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.
I’m going to do something a little different this season, and for each episode, I’ll highlight each player’s best/most substantive confessional and how it ties into their overall character/arc/story.
KAMILLA
“Kyle, a lawyer. He’s a great liar. But, honestly, I don’t care. I like Kyle so much. I want one of us sitting at final three. We are truly number ones. I only want one of us walking away with a million dollars.”
This was a decent episode for Kamilla, but her individual story is still lacking. After winning immunity and reward, this was the perfect opportunity to bring a more personal touch to Kamilla’s edit and give her an individual arc outside of her alliance with Kyle. We got a little bit of that, but not enough at this stage in the season.
Again, the focus was primarily on her relationship with Kyle and whether it was the right time to make a move against the majority. However, Kyle received a deeper personal focus, with the importance of the decision being placed on his shoulders and shown from his POV. Kamilla’s above confessional almost felt like an admission of defeat. Or, more accurately, it was a way for Kamilla to still come out on top even if Kyle wins rather than herself.
Now, you could look at this episode as protecting Kamilla. In an episode where we were repeatedly told how big of a threat Joe is and how he should be voted out next, Kamilla was the one most shielded from not following through with the move. Instead, the focus was put on Kyle and Shauhin as the ones needed for the move to happen. On top of that, Kamilla got to explain why Mary was potentially screwing up the plan.
That second read is the one thing stopping me from completely ruling Kamilla out. If she is meant to be the “sane” one in a season of people blindly following the leader, then perhaps she could still pull it out in the end. But what would require a thorough explanation of what went wrong here in the upcoming episode.
MITCH
“At this point in the game, like, we all see the writing on the wall here that Joe’s been dominating this game, and we got to do something. We’re at the final seven, and time is running out. So, we need to get Kyle or Shauhin to flip. Like, we have to make a move soon, or else Joe is gonna run away with the season.”
Oh, Mitch. He’s absolutely fallen into that Donathan/Laurel “time to make a move… but not right now” edit. He’s had a sprinkling of nice moments throughout the season, especially scenes showing him as a personable and fun tribemate. But the edit is telling us his inability to pull the trigger is going to end up costing him in the end.
JOE
“Our inner four group… myself, Kyle, Eva and Shauhin are in a great spot because we have solidified through true emotional connection. My thoughts on bringing all of us as a four to the end was very simple. It’s exactly what I would want my kids to do. You want to pick the toughest opponent. You want to take that hardest path because then, if you win in that situation, you can prove it to yourself that you really can do anything.”
Joe’s edit bounced back after Episode 10, where he was shown not to have the best jury management when dealing with Mary. This time, he was back to being called a “threat” nobody could beat in the end. It was a bit of a whiplash-causing change in direction and further emphasis on the lack of consistency in this season’s edit.
He set up his goals in the above confessional, how he wants to stick with his Honor and Integrity alliance and win by taking the hardest path. Other than the David vote-off, Joe has pretty much stuck to his word. But will he continue sticking to his word until the end? We saw paranoia creeping in in this episode, and not for the first time this season.
After Mary told Joe to his face that she’d be voting for him, he gathered his alliance and debated splitting the vote on someone else in case Mary had an idol. This received some backlash, especially from Shauhin, who, in confessional, bashed Joe for moaning about one potential vote. It’s possible this was planting the seeds for how the majority alliance finally splits apart in the penultimate episode.
KYLE
“I have successfully played the middle of this game, and I’ve made competing commitments to people that are real. And I just feel like I’m in between a rock and a hard place. On one side, you have Joe, Eva and Shauhin, who have put their unequivocal trust in me. We’ve shared things so intimate about ourselves that to betray them is to betray those conversations that you’ve had. But then on the other side, I have Kamilla, who I’ve been with from the very beginning of this game… I don’t want to betray her, either, and, so, it is really, really hard. At this point, my hands are tied. There’s no moral escape for me. At one point in this game, whether it’s this vote or the next, I will either be betraying Kamilla or I’ll be betraying Joe and Eva and Shauhin. In real life, I’m a problem solver. I always can find the path to get to where I need to go. And probably for one of the first times in my life, if not the first time, with the biggest stakes in my life, every single path harms someone. And… I just can’t… I don’t want to hurt people, even if it’s for the benefit of my family.”
The last third of this season has really become Kyle’s story. We’ve seen other players talking about needing to make a move and when the right time is to make such a move. However, none of them have had the depth and personal touch that Kyle has had. The above confessional, and others like it across this episode, put the audience in Kyle’s shoes as he navigates the spiky end of this game.
Now, there are a couple of ways to read Kyle’s edit in this episode. The first thought is, did he miss his moment to strike? If he did, then his final line of the above confessional is very telling. He straight up told us that he doesn’t want to hurt and betray his competition, even if it means costing him the $1 million that could benefit his own family. So, this could be setting up a situation where Kyle sticks with the majority until the end and is booted right before FTC or loses up against them at FTC.
On the flipside, perhaps there is still time to make a move, and Kyle will ultimately pull the trigger and put his family over his on-island relationships. I think the fact that he opened up to Kamilla about his real job shows a stronger connection with her than with the Honor and Integrity group, which suggests that he will choose her over them. If that’s the case, then it seems likely that Kyle and Kamilla will make a move, though there is no guarantee it will work.
With that said, I still have Kyle as my top contender just because of how much these past few episodes have put his story above the others. It feels like we’re seeing the game through his eyes, and that feels like winner material to me.
EVA
“I have a strong team of people that I can go forward in this game with. I care more about my team than I do about myself in this moment. And so, I’m gonna keep my vote so that me and the three boys that I trust with my entire life in this game can make it to the final four together.”
Eva continues to ride the strong alliance wave and shows no signs of wavering. And, to her credit, the alliance has held firm for the majority of the post-merge, bar the David vote. Yet, there is still this lingering overconfidence that tells me it won’t end as perfectly as Eva dreams.
The majority of Eva’s content in this episode came during the Journey, so it was mostly circumstantial. But, the scene where she returned to camp and explained her thought process was edited in a way that made her seem like she was bragging, which other players noticed. However, Joe did defend her and backed up her decision.
My feeling with Eva’s edit is that her early content about not being able to tell when people are lying is going to come back to haunt her. We know Kyle and Shauhin have been considering flipping, and, if they finally pull the trigger, will Eva see it coming?
SHAUHIN
“This tribal just got so much more complicated than it needed to because Joe got paranoid. It’s like, “hey, man, do what I did.” Twice. Twice, I had people writing down my name, and I acted cool as a cucumber. Mr. I’ve worn an immunity necklace three times, and now you’re freaking out because one person’s gonna write your name down? What that type of paranoia tells me is that he’s willing to flip. He might be willing to write my name down at the end of the day, so… Should I write down Joe?”
I liked Shauhin’s edit the previous week as he got his way with keeping Mary. It felt like a set up for Shauhin to kickstart his individual game, using Mary as a vote to take a big swing. And he had that opportunity here and then… he didn’t follow through. That has been the case for many players this season, but Shauhin took a big hit in this episode, especially with that scene of him complaining about not winning immunity.
What this episode did do was put Shauhin and Joe at odds. Of course, there was the above confessional, where Shauhin grew frustrated with Joe over the vote. But there was also the part where Shauhin told us he believed he could beat Joe in the end because of his social game. Now, have we seen evidence of that? I’m not sure. We have had these “fun” moments of Shauhin singing and goofing around, which are perhaps there to highlight his social ability. Maybe a Shauhin versus Joe showdown isn’t out of the realm of possibility?
Top Tier: Kyle
Second Tier: Kamilla
Third Tier: Shauhin
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 |
 Eva |
CPP4 | MORM2 | CPM3 | CP3 | OTTPP5 | MOR4 | MOR2 | CP3 | CP5 | MOR2 | MOR4 | |||
 Joe |
OTTP3 | CPP3 | OTTP2 | MOR3 | OTTP3 | MOR3 | MORP3 | CP3 | MOR4 | MORN3 | MORN3 | |||
 Kamilla |
CP3 | MOR2 | MOR3 | CPP4 | MORP3 | UTR2 | UTR2 | CP3 | UTR2 | MOR3 | CPP4 | |||
 Kyle |
MORP3 | MOR3 | MOR2 | CPP4 | MOR3 | CP3 | CP3 | CP5 | CPP4 | CP3 | CPP4 | |||
 Mitch |
UTRP2 | OTTP3 | MOR2 | OTTP2 | MOR3 | UTR2 | CPP5 | MOR2 | MOR2 | CPM3 | UTR2 | |||
 Shauhin |
MOR2 | CP3 | UTR2 | MORN4 | MORP3 | MOR3 | CP4 | MOR3 | CP3 | MOR3 | MOR3 | |||
 Mary |
MOR3 | MOR4 | CPP5 | MORP3 | UTR2 | UTR2 | UTR1 | UTR2 | UTR1 | CP4 | OTTM3 | |||
 Star |
UTRN1 | CPN3 | MOR2 | UTR1 | MORP3 | MORP4 | MOR2 | UTR2 | UTRP2 | CPM4 | ||||
 David |
OTT3 | MOR3 | OTTP3 | MORP3 | OTT2 | CP4 | MOR3 | CPN4 | OTTN4 | |||||
 Chrissy |
UTR2 | UTR2 | UTR1 | MOR2 | MOR3 | UTR1 | MOR3 | OTTM3 | ||||||
 Cedrek |
UTR2 | MORP3 | MOR4 | MORM3 | CPN3 | MORP3/td> | MOR3 | |||||||
 Sai |
OTTM5 | OTTN5 | CPM5 | CPP4 | OTTN4 | OTTN4 | CPM5 | |||||||
 Charity |
UTRN2 | OTT2 | MOR2 | MORN2 | UTRN2 | CPN4 | ||||||||
 Bianca |
UTR1 | UTR1 | MOR4 | CP3 | CP5 | |||||||||
 Thomas |
CP3 | CPN3 | CPN3 | CPN4 | ||||||||||
 Justin |
MOR2 | MOR3 | MOR4 | |||||||||||
 Kevin |
CPP5 | CP4 | ||||||||||||
 Stephanie |
MOR4 |
Written by
There’s still so much wishcasting with Kamilla, I don’t see how she can still be viewed as a contender, let alone the second favorite. The only person she has a better case than is Mitch. She’s been portrayed as a secondary character for pretty much the entire merge, both in terms of her alliance with Kyle and the show in general. She’s not a focal point of the show whatsoever.
The reason she was “protected” in terms of a plan to get Joe out not materializing is because she has no agency at this point in the game and is not a lynchpin in making something like that happen. Kyle and Shauhin are.
At this point it’s Joe running out in first, then Kyle or Shauhin. Eva has a slight chance but has gotten too much negativity. Kamilla and Mitch are toast.
Well, it wasn’t Shauhin.
Looks like I was off about Shauhin lol. This is why you have the edit bay article and I’m just some dude. I see that guy as losing finalist at best now.
As always keep up the good work.