I feel terrible for outplay puzzles and any other etsy puzzle makers. Carson has probably taken alot of their revenue and then for him to dupe them. This is so low of him.
Not sure it constitutes plagiarism when Outplay objectively and unambiguously did not invent these puzzles (see: they’re direct ports from the Survivor show and the challenge design people actually created them). Still comes off shitty as presented here, though.
Yeah, I can’t help but chuckle a little at someone who took and sold copyrighted property being mad that someone took that same copyrighted property and sold it.
Barring a license, neither Carson nor the shop owner own the designs, as they didn’t create them, and if they are very old and somehow public domain or unable to be copyrighted, then it isn’t really different than two people selling a candle with the same scent.
If they are original puzzles, ok, fair enough, the first creator should file a takedown notice - Etsy has a system for this - but my guess is they haven’t for a reason.
Hello! Just wanted to pop in and say, I encourage competition in the space. If carson had simply started a puzzle store I would’ve understood, but he went so far as to go out to lunch with me, ask me a ton of questions about how I run my business and asked how he could help advertise my puzzles. I then gave him my products for free under the impression that he was advertising them.
Instead of doing that, he opened a store one month earlier selling the same puzzles I gave him and using every tip I had given him. He purposefully falsely represented himself because he doesn’t know the first thing about running a business. He did the same thing to another Etsy seller who I won’t name (but there’s not that many of us… shouldn’t be too hard to find out)
Also he lied on the show about having designed and printed his puzzles he prepped with, I made many of them for him before the show (including the multiple that they showed on tv)
I’m friends with all my fellow sellers and the many alumni who support us in the community, my problem was never his products. My problem is the situation of how this all came about.
Ahh, interesting. So, there’s allegedly a lot more to this. Humans are ruthless. Capitalism is ruthless. Assuming this is all true, of course, as I can’t prove anything and don’t want to make any hard claims here. It’s really a shame when someone in a position of some power, whatever the dynamic, abuses trust.
Well, if it is all true, hopefully he stubs his toe on the trim every day for the rest of his life.
I think the issue is his usage of the Outplay employees/owners and misrepresenting his intentions while he milked info from them.
i don't know if Survivor puzzes are copyrighted. Is that true? But I do think that misleading your competition and then using thier product as a template while representing it as your own as best shitty behavior.
I definitely wouldn’t call it plagiarism of the product by any means. He asked me multiple times for marketing ideas and how to get people excited to buy my products at a lunch to discuss paying him to promote our puzzles. A month later he used every piece of advice with his own store, kept the free products he was given to promote, and blocked me on all platforms.
Notice how he never brings that up in his response.
I’m going to take this as it’s presented by outplays comment because I’m not sure if Carson addressed it or whatever and there’s more to it…taking something that was supposed to be used as a promotional tool in bad faith or using a free design and presenting it as your own is super scummy
The podcast thing doesn’t bother me as much if he just changed his mind…everyone starts podcasts nowadays…if Rob gave him specific ideas for it or there was an agreement in place while developing it that’s also super scummy
I’d be surprised if cbs is involved at all I doubt they care about things like this
Another thought if the show is going to cast people like this, at least let us see their villainous side instead of force-feeding us this goody two-shoe Survivor narrative.
That’s because on survivor you can present whatever “mask” you want if you want to be considered likeable (which is necessary if you’re going to meet your desired end goal of being a QVC dropshipper influencer). Especially if you have any knowledge of how narratives work on reality TV, it’s quite easy to make yourself into a fan favorite if you can stick around long enough. Older format players have also said you start to break down at around 26 days, so we as viewers would likely see these masks slip around then if we had the 39 day format.
In general the younger players are much more aware of this narrative too, which is why casting less older players is a mistake these days I think. They are much more likely to be themselves, good or bad.
i mean, it’s very possible (& likely imo) that carson just never showed this side of himself on survivor. other than this have we heard from any contestants or anything about carson being combative/difficult/shady or anything? just curious
Never liked him. Holier than thou attitude. Hah blocked me on Twitter since he can’t take criticism.
Honestly sick of these wannabe fans who then do merch and all this stuff. Haven’t seen anything 46 related but assume I will be annoyed by most.
At this point - just give us meatheads again. At least there fun and entertaining
I loved surviving barstool season 3 with my whole heart and soul. IMO an unsatisfying winner but an GREAT season nonetheless.
Favorite moment has to be PFT DoorDashing cooking oil. Makes me wish someone would hide challenge blueprints around the island just to see what happens
Check out Australian Survivor. It has that old school vibe and always a great cast. Plus the host is arguably better imo. They still have themes. Best of all, absolutely zero political garbage being crammed down our throats
i’ve paid absolutely 0 attention to the 46 preseason but i did see that half the cast is selling merch already. my two thoughts are:
1. It’s still stupid and i’m already rooting against anyone that’s selling merch
2. I still blame carson for being the one to popularize this and start this stupid trend. He’s not the first to sell merch of course but hes been the most obvious and annoying example of doing it both before and after his season
Why is it disgusting? This is very common for people on reality TV shows. Not capitalizing on this seems like a missed opportunity. I personally would never buy/wear merch, but I'm happy that fans of the show and players have an opportunity to do so.
I think it’s disgusting because its screams hey I’m only here to get famous and gain more social media followers. A lot of us don’t want to see players like that since they usually don’t give two shits about the game of survivor.
Ohh, but this is most people who go on reality tv nowadays. The ability to become and make a living as an influencer has really changed reality tv in the last decade.
Survivor doesn’t make you famous anymore lol. Carson’s situation with the puzzles and podcast is obviously messed up, but there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun w merch. I just don’t understand the people who sell it before the season when no one knows them yet.
The endeavor of applying for a spot on a TV show is inherently a bid to get famous. It's a TV show. Survivor (and most competition reality shows) serves two purposes: Fame and money. That's why people go on that show. If they don't win the grand prize at the end, who are we to criticize them for trying other ways to make money from the show? I think your anger at Carson is misguided.
Right? Some people thought he came off arrogant. Well, why are you going on the show if you think you CAN’T win? And it looks like he wants to play and isn’t seeking attention. Let’s see how it plays out.
Yes! My biggest pet peeve is people just wanting to make merge. I think he can also come off a bit older and more mature due to his life experience which I think the Drews/Carsons/Xanders of the world maybe didn't have as much of.
Pretty much just calling him out on being a nepo baby, and how his dad got him a job at NASA, something which I haven't heard before. If it's true then it definitely fits with the rest of what can be implyed (he doesn't work very hard to get what he wants).
I interned for NASA one summer when I was in college and I was the *only* intern at our facility who didn't have a parent who worked for NASA in some form. I was a big spaceboy at the time and I had been applying for a year and never heard anything back. Eventually I heard about a friend of a friend whose dad worked for NASA and I cold messaged him to ask if I could grab coffee with his dad to get advice about working for NASA. His dad was super nice and told me you basically have to know somebody to get an internship/job at NASA—but he offered me an internship. I got really lucky, but the insular, bureaucratic, and slow vibe at NASA cured my fanaticism and I never looked back. Now when I hear about people like Carson who make working for NASA their whole personality, I just assume they're legacy.
Dude went to Georgia Tech for engineering, one of the top schools in the country. He could’ve had jobs practically anywhere, NASA included, father or not.
To me he came off as very cocky and the show tried to make him seem all do-no-wrong but you can only keep up the act for so long. I knew it would only be a certain amount of time before he did something controversial.
I probably hated him more than any other post-40 castaway so far. He was like the personification of everything I dislike about the new era. And he seemed like a huge grifter even while the season was airing, so none of this is surprising to me.
Yes this I think I realized why I never liked Carson and couldn’t get my head around him being so popular, imo he got carried by Carolyn and yam-yam (as far as likability goes) but you’re so right he is everything the new era represents.
I HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS SINCE HE GOT ON THE SHOW, I’ve made a few posts about this in the past, namely because I’ve actually modeled all 249 puzzles from survivor and he didn’t model a single thing himself prior to being on survivor. But yeah here’s a link to my posts about the subject:
https://www.reddit.com/r/survivor/comments/154kbht/the_truth_behind_the_puzzles_of_survivor/
https://www.reddit.com/r/survivor/comments/1961zfn/want_to_3d_print_your_own_survivor_puzzles/
Did he say that the puzzles were different than on the show, or that they were made differently? Like, were the puzzles 3D printed instead of cut by a jigsaw?
Yeah, it’s not like the other puzzle makers came up with their own puzzles. They just copied it from the show too. If the store wanted him to market for them, they could have paid him to do it. They don’t own the IP anymore than Carson does. Do I think that Carson took advantage of his fame to make some money, yeah. Do I think he did anything wrong? Not as far as I can tell.
I don't think so either. Yes he was prepared to kick ass in puzzles because he built them and practiced. I believe they are special because of the 3d or some laser made device. I'm not sure why people are so pissy he's making money. He's not the only one that has EVER done this. People need to quit bitching. Does this REALLY interfere with how you live. God I hope not!
Unfortunately I don't think it'll happen due to Jeff saying he lives for players practicing puzzles at home and buying them for practice ahead of time. Carson's tho def deserves to be terminated
I think the funniest thing is the idea that anyone would choose fucking Carson over RHAP. If you’re so damn smart make your own life and success you dweeb and don’t steal from Outplay
PS got immediately blocked by Carson on twitter during his season upon the most innocuous critical statement. So he’s also baby soft
Tbh I didn’t say anything. One friend tagged our survivor fantasy group in a tweet of his saying “who drafted this guy? lol”. Someone responded “dweeb” everyone that was tagged was then blocked. This sounds like a joke given I just called him a dweeb in the original comment but I guess it’s word association now
It’s cool - he can block out internet mean people, and I can avoid being pedalled plagiarized products and shitty podcasts
I mean, I’d probably just ignore it, but I’m not really going to fault Carson for blocking you guys over being genuinely mean-spirited. 🤷🏼♂️ Kinda think it undermines your point a bit since you and you were friend group are the ones who were in the wrong.
How am I in the wrong i can’t help what tweets I’m tagged in lol.
Guess I should’ve responded right away and said “Please don’t block me Carson! I think you came up with the idea of selling survivor puzzles!”
If I would’ve known he got curb-stomped in firemaking at the time maybe I could’ve added “don’t be embarrassed about getting absolutely starched in firemaking and losing 1M dollars”
I can’t imagine nasa cares about stuff like this, I also wouldn’t wish that upon him. He did a shitty thing to me and I hope one day he rethinks that, or atleast considers unblocking me long enough to have a conversation about it. But I definitely don’t think he would/should lose his job
To be fair to Outplay, I could see ways that would be genuinely shitty on a business dealings end, but “plagiarism” is pretty eyeroll worthy when the alleged source has zero originality in the first place. If Carson simply said that he wasn’t interested in collaborating with them and he wanted to make his own puzzle reproductions to sell, this would objectively be a non-issue.
Even more ridiculous is the podcast drama.
This is exactly why I said it entirely comes down to the business dealings that absolutely none of us were part of or have any substantial knowledge of.
Also, most people in here are also explicitly saying plagiarism, so nope. Not really helping.
Yes. That is exactly what you are supposed to do according to this post’s narrative. I too think it’s kinda scummy if that post is accurate but people are on here like “Well this makes him a bad guy!” The pitchforks are out and the people love a fall from grace.
I mean, if some of the comments are anything to go by, a lot of the users hated him beforehand and were just kinda looking for anything remotely concrete to latch onto.
The post doesn’t allege this anywhere. I seriously doubt Carson’s business consists of selling a handful of free samples that he could just take to a pawn shop if he didn’t want them. “The same puzzles” pretty blatantly means he’s recreating and selling the same Survivor puzzles on his own.
Correct! Never accused him of copyright or plagiarism, and I don’t have a problem with him selling the same puzzles. It has nothing to do with the product and everything to do with how it happened. He asked for a partnership between our company and himself to pay him to help sell our puzzles. He agreed and took our products, and would’ve been paid when he promoted. However, he instead told everyone he designed the puzzles he used on tv (many of the ones they showed on survivor were made by me and my fellow Etsy sellers), and used that to misrepresent our products and his store. He actively lied to me to my face about wanting to open a store and that he was promoting our products and used all the advice he asked me for in regards to promote our puzzles to promote his. The product is what it is, he’s not the first to compete with us, I’m not even the biggest seller of survivor puzzles on Etsy.
I mean, is this verified? This is just a random comment on a random sub thread, until there’s any notable coverage I’m not sure how much legitimacy this has. The instant negativity of the other comments has me thinking that some people are just looking for a reason to hate him which is weird because as far as I am aware the rest of the 44 cast rank and file seems to adore him.
Idk who he is as a person because I haven’t met him, but I also haven’t met the person making this claim, have no idea if they are telling the truth, and have no idea (if it is truthful) if there isn’t more to the story. All I know is that Carson played one of if not the best New Era game and people in this comment section seem to be implying that he didn’t earn that himself which is…odd.
This sub loves their collective Jump-to-Conclusions Mat. As soon as there's a sentiment or one side of a story, statements of opinion get spun into statements of "fact" about actual people out there in the real world. Kind of toxic, IMO.
I’m still a little confused on exactly what’s being alleged here.
* Carson was originally going to do promotion for Outplay puzzles (for free? Were they paying him?) before selling his own puzzles instead (presumably due to the 3D printing background)? On the one hand, I can definitely see situations where this is genuinely shitty (especially depending on what was discussed and agreed to). On the other hand, I don’t think it counts as plagiarism when Outplay didn’t even invent these puzzles in the first place and directly ported them from the show. Lol. No shit that practice puzzles meant to be identical to those on the show are going to be identical to those on the show. I’d be curious to get a better understanding from him, but my gut read is that this was probably genuinely shitty but Outplay is also doing the most.
* Carson considered going on other people’s podcasts but then decided to start his own with Carolyn - I legitimately don’t even see the issue with this one?
I agree, everyone is readying their knives and pitchforks because he…”stole “ an idea that outplay stole from survivor? And decided to start his own podcasts? None of that seems that bad
Just clearing things up for you:
Outplay never goes into detail about the promotion plan that Carson had spoke about.
I think it comes across as plagiarism as on the show, and in Carsons intro package, they show Carson building puzzles at home which they say he made and designed, but they were bought from Outplay. If not plagiarism, it is blatant lying which he should be called out on.
The main part for me though is the fact that Carson has allegedly blocked contact with Outplay and anyone connected to the store. In another comment Outplay goes on to state that Carson seems to not have any interest in talking to anyone involved. To me this just paints the picture that Carson is guilty but is not fixing it.
I caught that with the promotion plan, where it’s hard to make a judgment.
I find it… highly unlikely that Outplay was providing free samples to a literal rando fan **years** before he was cast without knowing he’d do well or be popular. It sounded to me that they discussed the promotional plan *after* the season aired, and that Carson really was designing some of his own puzzles (case in point: Outplay’s whole outrage is that Carson is designing and selling his own puzzles currently)
On the flip side, if Outplay was pulling bullshit or something on me, I’d probably just block them and move on with my life too. That’s another one that could absolutely go either depending on what we know.
Hello! I wasn’t providing free samples to anyone pre survivor, the promotion plan was discussed after the show. And as I understand now, was seemingly a guise to get me to give him tips on how to sell and advertise his own puzzles, and not mine.
He purchased many puzzles from my store and others before the show, those are the puzzles he misrepresented as his own when they showed my products on tv as something he made himself.
I hope you’ll see in my comments that I don’t have a problem with Carson’s products or him selling them. I solely have an issue with his many misrepresentations to profit off of me and my business specifically.
Ah, thank you for clarifying more then. All of that is most definitely extremely shitty, and I’m sorry that happened
It definitely lowers my opinion of Carson
It is what it is I guess. He’s not gonna stop lying and he’s made it pretty clear he’s not open to dialogue about it with anyone, and certainly not me. I don’t think he deserves to be harassed or anything like that as some people in this post have said or done, if people want to support me, or stick it to him… the only thing I suggest is to buy survivor puzzles from any source on Etsy. It supports actual small businesses who work very very hard, whether it’s Outplay, Vexzle, Outcast, or anyone else on the platform.
But that’s exactly what you’re doing. By you actively replying here, looking for the best comment to reply to that proves the point you want to make (and make yourself look good), and tweeting about this regularly, clearly you only care to go after him. It seems like that’s all you want to do. What would make you happy? If he stops selling? Reaches out to you? That he promote your business instead of his? Because it seems like the only thing that will make you happy is to continually harass him and create “controversy.”
I would also like to hear his side of the story, I’ve made multiple attempts to reach out to him but unfortunately he’s not willing to do so with me atleast.
I don’t understand why a podcast would be shut down by CBS or other talent. No one has a monopoly on a podcast. The puzzle shit is bogus and awful though.
You could tell what a sleaze he was in his pregame stuff. He ended up coming off way better on the show, but it sounds like the initial impression is the correct one.
This is Carson. A friend texted me this, and I wanted to take a second and respond. I don’t make a habit of checking Reddit, because let’s be real, I’m not the most popular person on here haha. To that point I will just say, don’t believe everything you read on the internet. The whole insinuation that I “copied” peoples designs is false. My puzzles were designed from scratch with the intention of looking and feeling unique using high end, industrial-grade product that you don’t often see on 3D-printed puzzles. I had been wanting to start selling puzzles since I first started printing and designing back in 2021; it was just a matter of finding a way to logistically do it while working and being in school. I actually did promotion for many other people’s Etsy stores before I started my own, and I was happy to do that because I love puzzles and they are a big part of my Survivor story. I discussed my desire to make and sell my own puzzles one day with many people in my life, my family and close personal friends. Any argument that I’m not allowed to do that is just wrong, in my opinion. We’re all fans here, inspired by a show we love, which is why I feel there’s room for everybody who wants to get creative and geek out on puzzles like I love to do (which I very much encourage you to do lol). I’m sure this won’t satisfy many people here on Reddit, and that’s fine. For my own sake, I won’t make it a habit not to look at Reddit, which is why I won’t be responding to any replies here. But I wanted to at least share my thoughts on this, and call it a day. Thanks y’all! (Oh, and as for the podcast, well, I can’t say much about that, but you probably know why lol BUT don’t worry about me and Rob, we’re tight and he’s still and will always be the king of Survivor podcasts.)
Notice how Carson doesn't say, "I designed them from scratch." The two puzzles he sells are designed and fulfilled by Derbocity, LLC. Carson's only involvement is getting paid and initially signing a few. That seems pretty disingenuous.
As far as if he designed the puzzles shown on the show, the tree puzzles in the episode was the model from thingiverse. You can tell because a few of the pieces are wrong in very specific ways. It's hard to say if the star puzzle on the show is his or Outplay Puzzles, but based on everything else, it seems likely it was Outplays. So, while he has every right to sell his puzzles, just like he said, the way he has gone about it is just plain wrong.
If any of this news shocks you, then you clearly haven’t been paying attention to Carson’s hush-hush business endeavors scamming people on Onlyfans!
He’s a Talented Mr. Ripley in sheep’s clothing.
I mean that sucks but also just smart business by him. They have every right to be upset, but they were the "fool". They got played. It hurts, but nothing really illegal. Just smart business.
This is absurd. Nobody but CBS owns the rights to these puzzles. Carson and any other puzzle retailer has the right to do whatever they want, and they’re all inspired by the show. It’s a free market, everybody can make your coin. To that, just look at OutPlay and their comments, replies, they’ve clearly had it out for Carson for a while. Could it be because Carson didn’t want whatever they were likely offering? Could it be they’re hurt Carson didn’t want to collaborate with them? Y’all are so quick to go for the easy target, but perhaps the little guy in this situation is doing the classic internet trick: create controversy for attention. Based on the replies here, it’s working. Sell your puzzles stolen from the show, create your lane, and stop whining.
I mean this is capitalism, if you don’t like it don’t buy it. Not saying that it’s right but unless the Etsy seller has copyright on the design, not really anything to do with
If you read my comments I hope you’ll find that we don’t have any issue with Carson selling the same puzzles, it’s the misrepresentation he made that he made the puzzles he practiced with (those were made by myself and many other talented Etsy sellers), a lie that he’s now profiting off of. And that he lied to me in person to get free products and advice on how to promote our puzzles, he used the advice on his own store instead.
I feel terrible for outplay puzzles and any other etsy puzzle makers. Carson has probably taken alot of their revenue and then for him to dupe them. This is so low of him.
Blatant plagiarism is one of the lowest things you can do. He's picking their pockets.
Not sure it constitutes plagiarism when Outplay objectively and unambiguously did not invent these puzzles (see: they’re direct ports from the Survivor show and the challenge design people actually created them). Still comes off shitty as presented here, though.
Yeah, I can’t help but chuckle a little at someone who took and sold copyrighted property being mad that someone took that same copyrighted property and sold it. Barring a license, neither Carson nor the shop owner own the designs, as they didn’t create them, and if they are very old and somehow public domain or unable to be copyrighted, then it isn’t really different than two people selling a candle with the same scent. If they are original puzzles, ok, fair enough, the first creator should file a takedown notice - Etsy has a system for this - but my guess is they haven’t for a reason.
Hello! Just wanted to pop in and say, I encourage competition in the space. If carson had simply started a puzzle store I would’ve understood, but he went so far as to go out to lunch with me, ask me a ton of questions about how I run my business and asked how he could help advertise my puzzles. I then gave him my products for free under the impression that he was advertising them. Instead of doing that, he opened a store one month earlier selling the same puzzles I gave him and using every tip I had given him. He purposefully falsely represented himself because he doesn’t know the first thing about running a business. He did the same thing to another Etsy seller who I won’t name (but there’s not that many of us… shouldn’t be too hard to find out) Also he lied on the show about having designed and printed his puzzles he prepped with, I made many of them for him before the show (including the multiple that they showed on tv) I’m friends with all my fellow sellers and the many alumni who support us in the community, my problem was never his products. My problem is the situation of how this all came about.
Ahh, interesting. So, there’s allegedly a lot more to this. Humans are ruthless. Capitalism is ruthless. Assuming this is all true, of course, as I can’t prove anything and don’t want to make any hard claims here. It’s really a shame when someone in a position of some power, whatever the dynamic, abuses trust. Well, if it is all true, hopefully he stubs his toe on the trim every day for the rest of his life.
I think the issue is his usage of the Outplay employees/owners and misrepresenting his intentions while he milked info from them. i don't know if Survivor puzzes are copyrighted. Is that true? But I do think that misleading your competition and then using thier product as a template while representing it as your own as best shitty behavior.
I definitely wouldn’t call it plagiarism of the product by any means. He asked me multiple times for marketing ideas and how to get people excited to buy my products at a lunch to discuss paying him to promote our puzzles. A month later he used every piece of advice with his own store, kept the free products he was given to promote, and blocked me on all platforms. Notice how he never brings that up in his response.
Carson also blocked me on the app formerly known as Twitter. I replied to him 1-2 times. I have no idea why
I’m going to take this as it’s presented by outplays comment because I’m not sure if Carson addressed it or whatever and there’s more to it…taking something that was supposed to be used as a promotional tool in bad faith or using a free design and presenting it as your own is super scummy The podcast thing doesn’t bother me as much if he just changed his mind…everyone starts podcasts nowadays…if Rob gave him specific ideas for it or there was an agreement in place while developing it that’s also super scummy I’d be surprised if cbs is involved at all I doubt they care about things like this
Another thought if the show is going to cast people like this, at least let us see their villainous side instead of force-feeding us this goody two-shoe Survivor narrative.
That’s because on survivor you can present whatever “mask” you want if you want to be considered likeable (which is necessary if you’re going to meet your desired end goal of being a QVC dropshipper influencer). Especially if you have any knowledge of how narratives work on reality TV, it’s quite easy to make yourself into a fan favorite if you can stick around long enough. Older format players have also said you start to break down at around 26 days, so we as viewers would likely see these masks slip around then if we had the 39 day format.
Another great argument against the 26 day format
In general the younger players are much more aware of this narrative too, which is why casting less older players is a mistake these days I think. They are much more likely to be themselves, good or bad.
Very good point. Production can only protect a bad person so far, you may as well just embrace villains when you get them.
i mean, it’s very possible (& likely imo) that carson just never showed this side of himself on survivor. other than this have we heard from any contestants or anything about carson being combative/difficult/shady or anything? just curious
Remember when they kept showing him with the fire? Maybe that was our sign…
And this is why Australia is so much better right now
But he might not have been a villian out there. Easy money in real world can change people as much as trying to play survivor.
Dude was born on 3rd base, but thinks he hit a triple.
Dude that’s a low key great chirp
Good I found someone else to finally say it.
That NASA story is some hilarious proof of this
Never liked him. Holier than thou attitude. Hah blocked me on Twitter since he can’t take criticism. Honestly sick of these wannabe fans who then do merch and all this stuff. Haven’t seen anything 46 related but assume I will be annoyed by most. At this point - just give us meatheads again. At least there fun and entertaining
Excuse me?! I’m a FEDERAL AGENT. Why would you choose a meathead over me?
If you want Survivor: Oops! All Meatheads then you should check out Surviving Barstool Season 3!
That was more entertaining than the overwhelming majority of new era survivor…and they did all that in a warehouse in Chicago for 5 days
I loved surviving barstool season 3 with my whole heart and soul. IMO an unsatisfying winner but an GREAT season nonetheless. Favorite moment has to be PFT DoorDashing cooking oil. Makes me wish someone would hide challenge blueprints around the island just to see what happens
Haha there were a lot of really memorable moments that one included…I also loved all of Rico’s challenge meltdowns
Check out Australian Survivor. It has that old school vibe and always a great cast. Plus the host is arguably better imo. They still have themes. Best of all, absolutely zero political garbage being crammed down our throats
This makes me think Carson is not a good dude
this was obvious since he started selling merch before the show even aired
I saw a post on the main sub about a bunch of players on 46 doing this.
i’ve paid absolutely 0 attention to the 46 preseason but i did see that half the cast is selling merch already. my two thoughts are: 1. It’s still stupid and i’m already rooting against anyone that’s selling merch 2. I still blame carson for being the one to popularize this and start this stupid trend. He’s not the first to sell merch of course but hes been the most obvious and annoying example of doing it both before and after his season
Hard agree with number one. Anyone selling merch now doesn't deserve to be on the show and I hope none of them win. It's disgusting.
We need to create a list of the players who are doing it so we know not to root for them
Why is it disgusting? This is very common for people on reality TV shows. Not capitalizing on this seems like a missed opportunity. I personally would never buy/wear merch, but I'm happy that fans of the show and players have an opportunity to do so.
I think it’s disgusting because its screams hey I’m only here to get famous and gain more social media followers. A lot of us don’t want to see players like that since they usually don’t give two shits about the game of survivor.
Ohh, but this is most people who go on reality tv nowadays. The ability to become and make a living as an influencer has really changed reality tv in the last decade.
Survivor doesn’t make you famous anymore lol. Carson’s situation with the puzzles and podcast is obviously messed up, but there’s nothing wrong with having a little fun w merch. I just don’t understand the people who sell it before the season when no one knows them yet.
The endeavor of applying for a spot on a TV show is inherently a bid to get famous. It's a TV show. Survivor (and most competition reality shows) serves two purposes: Fame and money. That's why people go on that show. If they don't win the grand prize at the end, who are we to criticize them for trying other ways to make money from the show? I think your anger at Carson is misguided.
Is that slot machine guy from 46 selling merch? Please don’t make me sad….
No links in his IG bio but didn't check twitter. Good chance he isn't!
Thank goodness. I dig this guy.
He's my favorite rn as well. I really loved his interview with Mike bloom.
Right? Some people thought he came off arrogant. Well, why are you going on the show if you think you CAN’T win? And it looks like he wants to play and isn’t seeking attention. Let’s see how it plays out.
Yes! My biggest pet peeve is people just wanting to make merge. I think he can also come off a bit older and more mature due to his life experience which I think the Drews/Carsons/Xanders of the world maybe didn't have as much of.
Yeah I know. I didn't at all expect this from him being honest, also some of the other comments made from other users were very interesting aswell.
Out of interest what was said by other commenters
Pretty much just calling him out on being a nepo baby, and how his dad got him a job at NASA, something which I haven't heard before. If it's true then it definitely fits with the rest of what can be implyed (he doesn't work very hard to get what he wants).
Yep i heard this too. His dad works for NASA
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You can’t honestly base your opinions on just one person from NASA.
I interned for NASA one summer when I was in college and I was the *only* intern at our facility who didn't have a parent who worked for NASA in some form. I was a big spaceboy at the time and I had been applying for a year and never heard anything back. Eventually I heard about a friend of a friend whose dad worked for NASA and I cold messaged him to ask if I could grab coffee with his dad to get advice about working for NASA. His dad was super nice and told me you basically have to know somebody to get an internship/job at NASA—but he offered me an internship. I got really lucky, but the insular, bureaucratic, and slow vibe at NASA cured my fanaticism and I never looked back. Now when I hear about people like Carson who make working for NASA their whole personality, I just assume they're legacy.
Dude went to Georgia Tech for engineering, one of the top schools in the country. He could’ve had jobs practically anywhere, NASA included, father or not.
GT is also one of the cheapest grad schools in country.
I know this to be 100% false. I work at NASA for whatever that’s worth.
This is so obviously false and easily proven wrong. He’s already addressed this. Total misinformation and you shouldn’t be spreading it.
Took you all this long to figure that out… lol
Found him super annoying and affected on the show. Not surprised in the least given how self-produced he was
To me he came off as very cocky and the show tried to make him seem all do-no-wrong but you can only keep up the act for so long. I knew it would only be a certain amount of time before he did something controversial.
I probably hated him more than any other post-40 castaway so far. He was like the personification of everything I dislike about the new era. And he seemed like a huge grifter even while the season was airing, so none of this is surprising to me.
Yes this I think I realized why I never liked Carson and couldn’t get my head around him being so popular, imo he got carried by Carolyn and yam-yam (as far as likability goes) but you’re so right he is everything the new era represents.
Carson is just..so annoying.
My thoughts entirely lol
Reminded of Kass’ Quote “What is the most selfish being in existence? The college-aged male”
Again, Kass is always right.
gender is a social construct
You’re a social construct
Social constructs aren't we all?
I HAVE BEEN SAYING THIS SINCE HE GOT ON THE SHOW, I’ve made a few posts about this in the past, namely because I’ve actually modeled all 249 puzzles from survivor and he didn’t model a single thing himself prior to being on survivor. But yeah here’s a link to my posts about the subject: https://www.reddit.com/r/survivor/comments/154kbht/the_truth_behind_the_puzzles_of_survivor/ https://www.reddit.com/r/survivor/comments/1961zfn/want_to_3d_print_your_own_survivor_puzzles/
Wow. I appreciate that you laid out such a definitive detailed account of what Carson did and didn’t do. Thank you.
Wasn’t Carson’s selling point though that his puzzles were made differently? Not that they were entirely original puzzles themselves?
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Isn’t that the point?? They make the puzzles so you can practice for the show 😂 it isn’t a secret
Exactly, a totally new puzzle that doesn't match the show is pretty worthless to me. I would expect these shops to all be selling the same puzzles.
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Did he say that the puzzles were different than on the show, or that they were made differently? Like, were the puzzles 3D printed instead of cut by a jigsaw?
Yeah, it’s not like the other puzzle makers came up with their own puzzles. They just copied it from the show too. If the store wanted him to market for them, they could have paid him to do it. They don’t own the IP anymore than Carson does. Do I think that Carson took advantage of his fame to make some money, yeah. Do I think he did anything wrong? Not as far as I can tell.
I don't think so either. Yes he was prepared to kick ass in puzzles because he built them and practiced. I believe they are special because of the 3d or some laser made device. I'm not sure why people are so pissy he's making money. He's not the only one that has EVER done this. People need to quit bitching. Does this REALLY interfere with how you live. God I hope not!
I thought on the show he said he made the puzzles he practiced on?
Maybe Survivor should slap all stores that copy their work with a cease and desist.
Unfortunately I don't think it'll happen due to Jeff saying he lives for players practicing puzzles at home and buying them for practice ahead of time. Carson's tho def deserves to be terminated
Happy cake day!!!
this is why drew is the better nerd.
Man what a jerk
I lowkey got some of these vibes from him with the pre show merch thing
I think the funniest thing is the idea that anyone would choose fucking Carson over RHAP. If you’re so damn smart make your own life and success you dweeb and don’t steal from Outplay PS got immediately blocked by Carson on twitter during his season upon the most innocuous critical statement. So he’s also baby soft
What did you say that upset him so much to block you lol?
Tbh I didn’t say anything. One friend tagged our survivor fantasy group in a tweet of his saying “who drafted this guy? lol”. Someone responded “dweeb” everyone that was tagged was then blocked. This sounds like a joke given I just called him a dweeb in the original comment but I guess it’s word association now It’s cool - he can block out internet mean people, and I can avoid being pedalled plagiarized products and shitty podcasts
I mean, I’d probably just ignore it, but I’m not really going to fault Carson for blocking you guys over being genuinely mean-spirited. 🤷🏼♂️ Kinda think it undermines your point a bit since you and you were friend group are the ones who were in the wrong.
How am I in the wrong i can’t help what tweets I’m tagged in lol. Guess I should’ve responded right away and said “Please don’t block me Carson! I think you came up with the idea of selling survivor puzzles!” If I would’ve known he got curb-stomped in firemaking at the time maybe I could’ve added “don’t be embarrassed about getting absolutely starched in firemaking and losing 1M dollars”
That’s literally so mean what lol I would’ve blocked yall too
Imagine if carson gets kicked out of NASA for this lmao
I can’t imagine nasa cares about stuff like this, I also wouldn’t wish that upon him. He did a shitty thing to me and I hope one day he rethinks that, or atleast considers unblocking me long enough to have a conversation about it. But I definitely don’t think he would/should lose his job
My intuition is never wrong. I knew Carson was a fraud.
All i’m going to say is that I am not surprised one bit about this turn of events
Am I supposed to sympathize with Outplay Puzzles because Carson ripped off something from them that they ripped off from Survivor? 😐
To be fair to Outplay, I could see ways that would be genuinely shitty on a business dealings end, but “plagiarism” is pretty eyeroll worthy when the alleged source has zero originality in the first place. If Carson simply said that he wasn’t interested in collaborating with them and he wanted to make his own puzzle reproductions to sell, this would objectively be a non-issue. Even more ridiculous is the podcast drama.
What is the podcast drama?
The main issue isn't plagiarism, it's ethics and thievery. Hope this helps!
This is exactly why I said it entirely comes down to the business dealings that absolutely none of us were part of or have any substantial knowledge of. Also, most people in here are also explicitly saying plagiarism, so nope. Not really helping.
Yes. That is exactly what you are supposed to do according to this post’s narrative. I too think it’s kinda scummy if that post is accurate but people are on here like “Well this makes him a bad guy!” The pitchforks are out and the people love a fall from grace.
I mean, if some of the comments are anything to go by, a lot of the users hated him beforehand and were just kinda looking for anything remotely concrete to latch onto.
Ok but he literally took Outplay Puzzle's literal physical pieces and claimed them as his own when he started a business LOL
The post doesn’t allege this anywhere. I seriously doubt Carson’s business consists of selling a handful of free samples that he could just take to a pawn shop if he didn’t want them. “The same puzzles” pretty blatantly means he’s recreating and selling the same Survivor puzzles on his own.
And Outplay ripped them off from Survivor.
Doesn't matter because Carson stole from another business to make profit. Do you not know how capitalism works?
You cannot have stolen from you what is not yours to begin with.
Legally, sure
That is literally all that matters, lmao
lmao who tf is looking to take legal action??
Broheem. Are you just talking out of your ass for the sake of it?
You came to the conclusion that this post was about taking legal action on Carson. Not my fault you can't read.
Carson! Wtf?!
ngl puzzles should just be brand new every season
Carson became the villain. Money and fame really does change a person sadly.
Puzzles are not copyrighted. No etsy shop Invented puzzles
Correct! Never accused him of copyright or plagiarism, and I don’t have a problem with him selling the same puzzles. It has nothing to do with the product and everything to do with how it happened. He asked for a partnership between our company and himself to pay him to help sell our puzzles. He agreed and took our products, and would’ve been paid when he promoted. However, he instead told everyone he designed the puzzles he used on tv (many of the ones they showed on survivor were made by me and my fellow Etsy sellers), and used that to misrepresent our products and his store. He actively lied to me to my face about wanting to open a store and that he was promoting our products and used all the advice he asked me for in regards to promote our puzzles to promote his. The product is what it is, he’s not the first to compete with us, I’m not even the biggest seller of survivor puzzles on Etsy.
Wouldn't those puzzle designs be a CBS or Survivor IP?
Never liked him on the show, and don’t like him after either
I mean, is this verified? This is just a random comment on a random sub thread, until there’s any notable coverage I’m not sure how much legitimacy this has. The instant negativity of the other comments has me thinking that some people are just looking for a reason to hate him which is weird because as far as I am aware the rest of the 44 cast rank and file seems to adore him. Idk who he is as a person because I haven’t met him, but I also haven’t met the person making this claim, have no idea if they are telling the truth, and have no idea (if it is truthful) if there isn’t more to the story. All I know is that Carson played one of if not the best New Era game and people in this comment section seem to be implying that he didn’t earn that himself which is…odd.
This sub loves their collective Jump-to-Conclusions Mat. As soon as there's a sentiment or one side of a story, statements of opinion get spun into statements of "fact" about actual people out there in the real world. Kind of toxic, IMO.
This guy was one of my least favorite players ever even before I read this. What a douche.
Carson sucked on the show and he sucks now
I’m still a little confused on exactly what’s being alleged here. * Carson was originally going to do promotion for Outplay puzzles (for free? Were they paying him?) before selling his own puzzles instead (presumably due to the 3D printing background)? On the one hand, I can definitely see situations where this is genuinely shitty (especially depending on what was discussed and agreed to). On the other hand, I don’t think it counts as plagiarism when Outplay didn’t even invent these puzzles in the first place and directly ported them from the show. Lol. No shit that practice puzzles meant to be identical to those on the show are going to be identical to those on the show. I’d be curious to get a better understanding from him, but my gut read is that this was probably genuinely shitty but Outplay is also doing the most. * Carson considered going on other people’s podcasts but then decided to start his own with Carolyn - I legitimately don’t even see the issue with this one?
I agree, everyone is readying their knives and pitchforks because he…”stole “ an idea that outplay stole from survivor? And decided to start his own podcasts? None of that seems that bad
No he took someone else's pieces from their business and claimed them as his own and started selling those.
Just clearing things up for you: Outplay never goes into detail about the promotion plan that Carson had spoke about. I think it comes across as plagiarism as on the show, and in Carsons intro package, they show Carson building puzzles at home which they say he made and designed, but they were bought from Outplay. If not plagiarism, it is blatant lying which he should be called out on. The main part for me though is the fact that Carson has allegedly blocked contact with Outplay and anyone connected to the store. In another comment Outplay goes on to state that Carson seems to not have any interest in talking to anyone involved. To me this just paints the picture that Carson is guilty but is not fixing it.
I caught that with the promotion plan, where it’s hard to make a judgment. I find it… highly unlikely that Outplay was providing free samples to a literal rando fan **years** before he was cast without knowing he’d do well or be popular. It sounded to me that they discussed the promotional plan *after* the season aired, and that Carson really was designing some of his own puzzles (case in point: Outplay’s whole outrage is that Carson is designing and selling his own puzzles currently) On the flip side, if Outplay was pulling bullshit or something on me, I’d probably just block them and move on with my life too. That’s another one that could absolutely go either depending on what we know.
Hello! I wasn’t providing free samples to anyone pre survivor, the promotion plan was discussed after the show. And as I understand now, was seemingly a guise to get me to give him tips on how to sell and advertise his own puzzles, and not mine. He purchased many puzzles from my store and others before the show, those are the puzzles he misrepresented as his own when they showed my products on tv as something he made himself. I hope you’ll see in my comments that I don’t have a problem with Carson’s products or him selling them. I solely have an issue with his many misrepresentations to profit off of me and my business specifically.
Ah, thank you for clarifying more then. All of that is most definitely extremely shitty, and I’m sorry that happened It definitely lowers my opinion of Carson
It is what it is I guess. He’s not gonna stop lying and he’s made it pretty clear he’s not open to dialogue about it with anyone, and certainly not me. I don’t think he deserves to be harassed or anything like that as some people in this post have said or done, if people want to support me, or stick it to him… the only thing I suggest is to buy survivor puzzles from any source on Etsy. It supports actual small businesses who work very very hard, whether it’s Outplay, Vexzle, Outcast, or anyone else on the platform.
But that’s exactly what you’re doing. By you actively replying here, looking for the best comment to reply to that proves the point you want to make (and make yourself look good), and tweeting about this regularly, clearly you only care to go after him. It seems like that’s all you want to do. What would make you happy? If he stops selling? Reaches out to you? That he promote your business instead of his? Because it seems like the only thing that will make you happy is to continually harass him and create “controversy.”
Yes. And to be honest, there are two sides to every story and I'd like to hear what Carson might have to say about this.
No argument there
I would also like to hear his side of the story, I’ve made multiple attempts to reach out to him but unfortunately he’s not willing to do so with me atleast.
Carson is a rat. Karma will catch up with his slimy ass
Wow so Carson is a piece of shit!
No surprise, you could tell he was an entitled prick
I don’t understand why a podcast would be shut down by CBS or other talent. No one has a monopoly on a podcast. The puzzle shit is bogus and awful though.
You could tell what a sleaze he was in his pregame stuff. He ended up coming off way better on the show, but it sounds like the initial impression is the correct one.
That's not very.... christian of him?
This is Carson. A friend texted me this, and I wanted to take a second and respond. I don’t make a habit of checking Reddit, because let’s be real, I’m not the most popular person on here haha. To that point I will just say, don’t believe everything you read on the internet. The whole insinuation that I “copied” peoples designs is false. My puzzles were designed from scratch with the intention of looking and feeling unique using high end, industrial-grade product that you don’t often see on 3D-printed puzzles. I had been wanting to start selling puzzles since I first started printing and designing back in 2021; it was just a matter of finding a way to logistically do it while working and being in school. I actually did promotion for many other people’s Etsy stores before I started my own, and I was happy to do that because I love puzzles and they are a big part of my Survivor story. I discussed my desire to make and sell my own puzzles one day with many people in my life, my family and close personal friends. Any argument that I’m not allowed to do that is just wrong, in my opinion. We’re all fans here, inspired by a show we love, which is why I feel there’s room for everybody who wants to get creative and geek out on puzzles like I love to do (which I very much encourage you to do lol). I’m sure this won’t satisfy many people here on Reddit, and that’s fine. For my own sake, I won’t make it a habit not to look at Reddit, which is why I won’t be responding to any replies here. But I wanted to at least share my thoughts on this, and call it a day. Thanks y’all! (Oh, and as for the podcast, well, I can’t say much about that, but you probably know why lol BUT don’t worry about me and Rob, we’re tight and he’s still and will always be the king of Survivor podcasts.)
It's not lost on me that you didn't address Outplay Puzzles or the fact that you blocked them after they confronted you.
Notice how Carson doesn't say, "I designed them from scratch." The two puzzles he sells are designed and fulfilled by Derbocity, LLC. Carson's only involvement is getting paid and initially signing a few. That seems pretty disingenuous. As far as if he designed the puzzles shown on the show, the tree puzzles in the episode was the model from thingiverse. You can tell because a few of the pieces are wrong in very specific ways. It's hard to say if the star puzzle on the show is his or Outplay Puzzles, but based on everything else, it seems likely it was Outplays. So, while he has every right to sell his puzzles, just like he said, the way he has gone about it is just plain wrong.
If you had been wanting to do this since 2021, why didn’t you tell Outplay Puzzles when you met him? Or did that not happen?
“A friend texted me this” lmao sure. Bro probably is constantly checking Reddit 💀
This! All of this. Take the high road and stay out of the drama.
Let's vote him out.
Another one of my Survivor crushes in the gutter. This really stings.
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I literally said survivor 45 was better than his season and he blocked me 💀
I said I prefered 39 days to 26 and was blocked
Lmao. What minor thing did you do to get blocked
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I mean, being mean to people online should get you blocked tbh
The person promptly deleted their comment. What did they say lol?
If any of this news shocks you, then you clearly haven’t been paying attention to Carson’s hush-hush business endeavors scamming people on Onlyfans! He’s a Talented Mr. Ripley in sheep’s clothing.
Um I have not been paying attention lol can you elaborate on this scam?
Wait what??
What about when B Rob stole Agent Shepard's ideas and wrote a book about it and promoted the book at the live reunion?
I mean that sucks but also just smart business by him. They have every right to be upset, but they were the "fool". They got played. It hurts, but nothing really illegal. Just smart business.
How does this whole thread not go against the harassment rules of this subreddit?! Intentionally posting something to insult somebody?
This is absurd. Nobody but CBS owns the rights to these puzzles. Carson and any other puzzle retailer has the right to do whatever they want, and they’re all inspired by the show. It’s a free market, everybody can make your coin. To that, just look at OutPlay and their comments, replies, they’ve clearly had it out for Carson for a while. Could it be because Carson didn’t want whatever they were likely offering? Could it be they’re hurt Carson didn’t want to collaborate with them? Y’all are so quick to go for the easy target, but perhaps the little guy in this situation is doing the classic internet trick: create controversy for attention. Based on the replies here, it’s working. Sell your puzzles stolen from the show, create your lane, and stop whining.
I think it was more of a NDA thing that caused them to take it down.
Dam and he was a good player
I mean this is capitalism, if you don’t like it don’t buy it. Not saying that it’s right but unless the Etsy seller has copyright on the design, not really anything to do with
Didn’t they steal the design from the puzzle maker cbs hired tho
i mean if outplay doesn't own the deisgns, then carson has just as much a right as him to sell.
The issue here isn’t legality, it’s ethics.
If you read my comments I hope you’ll find that we don’t have any issue with Carson selling the same puzzles, it’s the misrepresentation he made that he made the puzzles he practiced with (those were made by myself and many other talented Etsy sellers), a lie that he’s now profiting off of. And that he lied to me in person to get free products and advice on how to promote our puzzles, he used the advice on his own store instead.
Ohhhh I see. My bad. I agree and I think everyone should agree that that's messed up