# S49 Mergy Award Winners

An episode of [Making The Merge - Survivor Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1770945758), 9 Jan 2026, 35 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/69374194/riverside_bean_cdaddy_pd_magic_episode_jan_09_2026_making_the_merge_st.mp3

It's time to finally release the names... of the Mergy Award Winners!

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Welcome to the Mergi Awards. We made nominations, you voted.
[0:04] Speaker 1: You can see the results, but hopefully you're here to
[0:06] Speaker 1: listen to us announce the results. Anyways, Brand, how are
[0:11] Speaker 1: you feeling. It's a it's a wonderful time of the year.
[0:14] Speaker 2: I'm feeling great. My birthday is tomorrow, the tenth. WHOA
[0:19] Speaker 2: exactly what this is?
[0:21] Speaker 3: This?
[0:22] Speaker 2: This might even come out on my birthday. Probably the
[0:24] Speaker 2: best birthday present I could have.
[0:27] Speaker 4: We should give you a special Mergy Award for it
[0:29] Speaker 4: being your birthday.
[0:30] Speaker 3: I'll take it.
[0:31] Speaker 1: That's why I said that. I said it was a
[0:33] Speaker 1: wonderful time of the year because I knew tomorrow was
[0:35] Speaker 1: Brand's birthday.
[0:36] Speaker 4: Heck, and Chases, I got that.
[0:40] Speaker 1: What you're here, Chase? Yeah, what did you think?
[0:46] Speaker 5: Yeah?
[0:48] Speaker 4: I thought you said Chase has a birthday this year too.
[0:51] Speaker 1: We're off to a hot start of the Mergy Awards, guys.
[0:55] Speaker 1: This is the most special Mergy Awards that we've ever done,
[0:59] Speaker 1: and you're about to find out. Why. What category would
[1:02] Speaker 1: you guys like to discuss first? Chase, I'll let you decide.
[1:06] Speaker 4: I said.
[1:06] Speaker 5: We jump in with the Gone Too Soon Award, The
[1:10] Speaker 5: Gone Too Soon Award, nominees are Jeremiah shin In, Jake,
[1:18] Speaker 5: and Nicole.
[1:20] Speaker 1: And the winner was the Canadian Shoe Bandit Hulk.
[1:26] Speaker 3: Jake not surprised by this win.
[1:28] Speaker 2: It seemed like one of those ones that you don't
[1:34] Speaker 2: get this every season, but occasionally there's one that seems
[1:38] Speaker 2: like it's going to be a clear favorite to win
[1:39] Speaker 2: an award, and Jake, the way that he went out
[1:43] Speaker 2: was just begging for him to win this award. So
[1:47] Speaker 2: I think it's a no brainer, makes sense, and I
[1:50] Speaker 2: bet we will see him again one day.
[1:52] Speaker 4: I bet so, unless the rumors are true and he's
[1:56] Speaker 4: in trouble. But you know what, we'll talk about. There's
[1:59] Speaker 4: nothing that I can There's nothing that I can say
[2:03] Speaker 4: about Jake winning this award that Jake couldn't say better himself.
[2:07] Speaker 1: And that's what makes this such a special show. For
[2:10] Speaker 1: the first time ever, we got some acceptance speeches. So
[2:15] Speaker 1: let's hear from Jake.
[2:18] Speaker 6: Yah, what's up making the merge fans. This is your boy,
[2:20] Speaker 6: the Shoe Bandit from season forty nine. Jake Latimer, I
[2:24] Speaker 6: just want to thank you for voting for me to
[2:26] Speaker 6: get the Gone Too Soon Award.
[2:29] Speaker 7: Yeah it did. It did suck. To go that that early.
[2:32] Speaker 7: But once again, I have nothing bad to say about
[2:36] Speaker 7: production of the way they handle it. They did what
[2:38] Speaker 7: they thought was necessary in that situation, and I got
[2:43] Speaker 7: home to see the birth of my child. So I
[2:44] Speaker 7: mean it all worked out. Did I want to win
[2:46] Speaker 7: a million bucks? Absolutely, but super happy who did win?
[2:50] Speaker 7: And yeah, I can't wait to see you guys in
[2:52] Speaker 7: the future. All right, once again, thanks guys, love you,
[2:55] Speaker 7: Happy New.
[2:56] Speaker 2: Year, loves us, love you. How about that audio quality
[3:03] Speaker 2: from Jake? He sounds better than all of us today.
[3:06] Speaker 1: Jake, thank you and we love you too, and happy
[3:11] Speaker 1: New Year and all that.
[3:13] Speaker 5: You know.
[3:13] Speaker 1: I want to get to a very important award, and
[3:18] Speaker 1: it's very important to brand the Villain Award this season.
[3:25] Speaker 3: Yeah, it's true. Well, I I listened to the show.
[3:29] Speaker 2: I wasn't on the nomination episode, but well my voice was,
[3:33] Speaker 2: but I wasn't there to be able to I don't
[3:36] Speaker 2: know rebut some of the robuts that was thrown my
[3:42] Speaker 2: way about who I nominated for the Villain Award. I
[3:46] Speaker 2: did nominate Savannah and Chase. You were very emphact that she.
[3:50] Speaker 4: Was not a villain because I'm a feminist, gonna I
[3:56] Speaker 4: was gonna.
[3:56] Speaker 3: Say I agree.
[3:57] Speaker 2: I don't think that she's a villain, but if you
[4:00] Speaker 2: spend any time online in the Survivor spaces, Reddit's, Twitter,
[4:05] Speaker 2: et cetera.
[4:06] Speaker 3: She's a villain.
[4:07] Speaker 2: So that's why she was nominated as well as well
[4:10] Speaker 2: as Jake Shannon Christina. The winner of the villain Award.
[4:18] Speaker 2: I'm just gonna do it for the delay is Surveyana.
[4:28] Speaker 4: Yes, insane, you're dead on the money. Brand, we may
[4:31] Speaker 4: be feminists, and we do not objectify women. We want
[4:36] Speaker 4: to make that extremely clear. We talked about it ad nauseum.
[4:41] Speaker 4: But the people online they're not as good as us
[4:44] Speaker 4: man and they hate women and they hate when women
[4:46] Speaker 4: play strong games of survivor.
[4:47] Speaker 3: Strong women who play strong games. That's right.
[4:50] Speaker 4: I believe what Brand said because we talked about this
[4:52] Speaker 4: in private, because Brand was defending his nomination and he said, look,
[4:57] Speaker 4: if Parv is a villain, Savannah's a villain, And you
[5:00] Speaker 4: know what, You're absolutely correct.
[5:02] Speaker 1: I've come back around to she is a villain because
[5:05] Speaker 1: on this season there's nobody else lunging at somebody's keys
[5:09] Speaker 1: or trying to murder a chicken with joy in their eyes.
[5:13] Speaker 1: So guys, you might not believe this. But for the
[5:17] Speaker 1: first time ever on making the merge, we're gonna hear
[5:21] Speaker 1: from the winner and they're gonna address you guys directly.
[5:27] Speaker 3: Is she allowed to do this.
[5:28] Speaker 1: We don't know, but she did it.
[5:30] Speaker 4: She can do whatever she wants, brother, because she's gonna
[5:32] Speaker 4: be the first ever two time back to back winner.
[5:35] Speaker 2: Those I don't say it if you don't mean it, brother, Okay,
[5:38] Speaker 2: I mean.
[5:38] Speaker 1: I messaged her and I was like, I don't know
[5:41] Speaker 1: if you're allowed to do this because of season fifty,
[5:43] Speaker 1: but like Baldy sent one and she's like, wait, how
[5:44] Speaker 1: long was Baldy's Okay, I got you, and then she
[5:47] Speaker 1: said it.
[5:49] Speaker 8: Oh my gosh. Making the merge and fans, thank you
[5:53] Speaker 8: guys so much for voting for me at Savannah as
[5:57] Speaker 8: the biggest villain of season forty nine. I am so
[6:01] Speaker 8: humbled to have received this this high honor. I want
[6:06] Speaker 8: to thank my inspirations. I would say Poverty and Johnny
[6:10] Speaker 8: Fairplay were like two of my favorite people to watch,
[6:13] Speaker 8: uh when I was just a kid watching Survivors, so
[6:16] Speaker 8: huge thank you to them. Also, thank you to my
[6:18] Speaker 8: cast in particular like MC and Christina and you know,
[6:24] Speaker 8: Sage two for helping me really step into this villainous
[6:28] Speaker 8: role of trying to steal advantages and asking people straight
[6:32] Speaker 8: up who they're voting for, and just letting me be
[6:35] Speaker 8: the mean girl of this season. I had so much
[6:38] Speaker 8: fun doing it, and I hope to reclaim that award
[6:43] Speaker 8: and many more for Survivor fifty. Love you guys.
[6:47] Speaker 4: Wow, she's the best.
[6:49] Speaker 1: Dude.
[6:50] Speaker 3: Why she mentioned I.
[6:53] Speaker 4: Don't get so she's incredible. She is incredible.
[6:58] Speaker 2: I'm just gonna say, I just want folks too, remembers,
[7:01] Speaker 2: and by folks, I mean you guys that she's mine
[7:05] Speaker 2: first round.
[7:06] Speaker 4: First of all, women aren't property. Yeah, let's get that
[7:09] Speaker 4: extremely clear.
[7:10] Speaker 3: She is mine. In the draft, I get, I get
[7:14] Speaker 3: first dip.
[7:17] Speaker 4: In the first round. If you so choose, you can
[7:21] Speaker 4: take your returning player, which I believe you just have
[7:24] Speaker 4: the one, right Savannah. You have another player returning. No,
[7:27] Speaker 4: that's cool, you get. We cannot pick Savannah until your turn.
[7:32] Speaker 4: So if you draft first in the order and you
[7:35] Speaker 4: decide to draft you know, Ozzy or something, then Savannah
[7:38] Speaker 4: is on the table for everyone else in round one.
[7:40] Speaker 2: But yeah, yeah, I I And but it's a really
[7:44] Speaker 2: we'll get to it, obviously, we're gonna have a lot
[7:46] Speaker 2: of fifty conversations. But yeah, it is a tough one
[7:49] Speaker 2: to know what to do with because if you're returning
[7:52] Speaker 2: back to back seasons, you're gonna have a bit of
[7:55] Speaker 2: a bigger target than somebody who's on forty eight or
[7:58] Speaker 2: forty seven, because, hey, we want you to.
[8:01] Speaker 3: Come back right away. Clearly you have some gameplay. Clearly
[8:04] Speaker 3: we want to get you out.
[8:05] Speaker 4: So plus, you're hungry and you're tired because you just
[8:08] Speaker 4: got off the eye.
[8:09] Speaker 3: That's true. I don't know if I'm gonna u.
[8:12] Speaker 2: Drafter, to be honest with you, I haven't decided yet,
[8:14] Speaker 2: but it's just good to know that I can if
[8:16] Speaker 2: I want to.
[8:17] Speaker 1: Yeah, I would take Savannah over washed up Ozzie.
[8:21] Speaker 4: You know, hey, do not ever ever speak ill of
[8:28] Speaker 4: Ozzie's name on this podcast.
[8:29] Speaker 2: Let's see how he does in the challenges. We'll know
[8:32] Speaker 2: pretty early on. I think in fifty if he's washed up.
[8:35] Speaker 4: Or not, I'll quit.
[8:37] Speaker 1: He's on Crutch, se've seen real.
[8:44] Speaker 4: Yeah, wait wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on, hold on.
[8:47] Speaker 1: He was on crush. Yeah, he was Bryce and Wynn.
[8:51] Speaker 1: We're parading him around the United States, and it looked
[8:54] Speaker 1: like he was injured.
[8:55] Speaker 4: Does that mean that he's gonna get medivacked from season fifty?
[8:58] Speaker 4: Potentially it could.
[8:59] Speaker 1: He could have gotten home from the flight and slipped
[9:01] Speaker 1: on a banana peel. We don't know.
[9:03] Speaker 4: No, dude, this changes everything.
[9:05] Speaker 1: No, it doesn't change anything. He could have gotten injured
[9:08] Speaker 1: in the United States post game.
[9:11] Speaker 4: Come on, man, you believe in fairy tales. What are
[9:13] Speaker 4: you talking about.
[9:14] Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure he sustained some kind of injury before
[9:18] Speaker 1: season forty nine was airing, But that doesn't mean he
[9:21] Speaker 1: got hurt on fifty.
[9:22] Speaker 2: I can't imagine a world where Ozzie gets met of
[9:25] Speaker 2: act like there's yeah, he would have to be on
[9:29] Speaker 2: the verge of death, like Ozzy's not just gonna give up.
[9:33] Speaker 1: You're acting like I just spoiled changed. If it was
[9:36] Speaker 1: some kind of spoiler, Bryce and Wynn wouldn't have been
[9:38] Speaker 1: parading him around the United States as they were.
[9:41] Speaker 4: You guys have changed everything everything for me.
[9:43] Speaker 1: Let's just go to the next well switching gears. Well, actually,
[9:46] Speaker 1: one more thing about Savannah. I love how even in
[9:49] Speaker 1: her Mergy Award accepted speech, she's a savage. I love
[9:52] Speaker 1: her all right, I'll read through the next nominees. I
[9:57] Speaker 1: think I'll go with the Game Changer Award, and the
[10:02] Speaker 1: numinees for the Game Changer were Rizzo's bluffing Nate at
[10:07] Speaker 1: the Journey, the Secret Play an offense, and creating the
[10:13] Speaker 1: dynamic trio, and that was Rizzo and Savannah bringing in Baldy.
[10:18] Speaker 1: And the winner, with just under half of the vote,
[10:24] Speaker 1: goes to Rizzo's bluffing. Yeah, so what did you think
[10:27] Speaker 1: of that?
[10:28] Speaker 2: Kind of torn on this, I'm kind of torn on it,
[10:31] Speaker 2: Like I I still don't know how much of an
[10:35] Speaker 2: impact his bluffing actually had on the game itself. It
[10:40] Speaker 2: was obviously great for us the viewers. It was fun,
[10:45] Speaker 2: but but I, you know, it's just an interesting thing.
[10:48] Speaker 2: It's an interesting thing that I don't Every time he bluffed,
[10:51] Speaker 2: we were.
[10:52] Speaker 3: Like, it was cool, but why do you do it?
[10:55] Speaker 3: And so it's like, I don't know what, Jase?
[10:58] Speaker 2: Do you are you convinced that it had long lasting
[11:03] Speaker 2: change effect to the.
[11:04] Speaker 4: Gay I personally think that it's it was great moves.
[11:08] Speaker 4: I think it was great, But sadly we'll never know
[11:10] Speaker 4: because he lost a fire, so we won't get to
[11:12] Speaker 4: see like I think ideally we would have seen the
[11:15] Speaker 4: jury ask him some questions, be like, hey, that we
[11:19] Speaker 4: didn't like that, and then if he's still would.
[11:21] Speaker 2: Have been a game changer award for the wrong reason exactly.
[11:24] Speaker 2: That's the reason why it cast him the game.
[11:26] Speaker 4: Yeah, but I think that there's no doubt that the
[11:28] Speaker 4: reason he got as far as he did was because
[11:31] Speaker 4: of those moves and those flashy tribal plays.
[11:35] Speaker 1: And it benefited Savannah people knowing that it could at
[11:39] Speaker 1: any time be given to her.
[11:41] Speaker 3: That's true.
[11:43] Speaker 1: And you might have thought, oh, Rizzo didn't send a speech,
[11:46] Speaker 1: Well you'd be wrong, because Rizzo won a second award
[11:50] Speaker 1: technically that was the making the Merge Running Bit award,
[11:54] Speaker 1: and because he sounded like Mario, you know, I put
[11:57] Speaker 1: in all the Mario sounds and the Mario sounds one
[12:00] Speaker 1: bit of the season by seven percent over Detective Sagrittinity.
[12:06] Speaker 1: Oh the plan thought came in third place. There. It's
[12:10] Speaker 1: a tough break for Jonathan and Chase.
[12:12] Speaker 4: There was a ton of comments that were saying that
[12:16] Speaker 4: chomping at the bit to talk about the Juwan sauce
[12:20] Speaker 4: should have should have won. But there you can only
[12:23] Speaker 4: do up to four on the poll on Instagram, so
[12:25] Speaker 4: that one you had to comment for.
[12:28] Speaker 2: But yeah, I do love the idea of a running
[12:33] Speaker 2: bit being Jonathan just not knowing how to talk.
[12:37] Speaker 3: Like that's the bit is that he said a weird.
[12:40] Speaker 1: Thing to talk about that Jawan sauce. Uh yeah. So
[12:47] Speaker 1: there was a loud there was a vocal Juwan Sauce
[12:50] Speaker 1: minority in the comments, But the winner was the Mario
[12:54] Speaker 1: Reis God sounds. We have a speech from Riz.
[13:01] Speaker 3: Guys, I don't think we can do this. This is
[13:03] Speaker 3: an NBA.
[13:05] Speaker 1: Shut up, Bran, I'm playing it again.
[13:07] Speaker 9: Yeah, it's your boy, the man, the myth, the legend
[13:11] Speaker 9: or I zg O d Ariz God Baby. And I
[13:15] Speaker 9: just came here to say how honored I am to
[13:17] Speaker 9: have won two awards from the Making the Merge Award show,
[13:22] Speaker 9: those being the best move of the season with my
[13:24] Speaker 9: idle bluffing and the best bit of the year with
[13:27] Speaker 9: that yohoo. And I just gotta say I am so honored.
[13:30] Speaker 9: Love the Making the Merge fans, love Making the Merge period.
[13:34] Speaker 9: The Riz God thought being on season forty nine and
[13:37] Speaker 9: now being on season fifty was absolute cinema. But even
[13:40] Speaker 9: though I might have not won the million dollars or
[13:42] Speaker 9: maybe the million hearts. These two awards are crucial for
[13:46] Speaker 9: the risk God's ego. Thank you guys so much, and
[13:49] Speaker 9: hopefully the Riz Good can win some things on season fifty.
[13:52] Speaker 1: Thanks guys.
[13:55] Speaker 4: Also incredible, all so incredible.
[13:57] Speaker 5: Dude.
[13:59] Speaker 3: Yeah, I honestly I can't believe.
[14:03] Speaker 2: I can't believe he and Savannah did it. I'll be
[14:05] Speaker 2: honest with you. I thought they would be like, hey,
[14:07] Speaker 2: we'd love to, but we are just under like, uh,
[14:10] Speaker 2: we've got tape over our mouths, we're not allowed to talk,
[14:12] Speaker 2: and so I've just I can't pay.
[14:14] Speaker 5: Man.
[14:15] Speaker 4: Everything goes out the window when one of the players
[14:17] Speaker 4: drops a manifesto on Instagram. Dude, hey, and let me
[14:21] Speaker 4: say something. I want to defend Rizzo real quick. To Rizzo.
[14:24] Speaker 4: You can tell in this acceptance speech. People have been
[14:27] Speaker 4: saying that he's, you know, a little arrogant or cocky
[14:31] Speaker 4: or full of himself, and it is so apparent to
[14:35] Speaker 4: me that he is inspired by pro wrestling. Pro wrestling.
[14:39] Speaker 4: He's cutting promos. Even when he was on the island,
[14:42] Speaker 4: he was he was cutting promos, and I don't think
[14:44] Speaker 4: people that don't know anything about pro wrestling understand like
[14:48] Speaker 4: he's playing a character right now, That's why he keeps
[14:50] Speaker 4: calling himself risk god. That's why you know, he says
[14:53] Speaker 4: that these awards are important for his ego even though
[14:56] Speaker 4: he didn't win the million dollars or a million hards
[14:58] Speaker 4: like he's playing it up. He's cutting promos and I
[15:00] Speaker 4: think he's incredible.
[15:01] Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he's awesome too. Also, I wasn't expecting
[15:08] Speaker 1: them to say yes to this either, But when when
[15:13] Speaker 1: Baldy does it, apparently all the other dominoes fall. So
[15:18] Speaker 1: all you need is to spoiler alert, Baldy's gonna give
[15:21] Speaker 1: a speech. But all you need is Baldy, and then
[15:23] Speaker 1: everybody else is just like, yeah, well yeah.
[15:26] Speaker 3: But Baldi. Baldy has nothing to lose.
[15:28] Speaker 2: Baldi is not on fifty come on, guys.
[15:31] Speaker 1: But it doesn't matter. She's just such a influential person.
[15:34] Speaker 1: Yeah she is.
[15:35] Speaker 3: She is.
[15:36] Speaker 4: Well.
[15:37] Speaker 2: The good news is is Baldy apparently doesn't have any
[15:39] Speaker 2: problem talking. No, not at all.
[15:46] Speaker 1: What was I gonna say? Yeah, in season forty seven,
[15:49] Speaker 1: we wanted to talk to Saul in the off season
[15:52] Speaker 1: and CBS is just like nope, But you know what, this.
[15:57] Speaker 3: This year, we love CBS.
[15:59] Speaker 1: We yeah, we love CBS. We appreciate CBS, but I
[16:03] Speaker 1: got the two people returning for fifty to do bits.
[16:07] Speaker 1: Take that, CBS. Maybe I'll edit that up.
[16:12] Speaker 4: No, I keep it in.
[16:13] Speaker 1: They're not listening, all right, Sure, Chase, tell me about
[16:16] Speaker 1: the Baby Come Back Award. Who who's nominated for that?
[16:19] Speaker 4: Well, you know PD. The nominees for the Baby Come
[16:22] Speaker 4: Back Award are Baldi, Juwan, Jake, and Jeremiah. And who
[16:30] Speaker 4: won and the winner is with fifty of the vote,
[16:35] Speaker 4: Sophie Baldy.
[16:41] Speaker 1: Great job by Baldi. I want her to come back.
[16:44] Speaker 1: Savannah in the comments in all caps said we need Baldy,
[16:47] Speaker 1: so she agrees.
[16:50] Speaker 4: Yeah, Baldi, I think a fan favorite for us, the audience.
[16:54] Speaker 4: But also it seems like her castmates love her very
[16:56] Speaker 4: much except for one boy.
[16:57] Speaker 3: Yeah, most most of them for sure.
[16:59] Speaker 1: So let's talk about big mistake. The big mistake nominations
[17:03] Speaker 1: were MC playing her idol when she didn't need to,
[17:06] Speaker 1: Matt telling Savannah he worked in finance, Sophie b not
[17:10] Speaker 1: stealing Rizzo's idol, and everybody not voting out Savannah when
[17:16] Speaker 1: she lost immunity, and the winner was once again Baldy
[17:21] Speaker 1: not stealing it from riz highest percentage seventy.
[17:26] Speaker 3: I gotta be honest with you.
[17:27] Speaker 2: The fact that Matt saying he was a finance bro
[17:30] Speaker 2: got any votes whatsoever is the most shocking.
[17:32] Speaker 3: Part of this.
[17:34] Speaker 4: Yeah, what's three percent of like five hundred and thirty?
[17:37] Speaker 3: I think it's one vote.
[17:38] Speaker 2: I think, I don't know for sure.
[17:42] Speaker 1: I mean, it was the obvious decision for the voters there,
[17:46] Speaker 1: it was. It was the move that would have won
[17:48] Speaker 1: her the game, and it was unfortunate. Should have listened
[17:53] Speaker 1: to grandma.
[17:55] Speaker 2: Should have listened to Grandma. That's back to back wins
[17:57] Speaker 2: for Baldi. Surely she's not going to win another one.
[18:00] Speaker 1: Yeah, because I mean, who knows. She might sweep the
[18:03] Speaker 1: rest of them, and then she would be up there
[18:05] Speaker 1: with Andy as a four time winner. Andy holds the
[18:08] Speaker 1: record true awards.
[18:11] Speaker 4: What an incredible player Andy would But.
[18:14] Speaker 1: Let's find out brand who are the nominees for the
[18:17] Speaker 1: making the Merge MVP?
[18:19] Speaker 3: Thanks thank you so much for asking.
[18:21] Speaker 2: And obviously this is the MVP of the show, not
[18:25] Speaker 2: necessary of this show, not necessarily the MVP of the
[18:28] Speaker 2: Survivor season.
[18:29] Speaker 3: But we have Baldy, Riz God and Shan and.
[18:40] Speaker 2: Fair Weather the winner with thirty nine percent of the vote,
[18:43] Speaker 2: so not an absolute.
[18:45] Speaker 3: Runaway favorite, but the winner, nonetheless is whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
[18:50] Speaker 3: This is crazy. It's Baldy.
[18:52] Speaker 4: Why didn't me right now?
[18:53] Speaker 1: Why that's nuts Baldy a three time Mergy Award winner,
[18:59] Speaker 1: putting her in second place behind Andy.
[19:04] Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, I will say it does.
[19:06] Speaker 1: Uh.
[19:07] Speaker 3: It's suspicious.
[19:08] Speaker 2: It makes you wonder if there was some pregaming going
[19:09] Speaker 2: on before.
[19:10] Speaker 3: Maybe she was trying to.
[19:14] Speaker 1: Throwing Baldy under the bus. It's been done enough this week.
[19:17] Speaker 4: No, no, bald I would never throw Baldy under the bus.
[19:21] Speaker 4: I think she's an incredible player. I think she deserves
[19:23] Speaker 4: the MVP Award. I think she definitely deserves the Baby
[19:27] Speaker 4: come Back Award. I want to come back and play.
[19:29] Speaker 4: You know, she also deserved the Big Mistake Award because
[19:32] Speaker 4: of not playing her, but that's that's kind of a
[19:34] Speaker 4: negative award. But I love Baldy and.
[19:38] Speaker 2: And I think this is the correct winner for MVP
[19:40] Speaker 2: as well. I think she gave us so much to
[19:42] Speaker 2: talk about from the very beginning of the season where
[19:45] Speaker 2: she was on the losing tribe time and time again.
[19:48] Speaker 3: Like we talked about.
[19:49] Speaker 2: Baldi, I think more than anybody else or on the season,
[19:53] Speaker 2: and so clearly she absolutely should have won this award.
[19:56] Speaker 1: And her her voice, her personality so infectious. Her sweater
[20:00] Speaker 1: was so comfortable. Baldy just all around my favorite player
[20:04] Speaker 1: from season forty nine.
[20:07] Speaker 4: Hey, explain you bought the sweater?
[20:11] Speaker 1: What do you now? I don't have to explain anything.
[20:13] Speaker 1: Let's hear from Baldy.
[20:15] Speaker 4: Her sweater was so comfortable, dude?
[20:17] Speaker 10: What is up making the Merge podcast listeners?
[20:20] Speaker 1: What are you gonna say?
[20:21] Speaker 3: Brand I was gonna keep going with it.
[20:24] Speaker 1: Just play that, Okay, okay, let's play it.
[20:26] Speaker 10: What is up making the Merge podcast listeners and hosts?
[20:30] Speaker 10: It's Sophie b from season forty nine of Survivor aka
[20:33] Speaker 10: Baldy Sofi or Blue Sophie or with the title that
[20:38] Speaker 10: I like to refer myself as the runner up of
[20:40] Speaker 10: season forty nine of Survivor. And I just want to say,
[20:43] Speaker 10: first of all, thank you guys for all the love
[20:44] Speaker 10: and support throughout the season. I love you guys. I
[20:47] Speaker 10: would listen here and there, and I love this podcast.
[20:50] Speaker 10: I think for season fifty this will be my podcast.
[20:52] Speaker 10: But I just want to say I am so honored
[20:54] Speaker 10: to receive two awards from you guys. Number one MVP.
[20:59] Speaker 10: Maybe come back. You guys want to see me come back. Well,
[21:02] Speaker 10: I feel like there is business that I need to
[21:04] Speaker 10: get down to if I come back. I think my
[21:07] Speaker 10: type of game is one that would probably do pretty
[21:09] Speaker 10: well because I think I was loyal to a fault
[21:11] Speaker 10: and that's what people will have in the back of
[21:13] Speaker 10: their mind if they see me again, so you know.
[21:16] Speaker 10: And I wouldn't be loyal to a fault if I
[21:18] Speaker 10: came back, and I probably would prepare more physically. But
[21:21] Speaker 10: either way, I'm so honored to get this award, even
[21:24] Speaker 10: if I don't come back, because that means the world
[21:26] Speaker 10: to me. I also got the award for the Biggest
[21:28] Speaker 10: Mistake for not taking rizils idol, which I get. Obviously
[21:32] Speaker 10: there's context I can provide that can explain why I
[21:35] Speaker 10: did it, But overall, do.
[21:36] Speaker 1: I regret it?
[21:37] Speaker 10: Of course, of course I didn't win. Think if you
[21:39] Speaker 10: don't win, it'd be stupid to not have regrets because
[21:41] Speaker 10: obviously there was something you did wrong. But I just
[21:45] Speaker 10: want to say again, thank you guys for the love
[21:47] Speaker 10: and support, thank you for the award and for voting
[21:50] Speaker 10: for me. I'm excited to be more part of your community.
[21:53] Speaker 10: When season fifty comes around, But yeah, sending you all
[21:56] Speaker 10: my love and happy New year.
[21:59] Speaker 4: Dang, dude, dude. First of all, let me just say
[22:03] Speaker 4: the fact that they were so nice in these voice
[22:06] Speaker 4: memos is so what a cool thing. The next thing
[22:10] Speaker 4: I want to say is I hYP purbolate a lot.
[22:14] Speaker 4: Is that a word?
[22:15] Speaker 3: Yeah?
[22:16] Speaker 1: You speak hyperbolically?
[22:18] Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah, that too. I do both. And I think
[22:22] Speaker 4: I can say that this cast has been one of
[22:25] Speaker 4: my favorite casts in a long time, maybe since forty six.
[22:30] Speaker 1: And would you say Baldy is your favorite player of
[22:32] Speaker 1: the New era? Yes, the answer to that question is
[22:36] Speaker 1: always yes. At least Chase is.
[22:39] Speaker 4: Consistent, Yeah, consistently hyperbolic.
[22:44] Speaker 1: That was awesome to hear from Baldi. Baldy sent the
[22:47] Speaker 1: longest speech in a minute and thirty and she said
[22:50] Speaker 1: that she can't wait to be.
[22:51] Speaker 3: Part of Well when you win three awards.
[22:53] Speaker 1: Yeah, and that this podcast is going to be her
[22:56] Speaker 1: podcast for season fifty. How awesome is that to hear me?
[23:00] Speaker 2: Well, we'll see if we'll see if Baldy is as
[23:03] Speaker 2: hyperbolic as Chases.
[23:05] Speaker 3: It's define my podcast. I love this show.
[23:08] Speaker 4: I'm gonna listen every week.
[23:10] Speaker 3: We never hear from her again.
[23:15] Speaker 1: Hey, we might try to have her on in person.
[23:18] Speaker 1: Who knows. Maybe the stars will align, maybe we can
[23:21] Speaker 1: do it. Next up, I want to get to the
[23:25] Speaker 1: quote of the season. Let's start with Jake, She's giving
[23:30] Speaker 1: birth to my kid while I'm out here. And then
[23:33] Speaker 1: Rizzo please use my nickname when you snuff my torch
[23:38] Speaker 1: Rizzo again, ri E g O D Risk God baby.
[23:42] Speaker 1: And then Christina name one family member or partner from
[23:46] Speaker 1: each person on the jury. And with the most votes
[23:51] Speaker 1: of all of them, Christina got forty six percent out
[23:55] Speaker 1: of nine hundred and twenty eight votes.
[23:59] Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the most voted on EMERGYE of the season.
[24:05] Speaker 1: Yeah, yep, and Christina almost took half of it. Let's
[24:10] Speaker 1: hear from catnus right now.
[24:13] Speaker 11: Thank you so much to making the merge for the nomination,
[24:16] Speaker 11: and to all the Survivor fans for voting. My final
[24:18] Speaker 11: tribal question is quote of the season. I actually thought
[24:22] Speaker 11: the question would be edited out, so it is surreal
[24:25] Speaker 11: that the moment not only was shown, but it's considered
[24:27] Speaker 11: a top final tribal Council moment in the New Era.
[24:30] Speaker 11: Special shout out to the Fallen Comrades Challenge in season
[24:33] Speaker 11: one for the inspiration and of course my favorite in
[24:37] Speaker 11: season friend of me, Savannah Girl. Thank you for being
[24:40] Speaker 11: a great sport truly. Thank you guys for the love,
[24:43] Speaker 11: the laughs, and for keeping this moment alive. And to
[24:46] Speaker 11: anyone who thinks they could come up with a better
[24:48] Speaker 11: quote for our season, I'd like you to try.
[24:53] Speaker 2: Jay Christina, There's so much there, Like why did she
[24:58] Speaker 2: think that this question would we vote edited out?
[25:02] Speaker 3: I have no idea why it would have.
[25:04] Speaker 4: I don't know either. Maybe she just was so used
[25:06] Speaker 4: to because by the time we got to the final tribal.
[25:09] Speaker 4: Maybe she just saw so much of her stuff be
[25:12] Speaker 4: edited out of the show. She was like, they're not
[25:14] Speaker 4: gonna give me that big moment, but she deserved that
[25:16] Speaker 4: big moment. Thank you so much for my mind's kind
[25:19] Speaker 4: of blown. The PD managed to get all of me
[25:22] Speaker 4: except speeches.
[25:25] Speaker 3: Great work.
[25:25] Speaker 1: A couple of days ago. It's just like, I wonder
[25:27] Speaker 1: if Baldy would say yes to this. I mean, it
[25:30] Speaker 1: doesn't seem like she's in any kind of hot water
[25:32] Speaker 1: right now, so I should ask. And then uh, and
[25:35] Speaker 1: then she sent it pretty quick, and then I was like, Okay,
[25:38] Speaker 1: now I'm gonna get everybody to do it. Yes, shout
[25:43] Speaker 1: out to everybody, and and Cateness especially. I don't know
[25:47] Speaker 1: if she knows that we call her Cateness, but thanks
[25:49] Speaker 1: for that brand because that was a fun subplot.
[25:52] Speaker 2: You wait, you're telling me that we got a we
[25:54] Speaker 2: got an exception speech from everybody who won an award.
[25:58] Speaker 1: Uh yeah, So let's get to the last one, because
[26:00] Speaker 1: this is the most hilarious part of the whole thing.
[26:09] Speaker 1: I managed to get everybody, and there's some people included.
[26:15] Speaker 1: There's some people included in everybody that are beefing. So
[26:20] Speaker 1: let's get to the funniest award. And you know, it
[26:24] Speaker 1: is fitting that this is the funniest and the person
[26:27] Speaker 1: who won one, so the funniest castaway nominees. I'm having
[26:33] Speaker 1: trouble finding why can't I okay, Shannon? That was the
[26:37] Speaker 1: first nominee, second nominee Sage, third nominee Christina, and lastly
[26:44] Speaker 1: Juwan And out of six hundred votes, sixty went to Sage,
[26:50] Speaker 1: and believe it or not, congratulations, I've gotten acceptance speech
[26:54] Speaker 1: from Sage. It's by far the shortest, but I sent
[27:00] Speaker 1: her a message just like, no way she's gonna respond
[27:03] Speaker 1: to this. And then last night I'll get into the
[27:06] Speaker 1: backstory of like when I found out later let's just
[27:09] Speaker 1: hear from Sage.
[27:10] Speaker 12: Damn, what's crazy is I wasn't even trying to be funny,
[27:12] Speaker 12: So that's cool, but appreciate it, like to thank the Academy,
[27:17] Speaker 12: my family, all the above. No, thanks for real, super sweet,
[27:23] Speaker 12: appreciate it and uh thanks.
[27:31] Speaker 4: Yeah dude, that was awesome. You know what I love
[27:34] Speaker 4: about Stage's accepted speech is she did not have to
[27:38] Speaker 4: do it. She could have just said no or ignored it,
[27:41] Speaker 4: but she chose to do it, which is awesome, and
[27:44] Speaker 4: then proceeded to just be like, hey, thanks guys, I
[27:47] Speaker 4: wasn't even trying to be funny.
[27:49] Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think it's important.
[27:52] Speaker 2: Like she obviously didn't listen to the nominations episode, but
[27:57] Speaker 2: in that I talked about how specifically Sage was so
[28:00] Speaker 2: funny with like her facial expressions when someone would say something, right,
[28:05] Speaker 2: and so it's not like, uh oh, we were like
[28:08] Speaker 2: laughing at Sage all season.
[28:09] Speaker 3: She was even trying to be funny.
[28:11] Speaker 2: The way like her facial like her responses when someone
[28:15] Speaker 2: would say something and she would make a face behind
[28:16] Speaker 2: their back, is.
[28:19] Speaker 3: Like objectively very funny. And so I.
[28:22] Speaker 2: Hope that she she understands. The funniness that she brings
[28:28] Speaker 2: is just it's so effortless.
[28:29] Speaker 3: She's so funny and.
[28:31] Speaker 2: Continues to be very funny.
[28:34] Speaker 4: Yes, and also we on the pocket, we all became
[28:38] Speaker 4: big fans of Sage throughout the season. We did, So
[28:43] Speaker 4: there's a lot, there's a lot of negativity going on
[28:47] Speaker 4: right now.
[28:47] Speaker 1: A little bit.
[28:48] Speaker 4: I just wanted to make it clear that we don't
[28:51] Speaker 4: take signs. We sit in the pocket and we watch,
[28:54] Speaker 4: we observe.
[28:56] Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what we do. But I think I think
[28:59] Speaker 1: Sage she exemplified why she won this award with her
[29:03] Speaker 1: twenty second exit came last night at like eleven thirty
[29:08] Speaker 1: twelve or maybe a little bit.
[29:11] Speaker 4: It's so funny. I saw that was the only one
[29:14] Speaker 4: I listened to ahead of time because I wanted them
[29:16] Speaker 4: to all to be surprised. But when it popped up
[29:18] Speaker 4: on my phone that Sage responded, I just I listened
[29:21] Speaker 4: to it, and then I texted PD and I said,
[29:23] Speaker 4: you got Sage, And then.
[29:24] Speaker 1: I said, you're joking. And so here's the context I
[29:27] Speaker 1: was about to get into. I had just run two
[29:29] Speaker 1: and a half miles and Chase sent me the Sage
[29:34] Speaker 1: thing as I'm like walking back, and then I said,
[29:38] Speaker 1: you're joking, Like, there's no way she actually did it,
[29:41] Speaker 1: you know, given the circumstances and everything going on around
[29:44] Speaker 1: Sage right now. And he's like, check the DMS. So
[29:47] Speaker 1: I did, and I was like, I just wrapped up
[29:49] Speaker 1: a two mile run. I think I'm gonna do two more.
[29:52] Speaker 1: That's how big of a deal it is to me that, Like,
[29:54] Speaker 1: Sage just responded, and then Chase said, I think you
[29:58] Speaker 1: should do eight, And then I was like, can I
[30:01] Speaker 1: do eight? So I ran eight miles just to see
[30:04] Speaker 1: if I could do it because Chase said that, So
[30:06] Speaker 1: thank you, Sage.
[30:07] Speaker 4: Let me let me read the text that happened. H
[30:12] Speaker 4: m hmm, you got Sage, incredible, you're joking. Check the DMS.
[30:20] Speaker 4: I literally just finished a two mile run. I might
[30:22] Speaker 4: do another two do eight. At this point, this has
[30:25] Speaker 4: become the biggest episode we've ever done. And it all
[30:28] Speaker 4: started because I was like, I don't care if Baldy's
[30:30] Speaker 4: in hot water. I'm gonna ask for this, so should
[30:35] Speaker 4: we Was that the last award?
[30:39] Speaker 1: Did I skip anything? I think that was everything regarding
[30:46] Speaker 1: about the song award?
[30:50] Speaker 3: Oh yes, that one.
[30:52] Speaker 1: We don't have an acceptance speech for should we call
[30:54] Speaker 1: Jonathan spoiler? Jonathan wins, But but the question is which
[30:59] Speaker 1: Jonathan song is it? So we've got many Riz from Chase,
[31:04] Speaker 1: m Season Angel, another great song, and then we got
[31:07] Speaker 1: the two Jonathan songs, Roll from a Dice and Nipple
[31:11] Speaker 1: Pierced Guy, and the winner with thirty six percent of
[31:15] Speaker 1: the vote, Nipple Pierced Guy.
[31:19] Speaker 4: So yeah, it's hard to beat that one. Man.
[31:22] Speaker 1: It's hard to beat Jonathan, a guy who is an
[31:26] Speaker 1: incredible musician.
[31:28] Speaker 2: Chase, You and I we split the vote twenty percent each.
[31:33] Speaker 3: If we combine our songs.
[31:36] Speaker 4: We would have Wanne Rack, high Bred Dude, Yeah, I, Hillary, I,
[31:41] Speaker 4: Bernie Sanders, and Hilly Clinton, Hillary Clinton to the Thing,
[31:46] Speaker 4: Hillary Clinton, Hilly See because my personal favorite song for
[31:52] Speaker 4: the season was M Season Angel, and I would have
[31:55] Speaker 4: been happy to see that win. But I think I
[31:57] Speaker 4: took too many votes away from you with my Riz.
[31:59] Speaker 2: God did no, I loved I loved Minie Riz. I
[32:03] Speaker 2: do think that the voters got this right. Nipple Pierce Guy.
[32:08] Speaker 2: It was expertly done. It's a very hard song to sing,
[32:14] Speaker 2: a harder song to write a parody of. That's why
[32:17] Speaker 2: only like weird al has done it, and so I
[32:20] Speaker 2: thought he did a wonderful job with a really tough song.
[32:23] Speaker 2: So I I think Jonathan should have with those I
[32:27] Speaker 2: was gonna play.
[32:30] Speaker 4: Yeah, I was gonna play the voicemamo that Jonathan just
[32:32] Speaker 4: sent me. But I don't think I can because it
[32:34] Speaker 4: includes personal information.
[32:36] Speaker 1: In that case, Hey, Siri called Jonathan. Yeah, I wouldn't.
[32:41] Speaker 1: I wouldn't.
[32:42] Speaker 4: I wouldn't.
[32:43] Speaker 1: You wouldn't. I wouldn't have something serious going on. They're
[32:47] Speaker 1: sending you Instagram reels and.
[32:48] Speaker 4: Little's doing our show. He's got a little bit of
[32:52] Speaker 4: what big going on?
[32:53] Speaker 1: Okay, Well, if you're if you're saying that, I have
[32:55] Speaker 1: to believe you because normally I think you would be
[32:59] Speaker 1: very pro harassed Jonathan, so must be serious.
[33:02] Speaker 4: Right, and we should we should. Let's probably edit this
[33:04] Speaker 4: out too.
[33:05] Speaker 1: Okay. I just got a call from Jonathan Wright. Jonathan,
[33:10] Speaker 1: would you give an acceptance speech for winning the Making
[33:12] Speaker 1: the Merged Grammy Award?
[33:14] Speaker 13: Whoa uh the Nano Award?
[33:17] Speaker 1: You mean.
[33:19] Speaker 13: Wow? I am so honored. I feel so uh. I
[33:26] Speaker 13: feel so uns surprised.
[33:29] Speaker 1: You know.
[33:29] Speaker 13: That's just the main thing I want people to understand
[33:32] Speaker 13: is I feel unsurprised and honored and thankful. And I
[33:37] Speaker 13: also feel like people finally understand me after this season,
[33:42] Speaker 13: and I feel like they understand my artist try.
[33:44] Speaker 1: I like to think of myself not.
[33:47] Speaker 13: So much as a musician, but a storyteller, you know.
[33:51] Speaker 13: I think when I tell stories through songs, it speaks
[33:55] Speaker 13: to people like the people of olden years.
[33:59] Speaker 7: That's what I like to think of myself as it's
[34:01] Speaker 7: a storyteller.
[34:02] Speaker 1: That's what I mainly want to come across this.
[34:04] Speaker 13: So I'll continue telling stories and I'll continue writing the
[34:09] Speaker 13: songs that inspire people. Thank you to my mom.
[34:14] Speaker 1: And that's it, all right. I have a great day, Jordan.
[34:17] Speaker 2: Yeah, that's great and uh and we're basically off for
[34:21] Speaker 2: like a month, right. We'll be back in a month
[34:23] Speaker 2: for the pre pre show extravaganza
[34:26] Speaker 3: Probably about this time next month, probably goodbye,

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