Survivor: Why was _____ sent to the Edge of Extinction thirteenth?

Ron’s plan to get Rick voted out backfired when Rick played his Hidden Immunity Idol. As a result, Ron became the thirteenth person sent to the Edge of Extinction.

At the onset of Survivor: Edge of Extinction episode 12, things seemed to be going Ron’s way. He had a majority alliance of 5 with Gavin, Lauren, Julie, and Victoria. There were also two clear targets in Aurora and Rick. However, things quickly went south for Ron.

Rick confronted Ron after Ron had lied to him about the plan to vote out Wardog. To try and get Rick back on his side, Ron gave Rick the advantage menu he had found on Day 1. However, the advantage menu had expired long ago on Day 9 and was now utterly useless to Rick.

At the reward challenge, the loved ones joined the remaining castaways to participate in the “Damn it, Reid!” challenge. The winner would get to take their loved ones back to camp with them. Before the challenge, Gavin revealed his wife had moved up their wedding so he could play Survivor and they had gotten married two days prior to Gavin flying out to Fiji. Ron and his husband Lloyd won the challenge. Ron was allowed to choose two people to share the reward with him. He picked his closest ally Julie and Gavin after his revelation.

During the reward, Ron got cocky, telling Lloyd how he was in charge of the game. Knowing he was in danger of being voted out next, Rick went searching for a hidden immunity idol. Rick returned to camp without the idol but caught Aurora searching through his bag.

As a result, Rick attempted to put a target on Aurora’s back before resuming his idol search. During his idol search, he found a clue to the idol that told him he had to find it on top of a tree above the tribe’s shelter. Rick found the idol during the night.

At the immunity challenge, Gavin won his second individual immunity. Back at camp, the tribe was united against Rick. However, everyone knew Rick had been idol searching and made contingency plans in case he found the idol. Ron and Julie told Rick to vote for Aurora.

Meanwhile, Victoria, Lauren, Aurora, and Gavin made plans to split their votes between Rick and Ron, as they viewed Ron as the next biggest threat. Aurora had an extra vote, which was due to expire after the Final Seven vote. Aurora gave her extra vote to Gavin to ensure it could be played through a potential tiebreaker vote, as Gavin had immunity and Aurora likely to receive backup votes.

At Tribal Council, Rick tried to use the Advantage Menu Ron had given him. However, Rick was informed that his Menu had long been expired. Rick used this opportunity to berate Ron and Julie in front of the jury for trying to embarrass him. Then, Rick pulled out his Hidden Immunity Idol. Rick’s idol negated four votes against him. As a result, Ron was blindsided and became the thirteenth person voted out by a count of 3-1-0.

There are three main reasons why Ron was the thirteenth person voted out. The first was Rick’s Hidden Immunity Idol. Rick had gotten a majority of the votes. However, Rick’s hidden immunity idol negated the votes against him. Since Ron had the second highest vote total, he was voted out as a result.

The second reason was that he was the biggest threat in the game after Rick. Ron had often played a big role in deciding who went home when he had to go Tribal Council, and that got people’s attention.

The third reason was he got too cocky. In Survivor, the minute you get too cocky is usually the minute you get home. Ron had tempted fate once before and survived. This time around, there was a different result as he got voted out. Luckily for Ron, he now heads off to the Edge of Extinction where he will have a chance to get back into the game.