Survivor 50 is themed “In the Hands of the Fans,” and in episode 4, one of those fans was none other than country music star, Zac Brown. And while the remaining players in the game seemed more than receptive to the idea of battling in the season’s most grueling challenge yet for the chance to spend an afternoon eating fish and rice with him at the sanctuary, not everyone on the other side of the tv screen agreed.
Most fans shared their feelings for the episode via ratings, but the biggest fans of the show—being the past players who have experienced it first-hand—had a lot to say in a different way.
Over on the Survivor channel of the ChatBCC app, some of our favorite past contestants live reacted to the episode as they have been all season. And as soon as the reward was announced, the commentary started going off even harder than usual.
“Omar Zaheer (8:17pm ET): As soon as I find out the reward is country music I’m throwing”
“Savannah [Louie] (8:18pm ET): Jeff trying to find any opportunity to sing fr”
“Christian Hubicki (8:18pm ET): I thought he was Kenny Rogers”
“[Sandra Diaz Twine] (8:18pm ET): he’s one of the biggest in country music. I haven’t a clue who he is. But I know Bad Bunny is.”
If you weren’t already on the side of the fans that feel Christian deserves an Oscar for his performance this season, you probably are now. Every single player at the challenge arena was so excited when Zac walked out, yet most of the players in the chat didn’t even know who he was, even with host Jeff Probst’s expansive introduction.
To be honest, since the whole season’s an homage to the history of the show, I’m surprised we didn’t get an encore performance of the infamous Survivor 48 fried chicken and waffles dance in honor of Zac’s song “Chicken Fried,” which was playing when the winners arrived at the sanctuary.
And when Coach Wade referred to the reward as probably the best in Survivor history—but like, remember when you could win a car?—the past players felt it only right to look back down memory and list some of the actual best rewards in the show’s history.
“Maryanne Oketch (8:35pm ET): I think the Great Wall of China beats Zach Brown Band for rewards Coach but power to you”
“Rachel Lamont (8:35pm ET): Palau jellyfish?!?!?”
“Owen Knight (8:35pm ET): Soft serve machine Cook Islands”
“Kelley Wentworth (8:40pm ET): In the history is maybe a lie”
Of course, the cherry on top of the reward was a mini jam session where Zac brought out his guitar after dinner and performed for our castaways who were all very emotional. During one of his many confessionals, Zac shared one thing the players are stranded without is music and music feeds the soul, which is why this moment is so important.
And while it’s a beautiful sentiment, the chat was going off with some pretty hilarious commentary regarding the extensive emotional shots and the full length song features.
“Brandon Donlon (8:47pm ET): Coach is crying bc he promised Ben Katzman he wouldn’t listen to anyone else’s music.”
“Drew Basile (8:47pm ET): If they play a second song I’m turning it off"
"Drew Basile (8:47pm ET): Ok see u guys”
“Carolyn [Wiger] (8:48pm ET): Joe really loving this”
“Kevin [Leung] (8:50pm ET): If Zach brown took this long imagine when Mr beast comes everyone gird your loins”
I didn’t even think about the fact that this is only one of the known celebrity appearances this season. And looking back to the Survivor-themed episode of Beast Games, Jeff was there for basically the entire length of the show. Will the same be true for Mr. Beast, Jimmy Donaldson?
We don’t know when that episode is set, but I assume they’ll give us a little bit of breathing room between appearances. Plus, I previously predicted that the Mr. Beast twist will likely happen in tandem with the Survivor auction, which means we’ll be at least a couple episodes into the merge by then.
Either way, I can’t wait to see what our past players have to say next Wednesday, March 25 when they go live with the next episode of Survivor 50 at 8 p.m, ET.