Survivor alum Drew Basile made such an impression during his recent Jeopardy! stint that it might have just bagged him another trip to the islands of Fiji for the CBS reality showâs milestone 50th season.
Talking with Rob Has A Podcast, hosted by former Survivor contestants Rob Cesternino and Stephen Fishbach, Basile opened up about his Jeopardy! experience, how it compared to Survivor, the differences between hosts Ken Jennings and Jeff Probst, and whether he expects to be asked back for the all-star Survivor 50, which will be filmed next year.
When asked which of the two hosts was more intimidating, Basile immediately said, âDude, Jeff is so much more intimidating [than Jennings]. Jeff has been doing this s**t for 20 years, he has condensed himself, itâs his whole life. And Ken is just a regular guy.â
âI mean, Ken is great,â Basile continued. âBut when Iâm talking with Ken, I feel like Iâm talking to a regular dude. And Jeff is well-oiled, Jeff is a machine, so heâs a little intimidating. When Jeffâs there, itâs like the principalâs office, trying to say the right thing at tribal council, no detentions.â
Basile competed on Survivor 45 last fall, where he finished in sixth place, dominating most of the game with his alliance and winning an individual immunity challenge along the way. He had even better success on Jeopardy!, however, after recently going on a seven-game winning streak and accumulating $129,601 in prize money.
Asked to compare winning immunity to winning a game of Jeopardy!, Basile said there was far more âeuphoriaâ over winning Jeopardy!. âThe thing with an immunity challenge is, most of the time, are you even sure you need it?â he explained.
â[Immunity] is nice,â he added. âBut Jeopardy is life or death. Itâs like a Hunger Games thing. I live, I get to continue playing. The stakes are a lot higher⦠Winning Jeopardy is a rush.â
The grad student from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also revealed how Survivor prepared him for the pressure of Jeopardy!
Jeopardy, Inc!
âSurvivor prepares you to compete on television, to like be able to deal with an audience and deal with the pressure of being on camera and on stage,â he explained. âBut it also prepares you for the idea that like, life will go on. Being on TV is not that big of a deal, and people are obviously gonna have mud to sling, but theyâll forget. Itâs not gonna define your identity.â
In fact, Basile said he was so relaxed and comfortable with being on TV that he wasnât afraid to show his emotions, including a big reaction to his tie-break winning game. He said he shouted, âLetâs go!â so loudly that they had to re-record his reaction.
Robert Voets/CBS
Finally, Basile was asked whether he would be interested in returning to Survivor for the showâs monumental 50th season, which Probst recently confirmed will be all returning players. And Probst clearly still has a soft spot for Basile, given how Jennings mentioned that the Emmy-winning host passed along his congratulations during Basileâs winning streak.
âThat was stunning, to hear that was really nice,â Basile said of Probstâs message. âI admire Jeff, he was very good to me. And it was like a part of my life that I potentially thought had closed a little bit was back open.â
âSo this is gonna catapult you to Season 50?â Fishbach asked.
âI really donât know,â Basile responded. âEveryone is so coy and so cagey about Season 50. I think there are so many qualified people from the new era [of Survivor], and there is so much competition in the nerd archetype, Iâd be surprised if I got the call.â
Survivor, Season 47 Premiere, Fall 2024, CBS
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