Christian Hubicki Talks Big Brother 28

[00:00:08] Hey everybody, what's going on? Rob Cesternino back here for some bonus Big Brother 28 coverage with a man who has made a few appearances here so far in Big Brother 28. It's Dr. Christian Hubicki. Christian, how are you? Doing fantastically, Rob. And I know we met earlier in this Big Brother season.

[00:00:32] And I figured it was a good time to come and chat with you again now that my boy Rick has been in the thick of the action, even as we speak probably on the feeds. So I figured it would be a good time as the senior Rick correspondent for RHAP. You really kicked off this year of Rick Devins back in the start of Survivor 50. You said Rick Devins, the pride of Macon, Georgia.

[00:01:00] They said, who doesn't love Rick Devins? And really, from that point on, you called him a man of action, the Captain Kirk to your Mr. Spock. And that really got the ball rolling on what an incredible year it's been in the year of Rick Devins. And I take full credit for it, to be honest. It should be absolutely clear. It's all my doing. But that's Rick. And I feel prophetic in that. And I think that's the thing about not only Rick Devins, but I think memorable reality television contestants in general,

[00:01:29] is that we have these personality traits that just cannot help but show up when you put us on in a game or on a show. And that's what you get out of Rick, the man of action. And we'll talk about some of that action, I guess, here today. Yeah. We'll talk about all the action. But first, how are you? Doing fantastically, Rob. Rob, it's unfortunately the summer is about over. I'm about to start my classes again, which I will be live streaming on my YouTube channel for people who want to pop in on my live lectures in the morning. Yeah. How's that going to work? Monday through Thursday.

[00:01:58] So that you have students, but you will also be live streaming the classes to the masses? Yes. That is exactly how it works. You can have that. That's like merch. You can have the branding. Yeah. That's the thing. Yeah. So, but like that, that's the fun part. Like, you know, I have my classes here and then you'll have like people in the live chat asking survivor questions that I can't respond to in the moment.

[00:02:21] But you, but you'll see me in the morning running from my office with like a horde of like camera equipment down to, down to the lecture hall, setting it up and getting going, checking the stream. And it's the, it's the best kind of stress, Rob, is what I'll say. Okay. So I know Christian is very tapped in on the live feeds. We're recording this on Tuesday afternoon. The Wednesday night Big Brother episode has not aired yet.

[00:02:42] So I am going to just give you a quick spoiler warning. Okay. Because we need to talk to Christian about everything up to the minute. And so if you are very spoiler averse, please come back and listen to us after you've watched the Wednesday night episode of Big Brother.

[00:03:00] But I watched Rick Devins on, I think it was maybe Monday morning and he was monologuing and in his outer monologue, he wondered, what should I do with the diamond power of Vito? And he even said, what would, what would Christian do in this situation? Was that sort of the bat signal for you to weigh in on what do you think Rick should do in this predicament?

[00:03:27] Well, I would love to think we are psychically connected and maybe in some ways we are because I too was floating on an inflatable flamingo last week in a pool. So we do have that in common. So maybe, but, but it was funny because it seemed like the conclusion that he was coming to was similar to what I was coming to, which was he has this diamond power of Vito. He wants to save D. He needs cover to save D. So how does he play it in which he gets cover?

[00:03:53] I believe the idea at the time they came up with was to have D bribe him for it and therefore give him an excuse to do it. And so, and it's funny because I have been mixing it up, Rob, on the chat BCC. Yeah. I am, I offer, for Big Brother. BB28.chat, check it out. Yeah, check it out, check it out. You can't see me in the host feed because I'm not big enough to be in the host feed, even though I was technically on Big Brother. Can we go work, we could do something about that.

[00:04:20] Yeah, maybe, maybe. But, you know, I think that, you know, I might be blacklisted for reasons, but I am in the live chat, like the live feed chat, mixing it up in there. Yeah. So I, so I'm like going back and forth. So I have it on record that I was like, hey, maybe Rick should get D to play, to bribe him for his diamond power of Vito. And then the next day he's like, I should do that. Like, fantastic. Now I know it did not quite work out like that. So we are kind of linked in a way though, and how we're thinking.

[00:04:44] You know, it's interesting that I think that you two, and we saw this to great degrees in Survivor 50, of that you have this synergy of, and I guess like also, I think this is newer for Rick, but I do feel like that in your personal history on Survivor, in terms of the Davids are coming together.

[00:05:05] And, oh, and Davey has an idol, and, and, and we're going to, and Nick has the extra vote, or the vote steal. Like, how could we use our advantages and pull our powers together to be able for our inferior numbers to be able to win the day? And it really does feel like that this is a big part of Rick Devens and how he approaches these shows.

[00:05:29] Absolutely. He's fundamentally scrappy. He's a scrappy player. He will find things that work to his advantage, um, and try to, and try to turn the tables. And the other thing is he's very gutsy, right? We've known this for a long time. We saw this in his first season. And I think that people, what, what, because what he's doing right now, as of right now in the house, that as what I, what I know, he did play the diamond power of Vito to take off D to save D. And his thinking was very much what was mine, which was, was that he wants to make sure he has a strong ally for later, but how can he, but there's a risk in that.

[00:05:59] Not only in he's using this power, but also he is potentially revealing how close he is to D and that could make him a target when he otherwise seems in a reasonably good spot. Even though he is one of the, I can lump them with the icons and the icons are kind of targets, but he's been kind of off the radar on that. But the thing that about Rick Devens that I think that which made me feel like we were in the same headspace is that it's knowing him and what his incentives are like.

[00:06:24] And I said this on our previous chat we had with Taryn is that big brother is not Rick's life dream to be on. I think it took a little convincing for him to go on big brother, um, and, and, and talking with his family. It sounds like that's, that's part, what was part of the process. But if Rick gets voted off pre jury for having taken a risk, uh, because, uh, for something that would make me help him win, he is fine with that because that means he gets to go home to his family.

[00:06:50] If he makes the jury sort of limps onto the jury and he's like just taken off and he's picked off cause he has no allies. That's probably one of the worst case scenarios for Rick. He's hanging around in the house. He's not getting to play, but he's away from his family. So to me, it makes total sense that he would make a play that in his mind preserves a long-term ally so we can make a deep run later, even at some risk right now. Yeah.

[00:07:14] That's an interesting way to look at it where that, I don't know if Rick is having necessarily the time of his life playing in the big brother house. I know Sari did try to warn him. I have seen some screenshots that have been taken where people say, Sari did warn you, Rick, uh, when he seems to be a little bit at his maybe, uh, most like frustrated, uh, like wits end in terms of, it's just the sheer boredom that goes into being in the big brother house.

[00:07:41] Like it's, it's one thing when you're 20 and it's another thing I think when you are at later days in life, like it's, it's a lot to like, you know, be on for that period of time. I know I wouldn't relish it, but for him to be in the house without D maybe that's the like worst case scenario. I would say that it could get really bad. Uh, I mean, and I, I did say this in our chat with you last time is that Rick's going to find a way to have fun. He's going to do his best to have fun. And that's probably one of the reasons you're seeing some of these moves.

[00:08:10] You know, we talked before Rick did, I think this big, when he, before he was the HOH, which by the way, can we stop down for a moment? Sure. The fact that I'm here in this moment, talking the details about a big brother season is something that I dare say the universe never expected. I am sitting here with an iPad full of Alliance breakdown. So I remember who the red corner is. Is that what the whiteboard is? Yeah. Oh yeah. I wish, I wish, you know what?

[00:08:38] At some point it'll bleed over onto the whiteboard behind me. If you're listening to the podcast version of this, but I'd like, so the fact that I have to be aware of, oh, now the mosh pit is now a combination of, of the crossovers and, and the FAP, which I will always call FAP. No matter how many extra syllables it takes me to say is, is a state of being. I never expected in my life. So I want to put that out there first to be clear. Yeah. I forgot my original point, but I, I want to get to the, but like,

[00:09:08] I think we're talking about Rick. I'm, I'm sure. I'm assuming what I figured. Do you remember the point I was making Rob before I went off on a tangent? You were talking about, you, uh, when we're going back to, uh, the last time you were on the podcast. Yes. Yeah. That's what it was before he got the HOH and he was like, you know what, we're going to treat this like this is a survivor. We're just going to, you know, we're going to turn this into two, like you can tell he's having fun in that moment. That wasn't, uh, and, uh, it was, they wouldn't this house meeting and then he's, they, they do this whole thing. I think it was D's spurred this big house flip a couple, like a week or so ago.

[00:09:38] Right. So he's, he's on board for that. He's, he's finding the fun. This is another way for him to find the fun when it could otherwise be so dull. The question is how many times can he keep doing this and get away with it? But I mean, but I will say he's being, I think quite smart and how he's approaching things. I think I've seen a couple of times where people have pitched ideas and Rick was like, let's not do that. Let's not do that thing. Yeah. And that was my job on survivor.

[00:10:07] I was the, I was the fun police on our, on our trio of me, Rick and Emily. Like if it weren't for me, Ozzie would have been the first boot and maybe that was a good way to go. I don't know. But like there, but I remember Rick and Emily was like, yeah, let's do it. Let's just get rid of Ozzie. I'm like, can we, let's, let's, let's, let's, let's chat. Right. Let's have a chat about this. But he's being a bit reserved shockingly despite, you know, his need to have fun. Well, I think that that's a really interesting point.

[00:10:31] And I'm glad you brought Emily into this because I think that, you know, where Rick is sort of like, I think sits in the middle of a scale of not to say that you won't make your own big, you know, dramatic blind sides in the game of survivor. But I do think that you probably come from a little bit more of a measured point of view in terms of how you want to plan for things. Whereas Emily is a little bit more of the, the loose cannon.

[00:11:01] And I think that Rick sits right there in the middle. I think that in this season with D who played in a season with Emily Flippin, I think that D feels to me a little bit more like an Emily in terms of the way that she approaches the game. And I think that Emily and D have different other skills, but I do feel like that they have like a little bit of chaos in them.

[00:11:27] And I think that Rick kind of sits like to the more conservative side of both of them. Yeah, I think that that's true. I mean, you're getting to see a bit of a different side of D only in the terms of the setting is I think in part because of the setting and timing and pacing of Big Brother. I'm trying to think back on D's first season when I think when she blindsided, I think it was Emily. Yes. I think Emily was one of the one of the big moves, right? From her first season. And I mean, that was probably day.

[00:11:55] I mean, that was like day 22 or something or day 21, 22 of that season. The season was almost over at that point. And D was making these moves. Now, if D makes a big move, it's like not four days to the end of the game. It's probably four days until the next vote. And so like and so she was able and this is and I also do doing quite well in my to be absolutely clear.

[00:12:18] And you see D skills in a lot of ways, but like you have to adjust to the pacing of like your lie has to hold up for days. Your relationship has to hold up for three months. And that that creates a different standard of the kind of lies you can tell and who you can trust to tell. Because, I mean, not only do you have, you know, D giving up secrets on occasion, on occasion. You're also telling them to Angela, who sometimes just seem to say things, you know, you know.

[00:12:44] So it is a different beast and it's interesting to watch them adjust. Yeah, for Rick and D, I do feel like that they have brought this right before tribal energy to Big Brother. Where it seems like Thursday they are very activated. They really want to like change things up last minute and switch the vote on the, you know, turn of a dime.

[00:13:12] And that is very un-Big Brother like. And that really showed like I can only imagine how. I mean, you saw Haley's reaction to one of these last minute clips of the vote. Because that's exactly how it works on Survivor. I mean, for a number of reasons. I mean, one, we only have after the immunity challenge to plot, which is a couple of hours. It's hard to know exactly how long before Tribal Council. So we're used to that pace.

[00:13:37] But we're also used to like there's a kind of ambient plotting in the day or so leading up to that immunity challenge. But I just assume that that's nonsense until the immunity challenge happens. Like there's chatter. But that chatter doesn't mean anything until the vote's about the ramp up. So that, again, it's the pacing. I mean, everyone said the pacing is different. It's almost too obvious to say.

[00:13:59] But as a result, you know, like it's almost like I imagine if I'm in Rick or Dee's spot, if I'm not plotting at the last minute, I'm like, if I'm not at the table, I'm on the menu. I better be doing the one. I'm the one doing the. I should be the one doing the plotting or else I'm going to be plotting against me. And so far, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's fantastic TV, no doubt. Let's get to the big question at this hour. Rick Devins, he ends up going into the BB time capsule.

[00:14:29] He ends up winning the diamond power of veto. And this week he has chosen to use it to take Dee off of the block and replace Dee with Kamu. I'd love to hear your thoughts on was this the right move for Rick? I, I mean, I don't know a lot about big brother, but my reaction was do that.

[00:14:51] I mean like that, and for the reasons I stated before that one, you are incurring, knowing that you're incurring some near term risk, potentially some far term risk as well. Um, but knowing that Dee is one of the only people you'd count to probably go really deep in the game with. And I think that Rick doesn't know how to shoot for anything but trying to win.

[00:15:13] And I think his fear is that if Dee gets taken out, eventually he won't have an ally as close as Dee to help him punch through deep. And I can imagine a world where he and Dee, I mean, Dee who was no slouch on survivor challenges, of course, um, at some point late in the game, if some of these other comp beasts, as I hear they are called, are taken out, then, uh, then she could help run, help run the table on these HOHs. Right.

[00:15:40] So I see, so he, so he super values this relationship with Dee. So in which case I'm like, yeah, save her. Your diamond power veto is only worth two more weeks. The only thing you gotta do is find a way to do it in a way that you don't blow up your spot with Dee. That is by far the most important thing. Where's the, where, where's the thing that makes sense. So I fully support Rick's decision. Yeah. And the risks of it, of course, is like, oh, or like, or maybe there's opportunity costs and risks.

[00:16:08] There are immediate risks of you could become a target because it wouldn't be the first time that Rick makes a big flashy move with some kind of advantage and it makes him a huge target. And he's targeted again and again and again and again. And every time he has to get out of it, it becomes more threatening and it creates what I've called the threat spiral with you in the past. That's a big, that's a near chairman threat. There's also opportunity cost in that if he reveals himself to be close to Dee, other people might not want to be as close to him. Yeah. Right. Um, but if we can mitigate that, it might be the key to getting super deep.

[00:16:36] But again, all this just from, this is my first full season of Big Brother that I'm watching. I hardly know the meta here. Yeah. I ultimately, I think it's a complicated decision and I don't think it was a slam dunk to go for it because ultimately what did he get for it? You know, he ultimately has to spend his power, which he does not get the chance to use for the next two weeks. And he goes for the biggest possible swing of taking Dee off of the block and putting Kamu up on the block. Right.

[00:17:06] But this is a blockbuster game that we're playing. And there is, I would say, probably close to a 50% chance or maybe a better than 50% chance that this isn't going to take. Kamu is going to win the blockbuster and is going to be able to take himself off of the block. And so now we've spent the power, uh, the, the diamond power of Vito.

[00:17:27] We've really, you know, um, you know, uh, shown a very bright light on the Rick and Dee alliance, which I think that everybody is probably, you know, pretty, pretty keenly aware of. So not that big of a deal, but then also you have a very motivated Kamu who is really now gung-ho in getting some retribution out of this.

[00:17:51] So I just wish it was like such a slam dunk move where Kamu was definitely going home for doing this and it still is very much up in the air. Like this might be on Thursday night at the end of the day where we get Haley out, which is nice, but like in terms of like on the Richter scale, not the impact of the move that would be to have gotten Kamu out. And it's, it's interesting.

[00:18:19] I think it's probably not unlike when you and Rick had hidden the fake immunity idol. And so you have this thing and you're sitting on it. Like, when do I use it? When can I use it to maximum effect? And I think that in the case that Rick does use it, it's like, well, like, uh, this is, this is as good of a time as any to use it, but it ultimately is not like the maximum effect that you could have gotten out of it.

[00:18:45] Well, it would be if it hits Kamu, if it actually sticks. Right. And, but I think what you point out is, is, is the biggest flaw in the plan is the blockbuster. And it's a, it's fundamental to this game. It's almost impossible to, to indelibly target a single player. If they're in any way good at competitions at all. Right. Like where they were like, it's not like the survivor, just like, okay, just convince them, you know, just convince them not to play their idol and you're fine. Right. Or like, or not play their shot in the dark. Um, that, that is the fundamental flaw.

[00:19:15] But in a, in a sense, I mean, the choice of target and Kamu as a target, if you get him out, he's much more the glue. It seems to be, I don't know which Alliance name it was. I want to retain some memory from, from memories of my son as he grows up. Uh, but the, but like that, that is the choice because I mean, I've always been a fan of get the glue, um, at many stages of the game of survivor. Um, especially early on when you don't necessarily, there's a lot of people who might be your, are kind of sort of your allies. Some people are close.

[00:19:45] Some are kind of, sort of, how do you choose amongst all those targets? And, uh, you know, and a big deciding factor is that if someone's gluing other people together, if you can get rid of them, that frees them up for you. Um, I have, so, so I think that that choice is smart if it sticks. So it's almost like, let's say 50, 50 shot that it, that, that, that, that it sticks. Yeah. What's the expected value of that? It could be quite high, but it also could backfire. Yeah.

[00:20:10] And I guess that this is as good of a shot as any, you know, you have the shot on goal right now. It may work, it may not, it may come up roses when Kamu doesn't win the blockbuster and then you're able to vote him out of the house. Um, and if it doesn't take, you know, he may not be vulnerable for, to be voted out again the rest of the season. It's like, it's really like a, you know, all or nothing line in the sand this week.

[00:20:36] And one thing I'm learning is I'm watching these live feeds and mixing it up in the live feed chat of, chat BCC is how fast this house can flip without any warning. All of a sudden it's just like, it's almost even the chatter about it is like, oh man, this alliance is so in power. Next week it's like, oh my God, this alliance totally fumbled it. How arrogant were they to think that they were in power? The house flips seemingly without warning. That mean, that mean not always churn, but the churn can come at any, at any time.

[00:21:03] So if that's the case, how do you play in a game where, you know, there's going to be a whole bunch of house flips. All you can do is try to dissolve the power centers that could flip against you. People who can function as the glue and try to glue as many people to you as you can. In that sense, Kamu makes a lot of, is a good choice of target. But as you said, it's not a sure thing. At the start of the season, it did seem like that there was like a really solidified structure in the house. And that the house wasn't going to flip.

[00:21:31] And we have had Big Brother seasons where there is a dominant alliance that really just squeezes the air out of the ball in terms of just running out the clock and getting out of all the people who are at the bottom of the alliance. And then just really running it down and being quite a boring season. That really hasn't been the case in the blockbuster era of the game, which is now in its third season of having the blockbuster.

[00:21:54] And the blockbuster really has injected a lot of variance into you cannot definitively plan who is going out on Thursday night. You have to nominate more people. And so it really has created a lot of fluidity in the game. Yeah, I mean, it's like a super shot in the dark in a way. I mean, I know it's not literally the same thing mechanically, but the way that having played with and without the shot in the dark, which is a survivor mechanic for the big fans. I've been on record with you, Rob, by the many times.

[00:22:22] I'm not a fan as a television viewer of the shot in the dark for a number of reasons, just because like it's this thing that everyone has that they never mention unless it might be used. As a TV and game designer and a teacher, I don't like it. But having played survivor, I get it. Like it creates such paranoia, almost outsized paranoia amongst some of the people as the target. You need that last minute backup target.

[00:22:49] And as soon as you have to plot a backup target, that creates more potential drama of someone finding out. And the blockbuster serves that same purpose. Who is the backup target? Is it me or them? It's not exactly the same, but I feel the same effect when people are talking about it. I'm interested to know what you've learned about Dee watching her play so far for 40 some odd days. Oh, man. So, yeah. Catching up. I mean, like Dee, it feels very familiar.

[00:23:15] I played on the same beach as Dee for like, I would say a handful of days. Right? And like I can see her charm and I can see the way she is like able to get away with lies. And I can start, it's interesting to see a survivor player that you only get the edited experience of. And then you get the minute by minute experience of it. You can start to match up how these things happen. Right? And I can see, I can see how it matched up these things happen.

[00:23:44] Like I remember it was so fun seeing Dee after the big house flip on week whatever. I forget which, whichever week that was. It was a big house flip right in the hours leading up to the vote. Right? And then she comes to church talking to the camera and is like, I will swear on my mama. I'll swear on everyone. But my future husband, I won't, I won't, I won't lie to you. You know, you can see, you can see the excitement that she has for playing the game in the real time. And it shows that, yeah, you know, the survivor when you're watching these edited products. Yes, you're just seeing a distilled form of this person. It is the same person.

[00:24:13] It's just different mechanics. It's just different setting. We don't change that much. We change as players. This is my hot take. From season to season, people don't change very much as players. If you see from like a first season to second season or even different shows, people tend to rely upon the same tactics, the same strength. They might pick up a couple of tricks, but our personalities are fundamentally the same.

[00:24:40] Not only just as human beings, but as cast reality show characters. You know, we would not be on reality television if we didn't have extremely strong parameter character traits that have been ingrained and they know how we're going to act. And so as a result, a lot of the growth and change you see in gameplay from one season to the next, it might be circumstance or editing is what you're seeing the difference here. So this is validating my pet hypothesis, Rob.

[00:25:06] And that's my thoughts on D with no veering away from the topic whatsoever. Okay. Has there been anything that's happened this season? I know that you and Rick are very simpatico. Has there been anything that Rick did that you felt like, oh, I don't think I would have made the same decision? I mean, I think that the, I was surprised he was like, hey, let's Batman the whole house together up in that room. And he was like hiding away.

[00:25:35] Like when, when it was a Rome, it was like knocking on the door. That was, it was, that was the Rome vote. But like, it's one of those things that were like, I wouldn't have done that. But also like, I don't know this show anywhere better than Rick for sure. And so I wouldn't say that was a mistake. But yeah, I think that, but I will say, I'm glad they managed to get out Jason. I'm not sure Rick knew at the time how much Jason was gunning for him.

[00:26:01] And so that was good for him that they decided to ultimately gun for Jason in the end. But you know, that's the other thing. If I were there with Jason, I wouldn't have known to gun for him probably because I would have been fascinated. I have too many questions about drag race and I probably wouldn't like a vote amount. But anyway, but he did a good job. I was watching a clip. I think it was yesterday that Rick was talking about what it was like to be on the beach with you and Ozzy. Did you see this clip? No, I didn't see this clip. Yeah. He was talking about how Ozzy is a very spiritual person.

[00:26:31] Oh, I think I know this story he's going to tell, but go on. And you are a man of science. And Rick talked about how fun it was to have there be like a question about like, oh, like, uh, that's interesting. Why is the moon doing that? Uh, and then there would be, you would give the science explanation and then Ozzy would weigh in with, uh, his own explanation. Uh, yes. Now, as soon as you started telling that, I'd like Rick would, I would hear Rick tell this story to other people back at home afterwards.

[00:26:59] Like, and like, that's the beauty of reality TV across survivor and big brother is getting these people with vastly different points of view weighing in on the same thing. I mean, uh, and, and that was more some of the fun of it. And also like, you know, Ozzy and I had our ups and downs together on the season, you know, but we're also on a tiny tribe at some point, you know, it was like, how do I relate to this guy, especially after I left him out of a vote? And you know, how do I, you know, what can I do? And do I give my shot in the dark?

[00:27:27] Like it's, I think that it's both is, is a great mix from these character moments you're talking about and strategic moments because people view the game in different ways. What have you thought about Angela now that you've watched her for five weeks on the show? Angela is, I, I, I'm really curious how she fair. I didn't see her first season. Sure. I, I, all I remembered was that she was, was very mad in the first episode or so of her first season.

[00:27:55] And she was like calling people out and, but she must've gotten far and she's here. And it makes me wonder like, is big brother so structurally different that someone like Angela, the way she, she goes about this, like, this is an advantage. She like, she knows what she's doing. I have no idea. I'm just like, like, like, I think that if I were on survivor with her, I'd be like, can I trust you with the plan? Are you going to tell somebody? Uh, and, but like she, right now she's embedded with the, with, with the icon.

[00:28:23] So she must have some kind of charm to keep marching forward. Yeah. Angela is a unique person in that, you know, she did have the big blow up in the first week of her first season. She really was not as well liked in the big brother 26 house as, uh, she is here in the big brother 28 house where she has the other icons to lean in. She comes in with some cachet of being a popular person from a big brother in the past.

[00:28:49] And so she was somebody who was on the block quite a bit back in big brother 26. And I think that more often than not, people didn't look at her as much of a threat as, uh, the other person who was up on the block. And so people, uh, tended to keep her around. I think that the veto, uh, was used on her, uh, on at least one memorable occasion. I'm not sure if there was more than that, but she comes in and she really has like her feet under her.

[00:29:16] I know she's had a couple of moments along the way. And I'm trying to think if there's a survivor player that I could think of where, uh, that they really just have like, uh, that they're more grounded in the second go round than they were in the first time through. Yeah. I'm trying to think about what an example, sometimes you'll get a third timer like, uh, that, that'll eventually kind of find their feet. That's a good example. I mean, she seems fun. I think I would have fun. I, she was the one who talked about a group of crows being a murder. Is that, is that, was that her who said that? Melody who said that.

[00:29:46] That was Melody. Oh, okay. Well, Melody. Okay. All right. Melody. We got to go back and forth. Can you confirm that? Yes. Yes. And I, I, I, there was a point in my life where I tried to memorize as many groups of animal names as I could, you know, the one of my favorites is that a group of flamingos is a flamboyance. Yeah. That's a good one. Okay. Yeah. That, that, that, that there, there, there are good ones. I, there, there are also, there's not really an official list of names necessarily, but I saw that a group of ravens is often called an unkindness. Sometimes you call them a murderer as well. That's just some good ones. But anyway, she's Angela seems fun. All good alliance names.

[00:30:17] There we go. Maybe that, that's the skill I'd have to learn if I ever went on that show. Yeah. But like with Angela, Angela, though, she reminds me a little bit of Emily Flippen in like, uh, in the, not only in the sense that I wouldn't know if I told her something, if it would get out. Right. And, uh, and, and, and, and like with Emily, when I was working with her, I didn't know that that was kind of her, how she would operate sometimes. I, but I loved Emily for her strategic acumen to be able to look through scenarios.

[00:30:45] And that's why I was willing to happily willing to, to know what to tell her and what not to tell her. Uh, but like there have been a couple of times where Angela is sort of in the heat of the moment, told people like, like important key parts of a plan. And there's always this complicated web of lies. And then she'll add some, some element of it, which makes it even more complicated. And that way that's, that's fun. It's like, it's like playing a game of clock tower, which we want to play where there's often these webs of lies, but then there's one person that thinks keeps inserting new,

[00:31:12] new lore into the line or like, how do we accommodate this all? And so you're juggling all of these lies and, and, and in a way that makes it a lot of fun. But I think if I were playing with her, I would be like, Angela, please don't, please don't do that. We were talking a little bit about the potential Alliance names of groups of animals. Did you and Rick and Emily ever name your Alliance in survivor 50?

[00:31:38] No, we broke all of the big brother rules in terms of naming, naming an Alliance. First of all, we was with Cerise. We called it the seal of four and you never put a number. And one thing I now know is you never put a number on an Alliance name because then you cap the number, right? Or you don't have an inherent, I think at one point there was a very briefly a four seasons Alliance, a seasons Alliance or something like that. Classic mistake. Someone could be the fifth season. I could be misremembering. It's hard to know. There's only been a hundred. Big brother of the season, there was four seasons. There was also-

[00:32:08] That's what I meant to say. Okay, yeah, I got it. Yes. Yeah, that's what I meant to say. Yes, yeah. It's all evaporating in my mind at this point, what happened. I think that was Rome, Lyric, Melody, and Drew, I think was the four seasons. Has there ever been like big brother trivia competition where like name the Alliance and then name the people in it like across seasons? We could do it at RahabCon. There's got to be people. I imagine Taron would do quite well at that thing.

[00:32:35] But yeah, so the question was Alliance name. So we called it the seal of four. And there was a time where we were naming other alliances of people. You name them so that way you brand them so you brand themselves. There was a point at the merge where I believe it was Dee and Camilla and Genevieve.

[00:33:03] A lot of young women were hanging out like on the beach and someone, I can't remember who, called them the mean girls. And I was like, I put the kibosh on that. I was like, no, no, no, no, no. How about Hot Girl Summer? So I called them a Hot Girl Summer as the Alliance, which led to later in my career on Survivor 50, that name stuck. And eventually coach came up to me to talk to me and was like,

[00:33:29] I would like to talk to you about Hot Girl Summer, which is a moment I'll never forget. Is that a haiku? And, you know, I'd like to talk to you about, I can't do it. I have not bought coach's book of haiku yet. Yes. I have to make sure I post order it. Yeah. Okay. Tell me about some of these other first timers in the house. Is there anybody that's really captured your imagination?

[00:33:59] So I'm often asked, say, Christian, if D or Rick don't win, are evicted from the house, who are you rooting for? Yeah. And my answer is an asteroid. But that's my first answer. But in all seriousness, there are some fun people. Like, I do find the way. You ready for that? You ready for Zingbot? They can put someone else in the costume.

[00:34:28] I'm not happy to take over Zingbot. Yes. Well, as a professor of robotics, you know, we have to talk about the Zingbot. Oh, yeah. We got to get into the Zingbot. We talked about, like, some of the lore of the Zingbot. It was that, like, apparently the guy inside of the Zingbot passed out. Yeah, he passed out. At one point. So I could be this understudy Zingbot, you know, to go into the house. Sure. I mean, I'm already, look, I'm already hooked up with production. I was, I got to film with the Devonses on BB Unlocked. I saw. So I'm now in the family. I saw, we love Big Brother Unlocked. Yeah. Maybe you could come in and repair the Zingbot.

[00:34:57] You know, we can fix that. I mean, maybe it requires BB Tonium and an excuse of BB Tonium. Sure. But I think that, I think we're just talking about, who's rooting for it? First time that you would root for. Yeah. Well, first off, Taylor, I believe is a FAMU grad. And I am a professor. I have a courtesy appointment of Professor at FAMU. Yes, she wears the shirt. She wears the shirt. You know, I don't like that shirt because it looks like it says Kamu on it. Well, yeah, that's a problem that I don't think she anticipated when she was putting her wardrobe together.

[00:35:27] The FAMU shirt. Sometimes you can't see the F. You know, if you're clever enough with arts and crafts in the house, she could always use that to her advantage and like, really kind of like, you know, patch it up. Like, Kamu, this is how much I love you. Like, you know, and show your affection. So I do have that. I will say I do, I would have liked talking to Jason. I would have had a fun time talking with Jason, though he might have wanted him to get me out. It sounds like he had a thing to go after the icons. Sure. What would you have talked to Jason about?

[00:35:57] I'm curious about Drag Race. Yes. How that functions. Like, what is that? Every reality show has its different quirks to it. I got to talk with some big brother people recently. I was on Tiffany Mitchell's, Tiffany Mitchell's, not only her podcast, but I was on her podcast with Big D and Claire. And Chata. And Chata, right? And they were telling me some of the details of like how confessionals were. Sorry, DRs. DRs. I have to do as the Romans do.

[00:36:27] Do as the Romans do. But like, they all have their own unique things like Drag Race. So I'd be curious to know like what that entails. But also, I am curious where Barrett is going in all this. It seems like people say he kind of leaks information from place to place. I don't know if that's true or not. Maybe it's him and Drew. I am interested to see if they can pull that off. And of course, if I were in the house, I would talk with Mallory. Yes.

[00:36:55] She's about engineering. A colleague. A colleague, Mallory. We would probably talk about fluid dynamics. I think she works. She said she's a rocket scientist, which is reality TV talk is if you got an aerospace engineering degree. If you get an aerospace engineering degree, you're a rocket scientist. I believe that. I think actually you had a rocket scientist, Dave. Dave Johnson was the first rocket scientist. First survivor rocket scientist that you got to play with, I believe. I think with John Fincher and Stephen Ram.

[00:37:25] And there might have even been another one. Yeah. They always go with rocket scientists. So if you're any way related to aerospace rocket science. So I would actually go and talk to her about what her actual background is in. Just like when I talk with Claire, she's like an AI scientist. And she's like, and I talked to her later. She's like, I work in cloud computing. So, but they told me to say AI scientist. So I have to know. So I would talk to Mallory about that. Yeah. They play fast and loose with the sciences on Big Brother. I don't blame them.

[00:37:50] Christian, had you been voting every week for the BB time capsule? Yes. Yes. Well, good. Good job supporting Bill. I, you know, I'll be honest. I haven't cast a vote for the season. Well, I mean, it's one of those things that there's, there's a lot of uncertainty and whether or not this is the right time to get a vote, you know, like to put a vote in.

[00:38:19] And when there's enough uncertainty, I'm like, ah, you know, I'll support, I'll support Rick by mixing it up in chat BCC. That's how I'll support. That's right. Have you made any other friends with the Big Brother alumni as you've been posting this summer? Well, I mean, not, not, not, not a ton yet. I haven't, again, I'm not, I'm not relegated. I can't interact with people on the host chat of chat BCC. So I'm just hanging out, you know, so if anyone, if any of you all want to come chat with me in the live feeds chat, by all means, I love to make friends and learn more about your,

[00:38:49] your, your endeavors. One thing I do have a lot more appreciation, of course, for the show, not only for my conversation with the Big Brother people and, um, and watching the show, but I also was reading an article which was describing life aboard a nuclear submarine. And it reminded me a lot of Big Brother because their deployments are three months on a nuclear submarine. And as there's some part of me that's compared, I'm reading this article and comparing it. And like, of course, you know, you know, Big Brother contestants, you know, no doubt

[00:39:18] are not in charge of, of, of the end of the world. You know, thank goodness, you know, reality show people like myself are not in charge of it. There are all kinds of reasons that being aboard a nuclear submarine is, is, is harder, but there's elements of being like, and you're, but, but even as when you're isolated under the ocean for so long, people on a nuclear submarine get more contact with their families than on Big Brother. You actually get messages in the form of like a couple of like 100 word messages in family grams or something that come in something you don't seem to get on a big brother.

[00:39:48] So you get, so HOH, what do you get those as HOH? You get family messages or what do you get from home? Yeah. Oh, okay. All right. Nevermind. Then the, the submarine people do have it harder. Uh, but, but I thought, but I was reminded, it's like, you know, some of these things, like the isolation of it all. And, and these sailors talking of these, I'm sorry, submariners talking about, uh, what, what it's like. It does have echoes of what I talked to people who are on big brother. Like it is no joke being in that house for three months.

[00:40:17] Not that I ever look, I understand like survivor people and big brother people as much as we personally get along. There's, there's a bit of comparison of our experiences. And I, I hear people talking about, which is harder. It's not something I've ever waded into. Uh, but I think that it's undeniable that a three month stand inside of a house stuck with only people who might want to vote you out. Is it like, I think I'd be curious to see actual psychological analysis of what that's like.

[00:40:44] Well, I think that the big difference, I don't think that people really talk about it this way. And maybe your lived experience is different, but I suspect it's not every day on survivor is exciting that there is that it may not be fun and it's hard, but it's, but it's exciting and, and, and you're on an adventure and big, it is exciting to go on big brother. But I think that there are points in the big brother house where it is not always exciting

[00:41:14] and it becomes very mundane and it is like requiring like a lot of effort to keep up your energy and your focus and your desire to want to be there. Yeah. That's absolutely my experience as well, Rob. I mean, like I, I, I, when I think back to survivor, there are many feelings I can recall. Uh, I can recall the, you know, the excitement, the fear, uh, the, the confusion, the gastrointestinal

[00:41:44] distress, but none of them were boredom. Yeah. There was never, I like, I'm sure there were moments I was bored, but that was, there was, but there was never a point where I was like, man, just end this. It's like, I will, I want, I want to go home cause this is so dull. I mean, I mean, that was even in survivor 30 back my first season when survivor was longer. Um, and so it like, but it's, it's, it's exhausting. Yeah. There were definitely, and I will say that even after my second season, uh, there was

[00:42:12] no part of me that wishes it was a longer season after my first, after, um, after playing 50, but like I was never bored. Yeah. And I think that playing the game is appealing. I think I would really enjoy that, but I think it would be all of the other parts of the day where you're not playing the game and you are, you know, continuing, to just have small talk with people that you already have had all of the small talk and

[00:42:39] there's nothing, there's nowhere new to go and there's nothing else to do. I think that that really is, would be like the mental grind. Yeah. I mean, uh, that, that would be, yeah, that would be a lot. I mean, and also like they don't get like pad and paper or anything, right. To like write down things and that, that would be hard on me. Like something, something where I can, I wouldn't journal, but it would be good to just doodle like anything like that. My, my, I, I'm pretty good at just kind of like just dealing with boredom, but I'm not

[00:43:08] saying that would be easy on big brother. Like that's a, that's, that is its own class of, of, of stress. And I think 23 year old me would have loved every single second of it. But I do think that, uh, me late later days, me, I think would be like, it would be a struggle. No, no doubt. No doubt. And, and, and I, I, I, that is something I do will be curious to see, assuming that I have every, every confidence that, that Rick is doing very well. I'm very impressed with how he's been handling himself in the house.

[00:43:37] I think he has, as much as I say, people don't radically change their game from time to time. I've seen him massage and adapt to this new environment quite well. How's he going to do when it's another month then? Right. Like what, what's what, how is he going to adapt that situation? Because the dude I feel does make moves in small part because they're exciting and the need for excitement will be on a premium as the numbers start to dwindle. Like what can you do? Especially if you're on the bottom, it might just make crazier and crazier moves, which

[00:44:07] we'll see. Yeah. It really, this is like the thick of it at the end of the game. I feel like there's kind of less moves to make and less exciting. It really comes down to who's going to win the competitions. Once you start to get down to the end game of a big brother, it's not unlike survivor. It's sort of like that, you know, you sort of like now have to like, this is the lot you're in and ultimately let's see who wins the comps. So we'll see. I mean, survivor has an incredible acceleration of the, of the timeframe at the end though.

[00:44:36] Like, like the final seven is like, you know, three days from the end of the game. It's just like, it's just like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, down to the end. Right. So, and I think that it does. There is something fundamental to the number of players in the game and how much chaos there is. I mean, just, you, you, you could almost map it mathematically when you just, when you look at the number of combinations of votes or things you can't, then there is a, we've talked a little bit of entropy in the past in our various podcasts, and I won't go too

[00:45:04] much into it here, but like, but when it comes to how like the number of combinations that, you know, things that could be, that creates an amount of uncertainty, there's sort of a sweet spot. If there's too little uncertainty, it's like, okay, this game is going to get boring. We know it's going to come down to the, this, this, and that. And as you said, maybe to the comps at the very beginning, there's almost like, you can't, there's so much uncertainty. You almost can't plan. Like, it's just, it's like trying to predict the weather a year in advance. There's that much chaos to it, but there's kind of a sweet spot where you can make

[00:45:31] a plan, a couple of moves ahead, right? And see how it's going to play, how it's going to play out. And that sounds like what you're describing we're at or near in Big Brother without me knowing from any other seasons of watching. Yeah. Christian, is there anything else that you're, you've been thinking about as you've been watching all this Big Brother? I think that that's it. I'm just thinking about how am I going to keep tabs on all this when the semester is starting? You know, it's, it's, it's been a, it's been a great time.

[00:46:01] I've been enjoying the post, post survivor experience and I'm trying to squeeze in time to write my, to make my classes, you know, uh, um, make, make, make little YouTube videos about robots and other fun facts and also squeezing out cameos in the, in the wee hours of the morning. I, I, yeah. So, so, and for those who don't know, uh, I am on the cameo and, but, but a hundred percent of what I would earn goes directly to a robotics charity that I started, uh, called the robotics

[00:46:29] education fund through Florida state university. So if anyone's ever interested in either buying the robot shirt off of my Instagram or getting a cameo, just know that you're supporting, um, uh, the, the percentages vary for each of those, uh, the robotics education fund that I started up here in Tallahassee. Okay. Have you thought about, what's the first thing you're going to talk to Rick about when he gets out of the house when you get, when you're reunited in many months from now? I'm going to say, so do you agree with Sari?

[00:47:00] How right was Sari? Yeah. Um, are you in a group chat with Sari talking about the season? Not Sari specifically. Sari is, she, she exists, she exists on a plane of existence that I, I can only, I, I can only imagine, uh, is, but, but, uh, but you know, we're, we're friendly, but I, but like a, like a true celebrity, I, I'm careful when I reach out to them and so when they come back, but I'm sure that, uh, when, when this is all over, I, I'm going to, I'm going to put them,

[00:47:29] the two of them together and have them compare notes and I'm going to watch. Sure. Okay. Christian, anything else you want to tell people to check out? Uh, you can check out, um, uh, me on my socials at, at Hubicki, C-H-U-B-I-C-K-I. That's like Chewbacca's little brother, you know, Christian Yubicki. Um, or, or, and you can find all their links from there on Instagram. Uh, uh, you can find everything else from there. I'm on TikTok and all these, all these things that I, that barely understand. Look at you. I look at me. Yeah. Anyway, here we are. All right.

[00:47:58] Thank you so much, uh, for joining us. Uh, we got so much more big brother coming your way. I'll be doing the slop over on Patreon on Tuesday night with Chappelle. And then Wednesday night, I will be back with a recap of the Wednesday night episode. We'll see a Rick Devins use the diamond power of Vito. Unless they make it a cliffhanger. They, they, they do be doing that sometimes, but they have too much to do on Thursday night. I think so. Yeah. They got 90 minutes. Come on. Yeah. Come on. Let's go. All right.

[00:48:27] So, uh, with that in mind, uh, we'll see you soon. Take care of a good one. Bye. Bye.