Following a crazy pre-vote idol play by Ben Driebergen, Survivor has an opportunity to make this unusual play a staple in the game.
In “The Survivor Devil,” an idol was played before the votes for the second time in Survivor history. Many fans did not even know this type of play was possible. Devon forced Ben to make a play that was literally game-changing.
The first occurrence was way back in Survivor: Guatemala, the debut of the Hidden Immunity Idol. However, this iteration of the idol had to be played before the votes. NFL quarterback Gary Hogeboom removed his name from the chopping block and was the first in a long line of castaways to hand Probst the idol. Jeff would say “no talking” to the contestants after the idol play. Oh, how times have changed.
Ben playing his idol early created mayhem between the castaways. The tribal council officially became live. Although Ben could have waited to play the idol, this made him a valuable number for the vote. The pre-vote idol instigated the tribal council whispers that we have become accustomed to.
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Idol plays always produce great television when played correctly. On the other hand, an anti-climax is the result when an idol is played incorrectly. This is why the pre-vote-only idol could be implemented for many seasons to come.
Every time the pre-vote idol is used, it will undoubtedly cause drama, no matter what. The Malcolm boot from Survivor: Game Changers was the famous first of many present and future “get up and talk it over” live tribals, and that was just this past season. Survivor wants each tribal council to be as unpredictable as possible, and the pre-vote idol could very well achieve this goal.
One question lingers, however; do we really need more advantages?
We know Survivor loves advantages, especially in the past few seasons. The number of idols has seemed like overkill in Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers. This new type of idol will counter the increase in regular idol plays, and also gives the Hidden Immunity Idol a fresh taste. There was something special about Ben all of a sudden being completely safe. The conversations that resulted created a new type of confusion.
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Survivor is constantly evolving and needs to mix thing up. If it limits the number of idols, it may seem more boring, but increasing the different type of idols instead is a better option. The standard idol will definitely stay around, but it would be best as a 50-50 split between the two. The game needs to create excitement, and the standard idol has been around for far too long, and a change is due. Hello, Survivor World; meet the pre-vote idol.