Who is Rob Cesternino?- A Traitors S4 Profile

[MUSIC] Apparently, what's going on Rob Cisternino back, and I am so excited to kick off a Trader season 4 preview a series of podcasts that my partner in crime on the Trader's podcast, who is invaculately has been recording player previews of all of the cast members of Trader's season for what we did was Pooeya got together with experts about all of my cast members from the Trader's season 4 to give you a little bit of background and context about who everybody is just in case you don't know a lot about any particular person, how they might play the game. I was not involved with the production of these in any way, shape or form. I have not heard them yet. I am looking forward to hearing them along with you and we will have a new player preview every day from now until Trader starts on January 8th on peacock. New episodes will drop every day at 10 a.m. Eastern starting on tomorrow morning. So I'm very excited for you to get the chance to hear a preview of me with Pooeya, Mike Bloom and Eric Stein and nobody will be more interested to hear this than me. Hello, everybody and welcome back to the Reno Trader's podcast over here on RHAP. I am your host, the Duke of Deception, Piazza and Vikeely kicking off. Officially, we're going to call this the kick off to the Traders USA season 4 coverage over here on RHAP. The road to season 4 begins here today with what we'd started last year and we're going to make an annual tradition now, which is the preseason player profiles here where every day or the next however a bit until we get to the premiere January 8th, every day you will get a brand new podcast in your feed of me talking to an expert about one of these players on this season of the Traders. Now, as you may notice, and if you are good at math, there are more than one person here with me today. There's actually three of us here. That's because we're kicking off with the one and only Rob Cisterino, of course, as predicted, but I need it all hands on deck and this was going to be a special one so we needed some special guests for it. Now, I don't even need to make an introduction here, but it's a formality, so I'm going to do it. We've got America, the U.S. season 4, we've got America's houseguest, we've got My Go, the one and only Eric Stein is here with us today, Eric, how you doing? Guys, I'm so thrilled to be here. I know late in the summer, I went on a murderous rampage, but things have come down from that and now I'm ready to talk about some more murders, so I'm really excited. We're here for the man at the hour, the man who has talked more reality TV than anyone, so time to find out if he can put his money where his mouth is. >> Yep, I'd have put together a group that's going to be very honest about their thoughts on Rob, so we're going to have a fun time here, Eric, thank you so much for joining us. And the one and only, honestly, surprised to see him with clothes on today, but it makes sense given that he's wearing his rob shirt, it's the one and only Mike Bloom. >> Yes, I've double layered at this point, not only because it's the cold winter months, but because I also had to have my death laid in shirt on as well as getting to talk with one third of the masterminds, a man who stepped into his own type of turret earlier this summer. Pooja, what's your level on the David After Dentist, is this real life scale right now? Because you and I talked when the cast was officially revealed, when it was out in the open that Rob would be participating. But since then, we now have a premiere date, we now have trailers, we have actual footage of Rob spinning a globe in the traitor's castle, is it feeling more cognizant to you? >> Yeah, it's still surreal, which is going to come as a shock to anybody. I think what's really put it into gear now, is trailers Canada is currently running and seeing people that I know well there in Omer, in Kevin, in Venus, I'm like, oh, this is how it's going to feel times 10, because again, I know Rob way better. I've literally talked to this man for hours on end, I've listened to him for even more hours on end. So, it's going to be wild. I don't think I'm quite ready, the footage was really what it was, because it's better than anything I could have dreamed up, but it's also been very, very good favorable footage so far. And I know Rob's going to have probably goofy moments, and I'm here for those also. So, we're going to have a good time. >> I feel like I'm living vicariously through him to an extent. So, this is one of the longest reality TV layoffs of all time from his last appearance to this one. And I cannot tell you the countless number of conversations that Rob and I have had about if we were to ever have the chance to play again, and what would that look like, and 20 years of thoughts bubbling up to the surface. And when I was in Big Brother casting back in the day, as many people know, Rob was originally slated to be a Big Brother house guest, something I think he would have been marvelously suited for. He got poached for survivor, and casting actually told me outright that they have been searching for their Rob ever since they lost Rob. And when I walked through the door, they said, my God, he's here. And to me, as a reality super fan, that was a huge honor at the time. It's still a huge honor to this day. And so I almost feel like I'm living it through him. You know, what happens to him happens to me in this situation, he's an avatar for so many of us in this community. So I, it's incredibly surreal. Super bizarre, well deserved, but now it's happening guys. It's not just a thought project, you know, like it's really, it's happening, good, bad or in between. So now we got to deal with the reality of the situation. >> Yeah, I'm curious, Eric, when, you know, this Rob sister, you know, form of the Navi woke up and your avatar came to life. I mean, when you found out this news, was this a surprise to you given, as you mentioned, the conversations that you and he had had sparingly through the years about like, hey, if we ever get the chance to go back. >> I was flabbergasted and completely offended that he had not reached out to me for strategic advice. In my mind, this man is one of my dear friends. I had to have a reckoning, a come to Jesus moment where I realized I'm not even his five thousand closest friend. Why wasn't I on all of the planning phone calls? I'm one of the great strategic minds of all time. >> At least in my own mind. So yeah, no, it was a total surprise to me. And I was so excited for him, literally thrilled, thrilled. It is so well deserved and here's where I can really relate to him. He will tell you, he's just happy to be there, just happy to be considered that the experience he's at a place in life. He gets to go to this beautiful castle and play this wonderful game with wonderful people. Bull shit. >> [LAUGH] >> Esther Nino is. That is a great party line and I'm sure there is some element of it. That is the truth. But this man is a strategist at heart. He loves reality TV. His life is built on reality TV. And this is an opportunity that he's going to take seriously and he deserves it. He has deserved many, many other opportunities through the years. And I'm really excited that he has it. >> Yeah, and I just cannot wait to see, because like you said, Eric, we're done with the fantasy. Now it's a reality and now once we see him for like five minutes on TV, it's going to be okay. Now it's real and now we want to see how he does. We're hoping he does, always hope for the best. Expect the worst because that'll make your heart break a lot less sad. But I'm optimistic right now until we look under the hood, which is exactly what we're going to do here today. Because while some of you will be listening to this, and you would have known Rob as the podcaster because Lord knows every summer, every year rather, I will see tweets and pose on Blue Sky about how I did not know today I learned Rob Cisternino was a survivor player. So he is a player. >> Can you go in and I cannot wait for the fan cams of young Rob Cisternino like we saw with Boston Rob earlier this year? >> I tormented this man, I sent Rob so many Boston Rob thirst traps this past January. And now we can send him his own, it's going to be great. >> That feels even more tormented, you know? >> Why? It's yourself. >> Depending on the type of person that could be an even worse insult. One thing is for certain, two things are for sure. He has had a great history on, I was about to say short history, but decent amount of history on television. We're going to look at that today and we're going to put a lot of you onto what Rob has done on TV before his return to TV this January. So without any further ado, who would like to kick us off here and talk about Rob the player? >> Well, Mike, no doubt is the true expert here, but I will start with just my broad strokes sort of memories and thoughts on Rob as a player. I believe that Rob on Survivor, the Amazon, was as dominant and innovative as a player as we have seen on Survivor to that point. And sometimes people, you know, treat OG players like they're legendary simply because where they came chronologically in time, but that's not what makes them legends. Because the legends are the people who did moves we had never seen before, who laid the blueprint for so many of the greats, who took elements of what they saw before, brought into the game, evolved it, took those next steps. And Rob played a game that in my opinion, we had not seen to that point, a game where he was so far ahead of the rest of his cast. I talk about this a lot, but reality TV is one of the only competitive games where the playing field does not need to be fair and is not fair. Everyone in the NFL is one of the 500 best football players in the United States. But not everybody who plays Survivor is one of the best players to ever play. You could have LeBron James against a middle school bench player, you know, in some of these seasons, and that's what Rob had his cast looking like out there. He had them twisted up. He had a masterful read on the game board. He took people and turned them into pieces in ways that we had not yet seen to that point and utilized enemies, allies reshuffling the deck over and over again. And I would, as we get into this, I would describe him as an ultimate opportunist on Survivor of the Amazon, if you gave Rob a millimeter, he took miles and miles and miles. If you slipped up and said the wrong thing in front of this man or even bickered in his general presence with someone else, he found a way to make it fit his game and make it work. So though, before we get into pros, cons, everything in between about how this experience is going to go, in order to have this conversation, we need to give the man his due. And this is not but kissing. This is the factual truth coming from Mike and I as die hards of this genre. This man is one of the greatest survivor players that there was. And a lot that came afterwards is thanks to him. And the thing is though, that was 20 years ago, right, a long time ago and a lot of life has happened since then. So that's what's so intriguing here, right, is that we don't know what Rob today is going to do in the situation. What we do know is when afforded the opportunity many moons ago, he came armed and ready to make the most of the opportunity and anyone who wanted to take away, take it away from him, he was ready to rip it out of their hands. He was willing to lie, cheat and steal, do anything to win. But also, that was a very different time in place, not just for Rob, but in reality TV. The fan base and the players, especially here where it's not all competitive reality TV players feel a little bit differently about pointless lying than they used to. And it's going to be very interesting to see how it translates. >> Yeah, I think the overall sense would be that Rob's libido has certainly changed from the Amazon to trader season 4, I certainly hope so, but I think his gamesmanship has not. The masterful, innovative aspects that Eric is talking about that he brought to this game, we can certainly get into more details about, I mean, I even think the archetype that he represents was game changing in a number of ways. Yes, Survivor had only been on the air for five seasons prior to Rob being on. But he was the first and maybe one of the best examples of the nerdy superfan who knows the game inside and out and is able to put that knowledge into effect. Look, if the new era of Survivor is any indication, it could be a mixed bag of best when superduper fans play the game. You can have all the knowledge in the world about who went home when and who won what, but if you can't implement that into your own game, then it's just basic, a fax that will get you, I don't know, a medallion at a bar trivia event. But Rob was able to, as Eric said, sort of look upon the past. In particular, the thing that he cites the most is the big flip that happens at the final nine in Survivor Mark Cases is the first major power shift in survivor history where a group of bottom feeders, essentially, who knew there was one big controlling alliance, all said wait a minute, there's four of them and there's five of us, let's work together, overthrow the bourgeoisie and let the proletarians truly run rampant in this game. But even through that, yes, Rob took inspiration, but the meta of Survivor up to that point was very simple. You make an alliance, you establish a majority, you bring that alliance to the end of the game. Even in something like Survivor Mark Cases, they clean swept the road to four. This new bottom feeder alliance made up the final five. Of course, did not watch Survivor Thailand, but we had just seen a huge example of that. And Rob was able to take that idea and quite literally flip it on its head. He is one of the most individually minded players we experience in early game Survivor where I think, as Eric mentioned, we can certainly get into some specific moments. He was able to look at the game board each and every episode and say, okay, here's where I am positioned, where can I go to not only better my short-term prospects, but especially better my long-term prospect? This is as apparent as the first episode where it is a surprisingly split vote. It is four to three to one. And we get from the very beginning, Rob saying, I am in the middle right now. He is the Kingmaker. He will determine who stays and who goes in this men's tribe, and it will certainly not be the last time this happens, and I think part of it is Rob's presentation. Certainly, at that time, this was a, for lack of a better term, a season full of young horny people. And Rob was certainly kind of like, kind of the screech of the group of, I mean, completely honest. Like, he was the class clown, you know, he was not, he was part of the quote unquote, younger hotter alliance, but as we'll get into later in this season, he didn't necessarily feel like a part of that. And so he was able to, I think, be able to play up on that energy, be able to vibe with a lot of people out there based on that, but it's something that we have experienced obviously to great effect over his many years of podcasting that Rob is fantastic at using his sense of humor as a smoke screen, especially when it comes to having tougher conversations. And one of the many reasons why he was so deadly in the Amazon is because he was just looked at as this churlis jocular jester in the King's court, only to realize much well into the season. Like, oh no, this man has a real chance of sitting on the throne. >> Yeah, well, also, so many players just let death take them, right? They, it's us versus them, oops, I'm outnumbered. And that's that and they just, just shrug it off, whereas Rob would look for every inroad possible. He saw players who needed a home and took them in. He saw people who were enemies and turn them into allies. He hopped back and forth, broke, and then repaired relationships over and over and over again was able to do it because of the affability that you're talking to. He had the mind frame to try and drag goats with him to the end. He took people that no one even wanted to talk to and turn them into allies. And I think what he was doing was he thought about, what do these, what does this person need from me or need from anyone out here right now? Do they need an ally? Do they hate so and so? Do they want to settle a beef? And he capitalized on that and he turns what they needed from him into making them work for him without them even realizing it. And there was a lot of subtlety to it. And as you said, Mike, this is how you know you have an iconic, amazing player. How many of the Amazon players left the Amazon thinking to themselves, that MF for Rob? I never thought it would be him of all people. I did not, you know, he was weak ahead of the game and then when he found himself up against the wall, he spun it around so fast and so quick that it didn't even feel like he was. You know, he was he was playing on a very innovative level to your point, Mike. He's not going to come in as unassuming this time. He's not going to come in as the class clown that no one is familiar with. That's what we get in all returning player reality shows, right? Your reputation precedes you and his reputation preceded him and survivor All Stars. And we can get into that in greater depth as well. But some might say that that really he was dead on arrival in survivor All Stars. As soon as he was in the draw, he had no winners on his tribe. He was the most recent it boy and perceived threat and they did not even allow him to get any footing whatsoever. Is that in the potential batch of outcomes for Rob here at the traders, Rob, a man who even the uninformed amongst him, they're going to know this man owns and operates a reality TV discussion empire that is not just a target. That is a glowing, screaming blistering target that is very different than the Rob who got to play the Amazon where no one saw it coming. So it's going to be a completely different approach to how he has to apply that strategy and that charisma this time around because this time they're going to be prepared for him. And the good news is I think Rob is prepared for them as well because Rob has been covering the traders with me from season one, thankfully. And then I feel like obviously I don't know the exact journey of when he gets his call up to pull up to this. But it's been like a couple of seasons where that's kind of the number one question almost every guess we had almost asking him, like, Rob, your turn coming, are you going to do it? So I think, you know, y'all mentioned he was the OG student, the first one, the original. I think he's kept that same energy to a certain level. I think he is somebody who, like his humor is there and with the podcast more and more, I feel like the art of clip farming has become a big thing with him. He knows where the joke is. He knows the line to say to make the big reaction happen. But I think at the same time underneath all of that, there's still an analyst there. There's still somebody who knows what they're doing who is, is a studied student of the game and kind of knows how to go about it. Now Eric, I will agree with you. I think that him having this, this platform, this massive platform is almost unavoidable. If they don't even, if they don't have the ball knowledge there, all it takes is one or two people. I mean, no, there's one or two of those guys who know what he does to be like, this guy, yeah, he's got a whole empire full of podcasts and shows that he covers, he covers all these shows. He knows them in and out, the one caveat and the one thing I'm very grateful for. And I would not have said this watching Survivor All Stars. I'm grateful for Boston Rob here for Rob Cisternino. And that's because I feel like if Rob had gone on the show before Boston Rob, the amount of people that would have just assumed he's Boston Rob because of the Rob from Survivor, they would have taken him out for that, he would have had to pay that invoice. Now they've seen the winner Rob. He was on last season. This Rob is the Rob that didn't win, doesn't have a W under him, doesn't have a championship. So maybe it's a little more forgiving. And I think Rob can give more goofy energy than Boston Rob did and that could, that could help them. I'm sorry. I'm going to have to push back on this because I think that Rob and Danielle and Parv coming before him and being traitors is a very damning, very concerning aspect of this game for him. Because it does, even if his own reputation doesn't proceed him, maybe there's this, you know, these are, maybe he's playing against people who aren't anywhere near as well studied. Maybe in sequester on the flight over, they watched the prior season. Maybe they saw. They better not have been flying American Airlines, that's all I'm saying. That's right. Imagine how surreal that's that they're like, we don't know who this guy is. That will figure it out. And then they sit down and they see their competitor's face greeting them saying, well, the crazy thing only TV podcast, the traitors podcast is on there. If they're like, oh, there's a traitors thing here. Let me watch that. And then they see this guy talk. That would be a nightmare. They'd better have taken any other airline. Yikes. We just, but that's what could happen, you know, that's, oh, my god, is that like the equivalent of like a dr leak on big brother of like, oh, we overheard Shelby talking about her law career. Yeah. For real. So I mean, my concern here is that, and this is a little bit met a big brain here, I'm going to admit. But is this the year that all of the CBS competitive reality stars paid the receipts of what came before them? In fact, there's a very notable example about this in big brother history that involves fellow traitors can test in Ian Terry, he won as a big time young nerd superfan in his own words. That happened again, a couple of seasons after that where another 20 when year olds young nerd came in and won same exact blueprint as Ian, very unassuming. No one saw it coming until it was too late. Well, the next time a player like that entered the house, they were out before the first week of play, you know, what was done, it would be, you know, they jumped down the throat, and that guy paid the receipts of what had come before him. My concern here is if I'm a housewife, if I'm a anyone in the extended celebrity side of the casting and less on the CBS side of the casting. And my familiarity with the show is that I've watched a few episodes from each of the seasons, and I've seen a Boston Rob in action, and I've seen a Daniel Reyes in action, I don't want these people around. I don't know about you guys and, and, and you know, it's tough because you don't want that to come into the game, you don't want to have any bearing on the game, but it looms. It's there, you know, and so, so I actually think Boston Rob could come into play again here, right? Because if that's what you watch last time and, and Rob is a great, great talker, and if he gets going at a roundtable and it evokes some of what we saw in prior seasons from those survivors, I think it's going to start sounding some alarm bells for people. And I think that's the big question is, will he start going and when will he start going? I mean, this is a strategy that Rob has professed for years on Big Brother, which is go to sleep for the first half of the game, even in survivors with certain extent. Again, while he was in a good power position, he laid fairly dormant, you know, he sort of let other people make the moves around him until this one to punch at the final seven and final six that I can certainly get into more detail with later to show his opportunism. But Rob, I think even back then when he was a little bit more of a Charlotte, and he was a little bit more of a showman, especially he took a lot of stuff from Will Kirby in Big Brother into Survivor, which is like, you can be a devious MF or NB entertaining at the same time. But I think what Rob has been able to glean and even back then still had glimpses of is this ability to like be that character to us and not necessarily to everybody else. And I think that's maybe where the podcasting comes into play as well because Rob is very good at honestly seating time to us, you know, loud mofos, us people who love to just talk until everyone's ears fall off and he's been very good at just knowing the opportunity of when to chime in, when to help guide and steer a conversation. And I think especially if you talk about paying the invoice, we saw last year what happened with people like Jeremy and Tony where it's like they were, they're sort of louder, more outspoken cells at the beginning of the game and the trade, even though they weren't traders, it put enough of a spotlight on them to say they're gamers and they're speaking up, it's time for them to go. I think that Rob has enough of that kind of DL personality, IRL to be like, all right, I'm going to take a step back, let the other gamers, you know, give themselves enough rope, then hopefully that gives me enough rope to make a lasso and try to at least scrape my way out of like, well, you got rid of all the gamers. Eric, I think it's an incredibly valid point that I think if anyone is metagaming this out, especially considering the streak of gamers we've had as traders, we know that producers like to pick people who come from strategic shows to kind of help lead the gaming conversations around the turret, it would be understandable that that group would be looked at first just upon pure glance and he is unfortunately among what like five or six of them as opposed to the larger groups that usually come with each season. But here's my question about all of this. I think what you're saying makes sense if Rob had been on several shows recently and knew that there were several more shows coming up behind it. And you could play with the luxury of this is not the one, okay, but what if it is the one? What if this is the one phone call he has gotten in 20 years, the one that he decided to say yes to? And that makes me beg the question, Pooja, what is he playing for? Is he playing the win? Is he playing for his legacy and reputation to say, I am the one, I am the smartest and never win. And you know, is he going for what we got from Suri the first time around? Is he playing for future casting opportunities? Is he playing for his business? Is he playing for his family? Is he playing for fun? And I don't think that this is as much of a question for a Rachel Riley or a Boston Rob, who's getting another call spontaneously, right? This is 20 years, guys. It's a long time. He's talked about it every single day. So what is he there to do? Because I'm going to put, you know, I am very much shared brained with Rob and we have my mouth conversations before, right? So if I finally get a phone call and I'm going on the traders, I would be really worried to go to sleep because the game's already not in my hands. There's a lot of luck involved. I don't know all of the people. I don't know who has my feet in their hands. And what if I make no impact? What if I last four episodes? I'm purple in the edit and then I'm going to be kicking myself. I won't be able to live with myself if I went to sleep, did nothing, didn't get to show my strategy, didn't get to show my personality, but come in guns ablaze in and, you know, then you have, you have the Tony and Jeremy situation that you just laid out. So it's a very fine needle, the thread, right? Where you come in, it's like, I want to show everyone what I can do. He has 20 years worth of ideas. He has all of these friends who are experts that he could have picked their brains ahead of time. But coming hot, you're in big trouble. But if you fall back, that phone's not ringing again. You're not getting more subscribers to your podcast network, right? So how do you think he's going to approach this? And what do you think his goal is here? Because I mean, we all know him intimately well and I think that far more than anyone else who's probably ever been on this series is the meta of it all. Where does he fit into this? Where does he wants to fit into this? And what is he out to do while he's there? My read on Rob. And this kind of goes into, and this might be a niche reference. This truly will be, it's a glorified Zoom call game that we played in 2020. Rob played a game with us and org with us online. It was him versus a lot of our JP podcasters. And the number one feedback we saw from that was, he still got it. And you could tell that was the highest compliment to Rob. He still got it. I think Rob's going to go into this wanting to, you know, Mike, great strategy. Stay, you know, go to bed, don't think about much. And I think certainly he's, I assume he's going to do a lot of world building and like connection building early on, but I think to Eric's point, I think this man is going to want to be television gold. And I think he's going to approach it that way. I think the good news is another point towards what you said, Mike, he is a, he is a confessional guy. He knows how to deliver that. So he can, as long as he's giving them gold there, he can be afforded the luxury of being quiet. If they choose to show him doing that confedient, the confessors might be going nowhere, right? They might just be on the cutting room floor. So I think Eric, to me, my read is he's going to want to perform memorably, whether good or bad, perform memorably kind of have people leave the show being like, he's still got it. And also to provide memorable content. I think that's the two things he's going for. >> Well, let's just say is it, but also what Rob is going to show up to the traders, right? And this is sort of an adjacent point, but Rob has not been shy in talking about the fact that he feels like some of his content from the Amazon has not necessarily aged as gracefully as he would have wanted. Rob is now a business owner. He is a family man. >> He's a father and he is father. >> Yeah, right? So, you know, he knows this world so well, is he being himself? Is this a curated personality? But what Rob, are we even going to see? Are we going to just see everybody's buddy? Are we going to see the cutthroat liar? Is it going to be a little of both? But I do think, because this really rings true with me. I think that maybe it doesn't matter what he intended to do or wanted to do because as soon as he's there, all bets are off. >> Yeah, the cobwebs are gone and he's just going to start feeling it. That's my hope at least. All of the pre-thought and the analysis and everything, as soon as you're there, it's just, oh man, this is fun. And then he just himself. >> I mean, that's the thing. I remember Pooja earlier this year, and I don't know if Rob had any inclination at this point that he was in Trader's casting, but I remember him being livid at the finale of season three. He said it was worth sending ever, boring outcome, why the hell were these purple people winning? I think if you ask about what is his goal, is that whether he is winning or whether he is losing, he is making sure that he does not wind up like a Lord I of our Mount Bad. Because that, what is the goal of Trader's? Let's be completely honest here. From a US-specific perspective, which has focused a lot on celebrity, and we have seen, especially as of late, how much it can reinvent someone's career entirely. Boston Rob is doing a YouTube show with Dylan Frickin Efron. I do not have expected that at the beginning of 2025, it is not necessarily about taking home a minuscule amount of money by sharing it six ways with people. It is about what is the impression that you're making on the screen no matter how long you last. And I will bring in a bit of insider information right now, because I had the chance to talk with Boston Rob Mariano about a myriad of topics. And one of my ass was, did you give any advice to any Trader's players in the upcoming season four, and he told me that he did have a conversation with Rob Cesternino. And this is directly what Boston Rob said to me, is that he said, "I gave him the playbook on Traders. From my perspective, he's not the same player that I am, so the advice they gave Rob is certainly different. I kind of gave him advice on how I think he should play if I were him, because Traders, there's really two ways to play. The optimal way to play Traders is not the fun way to play Traders. The optimal way is to be quiet and sit in the shadows, make it to the end, and do whatever. And Rob has too big of a personality for that. So I was like, "Man, you have to balance between going far and being great television, and I think he knows how to perform. I think he's going to do great, and I'm rooting for him." Well, Mike, first of all, congratulations on learning Dylan F. Ron's name. Finally, let me log it up. He rated some pass wrongs there. But I think it's a point while taking. You need to last long enough to be memorable also, right? So it's really a fine line of finding those moments, not eye-varring yourself, which is laugh out loud, funny. I mean, literally the mere mention of his name made me laugh, but a lot of the context of it. And, right, so making your moments count while you have them, and ideally lasting long enough to pile up a few of them. So that way you feel good about your experience there. I actually think that that should be the goal as well. I don't know that it was his goal. Winning feels so inconsequential, especially last season, they're splitting the money so many ways. Gabby talked ad nauseam about the fact that it took forever further to even get that poultry amount of money after filming. So it's like, hey, that's not Rob's goal here, right? So his goal here is to make the most of the opportunity. So I do think we're going to see a very active Rob. So now, let's think about active Rob versus people who barely know where they are in the Amazon versus active Rob versus some people who are very savvy to it and other people who don't want to be savvy to it. They're put off by that level of strategy and gamesmanship and backstabbing. I think what we've learned on the traders is the Bravo idea of fighting and backstabbing is a little different than the CBS idea. There's is personal and frothy and campy and CBS is just mean and self-advancing anyway, they don't always receive it the same way. I am curious, you put an active Rob into a group of people that don't know his lore. And do they like that? Are they? Do they love his ideas? Do they brainstorm with him and gobble them up? Is he making friends with everybody just like I was saying earlier in the podcast, how I feel like I'm his best friend even though I am not, does that rub off on everyone? And he is able to do as he pleases or after one, two, three times of nudging someone and making a little bit of a suggestion, do they say like, whoa, this guy has a lot going on here. Like what is this energy that I'm picking up on? He seems very devious, you know? And it's crazy to think that that could be held against you on reality TV, but I do think in recent years you have seen with the house and the group, you know, mentality of it all, a lot of times if someone is playing, it's not always well received amongst the other players. Yeah, I think that no matter what, no matter who he's chosen as, he does not have faithful of the faithful energy. This is not an aforementioned Dylan Efron energy that is given off. Right. Yeah, I think even if Rob is hard cleared as a faithful for a lot of people, I think that he's somebody who gets the final eight, seven, they're like, why are you still here? Like there's no way you should still be alive because of the type of person and player you are and you'll get punished for it. So I do think that, I do think that for me to be very open with everybody, I did not watch Rob on Survivor until last year. I kind of lived a life for a little bit where I no one knew, but I had not watched like the first 15 seasons of Survivor and then I was just like, you know what? The time is now. So I started bingeing them, watch Rob season. So before that, I only had Rob the person to go off of, you know, as who he is. So I think that some of the things you mentioned, Eric, I can picture him, excelling him because of the way I've seen him interact with people. I've seen Rob is a bit of a chameleon in that, depending on what room you put him in, he kind of does start giving that same room's energy out, which I don't think is a bad thing at all. I think, you know, just having watched him do because back in the day, he used to do these patron cast were once a month, yeah, just phone line open, anyone could call him and he would answer every single call. And that is, that's like that standard, you know, you have a Patreon, that's standard business. Rob really impressed me with Rob as someone who then got inspired to do his own thing and has taken inspiration from that of my streaming. Rob remembered everyone's names. These calls will be like one or two months apart. He would remember their names. He would remember what they called about. He would remember little details about them. And I think that that's the Rob we're going to get early on. Personality will be there, the zingers will be there, the one line will be there, but mostly it's him just like becoming an information bank and taking a lot of it in before realizing, okay, what kind of, what kind of sense of humor does this person have that I can enter in with? Because I don't think he's going to come and be like, all right, clear the table. It's my time now. I don't think he's that level of active. He's just like subtle like coming to the party and watch everybody for a little bit active, have a drink or two active and then get involved. Well, I think this is a great point because I think that all reality TV personalities in their day-to-day life, they are like suck the air out of the room, big personalities. >> Yeah. >> But when you put them and stack them with the other personalities, I do believe that Rob is going to be one of the more low key personalities in this group. And he is not going to chew the scenery, at least not in the group, maybe in the confessionals, absolutely, that's great. But I do think that that's a really interesting point is that I do think that he would be, he would be a much bigger threat on survivor 50 than on the traitors. Because here he actually could be a little bit unassuming, just a really regular guy. And there are actually some other regular guys in the cast. And I just think that in that regard, he might just kind of feel like he's very pleasant to have breakfast with you. He's not bothering me in any which way. But then the question becomes, as soon as he becomes activated, does that sort of go away? >> Yeah, I mean, the other thing that we need to remember is that Rob has made a career for 15 plus years out of talking with and handling to your point other reality TV personalities. He knows exactly when talking with somebody, with some of the biggest, most brazen personas we have seen on our screens, to step back, to allow them to take up that space. He knows when the spotlight should be shown on them now from his perspective largely. It's been for the sake of making content. Here it might be more so like, I'm going to let you throw yourself under the bus. So I think Rob is more than happy to be a bit of that fly on the wall. To be able to still chime into conversations, so it's not of like, why are you so f and quiet Rob says, you know, what do you think you're doing? I mean, also looking at the fact that he has won only one immunity challenge in survivor history, but the one that he won is a survivor classic called Touchy Subjects, where everyone took a questionnaire about the competition, and you had to guess what the majority said for each answer. This is actually a challenge we saw last season in traders to into a different effect, right? This was the chessboard challenge, where the traders chose the answer to each question is a little bit of quite literal 40 chess there in terms of what you think the traders would have picked. But it shows that Rob did have at that moment a general pulse on how everyone was feeling about everyone else. I mean, I think the make a facet of Rob's game that I really want to fixate on that is most applicable to traders is an open mind and open relationships. And again, I'm speaking about that libido perspective, but the reason why Rob was able to make some incredible stuff happen towards the end game is because he had his options open. He was at the final seven in this very ironclad alliance with Heidi and Jenna and Alex. They were so set in stone that they were all talking about going in on a sonic restaurant together. They were going to pull their money, which maybe the traders winners from last season had done. I haven't checked the trades yet as to see if that ended up becoming a possibility. But then Alex is so comfortable and so forward that he straight up tells Rob, like, listen, when it gets down to us for because it will probably going for you at four and you're probably going to go for me and that's okay. And Rob's like, no, I'm going for you now, like you're saying that I am fated to finish in fourth place. Guess what? If I shake things up the worst I could finish right now is seventh, but I guess it doesn't matter. I'd rather better my chances now and lose out earlier than just being guaranteed to lose at any point. And so this is where he's able to gather not necessarily flipping over to another alliance. These were spare pieces, you know, butch and mat had just lost Roger and Dave who they were the closest to. And so they were free agents. Christie was absolutely a free agent, did not want to work with the women necessarily. It was kind of only doing so just due to the circumstances of the first couple of votes. And he said, okay, this is a way for me to bring together the alliance that I want to to flip the game on its head. And not only did he do so, that's great. But as you mentioned, he cleaned up his mess. The next day he, the next night even he was belittled. He faced a very belligerent and angry Jenna and Heidi of we have this plan. We have this sonic restaurant. You blew it to smithereens. And so it looked like Rob was going to be in hot water, but they still had technically afforded to alliance Jenna one immunity. Okay, maybe it's going to be Heidi. But then when Rob goes to Christie and says, okay, let's vote off Heidi and Christie has a little bit of pause with the plan, Rob strikes that opportunity again. He says, here's an opportunity for me to be able to curry favor with Jenna and Heidi, who at the very worst will be sent to the jury, at least they'll look at me in finer favor than they do right now. They think I'm scum. Let me try to be at least a step above scum. So he innovates. He goes to Jenna and Heidi and he says, Christie is swinging between these two groups. Why don't we just go for her? Because this has been a move that has been patented in survivor a few times ever since I think most impamously by seri with the Courtney boot at the final six in survivor exile island. But this is the prototypical example in my opinion where he is able to again keep the options open, not only in terms of allies, but in terms of targets to say, Christie feels so safe that she tells her loved one. I think what's her boyfriend in that episode, like I have all the power. I'm not going home. I was able to get in the ears of the people who hate him the most and say, all right, we have a common enemy here. I'll go for you next time. Well, let's get her out and look, he has certainly looked back on that move, perhaps with a little bit of regret considering what Jenna, especially goes on to do, but I think it does speak to his ability to just navigate where the chess pieces are at each and every moment. Now, traders is a bit more of a long game because people are sort of staying in these kind of semi permanent roles, but I think if there is a shocking murder, if there is a huge banishment that shakes up his game, I could rely on Rob to be able to pivot very reliably and move into the next day. Right. This is not Sanford Diaz Twine's anyone but me. This is anyone, anyone, anytime, anywhere, any place, if it benefits me. And it, you know, it's funny because you were saying how Boston Rob said that their game play is not that similar, but I was hearing some Boston Rob gameplay in there. As soon as Rob sees name comes up, it was off with their head one way or another. You know, no, I'm not going to sit here and wait for you to vote me out at the final four. No, I'm not going to let you be wishy washy. He took the game into his own hands by any means necessary at anyone's expense. I mean, I think it was really well documented in the Amazon that whether he thought fondly of him as this sort of weirdo next door neighbor, like a sitcom character or something, he did not like Matthew. I don't think that he kept in touch with Matthew. I do not think he enjoyed his company. I do not think that they were on the same plane. And he still took him under his wings because he saw his value as a player in the game. A lot of people can't put aside personal feelings. And he weaponized him and managed him. This was a completely unglued guy who had all kinds of terrible ideas on the game and Rob literally invented imaginary side quests to occupy his brain and keep him busy or created outright fabrications to keep him in line. And that is a masterstroke to see someone who is flailing but strong and say, I'm going to put aside the fact that he is making me physically uncomfortable to be around and use him as an ally. I mean, there is no question in my mind. He can gather the votes. He can do that through personality or logic or strategy. He can definitely take control of a roundtable if he wants. And he's really good as I was saying early on as we were team this up at finding the smallest crack and breaking it wide open. He also has studied these shows. He knows the traitors is a dog piling game, right? So if a name comes up and it is not your name, then we go right back to the Sandra of it all. Well, okay. It's time to put my foot on this person's neck and end this round of play, right? So when he sees that someone is on the ropes or someone is pissed at someone or someone is floundering with nowhere to go, he will know exactly what to do to push them out or bring them in as needed, which keeps his possibilities incredibly wide open for the entirety of the game. It's a major strength that he has that other people are not going to have. I think we have seen in all three seasons of the traitors people sort of, for the most part, pigeonholed into their sort of pre-existing groups, you know, a lot of times that the housewives are rocking with each other and the CBS people are kind of almost forced to protect each other. And I do see Rob as someone who is going to be able to cross the party line, so to speak, and pick up a collection of people as needed. And that might not be the same people every time. It might be completely different people round after round. >> Yeah, and I think that one of the key things with the traitors, actually, before I say this, I want to correct this, and I'm assuming by this point, some of you have already taken to the comments to take us to task for this, the American Airlines thing happened after the traitors film. >> But isn't it fun to dream? >> Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a good time. That being said, no, no, so yeah, so the traitors and Rob knows this, which I think is a huge help. The traitors is a lot more luck-based than, I mean, every show is luck-based to a certain degree. There's traitors more than any of these other shows. You could do everything right and then cough in front of the wrong person and they're going to vote you out. They're going to bring it up at the round table. So I think going in and knowing that is already a huge leg up to anybody that might not have thought about the game at that level because I think, and we've seen some of the gamers have passed a try this where they're like, listen, I'm a faithful, you're a faithful. It doesn't matter if this other person's a faithful, let's just get rid of them and they're not working with us anyway. And then people find out about this and they'll punish you because I'm sorry, you don't want to get rid of traitors, that's weird. So knowing stuff like that and then being able to operate in the background is going to be absolute key. And I think that having that knowledge already is great. And I think knowing that the game is a lot more luck-based allows you to play the game a lot more unapologetically slash freely because, you know, to your point Eric, you can play as conservative as one can and then be the nobody that randomly got murdered in the night at the end of episode five and be forgotten because of no, through no fault of your own. So what's the point in doing that? So I guess the one of the big questions I have is that we all know how Rob's game came to a tragic end in the Amazon, which you mentioned in the relationship with Matthew with Mario Landza, described it very aptly as like a doctor in Frankenstein scenario where Rob, who is the most underestimated player, gets done in by someone who he underestimated in Matthew, who at the final three realizes how big of a threat Rob is and throws the final immunity challenge, knowing that he was the odds on favorite to win. And if you had one, he rob at least thought that he would have taken him to the end. So he essentially sealed Rob's fate saying like, there's no way you can survive this challenge against Jenna Moraska and that proved true. It's a little apples and oranges because again, I think that traders is less of an individually minded game as much as we're talking up Rob's opportunism like we just saw four people win it at the end of the day. Do we think that there's a way he could fall into that trap, whether it's like underestimating someone who gets picked to be a trader and he has no idea or someone that could cut his legs out from under him to your earlier points, Eric? I don't think so. I think that that is probably a lesson learned in my opinion, right? I think that I would be very wary of absolutely everyone. I think I would have the expectation that there could be unassuming people working against me. I think the best way the play the traders is just to assume no one's to be trusted. You know, everyone has the ability to end your game at any time and be very, very carefully worded. It's funny that I say, very carefully worded as I jumble all of my words at the same time. But I think that he is definitely wise enough to the game to not overlook people. But I do think that the one chip that may be on his shoulder is that from Survivor All Stars, where if now good for him, he did build a podcast empire after that. Well, let's just imagine a world in which he did not build a podcast empire after that. You have someone who absolutely loved the game, who the host himself called the smartest to never win at his own finale comes back a year later and it does not go well for him, right? So if he does not build this podcast empire, which establishes his place in Survivor forever more, then he's sitting with this terrible taste in his mouth and a load of regret and he's sitting on it for 20 years. And how do I know this? Because that's what has happened to me every single day for the last 20 years where you say, but I could have done this and what about this? And if I only had the chance to do this. So what if that guy shows up? What if the guy who is feeling a little bit of insecurity about it shows up? And what if he's looking around the table and it feels like he's outnumbered and instead of going into, I'm going to fix this mode, he goes into, oh God, this can't be happening again. Oh, I can't do this again. I needed to write my past wrongs, you know? You see that sometimes on all star seasons of shows and returning seasons of shows that people are playing with the ghost of their own past and it sometimes works out for the best and those are lessons learned and sometimes they haunt you again. So I don't see him going down the Matthew pitfall, but what if he goes down the All Stars pitfall? It'll be very interesting to see because I think that the thing with the traders from his so much of it is going to be out of your control because also you still, like when you start and when you see everybody, you still don't know what a role you're supposed to play. And then once you have that role, you do not know who your bedmates with. If you are a trader, who's up in that turret with you? And I think after that even, you don't know if the person you were bonding with earlier is on the same team you are. I think there's a lot of mental exhaustion that's going to go into stuff like that. And I feel like it's tough because everything in me just wants to say, well, we won't know until the first cycle. We won't know until the first round table hits because I do think that my number one worry for Rob is that that first, they take the blindfolds off. One person looks at Rob and says, that guy kind of looks nervous, I'm going to bring that up later. And then that shoots everything, that puts the panic in him as a little twitchy, right? It puts me in fidgeting a little bit, touching his face or will he be so steeled in knowing the fact that he looks too stoic if you were like, that man is a staffer, right? He looks like he's not breathing right in the face. The thing is, what's so fun about this exercise is that the reason we can discuss this and pick it apart in the way that we are is because we would all be in the exact same frame of mind. I would be, oh God, you have an itch, Eric, don't touch it. Wait a minute. Maybe you should touch it. And I do wonder, is there a case where the man knows too much, right? Is it just where you start almost acting oddly because you are so mindful of the correct way to act? I do not think so, but it's just so fun to talk through and imagine his state of mind that he's going to be in those situations. But I agree that's, you know, that could just one itch in the wrong direction on that opening night. Uh, a avalanche effect. They better dust that, uh, that roundtable room, uh, look out, but I think that brings up another really interesting point is that we began this all by saying one of the great things about Rob on Survivor was he was one of the first, like, successful super fans of the show that he used past president to form his own present and therefore also shape the future. You have people like Johnny Fair play, the very next season saying I was inspired by Rob Dessernino, I have to imagine this man is incredibly well researched. And I don't think he knew necessarily who he was playing with, but I'm sure, you know, he tried to check out as much tangential housewife stuff as he could. Obviously, yeah, it's probably a bevy of traders backlog content that he could check out. I do have some worry that he could be to in his head about that, you know, that it's like so and so said this, but when I remember watching them on this show, I know they, they have a tell with this and maybe he doesn't necessarily see the Scottish forest for the trees and pay attention to what he's directly observing in the moment instead trying to compare it to what he has observed about that person before everything in the castle. Yeah, one thing is for certain, he is the same person he was back then in that I do not have a single doubt about my mind the man did his homework and did his homework thoroughly. Now my hope is that if he did do his homework, homework like that, Mike, like the, let me predict who could be on or let me like study up on these franchises that I'm not familiar with. I hope he went into it with the mentality, this is bonus studying, like, well, I have plenty of time before getting on that plane. Let me look through these things and not so much. This is now gospel that I have to follow because I think, you know, Eric said this earlier, I think he's going to get there and then going to have to chuck all that out the window immediately because these are also the, you could, let's say, for example, let's run this exercise. Let's say that he was dipping into the love island of it all and he did watch, like snippets of raw brouche. That was two years ago. That man was a nobody and now is like a person who has more of an ego, more of a celebrity status. You can't predict that they're the same person. I just need the image and the hopes Rob recorded his reaction to watching the adrea boot just live because that is incredible television. I imagine Rob had an iconic reaction to it as well. Yeah. Now, that would be phenomenal. And that's the thing, right? It's that I think that Rob Rogers, an example, it's only been two years. A lot of these other people, like, they're big highlight reals are from years ago. We can all sit here and say that we have grown and changed from the people we once were. And I think that you can't follow that as a blueprint, you can use it as a guide. It's basically the way I would put it, the analogy I would use is it's like, okay, it's an iPhone. But that was an iPhone. You can't use the iPhone 4 manual to figure out your iPhone 12. Like that's not going to work. Just being familiar with the ecosystem is not bad, but you cannot use it as a blueprint. Well, you know, we're his friends. We're busting his balls. We're making content right here. We're looking at the good bad and in between. And of course, we are dissecting in the greatest, almost hilarious detail. The way things could go right and could go wrong. But the fact of the matter is, you either got it or you don't. And he has it, you know, as much fun as I'm having picking apart the nuances and the inner workings and giving him a hard time with the fact of the matter is, if you're likable, if you know how to connect with people, if you know how to meet people where they are, if you are that social and strategic chameleon, he is head and shoulders beyond 85% of the cast in terms of strategy, right? That's not even a question. He digest these scenarios and analyzes them in real time as his career, you know, that is completely second nature to him. So he's going to come in and he's going to build bonds. And he is going to have friends and allies and room to operate no matter how we want to pick him apart. So I actually am very much agreeing with you. I am in the camp that all the prep, it's there in the background, filed away. It may be informs a specific situation or exactly how to not put your hand on the stove with, with a specific cast member, but ultimately when they're what he's going to do is be himself and he himself is an advanced player, a likable guy and he, you know, I mean this in the best way possible. He goes to live events and he has to talk to a thousand people who are thrilled to be speaking to him and he may know some of them intimately, he may not know any of them at all. I recently had the chance to come out to an event for the first time in a while and he found time to speak to everyone and make everyone, not just make everyone feel welcome, he did welcome them. They were genuine conversations and he found time for each and every person. And this while fun and while an adventure and while a great memory, it is a business trip for him and he's not going to go in there and rile people up and then be an ass and then do inflammatory things, that's just not who he is as a person, so he's going to be in a good spot for sure. It's just where does that spot take him and does that create the spotlight you want or the spotlight you don't want in this specific game, which is very luck based and also the aspects that are not luck based are very much in the control of just a few individuals. So it really, you could have 17 people feeling great about you and if one of three people don't, then that's all that matters. So I think we are in kind of agreement that I don't think you'll have any issue forming new relationships in the castle. I think where the biggest issue lies is with the relationships he has coming into the castle. Okay. Hello gamers because I do think and this is something that we talked about. It really is up in the air as to how threatening is the idea that this man has dedicated his life to dissecting reality television, you know, this idea of like, he knows the games. This is something that we talked about all the way back when the cast was released. I'd love to get everyone's thoughts on is like, what are the chances that a Natalie, a jam jam, who knows his game, who has been on the podcast, feels that he is too threatening to keep around a Tiffany or an E and especially who has done so many things with Rob, I imagine, will want to work with him to start. I think honestly, the biggest perpetrators behind Rob, if he were to get banished from the show, would not be with the non gamers, it would not be a, oh my god, this guy is too sneaky, we got to go for him. The call would be coming from inside the house. That was the exact expression I was just going to say. It also sent shivers down my spine because I hate it so much. They need each other in this game, right? But let's be real. Rob could have gotten endless draws that were better for him within the CBS community. These are people he knows. These are not his tightest friends. They are self-invested people when the heat is on CBS early on, you know, from past things totally out of their control, do they scatter, right? Do they throw each other in the bus and is he an easy target for that, right? Because there's something very quickly to point to it. You can easily see how they might approach the game and I have that as a very legitimate worry and concern as well. That would be one of the very first things I would do if I was there and he was there. As soon as it was like, well, it's going to be one of us. Well, just like Rob would do, it's not going to be me. So it's going to have to be somebody else. So let me look around. Okay, well, maybe I point out Ian is a world class backgammon champion or maybe I point out that Rob talks to all of these people, knows all these people and loves reality TV. But I'm not going to just sit there and wait around for it to happen when the target is on CBS. So I think that this is a very, very concerning and damning point. And these are, I mean, damn, damn, just one season of Survivor, Tiffany dominated the season of Big Brother, Ian and Natalie, both winners of the show. These are not nobody's, you know, so we can talk about his strategy. This is Rob's preview episode, right? But these are formidable strategy experts and they're not going to, we can't expect them to roll out over either, right? So they need each other. But when things go off the tracks, do they stay strong or do they scurry? And that's where it could get really dicey. Yeah. Because I think, you know, we talk about a lot, the meta of it all. One of the big concerns we have is that coming into this season, they're going to look at the gamers and be like, get them out of here because about time someone picks up on the meta. And I think that's what the gamers always have the advantage of coming in because, you know, we talk about some of these people being students and studying beforehand, Rob being one of them. I think there's being a student and then there's also trying to predict what the professor would do, right? What the test is going to look like. If you're thinking, well, usually the professor puts a multiple choice for questions one through eight and like they usually use the questions from like three years ago, not four years ago. So and I think that's where the meta comes in. I think if you are one of these gamers, I genuinely do see someone being too concerned and worried that they're like, I got to feed them something. Let me throw out that Ian does this. Let me throw out the rob does that. But I think and I can't emphasize this enough, especially with the way this cast is built. These five, six people need each other because if you are going to study the tapes, study last season's tape, the immediate previous season where the gamers immediately pointed at each other and immediately go down a entire losing hole where you do end up with the Lord Ivar winning a chunk of change here. So they definitely do need each other. And I think that I've thought my positive spin was like, I think Rob is in a good spot amongst the five being one of the two non winners and also being one of the most in like not hasn't been on television more recently people. But I also think that if I am jam jam or Natalie and I am a winner of survivor, I'm like, I'm not going to let Rob just quietly be invisible as an on winner here. I'm going to let them know that he's got some accolades of his own if I need to. So that is also a concern of mine coming into this. But I think also if they're going to, if they're going to go off meta, the gamers specifically and they are faithful, they should bond with each other because I'm assuming if I'm a faithful one of you as the trader, I got to keep nice, nice. >> Right. Well, something really weird about US traders is that some of these people are legitimate household name celebrities, right? And they do not need this at all. They have ongoing TV shows, they have money, they have mansions. This is just literally pure nonsense for them, they are there to have a ball. They will not lose one minute of sleep over this, right? Then you have someone say like Brittany Haynes, who comes in, this is a regular civilian who needs money to care for her children. It's not, they are not apples to apples, right? So when you look at the cast and they're trying to sort of like gleam out like, well, who's doing what? And why are they here in this and that? It really puts the whole thing in a very weird perspective, right? And so what is notable to us is not going to be notable to Lisa, right? Or Portia. They will not give one shit that this man has a podcast about reality TV shows. So like we are like blowing this up. >> And to be fair, a lot of reality TV stars now have podcasts about reality TV. >> Of course, right, but if you're, if we're looking at the CBS people and worried about the infighting, but something else that immediately jumps out to me is what if Monet comes in to settle the score for Bob the drag queen, right? They know reality. He beefed with the survivors last time around. And while you could say, well, Monet might be one of the only people in the cast who has some familiarity with the CBS folks, but what if the familiarity is a negative in this case? And it's more of like, I'm not going down that path again. I know what they're capable of. That's not great, right? And you have to look about, so who is going to care who they are? Who's going to care that they were on and one big brother? And what are they going to do about it? And then who from within the CBS group might be able to get in those players good graces, right? So is Rob going to be someone who's going to be tight with Monet? Or is that going to be Jam Jam? Or is that going to be Natalie? Or is that going to be someone else entirely? So when I start looking at, and of course, I understand we are deeply in the weeds here. I mean, very, very much so. But that's how much I care about how this man is going to do and how much I have thought about this situation. And that's another area where I see one of the only other people who's really savvy to what's going on. Then, of course, the housewives come with numbers. We know full well the traders, survivor big brother, these are numbers games, right? It ultimately comes down to a majority vote to make things happen. So the housewives have numbers. If they make three friends, do they have an unbreakable amount of numbers? We have Tara and Johnny. That is a airtight duo who will never, ever, ever turn on each other in this game. No chance whatsoever, right? So how do you square off against that? Because to our point, Rob could have been there with Tyson. He could have literally been there with people who are his dear friend. He could have been there a year earlier with Daniel Reyes, someone he looked up to from reality television. This is a little bit more of a mixed bag in terms of who he got in the CBS draw. And I don't really see that group staying together. I do see them as every man for themselves here. And it's just a question of who's able to scratch and claw their way out of it and latch on to the other relationships enough to survive it, I think. I would agree with that that he's not coming in with any bad blood. You know, they're really don't seem to be any sort of baked in pre-existing relationships like we saw last season, especially with Danielle and Brittany. But that works for and against him in the scenario and that like, it's great. There's not going to be anyone who has an immediate axe to grind against you or like an agenda. Like we saw with Danielle wanting to push against Carolyn consistently to bring Brittany in. On the other hand, it means that it is built with popsicle sticks, essentially this structure. And so if it bends under the wrong amount of pressure, it could easily snap. I mean, if we're getting into some people who Rob could work with, I flagged a few specific individuals. I actually think Rob and Monet could work really well together. I do see your point that I think Monet is incredibly savvy. I mean, I directly experienced how much of a survivor of that she is, how cutthroat she can be. I like a month before she went out to play traitors. I was hanging out with her in Fiji where she got to show how competitive she is. But I feel like Rob, and this is this is not an apples to oranges comparison, or I guess it is. I look at the way that like Rob regards Bryce Isaiah, who is this like very large personality from the LGBTQ+ community. And Rob is not only so supportive, like he's actively in on the gym, right? Like Bryce is put into stitches every single time that Rob uses lexicon or like is just rolling with whatever chaotic energy they have. Like, I think that, and this is not the Monet preview, my hunch is that like when you have Monet, when you have jam jam, and you have Johnny, there might be an alliance there bred to the fact that they are a perverse share community. But it does feel like a lot of energies at once. And I think that sounds like quite a conversation that you just laid out with the three of them together. Right. And so I think that that's where again, Rob's, I wouldn't say submissive, but his ability to I think make himself smaller in those dynamics could work really well where I think he can no ball and talk a bit with Monet and indeed, or himself in the way that he has to so many members of that community without necessarily coming across as like, oh, I'm super sharky. Monet doesn't really have a lot of knowledge of the podcast. Again, I know that firsthand. She has much more of a knowledge of the work that Natalie and jam jam have done than really anything Rob has done. That's interesting. One person who immediately first off the board jumps out at me, Stephen Coletti. Oh, interesting. So this guy, we have no idea how he's coming into this. Is he a gamer? Does he know where he's at? Does he care? One Iota? Does he know any of these people? Is there a single person here that he has ever encountered in his actual day to day life? But I would go as far as to say, somewhere in the recesses of my mind, and I am going to see Niall. So I really just don't know this, but I believe Rob and I may have many years ago been in a Johnny Fair play fantasy football league that had at least Jason Weiler. And I think while we know he podcasted with Spencer, we also Spencer Pratt. We also know that that did not necessarily go that well. But he has some loose ties into the Laguna Hills community. But also Stephen is like, he's just a guy. Yeah. He's probably a 40 year old guy. They probably connect on sports, just very basic normal stuff. But I don't see him coming in with a whole master plan. He was probably just happy to get the call, happy to be working. And I'm not saying that like in a derogatory way, but he might need some guidance. He might need someone to take him under his wing. And looking at who else is there, who is Stephen going to connect? So forget who Rob is going to connect it, right? Who's he going to is he going to yuck it up with Tiffany? Is he going to be with Durinda is that, you know, I don't, I don't see that. So where is this man going, Rob R or Rob C. Those are pretty much the only two people I see him on that level with. So I could see this as a very good connection, there's nothing that ties them together. No reason to believe they'd be playing together. It should be totally non threading. If they're sitting around very easy, the pass it off is just like bullshitting with the boys. And I know that that's not the game that Rob played when we saw him the last time. But it is because it's someone to scoop up, right? Because it's finding those targets, those gaps in the board, you're not going to extract a housewife like that's not going to be what works for him here. So he has to look around and say, I need somebody and I need them fast, right? So who's, who's that going to be? Who's going to be on night one beer in hand? And we're going to be looking around for I need this guy to vote with me. And so Stephen is someone who I saw right away on that front. But from that capacity, I'm going to call my shot and say that I think Rob will find his new best friend in this mansion, in this castle, and it is Ron Funches. I am making Rob, Rob Ron t-shirts and merchandise to come out when the inevitable thing happens because these two guys are going to be the statler and walldarp of traitor season four. Mark my words. They are both of a very similar mind where they are, they can certainly be very laid back and just, you know, giving snippy witty commentary from the sideline. I think that's a big reason why Ron Funches was cast in the first place is to go to those confessionals. I think the two of them just have very similar energy. Again, like Rob can be very fun, very trolley, very aggressive, but he can be like, again, a little bit more of a soft spoke in one line or mentality. That is what Ron Funches has to offer in space. I just think these two will get along so, so well, I have no idea if it will translate to a game relationship like you're saying Eric, but like, I really think no matter where these two guys go, they are going to be thickest these by the end of this. I could see that. My direction I'm going is we go back to the Metagamer, back to the student. There ain't no way Rob is going to go into that man manner, that castle, and not think I need to scoop a housewife up immediately. Now which housewife couldn't tell you, no idea, but my assumption is Rob is going to try and cozy up with a housewife for two early doors because I think the next biggest group or the all the only other biggest group is usually the housewives franchise. Not saying that they all know each other by any means or are familiar with each other to that degree, but that is the next big number that is there. And I think cozying up to the other bigger group is good because in the event that a housewife for two goes early or a gamer, two goes early, you do not, Rob doesn't want to be the one that gets looked at or pointed out or retaliated against, I feel like. But last season was a bit of a housewives reckoning, right? This was a housewives arm again in the start. I cannot see this happening again, right? Because first of all, the traders producers don't want that to happen because that's when he's making this the breakout hit that it is that it's crossing over to different fan bases, right? So they do not want to wipe out the people that the viewers want to see right away. And also the housewives are not going to want that. So that is not what is going to happen this time around, right? So the question is, is there any infiltrating them or is that even, is it more about picking up everybody else on the board, the people, I mean, I know if I'm there, right? I'm going to put myself into my shared brain matter with Rob again. I'm going after Mark. I'm going after Coltsy and I'm going after, like the people say that like, Mark could literally not know a single one of these people. Steven absolutely doesn't, Ron absolutely doesn't, Eric absolutely doesn't. I would be, you know, putting together the jankiest team, you know, team Avengers that you could ever possibly get the worst squad, the IVARs. That's exactly what I would be doing because everything else is too obvious or too protected. And then of course, there's the Donna Kelsey in the room, which I think unfortunately looms very large over the season. And we saw this once before to an even lesser extent with my fellow mastermind Frankie Grande and his sister once that was out of the bag. And they didn't even know who she was and she wasn't even the star that she is now. And it basically became that he was an untouchable player at that point is like we are not getting on the wrong side. I want my backstage tickets. I want to be at a party where I may accidentally bump shoulders with her or whatever the case may be. And in the meta, meta, meta of the meta gaming, you do not want the Swifties against you. You do not want the chiefs fans against you. And you know, if you go after Kristen, you know, I don't think that like people are coming after you with pitchforks. They might not the top chef fans might not be thrilled, but like everyone will move on. They're not that invested. Donna's fans might be that invested or Donna's fans by proxy, you know, not really Donna fans. So she is somebody who, I mean, just write her down for the final six, you know, it's she is not leaving this castle until somewhere at the very, very end. So what does Rob do with that information? My concern is everyone has the exact same read, right? Yeah. So then it's like, so then it actually almost inadvertently becomes her choice, right? Does she become the shot caller of this entire game because she's not going anywhere. And everyone wants to be in her good graces, right? So does she hand select who she wants to drag on? I know that this is an absurd notion to you, Mike. But is it a possibility that we're about to see Donna Kelsey, my boss kingpin here? I mean, forget trader angels, what about Taylor angels here? Everyone wants to be able to get protected, whether she is actually traitorous or not, because yeah, well, they have immunity not only through the game, but through the virulent army of Swifties that'll surely be responding in the comments all season long. I mean, this was one of my early predictions and I still feel comfortable with it. Donna Kelsey is going to be in the turret. I feel like you are not bringing her in to be a quiet episode three murder in the night. I think she's one of the ones in the turret. And so I genuinely do see both of the idea that she's in the final six and or also her being a shot caller early, the thing is though, no matter who you are, that starts to wear off a little bit with the traders by the time you get to like the third or fourth round table. So if she's running a lot of it and they're getting it wrong, I could see her eventually getting booted by somebody. I could see them getting fed up, but in the beginning, I think she is the person everyone should 100% be trying to bond with. I feel like to go about your earlier question, we have like, and I have very remedial knowledge of the house size, but like who would be someone that he could cozy up to? I think he would seek the biggest personalities, partially because it is something to kind of hide behind also because I do think it's a little bit of like rob wanting to have fun. And you could see again his face light up when he gets to talk with some of the ridiculous reality TV personalities that he's gotten to over the past decade and a half. So I could see like Rob and Lisa Rina happening. I think that could be incredible TV of Rob just letting Lisa talk to him about whatever. And he is just completely yes-standing, everything, whether like trolling her behind her back or to her face. I could see him in Durinda as well to could bond over, you know, tri-state area, drama and the like. So there is a possibility that he could be recruited to their side as well. But I think Eric you bring up a good point about, could we see Rob do something similar to what he did in the final seven of Amazon, which is, hey, here's this block of people that I'm kind of associated with. Let me try to gather up all the loose ends and tie up sort of an opposition to get what I want at the end of the day. Also, do you want to play the game with people who care or people who don't care? That's sort of an interesting thing from Rob's point of view because here you have some people who are in it for the, the laughs. And some people who are competitive by nature too, you know, some people we have not really discussed vis-à-vis how they relate to Rob would be Kristen, Tara, Johnny, who are cut-through competitors. You're not in Olympian, you're not a top chef, champion if you are not a competitive person. So those are going to be people that although they're not from the strategist realm are there the play, does he recognize game, recognize game, and he picks them up as people who might be movers and shakers? Or is he wary of them? Is he better off dragging the Stevens who may, or the Erics, who maybe have literally no idea what where they even are? Which I think, and Pooey, you could speak to this a lot better than I can. I think every season there has been the three or four people who look like they're in a haze, like they just literally can't even fathom what is going on around them. So do we see Rob as wanting to capitalize on that, or does he need people to match the energy of wanting to get invested in the game structure? I think the latter, because I think the former is a sweet treat and a good idea. But I think if I'm Rob, the last thing I want is for someone who has no idea what's going on to act holier than thou and push me out of the game. If I am taken out by the hands of a champion of any sport or any game, I can live with that. But if a Lord Ivar equivalent is the one that not only gets me, listen, at this point to me as someone who's gotten flack from a contestant before, Lord Ivar is the safest pick because that man does not know this exists in the comments you I was just I was missing to a podcast the other day. It a chap named Pooja was rather fresh about me, Sam told me that I needed to check out this guy talking mad crap on us. Oh God, yeah, we're going to spoil his tee for sure. Well, yeah, to my the equivalent of that person in the castle, the last thing I would want is for that person to tap dance on my grave and also have like the final words at a banishment. So I think that it is a fun exercise to have those people and I do think the Stephen thing, that's an eye opener to me here because I had never even factored that in that I could see Stephen being the person Rob says, Hey, in the passenger seat, we can have some like, you know, let me show you the ropes. But I think that a lot of these pickups, the worry would be are they absolutely controllable pickups or are they pickups in the beginning and then they're going to wake up and push you out of the car because I think that's the last thing you want is for that person to get you. What are the chances that Rob for the bit either works closely with or closely against Rob Roush from the moment this cast was leaked, we were all laughing about the fact that why can't Rob be the only Rob on his season twice now is there going to be an instant connection with love Island Rob or do you think there's only room for one Robert in this castle? I don't like this storyline that you are cultivating because it rings too true, right? We have the Rob who sucks, the Boston Rob, this is followed our poor friends for so long. What if it happens again, what if he is showed up by another Rob? What if we talk about Rob's season of the traders and it's Rob R's season of the traders and not Rob's season of the traders? I don't like it. I don't like it at all. I don't like that they're both, you know, similar, you know, they're probably both cracking jokes. Like have a similar space inside of this structure, I curse you for even putting this out into the universe. I don't want to hear it, they're going to be best friends, but truthfully, so I know that I'm a personality type that people tend to either really like me or really dislike me. I'm a bit more polarizing in that way, people are rarely just indifferent. So if I look at who might Rob irritate on this cast or who might be sort of jockeying for the same things or positions or oppositional to him, and I do not have a lot of personal familiarity with him, but just looking at the types, I am concerned that other Rob might be someone who is opposed to him in this game. My question then becomes, will other Rob have the motion though to bring people in? Because I don't really know. He's a very hard one to read because I do think that having watched this season, one thing that was for certain is that the charisma is there. He has a charm about him, that is for sure. But is he motivated to really give this game a go or is he going to be the second in command in someone else's crew? Because we had in season two, we had the Peter Powell's, Peter at the forefront, is he a Peter or is he the guy from? >> Burger. >> Yeah, or is he a burger? Actually, Burger was beloved though, like the cast yearned for Burger, like they love that man. >> That burger delicious. >> Yeah, they really love, so I don't know if they're going to be loving Rob the same way, but also this is, or are we going to see a different Rob to the Rob, I mean even the Rob in Love Island, yeah, the audience may have been annoyed with the man, but like he was loved in the Island. So I don't know, it's going to be an interesting conversation to have, it just I think comes on to how motivated is he to really give it a go? >> I think the other, we've talked about generally about like how the other gamers might be able to utilize him or not so much. I mean, I think the biggest relationship that Rob can bank on is Ian considering that Ian was such a big part of R&JP for so long, Eric, you sat alongside the two of them playing risk together over a decade ago, obviously Ian has been away from reality TV and especially away from like just the general stream of reality TV discourse for a while, but do we think that like it'll just be like old times for the two of them back together? It's like, because I would imagine especially from Ian's perspective, he might need Rob considering how again, out in an Island, he's kind of been even within the gamer community. >> Ian is really an interesting wrinkly in Rob's potential game. I do not perceive them as being super close friends, but obviously they know each other well on a very good terms working relationship from years ago. They have encountered each other, talked on the podcast many, many times. Ian is a masterful strategist and he's not looked as such because of the way that sees in 14 a big brother ended in some people thinking that that was Dan's game, but Ian did all of those things by intention. He made himself the little brother. He thought that it might be a bitter jury. This was not someone who was just along for the ride and had the good fortune fall upon him. As I briefly mentioned earlier, he is a world class back up in player and not talking about someone who does this as a casual hobby, he is an elite, elite mind for these type of things. However, Ian is not the extroverted social guy that Rob is, so Rob's relationship building is going to be totally essential to Ian and then the question is does Rob feel like that is a value add to his game or does he feel like he's sort of hurting himself by potentially bringing Ian along for the ride in this game because I do think Ian would need to piggyback on Rob's relationships. I really have a hard time seeing a world in which the speed of this game where Ian is jumping out and making those connections, Rob is his safe place here, right? So he's going to be the first person, he sits next to add a breakfast, it's just what does Rob want to do with that and how much do you feel, this is something you have to consider on on these types of shows. How much do your personal feelings come into play versus your game? If he is reading that Ian might be an anchor to his game, does he still feel the need or desire to protect him or does he cut ties and move on? I do think that they're both going to see each other as each other's constants in this castle specifically because while we're looking at this cast, there's not really any, to me, they're easily, while neither of them have any strong connections here, they're easily each other's strongest and I think a quick check in temp check is going to be there. I think that as far as Ian goes, his journey is going to be very interesting to me because weirdly enough, Mike, there is a bit of a similar trajectory to the Rob side of it all granted Big Brother 14 to all Big Brother All stars in case he's in 22 is a bigger gap than the 6 to 8 that Rob had, but similar in result a little bit where Ian doesn't get the traction that he's looking for and does get exited out what someone middle of the game is. Yeah, but never really having any power, right? He was more so like, he was, he was, he, other more threatening, you know, pervading people were taken out, but it was, you know, as much as things kind of turned in a very specific way to have Ian become the number one target of the week, there wasn't really anyone protecting him to bring him to the end, much like we saw with Rob Cicernino. Yeah, yeah, I don't know, yeah, I think they're going to, I think they're going to be good with each other at least at the very start. And I think that they both do need each other in there to a certain degree. I do not see Rob going all out to defend Ian if Ian is seen as suspect. I don't think Rob's going to end up, I think Rob recognizes to not do that for just about anybody if he can help it. But I think I could see them working some particle at the very least at the beginning, whilst they, you know, figure stuff out. And specifically in Rob's case, whilst Rob starts making these bonds that are not there yet, it's kind of like, you know, the whole thing of like when you are away from home, having that little bit that can still tie you back to home can help refresh you, recharge you, reenergize you. You can look at him and see home. Exactly. So that's his, that's his home right there is Ian, just in them, see of unknowns, having a couple of people that you are familiar with can allow you to reset and get back into the game when you need. And if these two get jamming together, you know, let alone if they get a Tiffany or a Nathalie in the mix with them or whatever, their strategic acumen is off the charts, right? Yeah. So it's just about, you know, it's just about appearances and what do you want it to be known that you know this man, that your friends with this man within the community. It's such an interesting community dynamic with these pre-existing sort of reputations and relationships. And like I was saying before, every single person there knows exactly who Lisa is. I would wager that it's possible that literally no one other than Rob knows who Ian is. You know, so I think that maybe Tiffany knows who he is, you know, but I don't know, but you know what I'm saying? It's so, it's so interesting because like your reputation and relationships are what you make of it. But in reality TV, especially a game like this perception is reality, right? So I just think that more of the point I was getting at is that not that Ian would ever be a detriment to Rob's game. He's a great player and I think they're on great terms. It's more about do they want that to be known? And when it gets a little hot for one of them, are they in it for the long haul and going down with the ship together? Or are they immediately saying like, I'm sorry, this did not work out for you, my friends. I'll see you on the other side. All right. We have two survivor players that Rob is with, Natalie and Jam Jam. If you have to pick one that is most likely to be his friend by the end of his journey and one who is most likely to be his foe, who are you assigning what to? Very difficult if we have to declare one as foe because I just don't see it. I don't think there's a chance that we're going to have like survivor on survivor violence going on here. I mean, in the game, perhaps, but I don't I think all three of them seem to be like folks that are not going to carry it after the fact that being said, this is a very complicated question because Mike and I believe you were in the same room with me. We got to go to a survivor 45 episode, like, you know, sneak peak before everybody else released thing in New York a couple of years ago. And these three were in the same room that day. So it is kind of surreal to talk about it. It's tough because I do think that I want to say Rob had a relationship with Natalie a lot longer and you know, more of a relationship has been a more of a back and forth back in the day. I don't know how much they talk like more recent times. But then Rob been tapped in with the with the new era very, you know, a lot. And like I believe Jam Jam as recently as before they filmed this was like on a recap with him. Yeah. There could be some fun revenge from Jam Jam. Like you told me not to look at the chat now I'm sending you to chat forever. I have a tough time seeing Natalie going after Rob. I just don't know what's the benefit of that for her, even if they are they're not even on the same side of the playing board, like still protect each other from the other side then just or just leave each other alone. There's no reason to instigate anyone who wants you there or is indifferent towards you whatsoever. I do see Jam Jam, you know, he is traveled a lot since his season of survivors been at events a lot. I know they have crossed paths. I know they have gotten along. So I could see that as being an absolute net positive. I do consider Jam Jam to be a pretty self interested player who is definitely one of the people who jumped to mind as somebody who, if it's a sinking ship, he's jumping off board. He's not going down with the ship. So I don't know enough about him on a personal level or their relationship to weigh in super intelligently. But for me, if I was on this type of show and I was on with anybody who was on my show from years ago in my opinion, we're automatically friends. Even if this is someone that on a big brother all stars I wouldn't play with or at a bar, I wouldn't be excited to see here, they're safety in numbers, right? So it just, Natalie is way too game savvy and way too smart to go after Rob for no reason. There's no advantage to her. I think the more likely scenario is that they end up in a situation where it's sort of one or the other and they have to just decide to either let the group sort it out or then our force to turn out each other like for self preservation. I just don't see like their mission statement being, I'm going to come in here and get Rob at the game. That does not make sense to me. Yeah, I'd agree with that because I think Natalie's playbook, what she did so well in San Mondeo's store was the marinating, which is a classic tactic in these types of social strategy games. But yeah, as you know, of like her blind side of John Mish was paid off so effectively because she buy'd her time. She was not immediately saying, I need revenge. I'm going to come for you again. This is not the Natalie Anderson preview. This is directly applicable to this game, but I don't think she would marinate Rob, you know, that doesn't feel like the type of person that she's like, I'm going to slowly make you feel like I'm your friend only to realize at the last minute that I'm your enemy. Again, I think the way that Rob is probably going to be perceived in this turret and especially from Natalie, who I imagine is not like hugely tuned into all the stuff he's been doing. I just checked in the archives. I think the last time she was on was like, she didn't love No One Alls back in 2018, but otherwise, she really hasn't done a lot of stuff directly with the podcast. I think she's going to see a friendly face and I think she's going to be relatively unassuming about him as opposed to someone like Jam Jam, who I think obviously knows what he's capable up from a game perspective, but much more pertinently knows what he's capable of from a content perspective and knows what he's capable of what his brain is capable of doing where he would be the most and much more likely person. I agree to if his back is against the wall, just take Rob and chuck him under there and say, oh, you don't realize that he's talked about you and you and you and you before on Trader seasons. >> And Natalie's a bit of like a bro herself also. I could see her in that Rob and Steven's side of things, you know, she's a gym rat. I'm saying she's just chill, she's cool, she's gonna be able to hang with them. I really see them as clicking in this game also. If you're gonna look at it in terms of this way, if I'm not gonna win, I would still rather someone representing my show win. There is a little bit of show pride on the line here, right? And we had, right, the challenge has had a win here, the bachelor has had a win here, right? And of course survivor has as well, but I'm just saying, if you're looking at it that way, it's like, well, all things considered equal. If Rob's not gonna win, I'm sure he would prefer Natalie or Jam Jam to win than, you know, some random, you know, they've been lower than Lord Arthur, you know. >> Yeah, I mean, Mike brought this up. So the last Trader's U.S. podcast Rob did before going on this show, he talked about how he, if he was ever given the chance to be on the show, he would be pushing out the Lord Ivar's, the quiet, the borings. And to me, that doesn't say, that says, the most things that says is this. If anyone's being a dullard, he's not gonna like that. And if anyone, he is associated with, and most of these people, he's associated with our personalities, he's not gonna want them out. So I do see him trying to work with them. What gets interesting is, is he gonna back that, right? Is he going to then day one be like, nah, you know what, this person's been quiet for two days, we need to get rid of him. >> Yeah, is this for real? Because this honestly sounds like pandering to be podcast listeners, then something that he will do. >> I mean, because you can't come in and be like, you know, we got to get the laymos out of here. That's like bullying, and I just don't really see him doing that. Also, God forbid, what if he is one of the laymos, you know, what if you're saying, they're like, you know what, you're right, we want this to be the highest. >> He becomes like the laymo. >> Where are you? >> He's the default laymo, right? He gets rid of all the boring people, it's like, well, Rob's actually the most down to earth of all of us, shouldn't we just get rid of him, then should we use his own strategy against him? >> I'm the host of a Bravo show, I've been on 15 seasons of a Bravo show. I was the bachelor, who are you, Mr. Let's, that's right, let's keep the big TV names and get you out of here. You know, I think that that is not an approach I would actively take, I do even frame that inside of the castle like, hey listen, we're going to have to go get rid of so and so because, hey suck, how can you even do that? You know, I really think that this, I get it, and that's probably how he feels in his, his heart of heart and he means ideal world, I think that's a tough sell when you're actually there. >> It makes more sense if it's more of an individual game, right? Because something that could allow you to push out these people is the classic argument up, if we don't get rid of them now, they're going to be sitting in the final four, final five, and that's going to rob you of your chance of winning. But again, because it can essentially be a group project at the very end, at the fires, it doesn't exactly disincentivize people to get rid of the boring individuals. You just really would have to, like, spend a hell of a yarn about, like, Eric Nam has been looking really quiet at the table, has he spoken with anybody? What secrets lie in those luscious loxapins? >> But also, if you were using this, like applying this logic, right, wouldn't you actually want the boring people who are not going to be getting any screen time coming with you? Because then that guarantees you are the star of the show if you are still there, right? Early on, you could say I want to make the best show possible, but if you're there with all of the other biggest characters, then you could fade into the background. I mean, look at Rob's edit on Survivor All Stars. This guy was an enormous presence, an enormous confessionalist on the Amazon, and on All Stars, he was really a background character, and I'm sure that eats away at him. I mean, he brings it up to this day about it, and that's not how he perceives themselves, and it's not how he should perceive himself. So I wonder, this is something that has kind of come up a lot today, is does he perceive himself to be a main character of this season of the show, or is he okay to ride in the background a little bit to help his game? >> I feel like priority number one is to not look a fool. Priority number two is to be a star of the show. That's really what I think is happening, or will be happening, and I think that my feelings has been that my pulse check on Rob is that Rob leaves wanting to be a faithful, which then automatically means you are not a star of a show, you have to earn that spot, because the traders automatically are the star of the show, the kick things off. So you really have to earn that spot in order to do so you have to go to work essentially. >> So that's obviously a question that comes up in every single one of these previews, right? Are we all in that same frame of mind? I personally would bet my life that Rob is going to be a faithful, and my reasons are more from a producing reason than from a chops reason, right? There's only so many times you can go back to the CVS well before A, it becomes too predictable, and B, it becomes alienating to the audience, right? They are, this is on peacock, they want the Bravo audience for sure, those are some of their biggest names for sure, and you want the traders are the main characters of the show, right? The show is called the traders, it's not called the faithful, there are three or four of them, there is not 17 of them, right? And so I think eventually from a producing standpoint you have to position a group of people that you are guaranteeing are going to be central to the action of your show, and you can't tell the same story for five, six, seven seasons in a row. So I think we're getting the shake up this season, which in my opinion slots him in as a faithful, and I'm curious if you guys A, see that the same way, and then see how you feel that going for him, because as a his gameplay, I think all of us we would want to play as a trader, it's conducive to being a trader, but if it's so obvious that you're a trader, it kind of neuters your ability to be a trader. So I mean, do you, do you see him purely down the faithful lane, and if so, how do you see that playing out? So first off, I'll go ahead and play it. So my, I want to co-sign that I also see him being a faithful, and the reason why I want him to be a faithful is because I think that it's going to be a huge sigh of relief for Rob to be a faithful and to build his game with that in mind. And then I think he would be very happy to get pulled into a trader turret, of course. But at that point, he's, you know, it's like you've lived the, you've lived that life long enough that now you can live it as a lie and be fine because you're used to it. I have watched Rob play Mafia, I've watched Rob play, but on the clock tower, when Rob's bad, he can't hide it. And especially if he gets accused, it's done so, it's curtains. So I really hope he doesn't start off as a trader. But I do think if he is a faithful, I think that's going to set his mind right. You know, we talked a lot earlier about if he's going to overthink or do a lot or come in with a lot of things that have to go a certain way. I think the sigh of relief you'll feel when he's a faithful will just kickstart the game that he would want to play. Yeah. Make it three for three. I think that we want a comfortable Rob, right? Like a comfortable Rob is not only a Rob that we are satisfied with as his friends who care about his well-being, but also for content because when Rob is comfortable, again, look at Survivor the Amazon, when he was in a physician and power, he was creating so much great stuff. And I think if you have a little bit more of an anxious, flighty Rob, he might not feel the need to do that. And Rob will also then be able to bank on some of his skills of like observing human behavior, you know, of being able to pick up on these smaller things. And he doesn't have another agenda, another track running on his mind of like, oh no, but I also have to keep up the guys that I'm a faithful. I will say I completely agree with you, Eric, that from a production perspective, there is no way he's in the turret to start. So I think you talk about the CBS reality invoice, but even just looking at who they picked, right? Season one, it was Serena Cody, who were two of the biggest reality stars there out of a half new behalf, better in the past. Season two, Dan, Fadra, eventually, Parvati, all massive names in their respective spheres. Season three, you have Bob the drag queen, you have Carolyn, you have Danielle, Carolyn probably the least renowned name, but still a massive character that they knew they wanted to put in that turret. And then with the cage boys, they knew they were going to get gold with one of either Boston Rob, West or Derek. And then here, again, I really feel like traitors producers go for the low hanging fruit. They go for the biggest names. I will be so forward, as to say, I think the traitors this season, at least to start will be like, Derinda, Donna and Johnny Weir. I think that could be a very likely starting trio. And so I just don't think, and we say this with love for Rob and the renowned esteem he has brought to our community, I do not think that renowned esteem carries over into the larger traitors audience to give the producers incentive to be like, that's a guy we've got to put in the turret table. >> Right. >> Ditto, Ian, Ditto, Natalie, Ditto, Jam Jam, I mean, it's strained on down the line, right? I mean, Tiffany would be so amazing in that capacity, but I think everything you said is exactly right. I think you might have hit the three on the nose potentially with Lisa being the only other like, you know, very, or maybe you were including her, right? It's going to be the big names, right? So I totally, totally agree with that. I mean, I think you guys know the traitors inside and out. And I'm curious how a Rob should approach a faithful game, right? The one of the real catch 22s I always see here is, if you're a mess and you're sending them on wild goose chases and you're totally off base and you're asserting your point of you, that gets you tossed in the round tables, right? If you are actually correct and hot on there, the traitors trail, that gets you killed. If you don't say anything, that makes you suspicious. So what is the way to play this when you're someone who is armed with all of this knowledge? What do you do to survive? I think the number one thing is recognizing that you can't play the out in the open. I'm going to call my spot because if they're wrong, they will punish you. They just will. They always do. I think the best way is to funnel it into a person who's going to be the loudspeaker, right? And do it in a way where it doesn't necessarily come back to you and you're not egging them on. You're kind of feeding into their, you know, you kind of say the word, they run with it and you kind of feed more into that idea and make it seem like it's theirs. And I think Rob would be very good in that role. I think the thing that helps is that because we keep talking about Rob and we're trying to meta Rob, which is the wildest thing here, but we're trying to figure out what kind of player he is, what kind of what are his motivations. If his motivation is good TV and memorable, I think what helps is that I think Rob recognizes the confessional room as a place to be memorable. I think some people make the error of thinking that they have to be memorable when all eyes on the, from the cast are on them, not realizing that as long as all eyes are on you on the show, you're fine. So as long as Rob gets to have his energy released in through the confessionals, I think being in the shadows and like whispering into, you know, Hey, Steven Colletti, you want your moment in the sun? How about this guy? What do we think about him? Go after him and just let other people do all the legwork after that. Be the mouthpieces after that. What do you think Puyah about the trinkets that are involved in the traders increasingly? So the things like shields, the sear power, it's always a double edged sword. I run if they know for a shield because if you're going for them, does it mean like, okay, do you feel like you're in danger? Why do you think you're in danger? Or like if you're not going for them, do you feel comfortable about this came up a lot during that initial boat challenge in season three? If Rob is a faithful, do you feel like he should be going for these forms of safety? Or should he be trying to lie in the back pocket to be a little more obscured? I think there's nothing wrong with wanting a shield. At the end of the day, it is outside of being a trader is the only way to guarantee a good night's sleep, like a stress free sleep. I think what you shouldn't do is be the poster child for a shield's McGee over here. It wants all the shields. You don't want to be that person, right? I feel like Tony kind of falls into that person in the previous season. So as long as you're vying for a shield, but you're not seen as the greedy shield person, I think you're fine. There are, depending on what kind of mission they have though, if it's a very public facing shield where you have to get it and then take it away from somebody else, I would avoid all that altogether because that almost will be more punishing than anything. But if there's five shields out there, you have to go for it, why not? Just don't piss anybody off. >> Well, on a more obscure but fellow network show in Deal or No Deal Island, we saw former trader Parvity basically have immunity almost the entire show. >> Yeah. >> That letter cook, right? That she was able to settle in in a way and then feel that relief. And I do think that especially early on just getting his footing, just that sigh of okay, I was not killed. I have a little room and time and place to operate here is a big deal. So if I'm him, I would be especially if it's half the cast has won in those first two, one or two when you can do it sort of nonchalantly without right, without causing major attention to yourself and without being considered greedy, I think you got to go for it because I think that it gives you room to operate, right? I just think that that's really key here. I think if you start off like on your heels and you're forced into backpedaling and scrambling right away, I think it's really detrimental to your game here. I think of the game or types who were the faithful. I think we saw Sandra do it really, really well where she was able to settle in and build her numbers organically and I mean someone who theoretically, if we were the ones analyzing it, we would have had her threat level at 10 million when she showed up there and was able to bring it the temperature way down on herself. So I think let's give Rob four or five days and I think he's starting to really feel himself a little bit, get the ideas working, starting to make those moves and to your earlier point Mike, starting to make better TV. I mean, I could say this from my own personal experience, the weeks I knew I was safe. I had an ally in power and I had seven days to relax. This is going to sound absurd. I made way better TV because I was comfortable in the confessional. I was thinking about two weeks down the road, three weeks down the road and I knew that it wasn't my life on the line based on everything I said or did. So it relieves the tension, right? So I think that if we want what is the best case scenario for him, he comes in, he gets a shield once or twice in the early going and then to what he did in the Amazon, other people are fighting right over his head. He's pitting him against him. He's starting to grab the numbers and really gets a chance to settle in. The opposite of that is the all-star scenario where you never had a chance in the first place, right? And that's what not having a shield can do for a faithful. So I'm squarely in the camp of go-after him, just don't be a jerk about it. Yeah. And I think even when we get to a challenge like we saw in the church last season where they had to like pick the people that they want to give shields to, I think he is a student up at least to again be able to read the room to not only know when he needs it versus when he doesn't, but to also clock how people are reacting. I mean, in theory, that was one of Danielle's big red flags was the behavior that she was using in that challenge. So I think, he also, I think probably season, this is where again the meta knowledge comes in handy is that I think he knows what challenges are prime opportunities to be able to sus out who traders might be as a faithful. Now, granted, I am very intrigued to see how people who are the traders this season have adjusted to just, let's just call it out the bumble fuck tactics of the traders in season three. Whether they'll be more adept to it or whether it's just a really tough job to do and they'll also make similar mistakes if not new ones. >> Yeah, I mean, you never know until you see what that makeup of that turret is, but I think historically now whether you're just watching the US or you're watching all the English seasons or just generally, I think the move is very crystal clear. Do you want to stick together as traders in the beginning because all you're going to do is give the faithful's ammo to figure you out if you turn on each other too early. But if the turret does look similar to what you proposed, Mike, which I do think you have the cosine of both me and Eric in that it is like a Durinda Donna and, do you say Johnny? >> I said Johnny because I feel like maybe that story line might have like one, yeah, one to faithful winter Olympics plug Taylor Swift plug and we do not want the housewives to go out early again is a very good reasoning from the producers to make these three happen. Now if they do that, I could see that turret working together because I don't think you're going to get confessionals from Donna Kelsey being like, well, I don't trust the housewives they are menacing we need I need to tell everybody I need to make sure Durinda goes out early. I don't think there's any reason to do that. I think they will see it as a team sport and they will work like that at least at the beginning. The problem is with our lovely gamers and I love them all the death, not specifically talking about this cast, but you know, cast pass is that they do come from shows that are individually serving. You are told in that game it's all about you outlasting people, there is only one winner at the end of this, there's one big check and one name goes on it. So you are actively thinking, all right, three steps ahead means how do I get rid of Boston Rob down the line? Not so much how do I get to final six and then kick Boston Rob out, which is probably what makes the most sense there. So depending on the makeup, I do see those wrongs being corrected, but at the same time we could just as easily see one wrong decision. Someone in the turret does throw out a housewives name as a suspicion. We saw Fager not liking that before. It could happen again where someone like Durinda is like, why are you bringing up any housewives period? Like I don't like that. And they go after each other anyway. I think the lessons to be learned, this is one of them, whether that's this season's lesson to be learned or where you have to look at season five and hope they figured it out is yet to be seen. >> Well, let's imagine that it's some sort of trio like this, right? What in the world would our love it, lovely Rob, do to these people to raise their eye to have him be killed, he's not that dumb, what's he going to do, he's not going to go agitate them, he's not going to go and start dropping the names of other housewives. He knows for a fact that one of the housewives is going to be a traitor. So you're not going to go around the house, always kill all the housewives, that's completely moronic. The thing is, this podcast is turned into a really strategy forward, what if, what if, but let's not forget, like he is excellent at these things, he is not going to shoot himself in the foot in that way, so I think that scenario where they're all working together, it could take a while before they get to Rob on the list, what is he doing to incite them in any which way, unless all of the gamers are just grouped together and they're totally like basically non distinct from each other, as in they're just say, let's just kill all of them or any of them, it really doesn't matter, whoever is easy to pile on that day, let's just get rid of him and it's something, nothing that he personally is doing to get attacked. Even still though, I think that that probably is more likely to fall on Jam Jam who's a bigger personality or Ian who is obviously like an outward math nerd, that is in his bones, so I think that if I'm going to just say, we gotta start picking off some of these people, it's not going to be Rob, I really, now I'm starting to actually question this entire narrative that we have cooked up about the podcast and whatever, is anyone really going to care, I think we just care, it's almost like your own algorithm on social, we're clicking the same shit over and over again, and it's like a self-fulfilling world where because we're living in the bubble, we care, but if we actually just stepped one foot outside of our own algorithm, do any of these be, does Johnny weird care that Rob talks about survivor on a podcast, absolutely not? >> No, it's a very good point that I think, and this is why also people lie about their jobs on reality TV, is they do the, well if I were that person, I would care if I was in this role, and it's, people are incredibly different, and that is something that you very much need to weigh if you are a satisfactory at least player in these type of things, so it's a very good point, not to mention you're talking about Donna Kelsey, like her children and in-laws are hosting some of the most successful podcasts in the world, if she says, oh yeah, he's a famous podcast, she goes, get in line. >> Right, it's also like, I'm an Olympian, you have a podcast, and this is like a big part of all of our livelihoods. I am not poo-pooing that as a thing, I'm just saying in their own mind, they're heroes of their own narratives and rightfully so, it's so funny, we have not mentioned this name once on this podcast, I think we all know he is not long for the show, but like, regardless of how you feel about him personally, Michael Rapp report has starred on TV shows, like real scripted TV shows, I don't think that these people are going to be as awestruck about this as many concerns. >> Yeah, absolutely, I mean, I think the reality is, the podcast, Rob was one of the first ones to really make it a platform that was strong enough that like really was something he built from the ground up, everyone has a podcast now. And I think the lockdown COVID definitely added more podcasts than even were there before. Now you have celebrities who have had at least one or two podcasts under their belt. How many casts of shows from the 90s, the odds, have now started podcasts where they're recapping their own show that they were ones on? But I think it's less of an ooh-ah thing that people may imagine. And I think that really the only thing that could happen is if for this season, the gamer thing becomes a big conversation. And Rob is put there as the poster of, well, he is the leader of the gamers, he literally talks about this. That is the only way I see that biting him, but I just, that was a very specific scenario where the narrative of this season is we are looking at the gamers and it's the gamers massacre. Aside from that, I think that he can, he'll be fine. I mean, on the flip side, which is something we have never even considered, it doesn't seem super likely, but if you go all the way back to Big Brother All Stars, Mike Boogie, another name I wish I didn't have to speak out of my mouth, but he promised a lot of things to people based on where he was at that point in his life, in his career. And I do say at that point, he's not in that place anymore, but he was offering good jobs. >> He has to repay multiple debts, both financially and to people who he said, hey, come into Dolce anytime and ask for me if you give me your vote. >> That's right. I mean, he's given outbottle service left and right and jobs and so on and so forth. But it actually worked because reality stars are desperate for their 16th minute or their next opportunity or to up their cool factor ever so slightly and to walk into some of L.A.'s hottest clubs, right? Is there any world in which we workshop the idea that Rob actually uses the podcast platform as a plus? Is he offering out hosting jobs to people? Is he saying, hey, we're going to have the biggest freighters podcast out there for the next 10 seasons while this runs? Is there- >> There are going to be on American Airlines. >> You can be on American Airlines, but it's, hey, right. Is there any worlds in which this is actually an opportunity for any of the other cast members? The man is a business mogul. He runs an empire. He knows how's it done. Is there any way that he actually leverages it or do you think he just completely tries to sweep it under the rug entirely? >> I don't think- it depends on how Rob sees it, right? Does Rob walk into this, be like, I don't know, I have a whole empire here. I'm going to put them onto it. I don't think he's looking at it like that. I think Rob to a certain degree is very much the person who still doesn't call it out as an empire, right? Doesn't see it as an empire. I think both in ways that's great because you're always looking to, it's all about growth, you're trying to grow it. But I think in other ways, I think it's just the way Rob looks at it. And he's like, at the end of the day, this did for a long time feel and operate like a little mom and pop shop over on the internet, where it is for a niche or audience. I think we can speak on this in the last handful of years. I have seen the impacts of this podcast grow and grow and grow to the point where it is being referenced on a show or two, where we are seeing more people watch this. More of casts of these shows now will watch and look out for the podcast to see what's being said. We have really come a long way, but I think Rob, yeah, my guy, my dog, I claim him, Sam Eskari, what's up? So now he called me a dog the other day. I really hope he doesn't bring me up ever again. I just still can't believe that has happened, but yeah, I don't think Rob sees it as that. I only Rob, like, looks at it that way, which means that I don't think he's he's going to be like, I'll let him in on the secret sauce, the special thing that's going on. I don't think I think he's going to look at some of these people like, that is a whole Olympian there. That man doesn't give a damn about my, my, my, my, that's actually true, right? Yeah, because to your point, Eric, we have sort of like, come full circle in the past decade. We're 2014, everyone had a podcast and then it became more taboo. And now everyone has a podcast again, especially from a celebrity perspective that like, there's very few people from this cast that I can imagine would take that bait. Unfortunately, the most likely would be Michael Rappaport, who I would imagine for many reasons, Rob would not play for, it's going to be for some of non-Krona, that's Rob, which is why he has come up so little here. Yeah, I don't see that man recapping episode seven of season 51. That's not going to happen. I could see Colton pretty excited to have his wealth, you know, podcast as well. But he also is someone that I think Rob will be probably on a, a stricter void in Swift. Oh, I don't know. There could be a chat BCC alliance because of course, Rob big adapter to chat BCC and Colton, I believe has his own channel on chat BCC. Oh, wow. That's impressive. That's what they're going to bond over breakfast. As soon as app, you have it now, something we have not hit on at all. And I don't think has happened in any of the American seasons of the show. If we had to look at the cast and guess who might Rob have a show man's, I can't even say it. Rob. Rob was the one to have the finger on the post-Romber, right? He said, Rob and Abraham are going to do it. So if anything, he might be the cupid setting up who can be. Thank you. You just saved my life from the call. I don't. Yeah, I don't know if Rob playing matchmaker, I mean, historically speaking, the man has been responsible for many relationships that have blossomed through the podcast. I don't know of any instances myself, but I'm sure there are out there. I mean, I don't know if I could see like a bomb between Rob and Mora Higgins or like Mora's trying to find something and Rob's like, listen, I've to your point, I've done this before. Let me set you up. Oh, the possibilities are endless, you know, it's, you know, it's our job here to dissect and pick a part. Yeah. But when you just think about the fun, he's going to have, and we're all going to have with this, I mean, there's nothing in my mind that what could really go wrong here? Who cares? Whatever he says is going to be hilarious, whatever he does is going to be a big swing, you know, it's, it's funny to stop down and, and the analysts about this, but we all know we're watching this as like embarrassing die hard stands for him and everything he does. Oh my god, even if it's not funny, it's going to be the funniest thing and it because the one thing I'm sure of is that he's going to light up to be there, right? I do think he realizes that there's a lot of people that they can choose from. I do think he realizes that this is a show that is hot right now. And I don't think he's one to look at gift horse in the mouth. I think he's going to show up with a great attitude and perspective on this. And I think that for however long he's there and however deep he gets his hooks in, he's going to enjoy it and then we're going to enjoy it. It's very easy for the viewer to like the experience when the person themselves is liking for it. When you start to push up against watching someone is because they themselves are going through it. I don't see him having that experience or that level of stress here. I really think he's probably at peace with it as much as we are riding in here and therefore I think it's going to be a joyous. I'm excited for a whole new generation of people to be introduced to him. And that's something that of course is a net benefit that he's never going to talk about. So we can talk about it. I hope this brings thousands on thousands of new people to come and check him out and enjoy what he's doing and that is a win for him, whether it's a win on the show or not, right? So, and I'm not even saying like, oh, it blows up. The traders, I'm saying they enjoy what they see of him. They seek out more content of him in a world of, you know, creator based content and then they stick with him and ride him out and these people don't even know the last 20 years of lore. I mean, now get to come along for the next 20 years, which it would be amazing. We're going to be in for such a rude awakening when they enjoy him on the traders and then go back to watch Survivor Amazon. Well, yeah, that's it. Maybe even Rob himself would be like, hey, don't go back to that. You can just start with me now on the podcast. Yeah. Well, that's the thing though is that I think what will help encourage that is like, as you mentioned, if Rob isn't his element, if he isn't his comfort zone, like, he is such a talented person. And he would never say that himself. So we're going to say it for him, Rob. You are incredibly talented at what you do and you're incredibly hard work. And if that's on display, even a modicum on this show, people will want to check out what he does for a living. And so I agree it's going to be a huge and positive. Now my final question is, you talk about the opportunities that opens up for other people. I do want to indicate Deena cats, cast the traders, also cast dancing with the stars, Mark Bellis, this professional dancer on dancing with the stars. As recent as this season, we saw Fadra appear as a crossover contestant last year, Dylan Ephraim. Of course, now that I remember his name, made the full crossover this year, made it all the way to the finale. Do we get Rob on dancing with the stars in fall 2026? This is the single best and most absurd notions come out of this entire insanity of the last two hours here. I will, on my own dime, be flying out weekly. I will be the Boston Rob in the audience for Dylan Ephraim cheering on, I could not think of anything better for this to culminate in it is such a ludicrous premise that I now must have this. Yes, Mike. Well, not to mention as well, Boston Rob has sort of said in no uncertain terms that he is getting calls to be on dancing with the stars, so imagine if he caught, oh my God, Boston Rob. That's when he has to hang it up at that point, right? Because if he's going to be on television, there's got to be another rob there at that point. Yeah, they bring back Rob Kardashian again to compete if it's not Boston Rob. Yeah. I mean, listen, if this does snowball effect into more opportunities for Rob on TV, I would love for him to consider taking them, especially if he had a positive experience doing this. I think we proved over the summer that the podcast will be in good hands if you got to go do some. So please go do it. I think that my feelings on Rob being on is that at the end of the day, we made it. Like he made his return and no one can take that away from him nor us. My bucket list for him slash my wish list is that we at least get him passed one month of broadcast, meaning because we're getting three episodes. That's going to be happy, we're getting half the season in the first two weeks. Exactly. I would have said episode five, but I don't want him gone after two weeks. You know what I mean? That's not, that's not what I want. One month of broadcast, I want to see at least one-thirds trap of him in the wild where someone just pulls up on the algorithm. I want one quote that people start using that becomes like a, whether it's a meme or it's like a good moment, I don't, I'll take either. And I want him to when I do my deep dive with them post season, say, I had a good time. Those things fulfilled. I'm happy. You know, obviously if he goes all the way and wins, that's very much amazing and I will take that, but I got to go with a more realistic, a little more wish list to feel satisfied with. I think when you ask Eric, like, why, what does he want to accomplish being there? I kind of think it's that. There are obviously nice, secondarily business reasons for it, but I think I said this when the cast was announced, like this should be looked at as a, we were to say dream come true because it kind of already happened the first time when he was on Survivor could happen for the second time when he made this this career. This was a dream deferred, I should say, that he is talking the past about the numerous close calls he's had with coming back to Survivor that he still had that hunger, residual in the back of his stomach or going on decades on decades, as he mentioned, I think he feels a lot of accomplishment just touching down in Scotland. I think he feels that this is a moment of redemption for him in so many ways, but he's not necessarily going to take it as like now's the time to rework my image. He knows the game literally and from a production perspective, he knows what is going to fly, he knows what is going to make great content. I'm not saying he's going to try to operate from a producer's perspective, I think he's going to keep a lot of that in mind while also simultaneously creating an experience that he knows is fulfilling to him. We can talk what we want to about what we know about Rob. At the end of the day, Rob knows himself more than any of us. And I think no matter what happens, especially with a show where maybe in certain ways, making your way to the fire pit is not a capital W win as much as other things. I have every amount of trust in him that whether he has murdered on that first night or he makes it all the way to last day and causes a greener or a red sandbag into the fire that he is going to keep us fed, no matter how much time he has in that castle. Well, I think he's one of probably the top 10 CBS reality stars that has wrongly been not given more and more opportunities. He's one of the people there has been a hankering for that he really does deserve it. You see some other people in the brought back time and time again. Rob, it kind of feels like was lost in the shuffle. I think some of it is just the timing of when he was on the first few times and then when returning seasons come and where he fits into them. But the fact of the matter is, and I'm willing to come out here and put these things on the record. It is completely egregious that he's not on the cast of Survivor 50. It is an a literal outrage and a complete misunderstanding of what it is that is important to the fan base and a cornerstone of the show. It is ridiculous to me, both Rob the player and Rob the podcaster is not a part of the celebration of 50 seasons of Survivor and he would have been extremely additive to that. So I am absolutely thrilled that this opportunity came right on the heels of that. It's a preferred opportunity, a more fun opportunity, a better vacation, a great game, a new game, and a whole host of new audience that's going to say, I was not familiar with your game, sir, which he would not have gotten from the Survivor experience, right? So the timing of this to me is impeccable and as someone who has discussed this with him a million times before, he's not fooling anybody, he's thrilled to be there. This is it's cool, man, it's awesome, like let's be happy, you know, it's so I agree. I think we're going to see the Rob that we know and love who is just happy to be there and then the instincts are going to kick in from there, right? It's not like he's going to be just, I'm so happy to be here, so kill me and I'm going to roll over. It's going to be, I'm happy to be here and this is kind of like riding a bike. This is coming back to me real fast. >> Yeah, well, I believe we're about to wrap up here for this preview. Just want to give you all a heads up. Those of you who were not present for last year's preseason coverage, this is not going to be the regular runtime. We have well and truly broken the record of last years, which I believe Mike was also present for when Mike and Josh Wiggler did the double combination of Dylan Efron and Lord Ivar. >> Yes, the most mentioned man on this podcast, even more than Rob perhaps. You know, maybe he is the clout now, I don't even know, but hey, Lord Ivar, don't at me, it's fine. But yeah, so usually the runtime of these are going to be about 20 to 30, a little more bite size for you, but listen, the fact of the matter is Rob is a close dear friend to everyone on this panel and I have not podcasted about Milf Matter with anybody else on this cast. So I do not know them as well as I know Rob, not yet at least exactly, but this was an absolute treat and I cannot wait to see where we go. I wonder if there's going to age really well or age poorly, but hey, someone that's watching this after the season, let us know how we did. Eric, this has been a wishless bucketless moment for me, honestly getting to talk to you. So thank you so much for agreeing to come on in the event that you would like to be found on socials. Let the people know where that is. Well, you probably can't find me and if you did find me, what you would find is that while I re-emerged out of an 18-year-old hole a few months ago, I have now since vanished again. I have really nothing to say for myself, nothing to promote, nothing to do. Actually, I'm hoping the change that soon though. So when the time comes, I do have a couple of things brewing. We're not going on TV shows though. So don't misconstrue what I'm saying. I assure you, that is not happening, but no, no, no, no, I need to find me. I have nothing to promote, nothing to say. Happy to be here. Thank you so much for thinking of me and I apologize for making this 20 times the normal run length. I am nothing if not extraordinarily long wins you. You are absolutely fine, Eric, and this did not feel, for what it's worth, did not feel like the length it is. But someone who definitely is not unfamiliar to making a podcast run triple the size of what it may be, is my guy Mike Bloom, who is about to list off all the things he is doing. Mike, let me know. Yeah, I mean, to be fair, at this point, the podcast is coming out. We are in a little bit of an off-season period. Obviously, with Survivor coming to a close, amazing race coming to a close. Of course, you can check out the interviews I'll have there. I mean, yeah, between Eric and I, we're like a hurricane in terms of just two cross-long wins, mixing together to create a weatherly storm. I mean, what I can also tease is that I will also be doing some coverage of the traders for parade, which I am very excited about. There's some sporadic coverage with somebody else over the past couple seasons, but I'm officially taking the hood on this time around, which I'm, of course, very pumped about, give in my vested interest in this cast. And outside of that, you mentioned Survivor 50 a few times, it made some very salient points to Eric. So, Survivor 50 will be coming to the air February 25th, will be the day before the traders finale and sort of like taking, you know, a page out of your book, Puyah, I'm going to be doing some previews for the cast members there. Of course, we'll have the interviews that I got to do with the cast of Survivor 50 out on the islands, but much like these podcasts, we also want to give people a little bit of a reminder/resume of who each of these cast members are, and, you know, where they might fall in the grand scheme of things. So, expect that in your feeds January, February, leading up to the premiere proper, otherwise check out everything I'm doing at a Mike Bloom type. Perfect. Thank you for that, Mike. Y'all can find me on socials at PuyahismTwitch.tv/Puyah. I do intend on throwing watch parties and watching the episodes as they go live on Peacock with you this season over there, so make sure you pull up and watch along with me. I will be still talking about 90 day. That's for sure. Me and Leana will still be joining you every week over on the Puyah and Leana Lounge for our regularly scheduled shenanigans, and I will be talking the traders UK alongside the traders US. If they're about to go hand in hand, only a week apart January, 1st for January, 8th premieres, make sure you are tapped in for all of those, and Annabelle will be joining me back for that coverage, so make sure you look up for those. Thank you everybody for listening to us. We'll be back tomorrow with another person, another preview, but until then y'all take you have a good one. Bye. (gentle music)