The Survivor's challenge beast was blindsided, and the moment remains etched in the hearts of fans worldwide. Ozzy Lusth's decision not to play his immunity idol, assuming that his tribemate, Aubry Bracco, was on the chopping block, led to his unfortunate elimination during the milestone 50th season's May 6 episode.
Since his torch was snuffed out, the 44-year-old has struggled to process the game-ending mistake. "The last year of my life has been incredibly difficult," Ozzy told Entertainment Weekly in an interview published on May 7. "It's that one moment where you wish you could just go back and take a right instead of a left." He added, "I've been waking up in the middle of the night for the last year with regrets and this idea that I could somehow change the past. Even now, trying to explain it, it's so difficult."
As for why the Survivor legend, whose return to season 50 marked his fifth appearance on the show, ultimately didn't play the idol to protect himself? "I wish I knew the answer," Ozzy admitted. "It's something I've been asking myself for the last year."
"I got too caught up in doing these crazy algebraic formulas," he continued. "Telling myself who's voting for who and how and why and what. In my heart of hearts, I felt it, but my mind got in the way." Indeed, Ozzy recalled telling himself, "Ah, what's one more day? I think I can make it one more day. These guys gotta get rid of Aubry. Come on. They've been saying it this whole entire game."
Still, he ignored the foreboding nightmare he had the previous night in which he was eliminated alongside already-ousted players. "That's probably the biggest lesson for me in all of this is being more in tune with your intuition, being more in tune with your dreams," Ozzy shared. "As powerful as your subconscious is, our mind often gets in the way. That's really what it comes down to - I let my mind play a major trick on myself."
Since his visible heartbreak in the episode and the difficult year of processing his Survivor loss, Ozzy has come to terms with the fact that his time on the CBS series is done. "I just can't see a world where [host] Jeff [Probst] asked me to come play for a sixth time," he said. "Unless it's like the last season that he ever does, and maybe it's Survivor 60. That would be the only time I could see Jeff asking me to come play." However, Ozzy emphasized that if the opportunity presented itself, "I would happily go back. I would play Survivor over and over and over again."
