While it doesn’t happen too often, some of the most unforgettable blindsides happen with a player getting their torch snuffed as an idol burns a hole in their pocket. And it’s happened enough that there was literally an entire season themed after the poor decisions made around idols past—Survivor: Ghost Island.
And while that season featured Ozzy Lusth’s fake hidden immunity idol he crafted during Survivor: Micronesia, it did not directly call out the idol he left the game with in the same season. However, if the theme were to be revisited in the new era, I would be surprised if his Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol didn’t make the cut.
And while Ozzy is now the first player in Survivor history to be voted out twice with a hidden immunity idol in his pocket, it still doesn’t quite top the first ever player to be voted out with safety in their grasp. Check out who made the cut and why we’ll never forget their un-plays.
Survivor 50: In the Hands of the Fans
Ozzy Lusth
Fans were devastated when one of their favorite players of all time was voted out of Survivor 50 on day 21 in 8th place. But what was even more upsetting was the fact that he didn’t play the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol sitting in his pocket despite saying all day he was going to play it—even having had a dream about it the night before. And with the twist that came with this new idol, he was literally the only person it could be played for. But unfortunately, he didn’t trust his gut and got sent to the jury.
Survivor 46
Jem Hussain-Adams, Hunter McKnight, Tiffany Ervin, Venus Vafa, Q Burdette
Survivor 46 holds the record for most players voted out with immunity idols in their pocket. And while Jem was voted out pre-merge on day 11, our other four players made secondary history as the first players to be voted out with idols in their pockets at back-to-back-to-back-to-back Tribal Councils. After Hunter was blindsided with an idol in his pocket, Tiffany didn’t see her own blindside by ally Q coming. Then Venus thought she’d been able to get enough votes to save herself, but the most fascinating misplay was by Q himself. On day 23, his ally Maria Shrime Gonzalez told him to play his idol—after three other players were eliminated with idols immediately preceding him—so they could blindside Charlie Davis, but he felt it wasn’t necessary and became the four member of the jury blindsided with an idol in their pocket.
Survivor 45
Sabiyah Broderick, Bruce Perreault
This season already started off on an interesting foot as Bruce was selected to join the cast as—technically—the first returning player of the new era. He’d previously injured himself during the marooning challenge of Survivor 44, removing him from the game within the first five minutes of the season. And apparently, the Survivor forces didn’t want him to win as he was voted out with an immunity idol on day 19, joining the jury.
But even before then, on day 7, Sabiyah Broderick was hit by the Lulu tribe curse when a Beware Advantage led her to an idol encased in wax, but her tribe didn’t have fire for her to melt it with. So she took it to Tribal Council, unlocked her idol in front of everyone and then proceeded to withhold her vote in order to sustain its power for more Tribal Council visits. Unfortunately, she was blindsided that very night.
Survivor 41
Naseer Muttalif, Shan Smith
Survivor 41 featured an idol blindside by an idol blindsider not unlike Survivor 46—just with less people. On day 17, Naseer was overly confident in his game and his alliance which led to Ricard Foyé and Shan blindsiding him with an idol in his pocket. Only two days later, though, Shan’s former ally Ricard pulled the same move on her, deciding her threat level was too high and orchestrating a blindside against her, with an idol that could have prevented it.
Survivor: Winners at War
Sophie Clarke
When Sophie found the hidden immunity idol she planned not to tell anyone about it, but this season, idols had to be shared for one night between two people in order for it to gain power. She gave half of her idol to ally Sarah Lacina, who thankfully gave it back to her after it was activated. Sophie and Sarah went on to plot a few blindsides themselves until Tony Vlachos saw Sophie leading the blindside on Wendell Holland and became threatened by her strategic prowess as well as her relationship with his former ally Sarah. During a planned split vote, Tony used his numbers to throw Sophie’s name in the pot and vote her out with an unused idol.
Survivor: Island of the Idols
Vince Moua, Chelsea Walker, Kellee Kim
Early in the game, Vince earned an idol from Boston Rob Mariano and Sandra Diaz-Twine, but was immediately blindsided as his tribe wanted to flush a potential idol he may have gotten while visiting them. The very next Tribal Council, Chelsea was blindsided simply because of a potential showmance threat and never got to use the idol she found at camp. And Kellee Kim became the first merged player voted out when her tribe mates grew wary of her strategic prowess, eliminating her with not one, but two idols in her pocket—the second player (and first female player) ever to leave with two idols on her.
Survivor: Edge of Extinction
Aubry Bracco, Kelley Wentworth
Both of these dynamic players returned for their third season with Edge of Extinction, but entered the game as huge targets. So despite Aubry finding an immunity idol within her first couple of days and then being given an extra vote at the tribe swap, she was blindsided for the target on her back. Wentworth—previously known for great idol play during Survivor: Cambodia—positioned herself well and made it to the merge, but was ultimately blindsided at the Final 9 by one of her early allies.
Survivor: Ghost Island
Chris Noble
After a visit to Ghost Island, Chris earned a hidden immunity, but also lost his ability to vote. He was blindsided at the very next Tribal Council by Domenick Abbate and Wendall Holland—the very players who would go on to become the Final Two.
Survivor: Game Changers
J.T. Thomas
On his third time playing Survivor, J.T. was well integrated into his tribe’s social sphere, but was shaken up when a tribe swap moved him to the bottom of the rival tribe. After leaking his tribe’s plans at a Joint Tribal Council, Sandra Diaz-Twine properly clocked him for his betrayal and put together the numbers to send him home. Unfortunately, he didn’t even bring his idol to Tribal Council, he was that confident in his position in the game.
Survivor: Kaoh Rong
Scot Pollard
Scot started the game in power, but as the days passed, his tribemates started to view him more as a bully than a leader. Once he was squarely on the bottom of the game, he and allies Kyle Jason and Tai Trang had a plan to combine Jason’s idol—in Scot’s possession—and Tai’s idol to create the Super Idol, which could be played after the votes. The votes were read, sending Scot home and when he turned to Tai to make the Super Idol, Tai went back on his word and kept the idol for himself, leaving Scot to get his torch snuffed.
Survivor: San Juan del Sur
John Rocker, Jon Misch
While John Rocker was able to find a hidden immunity idol at his camp, he couldn’t keep his infamous public reputation under wraps and was blindsided on day 8 with the idol in his pocket because no one wanted to play with a known misogynist. Jon Misch on the other hand, was a leader in the majority alliance for most of the game until he betrayed Jeremy Collins, making a rival of Natalie Anderson. Though he had an immunity idol, he didn’t see Natalie coming for him and was blindsided on day 35.
Survivor: Cagayan
Garrett Adelstein
Garrett found a hidden immunity idol on day 1 and turned around blindsiding the tribe leader David Samson after David declared him the weakest member of the tribe. But after their tribe lost a following immunity challenge, he told J’Tia Taylor that she was going to be voted out, resulting in her dumping the rice in the fire. Tasha Fox, frustrated with Garrett for making such a dumb move, instead orchestrated his blindside that night, leaving him in 17th place with an idol back at camp.
Survivor: Caramoan
Andrea Boehlke
On her second Survivor season, Andrea came back as a fan favorite with a vengeance. Right off the bat, everyone saw her as a threat and she didn’t hold back as she helped blindside multiple players and keep her rival Malcolm Freberg from finding a hidden immunity idol. Her social game led to her securing an idol from Erik Reichenbach, but her allies became too wary of her strategic prowess and blindsided her on day 33 with said idol in her pocket.
Survivor: Samoa
Erik Cardona
While his tribe was on an early winning streak, Erik found his camp’s hidden immunity idol and kept a good amount of power in the game. But at the merge, he lost immunity and tried to conduct a plan to eliminate one of the women. Future season winner Natalie White caught wind of his plan and united the women to blindside Erik instead. That night at Tribal Council, Russell Hantz played his idol, but Erik did not and went home in a 10-2 vote on day 21.
Survivor: Tocantins
Brendan Synnott
At the very Tribal Council where Brendan admitted to having an idol, he was under the impression that Coach Wade was the one going home, so he didn’t play it and was instead blindsided by his own former allies for being too strategically powerful in the game. This was the moment Coach deemed himself the “Dragon Slayer,” taking credit for Brendan’s—”The Dragon”—elimination and feeling unstoppable after that.
Survivor: Micronesia
Ozzy Lusth, Jason Siska
Ozzy’s first time behind blindsided, he was a key member of the Favorites “couples” alliance, romantically connected to Amanda Kimmel who was aligned with Parvati Shallow who also had James Clement as her number. But when they hit the merge and Parvati decided it was smarter to move forward with the women, she sent Ozzy home with an idol in his pocket on day 27 immediately followed by Jason on day 30. While Jason had previously found Ozzy’s legendary fake idol, he managed to find a real one a few days later, but didn’t think he needed to play it.
Survivor: China
James Clement
An early power player of the season, James found both of his season’s hidden immunity idols which ultimately painted the biggest target on his back once everyone found out about them. And when he failed to play them to save himself, he was blindsided by his own alliance in their attempt to flush the idols. The exact idols would later return for Survivor: Ghost Island in an attempt to reverse the curse of the first player ever voted out with any—let alone two—idols in their possession.
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