Survivor: Edge of Extinction

Survivor: Edge of Extinction
Season Information
Version	United States
Season No.	38
Filming Location	Mamanuca Islands, Fiji
Filming Dates	May 30, 2018 - July 7, 2018
Season Run	February 20, 2019 - May 15, 2019
No. of Episodes	14
No. of Days	39
No. of Castaways	18
Winner	Chris Underwood
Runner(s)-Up	Gavin Whitson Julie Rosenberg
Tribes	Kama Manu Lesu Vata
Cast
Opening Sequence
Season Chronology
Previous	David vs. Goliath
Next	Island of the Idols

Survivor: Edge of Extinction is the thirty-eighth season of the CBS competitive reality television series Survivor.

The season saw the introduction of the Edge of Extinction, offering contestants a second chance after being voted out in exchange for weathering the abject destitution of the Edge. The tribal phase witnessed the dominance of the Kama tribe, juxtaposed against the implosion of the Manu tribe. The chaotic merge was characterized by numerous blindsides, shifting allegiances and Hidden Immunity Idol plays, with Rick Devens besting his rivals to make the end-game despite being a perpetual target. However, it was Chris Underwood who made full use of his short tenure in the main game after returning from the Edge to win the title of Sole Survivor in a 9-4-0 vote over Gavin Whitson and Julie Rosenberg. 

Production

As has been the case for a decade, this season was filmed back-to-back with its predecessor, Survivor: David vs. Goliath.

Due to the nature of this season, the castaways were not allowed to do exit press until the end of the season.

Twists/Changes

• Four Returning Players: Four previous castaways returned to compete alongside 14 new castaways.
• Edge of Extinction: After being voted out and departing Tribal Council, a player was given the choice to permanently leave the game or go into the unknown for a chance to come back. After the merge, all castaways remaining on Edge of Extinction that did not quit would form the eventual jury.
• Advantage Menu: Hidden at the marooning, the player who found it was given a choice between one of three advantages: to steal the reward from the winning tribe, use the parchment as an Extra Vote, or use it like a Hidden Immunity Idol. The Advantage Menu expired after the third Tribal Council.
• Hidden Immunity Idol: A Hidden Immunity Idol was hidden at each camp. In addition, those who returned to the game from the Edge of Extinction a Hidden Immunity Idol upon their return, but in two halves, one of which must be given to another castaway before the next Tribal Council. If both castaways remained after Tribal Council, the two halves can be reunited into one regular idol.
• Tribe Expansion: On Day 9, a tribe expansion occurred, spreading the 15 remaining players into three tribes of five, the third being the Lesu tribe.
• Extra Vote: On Days 13 and 21, an Extra Vote was hidden on the Edge of Extinction. The person who found the Extra Vote won the right to gift it to someone still in the game. The Extra Vote hidden on Day 13 had the addition stipulation that it could only be gifted to someone attending the next Tribal Council.
• Joint Tribal Council: The two tribes who lost the Day 16 Immunity Challenge were both sent to Tribal Council as one group to vote only one player out.
• Merge: This season merged with 13 castaways in the game; 12 in the main game and 1 from the Edge of Extinction. On Day 35, the second returnee from the Edge of Extinction became the 14th member of the tribe.
• Simplified Final Four Tribal Council: Instead of a traditional vote, the person who won the Final Immunity Challenge chose one person to take with them to the Final Three, leaving the remaining two castaways to compete in a fire-making challenge to determine who would be eliminated.
• Final Three and Jury: Three finalists faced a 13-person jury comprised of almost the entire cast. Everyone who stayed on the Edge and lost the return challenge earned a jury seat.
• Reformatted Final Tribal Council: Instead of having each jury member speak one by one, an open forum was held to ensure a more insightful rapport between jurors and finalists.

Castaways

Contestant		Tribe Affiliation			Finish	Edge of Extinction Status	Votes Against
		Original Tribe	Expanded Tribe	Merged Tribe
	Reem Daly 46, Ashburn, VA Sales Representative	Manu			1st Voted Out Day 3	Eliminated 1st Jury Member Day 35	4
	Keith Sowell 19, Durham, NC Pre-Med Student	Manu			2nd Voted Out Day 6	Quit Day 17	6
	Aubry Bracco 32, Los Angeles, CA Kaôh Rōng & Game Changers	Kama	Manu		5th Voted Out Day 13	Eliminated 2nd Jury Member Day 35	4
	Wendy Diaz 25, Bell, CA Small Business Owner	Manu	Manu		6th Voted Out Day 16	Quit Day 17	15
	Joe Anglim 29, Ogden, UT Worlds Apart & Cambodia	Kama	Kama	Vata	7th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 19	Eliminated Day 35	6
	Eric Hafemann 35, Livermore, CA Firefighter	Kama	Manu		8th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 22	Eliminated Day 35	8
	Julia Carter 25, Bethesda, MD Medical Assistant	Kama	Kama		9th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 23	Eliminated Day 35	9
	David Wright 44, Sherman Oaks, CA Millennials vs. Gen X	Manu	Lesu		10th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 25	Eliminated Day 35	12
	Kelley Wentworth 31, Seattle, WA San Juan del Sur & Cambodia	Manu	Lesu		11th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 27	Eliminated Day 35	14
	Wardog DaSilva 38, Los Angeles, CA Law Student/Former Military	Manu	Lesu		12th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 29	Eliminated Day 35	8
	Ron Clark 46, Atlanta, GA Teacher	Kama	Kama		13th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 31	Eliminated Day 35	3
	Aurora McCreary 32, Orlando, FL Divorce Lawyer	Kama	Kama		14th Voted Out 10th Jury Member Day 34	Eliminated Day 35	12
	Victoria Baamonde 23, Bronx, NY Waitress	Kama	Manu		15th Voted Out 11th Jury Member Day 36		2
	Lauren O'Connell 21, Waco, TX Student	Manu	Lesu		16th Voted Out 12th Jury Member Day 37		11
	Rick Devens 34, Macon, GA Morning News Anchor	Manu	Lesu		4th Voted Out Day 11 Eliminated 13th Jury Member Day 38	1st Returnee Day 17	12
	Julie Rosenberg 46, New York City, NY Toymaker	Kama	Kama		Second Runner-Up		1
	Gavin Whitson 23, Erwin, TN YMCA Program Director	Kama	Manu		Runner-Up		0
	Chris Underwood 25, Greenville, SC District Sales Manager	Manu			3rd Voted Out Day 8 Sole Survivor	2nd Returnee Removed from Jury Day 35	9

Season Summary

Fourteen new castaways were joined by four returning players: Aubry and Joe who joined Kama, and David and Kelley who joined Manu. On both tribes, the new players appeared to be unified in their agenda of eliminating the returning players. The Kama tribe became a cohesive group, devastating Manu in challenges, whereas Manu found itself stricken in political strife, where its returning players targeted each other but later begrudgingly worked together.

With 15 players left, the castaways were spread across three tribes where the original Kama was virtually split in half, with 5 members staying on Kama and the other 4 moving to Manu with Wendy. The third tribe Lesu was oddly comprised of 5 original Manu, and found itself in the same losing streak. Unbeknownst to the players still in the game, those who were voted out had been sent to the Edge of Extinction for a chance to get back in the game. On Day 17, Rick, who was voted out of Lesu, eventually returned to the game by winning the first return challenge, joining the merged Vata tribe. The same day, on the Edge of Extinction, Keith and Wendy raised the mast and left the game.

At the merge, despite outnumbering the former Manu/Lesu 7-5, the original Kama turned on each other. With David and Rick, and Ron and Julie on the outs with their old tribes, old tribal lines blurred, giving way to multiple short-term deals. Following the eliminations of the remaining returning players David and Kelley, Rick became a prime target for acquiring Hidden Immunity Idols and advantages, but avoided being voted out after winning crucial Immunity Challenges.

On Day 35, Chris won the second return challenge and was reunited his former ally Rick, but was unsure if he could defeat him at the end. Having won the Final Immunity Challenge, Chris had to decide who he would take to the Final Three and who would compete in the fire-making challenge, but, believing his late-game resurgence would not be enough to win him the game, he gave up his immunity to Julie to face Rick himself in the fire-making challenge. Chris defeated Rick, joining Gavin and Julie in the Final Three.

At the Final Tribal Council, Julie was mostly ignored by the jury for being overly emotional on multiple occasions, thus ruining several key plans. Gavin was praised for playing the better game of the players who lasted without going to Edge of Extinction, but was unable to counter Chris's arguments. In the end, Chris's social bonds and clutch play despite having stayed on the Edge of Extinction for most of the game, won him the title of Sole Survivor in a 9-4-0 vote.

Episode		Air date	Edge of Extinction		Challenges		Voted Out (Vote)	Status	Viewers (in millions)	Ratings/Share (18-49)
			Left Game	Finish	Reward	Immunity
1	"It Smells Like Success"	February 20, 2019			Kama1		Reem2 (4-3-1-1)	1st Voted Out 1st Jury Member5 Day 3	7.75	1.6/7
2	"One of Us Is Going to Win the War"	February 27, 2019	None		Kama1		Keith2 (6-1-1)	2nd Voted Out Day 6	7.07	1.5/7
3	"Betrayals Are Going to Get Exposed"	March 6, 2019	None		Manu	Kama	Chris2 (5-2)	3rd Voted Out Removed from Jury8 Day 8	7.25	1.5/6
4	"I Need a Dance Partner"	March 13, 2019	None		None	Kama	Rick2 (3-2)	4th Voted Out Day 11	7.53	1.5/7
						Manu
5	"It's Like the Worst Cocktail Party Ever"	March 20, 2019	None		Kama	Kama	Aubry2 (4-1)	5th Voted Out 2nd Jury Member5 Day 13	7.05	1.3/6
					Manu	Lesu
			None		Kama	Kama3	Wendy2 (4-4; 6-04)	6th Voted Out Day 16
					Manu
6	"There's Always a Twist"	March 27, 2019	Rick	1st Returnee Day 17	None	Julie	Joe2 (6-3-2-2)	7th Voted Out 3rd Jury Member Day 19	7.75	1.6/8
			Keith	Quit Day 17
			Wendy
7	"I'm the Puppet Master"	April 3, 2019	None		Aurora, Eric, Julia, Rick, Victoria, Wardog	Aurora	Eric2 (8-2-2)	8th Voted Out 4th Jury Member Day 22	7.41	1.5/7
8	"Y'all Making Me Crazy"	April 10, 2019	None		None	Gavin	Julia2 (9-1-0)6	9th Voted Out 5th Jury Member Day 23	7.59	1.5/7
9	"Blood of a Blindside"	April 17, 2019	None		None	Aurora	David2 (8-2)	10th Voted Out 6th Jury Member Day 25	7.83	1.5/8
					Gavin, Kelley, Lauren [Julie]7	Rick	Kelley2 (5-4)	11th Voted Out 7th Jury Member Day 27
10	"Fasten Your Seatbelts"	April 24, 2019	None		Julie, Lauren, Rick, Wardog	Rick	Wardog2 (6-2)	12th Voted Out 8th Jury Member Day 29	7.50	1.5/7
11	"Awkward"	May 1, 2019	None		Ron [Gavin, Julie]	Gavin	Ron2 (3-1-0)6	13th Voted Out 9th Jury Member Day 31	7.34	1.4/7
12	"Idol or Bust"	May 8, 2019	None		Gavin [Lauren, Victoria]	Rick	Aurora2 (5-1)	14th Voted Out 10th Jury Member Day 34	7.28	1.5/7
13	"I See the Million Dollars"	May 15, 2019	Reem	Eliminated Day 35	Julie1		Victoria (2-0-0)6	15th Voted Out 11th Jury Member Day 36	7.21	1.5/7
			Aubry
			Joe
			Eric
			Julia
			David
					[Chris, Lauren]
			Kelley
			Wardog
			Ron
			Aurora
			Chris	2nd Returnee Day 35
					None	Rick	Lauren (2-0)6,9	16th Voted Out 12th Jury Member Day 37
						Chris (Julie)10	Rick (no vote)10	Eliminated 13th Jury Member Day 38
			Jury Vote				Julie (9-4-0)	Second Runner-Up
							Gavin (9-4-0)	Runner-Up
							Chris (9-4-0)	Sole Survivor
14	"Reunion"								4.64	0.9/4
Notes: ^1 Combined Reward and Immunity Challenge. ^2 The castaway was voted out and opted to be sent to the Edge of Extinction. ^3 The two tribes that lost the Immunity Challenge were both sent to Tribal Council, where they would vote together to vote one person out. ^4 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote would commence. ^5 Reem, Chris, and Aubry's status as jurors was not announced until the Vata tribe's first Tribal Council on Day 19. ^6 A Hidden Immunity Idol was used, negating all votes against the user. ^7 On Day 26, there was an unaired Reward Challenge. ^8 Chris won the second reentry duel, thus removing himself from the jury. ^9 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, however, no votes were cast against its user. ^10 Instead of a traditional vote, the winner of the Immunity Challenge, Chris, would choose someone to take with them to the Final Three. He chose to give up his Immunity Necklace to Julie, save Gavin, and compete against Rick in a fire-making challenge to determine the last finalist.

Voting History

		Original Tribes			Expanded Tribes				Merged Tribe
Episode		1	2	3	4	5			6	7	8	9		10	11	12	13
Voted Out		Reem	Keith	Chris	Rick	Aubry	Tie	Wendy	Joe	Eric	Julia	David	Kelley	Wardog	Ron	Aurora	Victoria	Lauren	Rick	Julie	Gavin	Chris
Vote		4-3-1-1	6-1-1	5-2	3-2	4-1	4-41	6-0	6-3-2-2	8-2-2	9-1-02	8-2	5-4	6-2	3-1-02	5-1	2-0-02	2-02,4	No vote5	9-4-0
►	Chris	Reem	Keith	Kelley													Victoria	Lauren	—	Jury Vote
►►	Gavin	—	—	—	—	Aubry	Lauren	Wendy	Joe	Eric	Julia	David	Aurora	Wardog	Ron	Aurora	Rick	Chris	—
															Ron3
►►	Julie	—	—	—	—	—	—		Joe	Lauren	Julia	David	Aurora	Wardog	Rick	Aurora	Rick	Chris	—
►►	Rick	Reem	Keith	Chris	Lauren				Kelley	Lauren	Julia	Wardog	Kelley	Aurora	Aurora	Aurora	Victoria	Lauren	Eliminated		Gavin
►►	Lauren	Wendy	Keith	Chris	Rick	—	Wendy	None	David	Eric	Julia	David	Aurora	Wardog	Ron	Aurora	Rick	Chris			Gavin
►►	Victoria	—	—	—	—	Aubry	Lauren	Wendy	Joe	Eric	Julia	David	Kelley	Wardog	Rick	Aurora	Chris					Chris
►►	Aurora	—	—	—	—	—	—		Rick	Eric	David	David	Kelley	Wardog	Rick	Julie	Eliminated				Gavin
►►	Ron	—	—	—	—	—	—		Joe	Kelley	Julia	David	Kelley	Wardog	Rick		Eliminated					Chris
►►	Wardog	Wendy	Keith	Chris	Rick	—	Wendy	Wendy	David	Eric	Julia	David	Kelley	Aurora			Eliminated					Chris
►►	Kelley	Wendy	Keith	Chris	Rick	—	Wendy	Wendy	David	Eric	Julia	David	Aurora				Eliminated				Gavin
►►	David	Reem	Keith	Chris	Lauren	—	Wendy	Wendy	Kelley	Eric	Julia	Wardog					Eliminated					Chris
►►	Julia	—	—	—	—	—	—		Joe	Eric	Kelley						Eliminated					Chris
►►	Eric	—	—	—	—	Aubry	Lauren	Wendy	Joe	Kelley							Eliminated					Chris
►►	Joe	—	—	—	—	—	—		Rick								Eliminated					Chris
►	Wendy	Lauren	Kelley	Kelley	—	Aubry	Lauren	None	Quit
►	Aubry	—	—	—	—	Wendy											Eliminated					Chris
	Keith	Reem	Wendy						Quit
	Reem	Kelley															Eliminated					Chris
Notes: ^1 The vote resulted in a tie. Per Survivor rules, a revote was held where the castaways involved in the tie would not vote and the remaining castaways could only vote for those involved in the tie. ^2 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played; however, no votes were cast against its user. ^3 This castaway played an Extra Vote advantage, allowing them to vote twice at Tribal Council. ^4 A Hidden Immunity Idol was played, negating all votes against its user. ^5 Instead of a traditional vote, the winner of the Immunity Challenge, Chris, would choose someone to take with them to the Final Three. He chose to give up his Immunity Necklace to Julie, save Gavin, and compete against Rick in a fire-making challenge to determine the last finalist.

Trivia

• Edge of Extinction is the first season since Blood vs. Water to feature no Asian-American contestants.
• Edge of Extinction is the first 18-person season with a 13-person merge.
  • In addition, this is the first season to have 14 people on the merged tribe, albeit non-simultaneously.
• Edge of Extinction is the first season since Heroes vs. Villains to have jurors who were not members of the merged tribe.
• Edge of Extinction is the first season to feature returning players where the Final Tribal Council featured only first-time players as finalists.
• Edge of Extinction is the first season since Blood vs. Water where every finalist won at least one individual Immunity Challenge.
• Edge of Extinction is the only season whose Sole Survivor was voted out during the game.
• As of Winners at War, Edge of Extinction is the earliest season to not produce any returning players.