00:00we are the get up crew is on romero pebbles melissa and leroy and we got a guest in studio
00:06this morning i'm actually really excited about this ethan zahn now if you don't know who ethan
00:10is first off he's a local to the boston area um but he is a winner of survivor the huge
00:19show that
00:19is now celebrating its 50th season insane which i can't believe uh but it was funny because off
00:26here he was like well i won survivor was it africa africa but you lost a bunch of other shows
00:33you
00:33were on i'm like don't lead with that lead with the fact that you won survivor africa but you're
00:38actually in studio because you're there's a huge event tonight going on and you can maybe tell us
00:42more about that sure yeah we have a huge event going on survivor the show has had a revival
00:49and uh everyone's loving the show and so tonight at game on in boston we're having a survivor 50
00:56watch party i'm working with this guy named wendell holland who also won a season of survivor
01:01and he travels from city to city hosting survivor 50 watch parties and tonight it's in boston not only
01:06that we're bringing in uh underground games and what they did is they literally took the challenges
01:12you see us play on survivor they recreated them at the same scale and they're bringing them to the
01:17bar tonight so you can try to play these challenges that we actually played out there on the island you
01:21prizes it's gonna be a blast tonight you were on one of the you the season that you won that
01:26was
01:26the third season exactly are you surprised that it's lasted this long i am surprised that it's
01:32lasted this long you know we are i played season three season eight and season 40 and now we're on
01:38season 50 right that's amazing 2001 was the year when i was on and it's i mean i love the
01:46fact that
01:46the show is still here because like twice a year when it premieres i'm relevant right you know people
01:51want to talk to me like you guys but it's unbelievable the castings and fantastic you know the show just
01:57keeps innovating and it's super exciting so if you haven't tuned in in a long time this is the season
02:02to do it because it's all returning players so you see some characters from like when you were probably
02:06old school days to like new school days and you'll you'll have fun watching it i love that we're
02:11talking to ethan zahn uh winner of survivor africa yeah being on the show uh i imagine that there's
02:17a switch that is turned on a survivor switch when the show is over how long does it take to
02:23turn that
02:24off and when you're around average everyday people who haven't competed and they need to or should be
02:30doing something but they're kind of like lazy about it or not as enthusiastic do you judge them
02:36because you've been on survivor well you know when you're on survivor like that is your life
02:42every single thing you do out there it has a consequence and so like yeah you do have to flip
02:49that switch because there are no rules on survivor like you know your moral compass goes out the
02:53window so whatever you need to do to win is okay and it just depends how you want to play
02:58as a human
02:59being but it's a game that touches every part of you mental physical social spiritual environmental
03:03even financial if you win the million bucks and so when you come back from the show yeah you are
03:08your mind is warped you know you have trust issues food insecurity you know like i don't let your mom
03:15sleeping on the floor it's just it's wild well besides being a survivor the show winner you're also a
03:21cancer survivor um so survivor of life um tell us a little bit about how you approached the game
03:29after that like how did that experience change you yeah you know well i played in uh 2002 2004 and
03:36i
03:36was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer in 2009 and you know it was obviously the one
03:42everyone's like what was harder survivor or cancer well one you're playing for your life
03:46one you're playing for a million bucks right but the fact that i was out there on the island and
03:50i
03:50pushed my body to the absolute limit like it's rare you get the opportunity to see how far you can
03:56push your body so then when that diagnosis came around i was like okay i know the power you know
04:01the power of the body and the mind and the spirit and to help me get through the most challenging
04:04moments because of my time on survivor wow that's amazing you mentioned off air we were talking about
04:09how survivor the series now is a lot different than it was when it first debuted and i'm like are
04:15you got to be judging people because i feel like it's i don't want to say it's not as hard
04:18it's
04:19still hard but there were comparisons like in the beginning you did a lot more challenges and now
04:24it's not as challenge based per se yeah i mean i think early days the show i never say it's
04:31better
04:31or worse it's just different you know earlier days it was more focused on survival and challenges
04:36and your human internet actions now it's a little bit more focused on strategy um and gameplay and
04:42there's a lot of like additional ways to get through the game you know there's idols there's
04:46clues there's advantages disadvantages there's all this stuff going on which is fun and exciting
04:50it's just different um but uh it's always entertaining and the cast is fantastic and one
04:57of the best parts about i'm just going to add one extra thing about tonight and you know gets back
05:01to
05:01the cancer thing like fitness is a huge part of me i think exercise is is obviously incredibly
05:06important for anyone boston marathon week this week you know it's the anniversary of the bombings
05:11today that's right i actually ran in that boston marathon i pulled off the course at mile 25
05:15yes 25 at mile 25 yeah and then i came oh my god yeah and so tonight and before the
05:23watch party
05:23came on we're hosting the first ever reality run club so turn fandom into philanthropy so if there's
05:29anyone out there that wants to walk jog run 2.6 miles in the fenway area with your favorite reality
05:36stars me wendell jeremy aubry charlie you know everyone's gonna be out there we're all gonna be
05:42running and i may or may not be hiding idols along the course if you find them puma is going
05:47to donate
05:47some uh fun prizes if you find an idol on the course get out of here so you can still
05:51sign up
05:51it's a donation to cancer charity um tonight it's a 60 donation come run with us you get a free
05:57entry
05:57into the watch party you get puma gear you get a buff it's going to be fantastic so much going
06:02on this
06:02is so exciting ethan zahn winner of survivor africa the 50 season 50 watch party tonight going down
06:09at game on please join ethan and the rest of the crew that are going to be down there there's
06:15so
06:15much going on and a lot of it for charity and that's huge so if you guys want to go
06:19make sure
06:19you get there early and uh be able to celebrate with everybody tonight at game on ethan zahn winner
06:25of survivor africa lexington native thank you so much for coming in we appreciate you thank you so
06:30for having me wonderful thank you that was fun yeah appreciate that yeah 20 you are 25 mile 25
06:40yeah so yeah i got pulled out so this we had more time i ran it it was like my
06:45big thing post-cancer
06:46it was 2013 i was finished treatment in 12 like i'm going to run the boston marathon ran it the
06:51bombs
06:51went off um they pulled me off the course and then i returned in 2022 to like at the 10
06:56-year
06:56university of cancer to finish it properly which i did um and uh and then yeah so i'm always a
07:03big
07:03big exercise guy yeah running was my my freedom wait was it even before you did the show were you
07:08as fitness a former professional soccer player so i've always been uh you know a fitness guy um
07:15yeah so that that was what i was doing before survivor is playing soccer nice yeah
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