Survivor 28 Cagayan Brains vs Beauty vs Brawn PreShow Blog Featuring Spencer from Big Brother 15

Serendipitously, I was leaving on a road trip to Louisiana with my ex/boyfriend, (long, complicated story), just a couple of days after the official CBS release and since I’ve got moxie, I decided to tweak the route so that we could go through Conway, Arkansas, home of Big Brother 15 2^nd runner-up, Spencer Clawson. After we got settled into our hotel room on Friday night, I sent Spencer a Tweet to see if he was interested in talking with me for a bit about the new season of Survivor and to my delighted surprise, he was!

On Saturday, I woke up feeling very excited, but slightly nervous about meeting my first Big Brother houseguest. I’m not really a good interviewer; I am much more comfortable with the flow of a natural conversation and I wanted to talk to the real Spencer, not the “coached by CBS on how to talk to the media” Spencer that walked off the CBS lot after the show ended. I also wanted to film it, but once we walked into his house (yes, his house), I abandoned that idea – it just didn’t feel right. Most of our chat would have been off the record anyway and my camera batteries wouldn’t have lasted the five hours I spent nerding out about Big Brother and Survivor with Spencer and Marilyn. Yup! Marilyn was home! And, yup! Five hours…

So, as I said, most of the conversation with Spencer will remain off the record, but here’s what he has to say about the new season of Survivor.

Firstly, Spencer is predicting a “Big Bang Theory” situation on the island after the tribes are either switched up or merged. He thinks one of the beauties will align/showmance with one of the brains despite all of the brawn on the island. I agree! Nerds are cool now, maybe not the nerds still in Jr. High and High School, but teenagers don’t usually have a firm grasp on reality so their opinions are questionable at best because of the change in perceptions that happen in your twenties. (Any teenagers reading this blog that are offended by that comment are probably the teenagers I’m talking about…)

Secondly, Spencer thinks a military-themed season of Survivor would be far more interesting than what they are doing with Brains vs. Beauty vs. Brawn. I agree again! Aren’t brains, beauty and brawn how people group up anyway on Survivor (and Big Brother)? YES! It’s about as original as separating tribes according to how old they are, but after hearing Spencer’s prediction about brains attracting a beauty, I’m a little more excited about the new season. I still think that the military theme is something that the producers should think about and I would also love to see some more Big Brother players. Spencer is down for a trip to the island, by the way, and if he could choose former players to play and align with, he would choose Denise, Malcolm and Penner; Penner and Spencer would mesh very well too, in my opinion.

Spencer and Marilyn also said that they would love to do The Amazing Race together; after meeting them both, I think that CBS should consider it and I’ll tell you why in a bit, but first…

Mostly, Spencer and I talked about BB15. It wasn’t even my intention to talk about BB15 a lot, or about all of the nasty attention that Spencer has gotten, or any of the controversial comments made in the house, but that’s what happened. It is also the reason most of the five hours I spent at his house is off the record. The whole afternoon had a “chilling out with friends” vibe and even before I arrived, I had a lot of respect for Spencer. He’s a really great guy and Marilyn is an equally great gal. My ex/boyfriend and I, even though he’s not into reality TV like I am, had an awesome time hanging out with them.

And I got to see all the awesome BB memorabilia that Spencer was allowed to keep! There was so much stuff! A plastic tub full! I held Spencer’s key, the “Super Ian” crab, Spencer’s OTEV “letter”… I got to wear his chicken suit hat… I so was overwhelmed by all the stuff that I couldn’t focus on taking pictures! Speaking of pictures…

This is proof that the photo I have is actually signed by Spencer. Those are Marilyn hands trying to get that stuff out of the picture.
Too late! He was happy to pose again, though.

Now it’s time to wrap this up! I’m back in Conway on my way home and I’ve heard that CBS will be making a big announcement tomorrow/today. Cast info maybe? I’ve also heard that the cast will be all new players, which is refreshing after several
seasons of having mixed new and returning players.

Oh yeah, my “but first…” I think Spencer deserves another shot at charming America and with Marilyn by his side during an Amazing Race, he could win over some of the haters. Marilyn would be to Spencer what Caleb could have been for Colton – a loved one to offer a new perspective on someone with a negative stigma attached to them. Spencer is also talking with McCrae about doing a podcast for Big Brother Canada 2 and Big Brother 16. If you’d love to see Spencer and McCrae podcasting Big Brother,
you should let them know on Twitter! You can follow Spencer @SpencerBClawson and McCrae @mccraechum.

For now, this blogger is a sleepy girl and she can’t wait to curl up in a hotel bed to watch television she can’t watch at home (because she doesn’t have cable/dish) until she drifts off to dreamland.

Thanks again, Spencer and Marilyn, for inviting William and I into your home. We want to be invited to the wedding! 😉 Seriously, Spencer, put a ring on it!