Jay Wolf
Appearances
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
All right, well, let's move on to that exact thing, this new fight for supplies that exists. It's a 1v1 battle using the exact tools you're fighting for, a flint, a pot, and a machete. Yep. So, Jeff, can you tell us what goes into designing this new challenge?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Rachel, I want to talk about a moment that occurs at the tail end of this fight for supplies, as we now know it's called. Kyle is hustling to fill his jug, and then he smashes it. And he's disqualified, and the challenge is over. But then he does something that, personally, I probably never would have.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
I mean, I would have been having a temper tantrum. I'm just gonna be honest. So my question for you, Rachel, is pretty simple. Can basic human kindness that Kyle shows here like this be gameplay?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Okay, well, I want to stay on this theme of human kindness and connection. And I want to talk about what I assume a lot of people are going to be talking about this week, which is Eva and Joe. Eva has autism, and she opened up to Joe about it here.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Come on. I mean, come on. I know. And obviously this was super moving from Eva emotionally, but what happened next from Joe really locked it in.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Jeff, we're in season 48 of Survivor. You've got me on the verge of tears in episode one. So I want to ask you about the big picture. Do you think that the social experiment of Survivor is different now or that you just changed the variables?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
I think we got to start here with the start.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Rachel, we talked earlier about an act of kindness being gameplay. And I know it's your first day here, but I'm curious. Set me up to fail, Jay. If this still falls in that category for you, and if so, what your reaction to it is.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
So I have a question. How does it feel to be on season 48 of Survivor?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Welcome back to On Fire. All right, Jay, next moment. Okay, before we get to the new Tribal Council with an all-seeing eye that I have to admit I'm a little bit terrified of, I want to talk about the Da Vinci Code, or at least that's what I thought of when I saw this codex that we had to unscramble in order to get the first immunity idol of the season.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
So, Jeff, will you tell us a little bit about this new iteration of the Beware Advantage and how you designed it?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Well, Rachel, let's talk about delivering on every opportunity with respect to idols. You famously cut an idol out of a tarp in the middle of your camp in front of everybody. That was good. So what is the best tactic for going and finding an idol under the radar, especially in these early days?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
I'm just curious, Rachel, how difficult, truly, in your opinion, is it in terms of looking for those idols? What's the ratio of time between actually finding something and then just staring at odd pieces of tree bark?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
It's a meditative process. is what I'm hearing. Yeah. All right, Jeff, let's go to tribal council. And I want to ask first the most important question. Uh-oh. Do you lay out the black shirt the night before?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
I love it. Yeah. Well, I want to start here briefly, Jeff. This is not an opening to a season of Survivor that I've ever seen before. Right. So how did you decide to start us with the cast answering the call?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
No, as I said, it's a meditative process. I think that's true for idol hunting as well as for hosting the show.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Next year. Next year. Okay, let's take that black shirt onto Tribal Council. Jeff, will you tell us about the design of this new, admittedly somewhat terrifying Tribal Council?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Well, it's magnificent. I want to go to the vote. Stephanie is being circled. She ends up playing her shot in the dark and being our first vote out of the season. But before we talk about her vote out, I wanted to ask you, Rachel, in the first vote of the season, is it strategy or is it anybody but me?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Well, I want to dig into Stephanie a little bit deeper here with you, Rachel. She had said earlier in this episode that she intentionally was going to play it slow. She said something to the effect of, I want to sit on my hands, even though that's not what I would ordinarily do. So in the new era, at the pace of the game at this point, can you afford to sit on your hands in the first three days?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Well... Inevitably, Stephanie is the first vote out of the season. It's always such a bummer for that player. Jeff, what are your thoughts on Stephanie as she is the first to leave the island?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
All right. Well, this is the part of the show where normally we would go to fan questions. And by the way, if you have a question for us, you can write us at SurvivorShoutout at CBS.com. I'll read your questions. We'll answer them here on the show. But for tonight's episode, I want to do something extra special.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
You may have seen that this past Saturday night, Jeff made a special announcement at the Survivor premiere party about what's to come on Season 50. Well, I thought instead of fan questions for tonight, I would play you the audio from that panel so you can hear from Jeff's mouth exactly what's to come on Survivor 50. Here it is.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Okay, so let's talk about how one gets to this point at which you're receiving this Zoom call, these new castaways. There are probably thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands. Millions of people listening to this right now who would die to receive that call and be a part of Survivor. So how do those people, the audience who are watching this, get to that moment?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
I, for one, am incredibly excited about this announcement. The vote is live right now. You can go vote on what you want to see in the first four categories for Survivor 50. So make sure you go do that right now. That's all we've got for this week's episode of On Fire. Thank you so much for listening. There's a brand new Survivor every Wednesday, 8, 7 Central on CBS and Paramount+.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
And then immediately following that, there will be a brand new episode of this podcast, On Fire. We'll see you then.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Love hearing that. Well, Rachel, on the other side of the coin, you did live this experience. You applied for six years before you made it onto the show. And then you got up off the couch and you went and you, spoiler alert, won Survivor 47.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
So what advice do you have for folks who are listening to this thinking like, I've never applied or I've applied three times who want to be the person who are receiving that call saying you're on Survivor 49?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Okay, well, let's stay with the players for a minute. And I want to turn it on its head. Jeff, as we said, this is season number 48. That means 48 groups of castaways. So can you talk about the pressure and the payoffs of selecting a new season of Survivor Castaways?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
All right. Well, with all that, let's dive into this season headfirst. Yeah, there will be some mud involved. We get to the marooning challenge. In seasons past, we've talked about how this dive into the mud is metaphorically their birthing into the game. For one player, it's also a potentially catastrophic moment. Kevin dives into the mud and then we hear this.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Oh, anytime you hear that, it's not a good sign. Jeff, in the promos for this episode, we actually saw you call for medical. Yeah. Maybe around this point in time. And I was expecting to see that in the episode here. Yeah. And then I didn't see it. So can you tell me what happened?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Hey Jeff, what's going on? I'm stoked to be back here for season number five.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Rachel, I want to ask you about the marooning challenge itself. Having spent all the time talked about in buildup for you over six years to get to this moment where you're standing on a mat and all of a sudden you're covered in mud and solving a survivor logo puzzle. What does that actually feel like?
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Next moment. All right, so Loggie wins this first marooning challenge. And this is how they describe it.
On Fire with Jeff Probst: The Official Survivor Podcast
You've Been Marooned | Survivor 48
Is that Andy Bernard? I wish that you knew where the good old days when it was the good old days. It's a great line. I got to remember that. We're living it right now. Right now on this podcast. Exactly. So Rachel, you won your marooning challenge. I did, yeah. So how does winning and earning these supplies change the first few days?