We've officially reached the merge in Survivor 50. After eliminating three players and making history in episode 5, there are 14 players remaining in Survivor 50, but there are a few who seem to be in a much better spot to win the season than the rest of the players.
It's been wild watching 10 players get eliminated in six episodes, but we have another nine to be eliminated in the final five episodes of the season before the finale.
I put together a list of the six Survivor 50 players most likely to win this season immediately after the merge.
Rizo Velovic
Rizo Velovic is one of two players who benefited more from the Blood Moon twist than the rest of the group, along with Ozzy Lusth. He's also the only player in the game with an idol that almost no one knows about, thanks to Genevieve Mushaluk finding one and gifting it to Rizo with the plan to blindside him later.
Rizo is a target because few players know how he plays the game, but he's in the perfect position to go far. He seems relatively harmless compared to the bigger threats, yet he's not just someone everyone can forget about. He's making, what appears to be genuine connections, and even if that's not true, that's the edit Rizo is getting for the second season in a row.
I don't know, but something feels like the season has started to shift in Rizo's favor. With an idol and the courage to not play it safe, Rizo has what it takes to actually win Survivor 50.
Ozzy Lusth
Speaking of Ozzy, he's also put himself in a much better place to win Survivor 50 than at, pretty much, any point of the game so far. Obviously, Ozzy isn't the physical beast that he used to be, so I don't think he's going to rip off five immunity wins in a row or something like that. That also works in his favor, though, too. He's not an immediate target after the merge.
If Ozzy has made the changes in his game that I think that he has, there's a bigger chance that he's had in this game to make it to the end. He's back with Cirie Fields, hopefully, after the last episode, and hopefully, that connection ignites that fire we know Ozzy has.
He's going to need to keep his composure, though. We saw after Mike White was blindsided that the Ozzy we all have seen before in Survivor, where his emotions got the best of him for a minute, came out, and he almost marched himself out of the game because of how strongly he reacted. If he can keep it together, the game might open up for him.
Cirie Fields
The longer Cirie stays in the game, the bigger the problem she becomes for these other players. When Cirie didn't get voted out in the first episode, I knew these players were cooked. We have seen Cirie do this in Survivor so many times. She never loses her cool. She always adapts and works her angles and gets what she wants. It's mind-boggling how these players didn't see that happening.
Now, she has some of them wrapped around her finger, I think. I don't mean that in an insulting way, either. These are some of the greatest Survivor players we have ever seen, but Cirie is Cirie. If she needs Ozzy, Rizo, Dee Valladares, Jonathan Young, Joe Hunter, or any of these other players to do something, she's going to find a way to make it happen.
These players should have made their move on Cirie by now because she's more dangerous than she's ever been. She has connections. She has other players willing to put their neck out for her and give her advantages. This is starting to feel like this could be her season.
Christian Hubicki
Christian Hubicki has been the most interesting player of Survivor 50 so far. His antics (pooping his pants, falling at Tribal Council as a distraction) and his general reactions have been hilarious. He's gotten the best of the edit so far. He's also led some big blindsides early in the season with Mike White and Angelina Keeley.
Christian also seems like he's playing to win this season. That's hard to do when you have to vote as much as he has so far, but he still has a tight alliance, perhaps the best alliance left in the game. And, it just feels like this might be Christian's season.
Could he have peaked too early? It's possible, but we're going to find out soon!
Aubry Bracco
Aubry Bracco is a player I've had my eye on all season. I just think her style of gameplay has always been ahead of the curve in Survivor, and with a more open game, it seems like Aubry is finally in a good position to take control of the game. She was targeted early in the season, but she survived that test. Now, all of the people who have targeted her are gone, basically, and she still has an immunity idol.
Yes, everyone knows about it. Christian and Devens do have an interest in voting Aubry out because they get her idol, but that's going to be hard to do. Aubry has connections, and all she has to do is point to the Christian, Devens, and Emily trio as the biggest threat in the game right now, and she should be able to save herself.
Emily Flippen
Emily Flippen is playing an interesting game so far. It looks like she's about to have a panic attack before every Tribal Council, even when her alliance has a clear plan in place. She's spilled some very important information to players outside of her alliance, but it's unclear if she's actually that naive or if she's playing a much bigger game.
By seeming like she's a little bit paranoid, she definitely lowers her threat level because it makes her seem out of the loop. Angelina Keeley told Entertainment Weekly that Emily is actually the smartest player out in FIji and we just haven't seen that in the edit yet.
She even said Emily was the reason she was blindsided, not Christian.
"It was actually because ofEmily. And I think Emily is not getting enough credit at all by this edit either. I mean, this season is just like, what's going on? Emily was the smartest person on that beach. She was the best player on that beach. Christian who? Mike who? Emily is amazing. She can lie like no one's business. Literally, the woman should work for the CIA."
If Angelina is talking up Emily, it makes me wonder if there is something that we just haven't really seen yet.
There's no doubt that Emily is in a tight alliance with Christian and Devens. They are such big personalties that she should be insulated. Then, it's just a matter of dialing up the right moves, but I think Emily is in a great spot to actually win Survivor 50 because no one is expecting her to win.
We'll see how it all plays out in the coming weeks, but I think our winner of Survivor 50 is one of these six players.