The Tribe Has Spoken… But Were They Misheard?

Every survivor fan knows the phrase
The Tribe Has Spoken
A phrase that Jeff Probst says after a contestant is voted off. A phrase fans love hearing but survivors dread as its the phrase that ends their chances of winning the game.
What does this phrase mean? It means that your tribe have decided that you are the one that should go home. At least, a majority of them. Except, thats not always the case?
“What do you mean thats not always the case?”
Let me explain.
What is a majority? A majority os defined as a number that is greater than half of the total. Which means out of 10 people, 6 have to agree. 7 out of 12 must agree and so on. 5 out of 10 is exactly half and technically isnt a majority but we’ll have that out as it is Half of the total.
So basically, you need at least 50% of the votes to be against you in order for it to be a majority. Fair enough. But there have been people who went home even though they didnt get 50% of the votes.
One example is Francessa Hogi who recieved 4 out of 9 votes but because the other 5 were split, she had the most and was sent home (To redemption island). Another is Kelley Wentworth who got 3 out of 7 votes and was sent home. Other people have got 3 out of 7 votes and were not sent home as someone else had 4. Is that really fair?
Of course the arguement that stands is
They were splitting the votes anyways, so the majority DID want them out
Alright, Fair enough. But this isnt the case for everyone sent home without a majority.
Debbie Wanner of Kaoh Rong was sent home with 4 out of 9 votes. And no, the votes weren’t intentionally split. In one of the craziest tribal councils ever, the intention was to split votes between 2 of the 3 outsiders being Tai Trang, Kyle Jason and Scot Pollard. But due to distrust amongst the majority, four of the women decided to flip on their alliance and vote out Debbie. Because Tai, Jason and Scot had voted for Cydney and The remaining two, Debbie and Joe, voted for Scot unknown to the alternate plan, 4 was enough to send her home
The four girls didn’t intend to split the votes. In fact, they know of this and took advantage of it and only needed 4 for it to work instead of the required 5.
Simply put,
5 people did not want Debbie to go home
Yeah Scot, Jason and Tai were okay with this outcome but they wanted Cydney out more than anything and had no clue it would be Debbie.
The majority of people didnt want this outcome, yet it was the outcome. What does this mean? Was Russell Hantz right in saying that there is a flaw in the game of Survivor?
Before answering that, lets talk about something Russell loves which are…
Hidden Immunity Idols!

The reason Russell made it to the end twice were Hidden Immunity Idols. That can’t be denied. But this wasn’t implemented into the game till season 12 unlike immunity challenges which were always in the show’s concept from “The Marooning”.
This has changed the game in many ways. Now voting out someone unanimously is dangerous because of the idol. Kelley Wentoworth managed to nullify 9 votes against her and with just 3 votes, Andrew Savage was sent home

Is that really fair? Three girls in a tribe of Twelve dictate who goes home because of a Hidden Immunity Idol? Of course some people will say yes as it is part of the game and the contestants are aware of the existence and use of Idols. But this also dosen’t make it fair to say “The Tribe Has Spoken” to Andrew if only a quarter of the tribe actually wanted him out of the game.
I honestly love Hidden Immunity Idols and the twists it brings to the game. But I do agree it also does raise the arguement on wether the right person went home. If idols never existed, many survivor legends such as Russell Hantz wouldn’t be legends because of how their game went. But then again, their gameplay and strategy would be different.
But one thing is for certain, if Idols were never put into olay, survivor would never be as amazing as it is today and may have never lasted for 17 years and counting.
So simply put, these known explotable loopholes in the game add to the unpredictability and madness of the game which is what makes it such an amazing show to watch. Wether they should be fixed or not is another story but if you ask me, I think its just fine.

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