After Survivor 49 premiered, it didn't take long for the season to become a surprise hit. There are many reasons for the season's success, including the fact that it features several remarkable players.
Based on the reactions to Survivor 49 so far, there is little doubt that many fans have become very invested in Rizo "Rizgod" Velovic more than the season's other players. At first blush, seeing that Rizo has become so popular with fans seems like it is only a fantastic thing for the show. While that may seem like it should obviously be true, Rizo's extreme popularity also points to a huge problem with how Survivor 49 was promoted.
Rizo Velovic's popularity exposes a major problem Survivor's promotion
In May 2025, the "first look" trailer for Survivor 49 was released. That trailer was meant to give the reality show's devoted fans reasons to anticipate the next season's premiere in September. However, once the trailer was released, it seemed like virtually all of Survivor's fans who watched the clip were focused on a quote that the trailer featured that was uttered by Rizo Velovic.
"My name is Rizzo, but I go by the man, the myth, the legend, R-I-Z-G-O-D, Rizgod baby!," Rizo said in his intro video and season trailer.
In response to that moment, many Survivor fans had very negative reactions to Rizo. Based on the seconds-long clip of Rizo making that statement, many viewers assumed that he would be an obnoxious presence during Survivor 49. Given how important first impressions can be, it makes perfect sense that viewers reacted that way.
During the Survivor 49 premiere, viewers got an entirely new impression of who Rizo is. While the Survivor 49 standout still had a huge personality, he has come across as incredibly sweet and genuine during the season so far. As a result, Rizo went from being written off as obnoxious to being extremely popular once viewers actually saw him on the show.
Looking back at how things played out, it is staggering that a player as lovable as Rizo came across in such a negative way during the first look trailer. That fact points to a major problem with Survivor's promotional team. That said, I don't think that the problem with the trailer was created by the people who put it together. Instead, I blame the situation that Survivor's promotional team was presented with.
Since Survivor's "new era" began, seasons of the show haven't stood apart from each other in any way other than the individual people who were chosen to compete.
After all, the seasons have all been filmed in the same location and there haven't been any themes. As a result, the only thing that Survivor's promotional team can do when they put together the first look trailer is edit together clips of the season's players saying outrageous things.
I think that the way to fix the problem with Survivor's promotional team is simple, give them something unique about each season to promote. Get back to Survivor having unique themes and season names that aren't just the show's title followed by the season's number.
It is also time for the reality show to embrace having returning players more regularly again, while still making sure not to overdo it. In short, Survivor's promotional team needs to be given things to promote.