Survivor: What if J.T. Doesn’t Give His Idol Away in Heroes vs. Villains?
How could Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains played out if J.T. had kept his Hidden Immunity Idol and not given it to Russell?
Heroes vs. Villains proved that a Survivor season comprised entirely of returnees could turn out to be one of the best seasons of the show to this day. (Sorry, All-Stars and Second Chance.) Right before the merge, though, J.T., a Hero, did something positively noble without knowing any of the context about the Villains’ situation.
In episode 9, unsurprisingly dubbed “Survivor History,” he passed a Hidden Immunity Idol along to Russell on the Villains. As part of our cast assessment on J.T., we pointed out that it’s one of the worst moves in the history of the game. How do you hand a Villain — even one you haven’t seen play before, like Russell — an Idol?
We all know how HvV played out from there. Parvati played two Idols at the merge Tribal Council, protecting Jerri and Sandra, and J.T. went home because of his own Idol.
Sandra went on to win the season. However, let’s take a step back and speculate. What would happen if J.T. — or someone else on the Heroes — stopped, thought, and proposed that the Villains were far tighter than they looked? What if J.T. held on to that Idol and walked into the merge with it?
Granted, the Heroes at that point were even in numbers with the Villains. However, if J.T. still has his Idol, perhaps Sandra’s attempts to work with the Heroes, especially Rupert, would have worked out for once. In episode 10, Sandra also went to Rupert and explained to him exactly what had actually been happening. Now, Rupert had reason to believe Sandra — the two were part of an alliance in Pearl Islands that lasted until the Queen of Survivor saw the writing on the wall and let him go to the jury.
However, J.T. in particular didn’t believe it, and, well, we had an all-Villain final three. Presumably, if he has his Idol, though, and Sandra flips immediately, the Heroes would end up picking off the Villains. Let’s assume that things get down to the final six, with the five Heroes and Sandra the last people standing, and that the rest of the Villains have been picked off. J.T. still has his Idol.
Candice would likely have tried to flip to the Villains at least once, as she did during the original season. She could easily go out in sixth then once she was no longer needed as a number. That leaves us with J.T., Colby, Rupert, Sandra, and Amanda.
Sandra and Rupert have a natural pairing, but that would also make them a target. J.T. and Colby also worked with Rupert here and there, though, so Amanda seems like a fifth-place finish. She would more likely be a physical threat in challenges.
The final four Immunity Challenge consisted of a maze played blindfolded, where players had to collect medallions. Sandra did not even come close to finishing, so let’s assume one of the three men wins. For additional interest, let’s say J.T. wins and takes out Colby with the help of Sandra and Rupert, leaving a final three of himself, Sandra, and Rupert, since Rupert in particular rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.
Our jury would be Coach, Courtney, Parvati, Russell, Jerri, Amanda, Candice, and Colby. That’s a majority-Villain jury, but Sandra no longer would no longer the ability to say “I opposed Russell and Parvati this entire time.” That did make up a huge part of her case to the majority-Hero jury of the original season.
In other words, J.T., assuming no other twists or Idols, could have actually become the first two-time winner of Survivor instead of Sandra. He could have saved himself once with his own Idol and could have won a few more Immunity Challenges along the way.
Next: What If Jay Keeps His Idol on Millennials vs. Gen X?
In his introductory video for the season, available in our above-linked assessment, he did say that HvV eats at him. We’ll see if he improves his game in Survivor: Game Changers, premiering March 8.