The Survivor community is currently melting down because there may or may not be a spoiler going around. More specifically, there may or may not have been an implication that a certain player is going to lose later in the season, and a lot of fans are in their feelings about it. Let’s talk out what happened and figure out what we should and shouldn’t be taking away from it.
Before I get into the specifics of the possible spoiler, I want to say very directly out loud that we might be talking about a spoiler here. Not speculation, a spoiler. So, if you’re the type of person who wants to avoid any possible leaked information, then you should go ahead and bail on this article. We’ll also be talking very directly about episode 10 (“A Side Dish Of Chaos”); so, if you’re not caught up, that’s another reason to bail.
OK. Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s talk about it. Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick, of course, got her torch snuffed this past episode. She seemed to be in a pretty good place to make a deep run or even make the finals, but after Jonathan floated a possible Ozzy vote and Cirie found out, it was eventually flipped back onto Stephenie, who went home.
Article continues belowShe’s been doing exit press over the last day or so and is clearly not a happy camper about how everything went down. She’s talked repeatedly about how she felt she was playing a good game and how getting eliminated this time was, by far, the most upsetting of the four times she played. During those conversations, the subject of Cirie obviously came up, and not surprisingly, she’s frustrated with her long time frenemy. From her perspective, she never seriously floated Cirie’s name and wasn’t planning on turning on her, but once again, she’s the one who went home, despite allegedly having many conversations about how they were planning to play together.
All of that talk is obviously fine and exactly what we’re all looking for out of exit interviews, but during her conversation with longtime Survivor journalist Dalton Ross over at EW, she may have taken things a bit too far. She told a story about an unaired moment that happened at Tribal Council, and based on the way she phrased it, many think it may foreshadow something that’s going to happen later in the season.
Apparently during the chaos of Tribal Council, Stephenie approached Cirie and Ozzy and essentially threatened them. She confronted them about floating her name and said it was in their best interests to keep her around. Here’s a portion of the quote…
I say, ‘If you two get rid of me. If you even think for a second about getting rid of me, mark my words, you will be next in some way shape or form.' Cirie says, ‘Who are you talking to?’ I said, ‘I’m talking to you. I promise you I am in your best interests to keep around. Mark my words.’ I cannot believe it didn’t air. I said this to her on Heroes vs Villains. I said, ‘If you do not come with Colby, Tom and I and you get rid of me, you will be next.’ I said it to her in the water. Find the footage. Swear to god. I say it again. Let’s see how it pans out for her and Ozzy.
Now, the quote on the surface isn’t that bad. People doing exit press or talking on social media essentially tell fans they’ll need to watch to see how it plays out all the time. The goal of exit press is for the player to explain what they were thinking and how it all went down up to that point. Stephenie essentially does that, but in the interview when she says let’s see how it pans out for her and Ozzy, she’s got a big smile on her face like it’s Christmas morning.
To be very clear, there is not universal agreement in the community about whether her quote means anything or is a spoiler at all. There are some fans who feel like she didn’t say anything wrong. She told a very relevant story about a moment that happened at Tribal Council and told people to tune in to figure out whether betraying her is going to cost Cirie again, as it did in Heroes vs Villains. Then again, there are others who absolutely think it’s a spoiler and that she’s implying Cirie is going to lose again and part of the reason is because she cut Stephenie too quickly.
It’s worth noting that Ross posted the clip on social media, and a strong case could be made that he has as good or better access to Survivor players than any journalist in the entire community, with the possible exceptions of Mike Bloom and OG legend Rob Cesternino, who we've been having weekly convos with. It’s hard to imagine he would intentionally post a clip on social that he thought was some huge spoiler, but if you look at the comments, it’s filled with people yelling about how they think this is a spoiler and it should be taken down.
Personally, I don’t really know what to make of the comment. I went into this season thinking Cirie had a major uphill battle to win because every single player is aware she’s probably going to clean up at Final Tribal Council if she gets there. I was never confident she was going to get to the end, and this doesn't really change my perception of that.
It certainly doesn't change my feelings about Ozzy. Yes, he's included in the comment, but she was clearly talking more about Cirie and their history together. He was included since he was part of the conversation, but I'm not really going to take it as a spoiler on his end. But even when it comes to Cirie, I don't know how seriously to take this. Stephenie was definitely smiling when she said we’ll see how it pans out for them, but we do a dozen or so interviews a week here at CinemaBlend and body language and vibe don’t always come across on camera.
Sometimes I’ll talk to one of our editors who did an interview and say it seemed like someone was in a great mood or a bad mood, and having been in the room, they’ll have a very different impression or they'll read a comment made in a different way. So, if Stephenie and Dalton, the two people who participated in the interview, didn’t think it was a spoiler and CBS hasn’t asked anyone to take it down, maybe it’s not a spoiler.
There are three episodes left in Survivor 50. Fans have had a lot to say about all the twists, some of which have worked and some of which haven’t, but it’s been undeniably great to see so many legends of the game back and up to all their shenanigans. You can catch new episodes on CBS on Wednesday nights or stream the show via Paramount Plus.
