Jeff Probst received backlash for spoiling a key a part of the season 50 finale of Survivor — and now contestant Rizo Velovic is speaking out.
“Survivor history!” Velovic, 26, joked during an interview with Entertainment Weekly on Wednesday, May 20. “Jeff was on a Variety interview recently saying that he desires to edit Survivor with the person going home after which showing how they go home. And he did it the subsequent day, and it was me! I made Survivor history.”
Velovic wasn’t upset concerning the on-air flub, adding, “Never been voted out of Survivor, two times playing, only one among 4 people ever that happened to. And likewise the primary finale flub ever in 50 seasons and the RizGod was an element of it. In order that’s what happened.”
During Wednesday’s finale, Probst, 64, mistakenly referred to Velovic as “the ultimate member of our jury” in a live segment before the remainder of the fire-making challenge had aired, due to this fact revealing Velovic had lost.
Probst apologized for the error after the show returned from a business break.
“So, I like doing live television. In case you’re confused, that is what happened,” he explained. “We were going to indicate you fire-making, after which have the loser of fire-making, Rizo, come out and discuss how charming he’s and if he had practiced fire-making, possibly he would have won. As a substitute, we did a Survivor twist. It’s the last twist of the season! It’s called A Peak Into the Future.”
Jeff Probst in “Survivor” season 50. Courtesy YouTube/CBS
Velovic, meanwhile, knew immediately that something wasn’t right when he was on stage.
“So my understanding was they were under the belief fire already happened,” he told EW. “But I used to be within the green room saying like, ‘Wait, I’m waiting for myself to lose here. What are we doing?’ And Jeff’s like, ‘Bring out RizGod. And so they’re like, ‘You’re up!’ And I’m like, ‘OK, I’m gonna work with what we came.’ And clearly doing the perfect RizGod that I do at Tribal.’”
Velovic recalled just following Probst’s lead. “I’m playing off Jeff, and Jeff is talking about fire and I used to be like: Well, I’m not attempting to reveal it. So I’m like, ‘Win or lose, I’m happy with how I played,’” he continued. “And Jeff’s like, ‘Sit your ass on the bench.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, that is awkward.’”
Despite the initial backlash, Velovic thought he and Probst “recovered well,” saying, “I made just a little joke with Jeff survive stage. I believed it was advantageous.”
Tiffany Ervin, who placed fifth within the finale, was also on stage when the spoiler was mentioned.
“I used to be very confused,” she told the outlet. “The one thing I’ve learned just isn’t to not query Jeff because he knows what he’s doing 99.999 percent of the time. I believe we were all shocked. We actually didn’t know what was happening. I believe it was only a human moment. It’s Survivor and it’s just the story of what all of us do. We’re vulnerable in front of the world. We make mistakes. And Jeff is not any different.”