Ozzy Lusth is speaking out about his shocking “Survivor” elimination.
The five-time player was blindsided when his tribe voted to snuff his torch on the May 6 episode, after a big twist led to another double elimination. Even more disappointing for the reality star: he was sent home with an immunity idol in his pocket, one he could have played to keep him safe.
Lusth was stunned when he was voted out, telling Tribal Council, “This is so sad. Man, I really trusted you guys so much. I can’t explain how painful this is to anyone.”
On Thursday, May 7, Ozzy opened up about how he felt immediately after his elimination, as well as why he didn’t play the idol, while speaking with Entertainment Weekly. He also explained why he blabbed about his alliance with Cirie Fields to Aubry Bracco, a move which led to his downfall.
Why Ozzy Was Voted Out
Jeff Probst revealed a big Tribal Council twist after Jonathan won the immunity challenge. He explained that the losing players would be split into two groups of four, with each group voting out one of its members. As a prize for winning immunity, Jonathan was allowed to go to each Tribal and vote.
Tiffany, Emily, Cirie, and Devens made up the first group, with Cirie, Emily, and Devens all getting two votes after Cirie used her extra vote advantage. After Devens used his Immunity Idol, there was a revote, and Emily was voted off.
Ozzy, Joe, Rizo and Aubry were in the second group, with everyone initially in agreement to vote out Aubry. Ozzy, however, blew up that plan when he filled Aubry in on his secret alliance with Cirie. He did it for jury management, believing Aubry would reward his honesty with her vote if he made it to the finale. Aubry didn’t keep the news a secret, spilling it to Joe, Rizo, and Jonathan and moving the target to Ozzy in the process.
Rizo didn’t give Ozzy, one of his alliance members, a heads-up about the vote, and Ozzy didn’t play his idol during Tribal because he truly didn’t believe he was in danger.
Ozzy Speaks Out After Elimination
Speaking with EW, Ozzy still didn’t totally understand why he did all he did ahead of his elimination, saying that when his torch was snuffed he was “pretty shocked at my own naivete.”
“The fact that I, once again, went home with an idol in my pocket. Even after I had a dream, I had a premonition, I knew it was coming,” Ozzy said, after revealing in the episode he had a dream that he saved himself from elimination by using his idol.
“It’s like you got the angel and the devil on your shoulders. I’m really bad at not listening to my angel. And the devil’s like, ‘Don’t play the idol, man. You got this another day. You can do it,'” he explained. “So it was a risk that I, for whatever reason, I just, I don’t know. I still don’t know why I did it.”
Admitting he “just exploded my game” by telling Aubry all about his Cirie alliance, Ozzy said he still doesn’t know why he did it. “It was like an out of body experience. It really was,” he told EW.
He maintains, however, that had he played the idol and Aubry was eliminated instead, telling her about Cirie was “a good move.”
“But all in all, I didn’t. I also didn’t follow some of the most standard advice that you could ever have is: Keep your mouth shut. Don’t tell your plans to anyone,” he admitted. “But I got a little ahead of myself and it was doing the jury management, but way too, way too early.”
As for why he didn’t play the idol, he doesn’t have an answer for that either.
“Was it just me being greedy with wanting one more day?” he wondered. “From day one, I was at risk and I felt like I was playing with the house’s money for this whole entire game. So I was like, ‘Ah, what’s one more day? I think I can make it one more day. These guys gotta get rid of Aubry. Come on. They’ve been saying it this whole entire game.'”
“This is all my own doing,” he acknowledged. “I sensed it coming. The closer you get to the end, you gotta be ready to play your idol if you have it. You gotta be ready to go all out at Tribal. And I just let my trust in Jonathan and Joe and Rizo overcome my sensibilities and my intuition.”
While he was in an alliance with Rizo, Ozzy said he has no ill-will toward him for not giving him a heads-up about the blindside. “He’s just doing what he thinks is gonna be the best for his game,” said the evicted player.
With his banishment bringing an end to his fifth time playing “Survivor,” Ozzy was also asked whether he would do it again. He said he didn’t think he’d be asked back a sixth time, unless it was for another milestone season or the show’s last season even. That being said, he added, “I would play ‘Survivor’ over and over and over again,” if given the chance.
Would you want him back? Sound off below!
