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.
OVERVIEW
Heads up before I begin, this will be a shorter edition of The Edit Bay this week. But I’ll take a quick look at the remaining players and where their stories stand heading into episode nine.
Last week gave us our first true merge vote, and it was a mess, yet it was the most entertaining episode of the season. It was very much The Q Show, and it was understandable why. From his Q skirt skits to his Hide n Seek antics to his tribal council meltdown, Q delivered the entertainment in a major way.
This episode also continued what I mentioned last week about the pairs and their obstacles. Q, Venus, and Liz all proved to be significant sticking points in this episode, causing chaos for their old and new tribemates alike. In the end, it was the Hunter and Tevin pair that suffered first, as Tevin was sent packing.
Let’s take a quick look at the remaining players.
Q
This was an OTT mess of an episode for Q. However, it was actually consistent with his season-long themes. He is a player who likes to lead, take charge, and coach others. He also hates losing, and he takes it personally when something goes wrong.
Q believed he was responsible for the disastrous pre-tribal scrambling and asked to be voted out because of it. This is the third time now we’ve seen Q attempt to fall on his sword. Is it all some masterplan double-bluff? Maybe we’ll find out it is in the next episode. But what it seems like is a player who can’t take losing, even minor battles, and tries to bow out.
And all of this only serves to hurt his former Yanu members, Kenzie and Tiffany. It’s been teased for a while that the girls will eventually turn on Q, and now that Tiffany knows he leaked her idol, there should be nothing holding them back from taking a strike.
TIFFANY
Tiffany got her first CP episode of the season, just barely. Her reasoning for not wanting to target Venus made sense. However, this episode also showed Tiffany to be behind the eight ball. It started with Venus’ negative comments during the hide-and-seek game. She called Tiffany “sloppy” for hiding with her red buff on. On its own, it might not have meant much, but it tied into this wider theme of Tiffany missing the finer details.
For example, she was completely unaware that Q had turned on her and had spilled information about her idol to Charlie and Maria. She didn’t find this out until Charlie told her at tribal council. That said, I still think she will outlast Q and ultimately side with Kenzie to take him out. That payoff has been a long-time coming since the first couple of episodes.
KENZIE
This was a perfectly timed cool-down episode for Kenzie. She’s had such high visibility across the season that a little break was needed. And the best thing is, it wasn’t just a “let’s forget about Kenzie” for a week edit. It was an intentional cool-down, one that Kenzie explained in confessional, telling us she wanted to lay low for a little while after Yanu had been driving the recent votes.
It’s hard to pick a fault in Kenzie’s edit right now, apart from maybe a little bit of negative tone early in the season. But that wouldn’t be unprecedented, especially for a new era winner. She has the duo with Tiffany, the rivalry with Q, the potential winner quotes, a bit of personal content, and plenty of strategic content. Even Q’s comments about her during hide-and-seek backed up her social strategy when he described her as “someone in this game that I know to be a camouflage, blend in, likable person, which shows she can go undetected.”
CHARLIE
At this point, Charlie probably has the second-best edit after Kenzie. His content is almost always complex, and he always shares his thoughts on the dynamics and his intentions. He has the duo with Maria, which was highlighted again in this episode. He has connections to Ben and now Q, who is a potential adversary, given what Charlie said about being the “awry” in the Journey 6 alliance.
If we’re gearing up for Kenzie and Tiffany to finally ditch Q, it wouldn’t surprise me if Charlie was a key figure in the move. We’ve seen Q trying to “coach” Charlie a couple of times now. And he also said Charlie doesn’t have “the killer instinct” in this past episode. That seems like prime foreshadowing for Charlie to “kill” Q’s chances in this game.
MARIA
I was so gung-ho about Maria’s edit at the beginning of the season, but it’s really been on the downturn as of late. It’s not awful by any means, but she no longer feels like a main character. Yes, she has the duo with Charlie, but Charlie has become the main narrator of that pair and the one who receives the complex confessionals about his plans.
Maybe she and Charlie both make it to the end and Charlie beats her? That could explain the shift in their presentation post-merge. I could see it, but I could just as easily see her being taken out as a threat before the finale.
BEN
Another fairly quiet episode for Ben. He’s still portrayed in a positive light, particularly in this episode’s opening scenes, where he got emotional about Tim’s blindside. It was a little odd, seeing as the edit had never shown us that Ben and Tim were particularly close, but I suppose it made us feel sympathetic for Ben.
He also got positive comments during the hide-and-seek game, even if Q said it was a big mistake. “This guy is capable of playing an undercover game… be very powerful at the end,” Q said. That could be a solid description of Ben’s game. He’s a big personality, seems to be well-liked, and good at making bonds. His social game is strong, leading to his name coming up a couple of times. But he hasn’t been portrayed as a strategic threat, which may change the deeper he gets.
Could there be a world in which Ben wins? I don’t think it’s impossible. But his lack of strategic content at this stage is somewhat worrying. Sure, he’s a big personality, so that can do a lot of the heavy lifting. But we still need a little something more. I mean, look at Yam Yam, for example, a larger-than-life character who still told us his strategic thoughts. If Ben starts getting that content from the next episode on, maybe I’ll change my mind on his chances.
LIZ
Liz finally got her breakout episode and it was… actually pretty good. Well, some of it. I’m not quite sure how to feel about the “Soda boot credit” stuff. The episode started with Venus taking credit, which Tevin quickly undermined. And then Liz wanted credit, which seemed kind of out of nowhere, given we hadn’t been shown the supposed Liz and Soda rivalry at all.
However, she received some nice complex content in the second half of the episode, especially when explaining her reasons for taking out Tevin. It was all about taking charge of her fate and showing she is here to play the game. This idea was talked about by Q when he found her during hide-and-seek, saying, “Now I know that you are playing the game, you are paying attention, and you do want to win, as much as you say, ‘It’s just a million dollars.'”
The question now will be, has Liz exposed herself as a player and, therefore, made herself a target? She’s certainly fulfilled her role as an obstacle in tearing apart Nami and the Hunter/Tevin duo. So perhaps her part in the narrative is over. Or maybe this is the start of a late-game run that will take her deep. It’s always hard to tell with Liz.
VENUS
The editors really went to town on Venus in this episode. They zoned in on her belief that she’d controlled the Soda vote, making her look completely delusional in the process. I don’t see how anyone could win with that kind of edit, but I still think a spot at FTC could be in Venus’ future. Claiming moves that weren’t your own seems like prime FTC bait.
For now, she’s fulfilling her role as an obstacle, being a key part of Nami’s downfall, even if she isn’t leading the votes like she believes. But her presence is what drove Nami apart in the first place, with Tevin, in particular, losing his focus because of her.
HUNTER
Hunter might have won immunity in this episode, but his edit wasn’t great. His arrogance was highlighted at times, especially in his post-challenge celebrations. And this coupled with his relatively low visibility doesn’t give me the best feeling.
Right now, I see Hunter’s edit similar to Joe Anglim’s in Second Chance, especially now that Tevin is gone. He is the challenge threat, and it wouldn’t shock me to see him go on a winning streak. But there is a lack of strategic depth that tells me he’ll eventually be caught out.
CONTENDERS
Top Contenders: Kenzie, Charlie
Second Tier: Tiffany
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 |
 Ben |
OTTP3 | OTTP3 | MOR4 | UTR2 | MORP4 | UTR1 | OTTP3 | UTRP1 | ||||||
 Charlie |
CP3 | CPP4 | UTR2 | MOR3 | CP4 | MOR3 | CP4 | CP4 | ||||||
 Hunter |
CP2 | UTR1 | CPP2 | UTR1 | CP5 | MOR4 | MOR2 | MOR2 | ||||||
 Kenzie |
CP4 | CPM5 | MORM4 | MORM4 | OTTP4 | MOR3 | CPP4 | MOR2 | ||||||
 Liz |
UTRN2 | OTTN2 | MOR3 | UTR2 | UTR1 | UTR1 | UTR2 | CP3 | ||||||
 Maria |
MORP3 | MOR2 | INV | MORP3 | MOR3 | MOR2 | MOR3 | UTR2 | ||||||
 Q |
MOR3 | CP4 | CPM5 | CP4 | CPP3 | CP5 | OTTN4 | OTTM5 | ||||||
 Tiffany |
MOR4 | MORP5 | MOR4 | MOR4 | MORP3 | MOR3 | MOR3 | CPN3 | ||||||
 Venus |
MORN3 | CPM4 | MOR3 | UTR1 | MORN2 | CPN4 | CPN4 | OTTN4 | ||||||
 Tevin |
CP4 | MOR2 | UTR1 | CPP3 | UTR1 | MOR3 | CP3 | MORN3 | ||||||
 Soda |
MOR3 | MORN3 | INV | MORM3 | UTR1 | UTR2 | MOR3 | |||||||
 Tim |
MOR2 | UTR1 | INV | UTR1 | MOR3 | CPN4 | MORN2 | |||||||
 Moriah |
MORP2 | UTR1 | UTR1 | OTT3 | MOR3 | CP4 | ||||||||
 Jem |
MOR2 | UTR1 | MOR3 | CP4 | CPN5 | |||||||||
 Bhanu |
MORP4 | OTTN4 | OTTM5 | OTTM5 | ||||||||||
 Randen |
UTRN1 | CP3 | OTTP3 | |||||||||||
 Jess |
OTTM4 | OTTM4 | ||||||||||||
 Jelinsky |
OTTN5 |
Written by
I agree with a lot of what you said, Kenzie being a big threat, Q being gone soon, Charlie having a good edit and has he gets better Maria’s seems to get worse. Tiffany being mixed, both Venus and Liz being either final tribal losers or out soon, and Hunter showing off to much. The one I disagree with is Ben, I think at best he loses fire.