Survivor: What If Jay Doesn’t Burn His Idol in Millennials vs Gen X?

Jay Starrett was one of the strongest players from a fantastic season in Survivor: Millennials vs Gen X, but what would’ve happened if he’d held onto his idol?

Hearts shattered in the penultimate episode of Survivor: Millennials vs Gen X among Survivor fans. Jay Starrett, the long-haired “everybro” that was both charming and endearing, played right into the hands of Adam Klein and played his immunity idol at Tribal Council that whittled the castaways down to six. Though arguably the biggest physical threat from Season 33 could’ve still won immunity to make it all the way to the Final 3, the writing appeared to be on the wall.

Indeed it was. With the idol having been flushed out, David was able to win immunity at the challenge. Despite Jay’s best campaigning to not vote him out, he was a goner. He played an “idol” he’d found earlier in the episode, but it was a fake planted by David and Jay was voted out at Tribal Council in the first vote of the Millennials vs Gen X finale.

However, in a game that has evolved to being so intensely about strategy, it’s intriguing to look back and see how one simple move would’ve changed the course of the game in a given season. Thus, you have to wonder what would have happened if Jay had snuffed out the strategy of Adam and not played his idol at the Tribal Council with seven players remaining.

The first obvious repercussion is that Jay still would’ve been in the game after that vote. He received only one vote at Tribal Council as the plan was always just to flush the idol and then vote Sunday out. Simply, had he not played the idol then, it would’ve still been his pocket while he was still playing.

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That then takes us to the next challenge-vote cycle with six castaways remaining in the game. For argument’s sake, let’s say that David still wins the immunity challenge. It’s reasonable to think that the plan would then be to force Jay to play his idol at the next vote and actually cast votes his way since the previous bit of trickery would not have worked. Knowing that, the focus of the group would have likely turned on the biggest threat remaining with both David and Jay safe: Adam.

Sure, Adam was the mastermind planning everything, but Bret, Ken, David and Hannah all ostensibly were smart strategic players. Knowing that they couldn’t vote for David and that Jay would cancel out the votes against him, the reasonable move on their part would then have been to split the vote to take out Adam. By doing that, they would eliminate the biggest threat to win the $1 million without immunity in some form.

Therefore, we’re then faced with the remaining five players being Jay, David, Bret, Ken and Hannah. In the following challenge, the castaways were asked to move a buoy through the water and onto the shore where they then had to go over a see-saw with puzzle pieces and then, obviously, complete the puzzle once all pieces were across. This was won by Ken, which we’ll stick with still for this hypothetical—though Jay would have realistically had a shot to win given his proven proficiency at moving through the water and despite his lack of puzzle-solving acumen.

Assuming that Ken still wins immunity, though, you have to believe that the target would then turn back on Jay considering that Hannah remained loyal to David even with Jay out of the game. However, what can’t be overlooked is that another immunity idol was put into play, found by Adam. With Adam voted out in the previous Tribal, though, there’s at least a chance that Jay would’ve been able to locate and find it before anyone else.

Subsequently, it’s reasonable to assume the same course plays out with five players remaining at Tribal Council as what actually occurred, only with Jay in place of Adam. Bret gets voted out as Jay plays his idol and leaves Bret as the only one receiving votes. Now we’re down to the Final 4 with Jay, David, Ken and Hannah.

In the final immunity challenge, the remaining castaways were asked to weave bowls through a maze and then balance them on top of the structure—all in what turned out to be a windy environment to increase the level of difficulty. Despite Jay’s prowess in challenges, this one seems a bit out of his wheelhouse. Thus, it’s hard to say that he would’ve won it. It’s not out of the realm of possibility, but it’s safer to assume that Ken would outlast Hannah in the five-minute runoff still.

However, that’s where things would get quite interesting. Essentially, you’re left with the same Final 4, but with Jay in the place of Adam. Even with that change, David still comes across as the bigger threat. The key, however, would be for Jay to convince Hannah and Ken in the same way that Adam did that David was the biggest threat to win and to vote him off. Though downplayed a bit, Jay was indeed charming and a smart player—even if not exceptionally well-liked by those remaining. His logic to vote out David would’ve still came across true in all likelihood, meaning David still gets voted out and the Final 3 consists of Jay, Ken and Hannah.

Ultimately, Final Tribal Council would’ve likely played out in the same manner as it did with—again—Jay in Adam’s seat. Jay played a superior game to both Ken and Hannah and is clearly the winner of those three. Hence, Jay would’ve walked away the $1 million winner.

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Are there some assumptions and leaps made in this hypothetical “what if?” Absolutely. However, with Jay having a heartwarming story, solid game-play and strategy, and physical dominance in challenges, there is a good chance that not burning the immunity idol would’ve led to him being the Sole Survivor. But alas, he was a juror. Let’s hope he returns down the line and gets another shot.