Survivor 50 | Ep. 2
THE RIPPLE EFFECTS OF KYLE’S EXIT - DAY 4
Kyle’s achilles exit still sucks for us the viewer and even more for Genevieve, Q and all of VATU. They were riding high and feeling success and then, BOOM! their games change unsuspectingly.
Players are emotional. Kyle’s departure leaves Genevieve revealing clear as day that she is playing an emotional game. Unlike her game on 47 she is emotional from the jump and I like this version of Genevieve. Showing her emotional only amplifies her game because it will help her connect with players. She doesn’t lose anything by playing this way.
Q is also emotional after carrying Kyle into the medevac boat. I love when he said the emotion “cleared my mind and made me start over”. Could be a great thing. Q and Colby don’t have votes either. Now they look to Rizo to replace Kyle in the alliance of Colby, Stephenie, Q and Genevieve.
Immediately, it becomes clear that Kyle’s exit is another player’s benefit and that player is Rizo. Based on what we’ve learned in episode 1, Rizo’s age and unknown factor helped him win over Colby yet keep him out of the alliance of Colby, Steph, Genevieve and Kyle. Now that Kyle’s gone, enter Rizo. What I love most is Rizo’s awareness of how he was perceived to start the game and how he has turned it around. Add in Kyle’s exit and the R-I-Z-G-O-D is sitting pretty with a hell of a lot of confidence in his sense of belonging in this game.
CHRISTIAN’S GASTROINTESTINAL EPISODE - DAY 5
“You’re not going to want to see this…I promise you, you’re not going to want to see this.” - Christian
Survivor is full of moments of humanity and “unexpected evacuations”, but Christian pooping his pants was one I certainly did not have on my Bingo card for this season.
Hilarious.
Yet, despite how incredibly humiliating it is to soil oneself on national television or the increased percentage chance for him to actually incur marital problems as a result, Christian finds a way to turn this horrendous misfortune into a moment of unintentional comedy and charm. The way he initially breaks the news to Joe, how he breaks the fourth wall talking directly to the camera man about the issue, the music prancing along with him up and down the beach walk of shame, and his wit all make this gastrointestinal episode feel more like a comedy bit than arguably the most embarrassing moment of his life.
I guess Christian really wanted to connect with his son, but come on dude, there are other ways. hahaha
REWARD CHALLENGE - DAY 5
The VATU tribe pulls up to the barge and the news of Kyle’s medevac lands on the rest of the players, most notably Kamilla, Kyle’s season 48 partner in crime who she played with and ran the game in secrecy with all the way to a win for Kyle. For Kamilla, she is obviously emotional. This is her real friend and fellow 48 bro for life.
As for the in game reasons for emotion I have to imagine that Kamilla spent a lot of time and energy figuring out how she was going to play 50 and Kyle being out there had to have weighed heavily on her outlook on the season. How do I build trust with others? How do I work with Kyle? Against Kyle? Change the narrative from what people are thinking of her given that Kyle is here? and more. Having said that, I think that Kyle leaving the game actually helps Kamilla most of all. It frees her up. She can now just be Kamilla and not play her game with any Kyle related consideration. My guess is that new era fans love Kamilla and are most excited to see how her game opens up as a result of this unfortunate circumstance.
We are ready to see what Kamilla is truly made of in this game. Here’s your chance Kamilla. LFG!
BACK TO THE CHALLENGE LET’S CHALLENGE COACH’S REPUTATION
Jeff throws a question at Ozzy about the difficulties at challenges and Ozzy has an emotional response (love the emotion all over the game and we are only on day 5). I think in that moment Ozzy’s response speaks to the toll that his body took at the supplies challenge. Plus, he’s older, rickety, and not what he used to be. For an Ozzy, that is part of his identity, especially in Survivor, so damn right it breaks his emotions wide open.
Then Coach causes the show editors to literally put in a record scratch. I love Coach. I do, but he couldn’t be reading the room or the moment more incorrectly. I get that no matter what was going on or what was said, Coach was going to set the record straight. It’s awkward, it’s clumsy, and when you see Dee, Emily, and Kamilla laughing at him, I hate it but love it too. It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion, you just can’t look away.
Love you Coach.
GREAT challenge!
Is it me or do the returning players attack challenges differently? To me, there is a greater level of tenacity across the board. They know how to dive more off the platforms more effectively. They don’t need to come up for air when they dive in to release buoys. They don’t walk across balance beams, they run across. They know how to toss rings and land the rings in fewer throws. The margin for error is smaller and that makes for every challenge to raise the stakes from the previous one.
To quote the great Dick Vitale, “IT’S AWESOME BABY WITH A CAPITAL “A”!
“Today’s adversary is tomorrow’s enemy, and today’s enemy is tomorrow’s adversary” - Coach
Again, Coach, I love you. But aren’t adversaries and enemies the same thing? Did he mean ally? Did he mean anything? Did he confuse two or three quotes when cutting this promo to describe his calling out Ozzy and setting the record straight?
Whatever, I’m good with it.
CAMP LIFE HIGHLIGHTS - DAY 5
VATU
Genevieve has been suspicious of Aubry since the tribes were chosen. Add in finding the first Boomerang Idol and we have our first bag search of 50. Aubry’s energy at camp, confessionals, and lack of connection at VATU makes me too wonder about Aubry. Is she just the older Emily, waiting for a tribe swap to be put with “her people”. Feels like it. Feels like she doesn’t fit in at VATU and Genevieve leading the bag search only further confirms Aubry’s standing in the tribe.
By the way, how awesome are the backpacks they all have this season? Hey Paramount, hey Survivor, hey Fijian art department member, can you make a couple thousand bags and let me have one of each color? Thanks.
KALO
Coach just can’t help himself. Arguably his most redeemable quality is the adventure seeker inside him that we are able to see reignited when he tries to keep up with his #1 guy Jonathan as they go spear fishing. I can relate in the sense that I hope at 53 that I am pushing myself physically, mentally, and spiritually at the level of the Dragon Slayer to continue to find the next adventure despite my body shutting down or breaking down on me.
Arrogant, out of touch Coach one minute, and “poor Coach” the next. His character has many layers and I think it is actually benefiting him thus far. Make no bones about it, Coach’s personality needs a LOT of room to breathe and that can easily get old, like him, quickly. But, I am keeping it in mind that he isn’t one dimensional like we have seen Chrissy aka “the mom” to be. Her consistent “mom” around camp act seems to get on people’s nerves more than Coach’s schtick.
CILA
The “Joe-tation” idea breaks Cirie hahahaha. And me too. Christian is like Secretariat in the 1973 Belmont right now in the charming the pants off everyone power rankings. Soooooo far above everyone else. It’s fascinating to see how Joe 2.0 and his loyalty and honesty game sets barriers that other players have to play around. Rick, Cirie, and Christian are all well aware of these boundaries and the restrictions that Joe’s game places on them. Plus, when you add on Joe 2.0’s highly skeptical and blatantly call you out on telling secrets or having 1 on 1 convos gameplay, it leaves even the most skilled strategists tangled in frustration.
Rick’s frustration is at a level 10. He can’t hide it. I don’t think Rick has many conversations in any part of his life that reach the point he visibly has with Joe. Again, another moment that is awkward and hard to watch, yet I can’t look away because a part of you either sides with Rick or Joe or both and no matter what, you feel their frustrations. I wonder if someone will see value in Joe’s trustworthy/honest gameplay and use it to their own benefit or if the restrictions will cause Rick to campaign to boot Joe out so they can open up the gameplay.
CHRISTIAN FINDS THE 2ND BILLIE EILISH BOOMERANG IDOL
I think the 2nd Boomerang Idol falling into Christian’s hands was a gift to the fans. Christian’s narration of how to think about the Boomerang Idol and what he is going to do with it is a win for the fans because he does it in a way that we feel like a student in his robotics lecture at Florida State who took the class just to see him teach. He’s abundantly aware that the audience is watching. I love that. Plus, his plan is to use it as an olive branch of trust in the game outside his tribe, unlike Genevieve who is betting on Ozzy’s failure.
Aubry gets the guardian angel that she needed in Christian and well, Billie Eilish. It’s great to see players who are down to their final swing of the bat get a base hit and live to fight another day. Her patience and awareness in the game are rewarded. Christian sending her the Boomerang Idol restores Aubry’s hope in the game and it comes after the bag search, makes it feel like a walk off base hit to win the game, extend the series and get momentum back on your side
“HELL YEAH…GAME ON!” - AUBRY
This reaction confirms for me too that Aubry knows that her people in the game are out there and that she has at least one. It makes sense to me that Christian chose her. Aubry is Christian’s kind of ally - smart, witty, and a strategist - just like him.
Christian is dominating the game from an entertainment and strategic standpoint. At this junction in the game, he has to be the MVP of the season through 1.5 episodes and it’s not because he pooped his pants, it’s not because he found the Billie Eilish idol, and it’s not because he created the “Joe-tation”, it’s because he is by far the best storyteller. Like he said at the first Tribal, Survivor is about stories, and Christian is telling the best one so far.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE - DAY
Another disappointing loss for CILA and possibly another new era trend of the one disaster tribe presses on into Survivor 50. Nobody wants this. But, here we are because the final 3 person ball maneuvering along the snake maze saw Ozzy, Cirie, and Christian get snake bit instead. I wonder if them being the shortest set of arms at the snake was a factor. Think about it, KALO had Coach, Jonathan and Charlie, and VATU had Angelina, Rizo and Genevieve. KALO and VATU’s squads have some length and I think that mattered.
CIRIE’S MASTERCLASS
“All I do is provide you with the information for you to compare the two and then you come up with your decision, that may be…my decision.” - Cirie
Remember in episode 1 when Cirie blew the Immunity Challenge and Jenna was throwing her name out there and it seemed possible that Cirie could be the first boot? Yeah, me neither. Cirie has battled her way back into the good graces of Emily, Rick, and Christian, protected Ozzy, and even was gifted an Extra Vote as a token of Ozzy’s gratitude (and total zero in the social game).
How did she do it?
Knowledge is power and delivery. Cirie presented Savannah’s journey and half truths about an advantage as the evidence necessary to steer the vote toward the 49 champion. On a tribe with no trophies and players starving to break out of Joe’s barricades of trust, the deception of Savannah feels that much more pronounced.
It’s not looking good for Savannah. 😬
THERAPY CAROUSEL - WITH CHRISTIAN AND JOE
See Christian, you didn’t have to have an “unexpected evacuation” to connect with your newborn son from the island, you just had to find someone to rock back and forth. Yes, you are reading that correctly, Christian actually did rock Joe, like a baby, in the hammock. Once again, Christian finds himself involved in another act of humanity but delivers it in a way that we never see coming. We know that Joe is upset and frustrated because his trust first game is being challenged by the renegade Rick style of play and being the bigger man is weighing on Joe.
Enter new dad Christian to rock-a-bye Joey, on the tree top, when the votes cast, Savannah will drop 🤣.
CHRISTIAN TELLS RICK HE FOUND BOOMERANG IDOL
Heading into Tribal, the typical editing leads us to believe that it’s likely Savannah being voted out, but maybe Joe pissed enough people off to garner the votes, or maybe Emily will convince everyone to vote out Ozzy this time. The one thing we know heading in is that Savannah has a BLOCK A VOTE from the journey that she lied to everyone about not having and that she doesn’t have an idol.
Christian does.
Christian found the Boomerang Idol and in the closing moments before Tribal he discloses to Rick all the details. First off, do you see how Christian announces the name of the idol to Rick? or how he says “I GAVE IT TO AUBRY!”, and finally my favorite, the look on his face when he says, “Thank you Billie Eilish” with his finger up and just the way he says it is just too good. There’s a certain charm and innocence combined with his quirky intelligent self that just lands so hysterically entertaining for me.
Finally, Rick immediately takes the new information and proposes the fun he’s been starved of, taking the note from Christian’s idol, and planting it at Tribal for future use and dramatic effect.
Brilliant. Fun. What I think the fans are looking for.
Get your popcorn ready folks. This has to pay off for the fans!
TRIBAL COUNCIL - NIGHT 6
Savannah enters the conversation and it’s her swan song. At Tribal, she makes herself vulnerable by expressing that she made herself vulnerable at the end of 49 and that has continued to the present moment on 50. Remember, she finished her season only 3? 4? weeks prior and from it she learned to let her wall down and make herself vulnerable. This is a beautiful moment and arguably the greatest effect that Survivor can have for the players who get out there.
VOTES
SAVANNAH - 6
OZZY - 1
It’s over. Savannah’s journey began months ago with 49 where she deserved to be the winner and it ends short lived in season 50 being the third person eliminated. I will fight to the end that it was the right choice having her and Rizo return for 50 and back to back seasons. The mystery of it made the pregame more intriguing because nobody knew who they were nor how they played.
Now that Savannah is gone, and gone quickly, it begs the question of should she have been out there? and was she in an impossible spot? Think about it, someone who just won Survivor has a different entry point than anyone else. It’s not possible for her to be as hungry, as eager, as tenacious to play as others who haven’t played in 5, 10, or even 20 years!
When a team wins the Super Bowl one season, the next season requires a new motivation, a new chip on the shoulder, and the reality that you have to climb the mountain all over again from the bottom. That’s what happened to Savannah. She said yes as the defending champion because YOU HAVE TO SAY YES! but there’s no chance she was ready to play at the level necessary to make a deep run and contend for a second straight Super Bowl.
Great job Savannah, you were amazing on 49, you belonged on 50, but for my money, you were drawing dead before you ever hopped back on Fiji Airways to play 50. See you at the watch parties.
Thanks for reading the blog. I appreciate the support. Please be sure to Like, Follow, and Subscribe to the blog and my podcast - The ReRACEables Podcast covering The Amazing Race. Info and links below.
The blog has spoken!!!
Follow my blog Website - www.tribalcouncilblog.com
Instagram - @tribalcouncilblog - Follow the Instagram
Facebook - @tribalcouncilblog - Outlike, Outcomment, and Outshare
Twitter - @TribalCouncBlog - Click here and Follow
YouTube channel - Click here and Like and Subscribe
All photos via @cbssurvivor, @reflectingrv, @allwinnerssurvivor and @davidbloombergtv
