Survivor producer explains ruling on Edge of Extinction Final Four play

Chris Underwood handed Julie immunity at Survivor: Edge of Extinction’s Final Four and held fate in his own hands. Matt Van Wagenen explains why he could.

It’s been two weeks since the Survivor: Edge of Extinction finale, with Chris Underwood playing his ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth days of the game with expertise worthy in the eyes of the jury of his peers to honor him with the title of Sole Survivor and a million dollars. However, one move to get him to the end marks another moment where the rules aren’t so clear.

At the Final Four Tribal Council, instead of taking Julie to the end and sending Gavin to face Rick Devens in a fire-making challenge, Chris gave his immunity to Julie and chose, himself, to face off against Rick. It was a shocking move but likely the only move he could have made to justify his winning game.

Some had wondered whether or not he could chose to compete against Rick after giving Julie immunity. Wouldn’t she have the choice to pick who sits with her at Final Tribal Council if she has the necklace? Thankfully, Dalton Ross was on location in Fiji as they film season 40 to ask Survivor producer Matt Van Wagenen about Chris’ power heading into that fateful tribal.

Dalton Ross poised the procedure as, “If you win the final challenge, you decide which two have to do fire and which two don’t,” to which Van Wagenen replied, “Yes, 100%. That’s it. Julie doesn’t suddenly get all the power and decide everything.”

As such, it wasn’t quite the level of power being handed away that Erik Reichenbach showed when he gave away immunity to Natalie at a similar spot in Micronesia. Chris was making the Domenick Abbate play first conceived in Ghost Island; playing for an almost guaranteed million dollars at the risk of coming in fourth.

However, the main difference between Chris Underwood and Domenick Abbate (other than the fact that one played the game for 39 days) is that Chris needed to pull that maneuver off to win. Domenick could have perceivably won his season, and it was so close that it resulted in the show’s first-ever jury tie.

Going forward, it’s now clear for everyone who wants to send out an application form that if you win the Final Four Immunity Challenge, you can pick and choose the potential for destinies of everyone else at that point of the game. Seems a bit overpowered on Day 38, but hey, the Final Four fire-making challenge was a means to protect overpowered players in the first place!