We see it at almost every season’s Final Tribal Council. At least one juror asks a finalist “What did you do? Name a move made by you and you alone.” Being able to answer that question, or in some cases, playing a game so strong the jurors don’t see a need to ask you that question, can be the difference between winning and losing.

Last season, Sophie S. opened the questioning by asking Sophi B. “What was your role in your duo or trio, and how is that different from your counterpart?” Sophi gave a great answer, saying she was the strongest social player who gathered all the information for Rizo and Savannah. But it was clear Sophie S. wasn’t aware of anything specific about Sophi’s role when FTC began. That was a problem. And ultimately, it wasn’t enough for Sophi to overcome the embarrassment of mishandling her Knowledge is Power Advantage.

In Survivor 48, Eva opened by saying she and Joe collaborated on every decision. Juror David pressed her to be more specific about her role. David perceived Eva to be a follower. Eva responded by claiming ownership of the blindside on Shauhin, only to be corrected by Kyle, who was backed up by juror Kamilla.

In Survivor 46, Tiffany didn’t mess around. She opened the questioning by asking “We are not looking for Taylor Swift lyrics, pop culture or rock & roll references. We’re looking for serious and thought-provoking responses. With that being said, can you articulate one move that you made on your own that changed the course of the game?” Tiffany didn’t know what role Charlie played in the game (and neither did most of the jurors). Charlie responded by saying Kenzie was targeting Tiffany when he changed the vote to blindside Hunter. But then Hunter corrected him by saying it was Kenzie who convinced him not to play his Idol. It was a gut punch to Charlie’s chance of winning.

In Survivor 45, Drew knew the answer to his question before he asked it (or so he thought), but he asked Dee and Austin to clarify their specific roles in the Reba 4 alliance. Drew was hoping to help Austin pull ahead. But when Austin tried to take ownership of the Kendra boot, Dee was able to correct him with information the other jurors already knew to be true. Dee said “I kept seeing you (Kendra) going to talk to Austin and Drew all the time on the beach. Then Kendra was saying I had a crush on Austin, I’m like ‘I need this girl out of here because she’s bringing in the drama.’” Jurors Kellie, Katurah and Emily were all nodding. They all knew first hand how they saw Dee successfully targeted Kendra. Dee owned the move DURING the game while Austin tried to own it at Final Tribal Council.

In Survivor 43, Cassidy opened by saying “I’ve always had my fingers on the pulse of this game. I always knew where the votes were going. Every vote I cast was the right vote. Not one surprise or blindside the entire game.” But later, juror Jesse asked “I wanna know when you persuaded someone to vote the way you needed them to, and how you did it.” Cassidy claimed she convinced Cody and Gabler to vote Ryan out instead of her, which prompted quizzical looks from Ryan, Cody and Jesse. Jesse said “We came into Tribal – me, Gabler and Cody, and we decided if James was on the Jury, we were gonna vote out Ryan. If James wasn’t on the Jury, we were gonna take you out.” Jesse and Cody discussed this with Ryan on the Ponderosa too. An embarrassed Cassidy could only say, “Ok, you got me.” That was a fatal blow to her game.

With this in mind, we have to ask who has been doing the best job of owning their moves so far this season?

In his confessionals, Jonathan has been patting himself on the back, saying “My belt is looking pretty good. I’ve got a couple of notches on it. I’ve got Dee, Kamilla, I’d love to have Christian as a notch. Walk into Final Tribal like a cowboy and have a big old belt buckle with all the heads that have been taken off.” But we as viewers have information Jonathan didn’t have. We know Chrissy was the one who convinced Jonathan to vote Kamilla out. Would she correct Jonathan at FTC? I think she would. We also saw how many players checked in with Cirie before deciding to vote for Christian, Dee, Stephenie and the duo of Chrissy and Coach. If Jonathan makes it to FTC and tries to own those votes, he could end up being the embarrassed finalist.

We have seen Emily swing and miss at Ozzy three times. She’s very likely to get the “What did you do?” question. Devens also missed on Ozzy once, but he’s got a very flashy coin flip that nobody else can own. Nobody thinks Devens has been a follower. That might not be the case with Emily.

The most interesting possible finalists to me are Ozzy and Rizo. Us viewers know Ozzy hasn’t made a strategic move without Cirie’s approval. But do the other players know this? If Cirie is also in the finals, she’ll absolutely take ownership of their moves. But what if Cirie is on the jury? If she wants Ozzy to win, would she shoot him down with facts multiple jurors will know are true? And what about Rizo? He has quietly been the voice of reason, but has played the middle so well, I have to wonder if every juror sees him as a follower. Owning the Charlie vote may not be enough to convince this jury to give him the win. Can he own any other moves aside from taking Charlie’s allies from him?

Aubry is in a similar position. Many will agree with her if she takes ownership of removing Genevieve, but will that be enough? These players saw her separate herself from Devens only to embrace him after the coin flip. Aubry might have as much trouble answering the “What did you do?” question as Emily.

Tiffany hasn’t had a strong influence on the voting either, but she probably has the best underdog story of all the remaining players. She has lost her closest partners (Dee and Kamilla) and made good adjustments by connecting with Joe and Cirie. And speaking of Joe, I think he’s done. He has spent the whole game preaching honesty, loyalty and integrity but was easily convinced to vote against his partners Genevieve, Coach, Chrissy and Stephenie. If he and Tiffany actually have an alliance with Cirie, Joe will get called out for lying about it to those same jurors and Jonathan if he’s on the jury. It would be ironic if Joe gets accused of being a follower after the S48 jurors accused Eva of following Joe.

Cirie and Devens really are the only remaining players who have owned their game well enough in the eyes of the present jurors to the point where they don’t have to wonder how they’ve affected the game. Cirie also has two jurors (Dee and Christian) who might already be singing her praises. Yeah, I know Christian was #1s with Devens, but he didn’t vote for his #1 Nick in S37. His vote for Devens is not a slam dunk by any means. Stephenie has appeared to be angry at Cirie in her Exit press, but that could help Cirie too if she starts asking the jurors “Why don’t they go after Cirie?” That worked very well for Kim in S24 One World when juror Troyzan ranted about her on the Ponderosa. When Tarzan was voted out, Troyzan greeted him on the Ponderosa saying, “I’m just surprised they don’t gun for Kim. Kim’s like me. If they’re gonna gun for a super-strong person, why don’t they go for Kim?” Troyzan was unintentionally endorsing Kim for the win.

This is what I’ll be looking for as the last six players join the jury. Each juror brings new information to the Ponderosa. Do they know who’s been pulling the strings? Which player(s) will they support and which one(s) will they trash? The best move anybody can make would be removing either Cirie or Ozzy. But so far, nobody has launched a plan against Cirie since the first episode. Joe, Ozzy or Tiffany might be able to brag about multiple Immunity wins, but unless every juror listens to Coach, that probably won’t be enough to win this season. There might only be 5 Tribal Councils left if there is a fire challenge or another double elimination. Now is the time to start making your game stand out. Who is gonna step up?

Let’s find out.

And away we go…

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Final 9, and three people are holding Idols. I don’t think a split vote plan can get any of them tonight. Especially since Devens can play his Idol for Emily.

Rizo says this is the greatest Tribal Council of all time. It’s a candidate, but I’m still sticking with the merge Tribal from S28: Cagayan, when Tony and LJ played Idols for each other, then Kass helped blindside overconfident Sarah.

Aubry keeps making boxing analogies (“Gloves off, this is a full-on punching match”), but when is she gonna throw a punch?

Ok, we have confirmation that Aubry’s Idol did not return to the game. Devens’ Idol is a completely new one.

Devens’ goofy dance fest is rubbing me the wrong way, but at least he’s not making the mistake of gloating in front of the other players.

Jonathan thinks he’s got an uphill battle to get to the finals. I think he’s not getting to the final 6 unless he wins Immunity.

Devens’ Idol expires at final 7? I bet he pulls a Tony-esque bluff (borrowed by Rizo last season) and will tell everyone it lasts longer than that.

Joe really is a sour puss about Devens. Why not think of a way of using Devens to your advantage? The best Survivor players figure out how to use everyone to move themselves forward. Joe expects everyone to help him on HIS terms.

Cirie put it perfectly. “Joe lives on 500 Hypocrisy Hill in Fiji. Why are you moping? Instead of you looking on the bright side, you’re finding all the reasons for yourself to be upset.” I’ve had it up to here with babysitting Joe.” Now we know why Joe keeps giving information to Cirie. Props to Cirie.

Uh-oh, Tiffany is talking about going after Ozzy and Rizo. That’s bad news for Tiffany if Cirie has anything to say about it.

But it sounds like Cirie is considering flushing one or both of their Idols.

Ozzy says, “I don’t want to have a Billie Eilish Boomerang souvenir.” Something tells me Ozzy is gonna win Immunity and Cirie will try to flush Rizo’s Idol. Maybe putting Rizo on the jury isn’t a bad idea for Cirie. He loves her so much, he’ll definitely sing her praises on the Ponderosa. And he has firsthand knowledge of how she’s been pulling all the strings. Keeping Ozzy around for the finals is smart too because she’ll easily be able to outtalk him at the end, especially if Rizo has primed the jury for her.

This extended Ozzy/Devens moment makes me think one of them votes for the other at the end.

Emily switches her target from Ozzy to Cirie. FWAP!!! Emily has come up completely empty this whole season. So has Devens for that matter. If Emily tries to include Ozzy in on this plan, what are the chances Ozzy will play his Idol for Cirie? If he doesn’t think he can get to the end without Cirie, he’ll do it. And Emily will probably pay the price.

We’ve seen this challenge in S26: Caramoan, S28: Cagayan, S31: Cambodia, S35: HHH, S40: Winners at War, and Survivor 42 and S46, which means Tiffany and Jonathan have done it before. Tiffany finished 4th in her season, and Jonathan won Immunity. He did a backflip off of his doghouse after he won.

Right when I was about to say the sea was rough that day, Probst says it for me. The winner gets an Advantage too? Nobody will sandbag, that’s for sure. This twist has GOT to be a double elimination.

Wait, they have to go to the tape? Tiffany is eliminated on a technicality, so Jonathan gets the win. I applaud the Standards and Practices Dept.

Way back in the olden days, when I was just another commenter on RHAP, I regularly told people there were reps from Standards and Practices on location making sure the challenges were fair and Producers didn’t blatantly help some players over others. This makes me feel vindicated. Sure, Producers still do some “nudging” here and there, but they can’t straight out help one player over another.

Jonathan mentioned he holds a world record. I looked it up. He holds the world record for doing the most pullups with 100 lbs on his back. The more you know…

FUCK! Two voting groups of four? Screw that shit! I can’t tell you how much that pisses me off. This is another reason to always take all of your stuff to challenges.

Jonathan gets two votes too? That’s a good bonus for winning Immunity. I’m not as mad at that. This is another reason you don’t make enemies on Survivor. Make everyone believe you’re willing to vote with them. That way, they won’t want you gone. I think the Survivor Gods are against Cirie again.

Hmm…it sounds to me like Cirie has no choice but to use her Extra Vote tonight, and Jonathan will go after Emily. Cirie will probably figure that out and convince Tiffany to vote for Emily since Devens has an Idol. I think Aubry is also a goner. Ozzy and Rizo might have to play their Idols tonight.

James Cameron directed the Billie Eilish movie? Are we gonna get a bunch of Avatar blue people who look like Zoe Saldana in it too?

Emily thinks she can get Devens to play his Idol for her. That’s not a bad plan except for the fact that she blatantly asked Devens to leave so she can talk to Tiffany alone. Why wouldn’t he be suspicious?

But Emily actually wants to turn it against Cirie? SOMEBODY is gonna tip Cirie off if she doesn’t figure it out for herself. She pitches the idea to Jonathan too, completely forgetting he said she was full of it at the last Tribal Council (if she heard him, that is).

Ozzy spills all his secrets to Aubry. What the hell is he thinking? He thinks he can get Aubry’s jury vote? He thinks she won’t see though that plan? How does he not know Aubry will realize this means he wants her on the jury?

Ozzy really is worthless without Cirie there to tell him what to do. Why in the world did he think this was a good idea?

This is exactly what I think of Ozzy’s move.

And this.

Well, I can’t say Aubry hasn’t thrown a punch anymore.

I keep a lot of side lists based on discussions/arguments I’ve had with several friends. One of them is a list of Ozzy’s good decisions vs bad decisions. The short version is as follows:

Ozzy’s bad decisions (50)

Cook Islands – 8

Micronesia – 12

South Pacific – 24

Game Changers – 6

Ozzy’s good decisions (14)

Cook Islands – 0

Micronesia – 3

South Pacific – 9

Game Changers – 2

I also have another list of Ozzy’s good decisions that were negated by his bad ones (4). Like 1) Finding an Idol and replacing it with a phony in Micronesia (good) but then telling everyone he’s got the real Idol. Or 2) trying to comfort a panicking Dawn in South Pacific (good) but doing it in such a condescending way he turns her against him (bad).

Needless to say, I’ll be adding to those lists after this season.

Cirie wants to try and save Ozzy? Sorry, but I think it’s time to let him work it out for himself. Don’t try to find a way to give him your Extra Vote either. Sticking your neck out for Ozzy will absolutely backfire on you.

Wait, is Joe really fighting AGAINST booting Ozzy? I agree with those who say Joe is too difficult to work with.

But it’s interesting that Joe doesn’t want to leave Rizo out of the loop. Rizo said the same thing about Joe earlier this season. Is it possible Rizo and Joe are closer than we’ve been led to believe? If they are, I’d probably give props to Rizo’s social game on this one.

Man, there are a lot of options floating around in this episode! It’s tough to keep track of all of them. Especially while simultaneously writing a column about them. I love it when cocky or sloppy players get their comeuppance. Emily and Ozzy both deserve to leave tonight, but I don’t think that will happen.

Once again, I have to wonder if the 2nd group will know who got voted out of the first group? Will Jonathan get to tell them? Will he want to? How did they decide which group went first? Does the first person voted out get less money than the next one?

Emily “(In S45) I felt like I lacked agency, but today was a day of fighting.” You don’t have any agency this season either. But that’s a good statement to say in front of the Jury. It could help destroy her follower image.

Was it “Female Toga Night” on the Ponderosa?

Emily “I don’t want Cirie or Tiffany to go home, but I might not have that choice tonight.” Good job, Emily. You just warned Cirie. Once again, Emily blurts something out that is damaging to herself and her partners. She deserves to go tonight. I’ll admit it, I’m scared for Cirie.

Devens plays his Idol for himself. Bravo! That was the right move. I think he checked everyone’s faces before deciding just like Rachel did with her Shot in the Dark in S47. It’s a tie vote. Emily knows she’s in trouble.

I’m glad Cirie used her Extra Vote. She saw through that BS. She absolutely saved herself. Now I think it’s up to Tiffany. Does she want Cirie gone?

Bye Emily. Cirie got an Extra Vote in each round. I feel much better now. None of the jurors look surprised or upset that Emily is gone. That tells me she had little to no shot of winning.

Ahh, Emily goes straight to the Jury just like Rocksroy did in S42. The other group will know what’s up. I think we can credit Cirie with yet another victim this season.

Tribal Council #2. Joe is pissed off that Devens is still around.

Even though Ozzy leaving hurts Cirie’s chances, he deserves to leave tonight.

Rizo talking about the importance of taking a leap of faith is another example of him being the voice of reason…and I think he’s setting Ozzy up.

Ozzy talking about appreciating the joy of playing reminds me of what Colby said when he left.

Ozzy: “I want to get to the end with people who are amazing, and I can share it with whoever ends up being in my corner.” Ozzy just told everyone that what Aubry told them is 100% true. He validated her argument for voting for him. That might have even put Joe over the edge.

Ozzy checks everyone’s faces ... and keeps his Idol. He REALLY deserves to go now. Aubry wasn’t upset that Ozzy spelled her name wrong.

As the votes were being read, Ozzy asks “Why guys?” The fact that he still doesn’t know proves he has never known what adjustments to make, even after five tries. He even saw this moment happening in a dream.

Bye Ozzy. On one hand, I’d like to credit Aubry for getting this one done. Jonathan might deserve some credit too. In fact, Rizo had the power to save him and didn’t. But Ozzy really got himself voted out. If he had his head on straight, Rizo wouldn’t have turned on him. On top of that, Ozzy was warned!

Ozzy did it to himself ... again. And so did Emily. I feel bad for Ozzy. He just can’t get out of his own way. I don’t feel as bad for Emily. She stuck around a lot longer than she should have. Christian should have cut her loose before the merge. Emily comes up with decent strategic ideas, but like Jonathan said in his confessional tonight, she’s so sloppy in her execution, she kills any chance of making those ideas work. Earlier this season, Mike White said Survivor is all about how effectively you can persuade people to do what you want. Emily just isn’t good at that.

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Recap

I think we can call this a wrap on Ozzy’s Survivor career. I doubt he’d even come back as an “advisor” like Sandra, Cochran and Boston Rob did. Why would anyone take his advice if it wasn’t about running a challenge?

Ozzy got four more votes, further cementing his status as the single most voted for Survivor player of all time. Ozzy is also now tied for being voted out the most while holding an Idol. He joins James Clement (holding two Idols in S15: China) and Kellee Kim (who held two idols in S39: Island of the Idols). This also happened to Ozzy in S16: Micronesia.

Even though I’m ok with the results, I still hated this twist. I thought the entire tribe would vote someone out, then immediately be told they’d have to vote another person out. Random rock draws shouldn’t be able to affect the voting.

However, tonight’s boots will really put Cirie, Rizo and Devens to the test. Cirie has better options because everyone in the game still trusts her and brings her information, including Aubry. Aubry knows how dangerous Cirie is, but like Emily, Aubry hasn’t had much agency. Cirie isn’t gonna make it easy and spill all kinds of valuable information to her. Neither will Rizo. And Tiffany has already indicated she’s willing to cut Aubry loose too.

Cirie also has her most passionate supporter on the jury now, without any blood on her hands. Ozzy will be able to effectively counteract any negative info Stephenie spreads about Cirie. Emily will bring information about Cirie’s dominance too. By my count, Cirie has at least 4 out of 7 jurors supporting her (Dee, Christian, Emily and Ozzy). Emily said in this episode “Cirie has been running the show.” That’s the same thing she’s gonna tell the jurors. That might even be enough to convince Chrissy not to blindly vote with Coach. I liked Rizo’s decision to cut Ozzy loose. He only needed to see Ozzy threaten to damage his own game once. If Christian had done the same thing with Emily he might still be in the game. Rizo might be able to own this move to the Jury, depending on how Aubry and Jonathan play the rest of the season.

But what does Devens do now? He just made an enemy out of Cirie, this season’s best player by far. Aubry has an even better reason to distance herself from him now. Sure, he’s gonna look for his re-hidden Idol. If these players are smart, they’ll start looking as soon as they return to camp. They’ll remember how Devens found one in the middle of the night in his first season too. They also have to know Devens has been providing “Good TV” and is most likely to be “nudged” towards another Idol.

And Jonathan? I think we can safely say he’s gonna take credit for removing Ozzy if he gets to the end, but Aubry will be able to set him straight. And Rizo might be able to back her up. He might even try to take credit for that himself. Jonathan probably has Coach, Chrissy and Stephenie’s support, but he’s also got the fewest allies left in the game. He needs an Immunity streak to get to the end. A fire challenge could take him out again.

I’m not sure how Aubry, or Rizo can win the game unless they take Cirie out. Rizo has to tell Cirie how Ozzy killed himself. If he doesn’t, he could lose Cirie’s support. Devens seems to have rubbed too many jurors (Coach, Chrissy, Stephenie, maybe Ozzy) the wrong way, and like I said before, he’s not a lock to get Christian’s vote. I don’t think Tiffany can beat Cirie either, but she’s got a better chance than everyone else in the game.

Tell me what you think? Did you hate this twist as much as I did? What are your reads on the current jurors? Do you agree that Emily and Ozzy shot themselves in the foot? Did Rizo make the right decision? Will Cirie choosing Ozzy as her partner comeback to bite her? Let me know in the comments.