Edgic is a weekly feature analyzing each player’s edit, mapping characters to their story-arc. Note that our focus is not solely to determine the winner, as is typical of other Edgic sites. For more information on how Edgic works read our Introduction to Edgic article.
You can read the Edgic for previous weeks here.
| 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 |
 Jeremy Collins |
CPP3 | CPP2 | CPP4 | CP3 | MOR3 | CP2 | MOR2 | CP3 | CPP5 | CP4 | MOR2 | MORP4 | CP3 | |
 Keith Nale |
MOR2 | UTR1 | INV | UTR1 | MOR2 | UTR1 | UTR2 | OTT2 | UTR1 | MOR3 | UTR1 | UTR2 | OTTM3 | |
 Kimmi Kappenberg |
MOR2 | UTR1 | INV | INV | CP5 | UTR2 | UTR1 | UTR1 | MOR2 | UTRP2 | UTR1 | MOR3 | UTRP1 | |
 Tasha Fox |
MOR2 | UTR1 | CPP5 | CPP5 | CPP3 | UTR1 | CPM4 | UTR1 | MOR2 | MOR3 | MOR2 | CP3 | CPP5 | |
 Kelley Wentworth |
CP5 | MOR4 | MOR2 | MOR2 | MOR2 | MOR2 | CP3 | OTT4 | MOR3 | UTR2 | CP5 | MOR3 | CP3 | |
 Spencer Bledsoe |
CP4 | CPM5 | CPP5 | MOR3 | CPP4 | CPP5 | CP4 | UTR2 | MOR2 | CP4 | CP4 | CPP4 | CPP4 | |
 Abi-Maria Gomes |
OTTN5 | OTTM5 | MORN5 | CPN5 | OTTN3 | UTR1 | UTR1 | UTR1 | UTR2 | UTR1 | OTTN4 | UTRN2 | OTTM4 | |
 Joe Anglim |
OTTP3 | OTTP2 | UTR2 | UTRP1 | MOR2 | MOR3 | MOR4 | CPM4 | MOR2 | OTTN3 | MOR3 | OTTM4 | ||
 Stephen Fishbach |
OTTN2 | MORN2 | MOR3 | UTR2 | CP4 | CPP4 | MOR2 | CPM5 | CP5 | OTTM4 | OTTM5 | |||
 Ciera Eastin |
MOR2 | UTR1 | UTR2 | INV | UTR1 | CPP4 | CPN4 | CP5 | MOR3 | CPP4 | ||||
 Kelly Wiglesworth |
OTTP3 | UTR2 | UTR1 | UTR1 | UTR2 | UTR1 | UTR1 | UTR1 | UTR2 | |||||
 Andrew Savage |
MORP3 | MORP3 | CP4 | OTTP5 | UTR2 | OTTM5 | OTTM5 | OTTN5 | ||||||
 Kass McQuillen |
MOR2 | CPP2 | UTR1 | CPP3 | UTR1 | CPM5 | CPN5 | |||||||
 Woo Hwang |
UTR2 | UTR2 | UTR3 | MOR5 | OTTP4 | MOR3 | ||||||||
 Terry Deitz |
MOR2 | CPP4 | UTR3 | UTR2 | MOR2 | OTTP2 | ||||||||
 Monica Padilla |
UTR1 | INV | UTR2 | MOR2 | CPN5 | |||||||||
 Jeff Varner |
CPP5 | CP5 | CPN5 | CPM5 | ||||||||||
 Peih-Gee Law |
MOR2 | MOR4 | MOR4 | |||||||||||
 Shirin Oskooi |
CP3 | CPM5 | ||||||||||||
 Vytas Baskauskas |
CPN5 |
What Does This Tell Us?
The penultimate episode was all set up for the season finale. The strongest winner contenders, Jeremy, Kelley Wentworth, Spencer and to a lesser degree Tasha, were all given complex edits that maintained their validity to win. The “goats”, Abi-Maria and Keith, were given cartoonish OTT edits, and Kimmi remains a massive long shot with yet another UTR rating. The interesting thing to look at this week is the varying degrees of complexity, and which edits we can take at face value and which are merely distractions.
Under The Radar
Last week, Kimmi finally recognized that she had been used as a pawn for 33 days and tried to take the game into her own hands. She talked about starting an all-girl alliance and riding that to the end. We said at the time it all felt too little too late, and Episode 13 confirmed that. The all-girl alliance was dropped minutes into the episode and Kimmi was right back alongside Jeremy and Spencer.
The return to pawn status also saw a return to the UTR edit. Kimmi’s main visibility came from the trio of Jeremy, Spencer and Tasha talking about needing her vote. The positive tone came from the immunity challenge when she was comforting Tasha. She was portrayed as motherly and caring.
Could Kimmi win if she made it to the final tribal council? Hypothetically speaking, yes. She has a slightly positive tinged edit and appears to be well liked enough by her fellow players – we never hear anybody talking negatively about her. But the problem is, Kimmi making it to the final tribal council.
Her opening confessional goal was to “make it to the end”, which is perfectly set up for making final tribal council. But she muddied that goal last week when she suddenly talked about wanting to win. Kimmi has had six UTR ratings and two INV ratings over the course of the season. You have to believe that if she made the final tribal council that she would have had a much more significant edit; especially given the fact that her chances of doing well in front of a jury are high. There is still that very slim chance she makes it, hence the edit not making her OTT and completely killing her off, but it is really slim.
Over The Top
The journey of Abi-Maria Gomes finally came to an end, and she went out exactly as she came in – OTT! The episode was even titled after her own quote: “villains have more fun”. Abi was portrayed as a villain throughout her second chance.
“I don’t feel like anybody has much compassion towards Joe at the moment,” she said after returning from last week’s tribal council. And while her dismissive comments about Joe received nods and approval from her fellow tribemates (backing up our read of Joe’s edit of not having a great social game), they also lacked self-awareness. The way she talked about Joe was pretty much a description of herself.
Abi had become fully delusional. “I feel like I have a lot more in my pocket than Jeremy does,” she said. As viewers, we know that Jeremy has an idol in his pocket. The edit was highlighting Abi’s delusions. She also said, “I’m thinking about who to bring to the end with me at this point,” even though we were shown other people discussing whether or not Abi should be dragged to the end. Abi was not in any sort of position to decide who should make it to the end, which makes her “My resume has gone up a little bit…” statement even more ridiculous.
“Is Abi a Scorpio?” Jeremy asked. “Scorpios are crazy. I have two of them in my house. That’s why I drink.” Abi’s craziness would drive Jeremy to drink. The way the other players talked about Abi was the same way people have talked about her the whole game: “volatile”, “crazy”, “irrational”. This was all negative SPV (second person visibility) for Abi. Her unpredictability and paranoia did not inspire trust, and this is ultimately why she was eliminated.
“You have to be careful about everything you say with Abi, and I’ve come too far to let Abi-Maria Gomes ruin my game,” Tasha said. Tasha was the driving force behind Abi leaving and that statement summed up why. Spencer also backed up Tasha’s viewpoint: “As long as that fourth person is a sound, rational player who will make the good decision for our group. The problem is the fourth person for our group is Abi, who is none of those things.” Spencer saw Abi as somebody who would flip on a dime, and she did flip, on Wentworth. Tasha and Spencer viewed Abi as a liability that could ruin their games based on doing/saying one “wrong” thing to her.
She did receive a small positive toned moment when she was shown holding Kimmi’s hand after Tasha almost drowned. “There’s medical there. They’re helping her. Don’t worry it will be okay.” Abi, for the first time, was shown in an empathetic, comforting role. This is what gave her a mixed OTT rating for the episode.
However, despite this small moment of positivity, Abi’s overall season rating is still OTTN. Her parting words were, “I gained a lot of personal growth, and I don’t have to be with those crazy people anymore.” The edit has consistently shown us that she hasn’t gained growth and that she was the crazy one that nobody wanted to be around anymore. Her final sentence sums up her legacy on this season: no growth, crazy and delusional.
Keith has been the under the radar, comic relief of the season up until this point. But just in case you should mistake that humorous, loveable edit for a potential UTR winner’s edit, Episode 13 did everything it could to kill Keith’s chances. The edit Keith received this episode was OTT-OTL – Over The Top and Out of The Loop.
Keith’s obliviousness bookended the episode. It started with him returning from the previous week’s tribal council being the only one that had voted for Tasha. He was blindsided by the Joe vote and confused over what had transpired. The episode ended with him on the wrong side of the vote again despite his confidence that things were going to go his way.
His cluelessness was highlighted at the reward challenge when he was making his picks and couldn’t even remember Tasha’s name. “Keith Nale logic,” Wentworth called it. Scatter-brained; he doesn’t know what he’s saying or doing. He had negative SPV from Tasha in her confessional where she chastised him for not remembering her name and for being clueless about the game. But his scenes at the reward were very positive toned with the heroic music and shots of him almost tearing up. This gave Keith a mixed OTT rating for the episode.
As soon as Keith described his path to the final four as “easy” it was his death knell. The edit made it very clear this week who the contenders are and who the “goats” are. The camera panned to Keith and Abi every time the term “goats” or “weak players” were mentioned. It wasn’t just other players telling us who the “goats” were, the edit was also backing them up by showing Abi’s delusions and highlighting Keith’s cluelessness. The edit was screaming out – these players have no chance of winning!
Now it is time to look at those remaining who do have a chance of winning.
Complex Personalities
Kelley Wentworth received a CP-lite edit in this episode. It wasn’t overly complex but contained just enough to push her past MOR. She summarised her gameplay of the season, “I have to keep my options open, which is what I’ve tried to do this entire game.” And, “I haven’t had the easiest go in this game, like, I’ve been on the bottom a lot, so coming out here for a second chance, I just want to prove that I can do it.” Those were both reminders to the audience of Wentworth’s gameplay and her goals.
But she also added to her gameplay and her goal; which is what moves her into a CP edit. She gave herself a new goal: “I just want to get to final three. That’s the goal in this game.” While it isn’t quite as good as saying “I just want to win,” it at least gives her a destination now rather than just “I want to have a better game.” She also talked about how she has played the game by keeping her options open but now recognizes the importance of having an alliance and trust heading into the finale: “…you do want to have an alliance to some degree or at least trust in some people because you have to.”
This is all good stuff regarding setting her sights on the end-game, the problem, however, is that despite wanting an alliance or trust, she ended the episode with no trust and no solid alliance. Both Abi and Spencer voted against her. It could be read as a bad thing or a good thing depending on how you read the edit. It could be bad because she failed to find that alliance/trust which she said you “have to have.” But it could also be good as it continues her story-arc of playing from the bottom and finding a way to survive.
There are two major things though that point to Wentworth not winning the season. The first is something we have discussed the past two weeks – the lack of tone to her edit. A lot of that can be written off because of her arc focusing primarily on being a “player” with no emotional ties. But to head into the finale with zero tone all season is crazy and, dare I say, unprecedented if Wentworth does end up winning? Even Sophie Clarke, the winner that is closest in edit to Wentworth, had a degree of tone heading into the South Pacific finale. Winners are given tone so that the audience can connect or relate more to that person, or at least feel some sort of emotional reaction. The tone can be negative or positive – Wentworth has had neither.
The other mark against a Wentworth win is how the edit has shown her to be wrong. As we have discussed in the past, winners are very rarely shown to be wrong. That doesn’t mean that every single winner is perfect and has never made a mistake. It just means when it comes to the winner; the edit does its best to hide their mistakes and weaknesses. Wentworth has been shown to make wrong assumptions a few times now. The latest was in this episode when she stated her confidence regarding Abi: “She’ll be alright. She’s not going to go with Jeremy, Tasha, and Kimmi. I mean, really?” But that is exactly what happened; Abi flipped and went with the opposing alliance. It was very similar to her “I have Keith” comment at the merge when he had also flipped.
But one thing the edit did this episode was it protected Wentworth from the “goat” talk. Wentworth’s edit has been one of a good, scrappy player that finds a way to survive. That is why every time “goats” and “weak players” were mentioned the edit made sure only to focus on Abi and Keith. “If I could choose any final three, I would love to be sitting there with Abi and with Keith,” Spencer said, and later qualified his stance with “…and take out these weaker players, like an Abi.” Both the players and the edit wanted us to see Abi and Keith as “the weak goats.” Nobody actually said the words “Wentworth is a goat” or “Wentworth is a weak player” – not the players or the edit. If you listen to everything being said, it’s obvious we are meant to see Abi and Keith as the “goats” and not Wentworth.
Tasha said: “If Wentworth, Abi, and Keith make it to the end it would be an abomination. Maybe another season you’re gonna take a goat but in this season it would be a disservice.” The implication here was that Abi and Keith are the “goats” and that Wentworth was “going to take them” to the end, and that would be an “abomination” in Tasha’s eyes. Jeremy and Spencer agreed, but again there was no mention of Wentworth herself as one of the “goats.” She was only grouped with them because she was in an alliance with the “goats”.
Spencer said, “Or I could go with Wentworth, Keith, and Abi, and take out the big guns (camera shows Jeremy and Tasha), and pray that I get to the end with these dream goats (camera shows Abi and Keith).” Again, Wentworth was grouped with Abi and Keith because of her being on that side, not because she was part of the “dream goats” – which the edit qualified by only showing Abi and Keith on screen.
Hypothetically, much like Kimmi, Wentworth has a great shot at winning. If we were just looking at the game and not the edit then, of course, she could win. She has played a very solid, Sandra style game and has guaranteed jury votes awaiting her. But Edgic is about looking at what the edit is telling us and the edit tells us that she is a very good player that has had to fight from the bottom and find ways to survive – that is how we are meant to remember Wentworth. However, there isn’t quite enough substance in the edit that points to a win.
Last week we talked about how Tasha had gotten back in the loop and received her best edit since her days on Angkor. Well, Episode 13 was perhaps her best edit yet. Not only did she get back in the loop but she returned to her Queen of Angkor role when she led the majority of the strategy talk and the vote-off.
The episode was all about Tasha regaining control. She received attention at the beginning with Keith writing her name down and her now gunning for him. She also got to explain her thought process throughout the episode. At the reward challenge, she explained the benefits of not being selected: “Sometimes going back to camp is just as advantageous.” And she certainly took advantage while back at camp; forming plans and solidifying alliances.
It is Tasha that makes the Abi call. “Abi is the play. We can’t have any messiness coming down to the finals.” She is the one leading the “Abi must go” charge and even tells Jeremy and Spencer, “Here’s the plan.” The question of whether this was the right move or not for Tasha wasn’t brought up in the edit. We did see that Jeremy wished he had voted out Abi instead of Joe at the last tribal council, so in a way, Tasha’s plan played into Jeremy’s wants. But overall, Tasha was shown to be in charge of the vote and successful in getting her way.
She received very positive tone at the immunity challenge. It was similar to Joe last week when he passed out. “I’m okay. I’m ready,” she said when recovering from almost drowning. Even at her lowest, she is shown as ready to go. “We all give everything we have, and I just didn’t have anything left.” There was a tender “family” moment with Kimmi and Tasha hugging and crying. It was all very positive and accounts for Tasha’s positive CP rating. Even though her comments about Keith being “slow” and the “goat” talk may have come across negative to viewers, the edit itself didn’t portray these moments as negative. Tasha’s statements were backed up in both the edit and by the other players. Nobody was shown saying anything negative about her.
So does this mean that Tasha is once again a winner contender? She was shown to be one of the “big guns” when the camera panned to her and Jeremy, so the possibility is always there. But her edit is too inconsistent to be a winner. Like with Wentworth, there have been too many times over the course of the season where Tasha has been shown to be wrong. There was a run of episodes where she was completely out of the loop. Also, the edit hasn’t really protected her to the extent that it has with Jeremy, Spencer, and Wentworth. Even if Tasha remains in control throughout the finale and makes it to the final tribal council, it seems to be too late. Her moves always seem to benefit Jeremy and Spencer and for that reason, people may not see her moves as her moves.
Jeremy had a CP-lite edit similar to Wentworth in this episode. Not overly complex but just enough to be a step above MOR. He talked about making it to Day 39 and telling everyone on the jury why he deserves the million dollars. That is at least the third time Jeremy has mentioned the money – in his opening confessional when he found the second idol, and now here. When you compare this to others who, “just want to get to the end” or “just want to make the final three”, it stands out. He also recognized the possibility of Spencer jumping ship which showed he still had game foresight.
The bad thing for Jeremy in this episode was that he was shown to be losing control. We have talked about the relationship and battle between Jeremy and Spencer and how their roles have reversed. Ever since the Stephen boot, Spencer has usurped control in the partnership. Jeremy is now shown second guessing himself and worrying. Having “buyer’s remorse” about getting rid of Joe instead of Abi. Scared about a potential all-girl alliance. It is very different from the cool and calm Jeremy that was in control earlier in the game.
Tasha even takes control from him in Episode 13. “Everything is not going to be in your control,” she said. “Jeremy needs to let go a little bit.” Could this loss of control mean that Jeremy is going to get taken out before final tribal council? It is definitely a possibility and one way to read his late-game edit.
However, despite his concerns, he is still that man in the hammock that people come to about their plans. Even if Jeremy has to had to give up a little bit of control to his allies, they still use him as a sounding board. Everyone still wants him in on their plans. Nobody has removed his control as an attempt to take him out. The plans that are made ultimately benefit Jeremy just as much (if not more) as they do his allies. This speaks to his solid social game and connections with the fellow players.
Jeremy has had a very consistent edit throughout the season and has been shown to take control when necessary (using the idol on Stephen, directing the votes at Wentworth instead of Stephen). He is always within the plans even he’s if not always leading them. His meat-shield strategy paid off with the likes of Savage and Joe being targetted before him, and even in this episode Keith was described as the “new golden boy” challenge threat – not Jeremy. The edit had also protected him when necessary – his lower visibility in episodes where his allies went home (Savage and Stephen). His edit took a bit of a backseat to Spencer and Tasha this week, but that could have been intentional misdirection. All of this is great stuff that could easily point to a Jeremy win.
Even though last week’s episode set up Tasha in the middle, it was actually Spencer who became the middle-man in Episode 13. The all-girl alliance story-arc was quickly dropped minutes into the episode and with it also disappeared the story of Tasha as a swing. Instead, it became a battle between Jeremy/Kimmi/Tasha against Abi/Keith/Wentworth, and Spencer was stuck in between. “Tasha is iffy on Spencer. She doesn’t know if he’s 100%.” That was Spencer’s story of the episode – who was he with 100%?
“I just pray that I can keep it together going toward the end.” There was a lot of praying from Spencer this episode. Both figuratively, and literally at the temple reward. He prayed that he could keep it together and talked about praying to make it to the end with his “dream goats”. But Spencer is a “sound, rational player” and didn’t want to leave his game up to prayer and chance. That played a big part in the decision he made.
He described his two options as “…go with Kimmi, Jeremy, and Tasha and target these weak players (camera pans to Keith) who everyone wants to drag to the end, like Abi. My other option is to go with Wentworth, Abi, and Keith and take out the big guns (camera pans to Jeremy and Tasha) and pray that I get to the end with these dream goats (camera pans to Abi and Keith).” His ultimate decision came down to what he perceived as the more sound and rational move. Going with the latter option would mean having to rely on Abi, who he described as a player that wasn’t sound or rational. It would also mean having to pray and hope he got to the end with Abi and Keith – his “dream goats.”
The question with Spencer, is very much the same one as with Tasha, was this the right move for him? The edit didn’t question it in this episode because it allowed him to explain his thought process throughout and backed up his opinions about Abi being irrational. He described this move as “the point of no return”; which implied that he was sticking with whatever group he chose. How the season finale starts will let us know whether this was a good move for Spencer and whether it was the right group for him to stick by. Did he strengthen his winner chances? Or will him creating and breaking deals ultimately cost him?
He received positive tone from Jeff Probst at the immunity challenge for his “massive win” and completing the puzzle in record time, “Nobody has ever done it that fast ever. That was amazing.” He also had a very positive toned confessional at the reward when talking about his second chance journey. This gave Spencer his positive CP rating.
At this point, it is really hard to see anyone other than Spencer or Jeremy winning. They have both received the most consistently strong edits of the season. Jeremy’s edit has focused more on his game-play (meat-shield strategy) and wanting to win for his family. Spencer’s edit has focused more on his emotional growth and using his relationships to further himself in the game. The question becomes which is the story that the editors want to define the second chance season? Is it the story of the family man that built a solid alliance to hide behind and diminish his own target? Or is it the story of the gamebot turned emotional human being?
Based on this episode, it seems that Spencer’s chances of making the final tribal council are higher than Jeremy’s because of Spencer usurping control from Jeremy. We were shown in the preview for next week Spencer and Jeremy having a back and forth about “not giving”. If Jeremy completely loses control to Spencer and Tasha, then he could be voted out before the end. However, if Jeremy makes the final tribal council, his chances of actually winning are higher than Spencer’s. It could really come down to the wire on this one.
That is it for the penultimate week of Survivor Second Chance Edgic. Please let us know in the comments how you would have rated each castaway based on Episode 13.
Written by
Hey people of the Inside survivor world. I would like to start off by saying that I started using this site since the beginning of Second Chances, and have since loved all of the great content on the site, so thanks for all the amazing articles. I was just wondering if anyone had any thoughts about the season finale of Survivor having six people in it. From my survivor knowledge, there has never been a season finale with more then five people in it, witch left me wondering how they where going to have three eliminations , plus the final tribal , in the tow hour time slot. At first I thought that there was going to be a medical evacuation, but after seeing the preview for next weeks episode, I don’t think that’s very likely. In the preview for the season finale of Survivor, Jeff Probsts says something along the lines of “For the first time in Survivor history,” and then the preview cuts. This quote, plus the six contestants and the two hour time slot left me with one conclusion about how the season finale is going to play out. For the first time in Survivor history it will be finale four at the FINAL tribal council. I know this theory may see like a long shot, but it’s the only explanation I could come up with. I would be great to know if anyone has any opinions on this concept, of how they will fit the six castaways into the two hour show, would be great. Thanks!
Hi there. It is a Final 3. Confirmed by CBS in their promotional material and previews. 🙂
Yes, it will be a final three. The latest promo for the finale says there will be 4 tribal councils in the two-hour episode. That will leave three in the last tribal council of the show.
I am hoping for a spencer win! Also, Edgic is my favorite part of this site. Best way to recap the episode.
Interesting read.
You seem to put a lot of weight on the “winner not being shown to be wrong” angle so I’d point out that Spencer was completely wrong in thinking he was on top at the start of episode two. Then again just before the merge when he said that he could trust Savage. Finally when he thought he had gotten rid of Stephen the first time but didn’t think Jeremy would play an idol.
Likewise, Jeremy was wrong to say that someone would have to be dumb to break up such a good alliance as Bayon when he was the one that started breaking it up first with Monica, then Kass and Joe. He was also wrong to say that he’d want to keep Stephen to give him secind place. He was also quite wrong not to split the votes when Savage left after saying that splitting the votes is ALWAYS good.
They’ve all been wrong at some point
Somehow, I find that you’re giving Tasha WAY too much credit. Her so-called “moves” late in this game have only set herself up for a 3rd place finish. A shutout too, if I may add. Own-goal after own-goal after every own-goal: she’s really outdone herself for Second Chances. *facepalm*