The first time players of Survivor: Edge of Extinction surprised fans by outplaying the returnees and showcasing their strong social and strategic gameplay.
One of the best parts of Survivor: Edge of Extinction is the active gameplay from the castaways. For the most part, the newbies were more willing to make a big move and get voted out because of it instead of making it to the end with a boring, passive game.
Along with this season’s innovative gameplay, we saw several memorable castaways who have left their mark on the game. As great as the resumes are from the four returnees, they got completely outplayed. None of them made our top five list, but before we get to number five, here are a few honorable mentions.
Wardog: As poorly as he performed in challenges, the Wardog proved to be one of the most strategic players of the season. He was part of the tight Lesu 3, but wasn’t afraid to shake things up. First, he successfully persuaded Julia to blindside Eric, and then stabbed Julia in the back during the next Tribal Council.
We can’t forget about Wardog’s perfectly executed blindside of his close alliance member Kelley Wentworth. Even with an idol, Wardog outsmarted one of the most successful female castaways in the past ten seasons. With all of these big moves and his slightly confrontational behavior, Wardog’s demise was playing too hard too early.
David Wright: Out of the four returnees in Survivor: Edge of Extinction, David is the only one who wasn’t blindsided. Despite being a returning player, his strong social game prevented his name from even coming up at Tribal Council during the pre-merge phase.
However, he wasn’t able to take advantage of his opportunities to blindside Kelley, and that came back to bite him. David made it to the merge on the wrong side of the numbers and wasn’t able to postpone the inevitable despite his sophisticated analogies.
Gavin Whitson: Receiving four votes at Final Tribal Council is a tremendous accomplishment, but Gavin wasn’t sitting beside the best of the season. He played a solid social and strategic game, but he didn’t really have a signature move that he could call his own. That lack of an active, aggressive game cost him the million.