“Survivor 50” Star Rizo Velovic Reacts to Jeff Probst’s Live Finale Blunder: 'I Was Very Confused' (Exclusive)

Gina Kalsi, Stephanie PetitThu, May 21, 2026 at 11:36 AM UTC

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L-R: Rizo Velovic; Jeff Probst
Credit: Robert Voets/CBS via Getty (2) -

Rizo Velovic shared his reaction to Jeff Probst's live mistake during the Survivor 50 finale

Velovic explained he tried to stay "professional" and "funny" despite being "very confused"

Aubry Bracco won Survivor 50 and the $2 million prize in a 5-3-0 jury vote

Warning: Spoilers follow for the Survivor 50 finale.

Rizo Velovic has revealed how he felt about Jeff Probst's snafu during the live Survivor 50 finale.

The longtime franchise host, 64, shocked viewers on Wednesday, May 20, when he began teasing a pre-taped fire-making challenge and prematurely announced that contestant Velovic, 26, had lost, meaning he missed the final three and became the last member of the jury.

After mass confusion, the show cut to a commercial break right after Probst said, “I'm not even sure what's happened.”

Speaking exclusively to PEOPLE at the show's season finale red carpet event on Wednesday, May 20, Velovic shared his perspective on the blunder and explained that he was trying to be “professional” and “funny," in the hope that the presenter would pick up on his mistake.

Rizo Velovic spoke to PEOPLE about the blunder
Credit: Stephanie Petit/People

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“I was very confused,” Velovic tells PEOPLE. “Jeff wanted to give me my moment, which was great, but I'm getting my moment before the travesty of losing fire back-to-back times. So, I was trying to be a professional, I was trying to be funny, trying to see if Jeff would pick up what happened.”

Velovic adds, “He didn't, but I think we picked it up pretty well. After the commercial break, we came back and lost, we played a little joke, so it was fine — a part of history!”

Jeff Probst during the 'Survivor 50' Live Finale
Credit: Robert Voets/CBS

Velovic, also known as the “Riz God," said that Probst thanked him for “being a good sport.”

He also shared his theory of what was meant to happen on the CBS show. “I think the goal was to see fire happen and then that segment happen, but I think they did the segment before fire was shown," Velovic tells PEOPLE. "That's my understanding, I don't know.”

During the finale, Probst said as Velovic stood beside him before the challenge aired, “Camp life is also about firemaking. I don’t know if there’s something in there to think about, anyway, Rizo, you’ve become the final member of our jury. Take a spot over here.”

“This is it. These are our people. Their games fell a little short, but this is the group that is going to,” Probst continued.

“What just happened?” Probst then asked, abruptly stopping.

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Other contestants who were sitting with Velovic spoke over one another as they told Probst that “the fire hasn’t happened yet," referencing the challenge that was filmed months ago in Fiji and revealed the two contestants who would make fire and win their way into the Final Three.

"Huh?” Probst said as the contestants continued letting him know about the mistake, as someone shouted, “Keep going."

“I’m not even sure what’s happened," Probst said before the show went into a commercial break.

Following the break, Probst attempted to explain how the blunder happened.

“Alright, so, I love doing live television,” Probst said as the audience cheered him on. “In case you're confused, this is what happened. We were going to show you fire-making, and then have the loser of fire-making, Rizo, come out and talk about if he had practiced fire-making maybe he would've won. Instead, we did a Survivor twist, it's the last twist of the season. We call it, ‘A peek into the future.' So now, we're going to watch Rizo lose in a fire to Jonathan.”

Probst moved on from the snafu by showing the segment and telling the studio audience to get ready to "watch Rizo lose!"

Velovic, who first competed on Survivor 49, also opened up to PEOPLE about whether he thought it was tougher to win this show this time around.

“No, you know why, because coming into it, Joe [Hunter], Jonathan [Young] and I all aligned, realizing that we had one mission in mind, for us three to get to the end to give one of us the best shot at winning,” he tells PEOPLE.

However, once their fellow contestant — and eventual winner — Aubry Bracco won immunity, Velovic realized that not all of them were going to get to the Final Three.

Steven Ramm, Kristina Mills and Rizo Velovic on 'Survivor 49'
Credit: 2025 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.

He tells PEOPLE, “I just wanted to win fire for the satisfaction of reversing my curse and after I lost, obviously, I'm heartbroken I went out the same way. But then I realized that, wow, I'm having a lot of records here, I'm playing twice, never been voted out, one of four people in 751 players to ever do that. 49 was rougher because I truly feel to this day, if I had beaten Savannah [Louie], I would've won 49.”

Velovic also noted that he was leaning toward voting for Joe to win, adding that they had “such a good personal relationship on the island that wasn't shown in the edit.”

“But coming into the jury, I realized how divided the jury was; a lot of people wanted Jonathan or Aubry,” Velovic adds.

Bracco was then crowned the sole winner of Survivor 50 in a 5-3-0 vote and claimed the whopping $2 million prize, double the usual pot because of the MrBeast coin toss, which was secured by contestant Rick Devens.

on People

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