Survivor 50 is truly an elimination machine, as two other players were voted out during its latest episode, this time, due to a duo’s twist. First seen on Survivor South Africa: Immunity Island, the Tied Destinies twist on Survivor 50 had players pair up and bind their game fates to their partners.
This twist meant players would either win immunity for both of them, have mutual security if an idol or an advantage was played, survive the upcoming vote together, or be mutually eliminated from the game. The latter scenario was the ultimate fate for the pair of Chrissy Hofbeck and Benjamin “Coach” Wade, who then became the second and third jurors of the season, respectively.
Hofbeck originally played in Survivor’s 35th season, Survivor: Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers, where Hofbeck was a force to be reckoned with after winning four individual immunity challenges and being one of the season’s frontrunners to win. However, the infamous final four fire-making challenge twist was introduced during the season, which diminished Hofbeck’s chances of winning the sole Survivor title, which ultimately went to Ben Driebergen.
Hofbeck came back to Survivor 50 to prove that she could cut it to win in the end and managed to make it to the merge almost unscathed. Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, Hofbeck was unable to survive the Tied Destinies twist and was targeted by the majority after Rick Devens bluff of having an idol ensured Hofbeck’s and Wade’s demise.
Speaking to Mike Bloom for Parade, Hofbeck revealed she didn’t feel nervous regarding the twist as everyone’s target to eliminate was precisely Devens and his partner, Aubry Bracco, and their joint goal was for them to lose immunity. Things went awry for Hofbeck and Wade until they reached Tribal Council, and, thanks to Deven’s bluff, the old school alliance switched their votes to the majority to vote them out instead.
"But going into it, I think we really thought that everyone was voting for Rick and Aubry. Then Rick pulled that amazing move. And then all of a sudden, we went home. All of a sudden, Coach and I were voted out. So we did not talk about him playing the Shot in the Dark, because it didn’t even cross our minds that we were going to get voted for. I actually think I heard that Stepenie looked over at Coach and whispered, 'Play your Shot in the Dark.' So he did.”
Hofbeck started by telling Bloom that she initially wanted to shift the target to Rizo Velovic and Emily Flippen, as Velovic and she had been rubbing each other the wrong way since they met, but ultimately to no avail. Hofbeck says her dislike of Velovic stemmed mainly from his lack of work ethic around camp and his demeanor during the season, as Hofbeck says Velovic stated that doing work around camp wasn’t necessary.
"I actually didn’t want Rick and Aubry to go home; I enjoyed playing with both of them. And I did not enjoy playing with Rizo, and didn’t really have that much of a relationship with Emily, so I felt like the votes should go on Rizo and Emily."
Hofbeck then explained the original Kalo tribe dynamics, which influenced how Hofbeck was ultimately perceived throughout her time on Survivor 50. Hofbeck disclosed her closest ally was none other than the dragon slayer himself, and that Hofbeck’s nickname was the dragon whisperer, as she was the one who communicated best with Wade. Hofbeck also added that she told Wade to refrain from publicly announcing their tight bond, especially in front of the Hot Girls Summer alliance, which was what they called the friendship trio of Dee Valladares, Tiffany Nicole Ervin, and Kamilla Karthigesu.
As Hofbeck discussed her mistakes in the game, Bloom asked which one she considered her biggest one. Hofbeck replied that she believed her biggest mea culpa was assuming bonds and relationships instead of corroborating them herself. For instance, Hofbeck believed Stephenie had Cirie Fields’ trust and allegiance, rather than ensuring herself of where Fields actually stood. Hofbeck doesn’t blame Lagrossa but herself, as this was her own blind spot.
"And the flaw in my gameplay was I believed that, and went with that. I did have conversations with Ozzy and Ciri but certainly not enough — I guess, definitely not enough. But I just kind of figured Stephenie had them, so that was part of it. So the flaw was trusting that someone else had something that they didn’t."
Chrissy leaves #Survivor50 58% under-edited, which is the 48th most under-edited all-time (bottom 6%) and 4th lowest in the New Era.
— Rob's Fact Checker (@RobsFactChecker) April 16, 2026
The only players more under-edited in the New Era:
• Heather (S41): -71%
• Bruce (S44): -67%, who was only in episode 1.
• Chrissy (S48): -60% pic.twitter.com/M6hPSfRIHp
In addition, Bloom asked Hofbeck’s view on the season’s so far edit, as a few weeks back, Hofbeck, alongside Angelina Keeley, stirred the pot by exposing what they felt were production’s gender biases when it came to women’s edit on Survivor 50. Hofbeck responded that her comments on social media were based on statistical information regarding confessionals, airtime, etc, that each player received per episode, and there was an evident gender gap between men and women.
“For my edit, I got the smallest edit out of the entire cast”, Hofbeck stated, which is in fact true as she received the fewest confessionals out of the entire cast. “Personally, do I care? No. I really do wish that some of it [her gameplay] was out there, but the reality is, I went out there to play the game. I didn’t go out there to become an influencer.”
Hofbeck comments that she’s glad that viewers are seeing more of the season’s women’s gameplays, like those of Valladares, Ervin, and Flippen. Hofbeck also hopes this trend continues throughout the last weeks of the season and, lastly, thanks Fields for acknowledging her game by targeting her.
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