'Survivor: Edge of Extinction' recap: Julia Carter voted out after chaotic Tribal Council, opts to continue playing

Survivor: Edge of Extinction castaway Julia Carter was voted out of her merged Vata tribe but opted to continue in the competition on Extinction Island during the ninth episode of Season 38 on Wednesday night on CBS.


The Vata tribe voted out Julia, a 24-year-old medical assistant from Hazleton, PA, who currently resides in Bethesda, MD, through a 9-1-1 vote at Tribal Council on Night 23 of the game.

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Julia became the ninth person voted out of Survivor: Edge of Extinction and the sixth member of this season's jury.

Julia, however, decided to stay in the game and wait for an opportunity to possibly play again for the $1 million grand prize by traveling to the Edge of Extinction.


"Tribal Council was a mess. I have no idea what happened with the vote, and now I'm this close to really being out of the game," Julia said following her vote-off.

"So, I'm definitely going to have to fall back on my will and my motivation and that will be a true test of whether or not I'm willing to push myself to stay in it."

David Wright, a 44-year-old television writer from Philadelphia, PA, who currently resides in Sherman Oaks, CA -- and previously appeared on Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen-X -- received one vote at Tribal Council.

And Kelley Wentworth, a 31-year-old marketing manager from Ephrata, WA, who currently resides in Seattle, WA -- and previously appeared on Survivor: San Juan Del Sur and Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance -- also received one vote.

The Survivor broadcast began on Night 22 at the Vata tribe.


Dan "The Wardog" DaSilva bragged about fracturing the massive Kama alliance and controlling the vote with Kelley and Lauren O'Connell. He loved how Ron Clark and Julie Rosenberg had "no idea it was coming," saying it was "gold."

Wardog was excited to crack this game open.

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Ron admitted the previous Tribal Council was "a disaster" and he felt "gutted."

Ron spent a lot of time on making Kama strong and realized he was on the bottom of his alliance and would probably be voted out next.


Gavin felt bad to betray Ron, his closest ally in the game, but he felt Ron was keeping him behind the curtain. Gavin also didn't want to make it to the end of the game without much of a Survivor resume.

Gavin then told Kelley and Lauren he trusted them the most in the game and wanted to continue working with them. He also had confidence he could pull Julia and Victoria Baamonde in with them.

Gavin was ready to take his new alliance of six to the end of the game.

Meanwhile, David gushed about how Tribal Council went exactly how he wanted it to go except he and Rick Devens voted differently.

David suggested to Rick they should reestablish trust with Ron and Julie, which Rick admitted would be easy for him since he just voted with them. The guys needed to work together in order to determine how to play their two halves of the idol.


On Day 23, at the Edge of Extinction, Eric Hafemann was upset about his "horrible blindside."

Eric said the island was hard and there wasn't much to do. There were no distractions and life just kind of slowed down, going from "a million to zero."

Although Eric acknowledged it would be easy and nice to quit, he didn't think anyone on the remote island was going to give up. And with that being said, Chris Underwood caught a nice stingray to eat.

Back at Vata's camp, David and Rick spoke to Julie and Ron about voting together and pulling in Aurora McCreary to work with them.

Julie admitted she was done being Kama strong and that Julia was strategic and pretty much running the show. Julie pointed out Julia might actually run away with the whole game if they don't do something about it.


Julie was ready to jump ship because Victoria, Gavin, Julia and Aurora seemed to think they were going to be the Final 4.

Julie hated the idea of flipping and being on the bottom again, so she burst into tears. She was playing for her family but didn't really know what to do.

Gavin was then spoke to Julia and Victoria about how they should stick with the alliance they had made the prior night and team up to get David out.

Julia called David "sneaky and strategic." She worried, however, about moving forward with big threats such as Lauren, Kelley and Wardog.

Julia was very concerned about that little trio because they didn't seem to be cracking any time soon.

On Day 23, the Vata tribe met Survivor host Jeff Probst for the season's next Individual Immunity Challenge.


The challenge -- which was played during David's first Survivor season -- required the castaways to stand on a narrow beam while balancing a ball on a wooden bow.

At regular intervals, the players had to move farther down the beam, making it more difficult to balance. If at any point a person fell off the beam or his or her ball dropped, he or she would be out.

The challenge ultimately came down to Gavin, David and Julia. Once Julia dropped out, David did as well. Gavin won immunity as a result.

"What a showdown!" Probst yelled.

Gavin felt "so accomplished" beating David in the challenge because David was his target. Gavin was looking forward to bragging about how he's responsible for sending David home.

After the challenge, the tribe returned to camp and Gavin proudly sported the immunity necklace around his neck.


David and Rick found themselves alone with Julia and pitched how Wardog, Kelley and Lauren were a dangerous three who had been together the entire game. Rick then shared his concerns with Victoria and Gavin as well.

Rick hoped to break up the power trio and then flip a coin with David to determine which guy gets to play the hidden Immunity Idol if necessary.

Kelley liked the idea of taking out David, but she worried Kama would reunite after his vote-off and then go after Lauren, Wardog or herself.

Lauren thought their best play was to convince the others to vote for Ron instead of David, who had few connections in the game. Lauren wished David had won immunity as a result because she didn't trust Ron.

Lauren shared her idea about Ron with Julia, but Julia didn't like how the trio seemed to be plotting on their own.

Julia therefore brought the original Kama members together to convince them Kelley, Lauren or Wardog needed to go next. Julia suggested to Julie, Aurora, Ron, and Victoria they should get rid of the "Queen B," Kelley.


Julie didn't know whom she could trust and she was very paranoid, but she knew she had to pull herself together fast and make a move.

Gavin, however, was still gunning for David. He insisted to Julie, Ron and Victoria that the game would belong to them if they could successfully oust David.

The group didn't seem onboard, however, and so Gavin realized he had lost control.

With different names being tossed around and a lack of trust between tribe members in general, the castaways sat down for an awkward, silent rice dinner.

Because no one was talking or making eye contact with him, David assumed he was in trouble. David noted he and Rick absolutely needed to play their idol that night.

David's senses told him that he was the target, and Rick agreed.


Kelley read her tribe members the same way given Gavin had his head down, Victoria was focused on scraping a pot, and Julia might as well have given her an ecstatic "thumbs up" because her perky behavior didn't seem genuine.

Kelley had flashbacks of Cambodia and felt the Kama members had a plan in motion. Kelley predicted some votes were coming her way, and so she began to consider playing her idol that night.

At Tribal Council on Night 23, Kelley announced the original Kama alliance might have reunited. David agreed one of the former Lesu members appeared to be in trouble.

Rick confessed he had no idea what was going on because Victoria, Gavin, Julia and Aurora were supposed to get back to him with an answer but let the clock run out before Tribal.

Julie then broke down into tears, saying she didn't have a clear mind and felt in the dark. Julie declared she was expecting a blindside, and as she spoke, Kelley whispered to Julia, "Are we good?"

Julia repeated, "We are good. We are good," before sharing what had just transpired between Kelley and herself with the whole group.


Rick therefore said Julia just gave the whole game away, that she and her allies were going to work with the former Lesu three -- Kelley, Wardog and Lauren.

It quickly became clear the different alliances were dysfunctional, and so Rick pitched the idea of seven people coming together to take out one of the original Kama members.

Rick wanted the five former Lesu members, which included David and himself, to team up with the two original Kama members who felt left out on the last vote, Julie and Ron.

Julia laughed at Rick's idea, calling him "such a passenger" in this game. Rick, however argued he had the GPS in his hands.

Suddenly, whispers broke out and Julie whispered to Wardog that she'd work with him. Julie acknowledged Rick's plan sounded great, and then Wardog whispered Aurora's name to Ron.

Kelley was then shown whispering to Aurora, before David and Rick were called over by Ron to chat.


Tribal was alive, with everyone running around and talking to each other. Julie and Ron seemed prepared to jump ship and work with the five Lesu members -- Kelley, Wardog, Lauren, David and Rick -- to take out a Kama.

Kelley appeared confused because she didn't really want to betray Julia and her allies given they had built a good rapport, but a plan was coming into place without her. David just hoped Kelley would come onboard.

Tension then reached an all-time high when Julia's name was thrown out and Ron warned Julia of the conversations. Julia confronted Julie, who was "freaking out" and admitted she didn't trust the young Kama members anymore.

David then asked Kelley what her plan was, and she flat out confessed it was to vote him out. David thanked her for her honesty, and then the veterans opted to work together and trust each other -- at least for this vote.

Tribal was absolute chaos and someone could be heard saying Julie "lost her damn mind," as she was yelling and crying about wanting to jump ship.

Ron was really nervous about what to do, as Julia tried to convince Julie she couldn't trust Lesu. Rick then bragged to Julia he was driving the car.


"Let's vote," Wardog said.

"Shut up, Wardog!" Julia snapped.

Rick said he was criticized for bringing up the idea of the seven voting together but he was sure glad he did.

It then became time to vote, and Probst called it one of the craziest Tribal Councils ever.

David and Rick then chose to play their halves of one hidden Immunity Idol for David.

Probst then read the votes in the following order: David, Kelley, Julia, Julia, Julia, Julia, Julia, and Julia.


"Good job guys, really... Take care of each other and yourselves," Julia announced on her way out, before Joe Anglim on the jury was shown saying, "They all turned on her."

Wardog then complimented Rick on coming up with that plan.

The episode's closing credits later showed that Julia voted for Kelley, Aurora voted for David, and everyone else voted for Julia.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski