"Why do they even trust him?": Survivor evictee Alex Moore on Rizo painting a target on his back before Tribal Council

Survivor 49’s tenth evictee, Alex Moore, recently opened up about his elimination, sharing his take on Rizo orchestrating the outcome. 

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, published on November 20, 2025, Alex discussed the role Rizo had in accusing him of playing both sides and convincing the other castaways to target him. 

“My playing both sides was having friendships with everyone, and basically Rizo used this as an opportunity to spin, spin, spin, and get in people’s head where it’s like: Why do they even him? I’m here, I’m friends with them, they can relate to me, they understand where I’m coming from. And they still fall for his tricks,” he said. 

In this week’s episode, Alex was sent packing despite not being on anyone’s radar. The situation came to a head when Rizo realized he was being targeted by his opponents, who intended to force him to flush his immunity idol. 

Rizo, unwilling to lose the power, wanted to keep his idol active. Consequently, to turn the game around, he went around the tribe, sharing false information about Alex, accusing him of playing both sides. 

Although Alex tried to defend himself, it was too late to regain the trust of his co-stars. Thus, he received the majority of votes and was sent home. 

Survivor star Alex says his “playing both sides” meant having friendships with everyone

After Alex was voted out, he admitted to playing both sides, which surprised viewers. When questioned about it, he explained that by playing both sides, he meant that he was friends with everyone. 

“I think messy meant that I didn’t stick to Hina or Uli. It meant that I was friends with everyone. I’d go on the beach and I’d talk with everyone. Everyone wanted to include me in their conversations,” he added. 

The castaway further mentioned that since he shared a cordial relationship with all cast members, he would often give “little hints” to Rizo about the game. 

He recalled implicitly warning Rizo about Sage and Jawan before Nate’s eviction, claiming that Rizo took everything and “spun it.”

He provided another example when he recalled telling Rizo that they should keep an eye on Sophie as she was a potential competition threat. However, he noted that Rizo would take that statement and change it to, “Alex wants to get you out.”

It was this tendency of Rizo to manipulate others by altering people’s statements that bothered Alex, as he wondered why the other castaways trusted him. 

The dynamics between Alex and Rizo

When asked about the kind of relationship he had with Rizo, Alex admitted that they were “rivals since day one in the game.”

According to Alex, Rizo felt “intimidated,” worried about his position in the competition. Consequently, as soon as he saw an opportunity to target Alex, he grabbed it and executed his plan. 

Alex noted that it was “hard” to come to terms with the outcome because he expected the rest to act logically and try to flush Rizo’s idol first. 

“But that’s not the way the game goes. And Rizo ultimately won this war. He won the battle on day one, and he won the war here,” he expressed.

That said, Alex reiterated that he was not trying to stir drama or spread rumors about people. According to him, he was observed as this person who would “impede on his relationship with Soph and Savannah and the trio,” and that became his “fault.”

With that, Alex became the third player to join the jury. 

Stay tuned for more updates.