Escaping Reality Fam -- we appreciate you all so much as we are transitioning into our summer full of fun Survivor and RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under content. That being said, we had a member of the pod out with her fam this week celebrating her sister's graduation (we miss you Stacey) so we don't have a true Survivor "episode" this week but rather an audio version of our Instagram Live from 2 weeks ago. We're so excited to do more of these in the future so ENJOY listening back to our reflections on watching 40 seasons of Survivor and starting a podcast in the middle of a pandemic. We did that. And y'all helped!!

In this episode, you'll hear us literally cheers to watching all 40 seasons and talk about what we learned along the way. We also give a brief explanation of how the pod came to be and answer fan questions like "What season do we recommend for newbies?" and "what winner would we be?" (and so many more). This episode is as raw and UNCUT/UNFILTERED as we have ever been so enjoy a peek behind the curtain as we discuss everything we've been through. 

We are so incredibly grateful we had y'all with us on this journey and cannot wait to continue to grow and discuss with you going forward. Make sure to check back every Wednesday for new Survivor episodes and every Friday for RuPaul's DragRace Down Under episodes!

Be sure to give us a follow as well on Instagram @EscapingRealityPod and on Twitter @EscRealityPod --  If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating/review on Apple Podcasts and/or follow us on Spotify! Make sure to tell your friends about the pod and have them join you (and us) on our journey through reality television competition series.

As always, thanks for listening & thanks for Escaping Reality with us! 

G'day Escaping Reality Fam! Are you so excited to join us on a new journey in conjunction with Survivor? I hope so because we are so excited to be able to watch a show in real time with you and discuss. And, you guessed it, we're starting with RuPaul's DragRace Down Under, airing on Wow Presents+ starting on May 1st!

In our first episode, we're looking at the trailers, the Q&As with the queens, and their published promo looks to bring you our thoughts on these 10 exciting new queens. We're giving you a peek into our background with DragRace, our favorite queens/winners of the past (our DragRace 'herstory' if you will) as well before we dive into the "episode". 

Nick and Agie are taking the reins and they're giving you a vibe for each queen PLUS they're tooting and/or booting all the promo looks. We're also loving on Maxi Shield, Art Simone, and Etcetera, Etcetera (the roach look? GAGGED). We also give ourselves drag names and aesthetics in Rapid Fire. Can't wait to hear your thoughts and talk DragRace with you all!

Since this is a new type of episode we tried to keep our format with a few adjustments. But, we wanted to have clear segments. If you're looking for a specific segment, here's a break down:

• Intro (0:20-2:28)

Be sure to give us a follow as well on Instagram @EscapingRealityPod and on Twitter @EscRealityPod --  If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating/review on Apple Podcasts and/or follow us on Spotify! Make sure to tell your friends about the pod and have them join you (and us) on our journey through reality television competition series.

Survivor episodes drop on Wednesdays and RuPaul's DragRace Down Under episodes drop on Fridays!

As always, thanks for listening & thanks for Escaping Reality with us! 

The moment you've been waiting for...the perfect cap on our 40 season watch-through of Survivor: we're sharing out definitive rankings!

We're walking you (and each other) through our season order from bottom to top. And we're stopping all along the way to fight about it.

Give it a listen & be sure to let us know if our rankings line up with yours. Do you agree with one of us over the other? Did we all make the wrong choices? Did your favorite season not even make the top half? We want to hear from you! We'll have each of our listings, as well as blank templates for you up on our Instagram, so be sure to check those out and play along.

Though this might be the end of our 40-season watch-though, we're  certainly not done with Survivor + beyond! Stay tuned to see what we'll be watching next... 

You can always find us on Instagram @EscapingRealityPod and on Twitter @EscRealityPod --  If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating/review on Apple Podcasts and/or follow us on Spotify! Make sure to tell your friends about the pod and have them join you (and us) on our journey through reality television competition series.

As always, thanks for listening & thanks for Escaping Reality with us! 

Escaping Reality Fam -- can you believe that we made it to 40 seasons? We're out here watching 40 seasons in a year. Thanks for coming on this journey with us, let's dive on in.

We're using this episode to give justice to every single winner and dig deep into our feelings on almost every single one who played (we're looking at you Adam Klein, narrator extraordinaire). At the end of the day, we loved getting to celebrate this seminal season as a beautiful retrospective of 20 years all wrapped into one season. We talk about the arguments for and against fire tokens, as well as our thoughts on the improvements to Edge of Extinction (tl;dr: it's the people). 

We're truly obsessed with this season and really have quite a lively debate about the final 3 deliberations and the criminal under-appreciation of Michele Fitzgerald and her gameplay. We also talk about the Cops-R-Us alliance finally making their alliance work. And, whether or not the jury was actually rooting for Tony or if they thought Sarah could win, but was foiled at fire. We've also got all our normal segments including "Fans Have Spoken," Honorable Mention (we each pick one), #JeffneedsaVibeCheck, and Rapid Fire.

If you're looking for a specific segment, here's a break down:

•  Intro (1:10-2:53)

Be sure to give us a follow as well on Instagram @EscapingRealityPod and on Twitter @EscRealityPod --  If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating/review on Apple Podcasts and/or follow us on Spotify! Make sure to tell your friends about the pod and have them join you (and us) on our journey through reality television competition series.

As always, thanks for listening & thanks for Escaping Reality with us! 

It's time to draw some lines! As we approach the (at the time of this podcast) final season of Survivor, we wanted to take a hot minute and let you know our feelings on all the past winners. 

We're walking you (and each other) through our definitive ranking of Survivor winners, complete with individualized criteria for how and why we made the choices we did. And some of us made some...choices. 

Give it a listen & be sure to let us know how you think we did! Do you agree with one of us over the other? Did we all make the wrong choices? How would you have ranked these winners? We want to hear from you. We'll have each of our listings, as well as blank templates for you up on our Instagram, so be sure to check those out and play along.

You can always find us on Instagram @EscapingRealityPod and on Twitter @EscRealityPod --  If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating/review on Apple Podcasts and/or follow us on Spotify! Make sure to tell your friends about the pod and have them join you (and us) on our journey through reality television competition series.

As always, thanks for listening & thanks for Escaping Reality with us! 

Thanks for coming back for Part 2 of our discussion of Season 39: Island of the Idols. As mentioned in part 1, there were many, many social, political, and personal issues raised by the cast of Survivor Season 39 and, because of that, we wanted to ensure we found the time to discuss each of them. 

*TW: sexual assault/sexual harassment/inappropriate touching* (see Dan/Kellee section in the time break down if you would like to skip this section entirely)

In Part 2, we're taking the time to discuss the situation with Dan and Kellee (*TW*) as well as all of the issues discussed by this cast (often at tribal councils, and including Jeff in the discussion). From race relations to historic milestones, from the #metoo movement to women's alliances, there was a lot to unpack. We also loved that a season of Survivor finally didn't shy away from not only airing these conversations about race and women but making them the center of the narrative for many of the castaways. The conversation about Dan and the inappropriate touching is more serious and focuses on the role of production when a situation like this arises.

This is not our normal "escape" type of episode, but we hope you enjoy our discussion of all of these monumental moments. We would love to discuss with y'all as well, so send us your thoughts on insta DM or email, we would love to hear what you think as well.

Here's a break down of what we're getting into in Part 2:

• Intro (0:00 - 1:10)

Be sure to give us a follow as well on Instagram @EscapingRealityPod and on Twitter @EscRealityPod --  If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating/review on Apple Podcasts and/or follow us on Spotify! Make sure to tell your friends about the pod and have them join you (and us) on our journey through reality television competition series.

As always, thanks for listening & thanks for Escaping Reality with us! 

So, Island of the Idols. We know it's a controversial one in the Survivor community and because of that we actually broke up our break down into two parts. You get two episodes of your fave 4 Survivor fans chatting in one week. We pulled our conversation about the more poignant moments of the season into its own episode, so come back tomorrow for that.

*TW: sexual assault/sexual harassment/inappropriate touching* - though we do not discuss the Dan/Kellee situation in depth in part 1, it is mentioned. 

In Part 1, we're talking everything else. We the theme of "Island of the Idols" - we see you CBS making a pun 😉. We also gave our opinions on how we would have improved it. We loved Sandra and Rob, but we have some notes on how to get them more involved. We also discuss alliances, the insane number of final two deals, and a truly "live" (to quote Jeff Probst) Final Tribal.

We get into our love of Lauren, the rise and fall of 'DKChillin', and Nick's undying love for Noura. In this "Baby's First Survivor" there is lots of gameplay to unpack and Rob/Sandra side eye to enjoy. We agree that this season gets overshadowed by an extremely unfortunate incident, but we found some players and some true Survivor gameplay in what was left behind. 

As always, we found the funny in a season riddled with emotion and real problems by looking for an Honorable Mention (Jamal), #Jeffneedsavibecheck, and Rapid Fire questions. 

If you're looking for a specific segment, here's a break down:

• Intro (1:10 - 2:07)

Be sure to give us a follow as well on Instagram @EscapingRealityPod and on Twitter @EscRealityPod --  If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating/review on Apple Podcasts and/or follow us on Spotify! Make sure to tell your friends about the pod and have them join you (and us) on our journey through reality television competition series.

As always, thanks for listening & thanks for Escaping Reality with us! 

As the wise angel Lady Gaga once said: 'I'm on the Edge!' - and then Survivor said 'same, bro.' 

We're out here on the Edge of Extinction and we have some very mixed feelings. We're working through our wide range of opinions on Survivor's 38th season and having a hoot along the way.  Not only are we talking extensively about the theme and the adjustments we would have made, but we're also touching on returning players, new advantages, and how the big twist effected our impressions of the winner. 

We're starting the whole episode off with a chat about merge buff colors, kicking off the episode to be a great time. Plus, we're vibe checking Jeff per usual, speaking our truth about Rick Devens, and swooning over Wardog (if you don't believe us, look him up on instagram -- the man is a 10). This was a fun one, so give it a listen & let us know whose opinions you most align with! 

If you're looking for a specific segment, here's a break down:

• Intro (0:00-3:25)

Be sure to give us a follow as well on Instagram @EscapingRealityPod and on Twitter @EscRealityPod --  If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating/review on Apple Podcasts and/or follow us on Spotify! Make sure to tell your friends about the pod and have them join you (and us) on our journey through reality television competition series.

As always, thanks for listening & thanks for Escaping Reality with us! 

What's good Escaping Reality Fam? Better late than never, right?

Season 37: David vs. Goliath. Wow. I feel like we, as a podcast, are the David that have almost defeated the 40-season Goliath that is Survivor. But, here we are -- delving into Season 37, a Survivor darling, and one that we were a bit split on tbh. A hot take for sure. This season is a master class in casting and editing, which makes for a LOT of talking among this foursome. Buckle up, kiddies, we got lots to discuss.

We're breaking down Nick's winner's arc/storyline and why watching the Davids succeed was so satisfying. We also take a journey through the bible with our discussion of the theme and its objective STRENGTH. We see you CBS, you're figuring out. We also just talk about the incredible strength of this cast overall and how we were truly obsessed with them all: from the "Mayor of Slam Town" to 'Ned Schnebley' - they all have their own strengths, and we think you'll agree. We've also got  #JeffNeedsAVibeCheck, Honorable Mention (we each picked our own), and Rapid Fire like always!

No Fans Have Spoken this week - DM/email us with your thoughts for next episode!!

If you're looking for a specific segment, here's a break down:

• Intro (0:00-1:49)

Be sure to give us a follow as well on Instagram @EscapingRealityPod and on Twitter @EscRealityPod --  If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a rating/review on Apple Podcasts and/or follow us on Spotify! Make sure to tell your friends about the pod and have them join you (and us) on our journey through reality television competition series.

As always, thanks for listening & thanks for Escaping Reality with us! 

It's time for Survivor: Spooky Island! wait... no ... that's Scooby Doo. Survivor: Ghost Island! We're talking all things Survivor Season 36 in this episode and we have soooo many feelings on the theme.

We've been eagerly awaiting another good theme, and we finally got it. But, does it make for a good season overall? You'll have to listen to find out. We're talking tie breakers, alliance play, and nameless white women.

We're diving into much more + your favorite segments: Fans Have Spoken, #JeffNeedsAVibeCheck, & an extra chaotic rapid fire section. 

If you're looking for a specific segment, here's a break down:

• The Fans Have Spoken (1:53 - 7:21) 

You can always follow for more from us on Instagram @EscapingRealityPod and on Twitter @EscRealityPod --  Be sure to leave us a rating/review on Apple Podcasts and/or follow us on Spotify & share our podcast with all your friends. 

Thanks for listening & thanks for Escaping Reality with us!