With its island twist this season, “Survivor: Edge of Extinction” is more jam-packed with action given the need to show two locales and retain cast-offs who opt to try for another chance to get back in the game. Therefore, explanatory moments sometimes get left out.
Viewers watching Keith Sowell and Chris Underwood struggle for an advantage might think Keith resented Chris after he grabbed it away from him on Extinction Island. But, in an email interview with “Entertainment Weekly,” Keith — who voluntarily left the game along with Wendy Diaz last week — explains there was more to their feud than what made it on air.
On the super-sized double episode, Keith smartly took off to pursue an advantage on his own. But Chris took notice, pushed him out of the way and snatched it. We heard Keith say, “Not cool.” But there was more to it than that — he felt Chris dismissed his religious beliefs. As he told EW, “After he got the advantage, everything went downhill. When I’m stressed to that extent, I pray because that’s my safe space. At that point, Chris says, ‘Oh, you’re prayin’ now?” and continued to, what I believed, insult my faith which is off-limits for me.”
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Another unexplained moment? Why did Keith get in the boat a second time only to join Wendy in raising the white mast to indicate they were ready to leave Extinction and quit the game? His answer: “As soon as I heard ‘another chance,’ of course the first thing I do is jump at that! I was so excited! But when you get off the boat, step back on Edge of Extinction, and immediately start getting firewood again, you realize that literally nothing has changed. You start to evaluate. You realize Edge and ‘Survivor’ the game are two different worlds. The Edge is so much more abstract. It’s not as simple as ‘quit.’ It’s what you need it to be and what you can take from it.”
