'Survivor: Edge of Extinction': Tribal Council Trickery Confronts Powerful Alliance for Final 5

Rick Devens is determined to win Survivor: Edge of Extinction, even if he has to come from behind to do it.

In Wednesday's episode of the CBS reality show, Devens didn't have much time to celebrate his masterful tribal council play, in which he pretended to fall for Ron Clark's fake immunity idol trap before revealing a real immunity idol that meant Ron was sent to the Edge of Extinction.

Still the number one target for the other five castaways, he didn't have any illusions of forming an alliance at this point in the game, admitting to the cameras, "I think I'm still on the bottom. No one's working with me ... so I'm going to have to be really clever with any way to manipulate the game."

Waking up at the crack of dawn, Devens scoured the island for another immunity idol that could keep him safe for yet another council, despite fellow former Manu Lauren O'Connell (who also has a hidden idol up her sleeve) confronting him for lying about the source of his initial idol.

With his fate in the game on the line, Devens miraculously managed to sniff out another immunity idol, excitedly exclaiming, "I am going to win this!"

"I'll keep hustling 'til the end of this game," he told the camera later of his strategy to outwork the competition on his journey to $1 million.

Things appeared to be shifting in the island's major alliance as well, when, after winning a seafood dinner reward, Gavin Whitson chose Lauren and Victoria Baamonde to join him, leaving out closest ally Aurora McCreary. While Aurora admitted to the camera it felt like she was being rejected by the only group she had been part of all game, she did reaffirm her loyalty to the alliance.

Keeping up the ruse of searching for an idol, Devens planned to tire out his opponents by playing a game of hide and seek around the island, which brought him "joy" at outsmarting them and left his fellow castaways thinking he had "gone crazy."

Doubling down on his safety with an immunity challenge win, it was up to the remaining five castaways to determine which of their alliance would be going home — with a huge target on the back of Julie Rosenberg, whom they kept in the dark during the previous tribal.

Lauren's developing relationship with Julie and Devens' hope that he could convince her to work with him, however, threw a bit of a wrench in an otherwise easy vote.

With Aurora posing more of a threat in the finals than Julie, the targeted player (with a push from Devens) managed to work her argument with Lauren, who tried to convince a pliant Gavin and Victoria — who was staunch in her desire to get Julia out.

The uncertainty, Devens confessed to the camera, was part of what he was trying to sow from the start when pulling aside Julie.

"When people are confused and paranoid in this game, they do crazy things," he said. "And that's exactly what I need them to do."

In an attempt to take back control for himself and Julie, Devens vowed to play his idol for his only ally on the island, but after the votes were in, revealed he would be hanging onto his safety net after all.

Regardless, the trick worked enough to freak out Aurora's alliance members, fooling them into voting her out instead of Julie.

"How do you fall for reverse psychology?" Aurora asked, exasperated, before making her way to Extinction.

Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Photo credit: CBS