Thursday 28 March 2019

Unlabelled [Reality-TV-Fanatics] Survivor recap: Two people quit Edge of Extinction

[Reality-TV-Fanatics] Survivor recap: Two people quit Edge of Extinction

by Crime Time Tamil on March 28, 2019

https://ew.com/recap/survivor-edge-of-extinction-season-38-episode-7/

Survivor recap: Two people quit Edge of Extinction

Dalton Ross this link opens in a new tab

March 27, 2019 at 09:00 PM EDT

I'm not good at quitting things. The fact that I have been recapping a reality television show FOR 35 SEASONS AND COUNTING probably speaks to that a little bit, I imagine. It's not that I am so dedicated and have incredible fortitude in the face of adversity. Not in the least. Rather, I am a creature of habit. I love routine. It explains why I still eat like a kindergartener. (My lunch today was — no joke — a PB&J, baby carrots, and a yogurt; hey, at least I did not have the crusts cut off.) It explains why I never took my junior year abroad while in college. It explains why I kept watching 24, like three seasons after I should have. Sometimes it's just easier not to quit things.

But not if your name is Keith or Wendy. Now, I know you think I'm probably gonna go all old school Jeff Probst and throw these two quitters down the same way Probst threw down Osten's torch. But I'm not going to do that. I'm not angry or anything. I'm just confused. In one scene, we see Keith reaching for the heavens to thank God upon hearing that he could go back to Extinction Island and still have a chance to win his favorite TV show and the million dollars that goes along with it. In his next scene, he's asking to leave. In one scene we see Big Wendy hugging everyone and celebrating like she just released every single chicken in the entire world. In her next scene, she's all get me the hell out of here!

So, what gives? Look, we all knew Keith was shaky when he almost didn't even take the torch to continue playing on day 6. And we all saw Wendy as the happiest person in the history of Survivor to be voted out, acting all giddy about the cheeseburger she was about to eat — which, come to think of it, actually confuses me even more than her quitting. But even those hints and clues as to their willingness to stick it out still doesn't completely explain the massive 180-degree turn we just saw. How weird was that?!?

I asked Jeff Probst at the start of the season if he thought people would quit Edge of Extinction and he told me that if they did then "we cast wrong." But I would argue that Keith and Wendy quitting actually is a good thing for the show. All season we've heard how hard Edge of Extinction is. Yes, true, mostly only from Reem and Keith, but whatever. That has been the narrative. And to properly sell that narrative, you have to show that there are certain people that just can't hack it. Watching Keith and Wendy ask to leave — even if they were maybe never fully invested in the experience to begin with — is the clearest indication yet that the players there are indeed suffering. Now all that talk about the difficulties has been backed up.

As I wrote last week, I'm in a weird place with the Edge of Extinction twist. It was been well-established I am not a fan of twists that keep people in the game after they have been voted out. But if we are going to have that twist, then we should go ALL-IN on it. I'm not like those people who have been complaining about spending too much time at Extinction Island. If we're going to neuter the impact of the vote-off by keeping Aubry, Chris, and others around, then let's make up for it by seeing what they're up to. I really like watching them trying to figure out the clues, and finding weird submerged advantages, and trying not to piss off Reem.

Now the Edge of Extinction has claimed two victims. That's intriguing as well. That sells the concept of the island and the experiment. While previously the threat of anyone actually quitting seemed minimal at best, now the threat is real. Next time Reem complains about the conditions, we'll take her more seriously. If, say, Lauren goes there and gets sick again, maybe she'll pack it in. Who knows? I thought I knew, but then these two jokers went ahead and quit. Will they be the only ones? We'll have to wait to find out. In the meantime, let's get to the other big events of what turned out to be quite an eventful merge episode.

They're Heeeeeerrrrrrreeeee…
It's kind of weird to have a merge be something after an afterthought. The merge is one of the signature moments of any season. Jeff Probst tells people to drop their buffs. There's always lots of celebrating. Not unlike Ron Burgundy, it's a pretty big deal. But not this season, because no sooner did the members of the soon-to-be-named Vata tribe don their red buffs than Probst warned them that some Survivor moments take years to be iconic and others become iconic the moment they happen. (I can only assume he would classify the season 1 Tribal Council trunk of cash in the former category and his epic shoulder rub of Brandon Hantz in the latter. It's unclear into what category the Outcasts should be placed.)

And here they come, with Reem doing her best Orpah Winfrey impression, only instead of giving everyone a car, she passes out free death glares to everyone in her immediate audience YOU get an F.U. stare! YOU get an F.U. stare! And YOU get an F.U. stare! "I knew it," yells Kelley Wentworth as the voted-out losers come back, and I can't help but wonder what she actually knew. Did she know voted out players were being secretly held somewhere or did she just know there was some sort of twist coming because there is always some sort of twist coming on Survivor?

Jeff explains to everyone that Aubry and the five voted-out Manuians will race through a series of obstacles and then finally have to maneuver a ball to the top of a snake track. I may not like voted out people not actually being voted out, but you cannot deny that a challenge to get back INTO the game is about as tense and exciting as it gets because the stakes are so damn high. So the challenge is flat-out awesome, and I'm not just saying that because at one point Jeff Probst yells that "Chris now has his balls free. He can get in on this!"

Seriously, I'm not. Because that wasn't even the best part. The ending is a nail-biter of epic proportions as Wendy battles against her Tourette's to take the lead. She gets two inches away from winning — TWO INCHES! — and then her ball falls off. Then it's Chris' turn, and I have to be a lot more careful talking about Chris' ball dropping (especially after just making fun of Jeff), but he also comes two inches away from winning before faltering. That leaves Rick Devens to clean it up and indeed he does, getting himself back in the game. That's good for him and good for producers too. There's not much to dislike about Rick Devens outside of the confusion over whether to call him by his first or last name. He's charming, he's funny, he's a good narrator, seems like a decent dude. Plus, he gives my pregame pick to win in David another ally, which is to say his only ally.

Probst makes a big announcement that "Now Extinction begins again. Every person voted out will have the same opportunity," but what the folks already there don't realize is that means they can go back there and give it another shot again later. So Chris starts crying. And then Aubry starts crying. And then Reem starts crying. And then Keith starts crying. And then Wendy starts… smiling, because she's Wendy and that's what Wendy does when something seemingly terrible happens. This segment also offers up my favorite quote of the episode, when Jeff asks, "Reem, why are you here?"

But then Jeff informs them all they can go back to Extinction Island to try to get into the game and all of a sudden Aubry Bracco TURNS INTO A COMPLETE INSANE PERSON! "Let's f—ing do it!" she yells before commencing to whoop and dance in a way that is somehow even more gloriously awkward than the hostage crisis Kama dance Ron Clark made her do, and I didn't think that was humanly possible. Whatever is possessing Aubry in this moment should be bottled, put into pill form, and distributed at a street price of $10,000 a pill. That's how strong it is. "LET'S F—ING DO IT" Okay, lets!

Splurge at the Merge
Hey, look who gets the first confessional interview at the merge. It's Julia! Wow, that's two weeks in the row. She's clearly leaving poor Aurora — who now takes the pole position in terms of all "Have You Seen Me?" milk carton placement — in the dust. Note to future Survivor contestants: Complaining about screen time on social media really works! Someone give Brett from Samoa and Carter from the Philippines a DeLorean so they can go back in time, log into Twitter and lobby to be seen on their seasons. Unfortunately, Julia's big speech essentially boils down to merely pointing out the obvious math in that the Kamas hold a 8-5 numbers advantage. Still, beggars can't be choosers, I suppose, especially when angling for camera time.

The big question is how Devens will be accepted back into the game. Kelley wants him gone, which is no surprise since she helped send him packing the first time. On the flip side, Julie likes the cut of Rick's jib! Almost as much as I like talking as if I'm from the 1920s! She thinks it was super neat-o the way he won himself back into the game. As a Rick fan myself, I'm not exactly sure why she is suddenly all into him, but anything to get Julie to stop talking about peeing her pants, or peeing in Central Park, or peeing on her floor is good by me.

And now on to other things that are worth seeing. We've got an exclusive deleted scene from the episode above. We've also got our weekly Q&A with Hostmaster General Jeff Probst where he weighs in on the challenge to get back in the game, the people who quit, and the expanded jury. And if you want some behind-the-scenes intel on what happened at last week's double Tribal Council, check out my merge interview with Kelley Wentworth. We'll also have interviews up with Keith and Big Wendy soon enough, and you can also follow me on the Twitter @DaltonRossthis link opens in a new tab. (Also, we're getting closer to me giving away all the original most embarrassing moment confessions written by the cast out on location in Fiji. Follow me on Instagram @thedaltonrossthis link opens in a new tab for a chance to win.)

Okay, now it's your turn. Are you happy Rick got back in the game? Do you like the bigger jury? Is it fair if someone from Edge of Extinction ends up winning? Are you sick of me asking questions? Weigh in on the message boards below and I'll be back next week with another scoop of the crispy!

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