Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers has a special immunity idol
Modern Survivor does love its immunity idols, and Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers is no exception, although this one might prove interesting.
The concept of hidden immunity idols themselves in Survivor isn’t the worst thing in the world. Played correctly, they can allow a player to control their own fate in the game, to borrow an oft-used phrase by actual players during the season. The issue usually comes when there are a lot of them and people don’t use them, as was the case in Game Changers.
If Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers‘ first special idol is the rule rather than the exception, hopefully Survivor has learned its lesson about limiting powers.
According to Jeff Probst himself, who was speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, here’s the lowdown:
"“It’s a super idol, which means it can be played after the vote. But here’s the twist: it’s only good at the first Tribal Council. If the person who finds it ends up winning immunity and doesn’t end up going to Tribal, they have to send it secretly to somebody on the losing tribe, so they can use it. “"
To give an example, this is a variant on the first immunity idols of Survivor: Micronesia, although in that case, there were two — one for each tribe, good for those first Tribal Councils for either tribe, and they functioned more like individual immunity necklaces in that they rendered people completely unable to vote for the possessor of said idol. Having two again presumably would have been a little too chaotic. There wouldn’t have been any way to make sure that two people on the same tribe didn’t get them, which would probably ruin the drama just a little bit.
Naturally, an idol played after the vote is still more foolproof than the normal immunity idols, although, historically speaking, what we now call the “super idol” used to be just the normal hidden immunity idol. (Cook Islands, anyone?) There’s effectively no downside here. Probst also made sure to note that this isn’t an exclusive idol — it can be shared, just like regular individual immunity and other hidden idols.
Probst noted that this idol will take the place of the Legacy Advantage from Game Changers in the sense that this idol will be available only during the first grab for supplies. He did also confirm that we’ll see people fail to notice it, a la Michaela in Game Changers episode 10.
Finally, and perhaps more interestingly, Probst made clear that like regular hidden idols, there’s no compulsion to use it. In the case of Micronesia, it was quite large, so the two people that had them just took them to Tribal Council and then didn’t take them back to camp. The picture THR has shows that this one is quite like a regular hidden idol in terms of size. It’s just that this one doesn’t actually work beyond that first Tribal Council. He intimated that we might see someone “bluffing people” with the useless item, though.
Presumably Probst or someone else in production wasn’t happy that Debbie didn’t take the make your own fake immunity idol set last season. If this idol gets past the first Tribal, it’s effectively a premade fake.
Next: Meet the S35 Survivor cast, officially
Hey, Probst said it “looks cool,” and it is technically a real idol. It’s almost like they wouldn’t be lying at all! Almost.
Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers arrives, special idol and all, on Sept. 27.