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Castaways lean in to whisper to one another during a Survivor 50 Tribal Council

Every question answered

Survivor Rules

CBS

The basics

Castaways seated at a torch-lit Tribal Council in Survivor 50
CBS

What are the rules of Survivor?

Castaways start in tribes and compete in challenges. The tribe that loses goes to Tribal Council, where every player with a vote writes down one name in secret, and whoever gets the most votes is out. Partway through the season the tribes merge, and from then on it is every player for themselves: whoever wins individual immunity cannot be voted out that night. Players voted out after the merge form the jury, and at Final Tribal Council the jury votes for one of the finalists to win the $1 million. Hidden immunity idols, advantages and the Shot in the Dark can cancel votes along the way.

How Survivor voting works

Who is safe at Survivor Tribal Council?

Anyone who won individual immunity that day, anyone who has an idol played for them, and anyone whose Shot in the Dark comes up Safe. Nobody can write down the immunity winner’s name, or their own. Votes against someone saved by an idol or a Safe scroll still get cast, and are cancelled when it is played.

How Survivor voting works

Ties and revotes

The empty Survivor 49 voting booth, with the urn, parchment and pen on the table
CBS

What happens in a tie at a three-person Tribal Council on Survivor?

The same thing as at any Tribal: a revote, where only the tied players can receive votes. At three people the stubborn case is a 1–1–1 tie that the revote does not break. Normally the players outside the tie would then have to agree on who goes, or draw rocks, but at three people there is nobody outside the tie. It has never happened. The Survivor Wiki reads the rules as sending it to fire-making, the tiebreaker the show uses whenever nobody is left to draw rocks.

How Survivor voting works

What happens on Survivor if two players tie and everyone else is immune?

They make fire. Rocks only work if someone outside the tie can draw one, so when the two tied players are the only people who can be voted out, they go straight to a fire-making challenge and the loser goes home. It is the same rule that sent Palau’s two-person Ulong tribe straight to fire in Season 10.

How Survivor voting works

Can nobody go home at a Survivor Tribal Council?

Not once the votes are read. If idols and Safe scrolls cancel every vote, the host declares a null vote and the tribe votes again, with no idols or advantages allowed the second time and the players who are already safe still unable to receive votes. That is how Mary Zheng’s Safe draw in Survivor 48 cancelled every vote and still sent Justin Pioppi home. The only nights nobody is voted out are when Tribal is cancelled, which has happened after a quit or a medical evacuation.

How Survivor voting works

Could everyone be safe at Survivor Tribal Council?

Only on paper. Shot in the Dark draws are independent, so in theory everyone who plays one could draw Safe. It has never happened, and the show has never said what it would do. If all but one player were safe, the restart rule would leave that one player as the only name anyone could write down.

Shot in the Dark, explained

Shot in the Dark

Jeff Probst holds up a Safe scroll at Tribal Council in Survivor 44
CBS

Is the Shot in the Dark still 1 in 6 on a three-person tribe?

Yes. Before the merge the bag always holds six scrolls with one Safe, however many people are at Tribal. Savu was down to three when Ori played his in Survivor 51 Episode 6: Not Safe, and he went home 2–0. After the merge it becomes twelve scrolls with two Safe, which keeps the same odds.

Shot in the Dark, explained

What happens if every player at a Survivor Tribal plays their Shot in the Dark?

Then nobody votes, because playing it costs you your vote. It has never happened. The closest published rule is the null vote: when no valid votes stand, the tribe votes again, and nobody can play a Shot in the Dark in that second round.

Shot in the Dark, explained

Can two players draw Safe on a Shot in the Dark at the same Tribal Council?

Yes. Executive producer Matt Van Wagenen has said each player’s odds stay the same no matter who draws first or whether someone already pulled Safe. Two players have played one at the same Tribal twice, in Survivor 44 and the Survivor 51 premiere, and only one Safe has come out of those nights so far.

Shot in the Dark, explained

Has anyone ever drawn Safe on a Shot in the Dark?

Three players: Jaime Lynn Ruiz in Survivor 44, with no votes against her that night, Kaleb Gebrewold in Survivor 45, who cancelled eleven votes, and Mary Zheng in Survivor 48, who cancelled two.

Shot in the Dark, explained

Idols

Parvati Shallow grinning in the jungle with two hidden immunity idols in her hands
CBS

Can you hand your idol to someone else at Tribal Council?

Yes, until the votes are read. After everyone has voted, the host asks if anyone wants to play an idol, and a holder can give it away or play it for another player right then. Once the votes are read it is too late: in San Juan del Sur, Jon Misch slid his idol to Jaclyn Schultz after he was blindsided with it, and production took it back.

Hidden immunity idols, explained

Can the Tethered Idol on Survivor 51 be played on its owner?

Not at first. It is tethered to the other two castaways from the Day 11 summit, and while either of them is still in the game it can be played only for them. Once both are voted out it becomes a regular idol, and the owner can play it on anyone, themselves included.

The Tethered Idol

When do hidden immunity idols stop working on Survivor?

Usually at the final five. From that Tribal on, no regular idol can be played, so anyone still holding one is holding a souvenir.

Hidden immunity idols, explained

Jury and Final Tribal

The three Survivor 50 finalists, Aubry Bracco in the centre, at Final Tribal Council
CBS

Is lying allowed at Survivor Final Tribal Council?

Yes. Nothing in the show’s known rules bans lying, at camp or at Final Tribal. The only check is the jury: jurors decide for themselves whether a lie cost a finalist their vote.

How the jury works

What happens if a Survivor finalist is medically evacuated?

The medics decide, not the players: the host can remove anyone from the game on the medical team’s advice. Late evacuations have changed the ending before. In Micronesia and Tocantins they turned a planned Final Three into a Final Two. In San Juan del Sur, Missy Payne finished the game on crutches, and Jeff Probst said she would have been pulled had it happened earlier, but with a few days left her injury was not life-threatening.

Every medevac and quit

Do Survivor players who quit still get a jury vote?

Sometimes. Janu in Palau, and NaOnka and Kelly Shinn in Nicaragua, all quit and kept their jury seats. Since Season 22, a player who quits during the jury phase leaves it to production to decide whether they keep their seat. On Edge of Extinction, Keith and Wendy gave theirs up by quitting.

How the jury works

Journeys, merge and fire

Two finalists race to build fires at the final four in Survivor 49
CBS

How are players picked to go on a Survivor journey?

Usually by the tribe: someone volunteers, the tribe agrees on a name, or they draw rocks. Sometimes the show decides instead and demands a random draw. On the journey a player typically faces a choice or a small task that can win an advantage or cost them their vote at the next Tribal, and a lost vote stays lost in a revote too.

How Survivor journeys work

Do the rules change after the Survivor merge?

Yes. Immunity becomes individual, so only one player is safe from the vote each round. The jury usually starts at or soon after the merge. The Shot in the Dark bag grows to twelve scrolls with two Safe, keeping the odds at one in six, and it can be played until the final seven.

The merge, explained

How does final-four fire-making work on Survivor?

There is no vote at the final four. The player who wins the last immunity challenge picks one person to join them in the final three, and the other two race to make fire. The loser goes home. The Survivor 51 cast was offered the chance to scrap it and kept it.

The fire-making vote

More to explore

Glossary

Every Survivor term explained, from Advantagegeddon to Zeroed.

Idols & Advantages

Every idol and advantage in play, and who is holding it.

The Blog

Explainers, history and this week's fantasy fallout, in plain English.

Survivor Trivia

50 questions across history, challenges, strategy and records.

Which Survivor hot take do you actually agree with?