The eliminated player also explains decision to hand over her jacket.

Genevieve Mushaluk delves into ‘uncomfortable and unpleasant’ Aubry feud on Survivor 50

The eliminated player also explains decision to hand over her jacket.

By Dalton Ross

Dalton Ross is a writer and editor with over 25 years experience covering TV and the entertainment industry. *Survivor* is kind of his thing.

EW's editorial guidelines

April 2, 2026 12:59 p.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Genevieve Mushaluk on 'Survivor 50'. Credit:

Gail Schulman/CBS

Sometimes your fate on *Survivor* simply comes down to a rock draw. And when a merged tribe division split the contestants into three smaller groups that would each attend Tribal Council, Genevieve Mushaluk could not have inherited a worse situation. Genevieve ended up with three people from the original Cila tribe in Rick, Christian, and Joe, and the one person from her original Vatu tribe was her enemy in the game (and ally of Rick and Christian), Aubry.

While Genevieve made a valiant effort to convince Christian he would be more of a target continuing on with bestie Rick, her proverbial goose was cooked once she did not win the immunity necklace, and she was one of three Blood Moon victims on *Survivor 50*’s triple elimination this week.

How much does she blame the rock draw for her demise? Why were she and Aubry so much at odds? And why did she give Aubry her jacket on the way out? We asked the *Survivor* 47 fan favorite all that and more, and you can now either watch or read the full interview below.

**: Hit me with your initial thoughts when you saw the result of the rock draw that separated the tribe into three groups.**

**GENEVIEVE MUSHALUK:** Oh, expletives. Lots of them. I could just see some people smiling. And I was like, *Yep, this is a do or die situation*. And it was a die situation.

**You clearly had no faith that your pitch to Christian to take out Rick had worked because you played your Shot in the Dark, right?**

No. And it's interesting watching it back, and I'm conscious that we don't have time, but I just have so many thoughts and still questions about decisions that were made. I would've done it so differently. I don't understand really why anyone would agree to take the heat for a Boomerang idol. I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want their idol back. But at the time, I didn't know either of those things, so I was making the wrong pitch to the wrong person anyways, but I still don't really fully get it.

Rick Devens and Mushaluk on 'Survivor 50'.

Robert Voets/CBS

**In terms of that, what? You mean that they should have taken Aubry out to get their idol back?**

If I was Christian and I thought there was any way to get my Boomerang idol back, I would do it. And when you know someone is comfortable with you, I think it could have been so easy to pitch a vote and then get it back. But again, that's just how I would approach it. Even if it was one of my friends, if I could get an idol back, I would. Sorry, friends.

**Did you make that pitch to them? And I assume you thought at that point Devens had given her the idol.**

**Did you ever pitch Rick to get rid of Aubry?**

Loosely, but nothing was sticking and you could kind of feel it. And I think the biggest red flag was… well, two red flags. Joe flat out told me. But I knew Joe was really concerned. And so I was trying. But the second and biggest red flag I think was Christian specifically waited for the cameras to come back. We had a moment where we could have talked, and we stood there and he was like, "Just wait. I wanna just wait because this is gonna be such an important conversation. I wanna wait till we have it on camera."

So we stood there for 10 minutes, which is like, you don't do that. If you're trying to formulate a plan on these swap situations, as you know, Dalton, you're like, *Time is of the essence*. And so I was like, *This is weird.* Because if you really wanted to do something, use every second. So yeah, was a no question. Like the Shot in the Dark was, I'm gonna just sit there keeping it warm, ready to play it.

Mushaluk on 'Survivor 50'.

Robert Voets/CBS

**So how did the whole Aubry feud start? Give me the origin story.**

I don't know. I guess I was just born so unlikeable that that's the origin story *[laughs].* So I thought that it was going to be wonderful because when we first got our buffs and the first thing Aubry said to me was something to the effect of like, "I look up to you so much. You got me back into *Survivor*." And I thought, *This is great. I am a big Aubry fan.* And then within the first 48 hours, the alliance that I was starting to work with on Vatu had multiple people coming back to me being like, "Aubry's dragging you. Aubry's going around saying you're scary. We gotta watch you."

There was this group of four of us, which then became the six of us out of eight, and Aubry and Angelina were on the bottom, and I was very quickly getting messages of like, "You are being targeted by Aubry." And so I think it was really nice… I have so many also thoughts, Dalton. Sorry, this is non-linear, but playing with an alliance versus playing alone is so different, and both have benefits and drawbacks.

But what I think people saw at first instance was a really tense conversation between Aubry and I, which happened after I had heard all the things she was saying, but she didn't know I had heard them because everyone's still getting their footing and they don't know the dynamics. And so I think I was a little cautious in that conversation. She was really pressing me for what I had heard about names and saying she hadn't heard any names. And so finally, you kind of see me go, “We could both be dangerous together” — because I do feel like a rivalry that people know about can still have so much utility in the game. It's kind of similar to what I would wanted to do with Sol back in 47, but we could just never get there.

I don't think we could ever get to the point where it's like, “Okay, cut the crap, let's just have a conversation because you don't have to like me for us to work together. “And we just could never, never get there. And so I just tried to stay away and not provoke more wrath than was already coming my way, you know?

Genevieve Mushaluk on 'Survivor 50'.

Robert Voets/CBS

**Well, it's interesting because you could have a sort of game rivalry, which you and Rachel had in 47. But this one seemed to stretch into the personal realm as well. And you just said it, that maybe she didn't like you.**

Yeah, I don't know. I don’t want to put words in her mouth. The only explanation I've ever gotten was that it was all out of respect, but respect feels so different in Canada, I guess. I don't know. [Laughs] I think if people compare it to, like, a Genevieve- Rachel situation, that's a misunderstanding because someone who lived through both of these rivalries, one I think was a pretty normal competitive rivalry, and this one was just, like, really uncomfortable and unpleasant, probably for both of us. So don't take any notes and try and replicate this if you are a *Survivor* player. This is not good. This is not good.

**So then the last beat on that rivalry is you giving Aubry your jacket. Why'd you give her the jacket when you were voted out?**

I had known Angelina gave her jacket because, first of all, everyone was like, "You're so crazy. This is way overkill, this jacket.” But you have not been starving in Fiji in the dead of night and been freezing. That jacket was amazing, okay? And Angelina leaving her jacket for Emily was spoken about at camp because everyone's like, "Oh, extra clothing, extra layers!” Just, like, seagulls flocking to a French fry that's fallen

And so I was like: *This jacket is gonna have more utility here. I'm a pretty pragmatic person. I don't need this at Ponderosa. I'm gonna be very comfortable.* And so she was the only woman there and there's no bad blood on my part. I just wanted to pass it along to someone else. I guess I could've given it to Joe, but he would've ripped the seams, you know? He's pretty swole. It would be a perfect fit for her.

Genevieve Mushaluk of 'Survivor 50'.

Robert Voets/CBS

**What is the etiquette on clothing items left to other tribemates? Like, are you supposed to get that back after the game?**

Oh, if that's the etiquette, I haven't got it back. But I don't know. Kyle had left a couple pieces and we basically shared them, but at night whoever was the coldest would use them. So if you're willing to donate your clothing to the people in need — the people who are gonna go further than you at the game — it's kind of painful and sad to have to do, but it's a really pragmatic thing to do. So I don't know. I should've left my whole bag, but I kinda wanted some of my s---.

Explore EW's *Survivor* HQ

Exclusive video, interviews, breaking news, games, polls, and more!

**Kyle was your number one, then Kyle gets medevaced. Who were you hoping would fill that role as your ride or die after that?**

Kyle and I had genuinely never spoken before season 50, but I know Kyle is very good friends with Andy and Teeny in New York, and I'm very good friends with Andy and Teeny, so I'd only ever heard amazing things about Kyle, and I felt like out of all these people, he's least likely to screw me over because then my friends can be a real pain in the ass when they're upset. And he probably felt the same way with me. And also, he's a great shield for me. I'm a great shield for him. So he was someone that I was like, out of all the risk calculations, this guy is probably the lowest risk. And he was my number one.

And when he left, it's tough because Colby and I got along really, really well. It wasn't shown, but I felt very safe with Colby, but I also was cognizant: *Colby has so many relationships out here, so I will never be his number one.* And I do think if you're gonna pick a number one, you want it to be mutual, right? You wanna be their number one. And so Rizo filled the void of a number one. And that relationship was very productive and yielded a lot of positive results throughout the game and a lot of information sharing.

Genevieve Mushaluk on 'Survivor 50'.

Robert Voets/CBS

**Before you all got split up into the three groups, could you sense at all how things were shaking out in the big merged tribe, and where did you stand in that?**

The groups that were forming, I think were in part informed by groups that existed, like friendships that existed before the game. And so you kind of have this old school group, but I think Cirie and Ozzy were in more of a middling spot where they could go anywhere. And then you had this cool person, new era group. And I kind of just wanted anybody to work with me, talk to me, go with me.

So I was in the middle, in the weird spot of being adaptable, but not in a good way because I'm still a threat. So at least if you're a threat, you want the protection of a group. And if you're one of these middle players, but you're a threat, it's so obvious and easy to get rid of you and you don't have protection, especially on a blood moon night.

**So how'd you feel about your spot then at the merge?**

I felt good in so far as I wasn't either dueling side's top target, but unprotected insofar as no one's gonna fall on their sword for me. Like, no one out here is gonna give me a Billie Eilish Boomerang idol, right? No one out here is gonna prejudice their own game to let me keep an idol. I just have none of those connections. And so I felt like I could have, in a large group vote, hidden and moved around because there wasn't so many people upset with me and there were definitely coherent pitches to be made about other people being taken up before me. But as you start to break into smaller permutations, that's where it gets dicey for your girl, Dalton.

Cirie Fields and Genevieve Mushaluk on 'Survivor 50'.

Robert Voets/CBS

**What’s something that happened out there that didn’t make it to TV that you wish we had seen?**

I wish you had seen a bit more of the dynamics that were shaking up on every tribe. I think we got a lot of challenge content, or honestly Dalton, some, like, more slapsticky content at the expense of nuanced game content. So there was more that could have been shown probably from every tribe, but one thing that was not shown, which was a repeating theme for the tribes that I was on, were discussions about throwing challenges. And what that meant to different people and what the potential outcomes could have been and, you know, suspected idols and how you vote split. There was a lot more to be shown there than was, but I understand the constraints and the narrative and where everything's going, so I get it.

**You told me before you the game that you found the prospect of watching *Survivor 50* more terrifying than actually playing it. So, how terrifying was it?**

Well, it's awful, but this is worse, okay, because this is what they don't tell you as a player: The odd numbered seasons, you come home, from filming, and it's a short window before it airs. And that's still torture. This was a much longer period to just marinate in my anxiety, and it was horrible. And then it airs and you're like: *Oh, yeah, that sucks and it's awkward and I hate my voice and my face and everything.* But it's over and it's fine, but it's all the months of sleepless nights and your worst fears that you don't get any closure on until last night. So yeah, it's been great, Dalton. [Laughs]

***Want to be kept up with all things Survivor? Dig deep and sign up for 's ******free Survivor Weekly newsletter****** to have all the latest news, interviews, and commentary sent right to your inbox. ***

- Survivor Fandom

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Survivor”