Despite having one of the most rootable stories in Survivor: Edge of Extinction, we heard almost nothing of Aurora McCreary until the merge. Should she return?
Heading into Survivor: Edge of Extinction, I actually thought that Aurora McCreary could face a lot of adversity as a potential villain. The way she acknowledged her confrontational ways but expected to earn people’s respect back showed that she would, at the very least, be entertaining, although that didn’t become clear until the merge.
In episode one, she said she was on Team Joe. In episode two, she said Kama likes to keep loose by dancing. With the exception of one check-in with Aubry and Joe to confirm them being on the outs at Kama, we barely saw or heard of Aurora. It was only after Joe, her only ally left in the game, was blindsided at the merge that suddenly Aurora became a huge target.
That’s where her physicality shone through, as she won the first of two individual Immunity Challenges to stay safe and allow the Vata tribe to explore other options. It didn’t do much to eliminate her threat level, though, as after the Eric blindside and Julia blew up her spot, after her second immunity win she would receive votes at every single Tribal Council going forward.
In fact, were it not for a major blindside by Wardog in trying to get out his closest ally, Kelley Wentworth, she would have been voted out right after David. However, it’s there where we started to get a more sympathetic story out of Aurora, as we learned more about her rough background in the foster system and how much her brother became her rock.
Aurora scrapped and fought her way to the Final Six despite being on the outs for so much of the game, even going so far as to use an extra vote advantage gifted to her by Aurora earlier on to use on Ron just in case Rick used an idol at the Final Seven. Unfortunately, with all the big Mana threats being voted out and Rick winning and finding immunity in a solid run, Aurora was voted out on Day 34 and did not return from the Edge of Extinction the next day.
We didn’t see much of Aurora, but she truly fought hard for her spot, never gave up and played with her back against the wall for close to half the game. Vote here in our straw poll and let us know if you think she deserves another shot in a future Survivor season.