Survivor star Rizo argues Sophi made a mistake not taking his advantage

Survivor 49 star Rizo Velovic, the RizGod, has finally broken his silence on Sophi Balerdi’s decision not to steal his immunity idol – he believes she made a mistake by letting it pass.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, published on December 18, 2025, Rizo shared his honest thoughts about Sophi’s decision not to target his immunity idol using her Knowledge is Power advantage despite knowing he had one. 

When asked if Sophi should have taken his advantage away, he said:

“Oh man, I hate to say this because Soph and I are such good friends now, but the reality of the situation is going back to it – a hundred percent.”

According to Rizo, Sophi should have stripped him of his idol when she had the perfect opportunity at the final six Tribal Council and sent him packing. 

He added that it made little sense to let it go when she was going to betray her alliance with him and Savannah anyway. 

The game play was a direct reference to the penultimate episode, in which Sophi used her Knowledge Is Power advantage, with which she could flush someone’s advantage if she guessed who had one correctly, to go after Steven. 

Unfortunately, Steven had already exhausted his power, so Sophi’s trick did not work on his inactive advantage. The only other active advantage belonged to Rizo, but he managed to survive.

Survivor season 49 star Rizo Velovic sheds light on his immunity idol gameplay

Rizo played an interesting game with his immunity idol. 

From lying to his tribesmates that his advantage would expire at the final six to prevent them from targeting it to pulling off a fake idol stunt at Tribal Council only to test Sophi’s loyalty toward him and their alliance, Rizo applied different strategies to safeguard himself on the show. 

After different strategies, Rizo finally played his immunity idol at the first Tribal Council of the three-hour season finale, securing his spot in the final four. 

While reflecting on his game play, he told Entertainment Weekly that:

“I think people just didn’t like the antics of me, just kind of rubbing it in people’s faces. But that’s how I had to differentiate my game.”

He added that by tricking his co-stars, he wanted them to know who was “really running the game.”

Rizo added that he wanted to let Sage and Jawan realize that their decision to flip on him and his allies in front of the jury was “not going to work out.”

Then during the final six Tribal Council, Rizo explained that he bluffed and lied about his idol expiring at final six because he wanted to “stall” the game since he was unsure how things would play out now that Steven had used his Block-a-Vote advantage. 

“I had conversations with Sage and Kristina that they were going to flip, but in my heart, I didn’t know if it was going to happen. So, I took the risk and if I lost, I lost. I wanted to guarantee my spot in the final four,” he said. 

Regardless, he was surprised that Sophi did not target him earlier in the competition, despite knowing about his immunity idol. 

“If she stole my idol, I definitely would’ve been like, ‘My idol expires at Final Five! Vote her a** out! I’ll go home!” I would’ve been definitely upset, but the right strategic move. I would’ve respected it too had I been put in the jury,” Rizo expressed.

Rizo was voted out in fourth place after he lost the fire-making contest to Savannah, who went on to win Survivor season 49. 

Both Rizo and Savannah will return to screens in February 2026 as castaways in season 50 of the Survivor show. 

Stay tuned for more updates.