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 final episode.
Top 3 Moments
Tiffany (Deservedly) Goes Scorned Earth
Christine: Following Cirie’s voteout, Tiffany was none too pleased with the outcome. She knew she was next on the chopping block, and her game was effectively over if she didn’t win immunity. She refused the post-tribal niceties and made her frustration clear. She gave her all in the Final 5 immunity challenge, only to lose to Jonathan by mere seconds. Tiffany tried her best to save herself, but her fate was already sealed. At tribal, she and Jonathan butted heads one last time as she expressed her frustration at being targeted for her challenge performance over Joe. Whether you’re a Tiff fan or not, you can’t say she doesn’t speak her mind.
Jeff Spoils Fire Making
Gia: Pros of a Live Reunion? We finally get a live reunion again! Cons of a live reunion? Things like this happen. When Jonathan and Rizo were confirmed to be facing off in the final four fire-making, Jeff brought out Rizo right before the next commercial break. This in itself isn’t necessarily a spoiler, but then he had Rizo sit with the rest of the jury, unaware that they hadn’t yet aired the results of firemaking. Viewers got to watch Jeff realize the mistake in real time, and to be honest, I got quite a good laugh out of it. To Jeff’s credit, he rebounded well from the error, owning the mistake and letting the audience know that we were about to watch Rizo lose fire-making. Got to love live television.
Aubry Wins Simmotion (and the Game)
Christine: With Tiffany out, the final major jury threat left was Aubry. Winning final immunity was truly do or die for her, as she was doomed to be sent to fire otherwise. She pulled out an emotional Simmotion win and secured herself a spot at the final three, where she was able to plead her very compelling case to win as a former losing finalist. Aubry winning final immunity also sealed Jonathan’s fate as a losing finalist, since his only truly competitive FTC scenario was with Joe and Rizo both there.
Advantage Watch
Idols
Gia: History repeated itself this episode in more ways than one. Rizo was once again able to hold onto his idol until the eleventh hour, playing it for himself at the final five: a great achievement to be sure, especially two seasons in a row. Unfortunately for Rizo, he also repeated his original placement, once again losing firemaking at the final four. What can we say, old habits die hard.
Top 5 Contestants
Aubry
Christine: Aubry’s story this season got off to a rough start, as it seemed like she was genuinely struggling socially on her original tribe and swap tribe. She lucked out that those tribes never attended tribal, and then got even luckier with the Blood Moon group she ended up with. A Survivor winner always benefits from luck in one way or another, though, and Aubry did everything that she needed to in the merge to secure her spot at the end. She kept her threat level low, eliminated her biggest competition, kept easy FTC beats like Jonathan and Joe by her side, and won that crucial final immunity. Regardless of how you feel about her, Aubry winning ten years after her controversial loss was a satisfying end to 50, even if her journey there was a little rough around the edges.
Jonathan
Gia: We had to talk about him sometime, might as well be in the finale episode. It’s clear that Jonathan did a lot right throughout the season; you don’t get to the finale by doing everything wrong. However, it’s clear from his behavior both on and off the show that he has completely missed some important lessons from his classes with Boston Rob, and that’s the importance of jury management. No matter how many people Jonathan proceeds to blame in his exit press, the fact of the matter remains that your Survivor resume means nothing if the jury doesn’t like you. He fought hard and did what he needed to do to reach the end, but the only person he can blame for his loss is himself. My advice? Enjoy the $100k and take some time to process the loss off of social media.
Joe
Gia: I may be in the minority here, but I really enjoyed Joe throughout the season. His rivalry with Rick Devens was hilarious, and his inability to be dishonest was a delightful change of pace from the twists that the new era often brings to the game. Perhaps Joe would’ve benefited from more time away before he came back to play, but it’d be incorrect to dismiss him altogether as a bad player. Joe ended the season with the most days played among all new-era players and shares an accolade with Kyle as the only two returnees never to have their torches snuffed. The game may not have ended as Joe was hoping, but there’s a lot about his game that he should be proud of.
Rizo
Christine: Rizo brought a lot of fun to this season, and he seems like a really sweet guy. As far as gameplay goes, he’s clearly good at integrating himself into a group and making a deep run. But I think he’ll need some time and adjustments to convert that to a winning game on an inevitable third return, whenever that may be. From what we’ve heard both times around, it sounds like his gameplay doesn’t necessarily resonate with jurors, and his idol shenanigans seem to frustrate people more than impress them. He’s got what it takes to make it far, but Rizo 3.0 will need to approach the game in a more mature way (and brush up on firemaking) to make sure he can seal the deal next time around.
Tiffany
Gia: Tiffany Nicole Ervin, you will always be famous. Despite production’s attempts to purple her, she was still able to shine post-merge on many occasions. She was a dead woman walking into this final five, but no one can argue that she didn’t go out swinging. Most importantly, she wasn’t afraid to go against the grain and challenge the power dynamics around her, a rare quality amongst returnee players. I’m sad she didn’t win, but given the exit press that has come out since the finale, it’s safe to say that she’s getting the last laugh. Here’s hoping that the third time’s the charm.
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