Watch 'Survivor 48' Players Reveal Their Most Controversial Hot Takes (Exclusive)

The cast of Survivor 48 is perhaps the most varied in the new era when it comes to levels of fandom. Some have been watching the show since the very beginning (or as long as they can remember), acting upon a decades-long dream to come out and play. Others discovered the series when it first became available on Netflix in the pandemic, and quickly fell in love with the adventure and the cutthroat gameplay. One particular player was so hooked by the concept that he applied after having not watched the show in years, to the point where he didn't know who the host was.

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Regardless of their viewing history, all 18 players in the newest season of the CBS reality giant have their hot takes about certain players, seasons, twists, and the show in general. And they were not afraid to open up about them when I interviewed them out on the island only a couple of days before the game began. While one player says "all advantages are disadvantages," while another is fine when trinkets are in abundance. Plenty of opinions are around the most recent seasons they had seen, including thoughts on the winners, and whether there are any villains in the new era. Of course, a few had things to say about famous faces from seasons past, as not one, but two castaways said independently they felt Boston Rob Mariano was "overrated."

Take a look at the video and transcription below to hear the Survivor 48 castaways give their hottest takes. Unfortunately, we were not able to get answers from sales expert Star Toomey, but you can check out her upcoming individual interview to find out more about her. Survivor 48 premieres on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 8 p.m. with a special two-hour episode on CBS.

Related: Meet the Full Cast of Survivor 48

Survivor 48 Hot Takes

Bianca Roses

It's such a lame answer. I was gonna say, why can't they eat fish raw? I just don't understand!

I have never heard that before as a hot take. When you said it was "lame," I thought it would be something that's been talked to death a bunch!
I mean, that's all I could think about. There are so many times where a tribe doesn't have their flint yet, and they earn the reward, and it's fish, and it's raw, but they can't eat it. And I'm like, "It's sushi!" I would be just shoving that fish down my throat, scales and all. I don't care, just gnawing into it. I mean, it's fresh fish out of the Fijian sea. Why not? So that's just a question I've had at the forefront of my mind. I don't know if that counts. [Laughs.]

Cedrek McFadden

So just coming off [46], obviously, that was a remarkable season on many fronts. And there was a lot of conversation about Maria and Charlie and the whole thing. And I really believe that Charlie was robbed. But I think that it was maybe a position that he opened the door for. So are you robbed, but you unlock your front door and leave it open for somebody to walk in? Or are you robbed because they actually break in your door?

That's a really interesting way to put it. So you believe it's the latter?
I believe he was robbed. I mean, I think given sort of the conversation he had going into this, what Maria would do for him, etc. And it didn't work out that way. But as, Jeff always says, this is a game where you have to trust someone. But you can't trust any of these people. [laughs.] So how much do you open that door for someone to rob you, versus how much do you kind of keep it shut and try to protect yourself?

Charity Nelms

Number one, as fans, we want villains back. [Laughs.] I want more villains. I love the stories, but I love the gameplay too. And I love a Tony or a Russell or a Coach or a Brandon. Iconic moments, like when the girl dumped the rice everywhere. We want a little bit of that back. I think, you know. That's my hot take on Survivor. But, truly, I'm probably gonna get totally like, slayed for this. But I think Russell was one of the best players there was, and he should have won. I would have voted for him personally,

In which season?
Every time he played. He is the GOAT. I mean, he dominated it.

When it comes to your first hot take, there has been a lot of argument as to whether there are villains in the new era? Is there anyone that falls into that bucket for you.
Soft. Even [in Season 46], everyone's like, "Oh, Q is a villain." I'm like, "No, he's not!" Q's just being himself. He beats himself up, makes people mad. Even the whole thing of not picking Liz. She's not entitled to that. She didn't win. And Q shouldn't, out of pressure, have to pick her if that's not who he wants to spend the time with, especially if it's a strategic decision for him. So people call Q a villain. I'm like, "Man, everybody's gone soft!" Who knows, maybe I'll come out here as a villain.

Chrissy Sarnowsky

I don't know if it was last season or the season before. The two people that quit, I was disgusted. Knowing the process that we have to do to get here. You never watched the show?! You didn't think you were going to be uncomfortable?! To be like, "I miss my bed. I want to go home." To me, that was just terrible.

David Kinne

So again, I haven't watched a lot of Survivor. But the last season I was watching was Heroes vs. Villains. I would love some of those one-on-one brutal challenges, man.

[Laughs.] Well, of course you're gonna say that from your perspective!
Of course I'm gonna say that from my perspective! I mean, what do you want from me?! You're throwing the puzzles at people. Why can't I throw the physical challenges at others? Come on! Where's the challenges for me?! God, people are gonna hate me back home. Sorry!

Eva Erickson

I think that you should not be allowed to ask what someone's gonna do with the money in the final Tribal Council. I think that that should have no indication of how someone played. The rules are to outwit, outplay, and outlast, and that's what the jury should be making their decision based on. Not on who needs the money the most, or who do you think is going to use it the best? No, it should be based on your gameplay, not outside factors.

Of course, everyone has their own reasons for voting for somebody. So if you're a juror, you're going to be more of a résumé checker?
Yeah, definitely. Like looking at what did you actually do for this game? Not, who's the most likable? I think it should be, how did you play? I'm checking the boxes. Did you win challenges? Did you make big moves? Not like, "Oh, you were really nice to everybody." A+ if that keeps people from voting you off. But I don't think that that that should be a reason someone should win.

Joe Hunter

I look at–let's just take Dee and that season. I'm using this as an example, but it is nothing against the cast and crew. But when you watch those types of seasons, it's hard not to wonder. The controversial spin I have is, would that player have won without an Austin, without a Drew? Was their game that solid, that without that particular player who, and a little bit of a romance as an example–no hate here. But would that have translated to the same victory?

Now again, you could say that with a lot of seasons. But my argument would be certain players really stand out, Boston Rob being one of them. His intellectual game and style of communication transcends a lot of those seasons. I mean, going from voted out and didn't make the jury to well known player. My argument to that is my controversial spin on this is, out of the new generation, really sit back and look at how many of these players truly did their own gameplay, or how much of this was those outside influences from others.

Justin Pioppi

My friends are gonna kill me for this, because they hate this. But we're gonna crank the oven up to like 900 right now. Redemption Island, not the season. I think the twist is a really good idea. And I know you're a purist, Mike; I'm a purist too. But I think this game has so many curveballs, knuckleballs, sliders, change ups, screwballs, any pitch you can think of, that you got to make sure you hit every single one. And if you miss on one, you're gone. So I think that second chance ability to win yourself back in, I don't think that's like the worst idea. My friends are always like, "Once you're out, you're out. That's it, you're done with Survivor. You have to wait. And maybe you might get another shot, you might not. And that's just how it goes."

Are you just trying to manifest Jeff put Redemption Island in the season to make sure you have a safeguard in case something goes wrong?
I just feel like everyone deserves a second chance. I've been through a lot in my life. My mother's had her fair share of second chances with health. And we're very, very grateful for it. She's had awesome medical care. And I think, if you deserve one, if you work hard enough, I think you should get a second chance at something.

Kamilla Karthigesu

I'm sorry, Jeff. Boston Rob, he won on his fourth time. I just wasn't a fan of him in any of his seasons at all. And, okay, sorry sorry again, Jeff. Sorry, Boston Rob. But he won on Redemption Island when no one knew how to play Survivor. He just told people what to do, and no one tried to fight it. So put him on any other season, and he wouldn't have won. Boston Rob is like a censored word amongst me and my friends. We have to asterisk one of the vowels for me, for my sanity.

Related: Everything to Know About Survivor 48

Kevin Leung

Well, I don't know if this is controversial, because I think Q, he's polarizing. You either love him or you don't like his gameplay. Kind of like Liz. You either like Liz because she's so, you crazy and chaotic, or you don't like Liz because she does outbursts. Or Venus, same thing. I really like those characters. I like characters who bring their charm, pizzazz, but also they're not afraid to showcase who they are. And I think for me, I play it so safe at home, and I just am just such a normal guy. I really do think I'm just a normal guy. Maybe I'm not actually. [Laughs.]

But I think I'm normal back at home. But here it's like, "Okay, Kevin, it's time to be diabolical. Time to utilize everything that's in your head for the last 10 years and all the circumstances I've been through in life, all the shortcomings and fire. Use that fire and passion and play aggressively. Play Day One. Don't be afraid to hold back." So that's a hot take, that people who play hard are not necessarily a bad thing. It's actually their character, and actually, they're very real about that.

Kyle Fraser

This is difficult. You can tell some of the 30s are on my mind recently; I did some rewatching of those. I'm gonna go back to Adam's season. I think that Adam was a phenomenal player. But I think that there are four players on that season that were better Survivor players than Adam, Hannah number one; justice for Hannah. And then, in no particular order, David, Zeke, and Jay. I think, pound for pound, that season had so many great players. And it's not talked about because every single one of them had a legitimate shot to win the game. And they were all great, including Adam. And maybe this is what makes him the winner of that season, his timing was impeccable. I really enjoyed watching him, too. But I just came away from that season thinking I loved all those players. Even Ken as well! His game was kind of a little roughshod, but I really thought that was a great play. So I think that's my hot take. Four of them were better than Adam. I'm making it hot.

Mary Zheng

My hot take is that Applebee's isn't that great. I mean, I can't say I've ever eaten there. But I've heard from friends that have eaten there and gotten sick. And I'm sure I'll love it, because it'll be food. When they're like, "It's Applebee's!" I'm gonna be like, "Okay, translate: It's food." It's sustenance for me. My family and I, we didn't really have the money to go out and eat. So I can't really say that I'm that familiar with that many restaurants, because I just didn't go out to eat that much.

Mitch Guerra

I think Boston Rob is extremely overrated. He played four times with a bunch of scrubs. Of course he was gonna win! It's like, "Listen, Jeff. We know that he's a great storyteller." But whenever you put them head to head with Russell Hantz, who everyone hated already, it just made him look that much better. And, yes, he did an awesome job out there. I don't know how he was able to stay that long in the game, and nobody even tried to make a move. But I don't think he's one of the best to ever play, because he's been given so many opportunities. It's like…eh.

Saiounia "Sai" Hughley

Malcolm was a little overrated. I hate that I said that. Because he was good at challenges. But what else did you bring to the table? I can't think of a single thing that Malcolm said, "Hmm, that was really insightful?"

You're not a fan of the Three Amigos idol play?
No! [Laughs.] I think it was actually pretty basic. Aside from the fact that he was hot and he was fit, I just cannot remember a single thing he did.

Shauhin Davari

I know that a lot of people, especially right now, because it's happened so often since Season 35, they hate firemaking. I love firemaking. We just need to do it more. The fact that it's only once doesn't make any sense. Two people have to compete in fire when everybody should learn how to make fire? Huh? We need to do it more. You got to earn everything. That's the thing. You got to earn everything. Cool. That first juror spot is like, "Oh, you just get to be the first juror because you were in the group that went second." No man, those two people that got voted out during that double Tribal, they sit and make fire. And the person who wins, they get to sit on the jury. They get to be the mayor of Ponderosa. Okay, cool.

Now we're using fire more throughout. Because if fire is your life, and the only way that fire as your life is, if you win Final Four, it's not enough. We need more. Give us more fire. I didn't practice every single day for how many weeks, just on the off-chance that I end up in the fourth and third spot where I have to. No man, let's do this more! Make it part of a challenge. Make it the opening challenge too. Three times.

Yeah, firemaking was the first individual Immunity Challenge in Survivor: Gabon.
Exactly! And I think it would also be cool if it was like–I know this is taking it way, way crazy. But if it was like, "Hey, the firemaking thing, it's not at Tribal. Ready, go! Go get it. And first person who makes fire out here, good luck, you win." That I'm into now. We're making firemaking a thing. And I think it'd be a cool story to tell too. You're walking around the jungle with them, and they're trying to figure it out. And it's like, "Oh man, I expect to just have flint and whatever." It's like, "Nah, man! This might take a day, but good luck."

Stephanie Berger

I mean, I think all advantages at this point are disadvantages.

Interesting. So if you see a Beware Advantage, you're not clicking "Add to Cart"?
No, not an "Add to Cart." No, not for me. Look, I think Bewares are super fun to watch on television. I loved seeing Tiffany scramble. I loved seeing Hunter with his little hands underneath the stairs trying to pull that thing out from underneath. Those are memorable, exciting television moments. Neither of those people won. And I think there is pretty good data. And I did a lot of "Billy Beane-ing" on the side. I have a good friend of mine who helped me put together a lot of analysis. We did a lot of Survivor sabermetrics. And we looked at a bunch of different questions. Is it better or worse to have a final jury that is full of your old tribe mates or not? We did a Monte Carlo analysis of how and when you should play your Shot in the Dark or not. I really looked at some of these data points.

Maybe my medium take is Shot in the Dark actually has a slightly higher good guy percentage to me, and idols have a slightly worse good guy percentage to me. They're less useful. Whereas a Shot in the Dark actually could, in the right scenario, when there's a lot of players in the game, and you're relatively confident their votes coming at you, not a bad idea to use. Advantages are a disadvantage, and I'm really not interested in them.

And if you look at the winners in the last six seasons–and it's unfortunate I don't have a fortune cookie that tells me what happened in Season 47, but I know it's already happened. But if you look at the winners, there were only two with idols: Maryanne, and Dee had a shared idol. And neither of them played them in conventional ways. Maryanne, I guess, had technically two idols. She plays the one with Drea, and then she plays her idol at final [Tribal Council]. I don't know. I think the data suggests it's not always gonna behoove you. But boy, is a good TV. Don't tell anyone in production that I'm not interested. Because they're gonna litter my walk with them. They're gonna be like, "What about that coconut, Steph? Hey, have you checked this tree also?" Literally, my joke is that I'm gonna say all this stuff in pregame, and then I know I'm gonna do different shit. I'm gonna get out there and be like, "But I wanna look for one! Everybody else has one."

Thomas Krottinger

That the "Advantage-Palooza isn't a bad thing." I feel like people are really hung up on old school, new school, new era, and all the differences. And I think the literal point of Survivor is to be adaptable and figure it out. And if there are ten Advantages in the game, I think that's part of it. I mean, do I think it's a little crazy when you see someone's name, it's like, all the things? Yes, but I do feel like you have to try things out in this game to see what works and what doesn't. And I think that if you have captivating, interesting people playing the game, that's really all that matters, no matter what gets into the nooks and crannies of the game. So I'm a person who I don't think the advantages are bad. Let's just see what happens. Watch I'm like Cirie in Game Changers, and I'm the only person without one, and go home. I'll be like, "I have a new opinion." [Laughs.]

Next, check out our interview with Survivor 47 winner Rachel LaMont.