Why was ______ sent to Survivor’s Edge of Extinction fifth?

After a shocking defeat at the Immunity Challenge, Aubry found herself blindsided with a Hidden Immunity Idol and an extra vote in her pocket.

For Aubry Bracco, her third Survivor season in Edge of Extinction got off to a rough start. She found herself on the bottom of the original Kama tribe early on after the newbies (except Aurora) teamed up against the returning players. However, the newbies realized they needed to keep Joe around for a while because of his skills in the challenges. This left Aubry as public enemy number one.

Things only got worse for Aubry when she tried to build relationships with Ron, Julia, and Victoria. They found her attempts to connect with them disingenuous as she was saying the same things to everyone. In episode 3, Aubry realized she was on the bottom of Kama after Joe overheard a conversation Victoria was having regarding getting rid of the returning players. Things started looking up for her later in the episode when she found the Kama tribe’s hidden immunity idol.

Then, things changed once again. The tribe swap hit and Aubry was placed on the new Manu tribe which consisted of herself, Victoria, Eric, Gavin, and Wendy. With Wendy being the only original Manu member on the tribe, she looked like the easy target. However, as we all know, sometimes the easiest move to make is not necessarily the best move to make.

In Survivor: Edge of Extinction episode 5, Victoria made a plan with Gavin and Eric to pull in Wendy and lull Aubry into a false sense of security. Victoria had a conversation with Aubry about pulling Wendy in with them and forming a woman’s alliance to get rid of Gavin or Eric. Aubry fell for it hook, line, and sinker. Then, in a stunning upset, the Lesu tribe won their first Immunity Challenge of the season, after making an amazing comeback. This sent Aubry’s Manu tribe to tribal council.

On the Edge of Extinction, Rick found a secret advantage (which turned out to be an extra vote) and was allowed to choose one player still in the game to give it to. He chose to give the advantage to Aubry, meaning she had both a Hidden Immunity Idol and an extra vote. Back at camp, Wendy could not commit to the plan the fake women’s alliance came up with. This caused Aubry to distrust Wendy and go back to what she thought was the original plan of voting for Wendy.

At Tribal Council, Aubry found out she had been played. She did not play either of her advantages and was blindsided in a 4-1 vote over Wendy. Aubry’s blindside made Survivor history. She became just the second woman to be voted out with a Hidden Immunity Idol in her pocket following Andrea Boehlke in Survivor: Caramoan. In addition, Aubry became the first person to be voted out with both a Hidden Immunity Idol and secret advantage in her pocket.

There seems to be only one tangible reason that Aubry was the fifth person sent to the Edge of Extinction; her status as a returning player. The newbies on the original Kama tribe have had it out for the returning players since Day 1. The only reason they did not send Aubry to the Edge of Extinction sooner is that her tribe kept winning Immunity Challenges.

Aubry made it to the tribe swap as a result of the original Kama tribe’s success in challenges. However, she was the only returning player on a tribe with newbies who wanted returning players out. This made her an easy target for the newbies, and they took the opportunity to get rid of her.

Luckily for Aubry, she will have a chance to redeem herself in the next episode. She now resides on the Edge of Extinction and will have a chance to re-enter the game and compete for her shot at becoming the Sole Survivor.