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 and rating definitions read our Introduction to Edgic article.
You can read all our Edgic posts for last season here.
Color Key
| 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 |
 Ali |
CP3 | CP5 | CP4 | UTR1 | ||||||||||
 Ashley |
CP4 | MOR2 | CP2 | CP4 | ||||||||||
 Ben |
CP4 | CP3 | CP2 | CP3 | ||||||||||
 Chrissy |
MOR4 | CP4 | UTR1 | CPP3 | ||||||||||
 Cole |
UTRP2 | MORP3 | CPM4 | CPN3 | ||||||||||
 Desi |
UTR2 | UTR1 | UTR2 | CPP3 | ||||||||||
 Devon |
MOR2 | UTR2 | MOR3 | CP4 | ||||||||||
 Jessica |
UTR2 | UTRP1 | CPP4 | CPP5 | ||||||||||
 Joe |
CPN3 | CP4 | MORN3 | CPN5 | ||||||||||
 JP |
MOR3 | CPM2 | UTRM1 | UTR1 | ||||||||||
 Lauren |
UTR2 | MOR4 | CPM5 | CP3 | ||||||||||
 Mike |
CP4 | UTR1 | UTR1 | MOR2 | ||||||||||
 Roark |
UTR2 | INV | UTR2 | UTR2 | ||||||||||
 Ryan |
CP5 | CP5 | CP5 | MORP2 | ||||||||||
 Alan |
OTTN5 | UTR2 | OTTN2 | CPN4 | ||||||||||
 Patrick |
MOR2 | OTTN5 | OTTN5 | |||||||||||
 Simone |
INV | OTTM5 | ||||||||||||
 Katrina |
UTR2 |
THE CHARACTERS
Under the Radar
JP was pretty much invisible in this episode, and the only reason he scraped an UTR rating is because he was namechecked when others were discussing the new tribe breakdown. It’s the second week in a row without a JP confessional, that tells you everything right there. He’s absolutely drawing dead in terms of winner chances – not only has he been called clueless in previous episodes but the edit is making no effort to craft him a story-arc. There isn’t much else to say for JP. He could still be around a while, and he has the Ashley connection which could come back into play later (although now she has a link with Devon maybe JP isn’t needed anymore), but I wouldn’t expect him to be a key character of the season.
Another UTR episode for Roark and another hit against her potential winner chances. But, like last week, the confessional she did get was game related, albeit on a very basic level. “The new Soko is myself, JP and Chrissy from the Heroes, and Ryan and Ali from the Hustlers. I pretty much went from a tribe of six Healers, who were super tight, to the lone Healer at Soko beach,” she said. Despite this being very obvious game narration, the fact the episode let Roark talk about her position in the game is a positive (Probst also talked to her on the mat post-swap). She has still yet to attend tribal council, and so there remains a chance for a Ciera/Andrea-style CP bump once she starts going to TC. Again, not much else to say for Roark, her edit remains quiet but consistent.
Ali received her first non-CP rating of the season. Interestingly, all the UTRs this episode came from the new Soko tribe, who only had one camp scene. With the amount of focus on Levu and Yawa (despite them not losing the immunity challenge) it makes me wonder if Soko will continue to avoid tribal and therefore didn’t need to be as fleshed out. Back to Ali specifically, I think the UTR rating is fine here for both her winning chances and character arc. She’s had three strong, high-vis CP ratings in a row, and so a cooldown here is necessary. Does it hurt that she didn’t get to expand on booting Patrick post-TC? Possibly, but it’s nothing too concerning, that arc is clearly put to bed.
She had just the one confessional here, and it was nicely placed after the reward challenge just before the commercial break. “Now that the Healers and the Heroes and the Hustlers are all switched up, the game has kinda stepped up a level, and you gotta perform,” she said. It was nothing complex, but it still stood out. It was a “set-up” confessional, signaling the next phase of the game. Anyone could have had this confessional – I imagine many of them said similar things – so it’s interesting that Ali got to give that next phase introduction. “You gotta perform,” was her motto, and so we shall see if Ali follows that going forward.
Middle of the Road
Mike was teetering between UTR and MOR for me this week. I ultimately decided on MOR because he was actively involved in the strategy going on at camp, – we saw him in game talks with both Jessica & Cole and Lauren & Ben, and he had an awareness of what was going on. I felt because of that it was unfair to mark him as UTR when his content was more developed than JP, Roark and Ali’s.
His edit overall though is still very confusing. He had such an impressive premiere – a grand introduction, a bunch of personal info, game awareness, and plenty of winner quotes. But since then he’s slipped into the background and hasn’t looked to be the BIG character the first episode presented. If Mike didn’t have that great premiere I’d be more likely to write him off as both a winner contender and vital character. But because his intro was so in-your-face I have to believe he still has a decent-to-significant role to play this season. This episode showed that he still had some game awareness, with the way he played down knowing about the advantage to Lauren, and then realizing it was very likely Cole who blabbed about it. I don’t think the edit has ever truly undermined Mike and that makes me feel he still has moves to make.
Where does he go from here? He still has his connection to Joe which is another reason I think Mike will be sticking around at least until he meets back up with Joe. He now also has a relationship with Jessica & Cole but one that seems potentially rocky. Mike clearly didn’t it take it too well when the advantage info leaked, telling Jess and Cole that he’d “f**king kill them” if they were playing him. On a smaller scale, Jessica was shown being snippy with Mike at the reward challenge, and then he accidentally slammed her finger in between the puzzle pieces. That could have just been to highlight challenge tension or maybe it was foreshadowing that the Mike/Cole/Jess alliance isn’t 100% solid. Lauren also said she wanted to sway Mike to her and Ben’s side, so if the Yawa tribe do visit TC anytime soon, I can imagine Mike playing a prominent role as the swing vote.
I originally had Ryan as CP, but on rewatching, I decided MOR was more appropriate. All of his content was about past actions, and even though his intention was to build a connection to use in the future, he didn’t get to explain or talk about this at all in the episode. Instead, Chrissy got the confessional about using Ryan to help her in the future, giving her the CP and not the bellhop.
But a MOR rating is good for Ryan here coming off three CP5 ratings in a row. It’s somewhat of a cooldown while still enough focus to tell us he’s important. “The swap brings such anxiety, but I was very lucky that Chrissy was swapped onto my tribe, because I awarded her the Super Immunity Idol that I found on the boat Day 1, and I ensured her that she would not be the one going home that night, so I have an in,” he told us. That was the extent of his content this episode, as we then saw him telling Chrissy about being the one to award her the idol. The whole scene was backed with super positive music, and Chrissy talked about feeling loved. It gave both characters P-tone for the episode.
There isn’t a great deal else to say about Ryan this week. He’s now cemented his bond with Chrissy which was set up back in the first episode. He also still has ties to Devon, although he didn’t get to talk about being separated from him this episode, so that might be worth noting. But everything still points to Ryan making a decent run and being a central character to the season.
Complex Personalities
Before getting into Alan‘s edit, I just want to talk about the amount of CPs this episode briefly. On my chart, I have 10 people with CP for Episode 4. Now, a few of these are CP-lite, and an argument could definitely be made for MOR in some instances, but overall CP seemed right. The edit seemed intentional in wanting us to see all sides of these characters, both in terms of strategy and personality. We saw them happy, angry, sad, upset, and each of them were looking forward in the game, even if it was only brief.
Alan is one of those that could have been MOR, but I think there was just enough to warrant CP-lite. And the reason for that is at tribal part of his argument was that six Healers are reminaing in the game and if you align with them going forward you become seventh in that alliance. Because he was looking long-term, that’s decent CP, and when added to his general strategy back at camp, and his confrontation with Joe, we got a fairly rounded picture of the former NFL player. The Negative tone was also up for debate, but with Ashley’s confessional about Alan being the one person she didn’t want on her new tribe, and his argument with Joe, I think that just about swayed it to N-territory.
It was interesting how Alan’s story ended in regards to Ashley. As I’ve noted these past couple of weeks, Alan and Ashley’s story seemed very much interlinked, and that sooner than later it was going to come to a head. It certainly looked to be following that path when both ended up on the same swapped tribe. But rather than targeting each other, they actually put aside their differences and worked together – Alan even came to Ashley’s defense at one point! It was a neat little twist to their short story-arc. Overall, Alan leaves the game with an OTTN edit because even though his last episode was more rounded, people will mainly remember him forcing JP to strip and his failure to chop open a coconut.
Ashley, like Alan, is another one that could have been MOR but I felt had just enough to push to CP-lite. We got a good sense of where she was at in the game before the swap (her confessional about Alan), where she was at now (making up with Alan to take on the Healers), and what she was going to do going forward (bring on board Devon, which we saw her putting into action at camp). As for tone, Joe called her the “weakest,” but as Joe was painted negatively I don’t think we were meant to take that at face value, so I decided no tone. As I said last week, Ashley always has a presence in the edit and the narrative, even if her winner chances have been undermined along the way.
It was funny how Ashley’s relationship with Alan changed from one of tension and wanting each other out to one where they needed each other. “Luckily, I think that Alan’s nervous as I am. So even though I don’t trust him, I do trust that he doesn’t want to go home”, Ashley said. There was a nice scene where they agreed to close the chapter on their old relationship and move forward together. It’s always cool when the edit can set-up a story making you believe it’s going in a particular direction and then pull the rug from under you. But with Alan now out of the picture, where does Ashley’s story go from here?
A new relationship was set up this episode between Ashley and Devon. They were seen bonding at the water well. Ashley promised Devon he wasn’t in trouble and that she wanted to work with him. Devon said that he thinks Ashley is the most honest person on the tribe. Joe talked about the pair being “all about the beach,” referring to their lifeguard/surfer connection. That is a good sign for Ashley’s longevity to have this new relationship introduced just as she loses Alan. She also still has links to JP, Ben, and Chrissy, and so there is plenty of room for Ashley in the story going forward.
Sticking with Levu, Devon is yet another CP-lite. It was the first time we really got to hear Devon talk about his own game and his interests moving forward. Up until now he’s very much played second fiddle to Ryan, even when correctly calling the boot. In this episode, we got to hear Devon’s reaction to his new position in the game, his thoughts on his new tribemates, and his plans to make it through the next however many days. There were still some ominous signs in his edit that make me concerned but overall I felt this was his best episode so far.
“Every decision I’ve made has been ‘Is this gonna further my game?’ and my decision’s gonna stay the same every single tribal council I attend,” he said at tribal council, which Probst qualified with “What’s good for you?” as Devon nodded. That was not only the main reason for Devon’s CP rating, but it was his best quote so far this season. It was self-focused while pointing forward and clear in its intent. If Devon had had a stronger opening three episodes, I’d be much higher on his winner chances after a quote like that. This whole episode was about self-preservation for Devon. “I don’t know if I can really trust Joe,” he said after Joe lied to him about the Heroes wanting him out, which looks good for Devon that he caught the lie. “But this is the first time that I’ve felt like, ‘Shoot, I might be going home next.’ So I gotta figure out my next move or I feel like I could be in big trouble.” We then saw him going to work by approaching Ashley, asking about the Joe lie, and cementing a new bond.
All of the above is the good stuff and the reasons for his CP rating. The ominous signs are the moments where the edit seemingly undermines Devon. Firstly, there are the little moments like at the challenge with him repeatedly saying “I’m lost. I’m lost” which could potentially be foreshadowing. But the more prominent moments are when he said “I have all the power in my hands” before tribal, when he, in fact, had no power because the advantage took away his voting privileges. The edit seemed to go out of its way to set Devon up for a fall there. Now, there is a get-out clause for the surfer. Because this was a first-time-ever advantage and a big part of its appeal was the bait-and-switch revelation, the edit could have just been trying to sell that reveal/twist, and it wouldn’t matter who had the advantage, they’d all be edited the same way regardless. That said, to finish the episode with Devon saying “That was crazy. What the hell just happened?” also doesn’t make him look too good.
It’s hard to say where Devon goes from here. He has a new relationship set up with Ashley, and he still has links to Ryan (although Ryan not mentioning Devon after the swap might be a bad sign). I’ll be interested to see if the edit continues to undermine Devon next week or if he goes back to being mostly correct. If it’s the latter, then that’s probably a good indication that this was a specific edit for the advantage twist and not a knock on Devon’s overall edit.
Desi is the last of the Levu edits that were teetering between CP and MOR. The reason I opted for CP was similar to my reasoning for Ashley – we got a good sense of Desi’s game choices, she explained her position in the new tribe, what she intended to do (get Devon on board), and she was given credit for recognizing that Devon had cemented a bond with Ashley. We also saw an emotional side of Desi after Joe blew up camp. All of this helped to give us a more rounded view of a character who up until this point has been barely visible.
It’s interesting that Desi had such a sudden bump in visibility and complexity. Is that just because she attended tribal council this episode? Or does it suggest a longer story-arc? Something that worries me about Desi’s edit, and which could hint that she is not long for this game, is the amount of times she was shown to be incorrect. Right after the swap, she said: “The swap worked out really well for me.” That was the first bad sign because as we later saw, Desi broke down and felt her name was on the chopping block before tribal council. She continued: “I think that we are in a great situation. Physically, I don’t think there’s any reason we shouldn’t dominate.” The tribe then lost both challenges. Then later in the episode after Joe’s blow up she called it an “idiotic move” and felt that the target was now on her. However, Joe’s crazy move ended up working, and the vote wasn’t on Desi. These little moments that undermine her words are not good.
Despite the bump to CP, I really find it difficult to see Desi becoming an important, long-term character. Her first three episodes were too weak content-wise, and we haven’t seen any connections built up for her outside of Joe, and that in itself is a relationship filled with tension. If Levu loses again, you have to believe that Desi is at risk, not just in a game sense, but because her three other tribemates (Ashley, Devon, and Joe) have the better edits which point at further storylines down the road.
Finishing out the Levu tribe is Joe, who continues his consistent edit of game-based content and negatively toned personality. I said it last week, and I’ll say it again, Joe has the most consistent character edit of the season. You don’t have to dig for subtleties or double-meanings behind his words, Joe’s edit is very in your face, just like Joe himself.
Right away, Joe laid out the dynamics of his new tribe, talking about his past position, where he stands now, and what he intends to do moving forward. “When I was with the Healers, we won every challenge, so I had no worries. But now I’m not as confident,” he told us. When you compare this to Desi’s “we’re going to dominate” confessional, it makes Joe seem a lot more game-aware. “It’s true, I do have an idol, but I’m not taking any chances. Devon is a swing vote, and I want him on my side,” he continued before we saw him approach Devon with his lie. “I may be a Healer, but I’m also a strategic player. So I said, ‘Listen, Devon, the two Heroes, they want to vote you out,’ but I made it up, and I don’t care. You know, this is a game of being deceitful, so I’m gonna do what I have to do.” Joe always gets to explain his moves, even if they don’t always work out, and he’s open about being a deceitful player.
He continued this way later in the episode after finding out Devon had gotten close to Ashley. “I think [Devon] has this emotional connection with Ashley. He’s a surfer dude, and Ashley is all about the beach. So I don’t feel confident,” he told us. Again, for all of Joe’s boldness, he’s not a character edited to be completely deluded in his position in the game. There is a healthy dose of paranoia to his edit. “I’m gonna have to play the idol, but if I play it tonight and they vote out Desi, then I just wasted an idol and I’m next. So if I’m going to get one of them out, I gotta make sure they vote for me,” he followed up. Again, he explained his strategy and the reason for his upcoming camp blow up. Now, just because he explained his actions doesn’t take away from his negative tone because the camp scene was still framed badly, and Desi’s tearful reaction afterward hammered that home. Also, throughout the episode, Joe was referred to as a “snake” and like a “car salesman.” But again, he got to acknowledge and admit his mistakes: “I kind of screwed up, you know? I wanted to start chaos, and I did, but it kind of backfired a little bit, because now Desi’s nervous they might vote for her.”
So what does all this mean for Joe? The consistent negativity suggests he’s most likely not winning this season. But the complexity of his edit and the way he always gets to explain his actions and acknowledge his flaws means that he should continue to be a significant character. And let’s not forget he still has the connection to Mike and one would think there has to be some pay-off there. He also had a story with Cole, but that was mainly about the idol and because Joe no longer has it then perhaps that story is no longer relevant. But I expect Joe and Mike to meet again and because neither is currently on the same tribe that means both should be sticking around a while.
Chrissy‘s edit continues to impress me. Everything you could hope for in terms of a winner edit or long-term important character edit is present in Chrissy’s edit. She gives us strategic insight, personal info, multiple story connections, and her confessionals are always timed at significant moments. I finished her section last week saying: “Perhaps Chrissy is split from Ben at the swap, and so her story becomes how she overcomes that obstacle. Perhaps Chrissy ends up on a tribe with Ryan to continue their background story relating to the idol. Whatever happens, Chrissy has a great edit that suggests she will be around a while.” Both of those things happened here, she was split from Ben and swapped onto a tribe with Ryan, so everything is still moving in the right direction for Chrissy.
“It’s Day 9, and we were all starting to get a little bit comfortable, but when Jeff says, ‘Drop your buffs,’ all of that gets erased, and it’s a brand new game,” Chrissy said in the first confessional of the episode. It was a set-up confessional, similar to Ali’s, preparing us for the next phase of the game. “It’s a brand new game,” shows us that Chrissy is focused on moving forward and not stuck worrying about the past, which her partner Ben seemed to be more concerned about on his new tribe. The rest of Chrissy’s content was about forming a bond with Ryan – interesting to note that even before they got into Super Idol talk, we heard the two connecting about being from New Jersey, these small bits of personal info help flesh out a character. “Ryan blew my mind. He totally gave me the Super Idol… seriously made me feel so loved,” Chrissy said after Ryan told her about the idol. As I said in Ryan’s section, this was all framed super positively. “I feel very, very secure because now I have one more person who can help me get further in this game,” she continued. That last line is what scraped Chrissy her CP rating as opposed to Ryan’s MOR – she got to talk about using the relationship to move ahead in the game.
All of this is looking good for Chrissy. But are there any concerns? I mentioned in Joe’s section that he has a healthy dose of paranoia and always acknowledges when he isn’t in a great position. In comparison, Chrissy is very rarely shown to be worried about her place in the game. Last week we heard her telling Ben they are in the “prime position” and this episode she said, “I feel very, very secure.” Those kind of things would usually set off alarm bells because as we know, being too comfortable in Survivor often means a blindside is in your future. However, the edit never really undermines Chrissy, so I’m not sure how worried to be about those little things right now, I’m just taking note. Everything still points to Chrissy being around a while and playing an essential role in the season.
It makes sense to go to Ben next because his story is still very much linked to Chrissy’s. I found his edit this episode really fascinating. It truly highlighted the difference between him and Chrissy. While Chrissy was talking about the past being erased and it being “a brand new game,” Ben was still very much focused on the past, his relationship with Chrissy, and the fear he has moving forward.
Let’s look at Ben’s first confessional. “Being split up from Chrissy, that’s a shot in the foot right there. Things were well oiled and greased and we were moving,” he said. Immediately there is worry for Ben. “So I’m gonna have to put some work in, and I’m not just gonna roll over and die, but my odds at this point are real low to move forward. I’m scared.” Even though he talked about not rolling over and dying, he finished his confessional saying that his odds are “real low” and that he was “scared.” As I said with Joe, it’s good to have some worry in your edit, nobody wants to come across deluded, but the way Ben was contrasted to Chrissy felt more like a comment on their differing approaches to the game. Just to qualify this I want to highlight a brilliant camera shot during the tribe swap while Ben is delivering this confessional. It really hammered home this difference between Ben and Chrissy.
We see Ben look across from his mat towards Chrissy with a look of concern on his face, and Chrissy looks back at him, but we only see the blurry shot of the back of her head while Ben’s face remains in focus. Ben literally looking back at his past.
Then, almost too perfectly, Chrissy turns away from Ben and looks forward, practically directly to us the audience, her face coming into focus while Ben, still looking at Chrissy, begins to blur in the background. Chrissy looking to the future, to her brand new game, leaving Ben behind “scared” and alone.
Now, I know that could be reading into something which was unintentional, but it fits so well into the themes that I couldn’t help but mention it. That’s the kind of thing I get a kick out of when it comes to Edgic.
The rest of Ben’s episode was about him trying to find a way to fit into his new tribe. “First initial impression of this tribe swap, there’s a little bit of comfort in our tribe knowing that we work well together and won that PB&J,” again, he tries looking for the positive initially. “But three Healers, one Hustler, and a Hero, that’s a target pinned right on my tail,” but he still has major worries. “So I have to earn respect around here and gain trust to keep my butt in the game.” This confessional amounts to Ben’s CP-lite rating, especially as we later saw him in game conversations with Cole and Lauren.
Where does Ben go next? Well, this episode seemed to paint Chrissy as the strategic side of that pair, and while she is fine making bonds on her new tribe, Ben instead is worried and scared about his position on his new tribe. Ben now has a story of struggle and whether he can overcome it. He’s had such a consistent CP streak and character focus that I think he will still be around a while and be able to get over this hurdle.
I said last week that I’m starting to lean towards Lauren making a deep run this season. Nothing swayed my opinion in this episode. Once again Lauren received some decent strategic content, she was shown to be using her “hustler” spirit to try and find the cracks in her new tribe. It’s rare for someone of Lauren’s archetype (the older woman) to be given this kind of strategic focus, and while it’s not quite as well-developed as Chrissy’s edit, it does speak for Lauren’s longevity.
She was initially skeptical of Cole and his telling her and Ben about Jessica’s advantage. “It could be that Cole was just telling myself and Ben to make us believe in him, and if he is, that’s great, but I’d rather just put my fate in my own hands. So I will be using your little secret to my advantage.” I really like this confessional because it was very self-focused. “Put MY fate in MY own hands” and “I will be using your little secret to MY advantage.” It shows us that Lauren is an active participant in the game. She later expanded on his plan and put it into action. “Ben and I are a little outnumbered here. The only way to really gain a little bit of control would be to get Dr. Mike to join us. So if Dr. Mike doesn’t know that Jessica got the advantage, I’m gonna use that against those two.” That’s exactly what Lauren did, and even though Mike did know about the advantage, Lauren telling him about it still led to cracks forming in the Healers trio. All of this accounts for Lauren’s CP rating.
Jessica was the MVP this episode in terms of visibility and complexity. We got a lot of insight from her, both on a game level and a personal level. It also made me question my read of her edit so far. I felt last week that she was heading for a pre-merge boot as a result of Cole’s blunders, and while that certainly could still be the case, I can now see the potential for a deeper run.
The major problem for Jessica is that her story is still very much tied to Cole. We don’t have a great picture of her as an individual, even the personal content she gave us last week about being a virgin was put into the context of her relationship with Cole. This week started very much the same, her first thought after the swap was about Cole. “I instantly looked over at Cole when I saw that I had a red buff and he had a red buff, too. Like, my palms are sweating, my heart was racing. It was awesome.” She did later get non-Cole related confessionals, but they were about the Secret Advantage she found and when it comes to things like that you get confessionals by default. Although she did get to show a bit of her awkward but likable personality in those confessionals about staring at the chips too long, etc. Jessica’s content is almost always framed in a positive light – apart from the sniping at Mike during the reward challenge, but that was most likely to create tension over whether they would finish before Ali and Chrissy.
The big story coming out of this episode for Jessica was once again related to Cole and his inability to keep a secret. There is a big theme this season to do with secrets and knowledge and how they are used. Last week she was annoyed with Cole spilling about Joe’s idol, but this time she was personally upset because it was her secret that he shared without her knowledge. “He hurt me. Whether he meant to or not, he did. But I would never admit that to him,” she said, tearfully. “When I get hurt, I always wonder, ‘Was it me, and did I choose to form a relationship with someone that I just shouldn’t have, and that’s why I got hurt?’ And that’s how I feel now with Cole.” That was some good, emotionally complex personal info, but again, you’ll see that it tied back to Cole. “Did I make a poor decision from the beginning, and how do I move forward in this game thinking that? So, yeah, I had to swallow that. It hurt.” That now becomes Jessica’s story – how does she move forward with Cole and his blabbermouth? Is she going to ditch him to focus on her own game? Or will she stick by him and end up paying the price for his mistakes?
One other thing worth noting for Jessica is how she used her advantage. “The goal is to help the Healers, so I’m going to disrupt the Levu tribe as much as I can,” she said. But she then played it on Devon who for all she knew could have been voting with her old Healers tribemates. I would like an explanation from Jessica next week why she did this to feel more confident about her edit. Other than that, her story is still very much about Cole. I expect one of them to cause the others downfall at some point, whether intentionally or unintentionally. But just when I start thinking that maybe Jessica can outlast Cole, I come back to that quote from last week – “You can’t make it to the end without me.” That still sounds like Jessica will leave before Cole and then that will be put to the test. Unless the story is that Jessica drags Cole all the way to the final tribal council?!
Oh Cole, what happened? I really love it when an edit can surprise you, and that’s definitely the case with Cole this season. After the premiere, I was all set for Cole to be the new golden boy edit. The guy that is an expert in survival, dominant in challenges, perhaps not the greatest in strategy but we’d never really know because the edit would choose to underplay those moments – like with Ozzy and Joe in the past. But oh boy, the edit is not playing around, Cole is being buried.
Cole’s edit isn’t the golden boy; it’s the secret-spiller. His reveal about Joe’s idol and the plan to blindside him last week wasn’t a one-off, it was just the start of Cole’s story-arc. In fact, it wasn’t even the start, with what we know now, it frames his earlier actions in a new context. Him telling Joe what the idol clue symbol meant is another example of him spilling info he should have kept to himself. But this episode really went all out to show that Cole can’t keep a secret and the negative effect that has on his game and edit. I could maybe see an argument for OTT because of how much the edit piled on him, but he did always get to explain why he was doing what he was doing, and so for that, I stuck with CP.
“When I shared with Jessica that Joe had an idol, instantly her next reaction was to give me a hug, kiss me on the cheek, and say, ‘I trust you now, Cole.’ So I plan to use that same method with other people,” he told us. We then saw him telling Ben and Lauren about Jessica’s advantage. “I can extend this information and maybe they’ll see me as more trustworthy because I’ve chosen to tell them something that I had no obligation to in the first place.” This accounts for his CP that he got to explain his actions. But it was all framed very negatively. Even Lauren questioned the oddness of why Cole would be telling them that. When the news got out, things just got worse for Cole. “It is clear to me it’s Cole because Cole sometimes can’t keep his mouth closed. And those things come back to bite you in the butt,” Mike said after finding out Lauren knew about the advantage. “Cole burned me bad. He can’t even keep a secret… for a day,” Jessica emphasized. All of this made Cole look like a doofus.
But then even worse than that, his actions were portrayed as a personal betrayal of Jessica, causing her hurt and upset. “He hurt me. Whether he meant to or not, he did,” Jessica said, tears in her eyes. That’s not a good look for Cole, and if his winner chances weren’t already dead, I think this episode put the final nail in the coffin. Even though he tried to give reasons for his actions, he looked like a stupid strategist and a poor ally.
So what next for Cole? Is Jessica going to ditch him? Are his actions going to ruin Jessica’s game? That seems to be his big story, at least for the time being, and potentially a running story throughout the season if both can last long enough. The positive for Cole and his longevity is that intro he got on the boat, plus he has another side to his character about helping people… even if he’s shown to be more of a hindrance so far. Those things make me believe Cole could last a while longer despite his spilling of secrets.
That is it for this week’s edition of Edgic. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
OTHER SURVIVOR CONTENT
Redmond’s Episode 4 Recap at Yahoo TV
Episode 5 Press Photos
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Because I am stubborn and don’t give up on my winner picks. I think Coles edit is setting him up for redemption. He’ll turn things around and take home the win
Chrissy is WINNING this and I’m all for it! Finally an older women is winning again!!
I actually hope not, not because I don’t want an older woman to win, but because if she does, it will have been such an obvious edit that it removes all suspense. I mean, that player-by-player analysis had me screaming, “If she’s the winner, tone it down!”
One interesting note about Jessica is that in questioning whether or not she deserved to be hurt by Cole, she demonstrated genuine and serious self-doubt, which I think in recent seasons has been an indicative of a losing edit. If you compare Aubry’s edit to Michelle’s, David’s to Adam’s, Cirie’s to Sarah’s, one interesting difference is that the loser has at some point demonstrated serious doubt in their own worth or abilities, while the winners are more likely to be static characters who, while not always confident in their situations, are always confident in themselves.
I don’t know if this has happened enough times for it to be a hard and fast rule of edgic, but it is at least a noteworthy tendency. I’m not bullish on Jessica’s chances right now specifically because of this, and because if her tribe does lose (and it got much more complexity than the yellow tribe), it would be a surprise for the edit to cut either Ben or Lauren.
Also, really beautiful close reading of that Ben-Chrissy moment. Loved that.
There were 18 people on the boat and only four of them got to talk to Probst (in the edited episode – I’m sure in real life they all introduced themselves), and so Cole being one of those four suggests he’s an important character, and while it’s not always the case, it does suggest longevity.
And there have been plenty of non-positive characters that have it far. Not sure specifically about romantic pairs. I guess Taylor outlasted Figgy and he was portrayed worse than her… although they both had negative edits. But Cole’s edit isn’t negative in a “this guy is horrible” way, it’s more of a “he’s stupid at strategy,” so I don’t think that means he can’t go far.