# Survivor 38: Edge of Extinction premieres Wednesday **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774 "2019-02-18T17:32:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/101 "2019-04-12T12:14:09Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > I’m very confused. I would love to see some kind of animated graphic showing the evolution of plans. Not quite what you are looking for, but [Dalton Ross’ weekly recap](https://ew.com/recap/survivor-season-38-episode-9/) hits on some of the major catalysts ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/102 "2019-04-12T14:41:13Z")
Thanks. > [@Wheelz](#): > > People say way too much at TC all the time. My strategy would be to volunteer absolutely nothing, keep my facial reactions to a minimum, and give vague, evasive answers to any direct questions Jeff asks me. > > Of course, after I’ve been sleep- and food-deprived for several weeks, I’ll ley you know how that plan goes. Some contestants are great at this. It’s a very important skill, I agree with you. But Probst and the rest of production hates it, so they probably try to cast people with irrepressible personalities to make it less likely they won’t get anything juicy at TC. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/103 "2019-04-13T01:34:25Z")
Two quick questions: 1. What on earth would compel someone to wear a freaking necktie on Survivor? 2. Do they all really take dumps in the water\*? mmm \*I guess I can see how it makes some sense, but then they swim, fish, and lounge around in it? ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/104 "2019-04-13T08:20:43Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > I certainly don’t recall every word that was said at that Tribal, but it seemed to me the catalyst for all the chaos was Aurora running her mouth. (I don’t even remember exactly what she said, but I remember thinking, “Aurora needs to keep her mouth shut.”) I thought she might end up as the target, but Julia was probably a bigger ultimate threat and thus the smarter choice. > > People say way too much at TC all the time. My strategy would be to volunteer absolutely nothing, keep my facial reactions to a minimum, and give vague, evasive answers to any direct questions Jeff asks me. > > Of course, after I’ve been sleep- and food-deprived for several weeks, I’ll ley you know how that plan goes. Answering Jeff’s questions is part of the game at tribal council. There are large parts of Tribal Council that don’t make it on air, and I don’t think it’s an option to stay silent or not answer questions. The key is giving enough entertaining answers to keep Jeff and the production happy without screwing yourself over or giving up your plans. Some players are much better at this than others. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/105 "2019-04-13T11:56:14Z")
Wheelz did say “vague, evasive answers”, so I don’t see much actual disagreement there. Production/Probst can’t force you to say something that will make you give up a secret or get you in hot water. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/106 "2019-04-13T12:42:43Z")
Agree it is was a strange episode. They went to tribal council 30 minutes into the episode, and I thought it was going to be a vote out, and the EoE players were going to do a fire challenge to see who gets back into the game because there was so much time. Re: Ball Balance on the Bow. I do think the radius of the bow is greater (not as steep) on the edges vs the middle so that would make easier to keep from rolling, but closer to the end of the bows would be riskier. I think production sets up areas for “aqua-dumps” that are far from the swimming areas and fishing areas, but there are a lot of animals excreting their wastes in the sea all over. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2019, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/107 "2019-04-13T18:57:54Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Wheelz did say “vague, evasive answers”, so I don’t see much actual disagreement there. Production/Probst can’t force you to say something that will make you give up a secret or get you in hot water. Giving boring answers is a great way to not get any screen time and to not be invited back as a returning player. ---
**Author:** ![Noelq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noelq/32/16438_2.png) [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2019, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/108 "2019-04-14T02:31:28Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Two quick questions: > > 1. What on earth would compel someone to wear a freaking necktie on Survivor? > > 2. Do they all really take dumps in the water\*? > mmm > \*I guess I can see how it makes some sense, but then they swim, fish, and lounge around in it? When they land on Survivor, their clothes are chosen by the show to give an impression of what they would wear normally. They don’t get to choose their own outfits - otherwise they’d be wearing much more sensible clothes. Yes. Its been a subject of questions on podcasts. They poop in the water because its immediate clean-up possibilities, and they can clean their hands without having to go to the water to clean it up. And remember - Fish don’t get out of the water to poop. There’s plenty of poop in there already. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/109 "2019-04-18T02:36:24Z")
I wonder why they chose to shoe horn two eliminations in one episode at this point? And, with all the Returnees now on EoE, are they going to end it and admit one last person back into the game? (I’d say kudos to War Dog for ousting the last two, except I think he just made it super-obvious who is running the show. So unless the returnee next week is Joe (or maybe Kelley) he’ll be the obvious out.) ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/110 "2019-04-18T06:10:10Z")
Yeah, I don’t think some of the stuff Wardog said at Tribal was the savviest. Although it could be said to build a case for the jury. It’s a balancing act for sure. I would prefer if they just had one TC per episode; but I think CBS requires that they have a certain number of episodes scheduled–and they purposely make that fewer than it would take to run it all out, to allow some slack in case people quit. This is where it would be better if it could somehow have elimination episodes be live like “Big Brother” (a show, just FTR, I watched for its first three or four seasons but have not watched since). ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/111 "2019-04-18T13:36:21Z")
I’ve never tried to keep up with alliances and scheming – I just zone out during the whispered conversations of who’s trying to flip who. This probably makes me a shallow person…so be it. I watch the show for the challenges and the personality conflicts around camp and searching for HII and other weird, fun and interesting moments. So this was the most boring episode in show history. Two endurance/balance challenges and alliance maneuvering. Literally, nothing else happened. Oh, wait … on Extinction Island (which was a terrible idea) we see someone find a clue that was cleverly hidden in plain sight. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/112 "2019-04-18T14:16:18Z")
Perhaps Wardog finds a way to make this work, but I’m pretty suspicious of his move against Wentworth. It seems to me that now he has absolutely nobody willing to protect him, and no idol. Now perhaps Wentworth would have made a move for him in the next episode, but I don’t see why Victoria, Rick, Ron, and Aurora would have any real loyalty towards him. I could very easily see them pull in Lauren (or even Gavin) and vote out Wardog immediately. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/113 "2019-04-18T14:21:07Z")
The fact that no one really leaves the show really has killed the pacing. Episodes are rushed because they have to spend a chunk of time on loser island showing them being bitter each episode. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/114 "2019-04-18T16:51:33Z")
I’m surprised Kelly spilled the beans about her and Lauren’s hidden idol as soon as she got to Extinction. She has no idea who will go back into the game or when. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/115 "2019-04-18T19:08:39Z")
Every season seems to have a player who should be a total no-brainer, neon-sign-over-their-head choice for everybody else to vote out, yet somehow they never do. This season it’s Wardog. I’d say he’s the odds-on favorite for the million at this point. I was quite surprised nobody told Kelley about Wardog’s plan. I think that would have been a smart move for Victoria or Ron or Aurora (especially Aurora). They could have made an ally of Wentworth, gotten rid of a huge threat, and basically blown up the current social hierarchy. Now they’re just right back to being on the bottom. Also surprised Kelley didn’t play her idol. I guess even experienced players can’t always sniff out when something is awry. ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/116 "2019-04-19T18:59:05Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > The fact that no one really leaves the show really has killed the pacing. Episodes are rushed because they have to spend a chunk of time on loser island showing them being bitter each episode. And a couple of people (contestants) have commented about the EoE players being bitter and complaining. Oh boo-hoo. Chose to play, chose to go EoE and can leave if they want, any time they want. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/117 "2019-04-19T20:23:39Z")
> [@magnusblitz](#): > > … > Thinking about it more, I do think they tend to do these sorts of challenges because they’re easy to setup with so many people remaining in the game. Having 12 people do an obstacle course would probably be pretty difficult for Jeff to narrate, for example. But having them all stand in place and hold something is pretty easy to design, shoot and edit… Thing is, endurance challenges are the most fair, keeps the strong males from winning them all. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/118 "2019-04-19T20:30:12Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Two quick questions: > > 1. What on earth would compel someone to wear a freaking necktie on Survivor? > > 2. Do they all really take dumps in the water\*? > mmm > \*I guess I can see how it makes some sense, but then they swim, fish, and lounge around in it? I suppose you never camped on a beach without a bathroom, eh? Yeah, dumping in the water works great. You dont need toilet paper, cleans you right up. Now, if a LOT of people do it, it causes nasty stuff, the the ocean is quite capable of absorbing and cleaning up a normal amount of land animal feces- after all, otter poop in the water, whales shit in the sea, and just about all land animals (except some humans) crap where it will run off into the ocean. Now, when you have great masses of humans living close together, that crap has to be cleaned up first. But until quite recently sewers drained right into the ocean, with no treatment. And \*some \*amount of feces is fine, it’s ocean fertilizer. It’s when there’s too much for the ocean plankton to handle quickly or when it dumps too much nutrients in a small area- then it causes problems. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/119 "2019-04-19T20:39:16Z")
One more thing- Rick Devens got four balls into dimples before anyone else did, so that advantage did not necessarily give him the win. ---
**Author:** ![Lare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/53a042/32.png) [@Lare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lare)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survivor-38-edge-of-extinction-premieres-wednesday/829774/120 "2019-04-20T13:43:42Z")
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