There’s a narrative around Oscar “Ozzy” Lusth as a Survivor player, and it goes something like this: Challenge beast. Incredible live-off-the-land specimen. Terrible social and strategic player.

But does the narrative completely add up? After all, Ozzy was a single final Tribal Council vote away from winning on his very first try of Survivor: Cook Islands. Not only that, but he was one challenge win away from an almost certain jury vote victory on the South Pacific season. That’s how close Ozzy is to not only being a Survivor winner, but a two-time Survivor winner.

However, all that said, the certified legend of the game knows he has to improve his all-around game if we wants to finally emerge victorious on his fifth time out for Survivor 50 (which premieres Feb. 25 on CBS.) The fan favorite hopes the all-star season can finally serve as reality TV redemption for all the other times he came up short, but even if it doesn’t, it is already part of an emotional off-the-island evolution that has brought Ozzy back from he calls the “rock bottom of my life.”

That rock bottom included Ozzy dabbling in pornography and maintaining a very active OnlyFans account — activity the star worried would keep the show that made him a star from ever casting him again. “I went to a dark place and realized that I had to make a huge change,” he tells Entertainment Weekly. And, indeed, a huge change was made.

EW sat down with the now 44-year old Ozzy in Fiji just days before filming on Survivor 50 began, and the reality TV icon opened up about regrets both on and off the island, while also revealing the pep talk Jeff Probst gave the entire cast, and explaining why “I’m stronger than I’ve ever been and I’m ready to f—ing kick ass.”

(This is one of 24 deep-dive, on location interviews with the Survivor 50 cast. Links to the other interviews will be posted at the bottom of this article as they become available.)

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Tell me why you’re going to win Survivor 50, Ozzy.

OZZY LUSTH: Because I’m not going to play the same stupid game that I’ve played in the past. I’m not going to rely on my ability to catch fish and win at challenges. I’m going to develop some deep relationships with some people that people wouldn’t expect. At least that’s what I’m hoping. I’m hoping I can find some alliances out there that are not what people would assume. I’m really inspired by Kamilla and Kyle. I think they played a really great game last season. Kyle obviously won, and Kamilla, if she had been able to make the fire, she might’ve won too.

You just said you’re not going to do the stupid things you did before. The rap on you, which we’ve talked about before, is people saying, “Ozzy is the spirit of Survivor, he lives off the land, he’s incredible in challenges, but he lacks the strategy and social game to seal the deal.” Does that get tough to hear over and over again? Especially because the way I think about it is you were one vote away from winning Cook Islands. And you were one challenge away from winning South Pacific. You were really close to winning this game twice, so you can’t be a bad player.

With the skillset that I have, you have to be a much better strategic player to have the same target and be able to get to the end. So I just relied way too much on my challenge abilities and my abilities to be the spirit of Survivor. This time around, I’m going to let the character Ozzy take the bench for a little while and I’m going to let Oscar come out and be a player.

And I don’t think I’ve ever done that. I haven’t been open with people, vulnerable with people, share stories about what makes me the person that I am. I had a bit of a wall up, a bit of an exterior, a facade. Ozzy was a character that was created when I first played, and I think I’ve learned from a lot of my failures and I’m going to play a different game this time.

Give everybody a quick update as to what you’ve been up to since the last time you played Survivor on Game Changers.

The most recent thing is a year and a half ago, I left my home in Venice Beach and packed up my van and I moved back to my hometown in Guanajuato to open up a music venue, vinyl bar, and restaurant in the historic city of Guanajuato. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done up to this point.

I’ve kind of spent my life since Survivor coasting on the coattails of Survivor and it kind of popping into my life every five years or so. And it opens up a lot of doors and I get a little windfall, but I never used my money wisely until this last year when I had to raise a bunch of cash and put all my life savings in and put it all into this project. So having to have the patience and going through super lean times has been the toughest thing I’ve ever done. It’s the poorest I’ve ever been in my life and it’s kind of like the most alive I’ve felt as well.

So why come back and do this again?

I mean, honestly, it is not about the money. It’s about being able to claim the title of one of the best Survivor players to ever play. I’m just hoping I can Boston Rob it and fifth time’s the charm. I’ve got a huge target on my back, but I think there’s a lot of other huge targets, much bigger than me. I’m in shape, but I don’t look like I’m anything special. I don’t look like f—ing Jonathan. I don’t look like Q or Kyle or Joe. I mean these guys are behemoths and I got to play that up as much as possible — as well as the wild cards. Rizo and Savannah, we know nothing about them.

What do you make of that?

I’ll tell you what, Rizo looks like he’s just entered puberty. He’s maybe 18 years old, maybe 19. He looks like a marathon runner. He looks like he was a cross -country star, and Savannah looks like a mini-Parvati. She’s beautiful. She’s obviously very smart. They obviously made a huge impact on 49 if they’re being asked to go right back out, which is a hard feat to do. So those guys are huge targets because they’re such a mystery and we’re going to be able to litmus test them right away. They would be stupid to tell us the truth. So we’re going to see how they lie immediately.

How have you changed as a person since the last time you played, and how does that impact the way you play Survivor?

I think simply put, I’ve evolved and matured, seen some s—. I’ve been in some dark places and I’ve dug myself back out. And I think leaving Los Angeles, it’s like I’ve always felt like I had this hole in my heart and my soul being born in Mexico and having half of my family and half of my identity from there and never having lived there and having this side of myself that I didn’t know.

I was really ashamed of not speaking Spanish for so long. So to go back and have that beginner mindset and learning something that I feel like I should have learned as a child and that wasn’t my fault — my mom brought [me] back to the States when I was kid. And not only doing that, but opening a restaurant with my little brother and all of the day-to-day frustration that I feel when I’m unable to communicate effectively in the way that I want, the way that I’m used to with English. And at the same time, trying to grow a business. I’m glad I did it because it feels like this is going to be a lot of fun and I’m looking to have fun.

I’m looking to make lifelong connections with people, and I think that’s something I never did the last times I’ve ever played. I always looked to win the game. I’ve never looked to make friends with people and get to know them and connect with them. So like I said, I’m going to let Ozzy take control when we’ve got challenges, and maybe eventually I’ll be able to bond with someone like Jonathan over fishing, but I’m going to be sitting around camp and chopping it up with people.

Is that going to be difficult for you?

As hard as that might be for me to do, it’s the only way to win this new era of Survivor. You got to have the strong alliances and you got to have people that you really can trust. And I’m looking to find those in people that hopefully that aren’t going to be obvious. Maybe it’s Coach, maybe it’s someone like Cirie or Mike White. Those are the people I’m going to be going for.

I think that people wouldn’t expect Coach and I, people definitely wouldn’t expect Mike White and I, and definitely not Cirie. Cirie and I have played together, but I was always so scared of her. I’ve watched her evolution and her playing other games and she’s just an intuitive boss. She just has that sense for people and has that strategy and hopefully I can make a case for us to work together.

I hope that we get a chance to. She probably will be on another tribe if the tribes are broken up the way I think they’re going to be broken up. I don’t think we’re going to be on the same tribe to start. I don’t think any returning players are going to be with people that they’ve played with. So that’s going to create a really interesting dynamic. Got to watch out for those threesomes.

What about people that you are wary of?

I’m really wary of Q. He really tried to run his season and he’s a very physical player and he’s a super competitive player and really takes things serious. I don’t want to be on the wrong side of his ire. I want to make nice with him, but he’s going to be a tough competitor, and he’s got people that he played with that are out here with him, Charlie and Tiffany. And I like Charlie, I like Tiffany, but I’m scared of Q for sure. I think he’s dangerous. I think he can be a major player, especially if he learned some from his mistakes of his last season. And I don’t know much about Genevieve.

Did you watch her season?

I did, but I just can’t remember too much of her what made her come back. But the new players, Rizo and Savannah, they’re also going to be hard to get a beat on, having not seen their season. I bet you they have some sort of story that they’ve come up with. I know that we’re not supposed to talk before, but I could almost guarantee you that they have a story that they’re going to stick to that they’re both going to tell us that we can either believe it or not, but we’ll see how it goes.

How much pre-gaming did you do with the other cast members before you came out here?

None really.

I don’t buy that for a second.

None! I’ve been on this rodeo enough before. I know how it goes.

So does that usually translate to the game? Does it work out usually or not?

I’ll tell you this, I think it affected season 34. I think that it affected who made it to the end and who was willing to work with who. And to be honest, whenever you go to watch parties — I’ve been to around 20 different watch parties since then — there’s always the jokes like, “Alright, wherever we play together again, let’s make an alliance and we’re going to vote this person out.”

It’s all jokes and fun aside, but then you never know who you’re actually going to end up with on your beach and in your tribe. So that’s going to be the hardest part about this game — untangling this five-dimensional web of connections that go back 20 years to Colby and Jenna and Stephenie. They’re connected to every single person here and how they’re connected, who really knows. I met Colby long ago. I don’t think I’ve ever met Jenna. I met Stephenie for the first time last year. I used to have a huge crush on her. Now to be playing with her, it’s crazy.

It’s just so intertwined and tangled up and as we’re playing, it’s going to be untangling this cobweb and this nest of connections in the moment. So that’s going to be the toughest part. Some people have great bonds and they’re not going to want to break them and they’re not going to want to vote each other out. Or maybe they will.

How do you think the other players here see you? Not how you want them to see you, but how they actually see you?

I think some people see me as an asset. Some people are probably tired of hearing my name. I think that some people are probably resent the fact that I’ve kind of been treated well by CBS. When Rob won his season, it’s like, “Well, of course! He had five times to f—ing play! He better have won at the end!” So I’m kind of going against that a little bit.

But there are enough players that have played four times and three times. It is just the nature of Survivor. And if some of these younger players are lucky and they make a good impact, they can have a career doing this, too. Jeff laid it out to us. He said, “Look, if you guys can give us a f—ing dope season, this idea of bringing old players back to play into this new era, it’s something that we’re looking at.”

So I think it’s in everybody’s best interest to f—ing play their heart out. And to answer your question, I think that it’s a combination of a lot of things. I think some people see me as a great competitor that they want to beat to get a notch in their belt — somebody like a Q or even maybe a Jonathan or a Joe seeing the chance to use me as a foil for their own game. And then there’s probably some other people that are tired of hearing my name and don’t think I’m worth my stature because I played bad strategic games every time I played.

So we talked about the physicality and the challenges. What kind of shape are you in now? You and I aren’t getting any younger, and you mentioned a potential back injury to me. Is that anything that’s going to affect you in the game?

The back injury I don’t think is going to affect me. I can still swim. I’m hoping that we have a lot of swim challenges. I’m hoping please, at least a couple. I think I’m in pretty damn good shape. I spent the last year and a half in Mexico opening a restaurant and bar, so I have been partying and drinking and smoking cigarettes for the first time in my life. But when I got the word that this was actually happening, and I saw Jeff’s face on a Zoom one day when he asked me to play, I went in training mode. I got a little layer of fat, but underneath I’m stronger than I’ve ever been and I’m ready to f—ing kick ass.

When did training mode start?

A couple of months ago. We were in this [casting] period where we’re starting the paperwork and doing the things. And I’ve been down this road before, I’ve gotten almost to the end, and they’re like, “We’re going to go in a different direction.” And you f—ing want to die, right? So with my past, I thought maybe I’m just going to be an alternate and then they’ll call me in at the last minute. So I didn’t really think too seriously of it.

And they were like, “Hey, we weren’t going to shoot some pickup lines of you just recounting some of your memories from past seasons.” But then I saw Jeff’s face on the Zoom and he’s like, “Yo, what’s up man? So good to see you. I’m not going to beat around the bush. Will you play Survivor 50 with me?” And I was like, “F—!” I just erupted in tears of joy and gratitude. So from then on, I started my training.

When you said that you didn’t know if they’d want you back with your past, do you mean the OnlyFans stuff you were doing?

Yeah.

Did they bring that up at all?

They did. Jesse Tannenbaum, who’s the casting agent, when they first started making the calls, I was like, “Dude, are you sure? He’s like, ‘Look, they know everything. They know it all. It’s not a deal breaker. So that’s obviously why we’re calling you now.’ And I was like, ‘F— yeah, let’s go.’”

I mean, I stopped everything a couple months before I left L.A. That was kind of my rock bottom of my life, I would say. I went to a dark place and realized that I had to make a huge change. So that’s one of the reasons why I left Los Angeles, to go do and build something that I could be proud of.

That’s awesome, man. Anything you regret on a personal level from the previous times you played?

Yeah, for sure. I think that not giving Cochran a chance in season 23 is something that I regret. I think that there was a real opportunity to be a mentor and to utilize his brains and to see past his self. I was pretty immature back then, and I’m not proud of the…. Look, Survivor is a game and you want to have a strong tribe in the beginning. You don’t want to go to Tribal Council. But at the same time, I think that I could have done a much better job of making the tribe stronger and treating him with more respect.

So I’m definitely not proud of that. And other than that, trusting a cop is something that I’d never thought I would do. And I did that in Game Changers and it screwed me over. Yeah, it’s like I said in Cook Islands, when Cristina was on my side, I was like, “I don’t trust cops at all.” And I went against my better judgment and trusted Sarah, and it came back to bite me in the ass.

The game has changed so much, even since Game Changers, no pun intended. Do you need to play some catch up? Are you at a disadvantage just getting up to speed on all that?

Oh yeah. Not only is this new area of Survivor a different speed, shorter time period, but add that in we’ve got to basically get rid of 21 people. 21 people have to be voted out in 26 days. That’s going to be a brutal amount of Tribal Councils. I’m expecting some double boots. I’m expecting some back-to-back Tribals when we first start. It’s probably going to be something where only the first tribe to get immunity is safe and the other two Tribals are going to go back-to-back Tribal Councils.

I’d like to see people like Jenna and Colby stick around longer than maybe Rizo and Savannah. If I had to choose, I’d say the old schoolers deserve it more than these young kids.