A Player Fans Love to Hate? Survivor 50 Brought Him In for One Controversial Reason

Sometimes when you are chatting with the fourth-place finisher of Survivor 49, it’s hard to know with whom you are speaking. Is it Rizo Velovic, a thoughtful, introspective, and emotional young man who places family above all else and can be reduced to tears on a moment’s notice? Or is it The Man The Myth The Legend R-I-Z-G-O-D RizGod Baby, a brash, self-mythologizing cartoon character of a goofball perfectly constructed for the social media influencer age?

Contrary to what people may believe watching the latter on television screens, Rizo is self-aware enough to acknowledge that the RizGod is pure “shtick” he employs for fun. Which is why he was shocked to learn that another colorful character he will be sharing the island with on Survivor 50 (premiering Feb. 25 on CBS) was completely the same both on and off camera.

Rizo also knows that the RizGod persona most likely falls into either love it or loathe it camps among fans — and that those strong reactions are exactly what got him cast on back-to-back seasons. We spoke to both Rizo and RizGod — neither of whom was allowed to reveal his placement or any specifics about his earlier game during pre-game press since it had not yet aired — in Fiji just days before filming on Survivor 50 began, and the 26-year-old came out firing.

(This is one of 24 deep-dive, on-location interviews with the Survivor 50 cast. Links to the other interviews will be posted at the bottom of this article as they become available.)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Alright, Rizo, tell me why you’re going to win Survivor 50.

RIZO VELOVIC: Honestly, I think if I can replicate what I did on 49 and do it with some of the greats, I can not only win Survivor 50, but hopefully cement myself as one of the greatest to ever play. I think my charm and my ability to do whatever it takes to win is going to come in handy, especially with all these connections and everybody knowing everybody out here. So I feel like I got the drive and the heart to win Survivor 50.

How does it feel mentally, emotionally and physically to be back out here just a few weeks after playing?

To be exact, it’s been nine days for me. And I think honestly, in a weird way, I’d actually prefer this. I’d prefer doing Survivor back-to-back with nobody seeing me play. I can’t imagine how Kyle and Kamilla feel coming out here after everybody just watched them play, and without giving anything away, I feel like if people watched me play, they wouldn’t want to play with me now.

So I am excited to do this because I think this would be the only opportunity that I wouldn’t be a “threat.” I mean obviously we’re all threats because we’re all on Survivor 50, but I’m super pumped mentally. I don’t think my mind has left the game. Physically, I feel good. I did lose a lot of weight. And I was already a skinny guy, if you remember [from meeting before Survivor 49], and I didn’t have a lot to lose, so I didn’t gain that back.

And then emotionally, I’m super blessed and super excited. I remember when we talked on 49, I told you how big of a fan I am, and I literally remember the premiere of 48 voting as a fan. I didn’t even know I was on 49 at that point. I’m literally voting on what I want on 50. I then play 49 and then now I’m on 50! I mean, I’m still a fan, but I’m no longer a fan. I am that player that essentially the fans voted for what they wanted. I essentially put myself in this position to vote the game that I wanted to play. So I’m super excited, truthfully.

What are you going to tell your new tribe mates about your game in 49 when they inevitably ask you?

I honestly think it hurts me more to lie about it than be truthful. Because with everybody knowing everybody on this cast, besides the three people that haven’t played with someone. Those three people are Chrissy, Genevieve, and Jonathan. So essentially everybody has somebody that they know. So for me as an unknown commodity, the only thing that make me more threatening is to lie about how I did on 49.

Because I’m on Survivor 50 for a reason, so I’m going to be truthful for how I did. Now, am I going to go into intricacies of what I did in the game? Absolutely not. Not important. But in terms of my placement, in terms of my play style, I think it’d be silly for me to lie because if I just say, “Oh my God, I’m a super fan! I’m so glad to be here! I can’t believe they picked me!” — that’s all bullsh—!

If we think about the people that are not here, they picked me over Malcolm, they picked me over Jerri, you know what I mean? It’d be stupid to say, “I just got lucky to be here.” So I will be truthful and that is my plan.

All that the other players have seen of you is you calling yourself the man, the myth, the legend. How do you think you getting such a prominent edit in that 49 trailer impacts you here?

Yeah, so I wish I can show you the video because I didn’t know if I was going to even be on the trailer, but I invited all my family and my friends over. I was like, “Yo, let’s record this.” Literally as soon as I saw myself on the TV, we all just started screaming. I didn’t even know what I said. And then I play it back and mind you, I know I’m going to be on 50 at this time, I’m like, “Holy f—! I just got my whole shtick as a super fan!”

I don’t recall a time someone ever name dropped themselves in the preview, and I did my whole shtick and I’m like, “This is great!”  But then I was like, “F—, all these people that are going to be on 50 are going to know that I call myself this!” To be honest, I’m really not as worried about it as it might seem because when I look at the players here, I can bet my bottom dollar that Ozzy didn’t watch the preview, Colby didn’t watch the preview — half of these people didn’t watch the preview.

The only people that I’m worried about is all the new-era people. And to be quite honest, those are the people I don’t want to align with anyways. I want to align with pre-new-era people because I feel like all the new-era people are so intermingled with each other at these charity events and these meet and greets — I haven’t had the opportunity to do that. So when you ask me about my edit in the preview, I’m honored because it’s like, dude, that preview was all about me! If you see the discourse online, it’s either they all love the RizGod or they hate the RizGod. That’s why I’m kind of here. Honestly, I’m really not worried about it.

When did they approach you about going back-to-back?

After the game wrapped up, we were going to leave Ponderosa and literally two hours before we left for the airport, I get pulled to the side by production and Jeff Probst is on the computer and I’m like, Oh my god, Jeff Probst just checks on everyone. This is normal. I’m like, “What’s up, Jeff?” We’re best friends at this point.

And then he does this Jeff Probst spiel about “Blah blah, blah, blah, blah, it’s very rare that we do this but how would you like to do it back-to-back on Survivor 50?” And I literally thought he was joking. I was like… because I’m going to go with my RizGod shtick here… of course after the season wrapped up, I’m like, They got to ask me for 50! But at the same time, to actually have it happen is unreal. So when he asked me, I started crying because I was like: Holy f—, Jeff Probst is asking me to…. It’s one thing to come back on Survivor, but Survivor 50 is the most anticipated season of all time.

I did 49, and the reason why I came on to Survivor was to represent for my family, to inspire my brother, and to play for a country where we were never represented, and now there’s going to be a year full of Rizo on TV! So I was super pumped, super stoked.

I remember going home and all my family’s crying at the airport, and I’m like, “F–, now I’m crying!”  And then I tell them to stop crying because I’m leaving in nine days again to play Survivor 50. And it was such a surreal moment.

Anything you regret about your first time playing?

Honestly, Dalton, not at all. I swear to God, not at all. In the nine days home, I reflected on my experience and what I came to do, and I felt like I did that. And for me, 50 is literally just for fun, you know what I mean? I’m here with people I idolized growing up and I’m here to stamp my legacy because I told you this in 49: I wanted to play Survivor, not just to play it, but to be one of the greatest of all time. And I feel like Survivor 50 is going to give me that opportunity to do that. So I leave 49 super happy and now I’m hopefully going to leave Survivor 50 even happier.

What’s your biggest weakness in this game?

I think my weakness is I didn’t anticipate how deeply I cared about strangers playing this game the first time.

How do you navigate that the second time?

I think the second time for me might be a little bit easier because I grew up watching these people and I know their stories. When you play Survivor, or anything for the first time, and you share that experience with people that also have never done it, you bond over that.

I remember going home and telling my girlfriend about this, that and the third, and she’s like, “I don’t care.” We’ve been together for six years. I’m like, “Babe, I’m telling you, that time on the island, it really bonds you with people.” And I think for me, the lore of bonding with Colby Donaldson, where I grew up watching you and I know what your story is…. Granted, for some people it’s been 20 years since they played, so obviously a lot has changed, but I think I can kind of balance that out a little bit this time around.