Was Sophie in a Scared Straight program? She said she went on a field trip to a prison when she was a kid, which reminds me of programs that take kids to prisons in order to scare them into being law-abiding citizens. I thought those programs were only for kids who were already having run-ins with the law. Does Sophie have a darker past than she lets on?

It’s striking that the Dakal tribe can see Edge of Extinction from their camp. The first time that Survivor had EoE, it was a secret until the first time that someone there got a chance to re-enter the game. This time, everyone knows it’s there from the beginning, which already changes the dynamics of the game. Getting voted off has less sting, as Tyson noted (and some fans). But to be able to see EoE all the time is strange. Can the tribes communicate with the people on EoE through smoke or signs? Can they yell that far? Are they not allowed by the producers?

This made me think of how we would be afraid of death whether the afterlife exists or not, because evolution would still naturally select creatures that tried to avoid death. Even if the afterlife were a marvelous paradise full of beauty and peace, we would still fight and claw to keep from going there, because the creatures that did give into the paradise would be less likely to have children (and support those children) in our world. If you’re less likely to have children, you’re less likely to pass on your genes. Which means that the genes that made people struggle to avoid the afterlife would be the ones that persisted in our world.

Will this have a similar effect on Survivor? Will knowledge of EoE make people more or less likely to get voted out? Sophie says that EoE scares her, but Tyson says that it makes it easier to be voted out. Clearly, different impressions are being drawn. We’ll see how this eventually plays out.