Survivor: Edge of Extinction - Episode 10 Recap

Blood of a Blindside

By Jim Van Nest

April 24, 2019

She's had this look the entire game.

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Hello good people and welcome back to the BOP recap of Survivor 38 - Edge of Extinction. This season is finally showing signs of life after an epic Tribal Council last week. The tribe came to Tribal with 2 plans: a plan to vote out Kelley Wentworth and a decoy plan to vote out David Wright. Or maybe it's the reverse. Who really knows? Neither of those plans came to fruition as Julia had the single largest meltdown and game suicide ever performed in a Survivor Tribal Council. She went from being in charge of the dominant alliance to the newest resident of Extinction Island by simply not knowing how or when to shut the hell up. She actually out shined the second largest meltdown and game suicide ever performed at Tribal Council as Aurora ALSO couldn't keep her own mouth shut. If Julia had stopped talking, I'd be dogging Aurora today. But nevertheless, she persisted.

So, with Julia at Extinction and Aurora self-destructing as well, Gavin and Victoria will start the night in a very precarious position. Let's see if they have the chops to get out of it. Tonight is a double boot episode and generally these happen when they need to de-clutter a little and there's not a lot of action. It really is shaping up to be an Aurora and Gavin boot night. Let's see how well I know my Survivor and get to the episode!

As is the norm now, we skip the Previously On segment and go straight to camp following that insane Tribal. David tells us that he thought he was the target that night, but then Aurora went crazy and everything went off the rails. He still used the idol, but insists that it was the right play, considering the chaos of that Tribal. Wardog also tells us about how Aurora killed games last night by throwing everyone's cards on the table. He takes this time to try to get something going with Ron Clark. They decide to build a 6 person alliance. He'll bring Kelley and Lauren and then Ron can bring Julie and Gavin. So, they all gather together. They agree to play to the 6 and then go after each other. And now they want Aurora out next.

Aurora gives her side of the Tribal and it's actually quite the same as David and Wardog. Although, she does say, "I literally put my foot in my mouth." No, Pumpkin, no. You literally didn't. Anyway, she's super upset about how it went and now everyone is off making plans and having conversations and no one is talking to her. She tells us she isn't giving up, but it's not looking good right now.

And...It’s time for a Probst sighting. Sweet! It's another "stand in one place" challenge. This one has them on a platform holding a couple bars on their shoulders. If they go to low, they lose. If they stand to straight, they lose. Yadda, yadda. But, today has a twist. This is the "if you feel comfortable, you can sit out for food" challenge of the season. And what culinary goodness do they have this season? "A mountain...of pizza." And Jeff unveils the most hideously horrible pile of pizza slices all stacked on top of each other. I mean, Survivor pizza is notorious in its awfulness, but this takes it a step further. I don't care what the challenge is or what my situation is, no way in hell I sit out a challenge for that heaping pile of nastiness. But, some people actually do. 4 of them, to be exact. Lauren, Victoria, Wentworth and Ron Clark all sit out for pizza.

And the challenge starts. And Wardog is already shaky. And...Wardog is out. He's nothing if not consistent. Gavin and Julie are next to go. At the 19 minute mark, Devens decides to try to channel his inner robot engineer Christian, by commenting on the challenge. As soon as he starts talking, his urn shakes and drops. It's David versus Aurora. He is shaky, she is not. This doesn't look good for the Aurora haters out there. About 22-23 minutes in, David finally gives in and Aurora wins immunity. As we head to break, Julie tells us how upset she is that Aurora won immunity. She has no idea what she'll do with her vote tonight. Can I just say, Julie really hates Aurora? I don't think I really understand why, but she's had it in for her since the beginning. I don't get it.

We come back from break on Day 25 to start planning for Tribal. I guess it's time to play, "It's Anyone But..." um, I don't know. Kelley tells us it's either David, Devens or Victoria. The group of 6 gets together and they all agree that it's time to take out David Wright. David and Devens know that they’re in trouble. They still think the Lesu 3 need to be broken up. They want to target Wardog. They figure they can get Victoria and Aurora with them. They just need to get 2 more to join them. Devens and Victoria discuss trying to pull in Ron and Julie. David makes sure to secure Aurora. She's on board to take out the Lesu 3, specifically Wardog. David finally talks to Julie. He tells her that he doesn't understand why the group is working to help secure the Lesu 3. He wants her and Ron to come with him and take out Wardog. She tells us that she doesn't really like that Wardog is trying to dictate the vote. So she goes with the idea to Ron to see what he thinks. They realize that they're in the middle of 2 alliances. Ron breaks it down saying that he thinks Wardog could win at the end and that David is sneaky. He really doesn't want to work with either of them. Julie is totally on board with this plan, but Ron is wavering. And without Ron, Julie won't make the move.

And just like that, it's Tribal time. There's some talk about the last Tribal and about loyalty and trust. There's more talk about passengers and pilots. I kinda want to punch David for that analogy. They're dragging it into the ground. Wardog starts talking about how the Lesu 3 is showing the real loyalty by voting together every time. This gives Devens a chance to suggest that maybe a loyal bond like that isn't so easily broken. And he's absolutely right. He says that no one wants to take on the Lesu 3 and they're all gonna lose the game because of it. David starts talking about his "brand is loyalty" again and no one is having it. Wardog essentially tells everyone that he's voting for David tonight and you have to assume that his girls are too. David makes an impassioned speech suggesting that voting for him will kill the games of everyone not in the Lesu 3. Kelley tries to poo poo it by saying she's been in his place before and she knows what he's doing. But in all seriousness, he has an amazing point. Al the 3 have to do is convince Gavin to go to final 4 with them - make fire and possibly win and he'll cut Ron and Julie in a second. The smart play here is to keep David, dump Wardog and then make a play for David next time.

Jeff tallies the votes. No one plays and idol and it's time to count the votes. The first 4 votes alternate between David and Wardog. But at the end of the count, it's an 8-2 vote for David. His torch is snuffed and he heads down the road, grabs the torch and goes off to Extinction. And I wonder, did producers actually think ANYone would not take the torch? Seriously, I appreciate that they keep trying twists and keep trying to make the game fresh. But the Edge of Extinction just sucks.

Because now, instead of going back to camp to see the aftermath of the David vote or possibly seeing a reward challenge this episode, we have to go check in with the people on Extinction. They all get wine bottles today with their clue to some sort of advantage. They don't even pretend to work together anymore. It's every person for them self. David is still feeling like he's in game mode, so he takes off to go look for this advantage down in the rocks on the beach. Eric heads to the rice bucket to look. Chris and Joe decide to look around the mast to see if they can find anything. As it turns out, David's game mode was right and he quickly finds the advantage. Of course, it's not an advantage for him. He can send this advantage to one of the players still in the game. Ok, can I just say that I really don't like that people who were voted out and are living on Extinction are able to impact the real game by sending crap into it? Ok, it's official, I hate this twist and it's really making me not like this season. I keep trying to find a redeeming something and it's just not there for me. Anyway, he says he wants to send this to someone that will then have a good feeling about him because he did this. But you know, I know, we all know that he's sending it to Devens. Thankfully, commercials are coming so we can leave the Edge of Extinction.

And we come back on Day 27 to...another Probst Sighting! Today's challenge is another "stand in one place" challenge. But it's different. Instead of standing until you can't stand anymore, they'll stand and hold a paddle with 5 dimples. They'll then roll 5 balls down the handle to get them to sit in the 5 dimples. First person to land all 5 balls wins immunity. But wait - Rick Devens has an advantage in the challenge. His buddy, Dave Wright, sent him advantage. His advantage is that he will only have to land 4 balls instead of 5 like everyone else.




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As happens every season, this challenge serves no real purpose aside from allowing Jeff to make all kinds of double entendre comments about balls. Oh yeah, not only does Devens have an advantage, but he's also one of 3 people who seem to understand how to do this challenge. The others are Ron Clark and Aurora. The 3 of them all get to 3 balls at the same time, but Devens only has to land 1 more. Rick accidentally knocks off one of his balls and then has to land his 3rd again. And then...he does it AGAIN! Meanwhile, Ron and Aurora are getting close. But the 1 ball advantage is just too much for anyone to overcome and Rick Devens wins immunity. As we head to commercial, Julie still hates Aurora and is hoping that tonight is finally their chance to vote her out.

And we come back from break to play "It's Anyone But Aurora." The group of 6 is all on board with taking out Aurora and is excited to finally have an easy vote. But Wardog tells us that he doesn't really want the easy vote. He says Aurora has no ties in this game and is no danger to what they're trying to do. He thinks it's time to take out the only returning player still in the game, Wentworth. He tells us that in order to pull off a move like this against someone he's played so close with for 27 days, he needs to be stealth. So he tells us that he had 30 second conversations with Aurora, Devens and Victoria. Now, I've done a lot of bitching about this season and how it's being handled. But here is something I really like that they've changed. They show us these confessionals talking about things the players already did, then they flash back to them doing them. So, now we get to see these 30 second conversations. He gets all 3 of them on board with him, but that only gives him 4 votes in a 9 person tribe.

He decides that Ron Clark is gonna be the 5th person he needs for this vote. He talks to Ron and makes the case that if Kelley Wentworth gets to the end as a returning player, she'll win. He says he has the votes to make a move now and he really wants Ron to join him. Ron tells us that while he appreciates the strategy of this move, he's scared of working with the Wardog because he's completely unpredictable. Also, as we've discussed, Julie hates Aurora and if Ron backs out of that vote and takes out Kelley, Julie will be pissed. And we saw what happened the last time Julie was left out of a vote. She completely destroyed Tribal and the games of several players.

Gavin, Kelley and Lauren are a little worried that everything is too calm and too easy. Kelley tells us that she's still a little on edge and she's really glad she has an idol as a backup plan tonight. We join Aurora and Victoria discussing how serious they think Wardog is. Victoria thinks that it's his best move as he won't have the votes to get Wentworth out later on. Aurora tells us that tonight, either Kelley is going home tonight, or she's being lied to again. She then brings up the extra vote and she thinks she will try to use it to try to garner trust with someone. So she chooses Ron Clark. She actually GIVES him the extra vote and tells him she'd like to get it back from him if she's still in the game after tonight's Tribal. Wait, what? That's not how this works. That's not how ANY of this works. Now, he just writes down your name, you go to Extinction and he has an extra vote that no one else knows about. Seriously, Aurora seems like a nice person and she's killing it in these challenges, but she is just a god-awful Survivor player. Anyway, Ron tells us about the gift of the vote and realizes that he's in the middle again. His dark side says to vote her out and keep the vote. But at the end of the day, he needs to decide which vote will get him closer to the million.

I just noticed tonight, that when Jeff brings in the jury, he no longer lists them all off by name like in the past. Another thing cut to bring us that extra time we get to spend on Extinction. Just awful. Anyway, tonight he starts with Devens. He says that for someone to recognize a blindside might be coming is when everything seems to be too easy. This gets a nod from Kelley Wentworth. Victoria and Aurora are both worried that they're the next out. Ron mentions, and Wentworth agrees, that sometimes people get so excited about a blindside that they start looking for more blindsides. Ron and Wardog both suggest that they've worked very hard to solidify things with their group so that this can be a nice easy vote. The talk then turns to advantages and idols and that Devens is the only person to have played either one. He says that he has scoured the beaches and has not been able to find anything and the group is beginning to think that Extinction Island is where advantages and idols come from and that there may not be anything at camp. Now, we all know this to be false. Aubry had the original Kama idol when she went home. Lauren had the original Manu idol and still has it. Meanwhile, Kelley Wentworth has the Lesu idol and should be seriously thinking about playing it tonight. So, Devens is dead wrong and may have just made it even easier for the 2 people holding idols to get away with playing them. I can't help but notice in all of these Tribals; we never see anything from either Gavin or Lauren. Either they don't factor into anything or they're just giving them absolutely nothing of substance. Lots of Wardog, Wentworth and Ron Clark. Victoria gets a lot of time, as does Devens and Julie.

Oh dang, they just finished voting and Jeff's asking for idols. I should probably pay attention. Though there's a lot of movement in the group, no idol is played. Jeff will read the votes. Through the first 8 votes, it's 4 Aurora and 4 Kelley Wentworth. As more votes for Kelley come up, she is getting more and more suspicious. And the final vote, the 11th person voted out - Kelley Wentworth. And if you want an indication of who is getting the credit for this move - it comes straight from Aubry's mouth, "Holy shit, Wardog." So, it's pretty apparent to the jury that Wardog is running the show and just took out his number one ally. And in a crazy twist of fate, Kelley refuses to take the torch to go to Extinction.

Just checking to see if you're paying attention. Of course she took the torch and went to Extinction. I'm telling you, the choice is just one big McGuffin. Anyway, Next Time on Survivor: Gavin and Wardog are at odds, which makes sense, Wardog just blindsided Gavin. Except it looks like Wardog is the aggressor. Either way, Gavin comes out of it wanting "Wardog's head on a platter." Ron, Devens and Wardog seem to be making an alliance of power players; meanwhile Aurora, Victoria and Gavin seem to be targeting Rick Devens. And then before we leave, we see Kelley arriving at Extinction and right off the bat tells everyone that she has an idol in her pocket. Then continues on to tell them that Lauren has the Manu idol in hers. Wait, what? Did she really just give away Lauren's only ace in the hole? To a group of people, one of which will be going back into the game very soon? Wow! Not smart. Like, REALLY not smart. Alrighty kids, only 8 players left with 1 more coming back. The next few weeks should be very interesting. Til next week, take care.


     


 
 

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