Survivor season 35 episode 5 edgic: The game is on once more

With so many winner edit favorites coming to a clash in Survivor season 35 episode 5, our Survivor edgic will take the bigger picture into account.

With 14 players left in the game and a merge coming in a few episodes, easy vote-offs are becoming increasingly rare. Gone are the ?-1 early votes, in come the 3-2, 2-2 + idol play votes that start to show dividing lines. Survivor season 35, Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, is creeping closer and closer to the merge, which means fewer and fewer players are in contention for a winner’s edit per Survivor edgic.

In Survivor season 35 episode 5, “The Past Will Eat You Alive,” we see an overwhelmingly positive push for one player, several “uplifting” stories for others, one power player show a crueler side to themselves and one potential winner drop out of a contenders spot. I’ll explain why soon, but it should be noted that because this Tribal Council had three of the top 4 previous episode contenders create dividing lines, clear winners and losers can be formed from their immediate edits.

With that in mind, here is my Survivor edgic chart for season 35 episode 5:

Complex Personalities

Ben Driebergen (CPPP3): Ben got three or four minutes of personal, sympathetic coverage that showed his struggles with PTSD, how life is bigger than the game, how he’s persevering to win the million dollars for his family and to shed light on the horrors of mental anguish suffered by those in armed services.

Any time a player is shown talking about wanting to win this early, you have to pay attention. The fact that Ben, as of this episode, has remained completely conflict-free and was given a triumphant, heroic edit here, pushes Ben to a real prominent status within this game. That said, Millennials vs. Gen X winner Adam Klein had many stumbles during his sympathetic edit, so we’ll have to see how Ben overcomes hurdles within Survivor.

Ryan Ulrich (CPP4): We already know that next week will show Ryan suffering the consequences from Ali by playing the middle, but for someone to single-handedly lose a challenge and the edit show his tribe be sympathetic and happy for him, in addition to reaction shots of him making others laugh, is a good sign.

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From an edgic perspective, there are a few possible foreshadows of an ultimate demise throughout this episode. He repeatedly talks about the strengths of his social game, yet he burned a major bridge with Ali, his Hustler ally. He makes light of his lack of survival skills, but if he doesn’t win the Final Immunity Challenge, he may have to go to fire-making to reach the Final Tribal Council. These pose major threats to his long-term winning chances, even though he’s sitting well right now.

Mike Zahalsky (CPP3): After a few weeks to cool off, Dr. Mike is suddenly thrust back into the limelight as he and Jessica search for an idol near the Yawa well. Not only is it important to secure his safety going forward, but he and Jessica talk about building trust in each other, how he’s going from the bottom to the top after just a third of the game being over, how it’s reflective of the story of his life and how you can’t underestimate Dr. Mike.

I would have liked to seen a bit more from Mike in the previous episodes, making his winner’s edit chances fairly slim if you consider all five weeks we’ve seen so far. Still, he still has a chance to go far, if not guaranteed to make the merge.

Ali Elliott (CP4): After hanging in contention as one of the top contenders in my Survivor season 35 edgic charts, I have to bump Ali Elliott after this week’s atrocious edit. We still get to see Ali contemplate strategy, try to make alliances and dictate her mindset in the game, but she’s been the kiss of death so far this season.

She promised security for Simone at the well before she was voted off. The same thing happened to Patrick Bolton, and now Roark goes home after strategizing with Ali. She even talked at length about how she had to put all her trust in Ryan, her most trusted partner, before she was subject to a major blindside. Ali can still hang in this game, but I can’t see a winner’s edit coming out of her after being shown completely incorrect time and time again.

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Ashley Nolan (CP3): Ashley continues to serve as the narrator for the Heroes (now Levu) tribe; a role clearly thrust on her as the most honest assessor of the tribe’s state. She continues to build trust in the only person left she can partner with: Devon. She’s likely drawing dead in the game from a winner’s standpoint, but we still constantly see her side of conflicts and events.

Devon Pinto (CP3): Oddly enough, I’m in a weird position with regards to judging Devon. From an entertainment perspective, he’s not the natural orator that Ryan and Chrissy offer for production. Yet, we still see how Devon reflects on life at camp, and in an episode where he shares his positive vibes and his insight into taking out Joe to better his game, there’s a lot to take in.

Devon is tied up with Ryan and isn’t perceived as a major threat, so he could slide his way into a possible winner’s edit later in the game. If so, it would be akin to a Sarah Lacina win; someone who slowly builds their case as the season progresses.

Chrissy Hofbeck (CPN5): What’s interesting about Chrissy’s sudden negative edit is that it comes completely counter to her first Tribal Council. She gets put on blast twice, but both times are from people voting against her. It comes from a position of power within the tribe, not as someone who may need to use the Super Idol. Finally, in the episode, you can see an inserted shot of a black widow spider pouncing on its prey right before showing Chrissy telling JP a lie that brings him onto her team.

Survivor editors love to use animal metaphors to paint a picture or provide a clue at the kind of character they want each player to be portrayed to the audience. The editors want to show you Chrissy as a spider hunting down its prey with ease for a reason. Depending on how things go heading into the merge, we could see her get more of a mixture between sympathetic and villainous a la Parvati Shallow.

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Roark Luskin (CPM5): It’s a shame we only got to see Roark play this game in her final episode. However, she happened to choose the wrong partner in Ali and not foresee Ryan get a Day 1 Super Idol that allows someone to create an instant bond with another player (a very logical assumption not to make).

For some reason, she and Chrissy couldn’t get along, and the perceived two most intelligent women clashed hard at Tribal Council. As much praise as she got for her standing in the tribe from Ali, she received criticism right back from Chrissy, hence her mixed edit on her boot episode.

Middle of the Road

Joe Mena (MORM2): Joe’s a fun, but frustrating, villain. He’s fairly self-aware in his role and doesn’t like to be too boastful about his prowess in the game. People still think of him as crazy, yet now they have to give it up to him that he’s smart, too. Without an Idol, he’s quite vulnerable to an elimination, though, although this episode shows him at the top of the tribe in a respected, but feared, position.

Jessica Johnston (MOR2): You could argue that Jessica’s talk about wanting to keep secrets with Mike over Cole due to his ability to hold a secret as a complex trait, but to be honest, Jessica’s confessional on the topic is more to serve Mike’s story. It is good to see Jessica push herself further in the game by making these partnerships, but she’s been with him since Day 1, and we haven’t seen anything until this episode. Even that little scene of hers does wonders for her possible winner’s edit, though, and Ali’s drop pushed her up into the 4th contender spot.

Under the Radar

Desi Williams (UTRP2): We got to see Desi cool, calm and collected once more, as the orchestra swells to a positive score while she describes winning the reward challenge. She even posits that the tribe can come together as a team, giving her solid insight into the tribe’s dynamics ahead of them winning their second challenge in a row later that episode.

Lauren Rimmer (UTR2): At this point, Lauren is filling the tribe narrator position the way she knows best; describing who or what grinds her gears. This episode, Cole’s disgusting eating habits earn her ire, and she posits that the rest of the tribe feels the same way. Had this area of conversation been explored more, she could have been given complex personality eligibility. For now, she’s still in the conversations of the game’s progress, meaning she’s important going forward.

JP Hilsabeck (UTR2): If there’s anyone left that’s so completely, undeniably not winning Survivor season 35, Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, it’s JP. He’s so steadfast in his convictions that the second he stands up for Roark, his opinion is dropped five seconds later when Chrissy lies about an all-girl alliance plan (that doesn’t exist). Even when going to Tribal Council he doesn’t get a confessional, and poor recap/conversational insight is likely the reason why.

Cole Medders (UTRN1): That’s a rare one; the old “let’s talk about this jackanape from others, not himself” edit. There’s little reason why Cole’s poor eating habits are shown other than to build a reason why he will be voted out soon. With Jessica getting closer to Mike and building trust there, I wouldn’t be surprised if Cole is a pre-merge or early merge vote candidate based on his negative perception in the game.

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Storylines to watch

• Ben the Hero: Ben hasn’t had to make a game decision with consequences yet, and his triumphant edit this week makes him the clear-cut favorite. Let’s see if he falters before the merge.
• Chrissy the Spider: Now we know the extent of Chrissy’s willingness to play the game of Survivor, the attention focuses on how she rebounds. Everyone lies in this game, so why did she get such sympathetic and negative edits so early in the game?
• Ryan the Snake: So far, Ryan has acquired his strong position in the game by being able to charm others and strike moves from the shadows. Now that he’s a cornered animal (by Ali on the “Next Time On” preview), how will he react?
• Jessica the Dove: Right now, so much of Jessica’s content has been hitched on the wagons of other players. This could be part of a losing journey edit or her blossoming hope as a strategic, cunning player. Who knows where this dove will fly going forward.

We should have a better picture once Survivor season 35 episode 6, “This is Why You Play Survivor,” airs on November 1 at 8 p.m. ET.