Rizo goes for godlike status

“Holy s—! I can’t believe I did that!” — Rizo

Neither can we, R-I-Z-G-O-D RizGod, baby. Neither can we.

The result of Rizo’s safety on Survivor 49 this week was not necessarily surprising, but the manner in which he stayed certainly was. On one hand, the second Jeff Probst divided the tribe into two groups and said the challenge winners were all safe and would not go to Tribal, and the losers would go to Tribal and all be vulnerable, it seemed obvious Rizo would be safe if his fivesome lost the fight for immunity, simply because he would either play his idol or at least scare everyone enough with the idol that they would be forced to eat their own. But there ended up being a lot more to the story.

Sophie, MC, Jawan, and Sage were all planning to put their votes on Rizo anyway, idol be damned! And Rizo was not planning to use said idol. It looked like the R-I-Z-G-O-D was ready to go straight to the jury with an idol in his pocket… where he could go hang out with the guy who looked like a 1930s businessman on vacation and presumably used to be Nate.

And then, it all started to change. Sophie — who had offered to be the decoy vote, thereby voluntarily putting herself in major jeopardy should Rizo play his idol — told MC she was going to throw her vote on Jawan instead. That way if Rizo did play his idol, there would theoretically be a one-vote tie between Sophie and Jawan, at least giving her a chance in a revote.

But then MC — who has played a low-key chaotic game all season long (remember when Matt brought her into the Hina alliance and she immediately then blabbed all about it to Sophie?) — did something somewhat inexplicable. She told Jawan about Sophie’s plan. This led to a tumultuous series of events in which everyone on that side still professed to wanting to get of Rizo… yet nobody appeared to be getting rid of Rizo! They all seemed to be like, “Yeah, getting rid of Rizo still makes the most sense, but I guess we’re not doing that anymore?”

No doubt Hot Grim Reaper Savannah joining the losers’ group and now being in play at Tribal Council played a huge part in the others shifting their target. The biggest part, in fact. If Savannah does not pageant wave her way from the boat to the beach, Rizo is probably filming his final words and placing his Ponderosa food order. Because remember: The others did not know exactly what sort of power Savannah was carrying into that Tribal Council — and the unknown is the scariest proposition of all.

Idols and extra votes you can plan for, but when someone goes to Tribal Council that is not supposed to go to Tribal Council, that is spooky. The others correctly surmised Savannah had some sort of advantage or special power. They just didn’t know what.

So while Savannah’s mere presence is the main reason Rizo lives to talk about himself in the third person another day, he also took advantage of the situation. Sometimes a crack is all you need, and because the foursome of Sophie, MC, Jawan, and Sage was more a marriage of convenience rather than a rock-solid alliance, Rizo not only was able to stay without using his immunity idol, but was also able to move the vote away from Sophie and over to his preferred target of MC.

Rizo and Savannah saw Sophie as a challenge beast shield, and as someone with fewer connections on the other side who could be swayed over.

“Sophie is not the Terminator,” Rizo explained, dismissing fears that she could win out in challenges, while thankfully not also launching into a Ted Talk of the myriad demerits of Terminator Genysis.

So now, Rizo and Savannah walk out of Tribal with an idol, an extra vote, and a possible new ally in Sophie, who proclaimed she was planting a flag to work with the people who saved her. What a difference 24 hours makes.

Okay, while Sophie had the battle of her life to stay in the game, I am battling the last remnants of a nasty bout with influenza A — hence the lack of usual panache and flair and Milwaukee’s Best references — so will keep this on the relatively brief side, but let’s hit a few other big moments that went down on episode 8 of Survivor 49.

Idol thoughts

Once MC’s idol got played, another one went back into circulation. That last sentence I just provided was super boring, especially seeing as how all I did was state blatantly obvious information that any person with the most rudimentary understanding of the reality competition genre would already know. But even so, it was still more exciting than the actual scene of Kristina finding the newly planted idol. Is it just me or was that the most ho-hum super casual idol hunt we’ve ever seen?

It sounds like I’m dissing and dismissing, but it’s actually quite the opposite. Back in the day, we had entire seasons of Survivor that contained more scenes of idol foraging than actual strategy or social dynamics. I don’t watch Survivor for hide and seek…. I mean, unless Q is involved, in which case I totally watch Survivor for hide and seek. But my point is, I like that editors got us in and out of this scene quickly so we had the big information as to the new idol’s whereabouts, but did not have to sit through a lot of unnecessary airtime of people turning over rocks with sticks.

Had they dwelled on this for longer, I think we can all make like my main man Q and agree it would have been a… big mistake.

The tables are turned

The script was decidedly flipped after the Nate blindside as Sage — for a few hours at least — had claimed the power that used to reside with Queen Bee Savannah. And it had given the neurodivergent therapist a boost of self-confidence.

“You can continue being a mean girl,” she explained of her rival. “I’m not going to let it affect me any more. [Dramatic pause accentuated by ominous musical cue and camera zoom.] And I can be a mean girl too.”

Sophi presumably relayed Sage’s comments right back to her bestie because Savannah was then upset that Sage was portraying herself as a victim when Sage was the one now in the position of power (again, only until the afternoon). And Savannah was definitely struggling with her new place at the bottom, telling us through tears how she felt like a loser and a pariah.

And she wasn’t just telling us, she was telling tribemates as well. I don’t know if Savannah confiding in Steven about being iced out at work for two years was a much-needed emotional release, a savvy move from a skilled gamer to build a connection from a person who had professed a few hours earlier to be in “self-preservation mode,” a combination of the two, or something else entirely. But regardless, it was heartbreaking to hear.

Instead of attempting to get to the bottom of who’s mean-girling whom, it’s perhaps more interesting to consider the bigger picture in terms of a viewer’s natural and unwavering gravitational pull to root for the underdog. Savannah and Co. were running Uli, so when underdogs Jawan and Sage turned the tables, it was exhilarating. But as soon as Savannah then found herself on the bottom and the next person slated for reality TV execution, it immediately made her 10,000 times more appealing to root for — with or without the backstory.

If there is one thing Survivor fans cannot abide, it is the status quo. And whenever a new status quo forms, they root — either overtly or subconsciously — for it to be broken up. Being on the outs, even if only for a few hours, may have been the best thing for Savannah’s edit all season long, and I think she has gotten a pretty fantastic edit as it is.

Their pain, our gain

I’ve gone on record of not being a fan of too many line-up-in-a-row-and-outlast-the-others competitions, but the ones I do generally really like tend to be ones based around players pushing through ungodly amounts of pain. Not because I’m mean, but because there is something inherently much more dramatic about seeing someone try to push their pain threshold to ridiculous levels rather than just balancing a ball on some disc or something. And this immunity contest proved it.

Look at what insane badasses Savannah and Sophie were! Sophie is standing there with her entire body convulsing as she holds on for dear life, and Savannah is all “What’s the record?” Such respect for both of them; respect you simply can’t earn in a balance comp. It’s also worth noting that this is the first challenge Sophie has lost… all season! That is absolutely bonkers.

I also want to give props for whoever edited this challenge because it was a masterclass — bobbing and weaving between shots of the final two standing to create edge-of-your-seat TV. Even before that showdown, the editing was super creative in building the tension. Witness using the audio of Soph (or Blue Sophi, if you’re nasty) praying as the soundtrack to what felt like a movie trailer montage of cuts to black interspliced with shots of contestants being tortured. Brilliant.

With the possible exception of anything Vince Gilligan puts on screen (go watch Pluribus!), there is no more beautifully shot show on television. Anyway, just wanted to point that out. Also, weird to see Brandon Donlon get so many shout-outs on Survivor 49. I had no idea he and Savannah were dating!

Splitsville

If you’re a game purist who hates when half a tribe gets immunity and then does not even get to vote at Tribal Council, I totally understand that reservation. Hell, I’m the guy who screamed bloody murder when they did their first tribe swamp back in Survivor: Africa (dating myself). But if you’re going to do that, you can’t also complain when a season fails to spark because clear majorities simply play out the string.

This is why production puts these wrinkles in. The downside is it’s another example of luck (as opposed to skill) playing a bigger and bigger part of new era Survivor. The upside is that it also creates unforeseen circumstances and combinations that lead to more unpredictable television. You can’t always have it both ways, and sometimes, as a viewer, you need to pick your poison.

Master of ceremonies

It’s weird the way Jason being a last second alternate addition became a big part of his edit, but I don’t think the fact that MC was also put into the game just hours before filming ever made it to air.

She made some questionable moves, like playing the idol unnecessarily — WHICH TOTALLY WOULD HAVE SAVED HER HERE JUST 24 HOURS LATER — and igniting panic everywhere by telling Jawan about Sophie’s plan when she could have kept quiet and just voted Sophie out on the revote. Some of that could probably be chalked up to the fact that she had not watched a whole lot of Survivor before playing (which she confessed to me while joining the cast in naming their favorite seasons of Survivor ever.) But she was a very active participant throughout the season,  and her super awkward ring of keys interaction with Savannah will play on a continuous loop in a corner of my brain until my dying breath.

But what exactly was MC unsuccessfully pitching to Jawan and others during that live Tribal? I will ask her exactly that when we chat on Thursday morning. You can also see what Jeff Probst has to say about the latest episode and enjoy an exclusive deleted scene as well. As for me, the cold meds are wearing off, so time for me to make like MC and get out of here, but I’ll be back next week with another scoop of the crispy.

Want to be kept up with all things Survivor? Dig deep and sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free to have all the latest news, interviews, and commentary sent right to your inbox. Survivor Weekly newsletter