Survivor: Edge of Extinction finale: Why _____ finished in second place

As Survivor: Edge of Extinction has crowned a winner, we take a look at the runner-up and why they fell short of receiving the majority vote.

Warning: This post contains major spoilers for the finale of Survivor: Edge of Extinction.

After a crazy turn of events, Chris shocked everyone by fighting his way back into the game, capping it off with a superb final four days to become season 38’s Sole Survivor. As Final Tribal Council commenced, a two-person race emerged between Gavin and Chris.

Gavin ended up receiving four votes, although he wasn’t a top pick to win this season coming into the finale. Survivor: Edge of Extinction’s wonky edit had us scratching our heads when the Final Three was revealed. That said Gavin earned his way to Day 39 playing a solid social and physical game. So why did he lose to Chris? For a couple of key reasons.

He didn’t initiate any big moves. Gavin has some impressive blindsides on his résumé including that of Joe, Eric and Ron. For the most part though, Gavin was never the one spearheading these plans. It was Ron who campaigned to get Joe out, Julia led the charge in blindsiding Eric, and Victoria executed the plan to vote for Ron.

In all three of those significant votes, Gavin just went along with the plan. It’s true that his social game enabled him to get in on these voting blocs, but Gavin was a mere passenger as opposed to a pilot. He let other castaways make the decisions and usually got persuaded to join their side.

For example, in the second vote after the merge, Gavin and Julia came to the realization that Eric and Ron were in control of Kaka. While Gavin wanted Ron out, Julia was pushing to write down Eric’s name, and in the end, Gavin gave way. That doesn’t match up well against someone who forfeited their immunity necklace to successfully take out the biggest threat in a fire-making challenge.

He got outplayed at Final Tribal Council. Gavin had some good moments addressing the jury, but there was nothing there that made you think wow this guy deserves the million. It was awesome when Rick pointed out that he didn’t get a single vote the entire season, but I feel like Gavin could have explained why that made him superior to Chris.

When asked about looking for Hidden Immunity Idols, Gavin responded by saying he didn’t feel the need because he was in the majority. That comment surprised me and showed once again that Gavin was playing a passive game. You can’t win a modern Survivor season by playing a passive game.

When you think of previous winners like Jeremy and Wendell, they were in the majority but they still searched for idols, and that catapulted them into the Final Three. Although Chris came across as a little aggressive and rude with a couple of his comments, for the most part, he killed it.

Chris did a tremendous job of explaining all of the brilliant strategic moves that he made in just a few days. His comments convinced the jury that he did more in his 12 days in the game than Gavin did in 39.

Did Gavin lose because of this season’s twist?

Survivor: Edge of Extinction is definitely among one of the lesser seasons in my opinion. That is mostly due to this unfair twist that allows players to return at the Final Six even if they were voted out before a tribe swap. I could stomach a player returning at the merge, but not that deep into the game.

However, I still don’t think that would have altered Gavin’s fate. If Chris wasn’t there at Final Tribal, then Victoria or maybe even Lauren would be sitting next to him. We will never know for sure, but I’m confident that Gavin would have still lost to both of them.

Overall, Gavin played a solid game and was certainly deserving of making it to Day 39. That said, his lack of initiative in key blindsides led him to play a passive game without any moments that stand out.