While CBS and the Survivor team had been hard at work planning season 50 by the time Survivor 49 rolled around, there is one key step in the planning process that came down to the wire.
In deciding to leave room for a potential player or two from Survivor 49 to appear in the historic 50th season of Survivor, the casting team wasn’t able to actually finalize the Survivor 50 cast until just weeks before filming began. As host Jeff Probst revealed in an interview with Parade, the cast was not finalized until just hours after the Sole Survivor of season 49 was selected, with the cast being locked in after the Final 3.
“We didn’t decide on Rizo and Savannah until we had our Final Three. It was that late into 49 and that close to 50! And remember, it wasn’t a situation where we had to have players from 49 to fill out our roster for 50. We just made the decision to stay open to the idea throughout the shooting of 49, see how it all played out, and then decide.”
Not only were Savannah and Rizo added to the cast at the very last minute, but they also found out about the news just hours after their season ended. As Probst revealed, he extended the invite to join the season 50 cast the morning after the finale was filmed.
“We set up a Zoom the morning after the finale. They walked in, and I was waiting on the Zoom to invite them to be a part of our most historic season ever! We were so happy that they both said yes.”
After accepting the invitation, Rizo and Savannah had less than two weeks back home before they had to fly out to Fiji once again to begin filming on season 50. This tight turnaround could prove to be both advantageous and detrimental to their games.
On the downside, this didn’t give the pair much time to actually rest and recharge after playing in season 49, which could take a toll on their bodies and minds when playing in season 50. That short turnaround could also give them a unique edge over their competitors.
While some of these players haven’t played the game in years, Rizo and Savannah will both enter the game fresh out of their season. They likely won’t need much time to adjust to life on the beach, because that had been their normal just two weeks prior when they were out in Fiji competing in season 49. This could give them an advantage in that returning to the beach and to the world of Survivor won’t be as jarring as they literally have been in fight or flight mode already, navigating the game and trying to outlast their competition.
They also enter the season with a major advantage over the other players in that no one from season 50 had seen their season by the time production began on Survivor 50. This essentially gives them a blank slate as none of their competitors know how they played the game and what strategy they used. There are no expectations, which could allow them to repeat moves from season 49 that helped their game and go under the radar, since the rest of the cast won’t know their strengths and weaknesses.
It’s also possible that this will be what leads to their demise, as the others could see them as wildcards they need to eliminate early. After all, better the devil you know than the devil you don't know.