Rizo Velovic Reveals the Real Reason He Turned on Ozzy and Cirie on ‘Survivor 50’ (Exclusive)

If there’s one thing we have learned from the past 365 days, it’s that Rizo Velovic is synonymous with the word “fire.” With less than two weeks between stints in Fiji, the Season 49 standout walked into the milestone season feeling like he was playing with house money, a Survivor superduperfan alongside people who have been vital to his passion for the show. But that smoke did not get in his eyes when it came to his overall goal: Replicate his success, get to the end, and substantiate himself as a legend. And indeed, through overcoming a bad first impression, forming an undercover trio, and somehow making it to the Final Five again with another public idol, he once again stood just one day shy of the Final Three. But his superfan dream of a season turned quickly into a nightmare. Aubry Bracco won a clutch Immunity Challenge, making him and Jonathan Young get a second shot at flaming out. And, while he compared it to a March Madness upset, Rizo ultimately was not able to make the half-court miracle happen, yet again finishing agonizingly short.

When talking with the Survivor 50 cast days before the game began, Rizo was one of the most negatively perceived contestants across the board. And he didn’t exactly help change their minds from the jump, as he picked right up from where he left off a week and a half ago, spending more time building strategies than shelters. His lack of work ethic rankled members of his tribe early on but, to Rizo’s credit, he quickly course-corrected, adjusting to the waters around him. As a result, he was able to inch his way from a consensus boot all the way up to the majority of his tribe. In fact, Genevieve Mushaluk even sent him a “Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol” (even if it was chiefly due to the idea of blindsiding him with it later on to get it back).

Unfortunately, all of that work got promptly undone with the drop of a buff. As the only Vatu on Cila beach, Rizo had a second attempt at a first chance. In this case, it was the fear of the unknown that was putting him in the line of fire. And, even when Rizo disclosed certain events of Season 49, it actively made things worse. When he lied, for example, that he didn’t vote for his number one ally to win the game, Charlie Davis got activated, sparking a heated rivalry that had both men on the chopping block right before the merge. Luckily, Rizo had been putting in the work, especially with Cirie Fields. After meeting the iconic player at a fan event years ago, the two were now reunited as castmates and formed a tight bond. It was a moment of true “Cirie-ality,” as the longtime fan had gone from only dreaming of playing to now working closely with a six-time legend over the course of a little over a month. With Dee Valladares and Kamilla Karthigesu by their side, “Operation Bad Blood” went off without a hitch, leading to Charlie’s swift exit from the game. Rizo came into the season the biggest unknown, merely seeing himself as a fan among those he’s watched for years. But, over the course of one night, he proved he could not only play alongside some of the biggest standouts in Survivor history, but blindside them too.

It was deja vu entering the merge for Rizo, as the fact he had an idol soon became public once more. This time, however, he was able to link up with a fellow idol-holder in Ozzy Lusth, courtesy of a connection with Cirie (and a long day spent on Exile together). Despite being the most new-school player left, Rizo was surprisingly welcomed into the old-school alliance, even able to coach Coach Wade at one point. And, as the individual game waned on, it seemed like his “polycule” with Cirie and Ozzy was the true building block of the postmerge, plotting and executing all of the votes. But one conversation seemed to change the entire course of Rizo’s game.

When Aubry told him that Ozzy spilled his entire game to her, including the fact he didn’t want to sit at the end with Rizo, he decided it was time to be a flipper with “Dolphin Boy.” Having all the information that the hit was out on Ozzy, Rizo chose to sit idly by, as he said bye to an idol, as well as the one he had in his pocket. “Cirie’s Rizard of Oz” was done for Rizo, as, much like the Emerald City, he was beginning to see green. But those chances of making it to the end burned like a scarecrow on Day 25, when he faced the worst form of deja vu by being sent into fire. And what was shocking was less so him getting defeated by Jonathan, and more so how it was revealed, with Jeff Probst accidentally spoiling his exit on live TV minutes before it actually happened.

The day after the finale, Rizo talks with Parade about why he chose to turn on Ozzy and Cirie, how he felt he would have done in the Final Three, and his reaction to Jeff revealing his own exit before it happened.

Related: Read our Survivor 50 pre-game interview with Rizo Velovic

We have to start with what unfolded not on screen, but on stage. You and I have seen many Survivor reunions, but we have never had a moment like that with Jeff accidentally revealing your boot early. Talk me through what that experience was like.
So listen, I was trying to be professional. When Jeff says jump, I tell Jeff, “How high?” So my understanding was we were gonna see fire, and I was gonna go out. Next thing I know is I’m on stage waiting to see fire, and they go, “Jeff’s gonna call you,” and he’s like, “Let’s bring out RizGod!” And I’m like, “Alright, I’ll talk to Jeff. I love Jeff! This is camera time on the finale.” And they’re like, “Well, Rizo, you did great.” And I was trying to like play it off. I was like, “Win or lose this firemaking, I’m so proud of myself.” He’s like, “Have a seat on the jury.” I was like, “Well, my friends are gonna be crashing out right now.” But listen, it’s another historic moment that is part of RizGod’s resume, and even more reason to bring me back a third time.

Rizo, this is the culmination of two straight seasons of playing, then watching yourself on Survivor. How do you feel now that the “Year of the RizGod” is coming to an end?
Honestly, I’m great. I can’t believe the day is finally here. It’s bittersweet. The year of the RizGod has been insane. 26 straight Survivor episodes of Rizo. I remember talking to you on Day 1 of 49, talking about how much I want to leave a mark on this game. And to know that I did just that, whether people hate me or love me, they can’t deny that I left a mark on Survivor. That’s all I ever wanted. Obviously, $2 million would have been great. But this has been everything that I wanted.

Let’s start with where the season ended. Were you always going to vote Aubry going into final Tribal Council? Or did something sway you one way or the other?
To be quite honest, heading into Ponderosa right after I lost fire, I said, “Joe has my vote.” Joe met so much to me. There was a great relationship that we had that really wasn’t highlighted in the edit. We saw a great secret scene about it. We saw sprinkles of Joe saying, “We gotta clue in Rizo.” Or I said, “We gotta clue in Joe.” And even Joe helping me make the fire, I felt that I wanted to repay Joe for everything that he’s done for my family. I said it to you in the preseason of Season 50. And we really worked so well together. Cirie and I were strategically aligned, that she was my basically ride or die till Final Five, but till the very end was Joe.

So I was going to vote for Joe, and then heading into Ponderosa, I heard there was this debate between Aubry and Jonathan, like one of them is going to win. And I felt that if I voted for Joe, finding out that I probably would have been the only one that was going to vote for Joe, I didn’t want that vote to cost someone the win. So then I focused on Aubry or Jonathan. And I just felt like the case that Aubry made at FTC. And I will say I was moved more by her Survivor legacy and story falling just short in Kaoh Rong and now getting to the end again. I felt that a better storybook ending for Season 50 would have been for Aubrey to win.

So how do you feel you would have done sitting next to her? If you win fire, what would be your chances of winning 50?
1%. For me, my best shot at winning the game, and we saw it finally at the finale, was Joe, Jonathan, and I. We had a Final Three deal since the Ozzy boot. It came into fruition in the edit. We realized that the only way that one of us [can] win is against each other. Aubry just had that story of the multi-time player. How is somebody like myself, the new kid on the block, who they have no idea about, and already have preconceived notions about the “RizGod” going to [get votes]? Maybe I get a sympathy vote for Dee, because Dee was my girl out there. I think maybe I get a second; maybe it’s like 9-2. But I don’t beat Aubry.

Talk to me about that perception a little bit. Aubry spoke about in the penultimate episode that people were getting annoyed by you. And many have spoken about you not contributing to camp life. Were you surprised at how you were being seen out there at the time?
No, not at all. I feel like had I won, we would have seen it. But I was so self-aware of everything. I realized that the only shot I have of winning is against Joe and Jonathan, because we all have flaws in our game. Some people were annoyed with Joe, obviously. We see the coining of “Joe-tation”; I wasn’t annoyed with Joe personally. And then we see a lot of people have feelings about Jonathan. Obviously, he kind of mismanaged the jury in the earlier half of the merge, and I knew that.

And I had two key conversations with Emily Flippen and actually, Rick Devens. It’s pretty early on in the merge, and Emily tells me, “Rizo, honestly, I don’t know what you’re doing in this game.” And that really raised alarm bells, because it’s like, “Holy crap. I’m playing really well, because I know everything that’s going on. But these people don’t know how well I’m doing.” And had they watched 49, they can see that I can dictate a vote behind the scenes, but they didn’t.

So I was thinking to myself, “Okay, if Emily doesn’t see it, and she’s a strategic queen, she loves the strategy of the game, I need to get to the end with people that Emily won’t vote for. And I don’t think she was going to vote for Joe and Jonathan.” Rick’s the same way. Honestly, I think even if I make the end with Joe and Jonathan, Rick probably doesn’t vote for me, because Rick doesn’t believe what I was selling. Rick’s like, “Honestly, I just don’t see it, man.” And I said, “You don’t see my game?” He’s like, “No.” And I was like, “Thank you for being honest. At least now I know who I have to sit at the end with.” So I had a good perception what my winner equity was. I do, in my heart of hearts, believe I have a really good shot at winning had it been Joe and Jonathan and I. But once Aubry won immunity, I was like, “Well, I’m just here to win fire to reverse my curse.” I didn’t think it was a $2 million fire.

I’ve heard a lot from the jury about how you were physically deteriorating in the postmerge. Talk to me about that. Did that come from playing back-to-back?
I wouldn’t say I was sick; I wasn’t ill or had the fever or the flu. It mostly was malnutrition. I started Day 1 of 49 [at] 174 pounds, I finished Day 25 of 50 [at] 128. I had a Spencer Cambodia transformation. And there was a point of the game, I can’t stomach the coconut, the papayas. All that gets me sick; I vomit. And I did not win reward in Survivor 50, so I went 11, 12 days without eating anything. And I didn’t gain the 22 pounds I lost in 49; I gained two of it back before 50.

So I got to the point where I was like, “Dude, I haven’t eaten in two weeks, I need a reward.” So I was just hanging out by the shelter. I couldn’t get up because my stomach was eating itself alive, I would get dizzy or lightheaded if I walked around camp too much. And I just pick and choose my battles. Especially with 17 people in merge, I can’t just be the “R-I-Z-G-O-D” peppy guy. I had to pick who I was aligned with. And I think that’s kind of what helped me, Cirie and Ozzy be so undercover, because we worked very in unison. I didn’t talk to them 24/7. When we spoke, it was great conversations. And I feel like I get a lot more love now watching the season back from my cast, because they’re like, “Okay, you were actually playing a really good game.” I just felt like my perception with the “RizGod” of people not believing the new kid on the block was an uphill battle for me.

Do you feel like playing back-to-back seasons hurt your approach to 50?
I don’t think so. I think what I learned watching 49 back is that maybe even 50 now is that not all the jurors see the game like how I see the game. So I think objectively I made all the right moves both seasons in a row, and I truly feel that you can say I’m delusional. 49, had I won fire, I feel like I had a really good shot at winning. I really do feel that way. 50, I felt like if I made it with Joe and Jonathan, I had a really good shot at winning.

And I know I was super aware that people didn’t respect me. They all called me lazy. Cirie would tell me all the time, “Stephenie’s saying this about you, Coach is saying this about you.” I knew all of this; that’s why I knew I had to go to the end with Joe and Jonathan, because we all had flaws. People didn’t like Joe’s honor and integrity, people didn’t like Jonathan for whatever reason, and people thought I was a lazy bum. I was like, “Great, they got to vote for one of us!” Ultimately, we thought we could beat Aubry at an immunity. I mean, let me rephrase that. Joe and Jonathan felt that they could beat Aubry. was just hoping they could get the job done and take me not to fire. But I’m so proud of myself. I felt so great with what I’ve accomplished, and I don’t think seeing myself on TV would have changed anything. Truly, I would have done the exact same thing.

Were you surprised the fans voted for Final Four firemaking?
Yes. And I blame all the TikTok, Twitter, Reddit fans. Because you know I’m so chronically online, I read everything. And everybody for years is like, “We hate fire, we hate fire, we hate fire.” So I’m like, “Listen, they’re gonna vote for the vote. I’m great, no one’s gonna vote me out, because I’m the young kid on the block they want to take in the end. And then Jeff is like “60%!” I was like, “F—k you, fans. You cooked me.” And then all the emotions started to come, and I was like, “Damn it.” And you saw my raw emotion. I said I literally did everything I could to avoid this moment. And it happened again.

You talk about “Cirie’s Rizard of Oz.” Let’s get into what happened with you all in the endgame. You were the keeper of the keys at the Ozzy vote, and you opted not to tell him to play his idol, ensuring his blindside. Was it really because Aubry told you what he told her? Or did you never have him in your endgame plans?
So the reality was I was never going to the end with Cirie and Ozzy. I was never going to beat either of them, and I came to win the game. Going to the end, like I said in 49, coming second, third, fourth, fifth is the same as first boot. I couldn’t care less. I am there to win. So I had intentions of going to seven with Ozzy and Cirie, because as a three I felt like, “Hey, I can flip on them, I can make my big move.”

But when I hear that Ozzy’s jury managing, from my perspective, Aubry knew about the extra vote. Aubry knew that Ozzy and I and Cirie were very close. Aubry then goes, tells Joe, who I am very closely aligned with. And Joe comes back to me, and he’s like, “Rizo, you’re in a trio with Cirie and Ozzy?” I’m like, “Absolutely not. I’m in a trio with you and Jonathan, Joe!” So I had to pivot, and I realized that Ozzy gave the whole keys to our plan.

And what really made me fully decide not to tell him about the idol is because, if I tell Ozzy to play his idol, Aubre will now go into the jury, not preaching about me for telling Ozzy that he should have played his idol, but preaching to the jury that I was Ozzy’s sheep because I was able to do what he wanted. She’s going to go in there and pitch dirt, because Ozzy was like, “Hey, you’re going home.” And if she does go home, Ozzy’s right, and that’s all of my equity gone. So people saying I should have done a Natalie Anderson move, I wasn’t going to get the credit for it. So ultimately, I thought I made the right decision, and ultimately I feel like I did. The only thing that came down to it was Aubry winning that final immunity.

So Cirie wasn’t in your endgame plans. But you mentioned before you voted her out that she was your rock in the game. Talk to me about what your relationship was like.
I can’t put into words how much Cirie Fields means to me. I don’t want to crown myself this, but just to see online people call me an honorary Fields member has meant so much. I have so much respect for Cirie, because I feel like we’re “cut from the same cloth.” I think we see the game the same way we play very similar games. And I would never disrespect Cirie and say I am Cirie Fields from K-Mart. But I feel like we play a social and strategic game.

All I ever wanted was to play with her. Because look at history, people that align with Cirie win the game. Aras, Parvati, Sarah Lacina, all these great players. And I knew that if I had Cirie’s buy-in, we can do a lot of damage, and we really did. I think Cirie played the best game of the season, but I think I’m up there as well. Not because of my own doing, but because of the relationship I had with her. They’ve given me so much grace, she’s given me so much love, and I owe so much of my success to her. I love Cirie.

Well, let’s talk about one of those Cila relationships that wasn’t so loving. Talk to me about what happened with Charlie. Did you realize the anger he had towards you for allegedly not voting for your number one ally was getting to him in the moment?
So it’s so funny, and I joke [about] it. Charlie and I are great friends now; that’s my guy. We actually have a very viral TikTok that you should go check out that we posted yesterday. So I had a gut feeling, and we saw it at that boat scene, where Charlie said, “Who did you tell about Billie Eilish? I said, “Buddy, I told you about Billie Eilish, trying to work with you. And you’re trying to press me?! Clearly, something’s going on.”

So, ultimately, I thought the reason why he targeted me was because I was the sole OG Vatu member, and he just wanted to play an easy game and get to the merge. Which, fair point on his end. But to know that all the questions I was asking him about Maria, I should have known that that probably was going to bother him a little bit. But I’m a fan! I told Colby on OG Vatu why he brought Tina. I don’t know, I was just asking people things just to ask them. And I don’t think it really bothered him, but I felt like he felt comfortable to make it a story.

So I had no idea that was a storyline at all until the episode aired, and then I texted Charlie. I was like, “Dude, what is this?” And he said, “Riso, I found out in Ponderosa that Savannah was your number one, and didn’t think he’d make the edit because it would confuse the fan base.” And I felt like it kind of was a little bit confusing. But I mean, listen, Charlie’s a great champ. I think he’s taken it really well. But I loved it personally, because I thought it was really funny.

It’s clear you absolutely want to play again. After playing back-to-back seasons, would you want to have some time in between appearances now?
It’s a hard question to ask. I don’t know if five years from now my threat level changes because there’s a new crop of players. Ultimately, I feel like whatever is meant to happen is meant to happen, and I have faith in my social and strategic chops. I went against the greatest of the greats, and I made it to the end. I am one of four people, Mike, to have never been voted out in multiple seasons that haven’t quit or gotten medevacked. And that is a feat that I take proudly. So even if it was 54, 55, I would still do it. I would never say no. I don’t want to wait till I’m 35 and play.

What I will say is, whenever that day does come, you can rest assured, if I make the merge, I’m winning an individual immunity, I’m completing a puzzle. And if I get the chance, I’m going to make fire. I don’t have a timetable, but just know that if RizGod gets a call from Jeff Probst and Matt Van Wagenen, that he’s takng it, and he’ll be back in the islands of Fiji.

Let’s bring things back full circle. You’ve talked from the beginning about wanting to be on Survivor to represent your family and the Albanian community. So what was it like to come out on stage (albeit a little early) to such a rapturous ovation?
I mean, I want to give a big shout-out to the “LiZGod,” my girlfriend. I love her so much. Big shout out to my parents, my younger brother, I love him. My parents and Elizabeth knew what was going to happen coming into tonight. My brother didn’t know. But obviously, with what ended up happening from the live finale kind of put a wrench in the plans, they were a little shocked. But they told me that after that happened, the audience started chanting “Rizo.” So just giving them that moment is so great, because they’ve always believed in me, and I’ve always believed in myself. But to see hundreds, thousands, millions of people at home believing in the RizGod means more to them than it does to me.