Each week, Christine Pallon and Gia Worthy will round up the previous week of Survivor 50 as they list their top moments in various important categories. This includes the most essential information, the stand-out castaways, and the key moments from the week.
Here, Christine and Gia break down all the action from the latest episode.
Top 3 Moments
Coach assembles an army
Christine: Coach assembled an alliance, in stereotypical Coach fashion, by assigning nicknames to Joe and Colby. He knighted them the Stone Bell and the Oakbound Warrior, respectively, and gave himself the name of Tidewalker. He also roped in Aubry, the obvious outsider, as a number. She unfortunately didn’t get a fun nickname, but maybe Coach will come up with one next week. I’m sure the greatness of his nicknames takes time. Things aren’t looking good for Genevieve now that her number one opp has been pulled into this honor and integrity alliance, but maybe the impending merge (and whatever chaos will follow) can save her from the army that’s headed her way.
Christian and Ozzy reconcile, break up, then reconcile again
Gia: Goodbye to Oscar, hello to Ozzy. Up until this point, Ozzy had done a fairly good job keeping a level head. Then the Mike vote happened, and Ozzy went back to his old ways. He went ballistic back at camp, then apologized to Christian after some reflection. Not too long after that, he asked Christian for his Shot in the Dark, which Christian refused, jumpstarting another rift between the two. However, Christian would give in to the demand after Emily told him that Ozzy was planning to turn. With Ozzy having two Shots in the Dark, they were able to vote out Angelina as a result.
Operation Bad Blood
Christine: The Charlie vs. Rizo Cold War became a full-on battle this week when Cila 2.0 finally got sent to tribal council. Even before losing the challenge, Rizo turned up the charm to 100 and ingratiated himself into the alliance of Dee, Kamila, and Cirie. He’s not a guy’s guy, after all. On the other side of the divide were Charlie, Jonathan, and Devens. Kamila, put in a swing position, ultimately sided with Rizo and blindsided Charlie, leaving Jonathan and Devens out of the vote completely. Rizo’s Operation Bad Blood was a success, and he’s got some new allies in Cirie, Dee, and Kamilla to help him survive the upcoming bloodbath at the very early merge teased for next week.
Tribe Breakdown
Cila
Christine: The dynamics on Cila 2.0 were murky until now, but thankfully, a tribal council clarified things for us. While initially it looked like Dee and Cirie were poised to be on opposite sides, they came together alongside Rizo and Kamilla to blindside Charlie in a 4-3 vote. This leaves Jonathan and Devens firmly on the outs. But it seems more circumstantial than anything: the vote was more about taking Charlie out and keeping Rizo safe rather than an actual attempt to weaken either Jonathan or Devens. Rizo/Cirie/Dee leave this episode as a pretty tight alliance, especially Rizo and Cirie, who both shared their respective advantages with one another. Kamilla is part of this alliance, but her position as the swing indicates she’s likely going to be less locked in with this group moving forward.
Kalo
Gia: It’s a good day to be a Kalo member, even if you do have to spend your days listening to Coachisms. The group remains the only tribe to have avoided tribal council, mostly thanks to Tiffany’s prowess at the challenge. That doesn’t mean that tensions aren’t brewing, and I was genuinely shocked to see that we weren’t getting a conclusion to the Aubry vs. Genevieve feud before the merge. Now that we know the merge is the next episode, I’m excited to see what comes of this tribe. Many of them have managed to avoid tribal up until this point, and it is time to see if the loyalties they made during times of safety were worthwhile.
Vatu
Gia: Just when I think Vatu can’t possibly get any messier, another episode comes around to prove me wrong. Ozzy had a temper tantrum (leading to Christian making the term “Polly Prissypants” relevant again), then apologized, then decided Christian needed to give him his Shot in the Dark. Christian refused, then changed his mind after Emily intervened. Despite all of this, none of the people I just mentioned received a vote at tribal. Instead, they all voted out Angelina, who voted for Stephenie. As if that wasn’t devastating enough, Angelina finally got a moment of glory of her own design when she left Christian her jacket. I’ll miss her.
Top 3 Contestants
Rizo
Christine: You’ve got to hand it to RizGod: he really wheeled and dealed this episode and secured the numbers he needed to stay safe. Between lying to Kamilla about what Kyle said to him, his “I’m not a guys’ guy” pitch to Dee, and his decision to reveal the Billie Eilish Idol to all his prospective allies, Rizo used everything in his social arsenal to make sure he was on the right side of the numbers. With Savannah voted out, and his biggest opp blindsided, Rizo seems poised to make another deep run if he can keep his alliance intact.
Christian
Gia: Another day, another round of Christian going to tribal. Perhaps this decision was already made for him once he voted out Mike White, but I was still holding onto hope that this wouldn’t be the end of Angelina’s game. The real drama involving Christian this week happened well before the vote when Ozzy asked him to give him his Shot in the Dark. I worry that not having his Shot could turn his game for the worse with the impending merge, but there is still hope with the fake idol that he and Rick hid while they were both on Cila.
Kamilla
Gia: It took us more episodes than I would have liked, but we are finally getting more Kamilla screentime! The new era alum has finally found her people who are willing to play the game… only for her to be perhaps playing a little too well. This time, we got to see her in the much-coveted swing position, leaving her to choose between saving Charlie or Rizo. She decided to side with the girls and Rizo, ousting Charlie and leaving Rick and Jonathan on the wrong side of the vote. Here is hoping the incoming 17-person merge and potential triple elimination don’t throw her off, because we are finally beginning to see her gain momentum.
Fallen Comrades
Angelina
Christine: It’s a real shame Angelina was so quiet this season. I do think her DvG character is a bit of a “lightning in a bottle” moment for Survivor. It was always going to be difficult to recreate the magic of Angelina’s first run, especially after so much time has passed and she’s understandably changed a lot since she last played. Still, even if she was never going to be as big a character as her first time, it’s crazy we didn’t even get her reaction to Mike’s boot, and we barely heard from her at all leading up to her own elimination.
See my videos here and here to hear me rant about the frustrating editing this season and historical editing trends. Anyway, I’m glad Angelina at least created a little moment for herself with the jacket routine at tribal, but it’s just about her only memorable moment this season. It’s a bummer the editors couldn’t find a story to tell for her in the short time she was here, but her relatively subdued game doesn’t detract from her legacy as one of Survivor’s greatest characters.
Gia: DIVA. DOWN! Not only did we lose THE Angelina this episode, but we barely got any content from her throughout her time in the game. It’s baffling to think that one of the standouts of the star-studded David vs. Goliath cast would receive this treatment, but it is perhaps the most glaringly obvious omission thus far in the season. What we didn’t see from her game in 50, she is more than making up for in her post-game interviews, calling out production for their obvious gender bias when telling the story of the season.
The clear difference in how men and women are being edited is frustrating to watch, and even more maddening to explain to those who see no problem with it. Most importantly, it needed to be said, and there is no better person than Angelina to be one of the players at the forefront of this issue. I am devastated to see Angelina go, but at least we know she will not be leaving quietly. She was even gracious enough to leave her jacket behind.
Charlie
Christine: Charlie’s game this time around was tragically one-note, with pretty much everything we heard from him being focused on Rizo and his former ally-turned-nemesis Maria. I’ve seen some really nutty psychoanalysis going on online about him after this episode, and I think it’s really as simple as him hamming up his storyline and the editors focusing on that to tell a strong, simple story for him before his boot. There were obviously more factors behind his distrust of Rizo beyond the Maria of it all, but Maria mentions clearly made for good soundbites and an entertaining storyline to follow in his short time in the game.
The side effect, of course, is that we didn’t really get a clear picture of who Charlie was as a player the second time around. His laser focus on Rizo left him with very little room to maneuver when the RizGod started winning over his tribemates, and Charlie clearly got too comfortable in his relationship with Dee to consider a flip. A lot of people are disappointed in Charlie’s return, but I think with a little time removed, it would be really fascinating to see an older Charlie return for a third outing with a clear head and try to correct the mistakes he made here.
Gia: If I were more well-versed in any Taylor Swift songs, I’d add a few lyrics here to express my sadness in losing such a fierce player so early. As an alumni of the lovably messy Survivor 46, Charlie is no stranger to chaos or cutthroat gameplay, but this time around, he was in over his head when making Rizo his target. He may have thought that he had the numbers to send the newest castaway home, but he didn’t anticipate the alliance of Cirie, Dee, and Kamilla being in Rizo’s corner. Do I think that Charlie solely targeted Rizo because of his jury vote? Absolutely not, but I do think playing too hard, too fast, contributed to his downfall. He’ll be missed, but I’m sure this will not be the last time we see him in the reality television sphere.
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