Reality TV Thoughts

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

500 Hypocrisy Hill

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

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

Trying Not to Repeat History

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

An Immunity Challenge Scandal & Another Bad Twist

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

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

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

Group 1: Emily & Devens’ Last Ditch Plan

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

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

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

Group 2: Jury Management 101

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

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

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

Emily Flippen: New Era Legend?

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

Ozzy Lusth: Oscar Lusth

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

Conclusion: Twists, Twists, Twists

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