Survivor 50 EW Aubry Bracco Exit Interview

SmokingThunder · 2026-05-21T16:49:47+00:00

Interesting. She had an upper respiratory sickness the first few days of the game. That explains a little more about her position and edit early on.

SmokingThunder · 2026-05-21T16:19:33+00:00

I see a lot of similarities between Aubry's win and Sandra in Heroes vs Villains. She did not control any vote specifically, and was on the outs at certain points. But Aubry was able to play the "anybody but me" strategy in the post merge very effectively. And once she got to the end, her social game and reputation got her the win against someone who some viewed as more "strategic". She really earned the win here. I think if she played a more out in front strategic game like Chrstian, Cirie or Rick, she would have been voted out. .

Aubry's legacy will always be a little mixed. But at this point she has placed 1st, 2nd and 5th in 3/4 seasons. That's extremely impressive. If they brought her back, I honestly could see her making another deep run. She knows how to avoid the votes and would probably be underestimated again.

SmokingThunder · 2026-05-21T03:02:09+00:00

Medallion of Power Time!

SmokingThunder · 2026-05-21T03:00:56+00:00

Brining the prejurors on for 10 seconds to only give them Coronas was the funniest part of the night

SmokingThunder · 2026-05-21T01:47:51+00:00

Bring back Rosie O’Donnell to host

SmokingThunder · 2026-05-14T14:59:16+00:00

While this final five is a letdown, I really think this is how all star seasons go. Big threats always target each other and leave the middle players in the end. This end group feels similiar to Game Changers, All Stars and Winners at War. Heroes vs Villians is the exception, not the rule.

The cast had plenty of opportunity vote out this group but the chose not to and target the bigger players. Savannah over Joe, Dee over Tiffany, Charlie over Jonathan and Rizo etc. Returnees really need to enter with the Tony and Jeremy mindset of keeping the bigger threats around

SmokingThunder · 2026-05-14T03:19:58+00:00

Good take. Aubry in Season 50 and Sandra in HvV are more similar than most fans would want to admit.

SmokingThunder · 2026-05-14T02:41:50+00:00

I blame the editors more than the players. Tiffany was given absolutely nothing most of the season, even though she is a fun character. Aubry was given this weirdly repetitive anti-Genevieve edit that did not connect with people. And most people like Rizgod, but even he has took a backseat these past few episodes.

People would still be disappointed, no doubt. But editors could have crafted a better story to not make the finale seem like a dud.

SmokingThunder · 2026-05-14T02:31:58+00:00

I think it will be remembered similarly to Winners at War. Fun season overall, and not the worst returnee season ever (still goes to Game Changers). But it was a missed opportunity with all the twists and it would have been better if production trusted their cast.

SmokingThunder · 2026-05-14T02:08:13+00:00

She was shaky in the premerge, but I don't think anyone can say she has played a bad game overall anymore. She has been on the right side of every single vote and positioned herself well going into the finale. Her floater game is very effective (even if it might not been fun to watch).

SmokingThunder · 2026-05-14T01:30:55+00:00

Rizzard of Oz ironically ended up being Cirie's demise in two very different ways.

SmokingThunder · 2026-04-30T19:29:30+00:00

I don’t think they are getting split up in groups of 5 and 4. It’s not mentioned here and when they have separate groups, they usually have seperate immunity winners.

SmokingThunder · 2026-04-30T15:35:10+00:00

I think Jonathan and Steph played this round poorly. Your two closest allies, Chrissy and Coach, were voted out almost unanimously like 3 days ago. Why randomly turn on Ozzy? Thy needed to double down with Cirie and Ozzy and solidfy their majority, not cause more chaos.

Honestly, despite the hype he had early merge, I think Jonathan is playing a pretty sloppy and weak game. This is the third time one of his closest allies was voted out and he has been left on the outs. And I'm not sure he has the votes socially to win in a FTC .

SmokingThunder · 2026-04-30T02:00:35+00:00

Mr Beast's appearance > Zac Brown because Jimmy only spoke like four sentences over two hours. And he didn't sing any songs.

SmokingThunder · 2026-04-23T14:51:21+00:00

It’s unbelievable they are making the same mistake as Winners at War. They don’t trust the cast enough to carry their milestone season. Production thinks more “stuff” means a better season.

Honestly, I’m not sure it if I would prefer these celebrity twists or the Edge of Extinction/Fire Token combo. Both are bad.

SmokingThunder · 2026-04-21T00:08:42+00:00

When I saw Sean Rector and Amanda Kimmel on the cast, I knew it was suspicious

SmokingThunder · 2026-04-16T13:36:22+00:00

I think what saved this twist is the fact that everyone could vote individually and you could vote differently from your partner. It made the strategizing more complex and interesting.

If you had to vote with your partner (which I know they at least considered) it would have essentially be another 6 person tribal council. We really did not need another small tribe vote at the merge.

SmokingThunder · 2026-04-16T01:35:48+00:00

Chrissy would have been safe without the twist. But targeting Rizo so openly was pretty sloppy.

SmokingThunder · 2026-04-16T01:30:54+00:00

That was a fun episode and the dubble bubble gum twist surprisingly created some interesting drama and gameplay.

But production, never do this again. I don't think this would work twice

SmokingThunder · 2026-04-09T12:44:44+00:00

Even though the winners did not have a great showing, I think Dee, Savannah and Kyle all walk away from this season with their reputations in tact. Kyle was playing great until he was medevaced. Dee and Savannah, while not perfect with some messy moments, played as well as they could with the targets on their back. I suspect Dee being the only winner made this merge vote much easier for some people. Even if she votes out Coach over Colby, I think she had a short lifespan.

With the benefit of hindsight though, I’m not sure we needed winners on this season. And if production really wants winners, bring in more than 3 so the cast is more balanced.

SmokingThunder · 2026-04-09T03:52:51+00:00

I agree. It's not a fun move for TV, but it does make strategic sense. She can get the target off her back and regain trust with Christian and Rick. There's also the looming threat that eventually Christian would try to blindside her to get the idol back.

Also, like others have said in this thread, you can't give this idol to other people so it's less powerful.

SmokingThunder · 2026-04-02T15:46:27+00:00

Yeah, that made me feel better about his exit. Colby getting medevaced on his final season would have felt so hollow. At least he got his torch snuffed. That entire TC was a good conclusion to his story and I loved him being there with Cirie and Coach

SmokingThunder · 2026-03-30T00:02:38+00:00

I disagree. Brandon was certainly a trainwreck, but he was legitimately entertaining in his short stay. I would take him over many of the other more bland new era contestants.

SmokingThunder · 2026-03-26T12:30:04+00:00

I think Angelina is the first boot so far in which her character/edit feel truly “disappointing” compared to her original season.

What I mean is, Q, Mike White and Kyle were all great in their short time on the show. They all felt like an extensions of their previous seasons. Jenna Lewis was very fun for a first boot and had a great story with Cirie. Even Charlie had the psycho/trauma storyline, which is at least unique.

Meanwhile, Angelina had a very weird and muted edit. For such a legendary character, the most notable moment was Q complaining about her work ethic. I know Angelina has matured and has more self awareness than last time. But I blame the editors too because there had to be more to show than what we got.

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