Welcome to Season 50’s Next Time On Survivor weekly feature on the Inside Survivor site! If you’re new around here, I’m Steph from sunny, tropical, humid Singapore. This is a tiny space where I give my best attempts at understanding preview trailers and make my predictions for the show’s next episodes.
In a sneak peek scene, Joe, Ozzy, and Cirie are seen discussing Rick’s antics at the last tribal council, clowning the way he retrieved the “idol” while we hear appropriate comical music in the background. Clearly, Rick’s move made an impact on the other players, but perhaps not in the most ideal way for him. As Cirie shared elatedly in her confessional, “he just made a bullseye on his back.” The ballsy move may have saved him last week, but it has certainly increased his threat level. This will always be a conversation point that others will use against him until he gets voted out.
I initially thought that Rick’s “idol” move would cement his alliance with Aubry. However, in another sneak preview scene, it looks like Aubry’s looking to distance herself from him. She’s forming an alliance with Jonathan instead and revealing in a confessional that she’s not afraid to make big moves, including jumping alliances. This presents Aubry as pretty agile and adaptable as the game progresses. I’m curious to see if she’ll be establishing more solid relationships in the coming episodes, or if she’ll be taken out as one of the “middle people.”
In the NTOS trailer, Stephenie is pissed off by how the vote went. She ultimately voted for Chrissy and Coach, two of her alliance members, but was definitely just going with the flow and the majority. I think we’ll see her scramble to regroup with others this episode, probably sticking to Cirie and Ozzy and targeting Rick, as she’s probably fed up with him from the last tribal council.
In another part of the NTOS trailer, Ozzy describes Christian as “a robot in human skin”. This could mean a couple of things. Perhaps Ozzy is suggesting that Christian plays without human emotions, mechanically making game moves without considering how they impact personal relationships. Or maybe Ozzy’s implying Christian is calculative like a programmed machine, scheming his way through the game. In any case, it reads with more negative connotations than positive associations. I predict that Christian will be targeted for his obvious alliance with Rick; players will want to break them up.
Finally, the trailers also highlight Jeff Probst competing alongside the players in the immunity challenge as the “surprise challenger.” I don’t think the twist here has to do with winning individual immunity, but perhaps winning Jeff gets you a reward.
What do you think will happen in Episode 9? Leave your predictions in the comments!
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