The most pure test of a Survivor player is as a rookie playing against an all-rookie cast. Survivor was originally intended to be played by complete strangers testing their social and strategic skills on completely level playing field.

But the second-best test of a Survivor player is in a cast of all-returning players. I always find it interesting to see what kind of adjustments players make the second time around. Do they know what went right or wrong the first time? Does a returning winner know what mistakes they got away with the first time? Are they better able to handle Probst’s questioning? Can they take advantage of knowing the mechanics of the Production crew like paying closer attention to whatever the cameras spend extra time filming, knowing what it means when some players are pulled away for more confessionals than others?

While this season has a mix of two-time, three-time, four-time and even five-time players (with Cirie and Ozzy) these players don’t exactly have an equal level of experience. If you haven’t made adjustments by your third time, you’re probably not gonna figure it out (like Coach). For that reason, I’m just gonna focus on this season’s two-time players. Who is playing better or worse than the first time around? Who is playing the same? What adjustments (if any) did they make? Have those adjustments helped or hurt their game?

Of those who’ve already been voted out, I don’t think any of them played noticeably better than they did the first time around, so I’ll jump straight to my second category.

Played about the same

Kyle secured some early partners and was part of a majority alliance early on. Then he got medevaced. Who knows if his status as a winner would get him clipped early, but he was off to an encouraging start even if he had next to zero chance of winning.

Mike White simply got complacent. He probably assumed he wouldn’t be in danger early because several castmates would want to be on The White Lotus. He may have felt more comfortable when the swap reunited him with his S37: David vs Goliath castmates/ friends Christian and Angelina. While he was right in assuming Angelina wouldn’t betray him, he never figured Christian was motivated by making sure Mike didn’t outwit him again. Mike blindsided Q in similar fashion to how he removed four players in DvG. He created a reason for others to fear them. I have no doubt Mike would have gone after Christian again this season. Christian just pulled the trigger first.

Angelina seemed more concerned with rehabilitating her TV image than with playing a game good enough to win. She had no idea she’d fallen to the bottom of her original tribe until Emily filled her in after the swap. Then she depended on her friendships with Mike White and Christian to keep her safe. It would have been tough for Angelina to play worse than she did the first time. Instead, she chose not to play much at all. In both efforts, Angelina had no idea how her tribemates perceived her.

Kamilla was justifiably upset when she saw Kyle in the cast. She knew her S48 partnership with Kyle was fresh in everyone’s minds, and she’d be a top target because of it. But that danger was removed when Kyle was medevaced. Kamilla started off well, securing allies in Dee, Tiffany and Jonathan, but not with Coach, Chrissy or Mike White. Chrissy was an early target for Kamilla, but her allies couldn’t convince Jonathan to help throw a challenge so they could vote Chrissy out. After a swap, Kamilla still had Jonathan’s support but lost it when she left him out of the blindside on Charlie. Whatever damage control she tried with Jonathan failed because Jonathan chose to blindside Kamilla at Chrissy’s request. Kamilla was in a no-win situation because if she’d included Jonathan, there’s little doubt he’d have warned Charlie. If Kamilla believed she could still work with Charlie, it might have been smarter to vote Rizo out. I suspect Rizo or Dee convinced her to boot Charlie.

In Chrissy’s first season she rode an Immunity streak into the finals and lost to Ben. She joined alliances with several men, but alienated every woman in the cast, all of whom made negative comments about her. She also fought with Ben and Joe Mena. This season she initially aligned with Jonathan and Coach while shunning and annoying Dee, Kamilla and Tiffany. They even wanted to throw a challenge so they could vote Chrissy out. On her swapped tribe, she and Coach aligned with Joe and Colby, who brought Genevieve with him. Chrissy agreed to Genevieve’s request to target Aubry, but their tribe didn’t lose Immunity. At the merge, Chrissy’s five-person team included Kamilla, Tiffany, Jonathan and Stephenie. Chrissy caught a break when her first trip to Tribal Council came right after Kamilla left Jonathan out of the vote to blindside Charlie. Chrissy asked him to remove Kamilla and the freshly angered Jonathan agreed. Chrissy only developed a relationship with one of the six potential female jurors. She didn’t make much of an attempt to connect with Rizo, Christian, Devens or Ozzy, even though she believed Ozzy was in her alliance. Chrissy didn’t make any adjustments to her social game at all, especially with the women. Right after the swap, Coach (of all people) had to tell her to calm down because she was annoying people. Chrissy was described as a control freak in both of her seasons. Considering she had the most time of all the second-time players to reflect on her mistakes, she did the least to avoid repeating them.

Played worse

Savannah made a few early blunders. First, she chose the wrong alliance, siding with Jenna and targeting Cirie, only to change her mind after others knew which side she’d picked. Then she volunteered to go on a Journey and told a weak lie about getting an Advantage. She didn’t do herself any favors and this time didn’t have the protection/threat of Rizo’s Idol to keep votes away from her. She took a step back, but as a former winner, had little chance anyway. Q also made the mistake of volunteering to compete for tribe supplies against Ozzy and Coach. Then he shot off a foot by letting Ozzy talk him into giving up his vote for a pot and machete. That left Q helpless when Mike White blindsided him.

As a rookie, Charlie did a great job of blending in. He made several allies and didn’t anger anyone. He gave himself several options. He started this season having solid pregame relationships with Coach, Tiffany and Dee. But apparently, he tried too hard to conceal them because something went sour that caused Dee to call him “the dumbest player here.” Charlie spent a lot of time with Coach and Jonathan pre-swap and Jonathan post-swap, which was enough for Dee and Kamilla to lose confidence in him. Charlie also unnecessarily interrogated Rizo about who knew about the Billie Eilish Idol. This alarmed Rizo, who sought different partners in Dee, Cirie and Kamilla, who all helped blindside Charlie. Charlie needed to nurture his pregame relationships better. It appears he just assumed they’d remain solid, and he could influence how they’d vote. But instead, he let Rizo take his allies.

Genevieve didn’t secure reliable allies the first time around, partnering with the volatile Rome (alienating Sol and Teeny early on) and the unreliable Andy later. But this season, instead of focusing on choosing stronger allies, she over-corrected and tried to align with everyone. We saw her making pitches to everyone on her original and swapped tribes except Angelina and Rizo. Her enthusiasm rubbed Aubry the wrong way before the swap and Tiffany after the swap. The unintended result was that several made Genevieve their default target when they aligned with Aubry. Sure, Genevieve had some bad luck in finding two Idols she couldn’t use herself, then falling on the bad side of a random rock draw for teams. But the risk of those events could have been minimized if she’d taken a more subtle approach and/or paid better attention to who Aubry was connecting with.

It’s harsh to say Dee played worse, but remember as a rookie, she played one of the three best games of Survivor ever. It was unreasonable to expect her to play better or even match her stellar rookie effort. Dee made the best of an unwinnable situation. She knew she was one of only three winners in the cast and was seen as the best New Era winner. Her days were numbered before the game began. She made several reliable allies in Kamilla, Tiffany, Cirie and Rizo. She even had Coach, Charlie and Jonathan with her for a while. She also sniffed out Charlie’s move to get closer to Jonathan. But she made mistakes she never came close to making as a rookie. Dee should never have let Jonathan bait her into having such a public fight. She also should have known Emily couldn’t be trusted with information. Out of everyone else in this cast Dee knew about Emily’s tendency to blurt out damaging information because she saw it firsthand in Survivor 45. With proper perspective, we can see Dee didn’t take a full step back, it was more like a toe back, even if it was Dee’s unusually large toe.

That covers everyone who has been voted out so far. Now to the remaining players.

Playing better

Christian has without a doubt made the best adjustments. The first time around, he got labeled as “The puzzle guy.” He knew he had to be likable but overdid it. Mike White convinced most that Christian was unbeatable. Christian eventually compiled 18 votes against him. Before this season began, he discussed his goal of controlling the narrative, saying “I won’t let Mike White make people afraid of me. I’m gonna make people afraid of him.” He said he’d remove those least susceptible to “narrative warfare” first. That’s exactly what he’s done. He labeled Jenna as too aggressive and removed her. He turned the tables on Mike White and got him blindsided. Then he further reduced the target on his back by removing Angelina, his other S37 castmate. He even convinced Devens to remove his choice Genevieve instead of Joe. If Aubry figures out her Billie Eilish Idol would go to whoever gave it to her, she’ll get upset at Devens instead of Christian. Devens is currently getting the heat for finding an Idol instead of Christian too. The only player we’ve seen describing Christian as a threat has been Coach, and he did it while in the middle of a credibility-destroying meltdown. Now that Coach is on the Jury, Christian should welcome Coach’s description. Christian played very well as a rookie. He’s playing even better this time around. He has positioned himself to win, and nobody seems to know it yet. Not even Cirie. His name hasn’t been written down yet this season. He’s articulate and intelligent enough to own his entire game at Final Tribal Council.

Devens has been the biggest surprise to me so far. The first time around, he initially played the middle, only getting close to David Wright. He was blindsided and was voted out fourth overall, then won his way back into the game at the merge. He still had trouble securing allies, but finding four Idols and winning four Immunity Challenges helped him make a deep run. Most in the pregame this season listed Devens as someone they were very wary of. His rookie Idol shenanigans and challenge wins seemed certain to make him an early target. But Devens has proven to be much better at earning trust quickly and securing partners (Christian, Emily, Cirie, Rizo, Aubry) than the first time. He has only had conflict with Joe, and they seem to have smoothed things over, voting together against Genevieve. Devens also secured Jonathan’s trust after the swap. Jonathan in turn vouched for Devens to Coach at the merge. The only mistakes I’ve seen Devens making so far (aside from fighting with Joe) was allowing Christian to talk him into taking credit for giving the Boomerang Idol to Aubry. We don’t yet know if she knows all the rules about that Idol, but if/when she does, she’ll be upset at Devens for trying to set her up instead of Christian. Otherwise, the adjustments Devens has made have unquestionably been good ones.

Playing about the same

Joe’s rookie effort was a rollercoaster of emotions. He spent most of the season believing he was driving strategic decisions and was the favorite to win due in part, to his dedication to honesty. He was shocked when fellow finalists Kyle and Eva told him how they’d fooled him about their professions all game long. His shock was doubled when he learned Kyle and Kamilla concealed their partnership from him too. Joe hasn’t figured out why he lost Survivor 48, and he’s still worried about being fooled so easily again. As a result, he hasn’t made any adjustments. The only person Joe appeared to trust completely was Coach, who promised to be Joe’s #1 ride or die. Joe never even suspected Coach made the same promise to Colby, Jonathan and Chrissy. Joe knows he isn’t running the show but doesn’t seem to know how to improve his position. But if he gets to the finals with those who’ve alienated their jurors (Jonathan, maybe Devens) he could pull out a win, even if he can’t explain how he got to the end.

Jonathan has had plenty of time to reflect on his rookie effort, which wasn’t bad at all. He played a strong pre-merge social game, which helped reduce his threat level as the most physically intimidating-looking player in the cast. But post-merge, his desire to control things caused several fights with his allies. He lost the fire challenge to Mike Turner but had a fighting chance of winning against Maryanne and Romeo. For this season, Jonathan got advice on how to improve his game from a five-time player. Unfortunately, that player was Boston Rob, who hasn’t made a positive adjustment in any of his seasons and has angered other players every time. Getting into a public fight with the first juror Dee and Devens at this last Tribal Council was unquestionably a step in the wrong direction. Voting for Aubry and Rick when it was clear Coach and Chrissy was leaving won’t help him either. It’s next to impossible to do damage control at Final Tribal Council. He’s probably go no shot at Dee’s jury vote. He may have thrown votes away from Tiffany and Devens too.

It’s unreasonable to expect Rizo to make any changes since he had a whopping nine days to figure out why he didn’t reach the finals in Survivor 49. That’s just not enough time to absorb the reasons why Sophi B. didn’t want him in the finals, or why his jurors didn’t seem to prioritize removing him. Just the same, his ability to earn trust so far has been impressive. After initially labeling him as annoying, lazy and a liability, just a few days later, Colby later embraced Rizo and vowed to help him however he could. Rizo has been acting like a starstruck rookie eager to blindly follow these veterans, but he’s not playing like a follower. He saw through Charlie’s attempt to deceive him, then promptly outwitted and outplayed Charlie by earning more trust from Dee and Cirie. He has earned Cirie’s confidence to the point where she made him one of her #1s. Rizo earned enough trust from Emily that she saw no problem telling Rizo she found out about his Idol from Dee. He let Coach believe he was a loyal member of the “integrity” alliance, eager to replace Colby. The only questions I have are the same ones I had last season. How does he plan on beating his intended finals partners? Last time it was Sophi B. and Savannah. This time it’s Cirie and Ozzy. Will he know how to take them out if he has to? Does he know if his jurors are taking him seriously?

There’s not much to talk about with Tiffany because we haven’t seen much of her game. Last time her downfall was telling her allies Q and Kenzie she had an Idol. When that news spread, she got blindsided with it. This season, we were told (not shown) she aligned with Dee and Kamilla and targeted Chrissy. We saw her and Aubry become #1s, but we also know she didn’t position herself well with anyone else on her original or swapped tribes. Last week, Tiffany said Dee was her #1, so maybe she’s had multiple finals deals in place. Everyone knew Tiffany was the backup for any attempt to blindside Aubry. This hints she’s not quite as good at earning trust this time as last time. While she’s Aubry’s #1, she hasn’t become close partners with anyone else, but she made good progress with Joe last week. Joe went from writing Tiffany’s name down to asking her how to vote this time. That’s impressive. Nobody except Aubry (and maybe Joe) appears willing to fight to keep Tiffany around, so she could easily find herself as the “safe vote” that comes before a power-shifting blindside. There’s still room for Tiffany to improve but she’s gonna need more than Aubry to do it.

Playing worse

As a rookie, Emily started off as a trainwreck, almost getting herself voted out first overall because her spontaneous burst of honest opinions created instant enemies. But she took Kaleb’s advice and changed her approach. She started gaining allies and controlling her verbal impulses but was eventually taken out by Dee who noticed she was gaining influence. This season, she started with solid pregame allies in Christian and Dee. After initially targeting Ozzy at two votes, she ended up aligning with him and his partner Cirie. She also sat as the 3rd in a trio with Christian and Devens. But unfortunately, Emily hasn’t learned how to manage the information her allies give her. She has been slowly and unintentionally chipping away at the improvements they’ve been making in their games by blurting out information they didn’t want to be public. Emily still doesn’t seem to realize when she’s making mistakes. The more people find out how sloppy Emily has been playing, the less likely they’ll want her to win this milestone season. Emily needs a huge dose of self-awareness. Otherwise, she’ll play herself into a juror or a zero-vote goat. There’s already one juror (Dee) who knows how costly Emily’s mistakes can be. However, Just like Joe, Emily could win if she’s sitting next to two players who’ve alienated a majority of the jurors.

Can Christian and Devens continue their steady improvements? Will Emily blurt something out that will kill the winning chances for both of them? Can any of those who’ve been playing about the same recognize now is the time to do something differently? Has Jonathan already played himself into an unwinnable position? Can Rizo continue to keep his threat level low? Will any of these 2nd timers realize how much they’re helping Cirie? Let’s find out.

And away we go…

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Hmm ... why are we seeing Christian lying to Jonathan saying “I’m voting for Devens” in the “previously on” segment?

Devens is gloating a lot in confessional. That’s a bad look.

Joe is upset Devens didn’t tell him about his Idol? Does Joe know how this game works? Does he really think everyone is obligated to give up all their information?

Devens tells Emily his Idol is a phony? I’ll say it again, it will take about five minutes for Emily to spill that info.

Stephenie – “I’m gonna babyface them to death, then I’m gonna slit all their throats.” It sounds like jury-alienating Stephenie from S11: Guatemala is coming back.

Rizo is right. Devens’ grandstanding takes the heat off of Ozzy and Rizo’s Idols.

Cirie: “If Devens has an Idol, we need a backup person in case he plays that Idol.” I wonder if Cirie is gonna make a move against Christian?

But now we can add Cirie to the list of players who’ve uttered the Survivor death phrase “I think I’m in a good spot.”

Jonathan thinks he can pull Ozzy in with Joe and Stephenie? As Queen Sandra says, “I don’t know about thaaaaaat.”

Aubry knows she needs to distance herself from Devens. Too bad Chrissy didn’t realize that about Coach. But pitching Jonathan might be jumping off of one sinking ship to get on another sinking ship. I’ve been saying it all season: “Get with Cirie!”

They keep showing closeups of this iguana. It pisses me off. No, not because I have an unreasonable hatred of iguanas. It’s because each season’s Ponderosa videos would start and end with a shot of an Iguana. I really miss those videos.

Joe tells Devens “I would tell you if I was gonna vote for you.” In preseason, I said Joe needed to lie to improve his game. I should have told him to come up with good lies. No Joe, that’s NOT growth.

Christian tells Jonathan he’ll surrender his Shot in the Dark. But Ozzy asked for it. Jonathan didn’t. I don’t think this was a good idea.

And sure enough, now Jonathan is thinking of going after Christian. But at least Christian sees it coming. This could be his biggest test this season. He knows he just put a target on himself. He should have let Devens stay in the spotlight. Unforced error by Christian.

Jonathan thinks Christian should shoot straight? Does Jonathan know how this game works?

Wait, Christian is thinking of going after Ozzy? And he’s telling Cirie? He just gave Cirie a reason to want him out. I think Christian just sealed his fate. If Cirie wants Christian gone, Christian is gonna be gone. That’s another unforced error, but this one wasn’t as bad as the other one. There’s no reasonable way for Christian to know how close Cirie and Ozzy ave been playing.

Damn, and I just wrote a long intro about how Christian was playing so much better this time around. Oh well. This is why I don’t make predictions.

We’ve seen this challenge in S25: Philippines, S27: BvW, S30: Worlds Apart, and Survivor 43, 46, 47, and 48.

This rice challenge would be more interesting if there were something bigger on the line than rice. Maybe you get Immunity if you outlast Probst. Then again, Probst could just drop out when it’s just him, Ozzy, Joe and Jonathan left. He could guarantee his alpha male favorites could be safe. How do we know how much weight Probst has to hold?

I think Rizo dropped out so he can be the host. Rome Cooney is pissed off.

I admit it. I loved the flashback of Probst mocking Garrett Adelstein during the S28: Cagayan challenge “One of the worst performances in the history of Survivor.” J’Tia unjustly took the blame for that loss, but Garrett sent two chests full of puzzle pieces spilling all over that obstacle course, then the wheel he put on their cart fell off.

Probst is milking this for all it’s worth with the Gabler schtick.

Joe wins it, preventing Ozzy from the Immunity Challenge record ... for now.

Joe has to send someone on a Journey. He actually does a smart thing and lets everyone else decide with Rock, Paper, Scissors. Joe came up with a smart plan right on the spot. I’m impressed. He avoided the heat he could get by picking the wrong person.

I’m not sure if it was a good idea for Christian to go on this Journey. He could lose his vote. His poopy pants are still stained too.

Emily is pissing off Cirie about how much rice to cook. Emily, what’s the point? Don’t you remember how Lisa got herself voted out in S9: Vanuatu for doing the same thing? Lisa told Ami “I’d like to know where the manioc is just in case ... you know.” Ami concluded Lisa was gonna blindside her, so she blindsided Lisa instead.

Look at Devens turning into S49 Rizo with his “I’m gonna play my Idol“ threats.

Rizo to Jonathan “Christian is the most dangerous player here.” Jonathan thinks he’s setting up Christian’s removal, but he doesn’t know that Cirie is the one who can make it happen.

It looks like Christian is doing the same challenge Rachel did in Survivor 47.

It’s the same setup but a different puzzle. Rachel had to rearrange different colored balls.

All Christian can get is an Extra Vote? This Journey wasn’t worth the risk at all.

I’ll say the same thing I said when Rachel did her puzzle. Who has to pull that puzzle contraption back up from the ocean floor?

Wow, the “puzzle guy” failed on a puzzle. I think it took Christian’s game with it. This is the biggest test he’ll ever face. He’s a fool if he surrenders his Shot in the Dark now.

FWAP!!!! This was the biggest FWAP!!! of the season. It doesn’t matter what Emily blurts out now.

Christian has to vote for himself??? Bye Christian.

This Jimmy Fallon twist sucks, but Christian brought it upon himself. He never should have offered up his Shot In The Dark ... or gotten on the boat.

In confessional, Jonathan thinks he took out Kamilla and Dee. What would Queen Sandra say? How embarrassed will he be when he finds out how those votes really went down?

Wait, Emily wants Ozzy gone again? FWAP!!! When she keeps targeting those who are trusting her, how the hell is she gonna get any jury votes? Has she thought of that at all?

Tiffany thinks it’s smarter to boot Emily. Unforced error by Emily ... again.

Rizo is the voice of common sense. He knows it should be Christian. Once again, I think it’s coming down to whoever Cirie wants gone.

This is the Tribal Council of unforced errors. Christian, Emily and Devens are all guilty. Has a 3-person alliance imploded so quickly before?

Christian re-lives his failure at Tribal Council. But I’m glad he pointed the blame straight at Probst instead of “the fans.”

And Emily promptly puts Christian’s jury vote at risk by saying “My sympathy for Christian is limited. Nobody was holding a gun to Christian’s head saying ‘You should volunteer to do this.’ She’s right, but you don’t say that out loud while Christian is there Emily! You say that to others in private about him if he survives this vote.

Christian is gone. At least his lone vote didn’t make the difference. His exit interview should be interesting.

Who did Cirie vote for? Who else voted for Ozzy?

Cirie voted for Christian. I don’t think she’s missed yet this season.

It’s interesting that Joe pushed so hard to boot Devens last week but voted for Christian this time.

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Recap

It’s tempting to credit Jonathan with removing Christian. But he was on the bottom entering this vote. If not for the “Fall on your sword” Jimmy Fallon twist, I don’t think he can get this done by himself.

It’s also tempting to credit Cirie with moving this vote. She’s got everybody’s ear. I’ll have to rewatch to see if she was the one who influenced the four who voted against him. It’s possible Rizo had a hand in this too. But if Cirie did the moving and shaking, why did Ozzy vote for Devens? Is he trying to fool Jonathan into thinking they’re still partners? Did Cirie tell Ozzy to vote for Devens for that very reason?

But my gut says this one was a rare case of a player getting themselves voted out. Jonathan doesn’t think of going after Christian without Christian offering to surrender his Shot In The Dark. There was just no justification for making that offer. I thought Christian was in the unenviable “too smart to compete against” category like Rob C. in S8: All-Stars, Yau-Man in S16: Micronesia, and Cirie in S20: Heroes vs Villains. But that’s not why anyone wanted him gone this time. I was totally wrong.

Just the same, I feel bad for Christian having to sit on this rage for almost a year. Now the question is which damaged duo takes the next hit? Emily & Devens or Stephenie & Jonathan? The jury as it stands now looks split to me. Dee and Christian are not likely to vote for the same person Coach and Chrissy will vote for.

With 10 players left, I think you have to look at which remaining players are on good terms with the most remaining players. The top three have to be Cirie, Ozzy & Rizo. Who have they angered? Coach and Chrissy don’t consider them “middle people,” and Dee and Christian were plotting with all of them (well, Dee didn’t plot with Ozzy, but you know where I’m going with this).

What do you think? Did Christian sink his own ship? Is Rizo playing a bigger role in the voting than we thought? Did Jonathan have a bigger voice in this vote than I thought? Is Emily unknowingly alienating jury votes? Why didn’t Ozzy vote with Cirie this time? Let me know in the comments.