The tribe switch is a staple in Survivor and has been since it was first implemented in season 3. Unfortunately, the tribes don’t always come out even. Let’s take a look at the most lopsided tribe swaps in Survivor history.
When Survivor was still finding its footing and trying to shake things up, they knew they’d have to create twists for the contestants to navigate through. Survivor: Africa, season 3 of the show, was the first time we ever saw a tribe swap take place.
In the first ever tribe swap, both tribes were asked to send three people and when they arrived to the scene, Jeff Probst gave the three members of Boran a Samburu buff and the three members of Samburu a Boran buff. It seems like nothing now, but at the time, the contestants and viewers were stunned by what was taking place.
Since its introduction in season 3 (which aired in 2001), the tribe swap has taken place in all but seven seasons of the show, meaning it hasn’t been used in nine total seasons (counting seasons one and two in this scenario). There have even been times when multiple swaps have taken place in one season.
While sometimes the tribes are split fairly even, there have been several occasions where the tribes have been very lopsided after the swap. Let’s take a look at the most uneven tribe switches in the history of Survivor.