Hello all, welcome back to the Edit Bay! This weekly feature takes a dive into the edit of the latest Survivor episode, analyzing the key stories, main characters, and top winner contenders.
For those new to The Edit Bay, it is a condensed version of Edgic, highlighting some of the stand-out story beats from the most recent episode. It also includes my weekly Edgic ratings for each castaway at the end of the article.
TOP CONTENDERS
With just two episodes left to go, Survivor 45 is heading into its penultimate episode with one clear frontrunner and a potential outsider winner still in the running.
Last week saw the elimination of Emily, undoubtedly the biggest character edit of the season. While we were certainly meant to consider Emily a contender, her edit always leaned more toward character growth/journey. As I’ve said several times this season, Emily’s run of CP edits and high visibility, especially in the pre-merge, seemed too good to be true for a female Survivor winner.
So, what does that leave us with? Well, it’s pretty much down to the two women I had atop the contenders last week, Dee and Katurah, with everyone else pretty much drawing dead.
DEE
After a couple of low-vis UTR edits, I said last week, “There are still three episodes left, so Dee could suddenly go on a CP sprint and put herself right back into top contention. I wouldn’t rule out that possibility at all.”
Well, this was exactly the episode Dee needed to cement her spot as the top contender. Even though the episode involved a big idol play from Julie and the elimination of the season’s biggest character, the action was primarily told through Dee’s perspective. As we’ve seen countless times this season, Dee called the shot and named the target, and, as usual, she got her way.
From early in the episode, Dee knew what was happening and the potential obstacles in her way. “I feel like there’s a crack in Drew, and that kind of scares me because I know how close he is to Emily,” she said, which proved to be true, as Drew was the one leading the Julie blindside plan. “So, right now, I’m looking at Emily next,” she continued, naming her target well ahead of time.
Dee continued to be on point throughout the episode, later acknowledging how the boys would be talking strategy on reward and perhaps could come up with a new plan, which is what happened. The one thing she was wrong about was Emily lying about what happened on the journey, but that could have been included simply to emphasize why Dee wanted Emily gone.
Once the boys were back at camp, Dee spoke to Austin and picked up that the plan had changed, which Austin confirmed. This gave Dee a big decision to make, and the episode really hammered home how this was Dee’s pivotal moment. Initially, she tried to put her emotions aside but later said, “So far, I’ve played this game with heart. I’m gonna follow my intuition, and I’m gonna continue playing this game with heart.”
Dee then told Julie and asked her to vote for Emily. There was some added tension over whether Julie would go rogue, but, in the end, what Dee wanted to happen happened.
Outside of calling shots, this episode also highlighted the Dee and Austin showmance, which has been subtly hinted at throughout the season. This came with a Rob and Amber flashback from All Stars, and we all know how that ended. One would assume that using the Romber footage is a good sign for Dee and Austin, with the implication being that this pair contains the winner (and I would be shocked if it was Austin).
Despite her recent low visibility, an episode like this confirmed to me that Dee is still by far the frontrunner. Even in her quieter episodes, she was always right about the target and talked up as a threat. Plus, everyone else has major flaws that make it hard to see them as the winner, whereas Dee’s weaker moments don’t detract from the overall strength of her edit.
KATURAH
If someone else is to win, though, it’s probably Katurah. She started this season with the best premiere, but her Bruce-obsessed edit throughout the pre-merge and early merge, plus her lack of personal content, dropped her down the rankings. But the previous episode boosted her back up, and she continued on a positive trajectory in this latest episode.
Firstly, early in the episode, we had a scene with the three lawyers, Katurah, Jake, and Julie, which could have been some nice foreshadowing. Katurah reminded us that she’s been lying about her profession while once again asking Jake about his life as a lawyer. This attorney arc has been ongoing since the premiere, which shows an attention to detail in Katurah’s edit.
This lawyer conversation led to one of the most personal confessionals in the history of the show. Katurah opened up about her past in an extreme religious cult and how it affected her childhood. This could have been played simply for emotion, but instead, it tied into Katurah’s story of perseverance and determination.
“But, like, this isn’t a sad story. It’s a story of redemption. It’s a story of resilience,” she said, which has been a consistent part of her narrative across the season. Whether it was her beef with Bruce, being on the outside of the numbers, or her fears of the water, Katurah has always lifted her chin up and pushed forward.
She also justified her lack of strategic content when she said, “There’s a lot in my mind right now about my game, and I do feel like this is the moment that I plan to start picking up steam, coming out of the shadows, making the bigger moves, being a little bit bolder.”
There is every chance Katurah could make a late-game surge on her path to the finale. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen a player turn things up a notch in the last few days. The issue is that in this episode, she told us she wanted to blindside Julie first, which didn’t happen.
Now, the edit did sort of give Katurah an out on this botched blindside. We got her voting confessional, where she said, “If it doesn’t work, I blame Austin and his stupid emotional heart.” Katurah placed the blame on Austin for the blindside not working, which the edit had already backed up by showing Austin spill the plan to Dee.
As I said earlier, I think there are more flaws in Katurah’s edit than Dee’s. The Bruce-focus was excessive, and we haven’t heard others talk of Katurah being a threat to win. Her strategy and alliances haven’t had a clear focus, either, and it took a while to get solid personal content. But if this season is going for a surprise winner, Katurah fits the bill, especially with her recent episodes painting her in a sympathetic light.
THE REST
JULIE
This was a really solid episode for Julie, but even in her biggest move of the season, Dee still took center stage. The edit portrayed Julie’s idol play as Dee’s move, showing that she came up with the idea, the target, and the tribal theatrics. If Julie was the winner, I feel like this episode would have been edited a lot differently.
Plus, with all this recent talk of Julie being a threat, her target will only increase now that she has a successful idol play under her belt. While I could see the all-attorney final three happening, I think it’s just as likely Julie follows Emily out the door. Just as Emily became target number one after her Bruce move, Julie will likely be enemy number one.
THE BOYS
I just can’t see victory for Austin, Drew, or Jake. While I personally think Austin made the right decisions for his game, the edit made him look like a lovestruck fool, and he took the blame for the Julie plan going up in smoke. Drew’s edit has always leaned toward arrogance, while Jake has the sad sack Charlie Brown edit that screams FTC loser.
EDGIC CHART
| Name | EP 1 | EP 2 | EP 3 | EP 4 | EP 5 | EP 6 | EP 7 | EP 8 | EP 9 | EP 10 | EP 11 | EP 12 | EP 13 | EP 14 |
 Austin |
MOR3 | MOR2 | MOR4 | MOR2 | CP4 | OTT3 | UTR2 | UTR2 | CP4 | UTR2 | CPM4 | |||
 Dee |
UTR1 | OTT2 | CP4 | MOR4 | CPP3 | MOR2 | MORP | UTR2 | MORM3 | UTR1 | CPP3 | |||
 Drew |
CP2 | CP4 | CP4 | MOR2 | MORM4 | MOR3 | MOR2 | CP4 | CP4 | MORN3 | CP3 | |||
 Jake |
MOR3 | UTR2 | MORP3 | CP2 | OTTP2 | MOR3 | CP4 | CPN4 | CP3 | OTTM4 | MOR2 | |||
 Julie |
MOR1 | CP2 | UTR2 | MOR3 | UTR2 | UTR2 | UTR1 | MOR2 | MOR3 | MORP3 | CP3 | |||
 Katurah |
CP3 | MOR2 | UTR2 | OTT3 | MORN3 | MOR2 | CP4 | MOR4 | MOR2 | OTTP3 | OTTP3 | |||
 Emily |
CPN5 | CPM5 | CPM5 | CPP4 | CP4 | CP4 | CP2 | CP3 | CP3 | CPP4 | CPP3 | |||
 Bruce |
MORM3 | CPM3 | UTRN1 | OTTM3 | OTTN2 | CPN5 | OTTN4 | OTTM3 | OTTP3 | CPN4 | ||||
 Kendra |
OTT3 | UTR1 | MOR3 | INV | OTT3 | MOR2 | MOR3 | OTTP3 | MOR3 | |||||
 Kellie |
MOR3 | MOR2 | MOR2 | MOR2 | MOR3 | MOR3 | CP4 | MOR3 | ||||||
 Kaleb |
MOR3 | CPP3 | CPM5 | CPP5 | CP2 | CPM5 | CP4 | |||||||
 Sifu |
OTTN3 | UTR1 | UTR1 | MOR3 | MORN3 | OTT2 | UTRP2 | |||||||
 J. Maya |
UTR1 | UTR1 | UTR1 | CP3 | MOR3 | MOR3 | ||||||||
 Brando |
UTR2 | MORP2 | UTR1 | UTR1 | CPN4 | |||||||||
 Sean |
UTR2 | UTR2 | UTR2 | CPM5 | ||||||||||
 Sabiyah |
MORP4 | CP5 | CP5 | |||||||||||
 Brandon |
OTTM5 | OTTM5 | ||||||||||||
 Hannah |
OTTM5 |
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I’m holding on to the Katurah chance. Best case scenario Dee goes out next haha
Who wins an all-“boy” final 3? For the easiest win, the women should want as many men in the final 3 as possible.
I believed that the women or more powerful than the men team because every time the men move ahead and again the women get ahead. So I think its going will be two women.. I might be wrong but I
Think its going to be Dee and Katurah.the 3rd person will be Emily