Paulie Calafiore Crashes the Summer of Stein

Summary

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RHAP: We Know Big Brother – "Paulie Calafiore Crashes the Summer of Stein"

Date: August 6, 2026
Hosts: Rob Cesternino, Eric Stein
Guest: Paulie Calafiore
Episode Theme:
A signature "Summer of Stein" episode featuring a breakdown of the wildest moments from Big Brother 28’s week 4, incisive critiques of player gameplay and casting decisions, a viral Big Brother shower controversy, and an extended, revealing interview with BB18’s Paulie Calafiore, who brings candor, self-reflection, and classic BB storytelling.

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Main Themes & Episode Purpose

• Week 4's Notorious HOH and the Haley of Hell: Deep dive into Haley’s controversial reign as HOH, her self-awareness (or lack thereof), and the week's standout lines and decisions.
• Big Brother Cast and Gameplay Breakdown: Hilariously sharp critiques of houseguests’ strategy, with special attention on Drew, Dee, Devins, Lyric, Melody, Mallory, and Chuck.
• Rhythm and Rituals of Big Brother: Discussion of classic BB tropes (showmances, power twists, shower talk, and HOT TAKES on Big Brother 16’s place in fandom).
• Paulie Calafiore Interview: An honest, self-reflective conversation about BB18, reality TV, therapy, and personal growth.
• Viral Houseguest Antics: Dissection of Lyric’s “pee in the shower” confession and its splash across national headlines.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Haley's Notorious HOH Reign ("Haley of Hell")

Timestamp: 02:01 – 08:23

• Eric is delighted by HOH Haley’s epic lack of self-awareness:

  “No, it's not good for the game. No, she did not play it well… But the complete lack of self awareness that this woman has got me rolling on the floor.” (Eric, 02:01)

• Recap of Haley’s “golden” one-liners and contradictions:
  • “This is a cheez its and cheez its are meant to be eaten.” (Eric, 04:32)
  • “I'm not so much of a drinker”—immediately followed on the show by a bottle-chugging scene.
  • “Possible there won't be a jury this season.”
  • Her self-anointed villain status versus protestations of fairness.
• The hosts revel in the unintentional comedy of her HOH speeches and the prospect of a future meltdown:

  “There is a non zero chance that she is a quit the week that she's on the block and actually just leaves the house.” (Eric, 11:17)

2. Gameplay Breakdown: Decisions, Powers, and Dilemmas

Timestamp: 13:10 – 22:50

• Drew’s self-sabotaging paranoia and the bizarre “Coin of Destiny” fixation:
  • Neither Rob nor Eric remembered the Coin of Destiny twist:

    “Never in my life have I heard of or seen the Coin of Destiny.” (Eric, 14:15)

• Criticism for Dee and Devins manipulating allies too transparently.
  • Eric: “Sometimes you just gotta let death take them... Waffling back and forth... really sloppy.”
• Dee’s “BB Bribe” Power:
  • Noting the built-in advantage for returnees with large fanbases.
  • Discussing the limits and pros/cons of accepting a bribe in the game.
  • “What would you do for $5,000?”—with Eric admitting: “Just about anything. I could use the money.” (Eric, 22:07)

3. Viral Big Brother: Lyric and the Shower Scandal

Timestamp: 22:50 – 33:45

• The New York Post picks up Lyric’s viral shower confession:
  • Clip: “I've peed every time I've come in the shower now.” (Lyric, 24:06)
• Giddy discussion about whether this is strategy, protest, or pure chaos.
• Big Brother bathroom lore: Tales of pranks, peeing, and hygiene scandals (see also: Joe Barber’s infamous “brownie in the shower”).
• Debate over BB-producer responsibility and whether this rises to “biological warfare.”
  • Ultimate host conclusion: “Wear your shower shoes. You have already signed the contract.” (Eric, 33:23)
• Noted: Lyric is the first female houseguest to openly admit on the feeds to peeing in the shower.

4. Big Brother 16 and the Allure of Nostalgia

Timestamp: 34:39 – 37:46

• Why does BB16 remain a touch point for production and fans alike?
  • “Frankie brought in a new fan base, a younger fanbase... It was really the first season for a lot of what are now the die hard fans.” (Eric, 36:15)
  • Critique: “The cast did not deliver a good season. So why they love them, I'm not sure.” (Eric, 36:15)
• Rob notes BB16 as the season production learned "the game doesn't matter, we're making the show no matter what."

5. Showmances and Entertainment Bootlists

Timestamp: 38:03 – 41:41

• Melody and Drew’s (potentially doomed) slow-burn showmance reviewed.
• Eric laments the loss of entertainment value with a “bootlist from hell.”

  “We are losing too much entertainment... Melody has been super dynamic. She feels like an old school reality casting to me.” (Eric, 39:00)

• Rob recalibrates perceptions of Drew's edit: “He seems like he should be entertaining, but... has not actually done anything entertaining.” (Rob, 40:10)

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The Paulie Calafiore Interview

Timestamp: 44:40 – 1:13:18

Arrival & Recap of the "Summer of Stein" Connection

• Paulie recounts learning about internet trolling and being subjected to (loving) cameo trolling by RHAP listeners:

  “Never in my life ever knew what Internet trolling was. I have become an Internet troll. And I learned a little bit, like, from you guys.” (Paulie, 46:51)

• Hosts credit Paulie’s sincere cameo advice as a sort of accidental life mantra: “Keep feeding the positive.”

Reality TV Self-Reflection, Therapy, and Growth

• Paulie on his BB18 downfall:

  “I didn't fully listen to my brother's playbook… The rug got pulled…you have the realization and then it just happens immediately.” (Paulie, 52:01)

• Comparison to the current BB28 veterans/newbies situation, and the mistake of newbies aligning with vets rather than targeting them (see: Barrett).
• Paulie on “the void of competition” and why therapy was vital after his challenge and BB experiences:

  “I found my faith…if you ever have anything life altering...don’t just rush into something...get through it, and then go and do that next thing so you’re not doing it for the wrong reasons.” (Paulie, 67:45)

• The importance of fun and gratitude on reality competition:

  “If you only have the chance to play that game once...I really wish I enjoyed it more because I took away my own joy by playing the game super competitive.” (Paulie, 66:55)

Classic BB Tales and Strategic Lessons

• On peeing in the jacuzzi (and the PP alliance):

  “I peed in the Jacuzzi because, like, the chlorine in that baby is amazing...But to openly say I'm peeing in the shower, it's a little wild.” (Paulie, 61:16)

• Sharing inside stories (the Ziggy Marley concert, pie punishment, backyard drones) and reflecting on houseguest authenticity ("Chuck time").
• On creating “characters” for TV:

  "I turned myself into this character...to protect myself. And...it protects you until it doesn't." (Paulie, 73:53)

• Paulie now advocates for fun in playing—“Don't be the people that don't have fun because it's not going to be well received.”

Strategy and Current Season Analysis

• Breakdown of Dee's style ("parvati energy"), the dangers of women who can "emotionally manipulate men," and the "new generation" casting conundrums ("Chuck time").
• Commentary on BB house authenticity vs. "performative" casting.
• Endearing support for Rick Devins’ fun-first approach ("Devins came to Survivor 50 to have fun…maxed out character.")

Final Paulie Cameo

Timestamp: 1:12:06 – 1:13:18

• On-air, Paulie provides an inspirational cameo to "Haley":

  “You're enough for yourself. Just believe that truly in your heart and, you know, enjoy this HOH that you got. I hope that it really takes your game in a different turn and you can maybe get yourself into that final two seat.” (Paulie, 1:12:54)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Eric (re: Haley’s self-perception):

  “She is both, in her own mind, a villain and also not a villain, which is incredible stuff.” (07:04)

• Lyric’s Confession:

  “I've peed every time I've come in the shower now.” (Lyric, 24:06)

• Paulie on Cameo Trolling:

  “All I remember is...I never knew what trolling was… and I learned a little bit, like, from you guys.” (Paulie, 46:51)

• Paulie on Regrets and Growth:

  “If you only have the chance to play that game once...I really wish I enjoyed it more because I took away my own joy by playing the game super competitive.” (Paulie, 66:55)

• Eric on the Summer of Stein’s Place in Reality Podcasting:

  “Podcasting moments that take a long time to become iconic. And there are other things that take only moments to become iconic.” (Rob, 44:40)

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Important Timestamps

• 02:01 – Eric’s overjoyed roast of Haley’s HOH week
• 10:32 – “I’m not here for the drama. I’m not here for the games…” (Haley HOH quote)
• 13:10 – “Coin of Destiny” confusion & gameplay critique
• 22:50 – Lyric’s “pee in the shower” clip and viral discussion
• 34:39 – BB16 and nostalgia discussion
• 38:03 – Showmance/bootlist analysis (Melody/Drew)
• 44:40 – Paulie joins, cameo trolling revealed
• 52:01–66:55 – Paulie’s deep dive into BB gameplay, wife lessons, and personal growth
• 73:32 – Paulie’s “post-BB character,” alter egos, lessons from therapy
• 1:12:06 – Paulie records a cameo for “Haley” live on-air

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Final Thoughts

This episode exemplifies why "Summer of Stein" is beloved: a blend of incisive analysis, pop culture-laced humor, and real conversations about the triumphs and traumas of reality TV life. The addition of Paulie Calafiore, armed with humility and wit, elevates the episode beyond the usual recap—delivering lessons in gameplay, self-reflection, and the enduring need to “feed the positive.”

For both BB super-fans and casual listeners, this is a masterclass in Big Brother podcasting—a rollicking, revealing, and ultimately heartening ride through the Big Brother 28 season.

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Transcript

[Eric Stein]

Big brother time.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Do you hear that sound?

[Eric Stein]

It's Eric Stein about to break things down.

[Rob Cesternino]

Watching the show will rough three times

[Eric Stein]

a week instilling truth, our knowledge.

[Rob Cesternino]

And be you houseguests better watch your mouth. Cause time knows when your game's heading down.

[Eric Stein]

He's got the gift of God and

[Rob Cesternino]

knows what to say when you already.

[Eric Stein]

Bobby.

[Paulie Calafiore]

I take it away.

[Rob Cesternino]

The stumble of sign needs the stumble of sign needs the stumble. Oh, no. I hope Eric Stein hasn't been poisoned. As we welcome you back. It's week four of the Summer of Stein, and here he is back from the dead. It's Eric Stein. The audio listeners are so confused.

[Eric Stein]

It was closer to the poison than you actually think. To make my prop poison wine, I used a combination of Pedialyte, Maalox, and Greek yogurt upstairs. It did not land well in my mouth.

[Rob Cesternino]

Did not land well. Okay. Of course, the podcast that always lands well, the Summer of Stein, which we're so excited, could be a monumental episode today.

[Eric Stein]

I hear big things are cooking. I do need to clarify a point from last week. As it so turns out, it appears we did not have a real Sophie's Choice on our hands last week. So just gonna just clean up that mess right away.

[Rob Cesternino]

Okay.

[Eric Stein]

Thankful.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yes. Did we. Did you learn the meaning of a selfie's choice?

[Eric Stein]

I did, from my mother. She was not happy. Not happy.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Okay.

[Rob Cesternino]

We shouldn't use that anymore.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah, it's out of my arsenal.

[Rob Cesternino]

Okay. All right.

[Eric Stein]

Got to brush up on my literature.

[Rob Cesternino]

Fair enough. Eric, we're back. It's once again eviction night in the Big Brother house. We're at the end of a rough week, and so how are you doing?

[Eric Stein]

Well, it's been a rough three weeks. You know, as. As we've heard from the HOH a lot. You know, if she thinks it's been a rough three weeks, imagine how we feel. I mean, we've been watching it, but I am coming in with a really hot take today, and I'm super excited to be here. Haley has been my favorite HOH week in quite some time. And no, it's not good for the game. No, she did not play it well. No, she's not intentionally entertaining, but the complete lack of self awareness that this woman has has got me rolling on the floor. I am so overjoyed by how out of touch she is with her own statements. The level of delusion is fantastic, but you don't normally see. You know, we see the crazy Big Brother player or the in on the joke Big Brother player You very rarely see the. I want to reach through my screen and you know, start yelling and shaking because this woman is. Has completely lost her mind. Big Brother player who is not in on the joke, which is so. That's what makes it so beautiful. There is no intentionality in her villainry and I love it so much.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah, she's quite delulu, quite self centered. She also seems to feel like that she has a very good chance to get the BB time capsule this week as America's favorite.

[Eric Stein]

I, you know, maybe they'll do a one week reversal where they try to confuse the fans sometimes and she could win the least favorite for a punishment. I could see that. I am worried about when you ultimately need to do exit press with her because she did point out, you know, that Drew was stumbling on his words perhaps because she's such a pretty girl and I was worried. I mean, I know you're a professional, but do you ever stumble on your words when faced with, with such a pretty girl?

[Rob Cesternino]

I do. You know, when I'm podcasting with you, for instance, it's. It's hard for me when I'm in the presence of incredible esthetics to concentrate on what I'm doing. So I have lots of practice.

[Eric Stein]

I think that she has come up with some of the all time one liners this week and I cannot wait to dive in. Everything that this woman says turns to gold in my eyes.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yes. What caught your fancy?

[Eric Stein]

This is a cheez its and cheez its are meant to be eaten.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yes.

[Eric Stein]

It's genius.

[Rob Cesternino]

Do you think we'll get that on the show tonight?

[Eric Stein]

Oh, I hope so. I'm scared of having daughters because what if one is pretty and one is not?

[Rob Cesternino]

Yes. Yes.

[Eric Stein]

This is like a high, high philosophy right here that she is spouting. I liked her theory that it's possible there won't be a jury this season. She did not expand upon. Well, what would.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah, that's.

[Eric Stein]

Wow. Will we determine the winner?

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah, it could be a death match in the end.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah. A 28 season format change. That would be incredible.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Eric Stein]

She has so many good idea. I loved. I loved. I'm not so much of a drinker. As she pointed out to us in the veto competition, while they cut to her chugging straight from a full bottle of wine, her body is a temple. This is not. She is not so much a drinker. Just. It is fantastic. I want more. I want more HOHs.

[Rob Cesternino]

You don't often see a person drinking from a bottle of wine. Maybe outside of like a pirate ship. It's not a common thing. I don't believe maybe in my life if I've ever drank out of a wine bottle.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah. That's. That is not something I've ever done. I have seen seen people put a long straw in once or twice. Yeah. And I will say that probably drinking out of the bottle would probably be better for me because, you know, if you pour too big of a glass, then half the bottle's gone, you start to feel a little bit of, you know, shame to your pour anyway. Whereas if you're just kind of, you know, free ball in it, chugging the wine, then you're not really keeping track of your, you know, intake at that point.

[Rob Cesternino]

Can you answer a question for me about Haley that I've had all season long? That was Haley a masterstroke from Big Brother casting? Where was this the fully realized version of who they thought this person was going to be on the show? Or did they think she was going to be totally something different, something that people actually would enjoy unironically and then turned into this?

[Eric Stein]

It's hard to imagine how they thought people would enjoy her on any level. I'm sure they spoke with her prior to putting her on the show. My guess is that she was there as just like a strong female athlete, like a take no garbage type person. Yeah. I do not think that they thought they were going to get quite the level of hilarious negativity as they have gotten or gaslighting or Finger Point. She's both gaslighting the house and herself, which is impressive. Everything that she says is so fascinating because it's through a lens of just complete originality. You know, if you asked every single person there what is happening, she is the only person who can present the retelling of the story in her way. One of my favorite moments of the week is when she classified her HOH as the Haley of Hell. Now, first of all, that is a complete non sequitur. That makes absolutely no sense. I don't even know what she's going for or what that means, but why she would describe her own reign of terror in this way, in this acronym. So it seems like she has self appointed herself as a villain while also simultaneously repeatedly pointing out how kind she is, how fair she is, and how she is being vilified. So it's like she's playing out of both sides of her mouth. She is both, in her own mind, a villain and also not a villain, which is incredible stuff.

[Rob Cesternino]

I think she sees herself as a person who she is not A villain. But she has been wronged and that to the people that have wronged her that she will then take great pleasure in smiting them like a.

[Eric Stein]

Yes, like a Robin Hood, so to speak. She's a hero for the wrong you left around.

[Rob Cesternino]

Now you have to find out.

[Eric Stein]

But the one question I have about that because I think you're spot on is in what way has she been wronged? By being in the majority alliance.

[Rob Cesternino]

People talking smack about her and she's heard about it.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah, I mean, in all fairness, I would not want sugar free snacks in that house either. So I, I see where they're coming from, you know, in her hoh basket. Fair enough. But you know, it's. Those have been known to wreak havoc on your stomach every now and again. So, you know, I, I see where they're coming from.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. All right, well, let's get into talking about this. And as you've pointed out, it's been a rough week for Haley and she's told us about it.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah, she's running fog wild in there. There is no doubt about all started last week when she was served the soggy or should I say foggy cream of mushroom bites. You know, and then it's all gone downhill since then. The greatest insight that she shared this week was during her hoh room rant where she explained. I'm not here for games. I'm not here to play games. But, but Haley, I, I have some tough news for you. That is quite literally what you are there to do. You signed up for a 90 day game. So if you're not there to play games, what are you there to do? Exactly.

[Rob Cesternino]

She's there to just kick ass. Here, here's what she said.

[Eric Stein]

So if you have been one of the people that has been knowing that about me, don't come trying to steal my snacks.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Listen to my music.

[Rob Cesternino]

That was, I'm sorry, that was when she got her hoh room. She said that. This is what she said.

[Eric Stein]

I'm not here for the drama. I'm not here for the games.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah, yeah.

[Eric Stein]

I'm here for what career? The friendships.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yes. The friends we made along the way with Chuck.

[Eric Stein]

The comradery with other women. Yeah, yeah. I, she. This is, this is really one of the more cracked people we've had on this, this show in a while when she is in danger after weeks of being on top of this power structure. This is going to be meltdown like we have never seen. I think there is a non zero chance that she is a quit the week that she's on the block and actually just leaves the house.

[Rob Cesternino]

Wow. A self eviction.

[Eric Stein]

A self eviction. Or a, you know, a throw a. Throw the mic pack right in a hot tub.

[Rob Cesternino]

I'm worried what happens if she's a have not. I don't think we've had that yet. Right?

[Eric Stein]

I. I do not think we have. We have not would be a better way.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. This is why she does not seem

[Eric Stein]

like she'll handle it very well.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. She had to turn to the wine this week.

[Eric Stein]

I'm not much of a drinker, but after the week I've had. Yeah, after the week she's had as hoh in charge of the house, I mean, that's certainly the excuse you need to dive into. Hit the bottle.

[Rob Cesternino]

Oh, man, if we got it, it would hit so good. Just. Just Haley having to scramble. It would be incredible.

[Eric Stein]

What if just to workshop this thinking of my own, you know, throwing the mic pack situation. What if her HOH is ultimately overthrown by the veto? Could this be a Shima coup d' etat situation? The loss of control, the unfairness of this. I mean, that. That could be enough to put her right over the edge. If she thinks she's in charge, the last second it is ripped away from her.

[Rob Cesternino]

So you think that she gets another hoh that potentially gets some and her nominations get screwed up.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah. I mean, I don't think Devins is the type of person who's going to sit on that power. Right. He's going to do something with it. So if. If we're going two weeks down the line, it's still kind of par for the course where there's not that many outsiders left. I could see it.

[Rob Cesternino]

Well, that's why it would have been so delicious if we would have gotten the event that so many of us were hoping for this weekend of. Drew had the coin of destiny.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah. What was he talking about? That's the real question this man for 36 straight hours is carrying on about. We're all going to flip a coin. Did like what. What does that mean? What is the plan? What is his. What is he actually working on?

[Rob Cesternino]

Because he did suddenly start talking about everything. Was a coin flip. Everything. Was he talking about hoh takeovers if I need my lucky coin?

[Eric Stein]

Was he trying maybe to kiss Devin's butt? Is this like a Mr. Beast tie in? He did Beast games. Devin's did the. The big coin flip. Was this to try and like the first ever coin toss bro down that he was working on?

[Rob Cesternino]

Maybe, yeah. Did he think that that would endear himself to Rick Devins of hey, we're one in the same that we both talk about the coins. I. I was trying to think like is he trying to project maybe he had a power when he didn't, but he doesn't even know what the powers are. And the Coin of Destiny is not necessarily one of the most commonly thought of Big Brother powers. At the tip of your tongue, Rob.

[Eric Stein]

I have seen every single episode of Big Brother. Never in my life have I heard of or seen the Coin of Destiny. I have. No. I have. I have been since schooled on what happened. But when they put this up on the board, the Coin of Destiny, what in the world are they talking about?

[Rob Cesternino]

It was a true memory hole for me. Also, I had no recollection of it. I did have to spend some time this week watching old YouTube clips of Claire activating Tiffany flipping this like garbage pan garbage pail lid up in the air to see the Coin of Destiny come down with new nominations.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah. So the likelihood that he had just like conjured up a great memory of the meaningless Coin of Destiny, it seems, seems far fetched. So if I were to list the first 30 powers that I would expect to be available through this twist, that would certainly not be one of them. So I don't know what in the world he was talking about. This was a horrendous week of gameplay all around for everyone. Drew has was in a completely fine position, whipped himself into an absolute frenzy, playing both sides against each other for absolutely no reason. He was on the winning side of the house. He did not need to sketch them out. He did not need to do whatever in the world he was doing related to this power. Simultaneously putting him up, not as the target is completely insane. When you have Yash sitting there, you have Lala sitting there. There are plenty of options that would have been within reason. So she was intentionally antagonizing him, which is terrible gameplay. Then making him the target when he wasn't the target. Terrible gameplay, then pulling back and deciding maybe he's not the target. Terrible gameplay. This is actually something we saw quite frequently from Suri and Izzy early on in Big Brother 25. There's a level of your such a good player which I think applies to D here and Devin's in this scenario as well where you can basically do anything you want. You're on a completely different plane and you're bored. The week is locked up after Saturday afternoon and then you're sitting there until Thursday and you have nothing else to do. So you end up putting your fingers in too many cookie jars and to make him feel uneasy and then say, we need to go all in. And then say, but what if we don't go all in? It's way too much theatrics that can have a long term, very negative impact. And sometimes you just gotta let death take them or just kind of commit to it. And I think the waffling back and forth on someone who should never be up there, it's way too early to cut a number or an ally, even if you're sketched out by them. I just think through and through, both for him and the people targeting him. Horrible week of gameplay.

[Rob Cesternino]

Okay. Because I think that the ease of which Dee was able to undo a lot of this and the ability that she had to really manipulate Camus and Haley and Chuck to varying degrees, really made it seem like that this was a phenomenal week of gameplay.

[Eric Stein]

Well, it's great chops. She has endless ability in the Big Brother game, but to jerk them around like this and to take something that was her own suggestion and roll it back is. Is doing too much. In my opinion. This is going to leave a permanent blemish in Drew's eyes if he is to stay this week. Now, he is not going to forgive and forget this who he go and. And targets as a result of it. Sure thing. So maybe it's. It's in the short term beneficial to Dee and Devins. But you know what would have been more beneficial? Not sketching him out, not pushing him out, not threatening him in the first place, not endangering him in the first place when there were so many other clear options.

[Rob Cesternino]

It's an interesting argument because they have so many options of which way they. And they could probably make it work in a variety of directions. So you're saying that would have been. You said we're going to let him go. Just stick with the original plan. Just let him go.

[Eric Stein]

I think the original, original plan was flawed. And what the original plan should have been is just take out one of the numbers from the other side and then maybe slowly start planting the seed with him. Hey, by the way, Haley started considering you this week and you're going to want to go after that trio, not us, and arm him. And, you know, the crossovers are the real alliance here. And do a little bit more subtle seed planning. The overt attack and then pullback, I think is just really sloppy.

[Rob Cesternino]

Okay. All right, now, D. It turns out that she does have a power. She has the BB bribe.

[Eric Stein]

What a shock. Oh, my goodness. I could have never imagined that the three icons would win the first three votes. It's almost like they have built in fan bases and that these were here to protect them in the first place. Bibi bribe. Apparently this happened last year also didn't remember that. Yes.

[Rob Cesternino]

Well, last year actually had consequences where Zach had a power that he could. He could have given the HOH $10,000 to not put him on the block.

[Eric Stein]

Like, he had 10k.

[Rob Cesternino]

He could have given. Given the HOH 10k. I think they had to take like use the veto on him or not put him on the block and he didn't do it.

[Eric Stein]

Remember how he was just in complete control of the house also, he just seemed like a surefire coast at the end winner at this point last year. Yeah, that was okay. Thank you. You've rejoined my. My memory. You know, too many episodes of the show has really just all started to blend together for me.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Eric Stein]

De winning the power. The rules seemed extraordinarily vague here. I think last year they needed to accept it if they were bribed. That was not stated in the rules that I saw they had this time around.

[Rob Cesternino]

It was binding once they accepted. But they could not. They could say no.

[Eric Stein]

Right. Which, you know, I would say no because I would rather have $750,000 than $5,000. Also, it didn't seem to like, really greatly detail like the what is available to bribe and to, you know, how far can you go? Can you. Can you offer it for right their. Their jury votes? Can you. Can you take their HOH reign away from them for 5,000? Like, can you do literally, can you invent a mechanic that doesn't exist in. In the. Or a mechanism that doesn't exist in the game?

[Rob Cesternino]

I think you could say, let me make your nominations. I'll give you $5,000. I don't think that you could dethrone them and officially be crown HOH canonically.

[Eric Stein]

Can you buy the diamond power of veto from Devin's

[Rob Cesternino]

I again, I don't think that the veto in that way is transferable. Like, if Drew won the veto this week, like, I don't think he could give it to Mallory to say, hey, you know, you here, I'm giving you the veto. You take Melody off the block. I don't want it to look like it's coming from me.

[Eric Stein]

I think I'm safe.

[Rob Cesternino]

So again, you could tell me what to do, but I can't give you the actual thing that was won.

[Eric Stein]

The later you get in the game, the more unlikely it is that someone is going to accept this, so you just gotta. Right. So it's. But what. To what end? She doesn't need anything. You know, it's like, here's $5,000. Make me breakfast every day for the rest of the summer. Yeah, be my butler. I think if you, you rock the boat or, like, make something too showy, it might actually be, like, a net negative for her.

[Rob Cesternino]

Okay, Eric, you famously asked people or told people that you do that for a dollar. What would you do for $5,000 in the big Brother house?

[Eric Stein]

I would say probably just about anything. I could use the money, so ask away. D. Whatever, Whatever. Whatever you need from me. I, you know, I think that all joking aside, I think a good portion of the people there, you know, similar to, I think Zach's philosophy last year is like, well, at least I get to go home with $10,000. I think that more people will be accepting of this bribe than you might think. I do think that while in a game for a larger sum of money, $5,000 seems totally inconsequential. You do need to remember the type of people that we are casting on Big Brother, right? So it is not inconsequential to them.

[Rob Cesternino]

Okay, Eric, we have a huge Big Brother news item to talk about because the New York Post has picked up on a viral Big Brother controversy and has taken to all of the people that say, Big Brother 28 star admits to repeatedly peeing in shared shower. I don't feel bad about it.

[Eric Stein]

There was a lot that you just gave me in that sentence, starting with the New York Post and adding with every other word that followed. This.

[Rob Cesternino]

This is mainstream news.

[Eric Stein]

Emphasis on the stream of all of the things that. Of all of the things. Why is the, is this a headline? I, I, I need to know more. I, I. This is not something that I have been privy to this week.

[Rob Cesternino]

All right, well, this comes on the heels of a viral clip that has been circulating on the live feeds where a Big Brother contestant admits to being a bad roommate. Let's. Let's check out this clip and let's listen to Lyric in the shower.

[Eric Stein]

I have a secret to tell you. I've peed every time I've come in the shower now.

[Rob Cesternino]

Okay, so interesting on so many levels, Eric. Here's Mallory coming out of the bathroom and Lyric unprompted. I have a big secret to tell you. They're not in the midst of, like, another conversation.

[Eric Stein]

It's not, it's not two truths in a lie. There is not a game of Truth or dare unfolding.

[Rob Cesternino]

Mallory wants that instantly.

[Eric Stein]

And I have a secret to tell you.

[Rob Cesternino]

What is it? Every time I've come in the shower, I've peed. Every time I've come to the shower. And so this is so interesting, because she'll go on to tell us that, hey, these people deserve it. But she says she's peed every time. She's been in the shower long before that. I mean, Rome didn't go home week one. She had a pretty good, like, a decent first week. Not like Haley, who's had a bad week every week.

[Eric Stein]

The person that she is sharing this information with is also someone who uses

[Rob Cesternino]

this shower and is, in fact, a pipe queen who knows about plumbing.

[Eric Stein]

Interesting. So maybe that's why she's telling her

[Rob Cesternino]

queen it all goes to the same place as George Costanza once opines. Right.

[Eric Stein]

I will say I appreciate the sheer giddiness with which she is making this announcement, as if, like, she's been sitting on this bomb that she needs to drop, you know, waiting for the perfect time, the perfect moment. They have the room to themselves. I mean, she seems absolutely gleeful about this. Now, I am not sure what she was hoping to get out of this exchange. That I'm not really sure.

[Rob Cesternino]

Can I play the rest of this clip, Cliff?

[Eric Stein]

Okay, here. Here we go.

[Paulie Calafiore]

It's fine.

[Eric Stein]

And I don't feel bad about it.

[Paulie Calafiore]

You shouldn't.

[Eric Stein]

Not even a little bit. I wouldn't feel bad either.

[Paulie Calafiore]

I wouldn't even feel bad this much

[Eric Stein]

because everyone in this house is out to get me.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, pee in their shower. Yo,

[Rob Cesternino]

y'.

[Paulie Calafiore]

All.

[Rob Cesternino]

Okay, so, yeah, Mallory. What a friend.

[Eric Stein]

It's like a. Like a silent protest, a quiet quitting or something. It's just like, you know, it's like, I'm going to show them now. If they don't know she's doing it, does it still land in the same way? Or is she saving up for, like, she's on the block or she's about to go home? By the way, everybody. Well, yes, but, like, is there a big moment coming?

[Rob Cesternino]

Do you think that maybe if she gets evicted tonight, she could potentially then give. Just so you know, I've peed in the shower every single time in the shower. So, Eric, I wanted to bring this up with you specifically because I really am interested to know from your experience, not from your personal experience, but anecdotally, how common is it for Big Brother houseguests to urinate in the shower? We saw just a couple of weeks ago on Big Brother Unlocked, they Had siree on to give advice to the survivors. One of her pieces of advice to the Survivor players was wake up early. There's a line of 15 people to use the bathroom in the morning. I'm curious to know just how much does the Big Brother shower double as a toilet? I do think that it's a valid

[Eric Stein]

concern that she brings forth. You know, I'm not as young as I used to be. My prostate's getting older as well. I'm concerned that if I was in the backyard on a lockdown, you know, while they're setting up for some ceremony or something like that, those can be two, three hours sometimes. There's no porta Potty out there. That's a long time in the morning. It definitely. There's a big line. I have never seen anyone just forego the line and go straight to the shower, but I never considered the fact that they might shower before visiting the restroom. I do recall back when I wrote a dinosaur to the Big Brother house on Big Brother 8 that there was a little bit of a debacle with Joe Barber playing a prank in which he took a piece of a brownie and this is the most infantile, idiotic sentence and dropped it to the bottom of the shower drain while he was in the shared split shower with someone. I do not recall who was in there with them. And they seemed to have some concern that he was doing something else in the shower. And I remember it causing quite a. Quite a problem in the house.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. And I feel like. Were there other incidents involving the toilet with Joe Barber also that I don't recall?

[Eric Stein]

I do recall very famously there was a house guest roughly about 10 seasons ago, who famously was holding court in the hot tub, and it got a little yellowed in there, if I recall. So, you know, I do think that it happens sometimes.

[Rob Cesternino]

It happens. It happens. So now the shared shower, though, is you are. You are in a shower, Right. And there's a divider, but then there is, like. Is there, like, one drain in the middle? And I'm not sure if they've changed the plumbing. You. I know you are not the pipe king.

[Eric Stein]

I do think it was one share. I think we just had a curtain. I remember people throwing, like, loofahs over the top of them. There was definitely interactivity between the two stalls, for sure.

[Rob Cesternino]

So if when you're in, you're on one side lyrics on the other, she's peeing and. And we're crossing the streams, right? There is.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah. Has anyone been monitoring this? Is she inviting People to come in.

[Rob Cesternino]

Has Roll commented on this yet?

[Eric Stein]

That's concerning. That's the. Save those for the slop. I don't want to hear what his thoughts are on that.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. Have we gotten them?

[Eric Stein]

But is he like, is she inviting her enemies to shower with her, you know, or like, like, you know, she seemed pretty happy to share this with Mallory, but, you know, why do it to Mallory? She's like, hey, Haley, I know this is a weird request, but you want to go shower together this morning? You know, like she's setting up targets potentially, or like, you know, she finds out who's about to go and hops in right beforehand.

[Rob Cesternino]

Now, is this a dangerous piece of information to share with Mallory? Who in a potential world to save Melody? Could Mallory leak this information to other houses? I'm like, hey, did you hear a lyric? Is peeing in the shower?

[Eric Stein]

That would be, I think, a first time strategy, right? That, that is. That is a new innovation in the game we've never seen before. Is she armed now with, like, the information that can take Lyric down? Because not for nothing, Haley is not here to play games. I do not think that she would be appreciative of this. Could she call for a last minute switcheroo? Yeah. I didn't say, oh, remember, was it Daniel Reyes called the house meeting. Right. Because someone wasn't washing their. Their hands in the salad greens. Am I remembering this correctly?

[Rob Cesternino]

Yes.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah.

[Rob Cesternino]

So, I mean, was it Jerry?

[Eric Stein]

Yes. People do not have a lot to do in there. You know, there have been scandals for a lot less than this, I think.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. I also think the lyric is a bit of a trendsetter. I cannot recall. Like, I certainly feel like that this has come up quite a bit about the idea of men peeing in the shower, but I think that lyric is a bit of a trailblazer. I cannot recall. And again, I am not the encyclopedia of modern popular culture, but I believe that in. From my point of view, my limited point of view, I believe that Lyric is the first woman that I can ever hear of or think of that is openly admitted to peeing in the shower.

[Eric Stein]

I mean, I think in all fairness to her, there. There are probably. I do not think this is a. A gendered task. I do believe there are people from all walks of life who are peeing in the shower, but I don't necessarily think they are doing it in a shared shower and admitting it and bragging about it. And it does seem in all truth that there's some intentionality to it as well. That she must is making a conscious choice. I will not visit the restroom before getting in the shower. Like, it does seem like this is by design, not by pure happenstance. I mean, it was a fluke.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Eric Stein]

You know, once or twice the warm water, you know. Right. Lorded out of her. But it does not seem like that seems like this is truly by design.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. Now, one other thing on this lyric admitting to I. I am, you know, breaking societal norms. I am purposely peeing in the shower because I'm mad at the other house guests. I keep ending up on the block. Does Big Brother have a responsibility? Is this akin to a Shannon brushing the toilet with Hardy's toothbrush of hey, you are going to put me on the block. Well, this is my payback to you. Biological warfare.

[Eric Stein]

I think it is incumbent upon the house guests themselves to wear their shower shoes. They knew they were going into a dormitory style living. I think you are entering that shower at your own risk. You have already signed the contract. It is not Big Brother's responsibility for what may or may. You may or may not step in when you go into the shower.

[Rob Cesternino]

Okay.

[Eric Stein]

You could have just imagined though, like the voice in the house, like, Lyric, please go to the upstairs diary room. Like, Lyric, we need to talk. Why didn't you just say yeah?

[Rob Cesternino]

Lyric, are you peeing in the shower on purpose? What?

[Eric Stein]

It's like, why would you think that? I didn't say that.

[Rob Cesternino]

Me.

[Eric Stein]

You can't prove that.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. All right.

[Eric Stein]

He uses the baby. Yeah.

[Rob Cesternino]

All right, Eric. It has been another great week of competitions in the Big Brother house. And it was a. A murderous week of competitions where we saw houseguests running from Jack the Ripper and avoiding poisoning. And also with some visits from some of Big Brother's stars of the past, obviously Morgan last night. But also Cliff Hogg and Victoria making appearances.

[Eric Stein]

I am famously a Cliff Hog. Stan from the opening episode when he played possum. He rolled onto his back with his arms up in the diary room and he never quite delivered on that beyond that. But I'm wondering, did they pick these out of a hat or was this like maybe a thog and hog sitcom scene is coming later in the season?

[Rob Cesternino]

Cliff thog when they.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah.

[Eric Stein]

You don't think J.C. you don't think

[Rob Cesternino]

that Cliff is married to Haley with my wife.

[Eric Stein]

Oh, it's all getting tied together now. Remember, remember this before the wife. It's funny you should say that because I. I was thinking that a couple of this year's house guests might need a fabricated like a Corey Loves Christmas, a cliff and his wife type of angle. We. I was thinking about workshopping a few later on in this episode. In fact, there's. There's a few house guests that seem a little lost right now. We need to get them a thing.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah, boy. Victoria still being mentioned in Big Brother lore.

[Eric Stein]

They love Big Brother 16. They're not going to stop until every single one comes back and wins.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. Well, why is it that Big Brother 16 has just this place, not just among the producers, but maybe in the fandom also, where it's just such a touch point for people?

[Eric Stein]

I think the real answer is that Frankie brought in a new fan base, a younger fanbase, and I think that that was really the first season for a lot of what are now the die hard fans of the show. That is like my actual answer in terms of why they jam it down everyone's throat. I have no idea. Yes, I do think that there was a lot of strong characters, but the gameplay was the worst, tightest steamroll in the history of the show with absolutely no competitive balance whatsoever. I would say almost no good weeks whatsoever. It was just a thog slog to the finish, as we may be seeing this season. And I do not know what they think the entertainment value of the season. I think they just really love, loved the cast. I think that's really what it comes down to. But the cast did not deliver a good season. So why they love them, I'm not sure.

[Rob Cesternino]

I wonder how much it had to do with. Okay, it was not big brother 15 and it was a bit of a reboot. It was the first HD season. But I think that maybe the producers feel like, hey, this is the season that we learned that the game doesn't so much matter. We're gonna make the show no matter what's happening, and we're going to rely on all of the. Our devices of, you know, jokes in the diary room and bits and things like that to. It doesn't matter what's happening in the house.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah. Like, why do we need to show that this guy is stalking this woman around the house when we could show him doing karate instead?

[Rob Cesternino]

Judo chop.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah. Yeah, I think that that's right. They.

[Rob Cesternino]

It may be Judy Chop. I think.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah. The first time that they. They decided they could live in an altered reality of the truth.

[Rob Cesternino]

Right, right.

[Eric Stein]

Like racism. That was last year. We got other things to do this year. This is great.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. Okay, Eric, it looks like we may be saying goodbye to a blossoming potential showmance today, as it looks like either Drew or Melody may go home tonight, barring a last minute change of plans to take out Lyric, which is certainly on the table if D or Rick Devins decide they want to do that. It does seem like we will be saying goodbye to the showmance that could have been in Drew and Melody unless

[Eric Stein]

they hear about the shower peeing because that could change everything.

[Rob Cesternino]

But that is the wild card that if either Drew or Melody is able to catch. Like if they get in the shower after Lyric today and say, hey, you know what,

[Eric Stein]

it's fun. That's what she said.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Eric Stein]

So this is.

[Rob Cesternino]

This is a loss. Do you want to know who lyrics number one is?

[Eric Stein]

You came prepared for this. I. You are a pro, my friend. This is a loss for the show. It's a loss for them. I like, I like to see slow burning, burgeoning relationships even. It's nice to have someone close in the house. They are fun together, they are funny together and they're both big characters. When we are going to be stuck with boars. I think we are really having a boot list from hell this season and that happens often on this show. But this is. We are losing too much entertainment from the show. Rome was a big part of the story of the show. Ashley could have been iconic in the diary room, Jason was the number one entertainer of the season and Melody has been super dynamic. She is very natural, really funny, very real. She feels like an old school reality casting to me. Also though I will say if she does go home that could be a good thing for me because I've been thinking that a corporate game show host might be a good career pivot for me. So I'm hoping I can speak with her about that. I think I'd be dynamite.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah, I agree with you on the Melody Drew though that he has been like disproportionately shown on the TV show. I do feel like that he has been kind of front and center. The house guests are obsessed with him. I do find him to like. He seems like he should be entertaining, but I feel like that Drew in reality has not actually done anything entertaining.

[Eric Stein]

Completely agree. This is fan fiction that is like he's the great hope to save the season. Hasn't in any way, shape or form indicated an inclination, a desire or an ability to do that. Nor has been particularly entertained. I mean this week if he were to be evicted, he's going to look back upon and be just mortified. Like he's not going to feel good about the way that this unfolded. However, I am not here to shit on Drew. This man, even as recently as last night cited me as his all time favorite player in the history of the franchise. There have been a lot of players on the show and I am not a good one of them. I am not normally cited as someone's favorite, so I am a I'm going to go down with the sinking ship. I don't care if he doesn't entertain me for a singular second for the rest of the season. Flattery is working on me and I am a Drew supporter.

[Rob Cesternino]

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. I've been talking about BetterHelp on this show for a while now, but one thing I don't think we've spent enough time on is just how much people who actually use it love it. Not in an abstract way, I mean the real feedback from real people who went in looking for support and found it BetterHelp has an average live therapy session rating of 4.9 out of 5 based on over 1.9 million client session reviews. Over 6 million people have used it globally. Those numbers are one thing, but the actual reviews are worth reading. You can check them out [e-mail] reviews updated every day. The therapists have at least 3 years and 1000 hours of hands on experience. They hold all sorts of review required certifications from across a range of specialties and the whole process is designed to get you started without a lot of friction. Answer a few questions, get matched and switch anytime. If it's not working, see the reviews and see what stands out and see if BetterHelp is right for you. Visit betterhelp.com RHAP that's betterhelp.com RHAP August is one of those months where it's the summer and you're still in it, but you find yourself thinking ahead to the plans for the fall and but in the fall you got to think about the clothes that are around the corner. And that's what I keep coming back to quints for. Their whole thing is fewer better pieces. Premium materials, built to last, designed to be the things you reach for every day. And right now I've been wearing their organic cotton tees constantly. Ultra soft, versatile, the kind of thing that works for a casual workday or dinner out without overthinking it. If you've ever been holding on to worn out basics for too long, they are premium denim and tailored chinos start at just $60. The fit and quality are genuinely what you'd expect for a much more expensive brand. Everything at Quint's is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands because they work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middleman you're paying for the quality, not the markup. The cashmere sweater I picked up is the kind of thing I would spend three times as much for somewhere else. And it's held up better than anything in my closet. Upgrade your everyday Download the Quints app for exclusive offers or go to quints.com robpod get free shipping on your order and 365 days returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com ropod Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds

[Eric Stein]

here from Mint Mobile. Now I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back.

[Rob Cesternino]

So I thought it would be fun if we made $15 bills, but it turns out that's very illegal. So there goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a [e-mail] switch upfront payment

[Eric Stein]

of $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for a 12 month plan required $15 per month equivalent taxes and fees. Extra initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes. Me slow when network is busy. See terms.

[Rob Cesternino]

You know Eric, there are some moments in the history of podcasting that take a long time to become iconic. And there are other things that take only moments to become iconic. I believe this might be one of those times. We have a guest here with us on the Summer of Stein. We're very excited to welcome in esteemed guest Paulie California is here. Paulie, how are you?

[Paulie Calafiore]

Oh my God, boys. I thought I was getting trolled this whole time. I thought I was about to enter a zoom call of somebody else and then you guys would be talking about no, you sent me to a business call of a random person.

[Rob Cesternino]

Imagine that.

[Paulie Calafiore]

That would have been great. I would have enjoyed it.

[Rob Cesternino]

Paulie, how are you?

[Paulie Calafiore]

I'm great guys. How are you guys?

[Rob Cesternino]

We're so excited. We were thrilled that when the summer sign was coming back that you seemed very excited that the show was coming back. And, and I have to say I also appreciated you were so kind when I was on the Traders and you said a lot of nice things about me on Twitter which were very appreciated by me. So we're thrilled to talk to you.

[Paulie Calafiore]

And, and Mr. Stein here made an appearance on last season of Big Brother. You know, so is that a little foreshadowing that maybe we have, you know, Maybe not a Summer Stein, but there could be a Fall of Stein or a Spring of Stein if he's somewhere else.

[Eric Stein]

I think they lost my number again. They found it after 19 years, and then I think they threw it right back in the trash afterwards. But, Paulie, dude, this is fantastic. This is a long time coming, this conversation. You have brought us more joy than even you yourself could possibly ever realize. And unironically, unbeknownst to you, have led to some of our life mottos that we have actually stood by for the last near decade. And by. By bringing them into my life, you have enhanced my life more than you know.

[Paulie Calafiore]

I just have to say this, guys. First of all, I love you guys. I'm excited to watch the Summer Stein play out when, you know, I. I'm not the. The target of it. And I will admit. And you might have to refresh my memory because, you know, I've got. I have those two heavy concussions that I had from season 40 of the Challenge that they've shattered my memory a little bit, but my memory is coming back. But all I remember is a. I never knew what trolling was. Never in my life ever knew what Internet trolling was. I have become an Internet troll. And I learned a little bit, like, from you guys. I was like, oh, crap. Like, I felt like I was in Howard Stern episodes, but I didn't know, like, you know, when people call it the Weather Channel, be like, yeah, so I think the gust of wind was from Howard Stern's. I was getting cameos. Would be like this really, really, really long cameo. And then at the end, it would be like, by the way, say you love Rob and Eric Stein for Summer Style. And I'd be like, ah, they got me again.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah, well, we. That. I don't even know how it came up that we had a cameo that you had done. And it was. It was. It was so great. It was so earnest that, you know, I feel like there's so many parts of it like, what is up? But it was just like that said, keep feeding the positive.

[Eric Stein]

So we were, like, unwitting participants in this, right? So we. We, I think, had seen a cameo that you had done and said, like, this is amazing, because you had, like, all this wisdom and stuff. And. And then as a result of it, the fans started buying them, but we. We had no idea what was going on.

[Rob Cesternino]

We didn't tell anybody to buy. I don't think we told anybody to

[Eric Stein]

buy them, but I don't think so. And I remember once said, like, My two friends, Rob and Eric, they're feeling a little down on their luck. Could you cheer them up? And your message was genuinely uplifting and I didn't know I needed it. But you were like, yeah, keep feeding the positive. Stay crushing it. And I was like, you know what, I do need to feed the positive a little bit more. This man is right.

[Paulie Calafiore]

And I had no idea. And like, once again, this falls on me for not kind of putting two and two together of, you know, Robin, Eric.

[Rob Cesternino]

Who.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Who could Rob and Eric be? And why would this tie into this? Like, never in my mind was like, you know, and Rob, you. You saw, like, when, you know, I was watching Traders, I was like, I gotta go back and watch his season. Because, like, I legitimately had no idea, kind of like why everybody was like, in a way of like, how do you not know, like, the genius behind these things? And I was like, I. I really don't know. I'm like, I'm. I was like, young idiot, bravado, all of that. Like, my OCD would come out. Like, when I comment emojis, it always has to be even numbers. And I just remember it was like, yeah. So, like, I would be sitting there and I'd like comment something with like, you know, two hearts or like four hearts, and people like, why do you leave two emojis and four emojis? Hashtag summer of Stein. And I'm like, what is going on here?

[Eric Stein]

I think the culmination though was so you did catch on to it somewhere along the way. We were feeling badly about it. We were genuinely enjoying it. But also it was like, guys, leave this man alone. He doesn't even know what we're doing here. But the culmination came when you caught on and you weren't going to record any for us anymore, so instead they had you record one for my dog and said, please leave a message. And you left what was honestly the nicest, most earnest well wishes to the dog. And. And you like. And you said. Which is correct. You said, you're putting money in my pocket either way. You want me to record this stupid

[Paulie Calafiore]

shit, go right ahead.

[Eric Stein]

I'll leave a message for a dog. Great. 50 bucks in my pocket. Thank you very much. Which was the right attitude, I think.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, I didn't really, you know, it's such a different. It's such a different world. I had only ever been media train from like an athletic standpoint. Right? So it's like, you know, you go in, you know what to say, you know how to do it. No media training on how to handle any of this stuff. And now that as I, like, recall things, I'm like, wait a second. I was in the backyard, and I was face to face with Rob. We had an interview, and I'm like, I think I was a dick. Like, I think I was a dick. And I'm like, I.

[Rob Cesternino]

But I don't really. Maybe I had a concussion because I don't remember you being a dick to me in the backyard or anything like that.

[Paulie Calafiore]

So I think my answer was dickhead ish off of, like, something. But anyway, I was.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Coming out of the big Brother house is a wild thing.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Eric Stein]

I'm actually so curious about your time on Big Brother, and since we have you here now, I felt like you were dominating your season. I mean, like a cakewalk a under the tutelage, obviously, of your brother and his alliance having done it before it. I thought you came in with the playbook. I thought you're in such a good position, and I'm curious, like, from your point of view in there, how you felt it was going and how much of a shock it was to, like, have the rug pulled out from under you because I thought you were killing, dude.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Well, I mean, I didn't fully listen to my brother's playbook because he was like, absolutely under no circumstances, no showmance. And he's like, also, he's like. He's like, you know, we're both competitive. He goes, but you kind of have, like, this. This, like, toxic competitive side. He's like, just, you know, he's like, it's gonna be tough. He's like, don't let that guy come out. And. And both of those things happened. And, like, truly what I was feeling is, like, I. I felt the shift change. It's like I felt like there was complete control over the game. And then I remember there being one point where I sat there and I was like, God, man. I. Like, I let. I let Frank talk me into, like, hey, you got to double chain it. You got to. You got to win the hoh and veto, you know, for my, like, the first hoh I did. And then he. Somebody told me about it again. And then he started calling me two chains. And by the time I finally caught on being like, damn, he's calling me two chains because he wants people to pick up on the fact that I came out of the gate hot and won. And my brother had told me, do not try and win comps early. He goes, save that for later. And at that time, I was Like, I think. I think. I think I did too much too soon. And then the conversation started happening and, you know, it really as. As much as it was like, yeah, the rug got pulled.

[Eric Stein]

It.

[Paulie Calafiore]

It was. It was just kind of like when you have the realization and then it just happens immediately it's kind of like, oh, crap, is this about to happen? And then boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Like, right in a row, it all happens. You're like, ah, yeah. You're like, oh, that was terror. That was terrible. And then, you know, and then all the. All the tactics that you had been using on everybody in the game, like, everybody just starts using them on you, and you're just like, ah, this. This sucks. I'm shitty for doing that to other people.

[Rob Cesternino]

Paulie, I. I don't know how closely you're following this season of Big Brother, but I think that there are some parallels here where it's not quite four returnees, but we have people from some veteran players and Angela coming back in, and it does feel like the, you know, the veterans are in a bit of control here. Do you see any parallels with big brother 18?

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, I. I've been watching this season. I'm. I'm. I'm covering on, you know, the Pauline Dev show. Shout out to that. Trying to. Trying to be as cool as you guys. Trying to. I mean, honestly, truly what you guys have built un. Unparalleled by any other. Literally. Rob, no other reality TV podcasts has done it. And Eric, you coming in and being a part. Amazing. You guys are true, like Legends of the Game and Goats of the Game, which I didn't find out until I did my research after the fact.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah, I didn't find that out until just now.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, well, I was, like, sitting there being like, damn, I was getting trolled by actually two legends. I should have enjoyed it more when it was happening.

[Rob Cesternino]

We're happy you're here now.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, I'm happy to be here now. But I'm seeing the parallels a little bit, I think, on. On my season and the vets didn't really have that much. This is almost like a big brother 19 type of vet advantage that Paul got, where it's like you come in, you get friendship bracelets, you get safety and all this stuff. When he was, like, dead to rights on our season, it's like the veterans were still kind of open because it was a team format. So it's like, all right, if you won, your team was safe. But then Nicole was vulnerable with that whole coconut challenge, so she could have Went home right then and there. And also they added in. You know, whereas on this season, I feel like they put super fans there and people like who are will fall under exactly what these thing is, exactly what Rick's thing is, exactly what Angela's thing is. On my season, they brought Tiffany and myself back. So naturally we were going to maybe migrate towards the vets and kind of be like, oh, the whole house is going to want them out. Let's migrate. But in this case, it's like, you got Barrett, that's love struck. You got all these people falling there. And. And it's. They gave them the advantage. It's like, oh, the first hoh three of you get to compete in it so you don't have to compete against the whole house. Nobody can target you. You're not going to target each other. And we're giving you guys these powers so that psychologically in the big brother house when people are getting the power. That was the eye opening thing for me. When the first thing dropped in the backyard and it didn't have my name on it, I was like, oh. I was like, I'm not liked. I'm fucked. I'm screwed. And. And it's. And it. That's what started the conversations of like, wait, he's not as in control as he thinks he is. America wants us to start using these powers because he's in control and they don't want him to be in control. And I think what's happening now is like, it's a newer cast. I kind of feel like people nowadays, like, they do want the clout a little bit. They do want that.

[Eric Stein]

Ooh.

[Paulie Calafiore]

If I team up, the fans are going to love me and I want this. Which a little bit of that happened in my thing with Natalie, like, being like, I need to be with America's favorite player, James. And she had no interest in James. We all know it.

[Rob Cesternino]

No.

[Paulie Calafiore]

And like, you know, like news.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

I was like, breaking news. James, I hate to break it to you, brother, but this isn't how this works in New Jersey. And. And you're falling for it hook, line and sinker. But I'm seeing it and I'm like, like, they're kind of running away with it right now. I want to see a little bit of a power shift. I want to see what happened to me happened to the vets right now for being honest.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah, I think that's. You're totally right. I think that the newbies, they think that the way in and to make a big name for Themselves is to help the vets. It's the exact opposite to go up against the vets. We actually saw that when there was returners on Big Brother 13 and Danny Donato broke away from the vets, and that was the height of her popularity on any of her seasons. And I think you're right. I think the Barretts of the world are going to be very disappointed in themselves when they come out of this. They're not going to have the clout, and they're going to be ridiculed for just marching to their death. Whereas if someone stood up and said, we got to do something about this and rally the numbers, they would be the folk hero here. I think you're spot on. I also, like, I must have had a concussion, because now that you're talking about your season, I'm like, remember, I was like. Like, Frank was there. Oh, yeah, wait a minute.

[Paulie Calafiore]

I remember that now.

[Eric Stein]

And I was thinking maybe the whole thing could have gone differently if Glenn had just stayed, you know, that. That could have said the whole chain of events down the wrong path.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Oh, yeah. I mean, well, because Corey was my. My number one guy.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

You know, and he. And he was connected to Nicole. So if. If Corey went, because it was down to him and Glenn, I would not have worked. Glenn would have been with Jose and all them, and. And I think, honestly, maybe I wouldn't have been sitting in such a good position. I mean, I know I was on the block, but I think the votes would have went Jose's way, and then the Messiah would have. Would have had the.

[Eric Stein]

What a cast.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Can we just talk about the Jose of it all for.

[Rob Cesternino]

Please?

[Paulie Calafiore]

I'd love to, because I. I love Jose now because we had our challenge season together. You know, we had to go against. Go against the vets, which once again, is a common theme that's now lost on that show that I think needs to kind of come back, you know, because they're kind of coasting. And I get it if, like, a Rob C. Or an Eric Stein comes in and you're like, oh, my God.

[Rob Cesternino]

Imagine you came into the challenge.

[Paulie Calafiore]

I want. Yeah, I want to work with you.

[Rob Cesternino]

But.

[Paulie Calafiore]

But, you know, Jose, what people don't realize is before the feeds came out, he was. He was pulling his ass out and showing us his. His. He has an Egyptian tattoo, like, on his ass.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yes. Literally. Not like a metaphor. Pulling his ass out.

[Eric Stein]

Out.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Like, he's like. He's like, oh, you guys want to see my tattoo? Just pulling it down. And I'm like, thank God the live feeds aren't on, dude. Because, like, we're seeing. We're seeing right up there.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

You know, like, it was. It was there. And he's just. He's such a character, but that was so authentically him. Like, the delusions of grandeur. If there was somebody who had bigger delusions of grandeur than me on that season, it was him. And it was great. And watching it. I still haven't watched my season, but I do see the, like, clips that go viral when people will post things, and I'm like, I can laugh at this. I can look back at my younger self and laugh.

[Eric Stein]

I'm curious. We were just talking before you hopped on. Apparently there was a big news story this week that one of the girls in the cast has been peeing in the shower as a strategy to seek revenge. And, you know, you famously had the peepee alliance with Paul, so I was curious if you had any insight to this.

[Paulie Calafiore]

You know, I. I not only had the PP alliance, but then, you know, the live feeds caught me peeing in the.

[Eric Stein]

So we got the man, right? Yeah, that's right.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Oh, man. Listen, I. I will say, you know, marking your territory as a form of vengeance, I don't think tracks the best.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

You know, I think the PP alliance, I really thought it was fun. I was trying to. I was trying to have some fun banter with Paul and I, and I really thought. I really thought that we. If we didn't kind of turn on each other, I think we had kind of an easy path to, like, a final five, you know, final three situation. I was never going to cut Paul ever. So when he flipped on me, I was like, damn, he got. He got me good. And all of the things that he taught me on the chessboard, you know, with, you know, with forking pieces and all that stuff. He kind of gave me, like, a whole download on how to play chess in there. Super great chess player. But when he. When I found myself sitting next to Corey, I was like, ah, he forked me and fucked me literally in the same thing. But, you know, I will say, like, I peed in the Jacuzzi because, like, the chlorine in that baby is, like, amazing. And who hasn't peed in the pool before? You know, and, like, who hasn't peed in the shower before? But I'm not going to go in the Jacuzzi and be like, yeah, I'm gonna pee in this Jacuzzi. So that way everybody in here gets to sit in my filth in hindsight, really condensed Jacuzzi. Only a small amount of people. Definitely wrong choice. Definitely. Probably could have like sat down to do it and like washed my hands and everything. But you know, you just get so deep in thought and you're just like, man, am I really this week? And then all of a sudden you're like, oh, I'm peeing. I hope live feeds didn't catch that. And they indeed, they indeed caught it. But to. To openly say I'm peeing in the shower, it's a little wild because I don't think anybody's looking at the color of the water in the shower.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. You know, since we're talking about some of these wild Big Brother 18 moments I'm. I'm reminded of, and I'm not sure if you were the house for this, Paulie, that there was a moment where there was a drone that flew over the Big Brother house and the drone was carrying a. A blow up doll, an inflatable blow up doll of a woman. Were you there for this?

[Paulie Calafiore]

Man? I was there for a lot of the backyard stuff. I didn't physically see that. Like I was, I was pretty good at. When the voices came over the speaker being like, get inside. I was like, first one, I was like, yeah, I'm in. You know, I didn't, I didn't really care to see what it was. I do know that they were like people screaming on mic megaphones. There were the planes. But yeah, I think we thought the drone was just another care package and we thought it was like part of the show and then it just wasn't.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah, Eric, that was. There. Were there rumors about who the. That. Who was the person that sent the, the blow up doll with the, with the woman?

[Eric Stein]

I do not recall.

[Rob Cesternino]

I don't want to conflate different stories that I feel like.

[Eric Stein]

I feel like that there was. It was, it was not. I think it was a. A well treaded enemy of mine potentially.

[Rob Cesternino]

No, I thought it was a former house guest that was. That claimed responsibility. But I don't want to. I don't want to say in case I'm wrong.

[Eric Stein]

Just do it.

[Rob Cesternino]

I'll see if brands that can remind me in the chat if that's been proven or. Or not there. Hey, Paul, how about the time that you guys had a concert in your season where Ziggy Marley showed up? Right. To perform a mid season concert for the Big Brother 18 cast.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, that was, that was the week that I was 100% going home. So I was just, I was just I was not able to enjoy it. I wasn't enjoying it. I was.

[Eric Stein]

That was.

[Paulie Calafiore]

This is one of the worst weeks of my life. And, like, everybody's sitting there being like, oh, yeah, this is so cool. And I was like, this is the worst day and week of my life. And I think we did, like, backyard challenges. And I, like, won it. And I was like, yeah, well, wasn't the veto competition so this goddamn carnival. And, like, it was just. I was just. I was such a dark cloud to be around, you know, that week. I was going through all the emotions, you know, everything. Everything that I was compartmentalizing from priority before coming in the show, that I was, like, pushing down, being like, as long as the game's going well, I don't have to think about this. It all comes right back to the forefront of your mind, and you're just kind of like, oh, wow, this is. This is awful.

[Eric Stein]

I could imagine being in that headspace and having to, like, fake your way through the concert, just how brutal it is. I remember also, like, you during that back stretch, you had a run, you had the pies, which was. Was crazy. That was probably what, the most insane punishment that you could possibly have. I remember you had the butterflies. You were going through it at the end.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Dude, on the week that I was going home, the worst possible thing I could have did was get that pie punishment. Yeah, I would have much rather even been a. Have not with that. Yeah, the butterfly thing, which is crazy because it's like, so, like, my. You know, I had family members who were sick, and in our family, it's like, you see a butterfly, it's like a spirit coming. You know, it's the old Italian in us being like, yeah, this is your spirit vision. So I saw that butterfly, and I was like, oh, man, I'm about to go home. And a family member died that I promised I was going to win this show for. I was like, this. This sucks. The pie treatments were brutal because they would do it back to back in the middle of the night. They would do it back to back as I'd be trying to, like, work out and, like, do my things. And, you know, I was just, like, dead to rights, you know? And, like, when you're dead to rights, it's hard to have fun with the punishment. Like, the way Paul was able to have fun with his punishment, it's like. Like, he was safe. It was a cool punishment. He was running around the house, having a great time. Looking back at it, I think I would appreciate it more playing these Games without, like, that super, like, competitive side. Like, you can keep that super competitive side. But then when the game's done, just, like, have fun with it. Because at the end of the day, you may only get to play big brother once. Right. And maybe now there's a little bit of hope that there's returners coming on Survivor. Returners coming on big brother. Rob may make a crossover to big brother. Eric, you may make a crossover to Survivor. Like, this may be. This may be a thing now moving forward, Paramount has said they want returners and stuff, but if you only have the chance to play that game once, and if you only have the chance to play Survivor once, I kind of feel like looking back at. I'm like, man, I really wish I enjoyed it more because I took away my own joy by playing the game super competitive. And I think when I was, like, dead to rights and everything, I should have just been like, you know what? Hey, I did it. I'm fun. I'm fine. Which is the mindset that I had going into Jury House, which was, like, immediately ripped from me.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

With that. And then. And then I just didn't have a fun experience for jury House for any of it. And I was like, I wanted to have the fun experience, but I did it. I did it to myself. And, you know, that's. That's the reflection that I've had on my time on reality tv is when I had it, it, I didn't enjoy it as much. And then when I took a little bit of a hiatus, you know, I missed it, I reflected on it, and I was like, you know what? If I go back, I'm going to actually enjoy it. I'm gonna look outside, I'm gonna take it all in and have gratitude for it.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah, it's totally the right attitude to have it. And you really do feel like that you have, like, a lightness to you, that you feel like a much different person than you were. But back then, I know you've been through a lot, but it really does feel like a totally different person.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, man. I mean, you know, not to get, like, you know, crazy into it, but it's, it's, you know, I. I found my faith, you know, I'm heavy into, into, you know, spirituality. God, I'm still walking that path, you know, trying to become a better man, trying to, you know, not be who I used to be. I, I, I wish that I had done a better job when sports were done for me, because, you know, you talk about the rug getting ripped out from Underneath you? Well, it's like I achieved my dream of like making it to be a pro soccer player. And then, you know, that got ripped right out, like with an injury. And instead of kind of taking time to process it and be like, okay, so this chapter of my life is over. You know, let me look at a different path. I just immediately I was like, that's it. I'm moving to New York, I'm getting a corporate job, and I'm going to make as much money as possible to try and kill the pain of like my dream being taken away. And, and, and one thing that I will say if there's anybody younger listening is like, if you ever have anything life altering or the rug gets pulled out from you, like, don't just rush into something. Allow your time, you know, a little time to process, get through it, and then go and do that next thing so that you're not doing it for the wrong reasons. Because that kind of led me down an even worse path that it took up until, you know, I was 34. You know, I'm 37 now, turning 38 until I was 34, to really have like that reflective piece on everything. And also, even when I was 32, like kind of getting the challenge ripped from me, right? Like the rug pulled, where it's like, I'm in there, you know, I'm killing it. I'm on top of my game. And all of a sudden, boom, gone. You know, banished for four years. And, and that once again, it's because I didn't do the work to heal myself of the void that was missing from competing. So I looked at big brother as like, wow, this is filling the void of competition. That ended terribly. When the challenge got pulled out for me, I was like, damn, that was really filling a void of, you know, competition. And I didn't make myself whole until recently. And it really changes the perspective on things because it's like, even with workouts and stuff now, like, I'm not tapping into a dark energy. I'm not feeling rage. I'm enjoying that. I'm like, you know what? I'm 37. My body isn't capable of what it was doing in its twenties anymore, but I'm enjoying that I'm still healthy enough to do it. And I'm grateful that I've had these opportunities that a lot of people maybe don't have or they apply to have. And that's just kind of where I'm at with life and anything I get moving forward. I'm just very grateful for the opportunity, you know, And I understand now that, like, we're all kind of. When we do these shows, like, we're all. We're characters. So it's not. It's real, but it's. It's not real, you know, And I know the fans get a little nuts and they get a little crazy, and people always have comments and stuff, but now I would never come out and not enjoy a Summer of Stein if I was getting trolled. If I was honest a season or something, I would sit there, I'd be like, this is awesome. Like, they're. They're kind of. They're kind of like, you know, keeping my name alive in. In a funny way and let me have fun with it rather than being like, oh, I'm, you know, I'm like, this butt hurt. I lost these. These, you know, and it's like, that

[Eric Stein]

is good because for a while I was concerned you were going to kill me. So at least I can cross that off my list of worries. I have enough other problems. Glad I called.

[Rob Cesternino]

That guy. Eric reminded me at the start of this about. Or we were talking beforehand of the. I think it was. It must have been after Big Brother 18, you came out and there was, like, some sort of, like, fan event, and I think I feel like it was, like, somewhere like, in Boston or something. And you came out, and I don't know if you were singing karaoke or if you were singing. And I want to say, was the song Treasure?

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yes. Yes. Treasure. By Bruno Mars.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yes.

[Eric Stein]

Memory unlocked, right?

[Rob Cesternino]

Memory unlocked. Yes. And. And what was. What was that? You were like. It was like some sort of, like, meet and greet where you. You came out and were singing.

[Paulie Calafiore]

It was a. It was a meet and greet. I think we can all tell from that. I'm not a singer, you know, but I. It's kind of like one of those things where it's like, if you talk to athletes, it's like they want to be in the entertainment world. And when you talk to entertainers, they want to be in the athletic world. And I, you know, so I, I, I know they put me as, like, a DJ at some point. It's like, at first they had me as an entrepreneur because I had a gym in New Jersey. And then, like, as my character arc changed from like, let's make this guy likable to let's make this guy not likable, it went to dj because there's nothing more trashier than, like, a New Jersey. Like, when you think about it, it's like when you Think of a New Jersey dj. You're like, oh, this guy, like, at bar A. At DJs, just DJing, fist pumping like a moron, thinks he's Pauly D. But realistically, I. I had started emceeing, you know, like, parties when I was 16, because that was the only job I could have because my, you know, my dad was like, you got to be training every hour you're not at school. So I learned how to just kind of put on the mask because I was extremely introverted. I learned how to put on the mask of, like, oh, I have to entertain this wedding of all these adults or this bar and bat Mitzvah or this sweet 16 or this corporate event at 16. And, you know, I always enjoyed the dancing and the entertaining aspect of things. So it's like, yeah, when I did my first thing, I was like, you know, I could come out and I could be like, you know, hi, everybody. Thank you for coming. And I was like, but you want to be kind of cool. I loved WWE growing up. I loved all these things, and I always loved those characters that just kind of, like, did that. So, like, I almost. I turned myself into this character. Yeah. Outside of there. And once again, reflecting on all that, it's like I created this character to protect myself, you know, the second that I came out of Big Brother. And, like, when the whole whirlwind comes, I mean, and that was the summer of, like, the 2016 election. So, like, tensions were high.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Across the board. And I was like, I need to kind of develop this character. And I, funny enough, I, like, read this thing about Beyonce where she's like, who you see on stage. Like, that's, you know, Beyonce. Like, but off stage, I'm not that person.

[Rob Cesternino]

Sasha Fierce.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah.

[Rob Cesternino]

Her alter ego.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, the alter ego. So I was like, let me create this alter ego to, like, protect myself. And I did. And once again, it protects you until it doesn't protect you, because you also have to kind of be healed on the back end to be like, I don't need to react and respond with this character whenever there's something coming at me. I could just also be myself.

[Eric Stein]

But, yeah, finding this very, very enlightening and very. I'm thinking we might need to do this weekly off camera for me to help heal myself. I feel like, Paula, you're a couple years ahead of me in terms of the healing process, and I love your perspective on things. And I'm feeling like this was the wisdom we were responding to eight years ago that you didn't know, we were responding to. We'd hear the cameos and say, you know what? There's some good ideas in here. We're getting there. And now that it's fully realized, like, I feel like I see life coach in your future. I am really. I'm liking the wisdom here.

[Paulie Calafiore]

I appreciate that, man. I don't know, man. Listen, I've gone through a lot of therapy, you know, like, with the faith and everything, and I've always been a big proponent on that. You know, like, a lot of people, they get off the shows and they don't take advantage of the therapy that's offered by, you know, the shows. And I always took advantage of that. Every single show I did, I would at least do three to six months of therapy. And then, you know, after the two concussions two years ago, it really sent me into, you know, this, this. This spiral because I was like, my life is good. You know, my businesses are good. Like, I've got. I made the right investments. I did everything right. And I was like, why am I spiraling? Why am I down? Why am I like, if this is the. I feel like it's the worst part of my life, you know, So I went to heavy therapy. I'm talking, like, five times a week, talking to a therapist, you know, for two to three hours a day. And it really put into perspective and then add, you know, get it. I got baptized again as an adult, adding the faith aspect into it. What I realized is I was like, yeah, I always had these mantras. I always had these things that, like, coaches would tell you on how to get through things and how to prepare for games and people much wiser than me. So it's like, I always had that stuff. But eight years ago, or, sorry, 10 years ago, at this point, when, you know, I'm saying those things, I was saying them, but it was just because it was, like, programmed in me to say them, but I wasn't truly, like, living them, and I wasn't truly experiencing them. And I think that's what the hindsight does, is when you finally understand what it really means to let those things go and not let things come into your orbit and affect you in that way. And you realize that emotions are things that they're programmed inside of you based off of experiences. And when you can really enjoy life and enjoy anything and be grateful for even the littlest things, like just waking up and breathing. When you come out of those dark places, it really gets you to a certain point. And now it's like, yeah, it was really bad, those concussions. But now it's like, all right, I got my brain back, I'm good. There's some memories that might be a little whatever, but all it takes is for you guys to bring up something. I'll be like, oh, I remember exactly, exactly this point in time in the Big Brother house. And that's cool.

[Rob Cesternino]

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. I've been talking about better help on this show for a while now, but one thing I don't think we've spent enough, enough time on is just how much people who actually use it love it. Not in an abstract way, I mean the real feedback from real people who went in looking for support and found it. BetterHelp has an average live therapy session rating of 4.9 out of 5 based on over 1.9 million client session reviews. Over 6 million people have used it globally. Those numbers are one thing, but the actual reviews are one worth reading. You can check them out [e-mail] reviews updated every day. The therapists have at least 3 years and 1000 hours of hands on experience. They hold all sorts of required certifications from across a range of specialties and the whole process is designed to get you started without a lot of friction. Answer a few questions, get matched and switch anytime. If it's not working, see the reviews and see what stands out and see if BetterHelp is right for you. Visit betterhelp.com RHAP that's better. H E L p.com RHAP August is one of those months where it's the summer and you're still in it, but you find yourself thinking ahead to the plans for the fall. And in the fall you got to think about the clothes that are around the corner. And that's what I keep coming back to Quints for. Their whole thing is fewer better pieces, premium materials built to last, designed to be the things you reach for every day. And right now I've been wearing their organic cotton tees constantly. Ultra soft, versatile, the kind of thing that works for a casual workday or dinner out without overthinking it. If you've ever been holding on to worn out basics for too long. Their premium denim and tailored chinos start at just $60. The fit and quality are genuinely what you'd expect for a much more expensive brand. Everything at Quint is priced 50 to 80% less than similar brands because they work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middleman. You're paying for the quality, not the markup, the cashmere sweater I picked up is the kind of thing I would spend three times as much for somewhere else and it's held up better than anything in my closet. Upgrade your everyday. Download the Quint's app for exclusive offers or go to quints.com robpod get free shipping on your order and 365 days returns now available in Canada and the UK too. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E-.com Rob Pod it's really incredible, I think what you've done and you know, I'm so excited to hear more about all your thoughts on this. Can I ask you about. I know you're such so knowledgeable about the challenge and of course I could tell you about these whole career on Survivor but I really don't know anything about her run on Survivor 41. I really have no idea how she even did. Do you have a scouting report on D from the challenge?

[Paulie Calafiore]

So on 41?

[Eric Stein]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah. So I didn't, I didn't get to play with her, you know, but from what I watched on season 41, it seems like she kind of ran the same playbook that she ran on Survivor to win. Right. Where it's like you, you, she's kind of like a, I don't want to say she's like a Parvati but she's almost like a. She has poverty in her if that makes sense. So it's like she knows she's a good looking girl. She knows she's charismatic, she knows she's charming. She is a comp beast. So she is got that mindset. But she knows how to kind of latch on to like her shield of a guy. She uses the romantic aspect of it. She did it with Johnny Bananas. Right. She had this guy wrapped around her finger. He didn't even know that the walls were closing in on him and people were about to throw him into elimination against this giant six foot five man. And you know, she had him the same way she kind of has Barrett where it's like she's given the bare minimum. Yeah. It's like we're cuddling, we're rubbing each other's legs, we're hands.

[Rob Cesternino]

The first time Barrett and Johnny Bananas have ever been compared to.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, I know. You know, and not in a good way.

[Eric Stein]

As Melody said last night on the episode, men are much easier to trick. So D has that down.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Much easier to trick. And I think people forget like when I was going into Big Brother, like in my pre game interviews they were like, who are you Gonna target. I said, I'm gonna target anybody that's smarter than me and anybody that has the capability of manipulating dumb people. I said, and unfortunately, that is usually the women. I was like. So I was like, like, there's going to be smart women. There's going to be women that know how to emotionally manipulate men. I said, those are my. Those are my targets. Like, 100. Like, not the ones that are kind of there having fun, not having an idea or any clue what they're doing. The ones who knew what they were doing. I was like, they're smarter. They're clocked in on the game. The men sometimes tend to do it. And I said, I'm gonna go towards the bros that are like these dumb jocks. And I'm gonna, like, do that. Now, the other mistake is, you know, Paul was not a dumb jock. Paul was, like, a very educated dude, you know, and. And that was. And that was just that. But, you know, in these games now, I think the. The women are way more dangerous than the men ever could be, because especially as we age, it's like, we don't have the same charm. We can't. We can't just go in and, like, be a Romeo, you know what I mean? We can't go in and, like, sit there and be like, oh, dude, look at my chiseled abs. And like, we can, but it's like those get lost fast in the big brother house. You know, they're filling that fridge, stocking it every. Every.

[Rob Cesternino]

Eric, you'll have to have a new playbook if you go back.

[Eric Stein]

I tried that when people said that I had an eight pack, but it was actually my rib cage that they were seeing as I was withering away after three days on slop.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Put us on. Put us on Survivor. Let us shred up a little bit,

[Eric Stein]

and then I can use the diet, dude, if I. You know, speaking of dumb jocks, I was. I was wondering if we could maybe give some thought to how we can help Chuck out on this show. Because, you know, Corey, they.

[Rob Cesternino]

Hold on. Instruct time.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah, it's Chuck time. Very dynamic. You know, they helped Corey out with. With his sort of Christmas thing, which they kind of just pulled out of their ass and ran with it and turned into a funny thing. Chuck needs a bit.

[Rob Cesternino]

Well, Eric, it's funny that you say that, because in the preseason they asked Chuck, who is your favorite player of all time? Who are you going to play like? And he said, corey Brooks is my favorite.

[Eric Stein]

It's all coming back together. That's A first.

[Rob Cesternino]

It's time.

[Eric Stein]

It's Chuck time. Yeah. I was thinking so, like, I don't know if you guys remember, you know, good luck Chuck it all where famously it was like they'd. Chuck would sleep with someone and then the next person they would date, they would marry. Is there anything we could do with that? Or maybe when he. Even better for this season would be if he aligns with someone. Maybe the next week they go home and that. That's like his ver. Maybe he's Bad Luck Chuck potentially. I know the man needs some help because the gimmick is not flying. I have reason to believe this man's not even a cow.

[Rob Cesternino]

He wins. Hoh. It'll be Bad luck Chuck for us.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah. I think they just gave him a hat. I, I'm not, I'm not liking what he's putting down. And I, I. You, you are a creative guy, Paul. Like, what can this man do before? I mean, he's going down gimmicks potentially. He might be in the all time. What are we doing house guess at this point.

[Paulie Calafiore]

And most boring house guests of all time. You know, funny story. I, I mean, I love, I love Corey to death, but his, his famous thing when he. So I had gotten injured before going on vendettas and he was my replacement with Victor. And then they went with Victor because everybody was calling Corey. Corey boring from the challenge. Which is which, like in real life. He's really a fun guy. Love the guy. I think. I think Chuck needs to kind of like, like start maybe using some like, I don't know, like Yellowstone isms or like some, some cowboy isms.

[Rob Cesternino]

Usually they like to do that with somebody. Like when. With Jasmine, like, oh, this is blindside butterbeans. Like this give them like, folksy sayings that aren't real. But Chuck, maybe he just can't do it in the diary room.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, like, I, I think, I think he needs to come up with something, you know, where like, James's whole thing is like, like I'm from Texas and I'm like, okay, cool. You know, But I think if Chuck like, was able to kind of do things and he could, like, lead it into something that has to do with ranching or cowboying.

[Eric Stein]

Could they get him a horse? Maybe a bolo tie? Like, could we go all in on this? Like, go the other way. You're into it, you know? Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Give him a bolo tie with no shirt. Force him to wear the cowboy hat at all times.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah, yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Give him some chaps that would Be nice. Yeah, feed him some lines in the diary room that are kind of like, all right, so, like, you know, listen, you know, you're gonna play the veto. Why don't you just say you're gonna last so that veto win, you know?

[Rob Cesternino]

Right.

[Eric Stein]

Oh, the lean playbook. Yeah.

[Rob Cesternino]

This is a good point, Paulie, because that. There's so many people. Most of the people who are watching CBS are waiting for Yellowstone to come on. So I think that that's like Paramount plus is the Yellowstone network.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah.

[Eric Stein]

Like, let.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Let him start making references to being like, I'm feeling like rip in here with how I'm protecting my woman. And like, anything. He doesn't even have a woman right now. I mean, I know Lyric kind of was doing that fake breakup thing, which is just weird.

[Rob Cesternino]

But.

[Paulie Calafiore]

But I think if we could start getting him to kind of lean into that and, like, maybe start referring to himself as John Dutton. Be like, I'm the John Dutton of the Big Brother house. Like, kind of be cool. Like, this is. This is my flock, and I have to protect this. This block here. You know, don't alliance. You know, just be like, this is my ranch.

[Rob Cesternino]

You know, it's chug time.

[Eric Stein]

It's like, you know that they, like, hyped him up, too. They're like, give it. Give it a. Let's do it again. Another take. That's like his fifth time.

[Paulie Calafiore]

They're. I think they're sitting there thinking, being like, all right, so you remember that Arnold Schwarzenegger movie where it's Christmas, and, you know, he's trying to find Turboman for his kid?

[Rob Cesternino]

Jingle all the way.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, jingle all the way. And they're like, you know how he says, it's turbo time? Like, we need that, but give it to us the way you would do it. He'd be like, it's Chuck time. And it's like, ah, damn. One more time. Chuck time. And it's like. It's like, no, no, we'll go with the first one.

[Eric Stein]

They have professionals working on this show. How does this man get through the casting process? And I'm not. I'm not even trying to be shady like this. He is. He could be the nicest, most accomplished guy. He could be a great, you know, entrepreneur. He could be a great boyfriend, a great son. He is not a great reality TV contestant. And somebody in production should have been like, you know, guys, I think we gotta Chuck Chuck before it's too late. Because now he's there, and they can't get rid of him. And he's going nowhere. He's staying for all summer.

[Rob Cesternino]

Final Four Chuck time.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah. I think this plays into some of the difficulties of current day casting, where on social media you could present yourself as like whatever it is you want as an interesting thing. But I, I, I think the way that old school reality people, you know, would go in, be authentically themselves, and then like some, something would just click and they'd be like, this is, this is, this is my thing on this show. Right? You know, you know, Johnny Divinezzio going in to be like, you know what I'm gonna call myself? Bananas. I'm gonna call myself Johnny Bananas. You know, something just clicked and I think that's how these younger generation of people, they look at their online social media Persona where they're not, it's not really authentically them, but it's just like a microcosm of who they could be or who they want to be. And I think that's where we maybe got into this Chuck situation of it all is on social media, he may look like an electric personality. And then all you got to do is have a conversation like this where there's not the pressure of like, oh my God, there's cameras on me and there's not the, oh, now I have to talk and have my own thoughts and have, you know, be entertaining and lean into it and understand what's that. This is a TV show and we have to make entertaining moments on a TV show. I think it's very easy to be yourself here and portray one thing and then all of a sudden it's the complete opposite. And like, you will see this when it comes to the challenge, like a lot people will like, talk all this stuff online, be like, put me in that house. And I would do this and I would do that. And then they get in the house and the quietest mouse.

[Eric Stein]

It's so funny because Mallory is so good, Melody is so good, Taylor is so good. They're all authentic. They're mean, they're real. They actually feel unscripted and they're like, chuck, you got anything for us? He's like, it's truck time.

[Rob Cesternino]

It's truck time.

[Eric Stein]

It's like they're like, they're, they're up there with, with some of the best to do it. Like they're bringing back like real diary rooms and it's like, it's, it's one of these things is not like the other. Also, I, this is a total non sequitur to anything we're talking about, but it's been bothering me since last night. And you guys are production pros. You can help me with this. It's a continuity question. After they died in the poison veto competition, did they make them just lay on the ground for the rest of the competition?

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah, we talked to Morgan, like. Yeah. She said that they were the whole time.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah.

[Eric Stein]

It's ridiculous.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, it's.

[Rob Cesternino]

How did they come back to life though, when they went back in time?

[Eric Stein]

It would have been interesting if they were just dead from that point.

[Paulie Calafiore]

If they, if they just Rachel, Riley,

[Eric Stein]

all of them, throw them in the volcano, move on.

[Paulie Calafiore]

That's it.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

All you guys are gone.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

We only have Chuck and yeah, just

[Rob Cesternino]

the last thing about Chuck time, which is so hilarious is like, Chuck is like a non entity on the show. Like, what is Chuck time? Like he pulled his name out of the veto. That is Chuck time. The one time you see him on the show is Chuck time.

[Eric Stein]

He didn't win a competition. He didn't like, hook up with someone. It's like Chuck times, like, literally his turn in the game.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah. Like, could you imagine dating Chuck and like he does something in the house or just anything or in the bedroom and like he gets done and he's like, like, it's Chuck time.

[Rob Cesternino]

It's Chuck time.

[Eric Stein]

You know, that does actually remind me of something that happened earlier this week, you know, in the big brother house. I don't know if you saw this, Paulie, but there was a viral clip going around where yacht. He seemed a little unclear about what oral sex was.

[Rob Cesternino]

Did you see this? Yeah.

[Eric Stein]

What's going on there? And, and if he, if he came to you with this question.

[Rob Cesternino]

Right.

[Eric Stein]

You have answered in the same way Devin's did. Or would you have taken him just

[Rob Cesternino]

to set this up? That. I don't need to bring the, the clip in. He, he's, he's asking and what is oral sex? And he seems to like, not like, okay, he's trolling. He seemed to like earnestly not know what this is.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, I mean, if, if, if he, if he's trolling, then he gets an award for like fall time. All time troll of. Of that. Like, I mean, Natalie would try and do that on our season and we would just clock her stuff. What is this? And I'd be like, you know exactly what it is. Yeah, stop it. But once again, in hindsight, I would not take him to school on oral sex, you know, because once again, that was one of the things that absolutely haunted me. Coming out of the house is like, I think I forget who it was. It might have been Natalie or Bridget asked me and Corey what it was like, like to be Division 1 athletes in college. And I was like, oh, let me tell you, like, kind of how these things, how this goes down and how people throw themselves and you know, and then that turned into a whole, like, you know, oh, oh, look at the, look at these two guys just reminiscing about all of this stuff that went on. So I think there's a little bit more, if you could keep those things a little bit, it's a family friendly show.

[Eric Stein]

A bit more pg.

[Paulie Calafiore]

I'll be like, hey, well, let me explain to you, Josh, what cunnilingus is and fellatio. And you know, we're gonna get into this in the details. Sometimes if they need this method and this technique.

[Eric Stein]

Good.

[Paulie Calafiore]

And if you're, It's Chuck time.

[Rob Cesternino]

It's Chuck time.

[Eric Stein]

I, I, so I hadn't even crossed my mind that this could be strategy. Like, is he gonna usual suspect us at the end of this? And like he's gonna like pull up and be like, I was fooling you all along. I knew exactly what oral sex was. I'm no 22 year old dummy. I, I, I've lived my life. Like, is this part of his final speech that he's preparing? I never even crossed my mind.

[Paulie Calafiore]

That would be amazing. If he's sitting on a final, he's

[Rob Cesternino]

gonna break that out.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah. Rick's sitting there in jury and he's like, and by the way, Devin's. That whole conversation about oral sex. I know what he is.

[Eric Stein]

That's my message. It's like, you idiot. I always knew.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Oh, man. I think, yeah, I think Yash is, in a way, I think he's kind of sitting pretty good out of like most, most of the house.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. Paulie, I remember in BB18 there was a point where you got the Paul haircut. And so I feel like that you are a good resource to ask about interesting Big brother haircut. Yash has one of the more interesting big brother haircuts we've seen in recent years. Do you have any thoughts on the Yash haircut?

[Paulie Calafiore]

Are we talking about like how he's entered the game or like, well, really,

[Rob Cesternino]

what, it's even morphing into where he's got a lot of volume in the back?

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah. So just to give a little bit of insight on the big brother side of things, when it is Thursday. Yeah. Okay. They, they try to get you to, you know, kind of clean up yourself a little bit yeah. And it's. It's extremely hard in certain things. And I remember when I did the Paul haircut, there was two reasons why I did it. Like, I was trying to, you know, kind of bring him under my wing a little bit. But there was also a point in time where I, you know, the producers were like, hey, man, like, you got to do something with your hair and you can't wear headbands on, like, the, you know, eviction, I think. And I was like, I think I'm just going to shave the sides of my head. And they were like, no, no, no, don't do that for continuity. And I was like, well, I'm going to do it. And that was the first time I understood don't do things that producers tell you not to do. You know, because my brother and my father, you know, they told me afterwards, they were like, yeah, so we got a call after you did that, and they were like, so time to take him down. A new. New storyline arc. And it's going this direction.

[Rob Cesternino]

Wow. Because the haircut.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Well, because I was very defiant in it. And, you know, and I. And I just kind of was like, I'm doing this and there's really nothing you could do about it. So, like, I'm not listening. I don't care about continuity. Figure it out.

[Rob Cesternino]

Call your dad. Like, they could just do it. They don't have to, like, like.

[Paulie Calafiore]

I know. Well, it's like, I think they were trying to give a little bit of, you know, because, you know, my brother was in there.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Like, you're kind of part of the family at that point. So I think what's happening with Yash's haircut is you get the clippers, but you really don't want to try and go into uncharted territories of trying to give yourself a full cleanup fade. So it's a little easier to just kind of, like, take care of what you can see there, looking in the mirror, being like, all right, I can get this part. All right. I could get this part. All right.

[Eric Stein]

I'm good.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Eric Stein]

I had the same situation on my season. So Nick Starcavic, who is probably like, one of the best looking guys who. Who has ever stepped foot on the show. We had been talking all season about how at some point we were just. Just to entertain the house, just to be idiots. We were going to, you know, do something with our hair, maybe. We landed on mohawks. We did it at the exact same time Nick gets a mohawk. This guy's like, you know, six, four. Like, he's like a model. He looks totally badass. I do some sort of faux hawk thing. Looks absolutely pathetic. They called it the shark fin because it was just like this little bump on top of, of my head and. But I was doing it for laughs. That was my whole game. I was like, I'm going to disarm everyone. I'm going to just be like this goof. They're not going to realize that I'm really strategizing. So, like, in the house, I thought it went over really well. I thought it was like, so much fun. I come to watch the edited TV show and they just absolutely kill me on the show. And up to that point, like, I was a pretty, like a well liked character. They're showing side by sides of me and Nick and they're like, like, the little brother wants to be like, big man Nick, and he's emulating his haircut, but he looks like a piece of. And Nick looks great. And like, literally, like a week long edit of, like, pathetic is mimicking Nick. And I'm like, where did this come from? Like, and I think it was the same thing. I think that they did not want America's player to have this dumb haircut because that was not my character. And I think I, I got, I got the call the daddy to say, yo, we're about to bury this guy.

[Paulie Calafiore]

We're about to bury this. Yeah, I mean, like, it's like the edits literally switched right there. It's like Paul was kind of getting that this guy's annoying. He talks too much. We got to get him out. And then it's like, done.

[Rob Cesternino]

Don't touch the clippers.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Don't touch Josh's genius.

[Eric Stein]

Got it right.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah. Don't touch the clippers. Or at least do it where the producers approve of it. Be like, hey, I'm just going to do this and this. And they'll be like, all right, yeah, you're good. Yeah. They don't, like, when you mess with the continuity, they get very angry when you mess with the continuity.

[Rob Cesternino]

All right, Paulie, anything else on your mind, big brother 20. I feel like we, we could go on and on and on.

[Paulie Calafiore]

I mean, the only, the only thing that I'll say, you know, and I just want to kind of like, put this out there, you know, just because last week I know it was like, you know, with, you know, Jason, who I love. I love Jason. You know, we're. We're friends outside of this, outside of the house, you know, and the whole kamu of it all is you know, I respect fighters and wrestlers. I was a wrestler my whole life, and, you know, just the little comment of, like, yeah, I have an image to uphold. Well, the most scariest wrestlers and MMA fighters are the ones who, like, try to kind of do the opposite of, like, I'm this extremely image of needs to be this, because they can whoop everybody's ass. So it's like, if I ever had to go and wrestle somebody and they had the most flamboyant shoes. Wrestling shoes on, I knew I was about to be in for, like, one of the worst matches of my life, because I was like, the fact that this guy is wearing those flamboyant shoes means that he's a bad. And he's about to absolutely put my face in the mat. And, you know, you kind of see it, you know, in the. In. In the ufc, it's like, not everybody's trying to be this, like, manly man. Like, everybody has their little shtick. So, you know, Kamu, I don't know if you're trying to get back into the ufc, but, you know, focus maybe more on the fighting and not your image. You know, you own a gym. You can make it however you want. Like, let's not act like, you know, guys don't do funny things sometimes and, like, be like, oh, yeah, like, we've all. We've all been there. You know, I don't think he should get the hate for making that comment, but I don't think MMA has an image. You have Sugar Sean o' Malley with rainbow hair knocking people out, and then you have, like, the Sean Stricklands of the world that's like, I carry a gun. I'll kill you. And, you know, I'm America's man. You know what I mean? Like, there's spectrums to it.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Eric Stein]

I think he's coming to the wrong audience to procure this image one way or another, whatever image he's trying to put out there, because, first of all, it's not working. And second of all, I do not think the Big Brother audience is the MMA audience. So whatever he's trying to put out there, it's not working.

[Paulie Calafiore]

MMA fighter that I decided to do, Big Brother, one of the camp.

[Eric Stein]

Right, right. That's a real tough guy move right there. Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Try out for Survivor if you want to keep the MMA image up, brother, because in Big Brother, they're going to make you put on outfits. No matter how tough you are, you're. You're going to look like an idiot at some point.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Eric Stein]

I mean, I think they called a pivot that week. Right. It's like, as soon as he starts going down that path, they're like, all right, can what we have planned, get the tutus out guy? It's. We're ready.

[Paulie Calafiore]

He's going into two. Two.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rob Cesternino]

By the way, speaking of outfits, this is an incredible shirt that you're wearing for the podcast today.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Thank you. You know, this is from Sheehan. You know, nice little. Nice little game podcast. I'm like, I'm coming on a podcast with, you know, everybody, like, arguably one of the best masterminds of Survivor and, you know, America's favorite here, who. Who, you know, shaved his head into a Mohawk. Strategists, elite, trolls. I was like, I kind of want to. I want to come in with, like, I'm the fun uncle, you know, who gambles on the weekends. Vibes nice. A lot of games.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. When people told you to look at anything from Survivor, did you ever happen to watch any of the old Survivor that I was on?

[Paulie Calafiore]

I did, yes.

[Rob Cesternino]

Because I'm curious to know what your take is, because it's. It probably wasn't what you were expecting.

[Paulie Calafiore]

I did. And it. But it. But it made it make sense to me why you got targeted so fast on Traders.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yes.

[Paulie Calafiore]

And how you were clocking everything. Because you're pretty much a student of the game, but in a fun way. You know, not like a serious, like, serious way, but it's like to be a student of the game in the sense where, I mean, listen, that if I would have been in that trader's house, I was joined in the conga line.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

You know, I'm getting murdered in plain sight right then and there.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah.

[Paulie Calafiore]

But. But it's to your credit, man. It's like you are everything, you know, you're everything with. From what I've seen, everything that when I went into the Big Brother house and I was like, how am I going to get out, not be in my brother's shadow because he made it to Final two and, you know, how am I going to be considered one of the greatest players, you know, which was what my goal was going in, and it fell flat on its face. And I was like, man, if I would have just had a little bit more fun and was a little bit more of a student of the game, I think it would have played a little bit more in my favor, you know, and even with the challenge, same thing, it's like, I. I went in, I tried to figure out things too fast and tried to bulldoze and the bulldozing is never fun. It's. It's much better, much easier to kind of let everybody do. Do your dirty work for you.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah. There's so little you can control in these things. So I think that you have the right idea of you just got to go in and have fun. Maybe you win, maybe you won't, but at least if you had fun and you had a good experience, you know, there's. You can control that a lot easier.

[Eric Stein]

I think that that's. You guys have, like, unwittingly unlocked what's going on with this season, though. Haley's not having fun. The people who are getting steamrolled are not having fun. They are fun people. They're fun characters. They're not in a fun situation. So it's like the week you're saying you're going out, they're in misery. They. They do not want Ziggy Marley to come and play them a concert right now. They're not having a good time. So. And, you know, Chuck's not really a ball of laughs. Angela is complaining all the time. And I think, you know, that's what CBS clearly loves about Devins is Devin showed up to Survivor 50 to have fun. He's one of very few people who came and made the most of the moment. He sort of took his own gameplay and maxed it out. He was himself. He was the character they wanted, but at a higher level and an even more devious and entertaining level. Whereas I think a lot of other people, they feel like they're going to wish that they had gone full Devins and he's having fun because this is going well for him. But I don't think that that much of the cast feels like they're enjoying themselves right now. And I do think our enjoyment is derived from their enjoyment. And I think that that might be actually what's missing from the season is that the people who are just thrusting themselves into it and having a good time and, and loving every second of it.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, I mean, I'm a big Rick Devins guy. You know, I. I didn't really know much of Rick Devins previously, but I watched Survivor 50 and I instantly fell in love with the guy. I'm like, huge Rick Devins fan. Him coming on this season, I was like, oh, this is gonna be so much fun, him declaring all out war on his hoh and now he's just kind of like, like he's chilling, he's enjoying it. And, and I think that's like, to your point, it's like, just go in and have fun. You know, even in the worst moments, have fun.

[Eric Stein]

You know, Haley's the complete opposite, right? She is just in absolute misery. She's in charge and she's not.

[Rob Cesternino]

She's had Eric, come on.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah, yeah. Three weeks. She's told us many times.

[Rob Cesternino]

All right, well, speaking of Devin's, tell us about what you're working on outside of coming on here with talking to us.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, I mean, you know, something inspired me from, you know, the Trader season that you were on, where I was like, you know what? I was like, I'm watching these shows now. I'd never watched reality tv, like, in depth like that, and, and I was just at a point in my life where I'm like, I really kind of want to enjoy watching these shows. And I, and I started watching Traders, and I was like, you know what? I think I want to, I think I want to do the podcast thing. It seems fun. It seems like it's a good, you know, like, break from what you're doing in life. So I called up Devin, who's from the challenge and originally from Are you the one? And I was like, hey, man, do you want to partner up on a, on a podcast? I said, if we start now, we can cover Survivor 50, which is going to be an epic season. I said, and we could cover House of Villains. I said, and it segues right into the big brother realm and the new challenge season. I said, I think we could have a lot of fun doing this. I said, and who knows where it'll go? Maybe it has something that starts to trickle in to something that can start generating income and revenue to kind of make our lives more fun doing something that we love. He was all on board with it, and we've just been having a lot of fun doing it. We just had a CT on this morning recording, so that's kind of big time. We're very excited, and I was very excited to kind of come in here and be like, wow, I'm coming, I'm, I'm coming on the show of, like, the goat of podcasting.

[Rob Cesternino]

You got great audio, huh? So you're all set up.

[Eric Stein]

Yeah, you got, you said the mic. You got, you got the setup.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah, pro microphone.

[Eric Stein]

I mean, I, I, I, I think you guys are, are super entertaining with it. Even hearing you just mention how civilians, though, does beg the question, is the call coming for either you or, or Devin for House of Villains Season 4? Is this, is this in the works? And also, you've turned over a new Leaf. So if they call and they ask for villain Paulie, are you going to be able to reach back and grab

[Rob Cesternino]

that side of you, or are you

[Eric Stein]

going to give them something different?

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean. I mean, Paul is the one who replaced me on the last season of House of Villains. I was right up into the final, final call. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know who would have taken my spot on yeah, I don't know who would have taken my spot on Traders, but I was up until the last call on. On that. You know, I. As far as we could have been

[Rob Cesternino]

at the castle together, we.

[Paulie Calafiore]

We could rob. We could have been.

[Rob Cesternino]

Oh, my God,

[Eric Stein]

what types I would have been.

[Rob Cesternino]

I would have been my pants, I gotta say, even worse.

[Eric Stein]

Like, oh, my God, I've been waiting for this moment. It must be Ian who took it fly. You guys have the same archetype, right?

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, yeah, I'm totally just like Ian. That's totally what they're going for, you know, like, as far as, like, would

[Rob Cesternino]

you figure it out that. That it was Rob?

[Paulie Calafiore]

Huh?

[Rob Cesternino]

Would you have figured out that it was Rob R. I don't think I would have.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, I think he was just very. He was very good, you know, but as far as, like, those calls go, it's like, yeah, they. They don't want the new version of this, but it's like, I still do have that version of me, but I think it would be more fun. Like, I wouldn't be as. As mean. You know what I mean? Like, I would still make it very fun. You know, I tap into the villain side of having the fun, but I wouldn't be mean. Like, when it's like I wanted to rattle people that I would put on the block, and I'd be like, you're going home. I'm bred for this. And it's like, what was I thinking? It's like, this isn't like a UFC freaking smack talk leading up to a what are we doing here? You know, I think I would lean into more of what has never gotten shown, you know, which is, you know, I can be a little devious on the strategy side of things and walk people into traps. And I think that's what I would want, you know, to show, you know, ultimately, I end up walking myself into a trap, which I think is ultimately what they want is, like. I think the arc that they always want is, like, he's in control of the game and fails epically, you know, And I could still do that. I could still have control of the game and fail epically. Sure, why not?

[Eric Stein]

Himself into a trap. You know, let's hope that's where we're headed this season to save the season. Okay.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah, we, we need some traps this season. We need the steamrolling to stop.

[Rob Cesternino]

All right. Well, Paulie, my man, so excited that you came on. This was really, this was when this went better than I even expected.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Well, thank you, man. That, that really means a lot to me. Like, I really respect you guys. I respect everything that you've done, everything that you've built. I, I, you know, I really love and appreciate you guys as, you know, the characters that I wish I watched originally. But you know, Rob, watching you on Traders like, it was, it was very entertaining. And it goes to show that when you're having fun, it really doesn't matter if somebody kind of clocks you and you don't get to fully be there because everybody is going to the, the support and the love is going to be there. So it's like, have fun. Don't be the people that don't have fun because it's not going to be well received if you go home early. You know, people are going to be like, haha. As opposed to like, damn, I wish you stayed longer.

[Rob Cesternino]

Yeah, well, that,

[Paulie Calafiore]

yeah.

[Rob Cesternino]

And then Eric, of course, what's coming up for you?

[Eric Stein]

I'll be doing absolutely nothing. My kids haven't slept in weeks. I haven't slept in weeks and I'll be crying myself. I'd say to sleep, but I won't be going to sleep. I'll just be crying in the middle of the night in the darkness until next Thursday when we get back together and do it again. But maybe, maybe, maybe if I go back and listen to this, this, I could take away some of our new lessons and I can come at this from a more positive place.

[Rob Cesternino]

Are your cameos open,

[Paulie Calafiore]

guys? The cameos are open.

[Eric Stein]

Wait a minute. Who could we send a cameo to right now and start it all over again? Somebody, somebody needs to pick me up right now, right? Who?

[Paulie Calafiore]

Who?

[Eric Stein]

We've gotta, we gotta think who would really love it. Who. Who's having.

[Rob Cesternino]

Could you, Paul, could you record a cameo for Haley?

[Eric Stein]

Yeah. So I have this friend, Haley. She's the hoh. She's had a really rough three weeks. HOH means Haley of hell. She could use some men are stumbling because she's too pretty. She's not much of a drinker. Could you give some kind words?

[Rob Cesternino]

This guy she might like, wants to put have another girl be in the alliance okay.

[Paulie Calafiore]

All right.

[Eric Stein]

Water before we start. Sorry, it was almost a spin take.

[Paulie Calafiore]

Yeah. Hey, Haley, how's it going? Hear that you're having a little bit of a rough time. All right. Your friends Rob and Eric, they're really worried about you. They know that you've been going through it a lot. You have a crush on this guy and, you know, you don't really know where you stand. He kind of wants to bring another girl into the friend group that you feel like, you know, maybe he has interest in it. It's kind of hurting your soul a little bit. But you're seeing a lot of success right now in your endeavors and in your business, in life. So the only thing I'll say to you is, listen, life always gets better. Take it in waves, take it in strides, right? You might be at a low point right now, but look at, look at where you're at at this point in your life. You're in control of your future and your destiny. And all you have to do is just not focus on those things. Focus on Haley a little bit, and I think you'll have a much more fun time in life and everything else that you're going to succeed. And listen, if that guy doesn't want you, it's okay because you're enough. You're enough for yourself. And just believe that truly in your heart and, you know, enjoy this hoh that you got. I hope that it really takes your game in a different turn and you can maybe get yourself into that final two seat

[Rob Cesternino]

Time. Hey, it's Ryan Reynolds here for Mint Mobile.

[Eric Stein]

Now, I was looking for fun ways to tell you that Mint's offer of unlimited Premium Wireless for $15 a month is back.

[Rob Cesternino]

So I thought it would be fun if we made fifteen dollar bills, but it turns out that that's very illegal.

[Eric Stein]

So.

[Rob Cesternino]

There goes my big idea for the commercial. Give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment

[Eric Stein]

of $45 for three months, $90 for six months or $180 for a 12 month plan required $15 per month equivalent taxes and fees. Extra initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes. Me slow when network is busy.