There was an instant sense of shock, excitement, and confusion for Pod Save America fans when the trailer for the upcoming 47th season of Survivor dropped in May.
Among the contestants was that podcast’s co-host, former Obama speechwriter Jon Lovett, sitting in the middle of the Fiji jungle wearing a colorful Survivor headband across his forehead. “I have no outdoor skills. What am I doing here?” Lovett asks in the clip. “I went camping as a Cub Scout—I threw up and went home.”
In this week’s episode of The Last Laugh podcast, Lovett explains that he was one of the many people who “rediscovered” Survivor during the pandemic, binging season after season at home and wondering what it would be like to compete himself. On a lark, he submitted a self-taped audition video and got accepted. Before long, he was secretly flying across the world to join the Season 47 cast, while his podcast listeners thought he was merely on some sort of extended vacation.
