The RizGod reveals how Savannah busted him for being on “Survivor 50.”

Survivor 49 star Rizo Velovic says Sophi should have stolen his idol

The RizGod reveals how Savannah busted him for being on "Survivor 50."

By Dalton Ross

Dalton Ross is a writer and editor with over 25 years experience covering TV and the entertainment industry. *Survivor* is kind of his thing.

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December 18, 2025 2:18 p.m. ET

Rizo Velovic on 'Survivor 49'. Credit:

2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.

He was known to say things were “fire,” but ultimately, it was fire that ended his game.

Rizo Velovic’s flashy, entertaining stay on *Survivor 49 *came to end when the R-I-Z-G-O-D lost in the fire-making competition to Savannah Louie after Sophi Balerdi put her two allies against each other in the final four contest.

That meant Rizo never got to stand in front of the jury — a jury he played to all season long in go-for-broke fashion by continuously threatening to use his idol, and then never doing so until the last possible time at the final five. But how would he have done with that jury had he prevailed at the fire? And what if he was sitting up there next to Savannah? We got into all that and much more with the fourth-place finisher, including his return to the island for *Survivor 50*, and you can either watch or read the entire interview below.

**: Look, I know it’s early but how many times have you cried so far today, my man?**

**RIZO VELOVIC:** Surprisingly zero so far, which is a lot coming from me, especially being the ugly crier of season 49. It's all been a whirlwind. It's all been surreal. The fact that I played the game that I love, got to this point, and then ended off my journey with Jeff now anointing me as the RizGod, it was pretty legendary.

**Let’s just start with your vote for Savannah to win. I think it’s probably pretty self-explanatory, but why Savannah?**

When I think about *my* Survivor journey, I think about starting from day one, and I've always said that I wanted to crown the winner that I thought played the best game. And while Savannah and I were kind of hand in hand throughout all of season 49, voting for her felt right because I felt like she truly did deserve the title of Sole Survivor.

Rizo Velovic and Jeff Probst on 'Survivor 49'.

**All they really showed from you at final Tribal were your affirmations to kick things off. You are way too much of a showman for just that, so I feel like there must have been more from you on the jury that didn’t make the final cut. What did we miss?**

Yeah, honestly, it's so funny. I'm actually very happy with how it ended up because there were a couple moments where I was trying to get the jury to really see the bigger picture, because to put it into perspective, the jury was actually a lot more up in the air before. So when I came to Ponderosa, the whole perception of the jury was not what it ended up being.

I think for Soph, Savannah, and I, there was a lot of question marks about our game, because nobody really knew what we were doing, and a lot of people thought that Sage was doing a lot more. And not to discredit Sage because Sage did great, but what I'm trying to say is the disadvantage about a trio making it so far in the game is nobody really knew what was happening in our alliance. So me getting [to the jury] was so good for Savannah and Soph’s game because I got to put in the missing puzzle pieces for a lot of the things in the game.

So most of the time, me at final Tribal was just me trying to tell people what really happened. But honestly, I'm very content with me being the nice guy and just giving everyone their flowers.

Rizo Velovic on 'Survivor 49'.

**How would you have done with the jury had you beaten Savannah at fire and were sitting next to Sophi and Sage at the end?**

Honestly, and I know a lot of people are like, “Oh, this guy's the next f---ing Xander.” And while watching it from home, I was like, “Girl!” That is not the truth. I think if I beat Savannah, I think it would've been similar. I think it would've been 5-2-1. I think Jawan would've always voted for Sage. I think Kristina, in the game at least, was not a big fan of Savannah or I, so she wouldn't have voted for me. And I think MC — it was surprising looking back and seeing MC was rooting for me in fire. So I don't know if MC would've voted for me, but I think the votes Savannah got, I would've gotten as well.

'Survivor 49' winner Savannah Louie reacts to Kristina's diabolical jury question

Sophi Balerdi reveals why she was the happiest 'Survivor' loser ever

**Well, how do you think you would have done sitting against Savannah at the end?**

I kind of bust Soph’s chops a little bit to this day because I actually think there's a world where if it was us three at the end — Savannah, Soph, and I, like how Savannah and I initially intended — there's many ways where Soph actually wins. Because the votes that Sav and I have probably split. It could have been like a 4-3-1 or a 3-3-2.

I think if it was Savannah and I, though, it would've been a slug fest. I have confidence in myself that I could have pitched my game because I'm very proud of the game I played. And Savannah and I played really two different games. Savannah was, like she said at Tribal, the muscle of the group, and I was the strategy behind it. And I'm very happy with the social game that I played. I know we didn't really see how close I had relationships with people on the season, but I didn't win so obviously they're not going to highlight that.

But a lot of the reasoning for why Tres Leches was able to come back from that 7-3 deficit was because of my relationship with Jawan. Jawan was like a brother out there for me. I had a great relationship with Sage, and Sage was kind of the key factor because Sage was willing to work with us and kind of flip back and forth with certain votes. And was her intention true to be really with us to the end? Probably not, but that was the result that ended up happening.

So I think to answer your question, I think it would've been a good, good fight. I don't know what would've happened. I'd like to think I have a good shot at winning, but I think there's a permutation where if it was us three, Soph probably wins.

Rizo Velovic, Savannah Louie, and Sophi Balerdi on 'Survivor 49'.

**I’ve had multiple people tell me that your Tribal Council antics were not landing with the jury. What do you have to say to that, and could you sense that at all at the time?**

At the final six, I knew what I was doing wasn't being seen by my other tribemates. So I am so excited always to go to Tribal because that's what differentiates players, right? The jury doesn't know what conversations are being had at camp. The jury doesn't know who is really navigating the vote, but it's what is shown at Tribal. So I think it might have rubbed people the wrong way, but not because they weren't happy to root for me, but more so like, “How the hell is Rizo getting away with this every single damn time?”

A lot of it was because of the idol theatrics. It was me forcing people to make a decision. And luckily for me, I played with a group of players that I don't want to say were passive, but didn't want to take the risk. Whereas I time and time out took the risks. and it obviously paid off. Was I lucky that Savannah won crucial immunities? Of course. But *Survivor* is all about luck. I think had I got there and pitched my case, I would've been pretty well respected. I think people just didn't like the antics of me just kind of rubbing it in people's faces. But that's how I had to differentiate my game.

I wanted people to know, I was really running the game. I think the fake idol play, my initial intention was felt. I was so confident and cocky out there. So my whole ploy was: I'm going to go up, make a whole speech to Jeff and kind of pretend that I didn't know Kristina had the idol and say, “You guys thought you had this in the bag, just wait till I play this on Savannah and you don't know what's going to happen.”

And I was just going to kind of hope that they were all going to get so amped up, so much laughing like, “Oh, we got 'em right where we want 'em.” And then Kristina plays the idol. Was it to gauge reactions and stuff? I mean, sure you could say that, but in reality, with all the information — I knew each and every round, I knew yellow Sophie was with us, I knew we had the extra vote — I knew I didn't have to play the fake idol, but I wanted to show the jury that they thought they had us. But guess what? I played the fake idol to know that that's where the votes were going. And I wanted to show Jawan and Sage that you flipped on us in front of the jury, it's not going to work out.

Rizo Velovic on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

And then with the final six, people thought I was trying to rub it in Soph’s face for the Knowledge is Power. The reality is that going into that vote, we knew Steven had a Block-a-Vote. We didn't know how it worked out in terms of it had to be played before Tribal Council. And I'm a little disappointed in my *Survivor* super fandom because that was one calculation I didn't have.

So going into that vote, we knew that everybody was going to vote for Steven. So when Soph does her whole speech and Steven doesn't have an advantage, the first thing that came to my mind is, “Oh my god, Sage and Kristina played us! One of us is going home.” And I was thinking to myself that entire time, “What's going to happen? Is it a 2-2-1 split? They split the vote to force me to play my idol? Are they voting Soph? Am I being lied to and I have to play my idol?”

So when Jeff asks if anyone wants to play an idol or advantage, the reason why I stand up is genuinely to stall because I was so shocked. So by the time I go to Jeff and I say the speech, I made the decision that I will bank on my lie about my idol expiring at six, getting me to the end.

I had conversations with Sage and Kristina that they were going to flip, but in my heart, I didn't know if it was going to happen. So I took the risk and if I lost, I lost. I wanted to guarantee my spot in the final Four. But I guess clearly that didn't work. I also think the jury was just bitter because how the f--- do you blow a 7-3 three lead? That's still wild to me, the fact that Savannah, Soph, and I made it that far. But I think I would've been respected enough had I been able to pitch my case,

Rizo Velovic of 'Survivor 49'.

**Put yourself in in Sophi's shoes. Should she have taken your idol?**

Oh man, I hate to say this 'cause Soph and I are such good friends now, but the reality of the situation is going back to it — a hundred percent. If you were going to throw Savannah and I in fire at final four, you might as well take my idol and send me packing at final six if you were going to flip regardless. I don't think anybody would've voted for her. If she stole my idol, I definitely would've been like, “My idol expires at final five! Vote her ass out! I'll go home!” I would've been definitely upset, but the right strategic move. I would've respected it too had I been put in the jury,

Rizo Velovic on 'Survivor 49'.

**What's the closest you came during all those bluffs to actually playing the immunity idol? Or were you never even remotely close to doing it?**

I want to be humble in this, Dalton, but genuinely there was not a moment ever in the game where I felt I was in danger where I needed to play the idol, just based on the information I had, the good relationships I had with everybody.

I said it every episode. I was like, “There's no way this is going to work!” And then it just kept working. So imagine myself as this young super fan that loves this game, and honestly Feras from *Australian Survivor* and Tony Vlachos is who I modeled a lot of my game after. And I wanted to reinvent the idol. I wanted to be a showman. I wanted to show people that not only am I having fun, but I'm really running this game strategically and socially.

I guess the time that I felt the most danger was the Nate vote, because Alex — and this is how my whole plan to get Alex out all started — came up to me and he's like, “I don't know if you have Sage and Jawan.” And I was like, “What are you talking about? Sage and Jawan are definitely with us.” So I would say probably that Tribal Council, obviously knowing the result.

But that's kind of when I threw Alex out for a loop, and I told Sage and Jawan at the MC vote, I was like, “I'm not going to lie, Alex threw you under the bus.” And I think that's what kind of got them self-imploding, because I told Jawan, “Let's let be bygones, be bygones. If I play the idol on myself, you're probably going home. So let's not make this happen.” And obviously we ended up seeing what happened with the Idol getting me all the way to the final five.

Jawan Pitts and Rizo Velovic on 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS

**We know you're this huge flashy player, but you're also a huge softy. So tell me what it was like watching some of these episodes play back with your family.**

It’s everything that I ever wanted. I'm very happy with how I was portrayed on *Survivor* because there's not a lot of people with the ego like mine that were able to be as vulnerable. And I always wanted to go on *Survivor* and share my story. I wanted to represent a country that's never been represented, not only in *Survivor*, but in reality TV ever. I wanted to represent my family that sacrificed so much.

So seeing the fight for supplies in episode 1, and crying and talking about how I wish I could hug myself, to then being a goofball, to then me doing a confessional with a snorkel on, which was a bucket list item in itself, to then having a lot of highlights in the game strategically and seeing my friends and family see that not only am I doing this for them, but I'm playing the game that I love and I'm playing it pretty damn well, to then the love letters.

I've never seen my dad cry in the last decade. And to watch it with my brother and my dad was so special. I saw my dad tear up. My brother, he's all excited like, “Wow, I'm on TV! I'm famous! And I'm like, “Dude, it was five minutes.” So it was a blast. It was everything I ever wanted and I'm so very grateful.

Rizo Velovic and Savannah Louie on 'Survivor 49'.

**So who told whom first about getting on 50? Did you tell Savannah or did she tell you?**

Okay, I'll tell the funny story. So, Jeff, don't get mad at this, but the way that this all happened on Ponderosa was the night after the 49 finale wrapped, they take us into a room or whatever. I was the first one to go in the room. I get in the room, Jeff's there on a Zoom, and granted, I thought Jeff just checks up on all the people after the Finale.

So I'm like, “Jeff, what's going on, man? It's so good to see you.” He just called me RizGod two days ago. And then Jeff does his speech about how *Survivor 50* is so great and we want you on. And I'm like, “Holy f---! This is cinema! Like, yes, I'm on!”

And then five minutes later, Savannah does it, goes in that same room. and we're eating in Ponderosa and Savannah pulls me to the side and she's like, “Congratulations.” And I was like, “What are you talking about?” She's like, “I know.” And I was like, “Know what?” She's like, “They asked me too.”

And I'm trying to play this off. I'm like, “I don't know what you're talking about.” She's like, “*Survivor 50*!” I was like, “What? They asked *you*?” And it was so funny 'cause she was so offended. She's like, “Why wouldn’t they? What? Do you not think I deserve it?” I was like, “No, Savannah. They just never asked a winner to come back-to-back in *Survivor* history. I'm f---ing ecstatic. I'm excited. No one's going to know what we did. This is great.” So I guess Savannah actually told me first.

Savannah Louie and Rizo Velovic from 'Survivor 49'.

Robert Voets/CBS (2)

**All right, last one before I let you go. Which is worse: losing *Survivor* or watching John Cena tap out?**

Watching John Cena tap out, because at least I go home knowing that I was never voted out off *Survivor*. Uh, but seeing John Cena tap out was… he gave up and I never gave up. So it was hard.

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