Survivor 49 - Premiered 9/24/25

I noticed that Savannah used gravity to help her on the immunity challenge by rocking the top of the disc away from her, letting friction work for her instead of against her.

Yep. Now look, I dont care if Alex got the axe- I dont either dislike or like him. But to go off because people believed Rizo’s lies- that was annoying.

And even Dalton Ross called them “Mean girls”

Everyone — including Alex — kept telling us how his gameplay got him voted out, but if that is the case, why did we not see more of these alleged Survivor mistakes? Or was it just a master class of manipulation from the R-I-Z-G-O-D RizGod, baby? He told us he was embellishing facts against Alex, and we saw him working pretty much everyone in one-on-one chats against his chosen target. Were Jawan, Sage, and (Yellow) Sophie completely played, or was something actually there that necessitated the dismissal of a guy who had no clear ride-or-die allies over a dude with an idol in his pocket that at the very least needed to be flushed?

And it annoyed me to hear- over and over and over- how FABULOUS Sophie (yellow) was at challenges, but ignoring that Savannah was just as good.

and

As for the actual vote, I wouldn’t say Alex’s ouster was surprising in that the edit pretty clearly walked us down that path, but I do remain shocked everyone is just totally cool with not flushing Rizo’s idol, especially since they had an acceptable pawn to go home in case he did use it in Alex. That’s the perfect scenario to take a shot at someone holding an idol, but the opposition all holstered their collective weapon.

I’m calling it now - Rizo is going to win this season. And he will deserve it.

As cocky and annoying as he is, everyone else is just letting him lead them around by the nose and do his bidding.

I like almost everyone else more than Rizo, but since they’re all too weak to do anything about the bully in their midst, how can I root for them to win a million dollars?

It’s a bizarre year and this might be right. I wonder if he thinks he is a masterful player like Boston Rob or John Cochran(sp?). He isn’t. I think Rizzo is just getting, well, pretty lucky? And he made some good connections or something.

When they show a player with Hubris, they usually have a fall,

My bet is on Savannah being picked for Season 50. A villain, photogenic, and she has been getting more camera time than anyone. That means she will be in the final few, at least.

The key word is “usually.” This bunch has shown themselves to be so wishy-washy that I don’t see enough of them following through with actually orchestrating a fall in this case. They’ve already backed off doing so twice.

It always drives me crazy, when one of the players goes out and about looking for an idol and the rest of the players get upset about it. They’re just sitting around the fire, doing nothing but talking about how suspicious it is that so-and-so is out in the jungle - let’s follow him. That’s what you’re supposed to do!

Sophie, Sophie, Sophie… Everyone wants to make the Big Survivor MoveTM, but helping the already-dominant players continue to dominate ain’t it.

First four on the jury are Nate, MJ, Alex, and Jawan. Is Christina next? Its not a good look for Survivor.

It seems like I have the same thought every season, and I don’t know if I’m being too sensitive, or if the voting really is biased.

Quoting Bill Munny - “Deserve’s got nothin’ to do with it.”

Funny, that. I was initially rooting for him (first and second episode or so) but all of his bragging, and frankly luck (not playing his idol) turned me tepid. Now I sort of actively dislike him. Too much bragging with no substance - you would think for a young, thin male he would be much better at challenges (as he predicted).

I’m not sure I agree that because of the other player’s ineffectualness that RIZGOD deserves it. But if they are going to just give it to him… whadda ya gonna do?

That girl is gross! Diarrhea, poop, farts, blackheads - just keep that shit to yourself!

My hope for winning is Sophie Segreti.

And going back to Riz, be like Russell, play it and go out and find it again - fuck what everyone thinks.

I’ve noticed a trend in the last several years of where when they talk a lot about a player or two and it’s not that person, at least if you rewatch the episode you can see where the voted out player was at least discussed a bit. Now They sometimes do away with that part of it altogether. Which I don’t like - I think it’s disingenuous on the editors part.

Does Rizzo have an idol?

Pretty sure he does; I seem to remember seeing him get one, but of course I may be mistaken.

He just put on a little play at the last TC for his own amusement, I guess.

Yep. They could have voted out Savannah or Rizo, but NOOOO, vote out some guy who is by no means a threat.

Yeah, it is a bit much.

Yep.

At first I thought he was just playing the idol for fun, get a few minutes of TV fame, dunking on the others. But he may have just been smart enough to play the fake one, gauge reactions, and then, if needed, play the real one. We’ll never know if he was playing it that clever—but I would have loved to see that bit of strategy thrown in if it was intentional.

With regard to Christina’s meltdown: Jeff Probst is very good at his job.

He really is. A hard situation well handled.

Well, I’ll be hornswaggled. That was a VERY good episode. Edited well, follows the through-line of the eviction, and shows all the people involved. Great challenge.

If I was Steven, I would have lied about winning an advantage.

How the hell they haven’t flushed Rizzo’s idol is beyond me. I think, however, he’s enjoying his sucess too much, and his hubris may be his downfall. I think, honestly, it may be the first time in the kid’s life that he’s won things, and been on top.

Enjoyed this episode.

Maybe, but I (hazily) remember his spiel at the beginning, something like he was his family’s golden boy.

Yep. I think even Jeff got a little misty eyed making it that much more difficult I’d bet.

I wouldn’t have lied. I would have described the challenge exactly as it happened, and then said “whether I did it, and what I won or lost, will remain my little secret.”