Spoilers ahead for Episode 11 of “Survivor 50!”
Jury management may be a key component to a winning “Survivor” game, but for Jungle Boy Man Ozzy Lusth, it was also a big factor that led to an absolutely heartbreaking blindside.
After the tribes were split into two for yet another double elimination, Ozzy thought he was safe being grouped with Joe, Rizo, Aubry, and challenge winner Jonathan. So safe that he then unraveled his entire playbook to Aubry, who then ran to the others and squealed on Ozzy’s tight-knit connection to Cirie, Cirie’s extra vote, and more. Since Jonathan, Rizo, and Joe now knew that they were not a part of Ozzy’s endgame, they concocted a plan to make him feel safe so that he wouldn’t play his immunity idol. The idol was not played, and Ozzy was sent packing by a 4-1 vote. (Read our full recap here.)
Below, Ozzy talks to TVLine about his big blunder (and best moves) of Season 50, why he was fine to lose to Cirie, and the lessons he’s taking away from his five seasons on the show.
TVLINE | Ozzy, on your way out of the game, you said you couldn’t explain how painful your blindside was, but I’m going to ask you to do just that: What did it feel like in the moment?
OZZY LUSTH | Oh, out of body experience, man. It was really tough, but I only have myself to blame. I told myself I was gonna play the idol all day. I said I was gonna play the idol. I told Aubry my plans like I was gonna play the idol… and then I didn’t play the idol. So I walked right into that trap, and really, I’m the only one to blame.
TVLINE | You said you had a dream about getting voted out with the idol in your pocket. Did that dream haunt you at all after you left the game?
Yeah, so the dream, it was wild. Usually, whenever I’m playing “Survivor,” I’m the guy who’s keeping the fire going all night. Every season I’ve ever played, I’m sleeping next to the fire. I don’t let the fire go out, so I just woke up. It was almost like lucid dreaming, I just startled awake and I was at Ponderosa, and Stephanie and Coach were there and they were like, “What are you doing here?” And then I woke up, and I was like, “Oh my God, I just had a really horrible dream,” and I told everybody at camp. I told everybody about my dream. I’m open like that. And then sure enough, didn’t do well on the challenge, and then the tribe split happens, and there’s two Tribal Councils, and I tell Aubry my plans, and I’m still like, “I’ve got the idol. I’m gonna play the idol,” and then in the last moment, I listened to this voice in my head instead of listening to the voice in my heart. Instead of intuition I went with the calculation, and the calculation was wrong.
TVLINE | You laid out your entire game plan to Aubry with hopes that it would translate to jury management. Why didn’t you think that she’d try to use that against you?
No, I figured that she would use that against me, but I also figured that I was gonna play the idol, and that there would be a vote for me coming from her once I sent her home. Again, it would have been a masterful plan if I had just played the idol. Then I could have shown the sort of development of a game, and again, I would have been relying on having to win immunity, but I also was confident in my alliance with Rizo, Cirie, and Tiffany at that point. If I had played that idol, man, the game would have unrolled in a much different way.
