Production was able to squeeze two Immunity Challenges into one regular length Survivor episode, with a slight quality dip.
At this point in Survivor: Edge of Extinction, both the challenge ideas and results have been fairly bland. If you take away Lauren’s dramatic faint, nothing has been out of the ordinary post-merge. That trend continued into yesterday’s episode, as two old concepts returned. Let’s breakdown down both of them.
First Immunity Challenge
For this challenge, each castaway is tasked with resting a bar on their back, which holds an urn. All of this is happening in a squat position. If they go to low, their bar will hit a string, releasing a flag and eliminating them from the competition. If they go to high, their urn will drop.
Jeff tempted the cast with pizza and beer, but they had to sit out to take part. Victoria, Ron, Wentworth and Lauren decided to feast on the food. You can rewatch this challenge below.
Once again, Wardog was the first one out of the challenge. In all fairness, he had to deal with a massive butterfly fluttering around him and even landing on his face, which isn’t something you want to happen when you need 100% focus. Gavin didn’t last too much longer, followed by Julie whose body gave out.
At the 19 minute mark, Devens decided to deliver a news report, but he went off air quick, dropping his urn. That left only two, but David couldn’t outlast Aurora’s strong performance, earning her second necklace of the season.
This challenge has been run once before in Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, which Lauren Rimmer won. This season’s version proved to be entertaining once again, but would have been more exciting if more players participated!
Immunity Rankings:
Creativity: 2/5
Difficulty: 4/5
Entertainment Value: 3/5
Second Immunity Challenge
Survivor: Edge of Extinction continues to reuse old ideas, as this challenge known as “Paddle Out” has been featured multiple times over the past few years. Each castaway has to land five balls on a wobbly paddle into five slight grooves.
With David sending the advantage he found to Rick, he only had to land four balls. Devens might not have even needed this bonus advantage, as he had a solid lead throughout until he kept on knocking off a ball from its groove. You can take another look at the video below.
Ron and Aurora were on his tail, but they couldn’t take advantage of Rick’s mistakes. That resulted in a decisive win by Rick, giving him his first Individual Immunity.
Challenge Takeaways
Aurora has proven that her athletic ability wasn’t a fluke. We knew that she was a good swimmer, but her endurance and determination stood out as superior to the rest of the cast. She even did well in the paddle challenge.
Yes, Rick was given an advantage, but he still performed very well. If he can get Aurora out soon, Rick could win a few more with the lack of significant competition. Gavin is in the same boat despite his poor performances yesterday. Lauren and Ron are under the radar Immunity threats as well.
This group of castaways is looking more and more appealing to the Edge of Extinction residents. If Joe, Chris or even Eric returns, they are easily the number one challenge threat that could win out to make it to Day 39.
Immunity Rankings:
Creativity: 1/5
Difficulty: 2.5/5
Entertainment Value: 2/5