Pod Meets Twirl'd: The Traitors 411

Welcome to Pod Meets Twirl, the podcast from two guys who had never seen an episode of Dancing with the Stars but took it on and walked away experts. So now we've turned to Traders, another show that I had never seen, while Will was convinced that he could win it. We are Wilfredell and Ryder Strong, two best friends, one a TV expert, one a TV skeptic, both dance scholars, join us as one more time. We step into a castle full of lies, alliances, and over.

The top wardrobe choices.

This is the finale of Pod meets twirld Trading Places. Oh, it's finale.

That's how you pronounce it. I was saying, finally, finally, finally.

Well, this has been quite a journey man. Wow. Yeah I am. I'm very excited.

We've already announced this, but we're moving on into Survivor and I'm glad.

I I want to get out of this castle. Really, yeah, I want to get into the castle.

I know you do I ultimately, and we had a great conversation with Chad about this. Yeah, and I think this, this, this game needs work. I think Traders is pretty flawed as a game. Wow, I think it's a it's it's it's especially this season, and maybe it's less so when

I think you're kind of supposed to feel a little itchy.

Yeah, I guess there's a total factor to it, absolutely.

I know. I think that there's like a camp quality to it, you know that that I've loved and enjoyed, But that camp quality didn't detract that at the end of the day, it's a show about people lying to each other's faces, and I just I just still don't like that, right, Sure, No, I don't like that. I don't like feeling like I'm on the side of liars and I don't I don't blame them, Like I really don't think Rob is a bad person, like at all, Like I mean, I don't think, I don't think anybody.

I mean we've said at the beginning that I would be bad on this show.

But wait, Devil's Advocate, could you go the way you tell you and Danielle were always talking to me about Dancing with the Stars. Where it's like if you just went in and thought of it as like a role, right, wouldn't that be the role you're playing on Traders is as an actor, You're playing the treacherous guy, you're playing the villain, You're playing the sociopath.

No, that's the thing, and and I think that's why that the camp be campiness is like the fun and like make it so over the top with like mad Dad and you know the way like he.

Just like slams their pictures down.

Like all of that I think is the only way that it's manageable that you're playing a really psychotic game otherwise, right, But I don't think it ultimately can't remove the fact that it's still a show about, you know, a lie. And maybe maybe because this is my first season and the Traders.

Won spoiler, I mean, we're here.

Hope, you know.

But like the the fact that the Traders won, I wonder if I would feel the exact opposite if the Faithful had one right, because.

Which is what happened last season is all four faithfuls one and they were like we did it, we did it, we did it together, Like look how good we were.

It would feel like a triumph of honestly.

The spirit and honesty.

Where this year, I was like, I was so he was playing so well that I was like I want to see him go the entire way and I was I was calling every move.

I was like, oh, now if he.

Does this, I'm like, he can't do this, it's brilliant. If he does I'm like, oh my god, it's incredible. It was incredible all the way around. But yeah, the last last season, all the Faithful did win, and there was like this, we can do it.

We did it together. Whereas watching this man cut through these people with like this scythe of deceit is just magical. I don't know, I you know, we've talked about how reality has gotten less exploitative and people kind of know what they're signing up for. But the look on Mora's face was like pretty devastating, and that it made me.

I watched it.

I watched it three times because it was it's also as horrible as it sounds, it's a beautifully honest moment in television. I mean, you watched this woman because at first you saw the look in her face where she's like, well, you're joking, like this can't be right, and then when she realized it was that look of weight. She was gutted, and it's always it was my favorite part of it, which oh my god, though it because she said it like it was a legal binding contract.

She went, your pinky s.

You pinky promised, you promise, legal contract, you promise. Now you gotta lose a pinky. Now we take the pinky, Now we.

Take the man.

I don't know, Like it reminded me of Joshmo Season one, which I'm pretty sure you watched, right.

I can, I can quote it. I loved that show.

And do you remember how devastated he was to find out that the one guy who was like his best friend. It was like hold on, hold on, yeah if he was not happy, you know, and like I think years later, which I don't know, I don't know what the end result was, but I remember watching that multiple times because he when they revealed it, he went, are you kidding us?

I also I am one of those people where if you're going to sign up for one of these reality shows, then whatever happens is on you.

Well, with Joe Shmo, that was very manipulated. They were actually lying to him.

Right right, but they were, but they knew he was going to you were You're going to a reality show where you're gonna sit in a in a thing. Also, the thing that I loved about josh Mo show, the original one, was the reason people loved him and he made it to the end. The way that he did is everything they threw at him, and every step of the way he made the right choice as a decent person totally.

He never screwed anybody.

He never.

Amazing, amazing, and that was you know, it's the same with like, I know, Jerry Duty. I didn't actually watch the whole season.

I've never seen it. I heard it was good, but I think, you know, I think that is always the point, right, It's like they don't want to make somebody.

Look that bad.

It's candy camera it's still lying, it's still manipulating, and I don't.

I just but again it's it's candid camera. That's a hidden a hidden camera show that's punked.

That's what I mean.

That's what these things are.

I don't like any of them. I get a with all of them. It's funny.

I'm not a huge fan of him either, but I'm okay with people like at least in this case, you're knowing what you're as as Alan Coming says at the end, the show is called Traders. So the worst one was a show called Film Fakers. Did you ever see that?

No?

So it was my dear friend and amazing actor that I've worked with. He's in my new Red Weather podcast. Chris Wilde was from this as an actor. And what they would do is create fake movies and hire actors and convince them that they were making a horrible movie that these actors would commit to not knowing that everyone on the crew was an actor pretending to make a movie.

You don't have the career.

Like the moment you thought that, yeah, that's what mean man, and Chris felt really bad about it. He kept going and he you know, did his job, but he was also like, this feels weird because you're you're you're taking advantage of actors commitment to their art, which sucks.

Now do you believe that anybody on Traders was being taken advantage of?

No? I mean, and that's the thing.

I mean.

Morris says that at the end, she she she calls him a bad man or whatever, but then she says like it's the name of the show. Yea. She so I think she you know, but she also just needs it is more than anything, a reality check on her own inability to judge people's character.

I know.

But of course, but if you if you sign up for a show called Stabbing Castle and you get stabbed that's on you, so you know what I mean. It's like, uh, yeah, are the filmfakers that would that sound?

That sounds a yeah? I don't yeah, I would never Yeah.

There was another one called Scare Tactics, where they would like create crazy scary situations, like somebody would pick you know, and it would always be like one person would be in on it, and they would bring their friend to like the desert for a party and then like aliens would invade. Oh and they like and they would get and it was so funny because what you saw they put people in really scary situations that were you know, other world like a ghost or a zombie or an alien.

It's like you go into fight or flight.

So you don't get like somebody screaming, like it's more like oh God, I'm gonna die or oh my god, aliens are real, I need.

To it's like you shut down.

So it actually became a kind of uninteresting show, like there everyone's out there'd be that one person who.

Would like scream or like I can't believe this.

And then there was the one time where they had picked up a hitchhiker and the guy pulled a knife on them, and the guy who was being scared just beat the crup out of him exactly, exactly like you did the right thing. Like this is just a game show we're trying to pull.

You know, somebody was a gun and shoots the zombie in the head and that's an actor.

That's a bad day at the network.

Yeah, yeah, all right, Well let's get into our final episode where we revealed the murder that was in plain sight was Mark and this was a great set piece.

They're like, get into the coffin, Get into the coffin, and I love that he was just like cn hell he walks over Mark Man.

He really just flew under the radar and did nothing this entire seasons.

This was the dumbest choice for the kill until it was out to be brilliant. The episode kept going and then I was like, again, great.

Great idea, perfect idea I thought for Yeah, I mean we talked about I thought it was probably gonna be Johnny or Terra. Me too, because you break up that alliance, but instead he actually kept it intact, which made it look worse for them, And that was so smart because.

And got rid of arguably even though he was quiet probably the guy who was still the best player there.

Yeah, and now now you're yeah.

I think the thing that they didn't quite I mean, we've been seen in the last couple of episodes, but I think it's been going on from the beginning is how much Mora and Rob were together and like how much she felt like. They kind of edited around that, I think for the first half of the season so that it would be a nice reveal at the end that that worked out the way it did. But I think he's been playing her since the beginning.

And.

She likes him.

I think, yes, she where old time gets a little girl.

That's what I like. Too. Brilliant says it. He's like, you know, they think him the hot dumb guy. It's like, no, I'm the hot, smart guy exactly exactly.

And he knew she like.

I think he absolutely knew she liked her and was flirting with her. And it's going to be flirting and milking that watching that. I know what you mean by the ick factor. But in my head, I was just like, he's it's brilliant.

He's brilliant playing. It's so brilliant.

He's my god.

He deserves you after a while, you just deserve the win.

Ye yeah.

Crazy. So Mark gets in the coffin and then says forgets his post death interview. He says he's putting his money on Eric, which is a good call and probably too late. Mark should have spoken up a little bit more, or like we said, maybe he did and just got edited out.

Either way, he was really ineffectual this season, And.

Yeah, I think he got edited out because I guess he's given interviews and stuff since where he's talked about how he literally would go go back to the hotel and he's like, I just had pages and pages of notes on anybody, on everybody, Wow. And I used to sit there and talk about my notes during the thing and they would just cut it out. Yeah.

Yeah, I think they very selective in their storyline. Yeah, as you have to be all right breakfast. Eric comes in alone, talks in his camera interview about how bad of a trader he is, which is hysterical.

I love this.

Maura comes in and well, she in her interview to camera, she admits that she's been cheated on by every boyfriend.

And I went, oh god, that's where I kind of where this was going.

And it's like, maybe you shouldn't like take that as a sign that you think, don't trust the guy that you're attracted to right now. And just because he's a cool dude and you like him, oh my god, man.

Can wear overalls, not a reason to follow him into the gates of hell. I felt really, yeah, dude, Okay, it seemed like a rough one for you, writer, Yeah, like a rough one.

For you, because you know, I was just it was I feel bad for her because you know, like she says she was embarrassed. She's embarrassing, she was a fool, and it's kind of true. Like it sucks, you know, and not because she's a bad person, because she trusted a dude who she was attracted to, and like, yeah, So then Rob just comes in and this is exactly like last episode where he's just like Johnny Dentera, with no explanation, no evidence, no argument.

He's just telling her how.

To vote, and she's just like yeah, yeah, I mean he's literally saying we're gonna banish these two people in a row, which.

Is like exactly what a trader would say.

He doesn't give any arguments, he doesn't say any doubts, and he she's just following his confidence.

And they cut it together this episode, especially in such a way where they're showing her doubts the whole way throughout the episode, so you really are wondering who she's going to vote for.

No, I oh see, I was.

I was her face when when he first said when he walked in, he's like looking at Eric right over at breakfast, He's like, first Johnny then Terror.

She was like wait what like that came out of nowhere?

See her problem her?

She's such a follower, do you know what I mean? Like because every whoever she's talking to, she's kind of following them and just like okay, okay, okay, and yeah.

And I think you know the party trusted Rob. That's the thing.

She trusted, the one guy you're not always say it's very warm under the wing of a dragon.

So she trusted the wrong guy. And when do you think because I wasn't really clear that he was turning on Eric.

Until literally the fire burned.

Right, I oh see, I figured he was going to you figured he was one hundred percent one hundred percent.

So do you think he was whispering in her ear? Saying like it's definitely because the heat. I don't know.

I think the joy was he was letting Tara whisper into MOA's ear and then agreeing with Moura maybe it is Eric.

Maybe he didn't.

He didn't actually show it on camera, did he, because she's said he nods, he not.

Just in the kitchen she goes, I think, gets Eric, and he goes okay, and that's it.

That's all you need.

So yeah, I'm on board making decision.

Yes, then she makes this another one hundred thousand dollars like that is a that is a hundred thousand dollars nod right there.

And with Eric, he said that at the end, he goes, would you give one hundred grand to somebody you met three weeks ago?

I wouldn't.

Yeah, brilliant, brilliant.

And remember I was also thinking about what Ben said when he when he came on the show, when he was like, yes, if you're a housewife, you know two hundred and twenty thousand dollars after taxes, you walk with what one forty five one fifty.

Uh.

You know, if you have one hundred thy thousand dollars and you're Lisa Rinna, that doesn't mean anything or very little. You're Rob and you want to buy a farm and get married, and you came in whatever he did on Love Island, And yes, he's probably going to get endorsement deals and all that kind of stuff, but one.

Hundred and fifty grand is nothing to sneeze at, right, well, end up being more right, it's like two twenty. I think, well it's too twenty before taxes.

So my guess is after taxes and everything, you walk with probably one hundred and fifty grand.

So yeah, I mean that's that's going to be significant for him.

And walking with one hundred and fifty grand is a lot different than walking with seventy five, which is what you would have done had Eric had he been like I'm with you, Eric, but no, He's like, I can, I can remove every piece off the board and I barely have to do everything.

It's brilliant, he was.

He's brilliant.

Johnny and Tarrek came come in, and Johnny and his camera interview says, it's Eric and Rob.

He nails it.

He knows it, and it now just becomes for the rest of the episode really about who's going to get Maura to go on their side?

Right?

Like, yes, she was the this is what I love. She meant nothing for a lot the series. Yes, and now she's the crux of who's gonna wins. She was the most important character of this entire episode?

Was Maura? Awesome?

Awesome?

After breakfast, Tara talks to Maura and says, it's Eric.

He's too quiet.

She has good arguments, which are totally accurate, that Eric has not spoken up enough, that he has not been strategic, and that he's just too quiet, which is exactly right. And then Mara says my favorite line, she doesn't want.

Don't want to tink too much? Can't handle.

Now here's my overall question.

My overall question is when Rob chose Eric originally, was he already his head thinking this will be the easiest guy to burn? Like, did he already know that this was gonna be's Like I just moved another piece easiest thing in the world. I have a crappy trader who's gonna be bad at being a trader. Everyone's gonna start staring at him, so at the end, I can just cut ties with that guy and walk with everything.

I think he did.

Because he knew he would be a bad trader, but of course too quiet shift like he was just he wasn't good at being a trader.

But don't you think he would have picked a more obvious, like villainous type at that point.

I'm trying to know because it's perfect because it's also Eric would also do anything Rob told him to do, right, So it's I mean, he had control of them from day one, and it was just like now I'm gonna I, oh god, you have control of your fellow trader who looks like a shifty trader, and you're sidling up to the person that nobody thinks is a trader, which is Maura. And you have been the entire show, so you know, it's like you and me towards the end, you and

Genius. He's a genius. So then they're brought outside and this helicopter shows up and they have to pick two people to go in it. Mara's really into the helicopter for some red It's just like I want to be in there. And yeah, then Rob just gets in there. I can't believe he just what would you do? What would you do? Would you have stayed on the ground and gotten volunteered.

For the chopper? I mean, the chopper is fun, Like I would jump chopper.

That's more exciting, especially since I knew because they'd already made like a splashing reference, so you knew he was going to deal with water. I'm like, that's cold, man. But of course, then Robin's up completely in the water, Like.

Would you have done that? Would you have jumped out of the chopper? No, I don't think I would.

I think I might have, and I think maybe just for the sake of adventure, just closed my eyes and jumped.

Yeah, of course.

The whole time I'm sitting there going don't jump up, don't jump up, don't jump up, don't jump I had the.

Same thought, man, just I would be so like, just keep my head down, would just duck and roll out exactly? Just so crazy thing. But yeah, nuts, they give him a chest and Rob brings it onto the helicopter and then this is where they you know, she brings up Eric in the helicopter, and I thought.

He just kind of played it cool like he didn't.

Also got his arm around her. Oh, this is where he's like fully flirting with her because he makes the like, I know how to make you hot or whatever.

I want to take a hot bath.

He's like, I'll give you something hot.

I mean.

Oh, First of all, I'd also like to point out that if you are getting on a helicopter a plane, even if it's allan coming, never.

Take luggage from somebody else.

You know, he hands you the chest and then you see something, say something. Don't don't even for alan coming. Don't just take random luggage and get on and get on a flight.

Don't do that. All right, So now they have to the other The others have to ride a boat out to pontoons and a lock yep beautiful luck awesome while it's raining because it starts pouring, and they have to find Scottish day. Yeah, Robin Mora have to drop the names from the helicopter. So they yeah, it's a.

Did you get any of these?

Right?

No?

Me neither anything Me neither.

And I have a pretty good memory, do you see.

I don't think I because I'm like, yeah, I don't remember things visually, so like when you ask like who was opposite couldn't get a jam jam. I wouldn't have any clue Like.

You would have had you been sitting across from somebody for six.

Hours, which is how long they were, which is.

How long they were there at the Black Banquets, so you would have remember. But like for week one, Hey, what was the last often we put in like all that stuff, I would not have remembered any of that.

Yeah, well he was probably the least confident about that because that whether Yeah, it was the five dollars one yeah, yeah, yeah.

So yeah, they asked that question.

They asked which player started and ended on a shield throne, which I don't even know what they were talking about.

Don't you remember the one where they they're in the riding carriage and it's like, if you get the shield, somebody has to.

Get off, right, you didn't get to get the Colton.

Was the one?

Yeah yeah right right, yeah yeah yeah okay.

And then which housewife had the most votes overall, which was Lisa. They get that right, So they get all of these right, they got them all right? I was amazed. Yeah, and then there's this uh cool like finale moment where they're like, you know, can you you want to jump out of the helicopter and get another twenty grand, which, yeah, I guess if it really came down to just but I was like, Rob is having the best time. Hell,

He's winning this game.

This means he's going to get more money because he's going to be the trader at the end.

And the beautiful Irish girl is in love with him. I e. It's like perfect castle time.

I'm genuinely surprised how many people can't swim, Like when when Mara says like I can't swim, I'm like, damn, Like I just take it for granted that everybody can swim, but like, actually my mother in law can't swim really yeah, and you.

Know, like she goes to pools, but it's just to like wade.

You know.

Have you said, let me teach you how to swim? Yeah, dude, I mean they during the pandemic. They lived with us and we were swimming every day with Indy teaching him how to swim and like getting better because he was only.

Five, you know, and she, you know, no, doesn't do it.

You know, but yeah, it's actually Columbia where I went to college, is it's the only college left that requires a swim test. You can't graduate from Columbia unless you can swim, which I think is kind of cool.

That's it's such a weird thing to to like point.

Is like this is a life skill, Like, yeah, like what's the point of having all this education if you're just gonna drown?

You know, like you should know how to swim.

And I think it's funny matter it's not. It's like, yeah, of course you can get out of it if you have a disability or which I'm sure would count. Even if you just had a phobia and didn't want to do it, you could get out. But they keep it as this nice like tradition that you have to pass a swim test in order to graduate, and I kind of love it. It's kind of like old school, like, yeah, if you're a college educated I'm curious, what is the test?

You just have to swim a couple of laps.

I actually didn't have to do it because I ended up taking scuba as as a course.

As and so something my vote stage, my sirt.

My first day of scuba, they just allowed you know, I just swam like two laps and they're like, okay, that's enough for the swim test, you qualify.

But the regular test is like you get.

Otherwise they have twim tests. Like at the as graduation years, they have like certain days of the week where everybody can go and just take the swim test and you just yeah, they just oversee you doing I think you just swim to one side of the pulling back like one one lab. Wow.

I know, I think it's kind of cool, though I don't honestly think it's.

Like I'm guessing that'll go away in the next ten years because people are going to be like, I shouldn't have to take my shirt off in front of other people to swim in and.

Then yeah, okay, you know I actually haven't looked up. Maybe it's already gone away. But no, Columbia, what's can you know? Columbia's kind of known for holding to some of these old school ideas, like, for instance, they have two required courses that everybody who goes to Columbia has

It's all philosophy and politics.

That's interesting. It's they're the greatest courses ever and they're they're they're very variable as far as how their talkers are mostly taught by like grad students or ta's because there's everybody has to take it.

So there's a lot of sections of it.

But if you get a good teacher, or even if you don't, you have a great discussion group you know of fellow students.

It is so much fun.

And you know, we call the contemporary Civilization ends up being called cocktail conversation because the idea is like, really.

This is just about like did you read Aristotle and religion?

You know, it makes you sound smart, but I have to say it has come in handy like it is. Really there are plenty, especially like when it comes to like the Greek texts, I never would have read, sure, never would have read a play by Aristophanes I wouldn't have, you know, there's and instead I was forced to. And I loved a lot of this stuff, and I do feel like it's come up, you know, in life where this it's a good education.

I wouldn't have chosen somebody's texts to read.

So I'm old school, like I'm kind of like, yeah, you know, and I'm all about dismantling or criticizing the canon, but you should know the canon first.

I mean, like, sure, of course.

Question these books, like you know, especially because a lot of them are white men who you know, didn't want to hear from anybody else in the world.

But you still should read their their thoughts still good.

Anyway, now, but which which which one has come in more handy that class?

Or swimming? Ah, I already.

Could swim, so yeah, I mean, yeah, I would have died swimming.

It's great, man, Like, that's the thing, like aristotines don't help you if you're in the middle of the ocean.

Think about how Yeah, I mean there's so many. I mean, I go whitewater rafting. Yeah, you know, I'm not a big beach guy, but I went through a period where I was a surfer. It was in a surfing, like you just should everyone should know how to swim. I agree, but I'm surprised with reality shows how often people either don't swim or are just really bad, like they're just.

Like h it seems like one of those life skills.

Like so anyway, yeah, it else depends I think where you grow up. Oh no, you grew up.

You grew up in the landlocked to city, city or city something like that.

It's like, yeah, I never learned how to swim that kind of totally. Yeah, or just access to a pool, right, yeah, like being able to afford if you know.

Public polls are not what they used to be. Like, yeah, all right, where were we?

Okay, the flirting and the helicopters getting hot and heavy, yep, blatantly hot and heavy. He's playing it so well. Oh Rob jumps out of That's where we were. He jumps out of the helicopter. He has to swim pretty far in the cold water. And this is where I remember that Chad said the thing about the clock not being do you mind it too? He's I did too, But but do you remember what his evidence was or how he knew that? I think because he knew everything because

He's like, didn't you notice how they always end with three seconds left and you watch and it was like three seconds left.

It's way too convenient. Man. I literally turned over. Sue was watching with me.

I late leaned over.

I was like, the clock is fake. He's going to end three seconds left and yeah, yep.

I feel that upsets me a little.

Did they ever do a challenge this whole thing where they lost because of the clock. Did that ever happen? I feel like it did in the cabin.

Did they run out? I think in the cabin they might have when they did all the horror stuff.

I feel like they can't remember, but I feel like there was one that that that's something. The clock did mess him up somehow, But for the most part they got it in just into the wire.

Oh last season and then I don't know.

I yeah, it seems like you seempulative. Yeah, idea. They looked cold, dude, Yeah.

You're a lock in the rain, but they were shivering uncontrollably. I was like, dude, this is and these are ice hockey gold medal champions, but they are shivering like that in the in the rain, so it was it was chili.

Yeah, all right.

Then they all head back, dry off Terra and Johnny pow.

Wow, they totally trust one another. Well, first of all, there's the car ride back.

The car ride back where Tara is like trying to get Eric to see and even I was like, dude, lie better. Yeah, Eric is just he was bad at lie just lie better. But again, all this works in Rob's finger.

Yeah yep.

And then once they get back, Maura lies right to Eric's face, huh, which was super interesting to watch her, you know, go on one hand, be like with a little like questioning whether he is a trader or not, lie right to his face. And then I mean I feel like this is where Rob knows exactly what's going to happen for the rest of the night, because he's like, oh.

She is blind him and totally trusting me.

Yeah.

God.

Well, here's the other thing.

They all agreed that they thought they believed anyway, that there were two traders left.

Okay.

Maura then, because Rob says too, votes for Tara, Johnny and Eric.

Yeah, so she knows she's voting a faithful out.

Yeah, I mean it just if just by the law of there's two of you left, she voted for three different people that Rob wonder too, because.

She says she says she thinks that Eric is a trader and so is Johnny, which just makes no sense because why would Johnny be voting for Eric if those were the two traders? Right, So her logic, it's like, but it's also then why vote for Tara? Exactly because Rob said, so it's right following along just like I suspect everybody.

But Rob, but we're gonna be Yeah, we're gonna everybody else up there, and we're going to traders or you're right, But she's just gonna take one.

She just said they they made they pinky swore, which again is binding in seventeen US states and I think most of Europe they pinky swore they'd go to the end together. So they just voted everybody else. Rob is like, it's just be us, It's just be us. Oh it is icky, yeah, see, but in a wonderful way.

It's a wonderful ick.

All right.

Then we're at the roundtable.

Rob brings up Uh, Tara, and Johnny. Then Johnny Uh is pretty spot on with.

His argument I will say this though, if you're gonna play this game, don't do anything sketchy right off the bat, And when you come in and you're best friends, and you go out of your way to make to pretend you're not best friends, to then come back later to go, we're best friends and we've been pretending we haven't been. Then all the traders need to do is keep pointing to that. Look, you're the only one who did anything sketchy.

Just you too. Yep, it's a stupid thing to do. And Rob lays it out perfectly at the roundtable when he says they would have even if one of them wasn't a trader to begin with, they would have recruited one another because of their friendship, which is exactly right, and just once you're once you think of that through. Not that he really needs to make that complicated of an argument, because I MAA would have voted with him no matter what.

But it is a great argument.

It's you know, it's finally he's actually giving an argument, which like before when he was just like first Johnny don terror, he wasn't saying this clearly. But that's a great argument, and all he needs to convince right now is Mara. That's literally the only person he's arguing too. Yeah, which insane.

And the second they voted Johnny out, he knew he won.

Yep, that's it, he knew he had won.

Oh so they banished Johnny, who was pissed and who had it right for the first time had it right?

It was Eric and Rob.

Yeah, so he'll feel vindicated now. And then so after they banished Johnny, Tara goes to Maura and says.

It's Rob, which gets a little bit of doubt.

Maybe.

Yeah, you know, they play this up.

But I love how they did it.

They just keep cutting to her and that she becomes the most important character in the show. They just keep cutting her, going like what if I'm wrong?

What if I'm wrong? The whole time? Oh yeah, every boyfriend cheated on her, that's what she said. She's just got horrible trust issues as well. She should.

I mean, my god, if every boyfriend you've been with is cheated on you, your your your your pick and stick is bad.

So then they go into this final fire moment and they do that interesting thing where they just got to sit down with Alan before you know, they go into the finale and he sort of gets a little quote from both of them. Marra's looking like a robot dominatrix.

I noticed that too, like like she just come out of the matrix. Yes, yeah, exactly.

It was also like it made her, like her arms and everything look.

Metal, you know what.

It was like it was a good look, but it was a great look. She's a stunningly beautiful woman.

The other thing that it finally clicked to me because I'm always like, God, Alan coming, amazing, fabulous, but who does he remind me of?

Who does he remind me of? And I finally realized that today Caesar Flickerman. He Caesar Flickerman, he hosts the Hunger Games.

Oh, I've never seen them.

It was Stanley Tucci plays the carrot, plays the part, and that's exactly.

He's Caesar Flickerman from the Hunger Games.

And yeah, so yeah, because that has like a whole game show element to it. And he's big and brag he's got these big teeth and he's like, it's just he's Caesar Flickerman for from the Hunger Games. And it was I was watching this episode like, oh my god, that's that's who he is. Well, even before he lit up. My note was Alan is a blue Christmas tree, because that's what he looked like, or like at least like a Christmas tree skirt, and then he lit.

It up at the end. I was like, oh my god, I love it. You just walking Christmas tree.

I love it when Rob is back in his overalls with his snake arms showing those are stress, feeling himself to be a snake. Yeah. Yeah, everybody did a whole did a sketch on Instagram or on on TikTok or whatever, and it's it's him waking up in the castle to get ready and then walking down in his own overalls and no shirt and then seeing Rob wearing his.

And going, god damn, it has a good change.

So funny, that's so funny. Yeah, he's been doing some great sketches. I don't know if you've been catching them, but I have not. I got it, we need to. He did one where he has PTSD and he's like at an engagement party eating cake with friends and then thinking they're all traders, Like you're a trader and you're where's allan He's coming out and you're it's so funny, like Ron.

You're not in the castle, well, they're already doing that.

I saw a commercial this morning for Sonic, which is Rob showing up at Lisa Rinna's house with Sonic going.

Then she's like, I'm not letting you in here, snake, and.

He's like, I brought Sonic and she's like, all right, come on, like it's that whole thing. Yeah, they're all they're capitalizing money. No more money, of course, of course, but we've got to have we've got to have them on the show as many of them we can get, because I want to talk to some people.

About what's going on.

All Right, they get around this fire. The option is whether to banish again or and.

Too you go down to two and then you can't banish anymore.

So but one by one they all burn red because they all have a theory. There's a there's traders among them. And the votes are completely predictable. Marra votes Tara, which means Tara's banished. She I didn't think those are predictable. I thought maybe mad Maara had changed her mind. Yeah, and then this is where I thought it was going to end. I really didn't think that. I thought that she was, you know, in Rob's pocket enough, but still

Possible because I meant red too, because he could.

Have just let her burn red, right and when then they still have to vote, and at that point he could just say, Okay, Eric, I will vote. But the fact that he burns red and she burns red for the second time means that he's going all in for this move with her, which means I think that he was saying a little bit more than.

He maybe quite possibly, we're going to do this and then this, and then we're going to win the whole thing.

And I think he played it hard because he could have easily because you know, also he would have had the same result by burning green at this point, like I said, you know, like and Eric would have been But and this is what gets weird for me, is like they burned red and now they have to go around and vote. Yeah, and what can Eric say? But why can't he just say, Maria, you're you know, he's a trader.

I know he's a trader, Like he can't I don't think no, because the only because I think when you take the trader's oath, you're not allowed to say, like to ever reveal, right, like because Lisa Rinna, then walking out could be like, by the way, Rob's a trader too. We were in the tower together, right, like, you're not allowed to do that. So but he did say, but

But see that's what I mean. Why doesn't he Why can't he make an argument like you're gonna vote me out? It's actually I mean, I think if there's a Trader left among us, it's Rob.

But he doesn't even keep.

He tried, I mean, because then he votes for Rob. So that's what he's trying to do. That's where he's like, think about it. You get to think about who's the person yet yeah, yeah, but that's also exactly what a trader would do. I mean, if I was Rob, I'd be like, because he looks at her and he's like he shakes his head like that's ridiculous, because of course he's got to keep playing it like no, of course, that's what a trader's gonna do. He's gonna try to get you to vote for me, and then he wins

Go from there. Well, Eric is you know what? He has this interesting quote of like speech.

To camera about how relationships matter more than the money or the game, and it doesn't feel good to him. I disagree. He was just he just got out played. No, I'm just saying for him, he didn't get a shit about related. He wouldn't have cared at all. Had they won, it would have been a whole different thing.

But he then got you know that he and he and a guy planned a bank robbery. They got in there there right about to walk out the door, and the guy turned to and said give me your money too, and that pissed him off. And so then it's well, I wouldn't have done that bullshit. I think if you'd thought about it, you.

Really, I don't think I would have done it.

I think I would have just gone with your other trader. So then you would have split the money with your trader. You know, there's a there's a possibility I would have too, like I would have there's a you know, the loyalty among thieves kind of thing.

I guess there's a possibility I would have done that as well.

Well.

But here's my question. Could they banish Mara. They wouldn't have needed to, but they could have. They could have, But they why.

Because because again, if there's one trader left, then if she burned.

Red and and and they burned green because they thought that they were going to win, they then at that point, couldn't they just both vote for her?

Traders win?

I think so.

But the traders win anyway, because if one trader's there, right, then the traders win.

But I think I think if Erica I see this game, I don't know, man, it feels so random to me. It does not feel like that much of a strategy game.

Oh I see. I think he's perfectly showing you what the strategy is. He literally it was.

He was one of twenty four people, and over the time he was there, one by one, he removed every single person in the game until he was the last person standing.

Yeah, that's what But That's what I'm saying.

Yeah, other than these he still had got to vote, right, yes, secret trader.

So I mean, one by one he systematically got every piece off the board until he was the last person standing and.

Walked with all the money.

Oh my god, incredible, diabolical. We have the moment where it's revealed to her that he's a trader. Oh yeah, Oh, it was so delicious.

It had to be fattening. It was just and it's fair. You're never gonna have a girlfriend after this is such a good liad man. Yeah. But then she's but good for him, Yeah, and I appreciate that she did seem to just come around and say like whatever, you know, But but I just love it. She's calling him a snake and the guy has a literal snake on his arm, like yes, And.

I love always, like I've been a trader from the beginning, like the whole time, I've been a trader. But she it's so rare that you see a moment on television that you know is going to be a meme forever, and her face is going to be a meme forever.

Yeah, And she's like you maybe.

Look so stupid, and they're like, no, we didn't you kind of n a little bit it's like I'm a fool.

Yeah, And again it's this is where the morality play comes in, because it's like, were you a fool or were you a decent trusting person?

Yeah? Exactly, And so if you're a decent trusting person, you're not a fool.

You you know, you get to walk your head inclined. It seemed like, yes, a part of this was that it was kind of a love connection. The use you're going to trust that, do you know what I mean? Like, and that's why it's pretty crappy, you know, the Yeah, I don't know, Like I feel like it's one thing to like play a logical cold game where you're out

There's a little bit of like heart strains and flairness and like, I like, so I'm going to use it.

Hell yes, I think Eric probably looked up to him a little bit like an older brother. It's like, I'm going to use that relationship. I'm going to use she's got a crush on me, I'm going to use that relationship. I mean, that's I mean, that's the That's how you win at these things is you're cold hearted at least

That's great. That's awesome.

They got everybody and they trusted each other to all throw green at the end like they they got it this time. This guy was playing so well that I was like, I'm in. I'm all in on the villain winning.

My favorite line when he's at the end, like, now, I just have to find a nice girl who hasn't watched too much to.

Watch too much DV.

It's so true, man, how are you gonna come back from this?

Apparently, according to my wife who's in the no, he's dating somebody now, which I think is a terrible thing. Because we were talking to Ben who said that if this guy became the next Bachelor, it would be the biggest Bachelor season in the history of the show, which is saying something that show's enormous, right, So I mean this guy, you know, hopefully he'll break up with whoever is with now so you can get on The Bachelor.

Come on, watch it, Rob. I don't know.

Treach.

I haven't either.

I'm sure we'll watch it eventually. Literally never seen a single episode. Well treacherous, Treacherous my friend, I thought, yeah, will you do next season?

Don't know, I don't. I think I don't think the challenges are integrated well enough.

Those need to be changed. And you know, I think you're going to appreciate. I think after you watch Survivor, you're going to appreciate the kind of gameplay that that requires.

And it's a different it's it's there's.

A there's a there's a it's still a backstabbing and manipulating in alliances and yes, but it's there.

It's it's there's something about it because they're the challenges are so linked to the actual gameplay, right, Like you only have to vote people out if you fail at

You can play it kind of a multitude of ways.

You could play very honorably and upfront you probably won't last, but you can't.

Right, has anybody won playing honorably and upfront? Yeah, yeah, sure, okay, for sure, Yeah, so that's possible.

Then yeah, there are times, well here's the thing, honorable and upfront to their select group because you ultimately do have to vote. But there have been times when it gets down to the final three and they all love each other and they all respect one another, and they're like, well one of us, you know, and they have to have one winner, but they actually are like, way we

I don't think so.

And that's the thing, Like, that's what I wonder that can you can you say like sure, once it's your money, I can be like, hey, they just gave me a million dollars, I can give you three in a grand you know, like that's on me. They can't tell me I can't give you money mine, right, So yeah, but I get my guess is they're like, oh my god, we got her together. Can I have some money?

No?

No, no, you can't.

I think because this is our last episode, my wills history reeve trade her. I wanted the song to be special, but I also wanted to find what I think most people maybe would agree is the biggest trader in history, or at least considered the biggest trader in history. And I fought with this because you could go the American route with somebody like Benedict Arnold, you could go Marcus Brutus, you know, a two brute.

There's several ways to go.

But I think a lot of people would not disagree with the final trader we're going to talk about, and that is, of course, do you have a guess?

No, those are the only two that I really know.

Judas is Scariot of course, so no name is more synonymous with treachery than that of Judas is Scariot. He was one of the Twelve Apostles, but according to the New Testament, he betrayed Jesus for thirty silver pieces to the Roman overlords.

However, here's the interesting thing.

Lately, in the last twenty twenty five years, there have been some revisions to the Judas story with the discovery of the Gnostic texts called the Gospel of Judas, which depicts Judas as an obedient servant of Jesus. And these texts actually described conversations between Judas and Jesus that suggests that Jesus himself instructed Judas to betray him to the

What would you want your name to be associated with? Like, oh, you totally fredeled it up? Are you will?

Forred Dell to you pulled a Ford del something funny, like pulling a joke out of nowhere.

Maybe like that was a great for Dell or Fidelism, something like that. How about you winning like every award you know, like like the you got, like you a Nobel Peace Prize and a Pulitzer.

I don't know, so you know some you won.

You won the Driving at Lamonde and a Nobel Peace Prize. Congratulations. WHOA, that's great?

Okay, well yeah, yeah, you you directed a movie that was the highest grossing film and won the Academy Award for Best Picture. So that's like a James Cameron right, like you cameroned it. Okay, that would be pretty great.

I like it.

So next season you're in, You're not in.

I'm I don't think I'm in, man, I mean I I do like the idea of civilians.

That interests me.

Yeah, that's coming next because they will come in with less baggage and I think be less performative in certain ways, and and I think there will be more character revelation as opposed to fulfillment of their pre established role, you.

Know what I mean. So that's that does interest me, and I think I'll give it a shot. I'll give it a shot completely.

One agree with you that the game needs to be tweaked. Yeah, it.

I think the challenge thing is just not interesting.

And I mean the set pieces are cool, they look cool, but they've been they're just the money thing. I mean, I just think Chad is absolutely right, like the money is not that it should not be a part of it, or shouldn't in the same way. You know there should be money, but it shouldn't be so tied to That's all you're doing in the challenges is increasing or decreasing your prize money, right, all right, Well that is it

It will have her final love.

Join us next time as we take on Survivor season fifty.

That's all I got.

That's all you got. You're not going to go out with the with the the final final Scottish play.

All right?

Fine, Yeah, this has been season four of Traders, a show in which, as Shakespeare said in his Scottish play, fair is foul and foul is fair.

I think fair is foul. I take it's fou too fair, That was foul.

We picky swre we pick

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