Survivor AU: Redemption Week 3 Exit Interviews

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3:06on our Australian survivor redemption coverage. It was a big week. We swapped tribes officially. We saw a lot of the new bounty tribe. In fact, I'll be talking with three members of the new bounty tribe. So yet again, this is your warning to Bamboo's. If you have not already watched episodes seven eight and nine because we are talking about three very intriguing characters on this season. You'll be hearing my conversation with Don Rogers slash Roberts, Lindel and Ted's. These were a lot of fascinating, fantastic chats where we heard a lot about the methodology behind what we saw, but perhaps more pertinently for these three, what we did it see in particular. I can excitedly confirm to you that after basically a week of speculation, I was finally able to get an answer once and for all as to what the heck was going on with Lindel and

4:09Brooks idols after the swap where they still active. Why did Brook use it? Why was the idol in Lindel's lower third? We get a clarification from her straight from Lindel's mouth and that should hopefully bring a lot more into focus. Of course, I hope you were focusing on the great recaps we had this week covering all the shenanigans that ensued in this post swap phase. Of course, the episode seven recap with Sheppell, the episode eight recap with Puyah and the episode nine recap, Laura Deris from Blood versus Water from Brains versus Braun to, it was a really fantastic conversation as we tried to parse through a lot of, I would say interesting decisions being made by both players and production. Of course, if you want to check out more discussion about said interesting decisions, you know what to do. We know global survivor got come to make sure you don't miss out on a second, all the coverage we have going on. We'll have a few days rest, but then the Australian survivor week begins a new and frankly, after this week, I have no idea what is about to happen next, but what is going to happen next

5:14for you is you're about to listen to my conversations with Don Lindel and Ted's. Well, lovely to meet you as well, Don. I feel a little underdressed, though. So let me also try to match here. Hi. Welcome to the party. No beavers here, but try to just pay like a person. How are you doing right now? It's been a whirlwind for you. I imagine to say the least. Oh, it has been it has been, but yeah, I'm doing great. It was what an experience. What a ride that the, you know, survivor, redemption's been. It's definitely been a journey, it's been a journey. Well, let's talk about what got you on that ride in the first place because obviously your brother's reputation precedes him. So like was the survivor torturing you for a while? How did you get on to this particular season? Well, I applied a couple of times, you know, obviously see my brother play survivor. I applied a couple of times over the last five years.

6:17And one of those times I got through to the interview and, you know, one of the production or casting staff said, you know, it's not, it's not, you know, it's just just not yet, you know, so on a country music disease part of my redemption story, if you're like, and as my music sort of developed, that profile started to grow and, and I was fortunate enough that, yeah, I just had some of the casting people reach out and that's allowed to go through the casting process, but, yeah, it was amazing. It just, it just sort of fell into place for me. So it's something I'm very grateful for, that's for sure. Absolutely. Well, let's fast forward from the beginning to the end here because from what we see, you know, you come into travel council and you think it's a Sally vote. And all of a sudden, Keely just causes chaos to happen on the other side of tribal. I'm so curious. Did you notice anything that was happening and did that give you any sort of pause as to whether you would be safe? No, I didn't. And it was great gameplay from Keely. I mean, I had no idea.

7:19And I thought the vote was, you know, it took me a long time to sort of, I guess, start playing a, to focus on my social game. I left my run pretty late in that regard. I knew I'd brush people up the wrong way. And my game was just starting to shift. My lines was intact. I just thought, you know, everything was on the up and up. And I thought we had a plan to vote Sally and then, which started out as Tez. And then, but my heart's off to Keely. What, you know, great game play, great game play. Because I was, you know, I watched that episode last night with probably two thirds of the cast members. We had a charity event in Sydney. And everyone was just like, walk like it, like, and, you know, there was over a hundred survive of fans there and, and I would just as, you know, amazed, I was like, wow, like it's a completely left field, completely left field. Well, I'm curious going back to the beginning.

8:21How this all got set up is, as you mentioned, you know, perhaps the social game was not as much of a priority to you as the shelter, at least definitely initially. Was that your game plan going in? What made you so excited on the survival part of things? I don't know. I don't know. I was like, it was like, um, just a default position. I just fell into I just, um, I got to hang up too early on the survival element, like, you know, and there's, you know, you need shelter, water, food. And I thought, you know, if we can get a good shelter and we can rest properly, then we're going to have more energy for the, you know, we get so my motivations were good that my methodology just needed a little bit of work. I was, uh, honey, I knew, I knew earlier I was being abrasive and almost confrontational. And it wasn't intentional. It was just, you know, you're that stretched in so many different ways on survivor, not only physically, emotionally, mentally, um, where what, what, it's the, that I'm called the greatest game in the world for nothing, you know, it's, and I really think that it

9:24is. It's, um, where, what an experience. Yeah. Well, then I'm curious, you know, when were sort of the first signs that you discovered the way you were sort of being perceived? Did you like change anything based on that? Yeah, I did. There was, there was a discussion I had with Ben, uh, big Benny Davis, an amazing guy, and then absolute weapon to have on your team, like his prayer lesson, the challenges, what a beast, you know, and, um, but I was trying to hide my identity earlier. I was saying I was gone Roberts and I, I just didn't want that target of being the Godfather's brother on my back. And I thought it would have put one there and, and I sort of realized that I'd done a good enough job putting a target on myself for my own reasons, you know, and I knew I was in trouble. And Ben pulled me aside the night before it didn't make the edit, but the night before where I got everyone together in the morning and then told him my, you know, the secret I was hiding, um, Ben said to me two words on the beach that just rang in my head all night.

10:24I couldn't shake him. He said, authentic self. He said, don't eat. You're a good guy. Just be your authentic self. Me. And I was like, well, so I went to bed that night and just did not sleep a single wink. I just wrestled with it all night. And I thought, you know, well, I'm going to target on my back anyway. I'm just going to, um, we didn't gain lots of either. When you are stripped back to all you've got your identity, that's all you have. There is nothing else. So and that was a real weight off my shoulders, if you like, once I sort of, I could just be my authentic self. And then my social game slowly started to come around and it just took way longer than it should have. But, uh, but I felt like I was finally starting to hit my stripes, you know, were there any moments besides the one we saw where you slipped up with Don Roberts and Don Rogers because that is alarmingly close between a fake name and a real name. Yeah. Well, that's why I chose that name. I was like, I'm going to come up with something because if I accidentally say rogers, I'm going to go, no, I said, robots like that was, that was a part of the strategy.

11:28Um, uh, that was funny and then Sally picked up on it straight away. And then she just, you know, yeah, yeah, yeah, she, she just, uh, and thankfully, she didn't pursue it. She's like, hopefully you just said, rogers, man, I said, um, then I was, uh, a fun little part of a game play early, but yeah, I wasn't sustainable. It was just too hard. Well, probably one of the reasons why you didn't want to open up about your family is because of the association with Matt. Do you feel like people were looking at you differently after you revealed you were a Rogers? Yeah, but in a good way, yeah, in a, in a good way. I guess they sort of maybe, um, you know, and it's a, it's a double edged sword, but you can get that competitive streak in you and then, you know, um, you're just always trying to push for the win and a clean rub people up the wrong way. But I think it'll let the fellow tribes mates understand where that part of my DNA comes from and why I'm, you know, you know, I get laser focused on, on different components

12:31of challenges and then whatnot, especially when you know you can be of service to your tribe, if it's something you do well. Um, early on the first days, I think it might have been day one or two, we all got together and I sort of said to everyone, let's go around the circle and identify each other. Like just say one or two things that you're good at, are you a good balance? Can you balance? Can you throw? Can you swim? Let's just go around and say one thing, you know, are you good at puzzles? Do you have a, you know, an analytical sort of mind? Or I'm a creative. So puzzles and you don't go together, but I knew I could throw. So, you know, we went around and, um, and that was handy to know to at least have, so a rough idea of different players skill sets when you're going to those challenges. When they say, you know, we'll give you a minute to strategize, but it literally is a minute. 10 minutes that's, and I'm maybe not even, it might even be 45 seconds. It's not long. So you've got to like formulate a strategy with 12 people, especially in the early days,

13:35where you don't know who, who's bringing what to the table, you know, so you watch each other in these challenges and you work out pretty quickly where people's strengths and weaknesses are and then you've got to try and formulate a plan on no sleep and no food and yeah, it's a challenge, a challenge for sure. Well, I mean, speaking of that, there were a number of times where we heard you either say it, you know, quietly or not so quietly about like, uh, switch me out, Mark, I should have been on this part. Was that just like your frustration coming about? Did you, was there sort of like any confrontation happening when people were sort of clapping back at you about that? No, not really. I think you're just in that moment, you know, you know, when you're in the, the heat of battling in the, in the, in the trenches, if you're like in a challenge, you don't even, you're not even thinking about cameras or microphones or you're, you're just in that moment trying to, trying to get the, the W for your team, you know, and, um, and it was frustrating at times, you know, when, when I, well,

14:36when I thought I could be doing a better job and then, and I think the two times where I got to play the end game, um, demonstrated that, you know, I could have backed it up if I hadn't been given the opportunity, you know, but, you know, not even in works, they had the way you wanted in survivor, which is, well, I'm here on your awesome podcast. Well, listen, you had a guy in your corner the entire time, a man named Mark, who you do open up to about your background before you do the rest of the tribe. So talk to me about that relationship, how did that develop? Well, I just loved, uh, watching Mark play previously. I knew he was a great player, very, um, strategic mind, um, and great with people. I mean, you know, he's, he's, he's not a diplomat for no reason, you know, he's, he's very good at reading a room and connecting people and, and I just had respect for him from former game. So I, I knew he'd be a good player, I connected with him on day one, um, how the corn chip cartel name came about, you saw Mark, you saw Mark on the show with a poncho, he was wearing a poncho. Yeah.

15:38And I had a, I had a poncho as well that didn't, I didn't make any of their, have the edits, but we're both wearing our ponchos. And I said, we're going to count it in the lines. And then we just started throwing out Mexican names, some brairos, corn chips, tortillas, and then the corn chip cartel just sort of stuck. Well, how did Caleb get roped in here as the third member of the cartel? Uh, because, you know, this is a guy who's presented as a bit of a wild card. Did you have a connection with him as well? Absolutely. And that was the wild card in him that attracted me to him. You know, he, he remind me a lot of my sort of self in the early 20s or whatever. You know, I love that little mixture for streaky's guard. He's a, he's a, he's like a little Tasmanian devil. You know, he's a little ball of energy and he's just such a beautiful guy too. And, um, you know, and we've got a friendship that I will stand the test of time. You know, I don't think anyone that's walked through that survive a furnace together, you're always going to have that connection, but there's some connections that are close to the others. And Caleb's going to be a good friend for a long while. I'm curious because there was at one point, you outright said that you haven't

16:43really gotten to know anybody at a certain point in the game. So was it as simple as like you woke up the next day and you're like, Hey, what's your kid's name? Like, what were the ways that you were trying to get to know these traumas to improve your game? Yeah, pretty much. I, um, there was a conscious thing. I had to, I guess firstly, identify the errors in my gameplay that I wasn't doing right, like the building those social connections. And then once I identified that, I sort of, yeah, just like you said, I just started asking people about them instead of speaking about me, you know, because that was probably to my detriment early, you know, I didn't get, I didn't show enough. I was trying to be interesting, not interested, and I think in the game of survival, you need to be interested in other people. And you know, given, you know, if I had the chance to do it again, it definitely, um, or definitely apply that lesson a lot earlier

17:44in the game. I wouldn't even worry about the shoulder to be honest. I'd be like, yeah, if we, one's getting wet, we're all getting wet. We're going to get wet together, you know? Yeah, what was your reaction when Johnson said it was like you were narrating your own autobiography? Did you understand that? Yeah, I did. And, um, and he was right. He was, you know, and I've got nothing that love and respect for Johnson as well, you know, connected with him last night. And, um, um, yeah, he's a tremendous guy. We, um, but he was spot on. He's, he's, he's, um, he's coming, it was just a thought. Yeah. Well, let's go from baron to bounty here. I'll be it briefly. So Sally, a beautiful, bouncy, beautiful, bouncy beat your dream comes true. Sally, I would do with, with this idea of, all right, we got it. Not, don't get over to mark tonight. Still test, but down the line, we've got to do it. Did you immediately go to mark with this information? What made you decide to tell them about this? I went to Mark like straight away. Like, within seconds, 10 seconds, I was like, Sally's gunning for you, bro. And he was like,

18:49what me? Am I here? And, um, yeah, I'm big on loyalty like that, you know, like, and I'd like to think that he wouldn't done the same for me. And he did do the same for me when, when I was catching heat, you know, he said, mate, you're going to probably cover a few votes tonight and, but I don't think you need to worry. And, um, and that's why I also put my hand up to be the decoy vote. A couple of times, so just put votes on me because one, it's believable. And, um, you know, I put myself in that position and, um, um, yeah, I couldn't withhold that information from Mark. And, you know, eventually I would have liked to have claimed, you know, some scalps like Mark and Brooke and, you know, those, those returning players, because that's going to build your resume, right? And so I did have, you know, an ulterior motive to work with Mark as well. And given the chance, well, well, I wanted to just work together to get through to merge. And once I got to merge, then my downplay was, you know, hopefully I'm going to get a bit more strategic and start targeting a few of those more experienced players that are big threats out there.

19:50Yeah. So you get a project and buy Sally when you see you have conversations with Faith and with Kaylee. So I'm curious, did you have a relationship with them prior to the swap? Or was this like one of the first major strat chats you had with them? No, no, we had a relationship. It wasn't as tight as the one with Mark and Caleb, but, um, yeah, I mean, you get to know each other pretty quickly and not involved, you know, like, um, and I don't know if I should have worked with him or not. Maybe I should have, maybe, you know, maybe, um, you know, then maybe that's what I'm sitting here is because I didn't I didn't work with them strategically, you know, but then. Yeah, did you get a sense that Mark was working as closely with them as he was realistically? Did you have like, uh, did that make you feel a certain way? Yeah, I could, yeah, you could tell Mark and, and Faith in particular had a tight bond. Um, um, not so much Sally. I think Sally sort of floated around the camp and then,

20:54and she's a great player too, like she, you know, which is smart in the game and so far, they is not to put all your eggs in one basket. And I sort of did put, I guess all my eggs in the corn chip cartel basket, you know, um, but yeah, yeah, you can tell that, um, that Mark was working with multiple alliances, but he does it so well. So how'd you survive here? If it was that Sally vote, what would the next move have been? Had you gone back to tribal? Would you have gone for one of the former bounty members in Lindell or Richard? Would you have gone for, uh, ten? Would you have gone for, for Faith or Keely? Yeah, I don't think I would have gone for Richard or Lindell because going to tribal swap with a seven, two balance, we were so, which I think was detrimental to my game, I would rather go in five, four or something where your numbers actually mean something, but when it's outweighed so heavily being seven to two,

21:55you know, like the original barring can vote three of their own out and still have double the, there's still a four to two, you know what I mean? So it's, and I didn't see that until I got back and then Matt, I was talking to Matt and Matt pointed out he goes, mate, seven, two, that's, that's no good. You should have, you would have been better to go in, you know, with a spider, spider split than that. Um, but I was actually really looking forward to working with Richard, I said that on, that my first day on bounty, I said, mate, for some reason, no, no, we're, we're similar, you know, in age and whatnot, I just had had tremendous respect for him, for some reason, I don't know why, I'm actually Richard's, Richard's place now, he's been calling it up to, yeah, look where we are, I'll give you a question. Oh my god, you're in the cosodate cash flow itself. Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is, this is beautiful, um, beautiful. So, yeah, it's, it's a lovely, lovely little spot, so thank you Richard, and um, yeah, so, um, I forget the original question. No, no, no, I want to go back to something

23:02you were mentioning before, I want to talk about Matt here, because now your brother has gone the chance to see you on Survivor to play the game, he played twice before, what's his reaction, then, what, how does it, has it given you his thoughts throughout the entire season? Oh, mate, he's, he was proud of me to get there. I mean, it's even just a place survivor. I mean, you know, it's, um, I think I, someone told me a stat there, I think there's been 200, 260 popes or something, 265 popes, and there's been 262 people that have played Australians survivor or something like that, you know, it's part of a, a very, a very special club, you know, and to be a part of it's huge. Yeah, but I think, you know, my brother knows me well, and he, and he saw, you know, some of the first episodes, he was like, oh, mate. So yeah, what do you do? What do you do? You just, um, yeah, I knew I sort of rub, rub some of the tribes mates up the wrong way early with a couple of,

24:02I'll just wear my heart on my sleeve, you know, and like, you know, when I'm trying to build a showroom, there's no one helping and looking around, there's a whole lot of people doing a whole lot of nothing like, you know, I don't know if anyone heard that. I mean, I don't know the viewers at home definitely heard it, but it wasn't something I was, I was just thinking out loud basically, and um, probably in a game like survivor, it's not the wisest thing to do. Well, last thing I want to ask is, you did say at one point, I think it was actually when the the Don Roberts, uh, you know, faux pas happened, you said you were going to write a country song about this experience. Have you done it yet? It's in, it's in the works at the moment, it's going to be called, you know, is it, uh, no, I don't know, PTSD and paradise or something, but, um, I got some ideas, I got some ideas. We've got some new music, we've actually launching our debut single. So I shared out to all our friends across there that cross in America and wherever they're watching, we've got, uh, we're going to be on Spotify from tomorrow with our debut single called Lighted Up. So hopefully you all can, you know, give that a little

25:04play and, um, yeah, have a listen if you like it, share it and we're, we're very grateful for your support. Well, listen, you lit it up not only on screen, but in this conversation today, I had such a great time chatting with you. I mean, it comes back to those two Benwards, right, authentic self. And I do think we saw that, whether you were Don Roberts or Don Rogers, the entire time. And obviously, I wish we were speaking much further down the line, but regardless, it was such a fun time getting to to watch you, especially given your obvious connection with the show and figure things out on the fly and go out in such a surprising blaze of glory. So thank you so much, Don, for taking the time to chat with me today. Yeah, thanks so much, Mike. I love the hat. And, um, yeah, thanks for having me on the program, and, um, and for the support that you guys give to Australian survivor and survivor around the world. It's really is the greatest game in the world. So to be a part of it, it's pretty special. Of course. Well, thank you for being a part of it. Thank you so much for everything you brought to this chat. All the best to you and Matt and the family. And thanks so much again, Don.

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27:06That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. When you manage procurement for multiple facilities, every order matters. But when it's for a hospital system, they matter even more. Granger gets it. And knows there's no time for managing multiple suppliers and no room for shipping delays. That's why Granger offers millions of products and fast, dependable delivery. So you can keep your facilities stocked, safe, and running smoothly. Call 1-800-Ranger, click ranger.com, or just stop by. Granger, for the ones who get it done. All right, Lindel. There's a lot of questions I want to ask, but I have to start with the thing that has had the Australian survivor fandom in a tizzy for the past few days. What is your idol real or not after the swap? My idol expired at TribeSwap and was taken off me. That was the worst thing, handing that over. I was like, no, I worked so hard for this thing.

28:09It was taken off me. Yeah. Okay, interesting. Did that guide the way that you sort of approached the rest of your game? Because I imagine we'll get into obviously a lot of the ways that you thought things were going. You had that idol to fall back on. So did that change the way they were reviewing things? Absolutely. I felt invincible. I felt I was dilulu with that thing, wasn't I? I felt I felt I felt amazing having that idol. And it was such an experience. You know, it wasn't a straightforward idol. I was really lucky and I am absolutely heartbroken that I didn't get to play it. And yeah, I warn everyone before I say it, but the one time that I really wanted to play it and I regret not playing it was I wanted to save Harry. You wanted to save Harry? I did. I did. I was safe. I was safe. Anyways, I could have done a lot of things that night. And I did want Jackson to go. Love him now. But yeah, I couldn't see me working with Jackson at all.

29:13And from day one, Harry and I did want to work together. It kind of shifted away because I was much much closer with Lowe's and he kept going for Lowe's and Lowe's didn't like him. So I was like, look, I'm sticking with my right or die. But yeah, I wanted to work with Harry from day one. I've been a fan. Like I applied for the first time in 2018. And yeah, it kind of was a little bit heartbreaking the way him and I shifted. He didn't trust me anymore. I think Paula was a bit shady about me. And yeah, there was a few moments where I tried to get back in with Harry and it was really frustrating for me. But I wanted to save him. And I think with Paula out of the picture, if I'd played it for him, he could have gone two ways. Who knows? He could have thrown me under the bus quite quickly, but it would have been so fun working with him. Well, let's talk about how this fun all kicked off here. Lynn, I want to start with Lowe's because this was obviously

30:15a very key relationship for you. You two dig up this idol on the beach at night. When and how did this come together? Huge, huge. I am a big fan of strong, independent, powerful women. And I heard her throw herself into a game like this. She really inspired me. She is, she's like family to me now. To have a connection that's strong, especially that early on, I knew 100%. We were not going to write each other's names down. We were having giggle fits and they're having together every day, just having the best time. And I might try, but I don't think they understood our relationship. They could bother them. They were like, who are these like losers just on the outs? And it was a really, really special friendship. Choosing her to dig up that idol was, look, if I had chosen someone else to help me or told someone else about it, maybe I wouldn't have been

31:16on the bottom so much because laws was an easy target, which really annoys me. But yeah, her and I bonded really strong really quick. And that wasn't shown that much, but she ended up being, you know, the person who helped me do my idol swap. She was the one who encouraged everyone to go over because she knew that I hadn't done it. And then when she was sent with Arches advantage, she sent for a sleep over at Baron. She was there setting things up for Merge for her and I. So she had told, you know, Brooke and Mark knew about the idol. And she told, Mark, you know, that we're working together. So they were going to look after, you know, at Tribes, what Mark was meant to look after me. And yeah, I had a lot of plans for Post Merge. And unfortunately, we just came up a little bit short. Well, I'm glad you mentioned Brooke because we need to go

32:16to this idol swap. Now I'm curious because you find this idol first, right? You find that scroll in the opening challenge and you choose to share this information to Brooke. What was it about Brooke that made you want to decide that she would be the one to presumably dig up this idol? I mean, who else would be able to do it? I knew Brooke being such a powerhouse in a returning player should be able to pull it off. You know, the idols hit and right in front of your camp. That is terrifying. Like being seen digging up an idol, it would be horrible. You know, one puts a target on your back and two potentially means that the idol can't be used and they just want to flush it. So I chose the right person. It was always going to be her for me. And she was so quick to pick up the information as well when I saw that opportunity at the end of the immunity challenge where I told her we're all all up the top there. Everyone's so close to each other. You know, my, my tribe is sad. We've just lost their all celebrating that they won. I just

33:17made eye contact with her and shifted over to the fence. And I was like, she goes, are you right? And I'm like, blah, blah, there's a clue. Do this. Get the idol and swap it with me. She's like, okay. And then we just hot ways. And it was, it felt really smooth. And I knew straight away, I'd picked the right person. And yeah, it was always going to be broke. So I'm really, really bombs that didn't get to work with her in the end. Well, you picked the right person. I don't know if you picked the right way to maybe swap them because, you know, this is something that was a little out in the open from our perspective. I certainly talk with people. Johnson said that he had clocked at a certain point. Talk to me about how this all went down. Oh my god. It's so funny. Everyone's reaction to it because I was chuffed. Honestly, I look a successful swap. I didn't think anyone saw no one in my tribe saw. It was completely secret. Only laws that I knew about it in my tribe. I did find out later that Johnson had seen. So, and then at some challenges afterwards,

34:20he would be going past me and he'd be like, oh, how's the idol? And I thought he was just trying to spin me out. I'm like, does he know? No, he doesn't know. So this swap, I was willing to not do it if it came to it and wait for the next challenge. Okay. Everyone knows that there's been times where people have had that opportunity and not done it. And people get busted all the time. So I'd gone into that challenge with my idol prepped. It was wrapped in a sock, in a black sock, and I chuffed it down the back of my shorts. And I had my loose shirt over the top. I had the best outfit for that. And it was so hard because there's this huge platform in between the two tribes at that wrecking ball challenge. And I kept like that whole challenge. I didn't care what was going on. I was hardly watching. I'm like, yeah, like, you know, we're going to play like I was spinning out. I was pacing back and forth. I go, oh my gosh. Brook was so smooth. Like, how does she do it? She's

35:26just too cool. I swear. I look over at her and she's put it in her hat and she had her hat behind her back and she's shaking it and she's like, I've got it. I'm like, oh my god, I'm not that cool. How am I going to do this? So she then goes and puts it behind the platform that David's on. And I just was like, it didn't feel right. It did not feel right. If I was seen scarring behind there by anyone I was done for. And I, I didn't feel that safe with my tribe at that point. And that was too much of a risk for me. So as devastating as it was, I was going to give up, but lost my right or die at bestie. She knew. And she comes out and nowhere. And it's like, why don't we all go get them a hug? And I'm like, oh my gosh, are we really doing this? Are you sure? She's like, yep. Like, she gave me the courage and we all went over there. As soon as

36:27I think Brook had given up at that point and she'd put it back in her bag. And we go over there and I say, hi, she goes to her bag to get it out. And I just whip, whip my out and throw it straight to her bag. I'm like, that was so smooth. It was smooth for me. Okay. But poor Brook had to fumble around in her bag a bit. And then she wrapped it back up in her heart and then shoved it down the back of my, my shorts as well. And I throw it so quick into her bag. But then I'm like, I am not moving my feet from this position until I get my back. Because imagine if she just did me dirty and kept mine. I mean, let's be a move, a move, a move, a perspective of the host who is getting you through those challenges. Exactly. Oh my gosh. So yeah, I know it looked hilarious and terrible and all those things. But for me, it was a big highlight for me actually. I mean, it was incredible TV. And it got you that idol. Now, what's interesting is that you

37:30mentioned that, you know, you felt you were on the bottom of the tribe. And you are informed as much by Eliza in the middle of the night. So I need to get your reaction to this. Was it truly because she woke you up in the middle of the night that you decided to go after Eliza so ferociously? So there's a couple of things here. Okay. I, the first two nights, I didn't sleep at all, like at all. I started hallucinating by night three. I was seeing face the trees. Everything was sprucing me. I was, yeah, I was struggling. So I was, I think I had like a little bit of a nap, I would say. And then I woke up. I woke up to go to the bush. And then she pulls me over to the fire just as I'm going back to bed. And she is quite, she's quite intense sometimes. And I love her. But I hadn't really spoken strategy with her very much at all.

38:36And she said, you know, Linda, it's you and I, you and I are on the bottom. I can't remember if she says laws or not, but laws was always a target. And I didn't know if she was just trying to rattle me or if I did believe her, I think eventually I did believe her. But the only capabilities I had at that point was to get the target off me, get it off laws. And so I just did what I could and I went round and I put the target on her. And I mean, it worked. If I was that far on the bottom, would that have worked? I don't know. Yeah, what's interesting because this is not the last time, certainly that we see, you know, someone comes to you, says you're on the bottom. And from our perspective, you're saying, this is getting me too paranoid. I'm going to go after you a bit of the shoot the mess and you're saying, was that accurate? Was that a commonality you felt throughout your time there? If anyone came to me with information, I would question it. I would always fire back with, you know, trying it. I didn't trust anyone.

39:37I trusted laws. I trusted Simon at that point. And yeah, I think people come to you with information. You can't just go, okay, straight away. But yeah, well, shoot the messenger. Who else did I shoot the messenger with? Oh, Harry. There was Harry. And then there was, there was the, that wasn't shooting the messenger, but when Paula talks about you being the decoy vote, that's something that you're pretty adverse to. So Lotte came to me with that information and about being the decoy vote vote vote. I did believe her, but I still needed to ask questions back and push back to just see her reaction and engage her face. But I did believe what she said. And it was, that was such a crazy night because I liked Paula up until that time. And Paula and I had been doing check-ins with each other, being like, we're good here. We're still good. But Paula and Harry were really frustrated with me that I wouldn't gun for Lotte.

40:38Lotte's wanted Harry out. And Lotte's was trying to get me and her to work with Lotte, rather than Harry and Paula. So it was really hard for me because I did want to work with Harry from the start, but we kind of drifted apart a little bit and he was getting frustrated with me because of how close I was with Lotte's and I wasn't going for Lotte. So after I was told that I'd be the decoy vote and I knew that it was Paula and they were coming for me. I had this conversation with Paula. She says, you know, I want to be girl strong. Let's go for Jackson. And I said to her, have you heard my name come up? And she said no. And I knew she was lying. And I was like, at that point, it kind of broke my heart a little bit. I was like, okay, it's you. And I knew that the votes were going exactly how they went. And it's such that Lotte's was always in the firing line

41:39as well. I felt like I spent a lot of time trying to tell people, like, just stop going for her, like, you know, it shouldn't be the easy vote. It was, yeah, it was really frustrating, but look, it's very hard to read people out there. You know, I love. And that's kind of yourself. Yeah. People can't read me, okay. That's not a good place. It is it's hard to know who because you've got two elements, right? You've got, when you're spending time together and you're not talking strategy and you're not talking game and you're just bonding, you're just having fun, you're playing games, you're, I was really, I was really loving like the K-Apply factor. I love making a fire. I've always been someone who would go camping and and building things, collecting firewood, arranging, you know, keeping the firewood dry and this and that collecting coconuts, cutting them open. So I unfortunately would misread spending quality time like that to, you know,

42:46people wanting to work with me. So it was very, it was a bit confusing out there for me. Well, what's interesting is we move into the swap here and you say at one point that you felt more at home with these people than you did on Old Bounty, who were you connecting with the most during your, your limited time in the strive? I did, I feel like Tribe's swap was, it was terrifying, right? You know, just two people and everyone in Baron were screaming for joy. They were so excited. You know, I was talking about how beautiful the sand is over on Baron and I'm like, I still don't know what it looks like. So it was a little bit heartbreaking and a bit of a punch to the gut that they were like, see ya. I had started to make a good strategic connection with Lodi and Asha, pre-swap after the Harry vote. So I was like, okay, look, I've got that for moving forward. Rich and I forced into a bond, a trauma bond. And then it was, because Lodi had spent the night

43:54over at Baron when Asha used her, what's it called, advantage. She had set up because Mark and Brooke obviously knew about the idol. We had like this connection, Lodi's knew about the idol. So they had that set up. Mark was going to look after me in Tribe's swap. So going in there, I connected really quickly with Mark and I also bonded really well with Faith. We had a day off together before the immunity challenge. And I was sunbaking on the beach with Faith. I was like brushing her hair, getting all the knots out. Sally and I clicked because she's from Moolongol, I'm from Moolongol. She knows my sisters. She knows a capes of my friends. I know her partner. I'd actually made some really good connections there. Caleb is an absolute darling. We had some really good, deep and meaningful charts down on the beach. So I, I think at that stage of the game,

44:58in comparison to week one or the first few days where I was super paranoid, hardly had slept. I was paranoid because I had this clue. I was doing the idol thing. I was quite withdrawn from my tribe. And I think me being in my head so much they just didn't trust me. They thought I was sketchy to be fair. Like, that's fine. So after Tribe's swap, I was also thinking about my resume. I'm thinking, you know, the clue, the idol, this, that, okay. Eliza, the Harry puller, like, I was, I was actually quite positive about it. Rich was freaking out. He was, like, pales ago. He was, like, I think we're in trouble. Like, chill. It's okay. It's fine. Um, yeah, it's, uh, and I think that came across to, to our new tribe. So they turned on us quite quickly and I was collateral

45:59damage. Well, let's talk about how that damage came about because you were caught up in this, you know, last minute, Keely whisper session at tribal. This time, we have Mark, you know, Melding to test. Tess outright says, I don't know what's going on. So what was sort of your sense as to what was happening in tribal council? Were you clocking anything that was happening in the background? Oh, gosh. It's so heartbreaking to think about. So I knew that something was off before we went to tribal because people started not looking me in the eye. And at that tribal council, no one looked at me and I've never had that before. And I was like, no, what is this? Maybe this is just what, what they're like, but no, it was definitely off. Tess, Tess, no one really was connecting with Tess except for Mark. It seemed Mark, everyone would have their chats and Tess would be told to sit and wait and then Mark would be like, all right, I'll look after Tess and would take

47:02Tess off. And you could tell Tess really in loves the game. Like, he's amazing. But he really wanted to make a move, but he could not articulate it well and he couldn't decide and actually go for something. And I think he would doubt himself and backtrack. So I was really frustrated with him and I even got frustrated with him in the tribal. He's like, I don't know who we're voting for. Though I'm like, who do you want to vote for? You know, like make your own decisions and make your own moves. But that tribal was tough. Like, if I voted for Caleb instead of Tess. Yeah, I was going to ask because I know we're going to tell them to split between Tess and Caleb. So were you coming in and tending to vote for Tess? Or was this like an on the fly? You've frustrated me too much. I'm voting for Tess. I really wanted to, you know, we could see what happens when you don't vote with your tribe, right? So Harry voted for Loz that night and it really rubbed Jackson the wrong way because it was a move. And I was told by Kayleigh, it's going to be Caleb.

48:09Can you vote for Tess? And I was like, yes, boss. And not the right move, but well, like fair play to her. Because yeah, that's what ultimately got me. I mean, how do you look back on this experience? Because like you said, it's been a long time coming for you and you came in with such, you know, a unique set of skills. You find this, you know, adventures, this idle clue at the very first thing. Like you played hard and you played fast. So how do you look back upon getting the opportunity to finally live out the stream? Oh my gosh. I like you go over everything so many times that you had afterwards. You know, was it me finding the clue on today one at a hindrance because it made me withdraw a little bit from my tribe? Like should I just play the idle for Harry? Should I have made bigger moves? I'm really frustrated that I didn't get to bring up, you know, my real skills in all the individual challenges because I'm so sporty. And you showed it in one and that one mattered a lot.

49:15It did. It did. That was that was such a great moment. It was a great moment for me. Everyone else hated it. I think I cried that day actually because it was my ride or die wasn't there when I won and like a couple of people were happy for me but they really weren't happy for me and I was like this is such a lonely joy. But yeah, like overall I had the most incredible time and I'm so so so so grateful. I gone too soon but honestly I can't have, you know, found the clue, found the idle, made amazing connection with laws especially. Did the idle swap? One individual immunity, did apply inside, although it was chaotic, but I'm really happy with how it all went. Yeah, just the shame that it ended so soon. Well, regardless, I think getting to see you on the show was

50:16such a window in a manner of speaking. So thank you so much for especially bringing everything to this conversation today. I think you open a lot of people's eyes as to, you know, looking beyond the edit perhaps even just from an idle perspective to some of the moves you were making, some of the thoughts that were going through your head, you know, obviously it seemed like a time for you out there but I'm glad you looked back at it with a lot of fondness. I'll be at some frustration but I could really sense, you know, the amount of joy you haven't speaking about this and I think that really means a lot. So thank you so much for reflecting on all that to me. I really appreciate it. Yeah, I really hope that you have a little bit more understanding before we're going on up here. Well, thank you so much. I love it. I love the delinjian so much. Well, thank you, Linda. So much for the conversation. All the best to you and yours and can now wait to see what happens with you in the future. Thanks so much again. Thanks, Mike. All the best. Bye. Take care. Bye bye. This episode is brought to you by Redfin. You're listening to a podcast, which means you're probably multitasking. Maybe even scrolling home listings on Redfin, saving homes without

51:21expecting to get them, but Redfin isn't just built for endless browsing. It's built to help you find and own a home with agents who close twice as many deals. When you find the one, you've got a real shot at getting it. Get started at Redfin.com. Own the dream. I am so excited to talk with you, Ted, because given what we saw, I guess more properly, but we didn't see. I've got questions. I know you've got answers. Let's break some plates, Opal. Let's get into this thing, shall we? Let's break them. Let's break them, Mike. Well, I want to start with, I guess, where things broke, which was at the end there. So, obviously, your dream was pretty much spelled as soon as the other tribe leaves and the necklace gets given over. I'm curious. So from your perspective, did you get the sense that had Simon not given Richard the necklace that he would have gone, or did you feel like no matter what if your tribe is going, you would have been the one out. Look, before that little scramble, Mark was telling me

52:22Rich and telling Rich me, and me and Rich were just looking at each other because we're like, he's trying to classify. I had a little feeling that it could be him just based on the fact of his relationships with the other tribe, and I was going to try to bring that up during that tribal, and you see them, they were actually batting for him. They were batting for him, and I was going to bring that up and be like, guys, look, the other tribe, he's going to go straight back to them. But when Simon gave Rich the necklace, you could see it on my face, I'm like, oh, I'll go a lot. The wheel's set in and you see me get up, Mark and Keely, and kind of just take for my life. But yeah, I knew you could tell. I was on the bottom of the whole tribe the whole time. My hope was you see that challenge where I'm holding up my hand, and I'm placed next to Lottie and Asha. Yeah, a little behind the scenes. I was very close to Glant on the islands, very close to the islands called the Rathpak from day one. She cried on my shoulder every day. So when she went into that tribe, tribe swap, she was like saying, Tess is going to work first,

53:22Tess is going to work first, Tess is going to work first. So you see me holding that pole and clocking the alliance. I'm saying Mark, Keely, Faye to Lottie and Asha, I'm like, who's running it? Hey, and they're like, Tess tonight, if it's if it's joint, if we have to vote together, vote with us. And I was like, 100%. So I was banking, like, as a super fan deep down, I kind of knew that it would be fire, but I was banking on the fact that hopefully we get to vote altogether. And I would was literally going to go up to them and be like, let's vote one of them. Let's vote one of them out. But unfortunately, that's not what happens. I'm intrigued by the blanch aspect of things. Obviously, we're talking about the beginning of the game, but we didn't see the spots getting drawn. Was it a random draw to get you in those pairs? Or did you pick your opponent? No, no, it was our random draw. And it was so you just happened to get the person that you were closest to it. I was closest to you. Yes. It's never shown, but I was, we have again, an alliance every day we kept, we'll get into it because it's so much to say, but I tell her I go blanch. If we don't win this, I'm going home. And she's like, Tess, we got to win this. Tess, we got to win this. And so if you see her conversing with Cadillip and Laws next to us and I have Lottie and Asha

54:26begging me to win, they're like, we want you with us. Come merge. We want you with us. And Blanch had passed on great information about me. So, Well, let's get into Baron 1.0 because a lot of labels that are being thrown your way, floater, coaster, weasel perhaps by couples like individuals. So what was your position in that tribe? You mentioned Blanch, who were some of the people you were closest with in that first phase of the game. Yeah. So that first phase of the game, you can actually see I was, I was very under the radar. My name wasn't spread out until Keely and Faith in the Johnson vote. But my game was, I was in the middle. So I had on one side, I had Blanch, who was my one, my number ones, I had Johnson. You never saw that. The reason I don't vote Johnson in the Johnson vote is because I was actually with Johnson. So when I hold up the parchment and say, I'm not a sheep, I don't do as I'm told, it was directed towards Mark. Because you see me being a Mark minion, I was the half-backed

55:27information. That's why I was giving you half-backed information because I didn't want to work with him. I could tell he was using me as a number. And sorry, that's why I actually never worked with him. But my in that was, I had Brooke, me and Brooke had a final truth called the Jasmine Atlanta Alliance. And she was kind of like my plus, she was my into that core group that we like me, Johnson, Blanch, even Kat Kat of the start, me and Kat were clocking it from the start. And that Brooke was my answer. I was protected, but like Faith and Keeley from day one with Faith, I just never got along with her. She just, I must have rubbed her the wrong way. I remember stepping on her toe once and like, she just calculated at me. So that was, it was, it was building. But I was, yeah, I was, the plan was to play low key. I went in there. I lied down my occupation to then my salmon events coordinator. I don't say anything. I have a master's in law. I was playing very in hindsight. Maybe I should have said, like, I should have just been authentic and real and be like,

56:28no, I did this, this, this, I'm not, I'm not making quiet because it would have probably given people to be like, okay, no, he's, he's clapped on his valuable. But me and Caleb had a very similar game. You saw him, he was playing double agent. I was, I said to Caleb, I'm like, we're playing a very similar game, Caleb. We're very in the middle. Well, talk to me about your relationship with Caleb a little bit because as we start segwaying into this very eventful bounty tribe, you know, you threw a vote towards him. He throws a vote towards you. And so you would imagine on paper, it's a little combative. But he's one of the people we see to like come to you and be like, hey, this is what you need to do to save yourself in the game. So talk about that dynamic. Yeah. Me and Caleb from RG Baron, we were close. Like, it was like a brother relationship. The only thing is like, I was telling Blanche, you need to, because Blanche and Caleb were close, I was telling Blanche, I was like, you need to be careful with Caleb because he's running information back to Mark. And she never told him that because they were close, but she never told him that. But me and Caleb were like brothers. The only reason I start going against him really is

57:28because when Sally comes up to me and is like, you know, we might be voting Caleb out. The girls, I also heard that I was a name for Faith and Keely. Like, I was like, you could tell, you could tell by the way, like, that we're trying to like kind of class me out from pretty Baron. So I was like, I kind of was just jumping on the Caleb train to kind of save myself because it was a kind of Sandra strategy. Anybody but me. But no, me and Caleb are great. Like, well, you don't say his main camera people were actually really great. Interesting. Well, let's get into this swap because that you get involved or perhaps not involved in a major way. I mean, we see it specifically on new bounty. A lot of times where like, you will ask someone to have a conversation and it seems like you will be rebuffed. Is that a representation of the way you felt you were treated on that tribe? Yes. Yeah. So when I got tribes like, I knew I was on the bottom because again, my allies in Brooklyn Blanche got up to the other tribe. I just voted on the night prior. And then

58:33Mark, you could tell he was a little sass on me. I wasn't valuable to him. But that's what you saw as what it was. I tried. I genuinely did try. Like, I was still trying to be social build these relationships. But the the faith in Keeley duo, they just, they just didn't want anything to do with me. Like, it's funny because me and Keeley were like, good at the start, but I think you saw faith. She says, I don't vibe with tears. That was a really like a thought in my game, not just trying hard or trying harder because what you see is what you get. I wasn't getting iced out by Caleb Sally Rich, like they did want to talk to me. But like the that trio alliance, yeah, I was. It was the point you make about Mark are so interesting because yeah, you mentioned this sort of Mark's menu thing. One of the first things we see from you, it's all the way in episode six, but this idea of like, I'm fanboying out that I get to play with an Australian survivor legend. But from what it sounds like, it seems like you kept him at arms length and vice

59:34versa. I never voted with him. I never voted with him. Like, again, back to the dawn. I don't, I say, I'm not going to follow the leader. I'm not a sheep. That was directed towards Mark. I didn't vote with him again when Keeley West is me at tribal to vote, to vote done. So it's I get it because I he was using me just as much as I was using him. And I did, maybe it was a bit of a true good illusion because at Keeley and Faith, they really thought I was working for Mark. It's because we never really conversed to look because if I had known that they were also targeting Mark, I would have been like, guys, I would join. Yeah. But it was just I was mistakenly I was just sorry. I didn't want to show my cards a lot. I kept my cards true close because on the tribe's flop, it was just like these people. I didn't have any of my people. I had Sally. But yeah, my mistake, I kept my cards true close to my chest. And I gave them the impression that I really was like Mark sheet. Well, let's talk about a number of times when people came to the car table. If you

1:00:39were, let's talk about this little vote. There's so many things to get into here. We got to start with the fact that Rich did see down and says, all right, listen, let's let's make a big move. Let's make this happen. Just give me a name and it seems from our perspective. You struggle and you have finally get faith out and then you seemingly immediately go to faith and say like, hey, you're going to hear a lot of things. By the way, I said your name, but I didn't say your name at the same time. Just walk me through this series of events from your perspective. Yeah. So you can tell when I go to Rich and Lindel, I'm, we're all on the bottom. Mark scripted up Rich and Lindel straight away. Like straight away, you could tell in the water, he took Lindel straight away in the water. And I'm like, oh, he's doing it with everybody. But so I go to them and I'm like, I need to do something. So I'm like, guys, we need four votes. So me, Rich, Lindel, we need four votes. I'm willing to know the rocks. So Rich is like name and name, name and name. And I felt in that moment that they were trying to get me a name to name a name because I on the bottom to kind of run it back. Yeah. And so I say faith, which was a genuine name, which kind of goes

1:01:42back to when Kat was trying to target her, because Kat was clocking Mark and Faith from day one. And I got another little tidbit on the lines with Kat for the traders with very, very close. In that tribe. So were you someone who also clocked to her background, not just Mark? Oh, yeah, no, no. Kat, I got on the mat. I get it. I was the first person to give her a hug. If you rewatch it, I was the first person. And I was like, do I keep this information to myself? But even in the bush, I told her, I'm like, I watch your season, like, I love you. And we just got along like house and fire. But back to the little circle, I named Faith, which was true. But I just, it was like a standoff. And then I see Lindel a little bit after go talk to Faith, like, uh, near the shelter in the bushes. And in my head, she can, she's told me after that. No, she didn't say anything. But I saw them on like, they're close. It was this just used as like an opportunity to kind of like, say, to say this. So I went into damage control, not in my best

1:02:42move. And I should have just gone up to Faith and be like, look, I said your name. It wasn't a name, but I stumbled quite badly. But that was why I went into damage control, because I thought I had to swim that Lindel told her straight away, because I talked very quickly after that little circle with them. So then what was your reaction when Rich comes to you later in the day and says, okay, yeah, we're going to do the faith plate. I mean, even seems to the moment, you're like, oh, that's a thing? Yeah, I was trying to gaslight him to be like, oh, no, it's your move. Like you, but because I was like in my head, I'm like, yes, 100%. Like, like, you could tell she was running it. That's why I said fake. You could tell she was in the middle of Keely and Ma. And we just didn't have this. I knew we didn't have the social agency to pull it off, because me and Rich started to get close. I was close with Sally, but I could tell that Sally was close with the girls. And Keely was very close with Ma. And I was still getting iced out. So I wanted to do it. And that's a mistake. I'm in the game. I should have just gone full throttle

1:03:46and started me. I can know if let's us get together. But I just started. I had no social agency. All right, we need to get into this tribal council because there's this double bluff going on seemingly as you sort of espouse a confessional, right? Where in the moment, Mark is mouthing, vote rich to you. You seem to be fainting confusion to the point where you're basically like talking to David about like, I don't know what's going on. But it seems like inconfessional you did to vote out of defiance. You know, you make another statement about how you're not going to follow the leader. So talk me through what was going on through your head throughout that evening. Yes. So I have Mark had came up to me and he's like, you know, we might vote Lindel. And so I'm like, okay. And then and then Keely comes up to me five minutes before tribal. And she's like, we're going to, I'm going to tell you the right five minutes before tribal. And I'm like, in my head, I'm like, well, I'm on the bottom of you. Like I'm on the bottom of you guys. If I don't go now, like, I'm going to go soon. But like, I didn't want to think like that.

1:04:46So me and Rich, we got quite close and we're like, okay, we'll vote Caleb. And I was on the assumption that Lindel would vote Caleb with us just because of her and Rich, like, closeness. So at tribal, when Mark, Mark mouse me, I see it. I see it directly. And I'm just pretending to like be like, I use the fact that he was the tribal seeding. It's like kind of like a half circle. Okay. I just like, I don't know who you're saying. I don't know who you're saying. Like, I'm David, I'm confused. I wasn't confused. And so I'm like, okay, in my head, this split can go free on, because I wanted to split it free free. So I split can go on Caleb and the possibility of a river like we could do something. But Lindel ended up voting me because yeah, Mark told it about me, which on the way I'm like, babe, I didn't vote you. So that, that, so I go back, you know, go back to camp. And I'm just trying to play it off. I'm trying to play dumb, trying to do like a little Natalie Anderson thing because I like I already shot myself on the foot. But yeah,

1:05:50no, that was definitely intentional. Yeah, I was going to say, so what was your reaction now being perceived as such a wild card, right? I mean, Billy Marcus is peed with you in that moment. Faith has certainly peed with you afterwards. What was it like to try to handle damage control once again as a result of trying to like almost dig that whole deeper? I'm like, no, I really didn't know what was going on. You could trust me. Yeah, no, I mean, they weren't talking to me anyway. Like it used to, they weren't including me in conversations anyway. So it wasn't really bad. But I was like, I'm going to work with Rich. Like, hopefully if I say something in the circle, it'll make like Caleb realize that we're on the bottom. Like, that they weren't in the same position. But yeah, I was just trying to play it off and play really, really stupid. Again, maybe a big mistake, but I don't want to felt like I didn't want to do what they want to do. I'm curious because at one point in a confessional in last episode, you're like, I could vote for Richard, but that's a boring move. What's there another thing you want to do? And what ultimately had you coming back to like,

1:06:51no, listen, it's survival instinct. I have to try to vote for Rich at the end of the day if he's vulnerable. Yeah, no, I see. I went into survival mode. Like I was like the super fan in me, like admittedly was like last another day, last another day, last another day, which really out there, you should just go vote like for anything, for anything that sticks, for anything that sticks, but even that little tribe that the scramble, I got up to faith. And I'm like, last minute, I'm like, can we have a conversation? What's the goji night? She pretty much just like instantly she's like, no, I'm going to find, I'm going to go find an idol. So like, just shut me down straight away. And I'm like, okay. And then me and Rich are like, what are we going to do? Like, do we try to talk to Caleb? It was very obvious. So I was banking on the fact that Lodi and Asha during that 30 minutes, I was holding it down. They were like, vote with fast tears. Like you're in with fast, like they gave me my flowers. They were like, I felt so included with them. And Blanche had like said so many good things. So I was like really

1:07:53banking on the fact that I'd get up, go and be like, okay, let's vote Keeley, Mark, faith out, because that's what they wanted to do. But yeah, you see me like sitting like I start sitting there because like I'm just getting debuff from all these conversations. And Caleb, less his heart, such a great guy. He's like, you need to do this. You need to do this. And like, I know, I know what I need to do. Like, again, I was trying to play into the narrative. Oh, no, it's just tears. He's just like, but like, again, you never say never until like, you know, don't fall until you're given up. Yeah, but yeah. And what you saw it like what it was. Well, last thing I want to ask is that you mentioned a number of times, both here and on the show about your, your super fandom. And listen, it was far from, you know, the platonic ideal experience. And you know, certainly online, there's been a lot of talks about how, you know, people have felt that you have felt isolated by numerous people throughout the game. So how do you look back on this experience? You know, it was a dream come true. But I also imagine at the same time,

1:08:56there were a couple of nightmare scenarios you faced during that dream. Honestly, like pre-tripes. Well, you don't see a pre-tripes. Well, I had the best time. Like, again, mean blanche, house on fire. Yeah, the rack pack mean cat. Um, I'm not sure if I talked about that tribe or where, like, I sit back down. I whispered to her cat because we're close. You don't see it. We had an alliance called the traitors. Yeah. I whispered her. They want me to vote you out. And she goes, kiddo, if it puts you in their majority, vote me out. And so, I got a little one heart. I know. Shocked her. Um, and then, so I had, I had the best time. Me and Brooke, we had a jazz in the lab in the lion. So she was my end with them. So I had to, I had a great time pre-tripes. So it was just post-tripes. I got swapped with that power trio. It, like, it felt like the Soviet, it literally felt like the Soviet Union. They were just like ice in me out. Yeah. Um, so it was an amazing experience. And I have lifelong friends with this. Like, I speak to category day, I speak to Blanche every day. Johnson's another, like, another one.

1:09:58You never, you never saw, like, we started speaking, I started speaking Greek to him, regarding numbers of who would vote with us. So I'm like, N.R. via Theria. So me, Blanche, and him, to vote with him, which we did in the Donvo. So I had, yeah, real friendships and real connections. But just it was post-tripes. What that would, it kind of like, to you're out in my game. No, that really heartens me to hear. I mean, look, you know, it's sometimes the good is going to come with the bad. But it does, I think, bring a lot to your experience that there was a lot of great relationships you made and a lot of good times you had, because this was, again, a long-held dream. And so thank you for everything you brought to the screen for making this dream come true. Again, you know, you are only within a handful of people, let alone super fans of Australian survivor to get to play Australian survivor. So I really commend you for everything that you, your tenacity, as you said, in your famous credo about how you fail

1:10:58and fail and fail until you succeed. And I think you did leave the game with, you know, successes in certain regards. Yeah, thanks, Mark. Like, you could put like, you could possibly say I'm one of the worst plays in some of our history, but there's still Simon. No, but like, there's only 250 people that get to do this. And I'm one of that. So I'm part of the family. And like, I had a great time. I had an amazing time. I'm so grateful. Well, I'm so glad to hear that. Well, I'm happy to have talked with one of the 250 right here. And I certainly, I hope it won't be in the last time. So thank you, Ted. So much. This is great. Getting to chat. Thank you for opening up. I know everything we saw, especially we didn't see. I think you bring a lot of clarity to, you know, your very tumultuous time in the game. So I will let you go all the best to you and your family. But thank you so much again. It has this little light. Thank you so much. Of course, all the best. Some days call for some oomph to amplify your everyday look, like when you want the look of false lashes without the extra effort, reach for thrive cosmetics, liquid lash, volumizer mascara,

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