Survivor Season 50, Episode 13
"Reverse the Curse"
Host: Jeff Probst
Cast: Aubry Bracco, Joe Hunter, Jonathan Young, Rizo Velovic, Tiffany Ervin
It feels like we’ve been in Survivor 50 world for a long time. It was in April 2024 that Jeff announced that the landmark season would feature returning players, so it’s been two plus years of living in possibilities of what might be for such a historic season. While I have some quibbles with things along the way, it’s safe to say the show got the right winner.
If there’s a clear marker for the difference between what Jeff loved about 50 and what we did, he opened the live finale by thanking the four super fans (Billie Eilish, Jimmy Fallon, Zach Brown, and MrBeast), where at least four of whom I would say influenced the season in a negative way. He also says that the game was turned over to the fans, which I would argue never really lived up to the idea of the title of the season. Again, at least we ended up in the right place.
Coming back from the Tribal Council where Cirie was voted out, Rizo is pretty pleased with himself. He says he blindsided her. As if, Rizo! He has an idol in his pocket, so he’s guaranteed a spot in the final four.
Meanwhile, Tiffany is pretty upset considering her closest ally was voted out. Aubry tries to console her, but she’s having none of it. Tiff knows she was the plan if she didn’t win immunity and calls out Aubry’s fake sympathy. While I don’t know if Tiffany’s reaction is one that helps her gain some equity in the next vote, I’m not sure there’s anything that really would at this point. Instead, we get the start of what ends up setting us up for an arc where we can root hard for Tiffany and by the time she’s voted out, can stake her claim as a memorable character in the season.
The three guys left (Jonathan, Rizo, and Joe) say that if Tiffany wins immunity, they can just vote out Aubry. It’s sort of frustrating to watch, but there really isn’t a better choice for any of these three guys. Their best shot of winning is clearly sitting next to each other and making the best argument about their own game to the jury — especially between Rizo and Jonathan.
We get a pretty epic obstacle course for the final five immunity challenge. In the end, it comes down to a puzzle. Despite having thrown up mid challenge and nearly giving up his lead to Tiffany, he beats her by one puzzle piece. It certainly all but seals her fate in the game unless she can convince them to vote out Aubry instead. Unfortunately, any scenes we see with them considering voting out Aubry instead are likely only there to build tension for the vote. It never seems to be a real option. In her exit press, Tiffany has said that Jonathan made a comment about her being a woman as the reason her winning immunity is different from Joe. She’s not happy and while this moment isn’t shown in the episode, you can see that Tiff is not happy. She is voted out in a 4-1 vote.
The final four play in Simmotion, which is absolutely my favourite final immunity challenge. Aubry needs to win or she’s done. Luckily for us, Aubry wins and saves us from the potential of one of the worst final threes of all time. Instead, Aubry can select someone to go the final Tribal Council, while the other two will compete in fire-making.
She seems to have made her mind up. She’s going to take Joe, forcing Jonathan and Rizo to compete in fire-making. This would be the first time that a player who lost in fire-making would have to do it again, and to make things more fun, both Jonathan and Rizo had it happen to them the first time around. We set the stakes for the challenge. Jonathan is an expert fire maker and Rizo has struggled. He starts to break down, but Joe can’t help himself and aids Rizo in learning how to do it. Alright — time for a showdown!
Except we get the best moment of the finale where Jeff Probst accidentally spoils that Rizo loses at fire. I can’t believe this happened. It must have been a mix-up in what the segment before Jeff interviewed Rizo would show, leading to the moment where Jeff tells the world that Rizo lost in fire before we ever see it happen. When we return from commercial break, Jeff owns up to the mistake with a tongue-in-cheek joke about it being the “See Into the Future” twist. I honestly loved this whole thing and it’s probably a far more memorable moment than Jonathan just winning the fire-making challenge.
The final three are visited by their families before the final Tribal Council. I do like family visits, but it feels a little shoe-horned here in the finale. Yet somehow, we get a lot out of this short segment. First, Joe calls his partner his “tall ass wife’. Iconic. Then, Jonathan’s brother shows up dressed like Temu Mario. Finally, Aubry’s mom seems like an absolute sweetheart.
The Tribal Council to determine the winner of the game is actually quite interesting. It ends up being a combo of a traditional final jury where each person can ask a question, while also allowing the other jury members to chime in and comment. It becomes pretty clear that Joe is not going to receive many votes, if any at all. Instead, it becomes a debate about whether the jury should give their vote to Jonatahn or Aubry.
From where I sit, Aubry played a much better game, having played the middle expertly and slowly eliminating the people who would beat her at the end of the game. But who cares what I think (well, other than you, dear reader)! What made the final Tribal Council compelling is that it did seem like Jonathan could have beaten her if he convinced the jury that he played the better game.
However, he wasn’t able to do that. There were several instances where the gameplay moves he made were called out by other players and Aubry’s impressive game moves were highlighted. If there was one moment that felt like he lost, it was when he asked for clarification on what playing in the middle meant. Oof.
While Jonathan had some votes locked in — Stephenie, Coach, and Chrissy — Aubry secures all the remaining votes. I do think she’s the rightful winner and a satisfying person to be crowned champion of Survivor 50. She also won a car, which is kind of cool.
Some other notes from the episode:
In maybe the most exciting news of the season, Mike White revealed that Charlie and Kamilla will appear in Season 4 of The White Lotus. Good choices, Mike!
Cirie ends up being a double winner this season, despite not winning the two million dollars. She was honored early in the episode via a standing ovation from the fans, then given the first ever Spirit of Survivor Award. You can quibble if she’s the best to ever play (after all, she hasn’t won), but there’s no doubt in my mind that she’s the most entertaining strategic player to ever do it.
If there’s a thesis to why Aubry won and Jonathan lost, it seems to be that you have to be able to adapt. The episode title was “Reverse the Curse”. Jonathan’s game, in many ways, is actually reminiscent of Aubry’s first game. They were in control, but they didn’t do enough to make sure the people who could vote for them in the end found their game most deserving. Ultimately, Aubry lost to Michele her first time and Jonathan lost to Aubry here. Aubry adapted. She made connections with her fellow players and even when she was a reason they voted her out, they respected why she did it.
What’s most telling about this is that in his exit press, Jonathan has claimed he played a better game than Aubry. Imagine if after Survivor: Koah Rong, Aubry had sworn that she played a better game than Michele. She’d be torn to shreds. The same should apply to Jonathan.
But Aubry learned from her mistakes. She changed the way she played and made sure that if she made it to the end this time, she wouldn’t let the money slip through her fingers. And so, after years of anticipation, messy twists, bizarre celebrity cameos and shifting alliances, Survivor 50 ultimately proved that the players who evolve are the ones who survive.
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