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
It’s been another busy house-moving week here, so this will be a shortened version of The Edit Bay again. Below, I will give my thoughts on the top contenders coming out of Episode 8 and then will provide a brief overview of the remaining players and where I think their story arcs are heading.
DEE
I didn’t love this episode for Dee, but she’s still at the top of my contenders for now. It was another quiet episode, with her two confessionals focused on the Auction. We did see her briefly in the pre-Tribal scrambling, where she aired her concerns about targeting Kellie over Jake. But there was no follow-up in confessional on her reasoning for ultimately voting for Kellie.
This kind of edit is wholly dependent on the next episode. Either Dee isn’t important enough to warrant air-time on her reasonings, or she was intentionally left on the sidelines of the Kellie vote. The fact she had reservations about going after Kellie could suggest she wasn’t fully on board with that plan, which might play out in the next episode. Perhaps this will lead to fractures within the Reba 4.
There was another moment during the Auction where she predicted an item incorrectly. It was a little thing that might mean nothing, but it’s always worth noting when the edit goes out of its way to show a player being outright wrong about something.
That said, I did like the “Dee’s our the winner” line spoken while tallying up the Auction money. That is the kind of sneaky line editors like to slip in to foreshadow. And overall, I do feel like there is craft to her edit, going back to the “big toe” arc and the personal content tied to playing hard for her family.
However, Dee needs a big episode this coming week. Another quiet episode like this would see her dropping down the contenders’ list.
EMILY
Emily’s edit is starting to slip somewhat in the post-merge, though overall, she still has one of the best-crafted arcs of the season. This episode saw her snitching on the proposed women’s alliance, but even this came with an explanation as to why she was making such a move, which kept her as CP.
The edit continued to highlight her connection with Drew, which could prove to be significant should Drew’s dominance begin to ruffle feathers within the Reba 4. And her confessional about Bruce and being nervous about his idol kept that anatognistic relationship going too.
What worries me about Emily is that her edit is sort of backwards. She was super visible and complex in the pre-merge, easily the biggest character in the season. Now, at the merge, her edit is starting to slow down, which isn’t usually how things work for a winner. Normally, you’d expect a winner, especially a woman winner, to have a more subtle pre-merge before blossoming in the post-merge.
Of course, given the drama on Lulu, it would have been hard not to feature Emily in the pre-merge. She was part of some of the season’s biggest moments so far, so it stands to reason she was highlighted. But part of me still leans towards journey/growth edit over winner.
HANGING ON
KATURAH
Coming off the back of her most significant episode since the premiere, where she voted out Kaleb, Katurah needed to take the game into her own hands and start forming some new relationships. Unfortunately, that didn’t really happen in Episode 8.
She didn’t really explain her decision to vote out Kaleb, which was a little strange, but her move was at least backed up by Jake, who admitted it was stupid of him to try to force a rock draw. Her first few confessionals were focused on the Auction, with a few more digs at Bruce along the way.
As always, the majority of Katurah’s content revolved around Bruce. This time, she thought she finally had the numbers on her side to take him out. There was a scene where she talked with the Rebas about voting Bruce out, which could have been a great opportunity to show Katurah with agency in the game. Instead, it was presented as Drew making Katurah think she was getting her way, which she ate right up.
At this point, I’m starting to think Katurah can only win if she makes it to the end with Bruce, which would certainly be quite a conclusion to this season’s narrative. But it’s not outside the realm of possibility, especially given the insane amount of focus the edit has given this rivalry.
KENDRA
With Kellie eliminated and out of the running and my perception of Jake having changed after Episode 8, I’m bumping Kendra back up to the contenders. But it’s a long shot, and she’s very much hanging on by a thread.
The big plus for Kendra in this episode was she received a personal flashback scene. The moment at the Auction and the backstory about meeting her biological father gave us a better understanding of who Kendra is as a person. She is one of only a handful of players this season, including Dee and Jake, to receive a personal scene like this, so that definitely makes her stand out.
As for the rest of the episode, Kendra was kind of quiet, but she did have a couple of brief, strategic moments. She was the first player to broach the potential women’s alliance. And she explained why she was the first to go all-in at the Auction. It’s always good to be able to talk through your decisions, so the fact Kendra has these confessionals, even if brief, is a plus point.
There wasn’t much else other than her disappointment over Bruce winning immunity and still having his idol. Nothing really changed for her edit overall, but the big personal scene combined with splashes of strategic content is enough to keep her in the running.
The other thing that is keeping Kendra in contention is her relationships. She has several connections that could play a part in the remainder of the season. She had that one-on-one bond with Jake back in the pre-merge, she was part of the Belo girls’ alliance with Katurah, she has an antagonistic relationship with Bruce, and she has her lingering revenge plot against Emily. These feel like unfinished threads waiting to be picked back up.
PRETTY MUCH DONE
JAKE
A key reason why I’ve put Kendra back in contention is because of how this past episode made me feel about Jake. Until now, I’d seen Jake as a potential underdog contender. With his combination of personal content, winner quotes, and never-give-up attitude, I thought we could see Jake power his way to the end and succeed despite the odds.
Now, coming out of Episode 8, I’m starting to see Jake as a potential final tribal council loser. This especially came to mind during Tribal Council, not just with his stuttering and stammering over his words but with his reaction to the vote. “Oh, people are playing Survivor,” he said after Kellie’s blindside. This made Jake look completely out of the loop in front of his entire tribe and the jury.
Several players also clowned him for his attempted blindside on Julie last week. Julie called him out to his face for making such a move, and even Bruce, his closest ally, said it was a stupid move to make. Sure, Jake did acknowledge that he made a mistake, but I’m not sure that’s enough to shake the overall perception of him.
One positive is that he had the wherewithal to recognize the women were trying to lure him into saying a name in the pre-Tribal scramble, and he knew that he’d be the target once Bruce had immunity. So his efforts and gameplay weren’t totally unreasonable in context, but he was shown to be underestimating how much others were playing.
And this brings me back to Kendra. That bonding scene with Jake keeps coming back into my head because it felt unnecessary based on the story so far. That’s why I feel like it has to come back into relevancy at some point. And with all the talk of how a lawyer can’t win Survivor, I’m wondering if it’s possible that Kendra could beat Jake at FTC.
THE REST
There’s not much to say about the others, who I’ve completely ruled out of the running. Bruce continued to be an OTT presence with a bunch of negative SPV (second-person visibility) thrown his way. Julie was still second fiddle within her alliance. Austin’s content was mostly focused on the fish eyes and he didn’t even get to comment on voting out Kellie, his fellow Amulet companion. And Drew got his way with the vote, but Dee’s hesitation tells me it was a move made too early.
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 | ||||||
 Bruce |
MORM3 | CPM3 | UTRN1 | OTTM3 | OTTN2 | CPN5 | OTTN4 | OTTM3 | ||||||
 Dee |
UTR1 | OTT2 | CP4 | MOR4 | CPP3 | MOR2 | MORP | UTR2 | ||||||
 Drew |
CP2 | CP4 | CP4 | MOR2 | MORM4 | MOR3 | MOR2 | CP4 | ||||||
 Emily |
CPN5 | CPM5 | CPM5 | CPP4 | CP4 | CP4 | CP2 | CP3 | ||||||
 Jake |
MOR3 | UTR2 | MORP3 | CP2 | OTTP2 | MOR3 | CP4 | CPN4 | ||||||
 Julie |
MOR1 | CP2 | UTR2 | MOR3 | UTR2 | UTR2 | UTR1 | MOR2 | ||||||
 Katurah |
CP3 | MOR2 | UTR2 | OTT3 | MORN3 | MOR2 | CP4 | MOR4 | ||||||
 Kendra |
OTT3 | UTR1 | MOR3 | INV | OTT3 | MOR2 | MOR3 | OTTP3 | ||||||
 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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