4 reasons why Survivor’s Edge of Extinction needs to go extinct

While I’m happy with the results of the Survivor: Winners at War finale, I’ve got a bone to pick with Jeff Probst. Edge of Extinction has got to go!

Spoilers ahead for Survivor: Winners at War

After being a fan of Big Brother for six years, last year, I decided to give Survivor: Island of the Idols a try. While the season was brought down by controversy, I nevertheless decided to start binging Survivor from the beginning and was immediately hooked! So when I first heard that there was going to be an all winners season, I was pumped, but then the dreaded announcement came; the Edge of Extinction was also returning.

While I haven’t seen Season 38, Survivor: Edge of Extinction, I still remember seeing the fan outcry on Twitter when Chris Underwood, who was voted out of the game on Day Eight, won his way back into the game on Day 37 and went on to win the season.

More from CBS

• Mamie’s plan is advanced on Thanksgiving (Young and the Restless Nov. 22 recap)
• The Young and the Restless recap (Nov. 21): J. Eddie Peck returns as Cole
• Blue Bloods is ending in Fall 2024 but not with a season 15 like we hoped
• FBI: Most Wanted season 5 release date, cast shake up, and everything to know before the premiere in 2024
• Kyle follows his family’s plan on Young and the Restless (Nov. 20 recap)

So I, like a lot of other fans, was hesitant to see its return, especially on an all winners season. From just the premiere episode of Survivor: Winners at War, I could tell that the season was going to be action-packed and didn’t need to be bogged down by the Edge of Extinction. With Edge of Extinction returnee Natalie Anderson coming in second place this season, here are four reasons why I believe the Edge of Extinction needs to go.

1. If you’re out, you’re out.

The motto of Survivor is “Outwit, Outplay, Outlast.” The Sole Survivor should always be the player that played a full game of Survivor from Day One until Day 39. I’m not saying that the Sole Survivor needs to be the player that controlled every vote or competed in and won every single immunity challenge. However, if you come into the game with a target that you can’t escape, you haven’t fulfilled those tenets.

Natalie Anderson was voted out on Day Two due to a significant target placed on her back because of her pre-existing relationship with Jeremy Collins, who she competed alongside on her winning season Survivor: San Juan Del Sur. It’s a dilemma that much more high-profile pre-existing relationships such as that of Parvati and Boston Rob initially escaped swiftly. Natalie couldn’t convince her opponents to target a stronger pair, and therefore, she was sent to Edge of Extinction.

Within the game’s first 48 hours, she’d failed at each of those Survivor tenets.

2. Players that are voted out, shouldn’t have an impact on the ongoing game.

At the beginning of the game, each player was given one Fire Token and, if they were voted out, they would have to bequeath their tokens to another player. Once at the Edge of Extinction, they would have the opportunity to win more tokens, that they could then use, to buy necessities or advantages in the battle back challenge, by completing tasks or finding advantages that they could sell to the players that were still in the game.

Early on during her time on the Edge of Extinction, Natalie sold a Safety Without Power advantage to Jeremy and a vote steal advantage to Sarah. Ultimately, both Jeremy and Sarah ended up playing their advantages, which resulted in Tyson getting voted out for the second time. A few days later, Natalie played the “Extortion” advantage against Tony, wherein Tony was forced to acquire six fire tokens or be forced to sit out the next immunity challenge and lose his vote.

If you couldn’t affect the game while you were in it, you shouldn’t be able to affect the game while you’re out of it, especially because players don’t get to control the Edge of Extinction.

3. The Edge of Extinction and Survivor are two different games.

Okay, yes, players do get to control who they send to the Edge of Extinction but hear me out. When all was said and done this season, more than half the jury had spent more time on the Edge of Extinction than in the game. Even though Tony won, Natalie secured four votes despite being the first boot because she spent more time on the Edge than in the game.

Survivor at its core is a social game, you want to make bonds, and ultimately break them as carefully as possible. You don’t want to be the person that puts the knife in someone’s back, but if you want to be seen as the player that had the most agency, you’re eventually going to have to be the executioner. However, this idea gets turned on its head on the Edge of Extinction.

On the Edge of Extinction, players can’t vote each other out. There’s no incentive to lie to or backstab your fellow players because they can’t affect your chances of getting back in the game. As a result, Edge of Extinction players are left to play the social game, which is to their benefit because there’s an opportunity for them to make more friends on the jury than their opponents.

On a normal Survivor season, players can perform each night for the jury at tribal council, but they are unable to control the narrative at Ponderosa unless they get voted off. With the Edge of Extinction in play, players that get voted off have the benefit of spending time with the jury and gaining valuable information about the jury’s perceptions of the game. As a result, the person that wins their way back into the game has the added benefit of using that information to their advantage as we saw Natalie attempt to do at the Final Six.

It should never be more beneficial to get voted out than to stay in the game.

4. The Final Six Edge of Extinction returnee faces little adversity

No, they can’t choose to sit back and ride coattails to the Final Three, but they can come back into the game at a point where their path to the end is clearer than ever. Survivor is a game of skill and luck. Occasionally, the obvious decision is obvious, and sometimes, you’re taking a shot in the dark, and it could cost you.

However, at the Final Six, there are fewer pieces on the chessboard and a much clearer view of what you need to do to get yourself into the Final Three.

What did you think of the Survivor: Winners at War finale? Were you a fan of the Edge of Extinction, or do you agree that this twist needs to be retired? Let us know!

While we don’t know when the next season of Survivor is likely to air, you can take this time to binge-watch the show on CBS All-Access.