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

This castaway received second runner-up status on Survivor: Edge of Extinction despite playing a surprisingly solid game.

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

Each season of Survivor brings various character archetypes, some that are new to us, and some that we have seen many times before. Julie Rosenberg has been the classic fish out of water castaway that finds a way to adapt and make it to the end. However, she received no votes during the Edge of Extinction finale for a couple of key reasons.

Started strong but lost momentum. Julie came out to Fiji as a city girl and one of the oldest castaways in this season. However, she quickly adjusted to the game, understanding the need to blindside the big threats including Joe and Aubry early. She came out strong at the merge, keeping immunity away from Joe, and showcasing her ability to control her Kama alliance.

That all changed when one of her closest allies got blindsided. Once Eric got his torch snuffed, Julie lost the power she once had over the Kama alliance. She was on the wrong side of the votes four out of the last six Tribal Councils. Two more of Julie’s closest allies: Ron and Lauren, are among those four votes.

Although she played a role in getting Aurora out, Julie never had real control over a Tribal Council since the early merge. On top of that, other castaways including Rick and Chris kept making her look silly in front of the jury, which leads to another reason why Julie came in third.

Her actions and emotions weren’t jury friendly. Jury management is one of the most important elements of Survivor, just ask Russell Hantz! The jury enjoys watching big moves and honest expressions. This is especially true with the Edge of Extinction twist, where the eliminated castaways weren’t sitting and relaxing at Ponderosa.

Instead, they were struggling to care for their needs even harder than the players in the game. Watching Julie cry about being on the wrong side of the votes just made the jury lose sympathy for her game, and that’s something they made clear during Final Tribal Council.

Did Julie deserve to make the Final Three? Despite her faults, Julie played a solid social, strategic and physical game. Winning two Individual Immunity Challenges as one of the oldest women in her season is impressive.

I personally think she deserved more jury votes than Gavin. It’s true that Gavin was part of some significant blindsides, but he was never the driving force. Whereas, Julie displayed her ability to have some power over the votes in the case of the Joe and Aurora blindsides.

Although Julie had some emotional moments, she didn’t let her feelings affect her gameplay. While Gavin felt bad about voting for Devens, Julie never showed that same guilt. Right after she finished working with Rick to take out Aurora, she went right back to gunning for him. She didn’t allow her social relationships to impact her decisions.

There are many areas that Julie surprised me in. Instead of being a prototypical goat, Julie won challenges, built strong social relationships and had an excellent understanding of the strategy behind the game that isn’t commonly seen in players her age or older.