Survivor: Edge of Extinction Episode 11 "Awkward" Analysis

"I can end the speculation right now...but I won't."

-Rick Devens

After last week's pretty straightforward episode, "Awkward" took things back in a crazy direction and resulted in a very fun and satisfying episode.  It also gave us a lot of good gameplay, but who did the best of the best and who was the Rotten Coconut?  Let's take a look!

Who Played Well:

We'll start with Victoria and Lauren who were the masterminds behind making Ron the backup-plan. They both saw where they stood with Ron at the family reward and made moves to improve their positions.  Major props.  Lauren also still has her Idol.

Gavin was also in on the Ron vote and I debated for a long time about whether or not he made the right choice, but ultimately, I think it was smart for him to get rid of Ron over Aurora.  He also won Immunity.

Aurora had a mixed night, but it was net positive.  She did get caught looking in Rick's bag and was too upfront with wanting to vote Rick out, which made her the target of Rick's vote.  If the Ron plan hadn't been formed, she would be out of the game.  However, she was in on the plan and was very smart to give Gavin her extra vote in case of a tie.  It didn't end up mattering, but I really liked that move.

Rick managed to find himself a Hidden Immunity Idol and not wake up any of his tribemates while doing so.  He played the Idol to save himself, looked great in front of the jury while doing it, and made Julie look pretty bad at the same time.  I know he didn't vote for the right person, but with the information he had, it was definitely the right call to vote for Aurora as she was the one that seemed to be the least open to working with him.  He may have voted wrong, but it ended up working out just fine for him.  He looks fantastic to the jury as Ron gets voted out and he gets rid of a more dangerous player who really wasn't going to work with him even if Ron said otherwise.

Who Sucked:

Out of everyone left in the game, we only have Julie to talk about here.  She wasn't in on the Ron vote and Rick made her look really bad in front of the jury.  She has a lot of damage control to do if she wants to win the game.

As for Ron, I did like the Advantage Menu plan and it's something we've seen work on the show before.  Unfortunately it didn't work this time, but I don't think it was major factor in his loss.  His real problems came from winning the family visit, which is usually a terrible idea.  Unless there is a game advantage included as part of the reward, like in Worlds Apart, this is a challenge you should not win under any circumstances.  Nothing good can come from it and it's the main reason Ron was voted out.

Verdict:

I'm giving the Platinum Probst Award, which goes to the best player of the episode, to Rick Devens.  He found an Idol, played it correctly, made the right decision in voting for Aurora, and looked amazing in front of the jury.  This is his third time winning this Award.

The Rotten Coconut, which goes to the worst player of the episode (except for the person who was eliminated), goes to Julie Rosenberg for looking bad when she was called out by Rick and for not being in on the Ron backup-plan.  This is her second time winning this Award.

This was a really fun episode and I was actually pretty shocked to see Ron get eliminated.  It was entertaining and gave us some solid gameplay.  What more could you ask for?