Survivor Edge of Extinction: Should Wardog return?

The latest in a long line of Survivor New York and New Jersey strategic loudmouths, should Edge of Extinction’s Wardog return in the future?

Survivor seasons are best when they have cutthroat, dynamic characters who know how to shake things up in the game as well as wild, over-the-top personalities. Rarely do you find a combination of both in a player, with Wardog being the latest in a line of characters who never stopped playing the game while, at the same time, never leaving a quiet moment be.

At first, it looked like Wardog was a fiercely loyal player, sticking to the core Manu group of Kelley and Lauren. The fact that Chris was asking Wardog to consider voting Kelley not once, but twice, early on at Manu was enough for Wardog to take Chris out. Even though Rick and David’s blindside plan was foiled, Wardog caught onto the process of one and prevented it for his benefit.

Perhaps a reason why Manu and Lesu went to Tribal Council so often was that Wardog’s strategic and social prowess took away from his athletic skills. Whether it was swimming, throwing a ball, balancing on a beam or solving a puzzle, the man could do no right. It came to a point where he had a lowlight reel per challenge.

At the merge, Wardog somehow found himself a quiet threat amongst the sea of returnees and challenge beasts. He never took things personally, either, which is something you like to see out of a strongly opinionated, strategic-heavy player. Even though he voted out Rick and had numerous reasons not to trust him, when he threw an audible at one Tribal Council to vote as a group to get out a Kam player, he whipped the votes.

Even on the vote prior, he helped keep his core group alive by pushing Julia slightly to go ahead with her Eric blindside plan, getting out both Eric and, eventually, Julia, without getting blood on his hands. All he had to do was ride or die with the core Lesu 3 until the Final Seven and he could have had a shot at the endgame.

Unfortunately, he got too greedy. He was able to hatch a plan and blindside his closest ally, Kelley, without letting his other ally, Lauren, known. However, as soon as that happened, Rick, Ron and Wardog were the three biggest threats left, and he lost trust from everybody afterward. After getting Kelley out, he followed shortly behind.

Were it not for a move here or there, we could have very well looked at Wardog the same way we look back at Tony; an eccentric, aggressive strategist who performs worse in challenges than you’d expect. Vote here in our straw poll to let us know whether or not Wardog should return in a future Survivor season.