Only ten players remain on Survivor 50 after Christian’s downfall at the hands of Cirie and Jimmy Fallon. Ozzy’s new social game made sure Cirie had his back, and others wanted him around for another day, and now Emily Flippen has flipped right into Ozzy’s hit list for her attempted coup. Apologies get her nowhere. She’s burned a solid relationship, and she’s officially a pariah.
Meanwhile, Rick catches more heat after not playing his idol when Ozzy calls his bluff for what it was, so he’s only got Emily as an ally. But Rick is at his most dangerous when he knows he’s got nothing to lose, so he’s going it alone on the bottom and awakening his old Edge of Extinction persona as a last resort.
The next morning brings another promise from Aubry to finally start playing. She’s running out of pieces to play with and moves to make… only to get completely upstaged by Rick again as he owns up to his fake idol plan in front of the entire tribe. The idol made him a threat, and now he’s a little less juicy a target. In theory, at least. Because now everyone’s aware he can and will lie to anyone and will look for an actual idol now, so he’s not climbing out of that hole he dug that easily.
But for a day, we can put the game aside and just have some good old classic Survivor fun, because it’s Auction time! The first time it’s been held in a full all-star season, too. And it’s old school style! No searching for money in the woods, 500 dollars each, money can be shared, but not food, no lost votes, and you can keep what you don’t spend. Thank you for listening, production!
However, there is a twist: every item could be a risk between comfort and chaos. For example, first up is fries and onion rings sold to Devens… with no chaos. All comfort. But up second is a milkshake sold to Emily… also with no chaos. Same goes for Jonathan’s snack tray. And then we get a shared mystery item bought by Aubry and shared with Rizo. The comfort? Giant cookies! The chaos? To enjoy them, one person has to eat two grubs Borneo-style. Aubry devours them without hesitation, so the chaos has been conquered.
Jonathan buys another comfort/chaos item and shares it with Ozzy, and the twist this round is Ozzy gets fried chicken and mashed potatoes… as long as Jonathan eats a repulsive sea slug in two minutes. Not wanting to piss off a potential ally, Jonathan stomachs the fall-on-the-sword punishment and earns Ozzy his meal. More items fly by from macaroni to chocolate cake to a PB&J, but the final item up for grabs is a total mystery to be shared between all ten players for twenty bucks each.
It’s loved ones’ letters, perfectly timed for Aubry, who’s just had a sentimental moment remembering her kid back home. But there’s another twist they have to accept now that they’ve bought their letters: Mr. Beast. Yep. He’s here as we’ve dreaded since he showed that briefcase in the trailer. Good thing he’s not in the hot seat for his own scandals right now, huh? God, that would sure be awful timing for the show to have him on as a guest, right?
All that aside, Mr. Beast’s “brilliant” chaotic idea is a Super Beware Advantage to be revealed at Tribal, throwing a spanner into the works of every single plan for the rest of the day. And yeah, it’s just a few hours before Tribal, so it’s off to an immediate immunity challenge just around the corner. Another generic ball balancing challenge we’ve seen a dozen times, another challenge dominated by the same handful of people. It comes down to Tiffany, Joe, and Ozzy, with Tiffany winning her second necklace of the season to ensure she lasts past Day 19 this time around (and won’t be victim to whatever Mr. Beast’s twist entails).
Back at camp, the final ten are treated to those letters from home before the scramble begins. Cirie hears from her father, who’s never written her anything until now. Rick gets a pick-me-up from his wife when he needs it most and keeps on smiling.
Aubry gets a dose of love that reminds her she’s still fierce after softening as a parent, but also that she lost Kaoh Rong in controversial fashion and needs to take notes from Michele’s game. So she’s going to, say it with me, start heating up and play. It’s about damn time. Now she can hopefully put her moves where her mouth is, and her first stop is pulling in Jonathan and Stephenie to take out a massive threat. Rick is the smokescreen everyone can hide behind, and the real target for Jonathan tonight is Ozzy, the king of challenges and now a real contender in the cerebral game too.
With Rick as a number and Emily following suit, that’s five votes for Ozzy he won’t see coming… but they need six, and Jonathan hits up Joe for that crucial final piece of the puzzle. But Joe’s had it out for Rick since the beginning, and even though Ozzy might burn him down the line, there’s more of a working relationship there than he’ll ever have with Rick. Joe asks Cirie about her feelings, and on cue, it’s time to go on the offensive to save Ozzy from certain doom again. She doesn’t need the powers to shift to Jonathan’s side this close to the end, especially when Stephenie is just lying to her face while plotting against her ally. So Rick can still be the smokescreen… and Steph can go instead. If they have to use their extra vote or even Ozzy’s idol, so be it. Bring out the big guns and keep Cirie’s Rizard of Oz safe.
Jonathan gets wind of the plan, though, and Steph debates using her Vote Steal. She confronts Cirie about the plan being leaked and sparks chaos trying to put Cirie’s name out as the target, then Rick tries spinning the plan against Rizo instead as Rick and Aubry’s names float around elsewhere. And all of this planning could be for nothing if the Super Beware Advantage makes an even bigger mess out of things. Stephenie, Rick, Aubry, Ozzy, Cirie, Rizo. Maybe another target comes up for all we know. Prepare for a complete disaster, especially because Rick’s playing with house money every time and will blow up the tribe for the fun of it.
Rick starts it off strong, too, selling out Steph and Jonathan’s entire array of strategic discussions from the last few hours. He even exposes Steph’s Vote Steal and pitches a plan for the rest of the tribe to team up against them since he’s not even a threat. Tribal becomes a public forum as Steph goes to war defending herself against all these betrayal allegations. The pitch falls on its face, and everyone turns the public forum into a public execution of Steph’s whole game. Aubry calls her out. Rick calls her out. Rizo calls her out. And Cirie’s just laughing her way to the bank. Jeff says it’s all thanks to Mr. Beast’s influence, but let’s be honest here: this is because Stephenie is a hot mess, Rick doesn’t give a damn about good gameplay if it makes for good TV, and the rest of the cast is delivering too.
But to get to the Mr. Beast of it all (and what makes this episode two hours long, good lord), the twist is a huge one. One person must flip a gold coin tonight. If they call the flip correctly, the flipper is immune, gets a public idol, and doubles the prize pot at the end. Two million dollars on the line: half from CBS, half from Jimmy’s bank account. But if the flipper gets it wrong, they’re gone. No vote. No second chances. Straight up eliminated by a game of pure chance. It’s the maligned Do or Die all over again, and if nobody wants to flip the coin, it’s a rock draw between the non-immune players to decide who takes the risk.
And it’s all smiles for the king of chaos as Rick puts his hand up immediately. It’s the most Rick Devens-coded twist of all time, and now’s his chance to live up to his reputation in the most dramatic way imaginable. And in a moment so perfect for the show you’d swear it’s scripted, Rick calls his shot and nails it. Double the money, a free idol, and a spot in the final nine. But while the cast celebrates the doubled million, the cheering can’t last forever because there’s still a vote happening, and all that chaos suddenly matters again.
After a short live Tribal with Aubry and Steph’s names at the forefront and idols and advantages in the mix, Stephenie uses her Vote Steal on Rick to throw an extra vote on Aubry. Still, it’s nowhere near enough to overcome the unanimous tidal wave of votes against her after being caught red-handed plotting against her fellow legends. It’s been a while since we’ve had a classic Survivor flame-out elimination, but Stephenie delivered a great one and got a perfect downfall. By all metrics, this should’ve been an all-time great episode between a fun return to form auction, a crazy scramble, and a huge fight at Tribal.
But unfortunately, Mr. Beast showed up and ate up a fourth of the runtime over a coin flip, and I can’t tell you how much I do not care to see Jeff and the cast bow down to him like he’s royalty. The twist wasn’t even that terrible, and it paid off really well, all things considered, but it’s just another case of tone deaf celebrity endorsements and annoying overproduction overshadowing an otherwise compelling season that had a solid cast there to deliver. And deliver they have! When the show actually allowed them to, of course. But with the (hopefully) final celebrity twist out of the way, it should be a clear shot to the finish line with minimal asterisks attached.
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