When it comes to the game of Survivor, expecting the unexpected generally works out pretty well for the viewer. This next season is Survivor Season 29 ‘San Juan del Sur – Blood vs Water’ and already there are issues. The game players might have a different view because every twist that is added throws their game off. For us watching, that is kind of the entire point, right? Here are five cool Survivor twist ideas to spice things up for next season:
Make it like Survivor Uno – How cool would it be to have Idols hidden all over the Survivor gaming area and each of them have a function unique to that Idol. Various levels of Idols would add even more intrigue to each game making virtually no alliance indestructible. Imagine four Idols being played at Tribal Council and each one affecting the others…good times.
Move to a cold location – As awesome as Survivor is in tropical locales, Survivor in Alaska would be a whole new experience for many viewers. Fighting off the cold and hunting in these conditions are not the same thing by a long stretch. True Survivors would quickly show themselves and weed out the weak. Trying to survive in a tropical setting is tough, but trying to survive in Grizzly Bear country is infinitely tougher. Has anyone wondered why nobody ever bumps into all those snakes you see slithering around the set? These locales are loaded with dangerous animals but nobody ever sees one. Just wondering…
Have week long Survivor challenges – Food is always an issue for Survivors so why not have a weekly meat challenge? Perhaps each tribe has to do something that requires teamwork throughout the week like build a structure. At the end of the week, they are judged and the winner gets meat. This would eat up some of the down time in camp and weed out the weak as well.
It would take no time at all before the strong members would get fed up with the weak, and floaters would show themselves very fast. Floaters are not going to put in the work, making themselves impossible around camp. Getting them out quickly would be a good thing.
Give more power to the Immunity Winner – Why not early on in the game allow the winner of the Immunity Challenge for each tribe give Immunity to a member of the other tribe as well. This could get really interesting once the tribes merge. What you do early in the game would matter even more and the inter-tribal communications would matter much more.
Make Idols only capable of saving others – If the hidden Immunity Idols only saved other people, they would be much more interesting. You find an Idol now, you are going to use it on yourself 99% of the time. Why not make it so you can only use it on someone else? This would force more strategy and create more friction in the tribe.
These are only a few of the twists I have thought of. What other Survivor twists can you suggest to spice things up a bit?