Survivor: Why was _____ sent to the Edge of Extinction fourteenth?
By Tim Gross
Who was the latest person voted out on Survivor: Edge of Extinction? Did time finally run out on Aurora, or did somebody else lose their flame?
Time had finally run out on Aurora. Since the beginning of Survivor: Edge of Extinction, she had been on the bottom. At the original Kama tribe, she chose to align herself with Joe and Aubry, the tribe’s two returning players. The other six players on the tribe aligned against them. However, Kama kept winning keeping her safe.
When the swap hit, Aurora and Joe were on the bottom of the new Kama tribe. Once again, they kept winning and made it safely until the merge. However, Aurora’s ally Aubry got blindsided along the way. At the first post-merge Tribal Council, her other ally, Joe, was blindsided. On the outs, Aurora won individual immunity to save herself. Then, a string of blindsides and a second individual immunity win kept her in the game.
At the beginning of Wednesday’s episode, it looked like Aurora had finally found herself a solid majority alliance with Victoria, Lauren, and Gavin. The four had teamed up to blindside Ron in the previous episode. Now, Aurora was dead set on getting Rick out. However, Rick found another Hidden Immunity Idol.
Gavin won the Reward Challenge and elected to take Victoria based on the fact she hadn’t been on rewards and Lauren. The three not chosen expressed shock that Aurora was not chosen for the reward because she also had not had any rewards. Aurora felt left out and like she was not part of the alliance as she previously thought.
On the reward, Lauren, Gavin, and Victoria agreed to take out Julie in the event that Rick won immunity. However, Lauren felt uncertain of this plan as she felt close to Julie. When they returned to camp, Victoria reassured Aurora their four was still intact. Aurora ultimately chose to stay with her alliance, despite not being chosen for the reward.
At the Immunity Challenge, Rick won his third individual immunity of the season. Back at camp, Julie and Rick teamed up to try to save Julie. Meanwhile, Lauren went to work convincing Gavin to keep Julie. Gavin then talked to Victoria about making the move.
At tribal council, Rick provided great theater, revealing his idol and threatening to use it on Julie. Rick’s theater stole credit for Lauren’s move with the jury. When it was time for the vote, Rick did not play his idol and Aurora was voted out 5-1.
There are several reasons why Aurora was sent to Survivor’s Edge of Extinction fourteenth. The main reason she was voted out is because of Lauren’s relationship with Julie. Once Rick won, Julie was supposed to be the target. However, Lauren wanted to keep Julie around because of their relationship and because Julie was considered a goat come the Final Tribal Council.
Furthermore, knowing Rick potentially had an idol he might use on Julie, Aurora was left vulnerable being on the outs of her alliance. She was also seen as a physical threat having two Immunity Challenge wins under her belt.
Additionally, when you get so laser-focused on getting someone out as she was, you lose sight of other potential moves to be made and let your guard down of other things going on around you. Luckily for Aurora, she now heads to the Edge of Extinction where she will have a chance to get back in the game.