Survivor 38: Edge of Extinction |OT| Where Castaways Attempt to Jump the Shark

[RepairmanJack]

Tin foil hat preview speculation:

Spoiler

My money is on David being the one who faints. With a slight chance of Gavin. In the preview Victoria looks to her right to try to see what happened. There are only 5 people to her right. Added with the way it shows Jeff run to the crew makes me think it's more toward the middle of the comp which eliminates Kelley, Eric and most likely Julia.

Probably looking too much into small stuff, but it's the most fun I had with this episode.

 

[FatAlbert Nobbs]

God, the editing this season has been a disaster.

 

[llehuty]

I think the editors are doing what they can at this point. 3 tribes merging + 2 challenges + the edge of extinction things. It's basically impossible to fit everything.

The good thing about voting Joe out is that everyone else they send to Edge of Extinction has slim chances to make it back.

Also, I'm superconfused about the jury side of things, do people that don't stay on the edge of extinction go to Ponderosa? Can you go to extinction and then jump to Ponderosa? Do they still share seats in the jury. Jeff called Joe the 4th member of the jury, so Aubrey, Chris and Reem ar jury members independently of if they leave?

 

[RepairmanJack]

I think the editors are doing what they can at this point. 3 tribes merging + 2 challenges + the edge of extinction things. It's basically impossible to fit everything.

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Let's take fine minutes to ask each edge of extinction person how much they love Survivor, or why they are there. lol

 

[SoleSurvivor]

I kind of have to agree with what Cesternino has been saying recently on RHAP.. we don't really need every single contestant to be well fleshed out/heard from every episode. It's a TV show first, and I found that stuff RepairmanJack is complaining about above to be compelling because it's fresh and different. I can see why it's not for everyone, and not essential to the traditional Survivor game narrative. But, if a player is boring (try watching Julia's online only confessionals) or not essential to the narrative of the winner (Aurora probably), the editors shouldn't be forced to cut other more relevant content down to squeeze in equal airtime for everybody. Looking back at the early seasons, there are a ton of underedited people I don't remember at all, because they just weren't very important to the overall story. Yet, those are the golden era seasons. Rob phrased it like, "we didn't use to count confessionals."

 

[RepairmanJack]

I kind of have to agree with what Cesternino has been saying recently on RHAP.. we don't really need every single contestant to be well fleshed out/heard from every episode. It's a TV show first, and I found that stuff RepairmanJack is complaining about above to be compelling because it's fresh and different. I can see why it's not for everyone, and not essential to the traditional Survivor game narrative. But, if a player is boring (try watching Julia's online only confessionals) or not essential to the narrative of the winner (Aurora probably), the editors shouldn't be forced to cut other more relevant content down to squeeze in equal airtime for everybody. Looking back at the early seasons, there are a ton of underedited people I don't remember at all, because they just weren't very important to the overall story. Yet, those are the golden era seasons. Rob phrased it like, "we didn't use to count confessionals."

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I personally don't care too much about the editing, was just pointing out what I thought was a funny addition, I actually think they can't edit much of whats just not there. I mostly just think it's a bust season with a bust twist that makes for an anti-climactic and boring season.

 

[TheDestructiveSquirrel]

Oh, so that's who Julie is lol, and there is a Julia too?

Who is Aurora? Has she been mentioned once?

So many people made the merge who have had like 2 lines all season lol

Somehow I'm in 5th in the fantasy league, kinda surprised


Edit - Can I not redraft my benched survivors? I tried adding them to the main roster and then redrafting but it doesn't work

Edit 2 - I see this was all discussed last page

 

[RepairmanJack]

I feel like this season as a whole is going to be about the returnees completely underestimating the newbies. It's like they expect them to play like normal dumb new players at every turn and they keep getting completely played. They're not even trying over the top hard stuff, it's just they're buying what they're saying at every damn turn.

 

[Pikachu]

Wendy was FUCKING robbed

 

[Yka]

Wendy and Keith probably kicking themselves now that they know that they would have been part of the jury if they had stayed in the game.

Jeff called Joe the 4th member of the jury, so Aubrey, Chris and Reem are jury members independently of if they leave?

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I would think that they are out of the jury if they rise the flag and leave the edge of extinction but who knows...

 

[Parch]

So many people made the merge who have had like 2 lines all season lol

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People who have been voted out of the game are getting more air time.
The show is definitely all in with this Edge of Extinction twist. Giving the evicted multiple attempts to reenter the game seems excessive.

 

[bastardly]

What a fitting end for Keith, of course he fucking quits.

And this edge of extinction shit really takes the fun out of these tribals now that you can't even get booted from that apparently.

I remember when they did this shit with ozzy one season and they regularly had challenges to knock people out I believe. Do that, because as fun as it is seeing reem flip her shit, she needs to go fucking home already.

 

[Crazymoogle]

I know the format is controversial, but the thing that makes it exciting to me is that it has the potential to shake up voting strategy across the show. I mean, voting out who they did just gives that person a lot more practice time, salts them against a jury vote, and basically just shakes up everything we know about voting order.

You could argue the people they should be aiming for are ones psychologically more vulnerable to quitting, thus removing them from the jury pool, rather than big threats who could easily endure, have a vendetta and poison the rest of the jury against you. Or vote out someone who's enemy is already there, causing chaos and wearing down their morale.

 

[ZiggyPalffyLA]

What a fitting end for Keith, of course he fucking quits.

And this edge of extinction shit really takes the fun out of these tribals now that you can't even get booted from that apparently.

I remember when they did this shit with ozzy one season and they regularly had challenges to knock people out I believe. Do that, because as fun as it is seeing reem flip her shit, she needs to go fucking home already.

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Keith goes down as one of my worst 5 players of all time. Just terrible in every aspect of the game.

 

[llehuty]

I kind of wonder how this season would had been without the returnees. The new players seem very agressive, but they quickly jumping to "we have to vote out the veterans" removes part of the fun. Looking forward them turning on each other (at the expense of making us hate the full cast).

One of the poistive sides of this season not working so well is that we won't be seeing a season with retunree captains in a while, I think.

 

[RepairmanJack]

Only mixed returnee seasons I want to see at this point are BvW. I like the idea of going in with predetermined ties and having the added weight of relationships mixed with players that also know each other.

That can still turn out poorly, but there's at least the added ties to family that make the pre-gaming ties and alliances unreliable.

 

[llehuty]

Only mixed returnee seasons I want to see at this point are BvW. I like the idea of going in with predetermined ties and having the added weight of relationships mixed with players that also know each other.

That can still turn out poorly, but there's at least the added ties to family that make the pre-gaming ties and alliances unreliable.

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Yeah, that one is a good compromise. The first one worked so well.

 

[Carthago Delenda Est]

Yeah, that one is a good compromise. The first one worked so well.

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She voted out her mom!

 

[SoleSurvivor]

Survivor tonight! LAST REMINDER TO EVERYONE PLAYING FANTASY TO REDRAFT IF YOU WANT TO! Take a minute to look it over and SAVE CHANGES!

 

[Carthago Delenda Est]

Survivor tonight! LAST REMINDER TO EVERYONE PLAYING FANTASY TO REDRAFT IF YOU WANT TO! Take a minute to look it over and SAVE CHANGES!

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I have two eliminated players (Joe and Aubry) on my list. I can't sub them out. They literally don't appear. I just only have six people to work with. That's surely not working as intended?

 

[SoleSurvivor]

I have two eliminated players (Joe and Aubry) on my list. I can't sub them out. They literally don't appear. I just only have six people to work with. That's surely not working as intended?

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Joe and Aubry are currently not "in the game" in that their torches were snuffed, not playing challenges, etc. But if one of them were to come back into the game, like Rick did last episode, they become an active point earning character again. In my personal league with friends, I have the same two people you mentioned, who are locked for that same reason. And last week I played Rick active, and earned points for him coming back and now he can be swapped out during this redraft.

I could be wrong, but I believe this is the final redraft of the season. I don't think they're doing one after the next EOE returnee comes back.

 

[Carthago Delenda Est]

Joe and Aubry are currently not "in the game" in that their torches were snuffed, not playing challenges, etc. But if one of them were to come back into the game, like Rick did last episode, they become an active point earning character again. In my personal league with friends, I have the same two people you mentioned, who are locked for that same reason. And last week I played Rick active, and earned points for him coming back and now he can be swapped out during this redraft.

I could be wrong, but I believe this is the final redraft of the season. I don't think they're doing one after the next EOE returnee comes back.

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Right. What I'm asking is why can't I swap them out of my roster so that I can play players who aren't on exile earning no points? Why can I only swap out active players?

 

[SoleSurvivor]

Right. What I'm asking is why can't I swap them out of my roster so that I can play players who aren't on exile earning no points? Why can I only swap out active players?

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Voted out players on extinction can't be swapped out. This was true even after the first episode's redraft where people couldn't dump Reem. Got a few messages about it between the two leagues I play in.

I think it makes sense. Should be some punishment for picking someone who gets voted out. Otherwise we'd all dump voted out players each time and all put the same people in that the show's edit is higlighting week after week.

-----

Can't say I'm the biggest fan of this redrafting feature.. but I have to enforce it this season and make sure everyone is aware and reminded frequently of it so the playing field can be as even as possible. Redrafting does reward fantasy participants who made really shitty pre-season picks and would otherwise usually become disinterested a few episodes in after losing a bunch of people as I've seen happen time and time again. But I liken this to the blue shell in Mario Kart. Someone who made great picks and chose their active placements correctly early on will get a nice lead, but then redrafting allows people a second, third, etc. chance to scoop up players the edit is telling us is important and who are significant to the narrative of the story. Players who have found idols that we didn't have before the redraft. Players who have strong alliances. It allows someone without the skill to take first place to use a homing beacon of sorts to propel themselves forward.

I've talked to the admins of the fantasy site, and have asked what they want to do with this going forward. I suggested that someone should be able to be made a league's moderator (which I'm actually not, I'm just the one who generated the league) and that they can choose pre-season to flip a digital switch as to whether their league can redraft or not. If this were the case, I'd run a poll for a few weeks leading up to season 39 to see if people want to keep using the redrafting feature or go back to the way things were.

 

[Carthago Delenda Est]

I wouldn't have even tried without the redrafting feature. To me, I don't see much skill at all involved in sticking to the pre-season picks. Those picks are wild guesses. Even now, no one without spoilers could have a clue who will win. Redrafting is the best thing they've done with this fantasy thing so far.

I do think they need to take it a step farther and allow me to drop eliminated players. Ultimately, it only takes away decisions moving forward. Eventually you'll have no decisions and that's bad for everyone.

Why should I be punished for a bad preseason pick weeks later? I should be punished that week and then be able to pick up the pieces. That breeds competition.

 

[Deleted member 864]

I feel like an idol is going to be played tonight.

 

[Grexeno]

This season sure is setting the fans on fire huh

 

[Kirblar]

Rick's level of butthurt explains a lot about both the merge vote and adds to the list of reasons why Lynne might've been axed.

 

[peteykirch]

Wardog useless in another physical challenge, must be a day of the week that ends in day.

 

[vypek]

I want to laugh every time Jeff says "Wardog"

It's just so hard to take seriously.

Edit: They are mad at her for playing the game still? Someone literally said to keep going. Don't be mad at Aurora.

 

[Grexeno]

oh god how could Aurora do this, bring me my fainting couch

 

[vypek]

Lauren has been famished and feeling weak for quite a few weeks. I really thought they would take her out of the game at this point if she is passing out

 

[Jarrod38]

Aurora not giving a fuck.

 

[Grexeno]

If you use the family visit as a threat you ensure you go home right before the family visit.

 

[peteykirch]

Is Wardog perhaps one of the most oblivious Survivor players of all time?

 

[Kirblar]

In Ponderosa pre-season, Aubry mentioned that she actually wanted to kill the Family Visit because this exact thing (using it for leverage) happened in S34.

 

[Grexeno]

I will say one thing for this season: there's really no winner's edit to speak of.

 

[vypek]

Idk what even led to that vote decision. Maybe I missed too many chunks of the show

 

[Grexeno]

Idk what even led to that vote decision. Maybe I missed too many chunks of the show

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Gavin, Victoria, and Julia turned on Ron & Eric because they were trying to keep David and Devens around to use against them.

 

[vypek]

Gavin, Victoria, and Julia turned on Ron & Eric because they were trying to keep David and Devens around to use against them.

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Thank you

 

[Leeness]

That was a pretty good blindside! Fun episode.

I continue to feel terrible for Lauren. I just want her to eat and be healthy lol.

 

[cubanb]

Been pleasantly surprised by this season given the buzz before it started. I am still bracing myself for the worst I guess....

 

[Deleted member 864]

That was a great blindside, and a really good tribal. A lot of interesting discussions and arguments happening during the tribal. I will admit that I have some respect for Wardog with being able to plant those seeds of doubt with Julia and Gavin and convince them that Ron & Eric did not have their best interests in mind. Great episode overall.

Also, since when has the Family Visit been so important? That whole discussion was...weird.

 

[Grexeno]

That was a great blindside, and a really good tribal. A lot of interesting discussions and arguments happening during the tribal. I will admit that I have some respect for Wardog with being able to plant those seeds of doubt with Julia and Gavin and convince them that Ron & Eric did not have their best interests in mind. Great episode overall.

Also, since when has the Family Visit been so important? That whole discussion was...weird.

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Apparently, according to Aubry, people have used the Family Visit like this before on Game Changers.

 

[VideogameVices]

this is a great season.

+

david's such a rigorous thinker. He's like my favourite survivor and I'd love for him to win it.

 

[RepairmanJack]

Hey that was a pretty great episode.

WTF happened to Devons? All of a sudden he seemed to be acting completely irrationally. Like he got a whif of being on the side of numbers and it went completely to his head? "They saved me so fuck even the one person I've been the tightest wtih!" Seemed bizarre from a guy that's mostly seemed pretty level headed. And people were wondering why Kelley thought Devons coming back was her worst nightmare. She apparently knew some of this was at least likely to want Reem back over Devons.

I like Wardog's approach to the other tribe as it seemed he specifically targeted the ones who seemed to be least aggressive in the game and the youngest and easiest to approach. At least he did something decent after the half-assed approach to Devons.

 

[Br3wnor]

That was an AWESOME fucking episode, could not believe they pulled off the coup. I've shit on Wardog all season but I've gotta give him props, he got the whole thing going.

And Devons what the fuck! He turned into an ass real quick, pretty awesome that David won't give him back the half idol, that'll be an interesting dynamic going forward. Just hope David doesn't give him full trust again, he'll flip on him in a heartbeat.

This is first season of a survivor we're watching, a coworker turned me onto it and man has it been great. Can't believe it's taken us this long to watch it given how much we love MTV's The Challenge

Are old seasons available to stream somewhere?

 

[RepairmanJack]

That was an AWESOME fucking episode, could not believe they pulled off the coup. I've shit on Wardog all season but I've gotta give him props, he got the whole thing going.

And Devons what the fuck! He turned into an ass real quick, pretty awesome that David won't give him back the half idol, that'll be an interesting dynamic going forward. Just hope David doesn't give him full trust again, he'll flip on him in a heartbeat.

This is first season of a survivor we're watching, a coworker turned me onto it and man has it been great. Can't believe it's taken us this long to watch it given how much we love MTV's The Challenge

Are old seasons available to stream somewhere?

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A ton of them are on Hulu. CBS All Access has them all, but you only really want that if you want Star Trek or Twilight Zone.

 

[ReAxion]

wardog has a good brain in a bad body lol - props for sniffing out the plot and even bigger props for being able to coherently convey it to another person.

i hope devens goes soon. what a complete and utter rube. the survivor gods must punish him.

 

[SoleSurvivor]

This is first season of a survivor we're watching, a coworker turned me onto it and man has it been great. Can't believe it's taken us this long to watch it given how much we love MTV's The Challenge

Are old seasons available to stream somewhere?

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Welcome into the fold! Just to add to RepairmanJack's response, Amazon Prime also has a ton of the seasons.

I was late to the game about 5 years ago and started bingeing out of order, so my personal advice would be to get CBS All Access and just watch in order because not only are there multiple all star seasons that spoil old seasons, sometimes past winners and decisions are referenced as well. Also just fun to watch the strategy evolve.

However, if you don't have time for this, or just want to watch from what's available on Amazon or Hulu, use Reddit's spoiler-free user aggregated "What Season Should You Watch" yearly thread to figure out the best out of order order.

And keep us updated on your watch-throughs of old seasons. I live for new fan reactions!

 

[KuwabaraTheMan]

Pretty enjoyable episode. I really thought they were setting up Ron's exit, but Eric going out works just as well. I'm amazed that Wardog actually managed to do something effective, especially after his terrible job with Rick earlier in the episode.