What a great quote from Joe. With everyone else having such strong personalities, seeing his fairness come out to help Rizo did something for me. He's such a solid dude.
Did production listen to anything we voted for?
The fans voted for a live reunion. We got a live vote reading for sure, but getting 15-30 seconds of Q&A with Cirie, Tiff, Rick, Christian, Rizo, Aubry, Jonathan and Joe is not a reunion…. We spent a whole segment talking about filming the White Lotus when there is an entire group of pre jury/jury players that were completely ignored all night long (sans the corniest ad placement I’ve seen in a while). Coach didn’t even get a question, Probst just told him to say some random Coach stuff and then called it quits.
Just genuinely frustrating that for a season they promised to match whatever the fans wanted to see they continued to not deliver on that promise.
Stephenie wrote this on her vote for Jonathan and for those who might not know, it’s a reference.
There’s a professional wrestler from the 80s/90s named Lex Luger, and his wrestling nickname was “The Total Package”. After his career came to an end, he developed severe physical difficulties, bordering on paralysis of his legs. He could no longer walk, and had difficulty performing even basic physical tasks (after having previously been in peak physical condition, unfortunately supplemented by steroids and other drugs).
A few years ago, Luger began doing physical therapy and rehabilitation with another former wrestler, Dallas Page, who had helped many retired wrestlers to rehab from the trauma they’ve subjected their bodies to.
Enter Jonathan Young. He worked alongside Page in helping Luger regain his ability to walk over a period of many months. No doubt he told stories about this during downtime in Survivor 50, and Steph saw fit to pass the nickname on to Jonathan, which I have no doubt he was grateful to see.
Just a nice little touch that I thought was worth pointing out.
THE 😭 MAN 😭 THE 😭 MYTH 😭 THE 😭 LEGEND 😭 R😭I😭Z😭G😭O😭D 😭 RIZ 😭 GOD 😭 BABY 😭
Did anyone else absolutely bust out laughing at Rizo doing his shtick while sobbing? I love Rizo but this was unintentionally his funniest moment.
Is that my beautiful tall-ass wife?
Never change, Joe. Broad of chest, empty of mind, pure of heart ❤️ Truly the GOAT of the goats
I met Joe (who was insanely sweet) at an airport shortly after episode 9 aired.
I asked him “if you were not in season 50, who would you be rooting for?” He said out of who is left at this point- we were at final 11- he would root for Aubry or Jonathon.
I remember thinking this was not at all what I expected. Jonathon for sure but Aubry? Joe roots for Aubry?
It all makes sense now. This king told me final 3 🤣
Joe’s beautiful tall-ass wife! I looked this up during the episode and Kayte Christensen is actually 6’2, a former WBNA player and current commentator for the Sacramento Kings!
The unexpected loved ones visit was one of the highlights of the episode for me and I really appreciated getting to see Joe’s love (and RESPECT) for his wife (and his family). I feel like people are finally starting to come back around on Joe after this episode, with him teaching Rizo fire, and him getting a hard time during FTC, and as a Joe defender from the beginning, I’m happy to see it.
I also loved how savvy Kayte seemed to be with her advice to Joe—would LOVE to see her on Survivor in the future!
Idols.
Can't believe we watched a season of survivor 50 where the idols were absolutely useless.
Every single idol was public knowledge almost instantly and could only be used on themselves. The idea was okay but it is something that would work better in a non returnee season.
The most iconic votes and moments from survivor are from idols. It is such a shame they had 0 impact on this season.
The biggest swing and miss from the season.
Just checked the paramount app and they left the fire making flub exactly as it happened, and didn’t edit it to not spoil the result. Just in case you were curious and didn’t want to scroll through over an hour of recording.
Jonathan didn’t do any press after the finale according to RHAP. He just took some photos and left refusing to do any interviews on the red carpet.
He did look gutted as the votes were announced. Preparing for it mentally all year but when the moment comes it’s hard not to get emotional. I don’t blame him for not doing press. It sucks having to relive those moments in front of all those people.
Season 50, Episode 13: Reverse the Curse
Aired: May 20, 2026
Synopsis: Back from tribal, tensions rise following the exit of a particularly historic player. The final five immunity challenge ends in a showdown and features one of the closest finishes the show has ever seen. Jeff reveals the outcomes of the remaining in-game fan votes and how they impact the final stage of the competition. Then, one castaway will be crowned Sole Survivor and awarded the $2 million prize, during the three-hour live season finale.
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I really didn’t understand Rizo’s approach the fire making. He said repeatedly after he failed in 49 that he would never let that happen again. But then…never did anything to learn fire?
Jonathon on the other hand was out there practicing to make sure if he ever ended up in the situation he’d be prepared.
I’m a high school teacher. I am not a typical “the youths are doomed person” but this vibe of not doing anything to improve is so common. Like if it’s a skill you don’t have it’s not going to magically appear the next time you try?
I think of Rizo was invited back he would play exactly as he did in 49 and 50. No effort in anything physical. No reflection on past mistakes. Just no changing but hoping for a different outcome.
I reallllllly tried to appreciate Rizo. But this was just like…come on man.
Edit:
Tiff!
DiD yOu FeEl ImPosToR SyDrOmE?!?!? 🙄🙄🙃
Yes Jeff, we couldn’t tell from the edit alone that you didn’t think she deserved to be there. Found it insulting and annoying. She was bad ass final 5 contestant and barely got airtime. Production needs an overhaul.
(Edit grammar)
What on earth was that….worst final tribal I’ve seen. The point is for the final 3 to defend their own game and promote themselves, Stephanie and Chrissy made me actually gag. That was just so bad I can’t believe it. Thank goodness for Cirie, Tiff, Emily, Devens, and Dee for clocking their insanity. Also just such an anticlimactic ending to an otherwise great season in my opinion. Oh well🤷♀️
Edit: yes should have left tiff off that list (and maybe cirie?), I was just thinking of her comment to Stephenie about not asking a question
Emily
I really felt like she was the only one who wasn't pushing an agenda for a certain contestant during FTC and was truly able to see the high and low points of each one of their games. Its kind of funny because I felt like the biggest thing I didn't "love" about Emily in 45 was I felt like she got a little ridiculous at FTC with her love for Dee and dislike for Austin. I love Emily but how she acted at FTC last time I didn't love. I saw the complete oppsite of that in her this time though and that she treated all three finalists with a lot of respect and wlloed their voices to be heard, something that I CANNOT say for the other jurors. In a FTC where it just felt like a bunch of people advocating for the person they liked best/trying to drag down who they don't like, felt like Emily actually was kind of breath of fresh air.
My favorite moment I thing was when Cirie was dragging Joe for "you know a lot of us felt like we had to babysit you out there." Emily actually had a pretty good defense of Joe in that "well, but doesn't it speak highly of his game though that you guys all felt you had to go to Joe in order to get permission to do a move." Emily was complimenting and occassionally criticizing all three games and asking for clarification as needed.
She says Abs idk why is translated as ass lmao
Ok not really a spoiler but why did cirie feel the need to bring this up at final tribal the way she did? Obviously everyone knew joe wasnt getting votes, so there was no reason to completely crush him in a super stressful moment.
I havent been a big cirie fan since watching her big brother season, and this just reaffirmed that a little bit.