Reality TV Thoughts

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-.