After a two-month hiatus, we are so back for our “Survivor 50” Episode 1 Recap!
Old rivalries are rekindled, early alliances are made and an untimely injury on the first immunity challenge has major repercussions.
Let’s head back to Fiji and see how this crop of returning players does.
(Warning: Spoilers Ahead)
“Survivor 50” Premiere Recap + Castaway Betting Odds
Episode Recap
The Marooning
The castaways arrive by boat to the beach and greet our beloved host, Jeff Probst. “Survivor Season 50: In the Hands of Fans” is a true celebration of the game, and Jeff reflects on the past. He wants the players to put their “tears and sweat into the game” and implores them to “give it everything they’ve got.”
Jeff first addresses Jenna, a castaway from the first season of the show. Jenna says “She’s learned more about herself in two seasons of “Survivor” than the rest of her life combined.”
The players are then separated into three tribes: Vatu, Kalo and Cila. The tribe distributions are as follows:
| Cila | Kalo | Vatu |
| Christian | Charlie | Angelina |
| Cirie | Chrissy | Aubry |
| Emily | Coach | Colby |
| Jenna | Dee | Genevieve |
| Joe | Jonathan | Kyle |
| Ozzy | Kamilla | Q |
| Rick | Mike | Rizo |
| Savannah | Tiffany | Stephenie |
Jeff then talks to a few other players, including Benjamin “Coach” Wade, aka “The Dragon Slayer.” Coach offers a “Coach-ism” to his fellow castaways. Cirie mentions how “Survivor” changed her life and how it got her to get up off the couch. Jeff calls out Colby and says that he was so popular after his first season that people started naming their children after him!
In the reward challenge, the castaways compete for flint. Castaways must dig and make their way under a log, solve a puzzle, paddle to and from a buoy and then grab a bag before running to the mat as a tribe. Stephenie starts the challenge off strong for Vatu, who maintains their lead throughout and wins fairly convincingly.
Fight for Supplies
Each tribe selects a player to go “Fight for Supplies.” Coach is volunteered by his tribe, Kalo. Ozzy is selected by Cila, and Q by Vatu. Once the players reach the island to fight for supplies, Ozzy tells Coach he felt he should have won “Survivor: South Pacific.” Coach apologizes to Ozzy for not handling things more graciously at the Final Tribal Council there.
In the challenge to win supplies, players must climb a pole, retrieve a bag from the sand, then swim to another buoy to retrieve a second bag. These bags contain wood and rope to build a giant pole to reach through a wooden cage to retrieve the key. The first player to grab the key will win. So pulling the key through the cage does not guarantee one will win the challenge.
Ozzy jumps out to an early lead and builds his pole quicker than Q or Coach. However, he struggles to reach the key with it. The players are at a stalemate for over 45 minutes, as it proves very difficult to reach the key. Ozzy tells the other players he will not take the key from whoever gets it, and Q agrees. Ozzy ends up catching the key with his pole. However, Coach jumps in and steals it from Ozzy, winning the supplies for Kalo! Ozzy and Q then remain on Exile Island as a punishment for losing.
Camp Life
On the Vatu tribe, Colby and Stephanie reunite after 15 years apart. They pick up where they left off and agree that they both like Kyle and Genevieve. Kyle is scared of Genevieve, but wants to work with her. Genevieve thinks Aubry is dangerous, but wants to play the game with her. Aubry tries to suss out how Genevieve is going to play the game, and it comes off as a standoff of sorts between them.
Over at the Kalo tribe, Dee states that she is the best winner of the New Era. Mike says that he needs to “lower his threat level” after the success of his show “White Lotus.” He asks Charlie to be his strategist. Coach returns to camp and tells the tribe that he won the supplies for them. He shares his toe ring with Charlie and talks strategy with Chrissy in the water. Jonathan looks to be more flexible and play a more strategic game this season, and also agrees to work with Coach. Meanwhile, Tiffany is excited to see Dee, as well as Kamila, on this tribe.
Finally, at Cila, Jenna immediately targets Cirie. She tells multiple people that she is scared of Cirie and that she is a massive threat. She also pitches the idea of an alliance of her, Christian, Savannah and Joe. Christian and Rick go off to look for an idol, which they are still unsure is present in the game, as it is ambiguous whether fans voted for idols to be in the game. Savannah tells the tribe that she won “Survivor 49,” which I believe is a smart move, as it is better for them to hear it from her than from Rizo later in the game.
Exile Island
Ozzy and Q spend the night on Exile Island and bond. Once the night is over, they have a decision to make before they take the boat back. Available to one of the players is a smaller set of camp supplies, and to the other is an Extra Vote. One player must take the camp supplies and lose their vote, while the other returns with nothing and picks up an Extra Vote. Ozzy pushes to pick up the Extra Vote, and says that Q should be OK if they go to tribal. Q reluctantly agrees, and they both head back to camp.
Camp Life (cont.)
Back at Vatu, Q returns with the tribe’s supplies but worries he is on the outs for missing a day. Kyle immediately tells Q that they are good and he wants to work with him, and Q, in return, tells Kyle that he lost his vote in the Fight for Supplies. Kyle adds Q to the alliance of Kyle, Genevieve, Stephenie and Colby.
Colby is originally annoyed by Rizo, but Rizo endears himself to Colby after a few conversations. Colby says that he sees himself a bit in Rizo from the first time he played, and wants to help him out. Rizo says it means a lot that Colby is talking to him and helping him out.
Over to Cila, Ozzy returns with nothing for the tribe. Thankfully, Christian is on the tribe! He uses glasses along with Ozzy and Jenna to help make fire for the tribe. His method works, and so despite losing out on supplies, Cila is able to start a fire. Rick and Christian’s duo continues, as they agree that they want to work with Emily moving forward. Rick then tells Cirie that Jenna threw her name out. Meanwhile, Ozzy is firmly with Cirie, and he tells her about the Extra Vote he won at the Fight for Supplies.
Immunity Challenge
The castaways arrive at the immunity challenge, and today they’re playing for both immunity and reward. The top two tribes to finish today will win immunity, with first place winning a large fishing kit and second place winning a smaller one. In the immunity challenge, players climb over a net, work through the mud toward a cage and then roll the cage toward a platform. Players empty the coconuts out of the cage, and then toss the coconuts into a net to lower a crate. Players then throw a monkey spliff to latch onto a dropping ramp to reach a puzzle with the “Survivor 50” logo.
Kalo and Vatu start the challenge off strong, as Cirie struggles on the monkey spliff for Cila. Kyle appears to hurt his ankle climbing the ramp for Vatu, and Jeff temporarily stops the challenge to determine the severity of Kyle’s injury. Medical quickly wraps Kyle’s ankle and lets him continue the challenge. Kalo solves the puzzle first, winning immunity and the large fishing kit, followed closely by Vatu. Cila barely starts on their puzzle and heads to the first tribal council of the season.
Tribal Council
Cila heads back to camp after a devastating defeat, and Criie is feeling left out. She knows she messed the challenge up and is already being targeted by Jenna. Ozzy vouches to most of the tribe that Cirie has other skills she can bring to the table. However, the vote lies in the hands of Christian, Emily, Joe, Rick and Savannah.
Savannah thinks that people can play around Jenna in future rounds, and that Ozzy and Cirie are a duo. Emily brings up the idea of an Ozzy vote to Rick, and Joe pitches a Cirie vote.
The castaways head to tribal council, and Jeff immediately cuts to Jenna for the first question. He then asks whether a season like this is a clean slate for everyone, to which Christian replies, “There’s no way everything can be a completely clean slate.” Cirie mentions voting out Ozzy the first (and second) times they played together, and that these people are all game players and can think for themselves. Cirie also takes ownership of her poor challenge performance and says it was not her best day.
The castaways head to vote, and we see Cirie and Jenna vote for each other. Jenna ends up going home in a unanimous 7-1 vote and leaves in a hurry. Jeff snuffs Jenna’s torch, and the representative from the first season of “Survivor” is the first player eliminated from the game.
Camp Life (cont.)
Over at Vatu, Kyle is doing better on his ankle and anticipates a full recovery. Meanwhile, Stephenie says she wants to look for the idol and starts looking with Genevieve. They find the idol in a piece of driftwood by the ocean, and Stephenie stealthily stuffs it into Genevieve’s backpack so Rizo can’t see it. Genevieve and Stephenie open the parchment, and it’s the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol! Genevieve must send this idol to someone on another tribe, and if that player is voted out with it in their pocket, it is returned to Genevieve. She picks Ozzy to receive this idol, as he was voted out with an idol in his pocket on “Survivor: Micronesia.”
On the Cila tribe, Ozzy receives the idol. The idol is valid until Final Five and is not transferable, nor can Ozzy play it on another player. Ozzy now holds an idol and an Extra Vote, the most power he’s ever had in a game.
The Journey
Each tribe is tasked with sending a player on a journey. Colby goes for Vatu, Savannah for Cila and Mike for Kalo. Colby mentions how Coach stole the key from Ozzy at the Fight for Supplies, but Mike doesn’t really care and says he would have done the same thing. Only two players are allowed to compete, and so they draw rocks for it. Mike draws the odd rock and must return to camp.
Colby and Savannah compete in a Jenga-like game for the right to keep their vote. He attempts to build the stack vertically, as he is much taller than Savannah. Colby and Savannah bond during the challenge, and while Savannah ends up beating Colby and retaining her vote, Colby says that meeting her and building a bond over shadows the fact that he lost his vote at the next tribal council.
Once Colby leaves, Savannah is delivered an envelope, and learns that the fans voted to give the players “dynamic advantages” this season. Savannah wins a Block-A-Vote, similar to what Steven won on the journey in “Survivor 49.” When Savannah returns to camp, she does not mention winning anything, and Rick is leery of her. Colby returns and tells the tribe that he lost his vote, which makes Q nervous as he also lost his.
Vatu
Over at Vatu, Dr. Joe comes to check out Kyle and his injury to make sure everything is OK. He performs a test to see if there is damage to Kyle’s Achilles. Dr. Joe performs an ultrasound and a quick test to see that Kyle struggles to move his toes on his right foot. Dr. Joe believes that Kyle has ruptured his Achilles tendon, and it would not be safe for him to continue in the game. Kyle tells the tribe that his Achilles is ruptured, and he is being pulled from the game. The tribe is devastated, as Kyle was well-liked.
Survivor 50 Castaway Betting Odds
Each week, I’ll rank and pair the remaining “Survivor 50” castaways with betting odds to win the game. These odds are subject to change after each episode. When castaways are eliminated, edits become clearer. As a result, win equities will diverge, and odds will become more favorable to some and less favorable to others.
I have ranked players with a negative or limited edit with poorer odds. I will have some players significantly higher than I did in my Way-Too-Early “Survivor 50” Preview and Betting Odds:
- Rick Devens (+800)
- Emily Flippen (+950)
- Christian Hubicki (+1000)
- Colby Donaldson (+1300)
- Benjamin “Coach” Wade (+1350)
- Mike White (+1500)
- Genevieve Mushalak (+1500)
- Joe Hunter (+1800)
- Jonathan Young (+2000)
- Aubry Bracco (+2200)
- Q Burdette (+2200)
- Savannah Louie(+2500)
- Charlie Davis (+2500)
- Stephenie Lagrossa-Kendrick (+2700)
- Ozzy Lusth (+2800)
- Tiffany Ervin (+2800)
- Dee Valladeres (+3000)
- Kamilla Karthigesu (+3000)
- Rizo Jelavic (+3200)
- Angelina Keeley (+3500)
- Chrissy Hofbeck (+4000)
- Cirie Fields (+5000)
Top Five Baby!
“Top five, baby!” The phrase coined by the great Tony Vlachos in “Survivor Cagayan” rings true here and will throughout the season. The five most impactful castaways this episode and moving forward, in my eyes, are as follows:
Rick Devens
It was a strong start for Rick. He’s in a trio with Emily and Christian, has a solid relationship with Cirie, and is also working with Savannah and Joe as a larger but less cohesive group. He has also been seen looking for the idol with Christian, his closest ally. Rick is passable at challenges and is not seen as threatening as Christian, so he takes my top spot this week.
Emily Flippen
Emily is aligned with Christian and Rick and is seen strategizing with Rick, throwing out Ozzy’s name. The fact that she trusted Rick enough to throw a third name after Cirie and Jenna shows that there is significant trust there. I don’t think anyone is truly threatened by Emily, and for the immediate future, she should be in a very good spot.
Christian Hubicki
Man, this guy is good. He plays a significant role in the reward challenge for flint to start the season. He then helps start a fire using only glasses and a coconut husk. Next, he forms a duo with Rick and integrates well into the tribe. I do think he will stick out later as a threat, but this is a really strong start for Christian, and I hope he can continue his magic.
Colby Donaldson
If you read my Way-Too-Early Survivor 50 Betting Odds article, you will know I was very low on Colby. However, it’s time to admit I was wrong. Colby received a positive edit on his tribe. Not only that, but he also built a relationship with Savannah. Colby’s only knock against him is that both he and his ally, Q, do not have a vote. So even tho he appears to be in a good spot, that could change if the group of Colby, Genevieve, Q and Stephenie cannot control the vote if that tribe goes to tribal.
Benjamin “Coach” Wade
Coach was ever-present in this first episode, especially considering his Kalo tribe received the least screen time. First, Coach wins supplies for his tribe. Next, both Chrissy and Jonathan want to work with him. Plus, he and Charlie are shown bonding. Although Ozzy is upset with him for not playing fair in the challenge, Ozzy is not in a position to rally numbers of any kind against Coach in the future. I truly hope Coach can keep up this hot start.
Thank you all for following my second “Survivor” season writing for In-Between Media (IBT) and reading my “Survivor 50” Episode 1 Recap + Betting Odds blog . Stay tuned for more “Survivor 50” content!
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