Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans, Episode 5 "Open Wounds" Gameplay Breakdown

 "I am starting Operation: Bad Blood."

-Rizo Velovic

My biggest takeaway from this episode is that Charlie needs a hug.  I hope he gets some therapy and takes a nice, long break from Survivor.  I really like the guy, so watching him break down at the end of the episode was hard to watch.  The gameplay and the drama of this episode were interesting and compelling, but this was a good reminder that these aren't characters, but people, and this show can take a toll.  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

Starting on the Cila tribe, Cirie, Dee, Kamilla, and Rizo all made smart moves in getting together to take out Charlie.  Dee and Cirie are massive threats due to their reputations and Rizo is such a question mark that it makes sense they would work together.  Threats protecting other threats.  And Kamilla went to the Final 4 in 48 with a bunch of athletes in Eva, Joe, and Kyle, so it makes sense that she would want to avoid working with Charlie and Jonathan.  I do think Rizo and Cirie may have given away too much information, but they all did a good job of working together to take out Charlie.

Over on Kalo, Coach and Aubry started a dialogue that may help both of them in the merge.  Coach and Tiffany also did incredible in the Immunity Challenge which led their tribe to a win.

Over on Vatu, Christian, Emily, and Stephenie all did their best to get back on Ozzy's good side and keep lines of communication open between all parties.  Christian had a harder time than the others, but he still said what needed to be said.  When he realized that Ozzy was still considering coming after him, Christian did what he had to do and handed over his Shot in the Dark.  He wasn't going to play it anyway, might as well use it for something.  Plus taking out Angelina was good for all three of them.

Who Sucked:

Back on Cila, Jonathan believed Dee and Kamilla were in his alliance, but it's clear he did a bad job of making them feel safe on his side.   If he had done better, maybe they wouldn't have flipped on him and taken out his closest ally on the tribe.

Devens made some inroads and got into an alliance!  Unfortunately, he ended up in the minority alliance. 

Back on Vula, Ozzy did some backsliding with his temper tantrum.  I don't blame him at all for wanting Christian out, but he needs to play it cooler.  He should have come back to camp and congratulated them on the move, but told them he would have 100 percent been on board with Mike going home.  He can plot to take out Christian all day long, but he can't do it to his face after a Tribal Council.  I also don't like that he asked Christian for his Shot in the Dark.  It wasn't a good look.  He was part of the group that took out Angelina, but I can see Christian no longer wanting to work with him after the merge.

We really didn't get enough from Chrissy, Colby, Genevieve, or Joe for me to say either way.

As for Angelina, she was in a tough spot after the Mike vote, but maybe she should have pressed harder on getting Ozzy and Stephenie to turn on Christian.  I think she may have been a little too passive after being blindsided.

As for Charlie, like Jonathan, he didn't do a good job of making Kamilla or Dee feel secure in their alliance, but he was also very clearly haunted by the events of Survivor 46.  He probably needed more time away from the show, but I get it.  You can't turn down Survivor 50.  Give it like 15 years and then maybe bring Charlie back if he wants to play again.  He projected his feelings towards Maria onto Rizo in a very bad way and it crushed his game.  

Verdict:

Since two people were eliminated in this episode, I'll give out two best and two worst players.  As a reminder, the eliminated players are not eligible for either Award.

Best Player Number 1 goes to Christian Hubicki for, at least temporarily, patching things up with Ozzy, handing over his Shot in the Dark to protect himself, and taking out Angelina.

Best Player Number 2 goes to Dee Valladares for getting so much info out of Rizo, without giving up any of her own, and taking out Charlie.  I think this group favors Dee more than Kamilla, which was the tie-breaker for those two.

Worst Player Number 1 goes to Jonathan Young for failing to keep Dee and Kamilla feeling safe in his alliance and losing his closest ally on the tribe.

Worst Player Number 2 goes to Ozzy Lusth for his temper tantrum and asking Christian for his Shot in the Dark. 

Merging at 17?!  That's exciting.  Who the hell knows how this is going to shake out.  I can't wait to see!