We just had one of the most elaborate fake advantage schemes attempted in Survivor 51 episode 5, “Not Here for a Pedicure,” and I genuinely want it to be a real advantage now! But more on that later…
First, let’s talk about the history of fake advantages in the game of Survivor and whether or not they’ve all been leading to this one moment for Lewis Kelly to take hold of.
When we think of fake advantages in the game, the most popular one is definitely fake hidden immunity idols. Over the years, there’s been numerous attempts at tricking people with the advantage that is known to be in the game and slowly grew easier and easier to create a dupe of. Very few times have we actually seen a castaway dream up their own advantage idea—and even fewer times have we been gifted with an idea that we actually want added to the game!
But let’s look back down fake advantage memory lane and review all the times we’ve seen someone attempt to introduce something that wasn’t real into the game.
Player-made fake hidden immunity idols
The evolution of the fake hidden immunity idol all started with Yau-Man Chan back in Survivor: Fiji when he found an idol and decided to pull an Indiana Jones and swap in a fake idol in case someone else got the clues and went looking for it. He fashioned an attempt at a fake with an old coconut shell, making him the first broadcasted player to make a hidden immunity idol on TV.
It wasn’t until Survivor: Micronesia, though, that we actually saw a fake idol found and played. Ozzy Lusth crafted the legendary “stick with a face” idol that he hid on Exile Island where Jason Siska found it and delivered it to Eliza Orlins when she thought she was in trouble. Eliza immediately clocked that it was nothing but “a f****** stick” but, not wanting to take any chances, played it only for host Jeff Probst to announce it was not a hidden immunity idol. She publicly vocalized that that meant Ozzy had the idol before having her torch snuffed.
After that, players started actually creating hidden immunity idol replicas that were not as easy to discern. Bob Crowley in Survivor: Gabon made one of the most beautiful necklaces in the history of fake idols using resin, wire, beads, and woods that he was secretly storing away. Joe Anglim in Survivor: Worlds Apart designed an authentic-looking idol from wood and wire he got from around camp and the Tribal Council torches.
There have been a handful of other moments, but the last time we saw a player-made idol in the game was Survivor 43 when Cody Assenmacher put together some beads to use as protection while he was completing the Beware Advantage instructions for a real idol.
Production-planted fake hidden immunity idols
It wasn’t until Survivor 44 when production decided to get in on the fun and introduce official fake idols alongside real idols so the players who found them had the chance to cover their tracks or use their fake idol as leverage for people who know they found an idol.
This is where the infamous birdcage came into play. All three starting tribes were presented with a locked birdcage in the jungle. Whoever was able to open them lucked into a hidden immunity idol as well as a fake to replace the real one and make it seem as if no one had found anything yet. However, both players used their fakes a little differently.
Danny Massa chose to plant the fake elsewhere that would be easier for someone to find. It was ultimately found and played by Matt Blankinship. And Carolyn Wiger chose to directly hand her fake idol to Sarah Wade, who played it at Tribal Council.
This is the only time we’ve seen production create near-exact replicas of idols that held no power.
Repurposed game elements & found objects
Slightly different from the created fake idols, there are a few times that players found items in the game that they chose to use as-is for a fake idol.
Dale Wentworth in Survivor: San Juan del Sur removed a decorative emblem from the camp’s water well and tried to convince Jon Misch that it was an idol in the hopes of saving himself from elimination. That then sparked an idea in Adam Klein during Survivor: Winners at War when he attempted to play a fleur de lis emblem on the podium at Tribal Council as an idol.
The whole tribe got a bit of a laugh out of it when he tried to remove it only for him to reveal he thought it might be an idol. Jeff replied, “You think that it’s not?” which prompted Adam to verbally try to play the decoration as an idol only for Jeff to confirm it was not a hidden immunity idol.
Expired advantages & empty parchments
Most recently we saw this in Survivor 50 when Rick Devens teamed up with Christian Hubicki and used the wrappings from the Billie Eilish Boomerang Idol he sent to Aubry Bracco to make a “fake idol” they would hide at Tribal Council. Everyone was shocked and confused when Devens dug the “idol” out of the rocks in front of the fire pit, stirring up the vote to keep him safe another week.
We’ve seen something similar a couple other times… like Rupert Boneham walking around with a rock in his pocket on Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains and in Survivor: Edge of Extinction when Devens was gifted an Advantage Menu that ended up being expired.
And in Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, Chrissy Hofbeck and Ryan Ulrich used the parchment from an expired Super Idol and re-wrapped it with a trinket inside, giving it to Ben Driebergen to trick him into not playing on the many real idols he’d found.
The Blood Ring advantage
And this all leads us to last night in episode 5 of Survivor 51 when Lewis Kelly, in a desperate attempt to keep his name off the block, handed an ornate ring to Sharonda Cox and told her whoever he gifts it to, ties their in-game life to him.
AKA, if Lewis goes home, Sharonda would go home too.
She accepted it and shared it with Eric Macksoud, neither of whom could figure out if he was lying or not since he was at Exile Island for three days and it was very possible for him to get something like this.
But then, Cristian Chavez joined the conversation and immediately clocked it as a fake since Lewis had previously described that exact ring to him. Luckily, Lewis didn’t end up needing the gimmick as Maggie Nestor came in to save the day with extra votes for both Lewis and Kilby to pull off a big move.
What did you think of Lewis’s attempt at tricking the tight Savu alliance with an advantage that could threaten one of their own?
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