Reality TV Thoughts

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.