As every diehard fan of Survivor knows, the hidden immunity idol is a game advantage that has been in play since it was first introduced during Season 11. According to Entertainment Weekly , there are some fans of the CBS series who take issue with the fact that castaways dive into the game with the notion that the immunity idol exists and start looking for it before they even have clues pointing toward it.
Jeff Probst was even asked prior to the start of Survivor: David vs. Goliath if he thought the immunity idol should come with instructions requiring the individual who finds it to get rid of the congratulations note to change up the game. Currently, the note serves as documentation to prove an idol is real. Without the note handy, there is an element of: is the idol they claim to have real or fake?
While Probst believes they are getting close to heading in that direction, there is still a lot of game to be played before they require the notes to be ditched or handed off to a cameraman.
Since the immunity idol was first introduced into play, many considered it to be the cardinal sin of Survivor to tell anyone about the discovery. The notion is by telling someone you have an immunity idol the person you tell could later use this information against you. In a way, this did play out this season when Kara started telling people that Dan had a second immunity idol tucked in his pocket. Many watching the game at home agreed Dan’s decision to tell Kara about the idol was a mistake.
“Here we saw the Davids pooling their resources to take out at Goliath as they used Nick’s steal-a-vote and Carl’s idol nullifier to take out Dan,” Entertainment Weekly pointed out as they asked Jeff what he thought about the cardinal sin of Survivor .
What a Tribal! See you next Wednesday. #Survivor pic.twitter.com/8b0jlKrqf3
— SURVIVOR (@survivorcbs) November 22, 2018
“I have never been of the mind that you should ‘never under any circumstances’ share that with any other player that you have an idol,” Jeff revealed as he explained how he didn’t see telling someone about your immunity idol as this fatal mistake that could cost you the game.
“I certainly see the inherent risk, but I also see the importance of trust. Sometimes sharing something powerful with an alliance member is exactly what your alliance member needs to know you are true to them. And in a case like this if you can combine multiple advantages you obviously gain enormous, almost unstoppable strength,” he added.
‘Survivor’ Ponderosa video: 3rd jury member shocked that immunity idol ‘didn’t work for the first time in history’ [WATCH] https://t.co/EaCrQ4fYnQ pic.twitter.com/3MTWtN9CZ5
— Gold Derby (@GoldDerby) November 22, 2018
According to Jeff, the decision to reveal you have an immunity idol is strategic. There are certain situations where it could hurt your game, but it can also benefit your game if you do it the right way. The former David tribes’ decision to be open and honest about their powers and idols is ultimately what allowed them to beat out the Goliaths two weeks in a row when numbers were not in their favor.
