Ozzy from ‘Survivor: Game Changers’ admits his social game has been ‘crap’
Ozzy Lusth knows what the big knock on him as a Survivor player is. He knows it because he agrees with it. Sure, Ozzy can win all the challenges and Redemption Island duels he wants, but if he does not improve his social game, people will not want to keep him around, nor award him the million dollars. And these words come from Ozzy himself.
We spoke to the challenge beast, who will be making his fourth appearance on Survivor: Game Changers (premiering March 8 on CBS) and asked which season playing has been his favorite, if he still has what it takes to dominate, and what he plans to do differently this time around. Watch the video above and read the Q&A below to see how he responded. (Also make sure to follow @thedaltonross on Instagram to see exclusive on-location photos, including one of Ozzy casting his pre-game vote for whom he’d like to vote off first.)
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This is your fourth time playing. Are you just going to keep doing it until you win?OZZY LUSTH: It’s my fourth time playing. I gotta keep doing it until I win. Hopefully the fourth time is the charm. I’m back for more. I’m in absolutely the best location that we could possibly be in, playing with a bunch of returning players, so there’s a chance to obscure what I’m doing and hide behind some people. People are going to need me to eat obviously. I don’t think that we’re going to get fed this time around because there’s an abundance of fish out there. I’m going to be a necessity unless people want to starve.
Look, you were a challenge beast the first few times you played, but it’s been a few years. You still got it?Of course I’ve still got it! If I don’t have it now then I’m going to just hang my hat and that’s it. But I’ve still got it. I’ve been practicing, I’ve been training, I’ve been surfing, I’ve been doing everything that I need to do to keep my sword sharp.
What’s going to be different this time for you?The difference this time is I’ve got to keep the other aspect of my game that I haven’t developed, I’ve got to work on that. I have to create very strong bonds with people from the get-go. The reason why I haven’t won is because I haven’t had as strong a bond as I needed to. The reason why I haven’t won is that my social game has been crap, honestly. And I’ve got to develop my relationships and I’ve got to develop my bonds with the people I play with because it’s the only way that I’m going to get to the end of this game.
Whom do you want to align with?The people I can trust are the people who think they can beat me — the people who have big egos out here. People like Malcolm, people like Caleb, people like Troyzan, people like Brad, people like Andrea. Even possibly people like Aubry and Tai and maybe even Debbie. I think what I need to do is I need to develop my own Meat Shield. I need to have a bunch of very strong players that want to got the end and want to play a physically challenging game and bottom line, the people who think they can beat me — the people who think when it comes down to a jury that they’re going to be able to take it away.
Or that we’re going to be able to get to the end together because I think we all have huge targets. We all need each other to make it to the end, because the people that aren’t the physical players, they’re going to look to get us out first, so I think that we need to bond together and we need to pull in some other people that are willing to play with us.
What do you make of Michaela and Zeke, who you’ve never seen before?Michaela and Zeke, these are players that are absolutely unknown. The only thing that we know about them is that they’re Game Changers. They’ve done something to impress. They’ve done big moves, they’ve possibly shifted alliances in a dramatic way, maybe they’ve done something that nobody can even fathom, but the bottom line is they’re here, they’ve done something to deserve a place on Survivor 34: Game Changers.
How do you think other players see you?I think other players see me as a strong, competitive player that can feed people, but also chokes when it comes down to the very end. I think people see me as somebody that is a poor social player, somebody that flies off the handle and says stupid stuff around camp, somebody that hasn’t been one to develop strong relationships. So I’ve got to prove them all wrong. I’ve got to develop very strong relationships and bonds.
Which time playing was your favorite?The last time I played before, South Pacific, that was my favorite time to play because I made huge moves. I did things nobody has ever done in the game before. I survived on my own in a way where I didn’t need anyone’s help. I beat multiple very strong players at Redemption Island. But I came up short because I didn’t have the necessary bonds that I needed to get me into the final three.
For more Survivor scoop, follow Dalton on Twitter @DaltonRoss.
