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
Tiffany wins immunity…or does she?
Christine: This episode brought us the return of the Bermuda Triangles challenge, which we last saw in season 46. The challenge ended with Tiffany called as the winner, but her celebration was short-lived when production stepped in to inform Jeff that a mistake had been made. As the replay footage showed, Tiffany did not yet transition to one foot when other players had already made the transition and fallen, disqualifying her from the win. The necklace was then given to the second-highest finisher, Jonathan, who had already made the transition to one foot before the end of the challenge. This win not only gave Jonathan the immunity necklace, but also gave him an immense amount of power as the go-between between the split groups and a vote at both tribals.
Ozzy spills the beans, then goes out with an idol
Gia: No matter how much Oscar tried to show how much he’s grown over the years, part of him will always go back to being Ozzy. And can you blame him? It’s what made him a Survivor legend in the first place. It seemed like the obvious choice this round to vote out Aubry, and even she knew that this would likely be her last tribal council. Cue Ozzy san Cirie, hoping for an opportunity to plead his case to the jury before Aubry was even voted out. Aubry was able to use this information to sway Joe and Jonathan to their side, and they were eventually able to pull in Rizo as well. When it finally came time to vote, Rizo chose not to tip Ozzy off about the danger he was in, and he was once again voted out with an idol in his pocket.
Emily’s big plan
Christine: Emily and Rick had their backs up against a wall this episode and were looking for a big opportunity to take out the one and only Cirie Fields. Emily put forward a plan to try to secure both of their safety: convince the group that Rick is going to make a “big move” and play the idol on her, and that the best course of action is to put votes on Rick and blindside him. In reality, she and Rick would take out Cirie with their two votes when the idol is played on him. While it didn’t work due to the wrench in the plan that was Cirie’s Extra Vote, it was a smart play to attempt. Thanks to the EV, the vote comes out 2-2-2, with two being negated for Rick. On the revote, Emily had no chance of survival, and Cirie cheats near-certain death.
Advantage Watch
Idols
Christine: Ozzy goes out with his idol in his pocket, Rick plays his idol, and Rizo holds onto the final idol left in the game. I wont belabor how foolish it was for Ozzy to hold onto his idol too much, because the man has been through enough already. He clearly thought he was safe, but man, if you’re not going to play it on a split tribal at the final 9 when you’re separate from your number one, when DO you play it? Rick, of course, had no choice with the idol expiring so soon and him and Emily both having targets on their backs. And if it wasn’t for Cirie’s extra vote causing a tie, they could’ve both gotten out of this twist alive thanks to his idol play. And as for Rizo, it’s becoming abundantly clear that just like in 49, no one actually cares enough about his idol to attempt to flush it. Whether this will change moving forward, now that it’s the only one left, remains to be seen.
Extra Vote
Gia: Praise be to all that is good in the world. Cirie used her extra vote at the exact right moment she needed to. That extra vote proved to be the difference in her making the final 7 and being ousted in another twist.
Shot in the Dark
Gia: Once again, no one played their Shot in the Dark, perhaps due to the split tribal council making their votes matter all that much more. Now that there are only 7 players left, I believe that means that this advantage has officially expired. We will likely have this addressed in the next episode, just in case I’m off by one round.
Top 3 Contestants
Cirie
Christine: Another week, another masterclass performance from Cirie. This twist seemed destined to kill her game, separating her from her two closest allies and leaving her totally exposed in a group of five. On top of that, she lands in a group with Emily and Rick, who are already plotting her demise and have an idol to play. And yet she survives thanks to her perfect use of the Extra Vote and access to information. The other group’s tribal, however, does not go so well for her, despite her best efforts to sway the outcome from afar via Jonathan.
Ozzy blows up his entire game, turns Rizo against him once word gets out about how much he told Aubry, and he fails to play his idol. This is more or less catastrophic for Cirie, whose best path to the end was with Rizo and Ozzy sticking with her. All she can do is try to reconnect with Rizo despite his betrayal of Ozzy and hope the other players have bigger fish to fry in the next few votes. It’s hard to imagine her possibly making it to the end now that Ozzy is gone, but I could see her at least buying herself a little more time with some smart maneuvering.
Aubry
Gia: Aubry plays best when she’s at the bottom, and this episode proved that she’s still got it. While she could have accepted her fate as a victim of the split tribal council and hoped for the best with Shot in the Dark, she went to work immediately. Using the information Ozzy gave her, she spilled everything to the other players and got them together to form a new plan: blindside Ozzy. They even got Rizo on board without Ozzy’s notice. It was a great episode for the Aubry believers, and it seems like she’s finally getting into the spirit of things. Let’s see if she can keep up her momentum.
Rizo
Christine: I have mixed feelings about Rizo’s gameplay this week. On the one hand, he had every right to want to flip on Ozzy after Ozzy totally blew up his own game and made it clear that his number one priority was Cirie and not Rizo. Yes, Rizo could’ve tried to save Ozzy or tipped him off to play his idol, but after Ozzy was so foolish with who he told critical game information to, how could he trust that Ozzy wouldn’t blow up Rizo’s spot, too, if he tried to help him?
Still, I do think the smarter play would’ve been to take the risk of tipping Ozzy off and letting him idol out Aubry or Joe. Rizo could’ve still voted for Ozzy and made it seem like their working relationship was broken, allowing him to pick up some new allies once Ozzy’s target inevitably grows even larger after a successful idol play. Rizo ultimately picked the safer path to cut his losses and not risk getting pulled down by Ozzy’s gameplay, which I can totally respect, but I wish he would’ve done something a little bigger with the opportunity presented.
Fallen Comrades
Emily
Christine: Love her or hate her, you can’t deny that Emily Flippen brought a lot of entertainment to this season. She was messy and blunt, telling people things that she shouldn’t have on too many occasions, yet everyone kept trusting her. She’s not the best Survivor player in the world, but we need people like her on every returnee season to keep things interesting. Survivor is at its most compelling when we get to see players work around complicated social dynamics and strong personalities, and Emily really brought those elements to 50. And while her gameplay was uneven this season, her plan this episode was a strong one, thwarted only by Cirie’s Extra Vote, proving that even if she’s a little messy, Emily still has the strategic chops.
Gia: If you told me at the beginning of this episode that I would be rooting for Emily to go, I’d call you a liar. In my defense, the only alternative was Cirie, so I stand by my decision. Emily has been a delight to watch this entire season; her facial expressions alone deserve their own highlight reel. Her ability to gain allies, spill their secrets immediately, and reap the benefits of said chaos was one of my favorite side plots of the season. I will miss everything she brought to Survivor 50, highs and lows alike. Though she said she would never play again, she also said that after 45, so let’s all hope that she changes her mind once more.
Ozzy
Christine: Although she didn’t make it far enough in the game to see it happen firsthand, I’m sure Genevieve feels vindicated that her read on Ozzy was correct. He once again got overconfident and let himself get totally blindsided with an idol in his pocket just like he did in Micronesia. While I wasn’t super excited to see Ozzy play again when he was announced as being on the cast, we did get to see new layers of him and his game this season as he attempted to play a more socially forward and self-aware game.
His smartest move was partnering with Cirie, so it makes sense that his downfall finally came when they were split up. It’s mind-boggling that he didn’t play his idol in this incredibly dangerous split tribal scenario. Still, it just goes to show that no matter how much you may try to change your game on a returnee season, it’s all too easy to fall back into old patterns and relive the mistakes of your Survivor past.
Gia: If you told me at the beginning of this season that I’d be sad to see Ozzy get blindsided, I’d once again call you a liar. However, even though this isn’t his highest placing season, it was his most strategically sound season by far. While his fate ended the same way as in Micronesia, it does not diminish the growth he has shown this time around. I am sad to see him go, but I am happy to have gotten to know the player he has become. He wasn’t the person I was expecting to root for, but what can I say? A friend of Cirie is a friend of mine.
Written by