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
Hey all, a shorter edition of The Edit Bay this week as I’m strapped for time. I’ll break this post into two separate sections, The Underdogs and The Top Dogs, based on the alliances established in last week’s episode. I’ll then look at the relationships, stories, and contenders within those separate groups as we head into the last couple of episodes.
THE UNDERDOGS
As odd as it might sound for a majority alliance to be called “The Underdogs,” that’s what this group of Andy, Caroline, Rachel, Sue, and Teeny referred to themselves as. The first thing that jumps out about this grouping is that it contains the two strongest established duos of the season: Andy & Rachel and Caroline & Sue.
Both pairings have betrayed their partner at various points in the season. Andy flipped to vote out Anika (and later Sierra), blindsiding Rachel. And Caroline flipped to vote for Gabe, leaving out Sue. Given this established trail of betrayal, I find it hard to pin hopes on this Underdogs alliance staying intact until the end.
There were already signs of dissension last week when Andy and Caroline clashed over the vote. Andy put forward a numbers-based argument for why it made more sense to take out Genevieve than Kyle. Caroline shot down Andy’s theory, basically mocking it in confessional. Given that Andy ultimately voted for Genevieve and the rest of the group voted for Kyle, I suspect that won’t be the last of this back-and-forth.
When it comes to Caroline and Sue, their relationship appeared to be repaired in the last episode. Caroline began the episode by explaining why she voted out Gabe, noting how she wanted to take control of her own game but also still wanted to work with Sue. We saw the pair chat and make and, by all accounts, seemed to be back on the same page. I don’t expect a Caroline and Sue falling out to be what dooms this alliance.
Caroline also got some nice personal content at the start of the episode as she talked about her battles with ADHD. However, it came a little too late in the season for me to change my mind on Caroline’s edit at this point. While she’s had some solid moments, her content and visibility across 11 episodes have been lackluster, to say the least.
As for the other pair, Andy and Rachel are now voting together and also seem to be on the same page. Yet, this duo has had way more ups and downs than Sue and Caroline from the very first episode. In the premiere, Rachel tried to distance herself from Andy after his meltdowns. Andy would then go on to burn her at the Anika and Sierra votes. While they’re now in lockstep, Rachel has continued to show caution, often noting how she is working with Andy “for now.” There is definitely enough set up for Rachel to get her revenge and turn on Andy before all is said and done.
Like Andy, Rachel also pushed for Genevieve to go home over Kyle in the last episode. However, this is where the care put into each character’s edit becomes most obvious. While Andy argued strongly for taking out Genevieve, Rachel’s approach was far more relaxed. She even said in confessional that she doesn’t care in which order Kyle, Genevieve, and Sam go home. This ties back to her “flow with the ocean” confessional from the previous episode.
Moments like that make Rachel the top contender. Even when she doesn’t get her way or is on the wrong side of a vote, the edit never buries her. Instead, the edit goes out of the way to give her an out, whether it was the ocean confessional or her “whatever order” confessional. She has also been shown to have a sixth sense for the game, and so her clocking Genevieve as more dangerous than Kyle is likely to be proven true.
Then there is Teeny, who, unfortunately, has been perceived as the tag-along of the group. Teeny’s edit has been built around emotion and their looking for a home. After being betrayed by Genevieve yet again in the previous episode, Teeny has now found themselves with The Underdogs group, particularly talking up her connection to Andy and Rachel.
Yet, there is no real urgency to Teeny’s edit. There is not a lot of game to grab a hold of. At this point, I could see Teeny either as a losing finalist or the first boot of the finale.
THE TOP DOGS
The so-called Top Dogs, Genevieve and Sam, are actually at the bottom of the tribe. With Gabe and Kyle now out of the game, they’re seriously vulnerable and know it. The last episode showed Genevieve almost checked out, realizing that her position sucks and isn’t getting any better. However, a pep talk from Caroline at tribal council seemed to breathe new life into Genevieve.
Meanwhile, Sam continued to look for an opening, refusing to play dead. He has talked before about causing chaos, and we saw him talking to others and testing the waters for a way to save himself, Kyle, and Genevieve. But he was also smart enough not to push his luck, and when he realized things weren’t going his way, he let Kyle take the fall.
With even fewer places to hide, I suspect Sam will be upping the ante to try and save himself and secure another day on the island.
CONTENDERS
Top: Rachel
Bottom: Sam
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 |
 Andy |
OTTN5 | OTTN4 | CP2 | OTTN3 | CP4 | MOR3 | CPM3; | OTT3 | CP4 | CP3 | CPN4 | |||
 Caroline |
UTRP1 | MOR3 | UTR1 | MOR2 | CP3 | MOR3 | CP3 | MOR3 | MOR2 | MOR2 | CPP3 | |||
 Genevieve |
UTR1 | INV | UTR2 | CP4 | CP3 | MOR3 | CP2 | MOR3 | CP4 | CPM4 | CPM3 | |||
 Rachel |
MOR4 | OTT2 | UTR2 | UTR2 | UTR3 | MOR3 | CPP5 | CP4 | CP3 | CP3 | CP5 | |||
 Sam |
CP3 | CP5 | OTT3 | CP4 | CP4 | MOR3 | UTR2 | MOR4 | CP4 | CP4 | MOR2 | |||
 Sue |
MOR2 | MOR4 | MORN2 | CPM3 | MOR2 | MOR3 | UTR1 | UTRP1 | UTR1 | OTTN2 | MOR3 | |||
 Teeny |
CP3 | MOR3 | CP4 | CPP4 | CP4 | UTR2 | MOR3 | MOR3 | MOR3 | CPP4 | MOR2 | |||
 Kyle |
UTR1 | UTR2 | CP4 | UTR1 | UTR1 | CP4 | MOR3 | MOR3 | MOR3 | MOR2 | MORP3 | |||
 Gabe |
CP5 | CPN4 | CPN2 | UTR1 | MOR3 | UTR2 | CPN4 | MOR3 | MOR3 | CP4 | ||||
 Sol |
UTR1 | UTR1 | MOR3 | MORP3 | MOR2 | MOR3 | MOR4 | CPP3 | MOR3 | |||||
 Sierra |
UTRP2 | MOR2 | MOR2 | CP4 | CP3 | UTR2 | UTR2 | MOR3 | ||||||
 Tiyana |
UTR2 | CP4 | UTR1 | UTR2 | MORN3 | MOR3 | CPP4 | |||||||
 Rome |
OTTM4 | OTTN3 | OTTN5 | OTTN5 | CPN3 | OTTN5 | ||||||||
 Anika |
MOR2 | MOR3 | MORN4 | UTR1 | MORN3 | |||||||||
 Kishan |
UTR1 | UTR2 | MORP3 | CPN4 | ||||||||||
 Aysha |
MOR4 | UTR1 | MOR3 | |||||||||||
 TK |
MOR4 | OTTN5 | ||||||||||||
 Jon |
CP5 |
Written by
Hi there, silent but regular reader here,
Just wanted to say I’ve been discovering Survivor by bingewatching all seasons for like 2 years and when I found this website, it enhanced my experience soo much! Loved all those feature weeklies (the stats, Christine and Gia’s round-ups…) but especially the Edit Bay, which really deepened my understanding of the game. It made each episode much more fun to watch with no risk of being spoiled, unlike community forums and such.
I just wanted to say here that now with this week of Survivor 47… I’ve finally caught up! It seems surreal to be anticipating my first ever live finale with absolutely no one knowing the outcome either. Can’t wait to see how this season unfolds, thank you & the InsideSurvivor team for all those amazing readings and here’s to many more 🙂
Thank you for your kind words!