Jeff Probst received backlash for spoiling a key 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 wants to edit Survivor with the person going home and then showing how they go home. And he did it the next day, and it was me! I made Survivor history.”
Velovic wasn’t upset about the on-air flub, adding, “Never been voted out of Survivor, two times playing, only one of four people ever that happened to. And also the first finale flub ever in 50 seasons and the RizGod was a part of it. So that’s what happened.”
During Wednesday’s finale, Probst, 64, mistakenly referred to Velovic as “the final member of our jury” in a live segment before the rest of the fire-making challenge had aired, therefore revealing Velovic had lost.
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Probst apologized for the mistake after the show returned from a commercial break.
“So, I love doing live television. In case you’re confused, this is what happened,” he explained. “We were going to show you fire-making, and then have the loser of fire-making, Rizo, come out and talk about how charming he is and if he had practiced fire-making, maybe he would have won. Instead, we did a Survivor twist. It’s the last twist of the season! It’s called A Peak Into the Future.”
Velovic, meanwhile, knew instantly that something wasn’t right when he was on stage.
“So my understanding was they were under the assumption fire already happened,” he told EW. “But I was in 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 they’re like, ‘You’re up!’ And I’m like, ‘OK, I’m gonna work with what we got here.’ And obviously doing the best RizGod that I do at Tribal.’”
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Velovic recalled just following Probst’s lead. “I’m playing off Jeff, and Jeff is talking about fire and I was like: Well, I’m not trying to reveal it. So I’m like, ‘Win or lose, I’m proud of how I played,’” he continued. “And Jeff’s like, ‘Sit your ass on the bench.’ And I’m like, ‘Well, this is awkward.’”
Despite the initial backlash, Velovic thought he and Probst “recovered well,” saying, “I made a little joke with Jeff live on stage. I thought it was fine.”
Tiffany Ervin, who placed fifth in the finale, was also on stage when the spoiler was mentioned.
“I was very confused,” she told the outlet. “The one thing I’ve learned is not to not question Jeff because he knows what he’s doing 99.999 percent of the time. I think we were all shocked. We really didn’t know what was going on. I think it was just a human moment. It’s Survivor and it’s just the story of what we all do. We’re vulnerable in front of the world. We make mistakes. And Jeff is no different.”
