Survivor season 35 episode 6 edgic: Widening the gap
Despite losing the head of one of the game’s early contenders, the Survivor edgic for season 35 is like a Hydra, with multiple heads growing in its place.
As we look at the pre-merge episode of Survivor season 35, Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, I’m reminded of how things looked after the premiere. It was a simpler time; Mike looked like a clear-cut favorite, Katrina was barely an entity and Simone was nowhere to be found. Now we have Ali, someone who could have won, out before the merge at the hands of Ryan, someone who had their first negative edit according to the edgic of this past episode.
However, with Joe suddenly getting a push towards positivity right before the merge and suspiciously-placed comment left in the edit, we could have a situation where there are multiple favorites and even more people holding on to bare chance. All you need is a chip and a chair sometimes, and there are still plenty of players ready to go all-in at the merge.
Here is our current, up-to-date standing for the Survivor season 35 Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers edgic as of episode 6 (before the merge):
Complex Personalities
Ryan Ulrich (CPN5): After weeks of getting a positive edit, the “strength” of Ryan’s social game is starting to seep through. Much like Brad Culpepper after his #WWMD start last year, right before the merge is not the time to see the most visible player call themselves a weasel, get called “a little twerp,” or get into yelling matches with others. With his ghosts erased before the merge, we’ll see how Ryan reacts.
Chrissy Hofbeck (CP4): Unlike Ryan, Chrissy remained relatively scorn-free in this episode, instead focusing on her strategic relationship with Ryan and analytically detailing the exact reasons why to vote out either Ali or JP. Chrissy remains in the driver’s seat, has a good chance to link up into the majority at the merge, and doesn’t have any nay-sayers playing the game at this time.
Ben Driebergen (CP3): Ben’s biggest challenge facing him is being so damn likable. He gets along with everyone at camp except Cole, and he’s out there whipping the vote by bringing Mike into the fold. His cumulative Survivor edgic so far this season makes him the overall favorite to win, but I need to see his merge content before I feel safe locking in any prediction.
Joe Mena (CPP3): Despite being painted as the villain early on, Joe’s been getting the most divisive content in the season. In the pre-merge episode, Joe talks about playing for the million dollars while also talking about his personal motivation; his children. He gets the standard “find an idol” type of positive edit that isn’t combined with a negative confessional, making him stand triumphant in his victory. Even if Desi would vote him out, him talking about his children and playing for the check are always winner contender flags.
Mike Zahalsky (CPP3): That’s two episodes in a row where Mike got a clear-cut positive edit. The only player to get anything like that pre-merge is Ryan, although Mike’s positivity comes out a jovial “man vs. nature” kind of storyline that shows Mike out of his element. I like him as a player, but as a winner, he’s been shown on the outs or looked down upon by others too much for me at this point. We’ll see how instrumental he is at the merge.
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Ali Elliott (CPN4): Finally, Ali’s frustrations of continuously losing advantage after advantage boiled over, resulting in a blowup with Ryan as soon as the two came back from Tribal Council. Consider this a CPN-lite, as we’re not meant to see her as a villain but as someone who just outright threw away their chances of winning by playing bitter. She saw the writing on the wall but tried to appeal to the partnership she voted against. Ryan did not have fond words for her, and she left cursing their chances of beating JP in nine straight Immunity Challenges.
Ashley Nolan (CP3): Ashley’s edit may be the weirdest to determine out of any player remaining for Survivor edgic analysis because, for all intents and purposes, she still has a small chance of winning. She’s constantly the Levu go-to person to narrate goings-on, we often get her strategic thinking portrayed and she isn’t an obvious target at the merge.
My only concern is that she received a fair bit of early negativity from Chrissy and Ali back from their Levu days over her allegiance with Alan. Both stronger winning contenders said they don’t trust her, meaning she’ll likely hit the merge on the outs of the majority. Don’t count her out quite yet, though!
More from Heroes Vs Healers Vs Hustlers
- Most memorable moments from Survivor: Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers
- Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers DVD set now on Amazon
- Big Brother 21’s cast pre-show ties harken back to Survivor season 35
- Survivor season 35’s Simone Nguyen is now married
- Survivor’s Ashley Nolan is now teaching kids to surf
Jessica Johnston (CP2): After an episode where she branched out and helped Mike, furthering her game beyond Cole, here she is again talking about how she’s fully onboard the Cole train. She can’t imagine playing without him once more, yet she’s about to hit the merge pretending like she’s playing Big Brother. I had hope for Jessica, but with the majority of her edit being about another player not named Boston Rob, I feel like she killed her momentum in this episode.
Middle of the Road
Lauren Rimmer (MOR2): After this episode, Lauren is the sole remaining Hustler, and the only one to make the merge. That, in of itself, is quite remarkable, showing just how well Lauren has ingratiated herself in each tribe’s dynamics. She’s picked targets and sent them home, all while never receiving negative content other than self-inflection and self-doubt.
Lauren is my dark horse candidate to win this season, but her role in the merge will determine if she takes a leap forward or stumbles backward. With 12 players in the mix and likely partnerships to get into the majority, she may coast to a deep position. If she does that with a winning resume remains to be seen.
JP Hilsabeck (MOR3): After two under-the-radar edits sandwiching an invisible edit, it became clear to viewers that JP doesn’t have much to offer in terms of perspective, outgoing personality or narration. So for him to suddenly declare himself as the reason his tribe even wins rewards was quite concerning. He was painted as the “get rid of strength before the merge” boot, but his allegiance to Ryan and Chrissy made and his ability to play laidback was the focus of Tribal Council.
Devon Pinto (MOR2): I feel like what little chance Devon had to win went out the door in this episode, as he was designated as “Joe Watcher” for this episode. Without a fairly strong conviction in his confessionals, nor his prominence in the game’s power dynamics, we could be headed to a merge with him as the possible boot that sets the rest of the season in motion. His regular, but declining, viewership has to be for a story reason later on.
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Over the Top
Cole Medders (OTTNN3): I struggled mightily to find the right designation for Cole’s Survivor edgic, but I settled on OTTNN for a couple of reasons. First, multiple players mentioned how selfish Cole is before his fainting spell. Second, he was shown being very dismissive and outright rude to Lauren, getting quite snippy. Third, he said he was the reason his tribe has any victory, showing tons of arrogance.
After his fainting spell, besides Jessica, nobody saw him as sympathetic but was mentioned twice from two independent sources as a liability to the tribe. Cole may be the merge boot in this week’s upcoming episode, and the way that he’s been made out to look, it could be an even heavier fall.
Under the Radar
Desi Williams (UTR2): That’s five out of six episodes that Desi has been under the radar in this season’s Survivor edgic, which does not bode well for her at all. Here she’s seen setting herself up to vote out Joe, in turn setting up his need (and success) at finding an idol. Her focus is all about others and will do so until she’s (likely) eliminated in the coming few weeks.
Storylines to watch before the merge
- Cole vs. the world: Will she drag Jessica down with him, or will she the one to go first?
- Who dictates the merge vote: You need to pay attention to those that determine who gets voted out in this episode.
- Joe vs. anyone not with an idol: If Joe feels threatened, he will use the Idol to make a huge play. Perhaps he will cause the tide to turn in his favor.
Next: Survivor Winners: Ranking All 33 Sole Survivors By Season
Survivor season 35’s merge episode airs on November 8 at 8 p.m. ET.