Survivor Season 50 was not a season about winners.
Yes, this season took us from 24 players down to 1 winner, but it was about the downfall of the 23 in a way that many other seasons are not.
The story that exemplifies the underlying themes of this season the most was the alliance of Cirie, Ozzy, and Rizo.
Cirie is the greatest to never win, someone who has played an amazing game time and time again and yet never won the million dollars. Once more, she came up short, but not before reminding us of her place in Survivor history. You want for the talented to win, but Cirie taught us that sometimes, even the best don't get their flowers in the end.
Ozzy is the man who has grown so much on our television screens. He's one of the greats, but he had to work hard to get there in a game that keeps changing. You can't help but root for him, but there's always something standing in his way and 9 times out of 10, it's himself. You want the perseverant, but Ozzy taught us that life is a journey and there's always room to keep growing.
Rizo is the young kid who dreamed about being part of Survivor and made that dream come true. He wanted to leave his mark on the game and he did, coming close to winning it all twice before losing to the same challenge. You want the hopeful to win, but Rizo taught us that sometimes the story doesn't close the way we want it to.
In Survivor, the best of them come up short, they fall to their Achilles heel, and they make mistakes. But that doesn't make them any less interesting or any less great. Yes, there are the great winners who get their traditional happily ever afters, but there are also the great losers with the real stories to tell.
Happy Survivor 50 to our new winner, as well as Cirie, Ozzy, Rizo and the rest of the the 23 who made their losing Survivor history this season!
