If there’s one thing we know about Tyson Apostol, it’s that he’s not afraid to share his opinions on Survivor, especially on his podcast, “The Pod Has Spoken.” Alongside his weekly guests, he has some great insight into the game as a four-time Survivor player and past winner. And this week was no different.
After a historic Tribal Council where the MrBeast Super Beware Advantage led to the $1 million prize money doubling mid-game for the first time ever, Tyson and his guest Ian Rosenberger (Survivor: Palau) had a lot of thoughts on the trajectory for the remaining players. One who stood out more than others was Rick Devens, the unofficial main character of episode 10.
As they discuss Ian’s favorite Survivor 50 players—Jonathan Young and Joe Hunter—Tyson points out that Devens revealing his idol was fake seemed to rub Joe the wrong way and wonders if it was a good or bad move in the longrun for Devens to reveal his trickery.
He goes on explain that while he understands the strategy behind the move—removing one target from his back while keeping himself on the bottom with nothing to lose—but that he personally would have held onto the lie. If it was going to keep him on the bottom anyway, as least it made him slightly more of a threat and people would be more cautious around a vote on him.
Tyson’s co-host, Riley McAtee, adds that he thinks Devens is in danger of the jury not appreciating his gameplay as his chaos seems to come off as antics sometimes. He says it can be unnecessary and make it hard for a player to earn actual respect at the end. Ian agrees and says that as a viewer, he can’t tell if Devens cares or not about earning others’ respect, which makes it very difficult to win.
But Ian thinks there’s still time for him to turn things around, especially after he was willing to step up and flip the coin—potentially saving others from going home at his expense. The respect he gained from that move is social capital that he can use to keep himself alive in a season as strategically socially dependent as Survivor 50, but if he doesn’t use it right, he could be gone soon.
However, Tyson disagrees and declares, “he’s not gonna last,” listing off all the reasons why he’s the biggest target in the game with no shot of winning. Namely, the immunity idol they handed to him publicly which will encourage everyone to want to flush it as well as the fact that he’s now the one who doubled the prize money. Tyson believes that if he gets to the end, that’s what he’ll rest his entire game on, which means he won’t have the necessary resume—similar to how Angelina Keeley pitched she deserved to win Survivor: David vs. Goliath simply because of the rice negotiation.
And you know if Tyson says if he was playing he’d “try to get him out,” that’s a player that likely isn’t going to last much longer considering the legendary players of the season who are just as good of strategists as Tyson has been throughout his Survivor career.
So with an idol in his pocket and the glory of adding $1 million to the final pot, will Devens actually make it to the end with a chance to win? Or will he be the next to go now that he’s officially an even bigger threat than he was last week?
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