Obama-Pod Bro Headed to Reality TV
Former Obama speechwriter turned political podcaster will appear on the still-dominating Survivor this fall.
Viewers who in turned in to watch the finale of CBS’s Survivor 46 were in for a major surprise when many recognized Jon Lovett during a teaser of Survivor 47, and social media was set ablaze like a Final Four Fire-Making Challenge.
Lovett served as a speechwriter in the White House during President Barrack Obama’s first term. Before the 2012 election, he relocated to California to kick of his Hollywood dream and created the short lived comedy 1600 Penn and consulted on The Newsroom. In 2016, Lovett joined fellow administration alums Jon Favreau, Dan Pfeiffer, and Tommy Vietor to launch Crooked Media, a politically progressive and activist media company that has gained a massive following on the left.
Now, he’ll appear as a contestant as a stunt-casting surprise, which has a very mixed history on the show. As Lovett said in the preview, “"I have no outdoor skills. What am I doing here? I went camping as a cub scout. I threw up and went home!"
As a longtime Survivor fan, I’m curious to see how this plays out.
Survivor has been airing since 2000 and is incredibly still dominating the ratings for CBS. The iconic show finishes its 46th season as the #1 entertainment show among viewers in the most important demographics for advertisers (adults 18-34, A18-49 and A25-54), marking the first time it has won all three demos in a season since its second season in 2000-2001. Despite negative online discourse on how recent cultural trends and the host’s odd changes have ruined the game, Survivor is also the #1 reality show on Paramount+, proving the age old adage that Twitter is not real life.