Survivor Glossary: What is “Plan Voodoo” and how is it used today?
Over ten years ago back in Survivor: Cook Islands, an unlikely castaway dreamed up one of the most used strategies ever.
I’ll give you a typical Survivor situation. You’re in the majority alliance and you want to take out those on the bottom. However, you think someone in the minority has an idol. What do you do? That’s right, split the votes.
The idea of splitting votes is a textbook Survivor strategy that is common knowledge. However, it wasn’t always that way. Back when the Hidden Immunity Idol was still in its infancy, players were still figuring out what to do with it. Then enter Plan Voodoo!
Plan Voodoo was the original concept for splitting votes. It was formulated in Cook Islands by the colorful character Cao Boi Bui. It’s one of the funniest scenes I have ever seen on Survivor, by one of the funniest characters.
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This all went down six episodes into Cook Islands. During each episode, one castaway was sent to Exile Island with the hope of finding a Hidden Immunity Idol. In this season, the idol could be played after the votes, just like the Super Idol in Cagayan or the two halves in Kaoh Rong.
Jonathan Penner and Candice Woodcock appeared to be in the minority on an eight-person tribe, and they both were sent to Exile Island at some point. Cao Boi assumed that one of them found the idol, but didn’t know how to flush it out.
One night, Cao Boi had an outlandish dream that sent him walking in a bank. The lady at the bank was offering him three different credit cards. Somehow Cao Boi connected that dream to throwing three votes on Penner and three votes on Candice. That way, it would force one of them to play the idol, flushing it out while still sending one of the two home.
Cao Boi called this ingenious strategy “Plan Voodoo.” As smart as his idea was, Yul Kwon had other plans and trusted Candice and Penner more than the unpredictable Cao Boi. Plus, it was Yul all along who had the idol in his pocket. Ironically, his torch was snuffed that night, but his idea lived on.
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The first successful split vote was executed in Survivor: Fiji, and this strategy has been used ever since. So whenever you hear a castaway mention splitting votes, don’t forget the original and more fun term: Plan Voodoo!