‘Survivor 50’ Call Out Biggest Threats Going Into Premiere

The players of Survivor 50 haven’t set foot on the beach yet, but many already know who they want out. As the landmark season approaches — with its Wednesday premiere date (8 p.m. on CBS/Paramount+) — returning contestants aren’t waiting to size each other up. They’re identifying threats, predicting alliances and comparing reputations. 

The Hollywood Reporter spoke with all 24 castaways and posed one pointed question: Which player concerns you most because their game doesn’t align with yours? Their answers reveal the rivalries, suspicions and strategic fault lines forming long before the game begins.

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Christian Hubicki: I have a hypothesis as to how this cast was put together and what everyone’s role are on the season from a Survivor standpoint. I think there are basically four categories of players divided among the 24 people. That’s six people — three men, three women. What are those four roles and what does this mean in terms of who I’m targeting? 

One role: challenge beasts. You can think of those off the top of your head: You got you Joe, your Ozzy, your Jonathan Young. Those are your three men. You got your Tiff, your Chrissy, and your Stephenie, those are your women. Chrissy got four immunity challenge wins. These are what people are known for, in part, from their seasons. 

Another category: witty confessionalists who are reliable narrators to tell the story. You wonder, where do I fall in these categories? That’s me, Mike White, that’s Rick. You got Aubry, Kamilla and Emily Flippen for the women. So I’m seeing these trios. This season is cast in trios, three tribes of eight. 

Another category: drama. You can imagine who is drama. That’s your Coach, that’s your Q, that’s your Angelina and, in my opinion, Jenna Lewis. And our two unknown mystery 49ers. That’s where they sit. I would go so far as to say while I don’t know why the Rizgod walks among us, I believe the reason is he’s cocky drama. I think that’s why he’s here. I don’t know much about Savannah, perhaps someone who will stir the pot and not take nonsense from people. 

Which leaves the final category: the threats, the people who do not stand out in any of these other categories. They are relatable people who are very good at this game. That makes them the most dangerous and with me. Charlie is a Harvard educated lawyer who runs marathons who’s charming, handsome and delightful. I stand out way too much against that.

These six — Charlie, Kyle, Colby, Genevieve, Dee, Cirie — are the people who are on this island because they are well-equipped to win.

Cirie Fields: Joe and Kyle. My history has shown that alpha men are, for some reason, quick to target me and usually afraid of me. They don’t have to be, but it’s usually a certain type. Aras [Baskauskas] was an alpha man, but a warmer alpha man. When I played with Colby in Heroes vs Villains, he wouldn’t even look in my direction. I’m waving, doing back flips and everything. He would not look at me. 

Mike White: It’s hard to know off the bat, you have to vibe people out. But I feel that some people might feel like, “What’s this guy doing here?” Or think of me as a wild card. Some people might be trophy hunting, and I’d be a good head to put on the mantle. So maybe a guy like Charlie, who seems like he thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room — I could see him trying to go for me.

Charlie Davis: The people I’m most concerned about are the old schoolers who are more about honor and integrity — they keep it simple, build an alliance and never turn on players. I think they’ll be out here hunting anyone who gives them the vibe of a strategist or a nerd. People in that bunch might be Colby or Coach. Although I don’t know about Coach. He might be a different brand. 

Jonathan Young: I don’t know anything about Taylor Swift, I’m not a Swiftie and while I think Charlie’s a great game player, we don’t have a lot in common. Cirie scares me because she’s so good. She’s like a mom out here. Everybody respects Cirie, but I think everybody fears Cirie.

Kyle Fraser: Charlie played a similar game to me in a lot of ways. He was a template for me and able to put his ego aside and hide in plain sight when he was clearly a great player. So he scares me because I think he can spot what I’m doing. Dee is scary; she can see BS really easily. The season 49 people concern me for a different reason, I just don’t have game tape on them.

Tiffany Ervin: Charlie probably concerns me most only because he’s played with me. He’s seen me play and knows how my mind works, he has intel on me. But also he’s one of those people that’s not a big, flashy, neon sign threat who could go undetected for a while. Q also has that same intel but doesn’t approach things in the most rational way, so people may not take his word at face value the way they would Charlie’s. 

Dee Valladares: Rick Devens is smirking at everybody. It’s too much for my liking. He co-hosted the On Fire podcast with Jeff, he was the first one. But there can only be one co-host. Bye Rick, bye Charlie. Q concerns me a little bit just because he’s so chaotic. It’s going to be interesting to play with him. I feel like he’s going to drive me crazy, but I feel like we’re going to have a lot of fun. He’s kinda goofy and I want to play this game with goofy people. 

Rick Devens: I hope that Aubry isn’t spreading the gospel of “watch out for Rick.” It’s been long enough that I don’t think people are thinking about me. I wouldn’t be surprised if some people here hadn’t watched my season. I didn’t have anyone in mind coming in but there are people around Ponderosa I’m not getting much of a vibe from, like Q. I’m not sure Q wants to play with me or has any idea who I am. But I don’t care because I kinda want to play with Q, he’s my son’s favorite player so that’s my in. 

Quintavius “Q” Burdette: If you’ve ever sat at the end, whether you’ve won, lost or whatever, if you’ve ever pleaded your case at the end, I don’t want to work with you long term. I want you out of the game. You’re not going to get a second shot at either winning or a shot at redemption. It’s not going to happen on my watch. 

Colby Donaldson: I think Kamilla played an incredible game with Kyle. She could be a huge threat in this game. Angelina, without a question, is a big threat. And believe it or not, a guy that concerns me is Q and I can’t quite put my finger on it. I watched him play and there were some things he did during his season that I think make him a question mark. I’m going to enjoy competing with him because he’s clearly good at challenges, but I don’t trust Q at all. In fact, there’s no way in the world I would put myself in a position where I had to rely on him.

Angelina Keeley: I’ve never met him and I could be wrong but I heard through the grapevine that Colby said, “Angelina, that girl seems like she’s chaotic.” Am I a little chaotic? Yeah, fair. But it’s not a good thing to say to someone else before we come out to Fiji. It’s season 50 — not season five. It’s been awhile for some of these folks. So we’ll see what happens.  

Aubry Bracco: I’m a little worried about Genevieve. I want to play like Genevieve, I have so much respect for her as a player but she scares me. She can be a little savage in the game. I also think Chrissy can be a little bit savage, like smile and stab you in the back. I’m a little worried about both of them. 

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty: Cirie is the biggest threat out here. Everybody in the world loves Cirie. I don’t know Cirie, but I know that I like Cirie when I watch Cirie. Take Cirie out, that’s gotta be number one. I would also say that Jonathan is a pretty big threat as is Joe and Kyle, who has won. Dee, another winner, is also a big threat but not as big as Kyle only because he has two people he worked with from his season. 

Joe Hunter: Genevieve combined with Aubry and Emily. I’m just naming them because of how strategic they are. They’re brilliant players, and Charlie too. They’re all extremely strategic and that is dangerous as they know how to adapt to what’s in front of them. 

Genevieve Mushaluk: I just saw, like we all did, season 48 where Joe in particular ran a strength and integrity alliance. I’m not really known for my physical strength, and integrity is open to interpretation. Would you think of Genevieve and think, “Yeah, strength and integrity?” Probably not. You might think resilience, you might think calculated, you might think independent. Joe didn’t lead an alliance with any of those names in the title. So I’m worried about maybe not meshing with him or not being a part of his plans or how he wants to play the game.

Emily Flippen: A lot of the big, burly dudes concern me a little bit. We’ve seen it in season 48 with the Joes of the world and the big, strong guy alliance. I look at somebody like Jonathan who’s obviously physically fit and is a physical asset to his tribe. These people tend to be protected early when I’m not and tend to want to keep other big threats around. So if I’m on a tribe with these big, buff guys I’m probably going to have a hard time not just associating with them on a physical level but on a personal level as well. I don’t know if we have a lot in common and that scares me a little bit.

Ozzy Lusth: One of the people who concerns me the most is Joe. He seems like a really loyal standup guy, and he’s a huge challenge threat. You also have Q and Kyle, who won his season. And you have Jonathan, Tiffany and Stefanie LaGrossa. She was the original, amazing physical threat. I used to have a huge crush on her. It’s just insane to be playing with some of these legends, like Colby Donaldson, the original Survivor heartthrob. There are some big, big physical threats out there.

Benjamin “Coach” Wade: I don’t get a good vibe from the two season 49 players. I don’t know them but I’m having flashbacks of Russell [Hantz] and how he came into Heroes vs Villains and nobody knew how he played and he lied to us. I have a fear of the two new players because they know all of us, and none of us know how they play. 

Chrissy Hofbeck: Who concerns me because I think his game is a lot like mine is Christian. Not only is he charming and you want to be around him but darn it, he’s smart. He’s a person who I think will play a similar game to me, so that worries me. I have this feeling that Ozzy just won’t like me that much. Maybe that’s my season 35 fears coming back, he’s a cool kid and I’m not a cool kid. But maybe this season isn’t really full of cool kids anyway. 

Kamilla Karthigesu: I think Genevieve’s game will clash with mine pretty badly. She’s a known flip flopper, she’s good at lying and she was part of so many blindsides on her season, which is scary. I don’t want another person out there good at lying because I could be lied to. Also, I’m pretty sure I saw her crush a puzzle in 47, and I don’t want puzzle competition. 

Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick: Kamilla concerns me a lot. She prides herself on lying and likes to lie. Although I loved Kamilla and Kyle as a viewer, great gameplay. She is one of those people that can be 20 minutes behind in a challenge and if there’s a puzzle in the end, she’s going to blow you away. She is going to be a huge threat.

Rizo Velovic: There are a lot of people in their 50s, 40s and late 30s. I have to be more cognizant of older players like Stephenie, Cirie, Jenna Lewis. I want to make sure that I don’t come off as this bratty, young, cocky guy and be somebody more endearing who they want to work with because I remind them of their child. While I want to work with old school players, I think my personality fits better in the New Era and I want to make sure I don’t come across as something I’m not to these old school people. 

Savannah Louie: A lot of these New Era people, especially the ones who are really social, are the ones who concern me the most. You have three people from season 48 here: Kyle, Joe and Kamilla. That’s a scary group. You have people like Dee and Emily and Genevieve who, while they didn’t all play together, probably bonded at Survivor events. Q, Tiffany and Charlie all played together. Who knows what’s going on in their DMs? A lot of the New Era people created these tight bonds, which may become alliances. I think maybe some of the old school players might be open to working with someone who’s a little less certain, being me.

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Survivor 50 aires new episodes Wednesday at 8 p.m. on CBS, streaming on Paramount+. See how the cast is divided into their tribes here.