Over the hump and safely into a big Thursday. One week, boys and girls. This is it. You’ve been warned. One week from today, we’ll be gearing up to piss off our liberal aunts at the Thanksgiving dinner table. A tradition unlike any other.
She’ll try to sound smart about tariffs. You’ll tell her how secure our border is. She’ll call him Hitler. You’ll drunkingly hold your hand up and call it a Nazi salute to show her how silly she sounds. She’ll be furious. The dinner will be ruined.
Perfection. Can’t wait!
Welcome to a Thursday Nightcaps – the one where Landry Kiffin throws a wet towel on the Lane-to-UF rumors by posting some Oxford thirst.
What else? I’ve got Paige Spiranac going completely radio silent, Stephen A. crying about Drake Maye, and does ANYONE here still watch Survivor? Yes, THAT Survivor. It’s still on. I need to know. I trust you guys. Let’s dig in.
Grab you a tiki torch with Jeff Probst (yep, he’s still there, too) and settle in for a Thursday ‘Cap!
Nobody still watches Survivor, right?
Did you know Survivor was not only still on, but in the middle of season 49?
Season 49!!!!
How is that even possible? I remember watching Survivor back when it first burst onto the scene in 2000. That’s right. Two thousand. I was 7.
I watched it on my parents’ giant ass TV in the living room – you know the one I’m talking about, with the screen that would bend if you poked it – and was hooked. All of America was hooked. It was appointment viewing every week.
I have NO idea who’s on this show in 2025, but this is the absolute DAWG I grew up watching:
Rupert! Y’all remember Rupert? My God. What a throwback. Here’s a fun fact: Rupert ran for governor in Indiana in 2012. He won the Libertarian nomination (no surprise there) and eventually lost to …
Mike Pence!
Amazing.
Anyway, it’s a weird way to start class, but ratings are apparently not doing great, which makes sense given it’s the 49th season. Tough to keep ratings strong for 25 years, and 49 seasons.
Season one averaged nearly 30 million viewers (!!!). Last season was actually still decent at around 8 million. Honestly, that’s not awful given the state of TV nowadays.
Again, it’s an odd way to start class, but I was stunned when I read the headline – mainly because I didn’t know Survivor was still a thing. I guess, come to think of it, Jim Nantz usually reads a promo for it every Sunday (except on the West Coast), but I also have to put any Jim/Tony broadcast on mute, so it makes sense that I missed it.
OK, moving on …
Paige Spiranac has vanished
That’s the last post from Pageviews on any of her social media accounts. It’s from Nov. 8. That’s nearly two weeks ago. Not great.
Obviously, it all stems from some pretty damning cheating footage from the Internet Invitational last week. I wrote about it on Saturday. It blew up. People were PISSED at Paige.
Here’s the footage:
Don’t love how this situation is playing out. Where do our golfers in class stand on this? From what I gather, there are two schools of thought right now:
1) Paige knew about it and only cried when she got caught.
Or 2) Paige is a FRAUD if she truly didn’t know the rule.
Two pretty bad options. Neither door is great here, which is why, I imagine, she’s stayed radio silent for the better part of two weeks now. It’s a shame, too, because her calendar usually drops this time of year, and if we miss out on the 2026 Paige Spiranac calendar, I will raise hell.
Personally, I fall into the “I don’t think she knew” camp. But, that’s also coming from me, and I think most golf rules are stupid. I ain’t a purist. I’m a ‘No Golf Before 11 Because I Need To Be Drinking During My Round’ guy.
It doesn’t look great, and I get it. But, it was also just a silly tournament created purely to generate #content. This ain’t Augusta.
So, to tie this all up, I say back off, so Paige can get back to Instagram in time for the holiday season!
Landry, Lane & Stephen A.
Yeah, we need Paige back PRONTO. This is a big time of year for the #influencers, and you animals have scared her off. Not on my watch. We stand with Paige in this class!
OK, let’s rapid-fire this Thursday class into a big Thursday night of Josh Allen vs. Davis Mills! First up?
Both of those professional athletes with full-time jobs, wives and kids and responsibilities better know who, what, when and WHERE First Take is airing tomorrow morning!
Amazing. So many things going on here.
1. First Take checking the box and doing the show from Bethune-Cookman’s gymnasium. So on-brand it hurts. I used to cover Bethune in a past life. A lot of good memories in that gym. Stephen A., insufferable Ryan Clark and Cam Newton pretending they care about Bethune-Cookman is hilarious.
2. Stephen A. Smith really does think the world revolves around him, doesn’t he? We see these videos all the time from NBA games, and I’ve always thought it was shtick …
… it’s apparently not shtick. This dummy really thinks he’s God’s gift to earth. It’s amazing. The lack of self awareness is incredible, even for him.
3. I’m a Dolphins fan, so this is admittedly biased, but I do think the Patriots have benefited from an all-time bad schedule. Nobody is talking about it, but I’ve seen it all season. It’s unfathomably bad:
4. That being said, Drake Maye is, unfortunately, very good. It makes me sad, for obvious reasons. Also, it makes me sad that I just had to defend him. I need a cigarette.
Next? Let’s end the day with our daily #LaneKiffinUpdate:
So, all week it’s been Florida. Now, he’s apparently going to LSU. I’m still in the Ole Miss camp. He ain’t leaving.
And if he does, by the way, it should in no way, shape or form impact Ole Miss’s college football playoff seeding. That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. It’s one thing to dock a team (FSU) because their starting QB got his leg shattered. I can at least see the reasoning there.
But Lane ain’t throwing passes. Or scoring touchdowns. Or making tackles. Come on. Let’s not make the CFB Playoff any more embarrassing than it’s already become.
And that’s my Ted Talk for today!
Landry Kiffin, thoughts? You’re taking us home today!
See you tomorrow.
OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. (roughly, we’re not robots).
You still watch Survivor? Email me at Zach.Dean@OutKick.com.
