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After winning Survivor 49, Savannah Louie only had “about nine days” to reconnect with her friends and family in Georgia before returning to Fiji for the landmark Survivor 50, she tells us. Since her season had not aired yet, the journalist had a serious decision to make about whether to reveal to the returning players that she was indeed the 49th winner, or whether to downplay her strengths and lie.
“Actually, at first, I was not gonna tell them that I won,” she reveals to Gold Derby. “I was gonna tell them that Sophi [‘Soph’ Balerdi], the runner-up from Season 49, had won the game and that I got fifth place. And Rizo [‘Rizgod’ Velovic] was on board with that plan as well.”
Her undercover strategy might have worked, but she explains that on the journey to Fiji, “I actually got a message from Soph, and she told me, ‘Hey, Savannah, I just talked to someone from Season 47. They know our entire boot order. They know that you won. You cannot lie to these people because they already know the truth.’ And so, in that moment, I’m like, ‘Damn, I guess I have to own everything and say I won, and hope that everything is OK after that.'”
Savannah LouieScott Duncan/CBS
Savannah was eliminated in the second episode of Season 50, following Jenna Lewis-Dougherty, also from her Cila tribe, and Kyle Fraser, who was medically evacuated because of a ruptured Achilles tendon. Also in Episode 2, Christian Hubicki became the first person in Survivor history to admit that he pooped his pants on the island.
“That kind of thing is so crazy because the coconuts are a natural laxative, and we were on the same tribe as Ozzy [Lusth], and Ozzy is giving us all so many coconuts,” she recalls. “My tummy was feeling a little funny at points. So, I feel for Christian in that moment. But he handled it like a pro!”
The conversation shifts to pregame alliances, which Jenna told us last week was the biggest reason she was ousted. Savannah won’t go so far as to say that she was the “victim” of pregaming, but concedes, “With any returning player season, I think there’s going to be some element of pregaming, whether it’s a Zoom call that everybody’s hopping on, or even if I know this person that’s a mutual friend that can give me a stamp of approval.”
She adds, “I do think it’s a little bit harder when you come in and you haven’t pregamed. With that in mind, maybe that’s my bad. Maybe I should have spent the two weeks in between seasons messaging former Survivor players and trying to make those connections online, instead of taking care of my own people back home and my own mental health.”
Savannah and Rizo in the ‘Survivor 49’ finaleCBS
Rizo and Savannah are the two representatives from Season 49 that were asked back for Season 50, but they were not placed on the same tribe. “Rizo is not only someone who I played with, but someone who I consider a really good friend and who I completely trust,” she proclaims. However, she acknowledges they would have been “huge targets” if they started out on the same beach.
“If I’m not winning this game, I want Rizzo to win this game,” she continues. “Ultimately, it might be better that we weren’t on the same tribe to start, because now it gives him this freedom. His game opens up without me being out there. I’m out of the game, so I’m now team Rizzo!”
Even though Ozzy’s name was thrown out a lot, Savannah tells us, “After the Jenna vote, I really did feel like I was going home next. Maybe it didn’t seem like I was at the bottom, but I truly felt like I was, and that I was considered someone who maybe was more of an obstacle to play around because people didn’t know my game. I was just this huge block of uncertainty.”
Facing off against Colby Donaldson at the journey challenge, and winning, was the “coolest experience” for the longtime Survivor viewer. “If it had been a strength challenge or something like that, I don’t think I would have stood a chance, but it was so fun to go up against someone who I literally grew up watching. Like, that’s insane!”
Things got emotional at Savannah’s last tribal council after she opened up about being vulnerable and then had her torch snuffed (for the first time) by Jeff Probst. “Oh my gosh, I was so sad,” she recalls about that moment. “When my torch got snuffed, it was almost like this release of, ‘OK, I can breathe and I can let go of this tension I wasn’t aware I had been holding.’ This wall that I had built was suppressing some of my emotions, and it was knocked down. You see me very overwhelmed, but also sad and grateful and happy to be there — just a little bit of everything in that moment.”
At the reward challenge, the camera caught a moment of Savannah swimming down to unhook her buoys, which fans are sharing online. “I look like a little mermaid down there!” the newscaster exclaims. “I don’t think I’ve ever looked so good in my life. I owe whoever was doing the camera shot on that big time. I gotta give them a cut of my million that I won.”
Finally, Savannah says that she spent part of her million-dollar prize on a common piece of furniture: “The first thing I bought was a couch. I had to get a nice couch for my apartment. But other than that, most of it is invested.”
Survivor 50 airs Wednesday nights on CBS and Paramount+.
This exit interview has been edited for length and clarity.