Survivor is arguably the best reality show ever produced for many reasons. For example, even new fans of Jeff Probst’s show who are figuring out which seasons to watch first know that the show is so dangerous that there have been many medical evacuations. Most importantly, there have been many incredible Survivor seasons which had fantastic winners and other people who are among the best players in the show’s history.

Given all the great things that Survivor has going for it, fans rarely focus on the show’s gross rules or the times when players have broken the rules. That is the reason why it is a mostly unknown that a Survivor rule change has forced players to do something heartbreaking.

A Survivor Rule Change Makes Players Give Up Something Major After The Game Ends

From the moment that Survivor premiered, it has seemed like there have been several phrases related to the show that most fans take at face value. A perfect example of that is the fact that many players have referred to voting people out as sending them home.

In reality, most Survivor players throughout the game’s history haven’t gone home after they were voted off. Instead, the vast majority of players throughout Survivor’s history have only been allowed to go back to their normal lives after their season fully finishes filming. As a result, even the first players who were voted out during many past seasons had to wait the full 39 days.

Another Survivor phrase that has often been used over the years is that players have gone home with an idol in their pocket. Sadly for many players, however, a Survivor rule change has made it so that phrase is now untrue.

In September 2023, People published an article about Survivor rules fans don’t know the players have to follow. That article revealed that there had been a Survivor rule change that has to be heartbreaking for the players.

According to the outlet, because of the rule change, players who are voted out with an unplayed idol don’t get to keep it after the game is over.

Since Survivor has had many rules that have remained intact since the game began, it seems noteworthy when the show makes a change like that. That begs an obvious question. Why did Survivor change the rule about whether players can keep their unused idols?

Thankfully, People’s article provided an answer to that question since it quotes Jeff Probst explaining the reason for the rule change.

“Several years ago, we realized that we might want to use those idols again in the future for one of our creative ideas, so now we take them back and keep them. I know it sounds so harsh! But ideas are everything on Survivor and we like as many options as possible.”

Based on his own quote, even Jefff recognizes how hard the rule change would be for Survivor players to swallow. As fans, it is easy to imagine how heartbreaking it would be for players to have to give back idols they don’t use.

There are many reasons why returning unused immunity idols would be heartbreaking for them.

First off, many Survivor fans who get to play the game see finding an immunity idol as a bucket list thing for them to do. Accomplishing that goal, never playing it, and then having to give the idol back would be a very difficult thing to do.

Secondly, the amount of work that players now have to put into getting an immunity idol would make giving it up harder to do. In many cases, they have to find a Beware Advantage, then hours or days solving a puzzle of some sort to get an idol. Going through all that for nothing would be frustrating.

Finally, the likely reason for the idol rule change would make it much more annoying.

Even though Wendell Holland was a deserving winner and Domenick Abbate was a great runner-up, their season, Survivor Ghost Island, isn’t very popular. On Collider’s ranking of every season, Survivor: Ghost Island comes in at 37 out of 47 seasons as of this writing.

As a part of the quote People included in its article, Jeff referred to potentially wanting idols back for creative reasons. That almost certainly is a reference to Survivor: Ghost Island. During that season, the show brought back memorable artifacts from the show’s past, including several idols. In March 2018, Jeff Probst told The Hollywood Reporter about how they had to work to get those idols from the players who left the game with them.

“One of the most enjoyable parts of putting this season together was tracking down old idols and advantages. Getting one of the two idols from Survivor China that James was voted out with was one of our biggest scores. The day [executive producer] Matt Van Wagenen called to say he had it was one of those days when you started to believe Ghost Island was going to work.”

Even though Jeff called the process of tracking the idols down “enjoyable,” he also made it clear that the plans for Survivor: Ghost Island depended on pulling that off. With that in mind, Jeff wanting to make sure they didn’t have to track down idols and advantages in the future makes sense.

Even Survivor Players Who Kept Their Idols Can Also Go Through Heartbreak

Business Insider published an article focused on surprising facts about Survivor. That article quoted the three-time Survivor player Andrea Boehlke talking to the outlet about what happened after she left the game with an unused immunity idol.

That article revealed that Andrea told Business Insider that CBS asked her to use her immunity idol and then producers had to give it back to her.

“The CBS producers did borrow it for a season called ‘Ghost Island’ where it was brought back into the game, but they returned it to me after the season was over.”

Considering it was returned to her, it may seem like Andrea’s experience with her unused idol ended on a good note.

However, Andrea told Business Insider she wound up losing her idol after she brought it to a Survivor viewing party. That goes to show that even if Survivor players are allowed to keep their idols, that can still have a bad ending.

Survivor

Release Date

May 31, 2000

Network

CBS

Showrunner

Jeff Probst

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