Survivor: Edge of Extinction - Episode 11 Recap

Fasten Your Seatbelts

By Jim Van Nest

May 1, 2019

So long, sucker.

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Hello good people and thanks so much for joining me as we trudge through Survivor 38. Last week's double elimination saw the final 2 returning players added to the Edge of Extinction roster as David Wright was sent home in the first half hour and Kelley Wentworth followed (with an idol in her pocket) in the last half hour. Wardog's fingerprints were all over these votes and he's feeling pretty good about himself right about now. Let's see if he has any kind of follow-up plan for moving forward in the game, now that he's shown he'll knife his closest ally.

Whoa - we get a Previously On segment tonight. Must not be a lot action otherwise. Anyway, the episode starts as everyone returns to camp after Tribal on night 27. Lauren is pretty bummed to have lost her mentor and best friend out there. Julie wants the group to explain what happened, since her boy Ron jumped ship on her. Lauren tells us that she wants revenge and for some reason she wants it on Devens. Ok.

Gavin is talking with Wardog and Devens and tells them he's not mad, he just wished he was in on it. Which, come on, is a lie. He already tried to shift votes away from Kelley. To include him would have been to kill the plan altogether. Wardog says as much by telling him that he only wants to be in on it since it worked. And he gets pretty irritated with Gavin here and just isn't having any of his whining. And Gavin wants him to listen to his whining, so now he's pissed at Wardog saying that he talked to him like a dog and that he wants him out. Now.

So he heads right over to Ron and Victoria to try to turn them against Wardog. They agree that they're with him. Ron tells us that he worked with Wardog, but he's not locked into working with him again. He's ready to flip and flop and work with whomever will work with him. He does want to mend fences with Julie though. We join them mid conversation and Julie totally understands why he did what he did (hello, zero vote finalist) and she's still on board with him. Ron also tells her that he has Aurora's extra vote. Julie tells us she has no hard feelings against Ron for turning on her - despite what we saw her do the last time someone turned on her. *shakes head*

The next morning, Devens is still reveling in the Wentworth vote. He tells us (and then them) that he needs Wardog and Ron. They're the only ones with resumes. The only ones playing the game and they have to stick together. Um, dismissive of the ladies much, Rick? The surest way to get sent home (and you should know this) is by dismissing them as not playing. They all agree to stick together, even though Ron's agreement seems half-hearted. They even start calling everyone else "goats". And Aurora is the goatiest of the goats, apparently. She is the target of the only people actually playing the game. So, I guess it's already time to play "It's Anyone But" Aurora, right? Knuckleheads.

Thankfully this ends for a...Probst Sighting! Today's reward challenge will see the players swimming to a platform. They'll climb up and run across it, then swim back across, underneath the platform. They'll get back up and untie some ring toss rings. First team to land 3 rings wins reward. Wanna know what they're playing for? A boat trip to a mud bath where they'll have sandwiches, chicken, pork, roast beef, wine and some brownies. Worth playing for? Of course it is.

So the teams look like this: Wardog and Lauren swimming with Devens and Julie ring tossing. They're against Ron and Aurora in the water with Gavin and Victoria ring tossing. And in typical Wardog fashion, he has a horrible dive into the water and then starts swimming to the wrong platform. Ah, the Wardog. In fairness though, he does course correct and actually gets through the obstacle and gets his ring before Ron. So, while he looked like an idiot at first, he totally made up for it. Lauren and Aurora are both very good in the water, but Aurora is brilliant and opens up a nice lead. With the rings handed off, Gavin tries an underhanded tossing method that really never works in a ring toss game. You have to throw them like a Frisbee - like Devens is doing. So, even though Gavin lands the first ring of the challenge, it's the only one he'll land as Devens superior technique lands all 3 rings and wins the challenge for the blue team. As the winners head off to reward, we head to break. On the way, Gavin wants to take this as an opportunity to lock in Ron, Aurora and Victoria with his plan to oust Wardog.




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And we're back with a check-in at Extinction. Kelley is having trouble with being ousted, but thankfully, Joe is there to console her. She's pissed that she didn't trust her gut and play the idol. Aubry joins in the group hug. Oh good, we get to hear what Reem thinks. I think it was something like, "Bitch, bitch, whine, complain - I should win." Ultimately, who cares? Even after 30ish days, she's still pissed at Kelley, despite the fact that she was a near unanimous choice to be the first boot. Why is this irritating, bitter person still on my TV screen? Honestly - she needs to get back in the game and win. That's what this twist deserves.

Back in the actual game to join the reward losers. Ron is excited to try to work out the next step with this group. All the talk swirls around Devens as the vote. Gavin gets on board, but he'd really prefer to take out Wardog. And this is what happens when you take shit personally. After the agreement, Ron decides that he wants to be a good guy and he puts Aurora's extra vote back in her bag. He really wants her trust, but he seems to have nefarious intentions. He wants her to trust him so he can vote her out with the vote. And then, inexplicably, they get in an argument over the rice. And now they don't trust each other and want to take each other out again. Honestly, the editing in this is so choppy; I'm not sure what's going on.

Let's check in with the challenge winners. They're having fun with the mud bath. Devens and Wardog might be having a little too much fun. Once that's all done, Devens tells us he's not looking at this as a strategic chance, because Lauren and Julie aren't playing the game. Cut to Lauren and Julie playing the game. They don't like hearing all the girl's names as potential targets. They want to take out either Wardog or Devens. I think they settle on Devens, because Lauren wants the Wardog shield to stay in the game, AND Devens can win challenges. As we head to commercial, she tells us her plan is to rally everyone to take Rick out.

We come back from break to the Day 29 Immunity Challenge. Today's challenge will see everyone running an obstacle course carrying or moving buoys. One through the course, they'll have to unlock some puzzle pieces to create a star puzzle. First one to complete the puzzle wins immunity and is safe from the vote tonight. As with most challenges of this ilk, the entire first 2/3 of the challenge are meaningless as all 8 players are working on the puzzle at the same time. It finally comes down to Aurora and Devens. And with a hearty scream of some sort of Tony Kornheiser reference (think Baba Booey) - Rick Devens wins immunity. As everyone heads out, Gavin tells us again that his plan is to get the votes on the Wardog tonight.

So, with all that in mind, I guess it's time to play, "It's Anyone But..." Wardog! With Devens winning immunity, all the people planning to vote for him need to change their target. Victoria says it will be real simple - switch to Wardog. Very timely, Wardog takes Rick with him to go get fire wood. This gives the rest of the group a chance to talk about him. Nice move. Ron, however, is worried that if they take out Wardog, he becomes the next biggest threat. So, he's found himself in the middle again with a choice of voting groups to go with.

Wardog knows he's on the hot seat and he and Ron decide to make Aurora the vote this time around. Julie, however, is not as on board with this plan. But, she does want to get Aurora out. She decides to confer with Lauren to see what she wants to do. Lauren is on board with the Aurora plan and kinda talks Julie out of getting rid of Wardog. Lauren would like revenge for Kelley, but is worried that now is not the right time. Aurora has a nice confessional about how people aren't really talking to her. And every time that's happened, she's gotten votes at Tribal. So while she thinks the plan is to vote Wardog, she is preparing herself to be the one to get blindsided. Of course, if she sees it coming, is it really a blindside?

Alright - let's start Tribal. It seems to be Aurora v Wardog. So, Jeff starts with Wardog to ask about the feeling at camp. He says that he sees everyone talking to everyone and that the game has gotten much harder. Gavin steps in to say that Wardog hadn't talked to him since the Wentworth vote. He's throwing Wardog under the bus, totally playing to the jury. I'm not so sure I'm a fan of this new "pandering to the jury every single Tribal Council" evolution. Wardog includes Ron when talking about the plan to take out Kelley. Jeff finally calls them all out on playing to the jury. Victoria says it's a tough line to walk. You want everyone to know that you made the moves, but when you do that, it makes you the next threat, hence the next target. Aurora says that if they asked everyone, there would be no agreement on who the actual threats are. We have a lot of talk about who to trust, who to take out, who to go to the end with. Ultimately, no one really says much of anything. So, Tribal ends the way it began. It's either Aurora or Wardog. And it's time to vote.

We see Wardog vote for Aurora and Gavin vote for Wardog and that's it. Jeff tallies the votes, asks about hidden idols, Lauren stands pat and it's time to read the votes. First vote: Aurora. We then alternate votes between Aurora and Wardog until it's 2-2. Then everything comes up Wardog and he is sent to Extinction. On his way out, he tells them all that they made the right decision. I'm sure they all feel so much better now. As expected, he wastes no time grabbing his torch to head to Extinction.

Next time on Survivor: Ron gives Devens his secret advantage he found on Day 1; even though it's expired. No one knows who to trust. Good thing it's time for the family episode. Let the crying begin. The last scene is Wardog on Extinction and no sooner does he get there, the resident asshole is there to let him know that he's going to get it from her tomorrow. Please, please, please let Wardog be the one to tell her to shut the ever-loving hell up. You were the first boot for a reason; now get out of my face. I don't have to be nice to you and sure as hell don't have to listen to you. Please, Wardog - you're my only hope. Til next time - take care.


     


 
 

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