See who was selected in what order and why.

Watch unaired Survivor 49 schoolyard pick and fallout (exclusive)

See who was selected in what order and why.

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.

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November 20, 2025 8:00 a.m. ET

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Jeff Probst told the players this week on *Survivor 49* that they would be divided into two teams for the reward challenge by a schoolyard pick. But then, per usual, we never saw the actual picking… until now.

In an exclusive deleted scene that can be watched above, we see everything from the rock draw determining captains, to the contest to see who picked first, to the picks themselves and why they were made and in what order. And there are definitely a few fascinating angles that help flesh out and explain what we saw play out later in the episode.

Rizo Velovic and Jeff Probst on 'Survivor 49'.

After Rizo Velovic and Kristina Mills pulled the colored rocks out of a bag making them captains, Rizo used scissors to cut Kristina’s paper in a furious game of rock, paper, scissors to determine the first pick. And he used that pick to select… Jawan Pitts.

Rizo’s pick of Jawan right off the bat makes it clear that Kristina’s offer later to give her chicken feast reward to Jawan was not an isolated incident, and that *everybody* was invested in getting Jawan his first real food since the game began.

“I'm gonna pick Jawan and here's why I'm gonna pick Jawan,” Rizo explains to Probst in the clip. “I'm hoping that we're gonna break the reward curse. I see something that's throwing, and the little Rizo in me thinks that I can hopefully pull it out. So me picking Jawan is me hopefully thinking I can pull it out and bring that man some food.”

Rizo Velovic and Kristina Mills on 'Survivor 49'.

That was not the only support Jawan received. After being the only person *not* selected for a team, Sophi Balerdi (Blue Sophi, if you’re nasty) got to pick a team to root for, and if they won, she won the feast right along with them. She chose Rizo’s team and then explained her decision to Probst and the group: “I made my decision, and it has to do with kind of what Rizo said. I'm rooting for Jawan, and me picking them means that I'm rooting for myself too, I guess. So I want to give you that extra, you know, luck today and pick this team right here because of Jawan.”

Even more interesting that that little bit of intel and insight as to the group’s determination to win Jawan food was Kristina’s first selection in the schoolyard pick, as she chose Sophie Segreti. While that would seem to make sense considering Yellow Sophie’s challenge prowess, that was not the stated reason that Kristina gave for the move.

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“I'm going to go with Sophie because I think we need to build a little bit more trust together,” she explains to Probst in the scene. “I think after the vote last night, we need to recalibrate things a little.”

That open acknowledgement that Kristina had damage control to perform is pretty fascinating, especially considering she was not even part of the vote to which she referred. But evidently her lack of visible relief and excitement in seeing Sophie returning from Tribal Council did create a big rift that she could feel — a rift that would play out later at the next Tribal Council when Kristina was left out of the vote.

Sophi Balerdi, Steven Ramm, Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Jawan Pitts, Rizo Velovic, Alex Moore, Sophi Segreti, Kristina Mills, Savannah Louie, and Jeff Probst on 'Survivor 49'.

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For her part, Sophie appeared unmoved by Kristina’s challenge gesture. “Kristina chose me first into the schoolyard pick supposedly to make amends and rebuild trust with me,” she says in a confessional interview. “Which is just funny because I'm also good at challenges. I'm like, ‘I'm helping you out, girl. Like, let's not get it twisted.’”

To see the full schoolyard pick and order of contestants selected and why, check out the exclusive deleted scene above, and make sure to read our full episode recap.

- Survivor Fandom

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Survivor”