Are Hidden Immunity Idols Used too Much?

I’m starting to wonder if I complain too much about the game nowadays, be it in these blog posts of the most recent hiatus or ponderings about any recent season in general. All I know is that it might be worth posting about the hidden immunity idols and whether or not they have been used too much in the game in recent seasons at hand.

Originally when it appeared partway through Guatemala, the idol was preventative and only used once. It might have been for multiple use when it appeared more regularly in Panama and Cook Islands, but that wasn’t what happened with it since they were effectively never used.

During the China season, James left the game with two idols still in his possession that he never played. He still had them when he was voted out. No idol reentered the game after his elimination. In the next season, Ozzy was voted out with an idol. But this idol was rehidden. Ozzy had left this idol back at camp when he went to the tribal council he was voted out at. Thus, he didn’t have it. But what really lead to the change? Was it them wanting to continue to shake up the game? Was there really a change to how idols were done at all? It can be hard to tell.

There were some notable changes that I noticed in my mind. The first was in Heroes versus Villains. In what might have been an attempt to make more interesting things happened in the game, one idol would always enter the game after another had been played. It was almost like a cycle through of things in a way: one idol out, one back in. This wasn’t the only change.

In Survivor One World, Colton’s idol was gone after he was pulled from the game. Despite the fact that another person in the game had an idol, another one was put in the game. This sort of thing wouldn’t gather any controversy until two seasons later when it happened in Caramoan. Malcolm found an idol while still possessing another one. Many found this rigged.

Ultimately, the idol level didn’t reach a certain horrible level of ridiculousness that you’d think you’d only see on MTV if you like that horrible show until Edge of Extinction. Contrary to what some people might think, idols were never given to select players by production before this season. This time, the person who reentered the game because of the twist would get an idol. While they had to give half of it away for a tribal council, they got immunity whenever they wanted to. This should not have happened the second time at least since that meant automatic immunity the last time it could be played.

This makes us go back to the initial question as to whether or not hidden immunity idols are overused. One would have to argue different things with this point. Are hidden immunity idols good? Do they make for good TV even if they aren’t good? Are more idols better are just another thing many fans will bitch about? And what are the sorts of things that one would expect from more idols versus less?

I can see a problem with there being only one hidden immunity idol in the game. Whoever has it would yield more power than all the other players who don’t have it. They would have a magic bullet that they would know none of the other players had. Thus, having multiple idols in the game makes sense. But how many is too many?

It is worth noting that one person might be able to hold more than one idol if that is an option that is available to them. Thus, they could become even more powerful. But when there are too many idols at points late in the game, that is where we might run into problems.

Survivor: Game Changers might be the most obvious example of this. One player had the immunity necklace. Another had the legacy advantage. Three others all played idols at the final six leaving just one person who was eligible to be voted out. As for Edge of Extinction, it was clear to me and many others that one shouldn’t be able to get an idol that late in the game with others already in play potentially. This is why you’d think they’d know when there are too many in the game.

All I can really say is that it is clear that more idols means more potentially interesting moves, but it also can mean that there are issues because of it such as too many crazy things happening as a result. I think that there are some ways that the producers would need to think of to ensure that idols don’t become just one maddening mess in the game. There doesn’t always have to be a new one every time at least one old one was played. And they should realize that when issues are caused by too many idol at once, maybe they should change what they do in future seasons to make sure that we don’t have too much crazy going on at once. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.