Survivor Season 50, Episode 1
"Epic Party"
Host: Jeff Probst
Cast: Angelina Keeley, Aubry Bracco, Coach Wade, Charlie Davis, Chrissy Hofbeck, Christian Hubicki, Cirie Fields, Colby Donaldson, Dee Valladares, Emily Flippen, Genevieve Mushaluk, Jenna Lewis-Dougherty, Joe Hunter, Jonathan Young, Kamilla Karthigesu, Kyle Fraser, Mike White, Ozzy Lusth, Q Burdette, Rick Devens, Rizo Velovic, Savannah Louie, Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick, Tiffany Ervin
After a beautiful montage highlighting 49 seasons of Survivor, Jeff Probst talked with the contestants of the 50th version of the show about why they came back. Jenna Lewis said she had never lost the sense of adventure. Mike White said he has major FOMO issues and would have been livid if he wasn’t there. He spoke with Cirie Fields about being the first person to vocalize getting off the couch.
So the question for me is, what brings me back to this show? Well, the Season 50 premiere certainly showed me why I love this game. It’s intense social dynamics and complicated relationships, all filtered through a game.
The largest cast ever assembled for an American season of the show were split up into three tribes.
The Cila Tribe, who will wear orange, consists of Jenna, Rick Devens, Cirie, Emily Flippen, Christian Hubicki, Joe Hunter, and Savannah Louie.
The Kalo Tribe, who will wear blue, consists of Charlie Davis, Tiffany Ervin, Chrissy Hofbeck, Kamilla Karthigesu, Coach Wade, Mike, and Jonathan Young.
The Vatu Tribe, who will wear pink, consists of Kyle Fraser, Aubry Bracco, Colby Donaldson, Q Burdette, Angelina Keeley, Stephenie LaGross-Kendrick, Rizo Velovic, and Genevieve Mushaluk.
As voted on by the fans (hence the subtitle of the season, “In the Hands of the Fans”), the tribes competed in a challenge to earn fire. It ends up being the Vatu Tribe who pick up the win. When they arrive at their camp, there will be a massive bonfire waiting for them, along with flint to help them make more fire.
But that wasn’t all. The rest of the tribe supplies needed to be earned in a journey. Coach gets sent from his team, so Ozzy goes up against him. Q ends up being the world’s greatest third wheel. When they get there, they compete in a challenge that comes down to making a bamboo pole to grab a key. Ozzy and Coach, who had hashed out their beef from Survivor: South Pacific, weren’t in unison for very long. While Ozzy suggested that the person who knocks the key down should win, Coach snatched it just before it reached the finish line, winning supplies for his team. Ozzy sees this as a betrayal of Coach’s honor. Nevertheless, it’s Coach who returns to camp with his tribe supplies.
Meanwhile, Ozzy and Q have to spend the night on Exile Island. It’s a fun twist, though surely brutal for the two of them as the other players are back at their camps making bonds (though not as brutal if this twist was on a newbie season).
We start to see these bonds play out. At Vatu, Colby and Stephenie, who played together on Heroes vs. Villains, trust each other. They build out a bit of a core between them, Kyle and Gen. In my favorite scene of the episode, Colby finds Rizo annoying because he talks too much, especially when we see the younger player tell the Texan that he’s willing to help while he sits not doing anything.
We then shift over to Kalo. Dee assesses that their tribe is a perfect blend of athleticism (Jonathan and Coach) with intelligence (Chrissy, Kamilla, and Charlie). Don’t count Mike out of the athletic group as he now has abs. We see Mike begin to form bonds by taking a backseat and letting others lead. He approaches Charlie and Dee with this strategy. He wants to eliminate anyone who is harshing his vibe.
At Cila, Joe is pretty ecstatic with his group. He seemingly loves everyone on his tribe. He doesn’t know Savannah, but she lets them know that she won. Jenna reaches out to her and suggests they vote out Cirie, considering she’d have an incredible story if she got to the end. She also loops in Joe and Christian.
As Ozzy returns to camp, he chats with Chrissy. She’s gunning for the winner of their tribe, Dee. She thinks they need any reason to eliminate someone.
At Cila, Christian lets Rick know that Jenna is going after Cirie. The two of them begin to weigh their options, seemingly creating a tight connection between the two of them and Emily. We get a sweet moment where Rick isn’t sure Christian would want to play with him, only for them to be each other’s Spock and Captain Kirk.
At Kalo, Kyle is looking for his new Kamilla. He thinks he’s found it in Gen. She is trying to make bonds, which she thinks she was less equipped to do in his first trip out there. There seems to be a strong connection between Colby, Stephenie, and Kyle. She and Aubry have an awkward conversation where the latter tries to suss out what type of game the Canadian is playing. Aubry thinks it’s a weird vibe with an unspoken tension. Uh oh! Without seeing more of her game yet, this feels like an awful play from Aubry early on.
In the morning, Ozzy and Q learn that the supplies come with a twist. Only one of them gets the supplies as the other must give up their vote. Ozzy, wanting to change the way he’s played this game, offers up the supplies. Q, somewhat reluctantly, gives up his vote.
Kyle loops in Q when he gets back, and they now have a majority alliance (though no one knows that Q has lost his vote).
We get a true hero moment where Christian starts a fire on his tribe by using people’s glasses. Science! Rick loops in Cirie that her name is being thrown out by Jenna. Cirie says she can’t help it if she gives off queen vibes. Cirie starts to get to work to save herself. She and Ozzy, who played together in Game Changers, are going to work together. Cirie tells him she’s loyal. He thinks she balances his skillset.
Over just a matter of a few days, Colby seems to have changed his opinion about Rizo. He sees Rizo as a younger version of himself. Rizo gets emotional as he starts to see Colby as a father figure.
We see Jonathan and Mike connecting on the beach. They seem to be thinking that Dee is too dangerous, especially considering she won. We also see Jonathan build a friendship with Coach and Chrissy. He came to play a different game than the one he played first. On the outside, we see Kamilla, Dee and Tiffany connecting. Tiffany wants to get rid of Chrissy first and Kamilla is fine with it, so long as it’s not her voted out first.
The tribes arrive for the first immunity challenge and only one group is going to Tribal Council, which is a bit surprising considering the size of the cast. The most concerning moment of the challenge ends up being when Kyle seems to hurt his ankle. Regardless, his tribe earns immunity, along with Kalo, sending Cila to the first Tribal Council.
It becomes a showdown between Cirie against Jenna. The argument is that Cirie is a liability in the challenges, but there seem to be some players who want to work with her. It’s hard to resist the charm of Cirie Fields. It does seem like Christian, Rick, and Emily are the players who can swing the vote and ultimately, they send the only player from Season 1 home first. First in, first out, Jenna says as she leaves the game.
One elimination isn’t all we’re getting on premiere night, though as we open on Day 3. Gen finds an idol and turns out, it’s sent from Billie Eilish. It’s the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol. Gen has to send it to a player on another tribe. If they get voted out without playing it, it will come back to Gen. She decides to send it to Ozzy, thinking he might be the easiest to get tricked into being voted out with an idol in his pocket. While I think Ozzy is a little smarter this time around than Gen is giving him credit for, I do think this was a decent play from Gen.
There’s another journey. This time, it’s Savannah, Colby, and Mike who head off. The White Lotus creator finds himself as the odd person out and heads back to camp without playing. It’s then Colby versus Savannah in a stacking challenge. If you place a piece and the structure falls over, you lose. That player then loses their vote. Colby tries to build the structure tall enough so that Savannah can’t reach it at all, but it falls before he can pull off the plan. Now Colby is without a vote. Savannah learns that she has received a Block-A-Vote, though the other players don’t know she has it.
At the journey, Colby spilled the details about Coach’s move at the first challenge, which Mike informs him of when he gets back. Coach seems rattled by it all, thinking he’s been thrown under the bus before the game can even begin. Seems like the Ozzy vs. Coach feud is not over just yet!
While the Vatu tribe is chatting, Jeff arrives to give Kyle another medical examination. The fear is that Kyle has torn his ACL, which turns out to be true. While Kyle seems reluctant to leave, the doctors feel that permanent injury could be a possibility if he stays and so he’s pulled from the game. It’s pretty heartbreaking, though don’t feel too bad for Kyle — he has a million dollars in his bank account! This does bode pretty poorly for the seemingly majority alliance on Vatu considering Colby and Q have lost their votes, meaning that Aubry, Angelina and Rizo could come together and get rid of whoever they want.
So — what brings me back to Survivor after 50 seasons is watching these humans collide and interact on the island. It’s Colby being annoyed at Rizo, only to find him endearing within a few days. It’s Coach choosing supplies over honor just after he tried to bury the hatchet with Ozzy. It’s Cirie surviving because people want to work with her, not because she can win a challenge. It’s Mike deliberately stepping back to manage his threat level, and Christian turning intellect into social currency with a fire made from glasses.
This show is one of the most interesting television shows and has been for more than 25 years. As for Survivor 50, so far, so good.
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