Pod Meets Twirl'd: Live at the Survivor 50 Finale

Summary

Pod Meets World – "Pod Meets Twirl'd: Live at the Survivor 50 Finale"

Podcast: Pod Meets World
Hosts: Rider Strong & Will Friedle
Date: May 22, 2026
Episode Theme: A live recap and celebration of Survivor Season 50, recorded at the Survivor 50 Finale. Rider and Will reflect on the episode, the experience of watching with super fans, dynamics of the finale, and the state of reality TV.

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Episode Overview

This episode transports listeners to the Paramount lot, where Rider and Will attended the live Survivor 50 Finale surrounded by a crowd of superfans. The duo relives their unique press experience, shares behind-the-scenes happenings, and delivers an in-depth, play-by-play breakdown of the historic season conclusion. The chemistry of watching as both fans and semi-insiders offers vibrant insight into the show’s shifting demographics, fandom energy, production decisions, game highlights, and live audience moments.

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Key Topics & Discussion Points

1. The Live Finale Experience

Timestamps: 03:34–06:53

• Fan energy and community:
  • Watching among superfans elevated the intensity and reinforced the sense of communal journey through the season.
  • “We were with our people...It was so fun to feel the energy to feel that we had all been on this journey of the season together.” – Rider Strong (04:58)
• VIP treatment:
  • Recognized and given press passes. Brought family members to share the moment.
  • “We checked in at the press line...and they knew us right away. We didn’t have to show IDs.” – Rider Strong (05:18)
• Hollywood nostalgia at Paramount:
  • Will reflects on the history of filming there:
    • “The guy…said, yeah, that building over there, they shot Sunset Boulevard over there. And there was just this history of Hollywood that, God, I hope we don’t start to lose. And it was incredible.” – Will Friedle (06:17)

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2. Survivor's Youth Grab & Cultural Crossover

Timestamps: 07:18–09:38

• Celebrity casting:
  • Noted Jeff Probst’s acknowledgment of stars like Billie Eilish, Mr. Beast, and Jimmy Fallon as a deliberate strategy to bring in younger viewers.
  • “It was a shameless grab to get the young people.” – Rider Strong (08:29)
• Fan culture in the audience:
  • Will recounts watching an 11-year-old repeatedly asked for photos with a Mr. Beast collaborator, showing how Survivor has penetrated younger fandoms.

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3. Live Audience Reactions

Timestamps: 11:15–12:59

• How love and indifference play out live:
  • Audience cheers for Tiff at every appearance (“fan favorite every time was on camera.” – Will Friedle [12:15]), contrasted with moments of clear silence for less adored contestants.
  • “There was never any hate... just some people that just didn’t get any applause.” – Will Friedle (12:11)

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4. Game & Episode Breakdown

a. Gameplay Strategies & Emotional Dynamics

Timestamps: 13:23–18:46

• Emotional management at endgame:
  • The challenge of balancing hurt feelings with the need for jury votes (“whoever gets voted off next, they’re on the jury immediately…so you’re gonna vote somebody off or stab somebody in the back and like tomorrow they’re gonna be judging whether or not you get $2 million.” – Will Friedle, 14:15)
• Underestimated threats:
  • Discussion about Rizzo being overlooked (“the flaw in everybody else’s gameplay that they never considered Rizzo seriously..." – Rider Strong, 20:11)

b. Physical and Mental Challenges

Timestamps: 18:19–21:20

• Epic final competitions:
  • Multi-stage challenge that tests endurance, skill, and puzzle ability – “I can’t believe they do this to them this late in the game.” – Rider Strong (18:46)
• Contestants' physical toll:
  • Jonathan vomiting after CrossFit-level exertion (25:34–25:50), prompting anecdotes about the grueling nature of Survivor.

c. Crucial Game Moments & Social Maneuvering

Timestamps: 27:00–30:26

• Tiff's last-ditch attempts:
  • Tiff tries to persuade Joe and Jonathan to keep her, highlighting nuanced social bargaining.
  • “What she calls her power of persuasion... she tries to sell Jo on the idea that Aubrey is a bigger threat than her, which is a good argument.” – Rider Strong (27:47)

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5. Iconic Live Mistake & Audience Awareness

Timestamps: 44:42–46:35

• Mis-edited live moment:
  • Jeff Probst mistakenly moves forward, signaling the wrong contestant as voted out before the fire challenge airs.
  • Huge collective audience confusion, which at home is not as audible.
  • “The whole audience, live audience went, whoa, whoa. And you can’t hear it on television.” – Rider Strong (45:27)
• Show’s attempt to cover:
  • Jeff plays it off as a twist when they return from commercial break.

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6. The Final Challenges & Jury Segment

Timestamps: 48:04–64:43

• Family reunion twist:
  • Finalists’ families surprise them on the beach; emotional moments, especially for Joe and Jonathan.
• Final pleas & self-assessment:
  • Contestants explain their journeys, illustrating different strategies—Aubrey’s under-the-radar timing, Jonathan’s underestimated influence, and Joe’s (weak) assertion about ‘honor and integrity.’
  • “I peaked at the right time, which is exactly the way to play this game.” – Aubrey, paraphrased by Rider Strong (49:32)
• Jury Q&A highlights:
  • Coach’s “What have you compromised?” puts the finalists on the spot (54:13).
  • Christian frames the game as “narrative warfare,” emphasizing storytelling for the jury (63:30).

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7. Winner Reveal & Awards

Timestamps: 64:53–66:51

• Aubrey's win:
  • Consensus that she played the best new-era Survivor game—flexible, strategic, socially adept.
  • “At this point, I think it’s pretty clear that Aubrey has the best story... And she does. So the after awards show, Aubrey talked about how much she had learned from other players.” – Rider Strong (64:46–65:39)
• Awards and Survivor rituals:
  • Aubrey gets a $2 million prize and a Toyota Land Cruiser.
  • The “car curse” is explained: formerly, the car was given to a non-winner and considered a jinx until they decided to award it to the winner.
  • Sia Award: Surrey receives a $100,000 secondary prize as a crowd favorite.

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8. Meta-Commentary: The State of Survivor & Reality TV

Timestamps: 67:22–70:39

• Future of the show:

  • Tease for Season 51 “the open era—permanent uncertainty—every advantage and twist is in play,” to mixed reactions from the hosts.
  • Preference for a “back to basics” version with new, naive players.

• Classic infamous moves:

  • The Johnny Fairplay faked-grandma-death twist gets discussed (“His name is Fair Play. Yeah, he literally did the least Fair Play.” – Rider Strong, 69:34).

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9. Personal Reflections, Community & Final Fan Moments

Timestamps: 72:12–74:08

• Post-finale bonding:

  • Hosts reflect on meeting fellow celebrities and old friends (including Adam Scott) in the audience, sealing old fan stories and “closing a 30-year loop.”
  • “It was great to see him. I got to tell him I just seen Hokum, his horror movie, the week before, and he was very excited that I had seen that movie.” – Rider Strong (73:31)

• Looking ahead:

  • Announcing their next podcast adventure: a rewatch/discussion of “Within the City,” a Housewives-adjacent reality show, promising a new genre to explore.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Watching the show with the crowd of super fans was the coolest thing in the world.” – Will Friedle (04:49)
• “I felt like we were in the—we were with our people.” – Rider Strong (04:58)
• “Billie Eilish didn’t even know she was part of this show.” – Will Friedle (08:27)
• “In a sword fight, at least give everyone a sword.” – Joe (as paraphrased by Rider Strong, audience applauds, 37:09)
• “That’s literally a $2 million loss. She knew it the second she lost that one and lost by one puzzle piece.” – Will Friedle on Tiff’s loss (27:11)
• “Buy every replica...Your backyard just a—like, untie knots…You’re gonna come and find me someday, I’m just gonna be balancing on a dog thing in my pool, untying knots left and right while holding on to my own body weight while I put other hands…” – Will Friedle on prepping for Survivor (33:53)
• “Rob Cisternino was behind us, and I turned to him. I'm like, all right, Rob, you're on the jury. He's like, oh, it's Aubrey. Like, he didn't even…There wasn't even a question.” – Rider Strong (51:53)
• “Narrative warfare…you guys need to tell your story.” – Christian (63:30)
• “Aubrey’s going to win. And she does.” – Will Friedle (64:53)

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Segment Timestamps (Highlights)

• Live show/crowd reflections: 03:34–08:50
• Season summary/celebrity audience: 08:50–11:15
• Audience reactions to contestants: 11:15–12:59
• Physical challenge breakdown: 18:19–20:11
• Tiff’s exit: 27:19–30:26
• Family visit: 48:04–49:10
• Final jury Q&A: 54:13–64:43
• Winner reveal & aftermath: 64:53–66:51
• Season 51 preview: 67:21–68:19
• Personal/celebrity stories: 72:12–74:08

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Episode Tone & Language

The tone is enthusiastic, irreverent, and deeply fan-centered, mixing behind-the-scenes knowledge, sharp strategic analysis, and pop-culture references with moments of genuine emotion and affection for the Survivor community.

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Summary Takeaway

Whether you watched the Survivor 50 finale or not, this episode captures both the intensity and communal joy of reality show fandom, the unpredictable energy of live TV, and the enduring appeal of competition storytelling. Rider and Will not only analyze game moves and finale controversies, but invite fans to relive the spectacle (and blunders) of one of TV’s longest-running game shows, all while charting the ever-adapting role of reality TV in pop culture.

Transcript

[Rider Strong]

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[Will Friedle]

All?

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[Rider Strong]

Welcome to POD meets Twirled, a podcast that once chronicled two guys who had never seen Dancing with the Stars but watched a season and walk experts. From there, we ventured into Traitors, a show I'd never seen. But Will swore he could win. And now we finish Survivor season 50, the big one. And this time the roles have been reversed. Will has seen exactly one season, the first, meanwhile, I've watched for years. We are Will Friedle, who prefers his wilderness with room service, and Rider Strong, who will hike any mountain but hates the beach. Two best friends, one devoted to the comforts of civilization. One who would never leave the woods if he could. Both of us, reality competition scholars join us as we finish our dive into alliances. Blindsides, fire making sand related misery and 25 years of television history culminating in this single massive season. This has been POD meets Twirled, seeking immunity. Well, last night was the night, Will. That just made me sad.

[Will Friedle]

This is good.

[Rider Strong]

I know we're going through going through

[Will Friedle]

another one, ripping through these things.

[Rider Strong]

I know, but. Okay, let's just start here. Aren't you excited for season 51 of Survivor now?

[Will Friedle]

I am. I am, I am, I am.

[Rider Strong]

I definitely am. So.

[Will Friedle]

Last night was so much fun.

[Rider Strong]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

Watching the show with the crowd of super fans was the coolest thing in the world.

[Rider Strong]

That was.

[Will Friedle]

What an experience. I'm so glad I got to experience that last night.

[Rider Strong]

Me too, man. I. I felt like we just. We were in the. We were with our people. Yes. It was so fun to feel the energy to feel that we had all been on this journ of the season together. You and I got recognized multiple times and people saying like, I can't wait

[Will Friedle]

to hear you guys recap this. I can't wait to hear you guys. We're like, oh my God.

[Rider Strong]

We checked in at the press line, like real journalists doing a real job. And they knew us right away. We didn't have to show IDs. They were like, oh, Ryder, Will, here you, here are your passes. I brought my son, Indy. You brought your wife, Susan. It was the best. It was so much fun.

[Will Friedle]

It was the best. Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

I have to say, like going and having gone to Dancing with the Stars. When we first started this incredible pod meets twirl journey, Dancing with the Stars, I was overwhelmed. I was very nervous. I was like very out of my element and uncomfortable. This partly because we had had that experience. I was like, I felt like we were VIPs. I felt like we were backstage. I felt like we were where we belong. And I was a very proud father to be able to bring my son into this, like, experience. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

So cool. I also have to say, just from an old school Hollywood standpoint, walking on to the Paramount lot, again, just the history that was there. The guy who was walking, first of all, all the tour guides there were amazing. Shout out everybody who works there.

[Rider Strong]

So nice.

[Will Friedle]

Unbelievable. And they're like, they were so proud of it. The guy just heard me talking about Paramount.

[Rider Strong]

I was like, you've been here before.

[Will Friedle]

I was like, yeah, I've done a couple shows here. And he said, yeah, that building over there, they shot Sunset Boulevard over there. And there was just this history of Hollywood that, God, I hope we don't start to lose. And it was incredible.

[Rider Strong]

Just feeling back, such a well run show.

[Will Friedle]

Oh my God.

[Rider Strong]

Besides the obvious big faux pas which we will get to, we got to be there live. Made it perfectly worth it to be there for that. So cool to see that. Incredible. But no, but also just like we were sitting there. We got in early because of our amazing press. VIP passes. Thank you.

[Will Friedle]

I heart. Thank you.

[Rider Strong]

I heart. Because of our amazing access. We were there super early and it was 15 minutes before the show and there were only like 50 of us in the entire audience. And we're looking around. It was your wife. She turned, she's like, there's gonna be 1500 people in here in 15 minutes. And yes. And they wanted it. Oh, my God. I guess there's like, there's the regular line and then there's seat filler line. So if like there's an empty seat. So it was packed. Packed. It was full of people. And yeah, the Second Jeff walked out, the place just erupts.

[Will Friedle]

Standing ovation instantly. It was so cool.

[Rider Strong]

So I also. Did you watch the episode this morning too?

[Will Friedle]

I did not. I didn't have time. This is my 14th episode I had

[Rider Strong]

to do in order to take notes because when we got there I was going to take notes like I normally do to do our recap and it was just too much was happening. I was applauding every 30 seconds. India was like asking me questions. So I decided I had to watch it again this morning, which I'm glad because we couldn't hear Jeff for his entire intro. I know this whole opening number where Jeff came out, he was talking to camera and the crowd was on its feet just screaming the entire time. So what he was saying was, welcome to everybody, to Survivor 50. Obviously he also had this little tidbit which is something we should talk about. He said he wanted to welcome the new fans and then he said who probably tuned in because of Billie Eilish, Zack Brown, Mr. Beast and Jimmy Fallon, which piqued your interest. And I was like, okay, you guys are admitting that this was a naked grab for. It was a shameless grab to get the young people. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Billie Eilish didn't even know she was part of this show.

[Rider Strong]

Exactly. So I just like how smart, like brilliant. First time it really occurred to me that they were, you know, because obviously they were doing it as gimmicks. Right. Or like, like new twist. But it hadn't occurred to me that it was a grab for younger people because when you say It's Survivor season 50, Jeff Probst is 60.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

60 something.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Contestants who have been playing for 20 years are up there. It's like, right, you got to keep the young people interest. And I think they accomplished that.

[Will Friedle]

I do too. And here's a perfect example of why. So we were sitting next to Tanya from scrubbing in and she's a Survivor super fan and I was next to her and her husband and her 11 year old stepson and I, we, I kept seeing like three rows ahead of us, this young kid kept standing up and taking pictures with everybody. And I was like, God, who is that? And it was the 11 year old who leaned over and said, oh, that's like Mr. Beast's right hand guy.

[Rider Strong]

Oh, Indy recognized him right away.

[Will Friedle]

See, that's one of the photo with him.

[Rider Strong]

And I'm like, dude, we can't.

[Will Friedle]

This poor guy because he was. Every 30 seconds somebody was taking a picture. So it's a whole fan base that we obviously know nothing about, but you get 11, 12 year old kids and they knew exactly who this kid was right away. So, yeah, I mean, brilliant, brilliant way

[Rider Strong]

to bring in a whole new audience. Yep. Jeff turns around, says, get a shot of the audience. We're all on camera, you and I get a tiny dots somewhere in there. I don't know. I couldn't see us freaking out. And then we get the season summary, which is mostly a series of like the big wounds and smacks and lots of generic like, oh, this is gonna be a roller coaster. We're back. You know, so much of Survivor is a commercial for itself, of course, which is kind of true of all of reality, I've realized. It's like reality TV is like something pretty small happening, like one person leaving this room when there's other. But then you spend like three commercial breaks promoting that it's gonna happen, and then three commercial breaks talking about how you can't believe that that happened. Like, like Mr. Beast was on this show. And they sat there for like half the episode being, like historic Mr. Beast. The guy just walked in, flipped the coin and walked out like a Mr. Beast. I got a suitcase.

[Will Friedle]

Do you have any idea how many Mountain Dew commercials you could cut just from Survivor footage?

[Rider Strong]

It's so true. That's exactly what it looks like. You're right, it is. And it has that like saturated bright color too. Always the liquid.

[Will Friedle]

The taste, the taste, the taste. I mean, it's. Yeah, I mean, it's. That's, That's.

[Rider Strong]

That's Juicy Fruit.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, same thing. Yeah, that too. Juicy Fruit would work, but it does. It's got that kind of. That, that same thing. But it, it, the vibe works. And it was a ton of fun. The energy was in the room. And so here's the thing, though. Wait. But the thing of just that when they were going back through everybody and this is the reality show kind of trap you fall into is you tend to forget the first, like five people that are kicked off.

[Rider Strong]

I know. So there's. Dude, there are like three jury members I couldn't name right now.

[Will Friedle]

There are three jury members.

[Rider Strong]

Yes, I know. All right, well, watching this season summary, there's a moment where they got to Tiff doing her inconceivable puzzle. And that's when the crowd started cheering. And this is what you can't hear at home is that whatever is showing on the screen, the audience is reacting to in real time in the room. And Tiff got the biggest cheer. And that's when I realized that oh, everybody's obsessed with her. And that was the process of the night is getting to hear who the audience love. And the only thing in a little bit, like, it's not part of the, you know, it's not part of the actual, like, aired show. So super interesting, like, to be there and to feel the audience love, like, or in some cases, lack of love.

[Will Friedle]

It wasn't there was. That was the funny thing, the way you said it is right. Lack of love. There was never any hate.

[Rider Strong]

Hate.

[Will Friedle]

There was never anything.

[Rider Strong]

It was just booze. There was one section of food, but

[Will Friedle]

wasn't it just the section that. Weren't they just booing for a. For a result? It wasn't like they were booing for one person. Like, no, no person got booed. But also there were some people that just didn't get any chance get applause. Right where. I mean, Tiff, obviously fan favorite every time was on camera.

[Rider Strong]

And people went for the Queens of the Night. Like, it was just so clear. They're the most beloved. And there was. I think there's a sense of. And you know, we talked about how there's been all these graphs of how Tiff didn't get that much airtime early on. So I think that that has contributed to this sense that Saree and Tiff really got the short end of the stick, you know, and really, I really want Tiff to win.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, I was really team Tiff. I really was team Tiff the whole kind of way.

[Rider Strong]

And I think she would have. Rizzo had a fan base there.

[Will Friedle]

I mean, a big fan base there, which is kind of cool to see. Yeah, really, really amazing to watch this whole journey and to he more than anybody else, I think, to see the physical change he went through from when you saw pictures of him last night to where he was in the show was like, my God, that man lost a lot of weight. Unhealthy. At the end of Survivor. He really did.

[Rider Strong]

So the episode officially starts with them coming back to camp. Rizzo talks about how they just blindsided Cere. He. He claims that he outs read Siri. Tiff is super upset. Yeah, she even, like, falls over trying to, like, walk away from them.

[Will Friedle]

She fell in a hole.

[Rider Strong]

I know, but the audience was on her side. Like, in the room. We were all just like. And then Aubrey tries to talk to her. And this is an interesting moment to reflect on now because when I watch it again, you know, the audience really went to love. Came to love Aubrey too. So it was interesting to see in this moment when you know that they're sort of at odds with one another. But the audience loved Tiff and loved Aubrey. It's like we can hold two things in our mind at once, you know, and they, you know, Aubrey's doing the right thing, trying to talk to Tiff, but also Tiff's a little like you. You vote. You wrote my name down. I wrote your name down. What are you trying to, like, be friends?

[Will Friedle]

Don't. Don't fake it with me.

[Rider Strong]

At this point, I totally get.

[Will Friedle]

There's also such a balance, especially at this point in the game, though, because, you know, whoever gets voted off next, they're on the jury like immediately, like right after this is going to happen because they don't know it's going to be a year later till the results are ready. So as far as you know, you're gonna vote somebody off or stab somebody in the back and like tomorrow they're gonna be judging whether or not you get $2 million. It's such a weird balance.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah. I think that it would have done Joe and Jonathan a little to. To recognize that Ceri and Tiff going onto the jury, they're two powerful forces, you know, and like, they sway people with their arguments, with their questions, which I feel like they did.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

And I just love. It cuts to Joe after, you know, Tiff is being a little emotional. It cuts to Joe talking about how he used to be like that. And it's like, Joe, you're the most emotional baby. They talk about you. Yes.

[Will Friedle]

Like it's a babysitter all the time.

[Rider Strong]

But I just love that he's like, oh, look, Tiff really got upset. I used to be like that. Go screw yourself. All right. And we get to the credits. Show begins. A post credits show begins with Aubrey and Jonathan discussing fire challenges and hammocks. This ends up being a precursor to foreshadowing for what's going to come.

[Will Friedle]

Five shadowing.

[Rider Strong]

Five shadowing. And Aubrey talks about the fact that she's played over 140 days of Survivor.

[Will Friedle]

Again, not knowing the history of Survivor, I had no idea this was her third or fourth time on the show.

[Rider Strong]

That's incredible. I had definitely seen her before because I'd seen one of her seasons. I'd seen the season that she got to the finals where it was down to the three of them with Michelle. And so I had seen that, but I didn't realize she had done a whole nother season on top of that where she made it to the final five. So this is incredible. So she is A real threat. She's realizing that. And at this point, when I was watching the show for a second time, I realized that if it had been Joe, Rizzo and Jonathan, like, if Aubrey had had gotten out, this could, like, I don't know who would have won. It would have been a really tight race between Jonathan and Rizzo, and I think Jonathan might have won, but I don't know.

[Will Friedle]

I kind of agree. And it was every. Everything you're doing now could. Could be worth $2 million.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah. Everything you're.

[Will Friedle]

Everything you're doing, every puzzle you're doing, every game you're playing, every single conversation you're having could be a two million dollar conversation. It's so crazy.

[Rider Strong]

Towards the end, then back to the live show, they bring out Saree, who's just. The audience is on their feet, standing ovation. She cries, and then they give her an award. Can we talk about this award for a second?

[Will Friedle]

I can tell you what my wife

[Rider Strong]

said about the award. Here's my take. I thought it was gonna pop open and one of those aliens from Alien was gonna, like, the face huggers was gonna grab onto her face.

[Will Friedle]

My wife thought it looked like a vagina.

[Rider Strong]

A vagina. That's what I mean. It's an alien vagina prop. It was from the Alien franchise, and it was, like, cheesy. It's like, give her a classy award.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Give her, like, something in glass or metal. But instead they gave this cracked alien vagina that is going to attack her. It was super gross.

[Will Friedle]

It really was. It looked a little creepy. And I thought I was like, oh, is this gonna be, like, the start of, like, is it gonna be the Dundees, where it's gonna be like. And the whitest shoes award goes to the whole awards.

[Rider Strong]

Cause they did this throughout the night. Because then they gave Devin's a coin, the coin that he tossed, which. Kind of cool.

[Will Friedle]

Kind of cool. I'd want that. I'd want that.

[Rider Strong]

And then Ozzy gets a freaking T shirt. They really, like, either give awards for real, like, they do at the end, which they also kind of screwed up. We'll get to. Yeah, but like. Like, you know, I don't know the awards.

[Will Friedle]

I loved Ozzy, though. He's like, oh, I get a T shirt.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah. Which is exactly the right reaction.

[Will Friedle]

Like, great.

[Rider Strong]

It was. And I feel like Siri could have been like, thanks for the volcanic vagina. I'll take it like a vagina. First challenge. This is probably the biggest challenge I've seen on Survivor. Fishing pole crawling through the mud then have to knock into a pole that gets you sandbags that you throw at targets and that you then get ladders that you unlock, which are a puzzle. Build the ladder to then do a Phoenix puzzle.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Like, there are seven to eight steps. Yep. So my only thinking is that they wanted Tiff and Jonathan to go head to head. Like, they were just, how do we get these two to go head to head? And they knew that it had to be, like, physically crazy, but also have just enough puzzle to give Tiff and edge, I think you know what I mean? Like, but this is crazy. This is like, I, I, I can't believe that they do this to them this late in the game.

[Will Friedle]

Not only that, but the thing that was amazing to me was that they give them this physical challenge, but then there's moments where you have to calm down, like to throw the beanbag right where it's like if you're pumping with adrenaline, you're hucking this thing, you're missing it. You got to then run and get it. It's like, oh, I've got to go fast and then slow, and then fast and then slow.

[Rider Strong]

I feel this was the ultimate Survivor. I feel like this combined all the mental, physical. It's the only aspect it doesn't have, for obvious reasons is teamwork. Like there, you know, a lot of the other. But this is like, you have to be the ultimate player to get through this. I've never seen anything this big. It was crazy.

[Will Friedle]

It was really cool to watch. And once again, I just keep going to, man, I want to do this. Like, maybe not, maybe not on an island, having not eaten for 30 days, but a party, something. I want to do these things. I want to try.

[Rider Strong]

I want to try it. I'll. Dude, I would be so bad, but I don't know. I'll stick with the puzzles.

[Will Friedle]

Gotta be a way to do it.

[Rider Strong]

And at this point, I was kind of like, rizzo, what are you doing? Why are you enjoying this challenge? I guess to not look like an asshole, but he has an idol in his pocket. He is flying through. He does not need this. And now, and this is where I was like, again, Survivor producers, there's no reward attached to this challenge. If you give a reward attached to this challenge, then Rizzo, everybody has an incentive as it is.

[Will Friedle]

Rizzo get immunity. Right, but there's immunity. It's immunity, obviously, but no, no, not for Rizzo. There's no, there's no incentive for Rizzo.

[Rider Strong]

There's no incentive.

[Will Friedle]

I have a question because I. They. They kind of glossed over this because again, I think this is a thing where if you're a Survivor fan, you know this. He had to play his idol that night, right?

[Rider Strong]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

He couldn't have saved it for one more round. He had to play it by that.

[Rider Strong]

All the idols have to be played by round five. I don't think they ever go beyond that.

[Will Friedle]

Gotcha. Okay. That's what I figured. But I figured everyone knew that, so I wasn't gonna be the one.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah. And sometimes there are idols that have to be played when there's like seven players or before the merge, you know, they all kinds of Weir rules, but I don't think they ever go past this point.

[Will Friedle]

Right. Because he knew he wasn't going to be voted for that night. So I was like, well, then save your idol and make it to the final three. And it's like, oh, they're not letting you.

[Rider Strong]

That's why he just played it.

[Cindy Crawford]

Right?

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

But I think what this really points to is the flaw in everybody else's gameplay that they never considered Rizzo seriously up until now, which is like a complete wasted opportunity. Right. So super interesting because, you know, it ends up being beholden on Aubrey to get Rizzo out and, like, you know, she doesn't want to be sitting. There was a period where she wanted to be sitting with him where everyone was like, rizzo's a good person, but when it turns out that he's managed to get through this game without ever needing to play his idol to save himself, nobody freaking voted for him.

[Will Friedle]

And he's got an under underdog story too. Like, she's right. You don't want to muddy the waters. Let's. Let's just get him out of there.

[Malcolm Glebel]

Hello? Hello, this is Malcolm Glebel from Smart talks with IBM. Today we're diving into a fascinating conversation with Stefano Pallard, head of fan development for Scuderia Ferrari hp.

[Stefano Pallard]

Your pronunciation is strongly American. It's more Scuderia Ferrari.

[Malcolm Glebel]

I'm still working on rolling my R's, but what I was able to learn from Stefano was the importance of engaging the tifosi, the Ferrari superfans in the digital age.

[Stefano Pallard]

Ferrari fans and super fans want to be part of something, want to belong to something. So they want to be part of a community, and ultimately they want to be part of a winning team.

[Malcolm Glebel]

You've got Ferrari, which has a long history, design history, and now you're interacting in a kind of digital space. I'm curious how you balance those two

[Stefano Pallard]

traditions when it comes to fan engagement. It's really digital technology and digital channels are being able to create a deeper connection with our fans.

[Malcolm Glebel]

To learn more about how Ferrari and IBM are using technology to build deeper connections with fans, visit IBM.comferrari

[Public Investing Ad Narrator]

support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors, llc. SEC Registered Advisors. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures [e-mail] Disclosures

[Kal Penn]

hey everyone, it's Kal Penn. I'm the host of Irsay The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast, I am sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator of Andy Weir's audiobook project, Hail Mary Massive sci fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake up alone, very far from Earth.

[Ray Porter]

I really had to make a decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary as I'm narrating some of these sections and it's like, okay, yo yo yo, is this indulgent? And I really thought about it. I was like, no. At this point it would kind of be betraying the trust the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it. But there's places in this that that deeply, emotionally affected me and I left it on the mic. That's great because it served the story. People will say like oh my God, I cried at the end. It's like, yeah dude, me too.

[Kal Penn]

Listen to Irsay the Audible and iHeart audiobook club on the iHeartradio app or

[Rider Strong]

wherever you get your podcasts Hi, I'm

[Cindy Crawford]

Cindy Crawford and I'm the founder of meaningful beauty. When Dr. Sabah and I decided to do a skincare line together, he said to me, we, we are going to give women meaningful beauty. And I said, that's exactly right. We want to give women meaningful beauty, which means each and every product is meaningful. It has a reason to exist. It's efficacious. You're going to get results, and then you just go out and live your life. Meaningful beauty confidence is beautiful. Learn more@meaningful beauty.com.

[Rider Strong]

So during the challenge, Jonathan pukes, which I surprise. I'm surprised this doesn't actually happen more often. Yeah, I am. Have you ever tried CrossFit?

[Will Friedle]

No. Oh, I've been there and watched other people do it.

[Rider Strong]

I tried. I joined a CrossFit gym, like, right after Andy was born, and they wouldn't let you join unless you did, like, three weeks of physical, like, conditioning to get in, like, not even classes. They, like, make you do stuff. And the first day I was just going. Had to get up, run out, puke my guts out in the bathroom. Came back and I finished. But because I, like, didn't finish within the time frame or whatever, they didn't count it as a finish. They, like, they mark. They write it on the board. Like, Ryder did not finish.

[Will Friedle]

I'm like, boot.

[Rider Strong]

And rallied. Like, doesn't that give me extra points? I puked, came back, and still did the push ups.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, no, that's not good. I've thrown up working out too, but,

[Rider Strong]

oh, my God, it's the worst.

[Will Friedle]

It's the worst. But it's. Then you feel great. Yeah, but, yeah, you're right. You got. You're an empty stomach. You're pumping with adrenaline.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. How more people don't boot is pretty incredible.

[Rider Strong]

Well, Tiff and Jonathan gets down right to the wire. And Tiff loses. Barely. This is when they all.

[Will Friedle]

I mean, the craziness. They were everywhere. All on the edge of our seat. We're all watching the same thing. People are. You hear the intakes of breath. You hear everybody, like, rooting for who they want.

[Rider Strong]

It was. It was a theatrical experience.

[Will Friedle]

It was.

[Rider Strong]

And everybody wanted Tiff to win this.

[Will Friedle]

Yes. Myself included.

[Rider Strong]

This is where there was a. There was some booing.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

And it was like, yeah, that's a $2 million loss.

[Will Friedle]

That's literally a $2 million loss. She knew it the second she lost that one and lost by one puzzle piece.

[Rider Strong]

Yep. So frustrating.

[Will Friedle]

And the second she lost, she's like, that's it. I Just lost that. A $2 million puzzle piece.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah. And we all felt it.

[Will Friedle]

Yep, we all felt it.

[Rider Strong]

Back in the live show, Jeff interviews Devin's and Christian. They discussed their fake idol planning. Give Devin's a coin. Whatever. Back to the show. Coming back from the challenge, Razo tries to talk to Tiff. Just says, I'm voting for you. She says, can I say anything?

[Stefano Pallard]

Anything.

[Will Friedle]

I can do anything to change.

[Rider Strong]

And then she's like, then what's the point? Yeah. But then her only shot is what she calls her power of persuasion. And she tries persuasion, and she tries to sell Jo on the idea that Aubrey is a bigger threat than her, which is a good argument, but I don't know. She goes to Jonathan and promises to put him to not put him to fire. Which at this point, watching the episode, I was like, oh, that actually is a pretty good strategy because he lost his fire making challenge. We find out later that Jonathan has been practicing fire making every year.

[Will Friedle]

He's like Johnny Storm. He's like Torch by this point.

[Rider Strong]

So it's not a great offer as far as Jonathan is concerned.

[Will Friedle]

But she was playing. She didn't even know how good an offer it was, though, because even he says, I have, like, serious PTSD from the last time I did this. So, I mean, he. He started to get into his head about the fire making right away.

[Rider Strong]

But I. You know, I think at this point, they're. They're. They're editing it to make it look like Tiff had a chance when she didn't. She didn't have a chance. The second she lost that challenge. She knew.

[Will Friedle]

She knew. Yeah, she knew. She knew she was.

[Rider Strong]

Back at the live show, Mike White appeared on a TV screen and announced that Charlie and Camilla are gonna be appearing on White Lotus, which is interesting. I wonder how big of a part they'll have. All right. At the tribal, uh, it's pretty much Tiff. Everyone knows it. She had this great moment where she points out. She's like, you know, how come, like, when the boys do it, it's like daps and hugs if they win, but it's a threat.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

When I win. And it was like, good boy. The audience cheered her because she's right. Yes.

[Will Friedle]

She's 100% right.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah, well, she's right. But also the real problem is she didn't make friends. Right. Like, she made friends. They just all got voted out by this point. Like, she, you know, this is where Aubrey's strategy, which she talks about at the end of the. In the jury, you know, at the end of the next episode, or I guess this episode, when she's in front of the jury, Aubrey makes the argument that she managed to, like, keep jumping around and making friends with everybody, which is super true. Like, and this is where it pays

[Will Friedle]

off, because even Cerise says that she's

[Rider Strong]

like, that was her. Which is crazy, because actually, if Joe were smart, if Joe were the player he thinks he is, he would have latched on a Tiff because they bonded, like, midway through the season. They could have had a, like, a power couple thing going into this. And he dropped her at a certain point. So she's completely alone now. Um, and that's. That sucks because. Yeah, it does suck.

[Will Friedle]

Sucks because she's. She's the one. She was. I told you she was my crush. She's the one I wanted to win. She was doing so well. She had so much passion. I thought she deserved it the most, frankly.

[Rider Strong]

Yep.

[Will Friedle]

So when she went, I was. I was.

[Rider Strong]

She'll be back, dude.

[Will Friedle]

I know.

[Rider Strong]

But I was bummed. 60 will be all I wanted.

[Will Friedle]

I wanted. I really wanted her to win.

[Rider Strong]

All right. Rizzo plays his idol. Tiff gets voted out. Back at the live show, they bring Tiff out. She's asked about her imposter syndrome, and then Jeff is like, if you asked, would you come back? She's like, I'm coming back and I'm winning. Audience loved her. Yeah. Back at the show, back at camp, the guys know that they need to win the challenge in order to get Aubrey out. They want it to be a sausage fest.

[Will Friedle]

It's also the only way any of them are going to win. Yep. Aubrey. Aubrey makes it on. Makes it to the final three. She's going to win, and I think everybody knows that at that point.

[Rider Strong]

So that's why this challenge is super important.

[Will Friedle]

You told me about this before I

[Rider Strong]

think we even started the season.

[Will Friedle]

You told me about.

[Rider Strong]

So good. So this. I didn't know this, but it's named after Simo Ross, maybe Miles Nye, our game correspondent. Challenge correspondent might have mentioned this, but so Simo Ross is the guy who invented it on the team. He's part of the production team.

[Will Friedle]

And it was like an art project.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah, it was like an art project or a side project that became everybody's favorite. So then back at the live show, before they even start the challenge, we get to see Ozzy and Stephanie. Stephanie talks about being a role model, the original badass female. Ozzy talks about his intuition, how he's more in touch with it because he had the dream that lost him or he had the dream, didn't listen to it, and lost $2 million.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

And that's when Jeff pulls out a T shirt and Ozzy's just like, oh, great, I get a T shirt.

[Will Friedle]

Thank you. Thanks for the shirt.

[Rider Strong]

$100,000 would be nice. Maybe a Land Cruiser. You got one of those.

[Will Friedle]

Thanks for the shirt.

[Rider Strong]

Meanwhile, back at the challenge. Let's just cut to the chase. Aubrey wins. And this was, I thought when it came down to her and Joe, I thought Joe might have a shot actually, because he's been really focused on challenges. Like he, you know, he won that, like rope word stacking where he just stay strong and steady. So I thought he might be like, really good. And he was very good.

[Will Friedle]

But so to understand the entire challenge. So I have this right. You have. You can only use one hand. Yeah. And you have to go to the top of this thing. You drop one ball, the ball comes down and it goes either left or right. And you can use that one hand to stop it. Then you have to put it back in every 30 seconds, a minute, whatever it is they make every couple of

[Rider Strong]

minutes, add another ball up to five, and you have 10 seconds window to add that other ball.

[Will Friedle]

But as Jeff says, it's there. It's always going to alternate.

[Rider Strong]

Left, right, left, right, other.

[Will Friedle]

So I'm curious then, isn't it just a matter of moving your hand from the left, putting a ball up, moving your hand to the right, putting a ball, moving your hand. It's not like you don't know where it's coming from.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah, but you could see that they had to keep saying to themselves, left, right, right.

[Will Friedle]

So it's just. That's what he talks about. It's just the hypnotism. It's just hypnotic.

[Rider Strong]

You just have to practice. Which is why she won Brilliant. When she said, I went on Etsy and I got a simotion like sample or whatever, some motion replica.

[Will Friedle]

And.

[Rider Strong]

And she practiced and good honor. That was a two million dollar choice.

[Will Friedle]

That's the most brilliant. The audience erupted after that confessional when she was like, I went on and I bought one of these and I practiced.

[Rider Strong]

Brilliant. Brilliant.

[Will Friedle]

Genius deserves to win.

[Rider Strong]

Learn how to make fire.

[Will Friedle]

Don't get me started on that.

[Rider Strong]

I know. Learn how to make fire. Starve yourself. Practice all the challenges you can.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Buy every replica.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Make your backyard just a. Like untie knots.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly. You're gonna come and find me someday. I'm just gonna be balancing on a dog. A dog thing. In my pool, untying knots left and right while holding on to my own body weight while I put other hands.

[Rider Strong]

Putting a ball. Like, the sides of your feet have to be really strong, too, right? Oh, my God.

[Will Friedle]

Yes. It's crazy, the stuff you have to do here, but that. Oh, God. Everyone erupted. It could. It was so cool. She's like, I've been practicing this.

[Rider Strong]

It's great. All right. Back at camp, Aubrey tells Joe that she's taking him, and he cries. And this is, you know, looking back on this moment, it was nice because it was like, yeah, that's sweet. But it's also like, this is exactly why you lost Joe.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Because you're totally passive. You have no game here other than hoping that she takes you. And you're like, you're emotional, you're heartfelt, you're lovable. You're a baby. You know that you're. That somebody else is gonna carry you to the end and you're never gonna win. He's a good guy, like, great dude. Like, I bet you in life, like, Joe's one of those people I want to hang out with if I was really stuck on an island. I want Joe.

[Will Friedle]

You want Joe. You know what I mean?

[Rider Strong]

Yeah. But in terms of the gameplay. But in terms of the gameplay, man. Well, he didn't.

[Will Friedle]

We'll get into this, I'm sure when he talks to the jury, and I think they asked some pretty important questions, because at the end of the day, you realize he didn't do a whole lot for the game. He didn't focus the game in any way, shape, or form. He didn't really change anything in the game.

[Rider Strong]

But. And we'll get right into this now, his character, like, when he helps Rizzo the fire, it's like, probably one of the most emotional moments of the season for me.

[Will Friedle]

That was. And everyone.

[Rider Strong]

That's what I mean. So he's like. He's like this. He's like. He's a baby, but he's also a good baby. He's the. He's the purest, sweetest, like, dependable dude.

[Will Friedle]

And, like, he's going to run into a burning building to save his biggest enemy. That's what he's going to. And he's going to do it every single time.

[Rider Strong]

Exactly. So, yeah. So what happens next is Aubrey then tells Jonathan and Rizzo that they're going to fire, which is, you know, terrifying for both of them. Cause that's how they both have lost the game before Rizzo only weeks before Jonathan. So then we get to go see them. You know, Rizzo trying to practice. He's flailing, he's crying. It's so sad. The audience was feeling it.

[Will Friedle]

The hell do you not spend 25 days. Hours a day sitting there making a fire? You should be able to make a fire with your two fingers and a ball hair.

[Rider Strong]

Jonathan, can you see him doing it?

[Will Friedle]

He's clean.

[Rider Strong]

Four years practicing it, which is. And he's. Which is what you should do. And apparently even on the show, he was making fire every day because they. Everybody mentioned that. They're like, oh, Jonathan can make fire. Like, he can do this.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. But Tanya, next to me, I said the same thing. I was like, wow, why didn't he

[Rider Strong]

just go home from the last Survivor in practice?

[Will Friedle]

She's like, well, because he had no chance. He had no time.

[Rider Strong]

But you're out there.

[Will Friedle]

But that's what I said. I was like, then why not just sit there all day, every day just making fire? That entire island would have been on fire by the time I left because I just would have been striking the thing the whole freaking time. Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

So Joe watches Rizzo trying and then has this moment. I had to help him.

[Will Friedle]

And it was.

[Rider Strong]

And this is. This is. This is the honor and integrity that he. That he and coach talk about. They keep throwing out, but this is the moment. And the audience. The line is, in a sword fight, at least give everyone a sword. Yes. Like the lion of the night. It was the lion of the season for me. I think the audience just erupted. Like, we. If you felt it in the room, it was so emotional and just, like. So it still didn't help. No. Even with Rizzo, winner in terms of character, like, in terms of. In terms of, like, you know, assessing his character as a human being, his more moral compass. What a champ. What a.

[Will Friedle]

How does that not at least get Rizzo's vote on the jury? Like, I figured, like, when even Rizzo didn't vote for him, I was like, really? The guy just gave you a.

[Rider Strong]

It's not a game about who's a better person. It's a game about who outwit, outlast, outplay.

[Will Friedle]

I know, but I figured that would have. That would have. It's like, all right, you just got my vote, dude. You know, I'm. You're teaching me how to. You're giving me.

[Rider Strong]

Ugh.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, I know, but it was. That was a beautiful moment of him.

[Rider Strong]

Beautiful moment.

[Will Friedle]

I have to help. I have to.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah. And then Rizzo can start sparking this fire. Jonathan starts Getting a little nervous. This is obviously played up in editing. I don't think he was actually that nervous back at the live show. Something must be sponsored by Corona, because suddenly we have a Corona toast that means virtually nothing.

[Will Friedle]

Sponsored by Corona. Everybody cheers to everybody with Corona.

[Rider Strong]

And I don't think anybody could even drink it because they all still had limes sticking out of their beers. I also don't know if you're allowed

[Will Friedle]

to open, drink, consume alcohol on network television like that.

[Rider Strong]

Weird.

[Will Friedle]

I don't know. I could be wrong, but there was a time, I think, in Hollywood where you couldn't. So I don't know, maybe if it's sponsored by. But I'm not sure anyone actually drank, did they?

[Rider Strong]

You can't drink on television back in the day.

[Will Friedle]

I don't think you could. And so it's like cheers and then you put it down. Thanks, Corona.

[Rider Strong]

So if I go on. I was about to say Letterman. That's how freaking old I am. Okay.

[Will Friedle]

If I go on Carson.

[Rider Strong]

If I go on Carson and my coffee mug turns out to be filled with whiskey.

[Will Friedle]

No, no, that's fine. You can't have a label like you're drinking. Okay. The guys in the 50s, they were

[Rider Strong]

drunk the whole freaking time.

[Will Friedle]

They were shooting.

[Rider Strong]

Sick.

[Will Friedle]

No, but they were all in coffee mugs and stuff. They had a beer bottle like, I'm drinking a beer. But then I've done sitcoms where I drink beer, so.

[Rider Strong]

Sitcoms. That's fictional.

[Will Friedle]

Right. So I. Maybe not. You can't, like, sit there drinking, like a beer beer or something like that on the thing. Yeah. I'm surprised they didn't do the Billie Eilish boomerang toast.

[Rider Strong]

I'm. Wait, you throw the beer.

[Will Friedle]

You throw the beer, it comes back,

[Rider Strong]

they do a shot and they throw it back to you.

[Will Friedle]

She gives interviews where she didn't even know they were doing the boomerang to toast and you call it a day. Yeah, exactly.

[Rider Strong]

You know what? You know, you know, you say that. Why have they ever done on Survivor, like a message in a bottle thing should be like a message in a bottle. Like you put something in a bottle, throw it out to sea, and then it gets picked up by somebody else.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, I also didn't know going back, unfortunately, we got to go backwards. But again, somebody who doesn't know the rules. I didn't know that. The shot in the dark is also gone. Was gone by the time Tiff was there.

[Rider Strong]

Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Makes sense. You can't just.

[Will Friedle]

Right. Because you got it. You got to have, somebody's got to go. Yeah, yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Hello?

[Malcolm Glebel]

Hello, this is Malcolm Glebel from Smart talks with IBM. Today we're diving into a fascinating conversation with Stefano Pallard, head of fan development for Scuderia Ferrari hp.

[Stefano Pallard]

Your pronunciation is strongly American. It's more Scuderia Ferrari.

[Malcolm Glebel]

I'm still working on rolling my R's, but what I was able to learn from Stefano was the importance of engaging the Tifosi, the Ferrari superfans. In the digital age.

[Stefano Pallard]

Ferrari fans and super fans want to be part of something, want to belong to something. So they want to be part of a community and ultimately they want to be part of a winning team.

[Malcolm Glebel]

You've got Ferrari, which has a long history, design history, and now you're interacting in a kind of digital space. I'm curious how you balance those two traditions.

[Stefano Pallard]

When it comes to fan engagement, it's really digital technology and digital channels are being able to create a deeper connection with our fans.

[Malcolm Glebel]

To learn more about how Ferrari and IBM are using technology to build deeper connections with fans, visit IBM.comferrari

[Public Investing Ad Narrator]

support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On Public you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index with AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow to semiconductors conductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S P500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public. Public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosures [e-mail] Disclosures

[Kal Penn]

hey everyone, it's Kal Penn. I'm the host of Irsay The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast I am sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator of Andy Weir's audiobook project Hail Mary, Massive sci fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake up alone, very far from Earth?

[Ray Porter]

I really had to make a decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary as I'm narrating some of these sections. And it's like, okay, yo, yo, yo, is this indulgent? And I really thought about it. I was like, no. At this point, it would kind of be betraying the trust the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it. But there's places in this book that that deeply, emotionally affected me. And I left it on the mic. That's great because it served the story. People will say like, oh my God, I cried at the end. It's like, yeah, dude, me too.

[Kal Penn]

Listen to Irsay the Audible and iHeart audiobook club on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Podcast Announcer]

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[Rider Strong]

All right. At the tribal council, Jeff points out that these four finalists have all been here before. Aubrey announces that Joe is her pick. Rizzo and Jonathan are going to fire. They sit down and we cut to the completely wrong segment. This is the moment live show. They bring out Rizzo and already I was like, oh, this is premature. They're bringing him out. And I was like, oh well, they must bring out Jonathan next.

[Will Friedle]

Jonathan meeting Axon. They're gonna interview them both.

[Rider Strong]

And this was so funny. Watching it back, you can't hear the audience's reaction. So in the room, really? Yeah. So in the room, he says, you know, after he talks to RZA for a bit, he goes, all right, take a seat.

[Will Friedle]

You're the lady.

[Rider Strong]

This is our jury. Yeah. And the whole audience, live audience went, whoa, whoa. And you can't hear it on television.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, yeah. We're yelling out like, what's screaming?

[Rider Strong]

Like, whoa, whoa, what's going on? And that's why Jeff. Because Jeff is trying to keep going. Then he goes, what just happened? And all the players in the jury, Ceri and everybody, they know exactly what happened. We couldn't tell from the audience. I thought they were all confused. They say to Jeff, they didn't do the fire yet. They didn't do the fire yet. And Jeff still doesn't understand what's happening. And he turns to the audience, he's like, I don't know what happened. We'll be back after this. So he went to commercial break not realizing what had happened. The audience totally in the room. We knew exactly what happened. And. And then, yeah, the players, the other players on the jury knew it was. And then we're all just, what a crazy moment.

[Will Friedle]

And then everybody's googling. And then the person you were sitting next to, who's a journalist, I think as well, said, oh, my God, my husband or boyfriend lives in New York. And he already did it air this way.

[Rider Strong]

And I thought maybe if we had like a delay, they could go back and fix it.

[Will Friedle]

No, I thought maybe they'd fix it for the west coast feed.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

But apparently, no, they didn't fix it. Yeah, let it. Let it go. But big mistake. Big mistake.

[Rider Strong]

So fun though. I loved it. I loved it.

[Will Friedle]

Me too.

[Rider Strong]

Me too. So they come back, Jeff tries to play it off that it was a twist, which is a funny joke, very smart. And he says now we get to watch Rizzo lose. Which we go into the pre edited segment of Rizzo and the audience live. Again, they don't hear this. We all started chanting, Rizzo, Rizzo. Where the audience's head is at. We know he's losing and yet we're still showing our support. It was so fun.

[Will Friedle]

It was so much fun.

[Rider Strong]

That was like being in the finale audience was. That was the magic moment. Chanting Rizzo.

[Will Friedle]

No, he's already lost.

[Public Investing Ad Narrator]

Oh, that was great.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Then in the pre taped tribal, Rizzo's sad talks about being an 8 year old watching the show. Jeff points out there's an eight year old watching right now, which was super emotional and nice. Rizzo brings up being Albanian, how he's playing for his people. And then I love this line when he goes to get his torch snuffed, he goes, jeff, it's your boy, the man, the myth, the legend. I love that. It's the boy who's the man, the myth, the legend. R, I Z, G O D. And

[Will Friedle]

he still says, riz. God.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah, Rizzgad. So then back at the live show, they bring Rizzo back out to sort of apologetically say, yeah, sorry about that. Sorry about that. We did it. All right. Back on the beach, it's the last day, and we get a surprise family visit. I knew they were gonna do something like this.

[Will Friedle]

You said. You said you thought it was gonna happen.

[Rider Strong]

Yes. The fans want this.

[Will Friedle]

You know, it can't just be the letters.

[Rider Strong]

No, it can't just be the letters. So Joe's wife shows up. That's super sweet. I love.

[Will Friedle]

He's like, I think that's my tall ass wife.

[Rider Strong]

She is taller than him. And then Jonathan sees his brother, who isn't an interesting outfit. Indy was like, oh, you didn't notice? He's got a bright blue shirt with bright red overalls. Shorts.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

So Indy was like, that's like Superman colors. And I was like, you're right. They're really bright. And then Indy's like, actually, it's Mario from Mario Brothers. And I was like, oh, my God, it's totally Mario. So Jonathan's brother is apparently a younger Mario from Mario Bros. Okay, that's great. But it was interesting. Jonathan, he's like, talked about how he has a strained relationship with his parents, which I thought was interesting. Aubrey's mom is there, gives her support. They cry, reflect on Aubrey, reflects on how she's learned in her social game based on when she lost last time, which I think is, you know, accurate.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

And then we get into the sort of phase of the final episode where they start gearing up to go to tribal and present their case to the jury. And you get the other players commenting on their game supporters. So Aubrey talks about how, and this is, I think, accurate. She says, I peaked at the right time, which is exactly the way to play this game.

[Will Friedle]

Yep.

[Rider Strong]

Because it's like, you want to be, like, under the radar, not noticeable, not a threat, and then suddenly you're a threat and it's too freaking late. Nobody can. They have to deal with you. So she's exactly right. Sari and Ozzie both praise her game. Then Jonathan talks about how he played hard and was a strategic social game from the beginning, which I have to agree I think I took Jonathan for granted this entire season. It really wasn't until this jury moment that I was like, you know what? He has played a better game than I've given him credit. He did.

[Will Friedle]

He pulled a lot of strings. He did.

[Rider Strong]

He did.

[Will Friedle]

He was a catalyst for a lot of very powerful people being kicked off the ice. He really was.

[Rider Strong]

And then there's the shot before. Before the other people weigh in on him. There's that shot of him, like, chilling,

[Will Friedle]

just lying on the beach from like

[Rider Strong]

a helicop your height or like a drone. And the audience laughed.

[Will Friedle]

It was.

[Rider Strong]

Which was great because watching it at home, you don't hear the audience laughing in the room. We all lost it.

[Will Friedle]

It was like Aquaman rolled up on the beach. It was a little much.

[Rider Strong]

So much. And it made me realize I want to go to Survivor, watch parties. Because you think about how much fun it would have been to hear, like, people cackling at coaches haikus in a room. You know, it's like, this is the argument for a laugh track, bro. Like, this is why. I agree. I agree 100%. Like, so much more entertaining. Like, I was so everybody laughing at Jonathan in this moment. I was like, yes, because we all feel it. We're all like, oh, that's a. That's a little much. You're not gonna laugh out loud too much.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Part of your brain is gonna be like, Jesus. And to have a whole room of 1500 people. Yes, it was great.

[Will Friedle]

In all fairness, when you're built like myself or like Jonathan.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

That's how we lay on beaches.

[Rider Strong]

Right. That you just happen to, you know,

[Will Friedle]

with that perfect physique. And that's just what we do. Just how it is.

[Rider Strong]

So Rizzo praises Jonathan. Gay Jonathan's game. And yeah, I started to realize now, like, Jonathan actually did have a shot. I.

[Will Friedle]

He did.

[Rider Strong]

I mean, I think in retrospect, it's easy, but I actually, at this point, I was like, you know what? He's so likable. And everybody got along with him, like, genuinely liked him.

[Will Friedle]

Still think Aubrey was going to win her. Her story of getting there, how she got there, how close she's been in the past. You weren't going to.

[Rider Strong]

You weren't going to guess that My assumption was she was going to win.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, me too.

[Rider Strong]

Because there was nothing underdog about Jonathan ever. Even though there kind of is, actually. He didn't. He never comes across as an underdog.

[Will Friedle]

No, I agree. And. And Rob Cisternino was behind us, and I turned to him. I'M like, all right, Rob, you're on the jury. He's like, oh, it's Aubrey. Like, he didn't even. There wasn't even a question.

[Rider Strong]

No, that was my assumption, too, but at this point, I was like, actually, Jonathan has a good argument. Yeah. And then Stephanie starts jumping in with her, like, love of Jonathan. She's. She's really got a thing.

[Will Friedle]

She's got a thing for this guy. I thought the same. Well, she saw that same beat shot we did and was like, he's the whole perfect man. He's the whole package.

[Rider Strong]

I've seen in the whole package.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly.

[Rider Strong]

And then Joe gets his package, which is, you know, his argument that he allowed himself the freedom to lie and betray and get his hands dirty, which turns out to be his only argument for himself, this entire jury, which is not good. But Emily steps in interestingly, and praises him because he was the Survivor and that he may have actually solved Survivor by, you know, making. Making himself the sort of guy that everybody had to put the votes through, which is not a horrible argument, but he did it by being a baby, so.

[Will Friedle]

And. And I mean, they even talk about siree the whole thing of, like, who's going to babysit him the whole time and all that. Yeah, it was. You're not going to win. And no one thought he was gunning.

[Rider Strong]

No, I don't think he thought he was going to. I don't think so either.

[Malcolm Glebel]

No.

[Rider Strong]

Into the final council, we begin with Coach asking the first question, and he's basically there to just tee up Joe because all he asks is, what have you compromised? And Joe says he lied, didn't enjoy it, but he had to for his family, which is again, his line for this entire jury. Aubrey says that she compromised because she makes relationships deeply and quickly, and this time she realized she's not gonna let the fear of hurting people stop her, which is interesting. And then Jonathan says that he had to adjust his game based on who he was talking to. And that's. I was like, you know what? He did do that very well. He did. And there was around here that something really locked into place for me about Jonathan. Something about his voice was driving me crazy. I was like, who does this guy remind me of if I close my eyes? And it's just the voice. One of the most famous classic voices from cartoons of all time. See if you can guess. Jonathan, Any ideas? I can't hear his voice. Who he sounds like. Okay, can we play Jonathan voice clip One, please?

[Will Friedle]

Before that happened, though, I had already

[Public Investing Ad Narrator]

talked to Ms. Sere and Tiffany at

[Will Friedle]

the other try because I won the power broker advantage. So I'd already set in motion that

[Public Investing Ad Narrator]

we're gonna get Ozzy on.

[Will Friedle]

Is it Deputy Dog?

[Rider Strong]

No, Think movies. Think Disney.

[Will Friedle]

A Disney movie.

[Rider Strong]

Who? Beast play voice clip, too, please. Know something, Robin? I was just wondering, are we good guys or bad guys? You know, I mean, our robbing the

[Malcolm Glebel]

rich to feed the poor.

[Public Investing Ad Narrator]

Rob.

[Rider Strong]

That's a naughty word.

[Public Investing Ad Narrator]

We never rob.

[Rider Strong]

Just sort of borrow a bit from those who can afford it.

[Public Investing Ad Narrator]

Borrow.

[Ray Porter]

Boy, are we in debt.

[Rider Strong]

You still don't know it? No. Who is it? Is it the sheriff? Phil Harris? No, it's Phil Harris. He played little John in the Robin Hood animated film and Baloo in Jungle Book.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, okay.

[Rider Strong]

He's like one of those classic voice actors. Yeah. Those are his two biggest roles.

[Will Friedle]

And that's.

[Rider Strong]

It was so funny. But listen, they sound exactly the same. And it turns out Phil Harris is like a southern guy with that deep, deep Southern.

[Kal Penn]

Mr. Jeff.

[Rider Strong]

Mr. Jeff. Mr. E. Oh, my God. It finally clicked. I wondered if you would get it. Okay. No, I did it. That's crazy. He is the guy. He's the. And I knew because that. That's such a classic voice actor. They used it. Not only did they use his voice in both those movies, the animation for Baloo is.

[Will Friedle]

I know, the whole balloon 100%.

[Rider Strong]

So it was like he was like the voice of the, like, big guy.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Which is so funny because Jonathan is the big guy. The big guy from the South. Oh, that's so funny. Isn't that funny? All right. John admits that it was his idea to get Ozzie out, which Stephanie says, like, yes, please tell them. And that she fell on his sword.

[Will Friedle]

She wanted to.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah. But then Joe explains that she made this Aussie vote possible because she had to hard sell it to Joe, which is also true.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Joe, though, takes credit for sending Ozzie home because he lied by looking him in the eye and said, you got to trust me. But Tiff pushes back, which is nice. Which is like, was Aubrey sharing the info with you? Was that what allowed you to do that? And he has to admit, yes, yes, it was.

[Will Friedle]

Yep, yep.

[Rider Strong]

Yes, it was. And then Stephanie gets on her rant about the old versus new and how Jonathan is the whole package. And I love Tiff jumping in. She's like, is there a question in here?

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. Is there something you want to ask him or you just want to fall on the sword again?

[Rider Strong]

Says there's a question and there isn't. There's literally no question. It's just like, I love you, Jonathan. Yeah, okay, Jonathan, I love you.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, it was a little much.

[Rider Strong]

Hello?

[Malcolm Glebel]

Hello, this is Malcolm Glebel from Smart talks with IBM. Today we're diving into a fascinating conversation with Stefano Pallard, head of fan development for Scuderia Ferrari hp.

[Stefano Pallard]

Your pronunciation is strongly American. It's more Scuderia Ferrari.

[Malcolm Glebel]

I'm still working on rolling my R's, but what I was able to learn from Stefano was the importance of engaging the Tifosi, the Ferrari superfans in the digital age.

[Stefano Pallard]

Ferrari fans and superfans want to be part of something, want to belong to something. So they want to be part of a community and ultimately they want to be part of a winning team.

[Malcolm Glebel]

You've got Ferrari, which has a long history, design history, and now you're interacting in a kind of digital space. I'm curious how you balance those two traditions.

[Stefano Pallard]

When it comes to fan engagement, it's really digital technology and digital channels are being able to create a deeper connection with our fans.

[Malcolm Glebel]

To learn more about how Ferrari and IBM are using technology to build deeper connections and with fans, visit IBM.comferrari

[Public Investing Ad Narrator]

support for the show comes from Public, the investing platform for those who take it seriously. On public, you can build a multi asset portfolio of stocks, bonds, options, crypto and now generated assets which allow you to turn any idea into an investable index. With AI. It all starts with your prompt. From renewable energy companies with high free cash flow flow to semiconductor suppliers growing revenue over 20% year over year, you can literally type any prompt and put the AI to work. It screens thousands of stocks, builds a one of a kind index and lets you back test it against the S&P 500. Then you can invest in a few clicks. Generated assets are like ETFs with infinite possibilities, completely customizable and based on your thesis, not someone else's. Go to public.com podcast and earn an uncapped 1% bonus when you transfer your portfolio. That's public.com podcast paid for by Public Investing Brokerage Services by Open to the Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC Advisory Services by Public Advisors llc. SEC Registered Advisor. Generated Assets is an interactive analysis tool. Output is for informational purposes only and is not an investment recommendation or advice. Complete disclosure is [e-mail] Disclosures

[Kal Penn]

hey everyone, it's Cal Penn. I'm the host of Irsay the Audible and I Heart Audiobook Club. This week on the podcast I am sitting down with Ray Porter, the narrator of Andy Weir's audiobook project Hail Mary Massive sci fi adventure about survival and science and what happens when you wake up alone, very far from Earth.

[Ray Porter]

I really had to make a decision because I caught myself getting that frog in my throat and starting to get teary as I'm narrating some of these sections. And it's like, okay, yo, yo, yo. Is this indulgent? And I really thought about it. I was like, no. At this point, it would kind of be betraying the trust the author and the listener have in telling this story if I don't go through it. But there's places in this book that. That deeply, emotionally affected me. And I left it on the mic. That's great because it served the story. People will say like, oh, my God, I cried at the end. It's like, yeah, dude, me too.

[Kal Penn]

Listen to Irsay the Audible and I Heart audiobook Club on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Cindy Crawford]

Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford, and I'm the founder of meaningful beauty. When Dr. Sabah and I decided to do a skincare line together, he said to me, we are going to give women meaningful beauty. And I said, that's exactly right. We want to give women meaningful beauty, which means each and every product is meaningful. It has a reason to exist. It's efficacious. You're going to get results, and then you just go out and live your life. Meaningful beauty confidence is beautiful. Learn [e-mail].

[Rider Strong]

And then Sari points out that Aubrey played the really the best, like, new era game by being fluid and flexible. She did. Yes. Ozzy also brings up, like, who, you know, asking them how they adapted. Joe says his one line, I adapted by lying and cheating. But that's when Saree brings up the jotation, how everybody had to babysit him to the vote. And that's when he has to, like, you know, say that, like, he couldn't go through the game admitting that he was lying and cheating. But actually, you could have, Joe, that's the game. Like, people do it all the time. Yeah. Like, so you could have just drop the whole, like, thing and be like, look, I'm gonna be lying to some people, not that's how everyone else.

[Will Friedle]

You're gonna play Survivor.

[Rider Strong]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Aubrey talks about how she joined up with Christian and Emily and Devins in the middle. But then that started working against her. So she jumps, of course, ships. And they don't blame her necessarily. You can tell. They're like, yeah, you play. And that's when Ozzy jumps in with that Great line where he's like, yeah, you played the middle.

[Bethenny Frankel]

You didn't.

[Rider Strong]

You played both sides when you had to. And then Jonathan's like, well, I want some clarity on that. And then Ozzy has this great line. He's like, yeah, you and Joe kept saying, get out of the middle. And here you are on either side of the middle. Yeah. It was like. It's like one of those sentences that kind of mean anything, but when you think about it, you're like, dude, you just. That's ex. It's a weird metaphor, but it totally works. It's like Aubrey's in the middle right now, and that's what kept her alive, and that's thriving in this game. You guys just sort of like. Like, we're one side of an alliance that made it to the end barely, but there was nothing that made that a strength versus other people who made just as strong of alliances and got voted out. So, yeah, super interesting.

[Will Friedle]

It was. And the audience went. We erupted at that point with that line. Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

The audience went crazy with Ozzy's assessment.

[Will Friedle]

Yep.

[Rider Strong]

So there's some more talk. Emily asked about self awareness, self critique. Aubrey's very specific. She says, screwed up with Stephanie. She can point out, you know, right there. And then they all get to talk about votes that they drove. Aubrey, you know, can say like, I drove the vote to turn on Emily Devins. Jonathan describes multiple votes that he drove.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, he had a bunch of them.

[Rider Strong]

He did.

[Will Friedle]

Yep.

[Rider Strong]

And then Joe has to admit that he did not drive a single vote.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. He's like, joe, what are you doing here?

[Rider Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Then no. Then no.

[Rider Strong]

Oh, telling people how to. No, I didn't.

[Will Friedle]

No. And I didn't do that.

[Rider Strong]

I didn't do that.

[Will Friedle]

I didn't do that.

[Rider Strong]

And Christian then jumps in with this whole, like, narrative warfare take, which I really like. I totally. He's like, this is about story storytelling.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

And you guys need to tell your story. And he's right. I would add to his argument that the producers, the show itself is part of that warfare. Right.

[Will Friedle]

Sure.

[Rider Strong]

The show is crafting these narratives above and beyond them. And to Survivor's credit, I truly believe. It seems like based on everybody that we've talked to, Christian and Rob and, you know, when I had Sophie on, they're happy with the way that they're presented by Survivor. In other words, it's not one of these reality shows where people are like, I was manipulated. I was made to look in a way that I wasn't. And I'm sure there's some of that. But, like.

[Will Friedle]

Well, I mean, for the most part, all these people keep wanting to come back two, three, four times. They keep wanting to do it.

[Rider Strong]

Right. So I will say that in the narrative warfare of Survivor, like, it seems like they're pretty good at letting people tell their own stories or present themselves how they actually are. It seems like, I guess the distance from who somebody is in real life and who they are or how they are perceived by Survivor isn't as far as it is on a lot of other reality shows, I don't think.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Rider Strong]

Which is to its credit.

[Will Friedle]

Man, what a ride. Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

All right. They've pitched their stories. At this point, I think it's pretty clear that Aubrey has the best story.

[Will Friedle]

Aubrey's gonna win.

[Rider Strong]

And she does.

[Will Friedle]

And she does.

[Rider Strong]

And she does. So the after awards show, Aubrey talked about how much she had learned from other players. Jonathan is very proud of his game. Jeff calls Jonathan's game a finesse game, which I will actually say is true. And then Jeff gives Joe this opportunity. Cause what he says is, he's like, joe, you always talk about honor and integrity. The way that this season went with lots of twists and turns, did that hurt your ability to have honor and integrity? And I really thought yes. And Joe should say yes because that. But instead he didn't take that. He was just like, no, I'm honor and integrity.

[Will Friedle]

And I love the twists and turns they added to the game and all that.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah. And it's like, actually, I don't know, I thought it was interesting because I thought the twists and turns were a little much. And then they have this whole discussion about the car curse and they give Aubrey a Land Cruiser, which is just insane. What's the car curse? So apparently they have. Yeah, see, you left early. We both left early. But I watched the show.

[Will Friedle]

The whole show couldn't at the thing, like the last 90 seconds.

[Rider Strong]

So there's apparently they give a free car to somebody before they announce the winner. Just like for.

[Bethenny Frankel]

For.

[Rider Strong]

I've never seen this happen before either. But apparently they used to give a car to somebody for another reason, like just being a good player or whatever. Right.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Rider Strong]

And then that person would never win Survivor. It's called the car curse.

[Will Friedle]

Like, if you get the car. Okay. It's the John Madden curse. I got.

[Rider Strong]

I got you.

[Will Friedle]

Gotcha. Gotcha.

[Rider Strong]

So they decided to avoid that by giving it to the person who won. So they get.

[Will Friedle]

So, okay, so now she gets.

[Rider Strong]

So Aubrey gets $2 million and a Toyota Land Cruiser. Insane. And I don't understand any of that. Except for Toyota to just be able to advertise that they have a car.

[Will Friedle]

Of course.

[Rider Strong]

So she runs off and jumps in a car, and then they give out the SIA award.

[Will Friedle]

Right. For 100 grand.

[Rider Strong]

That's to Surrey for best. Just the favorite.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

And that's just a given. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

No. So John Madden, the NFL. NFL. John Madden video game. There's a famous curse from that where it's like, whoever was put on the COVID of that famously got injured that year and could, like, their. Their season was over.

[Rider Strong]

Gotcha.

[Will Friedle]

So it got to the point where the players were, like, they would want to be on the COVID Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

They would fall on the ice.

[Will Friedle]

It's football.

[Rider Strong]

The ones who, like, they didn't get

[Will Friedle]

any weight, tripped up on the field

[Rider Strong]

and didn't get any goals that year.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Right.

[Will Friedle]

It's.

[Rider Strong]

That's close.

[Will Friedle]

That's close. We're getting there.

[Rider Strong]

All right. And then they previewed season 51, and the idea is that it's the open era. Every advantage, every twist is in play. So they're calling it permanent uncertainty. And I'm not stoked. I will say I'm stoked. First of all, you can't do that with words.

[Will Friedle]

And second of all, my problem is

[Rider Strong]

that was what I didn't like about this season, is that the poor players had strategy, were great players, and it kept getting destabilized, thrown out of the window.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Yeah. And if they're just going to keep destabilizing, I will go back to what you and I have talked about. I want Survivor for people who have never seen Survivor.

[Will Friedle]

Well, what did you say? You came up with a great name for it. In one episode you said, yeah. You were like, it's Survivor. Back to basics. Or you came up with something where it was like, perfect.

[Rider Strong]

I just don't want. I want it to be people who have never seen it have no idea what's going on and are just like, wow, let's figure out.

[Will Friedle]

It's gonna be a bunch. It's gonna be you and me on the island.

[Rider Strong]

Well, because here's the thing. Like, the. Like this jury, I was thinking about during the process of this jury, like, argumentation. Right. What used to happen is that the players in the. In the final three would. Would look at the jury and say, hey, do you remember when I told you this was going on and then this was happening? I wasn't being honest. And the jury would be like, whoa.

[Will Friedle]

It was like the whole idea that

[Rider Strong]

you could be foot bath and play the game in order to. Was like a revelation. And sometimes I would work against them because they would be like, that hurts my feelings. And I didn't expect my feelings to get hurt. And, oh, my God, I don't. I'm not going to be able to get over that.

[Will Friedle]

Wasn't famously somebody who, like, faked having their grandmother die.

[Rider Strong]

Oh, geez. I don't know about that, but pretty

[Will Friedle]

sure there's one where, like, Jeff comes in, he goes, we just got a phone call. Like, the guy thought he was going to be. He set it up with somebody before, like, one of his friends beforehand, who was like, if I'm still there after five weeks or however, five days, whatever it is, is, you need to call the producers and tell them, my grandmother died. Johnny Fairplay is his name. And so Jeff walks in. He's like, right, is this guy's going to be voted out? And is like, hey, your grandmother died. And so they don't vote him out that night. And later, like, they cut to him going like, no, my grandmother's fine. Like, the whole thing. Like, he literally.

[Rider Strong]

And his name is Fair Play. Yeah, he literally did the least Fair Play.

[Will Friedle]

He literally just faked his grandmother died.

[Rider Strong]

He had the producers call some other.

[Will Friedle]

No, he had his friend call the producers and say, johnny, your grandmother just passed away. And so the producers then come in and they're like, your grandmother just died. And he has a big breakdown so they don't vote him out. And then they cut his confessional going, oh, no, my grandmother's fine.

[Rider Strong]

And that was on Survivor. Yeah. Amazing.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. So they were doing stairs like that, too. Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

Oh, genius. It's cheap.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, you're. It's a mark on your soul, but it's genius.

[Rider Strong]

I mean, yeah, kind of is. Absolutely.

[Will Friedle]

All right, wait, I got one last final.

[Rider Strong]

Okay.

[Will Friedle]

Will's most famous finals time. For the history of people that are surviving things and stuff, this is the last one.

[Rider Strong]

Little Dylan. Little Dylan.

[Will Friedle]

Thank you. So I saved one. That while the surviving itself is crazy, but it's also somebody who's famously a survivor, and that is, of course, Aaron Lee Ralston. Do you want to talk about Aaron Lee Ralston?

[Rider Strong]

I have no idea who this is.

[Will Friedle]

You will in two seconds. He's an American mountaineer, medic, mechanical engineer, motivational speaker. And on April 26, 2003, during a solo descent of Blue John Canyon in southeastern Utah, he dislodged a boulder, pinning his right wrist to the side of the canyon wall. After five days. Five days. He had to break his forearm and then amputate it with a dull pocket knife to break free. He then made his way through the rest of the canyon, rappelled down a 65 foot drop, and hiked seven miles.

[Rider Strong]

What a champ.

[Will Friedle]

Before being rescued. It's obviously documented in his autobiography, which is perfectly titled Between a Rock and a Hard Place, and later adapted into the film 127 Hours after the incident. Though, after the accident, he continued mountaineering and with one arm became the first person to ascend all of Colorado's 14 peaks solo in winter.

[Rider Strong]

My God.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. Aaron Lee Ralston, by the way, I would have still been trapped there like, well, I'm dead. Not cutting off my arm, so see ya. But nope, broke his own arm, cut it off with a dull knife, hiked out, climbed out, raped down the mountain. Yeah.

[Rider Strong]

It's so hard to watch when he hits.

[Will Friedle]

Hits the nerve and the whole camera goes.

[Rider Strong]

It was like, I know, it's really well done. Danny Boyle, man. So well done.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, man, that was really tough.

[Rider Strong]

Oh, God.

[Will Friedle]

But yes. So Aaron Lee Ralston is our last.

[Rider Strong]

All right.

[Will Friedle]

Famous survivor from his.

[Rider Strong]

That's a good one. All right. How you feel about Survivor now that it's over?

[Will Friedle]

I'm in. I'm in. I. I'm in. I. I want to play the games. I want to have parties like this. I'd like to play it in a way where I can see.

[Rider Strong]

I think watching in a group is a great way to go. I think we should start Survival Watch Party, because when I saw being at the finale. Oh, and we should mention also, we saw somebody we knew at the.

[Will Friedle]

Well, we saw several people we knew actually at the thing. But you were famously able to close a 30 year loop by giving Adam. Do you want to say. I mean, do you want me to tell the story?

[Rider Strong]

No. Yeah, tell the story. Because you spotted him from like a mile away.

[Will Friedle]

I didn't spot anybody. My wife can spot anybody anywhere. She has the most strange celebrity eagle eye I've ever seen in my entire life. It was absolutely crazy. And so there was Adam Scott, who Ryder famously hugged gate, pushed away and ran away from. Embrace Kate ran away from. And we went down and he. He jumped up and gave us both a big hug, and we were just sitting there talking. And then of course, our friend Emily Longaretta came over and was like, well, we gotta get a picture. Cause of course you and I don't think about any of that stuff.

[Rider Strong]

Never thought about it.

[Will Friedle]

So got a picture of that.

[Rider Strong]

It was great to see him. And I got to see him. I got to tell him I just seen Hokum, his horror movie, the week before, and he was very excited that I had seen that movie.

[Will Friedle]

But it was great to see him.

[Rider Strong]

Such a good guy. Such a good guy.

[Will Friedle]

I also saw my friend Nicole Sullivan for Mad tv.

[Rider Strong]

We've seen a lot of people doing the zoom conversation. This is the first time I've seen him since Embrace Game. Me too. Me too.

[Will Friedle]

But I was at least able to hug him and say goodbye 30 years ago. I didn't push him away and run. So he and I had already closed our relationship.

[Rider Strong]

Still no. No idea what was going on.

[Will Friedle]

But it was really cool to see him. And we asked him. We're like, what are you here for? He's like, I'm just a big Survivor fan. He just was a big fan of Survivor. That was it. So super cool.

[Rider Strong]

All right, should we talk about what we're tackling next?

[Will Friedle]

I think so. It's already been announced on social media, so I think everybody knows. Yeah. Remember, our picture went up, but we don't know anything about it.

[Rider Strong]

We don't know. We are moving into the Bravo verse within the city. This is a, I guess, housewives adjacent style show where there is no competition and no money to be won. It is just people hanging out. We have talked a lot about these types of shows because of traitors and our introduction to that world. So it's gonna be very interesting.

[Will Friedle]

It is. It sounds like I'm hoping it's a musical because it sounds like something Lin Manuel Miranda would write, doesn't it? In the city. So I'm like, I'm hoping that's what it is. It's a Lin Manuel Miranda.

[Rider Strong]

Kind of realized I'm pretty sure you're gonna be disappointed on that front.

[Will Friedle]

I know, I know, I know. But, hey, I'm trying to go in with an open mind. Going in with an open mind.

[Rider Strong]

That's our goal.

[Will Friedle]

All right.

[Rider Strong]

You've been listening to Pod meets Twirled, Seeking immunity. And the torches are finally snuffed. But we'll move on to in the City, where our questionable analysis burns on. We'll see you next time in the city. Trap your smoking.

[Kal Penn]

Hey, everyone, it's Kel Penn. I'm inviting you to join the best sounding book club you've ever heard with my podcast, Hearsay, the Audible and Iheart Audiobook Club. Every episode in this episode, I nerd out with amazing guests and dive into the best new audiobooks available on Audible. It's the book club for your ears. Listen to earsay the Audible and iheart Audiobook Club on the iheartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Rider Strong]

What? Yeah.

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[Rider Strong]

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[Rider Strong]

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[Rider Strong]

So good. Your bill, ladies.

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[Rider Strong]

No, I got it. Seriously, I insist. I insisted first.

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[Rider Strong]

You don't be silly.

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[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Rider Strong]

Rock, paper, scissors for it. Rock, paper, scissors.

[Bethenny Frankel]

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[Will Friedle]

No.

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[Ray Porter]

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[Rider Strong]

This is an iHeart podcast.

[Podcast Announcer]

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