Jenna Lewis reveals the true puppet master of Survivor 50

Survivor 50: In The Hands of The Fans is fully underway, and it truly began with a bang. During the three-hour premiere episode, we lost two returning players who were giving it their all to survive another day in the game.

While Kyle Fraser’s medical evacuation was straightforward after we saw him getting injured, the first elimination was anything but.

Jenna Lewis-Dougherty became part of Survivor’s history all the way back in 2000 during Survivor: Borneo. While the game was in its infancy, Lewis-Dougherty demonstrated grit and tenacity out of the gate, which led to her being cast a few years later on Survivor: All-Stars, the first returnee season.

While on All-Stars, Lewis-Dougherty showed she wasn’t scared to play, and she would get out of her way anyone who stood in her path to get the sole Survivor crown. Lewis-Dougherty had control of the game until the final three, where she was ultimately voted out by Survivor power couple Rob “Boston Rob” Mariano and Amber Brkich, the latter who ended up winning the season.

Almost 20 years later, Lewis-Dougherty got her third chance to play Survivor once more, and while it’s almost an entirely different game from the one she was used to, that didn’t deter her in the slightest. Having kept up with the game throughout the years, Lewis-Dougherty knew what she was getting into as she knew how fast-paced Survivor had become, but that she was ready to play it that way to accomplish her goals.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what got Lewis-Dougherty into trouble during the first few days on the beach, as her tribemates saw her as unreliable because of her gameplay. The final nail in the coffin for Lewis-Dougherty was her wanting to target the Survivor legend and six-time player (5 in Survivor US and 1 in Australian Survivor), Cirie Fields. After her tribe lost immunity, Lewis-Dougherty ended up being the season’s first boot after a unanimous vote, and while the edit was apparently pretty straightforward in showing how this came to happen, Lewis-Dougherty revealed this wasn’t factual at all.

Jenna claimed Christian Hubicki actually targeted Cirie first

During an exit interview with writer Mike Bloom for Parade, Lewis-Dougherty was asked how she ended up targeting Fields. Lewis-Dougherty disclosed that another contestant was the one who got the ball rolling against Fields, and it was none other than Christian Hubicki from Survivor: David vs Goliath. Hubicki is well-known for his extreme intellect and strategic gameplay, becoming a fan favourite ever since his debut on season 37.

In the interview, Lewis-Dougherty said that on day 1, she and Hubicki were talking about who the biggest threat to their tribe was. Hubicki then went to sit next to Fields to denote it was her, and when he got back, Lewis-Dougherty agreed due to Fields’ reputation.

As Hubicki expressed, if they didn’t vote out Fields now, it would be harder down the line. Lewis-Dougherty agreed to target Fields, as she also considered the latter a challenge liability. Lewis-Dougherty said, “So Christian did a lot of that...That was all Christian.”

Lewis-Dougherty then added that Hubicki sent Rick Devens to do his dirty work, as Devens was shown in the episode telling Fields that Lewis-Dougherty was targeting her.

Lewis-Dougherty also shared feeling alienated from her tribe, as several had personal connections outside the game, for instance, Hubicki, Devens, and Emily Flappen. Lewis-Dougherty only knew Colby Donaldson, but since Donaldson was in another tribe, Lewis-Dougherty knew she was on the outside, as she could see duos and trios forming that didn’t include her.

Lastly, Lewis-Dougherty said she wasn’t playing faster or harder than anyone else on the beach, and that it was “BS” for them to consider her overplaying when they were all doing the same thing. Lewis-Dougherty’s castmate from all the way back to Borneo, Gervase Peterson, added his personal thoughts on his Twitter account.

Watch the new episodes of Survivor 50 on Wednesdays on CBS and Paramount+!