Survivor 50 Winner On The Moment She Felt Most In Danger: 'I Felt Like I Had No Shot'

Spoilers ahead for the season finale of "Survivor 50"!

Season 50 of "Survivor" has finally come to an end. 

The twistiest installment yet crowned its winner Wednesday with a three-hour live finale, with four-time player Aubry Bracco winning the $2 million check and title of Sole Survivor. Her journey was a bumpy one. After struggling to find her footing early in the game (and accidentally igniting a rivalry with Genevieve in the process), some dynamic twists, a bit of luck, and some smart strategic decisions helped Aubry survive vote after vote after vote. 

Devens saved her hide with his fake idol during the duos twist, while selectively sharing information after a split Tribal helped her bury Ozzy and squeak by. And after Jonathan won the Final 5 immunity challenge, his victory helped eliminate Tiffany from the game, which got Aubry one step closer to the finish line. But it was a pivotal Final 4 immunity win at the Simmotion challenge that ultimately secured her Final 3 seat, and that's where she really slayed dragons (to borrow a little parlance from Coach), defeating runner-up Jonathan and third place finisher Joe by a vote of 8-3-0. (Read our full recap here.)

Below, Aubry speaks with TVLine to break down her best and worst moves of the season, and give her takes on the electric return of the live finale and the moment she felt most in trouble. (And keep an eye on our YouTube channel and Instagram for full video interviews with the rest of the Final 5!)

TVLINE | First off, huge congratulations! How are you feeling this morning as a newly crowned multi-millionaire?
AUBRY BRACCO | Oh, I'm feeling grateful. I'm taking it all in, being in the present moment, and I'm relieved. It's over now.

TVLINE | Did we party last night? Any crazy stories? Did we hit In N Out like Michael B Jordan after the Oscars?
I went to the afterparty. I don't drink anymore, so this was all the high I needed, and I was just feeling the love and taking it in. So, [I] just met amazing people that... it's so funny when you see people that you know from being on the island and then you're with them. It's amazing.

TVLINE | Was there anything from Final Tribal that we didn't see? Anything in the jury discussion viewers may have missed out on?
There was a lot more conversation about our stories and our legacy, so you really did get that with the Christian question, and then we definitely hashed out some other votes and decisions, but you really did get the meat of what happened and it was very much back and forth. Jonathan and I both had advocates on that jury, and it really did kind of feel like a back and forth through the whole thing.

TVLINE | You had some low moments in the early days. Did you ever feel like, "Why am I back on here again?"
Yeah, I was sick in the first couple of days, and I also knew I was in a funky spot at the beginning of the game. I got off on the wrong foot. I was very aware of it. I tried to fix it. I probably, definitely made it worse, but I just put one foot in front of the other and said, "You can get through the next day, you just got to keep going," and I really just tried to keep positive that even if I felt like crap, there was a way out of it.

TVLINE | You've lasted 39 days and now 26. What's the difference in the physical and mental toll on your body?
Yeah, so I've been diplomatic and said that they're harder in different ways. I think the 39-day game is harder physically. The 26-day game is a lot more like mental gymnastics, but the 26-day game, I think, is more suited for me because I'm someone who doesn't do well with any downtime. I need to make rapid decisions, so I don't overthink. And in a way, just having to go, go, go was good for me and a little bit easier for the way my brain chemistry works.

TVLINE | Tell me a little bit about the art of the slow build and peaking at the right time. Why is that timing so important in the game of "Survivor"?
Yeah, I mean, I studied "Survivor" at this point, Nick, for 10 years. I studied the players, I was listening to every exit interview from every member of this cast. I studied game theory stuff. There's a guy who's on the show "Got to Get Out," He was called Doodles, Nick Metzler. He talks about how you have to make the move at the right moment, and I thought a lot about that before I went out. If you make your move too soon, you become a threat too early. And I also know from Season 32, Season 38, I watched two people really emerge and be the top of the news cycle at just the right time where people didn't have so much time that they could get them out, but it was enough time that they could really shine and be the center of attention. So I really thought about that timing a lot, especially after the Ozzy vote.

TVLINE | Tiffany was one puzzle piece away at that Final 5 immunity challenge. If she wins that, was there anything you could have tried to do, or do you think you were just cooked?
I was cooked. I was cooked, and Jonathan pulled it out by one piece. I was gone, 100%.

TVLINE | I do want to mention your, "Whoops! I forgot to play the idol," moment. Tell me a bit about the aftermath of that. Was that hard to pull yourself out of?
My gosh, that idol thing, that was like my Peter/Julia cross-out in "32." It really was. I mean, the aftermath of that is that they were not happy with me, and then ended up being kind of poetic because I played it, which I had to, because I would have just burned my little social... I didn't have much social equity coming into the merge. If I hadn't played that thing, they were going to feel like I was clowning on them. I was going to destroy any social standing I had. So there was fallout, but then it was a little bit funny when Devens and I could have used it to save ourselves in the vote after I burned it. But hey, you know, that's how it works. You've got to roll with the punches

TVLINE | Did you ever consider not playing the idol at the Dee vote, and just saying, "Eh, screw it!"
No, I had to play that. You have to read the temperature in the room. Did I want to play it? Hell no, I wanted to hold on to that, but you have to read the people. I spent this entire game putting myself in other people's shoes, and I really thought about this game. These are returning players. They are all the heroes of their own stories and their own seasons. And I kept putting myself in their shoes and at a point, you could say I was forced to, I wasn't forced to do it. I knew what I had to do to gain any degree of a social footing, and that was the move I had to make.

TVLINE | There were a lot of moments where it seemed like you were in a pickle. But which moment did you feel most worried?
I really felt the most worried about the Ozzy vote. You see me crying after that rock draw. Rizo, Jonathan, Ozzy, and Joe had been on the beach that morning, they were bro-ing down. I'm like, "Oh, these guys are together. I have no shot." And at that point I didn't even realize how close Ozzy and Rizo were, but that one I felt like I had no shot and wow, we made it happen.

TVLINE | You certainly did. Now at the live show last night, Jeff accidentally revealed a fire-making spoiler, letting it slip that Rizo was the 11th and final juror. I know you weren't on the stage, but what was happening backstage? Was it anarchy?
I knew the moment had happened, but I was freaking out about what I was going to say and having that last minute, "Oh my gosh, did I pull it out?" moment. So I wasn't overly focused on that and Jeff kind of just owned it and moved on. I was not very fazed. I was a little bit in my own world on that one.

TVLINE | Any moment of the game where you feel like you could've or should've done something differently?
Man, I think I probably wish I had a different Day 1. It was so interesting. I know Genevieve thought I was coming at her immediately and at that moment, I thought I was just having conversations. Other people were calling Angelina chaotic, Rizo lazy, and I said she was dangerous and I tried to address that with her head-on. I really did, and clearly it did not go over well. I actually started that conversation and I admitted to her that I had called her dangerous to people and I tried to talk to her a lot after that and she did not want to talk to me. The night she went home, she was not willing to work with me. I tried to talk to her, she refused to.

What would I have done differently? At the very beginning, I probably would have made Stephenie feel more comfortable with me. She was always worried that I would not commit to her, and I think that Stephenie and Colby were the keys to the alliances that formed on their first tribe, and I didn't make Stephenie feel comfortable enough.

TVLINE | Now, the Stephs, the Colbys, the old schoolers, they viewed Rizo in certain moments as lazy and very Gen Z. Could you feel the generational gap between them and the new era kids?
I think there's a lot of people — new era like Jonathan, old-school heart — and there's some older players I think I could... I think "Kaôh Rōng" was a little bit new era-coded in moments. I could see where they were coming from with Rizo, but man, I was very privy to his wisdom. Rizo is amazing one-on-one, and I would see him going around making relationships, and I'm like, "He's not just lazy around campus, they say, he's got something going on." So, there was a gap. That's the thing. I know I said I was receptive to people and I was. I was very open to, "What are the different ways I perceive people and what are the different ways people are being perceived?" So Rizo is really interesting. He's got different sides for different people. Some people just weren't willing to see the other side of him.

TVLINE | I know we talked last night about Devens boosting the prize pot up to $2 million, but I want to get your take of what that MrBeast moment felt like in person.
Oh my gosh, when I was watching that MrBeast coin flip, I thought I was going to go home. I thought I was after Devens and Devens was safe. I was just so conflicted, and part of me wanted to flip it. I was like, "I don't know, I could be in a weird spot. Maybe I go for it." But something inside of me was just like, Devens was born for this. He really was. He is a wild man. I played with him on the edge and I just knew he was supposed to do it and I just listened to my intuition. I can't even describe that moment. It was... [the coin] was spinning! It was wild.

TVLINE | I know you've played four times and just won, but could Aubry Bracco return for a Winners at War 2 or something like that?
I'm so honored and grateful, but I'm so ready for other people to have their shot. I can get emotional thinking like I'll never play again because it's just so fun. I don't always make it look easy or fun, but I'm having fun. But I think it's time for other people to have their shot. There's a long list of people who deserve it.

TVLINE | Any final comments on your entire year-long experience of "Survivor 50"?
You know what? This is funny. People have asked something you didn't see. I cut off a lock of Ozzy's hair with a machete and I buried it on the beach because he wanted to leave pieces of himself around Fiji. You're the first person I've told, I totally forgot that!