Pod Meets Twirl'd: Survivor 5007

Summary

Pod Meets World: Pod Meets Twirl’d – Survivor 5007

Episode Air Date: April 10, 2026
Hosts: Will Friedle & Rider Strong

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Episode Overview

This episode of "Pod Meets Twirl’d" finds Will and Rider deep in recap and analysis mode for the milestone season 50 of "Survivor." Mixing their trademark banter with reality TV nerdery, the duo breaks down the latest episode, debates strategies, mocks larger-than-life contestants (Coach gets especially roasted), and questions some of the season’s big twists and production choices. Along the way, they reveal why jumping in at Season 50 is like watching Marvel’s “Endgame” as your first superhero movie, discuss challenge design, and get philosophical about alliances, social maneuvering, and narcissistic gameplay. The episode closes with a real-life survival story in tongue-in-cheek “History of People Who Survive Stuff.”

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Survivor 50, Episode Context and Initial Impressions

Timestamp: 02:50 – 06:05

• Will opens with a recap of their shifting podcast gimmick—from “Dancing with the Stars” neophytes to “Survivor 50” commentary.
• Both hosts admit fatigue and self-deprecate about their “old man naps” before recording.
• Discussion of how jarring it is to engage with such a complex season without broader context:
  • Rider (05:00): “It would be the equivalent of a Marvel fan bringing you into the Marvel universe and going, we’re going to start with Endgame … I haven’t connected with any of these people. I’m not rooting for any of these people … That’s just me, not the show.”
• Critique of the season’s mechanics and editing. Will isn’t a fan of the split-merge and the continued use of arbitrary groupings.

2. Character Focus: Epic Rants on “Coach”

Timestamp: 04:13 – 06:46; 14:00 – 18:14; 39:10 – 43:44

• Coach’s antics, ego, and persistent third-person self-references are lampooned:
  • Will (04:58): “He’s still the same douche twat he always was.”
  • Rider (04:26): “Here’s a haiku. Go yourself, Coach.”
• Will and Rider groan at Coach’s self-aggrandizing haikus. Critically, not even his haiku structure is correct (“5-8-5” instead of “5-7-5”).
  • Will (15:37): “This is 5, 8, 5. This here’s the haiku: Betrayal all around. Nobody tells the truth. Like Coach. That’s eight syllables.”
• A broader critique about narcissism and self-nicknaming:
  • Rider (18:04): “Anytime you nickname yourself, it’s… No. Oh, God. It’s just bad.”
  • Will (17:48): “It’s a classic narcissist move. I’m the victim.”

3. Confusing Production Choices and Gameplay Tweaks

Timestamp: 06:05 – 10:36; 27:00 – 31:10

• Both hosts puzzled by chaotic “merge” structure: Are they in tribes or individuals? Groupings don’t align with audience or player expectations.
• Odd reward segments (notably a “two hour infomercial for a country singer”) and rumors that “celebrity cameos” like Mr. Beast have been cut.
• The pair are dissatisfied with arbitrary groupings for challenges, tribe size, and twist pacing.

4. Pre-Game Alliances & Survivor Overload

Timestamp: 12:09 – 13:57

• Discussion of social media chatter and contestant claims that alliances may have formed over Zoom before hitting the island.
  • Rider (12:25): “Apparently, a bunch of them got together and they formed an alliance before they even hit the island. So then ... you’re screwed.”
• Fantasy of a season featuring only people who have NEVER seen "Survivor":
  • Will (12:56): “I would love to do a season of Survivor where no one's seen an episode of Survivor … How would you prove it?”

5. Challenge Play and Physical/Tactical Dynamics

Timestamp: 24:00 – 32:57

• Rider becomes enamored with Stephanie after her “badass” performance in an arm endurance task—admiring the “survivor crush” she inspires by holding her arm up for an hour.
  • Rider (08:43): “I do a bit of a crush on Stephanie…she came off as a total badass.”
• Explores whether players lie about having idols/advantages, and how quickly information leaks.
  • Will (24:02): “There have been some fake idols in the past...most of the time, people don’t want to lie because it gets caught.”
• Frustration with challenges remaining in team format, which disrupts endgame strategy:
  • Will (27:53): “I’m frustrated by this, this like semi in between phase that this game is in.”
• Comedic sidebar on proper “Survivor” gear: bring pants to avoid bleeding knees.

6. Social & Strategic Maneuvering (Post-Challenge and Tribal)

Timestamp: 37:28 – 45:58

• Blue team wins, enjoys a Chinese food feast.
• Aubrey is scapegoated—must play her idol and calls it a “scarlet letter.”
• Coach exerts control, strong-arming and belittling tribe members, calling anyone who disagrees “cowardly.”
  • Will (39:17): “If you want a general, I’m the guy.”
  • Rider (39:46): “Just calling people cowards for not agreeing with you…doesn’t make you a coward.”
• Debate about “keeping villains” for an easier endgame and jury win—Coach is being kept around perhaps because no one will vote for him at the end.
• Tribal Council: Dee tries to turn the tide via live tribal whispering but is ultimately voted out; Aubrey’s idol play fails to save her.
• Production choices for “shot in the dark” twist are critiqued—should the big reveal come after votes?

7. Memorable Quotes & Humorous Moments

Notable Selections

• Will (06:46): “It’s just very catty people on an island…I don’t…I haven’t had a crush yet. Now I do…a bit of a survivor crush on Stephanie.”
• Rider, on Coach’s haiku (15:37): “Betrayal all around. Nobody tells the truth. Like Coach. That’s eight syllables. War has been declared.”
• Will on game secrecy (20:43): “Benjamin Franklin has the famous quote, the only way three people can keep a secret is if two of them are dead. That’s like Survivor.”
• Rider, on pants: (28:33): “Every single person has blood dripping from their knees who’s wearing shorts. Pants, I think, are very important in this.”

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Notable Moments and Timestamps

• Coach Rant & Haiku Fodder (04:26–17:48)
• Stephanie’s Endurance Challenge/Survivor Crush (08:21–08:43; 24:42–25:29)
• Survivor Season Pacing, Merge/Group Criticism (06:05–10:36; 27:00–28:46)
• Alliance Pre-Gaming & Show Knowledge (12:09–13:24)
• Debate About Game Advantages & Lying (23:38–24:42)
• Live Tribal Chaos (43:23–44:07)
• Tribal Lines and Gendered Power Critique (42:27–43:05)
• Comparisons to Real Survival Stories (46:05–47:17)

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Fun Sidebar: Real-Life Survivor Story

Timestamp: 46:05 – 47:17

• Will presents “Will’s history of people that survive stuff,” featuring Alexander Selkirk, the Scottish sailor who inspired "Robinson Crusoe."

  “Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor, was marooned on a desolate island in the South Pacific in the early 1700s...became the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s classic novel Robinson Crusoe, cementing his place in history as a legendary survivor.”
  — Ryder Strong (46:29)

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Overall Tone & Style

The hosts’ signature mix of earnest deep-dives and sarcastic takedowns shines. Their playful mocking (especially of Coach), willingness to challenge Survivor’s production choices, and the blending of nostalgia, fandom, and reality TV skepticism create an engaging, accessible recap that’s both informative and hilarious. If you missed the episode, you now know which alliances are cracking, what’s up with those haikus, why “pants matter,” and why “Coach” is both the season’s best character and its greatest irritant.

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Quick Reference: Key Segments

| Segment | Subject/Quote | Timestamp | |------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------| | Opening, Old Man Naps | Banter on sleep, show history | 02:50–04:14 | | COACH RANT | “He’s still the same douche twat…” | 04:58 | | Survivor as Endgame Analogy | “It would be the equivalent of a Marvel fan…” | 05:30 | | Pre-Game Alliances, Survivor Fans | “Apparently, a bunch of them got together and formed an alliance…” | 12:25 | | Strategic Leaks & Lying | “You give your power away the more you tell people.” | 20:53 | | Stephanie’s Challenge Success | Rider’s survivor crush on Stephanie | 08:43 | | Pants Philosophy | “Every single person has blood…Pants, I think, are very important.”| 28:33 | | Live Tribal & Vote Chaos | “D makes it a live tribal, starts whispering…” | 43:23 | | Real-Life Survivor: Selkirk | Selkirk’s story, inspiration for Crusoe | 46:05 |

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This episode is a perfect primer for new and old fans alike—combining wry humor, sharp insight, and Survivor archetype analysis. Don’t miss Coach’s mangled haiku, the debate over challenge pants, and the hosts’ ongoing hunt for a real survivor crush.

Transcript

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[Ryder Strong]

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[Will Friedle]

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 walked away experts. From there, we ventured into Traitors, a show I'd never seen, but Will swore he could win. And now we turn to Survivor season 50, the big one. And this time the roles are reversed. Will has seen exactly one season, the first one, 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 bike 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 reality competition scholars join us as we dive into alliances, Blindsides, fire making sand related misery, and 25 years of television history, culminating in a single massive season. This is Pod meets Twirled. Seeking immunity. How's it going, Will?

[Ryder Strong]

Good, Ryder. How are you?

[Will Friedle]

I'm. I'm a little tired.

[Ryder Strong]

I'm a little tired as well.

[Will Friedle]

We both admitted that we just took naps in the morning waking up from old man siesta. My God. I went. I went and taught a class at indie school and then came back and promptly fell asleep on my couch for 25 minutes.

[Ryder Strong]

I did magical rewind this morning and then. And then passed out thereafter. So.

[Will Friedle]

Nice.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

So we would be on the beach and Survivor just lounging, if that's allowed.

[Ryder Strong]

I've still.

[Will Friedle]

I.

[Ryder Strong]

That would be great. I've got my Jonathan pants.

[Will Friedle]

Coach is spending a lot of time in the. In the old hammock.

[Ryder Strong]

Coach.

[Will Friedle]

Don't you love Coach now?

[Ryder Strong]

No.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, my God, he's so annoying.

[Ryder Strong]

Here's a haiku. Go yourself, Coach.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, my God. Yeah, he's. He's. He's bringing it back. It's like I. You know, because when he. When he started the season, I was like, oh, man. Because, you know, we did our first episode, I was kind of explaining to you how much I don't like Coach.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

And then I was like. We listened back, you know, for edits, and I was like, do I want to. Do I want to be this. I don't want to sound like I hate the guy. And then I was like, no, I really don't like him. So when I saw this episode, I was like, yep, still the same douche twat he always was.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes. It's amazing. Oh, God. Just referring to himself as the dragon and. And. And in the first or the third person, the whole Time I was gonna

[Will Friedle]

say he's that per. He's. He's. He's that guy. Ryder doesn't like those guys.

[Ryder Strong]

You know, Will doesn't like those guys either.

[Will Friedle]

The second you start referring yourself a third person, you got a problem. Not time to check. Check. Check out what. What's going on in your head.

[Ryder Strong]

Your little.

[Will Friedle]

Your ego's gotten out of control. Anyway, how was this episode for you overall? Are you feeling any better? You still feel like you're watching eyes? It's just.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, it's not my. It's just. I just can't get into it. And I, I think I, I've done. I had a real disservice done to me, and I've done a real disservice to Survivor fans by making this my first season. Right, That's. And that's just what it is, is there's so much going on in the show that I don't understand. It would be the equivalent of a Marvel fan, somebody bringing you into the Marvel universe and going, we're. We're going to start with Endgame, the second mov. Like the last movie of the series. And you just don't know what's going on. And you have. I haven't connected with any of these people. I don't. I'm not rooting for any of these people. And I go, I know. That's on me. That's. That's just me, not the show.

[Will Friedle]

I will say I. This episode made me think, like, God, I don't think they're nailing it this season because, you know, when we got to that, the tribal or the. The tribal Council, and there were, you know, more ever in the history, I was like, why? Why are we doing this? And like last week, you know, I was out and you. You recapped with Rob, but, yeah, my new best friend. Your new best friend, your new co host, they, you know, they did the three eliminations and I know you guys discussed the fact that, like, they said it's a merge and then you're broken up into three groups of five. It was like, why? Like, you're not merged at all. You're just creating new tribes for the week or for the day on the

[Ryder Strong]

same beach, but you still are leaving at separate times and coming back at separate times.

[Will Friedle]

I think they've made some really weird choices and I'm. Why, exactly. Except maybe to keep up the pace or because people got eliminated or, you know, people got a meta met. What's his name? Got evac to, like, you Know, maybe they're just scrambling a little bit, but it just doesn't feel, it doesn't feel like the decisions they've made, you know, like the, you know, the two hour infomercial for the country singer included. Like, I just don't know if these were great choices.

[Ryder Strong]

No. And there's again, the rumors that I think Rob kind of said he didn't agree or didn't believe him, but there were rumors that they're editing future episodes down where it's like other celebrities show up on the, on the island and they're like, let's cut those down.

[Will Friedle]

The Eilish ever show up?

[Ryder Strong]

I mean, she does, but then she boomerangs right back off the island. That's the weird part about it. So, no, I don't know, but I know, like, there's rumors that Mr. Beast, that's the one I heard was coming, and, and he, I guess, has been really cut down and all that kind of stuff. But no, I just, I, yeah, I'm trying to get into it. It's just very catty, people on an island. And I get that's. That's okay when, you know, the people that are being catty where it's like, oh, there's a reason this relationship is this and there's a reason that relationship is that and, and people going, oh, that's so coach. But it's like, I don't, I don't get any of that. So I, to me, it's just kind of like, yeah, I don't. It's a lot of people, like just kind of bitching about a bunch of stuff and then there's cool challenges. I'm digging the challenges. Liking the, liking the, Some of the stuff. Starting. Starting my first crush. I haven't had a crush yet. Now I have, I do a bit of a crush on Stephanie. Interesting bit of a crush on Stephanie. After this episode, she came off as a total badass and I'm like, I'm kind of digging it.

[Will Friedle]

Kept her arm in the air.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh my God. You know how hard that. So I took a, I took a boxing class and years ago and the guy put the gloves on me and he goes, so the first thing we're gonna do, he goes, all you're gonna do is just hold both of your hands up for three minutes, which is one round. And I was exhausted. Yeah, I couldn't imagine holding my arm up for an hour. So, yeah, she's a badass. And a bit of a. Bit of a survivor crush on.

[Will Friedle]

Okay, let's get into the episode. Jonathan turned on Camilla. We in the last episode, Genevieve was out and Colby was out. So we start with the Tiff team.

[Ryder Strong]

The aftermath.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, the aftermath. Watching them come back and, you know, Tiff has this great little moment where she's, you know, because they've, you know, voted against her. Her wishes by voting Camilla out. And she says, you know, let me just have. Let me just feel my feelings. And then it's like an optical FL moment where you cut to her confession, and she's like, I am so pissed.

[Ryder Strong]

I hate these people.

[Will Friedle]

I know. She's like, what the hell? I am burning this whole thing down, which I thought was great. And it just goes to show she's a good player and that she gave the right speech. Didn't really work out for her, like I thought, you know, because, you know, she still ended up being getting the second most votes at the end of this episode, so maybe she should have just been a little more honest. But I thought it was a, you know, because the thing is, if you are. And you guys talked about this with. You talked about this with Rob, like, you're coming back after you're on the bottom suddenly, you know, if you've been blindsided, even if you didn't lose. So you've got to play it cool because he can't come in to be

[Ryder Strong]

so too, though, where it's just like, why are people voting for me all of a sudden? Yeah. Yep.

[Will Friedle]

And then the other crew comes back saying, Genevieve is gone. And then Aubrey does this weird lie and just says, oh, I forgot to play my idol. Play the idol.

[Ryder Strong]

Why not just say, like, no, I didn't want to. I didn't think it was.

[Will Friedle]

I didn't feel I need to.

[Ryder Strong]

I wanted to save it.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. I don't know why she decided, you know, I guess she still thinks that some people doesn't know. Doesn't. Don't know she has it. But, like, you know, because that's what I was trying to keep track of, because I remember in the episode before last, when they. Or the episode. Yeah. When they did the merge last episode, there was this montage of how much information was being shared, of just like, everybody knowing that everybody had a, you know, who has an idol, who didn't. They shared a lot in that. And I've lost track of who knows what.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, it also just seems like at some point nobody knows how to play Survivor because I've watched four episodes or whatever it is, however many were in eight episodes. And it seems to me the Key to that is don't tell anybody shit. So the idea that there's still people

[Will Friedle]

like, you know, who that. Right.

[Ryder Strong]

So it's just like, here. Oh, by the way, I have this. Or this just happened. But they're not going to tell anybody.

[Will Friedle]

Of course they are.

[Ryder Strong]

Do you not watch the show?

[Will Friedle]

It's.

[Ryder Strong]

I feel. I feel like they're. It's. It's Galaxy Quest. I'm saying it's Galaxy Quest.

[Will Friedle]

Galaxy Quest. Sam Rockwell, turning to everybody. Have you ever seen the show?

[Ryder Strong]

Yes.

[Will Friedle]

It's that.

[Ryder Strong]

Where it's like, I'm gonna tell her this, but she won't tell anybody. Like, of course she's.

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[Ryder Strong]

It's.

[Will Friedle]

Of course they are.

[Ryder Strong]

It's. That's. I think.

[Will Friedle]

I think it's just the thing in the heat of the moment, you know, when you have a person in front of you, you, you know, you think you can get away with something or you just don't think. Like, you just. Because if you're not, you know, I think it's gotta be hard to think of yourself as. As in a game with strategy, when you're on a beach, like, at night, starving, you know, like, there's a lot of just physical reality stuff that's going on your Cl. Dirty. Like, I just imagine it must be so disorienting. And then the final group comes in and announces that Colby is gone. Colby.

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And.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, old school Colby who went out. Went out with his head held high last week. Yeah, yeah. Just big old smoke trapped in.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. He was a good guy. I would have liked to have seen Stick around. It was. It's a little. And it's. So much of what happened last. Last episode just seems to have come down to, like, what group of five they ended up in.

[Ryder Strong]

But that's what it was. And.

[Will Friedle]

And it's been hearing this whole thing

[Ryder Strong]

that the rumor going around that there is. This is now on social media everywhere, and it's all the contestants that are being kicked off and stuff like that, talking about how before the show started, there was a zoom meeting between a bunch of the contestants.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, I've heard grumblings about this. Maybe you sent me one, but I don't. What. What do we know about this? For real? Anything?

[Ryder Strong]

I don't know. Apparently the grumblings are that there was a. And I think Mike White was the one who was talking about it, where apparently a bunch of them got together and they formed an alliance before they even hit the island. So then it's like, if that's the Case you're already playing at a disadvantage. And then if you're thrown on one of these teams by random rock draw where you're on a team of five and three of them have already decided to be a team, then you're screwed.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

So it's. Yeah, I don't. You know, there's a lot of. A lot of different grumblings, a lot of different stuff going on about what people know before they get there and who knew what. And did this start before they even hit the island and.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, yeah, it was funny. When I was listening to you and Rob do your episode, I was. I really, you know, he was pointing out this idea that everybody's now, like, a super player when they show up or a super fan when they show up. And I would love to do a season of Survivor where no one's seen an episode of Survivor. Like, what couldn't you do? Make that a requirement? Like, how would you prove it? I know, I know.

[Ryder Strong]

That would be. The thing is, be like, how would you. How. You'd have to be like, I've never seen Survivor. And then, you know, just wink, wink.

[Will Friedle]

I know, but I would be lied to. Really cool. It'd be really cool to see. I don't know. I mean, you know, it's like jury selection when it's, you know, it's been in the news a whole bunch. You got to find those people who don't watch the news.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Will Friedle]

It's got to be a way to, like. I feel like the casting department could unturn some, you know, because even, like, like, you, you know, like, you would be a perfect person, like, if. If they did some research and found, like, they could even probably aim for celebrities who have never seen maybe.

[Ryder Strong]

I don't know. I burn. I burn badly. I need food all the time. I don't know if this is for me. I'll be honest. I need the castle. I need the castle and the salmon.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, you need that locks in the morning.

[Ryder Strong]

I need that locksmore. I think I need it all.

[Will Friedle]

All right, well, then Coach immediately starts talking about waging war on all of these people. This guy.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, this guy can't with Coach. I can't anymore. He so seriously, he thinks he is, like, the guru of whatever, and it's like, dude, shut up. I'm sorry.

[Will Friedle]

Yes. So the next morning, Dee gets into it with Jonathan and Coach, who. Coach has just claimed this hammock this entire episode, and, like, does not move. We're just going to call it his haiku. Hammock. Fucking Douche. What? So he's sitting on his haiku hammock, and Dee and Jonathan get into a fight over him. And I didn't quite get this. Like, Jonathan is so upset at her for lying. And it's like, I just want to go back to that quote from earlier in the season. I think, who was it? Was it Mike or somebody was like, oh, maybe. I don't know. It was either.

[Ryder Strong]

I love being here with all the best liars in the world.

[Will Friedle]

No, it's just like. No, the point of the game is to lie to each other. Like, that's like being upset about the NFL throwing a ball around. It's like, guys, like, so I don't understand John. But he then admits that he was just getting Dee riled up so that she would sort of argue. And that sucks, because it works. And I. I like D. I was like, you know, I know.

[Ryder Strong]

I like D2. I also. But the. The greatest thing about this season is still the pants I'm wearing right now. These are the best pants I've ever owned. I don't ever want to take them off. Thank you.

[Will Friedle]

Amazing. That's awesome. All right. I should give it a pair. I should get a pair.

[Ryder Strong]

They're so good.

[Will Friedle]

So then Coach takes this opportunity to give a speech to everyone and make a haiku. The first haiku of the. Of the. Of the episode, which is incorrect. It is not a haiku is 5,

[Ryder Strong]

7, 5, 7, 5.

[Will Friedle]

This is 5, 8, 5. This here's the haiku. Betrayal all around. Nobody. Nobody tells the truth. Like Coach. That's eight syllables. War has been declared. And not only that, but here's the thing about haikus. I actually went through a haiku writing phase for a while because I was. But no, in a good way. It was with friends. We would send each other postcards. I mean, it wasn't just me sitting around writing haikus for the sake of writing haikus. It was with a group of friends. We agreed to all send haikus to each other every day for a year.

[Ryder Strong]

We've got way different friends.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, it was super fun. So I have a whole collection of haiku. And, you know, I got into haikus. I got into reading haikus. The good haikus are not abstract. Like. Like, these are, like, little mini essays that he's writing. The good haikus are like, you know, they describe nature usually. Like, it's a physical butterfly or something, right? And then you. You apply that. It's basically like a metaphor or an analogy that you can then, like, draw. Like, oh, that's was, you know, losing a daughter or something. And that's why they wrote about the petal falling from the flower. You know, it's like that kind of. And the artistry of it is in being very immediate and detail oriented and focused on something in the physical world, so that then you apply the abstract thought to it by reading it. That's traditional. Obviously, anything flies as a haiku if it fits. So I'm not gonna say that that's why it makes it bad, but at least stick to the syllable count. How do you think nobody tells the truth? Like Coach? All right, Anyway, he's just.

[Ryder Strong]

Every time. By the end, every time he's speaking, just everyone around him is rolling their eyes.

[Will Friedle]

That's right. I couldn't believe that they weren't rolling their eyes the moment they showed up on the beach.

[Ryder Strong]

Are you kidding me? Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

I mean, the thing that pisses me off about this the most is that he clearly wants to be the Dragon Slayer, you know, disloyal player, and he just doesn't want to take responsibility for his own actions. So he blames D and everybody. Like, oh, now? No, they voted out Colby, so the gloves are off. It's time for me to be a dick again. It's like, dude, you wanted to do this from the get go. Don't even pretend like you just. But he's making it like he's the victim. It's a classic narcissist move, right? Like, I'm the victim.

[Ryder Strong]

Coach is the victim. He doesn't say, I'm coaches.

[Will Friedle]

Coaches wage and war. It's like you just. You just.

[Ryder Strong]

Coach, feel bad about stuff because you're it. I'm just gonna be an asshole. I'm an asshole? Yeah, it's. It is. It's. It's.

[Will Friedle]

I nickname you. Yes. And it's his friend. Yes.

[Ryder Strong]

And it's like anytime you nickname yourself, it's. No. Oh, God. It's just bad.

[Will Friedle]

So Ozzy and Rizzo come back. They get the land. Yeah. I like both of these guys, you know? Yeah.

[Reynolds Kitchens Advertiser]

Rizzo.

[Ryder Strong]

I mean, I have moments with him. I have moments.

[Will Friedle]

Well, this moment is one, you know, when. Because I. I really am supportive of the Rizzo, Ozzy, Surreal alliance, which we get the name of. Rizzard. Wait, what is it? Where was it? Cerise Rizzard of Oz.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes. There you go. No, I like those three.

[Will Friedle]

I like those three. And so I was. But then this Coach moment comes where Coach is trying to bless him into the Four Horsemen alliance. You're the new Colby, which I love that Rizzo immediately is like, sure, cool. And then his confession, he's like, but Colby just left.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, thanks. So I'm the guy you come to after he.

[Will Friedle]

But also just like, the reality of, like, the alliance didn't hold. So what's the value for Rizzo being. It's a little like.

[Ryder Strong]

But yeah, it was. Oh, God, it was.

[Will Friedle]

But he's smart enough not to say no, you know, of course not. Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

I think it'd be one of those things. Anybody comes up to you, like, you want to work with me, you go, yeah. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Well, especially Coach's ego so big. I don't think he's ever going to see beyond it. You know, he's. He. He's going to believe that Rizzo is one of his followers.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

His accolades.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, it's like, it reminds me of the office where Pam says every time she's been taught that every time Dwight comes up to her and says, do you want to, you know, partake in a mission with me? She's just always says, of course. Yes, I do like it. Just say yes and figure out where it goes from there. It's the same thing.

[Will Friedle]

All right, so then Emily tells Rizzo that she knows from D that about Rizzo's idol, which then Dee reassures Rizzo that she didn't say that. But guess what? Dee did tell, of course.

[Ryder Strong]

Because everybody tells everybody everything.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, I think everybody knows pretty much everything except maybe Ozzy's extra shot, extra vote. I feel like there's only one or two advantages that isn't known. It seems like everybody knows everything.

[Ryder Strong]

But Ozzy hasn't told anybody at all about that. Right.

[Will Friedle]

That's the only way he's told Cere and Rizzo.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, he did okay, right? That's right.

[Will Friedle]

And I think he might have told Christian, too, because wasn't that the whole thing? The two of them shored up their alliance by saying, I mean, you know, I think Ozzy's trying to do the right thing, which is only telling certain people.

[Ryder Strong]

But it gets everywhere all the time.

[Will Friedle]

I know. Well, but that's part of what I was saying about this season. Like, it's just. It's too crowded of a tribe right now. Like, it's just too big. There's too many people. You can't keep all. That's why they had to do this ridiculous blood moon.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Try and, like, get it down. It's like, just don't merge maybe yet and keep it going for a while.

[Ryder Strong]

Get him. Yeah, I agree. 100% was it? Benjamin Franklin has the famous quote, the only way three people can keep a secret is if two of them are dead.

[Will Friedle]

That's like Survivor.

[Ryder Strong]

I mean, that's like Survivor. So it's. Yeah, it's crazy.

[Will Friedle]

You give your power away the more you tell people. I know. Yeah.

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[Will Friedle]

Foreign.

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[Bretzky (SpinQuest Promoter)]

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[Ryder Strong]

to play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details. Wait, question, question, question. Yeah. Do people often lie about the stuff they have? Like, will they say to somebody, like, I have an idol or I have. I have an extra vote or I lost my vote when really they didn't have any?

[Will Friedle]

No, no. They. There have been some fake idols in the past. And, like, I think that stuff is always funny. And. And sometimes people are like, well, you have to show it to me. And then they have to, like, make a fake idol to show it to somebody, you know? But, like, most of the time, people don't want to lie because it gets caught. Like Stephanie in this episode we're about to describe. Like, that's what mostly people lie about whenever they come back from a solo journey. They always have to lie, and it sucks. That's why in this case, this boat arrives and nobody wants to go. You see? Nobody wants to go. And then they pull their shots in the dark. So Stephanie ends up getting on the boat. She does this arm challenge, which was crazy to watch.

[Ryder Strong]

And, yes, it seems like the easiest thing in the world. And I was just trying to imagine how miserable an hour that.

[Will Friedle]

For an hour. I know. Hour.

[Ryder Strong]

And it's not like you're watching tv, you're not listening to a podcast.

[Will Friedle]

No, I was. I was bored in the five minutes of editing it took for them to make.

[Ryder Strong]

Exactly. And it's like, imagine that you're just sitting there, you're in the sun, you're probably a bit wet. You're now. And then you're dry. Then you're too dry, and you've just got to hold an arm up for an hour. That had to have. Have sucked.

[Will Friedle]

I honestly don't think I would have done it. I think I. I think I would have just walked away because. Because I really want to. Yeah. Because I don't want to be in this position. I would have just been able to come back and tell the truth. Didn't get it because I didn't want to deal with this because she still has the regular reward immunity challenge coming up. So she's, like, working her body, especially when she dislocated her shoulder before.

[Ryder Strong]

Right. But if you go back and say, I found this thing, I didn't want to do it, they're still not going to believe you. They're still going to think you have the thing, so you might as well try to get the thing. Everyone's going to be like, God, Ryder, he's obviously got it. He obviously did something.

[Will Friedle]

You know, I mean, I think maybe I just don't want the pressure of having to lie. I don't want to win.

[Ryder Strong]

None of these games are made for you.

[Will Friedle]

No.

[Ryder Strong]

Let's just go on Amazing Race where we don't have to lie. We could just race around.

[Will Friedle]

Yes. So she wins a steal the vote. Steal the vote, which is a really good advantage, you know, because it not only takes it from somebody else, but gives you an extra one. It's really powerful.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Will Friedle]

She comes back, tries to lie about it.

[Ryder Strong]

Have you seen these?

[Will Friedle]

Right away. Yeah. The steal a vote.

[Ryder Strong]

So do you have to announce that you're taking somebody's vote, or do you go in and nobody knows that? It's like, I'm. And you say in your little confessional as you're writing, like, I'm going to vote and I'm going to take Colby's vote. Whatever.

[Will Friedle]

I think it's that way. Yeah. So. So they still go through the process of voting thinking that their vote counted, and then when it's when. When they're actually read, it's that it doesn't count. I'm pretty. I'm 90% sure that's how it works.

[Ryder Strong]

Okay. Brutal.

[Will Friedle]

So you can be really sneaky.

[Ryder Strong]

Oh, yeah. Producer Maddie's saying yes. Okay.

[Will Friedle]

All right. So Cerise sees through Steph's lie right away. Steph comes clean to her Saree, then tells Rizzo instantly.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, Instantly goes and tells other people instantly. Right. I love. They always cut from. I told her, but I'm pretty sure she's not gonna say anything to then her going, you're not gonna believe what just. I mean, Exactly.

[Will Friedle]

Don't say anything.

[Ryder Strong]

Even if it's a bad lie. Just hold on to it.

[Will Friedle]

I know.

[Ryder Strong]

Come on.

[Will Friedle]

All right, then we get to our challenge, which is giant boulder rolling with a puzzle. But I guess what bummed me out about seeing this is I was like, we're still in tribes. Like, we're still just divided into groups.

[Ryder Strong]

Yep.

[Will Friedle]

You know, I was like, okay, we're not. We're not really at the individual game yet, because the whole point of the individual game, like, you know, I think part of the reason why they kept Coach around right now is because they still need his physical presence for things like this. Whereas when you're in an individual game, somebody like Coach just Gets voted off because you don't want somebody that's physically capable of him going up against you. So the fact that we're in this weird, like somewhat individual game but they're still having to do things and activities and tribes and that's going to determine when you get a reward or not. You're not going to vote coach out.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Will Friedle]

So I, I, I'm frustrated by this, this like semi in between phase that this game is in.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

I don't know what, what it's lasted too long. Like they shouldn't have merged this early. They should have just kept it in tribes, figured out a way to reorient the tribes and kept those because as it is, it's too confusing to the social game to have this many people in the same tribe. And then it's, I think it's, it's changing the, like the dynamics of the game by not allowing it to get to individual yet.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

I don't know.

[Ryder Strong]

One of the other things I very much noticed about this game where if we were ever for like, again, if you go on Survivor, you're psyched if I'm there. I was drugged and left there kind of like Hail Mary project. Hail Mary. So one thing I noticed though, pants. I think pants are pretty damn important. Every other person who's wearing shorts is bleeding from the knees all episode. I don't know if you've noticed that.

[Will Friedle]

No.

[Ryder Strong]

Every single person has blood dripping from their knees who's wearing shorts. Pants, I think are very important in this.

[Will Friedle]

Okay.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

All right. Take the pants, take the pants. Practice untied knots. Learn how to build fire. Starve yourself and bring pants.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes. Making our list.

[Will Friedle]

So when they, you know. Oh, I forgot to mention they're, they're playing for Chinese takeout.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

And then they, yeah. They do a schoolyard pick to determine their teams and I wish we could have seen that pick.

[Ryder Strong]

Thank you. They didn't show anything.

[Will Friedle]

Seems like a really important key to you know who because they were randomly selected as captains and then I wanted to see the order in which those people were selected because I, I had a hard time wrapping my head around how those teams were picked and it seems pretty important. So, yeah, I feel like they edited out actually something that like they should have kept in.

[Ryder Strong]

Do you think they edited it out for time or do you think they edited it out for something as cringy as the kind of, Nowadays you don't want to show the person who was picked last because it's mean.

[Will Friedle]

Maybe. But I think the spin that I would take on it is that they edited out because it revealed too much about who is on top and who is on bottom, which is the same. Same sort of thing but for a different reason. Does that make sense? Like, I don't think it was because it was mean, but because it actually might ruin the show a little bit when we just see like nobody wanted Tiffany and Dee so they ended up getting the most votes and they were at the bottom, you know, because when you're on the bottom of the social game, you know, or in your bottom of the strategy game, you're also on the bottom socially, probably. And I can see them just not getting, you know, so maybe that's what happened.

[Ryder Strong]

Just make them random. Just pick five people and five people and five people and just make the whole thing random.

[Will Friedle]

The fact that they didn't make it random and yet didn't show it to us, the audience is what pisses me off.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes. If you don't make it random, then that's who you're going to pick is a. That has to be part of the thing.

[Will Friedle]

I know.

[Ryder Strong]

Yes, of course.

[Will Friedle]

And play. Yeah, play Dynamics of the game. I was really upset to not see it.

[Ryder Strong]

Agreed.

[Will Friedle]

All right, so they roll the ball. Blue takes the lead. Joe gets the keys. Emily goes to try her keys or Joe gets the keys, gives them to Emily. She has the horrible experience of picking the last key. Like she just chooses everyone but the wrong one. Whereas Tiff finds hers first. Right? Yeah. First one takes the lead. Anyway, we get to this big puzzle. Christian and Emily work the puzzle and they. They barely make it for blue, but they do make it. They win. That means that blue then gets to go to the immunity challenge.

[Ryder Strong]

By the way, I would do one more thing with these challenges.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

If it's something as big as you've got to push a big boulder, let us know how much it weighs.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, yeah, good point.

[Ryder Strong]

I mean, just say like, and then you've got to move 100 pound.

[Lowe's Advertiser]

Just.

[Ryder Strong]

That's all it takes. Just tell us how much that thing weighs because it makes a difference. Right.

[Will Friedle]

I mean, I just think about that boat challenge that they did a couple of weeks ago. Right. So miserable. And in ways that was clearly heavier than this ball. Right. Ball was more about being unwieldy than it was.

[Ryder Strong]

And it's like, was that 150 pound boat? Was it a 500 pound boat?

[Will Friedle]

It was a 500 pound boat.

[Ryder Strong]

I love to know. Yeah, I'd love to know.

[Will Friedle]

All right, so the immunity challenge that blue goes to is this ball on a pole. Boom, bike inspired.

[Ryder Strong]

Boom, boom, mic ball, pole.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Ryder Strong]

Love it.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. This is one of those that I was like, I could do this. I think.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, I think you probably could. Again, it's. It's. And. And this is one of the things that Rob and I talked about last week was the other thing I would like where he says. He's like, yeah, they. They're changing the. The. The challenges because I guess back in the days, like, some of these endurance challenges would last five and six hours, and so they'd have a clock, and. And I was like, I want a clock. And he's like, and they might not want to do that now because maybe some of the challenges are like 15 minutes or 20 minutes.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

And so they don't want you to know how short they are.

[Will Friedle]

There were times where they would just do time lapse and it would be like four hours of people, like, holding on to something. I know, but brutal, man. And you know that. That's brutal on the entire crew sitting around, you know?

[Ryder Strong]

I know, but if. If they're.

[Will Friedle]

What they're doing.

[Ryder Strong]

If this challenge was, you know, if. If. Because I think the first one to drop their ball was. Who.

[Will Friedle]

Drop.

[Ryder Strong]

Who dropped first this time?

[Will Friedle]

Devin's.

[Ryder Strong]

It was Devin's, right? Yeah. So did. Did. Was Devin's holding on for five minutes and then drop the ball? Was Devin holding on for an hour and then dropped the ball? I'd like. Kind of like to know which one it was.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Because it makes a difference if it's like, oh, God, he was in there for 90 seconds and drop ball zero say.

[Will Friedle]

I thought maybe he's, you know, he just said at intervals. He didn't say between each step forward. I don't think it was very long, man. I think. I don't know.

[Ryder Strong]

I think it was five, I think. Didn't he say. Did he say five minutes per thing? I thought he might have said five minutes per thing.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

I think that that's probably what it is. Whether he said it or not, it

[Ryder Strong]

felt like thinner as you go, right. Yeah. Crazy.

[Will Friedle]

So people start dropping left and right, leaving Ozzy and Joe, and at that point, I was like, oh, Ozzy's got this. Because he's. He's awesome.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, he's a beast.

[Will Friedle]

He's a beast. And sure enough, he won, making him the eighth, making it his eighth immunity challenge win, which is interesting to hear. I actually would have thought more based on having watched in the past. Like, I thought he might have won more But I guess, you know, individual immunity. I. I'm confusing other times when he's just one team challenges and whatnot. So yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

So he's mentioned even a name on I know knew for who has the most ever. He's at 8 and the most ever is Boston Rob. Last season of Traders where I got introduced to him season nine and we saw. And did we talk to him? Did you talk to him? He was at Dancing with the Stars when we were there because he's good friends with Dylan Efron.

[SpinQuest Advertiser]

So.

[Ryder Strong]

So yeah, so we were, we were hanging. Well hanging. But he was, he was there when we were at Dancing with the Stars. But I guess he's like a legend. So he's got nine.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. He's been on the show multiple times and they even did a special season a little while back where Boston Rob was a. They had mentors. So they had Sandra who's won twice and Boston Rob be different advisors on an island. So like people got to go and get advice from them. It's really interesting.

[Ryder Strong]

Straight up Hunger's game thing getting mentors. Oh yeah. It's all about the, you know, Haymitch was her mentor and yeah. Past winners of the mentors. The straight up Hunger Games.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, that's cool. Foreign.

[Redfin Advertiser]

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[Jana Kramer]

this is Jana Kramer from Wind down with Jana Kramer. Instead of giving your mom something that fades, give her something that becomes part of her home this Mother's Day. The Lenox Spice Village is a set of 24 hand painted little houses that are actually Spice jars. Perfect for anyone who loves to cook, entertain or enjoy the little details that make everyday life special. As a mom, I love gifts that help turn ordinary moments into memories. Charming, timeless and meant to be used. This is one of those pieces she'll treasure. And once you see it, you'll want it for your own home too. Find the full [e-mail] SpiceVillage what's up, baby?

[Bretzky (SpinQuest Promoter)]

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[Ryder Strong]

play social casino void where prohibited. Visit spinquest.com for more details.

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[Will Friedle]

All right, so now we go back to camp immediately. D and aubrey are the names being thrown out.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, you missed the good Chinese feast they had.

[Will Friedle]

The beautiful chinese feast actually is making me hungry right now.

[Ryder Strong]

A lot of sodium but beautiful Chinese feast.

[Will Friedle]

So Aubrey says she's gonna play the idol, which she should have played last night. Now she's gonna play it again because she's on the bottom, I guess. And this is just where coach is. Just the coach and Jonathan are running the game.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. Can I ask you a question to somebody who knows this? Why. Why does an idol put. She says it's a scarlet letter. Why don't you just hold onto it until you know people Like, I don't get why she's like, I want to get rid of this because people know I have it. Why aren't you just like, yeah, I have an idol. Go try to vote me off. I'm going to use my idol like,

[Will Friedle]

because then next week they'll just vote you off again. You know what I mean? Like, the only like, she's basically making it out that the only reason they were voting for her is because they knew she had an idol and they're flushing it out. So what she's hoping is that by giving it up. Up and saying, I'm not going to have the idol, I don't have the advantage. She takes a target, you know, then. Because then they're just like, oh, do we really want to get rid of Aubrey? And we want to get rid of somebody who's more of a threat to us.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Will Friedle]

Because. Right. You know, if she's always got an idol in her pocket, she's always a threat because then, you know, they have to do all this, like, splitting the votes and, you know, so you just

[Ryder Strong]

vote for her two weeks in a row. You vote for her to get rid of the idol where she plays it, and then you vote for her again

[Will Friedle]

next week, which is exactly to your point. You just never tell anybody you have.

[Reynolds Kitchens Advertiser]

Right.

[Will Friedle]

Because the second anything too many people know, you're just. You're screwed.

[Ryder Strong]

One person's too many.

[Will Friedle]

So, yeah, this was just frustrating to watch, you know, coach running everything and getting pissed at Devin's and. And Christian because as middle people, like, he literally calls them middle people to their faces.

[Ryder Strong]

It's just somebody so trying to be an alpha male. Like, he's so trying to be an alpha male. Yeah. It's ridiculous.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, if you want to. You want. What does he say? If you want a general, I'm the guy. I'm the guy. And you're just like, no, I wouldn't

[Ryder Strong]

follow that dude anywhere.

[Will Friedle]

Second haiku. Cowardly people make easy decisions hard. What the flying cowardly people. This one actually works. Yeah, it does make easy decisions hard. What the flying. But just calling people cowards for not. Not agreeing with you.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. Not instantly falling in line with what you want them to do doesn't make you a coward.

[Will Friedle]

What makes them cowards is that they're thinking of their own game, which is that if they vote Tiff and she's still there the next day, they have to face her. So his whole plan of, like, 74 and you're gonna vote for Tip. Just what a dick. Just telling people what to do.

[Ryder Strong]

He also tells everybody the plan is 7:4 and then gets pissed when people know that the plan is 7 4.

[Will Friedle]

Yep, exactly.

[Ryder Strong]

I love that. It's like, what? Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

So then Devin's and Emily start spreading this coach idea and the word spreads. It was a great idea I was gonna do. I really thought they were gonna pull it off.

[Ryder Strong]

Why Not.

[Will Friedle]

I think it's because of the challenge factor, dude. I think they looked at it and they were like, we'd rather have Coach for the team, you know, for being able to push boulders or, you know, right. Then D, who maybe is not as, you know, as much as pretty strong, though.

[Ryder Strong]

Didn't she just win. She just won one, didn't she?

[Will Friedle]

I know. I. Yeah, you're right. I don't know. That's the only thing I could think because, like, there's also this thing, like, there have been past seasons of Survivor where people actually want to keep hated people around because they're easy pickings later as the game gets on, because it's like if everyone just. If you know that everybody dislikes Coach and everyone finds him insufferable, you actually want to vote off other people that you're more threatened. Because then when it gets down to five of you, you could be like, well, we all hate Coach. Right. Okay, cool. Let's do that.

[Ryder Strong]

Well, yeah, it's not only that, but I also have to imagine you've got to think that you're trying to win and you've got to feel like if you do get down to the final whatever, the jury's not going to vote for Coach.

[Will Friedle]

Right.

[Ryder Strong]

So you take him to the guy that, you know, never. Never going to vote for. It's like, I guess that makes sense.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. D1 Survivor 45 and won three individual immunity challenges during the season, the most of any player that season. So she's a challenge beast. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, interesting. Okay, so then that totally kills my theory.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah, maybe it is just because maybe D could win the whole thing and Coach can't. It's like, you know, if it does come down to your peers voting for you, I can't imagine a whole bunch of people, if you've been a dick the entire time, going, like, I want to give it to you. So who knows?

[Will Friedle]

A masterful poet once wrote, tribal council looms. All of us are unsettled tonight. Lines are drawn. Haiku number three had the tribal council Coach dressed up, got his beads in his hair and feathers, and he's speaking in paradoxes. Oh, God, he's giving co ons. This. This guy, he's got the beads in

[Ryder Strong]

his hair like he just came back from a sandals Jamaica vacation for four days and felt like a local. Yeah, it's ridiculous.

[Will Friedle]

Joe talks about the firehouse, and I love Siri's response, which is like, they're employees with a hierarchy. Yeah, it's so true. Like, your metaphor doesn't work at all. You literally have somebody named. Named a captain, a lieutenant. Like, there's roles, so. But it just goes to show the way that Joe and Coach, you know, and I think even Colby, too, they were thinking about this. The Four Horsemen have been thinking about this game as, like, you know, a military or as, like, a hierarchical thing that they're just at the top of. Yeah. And it's, like, wide. It's really, really just some obnoxious, like, white male behavior. You know what I mean?

[Ryder Strong]

I think it's just male behavior in general. We're in charge. Obviously, we're in charge. And if I say it loud enough and long enough, people are gonna do it.

[Will Friedle]

Exactly.

[Ryder Strong]

It's like, yikes. If I say it in haiku, people are gonna do it.

[Will Friedle]

Sounds like I'm smarter if I. Yeah,

[Ryder Strong]

well, you just roll your eyes every time at this guy.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah. And then D makes it a live tribal, starts whispering in people's ears, and I really was the thing, man. Live tribal. So, yeah, the tribal goes live. Yeah. When somebody starts whispering like that. That. And then, you know, it. It can create complete chaos or in this case, just sort of reaffirm everybody's position.

[Ryder Strong]

Make you look kind of foolish at the end of the day.

[Will Friedle]

A little bit.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

I thought she had a shot, man.

[Ryder Strong]

I thought so, too. I thought there was, like, oh, my God, they might get coach. They might get Coach. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

But, yeah, I think, you know, there's just too many. I think they're all just, like, trying to thin their numbers. Do you know what I mean? And they're like, coach is going to be easy pickings later on. Let's just get. Yeah. I think it's just. Aubry plays her idol. Yeah. Does her Scarlet Letter speech, which. Totally true. D, then plays shot in the dark.

[Ryder Strong]

Does that ever work? You've said. You've said you've seen it work. Okay.

[Will Friedle]

All right.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

And that's why they always have to do this. This splitting the votes thing.

[Ryder Strong]

That's Russian. I mean, you just spin in the chamber and see what happens.

[Will Friedle]

But it's smart. It's. It's. It is. It's a. It's an essential element to the game because otherwise, it really does. Like, everybody just falls in line. Like, in this case, everybody just would have voted D, you know, and it's not worth it to. To vote for anybody else.

[Ryder Strong]

Right.

[Will Friedle]

Or to spread the vote around, because if you can all just agree, but with a shot in the dark, you don't want to take that chance. Because then.

[Ryder Strong]

But they're doing it wrong. Just from a straight television buildup standpoint, they're completely doing it wrong. He should bring it out, read the votes, then say, let's check your shot in the dark to see if your votes count. Because it should be at the end. Because then it's like they voted her off and, oh, my God, you're gone. And then he goes. But now let's check your shot in the dark. Right. You're actually safe like that to me. Seems like the way to do it.

[Will Friedle]

But be.

[Ryder Strong]

Instead of doing it before you read the vote, I'd kick her off and then be like, but you played your shot in the dark. Let's see if you're actually leaving or not. Like, it seems like that would be a better way to do it.

[Will Friedle]

That's interesting.

[Ryder Strong]

Yeah. It just seems like there's one. It's one more element of, ooh, am I actually going or not? Right. And then it's like, you're shot in the dark.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, my God.

[Ryder Strong]

That didn't count. You are not going. It's actually Tiff that's kicked off and it's the twist at the end. That's how I would do it.

[Will Friedle]

I think it's kind of the same thing. I think it ends up working. I don't know. Because it actually stretches it out over the votes more. Because what? The way you would be doing it, the way you're describing it, you would have all the votes read and then the shot in the dark. Yeah. So the vote reading would be a lot less exciting.

[Ryder Strong]

Why? Because you're still. It's like you got.

[Will Friedle]

Because it's not going to determine it. Like, you. Like, it always has to end with the fifth. You know, the seventh person voted out of Survivor is like. That's the key line is when he flips over and reveals the vote.

[Ryder Strong]

Love to know if at the end if she got it or not. It's just one more element of like, you had a one in six chance. Yeah.

[Will Friedle]

Interesting. Yeah.

[Ryder Strong]

I want to see if anybody. If that actually works at all this evening.

[Will Friedle]

All right. You want to tell me about a Survivor from history?

[Ryder Strong]

I do, but before I do, I want to sing about it because it's Will's history of people that survive stuff. I'm going more 80s, kind of. This is Alexander Selkirk and you're wondering why I'm reading it in a Scottish accent. It's because he was a Scot. That's why. He was the real life Robinson Caruso, as he was, was I'm not gonna. Gonna talk like that.

[Will Friedle]

Hey, you were really rolling those arts. You like that? It's like every.

[Ryder Strong]

As long as it's not cartoon.

[Will Friedle]

That's not Scottish. It's crap.

[Ryder Strong]

It's crap. Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor, was marooned on a desolate island in the South Pacific in the early 1700s alone. For more than four years. He survived by hunting, fishing, and building shelter for whatever the island provided. Selkirk's ingenuity and perseverance became the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's classic novel Robinson Crusoe, cementing his place in history as a legendary survivor. The only thing he had on the island with him was a volleyball he called Wilson. I added the end, but the rest

[Will Friedle]

of it is volleyball in the 1700s.

[Ryder Strong]

The rest of it is true. Robinson Crusoe based on a real guy. Alexander Selkirk.

[Will Friedle]

That's cool.

[Ryder Strong]

Years.

[Will Friedle]

Ah, that's. Man, the loneliness. That's rough, dude.

[Ryder Strong]

Amazing. Doesn't it?

[Will Friedle]

Have you ever read Robinson Crusoe?

[Ryder Strong]

I don't think I have. I haven't either. I read Swiss Family Robinson.

[Will Friedle]

I remember I watched the movie Swiss Family Robinson a lot growing up.

[Ryder Strong]

Maybe that's what I did, maybe I didn't.

[Will Friedle]

And I tried to rewatch it, like, not that long ago. And who not so.

[Ryder Strong]

Doesn't age well.

[Will Friedle]

Oh, no. It is, like, torturing animals. Oh, it's really. It's all about them, like, riding. They're like, riding emus, like. Or. Yeah, yeah. What are they called?

[Ryder Strong]

Ostriches.

[Will Friedle]

Ostriches. They're riding ostriches and the. There's, like, real tigers. It's, like, crazy. You're like, oh, this was the era

[Ryder Strong]

when like just did bring in. We killed a tiger. Bring in another tiger.

[Will Friedle]

Yeah, it was. I remember being like, oh, and they're like kids with these wild animals. You're like, dude, that's.

[Ryder Strong]

Have you ever seen Roar?

[Will Friedle]

No.

[Ryder Strong]

I've heard about either. We've got to watch this movie.

[Will Friedle]

Well, I listened to the podcast of the podcast you turned. Yes. What went wrong? Did it. It was crazy. Amazing.

[Ryder Strong]

And what's his name, The. The famous cinematographer who became a director who did Twist. Alexander Selkirk. Nice.

[Will Friedle]

You've been listening to Pod Meats Twirled. The torches may be snuffed, but our questionable analysis burns on. We'll see you next time at tribal trap. You're smoking.

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[Jana Kramer]

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[Will Friedle]

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