Even new Survivor fans who are figuring out which seasons to watch first will quickly learn that Jeff Probst’s beloved reality show has a rich history. In fact, some of Survivor’s best seasons have featured incredible players, emotional medical evacuations, and ended with the crowning of one of the greatest winners. In order to take advantage of how stellar the show’s history is, Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans is set to star a huge cast of former players.

Even though some former Survivor players have refused to return, Ozzy Lusth will be playing for the fifth time during Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans. Given that he is set to return again, it is fascinating to look at what Eliza Orlins once said about Ozzy’s weaknesses in the game.

Survivor 50: In The Hands Of The Fans’ Ozzy Lusth Has A Bad Social Game According To Eliza Orlins

In the history of Survivor, there have been some players who’ve become truly iconic among the show’s fans. Sometimes, it can be fascinating to look at what can lead to a Survivor player earning that iconic status.

In the case of people like Sandra Diaz-Twine and Tony Vlachos, they earned their iconic status by being the only players to win twice. Then there is “Boston” Rob Mariano and Parvati Shallow who became iconic for their ability to manipulate other players.

Similar to those players, Ozzy Lusth has become iconic for being a challenge beast and how good he is at living in nature. Despite him earning respect in that way, the two-time Survivor player Eliza Orlins once revealed that Ozzy’s social game has some major problems.

When many fans talk about the best Survivor players of all-time, Ozzy winds up near the top of the list. However, Ozzy has never won Survivor and if what Eliza once said about him is true, he is unlikely to in the future unless he has changed.

In June 2016, Eliza Orlins was interviewed by Inside Survivor and their conversation was published in February 2017. During that conversation, Eliza was asked about her first impression of Ozzy and how her opinion changed. In response, Eliza quickly revealed how unimpressed she was by Ozzy’s social game.

“My opinion of Ozzy has fluctuated over time. Going into Fans vs. Favorites, I knew Ozzy would be a challenge beast, but didn’t think much of his social game.”

From there, Eliza elaborated on what it was about Ozzy’s social game that underwhelmed her.

In order for a player to win Survivor, they have to accomplish two things simultaneously that can work against each other. The player has to fight to make it to the final tribal council while making the jury like and/or respect them.

Based on what was said next during the Inside Survivor interview, it seems like Ozzy could struggle to get the jury to like or respect him if he hasn’t changed. According to the interview, Ozzy was openly disrespectful to Eliza when they played together.

As the conversation continued, Inside Survivor’s interviewer pointed out that Ozzy had a tendency to bond with some players and “openly disdain” others. The interviewer then asked Eliza if that was the kind of thing that she witnessed while playing with Ozzy.

Ozzy Lusth’s Origins, According to Famous Birthdays

• Ozzy Lusth Was Born on August 23rd, 1981
• Ozzy Lusth Was Born in Guanajuato, Mexico
• As of July 2025, Ozzy Lusth is 43 Years Old

In response, Eliza confirmed that Ozzy picked his favorite tribemates and seemed to have disdain for the players he didn’t like.

At that point, Eliza reminded fans of a moment when they saw how Ozzy treated her.

As she explained to Inside Survivor, Eliza believed that fans saw how disdainful Ozzy was of her when she got sick during Survivor: Micronesia.

“In the episode where I was extremely sick, finally, the viewers saw that side of him. He and James were completely unsympathetic and in fact, incredibly mean to me about it. They kept saying in front of my face that they wished they had voted me out rather than Yau-Man. They viewed me as weak (which to be fair, in the moment, I was, but as a general matter, I’m not.) After the tribe swap, I contributed to every single challenge win on Airai.”

While looking at Eliza’s comments, it is valuable to put what she had to say in context. During the same Inside Survivor interview, Eliza told the outlet that she actually grew to like Ozzy after getting to know him outside of the game.

“However, once we got to spend an immense amount of time together at Ponderosa, Ozzy and I totally bonded. We formed a friendship which has lasted beyond Survivor, and I adore him now.”

That quote shows that Eliza’s comments about Ozzy’s social game didn’t seem to be motivated by any personal animus.

Since Ozzy Lusth is considered to be such a legendary player, he was tapped to play during Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans. While that means that he got another chance to win the game, Eliza’s comments show why Ozzy likely was doomed to lose unless he’d changed since they played together.

Ozzy and Eliza played together during Survivor: Micronesia, the show’s 16th overall season. At that time, Survivor had a lot more villains and players almost expected some tribemates to be jerks. As a result, it was much, much easier for a rude villainous player to win Survivor in the past.

During the “new era” of Survivor, the social game appears to be more important than ever before. After all, several “new era” Survivor winners seemed to have been crowned largely because the jury liked them a lot.

Given how much more important the social game now seems to be, Ozzy’s tendency to show disdain for some tribemates could be his Achilles’ heel.

That said, there is good news for Ozzy and his fans who are rooting for him. Ozzy hadn’t played for almost a decade by the time he joined the cast of Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans. Not only that, Survivor: Micronesia was filmed in 2008. With that in mind, there is no doubt that Ozzy had many years to change as a person and that could lead to him treating his tribemates better.