- This is the 38th season for CBS’s reality show.
- ‘Survivor’ was one of the early pioneers of the reality TV genre.
- ‘Survivor: Edge of Extinction’ Episode 9 airs April 10 at 8:00 PM Eastern.
Another episode of Survivor: Edge of Extinction in the books and not much happened–at least on a ‘macro’ level. Eric Hafemann got the bum’s rush and the one way(?) ticket to Extinction Island (for those of you who pay attention to minute details like grammar and punctuation I’m no longer going to put quotation marks around Extinction Island primarily because its much easier for me). Lauren O’Connell fainted mid challenge and the social media zeitgeist was upset that the other contestants didn’t fawn all over her. More than likely, they weren’t aware what was going on. Post show comments from Jeff Probst vindicate this view. I get that most of middle America is not smart but surely they realize that the Survivor contestants aren’t watching the heavily edited footage as the challenges are going on?
Anyway, O’Connell faints and takes a pretty hard ‘bump’ in the process. I would imagine that her verbal declaration that ‘I can’t see anything–I’m about to black out’ was ‘sweetened’ for the final cut of the show. Probst says that he (and I would imagine everyone else involved) didn’t realize that O’Connell was having a tough time of it until he had the benefit of some footage:
During the challenge, I didn’t have any idea Lauren was struggling. Once I saw the footage, it made more sense. She was talking very quietly to herself, almost under her breath. And then she just dropped. When something like this happens we have a very clear protocol. Medical is called in immediately and because they are at every challenge it only took a few seconds before Dr. Joe and his team were at Lauren’s side.
So it’s reached the point where I’m having to stand up for the moral fibre, character and general decency of Jeff Probst and the Survivor contestants. To be fair, it could have been a scary moment but had a significant injury been the result of the fall no doubt it would have been handled differently. The good news is that O’Connell is a tough broad and after she came to all appeared to be normal and she continued with the competition. She’s apparently a soccer player at Baylor University which explains a lot.
Entertainment Weekly had this gimmick where the current crop of castaways suggested changes to the show’s format. Aubry Bracco suggested the following:
“Get rid of the family visit. Because people play for the family visit instead of playing to win. I think there are certain goal-posts in Survivor. You don’t want to be the first boot. You want to make it to the merge. You want to make it to the end. There’s this funny spot, mid-merge, where people get exhausted. They’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve just got to make it to the family visit,’ and then I feel like sometimes, someone’s easily hacked off right after that. Get rid of the family visit, and I think it leaves people guessing a little bit.”
I have to agree. I get that Survivor isn’t supposed to be like Navy Seal training but at the same time the producers really ‘pick and choose’ how the castaways will ‘rough it’. Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with having medical assistance close by but the family visit undercuts what little veneer of actual ‘surviving’ that exists in the show. Maybe the idea is that its supposed to be like a conjugal visit in prison but obviously the contestants are going to end up having sex with each other. The last thing you want to do is to discourage this natural process by bringing husbands, wives and significant others to the island.
This is a good opportunity to once again quote myself about Extinction Island:
‘Extinction Island’ was getting crowded with a population of six though the impending tribal merge and the inference that at least one of the voted off contestants will rejoin the game could change that. The contestants are still complaining about the conditions on Extinction Island–Aubry Bracco is the latest calling the desolatepurgatorio ‘a disaster’. It’s definitely not Sandals All Inclusive Jamaican Resort–there are no buffets or bars. The upside is that you don’t have to a deal with a bunch of greased up douchebags from New Jersey or swinging couples from flyover country. Here’s a still from Episode 5/6–figure out how to catch and cook some seafood and it looks like a place I’d be pretty content for at least a few weeks. That might be why I’m not suitable to be a reality TV show contestant:
The rest of the suggested changes ranged from insipid (Wardog’s suggestion that instead of tribes to make it a ‘geographic battle’ between North, South, Midwest, etc.) which is not unlike the moment that Verne Gagne came up with the infamous ‘Turkey on a Pole’ match during the dying days of the AWA pro wrestling promotion. Lauren O’Connell suggested an ‘East Coast/West Coast’ variation. It didn’t work out so well when Biggie and Tupac tried that format. Gavin Whitson suggested a North v. South format which also sounds excruciating. Eric Hafemann suggested that there be a ‘final challenge’ that is more physically and mentally demanding. Presumably something between the current Survivor and Naked and Afraid. This isn’t a bad idea. Reem Daly suggested a battle between ‘Sensitive and Non-Sensitive’ people. No way *that* would turn into a grease fire with Survivor producers having to apologize to every mental health organization in the country like Bill Parcells apologizing to ‘the orientals’ for his reference to ‘Jap plays’. Busty redhead Victoria Baamonde also had a good suggestion to get rid of some of the ‘gimmicks’:
I like the hidden immunity idols, but I just liked it when they were a lot fewer and farther between — when they were harder to find, when they were more of a big deal, and when the game was more about survival rather than all of the twists and the gimmicks. I mean, don’t yell at me, but I just felt like Ghost Island was so cheesy. I cringed a few times, so I don’t really want things like that. I want classic, not super classic, but seasons 15 through 30 Survivor.
The real takeaway from this is that the current crop of contestants aren’t particularly clever. The best suggestion is to ‘get rid of the gimmicks’. Other good suggestions–more gratuitous nudity, live betting and to periodically let a dude in a gorilla suit rampage through the island–but the contestants have to play it off like its a legit gorilla a la Gilligan’s Island.
Here’s the official SPORTS INSIDER odds for Episode 9 of Survivor: Edge of Extinction:
‘SURVIVOR: EDGE OF EXTINCTION’ BETTING ODDS
TO WIN ‘SURVIVOR: EDGE OF EXTINCTION’
Victoria Baamonde +350
Julie Rosenberg +500
Lauren O’Connell +500
Kelley Wentworth +500
David Wright +750
Gavin Whitson +750
Aubry Bracco +1500
Eric Hafemann +1500
Julia Carter +2500
Chris Underwood +2500
Aurora McCreary +2500
Ron Clark +2500
Joe Anglim +2500
Dan Wardog Desilva +2500
Rick Devens +2500
Reem Daly +2500
‘SURVIVOR: EDGE OF EXTINCTION’ EPISODE 9 BETTING ODDS
TO BE VOTED OUT AT TRIBAL COUNCIL IN EPISODE 9?
Dan Wardog Desilva +250
Ron Clark +250
Rick Devens +500
Julia Carter +750
Lauren O’Connell +750
David Wright +1500
Aurora McCreary +1500
Kelley Wentworth +1500
Victoria Baamonde +2500
Gavin Whitson +2500
Julie Rosenberg +2500
Any Other Result +5000
WHO WILL WIN IMMUNITY IN EPISODE 9?
Gavin Whitson +250
Julie Rosenberg +350
Kelley Wentworth +350
Lauren O’Connell +500
Julia Carter +700
Victoria Baamonde +1500
David Wright +1500
Aurora McCreary +2500
Ron Clark +2500
Rick Devens +5000
Dan Wardog Desilva +5000
Any Other Result +5000
WHO WILL WIN REWARD IN EPISODE 9?
Gavin Whitson +250
Julie Rosenberg +350
Kelley Wentworth +350
Lauren O’Connell +500
Julia Carter +700
Victoria Baamonde +1500
David Wright +1500
Aurora McCreary +2500
Ron Clark +2500
Rick Devens +5000
Dan Wardog Desilva +5000
Any Other Result +5000
WILL A HIDDEN IDOL BE PLAYED IN EPISODE 9?
Yes -210
No +180
WILL ANY MAIN ISLAND CONTESTANT QUIT/BE REMOVED DUE TO INJURY IN EPISODE 9?
Yes +1750
No -3500
WILL ANY CONTESTANT CRY ON CAMERA DURING EPISODE 9?
Yes -210
No +180
WILL THE EPISODE 9 VOTED OUT CASTAWAY ACCEPT THE EXTINCTION OFFER?
Yes -2500
No +1250
WILL ANY CASTAWAY CATCH SEAFOOD IN EPISODE 9?
Yes +210
No -250
WILL A CONTESTANT BE ‘PIXELATED’ DUE TO NUDITY IN EPISODE 9?
Yes +150
No -170
GENDER IDENTITY OF NEXT CONTESTANT PIXELATED DUE TO NUDITY?
Female -350
Male +300
NEXT CONTESTANT TO BE PIXELATED DUE TO NUDITY?
Victoria Baamonde +350
Kelley Wentworth +350
Aurora McCreary +450
Eric Hafemann +750
Joe Anglim +750
Julie Rosenberg +1500
Lauren O’Connell +1500
Aubry Bracco +1500
Dan Wardog Desilva +2500
Gavin Whitson +2500
Chris Underwood +2500
David Wright +2500
Rick Devens +5000
Reem Daly +5000
Ron Clark +5000
Julia Carter +5000
In the previous three propositions pixelation must be due to accidental or intentional nudity and not due to obscene gestures or any other reason. If there is no pixelation due to nudity this season the previous two propositions will be graded ‘no action’.
EPISODE 9 KEY DEMO (18-49) RATINGS
Over 1.55 -150
Under 1.55 +130
EPISODE 9 KEY DEMO (18-49) SHARE
Over 6.5 -600
Under 6.5 +450
EPISODE 9 TOTAL VIEWERSHIP
Over 7.4 Million -150
Under 7.4 Million +130
The previous three TV ratings propositions will be graded using data reported at TV By The Numbers.
