacific would I respect it but would I respect it more than Chris Underwood yes that's what okay well I know we're jumping back like many seasons at this point but what about like Burton or Lil at that point like would you put that in the Underwood category would you put that in the no it's the it's the same exact situation because one they're coming back at merge and there's no final chance to come back at final five final six they're coming back at merge and having to do the whole entire merge care when it was that they got voted out it all depends upon what they did with that game granted I feel again I feel bad for liil because they trashed on her for the whole Scout thing

1:01:38 And her game being off of that but Cho was playing a game same with Burton they play again I'm going back to Island that's my favorite season so I can talk days about that but no that's this is a much different situation than Redemption Island because also that was the first time ever that had ever happened and it was they weren't even guaranteed to come back into the game they had to actually win a tribe Challenge and then be voted back into the game by their group so that they had to even have that aspect whereas this time all they had to do was win cops diger liil only got to sit at Outcast island with one of the other jurors in Burton yes and she didn't even win that yeah she didn't even get his yeah so I mean both of y'all made great points I'll shut up so we get to the final tribal and you know I've heard stories I don't I don't think this has ever been confirmed by Sophie I don't think but the rumor was that Sophie filled up her canteen with wine and would take a drink every time someone attacked her and so she was trash by the end of it once again I've never heard if it was confirmed it's true in my head I want it to be true I want I want it to be true and that

1:02:58 So was just blackout drunk the entire thing but we get we get fin final trial right there and three people vote for coach and I think that the three that vote for Coach may they made sense just based off of so I understood Edna doing it because Edna even sits up there and says oh yeah like you guys are trashing coach for using religion when like we can we can use whatever we want so like I think Ed his vote was rational I feel like this is probably just me stereotyping but I don't feel like Rick was ever going to vote for a woman and Cochran and I feel like Cochran probably felt like him and Sophie didn't have that social relationship and him and Coach did I feel like everybody else voted for Sophie because one they hated Albert but two they just didn't buy into the coach [ __ ] and I feel like that was very warranted at least Sophie sitting up there admitting hey I wasn't the most social person coach is sitting up there still trying to preach his coach this and I do I mean obviously I will never sit here and say that someone didn't deserve it because that's crazy so I've always loved the sovie Clark when and I do feel like the jurors that didn't vote for her at least it made sense why they didn't do you guys

1:04:18 Agree do you think that she could have gotten other votes do you think that they were kind of where it should have been I think there's probably some reality where Sophie could get Cochran's vote but you know other than that I think it happened how it was gonna happen I'm fine exactly how they laid I'm fine with Sophie winning I'm fine with Coach being a second place person I definitely feel he deserves second over Albert in my opinion because I mean [ __ ] he let he led that group I mean and Albert was his follower so it's not like Albert did anything to warrn AE of Coach when he was just as devious and lying and as manipulative that like people were trashing on so why not put the leader over Albert yeah I'm just I'm filling in my rankings now I say overall I the final travel was actually pretty funny to me like I enjoyed it for what it was I think that once again we get to the final votes the final reading of the votes and you can tell on coach's face that he knows that he's lost this is like the third or fourth season in a row where you can look at people and see who knows

1:05:38 The outcome and who doesn't in this situation you could tell on coach's face like he knows that he's done and that's a wrap on Coach hopefully forever we're gonna gotta bring up one thing that should rank this season lower for you real quick which is the worst immunity challenge watch of all time with the meat and them pulling it out with their teeth there's a reason yeah there's a reason they actually brought didn't bring that one back again because people actually got they got all get injured yeah Challenge and then for them to have the reward oh yes you can bring whatever meat you got back to your Camp it's like zero to 10 yeah I'm like okay I mean we I mean we didn't even touch upon some of the crazy Redemption Islands I mean what was it semhar against Christine in the very first spoken word that was one of the best moments I mean Stacy's monologue jokes horrible acting performance Christin Christina there's Redemption Island has Christina and we have Christine I don't know

1:06:59 I think we have Christine in this season yeah okay she you know going on you know a winning streak all the way till Azie shows up my favorite Aussie one of my favorite Aussie moments on Redemption Island is when Cochran shows up and he's like Cochran and you know I feel like Azie playing a great social Redemption Island game I feel like o play obviously he played a great physical Redemption Island Game and like yes both of you both of y'all have [ __ ] on the strategy behind going out and I don't say that I disagree with you I will say that he in my head he played to his strengths of hey I'm not that good I'm not that good at doing the strategy thing in the real time I am good at doing these challenges so how about I just go do the challenges on this place I go socialize with everyone and I'll make my back in the game then by that point everyone loves me and I never had to do anything in game that would warrant people hating me at that situation how anybody else besides Christine what aie did would have been an absolute like top 10 like Risk move that would have been up there with Chris Underwood putting himself in fire in terms of risky moves but

1:08:19 I mean he's putting I mean to see Christine like an older woman go on that run that she did in Redemption Island and for aie to be like that's who I need to beat right there I've beaten all these other Giants in the past I need to beat this older woman in a CH in a one-on-one duel it's like that does not rank in terms of like bold moves that he with the love letter to Russell for me where it's like I am just going to assume what this other person is going to do with zero context whatsoever ever like except he does have context except for he has context here he has context so it's even worse than the JT love letter for me yeah he has contact and he still it just goes right over his head overall you know South Pacific is it's better than Redemption Island it's better than Redemption Island it's better than Nicaragua I disagree with that part but we've already had that discuss Redemption Island is one of my worst no yeah I oh okay sorry I thought you saying Nicaragua No Redemption Island is one of the worst of all time but Nicaragua I love Nicaragua I'll tell

1:09:39 You this I fell asleep today and I had to like that's why we end up starting so late because I had to like then go back and watch the two episodes that I fell on asleep for because it like it was Bor like once it hits the once it hits the Keith vote out it becomes very just okay yep and thankfully they have not only a double boot episode but they also do no they have two do they have two double boot no yeah because Jim and aie go in one and then Whitney and Dawn going da the other yeah and I'm thankful for that Don deserve to come back based on this season so that's what that's what I was ready to get to that so by my account we have Dawn Cochran aie Brandon we won't count Sophie because she comes back for winners at War so I think we have four people that come back from this season is that right is that right yeah okay that is correct is that the right number should it be less should it be more less L we know now should less I mean yeah I mean yeah I guess but who should have been less like who so we can put it out there Brandon

1:10:59 Definely yeah I don't know if Dawn really deserved to come back based on this season I would say that Christine I mean and that would have made sense to me are better AR better person than that archetype and that Dawn archetype Christine needed a second chance I would have Lov I would have L I would have loved to seen Christine come back over Franchesca of last season % 100% yeah don fit that nice sweet motherly role for the comeback even though again she got trash during the next one bring like I already touched on before bringing Cochran back to tr try and see him continue his Arc was nice to see and to see him actually play a game instead of being scared for the first half of the game even though he ends up being on the weirdest of all weird fans tribes or sorry favorites tribes it might as well been on the fans tribe like who are these people yeah honestly that

1:12:20 Was a I mean you compare the two favor you compare the two favorite tribes in the two fans versus fa faves games and one truly is a FV tribe the other is a who could we actually get back for this season I gotta tell you if you don't invite me for caram Owen because I would be cursing the entire time I Hate That season so oh I hate don't worry I not a fan of car I didn't want to mention Jim was one of the people up for grabs in second chances so Jim could have been back that's right yeah and I mean I'm glad that people didn't vote him I do feel the men that we did get like I think the only person that I would have rather maybe like Shane Powers but like cool the men that we got back for Second Chances even like Varner at that point was like okay yeah we haven't seen him since season two that's cool whatever if we Shane over Terry at that point I think you might have got more interesting TV because Terry was gonna have to go anyway Savage there we didn't need another that archetype of the Dil we Dawn I agree you know there was there were better options I think that Dawn did really well in caraman I think she's very underrated in caraman

1:13:40 But like whatever Cochran I feel like America loved Cochran at that point and Jeff loved Cochran at that point so we had we had to get Cochran back fine whatever I'm glad that we didn't get more Cochran after caraman Brandon H like I said this should it should have been one and done here we didn't need another Brandon and that's not even with hindsight that's just more of we didn't need more Brandon I mean after they saw after they saw the mental state that he was in they shouldn't have brought back for another full season correct and then who's the other one there's oh Azie yeah Azie 4.0 is usess probably my favorite because he doesn't outstay as welcome he doesn't the only the only thing that Azie does in Game Changers that annoys me is when he gets voted out and he says have fun catching fish or find someone to catch fish and I'm just like dud this is not season 13 anymore no one cares about that and then so it's interesting I'd like to rank my multi multiplayers in terms of their appearances azy this is my second favorite Azie season with Cook Islands being my first favorite of him because we didn't oversee him he was actually kind of cool to watch and

1:15:00 He was that badass that like was it was him and Ule it was that like Batman and Robin situation it was nice when coach again this is my second favorite coach of his three appearances my first being Heroes versus Villains it was fun watching the dynamic of him and Jerry that was actually fun to watch whereas token Sheen was too much and this time he tried to game too weirdly in my opinion but this is my least favorite coach by far like this is just it's not her vills is my he doesn't Al St is welcome and he really only has one weird moment in the season and that's the one moment with Tyson after the Randy vote out which is still hilarious so it helps token jeans is just like okay yeah this is a cartoon character it's fine I'm going to give South Pacific a 2.75 out of five it's going to fall right below all stars and right above Redemption Island I just needed it better than Redemption Island that's all I needed this for everyone listening this is I'm officially halfway done so I'm gonna post my halfway done rankings when I post all of

1:16:20 This where's gabone is 16 okay South Pacific is now 20 out of 23 need to be higher but I'll lift with it yeah I have gabone at 16 like it was I would agree with that sentence too but again go gabone is one of those you love it or you hate it yeah my last hot take of the podcast is I think Albert would have been a better person to bring back than some of the other people from this season because I think he would have been just as unhinged and a used car salesman on future season bringing to more drama than aie would have brought Dawn would have brought and would have been rational unlike Brandon H so I would have appreciated Albert bring back he knows the show he just sucks at it the first time thank you both so much for this we actually talked a lot longer than I thought we were going to talk for South Pacific I hadn't planned on talking long for South Pacific but I'm sorry I'm hearing oh God no this is great you know me and I just don't shut up no this is this is fine you know we're nowhere close to the longest I think the longest was like an hour and a half and I think that was Fiji

1:17:41 So thank you both so much obious there gonna be an open invite for when I do the live stream for 46 in like three weeks I'm I mean I'm halfway done I can't believe it than you to everyone in the chat and everyone listening to this afterwards tomorrow is One World which last time I did one world it was a lot better than I remembered it still sucks but it's a lot better than I remembered it so I'm excited to get started with that we will see you all on the other side