Last week, Survivor 50 was preempted by an installment of The Zac Brown Smile Time Flower Power Variety Hour–ok, not really, but the show dedicated a third of its airtime to the country singer fishing and performing at the expense of, you know, the actual contestants. This week was fortunately celebrity-free (although you could make a fun drinking game out of taking a shot every time Billie Eilish gets namechecked), and the first of what will likely be many double elimination episodes to account for this season’s largest cast ever.
Coach Gives
Since his first Survivor appearance in 2009’s Tocantins, Benjamin Wade has famously gone by two self-appointed nicknames: “Coach” and the “Dragon Slayer.” In Survivor 50, he’s dubbed himself “The Tidewalker” to reflect that he now “moves around obstacles instead of crushing right through them.”
Aside from host Jeff Probst referring to a player by their last name, there’s no greater honor a Survivor contestant can receive than a nickname bequeathed by Wade, such as “The Wizard” (Stephen Fishbach) and “The Warrior” (JT Thomas). In this episode, two others entered the pantheon of the Dragon Slayer. Colby Donaldson became the “Oak Bound Warrior,” a resolute fighter who never breaks in the face of evil. Meanwhile, Joe Hunter is now the “Stone Bell Monk,” for his strength and trustworthiness.
Though she hasn’t earned a nickname (yet), Aubry Bracco, who seems eternally stuck at the bottom in Survivor 50, approached Wade to work together. He was receptive to the offer, meaning that Wade is now aligned to some degree with every single person on his tribe except for Tiffany Ervin. Historically, this tends not to work out very well for Survivor players, but Wade is one of a kind to say the least.
Ozzy Takes
After being left out of last week’s Mike White blindside, Ozzy Lusth threw a self-admitted temper tantrum upon returning to camp. The next morning, he was calmer and apologized for his outburst, asking ringleader Christian Hubicki to put their tension behind them. In private, however, Lusth remained upset with Hubicki.
That’s why Lusth suggested that Hubicki rebuild trust by gifting him with the latter’s Shot in the Dark. (Introduced in Survivor 41, the Shot in the Dark is a twist that gives each player a one-time, one-in-six shot at immunity by sacrificing their vote. In the last nine seasons, two players were saved due to a lucky Shot in the Dark play.) Hubicki was aghast that Lusth was such a “Polly Prissypants” but eventually gave in.
During an otherwise predictable Tribal Council in which Angelina Keeley was unanimously voted out, Probst’s spot-on impressions of three players were perhaps the highlight of the episode. More of this, less rapping, Jeff.
Operation Bad Blood
Charlie Davis’s one-sided rift with Rizo Velovic blew up this week as their tribe finally had to vote someone out. Davis remained committed to eliminating Velovic for the latter’s (false) admission that he didn’t vote for his number one ally to win Survivor 49, a sore spot for Davis, who lost Survivor 46 for that very reason. Blinded by his narrow focus, Davis felt certain that the rest of his tribe would fall in line.
However, Velovic sensed the tension and teamed up with the women of the tribe in the hopes of voting out Davis, in a plan he dubbed “Operation Bad Blood” in honor of Davis’s Taylor Swift fandom. Getting Dee Valladares and Cirie Fields on his side took little convincing, but Kamilla Karthigesu was a bit more wary, having never seen Velovic play before and suspicious of his alleging that Kyle Fraser (Karthigesu’s ally in Survivor 48) encouraged him to align with her.
The contrast between Velovic and Davis couldn’t have been more underscored when they cast their votes for each other at Tribal Council. Velovic playfully interspersed Taylor Swift song titles in his speech, while Davis stared down the camera threateningly and repeated the “you betrayed your number one” refrain he’s mastered all too well. Davis’s inability to get past his Survivor 46 trauma was his downfall, and he was voted out 4-3.
Survivor 50 Snubs
I’ll conclude each week’s column by spotlighting one man and one woman who were left off Survivor 50 but would have made for excellent inclusions. This week: two contestants who were namechecked by Velovic in the latest episode as fellow back-to-back players.
Malcolm Freberg was an instant fan favorite in Survivor: Philippines, the series’s 25th installment. As part of the ill-fated Matsing tribe, which lost the first four immunity challenges, he teamed up with eventual victor Denise Stapley, who served as a shrewd motherly figure while Freberg brought the charm. He came back in the next season, Caramoan, where he didn’t last as long but at least had a flashy idol play to his credit. His third appearance in 2017’s Game Changers ended early and abruptly thanks to an unprecedented twist in which two tribes voted in one single Tribal Council. It was an unfair, unceremonious, and unsatisfying exit, and he deserves to end his Survivor journey on a better note.
Amanda Kimmel is another three-time player, debuting in 2007’s Survivor: China and returning in both the next season, Micronesia, and 2010’s Heroes vs. Villains. The doe-eyed beauty achieved legendary status by becoming the first woman to find a hidden immunity idol and making it to the final Tribal Council twice in a row, but she lacked the killer instinct to land the win. While she didn’t always make for electrifying television, it’s been 16 years since Kimmel last played, and it’s always compelling to see contestants return after such a long absence.
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