Host Jeff Probst addresses the final contestants on Survivor 50, which aired Wednesday.Robert Voets/CBS/Supplied
For the 50th season of the long-running reality competition show, TV critics Amber Dowling and J. Kelly Nestruck (and sometimes a guest) will convene their own two-person tribal council after each episode to discuss gameplay and drama.
Too long didn’t watch (TLDW) summary:
After a tribal that saw all-time fan favourite player Cirie Fields voted off the island, the final five of Survivor 50 returned to camp: Aubry Bracco, Tiffany Ervin, Joe Hunter, Rizo Velovic, Jonathan Young.
Not part of the Cirie vote, Tiffany was out of options–and patience–and focused on winning the next day’s immunity challenge.
It was a convoluted whopper of a challenge–and, though Jonathan muscled his way to the puzzle at the end of a long series of obstacles, he had to stop partway through solving it to throw up. Tiffany nearly caught up –but, ultimately, Jonathan slotted in his final piece just seconds ahead of her.
With Rizo in possession of an immunity idol and a strong alliance with Joe and Jonathan, those three men decided which woman to send home. Tiffany gave a go trying to shift votes off her and over to Aubry, but, after some self-declared “spicy” speechifying at tribal, it was her torch that was snuffed.
With the bro alliance unshakable, Aubry’s best chance to make it to the final three was winning the final immunity challenge of the season–which she did. Luckily for her, the fans had chosen the “Simmotion”–a concentration challenge involving balls rolling through a metal structure. (Aubry had practised on a facsimile of the device, named after Survivor production designer Simon “Simo” Ross, that she’d bought on Etsy ahead of the season.)
Aubry then got to choose Joe to go to the final three with her; Jonathan and Rizo had a flinty face off for the final spot. The man, the myth, the legend Rizgod was eliminated in the trial by fire, for the second season in a row.
That left Aubry, Jonathan and Joe to make their cases to the jury the next day (after a breakfast shared with family members flown in).
In a live finale, the final votes were counted: Aubrey got a leading six votes and the $2-million prize.
The players prepare for the final five immunity challenge.Robert Voets/CBS/Supplied
The episode breakdown
Amber: After all of the twists and celebrity cameos on Survivor 50, which will go down in history as great or meh, depending on your POV, it’s all over. I’m divided on the format of the finale. Integrating the live audience portions in L.A. with the show clips was an interesting way to tie it together, but it also kept taking us out of the drama. Or maybe that was the point. The second Cirie and Rick left, we all knew it was going to come down to Aubry or Rizo. Interweaving the final two Immunity Challenges with the live reunion was a way to keep the fan favourites front and centre while we watched it all go down.
Kelly: It was the MrBeast of seasons, it was the worst of seasons... Poor Rizgod losing in fire-making again, and this time prematurely–as Jeff accidentally revealed he was the final member of the jury before the footage of his defeat at the hands of Jonathan had been shown. While this wasn’t quite the boo boo of La La Land briefly being awarded best picture at the Oscars, it was a reminder of why live TV is amazing. I admired how well Jeff handled the mishap and joked about it being a final “peek into the future” twist.
Otherwise, the finale didn’t have much in the way of unpredictability. Especially since the Kalshi so-called prediction market in the U.S. has had Aubry as far and away the odds-on favourite to win since January. I stumbled upon that info early in the season and, in March, read in the New York Times that Kalshi was investigating the possibility of insider trading. Minnesota became the first state to ban prediction markets earlier this week; let’s hope, for the sake of the solemn integrity of reality TV, the other 49 follow suit soon.
Amber: I thought I would hate Aubry winning, as I, too, came across that spoiler early on and hoped it was wrong. My turning point for her was during the auction, when she knocked back those bugs no problem and opened up about missing her family. From then on, she became the underdog. Maybe not as much as RizGod, who had the power of Cirie and Ozzy behind him, but she really did rub everyone the wrong way. To come back and win was a full circle moment. I don’t hate it, but I wasn’t invested in it, either. I wish editing had set her up as a potential winner earlier on.
Regardless, she had a strong case for that jury, and that’s why she won.
Kelly: Overall, I’m happy the winner was Aubry, too. Jonathan rubbed me the wrong way–and he was also the only possible challenger. If he had practised his public speaking as much as Aubry practised the Simmotion, he might have pulled it off. As it was, there were jurors that made his case better than he did.
Robert Voets/CBS/Supplied
Aubry, a digital marketer whose past clients include Cirque du soleil, won the “narrative warfare” (per narrator extraordinaire Christian) handily. I may have been wrong in my personal prediction this season (Genevieve Mushaluk, who didn’t get a word in at the so-called reunion; what a bust!) but I was right that a woman would win–as has been the case now in 70% of the seasons in the new era, since Survivor shortened the time on the island.
Any other moments you liked in the finale? I felt Charlie Davis’s paranoia about Rizo after learning he’d voting against a member of his core alliance in the final tribal was a little vindicated by him voting for Aubry over Jonathan.
Oh, also I was excited to learn from Mike White’s brief FaceTime call from Saint-Tropez that Canadian competitor Kamilla Karthigesu (and Charlie) were going to have small roles in season four of The White Lotus.
Amber: I am definitely watching the new season of White Lotus for those cameos, and love that Mike White continues to use the show for his inspiration. The biggest moment for me, however, is something we’ve talked about all season–the merging of old and new players. Going forward it feels like this was the final chapter for the “Old School Crew” and that the next 25 seasons (if this is still a thing by then!) will focus on a new era of playing. And to be honest, I’m interested to see how the show can evolve from here.
Kelly: It’s always evolving, I guess. Who knew the title of this episode referred in part to the “car curse” – which has now been reversed with Aubrey winning a Toyota Land Cruiser in the final moments of the finale. What a fittingly strange final arbitrary twist for a season that was full of them. I’m looking forward to some brand-new players bringing a new new-era energy in the fall–what Jeff is apparently dubbing the “open era.”
Amber: That’s just it. My biggest Survivor take-away is that while it’s fun to see familiar faces you cheered for or hated in the past, you have to keep the game open for new players. Every all-star season this show has ever orchestrated has been a let down in some way, simply because the expectations are so high. You can never live up to them. But focusing on new players and letting them bring their own twist is exactly what we need. I’m in for this open era, and I can’t wait to see how the competitors run with it.
Kelly: Here’s to never hearing a “Coachism” or a Zac Brown song again–at least until we reconvene for Survivor 100. See you then, Amber!