HOLLYWOOD—I have been trying my best to get into the latest season of “Survivor: Edge of Extinction.” What’s the problem? Well, after the terrific and I mean terrific, ‘David vs. Goliath,’ ‘Edge of Extinction’ just feels too predictable and the twist is just not living up to the gameplay that I expect from returning players. For starters, I used to always be a fan of returning players, but this season is proving why it is so difficult to survive amongst a bunch of newbies. Why? They want to target the returning players right away.
So here’s a note to “Survivor” producers: if you want fan favorites bring them all back in an all-star season. We saw Kelley, Joe, Aubry and David return, and Joe and Aubry have already been ousted. I’m livid regarding Aubry because she had a hidden immunity idol and a special advantage in her back pocket.
Here’s a major rule of thumb: if you are a returning player and you know people want to target you (which she did), you use your idol. I don’t even care if you misplay it, it is better to be in the game then to be out of the game. Yes, I will admit that loss stung a bit, but everyone who gets voted out gets the opportunity to go to the Edge of Extinction. You might be asking exactly what is it. It’s an island that has virtually nothing, but in actuality it does; you just have to work really hard to find those items.
I guess the fun was sucked out of the twist because who wouldn’t take the opportunity to have another shot to play a game for $1 million. I know I would, but when you have standouts like Reem, Chris, Devins, Wendy and Aubry sent to Extinction, we’ve sucked most of the fun out of the season. I think it has something to do with casting, I’m just not feeling many of the characters this season. I mean I can’t stand a single person of the original Kama tribe; their egos are over the top, and they just come across phony, fake and not fun to watch.
Whereas the remaining members of Manu just seem a lot more fun to watch; now this isn’t solely because they’re underdogs, but they have personalities. I mean David has been scheming to get Kelley Wentworth out for weeks, and has now realized he needs her to survive in the game. However, they couldn’t get their act together and allowed the Kama six to take out Joe, who could have been valuable to them. I mean Kelley has an idol, so does Lauren, and considering Rick survived the latest Tribal, he now has an idol. That is three idols, so I need to see something that delivers a blow to the Kama 6 to bring them down a bit. I have never been a fan of predictability, so if this season is headed that way I will be checking out way sooner than you can imagine.
The other thing that has not fully been explained is just how in the hell this jury is going to work. I mean Wendy and Keith decided to leave Edge of Extinction, even though they were given a third chance to get back into the game. However, Aubry, Chris and Reem were all introduced as members of the jury at the last Tribal Council. So let me do the math, we started with 18 people, we now have 12 people still left in the game, and 4 people on Extinction who are members of the jury?
Yeah, I’m trying to make sense of it, because I sense that we could have a jury of13 which would just be odd. The audience knows the remaining contestants voted out will get another shot to get in the game, but after that transpires, we have no clue if the people who doesn’t get back in the game are completely out or members of the jury. I would like to assume they become part of the jury, but it has not been fully confirmed at this point.
This was a crucial point in the game where anyone who wasn’t part of the vote to send Joe packing realized that they had to bond together or face being voted out one by one. There was a bit of fun transpiring on Extinction, as another advantage was thrown into the game. This time an extra vote, once again. The winner of it was Aubry (coincidental considering she was voted out with that advantage). She was also given the opportunity to practice what appears to be the challenge to help her have a third chance at the game. I was happy to see that Aurora got the extra vote, which she knew came from either Joe or Aubry.
Members of Kama were starting to crack and this was a hell of a Tribal Council and I was rooting massively for War Dog who was presenting a ton of evidence that was game changing if you ask me. Adding to that was David, whose words pierced threw the hearts of the newbies. Make a move or go home, oh and a move was made and Eric who thought he was leading the ship was sent packing. Oh, it was so glorious to see Eric have a taste of his own medicine.
Before writing this piece I was all out on the game, but this latest move courtesy of War Dog’s machinations and Gavin and Julia realizing they NEEDED to play the game showed, not everyone on Kama is willing to follow the leader. I think with the ‘Edge of Extinction’ it took quite some time to get moving, whereas ‘David vs. Goliath’ was firing on all cylinders from start. “Survivor: Edge of Extinction” airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.