One of the wildest seasons in the history of Survivor added another WTF patch to its outrageous Q skirt. For the first time in the history of the beloved reality show, that’s 46 seasons, a fourth person was voted out with an Immunity Idol in their pocket. To put that in perspective, only 26 people in the history of the game have been voted out while holding an Idol and 4 of those times have happened this season. How is that even possible? Well, let’s talk about it because the fans certainly are.
During the fifth episode of the season, Jem was blindsided and went home without using her Idol. That happens. 16 seasons have featured at least one contestant going home with an Immunity Idol that could have saved them; so, while it’s always riveting TV when it happens, there’s nothing especially newsworthy about it happening once. But it didn’t just happen once. During episode 9, Hunter, after vowing to play his Idol, decided to trust his allies and save it for another day. He should not have trusted them and was voted out. Then in episode 10, Tiff decided to hold on to her Idol and by now, you get the pattern. She was voted out, as was Venus on last night’s episode who found her Idol, hinted to Charlie that she had it and then was voted out the same episode.
In total, 4 people have gone home with Immunity Idols on them so far this season. That’s the most in the history of the show, and what’s even wilder is that 3 of the 4 essentially happened the same way. The person with the Idol thought all of the castaways were going to band together and finally vote out Q; so, they held onto their Idol only to find out Q was just a convenient smokescreen to cover the blindside. Naturally, people have been having a great time with the recurring trend on social…
Hunter: I'm not gonna play my idol, everyone is voting for QTiffany: I'm not gonna play my idol, everyone is voting for QVenus: I'm not gonna play my idol, everyone is voting for Q#Survivor46 pic.twitter.com/mtY0OncOsSMay 9, 2024
Here’s the thing: Survivor is typically a game of paranoia. A bunch of players, of whom almost all are superfans, throw out a variety of plans and you talk and talk and talk until you feel confident enough people have settled on a plan you’re okay with, but in the back of your mind, you’re always wondering whether other people secretly decided to go with one of the other plans. This season, however, has been different because so many people have been fixated on getting Q out. So, instead of their being a bunch of plans, we’ve now had three weeks in a row where there were only two plans: one to vote out Q, which everyone always loudly agreed with and one to blindside whoever had the idol, which wound up being the real plan.
You can see how it happened and players fell into that trap, but it’s still bewildering to think it has happened so much times, especially three times in a row. Here’s a sample tweet…
If these people don’t start playing their damn IDOLS #Survivor46 pic.twitter.com/0dsiwxxXVoMay 9, 2024
I don’t think we’ll ever see this again. Four Idols in a single season is utter madness. Three episodes in a row is somehow even crazier. Fortunately, as chaotic as it has been for the players, it’s been that entertaining for fans, which is why it should come as no surprise that numerous players, most predominantly Q, are being pushed to return for Season 50, when Survivor does a special season with all former players. Maybe by that point, those lucky enough to be chosen will have learned that when it comes to Idols, it’s always better to play it just in case.
