First, a note from my rewatch. When Charlie was blindsided, I wondered why Devens was so out of the loop. I thought for sure he and Cirie were on the same page. Then I realized Devens and Cirie have purposely been staying apart from each other. As the only two original Cila members on this new swapped tribe, the temptation would be great to split up a possible “power couple” if they appeared to be close. They played it like Kyle and Kamilla did in S48 after they were swapped into a minority. Neither of them were targeted. But if they’ve lost trust in each other, that’s bad for both of them, Christian and Emily.

In their Exit press comments, Angelina and Charlie said a few things I’d like to address. Charlie claims he was voted out because Rizo and Dee had a pregame alliance. That seems unlikely to me because Rizo only found out he was playing S50 nine days before getting on the plane. Dee had no idea who he was until she saw him calling himself “Rizgod” in the S48 Finale episode. But Charlie however, had ample opportunities to make pregame deals himself. Charlie, Dee, Coach and Ben from S46 have gotten together several times. Coach and Ben have performed music together with Dee and Charlie in attendance. To me, that makes it even more impressive that Rizo earned Dee’s trust better than Charlie did. Shame on Charlie for not better nurturing his relationship with Dee. Maybe that’s why she called him “the dumbest player.” And Angelina? She’s claiming Survivor Editors are favoring the men. After S37: David vs Goliath aired, she blamed she looked like such a bad player because all the Editors were sexist white men. Some things never change. I never put much stock into confessional counts because the tribe that loses Immunity always gets more camera time, regardless of gender. We’ve seen plenty of Emily, Savannah, Cirie, and Jenna Lewis in the early going. The Genevieve vs Aubry war has gotten a lot of screen time too.

We’re looking at a 17-member merge. Whew! That’s next to impossible for anyone to predict. I still think Genevieve is gonna fall victim to Aubry’s Idol, even if Stephenie gets a chance to tell her Aubry does indeed have an Idol.

In recent seasons, the merge boot has been the player least likely to have an Idol aka the unarmed ally (Nate, Sai, Tiyana, Tim, Sifu, Matt B to name a few). The same has been true in the most recent all-returning player seasons (Wendell in S40: Winners at War, Hali in S34: Game Changers, Kass in S31: Cambodia, Aras in S27: Blood vs Water). But Survivor has never had a 17-person merge, has it? And word is, we’re losing two more players tonight.

How fun would it be if these players took aim at the perceived power players? I love watching overconfident players get their comeuppance. We haven’t seen a lot of cocky confessionals so far. I think only Coach, Genevieve and Rizo have uttered anything resembling the Survivor death phrase, “I’m in a good position.” This season has been pretty good so far. I’d hate to see someone we’ve barely seen so far (Tiffany, Chrissy, Kamilla) get clipped in the Idol crossfire … but even that would be good TV.

Let’s roll the dice and see what comes up…(as long as the dice doesn’t say “do or die”).

And away we go…

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Oh yeah, I’m still wondering if Ozzy returned Christian’s Shot in the Dark.

Rizo is taking full credit for booting Charlie. He deserves it, but he’s getting very cocky.

Dee jumps straight into damage control mode with Jonathan, beating Cirie and Kamilla to the punch, and it sounds like Jonathan is buying it. I understand why Cirie hesitated, but Kamilla should have been there too.

I saw a social media post of Emily and Ozzy announcing they were a couple. Then I remembered what day it was that this episode aired.

Dee is excited to make the Survivor 50 merge. I thought it would be a major accomplishment for a former winner to make the merge this season, but I also thought the merge wouldn’t happen until final 13. Dee and Cirie should be everyone’s top targets.

Ozzy tells Emily he’s got an Idol. She swears she won’t tell anyone. I say it takes about 30 seconds before she tells either Devens or Cirie. She might even let it slip to Aubry too.

Is it mean for me to watch Rizo getting all fanboy over everyone while simultaneously hoping he gets booted first? I don’t think that will happen, but it would be funny if it did.

Christian needs to tell Devens how sloppy Emily is with information. He needs to set up Emily’s departure ASAP.

Wow, Cirie let it slip to Genevieve that Aubry had an Idol. But she also fills Aubry in. That was sloppy on one hand but smart on the other hand. I don’t think Aubry will be mad at Cirie.

Genevieve is smart not to tell Rizo she gave him the Idol. But as loose as everyone is being with information, he’s bound to find out. He’s smart enough to figure out WHY this person didn’t come clean.

But look at Cirie gathering ALL the information. If everybody trusts Cirie, nobody will want her gone. I think she’s right when she says the old school players will have a blind spot by being so blindly loyal and excluding everyone else.

With all this information flying around so freely, I don’t see how anybody doesn’t know the details of the Boomerang.

Jonathan is doing a good job of gathering information too, but I don’t think he’ll know what to do with all of it.

The first vote could be very revealing if someone playing the middle will be forced to pick a side.

I’m gonna have to rewatch this episode a few times to keep track of who knows what about everyone else.

Ok, what’s the twist? An advantage in the Immunity Challenge, right? I hope it’s not the return of Fire Tokens.

Ozzy gets it. The way he’s been performing in Immunity Challenges so far he could need it.

This “Advantage” sounds like the “Advantage” Jamaal got in S39: Island of the Idols. He found a note that told him he’d lost his vote and had to concoct a lie to tell to another player. There was nothing Advantage-y about it. Christian had the great timing of being able to advise Ozzy on who to take, and Ozzy picks Rizo.

That might be a smart move. It could put suspicion on Rizo and make him an easy target. I wonder what Cirie, Dee or Kamilla would do? Would they stick their necks out to save him, or sacrifice him because they have other allies to rely on?

Ahh, they’re breaking up the challenge into three five-member teams.

I’m already tired of Probst’s speech about this twist. Let’s divide the teams already.

Three players are leaving? Last place on each team gets booted sounds good to me. That way nobody sandbags it. But this challenge never favors the big, strong Alpha males. Probst won’t go for that.

Probst just called this “The biggest Reward of the Season.” Didn’t he just say that about Zac Brown? I told you that title wouldn’t last long.

Applebee’s? I bet Liz from S46 is pissed she didn’t make the cut for 50.

Probst is talking about Applebee’s longer than Zac Brown was fishing.

How many confessionals will the Shark Bowl get?

The jury starts at final 14? Three finalists and an 11-person Jury. I can get behind that.

Genevieve and Aubry are on the same team? This should be good.

Chrissy has no friends on her team. Tiffany and Kamilla wanted her gone from the start and she hasn’t worked with Stephenie yet. Would Jonathan try to save her?

I think Dee is in trouble if she loses. Emily, Coach and Colby all have good reasons to want her gone.

Three big guys in a row – Devens, Jonathan and Colby all go out. Then Coach joins them.

Dee wins Immunity, then immediately steps out. That’s a smart move. Coming out first overall puts a bigger target on her back.

Christian wins Immunity, then steps out himself. Did he sandbag? He’s smart enough to know lasting longer than everyone else probably means he won’t last much longer in the game.

Stephenie and Chrissy are fighting to be the top target at the next vote. I think Chrissy has got this one but she steps out! She has sandbagged before, but I don’t think she did that this time.

How will Ozzy and Rizo figure into this?

Tiffany and Kamilla will go after Chrissy. Will they talk Jonathan into helping? Aubry will play her Idol, but where will the other votes go?

Strategic talks are happening, and Ozzy is fishing again. But this time it wasn’t his choice.

Ozzy and Rizo feel good about Cirie, but will she survive this vote? Will she know what to do with her Extra Vote?

Many have pointed out how Tiffany has only had two confessionals entering this episode. She’s had at least three tonight. In my eyes, that’s bad news for Tiffany. She might not go tonight, but visibility spikes have rarely been good in Survivor.

But she’s taking dead aim at Chrissy. If they loop Stephenie in, she could warn Chrissy. But I don’t know what Chrissy could do to save herself if Jonathan isn’t with her. She needs an Idol and/or a non-male ally. She’s never been good at securing female allies.

Have Christian and Devens told Aubry about her Idol yet? Yes, they did. That means their three votes will decide this vote. Do the guys want Joe or Genevieve gone?

Genevieve thinks she can get Christian to vote with her. That tells me Genevieve is a dead woman walking. Bad idea.

Genevieve is trying to play Christian the same way Mike White did. Big mistake. Christian does the smart thing and gives Genevieve a convincing “yes,” but will Devens talk him out of it? Christian needs to make sure Genevieve and Joe don’t see him talking to Devens.

The right move for Christian is to boot Genevieve. That way he’ll get Joe’s Jury vote over Devens.

The big question on the other tribe is how does Emily feel about working with Cirie?

Oh yeah, I forgot Colby doesn’t have his vote? Will he take himself out? Colby with a bum foot means they should vote for Coach.

Coach feeds Dee some bullshit and she sees right through it. Did Coach just seal his own fate?

Emily gets the best line of the night: “Coach is just actively lying to people ... he’s so incredibly obvious about it. Are you just that oblivious, or is this some form of 3-D Chess where you want us to have this perception of you?” I vote for oblivious. Coach has always believed his own BS.

But Dee’s best friend told her to get rid of Cirie. Will Cirie pick up on it and use that Extra Vote? Did Ozzy tell Emily about that Extra Vote?

Colby exposes his entire alliance to Dee. I think he just told Dee to take him out instead of Coach.

If Cirie sees Dee undecided, will she use her Extra vote to make sure Colby leaves? Will she threaten her relationship with Dee and Emily if she does that?

If Genevieve, Coach and Chrissy all leave tonight, you might be able to pencil Colby and Stephenie in for the final 7. They’ll be too powerless to be a priority to remove later on…unless we get more split squad Tribal Councils of course.

Wow, it sounds like Chrissy isn’t gonna try to save herself. Will they buy it?

But in confessional, Chrissy says she’s going after Kamilla. This confessional was very badly green screened. Was it recorded after the fact?

Jonathan has the power tonight. Does he realize Coach and Genevieve are in trouble and if he chooses wrong, that could spell his doom sooner than later? He’s doing the right thing by telling everyone “yes” just like Kamilla did last week.

But Kamilla just uttered the Survivor death phrase: “I’m in a good position.”

Does Stephenie’s team go to Tribal Council last since she won the Reward? Will the last two tribes know who got voted out earlier? That could affect the votes. If Jonathan knows Coach and Genevieve are gone, that could make his decision a no-brainer. Stephenie’s team has to go first? That sucks for us viewers, but is probably great for Chrissy.

I’m already sick of hearing all the “Blood Moon” metaphors.

I’m wondering if Tiffany and/or Kamilla told Jonathan about Chrissy’s weak lie? If they did come clean to him about it, that could seal his vote for Chrissy.

It doesn’t feel like Kamilla’s story for this season has been told yet. I don’t think Chrissy’s ploy worked.

Wow, Jonathan booted Kamilla! His future depends on Dee and Aubry now. I think he chose wrong. But props to Chrissy. She worked Jonathan better than Kamilla did. But Chrissy also had the good luck of timing. This vote came right after Kamilla left Jonathan out of the loop. I think that’s why he voted for Kamilla. I think Kamilla’s lack of damage control did more to get her booted than Chrissy did.

I’m pissed off at Jonathan now. I REALLY wanted to see Cirie and Kamilla work together. Oh well.

Tribal Council #2. I wonder if Aubry will keep her Idol since Genevieve knows she’s got it and won’t vote for her?

Who had the stronger argument? Devens or Christian? Christian has been on a roll this season. Does he throw Devens a bone and make sure Joe isn’t on the Jury? Would Aubry agree to vote for Joe? I doubt it.

Aubry holds onto her Idol. Good move! But Genevieve plays her Shot in the Dark. If she’s safe, I think Aubry plays her Idol.

“Not safe.” Bye Geneieve. Joe looked mighty relieved when he saw that scroll.

We only see three votes? Did Joe vote for Genevieve too?

Yep. Does this mean Devens has mended fences with Joe, or did Joe vote for Genevieve purely as a means of saving himself?

I felt it all season long. Genevieve was just too aggressive.

Tribal Council #3. I remember in S45, Dee pushed to remove Sifu and was thwarted when Sean quit instead. Will the same thing happen if Colby quits tonight?

He’s sure sounding like he’s giving his goodbye speech.

Probst loves Colby so much, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if he made sure Colby went out in style.

Is Coach wearing one of Phillip’s feathers?

I wonder if we’re seeing these Tribal Councils out of sequence? This one was by far the most emotional. It makes sense that Producers would want to show it last.

Bye Colby. Cirie convinced Dee to do it. I’m glad he didn’t quit.

That was a tough one to watch.

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Recap

There’s a lot to sift through with three players leaving.

I’m shocked Emily didn’t screw anything up this time around.

I’m crushed about losing Kamilla, but I understand why Jonathan did it. Perhaps she was too slow in doing her damage control with him to keep him on her side. She really should have joined Dee right after that vote. That probably cost her the game. But I think when Jonathan sees Genevieve and Colby are gone, he’ll know his days are numbered. He has lost Tiffany and Dee for sure. He can only reasonably count on Coach and Chrissy now. Aubry is set up very well now. She’s got Christian, Devens, Cirie, Dee and Tiffany. She also has a good shot of having Ozzy and Rizo on her side.

Stephenie is probably done. Who has she got now? All of her original partners (Q, Genevieve, and Colby) are gone. She was only connected to Ozzy through that Idol.

Genevieve’s departure means Christian is the only one that can get a boomerang Idol now ... unless the other two return as regular Idols after being played.

I know Genevieve is very popular with fans, but I just never saw her show a talent for improving her position. Almost every move she made in S47 made her game harder instead of easier, and I think she over-corrected and played too aggressively this time around. She made too many people nervous about her. Aubry’s read was spot on. Genevieve couldn’t adjust to a bad draw.

The “Integrity” crew took a big hit in losing Colby and Genevieve, but I suppose they’ve been replaced by Jonathan and Stephenie. We can expect them to line up with Coach, Chrissy and Joe. Just the same, that’s only five out of 14. They need to hope the group of 9 takes aim at each other because only one of their five has influenced the voting so far. Tiffany’s game took a hit when she lost Kamilla. She knows she failed to sway Jonathan and/or Stephenie. She has no choice but to solidify things with Aubry now.

Within the nine, I think Christian, Cirie, Devens Ozzy and Emily are the tightest. It doesn’t appear that Rizo, Aubry Tiffany or Dee know it yet. Those four all think they’re higher up on the totem pole than they actually are.

We’re seeing the majority of this season from Christian’s perspective. The same was true about Savannah last season. I think Christian is playing a great game so far, but it’s only a matter of time until a group remembers how smart he is and will go after him. He can win Immunity, but can he make a fire without glasses? He’s smart enough to have practiced. The big question for Christian is will he see when Devens, Cirie or Emily come after him?

What do you think? Was booting Colby over Coach the right call? Is Christian the biggest power player? How should he navigate his way past Cirie and Dee? Will Tiffany and Emily fall into the final 4 by being the least threatening? Is Aubry the Sarah from S34: Game Changers of this cast? If not Christian, who do you think is playing the best game so far? Let me know in the comments.