Rizo Velovic Reacts to Jeff Probst Spoiling His 'Survivor 50' Elimination: 'This Is Awkward'
Rizo Velovic is speaking out after Survivor host Jeff Probst accidentally spoiled his elimination live on-air.
During the Wednesday, May 20 Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans finale, Probst brought Velovic out on stage and revealed he lost to Jonathan Young in the final four fire-making competition before the moment had aired-cuing loud gasps from the audience.
Probst didn't realize his mistake until Velovic and fan-favorite Cirie Fields told him the elimination hadn't been shown yet.
"I'm not even sure what's happened," Probst said before the episode cut to commercial.
Despite the blunder, Probst had a good sense of humor about the ordeal when the show returned from commercial break. When the cameras came back up, the audience yelled, "We love you, Jeff!" to which Probst responded, "I love live television."
"We were supposed 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 how he had practiced fire-making, maybe he would have won," he continued. "Instead, we did a Survivor twist. It's the last twist of the season. Now, we're gonna watch Rizo lose."
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Despite the awkwardness of the moment, Velovic-a self-proclaimed Survivor super-fan, is choosing to view the mess-up in a different lens.
"Survivor history!" Velovic told Entertainment Weekly after the finale. "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."
The two-time castaway also became the first and only person in Survivor history to lose the final four fire-making competition twice.
"Never been voted out of Survivor, two times playing, only one of four people ever that happened to," he said. "And also the first finale flub ever in 50 seasons and the RizGod was a part of it. So that's what happened."
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Velovic also said he was aware something was amiss when he was brought out on stage before his elimination aired. Typically, players are interviewed after their exits.
"So my understanding was they were under the assumption fire already happened," he explained. "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 Riz God. And they're like, ‘You're up!' And I'm like, ‘Okay, I'm gonna work with what we got here.' And obviously doing the best RizGod that I do at Tribal.'"
"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.'"
In the end, Velovic said he thinks the show "recovered well" and revealed he even joked with Probst about it afterwards.
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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 1:56 PM.