I’m Already Worried One Survivor 50 Tribe Could Be A Huge Disaster

The Survivor 50 premiere was even better than expected. It was my favorite episode in I don’t know how long. What a delight to see so many legends of the game back and being just as outrageous as ever. Coach, Ozzy and Christian were standout members of the spectacular cast, but to be honest, the tribe I unexpectedly vibed the most with was Vatu. They were dominating challenges, bonding and making great television… at least until Kyle fell during the challenge. Now I’m worried this loveable bunch could turn into yet another disaster tribe.

Before we talk about the future and how messy it looks, let’s take a second to celebrate Vatu’s first few days on the island. Five of the tribe members formed a fun, dominant alliance that included Kyle, Genevieve, Colby, Stephenie and Q. We got a ton of goofy bonding moments with everyone hanging out and putting on a fashion show.

We got a confessional from Colby about how much he hated Rizo. Then like a day later, we got a confessional about how Rizo had won him over. Genevieve found the much-discussed Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol that, contrary to all of our fears, wound up being a really fun idea. She was in her bag with all kinds of schemes about how to use it too.

It was all going so well. Even the challenges were way better than expected. It’s not that I thought this tribe would be terrible in challenges. Kyle and Q are both pretty good. Stephenie is getting up there in age, but she was fantastic when she was younger. Same with Colby. Others are passable, but compared to the physical strength and next level puzzle genius on some of the other tribes, I was big worried. Apparently I didn’t need to be.

Vatu won the reward challenge in pretty dominating fashion (shoutout Stephenie who won her relay leg easily), and they were cruising to what looked like a smooth second place finish in the immunity challenge when disaster struck. Kyle messed up his achilles. They were able to hang on for second place thanks to sheer willpower, but the next day, he was pulled from the game. Now I’m terrified of the future for this tribe, and you probably should be too.

Their strongest and best physical competitor is now gone. He also happened to be the guy who seemed to be holding the dominant alliance together and was the unquestioned leader of the tribe, despite being a well-respected former winner. Of the four remaining members of the dominant alliance, two of them (Colby and Q) do not have votes at the next tribal council.

That means the three remaining players (Rizo, Angelina and Aubry) can decide whoever they want to go home. Given the physical strength of Stephenie and Colby, they’re probably most likely to vote out Genevieve, who unbeknownst to them, is the one with the Boomerang Idol, which has the potential to give her major power later in the game.

I don’t know if this tribe can win challenges without Kyle. I don’t know if they can hold the dominant alliance together without him, and even if they do hold it together, half of the members don’t have votes. The relationship between Aubry and Genevieve seems terrible based on one really awkward scene we got, and while Q has been on his best behavior so far, there’s a chance that’s specifically because he had so much trust in Kyle. Without him, he could easily revert back to the messy guy we saw during his first season that had his fellow castaways going on unhinged rants.

I still want to root for Vatu. There’s a lot of fun to be had here, and I love a ton of the specific players. I’m bracing myself for a potential disaster tribe though, and you probably should brace yourself too.