If you are somehow a fan of players voted out of Survivor: Edge of Extinction competing for the chance to return, here’s a new, reworked twist for you!
The official Survivor: Edge of Extinction cast has been announced, bringing 18 players into the mindsets of the show’s fans ahead of their 39-day journey. I do truly mean a 39-day journey for most players, as the season’s theme takes what everyone (*cough*) loves about Redemption Island and takes it one step further; to the edge of extinction!
As revealed by Survivor host Jeff Probst in a preview video, the game, on the surface, looks like a regular season. However, once a player is voted out of the game, unbeknownst to the rest of the players, as they walk down the path out of Tribal Council they will stop at a fork in the road. A signpost gives players the decision to either end their game there or to take the torch and get on a boat.
That boat will take players to a remote island with the debris of a shipwreck and a sign on a broken mast that reads, “Welcome to the Edge of Extinction.” The players will spend an indefinite amount of time there for the chance to return to the game, but Probst insists, “It will be the hardest they’ve ever had to work for anything” to earn that chance.
To me, it sounds like Extinction Island will serve as a more punishing version of Redemption Island, where players had the chance at the merge and at the Final Five to win a challenge and get back in the game. Whereas that season had a bunch of challenges most weeks just for the chance to stay in the game, Survivor: Edge of Extinction sounds like it will be more about survival in tough conditions and one (or two) challenges with players that don’t quit in those harsh conditions.
What really changes things up is that the players have no idea that the people they’re voting out can come back into the game. Redemption Island was upfront about this fact, meaning players can be voting out eventual jury members without knowing they should have managed their jury vote. Again, this is hypothetical guessing, as CBS is keeping mum on when the players will have the chance to return as of now.
Survivor: Edge of Extinction premieres on Wednesday, February 20 at 8 p.m. ET for a one-hour debut.