Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration and Harris campaign. Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Eli | Email Lauren The look on his face: shock, annoyance, betrayal and … maybe a bit of relief? JON LOVETT was the first person voted out of "Survivor" 47 on Wednesday night, in a dramatic cap to the podcast host’s first (and final) episode on the long-running reality tv show. The BARACK OBAMA alum gave up the cushy comforts of his Los Angeles podcast studio to try his hand at a much more ruthless form of campaigning: Can he survive 26 days of eating only a bit of rice, charming his tribe into forming alliances and avoiding getting thrown off the island? He proved that he could do it in Democratic politics more than a decade ago. But those political chops, apparently, did not transfer to a reality-TV tribe of Gen Zers. It doesn’t take a "Survivor" genius to know that you don’t want to be the first contestant to get the boot. But we didn’t watch 1,000 seasons of this show to let this moment slip by without a thorough analysis. The 42-year-old “Pod Save America” host watched as "Survivor"’s JEFF PROBST snuffed his torch at the end of Wednesday’s episode. “Burned bright and fast,” Lovett said with his back turned to the tribe of six strangers who showed no mercy in eliminating their quirky tribemate. Lovett’s exit was a shock to the people who fall into the middle of the political junkie/"Survivor" fan Venn diagram. Just yesterday afternoon, he joined a CBS affiliate in Indianapolis where he was asked about the toughest part of being on the Fiji island: “The endurance part of it … The survival part is obviously challenging.” Well … we’ll let last night’s outcome speak for itself. Lovett’s tribe came out of the gates strong, winning their first award challenge and in turn, receiving flint — a "Survivor" essential because, ya know… fire — and a large pot for cooking (God, they’ve gone so soft from the good ol’ days of feasting on literally nothing). Vibes were through the roof. Things were looking up for our friendly neighborhood podcaster. But Lovett soon found himself deserted on an island within an island as the younger tribe members quickly formed alliances. Youth was once Lovett’s edge as the wunderkind White House speechwriter in the Obama years. Suddenly facing middle age, as a reality TV contestant, it was his downfall. After one of the 20-somethings asked Lovett if he knew what “Vine” was, he knew he had to nix his original strategy. “Looking at my tribe, I’m not getting to know a group of people. I’m getting to know a group of young people,” Lovett confessed to the camera, his crow’s feet crinkling for effect. “There’s so much back-in-my-day stuff coming out of my mouth. But being a speechwriter, I learned that you need to be able to put yourself in other people’s shoes.” So, Lovett looked for ways to relate. “I’m addicted to TikTok,” he told the group. It didn’t land. Another Gen Z contestant shot back: “All the Boomers are like, ‘We got to ban TikTok.’” Lovett looked uncomfortable. Any elder millennial who has spent time with a pack of Gen Zers can attest to how isolating of an experience it can be. Lovett was lonely. And desperate. So when an AI research assistant named ANDY RUEDA appeared open to making an alliance, Lovett perhaps was too willing to overlook the glaring warning signs of this newfound friendship. Rueda quickly became jealous over Lovett’s coconut-cracking ability (he was genuinely really skilled at this). “When I’m cracking my coconut, people aren’t even watching me,” Rueda said in a confessional. “Jon, he cracks a coconut, and there’s cheers from everyone else at camp.” But directly after Lovett’s tribe lost a challenge, forcing the group to kick someone out, Rueda came clean. Yes, Lovett was his “best friend.” But this is “Survivor.” Rueda was not here to make friends. “I was going to throw him under the bus,” he said, as Lovett stood to his side looking shocked and betrayed. Lovett was left paranoid (and missing L.A.). That paranoia got the better of him. The obvious move here for anyone with "Survivor" 101 skills would have been to take advantage of Rueda’s guilty conscience. Lovett could have taken the spotlight off himself by baiting Rueda into putting someone else’s name on the table. But Lovett wanted to make a splash. “If I’m going to be on this show for one episode, one glorious and perfect episode, I’d rather go out swinging and making some kind of a move rather than just hoping for the best,” he said. He put together a last-ditch plan to save himself, but it fizzled quickly and the tribe was left with a choice: Keep Jon, the more stable and level-headed tribemate, or Andy, the stronger player challenge-wise. Unanimously, the tribe went for strength, with every piece of parchment paper reading “John” (Spell it right, people!). Lovett, as well as the other Pod bros, did not respond for comment on this story. Our expert read: The first torch snuff is a difficult image to overcome. He may never recover from this. On Thursday morning, he posted on X, “stop the steal.” Frankly, it’s an embarrassment he couldn’t have gotten to at least the second round (which, to grandstand a bit, we predicted he would in May.) Even Probst was shocked! “My first impressions were what you might expect. I wrote, ‘He’s amazing. Very compelling. Incredible storyteller. He will be great. Yes, he should be on the show,’” Probst said on the “On Fire with Jeff Probst” podcast following the show. “And then as we continued to talk more in future conversations, I wrote, ‘He does overthink things. This could cause decision-making issues.’ And then after another interview, I wrote, ‘He should and could go very deep, he’s so smart. What would stop him?’” MESSAGE US — Are you JEFF PROBST? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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