Survivor 50's [Spoiler] Reveals Crazy Plan To Create Fake Beware Advantage — But Couldn't Pull It Off

Spoilers ahead for Episode 12 of "Survivor 50!"

He may be one of the luckiest "Survivor" castaways to ever play the game, but Rick Devens' luck has officially run out. 

Devens' game was full of splashy moves, like hiding a fake idol at Tribal Council (which got him out of quite a pickle down the road) and flipping MrBeast's potentially deadly coin. But with little to no allies left in the game and not an idol in sight, the rest of the surviving players finally had a clear runway to make their move. After his Shot in the Dark failed to keep him safe, the idol hunter was sent straight to Ponderosa. (Read our full recap here.)  

Below, Devens takes us through his game's biggest moments including the fake idol fiasco and MrBeast's surprise visit. He also details his relationship with fellow "Edge of Extinction" vet Aubry, and reveals a wild idea he had on the island, but couldn't pull off. (It involves paint!)   

TVLINE | You kinda saw this one coming, didn't you?
RICK DEVENS | Yes, I did. Tiff tried to do some magic, and I spent all day looking for a hidden immunity idol. But when I didn't find one, and I could tell that people weren't getting on board with the Tiff plan, this was my chance, Shot in the Dark. I felt so lucky up to that point in the game. I was like, there's probably a good chance this hits, you know?

TVLINE | Since you're Rick Devens, I know you didn't go out without a fight. Was there any strategizing or conversations we didn't see in the episode?
I certainly did a lot more idol hunting than it looked. I was there all day trying to find that thing, and I was just waiting for them to show me walking right past it. I felt a little relief that that shot never happened. There is one thing that I almost did. We had the flag there that Tiff painted, but we had all these different paints. I actually snuck the red paint out of camp and was gonna do a fake Beware Advantage. I was gonna act like I covered myself with paint and be like, "Oh, what?" Act like I had an idol. But to Jonathan's credit, he never let me out of his sight for long enough to even make that happen. And at that point, I was like, even if I do get this thing going, it's probably not gonna work. Probably the Shot in the Dark is the better way to go. Anyway, I tried, man. I tried.

When they were on their reward, Joe and Rizo and Cirie, I'm definitely egging on Jonathan and Tiff going like, "Didn't those two eat a lot more than you at the auction? That's weird that he picked them," you know, trying to stoke those flames, but they're just too good of players. Tiff wanted me to stay at that point, so she tried, but Aubry, as much as I was loyal to Aubry, Aubry was not loyal to me. She was loyal to herself, which she should be, and just knew that now was a good time. She watched me in the "Edge of Extinction." She knows that I can find an idol or win those last couple of immunities, so I think she made a good move.

TVLINE | Yeah, I was a little confused with Aubry's relation to you in this game. There were times where she almost seemed to be shying away from your flashy moments, but you both played "Edge of Extinction" together, so what was that relationship really like?
I love Aubry so much right now and on the island. Coming in, I had no intention of playing with her. We weren't really that close from "Edge of Extinction." I really respected her, but we'd spent very little time together, and all of our time was on the edge of extinction. But I got so close to her when we were tied together, like just competing with someone. I'll play a game of pickup basketball with you, Nick, and you're my best friend, because we played a game together. We competed together. So I was super loyal to Aubry because I'm stupid loyal in the game. I'll vote with Emily and then on a revote, I'll vote with Emily again. I'll never vote for Christian.

But Aubry, yeah, it was interesting watching it back, like how many times she sold me out to people and went up and was tattling on me. And in one breath, trying to act like some of my moves were our moves, and then the next breath, being like, "I can't believe Rick did that, what a dumb thing to do." So it was an interesting experience watching it, but I ultimately think that she knew the way to go that was best for her game. I don't think me being there was good for her game because other people did still think that we were a little together. I think people were going, "Oh, you know, she's saying she's not with Devens, but she's still kind of with Devens." She also knows I'm an insane player, unpredictable. Even as an ally, you don't know what I'm gonna do. So, I think my loyalty, it's something I like about myself, but I don't think it's a great thing for "Survivor" necessarily. I think it makes the jury appreciate you. They respect that. But ultimately, if I'm not willing to cut Christian when I need to, that's not great "Survivor" gameplay. Whereas, I think Aubry is a more evolved player and is playing for herself and her family and knows that when she needs to cut me, she needs to cut me. So, that's why I think we just couldn't get on the same page. She's too good.

TVLINE | We have to talk about that MrBeast coin flip. If you didn't flip that coin, were you the one who was going to be voted out that night?
To this day, I am not sure because that's what some people wanna sell you now. But I think there's so much revisionist history in "Survivor." I really felt like I've done enough to put the target on Steph. To me, you're always trying to put yourself in the other shoes of the people you're playing with. I just thought it was much better for Cirie, Tiff, Rizo, Emily, and Aubry to keep me than to keep one of those three, and they knew I'm a heat-seeking missile for Joe, Jonathan, and Steph at this point, especially after I threw them under the bus. That makes me a big target, a big shield for you, and you know I'm going after them, and probably they're gonna be going after me. 

So, it made no sense to me that they would, at that point, get rid of me and keep Steph, who had just exposed herself as lying to them, and was still trying to cover it up, whereas I was very honest, strategically. Open to the fact that I was willing to vote out Ozzy. Open to the fact that I brought up Rizo's name. I think I showed all my cards, and that was very intentional. So, I don't know. I still, to this day, felt in that moment that I'd put enough on Steph, but obviously, I wasn't so sure of it that I wasn't all over that coin flip, you know? Because even if I'm safe tonight, I'm the target tomorrow. So I wanted that immunity idol, and dude, I hadn't had a real immunity in my hand the whole game. I wanted it so bad!

TVLINE | So everyone agrees to let you flip this coin and you're standing up there with Jeff and Jimmy. What are you feeling and thinking at that moment?
First of all, just a stupid amount of confidence. I mean, it's a coin flip. I have no control over this, and I was just sure it was gonna land. I was at peace with the fact that if I go home this way, no one else ever has. They didn't vote me out, that's fine, but I was sure it was gonna hit. I knew my kids would be so psyched because we're Jimmy fans. We like MrBeast. I've got the receipts. It was so funny. People pull those up on Twitter and Instagram, like me talking about how much Jack and I like MrBeast. So, my heart was going a million miles per second, and Jimmy even reaches over and puts his hand on my heart, and I'm in that moment like, "MrBeast is touching me, like, what's going on?" 

But then it hits, and Ozzy, who was my biggest cheerleader during this moment, was just loving the whole thing. I think he was the first to be like, "It hit!" and I'm jumping up, and then I'm hugging MrBeast, I'm hugging Jeff, they're hugging each other, which I brought up to Jeff when the whole game was over. I was like, "I remember you and MrBeast hugging," and Jeff was like, "I hugged MrBeast?" He's like, "I was really amped in the moment too, I don't even remember that," but it was just incredible, and I knew that that's gonna be the moment my kids latch on to. They are now going to be "Survivor" watchers, but up to that point, they hadn't watched a whole lot of "Survivor" and we've watched a lot of MrBeast, so watching it back with them was really awesome.

TVLINE | You had another amazing play when you and Christian planted a fake idol at Tribal Council. If you had to grade Christian's pratfall that he performed as a distraction, what grade would you give Professor Hubicki?
I'm gonna get to the grade after a little bit of a preface. It's part of my plan to say, "Dude, you've gotta be the first one to go towards the torches so that you're in front of everybody and you've gotta fall, and they'll all look at you." I didn't know he was gonna fall like he fell. I'm reaching in and hiding the idol, and the crash was crazy loud. And then I had to wait nine or 10 months to actually see it, Nick! [I was] looking the other way, so I didn't see it happen. Then I did see it on TV — 10 out of 10, at least. If I can go higher, if I can turn it up to 11, bro, I'm turning it up to 11. Best alliance member anyone could ask for, and he did an amazing job. I don't think the heist could have happened without it.

TVLINE | You wound up reaching for the fake idol at the Coach and Chrissy vote, the duos Tribal. People I've spoken with say they think Coach and Chrissy would've gone regardless of your idol play. What are your thoughts on that?
It's again, a thing that I'm not totally sure of because of revisionist history. If I had to guess, hearing what people are saying now, I think I was probably safe, but I don't believe that 100%. And I don't regret going for the idol there anyway, because the worst thing in my mind would be, we hid that idol there and I don't get to use it. Maybe it would still be there for Christian, but if I got sent home without ever going for it, it would haunt me, dude. And I'm not haunted by anything I've done on "Survivor," including now, but that would have haunted me. And I'm sitting there going, it's a 2-for-1, I'm saving myself and I'm saving Aubry. 

Then the other nightmare scenario that could play out with this idol is that, you know, next Tribal, I need it, and I go for it and get it. So what do they do? They vote out Christian. And then I'd feel awful. He helped me with this thing. This was our plan, and he goes home because of it, or vice versa? He goes for it and, and I get sent home. So I just felt like he was safe that night with Jonathan. I was very much exposed, and in my mind, it's like, if I go for it early, I still have "an idol," because they think I have it, so maybe this can keep me safe next week, which it ended up, I think, doing. So, I don't really regret going for it then.

TVLINE | Tell me a bit about your early frustrations with Joe. Why was he so difficult to play with?
I love Joe. We've spent a lot of time messaging each other back and forth during the season. Great dude. I need to make it clear to everyone, if you meet Joe, you're gonna love your Joe experience. He's a great guy. Looking back on it now, after seeing it play out and seeing us play, I think the problem is, I consider loyalty. I'm never gonna go after you and I'm gonna protect you. I'm gonna look out for both of our interests, but I don't need to tell you all my secrets. I was super loyal to Cirie and Emily, but I'm not telling them about the fake idol because they don't need to know about the fake. That's my secret. I can be in an alliance with you and have an idol myself, and you don't need to know that until you need to know that. Whereas, I think watching Joe, he really wants you to tell him everything. He was so upset that Steph didn't tell him that she had the Steal-a-Vote. He wants to be totally open and honest about everything. It's really a shame because I think I proved myself to be a very loyal player, and that's something that he would have appreciated if we'd been able to get back together. We hugged it out after our argument, and that argument was because of my bad gameplay, and then my frustration with him is because I just felt like he got way more upset about it than he should. You can be upset, but I just thought, not that upset. Like, what's going on?

It was hard. I told him to his face. I felt like it was hard to play around his code because if I tell you, "We're voting Jenna out," and you say, "Well, we should tell her," I say, "Whoa, no! She's got a Shot in the Dark." So that was hard to play around. I think it must just be really hard on him to try to play a game of "Survivor" where you're being honest. That's gotta be an internal struggle the whole time, and that internal struggle becomes an external struggle with people you're trying to play with. But I was surprised how much it was held on to. If I'd known that, I would have voted out Joe and kept Genevieve, when we got split off into that tribe. Aubry and Christian and I easily could have gotten rid of Joe right there, but I really thought we had buried the hatchet and that we were moving on. But I just think he saw me as a devious player and just could not play with that kind of gameplay, so, it never came together, obviously. It's a shame. I was a little surprised the way it kept coming up.