Why didn't Ozzy Lusth play his idol? He reveals 'Survivor 50' reasoning

Why didn't Ozzy Lusth play his Hidden Immunity Idol during Tribal Council during Wednesday's latest Survivor 50 episode?

Perhaps the most devastating moment of the season so far was Lusth overplaying his hand and sealing his fate by not playing his idol during a blindside orchestrated by Aubry Bracco.

Ozzy has gotten in trouble in the past for exiting the game with an idol in his pocket, and history sadly repeated itself during Survivor 50. Why didn't he play the idol just to be safe? During Tribal, he seemed to understand that now might be the right time, as you could never fully tell how the wind might blow with any given vote.

During his Entertainment Weekly exit interview with Dalton Ross, Lusth admitted that he's not even all that sure in retrospect why he didn't play the idol to protect himself against a blindside.

I wish I knew the answer. It's something I've been asking myself for the last year. It's like, why would I not? Was it just me being greedy with wanting one more day? 'Cause to be honest, Dalton, from day one, I was at risk and I felt like I was playing with the house's money for this whole entire game. So I was like: Ah, what's one more day? I think I can make it one more day. These guys gotta get rid of Aubry. Come on. They've been saying it this whole entire game.

So I just kinda got cerebral about it when a lot of times in Survivor, I would say more often than not, you can't let your mind lie to you about what you feel, what your intuitions are. And I got too in my head about doing these crazy algebraic formulas, telling myself who's voting for who and how and why and what, whatever, when in my heart of hearts, I felt it, but my mind got in the way.

And I think that's probably the biggest lesson for me in all of this is being more in tune with your intuition, being more in tune with your dreams. As much as your subconscious is so powerful, our mind often gets in the way. That's really what it comes down to, is I let my mind play a major trick on myself.

That's a tough lesson for one of the game's most beloved players in its history to learn on what might be the last time he contends in American Survivor. Maybe Jeff Probst will give him one last chance at redemption one day?