When the cast for Survivor 50 was announced and I discovered Aubry Bracco would be returning yet again to play, my first thought was about how badly I would love to see her win! I’ve been rooting for Aubry ever since we met her on the brains tribe in Survivor: Kaoh Rong. And then every time she’s returned, it’s been on one of my favorite seasons—which likely are my favorite seasons in large part because of her involvement.
So I can’t wait to see how she adapts her game this time around to work with both the new era and old school players as she navigates the unknown fan-voted twists of the season.
Aubry’s Quick Stats
Survivor Career:
- Survivor: Kaoh Rong (2nd Place)
- Survivor: Game Changers (5th Place)
- Survivor: Edge of Extinction (16th Place)
Total Days Played: 111 days
Total Votes Against: 21 votes
Individual Immunity Challenges Won: 1
Individual Reward Challenges Won: 1
Immunity Idols Played: 0
- An immunity idol was played on her at the only Tribal Council in history to eliminate a player by default due to there being no other eligible option.
- Additionally, she was blindsided with an idol in her possession that she found.
Advantages Played: 0
- She was blindsided with an extra vote in her possession that was gifted to her by Rick Devens from the Edge of Extinction.
Survivor: Kaoh Rong
Aubry had a rough start to the game on the Chan Loh (“Brains”) tribe. Suffering from anxiety and generally overwhelmed by the whole experience, Aubry was nearly ready to quit in the first couple of days. But some encouraging words from her tribemates and claiming the first immunity win of the season with the final challenge puzzle, things started to turn around for her.
She bonded closely with Neal Gottlieb and the two aligned with Liz Markham and Peter Baggenstos. But after finally losing the third immunity of the season, she learned that the two had been plotting against her and Neal when Debbie Wanner leaked the info and recruited them to join her and Joe del Campo to blindside Liz that evening.
A tribe swap on day 12 separated Aubry from her closest ally Neal, moving her to the Gondol tribe with Joe and Peter. After losing immunity, they decided it’d be best to vote out Anna Khait to prevent the Beauties from securing a tribe majority, as Julia Sokolowski would take the place of that night’s eliminated player after being exiled for the evening due to odd numbers.
They won the next reward, but lost immunity, sending them back to Tribal Council where the Gondol alliance tried to get Aubry to flip and vote out Peter. Joe was adamant she keep tribal lines despite Peter previously going against both of them. That night, Aubry wrote down Julia’s name, but famously crossed it out and changed her vote to Peter. This upset Joe and created tension between the two, but also caused the Gondol alliance to not trust her as she seemed indecisive. They vowed to get rid of her or Joe next, but thankfully the next day brought the merge.
Aubry was reunited with her closest allies, Neal and Debbie, but Debbie’s tactic of bullying the Beauties to align with the Brains outcasted the entire bunch and put a target on Aubry and Neal’s back. When she lost immunity, she knew she would likely be voted out, but instead, Neal was evacuated from the game due to a knee infection. While she was saved from the vote, she was upset to lose her closest ally—and especially bummed that he’d left the game without leaving her his hidden immunity idol.
Thankfully, Cydney Gillon grew tired of the Brawn alliance’s actions and decided to form a women’s alliance, which gave Aubry new life in the game. She strategically led back-to-back blindsides, including one against her own ally Debbie after she discovered her freely sharing information to people outside their alliance.
Aubry soon formed a relationship with Tai Trang, which became extremely beneficial when Tai withheld his part of a Super Idol, helping Aubry blindside his former Brawn allies and Julia in back-to-back-to-back Tribal Councils.
At Final Five, the only other Brain remaining, Joe, was medically evacuated from the game after indulging too much on meat during a reward. This made Aubry’s relationship with Tai even more crucial as Cydney was clearly bonding with Beauty Michele Fitzgerald. Michele won Final Four immunity and was gunning for Aubry to go next, but with Tai’s help, Aubry was able to force a tie between herself and Cydney. The two competed in a fire-making tiebreaker in which Aubry was victorious.
In a new twist, the Final Three competed in a reward challenge where the winner would be able to remove a juror’s ability to vote. Michele won and took away Neal’s vote—one of the two votes Aubry felt was guaranteed to come her way.
While Aubry defended herself at Final Tribal Council as a major strategist for the season, the jurors felt her social connections with them were lacking and her challenge performance was not on par with Michele’s. Aubry received votes from Joe and Nick, but ultimately lost to Michele in a 5-2-0 final vote.
Survivor: Game Changers
Returning two seasons later, Aubry started on the Mana tribe which lost the first immunity challenge. After the first elimination, she pulled together Tony Vlachos, Malcolm Freberg, Caleb Reynolds, and Sandra Diaz-Twine to create an alliance of players others had already placed huge targets on. But the alliance didn’t even make it through one vote as Tony grew paranoid that Sandra was plotting against him—which actually put the idea in Sandra’s head and manifested itself when she led a blindside against him at the next Tribal Council.
Aubry also received votes that night and found herself on the bottom, but luckily a tribe swap the next day saved her when she was placed on a majority former Mana, new Nuku tribe. But the next Tribal Council put all castaways on the chopping block and Aubry’s ally Malcolm was blindsided.
Still on the outs with her tribemates, she tried to work with J.T. Thomas, the odd former Nuku member on her new Nuku tribe. But the other former Mana’s chose to stay strong and send him home, solidifying Aubry’s place on the bottom. Thankfully, new Nuku went on an immunity streak which sent her through to the merge.
She immediately formed strong bonds with Andrea Boehlke and Zeke Smith, and it became clear at the first merged Tribal Council that Brad Culpepper and Sierra Dawn Thomas planned to be the leaders of the game. After Ozzy Lusth was blindsided, Aubry chose to align with Cirie Fields, Michaela Bradshaw, and Sarah Lacina to eliminate Brad and Sierra’s alliance. This included blindsiding her former Koah Rong tribe mate Debbie Wanner—for a second time.
After Aubry won her first-ever individual immunity challenge, her closest ally Andrea was blindsided, effectively sending Aubry back to the bottom of the tribe. There, she reconnected with her fellow Kaoh Rong finalist Tai Trang, who saved her at the infamous Tribal Council—after he played immunity idols on both Aubry and himself—where Cirie was eliminated by default as the only person not immune.
Unfortunately, the very next day, Tai decided Aubry was too big of a jury threat and when she didn’t win immunity, he and the other remaining castaways unanimously voted her out, becoming the 9th member of the jury.
At Final Tribal Council, Aubry voted alongside the majority to award Sarah the $1 million and title of Sole Survivor in a 7-3-0 victory over Brad.
Survivor: Edge of Extinction
One of four returning players of the season, Aubry and Joe Anglim began the game on Kama, where their seven other tribe mates were heavily against their involvement in the game. Right off the bat, the majority planned to target Aubry, choosing to keep Joe as a shield. Even as Aubry tried to bond with her tribemates, they assumed her social attempts were fake.
The only player who was open to them was Aurora McCreary, whom the other players also chose to exile. But as Kama won the first three immunity challenges, all three outsiders were kept safe. On top of this, Aubry found the Kama beach’s hidden immunity idol.
A tribe switch on day 9 moved Aubry to the Manu tribe alongside a majority of her original Kama members and only one original Manu—Wendy Diaz. Aubry hoped the Manu would target Wendy over her, as the new outsider, while she gathered information on the old Manu members from her new potential ally.
The tribe won the next immunity challenge, but lost the following one and she mysteriously found an extra vote in her bag—secretly gifted to her by Rick Devens from the unknown Edge of Extinction. With her immunity idol and extra vote, she attempted to blindside one of the Kama men, but Wendy was hesitant to commit to anything, which led Aubry to change course and target her instead.
But that night at Tribal Council, Aubry was blindsided by the entire tribe with an idol and an extra vote in her pocket. After getting her torch snuffed, she was given the chance to stay in the game, which she called a “no brainer,” grabbing a new torch and heading to the Edge of Extinction.
Aubry spent four days on the Edge of Extinction before the first re-entry challenge at the merge. She lost to Rick Devens, but was given a choice to return to the Edge to wait for a second chance to earn a spot back in the game. She stayed there for another 18 days, where she found two advantages—one giving her a chance to practice for the second re-entry challenge and one allowing her to gift an extra vote to a player still in the game, which she gave to Aurora.
Every player who chose to remain on the Edge—who didn’t ultimately earn a spot back in the game—would be named a jury member and so Aubry and all other Edge castaways would sit on the jury and watch in at every Tribal Council while they waited for their second re-entry challenge.
Finally, on day 35, Aubry competed against ten other players for a chance back in the game, unfortunately losing to Chris Underwood. Though she was the 5th player eliminated, she was officially named the 2nd jury member, and at Final Tribal Council she voted for Chris to win over two of her former Kama tribe mates, which he did by a large majority.
Survivor 50 Predictions: How far will Aubry go?
The reason Aubry came in second on her first season was because the jury felt she was lacking the right social game. And the reason she was blindsided right before getting to the end of her second season was because she improved her social game and her tribe mates felt she was a jury threat. After her third shot, she declared that the reason she failed so early on was because she knows how to play from the bottom, but not the top.
It’s clear Aubry is able to learn from every game she plays and figure out how to adapt to better play next time because at the end of the day, Aubry will never quit Survivor. She is one of the most determined players we’ve ever had the privilege of watching in this game and I think this is her redemption season to take everything she’s learned over the last three seasons and bring them all together to play strategically, socially, and from any point of power. She knows how to win it all and now’s her chance to prove it!
Aubry Bracco Survivor 50 Player Score
Aubry is one of those players who started strong and stayed strong with every return season. Even when she was voted out fifth in Edge of Extinction, she fought in Survivor limbo for a chance to get back in the game. She never stopped playing for a second. All three seasons, she’s been on the island ‘til the very last episode, which isn’t common. She’s already an icon and she’s ready to prove to you just how much more iconic she can be.
Outwit (Social Game): 8/15
Outplay (Physical Game): 5/15
Outlast (Strategic Game): 14/15
Wildcard Factor: 5/5
Total Player Score: 32/50
Aubry is specifically the reason why I’m most anxious for this season to begin. I just want to know how she does! Luckily, we don’t have to wait much longer since Survivor 50 premieres Wednesday, February 25 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount +!