Survivor Edge of Extinction cast assessment: Julia Carter will bring her bedside manner

This medical assistant arrives at Survivor: Edge of Extinction on the up and up of her young career, as Julia Carter plans to be the go-to person at camp.

There have been a great number of doctors, physicians and medical practitioners who have competed in Survivor. Few have been as young as Julia Carter was entering the game of Edge of Extinction, as the 24-year-old medical assistant arrived in Fiji after just receiving an upgrade from a partial scholarship at medical school to a full scholarship.

Julia is driven way more than you would expect at first glance, as she reveals in her ET Canada interview that her life’s work has been through the inspiration of her late father, who passed away when she was young due to heart disease. She propelled herself to become the first in her family to graduate from post-secondary education, likening Survivor to the “journey before the journey.”

Despite the hardship she’s gone through and the difficult journey through life she’s traveled so far, she enjoyed Survivor as an escape from the early days, and quite like Victoria has prepared for key aspects of the game such as surviving on minimal food, improving swimming skills for the water-based challenges and getting into the right mind space required to overcome extreme adversity.

This is echoed in her CBS bio, as she is driven by her wish to support her family (and those nasty college loan bills) to become the Sole Survivor. Her experience with patients and supporting their medical needs is a crucial skill to playing this game, as having a good bedside manner translates well to dealing with the wants and needs of a dozen or so castaways you would expect at the merge.

Maintaining a low profile is going to be key in the early portions of the game, and it will be interesting to see what kind of role Julia Carter will play in Survivor: Edge of Extinction. With two returning players likely serving as go-to captains, she’ll likely need to find an in early and facilitate their need to find teammates to create an early alliance.

Should she find herself on the outs, Julia seems to be in the proper mindset to go to battle and never give up a la Kelley Wentworth. With the Edge of Extinction in play, even if she is on the unlikely path to being deemed a threat before the merge and is voted out, Julia’s tenacity and well-rounded gameplay skills should keep her fighting until her last breath in the game.

I could easily see her working with Aubry when the time is right and try to take out Joe early, or work with the newbies and help facilitate their honest attempts at regaining the power dynamic back. What separates Julia from other social players is that she seems prepared to encounter every situation from a clear-minded perspective and can adapt to it all.

Whatever the case may be, Julia Carter seems to be one of the most level-headed Survivor newbies entering Edge of Extinction. That’s a remarkable skill that is the mark of recent winners, so keep an eye out for her.