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The latest episode of “Survivor: Edge of Extinction” features two immunity challenges, two Tribal Councils, one genuine blindside, the emergence of a puppet master and a pile of pizza.
The first immunity challenge is won by Aurora, who had been targeted for torch snuffing. She earns the necklace, but she’s playing against a narrowed field. Lauren, Kelley, Victoria and Ron decide to pass on the evening’s torture and instead eat what Jeff Probst describes as a “mountain of pizza.”
The result is two factions trying to lure Ron and Julie into their alliance. On one side is War Dog’s war party, which includes Kelley, Lauren and Gavin; on the other side are Rick, David, Aurora and Victoria.
War Dog’s appeal — we just don’t see it — is greater and David is voted off, becoming the third returning player to be ousted. He joins fellow returnees Joe and Aubry on Extinction Island, along with Eric, Reem, Julia and Chris.
We get to see a little action from the Island of Misfit Castaways as they receive clues to help them find an advantage. They scatter over the island trying to make sense of “Survivor’s” trademarked bad poetry. David finds the advantage, which is to give a remaining player an advantage.
As the players gather for the second Immunity Challenge of the night, Rick reveals that David has bestowed the advantage on him. That means that instead of having to get five balls to settle into dimples on a giant paddle (yes, we know how silly it sounds), Rick only has to dimple four.
The advantage turns out to be quite advantageous as Rick wins the necklace and is safe from being voted off.
The target is back on Aurora, whom many blame for Julia’s torch snuffing the previous week. But War Dog has another plan. He wants to get rid of Kelley, the final returning player. Ron is again conflicted on whom to vote off. He wants to stay in Julie’s good graces, and Julie wants Aurora out, but he sees the wisdom in getting rid of Kelley.
Aurora decides to use her secret advantage — an extra vote — as bait to get Ron to save her. She gives him the advantage, asks that he give it back the next day if she survives the vote, or if she doesn’t, to use it wisely for himself.
In the end Ron sides with War Dog and Kelley gets the blindside with an immunity idol in her pocket. For those keeping count, there now are as many players cooling their heels on Extinction Island (eight) as there are still in the game.
Based on the jury reaction and War Dog’s own self-appraisal, it would seem that War Dog really is running the game, at least for now.
Next time: Gavin wants War Dog’s head on a silver platter, and Rick could be in trouble.
Choices
One of the more fascinating things about watching “Survivor” is observing players making critical decisions based on limited information while living in a fog of hunger, fear and paranoia. They don’t always make the right ones. Here are some from this week.
- The decision to eat pizza. We realize that “Survivor” contestants are two grains of rice removed from starvation, but giving up a chance to win immunity is never a good idea. Yes, you get pizza. You also alienate the other players, all of whom will use your choice to feed your face while they competed, and serve you a mountain of guilt. Like heartburn, it always comes back to haunt you.
- David’s decision to give Rick the advantage at an Immunity Challenge. We like Rick, we’re glad he won immunity, but David says he needs to give the advantage to someone to curry favor with them should he get back into the game and need their support. Giving it to Rick is like giving the Kardashians more attention than they already have. Rick and David already have a bond, so it basically earned David nothing while irritating the others.
- The decision to vote off Kelley. Everyone keeps talking about what a threat Kelley is, but she’s been on the losing end of everything pretty much throughout the season and is floating along on her resume. Was she really that big a threat? We don’t think so. On the other side of the palm frond, Aurora is a threat to win immunity every single time, especially now that the strong men are out of the game.
- Kelley’s decision not to use her hidden immunity idol. If we had a nickel for every time a player got his or her torch snuffed because they didn’t play their idol, we’d have about $2.45, which isn’t much, but it represents a lot of players that made the mistake of getting too comfortable. David and Rick played their joint idol last week, when it wasn’t necessary, but better to “waste” the idol than take it home.
- Aurora’s decision to trust Ron with her extra vote advantage. The maniacal expression Ron had after making the deal made us worry about Aurora’s trust placement. But at this point, we think she made a good choice.
