Survivor: Edge of Extinction

Survivor: Edge of Extinction is the thirty-eighth season of .

Production
As has been the case for a decade, this season was filmed back-to-back with its predecessor,.

Due to the nature of this season, the castaways were not allowed to do exit press until the end of the season.

Twists/Changes

 * Four Returning Players: Four previous castaways will compete with a group of 14 new castaways.
 * : After being voted out and departing Tribal Council, those who were voted out will be given the choice to permanently leave the game or go into the unknown for a chance to come back. After the merge, all castaways remaining on Edge of Extinction that did not quit would form the eventual jury.
 * Advantage Menu: A clue hidden at the marooning would lead one person to find the Advantage Menu, giving them one of three advantages. The finder can either steal the reward from the winning tribe, use the parchment as an Extra Vote, or use it for individual immunity, which works similar to a Hidden Immunity Idol. The Advantage Menu expires after the third Tribal Council.
 * Hidden Immunity Idol: A Hidden Immunity Idol is hidden at each camp. In addition, the first Edge of Extinction returnee was gifted a Hidden Immunity Idol upon their return. However, this idol has two halves, one of which must be given to another castaway before the next Tribal Council. If both castaways remain after Tribal Council, the two halves combine into an idol with full power.
 * Tribe Expansion: With 15 castaways left, a tribe expansion occurred introducing the ​ tribe.
 * Extra Vote: On Days 13 and 21, an Extra Vote was hidden on the Edge of Extinction. The person who found the extra vote would have the right to gift it to someone currently in the game. The Extra Vote hidden on Day 13 had the addition stipulation that it could only be gifted to someone attending the next Tribal Council.
 * Joint Tribal Council: The two tribes who lost the sixth Immunity Challenge on Day 16 were both sent to Tribal Council as one group, but unlike a standard Double Tribal Council, they would vote as a group and only one person was voted out.
 * Early Merge: This season merged with thirteen castaways in the game; twelve in the main game and one from the Edge of Extinction.
 * Simplified Final Four Tribal Council: Instead of a traditional vote, the person who wins the final four Immunity Challenge will get to choose one person to take with them to the Final Three. The remaining two castaways would compete in a fire-making challenge to determine who would be eliminated.
 * Final Three: Three finalists faced a thirteen-person jury.
 * Reformatted Final Tribal Council: Instead of having each jury member speak one by one, an open forum was held to ensure a more insightful rapport between the jury and finalists.

Season Summary
Fourteen new castaways were joined by four returning players: Aubry and Joe, who joined Kama, and David and Kelley, who joined Manu. The Kama tribe became a cohesive group, though the new players were bent on eliminating their returning players, although no plans were set in motion as Kama devastated Manu in challenges, thus avoiding Tribal Council. The Manu tribe, however, found itself stricken in political strife, with its returning players targeting each other, but later begrudgingly worked together to make it through their losing streak. Unbeknownst to the castaways still in the game however, the people they voted out were given the opportunity to go to the, where they had to survive isolation and uncertainty while waiting for the opportunity to return to the game. On Day 17, the tribes merged into the Vata tribe, but not before witnessing the first re-entry challenge, where Rick won a spot back in the game.

At the merged tribe's first Tribal Council, the original Kama voted out its only remaining returning player, Joe, but later found themselves turning on each other. With David and Rick also on the outs with the old Manu, however, tribal lines were diluted, allowing multiple short-term deals. Following the eliminations of the remaining returning players David and Kelley, Rick eventually found the target focused on him after acquiring multiple Hidden Immunity Idols and advantages and was seen as a threat, but avoided elimination after winning several Immunity Challenges.

On Day 35, Chris won the second re-entry challenge and reunited and worked with his former ally Rick, but was unsure if he could defeat him. Having won the Final Immunity Challenge, Chris had the option on who to take to the Final Three and who would compete in the fire-making challenge, but believing his late-game resurgence would not be enough to win him the game, he chose to face Rick in the fire-making challenge himself. Chris defeated Rick, joining Gavin and Julie in the final three.

At the Final Tribal Council, Julie was mostly ignored by the jury for being overly emotional on multiple occasions while Gavin, despite having done decently in the main game, was unable to counter Chris' arguments. In the end, Chris' social bonds and clutch play despite having stayed on the Edge of Extinction for most of the game, won him the title of Sole Survivor in a 9-4-0 vote.

Trivia

 * Edge of Extinction marks the first time a country is used for six consecutive seasons.
 * This is the first 18-player season with a 13-person merge.
 * In addition, this is the first season to have 14 people on the merged tribe, albeit non-simultaneously.
 * This season currently contains the largest amount of players on a jury, having 13.
 * This season is the first to feature returning players where none of the returning players made it to the Final Tribal Council.