Are We Gonna Live on Exile Island?!?! “Yes! It is the final episode.” — Rob Cesternino (@robcesternino) August 26, 2018 Rob has the power to decide who wins Survivor but I only have my final thoughts. I’m so glad that Rob and I were able to work together and I was so thankful for our conversation at the final Tribal Council. Rob’s great and I’m thankful for the time we spent together. I’m sorry for my reaction to the “live in an ice cream truck” question. I know you said something on the show, but I didn’t have a chance to watch it when it came out so it didn’t have the impact on me that it should have had. And being that I have an autoimmune disease, it’s hard for me to watch people get hurt so I know you saw me at Tribal Council and I can’t thank you enough for going up there and putting yourself out there to speak up. It was perfect. I don’t think I would have been able to say something, because I really wanted to see Rob win. And no matter what happens, I’m going to try to make it as easy on Rob as possible and I’m really hoping for a redemption story here. I don’t have anything to add to Rob Cesternino’s finale recap, so you can just read that instead of mine if you’d like. But for me, I think we all win this week. After the merge, I feel like the game just got too easy for Rob because he had so much of the advantage of making himself a huge threat and now that that’s done, I think the game should be harder for Rob. Even with that I still don’t think he was the smartest person to take the vote. But a three way tie for last place is still some kind of success for him. Before we get to the question of who deserves to win, first let’s talk about how Rob and I met each other. So the whole idea of what I’m about to say is going to be a total lie so please take it with a grain of salt, but I first heard Rob’s voice when I listened to the podcast back in season 6 before the merge. So that’s pretty ridiculous. The reason I say that is because I listen to the first one hour season, and I didn’t have access to the Internet in 2005 or 2006 (and I still don’t) so I wasn’t able to watch or read anything about Survivor for almost five years. And then I heard the podcast and that’s when I knew this was something that I wanted to be a part of. For me, it was always about the gameplay. But knowing his podcast, I knew that he was going to be a person that was so interesting, smart, and articulate, that I knew there was no way I didn’t want to be around him. I just knew we were going to have good conversations. So that’s how it all started for me, but what brought us to where we are today is a random Skype date from last season. I wanted to be a part of the Game Changers podcast this season and while Rob and I didn’t know each other as a result of that, we did end up talking on a couple of dates and that’s how we met in person. It was a very casual thing, but it just made sense. We were both from the Boston area, we had very similar life experiences, and I was looking for a podcast that I felt safe enough to talk on. So when he wanted to do his podcast last year, I was immediately like, “Okay! Cool, sounds great!” And then Rob and I started talking almost daily. And I’m glad I got to be his first podcast guest because I got to know Rob and it was fascinating to be a part of his brain and his mind. I got to experience someone else playing a game that I know so well. I could see how Rob, after he gets blindsided at the first Tribal Council and he realizes this is actually going to be a strategic game, is going to start thinking of ways to stay in this game long term and how he’s going to be the biggest strategic threat out there. It was also really cool for me to talk with Rob about how I got to know him and the conversations that I had with him after his season. This time around, we did have a lot of deeper conversations about things he had learned. And I’m grateful for the time we got to spend together. I appreciate all of the compliments that you all have given him and me. I know there’s been a lot of commentary around this relationship. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all of this, it’s that you need to enjoy your own life. You need to be present and not be worrying about what other people think or saying to yourself, “Oh my God, this is too much fun to be having! I don’t deserve this.” When it comes down to it, it’s about having fun. When you take care of yourself and find ways to be happy every day then you can keep doing what you love. So I’ve been thinking a lot about what people like to say to me about Rob. And Rob and I had a lot of discussions about where he stood in the eyes of everyone and how that affected him in that final Tribal Council. I still don’t understand why certain people were saying that he didn’t deserve to win. I still don’t understand why people chose to make that their opinion of Rob. I just don’t understand why this would come down to things like this. I do know that I’ve never seen Rob be cruel or be mean to any of the other players. I’ve never seen him be cruel to any of the other players. And I think he should have gotten out there and talked to people that he was disappointed in himself. He could have had a lot of fun telling that story, and that’s what I want people to understand. That’s the spirit that Rob has. If you don’t want to win, then go out there and not win. That’s part of the game. You can stay, you can play, you can not be voted out, but you choose to do whatever it is that you’re going to do. Rob decided to play that way. I think he wanted to play that way. There’s a lot of good players that wanted to play that way, and not get voted out. I just wanted to add that. All right, now we’re going to get to the question of who is going to win this game. So Rob, who do you think should win Survivor? If I’m being honest, right now I’m going with Tasha. There were a lot of moments where Tasha was doing good or she was dominating and she went out of the game. I do think it’s a good possibility that she’ll win. I don’t know how that is going to play out but I think it’s a good possibility. So as you can see, I’m happy and Rob and I didn’t really have any plans to ask this question. This question was not inspired by any of the editing at all, by the way. This is a question that I would have asked Rob without even knowing it was being asked in the show. We both just wanted to know. We were sitting there and we were talking about how there were different times when people are happy to be in the game and there are different times when people aren’t happy in the game and I was curious how that played out this season. I will say, the people you’re going to need to talk to to know who is going to win — because this is where your vote can really matter — I don’t think we’re going to get that answer yet. What I can say is I was impressed with how strategic Rob was this season. And I will say that if it wasn’t for the game of Survivor and if I didn’t happen to be part of it, I really don’t know how I would have found someone that I’m as close to. I have a lot of friends, and when I think of “strong, honorable, good people” I usually think of my friends and people I care about. For me it was more than just like, “Okay, we need to find somebody we can actually work with. We need to find someone who can actually go through an entire season of Survivor and come out the other side with a smile on their face and the respect of other players.” For me, the big thing about this season was the gameplay and the strategy. I’m proud of how well Rob played this season. Right now I’m so happy with a second place finish for Tasha. I want her to win, but I really think it is time to say goodbye to Rob. And I’m so happy that it’s not because of the gameplay and the strategy. It’s because of the way he was. Tasha, who do you think is going to win Survivor? It’s between me and Rob. And I think it would be really sad for me if I didn’t win and I don’t think it would be too sad for Rob if he won. And for that reason, I’m hoping that