Reality TV Thoughts

Survivor 48 has unleashed a plague upon us all!

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

The Journey: Stephenie’s Dislocated Shoulder Redux

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

Cirie’s Rizard of Oz

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

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

Aubry’s Horrific Lie

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

Coach’s Power Trip

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

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

Jonathan Somehow Outsmarts Dee

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

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

Dee Valladares: The Last Winner Standing

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

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

Conclusion: Downfall Incoming

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

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

The Merged Tribe: Survivor’s First Polyamorous Showmance!

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

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

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

The Immunity Challenge: The Biggest Reward of the Season!

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

Group A: Chrissy’s Awakening

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

Group B: Genevieve’s Last Hurrah

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

Group C: Half of Your Life

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

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

Kamilla Karthigesu: Purpled Queen

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

Genevieve Mushaluk: Most Unlucky Player Ever?

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

Colby Donaldson: Find the Joy!

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

Conclusion: Twists Galore

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

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

The Kalo Tribe: The Tide Walker

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

The Vatu Tribe: Ozzy’s Temper Tantrum

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

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

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

The Cila Tribe: Rizo and the Girls

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

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

Angelina Keeley: Underedited

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

Charlie Davis: Too Much Baggage

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

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

Conclusion: Fun Downfall

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

Who knew that Q was right to not trust Emily Flippen in the preseason? Maybe people need to take Q’s strategy more seriously and realize that no one who eats pork, drinks coke, and is left handed should ever be trusted. He is 100% vindicated.

The Survivor 50 tribe swap brought forth many new dynamics and changes. Charlie’s trauma from losing Survivor 46 by 1 vote has led to him targeting Rizo on his swapped tribe. The three David vs Goliath players are all miraculously on the same tribe and seemingly working together. Emily Flippen causes chaos the entire episode and aligns herself with her biggest adversary from old Cila. And of course, as is the case with every tribe swap, someone gets swap screwed. And unfortunately, it seems Q, one of the most entertaining players in Survivor history, did not have the odds in his favor.

Last-minute Pre Swap Chaos

The morning of the swap, the Cila tribe receives inklings of a potential swap. Christian, knowing that he sent the Billie Eilish boomerang idol to Aubry, needs to tell his closest allies about this so they can work with her in case they end up on the same tribe as her. He and Rick Devens devise a plan in which they tell their allies that Devens had found the Billie Eilish Boomerang idol the night before. The fact Christian was so easily able to convince Devens to agree to this is impressive. This plan basically turns Devens into a shield for Christian, and Devens had no problem with it! That’s besides the point, though. While the two are able to tell Cirie about the idol pretty quickly, Joe and Ozzy prevent them from being able to tell Emily before the swap. This will come back to bite them, particularly Christian, later.

The Swap

Everyone arrives at the tribe mats, and we see a bit of Rizo’s reaction to his close ally Savannah being gone, no confessional though, sadly. Jeff Probst decides that the best way to introduce the swap to the castaways is… through a rap song! It’s a moment reminiscent of the fried chicken and waffles song on 48, in all the wrong ways. It’s not the most heinous thing ever though, so let’s just move on. Just before everyone grabs a new buff, Christian whispers into Emily’s ear that Aubry has an idol. Emily is not happy to have received this information so late, setting off a chain reaction on the new Vatu tribe. Charlie has been disappointed by every ‘decision’ the fans have made so far, even though he admits he voted for a swap. Kamilla is disgruntled about the swap. I mean, who would wanna give up having Jonathan on their tribe? Luckily for her though, she gets to stay on the same tribe as him and her other Kalo tribemates, Charlie and Dee. After everyone swaps, they get to go to their new camps and bond with their new teammates! They’ll all get along just fine…

The New Kalo Tribe: Honesty & Integrity 2.0!

This is exactly what everyone wants to see. The three men on the tribe all teaming up immediately. Certainly not a pregame alliance or anything… Coach, Colby, and Joe. Not at all a surprising trio, but one most would not want to work out. All you can do is hope that Coach ends up blowing it up somehow. Coach’s other moment is more heartwarming though. Coach reveals to us that Chrissy was on the bottom of the old Kalo tribe and would have been voted out first for “talking too much.” He really likes her though and now that they’re on the swapped tribe together, wants to give her advice. It harkens back to Tyson comforting a crying Coach in Heroes vs Villains, one of the most underrated moments of that season. And Chrissy has a really emotional reaction to it and gets to tell us about her story with her medical scare. I’m really hoping we get to see more of Chrissy as the season goes on, and hopefully she does get to make more friends here than she did on HHH.

The Aubry and Genevieve feud continues, this time with a new player thrown into the mix! Genevieve is going around telling everyone she’s willing to work with them and throwing out Aubry as a target. She really meant it when she said that she’s focusing on the social game this time! It backfires though, as when she approaches Tiffany and throws out Aubry’s name, we learn that Tiffany loves Aubry! Kind of came out of nowhere, I would have expected for Tiffany and Genevieve to work together. Tiffany tells Aubry everything that Genevieve said about her, confirming her suspicions. Aubry is ready to go scorched earth against her old tribemates, especially Genevieve! How will this rivalry come to a head? Potential idol play? Brutal blindside? The only thing that’s guaranteed is that one of these ladies will fall.

The New Cila Tribe: Charlie’s Trauma

Rizo has turned over a new leaf in the game! He’s working on the social game and is trying to build bonds with his new tribemates. Everything is going well, or so he thinks…

Cirie is not very enthused about her new tribe. She does not want to introduce all of these people to her camp. She is especially not fond of ‘Rizgod.’ Rizo is totally unaware of this though, as he tells Cirie that the two of them took a photo together years ago. Cirie laughs and pretends she’s having a great time, putting her social skills to work.

It only gets worse though, as Rizo seems to have accidentally reawakened Charlie’s Survivor 46 trauma. While everyone is relaxing by the fire, Rizo out of the blue asks Charlie about his relationship with Maria. Charlie tells everyone that the two of them haven’t spoken since three days before the Survivor 46 finale and we see a flashback of Jeff asking him about Maria not voting for him to win. What an awesome moment. Only Rizo, the biggest superfan here, could so bluntly ask a question like that. He needs to stay for as long as possible to ask Aubry about Edge of Extinction next. Rizo truly does wanna work with Charlie though, so he tells Charlie all about the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol on the hammock, and how Genevieve gave it to Aubry. But Charlie does not want anything to do with Rizgod, as it’s revealed that the previous night, Rizo told everyone his closest ally on 49 was Blue Sophi but that he voted for Savannah to win over her. Charlie is not pleased by this at all and has decided that Rizo cannot sit on the jury at all if he didn’t vote for his closest ally to win. Such a beautiful entanglement of lies and trauma. Especially knowing that Rizo, Savannah, and Blue Sophi were equally close to each other on 49 and Rizo was just lying to keep up the charade he and Savannah weren’t friends. It’s the kind of storyline that could only happen on 50.

The New Vatu Tribe: It’s Flippen Chaos

One of my biggest fears heading into Survivor 50 was that Emily Flippen would be purpled, seeing that she’s one of the less popular people on 50 and a woman (who have historically been underedited). Luckily, that’s not the case for Emily though. It’s really hard to purple someone when they’re the main source of the chaos on their team anyways…

The main talking point on new Vatu is that all three David vs Goliath players are together. Everyone assumes that they’d work together, and that would constitute a near majority for them. Q is determined to not let that happen. If the three of them think they’re all surviving tribal, they can cancel Christmas. Q talks with Emily and tries forming an alliance with her. Emily is open to the idea and wants to bring in Ozzy. Q is still working closely with Stephenie, so that should be 4. Still mad at Christian for telling her about the boomerang idol so late, she tells this new alliance about Aubry having an idol. Q sees this as proving that Emily Flippen wants to work with him. So he, Stephenie, and Emily are now locked in and the two of them talk a lot about Angelina being on the bottom of the old Vatu tribe and how she did nothing around camp. Emily is now put off by them though, feeling like they completely steamroll conversations. She decides to expose the two of them to Angelina, who gets very emotional but thanks Emily. After causing all of this chaos, Emily feels bad about telling everyone about Aubry’s idol and admits to Christian that she screwed up. Christian is the most mad he’s ever been on Survivor, but is forced to forgive her. This is all before the challenge even begins. Awesome, this is why I love Emily Flippen.

After new Vatu loses the blindfolded immunity challenge, which Christian blames himself for as the leader, someone must be voted out. Mike White has a plan. He decides to tell Stephenie to her face and with other people around, that he will be writing her name down tonight. He’s not actually going to do that though. Instead, he wants Q out because he sees him as the biggest threat to his game. He and Angelina are locked in, and Christian is seemingly on board with sticking with his previous castmates. That leaves Emily and Ozzy in the middle. The two of them are suddenly in lockstep, and have conversations by the water trying to get on the same page. Emily Flippen is erratic, going from targeting Ozzy to working tightly with him, which is why she’s so great. In the midst of this, Q has cooked up a new scheme. He does not want Stephenie receiving any votes. Despite not having a vote himself, he’s going to tell Mike to write his name down instead of Stephenie. A classic Q scheme that unfortunately backfires this time around. At tribal council, Q and Stephenie are both blindsided when Q is voted out in a 5-1 vote. A disappointing, but not entirely surprising result.

Q Burdette: Christmas is Cancelled

Q, one of the most anticipated players for Survivor 50, his time unfortunately cut way too short. It’s not particularly shocking. Before the season, I had predicted him to be an early boot and even thought there was a high chance he would be the first boot. Doesn’t make this loss sting any less though. Especially since he seemed to be in a strong spot on the original Vatu tribe. This was such an unlucky draw for him, he didn’t necessarily play himself out of the game like most expected. The one good thing about this swap for him was seeing him say Emily’s full name every time he talked about her. We never got to see the Q wagon that he talked about preseason play out and that’s an absolute tragedy. Q deserves a third shot and I believe he will get one. But for now, Christmas is cancelled.

Conclusion: Devastatingly Great Swap

Even despite the swap leading to one of the most entertaining players in Q getting swap screwed, this swap and episode was still a major hit. We got to see reawakened traumas, Flippen chaos, and an amazing challenge. Seriously, the challenges are not what I come back every week for, but something about this one just hit for me. Maybe it’s just that I’m a huge Kamilla fan and seeing her completely dominate this challenge was awesome to watch, but something just stood out this time. As a whole, the swap did not kill any momentum at all, and hopefully this game will only get crazier.

Joe Hunter Vs. Rick Devens? That’s a rivalry I did not see coming! Survivor 50’s second episode continues delivering in entertainment and drama! Gastrointestinal distress, bag searches, leg cramps, another Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol being discovered, the reigning champion getting knocked out, there is so much to unpack this episode!

The Kalo Tribe: The Dragonslayer Almost Slain by the Ocean

Unfortunately, like in the premiere, Kalo gets the least amount of content out of the three tribes in episode 2. Of the little content they do get, Coach is the star. First of all, at the reward challenge, everyone is saddened to see that Kyle has been pulled from the game. We get an especially heartbreaking reaction from Kamilla. Although she did not want Kyle competing alongside her, he’s still her friend and someone she shared a unique experience with on 48. In this solemn moment, Coach is the one to unintentionally lighten the mood. After Ozzy connects Kyle’s med evac to him hurting his back at the supplies challenge, Coach decides this is the best time for him to call out Ozzy and tell everyone the ‘truth’ about what happened at that supplies challenge. He claims that he is playing the game the exact same way he’s always played it, with honor. Ozzy snarkily replies that he is playing it the same way he did on South Pacific, where their rivalry famously started. Side note, cutting to Emily’s reaction to Coach essentially doing what she did at the marooning of Survivor 45 was a nice touch. After a pretty epic water challenge in which Kalo scores a tarp and small camp essentials kit, Coach decides he wants to fish with Jonathan. Jonathan tells him of this beautiful coral reef, which Coach tragically does not get to appreciate. That is because, minutes after entering the water, Coach gets a cramp in both of his legs and needs to be rescued by the water safety crew. The rest of Kalo’s reaction to this is hilarious. Mike White gives a comical retelling of Coach’s incident in confessional, Charlie is completely shocked to see Coach barely able to walk, and Dee calls him “old and dismantled.” Unfortunately, the rest of Kalo does not get anywhere near as much content. Tiffany is irrelevant the whole episode, Chrissy’s only content is of people criticizing her motherly nature, and Kamilla doesn’t even get a single confessional about Kyle. The Dragonslayer is amazing, but hopefully the rest of Kalo will get a chance to shine, especially with a swap coming next episode.

The Vatu Tribe: Bag Searching a Bit Too Early

On Vatu, Aubry is clearly on the bottom of the tribe. Even despite Kyle’s early exit completely changing the tribe dynamics, it seems everyone besides Aubry has some kind of connection. Q brings Rizo into the main alliance to replace Kyle and confesses to him that he lost his vote. Rizo is overall trying to tone himself down after coming in a bit too eager. And worst yet, the core alliance devises a plan to search through Aubry’s bag to make sure she does not have an idol. Genevieve notices that Aubry is taking her bag everywhere and fears a potential idol. With Q on lookout, she searches through Aubry’s bag only to find… nothing. Nothing to worry about, Aubry doesn’t have the idol guys! Almost directly after the bag search though, Christian finds the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol on Cila and sends it to Aubry! Aubry is ecstatic and emotional to have received this gift. This idol could be exactly what Aubry needs to turn her game around. After getting voted out with an idol in her pocket on Edge of Extinction, Aubry is going to make sure to not make the same mistake twice. She could be in for one of the greatest underdog runs in Survivor history! Beyond the Aubry of it all, Colby is determined to prove himself in the challenges once again. His strength in the immunity challenge, pulling the 200 pound snake to the checkpoint with everything he had was amazing to watch.

The Cila Tribe: Everyone Hates Honesty and Integrity!

Joe Hunter actually providing entertainment? Who knew that was possible. Before we can get to that though, we have to address the elephant in the room: Christian’s crappy khakis. While helping Joe with fire, Christian craps his pants, something that despite being deeply embarassing, he takes lightly and even calls the messiest move in Survivor history on ChatBCC. Back to Joe, everyone seems to be tired of Joe’s whole honesty and integrity schtick, especially Rick Devens. When Savannah suggests to Devens in alliance between herself, him, Christian, and Joe, he is not pleased. In front of Joe, he whispers something to Savannah, which Joe does not take kindly to and confronts Rick about. Rick is annoyed with Joe about this and in confessional says he does not want to work with Joe and deal with all of this honesty and integrity stuff. He is not that kind of player, he loves flashy gameplay with idols and advantages. In the midst of all of this, Christian humorously rocks Joe in the hammock as he tries to calm him down and keep him from going after Rick. After Cila loses immunity yet again, the tribe dynamics continue to get more interesting. Emily still wants to go after Ozzy, but Cirie puts in the work to protect him and shift the target away. After Cirie tells Ozzy that she thinks people aren’t targeting him anymore, he thanks her with his extra vote. In confessional, Ozzy says Cirie’s social game is amazing, especially compared to his own. Also, this is Cirie’s first advantage! Savannah catches onto Cirie swaying the target away from Ozzy and tries to tell everyone they should stick to that plan. Rick and Joe’s rivalry gets so heated that everyone is considering switching the target to Joe. At tribal, Joe claims that the beef is squashed to quell everyone’s fears. In the end, it is a unanimous Savannah vote, as the distrust of her going on the journey seemingly did sink her game. A kind of disappointing end to all of the drama on this tribe, but that’s not the actual ending. Before tribal, Rick and Christian devised a plan to use Christian’s Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol clue and a fake idol to plant a fake advantage at tribal council. Seconds after Savannah’s torch has been snuffed, and it’s time to go back to camp, Christian takes a fake fall so real you’ll doubt it was truly intentional. It distracts everyone just long enough for Devens to hide the fake advantage in between rocks. near the fire. Will this fake idol lead to a chaotic, messy moment down the line? Or will it be just as disappointing as Sophi B.’s knowledge is power? Hopefully the former.

Savannah: Doomed From the Start?

Coming into Survivor 50, Savannah was by far the player I had the lowest expectations for. She was a great player on 49 with a slightly villain-like personality, but coming into 50, I believed too much was stacked up against her. Being outed at the winner of 49 (which nobody had seen at that point), no one knowing how she played, and not being able to pre-game. Yet she surprised me in her short stay. She survived the first tribal council and seemingly was not even a consideration to go home. Unfortunately this episode, it seemed she was just an easy person to boot for Cila, especially given the unknowns of the journey. She still had great moments this season, though. Beating one of her Survivor idols, Colby, in the journey, catching on to Cirie’s gameplay, and her beautiful monologue about learning to embrace her true self throughout her Survivor journey. I’d be happy if she got a third shot where the odds weren’t completely stacked against her from the start.

A Worthy Follow-up

After how amazing the premiere was, episode 2 continues to deliver. Different gameplay styles colliding, new creative advantage strategies, and the Dragonslayer of it all. The only weakness is the underediting of the women, which was especially noticeable in this episode. Hopefully, this issue can be lessened in the following episodes. With a tribe swap coming up, new dynamics are sure to form. And unfortunately, a fan favorite is sure to be swap screwed. It’s all in the name of the game though, so bring it on!

Survivor 50, the most anticipated Survivor season possibly ever, is off to a fantastic start. There is something for almost every Survivor fan in this premiere. A beautiful montage at the start of the episode recapping the history of the entire show, players from different eras of the show interacting with each other, and perhaps most importantly, the return of the Ozzy vs Coach rivalry! Everything was amazing from start to finish, and even with two devastating eliminations, this season has potential to be one of the best ever..

The marooning challenge was nothing special. Honestly, the whole time I was just in awe that I was finally watching this season after two years of anticipation. The magenta Vatu tribe does pull out the victory though, shocking considering how many people had predicted they would be the disaster tribe. After the marooning is when the true magic starts though…

The Kalo Tribe

Kalo unfortunately got the least amount of focus in the premiere due to their tribe being the only one not to lose a member, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have any amazing moments. First of all, as mentioned before, it is just amazing watching all of these players from across the show’s history interacting with one another. One of the most memorable was Coach honoring Charlie by allowing him to wear his toe ring for a couple seconds. It’s these character moments that really make the show, and it’s clear Coach has not lost a step since his last appearance on South Pacific. Also, a New Era women’s alliance seems to be forming between Kamilla, Dee, and Tiffany. These three women are all fierce strategic forces and could be a deadly alliance. I am especially excited to see Kamilla finally get to play a more strategic cutthroat game after having her gameplay neutered on 48. That dig at honesty and integrity is well appreciated, by the way! It was somewhat shocking to see Dee be a big target right off the bat for Chrissy and Jonathan, but this could be her chance to showcase her skillset and ability to adapt. One last thing, Mike White has abs! Who would’ve known?

The Cila Tribe

The surprise disaster tribe seemingly, Cila was a beautiful mess to watch from start to finish. First of all, a bromance between Christian and Devens starts almost immediately. Two strategic stars from the late 30s of Survivor teaming up feels so perfect. They’re seemingly at the core of their tribe too, forming the majority alliance with Emily, Joe and Savannah. We also have Jenna’s glorious flame out, going after Cirie almost right out of the gate. She tries getting everyone on board to vote out Cirie before the first immunity challenge even begins! Unfortunately for Jenna, Devens rats her out to Cirie almost immediately, starting their one episode rivalry. Speaking of Cirie, she is in general is such a star in this episode. Her beautiful mat chat at the marooning, tight partnership with Ozzy, and somehow surviving the first vote even after her horrific challenge fumble. Jenna aimed at the queen and missed.

Also, I was so wrong about Ozzy. I was initially disappointed that he was on the cast, but he stuck true to his preseason words about wanting to play a different game this time around. He was such an integral part to making this episode great. His rivalry with Coach is something I’ll save for later, but he provided so much entertainment. First of all, convincing Q to practically give him his vote at Exile Island proves he has a much stronger strategic mind this time around. Even if he is currently on the bottom, he can pull himself out with the extra vote and idol gifted by Genevieve. Also, his partnership with Cirie is so nice to see and I can’t wait to see how it plays out. The two have had a complicated history. Cirie was a big part in orchestrating Ozzy’s blindside on Micronesia but was blindsided alongside him when he was voted off of Game Changers. Now, on their third season together, the two are in lockstep. He deserves his spot on this season.

The Vatu Tribe

Vatu had so many interesting dynamics and a complete shake up to those dynamics at the end of the episode with Kyle’s medical evacuation. First, of all, Colby and Rizo’s dynamic is everything. At first, Colby is put off by Rizo and sees him as annoying, only to grow a soft spot for him minutes later. The two’s heart to heart was heartwarming and I hope they both make it deep together. Seeing Rizo on this season in general is great. He is such a superfan and seeing him react to being able to play with all of these legends is amazing. Genevieve, despite being one of the biggest targets in the preseason, is in the majority alliance and even finds the highly anticipated Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol. Speaking of which, thank goodness the celebrities aren’t playing a major role for the most part. This idol is interesting, as Genevieve can’t keep the idol for herself and must send it to someone on another tribe. Only if they get voted off does she get the idol. Not as powerful as imagined, but still has a lot of intrigue. She was in such a great spot, it sucks that by the end of the episode two of her allies have lost their votes and one is pulled from the game. That confessional after Kyle’s med evac gutted me. On a more positive note, her ‘Girl, so confusing’ moment with Rachel from 47 is recreated day 1 with Aubry. I’m excited to see how this potential rivalry will play out.

The Journey

There can’t be a modern Survivor premiere without a journey, and Survivor 50 follows that rule. On day 4, each tribe must send one tribe member on the journey. Mike White, Savannah, and Colby are all selected. Colby being selected for the journey was everything I could have asked for. Going into 50, one of the things I was most excited about was the potential of Colby going on a journey and being confused the whole time. This journey was one of the better ones. After arriving, it is revealed that only two people will participate in the journey challenge. And Mike White, ironically the one who was most excited about going on the journey, is immediately sent back to camp. Not before Savannah tells him what Ozzy said about Coach though…

Savannah and Colby must compete in a Jenga-like game to determine who keeps their vote and who loses it. Unfortunately for Colby, who was initially unenthused about the journey, he loses the game and his vote. After Colby’s boat leaves, Savannah receives an envelope that reveals she’s earned a block-a-vote and that fans voted for dynamic advantages (which fans?). Although she wants to hide this, once she returns to camp, Devens is convinced she must have some kind of advantage. After seemingly being in a decent spot, this journey could be what sinks Savannah’s game.

The Return of Ozzy vs Coach

On Survivor South Pacific, Ozzy and Coach were pitted against each other from day 1, being the two returning captains on the season. After Coach’s tribe gained the numbers at the merge due to Cochran’s flip, Ozzy’s side was Pagonged. Ozzy fights his way back from Redemption Island though and Coach tells him he wants to go to the end together. However, after Ozzy loses final immunity, Coach goes back on his word and votes him out. Then, Ozzy doesn’t vote for him to win at final tribal council and Coach thinks he poisoned the jury against him. Now, the two are on 50 together and want to turn over a new leaf. They have that chance when, alongside Q, both are selected to do a challenge for supplies by their tribes. Once they arrive on the island, they indeed make up… For 3 minutes maybe. After the challenge begins, Ozzy gains a huge head-start over Coach and Q. For the final part of the challenge, each player must build a stick long enough to reach and retrieve a key from behind a bamboo wall. This is something Ozzy has done before, but this time, he’s struggling, allowing Coach and Q to catch up. The three try and fail to retrieve the key for nearly an hour. Ozzy eventually tells Coach and Q he promises not to steal the key from whoever knocks it off, but neither say anything. Ozzy then knocks off the key, only for Coach to steal it to Ozzy’s dismay. Ozzy is pissed and thinks that Coach broke his honor and went against everything they had talked about before. After Coach leaves, Ozzy and Q find out that they are stuck on Exile Island for the night. Once Ozzy finally returns to camp, he tells everyone about what Coach did, which Savannah reveals to Mike on the journey and Mike then reveals to Coach, who is now pissed as well. Their rivalry is back in full swing and Coach will seemingly call out Ozzy at the next immunity challenge based off the preview. Survivor has never been more back!

The Two Boots

In the premiere, we lost both Jenna and Kyle. Jenna, one of the original 16 castaways, has been a fierce and aggressive player since All Stars. While on that season, she successfully led the charge against all of the winners and almost won the game, on 50, that gameplay style was her demise. It sucks that she’s the first boot, knowing she’s been itching to play again for over 20 years, but her vote off was almost entirely self-inflicted. She came out swinging, gunning for Cirie but not putting much effort into actually forming bonds with the rest of her team. The result? None of them really trusted her and they all voted her out even after Cirie’s poor challenge performance was the reason they lost.

In a way, Kyle and Jenna parallel each other. While Jenna aggressively targeted who she perceived to be threats right off the bat without forming any bonds, Kyle made sure he was well insulated in the game by forming bonds before trying to make any moves. Despite only lasting one episode, he proves himself to be maybe the best player of the new era. He’s at the center of the majority alliance with Stephenie, Colby, Genevieve, and Q. Within that alliance, he’s good with Colby and Stephenie and separately tightly aligned with Genevieve and Q. Even outside the alliance, he’s in a trio with Angelina and Aubry, something that was not shown in the episode. This is despite everyone having just watched him win days before they flew out to Fiji. Without that torn Achilles, he very well could have been the third two-time winner. Even with it, he was determined to stay in the game despite the risks and it seemed his tribe would have kept him around despite his injury. The silver lining is he is now one of only 3 winners to play multiple times and never get their torch snuffed. Kyle for the next all star season?

A 10/10 Premiere?

The Survivor 50 premiere was a captivating watch throughout all of its three hour runtime. It sets a strong tone for the rest of the season and I have very little gripes with it. If the rest of the season is as good as the premiere, Survivor 50 has potential to enter the upper echelon of Survivor seasons. Let’s hope Jeff Probst was right about calling this season one of the best of all time…

The Survivor 50 casting process was a bloodbath. So many iconic players like Jerri Manthey, Abi-Maria Gomez, and Carolyn Wiger were cut from the cast despite seeming like obvious locks for the season. These players were not only cut, but were very vocally upset and disappointed online. These legends were cut despite Survivor 50 having the largest cast size ever for a US season of Survivor at 24 players! So, what did the 24 selected players do on their prior appearances to be chosen for a spot that so many legends craved? Do they have incomplete storylines that a return could satisfy? A completely new approach to the game? Or do they just make for entertaining television? Well, on this post I will be attempting to create a storyline for every single player on this season based off their preseason interviews with Mike Bloom and their short player intros on the official Survivor account’s Instagram and TikTok accounts.

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty (Borneo, All Stars)

Jenna Lewis now holds the record for the largest gap between seasons played, having last played on season 8, All Stars, an over 20 year gap! And she is coming into this season hungry to play again. In her interviews, she is coming off strong, wanting to target huge threats like Cirie Fields right off the bat. She is willing to adapt to New Era gameplay, something she did on All Stars, immediately targeting the winners and making alliances. She’s going to give Survivor 50 her all and seems to have a lot of people wanting to be friends with her preseason. The question is, will she play too hard too fast and burn all of those potential relationships?

Colby Donaldson (Australian Outback, All Stars, Heroes vs Villains)

Colby Donaldson, once the Golden Boy of Survivor. The first challenge beast and an honorable player, giving up the million by taking his close ally Tina to the end. However, diminishing returns on All Stars and Heroes vs Villains gained him the reputation of “Superman in a fat suit.” Heading into 50, Colby is ready to redeem his image. He has kept up with recent Survivor seasons, something he infamously hasn’t done in the past, and is willing to adapt. Although this is his first season without his rival turned friend, Jerri, I believe this could be his most interesting run yet. He will prove on 50 that he’s not an out-of-touch grouch from the early days and that he still has it.

Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick (Palau, Guatemala, Heroes vs Villains)

Most known for being the only Survivor player to ever be on a tribe of one, Stephenie disappeared from the reality TV scene after her lackluster appearance on Heroes vs Villains. However, she recently sprung back up, competing on Snake in the Grass and The Traitors not that long ago. She’s played both of those shows alongside Cirie Fields, who has outplayed her on both. Now, she’s back to Survivor, also with Cirie. Will she work with Cirie, or try to be the one to outplay her this time? And how will she approach the game now that her life is so radically different from the last time she played?

Cirie Fields (Panama, Micronesia, Heroes vs Villains, Game Changers)

Cirie is widely considered the best player to never win in Survivor. Famously, she has never been naturally voted out of the game with a majority of the votes: losing a fire-making tiebreaker in Panama, being voted out with 1 vote due to a surprise last-minute final 3 in Micronesia, getting idoled out in Heroes vs Villains, and being voted out with 0 votes on Game Changers. And despite having a Traitors win under her belt, Cirie is still itching for the Survivor crown. She still has lots of people on this cast willing to work with her and her natural skills for the game should get her far. Will she finally get that victory or heartbreakingly fall short yet again?

Ozzy Lusth (Cook Islands, Micronesia, South Pacific, Game Changers)

Ozzy, the ‘Jungle Boy,’ of Survivor, has had a wild Survivor journey. Falling one vote short of winning on Cook Islands, getting brutally blindsided in Micronesia by the Black Widow Brigade, and falling one immunity challenge away from winning on South Pacific. However, his lackluster Game Changers performance leaves many worried he’ll just do more of the same on 50. Be a provider in the pre-merge, only to be voted out early in the merge as a physical threat. This time around though, Ozzy seems to be aware that that kind of gameplay doesn’t work. He and Cirie seem to be locked in allies from day 1, even starting on the same tribe. The question is, will he actually adapt and change up his game or just fall into his same old ways?

Benjamin ‘Coach’ Wade (Tocantins, Heroes vs Villains, South Pacific)

Coach, the Dragonslayer, is someone who needs absolutely no introduction. One of the most entertaining and whacky people to ever be on Survivor. He’s had a tumultuous Survivor journey, with nobody really taking him seriously on his first two appearances only for him to completely dominate the game on South Pacific. This time around, almost everyone wants to befriend the Dragonslayer. He has potential to win the game this time around, but will he actually try to play strategically, or is he just back out on the island for a good time?

Aubry Bracco (Kaoh Rong, Game Changers, Edge of Extinction)

Aubry by far has one of the most interest trajectories out of anyone in this cast. She was a star on her first season, controversially losing the game to Michele Fitzgerald. She was quickly brought back two more times, but was not able to live up to her first appearance. Her appearance on Edge of Extinction was especially difficult, as she describes herself as being on ‘autopilot’ during it. Her early blindside and overall poor showing on that season ended her Survivor experience on a sour note. She never thought that she would get another opportunity to play Survivor again. She was surprised to get a call for 50! Now that she’s here though, this appearance is about healing her relationship with Survivor. She’s coming into the game with a completely new outlook and a much more positive mindset. She is looking for redemption and closure.

Chrissy Hofbeck (Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers)

Chrissy was famously one of the first victims of Final Four Firemaking. While she still made it to final tribal council, FFF allowed for the huge jury threat Ben to survive the final 4 round and win. After her season, many fans believed that Chrissy should get another chance to play. However, after 40 was revealed to be Winners at War (which she wasn’t eligible for) and more time passed without any returnee seasons, fans worried production would forget about her. Luckily, she’s here. and after a huge health scare and worry that her body wouldn’t be able to handle Survivor anymore, she’s more ready to play than ever. She will make the most out of this second chance and have a great time doing it.

Mike White (David vs Goliath)

Mike White has a very successful life outside of Survivor. He is a famous, prolific writer and the creator of the hit show ‘The White Lotus.’ Yet, he is still ecstatic to play this game as a ‘vacation’ from his busy career. Mike White is aware that he has little chance of winning, and is instead determined to make the season as entertaining as possible. While it unfortunately is looking like many people are itching to target him because of his out-of-game success, he should provide a fun time no matter how short his stay could be.

Angelina Keeley (David vs Golliath)

Angelina provided some of Survivor’s most entertaining moments on her first appearance. Asking for Natalie’s jacket before her exit, starting rice bargaining in Survivor, and risking her life by climbing a ladder for an idol. While she is looked at similarly to how Coach was on his first return, a whacky player who’s not a serious threat, Angelina is looking to shock people. She is coming into this game as a literal mother with more life experience and maturity than her first time around, ready to play strategically. She could become a serious threat to win if it works out. However, will her reputation be too much to overcome?

Christian Hubicki (David vs Goliath)

Christian was one of the breakout stars of David vs Goliath. A lovable underdog who became a threat for being too likable. He seemed like a lock for the next returnee season immediately after DvG ended. He also seemed like an immediate target on whatever season he was on next. However, now that 8 years have passed since David vs Goliath, much bigger targets have emerged. That doesn’t mean that Christian isn’t prepared to become a huge target again, though. Christian is well aware of the perception he has and has played the preseason optimally, with an innovative strategy for the season. He hid the news of his newborn baby from everyone in the Survivor community, even his close friend and interviewer, Mike Bloom. He created a theory on the way the season was casted and wants to create ‘narrative warfare’ to avoid being targeted. He is doing everything he can to set himself up well in the game. Will his amazing mind for the game allow him to outrun his threat level?

Rick Devens (Edge of Extinction)

Rick Devens was the main character on Survivor Edge of Extinction. His underdog run after coming back in the game and his advantage plays were grappling to watch. However, instead of being the hero who takes it all, Devens was the final boss, as Chris Underwood swooped in after returning from the Edge of Extinction to take down Devens at final 4 fire-making and snatch the victory. After his incredible run, Devens seemed like a lock to return on a future season. To the shock of everyone though, Devens revealed to Mike Bloom that he was originally an alternate for 50 and only made the cut late into the casting process. Almost not even having this second chance put a fire under Devens to play as hard as he can. He’s going to take all of the risks he can to make a splash. He’ll either go down in flames or give us one of the most chaotic winning games of all time.

Jonathan Young (42)

Jonathan’s most memorable moment came early in Survivor 42. During the pre-merge, he carried an entire ladder and his teammates all by himself despite ocean tides so heavy Jeff had to call off the water portion of the challenge. Beyond that, he also proved himself to be somewhat of a competent strategic player, having a solid alliance that got him to the final 4. However, he had little win equity. It seems that for 50 almost everyone wants Jonathan on their starting tribe for his challenge strength. He seems practically guaranteed to make the merge at least. The question is, will he prove that he is more than just muscle or become the new Ozzy?

Dee Valladares (45)

The first of 3 winners on 50, Dee is widely considered the best winner of the New Era. She was in a dominant position the entire game, with her alliance, the Reba Four, managing to make it to the final 6 together. She consistently betrayed her closest ally Austin yet he was still loyal. Her decision-making and strategy got out the biggest threats to her game (Kellie, Kendra, Emily). And when the Reba 4 did turn on each other, she was the one in control, plotting Drew’s demise. However, on 50, Dee is likely to start off the game with a massive target on her back. She will have to adapt her gameplay and play from the bottom. If Dee is able to make it deep despite her massive target and somehow find herself in another strong alliance, she could become one of the best Survivor players of all time.

Emily Flippen (45)

Emily had one of the greatest one season arcs of the New Era. Before the marooning challenge even began, she had already called out Bruce for having an advantage over everyone else and “talking with authority.” She was almost the first boot of her tribe but ended up coming into the merge as one of its only two survivors. She then became a serious contender, orchestrating the Bruce blindside only to be idoled out the next round. Coming into 50, Emily wants to completely rewrite how her story ended. The reason she is ever out on the beach again after notably saying she didn’t want to play again is because she hates that she left the game describing herself as having softened. She’s ready to cause some chaos on 50 and not shy away from her abrasive personality. Her Survivor legacy will drastically change, one way or another.

Charlie Davis (46)

Charlie is coming into Survivor 50 similarly to how Rob Cesternino came into All Stars or Aubry came into Game Changers. He is the guy who many people believe should have won his season. Coming one vote away from winning 46 and that vote being from his closest ally throughout the entire game must have stung. He is definitely coming into 50 seeking redemption for that. However, coming into a returnee season shortly after nearly winning has spelled disaster for players in the past. Unfortunately, it seems Charlie is not aware of how much of a target he is coming into the season and that could spell danger for him. He will either come out of 50 having proven himself as one of the greatest players of all time or an early casualty like Rob C.

Quintavius ‘Q’ Burdette (46)

Q is one of, if not the most entertaining and chaotic players to come out of the New Era. He was such an entertaining and unique personality that Jeff called Q a lock for 50 before the casting process even properly began. However, because of how whacky of a character Q is, he is coming into 50 similarly to how Coach came into Heroes vs Villains. He’s an erratic player who most won’t want to work with or take seriously. Luckily for Q, he is fully willing to lean into his personality and already has in the preseason, saying he’ll target Emily for “eating beef, drinking coke, and being left handed.” He wants to have people joining the ‘Q wagon,’ whatever that means. No matter how long or short of a stay Q has, he will provide for an entertaining time.

Tiffany Nicole Ervin (46)

Every Survivor returnee season has at least one confusing, seemingly random pick on the cast, and Tiffany seems to be that person for Survivor 50. However, many questionable returnee picks like Amber Brkich in All Stars, Kelley Wentworth in Cambodia, or Sarah Lacina in Game Changers have cemented their spot in Survivor history on their returns. Tiffany has the potential to follow in this line of players. She is a very capable strategic player from the mess of Survivor 46 and doesn’t seem to have anyone wanting to target her early on. She has tons of potential and a lot to prove.

Genevieve Mushaluk (47)

The sole representative from Survivor 47, a player with one of the most interesting arcs of all time, and Twitter’s favorite player, Genevieve is coming into this season with a lot of hype and a huge threat level. Genevieve proved herself early on in Survivor 47, orchestrating Kishan’s blindside in the pre-merge. However, she encapsulated the emotions and feelings that come with playing a ruthless game when she opened up about purposefully closing herself off from everyone else so that they wouldn’t be as hurt as Kishan or Teeny were when she betrayed them. She helped orchestrate one of the best New Era moves with Operation Italy and became the eventual winner, Rachel’s, biggest rival. Coming into 50, Genevieve is just as willing to lie, backstab, and betray people. She’s leaning into her image of being a ruthless strategic player to have people come up to her whenever they want to backstab an ally. She’s not going to close herself off this time, instead forming those connections with others until she needs to vote them out. Lots of people are after her because of her ruthlessness. Will she be able to outsmart them?

Kyle Fraser (48)

Mere days before everyone flew out for Survivor 50, the cast members had just watched Kyle win Survivor 48, having outwitted Joe Hunter and Eva Erickson alongside his secret partner in crime Kamilla Karthigesu. Now that he’s on 50 with Joe and Kamilla, he is in deep danger early on. At least one of him or Kamilla will not survive the pre-merge. Already having that victory under his belt means that Kyle is willing to take more risks on 50 than 48. He’ll have to take those risks if he wants to survive.

Joe Hunter (48)

For most of Survivor 48’s run, people had assumed that Joe would easily run away with the million. He was seemingly the biggest threat in the game yet not enough people wanted to target him. His gameplay style of ‘honesty and integrity’ shaped the strategy of the season, for the better or worse. However, he shockingly lost and was actually a final tribal goat. Coming into 50, that mantra of honesty and integrity is still attached to him. He’s seemingly not going to change up his strategy that much, calling practically everyone on the cast a friend. People definitely want to work with him, knowing he would be a loyal ally. It could get him far yet again, but it could also fail to gain him any respect from a potential jury.

Kamilla Karthigesu (48)

On a season with a mantra of honesty and integrity, Kamilla was one of the few players actively willing to lie and deceive. Her snarky confessionals and refreshing strategic talk compared to the rest of her cast made her a fan favorite on Twitter. On a season like 50, which is much more likely to incentivize strategic, cutthroat gameplay, Kamilla could have a chance to play the game she wanted to play in 48. However, being on the season with Kyle puts a huge target on her back, as does the fact she almost won. In her interviews, she is notably pissed that Kyle is also on 50, knowing it could sink her game. She has lots of potential to blossom as a strategic force if Kyle leaves early, but if he survives long enough, he could become a burden that sinks her chances.

Savannah Louie (49)

The first ever winner to play on back to back seasons, Savannah has potential to become the first back-to-back winner. Unfortunately, her chances are not looking great. Practically no one trusts her or wants to work with her. People are already suspecting her to be a winner in their preseason interviews, forcing her to come clean about it. She could be an easy first boot if her tribe loses a challenge early. Savannah has a lot going against her on 50, quite possibly the biggest target on the entire cast. If she is somehow able to survive even to the merge, it will be a miraculous performance.

Rizo Velovic (49)

A player who is willing to take risks and never take the easy route, Rizo is a dangerous strategic force. However, the only impression the Survivor 50 cast has of him is him calling himself ‘Rizgod’ in the Survivor 49 trailer. While that alone is already causing many people to look at him as a target, it is also something that he can and is willing to play to his advantage. He wants to create a perception of himself as just a goofy guy with a silly nickname. He will have an easier time hiding his strategic ability than Savannah. If he succeeds, he could make another deep run and force people to start seriously considering the ‘Rizgod’ as one of the greatest players of all time.