Even though Survivor: Game Changers brought back Exile Island, the way it was used shouldn’t become a new constant for future seasons.
Survivor: Game Changers used Exile Island only once. Debbie didn’t really earn her trip so much in episode 6; she just happened to not pull a buff during one of the many changes in the pre-merge phase. But, it’s most important to note that she got to spend time on a yacht with John Cochran paying her a visit.
Originally, the point of Exile Island was, well, actual exile. Few supplies, little shelter, and maybe the hope of finding a hidden immunity idol is about all you could expect. Seasons like Gabon offered a choice, with Sugar famously finding the idol then taking the comfort option every other time, dubbing it her “Sugar Shack.” My colleague dubbed the Kaoh Rong edition “Julia Exile,” but Debbie’s falls into its own special category.
Survivor can’t always use the yacht or the fancy Exile Island concept. That’s plain and simple. It has to do with the game of expectations. Not everyone will be like Debbie and keep it completely secret that Exile Island is actually nice.
However, by doing it once, those with a knowledge of the game will always run the risk that they’re sending someone to a potentially nicer situation than they may expect. That will almost certainly force shifts in strategy.
What might be most devious of all is having Exile be a luck of the draw. Game Changers only used it once. What if a future season used it twice?
One time would have the nice version; the other would be a more “traditional” Exile. That suddenly makes whoever said Exile was terrible/nice suspicious to the player who had the opposite experience. If they are part of the same alliance and share that information with each other, that could really make things explosive.
Overuse of Exile Island, however, takes time away from other things. As it was, Cochran’s visit probably made the segment from Game Changers too long.
Next: Improving the Hidden Immunity Idol
There are a lot of different ways Survivor could choose to incorporate this new variation of Exile Island. Hopefully it’s a sometimes thing and not an all the time thing.