Survivor Edge of Extinction edgic: What we have learned from this season

After rewatching key portions of Survivor: Edge of Extinction, we’ve now decided to lay out all the cards on the table to decipher what to learn from the edgic.

I’m not going to lie; I wavered between doubting my edgic skills and doubting the storytelling capabilities of the SEG editors when looking back upon Survivor: Edge of Extinction. It’s not like we’ve been perfect in our past; besides calling Nick Wilson as last season’s winner, we guessed wrong between the two winners in the first-ever tie, and we were hoodwinked by a surprise twist that took out a sure-fire Day 38 boot in season 35.

It took yet another Survivor first that made the Edge of Extinction edgic test that much more unpredictable, as we have never seen this kind of editing problem before. Sixteen (!) players were part of the edit on finale night, which makes finding an editing thoroughfare for who returns a crapshoot and predicting their win based on the edit an impossibility.

Let’s take a look at the Survivor: Edge of Extinction finale edgic chart before discussing the lessons we have learned from this season’s edit:

Survivor winners can be voted out and still win

Though it may seem like a simple concept, until Edge of Extinction, there has never been a winner of this show that was previously voted out of the game via traditional Tribal Council vote. That’s not to say there were players in the past that were close to accomplishing this, but the nature of those Redemption Island-like seasons, there are only ever three extra voted-out players to contend with for the edit.

For example, Ozzy Lusth’s handling of the twist in South Pacific made it look like he “broke” the understanding of the rules, and he was one Immunity Challenge away from winning. However, Coach and Sophie’s edits (particularly Coach for most of the season) was so overwhelming that even he had no shot, edgically, of winning that season.

Still, Survivor built a believable storyline for casual watchers to latch onto, even though edgic players might have been aware. Now that the show has proven players voted out can win, this presents more contender options.

A male Survivor winner can debut with zero confessionals

There have been three players to start their season premiere, not introduce themselves to the audience with a confessional and win the season. Two of those winners have been women, with Tina Wesson being the product of possibly the most popular castaway, Colby Donaldson, taking up the “hero” mantle to counter Hatch’s winning villainy. Natalie White was the other, and that’s because Samoa was an advertisement for Russell Hantz in Heroes vs. Villains and nothing more.

Chris Underwood only started to tell his story in episode 2 and 3 as a loyal player who didn’t want to betray his closest friends, but his winner story (however diminished it is) truly started on the Edge of Extinction. It’s there that he talked about worrying about playing the perfect game en route to playing perhaps the most imperfect winner’s game in the show’s history.

Women winner contenders are still treated as second-place prizes

Over the early parts of the pre-merge game and the final three pre-finale episodes of Survivor: Edge of Extinction, it seemed like we were slowly set up for a late-stage surprise Lauren O’Connell winner edit. Even Victoria, whose voice was the strongest on Kama for a tribe that barely had anything to do, had enough narrative pull early on before the merge.

However, the finale showed us that Survivor storytellers are willing to bury its women in the edit to service a male-dominated finale and its Final Tribal Council players. Despite Ron’s villainy in tricking Rick with a fake advantage, Rick’s fake idols made Julie and Lauren look like complete idiots, with Rick laughing at their demise heroic and the edit playing up the women as fools.

Even Victoria, a player who was considered a strategic mastermind by the jury, had that threat level downplayed in the edit only until Chris, a male returning from the Edge, said so. Survivor has an extremely male-oriented viewpoint on women players, highlighting men winner’s triumphs with pride and begrudgingly share an equal glow with women winners… only when women outrank men at FTC.

Seriously, go and look back at the edits of women at Final Tribal Council. Only when the winner sits with another woman at Final Three, or there are two women at Final Two, does it feel like a woman winner isn’t a second-place prize for who the majority audience wants to win in the edit.

Brad Culpepper suddenly went villainous in the finale episode of Game Changers to give Sarah context. Edgic players knew Michele was the Kaoh Rong winner early and having Aubry as another strong finalist helped solidify that. Natalie Anderson got that late-game edgic push once Jon was voted out and overwhelming finale odds for a woman to win. Sandra (twice), Parvati, Kim; all women who had great winner edits did so with women-majority Final Tribals.

Going forward, if it seems obvious heading into a Survivor finale that a woman will win thanks to edgic, it will be because the show has to go out of their comfort zone in not making the audience feel like they were robbed of a “more deserving” (not my mentality) male winner who fell just short.

Returnees in mixed-cast seasons must be virtually flawless to win

One of the biggest challenges about Edge of Extinction edgic was knowing how much of the edit was based on the fact that returning players are usually fan favorites (stealing screentime) and how much was based on their season importance.

One thing that teased the idea of returnees not being guaranteed a spot at the Final Tribal Council was many players discussing getting out the returnees. This was a common thought on both tribes, becoming an early season theme and planting the idea in our minds that this season will break Survivor tradition concerning returning players.

Another factor that made it easier to count the returnees out was the fact that their plans or mentalities were undercut in the edit. David talked about plans to cut Kelley but repeatedly had to drop those plans. Kelley’s traditional underdog upside became slightly villainous from the position of power in which she began. Aubry became overconfident with power, and players saw right through her “have a dialogue” skills. Joe was Joe.

It seems with the superfan-heavy era we’ve entered, as well as all the twists in the world, Survivor returnees in a mixed-cast season can’t have editing slights early.