Last year, the Big Brother Production team had outdone themselves in terms of ridiculous premiere segments by deciding to have Julie Chen get kidnapped for a competition and showing a badly edited clip of an island being blown up. For the Big Brother 28 premiere though, they have reached new heights, now killing off Big Brother legend Rachel Reilly via being pushed into a volcano by a velociraptor. At this point, you cannot do anything but simply admire production’s commitment to pushing away potential new viewers at every opportunity. Beyond ridiculous segments, what else did the Big Brother 28 premiere have in store for us?
House Tour: Time Travel!
This year, the house design and twists of the season all revolve around time travel. Of course, this being Big Brother, it’s the most cliche iteration of time travel possible. There are plenty of clocks all around the house, including an admittedly cool Lazy Susan for the dining table. There’s a board on the wall displaying different time periods, which will all seemingly become the places where competitions will take place throughout the season. Overall, this house design is, in my opinion, a huge step down from BB27’s Hotel Mystere, which was the best house in years. However, given it is a very small part of the season, I won’t harken on it too much.
The Houseguests Meet
I am very sad to report that, unfortunately, Jason ‘Salina’ De Puy walked into the house first and is now vulnerable to the first in curse. As for houseguest interactions, there aren’t many notable ones. That all has to do with the fact that the premiere is jam-packed of competitions. Before the houseguests even get a chance to do proper introductions, the first competition is underway. Julie announces that three reality tv legends will be entering the house and the newbies will ‘time travel’ to the past to bring them into the house. These reality tv legends will also be the only players eligible to win the first head of household competition. Now, I’ve jokingly made fun of a lot of production’s decisions for this premiere, but this is the first thing I have a legitimate problem with. The power of the first HOH is immense and limiting the eligibility to only the legends makes it clear that production is trying to give them an advantage from the start. It’s straight up unfair, but production tries to hide that fact by having the newbies play for safety instead.
The Competitions
There are twelve time capsules hidden around the house, all of which add up to 28 (Enzo’s employee number for Meow Meow Enterprises?). There are a bunch of decoys hidden as well. All but two houseguests will be able to compete for safety. Everyone is able to get a capsule on their first try, except for Ashley, who puts in three incorrect time capsules. As a result, she and Barrett are the only two houseguests to not get a chance to compete for safety.
Kamu, La Tice, Mallory, and Rome are the first randomly assigned group to compete for safety. They travel back to the 80s, where they must please a teenage Angela by balancing random store items on an unstable tree-like structure. After a bit of struggle and close calls, Rome is ultimately able to earn his safety for the night. In addition, Angela is brought back into the house. Reactions are mixed, as Melody in particular does not take a liking to her. But she’s here, and I’m excited to see how it plays out as she is by far my favorite recent cast member. She’s made no promises to be different and not blow up randomly, so nobody has any idea what to expect for the summer of Angela.
Chuk, Drew, Haley, and Taylor are the next houseguests to travel through time. They go to July of 2018, having to complete a Survivor-inspired competition to bring Rick Devens into the game. It becomes a race between Chuk and Taylor to win safety, which Chuk ends up winning. After a quick Jeff Probst cameo, Devens is officially in the game! He may have gotten off to a rocky start (more on that later!), but I am still so excited for him to play this season and bring some chaos to it!
Of course, that means the last competition is to bring Dee into the game. To bring her into the house, Jason Lyric, Melody, and Yash time travel to… Las Vegas? In 2010? To a bar no less? Throwing aside the confusing time period and setting, the four houseguests compete in a booth comp for the final safety spot. Once the competition is down to Jason and Lyric, Jason comes out victorious! And… Rachel Reilly is back in the house?! Yeah, in a blindside, it turns out Rachel is actually the final reality tv legend? She’s back for the double crown! And she really plays into her personality, telling the newbies to bow down to her and repeating how she’s an icon. Julie then gathers everyone in the living room to announce that the first HOH competition is about to begin. The houseguest time travel to the caveman era! Everyone is dressed in prehistoric clothing and come out to a jungle with a volcano at front and center. The three legends stand in front of the volcano. As Rachel is monologuing to Julie about being back for a fourth time, though, heartbreak strikes. A velociraptor comes out of the trees and runs toward Rachel, threatening her and pushing her closer and closer into the volcano. It pushes her right to the volcano’s ledge, where it forces her down into the lava as she screams “But I’m an icon!”
After the commercial break, Julie officially announces Rachel’s demise and says she will find someone to replace her, time traveling to the date of the Survivor 45 finale…
Big Brother Unlocked: Saving Rachel Reilly
Big Brother Unlocked was surprisingly enjoyable. After skipping all of the Big Brother unlocked episodes last season, this was a nice introduction to them. To begin, Dee comes out of the jungle trees, finally being officially announced. Then, Taylor Hale and Derrick L. go back in time to save Rachel from her untimely demise. She is then brought onto the Unlocked set, where she praises the newbies and tells everyone she’s excited to watch the rest of the season. Beyond that, we get Angela, Dee, and Devens’ intro packages, a nice surprise.
We get some sneak peaks from inside the house, the most important one coming from Taylor and Devens. After Devens enters, he’s quickly hugging everyone. In the chaos of the introductions, though, he ignores Taylor’s greeting and makes a comment about getting names later. Taylor is upset, as she believes he purposefully brushed her off. She goes to a bedroom to calm down and now has Devens in her hitlist. This is an unfortunate situation. I don’t think Devens meant to brush her off but it’s reasonable Taylor would be upset given the limited information she knows. Just a bad case of miscommunication that I hope won’t backfire on her given the legends will hold the power this week. To end off unlocked, the intern turns on the live feeds and we get to see the start of the first head of household competition…
Two days away from the season premiere, the cast of Big Brother 27 has finally been revealed! We have 16 new houseguests competing, including two former Survivor castaways and a RuPaul’s Drag Race Drag Queen. And of course, we have Angela Murray returning to the show for another chance at the $750,000 prize. With little knowledge about most of the houseguests, now is a better time than ever for me to predict how the season will play out. So, on this post, I will predict every placement from 17th-1st place, alongside what I am expecting from every houseguest based off of purely vibes… for the most part.
17th Place: Haley Thogmartin
Unfortunately, I do think there will be some variation of a night 1 eviction this season given the cast size, and I see Haley as the most likely victim of it. I expect that if there is a night 1 eviction, it will revolve around the social game and first impressions. The reason I fear that could be bad news for Haley is because I don’t see her being able to connect to the other houseguests that well, especially if all they have to go off is first impressions. In her intro package, she came off as boring and stoic. I hope I’m wrong and she turns out to be great and there’s not even a night 1 eviction, but if there is, I have the least faith in Haley to survive
16th Place: Rome Seymour
During the Big Broveal, I found Rome to be someone very confident in himself. He was already talking in his introduction about protecting the “betas and submissives,” whatever that means. While he very well could turn out to be a strategic mastermind, especially if he wins the first HOH, I just feel like he is prime for an early downfall. He could rub people the wrong way early on and play himself out of the game. If that is what ends up happening, the best case scenario would be him being a week 1 crash and burn, in the same mold as Brian on BB10. Who knows, someone could end up being the Dan Gheesling to his Brian.
15th Place: Kamuela ‘Kamu’ Kirk
Kamu is a self-proclaimed ‘nice guy’ and the clear jock of the cast. I could see him leading an all-guys alliance and being out in front as an “Alpha.” The problem is that he will be clearly out in front. I could be wrong, but I get the vibes that this is a cast full of very strategic players who know the game well. Him being out in front could put a giant target on his back and I believe there are a lot of people on the cast who will be ready to target him. Kamu will need to watch his back, especially if Angela wins an HOH competition.
14th Place: Melody Morris
Melody is one of the bigger question marks on the cast for me. I could see her either doing really well or being a target early on. I unfortunately see her being very expendable to a lot of people’s games and never really being a power player. I could be totally underestimating her, and maybe her game show experience could give her an advantage, but she is by her own admission very sensitive and could get manipulated if she’s not careful.
13th Place: Mallory Aurichio
Mallory is someone who I want to do well and I think is very capable of doing well. Unfortunately, I get major Kelley Jorgenson vibes from her. Now, unlike Kelley, she does seem to actually be a fan of the show and I don’t get the vibes she will volunteer to be a pawn. Unfortunately, I see her as someone who many people will be willing to use as a pawn regardless and she may have to adapt to a scrappy underdog role. She could be a Blockbuster master like Kelley, but having to rely on competitions to survive is never something anyone wants to have to do. I really hope I’m wrong about this one, though.
12th Place: Drew Campbell
A self-proclaimed superfan (apparently having even written a book about BB!), Drew is someone who comes in with a lot of potential. I could see him easily flying under the radar for the first few weeks. He wants to be friends with everyone and I think he could very easily accomplish that. But that’s where the problem lies. He will be eager to win an HOH comp and if he does, I’m worried it could ruin his position and he’ll ruin his good graces with the rest of the house. I see him as one of the most likely people to have a bad HOH reign and sink their own game. A friend to all is a friend to none and that is something Drew needs to remember.
11th Place: LaTrice Verrett
LaTrice has been watching the live feeds since season 2! She has been waiting for this opportunity and it’s finally here. I really, really want her to do well this season. But unfortunately, I think we are due for one heartbreaking pre-jury eviction this season and LaTrice could be the victim. I think she will easily be able to get into a good spot early on. Even is she isn’t a big comp threat, everyone will want to be her ally. The problem is that I feel some houseguests will catch onto that eventually and if the wrong person wins HOH, they’ll take the shot at her. Given that I don’t expect her to do the best at competitions, she could be screwed if that happens.
10th Place: Rick Devens
I have no idea how many of these houseguests know Survivor and the kind of player that Rick Devens is. I expect that him, Dee, and Angela will work together, at least for the short term. The problem is that I think, no matter what, people will eventually catch on to Rick Devens. He will have to start relying on competitions to survive, which I think he’ll be able to do for a while. But eventually, he’ll slip up, and he could be taken out right before the jury. I hope that before he leaves, we at least get a Rick Devens HOH reign. Overall, no matter what, it will be very fun and surreal to see Rick Devens play Big Brother.
9th Place: Chuk Anyanwu
Chuk is admittedly a casual viewer of Big Brother. I suspect that he’ll try to be a power player and win as many competitions as possible. I do think he’ll win a good amount of them. The problem is that I could very easily see him being tricked into doing someone else’s bidding and overall being used by someone who knows the game way more than him. Once they get closer to the end, he’ll be tossed aside before his comp abilities can get too dangerous.
8th Place: Ashley Trail
Ashley seems like she’ll be a solid enough player. I could easily see her getting into a majority alliance early on and having an easy ride to the jury stage. She’ll be capable in competitions and won’t blow up her game if she wins HOH. However, she is one of the people who is itching the most to get into a showmance and if she does, she’ll be targeted because of it. To summarize, she’ll be safe for a while, but eventually, will fall victim to the showmance curse.
7th Place: Yash Patel
Along with Melody, Yash is the biggest question mark on the cast. He’s allegedly an alternate, having replaced a guy named Levi just before the cast was released. While I don’t think he’ll find his hairdresser wife in the Big Brother house, I do believe he’ll do relatively well in the game. That is, do well in terms of placement, because I predict he will be a comp flop. I see him being much like Cam on BB26, flopping in almost every competition he plays in. I could be wrong and he could actually be the second coming of Jag Bains, but for some reason, that is the vibe I get from him. I also think it would just be really funny for him to be a comp flop after basically his entire intro was about competitions.
6th Place: Dee Valladares
Dee is a triple threat: social, strategic, physical. Once again, i have no idea how well these houseguests know Survivor. But I think the people that do, such as Jason, will be eager to work with her. And if they let her get her footing in the game, Dee will run a mile. She could become one of the biggest comp threats of the season and pull off some brutal blindsides along the way. She’ll also have a good safety net early on with Devens out in front as a bigger target. However I predict, someone in the game savvy final five will snipe her out in the double eviction. Whoever that is will become the new frontrunner.
5th Place: Angela Murray
Angela is such a wild card on this season. She is technically the only returning player this season. Typically, solo returning players do pretty well on Big Brother: Jessie Godderz, Rachel Reilly, Paul Abrahamian. I think that Angela will continue this trend. I don’t see her being targeted by anyone early on and there will be people eager to work with her. Of course, she’s not the best player in the world, but I still see her finding herself in a good spot somehow. Her emotional nature could spell trouble for her, but I think people will tolerate it more this time around. The problem is that I unironically think she will eventually gain a lot of win equity. People will want to reward her with the money and the others will recognize that. She’ll unfortunately be cut right before the end.
4th Place: Taylor Brown
I think Taylor will find a lot of friends early on. One of the alliances I feel will be the most likely is one between Taylor and LaTrice. The two look so alike, I find it hard to believe they won’t connect over that. Once LaTrice is evicted, Taylor could go on a crazy revenge tour and eventually turn into one of the front runners. However, the others will recognize that and snipe her out before the end.
3rd Place: Barrett Pfeiffer
I feel that Barrett will be the strategic mastermind of the season. He is a major superfan and unlike Drew, he won’t shoot himself in the foot with a bad HOH reign. I could see him being in a alliance with the other two houseguests I have yet to talk about. The problem is that I think he’ll underestimate one of them and that person will backstab him at the final three.
2nd Place: Jason De Puy
I’ll admit, I have never watched a single season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Also, Drag Queens do not have a good track record on other reality shows. Despite that, I am still feeling very high on Jason’s chances. I think he will find himself in the majority and will have lots of charisma to the point that no one will want to target him. He will play a respectable and solid runner-up game…
1st Place: Lyric Medeiros
I’ll be honest and say that I don’t know how confident I really feel in Lyric as a winner pick. On first impressions, she gave me Lauren vibes; which is not really the best sign. However, Lauren, to be fair, was a great social player and just lacked a killer instinct. I think Lyric won’t have that same fault. She has a very interesting career path of being an attorney in the day and singer in the night. I think she’ll be able to backstab people and won’t hesitate on every decision she makes, unlike Lauren. She is capable of making a game winning move of backstabbing her closest ally at the final three to win the game.
Conclusion:
I cannot wait to come back to this in three months to see how wrong I was. But, no matter how wrong I end up being, I at least hope that Big Brother 28 is a fun season. There are so many things that I didn’t account for, such as the countless twists we are sure to receive or any potential quits and expulsions, which I’m sure will render my predictions obsolete almost immediately. I do hope I get at least three of these correct though…
Returning players, past players’ siblings, a day one eviction, two battle backs, glorious downfalls, brutal betrayals, iconic personalities, plenty of showmances, ugly fights, social media drama, icky comments, and a nailbiter winner reveal. Big Brother 18 is a season that has it all. Despite having a little bit of everything, Big Brother 18 has never been a particularly revered as one of the top tier seasons of Big Brother. Now that a decade has passed since #BB18 premiered, how well does it hold up and can it compete with the best Big Brother has to offer?
Premiere Night: A Jam-Packed Start
The premiere is largely in-line with the average modern Big Brother season. We get introduced to the twelve brand-new houseguests through the obligatory staged introduction videos. I mean, I really don’t get the point of those. No one actually believes that these people are only finding out they’re going to be on Big Brother when there’s a giant camera in front of them. The two standouts of the new houseguests are obviously Paulie Calafiore and Tiffany Rousso, the siblings of BB16 runner-up Cody and BB17 3rd Placer Vanessa respectively. Once the houseguests enter the house, we get setup to potential showmances, as usual. Paul also begins making a name for himself here, getting described by everyone, including himself, as loud and obnoxious. His brashness and long beard make him one of the clear standouts. Bronte also gets a fair bit of focus, mainly due to her child-like voice and mentioning to the audience that she’s a mathematician at every possible opportunity.
Of course, no modern Big Brother season would ever only have twelve houseguests, so Julie introduces the first of many twists of the summer, the four stowaways. Nicole Franzel is the first one to pop out of the luggage, receiving mixed reactions. Funnily enough, we get a lot of setup for Nicole’s future relationships right off the bat. Firstly, Natalie is excited to see Nicole, thinking she’s really sweet. Sad considering how her game ends. Paulie is apprehensive, knowing Cody evicted Nicole in BB16, but she ends up being be one of his closest allies. And then Michelle says she often gets told she looks like Nicole, but they’re completely different. Great setup for what would turn into the funniest rivalry of the season.
James is introduced next, with Bridgette saying he’ll be a lot of fun. A lackluster entrance for a lackluster performance. Da’Vonne pops out next, the earliest evicted houseguest to ever be brought back until BB22. Her relationship with James is reintroduced and Paul says she’ll be lucky to make it two weeks in this time. Da’Vonne was such a pleasant surprise to be brought back, someone who provided top tier entertainment in her short BB17 run. And she gave us the second most iconic Big Brother GIF, only beaten by Elissa’s laughing GIF. Frank is the final returning houseguest, ditching his long hair and coming in with a plan to be a social player this time around. He comes in with a lot of potential and I’m sure he won’t end up disappointing people.
Jozea leads the charge on targeting the vets right off the bat. He, Paul, and Victor are the most vocal advocates against the vets and agree they all need to go. This is something that will surely happen and not completely blow up in their faces. The vets know they need to work together for the time being, while Paulie is freaking out and decides to reveal to everyone that he is Cody’s brother. Tiffany, in contrast, stays quiet, but Da’Vonne instantly knows she’s Vanessa’s sister anyways. Fortunately for Tiffany, Da’Vonne decides to keep that information to herself, for now.
Julie then announces the second twist of the night: that the houseguests will be playing in teams of four and that they need to start getting ready for their first competition right now. The teams are determined via schoolyard pick, with the vets getting the first picks. The teams are Frank, Michelle, Paulie, and Bridgette on Category 4, Nicole, Corey, Tiffany, and Glenn on the Freakazoids, James, Natalie, Victor, and Bronte on Team Unicorn, and Da’Vonne, Paul, Zakiyah, and Jozea on Big Sister.
With the teams decided, the first competition is on. Each team must stay on a slippery rocket for as long as possible. Each team receives a different punishment or prize depending on how they place, but the most important one is the prize for first place. The first place team arrives at Safetyville, earning them safety for the next two evictions, one of which will happen that day. Team Unicorn wins thanks to Victor, meaning all of them will be able to survive week one unscathed.
After a short inteval, Julie announces the second competion, “Hit the Road,” which will be played in three rounds, with two teams earning safety in the first two rounds and the last team competing against each other to not be evicted on day 1. The three surviving members of the losing team will then decide amongst themselves which one of them should the first head of household. The Day 1 eviction obviously blows, but the HOH coming from the losing team is interesting. The fact its decided by the team instead of a competition adds another layer to it. The first round is a pyramid puzzle-building team challenge. Category 4 and Big Sister both drop their entire puzzle multiple times, with Da’Vonne and Paul beefing over their team strategy. In the diary room, Da’Vonne says that Paul is way too aggressive, but that she needs to play nice. The Freakozoids are one block away from winning for like half an hour only to end up losing their entire stack. Category 4 wins the first round, saving them from the Night 1 eviction. In the interval between rounds one and two, the Corey and Nicole relationship begins, with Corey comforting her over their loss. The start of the most strategically successful showmance of the season. The second round is a sandcastle puzzle building challenge. On Big Sister, Paul and Da’Vonne’s rivalry continues, while on the Freakazoids, Glenn notices a piece in the foundation is wrong but no one listens to him until its too late. Big Sister manages to pull it out and Da’Vonne has an emotional moment in the diary room after just having been so close to getting evicted. Paul says that even though they won, Da’Vonne is still on his radar. The premiere episode ends with Nicole, Corey, Tiffany, and Glenn’s games in jeopardy.
Premiere Night 2: Losing a Twelve vs Four Fight
The second night of premiere week starts with the Freakazoids all being dejected about being in danger. Glenn is fed up with his team, but is now happy he gets to play for himself in the final round… which will surely work out for him. Nicole tells us this is the most stressed she’s been in either of her seasons. Tiffany takes it the worst, feeling like she’s disappointing her sister, who was such a good player in comparison to her. She feels so much pressure on her and needs to tell someone about her ‘secret.’ Da’Vonne comforts her and takes this as an opportunity to get a newbie on the vets side. She gets Tiffany to admit she’s Vanessa’s sister and tells Tiffany to give it all she’s got. Paul tries to get the Freakazoids to target the vets when one of them gets HOH, but Corey is not sure that’s what he wants to do. With 3/4 of the Freakazoids working with the vets at this point, it becomes pretty clear the plot to target the vets is going to completely fall apart. Nicole tells us she is going to take a more proactive approach to the game this time and advocates to Corey to let her become the HOH. She does this by convincing him being the first HOH would put a huge target on his back and that she would be helping him by taking the HOH. A great play that seemingly gets Corey on board and is the start of Nicole’s underrated and strong gameplay this season.
For the final round, the Freakazoids must line up coconuts on a wobbly island to spell out SOS. The last one to do so is eliminated. The four of them are neck-and-neck most of the challenge and the newbies are cheering for everyone except Nicole. Frank at this point feels its obvious the newbies are trying to target the vets. They’re not even being slick about it! Nicole finishes the challenge first, followed by Tiffany. Glenn and Corey are the last two, with Glenn putting up a surprisingly strong fight. The two complete the challenge in a photo finish. After a replay, it is confirmed that Glenn finished last and is the first houseguest evicted. Corey came shockingly close to losing here, but at the end, the person most expected to be a first boot did end up being the first boot.
The remaining three Freakazoids huddle around to decide who should be HOH. Tiffany and Corey both don’t want it, while Nicole has to pretend she doesn’t as well. After making a deal that the two of them won’t target her when the teams are split up, Nicole becomes the first HOH of the summer. Paul is pissed, his plan to target the vets immediately down the toilet. However, the vets are ecstatic, knowing that with Nicole as HOH, they’re safe as well.
Once the houseguests are back inside the house, Corey is cornered by Paul on why he gave up the HOH power to Nicole, while Paulie forms a bond with Nicole and James. All the while, as if the newbies’ plan to target the vets isn’t already in shambles, Victor pushes it off a cliff by for some reason telling Nicole his entire plan. He tells her about the newbies targeting the vets and how Jozea is the leader of that. Nicole is flabbergasted at why he did this, accidentally giving her an easy nomination. What was his thought process? Did he think by saying this, she would turn against the vets and work with people eager to evict her? In this one moment, it becomes pretty apparent that Victor is not a good player and, in retrospect, why he ends up getting evicted three times.
The string of terrible gameplay continues with Jozea talking strategy with Da’Vonne on the hammock. He’s telling her about how the vets are all on his pecking order, with Nicole at the top of his list. Da’Vonne doesn’t need to worry, though, because she’ll be the last one left. Da’Vonne rightfully mocks him in the diary room and, of course, immediately tells all of this to Nicole. Nicole is now set on targeting Jozea, but she needs a pawn sitting next to him…
Nicole tells Corey that she wants to nominate Jozea and Paulie, with Paulie as a pawn to make sure Jozea loses the veto. The vets and Paulie talk in the HOH room, where Nicole tells Paulie about the plan. He is obviously apprehensive about it, but ends up agreeing, as we learn after the nomination ceremony. At said nomination ceremony, Jozea and Paulie are indeed nominated. Jozea ends up calling Nicole a snake in the diary room, something that may not have been true at that point, but certainly is by the end of the season. Jozea’s prophecy. Before moving on to the rest of week one, I need to talk about how bad of a move it was to nominate Paulie as a pawn. I mean, you couldn’t just nominate Paul or something to guarantee someone targeting the vets goes home? It works out, obviously, but this is one of the few qualms that I have with Nicole’s game.
Glenn Garcia: Predictable First Boot, Unpredictable Drama Stirrer
Glenn being the first boot was not unexpected in the slightest. A preseason poll by Morty’s TV had 25% of people predicting he’d be the first boot. Obviously, given he’s a day one boot, there isn’t much to say about his time in the house. He seemed to be aligned with the newbies to target the vets, but not much else is known. What there is a lot to be said about is his secret Twitter account. This happened after the season was over, but the #Glennexposedparty was such a glorious disaster. It was like this season’s final gift. For a short TLDR, Glenn created a fan account of himself where he made a bunch of weird comments about Natalie and other female houseguests. It’s a fun rabbit hole to explore if you’re ever bored.
Week 1: The MESSiah
Much like every other modern BB season, BB18’s first week sees a large, oversized alliance coalesce around the current HOH. This alliance is the 8-Pack, an alliance consisting of the four vets and then newbie allies in Corey, Michelle, Tiffany, and Zakiyah. Much like every other alliance of that size, this alliance does not last long, with cracks forming before the first week is even over.
The first day of feeds starts off after the winner of the brand new Roadkill Competition and 3rd Nominee have been decided. While it is unclear at first who won the Roadkill Comp, we do quickly learn that Paul is the third nominee. It seems the effort to target the vets has really not worked out at all. Speculation is rampant on who the Roadkill winner is, with Corey claiming people think he won it and Jozea being adamant that Michelle is the Roadkill winner. As becomes precedent for the rest of the week, Jozea is confidently wrong. It’s obvious that Jozea and pretty much everyone else on the anti-vet side of the house are recruits, which leads to some hilariously wrong takes and errors. The veto competition happens on the first day of feeds, with Paul winning it.
After Paul’s win, it becomes clear that most of the house is sick of Jozea and can’t wait to blindside him at the end of the week. Jozea and his side of the house are completely aloof to this, even by the end of the week. Frank confirms that he is the Roadkill winner to Corey, someone who Jozea never once theorized won and thought was with the newbies. Jozea takes the spot as the most delusional and hated houseguest of the week, but that doesn’t mean that his two main men, Paul and Victor, are any less hated. The 8-Pack are eyeing up Victor as a target for the next week and see Paul as his right-hand man. Paul is the only one to put in some good work this week, slowly building a relationship with Nicole as the other two implode. But even then, he considers not using the veto on himself for some reason, having to be convinced by Nicole to play it. Once he does play it with, Bridgette is the replacement nominee, funnily enough put up by her future ride or die partner, Frank. She’s never seriously considered for eviction, though.
In one of the many examples of blatant sexism and misogyny this season, Jozea’s trio believes that James is somehow the mastermind of the vets and Nicole isn’t a serious threat. Being underestimated becomes a key part of Nicole’s strategy later on, but is so frustrating to see these men not even considering that a woman could actually be a threat. I mean, the most James does this week is annoy people with unfunny pranks such as leaving cracker crumbs over people’s beds and wasting food for no reason.
Throughout the rest of the week, Jozea’s delusions continue. He believes that all of the vets minus Nicole are on his side somehow. He’s hosting house meetings where he lays out his entire strategy to everyone and makes it clear who his targets are. He talks about his mastermind strategy to Paulie while having a toothbrush in between his ear. He talks about how if he wins HOH, he’ll follow the warrior code and let everyone else decide who the nominees should be. The absolute disaster-class from Jozea distracts us from how poorly his allies are playing this as well. Firstly, the all-women Spy Girls alliance (Natalie, Bronte, Bridgette) are with Jozea, even as Bridgette slowly forms a bond with Frank. Of these three, Bronte is by far the worst player. She makes it very clear to the other side of the house that she’s against them and can’t even hide her disdain for her. Even as Jozea’s trio blatantly disrespect her (the backyard pool scene), she is still happily on their side. Victor is just as confidently incorrect as Jozea is the first week, believing he has people like Zakiyah and Da’Vonne on his side all week. Even as Natalie begins to suspect a Jozea blindside, he refuses to listen, another example of how little he thinks of the women. He’s also hotheaded, with Paulie taking notes of this and wanting to trick him into swinging on him. Side note, Paulie was always built for The Challenge.
The 8-Pack, despite being the dominant alliance at this point, cannot even hold it together for one week. Rivalries are beginning to form between the group. Surprisingly, it’s not between Michelle and Nicole, with their rivalry starting much later, but instead all revolves around Tiffany. Frank and Tiffany get into multiple arguments, with Tiffany crying and venting to other 8-pack members about it. They all start losing trust in her. The men of the 8-Pack discuss the pecking order, with James critically saying he can get Natalie to flip. Natalie is easily the only good player of that side of the house, at this point at least, with her being fed up with Jozea’s trio and wanting to branch out. In the end, she still votes to evict Paulie, though. It doesn’t matter, as Jozea is evicted in a 7-4-0 vote. The first of many great downfalls this season.
Jozea Flores: Delusional
Jozea stayed in the house the perfect amount of time. Despite only lasting one week (technically two) in the Big Brother house, he stayed the perfect amount of time to simultaneously become an iconic personality and not overstay his welcome. If he stayed even a week longer, he would become very grating very quickly. We were lucky that he did not win the battle back and become an overbearing personality on a comeback. Now that ten years have passed, we can look at him as an iconic week one boot instead of as one of the most annoying houseguests of all time.
Week 2: Unrootable Underdog
Victor and Frank are proof that all it takes to become a fan favorite in the eyes of the American public is to be an underdog. It doesn’t matter how badly you treat others, or why you are in the poor position you find yourself in, but only that you are in that poor position. Week 2 of BB18 starts off as a simple Victor boot but devolves into the destruction of the Eight-Pack by the end of the week.
Paulie emerges victorious in a team-based HOH competition, keeping his team of Category 4 safe. James threw the competition to ensure that Victor and Bronte would be on the chopping block, a noble sacrifice and definitely the last competition he will throw. With Paulie’s victory, the Victor eviction is in full motion, even as Victor proposes an all-guys alliance to save himself. Interestingly enough, gender wars are a major theme this week, as the men are worried about the 6-8, soon to be 5-8, deficit they find themselves in.
Paulie and his allies decide that the best path is to backdoor Victor, with Bronte as the backup target in case something goes wrong. With that plan in place, Bronte and Paul are nominated as pawns. The roadkill competition throws a small wrench in Paulie’s plans with Victor winning. Luckily for them, Victor is not the best Big Brother player, telling Paulie and Nicole he won the roadkill competition, which spreads to the entire house in a matter of hours. Why would you ever tell two people you’re not aligned with about your secret power?! Victor decides to nominate Tiffany with his power, which sends her into a descent of paranoia and ultimately leads to the Eight-Pack’s self implosion. Victor unintentionally almost saves himself through his choice. Almost.
Paulie wins the Power of Veto, and with it, predictably takes Paul off the block to backdoor Victor. Now that the nominees are set, though, the real fun begins. During the POV competition, Tiffany’s paranoia got to her, so despite being safe, she tries her hardest to win. This rubs Da’vonne the wrong way, as she could have completely ruined the Victor backdoor if she won. Da’vonne and Zakiyah agree that Tiffany must go soon. Not before Frank, though, as he has already rubbed almost every woman in the house the wrong way. He has called Zakiyah and Da’vonne sl*ts and made comments about Zakiyah’s teeth, for example. Beyond just being creepy, he’s also being sneaky, making deals with practically everyone, even those outside his alliance. He even exposed the Eight-Pack to Paulie, something Da’vonne and Zakiyah were particularly pissed about. In the span of two weeks, Frank has squandered his power, straight down to the bottom like he was during BB14. Plans are being made to blindside Frank the next week, with the Eight-Pack minus Corey all being on board to evict him. In one of his first red flag moments, Paulie questions if the women are simply saying Frank makes them uncomfortable for strategy purposes. He is so blinded by gender wars he can’t take people’s genuine concerns seriously.
Where is Victor in all of this? Well he’s not really campaigning, thinking he has six votes against Tiffany and that she’ll be the one leaving. Most of the talk about Victor comes from Natalie, who claims he’s mean to her and that she can’t wait to vote him out. He comes off as sort of a jerk, calling Natalie immature for her age and cuddling with her while telling her he doesn’t want a showmance. If it weren’t for the battle backs, he would be a forgotten, early boot by now. Luckily for him, he’ll get two more lives after this.
Week 3: Bridgette’s Frank’s HOH Reign
In one of the worst case scenarios for everyone hoping to evict Frank, Bridgette becomes the third HOH. Oh, excuse me, Frank actually becomes the third HOH. Not only are Bridgette and Frank both on Category 4, meaning Frank is now safe, but Frank had been buddying up to Bridgette and it’s about to pay off big time. Frank essentially hijacks Bridgette’s HOH reign, controlling her nominations to target his mortal enemy, Tiffany, and then winning the roadkill comp to have total control over the nominations. To make things even better for Frank, Bridgette wins the veto, meaning the pariah duo has complete control over the week. All of that just for one of Bridgette’s closest allies ends up getting evicted anyways…
With all of the power this week, Frank displays his worst behavior. He has a creepy tendency to slap women’s butts to display affection, which he claims he does to his mother and grandmother. He does this to Zakiyah and Da’vonne specifically, while also demeaning them with insults and telling them to shut their mouths. Da’vonne eventually has enough and yells at Frank to stop doing that. Frank later does a half-assed apology which Da’vonne is forced to accept for the sake of her game. Despite production’s tendency to protect their golden boys by any means possible, they surprisingly show this moment on the show. What a sad downfall for Frank. But not surprising, given production shielded him in the BB14 edit despite feed watchers from that time saying all he did was trash talk everyone else with Boogie and that’s why he was such an underdog. Goes to show anyone can be made likable simply by the virtue of being an underdog, no matter how horrible they are. Only now that he is no longer an underdog does the casual audience finally see his true colors.
As for the game, Bridgette Frank nominates Tiffany and Paul for eviction, with Tiffany as the target and Paul as a pawn yet again. With his roadkill power, Frank nominates Bronte, still wanting to save face with the Eight Pack. Funnily enough, in the diary room after the roadkill nomination, Bridgette says whoever put Bronte up better watch their back. In a fun, memory-based veto competition, Bridgette wins and injures her ankle. Bridgette contemplates using the veto to save Bronte, but Natalie convinces her out of it because she fears she will be the replacement nominee. They are confident that Tiffany is going home regardless, so Bronte is willing to stay on the block for Natalie.
The Spy Girls were correct in their assumption. For most of the week, Tiffany is indeed going home. Da’vonne starts working with Tiffany to target Frank next week and wants to keep her, but no one else is really on board. In fact, it only seems to put a target on her back, as Nicole and Corey lose trust in her and she becomes a potential target. Even after talks of potentially flipping, the likes of Paulie and James feel that Tiffany is a bigger threat than Bronte and that she needs to go. A shift happens the night before the eviction, as the conversation becomes less about Tiffany vs Bronte and more about how to spite Frank the most. Michelle, Paulie, and Nicole want to keep Tiffany to both frazzle Frank and have her go after him while he’ll still have tunnel vision on targeting Tiffany. James, Corey, and Zakiyah are all brought in on the plan, deciding to split the vote 5-4 to confuse Frank. So, come eviction night, Bronte is evicted in a 5-4 vote, leaving Bridgette and Frank blindsided right before the infamous booth comp.
Bronte D’Acquisto: The Mathematician
After being casually cruel but with a sweet nasally voice for the first two weeks of BB18, Bronte became way more chill in her last week in the house. She mainly just hung around all of the girls and tried to unite them together. During her last week, she even revealed the most groundbreaking secret of the season to Bridgette and Natalie, telling them she’s a mathematician! She seemed to be on an upward trajectory, not really being on anyone’s immediate hitlist if she had survived against Tiffany. Unfortunately for her, Frank’s awfulness squashed her chances. Make sure to never ask her what 9×9 equals!
Week 4: The Unlikeliest of Duos
In the crapshoot booth competition, the house majority comes in with a clear plan to evict Frank, so his Category 4 teammates Paulie and Michelle have agreed to throw the competition. However, when most of the house is eliminated after merely three questions, Paulie, Frank, and Nicole are the only ones left. Not wanting to risk a Frank HOH win, Paulie ditches the original plan and wins the competition, earning him his second HOH reign. Unfortunately, the downside of this is that both Frank and Bridgette are now safe as members of Category 4. Still, with an easy target in Tiffany, this should be an easy week…
All hell breaks loose after the HOH competition. The last minute flip to save Tiffany combined with Frank being safe for another week leads to complete chaos. At the core of this chaos are Frank, Tiffany, and Da’vonne. Frank and Bridgette are pissed about the flip and Frank is going all around the house trying to figure out who did it. On the other side of the house, Da’vonne and Paulie have buyer’s remorse, wishing they had just evicted Tiffany like originally planned. Both are worried that Tiffany will run to Frank and Bridgette now, even after they saved her. Tiffany, even after being saved, feels more isolated than ever. She has lost all trust in Da’vonne and all of the 8-pack members, even mentioning self-evicting. This feeling of isolation is enough for her to make a deal with the devil, initiating an alliance with Frank. She exposes the last minute flip to him and says that it was Da’vonne who flipped the votes. This culminates in Tiffany melting down to Da’vonne and Zakiyah, saying they’ve both treated her horribly and have hid everything from her the entire game. Da’vonne attempts to bring the conversation back to the game but Tiffany continues venting. Once Nicole and Corey come in, Tiffany becomes upset with them too and confronts Corey about him calling her a crybaby who wouldn’t leave him alone. This is true, but the two of them deny it and try to pin it on Frank, and Nicole gets strangely offended on Corey’s behalf.
As for the HOH himself, Paulie decides pretty quickly to target Tiffany and use Natalie as a pawn. Throughout the week, he continually compares her to Vanessa as justification for targeting her. After the nomination ceremony, Tiffany tells Frank about how Nicole is “the fakest of them all” and that she wants to target Corey if she wins the roadkill. Frank relays this to Bridgette and the two agree to nominate Corey if they win. Once the competition arrives, Tiffany indeed wins it and nominates Corey as planned. Funnily enough, Corey is absolutely positive that Tiffany could not have won the roadkill comp.
Corey wins the veto competition, which he was initially going to throw to Paul, but changed his mind after seeing how slow Paul was. With their initial target safe, Tiffany and Frank go all in on targeting Da’vonne. Tiffany tells Corey and Paul that she was the roadkill winner and tries exposing Da’vonne for playing everyone since day 2. Paul plays double agent and relays this information back to Paulie, alongside the information that Frank called Paulie untrustworthy. Paulie, Paul, and Zakiyah then expose Frank to Da’vonne. Although Frank and Tiffany are still the biggest targets in the house, all of this information Frank has given to Paulie and Corey about Da’vonne have put her on their hitlist.
After the veto ceremony, in which Corey saves himself and Da’vonne goes up in his place, things mostly mellow out. There are rumblings to flip the vote on Da’vonne, mainly from Frank, who is relentless in getting her out. He is actually convinced for most of the week that the numbers are on his side. However, no one besides Frank and Bridgette are ever dead set on the plan. When Frank isn’t trying to flip the vote on Da’vonne, he’s trash talking everyone else with Bridgette, reminiscent of his trash talking with Boogie on BB14. Something important for week five comes from Nicole, who is playing all sides this week. At the beginning of the week, Nicole throws Da’vonne under the bus to Frank, saying Da’vonne made her think Frank would nominate her if he won the roadkill comp. The day before the eviction, she has a conversation with Da’vonne about fixing their relationship only to throw her under the bus again to Frank immediately after that conversation. She tells Frank she’ll join him on the flip if they have the numbers and then pulls out after a conversation with James. This will come to a head during the week 5 endurance comp. As for the eviction, Tiffany is evicted unaminously.
Tiffany Rousso: Stuck in a Shadow
Tiffany unfortunately never had a chance in the game. Coming off of BB17, where her sister Vanessa played one of the most ruthless and manipulative games ever seen, no one was ever going to let Tiffany get far. It’s jarring to compare how the two siblings of previous players were treated on this season. Tiffany dealt with the baggage and aftermath of her sister’s game and was often treated horribly for it, while Paulie never really had to deal with any of that. Of course you must fact in that at this point in BB history, Vanessa was one of the most ruthless players ever while Cody was still seen as a meathead who made a horrible game-losing move out of loyalty. However, I can’t help but think though that even if Paulie played after Cody’s perfect BB22 game, he still wouldn’t have to deal with even a fraction of what Tiffany dealt with. Tiffany’s not blameless, as she still made plenty of errors and didn’t do herself any favors with her constant paranoia, but there is no way around it that she was unfairly treated because of her sister.
Week 5: No More Teams!
It’s time for a game refresh! Victor won the Battle-Back competition and is now back in the game. Alongside Victor’s return, a secret room is ready to be found. Now that we are a week away from the jury stage, for real this time, the teams twist and the BB Roadkill Competition are both officially over. To commemorate all of these changes, the first endurance HOH challenge of the season is underway! Before the challenge can begin though, a messy move leads to a confrontation in the middle of the HOH competition…
The 8-Pack alliance is completely over at this point. However, Nicole still wants to keep all of the ex 8-Pack members on her side. So in the midst of the public rivalry between Frank and Da’vonne, she is shamelessly trying to play both of them. She is not careful, though, so after having a conversation with Da’vonne about wanting Frank out even if someone reenters the house, she goes to Frank and repeats this to him.
Back to the regularly scheduled HOH competition. In one of the longest endurance competitions of Big Brother US history, players slowly trickle out until the final 3 are Bridgette, Da’vonne, and James. Frank, already eliminated and with nothing left to lose, tells Da’vonne that he heard she wanted him out before Victor. He tells Da’vonne he’ll tell her who it was in exchange for information. He whispers Nicole’s name to her and she confronts her while still in the competition. Nicole denies this, but the trust is already lost. After this, Bridgette and Da’vonne agree to throw the competition to James, both thinking that the deal they made with him will keep them safe.
After the competition, Nicole has completely given up on working with Frank, now fully on board with sending him packing. So, Nicole, alongside most of the house, tell James that Bridgette and Frank are both competition beasts and they need to go on the block together. This puts James in a bit of a pickle, as at this point, his showmance with Natalie is fully underway. The two spend hours upon hours together in the HOH room, and she is obviously close to Bridgette. This plus the deal with Bridgette make James hesitant to put her on the block. At the end, he relents, nominating Frank and Bridgette for eviction.
The rest of the week is mundane in terms of strategy. Frank is still trying everything to get Da’vonne backdoored, but he has little success. Even Paulie starts sleeping whenever Frank is in the room just to avoid talking to him. His last hope is to win the veto, but Michelle ends up winning it instead, her first and only competition win of the season. Michelle’s win does lead to some fun drama though, also bringing some of the season’s ugliness to light.
Before the veto competition, Natalie talked with James about how the other girls bully Bridgette and tells him to talk to her, which he does. After this conversation with James, Bridgette tells Natalie about how Michelle is jealous of her and that there was a rumor she stuck her tongue out to Nicole behind her back. Right before the veto meeting, Bridgette attempts to hash things out with Michelle in the bathroom area. During this conversation, Michelle accuses Bridgette of saying something about her eyebrows, which she denies. It is also during this confrontation that Michelle admits she’s jealous of how close Bridgette is with Frank, which could be the cause of their rivalry. This argument is also where the iconic Michelle and Bridgette quotes, “I am nice to you… sometimes,” and “What the hell Michelle?” come from. Despite the unintentional hilarity of those quotes, this conversation overall unveils the very unfair treatment of Bridgette this season. Most of the girls have talked badly about her behind her back. They justify it by saying it’s because she’s “male-centered” or a lackey for Frank, but that doesn’t excuse the horrible things they said about her or unnecessarily cruel things like dumping her cookies. And the truth is, they are only pushing her to close herself off with Frank and indulge in his constant trash talking and nastiness even more.
The poor treatment of Bridgette doesn’t only come from the women. Paul rightfully hates Frank for slapping the women’s butts without their consent and talking about people’s weights, but he hates Bridgette almost just as much. In fact, he says he’ll make her life a living hell after Frank leaves and make sure she’s in jury all alone. Just another example of the cruel treatment of Bridgette. Back to Frank, he’s dead in the water after the veto is used, and he knows it. Even after Paul finds the secret room and unleashes the round trip ticket, Frank still doesn’t have much hope. He tries his best though, calling a house meeting that goes nowhere and getting in an altercation with Paul. Everyone is set on evicting him anyways. In the end, he is evicted unanimously and has the one-way ticket, becoming the final pre-juror of BB18
Frank Eudy: Hero to Zero
The first returning player to be evicted, Frank has shown himself to be a horrible Big Brother player. He’s played terribly from both the bottom and the top. On BB14, you can argue that he was only targeted initially because he was on Mike Boogie’s team. On BB18 though, he has no one to blame but himself. He squandered his power position in the span of two weeks simply by being a crappy person. Despite ending his BB18 run in the same underdog position as BB14, he leaves with his ugly side exposed to the casual audience and way less fans. Although I have been largely negative on Frank, I do want to at least commend him for sticking up for Bridgette and not throwing her under the bus to stay in the game. Even if he’s not the best person inside the Big Brother house, at least he is loyal.
Conclusion: A Cast of Characters
In the first five weeks of BB18, all sixteen of the houseguests have put on a show, one way or another. We have seen plenty of drama, even if it’s ugly drama, which is the #1 thing you want from a Big Brother season. With Jozea, Tiffany, and Frank, undoubtedly three of the biggest characters and villains so far gone, though, there are spaces to fill. Which new villains will rise, then fall? Can Da’vonne escape the target she has on her back? What new alliances will form with the 8-Pack dismantled? These are all questions you likely know the answer to, but we’ll explore and discuss them nonetheless on part 2 of the BB18 retrospective!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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-.
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