Now that Savannah The Savage is off the Cila beach, the six remaining Tribe members were worried about a Tribe Swap as we kicked off episode three of Season 50. With a swap potentially inbound, Christian and Rick, after planting a fake idol to perfection as soon as Tribal Council came to a conclusion, come up with a plan to tell their alliance members in Cirie and Emily about the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol and that Aubry was the beneficiary of Christian’s find. Their plan is for Rick -- the idol guy -- to be the one that found it, so Cirie and Emily buy the story. The boys are able to tell Cirie, but they can’t get a private moment with Emily before the time comes to head to what they think will be a reward challenge. 

The inability to not tell Emily comes into play immediately, as at the mat, when Jeff Probst says it’s time to swap, Christian whispers into Emily’s ear that Aubry has an idol. In a confessional on her new Vatu Tribe, Emily is confused why Christian would tell her this at that time. However, before we get to the fallout from that situation, let’s meet the new Tribes:

  • Cila: Rick, Cirie, Rizo, Charlie, Jonathan, Kamillia, Dee
  • Vatu: Q, Angelina, Stephanie, Emily, Ozzy, Christian, Mike White
  • Kalo: Tiffany, Coach, Chrissy, Aubry, Colby, Joe, Genevieve

On paper, the Kalo Tribe, in my humble opinion, looks to be the weakest Tribe here while Cila has Jonathan; there’s nothing else to add. Vatu has the most interesting dynamics, and that came true during the course of this episode.

Thinking she needs to build trust with Q, Emily tells him and Stephanie about Aubry’s idol. In a confessional, Q says this confirms what his alliance thought before going through her bag, so now he can trust Emily FLIPpin, with the spelling of Emily’s last name intentional here because she immediately FLIPS on Q and Stephanie and tells Christian what just happened. Christian realizes now what he must do: Team with Emily and his other David vs Goliath castmates in Angelina and Mike White to have a majority. Emily realizes this, too, as she talks to Angelina one-on-one, letting her know of Q and Stephanie’s plan to vote her out. In one of her only confessionals so far this season, Angelina tells the audience that Emily is the first person in the game that hasn’t lied to her. Drama indeed and everything we hoped for in this monumental season.

As Q would say, Rizo, also known as R-I-Z-G-O-D RIZGOD BABY, seemingly makes a BIG MISTAKE when in front of his new Tribe, he asks Charlie if he talks to Maria. Charlie says they haven’t had a conversation since right before the finale of Season 46 aired. 

It looks like Rizo and Charlie are starting to form a bond, but we see a throwback from the night before where Rizo says Sophi was his No. 1 in Survivor 49, and she made the Final 3, but that Rizo tells the group he voted for Savannah. In a confessional, Charlie says he is having flashbacks to Maria with that gameplay, and that he will not be backstabbed again. 

We also see Jonathan and Dee continue to bond, as they want to put a focus on Cirie. Dee tells us that her friends told her that if she’s on the same beach as Cirie, she must vote her out as soon as possible. From my perspective, the combination of Jonathan’s strength and Dee’s brains could be a combo that could cause damage if they make the right moves.

On the new Kalo Tribe, Genevieve is trying to make connections quickly, as she lost almost all of her alliance in the swap. She tells Tiffany she does not trust Aubry and gives the backstory of her and Aubry’s confrontation in episode one. Tiffany then tells Aubry she wants to work with her and their focus should be on eliminating Genevieve. The boys of Colby, Joe, and Coach form an alliance to play with integrity. Coach also tells Chrissy she was being too chatty on the old Kalo Tribe, and we see an emotional confessional from Chrissy where she says she knows she was not liked the last time she played the game during the Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers season, and she wants to change.

The immunity challenge this week is the blindfold challenge. The callers for each team are Kamillia (Cila), Christian (Vatu), and Chrissy (Kalo). Winners got chickens for food while second place received a smaller amount of chickens. Cila finished first, followed by Kalo, sending Vatu to Tribal.

As for who’s going home, the initial debate was between Stephanie and Angelina. Knowing he does not have a vote, Q says in a confessional he believes he has Stephanie, Emily, and Christian to vote for Angelina, but he tells Mike White to vote for him, so the vote can go 3-2-1 Angelina. That is music to Mike White’s ears, who devises this plan to vote out Q anyway. Christian and Angelina are on board, so it comes down to Ozzy and Emily, who after wanting to eliminate Ozzy early on at Cila, Emily now wants to work with. Ozzy tells Emily he does not want to do Q at Tribal and would rather do Stephanie to keep the Tribe strong, but ultimately, Q is eliminated with a 5-1 vote and Ozzy takes the credit for it!

Survivor 50 through three episodes has lived up to the hype. This episode was all about camp life, strategies, decisions, and alliances more than challenges but losing Q hurts this writer, as he is one of my favorite players. I thought he was in a great position going into this episode, but the Tribe Swap -- which I do think is overdone in the New Era -- left him for dead without his vote. He trusted Emily FLIPpin too much, and Flippin set herself up for long-term success in the game.

We have seen so many iconic moments already this season, but we did miss out on interactions between Kyle and Joe, Savannah and Rizo, and now Q and Tiffany/Charlie. Q is a big loss for television purposes. 

Grade: A