Survivor Winners at War: Why ____ was sent to Edge of Extinction 14th

Winners at War continues with another great episode, and the 14th winner of the season is sent to Edge of Extinction. Read on for insight into this week’s vote-out.

After Tony orchestrated a big blindside last week, he came into this episode of Survivor: Winners at War out of cover…over cover? Whatever the opposite of undercover is, that is what Tony is this episode. The jig is up, and the other winners are beginning to see him as a legitimate threat. With two individual Immunity Challenge wins in a row, it’s even more paramount that the tribe gets together and eliminates him while they can.

The “lower tier” winners (Denise, Nick, and Michele) band together with Kim to form a four-person trust cluster interested in getting Tony out. With just one more player’s vote, they would secure a majority and ostensibly decide who goes to Edge of Extinction 14th (ignoring all advantages and idols that may come into play). Ben is clued into the plan, and the trap is laid to take Tony out.

Then, Tony goes ahead and wins immunity again, this time for the third week in a row.

The plan is foiled. The tribe pivots to Jeremy as their target, but it’s not going to be easy getting him out. While safe this week, Tony is not one to sit on the sidelines while the rest of the tribe deliberates. He sees the low-key winners as his greatest threat. After all, if another high-key winner like Jeremy got snuffed at this week’s Tribal Council, the low-key winners would have a slight numbers advantage over the bigger targets.

While Survivor is almost never as simple as that, I think Tony is right to be worried about that possibility. At this point in the game, he has the most legendary status of any player remaining in the game (ignoring whoever might return from the Edge next). And, as we saw, the low-profile winners like Nick and Michele truly are banding together, just as Tony fears.

Even if we ignore pre-Winners at War threat levels, Tony would be a bad choice for anyone deciding who they want to bring to Final Tribal Council. He is dangerously prominent in every level of the game this season. First, he spent weeks lying low, catching sharks, and being more charismatic than ever before, solidifying his social connections on the jury.

He is also off to a great start at impressing those who value challenge wins. Lastly, and probably most importantly, he has been a driving force in the last two Tribal Councils, steering the game and affirming himself as a strategic powerhouse.

So, what does this have to do with Kim being voted out? Well, Kim was voted out this week because Tony wanted her out, and he got the numbers to make it happen. Unfortunately for Kim, she didn’t have a strong enough alliance to prevent her elimination. Even Ben and Nick, at first in agreement with Kim’s plan to vote for Jeremy, flipped and voted Kim out instead.

While Michele did stick to the plan to vote for Jeremy, she gave him a 50% chance at saving himself anyway, revealing that she wasn’t all that concerned that Kim might go home anyway. Simply put, Kim didn’t have the proper defense to ward off an attack by Tony. So, she became the 14th winner voted out this season.

As we get into the final episodes of Survivor: Winners at War, things are looking rather Cagayan-esque, sans Tyler Perry super-idol. Tony is a giant threat again, but he is also keeping himself safe with strong relationships and idols in his back pocket. If Tony pulls off most, or even some, of the remaining immunity wins and immunizes himself with an idol or two, he is going to be very difficult to beat in the endgame.

Time will tell if the other players are able to cut him before it’s too late. He has already beaten the odds by surviving until the 14th Tribal Council of the season, but does he have enough in the tank to get to the end?

“Kim, the tribe has spoken.”