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For Emily Flippen and Ozzy Lusth, Day 21 proved to be the end of the road on Survivor 50 after they were ousted due to a new “Power Broker” twist. Jeff Probst randomly divided the players into two groups, with the winner of the immunity challenge, Jonathan Young, being able to visit both camps and vote in both tribal councils.
Emily was voted out in a re-vote after she and Cirie Fields tied with two votes apiece (Rick Devens also received two votes but he negated them with his immunity idol). Ozzy, believing he was safe, spilled his entire game to Aubry Bracco, and it came back to bite him as he went home unanimously with an idol in his pocket.
Read on for our full exit interviews with Emily and Ozzy, in which the fan-favorite castaways separately reveal Rizo Velovic might be in danger. Emily claims she had the “least-developed relationship” with him and probably would have written his name down if she was in the other group. Ozzy, meanwhile, declares that Rizo “f–ked up” for going against Cirie’s plans.
Gold Derby: Your move to use Rick’s idol as a smokescreen to vote out Cirie was absolutely genius. It would have worked 99% of the time, too, if not for her extra vote. What went through your mind when Jeff was all of a sudden reading a sixth vote?
Emily: To be honest, I don’t know if it would have worked. I’d like to dream that it would have, but I went into that tribal council thinking to myself, “This is pretty unlikely. I think I’m probably going home.” I’m so thankful that Rick is willing to take this chance with me because if this does work, this could be a game-winning move for myself or him. This would change the tides of the game. But the moment Jeff goes, “One vote left,” I obviously knew that I was going home. This whole plan hinged on Cirie being silly enough to split the votes, and she basically invented the split-vote. She would have had to have a pretty big oversight to allow that to happen, and I was just relying on maybe her having an off day, which, does Cirie have off days? It doesn’t seem like it.
So Cirie kept this advantage a secret? Nobody knew she had the extra vote?
Emily: I certainly didn’t. I don’t think Devens did either. When I’m watching the show back, it seems like she’s sharing some of that extra vote [knowledge] with the people that she is closer allied with. But I was unaware of it. If I had known about the extra vote, I would have probably tried to come up with a different plan, ’cause it obviously wouldn’t have worked.
You did survive more tribal councils than anybody else this season. Do you have any lasting scars from all of those trips to tribal council?
Emily: You know, a girl loves tribal, what can I say? Actually, I think I have more fun playing Survivor when I’m playing from the bottom, as opposed to from a power position. The good thing about going to tribal so many times, as much as you don’t want to risk getting voted off, is you figure out where people’s allegiances really are. It was part of the reason why I felt like I was able to build up that relationship with Ozzy. I know it ultimately went nowhere, but we had gone to tribal so many times. In any other scenario, if we hadn’t gone to tribal, we would have never even tried to work together. It’s thankful in a sense that you figure out where people stand pretty early on. You have to put your money where your mouth is at tribal and going can be an asset — but I wouldn’t recommend doing it every single time. Sometimes it’s fun to skip, believe it or not.
Speaking of Ozzy, he also went home because of the “Power Broker” twist. Let’s pretend you were in the other group. Who would you have voted for between Aubry, Joe [Hunter], Ozzy, or Rizo?
Emily: That’s such an interesting question, and to be honest, I hadn’t really thought about it. This is gonna sound crazy, but this is just how stupid and chaotic and messy my game was. I was still trying to work with Ozzy. I don’t know if I would have wanted Ozzy to go home, although I would have really enjoyed flushing the idol, because the idol was stressing me out. I maybe would have pushed for Rizo, simply because I had the least-developed relationship with him. I know that sounds surprising, but I did have a relationship with Joe from our early days at Cila that I had been trying to nurture. So, maybe I would have gone there.
Rizo had an idol, too, so that would have gotten rid of him and flushed the idol.
Emily: Yeah, actually, in hindsight, honestly, with all the idols, maybe we just would have voted out Aubry. I have no idea.
Fans online are wondering, are there idol searches in the jungles? We’re not really seeing it a lot on TV, but are you guys out there looking?
Emily: Yes, definitely. I guess to this point, nothing’s come of the idol searches, which is maybe why people aren’t seeing it on the edit. But there’s always talk about idols. Devens was at the bottom, and he is this notorious person known for collecting idols. There’s always a watchful eye anytime somebody who was perceived to be on the bottom started to go off on their own.
Tell us about working with Rick Devens. You guys wanted to play this “unhinged” game, and did you plan on taking him to the end?
Emily: I don’t know if we wanted to play an unhinged game. I don’t know if I got that deep in my thought process about taking him to the end. In my mind, I didn’t want to betray my allies because I did feel like, if the votes are gonna turn against us, they were largely bigger targets than I was. So, if somebody’s gonna vote against Emily and Rick, who are you gonna vote off: somebody like Rick who has a way better resumé to win, or somebody like me who has been kind of a disaster? It was hard for me to imagine a scenario at Final 3 where I would have the votes to win. I do not think I would have won against Rick, though, even with all the shenanigans and the antics.
It seemed like early in the game, anytime somebody told you a secret, you went and spoiled it to other people. Do you regret any of those decisions?
Emily: Every single one of them! Virtually every single one. The only one I don’t regret is when I had a very genuine conversation with Angelina [Keeley]. Not all of that was shown. I spilled the beans to Angelina about the other tribe turning on her. I didn’t have to do that, and I felt like that actually improved outcomes for me and my allies, so I don’t necessarily regret that. Everything else I regret. It was not calculated, it was not strategic, it was quite literally just verbal processing. My mouth started to talk before my brain could even catch up, and it was such a hindrance to my allies in this game. I’m so embarrassed by the way that I played that.
Is there a Day 21 curse? You were out on Day 21 last time and now you’re out on it again.
Emily: I figured I was probably going home and I love to call attention to the fact that I was gonna get voted off on the same day I was on 45. I’m really bad at math, we’ve established that, but I think I’ve got 7th out of 18 on 45, and then 9th out of 24 on 50. It’s almost the exact percentage. I guess I just cap out at this percentage. If you’re not gonna win Survivor, it’s a great day to get voted off ’cause you’ve got to play a full game, three weeks, plenty of time to starve. But you get to go back to Ponderosa, you get to eat, you get to decompress with all the people who were voted off, and talk a little bit of crap about everybody who’s still on the island.
On Season 45 there was this meme of you sipping wine that’s gone viral. There was no wine on this season!
Emily: I wish I had a wine glass here. I love this question because this is the most relevant question in my mind. We’re sitting at the auction and I’m trying to hold onto my money. I’m like, “Where’s the margarita? Where’s the wine? Where’s the alcohol?” At some point we’re coming to the realization, there’s no alcohol in this auction, and that’s when it occurred to a lot of people that we were probably gonna be going to a challenge right afterwards. You can’t have the unfair swaying of having a giant margarita and not having eaten for three weeks, and now I’m gonna go do a balance challenge. So I was bummed. I have more commentary about the lack of wine on this season than I do anything else. That’s deeply concerning. At the Chinese food reward at the merge, Ozzy did manage to convince Jeff to allow us to have beer, and then I was like, “Wait, Jeff, if he gets beer, can I get some wine?” And Jeff was like, “No wine, just beer.” So no wine for me. It’s all right. I drank plenty when I got home, I promise.
Did you at least have a beer?
Emily: No, I actually don’t like beer. [laughs] I had lots of soda though. The soda was great.
Gold Derby: Hi Ozzy, how are you doing?
Ozzy: You know, I’m good. I’ve become really good at losing millions of dollars. Let’s see, this is $6 million I’ve lost now. Pretty awesome.
Let’s look on the bright side. You have played this so much, you’re a fan favorite. I think you’ve played 149 days now — is that your total?
Ozzy: I have no idea. And I’m gonna trust you on that, because I lost track at, like, 100.
How would you sum up this Survivor 50 experience?
Ozzy: It was a dream come true. I played my heart out. I played the best game I’ve ever played. Unfortunately, I got caught up in a trap of my own doing. I just am so lucky, so honored, and so grateful that I’ve struck a nerve with so many fans, and that people have resonated with me for 20 years and allowed me to have the adventure of a lifetime over and over and over again. It’s been a wild ride, and I love every second of it.
In the first episode, Genevieve [Mushaluk] found a boomerang idol, and she decided to send it to you because you had a history of going home with idols in your pockets. Is there anything you’d like to say to Genevieve today?
Ozzy: Oh, I just wanna say thank you, babe. I really appreciate what you did for me. I think she had the best intentions, and it could have worked out in her favor if the game had progressed a little bit differently. I think it was a very smart move. I’m honored that she sent it to me. I guess the foreshadowing came true.
Did you at least get to take it home with you?
Ozzy: We’ll see. I’m trying to get that. At least, I hope it gets me backstage at a Billie Eilish concert.
So many alliances on this show crumble, but it seemed like you and Cirie were the real deal. Why was that?
Ozzy: ‘Cause we’re old-school players, honestly. I think that the new era gets caught up in making these big moves, and making alliances that they’re willing to backstab, and jumping from alliance to alliance. Listen, at the end of the day, Cirie’s a legend, and we have bonded in other games. Being lucky enough to be on the same starting beach together, and then me having that extra vote, is what solidified our relationship for the duration of the game. It paid off not only for myself. I got further than I ever expected to get in this game. I was on the chopping block so many times, and Cirie saved my butt. Finally, I got to come through for her, and the extra vote that I won saved her butt last night.
If you were in that other group during this “Power Broker” twist and you could only vote for Cirie, Emily, Rick, or Tiffany [Ervin], who would you have voted for?
Ozzy: Emily, hands down. No ifs, ands, or buts — Emily’s going home. One of my biggest mistakes is not voting Emily out when Mike White wanted to, many, many votes ago. Huge mistake on my part. It ended up being what sent Mike home. He’s a dear friend of mine. I feel it maybe strained our relationship. I’ve known Mike for over a decade, before he was even on Survivor. I really screwed that one up. That’s probably one of my biggest regrets, besides not playing the idol.
Do you have a plane ticket booked to the French Riviera [where the fourth season of Mike’s The White Lotus is filming]?
Ozzy: I have not heard about that. My chances of getting on there went when Mike got voted out and got backstabbed by Christian, unfortunately. But it’s OK. Mike knows I love him. I don’t care about White Lotus. I would love to be on it, but I’d rather maintain our friendship.
Rizo could have warned you that the votes were coming your way and to play your idol, but he didn’t. Anything you’d like to say to Rizo?
Ozzy: I think you f–ked up, bro! I’m sorry, I don’t know if I can use that word. But I think you messed up, Rizo. Here’s the thing: when you cross Cirie, does that ever work out for anybody? I don’t know if it’s gonna. We had a good thing going, and I really think that the three of us sitting together in Final 3 would have been poetic justice for Survivor. If you think that making a big move is gonna be the only thing that secures your win, you’re wrong. I’m just sad that I trusted him when my intuition was telling me not to.
What is it about Survivor that allows people to be so vulnerable? You had this really emotional moment with Rick on the beach, speaking about your late father.
Ozzy: There are so many factors, but part of it, very simply, is you have no distraction. All of your distractions are stripped away. You’re out there, you’re raw, you have nothing to do, you only have each other to pass the time. When we got our family letters, I didn’t want my letters at all, ’cause I felt like it was gonna distract me, and it kind of did. But those moments of connection with your fellow castmates, you cherish for life.
How do you and Coach [Benjamin Wade] stand today, because he stole that key from you and then he tried to play the honorable game.
Ozzy: Coach and I are great. He’s an amazing man, he’s hilarious, he’s so full [of life], he has so many stories. There’s just so much about coach that is amazing. He is a larger-than-life character, and he said it himself: “There’s no one like Coach.” We’re good. We’ve had a chance to mend our relationship a little bit. We both have held onto a lot of things over the years, and I don’t feel like I was trying to get him back for anything. At the end of the day, I didn’t think I could really trust him to go further in the game. Coach is an awesome dude.
Only seven players remain on the island. Tune in every Wednesday on CBS to see who’s voted out next on Survivor 50.
These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.