When we first met Ozzy Lusth in Survivor: Cook Islands, we were amazed by his challenge prowess, survival skills, and social strategy. He definitely had the skills to outwit and outplay, but he just barely missed the outlast mark by one jury vote, landing him in second place for the season next to Yul Kwon.
He's since come back to the game three times, and with each return, he's been noted as a threat to people's social game, as he's good at building strong, loyal relationships with others. And, of course, as a physical threat, he has the power to continuously hold the immunity necklace and stay in the game. He's also well known for finding hidden immunity idols. All of that led to many blindsides.
Since Cook Islands, Ozzy's straightforward, honest style of social gameplay ended on the jury
In both Survivor: Micronesia and Survivor: Game Changers, when he played against other returning players, he was able to keep to the middle of the pack, making the merge but then becoming the second jury member in both seasons. His third time out, in Survivor: South Pacific, he was on a tribe with all new players and found himself faced with a different trajectory.
With Redemption Island in play and his tribe losing the immunity challenge right before the suspected merge, Ozzy crafted a plan to vote himself out, so he could eliminate a member of the opposite tribe who was currently at Redemption Island. In good will, he gave his hidden immunity idol to John Cochran, making him promise to give it back to Ozzy upon his return in the following day's merge. The plan went as expected; he won Redemption Island and was returned to the game in the merge.
Ozzy won the next immunity challenge, but the vote that night didn't go as planned when Cochran flipped. After Ozzy ripped him a new one for going against their tribe alliance and breaking his trust, Cochran aimed his target at Ozzy, and without the following immunity necklace, Ozzy was sent back to Redemption Island. He still made it to the Final Four, however, by winning every single challenge—six in a row—and earning his way back into the game, though he lost the final immunity challenge and got voted out of the game before making it to Final Tribal Council.
On a season with all returning players in a relationship-focused era, Ozzy's gameplay might be exactly what it takes to win Survivor 50.
Over the years, the game has shifted, and as of recent seasons, it's starting to look like what was previously Ozzy's greatest downfall in the game might be valued among his fellow tribe mates in this new era: a loyal game based on trust and respect with a backbone of physical strength in challenges and contributing to a better camp life. This is the type of player that has been kept around long-term in recent seasons.
Most notably, I could compare Ozzy's style to Survivor 41's Xander Hastings, Survivor 45's Hunter McKnight, or even Survivor 48's Joe Hunter, who is also returning for season 50. And with Joe playing alongside two of his former tribe mates, he's going to need a strong, loyal ally to protect him, as he'll likely be an early threat due to his season's relevance. Joe and Ozzy together would be unstoppable. But in the end, Ozzy is a more strategic player than Joe, and he'd likely be able to claim the title based on the moves and countermoves he established.
So maybe the fifth time is the charm for Ozzy, and fans are about to see him finally walk away with $1 million. Or maybe history will repeat itself and Ozzy will once again find himself the second member of the jury on a season of returning players. We'll have to wait until February to find out.
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