Survivor 50 is breaking all kinds of records and making history. We started the game with the biggest cast in Survivor history at 24 players. We saw the biggest merge in the show's history with 17 players.
Now, Survivor 50 has broken another record for the largest Tribal Council in the show's history, according to Jeff Probst.
In Survivor 50 episode 7, "That's Not How I Play Survivor," there were 14 players who went to Tribal Council and 13 of those players voted, making it the largest Tribal Council in history. Dee Valladares, who was voted out in the episode, played her Shot in the Dark.
Heading into the episode, and after the Blood Moon twist, I thought we'd see the big group split into two groups of seven for Tribal Council, but that's not what happened. Instead, we had the first giant Tribal Council of the season.
There were other massive Tribal Councils in the show's history with 13 players. The last one was Survivor: Island of the Idols (season 39), and it was quite a controversial one, if you recall. Kelle Kim was voted out over Dan Spilo in an 8-5 vote. Dan was later removed from Survivor for inappropriate touching of contestants.
We've also seen many votes with 12 or 11 players over the years. Technically, because Dee played her Shot in the Dark, there were not more votes cast in this Tribal Council than that season 39 vote, but this is definitely the biggest non-Final Tribal Council in the show's history.
Survivor 50 will not have the largest Final Tribal Council in the show's history
No matter how Survivor 50 plays out, even with the 17-player merge, we know that Survivor 50 will not feature the largest Final Tribal Council in the show's history in terms of votes cast.
The biggest Final Tribal Council in Survivor history was in Survivor: Winners at War (season 40). During that season, 16 players cast votes for the winner of the landmark season of the series. Tony Vlachos received 12 votes to Natalie Anderson's four votes. Michelle Fitzgerald finished third-runner-up with zero votes.
In Survivor 50, assuming no one is pulled from the game from this point forward and sent home due to injury or illness, we will have 14 players voting at Final Tribal Council with three Finalists.
So, Survivor: Winners at War, because of the Redemption Island twist that kept all the former winners in the game until the very end of the season, will remain the largest Final Tribal Council in the show's history.
And, I expect it will remain that way until the show's end. I can't imagine we'll ever see a 19-player Final Tribal Council again. If there's anything we have learned from Survivor 50, it's this: 24 players in a 26-day season is just way too many players. There's just no way we'll ever see this again. We're see such a watered-down version of what's happening out there, and these players have no problem setting the record straight in exit press.
Stay tuned for more news about Survivor 50!