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  • Was Survivor 50 Twist Screwed? (+Episode Ranking)

    With two years worth of hype, a mostly strong cast, and nearly perfect premiere, Survivor 50 had everything going for it. But after a whole season of forced celebrity inclusions and twists galore capped off by an underwhelming ending, many people leave the Survivor 50 experience disappointed. That’s not to say Survivor 50 was a bad season of Survivor. It was still great to see all of these players come back and there were a lot of great story arcs throughout the season. It’s impossible to ignore the twists and celebrities, though. So, that brings up many questions. Are the twists and celebrities to blame for the faults of 50? Not only in terms of the time they take up in episodes, but also in how they affected the outcome of the game. Did we reach this underwhelming result because of twists, or was it always meant to be this way? And finally, would Survivor 50 have been in the running for G.O.A.T. if the players were actually allowed to play the game?

    1. An Epic Party: Incredible Start

    Oh how hopeful everyone was… ‘An Epic Party’ was a really strong start to the season. Everything about it felt like a celebration of Survivor. Of course, there’s the beautiful montage at the start of the episode. But there’s also so many callbacks to iconic moments of Survivor, with the most glaring example being the return of Coach vs. Ozzy. The interactions between players from different eras of Survivor was great. Rick and Christian as a duo makes so much sense. Both of the 49 players having nice moment with Colby was great. And even though it was devastating to see Jenna be the first boot, the show did an amazing job paying tribute to her. Jeff’s chat with her at tribal council and the old tribal council music after her vote off were great ways to show some love to Jenna. Kyle’s unfortunate med evac ends the episode on a sadder note, but doesn’t take away from how great everything leading up to it was. The twists here are not overwhelming, with both the journey and return of Exile Island leading to great moments.

    But then, there’s the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol. The first brand new twist and instance of celebrity inclusions, the BEBI is… bad. First of all, it wasn’t even Billie Eilish’s idea! The producers simply sent her ideas and had her pick one. Moving past that, it was an interesting idea that I was willing to give a shot. But in execution, it’s awful and stifling to gameplay. The biggest example of this is the first person to find the BEBI, Genevieve. Nothing about the BEBI works! Because Genevieve gives away both of her BEBIs, she has nothing to protect herself when she’s twist screwed during the Blood Moon. She would’ve had two idols any other season! The BEBI also encourages people to talk about idols, with Genevieve telling every one of her allies about the BEBI, which spreads to everyone by the merge. That led to every 50 idol being a public one. The boomerang aspect of it also didn’t work and likely won’t on most seasons. Genevieve predicted Ozzy’s downfall, but she was voted out long before she could receive the idol. There’s also the fact that the BEBI can only be played for yourself. That not only severely limits what people can do with them, but because BEBIs replaced traditional idols, means nobody besides Devens could do anything interesting with their idols this season. BEBIs were a flop that stifled gameplay that never should have replaced idols or even the beware advantage.

    6. Therapy Carousel: Fun vs Joe

    ‘Therapy Carousel’ was a solid follow up to the premiere, but it is also the episode where one of the season’s chronic problems emerges. That problem is the underediting of many different players, mostly women, throughout the season. Five players get zero confessionals in this episode and all five of them were women. It is an issue that persists and leads to one of the most underedited winners in Survivor history and a purple fifth placer.

    That’s the only problem that there is with this episode though, as I feel like it’s interesting in every other regard. There are plenty of great character moments, which can often get overshadowed by strategy in the New Era. There’s Christian’s crappy khakis, Coach’s ocean cramp, and the feud between Devens and Joe. Plus, you can’t forget Christian rocking Joe in the hammock! While most of the moments mentioned are just pure fun, Devens vs Joe presents a lot more intrigue. Devens represents the fun of the game, taking full advantage of every idol and twist. Joe represents stubbornness and being stuck in your ways. Joe overall is given a much more negative edit on 50 than he was on 48, while Devens is given one of the most positive ones. It feels like we are meant to agree with Devens in this feud, even if he isn’t necessarily 100% in the right. As for the Savannah boot, it was a straightforward and predictable vote, but the journey there was fun. Savannah clocking Cirie and Ozzy’s dynamic before her exit really showcased how much potential there is for her. I really hope she’s on another season, one where she’s not dead on arrival.

    3. Did You Vote For A Swap?: Emily’s Reign of Chaos

    Swaps: a Survivor staple. You love it when it happens, but when one of your favorites is voted out because of a swap, you groan. Survivor 50’s swap is no different, with Q being the unfortunate victim. Despite that, this swap was a beautiful mess. The swapped tribe dynamics were for the most part amazing. The new Kalo was just fine, with the honor and integrity trio of Joe, Colby, and Coach coming together while the Aubry and Genevieve rivalry continues. New Cila and were so good though! On Cila, Rizo continues living out his superfan dream, landing him in trouble with Charlie. Their rivalry begins here, and it was without a doubt one of the best and most interesting dynamics of the season.

    The real star of the show is Emily Flippen, though. It starts hours before the swap, when Christian and Devens fail to tell Emily about the BEBI. Then, Christian hastily tells her seconds before the swap, and she loses trust in him. What follows is a crazy sequence where Emily at first aligns with Q and Stephenie, telling them about the BEBI. She then quickly decides she doesn’t like them that much and tells Angelina that the two were targeting her. After doing all of that, she realizes she made a mistake telling everyone about the BEBI and apologizes to Christian, who seems genuinely mad. That’s not even mentioning the fact that the three David vs Goliath players are on the same tribe, that Emily suddenly sees Ozzy as one of her closest allies, or that Q has a plan to take votes away from Stephenie that backfires. It was all so electric and fun to watch, even if we ironically lose one of the most electric players as a result.

    12. Knife To The Heart: Celebrity Fatigue

    This episode is just frustrating. You have a great blindside in the Mike White vote. There are complex feelings all around, with the David vs Goliath trio coming apart at this vote, Emily getting Gabby comparisons, Christian’s feelings about Gabby’s betrayal on DvG. All of that is completely overshadowed because the editors decided they needed to give Zach Brown fifteen whole minutes to advertise his music! I’m not going to delve deep into that whole debacle again, I’ve already written everything that I needed to. It’s just a shame that so much great content will be forgotten because of the rightful frustration surrounding Zach Brown.

    Zach Brown’s reign of terror put a dark tinge around the rest of the season. The Mr. Beast episode was still over the horizon. A lot of people expected him to have just as much, if not more, screentime in that episode. After three great episodes, this episode began the flood of negativity on social media that would persists throughout the rest of the season. Even despite most of the episodes past this one being good, the negativity never really left. ‘Knife To The Heart’ is where the unity 50 brought to the Survivor community went to die.

    8. Open Wounds: The Theme Becomes Clear

    Episode 5, in retrospect, does a great job at setting the theme for the rest of the season. The theme is how past Survivor traumas and experiences haunt you. After having so much time to think about their past mistakes, the Survivor 50 players all handle their emotions and actions differently, but with the shared goal to not fall into the same trap. Most inevitably do, but one will be able to reverse the curse. Charlie is the first true victim of failing to reverse his curse. Charlie’s whole arc on 50 revolves around his rivalry with Rizo, which the show portrays as being about Charlie perceiving Rizo as not having voted for his closest ally to win. Maria’s betrayal caused him to fall into the same trap. He is only the first of many to fall victim to their past.

    I also want to take some time to discuss how important the Charlie boot is to the rest of the season. This vote causes original Kalo to completely fall apart. Dee and Kamilla both voting out Charlie severed any potential connection to Johnathan. In addition, Charlie and Mike were in the middle of original Kalo, which was split between Tiffany, Kamilla, and Dee versus Coach, Chrissy, and Johnathan. With both of them gone, those two sides are cut off from each other. The result? Kamilla, Dee, Chrissy, and Coach all gone basically back to back to back to back. I’ve spent so much time thinking about what would happen if Dee and Kamilla didn’t flip on Charlie or if they still flipped but voted out Johnathan instead. The season could be completely different, for the worse or better. All of this to say, twists are largely to blame for the underwhelming endgame of 50, but ultimately, many key decisions like the Charlie blindside led to a domino effect. There are so many points where you just wish something could have changed, but pondering on them now is pointless.

    As for Angelina, her vote off was unfortunately foretold. She was a perennial target for most of the season and went out unceremoniously. It’s a shame her run went so poorly and that she was treated as an afterthought in her boot episode, but it was still nice to finally see her play again. Little did we know, this episode was the calm before the storm…

    11. The Blood Moon: A Second Swap

    Let’s face it, this was not a merge. At best, it was a glorified tribe swap. I get that there’s 24 players on 50 and that you need to narrow the field as quickly as possible, but this was such a bad way to go about it. Having three tribes of five each vote someone out led to three predictable votes where three people were screwed over. It would have been much better if they did three tribal councils in one night, having quick immunity challenges at tribal council in between each vote. That way, we could actually see the merged tribe dynamics play out! Speaking of which, the short segment where all seventeen players are on the same beach was awesome. We see Cirie’s Rizard of Oz form here, easily the best alliance of the season. In addition, the idol talk is electric and the potential Cirie and Genevieve alliance is one of my biggest what ifs of the season.

    As for the three victims of the Blood Moon: Kamilla was my favorite player on 48 and seeing her play on 50 was amazing. Even if she was overshadowed by the other two boots, she was also twist screwed, considering her and Tiffany were pitted against a pregame alliance. Genevieve is quite clearly the most screwed over player this season, the biggest victim of the horrible amalgamation of twists on 50. And then there’s Colby, who was a shining ray of light this season. It was such a joy to see Colby for the six episodes he was a part of and his Survivor journey, even if cut way too short, was capped off beautifully. I kept on looking back to his ‘Find the Joy’ message every time I was frustrated during the rest of the merge.

    9. That’s Not How I Play Survivor: The First True Merge Vote

    The first true merge episode is quite similar to episode two. It has a lot of great character moments, especially everything surrounding Coach, but a predictable vote off. This is the only episode where the Honor and Integrity alliance has any true power. It is clear to see by the end of the episode why they are only able to keep power for one episode. None of them are good at Survivor. Coach, after having everyone coming into the season wanting to work with him, ends the episode with a scathing vote from Tiffany for him and embarrassingly having to be told to calm down by Rizgod of all people. Jonathan purposefully starts an argument with Dee to piss her off and seems to think it’s some kind of masterful move. Stephenie earns a vote steal from the journey and tries lying about it only for Cirie to quickly suspect her of lying and force her to admit the truth. Aubry, not a part of Honor and Integrity, humorously lies to everyone that she forgot to play her idol, which no one believes and she admits was a mistake. It is a horrific display of gameplay all around.

    The tribal council was one of the more interesting ones on 50, with Dee giving a good last ditch effort to put more votes on Coach. Aubry burns her own idol, but gives a fire line as she plays it. And of course, there’s Tiffany’s voting confessional, which is one of the best of all time. As for Dee herself, she was a great mayor of Ponderosa and a fun player for the time she was there. Overall, a solid episode that is ultimately kind of overshadowed.

    5. Double The Fun, Double The Demise: Best Twist Name Ever?

    ‘Double Duos’ is such a ridiculous name for a twist, I still find it hard to believe that’s what they ended up going with. Despite the dumb name, ‘Double Duos’ as a twist is one of the better ones in a season so bloated with them. That’s because the players actually had agency in who they were paired up with and it wasn’t determined by a rock draw. It is an interesting twist and one that I would not be opposed to seeing on another season.

    As for how it worked on 50, it led to the satisfying downfall of Honor and Integrity. After Tiffany wins immunity alongside Joe at the perfect time, the duos of Aubry & Devens and Chrissy & Coach become the main targets. We get a great final episode from Chrissy & Coach, with Chrissy sending Coach to time out on the hammock because of how much of a liability he is. She ironically ends up putting a bigger target on their backs by targeting Rizo, though. And then we get the payoff to Christian and Devens’ hidden fake idol at tribal council when Devens pulls it out to save himself.

    Of course, the biggest star of the episode is Cirie. She gets sent to Exile Island after not being in a pair, where she finds out she can only return to camp if she finds a Phoenix coconut. Once she finds the Phoenix and returns to camp, everyone is thankful for her presence and she effortlessly shifts the target to Chrissy & Coach. In a moment of tragic foreshadowing, Ozzy says he would have made a dumb move in voting out Aubry & Devens without Cirie’s presence. Unfortunately, this episode begins the streak of endless twists that eventually leads to the disappointing endgame.

    10. I Deserve All Of This: The Worst of Both Worlds

    The nerd alliance’s downfall was always going to happen. One way or another, it was inevitable. But the way it went down was just saddening to watch. Christian has a series of errors and mistakes throughout the entire episode, starting with him telling Cirie about his plan to target her closest ally and ending with Jonathan rubbing salt in his wound by giving back his shot in the dark as he’s grabbing his torch. And in the middle is the Jimmy Fallon of it all. The first part of Jimmy Fallon’s reign of terror was actually fun. He had Jeff compete in the immunity challenge, which led to a brief return of sassy Jeff. The second part, though? Not fun. Christian goes on a journey where he tragically loses and must complete Jimmy Fallon’s punishment. He takes a letter to read out loud at camp, which reveals he must vote for himself at tribal council. With that, Christian’s fate is sealed. In the midst of this, Christian doesn’t give up and says he must set a strong example for his son about not letting his worst moments bring him down. It’s inspiring, but doesn’t take away from how horrible the twist was. He had no chance to save himself after that, as much as he tried. It was so bad that Jimmy Fallon invited him on The Tonight Show as an apology. It was the worst of both worlds. An unnecessary celebrity appearance and a horrible twist combined in one.

    2. A Side Dish of Chaos: Classic Fun

    The auction’s back, this time, without any of the unnecessary additions from the New Era. It’s back to the classic auction rules. As a result, it’s certainly not the best auction of all time, but it is a solid one with fun, simple character moments. Aubry happily scarfing down both of the grubs for her and Rizo and getting sentimental about mac & cheese made her the star of the auction. This episode also has the first of many times in which Aubry mentions her loss to Michele in Koah Rong, setting up her winning arc of being the only person on 50 to actually reverse their curse.

    Post-auction, episode 10 continues the theme of classic fun. There’s an amazing, chaotic pre-tribal scramble where the Honor and Integrity alliance makes their last hurrah, Jonathan leading the charge on targeting Ozzy only for it to end with him unintentionally getting Stephenie voted out. She seemed more than happy to take the fall for him though, so not much lost there. Rick Devens blows up Honor and Integrity at tribal council with all of the information he’s been given throughout the day and then successfully flips the Mr. Beast coin to earn immunity, an idol, and increase the prize pool to $2 million. Mr. Beast put the most thought and care into his celebrity appearance compared to the others and didn’t take time talking about himself, easily being the best celebrity appearance for those reasons. Unfortunately, the downside of the coin flip being automatically going home if you guess wrong drags his twist down. That is what prevents this episode from being the best of the season.

    4. Everyone Will Be Shooketh: Overindulgence

    We’re at the final nine, and we haven’t had a normal merge vote since the final fourteen. Every other merge vote, including the Blood Moon, has been compromised in some way. What do we do? A split tribal of course! Not just any split tribal, but one where the immunity winner will get more than just immunity. They will become the ‘Power Broker,’ having a vote in both tribal councils and as a result lots of power at camp. To give production credit, this twist is pretty interesting. It puts a new spin on the split tribal, which has become common place in the New Era. And here, it leads to two interesting rounds of gameplay in the Emily and Ozzy boots. This is a good episode, but the downside is we miss out on the crucial final 9 and final 8 votes, which have been key rounds of gameplay in the past. Ozzy’s downfall is as tragic as it is poetic. He goes home with an idol in his pocket again, succumbing to his curse. His downfall brings down Cirie as well, and if she were there to warn him, a totally different outcome would have happened. The episode was great, but its aftermath… not so much.

    13. Inconceivable: Hungover After the Party

    Endless twists have led to fun results. Double Duos, Jimmy Fallon, Mr. Beast, and the Power Broker all in succession have led to some headaches, but a lot of fun as well. We’ve had a great time at this party. Now, with only seven players left in the game, we’re left with a huge mess and lots of regret. Episode twelve is pretty easily the worst episode of the season, as we are forced to watch the slow death of both Devens and Cirie’s games. Idoless and Ozzyless, both of them are sitting ducks and easy targets during their boot rounds despite their best attempts to survive. Nothing they try saves them and an underwhelming final five remains. We’re all left wondering. We had a lot of fun, but was it worth it?

    7. Reverse The Curse: Succumb to Your Fate

    The theme of 50: Reversing your curse. It comes to a head here and leads to tragic endings for all of the finalists except for Aubry. Even if the final five was underwhelming, the way their journeys end was as tragic as it was entertaining to watch. Tiffany’s boot is predictable, unfortunately the weakest part of the finale. Rizo and Joe both succumbing to their curse while Jonathan falls to Aubry’s curse was fascinating to watch, though. Rizo becomes the first ever two-time firemaking loser while Joe is brought to the end as a goat once again. Jonathan now loses as the strategic player to a more social one, the exact curse that Aubry was once haunted by. Aubry is the only finalist to get a happy ending, healed from her past and a multi-millionaire. Plus, Jeff’s all-time blunder with Rizo and the juicy, bitter exit press from Jonathan made this finale a surprisingly good one.

    Conclusion: Twist-Screwed?

    Ultimately, you could spend hours going over the what ifs. What if this person was not voted out? What if this twist didn’t happen? What if that twist didn’t happen? You could think about it for days on end, imagining what if that one thing didn’t happen. That’s not productive at all, though, and you’ll only find yourself growing more and more frustrated. At the end of the day, there are many things to be mad about. Why did Jeff call this season “In The Hands of The Fans” if he’s just going to berate fans who complain about the bombardment of twists? But, as Colby said, the best thing to do is to find the joy. Sure, many things could have been handled better this season. There were questionable casting and production choices. But there was also something for almost every fan on 50. Everyone had at least one person to root for. Everyone had at least one moment they could resonate with. It’s better to find the things you like and focus on those rather than endlessly ponder on what if Genevieve and Survivor 50 weren’t twist screwed.

    Rating: 7/10

  • Survivor 50 ‘Reverse the Curse’ Review: Kaoh Rong Redux

    Ten years after the airing of Survivor Kaoh Rong, Aubry Bracco has finally gotten her Survivor victory. And for her patience, she becomes one of two Survivor winners to earn $2 million for their victory, joining Tony Vlachos. And much like her loss on Kaoh Rong, Aubry’s win on 50 is controversial. She beats out the overtly strategic finalist and a goat that’s a nice person with no win equity. Along the way, Tiffany loses her chance at $2 million by one puzzle piece and Rizo becomes the first ever two-time firemaking loser on US Survivor. Oh, and Jeff Probst makes one of the most hilarious live TV blunders of all time.

    Going out Guns Blazing

    Tiffany was the only one to not vote Cirie out at the last tribal council. Now, back at camp, she is pissed and knows she’s on the chopping block if she doesn’t win immunity. She’s not going to just pull a Mitch and lay over and die, though. She’s going to give this all she’s got. She’s more fired up than ever and unfortunately, Aubry just happens to be in her line of fire. As Aubry tries to comfort Tiffany, asking if she needs to talk with her, Tiffany has a mild blow up, telling Aubry that she doesn’t need her fake sympathy. In confessional, she rants about Aubry being a snake. So much for their swapped Kalo friendship…

    At the immunity challenge, Tiffany gives everything she has left. Despite falling slightly behind Jonathan and Joe in the obstacle course, she catches up to them on the puzzle. It’s a dead-heat, and everyone else starts worrying about a Tiffany win. Jonathan takes a break from his puzzle to throw up. Unfortunately, he is still able to clinch the immunity win as Tiffany is in the middle of placing her last puzzle piece. This is an absolutely devastating moment for Tiffany, but as already stated, she refuses to give up.

    Tiffany’s last resort is to turn Jonathan and Joe against Aubry. She tries convincing them that Aubry is a huge threat to win but it falls on deaf ears. She’s frustrated at tribal council and compares herself to Joe, saying they’ve both won three immunity challenges but she’s the only one that is being targeted. This is something she caught flack from Jeff and Jonathan for, but it has merit. In her exit interviews, Tiffany explained that the reason she felt that way was because Jonathan told her at camp that the reason she was targeted and not Joe was because she was a girl. If this is true, and I believe it is because there is no reason for her to lie, then it is an example of poor jury management and possible sexism from Jonathan. I wouldn’t be surprised considering what Lindsey said about him after 42 and it adds credence to Survivor 47’s Rome’s claim that an unnamed player approached him with an alliance to make sure another woman doesn’t win before the season started. The editors hid that moment to protect their darling and make Tiffany look bitter. Alas, it doesn’t matter as Tiffany is voted out in a simple 4-1 vote.

    Tiffany Nicole Ervin: An Unintended Fan Favorite

    Tiffany was done dirty by the editors on 50. She was one puzzle piece away from winning the entire game, but was made irrelevant during the premerge and and given a middling edit throughout the merge. Despite that, she still became a fan favorite and came out to a standing ovation at the reunion. The editors did not intend for her to be a fan favorite, but she became one anyways. The few times the editors decided to put her on the show, she shined bright for her tenacity, underdog run, and amazing confessional skills. If she comes back after this season, I’ll be rooting for her and hope that the editors give her an edit she deserves.

    Reverse Your Curse

    We’ve reached the final four and all of these player have made it to this point in their previous runs. Aubry won a firemaking tiebreaker to get to final tribal on Kaoh Rong, but infamously lost to Michele. Joe was taken to the end by Kyle on 48, but then got ’embarrassed’ at final tribal council. And then both Rizo and Jonathan were firemaking losers on their original seasons. They all have curses that they wish to fix, but not all of them will be able to. Of the four of them, Aubry seems to be the most self aware of her position in the game and her prior mistakes. She doesn’t need to be the top strategist for the jury to award her the win, she just needs them to like her. She also knows that at this point, the other three are against her. She can’t afford to lose right at the end again.

    To nobody’s shock, Simmotion won the fan vote to become the final immunity challenge of Survivor 50. To Aubry’s fortune, this was one of the challenges that she bought a replica of and practiced right before 50. She is able to clinch the victory in a fan-favorite challenge, beating out Joe to secure her spot at final tribal. Safe from firemaking, she has a big decision to make, one that she’s not going to mess up. The other three, hoping that they were going to be able to oust Aubry, will now have to rethink everything.

    Aubry’s mind is made up pretty quickly. She’s going to take Joe to the end. She correctly sees him as the smallest jury threat and also has a genuine friendship with him. It’s an easy decision. Joe is very emotional when Aubry tells him this. He will get his chance to plead his case to the jury for $2 million. A jury that will certainly take him seriously…

    Unfortunately for Jonathan and Rizo, that means the two of them will face off in firemaking. One of them will fail to reverse their curse but the other will heal at least some of their wounds. Rizo struggles with firemaking, to the point Joe decides to help him like he helped Eva on 48. It was a genuinely sweet moment. Also funny, as Rizo does the “R-I-Z-G-O-D Rizgod baby!” bit even as he holds back his tears. We are sure to get a suspenseful firemaking challenge…

    Jeff’s Blunder

    Instead of a traditional reunion, Jeff and production decided to sprinkle in interviews with eliminated castaways and fun segments across the finale. It starts with Jeff presenting Cirie with a weird ‘Survivor Spirit Award,’ then interviewing Tiffany after her elimination, presenting Rick Devens with the Mr. Beast coin, and giving Ozzy a graphic tee. After Aubry announces her decision at tribal council to put Jonathan and Rizo in fire, the finale cuts back to the reunion. Jeff stands at the front of the stage, the jury members behind him. He brings out Rizo, who is confused, but just goes along with Jeff, even as he asks him questions he would ask to eliminated castaways. He caps it off by telling Rizo to take the final seat on the jury. It is only after this that Jeff learns the firemaking challenge hadn’t been shown yet. Jeff does a brilliant job at handling the situation, simply explaining what happened after the ad break and playing into the joke. It ultimately doesn’t really matter, as Jonathan blows Rizo out in firemaking.

    Rizgod: Legacy Cemented

    We have now had two straight seasons of Rizgod, 26 episodes! And it is safe to say, he may not have won, but he cemented his Survivor legacy. His idol shenanigans and unique attribute of being the first two-time firemaking loser will keep him in our minds, but he also just has a very endearing personality. He seems like an amazing guy and it was so fun to watch him meet and play with his Survivor heroes this season. There is no doubt he will be back at some point, I hope not too soon, though. It would be very interesting to see him in five years on Survivor 60, when he’ll have a hopefully lower threat level and a lot of new perspectives.

    The Final 3: Aubry’s Redemption

    Here Aubry is, at the final three once again. She got her ideal scenario with Rizo losing firemaking, now it’s all about winning over the jury at final tribal council. It’s time to heal her wounds. As she heals her wounds though, she’ll unintentionally give someone a whole new set of wounds.

    Before that, the final three must celebrate getting to the end of the game with their day 26 breakfast. In addition to the feast, they are surprised with their loved ones. It was such a nice surprise to see the loved ones, as I had given up hope of there being a loved ones visit after there wasn’t one last episode. But they’re here, at the last possible opportunity. A very pleasant surprise.

    It’s finally time for final tribal council. The final three now stand in front of the jury, ready to plead their case. Aubry is ready to argue that while she may not have been out in front, she did control crucial votes and has a strong legacy to back her. Jonathan is ready to argue his strategic growth from 42 and how he became the most dominant strategic player on 50. And Joe….

    It quickly becomes clear that the vote is between Aubry and Jonathan. Stephenie and Chrissy are both fierce Jonathan defenders. Stephenie rides for Jonathan so hard that Tiffany wonders if she’s ever going to ask a question. Ozzy gives a great speech that shows his growth in the game. He questions Joe and Jonathan about how they spent so much time talking about needing to take out the middle but are now separated by the middle. Jonathan is confused about what he even means. Joe’s most notable moment is when Cirie talks about ‘Joetations.’ She and other jury members felt like they had to play around Joe and babysit him in the game. Tiffany gives another great jury performance, giving a fair chance to all jury members to answer the questions. She even gets to the bottom of the Ozzy blindside, which becomes one of the big talking points at final tribal. She asks Joe who convinced him to turn against Ozzy and he admits it was Aubry. Christian caps off the jury questions perfectly with a question about the three players’ stories and legacies. Aubry gives a summary of what she’s learned across her Survivor journey, Jonathan talks about strategic growth, and Joe talks about how he was always willing to be vulnerable. With jury questions over, it is time to vote. While Jonathan’s pregame alliance of Chrissy, Stephenie, and Coach all vote for him to win, everyone else votes for Aubry, making her the season 50 champion. To end the season finale, Jeff reveals the Sia Award recipient… Cirie!

    Joe Hunter: Honesty and Integrity But Likable

    Joe has shown on both of his seasons that he is a good guy. His relationship with Eva, relationship with Rizo that was mostly hidden, and all around strong values make him seem like a stand-up guy. He seems like one of the most chill people to talk to outside of the game and there’s a reason most of his castmates only have nice things to say about him. As a Survivor player though… Positives first. It is impressive, no matter the circumstances, that he’s reached final tribal council twice. However, his win equity is just so low. On 48, he was the main power player, pushing the honesty and integrity narrative of the season. Through the narrative he pushed, though, he burned the jury and was manipulated by Kyle and Kamilla. Now on 50, he was nowhere near being a power player. In fact, players like Cirie and Emily felt that they had to play around Joe. And he came to the end with no one thinking he stood a chance to win. At this point, I just don’t think Joe is meant to play a cutthroat or strategic Survivor game. His values don’t allow him to play that way, and that’s okay. But personally, he is just not the kind of player I would want to see play again.

    Jonathan Young: Bitter Jurors? Bitter Loser

    I get it. It must hurt so bad to be so close to $2 million dollars and feel like you did everything you could to win. It’s impossible to pinpoint why Jonathan lost, but the one thing that’s clear is that his social game leaves a lot to be desired. The blow up with Dee, which he seemed to truly believe was a masterful move, making snide comments to Devens when he was merely trying to save himself, licking the rice even after Tiffany tells him to stop. These things add up and they result in a jury not willing to vote for him. But the way Jonathan has handled his exit interviews: blaming Cirie for poisoning the jury against him and saying that Aubry only won because of her legacy. It just comes off as bitter. I’ve tried (and often failed) to stay impartial towards Jonathan in all of these reviews, moving past my own biases and dislike of him in order to be fair. I was disappointed to see him on the cast and disappointed to see him get so far. Despite my own opinions, I want to give an honest autopsy of his game. He did show lots of strategic growth. If he just looks within himself and fixes his social game, he could actually become the “whole package.”

    Aubry Bracco: The Ultimate Underdog

    Aubry was one of the more polarizing choices for Survivor 50. I was unsure how to feel about her return until I listened to her preseason interviews, after which I became more excited about her inclusion on the season. This season was all about redemption and healing for Aubry. It was clear how hurt she was by how Edge of Extinction ended for her and she wanted to feel the love she had felt for the game before. But her game on this season was… weird. As she’s admitted, she started off on the wrong foot, being on the bottom of both her original and swapped tribes. Her infamous rivalry with Genevieve was the highlight of her game for the first six episodes. After that, she was loosely aligned with the nerd alliance in the early merge. She did some things to lower her threat level. Firstly, she burned her idol, the same idol that would later put targets on Ozzy and Rizo’s backs. She let the big players take each other out and then, when put in a terrible spot during the split tribal, used the information Ozzy gave her to save herself. In the endgame, she had already made up in her mind who she needed to sit next to at the end to win. She joined in to vote out the three biggest jury threats in Devens, Cirie, and Tiffany. Even if everyone else in the final four was targeting her, she knew she needed them at the end to win. After clutching the win in Simmotion, she took the biggest goat to the end and made the two, slightly bigger threats, fight for their lives. Then, she gave a great speech about what she’s learned over her Survivor journey. That’s all it took to win. It may not have been a flashy or dominant game, but it was a winning one. Sure, her legacy may have helped her win, but ultimately, members of the jury like Cirie were excited to vote for her even without any flashy moves.

    Conclusion: Surprised

    I was not particularly excited coming into the finale. The final five left a lot to be desired, especially considering we had lost most of the big players in the last few episodes. Nothing besides the Rizo blunder and how nice it was to see Aubry finally win really stuck in my mind. But writing this review, I began to like this finale way more than I though I would. The final four, even if it was a final four I found to be very lackluster, all had something to prove. They all had curses they needed to reverse, something that can only happen in returnee seasons. Technically, two of them reversed their curse from the past. But while one of them ends the game healed and a multi-millionaire, the other ends it with one curse reversed and a whole bunch of new wounds. The other two suffered from their exact same curse, but seem content with their experience anyway. It’s a very interesting conclusion to the season and one I can’t wait to explore further in my season review.

  • Survivor 50 ‘Inconceivable’ Review: The Hopeless Death of Two Stars

    May 28th, 2025. Or May 23rd, 2025 if you saw the leak. The Survivor 50 cast is announced, officially or unofficially. You’re excited to see so many of your favorites. For casuals and superfans alike, Cirie Fields, the Dragonslayer, Christian Hubicki, Angelina Keeley, and Q Burdette were all people to be excited about. For casuals specifically, Colby Donaldson, Ozzy Lusth, and Joe Hunter were all casting choices catered toward them. For superfans, Jenna Lewis, Chrissy Hofbeck, and Genevieve Mushaluk all felt like inspired choices. Now that we’re a week away from the finale though, what’s left? Aubry, whose game this season has felt like it has mainly relied on luck and twists working to her advantage? Joe, who even a lot of casuals have turned against at this point? Jonathan, someone who becomes more unlikable the longer he goes without food? Rizo, a polarizing figure who sunk his alliance of fan favorites? And Tiffany, a confusing pick who could have shone this season, but was instead purpled by production for most of the season? With the final two true favorites gone, what’s left to be excited about heading into the finale?

    Aubry is in Control?!

    Aubry played the Ozzy boot to the best of her ability. While she lucked into Ozzy being naive enough to lay out his entire game to her, she made lemonade out of lemons and immediately told everyone that information. She seemingly helped convince Rizo and Joe to get on board with the plan, resulting in the devastating blindside. Now, in the aftermath, Jonathan feels proud of himself, feeling like he has the game winning move under his belt. Aubry completely undermines him in her confessional though, claiming credit for the Ozzy blindside. Now, with Devens out in front as a huge target while she’s comfortably in the middle, she’s sitting pretty.

    Down But Not Out

    Cirie is not at all pleased after she hears what Ozzy did during the split tribal. She knows that he just put a massive target on her, someone who inherently will always be a huge target. She regrets working with him, especially if he was going to pull off an idiotic move like that. She also knows that Ozzy was one of the very few people actually willing to take her to the end of the game and her path to final tribal just got a whole lot harder.

    With his idol gone, Devens knows he’s on the chopping block, even closer than he’s been before. Everyone is looking at him as an easy boot. He knows he needs an idol to survive. He’s the idol guy, everyone knows that! Early in the morning, before the sun even rises, Devens is up looking. Everyone takes notes, and Aubry and Jonathan agree that he cannot have that idol under any circumstances. Jonathan decides to follow Devens, who doesn’t care and continues searching. Unfortunately, he’s unable to find anything and lays down on the hammock in defeat. In this moment, his mortal enemy, Joe, comforts him as he cries about being in such a difficult spot. He’s had a great time playing Survivor again and he’s supposed to be the ‘fun’ guy, but it’s tough to find joy in the moment and not just accept defeat. In confessional, though, he picks himself back up and reminds us that he won four individual immunity challenges on Edge of Extinction, and he’ll do his best in the challenge. He still has a chance, right?

    Down and Out

    The final seven immunity challenge is on. Devens’ last true chance to save himself. The challenge is ‘A Bit Tipsy,’ a challenge that no one has an inherent advantage in. Devens is determined. And… he struggles to ever really get a strong hold on the challenge. Joe wins immunity after a close struggle between seemingly everyone except for Devens, a heartbreaking defeat.

    The scramble before tribal isn’t really much of a scramble. It feels like a forgone conclusion, even if there are rumblings to try to blindside Rizo with his idol. Tiffany is the main person pushing this idea, but her closest ally Cirie obviously shuts it down because Rizo’s working with her. Heading into tribal, Devens knows that the shot in the dark is the only thing that could save him now. At tribal, he talks about how much he loves the game and seeing the stars every night. He tells everyone that he thinks about his family every time he sees a shooting star. It’s a beautiful monologue. Once it’s time to vote, Devens plays his shot in the dark. Unfortunately, once Jeff reads it, it’s revealed to be ‘Not Safe.’ The result is then a unanimous Devens boot. He tells everyone he still feels lucky. Just a shining ray of sunlight.

    Rizrat

    After a lackluster Devens boot comes an even more devastating boot. The round starts with everyone targeting Tiffany, suddenly seeing her as a huge threat. Aubry calls her a jury threat. She is determined to not repeat her mistake from Koah Rong and have another Michele at the end with her, so Tiffany has to go. Rizo tells Cirie about the Tiffany plan despite Aubry and Jonathan not wanting him to. At this point, Cirie has her two closest allies both going after each other, not a great spot to be in. And it’s about to get a whole lot worse…

    Tiffany wins immunity! It was a very satisfying victory, even despite the repercussions later on. It seemed everyone was helping each other so that Tiffany didn’t win, but that didn’t matter. Joe and Johnathan both incorrectly spelled the arch puzzle, an embarrassing showing. Joe gets a pass for being dyslexic, but no excuse for Jonathan. Just a dumb meathead. And it was oddly poetic for Tiffany to win this challenge, given her tribe’s iconic and disastrous defeat on an arch puzzle on 46.

    With Tiffany off the board, who better to target than Cirie? Everyone knows this, including Cirie. She knows she needs to somehow pull off a last-minute plan to save herself. She does the best she can do with her back against the wall. Using the information Rizo told her earlier, she frames Aubry as a rat to Jonathan and Joe, hoping she can flip them against her. Given they already don’t trust her, it isn’t particularly hard to this. Maybe she can actually pull this off.

    Rizo is in an interesting position. He’s been working with Cirie since the swapped Cila tribe. It’s been a dream come true, working with one of his favorite players from his favorite game. But, he knows that he can’t beat her at the end. So, he makes the decision to flip on her and seals Cirie’s fate. He flips Jonathan and Joe back onto the Cirie plan. Heading into tribal, it is framed as the vote being between Cirie and Aubry, with the one who survives becoming the frontrunner…

    Once it is time to vote, Cirie and Aubry both have nothing but great things to say about each other, even as they write the other’s name down. After all, the two are friends outside of the game! Cirie hopes that the next time she and Aubry meet, it won’t be in a situation where the two must be at each other’s throats. Aubry calls Cirie the best Survivor player of all time, even better than Tony and Sandra. Once Jeff reads the vote, it’s revealed to be a 4-2 Cirie vote, with Tiffany being Cirie’s only loyal ally by the end. Cirie gives a beautiful final farewell to Survivor before her torch is snuffed.

    Rick Devens: Agent of Chaos… And Fun!

    Rick Devens was a shining light on Survivor 50. He is someone who was genuinely having a blast every day that he was on Survivor 50, taking in every moment. I cannot believe that he was an alternate until weeks before the cast flew out. Devens did things for the sake of having fun, refusing to just play it safe and determined to make 50 an entertaining season. His nerd alliance with Christian and Emily, the fake immunity idol, the Mr. Beast coin flip, his idol play. He left his mark on 50 and cemented his legacy as a legendary player. I really truly hope people take inspiration from Devens’ game in future seasons and take big risks, instead of coasting by and making the safest move at every opportunity.

    Cirie Fields: Mastermind

    Cirie controlled Survivor 50 from the moment the game started until her boot round. On Cila, she helped boot Jenna and Savannah while making her way into the majority alliance with Ozzy as a secret ally. On swapped Cila, she formed her relationship with Rizo and flipped Dee and Kamilla to her side. During the merge, she sealed Chrissy and Coach’s, Christian’s, and Emily’s fates. People criticized her for burning Christian and Stephenie, who were both working with her, but they’re missing a key part of the story. Cirie making it to the end relied on having Ozzy by her side. He and Tiffany were the only people willing to take her to the end. She could not keep around anyone who was targeting him. The split tribal twist and Ozzy’s subsequent blindside screwed her over. Without that twist, there is a very real chance she could have won.

    Conclusion: Downer Ending

    The season might not be over, but it feels over. With the two biggest fan favorites gone, there’s not much left to look forward to. Most of the final five are likable people, but their games and edits leave a lot to be desired. At this point, it feels like an Aubry win is set in stone. The show has given her so much credit and focus despite being irrelevant for the first half of the game. It feels like the story of the season is Aubry reversing her fate on Koah Rong. She needs the right people at the end, and that means working with the honor-bound Joe, increasingly unlikable Jonathan, and unrespected new kid Rizo. Even if that’s not an ending to look forward to, it’s an ending that could get her $2 million.

  • Survivor 50 ‘Everyone Will Be Shooketh’ Review: History Repeats Itself

    Eighteen years after his infamous Micronesia blindside, Ozzy becomes the first ever Survivor player to be voted out with an idol in their pocket twice. And this time, it’s twice as devastating as the last. Before his exit, he also unintentionally replicated the Andy and Rachel moment on 47 with Aubry, telling her everything about his game for no benefit. Just a plethora of mistakes before one of the saddest and most heart-wrenching exits in Survivor history.

    500 Hypocrisy Hill

    After Devens’ successful coin flip at the last tribal council, he now has an immunity idol in his possession. In addition, the prize pot has just been doubled to $2,000,000! Even if they were about to vote Rick out, everyone is celebrating the extra million dollars! Well, everyone except for Joe and Johnathan. They are not pleased as they were the most eager out of anyone to vote Devens off. Now, they are planning how to safely dispose of Devens idol and still vote him out as soon as possible. All the while, Aubry and Devens talk on the hammock, where Aubry tells Devens she’s thankful he flipped the coin and, in confessional, says that Devens did exactly what she needed him to do. Odd to give Aubry some credit for this move, but it seems that they’re slowly building her up as a big player… Once Devens finally opens up his Mr. Beast idol in private, he finds out that the idol is only good until the final 7, but it has all the power of a normal idol. Kind of disappointing the only real idol of the season expires so quickly, but considering Devens uses it by the end of the episode, it doesn’t really matter. Side note, it was great to see Devens running across the island and dancing near the shore after opening his idol. His ideology for the game is amazing and refreshing. He doesn’t care about winning or making the most optimal moves as much as he cares about having a great time. We need more Rick Devens on Survivor.

    In the morning, the aftermath of the coin flip, Joe is still sulking about the fact that Devens has an idol and put on that show at tribal. He complains to Cirie that what Devens did was inappropriate, but she tries explaining to him that they were going to vote Devens out and he did what he had to do. Joe then tells Cirie that he thinks he handled the situation well. In confessional, Cirie rants about Joe calling him out for just moping and saying he lives on 500 Hypocrisy Hill. She then complains about Joe to Tiffany, who also seems fed up with him. Joe has had such a strange two season trajectory. On 48, he was almost universally viewed as a huge threat and a hero due to his relationship with Eva. At the end, many were shocked to see he only received one vote to win. Now, on 50, Joe is seen by his castmates as an obstacle and someone they need to babysit in the game. This time, many will be shocked if he gets to the end and receives even one vote to win.

    Trying Not to Repeat History

    For many people, Ozzy is still a big target, especially with his idol. Even one of Cirie’s closest allies, Tiffany, has told Cirie that Ozzy needs to go now. Cirie is playing into this plan, but obviously, she does not want Ozzy leaving anytime soon. However, she’s okay with him getting votes, because she needs Ozzy and Rizo’s idols to be flushed. She can just allow people to vote Ozzy out, but then tell him to play his idol before tribal. Cirie will not allow another Game Changers moment to happen to her under any circumstances. Will this plan work out, though?

    An Immunity Challenge Scandal & Another Bad Twist

    The Bermuda Triangles are the next immunity challenge. Always a great challenge to watch and the place of the infamous Alphabet game on 46. Everyone maintains their balance for the first few stages except for Cirie, unfortunately. Once they reach the final stage where everyone must hold one foot in the air, though, everyone starts dropping like flies. Tiffany is the last one standing and wins immunity…

    Of course, Tiffany unfortunately did not win immunity. Once everyone’s back at the dock, Jeff and production review footage, where it’s revealed that Tiffany lifted her leg seconds after everyone else, giving her an unfair advantage. With that, Jeff has to revoke Tiffany’s win and give it to the second placer… Johnathan. Now that Johnathan has the immunity necklace, Jeff announces the twist. Another split tribal!!! The castaways will draw rocks to determine the different groups and Johnathan will be allowed to cast a vote in both groups. He can walk between the two groups’ camps freely up until tribal council. Group 1 consists of Cirie, Devens, Emily, and Tiffany. Group 2 consists of Aubry, Joe, Ozzy, and Rizo.

    To give production credit, on paper, this twist is at least somewhat interesting. Split tribals have been done to death in the new era, but having the immunity winner be able to talk and vote with two groups is a refreshing idea. But, come on! The final 9 and 8 rounds have both often been integral to the trajectory of the game, but both are now cut. In addition, there are so many idols and so few groups that there was a serious chance for an Advantage-geddon 2.0 if someone was put in the same group as Devens, Ozzy, and Rizo. Just seems like such a reckless choice by production in the name of more twists. Somehow, it ends up working out here, with both groups delivering interesting results, but these twists need to stop. The only normal merge votes have been the Dee, Christian, and Stephenie boots! Just let the players actually play the game, I promise they’ll deliver an interesting result on their own!

    Group 1: Emily & Devens’ Last Ditch Plan

    Emily and Devens were lucky enough to not get split up for this vote. That will at least give both of them a fighting chance to survive. The two know that they’re still on the chopping block even with Devens’ idol and are scheming ways for both of them to survive this vote. Emily comes up with the master plan. She’s going to tell Cirie, Johnathan, and Tiffany that she thinks she can convince Devens to play the idol on her. If he does play his idol on her, they’ll all be able to write his name down and he’ll be out. In reality, though, Devens will play the idol on himself and he and Emily will have the deciding votes. They both agree to vote out Cirie, as she’s far and away the best player in the game and this would be a great opportunity to blindside her. Emily seemingly does get both Cirie and Tiffany to believe her about the idol, however, there’s one thing she doesn’t know. Cirie still has the extra vote Ozzy gave to her on Cila. And she’s not afraid to use it. Cirie is obviously very cautiousof the idol, as even if Johnathan is eager to get one of Emily or Devens out, the idol could just snipe her out. The remedy to that: split the votes using her extra vote. Two votes on Devens, two on Emily. That way, she’ll be safe from Devens’ idol no matter what.

    While trying to survive this tribal council, Cirie is also trying to make sure that both Ozzy and Rizo also survive. She has Johnathan as her mouth piece for the other camp. So, while Tiffany is telling Johnathan to target Ozzy in the other group, Cirie is doing the same. However, Cirie wants Johnathan to tell Joe and Rizo about the plan. She hopes that Rizo will be able to warn Ozzy to play his idol. This would be an absolute masterclass. If it works…

    Cirie’s first plan works at tribal council. As expected, Devens plays his idol on himself, negating two votes. When the second vote for Cirie is read, Devens and Emily think they pulled it off. Any relief they had is quickly wiped away when Jeff reveals one more vote remains, and it’s for Emily. Cirie actually found the perfect use for the extra vote, one of the more niche Survivor advantages that has only worked once before with Maryanne’s vote for Omar in 42. This just further proves how Cirie is one of the best to ever do it. Of course, Emily is then voted out 4-2 in the revote. I appreciate that she went out swinging, I’ll give more of my thoughts on her later.

    Group 2: Jury Management 101

    While Cirie does an amazing job saving herself and trying to save Ozzy and Rizo, Ozzy does a terrible job at just surviving. Right off the bat, it looks like an obvious Aubry boot. Ozzy is in a tight alliance with Rizo and trusts Joe. Because it’s looking like Aubry is done for, Ozzy decides it’s time to work some of his jury management skills. He pulls Aubry aside and basically exposes his whole game to her. He tells her about how he and Cirie are working in lockstep, how he’s planning to bring her to the end, and how she has an extra vote no one knows about. For what reason?! This is hours before tribal council, giving Aubry plenty of time to use this information to try to save herself. And I doubt Ozzy watched 47, but this is exactly what Andy did right before getting idoled out! Never assume someone is dead to rights no matter how much that may be the case.

    Of course, Aubry gets to work, spilling this information to all of Joe, Johnathan, and Rizo. Neither Joe nor Johnathan necessarily trust Aubry, but this is still solid information to have. Johnathan, having been told by Tiffany to target Ozzy, is only further convinced to blindside him. Rizo is an interesting case, though. On paper, Ozzy and Rizo are working together. However, Ozzy just leaked valuable information for practically no reason, and Rizo is just confused. He’s concerned that Ozzy could blow up his game as well if this continues. So, even if he knows Cirie wants him to save Ozzy, he’s not sure it’s worth it. Eventually, Joe is convinced by Johnathan to vote Ozzy out, and the only way he survives now is by playing his idol…

    At tribal council, Ozzy is still unsure of whether or not to play his idol. As he votes, he openly says he has no idea if he’ll play his idol. As Aubry votes, she quietly pleads for Ozzy not to play his idol. Her wishes are granted when Jeff asks if anyone wants to play an idol and… Ozzy doesn’t play it. With that, his fate is sealed, and he’s blindsided in a 4-1 vote. Ozzy is gutted and gives one of the most real and raw reactions to being voted out ever. He solemnly asks everyone why they did this as he stands up. He’s especially hurt by Rizo, who tries telling him he’ll explain it later. As he walks toward Jeff, he recalls his dream about this exact thing happening and now wishes he followed his intuition. Standing in front of Jeff, he tells everyone that he trusted them so much. The old tribal music plays as he stands there, contemplating everything, before Jeff snuffs his torch.

    Emily Flippen: New Era Legend?

    We were blessed with 11 episodes of absolute chaos and mayhem from Emily Flippen. One of the people coming into the game that I most feared would get purpled, she proved me wrong. She attended tribal council every episode, yet managed to survive all of them up until the final 9. And she survived despite doing things like exposing Aubry’s idol as soon as her newly swapped tribe hit the beach, exposing Rizo’s idol to everyone, and being a constant target. She may not have had the best gameplay, but she certainly had some of the most entertaining gameplay. She said coming into the season that she wanted to embrace her bluntness, and she certainly did. She did not lay over and die and went down swinging, something that’s always appreciated. She should not be ashamed of her messiness, it is part of the reason so many love her. Her, Christian, and Devens are certainly one of the best alliances this season, there is no debating that. Devens must now carry the flame.

    Ozzy Lusth: Oscar Lusth

    Ozzy 5.0 is by far my favorite version of Ozzy. He was one of the people that I was the least excited to see on 50, but by his preseason interview, he had already turned me around. He said he would play more socially and strategically this time, and he did just as he said. His relationship with Cirie was beautiful to see and was one of the most genuine friendships this season. He trusted her and let her take the lead while forming relationships with people like Emily and Stephenie. It sucks that his game fell apart the second he was away from Cirie in the merge, but it doesn’t take anything away from what he brought to the season. It was an amazing experience watching Oscar play Survivor, and his tribute to his dad was so authentic and beautiful. Even if it was completely self-inflicted, I was heartbroken to see him be voted out with an idol in his pocket yet again. A full-circle moment in the worst way.

    Conclusion: Twists, Twists, Twists

    I have been enjoying this season, but the countless twists are so frustrating to watch. Even if some of them have led to entertaining results, some have severely hurt the season. It’s just disheartening, because this is a group of players that came to give everything they had. Yet, it feels like the producers are unnecessarily jamming in twists because they don’t have faith in the cast to bring entertainment. I get that this is a landmark season and they want to make it grand, but they’re unintentionally bringing the season down. Every merge vote except for the Dee boot has had some kind of twist happen, starting with the Blood Moon. This episode was entertaining, but only because the players gave it everything and not because of the twist they had to play around of.

  • Survivor 50 ‘A Side Dish of Chaos’ Review: The Mr. Beast Episode

    One coin flip. A 50/50 chance. If it lands on the right side, the season still has life. Land on the wrong side, though… and the season is dealt a major, potentially killing blow. I really thought production had learned from the Do or Die twist. They were lucky that neither Deshawn nor Lindsey were actually eliminated by the Do or Die twist. But here we are, another chance for a player to be eliminated without a vote. I really don’t understand the appeal of doing this three times now. Does production think that a player being anti-climatically eliminated without a vote-off would be interesting, because it really wouldn’t. It would be such a bummer ending to an episode. And they’re lucky that has never happened in the three times this twist has happened.

    This episode was good, but only because Rick Devens successfully flipped the coin. If he didn’t, it might have just been the final nail in the coffin for 50.

    The Auction Returns

    The Survivor Auction is back, and despite 50 being an all-stars season, only four of the remaining players have actually participated in an auction before. This is a new experience for most of them. The auction is also back to classic rules. Everyone starts with the same amount of money and no one is at risk of losing their vote. This was a nice rule reversal. Someone losing their vote simply for having the most money left at the end of the auction was a completely unnecessary twist that felt like a result of production’s bizarre obsession with having people lose their votes in the New Era.

    The Survivor 50 Auction was just good old-fashioned fun. The tone was set with the short montage of iconic auction moments before it began. Jeff added this weird chaos-comfort thing to the auction, but it wasn’t related to the game until the end, so I was perfectly okay with it. And there was a surprisingly small amount of Mr. Beast to top it all off!

    Everyone is terrified of getting stuck with a bad item. Emily is suspicious of a perfectly fine chocolate milkshake after she gets a bargain deal of $100 on it. Jonathan buys the saddest snack plate anyone’s ever seen. And then, after buying a covered item, he is told to select another person to participate in a ‘Fall on the Sword’ challenge with him. He chooses Ozzy and is told to select one of the two covered items. One is chaos and the other is comfort. He picks the chaos item, leaving Ozzy with the comfort. He must eat a sea slug in under two minutes or Ozzy won’t get the comfort item. After completing the challenge, Ozzy gets a massive plate of food for free and Jonathan paid $280 to eat a sea slug! Absolutely amazing.

    Cirie seems to be having an amazing time at the auction, even after throwing up some of her food. She starts off her auction by purchasing toothpaste and mouthwash for $20, perhaps the biggest bargain ever at a Survivor auction. She buys a blanket, followed by a giant charcuterie board. She takes a small break from eating her charcuterie to throw up and then returns to continue eating. Aubry also has a great time at the auction. Her first item is a chaos for comfort item, which she shares with Rizo. To earn the comfort of chocolate chip cookies and milk, one or both of them must eat two live grubs. Rizo is hesitant, but Aubry is more than happy to eat the grubs. She calls herself a psycho and eats both of them like candy while dancing, earning the two of them the comfort. Then, Aubry gets a bowl of mac & cheese, which turns into an emotional moment when she is reminded of her son by the mac & cheese.

    To end off the auction, Jeff reveals the final, chaos or comfort item to everyone for $20 each if all of them chip in. They all decide to take the risk and earn letters from home. In addition, they unleash Mr. Beast onto the island. Their reactions as Mr. Beast shows up range from Rizo being ecstatic to Cirie not even knowing who he is. After Jeff spends a solid minute talking up, Mr. Beast reveals the Super Beware Advantage. He then leaves and it’s revealed he’ll be back at tribal council. I’ll discuss more how I feel about Mr. Beast on Survivor in a later section.

    Who Targeted Ozzy First?

    After Tiffany wins her second individual immunity challenge in a very emotional and satisfying victory, the pre-tribal scramble is officially on. Aubry gets a confessional reflecting on her Koah Rong loss to Michele and says she understands why Michele won. She wants to replicate parts of Michele’s gameplay and make big swings at the end of the game. After saying this, she is seemingly the person that convinces Jonathan and Stephenie to target the people with idols. And then, Jonathan gets the idea to target Ozzy and Stephenie is fully on board. They talk with Devens, who Jonathan is now considering using as a smokescreen. Devens talks with Emily about what they told him and both of them are ready to write down Ozzy’s name again. Jonathan is set on the Ozzy plan and tries to rope in Joe. Unfortunately for Jonathan, Joe seems more determined to get Devens out than stick with honor and integrity. Joe leaks the plan to Cirie, who is not willing to let Ozzy go down. Stephenie then lies to Cirie about a vote split between Emily and Devens, but Cirie sees right through her and is now ready to target Stephenie. Ozzy tells Jonathan about the Stephenie plan for some reason and it gets back to her. She confronts Cirie to no avail and is now freaking out. Plans are now flying everywhere and no one really knows what to do. Devens suggests voting Rizo and Stephenie for some reason reveals her vote steal to him. Rick Devens ends the scramble with tons of information and he’s looking to cause a ton of chaos with it…

    Rick Devens Blows Everything Up

    At tribal council, knowing that he’s still in a lot of danger Rick Devens reveals everything that Stephenie and Jonathan told him, including the vote steal. He tells everyone they should band together against those 3 (Honor and Integrity), who are leaving them out of the plan or targeting them. Jonathan and Stephenie try to call Devens a liar, but at this point, nobody really trusts them. In the midst of that, it’s finally time for Mr. Beast’s Super Beware Advantage to be revealed. Mr. Beast arrives to tribal council with his briefcase and it is revealed that either through drawing rocks or someone volunteering, a coin will be flipped. If the selected person wins the coin flip, they are not only safe, but they also receive an idol and double the prize pot to $2,000,000! If they lose the coin flip, though, they are automatically out of the game. Devens is eager to take this opportunity, feeling like he’s got nothing left to do. Aubry almost volunteers as well, but eventually backs down. Devens is then allowed to flip the coin and wins it! Everyone (except for Joe) is excited about the prize increase, but is now scrambling on who to target. With Devens safe, Stephenie and Jonathan are looking to target Aubry. Emily tells them she’ll write down Aubry, but Jonathan says she’s full of it. Great social play there. It seems like people are starting to coalesce around Stephenie as a target and she feels the heat. Before voting begins, she plays her vote steal on Devens. It is to no avail though, as even Jonathan and Joe flip on her, resulting in an 8-2 Stephenie vote out.

    The Mr. Beast of it All

    Surprisingly, Mr. Beast and his Super Beware advantage are the best out of any of the celebrity cameos on 50. He didn’t take a lot of screentime up to advertise his YouTube channel or career, unlike Zach Brown. His advantage actually seemed crafted by him with thought put into it, unlike the Jimmy Fallon journey or Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol. And he was only there to talk about his advantage and didn’t take over the show! The most annoying part was Jeff’s unabashed praise of him, but even that wasn’t too bad. Obviously, the part of potentially going home without a vote sucks, but Devens made it work. He seemed to be the celebrity that cared the most about the show, so good for you Jimmy!

    Stephenie LaGrossa: 4th Time’s Not The Charm

    Stephenie not only lost Survivor for the fourth time, but also got bested by Cirie on a reality show for the fourth time! You really think that at some point, she’d learn. Her overall run on 50 was… interesting, to say the least. She started off the game strong, but once the merge hit, she stuck by honor and integrity until the wheels fell off. Cirie was her kryptonite yet again and ultimately the root of her downfall. Even her honesty and integrity allies had to let her go by the end of it. She’s a very mellow personality, ironically at her most entertaining off the show during drunk Instagram Live sessions and shady exit interviews. At least she got to play an advantage before she left.

    Conclusion: The Best of the Celebrities

    Thank goodness the Mr. Beast episode worked out in the best possible way and didn’t lead to anyone getting screwed over. I still think that Survivor should never include celebrities this much again, but at least none of the celebrity twists were season killers. The bar was low, though, as Jimmy already surpassed most of the celebrities just by virtue of actually caring about the show. I mean, the Billie Eilish thing is seriously embarrassing on CBS’ end. They’re giving her all this free publicity, naming an advantage she didn’t even come up with after her, and she can’t even be bothered to mention the show once.

  • Survivor 50 ‘I Deserve All Of This’ Review: Jimmy Fallon Decides Christian’s Fate

    The threat of Jimmy Fallon had loomed over Christian for his entire 50 run. Ever since the first look, where Christian infamously said “Jimmy Fallon could decide my fate in this game,” we’ve known that something would go down between David vs Goliath’s nerdy star and the famed talk show host. Every episode where Jimmy Fallon wasn’t mentioned was a sigh of relief for Christian fans. 1 more week of safety. Once he was finally mentioned, though, everyone knew Christian was in deep, deep trouble…

    Survivor 50’s episode brought plenty of exciting and controversial moments. Cirie working with everybody, Christian’s downfall, and Jimmy Fallon’s kiss of death. So many things to analyze.

    Aubry Branches Out

    In her only moment of the entire episode, Aubry is looking for new allies. She now sees Devens and the nerd alliance as a sinking ship after the stunt that Devens pulled at the last tribal council. She needs to pick up her game and ditch those nerds. In fact, she needs to go in the complete opposite direction and work with the jocks. By jocks, of course, I mean Jonathan. Aubry knows that Jonathan may not want to work with her, but he won’t have a choice. He’ll need her, especially now that he’s just lost two of his allies. This is a duo that goes absolutely nowhere after their brief conversation at the beginning of the episode, so we’ll probably see them again, at some point…

    Christian’s Downfall Prologue: Devens vs Honesty and Integrity

    Jonathan is butthurt that Devens “found” an advantage at tribal council and that his bestie, Coach, was voted out partly because of it. After talking a bit of smack about Devens in a confessional, Jonathan has his eyes set on the nerds. Devens, on the other hand, knows that it’s only a matter of time before everyone finds out his idol is fake. He admits to Emily that the idol was fake, to which she is not pleased at all. He just put a huge target on his back and maybe hers as well.

    Rick Devens just does not seem to get along with anyone who talks up a big game about honesty and integrity. His rivalry with Joe all the way back from episode 2 is reawakened, back with a vengeance. Joe talks with Devens and claims that he was never targeting him during the last vote. Devens does not believe a single ounce of this and both are barely able to hide their disdain for each other. Joe says in confessional that Devens was super aggressive at tribal and has an idol, but he didn’t bring any of that up. Even as the two of them hug it out, Joe’s face says it all.

    Christian’s Downfall Act I: Everyone Trusts Cirie

    Christian’s downfall is a tragic tapestry of errors and unfortunate twists. His first mistake begins with Cirie, one of his closest allies on the original Cila tribe. Cirie considers him to be a solid ally, probably #3 on her list of allies if she were to rank them. Christian reciprocates the trust, so he tells her about his plan for the next vote. Ozzy is trying to play the middle, so Christian tells Cirie that they need to vote him out next. Firstly, great read on Christian’s part. He is correct, Ozzy is playing the middle and he has caught on. Secondly, terrible read on Christian’s part. Ozzy is Cirie’s closest ally, and he just told her how he plans to target him.

    Of course, Cirie immediately goes and tells Ozzy about Christian’s plan. Ozzy is not at all pleased and thinks back to when Christian blindsided him during the Mike White boot. Now is finally the time to get revenge on Christian. Things only get worse for Christian, as his partner in crime Devens’ rivalry with the Honesty and Integrity people turns around on him. Christian offers up his shot in the dark again, this time to Jonathan, hoping that this will gain trust with him after ‘backstabbing’ him at the last tribal council. Instead, Jonathan talks with Joe and tells him that he has a plan. If Christian gives Jonathan his shot in the dark, that is a fantastic shot to blindside him. And he’s determined to take it. It only continues getting worse, as Cirie and Jonathan have a meeting where Cirie reveals to Jonathan that Christian said its either him or Ozzy leaving next. So, Cirie, Jonathan, and Ozzy are now all working together to take Christian down.

    Jeff Participates in His First Immunity Challenge!

    It’s the first part of Jimmy Fallon’s chaotic reign. Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show audience voted for Jeff to participate in an immunity challenge. Of course, he’s not just going to participate in a challenge for fun. There’s a twist… involving rice. Five people must wager a bet with Jeff that they’ll outlast him in the challenge. If all five players outlast Jeff, then the entire tribe earns rice. If even one falls, there’s no rice. After the count is lowered to four, Joe, Jonathan, Ozzy, and Tiffany all agree to the bet. Jeff talks a bit of smack to Devens during the challenge, a welcome surprise. There’s even a montage of Jeff’s sassy moments! It was so nice to see that, reminiscent of the iconic “Jeff Probst: King of Sass” compilations on YouTube. Jeff quickly realizes how difficult the challenge is, even thinking someone on the production crew pranked him by making his bucket heavier. He drops out, only outlasting Rizo, Emily, and Devens. After Joe wins immunity, Jeff reveals the final twist. Someone will be going on a journey, and Joe gets to pick who. Joe does an unintentional callback to Maria’s rock, paper, scissors battle for reward on 46 after multiple people volunteer to go. Christian is the most skilled at rock, paper, scissors and gets to go on the journey! Yay!

    Christian’s Downfall Act II: Jimmy Fallon’s Wrath

    Christian’s journey is a redux of Rachel’s journey challenge on 47. Instead of a ball puzzle, though, Christian must build a Survivor 50 logo puzzle. The pressure is on for Christian. His trio is in deep danger after Devens’ stunt at the last tribal, so he needs this advantage. What even is the advantage? Well, it’s a weird, slightly different extra vote. If Christian completes the puzzle in time, he gets to cast a vote immediately, before tribal council, for anyone he wants. If he loses, he’ll have to take an envelope and make an announcement at camp.

    Christian is making slow, but steady progress. Unfortunately, he’s too slow and the puzzle sinks into the ocean as he helplessly watches. After this loss, Christian gives an emotional, but inspiring speech about handling his loss. He could easily berate himself for blowing the puzzle. He won’t, though, because he needs to set a good example for his son. He needs to take this in stride and show his son that even when he falters, he needs to pick himself up and not let that moment define him.

    After Christian returns to camp, he has to read an announcement from the envelope to everyone for his punishment. And this punishment is absolutely evil. Christian announces to the entire tribe that he must vote for himself at tribal council. Being forced to vote for yourself is already bad enough, but being forced to announce it completely takes away any leeway Christian could have. He can’t even lie about this, everyone knows he’s at a huge disadvantage. And that just isn’t fun. Jimmy Fallon is a deeply evil, twisted, depraved person. Inviting Christian onto his show is not enough to erase the damage he did.

    Christian’s Downfall Act III: Emily to the Rescue?

    It’s almost lights out for Christian, and now, he must scramble to save himself. He gives his shot in the dark to Jonathan, since it’s meaningless now that he must vote for himself. The situation’s dire, but luckily for him, Emily surprisingly doesn’t want to throw him under the bus. Instead, she wants Ozzy out, just like Christian had said earlier. What a confusing sage with Emily and Ozzy’s relationship. I have no idea where they stand or why Emily has turned against him after initially trying to cultivate that relationship. Unfortunately for Emily, she is not saving Christian in the way she thinks. Instead, she’s saving him by accidentally making herself the target. It starts when she gets into an argument with Cirie over how much rice she’s cooking. Cirie bashes Emily in confessional, joking that she’ll cook a damn risotto if she wants. Then, when talking with Tiffany and Cirie, Emily tells them about her plan to target Ozzy. Neither is pleased by this, and Tiffany calls Emily out for flip flopping. Tiffany now wants Emily gone. Cirie would prefer for Emily to go, but after a bunch of pre-tribal scrambling, the target shifts back and forth between all of the nerd alliance. Looks like Aubry made a smart decision seperating herself. By the end of it, Cirie really doesn’t care who goes, as long as it’s one of the nerds.

    By the end of it all, it’s just too good of a chance to pass up. Christian is blindsided at tribal council and has a pretty devastating reaction. To really rub salt in the wound, Jonathan gives Christian his shot in the dark back right before he leaves. What a tragic ending to the trilogy of Christian’s downfall.

    Christian Hubicki: The Main Character

    For the first nine episodes of Survivor 50, Christian was by far one of, if not the biggest character and player of the season. A compelling narrator and amazing confessionalist, how could the editors not showcase him at every opportunity? And he attended every tribal council, most of which he played a pivotal role in, so of course he would get tons of screentime. It got to the point that he became grating for a lot of people. Many people thought that the editors were shoving him into the show every chance they could. Despite that, I’m still so glad he was brought back. He brought so much to this season, his dynamic with Rick and Emily, his story about his son, his amazing commentary and reactions. I only wish he didn’t turn on his fellow David vs Goliath castmates so quickly. The rest of the season will not feel the same without him.

    Conclusion: Twists Backfire

    As much as production is to blame for these terrible twist ideas and celebrity appearances, I have to ask. What exactly did those fans that voted for ‘dynamic’ twists expect? They are a little at fault for not being able to see through production’s con. The Jimmy Fallon disadvantage was brutal and very easily could have been the thing that sealed Christian’s fate. He was already in danger, though, so maybe it was just never meant to be. With the long dreaded Mr. Beast episode coming up next, the final test for Survivor 50 comes. One more terrible twist and this season could be killed, like Big Brother 25 was. If production handles Mr. Beast at least somewhat competently, however, there still could be light at the end of the tunnel.

  • Survivor 50 ‘Double The Fun, Double The Demise’ Review: Dragon Slayed

    Survivor 50 Episode 8 has unleashed yet another controversial twist, the “Double Duos.” Unlike the Blood Moon, though, this twist was much fairer and led to the demise of the Honesty and Integrity alliance. Funnily enough, the name of the twist is worse that the twist itself. Because what kind of name is “Double Duos?” If you’re going to steal a twist from international Survivor, you might as well steal the name too. Tied Destinies has a much nicer ring to it.

    Tiffany vs. Everyone Else

    The game is divided exactly 50/50! Of course, we have the Honesty and Integrity side of Coach, Chrissy, Joe, Johnathan, and Stephenie. That side seemingly thinks Cirie, Ozzy, and Rizo are all with them too. Then, there’s Aubry, Christian, Devens, and Emily in the middle. And that leaves the fierce, tough competition of… just Tiffany on the other side. That’s how the Honesty and Integrity players perceive the game, at least. Of course, with our knowledge as viewers, we know that it’s more like the middle is actually in the opposition with Tiffany and the true middle is Cirie’s Rizard of Oz.

    Before the Double Duos twist is revealed, it seems like Tiffany is the easy next boot. Though, there are rumblings of targeting the perceived middle: the nerds (Aubry, Christian, Devens, Emily). Coach, the amazing player he is, wants to gain Tiffany’s trust. He tells her that he was not one of the people who wrote her name down at the Dee vote. When Tiffany asks who it was, though, he blanks. Tiffany obviously sees through Coach’s lies and is ready to get him out. And she might just get that opportunity, as Ozzy admits to her that he wrote her name down but is ready to serve Coach up on a platter for her. Tiffany appreciates this boldness and honesty from Ozzy, something Coach failed to show her. A great display of Ozzy’s strategic and social growth since Game Changers.

    Once everyone is told to get into duos, multiple people volunteer to be the one person not in a group. Although Devens tries to claim he’s bad at challenges (he won multiple on Edge of Extinction), Cirie is ultimately the one to not end up in a pair. Could be risky… Tiffany, a strong competitor herself, is paired with Joe, another strong competitor. Once Jeff reveals the Double Duos, that everyone will live and die by their pairs, except for Cirie, who is now safe and sound on Exile Island, the immunity challenge begins. Tiffany & Joe easily advance to the final part of the challenge, as do Ozzy & Stephenie and Aubry & Devens. After initially falling behind in the second stage, Tiffany & Joe clutch up at the maze and win immunity! Tiffany’s first ever individual immunity win came at a great time! She’s now off the table and either the nerds or Honesty and Integrity will take a major hit.

    The Perpetual Underdog: Aubry Bracco

    Aubry knows that she’s in trouble without her idol, which she just burned at the Dee vote off. She messed up and she knows it. But she’s been underestimated every time she’s played Survivor, no matter how often she proves herself. She and Devens will get out of this predicament. They’re not dead to rights by any means, as people are looking to take a shot at Honesty and Integrity. Emily in particular is sick of Coach and wants him gone. It’s gonna take more than just her to get Honesty and Integrity out, though. And at this moment, the true middle of Rizo and Ozzy see Aubry and Devens as huge targets to take a shot at.

    Coach in Time Out

    Coach is quickly becoming a liability to himself and the Honesty and Integrity alliance as a whole. His Haikus, constant talking, and bad strategy could sink him and Chrissy at tribal council. Chrissy is not about to let him drag her down and sends him to the hammock to take a cool-down day. He agrees to this and spends the rest of his day creating new haikus and singing in solace.

    All the while, Chrissy has a bigger target than Aubry & Devens in mind. She’s terrified of someone like Rizo sneaking his way to the end, when she believes he doesn’t deserve to be there. So instead of Devens & Aubry, Chrissy wants Emily & Rizo out. She begins to tell people about this plan, but nobody is really getting on board.

    Cirie Rising From the Ashes

    For once, Cirie didn’t get twist screwed! This time, a twist helped her! It’s an early Christmas miracle. Because Cirie didn’t have a pair, she is safe from tribal council for the night on Exile Island. It could get even better for her though. On Exile Island, 2,000 coconuts are scattered around the beach. One of these coconuts has a beautiful phoenix design. If Cirie can find this coconut before the sand timer runs out, she can return to camp and have a say in which duo leaves tonight. 2,000 coconuts is a lot to get through though, especially when they’re all scattered across the beach. It’s exhausting to sift through all of these coconuts, but Cirie does not allow herself to give up. She gives a beautiful confessional about why she’s come back to Survivor so many times. It gives her the chance to believe in herself and accomplish things she can’t anywhere else. And for Season 50, she has a different drive and she’s not going down without a fight. In the end, she finds the Phoenix Coconut and can return to camp.

    Cirie to the Rescue!

    Everyone is so relieved to see Cirie return to camp. They were all so unsure on who to vote for, but now Cirie can tell them exactly what to do. Christian even says “Thank God Cirie is here!” Cirie knows that this vote is consequential for her game. She sees this as a perfect shot to kill two birds with one stone (Chrissy and Coach). And once she hears about Chrissy targeting her polycule member Rizo, her and Coach’s fates are sealed. Cirie gets this back to Rizo, who is now fully on board with getting rid of Chrissy. Anyone who comes for Rizgod will fall! Ozzy is fully on board with Cirie’s plan, and in confessional, says that he is so thankful for Cirie as without her, he would have made a dumb mistake in voting out Aubry & Devens.

    At tribal council, Aubry & Devens are both still very worried about their chances. Even though Cirie has put in the work to save them, they can never be too confident. So Devens, feeling the heat, gets up in the middle of Tribal Council and pulls out the fake idol he and Christian hid in episode 2. Aubry is immensely grateful to him and the Honesty and Integrity alliance scrambles. In this moment, Stephenie is somehow the only one smart enough to question the legitimacy of the idol. Rizo gets up in the heat of it all, but only to compliment Devens on his advantage finding abilities. Jonathan unnecessarily tells Devens that he’s showing his true colors, whatever that means. Jonathan, so so great at being likable. Joe says he’s still not writing Coach’s name down on principle, but his fate is already sealed. Coach knows he’s in deep danger now and plays his shot in the dark. When it doesn’t work, Coach & Chrissy are gone and honesty and integrity just lost its strongest leaders.

    The Dragonslayer: Bad Gameplay, Great Television

    Survivor South Pacific raised a lot of people’s opinions about Coach’s gameplay ability. Even if he doesn’t want to admit it, he manipulated his alliance through religion all the way to the end, and it almost got him the victory. Survivor 50 brought those high opinions straight back down though. He had a pregame honesty and integrity alliance coming in and plenty of people wanting to work with him. He burned all of that by simply being himself. He annoyed everyone around camp, to the point even his alliance had to tell him to calm down. He made horrific strategic blunders, such as his conversation with Tiffany. But great gameplay is not why people love Coach. He’s always been loved for his one of a kind personality, which he certainly demonstrated on 50. His haikus, continued rivalry with Ozzy, and final farewell song on the hammock, he still delivered on 50. Even if his talk about honor is tired and you want to root against him and the whole honesty and integrity thing by the end of it, he’s still the Dragonslayer.

    Chrissy Hofbeck: The Hidden Leader

    Chrissy’s run on 50 is one of the more tragic ones so far. One of the pleasant surprises on the cast, many people were hyped that she got a second chance. Unfortunately, she was overshadowed the entire season. Consistently underedited with her only memorable moment being her saving herself during the Blood Moon. She was pushed aside for Coach, her closest ally on 50. Despite that, she was pulling the strings of the Honesty and Integrity alliance, which Cirie explained as rationale for voting her out and Chrissy herself claimed in her exit interviews. Even in her final words, she was overshadowed. She got a single sentence before the final words segment shifted to Coach. It’s an absolute tragedy that this is likely the last time we’ll see her on Survivor.

    Conclusion: Good Twist or Good Result?

    Was Double Duos a good twist or were people just happy that the honesty and integrity alliance fell because of it? Well, it was certainly better than the Blood Moon. The players were allowed to pick their duos, instead of drawing rocks, which allowed them to have a lot more agency. Also, allowing people to vote individually as opposed to as a duo helped a lot. The Blood Moon was a glorified second tribe swap that gave people very little room to strategize. A six-vote tribal would have been much more boring and constrained than the thirteen-vote tribal we got. So, if there just had to be tons of twists on 50, then this is one of the more acceptable ones. Good job production, B-.

  • Survivor 50 ‘That’s Not How I Play Survivor’ Review: The Honesty & Integrity High Horse

    Survivor 48 has unleashed a plague upon us all!

    On a more serious note, episode 7 of Survivor 50 reignites the question of just how honest can you be in a game of Survivor. Is honesty and integrity a true ideology that can function in the game, or is it destined to lead to lies and betrayal anyways? It’s an interesting question that I believe will continue to be explored as the season goes on. Despite the disappointment of honesty and integrity winning out by the end, my thoughts on the season are still high. Reckless twists like the Blood Moon pose way more of a threat to 50 than the Honesty and Integrity alliance that’s clearly been set up for a fall.

    The Journey: Stephenie’s Dislocated Shoulder Redux

    Stephenie was probably one of the more boring people that could’ve gone on the journey. Unfortunately though, she is randomly selected. After arriving at the journey, Stephenie finds out that she must hold her arm up for an hour or else a bucket of dirty water will fall on her and even worse, she’ll lose her vote! Stephenie talks about her shoulder injury on Heroes vs Villains and how she had to get reconstructive surgery after that. For that reason, she must rely on her non-dominant left hand for this challenge. She’s in a lot of pain for most of the challenge, but she needs to set a strong example for her children. She ends up completing the challenge and earns a steal a vote. How exciting!

    Cirie’s Rizard of Oz

    Who knew the best alliance of Survivor 50 would consist of Cirie, Ozzy, and Rizgod? After Rizo and Ozzy return from Exile Island, they are caught up on the events of the Blood Moon. They also get a chance to meet with Cirie and formally establish their alliance, which they give one of the best alliance names in Survivor history, Cirie’s Rizard of Oz. As previously established, Cirie really loves Rizo. She is willing to tell him everything that she knows. Firstly, she tells Rizo that Dee exposed his idol (to be explored later). Already a pretty huge sign of trust, but the next thing she tells him is way more consequential for future episodes.

    After Stephenie returns from the journey, she lies to everyone that she only lasted long enough to be able to keep her vote. Cirie sees right through this, though. She confronts Stephenie by the water well, where she basically forces Stephenie to confess that she won a vote steal on the journey. Cirie promises not to tell anyone about this, only for the next scene to be of Cirie immediately telling Rizo about Stephenie’s advantage. Cirie was Stephenie’s kryptonite on The Traitors, and she will seemingly be it as well on Survivor 50. Stephenie just seems to fall into Cirie’s trap every single time. Oh, and to cap things off, Ozzy wins individual immunity, his first since South Pacific! What a great episode for a wonderful alliance.

    Aubry’s Horrific Lie

    After telling Devens and Christian that she would play her idol, Aubry ended up not playing it at the Genevieve vote off. Now that they’ve returned to camp, Devens and Christian are pissed at her. Had they known she wasn’t gonna play it, they would have happily voted her out. When they confront her, Aubry claims that she forgot to play her idol. Of course, they don’t believe her and no one really does, as talk about her idol continues running rampant. During a quick conversation with Cirie, Aubry is encouraged to play her idol at the next tribal council. She admits in her confessional that this was a pretty boneheaded lie and that she needs to get rid of her idol now. So, at tribal council, Aubry plays her idol pretty unceremoniously. She does give a pretty fire line as she plays it though. “An idol that everyone knows about is not an idol at all, it’s a scarlet letter.” And there ends the story of Aubry’s idol.

    Coach’s Power Trip

    The Dragonslayer 1.0 is back! Much like 1.0, Dragonslayer 4.0 is getting on everyone’s nerves! He is being messy as he tries to take down the dragon that is Dee. Firstly, with Colby gone, Coach needs someone to take his place in the Four Horsemen alliance, which was apparently always a thing. The person he chooses? Rizo. Coach delivers this groundbreaking and life-changing opportunity to Rizo by… telling him outright that he’s Colby’s replacement. Rizo pretends to be excited, but in confessional, is confused by Coach’s thought process and obviously does not want to be on the bottom of this alliance. Also, it’s an all guys alliance! That’s not how Rizo rolls.

    Throughout the day, Coach spiels to everyone about how they won’t win the game by lying, which sure… He’s playing this game honorably, the right way to be played, the only way, in fact. Everyone else is annoyed, obviously. Emily at one point considers getting rid of him. When he’s not creating haikus while lying on the hammock, Coach is making it clear to everyone what he thinks of them in the game. He’s talking about not telling people who are in the middle about the split vote plan. This plan needs to be for his allies only. Of course, he says this around Devens, one of the middle people, who then brings it back to his closest ally, Christian. Now, the two of them know what Coach thinks about them. And neither is down to just be a lackey for Coach! It gets to a point that Rizgod of all people is the one that has to tell Coach to calm down! To top off this absolute clowning of Coach, Tiffany gives a scathing voting confessional in which she calls him a self righteous hypocrite.

    Jonathan Somehow Outsmarts Dee

    Tragically, this episode was a Dee downfall episode. After the Kamilla blindside, Tiffany forces herself to keep her composure around camp. She has Chrissy, Jonathan, and Stephenie fooled, with Chrissy calling her “eloquent.” In a confessional though, she tells us what she really thinks, which is that Jonathan is a lying skank! While Tiffany handles the situation well, Dee unfortunately does not do the same. In the morning, when Dee confronts Jonathan and Coach about Jonathan’s lies, she comes off looking poorly. Jonathan makes her look like an untrustworthy liar by continually asking her if she’s lied before. Dee does not respond well at all. Jonathan seems to take some kind of glee in this, which, ugh. After that whole debacle, things only get worse for Dee. She had told Emily about Rizo’s idol, but finds out that Emily has spilled this to Cirie, who brought it back to Rizo. Dee is now freaking out, and when talking to Rizo, does not admit that she told people about his idol. Rizo knows she did from Cirie, though. Their alliance from the Charlie vote is now over.

    Coming into the challenge, Dee knows she must win to have any shot. Unfortunately, she falls just short and her fate is sealed. A last ditch effort to blindside Coach goes nowhere. At tribal, she desperately runs around, telling people to vote Coach. She knows that the shot in the dark is her last chance, though. When that fails, she is voted out in a 9-4-1 vote.

    Dee Valladares: The Last Winner Standing

    For having such a big reputation coming into the game, Dee held up surprisingly well. She held a lot of power on her original Kalo tribe and then on the swapped Cila tribe. She was comfortably in the majority for the Colby vote during the Blood Moon with the immunity necklace around her neck. She fell apart at the first real merge vote, but it’s okay. It does not take anything away from her dominant win on 45 or her gameplay up until that point. It does seem that the Charlie blindside had large repercussions for both Kamilla and Dee, but who knows if voting Rizo out would have saved them. That wasn’t even Dee’s biggest mistake. She truly messed up with saving Rizo and gaining his trust only to spill the news about his idol. She got rid of Charlie, who would have worked with her, only to then burn Rizo, who she wanted to work with instead.

    Overall though, I loved Dee’s run on this season. Her outlook on the game is very interesting. She doesn’t take anything that happens in the game personally outside of the game, which is respectable. She knew she faced an uphill battle and made the most out of it. Now, she’s going to serve looks from the jury bench. And if her exit interview is anything to go off of, most people are going to take whatever happens from here on out very personally…

    Conclusion: Downfall Incoming

    This was more of a bummer episode, seeing the honor and integrity alliance seemingly be in control of the game and one of the best new era players leaving. Their reign will be short lived though, if the dit is to be believed. And I am sure that it will be a glorious downfall. So while this episode was one of the weaker ones so far, it doesn’t really diminish my enjoyment of the season so far or my hope for the future. It has set up so many storylines that will hopefully lead to golden results.

  • Survivor 50 ‘The Blood Moon’ Review: That Was Not A Merge!

    A merge with seventeen people still in the game?! How will production ever manage that? I’ll tell you how. By doing a second tribe swap into three tribes of five. Make sure to also give the players a mere two hours to all be on the same island, send two players to Exile Island, and give individual immunity to one person from each group and you’ve got yourself the Survivor 50 Merge! Axe three players in spots where all three were basically screwed in one episode and tell the fans that this is what they voted for! Even though the vote was obviously worded for more twists to win and did not tell anyone explicitly what the twists would be! You can mess with the show all you want and blame the fans for it! A master plan.

    The Merged Tribe: Survivor’s First Polyamorous Showmance!

    For the brief time that the tribes were actually merged, we got a lot of interesting content. Firstly, both Aubry’s and Ozzy’s idols have become public knowledge. Cirie tells Genevieve that Aubry got the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol from Devens. An important distinction here is that everyone thinks Devens gave her the idol when it was actually Christian. It feels like we are being reminded of this with the Devens and Christian scene recapping the idols and that it could somehow be important down the road. Cirie and Genevieve tell pretty much everyone about Aubry’s idol. Genevieve has the knowledge about Ozzy’s idol and Rizo’s idol, which no one else knows about. She confirms to Ozzy that she gave him the idol with Rizo’s help and somehow, the information spreads and Ozzy finds out that everyone else knows about his idol. However, Genevieve has kept her giving an idol to Rizo completely secret, even to Rizo himself. Would’ve been smart and interesting gameplay if we ever got to see any of it play out…

    Cirie has her close relationships with both Ozzy from original Cila and Rizo from new Cila. She now wants to bring them both together. She reveals to Ozzy that she told Rizo about her extra vote that he gave her. She also tells him that Rizo told her about his idol. She says in confessional that Rizo and Ozzy share the same spot in her heart, like they’re now in a poly relationship. Cirie also gives a very interesting description of the difference between new and old school and that the old schoolers will eventually encounter a problem. Jonathan gets a lot of content about building relationships with different people and trying to adapt to a more strategic game while working with mostly old school players. He totally did not have a pregame alliance with them or anything…

    A scramble breaks out to find an advantage for the next round. Everyone is determined to find the advantage, except for Rizo. He seems resolute in the face that he won’t find the advantage, even walking past a scroll at one point. It all works out for him though, because his newfound ally Ozzy finds the advantage! And the huge advantage turns out to be… going to Exile Island with one other person. Yay!!! It is actually a good advantage though, since it allows Ozzy and Rizo, who he chooses to join him for trust building reasons, to completely escape the ensuing bloodbath.

    The Immunity Challenge: The Biggest Reward of the Season!

    Normally, I wouldn’t go into much detail about the challenges, but this is the exception. It’s the Applebee’s reward, how could I ignore it? Jeff, of course, has a long monologue revealing the Blood Moon twist where three people will be going home in one night. He also goes into great detail about the Applebee’s menu, which was completely necessary. The three groups are decided randomly. Chrissy, Jonathan, Kamilla, Stephenie, and Tiffany are in group A. Aubry, Christian, Genevieve, Joe, and Rick Devens are in group B. And finally, Cirie, Coach, Colby, Dee, and Emily are in group C. The first individual immunity challenge is the fan favorite “Chimney Sweeps” challenge. Most of group C falls off pretty quickly, leaving Coach and Dee to fight it out. Colby in particular has a fall that would be funny without the knowledge of his injured foot. Coach has a flashback to his iconic Tocantins moment in this challenge before dropping out, allowing Dee to win immunity. Dee drops out after winning, and a domino effect ensues. Multiple people from group A fall, and Christian wins immunity before dropping out himself. It’s down to Chrissy, Kamilla, and Stephenie, all in group A, meaning they’ve already won the Applebee’s feast. Kamilla unfortunately drops first, and then Stephenie bests Chrissy for immunity.

    Group A: Chrissy’s Awakening

    All three of the vote offs for the Blood Moon were predictable and boring, but Group A’s had the most intrigue. Jonathan is portrayed as the swing vote between Kamilla & Tiffany and Chrissy and Stephenie, but we always knew he would side with the latter. The real intrigue comes from Chrissy. Kamilla and Tiffany think they have Jonathan on their side. Chrissy knows that they think they have the numbers against her, so she talks to both of them and pretends that she’s okay with being voted out tonight but that she hopes that they can be friends after this. In confessional though, she reveals that she’s never going to give up like that and is going to do what she needs to survive. She tells both Jonathan and Stephenie that they’re cut from the same cloth and that seems to do the trick for both of them, on the off chance they ever thought about voting her out. At tribal council, Kamilla is unfortunately blindsided in a 3-2 vote. She does give a memorable exit though, telling Tiffany to drag Jonathan through the mud before leaving.

    Group B: Genevieve’s Last Hurrah

    Genevieve knows that she is on the outs with this group. Christian and Devens are obviously working together and Aubry has an idol that was given to her by them. All she has is Joe and Devens’ rivalry. Christian, Devens, and Aubry quickly form an alliance. Aubry tells them she’s going to play her idol tonight, which she certainly will end up doing. Devens seemingly wants to target Joe over Genevieve because of their rivalry and his fear of Genevieve having an advantage. However, no one else is on board. Genevieve tries to reason with Christian that everyone sees him as a huge threat and that getting rid of Devens will help reduce that threat level. She can see the writing on the wall though, and is forced to play her shot in the dark at tribal council. It does not work though, and Genevieve is voted out in a 4-0 vote. Alongside Genevieve, her rivalry with Aubry goes out with a wimper.

    Group C: Half of Your Life

    It’s clear from the beginning that the vote for Group C is between Colby and Coach. They are part of the honesty and integrity alliance that Cirie, Dee, and Emily have a chance to weaken with this vote. Emily and Dee quickly link up, having a connection from being on 45 together and a friendship outside the game. They discuss voting out Coach, since Colby will probably get medically evacuated anyways. Funnily enough, they were probably right about that based off Colby’s exit press. However, Cirie talks them into voting out Colby instead. He has a lot more influence than Coach and is a lot more of a reasonable player. Plus, they can’t be too sure that Colby will get med evac’d.

    At tribal council, the writing is on the wall. Colby is going home. Despite the obvious vote, this tribal council is one of the most emotionally resonant and best moments of the season so far. This is Colby’s swan song, his last time playing Survivor. And he gives a very emotional speech about finally learning to find the joy in things no matter how hard it gets. Half of his life has transpired since he first played Survivor, and it has allowed him to meet so many friends and people he loves. 50 has been the most fun he’s ever had playing Survivor, because he came into it with a new perspective. Even though he lost his vote and injured his foot, he’s had a blast. Jeff gives his own ode to Colby and all of the other icons of the game. Colby, Cirie, and Coach have paved the way for the new era players and have inspired so many people. None of them thought that when they first applied for the show, it would lead to them inspiring so many people. But they have, and that’s beautiful. Colby gets heroic music as he’s voted off and tells his castmates to find the joy in the rest of the game before leaving.

    Kamilla Karthigesu: Purpled Queen

    I’m biased for Kamilla. I’ve been a huge fan of her since the Survivor 48 preseason interviews were released. So unlike most, who were frustrated that three people from 48 were on 50, I was excited that Kamilla was getting a second chance after not being able to play the game she wanted to on Survivor: Honesty and Integrity. I was also worried, though. I was worried that she would get purpled on this season and unfortunately, I was correct. I did enjoy the little moments we got to see from her this season, though, and am glad she at least got to commandeer one blindside in the Charlie vote out. And while it’s unlikely now, I would love for her to get a third chance on any season moving forward. I will always be one of the biggest Kamilla supporters.

    Genevieve Mushaluk: Most Unlucky Player Ever?

    Genevieve, the Twitter favorite, and one of my favorite New Era castaways as well. She faced an uphill battle this season. So many people were against her in the preseason and she was the only 47 cast member on 50. Surpassing expectations though, she was in the majority of the original Vatu tribe and seemingly locked in with Kyle. After a strong start, though, everything went downhill, almost due to nothing she did. Her relationship with Aubry was rocky from the start and never recovered. Kyle was med evac’d on day 4. Colby and Q lost their votes. She found two Billie Eilish Boomerang Idols! On any other season, she would have had two idols and could have saved herself. On 50 though, she had to give both of them away. To make things worse, her rival Aubry received a Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol from Christian! To top things off, she gets put in a group with Aubry and two of her only allies, where she’s a sitting duck. It’s such an unlucky streak, yet she still managed to prove herself as one of the best New Era players in her short time on 50. It is devastating that she’s said she doesn’t want to play again, as she could easily become a modern legend if she wants it.

    Colby Donaldson: Find the Joy!

    When the cast for 50 was first announced, I was confused by Colby’s inclusion, especially with Jerri Manthey not on the cast. He seemed so miserable on Heroes vs Villains and I had no idea what he could even bring to this season. My mind changed after watching his preseason interview with Mike Bloom, though. He seemed genuinely excited to be here this time and showed that during his time on 50. He was actively playing the game and despite his unfortunate circumstances, still kept a smile on his face. Even as he knew his game was coming to an end, his smile didn’t fade. He left us with one of the most beautiful moments in Survivor history and an important message, for more than just Survivor. No matter the circumstance you’re in or the cards you are dealt, you should always try to find the joy in things. A true legend.

    Conclusion: Twists Galore

    You could make a solid argument that all three players voted out during the Blood Moon were twist screwed. They were arguably in solid positions, but being put in five-person groups with very little room to maneuver completely ruined their chances. Some will say its part of the game, but it wasn’t fun to watch. five-person votes are inherently boring, so it’s not surprising that none of the votes were interesting from a gameplay perspective. It sucks that all three of these players went out the way they did on what is likely all of their final appearances. I’m worried about all of the other unnecessary twists that production will add under the guise of “the fans wanted it!” But I’m also hopeful, that the remaining fourteen players will deliver an iconic merge and that the Honesty and Integrity zoom alliance will fall.

  • Survivor 50 ‘Open Wounds’ Review: Operation Bad Blood

    Five episodes into Survivor 50, and the theme of the season is becoming clear. How do your past mistakes and Survivor outings affect your approach to the game this time around? Do you let your experiences haunt you and sink your game, or do you adapt and change your game to ensure you don’t make the same mistakes? Whoever is able to do the latter will succeed and win Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans.

    The Kalo Tribe: The Tide Walker

    Kalo’s only scene this episode revolves all around Coach. He’s moved on from the fantasy style nicknames, now deciding to base his nicknames on ancient Japanese lore. He’s still focused on building his loyalty alliance, having separate conversations with Joe, Colby, and Aubry. His conversation with Joe was boring, just telling Joe about the new nicknames, which he was seemingly excited about. His conversation with Colby was way more funny, even if unintentional. It was so clear throughout that entire conversation that Colby had no idea what Coach was talking about, but was going along with it because they clearly already had a pregame alliance. His conversation with Aubry felt the most game related for both parties involved. Aubry’s current closest ally is Tiffany, but she needs to branch out beyond that and sees Coach as being the center of the tribe. She approaches him and tells him she wants to work with him. Coach tells her he feels the same way and says in confessional that he’s extending an olive branch to her. Aubry’s always been a great strategic player, but her social game has always been lacking, being part of why she lost Koah Rong. Improving her social game could be what helps Aubry finally get a victory.

    The Vatu Tribe: Ozzy’s Temper Tantrum

    For something that has been hyped up since the episode preview, this was not anything close to a temper tantrum. Ozzy is annoyed to have been left out of the Mike White blindside, but he keeps his composure and never even raises his voice. It certainly is not anything that it was hyped up to be. Side note, Ozzy’s poncho is awesome.

    Christian is still getting tons of screentime, the main character for the entire season so far. He has an amazing personality and way of articulating things, but the question arises, is he getting overexposed? This episode, I at least start to feel it. His description of Ozzy’s temper tantrum just felt so blown out of proportion and like he was more mad than Ozzy. In a continued effort to improve his social and strategic game, Ozzy felt the need to apologize for being upset to Christian, and their storyline becomes the main focus of the Vatu tribe. There’s nothing wrong with this on paper, but this is Angelina’s boot episode. Angelina had just been left out of the vote last episode, her closest ally gone. Yet, she doesn’t get a confessional about this until after the immunity challenge. She feels like an afterthought in this episode, despite being one of the biggest characters of David vs Goliath and the 30s era of Survivor overall. Sure, she’s a pre-merger who likely won’t have much impact on the rest of the game, but she just got completely shafted. When so many of the men this season like Ozzy and Christian are getting massive edits, you struggle to find any woman getting the same coverage. It’s been a reoccurring issue in Survivor, especially in returning player seasons. And it felt so noticeable here, where a huge character like Angelina gets almost nothing in her final episode.

    After Vatu expectedly loses the immunity challenge, albeit by less than they have in the past, Angelina seems like the obvious target. While Ozzy and Christian have made up, drama arises, as Ozzy still needs something from Christian to prove that he can trust him. He asks Christian for his shot in the dark, which Christian is hesitant to give. He feels vulnerable without it, like Ozzy could pull off a blindside if Christian doesn’t have his shot in the dark. After Emily tells Christian that Ozzy is targeting him, though, he relents and gives Ozzy his shot in the dark. This seems to be just what Ozzy needs to trust him, and Angelina is voted out in a 4-1 vote. She has a full circle moment where she gives her tribe her jacket before leaving, a nice conclusion to her Survivor story even if this showing was disappointing.

    The Cila Tribe: Rizo and the Girls

    The culmination of the Rizo vs Charlie rivalry is upon us. Rizo is an easy target. He’s an unknown with no connections, plus, he didn’t vote for his number #1 to win the game! Charlie has three other original Kalo members with him, so that should be all he needs. Devens is also willing to work with him, needing to stick with the numbers now that he’s in the minority. However, Dee is not on board with sticking to tribal lines. Despite apparently being friends with Charlie outside of the game, she tells Rizo that she wants to work with him. Rizo in return tells her about the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol and that someone from Kalo gave it to him.

    Dee is only the first addition to the Rizgod army. He’s determined to grow his army, and work with all of the women once again. Firstly, he talks to Cirie and reveals the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol. Cirie feels as though she can trust Rizo thanks to this sharing of information, and tells him about her extra vote. She praises Rizo in the confessional, saying that she felt at the bottom of the tribe before, but thanks to Rizo, she feels way better. Rizo is truly living out every Survivor fan’s dream, working with Cirie Fields! Rizo’s final recruit is Kamilla. To recruit her, he decides the best approach is to talk about Kyle as if he’s a fallen soldier that died in battle. He tells Kamilla that before Kyle left, he told Rizo to work with Kamilla. Kamila does not really buy this at all, obviously. Luckily for Rizo, the deciding factor seems to be that Rizo told Kamilla about the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol before Charlie did. So, at tribal council, Charlie is blindsided in a 4-3 vote, referencing Taylor Swift’s “Teardrops on my Guitar” on his way out.

    Angelina Keeley: Underedited

    Angelina was one of the most hyped castaways coming into Survivor 50. She’s been on many people’s wishlist for a returning player season since David vs Goliath ended. So to see her make this cast was awesome. Unfortunately, she was never really able to find her footing in the game. She was on the bottom of the original Vatu tribe alongside Aubry and still on the bottom of the swapped Vatu tribe. She was forced to play from the bottom the entire time she was there. And beyond that, she was completely pushed to the side in the edit despite being such a great character. I mean, her immediately trying to negotiate the fishing gear reward after the first immunity challenge was completely cut out! For such a long awaited return, Angelina’s 50 run was not only disappointing because she was an early boot, but because the editors pushed her aside for the short time she was there. I’m glad that she’s spent time in her exit interviews calling out production for underediting her and other women on 50, and hopefully something does change moving forward.

    Charlie Davis: Too Much Baggage

    Charlie’s loss in Survivor 46 is by far the most polarizing and controversial of the New Era and probably since Aubry’s loss in Koah Rong. On 50, it was pretty much the focal point of Charlie’s short run. Rizo’s lie about Blue Sophi seemed to ignite Charlie’s vendetta against him. Even despite Charlie revealing that wasn’t the only reason he was targeting Rizo, most people will mainly remember him being haunted and dragged down by his past. Out of all the eliminated players on 50 so far, it feels like Charlie’s reputation was damaged the most. From the runner up who many people believe should’ve won to a premerge boot who homed in on Rizo partly due to his own baggage.

    Charlie’s run on 50 also reignited discussion around his loss on 46. People online have been way too harsh to him, which he truly doesn’t deserve. Maria not voting for Charlie to win is a two way street. As a jury member, Maria is entitled to vote for whoever she wants to win for whatever reason she wants. Even if the vote did largely seem out of bitterness, it’s her right to be bitter. I mean, she was so close to a million dollars, it’s reasonable to be upset! Just like Maria is within her right to vote however she wishes, Charlie is allowed to feel however he needs to about someone he considered a close friend directly costing him a million dollars. There’s a lot of complicated feelings and emotions there, neither of them should be judged too harshly for how their relationship ended.

    Conclusion: Fun Downfall

    While certainly a step up from the disastrous Zach Brown episode, ‘Open Wounds’ is not nearly as great as the first three episodes were. It had strong moments for sure, such as Charlie’s entire downfall and Ozzy’s more strategic approach to the game. Yet, the severe underediting of women was more noticable here than in the previous episodes, causing many cast members to start speaking out. With a potential triple boot coming up, there are definitely concerns about how that episode’s editing will transpire. It could end up being a complete disaster, but hopefully, it won’t be, and the edit can somehow become more balanced.