Survivor Loser Bitterly Complains After Loss — Questions Legitimacy of Game: ‘If That’s a Jury—’

Survivor 50 contestant Jonathan Young bitterly complained about the jury process after he lost the $2 millioin prize to a competitor he felt he had bested.

The 50th season of Survivor went out with a bang this week when host Jeff Probst biffed it hard during the live finale, revealing that 3rd runner-up Rizo Velovic had lost the fire-making challenge before that segment had aired. Aubry Bracco wound up beating Young 5 votes to 3, with Joe Hunter posting a goose-egg in the final vote.

But the season was epic for fans in many other ways, as past all-stars, winners, and near-missers competed in a twist-filled game that was influenced by fan votes and contributions by celebrity Survivor-heads like Billie Eilish and Mr. Beast.

After the finale, fourth runner-up Tiffany Ervin revealed a conversation with Young that was deleted from the show, and which made her angry going into the jury deliberations.

In an interview with Dalton Ross of Entertainment Weekly, Young decried the result and questioned its fairness, musing “if that’s a jury, then I’m confused, you know?”:

DALTON ROSS: A live finale is always awkward, because it’s a celebration, right? It’s a celebration of the season, it’s a celebration of the winner. And you have got to sit there and be on the other end of that somewhat. Tell me what that was like for you last night in that big room.

JONATHAN YOUNG: Oh, Mr. Dalton, it hurt me so bad. ‘Cause I know I did everything I could do ’cause I had thought about Survivor for four years, and I don’t think I could’ve played … I don’t know what I could’ve done different. I keep trying … I keep going back to: What do I learn from this? God, what do you want me to learn? And I don’t know yet.

I don’t know what I’m learning because I believe deep in my heart that I played the better game. I know I did. But because Aubry’s played five times, that weighed on a lot of the jury votes. And is that fair? That’s up to the fans and up to Survivor to decide. But if that’s a jury, then I’m confused, you know? It’s just there’s a lot of questions that you have going at the end of the game.

Watch above via Entertainment Weekly and watch the full interview here.

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