One castaway continues to clutch it out in challenges as the competition dwindles on Survivor: Edge of Extinction.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for episode 11 of Survivor: Edge of Extinction.
It felt nice to get back to a typical episode format as opposed to two Tribal Councils squished into one like last week. The challenges, conversations at camp and the entire Tribal Council didn’t feel rushed at all in episode 11 of Survivor: Edge of Extinction. We even got some cool new ideas in the Immunity Challenge! But before we get to that, let’s start with the mud baths.
Reward Challenge
The eight castaways were split into two teams of four. This challenge consisted of one person swimming out to a platform, then diving in to swim underwater along a rope. After that person resurfaces and grabs a ring, the next person will go.
Once both castaways on a team have the rings at the finish platform, the other two can start landing them on three targets. The first team to do so wins a trip away from camp to eat sandwiches, chicken, pork, roast beef, accompanied by salad, wine, juice and mud baths! You can have another look below.
The challenge began in true Wardog fashion, as he awkwardly flopped into the water and then started to swim to the wrong platform! But he made up for it with his strong swimming, bringing the ring to the platform at the same time as Ron.
The second matchup was a different story. Aurora, who is on Ron’s team once again showcased her phenomenal swimming ability. She gained a significant lead over Lauren heading into the final stage.
Once Aurora brought the last two rings, Gavin started tossing and landed one. That was the last one Gavin would land, as Devens made quick work of this phase and landed all three rings fairly quickly.
Julie, Wardog, Lauren and Rick enjoyed their hard-earned reward. This challenge is a simple idea and has been done before, but it’s nice to watch a physical-based challenge instead of simply balancing and puzzle making.
Reward Challenge Rankings
Creativity: 1/5
Difficulty: 2/5
Entertainment Value: 2.5/5
Immunity Challenge
To my knowledge, this Immunity Challenge is a brand new concept, especially the star-shaped puzzle. Each castaway has a buoy in their hands and has to make it over a series of mini A-frames without touching the ground.
The second phase involves maneuvering a buoy along an enclosed rope tunnel. Then the castaways will untie a third buoy, crawl under a net, and then use the keys from the buoys to unlock a tricky star-shaped puzzle. You can rewatch this creative challenge here.
Aurora and Devens lead for a majority of the obstacle course, but it really came down to the puzzle. Despite all eight having plenty of time to solve it, we didn’t see a ton of progress. Gavin had all five points of the star locked in, but only Rick and Aurora were close to finishing it. After figuring out where he was going wrong, Devens completed the puzzle and won his second straight necklace.
Immunity Challenge Rankings:
Creativity: 4/5
Difficulty: 3/5
Entertainment Value: 3.5/5
Challenge Takeaways:
At this point, there are two “big” challenge threats in Aurora and Rick. They both have two individual immunity wins, finding success in both physical and mental challenges. That said, classifying either of them as a challenge beast is quite a stretch, so I wouldn’t put it past Gavin, Ron or Victoria to pull out a win (or Julie to win another balance-based immunity win).
As I have mentioned before, this group of players has become more and more appealing to the Edge of Extinction residents. There are some seriously strong challenge performers on the jury, so when one gets back in, watch out.