Savannah Changed A Key Aspect Of Her Game For Survivor 50, And I Think It Was A Wise Move

Savannah holds a blank voting parchment as she talks about not using her advantage on Survivor.

Survivor winner Savannah Louie didn’t sweep the jury vote during 49’s Final Tribal Council, but she went in as the heavy favorite and wound up winning the major prize money in relatively comfortable fashion, despite a terrific last-minute performance from Sophi. Because of all that success, you’d think she’d head into Survivor 50 with the same game plan, but let the record show, that is not the case. She went in focused on making one key change, and I think it was definitely a wise move.

Throughout Survivor 49, several players repeatedly referred to Savannah in confessionals as a mean girl. She had a close alliance with Rizo and Sophi, but outside of those Tres Leches partners, she didn’t really build close relationships with anyone else in the game. Some found her to be too intense. Others felt she wasn’t interested in getting to know them on a personal level.

That disconnect was exposed in particularly uncomfortable fashion during Final Tribal when Kristina challenged her to name one family member from each person on the jury. She could not, though she was able to point to some meaningful conversations she had with each person. That and other bits of feedback really stuck with her. Here’s what she told Parade Magazine…

Honestly, hearing the ‘mean girl’ comments and how people perceived me as this bitch during our season, it really made me think about how I come across to others. So going into 50, I was really, really conscious about my social game, and I did want to make genuine connections with others.

You can win Survivor without playing a strong social game during the New Era, but it’s still a lot easier to do if you can make close connections with the other castaways. It increases your margin of error tremendously and helps you survive key Tribals when you might otherwise be perceived as the biggest threat. If you’re good enough socially, you can also win the game based almost exclusively on that, as Kenzie proved during Survivor 46.

Savannah was able to use her dominance in challenges and close connections with Rizo and Sophi to keep her safe, but that was obviously going to be harder to do surrounded by challenge beasts like Ozzy, Jonathan, Chrissy, Colby and Dee. Survivor 50 was always going to be a different animal, and I’m glad to see she went into the game recognizing that.

Despite a frustrating first 50 trailer and some issues with the cast, I am fired up for Survivor 50. I cannot wait to see all those legends of the game like Cirie, Coach and Colby interact with New Era standouts like Dee, Q and Charlie. As one of only two players the other contestants have never seen, Savannah is going to be an immediate threat. Her strength in challenges will help in getting to the merge, but she’s going to need a strong social game too. Fingers crossed she’s able to use all that feedback to find it.

Survivor 50 will hit the 2026 TV schedule in February. You’ll be able to catch new episodes on CBS.