"I like him": Survivor 49 fans react to Rizo "Rizgod" Velovic cheating to win a challenge in the premiere

Survivor returned with a brand new season on September 24, 2025, featuring 18 first-time players, who were divided into Uli (red), Kele (blue), and Hina (yellow) tribes.

The premiere, titled Act One of a Horror Film, opened with a ‘marooning’ challenge, in which the tribes competed in pairs to earn camp supplies. 

The Hina tribe outperformed their competitors and won the season’s first reward, leaving Uli and Kele to compete in another challenge for the supplies.

From Uli, Rizo “Rizgod” Velovic volunteered to participate, while from Kele came Alex Moore.

The challenge required the players to race to collect 10 specific coconuts scattered around the beach, assemble a puzzle, and then dig out a buried shipwheel to win. 

While Rizo was prepared to take on the task, his confidence plummeted as soon as he realized he had to solve a puzzle. He had previously warned his team that “if it’s a puzzle, we’re cooked.”

To overcome the hurdle, Rizo copied Alex’s finished puzzle, despite facing resistance from Alex. He ultimately won the challenge by digging out the buried shipwheel faster than his opponent.

Survivor 49 fans took to X to react to Rizo’s performance. While many applauded his strategy, some criticized him for cheating.

“Rizo cheating then winning the challenge. I like him,” a netizen commented.

Many Survivor 49 fans appreciated Rizo’s game move, saying all was fair in a competitive show where players needed to outwit each other.

“WHY am I seeing ppl mad at the fact that Rizo "cheated" on Survivor.... IT'S SURVIVOR. You do anything for the win! If I'm struggling with the puzzle and you leave your complete puzzle open for me to check then best believe I'm looking at your completed puzzle!” a fan wrote.

“rizo is sending me so bad like he rlly just piece for piece lined his puzzle up to alex's and made that comeback LMAOSKKSKEJD,” another one commented.

“this boy is acting like he just won an oscar after cheating… oh rizgod i love you already,” an X user reacted.

Other Survivor 49 fans expressed a similar sentiment, but some were not happy with Rizo cheating.

“Anyone who is mad cause “Rizo cheated to win!” Should literally stop watching the show. This isn’t the d*mn Olympics, that’s outwit baybeeee,” a person wrote. 

“Rizo is kind of hilarious actually like yesss cheat your way to the win and cry about how proud you are I live,” another netizen posted.

“Rizo cheating at the puzzle ranks right up there with rummaging thru someone's bag looking for an idol. Both moves are shady sh*t. Not a fan,” a fan commented.

“I wish I could hug myself, but that’s weird”: Survivor 49 star Rizo reacts to his unexpected victory

As soon as Rizo realized that assembling a map puzzle was part of the challenge, he knew he was “cooked.” While Alex sped through the task, Rizo struggled to advance. 

He worsened matters by missing the puzzle pieces hidden inside one of the coconuts that he found on the beach. 

Realizing he was way behind Alex, Rizo decided to apply a different tactic. 

“So, I brought all of my pieces, stacked them on top of Alex’s pieces, and then just put one by one, bringing it to my board and fitting it to the pieces to the puzzle,” he explained.

The Survivor star admitted he was not a “bright guy,” as he was unable to surpass Alex. 

At one point, Alex plopped his body over the puzzle, barring Rizo from seeing his. However, he could not protect his stand for much longer, as he had to return to the beach to look for more coconuts. 

Rizo capitalized on the moment and copied whatever he could from the solved puzzle. The Survivor player was surprised that Alex did not break the puzzle to thwart his gameplay.

Ultimately, Rizo won the challenge after he found the buried shipwheel faster than Alex, earning supplies for his tribe. 

While reflecting on his unexpected victory, Rizo said:

“Wow, I wish I could hug myself, but that’s weird.”

The cast member concluded that it was the “best moment of his life.”

Stay tuned for more updates.