Everyone who kept up with the press after Survivor 42 knows that Jonathan Young was as well-liked by the women in his cast as the Nonos mosquitoes back in Survivor: Marquesas. As Survivor 50 has concluded and the cast is starting to speak out about their experiences, Young’s reputation is once again being called into question.
Fellow Survivor 50 finalist Tiffany Ervin revealed during the 50th season's live reunion show to several press outlets the real reason she was targeted by Young at the Final Five of Survivor 50. According to Ervin, Young allegedly told Ervin that he was after her instead of Joe Hunter because of her gender.
As viewers saw on May 20, 2026, during the season’s final episode, Ervin was on the Final Five chopping block after failing to win immunity. While she tried to get Velovic, Young, and Hunter to switch their votes from her to Aubry Bracco, the men were adamant that she was a bigger threat and were dead set on voting her out.
Once the players reached Tribal Council, Ervin was noticeably shaken, and while we all thought it was because she was leaving the game, it turned out she was also dealing with misogynistic remarks Young had made about her in an earlier conversation cut from the final edit.
While speaking to E! News at the live finale, Ervin revealed that she confronted Young as to why he was content to lose to Hunter as opposed to her when Hunter and Ervin had the same challenge record on paper. Ervin then added, "And he looked me in my eyes, and he said, 'Yeah, but Tiffany, you're a girl. The record for girls is four, and the record for guys is eight.' And I lost it."
Ervin went on, "That's why I was so fired up and angry in the final tribal council because I was like, 'This makes no freaking sense,'" Tiffany—who first competed on season 46—explained. "I'm like, 'Is this real life? Are you kidding me right now?'"
As opposed to Young’s deeply biased reasoning, Ervin respected Rizo Velovic’s strategic thought process, as Velovic was honest in wanting to eliminate Ervin from the game, as she was a massive jury threat. Ervin explained, "I had a different conversation with Rizo, and he articulated his points very clearly and differently. He's like, 'Tiffany, I'm just not going to win next to you.'"
In addition, Ervin was adamant that Young’s remarks didn’t influence her jury vote, as she voted for the person who played the better game out of the Final Three, which, in Ervin’s opinion, was Aubry Bracco. Bracco ended up being Survivor 50’s winner after getting 8 out of 11 jury votes.
Lastly, producer Ashleigh Smith for "The Pod Has Spoken," which is hosted by Survivor: Blood vs Water winner Tyson Apostol, also claimed that Ervin told her about Young’s gender biased opinion during the podcast’s recap of the finale. Smith told Apostol about the situation, to which Apostol immediately reacted, looking shocked, and followed up by commenting that this was also evidence of Young’s poor jury management.
Survivor, at its core, is a social experiment and a reflection of society, including its strengths and flaws. Biases have always been present on the show, but Survivor 50 highlighted a distinct gender pattern: women received limited airtime for much of the season, and reportedly, gender-biased remarks were edited out of the final episode. This editing choice then greatly exaggerated Ervin’s Tribal Council demeanour and played into gender and racial stereotypes that often affect POC women.
Editors, players, and even viewers should be more aware that biases of all kinds can be overtly obvious, as in the women’s lackluster edit, or more subtle; for instance, people’s reactions might not be exactly in line with what we’re seeing, and they could be even more layered than we originally thought. As for Young, let’s hope he learned something from his experience, and if not, I, for one, hope to never see him on my screen again.
Add us as a preferred source on Google