Reality TV Thoughts

May 28th, 2025. Or May 23rd, 2025 if you saw the leak. The Survivor 50 cast is announced, officially or unofficially. You’re excited to see so many of your favorites. For casuals and superfans alike, Cirie Fields, the Dragonslayer, Christian Hubicki, Angelina Keeley, and Q Burdette were all people to be excited about. For casuals specifically, Colby Donaldson, Ozzy Lusth, and Joe Hunter were all casting choices catered toward them. For superfans, Jenna Lewis, Chrissy Hofbeck, and Genevieve Mushaluk all felt like inspired choices. Now that we’re a week away from the finale though, what’s left? Aubry, whose game this season has felt like it has mainly relied on luck and twists working to her advantage? Joe, who even a lot of casuals have turned against at this point? Jonathan, someone who becomes more unlikable the longer he goes without food? Rizo, a polarizing figure who sunk his alliance of fan favorites? And Tiffany, a confusing pick who could have shone this season, but was instead purpled by production for most of the season? With the final two true favorites gone, what’s left to be excited about heading into the finale?

Aubry is in Control?!

Aubry played the Ozzy boot to the best of her ability. While she lucked into Ozzy being naive enough to lay out his entire game to her, she made lemonade out of lemons and immediately told everyone that information. She seemingly helped convince Rizo and Joe to get on board with the plan, resulting in the devastating blindside. Now, in the aftermath, Jonathan feels proud of himself, feeling like he has the game winning move under his belt. Aubry completely undermines him in her confessional though, claiming credit for the Ozzy blindside. Now, with Devens out in front as a huge target while she’s comfortably in the middle, she’s sitting pretty.

Down But Not Out

Cirie is not at all pleased after she hears what Ozzy did during the split tribal. She knows that he just put a massive target on her, someone who inherently will always be a huge target. She regrets working with him, especially if he was going to pull off an idiotic move like that. She also knows that Ozzy was one of the very few people actually willing to take her to the end of the game and her path to final tribal just got a whole lot harder.

With his idol gone, Devens knows he’s on the chopping block, even closer than he’s been before. Everyone is looking at him as an easy boot. He knows he needs an idol to survive. He’s the idol guy, everyone knows that! Early in the morning, before the sun even rises, Devens is up looking. Everyone takes notes, and Aubry and Jonathan agree that he cannot have that idol under any circumstances. Jonathan decides to follow Devens, who doesn’t care and continues searching. Unfortunately, he’s unable to find anything and lays down on the hammock in defeat. In this moment, his mortal enemy, Joe, comforts him as he cries about being in such a difficult spot. He’s had a great time playing Survivor again and he’s supposed to be the ‘fun’ guy, but it’s tough to find joy in the moment and not just accept defeat. In confessional, though, he picks himself back up and reminds us that he won four individual immunity challenges on Edge of Extinction, and he’ll do his best in the challenge. He still has a chance, right?

Down and Out

The final seven immunity challenge is on. Devens’ last true chance to save himself. The challenge is ‘A Bit Tipsy,’ a challenge that no one has an inherent advantage in. Devens is determined. And… he struggles to ever really get a strong hold on the challenge. Joe wins immunity after a close struggle between seemingly everyone except for Devens, a heartbreaking defeat.

The scramble before tribal isn’t really much of a scramble. It feels like a forgone conclusion, even if there are rumblings to try to blindside Rizo with his idol. Tiffany is the main person pushing this idea, but her closest ally Cirie obviously shuts it down because Rizo’s working with her. Heading into tribal, Devens knows that the shot in the dark is the only thing that could save him now. At tribal, he talks about how much he loves the game and seeing the stars every night. He tells everyone that he thinks about his family every time he sees a shooting star. It’s a beautiful monologue. Once it’s time to vote, Devens plays his shot in the dark. Unfortunately, once Jeff reads it, it’s revealed to be ‘Not Safe.’ The result is then a unanimous Devens boot. He tells everyone he still feels lucky. Just a shining ray of sunlight.

Rizrat

After a lackluster Devens boot comes an even more devastating boot. The round starts with everyone targeting Tiffany, suddenly seeing her as a huge threat. Aubry calls her a jury threat. She is determined to not repeat her mistake from Koah Rong and have another Michele at the end with her, so Tiffany has to go. Rizo tells Cirie about the Tiffany plan despite Aubry and Jonathan not wanting him to. At this point, Cirie has her two closest allies both going after each other, not a great spot to be in. And it’s about to get a whole lot worse…

Tiffany wins immunity! It was a very satisfying victory, even despite the repercussions later on. It seemed everyone was helping each other so that Tiffany didn’t win, but that didn’t matter. Joe and Johnathan both incorrectly spelled the arch puzzle, an embarrassing showing. Joe gets a pass for being dyslexic, but no excuse for Jonathan. Just a dumb meathead. And it was oddly poetic for Tiffany to win this challenge, given her tribe’s iconic and disastrous defeat on an arch puzzle on 46.

With Tiffany off the board, who better to target than Cirie? Everyone knows this, including Cirie. She knows she needs to somehow pull off a last-minute plan to save herself. She does the best she can do with her back against the wall. Using the information Rizo told her earlier, she frames Aubry as a rat to Jonathan and Joe, hoping she can flip them against her. Given they already don’t trust her, it isn’t particularly hard to this. Maybe she can actually pull this off.

Rizo is in an interesting position. He’s been working with Cirie since the swapped Cila tribe. It’s been a dream come true, working with one of his favorite players from his favorite game. But, he knows that he can’t beat her at the end. So, he makes the decision to flip on her and seals Cirie’s fate. He flips Jonathan and Joe back onto the Cirie plan. Heading into tribal, it is framed as the vote being between Cirie and Aubry, with the one who survives becoming the frontrunner…

Once it is time to vote, Cirie and Aubry both have nothing but great things to say about each other, even as they write the other’s name down. After all, the two are friends outside of the game! Cirie hopes that the next time she and Aubry meet, it won’t be in a situation where the two must be at each other’s throats. Aubry calls Cirie the best Survivor player of all time, even better than Tony and Sandra. Once Jeff reads the vote, it’s revealed to be a 4-2 Cirie vote, with Tiffany being Cirie’s only loyal ally by the end. Cirie gives a beautiful final farewell to Survivor before her torch is snuffed.

Rick Devens: Agent of Chaos… And Fun!

Rick Devens was a shining light on Survivor 50. He is someone who was genuinely having a blast every day that he was on Survivor 50, taking in every moment. I cannot believe that he was an alternate until weeks before the cast flew out. Devens did things for the sake of having fun, refusing to just play it safe and determined to make 50 an entertaining season. His nerd alliance with Christian and Emily, the fake immunity idol, the Mr. Beast coin flip, his idol play. He left his mark on 50 and cemented his legacy as a legendary player. I really truly hope people take inspiration from Devens’ game in future seasons and take big risks, instead of coasting by and making the safest move at every opportunity.

Cirie Fields: Mastermind

Cirie controlled Survivor 50 from the moment the game started until her boot round. On Cila, she helped boot Jenna and Savannah while making her way into the majority alliance with Ozzy as a secret ally. On swapped Cila, she formed her relationship with Rizo and flipped Dee and Kamilla to her side. During the merge, she sealed Chrissy and Coach’s, Christian’s, and Emily’s fates. People criticized her for burning Christian and Stephenie, who were both working with her, but they’re missing a key part of the story. Cirie making it to the end relied on having Ozzy by her side. He and Tiffany were the only people willing to take her to the end. She could not keep around anyone who was targeting him. The split tribal twist and Ozzy’s subsequent blindside screwed her over. Without that twist, there is a very real chance she could have won.

Conclusion: Downer Ending

The season might not be over, but it feels over. With the two biggest fan favorites gone, there’s not much left to look forward to. Most of the final five are likable people, but their games and edits leave a lot to be desired. At this point, it feels like an Aubry win is set in stone. The show has given her so much credit and focus despite being irrelevant for the first half of the game. It feels like the story of the season is Aubry reversing her fate on Koah Rong. She needs the right people at the end, and that means working with the honor-bound Joe, increasingly unlikable Jonathan, and unrespected new kid Rizo. Even if that’s not an ending to look forward to, it’s an ending that could get her $2 million.