Survivor Edge of Extinction: Breaking down that crazy Tribal Council

Phase 4: Means to an end

We knew that this was going to be a crazy Tribal Council. However, we had roughly 20 minutes of real time during Survivor: Edge of Extinction episode 9’s tribal start time and end time, as so much chaos was needed to be shown to the audience.

• Julie passionately defends her flip by saying nobody from the majority powers approached her all day as Aurora suggests Julie was gone when she got back from learning herself.
• To Gavin and Julia looking on (Victoria lesser so), Ron stammered how he might be able to bring Julie back, but he did not want them to make him try. The jury picked up on Ron’s nervousness.
• As Ron calls Julie over, Victoria laments to Lauren she can’t tell Rick something (perhaps about the vote target they had initially) because she told the group she lied to that David was the target.
• David calls Victoria out on that shade, Victoria says, “Whatever, man; this is a mess now,” to which David suggests being this open makes it clean now.
• Julia, fighting on her last breaths in the game, tells Julie she’s been with Kama since Day 1 and suggests she’s more trustworthy than Lesu members.
• Devens chimes in, reminding Julie that Julia voted with the Lesu members, not Julia, to which she gets mad since Rick wasn’t even the target for this Tribal Council. He knows he’s not the target, but tells Julia he’s the pilot of this vote now.
• As everyone sits down and Julie whispers to Ron, Jeff Probst remarks he’s never seen anything like this Tribal Council. Wardog says, “Let’s vote,” while Julia snaps, “Shut up, Wardog.
• While Gavin and Ron exchange the final standing whispers of the night, Devens responds to Jeff that this is a live tribal. Even though Devens was criticized for bringing up the idea for this flip, he seems to think it was a good idea to bring it up.

• Somewhere on the cutting room floor, the players verbally counted votes for the players, with Julia confirming on Twitter she knew she was going home before they actually voted.
• The players vote, with Julia remarking that this was “one for the ages.” Ron gave an exasperated look and an “oh lord” before voting, and Kelley gave a shocked “oh my god” after voting.
• When Jeff asked if anyone had an idol to play, Devens stayed true to his word, telling everyone he was assuring this vote would go off without a hitch and that they would head back to camp with no more secrets by playing his split idol on David.
• Victoria seemed confused about why they played their idol on Twitter, considering everyone knew Julia was going home.
• However, David did receive a vote from Aurora, with Julia explaining on Twitter Aurora told the group she couldn’t vote for Julia. Weird flex, but okay. Perhaps they were worried about Julia having an idol? Either way, Kelley asked who it was to no avail.
• Kelley received a vote from Julia, but everyone else voted for Julia, voting her out. As she walked away, David and Wardog separately suggested to Kelley and Ron, respectively, they’ll talk later.
• As Julia walked away, Wardog smirked with a whispered “Rick Devens,” effectively giving him the credit for this historic Survivor moment.

Though it seems a bit redundant to describe a Tribal Council moment by moment, these 20 minutes will dictate the rest of Edge of Extinction as a season. The jury witnessed the chaos of the game they were hoping to re-enter. They know where the cracks are and how to exploit them going forward.

Chaos isn’t a pit for Survivor. It is a ladder.